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Age-Associated Changes In The Neuroinflammatory Response To Toll-Like Receptor 4 And 9 Stimulation, Leah Beth Christensen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

During the perinatal time period, the mammalian brain is developing rapidly and is particularly sensitive to inflammation. Inflammation during this time period may be linked to later neurological illness in humans. Disease-associated alterations in learning and behavior can be modeled in rodents using perinatal immune stimulation with either infectious agents or Toll-like receptor (TLR) agonists. Although the gestational period is a particularly sensitive time for neurodevelopment, it is not known for how long after birth this sensitivity persists. In mice, susceptibility to neurological infection declines dramatically during the first weeks of life. Therefore, we sought to compare the neuroinflammatory responses …

Psychological Adjustment And Relational Development In Ethiopian Adoptees And Their Families, Waganesh Zeleke

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The number of American families choosing to adopt a child from Ethiopia has increased exponentially since 2004. Over the past five years alone, between 2006 and 2011, 13.5% of internationally adopted children in the U.S. came from Ethiopia. The purpose of this study was to examine psychological adjustment and relational development of Ethiopian adoptees who have been adopted during 2007 -2010 and their families who reside in Montana.

Using a convenience-sampling method, data were collected from 25 adoptive parents who adopted a total of 35 children from Ethiopia. All families live in Montana and responded to questions through an online …

What High School Principals Do To Develop, Implement, And Sustain A High Functioning Character Education Initiative, Jacob A. Francom

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Principal leadership is crucial to the success of a high school character education initiative. The purpose of this qualitative grounded theory research was to identify the roles and effective practices that high school principals utilize in developing, implementing, and sustaining a high functioning character education program. Fourteen high school principals from around the country, representing different schools, were interviewed one-on-one through Skype, Google Hangout, or by telephone. Data were collected during these one-on-one semi-structured interviews and analyzed through three separate coding procedures: (a) open coding, (b) axial coding, and (c) selective coding. Open coding analyzed the concepts emerging from the …

Working Memory Capacity Training And The Effect On Reading Comprehension, Numerical Reasoning, And Vocational Progress, David Evans Johnson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

An individual’s working memory capacity determines their ability to control attention and discard irrelevant and interfering information in large environments. It also plays an important part in information processing of goal-relevant tasks. It is important to study the ways in which learners can augment the capacity of an important cognitive construct and investigate the potential benefits to improving attention, reasoning, and comprehension. In educational settings, students actively seek help from assistance programs that target academic performance. However, it is often the case that this assistance comes in the form of a targeted specific skill that is focused on a particular …

Opening Up The Box: Exploring The Scaling Out Of The Good Food Box Across Canada, Stephanie Lentz Laporte Potts

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The Good Food Box (GFB) program holds a great deal of promise to expand our understanding of Community Food Security (CFS). CFS represents a vision for solving hunger and other problems with the food system through an integrated approach that improves access to good and appropriate food for all while at the same time building community, strengthening local agricultural economies, and maximizing social justice. The GFB, one type of CFS program, is a community-based initiative found across Canada that provides a box of healthy food to customers at near wholesale prices; it has the potential to increase access to healthy …

Whole-Nature: Integrating Science And Eco-Phenomenology, Bartholomew Patrick Walsh

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

A review of the literature in environmental philosophy reveals a certain tension between what we might call science-based and experience-based approaches to environmental ethics. The main trend of thought here follows seminal figures like Aldo Leopold and Holmes Rolston III by generally looking to the sciences for disclosing value in nature, particularly ecology and evolutionary biology. However others, such as David Abram and Jack Turner, worry that scientifically disclosed nature is in itself too distancing, objectifying, and abstract to engender any real care for nature and instead emphasize direct, embodied experience with actual wild places, hence the label “eco-phenomenology.” The …

Is Gun Crime Learned? Social Learning Theory And Guns, Krista Pearl Caffrey

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This study examines the relationship between specific childhood experiences and the use of guns in crime in a sample of incarcerated males in American prisons. Two specific childhood experiences are examined: exposure to violence in the home and exposure to guns in the home. Utilizing social learning theory, I argue that adult male felons who used guns in the commission of crimes will have had greater levels of exposure to violence and exposure to guns in their childhood home. Using a data set collected by sociologists James Wright and Peter Rossi, I conducted a binary logistic regression to determine the …

The Constitution Of Queer Identity In The 1972 Apa Panel, "Psychiatry: Friend Or Foe To Homosexuals? A Dialogue", Dustin Vern Edward Schneider

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis offers a rhetorical criticism of two speeches delivered from a 1972 panel at the American Psychiatric Association (APA): Franklin Kameny’s “Gay, Proud and Healthy” and John Fryer’s “I am a Homosexual.” Both speeches seek to challenge heteronormative constructions of homosexuality through the construction of a positive homosexual identity. Kameny’s speech uses an extensive set of metaphors to deconstruct the sickness theory of homosexual, challenge the role psychiatrists should play in society, re-conceptualize sexuality, and empower homosexual identity. Fryer’s speech enacts a constitutive rhetoric through the use of consciousness raising strategies and a collective coming out narrative which creates …

Synthesis Of Dna-Base Selective Labels For Efficient Labeling Of Dna For Tem Imaging, Rakesh Kumar

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The goal of this project was to explore the possibility of high throughput DNA sequencing using high-resolution electron microscopy. This approach was recently made feasible by development of a DNA threading technique that allows the imaging of straight, single stranded DNA; and by the development of atom-by-atom analysis with Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM). In an attempt to better understand the types of interactions that can occur between water-soluble versions of complex and DNA we have synthesized the series of single metal and tetrametallic compounds. In order to demonstrate proof of concept for the technique of visualizing metal complex bound on …

Montana Logging Costs: Resources For Continued Industry Viability, Joshua P. Meek

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Montana’s logging industry has changed significantly over the past two decades. Increased operating costs and subsequent diminishing returns, combined with a shifting paradigm in regards to active forest management have had significant impacts on the economic and demographic make-up of the industry. One way to address these changes and mitigate the associated challenges of continued viability is through analysis of the factors and constraints impacting routine operational costs. Two methods were employed to estimate regional logging costs and changes over time. First, to provide a resource for comparison between commonly-utilized logging equipment, the hourly owning and operating costs of select …

An Investigation Of Viscosity Using Measured Velocities On Helheim Glacier, Glen David Granzow

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Using recent measurements of the velocity of ice on the surface of Helheim Glacier, located on the south-east coast of Greenland, the variation of viscosity, a material property of the ice, is investigated. The investigation focuses on determining the value of a parameter in Glen's flow law, a constitutive equation widely used in numerical models of ice sheets. Three different approaches are used: (1) Finite differences are used in a direct approach, (2) A finite element model is used in an approach involving an inverse problem, and (3) Nonlinear least squares fits of the velocity are used. The parameter focused …

Mechanisms And Cytotoxic Effects Of Nqo1-Directed Lavendamycin Derivatives And Mitochondria-Targeted Anthracenyl Isoxazole Amides As Novel Antitumor Agents, Alison King Kearns

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Cancer is a common, complex, and oftentimes fatal disease. Despite extensive research in the field of cancer drug discovery, there are still improvements to be made in the design of effective anticancer agents. This project involved three separate but related studies that fall under the category of anticancer drug discovery as a whole. The overall goal of this project was to design and investigate the mechanisms of action of new antitumor agents to be used against solid tumors. First, we developed a series of anthracenyl isoxazole amides (AIMs) designed to bind to G-quadruplex DNA and inhibit telomerase. Results from this …

Ciclovía Initiatives: Engaging Communities, Partners, And Policy Makers Along The Route To Success, Susan G. Zieff Phd, J. Aaron Hipp, Amy A. Eyler, Mi-Sook Kim Phd

Brown School Faculty Publications

Recent efforts to increase physical activity through changes to the built environment have led to strategies and programs that use existing public space, including bicycle lanes, temporary parks, and the ciclovia initiative (scheduled events in which streets are closed to motorized vehicles and opened for recreational activities) popularized in South America. Objective: This article describes and compares the processes and structures involved in developing and implementing a ciclovia-type program in 2 US urban contexts: San Francisco, California, and St Louis, Missouri. Considering the current growth of and interest in ciclovia initiatives, important outcomes, lessons learned are offered for application in …

Vulnerability And Mental Health In Afghanistan: Looking Beyond War Exposure, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi

Brown School Faculty Publications

This study examined the prevalence of mental distress among groups in Afghanistan considered to be at risk. Data were drawn from a representative cross-sectional disability survey carried out in Afghanistan including 5,130 households in 171 clusters throughout the 34 provinces of the country. The sample included 838 non-disabled control participants aged above 14, and 675 disabled participants. Results showed that various vulnerable groups (disabled people, the unemployed, the elderly, minority ethnic groups, as well as widowed, divorced or separated women) were at higher risk of experiencing mild to severe mental health problems. The adjusted odds ratio for war-related disability compared …

Child Poverty In A Conflict Situation: A Multidimensional Profile And An Identification Of The Poorest Children In Western Darfur, Jean-Francois Trani, Timothy I. Cannings

Brown School Faculty Publications

Darfur is currently in a very complex situation making humanitarian intervention a very challenging endeavour. The civilian population is caught in the middle of armed confrontation resulting in massive forced displacement as well as in food shortage, lack of access to safe source of water and sanitation facilities, shelter, essential health services. Children are particularly vulnerable in conflict situation as they are higher risk of physical and sexual violence or emotional abuse. Applying the Alkire and Foster index of multidimensional poverty to a selected set of dimensions of deprivation identified through a large scale household survey in Western Darfur carried …

Gender, Difference And Urban Change: Implications For Promotion Of Well-Being?, Julian Walker, Alexandre A. Frediani, Jean-Francois Trani

Brown School Faculty Publications

This article examines the impacts of urban change on the well-being of women and men, and girls and boys, living in cities, and explores how gender intersects with other social relations to differentiate these impacts. It then considers the implications of intersectionality for organisations aiming to promote the interests of specific social groups (such as women, or people with disabilities) vis-a-vis urban change by looking at the experience of Leonard Cheshire’s Asha project, working with girls and boys with disabilities in Mumbai. It concludes that organisations working to promote the interest of identity based constituents should (a) base their strategies …

[Provisional Self-Evidence], Rachael Arrighi

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

[the following is perhaps a theory of reading, particularly reading of academic texts, or reading of academic texts about which one intends to write, its objective to free the reader and, by extension, the writer, through freeing the text. it is open to failure, its interest less in the provision of a successful argument—it is perhaps best understood not as an argument but as an exercise, a getting-into-or-maintaining-yet-mutating-shape—than in the demonstration that such reading/writing is a valid strategy, albeit one that, following Bailey, is positively contrarian in terms of employing “a bare minimum of physical [mental] exertion” and “equipment, [or] …

Of Free Markets And Caged Humans: The Ethical And Legal Implications Of For- Profit Immigration Detention, Celeste Corrales

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Private prisons are quickly becoming the new hosts for many of the over 400,000 unauthorized immigrants detained annually in the United States. The argument over whether to privatize is one that involves both practical questions of who can produce the most efficient results and philosophical implications. This thesis argues that privatized immigrant detention creates a perverse incentive structure that may lead to multiple problems, including greater risks for constitutional and human rights violations of immigrant detainees. I utilize Ira P. Robbins’ Legal Dimensions to Private Incarceration (1998) handbook in order to update and explore the relevance of two legal doctrines …

The Richard Aoki Case: Was The Man Who Armed The Black Panther Party An Fbi Informant?, Natalie Harrison

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

On August 20th 2012, Seth Rosenfeld, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, released an article stating that Richard Aoki, an activist in the Bay Area during the 1960s and 70s, had been an FBI informant. Immediately following the allegations, numerous Aoki supporters rose to his defense and accused Rosenfeld of snitch-jacketing –a term referring to the FBI practice of falsely labeling a prominent member of a threatening group as an informant to decrease their status and influence within the organization. This thesis is a historiographical examination of the FBI, COINTELPRO, snitch culture, Richard Aoki and those who accused/defended him.

Impact Of Reduction Mowing On Fire Ants (Hymenoptera: Formiciade) At Gopher Tortoise (Testudines: Testudinidae) Burrows, Richard Jones

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Many species prey upon the threatened gopher tortoises, including the Red Imported Fir Ants Solenopsis invicta. While human alterations to native habitat have led to a decline in gopher tortoises, “disturbance specialists” like S. invicta often thrive on such changes. This study examines three ant surveys at gopher tortoise burrows within a section of residential “greenway” in southeastern Florida before and after “reduction mowing”. While the presence of S. invicta did decrease aftrer the reduction mowing, the numbers of native ants and ant species richness in general showed a significant decline. Another invasive ant, the Little Fire Ant, Wasmannia auropunctata …

Modeling Embryonic Tubulogenesis With Polarized Particles, Lucas Ortiz

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

Epithelial morphogenesis is driven by the formation, growth, and bending of thin sheets of cells with distinct interior (apical) and exterior (basal) sides. In this study we attempted to improve on past particle-based cell models to form a model of morphogenesis based on a two-particle polarized cell structure. We began by modeling a stable cyst-like structure. We then tested and calibrated the viscoelastic properties of our model by compressing the cell structure between two plates, which is comparable to real world data collected by Forgacs et al. (1998). We also simulated the growth of a hollow sphere into a tube-like …

"Double Sustainability" In Botswana And South Africa: The Case Of The San In The Central Kalahari Game Reserve And Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Lindsay Nelson

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

The question of land access rights for indigenous peoples is now a prominent theme in the management of large parks and game reserves in Africa. This comparative study addresses different government responses to this question regarding land dispossession of the San in Southern Africa. Ancestral lands of this unique and marginalized indigenous population had been rendered off limits by the creation of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park (KTP) in South Africa and the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) in Botswana. In more recent years, the government of Botswana and the post-apartheid government of South Africa have pursued quite divergent approaches to addressing …

Belly Dancing: Praxis And Self-Identity, Rachael Pilaski

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

The history and problematic Orientalist contexts of belly dance within the United States has been discussed previously in academia; my project is a more ethnographic approach than many of these previous works. This particular study focuses on belly dance communities in South Florida to understand how the dancers, students, and instructors appropriate and re-appropriate the praxis of belly dance to fit within their own personal contexts. Through this work we see how contemporary belly dancing both challenges and reinforces Orientalist perspectives. I used Edward Said‟s notions of Orientalism as an analytical framework to interpret information gathered from participant-observation sessions, interviews …

Reparations And Reconciliation: Negotiating Claims Of Historical Injustice In The Case Of The Herero Genocide, Leslie Williams

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses 2010 - 2019

To date, Germany has denied any obligation to financial compensation for the Herero genocide of 1904-1907. The Herero began petitioning in 1995 and haven’t yet seen results. The reconciliation process has been slowed by German denial and Namibian politics alike. Germany maintains that genocide was not technically illegal until the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948, an argument that contradicts the hundreds of millions of dollars they continue to pay to Jewish victims as restitution for WWII. Historians argue that there are extensive links between German colonialism and the Jewish Holocaust. German concentration …

Living Culture Corridors Plan: The Rio Arriba Indo-Hispano Homeland, Resource Center For Raza Planning Field School

The Rio Chama Basin: Land, Water and Community

No abstract provided.

Clan Capitalism, Graph Distance, And Other Issues, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

This book consists of 6 papers focusing on social and economic issues. The topics covered include graph distance and optimal communication, migration in Jaipur, urbanization, clan capitalism, world population growth rate, and scientific inquiry. These papers were written in the period between 20092010. Hopefully the readers will find some new insights in this collection of papers.

Seller Diversity On A Technology-Based Platform, Ruhai Wu, Mei Lin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Managing a technology portfolio is one of the great challenges for sustained success, especially in high-technology industrieswhere technologies can be a major selling point. For engineers, this portfolio is more of a toolbox for solving design problems,but in large organizations there can be so many technologies used in different business areas that even the engineers may not beaware of all of them. When the same technologies are used in different types of products, knowledge about them can also begenerated by various groups within an organization. To improve the usefulness of a company's technology base, this paperproposes the use of a …

Towards Efficient Sparse Coding For Scalable Image Annotation, Junshi Huang, Hairong Liu, Jialie Shen, Shuicheng Yan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Nowadays, content-based retrieval methods are still the development trend of the traditional retrieval systems. Image labels, as one of the most popular approaches for the semantic representation of images, can fully capture the representative information of images. To achieve the high performance of retrieval systems, the precise annotation for images becomes inevitable. However, as the massive number of images in the Internet, one cannot annotate all the images without a scalable and flexible (i.e., training-free) annotation method. In this paper, we particularly investigate the problem of accelerating sparse coding based scalable image annotation, whose off-the-shelf solvers are generally inefficient on …

On Checkbox Diversity, Philip Lee

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Signal Ambiguity And Signal Location On Target Detection Under Varying Degrees Of Time Constraint, Kimberly E. Culley

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the effects of decision-making strategies and tendencies, time constraint, and signal characteristics on decision-making performance utilizing the fuzzy signal detection theory framework. Participants were tasked with deciding whether x-ray images of passenger luggage contained hazardous objects.

The first objective of the study was to develop a methodology for quantifying optimizing versus satisficing tendencies in decision making through direct measurement and observation.

The second objective of the study was to examine how time constraint and specific signal characteristics contribute to decision making. Interestingly, despite having more time available to conduct a comprehensive …