Digital Commons Network^™

Role Of Rap1a In Age/Rage-Mediated Signaling In Type Ii Diabetes Mellitus, Jia Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Type II diabetes mellitus (TIIDM) causes multiple complications under chronic hyperglycemia. Long term persistent exposure to elevated glucose conditions is considered one of the major factors for diabetic complications. Pathologically, mechanical and biochemical stimuli will induce a signaling cascade in cardiac fibroblasts, which causes myocardial fibrosis and leading to ventricular stiffness. Non-enzymatically, high levels of glucose can react with long-lived proteins, such as collagen to form advanced glycation end-products (AGEs). AGEs have been shown to be associated with many of the diabetic cardiovascular complications due to their interaction with the receptor for AGE (RAGE). AGE/RAGE activation stimulates the secretion of …

Portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometer Analysis Of The Pylos Linear B Tablets, Billy B. Wilemon

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates similarities and differences in the chemistry of the Linear B clay tablets and sealings found at the Palace of Nestor in Pylos, located in the western Peloponnese, Greece. Their chemistry provides clues regarding the flow of material goods in and out of the palace and therefore to the degree of centralization of the political-economy. Over a thousand 3,000 year-old clay tablets and sealings currently housed at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens were analyzed using a pXRF over the course of the summers of 2015 and 2016. The chemical compositions were analyzed statistically. Results of the study …

Classroom Responsibility In Transitioning Teachers: What Drives It When Self-Efficacy Is Lacking?, Shameeka Renee Deanes

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has linked self-efficacy to classroom responsibility noting that teachers take on more classroom responsibility when they have confidence in themselves and their abilities. However, the gap to be addressed is with transitioning teachers who transitioned from other careers and those who entered alternate route programs. Previous research has found that these teachers lack self-efficacy because of lack of preparation and classroom experience, yet they still must take on the responsibilities of the classroom. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine the internal factors that drive classroom responsibility for transitioning teachers who have low self-efficacy. In addition …

The Effects Of Cover Crops And Tillage Method On Sweetpotato [Ipomoea Batatas (L.) Lam.] In North Mississippi., Jeffrey Len Main

Theses and Dissertations

Sweetpotato (Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam) is a major food resource of much of the world. Sweetpotato production is damaging to the soils in which it is grown due to the nature of production and the condition the soil is left to overwinter. There is potential for future regulation on the production of sweetpotato as related to runoff and nonpoint source pollution as the sediment from runoff erosion is easy to pinpoint in nearby waterways. Two studies were carried out to determine the effect of a reduced tillage practice and cover crops on the accumulation of nutrients in cover crops and …

Leadership Frames In Comprehensive Community Colleges: Implications For The Market-Responsive College, David Layne Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

Market-responsive college leaders are challenged to navigate external relationships with business and industry, government officials, and community leaders, as well as the resulting pressures of multiple missions of the comprehensive community college. The leaders are faced with three predominant issues involving the market-responsive college and its relationship to the overall comprehensive college. These issues include: (a) its relationship to the transfer role, (b) difficulty of defining and measuring its success, and (c) its placement within the organization. Bolman and Deal’s (2013) leadership frames provide a model to understand how framing by market-responsive college leaders influences their organizations. A qualitative case …

Demographic Variables As Predictors Of Seclusion And Restraints For Adult Psychiatric Inpatients, Oya Weston Hampton

Theses and Dissertations

In psychiatric settings, the use of seclusion and/or restraints can be emotionally and psychologically traumatizing for patients. Patients often experience these interventions as inhumane and humiliating, and such interventions can have physical and mental adverse effects and in some cases can be fatal. This study examined the role of demographic, clinical, and hospital variables in predicting seclusion and/or restraint episodes in adult psychiatric inpatients. A total of 395 patients were included in the study. Adult psychiatric inpatients previously restrained (n = 91) were compared to psychiatric inpatients never restrained (n = 304). A binary logistic regression research design was used …

Chemical Signaling By Giant Pandas To Communicate Sexual Receptivity, Abbey Elaine Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

As solitary animals, giant pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) rely on chemical communication in order to determine reproductive condition of conspecifics. Therefore, we hypothesize certain biogenic volatile compounds affect mating behavior in giant pandas. Giant pandas housed at Memphis Zoo, Zoo Atlanta, San Diego Zoo, Edinburgh Zoo, and Toronto Zoo (n=5 males and n=5 females) were the subjects of this study. Urine, anatomical site, and environmental samples were collected during the breeding period (Feb-June) and non-breeding period (Aug-Dec) from 2012-2016. Volatile compounds in urine and the environment were extracted using solid phase micro-extraction (SPME), while compounds collected from various body sites of …

Compassion And Communication Experiences Of Fourth-Year Veterinarians-In-Training, Chelsey Leigh Hess-Holden

Theses and Dissertations

Veterinary medicine is an intense profession that begins with rigorous and demanding veterinary training. Within veterinary training, technical competencies generally receive more attention and emphasis than non-technical competencies, leaving many veterinarians at increased risk for compassion fatigue and other forms of mental illness. Two non-technical competencies that need further empirical investigation are communication and the influence of compassion on veterinarians. Communication is central to veterinary success; communication style was measured using the Communication Styles Inventory. Compassion has been recognized as having both positive effects (satisfaction) and negative effects (fatigue); compassion experiences were measured using a version of the Professional Quality …

Effecting Organizational Change At The Macro Level Of Professions, Robert Anthony Green

Theses and Dissertations

Much has been written in academic and popular publications about organizational change. Topics have ranged from case studies to anecdotal stories of how leaders can change an organization. There is little written on changing the culture and vision of a profession at the macro level. This dissertation shows that one key to effecting change within a profession is to educate those at the entrant level and thereby effect change with the profession. Over time, these new entrants to the profession will rise to senior positions and be able to effect greater change through the hiring, training, and mentoring processes inherent …

Analysis Of Classroom Practices That Preschool Teachers Use To Promote Civic Efficacy, Muhammad Riaz

Theses and Dissertations

This research is aimed at finding the classroom environment indicators that lead young preschoolers, three and four years of age, learn civic efficacy to bring a change in the lives of others a member of the classroom community. The sample comprises of six female preschool teachers at a preschool in a University in Southern America. The data collected from; lesson plans, teachers’ portfolio notes, classroom observations, and semi structured interviews. The qualitative analysis tool, NVivo pro was used to analyze the data. For a clear picture of an obscure contextual phenomenon, charts showing emerging civic efficacy themes are added. Findings …

Sperm Genetic And Epigenetic Mechanisms Regulating Male Fertility, Naseer Ahmad Kutchy

Theses and Dissertations

Male fertility, ability to fertilize and activate the egg and support early embryo development, is crucial for mammalian reproduction and development. Testis specific histone 2B (TH2B) of sperm, protamines (PRM1/2), and posttranslational modifications of histone 3 (H3K27me3 and H3k27ac) are involved in spermatogenesis and male fertility. However, molecular and cellular mechanisms by which TH2B regulates histone to protamine replacement is poorly defined. Immunocytochemistry, western blotting, flow cytometry, computer-assisted sperm analysis (CASA) and bioinformatic approaches were applied to analyze sperm from Holstein bulls with different in vivo fertility. Results from the immunocytochemistry experiments showed that while TH2B and H3K27me3 were localized …

The Defense Response Of Glycine Max To Heterodera Glycines And Macrophomina Phaseolina, Bisho Ram Lawaju

Theses and Dissertations

The understanding of plant defense response in plant-pathogen interaction provides useful information to combat the disease. Soybean cyst nematode (SCN), Heterodera glycines, and charcoal rot causing fungus, Macrophomina phaseolina, are major pathogens of soybean, Glycine max, and infestation with SCN has found to aggravate the fungal disease severity. The gene expression analysis in resistant and susceptible interactions between H. glycines and G. max has identified some candidate resistance genes and signaling pathways but they are yet to be fully characterized. This dissertation aims to characterize one such gene, Conserved Oligomeric Golgi (COG) complex. The COG complex is important in structural …

Explaining Mental Health Stigma Through Controllability, Just World Beliefs, And Social Dominance Orientation, Katherine F. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Mental illness carries a pervasive stigma. Research uncovered several theories to explain stigma, including the Attribution Theory, the Biological Model, Belief in a Just World (BJW), and Social Dominance Orientation (SDO). Previous research identified a mediational pathway in which BJW influenced SDO, and where SDO predicted stigmatizing beliefs and intent to discriminate. There is a lack of research examining BJW and SDO from within the framework of mental illness controllability. This study attempted to fill in the gap within stigma literature by examining if perceived mental illness controllability influences the BJW-SDO- Stigma model. Analyses failed to replicate the previously found …

Factors Influencing The Use Of Consulting Foresters By Non-Industrial Private Forest Landowners In Mississippi, Sagar Godar Chhetri

Theses and Dissertations

This study describes landowners’ willingness to hire consulting foresters and compares forest management expenses between the 1990s (1995-1997) and 2015. Two thousand and ten Mississippi non-industrial private forest (NIPF) landowners were selected randomly from a tax roll mail list maintained by Mississippi State University. Participants were surveyed to identify the characteristics of those landowners willing to hire consultants and compared the landowners’ participation in forestry-related activities during the 1990s and 2015. Results indicated three fourth of the survey participants were not willing to use a consultant to manage their forest land. However, consultant fees have increased from the 1990s to …

Feasibility And Marketing Channels Of A Smartphone Application That Brings Nondestructive Techniques To Job Sites, Songyi Han

Theses and Dissertations

This work conducted market research on the use of smartphones and smartphone applications in the forest products industry and academia. This research also attempted to project how likely the industry would be to use an app that measures stiffness of wood. After the review of scholarly literature and existing apps, data was collected via an online survey. Participants were individuals who work with wood or wood-based products. Out of 1,221 invitations, 311 were returned at the response rate of 27.2 percent. Data was analyzed using SPSS statistics. Nearly all of the respondents (95.7%) had smartphones, and over half of them …

An Analysis Of The Perceptions Of Quality Professional Development And Its Relationship To Teacher Turnover, Job Satisfaction, And School Performance, Cammesha Rana Sims

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between educators' perceptions of the quality of Professional Development to which they have been exposed and the three outcomes related to school productivity, specifically teacher retention, job satisfaction, and student proficiency in basic skills. For that purpose, secondary data extracted from the 2013 administration of the Teaching, Empowering, Leading, and Learning Questionairre (TELL) were merged with pertinent school demographic information archived on the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) website.The results of the Hierarchial Multiple Regression indicated that the teacher- perceived quality of Professional Development appeared to make a substantial contribution …

The Parthenon, December 8, 2017, Jared Casto

The Parthenon

The Parthenon, Marshall University’s student newspaper, was published by students Monday through Friday during the regular semester and weekly on Thursdays during the summer. Due to budgetary constraints, beginning with the 2016 Fall semester, the newspaper is only published two days a week. Physical issues are printed on Tuesdays and Fridays. The editorial staff is responsible for the news and the editorial content.

Lindenwood Digest, December 8, 2017, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been an employee newsletter since 2009.

More Than Just Talking: The Role Of Self-Disclosure In The Fast Friends Procedure, Chloe Shearer

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The Fast Friends (FF) procedure was developed to generate feelings of closeness in the laboratory through escalating, mutual self-disclosure by partners (Aron, Melinant, Aron, Vallone, & Bator, 1997). Research indicates that, in addition to generating feelings of closeness, self-disclosure can also benefit mood. This study examined not only the total, but also the relative amount of self-disclosure between dyad partners in the FF vs. control condition. It was found that while participants in FF engaged in more self-disclosure overall, disclosure within FF dyads was not equitable. Contrary to prediction, the FF procedure did not generate more positive feelings than the …

Factors Influencing The Level Of Technology Adaptation By Middle-School Teachers, Janice Favre Strigh

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to examine those factors influencing a teacher’s level of adaptation to a one-to-one laptop program in a middle-school setting. The school chosen for this study is located in a semi-rural district with approximately 500 students in sixth through eighth grade. Over the past 10 years, the school district has implemented a one-to-one laptop program with students currently having access to their own personal computer each day. Collins’s (2007) technology, leadership management, and policy pyramid model provided a framework for this analysis. Teachers’ perceptions of leadership support for the planning activities, organizational integration …

The Misconception Of Social Anxiety Disorder: Creating Understanding Through Motion Graphics, Kaijun Qu

Theses

This thesis project explores Social Anxiety Disorder, by showing emotions and feelings of the person who suffers from social phobia to help his/her friends and classmates to understand them.

The symptoms of a person with social phobia can be seen as being afraid of communicating with other people, appearing in public, and/or being the center of attention. In such situations, others may easily misunderstand them, so the patient can lose the chance to communicate to others. As a result, the patient's condition will be getting worse. Therefore, it is very hard for people with social phobia to make new friends. …

Chimes: December 8, 2017, Calvin College

Chimes

Calvin commits to be carbon neutral by 2057 by Rae Gernant

Student senate committee works toward more diverse faculty by Kathryn Mae Post

Arts theme announced by Isabella Ebbert

Downtown GR rings in the holiday season by Morgan Anderson

Over the Rhine brings Christmas to Calvin by Brandon Schreur

How the tax reform bill affects Calvin students by Peter Ford

Worship institute launches new video series to serve churches by Ben Demaso

Textbook Affordability Committee Minutes, December 8, 2017, Illinois State University, Textbook Affordability Committee

Textbook Affordability Committee

No abstract provided.

2017-12-08, Board Of Regents, Murray State University

Board of Regents Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Session 4 Discussion Notes, Ocean Waves Workshop 2017

Ocean Waves Workshop

No abstract provided.

Cruciform Communication As Transformative Truth-Seeking, Lauren Smelser White

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Editor's Notes

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Leaven

No abstract provided.

Smart-Voice Invocation Of Scenes In Home-Automation Systems, Daniele Midi, William Schilit, Tianchun Yang

Defensive Publications Series

Home environments are rapidly becoming more and more automated via the use of voice-recognizing personal assistants. Home-automation systems using a voice-recognizing personal assistant are capable of configuring smart devices of a home, such as lighting, security systems, or environmental controls, to particular operational settings which, when aggregated across multiple smart devices, constitute a particular scene. Techniques for a home-automation system to configure, or “set”, a scene using smart-voice invocation are described.

Making Sense With Manipulatives: Developing Mathematical Experiences For Early Childhood Teachers, Cara E. Furman

Education and Culture

This paper is premised on the fact that math can be an important tool in helping people make sense of the world. Math offers a unique and particular lens, helping people to focus on a range of characteristics from shape and amount to the relationship between the general and the particular. To promote math as a tool for making sense, early childhood math instruction ought to teach it in a manner that helps children make sense of mathematical concepts.

Specifically, I argue here that manipulatives are often brought into the early childhood classroom to promote “hands-on” learning without facilitating making …