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The Mediating Influence Of Child Self-Regulation On The Relationship Between Couple Attachment Security In Parents And Anxiety In Their Children, David P. Adamusko Jul 2012

The Mediating Influence Of Child Self-Regulation On The Relationship Between Couple Attachment Security In Parents And Anxiety In Their Children, David P. Adamusko

Theses and Dissertations

This two wave panel study examined child self-regulation as a potential mediator of the relationship between marital attachment security in parents and anxiety in their adolescent child. Data for this study were taken from the two parent families in waves three and four of the Flourishing Families project which included 335 two-parent families with children between the ages of 14 and 16. Both parents and child completed the Novak and Clayton (2001) Self-regulation Scale with the child's self-regulation as the target, and both husbands and wives completed a modified version of the Experiences in Close Relationships Questionnaire (Fraley, Waller, & …


To Use Or Not To Use: The Role Of Affect And Cognition In Changing Attitudes Toward Using Condoms Among African American Women, Kristina Hood Jul 2012

To Use Or Not To Use: The Role Of Affect And Cognition In Changing Attitudes Toward Using Condoms Among African American Women, Kristina Hood

Theses and Dissertations

The current project involved three studies designed to examine which characteristics of persuasive communications change condom use attitudes. Study 1 investigated the effect of message type (affective versus cognitive) and source (male versus female) on attitude change among a sample of African American women attending college. In Study 1 (N = 146), the affective message and female source produced the most positive change in condom use attitudes. Study 2 examined whether message type and source were associated with favorable condom attitudes in a community sample and whether these findings differed from a college sample. Twenty-seven women participated in group discussions …


Diversification And Conservation In The South American Dry Biomes: Distribution Modeling And Multilocus Lizard Phylogeography, Fernanda Werneck Jul 2012

Diversification And Conservation In The South American Dry Biomes: Distribution Modeling And Multilocus Lizard Phylogeography, Fernanda Werneck

Theses and Dissertations

The understanding of diversification of intraspecific lineages can shed light on speciation processes and ultimately biogeographic patterns across multiple spatial and temporal scales. In this dissertation I investigated the geographical and ecological factors promoting diversification across the South American dry diagonal biomes (i.e. Cerrado, Chaco, and Seasonally Dry Tropical Forests - SDTFs), through a coupled approach between multilocus phylogeographic and geospatial methods, in the larger context of interpreting the consequences of the resulting patterns for the conservation of biodiversity and evolutionary processes. In Chapter 1 I evaluate biogeographic hypotheses previously proposed and emphasize that the dry diagonal biomes are particularly …


Healing The Cartesian Split: Understanding And Renewing Pathos In Academic Writing, Travis Washburn Jul 2012

Healing The Cartesian Split: Understanding And Renewing Pathos In Academic Writing, Travis Washburn

Theses and Dissertations

There have always been rogues who dared to go against the traditional "intellectual" writing style of science and academia, a style that seems bent on transcending the "merely personal." Those who take this risk are embracing the rhetorical tradition of pathos, one that goes as far back as Aristotle. Current academic trends support a genre devoid of pathos and lacking true ethos—a deviation from classic rhetoric, and one that supports the Cartesian split of mind-body dualism. Neurological studies done by Antonio Damasio and others suggest that a holistic view is a more accurate picture of how a human soul functions. …


The Evolution Of Conservative Attitudes As A Complement To Cognitive Threat Detection Mechanisms, Russ Clay Jul 2012

The Evolution Of Conservative Attitudes As A Complement To Cognitive Threat Detection Mechanisms, Russ Clay

Theses and Dissertations

Conservatism reflects a general attitude structure characterized by a preference for traditional social practices and an aversion to uncertainty and threat. Though the social environment undoubtedly plays a role in shaping conservative attitudes, recent studies suggest that trait-level characteristics may contribute to their development as well. The present research investigated trait-level cognitive threat detection ability as a factor which may influence the development and maintenance of conservative social attitudes. A computer simulation indicated that socially conservative attitudes may function as a strategy for increasing the survival rate of an individual with poor threat detection ability living in a relatively dangerous …


Computational Modeling Of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes, Nathaniel Lee Miller Jul 2012

Computational Modeling Of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes, Nathaniel Lee Miller

Theses and Dissertations

Ab initio self-consistent field (SCF) molecular orbital calculations were performed employing various basis sets to computationally predict methods to functionalize and solubilize carbon nanotubes. The structure and Restricted Hartree-Fock (RHF) or “total” energies of functionalized nanotubes of various configurations were determined via theoretical calculations. Total energies were used to determine preferences for adsorption on nanotube sur-faces. Various diameter carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were tested to determine where a transition from a non-wrapping to a wrapping approach was found likely to occur as a function of diameter. Further refinements to this method could be used to explore additional interactions as nanotube diameter …


Analysis Of The Fish Community On Tidal-Freshwater Constructed Reefs, Briana Langford Jul 2012

Analysis Of The Fish Community On Tidal-Freshwater Constructed Reefs, Briana Langford

Theses and Dissertations

Constructed reefs are used successfully in marine systems to enhance spawning habitat; this study examines the effectiveness of constructed reefs in a tidal-freshwater river. Fish abundance, species diversity and richness, residency, water column position, reproductive guilds, and feeding guilds were analyzed on two constructed reefs in the tidal-freshwater James River and compared to silted regions representing the primary substrate in the river. Reefs were sampled using hydroacoustics, electroshocking, gillnetting, trawling, and egg mats. The constructed reefs had a greater proportion of fish that broadcast spawn over hard substrate and a trend of more overall individual, residential, and demersal fish. The …


Novel Soft Surfaces With Interesting Surface And Bulk Morphology, Souvik Chakrabarty Jun 2012

Novel Soft Surfaces With Interesting Surface And Bulk Morphology, Souvik Chakrabarty

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to cover a broad set of scientific investigations of elastomeric materials based on polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and poly((3,3,3-trifluoroethoxymethyl)methyloxetane) diol. The scope of study covers five areas, well correlated with each other. The first study investigates the near surface morphology of condensation cured PDMS as a function of increasing the amount of siliceous phase. The appearance, disappearance and reappearance of untreated fumed silica nanoparticles at the PDMS near surface and their correlation with the volume fraction of siliceous phase have been studied. This research with PDMS nanocomposites has led to the development of an alternative route …


Post-Fire Soil Water Repellency: Extent, Severity And Thickness Relative To Ecological Site Characteristics Within Piñon-Juniper Woodlands, Daniel Lewis Zvirzdin Jun 2012

Post-Fire Soil Water Repellency: Extent, Severity And Thickness Relative To Ecological Site Characteristics Within Piñon-Juniper Woodlands, Daniel Lewis Zvirzdin

Theses and Dissertations

Erosion and weed dominance often limit the recovery of burned piñon-juniper woodlands. Soil water repellency (SWR) is one factor that may contribute to this by increasing overland flow and impeding seedling establishment. In spite of these effects, the extent of SWR within piñon-juniper woodlands is unknown. In this study, the extent, severity and thickness of SWR were sampled across 41 1,000 m2 plots within three 2009 Utah wildfires. Predictive models of SWR were built from ecological site characteristic data collected at each site. Across the study, SWR was found at 37% of the points sampled. SWR extent was strongly related …


Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Ozark Ant Ecology, Robin Michelle Verble Jun 2012

Effects Of Prescribed Fire On Ozark Ant Ecology, Robin Michelle Verble

Theses and Dissertations

Fires are among the most conspicuous disturbances affecting leaf litter communities, and are sources of both direct and indirect insect mortality. Fires historically occurred on the Ozark landscape at high frequencies, and modern forest managers utilize prescribed fire to restore and maintain those ecosystems. I examined fire effects at multiple scales, ranging from post-fire patterns in leaf litter arthropod community structure to responses of individual organisms to heat stress. This dissertation summarizes the history of fire occurrences in Ozark forests of Arkansas. It then unifies the results of four observational and experimental studies designed to assess how Ozark forest ant …


Superhydrophobic Nanostructured Coating For Anti-Icing Applications, Khedir R. Khedir Jun 2012

Superhydrophobic Nanostructured Coating For Anti-Icing Applications, Khedir R. Khedir

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, anti-icing superhydrophobic (SHP) tungsten nanorod (WNR) surfaces were fabricated. The fabrication of WNR surfaces as rough surfaces was carried out using the Glancing Angle Deposition (GLAD) technique. Using the magnetron- sputtering deposition method, the deposition Ar pressure, Ar flow rate, and substrate tilting angle were varied to fabricate WNRs with different surface morphologies and porosities. The surface energy of the WNR films was lowered by coating them with a nano-layer (10-15nm) of Teflon AF2400 using an effusion cell. Static contact angle (SCA) measurements of the sessile water droplet gently dispensed on surfaces were used to characterize the …


A Systems Engineering Approach To The Design And Integration Of Microstrip Antennas With Wearable Wireless Devices, Daniel Gilbert Rucker Jun 2012

A Systems Engineering Approach To The Design And Integration Of Microstrip Antennas With Wearable Wireless Devices, Daniel Gilbert Rucker

Theses and Dissertations

Modern wireless systems for implantable and wearable Body Area Network (BAN) applications have reached an advanced stage of design and development not possible in previous generations. Systems engineering techniques allow for modern wireless devices to be developed in a top-down approach to meet the necessary design requirements while utilizing modular architectures. A modular systems architecture is developed to form a platform for BAN systems design. The BAN systems architecture defines the requirements, physical architecture, and operational architecture. The antenna component of the system is researched in detail and prototypes are developed to meet the requirements of implantable and wearable BAN …


Xprime-Em: Eliciting Expert Prior Information For Motif Exploration Using The Expectation-Maximization Algorithm, Wei Zhou Jun 2012

Xprime-Em: Eliciting Expert Prior Information For Motif Exploration Using The Expectation-Maximization Algorithm, Wei Zhou

Theses and Dissertations

Understanding the possible mechanisms of gene transcription regulation is a primary challenge for current molecular biologists. Identifying transcription factor binding sites (TFBSs), also called DNA motifs, is an important step in understanding these mechanisms. Furthermore, many human diseases are attributed to mutations in TFBSs, which makes identifying those DNA motifs significant for disease treatment. Uncertainty and variations in specific nucleotides of TFBSs present difficulties for DNA motif searching. In this project, we present an algorithm, XPRIME-EM (Eliciting EXpert PRior Information for Motif Exploration using the Expectation-Maximization Algorithm), which can discover known and de novo (unknown) DNA motifs simultaneously from a …


Numerical Analysis For Interface Problems, Lin Mu Jun 2012

Numerical Analysis For Interface Problems, Lin Mu

Theses and Dissertations

A large number of partial differential equations in geoscience and engineering can be described as interface problems. Three interface models will be considered in this dissertation. They are elliptic interface problems, Stokes interface problems, and Brinkman problems. The purpose of the dissertation is to develop and analyze robust finite element methods and finite volume methods for solving these problems. Firstly, we report the a posteriori error estimate for interface problems by conforming finite volume methods, nonconforming finite volume methods, and discontinuous finite volume methods. Recovery-based and residual-based a posteriori error estimators are constructed by using computable quantities. Secondly, we develop …


Analysis And Design Tools For Structured Feedback Systems, Anurag Rai Jun 2012

Analysis And Design Tools For Structured Feedback Systems, Anurag Rai

Theses and Dissertations

As we begin to analyze and construct extremely complex systems, a theory for understanding and designing the underlying architecture becomes very important. To move in the direction of a precise theory of architecture, this thesis will provide some concrete tools to analyze and design complex systems with a given network structure. The first main result of this thesis analyzes the vulnerability of a system and shows that a system's vulnerability depends on its network structure. We will consider destabilization attacks acting on a single link in a system's logical interconnection structure. The concept of a vulnerable link is characterized and …


The Role Of A And B Vitamins During Orofacial Development Of Xenopus Laevis, Allyson Kennedy Jun 2012

The Role Of A And B Vitamins During Orofacial Development Of Xenopus Laevis, Allyson Kennedy

Theses and Dissertations

Orofacial anomalies make up about a third of the 120,000 birth defects each year in the United States. Children born with these abnormalities must undergo immense physical and emotional strain in order to correct the defects. In fact, about $697 million is spent every year surgically treating children with cleft lip and/or cleft palate (2011). In countries where surgery is not an option, this abnormality causes immense difficulties in eating, hearing, speech, and psychosocial development. The causes of cleft lip/palate are extremely complex. Genetics play a role in the anomaly; however, 95% of cleft palate cases are non-syndromic and likely …


Characterizing The Role Of Nucleosome Remodeling Factor (Nurf) In Tumorigenesis And Metastatic Progression Using Mouse Models Of Breast Cancer., Suehyb Alkhatib Jun 2012

Characterizing The Role Of Nucleosome Remodeling Factor (Nurf) In Tumorigenesis And Metastatic Progression Using Mouse Models Of Breast Cancer., Suehyb Alkhatib

Theses and Dissertations

Increasingly the role of epigenetic machinery as a bridge between underlying DNA sequence and cellular phenotype is being discovered. The establishment of a myriad of unique cellular types sharing identical gene sequences in a multicellular organism gives a broad sense for the inherent role of epigenetic influence on cell differentiation. Importantly, the epigenetic mechanisms involved in establishing cell identity unsurprisingly contribute to diseased states, including cancer. Recent research continues to elucidate contributory roles of epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and microRNA regulation, in human cancers. Additionally, chromatin remodelers, such as the Nucleosome Remodeling Factor (NURF), have been …


Mda-7/Il-24; A Promising Cancer Therapeutic Agent, Hossein Hamed Jun 2012

Mda-7/Il-24; A Promising Cancer Therapeutic Agent, Hossein Hamed

Theses and Dissertations

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is an aggressive cancer that affects millions of patients per year. Conventional therapies combining chemotherapeutic agents with radiation can only extend survival by a few months; therefore, there is a dire need for an effective means of treating this deadly disease. Melanoma differentiation-associated gene-7/interleukin-24 (mda-7/IL-24), currently in the early stages of FDA pre-IND drug trials, has proven to be an effective cancer specific cytokine, able to trigger the onset of mitochondrial dysfunction and/or autophagy. GBM’s have mutations that often result in the activation of cytoprotective cell signaling pathways, preventing cancer therapeutics and even MDA-7/IL-24 treatments from being …


Weighing In On Teacher Attitudes Of Obese Students: A Descriptive Correlational Design, Angelina Pecoraro Jun 2012

Weighing In On Teacher Attitudes Of Obese Students: A Descriptive Correlational Design, Angelina Pecoraro

Theses and Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate teacher attitudes towards obese students. The investigation focused on the correlation between (a) attitudes and beliefs about obese students; and (b) predictive abilities of participant's self-esteem with attitudes and beliefs. The three surveys utilized in this study were: (a) Attitudes Toward Obese Persons Scale (Allison, Basile, & Yuker, 1991) (b) Beliefs About Obese Persons (Allison et al., 1991); and (c) Rosenberg Self-Esteem Survey (Rosenberg, 1965). The sample size was 893 certified educators representing all grade levels in Central, Northern, and Southern New Jersey school districts. Respondents were emailed a survey link, …


The Putative Cannabinoid Receptor Gpr55 Modulates Synaptic Plasticity In The Hippocampus, Corinne Marie Badgley Jun 2012

The Putative Cannabinoid Receptor Gpr55 Modulates Synaptic Plasticity In The Hippocampus, Corinne Marie Badgley

Theses and Dissertations

Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are small molecules that are capable of modulating synaptic plasticity of both excitatory and inhibitory synapses in the brain. While eCBs bind to transient receptor potential vanilloid 1 (TRPV1) and cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) in the central nervous system, we recently identified a form of non-CB1, non-TRPV1 mediated long term depression activated by the eCB anandamide at CA1 hippocampal stratum radiatum interneurons. GPR55, an orphan G-protein receptor, has been identified in the hippocampus and is capable of activation by eCBs, making it a good candidate for mediating this non-CB1, non-TRPV1 form of synaptic plasticity. Here we performed whole-cell …


Process Flow Features As A Host-Based Event Knowledge Representation, Benhur E. Pacer Jun 2012

Process Flow Features As A Host-Based Event Knowledge Representation, Benhur E. Pacer

Theses and Dissertations

The detection of malware is of great importance but even non-malicious software can be used for malicious purposes. Monitoring processes and their associated information can characterize normal behavior and help identify malicious processes or malicious use of normal process by measuring deviations from the learned baseline. This exploratory research describes a novel host feature generation process that calculates statistics of an executing process during a window of time called a process flow. Process flows are calculated from key process data structures extracted from computer memory using virtual machine introspection. Each flow cluster generated using k-means of the flow features represents …


Persistence And Foliation Theory And Their Application To Geometric Singular Perturbation, Ji Li Jun 2012

Persistence And Foliation Theory And Their Application To Geometric Singular Perturbation, Ji Li

Theses and Dissertations

Persistence problem of compact invariant manifold under random perturbation is considered in this dissertation. Under uniformly small random perturbation and the condition of normal hyperbolicity, the original invariant manifold persists and becomes a random invariant manifold. The random counterpart has random local stable and unstable manifolds. They could be invariantly foliated thanks to the normal hyperbolicity. Those underlie an extension of the geometric singular perturbation theory to the random case which means the slow manifold persists and becomes a random manifold so that the local global structure near the slow manifold persists under singular perturbation. A normal form for a …


Cyberspace And Real-World Behavioral Relationships: Towards The Application Of Internet Search Queries To Identify Individuals At-Risk For Suicide, Casey C. Miller Jun 2012

Cyberspace And Real-World Behavioral Relationships: Towards The Application Of Internet Search Queries To Identify Individuals At-Risk For Suicide, Casey C. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

The Internet has become an integral and pervasive aspect of society. Not surprisingly, the growth of ecommerce has led to focused research on identifying relationships between user behavior in cyberspace and the real world - retailers are tracking items customers are viewing and purchasing in order to recommend additional products and to better direct advertising. As the relationship between online search patterns and real-world behavior becomes more understood, the practice is likely to expand to other applications. Indeed, Google Flu Trends has implemented an algorithm that accurately charts the relationship between the number of people searching for flu-related topics on …


Resource Provisioning In Large-Scale Self-Organizing Distributed Systems, M. Brent Reynolds Jun 2012

Resource Provisioning In Large-Scale Self-Organizing Distributed Systems, M. Brent Reynolds

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation researches the mathematical translation of resource provisioning policy into mathematical terms and parameters to solve the on-line service placement problem. A norm called the Provisioning Norm is introduced. Theorems presented in the work show the Provisioning Norm utility function and greedy, random, local search effectively and efficiently solve the on-line problem. Caching of placements is shown to reduce the cost of change but does not improve response time performance. The use of feedback control theory is shown to be effective at significantly improving performance but increases the cost of change. The theoretical results are verified using a decentralized, …


Mapping Creativity: An A/R/Tographic Look At The Artistic Process Of High School Students, Bart Andrus Francis Jun 2012

Mapping Creativity: An A/R/Tographic Look At The Artistic Process Of High School Students, Bart Andrus Francis

Theses and Dissertations

A high school visual art educator, along with 20 students enrolled in this teacher/researcher's Advanced Placement (AP) studio course, investigated the processes involved in creating artwork. Understanding artistic processes beyond skills and techniques is significant for curriculum development, but it is also key in conceptualizing art as a way of knowing. The arts based research strategy utilized in this study was a/r/tography, which focuses on the interconnectedness between artist, researcher, and teacher/learner. This highly reflective form of action research allowed the researcher and students to uncover new understandings of what it means to be an artist-researcher through a combination of …


The Pro-Inflammatory Contributions Of Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) In Alveolar Macrophages Following Cigarette Smoke Exposure, Adam Benjamin Robinson Jun 2012

The Pro-Inflammatory Contributions Of Receptors For Advanced Glycation End-Products (Rage) In Alveolar Macrophages Following Cigarette Smoke Exposure, Adam Benjamin Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Receptors for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) are multi-ligand cell surface receptors of the immunoglobin family expressed by epithelium and macrophages. RAGE expression increases following ligand binding and when diverse cells are exposed to a variety of insults including cigarette smoke extract (CSE). The current research sought to characterize the pro-inflammatory contributions of RAGE expressed by alveolar macrophages (AMs) following CSE exposure. Acute exposure of mice to CSE via nasal instillation revealed diminished bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) cellularity and fewer AMs in RAGE null mice compared to controls. Primary AMs were obtained from BAL, exposed to CSE in vitro, and RNA, DNA, …


Media Meets Science: The Experience Of A Media Teacher And Science Teacher As They Implement Media Literacy In A Science Classroom, Matthew Jay Brown Jun 2012

Media Meets Science: The Experience Of A Media Teacher And Science Teacher As They Implement Media Literacy In A Science Classroom, Matthew Jay Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative action research study looked at my collaboration with a science teacher as we combined a Television Production class with an Advanced Placement Environmental Science class. This cross-curricular case study explored the implementation of the principles of media literacy, defined by the National Association for Media Literacy Education, into the science classroom where media literacy has traditionally been a non-factor. The impact of media and technology on everyone's daily lives is making it necessary for us to become media literate. The use of media literacy tools and strategies in a combined media production class and an AP science class …


The Development Of Two Units For Basic Training And Resources For Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages: "Content-Based Language Classes" And "Multiple Skills In One Class", Amanda Staten Malaman Jun 2012

The Development Of Two Units For Basic Training And Resources For Teaching English To Speakers Of Other Languages: "Content-Based Language Classes" And "Multiple Skills In One Class", Amanda Staten Malaman

Theses and Dissertations

Under the direction of Dr. Lynn Henrichsen, a group of students has developed numerous units for the Basic Training and Resources for Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (BTRTESOL) program. This program is currently located on a website and will someday be published in book and DVD format. These units provide general training for novice teachers who teach domestically or abroad. With little or no training, volunteer English language teachers are often left with questions that BTRTESOL strives to answer in its 52 units. As this audience may or may not have university education or heavy commitment, these units …


The School-Based Family: Coaches And Teachers As Parental Figures For Orphans And Vulnerable Children In Ugandan Schools, Angela Warren Jun 2012

The School-Based Family: Coaches And Teachers As Parental Figures For Orphans And Vulnerable Children In Ugandan Schools, Angela Warren

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to qualitatively examine the possible formation of surrogate families within Ugandan schools to provide a context for positive development experiences, especially for orphans who lack positive development opportunities provided by parents. The sample for this study consisted of 66 Ugandan Secondary School students from eight schools in the Mukono district of Uganda. This study found a potentially widespread family formation pattern between students and their teachers/coaches. More than 75% of students self-identified their teacher and/or coach as family. The results provide insight concerning why orphans and vulnerable children are forming surrogate families with staff …


Greening The Market: The Development And Effect Of Environmental Terms On Consumer Perception Of Products, Jae Parker Heiner Jun 2012

Greening The Market: The Development And Effect Of Environmental Terms On Consumer Perception Of Products, Jae Parker Heiner

Theses and Dissertations

History, discourse analysis, and corpus linguistics show the green movement (humankind's response to issues affecting the environment) to have proliferated both ecological ideologies and the linguistic tools to discuss them, (R. J. Alexander, 2002; Bang, Døør, Steffensen, & Nash, 2007; Carvalho, 2007; Mahlberg, 2007; Wang, 2009) showing the development of green or environmental language in the lexicon. The topic has also left its mark on the market, and green market research has shown effects of messages on perceptions of green brands (Phau & Ong, 2007) and profiles of m (J. A. Roberts, 1996). However , surprisingly little research has been …