Digital Commons Network^™

Security Evaluation Of Virtualized Computing Platforms, Ganesh Reddy Gunnam

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, security experiments were conducted to evaluate embedded security protocol performance of two leading server operating systems, Apple’s MAC OS server LION Vs. Microsoft’s Windows server 2012 R2 OS under different types of security attack. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to understand and evaluate the effect of virtualization using Hyper-V with Windows 2012 R2 OS on MAC hardware platform. For these experiments, connection rate, connection latency, non-paged pool allocations and processor core utilization for different OS, virtual machines, and under different traffic types were measured.

Does A Criminal Justice Degree Produce Law Enforcement Officers?, Bryan Keith Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Police departments are being asked to diversify their ranks in a job field dominated by White males. Hispanics are predicted to be the majority-minority by 2043, few studies were conducted to explore whether Hispanic students majoring in criminal justice will pursue a career in law enforcement agencies upon graduation. Therefore, it is necessary and important to investigate the willingness of Hispanic students perusing a career in law enforcement agencies and what kind of factors behind this pursuit. This research anonymously surveyed 203 students currently enrolled in a four-year Hispanic university. Gender and the liberalizing effect served as the independent variables. …

Essays On Financial Decision Making, Corey A. Shank

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals make financial decisions daily, yet the literature on the mechanisms that drive financial decisions is limited. This dissertation looks to examine how physical characteristics, and personality subconsciously influence financial decision making by conducting an experiment. Furthermore, this dissertation examines biased decision making in the betting market by using data from covers.com. First, this dissertation finds that the cognitive impairments associated with having a higher body mass index is positively related to poor financial decision making and being more likely to commit the present bias, and distorting probabilities. Second, this dissertation finds that business students are more apt to fit …

Development Of The Personal Genomics Industry, Jorge L. Contreras, Vikrant Deshmukh

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Today, numerous commercial services offer genetic testing, genotyping and genome sequencing services both to medical providers and directly to the public. Twenty-five years ago, such offerings would have been unthinkable, both in terms of cost and medical practice. This chapter describes the development of the personal genomics industry and its evolving business models and goals.

The Structure And C=C Vibrational Frequencies Of The All- Trans Polyenes C2nh2n+2(N=2-15), C2nh2n(Me)2(N=2-13), And C2nh2n(Tert-Butyl)2(N=2-5): Computational Results, George R. De Maré, Niny Z. Rao, Charles W. Block

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Carbon-carbon bond lengths and C=C vibrational frequencies are reported for the linear, all-trans unsubstituted C2nH2n+2 (n=2-15), methyl capped C2nH2nMe2 (n=2-13), and tert-butyl capped C2nH2n(tert-butyl)2 (n=2-5) polyenes (C2h) calculated at the B3LYP/6-311++G(d,p) level. The C=C/C-C bond length alternation remains evident at this level for the unsubstituted and methyl capped polyenes as the chain length increases; the center-most difference in the length of the C-C/C=C bonds is ~0.06 Å for C30H32 and C26H26Me2. The Ag, in-phase, harmonic C=C Raman frequency for the unsubstituted polyenes decreases from 1699.2 cm-1 (n = 2) to 1528.9 cm-1 (n=15); the anharmonic frequency decreases from 1651.5 cm-1 …

Women On Boards Of Philippine Publicly Traded Firms: Does Gender Diversity Affect Corporate Risk-Taking Behavior?, Michelle Kris A. Ong Yiu, Louie Angelo Ricafrente, Angelo A. Unite, Ailyn A. Shi, Michael J. Sullivan

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

The idea that more women belong on corporate boards is attracting increased attention around the world. Some scholars argue that gender diversity on boards improves firm performance and induces more prudent corporate decision-making. This rationale is based on the hypothesis that women are less overconfident and are innately more risk-averse than men. Alternatively, other researchers argue that firms having more female directors are associated with greater corporate risk-taking as the profile of women making it to the board level has proven to be open to greater challenges and risks. Still another strand of literature argues that risk-aversion does not vary …

Identities And Persistence Of Family Farm Operators, Parker T. Arnold

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the identities of family farm operators and the challenges to maintaining viable farm operations in today’s agricultural economy. Employing a grounded qualitative approach, the author conducted 18 in-depth interviews with principal farm operators from Iowa and Tennessee. Using the insights of farmers from geographically different agricultural regions, this study notes how preserving family histories, socialization processes, and farming as a moral career inform operators’ understandings of themselves and the work they do. The analysis also focuses on how family farm operators contend with a globalized agricultural economy and the moral and ethical concerns of managing a …

Social-Ecological Factors Affecting Patient Shield Use Among Radiologic And Computed Tomography Technologists, Megan Housenick-Lee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Medical radiation is estimated to contribute to over 200,000 deaths annually. Recent increases in the use of radiation-producing medical imaging examinations have led to increasing cumulative radiation dose to the general public. Multiple measures have been taken to address this alarming trend, including physician education, technologist education on dose reduction, and equipment-facilitated dose reduction techniques. Shield use can reduce the primary beam by up to 95%. Medical imaging technologists are the primary individuals responsible for applying shielding during an examination. Currently, literature shows that technologists are not shielding individuals as often as they should.

After pilot testing, medical imaging technologists …

Projecting Culture Through Literary Exportation: How Imitation In Scandinavian Crime Fiction Reveals Regional Mores, Bradley Hartsell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis reexamines the beginnings of Swedish hardboiled crime literature, in part tracking its lineage to American culture and unpacking Swedish identity. Following the introduction, the second chapter asserts how this genre began as a form of escapism, specifically in Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö’s Roseanna. The third chapter compares predecessor Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep with Roseanna, and how Sweden’s greater gender tolerance significantly outshining America’s is reflected in literature. The fourth chapter examines how Henning Mankell’s novels fail to fully accept Sweden’s complicity in neo-Nazism as an active component of Swedish identity. The final chapter reveals …

Young Adult Literature And Empathy In Appalachian Adolescents, Kelsey R. Kiser

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Based on recent research concluding that fiction can increase empathy, this project examines how multicultural young adult literature may encourage empathy in Appalachian adolescents. Empathy encourages prosocial behaviors, but evidence suggests that young adults’ ability to empathize has declined in recent decades. In addition, Appalachia in particular is still a relatively homogenous region as it is majority white, protestant Christian, and heteronormative. Because of this, young adults in Appalachia may encounter few diverse perspectives in real life; multicultural young adult literature can provide diverse perspectives with which teenagers can empathize in a region where they might not have similar opportunities …

An Exploration Of Dementia Friendly Communities From The Perspective Of Persons Living With Dementia, Catherine Hebert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The growing global prevalence of dementia coupled with a shift in public perception from a hopeless disease to the possibility of living well with dementia has led to the formation of dementia friendly communities (DFC). DFCs are a new phenomenon in the United States, with a gap in knowledge on input from people living with dementia (PLWD). This study investigated DFCs from the perspective of PLWD in Western North Carolina, with the following research questions:

1. How are interactions and relationships experienced by persons living with dementia in the community?
2. How is community engagement experienced by PLWD?
3. To what extent and …

Teacher Perceptions Of Using Positive Behavior Interventions And Supports As Behavioral Interventions In A Pre-K-5 Elementary School: A Phenomenological Study, Meghann Roberts-Clawson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers’ Perceptions of Using Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports as Behavioral Interventions in a Pre-K-5 Elementary School: A Phenomenological Study by Meghann E. Roberts-Clawson This qualitative study addresses teacher perceptions of using positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) as positive behavioral interventions. This phenomenological study was conducted within a Pre-K-5 elementary school in northwestern North Carolina. In order to collect qualitative data, personal individualized interviews were conducted from a purposeful sample of teachers in the school who have experience implementing more intensive positive behavioral interventions. By analyzing data derived from the interviews and classroom and individualized documentation, the researcher was …

Levels Of Feedback Observed In Kindergarten Classrooms: Perceptions And Reality, Jacqueline Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The most powerful influence on student achievement is the classroom teacher and the most effective instructional strategy teachers can use to increase student learning and achievement is effective feedback (Hattie & Timperley, 2007). The research on teacher feedback in kindergarten classrooms is scarce therefore this study helps reduce the void in the literature on the importance of teacher feedback in kindergarten classrooms.

The purpose of this study was to examine effective teachers’ perceptions of the amount and kind of feedback they provide to their students and to determine if their perceptions match the feedback they actually provide. The participants in …

The Algz/R Two-Component System Is Responsible For Attenuation Of Virulence In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Danielle A. Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an important opportunistic pathogen. Many P. aeruginosa virulence factors are regulated by the AlgZ/R two component system. AlgZ is the sensor histidine kinase which phosphorylates AlgR, the response regulator. AlgR activates transcription of different gene targets based upon its phosphorylation state. The genes that encode AlgZ and AlgR are transcribed in an operon. While regulation of algR expression has been well studied, regulation of algZ expression has not. Using a pilW mutant in concert with algZTF-lacZ transcriptional fusion, we conducted a transposon mutagenesis to identify algZ regulators. We identified an unknown autoregulatory loop. The type …

Impact Of A Technology Based Intervention Package On The Inappropriate Behavior Of A Child With Severe Disability, Amani Alshehri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

One useful strategy to support students with intellectual and developmental disability (IDD) to promote appropriate behaviors across environments and gain the social skills is using social stories. In addition, experts have recognized iPads and apps were associated with less challenging behavior and more academic engagement over traditional materials (Lee, Lang, Davenport, Moore, Rispoli, Meer, & Chung, 2013). The focus this study was to examine the effectiveness of an intervention package featuring social stories delivered via an iPad and simultaneous prompting on frequency of targeted challenging behavior and comprehension of the social story of a student with IDD. A single-subject multiple …

Gradus Ad Parnassum: A Reader's Edition And Commentary, Sara Miller Schulte

Masters Theses

The seminal eighteenth-century counterpoint treatise Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux exists in Latin, German, French, Italian, Spanish, and a host of other languages in its entirely, but in English only the second book of two has been translated, and even that is available only in a collection of partial translations. While a complete English translation is well beyond the scope of this project, toward that end, this research makes a case for its completion and provides a modernized edition and commentary of the as-yet-untranslated first book.

Architectural Representation And The Dragon’S Lair In Beowulf, Margaret Heeschen

Masters Theses

Since the early twentieth century, the dragon’s lair of Beowulf has been primarily associated with the early megalithic mounds of northern Europe. This interpretation of the space, however, does not account for the many contradictions present in the poet’s descriptions. In order to fully understand the quiddity of the dragon’s lair, we must resolve three major issues with previous interpretations: the use of rare words with unclear meanings, contradictions in descriptions of the physical space, and an assumption by scholars that the poet is describing a single type of space identifiable in the historical record. By addressing each of these …

The Effect Of Auditory Stimuli On Test Performance: Testing The Arousal Hypothesis, Ian Thomas Kells

Masters Theses

Since the publication of Rauscher, Shaw, and Ky’s study in 1993 on the “Mozart Effect”, the study of music and its effect on cognition and performance has gained significant attention. Roth and Smith (2008) investigated this “Mozart Effect” and suggested a continuation of research and interpretation through an arousal theory. This study examined the effects of a subject-identified arousing stimulus on performance on the Verbal Reasoning portion of the GRE, analyzed through an arousal theory framework. A sample of 24 non-music Western Michigan University students took part in one 60-minute testing period using subject-preferred music, which was then analyzed across …

Finding A Baseline For Accountability In Diversion Programming, Anthony G. Frontiera

Masters Theses

This present study looked at a Mid-West American Juvenile Justice institution with the hope of helping to build a baseline of understanding in terms of how their diversion programming efforts are shaping out. Historically, research and funding have not been directed into diversion efforts in the same ways that re-entry efforts have seen. Studies have shown that if diversion efforts are not effective, then another cohort of youth are consigned to 50% higher recidivism rates than otherwise. The research before you was conducted to assist this institution in understanding and then changing their course of action with regards to diversion …

Evaluating The Affective Impact Of A Place-Based Learning Course Project In The Geosciences, Nathan Charlton

Masters Theses

Coping with issues such as climate change and depletion of natural resources demands a scientifically literate public. For many students, the only exposure to earth science comes in a college-level general education geoscience course. One way to engender positive attitudes toward and interest in earth science among these students (the future public) is to connect learning to actual places to which students have a personal attachment.

This study seeks to evaluate the impact of a place-based learning project (MyPlace) currently in use in an introductory geosciences general education course at Western Michigan University. Students in the MyPlace project select a …

Testing The Arousal Hypothesis: The Effect Of Music On Arousal As Measured By Electrodermal Activity During Verbal Processing, Meghan E. Feeman

Masters Theses

The purpose of this thesis project is to assess the arousal hypothesis by implementing an auditory stimulus (music) at various times during a task (Verbal Processing section of the GRE) to analyze changes in arousal, as measured by electrodermal activity (EDA). Testing is administered for one hour with music implemented before testing and twice during testing. EDA levels are used to measure physiological response and are collected over the one hour testing period. For analysis, testing material is broken into different time blocks to assess arousal levels through mean slope, mean skin conductance level (SCL), mean skin conductance response (xSCR), …

Life Among Good Women: The Social And Religious Impact Of The Cathar Perfectae In The Thirteenth-Century Lauragais, Derek Robert Benson

Masters Theses

This Master’s Thesis builds on the work of previous historians, such as Anne Brenon and John Arnold. It is primarily a study of gendered aspects in the Cathar heresy. Using inquisitorial registers from the mid-thirteenth century to the early-fourteenth, as well as a few poetic and prose sources, it seeks to understand how the Cathar “Good Women” were perceived by their lay believers. The methodology of prosopography is utilized throughout to measure witness testimonies against one another and to compare the connections between the Cathar constituency and the female ministers.

Two main inquiries are investigated: the sacerdotal and pastoral roles …

Enhancing Intersection Safety For The Blind And Visually Impaired (Bvi) Pedestrian Using Device-To-Infrastructure Communication, Mohammad Sayyah Al-Akash

Masters Theses

Visually impaired pedestrians have limited mobility options, where they rely heavily on walking and transit for their transportation needs. One of the major issues facing these pedestrians is intersection crossing. Accessible Pedestrian Signals (APS), as a means of helping their intersection crossings, were introduced in the United States as early as 1920 but were not included in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Device (MUTCD) until 2000. The most recent type of APS is the beaconing APS which has shown improvements in road crossing abilities of blind pedestrians though it has many downsides to it. This study developed a cane …

Effects Of Asenapine On Agitation And Hostility In Adults With Acute Manic Or Mixed Episodes Associated With Bipolar I Disorder, Leslie L. Citrome, R Landbloom, C Chang, W Earley

NYMC Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND:

Bipolar disorder is associated with an increased risk of aggression. However, effective management of hostility and/or agitation symptoms may prevent patients from becoming violent. This analysis investigated the efficacy of the antipsychotic asenapine on hostility and agitation in patients with bipolar I disorder.

METHODS:

Data were pooled from three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, Phase III trials of asenapine in adults with manic or mixed episodes of bipolar I disorder (NCT00159744, NCT00159796, and NCT00764478). Post hoc analyses assessed the changes from baseline to day 21 on the Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) and the Positive and Negative …

Trends In Spinal Surgery For Pott's Disease (2000-2016): An Overview And Bibliometric Study., Christian Fisahn, Fernando Alonso, Ghazwan A Hasan, R Shane Tubbs, Joseph R Dettori, Thomas A Schildhauer, Tarush Rustagi

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Study Design: Systematic review.

Objectives: (1) What are the surgical indications? Have they changed over time since the year 2000? (2) What is the current surgical approaches of choice? Have they changed over time since the year 2000? Do they vary by geographical region? (3) What are the most common outcome measures following surgery?

Methods: Electronic databases and reference lists of key articles were searched from database inception from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2016 to identify studies specifically evaluating surgical indications, current surgical approaches, and outcome measures for spinal tuberculosis.

Results: Six randomized controlled trials were identified from …

The Human Plasma Proteome Draft Of 2017: Building On The Human Plasma Peptideatlas From Mass Spectrometry And Complementary Assays., Jochen M Schwenk, Gilbert S Omenn, Zhi Sun, David S Campbell, Mark S Baker, Christopher M Overall, Ruedi Aebersold, Robert L Moritz, Eric W Deutsch

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Human blood plasma provides a highly accessible window to the proteome of any individual in health and disease. Since its inception in 2002, the Human Proteome Organization's Human Plasma Proteome Project (HPPP) has been promoting advances in the study and understanding of the full protein complement of human plasma and on determining the abundance and modifications of its components. In 2017, we review the history of the HPPP and the advances of human plasma proteomics in general, including several recent achievements. We then present the latest 2017-04 build of Human Plasma PeptideAtlas, which yields ∼43 million peptide-spectrum matches and 122,730 …

Acetobacter Fabarum Genes Influencing Drosophila Melanogaster Phenotypes, Kylie Makay White

Theses and Dissertations

Research in our lab has predicted hundreds of bacterial genes that influence nine different traits in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. As a practical alternative to creating site-directed mutants for each of the predicted genes, we created an arrayed transposon insertion library using a strain of Acetobacter fabarum DsW_054 isolated from fruit flies. Creation of the Acetobacter fabarum DsW_054 gene knock-out library was done through random transposon insertion, combinatorial mapping and Illumina sequencing. Successful mapping of transposon insertion was achieved for 6418 mutants with hits within 63% of annotated genes within Acetobacter fabarum DsW_054. Insertion sites were verified in …

Heterosexuality As A Factor In The Long History Of Women’S Sports, Mary Anne Case

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Sex In Sport, Doriane Lambelet Coleman

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.

Athletic Gender, Joanna Harper

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.