Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Depth, Site, And Season On Phenotypic Variation Of The Geniculate Coralline, Calliarthron Tuberculosum Around The Monterey Peninsula, California, Jasmine Elena Ruvalcaba

Master's Theses

Coralline algae are ubiquitous in near-shore marine environments. In particular, geniculate corallines occur in intertidal and subtidal habitats with abundances typically higher at shallow depths. Due to the high abundance of Calliarthron tuberculosum in Monterey kelp beds, this species was chosen to study effects of depth, site, and season on morphology and physiology. To further understand this pattern, populations from 3 and 10 m depth were sampled at two sites to examine morphometric variables including total length, total width, and number of branch tips as well as, physiological variables including respiration, photosynthetic, and calcification rates. Growth rates were also quantified …

The Role Of The Principal In Improving Student Achievement In Low-Wealth Rural Elementary Schools, Mark D. Linton

Education Doctoral

Increased levels of accountability, mandated implementation of common core learning standards, and shrinking state funds for public schools have created unique challenges for principals seeking to increase student achievement levels. Schools located in states receiving Race to the Top (RTT) funds must measure teacher and principal growth by adopting evaluation systems based on student achievement measures. These issues are more significant for rural school administrators, who must pair these demands with the confining nature of small-town life; the multiple and sometimes conflicting tasks; and the lack of opportunity for professional camaraderie and growth. Although a large body of literature has …

La Intencion Pictorica En Tres Novelas De Corte Realista De Ana Maria Matute, Viviana Carvajal

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis proposes a study about the profound relationship existing in the literary production of the Spanish author, Ana María Matute, between the poetic language found in her narrative and the Visual Arts. While a number of critics and researchers have analyzed in depth the works of this author, there is no abundance of studies that explore the pictorial intention found in them. Likewise, there are scarce or marginal contributions focused on the notion of ekphrasis in connection to her narrative. In order to analyze the rhetoric structure in Matute’s narrative, a definition of “space” as a literary category is …

Assessment And Treatment Of Elopement In Young Children With Autism, Ivette Andrade

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Elopement, leaving a caregivers side without permission or supervision, is a behavior that is more prevalent among children with autism as compared to their typically developing peers. With potentially fatal consequences (e.g., drowning, being run over, abducted), it is reported to cause high levels of stress for caregivers. In the present study, we evaluate the assessment and treatment of elopement using a multicomponent treatment package to address the multiple functions of elopement. The treatment consisted of an antecedent treatment procedure, blocking and differential reinforcement of other behaviors with extinction (DRO w/ EXT). An ABAB reversal design was utilized to assess …

Landing: On The Other Side, Marianita Escamilla

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Landing: On the Other Side a collection of essays that discuss one woman's struggle with the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fibromyalgia (FM). The narratives are organized non-chronologically because the more pervasive effects of this chronic illness manifest in waves that do not follow a simple means of progression. Rather, FM's most powerful symptom is the highly variable pain strength coupled with its unpredictability.

The mass marketability of this text, as with other illness/disability narratives, lies in the universal message of prevailing against adversity. A person need not suffer from this illness or any ailment to comprehend the narrator's plight. While this …

The Italian Press And The Church: Italian Newspaper Coverage Of Lds-Related News And The Media Strategies Of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-Day Saints In Italy 2010-2012, Giulia Vibilio Matthews

Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between media and religion has been influenced by many factors in history. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has received a great deal of media attention throughout the world in the past five years. In Italy, the Church National Council of Public Relations worked to provide the media with the necessary information to report accurate news about the Church. This thesis collected the information provided to the Italian media by the Church National Council and analyzed the main topic and the level of accuracy reported by the Italian media on Church-related news. The results show that …

Intersection Of Art And Criminal Law: The Ethics Of True Crime, Melissa Rutman

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal (AELJ) Blog

True crime reporting has long captivated audiences. By reporting details of an actual crime in a sensationalized way, the genre is often described as “infotainment” – the blending of information and entertainment. The modern genre was likely inaugurated by Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, and gripping accounts of murders and serial killers continue to populate bookshelves. True crime also spills over to primetime television in shows like the Nancy Grace show, with reporting on the Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox cases. But in addition to journalistic and sensational impact, true crime reporting also overlaps with legal investigation of crimes in …

A Model For Meeting And Event Venues To Implement Green Practices, Justine Clewer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In 2007 green meetings were ranked as the third most anticipated trend by Event Solutions magazine’s survey of 1,350 event professionals, however by 2011 it was an emerging trend (Goldblatt, 2012). Today, meeting and event planners are increasingly including clauses in their contracts with venues pertaining to green practices, and are willing to look elsewhere if a venue does not agree to partake in the green initiatives. For venues the failure to “go green” can mean a substantial loss of revenue. Nonetheless, many businesses are hesitant to engage in green (sustainable) practices, because they are not properly educated on the …

Measuring The Effectiveness Of Race And Sports Book Complimentary Awards Program, Pak Szeto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to develop a proper way to measure the effectiveness of complimentary award programs in race and sports books. Like most businesses, casinos seek to increase business volume by offering promotions. According to existing research on casino marketing, promotion activities are often measured by the change in business volume (Lucas & Kilby, 2008). Casino operators should be careful because an increase in business volume does not always equal an increase in profit. To create a positive effect on profit, a promotion must at least create enough gross revenue to offset its cost. Some casino executives …

A Study Of Airbnb As A Potential Competitor Of The Hotel Industry, Quynh Nguyen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of the study is to examine Airbnb as a possible competitor of the hotel industry using Peteraf and Bergen’s broad-based competitor identification tool. Unlike existing empirical research on the subject, the study takes a qualitative approach to answer the research question. The results of the study assist hotel operators in determining the competitiveness of Airbnb and the need for a business response to the service.

A Study On Employee Turnover In Shanghai’S Fine Dining Restaurants, Yang Liu

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Molecular Mechanisms For Specific Kinase Inhibitors And Kinase Promiscuity Towards Inhibitors, George Georghiou

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Dysregulated kinase activity is implicated in a wide variety of diseases because of the central role of kinases in many cell signaling pathways. Currently all small molecule kinase inhibitors used clinically target the ATP-binding pocket, which is highly conserved among all kinases due to their common use of ATP. This high degree of conservation makes the pharmacological targeting of individual kinases difficult. However, it has been achieved with several drugs, the most famous of these being the Abl kinase inhibitor imatinib (Gleevec, Novartis). While a number of broad-spectrum kinase inhibitors are in clinical use, specific kinase inhibition is favorable to …

Microglia In The Healthy And Diseased Central Nervous System, Luisa Torres

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in the death of neurons, disruption of neuronal connections, demyelination, and inflammation. There are three phases of SCI: Acute (from the time of impact to the first few days post-injury), secondary (hours to weeks), and chronic (months to years). Currently, little can be done to modify the acute phase. Efforts to intervene have focused on the subsequent phases to both promote healing and prevent further damage. In this study I show that the small molecule inhibitor Pifithrin-μ (PFT-μ significantly reduced lesion volume and decreased the presence of inflammatory cells (microglia and macrophages) in the lesion …

The Mechanisms Of Nmda Receptor Activation, Rashek Kazi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Glutamate-gated ion channels embedded within the neuronal membrane are the primary mediators of fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. The ion channel of these glutamate receptors contains a pore-lining transmembrane M3 helix surrounded by peripheral M1 and M4 helices. In the NMDA receptor (NMDAR), opening of the ion channel pore requires rearrangements of these helical elements, but there is currently no functional model for how this occurs. To address how agonist binding is transduced into pore opening in NMDARs, we manipulated the coupling between the ligand binding domain (LBD) and the M3 helix of the ion channel …

Thalamocortical Input To The Primary Visual Cortex, Michelle Kloc

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) is the region of the thalamus that innervates and relays sensory information to the primary visual cortex (V1). Thalamocortical (TC) input from the LGN drives the activity of V1, and underlies the health and function of the visual system. However, little is known about the synaptic properties of this input. LGN inputs innervate two layers, layer 4 (L4) and layer 6 (L6). This input has been examined functionally and anatomically, but the synaptic mechanisms of this input are poorly understood. The anatomy of the projection from the LGN to V1 encumbers the preparation of an …

Front Tracking Method With High-Order Enhancement And Its Application In Two-Phase Micromixing Of Incompressible Viscous Fluids, Yijie Zhou

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

We develop a front tracking method based on the hydrodynamic library FronTier for the solution of the governing equations of motion for two-phase micromixing of incompressible, viscous, liquid-liquid solvent extraction processes. The method is used for accurate simulation of the turbulent micromixing dynamics of an aqueous and an organic phase exposed to intense centrifugal force and shearing stress. The onset of mixing is the result of the combination of the classical Rayleigh-Taylor and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. We demonstrate verification and convergence results for one-phase and unmixed, two-phase flows. For mixed, two-phase flow a mixing environment that emulates a sector of the …

Rhetoric And The Way To Philosophy: Plato, Aristotle, Heidegger, Nanda Golden

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

By developing Martin Heidegger's interpretation of Plato, Aristotle, and the Greek rhetorical tradition, this dissertation argues that rhetoric, understood as the discipline that best knows how to lead others with everyday speech, is crucial for rousing the desire to choose the philosophical life. This work focuses primarily on three texts: Plato's Phaedrus, Aristotle's Rhetoric, and Heidegger's 1924 lecture Basic Concepts of Aristotelian Philosophy. It fleshes out Heidegger's concept of rhetoric by mapping it on to the development of Greek rhetorical theory, showing how rhetoric's philosophical potential comes to be realized and why Plato and Aristotle's philosophical investigation of rhetoric must …

Propaedeutic To Philosophy: Dialogue And Truth In Philosophical Practice, Lauren Nelson Hesse

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation advocates a model of dialogue as an approach to education and to philosophical discourse itself that is capable of acknowledging and accommodating the manifold possibilities for human thought. Contemporary philosophy is permeated by a loss of certainty and the increasingly problematic nature of the concept of truth, and the complication of these concepts exposes significant limitations in the ways we conceptualize thought itself. Working in this vein, Gilles Deleuze identifies what he calls an " image of thought," which characterizes the forms we have traditionally allowed thinking to take. His critique of this image, along with its subsequent …

The Substance Of Health: Aristotle, Deleuze And Guattari On The Dynamic Materiality Of The Living Body And Its Influence On Medical Concepts And Practices, Rachel Elaine Tillman

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Western medicine relies on a mechanistic conception of matter as passive and inert. Yet matter, and especially living matter, is actually dynamic and agential. This has transformative implications both for our quest to understand what health is and for determining what kinds of practices best promote health. I draw on a diverse set of philosophical thinkers to articulate a dynamic conception of living bodily matter that can enable us to define health more robustly and promote it more effectively. First I discuss the theoretical framework put forth by contemporary feminist accounts of materiality (" new feminist materialisms" or " material …

Integrability And Non-Integrability In The Ising Model, Michael Assis

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The Ising model at magnetic field H=0 is one of the most important exactly solved models in statistical mechanics, solved on the square lattice in 1944 by Onsager, and later by others on the triangular lattice; its magnetic susceptibility at H=0 continues to be an unsolved aspect of the model, however. The susceptibility can either be viewed as a sum over all correlation functions of the integrable model at H=0, or else as a second derivative of the free energy of the non-integrable Ising model in a field. Therefore, its analytic properties, though derived from the non-integrable model, can be …

Neutral Current Pi-Zero Production Rate Measurement On-Water Using The Pi-Zero Detector In The Near Detector Of The T2k Experiment, Karin Elisabeth Gilje

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The T2K Experiment is a long-baseline neutrino experiment that stretches 295 km from the east to the west coast of Japan (Tokai-Mura to Kamioka). One of the major goals of the experiment is a measurement of theta_{13} and (if theta_{13} is non-zero) potentially CP violation in the lepton sector. This is performed by searching for nu_e appearance in a nu_mu beam from the Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC). The far detector, Super Kamiokande (SK), is a water Cherenkov detector. One of the dominant background for SK in the oscillation measurement is the uncertainty on the cross section of the …

Ready, Set, Change: An Exploratory Case Study Of Readiness For Change Within Five New York State Voluntary Child Welfare Agencies, Jennette Allen-Mccombs

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Each year, significant financial resources are expended to implement new policies and programs in an attempt to facilitate organizational change (Fleming, Culler, McCorkle, Becker, & Ballard, 2011). In 2007, the New York State Office of Children and Family Services (OCFS) collaborated with Andrus Center for Learning and Innovation (ACLI) to implement the Sanctuary Model of organizational change within selected voluntary residential child welfare programs that serve youth with behavioral, emotional and social challenges. Since these organizations typically have bureaucratic structures in which culture is maintained through a set of rules and regulations, change may be particularly difficult (Dickinson & Perry, …

You Are Not What You Eat: The Myth Of School Food And Child Obesity, Elana Needle

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Abstract of the Dissertation You are Not What You Eat: The Myth of School Food and Child Obesity by Elana Needle Doctor of Philosophy in Social Welfare Stony Brook University 2014 Childhood obesity is a hot topic in the research and policy literature, as well as in the popular press. However, much of the present research concentrates on one or a few variables, rather than adequately assessing the underlying structures that inherently complicate the childhood obesity epidemic. Using a logistic regression examining the school food environment in the 8th grade wave of the ECLS-K data set, this study's findings supports …

Climatology And Predictability Of Cool-Season High Wind Events In The New York City Metropolitan And Surrounding Area, Michael Layer

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Damaging wind events not associated with severe convective storms or tropical cyclones can occur over the Northeast U.S. during the cool season and can cause significant problems with transportation, infrastructure, and public safety. These non-convective wind events (NCWEs) events are difficult for operational forecasters to predict in the NYC region as revealed by relatively poor verification statistics in recent years. This study investigates the climatology of NCWEs occurring between 15 September and 15 May over 13 seasons from 2000-2001 through 2012-2013. The events are broken down into three distinct types commonly observed in the region: pre-cold frontal (PRF), post-cold frontal …

The Effect Of Patch Dynamics And Nutrient Availability On The Production Of Zostera Marina Seeds Within Shinnecock Bay, Ny, Lisa Jackson

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Exposing Zostera marina to fertilized porewater has been shown to increase vegetative shoot density and leaf growth rates, as well as affect morphological shoot characteristics including increasing leaf length, leaf area and the number of leaves per shoot. However, aside from changes in shoot density, records of morphological changes in reproductive shoots subjected to increased nutrient availability are lacking. To address this, five replicate ambient and nutrient enriched patches, each between 0.5 and 2.0 m2, were selected within a developing Z. marina meadow in Shinnecock Bay, NY. Fertilizer stakes, with a N:P:K of 15:3:3, were used to amend enriched patches …

Evaluation Of Wrf Planetary Boundary Layer Schemes Over The Coastal Waters Of Southern New England, Matthew Joseph Sienkiewicz

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Winds, temperatures and moisture in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) are often difficult for operational models to predict given the relatively sparse observations and that most model PBL parameterizations were developed over inland locations. Coastal marine layer forecasts are important for the forecasting of severe storms and wind energy resources in the highly populated coastal marine environment of the Northeast U.S. (NEUS). Mesoscale models are known to have large biases in wind speeds and temperatures at these lower levels over coastal waters. The goal of this project is to evaluate the performance of six PBL schemes in the Weather Research …

The Effect Of Patch Dynamics And Nutrient Availability On The Production Of Zostera Marina Seeds Within Shinnecock Bay, Ny, Lisa Jackson

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Exposing Zostera marina to fertilized porewater has been shown to increase vegetative shoot density and leaf growth rates, as well as affect morphological shoot characteristics including increasing leaf length, leaf area and the number of leaves per shoot. However, aside from changes in shoot density, records of morphological changes in reproductive shoots subjected to increased nutrient availability are lacking. To address this, five replicate ambient and nutrient enriched patches, each between 0.5 and 2.0 m2, were selected within a developing Z. marina meadow in Shinnecock Bay, NY. Fertilizer stakes, with a N:P:K of 15:3:3, were used to amend enriched patches …

Evaluation Of Wrf Planetary Boundary Layer Schemes Over The Coastal Waters Of Southern New England, Matthew Joseph Sienkiewicz

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Winds, temperatures and moisture in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) are often difficult for operational models to predict given the relatively sparse observations and that most model PBL parameterizations were developed over inland locations. Coastal marine layer forecasts are important for the forecasting of severe storms and wind energy resources in the highly populated coastal marine environment of the Northeast U.S. (NEUS). Mesoscale models are known to have large biases in wind speeds and temperatures at these lower levels over coastal waters. The goal of this project is to evaluate the performance of six PBL schemes in the Weather Research …

A Study Modeling Secure Base Parenting Cognitions, Sandra Skinner

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Secure attachment is associated with a host of positive outcomes including higher levels of prosocial behavior and self-efficacy, better stress regulation, and a lower incidence of psychopathology. Secure base support and sensitive caregiving interactions are predictive of secure attachment. Interventions designed to promote sensitive caregiving have had success in both improving parental behaviors and in increasing levels of attachment security. These interventions are, however, too time consuming and resource intensive to be rolled out to the general population. This study sought to determine if a brief and easy to deliver intervention could be successful in enhancing secure base cognitions in …

Sexual Decision Making In The Context Of Hookup Culture; A Mixed-Method Examination, Rachel Kalish

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation is a multi-method study of college students' sexual decision-making. It relies on interviews and focus groups to examine how college students make decisions within the context of the " hook-up culture" (Heldman and Wade 2010) prominent on American campuses. Patterns in the qualitative data are examined quantitatively using the Online College Life Survey. To understand how students make decisions in hookup culture, I examine their views of relationships, how they enact relationships, and the effects of hooking up on relationships. I that students envision relationships in their future, and choose not to expend time on them during their …