Digital Commons Network^™

Gestalt Principles In Ligeti’S Piano Etude “Desordre”, David William Batchelor

Theses and Dissertations

This document is a study of how Gestalt principles of organization are at work in “Désordre” (1985), the first etude in the first book of piano etudes by György Ligeti (1923–2006). After explaining how Gestalt principles can be applied to the analysis of music, the study presents an analysis of the etude in four main parts. The first part identifies elements of the composition that help the listener define boundaries between phrases, phrase groups, and sections. The second part discusses how foreground and background layers are articulated. The third part discusses the polytempo illusion. The fourth and final part identifies …

Addressing Disparity: One Unique School’S Efforts To Provide Holistic Education In A Low-Income, Black Community, Allison Anne Parsons

Theses and Dissertations

Schools are meant to provide an equal opportunity for achievement to all students. The reality is that school policies and practices, which govern not only child education but also child health, parenting practices, and other social issues, are based on ideologies of the dominant culture creating an environment the perpetuates current social hierarchies. By doing so, this not only limits minority populations’ access to the opportunities associated with education but also access to health, as education and health are strongly and positively linked.

This study used qualitative methods including ethnography to explore how racism was perpetuated through the dominant discourses …

Extensive Genome Rearrangements Of Caulobacter K31 And Genomic Diversity Of Type B3 Bacteriophages Of Caulobacter Crescentus, Kurt Taylor Ash

Theses and Dissertations

The genus Caulobacter is found in a variety of habitats and is known for its ability to thrive in low-nutrient conditions. K31 is a novel Caulobacter isolate that has the ability to tolerate copper and chlorophenols, and can grow at 48°C with a doubling time of 40 h. K31 contains a 5.5 Mb chromosome that codes for more than 5500 proteins and two large plasmids (234 and 178 kb) that code for 438 additional proteins. A comparison of the K31 genome and the Caulobacter crescentus NA1000 genome, the representative strain and most well studied isolate of the Caulobacter genus, revealed …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Graphene Based Biocompatible Ion-Sensitive Field Effect Transistor (Isfet), Rina Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Graphene, a two-dimensional material with a high surface to volume ratio, has drawn extensive research enthusiasm for applications in the field of electronic sensors. The special material properties that make graphene a highly promising material include its biocompatibility, very high mobility, low 1/f and thermal noise, modulation of carrier concentration and fermi level by electrical, optical, and chemical means. To exploit these properties for practical applications a large area high quality graphene, transferred on appropriate substrates, is required. In this work, high quality single monolayer graphene (determined from Raman spectroscopy) has been synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique for …

Inn Nems And Heterojunction Devices For Sensing Applications, Alina Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research trends in chemical and biological sensing have been geared toward developing molecular sensor devices that are fast, inexpensive, miniaturized, have low power consumption and are portable. The performance of these devices can be dramatically improved by utilizing multimodal detection techniques, new materials and nanofabrication technologies. To develop such sensor devices, we utilized Indium Nitride (InN) nanowires (NWs) to fabricate nanoelectromechanical system (NEMS) based sensors and Graphene/InN NW heterojunctions, and InN thin films to fabricate Graphene/InN thin film heterojunction based sensors. InN NWs, which exhibit interesting properties including high carrier density, superior electron mobility, strong surface charge accumulation, and …

Technology Development And Characterization Of Aiinn/Gan Hemts For High Power Application, Mahbuba Sultana

Theses and Dissertations

AlInN has attracted much attention only recently as a material due to its unique and superior material properties, which is however known to be difficult to be grown among the III-nitride ternary compounds. The electrons confined at the heterointerface of coherently grown AlInN on GaN buffer layers determine crucial electronic properties. This dissertation has been designed targeting the lattice matched AlInN/GaN investigation with very detail to optimize the design, fabrication process, and electronic properties to realize AlInN/GaN HEMTs. Each single step of this process was optimized in order to improve device performance.

The work started with establishing the main features …

A Survey Of The Career Of Baritone, Josef Metternich: Artist And Teacher, Diana Carol Amos

Theses and Dissertations

Joseph Metternich, (1915- 2005) a prominent, internationally acclaimed opera singer of the mid-twentieth century, distinguished himself primarily in Italian baritone bel canto roles. In a career that spanned four decades, he performed in the major opera houses of the world, becoming one of the premiere operatic recording artists while portraying the heroes and villains of the operatic repertoire. At the height of his career, from 1946 to 1952, he was contractually bound to five opera houses at the same time, including theaters in Vienna, Austria as well as in East and West Berlin, Hamburg, and Munich in Germany.

From 1952 …

An Evidence-Based Approach To Prepare Interdisciplinary Team Members For Implementation Of The Abcde Bundle, Jessica Murner Hamilton

Theses and Dissertations

Quality improvement projects contribute to the development of evidence-based management strategies for successful implementation of evidence-based practices in health care, thus reducing the risk of change implementation failure. This study assessed practice change implementation strategies for the awakening and breathing trial coordination, delirium assessment and management, early exercise and mobility (ABCDE) bundle. The ABCDE bundle is an evidence-based, interdisciplinary framework for managing pain, agitation, and delirium, reducing the duration of mechanical ventilation, and supporting early mobility in critically ill patients. The purpose of this study was to implement a nurse-driven initiative to design and put into place an evidence-based approach …

Tactical Encounters:Material Rhetoric And The Politics Of Tactical Media, Anthony Michael Stagliano

Theses and Dissertations

Tactical Encounters: Material Rhetoric and the Politics of Tactical Media articulates the concept of material rhetorical tactics, discrete rhetorical moves effecting political and social change, however ephemeral. I argue that material rhetorical tactics do not necessarily originate or conclude with a human subject, and that to understand this, we must reorient our conceptions of rhetorical action, agency, and, ultimately, its relationship to the demos, to include actions, actors, agents, and events that are not, in themselves, human. I build on recent work in rhetorical theory that has conceptualized the function and nature of rhetoric as involving agents human and nonhuman, …

Iridium – Bismuth Carbonyl Cluster Complexes: New Directions For Chemistry And Selective Oxidation Catalysis, Gaya R. Elpitiya

Theses and Dissertations

CHAPTER 2 The reaction of Ir3(CO)9(μ3-Bi), 2.1, with BiPh3 has yielded a iridium−bismuth cluster complex Ir5(CO)10(μ3-Bi)2(μ4-Bi), 2.2. The first examples of bimetallic iridium−bismuth nanoparticles have been subsequently synthesized from 2.1 and 2.2, and these have been securely anchored onto the inner walls of mesoporous silica. These isolated, bimetallic iridium−bismuth nanoparticles display a superior catalytic performance, when compared to their analogous monometallic counterparts and equivalent physical mixtures, in the C−H activation of 3-picoline to yield niacin.

CHAPTER 3 The reaction of Ir3(CO)9(μ3-Bi) with Ph3GeH yielded the compound Ir3(CO)6(GePh3)3(μ3-Bi)(μ-H)3 3.1 When 3.1 was heated to reflux in hexane, it was transformed into …

Adiponectin And Selenium Rich Diet Can Act As A Complimentary Medicine In The Treatment Of Intestinal And Chronic Inflammation Induced Colon Cancer, Arpit Saxena

Theses and Dissertations

Colon cancer is the second largest cause of cancer death in United States. Chronic inflammation and obesity predispose patients to colon cancer. Adipose tissue is a source of bioactive substances called adipokines. Adiponectin (APN), an adipokine has anti-inflammatory property and found at lower levels in obese patients. Selenium (Se), a trace mineral and a dietary supplement, is inversely associated with cancer risk and possess anti-inflammatory and anti-carcinogenic properties. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to determine if chronic inflammation leading to colon and intestinal cancer are regulated by APN or Se rich diet or both. The working hypothesis is …

Novel Drug 2-Benzoyl-3-Phenyl 6,7-Dichloroquinoxaline 1,4-Dioxide Induces Colon Cancer Cell Apoptosis Through Hif-1Α Pathway, Alexander-Jacques Theodore Sougiannis

Theses and Dissertations

Recent developments in the field of cancer genomics have shown transcription factor HIF-1α as a major player in the survival and proliferation of colorectal tumors. Hypoxia targeted drug engineering has led to significant advancements in cancer treatments as a method of directly utilizing the hypoxic regions against the tumor. Novel drug DCQ (2-benzoyl-3-phenyl 6,7-dichloroquinoxaline 1,4-dioxide) has shown promising anti-tumor results in-vitro and in-vivo. The purpose of this study was to utilize a tumor xenograft and genetic mouse model of colorectal cancer to investigate the safety, clinical effectiveness, and mechanism of action of DCQ. Methods: 10 week old Balb/c mice were …

Eye Movements Of Individuals With Aphasia During Reading And Scene Viewing, Kimberly G. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: This project characterized eye movements of individuals with aphasia and age-matched participants during reading and scene viewing.

Methods: Individuals with aphasia (N=24) and age-matched controls participants (N=24) completed three eye tracking studies. Study 1 examined task-related changes in eye movements for scene search, scene memorization, text-reading, and pseudoreading. Ex-Gaussian, analysis of variance, and correlational analyses were used to compare differences in eye movements across tasks and participant groups. Study 2 examined how oculomotor and linguistic processing influence eye movements for textreading and pseudo-reading. In addition to the statistical analyses used in Study 1, four case studies were carried out …

Exploring Culturally Relevant Teaching: Lessons From A Middle School Classroom, Kristen H. Gillaspy

Theses and Dissertations

In the public school setting and beyond, African American males are often positioned as a problem. Educators have implemented and studied the use of culturally relevant pedagogy (CRP) in an effort to shift this deficit perspective of African American male students, as well as other students of color. CRP positions all students as knowledgeable and capable of learning while valuing their cultural backgrounds and experiences. CRP also provides an opportunity to explore issues around race and culture. Though some research has been done in the area of CRP, very little focuses on the students’ experiences in culturally relevant classrooms, and …

Engineered 3d Microenvironments To Direct Osteogenic Differentiation And Modulate Inflammation, Katherine Elizabeth Rutledge

Theses and Dissertations

Current methods of treating critical size bone defects (CSDs) include autografts and allografts, however both present major limitations including donor-site morbidity, risk of disease transmission, and immune-rejection. Tissue engineering provides a promising alternative to circumvent these shortcomings through the use of stem cells, three dimensional (3D) scaffolds, and growth factors. Cells receive signals from their microenvironment that determine cell phenotype, and a combination of physical cues and chemical factors is thought to have the most profound influence on stem cell behavior. A major focus of tissue engineering strategies is scaffold design to recapitulate in vivo microenvironmental architecture to direct stem …

Exploring The Association Between Network, Cognitive, Structural Social Capital And The Risk Of Clinical Depression In Taiwan, Yun-Hsuan Wu

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is the one of most common mental health conditions in Taiwan. Although evidence suggests that social capital is associated with depression, few studies have comprehensively explored the influence of social capital on depression. Also evidence in Taiwan is limited in comparison to other Western countries. Data from the 1997 Taiwan Social Change Survey (n=2,598), which is the only dataset that contains the best available information to measure and compare all three dimensions of social capital (network, cognitive, and structural social capital), were used to examine the association between three dimensions of neighborhood- and individual-level social capital and depression among …

The Influence Of Warmth And Competence Perceptions On Employees’ Attitudinal And Behavioral Responses In Casual Dining Restaurants, Diego Riva Humbert Bufquin

Theses and Dissertations

Employees in the hospitality industry continuously judge their peers and leaders in order to evaluate their work environment. Group and individual evaluations are systematic, as the restaurant industry is characterized by high labor intensiveness that typically involves substantial social interactions and task interdependence. As a consequence, employees come up with quick and broad conclusions about the characteristics of the people that they work with or for.

Along these lines, two of the most significant constructs that govern the social perceptions or evaluations of individuals and groups are people’s perceived warmth and competence. The warmth construct informs people whether a person …

Anarchic Wills: De Factoism And Its Discontents In Shakespeare And Milton, William Dean Clement

Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation explores the literary origins of de factoism – the political philosophy which considers any “right” to rule inconsequential to political legitimacy. My work introduces the concept of the “anarchic will,” my term for a literary character that recognizes the growing distance between an authority’s claim to power and the material fact of that power. I locate these figures in early modern drama and epic to demonstrate how their existence threatens the traditional power structures, both on the stage and in the streets of London. I argue that anarchic wills jeopardize political order at the most basic level, in …

Dual-Band Non-Stationary Channel Modeling For The Air-Ground Channel, Ruoyu Sun

Theses and Dissertations

Multiple air-to-ground (AG) radio propagation channels are experimentally characterized for two frequency bands, C-band and L-band. These characterizations are aimed to support the specification of the control and non-payload communication (CNPC) links being designed for civil unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). The use of UAS is expected to grow dramatically in the coming decades. In the United States, UAS will be monitored and guided in their operation within the national airspace system (NAS) via the CNPC link. The specifications of the CNPC link are being designed by government, industries, academia and standards bodies such as the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics …

Investigation Of Modular Multilevel Converter Performance Under Non-Ideal Distribution System Conditions, Rostan Rodrigues

Theses and Dissertations

The Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) is an emerging power converter technology that has caught widespread attention mainly because of several technical and economic benefits such as modular realization, easy scalability, low total harmonic distortion, fail-safe operations etc. The MMC is comprised of a series connection of sub-modules (SM). A sub-module is made by either a half-bridge or a full-bridge IGBT device and a capacitor as a source of energy connected across the bridge. This modular structure allows for the possibility to design high-voltage converters handling hundreds of kilo-volts without direct series connection of the power semiconductor devices.

Due to its …

The Effects Of Environmental Consciousness And Menu Information On Consumers’ Perceptions Of Restaurant Image And Purchase Behavior Related To Local Foods, Daniel A.G. Remar

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability initiatives have become increasingly important and relevant to the foodservice industry. Despite the fact that consumer demand for sustainable restaurant practices has grown substantially over the last 10 years, consumers’ pro-environmental attitudes and behavioral intentions are not always turned into concordant behavior. Though foodservice operators continue to make progress in developing new methods and strategies for implementing sustainable practices into operations, getting consumers to behave in accordance with their demand is a major challenge.

The purpose of this quasi-experimental study is to determine if consumers’ attitudes towards local food, widely considered a sustainable restaurant practice, are congruous with their …

Toward The Combinatorial Limit Theory Of Free Words, Danny Rorabaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Free words are elements of a free monoid, generated over an alphabet via the binary operation of concatenation. Casually speaking, a free word is a finite string of letters. Henceforth, we simply refer to them as words. Motivated by recent advances in the combinatorial limit theory of graphs–notably those involving flag algebras, graph homomorphisms, and graphons–we investigate the extremal and asymptotic theory of pattern containment and avoidance in words.

Word V is a factor of word W provided V occurs as consecutive letters within W. W is an instance of V provided there exists a nonerasing monoid homomorphsism phi with …

“Tal Vez Sueña De Estas Cosas/ Maybe He Dreams Of These Things:” Envisioning Possibilities For Multilingual Learners In The Culturally Responsive Rural Classroom, Evelyn Spradley Stockdale

Theses and Dissertations

Meeting the needs of multilingual learners is a growing concern for many classroom teachers across the nation as school-age populations in the United States continue to become more ethnically, culturally, and linguistically diverse. Teachers often have little understanding of diverse learners and frequently express misconceptions about these students and their cultures. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore the social, cultural, and linguistic resources multilingual learners draw upon and the literacy practices they enact during reading and writing workshop when culturally responsive pedagogy (CRP) is implemented. This study also examined how culturally relevant (CR) texts and …

Economic Losses And Extreme Tornado Events, Rachel Reeves

Theses and Dissertations

Research on tornado impacts has previously focused mainly on analyzing the deaths and injuries associated with tornadoes. While economic loss from multiple hazards is a well-researched field, little has been done to assess the economic losses sustained during tornado events. Additionally, the literature regarding the Enhanced Fujita scale’s comparability to the Fujita scale is limited. This research aims to add to the literature by statistically analyzing the two tornado scales, determining the movement of tornadoes over time using a cluster analysis, comparing the location of extreme tornadoes to those which produce extreme loss, and looking at the statistical relationship between …

A Silylation-Based Kinetic Resolution Of Hydroxy Lactones And Lactams With Subsequent Mechanistic Investigations, Robert W. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

The work contained herein focuses on the methodology and design of new reactions for the production of stereoenriched compounds. The primary focus of research discussed is kinetic resolution, a classic and powerful methodology for the separation of a single enantiomer from a racemic mixture. In 2011, a silylation-based resolution catalyzed by a chiral isothiourea produced synthetically useful selectivity factors for mono-functional secondary alcohols. In chapter 2, this methodology was subsequently expanded to include α-hydroxy lactones with selectivity factors up to 100. This study resulted in the most selective reaction reported to date for the aforementioned silylation-based resolution. In addition to …

Species Responses To Climate Change And Environmental Heterogeneity: A Multi-Focal Approach, Megan Riley

Theses and Dissertations

Changes in global climate trends have the potential to influence diverse ecosystems at multiple levels of organization, from the species to the community. Changes in other environmental variables, such as those resulting from pollution and habitat modification, also have the potential to impact species fitness and alter species interactions. This dissertation employs a multi-focal approach to investigate species responses to two main topics: climate change and environmental heterogeneity. To investigate the first topic, this work focuses on the climate change-induced range expansion of the mangrove tree crab Aratus pisonii into novel salt marsh habitats. It investigates latitudinal patterns of life …

Reflective Judgment: Can Problem-Based Learning Approach Make A Difference?, Nicole Marie Cavanagh

Theses and Dissertations

For counselors to be successful in current and future practice, they must be proficient reflective thinkers and be able to use reflective judgment skills to manage the daily complex problems presented by complex clients. Reflective thinking and reflective judgment are not elements of counseling curricula unless faculty explicitly design learning activities to develop these skills.

This study examined the relationship between reflective judgment and problembased learning (PBL) by comparing pretest and posttest scores on the Reasoning about Current Issues test. Data was collected from a convenience sample of graduate level Counselor Education Ed.S students at the University of South Carolina …

Drilled Shaft Skin Resistance Design In The Cooper Marl, William J. Gieser

Theses and Dissertations

As drilled shafts have become a more popular foundation type in the Charleston, South Carolina area, there has been an ongoing goal of optimizing drilled shaft design while maintaining the structural integrity of the foundation. In the Charleston area, the primary bearing stratum for deep foundations is the Cooper Marl, a calcareous Oligocene formation. Research performed from 2002 to 2004 on load test data from drilled shafts constructed in the Cooper Marl and soil properties from three test sites for the Cooper River Bridge explored the relationship between the measured skin resistance and geotechnical properties. In the 15 years since …

Teachers’ Observations Of 2-Year-Old Children’S Musical Vocalizations Elicited By Purposeful Silence Techniques, Kathryn Ward Reardon

Theses and Dissertations

With the intent of improving early childhood music development understanding, the purpose of this research was to examine young children’s music vocalizations. The guiding research question was: When a music teacher implemented purposeful silences while performing a song and a rhythm chant, what techniques encouraged vocalizations made by 2-year-old children as observed by music teachers and classroom teachers? I implemented a qualitative design utilizing participant observation techniques to investigate the research purpose and question of this study. Four teachers served as a panel of experts to provide observational data. I video recorded myself teaching music activities from Music Play (Valerio, …

The Recovery Of Gut Barrier Function With Selenium Rich Diet In Acute Dss-Induced Colitis, Sarah Depaepe

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Acute Dextran Sodium Sulfate (DSS)-induced colitis is an inflammatory ailment limited to the colon. It works to destroy the morphology and gut barrier goblet and epithelial cells that aid in providing homeostasis. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient that has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties and is known to play a role in reducing inflammation in areas elsewhere in the body. The current study is focused on how Se alters gut barrier permeability and functionality related to the recovery of tight junction regulation and mucin secretion. Methods: C57BL/6 mice were randomly placed into control (normal water) and 2% DSS water …