Digital Commons Network^™

Anisotropic Stimuli-Responsive Polymeric Nanoparticles: Synthesis And Characterization, Chunliang Lu

All Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the design, synthesis and characterization of stimuli-responsive anisotropic nanoparticles with various morphologies. Size- and shape-tunable Janus nanoparticles consisting of poly(methyl methacrylate/n-butyl acrylate) (p(MMA/nBA)), poly(pentafluorostyrene/nBA) (p(PFS/nBA) and poly(2-(N,N′-dimethylamino) ethyl methacrylate/nBA) (p(DMAEMA/nBA)) phases were synthesized via consecutive seeded emulsion polymerization. These Janus nanoparticles are capable of changing size and morphology in response of temperature and/or pH changes, which may have potential applications as solid surfactants. Gibbous and inverse-gibbous nanoparticles were synthesized viacopolymerization of fluorinated monomers in the presence of pMMA or polystyrene (pSt) seed particles. The morphology of the gibbous nanoparticles can be controlled by polymerization conditions. Incorporation …

An Efficient Holistic Data Distribution And Storage Solution For Online Social Networks, Guoxin Liu

All Dissertations

In the past few years, Online Social Networks (OSNs) have dramatically spread over the world. Facebook [4], one of the largest worldwide OSNs, has 1.35 billion users, 82.2% of whom are outside the US [36]. The browsing and posting interactions (text content) between OSN users lead to user data reads (visits) and writes (updates) in OSN datacenters, and Facebook now serves a billion reads and tens of millions of writes per second [37]. Besides that, Facebook has become one of the top Internet traffic sources [36] by sharing tremendous number of large multimedia files including photos and videos. The servers …

Comparing Online And Traditional Interview Techniques: A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Researchers And Participants In The Malaysian Context, Diyana Kamarudin

Dissertations

The study employed an innovative simulation of interview conditions using both face-to-face and online techniques that facilitated both emic and etic perspectives. The dissertation utilized both micro and a macro levels of study. At the micro level, 10 researcher participants interviewed 30 parent participants utilizing two different interview techniques: online face-to-face interviews via Skype, and traditional face-to-face interview. The interviews focused on parental mediation on children’s television habits. At the macro level the researcher coordinated the study and conducted interviews with the researcher participants, after they completed their own interviews in the simulation. Both online and face-to-face interviews were video …

Social Learning Systems: The Design Of Evolutionary, Highly Scalable, Socially Curated Knowledge Systems, Nolan Hemmatazad

Student Work

In recent times, great strides have been made towards the advancement of automated reasoning and knowledge management applications, along with their associated methodologies. The introduction of the World Wide Web peaked academicians’ interest in harnessing the power of linked, online documents for the purpose of developing machine learning corpora, providing dynamical knowledge bases for question answering systems, fueling automated entity extraction applications, and performing graph analytic evaluations, such as uncovering the inherent structural semantics of linked pages. Even more recently, substantial attention in the wider computer science and information systems disciplines has been focused on the evolving study of social …

This Is Really Happening: Criticality And Discussions Of Context In Acrl's Framework For Information Literacy, Kevin Patrick Seeber

Communications in Information Literacy

The development of the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy has sparked an immense amount of conversation among academic librarians, though the profession is still far from consensus with regards to if, when, or how the document should be implemented. This essay argues that despite debates over various points within the text, the overall theme of the Framework is a call for librarians and educators to recognize the importance of context when discussing information literacy. As this relates to the curriculum of higher education, instruction and assignments can no longer afford to separate "school" from "real life." Classroom instruction must recognize …

Selling Bodies And Souls: Human Sex Trafficking In China, Jane Ni

East Asian Studies

No abstract provided.

December 2015 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Master's Of Agriculture Education, Katrina Marie Chamberlin

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This internship/project report includes validation documents required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary- level programs of instruction in agriculture. The documents are concurrently used for the Agriculture Incentive Grant review process at Independence High School conducted by representatives of the California Department of Education. The internship included the development of a chapter website to provide information and publicity for the Independence FFA Chapter. It serves as a repository of chapter information and documents, a home for current information, and as a public face for the chapter. The project also includes the development of an Advisory Committee for Independence High …

Suicide Prevention Strategies In Tennessee Community Colleges: A Case Study, Sandra Perley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is the second leading cause of death for college students; annually approximately 1,100 students in institutions of higher education die by suicide. However, most research related to college student suicide was conducted using the sample of 4-year institutions. Community colleges have seldom been included in the sample of suicide research studies. This qualitative case study research explored the student suicide prevention strategies in the 13 community colleges in the Tennessee Board of Regents higher education system. Data were collected from surveys, institutional web sites, and interviews with institutional personnel.

Approximately half of the institutions offer suicide prevention information to …

Selected Student Characteristics Related To Academic Cell Phone Use, David Pauley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The researcher addressed the need for understanding student perceptions and habits of academic cell phone use within a high school environment in regards to student characteristics. Data were gathered and analyzed in order to answer research questions regarding student perceptions of: (a) the usefulness of cell phones as an academic tool, (b) the use of cell phones within school and outside of school for academic purposes, (c) the encouragement of cell phone use to complete assignments, (d) the potential for distractions within the classroom occurring from cell phone use, and (e) the functionality of cell phones for completion of school …

Comparison Of Student Success By Course Delivery Methods At An Eastern Tennessee Community College, E. Ann Cunningham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to compare academic success based on methods of course delivery for students in a computer applications course at an East Tennessee community college. Additionally, the researcher examined demographic relationships of age, gender, and race to student academic performance in the different delivery methods. The researcher used final course grades as a determinant of academic success. The study was focused on students who took the INFS 1010 Computer Applications course during the academic years, 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 at a southeast Tennessee community college. The population consisted of 1,177 students who took the INFS 1010 …

Navigating Gender Inequality In Musical Subgenres, Adria Ryan Mclaughlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study looks at female musicians performing in subcultural rock genres commonly considered non-gender-conforming, such as punk rock, heavy metal, noise, and experimental. Twenty-four interviews were conducted with female musicians who reflected on their experiences as musicians. Themes emerged on women’s patterns of entry into music, barriers they negotiated while playing, and forces that may push them out of the music scene. Once women gained a musician identity, their gender functioned as a master status. They negotiated sexism when people questioned their abilities, assumed men played better, expected them to fail, held them to conventional gender roles, and sexually objectified …

Self-Disclosure Relies On Social Context: Examining The Similarity And Differences Of Chinese Students In The U.S. And China When Disclosing Information On Wechat, Xiyan Cui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to fill a research gap by examining WeChat to explore whether changes of social context would exert any influence on the information disclosure of social networking site (SNS) users. Selective Exposure Theory and Uses and Gratification Theory were used as the theoretical foundation for this study. Four-hundred Chinese college students in China and the U.S. who have a WeChat App and have logged in to use it within the last 30 days from the day administered were asked to participate in a survey about their motivations and consequences when using WeChat. Results from MANOVA showed that the …

If I Had A Hammer: American Folk Music And The Radical Left, Sarah C. Kerley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Folk music is one of the most popular forms of music today; artists such as Mumford and Sons and the Carolina Chocolate Drops are giving new life to an age-old music. It was not until the 1950s that new popular interest in folk music began. Earlier, folk music was used by leftist organizations as a means to reach the masses. It assumed because of this history that many folk artists are sympathetic to the Left. By looking at the years from 1905-1975 with the end of the Vietnam War, this study hopes to present the notion that even though these …

The Role Of Autonomy In The Physician-Patient Relationship, Rachel N. Wagner

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Maintaining the proper physician-patient relationship in health care is vital to the well-being of patients, especially when considering end of life decisions such as euthanasia. Because this topic has been in the forefront of media in recent years, there appears to be a need to understand how the relationship between physician and patient works in these practical situations, as well as understand what the most appropriate model of patient care is in regards to maintaining patient autonomy. However, before this can be done this paper will begin with a brief look at the overall permissibility of euthanasia, using the arguments …

Creando Las Estrellas: Determining The Quality Of The Dominican And Cuban Player Development Systems, Samuel C. Hearn

Honors Theses

Recently, there has been a huge rise in the number of Cuban ballplayers, or peloteros, as the baseball playing Latinos are known. Why do Major League Baseball (MLB) teams go to such lengths to sign Cubans, when a heavy presence already exists in Cuba’s Caribbean neighbor, the Dominican Republic? Through the comparison educational systems, statistics of each country’s elite players, and comparative accounts of the Dominican and Cuban player development systems, the contrast between the two systems is evident. Though the Dominican system creates a large return in the investment MLB teams make in the country, the socialized sport system …

Development Of Oral Vaccines Against Lyme Disease, Rita Raquel Dos Anjos De Carvalho E Melo

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Lyme Disease, caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, is the most common vector-borne disease in the United States and Europe. If left untreated, it can lead to permanent damage to the nervous and musculoskeletal systems. In some cases, patients that receive the recommended antibiotic therapy develop a debilitating health condition associated with substantial health care costs. Despite current preventive measures, the incidence and the geographic distribution of Lyme Disease continues to increase. Recent estimates from CDC suggest that the true number of cases of Lyme Disease in the US is approximately 300,000 per year. Yet, there is currently no vaccine …

Optimization Of Lead Spectinamide Compounds As Novel Anti-Tuberculosis Agents With A Pharmacometric Approach, Ashit Rasendu Trivedi

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

In an effort to combat the global Tuberculosis pandemic, Dr.Richard E. Lee and his group at St.Jude Children’s Research Hospital designed a novel series of anti-tuberculosis agents, spectinamides – semi-synthetic analogs of spectinomycin. Spectinamides are a potent inhibitor of mycobacterial ribosomes and overcome efflux mediated drug resistance in M. tb. Spectinamides have shown an excellent in vitro activity, which makes them well suited for further lead optimization and preclinical development. We hypothesized that through pharmacokinetic (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD) model-based dosing optimization studies, we could strategically guide the selection and refinement of more potent and effective anti-TB spectinamides. Biopharmaceutical in …

Front Matter (Opening Essay: Ejournal Of Public Affairs, Volume 4, Issue 3), Marc Cooper

eJournal of Public Affairs

No abstract provided.

Is Low Civic Literacy A Wicked Problem?, Sheila S. Kennedy

eJournal of Public Affairs

In 1973, Horst W. J. Rittel and Melvin M. Webber published an influential article on the nature of social problems. Titled “Dilemmas in a General Theory of Planning,” the article focused upon the difficulty of solving what the authors called “wicked problems,” and it triggered an ongoing scholarly discussion about the nature of such problems and the differences between efforts to craft social policies and the “tamer,” more linear approaches appropriate to the solution of scientific problems. Given the robust literature documenting U.S. citizens’ persistent deficit of civic knowledge, it is reasonable to ask whether low civic literacy should be …

Innovative Ideas In Civic Engagement Across Two-Year And Four-Year Colleges, Shyam K. Sriram, Amy Atchison, Elizabeth Bennion, John Forren, Authur Sanders, John Theis

eJournal of Public Affairs

While civic engagement continues to be a buzzword in political science, there is still a lack of discussion about what practices work, and in what context. In particular, are there certain initiatives to engage that do particularly well at twoyear colleges versus larger universities? What about colleges with diverse student populations? At the 2014 annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, seven scholar-teachers came together to discuss civic engagement at their respective institutions and to share ideas about what worked. Collectively, we represented a diverse group of institutions, including teaching and research universities as well as multi-campus community colleges. …

Stewards Of Place: The Role Of Dialogue And Deliberation In Strengthening Colleges And Universities, Windy Y. Lawrence, Zach Justus, Leah A. Murray, Barbara A. Brown

eJournal of Public Affairs

In 2014, the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) produced a sequel monograph, Stewards of Place II, which followed up on and extended the learnings about community engagement from the preceding report— Stepping Forward as Stewards of Place—published over a decade earlier. This article examines some of AASCU’s learnings over the past 10 years about the important role of colleges and universities as stewards of place. Specifically, the authors contend that dialogue and deliberation are key approaches for strengthening the position of colleges and universities as stewards of place. The article defines dialogue and deliberation, discusses five main …

Sensory History And Multisensory Museum Exhibits, Naomi Reden

History Theses

Drawing from the work of sensory historians, this paper will explore the importance of the senses in understanding one’s surroundings and define what qualifies as sensory experience in a museum setting. Through a combination of research and observations during museum visits, it explores examples of how each sense has been incorporated into museums and exhibits. It presents examples of immersive and interactive exhibits providing multi-sensory experiences, including examples of both effective and non-effective ways in which these elements have been used. It is the author’s premise that the museum should remain artifact-centered, and sensory elements should be used to supplement, …

Reducing Eating Disorder Risk Factors: A Pilot Effectiveness Trial Of A Train-The-Trainer Approach To Dissemination And Implementation, Rebecca Greif, Carolyn Becker, Tom Hildebrandt

Psychology Faculty Research

Objective: Impediments limit dissemination and implementation of evidence-based interventions (EBIs), including lack of sufficient training. One strategy to increase implementation of EBIs is the train-the-trainer (TTT) model. The Body Project is a peer-led body image program that reduces eating disorder (ED) risk factors. This study examined the effectiveness of a TTT model at reducing risk factors in Body Project participants. Specifically, this study examined whether a master trainer could train a novice trainer to train undergraduate peer leaders to administer the Body Project such that individuals who received the Body Project (i.e., participants) would evidence comparable outcomes to previous trials.We …

The Influence Of Social Protest From Ancient Israel To The Modern Day, Kyra Krieg

Verbum

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

Social protest is the way in which an oppressed minority group pursues some form of social change on their own behalf. Without social protest, the decisions of the majority population would go unquestioned and the needs of the suppressed minority would be ignored. For beneficial changes to be made for the oppressed minority, social protest is in order. Social protest has long paved the way for societal change, and without the creative minority, these changes would never occur.

Introduction (Online Learning December 2015 Special Issue), Anissa Lokey-Vega, Michael K. Barbour

Education Faculty Publications

While at an admittedly slower rate than the growth in enrollments, research in K-12 online learning has been picking up pace in the past decade and a foundation in best practice is now being laid.

A special K-12 issue of Online Learning is an ideal avenue for an academic dialogue. The focus of this special issue of Online Learning is to present rigorous research specific to the context of K-12 education including systematic inquiry into promising practices, various schooling models, measures of quality, and parent and teacher experience. All authors have provided explanations of K-12-specific terminology to support readers new …

A Game-Based Learning Model, Fatmah Mohamed Ali Ramsi

Theses

The purpose of this research is to design a conceptual model and develop an implementation as a proof of concept of game-based learning (GBL)to support linguistic skills acquisition. Our model lays the foundations of game-based learning by defining methods, processes, and procedures to support the development of game-based learning systems. Integration of learning and gameplay raises various issues, among them the learning process, learning content, and game characteristics. Language competency is fundamental to academic and social success. Vocabulary acquisition is a primary basis for language competency. Word lists and dictionaries have been used as a resource to enrich vocabulary. The …

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act: Judicial Review, Jurisdiction, And The “Culture Of Settlement”, Ezekiel K. Rediker

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Nurse Will See You Now: Expanding The Scope Of Practice For Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, A. J. Barbarito

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Implementing Medical Tourism Regulation In The Face Of The Volume Shock Problem, Franklin Chou

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.