Digital Commons Network^™

Impact Of Peer Relationship And Exposure To Violence On Posttraumatic Stress For Children At Risk For Maltreatment, Aura Ankita Mishra

Open Access Theses

Post-traumatic Stress (PTS) symptomology includes ruminating thoughts and feelings around trauma, inability to feel and express emotions, and avoidance of things related to the traumatic event (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Children and youth exposed to child maltreatment (abuse and neglect) are at higher risk of experiencing PTS. Extra-familial support, including peer support can reduce post-traumatic stress among youth (Pina et al., 2008). In the present study, Witnessing, Victimization, and Both Witnessing and Victimization due to Exposure to In-Home Violence and Peer Relationship Quality are evaluated as to their relative impact on PTS for children at risk for child maltreatment. Peer …

An Assessment Of The Competitive Ability Of Oak Species In The Central Hardwood Region Using Both Pre-Harvest Treatment Data And Stem Analysis Techniques, Robert William Edward Quackenbush

Open Access Theses

The density of advance regeneration of oak species has been in decline across the Central Hardwood Region (CHR) for the past 50 years. This phenomenon has been accredited to many different factors, ranging from predation and browse by wildlife, to human induced changes in the environment which include massive clearcutting, land use change from forest to agriculture, and suppression of fires which played an intricate role in the development of oak systems across the CHR. The objectives of this research project were to compare densities of oak advance regeneration across two different environmental gradients within the CHR, in particular the …

Catalytic Conversion Of Chlorite To Chlorine Dioxide By Non-Heme Complexes, Manasa Ramachandra

Open Access Theses

The oxyanions of chlorine (ClOx-, x=1-4) have diverse applications and are used in a variety of commercial products. They are very stable in an aqueous environment leading to water contamination, thereby posing a concern for the environment and human health. At the microbial level, the enzyme perchlorate reductase catalyzes the reduction of perchlorate (ClO4-) to chlorite (ClO2-) and chlorite dismutase further reduces chlorite to innocuous chloride (Cl -) and dioxygen (O2). Two non-heme complexes [Fe III-TAML]- (Tetraamido Macrocyclic Ligand), and [Mn II-(BnTPEN)] in the presence of peracetic acid (PAA) have been studied as catalysts for chlorite dismutation under ambient conditions. …

Superheroes And Social Action: Reproduction, Recurrence, And Recognition In The Superhero Genre, Max M. Renner

Open Access Theses

Rhetorical genre analysis examines genre as social action and is primarily concerned with the experiences of individual users (Miller, 1984). The genres that rhetorical genre scholarship takes up are typically functional genres or genres in which individuals have direct means of utilizing and modifying a genre. This focus on functional genres makes sense in terms of the tradition’s interest in user experience and reciprocity. This project seeks to examine the potential implications rhetorical genre analysis has for vernacular genres which, for the most part, have remained the domain of literary scholarship due to their focus on structural, formal elements.

This …

The Interactive Effects Of Pesticide Exposure And Infectious Disease On Amphibian Hosts, Katherine M. Pochini

Open Access Theses

Natural systems are home to a multitude of natural and anthropogenic stressors, which draw an array of effects on ecological communities. While these effects have been investigated individually, it is important, given the routine co-occurrence of these stressors, to understand their interactive effects. Pesticide exposure and infectious disease are two common, co-occurring stressors that each have documented detrimental effects on species and, as evidence suggests, may have interactive effects. Moreover, existing research suggests that these interactive effects are highly context dependent, eliciting different results based on species, disease agent, toxin, and environment. Given the variability with which species may experience …

High School Students' Motivations And Views Of Agriculture And Agricultural Careers Upon Completion Of A Pre-College Program, Andrea K. Scherer

Open Access Theses

Pre-college summer residential experiences hosted by a College of Agriculture have the potential to expose high school students to new career opportunities and fields of study that they may not have considered, and may influence agricultural literacy, perceptions of agriculture, and interest in agriculture. Engaging these students is important for meeting the demand for more students graduating with agriculture degrees prepared to solve 21st century challenges. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the outcomes of two separate pre-college experiences, the Molecular Agriculture Summer Institute (MASI) and the Purdue Agribusiness Science Academy (PASA), and participating high school …

Polymerizable Lipids For Controlled Functionalization Of Layered Materials, Kortney Kaye Rupp

Open Access Theses

Self-assembled monolayers (SAM’s) offer a straightforward approach to tailoring the interfacial properties of metals, metal oxides and semiconductors. Noncovalent functionalization of single-layer graphene offers the possibility to finely tune surface chemistry for future applications in electronics. Polymerization of photochemically reactive molecules in a lying-down phase has been used to increase the strength of intermolecular interactions between long alkanes and HOPG substrates. Long-chain fatty acid derivatives with internal diyne groups yield a conjugated ene-yne polymer upon UV irradiation. Diyne lipids with phosphocholine (diyne PC) and phosphoethanolamine (diyne PE) groups offer a charged form of the head group that is robust towards …

High-Throughput Mechanical Characterization Methods For Composite Electrodes And In-Situ Analysis Of Li-Ion Batteries, Luize Scalco De Vasconcelos

Open Access Theses

Electrodes in commercial rechargeable batteries are microscopically heterogeneous materials. The constituents often have large variation in their mechanical properties, making the characterization process a challenging task. In addition, the mechanical properties and mechanical behaviors of electrodes are closely coupled with the electrochemical processes of lithium insertion and extraction. There is an urgent need to develop an experimental platform to characterize the chemomechanical response of electrodes under the in-situ conditions of charge and discharge.

In the first part of this thesis, instrumented grid indentation is employed to determine the elastic modulus and hardness of the constituent phases of a composite cathode. …

Mapping And Analyzing Energy Use And Efficiency In A Modified Hydroponic Shipping Container, Rachel E. Sparks

Open Access Theses

In urban centers today, vertical farming is becoming a popular alternative to conventional agriculture in an effort to increase local food production and improve urban food security by growing crops using hydroponic methods in controlled environment spaces. More specifically, one vertical method involves growing crops inside refurbished shipping containers, or a “farm-in-a-box” concept, which offers a flexible, mobile, and scalable means of year-round food production in a variety of climates. Despite benefits of producing food locally, some of the concerns associated with these vertical farming systems include high energy consumption from climate control and electric lighting systems as well as …

Metal-Promoted Self-Assembly Of Collagen Mimetic Peptides Into Biofunctional Scaffolds For Stem Cell Delivery With The Aim Of Tissue Regeneration, Kevin Strauss

Open Access Theses

Collagen is a strong, sturdy, but malleable, protein found abundantly in the extracellular matrix. Consequently, it has become an invaluable biomaterial for use in regenerative medicine. However, natural collagen poses difficulties when it comes to customization and structural control, as well as the risk of infectious prions from animal sources. Our approach utilizes shorter, synthetic collagen mimetic peptide sequences. These peptides retain the incredible triple helical stability of natural collagen but can be modified with versatile metal-binding ligands. In the presence of an appropriate metal ion, the peptides self-assemble into diverse, three-dimensional morphologies. The peptide NCoH, functionalized with N-terminal NTA …

Fast Voxel Line Update For Time-Space Image Reconstruction, Xiao Wang

Open Access Theses

Recent applications of model-based iterative reconstruction(MBIR) algorithm to time-space Computed Tomography (CT) have shown that MBIR can greatly improve image quality by increasing resolution as well as reducing noise and some artifacts. Among the various iterative methods that have been studied for MBIR, iterative coordinate descent(ICD) has been found to have relatively low overall computational requirements due to its fast convergence. However, high computational cost and long reconstruction times remain as a barrier to the use of MBIR in practical applications. This disadvantage is especially prominent in time-space reconstruction because of the large volume of data. This thesis presents a …

Nutrient Runoff And Leachate After Land-Application Of Digestate In A Laboratory Study Using Rainfall Simulations, Min Xiao

Open Access Theses

There has been an increasing number of anaerobic digesters on livestock farms in the United States during the past two decades. Anaerobic digestion of manure allows production of renewable energy and generation of stabilized and nutrient-rich digestate that can be used as organic fertilizer. However, the majority of the existed studies using liquid digestate as fertilizer only focused on the effectiveness for crop yield, nutrient content and microorganism in soil. There is insufficient understanding in the environmental impact of digestate land-application. This laboratory study used six treatments including four different liquid digestate treatments, a chemical fertilizer treatment, and an unfertilized …

A Dose Distribution Study Of Uranyl Nitrate In Zebrafish Using Liquid Scintillation And Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon Detectors, Lee A. Alleman

Open Access Theses

Standard curves for a Perkin Elmer TriCarb 2800 liquid scintillation detector (LSC) and a Ludlum 3030p Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon detector have been developed and utilized for studying the dose distribution of depleted uranium (DU) within zebrafish. The DU source was crystallized uranyl nitrate (N2O8U•6H2O) solution, normally used for staining in electron microscopy with a manufactured average specific activity of 0.3 uCi/g. Zebrafish, both larvae and adults, were exposed to three different mass concentrations, dissected, dissolved and counted using an LSC. The counts were compared to the standard curve correlating the measured activity to that of the mass absorbed. It …

Enhancing Silymarin Fractionation Via Molecular Modeling Using The Conductor-Like Screening Model For Real Solvents, Emma C. Brace

Open Access Theses

The market for bio-based products from plant sources is on the rise. There is a global challenge to implement environmentally clean practices for the production of fuels and pharmaceuticals from sustainable resources. A significant hurdle for discovery of comparable plant-derived products is the extensive volume of trial-and-error experimentation required. To alleviate the experimental burden, a quantum mechanics based molecular modeling approach known as the COnductor-like Screening Model for Real Solvents (COSMO-RS) was used to predict the best biphasic solvent system to purify silymarins from an aqueous mixture. Silymarins are a class of flavonolignans present in milk thistle ( Silybum marianum …

Aging Effects In Automated Face Recognition, Miguel Cedeno Agamez

Open Access Theses

The main objective of this work was to analyze the effects of aging on the automated face recognition process.

A dataset was used to perform experiments and obtain indicators to measure the impact of aging. To compare the effects of aging the dataset was segmented based on the age difference between the subjects’ face images. The image quality metrics were also part of the analysis performed in this study.

The results of the experiments shown that the higher the gap between the images, the higher the error rates. These were the expected results and it is consistent with other experiments …

Design, Optimization, And Characterization Of Novel Polymer-Based Formulations For Controlled Release Of Drugs, Mario Alberto Cano Vega

Open Access Theses

Pharmaceutical products are a key aspect of treatment and prevention of disease. For example, dibenzazepine (DBZ) is a drug that has proved to be useful for the treatment of obesity while progesterone is a common drug for hormonal replacement therapy in women. However, administration of these drugs by conventional dosage forms offers little control over the drug distribution and concentration in the body and often result in unintended adverse consequences on other cells/tissues.

Recent advances in nanotechnology and polymer science have enabled the design and development of controlled release systems that would allow spatiotemporal delivery of drugs with improved efficacy. …

Stochastic Modeling And Dem Simulation Of Granular Media Subsidence Due To Underground Activity, Rodrigo Borela Valente

Open Access Theses

Many communities around the world have been established in areas of ongoing, as well as ceased, underground mining activity. Ground movements induced by ore extraction methods and the collapse of abandoned cavities have long been recognized as a hazard to surface structures. A number of approaches have been proposed for the prediction of subsidence in underground mining regions, and their integration to Geographic Information Systems (GIS) can produce a powerful risk management tool. Nevertheless, this application is often limited by either a lack of generality or excessive computational cost of the methods available.

In this work, the stochastic subsidence model …

Farmers' Use Of Mobile Phone Technology For Agricultural Information Services In Lilongwe District, Malawi, Benjamin F. Chisama

Open Access Theses

Mobile phone technology can be a useful tool to provide farmers with relevant and reliable agricultural information for critical farming decisions in developing countries such as Malawi. An increasing number of rural farmers have been faced with information asymmetry challenges due to some pitfalls in the extension systems. In addition, knowledge gaps on farmers’ use of mobile phone technology; their awareness and use of MAIS; and their preferred topics to be delivered using mobile platforms were identified. However, little was known on how farmers were using existing MAIS. This study’s aim was to explore the potential of providing mobile agricultural …

Pilot Study Of The Effect Of High-Protein, Renal-Appropriate Meals During Hemodialysis On Intradialytic Hypotension In Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients, Mun Sun Choi

Open Access Theses

Background: In the United Sates (US), more than 400,000 people have end stage renal disease (ESRD) or chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5D requiring in-center hemodialysis (HD), and approximately $35 billion is spent annually in healthcare costs. Maintenance HD patients with ESRD have increased protein (1.2 g/kg/d) and energy (30-35 kcal/kg/d) requirements, but the average protein and energy intake in these patients is only 0.8-1.0 g/kg/d and 20-25 kcal/kg/d, respectively. Subsequently, protein-energy wasting (PEW) is common, affecting up to an estimated 75% of maintenance HD patients, and low protein and energy intake are one of the main contributors of …

Beyond The Gender Gap: Understanding Women's Participation In Wikipedia, Danielle J. Corple

Open Access Theses

In 2010, UNU-MERIT researchers surveyed editors of Wikipedia, “the online encyclopedia that anyone can edit” (Glott, Ghosh, & Schmidt, 2010). When the report revealed that almost 90% of the editors were male, however, it suggested that perhaps not everyone “can edit” Wikipedia—especially women. As the resulting media and academic explanations of the Wikipedia “gender gap” have largely attributed the gap to ‘female lack’—lack of initiative, confidence, or technical skills—very little research has explored the treatment of women within Wikipedia culture. Thus, this paper first draws upon feminist technology scholars to problematize current explanations of the gender gap that frame …

Design And Analysis Of A High Performance Valve, Jordan M. Garrity

Open Access Theses

Most valves available in the fluid power industry today are capable of achieving either a large flow rate or a quick response time; however, often they are unable to deliver both simultaneously. Commercially available valves that can produce both at the same time require complex geometries with multiple actuation stages and piloting pressures, making them expensive components. To establish their active usage in applications across the fluid power industry, a reduction in price for these components is paramount. The Energy Coupling Actuated Valve (ECAV) is capable of solving the large flow rates with fast actuation speeds trade-off by utilizing a …

The Biology And Management Of Waterhemp In Indiana, Joseph M. Heneghan

Open Access Theses

Waterhemp is a dioecious weed species indigenous to the Midwestern United states yet it has only recently become problematic in agronomic crop production in Indiana. Waterhemp is a small-seeded broadleaf which has increased in prevalence in conjunction with an increase in conservation tillage practices. Waterhemp germinates and emerges from the top 3 cm of soil and is known to exhibit extended periods of continual emergence, longer than most other summer annual weed species that are typically present in agronomic production settings. As a C4 species, waterhemp then grows rapidly and is capable of producing thousands of seeds, while effectively competing …

Metabolomics Approach To Investigate Oxidation Stabilities In Different Bovine Muscles With Postmortem Aging, Danyi Ma

Open Access Theses

Postmortem aging has been extensively practiced in the meat industry for decades due to its beneficial impact on improving eating quality attributes. However, prolonged postmortem aging may adversely impact color and/or lipid oxidation stabilities of meat, leading to decreased display shelf-life and increased rancid off-flavor. As physical/biochemical changes occur during postmortem aging, metabolites that impart antioxidant or pro-oxidant activities are generated or consumed, which could be related to the oxidation stabilities of postmortem muscles with aging. However, the underlying mechanism of the aging-induced oxidation susceptibility has not been fully established. Therefore, the overall objective of this thesis was to understand …

Analysis Of Structural And Functional Brain Networks, Jun Young Jeong

Open Access Theses

The brain is a representative example of a network. It consists of numerous spatially distributed regions that continuously exchange information through structural connections. In the past decade, an increasing number of studies have explored the brain network in both structural and functional aspects; they have begun to decipher complex brain wirings, as well as elucidate how the rich functionality emerges from this architecture. Based upon previous studies, this thesis addresses three critical gaps in the field. (I) Although it is known that the community structures of brain network are spatially overlapping, conventional studies have focused on grouping brain regions into …

Evaluating The Physical Welfare Of Dogs In Commercial Breeding Facilities In The United States, Moriah J. Hurt

Open Access Theses

Despite high levels of public concern, the state of commercial breeding (CB) dog welfare is largely unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize the physical welfare of dogs in CB facilities and their environment in Indiana. This study specifically aimed 1) to characterize dog foot health in CB facilities as a function of the length of time dogs were housed on a given flooring substrate, 2) to characterize visual dog body cleanliness and visual kennel cleanliness as a function of the flooring substrate, 3) to determine the efficacy of kennel cleaning procedures and 4) to characterize the dog dental and …

Influence Of Stormwater Control Measures On Watershed Hydrology And Biogeochemical Cycling, Colin D. Bell

Open Access Dissertations

Urban development replaces vegetation with impervious surfaces and natural drainage channels with pipe networks that quicken flow paths and alter hydrologic regimes. Additionally, the import of food, application of fertilizer to lawns and gardens, and heightened atmospheric deposition increases nutrient availability in urban landscapes. These excess nutrients are ultimately routed to streams through the pipe networks before it can be processed by the vegetation and microorganisms of the landscape. This combination of physical and chemical disturbances impacts stream ecosystems and degrades their ability to perform valuable services such as removal of nutrients, degradation of pollutants, and provision of recreational and …

Thematic Analysis Of Influencers On Continuing Professional Learning Of Tenure Track Engineering Faculty As Assistant Professors At An Ru/Vh Institution, James Edwin Cawthorne

Open Access Dissertations

“Although the need for lifelong learning of professionals is stressed through university education, the patent differences between learning as a student, within a controlled framework focusing on accessible outcomes, and learning as a professional have not been clarified” (Webster-Wright, 2009, p. 708). Assistant professors are entry level professionals in academia who been prepared through their extensive education process to be lifelong learners and yet it is unknown how these assistant professors are engaging, or being engaged by others, in continuing their professional learning (CPL) for short-term and long-term success in academia as a career. This study aimed to understand who …

Influence Of Dietary Component Manipulation And Feed Management Strategies On Growth And Rumen Development Of Weaned Dairy Heifers, Tana Shea Dennis

Open Access Dissertations

Well-developed replacement heifers provide a central foundation for the continued success of the dairy industry. Emphasis on improving pre-weaned calf nutrition has predominated in the industry, but opportunities exist to improve post-weaning heifer nutrition and management. We aimed to evaluate common feed management strategies seen in the industry and their effects on growth, feed efficiency (G:F), and rumen development of calves from birth to 8 mo of age using pen- and individually-fed animal trials. Little information exists regarding post-weaning performance and rumen development of calves fed conventional or high planes of nutrition pre-weaning; therefore, we evaluated two milk replacer feeding …

Investigation Of Digital Pump/Motor Control Strategies, Farid El Breidi

Open Access Dissertations

A pump is the heart of fluid power systems, it has a significant impact on the efficiency of many fluid power systems. Motors are the most common rotary actuators in fluid power systems. State-of-the-art pump/motor units can achieve efficiencies higher than 90% when operating at maximum displacement; however, as the displacement drops, the efficiency of these units drops to below 50%. A new digital pump/motor design aims at increasing these efficiencies by utilizing two electrically controlled high speed on/off valves per displacement chamber; these valves provide the ability to achieve variable displacement and allow freedom in choosing operating strategies. Such …

The Effects Of Including Almonds In An Energy-Restricted Diet On Weight, Body Composition, Visceral Adipose Tissue, Blood Pressure And Cognitive Function, Jaapna Dhillon

Open Access Dissertations

Inclusion of almonds in an energy restricted diet has been reported to enhance or have no effect on weight loss. Their effects specifically on visceral fat stores during energy restriction have not been widely examined. Additionally, almond consumption has been associated with reduced blood pressure, but whether this is linked to or is independent of changes of body composition has not been examined. Moreover, almond consumption during energy restriction may be an effective strategy for reversing the negative effects of dieting on cognitive performance. The unique nutrient profile of almonds also has the potential to influence cognitive function post-prandially. The …