Digital Commons Network^™

An Investigation Into Whether Snack Choices Differ Between Emotional Eaters And Non-Emotional Eaters, Jessica Adams

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Eating patterns and behaviour have been linked to the increasing incidence of weight-related health risks. Understanding the motivations behind certain food choices, particularly high energy-dense foods is therefore of importance. The purpose of this research was to get a better understanding of the snack choices of emotional eaters and how these compared to non-emotional eaters. Participants, 100 male and female students, completed a questionnaire to determine emotional eating and snacking habits. Analyses of the data collected revealed that there was a weak, yet statistically significant correlation between the consumption of sweet snacks and emotional eating score, but no significant difference …

Opinion: Overfishing And The Replacement Of Demersal Finfish By Shellfish: An Example From The English Channel, Carlotta Molfese, Doug Beare, Jason M. Hall-Spencer

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The worldwide depletion and collapse of major fish stocks through intensive industrial fishing has raised many concerns about the sustainability of current fishing practices and the effectiveness of existing management measures (Christensen et al., 2003; Baum and Worm, 2009; O’Leary et al., 2011). Long-term data series such as fishery statistics have been analysed extensively in recent decades to assess changes in fish populations and ecological communities (Pauly et al., 2001; Pinnegar et al. 2002; Pauly and Chuenpagdee, 2003). Since Pauly et al.’s (1998) pioneering work, the phenomenon of “Fishing Down Marine Food Webs” has been investigated worldwide. The trend for …

Acclimatization Of Anemonia Viridis (Forskäl 1775) By Thermal Preconditioning: Potential Role Of Catalase, Sanket Chiplunkar

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The phenomenon of cnidarian bleaching has attracted much attention in the literature, as the frequency of coral bleaching events and mass mortality have increased over the last few decades, driving the degradation of coral reefs and loss of coral cover worldwide. This has also led to increased interest in exploring the underlying physiological and biochemical mechanisms of acclimatization of reef building corals and other symbiotic cnidarians to thermal stress. Thermal history and/or previous exposure to thermal stress have been linked with the thermal acclimatization of scleractinian corals in many studies. In this study, it was demonstrated that short term thermal …

Academic Optimism In Middle Schools: A Study Of Factors That Appear To Contribute To Its Development, Zachary A. Best

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The need to increase student academic achievement has been established and well-documented in the literature. With a heightened focus on accountability measures, school personnel are under significant pressure to find ways to increase student achievement. Research suggests that academic emphasis, collective teacher efficacy, and faculty trust in students and teachers actually work in concert and form a newly-identified construct – academic optimism – that has been shown to have a positive relationship with student achievement. The purpose of this study was to determine those factors that may be present in middle schools with high levels of academic optimism. Ten middle …

Impact Of Advanced Placement Student Selection Models On Academic Achievement And Stakeholder Perceptions Of Program Effectiveness, Ryan E. Bandy

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This research study was designed to examine the relationship between the use of open and closed student selection systems for the enrollment of students in Advanced Placement (AP) educational services at the high school level and student academic achievement. The quantitative portion of this study examined the relationship between the use of a particular student selection system and stakeholder perceptions of a school’s educational environment, while the qualitative portion examined the stakeholder perceptions of student selection systems. In order to accomplish these goals student scores on AP examinations from the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013 academic school years were collected from …

A Comparative Analysis Of Instructional Techniques Toward Long-Term Positive Ergonomics Transformation For The Early Career Sonographer, Jody L. Hancock

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The past two decades have demonstrated sonographer work-related musculoskeletal disorder (WRMSD) rates between 80.0 to 90.4%. A surprising revelation made by sonographers was that educators were not perceived as the primary providers of ergonomics instruction. For these reasons, a mixed methods study was performed, involving a causal-comparative component with a longitudinal perspective, a quasi-experimental element, and limited observations and interviews. The study followed four years of sonography graduates through the early career scan period, comparing transmissional, transactional, and transformational learning results. The study’s goal was to determine whether transformative ergonomics learning in a collaborative and reflective environment could demonstrate a …

The Relationship Between Freshmen Student Retention And Use Of An Online Parent Portal, Brandy Mallory Cartmell

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Bachelor degree attainment in Tennessee is lower than the national average, which can have a dramatic impact on the quality of life for Tennesseans. Postsecondary institutions have been tasked with increasing the number of students who graduate, and this begins with retention of students. Retention of first-year students is a puzzle for institutions, however, the importance of retention cannot be minimized. The University of Tennessee at Martin has implemented an online Parent Portal to intentionally support the assistance of parents in increasing student success and retention. A stratified random sample of 300 freshman-level students who began during the 2012-2013 academic …

Using Network Clustering To Predict Copy Number Variations Associated With Health Disparities, Yi Jiang

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Substantial health disparities exist between African Americans and Caucasians in the United States. Copy number variations (CNVs) are one form of human genetic variations that have been linked with complex diseases and often occur at different frequencies among African Americans and Caucasian populations. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether CNVs with differential population frequencies can contribute to health disparities from the perspective of gene networks. We inferred network clusters from two different human gene/protein networks. We then evaluated each network cluster for the occurrences of known pathogenic genes and genes located in CNVs with different population frequencies, and …

The Impact Of Participation In Online Social Networking On Parenting Stress Levels Of Single Mothers, Djuana A. Tomlin

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The U.S. Census Bureau (2012) estimated that there were 15.2 million female householders with no husband present. Many single mothers experience a high level of stress due to feelings of isolation and alienation from friends and family and having to deal with social, economic, and personal issues alone. This study evaluated the impact of participation in a social network site (SNS) on the stress levels of single mothers for the purpose of using updated resources to replicate and expand upon the initial work of Dunham et al. (1998). This study sought to answer the following research questions: Does participation in …

Mystical Experience As Predictor Of Domains Of Religious And Spiritual Self Identification: Empirical And Theoretical Considerations, Sara E. Hall-Mckane

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The concept of spirituality has emerged as a major focal point in both the theoretical and empirical study of religion. Whether the emergence of spirituality is a dimension of religion or a separate and distinct construct has been the subject of much debate among scholars. The philosophical arguments proposed on either side have underscored the need for further research into just what spirituality is and is not. An ongoing transition from a more religious to a more spiritual self identification is evident at least in the United States (Roof & Greer, 1993, 1999; Pargament, 1999). Using the data collected from …

A Causal Comparative Investigation Into Transactional Versus Transformational Instructional Delivery Style In Two Freshman-Level Humanities Courses At A Southeastern American University, Michael J. Jaynes

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of the study was to utilize a causal comparative approach to compare two contrasting instructional delivery styles to determine if there was any difference in final grade outcome between students whose instructors used transactional instructional delivery techniques and students whose instructors used transformational instructional delivery techniques in two lower division undergraduate humanities courses at a southeastern university. A secondary purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between instructional delivery style and student perception of teacher effectiveness. The primary researcher also examined if student assessment and teacher self-assessment of teacher delivery style would align. The research questions …

Kin And Social Network Structure In Two Populations Of Octodon Degus, Garrett Davis

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A growing body of evidence showing that individuals of some species live in non-kin groups suggests kin selection is not required in all species for sociality to evolve. Here I investigate two populations of Octodon degus, a South American rodent which has been shown to form kin and non-kin groups. I quantified genetic relatedness within social groups in two populations as well as social network parameters (association, strength, and clustering coefficient) in order to determine if these aspects of sociality were driven by kinship. I analyzed social network parameters relative to ecological conditions at burrow systems used by individuals to …

The Effects Of Co-Viewing Children’S Educational Programming On Parental Communication Patterns, Chris M. Willis

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the potential impact that children’s educational television programs can have on parents’ communications with their children when they co-view such programming together. The literature review provided a rich foundation of research on education television. Studies showed many positive effects can be observed when children view appropriate amounts of curriculum-based programs, such as Sesame Street (Gentzkow & Shapiro, 2006), and these effects were amplified when a parent or caregiver co-views the programs with them (Fujioka & Austin, 2002). This study added to the existing body of research by focusing on how parents were …

A Novel Approach To Protecting Mobile Healthcare Applications In Mobile Cloud, Eric Reinsmidt

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

In recent years there has been a shift in the devices that people use to do their computing. Of particular import has been the movement in the computing landscape towards mobile devices. As would be expected, the proliferation of mobile devices has led to an increase in their being a target for malware. In addition to this change in the sphere of personal computing devices there has, at the same time, been a shift of server side computation moving towards the cloud. There has been another development worth noting, a dramatic increase in the number of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) …

Numerical Simulation Of Human Breathing And Particle Transport Through A Ct-Based Pulmonary Airway Geometry, Richard R. Gruetzemacher Iii

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Chronic respiratory illness afflicts more than a billion people worldwide. In recent years computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been established as a paramount tool for studying treatments of respiratory illnesses. This work investigates physiologically appropriate, lobar-specific boundary conditions for numerical simulation of steady and unsteady flow through a computed tomography (CT) based pulmonary airway geometry. Particle transport is modeled in steady and unsteady flow. Analysis is conducted on flow phenomena and particle transport in both steady and inspiratory flow.

The Effects Of Different Concentrations Of Phosphite On Ectomycorrhiza Formation By Pisolithus Tinctorius In Castanea Dentata, J. Miles Jorgensen

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Phosphites, salts of phosphorous acid, are used to combat the devastating root-rot diseases of American chestnut (Castanea dentata) and other woody plants caused by the Oomycete Phytophthora cinnamomi. However, phosphite treatments may negatively affect the plant’s ability to form ectomycorrhizas, the mutualistic symbioses between tree roots and certain soil fungi, and the phosphites themselves may be phytotoxic at high doses. Container-grown chestnut seedlings were treated with six phosphite solutions ranging from 0.0g/l to 12g/l both with and without a spore inoculation of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Pisolithus tinctorius. Seedling survival, height, root collar diameter, and ectomycorrhizal colonization were measured during one …

Brawn: The First Four Chapters, Brian Beise

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The question of genre may be unimportant when writing or reading fiction, but the marketplace continues to draw those dividing lines. Moreover, there are tropes and techniques to be learned from each discrete genre of fiction. The creative portion of this thesis consists of the first four chapters of Brian Beise’s novel, Brawn. The introductory essay discusses the divisions of literary and genre fiction, and describes how borrowing elements from various genres informed the writing of Brawn.

New Hampshire’S Long Term Services & Supports System: Recommendations For Meeting The Needs Of An Aging Population, Susan Fox, Laura Davie

All Materials

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Pages, No Author

Verbum

No abstract provided.

To A Poor Old Woman / A Una Pobre Mujer Vieja, Francisco Plata

Verbum

Translation of the poem "To A Poor Old Woman," by William Carlos Williams, into Spanish.

Apple Trees In January, Mary J. Iuppa

Verbum

No abstract provided.

Clare And Francis: A Mission In The Name Of The Lord, James Koch

Verbum

In lieu of an abstract, below is the essay's first paragraph:

In the film, Clare and Francis, the viewer is taken through the significant life events of Francis and Clare of Assisi that led them to become people of God. While Francis and Clare lived in the thirteenth century, the film portrays their spiritual journeys with commendable historical accuracy. In particular, there is much to be analyzed in the meeting of Francis and the Sultan for its significance and the accuracy of how it is depicted in the film.

Fatigue Damage Prognosis Of Internal Delamination In Composite Plates Under Cyclic Compression Loadings Using Affine Arithmetic As Uncertainty Propagation Tool, Audrey J-M Gbaguidi

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Structural health monitoring (SHM) has become indispensable for reducing maintenance costs and increasing the in-service capacity of a structure. The increased use of lightweight composite materials in aircraft structures drastically increased the effects of fatigue induced damage on their critical structural components and thus the necessity to predict the remaining life of those components. Damage prognosis, one of the least investigated fields in SHM, uses the current damage state of the system to forecast its future performance by estimating the expected loading environments. A successful damage prediction model requires the integration of technologies in areas like measurements, materials science, mechanics …

Indium Telluride Cylinder Fiber Laser, Abhinay Sandupatla

Theses - ALL

A new type of fiber laser is described here. The laser consists of a 25 mm long fiber with an approximately 15 nm thick In2Te3 semiconductor layer at the glass core glass cladding boundary. The laser mirrors consist of a thick vacuum deposited aluminum layer at one end and a thin semitransparent aluminum layer deposited at the other end of the fiber. The laser is pumped from the side with either light from a Halogen Tungsten incandescent lamp or a blue, power LED. Since both, the gain of the In2Te3 semi-conductor and aluminum mirrors have a wide bandwidth the output …

Mistress Or Hero? Corruption Reports On Sina Weibo And The Construction Of Chinese Femininity, Yin Wu

Theses - ALL

This qualitative textual analysis study focuses on two Chinese women who were previously sexually involved with the corrupted officers and later reported these officers to authorities. As a Chinese version of Twitter, Sina Weibo is a powerful social networking and communication tool for their reports. The study analyzes the posts and comments available on Sina Weibo about the identity of these women and how hegemonic Chinese femininity is performed, maintained, and challenged. These discussions may reflect the potential cultural, ideological, and socioeconomic factors that can influence the construction of contemporary Chinese femininity, providing the picture of how social media and …

Right To The Tent City: The Struggle Over Urban Space In Fresno, California, Jessie Speer

Theses - ALL

Through interviews, archival research, and fieldwork conducted in Fresno, California, this research explores how and why officials spatially control homeless communities, and how homeless people have resisted these controls. Drawing from the theories of Henri Lefebvre, I argue that encampments in Fresno enabled homeless people to assert their right to the city, and challenged the production of urban capitalist space by defying the norms of profit, surveillance, and homogeneity. Part One of the thesis focuses on the relationship between city's effort to destroy the encampments and its need to attract investment; Part Two focuses on the assignment of homeless individuals …

The Effects Of Language Complexity On Natural And Emotion Concept Formation In Early Language Learners, Stephanie Eileen Jett

Dissertations

The present study investigated the role of language complexity in natural and emotion concept formation ability in young children (two- to five-year-olds). Language complexity was measured by selections from the Brigance Diagnostic Inventory of Early Childhood Development II, and concept formation was assessed at three levels of abstraction. The natural concepts were presented as two alternative discriminations on a touch-screen computer, as follows: subordinate level (lions versus tigers), basic level (cats versus dogs), and superordinate level (animals versus nonanimals). The following emotion categories were discriminated: subordinate level (anger versus sadness), basic level (positive [happiness and positive surprise] versus negative [anger …

Spectroscopy And Gas-Phase Binding Of Modified Desferrioxamine B Indicator Displacement-Based Sensors, William Scott Jones

Dissertations

A coupling reaction has been used to successfully synthesize two novel probes utilizing coumarin derivatives as fluorophores. The structure, spectroscopy, and thermodynamics of these probes were characterized and studied. These probes, along with a classical probe using a N-methyl-anthranilate fluorophore, are used to take advantage of the ability of siderophores to coordinate Fe³⁺ ions which is coupled with the attractive phosphorescence properties of lanthanide ions. The use of lanthanide metals to create an indicator displacement assays is a novel application of these probes for the detection of Fe³⁺ ions. The use of Tb³⁺ ions as the indicator …

Fungal Contribution To Carbon And Nutrient Cycling In A Subtropical Freshwater Marsh, Rong Su

Dissertations

Despite the well-known occurrence of emergent standing litter in freshwater marshes, very little quantitative data is available concerning the functional role and contribution of fungal decomposers to litter decomposition or their impact on ecosystem scale carbon and nutrient cycling. In the present study, microbial respiration and seasonal biomass and production rates of fungal decomposers associated with standing plant litter were examined to assess the quantitative contribution of fungi to both fine scale litter decay processes and large-scale ecosystem carbon flow pathways in a subtropical Typha domingensis and mixed Cladium jamaicense/Juncus roemarianus freshwater marsh, respectively. In addition, the growth …

Deficit Discourse, Urban Teachers' Work And The Blame Game, Heidi Katherine Pitzer

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation explores how urban public school teachers navigate the contradictory social position of having little power over their work and considerable power over their students. This qualitative interpretive study begins from a perspective that is attentive to and critical of both (a) neoliberal approaches to education, particularly the market-based, audit culture logics and practices that devalue, discipline and target teachers as workers, and (b) the racialized deficit discourse, a predominant framework in urban schools--often taken up by urban teachers--that blames poor urban youth and youth of color for school problems, constructs them as objects in need of control and …