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Visual Illusion Susceptibility In Dogs Using The Ebbinghaus-Titchener Illusion In A Spontaneous Choice Task, Nicolette Becker

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, dogs have been a popular test subject when studying visual illusion susceptibility. Multiple studies have investigated whether animals perceive illusions as humans do, but few studies have evaluated dogs’ perception of illusory stimuli. In this thesis, we studied if dogs are visually susceptible to the Ebbinghaus-Titchener illusion when presented in a spontaneous choice task. Subjects were presented two visual images on a board, which had bologna pieces embedded in the stimuli. In control trials, two different sized bologna pieces were placed in the center of the images. In these control conditions, dogs were expected to choose the …

Effect Of Clinical Education On Child Obesity Biomarkers In Children Visiting A Pediatric Clinic In South Texas, Patricia Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

Obesity in children and adolescents is a serious public health problem, not only in the United States, but throughout all the countries around the world. Obesity can be easily detected and prevented. Education concerning over the dangers of obesity is the key to leading along and healthy life. It can also help maintain normal levels of BMI, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, triglycerides, cholesterol, low-density lipoproteins, high-density lipoproteins, glucose and insulin. The main objective of this research is to study the effect of clinical education on child obesity biomarkers in children visiting a pediatric clinic in South Texas. To …

Resolving Relationships And Revealing Hybridization In Aliciella Subsection Subnuda (Polemoniaceae), Theresa Conley Saunders

Theses and Dissertations

Phylogenetics is crucial in the study of evolutionary processes and the determination of appropriate conservation units, and often these efforts are complicated by hybridization and introgression. Aliciella subsection Subnuda consists of seven species of herbaceous plants occurring in Utah and the Four Corners region of North America. Previous molecular and morphological work left relationships in the subsection unresolved. Here, we use comparative DNA sequencing of ITS and cpDNA regions and RAD-seq data to clarify phylogenetic relationships and examine the role of hybridization in the subsection. We construct haplotype and nucleotype networks from the cpDNA and ITS sequence matrices and compare …

The Tragedy Of Theresa Sturla: Murder, Insanity, And Womanhood On Trial In Nineteenth-Century Chicago, Jake Engelman

Theses and Dissertations

On the morning of July 10, 1882, a young prostitute named Theresa Sturla murdered her lover, Charles Stiles, on the sixth floor of the Palmer House in Chicago. During her trial four months later, Sturla’s attorney employed a dual argument of self-defense and insanity. He claimed that his client suffered from dysmenorrhea, or painful menstruation, and that she had gone temporarily insane at the time of the murder due to her defective reproductive system. According to the defense, Stiles’ abuse toward his mistress had exacerbated the disease and her only solution was to respond with violence. After a month-long trial, …

Why Did The Eisenhower Administration Decide To Deploy Jupiter Missiles In Turkey: A Case Study In Nuclearization Of Nato Strategy, Murat Iplikci

Theses and Dissertations

Looking out at the international political landscape of the late 1940s and the early 1950s, the Eisenhower administration was determined to challenge the evident appeal of Communism, particularly in Western Europe. NATO, which was a fragile organization due to the devastation of World War II (WWII), and its members were prone to any communist attack, either by military forces or through political parties. They had to be defended. The Eisenhower administration saw nuclear weapons as the only means to defend the alliance against the massive threat of the Soviet Union. Therefore, President Eisenhower committed nuclear weapons to NATO as a …

Automatic Lung Cancer Detection Using Artificial Intelligence, Bardh Rushiti

Theses and Dissertations

By far, lung cancer is the prominent cause of cancer deaths for both men and women around the world. In 2018, statistics for WCRF (Worldwide Cancer Research Fund) showed that out of 2.09 million people diagnosed with this disease, 1.76 million people died. The survival rate increases if detected in its earlier stages. Taking into consideration the complexity of the problem, many computer-aided diagnosis systems that increase the survival rate have been proposed and developed. Driven by the notable success of deep learning in the area of complex image classification problems, this paper presents the use of VGG16, VGG19, ResNet34, …

Dendrochronological Methods To Examine Plant Competition With Changing Fire Regimes In Desert And Forest Ecosystems, Rebecca Irene Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Human activities are changing wildfire regimes globally through ignition, spread of invasive species, fire suppression, and climate change. Because of this, ecosystems are experiencing novel fire regimes that may alter plant growth and patterns of succession. Annual growth rings are one metric that can track changes in tree and shrub growth patterns over time in response to changing fire frequency. In Chapter 1 we explored the effects of fire on resprouting native shrubs in the Mojave Desert. Fires are becoming increasingly frequent due to the spread of highly flammable invasive grasses in the region. We monitored growth and fruit production …

Deep Neural Network Based Iterative Self-Taught Learning On Text Mining, Xiangwen Liu

Theses and Dissertations

[Motivation] Machine learning and deep learning models is the main methodology for discovering hidden knowledge of data. Data plays a significant role in the training process. However, lack of data especially labeled data is precious due to accessibility and high cost. How to use the abundant unlabeled data to enhance the downstream learning process on labeled data is an urgent task in machine learning and pattern recognition. [Methods] An STL (Self-taught learning) model is proposed in this dissertation, which can successfully learn features from downloaded unlabeled text and enhance the downstream tasks on labeled text. In addition, DLI-IT (Drug labeling …

We Can Get There: Understanding The High School Experience Of Latin@S In A Large Suburban School District, Octavio Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

Success in school is something that every student tries and accomplishes in different ways, but this is not a simple matter of just demonstrating academic success. Students may have the best grades, but if they do not master the “college student” (Collier, Morgan, 2004) role, many students may not succeed. When students master this role, it will help them understand the different expectations professors may have and then will be able to apply their academic skills effectively and help them meet these expectations. This is something that many students know and understand, and this information is not passed on to …

Intraspecific And Interspecific Interactions Between Two Species Of North American Vulture At Feeding Sites., Dixie Claire Grammer

Theses and Dissertations

Vultures are a necessity to the natural world. These elite scavengers have the ability to eliminate disease, bacteria, and other harmful pathogens from the environment by simply eating infected carcasses. There are several species of vulture that are threatened with extinction due to a number of reasons, human connotation being one of them. These birds are often persecuted because of their appearance and also because of damage that they have caused. Although at times they may be considered nuisance animals, their need in their environment greatly outweighs the problems they sometimes cause. Research is a way to educate the public …

The Comparison Of Live Therapist Delivered Music To Original Artist Recording Interventions On Reminiscing Responses In Adults With Alzheimer's, Rajahna Desiree Schneekloth

Theses and Dissertations

Background: As the growing number of older adults diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease is resort to living in residential care facilities, this population requires purposeful activities in which they can improve and maintain their quality of life. Studies have shown that music therapy positively influences older adults in typical settings such as hospice or other residential care facilities, by providing a source of investigation in to the reminiscing aspect of their memory.

Purpose: This study targets the qualitative and quantitative values of reminiscing responses by comparing the data received from a non-musical baseline response, an original artist recorded musical response, and …

Stacked Core-Shell & Self-Supported Nanorod Array Electrocatalysts For Pem Fuel Cells, Fatma Merve Yurtsever

Theses and Dissertations

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most attractive technologies for clean, renewable energy in the twenty-first century. It has many advantages in terms of zero carbon emission, quiet operation mode, high power density, higher efficiency than Carnot engines, and it requires less warm-up & fast start-up time. However, oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) activity and stability are still significant issues for the next generation PEMFCs to increase its usage. In this study, we developed a new design of stacked core-shell nanorod array and self-supported composition graded Pt:Ni nanorod array electrocatalyst to improve ORR kinetics and catalyst stability. …

An Evaluation Of The Efficacy Of Implementing Citizenship-Readiness Standards In The Elementary Social Studies Curriculum: A Case Study Of A School District In New Jersey, Dezoray Moore

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how elementary schools prepared students to become lifelong learners as it relates to meeting citizenship readiness initiatives. Traditionally, schools use standardized assessments aligned with college- and career-readiness standards to measure student achievement in the reading, writing, and mathematics curricula. This study sought to examine alternative assessments aligned with citizenship-readiness standards to measure student achievement in the elementary social studies curriculum. A qualitative case study using five elementary school principals to obtain their perceptions of the elementary social studies curriculum was highlighted. An extensive analysis of common themes emerged concluding the need for educators to provide students with …

Bifunctional Helical Peptide Catalysts For Enzyme-Like Reactivity And Selectivity And Selective Stapling Of Natural Amino Acid Residues With Hydrophilic Squaric Acid Derivatives, Michael James Kinghorn

Theses and Dissertations

Peptide secondary structure provides an exceptional scaffold on which to design highly reactive and selective enzyme-like catalysts. This work describes the rational design and synthesis of a suite of helical peptide catalysts that are capable of achieving proximity-induced rate enhancement in Diels-Alder cycloadditions and indole alkylations. Microwave assisted synthesis of resin-supported polypeptides enables incorporation of non-natural amino acid residues that induce helicity (Aib) or provide functional handles on which organic catalytic residues can be attached. These small peptide catalysts exhibit binding-driven selectivity rather than relying on the inherent reactivity of substrates, which allows access to products that are not obtainable …

Exploration Of Sputtered Thin Films—E.G., In Sample Preparation And Material Characterization, Tuhin Roychowdhury

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation focuses on (i) the development sputtered films for solid phase microextraction (SPME) and (ii) the comprehensive characterization of materials using a suite of analytical techniques. Chapter 1 reviews the basics of SPME. This chapter also contains (i) a discussion of various sputtering techniques, (ii) a discussion of two techniques I focused on most of my work: spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Chapter 2 focuses the major part of my work, which is to prepare new solid phases/adsorbents for SPME via silicon sputtering followed by thermal deposition of a polymer, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). PDMS was deposited by …

Regulation Of The Microtubule Cytoskeleton And Cell Wall Development In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Christy J. Fornero

Theses and Dissertations

Regulation of the cortical microtubule cytoskeleton is critical for organized plant cell division. Arabidopsis ton1 and ton2 mutants display random cell division plane placement and lack the plant-specific cortical microtubule array that encircles the nucleus prior to mitosis. In wild type plants, this preprophase band (PPB) of cortical microtubules precisely marks the future division plane. The specific roles of TON1 and TON2 in PPB formation are not yet known. It is suspected that TON1 Recruiting Motif (TRM) proteins may be involved in TON1 and TON2 recruitment to the PPB. Here we describe results for the targeted disruption of a group …

Syntheses, Characterization, And Preliminary Evaluation Of Potential Ruthenium Anticancer Complexes Containing Schiff Base Ligands, Stephen Mensah

Theses and Dissertations

Platinum-based drugs have over the years been administered in the treatment of tumours.

Unfortunately, platinum resistance and the severe side effects associated with the treatments has necessitated the research for new anti-cancer drugs. Ruthenium(II) and Ruthenium(III) complexes have shown promise as useful alternative anticancer agents. The lead candidates include the Ru(II) complex RAPTA-C, a ruthenium(II)-arene complex [Ru(η6-p-cymene)Cl2(1,3,5-triaza-7-phosphaadamantane)] and the Ru(III) complex NAMI-A [imidazoleH][trans-Ru(imidazole) (dimethyl sulfoxide)Cl4]. Both compounds have shown potent cytotoxic activity in several primary human tumor models. Unfortunately, NAMI-A could not advance in clinical evaluations due to limited efficacy in vivo, while the clinical evaluation of RAPTA-C is unknown. …

Ndikimi I Iot (Internet Of Things) Në Rritjen E Kualitetit Të Produkteve Bujqësore Si Dhe Në Racionalizimin E Shfrytzimit Të Resursëve Bujqësore, Arbër Suka

Theses and Dissertations

Duke pasur parasyshë qe tekonologjia gjithnjë e me shumë po sofistikohet, dhe qe tashme pothuajse çdo informat mundet me u gjet në internet atëher këtë temë do të trajtohet se si ndikon aplikimi i internetit të gjerave apo internet of things (IOT) në bujqësin përkatësisht në rritjen e qualitetit të produkteve , rritjen e sasisë së produkteve dhe ate duke perdorur sa më pak resurse. Duke pas parasysh që pothuaj se qdo fermer rradhë her hyn në internet për të shikuar se cila është rruga më e leht dhe më e mirë për të rritur nje bimë dhe për të …

Distribution And Abundance Of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus In Surficial Estuarine Sediment From North Inlet, Sc, Usa, India Briana Gartmon

Theses and Dissertations

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a ubiquitous coastal organism that causes gastroenteritis (vibriosis) after ingestion of mishandled or undercooked seafood. Cases of vibriosis have increased rapidly in the past decade. V. parahaemolyticus densities have historically been associated with an increase in sea surface water temperatures, but recent shellfish bed closures in fall and winter months in cooler regions (the Baltic Sea, the Pacific NW, and New England) suggest that there may be additional environmental parameters that affect densities of V. parahaemolyticus. The vertical distribution of V. parahaemolyticus was assessed in the pristine North Inlet Estuary (SC, USA). The goal of this …

Distribution And Dispersal Potential Of The Endemic Tree Loblolly Bay (Gordonia Lasianthus) In The Southeastern United States Coastal Plain And Implications For Conservation In The Context Of Forecast Climate Scenarios., Herrick Hermann Klaus Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Plant communities in the Southeastern United States Coastal Plain constitute a rich assemblage of species from neighboring floristic provinces and include over 1,000 species endemic to the region. Conservation of these unique landscapes requires a better understanding of potential impacts from human activity and a changing climate. As a model species, the endemic tree Loblolly Bay (Gordonia lasianthus) is representative of Carolina Bays, pocosins, and isolated wetland habitats that accentuate Longleaf Pine ecosystems which dominate the focus area. Seed-dispersal events in Loblolly Bay are limited to periods of relatively low humidity primarily during the months of October to December, and …

Predicting Change In Autism Symptomatology In Young Children At Risk For Autism Spectrum Disorder: Fragile X Syndrome, Down Syndrome And Non-Syndromic Asd, Kelly Elizabeth Caravella

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of two manuscripts which examine the longitudinal development of autism symptomatology in young children at risk for developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD); individuals with Fragile x syndrome (FXS) and Down syndrome (DS). The first study is a within group analysis of the longitudinal development of ASD symptomatology in young children with FXS, and how diagnostic stability, language and non-verbal cognitive functioning may predict these trajectories. This paper provides insight into ASD diagnostic stability patterns within FXS, and how symptoms change over time across these groups. The second paper will extend this work by presenting a pilot …

Early Behavioral And Physiological Markers Of Social Anxiety In Fragile X Syndrome, Conner J. Black

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Social Anxiety is diagnosed in approximately 10% of neurotypical children. If left untreated, negative outcomes are highly prevalent later in life. Thus, understanding the earliest features of social anxiety can help to mitigate detrimental outcomes. Fragile X Syndrome, which has a high prevalence of social anxiety, is a genetic syndrome which creates a unique opportunity to study the earliest predictors of social anxiety before formal diagnosis. Fragile X Syndrome presents with intellectual disability and an increased prevalence of maladaptive behaviors. The current study utilized a bio-behavioral approach to study the earliest marker of social anxiety in 12- month-old infants …

Assessing Egyptians' Knowledge, Perceptions, And Attitudes Towards Generic Medicines, Radwa Ahmed Elmoneer

Theses and Dissertations

Medicines are vital component of any health system worldwide, and ensuring accessibility of affordable, effective and safe medications is a critical public policy goal considered by every country. Egypt has, recently, faced aggravated challenges in ensuring the availability of medications countrywide. In response, the Egyptian government has adopted a number of pharmaceutical policies and interventions, mainly, targeting the supply side of the market. Promoting the use of generic medicines is an effective policy intervention that addresses the demand side, a highly recommended intervention given other countries’ experiences. As the main users of medications, patients are a crucial source of knowledge …

Assessing The Impact Of South Carolina’S Medicaid Adult Dental Policy On Dental Emergency Department Visits, Victor Kirksey

Theses and Dissertations

Since the implementation of the South Carolina Medicaid adult dental benefit, there has been limited public knowledge on how effective the policy has been in increasing access to dental services for Medicaid adults.The South Carolina Medicaid eligibility dataset, all payer emergency department dataset and, Medicaid dental claims dataset were examined from the period of December 2011- December 2017. Approximately 16% of enrollees had a dental visit since policy initiation. In the adjusted analysis, ED visits made by Medicaid enrollees during the second and first period before policy initiation were more likely to have a non-traumatic dental diagnosis, with respective adjusted …

Insider’S Misuse Detection: From Hidden Markov Model To Deep Learning, Ahmed Saaudi

Theses and Dissertations

Malicious insiders increasingly affect organizations by leaking classified data to unautho- rized entities. Detecting insiders’ misuses in computer systems is a challenging problem. In this dissertation, we propose two approaches to detect such threats: a probabilistic graph- ical model-based approach and a deep learning-based approach. We investigate the logs of computer-based activities to discover patterns of misuse. We model user’s behaviors as sequences of computer-based events.

For our probabilistic graphical model-based approach, we propose an unsupervised model for insider’s misuse detection. That is, we develop Stochastic Gradient Descent method to learn Hidden Markov Models (SGD-HMM) with the goal of analyzing …

Dietary Advanced Glycation End-Products (Ages) And Breast Cancer Risk And Survival, Omonefe Opeyemi Omofuma

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases including cancer. AGEs are produced endogenously and are also consumed from foods. High amounts of AGEs are found in animal products and processed foods, and AGE formation is accelerated during cooking at high temperatures. Using data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), we assigned and quantified NƐ-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML)-AGE content in food and investigated the association between dietary AGE intake and breast cancer (BrCa) risk. We assessed whether the risk was modified by race/ethnicity, obesity status, fruit and vegetable intake, BrCa invasiveness …

High School Social Studies Teachers' Perceptions And Practices Using Workshop Model: A Qualitative Action Research Case Study, Joseph Marangell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research case study was to examine how a job-embedded professional development approach influenced high school social studies teachers' perceptions and practices related to a workshop model of instruction. Three research questions guided this work: (1) How do teachers' perceptions related to the workshop model used within social studies classrooms change over time? (2) How do teachers' practices related to the workshop model used within social studies classrooms change over time? (3) How do teachers' perceptions of disciplinary literacy and the workshop model influence their classroom practices?

Participants included two high school Modern World History teachers …

Microcystin Exposure And Liver Injury Outcomes In Nafld, Muayad Albadrani

Theses and Dissertations

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is an emerging worldwide pandemic which is highly prevalent among obese individuals including children and adults. In a NAFLD condition, exposure to environmental contaminants or toxins can act as a second/ multiple hit, which leads to the progression of simple steatosis to NASH and ultimately may result in liver cirrhosis. With climate change today, elevated levels of microcystins are an emerging problem in fresh water bodies, which are a source of drinking water. Individuals are therefore at risk of exposure to microcystin through consuming contaminated water. In the progression of NAFLD from one clinical stage …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Hyaluronic Acid Based Biomaterials For Drug Delivery And Virus Modification, Amanda Wagner

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, hyaluronic acid based biomaterials are studied. The properties and potential applications of these polymers are characterized and discussed.

In Chapter 1, biomaterials are introduced as well as hydrogels and nanogels. Hyaluronic acid is highlighted as a remarkable bio-polymer. The overall objectives of my research are also discussed.

Chapter 2 is focused around trials for utilizing graphene oxide as a nanomaterial for controlling the drug release of an aromatic compound. Hyaluronic acid based hydrogels were synthesized as a delivery vessel. The results of the drug release profiles are examined and discussed.

A different direction is taken in Chapter …

Numerical Methods For A Class Of Reaction-Diffusion Equations With Free Boundaries, Shuang Liu

Theses and Dissertations

The spreading behavior of new or invasive species is a central topic in ecology. The modelings of free boundary problems are widely studied to better understand the nature of spreading behavior of new species. From mathematical modeling point of view, it is a challenge to perform numerical simulations of free boundary problems, due to the moving boundary, the stiffness of the system and topological changes.

In this work, we design numerical methods to investigate the spreading behavior of new species for a diffusive logistic model with a free boundary and a diffusive competition system with free boundaries. We develop a …