Digital Commons Network^™

Fictive Daughters And Sons, Celibate Priests And Nuns: How Religious Tongzhi And Clergy In Taiwan Navigate Familial Obligations, Gavin Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

Great progress for the rights of tongzhi(sexually and gender-nonconforming people) has occurred in Taiwan in the past two decades, culminating in the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2019. However, it is still not uncommon for parents to take their tongzhi son or daughter to see a spirit medium or psychiatrist in an attempt to ‘cure’ them of their same-sex attraction. In Confucian ideology, which is central to the culture of Taiwan, a filial son or daughter is one who marries heterosexually and produces progeny to continue the family line. Tongzhi who do not do so are therefore violating this …

Effects Of Personal Fm System Use During Phonological Awareness Instruction For Children At Risk For Dyslexia, Gabriella Rose Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

Students with reading impairments, including dyslexia, account for the largest proportion of students receiving special education services in the United States (NCES, 2016). Developmental dyslexia is characterized by slow and inaccurate word decoding (Lyon et al., 2003). This word decoding difficulty results from deficits in phonological awareness, a sound-based skill (Swan & Goswami, 1997). Classrooms are known to have high levels of background noise and are inconsistent with recommendations for optimal listening (Picard & Bradley, 2001) or accepted standards (ASHA, n.d.). Furthermore, degraded acoustic conditions have been related to poorer performance on speech-recognition tasks even for children with normal hearing …

Defining The Pathophysiology Of Gut Humoral Immunodeficiency, Ahmed Dawood Mohammed

Theses and Dissertations

Mucosal antibodies maintain gut homeostasis by promoting spatial segregation between host tissues and luminal microbes. Antibody-deficiency is the most common form of primary immunodeficiency observed in humans. In antibody-deficient humans, abnormal composition of the gut microbiota ('dysbiosis') is associated with chronic inflammatory responses and gastrointestinal complications. However, the mechanisms by which dysbiosis promotes inflammatory disease are poorly defined. In the studies described in this dissertation, we utilize CD19-/- mice as a model of antibody deficiency to test the hypothesis that antibody deficiency negatively impacts gut physiology under steady-state conditions. Chapter #1 is an overview of B cell development and how …

Association Of Nsaids And Acetaminophen Prescriptions During Pregnancy With Autism Spectrum Disorders In The Child, Mohiuddin Ahsanul Kabir Chowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

Neurodevelopmental disorders in children including Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) and Intellectual disability (ID) are the topics of growing concern and recently many studies looked for the risk factors of these disorders. Although antidepressants and antiepileptics consumption during pregnancy have been reported to be associated with ASD, the effect of NSAID or acetaminophen, two most common drugs used during pregnancy, have been under researched. We conducted a prospective cohort study linking data from Medicaid, Department of Education, and Department of Disabilities and Special Needs with birth certificate data from mothers and children between 2010-2017. Beside exposure variables, NSAID and acetaminophen, and …

Molecular Basis Of Xenobiotic Metabolism And Resistance In Tetranychus Urticae, Leily Daneshian

Theses and Dissertations

Invasive pest species are a major cause of crop loss around the world and adversely affect the agricultural industry. We are focusing on Tetranychus urticae (two-spotted spider mite; TSSM), which is a polyphagous pest that targets more than 1100 plant species. The TSSM alone causes a loss of roughly $1.6 billion per year globally due to acaricide resistance. It is developing resistance to most acaricides due to rapid growth and reproduction. Therefore, new acaricides are needed to combat TSSM resistance and infestation [1]. To address this problem, four enzymes of TSSM, intradiol ring cleavage dioxygenases, a glutathione S-transferase, a β …

Escitalopram Treatment To The Hiv-1 Transgenic Rat: Spine Dynamics, Telomere Quantification And Neurogenesis, Adam Ray Denton

Theses and Dissertations

HIV is a serious viral infection that persists in the brain despite treatment. Approximately half of all seropositive patients will experience some degree of comorbid depression, as well as HIV associated neurocognitive disorders. The present research sought to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of escitalopram, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor in ameliorating neuroanatomical and biochemical markers associated with HIV infection. The central purpose of this research is to characterize the effects of escitalopram treatment upon dendritic spine proliferation in the nucleus accumbens. Previous research has consistently demonstrated impaired synaptodendritic integrity in this region, with underlying mechanisms remaining unclear. A secondary focus …

The Robber Barons Of Show Business: Traveling Amusements And The Development Of The American Entertainment Industry, 1870- 1920, Madeline Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, traveling amusements such as circuses, minstrel shows and Wild West shows were the most popular forms of entertainment in the United States. This study argues that advancements in transportation and technology inspired managers of traveling amusement companies to create new business models that transformed popular entertainment from informal, local productions into modern commercial spectacles. These amusement companies were capitalist enterprises, significant not just in the cultural arena but also in the growth of American business. These amusement companies traveled nationwide on the newly expanded railroad system, sporting elaborate sets and props and …

Regularized Deep Network Learning For Multi-Label Visual Recognition, Hao Guo

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is focused on the task of multi-label visual recognition, a fundamental task of computer vision. It aims to tell the presence of multiple visual classes from the input image, where the visual classes, such as objects, scenes, attributes, etc., are usually defined as image labels. Due to the prosperous deep networks, this task has been widely studied and significantly improved in recent years. However, it remains a challenging task due to appearance complexity of multiple visual contents co-occurring in one image. This research explores to regularize the deep network learning for multi-label visual recognition.

First, an attention concentration …

Age And Sex Dependency Of Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Progression In A Mouse Model Of Marfan Syndrome, Nazli Gharraee

Theses and Dissertations

Aneurysm of the ascending aorta is the most common type of thoracic aortic aneurysm, and it is a life-threatening manifestation of Marfan syndrome (MFS), a connective tissue disorder caused by mutation of the FBN1 gene. Incidence of Marfan syndrome is similar for men and women; however, men suffer from more severe aortic events compared to women.

This study aims to provide a better understanding of age and sex dependency of cell and extracellular matrix alterations of the aortic wall during the progression of the aneurysm caused by Marfan syndrome. To achieve this goal, the C1041G/+ mouse model of Marfan syndrome …

Removal Of Heavy Metals Using Novel Adsorbent Materials, Lesley Joseph

Theses and Dissertations

Heavy metal contamination is a growing concern throughout the world, particularly as industrial and urban activities have increased. Inadequate water and wastewater treatment, coupled with increased industrial activity, have led to increased heavy metal contamination in rivers, lakes, and other water sources in developing countries. To address these concerns, a significant amount of research has been conducted on various novel adsorbents to evaluate their ability to remove heavy metals. Thus, in this study, MIL-100(Fe) and MIL-101(Cr) are fabricated and investigated to determine their ability to remove copper (Cu2+), cadmium (Cd2+), and lead (Pb2+) from aqueous solution. The experimental data fit …

Fate Of Nitrogen And Effectiveness Of Evaporation On Managing Leachate In Collection And Storage Ponds: A Case Study At The Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority Regional Landfill, Kaitlen Rose Drafts

Theses and Dissertations

Treatment of leachate from municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills can be complex and difficult, due to the variety of contaminants present. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the fate of nitrogen and effectiveness of leachate evaporation in a leachate storage and collection pond at the Three Rivers Solid Waste Authority (TRSWA) MSW landfill in Jackson, South Carolina. This was accomplished by determining the fate of nitrogen species in the pond, exploring effect of the site’s Lilypad droplet sprayer system on ammonia-nitrogen, and exploring potential to reduce overall quantity of leachate to be treated through evaporation from the pond. …

A Culture Of Control: Progressive Era Eugenics In South Carolina As A Continuation Of Created White Supremacy, Hannah Nicole Patton

Theses and Dissertations

This work examines the evolution of eugenic ideology in South Carolina during the Progressive Era by following relevant discussions published in The State newspaper. Between 1891 and 1939, The State newspaper provided a platform for discussions about eugenic ideology to be disseminated to the general public. Through eugenics the white portion of the South Carolina population saw a way to retain white supremacy and create better progeny. An examination of The State reveals a network of discussions that reached across South Carolina, the United States, as well as Western Europe. The existence of newspaper articles illustrates cultural integration in the …

Investigating The Dynamic Interactions Of Rapidly Growing Precocial Shorebird Chicks, Luke R. Wilde

Theses and Dissertations

Organisms in dynamic environments must continually reassess the cost-benefit trade-offs of their interactions and adjust their behaviors accordingly. Nevertheless, ecological research often takes a ‘snapshot’ approach to studying interactions across sample locations and timepoints. Investigating ecological interactions in this way can miss important information about the influence spatiotemporal context has on the scale and direction of their effects. Longitudinal studies that follow individuals can elucidate how changing contexts affect an individual’s ecology while deepening our understanding of adaptive behavior. However, determining how context influences the effect of an interaction requires it be measured across a range of spatiotemporal conditions. Studying …

Deep Learning Based Sound Event Detection And Classification, Alireza Nasiri

Theses and Dissertations

Hearing sense has an important role in our daily lives. During the recent years, there has been many studies to transfer this capability to the computers. In this dissertation, we design and implement deep learning based algorithms to improve the ability of the computers in recognizing the different sound events.

In the first topic, we investigate sound event detection, which identifies the time boundaries of the sound events in addition to the type of the events. For sound event detection, we propose a new method, AudioMask, to benefit from the object-detection techniques in computer vision. In this method, we convert …

Dreadds Modulation Of Operant Behavior In Male And Female Hiv-1 Transgenic And F344/N Rats, Jessica Illenberger

Theses and Dissertations

The neurobiological processes which determine the choice between 2 (or more) reinforcers are unidentified despite the remarkable benefits which could result from better understanding or control of such processes. Most prominently, reducing choices to pursue drug over non-drug reinforcers could curtail the development or continuation of drug dependence. Likewise, increasing goal-directed behavior in single-schedule and choice settings may alleviate some of the consequences of apathy, a reduction in goal-directed behavior which can occur with neuropathologies including HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders. Dysregulation of the mesolimbic circuit, connecting the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens, has been implicated in both drug dependence …

Changing Environment. Changing Attitudes?, Lindsey Brooke Hendren

Theses and Dissertations

Most issues of hyper partisanship, such as health care, yield a strong constituency for action on the issue; the low salience of climate change, however, has failed to produce much change. In order to understand public opinion on climate change, this research draws not only on previous studies in political science, but also from psychology, sociology, communication studies, and other disciplines to provide a more comprehensive theoretical background. This dissertation emphasizes the need for more exploration in the field of political science and attempts to bridge some of the existing gaps. Findings from research such as this identify the opportunities …

A Stylistic Analysis Of Edvard Grieg’S Slåtter, Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72, Zhiyuan He

Theses and Dissertations

Slåtter, Norwegian Peasant Dances, Op. 72 is a composition for solo piano by Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg (1843-1907). This set is one of his greatest contributions to piano literature, and shows his attempt to bring the traditional folk music to the rest of the world. The object of this study is to aid musicians toward a better understanding of Slåtter through a stylistic analysis of the work. The study includes historical information about the composer and his connection with nationalism in Northern Europe, and conveys how Slåtter can be considered a culminating work representing traditional Norwegian style characteristics.

The document …

The Interactive Effects Of Nontoxic Levels Of Microplastics - Textile Microfibers And Tire Wear Particles, On The Acute Toxicity Of Bifenthrin In The Estuarine Grass Shrimp, Palaemonetes Pugio, Xiaoxuan Fan

Theses and Dissertations

Contemporary pollution issues are primarily focused on Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) which may include Brominated and Fluorinated flame retardants, Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs), Contemporary Use Pesticides (CUPs), nanomaterials and microplastics (Muraya et al., 2014). Tire wear particles and textile microfibers are examples of CECs which may gradually increase in the environment and may cause adverse effect on the health of some aquatic species (Marwood et al., 2011; Taylor et al., 2016). Microplastic particles are so small that they can be ingested by many marine species such as filter feeders and small particle feeders including mollusk and crustaceans, …

Panaxynol’S Pharmacokinetic Properties And Its Mechanism Of Action In Treating Ulcerative Colitis, Hossam Sami Tashkandi

Theses and Dissertations

Panaxynol (PA) is a polyacetylene that was found to be an abundant active ingredient in American ginseng (AG). Pharmacokinetics (PK) studies of PA were conducted to determine how the body reacts to it by using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) to measure PA’s concentration. In vitro, PA’s clearance by microsome metabolism is a moderate 48.1 minutes. In vivo, CD-1® mice were treated with PA by intravenous (IV) injection or orally (PO). Concentrations of PA were measured in plasma and tissue using LC-MS/MS. Also, PA has a high bioavailability of 50.4% and a moderate half-life of 5.9 hours. In addition, mice …

Wonderland Station, Melanie Elizabeth Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Wonderland Station is a love story about an affair between a Salvadoran line-cook and a white waitress who has lost custody of her daughter because of heroin addiction. It is a story about a love of necessity, about two people who love to forget their trauma, to imagine a new life in which they are seen and respected. Reality quickly finds them however, as they have no place to be together; Stephanie lives in a halfway house and Mauricio is in an unhappy marriage. Their romance takes them through a very different Boston than is often written about; they fall …

Zooplankton Community Structure And Grazing Within A Stormwater Detention Pond In Coastal South Carolina, Kristen Laccetti

Theses and Dissertations

Stormwater detention ponds (SDPs) on the coast of South Carolina have become increasingly prevalent as the area experiences rapid urbanization. SDPs are man-made reservoirs implemented to minimize pollution inputs into receiving waters and are home to diverse biota, including zooplankton. Zooplankton are a good water quality indicator due to their quick response times and trophic regulators of phytoplankton through grazing. Zooplankton and phytoplankton interactions in stormwater detention ponds are an essential component for understanding plankton community dynamics in SDPs. This purpose of this study was to determine the seasonal variability in zooplankton community composition and grazing rates at 14-day intervals …

Teacher Efficacy In Implementing Social And Emotional Learning: A Convergent Mixed Methods Study, Wendy Barr Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to describe teachers’ perceived self-efficacy and related experiences in implementing a state-mandated Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program during a global pandemic. Program implementation was initiated at the start of the 2020-2021 school year, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent extended school closures. Research questions included: 1) How do teachers perceive their sense of efficacy in implementing Social and Emotional Learning during a global pandemic? and 2) What are the experiences of teachers implementing Social and Emotional Learning during a global pandemic? Participants included nine middle school teachers who taught daily SEL …

Vascular Endothelial Dysfunction And Effects On Arterial Wall Microstructure, Jeffrey Thomas Rodgers

Theses and Dissertations

Vascular endothelial cell dysfunction (ECD) is a disease characterized by the inability of the vascular endothelial cells to transmit signaling molecules, namely nitric oxide (NO), in response to changes in blood flow rate. This disease is shown to be incident in the onset of more severe vascular disease such as hypertension, atherosclerosis, and heart failure. Long-term ECD is shown to cause long-term remodeling such as decreased flow-mediated dilation, increased pulse-wave velocity, intimal-medial thickening, and increased wall stiffness due to collagen deposition. We used second harmonic generation (SHG) microscopy to analyze this change in the collagen microstructure of the arterial extracellular …

“It Seemed Like Reaching For The Moon:” Southside Virginia’S Civil Rights Struggle Against The Virginia Way, 1951-1964, Emily A. Martin Cochran

Theses and Dissertations

During the American civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s and in the historiography, Virginia held a racially moderate reputation. Scholarship on civil rights in Virginia typically credits racial moderation with implementing integration in the state while avoiding major violence and protest. In Southside Virginia, the rural south-central area of the state dominated by tobacco and textile mills with a substantial black population, two towns became the sites of significant civil rights activity. Both Farmville and Danville had direct-action movements spearheaded by local African American students and activists, but these movements drew limited national attention despite extreme reaction and …

Transgressive Migrations: Gender Roles, Space, And Place In American Novels, 1900-1999, Selena Gail Larkin

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, I examine how gender roles combine with changes in space and place to affect women protagonists in twentieth-century American literature. I argue that as these characters migrate, the (self-)perception of their identities shift. Particularly, their outward performances as well as their internal awareness change. My analysis concentrates on the novel genre because of specific characteristics—plot, characterization, and narration. The chosen literary works on which I focus are The Grapes of Wrath (1939), Quicksand (1928), Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), The Dollmaker (1954), and Under the Feet of Jesus (1996).

Concepts that I …

“What Can There Be But Witchcraft?”: History, Women, And Witches In Sylvia Townsend Warner’S Lolly Willowes And Graham Swift’S Waterland, Thomas Bedenbaugh

Theses and Dissertations

The ambiguous relationship between history, women and witchcraft in Sylvia Townsend Warner’s Lolly Willowes and Graham Swift’s Waterland foregrounds the constructedness of historical narratives while also recuperating women’s marginalized positions within history. Both novels link historical narratives with the received ideas upon which norms of gender, sexuality, and the nation are constructed. In recognizing this, both authors challenge the monolithic male gaze of history, revealing it to be a story which, totalizing as it may be, is not in fact “natural.” While many women in both novels are configured as haunting figures - women who confuse the boundary separation presence …

Sanctuary Poetics And Contemporary Us Culture, Alex Howerton

Theses and Dissertations

Sanctuary Poetics and Contemporary US Culture argues that contemporary poets of color create spaces of safety, relation, and justice through the act of writing as resistance itself. Sanctuary Poetics discusses poetry responding to the myriad crises of our contemporary moment, and considers how poets, through formal techniques such as ekphrasis or synecdoche, envision moments of shelter and connection that provide necessary relief to imperiled populations. I introduce the idea of a sanctuary poetics through Amanda Gorman’s recent poem “The Hill We Climb,” performed at Joseph Biden’s inauguration. The first chapter covers citizenship and the work of the Undocupoets, a multiracial …

Cult Of The Day Moon, Markham Sigler

Theses and Dissertations

This book is a collection of short stories and miniatures. A variety of themes and styles are employed. Themes include environmentalism, the family, late capitalism, and alienation. Styles include surrealism, neorealism, hysterical fiction, and science fiction, as well as speculative fiction.

Treatment Of Hiv-1 Associated Neurocognitive Disorders Through Mechanisms Of Neurogenesis With 11-Hour Voluntary Running Wheel Exposure, Alex Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with HIV-1 taking combined antiretroviral therapy (cART) live longer with less morbidity associated with the infection. The increase in lifespan has created a critical need for the deterrence of HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) reported in the aging population. Previous reports indicate that the HIV-1 infection may cause impairment in neurogenesis, leading to many of the cognitive deficits seen. The current paper proposes that exercise, as defined by voluntary wheel running, would be a potent inducer of neurogenesis that results in the neuro-restoration of CNS properties and cognitive functioning. Each animal had free access to 11-hour nocturnal wheel-running seven …

Sentir Con La Memoria: Prácticas Espaciales Desde La Cotidianidad Sistemática Del Subalterno En Roma, La Teta Asustada Y La Mujer Sin Cabeza, Perla Jazmin Richerson

Theses and Dissertations

La vida cotidiana es frecuentemente considerada insignificante, pero su análisis puede exponer aspectos fundamentales sobre interacciones sociales. Para que una acción se convierta en cotidiana, esta necesita ser repetida hasta que se convierta automática, indetectable, invisible. Consecuentemente, la persona que realiza dicha acción como parte de la vida cotidiana (como una sirvienta preparando el café, por ejemplo) puede sufrir el mismo efecto y convertirse invisible, indetectable, desechable. ¿Qué significa esto en la vida cotidiana de personas? ¿Qué implicaciones tiene la experiencia diaria en una persona a otra?

Mi estudio se desprende de estas preguntas, y para contestarlas, analizo tres películas …