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Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor And Maternal Behavior : Neuronal Alterations In The Medial Preoptic Area And Suppression Of Pup Attacks, Lillian Flores Stevens

Master's Theses

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), by virtue of its relationship to various neurotransmitter systems, hormones, and to estrogen in particular, may play a role in maternal behavior. To explore this possible role, female virgin Sprague Dawley rats received continuous intracerebroventricular infusions ofBDNF sense oligonucleotide and were exposed to pups for maternal behavior testing. Behaviorally, BDNF sense had no effect on maternal behavior but did significantly suppress pup attacks during the first 24 hours of exposure. BDNF had a significant effect on neuronal morphology in the medial preoptic area (mPOA) as well, such that neurons in this region exposed to BDNF had …

The Expanding Use Of Information Technology In The Social Services: A Study Of Small Nonprofit Social Service Organizations In The Bay Area, Jenifer Fay

Master's Theses

A survey was sent to 243 nonprofit social service organizations in six Bay Area counties on August 6, 2002. There were 72.surveys completed and returned by the stop of data collection on September 30, 2002. This survey was distributed as part of a research study identifying the access and use of e-mail and the Internet by nonprofit social service organizations in the Bay Area. The study also investigated perceptions held by nonprofit organizational leaders regarding the usefulness and impact of technology on the social service field.

Survey results identified that proximity to the Silicon Valley increases the likelihood of IT …

Reproductive Experience And Aging : Possible Neuroprotective Effects Of Motherhood, Jessica Dawn Gatewood

Master's Theses

Hormonal fluctuations associated with pregnancy and post partum periods create significant changes in the brain and behavior in female rats. Animals were tested in a land version of the Morris Water maze for three days at 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. At the ages of 12, 18, and 24 months animals were also tested in the same maze using a reversal task. At the conclusion of the study brains were analyzed for Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) to determine the amount of neurodegeneration among the groups. Multiparous animals showed significantly superior performance , followed by primiparous animals, and nulliparous animals …

Context Effects And Lexical Ambiguity Processing: An Activation-Based Account, Frazier Orgain

Master's Theses

Many studies have been conducted to test the effects of ambiguous words in sentence processing. There are two views: the modularity hypothesis and the interactive hypothesis that dominate this field of study. The effect of ambiguity has been tested in many ways, including gating, cross-modal priming, naming, and self-paced reading. This utilizes the methods of self paced reading with lexical decision and naming tasks to examine the hypotheses as they relate to the access period of lexical differentiation. Results indicate that context has an immediate effect, after which participants look to other factors to discern meaning of a sentence. Details …

Wisdom Of The Oppressed: Stirring The Voices Of Successful African-American Men, Lois Merriweather Moore

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

The Effectiveness Of An Interactive Multimedia Learning Explanation On Baccalaureate Nursing Students' Mathematical Achievement And Self-Efficacy, Margaret Hansen Maag

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

Going To Nowhere : Narratives Of Patagonian Exploration, Mark W. Bell

Master's Theses

Since its discovery on Magellan's circumnavigation, Patagonia has been treated differently than any other region in the world. Effectively, Patagonia has been left empty or vacated by the North. But this emptiness and blankness have compulsively attracted curious travel writers who have filled the emptiness of Patagonia with self-reflexive projections. From Charles Darwin and W.H. Hudson to Bruce Chatwin and Paul Theroux, Northern commentators have found in Patagonia a landscape that accommodates their desire for self-reflexivity and self-consciousness. Thus, Patagonia has been simultaneously filled and evacuated by the Northern mind. As a result, Patagonia has become increasingly about the self …

A Rationale For Interscholastic Athletics In Jesuit High Schools In The United States, Ryan Jude Maher

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

Segments, Carol Coggin

Master's Theses

Segments is fictionalized memoir structured as eight short stories, or segments of the central character's life. These autobiographical incidents begin in Redding, California, in 1947, when the central character leaves the family farm on her first day of school only to return to face the loss of her innocence. I find it ironic that boys and girls sexually abused by a parent or other family member are not considered incest victims, but incest survivors. Even if one survives the effects of incest, all subsequent perspectives and decisions are colored by loss of trust.

"Praise Raleigh" is told by a third …

Alterations In Neurogenesis Following The Transition From Virgin To Maternal/Lactating Female, Elizabeth Amory

Master's Theses

The hippocampus displays hormone induced plasticity during estrus. Pregnancy, which exposes a female to a significantly longer duration of elevated estrogen and progesterone, results in even greater changes in neurons in the CA1 region of the hippocampus, with late-pregnant and lactating females displaying a significantly higher concentration of apical dendritic spines. Hippocampal astrocytes were increased in number and showed more and thicker processes in late-pregnant and lactating females. Such anatomical changes may also enhance spatial learning and memory. Changes in reproductive capacity may influence the rate at which new neurons are born, so called neurogenesis. In two experiments, neurogenesis in …

Reproductive Experience And Stress Responsiveness, Jennifer Elizabeth Wartella

Master's Theses

Hormonal fluctuations and maternal behavior associated with pregnancy and postpartum care of pups induce many changes in the female rat. Circulating hormonal surges during pregnancy modify the female brain in preparation for motherhood. Past studies identify the medial preoptic area, the hypothalamus and the basal forebrain as structures dense in hormonal receptors involved in controlling reproductive behavior. The hippocampus and amygdala possess many hormonal receptors. Neurons exposed to pregnancy hormones develop new synapses and increased spine density, changes reflected in behavioral preparations, such as nest building and increased foraging, for the new pups. Following the experience of birth, pup stimulation …

Attention, Memory, And Self-Efficacy Differences Between Adhd And Aging Individuals, Douglas Lee Welsh

Master's Theses

Attention and memory abilities decline with age. Although a similar pattern of attentional and memory decrement has been observed in individuals with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), these two populations have never been directly compared. The present study examined performance on attention, self-efficacy (SE), and memory tasks by ADHD young adults and non-ADHD younger and older adults. ADHD adults displayed lower attentional SE than both non-ADHD younger and older adults, but performed comparably to older adults on an attention task on which non-ADHD younger adults outperformed both groups. ADHD adults and older adults had lower memory SE than non-AD HD …

Modifications Of Nitric Oxide And Sexual Behavior In Prenatally Stressed Male Rats, Stephen D. Miller

Master's Theses

Normal male sexual differentiation is the culmination of perfectly timed, prenatal gonadal hormone release. Prenatal stress (PS) has a detrimental effect upon this process, obstructing the natural development of brain structures and sexual behavior. Prenatally-stressed male rats exhibit many physiological and neuroendocrinological differences when compared to control males. PS has a particularly harmful effect upon male sexual behavior, to which the neurotransmitter nitric oxide (NO) has been shown to be intimately involved. The present experiment examined whether PS reduces nNOS, the rate limiting enzyme of NO, in the medial preoptic area (rnPOA) of male rats, and whether administration of the …

Chief Executive Officers Of California Environmental Organizations: A Study Of Personal Values Congruence With Organizational Mission, Christine Marie Schmidt

Master's Theses

This study surveyed the Chief Executive Officers of 300 California environmental organizations to investigate whether these officers were personally committed to their organizations' missions as demonstrated by 1) past and present activities in their personal lives that indicated personal values similar to those espoused by the organization, and 2) their intent to stay with their organization. It was hypothesized that the level of activity in the personal lives of the CEOs demonstrating personal commitment to their organizations would be positively related to their intent to stay with their organizations. It was also expected that there would be a negative association …

A Case Study Of The Effectiveness Of Play Therapy With Inner-City Latino/A School Age Children Using A Single System Design, Anaisabel Marmolejo

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Pastors For Peace And The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center: A Case Study Of Cooperation Between Two Nonprofit Organizations From Two Countries Without Diplomatic Relations, And With An Economic Embargo Enforced By One Country Against The Other, Alicia Beatriz Jrapko

Master's Theses

This thesis is a case study about an American nonprofit organization, Pastors for Peace, working with a Cuban counterpart, the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center. This study is about cooperation between nonprofit organizations in two countries without diplomatic relations. In addition, there is an economic embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. The research demonstrates that when an American nonprofit organization working abroad aims to change U.S. policy, the work will be controversial and difficult, and there will be some legal implications for the organization as an entity as well as for staff members and volunteers individually.

United States - Indonesian Relations, 1945-1949: Negative Consequences Of Early American Cold War Policy, Robert Earl Patterson

Master's Theses

From 1945 to 1949, Indonesian nationalists struggled for independence against their Dutch colonial rulers. For most of the period, American foreign policy favored the Netherlands in its desire to reign once again over the archipelago. American foreign policy strategy advocated a "Europe first" position, and possessed finite resources to contain Soviet expansion in the developing cold war. State Department policy planners sided with European powers as they attempted to resume the status quo ante in Southeast Asia following World War II. Colonies were considered essential to the recoveries of Western European powers economically, politically, and psychologically.

Continuity Of Emotions Across Pre-Sleep State And The Content Of Dreams, Teresa M. Picciocchi

Master's Theses

The relationship between unmanipulated pre-sleep states and the affective composition of dreams was investigated. Sixty college students completed the State-Trait Personality Inventory (STPI) prior to retiring for the night and the Differential Emotion Scale {DES-IV) focusing upon any dream recalled upon awakening. In support of the Continuity Theory, which states that our personalities and experiences are reflected in our dreams, significant positive correlations were found between pre-sleep curiosity and the presence of interest in the dream, pre-sleep anger and anger in the dream and pre sleep depression and sadness within the dream. Support for the Day Residue effect was obtained …

Past Tense Marking In English By Chinese Learners, Hsuehmei Liu Price

Master's Theses

Researchers in the field of both first and second language acquisition have been studying the mechanisms underlying the marking of past tense in English, and have identified verb saliency, grammatical aspect, and proficiency level as some of the factors influencing the process. This study tests these factors by comparing 60 Chinese English learners' correct marking of English past tense under various conditions using analysis of variance. I found that Chinese learners of English are more likely to mark irregular verbs and aspectual perfectives than regular verbs and aspectual imperfectives for past tense. However, proficiency level was not found to have …

Chondrocranial And Oral Morphology Of Pipoid Frogs, Charles Christopher Swart

Master's Theses

The Pipoidea are a diverse group of frogs. Their diversity is demonstrated in their morphology, ecology, and behavior. One pipoid species, Xenopus laevis, has been used as a model system of developmental, physiological, and molecular studies of vertebrates. My work has focused on the developmental morphology of the chondrocranium and oral morphology of four pipoid taxa: Hymenochirus boettgeri, Rhinophrynus dorsalis, Pipa carvalhoi, and Xenopus laevis. Previous studies have suggested that the Anura may be diphyletic based on the unique characteristics of the chondrocanial morphology of pipoids. The chondrocranial and internal oral morphology of the pipoids indicates that as a group …

"A Tolerable Straight Line" : Non-Linear Narrative In Tristram Shandy, Daniel L. Hocutt

Master's Theses

The non-linear narrative of Laurence Sterne's Tri st ram Shandy demands attentive readers. Written under the influence of John Locke's Essay Concerning Human Understanding, the novel satirizes Lockean "associationism" and illustrates language's inability to express ideas accurately. In the novel, words seldom convey characters' intended meanings, yet Tristram uses language effectively to narrate "self" to his readers. Rather than having his mind's workings conform to the linear nature of traditional discourse, Tristram communicates associatively to intelligent, involved readers without imposing linearity. In this study I examine scholars' work to determine Tristram 's position on Locke's ideas and use Seymour Chatman …

Impacts Of Nonpoint Source Water Pollution In Castroville, California, Christopher W. Berry

Master's Theses

NA

Isolation And Characterization Of A Genomic Clone For A Nitrate Reductasae Isoform From Soybean, Glycine Max, Brent Chyna

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Awakenings: Developing A Pastoral Response To Gay Male Adolecscents Within A Catholic School System, Gerard J. Brady

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

A Curriculum For Teaching Talmud, Jeremy D. Neuman

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Spirituality In A Pastoral Counseling Context Dc By Joya D'Cruz., Joya D'Cruz

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of Mind-Body Categories Using The Personal Beliefs Scale, Sharon K. Black

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Dewey And Montessori Collaboration, Louise Augusta Anderson-Doniat

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Filipino-American High School Students' Perspectives And Experiences: A New Voice, Jeannie R. London

Master's Theses

Digitized thesis

Morphology Of Neurons In The Medial Preoptic Area (Mpoa) Of The Rat : Sexual Dimorphisms And Prenatal Stress Effects, Kimberly M. Gerecke

Master's Theses

Androgens masculinize brain development and behavior, and alterations in early hormone exposure modify development. We examined sexual dimorphisms and prenatal stress (PS) effects on the morphology of mPOA neurons. Timed-mated rats were subjected to thrice-daily heat, light and restraint stress from days 15-22 of gestation. In adulthood, the offspring were killed, the brains stained with Golgi-Cox, and the neurons traced for analysis. Sexual dimorphisms in the cumulative length and branching of the dendrites were observed: (Control Females>Control Males). Stress effects were seen in the males in somal area, perimeter, and dendritic length: (PS males>Control males). Stress effects in …