Digital Commons Network^™

Biochemical Characterization Of Four Distinct Proteins, Gustavo A. Avila

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Proteins are ubiquitous in all living organisms, executing the majority of cellular functions in distinct ways. Understanding a protein's role necessitates investigating its structure and function, which are closely related. My research couples these two aspects by delving into the biochemical and structural characterization of proteins in four distinct systems, all playing central roles in numerous significant disease progressions. These four original research endeavors were all targeted for structural studies with a unifying relationship to establish our new structural biochemistry lab. These four systems are: (1) Gam1, an early adenovirus protein globally inhibiting host SUMOylation; (2) Anthrax toxin complexed with …

Through The Eyes Of The Dead Others, Isaac Aaron Ceniceros

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

I use Edith Wyschogrod's figure of the heterological historian to argue that we have a responsibility to learn from the "dead others" of the past in order to better apply in practical ways the lessons we learn from history. I draw on an interpretation of Nietzsche's view on historiography, to examine the claims of Hegel's dialectic, namely, that the Ideal Absolute for which Spirit pines, is actually achievable, particularly through the advent of the Internet. Beginning with a relatively well-known interpretation of Hegel's philosophy of history, Fukuyama's, I show how Hegel's dialectic takes shape in Fukuyama's interpretation as a negative …

3d Printed Spatially Variant Metamaterials, Cesar Roman Garcia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The recent advancement in 3D printing has created a new way to design electronics and electromagnetic devices. This allows for a new breed of non-planar designs to be used, fully exploiting all three dimensions like never before. More functions can be fit into the same amount of space, products with novel form factors can be more easily manufactured, interconnects can be routed more smoothly, interfaces can be better implemented, electrical and mechanical functions can be comingled, and entirely new device paradigms will be invented. When departing from traditional planar topologies many new problems arise like signal integrity, crosstalk, noise, and …

Equations Of State In A Strongly Interacting Relativistic System, Jason Paul Keith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

It has long been understood that the ground state of a superdense quark system, a Fermi liquid of weakly interacting quarks, is unstable with respect to the formation of diquark condensates. This nonperturbative phenomenon is essentially equivalent to the Cooper in-stability of conventional BCS superconductivity. As the quark pairs have nonzero color charge, this kind of superconductivity breaks the SU(3) color gauge symmetry, thus the phe-nomenon is called color superconductivity. However, not much is known about the behavior of quark systems at moderate densities between the formation of baryons and asymptotic freedom. Strong theoretical and experimental evidence suggests that there …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Platinum(Ii) Complexes Of Electron Donor And Acceptor Ligands, Namrata Khanal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Pt(II) complexes of N,N-diphenylpyridineamine or 4-diphenylphosphino derivatized triphenylamine as novel electron donors and alkynyl derivatized benzothiadiazole as electron acceptors were synthesized. All the complexes were characterized by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, electronspray ionization mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, and 31P nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy for the complexes of 4-diphenylphosphino derivatives. The electronic properties studied using UV/vis spectroscopy exhibit ᴫ-ᴫ* transition, metal to ligand charge transfer, and optical highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital bandgaps from 2.62-2.65 eV. The electrochemical study performed using cyclic voltammetry have shown the highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital bandgaps from 2.70-2.74 …

Too Much Of A Good Thing? The Effect Of Internal Control Monitoring System Alerts On User Perceptions Of Task-Technology Fit, Julia Kokina

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Anecdotal and field study evidence points to both positive and negative effects of alerts produced by technology-enabled internal control monitoring systems (ICMS) (Alles et al. 2006, 2008; Debreceny et al. 2003, 2005; Perols and Murthy 2012). An important unanswered question is how those alerts impact users who process them and decide whether any corrective action should be taken. In this study I surveyed financial executives and accounting professionals to examine the impact of alerts on user perceptions of task-technology fit (TTF) (Goodhue and Thompson 1995). Alerts generated by ICMS can bring to the attention of company leadership indications of errors, …

Light Scattering From Aerosol Particles In The El Paso Del Norte Region / The Effect Of Humidity, Richard Medina Calderon

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Atmospheric aerosols play an important role in climate forcing, through scattering and absorption of the incoming solar radiation. The extinction of light by the presence of atmospheric aerosols was studied using two first-principle models, and corresponding computer codes. In the first model the extinction of light from irregularly shaped aerosol particles was analyzed. In the second model it was assumed that the irregularly shaped aerosol particles were covered by a film of water, and the hygroscopicity and the extinction of light by the aerosols was analyzed. These models were then applied to the Paso del Norte region and their light …

Structural Investigation Of The Molecular Chaperonin Tf55 From Thermophilic Archaeon Sulfolobus Solfataricus, Sanjay Kumar Molugu

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Chaperonins are ubiquitous multi-subunit macromolecules that mediate the folding and assembly of certain proteins that cannot fold properly in vivo. The Archaea bacterium Sulfolobus solfataricus encodes for three chaperonin complexes formed from three different, but closely related subunits named alpha,betaand Gamma. These subunits form a homo-18mer composed of all beta subunits at temperatures ranging between 80oC-85oC, a hetero-16mer composed of alpha and beta subunits at temperatures ranging between 70oC-75oC and a hetero 18mer composed of alpha, beta and gamma subunits at temperatures of 60oC. Structures exist for the chaperonin TF55 all-beta complex and for the TF55 alpha-beta complex but not …

Evaluation Of Static And Dynamic Postural Control In Athletes With Concussions During Recovery, Nicholas Murray

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Approximately seventy-six percent of individuals with a sport-related concussion present with reduced balance. Current Return-to-Play (RTP) protocols rely heavily on measures of static balance that are not environmentally relevant. However, due to the variable nature of symptom presentation, research has not clearly defined a requisite time for balance recovery following a sport-related concussion. The use of novel procedures such as monitoring postural control during an environmentally relevant dynamic balance tasks could refine the timeline for recovery of postural control and aid in mitigating the potential severe consequences of Second Impact Syndrome. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate …

Higher Education And Foreign Direct Investment: A Study Of Mexican States, Yuyinska Krystal Sanchez-Osio

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Factors that attract Foreign Direct Investment in Mexico at the state level are analyzed. Special focus is placed on how human capital promotes growth by attracting more FDI flows in a state. A model that explains the amount of FDI received in Mexico in 2012 is developed at a subnational level. The main independent variable is human capital, and it is measured using percentage of university graduates. The model controls for other possible determinant factors such as population, infrastructure, wages, fiscal incentives, geographic location, ease of doing business, and past experience in attracting FDI. It is tested using ordinary least …

Geochemical Studies Of Backfill Aggregates, Lake Sediment Cores And The Hueco Bolson Aquifer, Anita Thapalia

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This Dissertation comprises of three different researches that focuses on the application of geochemistry from aggregates, lake sediment cores and Hueco Bolson Aquifer. Each study is independent and presented in the publication format. The first chapter is already published and the second chapter is in revision phase. Overall, three studies measure the large scale (field) as well as bench scale (lab) water-rock interactions influenced by the climatic and anthropogenic factors spans from the field of environmental geology to civil engineering.

The first chapter of this Dissertation addresses the chemical evaluation of coarse aggregates from six different quarries in Texas. The …

Constructive Feedback In L2 Writing With Chinese High School Students In Taiwan, Chiawei Diane Yang

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the lack of motivation in L2 writing of Chinese high school students in Taiwan. The subject of this study was to examine how age, culture, and the education system in Taiwan influenced students’ motivation in learning English writing. It provided insight about how academic environments influence students’ motivation in learning English, how teachers’ feedback shapes students’ learning attitudes, and effective ways to increase students’ motivation and self-esteem. The study utilized Krashen’s (1981) affective filter hypothesis and Dornyei’s (1994) three levels of motivation theory. Ten Taiwanese students participated in this study. All of …

Teaching Reading As An Integrated Skill: An Evaluation Of Two Popular Esl Textbooks, Ingrid Mcvanner

Master's Theses

As the population of non-native English speakers rises in the United States, so too does the need for effective English language instruction, and with that, effective instructional materials. With a growing population of adult English language learners with below basic prose literacy, the need for effective adult English language literacy instruction is also evident. Because people do not use one skill at a time, this project evaluates the reading materials in two adult English language integrated skills textbooks from major publishers of ESL materials in order to provide insight into the preparation of effective integrated skills textbooks designed for adult …

Measurement Of The Structure Function Of The Nearly Free Neutron Using Spectator Tagging In Inelastic ²H(E,E'Pˢ) X Scattering With Clas, S. Tkachenko, S. E. Kuhn, J. Zhang, K. P. Adhikari, M. J. Amaryan, A. Klein, S. Koirala, M. Mayer, L. Zana, Clas Collaboration

Physics Faculty Publications

Background: Much less is known about neutron structure than that of the proton due to the absence of free neutron targets. Neutron information is usually extracted from data on nuclear targets such as deuterium, requiring corrections for nuclear binding and nucleon off-shell effects. These corrections are model dependent and have significant uncertainties, especially for large values of the Bjorken scaling variable x . As a consequence, the same data can lead to different conclusions, for example, about the behavior of the d quark distribution in the proton at large x .

Purpose: The Barely Off-shell Nucleon Structure experiment at Jefferson …

Multipole And Field Uniformity Tailoring Of A 750 Mhz Rf Dipole, A. Castilla, Jean R. Delayen

Physics Faculty Publications

In recent years great interest has been shown in developing rf structures for beam separation, correction of geometrical degradation on luminosity, and diagnostic applications in both lepton and hadron machines. The rf dipole being a very promising one among all of them. The rf dipole has been tested and proven to have attractive properties that include high shunt impedance, low and balance surface fields, absence of lower order modes and far-spaced higher order modes that simplify their damping scheme. As well as to be a compact and versatile design in a considerable range of frequencies, its fairly simple geometry dependency …

A Visualization And Simulation Tool That Will Generate Effective Patrolling Strategies To Protect The U.S. Borders From Illegal Intrusion Using Game Theoretic Methods And Models, Eric Gutierrez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In the recent decade, the United States Border Patrol has increased the presence of border security officers at points of entry along the U.S.- Mexico border. In response to this increased presence of border security officials at ports of entries, illegal intruders have rerouted their intrusions in between ports of entry, in harsher terrain areas of the U.S. (e.g., the Arizona desert). The U.S. Border Patrol could benefit from a tool that plans effective border patrolling routes, and helps border security officials to make risk-based decisions for resource allocation. We are currently developing a tool called Genetic Algorithm for a …

Cause For Concern: A Mixed-Methods Study Of Campus Safety And Security Practices In United States-Mexico Border Institutions Of Higher Education, Ryan Clevis Holmes

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Campus safety has been a source of concern since the 1990s. However, in 2007, the tragedy at the Virginia Polytechnic and State University sent a sense of alarm through many institutions of higher education. Immediately following this tragedy, institutions across the country began to evaluate and question their safety and security practices. While many recommendations and mandates have been created by public and private agencies to offer guidance to institutions of higher education, none of the recommendations or mandates offered has been specific to the United States-Mexico Border region.

This mixed-methods study gathered perceptions of permanent threat assessment team …

An Econometric Analysis Of Retail Gasoline Prices In El Paso, Alan Andres Jimenez

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Previous studies show that a variety of different variables influence retail gasoline price fluctuations. In the case of El Paso, Texas, those variables would include wholesale gasoline prices, local economic conditions, weather, and, more uniquely, cross-border economic variables associated with Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua in Mexico. To analyze the contributions of these variables to monthly price movements for gasoline in El Paso, a theoretical model is specified. From the latter construct, a reduced form equation is extracted. That specification is then expressed within an error correction framework to allow accounting for both long-run and short-run behaviors in this metropolitan economy. Results …

Risk Assessment Of Waterborne Cryptosporidium, Victoria Norma Ochoa

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

In an effort to update the risk assessment of waterborne Cryptosporidium an additional and more complete human dose-response dataset of the parasite was used to calculate the risk of infection. The complete data studied contains larger human outcomes than the initial prior risk assessment evaluated by Haas et. al. in 1999. Quantitative analysis of the complete dose-response indicates that it no longer follows the Exponential Model used to estimate the risk for the initial data. The complete dataset appears to provide a better fit with the Beta-Poisson Model and even a dose independent constant risk model, which shows a considerable …

Si Se Puede: The Effects Of Collective Angst And Identity On Group Activism During The National Immigration Debate, Corin Sue Ramos

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The United States is involved in an ongoing debate on immigration. States have passed their own laws intended to enforce federal law. The new controversial laws allow local law enforcement to act as federal immigration agents. Opponents argue these new laws unlawfully target Latinos. Latinos are of interest for politicians and lawmakers, due to their rapid growing population. The current research investigated the effects that anti-immigrant laws have on Latino citizens' American identity, ethnic identity and civic engagement. Preliminary data showed conservative Latinos have low intention of voting when primed with anti-immigrant laws. Absent from the pilot study are the …

Effect Of Multi-Tube Injector Geometry On Flame Stability And Nox Emission In A High Pressure Gas Turbine Combustor, Sudipa Sarker

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Future generation gas turbine combustors for power production are expected to have the capability of operating on high hydrogen content fuels. To ensure the implementation of high hydrogen content (HHC) fuel in a power generation unit without negotiating with operational or emission advantages, the study of the flame stability regime and behavior of (HHC) fuel under gas turbine condition leads to the necessity of the development of an optically accessible high-pressure combustor. This Dissertation first presents the design of an optically high-pressure combustor facility based on 500 kW power and 1.5 MPa pressure which is the representative pressure of a …

Secondhand City: Stolen Stories From La Limonada, Byron José Sun

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Roboton, Jupa and Calicas have just been drafted by the city of La Limonada to petrol, to rob, to intimidate, to extort, to kill and when necessary to protect those citizens that need it; as their crime spree progresses their tactics and abilities improve shaping them into criminal machines. The three new criminals will be tasked with the reality of destroying people's lives in order to insure La Limonada maintains its dominion over every citizen by controlling every aspect of their past, present and future. Many of those citizens are clueless on how they are controlled; it isn't until their …

Skilled Birth Attendant Assessment In Haiti: A Pilot Project, Nicole Zickler

Yale School of Nursing Digital Theses

Objective: To evaluate a cohort of graduates from a grassroots skilled birth attendant training program in Haiti to determine if they meet global standards of competency established by the International Confederation of Midwives.

Design and setting: A testing instrument that included both a 50-question, multiple choice knowledge test and two emergency skills tests (postpartum hemorrhage and neonatal resuscitation) was adopted from the USAID Quality Assurance Project. A convenience sample of 30 skilled birth attendants completed the knowledge test and, of this cohort, a random sample of 18 completed the skills test. Data collection took place in Hinche, Haiti in July, …

Book Review: New Age Globalization: Meaning And Metaphor By Aqueil Ahmad, Susan H. Jespersen

Journal of Sustainable Social Impact

New Age Globalization examines interdependent and interconnected global society in terms of its structure, including both functional and process characteristics, with an underlying concern for global consciousness resulting in global social change for human welfare. The theoretical framework provides for analysis of history, culture, economics, demographics, political systems, conflicts, knowledge, and religions of regions throughout the world. This is a well-researched book with information on complex topics for the global researcher, corporate planning executive, human resource manager, and educator, among others seeking to understand social and organizational systems in our global world.

High-Frequency Oscillations Recorded On The Scalp Of Patients With Epilepsy Using Tripolar Concentric Ring Electrodes, Walter Besio, Iris E. Martínez-Juárez, Oleksandr Makeyev, John N. Gaitanis, Andrew S. Blum, Robert S. Fisher, Andrei V. Medvedev

Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Epilepsy is the second most prevalent neurological disorder (~1% prevalence) affecting ~67 million people worldwide with up to 75% from developing countries. The conventional electroencephalogram is plagued with artifacts from movements, muscles, and other sources. Tripolar concentric ring electrodes automatically attenuate muscle artifacts and provide improved signal quality. We performed basic experiments in healthy humans to show that tripolar concentric ring electrodes can indeed record the physiological alpha waves while eyes are closed. We then conducted concurrent recordings with conventional disc electrodes and tripolar concentric ring electrodes from patients with epilepsy. We found that we could detect high frequency oscillations, …

The Effect Of Prosody Instruction On Reading Fluency And Comprehension Among Third-Grade Students, Tammy B. Overstreet

Dissertations

Problem

Many students are failing to become proficient readers with current instructional methods used in American schools. Students frequently make improvements in two of fluency’s dimensions, rate and accuracy, but these improvements have not consistently correlated to improvements in reading comprehension, which is the objective of reading. The automaticity plus prosody (APP) model was developed by this researcher from Topping’s deep processing fluency model to explain why teaching and assessing the multiple dimensions of fluency (rate, accuracy, and prosody) improve comprehension. The purpose of this study was to compare students in a private school in a small town in southwestern …

Factors Related To Declining Attendance At The Adult Sabbath School In The North American Division Of Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Laurentiu A. Serban

Dissertations

Problem. From the time of its inception in the 1850s until the early part of the 20th century, the Adventist Sabbath School in North America was highly attended. During those times Sabbath School reached the highest attendance rate when Sabbath School membership was sometimes even larger than church membership. Following that time, the attendance rate at Sabbath School has significantly declined. Currently it is estimated that less than 25% of the Seventh-day Adventist Church membership in North America attends Sabbath School on a regular basis. This study explores factors related to declining attendance at the adult Sabbath School in the …

Growing South Dakota (Winter 2014), College Of Agriculture &. Biological Sciences

Growing South Dakota (Publication of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences)

This issue contains the 2013 SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station Annual Report

[Page] 2 The World’s First: Collaborative Effort Produces Multi-Hybrid Planter To Advance Precision Ag
[Page] 4 70 Years Of Data: Ranchers Benefit From Long-Term Grazing Studies
[Page] 6 Better Beef: Fetal Programming Study Analyzes Effects Of Cow Nutrition On Meat Quality
[Page] 7 Winter College News
[Page] 8 Consumer Sciences, Animal Health, Livestock Marketing: Important Research Continues In These Areas
[Page] 10 Improving Human Health: Role Of Nondigestible Fiber, Antioxidants Studied To Prevent Disease
[Page] 11 Food Safety Focus: Targeting Heat-Resistant Microbes To Improve Dairy Products
[Page] 12 Engineering …

Paramedic Professional And Leadership Development Using High-Fidelity Healthcare Simulation And Audiovisual Feedback : One Michigan Community College Case Study, Chester L. Dalski

Dissertations

Problem: Paramedic educators have a short time frame (840 didactic/laboratory plus 500 clinical/internship hours) and limited resources to prepare their students to have competent clinical skills, safe medical practice, and appropriate leadership and teamwork skills. New learning approaches including simulation, audiovisual feedback, and structured debriefing have been suggested as a way to meet this challenge within paramedic education. While some individual components have been studied, no study has examined these three technologies together in paramedic training programs. The overarching research question that guided this study was: What and how do paramedic students learn in a high-fidelity healthcare simulation program that …

Attitudes And Beliefs Of Seventh-Day Adventists Concerning Psychology, Counseling, And Mental Health Issues, Kristy Koeppe

Dissertations

Problem. As in the mainstream population, Adventists are dealing with a variety of mental health issues, and there has been no empirical research which explored their attitudes and beliefs concerning psychology, counseling, and mental health issues.

Method. A survey was used to collect data on beliefs about psychology, attitudes towards counseling, beliefs about mental health issues, and beliefs about medical care from a sample of 317 Adventist adults from the Illinois Conference. Data were also analyzed to understand the relationship between the independent variables—gender, utilization of psychological services, the Seventh-day Adventist’s degree of knowledge about the writings of Ellen G. …