Digital Commons Network^™

Plasmablast Frequency And Trafficking Receptor Expression Are Altered In Pediatric Ulcerative Colitis, Nicole Jeanne Tarlton

Master's Theses

Background: The incidence of pediatric ulcerative colitis (UC), a chronic autoinflammatory disease of the colon, is on the rise. Although an increased infiltration of B cells from the peripheral blood into the colon occurs in UC, B cell trafficking is understudied. We hypothesized that the frequency of circulating plasmablasts (PBs) and their trafficking receptor (TR) expression may be indicative of the location and degree of pathology in pediatric UC. Methods: We conducted multicolor flow cytometry analyses of circulating IgA+/- PBs and IgA+ memory B cells (MBCs) in pediatric UC patients with remission, mild, moderate, and severe disease (n=12) and healthy …

Chi-Squared Distance And Metamorphic Virus Detection, Annie Hii Toderici

Master's Theses

Malware are programs that are designed with a malicious intent. Metamorphic malware change their internal structure each generation while still maintaining their original behavior. As metamorphic malware become more sophisticated, it is important to develop efficient and accurate detection techniques. Current commercial antivirus software generally try to scan for malware signatures within files and match them against a known set of signatures; therefore, they are not able to detect metamorphic malware that change their body from generation to generation, with each copy comprised of its own unique signature. Machine learning methods such as hidden Markov models (HMM) have shown promising …

Emission From O2 Gas In The Kleinman-Low Region Of The Great Nebula In Orion, Michael Denney Turner

Master's Theses

We calculated line intensities of ground-state emission from atomic ([O I]) and molecular (O₂) oxygen under various conditions of temperature (10–10⁴ K) and density (10–10⁴ cm^-3) in photodissociation regions (PDR) of molecular gas clouds, with UV flux intensity (G₀) of 10⁵. Using a magnetohydrodynamic shock model to produce profile data in a range of pre-shock velocities (5 ≤ v_s ≤ 20 km s^-1) and a range of pre-shock H and H₂ gas densities (10³–10⁵ cm^-3), we calculated line intensities for both …

Reproduction Of Twentieth Century Intradecadal To Multidecadal Surface Temperature Variability In Radiatively Forced Coupled Climate Models, Patrick Thomas Brown

Master's Theses

Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 3 simulations that included time varying radiative forcings were ranked according to their ability to consistently reproduce twentieth century intradecadal to multidecadal (IMD) surface temperature variability at the 5° by 5° spatial scale. IMD variability was identified using the running Mann Whitney Z method. Model rankings were given context by comparing the IMD variability in preindustrial control runs to observations and by contrasting the IMD variability among the ensemble members within each model. These experiments confirmed that the inclusion of time-varying external forcings brought simulations into closer agreement with observations. Additionally, they illustrated that the magnitude …

Dynamics Of Vibrio With Virulence Genes Detected In Pacific Harbor Seals (Phoca Vitulina Richardii) Off California: Implications For Marine Mammal Health, Stephanie Nichole Hughes

Master's Theses

Given their coastal site fidelity and opportunistic foraging behavior, harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) may serve as sentinels for coastal ecosystem health. Seals using urbanized coastal habitat can acquire enteric bacteria, including Vibrio, that may affect their health. To understand Vibrio dynamics in seals, demographic and environmental factors were tested for predicting potentially virulent Vibrio in free-ranging and stranded Pacific harbor seals (P. v. richardii) off the coast of California. Vibrio prevalence did not vary with season and was greater in free-ranging seals (29%, n = 319) compared with stranded seals (17%, n = 189). Of …

Utilization Of Protein Tertiary Contacts To Improve Protein Structure Prediction Using Sequence Homology, Trung Thanh Nguyen

Master's Theses

The structure of a protein ultimately determines its function; therefore, knowledge of three-dimensional structure is essential for understanding its function and mechanism of action. The two most common methods for determining protein structure are x-ray crystallography and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. These methods are quite successful but can be very time-intensive and costly. An alternative method is protein structure prediction, where structure is computationally predicted from amino acid sequence. As opposed to x-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopy, protein structure prediction is not encumbered by potential experimental problems. In this research, we attempted to determine if certain protein structure features, …

Classical Models Of The Spin 1/2 System, Carlos Harold Salazar-Lazaro

Master's Theses

We proposed a Quaternionic mechanical system motivated by the Foucault

pendulum as a classical model for the dynamics of the spin 1/2 system. We showed

that this mechanical system contains the dynamics of the spin state of the electron

under a uniform magnetic field as it is given by the Schrodinger-Pauli-Equation

(SPE). We closed with a characterization of the dynamics of this generalized

classical system by showing that it is equivalent with the dynamics of the

Schrodinger Pauli Equation as long as the solutions to the generalized classical

system are roots of the Lagrangian, that is the condition L = …

Profiling Flavonoid Cytotoxicity In Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines, Sina Yadegarynia

Master's Theses

Flavonoids are part of a large family of polyphenols that are found extensively in fruits and vegetables. This class of compounds has been of considerable medical interest due to their anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. Although extensive effort has been made to identify the biological effects responsible for the chemopreventive activity of these compounds, the exact molecular mechanisms involved are not fully understood. In this study, we focused on the cytotoxic effects of fourteen different flavonoids against a series of breast cancer cell lines and evaluated the induction of cell cycle arrest at G1 or G2/M phase as result of such …

Vital Tooth Whitening Effects On Oral Health-Related Quality Of Life In Older Adults, Ann M. Bruhn, Michele L. Darby, Gayle B. Mccombs, Carleen M. Lynch

Dental Hygiene Faculty Publications

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine if vital tooth whitening affects oral health-related quality of life (OHRQOL) in adults age 50 years and older, and if tooth whitening causes increased participation in social activities.

Methods: Using a 2 group, single blind, randomized, pre-test, multiple post-test design, 62 participants were enrolled. The experimental group used a whitening product twice daily for 3 weeks. The control group used no whitening products. The Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP) served as the pre- and post-test measure. The OHIP measures OHRQOL on 7 subscales: functional factors, psychological disabilities, psychological discomforts, physical disabilities, …

Stability Indices For Constrained Self-Adjoint Operators, Todd Kapitula, Keith Promislow

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

A wide class of problems in the study of the spectral and orbital stability of dispersive waves in Hamiltonian systems can be reduced to understanding the so-called "energy spectrum", that is, the spectrum of the second variation of the Hamiltonian evaluated at the wave shape, which is constrained to act on a closed subspace of the underlying Hilbert space. We present a substantially simplified proof of the negative eigenvalue count for such constrained, self-adjoint operators, and extend the result to include an analysis of the location of the point spectra of the constrained operator relative to that of the unconstrained …

Shakespeare's Newest Stage: The Reshaping Of Cultural Capital Through Youtube, Ben G. Long

Honors Theses

Since its launch in 2005, YouTube has quickly situated itself as a major facet of popular culture. The prevalence of Shakespeare on YouTube is fascinating considering the diversity of the videos found, and the tremendous audience response to these clips. Is YouTube helping or hurting Shakespeare's reputation? This thesis explores this question through the lens of Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital. The argument is that amidst the process of reinvention, a redefining of what is Shakespeare is occurring. The support provided is framed through numerous video analyses, that cover a wide range of topics including: Shakespeare in education, Shakespeare …

Phylogenomics: Molecular Evolution In The Genomics Era, Arun Somwarpet Seetharam

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary studies in recent years have been transformed by the development of new, powerful techniques for investigating many mechanisms and events of molecular evolution. Large collections of many different complete genomes now available in the public domain offer great advantages to genomic scale evolutionary studies. Phylogenomics, a term often used to describe the use of genomic scale data to infer species phylogeny or to predict protein function through evolutionary history, is greatly benefitted by the revolutionary progress in DNA sequencing technology. In the present study we developed and utilized various phylogenomic methods on large genome-scale data. In the first study, …

A Study Of The Effects Of Fieldbus Network Inducted Delays On Control Systems., Joseph Mianoo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fieldbus networks are all-digital, two-way, multi-drop communication systems that are used to connect field devices such as sensors and actuators, and controllers. These fieldbus network systems are also called networked control systems (NCS). Although, there are different varieties of fieldbus networks such as Foundation Field Bus, DeviceNet, and Profibus available in the automation industries, Controller Area Network (CAN) is more widely accepted in automotive applications. The growing popularity of, and demand for, fieldbus networks can be attributed to several advantages they have, such as: reduction in capital costs, interoperability, and greater system functionality. However, as the complexity of modern fieldbus …

A Comparison Of Elementary Mathematics Achievement In Everyday Math And Saxon Math Schools In Illinois, Clayton Roan

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared mathematics achievement in Illinois elementary schools using the Everyday Math and Saxon Math curricula. The Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) was used as the measure of student achievement. Multiple correlation analyses showed that the type of curriculum used was a significant predictor of mathematics achievement at the third and fifth grade levels. Everyday Math was found to support greater student achievement in these grades. When holding other variables constant, Everyday Math schools can be expected to have an average of 2.1% more questions correct on the multiple choice portion of the ISAT than Saxon Math schools at …

Assessing Risk Of Violence In Caucasian And African-American Male Forensic Patients, Brandy Lynn Herriott

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Violence risk assessment, or the ability to predict the likelihood of a criminal offender's to commit a violent act in the future, is an essential role of psychologists in the criminal justice system. One of the most widely used violence risk assessment instruments is the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG). The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the most widely used measure of psychopathy and is often used as part of violence risk assessment, including in the the VRAG. The PCL-R is lengthy and time-consuming process, which has led to the development of the Childhood and Adolescent Taxon Scale (CATS), which is …

A Study Of The Effects Of Fieldbus Network Induced Delays On Control Systems, Joseph Mainoo

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fieldbus networks are all-digital, two-way, multi-drop communication systems that are used to connect field devices such as sensors and actuators, and controllers. These fieldbus network systems are also called networked control systems (NCS). Although, there are different varieties of fieldbus networks such as Foundation Field Bus, DeviceNet, and Profibus available in the automation industries, Controller Area Network (CAN) is more widely accepted in automotive applications. The growing popularity of, and demand for, fieldbus networks can be attributed to several advantages they have, such as: reduction in capital costs, interoperability, and greater system functionality. However, as the complexity of modern fieldbus …

The Relationship Between Reading Fluency And Mathematical Word Problem Solving: An Exploratory Study, Amy M. Walker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) scores and mathematics problem solving scores. The reading fluency scores were obtained from the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy (DIBELS) assessment. The mathematics problem solving scores were obtained from the Indiana State Test ofEducation Progress Plus (ISTEP+) assessment. In addition, error patterns found in mathematics problem solving on ISTEP+ and Acuity Diagnostic Tests were analyzed. The purpose of the quantitative study was to determine if DIBELS ORF scores were correlated with mathematics problem solving ISTEP+ scores. A linear regression was conducted to determine the significance of the correlation. …

The Relationship Between Reading Fluency And Mathematical Word Problem Solving:An Exploratory Study., Amy M. Walker

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined the relationship between Oral Reading Fluency(ORF)scores and mathematics problem solving scores.The reading fluency scores were obtained from the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy(DIBELS)assessment.The mathematics problem solving scores were obtained from the Indiana State Test of Education Progress Plus(ISTEP+)assessment.In addition,error patterns found in mathematics problem solving on ISTEP+and Acuity Diagnosis Tests were analysed.The purpose of the quantitative study was to determine if DIBELS ORF scores were correlated with mathematics problem solving ISTEP+ scores.A linear regression was conducted to determine the significance of the correlation.The purpose of the qualitative study was to determine error patterns found on …

Mentoring As A Tool For Leadership Development In The Redeemed Christian Church Of God, Nigeria, Oladimeji Babatunde

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Seasonal Biophysical Variations In Resting And Exercising Elephants: Energetic, Thermoregulatory, And Behavioral Adaptations, Michael Ford Rowe

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Phylogenomics: Molecular Evolution In The Genomics Era, Arun Somwarpet Seetharam

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Evolutionary studies in recent years have been transformed by the development of new, powerful techniques for investigating many mechanisms and events of molecular evolution. Large collections of many different complete genomes now available in the public domain offer great advantages to genomic scale evolutionary studies. Phylogenomics, a term often used to describe the use of genomic scale data to infer species phylogeny or to predict protein function through evolutionary history, is greatly benefitted by the revolutionary progress in DNA sequencing technology. In the present study we developed and utilized various phylogenomic methods on large genome-scale data. In the first study, …

Assessing Risk Of Violence In Caucasian And African-American Male Forensic Patients, Brandy Lynn Herriott

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Violence risk assessment, or the ability to predict the likelihood of a criminal offender's to commit a violent act in the future, is an essential role of psychologists in the criminal justice system. One of the most widely used violence risk assessment instruments is the Violence Risk Appraisal Guide (VRAG). The Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) is the most widely used measure of psychopathy and is often used as part of violence risk assessment, including in the the VRAG. The PCL-R is lengthy and time-consuming process, which has led to the development of the Childhood and Adolescent Taxon Scale (CATS), which is …

Study Of The Decay B0s→ J.Lψf̕2 (1525) In Μ+Μ-K+K- Final States, David Hedin

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

We investigate the decay B0s→JΨK+K- for invariant masses of the K+K- for invariant masses of the K+K- pair in the range 1.35

Solving Linear Equations: A Comparison Of Concrete And Virtual Manipulatives In Middle School Mathematics, Robin L. Magruder

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

The purpose of this embedded quasi-experimental mixed methods research was to use solving simple linear equations as the lens for looking at the effectiveness of concrete and virtual manipulatives as compared to a control group using learning methods without manipulatives. Further, the researcher wanted to investigate unique benefits and drawbacks associated with each manipulative.

Qualitative research methods such as observation, teacher interviews, and student focus group interviews were employed. Quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze pretest and posttest data of middle school students (n=76). ANCOVA, analysis of covariance, uncovered statistically significant differences in favor of the …

Student And Instructor Perceptions Of Factors Important For Student Success In Online And In-Person Algebra Classes At Somerset Community College, Richard S. Matika

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Policy Studies and Evaluation

Online mathematics courses at Somerset Community College (SCC) have traditionally had a lower retention rate than their in-person counterparts. This study looked at online and in-person students at SCC in the courses Intermediate Algebra and College Algebra. Beginning of semester student demographics were considered to determine whether or not the online and in-person student populations were comparable. End of semester student demographics, retention rates, and grades on the final exams were examined to determine whether or not there were patterns among completer students. Finally, a survey was administered to students and instructors to determine their perceptions of several factors …

A Descriptive, Survey Research Study Of The Student Characteristics Influencing The Four Theoretical Sources Of Mathematical Self-Efficacy Of College Freshmen, Tonja Motley Locklear

Theses and Dissertations--Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education

The Sources of Middle School Mathematics Self-Efficacy Scale (Usher & Pajares, 2009) was adapted for use in this study investigating the impact that gender, race, sexual orientation, hometown location (rural, suburban, or urban), high school GPA, college GPA and letter grade of a mathematics course in the previous semester had on the four sources of mathematical self-efficacy of 102 college freshmen attending three small, private, liberal arts institutions. Even though this study found no interaction effects between the student characteristics, the four sources of mathematical self-efficacy, or the three subcategories of the vicarious experience construct, this study did find statistically …

Measuring Job Satisfaction Among Kentucky Head Principals Using The Rasch Rating Scale Model, Xavier J. Webb

Theses and Dissertations--Educational Leadership Studies

The continued expansion of principals' responsibilities is having a detrimental effect on their job satisfaction; therefore, it is increasingly challenging to retain these important leaders. Effective principals can impact student learning and other vital outcomes; thus, it is important to be able to retain effective school leaders. Examining the perceived sources of principals’ satisfaction and dissatisfaction with their work has strong implications for policies and practices that can be implemented to increase principal retention.

The purpose of this study was to measure the job satisfaction of head principals in Kentucky. The research conducted was an exploratory study using survey research …

Comprehensive Planning And Resilience: A Study Of Louisiana Parishes After Hurricane Katrina, Mary Paille

LSU Master's Theses

When hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit in 2005, widespread devastation was felt in over half of the parishes in the state. More than 200,000 homes were damaged and more than 1500 people lost their lives. During this transitionary period, communities were vulnerable and looked for rebuilding leadership. As part of a post-catastrophe resilience movement, the Louisiana Recovery Authority formulated a 50-year regional plan for recovering south Louisiana called Louisiana Speaks. This planning process opened up an opportunity to reach those communities that otherwise may not have considered planning or how it could help them prepare for future events. This places …

The Distribution And Diversity Of Functional Gene Pathways Controlling Sulfur Speciation In Lower Kane Cave, Wyoming, Audrey Tarlton Paterson

LSU Master's Theses

Defining the linkages between microbial metabolic activity and environmental geochemistry can be used to understand how carbonate dissolution in sulfidic karst systems proceeds. In Lower Kane Cave, Wyoming, sulfidic springs support taxonomically distinct microbial communities that are also associated with putative sulfur metabolisms (e.g., oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds, sulfate reduction, and sulfur disproportionation) that influence carbonate dissolution. The distribution of diverse microbial groups in other terrestrial subsurface environments is not well understood, making Lower Kane Cave ideal for study. Molecular genetics techniques were used to uncover diversity of 16S rRNA genes and bacterial soxB and aprA functional genes. Aqueous …

Interventions In The Middle School Mathematics Classroom: Raising Standardized Test Scores By Diminishing Stereotype Threat, Elizabeth Stockwell Kirkindoll

LSU Master's Theses

Stereotype threat is a situational concern in which persons have uneasiness or worries about confirming a negative presumption about their social group. This apprehension affects the performance of those suffering this threat in recursive cycles, causing continuing underperformance in the threatened domain. This document reviews the research on stereotype threat, its causes, characteristics and effects, and describes how stereotype threat affects learning and undermines academic performance. Attention is focused on the role that stereotype threat plays in the underachievement of females in mathematics. A report on an experiment that attempted to reduce math-related stereotype threat among middle school females is …