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Differences In Nitrate Uptakeamong Benthic Algal Assemblages In A Mountain Stream, Michelle A. Baker, G. De Guzman

Biology Faculty Publications

We evaluated how benthic algal assemblages that vary in composition, richness, and other diversity metrics remove NO 3 -N from the water column of a mountain stream. Ecological theory and empirical studies suggest that ecosystem process rates should increase as richness increases because of niche separation or activity of dominant taxa. Accordingly, we predicted that algal assemblages with highest richness would show the highest rates of NO 3 -N uptake. To test this prediction, we transplanted 225 rocks representing 3 patch types (green, yellow, and brown) that differed macroscopically in algal composition from a lake outflow stream to a lake …

Selective Herbivory By The Woodrat (Neotoma Lepida) On Joshua Trees (Yucca Brevifolia), M P. Stanford, Nancy J. Huntly

Biology Faculty Publications

We studied herbivory by the desert woodrat (Neotoma lepida) on Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) in the Mojave Desert to determine whether N. lepida fed selectively based on leaf nitrogen content. We measured leaf nitrogen content and the location and amount of herbivory by woodrats on Y. brevifolia trees in southwestern Utah, USA. Neotoma lepida removed the outer tips of leaves (1/3 to 2/3 of total leaf length) but left leaf bases, which had lower nitrogen content, uneaten. Herbivory by N. lepida also was concentrated on rosettes that were oriented south, and these had significantly higher nitrogen content than rosettes that …

The Effects Of A Discourse Community Model On Promoting Intentional Conceptual Change To Increase Understanding Of School Climate And Its Importance, David Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Framed within intentional conceptual change theory, this study looked at the effects of a discourse community model on promoting intentional conceptual change to increase understanding of school climate and its importance. A highly-motivated group of 11 teachers from one elementary school participated in this discourse community designed to promote an intentional conceptual change regarding school climate. Initial interviews, artifact collection, and journal responses were the methods of data collection. Within the discourse community setting, the teachers interacted with a series of activities and discussions to construct new knowledge pertaining to school climate. Themes and patterns of climate understanding emerged and …

New Conceptual Understanding Of Lewis Acidity, Coordinate Covalent Bonding, And Catalysis, Joshua A. Plumley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this dissertation is to correct misconceptions about Lewis acidity, uncover the physical nature of the coordinate covalent bond, and discusses how Lewis acid catalysts influence the rate enhancement of the Diels-Alder reaction. Large-scale quantum computations have been employed to explore many of Lewis' original ideas concerning valency and acid/base behavior. An efficient and practical level of theory able to model Lewis acid adducts accurately was determined by systematic comparison of computed coordinate covalent bond lengths and binding enthalpies of ammonia borane and methyl substituted ammonia trimethylboranes with high-resolution gas-phase experimental work. Of all the levels of theory …

Culture Care Beliefs, Meanings And Practices Related To Health And Well-Being Of South Sudanese "Lost Boy And Lost Girl" Refugees, Margaret Bowles

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this ethnonursing study was to describe, analyze and interpret the culture care beliefs, meanings and practices related to health and well-being of South Sudanese "Lost Boy and Lost Girls" following resettlement in the United States. Leininger's theory of culture care diversity and universality and the ethnonursing method provided the organizing framework for studying the domain of inquiry. Interviews were conducted with nineteen general informants and ten key informants, all who lived in the Midwest United States. Extensive analysis of digitally recorded interviews together with the researcher's participant observations and field notes revealed nine data categories and five …

The Reader Of Milton's "Higher Argument" In Paradise Lost, Patricia A. Callahan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Milton has a literary place within the Christian understanding of grace, entangles his reader into Paradise Lost, and embeds a "higher Argument" of an economics of salvation of grace within the text which thus forms a transcendent reader who responds by a choice for the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of mammon. Paradise Lost as a tertiary stage in epic development maintains a grand style, but modern critics have problems with Milton's God. Autobiographical elements in The Reason of Church-Government indicate Milton's sense of a divine calling in poetry, but Professors Grierson and Tillyard disagree regarding Milton's prophetic powers …

Classification Tree Models For Predicting Cancer Status, Pu Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Early detection of cancers might improve the clinical outcomes. Multiple biomarkers with a novel LabMAP technology were used as the laboratory method to develop the diagnostic assay for ovarian, breast, endometrial, and lung cancer. To evaluate the accuracy of early stage detection, logistic regression (with forward selection) and classification tree models were applied as statistical methods. Furthermore, complexity parameters and the number of bootstrap samples were varied to assess the effect on sensitivity and specificity. The receiver operating characteristic curves reflected high sensitivities and specificities.

Zinc-Mediated Dimerization Of Proteins Through A -Cxcxxxxcxc- Sequence, Tyler Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dimerization of cellular proteins has become an intense field of study due to its importance in signal transduction and gene expression, amongst many other functions. Arguably the most intriguing quality regarding dimerization is the high incidence of simultaneous dimeric events occurring within the cell, where each constructed dimer individually controls a single pathway with high specificity. Additionally, the discoveries of new motifs possessing this seemingly common functionality participate in truly unique and often poorly understood mechanisms. CopY, a metal-responsive bacterial repressor from Enterococcus hirae possesses distinctive dimerization properties. We show that this cysteine metal-binding motif, which contains a metal-reactive C-terminal …

Cash Businesses And Tax Evasion, Susan C. Morse, Stewart Karlinsky, Joseph Bankman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Discerning Redeeming Communities: Rita Nakashima Brock And Elizabeth A. Johnson In Dialogue, Alison Downie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rita Nakashima Brock's Journeys by Heart: A Christology of Erotic Power and Elizabeth A. Johnson's Friends of God and Prophets: A Feminist Theological Reading of the Communion of Saints offer resources for reflecting upon what redemptive community is, how it functions, and how women, in particular, experience redemption.

With deep roots in Trinitarian creation theology and a strong trunk of feminist theological anthropology, the branches of Christian feminist reconstructionist theology produce rich soteriological fruits. Without rootedness in creation theology, theological anthropology is anthropocentric, not sufficiently holistic or ecologically aware. Similarly, without development of a feminist theological anthropology, soteriology inevitably reflects …

Principles For Developing Inculturated Theology In The Diverse African Context: Steps Beyond Traditional Heritages, Jane Catherine Hagaba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation critically examines the foundational significance of Christ for contextual theologies in the African Catholic Church. It begins with a presentation of Benezet Bujo's approach and contextual methodology. As a critical study, this dissertation is premised on the principle that the object of Christianity is the transformation of peoples and their societies. Therefore, the study examines the ways in which African societies founded on an immutable principle of blood kinship can open to the Christian faith and to the globalizing world today. The dissertation grapples with this issue to unravel the weaknesses and limitations of African theologies of inculturation. …

Taking Species Abundance Distributions Beyond Individuals, H. Morlon, Ethan P. White, R. S. Etienne, J. L. Green, A. Ostling, D. Alonso, B. J. Enquist, F. He, A. H. Hurlbert, A. E. Magurran, B. A. Maurer, B. J. Mcgill, H. Olff, D. Storch, T. Zillio

Biology Faculty Publications

The species abundance distribution is one of the few “universal” patterns in ecology. Research on this fundamental distribution has been focused to the study of numerical counts, irrespective of the traits of individuals. Here we show that considering a set of Generalized Species Abundance Distributions (GSADs) that encompass several abundance measures, specifically numerical abundance, biomass and resource use can provide novel insights into organizational forces at play in ecological communities. We first leverage a comprehensive dataset to investigate the similarity and difference between GSADs. We then use classical probability theory and allometric scaling laws to explore theoretical linkages among GSADs …

From Forfeited Agency To Communities Of Hope: Reinventing Ethos Through Narratives Of Remembering And Forgetting, Linda Janus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

If an offender's credibility is the first and last victim of an offense, by what communication processes may credibility be recovered by the offender, and with what responsibility from the victim to the process? What responsibilities do other stakeholders have to the offender in defense of the common narrative? Based on phenomenological reflection for stakeholder ethics that requires a quadraic dialogue framed in the topics of harms and rights, but also the reluctant testimony of benefits and responsibilities credited to the offense, each stakeholder in the event becomes culpable to it, responsibility not necessarily for the prologue to violence, but …

Human Development As Integral Development: The Social Teaching Of The Church In An African Context, Joseph Kariuki Kamau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has been commonly held that the main cause of underdevelopment is the lack of capital. This dissertation is based on the observation that underdevelopment still persists in Kenya despite billions of dollars in foreign aid from Western Europe and North America. The main focus of this dissertation is an attempt to understand an effective remedial action to such an economic situation of underdevelopment. The dissertation seeks to find the remedy for underdevelopment by the methodological means of demonstrating how a holistic understanding of human development entails integral development in Kenya.

The thesis and the overview of this dissertation are …

Ecology Of Neotropical Arboreal Snakes And Behavior Of New World Mollusk-Eating Snakes, Julie M. Ray

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The Neotropics is a biologically diverse region that provides man opportunities for ecological and behavioral studies. I utilized the speciose ophidian fauna of central Panama to explore the general ecology of arboreal snakes, the defensive behaviors of the snake community, and the diet of mollusk-eating snakes. I studied arboreal species to understand interspecilic relationships in several morphometric characters and to examine preferences in habitat. There were significant morphometric differences in relative length of jaw, mass, tail length, and size at midbody. The arboreal realm was partitioned among species by distance to ground, distance to water, and diameter of the perch. …

Wireless Personal Area Network-Based Assistance For The Visually Impaired, Kurt Matthew Peters

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

In this dissertation, a system allowing a visually impaired person to interact with his environment is developed using modern, low-power wireless communications techniques. With recent advances in wireless sensor networks, open-source operating systems, and embedded processing technology, low-cost devices have become practically feasible as a personal notification system for impaired people. Additionally, text-to-speech capabilities can now be employed without special application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), allowing low-cost, general-purpose processors to fill a niche that once required expensive semiconductors.

The system takes advantage of 802.15.4 and media access control (MAC) protocols offered by the open source operating system TinyOS. Important characteristics …

Identitarian Anxieties And The Nature Of Inter-Tribunal Deliberations, Adeno Addis, Jonathan Remy Nash

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Article attempts to do two things. First, it seeks to specify how inter- tribunal dialogues actually occur. Second, it explores whether dialogues or deliberations should properly raise identitarian anxieties. The Article concludes that identitarian anxieties are premised on faulty assumptions about how identities-communal or national-emerge. The Article further suggests that inter-tribunal dialogues might be a better way to understand the evolving identity of the nation-state which continues to occur in the context of a still-evolving international public space. One will not understand the nature of national identities if one does not fully understand the nature of international public space …

International Common Law: The Soft Law Of International Tribunals, Andrew T. Guzman, Timothy L. Meyer

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Article proceeds in four parts, including this introduction. Section II defines what we mean by soft law and lays out a theory explaining why states would choose to delegate to international tribunals the ability to make soft law. Section III explores the theory in the context of the UN Human Rights Committee. The Committee, whose jurisdiction is controlled by an Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR"), lacks the power to issue binding rulings interpreting states' obligations under the ICCPR. Its rulings interpreting the binding obligations contained in the ICCPR are thus a form …

Lorentz Violation And Alpha-Decay, Brett David Altschul

Faculty Publications

Relating the effective Lorentz violation coefficients for composite particles to the coefficients for their constituent fields is a challenging problem. We calculate the Lorentz violation coefficients relevant to the dynamics of an α particle in terms of proton and neutron coefficients. The α-particle coefficients would lead to anisotropies in the α decays of nuclei, and because the decay process involves quantum tunneling, the effects of any Lorentz violations could be exponentially enhanced.

Abatteuses Forestières : Dispositif Et Circuits De Commande Relatifs À La Sécurité, Laurent Giraud, Yuvin Chinniah, Damien Burlet-Vienney, Joseph-Jean Paques, Marina Koutchouk, Renaud Daigle

Rapports de recherche scientifique

Les abatteuses forestières sont des engins tout-terrains conçus pour évoluer en forêt, qui servent de véhicule moteur pour déplacer une tête d’abattage.

L’utilisation d’abatteuses avec une tête d’abattage multifonctionnelle s’est largement répandue au Québec ces dernières années pour deux raisons :

• Cette méthode d’abattage réduit la machinerie car une seule machine tronçonne et façonne les arbres en billots, là où il en fallait plusieurs avec les anciennes méthodes;
• La méthode d’abattage abîme moins le sol de la forêt car le façonnage des arbres se fait sur place et crée ainsi un tapis végétal.

L’IRSST a lancé une série d’études sur …

Applying Mechanistic Understanding Of Optical Absorption And Scattering Phenomena To Enhance The Spectroscopic Analyses Of Pharmaceutical Materials, Zhenqi Shi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation uses spatially-resolved spectroscopy to separate absorption and scattering behaviors when NIR light interacts with pharmaceutical materials. The separated absorption and scattering were utilized to enhance mechanistic understanding of NIR diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and improve practical spectroscopic analysis in pharmaceutical applications.

Near-Infrared (NIR) chemical imaging based spatially-resolved spectroscopy was used to measure radially-diffused reflectance on pharmaceutical materials. A Monte Carlo simulation based partial least square (PLS) model was constructed to determine the absorption and reduced scattering coefficients in pharmaceutical samples from the measured radially-diffused reflectance.

The separated absorption and reduced scattering coefficients were combined with Monte Carlo simulation to …

A No Free Lunch Result For Optimization And Its Implications, Marisa Smith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The No Free Lunch (NFL) theorems for optimization tell us that when averaged over all possible optimization problems the performance of any two optimization algorithms is statistically identical. This seems to imply that there are no "general-purpose" optimization algorithms. That is, the NFL theorems show that, mathematically, any superior performance of an optimization algorithm on one set of problems is offset by inferior performance of that algorithm on the set of all other problems. In this thesis we consider the seemingly negative implications of the NFL theorems. We first extend a previous NFL theorem to get a new NFL result. …

An Examination Of The Factors Underlying The Motivation And Learning Strategies Of Generation 1.5 Korean American Students, Rosa Cho Stoffa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Comprehensive research into student learning has established that the effective use of learning strategies will enable students to take responsibility for their own learning, enhance their motivation in the learning process, and improve their academic success (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2001). However, little research has investigated the learning strategies used by immigrant students and how these strategies relate to academic excellence. While survey instruments currently exist for assessing these constructs in the general population, the construct validity of theses scales has yet to be examined within immigrant populations.

The subjects who participated in this study were randomly selected from the Korean …

A Submaximal Test To Assess Back Muscle Capacity: Evaluation Of Construct Validity, Christian Larivière, Denis Gravel, Phillip Gardiner, A. Bertrand Arsenault, Denis Gagnon, Patrick Loisel

Études primaires

No abstract provided.

Efficacy Of A Behavioral Intervention To Decrease Medication Transcription Errors Among Professional Nurses, Kathleen Ann Becker

Dissertations (1934 -)

The purpose of this study, guided by Donabedian's structure-process-outcome model, was to evaluate if a cognitive-behavioral education intervention would decrease medication transcription errors among professional nurses when admitting patients 65 years of age or older on 5 or more prescribed medications to a hospital. The conceptual framework for this study is derived from Donabedian's structure-process-outcome health model. The premise suggests improving the structure or process of a system can improve health outcomes. My intervention (cognitive behavioral education), specifically influences the process of medication history obtainment which improved medication error score. In this study, a randomized intervention design was used where …

Depression Among The Oneida: Case Studies Of The Interface Between Modern And Traditional, Mark R. Powless

Dissertations (1934 -)

Depression, defined by a EuroAmerican biomedical diagnostic criterion, using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fourth Edition, Text Revision is prevalent among First Nations peoples. However, some studies suggest that the term depression may hold little heuristic value outside of its EuroAmerican conceptualization. This study utilized qualitative methods to understand how depressive symptoms are conceptualized and experienced by traditional Oneida people. A vignette was presented and in-depth interviews of seven traditional healers, culture and Oneida language experts were conducted to: (1) gain a basic understanding of traditional views of mental health, (2) acquire multiple conceptualizations of someone who presents …

"Ordinary Talents And Extraordinary Perseverance": The Life Of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, David Bruce

Dissertations (1934 -)

Born into a gentry family with roots in the Society of Friends, the evangelical social conscience of Thomas Fowell Buxton (1786-1845) was developed as he operated a brewery in Spitalfields, perhaps London's poorest parish. He was instrumental in raising funds for poor relief and establishing soup and bread kitchens there during the winter of 1816-1817. His interest and research on penal discipline brought him national prominence and led to a parliamentary seat which he held for nearly two decades. Buxton's association with noted activist William Wilberforce (1759-1833) led to his own involvement in the anti-slavery movement, a cause he fiercely …

Is A School Based Educational Program Effective In Changing Knowledge Regarding The Prevention Of Shaken Baby Syndrome?, Margaret Kay Stelzel

Dissertations (1934 -)

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) involves physiological and neuropsychological sequelae secondary to parental or caregiver handling of an infant or young child (Goldberg & Goldberg, 2002). According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (APA) (2001), non-accidental head injuries are the leading cause of traumatic death and cause of child abuse fatalities. The prognosis is extremely poor with a death rate of 26-36% and up to 78% of the survivors suffer long-term disability (Barlow & Minns, 2000). According to Prevent Violence Against Children Act, 2005 Wisconsin Act 165; SECTION 7.121.02(1)(L)6 educational SBS requirements are mandated, effective school year 2007-2008. Two instrument development …

An Exploration Of The Impact Of An Online Mba Course On Intercultural Sensitivity Development, Suzanne Scaffidi Warell

Dissertations (1934 -)

While research on online MBA courses is growing rapidly, teaching specific skills using online delivery formats is a relatively new stream of research in graduate business education. In this study, adult learning methods such as experiential activities, discussion, teamwork, and action learning were used in a seven-week online MBA course to explore in what ways intercultural sensitivity could be developed. A two-trial, pretest-posttest research mixed methods design was implemented in the summers of 2004 and 2005 at a Midwestern Jesuit university.

Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered and analyzed from thirty-eight participants (N=38). First, quantitative analysis of pretest-posttest scores from …

Beyond Stewardship: Toward An Agapeic Environmental Ethic, Christopher J. Vena

Dissertations (1934 -)

This dissertation is a work in theological anthropology and environmental philosophy. It seeks to provide a conceptual framework for a Christian environmental ethic rooted in love.

The heart of the crisis of ecological degradation is found in human attitudes and behaviors. In the late 1960's it was suggested that Christianity was a key source of the problem because it promoted the idea of human "dominion" over creation. This spurred a variety of responses designed to show that Christian faith was compatible with environmental care. A key theme emerging from this debate was the image of humans as Stewards of God's …