Digital Commons Network^™

Influence Of Nitrogen And Phosphorus On Ecosystem Co2 Exchange In A Restored Temperate Grassland, Lynn M. Socha

Biology Theses

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) affect the structure and function of grasslands by altering plant competitive interactions, shifting patterns of above- and belowground biomass allocation, and by increasing net primary production. However, the influence of N and P on net ecosystem productivity is poorly understood. In the context of a field-based factorial N- and P-addition experiment, I measured soil moisture, leaf area index and component fluxes of ecosystem CO₂ exchange throughout the growing season in a restored temperate grassland near Buffalo, New York. I predicted that N-addition would enhance ecosystem CO₂ uptake (GEE) while P-addition would stimulate ecosystem …

Beef Cattle Production: Understanding The Effect Of Heifer Development System, Late Gestation Protein Supplementation, And Ovarian Steroidogenic Environment On Productivity, Reproduction, And Longevity, Adam Summers

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Beef cattle longevity is related to reproductive success, which can be influenced by development system and maternal environment. Three experiments were conducted to determine the impact of development system, maternal protein supplementation, and ovarian steroidogenic environment on beef cattle reproduction. Experiment 1 evaluated the effect of heifer development system on heifer performance and reproduction. Heifers developed on corn residue (CR) had reduced BW from prebreeding through pregnancy diagnosis compared with drylot (DL) developed heifers, but there was no difference in reproductive performance. A subset DL and CR heifers were placed in an individual feeding system to …

Impact Of Physical Activity On Postprandial Lipidemia And Glycemic Control After Chronic Fructose Ingestion, Amy J. Bidwell

Exercise Science - Dissertations

PURPOSE: The overall aim of this study was to examine the effects of a high-fructose diet on postprandial lipemia and hormones associated with glucose control during periods of altered physical activity. METHODS: Twenty-two recreationally active males and females participated in this randomized, cross-over design study (age: 21.2 ± 0.6 years; BMI: 22.6 ± 0.6 kg/m²). Subjects ingested 75 g of fructose for 14 days during a period of high physical activity (FR+Active) (>12,500 steps/day) and a period of low physical activity (FR+Inactive) (<4500 steps/day). Prior to and following the 2 wk loading period, a fructose-rich meal challenge was administered (45% carbohydrate [25% fructose], 40% fat, and 15% protein). Blood was sampled at baseline and for 6 h after the meal and analyzed for triglycerides (TG), very-low density lipoproteins (VLDL), c-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), interleukin-6 (IL-6), glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), glucose-dependent insulinotropic peptide (GIP), …

Message From The State: Uncovering Effects Of Public Policy On Women's Movements In Chile And The Czech Republic, Petra Hejnova

Political Science - Dissertations

This study relies on the cases of the Czech Republic and Chile to examine the ways in which state policies affect women's movements' emergence under both authoritarian and democratic political regimes. As such, this dissertation provides some important clues into how citizens' experience with certain policies enhances or delimits their future political action, and how it affects their beliefs and attitudes. Gaining a better understanding about the relationship between policies and civic participation is particularly important in the case of young democracies, which are trying to overcome their authoritarian past, and whose new democratic political regimes are in some instances …

Lesbians And Their Mothers: A Taiwanese Experience, Meng-Ning Wang

Marriage and Family Therapy - Dissertations

Many studies, both in the United States and in Taiwan, have explored how the coming-out experience influenced LGBT individuals and their families, and some studies have also addressed how their familial relationships have been shaped because of the experience. As a Taiwanese who has studied family therapy in the United States, my personal experience as well as research and professional interest brought me to conduct this qualitative study focusing on the experience of coming out in mother-daughter relationships in Taiwan. Nine dyads of mothers and daughters were interviewed and provided their retrospective accounts of their experience of disclosure and how …

Facebook Ruined My Marriage: Digital Intimacy Interference On Social Networking Sites, Lynessa Marie Williams

Media Studies - Theses

This study employed a mixed method approach to understand how Facebook interferes with romantic relationships. The methods included a qualitative textual analysis of 53 Facebook interest groups about marriage dissolution as a result of Facebook. The text consisted primarily of wall comments. However, images, links, and Facebook likes were also analyzed. Concepts were organized into themes that detailed how Facebook contributes to computer-mediated relationship dissolution, a concept dubbed digital intimacy interference (DII). The textual analysis also unveiled how and why individuals use Facebook groups to discuss DII. The textual analysis was then used to inform a quantitative study of individuals' …

Parenting Blog Coverage Of The Autism-Vaccine Controversy, Aidan Bryant

Media Studies - Theses

This study examines source type, citation accuracy, and anecdotal reliance in parenting blog articles about the autism/vaccine controversy. Existing literature on common errors and shortcomings of traditional health journalism, in conjunction with existing guidelines and suggestions for optimal health journalism practices, were used to synthesize a content analysis code structure. The code structure was used to examine 122 parenting blog posts from 18 different blogs, spanning a time period from June 22, 2005 to January 9, 2012, for details including the following:

• author demographics (gender, profession, parenthood, vaccination patterns)

• type of blog the article appeared in

• author stance of the …

Pocket Full Of Jesus: Evangelical Christians' Use Of Religious Iphone Applications, Wendi R. Bellar

Media Studies - Theses

Mobile phone applications are providing users many different choices in how they go about their everyday lives, including their spiritual lives. This research explores the factors Evangelical Christians consider when choosing an app, how they actually use the app, and how their app expectations compare with their app experience. Modified diary reports, using the iPhone Voice Memo app, and in-depth interviews were used in order to examine the research questions. The Uses and Gratifications theory, as well as the Religious Social Shaping of Technology theory, were used as lenses for the study. After navigating the process of finding an appropriate …

Nationalism On The Net: Exploring The Ideology Of India's Bharatiya Janata Party, Adrienne Lee Atterberry

Media Studies - Theses

India’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) created the first political website in India during the year 1998 and continues to maintain an active online presence. The two most popular places for computer and Internet usage are college campuses and offices--places frequented by members of India’s growing middle class. As the BJP’s supporters have traditionally come from middle-class, upper-caste social backgrounds, this group has particular importance to the BJP’s political success, thus the BJP’s online publications may establish hegemony of the middle class and its ideals. For these reasons, studying the BJP’s online group-identity and political message has salience.

May 2004 to …

Harmonizing Equitable Exceptions: Why Courts Should Recognize An “Actual Innocence” Exception To The Aedpa’S Statute Of Limitations, Morgan Suder

San Diego Law Review

This Comment argues that to neutralize this potential inequality, the Supreme Court should affirm the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision in Lee v. Lampert, finding that a credible claim of actual innocence constitutes an equitable exception to the AEDPA’s one-year statute of limitations period. District courts must be able to call on their equitable powers, including both equitable principles already applied to the AEDPA’s statute of limitations as well as the actual innocence exception, in determining whether a district court may consider the merits of a criminal defendant’s otherwise untimely habeas petition.

Part II discusses the role of federal habeas corpus …

The Impact Of Genetic Background On Body Temperature Regulation In Beef Cattle During Periods Of Heat And Cold Stress, Jeremy T. Howard

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cattle are reared in environments that differ and vary greatly in climate, thus the ability to regulate body temperature across multiple environments is essential. However, inherent differences between animals do exist and can influence their response to extreme temperatures. The objectives of the current study were to model the impact of myostatin genotype (MG) on body temperature during heat and cold stress and conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to better understand the genetic basis of body temperature regulation during extreme temperatures.

Crossbred steers and heifers (n= 239) with varying degrees of Piedmontese influence were fed in four groups over …

Spoilage Of Wet Distillers' Grains Plus Solubles When Stored In A Bunker, Jana L. Harding

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Five studies evaluated the impact of spoilage of wet distillers grains plus solubles (WDGS) on nutrient composition, nutrient losses, and cattle performance. Exp. 1 and Exp. 2 utilized barrels to evaluate the ability of various cover treatments to prevent nutrient changes and losses due to spoilage. In Exp. 3, a 140-d barrel study was conducted to mimic bunker storage under ambient temperature but with no precipitation. Barrels were weighed and sampled on 28 day intervals. In Exp. 4, a 130-d finishing study utilized 60 individually-fed steers fed 3 treatments: a dry-rolled corn based diet (control) and 2 diets containing 40% …

Efficacy Of An Expectancy Challenge To Reduce Non-Prescribed Use Of Stimulant Medications Among College Students, Allison Kathryn Labbe

Psychology - Dissertations

Non-prescribed use of stimulant medications among college students, such as Ritalin®, and Adderall®, has become a public health concern. Expectancies, which are beliefs that individuals hold regarding the consequences of engaging in a particular behavior, are known to play a prominent role in the initiation and maintenance of alcohol and drug use. This study had two aims: (1) to determine if an expectancy challenge could reduce participants' academic performance expectancies related to non-prescribed use of stimulant mediations, and (2) to determine if change in expectancies mediates consumption of the drug. Seventy-eight undergraduate students were randomized to either the expectancy challenge …

Obesity Indices And Cognitive Function In Veterans, Kristin Macgregor

Psychology - Dissertations

Obesity is linked to many chronic health conditions and middle-aged obesity is associated with later-life dementia. Obesity rates in veterans are higher than in the civilian population. Research examining body mass index (BMI) and cognitive function has demonstrated that young to middle-aged obese adults consistently demonstrate deficits in memory and executive function. Waist circumference (WC) is another measure of obesity that has been investigated as it relates to cognitive function; however, a clear pattern of deficit has not yet emerged. This study's purpose was to investigate the relationship among BMI, WC, and cognitive function in male veterans aged 18-55. One …

The Relationship Between Foundations And Principles In Ip Law, Robert P. Merges

San Diego Law Review

In my book Justifying Intellectual Property (JIP), I wrote about what I call the “foundations” of the field of intellectual property (IP) law. I tried to distinguish between a foundational level of discourse and another level, the level of basic principles. In the San Diego conference at which my book was discussed—and in several other settings as well—the most frequent and persistent line of questioning about my book centered on the relationship between these two levels. That is what this brief Article is about.

Managing The Intellectual Property Sprawl, Shubha Ghosh

San Diego Law Review

Professor Merges, despite the centrality of creative persons to his argument, organizes a set of ideas that are conducive to refocusing intellectual property law on users. I present this user-focused argument in this Article through the following five Parts. Part II explains my suggested approach to questions about the design of intellectual property law—an approach based on the new institutional economics and the work of Ronald Coase. Part II also addresses objections to this approach. Part III identifies the user in Professor Merges’s high-level principles grounded in Locke, Kant, and Rawls. Part IV follows this argument with a closer examination …

The Rhetoric Of Mom Blogs: A Study Of Mothering Made Public, Madeline Yonker

Writing Program – Dissertations

This dissertation examines the phenomenon of mom blogs to determine their handling of conventional motherhood and the rhetorical nature of their discourse. Unlike other prior studies of blogs and specifically of mom blogs, the dissertation examines both the blog entries themselves and the many comments such entries generate from readers.

In addition, it seeks to determine the values and rhetorical practices of any community that might be established through such blog commenting. To accomplish these aims, the dissertation focuses on the entries and comments from three particular blogs chosen to represent the network of mom bloggers.

The commonplaces or ideals …

Returning The Commons: Resource Access And Environmental Governance In San Luis, Colorado, Keith Lindner

Geography and the Environment - Dissertations

In Lobato v. Taylor (2002) the Colorado Supreme Court awarded Hispano heirs to the 1843 Mexican-era Sangre de Cristo Land Grant returned access to formerly communal land known as La Sierra, the Taylor Ranch, or today Cielo Vista Ranch. The 77,000 acre parcel of mountainous land remains privately owned, yet through Lobato over 4,000 individuals have been awarded legal rights to access the land for the "reasonable use" of pastures and forests for grazing, firewood, and timber. Based on roughly 15 months of ethnographic research in collaboration with the Land Rights Council and based in San Luis, CO, this dissertation …

Producing Edge City: Publics, Perceptions, And The Right To Life On The New Frontier, Ben Alan Gerlofs

Geography and the Environment - Theses

This thesis explores Oak Brook, IL, an edge city (Garreau 1991) in the western suburbs of Chicago. A number of authors have advanced criticisms of edge cities (Beauregard 1995; Marcuse 1997), including that they are particularly exploitative and exclusionary. Some authors have claimed that edge cities are a "new frontier" (Garreau 1991), while others suggest that they are nothing new at all (Walker 1994). I address these concerns by way of an in-depth engagement with Oak Brook, Chicago's truest edge city. I ultimately argue that while edge cities have unique characteristics, they are part of a long heritage of capitalist …

Environmental Triggers Of Winter Annual Weed Emergence And Management To Reduce Soybean Cyst Nematode Reproduction On Winter Annual Weed Hosts, Rodrigo Werle

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Winter annual weeds are becoming more common in many row crop fields in the midwestern USA. The impact of winter annual weeds in cropping systems is often overlooked because these weeds complete their lifecycle near the time of crop sowing. However, delayed soil warming, competition for nutrients during initial establishment of the main crop, difficult planting operations, and yield loss are some of the problems caused by dense mats of winter annual weeds. Moreover, some of these weeds have been reported as alternative hosts for pests such as the soybean cyst nematode (Heterodera glycines, SCN), considered the most …

The Effect Of Design Teams On Preservice Teachers' Technology Integration, Laurene Johnson

Instructional Design, Development and Evaluation - Dissertations

This study examined the effect of a specific instructional approach called design teams on preservice teachers' attitudes toward technology, their technology skills, and their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK). In a design teams approach, participants work in collaborative teams to design solutions to solve real-world problems. This quasi-experimental study explored the efficacy of an educational technology course implemented with a design teams approach compared to the same course that utilized a standard instructional approach. The sample included 53 preservice teachers from one university majoring in either Early Childhood Inclusive or Elementary Inclusive Education. Preservice teachers in the treatment condition worked …

Discrete Sparse Fourier Hermite Approximations In High Dimensions, Ashley Prater

Mathematics - Dissertations

In this dissertation, the discrete sparse Fourier Hermite approximation of a function in a specified Hilbert space of arbitrary dimension is defined, and theoretical error bounds of the numerically computed approximation are proven. Computing the Fourier Hermite approximation in high dimensions suffers from the well-known curse of dimensionality. In short, as the ambient dimension increases, the complexity of the problem grows until it is impossible to numerically compute a solution. To circumvent this difficulty, a sparse, hyperbolic cross shaped set, that takes advantage of the natural decaying nature of the Fourier Hermite coefficients, is used to serve as an index …

Building Envelope Wind Pressure Manipulation For Application In Streamlined High-Rise Buildings, Sivaramprasad Sivakumar

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering - Dissertations

This research investigates methods of manipulating building envelope wind pressure distribution for application in the natural ventilation of high-rise buildings. CFD simulations are employed to predict the wind pressure distribution around the building envelope. First, a 2-D CFD study is conducted to explore various techniques of manipulating the building envelope wind pressure distribution. This study indicates that the use of externally mounted flow-resistance devices is an effective method of manipulating the wind pressure distribution. It is demonstrated that this technique is well suited for application to buildings of streamlined cross-section (e.g. elliptical planform). Next, a 3-D CFD study is conducted …

Characterization Of Polyacrylonitrile Carbon Fibers, Christian Burke Iversen

Biomedical and Chemical Engineering – Theses

Carbon fiber composites are a widely used, advanced material with exceedingly high strength to weight properties. In this thesis, a literature overview of carbon fiber manufacturing was provided, as well as a thorough analysis of in- house electrospun polyacrylonitrile fiber stabilization and surface modification of the resulting carbon fibers. In the first section, an overview of precursor fiber fabrication is provided, followed by an analysis of stabilization using surface and bulk composition, dimensional analysis, and functional group analysis via FTIR. The second section uses the current stabilization procedure to develop carbon nanofibers. Fibers first underwent a nitric acid oxidation time …

Nucleophilic Carbon-Carbon Bond-Forming Reactions Of 2-Methylenetetrahydropyrans, Laura Jean Bateman

Chemistry - Dissertations

Reactions with 2-methylenetetrahydropyrans are underutilized in the literature, especially with respect to general methods demonstrating their nucleophilic nature. This work provides three general methods toward the synthesis of 2-β-oxygenated pyranyl substrates, which are key structural components of many biologically active polyketides and natural products.

The use of exocyclic enol ethers as nucleophiles was first demonstrated as a general process in three-component coupling reactions with secondary nucleophiles. The 2-β-hydroxy tetrahydropyran products were obtained in good to excellent yields through promotion with stoichiometric levels of titanium(IV) chloride at reduced temperatures. Only activated aldehydes or ketones worked as efficient coupling partners for this …

Synthesis, Design, And Biological Evaluation Of Inhibitors And Activators Of Src Homology 2 Domain-Containing Inositol Phosphatase (Ship) And Synthetic Studies Of Apicularen A And Maoecrystal V, Dennis Racca Viernes

Chemistry - Dissertations

This dissertation involves work both on the syntheses of small molecules with potential therapeutic applications and synthetic studies on natural products with unusual core skeletons.

The first part of this work involves the synthesis, design, and biological evaluation of aminosteroids as inhibitors for the SH2-containing inositol phosphatase 1 (SHIP1). SHIP1, a 145 kDa protein, is involved in regulating the formation of new blood cells. High- throughput screening identified several SHIP inhibitors including NSC23922, a mixture of 3a- and 3β-aminocholestane. Both 3a- and 3β-aminocholestane were synthesized from dihdyrocholesterol and the 3a- form was verified as …

The Path To An Orally Administered Protein Therapeutic For The Treatment Of Diabetes Mellitus, Susan Clardy James

Chemistry - Dissertations

Protein therapeutics like insulin and glucagon-like peptide-1 analogues are currently used as injectable medications for the treatment of diabetes mellitus. An orally administered protein therapeutic is predicted to increase patient adherence to medication and bring a patient closer to metabolic norms through direct effects on hepatic glucose production. The major problem facing oral delivery of protein therapeutics is gastrointestinal tract hydrolysis/proteolysis and the inability to passage the enterocyte. Herein we report the potential use of vitamin B₁₂ for the oral delivery of protein therapeutics.

We first investigated the ability of insulin to accommodate the attachment of B₁₂ at …

Dynamic Thermal Management For Microprocessors, Yang Ge

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Dissertations

In deep submicron era, thermal hot spots and large temperature gradients significantly impact system reliability, performance, cost and leakage power. Dynamic thermal management techniques are designed to tackle the problems and control the chip temperature as well as power consumption. They refer to those techniques which enable the chip to autonomously modify the task execution and power dissipation characteristics so that lower-cost cooling solutions could be adopted while still guaranteeing safe temperature regulation. As long as the temperature is regulated, the system reliability can be improved, leakage power can be reduced and cooling system lifetime can be extended significantly.

Multimedia …

Method Of Moments Analysis Of An Aperture In A Thick Ground Plane, Ahmet Burak Olcen

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science - Dissertations

The problem of electromagnetic scattering from and transmission through an arbitrarily shaped aperture is considered. The aperture is in a thick infinite perfectly conducting ground plane. The conducting walls of the cavity inside the ground plane are of arbitrary shape. The apertures at both ends of the cavity are also of arbitrary shape. The structure is illuminated by an incident plane electromagnetic wave. The Green's function for this complicated problem is almost impossible to determine. Therefore the surface equivalence principle is used to reduce this complex problem into three simpler ones. Each such problem consists of equivalent surface currents radiating …

From Practice To Theory: An Exploratory Research Study Of The Relevance Of Museum Studies Curriculum To Museum Professionals, Redell Renetta Hearn

Dissertations - Open Access

This exploratory study provides a comprehensive description of the museum profession and focuses particularly on museum studies curriculum. The purpose of this research is to investigate museum studies curriculum and its relevance to the museum profession in order to determine whether or not museum studies curriculum is capable of providing the foundation of a standard academic discipline for museum professionals. A survey of museum professionals assessed their attitudes about museum studies curriculum and the extent to which museum studies curriculum "matters" to continuing education for current museum professionals and as an academic discipline for prospective museum professionals.