Digital Commons Network^™

Hope On The Horizon, Valorie. Ebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This project considers the future, and the hope for humanity within three dystopian science fiction works : Mordecai Roshwald's Level 7, Cordwainer Smith's "The Dead Lady of Clown Town," and James Tiptree, Jr.,'s "The GIrl Who Was Plugged In". There are many aspects and different manifestations of hope in science fiction, even in authors who show readers the darkest side of human nature and what will become of humans, and by default earth, if an effort is not made to change the world's direction. Though some dystopian stories show horrible possible futures, there is an underlying hope within these stories …

Humdrum Aha!, Dana Odwazny Pell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Following the work of Sara Houghton-Walker and Edward Strickland, this thesis theorizes the "mundane sublime" as encountered in romanticist John Clare's poetry. Instead of being oriented upward, as with Longinus's elevatory sublime, Clare's mundane sublime brings the subject downward to earth. While the sublime of the Burkean tradition begins with terror, I claim that the mundane sublime emerges out of love for that which is commonplace. Still revelatory, it may be further characterized by an engagement with ecosystems, eternity, divinity, and nature as a whole. Clare's style scaffolds images resulting in a profusion of detail that arrests the mind and …

Hypoxia-Regulated Glial Cell-Specific Gene Therapy To Treat Retinal Neovascularization, Manas Ranjan Biswal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Diabetic retinopathy is an ischemic retinal neovascular disease causing vision loss among adults. The studies presented involve the design and testing of a gene therapy vector to inhibit retinal revascularization, similar to that found in diabetic retinopathy. Gene therapy has proven to be an effective method to introduce therapeutic proteins to treat retinal diseases. Targeting a specific cell type and expression of therapeutic proteins according to the tissue microenvironment should have an advantage over traditional gene therapy by avoiding unwanted transgene expression. Hypoxia plays a significant role in the pathophysiology of many retinal ischemic diseases. Retinal Mèuller cells provide structural …

Impact Of Fluency Intervention On The Oral Reading And Fluency Comprehension Of Middle School Students With Learning Disabilities, Janice M. Russell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Proficient reading is a necessary skill for a quality life. While educators would like to believe that most students master the art of reading and can understand what they read, national reports indicate that learning to read and becoming a skilled reader is not mastered by all (No Child Left Behind Act, 2001 ; NICHD, 2000a). One component of successful reading is the ability to read a text with appropriate speed, accuracy, and prosody. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (Pinnell et al., 1995) reported that 44% of the nation's fourth grade students were not able to read at an …

Impact Of Satisfaction With Care And Empowerment On Glycemic Control Among Older African American Adults With Diabetes, Bridgette M. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

atisfaction with diabetes care, perceived feelings of empowerment to participate in self-care management, and glycemic control in a sample of older African American men and women with diabetes. A descriptive correlational quantitative design was used. The participants in this study were 73 men and women of African descent who were at least 50 years, English speaking, and diagnosed with diabetes for at least one year. The participants were asked to complete three survey instruments: the Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire-18 (PSQ-18), which measured how satisfied the participants were with their medical care; the Diabetes Empowerment Scale-Short Form (DES-SF), which measured attitudes towards …

Impacts Of Queue Jumpers And Transit Signal Priority On Bus Rapid Transit, R.M. Zahid Reza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Exclusive bus lanes and the Transit Signal Priority are often not effective in saturated peak-traffic conditions. An alternative way of providing priority for transit can be queue jumpers, which allows buses to bypass and then cut out in front of waiting queue by getting an early green signal. Utah Transit authority deployed Bus Rapid Transit system at Salt Lake County, Utah along W 3500 S. This research evaluates the impacts of queue jumpers with TSP on Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and private vehicular traffic. Four VISSIM models were developed for analysis : Basic scenario, no TSP with queue jumpers, TSP …

Impact Of Stress On Elementary School Principals And Their Effective Coping Mechanisms, Joyce. Krzemienski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

In today's era of high stakes testing and accountability, school principals are confronted with many difficult challenges in addition to those traditionally experienced by principals given the advent of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the many mandates each school principal must report on annually. With mandated curriculum standards and widespread demand to improve student achievement, principals face a multitude of administrative tasks. As the school accountability deadline to meet the 2014 federal objective of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 rapidly draws closer for the majority of states, this federal legislation has created increasingly high stress levels, …

Inflammatory Response In Stress And The Role Of Autophagy In Breast Cancer, Lillian C. Onwuha-Ekpete

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

We attempted to understand the molecular regulators that impact inflammation using a rat model of human sensation-seeking/risk-taking trait for drug and stress vulnerability, based on their exploratory behavior displaying high rates (HRs) or low rates of locomotor reactivity (LRs) to environmental stress. We found that HRs have a pro-inflammatory phenotype as indicated by increased protein expression of the inflammatory cytokine TNF-(Sa(B. Furthermore, we found that HRs have a lower gene expression of the glucocorticoid receptor and histone deacetylase 2 which are known to play an immunosuppressive role. Autophagy (macroautophagy) is a homeostatic process needed for cell maintenance, growth and proliferation …

Influence Of The Global Economic Crisis On The Relationship Between Governance And Economic Growth, Bassam A. Albassam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

The current economic crisis has affected all aspects of life, which has resulted in political instability, personal financial troubles, and a growing number of business bankruptcies. While these are serious issues, simply developoing a government policy that injects an economy with money is not an appropriate means to achieve economic recovery and long-term economic development unless combined with an effective and efficient governing system. The present research studies whether the strong relationship between governance and growth exists during economic crises or only during non-crisis periods. The results of the current research show that the global economic crisis has had an …

Intestinal Autophagy Activity Protects Against Salmonella Typhimurium Infection In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Alexander L. Curt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway present in eukaryotes that allows a cell to break down cytoplasmic proteins and organelles to maintain homeostasis. The autophagy pathway has been shown to play a significant role in the immune systems protective response against various bacterial pathogen infections, such as the intestinal pathogen Salmonella typhimurium, in Caenorhabditis elegans and in mammals. This study investigated if the autophagy pathway acts in a tissue-specific manner to protect against S. typhimurium infection in C. elegans. Wild type C. elegans and worms where the autophagy gene bec-1 was inhibited in different tissues by RNAi treatment were infected …

Patterns For Secure Interactions In Social Networks In Web 2.0, Carolina Marin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

A social network is a structure of individuals and organizations, which are connected by one or more types of interdependency, such as friendship, affinity, common interests or knowledge. Social networks use Web 2.0 technology, which is mostly based on a service-oriented architecture. We are studying patterns for social networks in this environment. A pattern is an encapsulated solution to a software problem in a given context, secure threats are possible in this context. We present a collection of patterns associated with the most important aspects of social networks, with emphasis on controlling the actions of the users of these networks.

Predicting Removal Efficiency Of Reverse Osmosis Membranes With Respect To Emerging Substances Of Concern Using A Discriminant Function Analysis, Herrera Fernando J Pleitez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

This paper presents the results of the spike tests performed in the alternative water supply pilot testing program for the City of Pembroke Pines. It establishes the effectiveness of a protocol that can be used to gain further insight on the rejection capacities of RO membranes. An in-depth study of the molecular descriptors affecting rejection by RO membranes is presented and used in the development of a discriminant function analysis. This analysis proved to be an effective way to predict the passage of Emerging Substances of Concern (ESOCs) through RO membrane. Further, a principal component (PC) analysis was performed to …

Population Distribution, Habitat Selection, And Life History Of The Slough Crayfish (Procambarus Fallax) In The Ridge-Slough Landscape Of The Central Everglades, Der Heiden Craig Van

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Understanding where and why organisms are distributed in the environment are central themes in ecology. Animals live in environments in which they are subject to competing demands, such as the need to forage, to find mates, to reproduce, and to avoid predation. Optimal habitats for these various activities are usually distributed heterogeneously in the landscape and may vary both spatially and temporally, causing animals to adjust their locations in space and time to balance these conflicting demands. In this dissertation, I outline three studies of Procambarus fallax in the ridge-slough landscape of Water conservation Area 3A (WCS-3A). The first section …

Psychophysiological Measures Of Aggression And Victimization In Early Adolescence, Christopher D. Aults

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Many cardiovascular psychophysiological studies have found evidence of lower arousal states in aggressive individuals and hyper-arousal states in individuals exposed to chronic stress. However, most of these studies have relied on clinical diagnoses or self-reports to identify aggressive and victimized individuals. The present study used peer nominations to identify aggressive, victimized, and non-aggressive or victimized adolescents (mean age = 12.09 yrs.) to examine if any psychophysiological differences exist during resting and startle conditions. ANOVAs revealed that high aggressive/low victimized adolescents had a lower resting heart period/rate compared to high victimized/low aggressive adolescents. Further analyses revealed a statistical trend of lower …

Principals' Knowledge Of Special Education Policies And Procedures, Lindsay. Jesteadt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Research has shown that most school leaders lack the knowledge necessary to deal with the many different aspects and issues that special education programs encompass. This lack of knowledge ultimately places special education teachers, programs, and students with disabilities at a clear disadvantage. With The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 and the reauthorization of The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA) in 2004, schools and school leaders are being held accountable for the learning gains of all students, including students with disabilities. This study sought to assess the knowledge of Florida school principals in the area …

Proposed Expanded Green Space Plan Using Gis For Natural Areas In Palm Beach County, Corrie. Rainyn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

In the past 25 years, Palm Beach County has acquired more than 31 million acres of public preserves consisting of numerous native habitats that are home to threatened and endangered flora and fauna. Both endemic habitats and plant species benefit from expansion and connectivity through the adoption of native plants in surrounding areas. The next step in conserving these protected, larger areas is to identify ways to connect them in order to reduce their isolation and improve their likelihood of continued ecosystem health. This study aims to perform an analysis using a GIS database of Palm Beach County's Eastern urban …

Public Speaking As The Last Battlefield, Shaundi C. Newbolt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

Communication scholars are in disagreement over the presence of online public speaking courses in higher education. Despite limited research on the Online Public Speaking model, it is quickly replacing the traditional public speaking model in American colleges and universities. This study used Burkean Cluster-Agon Analysis to uncover core concepts from four contemporary public speaking textbooks used in various classroom models (traditional, online and hybrid). Concepts were then compared with traditional core concepts of early speech communication to determine if technology has influenced contemporary core concepts. Results determined that contemporary core concepts from three of the four public speaking textbooks reflected …

Labor Law, New Governance, And The Ghent System, Matthew Dimick

Journal Articles

The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) was the most significant legislation proposed for reforming the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) in over a generation and the centerpiece of the American labor movement’s revitalization strategy. Yet EFCA hews closely to the particular regulatory model established by the NLRA at the peak of the New Deal, now over seventy-five years ago. Further, recent scholarship suggests that traditional regulatory approaches are giving way to new kinds of governance methods for addressing social problems. Rather than reviving an old regulatory model, should “New Governance” approaches instead be sought for addressing problems in employment representation? …

Relationship Bertween Wellness And Burnout Among Novice Counselors, Jennifer. Bilot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

The purpose of this research was to explore the relationship between wellness and burnout among novice counselors. This research was carried out in order to gain a better understanding of the experience of the novice counselor as well as to gain insight into the effects of wellness and burnout on these experiences. The significance of this research lies in the need to understand the novice counselor's journey, the factors that can contribute to or prevent burnout, and the potential prevention and intervention strategies that can be employed in response to burnout. The data of a final sample of 144 participants' …

Compensation, Employment Security, And The Economics Of Public-Sector Labor Law, Matthew Dimick

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Methodology And Application Of Value-At-Risk, Kyong. Chung

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2010 - 2019

The main objective of this thesis is to simulate, evaluate and discuss three standard methodologies of calculating Value-at-Risk (VaR) : Historical simulation, the Variance-covariance method and Monte Carlo simulations. Historical simulation is the most common nonparametric method. The Variance-covariance and Monte Carlo simulations are widely used parametric methods. This thesis defines the three aforementioned VaR methodologies, and uses each to calculate 1-day VaR for a hypothetical portfolio through MATLAB simulations. The evaluation of the results shows that historical simulation yields the most reliable 1-day VaR for the hypothetical portfolio under extreme market conditions. Finally, this paper concludes with a suggestion …

Assessing Environmental Inequality In Portland, Oregon: An Exploration Of Local Environmental Justice Struggles, Jordan Douglas Folks

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis explores patterns of environmental inequality in Portland, Oregon; both the existence of spatial environmental inequalities and the structural and local forces which contribute to them. Research on environmental inequality, or inequitable exposure to toxins, has shown that minority and low-income populations experience the bulk of the exposure to environmental hazards. Although Portland is often cited as the archetype of a sustainable city, environmental inequality is a pervasive issue. This thesis examines the health inequalities that characterize underserved communities in Portland. Utilizing a mixed methods approach, the researcher uses 1) logistic regression to statistically assess the relationship between race, …

Supranationalism In The Fight Against Transnational Threats: A Comparative Study Of Asean And Eu Policy Responses To Human Trafficking, Nicholas M. Klynn

Dissertations and Theses

Transnational security threats are among the most pressing and complicated problems facing both governmental and non-governmental actors in today's world. Human trafficking is one example of contemporary transnational security threat that is relatively less studied compared to other transnational security threats. Because transnational security threats such as human trafficking exist above and outside the boundaries of state control, it may be supposed that a greater degree of supranationalism in the policy responses to them would yield better results in combatting these modern-day ills. Anti-trafficking efforts from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European Union are examined to assess …

The Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act: Do We Really Want To Return To American Banana?, Joseph P. Bauer

Journal Articles

The extra-territorial reach of the antitrust laws is subject to multiple constraints, including the Commerce Clause of the constitution, the text of the antitrust statutes, and a variety of policy considerations. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in the American Banana case, the Supreme Court severely limited the application of the antitrust laws to anti-competitive behavior beyond our shores. The next eighty years saw an expansion of their extra-territorial reach, by including within their coverage a range of foreign conduct which had domestic effects. However, confusion among the lower courts as to the extent of this coverage, as well …

Prevalence And Determinants For Overweight And Obesity Among Residents Of A Mining Township In Kitwe, Zambia, In 2011: A Population-Based Survey, Cosmas Zyaambo, Olesegun Babaniyi, Peter Songolo, Adamson S. Muula, Emmanuel Rudatsikira, Victor M. Mukonka, Seter Siziya

Faculty Publications

Background: Obesity and overweight in Africa have been attributed to demogra- phic and nutritional changes that have resulted from urbanization and sedentary lifestyles and increased caloric intake without much physical activities. This has put populations at an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, Diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis, dyslipidemia, and cancer. The objective of this study was to deter- mine the prevalence and associated factors for combined overweight and obesity among residents of a mining town, Kitwe, in Zambia.

Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted using a modified WHO glo- bal Non Communicable Diseases Surveillance Initiative STEPs 1 and 2 method of …

Designing Wise Communities That Engage In Creative Problem Solving: An Analysis Of An Online Design Model, Charlotte Nirmalani Gunawardena, Ludmila Layne, Casey Frechette

University Libraries & Learning Sciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Addressing the conference theme of “design thinking,” this paper discusses an instructional design model, WisCom (Wisdom Communities) that we developed to build a wise learning community online, to solve open-ended, ill-structured problems such as solving a health crisis or an environmental disaster, which requires the exchange of multiple perspectives, inter-disciplinary thinking, creative problem solving, and social construction of knowledge. Based on socio-constructivist, sociocultural theories of learning and mediated cognition (Vygotsky, 1978), distributed cognition (Hutchins, 1995; Pea, 1993), group cognition (Stahl, 2006), research on how people learn (Bransford, Vye, Bateman, Brophy, & Roselli, 2004), and distance education design principles (Moore & …

Remediation Of Hydrocarbon Contamination In Downtown Mandan, North Dakota, Damien Hesse, Amanda Krieger, Alex Padgett, Derek Zander

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Does A Ketogenic Diet Infer Neuroprotection In A Rat Model Of Neurotrauma, Ryan Lange

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Fractured Literature, 21st-Century Consciousness, And Postmodern Exhaustion In The Novel, Joshua Brorby

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Ysce And Yscl On Yops Secretion In The Type Iii Secretion System Of Yersinia Pestis, Michael Harsche

Undergraduate Theses and Senior Projects

No abstract provided.