Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Challenges To Retaining African American Male Graduate Students In Higher Education, Leeantwann S. Mccline

Masters Theses

The primary purpose of the present study was to explore issues relevant to challenges faced by African American male graduate students who attend Eastern Illinois University, with particular attention given to retention issues and challenges that serve as both support and barriers. The sample population for the present study consisted of African American male graduate students admitted during the fall 2009 semester. At the time of the study, these students had been accepted and enrolled fulltime in a degree program offered by the Eastern Illinois University Graduate School. Qualitative inquiry facilitated the ascertaining of perceptions, myths, and descriptions of the …

An Analysis Of Sorority Women's Perceptions Of Recruitment In A Deferred And Non Deferred Setting, Kathleen Elizabeth Drake

Masters Theses

This purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of sorority members in relation to their experience during the recruitment time period they rushed at two different universities. One university held deferred recruitment before second semester classes resumed in January, and the other permitted recruitment during a one week period following Labor Day in the first semester of the academic year. A qualitative study was conducted to gather in-depth perceptions of sorority women on their recruitment process. General themes and categories from focus groups participants' responses were critically evaluated. The findings of this study suggest that the non-deferred sorority …

Multiple Endpoints Of Endocrine Disruption In Gravid Watersnakes (Colubridae:Nerodia) As A Function Of Ingestion Of A Common Herbicide, Lorin Anne Neuman-Lee

Masters Theses

Ecotoxicological studies that focus on a single endpoint might not accurately represent the true ecological effects of a contaminant. Exposure to atrazine, a widelyused herbicide, disrupts endocrine function and sexual development in amphibians, but studies involving reptilian species are lacking. This study examines several effects of atrazine ingestion on gravid females and neonates exposed in utero of the Northern Watersnake (Nerodia sipedon). Twenty-five gravid N. sipedon were collected and kept in the lab for the entirety of their gestation period. Each snake received one of four doses of atrazine: control, 2, 20, or 200 ppb. Blood samples were drawn each …

The Application Of Visual Phonics And Phonological Awareness Interventions To Address Emergent Literacy Development In Speech-Language Impaired Preschoolers, Elizabeth K. Gergits

Masters Theses

This study investigated the effectiveness of phonological awareness intervention versus phonological awareness intervention supplemented by visual phonics han,d cues upon emergent literacy skill development in preschool children with speech and/or language impairment. A pretest - posttest control group design was used to compare the effectiveness of phonological awareness intervention and visual phonics in promoting the development of the following emergent literacy skills: alphabet knowledge, beginning sound awareness, print awareness, rhyme awareness, nursery rhyme awareness, phonological awareness at the syllable level, and name writing abilities. Three groups were formed from twenty-four subjects from at-risk early childhood programs in central Illinois. The …

The Best Predictors Of Self-Reported Depressed Mood In Adolescents, Melissa H. Wineberg

Masters Theses

The present study examined multiple predictors of depression simultaneously in order to determine which variables best predict self-reported depressed mood in adolescents. Although the current literature has identified several individual variables and their relationship to depression in adolescents, few studies have investigated multiple variables at the same time in relation to depression. Participants included 4,693 high school students from a Midwestern state. Of these students, 4 7% were girls, 4 7% were boys, and 6% did not indicate their gender. These students attended various high schools across seven counties and were recruited for a health prevention program called I Sing …

The Capacity Of Diatom Species To Survive Ingestion By The Algivorous Minnow, Pimephales Notatus, Paul Gregory Grubach

Masters Theses

The capacity of diatom species to survive gastrointestinal passage through the algivorous minnows Pimephales notatusand Campostoma anomalum was studied. From a site on the Grand River in northeastern Ohio, 27 minnows and 7 epilithic diatom samples were taken. In order to determine whether diatom taxa varied in digestibility, live/dead ratios of diatom cells taken from the minnows’ feces were compared with live/dead ratios of cells taken from immersed rocks. Diatoms that were live/undigested at the time of collection were differentiated from dead/digested cells under light microscopy by noting the presence of chloroplasts and/or lipid droplets. Seventy-seven percent of the …

Freeze Extrusion Fabrication Of 13-93 Bioactive Glass Scaffolds For Bone Repair, Nikhil D. Doiphode

Masters Theses

"We have investigated Freeze Extrusion Fabrication (FEF) of 13-93 bioactive glass to fabricate three dimensional scaffolds for bone tissue engineering. Bioactive glass paste was prepared for consistent extrusion through micro-nozzle and controlled porosity scaffolds were fabricated using additive manufacturing FEF. CAD models were prepared for different scaffold designs and computer controlled layer-by-layer deposition of pseudoplastic paste was carried out to in accordance. Liquid nitrogen assisted freezing of pastes was used for the consolidation of deposited layers. Post processing binder burnout and sintering schedules were designed for evaporation of organic binder and densification of glass. Sintering shrinkage was measured, and X-ray …

Halfway Around The World In 33 Days: The Creation Of Short Videos, Tasha Brown

Masters Theses

This project reports on the development and execution of a series of webisodes to promote study abroad through the discussion of pre-production, production, and post-production phases of video production. The target countries were New Zealand and Australia. The pre­production phase includes a review of previous research on study abroad with an emphasis on the issues and tactics used to encourage students to venture overseas. It also includes a summary report of qualitative and quantitative research conducted to identify specific Eastern Illinois University student's concerns about study abroad. The production section summarizes the actual fieldwork for this project. The post-production section …

Ready, Set, Grow!: Planting The Seeds For A Targeted Networking Approach For Rural Businesses In Clark County, Illinois, Nora L. Swalls

Masters Theses

The purpose of this creative thesis consisted of starting a targeted networking approach for businesses in Clark County, Illinois. A plan was designed and the first activity was accomplished by having a "Clark County Business Networking Dinner" which involved a complimentary meal, focus group discussions, a guest speaker and representatives from local, regional and state resources. The focus group discussion provided me and Community and Economic Development leaders with information regarding the specific needs and concerns of area businesses. After assessing the information provided from the focus groups at the dinner an educational follow-up workshop called "Ready, Set, GROW!" was …

Harnessing The Power Of Social Media: Understanding The Use Of Social Media For Crisis Communication, Amanda Fountain

Masters Theses

Organizations have been facing crises for years. However, the nature of crisis is changing with the onset of social media. Therefore, organizations need to understand, adapt to, and monitor social media sites to better prepare for crises. Additionally, social media can be used to respond to crises. By harnessing the power of social media, organizations can develop a more comprehensive and effective crisis communication plan. This thesis focuses on two case studies to illustrate the dangers and benefits of social media. The first case focuses on an uproar within a specific community on Twitter in response to a Motrin advertisement. …

Does Evolutionary Exposure Mediate Allelopathic Effects?, Nikki Leigh Pisula

Masters Theses

Allelopathy most commonly refers to chemically mediated plant interference, though the effects may range from beneficial to inhibitory. Allelopathy has been suggested as a potential mechanism for invasion success because invasive species may produce allelochemicals that are evolutionarily novel to recipient communities. To test for evolutionary mediation of allelopathy, six target species were grown in a factorial experiment with and without activated carbon or a native allelopathic species, Solidago canadensis (Canada goldenrod). I used activated carbon to remove allelochemicals to separate allelopathic effects from resource competition. The species represented pairs of evolutionary experienced (native - N) and evolutionarily na'ive (non-native …

Keeping Myself Morally Straight: A Rhetorical Critique Of The Boy Scouts Of America, Zachary Matthew Thuring

Masters Theses

The centennial anniversary of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) marks the perfect opportunity to critique the rhetoric of an organization that has influenced millions of young boys across America. Over the last 100 years, the Boy Scouts have remained a solid pillar and exemplar of a certain set of dominant Western values and ideologies, primarily those associated with hegemonic masculinity. Through a critique of the rhetoric of this organization, we can see the various constructions of the dominant ideologies as well as various manifestations of subversions and transgressions from the dominant ideology. With this thesis, I explore the impossible …

Hidden In Plain Sight: An Examination Of Entertainment-Education, Kendra M. Mcclure

Masters Theses

Entertainment-Education is the process of weaving social messages into programming intended to entertain. The term was coined several decades ago, and the strategy has been widely used in mediated programs in the United States and abroad, particularly in developing countries. This thesis critiques the practice from a critical/culture perspective and particularly highlights issues that stem from political economy of media, agency, and critical pedagogy. To accomplish this, the volume is broken down into four sections: a survey of E-E and an explanation of its theoretical framework, an examination of Get Schooled, an initiative that fits the profile of an E-E …

Marketing Campaign For Soup Stop, Nfp, Inc., Chelsea M. Mcbride

Masters Theses

For the applied thesis in professional communication, I created marketing documents for Soup Stop, NFP, INC., a non-profit organization located in Charleston that provides free lunch Monday through Friday to anyone who asks for a meal. Soup Stop does not require its clients to provide any information in order to receive service. It is one of Charleston's longest running mission projects and has operated out of the First Presbyterian Church for ten years, serving over 30,000 meals. Because Soup Stop is funded entirely through donations and volunteer efforts, board members have found it challenging to keep documents up-to-date and to …

Effect Of Prolonged Pacifier Use On Speech Articulation, Danielle Laprairie

Masters Theses

The hypothesis of the current research study was that children who frequently use pacifiers past the age of 2 years would display more articulation errors and patterns than children with limited or no pacifier use. The specific research question was whether there was a difference in articulation errors between children who used a pacifier and children who did not use a pacifier for a prolonged duration and frequency. Experimental subjects included seven children who had used a pacifier for at least 2 years and who were either currently using a pacifier or who had discontinued using a pacifier within 6 …

Does Familiarity With A Rape Victim Influence Rape Myth Acceptance?, Christopher Bottger

Masters Theses

The topic of rape myth acceptance has been extensively studied; however, research investigating how rape myth acceptance may be related to a person's familiarity with a rape victim is minimal. To assess this relationship, 160 male and female undergraduate students indicated their degree of acceptance of rape myths on one of two versions of the Illinois Rape ~yth Acceptance Scale (IRMAS). One version presented the traditional IRMAS' items that referred to a hypothetical woman. The other version developed for the present study included personalized items that referred to a friend of the participant. The present study was the first to …

Olweus Bullying Prevention: A Program Evaluation At A Local Middle School, Jessica L. Hettiger

Masters Theses

Bullying is a rising problem in America leading to low self-esteem, poor school performance, and even teenage suicides. As Americans we feel it is our duty to "fix" the problems associated with bullying in order to help each student receive the best education possible. With this attitude, programs like the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program are making a rise as researched-based interventions based on the whole-school concept.

Originally, Olweus, found positive results in Norway and, consequently, started marketing his program to schools in America. Unfortunately, various studies by Cornell (2006) and Fink (2010), along with this study have shown significantly different …

A Qualitative Study Of Heterosexual Ally Development Among The Traditional Student Population At A Mid-Sized Midwestern University, Miranda Therese Ambuske

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study conducted, at a mid-sized Midwestern university, was to examine the ally development of heterosexual college students, specifically with gay, lesbian and bisexual populations. Five participants who were current college students, who self-identified as heterosexual allies, took part in open-ended life-history interviews in which they were asked to share their perspective on what may have affected their ally development. The interviews specifically probed what, if any, institutional resources, faculty or staff members may have assisted in their development, as well as if any precollege factors made them more susceptible to developing into an ally in college. …

Event Detection From Click-Through Data Via Query Clustering, Prabhu Kumar Angajala

Masters Theses

"The web is an index of real-world events and lot of knowledge can be mined from the web resources and their derivatives. Event detection is one recent research topic triggered from the domain of web data mining with the increasing popularity of search engines. In the visitor-centric approach, the click-through data generated by the web search engines is the start up resource with the intuition: often such data is event-driven. In this thesis, a retrospective algorithm is proposed to detect such real-world events from the click-through data. This approach differs from the existing work as it: (i) considers the click-through …

Nonlinear Finite Element Formulation Of The Soil Structure Interaction Through Two Parameter Foundation Model, Taraka Ravi Shankar Mullapudi

Masters Theses

"The response of shallow and raft foundations is having a significant importance due to its complex behavior because of the semi-infinite soil media. Winkler's model is the simplest model to deal with the structure and soil. The Winkler model represents the foundation reaction as proportional to the soil displacement at a particular point, which results in the elasticity of the soil being the only parameter in consideration. But in reality the soil cohesiveness is having a significant contribution in soil structure interaction, and therefore the consideration of coupling effects of Winkler springs need to be accounted. Most of the existing …

Development Of Novel Backscatter Communication Systems Using A Multi-Hop Framework And Distributed Beamforming, Vikram Reddy Surendra

Masters Theses

"The goal of this thesis it to develop a wireless networking framework for battery-free devices based on passive, backscatter communication. In contrast to traditional, active communication systems, where the radio signal has to be generated using large amount of energy from batteries, the passive systems reflect the RF signal. The information is encoded by modulating the reflected signal, which consumes significantly less energy than active transmission. The existing passive, backscatter systems have limited communication capabilities. For example, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems support short-distance, direct communication between active reader and passive tags. The communication range is limited due to …

Microalgal Bioremediation Of Nutrients In Wastewater And Carbon Dioxide In Flue Gas, Anand Murali Narasimhan

Masters Theses

"Microalgae are potential biofuel feedstocks that can provide solutions to the twin challenges of energy security and environmental pollution. They have great potential for the removal of excess nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater including the farm runoff. They can capture carbon dioxide in the flue gas from coal fired power plants thereby reducing greenhouse gas and also producing algal biomass, which can be converted into biofuel. In this study, the nutrient consumption of Scenedesmus algae was investigated in a batch culture and the biomass yield was determined. Algae were able to utilize carbon in the form of soluble carbonates which …

The Placement Of Remediation Amendments Into Contaminated Sediments Via Waterjet Technologies, Gavin Hunter Ray Risley

Masters Theses

"The use of amendments to perform in situ remediation of contaminated sediments is a technique that is relatively mature. The need exists to develop a method of amendment delivery that will efficiently place the amendments into the contaminated zone at depth with minimal impacts to the benthic communities and contaminant resuspension. Waterjets have been used for hundreds of years as an excavation, cutting, and cleaning tool, but they can also be used to inject remediation amendments into contaminated sediments if setup properly. In order to test this concept, a waterjet amendment injection system and nozzle have been developed and tested. …

Enhanced Photorefractivity In A Polymeric Composite Photosensitized With Modified Carbon Nanotubes, Naveen Kumar Lingam

Masters Theses

"This work involves the photosensitization of photorefractive polymeric composites through the inclusion of multiwalled and singlewalled carbon nanotubes grafted to poly(N-vinyl carbazole). The photorefractive nature of the holograms gratings was established using two-beam-coupling, yielding two-beam-coupling gain coefficients approaching 80 cm⁻¹. Degenerate-four-wave-mixing experiments exhibited diffraction efficiencies as high as 60% as well as over-modulation voltages as low as ~ 40 V/µm. These notable figures of merit indicate that the grafting of the various carbon nanotubes to the poly(N-vinyl carbazole) polymer resulted in enhanced photorefractive performance. The mechanism responsible for this enhancement in photorefractive performance is investigated using a variety of experimental …

Optimization Of Parameters And Study Of Kinetics In Lactulose Production By Lactose Isomerization Using Strong Basic Anion Exchange Resin, Arvind Nanduri

Masters Theses

"In this work, an experimental design was employed to investigate the effects of different operating conditions on the isomerization of lactose to lactulose by using strong basic anion exchange resin (AMBERLITE-IRA 402). Temperature, resin/lactose mass ratio and pH were considered to be the three factors affecting the conversion of lactose. Box-Behnken design was then used to optimize the operating conditions for maximum response and also to study the various interaction and main effects of the factors. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) of the experimental data showed a high correlation coefficient R² (0.99) and a low root mean square error (2.84) …

Zinc Oxide Nanoparticle Disruption Of Store-Operated Calcium Entry In A Muscarinic Receptor Signaling Pathway, Hsiu-Jen Wang

Masters Theses

"The influences of ZnO nanoparticles on cellular responses to activation of muscarinic receptors were studied in Chinese hamster ovary cells expressing the human M3 muscarinic acetylcholine receptor. ZnO particles (20 nm) induced cytotoxicity in a time and concentration-dependent manner: following a 24 h exposure, toxicity was minimal at concentrations below 20 µg/ml but virtually complete at concentrations above 28 µg/ml. ZnO particles did not affect antagonist binding to M3 receptors or allosteric ligand effects, but increased agonist binding affinity while eliminating guanine nucleotide sensitivity. At a noncytotoxic concentration (10 µg/ml), ZnO increased resting [Ca²⁺]i from 40 to 130 nM without …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Microspheres For Controlled Release, Gurpartap Singh Sandhu

Masters Theses

"Synthetic hydroxyapatite (HAp, (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂) has always been of interest in medical applications because of its similarities to inorganic bone matrix. It has been used in biomedical applications for bone repair and substitution due to its biocompatibility. However, there are some differences in the stoichiometry, composition, and mechanical properties of human bone as compared to pure HAP. HAp particles have been successfully used as drug delivery carriers which deliver the drug to the affected part of the body and the remaining apatite gets degraded by the physiological processes in the body. In the present work, emphasis was on developing mechanically stronger …

Experimental Study On Thermal Treatment Of Used Printed Wiring Boards (Pwbs), Xiangjun Zuo

Masters Theses

The availability of cheaper and better electronic products as a result of the rapid innovation in technology in past decades has driven the production of e-waste forward. Printed wiring board (PWB) is a component made of one or more layers of insulating material with electrical conductors. The existing processes of recycling PWBs use pyrometallurgical or hydrometallurgical methods, which generate atmospheric pollution. Green recycling has obvious benefits to decrease the amount of PWBs. Green recycling includes two features, 1) little or zero pollution of toxic gases and heavy metals, and 2) efficient (quick and economical) recycling.

The aim of this work …

Application Of Life Cycle Assessment To Estimate Environmental Impacts Of Surface Coal Mining, Ofentse Ditsele

Masters Theses

"Coal plays an important role in meeting the energy needs of the World. Given its abundance and low cost, its use is bound to increase with the growing energy demand. Despite its importance, there are concerns over coal's environmental burdens. In order to extract and use coal in a sustainable manner, sustainability assessment has to be comprehensive. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) provides systematic and quantifiable measures for assessing environmental burdens of products and processes. Extensive LCA work has been done on coal use, particularly in electricity generation, but, the coal mining stage has been neglected, for the most part. This …

Evaluation Of Metal Detection Audio Alert Signals Of An/Pss-14 By Means Of Real Time Visualization, Sandesh Srikantaiah Chandrashekar

Masters Theses

"The sweep arm of the AN/PSS-14 Landmine Detector attached to an independent visualization device will transform the AN/PSS-14 into a hand-held data acquisition system for conversion of real time MD and GPR audio alert signals into captured visual trace displays on an on-board PDA computer screen so that momentary sounds of millisecond durations can be captured and displayed for visual scrutiny and interpretation by analytical on-board data processing procedures. This is a part of a two-man team that is developing a visual data adapter for the AN/PSS-14 Landmine Detector where the current thesis is concentrating only on MD audio alerts. …