Digital Commons Network^™

Rip Current Types, Circulation And Hazard, B. Castelle, T. Scott, R. W. Brander, R. J. Mccarroll

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

From Global To Local: Reshoring For Sustainability, Al Ashby

Plymouth Business School

The UK clothing industry has seen the extensive offshoring of manufacturing, which has created fragmented global supply chains; these present a range of supply issues and challenges, including many related to sustainability. Reshoring is a reversion of a previous offshoring decision, thereby ‘bringing manufacturing back home’ (Gray et al. J Supply Chain Management 49(2):27–33, 2013), and can be motivated by increased costs and supply management problems. While not a new phenomenon, the reshoring of activities is growing in practice and there is an imperative for academic research (Fratocchi et al. J Purch Supply Manag 20:54–59, 2014). Through an in-depth longitudinal …

Identification And Characterization Of Genes Involved In Metabolism Of N5 Monoene Precursors To N5 Anacardic Acids In The Trichomes Of Pelargonium X Hortorum., Richa A. Singhal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unusual monoenoic fatty acids (UMFA’s) and specialized metabolites called anacardic acids (AnAc) are produced in glandular trichomes of Pelargonium ´ hortorum (geranium). The UMFA’s, 16:1^∆11 and 18:1^∆13 are precursors for the synthesis of unsaturated AnAc 22:1n5and 24:1n5 that contribute to pest resistance in geraniums. UMFAs and their derived AnAc metabolites not only provide a useful biological marker that differentiates the biosynthetic pathway for unusual mononenes from the common fatty acids (i.e. stearic, palmitic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic) but also have industrial, medical and agricultural applications. Fatty acid biosynthesis enzymes like acyl carrier proteins (ACPs); thioesterases (TEs) and β-ketoacyl-ACP …

Exploring The Relation Between School Pushout And Future Outlook For Black Youth., Kish Cumi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation study is an examination of the relation between school pushout and future outlook for Black youth. Theoretically, this dissertation study is framed by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model (Bronfenbrenner, 1977) and Racial Encounter Coping Appraisal and Socialization Theory (RECAST). In light of the systemic racial disparities entrenched in school pushout phenomena among Black youth, the researcher sought to explore parental warmth as a protective factor for youth subjected to school pushout. School pushout as praxis was discussed in conjunction with the school-toprison pipeline (STPP), as school pushout is identified as an entry point within the STPP. This dissertation study explored …

Mechanism Of Interaction Of Peptide Modified Nanoparticles With Porphyromonas Gingivalis., Ankita Jain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Studies suggest that P. gingivalis functions as a keystone pathogen and interacts with primary colonizers in the supragingival biofilm such as S. gordonii. This interaction contributes to the initial colonization of the oral cavity by P. gingivalis and thus represents a potential target for therapeutic intervention. We have identified a peptide (BAR) derived from the streptococcal SspB protein that functions to inhibit P. gingivalis adherence to S. gordonii. In addition, we showed that nanoparticles (NPs) functionalized with BAR inhibit this interaction more potently than free soluble peptide, possibly by promoting interaction with P. gingivalis at higher valency than …

The Role Of Nicotine, A7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors And Extracellular Matrix Remodeling In Pulmonary Fibrosis., Glenn Ward Vicary

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The median survival for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) patients from diagnosis is a dismal 3 years. This condition is characterized by pulmonary fibroproliferation and excess production and disordered deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins resulting in obliteration of the original tissue architecture, loss of lung function and eventual death due to respiratory failure. The main hindrance to the development of effective treatments against pulmonary fibrosis is the late detection of its progression and is often of unknown cause. Tobacco smoke represents the most important environmental factor linked to the development of pulmonary fibrosis, with over 60% of IPF patients current …

The Influence Of Student, Neighborhood, And School Factors On College Readiness : An Examination Of Factors Combined As A Result Of Implementing A Race- And Socioeconomically-Based Student Assignment Plan., Gregory Paul Herberger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In 2006, Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education determined race-based student assignment plans violated the 14th Amendment. Through the assistance of Orfield and Frankenberg (2011), Jefferson County Public Schools (JCPS) reconfigured the district’s race-based student assignment and implemented a race- and socioeconomic-based student assignment plan. The purpose of this study was to examine students’ backgrounds and school composition factors within a race- and socioeconomic-based assignment plan to determine the extent the factors are related to college readiness. Based on data obtained from 3,018 Grade 11 students, hierarchical linear multiple regression was used to examine the utility of student background, …

Relationship Between Living Environment And First-Year Student Academic Achievement And Persistence., Shannon Deaton Staten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Student apartments that are privately owned and managed on the edge of higher education campuses have become a new paradigm in campus housing. Campus administrators consider privatized housing as a financial resource for providing updated housing facilities. There is minimal research regarding how students succeed academically if living in the privatized housing properties. Krause (2007) confirmed that research regarding how students living off campus succeed in college needs to be more fully addressed. This study was designed to contribute information of how students who live in off-campus privatized student housing apartments succeed academically. This information is important to campus administrators …

Quantitative Trait Loci (Qtl) For Salt Tolerance In Soybean And Physiological Response To Salt Stress During Early Growth Stage, Cindy Massiel Lopez Ramirez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soybean is a major cash crop used as a source of high–quality protein and oil. Salt stress is one of the main abiotic stresses causing significant yield losses in soybean, which is considered a moderately salt–sensitive crop. Breeding selection is a promising strategy to improve salt tolerance as soybean germplasm display wide variation in response to salinity stress. However, the physiological and genetic mechanisms for salt tolerance are not quite clear. The discovery of novel QTL/genes associated with salt tolerance facilitates the development of tolerant cultivars through marker-assisted selection (MAS). The objectives of this study were: 1) identify/confirm QTL associated …

Preparedness To Counsel Transgender College Students: Perceptions Of College Mental Health Clinicians, Valerie G. Couture

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to assess the perceived preparedness levels of college mental health clinicians to counsel transgender college students. Multicultural counseling competency is required of professional counselors and transgender individuals are considered to be part of the multicultural population. A survey was completed by college mental health counselors (N = 84) from across the United States. The results showed a moderate amount of preparedness overall with no significant differences based on years of counseling experience nor graduation from a CACREP accredited program. Results did show the participants believed they do have a professional duty to be knowledgeable …

Genetic Determinants Of Salmonella And Campylobacter Required For In Vitro Fitness, Rabindra Kumar Mandal

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) and Campylobacter play a major role in foodborne illness caused by the consumption of food contaminated by pathogens worldwide. A comprehensive understanding of the genetic factors that increase the survival fitness of these foodborne pathogens will effectively help us formulate mitigation strategies without affecting the nutrition ecology. The objective of this study was to identify the genetic determinants of Salmonella and Campylobacter that are required for fitness under various in vitro conditions. For the purpose, we used a high throughput Transposon sequencing (Tn-seq) that utilizes next generation sequencing (NGS) to screen hundreds of thousands of mutants simultaneously. …

Examining The Sociocultural Experiences Of Cherokee Nation Citizens In Athletic Competition And Sport, Michael Dewayne Merrie

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the sociocultural experiences of Cherokee adults in athletic competition and sport. Specifically, following a qualitative design, fifteen participants were interviewed about their personal experiences in athletic competition and sport while growing up in rural Oklahoma. Interviews were open-ended and followed a semi-structured script of questions with additional probes. Once completed, the recorded interviews were transcribed and data were analyzed. The data revealed six axial codes and three selective codes. Cherokee culture, psychoSocial identity, and athletic competition were the three major selective codes discovered in this study. Qualitative analyses revealed that participants have …

On The Air, On The Hill: The Story Of Radio At The University Of Arkansas, Blake Ryan Sutton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

On the Air, On the Hill: The Story of Radio at the University of Arkansas is a film about the past, present, and future of radio on campus at the U of A. From the original campus station KFMQ in 1924, to the present day student station KXUA and the region’s NPR affiliate KUAF, the film explores not only the rich history of radio at the U of A, but also what the future holds for campus radio in the face of an ever-changing media landscape. The film draws from interviews with Fayetteville historians, as well as the major players …

Making A Gender Transition In Northwest Arkansas: Issues Of Access And Civil Rights In The Health Care System, April Michele Wallace

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The transgender population in Northwest Arkansas has difficulty in finding quality, accessible healthcare for gender transition-related procedures and for basic medical needs as well. These difficulties stem in part from a complex combination of discrimination, lack of information and training for proper treatment and care. This study takes a look at what is and isn’t available to transgender people in Northwest Arkansas and why they travel to other states and countries to seek healthcare.

Examination Of Pseudomonas Fluorescence As A Recombinant Expression Host: Cloning, Expression, And Chromatography, Ahmed K.Ali Elmasheiti

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In an effort to expand the pool of bacterium useful for biotechnology applications, Pseudomonas fluorescens, a common gram negative microbe, was examined for its ability to function in a recombinant setting. P. fluorescens is ubiquitous in nature and was initially identified as a soil bacterium found in dirt and is typically associated with plant material. Past literature indicates that it shared characteristics common to Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis, including simple growth conditions and potential cloning vectors, providing motivation to look into both the upstream and downstream characteristics of this bacterium. First, it was demonstrated that P. fluorescens could be …

The Power Fantastic: How Genre Expectations Mediate Authority, Angela Rose Cox

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation reconciles academic and popular uses of the term genre, concluding that genre is a transmedial, mutable, associative, recognized system regulated through tacit understandings of prestige and power in a given Social space. The study employs a digital humanities method (dependent on digitally facilitated data analysis), conducting descriptive discourse analysis on collected online discussions from fan spaces concerning the fantasy genre and matters related to fantasy. In this way, I construct an image of the fantasy genre, and genre in general, as a multimodal space in which material freely passes between traditional and new media and participants actively negotiate …

A Study Of Short-Season Winter Cover Crops For Organic High Tunnel Production Systems, Luke Riley Freeman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This two-year study investigated short-season winter cover crops to improve soil quality and growth of subsequent vegetable crops in an organic high tunnel production system. Five winter cover crop treatments including a nontreated control, Austrian winter peas (Pisum arvense), bell beans (Vicia faba), mustard (Brassica juncea cv. Kodiak), and Daikon radish (Raphanus sativus var. longipinnatus) were grown in a high tunnel in a randomized complete block design from mid-November to mid-March, mowed and incorporated into the soil, and followed by a succession of vegetable crops including tomato (Lycopersicon lycopersicum, cv. ‘Plum Dandy’) and broccoli (Brassica oleracea var. italica, cv. ‘Bay …

Apparel Design Process: Shifting The Basic Pattern Block Into A New Framework To Fit The Demands Of Post Double Mastectomy Women, Shan Gao

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is a leading cancer among women today. Mastectomy is one of the most common paths for breast cancer prevention and treatment. However, this treatment path can cause noticeable body changes around the woman’s bust area. Recently more and more post mastectomy women are deciding to live without breast reconstruction surgery. This decision referred to as “going flat” or “living flat.” Due to the changed bodies and a lack of information on functional and aesthetic concerns related to clothing, clothing selection becomes difficult for post mastectomy women who choose to “live flat.”

The purpose of this study was to …

Effects Of Acute Heat And Oxidative Stress On The Hepatic Expression Of Orexin And Its Related Receptors, Stephanie Khaldi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is widely known that orexin A and B peptides as well as their receptors are expressed in the hypothalamus and distributed throughout the central nervous system, but there have been few studies regarding its presences in other parts of the body. There is now evidence that orexin (ORX) and its receptors (ORXR1/2) are present in the avian liver; however, their regulation under different environmental conditions is still unknown. In the current study, we sought to determine the effects of heat and oxidative stress using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and 4-hydroxynonenal (4-HNE) on the hepatic expression of ORX and ORXR1/2 in …

Direct Attachment Of 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid Polymers And Capture Agents To Flat Sheet And Microdialysis Membranes For Improved Mass Transport, Sarah Jane Phillips

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microdialysis (MD) sampling is a diffusion-based separation method which has the ability to sample any analyte that can diffuse across the semi-permeable membrane. However one challenge for MD is that for soluble proteins greater than 10 kDa, the relative recovery (RR) using a 100 kDa MD probe is between 1-5%.1 There are two major barriers that lead to these low recovery values - nonspecific adsorption (NSA) and poor solute mass transport. To overcome these two barriers, the modification of PES-based MD membranes has been initiated by laccase. Previous researchers have used laccase to modify PES flat sheet and hollow fiber …

Effect Of Light Intensity On Production Parameters And Feeding Behavior Of Broilers, Maurice Raccoursier Frost

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This project was performed in two parts. The first was focused on light intensity as it affects performance. A randomized complete block design (RCBD) was performed. Broilers, Cobb 500 (n = 1584) were housed in 3 commercial houses (121.9 x 12.2 m). In each house birds were randomized and placed in 72 pens of 121.9 x 121.9 cm (22 bird/pen, males and females). All the treatment groups were provided with 24h light (L) during the first week and then 18L:6Dark (D) and 20 lux from day 7 to 14. The 3 intensity treatments of 5 lux (lx), 10 lx and …

How To Improve Firm Performance Using Big Data Analytics Capability And Business Strategy Alignment?, S Akter, Wamba S Fosso, A Gunasekaran, R Dubey, Sj Childe

Plymouth Business School

The recent interest in big data has led many companies to develop big data analytics capability (BDAC) in order to enhance firm performance (FPER). However, BDAC pays off for some companies but not for others. It appears that very few have achieved a big impact through big data. To address this challenge, this study proposes a BDAC model drawing on the resource-based theory (RBT) and the entanglement view of sociomaterialism. The findings show BDAC as a hierarchical model, which consists of three primary dimensions (i.e., management, technology, and talent capability) and 11 subdimensions (i.e., planning, investment, coordination, control, connectivity, compatibility, …

Hildegard Of Bingen And Musical Reception: The Modern Revival Of A Medieval Composer (Book Review), John Macinnis

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Reviewed Title: Hildegard of Bingen and Musical Reception: The Modern Revival of a Medieval Composer by Jennifer Bain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. 235 pp. ISBN: 9781107076662.

Reading Historical Photographs, Emily Pate

Perpetua: The Journal of Undergraduate Research at UAH

For the past two years Emily Pate re-searched early historical photographic processes and how they are interpreted to gain historical knowledge of the past. The challenges of this project included understanding historic photographic processes that are not commonly used in today’s society, and how those photographs can provide historical insight. In the spring of 2013, Pate began an ongoing research project to explore photographic materials and their history through found negatives and undeveloped film. She then began to plan the process of documen-tation, research, and archiving the photographs, as well as the photographic techniques used. The images she works with …

Local And International Entrepreneurial Relationship Experiences Of Black Business Leaders, Shola Ajiboye

Student Scholarship

There has been an absence of research in the academic and practice literature on entrepreneurial relationship experiences of Black business leaders. This qualitative study attempted to fill this gap. Twenty-nine top business leaders were interviewed, representing different sectors of the economy, including 15 Africans in Nigeria, West Africa and 14 African Americans in the U.S., to examine and compare their local and international business relationship experiences. The results showed 20 identified differences. The study also revealed three broad areas of similarity that provide a potential basis for future partnerships and one common barrier that provides a basis for future advocacy.

Targeted Enforcement Against Illicit Trade In Tobacco Products, James Prieger, Jonathan D. Kulick, Mark A. R. Kleiman

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Illicit trade in tobacco is a substantial and growing problem in the U.S., causing loss of tax revenue, damage to public health, and threats to public safety. Decisions about enforcement against ITTP involve tradeoffs among competing objectives. Good policy design can improve the terms of those tradeoffs but cannot eliminate them. We examine questions about the allocation of enforcement resources against ITTP, and its distribution across activities, individuals, and organizations: in particular, whether and how to differentially target ITTP that involves violence or support for terrorism. We consider the problem of developing effective strategies for enforcement, applying both lessons from …

Student Veteran Success: A Grounded Theory Study, Peter W. Granger

Education Doctoral

Student veterans in undergraduate post-secondary education face many challenges. Current research addresses these unique challenges and offers recommendations for further research, as well as strategies for college administrators and faculty seeking to assist student veterans. However, the research does not address the strategies student veterans use to succeed. The purpose of this grounded theory study is to start this conversation. The objective of this study is to present a theory that predicts and explains student veterans’ success, using grounded theory methodology to examine student veteran strategies to succeed in college. Thirteen student veterans from two different colleges participated in the …

K-12 Christian School Sustainability: Leadership Practices, Neal Capone

Education Doctoral

K-12 Christian schools in the United States are experiencing decreases in enrollment and an increasing number of closures. This qualitative phenomenological study used semi-structured interviews to gain an understanding of the leadership practices of K-12 Christian school leaders in the United States. Six K-12 Christian schools located in the United States were identified as sustainable and their school leaders were interviewed. The leadership practices involved in managing their respective schools were studied and analyzed using three phases: in vivo coding, pattern coding, and code weaving. Findings showed that the school leaders worked within a supportive board governance structure in which …

Preventing Vocal Fold Dehydration Using Aerosolized Salinein An Excised Porcine Model, Mallory Lynn Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Vocal fold hydration is important for efficient oscillation during voice production. Dehydration of the vocal fold surface is believed to produce adverse effects on the voice. Specifically, low environmental humidity, mouth breathing, and certain medical conditions may contribute to laryngeal and vocal fold dehydration. This dehydration effect may be quantified using the observed pressure and flow at the onset of phonation, operationally defined as phonation threshold pressure (PTP) and phonation threshold flow (PTF), respectively. Previous research has documented that nebulized isotonic saline (0.9% Na+Cl-) can reduce PTP. Additionally, the topical application of liquid saline increases vocal fold hydration in excised …

Algorithms For Learning The Structure Of Monotone And Nonmonotone Sum-Product Networks, Aaron W. Dennis

Theses and Dissertations

The sum-product network (SPN) is a recently-proposed generative, probabilistic model that is guaranteed to compute any joint or any marginal probability in time linear in the size of the model. An SPN is represented as a directed, acyclic graph (DAG) of sum and product nodes, with univariate probability distributions at the leaves. It is important to learn the structure of this DAG since the set of distributions representable by an SPN is constrained by it. We present the first batch structure learning algorithm for SPNs and show its advantage over learning the parameters of an SPN with fixed architecture. We …