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2016

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An Examination Of The Athletic Identity, Identity Foreclosure, And Career Maturity Of Division I Collegiate Student-Athletes In Nonrevenue-Producing Sports, Stacia A. Klasen Jan 2016

An Examination Of The Athletic Identity, Identity Foreclosure, And Career Maturity Of Division I Collegiate Student-Athletes In Nonrevenue-Producing Sports, Stacia A. Klasen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Very few student-athletes will go on to become a professional in their sport; therefore, the vast majority will need to pursue a non-sport career once their collegiate athletic eligibility has ended. Research indicates that a strong athletic identity and identity foreclosure coincide with lower levels of career maturity, which contributes to the struggle that student-athletes often face with their post-sport transition. The majority of student-athletes compete in nonrevenue-producing collegiate sports (e.g., cross country and soccer), but this subgroup has not been adequately examined. This is problematic because research suggests that lower career maturity levels exist among student-athletes in both revenue- …

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The Gendered Superhero : An Examination Of Masculinities And Femininities In Modern Age Dc And Marvel Comic Books, Jennifer Volintine Jan 2016

The Gendered Superhero : An Examination Of Masculinities And Femininities In Modern Age Dc And Marvel Comic Books, Jennifer Volintine

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines American gender concepts of masculinity and femininity depicted in six Modern Age superhero comic books. Specifically, it examines how the American gender concepts of hegemonic masculinity, hypersexualized masculinity, emphasized femininity, and hypersexualized femininity are depicted in three Marvel and three DC comic books. This examination found that despite gender differences defined by biological essentialism that legitimates gender inequality, female and male superheroes are much more alike than different through what I term "visionary gender". Also, it examines indicators of gender not previously examined in American superhero comic books. In particular, it examines the text of superhero comic …

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Simulation Analysis Model For Magnetic Drug Delivery To The Targeted Tumor Using External Magnetic Field, Vishnu Priyanka Kadiriboina Jan 2016

Simulation Analysis Model For Magnetic Drug Delivery To The Targeted Tumor Using External Magnetic Field, Vishnu Priyanka Kadiriboina

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The difference between success and failure of chemotherapy depends on not only on the drug itself but also how it is delivered to its target. In current research Magnetic Drug Targeting (MDT) plays an important role in effective drug delivery. Super para-magnetic Nano-particles filled with drug are used as a delivery system for anti-cancer agents in loco regional tumor therapy called magnetic drug targeting. The cancer loco regional tumors are identified and super paramagnetic particles are applied intra arterially close to the tumor region and focused to the tumor by a strong external magnetic field. With the injection of the …

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Simulation Analysis Of Blood Flow And Selective Drug Particle Delivery To The Targeted Tumors Cerebral Artery-Tissue Region, Sravanthi Patibandla Jan 2016

Simulation Analysis Of Blood Flow And Selective Drug Particle Delivery To The Targeted Tumors Cerebral Artery-Tissue Region, Sravanthi Patibandla

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Brain is the most intricate organ of human body. The development of new therapeutic techniques for Brain tumor diseases is a difficult task, yet these treatments are not effective for almost all the brain diseases. Presence of Blood Brain Barrier (BBB) is the main challenge in development of drugs to treat brain diseases in most of the cases. Among several brain diseases, brain tumors often have poor prognosis, which depends and changes according to the type of the tumor. In this study a three-dimensional computational simulation model for analyzing multifunctional drug distribution through the cerebral artery and adjacent tissue region …

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Skeletal Indicators Of Hyperpronation In Australopithecus Sediba And Extant Primates, Deanna Goldstein Jan 2016

Skeletal Indicators Of Hyperpronation In Australopithecus Sediba And Extant Primates, Deanna Goldstein

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Habitual bipedal striding locomotion is a distinctive feature of hominins. The human fossil record, however, shows diversity in lower limb anatomy suggesting functional-mechanical differences in locomotion across these fossil taxa. Different forms of bipedality appear in the skeleton of australopithecines such as Australopithecus africanus, Australopithecus afarensis, and Australopithecus sediba. This study seeks to test the hypothesis that australopithecine lower limbs exhibit a mechanically different form of bipedality relative to modern humans, a character that is evident in lower limb flexibility; it is likely that leg flexibility allowed australopithecines to climb trees as well as walk bipedally. In order to test …

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Social Support And Academic Engagement : Perceptions Of Students With A Disability, Melissa Nordstrom Terry Jan 2016

Social Support And Academic Engagement : Perceptions Of Students With A Disability, Melissa Nordstrom Terry

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Social support and academic engagement are effective in promoting the resilience and school completion of many at-risk student groups. For students with disabilities, a paucity of research in these areas leaves the influence of and relationships between these factors less clear. The current study used data gathered from a Midwestern elementary district to examine students' perceptions of social support and academic engagement and how those variables may be related to the disability severity of students receiving special education. Additional analyses were conducted to examine potential differences between the general education and special education groups within the sample. Although no moderating …

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Teacher Perceptions Of Usefulness Of Mobile Learning Devices In Rural Secondary Science Classrooms, Lisa Tighe Jan 2016

Teacher Perceptions Of Usefulness Of Mobile Learning Devices In Rural Secondary Science Classrooms, Lisa Tighe

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The internet and easy accessibility to a wide range of digital content has created the necessity for teachers to embrace and integrate digitial media in their curriculums. Although there is a call for digital media integration in curriculum by current learning standards, rural schools continue to have access to fewer resources due to limited budgets, potentially preventing teachers from having access to the most current technology and science instructional materials. This dissertation identifies the perceptions rural secondary science teachers have on the usefulness of mobile learning devices in the science classroom. The successes and challenges in using mobile learning devices …

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Task Specificity And Multiple Document Integration, Karyn Paula Higgs Jan 2016

Task Specificity And Multiple Document Integration, Karyn Paula Higgs

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Readers must often construct an understanding of a complex process (e.g. climate change) from multiple documents. This is challenging because the documents are typically written for different purposes by different authors. In this context, readers must engage different reading strategies, because information that is important to the meaning of an individual text (i.e. text-based importance) may not be relevant to the reader's purpose (i.e. task-based relevance). Readers may have a default processing strategy based on attending to textual importance (i.e. importance-based processing), but when they have a goal or a task, they may switch to a processing strategy based on …

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Examining K-8 Teachers' Perceptions Of Mandated Curriculum Change, Sarah Marie Cacciatore Jan 2016

Examining K-8 Teachers' Perceptions Of Mandated Curriculum Change, Sarah Marie Cacciatore

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to examine elementary teacher perceptions of mandated curriculum change. In the spring and fall of 2015, Illinois elementary school teachers in a north suburban school district participated in a focus group, an online survey, and follow-up interviews to gather data about teachers' perceptions of the mandated curriculum change process in implementing the Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics. The study also sought to find any differences between the perceptions of teachers in kindergarten through fifth grade classrooms and those who taught in sixth- through eighth-grade classrooms. This study was …

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Examining Self-Efficacy As A Mediator On The Relation Between Bullying Role Behaviors And Academic Success In Early Adolescence, Christina L. Piccirillo Jan 2016

Examining Self-Efficacy As A Mediator On The Relation Between Bullying Role Behaviors And Academic Success In Early Adolescence, Christina L. Piccirillo

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this project was to explore the mediating effects of social and academic self-efficacy on the relations between bullying role behaviors and academic achievement. Research has primarily focused on the bully and the victim in bullying situations, which neglects to examine the experiences of those who witness or are involved in the aggressive act, including assisting bullies, defending victims, and ignoring others. As a result, research has overlooked how other bullying roles relate to academic performance. However, research has explored how various bullying role behaviors relate to self-efficacy. Additionally, self-efficacy has been associated with academic performance, such as …

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Tracing Hydrocarbon Contamination Through Hyperalkaline Environments In The Calumet Region Of Southeastern Chicago, Kathryn Ann Quesnell Jan 2016

Tracing Hydrocarbon Contamination Through Hyperalkaline Environments In The Calumet Region Of Southeastern Chicago, Kathryn Ann Quesnell

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Calumet region of Southeastern Chicago was once known for industrialization, which left pollution as its legacy. Disposal of slag and other industrial wastes occurred in nearby wetlands in attempt to create areas suitable for future development. The waste creates an unpredictable, heterogeneous geology and a unique hyperalkaline environment. Upgradient to the field site is a former coking facility, where coke, creosote, and coal weather openly on the ground. Hydrocarbons weather into characteristic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be used to create a fingerprint and correlate them to their original parent compound. This investigation identified PAHs present in the …

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Using Approximate Models In Robot Learning, Ali Lenjani Jan 2016

Using Approximate Models In Robot Learning, Ali Lenjani

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Trajectory following is one of the complicated control problems because its dynamics are nonlinear, stochastic and includes large number of parameters. The problem has major difficulties including large number of trials required for data collection, and huge volume of computations required to find a closed-loop controller for high dimensional and stochastic domains. For solving this type of problems, if we have an appropriate reward function and dynamics model, finding an optimal control policy is possible by using model-based reinforcement learning and optimal control algorithms. As defining an accurate dynamics is not possible for complicated problems, Pieter Abbeel and & Andrew …

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The Pressure Of Society On Water Quality : A Land Use Impact Study Of Lake Ripley In Oakland, Wisconsin, Kyle Whalley Jan 2016

The Pressure Of Society On Water Quality : A Land Use Impact Study Of Lake Ripley In Oakland, Wisconsin, Kyle Whalley

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Eutrophication of lakes occurs naturally over time but with the influence of humans, mainly through the process of non-point source pollution, the eutrophication rate can be accelerated. Agriculture and residential land use along with the presence of impervious surfaces can negatively impact water quality of lakes due to nutrient pollution. This research investigates the impacts of land use on the water quality of Lake Ripley in Oakland, Wisconsin from 1993 to 2011 using a regression, correlation, and trophic state index (TSI) trend analysis. The regression analysis incorporates four years of National Land Cover Database (NLCD) data, eight spatial categories created …

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The Role Of Hemiparasitic Plants : Influencing Tallgrass Prairie Quality, Diversity And Structure, Jane P. Digiovanni Jan 2016

The Role Of Hemiparasitic Plants : Influencing Tallgrass Prairie Quality, Diversity And Structure, Jane P. Digiovanni

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Pedicularis canadensis (Orobanchaceae) and Comandra umbellata (Santalaceae) are two root hemiparasitic plant species found in tallgrass prairie communities of the Chicago region. Managers are interested in utilizing these species to reduce dominant prairie grasses and thereby increase ecological diversity and quality in prairie restorations and urban plantings. A field observational study at five tallgrass prairie sites investigated the association of hemiparasite abundance with metrics of phylogenetic and ecological diversity as well as floristic quality. Although no reduction in C4 grasses was detected, analysis of the field data found a significant association between hemiparasite abundance with increased floristic quality at all …

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Adolescent Bullying : An Analysis Of Personality Characteristics, Bullying Participant Behaviors, And Social Anxiety, Erin Deliberto Jan 2016

Adolescent Bullying : An Analysis Of Personality Characteristics, Bullying Participant Behaviors, And Social Anxiety, Erin Deliberto

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Anywhere from 25-40% of students are involved in bully participation behaviors at school, including bullying, victimization, outsider, and defending. A majority of these behaviors can result in adverse effects (i.e., social anxiety). Gender and age differences among bully participant behaviors have been found in extant research. Further, research has suggested relationships between each of the bully participant behaviors and the Big Five personality characteristics. Therefore, the primary objective of the current evaluation was to investigate the association among adolescent boys' and girls' personality traits, their level of involvement in bully participant behaviors, and level of social anxiety. Adolescent participants (N=644) …

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I'M Licensed. What Do I Do Now? : A Qualitative Study Of The Learning Journeys Of Newly Licensed Real Estate Agents, Kristine A. Brown Jan 2016

I'M Licensed. What Do I Do Now? : A Qualitative Study Of The Learning Journeys Of Newly Licensed Real Estate Agents, Kristine A. Brown

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explored the learning journeys of eight newly licensed real estate agents in Illinois. It examined how these agents viewed the real estate industry, how they learned the business, and how they developed their professional identities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted monthly with each participant for a six-month period during their first year in the business.

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Impacts Of Tourism On Water Quality In Quintana Roo, Mexico, Katelyn Kane Jan 2016

Impacts Of Tourism On Water Quality In Quintana Roo, Mexico, Katelyn Kane

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The Yucatan Peninsula is the world's second largest underwater karst cave system. The highly fractured limestone and scarce soil allows precipitation to rapidly infiltrate to the groundwater system identified as the Yucatan Aquifer. The geology of the area also prevents the accumulation of surface water; as such, groundwater is the only source of fresh water on the peninsula and can become easily contaminated due to anthropogenic activities on the surface from tourism. The state of Quintana Roo, Mexico, is economically dependent on the tourism industry. This study focuses on an assessment of eleven locations throughout the Cancun and Riveria Maya …

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Individual Variation In Maternal Behavior In Spider Monkeys At El Zota Research Station, Costa Rica, Agnieszka Magdalena Sukiennik Jan 2016

Individual Variation In Maternal Behavior In Spider Monkeys At El Zota Research Station, Costa Rica, Agnieszka Magdalena Sukiennik

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Predation risk is a significant survival problem for immature primates, but only a few studies have examined the risk of predation on immatures in ateline primates. This study examined whether spider monkey mothers changed their interactions with their infants due to a perceived change in predation risk while foraging in different sized groups. I proposed that a mother's proximity to her infant/juvenile varied depending on whether she was alone with her offspring, with one other adult female, or with a larger group of adults. Because group living potentially reduces predation risk, I suggested that mothers would be in closer proximity …

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Influence Of Silver Nanoparticles On Fluorescence Enhancement, Sai Bharanisrikanth Toleti Jan 2016

Influence Of Silver Nanoparticles On Fluorescence Enhancement, Sai Bharanisrikanth Toleti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In this project, we studied the influence of silver nanoparticles (AgNP) on the fluorescence properties over glass substrates and on Nano pours oxide film substrates. Enhanced fluorescence intensities were observed due to presence of AgNP in near field to a fluorophore creating hot spots thereby proving the concepts of Metal Enhanced Fluorescence and Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR). A Bragg reflector pattern is created by varying the refractive index of surface resulting in layered structure causing the light getting trapped in between the layers which exhibited the properties of SPR and Evanescent fields. The mean intensity values were higher for the …

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Late Holocene Climate Controls On Carbon Dynamics At Teringi Bog, Estonia, Kristyn Hill Jan 2016

Late Holocene Climate Controls On Carbon Dynamics At Teringi Bog, Estonia, Kristyn Hill

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study examines records of past climate variability and the controls affecting carbon accumulation rates at Teringi Bog, Estonia (57°58'31.26", 25°33'34.80"E). Analyses of [delta]¹³C, [delta] ²H, [delta]¹⁸O, and d-excess from Sphagnum fuscum moss cellulose, [delta]¹³C and [delta]¹⁵N from bulk peat, and [delta]18O and [delta]²H from surface waters indicate that carbon accumulation rates are influenced by changes the overall amount of precipitation and its seasonality throughout the Late Holocene. Changes in the depth to the water table were recorded from August, 2014, to May, 2016, and it was observed that the hydrologic balance is principally driven by fall, winter and spring …

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Learning And Leading : Transformational Learning Experiences Among College Student Peer Leaders, Alexander R. Miller Jan 2016

Learning And Leading : Transformational Learning Experiences Among College Student Peer Leaders, Alexander R. Miller

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this interpretive study was to identify the transformational learning experiences and leadership development process of college students who participate in peer leadership positions. This study explored the relationship between peer leadership roles and transformational learning. The study was shaped by four research questions: 1) How do college students who engage in peer leadership roles describe their experiences? 2) How do these student leaders make meaning of their experience? 3) What processes help student leaders make meaning of their peer leadership role? 4) What knowledge, skills, and abilities do participants report having gained as a result of their …

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Machiavelli And Manhood : A Study Of Effeminacy In The "Discourses On Livy" And "Mandragola", Alyssa Morren Jan 2016

Machiavelli And Manhood : A Study Of Effeminacy In The "Discourses On Livy" And "Mandragola", Alyssa Morren

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the linkages between effeminacy and women in Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy and Mandragola. In the Discourses, Machiavelli creates a masculine ideal without sufficiently articulating the prerequisites necessary to fulfill that ideal. However, he does not hesitate to deem things that do not meet those standards as effeminate. Effeminacy is a trait that can be ascribed to things as well as people, and appears to be the antithesis of the behavior Machiavelli wants to encourage. While effeminacy typically connotes a disparagement of men as well as women, it is difficult to tell if that is indeed what Machiavelli …

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Molecular Analysis Of The Pil Loci Of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, Jenny Wachter Jan 2016

Molecular Analysis Of The Pil Loci Of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, Jenny Wachter

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Piliation is an essential virulence factor for the obligate human pathogen Neisseria gonorrhoeae. PilE polypeptide is the major protein subunit in the pilus organelle and engages in extensive antigenic variation due to recombination between pilE and a pilS locus. pilS were so-named as they are believed to be transcriptionally silent, in contrast to the pilE locus. Despite the importance of pilE in pathogenesis, little is known regarding its regulation. Therefore, through small transcriptome analysis, we have identified a trans-encoded sRNA that was demonstrated to up-regulate expression of pilE. Furthermore, through small transcriptome analysis, in conjunction with analysis of pilS recombinants, …

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Assembly And Degradation Of A Trimeric Membrane Protein Acrb, Qian Chai Jan 2016

Assembly And Degradation Of A Trimeric Membrane Protein Acrb, Qian Chai

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Multidrug efflux pumps are membrane proteins that actively transport foreign objects out of cells. The active efflux of these pumps is a critical self-defense mechanism that enables the survival of bacteria under hostile environments. Efflux pump AcrB is a member of the Resistance-Nodulation-Division (RND) super family. In E. coli, it associates with periplasmic protein AcrA and outer membrane channel TolC to extrude a variety of noxious compounds out of cell from both the cytoplasm and the periplasm. My dissertation research focused on two aspects of this multidrug efflux pump: the oligomerization process during the biogenesis of AcrB and its …

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Ortho-Hydroxychalcone : A Molecular Switch And Metal Sensing Fluorophore, Theodore Litberg Jan 2016

Ortho-Hydroxychalcone : A Molecular Switch And Metal Sensing Fluorophore, Theodore Litberg

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Flavanone and its ortho-hydroxychalcone isomer can be interconverted by changes in pH, making an attractive molecular switch scaffold. The ortho-hydroxychalcone, being an extended aromatic system, can also be utilized as a fluorophore with metal binding capacity. The scaffold can also be dramatically changed from previous studies by exchanging the acetophenone and benzaldehyde derived rings for hetero and extended aromatic rings to determine their effect on the midpoint pH. A variety of methoxy-/fluoro-substituted and hetero-/extended aromatic chalcones were screened in methanol and pH 13.50 buffer to determine if the scaffolds were fluorescent. From a possible 32 chalcones in the two conditions, …

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Parental Stress And Boundary Turbulence : An Investigation Of Parents' Disclosure Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis, L. Bryan Wilcher Jan 2016

Parental Stress And Boundary Turbulence : An Investigation Of Parents' Disclosure Of Children With An Autism Spectrum Disorder Diagnosis, L. Bryan Wilcher

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study uses communication privacy management theory (i.e., CPM, Petronio, 2002) as a framework to understand the communication that occurs between parents who have a child with an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnosis and people outside of the parental dyad. The study focused on the foundations of privacy rules and boundary turbulence for parents of children who have an ASD diagnosis. Overall, the results indicated a great deal of support for the application of CPM in this context. Parents were able to articulate why and when they share information about their children's autism spectrum diagnoses. The results support the investigation …

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Peroxygenase Activity Of Cytochrome C Peroxidase, Heather A. Kilheeney Jan 2016

Peroxygenase Activity Of Cytochrome C Peroxidase, Heather A. Kilheeney

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Heme enzymes catalyze the oxidation of a wide variety of substrates utilizing either molecular oxygen or hydrogen peroxide as oxidants. There is some interest in utilizing heme enzymes in the synthetic laboratory to introduce oxygen functionalities into organic structures due to their specificity and low levels of side reactions. The most versatile oxygenation catalysts are a group of monooxygenases called the cytochrome P450s. However, the cytochrome P450s are not ideal synthetic catalysts since the monooxygenase reaction is quite complex, requiring a co-factor, either NADH or NADPH, and an additional enzyme called P450 reductase. In addition, the cytochrome P450 reactions are …

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Physiological Response To Loving Kindness Meditation In College Women Reporting High And Low Levels Of Fear Of Self-Compassion, Lynsey Renee Miron Jan 2016

Physiological Response To Loving Kindness Meditation In College Women Reporting High And Low Levels Of Fear Of Self-Compassion, Lynsey Renee Miron

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Growing evidence supports the clinical utility of self-compassion training to target negative self-evaluation and associated distress. However, some individuals report strong fear and resistance toward self-compassion training, a phenomenon known as fear of self-compassion. The current study utilized an experimental design to examine whether cultivating self-compassion is fear-inducing for college women (N = 50) reporting high and low levels of fear of self-compassion by examining physiological indicators of affect in response to a guided self-compassion exercise. It was hypothesized that engagement with the self-compassion exercise would reveal differential physiological responding between high and low fear of self-compassion groups, where individuals …

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A Moral Education, Kristen Van Voorhis Jan 2016

A Moral Education, Kristen Van Voorhis

Student Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

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How Many Kinds Of Birds Are There And Why Does It Matter?, George F. Barrowclough, Joel Cracraft, John Klicka, Robert M. Zink Jan 2016

How Many Kinds Of Birds Are There And Why Does It Matter?, George F. Barrowclough, Joel Cracraft, John Klicka, Robert M. Zink

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Estimates of global species diversity have varied widely, primarily based on variation in the numbers derived from different inventory methods of arthropods and other small invertebrates. Within vertebrates, current diversity metrics for fishes, amphibians, and reptiles are known to be poor estimators, whereas those for birds and mammals are often assumed to be relatively well established. We show that avian evolutionary diversity is significantly underestimated due to a taxonomic tradition not found in most other taxonomic groups. Using a sample of 200 species taken from a list of 9159 biological species determined primarily by morphological criteria, we applied a diagnostic, …

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