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2010 Spring Commencement Program: Winona State University, Winona State University

WSU Commencement Programs

This is the Winona State University Spring 2010 commencement program. Commencement was on Friday, May 7, 2010.

A Reactive Molecular Dynamics Simulation Of The Silica-Water Interface, Joseph C. Fogarty, Hasan Metin Aktulga, Ananth Y. Grama, Adri C. T. Van Duin, Sagar A. Pandit

PRISM: NNSA Center for Prediction of Reliability, Integrity and Survivability of Microsystems

We report our study of a silica-water interface using reactive molecular dynamics. This first-of-its-kind simulation achieves length and time scales required to investigate the detailed chemistry of the system. Our molecular dynamics approach is based on the ReaxFF force field of van Duin [J. Phys. Chem. A 107, 3803 (2003)]. The specific ReaxFF implementation (SERIALREAX) and force fields are first validated on structural properties of pure silica and water systems. Chemical reactions between reactive water and dangling bonds on a freshly cut silica surface are analyzed by studying changing chemical composition at the interface. In our simulations, reactions involving silanol …

A Case Study On Sibling Rivalry And The Use Of A Social Skills Training Model, Michelle Maiorano

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use social skills training on an individual child to enhance the relationship with her siblings. The social skills sessions focused on factors such warmth, rivalry, conflict and status/power between the two siblings. These were measured by the Sibling Rivalry Questionnaire which the mother filled out before the sessions began and after they were completed. The results did not find a major difference between the pre and post tests. Warmth increased slightly, rivalry decreased slightly, there was no difference in the amount of conflict, and there was a slight decrease in relative status/power from …

A Ditch By Any Other Name Is Still A Ditch: An Archaeological Assessment Of Ditch Earthworks On The Middle Missouri In The Dakotas, Albert M. Lebeau

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

A Ditch by any other Names is Still a Ditch: An Archaeological Assessment of Ditch Earthworks on the Middle Missouri of South Dakota Albert M. LeBeau III, M.A. University of Nebraska , 2010 Advisor: Peter Bleed Abstract: This thesis is an archaeological assessment of ditch earth works on the Middle Missouri sub-area in North and South Dakota. This master’s thesis considers previously publically published materials from fifteen archaeological sites along the northern tier of Missouri River in the Dakotas. The paper questions the use of the terms “fortified” and “fortification” when describing ditch earthworks that surround some Plains Village archaeological …

The Dunaliella Salina Organelle Genomes: Large Sequences, Inflated With Intronic And Intergenic Dna, David Roy Smith, Robert W. Lee, John C. Cushman, Jon K. Magnuson, Duc Tran, Jürgen Ew Polle

Publications and Research

Background Dunaliella salina Teodoresco, a unicellular, halophilic green alga belonging to the Chlorophyceae, is among the most industrially important microalgae. This is because D. salina can produce massive amounts of β-carotene, which can be collected for commercial purposes, and because of its potential as a feedstock for biofuels production. Although the biochemistry and physiology of D. salina have been studied in great detail, virtually nothing is known about the genomes it carries, especially those within its mitochondrion and plastid. This study presents the complete mitochondrial and plastid genome sequences of D. salina and compares them with those of the model …

Repeated And Time-Correlated Morphological Convergence In Cave-Dwelling Harvestmen (Opiliones, Laniatores) From Montane Western North America, Shahan Derkarabetian, David B. Steinmann, Marshal Hedin

KIP Articles

Many cave-dwelling animal species display similar morphologies (troglomorphism) that have evolved convergent within and among lineages under the similar selective pressures imposed by cave habitats. Here we study such ecomorphological evolution in cave-dwelling Sclerobuninae harvestmen (Opiliones) from the western United States, providing general insights into morphological homoplasy, rates of morphological change, and the temporal context of cave evolution.

V. 77, Issue 20, May 7, 2010

Archway (1946-2020)

No abstract provided.

University Of Nebraska At Omaha, May Commencement 2010, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

The Echo: May 7, 2010, Taylor University

2009-2010 (Volume 97)

Integrating faith, learning, creation and evolution – Cyclists blaze new trail – Red Barn provides safe haven for teens – Around the World in 30 Seconds – a note from your editors – Yo, Adrien! (And Alissa) – Get off my porch or I’ll call the cops on you – Missed connections – Summer movie preview – catching up with Tiger Cub – Peace out, nerds – Take it from them – Closing comments on community – Mailbox – Congratulations Senior Class of 2010! – Baseball gears up for playoffs – Club sports wrap up another season – track teams …

Volume Cxxvii, Number 22, May 7, 2010, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Caffeine On Delay Discounting In Humans, Andrew Dylan Markham

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

A behavioral form of impulsivity, delay discounting, has been used to examine the effects of drug consumption on individuals' abilities to delay gratification. However, delay discounting has not been used to examine one of the most commonly used drugs in the world, caffeine. Nor has delay discounting been used to examine the effects of drug influence on impulsivity. This study examined the influence of 200 mg caffeine on delay discounting in a collegiate sample. 15 participants underwent two experimental sessions: a caffeine condition and a placebo condition. Although participants were more impulsive under caffeine than under placebo, this trend was …

Adolescent Characteristics That Contribute To Family Conflict In Families With Adolescents With Adhd, Olivia Adelle Christensen

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Adolescents with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are at a heightened risk of parent/adolescent conflict. Families with adolescents with ADHD tend to experience frequent and intense family conflict which can be problematic to family cohesion. Existing treatments targeting family conflict are minimally effective. The current study explored adolescent characteristics hypothesized to predict family conflict in families with adolescents with ADHD. The relationship between parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of conflict was also investigated. In the current study there was not a relationship between parents’ and adolescents’ perceptions of family conflict indicating disagreement. Adolescents’ age and symptoms of depression predicted family conflict regardless …

Addressing Response Requirements And Behavioral Costs In Contingency Management For Smoking Cessation, Brantley Phillip Jarvis

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Despite the efficacy of contingency management (CM) in promoting smoking reduction and abstinence, major barriers continue to hinder its widespread dissemination and adoption. The present study addressed two of these barriers, inefficient response requirements and high behavioral costs, by evaluating a novel payment schedule implemented within a workplace setting. Nine university staff were enrolled in a 6-week ABAB study design. During baseline weeks, participants earned money contingent on session attendance. During CM weeks, participants earned money contingent on smoking reduction or abstention payment arrangements, which were available concurrently. Abstention payments increased in magnitude across treatment weeks whereas reduction payments decreased. …

Using An Adjusting Amount Procedure To Investigate Impulsivity In Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats (Shr), Phillip Andrew Halsey

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

This experiment compared impulsivity in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs), a putative animal model of Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), with two control strains. One definition of impulsive behavior that appears in the literature is preference for smaller sooner (SS) reinforcers over larger later (LL) reinforcers when both are concurrently available in the context of discrete trial choice procedures. Adopting that definition, the current experiment used an adjusting amount procedure to measure changes in the subjective value of delayed reinforcers. The LL reinforcers varied across 5 conditions (5 pellets, each evaluated at 5 delays: 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32-s). From the …

An Overview Of Jewish Beliefs And Traditions For Counselors, Emily Fairchild

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

An Overview of Jewish Beliefs and Traditions for Counselors by Emily Fairchild.

Best Practices For The Treatment And Management Of Schizophrenia, Kimberly Ann Davis

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

Masters-level counseling psychology programs strive to build a solid foundation of core competencies in students but do not typically emphasize treatment strategies for the chronically mentally ill or psychopharmacology. This paper is intended as a resource for counselors who serve clients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders. It discusses some of the most widely-supported evidence-based individual and family psychosocial interventions

An Overview And Introduction: Neuroscience For Counselors, Kirk Damond Saunders

Educational Specialist, 2009-2019

This project is literary review of current neuroscience research that can document the impact of counseling. Neuroscience is providing support for the counseling process. The research findings of neural plasticity offer promising support for the therapeutic process. While counseling offers a new environment in which a person can re-learn, neural plasticity proves that at the neural network level these possibilities are now a reality. Counseling does, in fact, help change the brain.

Security Analysis Of A Fingerprint-Secured Usb Drive, Benjamin David Rodes

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

In response to user demands for mobile data security and maximum ease of use, fingerprint-secured mobile storage devices have been increasingly available for purchase. A fingerprint-secured Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive looks like a regular USB drive, except that it has an integrated optical scanner. When a fingerprint-secured USB drive is plugged into a computer running Windows, a program on this drive will run automatically to ask for fingerprint authentication. (When the program runs the very first time, it will ask for fingerprint enrollment). After a successful fingerprint authentication, a new private drive (for example, drive G:) will appear and …

System Dynamics Of Diabetes In The Presence Of Social Determinants, Victoria Akins

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Diabetes is a chronic and persistent disease that is on the rise in the U.S. in spite of medical advances and current public health efforts to address it. There is a relationship between socioeconomic factors such as poverty and education and the risk of developing diabetes and the progression of the disease. A systems approach is employed to develop a dynamic hypothesis with a stock and flow model will uncover and analyze these relationships to gain a better understanding of the socioeconomic dynamics of diabetes. Social factors have a significant impact on health outcomes and their consideration is essential to …

Simulating Business Team Assembly With Network Models, Kevin Zdancewicz

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Many business organizations utilize team structures as a way to organize their personnel and integrate the diverse backgrounds and competencies of their employees. As a result, team assembly strategies are important to an organization’s productivity and should be evaluated by managers. This thesis utilizes network modeling and simulation to explore and assess various team assembly strategies that incorporate the concept that some people energize their teammates, whereas others de-energize them. Research in this area of energy networks studies the impact that energizing and de-energizing employees have on the performance of their co-workers and, as a result, the success of business …

Hydrogen Production By The Unicellular Diazotrophic Cyanobacterium Cyanothece Atcc Sp. Strain 51142 Under Continuous Light., Hongtao Min, Louis A. Sherman

Department of Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We report on the hydrogen production properties of the unicellular, diazotrophic cyanobacterium Cyanothece sp. strain ATCC 51142. This organism has a versatile metabolism and can grow in the presence or absence of combined nitrogen and can grow photosynthetically or mixotrophically and heterotrophically in the presence of glycerol. The strain produces a bidirectional hydrogenase (encoded by the hox genes), an uptake hydrogenase (hupLS), and nitrogenase (nifHDK). We demonstrated hydrogen production by both the hydrogenase and the nitrogenase under appropriate metabolic conditions. The highest rates of hydrogen production were produced under nitrogen-fixing conditions when cells were grown and …

Mutant Huntingtin Fragments Form Oligomers In A Polyglutamine Length-Dependent Manner In Vitro And In Vivo, Justin Legleiter, Emily M. Sontag, Gregor P. Lotz, Ellen Sapp, Cheping Ng, Marian Difiglia, Leslie M. Thompson, Paul J. Muchowski

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Huntington disease (HD) is caused by an expansion of more than 35–40 polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats in the huntingtin (htt) protein, resulting in accumulation of inclusion bodies containing fibrillar deposits of mutant htt fragments. Intriguingly, polyQ length is directly proportional to the propensity for htt to form fibrils and the severity of HD and is inversely correlated with age of onset. Although the structural basis for htt toxicity is unclear, the formation, abundance, and/or persistence of toxic conformers mediating neuronal dysfunction and degeneration in HD must also depend on polyQ length. Here we used atomic force microscopy to demonstrate mutant htt …

Natural Competence In Thermoanaerobacter And Thermoanaerobacterium Species, A Joe Shaw, David A. Hogsett, Lee R. Lynd

Dartmouth Scholarship

Low-G+C thermophilic obligate anaerobes in the class Clostridia are considered among the bacteria most resistant to genetic engineering due to the difficulty of introducing foreign DNA, thus limiting the ability to study and exploit their native hydrolytic and fermentative capabilities. Here, we report evidence of natural genetic competence in 13 Thermoanaerobacter and Thermoanaerobacterium strains previously believed to be difficult to transform or genetically recalcitrant.

In Thermoanaerobacterium saccharolyticum JW/SL-YS485, natural competence- mediated DNA incorporation occurs during the exponential growth phase with both replicating plasmid and homologous recombination-based integration, and circular or linear DNA. In T. saccharolyticum, disruptions of genes similar to …

African American Children Living In Urban Environments: An Investigation Of Early Literacy And The Influence Of Psychological Strengths And Family Support, Pia Stanard

Theses and Dissertations

Literacy is a basic fundamental skill for academic, professional, and social success in our culture. Children with low exposure to reading can experience reading difficulties, diminished cognitive development, and poor academic outcomes. Inconsistency in the conceptualization of early literacy has hampered research and development of successful, translational early literacy interventions, particularly for children from low-income households. Preschoolers from low-income, urban backgrounds (n = 426), including 221 females and 205 males aged 35 - 60 months (M = 47.46, SD = 6.44) participated in an investigation of the latent factorial structure of early literacy. The study also explored whether children’s psychological …

The Association Between Prenatal Care Content And Quality With Preterm Birth And Maternal Postpartum Health Behaviors, Susan Cha

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Health policies that seek to improve pregnancy outcomes focus on increasing the availability and access to prenatal care (PNC) services based on studies that support an association between insufficient PNC and adverse birth outcomes. These studies employ PNC utilization indices that measure the adequacy of PNC use, but these indices fail to account for the content or specific components of PNC. Objectives: The purpose of this study was to utilize PRAMS and birth certificate data to evaluate the content and quality of PNC in Virginia, and its impact on preterm birth and maternal postpartum health behaviors. Methods: Data was …

A Computational Biology Approach To The Analysis Of Complex Physiology: Coagulation, Fibrinolysis, And Wound Healing, Nathan Menke

Theses and Dissertations

The birth of complexity research derives from the logical progression of advancement in the scientific field afforded by reductionist theory. We present in silico models of two complex physiological processes, wound healing and coagulation/fibrinolysis based on two common tools in the study of complex physiology: ordinary differential equations (ODE) and Agent Based Modeling (ABM). The strengths of these two approaches are well-suited in the analysis of clinical paradigms such as wound healing and coagulation. The complex interactions that characterize acute wound healing have stymied the development of effective therapeutic modalities. The use of computational models holds the promise to improve …

Is Food Insecurity A Contributing Factor To Childhood Obesity? The Association Of Household Food Insecurity And Obesity Prevalence Among Children And Adolescents In The United States, Zarah Liz Panaguiton

Theses and Dissertations

The obesity epidemic is a major public health concern, where the prevalence rates amongst the American children population have more than doubled since the 1980s. Among overweight children, the risk of becoming an overweight or obese adult is 70% higher than children of normal weight, and obese children are more likely to remain obese into adulthood and face a number of morbidities associated with it, including lower quality of life and increased financial burden. In this research, we examined the relationship between household food security and obesity among children and adolescents between the ages of 2-18 years old. We used …

Endodontic Education And Educators: Who Is Teaching Our Predoctoral Students And What Methods Are Being Taught?, Ellison Turner

Theses and Dissertations

A survey was conducted to assess the current state of predoctoral endodontic education in the United States. Fifty-one schools received surveys and 73% responded. Seventy-six percent were from public schools with most having a graduate endodontic program (84%). Preclinical training most often began in the spring of second year and clinical training started in the fall of third year (each 54%). All programs that responded stated that endodontists routinely instruct students in the clinic. Sodium hypochlorite 2.5% was the irrigation of choice. Calcium hydroxide was the most common intracanal medicament. Cold lateral condensation with gutta-percha was the most frequently indicated …

Biobehavioral Mechanisms Of Emotion And Hiv Disease: Exploring Potential Mediators Of The Relation Between Trait Positive And Negative Affect And Hiv Health Status, Karen Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Considerable research supports an association between negative psychosocial functioning and adverse health outcomes. The biobehavioral model is well supported and posits that these effects occur via alterations in physiological response and health damaging behaviors. Evidence is accumulating about potential benefits of positive psychosocial functioning; however, less is known about the mechanisms of these effects. The broaden-and-build model of positive emotions holds that positive emotions can undo the physiological and behavioral restrictions associated with negative emotions and promote resource development. The present correlational study sought to explore whether cortisol, medication adherence, and health behaviors (smoking, alcohol use, physical activity, and nutrition) …

Spinal Cord Injury: Exploring The Histology Of Electrospun Implants In Vivo, Charles Lin

Theses and Dissertations

Spinal cord injury results in loss of motor function and sensory perception. A myriad of obstacles prevent axonal regeneration and ultimately functional recovery in those afflicted with spinal cord injury. Combinatorial strategies addressing many of these obstacles simultaneously have shown promising results. Laboratories investigating contusional spinal cord injuries must overcome the formation of a fluid filled cyst, a physical gap that axons must traverse, at the injury epicenter. To fill the cyst, our lab has generated a 3-D electrospun matrix that is capable of directing neurite outgrowth, delivering neurotrophic support, and reducing the activity of neuroinhibitory compounds. These electrospun matrices …