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Computational Modeling And Simulation Study Of Dermal Wound Healing Proliferative Phase, Le Yang Nov 2011

Computational Modeling And Simulation Study Of Dermal Wound Healing Proliferative Phase, Le Yang

Theses and Dissertations

Dermal wound healing proliferative phase is a complicated physiological process in which many growth factors, cell types and matrix components participate. The process must be well coordinated to restore the structural and functional integrity of tissue injured. Many disorders interrupting healing process result in abnormal healing such as chronic wounds or excessive scarring. Mathematical modeling has been used to investigate many aspects of wound healing. Angiogenesis is pertinent for dermal wound healing since the cellular activities involved in tissue repair requires oxygen and nutrients to be delivered to the wound site. By using a hybrid agent-based model, we investigated the …


Designing Allosteric Inhibitors Of Thrombin, Preetpal Sidhu Nov 2011

Designing Allosteric Inhibitors Of Thrombin, Preetpal Sidhu

Theses and Dissertations

Thrombin is a key enzyme of the coagulation cascade exhibiting important roles in both pro-coagulation and anti-coagulation processes. Most clinically used anticoagulant drugs, including polymeric heparin, warfarin, hirudin, argatroban and the recently approved dabigatran, aim to reduce thrombin activity. There are several binding domains on thrombin including the active site, anion-binding exosites I and II, and the sodium binding site. We hypothesized that thrombin may be better regulated through an allosteric process mediated by small molecules binding to either exosite I or II. An appropriately designed allosteric regulator that reduces the procoagulant signal in a finely tuned manner may maintain …


Fabrication And Application Of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Templated Silicon Nanomaterials, Jun Song Oct 2011

Fabrication And Application Of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Templated Silicon Nanomaterials, Jun Song

Theses and Dissertations

A process, called carbon nanotube templated microfabrication (CNT-M) makes high aspect ratio microstructures out of a wide variety of materials by growing patterned vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (VACNTs) as a framework and then infiltrating various materials into the frameworks by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). By using the CNT-M procedure, a partial Si infiltration of carbon nanotube frameworks results in porous three dimensional microscale shapes consisting of silicon-carbon nanotube composites. The addition of thin silicon shells to the vertically aligned CNTs (VACNTs) enables the fabrication of robust silicon nanostructures with edibility to design a wide range of geometries. Nanoscale dimensions are …


Quantifying Mass Sediment Movement In Deer Creek Reservoir During Spring Runoff And Potential Water Quality Impacts, Colin Rodger Ricks Oct 2011

Quantifying Mass Sediment Movement In Deer Creek Reservoir During Spring Runoff And Potential Water Quality Impacts, Colin Rodger Ricks

Theses and Dissertations

The accurate prediction of water quality is essential for management of reservoirs used for drinking water supply. Since algae are a major source of taste and odor problems in drinking water, understanding and controlling algal growth and production is an important task. Deer Creek Reservoir supplies drinking water for over one million people in northern Utah and has been highly eutrophic in the past. Despite major reductions in external nutrient loading, including phosphorus, seasonal algal blooms in Deer Creek have not decreased to desired levels. Resuspension of sediment has been suggested as a potential source of internal nutrient loading for …


The Cost Effectiveness Of Individual And Family Therapy For Schizophrenia In Managed Care, Fufan Chiang Oct 2011

The Cost Effectiveness Of Individual And Family Therapy For Schizophrenia In Managed Care, Fufan Chiang

Theses and Dissertations

Much research has explored the cost effectiveness of psychotherapy for schizophrenia. However, to date, no studies have investigated the cost effectiveness of family and individual therapy for schizophrenia in the "real world" of managed care. The purpose of the present study is to compare the cost effectiveness of individual and family therapy for schizophrenia in one leading Health Care Insurer: CIGNA. Six years of outpatient data (2001–2006) and more than 2,100 unique schizophrenic outpatients are included. Research questions in this study concern the total treatment costs, the cost effectiveness, recidivism rates and the dropout rates of individual and family outpatient …


Indirect Screening: Enhancing Identification Of Illicit Drug Use During Pregnancy, Courtney Smith Oct 2011

Indirect Screening: Enhancing Identification Of Illicit Drug Use During Pregnancy, Courtney Smith

Theses and Dissertations

OBJECTIVE: Most drug use screening measures rely on and are validated against self-report. Fear of negative consequences often promotes denial of drug use. For pregnant women, social stigma and fear of legal consequences make underreporting of drug use even more likely. An indirect screener that could effectively identify pregnant women at risk for illicit drug use without reliance on disclosure would be clinically significant. The purpose of the current study was to develop and validate an indirect measure of prenatal drug use by comparing correlates of prenatal drug use to urinalysis results. METHOD: Pregnant women attending an OB appointment at …


Improving Multi-Label Classification By Avoiding Implicit Negativity With Incomplete Data, Derrall L. Heath Oct 2011

Improving Multi-Label Classification By Avoiding Implicit Negativity With Incomplete Data, Derrall L. Heath

Theses and Dissertations

Many real world problems require multi-label classification, in which each training instance is associated with a set of labels. There are many existing learning algorithms for multi-label classification; however, these algorithms assume implicit negativity, where missing labels in the training data are automatically assumed to be negative. Additionally, many of the existing algorithms do not handle incremental learning in which new labels could be encountered later in the learning process. A novel multi-label adaptation of the backpropagation algorithm is proposed that does not assume implicit negativity. In addition, this algorithm can, using a naive Bayesian approach, infer missing labels in …


Total Synthesis Of 4'-Ester Resveratrol Analogs And 8.9-Amido Geldanamycin Analog And Toward The Total Synthesis Of (-)-Englerin A, Yong Wang Oct 2011

Total Synthesis Of 4'-Ester Resveratrol Analogs And 8.9-Amido Geldanamycin Analog And Toward The Total Synthesis Of (-)-Englerin A, Yong Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Total Synthesis of 4'-ester Resveratrol Analogs and 8, 9-amido Geldanamycin Analog and toward the Total Synthesis of (-)-Englerin A Yong Wang Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, BYU Doctor of Philosophy The phytoalexin resveratrol and its 4'-ester analogs have been prepared with a decarbonylative Heck reaction. The deprotecting step has been modified and improved to increase yield and avoid chromatography. A set of resveratrol analogs and resveratrol have been tested with melanoma and pancreatic cell assays. The 8, 9-amido Geldanamycin analog has been synthesized with a convergent route, involving 28 simplified steps in its longest linear sequence. Synthetic methodologies, such as …


Birth Order And Its Effect On Depression In Adults, Sambul Zaidi Oct 2011

Birth Order And Its Effect On Depression In Adults, Sambul Zaidi

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to find the relationship between birth order and depression. It hypothesized that first-borns are more susceptible to depression than laterborns. Subjects were male and female undergraduate students from Rowan University. These students were over the age of 18 and were kept anonymous. The study collected data from fifteen participants by using a Birth Order survey which included questions about personality traits that pertain to a certain birth order position. Each subject was asked to indicate the exact birth order rank and if they have experienced depression or signs of depression. Results showed that differences …


Identification And Characterization Of A Novel Thermohalophilic Esterase From The Red Sea: Atlantis Ii Brine Pool, Yasmine Mustafa Mohamed Oct 2011

Identification And Characterization Of A Novel Thermohalophilic Esterase From The Red Sea: Atlantis Ii Brine Pool, Yasmine Mustafa Mohamed

Theses and Dissertations

Industrial (white) biotechnology poses an increasing demand for novel biocatalysts that are robust under a wide range of conditions. Traditionally, biocatalysts were isolated from cultured isolates, however, less than 1% of microorganisms are culturable. Therefore, it became evident that the unculturable majority holds a great potential for the discovery of novel biocatalysts. Metagenomics is an invaluable tool for accessing the genomes of the uncultured majority and has led to the isolation of a large number of biocatalysts from various environments. Extreme environments such as hydrothermal vents, brine pools and glaciers, are an attractive source for biocatalysts. Biocatalysts from these environments …


Characterization Of Cyclic-Di-Gmp Signaling With The Lyme Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, Jessica Kostick Sep 2011

Characterization Of Cyclic-Di-Gmp Signaling With The Lyme Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, Jessica Kostick

Theses and Dissertations

Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, B. garinii, and B. afzelii. These spirochetes experience environmental fluctuations as they are passed between mammalian and Ixodes tick hosts throughout their enzootic cycle. Recent studies have suggested cyclic diguanylate (c-di-GMP), a ubiquitous secondary messenger, is a key modulator of B. burgdorferi adaptive responses and may play a significant role in cycle progression. In this study, we examined the impact of the sole diguanylate cyclase (Rrp1), c-di-GMP binding proteins (PlzA and PlzB), and HD-GYP-containing phosphodiesterase (PdeB) in disease establishment of both murine and Ixodes tick systems. Strains harboring targeted gene …


The Use Of Targeted Charge-Reversal Nanoparticles (Tcrns) To Investigate Nuclear Delivery Of Fluorescent Agents To Cancer Cells: Implications For Novel Prostate And Breast Cancer Therapy, Mario Dance Sep 2011

The Use Of Targeted Charge-Reversal Nanoparticles (Tcrns) To Investigate Nuclear Delivery Of Fluorescent Agents To Cancer Cells: Implications For Novel Prostate And Breast Cancer Therapy, Mario Dance

Theses and Dissertations

Nanotechnology has recently emerged as a strong contributor toward research efforts to develop targeted systems of drug delivery in cancer therapy. Our work investigates the therapeutic potential of Targeted Charge-Reversal Nanoparticles (TCRNs), a novel nanoparticle with in vitro evidence of nuclear drug delivery. Using M12 prostate cancer cells, MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells, and modified derivatives of these cell lines, we investigated the ability of Folic Acid-tagged TCRNs to deliver Nile Red and Dimethyl Indole Redfluorescent (DiR) fluorescent dyes to the nucleus of cells using confocal microscopy and in vivo biphontonic imaging using Xenogen® Technology. Confocal imaging with the SCP28 derivative …


The Effect Of Choice On The Behavior Of Off Task High School Students In An Alternative School Setting, Laura Campbell Sep 2011

The Effect Of Choice On The Behavior Of Off Task High School Students In An Alternative School Setting, Laura Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

This study was done to examine the effect of choice on off task behaviors in high school students attending an alternative school. The participants were from various backgrounds, ability levels, and presence of disabilities. The students were observed performing three target behaviors; specifically talking off topic, being out of a seat needlessly, and being out of the classroom. This was initiated during a baseline observation period, and again over a five day period after being introduced to the choice process. The alternative activities from which they chose were lesson extensions, educational puzzles or reading material, or classroom jobs. This was …


The Effects Of Mental Training On Brain Computer Interface Performance With Distractions, John Larocco Sep 2011

The Effects Of Mental Training On Brain Computer Interface Performance With Distractions, John Larocco

Theses and Dissertations

The overall success of a brain computer interface (BCI) is largely dependent on the features used to make decisions. Noise in the electroencephalography (EEG) increases the difficulty of acquiring meaningful features. Previous literature suggests teaching subjects meditation and relaxation techniques may improve features relevant to BCI operation. The purpose of this study was to investigate performance on several cognitive protocols for both individuals who use meditation techniques and those who do not use these techniques. Both groups were given a motor imagery based BCI protocol, a P300 speller BCI, a verbal learning task, and an N-back test. No significant difference …


Composition Of Suspended And Benthic Particulate Matter In The Tidal Freshwater James River, Anne Schlegel Sep 2011

Composition Of Suspended And Benthic Particulate Matter In The Tidal Freshwater James River, Anne Schlegel

Theses and Dissertations

Investigating linkages between the compositions of suspended (seston) and benthic particulate matter is important to the understanding of organic matter (OM) cycling and nutrient retention in aquatic systems. We compared the quantity and quality of the truly suspended (TS) and settleable (SB) fractions of seston as well as benthic particulate matter in the tidal freshwater James River, Virginia. The mass of seston and OM was consistently higher in the TS fraction compared to the SB fraction. OM was preferentially retained in the TS fraction relative to seston. The proportional contribution of OM constituents (chlorophyll a, particulate organic carbon and nitrogen) …


An Evaluation Of The Writing Abilities Of Entry-Level Public Relations Practitioners And The Industry Demand To Effectively Write For New Media, Diana Gervasi Sep 2011

An Evaluation Of The Writing Abilities Of Entry-Level Public Relations Practitioners And The Industry Demand To Effectively Write For New Media, Diana Gervasi

Theses and Dissertations

The purposes of this exploratory investigation were to (a) evaluate the current writing abilities of entry-level public relations practitioners (b) determine the industry's demand to effectively write for new media and (c) identify educator's perceptions of entry-level public relations practitioners' writing abilities and current curriculum changes as well as future industry projections. The researcher conducted Web-based surveys of management level public relations practitioners who were all members of PRSA and telephone interviews with educators in college and university public relations programs across the country. The data collected from Web-based surveys showed a slight improvement in the perception of entry-level practitioners' …


Characterization Of Hpk2-Rrp2, Two-Component Regulatory System In Treponema Denticola, Sarkar Juni Sep 2011

Characterization Of Hpk2-Rrp2, Two-Component Regulatory System In Treponema Denticola, Sarkar Juni

Theses and Dissertations

Treponema denticola levels in the gingival crevice become elevated as periodontal disease develops. Oral treponemes may account for as much as 40% of the total bacterial population in the periodontal pocket. The stimuli that trigger enhanced growth of T. denticola and the mechanisms associated with the transmission of these signals remain to be defined. A hypothesis was set that the T. denticola ORFs tde1970 (histidine kinase) and tde1969 (response regulator) constitute a functional two component regulatory system that regulates, at least in part, responses to the changing environmental conditions associated with the development of periodontal disease. The results presented demonstrate …


Identity And Psychological Needs Among National Guard Service Members And Undergraduates, Bradley Antonides Sep 2011

Identity And Psychological Needs Among National Guard Service Members And Undergraduates, Bradley Antonides

Theses and Dissertations

This study measured identity style and identity status within military and academic populations (N = 286) to investigate whether low levels of identity commitment predict dissatisfaction in meeting basic psychological needs. Analysis of identity style and identity status subscales examined the reliability of traditional measures of identity in an atypical emerging adult population. Group comparisons based on participant characteristics (identity commitment, work experience, age, combat experience) explored differences between and within institutions. Results supported the reliability of traditional identity measures in a non-traditional population. A diffuse identity status and diffuse identity style both significantly predicted lower reported levels of psychological …


Design Of Control Release Drug Delivery System (Dds) For Imaging And Therapeutic Applications, Sweta Naik Sep 2011

Design Of Control Release Drug Delivery System (Dds) For Imaging And Therapeutic Applications, Sweta Naik

Theses and Dissertations

The main challenge in disease treatment is no more the discovery of new therapeutic drugs, but to provide targeted delivery of therapeutic drugs to specific sites without incurring systemic toxicity effects. An efficient way of reducing the toxicity is by encapsulating the drug with a biodegradable matrix that can provide controlled release of the drug along with local heating of the drug. Local heating can be obtained by incorporating magnetic iron oxide particles that heat upon exposure to AC electromagnetic fields. The magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles are also gaining much attention as MRI contrast agents. Thus it would be of …


A Novel Malware Target Recognition Architecture For Enhanced Cyberspace Situation Awareness, Thomas E. Dube Sep 2011

A Novel Malware Target Recognition Architecture For Enhanced Cyberspace Situation Awareness, Thomas E. Dube

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid transition of critical business processes to computer networks potentially exposes organizations to digital theft or corruption by advanced competitors. One tool used for these tasks is malware, because it circumvents legitimate authentication mechanisms. Malware is an epidemic problem for organizations of all types. This research proposes and evaluates a novel Malware Target Recognition (MaTR) architecture for malware detection and identification of propagation methods and payloads to enhance situation awareness in tactical scenarios using non-instruction-based, static heuristic features. MaTR achieves a 99.92% detection accuracy on known malware with false positive and false negative rates of 8.73e-4 and 8.03e-4 respectively. …


Identification And Classification Of Player Types In Massive Multiplayer Online Games Using Avatar Behavior, Earl M. Bednar Sep 2011

Identification And Classification Of Player Types In Massive Multiplayer Online Games Using Avatar Behavior, Earl M. Bednar

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of our research is to develop an improved methodology for classifying players (identifying deviant players such as terrorists) through multivariate analysis of data from avatar characteristics and behaviors in massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs). To build our classification models, we developed three significant enhancements to the standard Generalized Regression Neural Networks (GRNN) modeling method. The first enhancement is a feature selection technique based on GRNNs, allowing us to tailor our feature set to be best modeled by GRNNs. The second enhancement is a hybrid GRNN which allows each feature to be modeled by a GRNN tailored to its …


Source Normalization Constants For Ground Distributed Fallout Fields, Justin M. Smith Sep 2011

Source Normalization Constants For Ground Distributed Fallout Fields, Justin M. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Five assumptions regarding a first order model developed to calculate dose rate at a detector above a fallout field are analyzed. The omission of scattering is relaxed by the method of successive scatters resulting in a build up factor of 1.1. The use of a single average photon energy to represent a fallout distribution is analyzed using the Oak Ridge National Laboratory Isotope Generator (ORIGEN) Fallout Analysis Tool. An average photon energy of 0.81MeV is calculated and shown to be an accurate approximation of the fallout field energy distribution. A Gaussian distribution is used to calculate the minimal impact of …


Design And Control Of Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles, Michael L. Anderson Sep 2011

Design And Control Of Flapping Wing Micro Air Vehicles, Michael L. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Flapping wing Micro Air Vehicles (MAVs) continues to be a growing field, with ongoing research into unsteady, low Re aerodynamics, micro-fabrication, and fluid-structure interaction. However, research into flapping wing control of such MAVs continues to lag. Existing research uniformly consists of proposed control laws that are validated by computer simulations of quasi-steady blade-element formulae. Such simulations use numerous assumptions and cannot be trusted to fully describe the flow physics. Instead, such control laws must be validated on hardware. Here, a novel control technique is proposed called Bi-harmonic Amplitude and Bias Modulation (BABM) which can generate forces and moments in 5 …


Thinspiration: New Media's Influence On Girls With Eating Disorders, Victoria Stonebridge Sep 2011

Thinspiration: New Media's Influence On Girls With Eating Disorders, Victoria Stonebridge

Theses and Dissertations

The use of thinspiration and social networking by girls with eating disorders on social media websites and through user-generated content aids the disease in general. The purpose of this research exploration is to find out how influential these specific forms of new media are on girls with eating disorders. A content analysis will serve as the primary quantitative measure for this study. A survey, via SurveyMonkey.com, will be used to find what kind of impact new media has on girls with eating disorders. The researcher will also conduct a personal interview with an expert in the field of psychology and …


Follicular Dendritic Cells, Resting Cd4+ T Cells And Human Immunodeficiency Virus Expression, Changna Wang Sep 2011

Follicular Dendritic Cells, Resting Cd4+ T Cells And Human Immunodeficiency Virus Expression, Changna Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Many events associated with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection/replication occur in and around the germinal centers (GCs) of secondary lymphoid tissues where follicular dendritic cells (FDCs) reside, suggesting that this microenvironment may contribute unique signaling that is important to viral progression. My research focused on characterizing signaling, both positive and negative, contributed by FDCs that affects HIV infection and replication. Specifically, I determined if FDC signals could induce the expression of latent HIV in T cells and if so, to characterize the signaling pathways involved. Moreover, I also examined the ability of FDCs to produce inhibitory signals that might block …


Gene Expression In The Right Ventricle During Development Of Pulmonary Hypertension, Jennifer Drake Sep 2011

Gene Expression In The Right Ventricle During Development Of Pulmonary Hypertension, Jennifer Drake

Theses and Dissertations

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a disease of the lung vessels that causes severe effects on the right ventricle of the heart; ultimately, most patients with severe PAH die as a result of right heart failure. However, little is known about the causes of right heart failure. Here, we describe a pattern of gene expression that differs between the normal rat left ventricle (LV) and right ventricle (RV). These genes are known to be involved in the development of the heart as well as adaptations to the heart during stress. This gene expression pattern is used as a baseline to …


Parental Acceptance-Rejection Theory And Court-Involved Adolescent Females: An Exploration Of Parent-Child Relationships, Teacher-Student Relationships, And Adolescent Socio-Emotional Functioning, Kathleen S. Tillman Sep 2011

Parental Acceptance-Rejection Theory And Court-Involved Adolescent Females: An Exploration Of Parent-Child Relationships, Teacher-Student Relationships, And Adolescent Socio-Emotional Functioning, Kathleen S. Tillman

Theses and Dissertations

Although the current literature provides a limited description of court-involved adolescent females, research that examines their unique characteristics is scarce and fails to adequately address the psychological, developmental, and interpersonal needs of these young women (Calhoun, Jurgens, & Chen, 1993; Girls Study Group, 2008). Consequently, the purpose of the current study was twofold. First, the study sought to understand court-involved adolescents' experiences with mental illness and maternal, paternal, and teacher rejection. Second, the study sought to examine whether the assumptions of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection Theory (PARTheory) could be applied to understand predictors and correlates of social and emotional functioning among …


Eternal Security: The What If's And The Word Of God, Jason Rutherford Sep 2011

Eternal Security: The What If's And The Word Of God, Jason Rutherford

Theses and Dissertations

Eternal security is the doctrine that teaches that a redeemed individual will remain in a redeemed state, regardless of his or her action following conversion. God is the author and finisher of salvation, never a work of the individual human, either before or after belief. This doctrine rests upon both explicit teaching in the Scripture and in a clear understanding of what actually occurs in salvation. This thesis also contains an afterword that examines the effect of postmodernism on Biblical communication in the 21st century.


An Extension Of Life Course Theory Into The Child Welfare System, Shaun M. Gann Sep 2011

An Extension Of Life Course Theory Into The Child Welfare System, Shaun M. Gann

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past 20 years, Sampson and Laub's age-graded theory of informal social control, or life course theory, has become the epitome of developmental criminological theories. Life course theory is based on the premise of life trajectories that are influenced by turning points. Much research has examined possible turning points in the adult life course, such as marriage, employment, military service, and childbirth. However, few studies have attempted to determine possible turning points in the juvenile life course. In an attempt to address this lack of knowledge on juvenile turning points, this thesis presents an extension of life course theory …


Analyses Of Sorex Longirostris Distribution In Arkansas And Across The Mississippi River, Garrett Adam Mikel Sep 2011

Analyses Of Sorex Longirostris Distribution In Arkansas And Across The Mississippi River, Garrett Adam Mikel

Theses and Dissertations

The southeastern shrew (Sorex longirostris) is considered uncommon and a Species of Greatest Conservation Need in Arkansas, exhibiting an apparent gap in eastern Arkansas. Soricinae are exceptionally small and short-lived with limited dispersal, making them especially prone to speciation through long-term zoogeographic barriers to gene flow consistent with phylogeographic category 1. Therefore, I compiled Arkansas occurrences, evaluated persistence at previous capture sites in the state, surveyed additional counties, quantified microhabitat at my capture locations, and evaluated systematic status of S. longirostris east and west of the Mississippi River using mitochondrial DNA. Number of documented specimens in Arkansas has increased to …