Digital Commons Network^™

A Qualitative Investigation Of Completed And Averted School Shootings: Deciphering The Characteristics That Prevent School Shootings, Jonathan Page

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to explore the differences between completed school shootings and averted school shootings in order to gain a better understanding of ways to prevent school shootings. The following research question guided this study: What are the similarities and differences between schools in which a shooting occurred and schools in which a shooting was averted? To answer this question, this study compared school shootings and averted school shootings in K-12 schools between January 2007 and December 2013, searching for general themes to analyze in order to add to the literature on averted school shootings. This study …

Microbial Dynamics Within Shed Mucosal Secretions Of Hirudo Verbana, The European Medicinal Leech, Brittany Maree Ott

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Microbes are widespread throughout our planet, residing in soils, oceans, and even beneath the arctic glaciers. Most interact with each other and other life forms, and there is no known complex organism that lacks an associated microbiome. These microbial symbionts are critical to the survival and proliferation of their host by assisting in nutrient provisioning, physiological development, immunological priming, providing protection from pathogens, contributing to predator evasion, etc. As such, the transmission of these symbionts is a crucial aspect of host biology. Despite a growing appreciation for the prevalence of mixed transmission (incorporating vertical, or from a parental route, and …

Effects Of Housing Condition And Acute Nicotine On Impulsive Choice In Lewis And Fischer 344 Rats, Jenny E. Ozga

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Impulsive choice is defined as choice for a smaller, more immediate reinforcer relative to a larger, delayed reinforcer, and is commonly studied using delay-discounting procedures. There are many variables that contribute to impulsive choice, including biological and environmental determinants. The present study examined both of these variables by evaluating effects of housing condition (single versus paired) on impulsive choice in Lewis (LEW) and Fischer 344 (F344) rats, at baseline and following acute nicotine administration. A within-session procedure was used in which choice was between one food pellet delivered immediately and three food pellets delivered after a delay. The delay to …

An Evaluation Of Speed Monitoring Displays For School Travel Safety Improvement, David W. Palley

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

School travel safety has been a concern for transportation and government officials for a long time. Traffic incidents are among the leading causes of child mortality, and many of these incidents can be related to school travel. While the school travel landscape has changed drastically over the past several decades, little has changed with regards to school zone traffic regulation, particularly in West Virginia. Speed trailers were installed at a rural high school located along a West Virginia highway to assess the effectiveness of these types of devices in lowering vehicle speeds near urban schools along high-speed roads. A student …

Role For Protein Prenylation And "Caax" Processing In Photoreceptor Neurons, Nachiket D. Pendse

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The efficient folding, assembly and trafficking of phototransduction proteins from site of synthesis in the inner segment (IS) to the site of action in the outer segment (OS) is crucial for photoreceptor cell survival and function. Defects in this process are known to cause blinding diseases in humans including retinitis pigmentosa (RP) and Leber's congenital amaurosis (LCA). The lack of a therapeutic approach for treatment of various retinal degenerations is likely due a knowledge gap in the mechanisms underlying the folding, assembly and transport of prenylated phototransduction proteins. Prenylation and " CAAX" processing is thought to be involved not only …

Errant Romanticism: Queering Gender And Sexuality In British Literature, 1790-1840, Teresa M. Pershing

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Error is both a purposeless wandering and a purposeful identification of a mistake. Each chapter analyzes texts from the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries which feature female characters and the epilogue turns to the autobiographical writing of a man in the 21st-century. Chapters on William Godwin's memoirs of Mary Wollstonecraft, Amelia Alderson Opie's Dangers of Coquetry , Anne Plumptre's Something New, Harriet Martineau's Illustrations of Political Economy, and Thomas Beatie's autography Labor of Love feature characters---both real and fictional--- who destabilize what Bourdieu calls "collective[ly] misrecogn[ized]" understandings of identity as truth/error and "either/or." Utilizing notions of error developed by Zachary Sng …

Grainyhead-Like-2 Inhibits The Co-Activator P300, Suppressing Tubulogenesis And The Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, Phillip M. Pifer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tumor progression and developmental morphogenesis require transient or stable Epithelial-Mesenchymal transitions (EMT) to modulate epithelial junctional complexes allowing programmed migration, invasion, and anoikis resistance of cells. Grainyhead-like-2 (GRHL2), an epithelial master-regulatory transcription factor, suppresses EMT and causes a mesenchymal-epithelial transition to the default epithelial phenotype. This body of work investigates the role of GRHL2 in kidney cancer, in kidney development using a kidney specific GRHL2 knockout mouse model, and in tubulogenesis using Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) cells. In kidney cancer, GRHL2 was not expressed in the normal kidney proximal tubule epithelial cells which are thought to be the progenitors of …

The Role Of Art Education In The K-12 Curriculum In West Virginia A Comparative Case Study Using Ethnographic Methods, Helen G. Poffenbarger-Jordan

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The visual arts are considered a core subject in the United States public school curriculum. However, the way in which visual arts curriculum is implemented in schools is largely left up to the individual states. This study focused on how art educators' design, direct, find support, and operate visual arts programs in the K-12 public school system in West Virginia. Ethnographic research methods were implemented for this study.

Hormone Check: Critique Of Olympic Rules On Sex And Gender, Erin E. Buzuvis

Faculty Scholarship

Most sports, including all Olympic sports, are divided into two categories: men's and women's. This Article first presents a history of gender testing in Olympic and international sports to illustrate why past attempts to define eligibility for women's sports have proven unfair to women with intersex conditions. It then describes the shortcomings of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) first effort to articulate standards of eligibility for transgender athletes. In its second Part, this Article explains the more recent efforts of the IOC and the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to define eligibility for women's sports solely on the basis …

Towards A Persuasive Design Pattern For A Gamified M-Learning Environment, Ferial Khaddage, Christoph Lattemann, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

New innovative technologies create opportunities for persuasive engagement. Persuasive technology is all about software, systems and applications designed to hook, reinforce, change and shape the attitudes of the learners without using coercion or deception. Persuasive design pattern if applied effectively and efficiently may influence learners’ attitudes towards the learning task, and may hook them to the specific learning activity offered via a gamified mobile application. In this paper the concept of persuasive design pattern in gamified m-learning platforms should be introduced to the scientific community. Persuasive design in a gamified mobile learning environment is described and persuasive set of design …

Nanoparticles Toxicity On Escherichia Coli: Batch And Kinetic Approach, Nelson M. Anaya-Archila

Open Access Dissertations

Silver and dysprosium oxide are two examples of materials used for the manufacturing of nanoparticles with current and future commercial relevance, respectively. Silver nanoparticles (nAg or AgNPs) are one of the most commonly used nanomaterials in consumer products and medical applications due to their antimicrobial properties. Dysprosium oxide nanoparticles (nDy₂O₃) are gaining interest for biomedical applications because of their fluorescence and paramagnetic properties, which can be used as contrast agents in magnetic resonance analysis. However, the fate of nAg and nDy₂O₃ and their possible negative impacts on the environment and public health are …

Development Of An In Vitro, Three-Dimensional Microvasculature Model, Lauren Elizabeth Marshall

All ETDs from UAB

Vascularized in vitro models of breast cancer represent an important advance in preclinical drug testing and development. 3D in vitro tissue models are more physiologically-relevant than 2D cell culture models due to the combination of human cells and extracellular matrix (ECM) in a spatial 3D microarchitecture. Embedding a vasculature within a 3D tissue volume further increases its physiological relevance and enables paracrine cross-talk with other cell types, neovascularization and angiogenesis, size-selective permeability between blood flow and extravascular ECM, delivery of therapeutics and metabolized products to solid tumors, delivery of circulating tumor cells to metastatic sites, and production of growth-promoting and …

Neurodevelopmental Alterations In A Rodent Model Of Temperamental Differences, Chelsea Mccoy Mccoy

All ETDs from UAB

Understanding biological mechanisms that shape brain development and susceptibility to emotional dysfunction is crucial for generating improved treatments for depression and anxiety disorders. To study neurodevelopmental factors that influence emotionality, we use model rats that were bred for distinct behavioral responses to novelty. Rats bred for low novelty response (LRs) exhibit a high anxiety-/depressive-like phenotype compared to high novelty responder rats (HRs), which vigorously explore novelty and exhibit high impulsivity, aggression, and risk-taking. Transcriptome profiling revealed multiple gene expression differences in the early postnatal hippocampus and amygdala and in the adult amygdala of HR/LR rats. Through gene ontology analysis, we …

Conjunctival Gene Expression And Tear Biomarkers In Atopic And Non-Atopic Keratoconus Patients Relative To Matching Controls, Erika Marie Morrow

All ETDs from UAB

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Transcriptional Regulation Of Interleukin 10 In Cd4+ T Cells, Carson Edward Moseley

All ETDs from UAB

Autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases are a collection of disorders that are mediated by reaction of the adaptive immune system against self or commensal antigens. Altered transcription of genes involved in T cell activation and function is a key mediator of predisposition to numerous autoimmune disorders, including Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) and Multiple Sclerosis (MS). However, we have an inadequate understanding of how the transcriptional circuits controlling these genes are dysregulated in disease. Interleukin-10 (IL-10) is cytokine with potent anti-inflammatory activity that is critical for restraining immune-mediated pathology to self-tissues. Notably, patients with nullifying mutations in IL10 develop a severe IBD …

Real-Time Hand Tremor Detection Via Mouse Cursor Movements For Improved Human-Computer Interactions: An Exploratory Study, Parker A. Williams, Jeffrey L. Jenkins, Joseph S. Valacich

Faculty Publications

Millions of people experience hand-tremors—rhythmic oscillation of the fingers, hands, or arm that cause shaking in the hand. People who experience hand tremors often experience difficulty in human computer interactions. For example, when browsing a website, people with hand tremors may have difficulty navigating or clicking on links in the website. With sever hand tremors, effective computing is difficult without assistance. Past research has developed interventions that can be automatically deployed by a website to make it more accessible to people with hand tremors. We build on this research by creating a methodology to unobtrusively detect hand tremors, allowing these …

To Email Or Not To Email: The Impact Of Media On Psychophysiological Responses And Emotional Content In Utilitarian And Romantic Communication, Taylor M. Wells, Alan R. Dennis

Faculty Publications

Lean asynchronous computer mediated communication is often considered poor for communicating emotion, yet individuals continue to use it for business, personal, and even romantic communication.We used a lab experiment to investigate the influence of media (email and voicemail) and task type (romantic and utilitarian) on both the psychophysiological responses of senders and the content of the resulting messages. Message senders had more arousing physiological responses when sending emails than when leaving voicemails. An interaction exists between media and task such that the content of romantic email messages was more positive than romantic voicemails; while the opposite was true for utilitarian …

Dodging Marshmallows: Simulations To Teach Ethics, Justin Weidman, Dawan Coombs

Faculty Publications

Students had just participated in an experiential learning exercise where they played dodgeball using marshmallows. But the unique context of the game introduced ethical dilemmas that integrated ethics education into a technical education classroom setting.

Research shows that “Engineering curriculum and activities at the K-12 level should be designed to expose students to [ethical considerations inherent in the practice of engineering], and as a result students should be aware of the importance of these issues in the field of engineering” (Moore, Glancy, Tank, Kersten, Smith, & Stohlmann, 2014). But how do STEM teachers teach students to think about ethical issues …

Comprehensive Analysis Of The Atlantic Coast Natural Gas Transmission Line, William David Young

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

New energy sources are needed to sustain our constant need for energy as well as the development of the next generation. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is over 600 miles in length and will provide consistent, clean energy to the energy consumers in Virginia and North Carolina from natural gas production in the states of West Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. A detailed analysis was performed looking at modern pipeline construction as well as multiple studies to determine the economic, social, and environmental impacts of this transmission line. A theoretical study was also performed comparing how this transmission line would impact the …

Load Testing And Recommended Repairs For Dailey Branch Bridges - Milepost 1.4 To 5.8, Luis Carlos Parra-Luckert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The West Virginia Department of Transportation State Rail Authority sponsored a study to evaluate the condition of the railroad bridges on the Dailey Branch in Elkins, WV. The evaluations included field inspections, load rating, load testing, and a repair plan. A total of 2 steel bridges and 3 timber bridges were part of the study. The repair plan focused on identifying deteriorated timber bridge members for potential Glass Fiber Reinforced Polymer (GFRP) wrap repair. Information on dimensions and deterioration was gathered through field inspections. A timber specialist determined the species and grade of the timber bridges, finding most members to …

A Radiological Survey Of Two Bruker D8 Advance Xrd Instruments Located In Separate Quality Control Laboratories, Justin Anthony Meador

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A Radiological Survey of Two Bruker D8 Advance XRD Instruments Located in Separate Quality Control Laboratories By Justin Meador In October 2016, XYZ Laboratories requested assistance with conducting a radiological survey of each of their Bruker D8 Advance XRD instruments to determine compliance with Title 64 West Virginia Legislative Rule, Department of Health, Series 23, Radiological Health Rules (64CSR23) and 10 CFR Part 20 – Standards for Protection Against Radiation in regards to the X-Ray radiation being emitted during operation of the units. A review of ionizing radiation, sources of radiation, biological effects, unit descriptions, Federal and State standards, description …

Evaluating The Performance Of A Large-Scale Facial Image Dataset Using Agglomerated Match Score Statistics, Mounica Kamireddy

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biometrics systems are experiencing wide-spread usage in identification and access control applications. To estimate the performance of any biometric systems, their characteristics need to be analyzed to make concrete conclusions for real time usage. Performance testing of hardware or software components of either custom or state-of-the-art commercial biometric systems is typically carried out on large datasets. Several public and private datasets are used in current biometric research. West Virginia University has completed several large scale multimodal biometric data collection with an aim to create research datasets that can be used by disciplines concerning secured biometric applications. However, the demographic and …

Voluntary Wheel Running Improves Recovery From Muscle Disuse In Mice, Matthew J. Brooks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The reloading of atrophied muscles from weightlessness or disuse results in injury and prolonged recovery. Satellite cells, or muscle stem cells, have a key role in facilitating injury-induced muscle repair but have not been shown to be required in muscle remodeling following atrophy. However, it has been less clear if low-impact exercise, such as voluntary wheel running, could provide a sufficient stimulus to enhance muscle recovery from atrophy through satellite cell activation. This study aimed to determine if voluntary wheel running improved recovery from muscle disuse following hindlimb suspension unloading (HSU), and if the recovery was associated with exercise-induced satellite …

Cholesterol Diet-Associated Changes In The Hippocampus - A Prelude To Alzheimer's Disease?, Sylwia W. Brooks

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

High serum cholesterol levels in midlife have been associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD) later in life. This thesis investigates a possible mechanism linking dietary cholesterol, which cannot pass the blood brain barrier, and AD-like hippocampal neuropathology. The first study tested the hypothesis that a high cholesterol diet increases the flux of the cholesterol metabolite 27-hydroxycholesterol (27-OHC) into the hippocampus. We found that a high-cholesterol diet increased levels of 27-OHC, a biologically active circulatory breakdown product of cholesterol, in hippocampal tissue. 27-OHC has been identified as an endogenous selective estrogen receptor modulator (SERM) that affects estrogen …

Conversion To Evangelical Christianity During College: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, Meagan Alicia Brunson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Psychology has a history of ignoring and pathologizing spiritual experiences. Many of the fathers of early psychology including Freud, Ellis, and Skinner modeled this trend. However, with the increasing awareness of the importance of multicultural factors as they relate to mental health, religion and spirituality have gained recognition in the professional literature. Research on religion and spirituality and college students has mainly consisted of survey studies collecting demographic data. The current study uses a qualitative research design to explore the experiences of college students who converted to Christianity during college. The guiding questions of this research pertain mainly to the …

Direct Inhibition Of Histamine Receptors In The Antennal Lobe Of Manduca Sexta: Putative Evidence For An Olfactory Corollary Discharge Circuit, Rex Burkland

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Animals that plume track have developed navigational strategies that optimize the ability to track an odor to its source. This movement is an active part of the olfactory experience. For vertebrates, sniffing is also an active part of the olfactory experience that controls the speed and regularity of odor interactions with the olfactory receptors. This sniffing is coincident with locomotion throughout the environment and head movement back and forth across an odor plume. Similarly, moths actively beat their wings as they encounter odor plumes. In Manduca sexta, this wing beating influences speed and regularity of olfactory input in such a …

Application Of 1,2,3-Triazole In Gold Catalysis And Photoredox Catalysis, Rong Cai

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Homogeneous gold catalysis has envisioned a rapid development during the past decade due to the remarkable efficiency of Au(I) in alkyne and allene activation. Air and thermally stable triazapentalene zwitterionic compounds (TAPZ) were prepared through Au(I)-catalyzed triazole-alkyne 5-endo-dig cyclization. While effective gold catalyst turnover was achieved, the stability of these new 10-pi-electron bicyclic structures was also significantly improved through the introduction of electron-withdrawing groups, which allowed the further application of these fluorescent dyes in cell imaging.;Silver salts are generally used for the activation of LAuCl through Cl - removal, and they are assumed to be innocent in Au(I) catalysis. For …

Supplementing Art Therapy With Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (Cbt) And Dialectical Behavior Therapy (Dbt) During Treatment Of Childhood Anxiety Disorders: A Pilot Study, Rachel Cecil

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A qualitative research study presents a thorough examination of one therapist's methods of supplementing art therapy with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) during the treatment of children impaired by a variety of anxiety disorders---i.e. generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and posttraumatic stress disorder (PSTD). A review of the existing literature was used to inform the current study. The researcher created an exploratory case study, through the utilization of a pilot study, to gain a better understanding of the topic from an expert in these therapeutic fields. Through the gathering of data and analysis, the …

Ecological Effects Of Forest Canopy Disturbance On The Understory Plant, American Ginseng (Panax Quinquefolius L.), Jennifer L. Chandler

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Historical accounts suggest that American ginseng was once far more abundant than it is today, and extensive changes in forest canopy structure and ginseng habitat caused by clearcut timber harvest occurred coincidentally to the precipitous decline in abundance. The presence of natural American ginseng populations after widespread clearcuts suggests that ginseng can survive under sparse canopies, and the presence of ginseng in the second growth forests common today suggest that ginseng can survive under dense canopies. However, performance may not be optimal at either end of the disturbance spectrum, and the net effect of direct and indirect anthropogenic canopy disturbances …

Physicochemical Modulation Of Huntingtin Aggregation On Lipid Membranes: Implications For Huntington's Disease, Maxmore Chaibva

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Huntington disease is a genetic, neurodegenerative disease caused by an expanded polyglutamine (polyQ) in the first exon of the huntingtin (htt) protein, facilitating its aggregation, leading to the formation of a diverse population of potentially toxic aggregate species, such as oligomers, fibrils, and annular aggregates. Htt interacts with a variety of membranous structures within the cell, and the first seventeen amino acids (Nt17) of htt directly flanking the polyQ domain is an amphipathic alpha-helix (AH) lipid-binding domain. AHs are also known to detect membrane curvature. Nt17 also promotes diverse aggregate species of htt and undergoes a number of posttranslational modifications …