Digital Commons Network^™

“Se Van A Trabajar, Pero Se Quedan A Vivir”: A Qualitative Exploration Into The Subjective Well-Being Of Mexican Women In A Migrant-Sending Community, Vanessa Saldivar

Master's Theses

The study of subjective well-being and migration are two fields that have increased in prominence in recent decades. However, in the area where the two fields intersect, significant gaps exist. Meanwhile, the majority of research on migration ignores those who stay, resulting in an unbalanced and incomplete understanding of the phenomenon of migration. Using an ethnographic and life history approach, this study explores the subjective well-being of women residing in the migrant-sending community of Tlachichila. Narratives from semi-structured interviews and participant observation field notes were analyzed thematically and emergent themes were identified. Findings suggest that despite the hardship that underscores …

Seeing Red: Analyzing Iucn Red List Data Of South And Southeast Asian Amphibians, Alexandra Gonzalez

Master's Theses

In the midst of the sixth mass extinction event which is currently underway, it appears that amphibians are one of the most impacted vertebrates. Over 6,500 amphibian species are listed on the IUCN Red List (an assessment tool which provides species’ conservation status, perceived threats, and distribution range). While it is well-known that populations under multiple stressors are more likely to undergo significant declines, there are little to no resources available for visualizing how these threats may work synergistically and interact within a species’ range. This is especially the case for Southeast Asian amphibians, which much less attention has been …

Lived Experiences Of Queer Female Youth In High School, Ruth Etcheverria

Master's Theses

The goal of this study is to explore the experiences of self-identified queer female high school students in relation to experiences with their peers related to sexuality. Through semi-structured interviews, the three participants of this study poured out anecdotes of coming out, and sexuality-related common or unique interactions with peers. Additionally, the participants shared their perspectives surrounding the ways peers have supported and/or marginalized them based on their sexuality. Queer feminist theory is engaged to explore the intersectional experiences of the queer female participants as they recount stories of coming out to classmates, supportive friendships, and daily exposure to homophobic …

Individualizing Care For Pediatric Patients With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Perioperative Services, Erin Scheller

Master's Theses

This research explores solutions for individualizing and improving care for pediatric patients with Autism Spectrum Disorder in the Perioperative Setting of an Outpatient Surgery Center. Specifically, it seeks to determine if providing parent and staff resources on Autism Spectrum Disorder is significantly helpful in increasing confidence in the staff by the parents and the staff themselves. Participants included thirty-five surveyed families who had pediatric patients visiting perioperative services and staff who work on the unit. Methods used include information dissemination with the use of printable and online evidence-based resources, an in-person education event for staff, and a pilot study of …

Don’T Worry Be Happy: Analysis Of Happiness As An Economic Measurement, Kofi Boadu

Master's Theses

Everyone wants to be happy. Happiness however never seems to be a national goal. A possible answer is that happiness is subjective and on its own may not be reflective of the economic status of a country. Therefore, should people’s happiness should be treated equally with other traditional economic measurements? This cross-country level study looks at the relationship between happiness and traditional economic measurements; mainly GDP per capita. Questions concerning whether GDP per capita indeed captures the overall well-being of a citizen and happiness’ eligibility as an economic measurement are addressed. Findings confirm that happiness and GDP per capita are …

Female Risk Aversion: Experimental Evidence From Myanmar, O Mandalay

Master's Theses

Present literature shows that the risk tolerance of females is generally lower than that of males, but in some circumstances, it can exceed – when concerning the welfare of the offspring, for example. Many experiments and data suggest that the dynamics of female risk tolerance depend on context and type of rewards involved as well as cultural norms. In our experiment, holding the culture and the context fixed, we found that females took less risk than males. Our experiment was conducted in Myanmar using a lottery selection method to measure risk over five consecutive rounds. We found 1) female risk …

Southeast Asian Higher Educational Attainment In The United States – A Narrative Study, Tseng-Fouw Gloria Pharn

Master's Theses

Southeast Asian Americans have among the lowest higher educational attainment rates among the Asians. However, aggregated data and the model minority myth often conceal this reality, leaving many Southeast Asian Americans without the proper support systems. The model minority myth, the importance of the historical context of Southeast Asian migration, and the impacts of being refugees, are all addressed as they form the basis of many Southeast Asian Americans experiences in higher education. A narrative approach is utilized to analyze the interviews of ten Southeast Asian American (Cambodian, Hmong, Mien, Khmu, and Vietnamese) college graduates, with Asian Critical Race Theory …

What’S At Steak? The Political Discourse Of Emissions Intensity And Implications Of Animal Agriculture, Kalyn Simon

Master's Theses

This thesis analyzes the international discourse of greenhouse gas emissions in relation to livestock production. Specific government ministries, research institutes, and multilateral organizations are framing a new strategy to mitigate emissions by using emissions intensity metrics. Emissions intensity is a ratio comparing emissions produced per unit of animal product as oppose to measuring absolute emissions. This research is acknowledged as a win-win scenario which allows for a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions while continuing production more efficiently. This thesis outlines the emergence of this metric in international discourse and the implications this shift has on the livestock sector globally. Ultimately, …

Impact Of Innovative Menstrual Technology And Awareness On Female Empowerment Outcomes In Rural Nepal, Anjali Limbu

Master's Theses

In developing countries, menstruation poses two significant challenges for females. First, the resources required for periods are expensive for those in low-income communities. Hence, the absence of such menstrual products lowers females’ access to schooling and employment. Next, periods are also heavily stigmatized – especially in poorer or rural areas. Such taboos surrounding menstruation negatively impacts females’ psychological development and hamper their prospects of socialization. Thus, to analyze this issue, we ran a randomized control trial in Nepal, where we provided reusable menstrual pads and / or health seminar to 312 schoolgirls and 100 of their mothers. Our outcomes demonstrate …

Energy And Water Use Analysis For The Greenbox System In Comparison With The A-Frame Glass Greenhouse, Junya Wu

Master's Theses

A greenbox horticultural system has been recently proposed and developed by VECNA (Cambridge, MA) and University of Connecticut (Storrs, CT) for intensive urban agriculture. It uses urban warehouses to house and operate many individual grow boxes, named greenboxes, and for each of boxes the climate is automatically controlled to provide the optimum growing conditions for specific plant species. This study was conducted to analyze the energy and water use of the newly proposed greenbox system, in comparison with a specific greenhouse. Energy and mass balance equations were applied to generate dynamic simulation models for both structures. Head lettuce was selected …

Violence Et Liberté : La Période Coloniale Chez Frantz Fanon, Charlotte Dutournier

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Epidemiology Of Sudden Death In Organized Youth Sports In The United States, 2007-2015, Brad D. Endres

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Development And Validation Of A Biomechanical Model To Describe Golf Swings: A Focus On Rotational Mechanics And Performance, Andrew D. Cohen

Master's Theses

This work presents the creation, validation, and utility of a new full body biomechanical model to describe the golf swing. The model used 47 retroreflective markers to capture swing data with a 12-camera Vicon MX motion capture system. Motion data was collected at 250Hz, the data was processed, and a 17 segment custom biomechanical model was constructed in Visual3D (c-motion, Derwood, MD). Data from 10 subjects was collected. The swing was divided by 4 event times—Address, Peak Backswing, Impact, and Follow Through—at which the kinematics of the swing were analyzed. Validation results indicated excellent agreement between expected joint angles and …

Encoding Of Episodic Context With Abstract And Concrete Concepts, Charles Davis

Master's Theses

In theories of grounded cognition, abstract concepts, like concrete ones, are grounded in our experiences with the world. However, rather than emphasizing the sensorimotoric aspects of our experience as they do for concrete concepts (e.g., coffee), grounded theories emphasize situational and internal factors for the representation of abstract concepts (e.g., decision). Despite some success in showing that situational and internal factors are important for abstract concepts, a mechanism by which such contextual factors are encoded and re-instantiated with the concept has yet to be elucidated. The present study sought to make headway on finding such a mechanism by …

Mindfulness And Implicit Political Intergroup Bias, Joel Devonshire

Master's Theses

As a conceptual replication of Tincher, Lebois, and Barsalou (2016), I investigated the effects of a brief mindfulness intervention on two measures related to intergroup bias: language abstraction and the differential attribution of uniquely-human emotions to different groups. In Experiment 1, 207 politically liberal or conservative participants were randomly assigned to a mindful attention, immersed attention, or no instruction condition. Participants were exposed to a series of visual and auditory stimuli, including several pictures of valenced behavior performed by an ingroup or an outgroup member. They were also asked to indicate which emotions are characteristic of typical ingroup and outgroup …

The Physiological And Perceptual Effects Of Wrist Cooling During Exercise In A Thermal Environment, Andres Almeraya

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Investigation Of The Factors Associated With Gastrointestinal Temperature Of Cyclists During The 2017 Hotter ’N Hell Hundred 164-Km Cycling Event, Renee Gilberti

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Participant Gender And Exposure To Social Embarrassment Messages On Evaluations Of Binge Drinking Messages, Seth Mccullock

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Comparison Of Otus And Asvs In 73 Bird Species From Equatorial Guinea, Darien Capunitan

Master's Theses

As scientists discover more information about the communities of bacteria that live on and inside hosts, "the microbiome", a new avenue for understanding the health of humans and animals has opened. There are many analysis pipelines for microbiome data processing, and choice of analytical tools can affect the biological results of the analysis. The current analysis climate does not point toward a single most effective protocol, which hinders comparisons across studies. An important step in microbiome data processing is the assignment of reads into groups of similar organisms. The traditional unit for grouping organisms is the species; however resolving sequences …

Evaluation Of Nexrad-Based Sub-Daily Intensity Duration Frequency Curves Over Conus, Daniel Mcgraw

Master's Theses

The establishment of design storm parameters is a critical step in hydrologic design and flood-risk management. Intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curves are commonly used as they yield the expected intensity of a given storm duration and frequency of occurrence. Due to the long record length and reliability of the data, rain gauges have been used historically to generate at-point IDF curves. However, limitation in gauge coverage or distribution can result in uncertainties in IDF generation from the data interpolation methods. A potential solution to this limitation is the incorporation of radar-based Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPEs) in deriving IDF relationships. Radar-based estimates offer …

The Use Of Econsults To Improve Access To Dermatological Care For Underserved Populations In Connecticut, Fludiona Naka

Master's Theses

Importance: Medically underserved populations receiving care at community health centers lack access to specialty care.

Objective: To evaluate the impact of a dermatology electronic consultation (eConsult) program on a statewide scale focusing on access to care for medically underserved patients.

Design: Retrospective cohort study of 2385 dermatology referrals from June 2014 through November 2015.

Setting: Large, multi-site Federally Qualified Health Center in Connecticut.

Participants: Dermatology referrals pre-eConsult implementation from June to November 2014 (n=1258) and post-eConsult implementation from June to November 2015 (n=1127). All referrals came from primary care providers from twelve primary care sites in CT.

Intervention: Implementation of …

Assessment Of A Modified Heat Tolerance Test In Recreational Runners, Kelsey M. Rynkiewicz

Master's Theses

Exercising in hot and humid conditions is a stressful environment that can be taxing on the human body. In certain situations, uncompensable heat stress may occur in which there is an overwhelming of the thermoregulatory system. This may result in exertional heat illnesses, particularly exertional heat stroke, which warrant rapid and appropriate treatment to avoid long term complications, or even death.

Returning to activity, duty, or play after an exertional heat stroke, or for those who exhibit difficulty exercising in the heat, is a complex process. However, heat tolerance tests have been used, particularly in warriors, as an evaluation tool …

Psychosocial Correlates Of Medication Adherence Among College-Aged Women, Lauren Strainge

Master's Theses

Emerging adulthood is a period of increasing independence commonly associated with declines in medication adherence. Daily medication is prescribed to college-aged women at disproportionate rates compared to their male peers, but little is know about potential risk factors for poor medication adherence among this population. This study sought to assess the prevalence of adherence problems among this emerging adult population, and to identify psychosocial variables associated with poor adherence. Participants completed a series of online questionnaires regarding medication use, adherence, and number of demographic and psychosocial variables, and regression analyses were used to identify associated risk factors. Results indicated that …

Telomerase Activator 65 (Ta-65) Favorably Affects Parameters Of Metabolic Syndrome - A Pilot Study, Minu Sara Thomas

Master's Theses

Abstract

Background: Telomerase Activator 65 (TA-65), a compound extracted from Astragalus membranaceus, was developed to increase or maintain telomere length. Objectives: To determine the effects of TA-65 on the parameters of metabolic syndrome (MetS). Methods: We recruited 40 patients aged 32-70 years with MetS to determine the effects of TA-65 on dyslipidemias and anthropometrics in this at-risk population. This was a double-blind, randomized crossover design in which patients were allocated to consume either 16 mg daily of a TA-65 supplement or placebo for 12 weeks. Following a 3-week washout, participants were allocated to the alternate treatment for an …

Conferring Diva Capability To A Commercially-Available Csfv Elisa: A Double-Competition Approach, Yuxiang Wang

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Near Field Mixing Characteristics Of A Variable Density Non-Reacting Jet In A Hot Vitiated Crossflow, Kyle T. Linevitch Jr

Master's Theses

The mixing characteristics in the “extreme” near field of a non-reacting jet in crossflow were experimentally investigated in an environment relevant to gas turbine combustors. A turbulent jet was injected into a hot vitiated crossflow of combustion products at 1500K. Different jet-to-crossflow momentum flux ratios and jet-to-crossflow density ratios were studied using three different jet exit velocity profiles; a fully developed turbulent pipe flow with 4% turbulence intensity (TI), a top-hat flow with 8% TI, and a turbulent pipe-like flow with 40% TI. Center-plane scalar mixing of the jet and crossflow were investigated using measured temperature fields from planar laser …

The Effects Of Maternal Diet And Energy Demands On Offspring Development, Growth, And Health, Mary C. Wynn

Master's Theses

Maternal programming can have numerous detrimental effects on offspring development, growth, and health. To improve livestock production efficiency, it is necessary to determine the mechanisms that can result in reduced growth, health, and product quality. We hypothesized that 1) restricted- and over-feeding during gestation would inhibit offspring muscle development, and 2) high maternal milk production would affect factors involved in offspring growth and immunity. To investigate the effects of poor maternal nutrition on offspring muscle development and growth, pregnant Western White-faced ewes (n = 82) were randomly assigned to one of three diets at day 30 of gestation through parturition; …

Minimization Of Carbon Footprint Of Transit Agencies By Adopting Alternative Fuel Technologies, Adrita Islam

Master's Theses

The increasing trend in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission around the globe has been of broad and current interest for the past few decades. In the state of Connecticut, transportation is the largest contributor of GHG emission at about 42% of the total emission of 36.5 Million Metric Tons of CO₂ equivalent. Although buses comprise less than 1% of the total transportation emissions in the country, transit agencies are trying to reduce their carbon footprint by adopting alternative fuel technology buses. The overarching objective of this thesis is to aid transit agencies make more informed decisions regarding the process of …

Spatial Variability In Abundance, Detectability And Survival Of White-Tailed Deer Across A Heterogeneous Landscape Of Fear, Jennifer Kilburn

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Investigating Perceptual Discrimination Of Timing Cues In Synthetic Vocalizations In Rodents And Humans, Peter Satonick

Master's Theses

Animals' ability to understand and classify speech and non-speech vocalizations is highly robust, in spite of variations in tonal frequency composition (Belin et al., 2008; Shannon et al., 1995). This ability suggests that timing cues within any given sound envelope are important for discriminating such sounds. However, prior studies examining perceptual thresholds for discriminating timing cues often include tonal cues as well. In this study, we synthesized simple white noise sound burst sequences that contain the timing cues present in natural vocalizations sequences, but that are also devoid of underlying tonal cues. We then trained Long Evans rats and Humans …