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Mass Conservation Analysis For The Lower St. Johns River Using Continuous And Discontinuous Galerkin Finite Element Methods, Lillie E. Thomas

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis provides a mass conservation analysis of the Lower St. Johns River for the purpose of providing basis for future salinity transport modeling. The analysis provides an assessment of the continuous (CG) and discontinuous (DG) Galerkin finite element methods with respect to their mass conservation properties. The following thesis also presents a rigorous literature review pertaining to salinity transport in the Lower St. Johns River, from which this effort generates the data used to initialize and validate numerical simulations. Two research questions are posed and studied in this thesis: can a DG-based modeling approach produce mass conservative numerical solutions; …

A Comparison Of The Online Sexual Behavior Scores Of Persons With A Sexual Addiction, In Comparison To Persons Wondering If They Have A Sexual Addiction As Measured By The Online Sexual Addiction Questionnaire (Osa-Q), Adam Buzzinotti Purcell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study will examine the online sexual behaviors of visitors to The Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health (SASH) website (www.SASH.net). The survey was available for one year via the SASH website. The data consisting of tabulated survey results was collected via the survey link on the SASH homepage, and were electronically hosted and collected by a third party data collection website (www.surveymonkey.com). Tabulated responses totaled

N= 3,603 with responses from 37 countries on five continents. The study examines whether a difference exists between the self-reported online sexual behaviors (OSB) of those who self-identified as sexual addicts, and those …

Nutrient Removal From Urban Stormwater Using Floating Treatment Wetland System, Md Kamrul Islam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the technology advancement, degradation of water quality due to stormwater continues to be a significant threat to the water and ecosystems due to the exponential growth of industries and agricultural enterprises that discharge stormwater. These anthropogenic activities are the sources of high nitrogen and phosphorus quantities in stormwater, which is responsible for eutrophication phenomena and deterioration of public health. Floating Treatment Wetlands (FTWs) are a potential solution to this problem. Both microcosm and mesocosm level studies were conducted for the effective removal of nutrients in stormwater wet detention ponds with different sorption media under varying nutrient concentrations and weather …

Intelligent Design, Jillian Amistoso Dudziak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As human beings we are designed and created in a fabric that is profound and complex. We are built with a framework where mind and body work in a concerted effort to maintain our lives automatically. A deep and defining part of our existence as humans is not just the innate desire to live but to live in consistent well-being--emotionally, physically, and mentally. I believe when we incorporate our knowledge of human physiology into our creative process then we allow ourselves a greater opportunity to create an authentic connection with our intended audience. My work during the past three years …

Bayesian Model Selection For Classification With Possibly Large Number Of Groups, Justin Kyle Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the present dissertation is to study model selection techniques which are specifically designed for classification of high-dimensional data with a large number of classes. To the best of our knowledge, this problem has never been studied in depth previously. We assume that the number of components p is much larger than the number of samples n, and that only few of those p components are useful for subsequent classification. In what follows, we introduce two Bayesian models which use two different approaches to the problem: one which discards components which have “almost constant” values (Model 1) and …

Self-Assembly Of Amyloid Aggregates Simulated With Molecular Dynamics, Workalemahu Mikre Berhanu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amyloids are highly ordered cross-β sheet aggregates that are associated with many diseases such as Alzheimer‟s, type II diabetes and prion diseases. Recently a progress has been made in structure elucidation, environmental effects and thermodynamic properties of amyloid aggregates. However, detailed understanding of how mutation, packing polymorphism and small organic molecules influence amyloid structure and dynamics is still lacking. Atomistic modeling of these phenomena with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations holds a great promise to bridge this gap. This Thesis describes the results of MD simulations, which provide insight into the effects of mutation, packing polymorphism and molecular inhibitors on amyloid …

Productivity And Trophic Interactions In The Missouri River Impoundments, Mark J. Fincel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Standardized monitoring is a vital component of fisheries assessment in Missouri River impoundments. In South Dakota, annual variation in fish growth and abundance is used to monitor changes in fish populations and develop strategies (i.e. regulations) for managing recreational fishes. Although variation in fish abundance provides important insight into the status of fish populations, it can be difficult to link these changes to environmental conditions (i.e. hydrology) without concurrent information about reservoir productivity. Measures of nutrient concentration, algal biomass, and zooplankton composition/abundance provide important insights into reservoir productivity, but standardized approaches for collecting these measures have not been developed for …

Effects Of Block Predator Management On Duck And Pheasant Nest Success In Eastern South Dakota, Nicholas R. Docken

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nest success is the biggest limiting factor governing waterfowl production in the Prairie Pothole Region which supports greater than 50% of North America’s breeding duck population. Depredation by predators accounts for 80% or more of nest losses each year (Klett 1988). Township size block predator management (BPM) has been effective at increasing duck nest success in North Dakota and Canada, but no BPM work has been done in South Dakota. There has also been no research on the effects of BPM on pheasants. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the effectiveness of increasing duck and pheasant nest success …

Gravesend, William Boyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gravesend, a novel, is set predominantly in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn, though there are several scenes that take place in a fictional upstate town called Hawk's Nest. The novel centers around three characters: Conway D'Innocenzio, Alessandra Biagini, and Eugene Calabrese. These characters are tied together by Ray Boy Calabrese, who has recently been released from prison for his role in the brutal death of Duncan D'Innocenzio, Conway's brother, sixteen years before. Ray Boy returns and Conway, twenty-nine and working at Rite Aid, seeks revenge. Alessandra, a failed actress who has been in Los Angeles for a decade and has …

Written In Black And White: A Content Analysis Of Newspaper Coverage Of The Desegregation Of Three Flagship Public Southern Universities, Michael Alexander Patronik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to correlate agenda-setting effects of the press to newspaper coverage of public university desegregations in the southern United States in the early 1960s. Front-page news and editorial page content from the Atlanta Constitution, the Athens Banner-Herald and the Red & Black newspapers were analyzed for the 1961 desegregation of the University of Georgia. The Clarion-Ledger , the Oxford Eagle and The Mississippian newspapers were analyzed for the 1962 desegregation of the University of Mississippi. The Birmingham News, the Tuscaloosa News and the Crimson White newspapers were analyzed for the 1963 desegregation of the University …

Contextual Influences On Peer Acceptance And The Social Behavior Of Individuals With Intellectual Disabilities, Caroline Brooke Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Much attention has been paid to the social behavior of individuals with Intellectual Disability (IDs) due in part to its relevance to quality of life. Deficiencies in social skills are comamong persons with IDs and may include problem behaviors such as withdrawal, aggression, and difficulty communicating with others and social skills training programs have been developed to improve social functioning. However, these programs have generally assumed that the social behavior of persons with IDs should be the same as that of individuals without IDs, yet, relatively little is known about the nature of the relationships among individuals with IDs and …

Characterization Of Cis-Regulatory Elements Controlling Repo Transcription In Drosophila Melanogaster, Robert Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The glial cells missing (gcm) gene has been identified as a "master regulator" of glial cell fate in the fruit fly Drosophila . However, the gcm gene is also expressed in and required for the development of larval macrophages and tendon cells, and lamina neurons in the adult CNS. Thus, the Gcm protein activates the transcription of different sets of genes in different developmental contexts. How the Gcm protein regulates these different outcomes is not known. My long-term goal is to identify proteins that collaborate with Gcm to promote the transcriptional activation of Gcm target genes specifically in glial cells, …

Design, Synthesis, Biological Evaluation And Metabolic Stability Studies Of Sigma Receptor Ligands, Rohit Bhat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sigma receptors represent a unique family of proteins that includes two subtypes: sigma-1 and sigma-2. Sigma-1 receptors have been implicated in the behavioral and motivational effects of psychostimulants as well as in the pathophysiology of depression and Alzheimer's disease. Sigma-2 receptors are widely expressed on many tumor cells and they are believed to play an important role in tumor cell proliferation. Therefore, sigma receptors are attractive targets for developing pharmaceutical agents directed to the treatment of psychostimulant abuse, cancer, Alzheimer's disease as well as diagnostic agents for cancer and brain imaging. A derivatized 2(3H)-benzothiazolone, (3-(2-(azepan-1-yl)ethyl)-6-propylbenzo[ d]thiazol-2(3H)-one) was reported to have …

Population Viability Analysis Of Swift Fox (Vulpes Velox) At The Badlands National Park, Indrani Sasmal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The swift fox (Vulpes velox) was historically distributed in southwestern South Dakota including the region surrounding Badlands National Park (BNP). The species declined during the mid-1900s due to habitat fragmentation, non-target poisoning, and harvest. A remnant population occurred on USDA Forest Service lands in Fall River County, South Dakota. Following the successful reintroduction of the species in Canada (1983), a reintroduction program was initiated in BNP in the year 2003. Free-ranging swift fox from Colorado and Wyoming were translocated to BNP from 2003 to 2006. Despite these releases and observations of free-ranging swift fox occurring throughout western South Dakota, it …

Movement Patterns, Survival, And Sightability Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) In Eastern South Dakota, Kevin A. Robling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Limited information is available on white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) movements, survival, density, and resource selection in the Prairie Pothole Region of South Dakota where semi-permanent wetland densities are relatively high. Primary objectives of this study were to develop a sightability model for aerial surveying and document seasonal movement patterns and survival rates for white-tailed deer in this region. Secondary objectives were to calculate seasonal home ranges, daily and seasonal movements relative to management unit boundaries, determine cause specific mortality, and evaluate summer and winter resource use and selection. From February 2009 – February 2010, 43 adult female white-tailed deer along …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel Agrofungicides Based On Naturally Occurring Pbdes, Robert Alexander Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cyanobacterial symbionts of Indo Pacific marine sponges, e.g. Dysidea sp., produce hydroxylated (OH-) polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PDBEs) which likely function as chemical deterrents owing to their antifungal and antibacterial properties. Limiting the therapeutic potential and agricultural use of these antimicrobial natural products are the negative connotations associated with non hydroxylated anthropogenic PBDEs. Anthropogenic PBDEs are pervasive global pollutants used as flame retardant additives in many household goods, e.g. furniture, textiles, and electronics. These molecules have a propensity to bioaccumulate in living organisms, they easily traverse the trophic food chains, they are readily passed from mother to offspring, and many of …

The Gay Of The Land: Queer Ecology And The Literature Of The 1960s, Jill Elizabeth Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue not only that queer ecology is a legitimate and important next step for ecocritics and queer theorists but also that its literary application does a great amount of good in exploring and dismantling the natural/unnatural binary and exposing the ecological impact of the choices humans make everyday. I take as my method a combination of queer and environmental theory and literary criticism, as well as the foundational queer ecocritical works and include important historical and political perspectives influencing the emergence of the environmental and gay and lesbian movements. Through this dissertation, I legitimize more recent …

Invasion Of Hurricane-Disturbed Scrub Communities On Barrier Islands In Mississippi: A Battle Between Native And Non-Native Ecosystem Engineers, Christine Annette Bertz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Some communities may resist invasion because they are dominated by ecosystem engineers. If these dominant species are removed by some catastrophic disturbance, they can be replaced by invasive species that will dramatically alter the ecosystem in a way that may prevent its recovery. I tested several hypotheses related to this idea within barrier island scrub communities dominated by Florida rosemary (Ceratiola ericoides Michx.). Hurricanes represent a major source of disturbance to coastal Florida rosemary communities, and individual rosemary shrubs in three populations recently impacted by major hurricanes were not protected from the storm surge at higher elevation. Unlike inland populations …

Large Margin Random Forests On Mixed Type Data, Sheng Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Incorporating various sources of biological information is important for biological discovery. For example, genes have a multi-view representation. They can be represented by features such as sequence length and physical-chemical properties. They can also be represented by pairwise similarities, gene expression levels, and phylogenetics position. Hence, the types vary from numerical features to categorical features. An efficient way of learning from observations with a multi-view representation of mixed type of data is thus important. We propose a large margin random forests classification approach based on random forests proximity. Random forests accommodate mixed data types naturally. Large margin classifiers are obtained …

Midwives Of Mississippi, Lane Noel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Across the United States as late as 1910, midwives delivered half of all babies. Their practice was primarily among women of white European descent and African American women of the South. The practice of midwifery was commonplace in Mississippi. Together, black midwives and white nurses would help to implement a new public healthcare structure in Mississippi during the 1920s. Records of the Mississippi State Board of Health together with letters from midwives and public health nurses' reports put midwives at the heart of the story of public health reform. Already held in high esteem by their own communities, midwives came …

Improving Sample Collection Of Trace Particles Of Mock Explosive On Nano Coated Sensor, Daniel Woldemichael Yebo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In protection against explosive-based terrorism, development and mass deployment of miniature sensors can play a tremendous role. In trace explosive detection, one of the challenges is bringing explosive vapor samples from the environment to the sensor element. Such collection of a selective and sufficient amount of air sample will enable the device detect the explosive at lower concentration. This can be done by adsorption of the explosive vapor on a substrate. This research implements the idea by developing a nano coated sensor on a lead zirconate titanate (PZT) substrate. The effects of varying the amount of polyethyleneimine in the nano …

Food And Identity: A Case Study Of Roman Soldiers And Native Civilians In Roman Britain, Aaron Michael Bobik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Food is a universal medium through which identity is expressed. In cultures both past and present, food represents a direct way to communicate many aspects of identity such as ethnicity, nationality, status, age, and gender. In archaeology, while the nutritional and economic roles of food have been a topic of study for decades, the relationship between food and identity is a research area largely in its infancy. In my thesis, I explore general aspects of identity in the past, and in particular, I utilize a case study of four archaeological sites (Segontium (Caernarfon), Portchester Castle, Wavendon Gate, and Dragonby) to …

Starved: Food Deserts In The Mississippi Delta, Novelette L. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the impact of food deserts on obesity, and builds a case for additional research on rural food deserts independent from urban ones. The Mississippi Delta consistently presents the highest obesity rates within the state, yet both the third unhealthiest county (Quitman) and the healthiest (DeSoto) are located in that region. One of the reasons there is such a large discrepancy between the health rankings of DeSoto and Quitman counties is that DeSoto is contained within the Greater Memphis Metropolitan Area, but Quitman is entirely rural. Previous research has focused on the prevalence of urban food deserts and …

Effects Of Tornado Damage, Prescribed Fire, And Salvage Logging On Oak (Quercus Spp.) Saplings In Upland Oak Forests In Northern Mississippi, Jeffery B. Cannon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

After European colonization and extensive logging folloby long periods of fire suppression, oak dominated forests, woodlands, and savannahs are being replaced by an unprecedented forest ecosystem. In Mississippi, these new forest systems are dominated in the mid- and understory by mesophytic species such as red maple (Acer rubrum L.) and sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua L.). Partial thinning of trees folloby prescribed fire can regenerate oaks in managed timber stands. A severe tornado occurred on a monitored oak stand in northern Mississippi. Of the damaged plots, some were treated with either prescribed fire or salvage logging or were left alone. I examined …

Fit Of The Tripartite Model With Residential Youth Referred For Externalizing Problems, Eu Gene Chin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The tripartite model of anxiety and depression (Clark & Watson, 1991) has received strong support among adult, adolescent, and child populations. Clinical samples of children and adolescents in these studies, however, have usually been referred for treatment of anxiety and depression. This study investigated the fit of the tripartite model for children and adolescents in a large, inpatient facility who were referred primarily for externalizing problems. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the tripartite model relationship between negative affect, positive affect, and mood symptoms. Multiple fit indices were used to provide a reliable and conservative evaluation of the model. …

The Influences Of Gender And Race On The Attachment Styles Within A Criminal Population, Morgan Litchfield Bryant

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study utilizes tenets of attachment theory to examine how patterns of relating to parental figures vary according to the race and gender of subjects residing in a correctional facility. The study can perhaps influence rehabilitation services within the prison system and modify anti-recidivism programs attended by individuals released from a correctional facility. Second year doctoral students originally collected the data. The participants in the study were given the Adult Scale of Parental Attachment (ASPA) and a general questionnaire in an effort to gather information regarding race, gender, and patterns of relating. The participants were above the age of 18, …

Good Neighbors: Agents Of Change In The New Rural South, 1900 To 1940, Thomas Wayne Copeland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work paints an intimate portrait of rural people who lived in the hill counties of northeast Mississippi and southwest Arkansas between 1900 and 1940. Howard County, Arkansas and Union County, Mississippi serve as the representative counties for each hill-country region. Howard County is located in the foothills of the Ouachita Mountains, and Union County is located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. This study identifies who in the rural communities was most responsible for bringing positive changes to their communities, questions what motivated their efforts, and evaluates their successes and failures. To this end, the work first examines …

The Heavy Hand Of Government: An Economic Study Of Obesity, Kanybek Imanakovich Sagynbekov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although there is extensive theoretical and empirical coverage of the incentive effect of an income tax on labor supply in the economics literature, there is no study of the secondary behavioral effects of an income tax. In this thesis, I explore the relationship among income, marginal income tax, and body weight. Namely, I show that under general conditions the Engel curve for the optimal weight is an inverted U-shaped function and the effect of the marginal income tax upon weight is non-linear. The empirical investigation uses two datasets: a panel dataset with 459 state-level observations for US states from 1992 …

The Relationship Of Teacher Efficacy, Teacher Experience, And Teacher Grade Level Within The Implementation Process Of Behavioral Interventions, Irene Walton Turnage

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between teacher efficacy, years of teaching experience, and grade level taught in three school districts in north Mississippi. The study used a mixed method research design that included a QUAN?qual process for data analysis. As part of the design, quantitative data collection was the priority method for the study folloby qualitative data collection to continue to explore the results from the quantitative section. For the quantitative portion of the study, participants included 123 elementary, middle, and high school teachers who completed the Teachers’ Sense of Efficacy Scale to measure teacher efficacy. For the qualitative portion …

Pharmacokinetic Evaluation Of A Novel Compound, Sn79, A Putative Sigma-2 Receptor Antagonist, By Intravenous And Oral Administration In Rats, Harsha Vinnakota

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Considering the alarming rates at which substance drug abuse, especially cocaine, is increasing in today's society, there is a lot of impetus on the development of medications that can effectively help alleviate its toxicity and addiction. The affinity of cocaine to sigma receptors (sigma-1 and sigma-2) rendered the hypothesis that blocking sigma receptors could be a possible mechanism to attenuate cocaine-induced toxicity and addiction. In this view, SN79, a synthetic compound with selectivity to both sigma-1 and sigma-2 receptors garnered our attraction for its use as an antagonist. This dissertation encompasses detailed investigation of SN79 from drug discovery and development …