Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Environmental Health Disparities Of Roma Populations In Romania, Jennifer L. Hall

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The Roma are the largest and most marginalized minority group of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) with the highest number residing in Romania. Their problems and struggles are multi-faceted and deeply rooted in a long history of discrimination and stigmatization. Over the years, many strategies have been developed and implemented across CEE, yet very few studies have addressed their environmental and occupational health issues. Moreover, because the vast majority of these studies have employed quantitative methodology, they have had the unfortunate effect of dehumanizing and devaluing the Roma people through scientific reductionism.

The purpose of this study was to gain …

Motivation Factors As Indicators Of Academic Achievement: A Comparative Study Of Student-Athletes And Non-Athletes Academic And Social Motivation, Jonell Pedescleaux

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

The purpose of this study was to investigate non-cognitive motivational factors as indicators of academic achievement of male athletes and male non-athletes as measured by a secondary data analysis of the College Student Inventory (CSI) from Fall 2003 to Fall 2005. Deci and Ryan's (2000) self-determination theory provided the conceptual framework for this study.

The CSI was administered through a survey technique. Participants in the survey sample were selected from 142 first semester freshman male athletes and male non-athletes enrolled at a Midwestern University.

The data gathered from the CSI provided information on non-cognitive variables of academic and social motivation …

Molecular Effects Of Metolachlor Exposure On Human Cells, Sean Hartnett

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Metolachlor is one of the most commonly used herbicides in the United States of America. Numerous studies have shown that exposure to this herbicide results in decreased cell proliferation, growth and reproductive ability in different organisms. However, pervious studies used high concentrations of metolachlor to see molecular effects. In the study presented here, we investigated the effects of metolachlor on human cells. Previous cell proliferation analysis from our laboratory has shown that metolachlor is capable of significantly inhibiting the growth of normal human fibroblasts and HepG2 cells at 1.6 parts per billion (ppb) and 50 ppb. We assessed cellular effects …

Locating Henry In The “Un-”: Proto-Postmodern Negation Of Character, Allusion, Narrative And Structure In John Berryman’S The Dream Songs, Joseph Russell Hendryx

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

John Berryman's The Dream Songs encompasses an extensive and complex negation of characterization and structure, offering a method of interpretation that focuses on the negations and the absences expressed in and presented by the song cycle. Through his nonlinear account of his life and through the historical and literary allusions he uses to express himself, Henry obscures any effort for readers to discover a stable, absolute identity. Like Henry himself, his unnamed companion unsuccessfully fulfills a variety of roles that critics have attempted to prescribe for him; he fails to perform any notable thematic or structural purpose for the poem, …

Improving The Instruction And Learning Of Topographic Maps Through The Use Of Geospatial Technologies, Troy Dean Schwemm

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Geographic information technologies (GIT) are spatially based technologies that include geographic information systems (GIS), remote sensing, and global positioning systems (GPS). Though GIT has been used in society for decades, and has grown tremendously in the last 10 years as advancements in technology have become available, its inclusion into the K-12 curriculum has not kept pace. As the educational reform movement places an ever increasing amount of pressure on schools to produce technologically literate, workforce ready graduates, school districts are scrambling to find creative, innovative ways to accomplish this task. Rather than learning passively, GIT allows students to construct their …

The Relationship Between Aggression And Measures Of Neuroticism And Agreeableness In College Students, Ashley Alexandra Buol

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Past studies on aggression have typically focused on physical aggression (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). Recently, however, researchers have started to look at a subtle form of aggression known as relational aggression (Crick & Grotpeter, 1995). There have also been few studies that have focused on perceptions of aggression, as well as the personality traits that may be associated with these perceptions. Thus, the current study was designed to explore the relationship between personality characteristics, specifically agreeableness and neuroticism, and perceptions of aggression. The relationship between the levels of aggression and perceptions of aggression was also examined. Four questionnaires were utilized …

Race, Colonialism, Gender And The Rwandan Genocide, Jessica Patrice Braccio

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

In 1994 Rwanda erupted in a genocide, which targeted primarily the Tutsi and any of their sympathizers. At the end of the conflict an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were dead and some Hutu offenders still face prosecution today. Proponents of the genocide justified their violence by asserting that the Tutsi had privileged lot in life, compared with the Hutu. These ideas can be seen as a reaction against ideas of Tutsi racial superiority over the Hutu which originated in European, specifically German and Belgian, colonial thought about race and gender. Even though very little is known about Rwanda prior to European …

Identification Of Virulence Genes In The Corn Pathogen Fusarium Verticillioides, Divya Chouhan

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Fusarium verticillioides is a pathogenic fungus that causes infection of crops and vegetables such as corn, wheat, potato, cassava, banana, potato and sorghum. It causes various diseases in corn such as seedling blight, root, stalk, and ear rot. Pathogenic Fusarium species have caused billions of dollars of damage through reduced yield. F.verticillioides also produces mycotoxins such as fumonisin. Consumption of contaminated grain can cause various diseases in animals such as pulmonary oedema in pigs and leukoencephalomalacia in horses, and may be associated with esophageal cancer in humans. Identification of virulence genes in F. verticillioides will help in understanding its biology …

Federal Lands In The Twenty-First Century, John D. Leshy

Faculty Scholarship

A destabilized climate will change everything, including federal lands policies. The nation's large federal land base will be enlisted both in "avoiding the unmanageable"-helping control or mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions that contribute to a destabilized climate-and "managing the unavoidable"-helping adapt to climate instability that cannot be avoided. Green industry requests for access to federal lands to help control GHGs can pose challenging policy issues, such as how much to encourage the use of federal lands to control GHGs at the expense of other goals. Adapting to a destabilized climate will be even more challenging, requiring considerable investment of public …

First Report Of Viral Pathogens Wssv And Ihhnv In Argentine Crustaceans, Sergio R. Martorelli, Robin M. Overstreet, Jean A. Jovonovich

Faculty Publications

The pathogenic penaeid shrimp viruses white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and infectious hypodermal and hematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) are reported for the first time from Argentina. They both occurred in wild crustaceans in Bahia Blanca Estuary, with WSSV detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or real time quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods as infecting samples as high as 56% of the penaeid Artemesia longinaris Bate, 1888, 67% of the grapsoid Cyrtograpsus angulatus Dana, 1851, and 40% of the introduced palaemonid Palaemon macrodactylus Rathbun, 1902. The highest detected copy number was 39,600 copies/mu g DNA. IHHNV was tested for using PCR in …