Digital Commons Network^™

Comparative Seed Dispersal, Seedling Establishment And Growth Of Exotic, Invasive Ailanthus Altissima (Mill.) Swingle And Native Liriodendron Tulipifera (L.), Nathan L. Kota

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle (tree of heaven) is an exotic species from China that was intentionally introduced as an urban ornamental species but has since become naturalized throughout much of the U.S. This pioneer species appears poised to invade rural areas as current rates of human-induced forest disturbance lower dispersal barriers and increase available habitat, especially in eastern forests, where it will compete with pioneer native trees such as Liriodendron tulipifera (L.) (yellow poplar). To compare the invasion potential of exotic A. altissima and native L. tulipifera, my research focused on two objectives. First, I investigated characteristics that influence dispersal …

Melengestrol Acetate (Mga) As An Effective Alternative To Induce Molting In Laying Hens, Jill Marie Koch

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The current experiments were conducted to determine if an orally active progestin, melengestrol acetate (MGA), would be an effective method to induce molting that addresses hen well-being during and after molt. MGA can easily be administered to a large population because it is orally active and can be included in a balanced layer diet. Hens could be fed throughout the molting process, which would address the concerns brought about by other methods in that there is a nutrient deficiency that results in hen weight loss. If feeding MGA can effectively lead to a reversible regression of the oviduct then it …

Functional Mri Of Rat Kidney Using Bold & Asl Techniques, Rajesh K. Garugu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Noninvasive functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) methods may provide new ways to detect and track renal hemodynamic changes in-vivo. In this thesis, two fMRI methods were correlated with simultaneous invasive hemodynamic measurements. A particular goal of this thesis was to measure the relative contributions of oxygenation and perfusion changes to changes in the relaxation rate, T2*. Also, an MRI compatible motion detector was built and along with the invasive probes was interfaced to a data acquisition system for use during scanning. Drug-induced changes in renal oxygenation and blood flow were measured by BOLD- & ASL-MRI noninvasively, while a dual oxygenation/perfusion …

Effect Of Position Of An Outlier On The Influence Curve Of The Measures Of Preferred Direction For Circular Data, B. Sango Otieno, Christine M. Anderson-Cook

Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods

Circular or angular data occur in many fields of applied statistics. A common problem of interest in circular data is estimating a preferred direction and its corresponding distribution. It is complicated by the wrap-around effect on the circle, which exists because there is no natural minimum or maximum. The usual statistics employed for linear data are inappropriate for directional data, as they do not account for its circular nature. The robustness of the three common choices for summarizing the preferred direction (the sample circular mean, sample circular median and a circular analog of the Hodges-Lehmann estimator) are evaluated via their …

Spectacle And Distortion: The Anti-Globalization Movement On Television News, Raphi Rechitsky

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Mechanical Manipulation Of Facial Expressions As Means Of Inducement, Suppression, And Feedback Of Emotional States, Phillip D. Magerkurth

Honors Theses

This paper hypothesizes that tape placed strategically upon the face will provide feedback to the users emotional state by giving feedback to muscle tension. It is also hypothesized that females will greater utilize the feedback than males. Participants in the experiment were 30 college students (18 males and 12 females). Participants were randomly selected to either the experimental or control group. The experimental group had a Band-Aid placed at the outer eyebrow toward the upper ear, while the control group had a Band-Aid placed at a neural location on the upper forehead. Although there was no statistical significance between groups …

Potential Economic Effects Of The Proposed Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (Dr-Cafta) On The State Of Florida : Prepared By The Center For Economic Development Research, College Of Business Administration, University Of South Florida, University Of South Florida. Center For Economic Development Research

College of Business Publications

This report serves to advance effective public policy recommendations regarding the impacts across the state of Florida of globalization.

Potential Economic Effects Of The Proposed Free Trade Area Of The Americas (Ftaa) On The State Of Florida : Prepared By The Center For Economic Development Research, College Of Business Administration, University Of South Florida, University Of South Florida. Center For Economic Development Research

College of Business Publications

No abstract provided.

Student Honors And Awards Program 2005, University Relations

UMM Honors and Awards Ceremony

In recognition of students who demonstrate academic excellence and enrich campus life.

Cadensation: A Distillation Of Rhythm In Prose, Matthew G. Sedlak

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This is a collection of four short works fiction. This thesis project addresses the issue of language in short fiction by making it the focal point of the pieces included. The project was pursued largely through workshopping pieces I had already written and obtaining commentary from many outside sources. I met with Arthur Flowers once every other week during the school year to discuss where the pieces stood and where they might be going. The vast majority of the process was the physical act of writing. That was done alone.

Acquisition Of Violations Of English Principle B By Native Speakers Of Japanese Or Chinese, Clarion C. Mendes

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This work focuses on Principles A and B of Binding Theory as applied to English. While English has a very strict interpretation of Binding Theory, it has a violation of Principle B with sentences with locative prepositional phrases and verb phrases of caused movement or perception.

In contrast, Chinese and Japanese have a very liberal interpretation of Binding Theory. The study is involved with investigating whether or not Japanese or Chinese speakers adapt to the English violation which is typically not taught in a classroom setting, but something acquired through natural exposure.

A custom survey was designed to see if …

On Earth, Kristina Foley

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

My thesis project is structured around a friendship that grew into an artistic collaboration. Laura Williams and myself, Kristina Foley, pulled our resources and concepts together from two seemingly disparate fields of art, Fiber Structure and Interlocking and the Media Art Program, to explore our personal identification with Feminism, magic, and the role of art in illustrating history through revealing perspectives often kept hidden. Using fibers and textile pieces we explore a women’s history that has been kept private and held close to the body, while simultaneously using video and photography to re-imagine how the female is projected into the …

The Town Hall Is Filling With Boulders, Christopher Miller

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

When I first decided that I wanted to endeavor the realization and composition of a book-length collection of poetry, I had no theme or binding conceptual idea in mind. I saw the thesis project as a chance to create an anthology of work, one that would both map my personal growth as a writer and the distillation of my craft and technique. I knew the poems were going to reach over a period of about two-and-a-half years, so it was clear to me right away that I had no idea where writing would take me, or what iterations my imagination …

A Place Apart: Myth And Sacred Space, Diana Hazel

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

“When old myths are lost, new ones are needed. Myths flourish and fade and die, but new myths are born, old ones are resurrected, and hybrid forms combining new and old emerge when times change or cultures mingle” (Graves: 1959, 9).

The original concept of this project was to create a CD-ROM database of mythology from various cultures and time periods throughout history. The first few months of my work were carried out with this end in mind. Since then, the project has taken a more personal turn. Instead of presenting the mythologies of other people, I have created my …

The Role Of Dosage Sensitive Sex Reversal Adrenal Hyperplasia Congenita 1 (Dax-1) In Mouse Oogenesis, Krystal Wilson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Although critically important to fertility and reproduction, the mechanisms controlling development of mammalian primordial germ cells into functional oocytes are poorly understood. Understanding the mechanisms that regulate oocyte development will ultimately reveal significant insights into female infertility problems in mammals, including humans. In order to decipher what mediates the formation of a functional oocyte, we are studying oogenesis in the mammalian model Mus musculus. During mouse embryonic development the oocytes develop as interconnected clusters of cells called germline cysts. Evidence suggests that in humans, oocytes are also organized into cysts. Eventually the cysts undergo programmed cell breakdown, each giving …

The Effects Of The Availability Heuristic On Student's Judgments Of Others Alcohol Consumption, Jennifer Mcenroy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The primary purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that enhancing the availability of images that either portrayed liberal heavy drinking at college or the conservative academic side of college would serve to influence students’ perceptions of peer norms. It was hypothesized that students would rely on the availability heuristic to make judgments of peer norms, so that exposure to a movie clip that emphasized drinking would increase estimates of peer drinking norms when compared with exposure to a movie clip that emphasized academic work. It was further hypothesized that the film clips would assist participants in making …

Rise And Fall Of The Continuum Revivalism In Architecture, Tyler Caine

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not Included

Communicating The Obesity Crisis: The Role Of Public Relations And The Media In Framing A National Health Issue, Kimberly Jaindl

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Communication of obesity as a public health issue has taken many forms and been framed in a variety of ways since early 2000. These communications often frame the public’s perception of the problem and of potential solutions. This study examines the current perceptions and actions according to several groups, including the government, the food industry, individuals, the media, and public relations professionals. It then attempts to assess the framing of the issue, including perceptions and actions, by the print media and public relations professionals. A census of newspaper articles and press releases from a one-month time period in late 2004 …

A Quantitative And Qualitative Analysis Of The Use Of Sex In Advertising In American And British Women’S Magazines, Kathleen Ruddy

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Sex and decency in advertising is an international issue, and different nations allow different degrees of sexually explicit material (Boddewyn, 1991). This study compares the use of sex in advertisements in American and British editions of Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, and Marie Claire. The degree of sexual content in the advertisements was analyzed using measures of nudity, sexual behavior, sexually attractive models, sexual referents, and sexual embeds. The variables of nudity and sexual behavior were examined in a content analysis, and the variables of sexual attractiveness, sexual referents, and sexual embeds were examined in a qualitative analysis. Analysis of variance between …

Product Placement On Television: An Effective Means Of Breaking Through The Clutter?, Alyssa Gold

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Over the last few years product placement has become an important tool for advertisers trying to break through the clutter. This thesis investigates whether product placement on television is effective in reaching the college market.

Currently we live in a society in which people have learned to block out the hundreds of advertisements they are inundated with everyday. Product placement attempts to solve this problem by integrating products into various forms of entertainment, in which people can’t avoid the advertisement.

The main problem with the practice is that there is no standard industry method of measuring the value of a …

Modeling Interface Failure In Fiber-Composites, Andrew J. Craig

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Interface failure has been studied in depth for more than the past twenty years due to its significant impact on the application of composite materials. The objective of this work is to investigate the role of the interface in the mechanical response of fiber-matrix composite materials subjected to an applied load. To do this, a single composite cylinder consisting of a rigid core, the fiber, and an elastic annulus, the matrix, with an interface of vanishing thickness separating them, is considered as the first step in what will later be representative of a composite material. Three non-linear, Needleman-type, force-separation relations …

On Earth, Laura Mariposa Williams

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

When Junior year arrived, along with the opportunity to start a thesis project, Kristina Foley and I agreed that this was right opportunity for us to create a body of collaborative art works. From there we decided to present our final works at Spark Gallery. Our show, On Earth, is a collection of works in varying media. Overall, we have three videos, two narrative, photographic series, two mural photographs, a driftwood sculpture, felted pelts and photographic frames, a book of poetry and drawings held in knitted pouches, and a shadow cloth mural.

What does it mean to be working …

Characterization Of Cytokine Induction And Effects Of Antiviral Treatment In Four Murine Models Of Poxvirus Infection, Corinna W. Knorr

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Cytokine profiles during cowpox virus (CPV) strain Brighton and vaccinia virus (VV) strain Western Reserve infections were characterized in intranasal (i.n.) and intraperitoneal (i .p.) models in BALB/c mice. The time-course of induction and effects of cidofovir treatment on interferon (IFN)-γ, IFN-γ inducible protein (IP)-10, interleukin (IL)-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 were determined. The four models have distinct patterns of cytokine induction. CPV i.p. and VV i.n. infections showed increased induction throughout the time studied. CPV i.n. infection resulted in delayed induction of IFN-γ and IP-10. Cytokine levels were fairly constant during VV i.p. infections. Cidofovir treatment (100 mg/kg/day …

Teaching And Trading: Local Voices And Global Issues From Central Asia, Sarfaroz Niyozov, Duishon Shamatov

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Success Of Chestnut-Collared Longspurs In Native And Exotic Grassland, J. D. Lloyd, Thomas E. Martin

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Habitat loss and fragmentation have been identified as important factors in the decline of grassland bird populations. However, population declines are apparent even in prairie ecosystems that remain relatively intact suggesting that additional factors are involved. The degradation of breeding habitat may be one such factor, but few studies have examined habitat-specific demography of grassland birds, and thus little is known of how changes in breeding habitat may be related to population declines. We addressed this question by comparing reproductive success of Chestnut-collared Longspurs (Calcarius ornatus) in patches of native prairie and in monocultures of crested wheatgrass (Agropyron cristatum), a …

Policing L.A.'S Skid Row: Crime And Real Estate Development In Downtown Los Angeles [An Experiment In Real Time], Bernard E. Harcourt

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

A Regression Analysis Of Predictors On The Productivity Indices Of Major League Baseball: 1985 – 2003, Jeremy Daniel Stick

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This ex post facto nonexperimental constructive replication study revisited earlier work by Grusky (1961, 1963), Gamson and Scotch (1964), and Gordon and Becker (1964) on whether Major League Baseball (MLB) managerial succession reflected scapegoating behaviors. Also there was interest in learning if selected independent variables were predictive of a team’s won-loss record, termed the productivity index.

Nineteen-years of relevant data was collected from 26 of the 30 MLB teams. The four excluded were relatively new expansion teams. The dependent variable of team efficiency, a productivity index, was the won-loss records during the tenure of a specific manager with a given …

A Review Of Temporomandibular Disorder And An Analysis Of Mandibular Motion, Shawn Patrick Lehman-Grimes

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

This study quantified mandibular motion of asymptomatic subjects upon jaw opening and closing. Five males, mean age of 28 years, agreed to participate; they showed no sign or symptom of temporomandibular disorder (TMD) on clinical examination or by anamnestic history. Mandibular motion for each subject was measured with a tracking system and software utilizing the Screw Displacement Axis (SDA), which is a mathematical approach to analyzing and quantifying the movement of an object in three dimensions. Rotation and translation were calculated, as well as two- and three-dimensional charting of condylar path and sagittal condylar intercepts. Furthermore, analyses examined error propagation, …

Check It Out, Vol. Iii, No. 2, Spring 2006, Deb Ebster

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Qubit, May 2005

Qubit (Cuban science fiction magazine)

The May 2005 issue of the Qubit.