Digital Commons Network^™

Multicultural Efficacy Among White Resident Hall Directors: Predicting White Privilege Attitudes, Sarah Jo Szerlong

Theses and Dissertations

This study contributed to the expanding field of research examining the various aspects of White privilege attitudes. This study extended White privilege research by incorporating the predictive relationships of multicultural efficacy, multicultural empathy, multicultural experience, and multicultural training in assessing White privilege attitudes among a sample of White resident hall directors (N =206). Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used in the current study to examine the mediating effect of multicultural efficacy on White privilege attitudes measured by the White Privilege Attitude Scale, Psychosocial Costs of Racism to Whites, and Color Blind Racial Attitudes Scale. Goodness of fit was not found …

Emerging Adults In College: Assessing Expectations And Perceptions, Diane J. Wolter

Theses and Dissertations

This study uses qualitative methods to investigate the expectations and perceptions of freshmen at a regional university. Research suggests that stratification in American higher education has resulted in differing student populations at different types of institutions, and that regional universities and their students are underrepresented in the literature. The study examines the utility of Arnett's emerging adults model to describe how freshmen at a regional university perceive the role of college in their lives. Application of metaphor theory reveals that students view college as either a commodity to be exchanged for a desired future outcome, or as one of a …

Mental Health And Social Engagement Among American Indian Elders, Twyla Beth Baker-Demaray

Theses and Dissertations

Elderly American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) in the United States are increasing in number, and with their increase come a greater need for quality, culturally sensitive long term care. Mental health is one facet of overall health that is little explored for this particular population. Social engagement has been shown to be a protective factor for depressive symptoms amongst mainstream elder populations. This study looked at data from a nationwide AI/AN elder needs assessment. The purposes of this study were threefold. First, the data were analyzed to describe the characteristics of the study population. Second, a regression analysis was …

Community College Faculty Satisfaction Teaching Online: Does Using Prepared Curriculum Materials Matter?, Ryan Michael Long Brovold

Theses and Dissertations

Community colleges are offering online coursework at a rapidly increasing rate; however, the growth of online coursework is not the result of new enrollments, but rather currently enrolled students' shifting from a face-to-face modality to an online modality. This shift presents some challenges because previous studies of college faculty satisfaction regarding online teaching have indicated that faculty members (faculty) are frustrated, particularly with two primary issues: the technology used to teach online and the time it takes to develop and administer an online class. Nonetheless, community college faculty are increasingly expected to teach online classes in spite of the previous …

Analysis Of The Role Of Amphetamine In The Induction Of Changes In Histone Modifications Of Dopaminergic Pathway Genes, Amritendu Chakraborty

Theses and Dissertations

Amphetamine and cocaine has long been known as drug of abuse. These drugs impart their physiological manifestations by regulating the reward circuitry of the brain which is controlled primarily by the dopaminergic pathway where they control the release of dopamine. It has been found that repeated cocaine administration changes histone acetylation patterns at the promoter sequences of several important genes. Sirtuin proteins are histone deactylases that regulate important biological functions have also been found to be elevated in the nucleus accumbens after cocaine administration. Although there have been several studies that have tried to elucidate the mode of action of …

Tools For School: Student Fluency And Perception Of Cell Phones Used For Learning, Mary Beth Humble-Thaden

Theses and Dissertations

Technology is changing the way society interacts, communicates, collaborates, and learns. Improved cell phone capabilities and an ever increasing amount of cell phone applications allow individuals to connect globally and afford almost instantaneous access to information inside and outside the classroom. The majority of students today possesses and uses cell phones and cell phone technology in most every aspect of their daily lives. Most schools enforce current policies banning cell phone use within classrooms during the school day.

The purpose of this study was to investigate current high school junior and senior academic standing students' mobile cell phone technology use, …

Tornadogenesis And Tornadogenesis Failure In Numerically Simulated Supercells, Jason Naylor

Theses and Dissertations

Simulations were performed in an idealized cloud model to study the processes responsible for tornadogenesis and tornadogenesis failure. The simulations were initialized with supercell proximity soundings taken from the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) model. Because of the large number of simulations performed, several objective techniques were developed and tested to assist in the simulations--including automated supercell and tornado detection. In addition, the vast majority of the RUC soundings contained capping inversions, and thus the traditional `warm bubble' convective initiation technique was unsuccessful. A new sustained convective initiation technique was tested to determine which configuration produced the strongest, longest-lived supercells.

Twenty-one …

Fatigue Behavior Of Continuous Fiber-Reinforced Composite Beams, Mahsud Reimbayev

Theses and Dissertations

A study has been taken to evaluate the fatigue behavior of glass fiber-reinforced composite beams. Due to their highly anisotropic properties, composite beams have different failure modes at different stages of fatigue life. The results of the four-point bending fatigue tests show that the material follows different failure mechanisms depending on the stress level applied to the beam and failure mode changes from compressive failure at high stresses to tensile failure at low stresses. Accordingly, the "stress vs. number of cycles" curve has different slopes at high and low cycle fatigue regions. Two different fatigue damage models, which are used …

Theoretical Circular Dichroism Of Lysozyme, Myoglobin And Collagen And Experimental Circular Dichroism Of Myoglobin And Pea Lectin, Boris Anyangwa Sango

Theses and Dissertations

The need to understand protein structure and interaction is ever-growing and this has led to scientist and investigators utilizing numerous different techniques in order to obtain substantial insights and explanation to these structures and their interactions. Circular dichroism (CD), which is one of these techniques, is a powerful structural biology technique used to study protein and nucleic acid structures and their dynamics. This technique is important because it identifies the secondary, tertiary and even quaternary structures in proteins and can be used to study folding patterns in proteins. Theoretical and experimental methods are used to better understand and teach the …

Sex Determination And Differentiation In The Common Snapping Turtle - A Reptile With Temperature-Dependent Sex Determination, Anthony Loren Schroeder

Theses and Dissertations

Temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD) was first discovered in an African lizard over 40 years ago. TSD has since been shown to be exhibited by many vertebrates including some fish and amphibians, numerous lizards, turtles, and all crocodilians studied to date. Although numerous questions surround TSD, a major question focuses on understanding the genetic, physiological and molecular mechanisms underlying this process. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying TSD are not well known and the gene(s) that transduces a signal for ovary or testis development is not known in any species. Furthermore, it is well established that sex steroid hormones, androgens and estrogens, …

Evaluation Of Thermophysical Properties, Friction Factor And Heat Transfer Of Alumina Nanofluid Flow In Tubes, Sanjib Tiwari

Theses and Dissertations

Various thermophysical properties, fluid flow parameter and heat transfer characteristics were measured for nanofluid with 6% volume concentration of solid Al2O3 nanoparticles in water. Thermal conductivity measurements showed that there is a definite enhancement in thermal conductivity of the nanofluid compared to that of water. At 7°C, the enhancement was 16% which decreased to 6.96% at 50°C.

The viscosity measurements of the 6% volume concentration Al2O3/water nanofluid showed that its viscosity is higher by a factor of 1.25 to 10.24 than the viscosity of water. Also the measurements of the viscosity of different volume concentration of Al2O3/water nanofluid showed that, …

The Effects Of Vibration Exercise On Anaerobic Performance Using The Wingate Test, Daniel Duane Veith

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to investigate whole-body vibration (WBV) and its effects on anaerobic performance using the Wingate test, specifically the changes in peak and mean power. Thirty five collegiate students completed three days of training in which they performed 3 different weighted exercises under vibratory or non-vibratory conditions. Participants then performed a Wingate. Two 2 x 2 mixed-design ANOVAs were used to examine the influence of the independent variables of sex, protocol, and order on peak and mean power output (SPSS 18.0; p ≤ 0.05). Results indicated a significant main effect of sex in regards to peak …

A High Energy X-Ray Diffraction Investigation Of Sodium Phosphate Glasses Doped With Less Than 5 Mol% Praseodymium Oxides, Kailing Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Rare earth phosphate glasses (REPGs) are excellent materials for high energy (103 - 106 J) / high peak power ( 1012 - 1015 W) lasers. Previous work of the rare earth doped sodium phosphate glasses with compositions (R₂O₃)_x(Na₂O)_y(P₂O₅)_1-x-y where R= Nd, Eu and Dy, 0.04 < x < 0.13 showed that the intensity of the emission spectra increases with decreasing R₂O₃ content. In this study, praseodymium doped sodium phosphate glasses with even lower praseodymium oxide concentrations, (Pr₂O₃)_x(Na₂O)_yP₂O₅)_1-x-y , where 0.005 < x < 0.05 were processed and characterized focusing on the region where the lasing efficiency is possibly going to peak. Emission spectra for the glass samples were measured to study how the florescence efficiency change with Pr3+ concentration. High Energy X-ray diffraction technique was used to study the atomic-scale structure of the rare-earth doped sodium phosphate glass samples. Structural features such as inter-atomic distances, coordination numbers and their dependence on the concentration of the rare earth oxides were gained from analyzing pair distribution functions extracted from diffraction data.

Independent Dominating Sets In Triangle-Free Graphs, Wayne Goddard, Jeremy Lyle

Faculty Publications

The independent domination number of a graph is the smallest cardinality of an independent set that dominates the graph. In this paper we consider the independent domination number of triangle-free graphs. We improve several of the known bounds as a function of the order and minimum degree, thereby answering conjectures of Haviland.

Willingness To Use Adhd Treatments: A Mixed Methods Study Of Perceptions By Adolescents, Parents, Health Professionals And Teachers, Regina Bussing, Mirka Koro-Ljungberg, Kenji Noguchi, Dana Mason, Gillian Mayerson, Cynthia W. Garvan

Faculty Publications

Little is known about factors that influence willingness to engage in treatment for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). From 2007 to 2008, in the context of a longitudinal study assessing ADHD detection and service use in the United States, we simultaneously elicited ADHD treatment perceptions from four stakeholder groups: adolescents, parents, health care professionals and teachers. We assessed their willingness to use ADHD interventions and views of potential undesirable effects of two pharmacological (short- and long-acting ADHD medications) and three psychosocial (ADHD education, behavior therapy, and counseling) treatments. In multiple regression analysis, willingness was found to be significantly related to respondent …

A Review Of "The Reformation Of The Landscape: Religion, Identity, & Memory In Early Modern Britain And Ireland" By Alexandra Walsham, Nicolle M. Jordan

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Appraisal Investigation Alternative Water Supply For Langdon Rural Water District, Geoffrey Brian Slick

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Weathering Of Oil After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Insights From The Chemical Composition Of The Oil From The Sea Surface, Salt Marshes And Sediments, Zhanfei Liu, Jiqing Liu, Qingzhi Zhu, Wei Wu

Faculty Publications

The oil released during the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill may have both short- and long-time impacts on the northern Gulf of Mexico ecosystems. An understanding of how the composition and concentration of the oil are altered by weathering, including chemical, physical and biological processes, is needed to evaluate the oil toxicity and impact on the ecosystem in the northern Gulf of Mexico. This study examined petroleum hydrocarbons in oil mousse collected from the sea surface and salt marshes, and in oil deposited in sediments adjacent to the wellhead after the DWH oil spill. Oil mousses were collected …

Osteochondral Tissue Engineering: Scaffolds, Stem Cells And Applications., Patcharakamon Nooeaid, Vehid Salih, Justus P. Beier, Aldo R. Boccaccini

Peninsula Dental School

Osteochondral tissue engineering has shown an increasing development to provide suitable strategies for the regeneration of damaged cartilage and underlying subchondral bone tissue. For reasons of the limitation in the capacity of articular cartilage to self-repair, it is essential to develop approaches based on suitable scaffolds made of appropriate engineered biomaterials. The combination of biodegradable polymers and bioactive ceramics in a variety of composite structures is promising in this area, whereby the fabrication methods, associated cells and signalling factors determine the success of the strategies. The objective of this review is to present and discuss approaches being proposed in osteochondral …