Digital Commons Network^™

Estimation Of The Quantum Effects Of Nuclei In Large Molecular Systems, Bing Gu

Theses and Dissertations

Chemical dynamics, in principle, should be understood by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a molecular system, describing motion of the nuclei and electrons. However, the computational efforts to solve this partial second-order differential equation scales exponentially with the system size, which prevents us from getting exact numerical solutions for systems larger than 4-5 atoms. Thus, approximations simplifying the picture are necessary. The so-called Born-Oppenheimer approximation, separating motion of the electrons and nuclei is the central one: solution to the electronic Schrödinger equation defines the potential energy surface on which the nuclear motion unfolds, and there are standard quantum chemistry …

Investigating Cross Talk Between The High And Low Iron Sensors In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, John S. Hepburn

Theses and Dissertations

Iron is essential for nearly all life on earth. Cells must maintain sufficient levels of this important nutrient due its function as a central co-factor for many cellular processes. Although iron is extremely plentiful, its poor solubility requires specialized import. On the other side, too much iron inside the cell can lead to the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which have deleterious effects on many cellular functions and have been implicated in a wide variety of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Using the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or budding yeast, our research group has accomplished much in …

The Roots Of Perspective In The American Context: News Media Discourse And Stakeholder Perspectives About The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Nicholas Younginer

Theses and Dissertations

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program serves 46 million people but is controversial. The media is positioned to influence political and public opinions about SNAP policy. This study identifies the SNAP media discourse and investigates perspectives of SNAP participants and frontline workers about the program.

I employed a mixed-methods design with two aims. Aim 1 gathered 295 articles across six news outlets, semi-inductively coding the articles for characters, assignment of responsibility, and framing of the article. I then ran chi-square tests for difference between employed frame and responsibility and employed frame and political ideology.

Aim 2 collected a sample of 20 …

Deserts Will Bloom: Atomic Agriculture And The Promise Of Radioactive Redemption, Chris Fite

Theses and Dissertations

This paper examines the rhetorical and visual strategies used in marketing atomic agriculture to the American public from the 1940s to the 1960s. The term “atomic agriculture” refers to various agricultural research programs that used radioactive materials, particularly radioisotope tracing and mutation breeding. In print and on screen, atomic boosters from government and industry offered the promise of a better world made possible by applying atomic energy to agriculture. I argue that the proponents of atomic agriculture combined futurism and nostalgia to create a techno-pastoral vision. They hearkened back to the nineteenth century while simultaneously imagining a bright postwar future. …

Biodegradation Of Highly Weathered Deepwater Horizon Oil, Joel T. Bostic

Theses and Dissertations

Oil from the Deepwater Horizon (DwH) spill continues to be found on beaches five years post-spill. Understanding the role of microbes in removing DwH oil from sandy beaches is necessary to elucidate the fate of DwH oil in the coastal zone. Oiled sand patties and non-oiled sand were collected from affected beaches five years post- DwH. Biomarkers in oiled sand indicated that sand patties originated from the DwH spill, however the oil was heavily weathered and dominated by oxygenated hydrocarbons. Microbial communities, as measured by phospholipid fatty acids (PLFA), were present on oiled sand patties and distinct from microbes on …

The Effect Of Economic Inequality On Perceptions Of Merit, Nicholas Heiserman

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has shown that the rewards people receive are often taken as indirect evidence of their competence. Meanwhile, economic inequality has increased in the US over the past several generations. I propose that variation in economic inequality – the distribution of rewards in society – alters perceptions of the merits of people at different strata in society according to an assumption of equity. I use Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (mTurk) to experimentally manipulate the level of inequality (high vs low) participants perceive in an anonymized country, and I measure participants’ perceptions of merit for people in that country’s 90th and …

Decadal Salinity Changes In The Oceanic Subtropical Gyres And Connection To Changes In The Global Water Cycle, Bryce Andrew Melzer

Theses and Dissertations

There is evidence that the global water cycle has been undergoing an intensification over several decades as a response to increasing atmospheric temperatures, particularly in regions with skewed evaporation – precipitation (E-P) patterns such as the oceanic subtropical gyres. However, observational data (rain gauges, etc.) can be quite sparse over such areas due to the inaccessibility of open ocean regions. This study utilizes in situ data, reanalysis, and model outputs to infer interannual to decadal scale trends in surface freshwater forcing within remote, evaporation-dominated subtropical regions of the ocean as they pertain to the past and present state of the …

Business And Security In The Age Of Terrorism: The Long-Term Effects Of The September 11 Terrorist Attacks On Seaport Governance And Control, Daniel J. Ostergaard

Theses and Dissertations

The primary research goal of this dissertation is to improve our theoretical understanding of the longterm effects of major transnational terrorist events on securityrelated institutional changes for business. To accomplish this goal, the September, 11, 2001, terror attack was chosen as the starting point for this research. The research context is the governance of seaport security. Using grounded theory to develop comparative case studies of several major security initiatives in the maritime industry after 9/11, this dissertation shows that a terrorist event initiates a process of institutional change that emerges over time as initial securityrelated ideas cascade into concrete actions. …

Measurements Of Electrostatic Double Layer Potentials With Atomic Force Microscopy, Jason Giamberardino

Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to provide a thorough description of the development of theory and experiment pertaining to the electrostatic double layer (EDL) in aqueous electrolytic systems. The EDL is an important physical element of many systems and its behavior has been of interest to scientists for many decades. Because many areas of science and engineering move to test, build, and understand systems at smaller and smaller scales, this work focuses on nanoscopic experimental investigations of the EDL. In that vein, atomic force microscopy (AFM) will be introduced and discussed as a tool for making high spatial resolution …

Development Of Reactions And Methods For Labeling Biomolecules In Cells, Enoch Agbesi Adogla

Theses and Dissertations

The complexity of cellular environments presents a challenge to efforts at studying and elucidating biomolecules in cells. Covalent ligation of biomolecules with fluorescent molecules that have a reactive functional group that can react with a complementary functional group on biomolecules is one way that has been utilized to study biomolecules. It enables visualization and tracking of ligation and transportation of molecules within the cell. However, the myriad of functional groups within the cell makes achieving selectivity difficult. To circumvent this problem, reactions that do not interfere with biology have been developed. These reactions, referred to as bioorthogonal reactions must be …

Investigating The Function Of Aintegumenta-Like6 (Ail6) In Arabidopsis Flower Development, Han Han

Theses and Dissertations

AINTEGUMENTA (ANT) and AINTEGUMENTA-LIKE6 (AIL6) encode related transcription factors with partially overlapping roles in floral organ development in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. ANT and AIL6 do not make equivalent contributions to these processes. Loss of ANT function by itself results in smaller flowers, demonstrating that the role of ANT in organ size control cannot be provided by AIL6. Loss of AIL6 function on its own has no phenotypic consequences indicating that all of its roles in flower development can be provided by ANT or some other genes. To further probe the function of AIL6 in flower development, we investigated …

Cobaltocenium Containing Polymers: Complexation With Organic Anion And Initial Assesment For Anion Exchange Membranes, Mohammad Pabel Kabir

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, cobaltocenium containing monomers and polymers are investigated for guest anion loading and alkaline anion exchange membrane for fuel cells. The properties of these polymers are characterized and discussed.

Chapter 1 describes overall background and potential applications of metallocene and metallocenium containing polymers. The research objectives of metallocenium containing polymers are discussed.

Cobaltocenium containing polymers have potential applications in biomedical science. Therefore, the effect of different parameters such as electrostatic charge, size, conformation, π-electron system and hydrogen bonding on the interactions between these polymers and small anionic probes has been studied qualitatively, as described in Chapter 2. A …

The Development Of A Miniature Spatial Heterodyne Raman Spectrometer For Applications In Planetary Exploration And Other Extreme Environments, Patrick Doyle Barnett

Theses and Dissertations

Space exploration is arguably one of the most important endeavors our species has ever undertaken. Rapid advances in rocketry and robotics in recent years has allowed for positioning of complex scientific instruments on other planets with a precision that was previously thought impossible. This, along with the need for more sophisticated chemical measurements to achieve the goals of new, more ambitious missions and recent advances in in-situ and remote spectroscopic techniques, has led to a boom in the use of spectroscopic instruments for space exploration. However, future missions to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, along with other planetary bodies …

High-Throughput Sequencing-Based Approaches For The Identification And Development Of Molecular Targets For Cancer Therapy, David Joel Oliver

Theses and Dissertations

Effective cancer treatment depends on the development of therapeutics that efficiently eliminate the disease without significant reduction to quality of life. Targeted therapeutics achieve these goals, but their long-term efficacy is limited by the ability of cancers to become resistant to these therapies over time. The identification of new therapeutic targets is crucial for the future of cancer treatment. In this work we present functional identification and characterization of novel targets for cancer therapy.

Loss-of-function screens are a well-founded approach for the functional identification of new therapeutic targets, and, in combination with high-throughput sequencing technology, can now be performed at …

Relationships Of Chronotype, Social Jetlag, Sleep, Physical Activity And Diet With Mood, Perceived Stress, Obesity, Blood Pressure And Prostate Cancer, Daria M. Mcmahon

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Chronotype, social jetlag, poor sleep, proinflammatory diet, and low physical activity have been associated with increased risk of chronic diseases: obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and cancer. Yet the relationships between these factors have not been extensively investigated in prospective studies.

Methods: Two studies were conducted. The first study followed 390 healthy men and women ages 21-35 for two years. Social jetlag [SJL] and sleep measures (total sleep time [TST], sleep onset latency [SOL], wake after sleep onset [WASO]), sleep efficiency [SE]), were derived from physical activity personal (armband) monitoring. The participants wore the armband for 4-10 …

Ndt And Shm Methods Of Damage Detection In Welded Structures, Saad Mohammed

Theses and Dissertations

There has been an increasing demand for Nondestructive Testing (NDT) and Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) techniques to continuously monitor during all processes of a structure to prevent catastrophic failure and reduce maintenance costs. NDT and SHM are inspection processes which form part of the quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC) scheme. Among NDT and SHM methods, ultrasonic and guided wave techniques are the most commonly and widely used in industry. Ultrasonic methods provide the advantage of accurately locating and dimensioning defects within structures. Most of these structures consist of welded joints because welding is an economical and efficient method for obtaining a …

Using Synthetic Lectins To Investigate Metastatic Potential In Colon Cancer, Erin E. Gatrone

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer is a disease that affects millions of people each year and it is well established that early diagnosis is a key factor towards improving survival rate, with that in mind there is a great need for better diagnostics. From the earliest onset of cancer, changes can be detected in the type and amount of carbohydrates expressed by the cancer cells, i.e., aberrant glycosylation. This process results in differing glycosylation patterns that can be used to detect cancer. Aberrant glycosylation can also greatly affect the potential of cancer cells to metastasize and can be used to stage the disease as …

The Relationship Between Peer-Self Concept And Academic Self-Concept In Elementary Students: A Person-Oriented Perspective, Catherine Jorgensen Snyder

Theses and Dissertations

Self-concept is one of the most researched constructs in educational psychology (Marsh, Xu, & Martin, 2012). It has been established that there are different domains of self-concept which fall into two main categories, academic and non-academic (Shavelson, Hubner, & Stanton, 1976). Unfortunately, little research has been conducted on the non-academic areas of self-concept and little is known about how social self-concept interrelates with academic self-concept. The focus of this study was to contribute to the research base by investigating the relationship between a facet of nonacademic self-concept, namely peer self-concept, and achievement self-concept among elementary students.

The current research utilized …

Teachers’ Influence On Black/White Biracial Student Identity Development, Dawn M. Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to report on what teachers and parents see as significant factors affecting Black-White biracial student identity development. Through a qualitative case study using individual interviews with parents and grandparents of a Black/White biracial child and the child’s teachers, various factors affecting Black/White biracial identity development emerged. Historical laws, court cases, U.S. Census reports, theoretical data, and identity models were examined and explored to provide a clear argument that Black/White biracial individuals have historically been marginalized and that this marginalization within society has carried over into our current curricular and instructional practices within schools. This …

Semiparametric Estimation Methods For Complex Accelerated Failure Time Model, Yinding Wang

Theses and Dissertations

The proportional hazards (PH) model and the accelerated failure time (AFT) model are the two most popular survival models in fitting the right-censored data. The AFT model is a useful alternative to the PH model, particularly when the PH assumption is not satisfied. Usually, the linear association is assumed with logarithm of survival time in the AFT model. However, the nonlinear association may exist in practice. The first project aims to handle the nonlinear component in the AFT model, which is called the semiparametric additive partial accelerated failure time (AP-AFT) model. Two estimation methods based on the rank-smooth method and …

Contextualizing Multilayered Sexual Subjectivities Of Heterosexual Black Female Undergraduate Students At A Predominantly White Institution In The South, Amarachi Rossana Anakaraonye

Theses and Dissertations

This study uses an intersectional theoretical framework to examine Black college women’s sexual health by focusing on how they engage in sexual decision making within their social contexts. This qualitative study analyzed 20 individual in-depth interviews of Black female undergraduate students, ages 18-22, who attend a predominantly white institution (PWI) in the Southeastern United States. The themes that emerged from qualitative data analysis include Black female undergraduate students’ perceptions of the sexual culture of their campus and the protective strategies they employ to navigate the sexual culture in order to achieve and/or maintain physical, emotional, and social well-being. Key findings …

Stimuli Responsive Nanoparticle For Cancer Targeted Therapy, Huacheng He

Theses and Dissertations

Nanoparticle is the particle with a size in the range from several nanometers to hundreds of nanometers. It has been extensively used for cancer diagnosis and therapy. However, it is still a great challenge to fabricate nanoparticles with spatiotemporally controllable delivery of anticancer drugs to tumors and with high therapeutic efficacy. This thesis mainly focuses on the development of stimuli responsive nanoparticles for cancer targeted therapy. These nanoparticles either response to internal stimuli such as pH and redox potential or external stimuli like temperature and light could effectively target tumors and control the release of anticancer drugs there to improve …

Interest Detection In Image, Video And Multiple Videos: Model And Applications, Yuewei Lin

Theses and Dissertations

Interest detection is detecting an object, event, or process that draws attention. In this dissertation, we focus on interest detection in images, video and multiple videos. Interest detection in an image or a video is closely related to visual attention. However, the interest detection in multiple videos needs to consider all the videos as a whole rather than considering the attention in each single video independently.

Visual attention is an important mechanism of human vision. The computational model of visual attention has recently attracted a lot of interest in the computer vision community mainly because it helps find the objects …

Applicability Of Lidar Technology In Saltmarshes: Landscape-Scale Predictive Models To Local-Scale Biomass Estimation, James Dean Edwards Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The management of saltmarshes requires detailed knowledge of the underlying processes driving their distribution in both time and space to make appropriate management decisions. With most of the world’s population living in the coastal zone and rising sea levels, one of our most important natural resources in the coastal zone faces increasing threat of collapse. This study uses the current state of Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology to model and predict saltmarsh distribution at a landscape-scale and provide evidence that a terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) can be used to estimate saltmarsh biomass for inclusion into existing models.

Land cover …

A Phenomenological Analysis Of Social Justice/Injustice On The Lives Of African-American High School Males, Michael R. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to analyze what high school African-American males perceive as significant influences that directly impact their academic achievement while attending a predominantly White suburban high school. This qualitative research study will utilize semi-structured case interviews to collect and analyze data gathered from among a criteria-based subgroup of African-American high school males. An examination of archival data such as student course selections, a review of high school Carnegie units earned and attempted, the availability of support resources and interventions, as well discipline and attendance reports will each provide evidence of the probable obstacles impacting the achievement …

Teacher Perceptions Of Fostering Student Engagement Through The Use Of The Tprs World Language Instructional Method, Cederia Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

Student engagement among male students in the elementary setting is vital to academic achievement. In the world language classroom, the TPRS (Teaching Proficiency through Reading and Storytelling) method’s visual and bodily kinesthetic nature have the potential to appeal to the natural learning styles of elementary male students therefore increasing student engagement. In this qualitative study, I construct and analyze teacher surveys in regards to their perceptions of student engagement among elementary male students when the TPRS method is implemented. I identify common themes in the survey results and analyzed surveys for saturation. Identifying the common themes provided valuable insight in …

Uptake Of Nanoparticles By Vibrio Gazogenes, Shonda Renee Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Vibrio gazogenes, a Gram-negative species of marine bacteria, was capable of transporting 20 nm (diameter) surface-carboxylated, polystyrene, fluorescent FluoSpheres® microspheres (excitation/emission = 505/515) through the outer membrane, which was indicated by a detectable decrease in the fluorescence intensity of the nanoparticles in the culture medium. A mechanism of transport was investigated involving the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) protein transporters that traverse the outer membrane. Inhibition of the ABC transporters did not prevent the entry of the nanoparticles into the cell, suggesting there was an alternate mechanism of transport. The addition of nanoparticles to the culture medium also did not provide any …

Rational Synthesis To Optimize Ruthenium-Based Biomass Conversion Catalysts, Shuo Cao

Theses and Dissertations

With worldwide petroleum resources dwindling and greenhouse gas emissions rising, it is urgent to find renewable replacements for petroleum-derived products. A biomass-derived chemical with high potential as a platform intermediate, γ-valerolactone (GVL) can be readily synthesized by hydrogenation of levulinic acid (LA), itself a common biomass intermediate, using supported Ru catalysts. Overall, vapor phase hydrogenation is more energy sensitive as the higher boiling point of LA (~245°C) and requires a high energy input, comparable to liquid phase hydrogenation, which is more economical. To date the literature on many novel biomass conversion processes such as the hydrogenation of LA to GVL …

Issues In Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy For Measurements In The Deep Ocean And Other High-Pressure Environments, Joseph C. Bonvallet

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes fundamental and applied studies that have advanced the understanding and application laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to the deep-ocean environment and to operation on a deep-ocean submersible. Chapter one is an overview of LIBS including a brief history, LIBS theory, the instrumentation typically used, and a specific application. Chapter two analyzes the effect that monodisperse suspended particles have on LIBS emission intensity and on the formation of a LIBS plasma. This chapter demonstrates that for particle concentrations similar to those found in the neutrally buoyant regions around hydrothermal vents there is little effect on the LIBS emission …

Special Education Disproportionality Through A Social Lens: A Mixed Methods Approach, Marianne J. Fidishin

Dissertations

The disproportionate nature of special education, notably with African American students, is longstanding and most pronounced in judgmental eligibility categories such as intellectual disability and emotional disturbance. Numerous studies on disproportionality conclude there is not a single causative factor, but point to the multifactorial nature of the issue and the complex interplay among different factors. Research related to the role social factors exhibited in an institution have on special education referral and eligibility determination is more limited. This is important since practices employed during the eligibility process take place within the institution’s social environment and are underpinned by the beliefs …