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Dead Wood And Decomposition In A Tropical Forest : Vertical Patterns, Long-Term Processes, And The Role Of Lightning., Evan Matthew Gora Aug 2018

Dead Wood And Decomposition In A Tropical Forest : Vertical Patterns, Long-Term Processes, And The Role Of Lightning., Evan Matthew Gora

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the distribution, production, and decomposition of dead wood (or woody debris) in a lowland tropical forest within the Barro Colorado Nature Monument in Panama. Although the importance of woody debris is widely accepted, information describing components of WD pools and fluxes is generally separated in both time and space, particularly in understudied tropical forests. Here I provide a comprehensive inventory of woody debris in a lowland tropical forest (Chapter 1). Woody debris is highly aggregated and difficult to quantify, and this study demonstrates that historic estimates of woody debris pools and fluxes underestimate their uncertainty. In a …


An Examination Of The Linkages Between Climate, Engagement, And Wellbeing In Higher Education., Ebo Kobena Atomo Osam Aug 2018

An Examination Of The Linkages Between Climate, Engagement, And Wellbeing In Higher Education., Ebo Kobena Atomo Osam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research coalescing around psychological climate, engagement, and wellbeing has been receiving considerable attention in management and HRD literature recently. However, research associated with these variables has generally been limited to for-profit businesses and organizations with little of note done using higher educational institutions. Thus, this cross sectional research study examined the extent to which psychological climate, engagement, and wellbeing are associated with each other in higher educational institutions. The study begins with an overview of how these variables have been identified as being connected with each other in research and practice, as well as discusses context specific factors in higher …


First Semester Academic Functioning Of College Students : The Role Of Stressful And Traumatic Life Events., Ashlee J. Warnecke Aug 2018

First Semester Academic Functioning Of College Students : The Role Of Stressful And Traumatic Life Events., Ashlee J. Warnecke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A large number of the nearly 20 million students who were attending American colleges in 2015 will not graduate. One factor that may affect the success of students is the influence of past experiences, including past adversity, or exposure to traumatic or non-traumatic stressors. The present study sought to better describe and understand the role of stress/trauma history in college students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The potential relationship this history has with academic outcomes was explored. Additionally, as not all students with a history of stressful and traumatic life events struggle academically, self-reported resilience, as well as resiliency factors, were …


Does Rumination Mediate The Relationship Between Everyday Discrimination And Blood Pressure?, Sarah J. Roane Aug 2018

Does Rumination Mediate The Relationship Between Everyday Discrimination And Blood Pressure?, Sarah J. Roane

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Social stressors, such as perceived discrimination, account for some health disparities by triggering a series of physiological responses (Selye, 1955) which may be prolonged by perseverative cognition such as rumination (Brosschot et al., 2005). In the current study, I investigated whether everyday discrimination is positively associated with both brooding or reflection rumination in Black/African American (AA) individuals, as well as whether brooding or reflection rumination mediate the potential associations between everyday discrimination and blood pressure. Data were collected from a community college sample and analyses were conducted using the whole sample (N = 286; 57.3% female; 51.6% White and 29.8% …


The ‘Just City’ Or Just A City? : Evaluating Social Justice And Equity In Planning Education., Wes Grooms Aug 2018

The ‘Just City’ Or Just A City? : Evaluating Social Justice And Equity In Planning Education., Wes Grooms

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary evaluations of accredited planning education performance have eschewed the principles and methodologies of formal program evaluation and performance management. This dissertation tests hypotheses that this contributes to the lack of social equity and justice commitment, content, and inquiry on the part of accredited graduate planning degree programs, their clients, and administrators. The organizations, resources, and processes involved in the purveyance of accredited graduate planning education were conceptualized as a singular, evaluable program and illustrated in a series of program logic models. These models revealed sources of the inattentiveness to normative issues that past evaluations have evidenced, and informed assertions …


Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing Process Fundamentals And The Resultant Influences On Part Quality., Hadi Miyanaji Aug 2018

Binder Jetting Additive Manufacturing Process Fundamentals And The Resultant Influences On Part Quality., Hadi Miyanaji

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Binder jetting additive manufacturing (BJ-AM) technology is a process by which a part is fabricated layer by layer through depositing liquid binder in the designated regions of each layer until the feature is complete. Due to the use of binder in geometry generation, this process possesses various advantages over the other additive manufacturing technologies including the ability to create colored objects via colored binders, lower cost, lack of heat-induced defects, and its potential capability to print a variety of materials such as metals, sands and ceramics. Although the application of the binder jetting process has been recently reported by different …


Developments In Multivariate Post Quantum Cryptography., Jeremy Robert Vates Aug 2018

Developments In Multivariate Post Quantum Cryptography., Jeremy Robert Vates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ever since Shor's algorithm was introduced in 1994, cryptographers have been working to develop cryptosystems that can resist known quantum computer attacks. This push for quantum attack resistant schemes is known as post quantum cryptography. Specifically, my contributions to post quantum cryptography has been to the family of schemes known as Multivariate Public Key Cryptography (MPKC), which is a very attractive candidate for digital signature standardization in the post quantum collective for a wide variety of applications. In this document I will be providing all necessary background to fully understand MPKC and post quantum cryptography as a whole. Then, I …


Cross-Validation Of The Body Compassion Scale In A Sample Of Women In Perimenopause., Jennifer K. Altman Aug 2018

Cross-Validation Of The Body Compassion Scale In A Sample Of Women In Perimenopause., Jennifer K. Altman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a cross-validation of the Body Compassion Scale (BCS) to confirm its factor structure and to assess concurrent validity in women in perimenopause. Body compassion is a construct developed by the author referring to the level of compassion with which an individual relates to her body. It is based in contemporary mindfulnessand acceptance-based conceptual models. The body is central to the experience of women in perimenopause. Moreover, this important transition has been largely medicalized— with little attention given to experiential aspects of this natural phase of life. A total of 281 women in perimenopause completed online questionnaires assessing …


A Clinically Relevant Mouse Model Of Cisplatin-Induced Kidney Injury., Cierra Nichole Sharp Aug 2018

A Clinically Relevant Mouse Model Of Cisplatin-Induced Kidney Injury., Cierra Nichole Sharp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cisplatin is a potent chemotherapeutic used for the treatment of many solid cancers, including testicular, ovarian, and lung cancer. Cisplatin causes many adverse side effects, of which nephrotoxicity leading to acute kidney injury is dose-limiting. Approximately 30% of patients will develop nephrotoxicity with cisplatin, and will either have their next dose of cisplatin lowered, skipped, or be switched to a less nephrotoxic chemotherapeutic altogether. These outcomes are not ideal when trying to treat cancer. Previously, it was believed that patients could recover from cisplatin-induced acute kidney injury with little to no lasting effects, but recent longitudinal studies have shown this …


Examining The Temporal Directionality Between Teaching Behavior And Affect In High School Students., Bridget Cauley Aug 2018

Examining The Temporal Directionality Between Teaching Behavior And Affect In High School Students., Bridget Cauley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous empirical studies demonstrate a cross-sectional association between teaching behaviors and students’ positive and negative affect and depressive symptoms. However, only one study comprised only of middle school students has examined the temporal direction of these associations, meaning the temporal direction of associations for high school students remains unclear. Therefore, this two-wave study with high school students investigated the temporal direction of the associations between teaching behaviors and students’ positive and negative affect. Participating students from one public high school (N = 188; 88.8% White; 69.7% female) completed the Teaching Behavior Questionnaire and the Positive Affect and Negative Affect …


Self-Monitoring To Increase On-Task Behavior Using The Motivaider®, Connie Summey Aug 2018

Self-Monitoring To Increase On-Task Behavior Using The Motivaider®, Connie Summey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers often need simple ways to implement effective classroom interventions that reduce off-task behaviors for students with or without ADHD (Gaastra, Groen, Tucha, & Tucha, 2016). One intervention that is easy to use and can be implemented with minimal demand on teachers is self-monitoring (Amato-Zech, Hoff, & Doepke, 2006). One prompt that can be used in the classroom for self-monitoring is the MotivAider. The MotivAider is an electronic timer that vibrates to provide a tactile prompt to self-monitor (Amato-Zech et al., 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which the MotivAider, a tactile self-monitoring device, …


Modeling The Innovation Ecosystem And Development Of A Dynamic Innovation Index, Henriette Schoen Aug 2018

Modeling The Innovation Ecosystem And Development Of A Dynamic Innovation Index, Henriette Schoen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topic of innovation currently generates a tremendous amount of interest around the world. Innovation is considered an essential part of the solution to creating more jobs and improving the socio-economic conditions of many countries around the globe. Innovation comes about through the existence of many interrelated solutions to socio-economic problems in an extensively interconnected network, which create value for each other. Such a complex creativity and innovation value-creating network is here called an Innovation Ecosystem (IE). The main objective of this dissertation research is to improve the current understanding of the IE by developing a simulation model that uses …


Methods For Online Feature Selection For Classification Problems, Alaleh Razmjoo Aug 2018

Methods For Online Feature Selection For Classification Problems, Alaleh Razmjoo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Online learning is a growing branch of machine learning which allows all traditional data mining techniques to be applied on an online stream of data in real-time. In this dissertation, we present three efficient algorithms for feature ranking in online classification problems. Each of the methods are tailored to work well with different types of classification tasks and have different advantages. The reason for this variety of algorithms is that like other machine learning solutions, there is usually no algorithm which works well for all types of tasks. The first method, is an online sensitivity based feature ranking (SFR) which …


Room Temperature Operation Of Quantum Cascade Lasers Monolithically Integrated Onto A Lattice-Mismatched Substrate, Rowel Go Aug 2018

Room Temperature Operation Of Quantum Cascade Lasers Monolithically Integrated Onto A Lattice-Mismatched Substrate, Rowel Go

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) are semiconductor devices that, currently, have been observed to emit radiation from ~ 2.6 μm to 250 μm (1 to 100 terahertz range of frequencies.) They have established themselves as the laser of choice for spectroscopic gas sensing in the mid-wavelength infrared (3-8 μm) and long-wavelength infrared (8-15 μm) region. In the 4-12 μm wavelength region, the highest performing QCL devices, in terms of wall-plug efficiency and continuous wave operation, are indium phosphide (InP) based. The ultimate goal is to incorporate this InP-based QCL technology to silicon (Si) substrate since most opto-electronics are Si-based. The main …


Design And Evaluation Of High Efficiency Power Converters Using Wide-Bandgap Devices For Pv Systems, Fahad Almasoudi Aug 2018

Design And Evaluation Of High Efficiency Power Converters Using Wide-Bandgap Devices For Pv Systems, Fahad Almasoudi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The shortage of fossil resources and the need for power generation options that produce little or no environmental pollution drives and motivates the research on renewable energy resources. Power electronics play an important role in maximizing the utilization of energy generation from renewable energy resources. One major renewable energy source is photovoltaics (PV), which comprises half of all recently installed renewable power generation in the world. For a grid-connected system, two power stages are needed to utilize the power generated from the PV source. In the first stage, a DCDC converter is used to extract the maximum power from the …


Russian Information Operations In The Soviet Strategic Framework, Kyle I. Campbell Aug 2018

Russian Information Operations In The Soviet Strategic Framework, Kyle I. Campbell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to illuminate how information operations supports Russia’s strategy for creating power for the state. Using classic military theory and Soviet strategy as the lens, the paper examines information operations in the context of the nature of war. The examination includes historical and contemporary Russian publications on warfare, as well as information operations case studies from Eastern Europe, Georgia and Crimea. Russia’s operations are found to be consistent with a strategy of attrition. The opponent's society is the primary target of information operations. The emphasis on information operations within contemporary Russian concepts of modern war indicate that the …


Large Scale Cryogenic Storage With Active Refrigeration, Adam Swanger Aug 2018

Large Scale Cryogenic Storage With Active Refrigeration, Adam Swanger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Storage and transfer of cryogenic liquefied gases on volume scales from under 10 liters for lab use, up to hundreds of millions of liters for industrial applications is of paramount importance across a vast range of industries. Traditionally, these commodities have been stored at or near the normal boiling point due to relative ease of operation and safety-related considerations; however, this also means that some percentage will always be lost due to environmental heat leaking into the vessel and causing boiloff. These losses become more concerning as scales increase, and are of particular importance for high-cost commodities such helium and …


Comparison Of A Modified And Traditional Rapid Infiltration Basin For Treatment And Control Of Nutrients In Wastewater Effluent, Jessica Cormier Aug 2018

Comparison Of A Modified And Traditional Rapid Infiltration Basin For Treatment And Control Of Nutrients In Wastewater Effluent, Jessica Cormier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rapid infiltration basins (RIB) have been historically used in Florida for groundwater recharge, effluent disposal, or a combination of both. However, this technique has proven ineffective in providing nitrogen control unless the RIB is modified in some manner. In this study, a traditional RIB was compared to a modified RIB constructed with manufactured biosorption activated media (BAM) to evaluate nitrate removal from reclaimed water. The RIBs are used for reclaimed and excess storm water disposal. Few, if any, studies have been published where BAM-modified RIBs have been used for this purpose. In this work, a mixture of clay, tire crumb, …


Autonomous Discovery And Maintenance Of Mobile Frees-Space-Optical Links, Mahmudur Khan Aug 2018

Autonomous Discovery And Maintenance Of Mobile Frees-Space-Optical Links, Mahmudur Khan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Free-Space-Optical (FSO) communication has the potential to play a significant role in future generation wireless networks. It is advantageous in terms of improved spectrum utilization, higher data transfer rate, and lower probability of interception from unwanted sources. FSO communication can provide optical-level wireless communication speeds and can also help solve the wireless capacity problem experienced by the traditional RF-based technologies. Despite these advantages, communications using FSO transceivers require establishment and maintenance of line-of-sight (LOS). We consider autonomous mobile nodes (Unmanned Ground Vehicles or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles), each with one FSO transceiver mounted on a movable head capable of scanning in …


The Population Ecology And Behavior Of The Cave Salamander, Eurycea Lucifuga (Rafinesque, 1822)., Joseph Gavin Bradley Aug 2018

The Population Ecology And Behavior Of The Cave Salamander, Eurycea Lucifuga (Rafinesque, 1822)., Joseph Gavin Bradley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Cave Salamander, Eurycea lucifuga (Rafinesque, 1822), is a little-known species, yet a common inhabitant of caves in the eastern United States. Salamanders are often important components of ecological communities and ecosystems, influencing critical processes such as nutrient cycling and community composition through their predation on invertebrates. Cave-dwelling salamanders such as E. lucifuga may thus appreciably influence the relatively simple ecosystems and communities of caves. Any such influence may be particularly important because these habitats and the organisms that reside in them are often of conservation concern. I used non-invasive methods to study the demographics, movements, and habitat selection of …


Location Matters: A Geospatial Analysis Of Principal Turnover In The Denver Metropolitan Area, Lorna O. Beckett Aug 2018

Location Matters: A Geospatial Analysis Of Principal Turnover In The Denver Metropolitan Area, Lorna O. Beckett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research indicates that principals leave their school on average every three years. Additional research is needed to understand factors that are related to principal turnover. In this study I used geographic information systems to examine the geospatial variance between school characteristics, student achievement, and principal turnover in the Denver metropolitan area. I found that principal turnover is an issue in both urban and suburban areas, with suburban areas in the Denver metropolitan area experiencing similar trends in principal turnover. In this study I also highlight the importance of understanding local context when examining principal turnover patterns.


Navigating Mental Health Care Access In Louisville : An Ethnography Of Local Resources And Care Assemblages., Laura Drabelle Valentine Aug 2018

Navigating Mental Health Care Access In Louisville : An Ethnography Of Local Resources And Care Assemblages., Laura Drabelle Valentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines barriers to care access present in Louisville, Kentucky's community mental health care infrastructure, and how individuals who seek mental health care experience and navigate those barriers. This thesis expands research about the impacts of health care reform following the Affordable Care Act and adds to literature about the political economy of health-seeking behaviors. Drawing on assemblage theory and ethnographic research with both care-providers and care-recipients of Community Mental Health Care Organizations, I argue that both groups attempt to alleviate barriers to care access and facilitate mental health recovery through the development of formal and informal strategies. Examining …


Combination Oral Immunotherapy With Il-10 And Il-12 Effectively Treats Colon Tumors Via Synergistic Effects On Il-17 Producing T Cells And Colon Epithelial Barrier Integrity., Neal Bhutiani Aug 2018

Combination Oral Immunotherapy With Il-10 And Il-12 Effectively Treats Colon Tumors Via Synergistic Effects On Il-17 Producing T Cells And Colon Epithelial Barrier Integrity., Neal Bhutiani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, the relationship between colon cancer and inflammation, the utility of novel imaging modalities for diagnosis of colitis and cancer, and the therapeutic efficacy of orally delivered, particle-based immunotherapy for the treatment of colon cancer are evaluated. In Chapters One and Two, multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) is demonstrated to effectively detect colon inflammation without the use of exogenous contrast prior to detection using conventional colonoscopy. Oral particle uptake is demonstrated in the distal small intestine and proximal colon, confirming site-specific delivery. In Chapter Three, administration of IL-10 and IL-12 containing particles is shown to act synergistically to significantly …


Hybrid Perovskite Characterization And Device Applications., Kasun Fernando Aug 2018

Hybrid Perovskite Characterization And Device Applications., Kasun Fernando

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hybrid perovskites are a group of materials that has shown a great impact in the field of scientific research in the past decade due to the efficiency gain within a short period of time. Hot casting is one technique that has been producing high efficient and stable solar cells. Electrical transportation of lateral device structure by such film is explored to understand basic properties and predict possible device applications using it. Under dark, memristive ability of the film was explored using various experiments. Unique uni-polar memristor ability was observed. Using the experimental results, a model is hypothesized using the concepts …


Using Reality Therapy In Clinical Supervision : A Psychotherapy-Driven Model., Quentin Hunter Aug 2018

Using Reality Therapy In Clinical Supervision : A Psychotherapy-Driven Model., Quentin Hunter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Clinical supervision is the signature pedagogy of counseling, with most professional counselors engaging in some type of supervision during their careers (Bernard & Goodyear, 2014). Psychotherapy-based models of supervision are the oldest models, originally intended to train supervisees to practice a specific psychotherapy (e.g., psychodynamic, behavioral; Watkins & Scaturo, 2013). Pearson (2006) indicated that contemporary clinical supervision could be informed by both the research in the role of development in clinical supervision and the tenets of a theory of psychotherapy. Although Pearson (2006) provided a conceptualization of psychotherapy-driven models of supervision, there is little research into the efficacy of such …


Temperature Effects On Helium Filled Soap Bubble Particle Tracking Velocimetry., Michael C. Blum Aug 2018

Temperature Effects On Helium Filled Soap Bubble Particle Tracking Velocimetry., Michael C. Blum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Helium Filled Soap Bubble (HFSB) Particle Tracking Velocimetry (PTV) methods are becoming increasingly popular as they provide a low cost, safe option for reliable flow visualization. Several studies have been conducted to understand the accuracy of such systems under normal temperatures and pressures; however, no such studies to date have examined accuracy of HFSB PTV at high temperatures. The goal of this study is to characterize the capability of HFSB PTV methods to visualize air flow through a rectangular duct at elevated temperature. A heated wind tunnel was designed to heat up to 150 m3/h of 25 °C …


Transgender And Racial Identities Negotiation Processes Of Transgender Asians, Asian Americans, And Pacific Islanders : A Transcendental Phenomenological Examination., Jayden Thai Aug 2018

Transgender And Racial Identities Negotiation Processes Of Transgender Asians, Asian Americans, And Pacific Islanders : A Transcendental Phenomenological Examination., Jayden Thai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While the field of transgender (trans) research is vastly growing and expanding, little is known about the process in which trans Asian and Pacific Islanders (API) individuals experience, navigate, and negotiate their trans and API cultural identities. The aims of this study were to: 1) examine the navigation and negotiation process for trans API individuals related to their cultural identities and values; 2) enhance, enrich, and diversify existing trans and API literature by generating foundational and complex understanding of trans API identity processes; and 3) challenge hegemonic narratives regarding trans API individuals’ lived experiences. Moustakas’ (1994) transcendental phenomenological qualitative methodology …


Factorization In Integral Domains., Ryan H. Gipson Aug 2018

Factorization In Integral Domains., Ryan H. Gipson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We investigate the atomicity and the AP property of the semigroup rings F[X; M], where F is a field, X is a variable and M is a submonoid of the additive monoid of nonnegative rational numbers. In this endeavor, we introduce the following notions: essential generators of M and elements of height (0, 0, 0, . . .) within a cancellative torsion-free monoid Γ. By considering the latter, we are able to determine the irreducibility of certain binomials of the form Xπ − 1, where π is of height (0, 0, 0, . . .), in the monoid domain. Finally, …


Community Connections: Public Outreach And Education At The Batesville Mounds Site, Lacy Nicole Mattson Aug 2018

Community Connections: Public Outreach And Education At The Batesville Mounds Site, Lacy Nicole Mattson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is the result of a goal-driven, applied anthropology project that assisted the City of Batesville in the opening of The Batesville Mounds site as a public park on November 21, 2017. Other goals of this project consisted of providing park planners with historical information on the pre-contact Native American occupation as well as past archaeological investigations at the site and to make recommendations for the future of the Park. In order to facilitate the City in this capacity, comparable mounds sites were visited, surveys and interviews were conducted, an inventory of Batesville Mounds artifacts curated at the University …


A Study Of The Purpose And Value Of Recess In Elementary Schools As Perceived By Teachers And Administrators, Vickie Beard Aug 2018

A Study Of The Purpose And Value Of Recess In Elementary Schools As Perceived By Teachers And Administrators, Vickie Beard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Children spend at least seven and a half hours or 46.9% of their waking hours in the school setting, which brings a unique responsibility to schools (Beighle, Erwin, Morgan, & Alderman, 2012). School systems are expected to educate children according to adopted state standards and encourage a healthy, active lifestyle. The concept then is to increase knowledge by putting focus on academic achievement as well as promoting good citizenship by developing children’s social, emotional, and physical development, which happens during recess. Yet, recess and free play opportunities are on the decline in school systems across our nation. This reduction or …