Digital Commons Network^™

Friendship Quality Of Early Adolescent Girls In Relation To Maternal And Paternal Parenting, Social Anxiety, And Interpersonal Skill, Joanna T. Prout

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Social anxiety has been shown to negatively impact friendship quality across the lifespan, leading to relationships that are less intimate and emotionally supportive. In turn, lower friendship quality and lack of social support have been linked to increased risk for isolation and depression. Early adolescence is a period of transition when the basis of friendship shifts from the ability to be a good play partner to the ability to engage in more complex interpersonal skills such as self-disclosure, provision of emotional support, and assertiveness. The early adolescent period is also a time when levels of social anxiety increase as children …

Nerve Growth Factor Regulates Na+ Transport In Human Airway Epithelial Cells, Michael J. Shimko

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Nerve growth factor (NGF) was discovered for its ability to enhance nerve growth, but recent evidence suggests there is a correlation between elevated NGF levels in the lung and airway diseases, including lung inflammatory diseases and respiratory virus infections. NGF can be produced and act upon both structural and non-structural cells of the airways, and overexpression of NGF causes morphological and physiological changes in the airways, such as an increased innervation resulting in a neuronal remodeling of the lung, airway smooth muscle thickening, increased vascularization, airway hyperreactivity to capsaicin, and subepithelial thickening. Although work has been conducted to investigate NGFs …

Aircraft Abnormal Conditions Detection, Identification, And Evaluation Using Innate And Adaptive Immune Systems Interaction, Dia Al Azzawi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Abnormal flight conditions play a major role in aircraft accidents frequently causing loss of control. To ensure aircraft operation safety in all situations, intelligent system monitoring and adaptation must rely on accurately detecting the presence of abnormal conditions as soon as they take place, identifying their root cause(s), estimating their nature and severity, and predicting their impact on the flight envelope.;Due to the complexity and multidimensionality of the aircraft system under abnormal conditions, these requirements are extremely difficult to satisfy using existing analytical and/or statistical approaches. Moreover, current methodologies have addressed only isolated classes of abnormal conditions and a reduced …

C8-Arylguanine Modified Hairpin Oligonucleotides: Synthesis, Conformational Analysis, And Tools For The Investigation Of Z-Dna Formation, Brian C. Train

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Z-DNA is the only DNA conformation that has a left-handed helical twist. Z-DNA has been implicated in carcinogenesis from its role in gene expression. Z-DNA formation has been linked to mutagenesis since it may play a role in genetic instability and can induce gene deletions. However, the specific biological role for Z-DNA in vivo remains uncertain. Arylhydrazines are carcinogenic compounds that are known to form DNA adducts, although it is unknown how DNA adduct formation is related to their carcinogenicity. Previous work in our lab has demonstrated that the formation of C8-arylguanine DNA adducts, derived from arylhydrazines, shifts the B …

Diet Induced Alteration Of The Murine Intestinal Microbiome After Antibiotic Ablation, Adam Irvin

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Background and Objective: We detected a dominant non-cultivatable gram-positive coccobacillus associated with cultivatable yeast in feces of mice treated with a cocktail of broad-spectrum antibiotics while being fed a partially defined mouse chow that is commonly used for nutritional studies. The goal of this study was to determine the identity of the non-cultivatable gram-positive coccobacillus.;Methods: Fecal samples were analyzed by Gram stain, quantitative flow cytometry, next generation sequencing of the V3 or V4 regions of the 16S rRNA gene, fluorescence microscopy, and sequence analysis of the tuf gene, which can distinguish among Streptococcus and Staphylococcus genera.;Results: Fecal samples from antibiotic-treated …

Ion Current Rectification In Nano/Micro-Fluidic Interfaces And Pulsed Glow Discharge Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometric Chemical Speciation, Han Wang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Microfluidics continues to be of interest for analyzing chemical and biological samples because of the disposability, portability, low sample consumption, fast analysis time, and parallel analysis potential for multiple samples in a single device. To improve microfluidic device functionality, integrated systems-nanofluidic/microfluidic interfaces (NMIs) have been fabricated for concentrating samples and performing as molecular gates. Ion current rectification has been confirmed in NMI with an asymmetric system. In chapter 2, the asymmetry of the NMI is systematically altered by varying the inner diameter of the nanocapillary membrane (NCM) reservoir, and the current rectification factor is observed to increase as the inner …

Effects Of Response-Independent Food Pellet Delivery On The Development Of Tolerance To The Rate-Decreasing Effect Of D-Amphetamine In Rats, Christopher A. Krebs

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The extent to which initial drug administration decreases the ability of an organism to obtain reinforcement can affect the development of behavioral tolerance. Environmental enrichment affects many drug-related phenomena, but its effects on the development of tolerance are not clear. The present study examined how enriching the environment by providing non-contingent food pellets during experimental sessions affects the development of tolerance to a dose of d-amphetamine that produces a loss in reinforcement. Lever pressing for food pellets was maintained under a multiple schedule consisting of two variable-interval (VI) 60-s components. One component was enriched by providing food pellets non-contingently under …

Functional Equivalency Of Created And Natural Wetlands In The Central Appalachians: Reproductive Success, Call Phenology, And Diet Composition Of Amphibians, Gabriel F. Strain

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Evaluating the adequacy of created wetlands to replace the functions of lost natural wetlands is important because wetland mitigation is a major tool used to offset wetland losses. However, measurements such as vegetative cover and presence of wildlife may not provide sufficient evidence that created wetlands are functioning properly and thus examining the ecology of wetland biota such as that of amphibians may be a more useful surrogate for function. The objectives of this study were to assess the reproductive success, temporal calling patterns, and diet composition of amphibians inhabiting created wetlands relative to natural wetlands in order to facilitate …

Regional Mapping And Reservoir Analysis Of The Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale In The Appalachian Basin, Jared Vanmeter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The main purpose of this investigation is to define the distribution of organic-rich facies of the Middle Devonian Marcellus Shale in New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. The analysis is based on well-log data, primarily gamma-ray (the most common and best calibrated) and bulk-density logs (where available). Detailed log analysis has been performed to normalize the logs and define key indicators of reservoir quality. Stratigraphic correlations have been conducted to trace key formation across the study area.;The following maps were generated over the study area.;• Isopach maps of the Mahantango Shale, Marcellus Shale, Oatka Creek Member, Cherry Valley and …

Incorporating Physics-Based Patterns Into Geophysical And Geostatistical Estimation Algorithms, Erasmus Kofi Oware

All Dissertations

Geophysical imaging systems are inherently non-linear and plagued with the challenge of limited data. These drawbacks make the solution non-unique and sensitive to small data perturbations; hence, regularization is performed to stabilize the solution. Regularization involves the application of a priori specification of the target to modify the solution space in order to make it tractable. However, the traditionally applied regularization model constraints are independent of the physical mechanisms driving the spatiotemporal evolution of the target parameters. To address this limitation, we introduce an innovative inversion scheme, basis-constrained inversion, which seeks to leverage advances in mechanistic modeling of physical phenomena …

Heterotrophic Culture Of Microalgae Using Biodiesel Derived Glycerol, Karthik Gopalakrishnan

All Dissertations

Algae-based technologies are fast growing and the growing demand for sustainable technologies is evident from the growing energy demand and global warming. Microalgae culturing for higher lipid contents have been a hot topic of intense discussion in the past years. Crude glycerol, a byproduct from biodiesel production seems to be an attractive feedstock for microbial cultivation and crude glycerol has been proven as a good alternative feedstock for cultivation of Chlorella protothecoides. The effect of impurities present in the crude glycerol is important to develop a method for high-density cultivation of microalgae to increase the commercialization potential of algae systems. …

Platform Technologies To Advance Clinically Relevant Tissue Engineered Heart Valve Products, Leslie Neil Sierad

All Dissertations

Diseased heart valves are commonly replaced by mechanical, bioprosthetic, or allograft heart valves. These replacements provide major improvements in cardiac function and quality of life, but have significant limitations and eventually require surgical replacement within 15-20 years. These risks are particularly prominent in pediatric patients and young adults. The field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, which combines scaffolds and cells, holds great promise in developing living replacement heart valves that would self-repair and grow in size along with the growing children.

The long-term goal of this project is to generate living, tissue-engineered heart valves from biological scaffolds and autologous …

Application Of Neural Network Techniques To Downscale Precipitation, Javad Rahimikollu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Global climate change is a major area of concern to public and climate researchers. It impacts flooding, crop yields, water based diseases, etc. Significant effort has gone into developing climate models. Global climate models use a coarse grid of 300x300 Km2, while the resolution of interest for the hydrologist is 50x50 Km2.;Downscaling is the tool to map the large-scale global climate properties to a finer grid size in order to accurately predict climate variables such as precipitation. This study utilized Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) and Hybrid Support Vector Regression (HSVR) methods to predict precipitation at a finer grid, based on …

Backyard Beekeeping, Rachelle Messner, James Strange, Roslynn Brain

Environment and Society Faculty Publications

In an effort to become more sustainable, small-scale backyard operations by private citizens have become increasingly popular. This fact sheet provides a basic guideline for those interested in backyard beekeeping, whether just for the enjoyment of tending the bees, or the reward of the delicious honey produced. With proper care, management, and harvesting, backyard beekeeping can provide health, economic, and environmental benefits.

The Bioscience Cluster In Ohio, Candi Clouse, Ziona Austrian

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

The purpose of this report is to create a shared definition and understanding of the bioscience industry across the state of Ohio. Bioscience is a relatively small industry, but it is growing both globally, nationally, and in Ohio. It is also linked to many other industries through its technologies, suppliers, and customers. This report will not only develop a deeper knowledge of the industry and its role in the economy, but we will suggest selected standards on how to study this industry and how to track its progress over time. This report is the first phase of a larger study …

Ageism, Honesty, And Trust, Eric Schniter, Timothy W. Shields

ESI Publications

Age-based discrimination is considered undesirable, yet we know little about age stereotypes and their effects on honesty and trust. To investigate this aspect of ageism, we presented older adults (over age 50) and younger adults (under age 25) with incentivized belief elicitation tasks about anticipated interaction behaviors and then a series of same, different, and unknown-aged group interactions in a strategic-communication game. All adults shared consensual stereotypes about uncooperative younger adults and cooperative older adults that demonstrated “wisdom of crowds”. While the out-group was consistently stereotyped as relatively different and more dishonest and suspicious than observed to be, the in-group …

The College Union And A Sense Of Community For Students In Public Higher Education: Is There A Relationship?, Leah A. Barrett

Education Doctoral

The relationship between the college union and a sense of community on campus has been written about in monographs, books, and articles for over 100 years. However, little or no empirical evidence exists to confirm this relationship. The purpose of this dissertation study was to identify if there is a relationship between the physical space of the college union and students’ sense of community on campus. The study utilized a secondary data set from one of the largest state systems of public higher education in the United States. Correlation and regression techniques were applied to the results of a satisfaction …

Exploring The Essence Of The Civil–Military Gap: An Interpretative Phenomenological Study Of High School Administrators’ Feelings Related To Jrotc, Ulises Miranda Iii

Education Doctoral

JROTC, as a national youth citizenship program, is not being offered equally to students throughout the country. The purpose of this interpretative phenomenological study is to determine how the values and attitudes of high school administrators affect unequal offering of JROTC. Through photo elicitation interviews involving six high school administrators in upstate New York, the study uncovers life experiences that may impact the likelihood of an administrator offering the U.S. Army JROTC program. Participants’ responses revealed several themes. These include: (a) JROTC is identified by a polished military uniform and style, (b) administrators have a large military contact reach and …

A List Of Core Skills And Knowledge Necessary For Parents Of Children Birth To Five Years Old With Autism, As Prioritized By Practitioners With A Behavioral Perspective, Rachel Albone-Bushnell

Education Doctoral

Verified improvement in the treatment of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in the past decade has involved both early interventionists and parents. It is widely acknowledged that the parent-child relationship is fundamental to the development of communication and social skills, especially for children with ASD, and accordingly that parent education is critical. However, lists of required skills and knowledge in professionally developed curricula designed for parents of children with ASD have not been prioritized by the consensus of large numbers of variously affiliated practitioners. The present research yielded wide professional agreement on the prioritization of such skills and knowledge. …

Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis Of Pottery At The Bayshore Homes Site In Pinellas County, Florida, Rachel Nostrom

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Bayshore Homes site was occupied intermittently over a period of approximately twelve hundred years, with the two main occupation periods being CE 150-550 and CE 900-1350. During those lengthy occupations a substantial amount of plain and decorated pottery was discarded at the site. A portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometer was utilized to analyze the elemental composition of 133 sherds, both decorated and plain. The resulting elemental composition data were then analyzed using multivariate statistics in an attempt to discern discrete clay sources that may have been exploited by inhabitants of the Bayshore Homes site. Principal component analysis (PCA) and …

Prediction Of Time-To-Graduation For Stem Hispanic Undergraduate Students, Gejun Zhu

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this thesis, we study the time-to-graduation problem for STEM Hispanic undergraduate students. The response, time-to-graduation, was treated in two different ways: as a binary variable with graduated (by the 6th year) and not-graduated values, and as an ordinal variable with values year-4, year-5, year-6, and not-graduate. Mathematics education plays critical role in students’ timely graduation, especially for STEM students. We used students records data obtained from The University of Texas-Pan American to illustrate how mathematics background factors (including SAT math score, ACT math score, TASP math score) and mathematics performance variables (including mathematics GPA, number of dropped mathematics courses, …

An Empirical Study Of Some Branching Processes With Upper Barrier, Alejandro Aguilar

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

We consider discrete time branching processes with a reflecting upper barrier. The processes differ in their offspring distributions being either binary splitting or binomial one. Two important factors for the behavior of the processes characteristics are studied as follows: time to extinction and total progeny up to the n th generation. More specifically, we investigate the distribution and expected value of the time to extinction as well as the probability mass functions of the total progeny. The tools used are basic results for a finite state Markov chain.

Expression And Functional Characterization Of Mtp Genes From Arabidopsis Thaliana In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Yessica E. Cerino

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this study the functional characterization and overexpression of Metal Tolerance Protein (MTP) cDNA were evaluated using a transgenic yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) model system as a preliminary means for the characterization of metal tolerance conferred by putative Group III MTP genes from Arabidopsis thaliana. Metal disc assays for nickel, zinc, cobalt and cadmium treatments were performed to measure the tolerance imparted to yeast by the MTP cDNAs. Statistical analysis from zinc and cadmium assays showed AtMTP1 imparted the highest zinc tolerance in yeast, while AtMTPB1 imparted the highest cadmium and cobalt tolerance. However, AtMTPA2 and AtMTPB produced a decrease in …

Dynamics For The Compound Burgers-Kdv Equation, Xiangqian Zheng

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this thesis, we study the Two-Dimensional Burgers-Korteweg-de Vries (2D-BKdV) equation and Two-Dimensional Compound Burgers-Korteweg-de Vries (2D-Compound BKdV) by analyzing the first integral equation, which indicates that under some particular conditions, the 2D-BKdV equation and 2D-Compound BKdV have exact traveling wave solutions. By using the elliptic integral and some transformations, traveling wave solution to the 2D-BKdV equation and 2DCompound BKdV are expressed explicitly.

Management Of Silverleaf Whitefly, Bemisia Argentifolii Bellows And Perring (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), Using Non-Crop Companion Plants In Organically-Managed Cantaloupe Systems In South Texas, Ruth Renee Colyer

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Field trials in three separate phases of research were carried out from March, 2010, to August, 2012, to determine the effects of inter-cropping cantaloupe (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) with select non-crop companion plants in an effort to develop organic production strategies for melons in South Texas without the use of pesticides. A research program was designed and initiated to assess the effects of the companion plants and their ability to: 1) attract insect pollinators, and 2) repel or suppress pest species without affecting beneficial natural enemy complexes. The hypotheses were: 1) that organically-managed cantaloupe systems grown with non-crop companion plants …

Personality And Socio-Institutional Predictors Of Self-Employment Intentions Among People With Disabilities: An Empirical Investigation, Yuleinys A. Castillo

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

As a minority group, people with disabilities (PWD) face many challenges when making a career choice and establishing vocational goals. Self-employment or entrepreneurship represents a viable, prevalent vocational option for people with disabilities (PWD). Owning a business, which offers flexibility, independence, earnings, and satisfaction, is a common vocational practice among PWD. This dissertation investigates the dynamic factors that influence entrepreneurial business formation among minority groups. Specifically, it evaluates the effect of personal, socio-cultural, and institutional factors on the entrepreneurial intentions of PWD. After controlling for age, minority status, educational level, type of disability and gender, the results highlight significant empirical …

"But, Whatever The Reason, His Heart Or His Shoes, He Stood There On Christmas Eve, Hating The Whos": Dr. Seuss' The Grinch As The Racialized Other In American Culture, Marina Malli

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This thesis analyzes Dr. Seuss’ the Grinch as a modern myth in US society that provides an imaginary resolution to the perceived encroachment of racial and cultural heterogeneity in the various time periods in which the text has circulated. Each chapter closely reads three different versions of the story, including Dr. Seuss’ children’s book published in 1957, the 1966 animated TV special directed by Chuck Jones, and the 2000 film directed by Ron Howard and starring Jim Carrey. In each chapter, I consider the racial politics prevalent in each time period in order to elucidate my claim that various media …

The Hercules Of Helena: Justice James C. Nelson And The Jurisprudence Of Principle, Anthony Johnstone

Faculty Law Review Articles

The late legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin conceived an ideal American judge, “a lawyer of superhuman skill, learning, patience and acumen.”1 He also is a judge of principle, with a strong philosophical bent. Like all good judges, he accepts the conventional rules of law in his jurisdiction, and follows the precedent established by his predecessors to the extent a prior case controls a current case. Most cases are easy cases for this judge and others, and fit well within the conventional rules and established precedent. A very good judge, in Dworkin’s view, looks beyond the immediate rules and precedent to ensure …

Empiric Deworming And Cd4 Count Recovery In Hiv-Infected Ugandans Initiating Antiretroviral Therapy, Alexander J. Lankowski, Alexander C. Tsai, Michael Kanyesigye, Mwebesa B. Bwana, Jessica E. Haberer, Megan Wenger, Jeffrey N. Martin, David Bangsberg, Peter W. Hunt, Mark J. Siedner

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: There is conflicting evidence on the immunologic benefit of treating helminth co-infections (‘‘deworming’’) in HIV-infected individuals. Several studies have documented reduced viral load and increased CD4 count in antiretroviral therapy (ART) naive individuals after deworming. However, there are a lack of data on the effect of deworming therapy on CD4 count recovery among HIV-infected persons taking ART.

Methodology/Principal Findings: To estimate the association between empiric deworming therapy and CD4 count after ART initiation, we performed a retrospective observational study among HIV-infected adults on ART at a publicly operated HIV clinic in southwestern Uganda. Subjects were assigned as having received …

South Africans With Recent Pregnancy Rarely Know Partner’S Hiv Serostatus: Implications For Serodiscordant Couples Interventions, Lynn T. Matthews, Lizzie Moore, Tamaryn L. Crankshaw, Cecilia Milford, Fortunate N. Mosery, Ross Greener, Christina Psaros, Steven A, Safren, David Bangsberg, Jennifer A. Smit

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Implementation of safer conception strategies requires knowledge of partner HIV-serostatus. We recruited women and men in a high HIV-prevalence setting for a study to assess periconception risk behavior among individuals reporting HIV-serodiscordant partnerships. We report screening data from that study with the objective of estimating the proportion of individuals who are aware that they are in an HIV-serodiscordant relationship at the time of conception.

Methods: We screened women and men attending antenatal and antiretroviral clinics in Durban, South Africa for enrollment in a study of periconception risk behavior among individuals with serodiscordant partners. Screening questionnaires assessed for study eligibility …