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Semiparametric Regression Analysis Of Bivariate Interval-Censored Data, Naichen Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Survival analysis is a long-lasting and popular research area and has numerous applications in all fields such as social science, engineering, economics, industry, and public health. Interval-censored data are a special type of survival data, in which the survival time of interest is never exactly observed but is known to fall within some observed interval. Interval-censored data arise commonly in real-life studies, in which subjects are examined at periodical or irregular follow-up visits. In this dissertation, we develop efficient statistical approaches for regression analysis of bivariate intervalcensored data, in which the two survival times of interest are correlated and both …

Virtual High Schools Versus Brick And Mortar High Schools: An Analysis Of Graduation Rates For Low Socio-Economic Students In South Carolina, Alice Denise Montgomery

Theses and Dissertations

The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2001 was designed to ensure that all students are receiving an appropriate education. All states were mandated to implement state-wide assessments to monitor student achievement. With the identification of student needs that came from the results of state-wide assessments, leaders at both the state and district levels began to develop programs to address these needs. The virtual high school is one of the alternative settings for education that came out of this movement. Full-time virtual high schools have a growing enrollment every year. However, the progress these schools are making in the …

Principal Longevity, Leadership Behaviors, And Student Academic Achievement, Jennifer Mcleod Swearingen

Theses and Dissertations

Utilizing Pearson’s correlation and other forms of data analysis, the researcher explored relationships between principal longevity, leadership behaviors, and student academic achievement in this study. Additionally, the study considered the degree to which leadership behavior ratings seem to be associated with student academic achievement. The researcher found positive correlations among all three variables, with the strongest correlation being between principal longevity and student academic achievement. The only correlation that was found to be statistically significant was between principal longevity and student academic achievement. The researcher was also able to identify the highest and lowest rated leadership behaviors for principals with …

Experimental And Theoretical Studies Of Native And Engineered Vascular Tissue Mechanics, Boran Zhou

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Implantation of vascular grafts provides a means to restore blood flow in compromised regions of the circulatory system, and thus is used to treat a wide range of cardiovascular diseases. Despite significant advancements in autologous grafting strategies as well as the engineering of synthetic alternatives, mechanical, structural, and compositional incongruities between the graft and the host artery remain as contributing factors to graft failure. The typical failure modality manifests as proximal anastomotic intimal hyperplasia, which places restrictions on the host vessel size currently treated with grafting strategies (> 5 mm internal diameter). In order to improve long-term clinical outcomes, …

Theoretical Investigation Of The Catalytic, Liquid-Phase Hydrodeoxygenation Of Organic Acids And Esters, Sina Behtash

Theses and Dissertations

With worldwide fossil fuel resources dwindling and greenhouse gas emissions rising, it is urgent to find renewable liquid fuel alternatives from e.g. biomass to meet the world’s growing energy demand. Lipid feedstocks and pyrolysis oils from woody biomass can be utilized for the production of second-generation biofuels via a catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) process. The conversion of fatty acids and esters plays an important role in the activity and selectivity of these processes. Understanding the HDO reaction mechanism of organic acids and esters on metal surfaces is a prerequisite for the rational design of new HDO catalysts specifically designed for upgrading …

Benefits Of Video Games In Multidisciplinary Scientific Research, Jeremiah Jeffrey Shepherd

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, computer-based games have been shown to be effective both as a tool for conducting research in a variety of domains and for research on games itself. In this work, we show that implementing games that have a basis in theory and that are combined with the most recent gaming practices result in effective research tools. We demonstrate this via game implementations for three domains. The first implementation is based on new theories in speech pedagogy, and demonstrates the effectiveness of our approach. The second implementation shows that using a game that simulates therapeutic speech practices can aid …

Behavior Of Piezoelectric Wafer Active Sensor In Various Media, Tuncay Kamas

Theses and Dissertations

The dissertation addresses structural health monitoring (SHM) techniques using ultrasonic waves generated by piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) with an emphasis on the development of theoretical models of standing harmonic waves and guided waves. The focal objective of the research is to extend the theoretical study of electro-mechanical coupled PWAS as a resonator/transducer that interacts with standing and traveling waves in various media through electro-mechanical impedance spectroscopy (EMIS) method and guided wave propagation. The analytical models are developed and the coupled field finite element analysis (CF-FEA) models are simulated and verified with experiments. The dissertation is divided into two parts …

Weight-Gain And Energy Balance, Benjamin Thomas Gordon

Theses and Dissertations

Energy balance is the result of a dynamic relationship between energy intake (EI), energy expenditure (EE) and energy storage (ES). These three components of energy balance have extremely complicated associations, and all three major components are consistently influenced by physiologic, psychological, and sociologic factors. Concerted changes between EE and EI result in alterations of the ES. Most often in clinical and research settings, bodyweight is used as marker of body composition (i.e., ES) changes. Traditional measurements of bodyweight do not give an accurate portrayal of ES change or the role it has in energy balance. This dissertation supplies new methods …

When Life Happens: Theatres Of Hiv And Complexity In South Africa, Jessica S. Ruthven

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines theatre as part of an artistic movement in South Africa to address the social, structural, and emotional repercussions of HIV, as well as a space in which knowledge about HIV/AIDS is actively created, mediated, reproduced, challenged, and presented for public consumption. Although applied theatre has a long history in the country, I focus on innovation in recent theatrical practices that have occurred as artists and members of broader civil society struggle to understand the trajectory of the country's AIDS epidemic and question the scope of popular national HIV intervention campaigns. I use emerging forms of cultural production …

Evolution Of Ecological Dominance Of Yeast Species In High-Sugar Environments, Kathryn Marie Williams

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Two challenging goals of evolutionary biology are to understand how evolutionary innovations evolve and how they contribute to the success of lineages. Evolutionary innovations may arise following whole genome duplication (WGD) events and they are suspected to contribute to the success of lineages by creating ecological opportunity. However, direct evidence for duplicated genes involved in evolutionary innovations remains rare, and the relationship between evolutionary innovations and the success of lineages may be very complex. In this study, I explore the relationship of evolutionary innovation, WGD, and the ecological dominance of yeast species in high-sugar environments. In budding yeast, a major …

An Essential Role For Self-Pmhc Throughout The Life Of A Cd4 T Cell: Contributions In The Thymus And Periphery, Stephanie Rodriguez

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

It is well established that self-peptide Major Histocompatibility Complexes (hereafter self-pMHC) are essential for the development of a broad repertoire of mature, self-tolerant CD4 and CD8 T cells. Despite clear knowledge that the pool of self-ligands is critical for positive and negative selection, the exact kinetics and dynamic nature of thymocyte interaction with self-pMHC class II (self-pMHCII) bearing antigen-presenting cells (APCs) during development is still largely a mystery. The enigmatic nature of selecting self-pMHC is not unique to the thymic environment; increasingly evident is the dependence of peripheral T cells on extra-thymic self-pMHC expression, specifically selecting self-pMHC, for their homeostatic …

Characterizing The Fitness Landscapes Of Gut Symbionts In Defined Community And Diet Contexts, Meng Wu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

A species' niche is the description of all the environmental conditions required to permit a population of that species to persist, including the effects of the population on those conditions. This definition includes the species' resource requirements, as well as stress tolerances and interactions with other species acting as competitors, predators, parasites, and mutualists. The human gut microbiota serves as a microbial `metabolic organ' tasked in part with the biotransformation of many components of our diet. Relatively little is known about the factors that allow members of the human gut microbiota to persist in a habitat that experiences marked changes …

Gothic Literature And The Politics Of Indistinction, Nicholas Everett Miller

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

I recover the Gothic as a literature of political possibility. While scholars have long associated the Gothic tradition with political fear, I argue that Gothic novels challenge liberal ideas of the self to produce a sometimes radically egalitarian politics of freedom in the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. Edmund Burke made much of the fearfulness of an egalitarian politics in the 1790s, and literary historians have relied on his influence to argue that Gothic fiction is primarily an expression of the fear that comes with the collapse of familial, social, and political distinctions. But fear is not all that accompanies such …

Feeling Doctrine: Religious Meanings Of Emotion In Sixteenth-Century German Literature, Georgia Anna Leeper

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the intersections of emotion and Protestant theology in late-16th-century German literature. The project demonstrates the availability of even secular texts to confessional readings through the analysis of representations of emotions. Post-Reformation texts practice an emotional exemplarity that highlights the effects - including the spiritual effects - which emotional experiences have on the individual. I argue that narrative representations of emotions at this moment reflect anxieties about the nebulous nature of faith, and its central role in Protestant salvation. Close readings of widely-read texts such as the 1587 Faustbuch, Melusine, and Hans Sach's Judith: ein Comedi, among others …

Comparison Of Conventional And Bayesian Analysis For The Ultrasonic Characterization Of Cancellous Bone, Amber Groopman

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the physics underlying the propagation of ultrasonic waves in cancellous bone. Although quantitative ultrasound has the potential to evaluate bone quality even better than the current gold standard X-ray based modality, its clinical utility has been hampered by the incomplete understanding of the mechanisms governing the interaction between ultrasound and bone. Therefore, studies that extend the understanding of the fundamental physics of the relationship between ultrasound and trabecular bone tissue may result in improved clinical capabilities.Ultrasonic measurements were carried out on excised human calcaneal specimens in order to study the effects of overlapping fast and slow compressional …

Portland Spectrum, December 2014, Portland State University. Student Publications Board

Portland Spectrum

Editor: Corinne Hutfilz

Articles in this issue include: GMO: An Informed Right to Know; Aetna: Is it Worth it?; Torrenting on Campus; Food Insecurity Across College Campuses; Raise the Umbrella: Protests in Hong Kong Continued; A Point of View..... Arrival at Tangier (A Snapshot in Time; Meeting a Writer); and ISIS: A History of Terror;

Yesterday’S Town: A Multimedia Investigation Into The Tourism Decline Gripping Britain’S East Coast, Anna Giles

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

One of the hardest things for some people to accept is change, especially when it involves part of their national identity. For years, people in Great Britain have thrived off of tourism in seaside towns and have considered it a source of pride. But the high-end Bed and Breakfasts’ and lively boardwalks that once attracted vacation-goers are not so common nowadays as the world becomes more globalized and more Britons can afford to vacation overseas. This has resulted in a drastic loss of revenue for many of these seaside businesses. The number of visitors who stayed overnight in Yarmouth peaked …

Penn State Football: An Analysis Of Crisis Communication Best Practices And How Psu Overcame The Ultimate Pr Crisis, Meaghan Grace Lane

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This thesis paper is an analysis of the crisis communication response to the 2011 Pennsylvania State University child sex abuse scandal. The reputation of this iconic university and its football program was changed forever by this horrific event, which involved years of administrative cover-ups of the sexual assault of children by an assistant football coach. However, despite widespread public backlash, administrative upheaval and heavy NCAA sanctions in the months after the scandal broke, Penn State has since made major strides in image improvement.

This project delves into what defines best crisis communication practices, using Penn State as a case study. …

Invest For Impact: An Exploration Of The Incongruities In Social Finance, Kelly Marie Thompson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Within the impact investing industry, a definition for societal return and how to measure this concept is lacking. Although its potential has been proven, there is still very limited exposure to impact investing within the United States. The present study aims to survey the current status of the impact investment industry in the United States, assess the presence of gaps between investments and their outcomes, and formulate a framework for addressing such shortcomings. The current status of the impact investing industry was examined and evaluated in order to understand how the industry is defined, what is the outcomes social finance, …

My News

My News (2014-2020)

• 1,700 Degrees Conferred During Fall Commencement
• Willie Fritz Named 2014 Coach of the Year
• McLemore Named Acting Vice President for the Division of Research & Economic Development
• Purchase Football Game Programs from Historic Championship Season
• True Blue Fan Profile Featuring Don Borowski
• Final "My News" of 2014
• Season's Greetings
• Attend a mens basketball game for a good cause
• Take Advantage of University Store Savings This Week

Hern V. Idaho Transp. Dept. Appellant's Brief 1 Dckt. 42287

Idaho Supreme Court Records & Briefs, All

No abstract provided.

Model-To-Data Comparisons Reveal Influence Of Jellyfish Interactions On Plankton Community Dynamics, Kevin P. Crum, Heidi L. Fuchs, Paul Bologna, John Gaynor

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Taxonomic shifts can alter predator feeding preference and modify ecosystem dynamics through top-down control. In Barnegat Bay-Little Egg Harbor Estuary (New Jersey, USA), sea nettle Chrysaora quinquecirrha abundances have increased in the northern portions of the estuary. We evaluated the geographical variation in top-down influence of C. quinquecirrha on plankton community dynamics. We simulated a range of jellyfish- to copepod-dominated ecosystems using a size-resolved nutrient-phytoplankton-zooplankton (NPZ) model. Zooplankton feeding was parameterized as a community average based on predator-prey size ratios and breadth of prey sizes of dominant species. We compared model outputs to data collected in the estuary during 2 …

Elaborating Patient Agency In Breast-Cancer Care: A Grounded Theoretical Analysis Of Patients Asserting Treatment Preferences, Rachel Sofia Erdman

Dissertations and Theses

Successful physician-patient communication is increasingly being acknowledged as a vital aspect of healthcare today. Research in the field has not examined all aspects of patient-centered care and the aspects that have been studied have not been grounded in actual patient action. The research done in the field has largely been studied quantitatively. The present thesis research attempts to contribute to the gap in the field of physician-patient communication by qualitatively examining patient assertiveness. This thesis examines conversations between women in Portland, Oregon recently diagnosed with breast cancer talking to their surgeons about their diagnoses and treatment options. Using grounded qualitative …

A Survey Of Shark Population In Winyah Bay, Sc: A Comparison Of Data From 2002-2006 And From 2012-2014, Jessica Bruce

Honors Theses

As a result of a long-term longline study conducted by Coastal Carolina University, data on the population structure of sharks in Winyah Bay, SC have been recorded since 2002. The data are collected from late spring to fall each year. Two separate data sets, from 2002 to 2006 and from 2012 to 2014, were analyzed for catch per unit effort (CPUE), catch composition, sex ratios, and average precaudallengths (PCL) for males and females. The average CPUE for the 2002-2006 data set was 2.68 with a standard deviation of 0.73 while the average for the most recent data set was 3.20 …

Mental Disorders, Mental Health Problems, And Treatment Among Army Recruiters And Recruiting Candidates, 2011-2013: An Examination Of Current Rates In The Recruiting Population, Chadwick Karl Knight

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This study sought to determine the prevalence and severity of mental health disorders (MHDs) and/or mental health problems (MHPs) and types of treatments received among soldiers who have or will serve as recruiters. Research Design and Methods: Data were collected between October 2011 to July 2013 from active duty soldiers (N=2,783) attending courses on Fort Jackson at the U.S. Army’s Recruiting and Retention School (RRS). Students consisted of regular active duty soldiers and activated Guard/Reservist that were either recruiters or recruiting candidates. The medical records of participating recruiters and recruiting candidates were reviewed for the prevalence of MHDs and …

Cyclooxygenase-2, Prostaglandin E2, And Prostanoid Receptor Ep2 In Fluid Flow Shear Stress-Mediated Injury In The Solitary Kidney., Tarak Srivastava, Uri S. Alon, Patricia A. Cudmore, Belal Tarakji, Alexander Kats, Robert E. Garola, R Scott Duncan, Ellen T. Mccarthy, Ram Sharma, Mark L. Johnson, Lynda F. Bonewald, Ashraf El-Meanawy, Virginia J. Savin, Mukut Sharma

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Hyperfiltration subjects podocytes to increased tensile stress and fluid flow shear stress (FFSS). We showed a 1.5- to 2.0-fold increase in FFSS in uninephrectomized animals and altered podocyte actin cytoskeleton and increased synthesis of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) following in vitro application of FFSS. We hypothesized that increased FFSS mediates cellular changes through specific receptors of PGE2. Presently, we studied the effect of FFSS on cultured podocytes and decapsulated isolated glomeruli in vitro, and on solitary kidney in uninephrectomized sv129 mice. In cultured podocytes, FFSS resulted in increased gene and protein expression of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 but not COX-1, prostanoid receptor EP2 …

Mono-N-Acyl-2,6-Diaminopimelic Acid Derivatives: Analysis By Electromigration And Spectroscopic Methods And Examination Of Enzyme Inhibitory Activity, Jan Hlaváček, Miloslava Vítovcová, Petra Sázelová, Jan Pícha, Václav Vaněk, Miloš Buděšínský, Jiří Jiráček, Danuta M. Gillner, Richard C. Holz, Ivan Mikšík, Václav Kašička

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Thirteen mono-N-acyl derivatives of 2,6-diaminopimelic acid (DAP)—new potential inhibitors of the dapE-encoded N-succinyl-l,l-diaminopimelic acid desuccinylase (DapE; EC 3.5.1.18)—were analyzed and characterized by infrared (IR) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopies and two capillary electromigration methods: capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). Structural features of DAP derivatives were characterized by IR and NMR spectroscopies, whereas CZE and MEKC were applied to evaluate their purity and to investigate their electromigration properties. Effective electrophoretic mobilities of these compounds were determined by CZE in acidic and alkaline background electrolytes (BGEs) and by MEKC in acidic and alkaline BGEs …

Mixture Cure Models: Simulation Comparisons Of Methods In R And Sas, Myra Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Typical survival methods have the assumption that every subject will eventually experience the event of interest, given enough follow-up time. However, there are some occasions in which a proportion of the population of interest will never experience the event of interest. Therefore, the incorporation of a “cure” fraction in a statistical model is necessary. In this thesis, I comprehensively evaluate mixture cure models in two different statistical software programs: the smcure package in R and the PSPMCM macro in SAS. Extensive simulation studies in R and SAS allow evaluation of the performance of these two models. An additional aspect of …

Mcp-1 In Colorectal Cancer: Benefits Of Exercise, Jamie Lee Mcclellan

Theses and Dissertations

The etiology of colon cancer is a complex phenomenon that involves both genetic and environmental factors. However, only about 20% have a familial basis with the largest fraction being attributed to environmental causes that can lead to chronic inflammation. Tumors associated macrophages drive the pro-inflammatory response in the tumor micro-environment and are associated with poor prognosis in certain cancers. Monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1) is thought to be the most important chemokine for recruitment of macrophages to the tumor microenvironment. In chapter 1, we examined the timing and magnitude of the intestinal inflammatory cytokine response in relation to tumorigenesis in …

Methods For Identifying Regions Of Brain Activation Using Fmri Meta-Data, Meredith A. Ray

Theses and Dissertations

Functional neuroimaging is a relatively young discipline within the neurosciences that has led to significant advances in our understanding of the human brain and progress in neuroscientific research related to public health. Accurately identifying activated regions in the brain showing a strong association with an outcome of interest is crucial in terms of disease prediction and prevention. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is the most widely used method for this type of study as it has the ability to measure and identify the location of changes in tissue perfusion, blood oxygenation, and blood volume. In practice, the three-dimensional brain locations …