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Spring Commencement, Undergraduate Ceremony [Program], May 10, 2014, University Of Northern Iowa

UNI Commencement Programs

The program of the commencement ceremonies, including a list of institutional leadership, a list of the departments by college, awards given at the ceremonies, and a list of undergraduate and graduate degree candidates.

Assessment Of Climate Variability Impact On Water Resources Within The Alabama River Basin, Adalumo Oluwatomiwa

College of Agriculture, Environment and Nutrition Sciences Graduate Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Assessment of Climate Variability Impacts on Water Resources within the Alabama River Basin By Adalumo Oluwatomiwa Olubamidele Global climate change and variability alters hydrologic cycles and regimes within watersheds, adversely impacting ecosystems, water resources, agriculture and environmental sustainability. Understanding and predicting the interactions between the water systems, climate change and land use are priority science need and challenge areas. Such assessment through the integration of various climate and hydrologic models will allow for the development of appropriate climate change impact adaptation solutions. This study aims at assessing historical climate variability impacts on water resources within the Alabama River Basin. …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Mindset, Attitudes Toward Affirmative Action, And Perceptions Of Diversity, Elizabeth Lee Smith

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This study investigates the relationship between mindset, multicultural experiences, attitudes toward affirmative action, knowledge of potential affirmative action components, value of diversity, and importance of diversity increasing initiatives. Undergraduate students (N = 384) were administered a web-based survey with measures for each of the aforementioned variables. Intelligence and personality mindset were hypothesized to be predictive of positive attitudes toward affirmative action, and greater value of diversity and diversity increasing initiatives at James Madison University (JMU). Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that more accurate knowledge about affirmative action and more multicultural experiences predicted significant variance in attitudes toward affirmative action. Higher …

Canine Clinical Study For Tear Lacritin As A Treatment For Dry Eye, Alan Chancellor Tate

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Purpose: Lacritin is a human tear protein first characterized as a novel secretion enhancing factor from the human lacrimal gland (Sanghi, et. al., 2001). Preclinical animal studies have shown that recombinant human lacritin promotes basal tearing in rabbit eyes upon topical application (Samudre et. al., 2011). Antibodies were produced specific for human lacritin, and a clinical assay was developed to detect and quantify lacritin in human tear samples (Seifert K, et. al., 2012). Lacritin is currently being developed as a new topical therapeutic for the treatment of dry eye; however, a dry eye animal model system is needed to test …

Development Of Inputs From The Lateral Superior Olivary Nucleus To The Inferior Colliculus In Epha4 Wild Type And Mutant Mice Prior To Hearing Onset, Allyse Bailey Harris

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Processing of sophisticated auditory tasks requires complex circuitry in the brain. These pathways are highly organized, as central connections preserve and integrate stimulus attributes received from the periphery. The focus of our laboratory is centered upon understanding how central auditory connections develop prior to experience (postnatal day 12, P12 in mouse). The present study examines the establishment of projection maps from an auditory center in the brainstem, the lateral superior olivary nucleus (LSO), to the auditory midbrain or inferior colliculus (IC). Previous results from our lab show that LSO to IC projections are arranged tonotopically (i.e. frequency-mapped) before hearing onset, …

Gene Expression In The Kidney Of Rats Affected By Metabolic Syndrome: A Meta-Analysis, Brittany Leigh Hatchett

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Metabolic syndrome is a clustering of risk factors that make a person more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and diabetes, and subsequently kidney disease. The overall metabolic health of American society is decreasing at an alarming rate. Metabolic syndrome is difficult to study due to its multi-factorial nature, which can vary from study to study. This work utilizes a meta-analysis to examine the trends in changes of gene expression that occur in rat kidneys from three different models of metabolic syndrome. Microarray studies used for this analysis were GSE4800, and GSE7193 obtained from the Gene Expression Omnibus, and E-MEXP-1695 obtained from …

Effects Of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids On Bone Mineral Density And Overuse Injuries In Collegiate Female Athletes, Lena Marie Husnay

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Lower limb overuse injuries are prevalent in female athletes and can lead to significant time lost in participation. Overuse injuries such as stress fractures occur with repeated microdamage to bone, ligaments and tendons. Numerous geometric features of bone, including bone mineral density (BMD), have been associated with stress fracture risk. While Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) have been associated with reducing inflammation, increasing BMD, and reducing incidence of osteoporotic fractures in the elderly, no studies have addressed the role of Omega-3 PUFAs in reduction of injury risk in young individuals. Studies indicate that Omega-3 PUFAs act on cytokines to inhibit …

Isolation Of Methicillin-Resistant Coagulase-Negative Staphylococcus (Mrcons) From A Fecal-Contaminated Stream In The Shenandoah Valley Of Virginia, Michael Timothy Partin

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Staphylococcus is comprised of 41 known species, of which 18 can colonize humans. Despite the prevalence of infectious Staphylococcus within hospital settings and agriculture, there are few reports of Staphylococcus in natural bodies of water. A recent study by the US Food and Drug Administration found substantial contamination of poultry and other meats with Staphylococcus. We hypothesized that intensive farming of poultry adjacent to streams would result in contaminated runoff, resulting in at least transient occurrence of Staphylococcus spp. in stream waters and sediments. In this study, we sought to determine whether Staphylococcus occurs and persists within Muddy Creek, a …

Analysis Of The Direction Of Escape Response Of Crickets To Looming-Object Stimulation, Kate Louise Reiman

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Arthropods such as cockroaches, locusts, and crickets exhibit various escape strategies in response to wind, tactile, and looming stimulation. Cockroaches typically run from aversive stimuli, while locusts execute large jumps away from stimulation, and crickets display a combination of both walking and jumping techniques in response to stimulation. Looming object stimulation is perhaps the best type of stimulation to obtain information about how arthropods would respond to aversive stimuli in a natural setting, as it most accurately represents the complexity of multimodal inputs received by arthropods from external sources of stimulation while being preyed upon in the wild. Previous studies …

A Bioinformatics Approach To Revealing The Genetic Basis For Bacteriophage Host Specificity, Hayley Anne Norian

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Mycobacteriophages are bacteriophages that infect the genus Mycobacterium, including pathogens such as Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium ulcerans. Full genome sequences of 654 mycobacteriophages are currently available. A mere 20.25% of the 69,581 genes encoded by these phages have at least one known homologue in NCBI, leaving roughly 80% of known mycobacteriophages genes without a predicted function. The host range of 204 mycobacteriophages, initially isolated on Mycobacterium smegmatis strain mc2155, was recently determined on M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis strains Jucho and MKD8. Three different levels of infectivity were observed: phages that were incapable of infecting the host, phages that were …

Investigating Inactive, Chloroplast Localized Beta-Amylase-9 In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Nurlybek Mursaliyev

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Plant whole genome sequences started to be available in 1998, and these resources made it possible to identify complete gene families. One of these gene families in Arabidopsis thaliana is called the -amylase gene family, which comprises nine members (BAM1-9). -amylases play an important role in nighttime starch degradation in chloroplasts producing maltose, which is exported to the cytosol for further metabolism. One of the non-catalytic, plastidic BAMs, - amylase9 (BAM9), is conserved in flowering plants, suggesting that it plays an important role in plastid function. Arabidopsis plants lacking BAM9 appear to accumulate starch, so we suspect that BAM9 may …

Role Of Interleukin-3 In Blood-Stage Malaria Infection Caused By Plasmodium Berghei Anka, Abdalla Sheikh

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Malaria is a blood-borne disease caused by protozoans of the genus Plasmodium. Currently, 300-500 million cases are reported each year and 1.3 million deaths occur world-wide, with the majority taking place in developing nations. Four major species of Plasmodium cause disease in humans, the most wide-spread of them being Plasmodium falciparum. Typical symptoms of malaria include fever, lethargy, splenomegaly, and anemia, and in severe cases, neurological symptoms may arise. Interleukin-3 (IL-3), a cytokine released primarily by activated T-cells and mast cells, is known for its hematopoietic growth functions. It has also been shown to play a protective role in nematode …

Spring Commencement Program, May 10, 2014, Coastal Carolina University

Commencement Programs

Program of Commencement Exercises at Coastal Carolina University.

The Effects Of Alcohol Priming On Subsequent Preferences For Alcohol And Other Drugs, Carly Devon Isakowitz

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

No abstract provided.

Thought Derailment As A Predictor Of Verbal Memory Performance In People With A Serious Mental Illness, Shannon Leigh Kovach

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Thought derailment, a subtype of formal thought disorder characterized by ideas in speech not following logically from previously expressed ideas (Andreasen, 1979), is most commonly seen in patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The current study examined how the presence of thought derailment might predict verbal episodic memory performance as measured by the California Verbal Learning Test– Second Edition (CVLT-II). Past research has found that people with severe thought disorder perform poorer on measures of recall and categorization, which are important components of the CVLT-II (Jamadar et al., 2012; Kerns & Berenbaum, 2002; Nestor et al., 1998; Stirling et al., …

Swosu One Hundred And Tenth Annual Spring Convocation, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Graduation Programs

This is the program for the SWOSU One Hundred and Tenth Annual Spring Convocation Exercises, held at the Milam Stadium on Saturday, May 10, 2014, 10:00 am. Opening Remarks were presented by President Randy L. Beutler.

The Effect Of Physical And Demographic Factors And Training On The Time-To-Adoption Of Domestic Cats In A Local Shelter, Deborah T. Stratton

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

About 7.6 million animals enter shelters each year (Pet Statistics. (n.d.)). Many factors have been examined to determine what affects adoption rates for these companion animals. A study of a kill-shelter has found that age, gender, and circumstance all influenced cat adoption rates (Lepper et. al., 2002). Training was also found to increase the adoption rates of dogs (Luescher and Medlock, 2009). Data on cat adoptions were collected from Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA (a no-kill shelter) and were analyzed using Sigma Plot and STATA. Training cats took place at Rockingham/Harrisonburg SPCA and the data was also analyzed using Sigma Plot. Color, age, …

Reflection Of Research On Auditory Brainstem Responses Of Normal And Mutant Mice, Valerie Yasamin Acquesta

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

No abstract provided.

Graphical Calculation Of The Fractal Dimension For Applications In Geography, Leeanne Nathalie Jackson

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

One metric that may be useful to geographers, especially in the study of natural features, such as coastlines or animal habitats, is the fractal dimension. This statistic measures the complexity of a feature, and can help researchers to predict patterns in data or to improve existing datasets. The goal of this project was to create an application that graphically calculates the fractal dimension of geographic features, and which may be added to the existing set of technological tools used by geographers. The method chosen for this algorithm to graphically calculate the fractal dimension was to perform a functional box count. …

Aquaponics: Economics And Social Potential For Sustainable Food Production, Brandon Collins Walraven

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Aquaponics is a soilless agriculture system that combines hydroponics and aquaculture to grow both fish and produce. Aquaponics relies on a recirculating closed loop system that can allow for a 90 – 97% reduction in water usage compared to irrigation in convention agriculture. Aquaponics also greatly reduces the possibility of water contamination because there is no runoff. The energy investment in agriculture can also be greatly reduced through the low energy fertilizer source presented by the fish. When used as a local food source aquaponics also has the benefit of reducing food miles, improving food security, and participating in the …

Structure And Function Of Novel Rtx-Like Proteins Bav1944 And Bav1945 In Bordetella Avium, Nathaniel Tate Burkholder

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Bordetella avium is a gram-negative bacterial pathogen that colonizes the upper trachea of turkeys and causes bordetellosis. Two large, novel proteins denoted as BAV1944 (447 kDa) and BAV1945 (650 kDa) are suspected to play a role in B. avium virulence. BAV1944 and BAV1945 appear to be secreted through an atypical SecA-dependent type I secretion system and have GD-rich nonapeptide repeats that are signature features of RTX proteins. BAV1945 also has a domain of unknown function that shares structural similarity to the self-processing cysteine protease domains in Clostridium difficile toxin B and the multifunctional autocatalytic repeat-in- toxin (MARTX) toxin in Vibrio …

An Approach To Bordetella Avium As A Universal Poultry Live Vaccine Platform For The Expression Of Foreign Antigens, Carly Elizabeth Camille Starke

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia is a major poultry growing region in the United States, leading to a strong interest in controlling poultry zoonotic pathogens in order to prevent economic losses and transmission to humans. Bordetella avium, a Gram negative bacterium, is the causative agent of the upper respiratory illness, bordetellosis, in turkeys. An existing bordetellosis vaccine decreases severity of the disease but does not limit infection or transmission. An improved vaccine for bordetellosis is needed for better efficacy. Our research involves developing B. avium as a universal poultry live vaccine platform that will protect against bordetellosis and also serve …

Lion And Livestock Conflict In The Amboseli Region Of Kenya, Gabriela Schieve Fleury

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

African lion populations are in decline through much of Africa, however the problem is particularly acute in Kenyan Maasailand where local Maasai are spearing and poisoning lions at a rate that is unprecedented. The struggle to find a common ground for humans and lions are ongoing. Many rural communities in Kenya are almost completely dependent upon livestock farming for their livelihoods and pastoralists often resort to killing big cats and other predators in order to protect their livestock. In order to fully understand the phenomenon of big cat and livestock conflict, it is also important to recognize the foundations embedded …

The Effects Of Physical Activity On On-Task And Off-Task Behaviors Of An Elementary School Student With Adhd, Kayla Whitney Eppard

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

The purpose of this study was to explore and evaluate a possible connection between the participation in a physical activity and the on-task and off-task behaviors of an elementary school student with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Specifically, the intervention phase applied in this study hoped to increase the on-task behaviors exhibited by the student while also decreasing off-task behaviors. After observing the student in the baseline phase, the intervention was applied based on the student’s choice of physical activity. Then, the researcher observed the student through whole interval recording of on-task behavior and partial interval recording of off-task behavior for ten …

A Study Of Honors Program Attrition: What Are They Missing?, Laura Ann Jennings

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

No abstract provided.

"Functional Yet Feminine": The Gendered Image Of The American Servicewoman In World War Ii, Suzanne Claire Wilson

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

No abstract provided.

System Autonomy: A New Condition Of Space, Grayson D. Bailey

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

This thesis began with an interest in au­tonomous communities, and a question of how to consider and form the most basic meaning of ‘sustainability’, which is the ability to sustain. As simple as the word seems, the perspectives on how it is applied are diverse and connected to many abstract concepts, such as the ones investigated throughout this book. The expected resultant of the thesis was aug­mented multiple times, and the very scope of what was being researched also reori­ented based on the inevitable following of the rabbit hole.

The part and parcel of this work has a sense of …

Gladys L. Benerd School Of Education, Diploma And Hooding Ceremony, University Of The Pacific

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

College Of The Pacific And University College, Diploma And Hooding Ceremony, University Of The Pacific

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

2014 Spring Commencement, Harding University

Commencement Programs

Program for the Harding University Commencements on May 10.

Commencement Speakers:
9a.m.: Cathleen Shultz
noon: Paul Pollard
3p.m.: Authur Shearin