Digital Commons Network^™

Transgenerational Transmission Of Trauma In Second Generation Latino Children And Adolescents, Ricardo Phipps

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the impact that immigration-related trauma has upon families, particularly second-generation immigrant children in the Latino-American community in the United States, and the possibility that second-generation immigrant Latinos are vulnerable to transgenerational trauma. Transgenerational trauma involves the exhibition of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in subsequent generations in families with histories of trauma exposure. Multiple linear regression was conducted to explore the existence of a correlation between PTSD and depression in second-generation Latino immigrant children and adolescents with a myriad of potentially predicting factors. Enhanced understanding of how trauma can affect the children of traumatized immigrants will add …

The Beowulf Poet's Accommodation Of Pre-Christian Germanic Culture, Walter Beverly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues for the Beowulf poet's more accommodating perspective on pre-Christian Germanic culture, when examined in comparison to other, later Germanic authors of works such as Icelandic sagas and Danish pseudo-history. The primary components of Beowulf I address to argue for this point are the poet's incorporation of pagan Germanic cosmology, and his rendering of Beowulf according to two different heroic types in Germanic literature, those being the model thane and the model king.

Uneven Ground: Figurations Of The Rural Modern In The U.S. South, 1890-1945, Benjamin S. Child

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

New modernist studies has opened wide the discussion about what modernism means, when it begins, and, compellingly for the purposes of this project, where it occurs. Exploring intersections between modernization, modernism, labor, and segregation in the agricultural South, this dissertation demonstrates how the effects of nascent industrialization, emergent technologies, and "modern" thought are animated by figures and spaces associated with--or performing--versions of rurality. The project is divided into three major sections. In the first, I suggest that the contradictions of African American life in the post-Reconstruction world are parsed in the period's literature through the presence of a veiled georgic …

The Space Between, Aaron Joseph Mcelfish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This series of abstracted landscapes is a visual representation of a challenge to step outside of my comfort zone. The paintings are an expression of emotions never before presented in the artist's work. The series expresses the visceral sensation of isolation, anger, and solace experienced throughout the creation of the work. The abstracted landscapes are an expression of the journey from anger and frustration to a path towards understanding and enlightenment. In the early stages, there were no tangible plans, just painting on tar-paper. The work then evolved to black and white latex paints built up over joint compound and …

The Effects Of Carbonated Soft Drinks On Bone Mineral Density In College Age Women, Tina Irene Bankston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoporosis is a fast growing, worldwide public health problem. Also called, 'the silent disease' or 'fragile bone disease', osteoporosis results from low bone mass (Gammage & Klentrou, 2011; NOF, 2013; Swann, 2012). Currently, 44 million Americans have osteoporosis; 80% of which are women (NOF, 2011). Few studies, most implemented in other countries, have been conducted examining the consumption of carbonated soft drinks (CSD) as a risk factor for low bone mineral density (BMD) (Ogur et al., 2007; Hostmark et al., 2011; McGartland et al., 2003). The global consumption of CSDs increased by four percent during 2009 to 2010. Within the …

Stop Making Sense: Exploring Basic Properties And Clinical Applications Of Coherence, Michael James Bordieri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the ways in which people make sense of ambiguous tasks and the degree to which people prefer contexts where coherent responding is possible. Relational frame theory contains a foundational assumption that coherence (i.e., making sense) is reinforcing for verbally competent humans. That is, it is assumed that humans relate ambiguous stimuli in ways that go together because they have an extensive learning history where others have given praise, positive attention, and other reinforcement for this behavior. This study was designed to empirically investigate this core assumption of relational frame theory by analyzing response patterns to ambiguous stimuli …

Mongolian Folklore Expressed Through Music Technology Original Multimedia Soundtrack On Horseback, Xinlei Chu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

I returned to my hometown and recorded Mongolian folk music- Mongolian Long Song and Mongolian Throat Singing. I wanted to combine technology and traditional folk music and write an electronic piece based on Mongolian vocal materials. I used what I've sampled, manipulated the sounds, composed the music, gathered the videos together and created this multimedia piece - On Horseback. The names of the four movements - Sand, Cloud, Water, and Fire - are four elements that I chose to represent the lifestyle in Inner Mongolia.

This thesis covers the journey of how I created this piece. I've explored many variations …

Molecular Evolution Of Hominoid Primates: Phylogeny And Regulation, Ranajit Das

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The complete mtDNA of one eastern gorilla was sequenced to provide the most accurate date for the mitochondrial divergence of gorillas. The most recent common ancestor of eastern lowland and western lowland gorillas existed about 1.9 million years ago, slightly more recent than that of chimpanzee and bonobo. This study also depicts that the eastern and western gorillas show species level genetic divergence.

Hominoid mating systems differ tremendously. The level of sperm competition varies according to the mating system, which presumably imposes unique selective pressures on the seminal proteins of each species. Cartilage acidic protein 1 (CRTAC1) was identified in …

Black Existential Philosophy: Truth In Virtue Of Self-Discovery, James B. Haile

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the past 20 years, within the discipline of philosophy there has been a burgeoning interest in the fields of Race theory, Africana, and African American philosophy, especially in the scholarship and questions concerning the experience and meaning of black existence; that is, within black existential philosophy. Despite this interest, though, there has yet to be a sustained study of the categories of black existential philosophy nor its concepts--there seems to have been the acceptance of traditional European existential categories and concepts merely applied to the questions of black existence. This work, though, offers a sustained examination of the existential …

Is Wrong Life All That Is Possible? Adorno And Aquinas On Ethics, Benjamin Hampshire

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Theodor Adorno's ethical thought is encapsulated in his famous aphorism "Wrong life cannot be lived rightly." This dissertation explicates this alarming declaration, revealing the metaphysical, epistemological, and anthropological analyses that place Adorno's ethical thought into this intractable predicament. I argue that Adorno's ethical thought, while of absolute importance and worthy of consideration, can be moved forward through an engagement with the ethical thought of Thomas Aquinas, toward the possibility of right life.

A Phenomenological Analysis Of The Relationship Between Intersubjectivity And Imagination In Hannah Arendt, Kazue Koishikawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation is a phenomenological analysis of the relationship between intersubjectivity and imagination in Hannah Arendt. The objective of my dissertation is to demonstrate that Arendt has a theory of imagination that provides a substratum to explain her key notions such as "action," "freedom" "beginning," "history," "power," "understanding," "appearance," "space of appearance," and "judgment." In other words, my dissertation shows that not only are these notions related, and not only do they characterize Arendt's account of the political life as fundamentally intersubjective, but they are also derived from her peculiar understanding of imagination that arises within the phenomenological legacy.

The …

The Role Of Erk5 In Dopamine Neuronal Survival, Mayur Parmar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERKs) 1, 2, and 5 play important physiological roles in neurogenesis, neutrite outgrowth, and neuronal viability in the central nervous system. In this study, ERK1, 2, and 5 expression and activation were examined in the substantia nigra (SN), striatum (STR), and ventral tegmental area (VTA) during postnatal development and normal aging using western blot analysis. An age-related decrease in phosphorylated/activated ERK5 (p-ERK5) was observed in the SN and STR, whereas an increase in total ERK1 was observed in all three regions. Higher expression of total and phosphorylated ERK5 was observed at postnatal day zero (PND0) in …

Methodology For Trace And Ultratrace Analysis Of Primary Amines, Sean Christopher Pawlowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the study of lipids, or "lipidomics," methods for the separation and identification of specific trace compounds are highly sought. Microdroplet techniques have allowed for the ability to handle and detect these trace amounts. The use of low volumes allows for a decrease of the effective mean free path allowing chemical reactions to be carried out efficiently at lower concentrations by performing the reactions in microdroplets as opposed to bulk containers. Microdroplets created on microfluidic devices as segmented flow plugs have the advantage of efficient mixing and minimal dilution or dispersion relative to other nanoliter scale capillary reaction methods. The …

The Search For Novel Antibiotic Compounds Through Molecular Modeling And Structure-Function Analysis Of Cspe In E. Coli K12, Andre Duane Samuel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Escherichia coli K12 has the capacity to express nine Csp (Cold shock-related protein) gene products (CspA-I). These proteins share between 29 and 83 percent identity in their amino acid sequences and only one, CspA, has a solved crystal structure. One of the Csps shown to be involved in chromosome condensation is a 6.3 kDa protein called CspE and deletion studies of its homologues in Bacillus subtilis show that at least one of the Csp proteins is required for cell viability. All of the Csp proteins studied to date bind to single stranded nucleic acids. Knowing that at least one of …

Design And Synthesis Of Pyrimidine Fused Heterocycles As Single Agents With Combination Chemotherapy Potential, Roheeth Pavana

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the design, synthesis and biological evaluation of pyrimidine fused heterocycles as single agents with combination chemotherapy potential. Major limitations of cancer chemotherapy include dose limiting toxicities of clinically used agents and the development of multidrug resistance by the tumor. Agents that interfere with microtubules are important antitumor agents. Tumor angiogenic mechanisms that are vital for tumor growth and metastasis are targeted by antiangiogenic agents. Antiangiogenic agents are usually not tumoricidal but are mainly cytostatic. Combination chemotherapy with antiangiogenic and cytotoxic agents have shown significant promise and several studies with such combinations are in progress in the clinic. …

Dopamine Transporter (Dat), Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (Nachr), And Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 (Mglu2) Irreversible Probes For Identifying Anti-Psychostimulant Therapeutics, Shaili Aggarwal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Numerous in vitro and in vivo studies implicate that certain ligands that interact with DAT, nAChRs, and mGlu2 have tremendous potential as anti-addiction therapeutics. However, understanding how these promising anti-addiction compounds interact with their major drug targets at the molecular level is limited because of the absence of human DAT, nAChRs, and mGlu2 x-ray crystal structures. This knowledge gap is important towards rationally designing new therapeutics for psychostimulant abuse and addiction. The objective of this research was to develop irreversible chemical probes based on promising anti-addiction lead compounds (i.e., pyrovalerone, bupropion, BINA, etc) to map their binding sites and poses …

Dopamine Transporter (Dat) And Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 5 (Mglu5) Irreversible Probes For Identifying Anti-Psychostimulant Therapeutics, Ranganadh Velagaleti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Numerous behavioral studies indicate that dopamine transporter (DAT) inhibitors and metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5) negative allosteric modulators (NAMs) possess promising anti-addiction therapeutic properties. However, the lack of human DAT (hDAT) and mGlu5 X-ray crystal structures makes it difficult to understand how these promising anti-addiction compounds interact with their major drug targets at the molecular level. This knowledge gap represents an important problem towards rationally designing new therapeutics for numerous addiction disorders. The objective of this research was to develop irreversible chemical probes based on select DAT inhibitors and mGlu5 NAMs in order to map the corresponding binding sites and …

Factors Influencing Nurses' Intentions To Provide Weight Management Education To Hospitalized Obese Adults, Milissa Volino

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Obesity is a sensitive, global health problem that impacts individuals of all ages and places individuals at risk for various chronic health problems. Nurses caring for hospitalized obese clients are in a prime position to provide them with timely information on weight management. This study utilized an exploratory sequential mixed method design to examine medical-surgical nurses' intentions to provide weight management education to hospitalized obese adults and the factors that influence nurses' intentions.

In phase 1, a focus group interview guide and nurse demographic form (NDF) were developed. Focus groups were conducted and analysis resulted in the creation of 15 …

Communication And Response-Ability: Levinas And Kierkegaard In Conversation, Beth A. Walter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project contends that hope for ethical communication in a postmodern age lies in the ability to rethink ethics in terms of "existential pathos." To that end, this study locates communicative responsibility in the responsive element of the self-other relation by relying primarily on the work of the twentieth-century Lithuanian-born French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. I maintain that Levinas's disruption of the philosophical tradition informs a communication ethic comprised of dialectical, dialogical, and rhetorical modes of interpersonal interaction that are fundamentally rooted in an existential understanding of human striving. Further, I assert that these dialectical, dialogical and rhetorical components are best …

Effects Of Nanosilver And Silver Nitrate Exposure On Fathead Minnows (Pimephales Promelas) And Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Adam D. Hawkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) due to their unique antimicrobial properties are among the most widely utilized nanoparticle. Because of the nature of the products that utilize AgNPs, environmental release of AgNPs is inevitable. At greatest risk is the aquatic ecosystem due to known toxicity of the Ag + ion to aquatic organisms. Our goal was to use two fish models, fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas; FHMs) and zebrafish ( Danio rerio; ZFs), to study the effects of AgNPs on gill histopathology, Na+/K+-ATPase immunoreactivity, mucus production, bioaccumulation, particle uptake characterization, gill gene expression, and lethality in varying water parameters in comparison to the …

Childhood Growth In An Oneota Community: Examining Long Bone Growth Differences In The The Juveniles At Norris Farms 36, Whitney Broughton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oneota migration into the central Illinois River valley around ad 1300 resulted in a number of different interactions with Mississippian groups. Milner and colleagues (1991) identified significant numbers of perimortem injuries at the Norris farms 36 cemetery, along with biological markers for poor health, such as cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis. They suggested that the threat of violence may have forced the Oneonta at Morton village to limit subsistence activities to circumscribed areas close to the settlement, thereby reducing the resource base and negatively impacting the health of the community. However, recent research (Bengtson et al. 2012; Bengtson and O'Gorman …

Cohonina Social Organization And The Role Of Forts In Integration And Interaction: A View From The Pittsberg Community., Travis Brent Cureton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the role of "forts" in the sociopolitical organization of a prehistoric people known as the Cohonina through the application of settlement systems analysis and functional studies. The primary objective of this thesis is to test ideas of Cohonina sociopolitical organization through an examination of the functional characteristics of forts and their positions on the landscape using a combination of theory derived from settlement and landscape archaeology, deployed in a geographic information system work environment. A Cohonina fort site known as the Pittsberg Fort Complex, was placed in its community context through broad scale survey. Artifact, architectural, and …

How We Teach Psychology: A National Survey Of Empirically Supported Teaching Techniques In Undergraduate Instruction, Joshua C. Fulwiler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research from a wide range of psychological disciplines has focused on understanding the teaching methods that most effectively promote learning. Despite a wealth of literature demonstrating the effectiveness of various teaching methods, the prevalence of these methods in contemporary college psychology courses has not yet been examined. To fill this gap, the current study surveyed undergraduate psychology instructors on methods implemented in their classrooms. Distributed to 448 institutions of higher learning, this online survey sought to provide a preliminary picture of the modern teaching landscape. In order to provide the most objective standard of comparison among these different institutions, frequency …

Design And Analysis Of Reconfigurable Sensing Antennas For Wireless Sensing Applications, Qian Qiao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reconfiguration sensing antenna (rsa) is a novel antenna concept, which not only can transmit or receive radio waves but also can sense the surrounding environment. The environment sensing is realized by reconfiguring the antenna's characteristics, such as resonant frequency, and radar cross section (rcs). The rsas possess the advantages of passive and low cost, which make them suitable for the large-scale wireless sensing networks (wsns) deployment. In this dissertation, the rsas concept is demonstrated, and two sensing mechanisms performed in the rsas are investigated. In order to verify these sensing mechanisms, four rsas are designed, analyzed, and measured. All the …

Bottling Hell: Myth-Making, Cultural Identity And The Datil Pepper Of St. Augustine, Florida, Anna Hamilton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis interrogates the datil pepper (capsicum chinense) as a potent cultural symbol against a backdrop of heritage tourism in St. Augustine, Florida, widely known as "the nation's oldest city." the datil is a locally popular and regionally unique heirloom pepper endemic to St. Augustine and the surrounding environs. A romantic origin story and local lore are embedded on this spicy pepper, tying it to north Florida's Minorcan population, a group descended from indentured workers brought to the area in the late 1700s. The prominence of this mythology speaks to heritage tourism's demand for consumable cultural emblems, and the datil …

Preparation, Characterization, And Delivery Of Antibodies Binding To A Model Oncogenic Rna, Human Initiator Trna, Jennifer Archer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) account for a higher percent of the genome than coding mRNAs, and are implicated in human disease such as cancer, neurological, cardiac and many others. While the majority of ncRNAs involved in disease were originally attributed to a class of RNAs called micro RNAs (miRNAs) with a small size of only about 19 -24 base pairs, emerging research has now demonstrated a class of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that have a size of over 200 base pairs to be responsible for gene regulation and other functional roles and have also found to contribute to pathogenesis in humans. …

Creating Constructs Through Categorization: Gender And Race, Joshua Simpkins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In U.S. society, the systems of gender and race operate to privilege and oppress individuals based on their location within these systems. All of the interactions an individual experiences as they go about their day-to-day lives are shaped by these interlocking systems. As a result, there is an extensive body of sociological literature addressing how individuals in U.S. society are privileged and oppressed on the basis of their perceived membership in gender and race categories; however, relatively little research exists examining how individuals come to be seen by others as members of gender and race categories in the first place. …

Functional Scaffolding For Musical Composition: A New Approach In Computer-Assisted Music Composition, Amy K. Hoover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While it is important for systems intended to enhance musical creativity to define and explore musical ideas conceived by individual users, many limit musical freedom by focusing on maintaining musical structure, thereby impeding the user's freedom to explore his or her individual style. This dissertation presents a comprehensive body of work that introduces a new musical representation that allows users to explore a space of musical rules that are created from their own melodies. This representation, called functional scaffolding for musical composition (FSMC), exploits a simple yet powerful property of multipart compositions: The pattern of notes and rhythms in different …

A Framework For Workforce Management An Agent Based Simulation Approach, Mario Marin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today's advanced technology world, enterprises are in a constant state of competition. As the intensity of competition increases the need to continuously improve organizational performance has never been greater. Managers at all levels must be on a constant quest for finding ways to maximize their enterprises' strategic resources. Enterprises can develop sustained competitiveness only if their activities create value in unique ways. There should be an emphasis to transfer this competitiveness to the resources it has on hand and the resources it can develop to be used in this environment. The significance of human capital is even greater now, …

Examining Emotional Responses To Effective Versus Ineffective Virtual Buddies, Kathleen Ingraham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore the impact of virtual character design on user emotional experience and user behavior in a simulated environment. With simulation training increasing in popularity as a tool for teaching social skills, it is essential that social interactions in virtual environments provide authentic opportunities for practice (Swartout et al., 2006). This study used Interactive Performance Theory (Wirth, 2012) to examine the effect of designing a virtual buddy character with ineffective traits instead of effective or expert traits. The sample population for this study (n = 145) consisted of first year university students enrolled …