Digital Commons Network^™

Ground And Relative Fundamentality, Mark Graeme Barber

Dissertations - ALL

Ground is a distinctively metaphysical notion of explanation. Often expressed with the phrase `in virtue of', ground has recently found some popularity among metaphysicians. In this dissertation I argue that the notion is well understood and useful, but not primitive. I argue that we should analyze ground partly in terms of relative fundamentality. This analyzed notion of ground can not only do the work that a primitive notion can, but it is better equipped to respond to a number of objections and challenges that the notion faces. The dissertation ends by demonstrating this is the case and responding to objections.

The Children Of Spring Street: The Remains Of Childhood In A Nineteenth Century Abolitionist Congregation, Meredith Alyson Berman Ellis

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examines the skeletal remains of 75 children interred the burial vaults (1820-1846) of the 19th century Spring Street Presbyterian Church in lower Manhattan. New York City and the 8th Ward neighborhood of the church were rapidly urbanizing and diversifying in the early 19th century. These changes affected how children lived and grew. Family life, institutional involvement, and the city itself are considered as structuring forces that helped shape the skeletal remains of the children that did not survive. This dissertation combines historical data, theoretical models of embodiment and agency, and skeletal data to reconstruct their experiences of growing …

Steroid Hormone Regulation Of Fetal Mouse Oocyte Development, Sudipta Dutta

Dissertations - ALL

The factors governing maintenance of the non-renewable reservoir of primordial follicles in female mammals remain largely elusive. During the early stages of fetal development, oocytes grow in nests or clusters known as germ cell cysts. Cysts break down into individual oocytes in the perinatal period and become enclosed by somatic pregranulosa cells to form primordial follicles. Steroid hormones have been shown by numerous studies to be one of the important factors which critically govern the process of

cyst breakdown and follicle formation. There has been earlier evidence from this laboratory to indicate that exogenous exposure of neonatal mice ovaries to …

Identifying Extract Class And Extract Method Refactoring Opportunities Through Analysis Of Variable Declarations And Uses, Mehmet Kaya

Dissertations - ALL

For small software systems, with perhaps a few thousand lines of code, software structure is largely an esthetic issue. When software systems grow large, including perhaps a million or more lines of source code, their structures become much more important.

Developing a large system requires teams of developers working in concert to provide a finished product in a reasonable amount of time. That means that many people will read each component to use, test or modify towards accomplishing new features.

In the software development life cycle, the maintenance phase is a dominant stage that impacts production cost of the system …

Intraspecific Trait Variation And Community Assembly In Old-Field Grasslands, Andrew Siefert

Dissertations - ALL

Trait-based approaches are increasingly used in plant community ecology, but previous research has largely ignored functional trait variation within species. Here I investigated the role of intraspecific trait variation in community assembly and responses to spatial and temporal environmental variation in old-field plant communities in the eastern United States. In the first study I analyzed spatial patterns of functional divergence in old fields in central New York on spatial scales from 1-1500 m. Results showed that spatial divergence in functional traits at the community and intraspecific levels corresponded with spatial heterogeneity in edaphic variables, consistent with predicted patterns resulting from …

Mayo, Myriad, And The Future Of Innovation In Molecular Diagnostics And Personalized Medicine, Christopher M. Holman

North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

The Progress Clause: An Empirical Analysis Based On The Constitutional Foundation Of Patent Law, Lori B. Andrews

North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Horned Lark Management For The Protection Of Lettuce Sprouts, Taylor Wetzel, Eduardo Morales, Kyle Suguitan

Mechanical Engineering

The following document is the Final Project Report. Following the Critical Design Report, the top idea was taken and modified once again to suit the needs of the sponsor. Details regarding the changes are outlined throughout Chapter 3.

The provided background section explains why there is a need for a new device at Tanimura and Antle that will suit the customer's needs better than current methods and existing products. The top ideas picked for the Conceptual Design Review are the presented to reiterate the problems that were depicted in them and why they were not selected as part of the …

Bee Colony Startup And Cost Analysis, Marisela Herrera

BioResource and Agricultural Engineering

The increase in demand for European Honey bee pollination along with colony collapse disorder has caused bee pollination rental fees to greatly increase. This project intended to determine how effective and economically feasible it would be for almond growers to begin raising their own hives for pollination. It was determined the biggest challenges were organizing and finding employees who were knowledgeable about bee keeping. When looking at the cost it was clear that even with the current cost per hive the startup costs were still less than the total rental fees for a single pollination season.

Once the hives have …

Smart Weights, Luke W. Rafla-Yuan, Austin C. Fox

Electrical Engineering

The goal of this project is to design and implement weights which can record and analyze work out patterns. Motivation for this project stems from the high cost of personal training. The hope is that this device will provide many of the benefits a user receives from personal training at only a fraction of the cost. The Smart Weight is designed with an on-board Inertial Measurement Unit providing acceleration, gyroscope, and magnetometer data. A microcontroller records and analyzes changes in motion, feeding this data into Multiplicative Recurrent Neural Network (MRNN) for exercise classification. A Raspberry Pi was chosen as the …

Lifeline, Summer 2014, University Of Dayton

Alumni Communications

Alumni publication produced by the Premedical Programs Office at the University of Dayton

Narrative Analysis Of Medical Students' Reflective Writing: Implications For Medical Education, Meei-Ju Lin, Chin-Chen Wen, Chi-Wei Lin, Theodore Mazarakis, Shao-Yin Chu

Journal of Medical Education

Purpose: This study examined reflective presentations from medical students' narrative writings and their implications for medical education. Method: 60 5th year medical students completed a reflective writing assignment from a required course, Writing the Patient's and Family's Psychosocial Issues, by observing and interacting with patients and family members while in the process of primary care and history taking interviews. Narrative analysis was applied by coders to read through all the written documents, marked the themes of narrative reflection, and discussed the storylines until reaching a consensus on the coding by an iterative process. Results: Six major storylines were identified from …

On Improving Medical Education In Taiwan: My Reflections, Schi Wei

Journal of Medical Education

文章暫無收錄摘要

Written Examination Of Geriatric Medicine For Medical Students And Residents: Evaluation On Content Validity, Chih-Hsueh Lin, Yi-Chun Li, Chia-Ing Li, Tsai-Chung Li, Chih-Yi Hsiao, Fang-Mien Tsai, Cheng-Chieh Lin, Ching-Yu Chen

Journal of Medical Education

Objective: The study aimed to construct content-valid item banks of geriatric medicine examination for medical students and residents to assist the development of the computerized geriatric examination system. Methods: In 2011-2013, totally 800 items used in the Taiwan Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics (TAGG) board examinations from 2002 to 2009 were collected. Thirty experts were invited to assess the appropriateness of test items for medical students and residents, while content validity of the items was computed by Lawshe's Content Validity Ratio (CVR) approach. Results: 140 items (mean CVR value = 0.49; ranged from 0.33 to 0.87) for medical students and …

Prospects For Regulation Of Off-Label Promotion In An Era Of Expanding Commercial Speech Protection, Aaron S. Kesselheim, Michelle M. Mello

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dynamic Forest Federalism, Blake Hudson

Washington and Lee Law Review

State and local governments have long maintained regulatory authority to manage natural resources, and most subnational governments have politically exercised that authority to some degree. Policy makers, however, have increasingly recognized that the dynamic attributes of natural resources make them difficult to manage on any one scale of government. As a result, the nation has shifted toward multilevel governance known as “dynamic federalism” for many if not most regulatory subject areas, especially in the context of the natural environment. The nation has done so both legally and politically—the constitutional validity of expanded federal regulatory authority over resources has consistently been …

Water Quality And The Landscape: Long-Term Monitoring Of Rapidly Developing Suburban Watersheds 2013, William H. Mcdowell

NH Water Resources Research Center Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Characterizing The Reproducibility Of The Properties Of Electrospun Poly(D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Scaffolds For Tissue-Engineered Blood Vessel Mimics, Toni M. Pipes

Master's Theses

“Blood vessel mimics” (BVMs) are tissue-engineered constructs that serve as in vitro preclinical testing models for intravascular devices. The Cal Poly Tissue Engineering lab specifically uses BVMs to test the cellular response to stent implantation. PLGA scaffolds are electrospun in-house using the current “Standard Protocol” and used as the framework for these constructs. The performance of BVMs greatly depends on material and mechanical properties of the scaffolds. It is desirable to create BVMs with reproducible properties so that they can be consistent models that ultimately generate more reliable results for intravascular device testing. Reproducibility stems from the consistency of the …

Problem-Based Learning (Pbl) In The College Chemistry Laboratory: Students’ Perceptions Of Pbi And Its Relationship With Attitude And Self-Efficacy Beliefs, Lloyd Madalitso P. Mataka

Dissertations

A convergent mixed methods research study was used to investigate whether or not students who participated in the problem based learning (PBL) environment improved their self-efficacy beliefs (SEBs) in and attitudes toward chemistry. The study also investigated the students’ views of the PBL environment. The Chemistry Attitude and Experience Questionnaire (CAEQ) was used as a pre- and post-test to determine changes in students’ attitudes and SEBs. The PBL Environment Inventory (PBLEI) was used to investigate students’ views of the PBL environment. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to re-validate both instruments with the study group: students in general chemistry laboratories at …

Tourism And Protected Areas: A Growing Nexus Of Challenge And Opportunity, Stephen F. Mccool, Anna Spenceley

Society and Conservation Faculty Publications

Three significant trends are converging with the result of increasing the importance of understanding and managing the nexus of tourism and protected areas. Firstly, international travel and tourism continues to grow significantly, resulting in more people wanting to visit, learn and appreciate their natural and cultural heritage. Secondly, international conservation efforts are increasingly dependent on protected areas serving as the cornerstone of slowing (ideally stopping) the loss of biological diversity. Thirdly, demands from society on protected areas are not only increasing, they are diversifying as well. Increased demand is, in part, the result of a growing human population that competes …

Contribution Of Surface Leaf-Litter Breakdown And Forest Composition To Benthic Oxygen Demand And Ecosystem Respiration In A South Georgia Blackwater River, Andrew S. Mehring, Kevin A. Kuehn, Cynthia J. Tant, Catherine M. Pringle, R. Richard Lowrance, George Vellidis

Faculty Publications

Many North American blackwater rivers exhibit low dissolved O₂ (DO) that may be the result of benthic respiration. We examined how tree species affected O₂ demand via the quantity and quality of litter produced. In addition, we compared areal estimates of surface leaf-litter microbial respiration to sediment O₂ demand (SOD) and ecosystem respiration (ER) in stream and swamp reaches of a blackwater river to quantify contributions of surface litter decomposition to O₂ demand. Litter inputs averaged 917 and 678 g m⁻² y⁻¹ in the swamp and stream, respectively. Tree species differentially affected O_{2 …}

Integrating Nanotechnology Into The Undergraduate Chemistry Curriculum: The Impact On Students’ Affective Domain, Jacinta M. Mutambuki

Dissertations

High attrition rates in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) continue to be documented in the undergraduate education in the United States (U.S.). There is a growing concern that the U.S. will fall short of 3 million graduates by 2018. Furthermore, the literature indicates that about 36% of 4-year college graduates lack adequate critical thinking skills, complex reasoning, and communication skills relevant to the current job market. Reasons for these observations relate to the overemphasis on content knowledge; lack of content relevance; lack of interest in STEM courses; and dominance of expository teaching methods in classrooms. Given its relevance in …

Conceptual Framework Alignment Between Primary Literature And Education In Animal Behaviour, Andrea Marie-Kryger Bierema

Dissertations

In 1963, Tinbergen revolutionized the study of animal behaviour in his paper On aims and methods of ethology (Zeitschrift Tierpsycholgie, 20, 410-433) by revamping the conceptual framework of the discipline. His framework suggests an integration of four questions: causation, ontogeny, survival value, and evolution. The National Research Council Committee (U.S.) on Undergraduate Biology Education to Prepare Research Scientists for the 21^st Century published BIO2010: Transforming Undergraduate Education for Future Research Biologists (Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2003), which suggests alignment between current research and undergraduate education. Unfortunately, alignment has been rarely studied in college biology, especially for fundamental …

Relative Roles Of Host Exposure And Parasite Establishment In Producing Patterns Of Infection Using Eptesicus Fuscus (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) And Its Helminths As A Model System, Elizabeth Warburton

Dissertations

Parasite abundance and community structure could vary depending on conditions that are both extrinsic and intrinsic to the host. Variation in parasite burden, resulting from heterogeneous exposure to parasites or heterogeneous establishment of parasites in the host, often drives transmission dynamics. Changes in parasite community structure influence parasite species diversity and thus, diversity of infection within a single host or entire host population. I sought to quantify relative roles of exposure and establishment in producing patterns of infection using bats, Eptesicus fuscus, and their helminths. I utilized subsets of data from bats captured in 16 colonies from three states …

Self-Reported Head Injury And Risk Of Late-Life Impairment And Ad Pathology In An Ad Center Cohort, Erin L. Abner, Peter T. Nelson, Frederick A. Schmitt, Steven R. Browning, David W. Fardo, Lijie Wan, Gregory A. Jicha, Gregory E. Cooper, Charles D. Smith, Allison M. Caban-Holt, Linda J. Van Eldik, Richard J. Kryscio

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Aims: To evaluate the relationship between self-reported head injury and cognitive impairment, dementia, mortality, and Alzheimer's disease (AD)-type pathological changes. Methods: Clinical and neuropathological data from participants enrolled in a longitudinal study of aging and cognition (n = 649) were analyzed to assess the chronic effects of self-reported head injury. Results: The effect of self-reported head injury on the clinical state depended on the age at assessment: for a 1-year increase in age, the OR for the transition to clinical mild cognitive impairment (MCI) at the next visit for participants with a history of head injury was 1.21 and 1.34 …

Native And Domestic Browsers And Grazers Reduce Fuels, Fire Temperatures, And Acacia Ant Mortality In An African Savanna, Duncan M. Kimuyu, Ryan L. Sensenig, Corinna Riginos, Kari E. Veblen, Truman P. Young

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Despite the importance of fire and herbivory in structuring savanna systems, few replicated experiments have examined the interactive effects of herbivory and fire on plant dynamics. In addition, the effects of fire on associated ant–tree mutualisms have been largely unexplored. We carried out small controlled burns in each of 18 herbivore treatment plots of the Kenya Long-term Exclosure Experiment (KLEE), where experimentally excluding elephants has resulted in 42% greater tree densities. The KLEE design includes six different herbivore treatments that allowed us to examine how different combinations of megaherbivore wildlife, mesoherbivore wildlife, and cattle affect fire temperatures and subsequent loss …

Inside Earth, Volume 17, No. 1, Summer 2014, Bonny Armstrong, Cave And Karst Program (U.S.)

Inside Earth

Contents: Highlights of the National Cave and Karst Program -- Cave Rescue Training Well Attended by NPS and Other Federal Employees -- Updating The "Caves of the National Parks" Educational Poster and Related Learning Activities -- Evaluation of Cave and Karst Programs and Issues in U.S. National Parks -- Mammoth Cave National Park Begins Public Scoping for Cave Management Plan -- Park Updates

Ensuring Language Acquisition For Deaf Children: What Linguists Can Do, T. Humphries, P. Kushalnagar, G. Mathur, Donna Jo Napoli, C. Padden, C. Rathmann

Linguistics Faculty Works

Parents of small deaf children need guidance on constructing home and school environments that affect normal language acquisition. They often turn to physicians and spiritual leaders and, increasingly, the internet. These sources can be underinformed about crucial issues, such as matters of brain plasticity connected to the risk of linguistic deprivation, and delay or disruption in the development of cognitive skills interwoven with linguistic ability. We have formed a team of specialists in education, linguistics, pediatric medicine, and psychology, and at times specialists in theology and in law have joined our group. We argue that deaf children should be taught …

Synergistic Effects Of 3d Ecm And Chemogradients On Neurite Outgrowth And Guidance: A Simple Modeling And Microfluidic Framework, Parthasarathy Srinivasan, Ioannis K. Zervantonakis, Chandrasekhar R. Kothapalli

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

During nervous system development, numerous cues within the extracellular matrix microenvironment (ECM) guide the growing neurites along specific pathways to reach their intended targets. Neurite motility is controlled by extracellular signal sensing through the growth cone at the neurite tip, including chemoattractive and repulsive cues. However, it is difficult to regenerate and restore neurite tracts, lost or degraded due to an injury or disease, in the adult central nervous system. Thus, it is important to evaluate the dynamic interplay between ECM and the concentration gradients of these cues, which would elicit robust neuritogenesis. Such information is critical in understanding the …

African American Muslim Fathers And The Factors That Influence Their Notion Of Fatherhood, Usama M. Hussein

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

This is a qualitative study that explores African American Muslim father notion of fatherhood. Sixteen African American Sunni Muslims participated in the study. Over 90 percent of the research respondents are converts to Islam. These men perceive their conversion as a reclaiming of their heritage stripped from them when their African ancestors were forcibly taken from Africa and brought to America as slave. While this group of father have been omitted from researchers attention, they are integral members of the African American community. By making Islam the center of their lives these African American Muslim fathers see an active relationship …