Digital Commons Network^™

Experimental And Numerical Analysis Of Less-Mobile Domain Processes In Naturally Occurring Porous Media, Farzaneh Mahmood Poor Dehkordy

Doctoral Dissertations

The importance of the exchange between surface water (SW) and groundwater (GW) is well known among researchers because of its effects on multiple processes including contaminant transport, biogeochemical reactions, and remediation techniques. Thorough understanding of this exchange can be challenging due to the various factors that can impact GW-SW exchange dynamics; especially considering the possibility of sediment heterogeneity in porous media. In the presence of sediment heterogeneity, pores with different levels of connectivity are expected. Pores that are well connected create “mobile” zones, while poorly connected pores create “less-mobile” zones. Conventional fluid sampling techniques are primarily sensitive to the mobile …

Gaussian Limits And Polynomials On High Dimensional Spheres, Amy Peterson

Doctoral Dissertations

We show in detail that the limit of spherical surface integrals taken over slices of a high dimensional sphere is a Gaussian integral on an affine plane of finite codimension in infinite dimensional space. We then utilize these ideas to show that a natural class of orthogonal polynomials on high dimensional spheres limit to Hermite polynomials.

Investigating Students' Mathematical Needs And Successful Tutoring Strategies, Melissa Newell

Doctoral Dissertations

Quantitative learning centers (QLCs) have emerged on undergraduate around the globe in an attempt to provide necessary support to students enrolled in undergraduate courses that address quantitative literacy. QLCs often provide support through peer tutoring to students in mathematics or related courses. Since QLCs are prevalent on undergraduate campuses and have the potential to impact students from diverse backgrounds and disciplines, it is pertinent that we understand their effects on the learning experience. In the existing literature, QLCs are shown to have an overall positive impact on students both academically and affectively, however studies rarely investigate the needs of the …

Disruptions In Physical And Neurocognitive Wellness After Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Julie Burland

Doctoral Dissertations

Traumatic knee injuries, such as anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) sprains detrimentally impact long-term health by initiating a cycle of chronic pain, inactivity, and disability. Neural activity alterations have been suggested as a large contributor to numerous aspects of reduced physical function including but not limited to persistent quadriceps strength deficits, aberrant biomechanical movement patterns and reduced self-reported function after ACL reconstruction (ACLR). Emerging evidence strongly points to the notion that psychological deficits also hinder recovery. Notably, neural impairments observed following ACLR may initiate psychological dysfunction, a process defined as learned helplessness (LH). This project will innovatively investigate the constructs of …

Predicting Weather-Caused Power Outages: Technique Development, Evaluation, Applications, Diego Cerrai

Doctoral Dissertations

Storms are the primary cause of extensive power outages in electric distribution networks. Storm power outage prediction is therefore fundamental for an efficient and effective response to weather-based power outages. In this work, we address the problem of storm outage prediction by improving an existing outage prediction model (OPM) originally developed for thunderstorm and extratropical storms, and extending its structure for predicting outages associated with mixed phase precipitation (snow, ice, freezing rain) events. The herein developed OPMs use either regression trees or statistical models fed by numerical weather prediction outputs, leaf area index (LAI), infrastructure, land cover, soil type, elevation, …

Exploring Perceptions Of Personhood Of A Spouse In The Early Stage Of Dementia, Marina Vracevic

Doctoral Dissertations

It is estimated that by the year 2050, one in three Americans 65 years and older will be living with some form of dementia, a group of symptoms that includes over 50 known types of diseases and conditions that currently affect over 6.7 million people in the United States. Because the psychological and physical decline associated with dementia impairs memory, judgment, communication, and other abilities that make independent daily functioning possible, it is important to care for the afflicted individuals in a way that takes care of their basic needs and preserves their sense of self, or their personhood. Many …

Overcoming Long Reconstitution Times Of High Concentration Lyophilized Protein Formulations, Shreya Shashank Kulkarni

Doctoral Dissertations

Highly concentrated therapeutic protein products stabilized by lyophilization often have undesirably long and variable reconstitution times. The overall objective of this work was to identify factors governing the reconstitution times of these formulations. Fundamental understanding of these factors will reduce the barrier to efficient formulation and process design presented by poorly reconstituting drug products.

Properties of the lyophilized “cake” that have been previously implicated in influencing reconstitution are cake wettability, liquid penetration into cake, cake disintegration, and cake porous structure. Methods to quantify these properties of intact cakes in vials were refined and further developed. The effects of formulation and …

Housing Dynamics Of Older Americans In The 21st Century, Tim Murray

Doctoral Dissertations

The Life-Cycle Hypothesis suggests that households save during their working years and then draw down those savings in retirement. Housing equity constitutes a large portion of most retiree’s savings portfolios, yet older households are not using their accumulated housing equity to help increase consumption in retirement and often die with large sums of housing equity. This dissertation explores housing equity use by older Americas in three ways. Chapter 1 looks at homeownership and moving rates of older Americans and how having a guaranteed source of income from a defined benefit plan may have mitigated some of the effects of the …

The Trumpet Music Of Eric Nathan, David Wharton

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the trumpet works of composer Eric Nathan in terms of their technical and notational elements. This analysis develops an understanding of the musical vocabulary and techniques that will provide insight into the structure, style, and performance of this repertoire and in doing so to discover a historical perspective of the trumpet’s role within solo and chamber music genres in the 21st century. Through this analysis, I suggest that Nathan's music pushed the technical, and therefore expressive boundaries of the instrument. While not exhaustive, the analysis of Cantus, Four Sculptures, and Toying will …

Optoelectronic Interactions Of Quantum Dots With Gold Nanoparticles And Bacteriorhodopsin, Terianna Wax

Doctoral Dissertations

Over the past two decades, there has been a burgeoning interest in the use of nanomaterials for device applications due to these systems displaying unique optoelectronic properties that are not seen on the bulk scale. One branch of nanostructures that has garnered attention is the field of quantum dots (QDs), which are nanoscale semiconductors that can absorb a broad, spectral range of light. Compared to traditionally used organic fluorophores, QDs exhibit numerous advantageous properties, such as high photostability, narrow emission peaks, and size tunability. There have been a profusion of studies exploring the interface between QDs with both inorganic and …

Euromodernity's Undertone: On Reconceptualizing Political Speech, Derefe Chevannes

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation contends speech is indispensable to politics. It begins with Aristotle, whose conception of political speech grounds our modern understanding. I argue the Aristotelian position is colonizing insofar as it essentializes speech as sound. The consequence is that speech becomes phonocentric, privileging a particular mode of communication. This raises the issue of Deaf subjects who engage politics in non-phonocentric ways. That is, their speech is seen in what I contend is a visual vernacular. Subsequently, I turn to the issue of race. If Deaf subjects raise questions about what it means to speak, Black subjects, who speak audibly and …

Retaining Principals Where They’Re Needed The Most: A Narrative Study Of Turnover And Retention In The Field, Michael Litke

Doctoral Dissertations

This capstone reports the findings of a narrative study examining principal turnover in priority schools/districts and the conditions that influence turnover intention. The purpose of the study was to identify factors influencing principals’ turnover intention and conditions that improve retention of quality principals. Qualitative data were collected from a sample of seven principals, each with experience working in priority schools/districts and four related central office administrators. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in person with sitting principals and central office administration. Interview questions explored participant’s career path, factors influencing job choices, as well as the conditions most valued at the school, community …

Music In Motion: Interpreting Musical Structure Through Choreography In Gershwin’S "An American In Paris", Spencer Reese

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation explores the relationship between the theoretic interpretation of music (through analysis of a score) and the kinesthetic interpretation of it (through dance). While compelling choreography often evokes the same expressive qualities as a score, music and dance each have expressive and structural components. This study examines how formal elements of a musical score are embodied in choreographic interpretation.

Gershwin’s symphonic poem An American in Paris, conceived as concert music, was almost immediately interpreted in dance. It also inspired larger narrative works, including a film choreographed by Gene Kelly and a musical helmed by Christopher Wheeldon.

Gershwin’s life …

An Evaluation Of The Intensive Case Management Program: Reducing The Court Involvement Of High Conflict Co-Parents, Jennifer Dealy

Doctoral Dissertations

High conflict co-parents engage in recurrent litigation (Neff & Cooper, 2004) that significantly strains the court system and exacerbates their conflict (Kelly, 2004; Haddad, Philips, & Bone, 2016). To date, few studies have been conducted to evaluate programs designed to reduce the conflict and recurrent litigation that occurs when high conflict couples engage in custody proceedings. Those evaluations that do exist are limited by small sample sizes, lack of comparison groups, lack of significance testing, and/ordo not include relevant methodological information for replication. Using a quasi-experimental design, the present study compared court involvement and the proportion of parenting cases whoreached …

Towards Layerless Printing In Additive Manufacturing, Radu Ioan Corcodel

Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years, Additive Manufacturing (AM) has advanced from its ubiquitous function of design validation to biomedical and biomimetic engineering, rapid tooling, tissue engineering, the arts and even food manufacturing. Though the corresponding scale reduction of the manufactured models did not coincide with improving two of the most important process characteristics, namely print accuracy and build time. This research aims to formulate a computational framework for computing the maximum build volume for given non-circular aperture extruders and printing machines that have 3, or perhaps higher numbers of degrees of freedom (DoF), and also generate suitable print head motions given heuristic …

Teachers' And Students' Perspectives Of School-Based Opportunities For Student Creativity, Laurel Brandon

Doctoral Dissertations

This mixed-methods study examined teachers’ responses on the Imagination, Creativity, and Innovation (ICI) Index instrument’s confirmatory data set (n=220). ICI Index scores represented teachers’ predictions of how students would rate their school’s support for student creativity, which was assumed to represent the teachers’ perspective of the actual support for student creativity at the school. Teachers of grades 6-8 (n=55) had significantly lower ICI Index scores than teachers of grades 3-5 (n=155; pn=151) did not differ significantly from gifted and talented teachers (n=49) on their ICI scores. Qualitative analysis found that, when asked …

Conflict And Pressures Faced By Secondary School Athletic Trainers: A Comparison Across Employment Models, Alicia M. Pike

Doctoral Dissertations

Background: Conflict, bullying, and negative workplace behavior have been a focus of the health care professions due to the negative impact on clinicians. Athletic training is no exception. Clinician-coach conflict has been highlighted in the collegiate setting, but secondary school athletic trainers’ (ATs) experiences with conflict are not well understood.

Purpose: To develop and validate an organizational conflict and workplace dynamic scale for secondary school ATs, and to assess level and source of conflict and pressure across various employment demographics.

Study Design: Cross-sectional online survey

Methods: Two separate cohorts of secondary school ATs were recruited for this study. Respondents completed …

Pathways From Cumulative Adversity To Self-Regulation And Early Student-Teacher Relationships: Identifying A Need For Trauma-Informed Preschools, Alysse Loomis

Doctoral Dissertations

The preschool setting is a natural system of care that can be leveraged to mitigate the effects of childhood adversity, such as maltreatment and violence exposure. However, school-based trauma-informed supports for preschoolers lag behind those for older children, this despite the fact that young children, and particularly low-income children in urban areas, are exposed to disproportionate rates of adversity. This body of work examines the impact of cumulative adversity on children within the preschool context and makes recommendations to aid in the development of trauma-informed preschool models. This is done through one conceptual paper and two empirical papers, derived from …

The Development Of Evidence-Based Early Child Feeding And Obesity Prevention Messages For Parents Of Children Birth To 2 Years Old, Rebecca L. Heller

Doctoral Dissertations

Early childhood obesity from birth to 2-years (B-24) is a growing public health concern. The current lack of consistent and comprehensive child feeding materials may contribute to barriers in childhood obesity prevention. The purpose of this study was to identify barriers preventing parents of B-24 from implementing optimal feeding and obesity prevention practices and develop evidence-based messages to overcome these barriers.

For Phase 1 and 2, one-on-one interviews were audio-taped, transcribed, and thematic analysis was conducted. Phase 1 interviews with healthcare, community-based, and education providers working with families of B-24 identified barriers faced when promoting obesity prevention. Providers reported parental …

The Lived Experience Of Parenting A Child With Type 1 Diabetes In Poland: Adapting To "Fighting The Windmills", Dorota Pawlak

Doctoral Dissertations

The prevalence and incidence of type 1 diabetes worldwide has significantly increased in the past few decades. This increase had been particularly evident in Poland. Type 1 diabetes has been recognized as a family disorder rather than an individual disorder. Parenting a child with type 1 diabetes is challenging and requires assimilation of child’s newfound needs into family life. The purpose of this study was to describe the meaning of parenting a child with type 1 diabetes in Poland through the lens of the parents. A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological research designed was used. Participants (N =11) were interviewed in person …

Characterization Of Graphene Oxide, Harish Kumar

Doctoral Dissertations

The conversion of graphite to graphene oxide (GO) is an effective and widely used method for solubilizing and exfoliating graphite. However, the oxidation is not uniform, and wide variations in the degree of oxidation exist between and within batches of GO. In this dissertation, we introduce an approach to both quantify the global degree of oxidation in GO and to separate GO into fractions, each with more uniform extents of oxidation. Using the formation of GO-stabilized oil-in-water emulsions, GO is separated into an emulsion fraction and a water fraction. The results find that the GO sheets that stabilize the emulsion …

Aging And Identity In The Landscape Of The Mega-Casino, Joy Ciofi

Doctoral Dissertations

Casino gambling is becoming an increasingly popular activity among retirees in the surrounding communities. This project presents the results of two years of ethnographic fieldwork (2015-2017) with senior gamblers who regularly visit two of the United States’ largest mega-casino complexes. Although this form of recreation has generated significant public concern, I argue that the overwhelming majority of older adult gamblers do so responsibly, and also receive many benefits from their casino experiences. The abundance and variety of activities within these massive, all-inclusive facilities provides elderly and retired guests with the opportunity to make plans, socialize, and stay mentally and physically …

Marriage And Family Therapist Websites: A Qualitative Content Analysis, Thomas Bischoff

Doctoral Dissertations

The positive benefits of therapy are well-established (Duberstein et al., 2018) and therapy continues to make significant strides with regard to therapeutic outcomes. However, little is known regarding client initiation processes as well as how therapists reach out to potential clients. Clients present with a variety of challenges, and researchers and clinicians struggle with creating ways to increase access to care, reach out to potential clients, and engage individuals in therapy services. Nevertheless, therapist engagement and connection with the client can have a significant impact (Sexton, Littauer, Sexton, & Tømmerås, 2005). Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are uniquely trained and …

Design Of Transition Metal Oxide And Phosphide Nanomaterials: Their Catalytic Activities, Md Mahbubur Rahman Shakil

Doctoral Dissertations

This thesis is focused on developing transition metal-based oxide and phosphide nanomaterials for catalytic application in energy conversion and the organic transformation reaction. The research projects presented in this thesis are: (1) the design and synthesis of transition metal doped ZnO catalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR), (2) the development of mesoporous FeP and CoP materials as hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) catalysts for electrochemical water splitting, and (3) the fabrication of different ZnO morphologies for coumarin synthesis by the Knoevenagel condensation.

The first chapter describes the significance and background of the three research projects. We emphasize the current challenges …

Modeling Of The Axon Plasma Membrane With The Effect Of Cytoskeleton On Its Membrane Protein Diffusion, Yihao Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

Here, we used the coarse-grain molecular dynamics (CGMD) method to establish a simulation model for the axon plasma membrane (APM) that was then used to study the mechanical properties of the APM and to investigate how the axon plasma membrane skeleton (APMS) affects diffusion of membrane proteins in the axon. Super-resolution microscopy has illustrated that the APMS consists of periodic actin ring-like structures along its length connected by spectrin tetramers and anchored to the lipid bilayer via ankyrin. Based on these experimental results, we developed a CGMD model for the APMS. In particular, the model comprises representations of periodic actin …

Regulation Of Sickle Cell Disease Specific Erythrocyte Adhesion, Jing Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

Human red blood cells (RBCs) provide essential gaseous exchanges to all body’s tissues and organs through the circulatory system. RBCs lack of nucleus and organelles provides as much room as possible for the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin. Hemoglobin composes ~98% of the soluble proteins in mature RBCs. RBCs have a biconcave shape corresponding to a large cellular surface area-to-volume ratio allowing for efficient gas exchange and increased cell deformability ensuring passage through the narrowest capillaries without rupturing and vessel obstruction. In sickle cell disease (SCD), a single point mutation occurs in the beta-globin gene, resulting in the production of abnormal hemoglobin …

Understanding Chronic Pain Trajectory In Adolescents Undergoing Spinal Fusion Surgery, Mallory Aaron Perry

Doctoral Dissertations

Each year, millions of children and adolescents undergo surgical procedures that put them at risk for experiencing persistent postsurgical pain (PPP). This dissertation focuses on identifying relationships among pre­surgical behavioral and psychosocial factors, peripheral and central pain sensitivity, and differential mRNA expression levels. The concurrent examination of each of these factors is novel and may lead to new targeted interventions to manage PPP in children undergoing spinal fusion (SF). The overall structure of this dissertation is a five-manuscript format. The outline is as follows: [1] Introduction, which introduces the aims, theoretical framework and purpose of the dissertation; [2] Integrative literature …

Methods In Studying Red Blood Cells In Sickle Cell Disease, Kostyantyn Partola

Doctoral Dissertations

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a genetically inherited blood disorder characterized by a single point mutation that produces hemoglobin S within red blood cells (RBCs). When such RBCs are deoxygenated hemoglobin S polymerizes and causes the cells to take on a sickle shape and become more viscous and stiffer than normal RBCs. The hallmark of SCD is painful vaso-occlusive crises in which the flow of blood to parts of the body is obstructed. Today, millions of people suffer from SCD around the world and life expectancy of individuals with SCD is in the 40’s. We developed several techniques to facilitate …

“Todo Es Un Interés:” Puerto Ricans, Belonging, “Race,” And Threat In Hartford, Connecticut., Bianca Paola Gonzalez-Sobrino

Doctoral Dissertations

The “ethnic competition model” (Bonacich 1972; Cunningham and Phillips 2007; Medrano 1994, Olzak 1989, 1992; Van Dyke and Soule 2002) provides a theoretical explanation for the struggles over political and economic resources between ethnic groups. Previous research on ethnic competition has found that threats emerge in highly competitive markets where different ethnic groups overlap or are perceived to overlap in a specific sector of the labor market in which workers are thought to compete for job within a zero-sum relationship (Cunningham and Phillips 2007; Medrano 1994, Olzak 1989, 1992; Van Dyke and Soule 2002). As a consequence, ethnic competition theory …

Cyber-Physical Networked Microgrids, Yan Li

Doctoral Dissertations

Power grid stability and security are challenging problems with significant economic and social impacts that have been exacerbated in recent years by the increase in extreme weather events and cyberattack concerns. Recently, networked microgrids (NMs) have become an emerging paradigm that demonstrates resiliency benefit to their local customers. U.S. DOE has envisioned that the R\&D of NMs will be the next wave of smart grid research to achieve the nation's grid modernization vision towards climate adaptation and resiliency. However, lack of awareness of stability margin, inadequate capability to respond to grid disturbances, and vulnerabilities to communication failure, delay, and cyberattacks …