Digital Commons Network^™

Caveolins And Njks Influence Brain Endothelial Permeability After Juvenile Tbi, David Olufemi Ajao

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Disruption of blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a key secondary event that exacerbates brain damage following traumatic brain injury (TBI). BBB disruption is particularly damaging to the developing brain – which is highly vulnerable to various stress stimuli, resulting in increased brain swelling, disrupted cerebral blood flow (CBF) autoregulation, long-term disabilities and death following TBI in young demographic. Unsurprisingly, BBB disruption and the resultant cerebral edema have emerged as therapeutic targets in juvenile TBI. It is therefore important to understand the molecular players and mechanisms involved in TBI-induced BBB disruption in the juvenile brain. To this end, the endothelial caveolins and …

Predictors Of Addiction Treatment Attrition, Suranee Abeyesinhe

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 23.5 million persons aged 12 or older needed treatment for an illicit drug or alcohol abuse problem in 2009 (9.3 percent of persons aged 12 or older). Unfortunately, addiction treatment completion rates remain relatively low, looming around 50%. In order for treatment programs to be more effective, it is imperative that risk factors for attrition are identified, and that programs strive to combat these risks through personalized engagement and individually tailored treatment programs. This study aims to identify specific risk factors for …

Family Support: A Buffer For Parenting Stress Among Ethnic Minority Parents Of Children With Dd, Susanna Luu

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Adapting to a new culture is a stressful experience for some ethnic minorities. Lower acculturation in ethnic minorities is related to high levels of stress. Parents of children with developmental delays (DD) typically experience high levels of stress, particularly parenting stress. Therefore, ethnic minority families of children with development delays may be at risk for especially high levels of parenting stress due to the additive stress of adapting to a new culture. Currently, there is uncertainty within the field about the relationship between acculturation and parenting stress given that studies have found both low and high levels of acculturation to …

Student Healthcare Providers' Illness Narratives: Impact On Family-Focused Care, Lindsey Ann Lawson

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

In this study, we interviewed 30 students training for three areas of healthcare: medicine, nursing, and medical family therapy (MedFT). Through grounded theory analysis of these interviews, we looked to understand how these providers connected their own experiences with illness to their clinical work, particularly in including patients’ family members in care. The majority of participants, and especially those in medicine and nursing disciplines, described a tension between their desire to connect with patients and families and their developing definition of professionalism. For others, the impact of students’ personal experiences with illness seemed to provide a different definition of professionalism, …

Exploiting Contextual Information For Prosodic Event Detection Using Auto-Context, Junhong Zhao, Wei-Qiang Zhang, Hua Yang, Michael T. Johnson, Jia Liu, Shanhong Xia

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Prosody and prosodic boundaries carry significant information regarding linguistics and paralinguistics and are important aspects of speech. In the field of prosodic event detection, many local acoustic features have been investigated; however, contextual information has not yet been thoroughly exploited. The most difficult aspect of this lies in learning the long-distance contextual dependencies effectively and efficiently. To address this problem, we introduce the use of an algorithm called auto-context. In this algorithm, a classifier is first trained based on a set of local acoustic features, after which the generated probabilities are used along with the local features as contextual information …

Achieving The Dream: Extending Immigration Reform To Administrative Case Closure, Tory E. Smith

San Diego Law Review

This Comment compares DACA to administrative case closure and argues that Congress or the President should grant employment authorization to individuals whose cases have been administratively closed. Part I describes the current interpretation of the employment authorization regulation and provides the background of administrative case closure. Part I highlights the disparate treatment that the regulation affords to undocumented immigrants facing deferred action and administrative closure—offering employment authorization to only deferred action recipients. Part II examines the history of deferred action in immigration cases and uses DACA as a framework to show how the scope of the employment authorization regulation should …

Adjust Decision-Making Targets Based On Psychological Thresholds, Jian Liu, Shun Xiang Wu, Si Feng Liu, Qiao Wang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper study the impact of psychological thresholds (PTs) on the decision maker's (DM's) decision target when making decision. A new approach of decision making is proposed in this paper. First, we construct criterion expected functions according to three different types of criteria: profit type, cost-type and intermediate-type, respectively. Then, we calculate the local degree of satisfaction (LDS) of each object when PTs exists, in order to adjust the initial decision target to make up new decision table. Later, by weighting the criteria reaching the DM's degree of satisfaction (DS) along with information aggregation algorithm, we obtain the overall satisfaction …

Understanding The Attitude-Behavior Gap For Renewable Energy Systems Using Behavioral Reasoning Theory, Marius Claudy, Mark Peterson, Aidan O'Driscoll

Articles

Consumer adoption of renewable energies is an important step towards less carbon-intensive and more sustainable energy systems. But despite growing ecological awareness and articulated preferences for green products, renewable energies face slow rates of diffusion in consumer markets. This has been hard to explain given consumers’ favorability to the concept of products that lower one’s impact on the natural environment. This study uses data from 254 homeowners in Ireland to investigate the psychological process of adopting a renewable energy system – solar energy panels. Applying Behavioral Reasoning Theory (BRT), this research examines a proposed model in which reasons both for …

An Examination Of Referral And Eventual Placement Of African American Students And English Language Learners In Special Education, Eneas Ruel Deveaux

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors that educators in a large, suburban, public school district in the southeastern United States believe contribute to African American and English Language Learners (ELL) being referred to special education at a higher rate than traditional students by exploring the attitudes and perceptions of teachers, administrators, and psychologists using surveys. Data were analyzed to test for difference in perceptions by educator demographics (i.e., age, race, gender, experience, and educational level). The second purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of educator’s perception of referral to Response to Intervention (RTI) …

Window Thermal Performance Optimization In The Government Built Emirati Family House-Abu Dhabi Emirate., Tareq I.A Abuimara

Theses

Presently, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has one of the world’s largest energy consumption per capita, with the building sector accounting for 70% of the consumed energy, primarily used for cooling. In the last three decades, the UAE government launched several housing programs that fit the needs of Emirati beneficiaries while recently targeting also energy efficiency.

This study aims at optimizing the window thermal performance in relation to orientation in a typical house within a representative governmental housing program. Often enough, housing orientation is governed by urban planning layout, where windows rarely show any adapted heat control treatment in relation …

Effects Of Exposure To Abuse And Violence In Childhood On Adult Attachment And Domestic Violence In Women’S Same-Sex Relationships, Dawn M. Beatty

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

ABSTRACT

There is an abundance of previous research proving that childhood abuse and adult domestic violence is an increasingly serious problem (Smith Slep, & O’Leary, 2005). However, while studies have shown that lesbian intimate battering occurs as frequently, if not more than, heterosexual domestic violence (Gosselin, [ARF1] 2003; Niolon, 2002), it remains understudied. Therefore, this study not only examines the relationship between childhood abuse and intimate lesbian violence but also secure and insecure attachment styles. Children who witness domestic violence or who are victims of emotional, physical, or sexual abuse are likely to repeat or engage in violent relationships later …

Combining Attentional Control And Semantic Memory Retrieval: A Sensitive Marker For Early Stage Ad And Ad-Related Biomarkers In Healthy Older Adults, Andrew Jacob Aschenbrenner

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Past studies have shown that measures of attentional control and semantic memory retrieval are sensitive markers of Alzheimer disease: AD). The present study examined the utility of combining measures of attentional control and semantic retrieval within a single task to discriminate healthy aging from early stage AD and show sensitivity to AD biomarkers in healthy control individuals. On each trial of the present task, participants viewed a category: e.g. “a unit of time”) and verified whether a subsequent target item was an exemplar of the category: “hour”) or not: “clock”). Importantly, the nonmembers of the category were associatively related: e.g., …

Predictive Admission Criteria In Graduate Programs In Speech-Language Pathology, Mary Lloyd Moore

Dissertations

Speech-language pathology is a profession for which there is increasing demand as well as being one of the most desirable career paths in the United States. Graduation of qualified persons who can pass the Praxis exam is an essential outcome of all graduate programs in speech-language pathology. If predictors of competence could be identified before admission, graduate programs would be better able to select students who would maximize the expenditure of materials, energy, and expertise, thereby decreasing the potential failure for both students and universities. Therefore, this research addresses the extent to which selected variables may serve to predict success …

The Effects On Students' Intercultural Competence From Intensive Intercultural Service-Learning Through The $100 Solution™ Model, Nadia De León Sautú

Dissertations

This study evaluates the effects of an intensive intercultural service-learning program on the intercultural competence of undergraduate students enrolled in Cultural Diversity in the U.S., a general education course at Western Kentucky University. This program utilized The $100 Solution™ model, in which groups of students partnered with local immigrant and refugee families, to teach them about U.S. culture, learn about their cultures, and implement a project to assist them in their integration process. The program included two hours of out-of-classroom work for over twelve weeks. Through the principle of reciprocity, The $100 Solution™ model provided an interaction framework in which …

Personality Accounts For The Connection Between Volunteering And Health, Hannah Rose King

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

No abstract provided.

Tests, Tests, And More Tests: A New Era For Dementia Diagnosis, Jonathan Gooblar

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Cerebrospinal fluid: CSF) proteins correlate with pathological changes that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease: AD). CSF biomarkers have been used in research settings to predict AD diagnosis and rate of cognitive decline, however their use in clinical settings is limited. Given their potential utility in identifying preclinical AD and in increasing diagnostic confidence in clinical settings, we sought to understand how clinicians use CSF biomarkers in conjunction with other clinical details to diagnose AD. Participants: N = 193) were physicians and other medical professionals who routinely evaluate older adults for neurodegenerative disease. In a within-subjects factorial design, participants were randomized …

The Effect Of Age-Related Declines In Inhibitory Control On Audiovisual Speech Intelligibility, Avanti Dey

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Audiovisual: AV) speech perception is perception in which both auditory and visual information is available in order to understand a talker, compared to an auditory signal alone, during face-to-face communication. This form of communication yields significantly higher word recognition performance as compared to either sensory modality alone, constituting a general AV advantage for speech perception. Despite an overall AV advantage, older adults seem to receive less benefit from this bimodal presentation than do younger adults. However, there is evidence to suggest that not all age-related deficits in AV speech perception are of a sensory nature, but are also influenced by …

Do Market Incentives Crowd Out Charitable Giving?, Cary Deck, Erik O. Kimbrough

Economics Faculty Articles and Research

Donations and volunteerism can be conceived as market transactions with a zero explicit price. However, evidence suggests people may not view zero as just another price when it comes to pro-social behavior. Thus, while markets might be expected to increase the supply of assets available to those in need, some worry such financial incentives will crowd out altruistic giving. This paper reports laboratory experiments directly investigating the degree to which market incentives crowd out large, discrete charitable donations in a setting related to deceased organ donation. The results suggest markets increase the supply of assets available to those in need. …

An Examination Of Twitter's Role In The Formation Of Collegiate Sport Fans' Allegiance Using The Revised Psychological Continuum Model (Pcm), Sukjoon Yoon

All Theses

Allegiance has long been considered one of the most notable research topics in sport studies (Funk & Pastore, 2000; Wann & Branscombe 1990). Allegiant fans are those who have formed strong connections to their favorite team, and these attitudes strengthen their psychological involvement. Twitter has grown dramatically since its inception in 2006, totaling more than 500 million users as of early 2013 (Gupta, Goel, Lin, Sharma, Wang, & Zadeh, 2013). Twitter is one of the most popular communication technologies used by both fans and sport organizations (Clavio, 2011), and allows individuals, organizations, and other social groups to connect with one …

Cultural Convergences, David Armistead

All Theses

As far back as I can remember my family has had two primary outlets in regards to entertainment; going to museum exhibitions and attending or watching football games. My parents have been members of the High Museum in Atlanta for years while simultaneously having season tickets to Georgia Tech football. My current series of paintings, drawings, prints and videos examine the cultural significance of sports in American society; specifically American football. As a "big guy" who was raised in the south, it is often assumed that I played football at some point in my life. Admittedly, I feed this stereotype …

Untitled Narratives, Aubree Ross

All Theses

Untitled Narratives is a photographic series about changing emotional states, and an evolving identity. The photographs represent a transformation between the confined and the free. The elements I use to portray the movement an individual makes between identities are a combination of a character and an environment. My photographs are driven by personal experiences and show recovery and openness. The character in the series is a representation of myself. The Character symbolizes emotional personas indicating past and present events, which shape the individual I am. I use the character as a representation of the hope and need for change. I …

An Exploratory Study On The Effects Of Goal Alignment, Interventions, And Motivational Factors On Innovative Engineering Design Projects, Blake Linnerud

All Theses

Innovation has become an important facet of engineering design, both in industry and the academy. Many senior-level engineering design courses encourage students to develop innovative solutions to open design projects from industry sponsors. Like industry, these academic problems are tackled by teams of students. Student teams that function at the highest level are more likely to reach the innovative solutions for which they are searching. The research presented in this work focuses on two main areas: (1) understanding what motivates engineers when working on innovative design projects and (2) determining the effects of goal alignment interventions on design teams working …

Teaching Methods For A Holistic Computer Graphics Curriculum Incorporating Active Learning Techniques, Zachariah Inks

All Theses

This paper presents various concepts and techniques for creating an educational pipeline targeted at the field of computer graphics. This proposed pipeline focuses on the teaching of core concepts, core methodologies and finally core techniques employed within the field of computer graphics. Each component is then paired with an example of an active learning strategy used to enlighten and reinforce the abstract ideas behind these components. Throughout this document outlines the importance of supporting a holistic and platform agnostic approach, which sets the foundation for learning of all core computer graphics concepts, methodologies and techniques. The end result is a …

Five Factor Model Personality Profiles Of University Of North Dakota Unmanned Aircraft Systems Students, Zachary Peter Waller

Theses and Dissertations

A great deal of effort has been made to quantify personality characteristics in the pilots of manned aircraft. However, analysis of similar characteristics of individuals interested in piloting Unmanned Aircraft (UA) remains relatively unexplored. This research examined the Five Factor Model (FFM) personality profiles of individuals pursuing Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) studies at the University of North Dakota (UND). Using the Big Five Inventory (BFI) general personality index, the responses of a UAS Student group (N=65) were compared to a Normative sample group (N=248) previously collected by Petros (2013). Apart from the two highest scoring factors in each group (i.e. …

A Qualitative Study Of Past Student-Participants' Perceptions Of College Mentoring Relationships: A Case Within A Hospitality College, Roberta Jo Barnes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The hospitality industry, encompassing both tourism and leisure segments, has become the world's largest employer. As such, there is a workforce need to develop leadership bench strength through degree programming at the university level. Preparing future leaders for careers in the hospitality industry as part of university curriculum is particularly challenging as operational practices, leadership competencies, and interpersonal skills are often not instructed in the classroom environment, yet are a critical element of supervisory performance. Workforce development perspectives suggest that mentoring is a development tool to narrow programming gaps in university curriculum.

The study explores past student-participants' relationship experiences in …

Examination Of Student, Program, And Institutional Support Characteristics That Relate To Pga Golf Management Students' Intent To Persist, Christopher Paul Cain

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The examination of student (entry characteristics, academic performance, career goals, and interaction with peers and faculty), program (programmatic interventions, academic major, and learning communities), and institutional support characteristics (financial aid and residence) that relate to cohort intent to persist are studied among 490 PGA Golf Management University Program undergraduate students from 12 universities. Results from this analysis will offer insight into which persistence factors lead to students' matriculation to the next cohort, with the ultimate goal of program completion. Identifying persistence factors related to student, program, and institutional support characteristics will help guide PGA Golf Management University programs by: recruiting …

A Christian Mega Church Strives For Relevance: Examining Social Media And Religiosity, Kenthea Albert-Leigh Joan Fogenay

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between Facebook and Twitter uses and gratifications and religiosity. Non-denominational Christian mega churches focus their outreach programs on a "come-as-you-are" attitude with the hopes of making people feel comfortable. The interactive technology in our daily lives also infiltrates our experience at church. The congregation now has the ability to worship through technologies endorsed by leadership (Watson & Scalen, 2008; Bogomilova, 2004; Thomas, 2009). In order for churches to engage in effective communication, they must understand how people use social networking. Through survey methodology, the researcher takes an account of how …

Factors Associated With Parental Decision Making And Childhood Vaccination, Zuwen Qiu-Shultz

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In order to better understand factors affecting immunization status, logistic regression was used to assess the association of various socio-demographic factors and whether parents would have their child immunized if not a state mandate. Factors included in the study were race, household income, number of children in the household, number of adults in the household, if the child had a primary provider, if the child had a health check-up in the last twelve months, and medical insurance status of the child. The combined Nevada Kindergarten Health Survey Result of 2009-2010 (Year Two) and 2010-2011 (Year Three) conducted by the Nevada …

Faculty And Student Perceptions Of Academic Cheating And The Influence Of Achievement Motivation With Online And Face-To-Face Learning Environments, Sherée Christine Royer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

There are many components contributing to academically dishonest behaviors and with improvements in technology, methods for cheating have expanded to web-based classrooms. This study focuses on academically dishonest behaviors in online and face-to-face (F2F) course formats in an attempt to better understand the impact of cheating in these two learning environments. Additional factors in this study include the relationship between student and faculty achievement orientation and classroom context through the use of vignettes. Participants were students and faculty from a large Southwestern University and faculty members from a local smaller college in the same area. Respondents completed inventories using a …

The Role Of Music-Specific Representations When Processing Speech: Using A Musical Illusion To Elucidate Domain-Specific And -General Processes, Christina M. Vanden Bosch Der Nederlanden

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

When listening to music and language sounds, it is unclear whether adults recruit domain-specific or domain-general mechanisms to make sense of incoming sounds. Unique acoustic characteristics such as a greater reliance on rapid temporal transitions in speech relative to song may introduce misleading interpretations concerning shared and overlapping processes in the brain. By using a stimulus that is both ecologically valid and can be perceived as speech or song depending on context, the contribution of low- and high-level mechanisms may be teased apart. The stimuli employed in all experiments are auditory illusions from speech to song reported by Deutsch et …