Digital Commons Network^™

Living After Confronting Death; Story Telling During The Recovery Trajectory Of Intensive Care Unit Survivors: An Interpretive Biographical Approach, Beverley Anne Ewens

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Aim: To create new meaning of the experiences of intensive care survivors during early recovery and the meaning of “self” during this time. To add to the understanding of how support should be focussed for survivors during recovery.

Background: Survival from a critical event/illness and intensive care unit experience is increasing, as is associated physical and psychological complications. Complications are due to the severity of illness, the intensive care experience itself and the nature of the treatments which promote survival. If complications remain untreated increased health care service uptake and reduced quality of life can ensue. Despite the …

A Contextual Study Of Boris Asafiev's Musical Form As A Process And And Application Of Concepts To His Sonata For Solo Viola, Kathryn Fiona Mckay

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This dissertation examines the work of Russian composer, critic, and musicologist, Boris Vladimirovich Asafiev (1884-1949) against contemporaneous systems of cultural activity associated with Soviet communism. Over the course of his lifetime, Asafiev designed and developed a unique aesthetic‐philosophical theory on the process of musical formation and perception. This study examines the political and ideological forces that contributed to the appearance of socialist realism, and places Asafiev within this context, evaluating his life and works. Central to this dissertation are two musicological volumes taken from Asafiev’s immense catalogue of works: Musical Form as a Process (1930), and Musical Form as a …

Improving Energy Efficiency And Quality Of Service In An Integrated Wireless-Optical Broadband Access Network, Maha Shihab Ahmed

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Exponential growth in the volume of wireless data, boosted by the growing popularity of mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets, is forcing telecommunication industries to rethink network design, and focus on developing high capacity mobile broadband networks. Accordingly, researchers have undertaken developmental work for an integrated wireless-optical broadband access network (WOBAN). Passive optical networks (PONs) and fourth generation (4G) wireless networks are two major candidate technologies for the WOBAN. PON is a wired access technology, well-known for its high capacity, whereas 4G is a wireless broadband access technology, popular for its ease of deployment and ability to offer …

I See A Spark And Blow On It: Drama Practice In Year 1 And The New Australian Curriculum In The Arts, Christine Lovering

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

New educational directives have an effect on the practice of teachers in schools. This study is propelled by the introduction of a national Australian Curriculum and subsequent changes to the Arts curriculum. As one of the five arts subjects, drama has been included in the primary school curriculum in Western Australia since 1997, however, its inclusion and the teaching of drama has not been consistently realised.

Teacher perspectives and beliefs about specific Learning Areas influence their planning and practice; often this is related to past experiences. This study aims to determine Year 1 teachers’ perspectives of, and practices in, drama. …

Stand-Alone Solar-Pv Hydrogen Energy Systems Incorporating Reverse Osmosis, Daniel Clarke

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

The world’s increasing energy demand means the rate at which fossil fuels are consumed has increased resulting in greater carbon dioxide emissions. For many small (marginalised) or coastal communities, access to potable water is limited alongside good availability of renewable energy sources (solar or wind). One solution is to utilise small-scale renewably powered stand-alone energy systems to help supply power for everyday utilities and to operate desalination systems serving potable water (drinking) needs reducing diesel generator dependence. In such systems, on-site water production is essential so as to service electrolysis for hydrogen generation for Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells. …

Landing Performance And Lower Extremity Injuries In Competitive Surfing, Lina Elizabeth Lundgren

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Competitive surfing involves highXrisk manoeuvres that may impose injury risk, especially in the lower extremity. Although the dynamic environment of surfing is a major factor of unpredictable determinants for injury risk, there may be athlete qualities with importance for prevention. Previous studies suggest that dynamic loading and landing tasks represent major risk factors, and should therefore be included in athlete assessments and risk analysis.

The purpose of this thesis was to investigate landing tasks that may be related to surfing performance and injury risk. It involved studying manoeuvres and landing tasks to establish its relevance for surfing athletes, develop multifactorial …

Characterising The Effect Of A Novel Optical Delay Line And Light Sources On The Resolvability Of Time Domain Optical Coherence Tomography, Paul V. Jansz

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a reflection based imaging technique, with numerous applications, initially in medical diagnostics. Unlike ultrasound, another reflection imaging technique, OCT relies on light scattering in samples, low coherence near- infrared interferometry, and graphical image construction, to acquire 2D and 3D reflectogram images. OCT has resolution an order of magnitude greater than ultrasound, but its depth penetration is less than a few millimetres.

Axial resolution is a critical parameter in determining whether OCT can be used to resolve specific features in a sample image. Typically, measures of resolution have been attributed only to the light source’s characteristics, …

Peel, Fondle, Ogle: An Exhibition And Unfixed Parameters: A Creative Arts Praxis Investigation Of The In-Between Conditions Of The Corporeal Body: An Exegesis, Kimberley Simone Pace

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

This research emerged from a rejection of the corporeal body as a clean, sterile entity that can be neatly contained by the boundaries of skin. Informed by Lacan’s (1977, 1979) notions of the body and desire and Kristeva’s (1982) perspectives on the abject, I have developed a concept of the unfixed status of the body as an in-between condition. This investigation of the in-between condition of the body critically explores notions of the corporeal body as constructed physically, psychically and symbolically through my creative arts praxis concerning the body, garment, object and performance. This exegesis unveils the potential for a …

Experimental Approaches To Derive Cd34+ Progenitors From Human And Nonhuman Primate Embryonic Stem Cells, Qiang Shi, John L. Vandeberg

School of Medicine Publications

Traditionally, CD34 positive cells are predominantly found in the umbilical cord and bone marrow, thus are considered as hematopoietic progenitors. Increasing evidence has suggested that the CD34+ cells represent a distinct subset of cells with enhanced progenitor activity; CD34 is a general marker of progenitor cells in a variety of cell types. Because the CD34 protein shows expression early on in hematopoietic and vascular-associated tissues, CD34+ cells have enormous potential as cellular agents for research and for clinical cell transplantation. Directed differentiation of embryonic stem cells will give rise to an inexhaustible supply of CD34+ cells, creating an exciting approach …

Shared Genetic Variance Between Obesity And White Matter Integrity In Mexican Americans, Elena A. Spieker, Peter Kochunov, Laura M. Rowland, Emma Sprooten, Anderson M. Winkler, Rene L. Olvera, Laura Almasy, Ravi Duggirala, Peter T. Fox, John Blangero, David C. Glahn, Joanne E. Curran

School of Medicine Publications

Obesity is a chronic metabolic disorder that may also lead to reduced white matter integrity, potentially due to shared genetic risk factors. Genetic correlation analyses were conducted in a large cohort of Mexican American families in San Antonio (N = 761, 58% females, ages 18–81 years; 41.3 ± 14.5) from the Genetics of Brain Structure and Function Study. Shared genetic variance was calculated between measures of adiposity [(body mass index (BMI; kg/m2) and waist circumference (WC; in)] and whole-brain and regional measurements of cerebral white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy). Whole-brain average and regional fractional anisotropy values for 10 major …

Discovering Schizophrenia Endophenotypes In Randomly Ascertained Pedigrees, David C. Glahn, Jeff T. Williams, Joanne E. Curran, Harald H. H. Goring, Thomas D. Dyer, Anderson M. Winkler, Rene L. Olvera, Ravi Duggirala, Laura Almasy, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Although case-control approaches are beginning to disentangle schizophrenia’s complex polygenic burden, other methods will likely be necessary to fully identify and characterize risk genes. Endophenotypes, traits genetically correlated with an illness, can help characterize the impact of risk genes by providing genetically relevant traits that are more tractable than the behavioral symptoms that classify mental illness. Here we present an analytic approach for discovering and empirically validating endophenotypes in extended pedigrees with very few affected individuals. Our approach indexes each family member’s risk as a function of shared genetic kinship with an affected individual, often referred to as the …

The Potential For Internal Trade And Regional Integration In Africa, Alemayehu Geda, Edris Hussein Seid

Journal of African Trade

This study examines the potential for intra-Africa trade and the prospects of advancing regional economic integration through such trade. A variety of empirical models are deployed for the purpose. The analysis and model simulation results reveal the existence of significant potential for intra-Africa trade. However, realizing this potential and hence the effort to advance regional integration through intra-Africa trade is challenged by lack of complementarities of exports and imports as well as the relative competitive position of African potential export suppliers. This is the result of weak infrastructure, productivity and trade facilitation — in short, acute export supply constraint that …

Smooth Positive Solutions To An Elliptic Model With C2 Functions, Joon Hyuk Kang

Faculty Publications

Two species of animals are competing or cooperating in the same environment. Under what conditions do they coexist peacefully? Or under what conditions does either one of the two species become extinct, that is, is either one of the two species excluded by the other? We investigate this phenomena in mathematical point of view.

In this paper we concentrate on coexistence solutions of the competition or cooperation model

This system is the general model for the steady state of a competitive or cooperative interacting system depending on growth conditions for and . The techniques used in this paper are elliptic …

A Curve Satisfying T/K=S With Constant K>0, Yun Myung Oh, Ye Lim Seo

Faculty Publications

In the present paper, we investigate a space curve in which the curvature is constant and the torsion is a linear function. The aim of this paper is to find an explicit formula for this space curve when the ratio of the torsion to the curvature is a linear function when the curvature is constant.

Advanced Ligo, Tiffany Summerscales, Ligo Scientific Collaboration

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Supporting Education, Research, And Training In The 21st Century, Glynis M. Bradfield, Adam Fenner, Petr Činčala

Faculty Publications

The expanding array of digital devices accessing the Internet around the globe provides new opportunities to collaborate in educating Adventist teachers and educational leaders to continue the teaching ministry of Jesus Christ in the 21st century. Partnerships among the Curriculum and Instruction Resource Center Linking Educators (CIRCLE), the Adventist Learning Community (ALC), and the Institute of Church Ministry (ICM) now connect more Adventists to education and training resources electronically than ever before.

Dry Needling For Myofascial Trigger Point Pain: A Clinical Commentary, Casey Unverzagt, Kathleen Berglund, J J. Thomas

Faculty Publications

Sports and orthopaedic physical therapists have long used a multitude of techniques in order to address pain and dysfunction associated with myofascial trigger points. One technique in particular has recently received overwhelming attention: trigger point dry needling (DN). Despite its efficacy and low risk, questions remain as to its effectiveness, safety, and whether the technique is within the scope of practice of physical therapists. Therefore, the purpose of this clinical commentary is to summarize the current literature related to the associated mechanisms of action of DN, the safety of DN, as well as to discuss relevant scope of practice concerns.

The Effect Of Strength And Plyometric Training On Functional Dance Performance In Elite Ballet And Modern Dancers, Joe Girard, Kristina Koenig, David Village

Faculty Publications

Background:

Ballet and modern dance are both art forms that require technique, artistry, grace and precision. Both dance forms require a degree of strength and muscular endurance for optimal performance. It is not known what value strength or plyometric training may have on functional dance performance.

Objective:

To systematically review the effects of strength and/or plyometric training on functional dance performance in elite ballet and modern dancers.

Methods:

A systematic review of literature indexed in the following databases: Medline, CINAHL, SportsDiscus, Physiotherapy Evidence Database (PEDro) and PubMed was conducted. The quality of the studies was graded using the PEDro Scale. …

Condemnation And Grace: Polygamy And Concubinage In The Old Testament, Richard M. Davidson

Faculty Publications

Although the Old Testament frankly documents a departure from the Edenic model of sexuality in actual practice, Mosaic legislation prohibits polygamy/concubinage as part of universal moral law. Moreover, within the narratives involving plural marriage, the divinely inspired writers invariably embed their tacit condemnation of the practice.

Enriching Higher Education Training Through Values And Social Engagement, Gustavo Gregorutti

Faculty Publications

The present study starts describing the relevance of university mission statements and how they have been interacting with the social demands throughout the history of higher education. This way, the recent development of a knowledge economy has strongly impacted universities that look for ways to produce and commercialize ideas (second and third missions). The increasing accreditation agencies and regional and international rankings have helped to reinforce these processes. This trend has created a situation where isomorphic mechanisms are pressing universities to align themselves with models that do not always fit a wide spectrum of them. In addition, this chapter underlines …

Attending To Reality: Iris Murdoch On The Moral Good, Ante Jeroncic

Faculty Publications

Even a scant acquaintance with current cultural and philosophical trends will readily point to a widespread predilection for subjectivist forms of moral reasoning. By “subjectivist” I refer to various non-cognitivist and constructionist paradigms in moral philosophy and popular parlance that reduce ethical statements to expressions of individual or collective preferences, feelings, or prejudices stripped of any object-given normativity. Th e following are but some of the factors that fuel such perspectives: the proverbial fact/value dichotomy and anti-realist sentiments pervading large swaths of analytic philosophy; poststructuralist and postcolonial “genealogies” that tie the language of universal morality to discourses of power, patriarchy, …

Dissolution Of Borate Glasses And Precipitation Of Phosphate Compounds, Jaime Lynn George

Doctoral Dissertations

"Borate glasses have been developed for biomedical applications such as scaffolds for soft tissue and bone repair. The dissolution processes of borate glasses in phosphate-containing aqueous solutions were studied by µ-Raman spectroscopy which provided information about the types and concentrations of borate species released into the solution as a function of time and characterized the formation of calcium phosphate reaction products on the glass surface. Boric acid molecules (H₃BO₃) and borate anions (B(OH)₄^-) can be detected in solution and their relative concentrations depend on the solution pH.

Static and dynamic single-pass flow-through experiments …

Design Studies Of Infrastructural Development For Applications Of Hydrogen Energy Technologies, Yousif M. H. Hamad

Doctoral Dissertations

"Countries around the world are trying to reduce their energy consumption, fossil fuel usage, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. According to the International Energy Outlook 2012 released by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the estimated fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards proposed for light-duty vehicles for model years 2017-2025 has an increase of 44% in fuel economy and a reduction of 34% in GHG emissions. The use of alternative fuel vehicles and renewable energy sources are, therefore, inevitable toward achieving this goal. Biogas has untapped potential as an alternative energy source. This immediately available resource would allow countries …

Containment Materials For Thin-Strip Casting Of Steel, Abhishek Kumar

Doctoral Dissertations

"The focus of this research was to investigate the corrosion behavior of BN-based and ZrO₂-C refractories by molten steel. These refractories are used as side-dam and core-nozzle in the thin-strip casting of steel. The improvement and development of these refractory components will increase the process efficiency by prolonging the refractory service life.

The first part of this study focused on interaction of BN-ZrO₂-SiC side-dams with steel-inclusion system in a laboratory setup under argon gas environment. It was observed that corrosion of this ceramic was severe in contact with steel compared to slag/inclusion.

The second part of …

Models Predicting The Performance Of Ic Component Or Pcb Channel During Electromagnetic Interference, Chunchun Sui

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation is composed of three papers, which cover the prediction of the characteristics of jitter due to crosstalk and due to simultaneous switching noise, and covers susceptibility of delay locked loop (DLL) to electromagnetic interference.

In the first paper, an improved tail-fit de-convolution method is proposed for characterizing the impact of deterministic jitter in the presence of random jitter. A Wiener filter de-convolution method is also presented for extracting the characteristics of crosstalk induced jitter from measurements of total jitter made when the crosstalk sources were and were not present. The proposed techniques are shown to work well both …

Nmr T₁ Studies Of Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (Cup) Surface Water, Yousef Abobaker Dawib

Doctoral Dissertations

"This dissertation is subdivided into three topics: Experimental study of colloidal unimolecular polymer (CUP) hydration; probing of polymer chain dynamics by ¹³C solid state NMR technique; and the anticorrosive effect of 5-mercapto-1, 3, 4-thiadiazole-2(3H)-thione (MTT) derivatives.

The states of water in colloidal unimolecular polymer system were investigated by low field proton NMR. Bound and free water fractions were determined using spin-lattice relaxation measurements. A model equation was used to analyze the inversion recovery data.

The proton cross polarization and the pulse sequence for total spinning sideband suppression CP-TOSS NMR method were developed to determine the chain mobility of polymers …

Seismological Investigation Of The Okavango Rift, Botswana, Youqiang Yu

Doctoral Dissertations

The mechanisms of rifting have been intensively investigated using geological and geophysical techniques beneath mature rift zones. However, current understanding on the earliest stages of rifting is seriously limited. Here we employ recently archived data from 17 broadband seismic stations traversing northern Botswana to conduct the first shear wave splitting and mantle transition zone (MTZ) studies within the Okavango Rift Zone (ORZ). The ORZ is an incipient continental rift situated at the terminal of the southwestern branch of the East African Rift System. The resulting normal MTZ thickness and consistently rift-parallel fast polarizations imply an absence of significant thermal anomalies …

Localization And Tracking Of Electronic Devices With Their Unintended Emissions, Nurbanu Guzey

Doctoral Dissertations

"The precise localization and tracking of electronic devices via their unintended emissions has a broad range of commercial and security applications. Active stimulation of the receivers of such devices with a known signal generates very low power unintended emissions. This dissertation presents localization and tracking of multiple devices using both simulation and experimental data in the form of five papers.

First the localization of multiple emitting devices through active stimulation under multipath fading with a Smooth MUSIC based scheme in the near field region is presented. Spatial smoothing helps to separate the correlated sources and the multipath fading and results …

The Synthesis And Characterization Of Water-Reducible Nanoscale Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (Cup) Particles, Cynthia J. Riddles

Doctoral Dissertations

"The coatings industry has adapted to more stringent guidelines in paint formulations. Current VOC (volatile organic compound) limits placed by the federal government have pushed the industry toward the development of paint formulations which have very little to no VOC's. The development of Colloidal Unimolecular Polymer (CUP) particles is a step in the direction of providing a resin system which exists in zero VOC aqueous dispersion.

The CUP particles are a part of the polymer field of Single Chain Nano Particles (SCNP) and ranged in diameters of 3-9 nm. The research presented in this dissertation describes the synthesis and design …

Non-Destructive And Destructive Bridge Deck Condition Assessment, Aleksandra V. Varnavina

Doctoral Dissertations

"The dissertation is composed of three papers, which cover the lack of information on the specific aspects of non-destructive and destructive bridge deck assessment.

In the first paper, appropriate data acquisition and processing parameters for concrete bridge deck condition assessment using ground-coupled ground penetrating radar are developed. The use of proposed parameters helps to significantly reduce acquisition and processing time, while providing engineers with reliable and detailed information on the condition of bridge deck.

In the second paper, a novel approach to develop relationship between GPR data and concrete removal depth measurements collected after hydrodemolition is proposed. A linear relationship …