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2012

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Externally-Expressed Fluorescence Across Sexes, Life Stages, And Species Of Spiders, Erin Brandt Jan 2012

Externally-Expressed Fluorescence Across Sexes, Life Stages, And Species Of Spiders, Erin Brandt

Dissertations and Theses

Although all spiders possess fluorophores in their hemolymph, the expression of external fluorescence is much more restricted. The purpose of this study was to evaluate differences in externally-expressed fluorescence between sexes, life stages, and species of spiders. To approach this question, we developed novel instrumentation to capture fluorescence with photographs of our specimens. We paired these fluorescence measurements with spectrometer measurements to attempt to determine the role that fluorescence plays in the overall coloration in spiders. The study was divided into four sections. First, we examined how fluorescence varies in sexes and life stages in Misumena vatia, an ambush predator …

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Implementer Perspectives: The Implementation Of A School-Based Mentoring Program, Amanda Angela Fixsen Jan 2012

Implementer Perspectives: The Implementation Of A School-Based Mentoring Program, Amanda Angela Fixsen

Dissertations and Theses

This research describes organizational level implementation strategies utilized in piloting enhancements to the school-based mentoring program from Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. Semi-structured interviews (n=15) with lead agency implementers along with conference call meeting notes were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. Findings yield a description of the challenges to implementation and strategies to overcome these challenges, formal implementation strategies engaged in, and the extent to which these align with an implementation framework put forth by Klein, Conn, and Sorra (2001) with supplement from Fixsen, Naoom, Blase, Friedman, and Wallace (2005). Findings from this study indicate that financial resources, management …

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Memristor-Based Reservoir Computing, Manjari S. Kulkarni Jan 2012

Memristor-Based Reservoir Computing, Manjari S. Kulkarni

Dissertations and Theses

In today's nanoscale era, scaling down to even smaller feature sizes poses a significant challenge in the device fabrication, the circuit, and the system design and integration. On the other hand, nanoscale technology has also led to novel materials and devices with unique properties. The memristor is one such emergent nanoscale device that exhibits non-linear current-voltage characteristics and has an inherent memory property, i.e., its current state depends on the past. Both the non-linear and the memory property of memristors have the potential to enable solving spatial and temporal pattern recognition tasks in radically different ways from traditional binary transistor-based …

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Post-Occupancy Evaluation At The Zoo: Behavioral And Hormonal Indicators Of Welfare In Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus Abelii), Leigha Tingey Jan 2012

Post-Occupancy Evaluation At The Zoo: Behavioral And Hormonal Indicators Of Welfare In Orangutans (Pongo Pygmaeus Abelii), Leigha Tingey

Dissertations and Theses

An increased understanding of species-specific behavioral needs has lead zoos to focus on providing more naturalistic and stimulating environments. Scientific assessments of how changes in habitat affect animal behavior are necessary in improving overall animal welfare. This study examined the move of three orangutans housed at the Oregon Zoo into a new and innovative exhibit. Post-occupancy evaluation (POE), which offers systematic information regarding the success or failure of the built environment (Maple & Finlay, 1987), was utilized to effectively evaluate the results of the move. The collection of behavioral data and adrenal activity monitoring through collection of non-invasive saliva, urine …

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Biological Treatment Of Leachates Of Microaerobic Fermentation, Manar Arica Alattar Jan 2012

Biological Treatment Of Leachates Of Microaerobic Fermentation, Manar Arica Alattar

Dissertations and Theses

Microaerobic fermentation (MF) is a process of controlled degradation of organic waste material that occurs in enclosed fermentors under micro-aerobic conditions at near-room temperature. MF processing of vegetal materials progresses to endpoints in about 2-5 weeks. During MF processing, an acidic leachate rich in organic acids and alcohols is produced. The research presented in this thesis focuses on the efficiency of MF pre-processing of feedstock containing fibrous lignocellulosic (FLC) materials; efficiency of microbial and insect larvae-based treatments of MF leachate; tolerance of the Black Soldier fly larvae (BSFL) to various biological inhibitors common in leachate; and effectiveness of using MF …

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Development Of A Nephelometry Camera And Humidity Controlled Cavity Ring-Down Transmissometer For The Measurement Of Aerosol Optical Properties, James Gregory Radney Jan 2012

Development Of A Nephelometry Camera And Humidity Controlled Cavity Ring-Down Transmissometer For The Measurement Of Aerosol Optical Properties, James Gregory Radney

Dissertations and Theses

A Nephelometry camera (NephCam) and Humidity Controlled Cavity Ring-Down Transmissometer (HC-CRDT) were developed for the determination of aerosol optical properties. The NephCams use a reciprocal geometry relative to an integrating nephelometer; a diode laser illuminates a scattering volume orthogonal to a charge coupled device (CCD). The use of a CCD allows for measurement of aerosol scattering in 2 dimensions; scattering coefficients and size information can be extracted. The NephCam's optics were characterized during a set of imaging experiments to optimize the images collected by the camera. An aperture setting of 1.6 was chosen because it allowed for the most light …

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The Basic Scheme For The Evaluation Of Functional Logic Programs, Arthur Peters Jan 2012

The Basic Scheme For The Evaluation Of Functional Logic Programs, Arthur Peters

Dissertations and Theses

Functional logic languages provide a powerful programming paradigm combining the features of functional languages and logic languages. However, current implementations of functional logic languages are complex, slow, or both. This thesis presents a scheme, called the Basic Scheme, for compiling and executing functional logic languages based on non-deterministic graph rewriting. This thesis also describes the implementation and optimization of a prototype of the Basic Scheme. The prototype is simple and performs well compared to other current implementations.

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Relative Heart Ventricle Mass And Cardiac Performance In Amphibians, Gregory Joseph Kluthe Jan 2012

Relative Heart Ventricle Mass And Cardiac Performance In Amphibians, Gregory Joseph Kluthe

Dissertations and Theses

This study used an in situ heart preparation to analyze the power and work of spontaneously beating hearts of four anurans (R. marina, L. catesbeianus, X. laevis, P. edulis) and three urodeles (N. maculosus, A. tigrinum, A. tridactylum) in order to elucidate the meaning of relative ventricle mass (RVM) in terms of specific cardiac performance variables. This study also tests two hypotheses: 1) the ventricles of terrestrial species (R. marina, P. edulis, A. tigrinum) of amphibians are capable of greater maximum power outputs (Pmax) compared to aquatic species (X. laevis, A. tridactylum, N. maculosus, L. catesbeianus) and, 2) …

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Use Of Two-Dimensional Agarose-Gel Analysis To Characterize Processing Of Uv-Irradiated Plasmids And The Composition Of The Replisome Following Uv-Induced Arrest, Harout Arthur Jeiranian Jan 2012

Use Of Two-Dimensional Agarose-Gel Analysis To Characterize Processing Of Uv-Irradiated Plasmids And The Composition Of The Replisome Following Uv-Induced Arrest, Harout Arthur Jeiranian

Dissertations and Theses

In this thesis, I address two fundamental questions related to our understanding of how DNA damage is processed and repaired during replication. Using Two-dimensional (2-D) agarose gel analysis, I first examine whether DNA damage on plasmids introduced by transformation is processed in a manner similar to that observed on endogenously replicating plasmids and the chromosome. The original intent for using this approach was to develop a technique that could examine how different DNA adducts would be repaired in various sequence contexts. However, I found that distinct differences exist between the processing of DNA damage on transforming plasmids and the chromosome. …

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Causes And Consequences Of Mitochondrial Variation In Caenorhabditid Nematodes, Kiley Ann Hicks Jan 2012

Causes And Consequences Of Mitochondrial Variation In Caenorhabditid Nematodes, Kiley Ann Hicks

Dissertations and Theses

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that harbor their own stream-lined genome and generate much of the ATP necessary to sustain eukaryotic life via an electron transport chain (ETC). Because of the central role for mitochondria in organismal physiology, mitochondrial genetic and phenotypic variation can alter organismal fitness and affect population genetic and evolutionary outcomes. Despite the far-reaching relevance of mitochondria to evolutionary processes and human health, we lack a basic understanding of the causes and consequences of mitochondrial genetic and phenotypic variation. In this thesis, I quantified mitochondrial reactive oxygen species (ROS), membrane potential (δΨM), and mitochondrial morphological traits within Caenorhabditis …

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Cultural Hybridization, Glocalization And American Soccer Supporters: The Case Of The Timbers Army, Jesse Harold Wagner Jan 2012

Cultural Hybridization, Glocalization And American Soccer Supporters: The Case Of The Timbers Army, Jesse Harold Wagner

Dissertations and Theses

Soccer has a global reach and is entrenched in the lives of millions of people throughout the world, but the culture surrounding it is not as strong and never has been in the United States. Nonetheless, there is a recent emergence of American supporters groups that exhibit characteristics similar to those outside of the US. This ethnographic study focuses on one such group, the Timbers Army, to explore how they construct their own unique supporter identity and to understand how participants come to see the group relative to their understanding of the world at local and global levels. To explore …

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Biosynthesis Of Marineosin, A Spiroaminal Undecylprodiginine Natural Product, Shaimaa Mohamed Salem Jan 2012

Biosynthesis Of Marineosin, A Spiroaminal Undecylprodiginine Natural Product, Shaimaa Mohamed Salem

Dissertations and Theses

Marineosins A and B are two spiroaminal-ring containing tripyrrole compounds isolated from the marine actinomycete, Streptomyces CNQ-617, and were found to possess potent and selective cytotoxic activity against leukemia and melanoma. Marineosins belong to the prodiginines class of natural products, examples of which are undecylprodiginine and streptorubin B. Unlike marineosins, prodiginines structures are characterized by the presence of fully conjugated tripyrrole nucleus linked to an alkyl chain (that lacks any oxygen). Cyclic prodiginines arise from an oxidative cyclization of the alkyl chain onto the tripyrrole, a step catalyzed by Rieske-oxygenase like enzymes such as RedG. The biosynthesis of prodiginines is …

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Distributed Solar Photovoltaic Grid Integration System : A Case Study For Performance, Ming Shen Jan 2012

Distributed Solar Photovoltaic Grid Integration System : A Case Study For Performance, Ming Shen

Dissertations and Theses

The needs to the sustainable development of electricity, energy efficiency improvement, and environment pollution reduction have favored the development of distributed generation (DG). But the problems come with increasing DG penetration in distribution networks. This thesis presents the Solar Energy Grid Integration System (SEGIS) Stage III project done by Portland General Electric (PGE), Advanced Energy, Sandia National Lab on a PGE selected distribution feeder. The feeder has six monitored commercial solar PV systems connected. The total power output from the PV systems has the potential to reach 30% of the feeder load. The author analyzes the performance of the solar …

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Experimental Study Of Fault Cones And Fault Aliasing, Vedanth Bilagi Jan 2012

Experimental Study Of Fault Cones And Fault Aliasing, Vedanth Bilagi

Dissertations and Theses

The test of digital integrated circuits compares the test pattern results for the device under test (DUT) to the expected test pattern results of a standard reference. The standard response is typically obtained from simulations. The test pattern and response are created and evaluated assuming ideal test conditions. The standard response is normally stored within automated test equipment (ATE). However the use of ATE is the major contributor to the test cost. This thesis explores an alternative strategy to the standard response. As an alternative to the stored standard response, the response is estimated by fault tolerant technique. The purpose …

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Investigation Of Impedance Spectroscopy For Detection Of Ovarian Cancer, Allison Mae Whited Jan 2012

Investigation Of Impedance Spectroscopy For Detection Of Ovarian Cancer, Allison Mae Whited

Dissertations and Theses

Electronic biosensors utilizing micron-scale interdigitate electrodes (IDEs) in an SD card format have been developed with the objective of fast, sensitive detection of ovarian cancer biomarkers CA-125, CEA, and He4. The signal generated by the biosensors is a result of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), a technique which probes changes that occur in the biosensor's electrical properties when the biosensor has detected one of the target biomarkers. A label-free biosensor has been developed to detect CA-125 in spiked buffer at concentrations between 10 and 80units/mL. A similar label-free biosensor was developed to detect CEA at concentrations between 10ug/mL and 10mg/mL. A …

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Differential Susceptibility To Social Network Influences On School Motivation In A Cohort Of Sixth Graders, Justin William Vollet Jan 2012

Differential Susceptibility To Social Network Influences On School Motivation In A Cohort Of Sixth Graders, Justin William Vollet

Dissertations and Theses

Students' classroom engagement is a strong predictor of positive educational outcomes including academic achievement, GPA, and standardized test scores. Most existing research has focused on the role of quality parenting and teaching in the development of student engagement. However, some research has shown small, yet significant effects of influences from students' peer groups on the development of their engagement. The goal of this study was to explore whether some children are more susceptible to the effects of their peer groups, and to examine a series of possible factors that might amplify the influence of a target students peer group on …

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Evaluation Of Voltage Instability Countermeasures In Constrained Sub-Transmission Power Networks, Peter Gibson Jones Jan 2012

Evaluation Of Voltage Instability Countermeasures In Constrained Sub-Transmission Power Networks, Peter Gibson Jones

Dissertations and Theses

This paper investigates the various parameters that effect voltage stability in sub-transmission power networks. The paper first looks at contributions from equipment: generators, transmission lines, transformers, capacitors, SVCs and STATCOMs. The paper also looks at the effects of loads on voltage stability. Power flow solutions, PV and VQ curves are covered. The study models an existing voltage problem i.e., a long, radial, 115 kV sub-transmission network that serves a 65 MW load. The network model is simulated with the following voltage instability countermeasures: adding a capacitor, adding an SVC, adding a STATCOM, tying to a neighboring transmission system, adding generation …

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Extending Relativistic Programming To Multiple Writers, Philip William Howard Jan 2012

Extending Relativistic Programming To Multiple Writers, Philip William Howard

Dissertations and Theses

For software to take advantage of modern multicore processors, it must be safely concurrent and it must scale. Many techniques that allow safe concurrency do so at the expense of scalability. Coarse grain locking allows multiple threads to access common data safely, but not at the same time. Non-Blocking Synchronization and Transactional Memory techniques optimistically allow concurrency, but only for disjoint accesses and only at a high performance cost. Relativistic programming is a technique that allows low overhead readers and joint access parallelism between readers and writers. Most of the work on relativistic programming has assumed a single writer at …

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Digital Fabric, Sudheer Goshi Jan 2012

Digital Fabric, Sudheer Goshi

Dissertations and Theses

Continuing advances with VLSI have enabled engineers to build high performance computer systems to solve complex problems. The real-world problems and tasks like pattern recognition, speech recognition, etc. still remain elusive to the most advanced computer systems today. Many advances in the science of computer design and technology are coming together to enable the creation of the next-generation computing machines to solve real-world problems, which the human brain does with ease. One such engineering advance is the field of neuromorphic engineering, which tries to establish closer links to biology and help us investigate the problem of designing better computing machines. …

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A Data-Descriptive Feedback Framework For Data Stream Management Systems, Rafael J. Fernández Moctezuma Jan 2012

A Data-Descriptive Feedback Framework For Data Stream Management Systems, Rafael J. Fernández Moctezuma

Dissertations and Theses

Data Stream Management Systems (DSMSs) provide support for continuous query evaluation over data streams. Data streams provide processing challenges due to their unbounded nature and varying characteristics, such as rate and density fluctuations. DSMSs need to adapt stream processing to these changes within certain constraints, such as available computational resources and minimum latency requirements in producing results. The proposed research develops an inter-operator feedback framework, where opportunities for run-time adaptation of stream processing are expressed in terms of descriptions of substreams and actions applicable to the substreams, called feedback punctuations. Both the discovery of adaptation opportunities and the exploitation of …

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The Effects Of Temperature On The Dispersion And Reaggregation Stages Of Development In The Annual Killifish, Austrofundulus Limnaeus, Timothy Grant Cleaver Jan 2012

The Effects Of Temperature On The Dispersion And Reaggregation Stages Of Development In The Annual Killifish, Austrofundulus Limnaeus, Timothy Grant Cleaver

Dissertations and Theses

The dispersion and reaggreation [sic] stages have been described as a unique feature of embryonic development in annual killifish such as Austrofundulus limnaeus, a killifish that inhabits ephemeral ponds in the Maracaibo basin of Venezuela. These stages have previously been described as an atypical developmental progression in which blastomeres completely disperse on the surface of the yolk and then reaggregate into a mass of cells to form the embryo. Temperature affects the onset as well as the duration of this stage in related annual fishes. We have undertaken this study to show in detail the behavior of blastomere cells and …

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Building On The Strengths Of Indigenous Knowledge To Promote Sustainable Development In Crisis Conditions From The Community Level: The Case Of Palestine, Jehad Yousif Alayasa Jan 2012

Building On The Strengths Of Indigenous Knowledge To Promote Sustainable Development In Crisis Conditions From The Community Level: The Case Of Palestine, Jehad Yousif Alayasa

Dissertations and Theses

This study began focused on the use of traditional knowledge in promoting sustainable development in crisis conditions. Presented the question: How have successful community-level sustainable development efforts undertaken under crisis conditions drawn upon indigenous knowledge to achieve positive outcomes? The study is a cross case analysis. The three cases addressed in this study have explained some of the ways that indigenous knowledge has played significant positive roles in promoting sustainable development for communities living under crisis conditions in Palestine. Indigenous knowledge community based patterns indicated significant focus on strengths of local culture, social cohesion, the integration process, and special advantages …

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Apatite Crystal Populations Of The 1991 Mount Pinatubo Eruption, Philippines: Implications For The Generation Of High Sulfur Apatite In Silicic Melts, Ashley Elizabeth Van Hoose Jan 2012

Apatite Crystal Populations Of The 1991 Mount Pinatubo Eruption, Philippines: Implications For The Generation Of High Sulfur Apatite In Silicic Melts, Ashley Elizabeth Van Hoose

Dissertations and Theses

On June 15, 1991, Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, ejected 20 million tonnes of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, significantly impacting global climate and stratospheric ozone. Recharging basaltic magma mixed into the 50 km³ dacitic magma reservoir 6 to 11 km beneath Mount Pinatubo, and triggered the 1991 eruption. The result of the magma mixing was a hybrid andesite with quenched basalt inclusions that erupted as a dome between June 7 and June 12. On June 15, approximately 5 km³ of anhydrite-bearing magma was erupted from the main phenocryst-rich, dacitic reservoir. This study will utilize this extraordinary framework of the 1991 Pinatubo …

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The Link Between Image Segmentation And Image Recognition, Karan Sharma Jan 2012

The Link Between Image Segmentation And Image Recognition, Karan Sharma

Dissertations and Theses

A long standing debate in computer vision community concerns the link between segmentation and recognition. The question I am trying to answer here is, Does image segmentation as a preprocessing step help image recognition? In spite of a plethora of the literature to the contrary, some authors have suggested that recognition driven by high quality segmentation is the most promising approach in image recognition because the recognition system will see only the relevant features on the object and not see redundant features outside the object (Malisiewicz and Efros 2007; Rabinovich, Vedaldi, and Belongie 2007). This thesis explores the following question: …

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Figurative Language In The Immigration Debate: Comparing Early 20th Century And Current U.S. Debate With The Contemporary European Debate, Ensieh Biria Jan 2012

Figurative Language In The Immigration Debate: Comparing Early 20th Century And Current U.S. Debate With The Contemporary European Debate, Ensieh Biria

Dissertations and Theses

This study analyzes newspaper coverage of immigration reform in mainstream newspapers prior to, and following the debate in June 2007. The newspaper text is analyzed using metaphor interpretation supported by content analysis. The quantitative result categorizes the identified metaphors in three distinct metaphor categories about: immigrants and immigration, immigration policy and enforcement, and metaphors about the debate and immigration issue itself. The relative distribution of metaphors among categories is provided. Using an open coding process, emergent metaphor categories are identified. The qualitative findings describe metaphors and schemas that were potentially activated by particular metaphorical phrases in this context. Lastly, this …

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A Qualitative Study Of Language Beliefs And Linguistic Knowledge In Preservice Teachers Using The Intercultural Communicative Competence Framework, Kimberly K. Ilosvay Jan 2012

A Qualitative Study Of Language Beliefs And Linguistic Knowledge In Preservice Teachers Using The Intercultural Communicative Competence Framework, Kimberly K. Ilosvay

Dissertations and Theses

Since 1980, the number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home has increased by 140% (United States Census Bureau, 2010). Therefore a greater percentage of students now are multilingual. Throughout the world, multilingualism is considered the norm and monolingualism is the exception (Auer & Wei, 2008). In the United States, however, policies regarding instruction in schools are still influenced by monolingual ideology that carries expectations and assumptions of assimilation, loss of mother tongues, and defined hierarchical structures. As classroom populations become socially, ethnically, racially, and linguistically more diverse, it is increasingly important …

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Reflective Practice And Readiness For Self-Directed Learning In Anesthesiology Residents Training In The United States, Amy Katrina Miller Juve Jan 2012

Reflective Practice And Readiness For Self-Directed Learning In Anesthesiology Residents Training In The United States, Amy Katrina Miller Juve

Dissertations and Theses

The science and technology of medicine is evolving and changing at a fast pace. With these rapid advances, it is paramount that physicians maintain a level of medical knowledge that is current and relevant to their practice in order to address the challenges of patient care and safety. One way physicians can maintain a level of medical knowledge that is current and relevant to their practice is through self-directed, lifelong learning, however little is known about how to develop these traits during clinical training. Schön (1983, 1987) theorized that one way learners can become self-directed, lifelong learners is through reflective …

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Fostering Hope And Closing The Academic Gap: An Examination Of College Retention For African-American And Latino Students Who Participate In The Louis Stokes Alliance Minority Participation Program (Learning Community) While Enrolled In A Predominately White Institution, Aisha La'chae Hollands Jan 2012

Fostering Hope And Closing The Academic Gap: An Examination Of College Retention For African-American And Latino Students Who Participate In The Louis Stokes Alliance Minority Participation Program (Learning Community) While Enrolled In A Predominately White Institution, Aisha La'chae Hollands

Dissertations and Theses

Colleges are struggling to retain students of color at four-year academic institutions (Kuh, 2005). The result is that while African-American and Latino students are entering college, fewer successfully complete their programs of study and obtain an undergraduate degree (ACE, 2006). For this reason, institutions are establishing supportive learning communities to not only recruit, but to retain this population.Learning communities have become welcoming places in the academy, and are designed to help students succeed in college by providing a formative, integrated academic experience that builds strength, perspective, and commitment. Employing Vincent Tinto`s (1975) student integration theory as a conceptual framework, this …

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Examining Health Information Technology Implementations: Case Of The Patient-Centered Medical Home, Nima A. Behkami Jan 2012

Examining Health Information Technology Implementations: Case Of The Patient-Centered Medical Home, Nima A. Behkami

Dissertations and Theses

It has been shown that the use of Health Information Technology (HIT) is associated with reduced cost and increased quality of care. This dissertation examined the use of registries in Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) practices. A survey questionnaire was sent to a nationwide group of clinics certified for being a PCMH. They were asked to provide information about their payer mix, implementation barriers, registry implementation, registry use, and clinic satisfaction. The survey instrument was validated by an expert panel which included practitioners and researchers. Statistical methods including Structural Equation Modeling were used for analysis and to test the research …

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Conscientiousness As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Work Autonomy And Job Satisfaction, Kyle Garret Mack Jan 2012

Conscientiousness As A Moderator Of The Relationship Between Work Autonomy And Job Satisfaction, Kyle Garret Mack

Dissertations and Theses

Autonomy is one of the most commonly studied job characteristics in the work design literature and is commonly associated with large and positive effects on job satisfaction. There is reason to believe that autonomy may interact with personality characteristics to affect attitudinal outcomes, but prior research has tended to focus on the original growth-need-strength construct as a potential moderator with mixed results. One glaring gap in the literature is the lack of research that examines the Big Five constructs of personality as a potential class of moderators. Grant, Fried, and Juillerat (2010) have suggested additional research into the Big Five …

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