Digital Commons Network^™

10/20 Protection Standard For Lifeguards : The Industry Standard Or False Promises?, Kasey T. Young

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Remote Sensing Data Integration Into Ecological Niche Modeling For Two North American Bombus Species, Elliott C. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Relationship Between Gender Ideology And Locus Of Control, Timothy L. Driscoll

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Cultural Orientation On Antisocial Personality Disorder With Northern Plains Native Americans, Samantha L. Chase

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

College Students Attitudes Toward People With Anorexia Nervosa, Teresa L. Jentz

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Diversity And Abundance Of Insects From The Reduviidae And Pentatomidae Families In Three Ecological Niches Of Six Communities In The Coroico And Coripata Municipalities, Department Of La Paz, Fernando Miguel Manrique Mamani

Theses and Dissertations

The Hemiptera order has 23,000 species that are distributed among many families. Two of these are the Pentatomidae and Reduviidae families. The aim of this study was to identify the different species of insects from the Reduviidae and Pentatomidae families as well as each species’ abundance in three ecological niches (forest, forest edge, and farm land). The study was conducted in six communities of Los Yungas, La Paz (Carmen Pampa, San Pablo, San Juan de la Miel, Altuspata, Choro Alto, and Choro). In each community, three Malaise traps were installed in the three ecological niches (forest, forest edge, and farm …

Diversity Congruency Within Organizations: The Relationship Among Emotional Intelligence, Personality Structure, Ethnic Identity, Organizational Context And Perceptions Of Organizational Diversity, David Hurlic

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship among Emotional Intelligence (EI) (consisting of perception and appraisal, facilitating thinking, understanding emotions, and regulating emotions), Personality Structure (FFM) (consisting of extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism, and openness to experiences), Ethnic Identity, Organizational Context (OC), and Perceptions of Organizational Diversity. It is hoped that by examining the impact of individual personality structures, as well as, ethnic identity and organizational context as precursors to individual perceptions between EI, Personality Structure, and diversity and affirmative action, a more coherent method of analysis is created allowing organizations to identify specific factors contributing to affirmative action and diversity program acceptance …

A Clinicians' Guide To Integrating Mindfulness Into Evidence-Based Practice: A Common Elements Approach, Lara Fielding

Theses and Dissertations

Stemming from Eastern practices, mindfulness entails intentionally bringing one's attention to all aspects of experience in the present moment, and holding these experiences with non-judgmental acceptance. In recent years mindfulness-based interventions have been gaining empirical support together with clinician interest in their use. The APA now mandates the use of evidence-based practices in psychology (EBPP), which incorporate the best empirical evidence, clinical expertise, and individual population characteristics and culture. However, at present, because there have been relatively few dismantling studies, clinicians are forced to either adopt an entire treatment protocol or pick and choose individual interventions in a relatively ad …

The Social Goals Of Boys With Adhd: Effect Of Task Variables And Their Relationship With Peer Status, Michal Mayo-Dvir

Theses and Dissertations

Peer rejection is a core difficulty experienced by children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that is associated with both concurrent and long-term maladjustment. The social goals endorsed by children with ADHD, have been proposed as being among the factors contributing to their relational difficulties. Although previous investigations have examined the social goals selected by ADHD-diagnosed children and their relationship to social status, no studies to date have examined the impact of task variables on the social goals they select or whether the relationship between their social goals and sociometric status is task dependent. This archival study compared the social …

Survey Of Digenea For Neorickettsial Dna And Phylogenetic Analysis Based On Partial 16s Rrna Gene Sequences, Jay A. Schroeder

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Activities Of Lower Mass Hyaluronan Fragments In Cartilage Degeneration, Chang Liu

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Nontraditional Women Students, Mentoring And A Journey To Voice, Patricia Ann Queen Jordheim

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Expression Of Human Keratins In Bladder Cancer And Possible Implications For Use As Biomarkers, Aaron A. Mehus

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Novel Source Of Influenza A Vaccine Production And West Nile Virus Therapeutics Antibodies, Sarah Rae Konschak

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Carbamidomethyl-Dithiothreitol Modifcations Of Cysteine-Containing Peptides : A Potentially Significant Byproduct Of Reduction-Alkylation Reactions In Proteomic Studies, Tracy Kay Ystesund

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Problem-Solving Skills Utilized By Graduating Engineers From A Baccalaureate Program To Solve Problems, James Welch

Theses and Dissertations

This study extends the knowledge of the problem-solving frameworks and skills used by graduating engineers (GE). The frameworks are comprehensive systematic processes that a GE uses to frame the problem. The problem-solving skills are mental and physical mechanisms, such as heuristics and flow charts. An in-depth qualitative study of 31 randomly selected graduating engineers from a state university was employed to obtain firsthand data on how GEs solved a specific problem scenario. The methodology of this study was an open running dialog between the researcher and the GE while the GE solved the standardized problem scenario. A one-sentence problem scenario …

Invertebrate Colonization And Plant Architecture: The Influence Of Two Non-Native Milfoil Species, Elizabeth W. Rielly

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the complexity and surface area of a macrophyte’s

structure has an influence on invertebrate colonization, and to determine the influence of two non-native species on invertebrate colonization. Three plant architectures were compared. Floating leaved plants were represented by the following species: Nuphar lutea, Nymphaea odorata, and Brasenia schreberi. Moderately dissected leaved plants were represented by Potamogeton natans, and highly dissected leaved plants were represented by two non-native species, Myriophyllum spicatum and Myriophyllum heterophyllum. The number of invertebrates/g dry biomass and the number of individuals/m², diversity, evenness, and richness were calculated for …

Surgical Smoke Evacuation Guidelines: Compliance Among Perioperative Nurses, Kay A. Ball

Theses and Dissertations

Smoke (plume) is produced when tissue is cut or coagulated with lasers or electrosurgery devices during surgery. Research has documented that surgical smoke creates a serious workplace hazard for over 500,000 healthcare workers. Toxic gases create an offensive odor, small particulate matter causes respiratory complications, and pathogens may be transmitted within the surgical smoke to the surgical team. Previous research notes that smoke evacuation recommendations are not being consistently followed by perioperative nurses.

The purpose of this study is to determine key indicators that are associated with compliance with smoke evacuation recommendations by perioperative nurses. The Diffusion of Innovation theory …

Identification And Characterization Of Prevotella Intermedia 17 Toll-Like Receptor 2 Ligands, Jamie Feng-Hsia Yuan

Theses and Dissertations

Periodontal disease is one of the most prevalent human diseases affecting millions of individuals. Bacteria are the trigger of the host response that then results in initiation and progression of periodontal disease. The interactions between the host and the bacteria, although very complex and intricate, are not well understood. Species of gram-negative anaerobic bacteria implicated in the development of periodontal disease include Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia. The goal of our study was to identify P. intermedia surface proteins interacting with TLR2 receptor. Using Cy5-labeled surface proteins we identified multiple proteins using our capture assay. The interaction of three …

Pulmonary Delivery Of Anorectic Gut Secreted Peptides For Appetite Suppression In Rats, Priya Nadkarni

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation project aimed to demonstrate that pulmonary delivery of two anorectic gut secreted peptides, peptide YY (PYY) and oxyntomodulin (OXM) enabled food intake suppression and reduced body weight gain in rats via their systemic absorption from the lung and interaction with the brain. After PYY and OXM were administered to the lungs at varying doses, food intake and body weight gain were monitored in freely feeding rats. Significant 30-35 % food intake suppression was achieved for 4-6 h following pulmonary administration of endogenously active PYY3-36 and OXM1-37 at 0.80 and 0.50 mg/kg, respectively. Moreover, when administered daily for 7 …

Spatial And Temporal Variability Of Macroinvertyebrate Communities In Vernal Pools On The Coastal Plain Of Virginia, Shrijeeta Ganguly

Theses and Dissertations

Vernal pools are often defined as seasonal pools that typically are inundated beginning in the winter and then drying out completely in summer. Though evidence of spatial and temporal variability in the macroinvertebrate communities of vernal pools has been found in previous studies, it has not been studied extensively. The primary objective of this study was to determine the extent of variability in the macroinvertebrate communities within vernal pools closely situated in a forested landscape. An effort was made to explain this variability with respect to certain physiochemical environmental variables of the pools. Significant variability was observed in the macroinvertebrate …

Identification Of Camk-Ii Protein Targets In Tissue Culture And Zebrafish Embryos Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry, Alexandra Myers

Theses and Dissertations

Calcium (Ca2+)/calmodulin-dependent kinase 2 (CaMK-II) is one member of a family of Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinases that responds to intracellular Ca2+ signals (Hudmon, A. and H. Schulman (2002)). CaMK-II is a multifunctional regulator of transcription, cell cycle progression, cell motility and neuronal development. (Wang, C., et al. (2008), Easley, C. A. IV, et al. (2008), Osterhoff, M., et al. (2003), Faison, M. O., et al. (2002)). Recently, CaMK-II has been shown to be important in the early development of vertebrates. In developing zebrafish, disruption of CaMK-II expression has been shown to induce phenotypes similar to those documented in several human diseases. …

Tailoring Local Conductivity By The Formation Of Ag Nanoclusters In Sio2 Xerogel Films, Ricky Caperton

Theses and Dissertations

Porous silicon dioxide thin films were produced via dip-coating and doped with Ag+ by adding AgNO3 to the dipping solution. Nanoparticles were formed within the pores of these films by UV exposure. Nanoparticle formation was confirmed by UV-visible spectroscopy and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy (CAFM) showed that the conductivity of the films decreased upon exposure to UV. This decrease in the conductivity is most likely due to the clustering of charge carriers. Initially, Ag+ ions are attached to negatively charged pore walls in a dense packing network. Upon UV exposure (125 mW @ 266 nm), the …

Molecular Modeling Studies Of Heparin And Heparin Mimetics Binding To Coagulation Proteins, Chandravel Krishnasamy

Theses and Dissertations

Heparin, a glycosaminoglycan (GAG), is a complex biopolymer of varying chain length and consisting of uronic acid and glucosamine residues, which are sulfated at various positions. The interaction of heparin with antithrombin is the basis for anticoagulation therapy. Heparin accelerates the antithrombin mediated inhibition of factor Xa and thrombin by a conformational activation mechansism and bridging mechanism, respectively. The sequence specific pentasaccharide DEFGH in full length heparin is the most important fragment for high affinity and activation of antithrombin, without which the heparin is incapable of binding to antithrombin. Although heparin is a commonly used anticoagulant, it suffers from serious …

Noncovalent Interaction Of Platinum Planar Amine Compounds With Tryptophan: A Strategy To Interfere With P53-Mdm2 Interactions And Targeting Retroviral Zn Finger-Dna Interaction (Hiv Ncp7), Aaron Bate

Theses and Dissertations

Non-covalent interactions involving π-π stacking play an essential role in self-assembly and molecular recognition processes such as protein folding and DNA/RNA-protein selective recognition. The knowledge gained from these studies could provide insight into possible site recognition complexes, inhibiting or mimicking protein-protein or protein-DNA interactions. Based on molecular modeling as well as HOMO and LUMO energies, several chromophores were selected with a variety of ∆ε values (∆ε= |εHOMO,NAcTrp – εLUMO,chromophores|), high and low, to establish a correlating trend with the modeling and experimental data. The corresponding Pt(dien) compounds were synthesized and their ability to stack to N-acetyl tryptophan was evaluated by …

Raman Spectroscopy Of Biological Molecules And Inorganic Compounds, Jasmine Gardner

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the use of multiple Raman spectroscopic techniques for the detection and characterization of non-hazardous organic and inorganic compounds. The first two applications involve the use of Raman and surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy to thoroughly analyze autoinducers (AI) produced by gram negative bacteria. The second set of applications involves the use of anti-Stokes Raman and resonance Raman spectroscopy to remotely detect inorganic compounds at distances of up to 12 meters away.

Chapters two and three describe the use of Raman spectroscopy for the characterization and discrimination of signaling molecules used in bacterial communication. Our initial work shows the …

Ensemble Of Classifiers Based Data Fusion Of Eeg And Mri For Diagnosis Of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Tejash Patel

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) are rising at an alarming rate as the average age of the population increases, especially in developing nations. The efficacy of the new medical treatments critically depends on the ability to diagnose these diseases at the earliest stages. To facilitate the availability of early diagnosis in community hospitals, an accurate, inexpensive, and noninvasive diagnostic tool must be made available. As biomarkers, the event related potentials (ERP) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) - which has previously shown promise in automated diagnosis - in addition to volumetric magnetic resonance …

Data Fusion Based Optimal Eeg Electrode Selection For Early Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, Brian Balut

Theses and Dissertations

As medicinal and technological advances lengthen the average human life span, diseases affecting the elderly such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease are seeing increasingly growing numbers, especially in developed countries. As a result, the necessity for an accurate, inexpensive, noninvasive means of diagnosis becomes particularly important, since such a method is not readily available to the general population. One biomarker that has recently showed promise is the analysis of the electroencephalogram (EEG).

Over the course of two studies, more than 130 subjects have been recruited providing information from 16-19 EEG electrodes for each subject. These signals have been decomposed …

Quad General Tree Drawing Algorithm And General Trees Characterization: Towards An Environment For The Experimental Study On General Tree Drawing Algorithms, Chu Yao

Theses and Dissertations

Information visualization produces (interactive) visual representations of abstract data to reinforce human cognition and perception; thus enabling the viewer to gain knowledge about the internal structure of the data and causal relationships in it. The visualization of information hierarchies is concerned with the presentation of abstract hierarchical information about relationships between various entities. It has many applications in diverse domains such as software engineering, information systems, biology, and chemistry. Information hierarchies are typically modeled by an abstract tree, where vertices are entities and edges represent relationships between entities. The aim of visualizing tree drawings is to automatically produce drawings of …

Lipid Raft Mediated Lyn Kinase Activation Regulates Host Innate Immune Response Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Lung Infection, Shibichakravarthy Kannan

Theses and Dissertations

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) is a common opportunistic pathogen that invades the susceptible host. Alveolar macrophages (AM) play a pivotal role in defending against invading pathogens in the lungs. The effectiveness of AM in combating PA infection has not been studied in detail. The goal was to identify the key components involved in mounting an effective innate immune response using the murine lung infection as a model to understand the host - pathogen interactions. Our most important finding was the involvement of Lyn tyrosine kinase, a member of Src family tyrosine kinases, in orchestrating the host cell response to PA invasion. …