Digital Commons Network^™

The Development Of Intercultural Maturity In Second Year College Students, Nicole A. Schuessler

Dissertations

Globalization and the development of cultural competence have become increasingly important in our pluralistic society. The ability to effectively interact with, understand, and make meaning of our experiences in a global setting is a critical learning outcome in order to address the complex issues of society. Higher education associations have deemed intercultural competence as an important outcome for graduates and international education is often a key strategy to realizing this goal. Increasingly over the past ten years, the second-year of college stands out as being developmentally significant by higher education scholars and practitioners. As second-year students experience and question the …

Beyond Generosity: The Action Logics In Philanthropy, Jennifer Amanda Jones

Dissertations

What influences the thinking and decision processes of donors when they engage in philanthropy? This study employed developmental psychology to explore this question. Developmental theorists agree that an adult develops in sequential stages over the course of a lifetime, gradually adopting an increasingly complex mental map. An individual’s developmental stage at any point in time, theorists argue, is made manifest as a type of “action logic” through which the individual interprets his/her external world and internal experience. One’s action logic is subtle and, for most of one’s life, operates outside of conscious awareness. It becomes evident, however, through attitudes, thoughts, …

Antepartum, Intrapartum, And Postpartum Predictors Of Readiness For Hospital Discharge And Post-Discharge Outcomes, Gabriella Malagon-Maldonado

Dissertations

Pregnancy and childbirth are significant events in the lives of women and their families where the discharge decision-making process involves careful judgment in projecting the mom's ability to cope with care needs after discharge. Research examining the predictors of discharge readiness and post-discharge outcomes taking into consideration antepartum and intrapartum factors influencing readiness for discharge has not been conducted. The purpose of this study was to explore the antepartum, intrapartum, and postpartum predictors of readiness for hospital discharge and post-discharge outcomes. The Adaptation to Transitions conceptual framework consisted of conceptually-related variables was developed and guided the descriptive correlational repeated measure …

Psychoneuroimmunology And Chronic Pain, Sarah E. Giron

Dissertations

There is increasing evidence linking chronic pain to altered levels of central nervous system (CNS) inflammation and increased levels of perceived pain, anxiety, depression and sleep disturbance. However the inflammatory molecules responsible for physiologic and psychological components of chronic pain still warrant identification and exploration. Using central inflammation as a paramount factor in the creation and maintenance of chronic pain, this study aimed to investigate and describe the physical and psychological aspects of chronic pain associated with CNS inflammation.

Using a cross-sectional correlational design, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) inflammatory cytokine patterns present in 8 chronic pain participants were compared to inflammatory …

Development And Functioning Of Mycorrhizal Root Systems Under Non-Uniform Rootzone Salinity, Asha Christopher

Dissertations

Arbuscular mycorrhiza are obligate symbionts that live in association with most plant roots. The fungal mycelium extracts nutritional elements from the soil, and supplies these to plants in exchange for plant photoassimilates. The present study investigated the effects of root colonization by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi on growth and nutrient uptake of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) and Sudan grass (Sorghum bicolor L.) exposed to topsoil salinity through a horizontal split-root set-up. Roots in the upper compartment were exposed to substrate salinity, while lower compartment roots had access to non-saline nutrient solution. Despite roots being well-colonized by mycorrhizal fungi, there was no …

Establishment Of A 3d Culture Model Of Gastric Stem Cells Supporting Their Differentiation Into Mucous Cells Using Microfibrous Polycaprolactone Scaffold, Sunitha Pulikkot

Dissertations

In the stomach, epithelial stem cells are responsible for glandular homeostasis and continuous production of four main cell lineages secreting mucus, acid, pepsinogen and hormones. While alteration in the proliferation and differentiation program of these stem cells is linked to the origin of gastric cancer, they represent an effective target for chemotherapy and a source for cell therapy or tissue engineering in cases of gastric mucosal damage or loss. The aims of this study were 1) to manufacture various forms of scaffolds using a biodegradable polymer (polycaprolactone), 2) to test the suitability of these scaffolds for growth of mouse gastric …

Biofilm Production By Food-Transmitted Bacteria And Their Control By Selected Nanoparticles, Mariam Al Shamsi

Dissertations

Biofilm is a population of bacteria attached to any types of surfaces and impeded in a self-produced matrix of extracellular polymeric substances. Biofilm exhibit up to 1000 fold antibiotic increased resistance to a broad range of antimicrobial agents. Several food-transmitted microorganisms are capable of forming biofilms and considered as a major source of contamination, transmission and infection. In the last few decades, nanoparticles has gained a great attention for their potential applications as antimicrobial agents. The aim of this work was to assess the biofilm formation capacity of food-transmitted bacteria under various environmental conditions and to investigate the efficacy of …

Comparative Phylogeography And Demographic Histories Of West Indian Birds, Maria Wilhelmina Barbosa De Oliveira Pil

Dissertations

My dissertation investigates the demographic history of multiple island populations of several Caribbean bird species through an assessment of contemporary genetic diversity, while inferring relationships between the comparative demography of individual island populations and characteristics of the islands and species. The sizes and distributions of populations vary over time, and episodes of expansion and contraction create characteristic patterns of genetic variation within and among populations. Consequently, contemporary patterns of genetic diversity open a window onto demographic and phylogeographic history. The strength of the study lies in the scale and comprehensiveness of the analysis, encompassing most of the West Indian islands …

Wavelet Analysis Of Non-Stationary Signals With Applications, Maria Dorothea Van Der Walt

Dissertations

The empirical mode decomposition (EMD) algorithm, introduced by N.E. Huang et al in 1998, is arguably the most popular mathematical scheme for non-stationary signal decomposition and analysis. The objective of EMD is to separate a given signal into a number of components, called intrinsic mode functions (IMF's), after which the instantaneous frequency (IF) and amplitude of each IMF are computed through Hilbert spectral analysis (HSA). On the other hand, the synchrosqueezed wavelet transform (SST), introduced by I. Daubechies and S. Maes in 1996 and further developed by I. Daubechies, J. Lu and H.-T. Wu in 2011, is first applied to …

Teacher Transformation: An Exploration Of Science Teachers' Changing Professional Identities, Knowledge, And Classroom Practices

Dissertations

This qualitative, multiple case study examines five teachers’ experiences with a National Science Foundation-funded professional development (PD) program focused on science literacy. Using a three dimensional conceptual framework combining transformative learning theory, communities of practice, and sociocultural conceptions of identity it explores: the ways the “Science Literacy through Science Journalism” (SciJourn) project built professional community and influenced teacher learning; the influence of the project on participating science teachers’ professional identities, knowledge, and classroom practices; and the ways teachers were or were not transformed by participation in the project. To this end, data from surveys and phenomenological interviews were analyzed through …

American Indian Women’S Health Perceptions And Health Promotion Behaviors, Sharon Boothe-Kepple

Dissertations

Background: Most problems affecting the health of American Indian women are related to lifestyles and health-related behaviors (Carter, Morse, Giruad, & Driskell, 2008; Linsley, Kane, & Owen, 2011). Understanding health promotion behaviors could decrease or prevent a number of chronic diseases that afflict the American Indian population; however, little is known about how American Indian women perceive illness, how they promote their health within the context of their culture, and the barriers they face.

Purpose: This study was designed to develop knowledge about the health perceptions and health promoting behaviors of American Indian women residing within the Chickasaw …

A Study Of The Impact Of Retention On Student Achievement In Three Rural Missouri School Districts, Jon Thomas Johnson

Dissertations

A case study was performed using archival data from retained students in three rural Missouri school districts. The data were examined to determine if a correlation existed between grade level retention and improved student achievement in Math and English Language Arts. A t-test was used to determine the impact retention had on student achievement. Scores were collected from the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) data from retained students the year before they were retained, as well as the year following when they were retained. Data were collected from 2006-2014. Data from this study revealed students who were retained showed significant gains …

Transient Cardiovascular Hemodynamics In A Patient-Specific Arterial System, Jr Rodward Hewlin

Dissertations

The ultimate goal of the present study is to aid in the development of tools to assist in the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Gaining an understanding of hemodynamic parameters for medical implants allow clinicians to have some patient-specific proposals for intervention planning. In the present study a full cardiovascular experimental phantom and digital phantom (CFD model) was fabricated to study: (1) the effects of local hemodynamics on global hemodynamics, (2) the effects of transition from bed-rest to upright position, and (3) transport of dye (drug delivery) in the arterial system. Computational three dimensional (3-D) models (designs A, B, and C) …

Perinatal Depression And Preterm Birth, Elizabeth C. Light

Dissertations

Purpose/Aims: Despite the notable 15 year low in overall preterm birth (PTB), a 10% improvement since the 2006 peak with declines for each of the largest race and Hispanic origin groups, the United States has the highest rate of PTB of any industrialized country with estimates of 11.5% or approximately 500,000 infants annually. The Institute of Medicine (2006) recommends researchers focus on PTB causes including reasons for health disparities. The purpose of this study was to identify factors associated with PTB among a sample of racially and ethnically diverse women with depressive symptomatology (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale [EPDS], score …

Mechanisms Underlying Control Of Anti-Microbial Immunity By Acetylcholinesterase Inhibition, Ray M. Esam Al-Barazie

Dissertations

Inflammation is a crucial defense mechanism that protects the body from the devastating effects of invading pathogens. However, an unrestrained inflammatory reaction may result in systemic manifestations with dire consequences to the host. The extent of activation of the inflammatory response is tightly regulated through immunological and neural pathways. Previously, we demonstrated that cholinergic stimulation confers enhanced protection in experimental animals orally infected with a lethal dose of Salmonella typhymurium. In this study, we investigated the mechanism by which this enhanced protection takes place. We showed that cholinergic stimulation enhanced host survival following oral-route infection, which correlated with significantly reduced …

Development Of A Therapeutic Model Of Early Liver Cancer Using Crocin-Coated Magnetite Nanoparticles, Rkia El-Kharrag

Dissertations

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common health problems that is difficult to treat. As a result of the side effects frequently experienced with conventional cancer treatments, there has been a growing interest to develop controlled drug delivery system that can reduce the mortality rate of liver cancer patients and un-harm healthy tissues. Magnetite nanoparticles are potentially important in hepatocellular carcinoma treatment, since they can be used as delivery system. Pure and coated magnetite nanoparticles were synthesized via modified co-precipitation method in air at low temperature. Various reaction parameters and coating materials have been investigated and characterized. Among these …

Student And Teacher Perceptions Of Standards-Based Grading And Student Performance, Terry W. Winton

Dissertations

Assessing student learning has been part of education since the beginning of formalized schooling. Developments at the national, state, and local level have led to grading reforms over the past quarter century. The purpose of this study was to explore students’ and teachers’ perceptions of standards-based grading to determine if there was a significant difference on standardized tests scores between students graded using standards-based grading and students graded using traditional grading. Teachers and students from one Missouri high school were interviewed to determine their perceptions about standards-based grading. A stratified sample was utilized to select interviewees. Artifacts from the district …

An Investigation Of Teacher Understanding And Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of The Use Of Learning Targets In The Classroom, Melissa L. Wyers

Dissertations

Conflicting opinions and stances concerning standardization of curriculum in the United States education system are evidenced throughout the nation in the format of debates about the purpose of education and the curriculum. In 1892, nationally recognized American educators met as a Committee of Ten (National Education Association [NEA], 1893) to determine what subject matter should be contained in a formalized system of education, thus establishing the roots of the modern American school system. The results from the meeting were not accepted by all educational entities within the United States and curriculum content continued to be a matter of social and …

Elucidation Of The Cellular And Molecular Mechanisms Of Missense Mutations Associated With Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy And Congenital Myasthenic Syndrome, Reham Mahmoud Mohammed Milhem

Dissertations

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER), within eukaryotic cells, is a hub for protein folding and assembly. Misfolded proteins and unassembled subunits of protein complexes are retained in the ER and degraded by a process termed endoplasmic reticulum associated degradation (ERAD). Frizzled class receptor 4 (FZD4) and muscle, skeletal, receptor tyrosine kinase (MuSK) are Wnt receptors. These proteins contain the frizzled cysteine-rich domain (Fz-CRD) required for dimerization in the ER. Mutations in FZD4 and MuSK genes are known to cause familial exudative vitreoretinopathy (FEVR, an autosomal dominant disease) and congenital myasthenic syndrome (CMS, an autosomal recessive disease), respectively. It was hypothesized that …

Molecular Modeling Of Sigma 1 And Sigma 2 Receptor Ligands: Pharmacophore Development And Comparison Using Discotech And Bioactivity Prediction Comparison Of Ab Initio And Density Functional Comfa Studies For Spiro And Other Receptor Ligands, Lisa M. Kardos

Dissertations

The role of the biological receptor is currently being studied by researchers in medicine. Information about sigma receptors in particular can be gained by studying the ligands associated with each type, sigma 1 or sigma 2. Sigma 1 receptor ligands consist of drug candidates that often have psychiatric and neurological applications; sigma 2 receptor ligands consist of drug candidates that have been linked with cancer treatment among other applications.

Molecular modeling of biological receptor ligands often encompasses pharmacophore development and Comparative Molecular Field Analysis (CoMFA). Pharmacophore models are developed to understand the unique features such as binding groups that make …

Design And Analysis Of Algorithms For Similarity Search Based On Intrinsic Dimension, Xiguo Ma

Dissertations

One of the most fundamental operations employed in data mining tasks such as classification, cluster analysis, and anomaly detection, is that of similarity search. It has been used in numerous fields of application such as multimedia, information retrieval, recommender systems and pattern recognition. Specifically, a similarity query aims to retrieve from the database the most similar objects to a query object, where the underlying similarity measure is usually expressed as a distance function.

The cost of processing similarity queries has been typically assessed in terms of the representational dimension of the data involved, that is, the number of features used …

Synthetic Approaches To The Understanding Of Dna Nucleobase Methylation, Jagruti Rana

Dissertations

DNA methylation is a major source of genetic variation and cancer. Methylation occurs when nucleophilic DNA bases react with methylating agent methyl methanesulfonate (MMS), dimethyl sulfate (DMS), N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (MNU), N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG), etc. N7-methyl-2'-deoxyguanosine (N7-methyl-dG, or ^7MedG) adduct is the most abundant DNA methylation products for most methylating agents. DNA polymerase actions on ^7MedG are difficult to study due to its instability against ring- opening hydrolysis and deglycosyl ati on. Oligonucleotides containing a single chemical adduct of ^7MedG cannot be chemically synthesized. In addition, ^7MedG is unstable in vivo …

Monitoring Of Cerebellar Injury Using Micro Ecog Signals In Ketamine/Xylazine Treated Rats, Gokhan Ordek

Dissertations

Much of the cerebellar research has been conducted in anesthetized animals, particularly using ketamine/xylazine combination in rats, and yet the absolute impact of the anesthesia on the neural circuit remains unanswered . In the current study, spontaneous electrical activity and sensory evoked potentials from the cerebellar surface with chronically implanted, flexible-substrate, multielectrode arrays in rats were collected and analyzed with the motor cortex signals. The power spectra and the intercontact coherence plots of the spontaneous activity in the awake-quiet animals extended up to 800 Hz in the cerebellum and only up to 200 Hz in the motor cortex. Ketamine/xylazine anesthesia …

E Pluribus Unum: What Individual Whales Can Tell Us About Enigmatic Species Distribution And Social Organization, Tanya Marie Lubansky

Dissertations

Large whales have historically been difficult to study and many aspects of their ecology remain unknown especially at the long -term population level. The ability to identify individual whales based on natural markings provides the opportunity to track individuals over time and space; this data may offer more insight into the ecology of whales than previously imagined. This study demonstrates use of photo-identification data to model both social structure and habitat selection, minimizing the need for invasive research and greatly increasing the sample size used in such endeavors. A conditional logistic model is written for a 20-year sightings dataset on …

Developing An Insulin Producing Tissue Using Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells, Neha Mahendrakumar Jain

Dissertations

This thesis describes derivation of pancreatic insulin producing cells (IPCs) from mouse embryonic stem cells and development of three-dimensional (3D) engineered tissue system to provide physiologic culture conditions for IPCs. Upon using a previously established protocol, IPCs have been successfully derived from mouse embryonic stem cells and characterized in vitro . IPCs not only express classical markers of pancreatic beta cells but also exhibit glucose responsive behavior. Interestingly while deriving IPCs from mouse embryonic stem cells, islet endothelial cells have also been identified and successfully isolated from the culture. Derivation of a pure population of endothelial cells expressing specific markers …

Inkjet Printing Multifunctional Chromatic Sensors And Chromism Study, Aide Wu

Dissertations

The thermochromism and chemochromism of polydiacetylene (PDAs) and PDA/ZnO nano composites have been systematically studied by attentuated total reflection (ATR)- Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), temperature-dependent Raman, colorimetric (using optical densitometry) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Reversibility of PDAs has been enhanced by the formation of chelation between the carboxylic groups on side chain of diacetylene and Zn ion. The thermochromatic transition temperature increases with the concentration of ZnO.

Thin films of polydiacetylene (PDAs) and PDA/ZnO nanocomposites have been successfully fabricated by inkjet printing both solution type and suspension type ink. Results suggest that PDA monomers are well-aligned and closely packed …

Polymeric Nitrogen By Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition, El Mostafa Benchafia

Dissertations

With the urgent need for new environmentally-friendly energetic materials, the field of polymeric nitrogen, predicted to be a high energy density energetic, is now at a critical stage in its development. In spite of extensive first principles calculations regarding the existence and stability of different polymeric nitrogen structures, their successful syntheses have been rare. This dissertation describes the first detailed study of a plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) approach to the synthesis of polymeric nitrogen. PECVD provides non-equilibrium conditions known to produce high pressure-temperature phases. Molecular nitrogen mixed with hydrogen and argon is used as the gas phase precursor to …

Galapagos Seabirds' Lice Community: Host Hetero-Specific Interactions And Parasite Evolution, Jose Luis Rivera

Dissertations

My dissertation focused on understanding the factors behind host-parasite specificity and parasite diversification, using Galapagos seabirds and their ectoparasites as the study system. This system comprised the seabird hosts (magnificent and great frigatebirds, Nazca, blue-footed and red-footed boobies) and nine species of ectoparasitic lice (one Pectinopygus ischnoceran louse species infecting each host, two species of Colpocephalum amblyceran lice, one on each frigatebird species, and two shared amblyceran lice, Eidmanniella albescens found on Nazca and blue-footed boobies and Fregatiella aurifasciata found on the two frigatebirds). Using as focal species Eidmanniella albescens and Fregatiella aurifasciata, which infect multiple hosts, I analyzed how …

Evolution And Ecology Of Two Iconic Australian Clades: The Meliphagidae (Birds) And The Hakeinae (Plants), Eliot Trimarchi Miller

Dissertations

The first part of this dissertation explores the evolution of two iconic groups of species through Australian climate space: the Meliphagidae, or honeyeaters, which are primarily nectar-feeding birds, and the Hakeinae, a section of the plant family Proteaceae. Both groups are inferred to have had their origins in Gondwanan rainforests that were widespread across Australia 45 million years ago and then diversified into more arid environments as the continent’s climate became more arid. Accordingly, dry environments are inhabited by closely related (phylogenetically clustered) sets of species, although, in contrast to the honeyeaters, Hakeinae communities are characterized by more localized diversification. …

Effect Of A Substance Abuse Intervention Program On Student Achievement At A Midwest University, Terry Russell

Dissertations

Through empirical research, this dissertation examined whether a substance abuse intervention program implemented at a Midwest university could prove beneficial in addressing the problem of substance abuse on college campuses. Drawing on multiple resources, including Department of Education, psychologists, scholars, and other professional sources, this dissertation provides information on the importance of intervention and behavioral adjustment. This study covered statistical data over a two year period on an intervention program including measurements such as: grade point average, attendance, number of months in the program, and degree persistence. A second area of research was directed at determining the effect of the …