Digital Commons Network^™

Family Structure And Psychological Factors: The Effects Of Family-Of-Origin Variables On Young Adults' Psychological Well-Being, Catherine E. Morgan

Masters Theses

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between family structure and life satisfaction in young adults. Additionally, the study examined explanatory style, parenting style, family cohesion, family satisfaction, and the presence of siblings as potential moderating factors between divergent family structures and levels of life satisfaction in young adults. Ninety male and 121 female university students completed a demographic survey, the Parental Authority Questionnaire, the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scales IV, the Attribution Style Questionnaire, the Family Satisfaction Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale. As anticipated, results indicated that participants who grew up in single parent and step-family …

Assessment Of Preferences For Individuals With Severe Disabilities, Meghan Foster

Masters Theses

Identifying preferences for individuals with disabilities is a big challenge for behavior analysts, teachers, and parents. Some individuals with disabilities lack the ability to verbally communicate their likes and dislikes, or wants and needs on a daily basis. When a loved one or teacher mistakes an indication of preference and produces an undesirable stimulus, this frequently causes aberrant responses. For these reasons, it is important that an efficient means of identifying preferences for individuals with disabilities is devised. The following pages examine areas of research into the study of individual preferences for specific stimuli and the different means of assessing …

Quality Of The Teacher-Child Relationship And Self-Worth In Middle-Childhood, Hannah Ozier

Masters Theses

The quality of the teacher-child relationship has been described as having implications for the social, emotional, and cognitive development of children, in addition to future school-related outcomes, such as school adjustment and performance (Birch & Ladd, 1998; Hamre & Pianta, 2001). Previous research has focused on children in preschool or kindergarten. The purpose of the present study was to provide information about the teacher-child relationship in middle childhood by examining factors attributed to influencing the relationship. Teachers' perceptions of their relationship with students, measured by the Student Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS), was compared to factors such as sex of the …

Release And Removal Of Microcystins From Microcystis During Disinfection Treatments, Jie Ding

Masters Theses

"The presence of algal toxins, or cyanotoxins, in surface water has been increasingly reported. These highly hazardous toxins are potential threat to both human health and animals by contaminating drinking water sources over the world. In this research project, inactivation of Microcystis aeruginosa cells and release and removal of intracellular microcystins during several oxidative and physical treatments was studied. The results of this study show that chlorine dioxide, sonication, low salinity and quick blending with tissuemiser caused immediate release of microcystin-LR to water after treatment. No significant increase of toxin level was observed after treatment with free chlorine, ozone, permanganate, …

Preserd - Privacy Ensured Service Discovery In Mobile Peer-To-Peer Environment, Santhosh Muthyapu

Masters Theses

"In mobile peer-to-peer networks many service discovery protocols have been proposed. Most of these protocols disregard the exposure of the participating peers' privacy details, although they consider the security issues. In these methods, the participating peers must provide their identities, during the service discovery process, to be authorized to utilize the service. However, a peer might not be willing to reveal its identity until it identifies the service providing peer. So these peers face a problem; should the requesting peer or the service providing peer reveal the identity first, and hence, this is similar to the chicken-and-egg problem. The protocol …

A Systematic Approach To Project Portfolio Selection For Economic Development In Municipalities: A Case Study In Vienna, Missouri, Amanda Danielle Alpaugh

Masters Theses

"Economic development is essential for the survival of all municipalities in the United States. Economic growth, created through project implementation, brings new capital into municipalities by increasing the tax base. Smaller municipalities often struggle to implement projects that promote economic growth. These municipalities run into problems because they lack resources to hire an economic consultant and capabilities to independently complete the strategic planning process. This thesis describes an easy-to-use and easy-to-implement systematic ten-step approach to project portfolio selection for economic growth within smaller municipalities...The ten-step approach was employed in a case study performed in Vienna, Missouri. The case study involved …

Examining The Effects Of Nurse Work Hours, Inter-Shift Recovery, Fatigue, And Sleep Debt On Intent To Leave, Amy M. Manderscheid

Masters Theses

The nursing profession contains dedicated professionals who work varying shifts with assorted time frames to recover before returning to work. The purpose of this study was to examine shift work, inter-shift recovery, fatigue, sleep debt and intent to leave among full-time nurses. Data were collected through the use of electronic questionnaires from a sample of 36 registered nurses from the Sigma Theta Tau Kappa Epsilon Chapterat- Large.

Findings revealed significant differences among nurses working 10 hour shifts and their accumulation of sleep debt in comparison to nurses working 8 or 12 hour shifts. Significant differences were not found between acute …

Image Analysis Techniques For Vertebra Anomaly Detection In X-Ray Images, Mohammed Das

Masters Theses

"In this research, imaging techniques are investigated for the analysis and detection of abnormalities in cervical and lumbar vertebrae. Detecting vertebra anomalies pertaining to osteoarthritis such as claw, traction and anterior osteophytes can aide in treatment plans for the patient. New size invariant features were developed for the detection of claw, traction and anterior osteophytes in cervical spine vertebrae. Using a K-means clustering and nearest centroid classification approach, the results were generated that were capable of discriminating cervical vertebrae for presence of anomalies related to osteophytes. The techniques developed can be integrated into systems based on querying spine images to …

Evaluation Of Su8 And Ruthenium Oxide Materials For Microfluidic Devices, Margaret Theresa Audrain

Masters Theses

"This thesis investigates two materials, SU8 photoresist and RuO₂, for possible incorporation into a self-calibrating microfluidic biosensor. The negative, epoxy based photoresist SU8 has been widely used in the fabrication of micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) devices. This is due to its many desirable features that make it a suitable material for a wide variety of MEMS applications. The effects cross-linking (exposure dose) and bonding time have on bond strength and plasma modification of the SU8 surface were investigated as well as the bond strength of etched SU8. It was shown that adhesive bonding was an effective method of bonding, with bond …

Aflp Fingerprint Analysis Of Hybrid Salamanders In The Missouri Caverns Section Of Onondaga Cave, Maria Louise Potter

Masters Theses

"Two species and one subspecies of salamander in the genus Eurycea, two species of Plethodon and one species of Typhlotriton (recently considered to be Eurycea) salamander currently reside in an area of Onondaga Cave known as the Missouri Caverns section. Due to the presence of two known interbreeding subspecies of salamanders, Eurycea Longicauda (Long-tailed salamander) and Eurycea longicauda melanopleura (Dark-sided salamander), the possibility may exist for interbreeding of one or all of these taxa. Specifically, it is hypothesized that the two species of Eurycea longicauda may interbreed with Eurycea lucifuga (Cave salamander). through visual assessment and phenotypic analysis, …

The Identification And Characterization Of Phenylalanine Ammonia-Lyase Gene Family Members In Glycine Max, Erin Kathleen Pringle

Masters Theses

"Gene families are collections of genes with similar functions. Studying gene families is important for understanding the evolution of genes and manipulating genes. Phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) is an enzyme found in plants. It catalyzes the deamination of phenylalanine to produce cinnamic acid. Genes for PAL have been identified in many different plant species. This project used the known sequence for the PAL1 gene in Glycine max to find other PAL genes in Glycine max"--Abstract, page iii.

Probabilistic Analysis Of Defect Tolerance In Asynchronous Nano Crossbar Architecture, Shikha Chaudhary

Masters Theses

"Among recent advancements in technology, nanotechnology is particularly promising. Most researchers have begun to focus their efforts on developing nano scale circuits. Nano scale devices such as carbon nano tubes (CNT) and silicon nano wires (SiNW) form the primitive building blocks of many nano scale logic devices and recently developed computing architecture. One of the most promising nanotechnologies is crossbar-based architecture, a two-dimensional nanoarray, formed by the intersection of two orthogonal sets of parallel and uniformly-spaced CNTs or SiNWs. Nanowire crossbars offer the potential for ultra-high density, which has never been achieved by photolithography. In an effort to improve these …

The Circle And The Cross: The Self-Destructive Nature Of Evil In Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, Scott De Young

Masters Theses

The theme of good and evil is at the forefront of Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queene'; can virtue survive and overcome vice? Because this theme is widely prevalent in The Faerie Queene, it is fittingly prevalent in the existing scholarship on The Faerie Queene. When commenting on the workings of evil in The Faerie Queene, most scholars tend to focus on either the historical or literary influences on Spenser’s evil characters, or they focus on the manner in which evil poses a threat to good. I am in no way arguing against these scholars. My contention, though, …

A Narrative Study: Exploration Of Arts And Crafts As Meaningful Productivity In A Middle-Old Adult Who Resides In An Independent Living Facility, Sara E. Thornburg

Masters Theses

This qualitative study explored the meaningfulness of engagement in arts and crafts in one older adult who resides in an independent living facility. A narrative approach was used and one participant was purposefully selected for the study. Data was collected through the use of semi-structured interviews. Additional data sources included the participant’s book of memories, artifacts, and photos. Analysis consisted of thorough readings of the data and the development of a chronology from the participant’s stories and hook of memories. Participant feedback and peer debriefing was elicited in order to insure validity of the researcher’s findings. Consistent with narrative research, …

What Comes Next, Mario Podeschi

Masters Theses

A narrator named Mario Podeschi watches a character named Mario Podeschi be sent back in time from graduate school to his freshman year of high school. A twenty-four year old in a fifteen year-old body, the Mario character retains aH of his old memories leading up to Spring of2008 and tries to use them to his own benefit at his small town Illinois high school. Fifteen year-old Mario readdicts himself to cigarettes, chases high school crushes, and distances himself from his old friends. Not that his second chance at high school is a complete failure~he finds his soulmate in Saturday …

Cutting Back The Mask: Character And Coiffure In Fiction By F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, And Robert Penn Warren, Lisa Anne Powell

Masters Theses

Realistic fiction has recorded changing fashions of architecture and landscape, clothing and coiffure. For at least three centuries, writers of narrative have described the clothing and the hairstyles of their fictional women both to set them within a specific time ar place and to offer a key to their character. Hair as natural endowment and artificial adornment has served as an essential component to the character costume. Novelists have understood that women send messages, albeit sometimes unconscious ones, about themselves, their lives, and their feelings through the style, color and length of their hair. Writers have sometimes described women's hair …

Educated Mothers At Home: Motivation, Expectations, And Experiences, Adrienne Lynn Riegle

Masters Theses

This studuy explored the motivation for educated stay-at-home mothers (SAHНMs) to stay at home with their children and examined expectations and experiences regarding their decision. Twenty-two participants earned the minimum of a bachelor's degree or higher prior to staying at home with their own children for a period of at least 1 year and responded to an online survey of demographic information and open-ended questions. Qualitative data analysis led to a theoretical model of the SAHM experience. The model included 3 specific concepts: 1) individual interests as motivation; 2) commitment to and identity associated with the SAHM; and 3) the …

Applying The Theory Of Planned Behavior On Consumption Of Fruits And Vegetables Among University Students, Angie Ison

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the fruit and vegetable consumption among university students applying the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) by examining a) university students' fruits and vegetables perceived intake b) university students' knowledge on benefits of fruits and vegetables intake; c) reason for limited intake of fruits and vegetables d) motivating factors that influence increased intake, e) who and/or what caused significant impact in decision making on eating fruit and vegetable. Three hundred fifty-six students participated in the study and completed a survey with 64 questions. The questionnaire was designed to assess knowledge on the benefits …

The Effect Of Social Pressure On Eating Habits Of College Students, Dawn Wilcox

Masters Theses

Food consumption is affected by a variety of factors including social pressure. A quasi-experimental design was used to determine the relationship between social pressure and food consumption in a restaurant environment. The study addressed the specific effect of one person’s decision to order or decline a second portion on fellow diners' consumption of beverages, salads, side dishes, entrées, and desserts. The research protocol was approved by the Institutional Review Board. A convenience sample of male and female college students (n=65) participated in a one hour dining experience in a restaurant setting. Subjects were randomly assigned to the control or treatment …

College Debt: An Exploratory Study Of Risk Factors Among College Freshmen And Its Effect On College Choice, Renee M. Smith

Masters Theses

College student loan debt has become an increasing concern in recent years. There has been a steady increase in the number of students taking out loans and in the total amounts borrowed for a college education (CollegeBoard, 2006). The majority of college students will graduate with some amount of college debt, but some graduates leave school with much higher loan debt than others. It is important to examine what makes some students more willing to take on higher educational loan debts than other students.

The primary purpose of this study was to explore risk factors associated with educational debt and …

Capturing Opportunity: How The Conquest Of James I Shaped The Society And Culture Of Mallorca, 1229-1247, Patrick W. Harris

Masters Theses

The defeat of Muslim forces on the island of Mallorca by James I in 1230 determined the course of medieval history in the western Mediterranean, and later helped propel Spain into the Atlantic world. Because the settlement of Mallorca became a stepping-stone towards later expansion, historians have tended to portray this watershed event within the teleological narrative of the Reconquista. Consequently, we receive the image of James I as a farsighted ruler who is aware of the social and economic impact resulting from the conquest. Furthermore, James' favorable policies towards Jews and Muslims in comparison to those of his successors …

Motivational Factors Of Marathon Running, Donna Lakinger

Masters Theses

This study was created to identify the motivations of marathon runners, that is, why they choose to participate in marathons. It is hypothesized that motives for running a marathon differ depending on experience, age, and gender.

Participants were eligible to complete the questionnaire if they had run at least one full marathon. Age, gender, and amount of experience were not restricted. Volunteers for the study were found at the Health and Fitness Expo for the Chicago Marathon and through various online running groups. The data was collected through an online survey • located at www.myg3.com. The Motivation of Marathoners Scales, …

Word Retrieval Treatment Using Collaborative Referencing, Cassie (Shuemaker) Flack

Masters Theses

The use of collaborative referencing tasks as a supplement to traditional speech therapy for two individuals ( one male and one female) with non:fluent aphasia due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA) was investigated. The participants' spouses served as communication partners for the collaborative referencing task. Stimuli consisted of three sets of ten pictures of individuals performing actions. Participants and spouses alternated serving as director and matcher for six trials each session. Each picture set was targeted until participants reached 80% accuracy across two trials at identifying pictures. Analysis of transcripts showed that participants and communication partners followed the three phases of …

Searching For A Connection: Internet Communication And Mobile Phone Use For Social Membership, Cathy Marie Quast Sowa

Masters Theses

College students struggle to develop successful interpersonal relationships, explore personal identity and establish social group memberships. The purpose of this study was to explore measured levels of social connectedness and social assurance among undergraduate student users of Internet communication and mobile phone. Survey results indicated that the number of hours students used electronic communication tools was not related to their feelings of social connectedness on campus. However, the data indicated that students mixed electronic communication media to make connections, even to simultaneous use of mobile phone and Internet communication. Results supported the researcher's connection attachment theory, which proposed that students …

Influence Of Fluvial Geomorphology On Fish Assemblage Structure Within An Agriculturally Impacted Watershed, Jeffrey D. Fore

Masters Theses

Warmwater stream fish assemblages are often considered limited by instream habitat availability. Thus, much current research has focused on determining habitat features that limit the abundance and persistence of stream fishes. These studies provide valuable information to managers who are concerned with increasing species abundance and persistence, but they may not provide information on the processes structuring the stream fish community. To address this issue, we hypothesized that stream geomorphology differed among stream sizes and types (i.e., channelized vs. unchannelized streams) and that the fish assemblages associated with each geomorphic type would be unique. Fish assemblages were sampled and geomorphic …

Foraging Site Selection In Prairie Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis C. Calligaster): An Experimental Approach, Angela M. Fornell

Masters Theses

A critical component to a predator’s survival is the choice of foraging sites that yield enough predatory success to meet energetic demands. To elucidate cues used to select foraging sites, I examined foraging site selection in Prairie Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis c. calligaster), a generalist species whose foraging mode is flexible. My objectives were to determine: the pattern of foraging site selection; the importance of certain cues that kingsnakes use when selecting foraging sites; and, whether or not kingsnakes adjust their foraging patterns in response to alterations in the microhabitat. I tested subjects in a large experimental arena under several treatment conditions …

Correlating Phytoplankton Assemblages With Water Quality In Illinois Lakes And Reservoirs: Validating Models Based On Historical Data, Jason D. Allen

Masters Theses

In the last two decades management and monitoring efforts in freshwater systems has shifted from point source pollutants to non-point source pollutants and environmental modification. Long term, large scale sampling projects necessitated by such a shift often are infeasible due to logistical, cost, and time constraints.

In recent years fish and benthic macroinvertebrate indices of biological integrity (IBI's) have been used to survey the quality of flowing (lotic) water systems, which have drastically reduced sampling time and facilitated large scale monitoring projects. However, it is unlikely that these could be adapted to lentic systems. This study was undertaken in an …

Barriers Faced By Hispanic Women In Higher Education Institutions In The State Of Illinois, Zoraida Irizarry

Masters Theses

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain the perceptions of Hispanic women concerning barriers to their career advancement to faculty and administrators in higher education institutions in the state of Illinois. Specifically, attention was given to issues of national origin, mentoring relationships, education, gender, culture, socialization, socioeconomic status, and financial compensation.

Qualitative one-on-one interview were conducted with six Hispanic women who were faculty and directors of departments at state universities. The interviews were tape recorded, transcribed into computer files, and coded to identify themes.

The findings of the present study revealed that most of the factors, excluding those …

Evaluation Of The Oxalate-Consuming Activities Of Probiotic Microorganisms, Alexandra E.C. Baluka

Masters Theses

This study identifies the oxalate-consuming capabilities of mixtures of probiotic microorganisms, present as commercial probiotics, as well as in seventeen pure cultures of probiotic microorganisms. Probiotics are sold commercially as powders, tablets, and supplements of live microorganisms that, when taken in large amounts, confer a health benefit to the host. Increased levels of urinary oxalate coincide with the formation of kidney stones, so this study sought to identify organisms capable of oxalate consumption that could potentially be manufactured for those suffering from calcium oxalate kidney stones. This study determined that consumption of oxalate was not directly tied to active growth …

Mating Bias In The Red Imported Fire Ant, Solenopsis Invicta, Kendra Carroll

Masters Theses

The two social forms in the red imported fire ant, Solenopsis invicta, are believed to be governed by the expression of one specific gene. This gene, known as Gp-9, is responsible for the production of general protein-9, thought to be a pheromone binding protein. Among the social aspects thought to be controlled by this locus is reproduction. Many aspects of breeding within and between the two colonial forms have been investigated over the past years since in introduction of this species to the United States. In this study, several features of the currently accepted model were examined. Newlymated queens were …