Digital Commons Network^™

Socially Responsible Advertising In The Fashion And Cosmetic Industry : The Female Consumers’ Perspective, Christine Murphy

Theses

This study explores the portrayal of women in advertising in the fashion and cosmetic industry. While traditionally, companies have employed the use of highly attractive thin women known as the thin ideal in their advertisements, there have been some moves in the industry towards the use of women of various ages and sizes in an attempt to celebrate female beauty as a whole instead of focusing on the thin ideal. This has been in response to criticisms of the industry as dominant contributors to high levels of negative body images, dissatisfaction, extreme dieting and eating disorders among girls and women. …

Shear Stress Distribution And Hemolysis Measurements In A Centrifugal Blood Pump, Matthew Nicholson Giarra

Theses

The use of computational fluid dynamics (CFO) to predict red blood cell trauma (hemolysis) in blood pumps based on their exposure to turbulent stresses has increased in recent years. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has initiated a project to determine the fidelity with which modern CFO can accurately predict hemolysis in such devices. The project involves the collection of experimental data against which externally-conducted CFO simulations may be compared. Because the data will be used to judge the ability of CFO to predict hemolysis, the pump was designed to cause more turbulence and blood damage than would be …

Born Under A Lucky Chinese Sign, Just Wish I Was Chinese., Suzanne Newsham

Theses

This thesis is a cumulation of my life and my career as a student at Lindenwood University. Each essay is a comedic peek into the chaos that is my life. I was heavily influenced by the writing styles of David Sedaris and Sloane Crosley. Their views and easy read style of writing influenced me to write the same type of stories.

The first essay speaks to the influence that my parents had on me by making me feel overly loved and accepted even though I was adopted. "Not a dirty word in my house."

I continue with various lengths of …

Fluoride And Phosphate Glass Whispering Gallery Micro-Resonators, Jonathan Ward

Theses

This PhD work focuses on spherical microlasers made from commercial and experimental laser glasses. The laser light in a microsphere is confined in a region called a whispering gallery mode, which has unique properties that allow for many nonlinear effects to be observed with only sub-mW pump powers. Efficient coupling of light into the microsphere is attained by using adiabatically tapered fibres fabricated using various heating methods including a CO₂ laser, a sapphire tube furnace and electric heaters. However, the best result is obtained using a fibre pulling rig with an oxy-butane torch as the heat source. This system …

Evaluation Of Management Options For Groundwater Resources In Khatt Basin Area, Uae Using Gis And Modflow, Nada Buti Khalifa Buthiana Alsuwaidi

Theses

Khatt springs area has been chosen in 1979 to be a major recreational site in Ras Al Khaimah. The outflow water from these springs has been used to irrigate the surrounding farms. In the period 1999-2004, there was a severe drought which affected the flow and water temperature from the spring as the flow decreased to almost one tenth of its average value and temperature decreased from 40 to 33 C. This work is an attempt to develop a GIS-based groundwater flow model for the Khatt springs area with the following main objectives: 1) Characterize the general hydrogeological setting of …

Screening For Latent Or Silent Celiac Disease “Gluten-Sensitive Enteropathy” In Uae Adults Nationals, Waheeba Salman Al Zaabi

Theses

No abstract provided.

Germination Ecology Of Two Indigenous Range Grasses Lasiurus Scindicus And Panicum Turgidum, Naeema Sultan Abdullah Al-Shamisi

Theses

The utilization of indigenous forage species to replace the exotic ones could help in saving large amounts of water. The indigenous forage grasses Lasiurus scindicus and Panicum turgidum have been ranked among the plants that could tolerate drought during vegetative and reproductive stages and are currently being successfully used as fodders under experimental conditions in the UAE and in some parts of the world. However, there are no enough information about their dormancy and the environmental factors affecting their seed germination. In this study, the innate dormancy, light and temperature requirements, drought and salinity tolerances and the impact of dormancy …

Impact Of Heavy Metals On Childhood Behaviors And Development: A Uae Study, Said Yousef Ahmad Abdel Razeq

Theses

BACKGROUND: Environmental toxic metal exposure is well known to adversely affect children's development and behavior. To our knowledge, there are no studies that carefully examined this potential hazard in UAE and Gulf countries.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this case-control study was to determine blood concentrations of 12 heavy metals in school-age children in Al Ain City. The other aim was to correlate the blood levels with developmental (e.g., learning disability) and behavioral (e.g., Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder) problems in children.

METHODS: One hundred and forty seven subjects (73 with developmental and/or behavioral disorders and 74 controls) participated in the study. The …

Environmental Enrichment Effects On The Activity Of A Nearctic River Otter, Kenneth O. Nelson

Theses

Environmental enrichment has been used to identify and change a stimulus in a captive environment to increase the animal's welfare by bring out species-appropriate behaviors and combating stereotypic behaviors. One captive North American river otter (Lontra canadensis) was presented four enrichment initiatives (live fish, frozen fish, swim tube, PVC scent tubes) in a random order and placement throughout the exhibit. Baseline data showed that the otter preferred to spend mornings in the lower level of the exhibit and the afternoons in the upper level. Food initiatives (i.e. live fish, and a lesser degree frozen fish) were most effective in deterring …

Vibrational Control Of Chaos In Artificial Neural Networks, Ralph Bean

Theses

Neural networks with chaotic baseline behavior are interesting for their experimental bases in both biological relevancy and engineering applicability. In the engineering case, the literature still lacks a robust study of the interrelationship between particular chaotic baseline network dynamics and 'online' or 'driving' inputs. We ask the question, for a particular neural network with chaotic baseline behavior, what periodic inputs of minimal magnitude have a stabilizing effect on network dynamics? A genetic algorithm is developed for the task. A systematic comparison of different genetic operators is carried out where each operator-combination is ranked by the optimality of solutions found. The …

Adolescent Technology Usage During Sleep-Time: Does It Influence Their Quality Of Sleep, Attention Difficulties And Academic Performance?, Kristin Dehmler

Theses

Many adolescents use the Internet, cell phones, television, and computer and video games on a daily basis. Therefore, an important question for educators is: how is technology affecting adolescents' quality and quantity of sleep, their attention difficulties, and their academic performance? The purpose of the current project was to examine the relationships between adolescent self-reports of technology usage, sleep patterns, attention difficulties and academic achievement. Results indicated that nocturnal technology use has a negative impact on adolescents' quality and quantity of sleep. Furthermore both technology use in general and reported attention difficulties have a negative impact on adolescents' academic achievement. …

The Elimination Of Erosion Phenomena In The Main Cooling Water Pumps In Thermo Power Plant (Tpp) “Kosova B” : [Presentation Given October 7, 2009], Abedin Kabashi

Theses

This Capstone Project will address the erosion phenomena on the impeller blades of the main cooling water pumps in Thermal Power Plant (TPP) “Kosova B”. These are vertical mixed flow pumps and are part of the cooling system that play an important role in TPP “Kosova B”. In this investigation I will study the line between the cooling tower basin and the pumps intake. This line includes the pipe with a 2220 [mm] diameter through which the water, from the cooling tower basin, goes into the pumps intake. In fact we have two lines where one is for unit B1 …

Modeling Problems In Mucus Viscoelasticity And Mucociliary Clearance, Michael M. Norton

Theses

From the common cold and allergies to severe chronic and acute respiratory impairments, the function of the body's mucociliary clearance mechanism plays a primary defense role. Mucus demonstrates numerous non-Newtonian behaviors which set it apart from viscous fluids. Among them: Bingham plastic behavior, shear-thinning, and elasticity on short time scales due to relaxation time. Experimental evidence suggests that certain rheologies promote effective transport. In an effort to reveal the mechanisms controlling transport, models are developed. Firstly, a steady state model which idealizes the mucus as a rigid body is created in order to bring together disparate bodies of experimental work …

Sampling Edge Covers, William August Rummler

Theses

The random generation or sampling of combinatorial objects has important applications to statistical analyses in various domains, including physics and evolutionary biology. Some objects whose sampling has been well-studied are contingency tables, matchings, and independent sets. Edge covers are related to matchings in graph theory; however, their association does not appear to be of the sort where results for sampling matchings imply results for sampling edge covers. Consequently, we investigate the sampling of edge covers and prove that efficiently sampling so-called (1,2)-edge covers is possible under reasonable restrictions.

Carbon Dioxide Capture From Flue Gases, Mohamed Rashid Al Rashid

Theses

Global warming and climate change are believed to be caused by the greenhouse effect. CO₂ has been regarded as the main contributor to global climate change which directly results in serious environmental problems. Half of the anthropogenic CO₂ emission sources are emitted from the combustion of fossil fuels in industries and power plants worldwide. The absorption behavior of Carbon dioxide from flue gases can be studied using conventional absorber and polymeric hollow fiber membrane contractors. An industrial absorber data was compared with simulated data using hollow fiber membrane contractor using the gPROMs software package. In this analysis, with …

The Germination Ecology And Composition Of The Indigenous Seeds Of Cyprus Conglomeratus: A Sand Dune Binder, Sheikha Saeed Amer Al Neyadi

Theses

Cyperus conglomeratus is among few species that tolerate the instability of sand dunes and its low nutrients. This species tolerates grazing animals and sand burial. It is considered as a good fodder for both domestic and wildlife animals. It has the potential to fix sand dunes. In addition, a preliminary observation indicated the presence of high contents of oil in the seeds. Despite the ecological importance of C. conglomeratus, little information is available about germination behaviour and seed composition. The present study assessed the dormancy, germination requirement, tolerance to salinity and drought during germination stage, the impact of dormancy regulation …

A Longitudinal Examination Of The Contribution Of Perceived Motor Competence And Actual Motor Competence To Physical Activity In 6 To 9 Year Old Children, Fleur Mcintyre

Theses

This study examined the relationship between perceived motor competence, actual motor competence and physical activity. In particular, it aimed to identify the impact of perceived motor competence (PMC), actual motor competence (AMC), and age and gender on the physical activity levels of young children. A number of factors have been identified as key contributors to children’s physical activity levels. However, there had been little investigation into their developing impact and subsequent relationship with emergent physical activity levels, particularly in the younger primary age groups.

Physical activity, AMC and PMC measures were collected from 6-, 7-, 8-, and 9-year-old boys and …

Computational Analysis Of Ultraviolet Reactors, Xiang Li

Theses

Disinfection of water treatment using ultraviolet (UV) light has received wide recognition as an important contribution to the protection of public health. To ensure a UV disinfection system that can deliver the required UV dose, analytical and numerical methods have been used to evaluate the flow field of the UV reactor. A Multiple Point Source Summation (MPSS) method was used to estimate the radiation intensity field, with the utilization of Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) technique. To couple the analytical model with numerical simulations, a user friendly interface software was developed to calculate the UV dosage distribution. In addition a UV …

A Framework For Data Decay In Client-Server Model, Matthew Taber

Theses

Data breach incidents are a growing concern in both the private and public sector. As an increasing amount of sensitive information is made available through information systems, the number of occurrences and the potential damage as a result of these breaches will continue to expand. There is a clear need for a framework to mitigate the dangers of leaking data while simultaneously allowing authorized individuals to gain access to necessary information. This thesis presents the concept of data decay, applied to a client-server model for retrieval of sensitive data. In this framework, files tagged by the framework and stored on …

Range Voting Is Resistant To Control, Curtis Menton

Theses

Social choice theory is concerned with developing and evaluating voting systems, both for the use of political and organizational elections and for use as decision making process for multiagent systems. Particularly in the context of multiagent systems, computational resistance to various types of control has become a desired property of a voting system. Though manipulative actions may always be possible, strong computational barriers to efficient control can give us sufficient confidence in the integrity of an election. Range Voting is a natural extension of approval voting that is resistant to a large number of cases of control. In particular, the …

Distribution And Geochemical Speciation Of Pb, Cd, Zn, Cr, And Cu In Sediments Of Major Dams In Uae, Mona Rashed Musabah Al-Alili

Theses

Assessment of availability and mobility is required to predict the behavior of heavy metals in dam's sediments, which hold up rainwater and make use of them. Therefore, a total number of ninety-three of sediments samples collected from the major dams AI-Shuweib, AI-Bih, AI-Tawiyeen and Ham dam were analyzed by several sedimentological and geochemical analyses procedures for Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn, AI, and Fe. The samples were investigated for mineralogy using X-ray diffraction analyses for non-clay and clay fractions. ICP-OES and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) were used to measure the concentration of heavy metals. The statistical treatments and graphical presentations …

Modelling Hydrocarbons Transport In The Aquifer Of Bu Hasa Field And Evaluation Of Remediation Alternatives, Nawal Eisa Saleh Al Junaibi

Theses

The release of non-aqueous phase liquids (NAPLs) to groundwater reservoirs is a serious and widespread environmental problem. In 2000, free phase hydrocarbon was discovered in Liwa aquifer under Bu Hasa Liquid Recovery Plant (LRP). Liwa aquifer is a shallow unconfined aquifer and represents the main water supply in the camp area of Bu Hasa field. Dissolved benzene is observed in at least one observation well in the site. This research is conducted to simulate the fate and transport of the dissolved benzene plume in the groundwater of Liwa aquifer using the finite element model (METABIOTRANS).

The mam objective of this …

Victorian Organ, Christine Dunn

Theses

This paper is a companion piece to my short film, “Victorian Organ”. This film is an effort to contextualize the mechanical, or man-made, within nature. It is an assertion that there really is no "man vs. nature"- (a radically illogical and inherently self-destructive notion), but only man as nature, in which case, alienation and disharmony ultimately lies in our own self-perception. The impulse to identify a relationship between the mechanical and organic is inspired not only by my observations of our human society, but as a way to decode my own inner workings –an urge to reconcile seemingly major dichotomies …

Detecting Relevant Changes In High Throughput Gene Expression Data, Anusha Aiyalu Kannan

Theses

The management and analysis of the data produced by high-throughput technologies are challenging. This paper discuss multiple hypothesis testing by focusing on developing and applying computationally intensive techniques to achieve the goal of simultaneous tests for each spotID the null hypothesis of no association between the expression levels and the responses or covariates. The software provides features where the user controls the amount of data that can be used for analyzing. The software also produce graph of the output which provide the user with easy viewing of the results.

Estimating Evolutionary Dynamics Of Cleavage Site Peptides Among H5ha Avian Influenza Employing Mathematical Information Theory Approaches, Sherry Dadgar

Theses

Estimating evolutionary conservation of cleavage site peptides among HA protein of all strains facilitates vaccine development against pandemic influenza. Conserved epitopes may be useful for diagnosis of animals infected with the influenza virus, and preventing their spread in other regions [ 1]. In the preliminary stage of this study, in silico analysis of hemagglutinin was applied to predict potential cleavage sites of each strain employing

SigCleave [2] and SignalP 3.0 server [3]. The second stage of the study focused on analyzing the structure of connecting peptides of hemagglutinin cleavage sites based on the availability of the existing experimental data. Our …

The Botanical Thread, Kaitlin Wilson-Bryant

Theses

My thesis is an exploration of my dual desires of creation/destruction and manipulation/transformation as realized through the remediation of botanical specimens gathered from my domestic environment and transformed into works of art. Each image questions and presents an understanding of the history of botanical representation, within Western art history, as symbols of nature and femininity and the domestic skill of needlework, a traditional skill learned by women as part of the feminine. I created a conceptual dialogue with those who preceded me, intrinsically linking the acts of sewing and botany as re-interpreted feminist acts. In this work, I attempt to …

Microgripper Force Feedback Integration Using Piezoresistive Cantilever Structure, Todd R. Simon

Theses

Force feedback is an important feature in most microgripper applications, but it is commonly overlooked. To successfully implement this feature, a cantilever structure has been designed and fabricated to integrate force feedback into a microhand gripper. The piezoresistive properties of doped polysilicon are used to transduce the mechanical stress of an object pressing against the cantilever sensor, resulting in a change in resistance or voltage capable of being monitored with external hardware. The force sensing structure was designed to have a fabrication process compatible with that of the microhand, allowing for their eventual integration. This fabrication process uses both bulk …

The Visual Analysis Of Heterogeneous Sex Role Interactions: A Content Analysis Of Popular Music Videos, Deanna Niccole Kimbrel

Theses

Hip Hop cultured music videos have raised concern among our nation’s leaders, parents and communities. Since the introduction of music videos in the early 1980s the medium has crossed cultural, regional and ethnic boundaries (Rose, 1994). This medium has been well researched since the 1980s. The focus of this study is Hip Hop cultured music videos from years 1989-2006. The uniqueness of this study is that it focuses on nonverbal sex role interactions in this genre of music videos. This study found many useful trends. For example, men were portrayed as more dominant and/or vertical than women in the sampled …

Pottery, The Multi-Sensual Medium, Ryan Bothamley

Theses

The search for beauty, nourishment, and celebration of life can be found within thoughtful hand made pottery. These objects help create, recreate and bring together a community. The most intimate, personal, and enriching objects are useful and found in the home. I strive to create pottery for occasions, to celebrate a memorable event or to make the everyday routine include more significant moments. I want my pottery to be so captivating that a viewer will be compelled to interact with it. My hope is that the use of these pots will create more significant moments within the user's life. While …

Precipitation Of Ultrafine Particles Using Liquid Antisolvent With Concentric Ultrasonic Nozzle And Subcritical Co2, Satya Chaitanya Kunchala

Theses

Nanotechnology has become more relevant in the pharmaceutical industry. Almost 40% of the drugs developed by pharmaceutical industries are poorly soluble in water which limits the bioavailability of these drugs in body fluids. Hence, it is necessary to reduce the particle size, which increases the interfacial surface area. This work focuses on micronization of class ii drug Griseofulvin which is poorly water soluble. Two processes namely, liquid antisolvent precipitation using ultrasonic nozzle and other process using subcritical CO₂ have been used to produce ultrafine particles of this drug.

In liquid antisolvent precipitation, a combination of ultrasound, polymer and surfactant …