Digital Commons Network^™

Do Facework Behaviors Matter During Conflicts Among Online Discussion Team Members?, Jesus Herman Canelon

CGU Theses & Dissertations

According to researchers, face is an important possession carried by individuals into interactions with others. Face has been studied in diverse areas such as: politeness, compliance gaining, emotional discourse, negotiations, face-negotiation theory, and conflict. Perhaps because of its value, face can be vulnerable during conflict situations. Facework behaviors are the communicative strategies that people use during conflicts to protect face (theirs or others), threaten others' face, and to avoid or resolve conflicts. So far, studies about facework behaviors have focused on face-to-face interactions. Preliminary studies have shown: a. facework behaviors may affect the outcomes of online discussion teams, b. sex …

Climate-Mediated Nitrogen And Carbon Dynamics In A Tropical Watershed, Ashley P. Ballantyne, P. A. Baker, S. C. Fritz, B. Poulter

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

Climate variability affects the capacity of the biosphere to assimilate and store important elements, such as nitrogen and carbon. Here we present biogeochemical evidence from the sediments of tropical Lake Titicaca indicating that large hydrologic changes in response to global glacial cycles during the Quaternary were accompanied by major shifts in ecosystem state. During prolonged glacial intervals, lake level was high and the lake was in a stable nitrogen-limited state. In contrast, during warm dry interglacials lake level fell and rates of nitrogen concentrations increased by a factor of 4–12, resulting in a fivefold to 24-fold increase in organic carbon …

Biogeochemical Response Of Alpine Lakes To A Recent Increase In Dust Deposition In The Southwestern, Us, Ashley P. Ballantyne, J. Brahney, D. Fernandez, C. L. Lawrence, J. Saros, J. C. Neff

Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences Faculty Publications

The deposition of dust has recently increased significantly over some regions of the western US. Here we explore how changes in dust deposition have affected the biogeochemistry of two alpine watersheds in Colorado, US. We first reconstruct recent changes in the mass accumulation rate of sediments and then we use isotopic measurements in conjunction with a Bayesian mixing model to infer that approximately 95% of the inorganic fraction of lake sediments is derived from dust. Elemental analyses of modern dust indicate that dust is enriched in Ca, Cr, Cu, Mg, Ni, and in one watershed, Fe and P relative to …

First Dark Matter Search Results From A Surface Run Of The 10-L Dmtpc Directional Dark Matter Detector, S. Ahlen, James B. R. Battat, T. Caldwell, C. Deaconu, D. Dujmic, W. Fedus, P. Fisher, F. Golub, S. Henderson, A. Inglis, A. Kaboth, G. Kohse, R. Lanza, A. Lee, J. Lopez, J. Monroe, T. Sahin, G. Sciolla, N. Skvorodnev, H. Tomita, H. Wellenstein, I. Wolfe, R. Yamamoto, H. Yegoryan

Physics Faculty Research and Scholarship

The Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) is a low pressure (75 Tort CF(4)) 10 liter detector capable of measuring the vector direction of nuclear recoils with the goal of directional dark matter detection. In this Letter we present the first dark matter limit from DMTPC from a surface run at MIT. In an analysis window of 80-200 keV recoil energy, based on a 35.7 g-day exposure, we set a 90% C.L. upper limit on the spin-dependent WIMP-proton cross section of 2.0 x 10(-33) cm(2) for 115 GeV/c(2) dark matter particle mass.

A Computational Tool For Estimating Off-Target Application Areas In Agricultural Fields, Rodrigo S. Zandonadi, Joe D. Luck, Timothy S. Stombaugh, Michael P. Sama, Scott A. Shearer

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

A computational method for estimating off-target application areas based on the machine-controlled section width and the field shape was developed and implemented in software with a graphical user interface written in the MatLab environment. The program, which is called the Field Coverage Analysis Tool (FieldCAT), includes three modules: data import, data preparation, and coverage analysis. Nine field boundaries were evaluated to test the software using controlled section widths from 0.5 to 27 m and various swath orientations. The estimated off-target application area from the widest section width varied from 9% to 24% depending on the shape and size of the …

The Genetic Basis Of Creativity And Ideational Fluency The Genetic Basis Of Creativity And Ideational Fluency, Mark A. Runco, Ernest P. Noble, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Selcuk Acar, Terry Ritchie, Justin M. Yurkovich

Psychology Faculty Publications

Reuter, Roth, Holve, & Hennig (2006) described what they called the first candidate gene for creativity. This study replicated and extended their work for a more careful analysis of five candidate genes: Dopamine Transporter (DAT), Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT), Dopamine Receptor D4 (DRD4), D2 Dopamine Receptor (DRD2), and Tryptophane Hydroxylase (TPH1). Participants were 147 college students who received a battery of tests of creative potential. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that ideational fluency scores were significantly associated with several genes (DAT, COMT, DRD4, and TPH1). This was apparent in both verbal and figural fluency ideation scores, before and after controlling general …

Measurement Of The Spectral Distribution Of The Low Energy Electrons Emitted As A Result Of M₃Vv Auger Transitions In Cu(100), Suman Satyal

Physics Theses - Archive

Auger Photoelectron Coincidence Spectroscopy (APECS) was used to investigate the physics of the Low Energy Tail (LET) region of the Auger spectrum of a Cu(100) sample. Two Cylindrical Mirror Analyzers (CMAs) were used to select the energy of electrons emitted from the sample as a result of irradiation by 200eV photons. The APECS technique was used to obtain an Auger spectrum taken in coincidence with electrons in the core photoemission peak. The background due to coincidences between pairs of valence electrons emitted as a result of multi-electron photoemission processes was estimated by taking a series of APECS spectra in coincidence …

Adaptive High Level Context Reasoning In Pervasive Environments, Bridget B. Beamon

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

It is hard to believe that the Internet is now in its adolescent stage. This information age is replete with communication capable, intelligent, sensor equipped devices. Social networks, web services, and global information repositories make a wealth of information available instantly. There exist endless possibilities for creating useable knowledge. Much of what is considered useable knowledge is not directly observable from low level sensory devices. Abstract situations, relationships and activities must be inferred using a variety of techniques that fuse information from multivariate data sources. We refer to this useable knowledge as high level context. Social, physiological, environmental, computational, activity, …

Lipopolysaccharide Animal Models For Parkinson's Disease, Mei Liu, Guoying Bing

Neuroscience Faculty Publications

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an endotoxin from Gram-negative bacteria, acts as a potent stimulator of microglia and has been used to study the inflammatory process in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease (PD) and anti-inflammatory therapy for PD treatment. Here, we review the growing body of literature on both in vitro and in vivo LPS PD models. Primary cell cultures from mesencephalic tissue were exposed to LPS in vitro; LPS was stereotaxically injected into the substantia nigra, striatum, or globus pallidus of brain or injected into the peritoneal cavity of the animal in vivo. In conclusion, the LPS PD models are summarized as …

Mitochondria, Amyloid Β, And Alzheimer's Disease, Ryan Douglas Readnower, Andrew David Sauerbeck, Patrick G. Sullivan

Spinal Cord and Brain Injury Research Center Faculty Publications

Hypometabolism is a hallmark of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and implicates a mitochondrial role in the neuropathology associated with AD. Mitochondrial amyloid-beta (Aβ) accumulation precedes extracellular Aβ deposition. In addition to increasing oxidative stress, Aβ has been shown to directly inhibit mitochondrial enzymes. Inhibition of mitochondrial enzymes as a result of oxidative damage or Aβ interaction perpetuates oxidative stress and leads to a hypometabolic state. Additionally, Aβ has also been shown to interact with cyclophilin D, a component of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore, which may promote cell death. Therefore, ample evidence exists indicating that …

Expedient Treatment Of A Collodion Baby, Michael Chung, Jaime Pittenger, Stuart Tobin, Andrew Chung, Nirmala Desai

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Only ~270 cases of collodion babies have been reported in the literature since 1892. As the name suggests, the term "collodion baby" refers to a phenotype that can be characterized by a yellow, shiny, tight parchment-like membrane stretched over the skin. Although the collodion membrane is only an evanescent condition of the newborn, neonatal complications can occur in 45% of all collodion babies, leading to a mortality rate of ~11% in the first few weeks of life. Most children born as collodion babies will spontaneously desquamate within 2 weeks, but may be as long as 3 months. Eventually, these children …

Energy Aware Communications Framework For Ieee 802.15.4 Wireless Sensor Networks, Rodolfo De Paz Alberola

Theses

A wireless sensor network (WSN) is a network of sensor nodes that functions in a cooperative manner to monitor the changes in the physical environment. Typically, sensor nodes are deployed in places with difficult access, if any, to an external power supply thus requiring battery power. Therefore, WSN communication protocols must be designed with energy efficient and self-organizing capabilities in mind. In this context, the IEEE 802.15.4 standard is being widely employed for the lower layers of low-cost, low-rate and low-power wireless sensor communications due to its potential to fulfil requirements of various monitoring and control applications. However, the specification …

Growth And Characterization Of Carbon Nanomaterials, Jay Patel

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, single and multi-layered graphene films were epitaxially grown on either Si-face or C-face of SiC single crystal substrates. The film growth conditions, such as decomposition temperatures and pressures, and their surface morphologies were optimized. These films were then characterized by using surface analysis tools including SEM, TEM, AFM evanescent wave microscopy and electron educed spectroscopy. In addition to studying graphene decomposed from SiC crystals, carbon nanotube material was fabricated using a floating catalyst technique. These carbon nanotube material was then studied for potential cathode applications in this thesis. Field emission properties of these cathodes was measured and …

Destructive Coordination, Charles K. Whitehead

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

An important goal of financial risk regulation is promoting coordination. Law's coordinating function minimizes costly conflict and encourages greater uniformity among market participants. Likewise, privately developed market standards, such as standard-form contracts and rules incorporated into widely-used vendor technology systems, help to lower transaction costs partly by increasing coordination.

By contrast, much of financial economics is premised on a world without coordination. Basic tools used to manage financial risk presume that changes in asset prices follow a random walk and individuals buy and sell assets independently. Thus, a bedrock premise of traditional risk management is that a portfolio manager’s actions …

Nano-Materials By Design And Their Applications In Infrastructure, Hunain Said Alkhateb

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For utilizing nano materials in infrastructure applications, they should exist in huge quantities, in low cost, and they should be applied efficiently to achieve the ultimate goal design, based on fundamental mechanical and physical laws. To achieve this goal multiscale characterization and modeling is needed to deliver our thorough application effectively. The main objective in this research is to implement multiscale characterization of the nano-micro-meso-macro properties of advanced polymeric and cementitious nanocomposites, to correlate mechanical properties to morphology. This include a proposed joint experimental-theoretical approach.

Independence Polynomials Of Molecular Graphs, Cameron Taylor Byrum

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the 1980's, it was noticed by molecular chemists that the stability and boiling point of certain molecules were related to the number of independent vertex sets in the molecular graphs of those chemicals. This led to the definition of the Merrifield-Simmons index of a graph G as the number of independent vertex sets in G. This parameter was extended by graph theorists, who counted independent sets of different sizes and defined the independence polynomial F_G(x) of a graph G to be \sum_k F_k(G)x^k where for each k, F_k(G) is the number of independent sets of k vertices. This thesis …

Processing Parameters And Chamber Length Impact On Detached Die And Attached Die Resin Injection Pultrusion, Dinesh Raj Palikhel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Injection pultrusion is an efficient and highly automated continuous process for high-quality, low-cost, high-volume manufacturing of composites. The main objective of this study is to analyze "attached die configuration" and "detached die configuration" for the better injection pultrusion process. In this work the impact of various processing parameters on complete wet out of composite parts is investigated in the attached die and detached die injection pultrusion with various chamber length considerations. The various processing parameters considered are pull speed, fiber volume fraction, resin viscosity, injection port location and compression ratio. 3-D finite volume technique is used to simulate the liquid …

A Survey Of Teacher's Beliefs Regarding The Importance And Implementation Of Formative Assessment, Diane Lawrence Lowry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This quantitative study examined teachers' beliefs of the importance and implementation of formative assessment in one north Mississippi school district. There is a limited amount of research related to teachers' beliefs of formative assessment. Heritage, Kim, Vendlinski, and Herman (2009) defined formative assessment as a planned process during instruction. This process involves collecting information throughout instruction and providing feedback to the student and the teacher and results in changes to instruction to meet the needs of the learner. The purpose of this study was to determine the mean scores, standard deviations, and percentages of teachers' responses to survey items concerning …

A 233km Circumference Tunnel For E+E-, Pp{Bar}, And Mu+Mu- Colliders, George Thomas Lyons Iii

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2001 a cost analysis survey was conducted to build a 233km circumference tunnel in northern Illinois in which to build a Very Large Hadron Collider. Ten years later I have reexamined the proposal, taking into consideration the technological advancements in all the aspects of construction cost analysis. I would also propose that the implementation of a multipurpose collider could be introduced in light of new advancements in design parameters surrounding such collision methods. Such a collider could provide the means necessary for Chicago and more importantly America to stay relevant and competitive in the international marketplace of particle physics.

Relationship Between Coastal Vegetation Biomass With Elevation And Salinity Gradients, Ying Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Surges and waves generated by hurricanes and other severe storms can cause devastating damage to property and loss of life in coastal areas. Vegetation in wetlands and coastal fringes can reduce storm surges and waves while complementing traditional coastal defense approaches such as permanent levees, seawalls and gates. The effectiveness of marsh vegetation in attenuating storm surge energy and reducing soil erosion depends on the level of primary production at the time of the storm surge and the ability of marsh vegetation to recover rapidly from damage caused by the storm surge. Marsh production depends on a variety of abiotic …

A Flexible Syntactic Foam For Shock Mitigation, Jogi C. Gowda

Dissertations

This dissertation focused on the development and assessment of flexible microballoons filled elastomeric foam for shock mitigation applications. The overall goal of the research was to develop a flexible syntactic foam that has controllable bulk modulus, compressibility and shock mitigation characteristics and to validate these characteristics by experiments. Elastomer LP-2 with solid manganese dioxide and uncured BJO-093 hollow Pμb were chosen for making the syntactic foam. Hand mixing and room temperature curing was used to make foams of 0 to 30% weight of filler, which amounts to 0 to 60% of volume of the filler. Analysis using gas laws and …

Examining The Influence Of Dependent Demand Arrivals On Patient Scheduling, Husniyah B. Abdus-Salaam

Dissertations

This research examines the influence of batch appointments on patient scheduling systems. Batch appointments are characterized by multiple patients within a family desiring appointments within the same time frame. These patients are considered to be dependent amongst each other within the batch request for both arrival and no-shows. Three models are proposed to further understand the impact of these dependent demand arrivals. First, a multivariate statistical model is developed to understand the behavior of patients at public and private dental clinics. Results indicate that approximately 42% of all appointments are associated with a batch request. Also, there is a dependency …

Stereotype Threat And Minority Students' Academic Achievement, Clédicianne Dorvil

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

This action oriented research project presents a manualized program that can be used in the school setting to remediate stereotype threat. A meta-analytic review was conducted in order to identify evidenced-based interventions that intervened on stereotype threat effects. The findings from the meta-analysis were utilized to create the manual for the Study Skills Group. A pilot study was conducted with middle and high-school aged individuals to evaluate the efficacy of the program. Pre and post program evaluation forms were utilized to monitor change during the course of the program. The Study Skills Group manual received positive ratings for the session …

The Implications Of Executive Function And Prototypical Student Performance In Middle School, Sabrina Anne Hartman

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Over the course of the past 25 years, “executive functions” have been investigated more and more frequently in relation to cognitive functioning across the lifespan. Within that time frame, researchers have examined various changes that are specific to the adolescent brain. The research has begun to elucidate the relationship between executive functioning and the developmental period of adolescence. Previous studies have examined the utility of using specific rating scales as a means to assess executive functioning across the lifespan, with most of these utilizing scale level analyses. Given the lack of specificity regarding what elements exactly comprise “executive functioning,” the …

Mat 2670 : Computer Science Ii, Mathematics And Computer Science

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

Phy 3045g : Wonders Of Astronomy, Physics

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

The Tragedy Of The Risk-Perception Commons: Culture Conflict, Rationality Conflict, And Climate Change, Donald Braman, Dan H. Kahan, Maggie Wittlin, Paul Slovic, Lisa Larrimore Ouellette, Gregory N. Mandel

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The conventional explanation for controversy over climate change emphasizes impediments to public understanding: Limited popular knowledge of science, the inability of ordinary citizens to assess technical information, and the resulting widespread use of unreliable cognitive heuristics to assess risk. A large survey of U.S. adults (N = 1540) found little support for this account. On the whole, the most scientifically literate and numerate subjects were slightly less likely, not more, to see climate change as a serious threat than the least scientifically literate and numerate ones. More importantly, greater scientific literacy and numeracy were associated with greater cultural polarization: Respondents …

Analytic & Numerical Study Of A Vortex Motion Equation, Daniel Bueller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A nonlinear second order differential equation related to vortex motion is derived. This equation is analyzed using various numerical and analytical techniques including finding approximate solutions using a perturbative approach.

Algebraic Aspects Of (Bio) Nano-Chemical Reaction Networks And Bifurcations In Various Dynamical Systems, Teng Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dynamics of (bio) chemical reaction networks have been studied by different methods. Among these methods, the chemical reaction network theory has been proven to successfully predicate important qualitative properties, such as the existence of the steady state and the asymptotic behavior of the steady state. However, a constructive approach to the steady state locus has not been presented. In this thesis, with the help of toric geometry, we propose a generic strategy towards this question. This theory is applied to (bio)nano particle configurations. We also investigate Hopf bifurcation surfaces of various dynamical systems.

Investigations On Morphology, Spectroscopy And Near-Infrared Photoresponse Sensitization Of Conjugated Polymers In Organic Photovoltaics, Zhongjian Hu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conjugated polymer architecture and morphology are two of the key factors that determine corresponding opto-electronic device performance. It is well-known that conjugated polymers display a variety of conformations and exhibit aggregation in their materials and even for individual polymer chains. The intrinsic structural heterogeneity of conjugated polymers strongly complicates the active layer morphology and phase separation, which are crucial for photoinduced charge generation and transport in polymer based bulk heterojunction-organic photovoltaics device (BHJ-OPVs). Aiming to probe the molecular level correlations between conjugated polymer architecture, morphology and optoelectronic properties, single molecule spectroscopy (SMS) and single particle spectroscopy (SPS) were employed. The …