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Three Essays In Food Consumption And Health Related Issues, Fuad Mohammed Alagsam

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This dissertation consists of three essays that make contributions to the research on food consumption and health-related issues. Essay I elaborates on how the interactions of consumers’ beliefs and actions influence Food-Away-From-Home (FAFH) consumption and tests whether consumers compensate for the high caloric intake typically associated with FAFH by changing their behaviors during other meals. Essay II studies consumers’ choices related to time allocations for food consumption and tests how consumers’ lifestyles moderate the effect of secondary eating (eating while doing other activities) on obesity. Lastly, Essay III examines intertemporal choices, through which individuals make trade-offs between immediate gratifications and …

Icing On The Wedding Cake: Same-Sex Marriage And Religious Objections - Is There An Accommodation That Will Make Everyone Happy (Or Unhappy), Robert E. Rains

Faculty Scholarly Works

On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court issued its highly anticipated ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, making same-sex marriage the "law of the land" throughout the United States. Obergefell culminated, at least for now, a four-decades long legal war, but it hardly ended the accompanying legal and political battles. Those battles started well before the Obergefell decision, as states, and sometimes municipalities, had enacted either same-sex marriage per se or some sort or marriage-like recognition for same-sex couples-with names such as "reciprocal beneficiaries" or "civil unions." Opposition has come from state and local officials (refusing to issue marriage licenses, …

Theorizing The Immigrant Child: The Case Of Married Minors, Medha D. Makhlouf

Faculty Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

What Does A Promis T-Score Mean For Physical Function?, Jeff Houck, Zane Wise, Amanda Tamanaha, Judith Baumhauer, Luke Skerjanec, Alexandra Wegner, Chris Dasilva, Michael Bass

Faculty Publications - College of Physical Therapy

Introduction/Purpose: The use of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) continues to expand beyond research to involve standard of care assessments. Although the PROMIS physical function (PF) is normalized to a T-score it is unclear how to interpret and apply this information in the daily care of patients. The T-score is abstract and unanchored to patient abilities impairing its clinical utility when shared with the patient. Patient questions are concrete such as “when will I be able to run again after this procedure?” The purpose of this research was to link PROMIS PF T-scores with physical function activities and provide a visual map …

Further Evidence Of Early Development Of Attention To Dynamic Facial Emotions: Reply To Grossmann And Jessen, Alison Heck, Alyson J. Hock, Hannah B. White, Rachel L. Jubran, Ramesh S. Bhatt

Psychology Faculty Publications

Adults exhibit enhanced attention to negative emotions like fear, which is thought to be an adaptive reaction to emotional information. Previous research, mostly conducted with static faces, suggests that infants exhibit an attentional bias toward fearful faces only at around 7 months of age. In a recent study (Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 2016, Vol. 147, pp. 100–110), we found that 5-month-olds also exhibit heightened attention to fear when tested with dynamic face videos. This indication of an earlier development of an attention bias to fear raises questions about developmental mechanisms that have been proposed to underlie this …

Iot Development For Healthy Independent Living, Shalom Greene

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

The rise of internet connected devices has enabled the home with a vast amount of enhancements to make life more convenient. These internet connected devices can be used to form a community of devices known as the internet of things (IoT). There is great value in IoT devices to promote healthy independent living for older adults.

Fall-related injuries has been one of the leading causes of death in older adults. For example, every year more than a third of people over 65 in the U.S. experience a fall, of which up to 30 percent result in moderate to severe injury. …

Inhibition Growth Of Pomegranate Seeds Extract Against Streptococcus Sanguis: The Cause Of Recurrent Aphthous Stomatitis, Riani Setiadhi, Irna Sufiawati, Dewi Zakiawati, Nanan Nur'aeny, Wahyu Hidayat, Dani R. Firman

Journal of Dentomaxillofacial Science

No abstract provided.

Seed Policy In Pakistan: The Impact Of New Laws On Food Sovereignty And Sustainable Development, Amna Tanweer Yazdani, Nosheen Ali

Institute for Educational Development, Karachi

This paper highlights the challenges that genetically modified (GM) seeds pose for farmers, citizens and the land itself in Pakistan. It explores the history of agricultural policy in Pakistan from the Green Revolution to what is now being dubbed the “Gene Revolution”, and analyzes how harmful effects of both are being amplified by two recently passed laws: the Seed (Amendment) Act 2015 and the Plant Breeders' Rights Act 2016. The analysis of these laws is done from a food sovereignty perspective on sustainable development, where food sovereignty represents “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through …

Stored Grain Volume Measurement Using A Low Density Point Cloud, Aaron P. Turner, Joshua J. Jackson, Nicole K. Koeninger, Samuel G. Mcneill, Michael D. Montross, Mark E. Casada, Josephine M. Boac, Rumela Bhadra, Ronaldo G. Maghirang, Sidney A. Thompson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

This technical note presents the development of a new apparatus and data processing method to accurately estimate the volume of stored grain in a bin. Specifically, it was developed to account for the variability in surface topography that can occur in large diameter bins when partially unloaded. This was accomplished using a laser distance meter to create a low density point cloud, from which a surface was interpolated using ArcMap geoprocessing tools. The manually controlled and portable system was designed to hold the laser distance meter and provided a common reference point. The data from the laser distance meter was …

Fourth-Generation Fan Assessment Numeration System (Fans) Design And Performance Specifications, Michael P. Sama, George B. Day, Laura M. Pepple, Richard S. Gates

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

The Fan Assessment Numeration System (FANS) is a measurement device for generating ventilation fan performance curves. Three different-sized FANS currently exist for assessing ventilation fans commonly used in poultry and livestock housing systems. All FANS consist of an array of anemometers inside an aluminum shroud that traverse the inlet or outlet of a ventilation fan. The FANS design has been updated several times since its inception and is currently in its fourth-generation (G4). The current design iteration (FANS-G4) is reported in this article with an emphasis on the hardware and software control, data acquisition systems, and operational reliability. Six FANS-G4 …

A Method For Reflectance Index Wavelength Selection From Moisture-Controlled Soil And Crop Residue Samples, Ali Hamidisepehr, Michael P. Sama, Aaron P. Turner, Ole O. Wendroth

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Reflectance indices are a method for reducing the dimensionality of spectral measurements used to quantify material properties. Choosing the optimal wavelengths for developing an index based on a given material and property of interest is made difficult by the large number of wavelengths typically available to choose from and the lack of homogeneity when remotely sensing agricultural materials. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of using a low-cost method for sensing the moisture content of background materials in traditional crop remote sensing. Moisture-controlled soil and wheat stalk residue samples were measured at varying heights using a reflectance probe connected …

Evaluating A New Shade For Feedlot Cattle Performance And Heat Stress, Morgan D. Hayes, Tami M. Brown-Brandl, Roger A. Eigenberg, Larry A. Kuehn, R. Mark Thallman

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Heat stress in cattle results in decreased feed intake, lower daily gain, and potentially death in susceptible animals under intense conditions. A study was carried out during the summer of 2013 at the USDA-ARS U.S. Meat Animal Research Center feedlot evaluating the impact of shade on environmental conditions and cattle performance. A novel two-tiered shade was used in half of the 14 pens, each holding 30 animals. The shades were designed to reduce solar heat load by 40% to 60% and to provide traveling shade across the pen, providing varied amounts of shade area as well as varied solar reduction …

Equilibrium Moisture Content Of Kabuli, Chickpea, Black Sesame, And White Sesame Seeds, Paul R. Armstrong, Elizabeth B. Maghirang, Bhadriraju Subramanyam, Samuel G. Mcneill

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

Sesame and chickpea are important crops in Ethiopia because both are major export crops that generate much revenue for both small farmers and the country as a whole. However, there is a lack of information about the fundamental equilibrium moisture content (EMC) relationships among these crops, which would help facilitate better monitoring and storage. Therefore, EMC adsorption and desorption prediction models based on temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) were developed for the modified Chung-Pfost and modified Henderson models for Kabuli chickpea (KC), black sesame (BS), and white sesame (WS) seeds. The samples for conducting the adsorption and desorption tests …

Toward Biochemical Conversion Of Lignocellulose On-Farm: Pretreatment And Hydrolysis Of Corn Stover In Situ, Alicia A. Modenbach, Sue E. Nokes, Michael D. Montross, Barbara L. Knutson

Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications

High-solids lignocellulosic pretreatment using NaOH followed by high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis was evaluated for an on-farm biochemical conversion process. Increasing the solids loadings for these processes has the potential for increasing glucose concentrations and downstream ethanol production; however, sequential processing at high-solids loading similar to an on-farm cellulose conversion system has not been studied. This research quantified the effects of high-solids pretreatment with NaOH and subsequent high-solids enzymatic hydrolysis on cellulose conversion. As expected, conversion efficiency was reduced; however, the highest glucose concentration (40.2 g L^-1), and therefore the highest potential ethanol concentration, resulted from the high-solids combined pretreatment …

Enter Sandman: The Viability Of Environmental Personhood To Us Soil Conservation Efforts, Thomas E. Johnson

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The US agricultural system relies on healthy soil for economic and environmental stability. The federal government established soil conservation efforts following the Dust Bowl, and state and local entities later developed legal tools to supplement soil conservation. These efforts, however, are insufficient to protect the nation's soil in the face of a changing climate. Conservation techniques are available that could substantially mitigate the effects of climate change, but the federal government lacks the tools to encourage their uniform adoption. The rigidity of prior state efforts, moreover, has disabled some landowners from adapting conservation lands to modern challenges. This Note recommends …

Evaluating The Role Of Personality Trait Information In Social Dilemmas, Todd Guilfoos, Kenneth J. Kurtz

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications

We investigate whether cooperative behavior in social dilemmas is conditional on information about a partner's personality traits. Using a repeated one-shot continuous strategy Prisoner's Dilemma (two person Public Goods game), we test how information on personality traits of partners influences cooperative actions. Before each game we provide subjects with the rank-order of their partner (relative to all subjects in the session) on one of the personality traits of the Big Five Inventory. Using a within-subjects design we find that subjects are more cooperative when informed that their partner is more ‘Agreeable’ or ‘Open to Experience’. The primary reason for more …

Occurrence Of A Colorful Prejuvenile Mountain Mullet (Agonostomus Monticola) In Brackish Water Of Montserrat, Lesser Antilles, Robert E. Schmidt, Erin R. Mcmullin

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Brightly colored prejuvenile Mountain mullet (Agonostomus monticola) immigrating into brackish water on Montserrat are described. Mugilidae may be unique among Caribbean amphidromous fishes in having a brightly colored pelagic marine stage.

"Supermom" And "Super-Maman": The Transition To New Motherhood In American And French Mothers, Abigail F. Daum

Scripps Senior Theses

The aim of the proposed study is to examine the effects of the transition into new motherhood and the differences in these effects among American and French primiparous mothers. The study establishes the societal pressures and cultural expectations placed on the motherhood role, historically and to the present day, and presents possible sources for maternal guilt, role strain, and a sense of loss of individuated self in the transition to new motherhood. This mixed methods study uses semi-structured interviews, vignettes, the Job-Family Role Strain Scale, and the Motherhood Salience Scale to determine the effects of the transition into the new …

The Impact Of Classroom Behaviors And Student Attention On Written Expression, Narmene Hamsho

Theses - ALL

This study sought to examine classroom behaviors and attention as predictors of writing performance among third-grade students receiving a Tier 1 performance feedback intervention. Information about the classroom behavior of 80 third grade students (39 males, 41 females) was collected before intervention began through use of two teacher report measures: the Academic Performance Rating Scale (APRS; DuPaul, Rapport, & Perriello, 1991) and the inattention factor on the Strengths and Weaknesses of ADHD Symptoms and Normal Behavior Rating Scale (SWAN; Swanson et al., 2006). Results indicated that the APRS and SWAN were significant predictors of writing fluency in the combined sample …

On Epistemology Of Missiological Research, Petr Činčala

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"In this article I addressed the nature of missiology and missiological research. Missiology is like a dynamic river that can “flow” with any academic discipline examining human behavior “to expand missiological theory and applications and to extend the mission Dei” (Elliston 2011:112). Theological research as a stand-alone research method may or may not serve missiological purposes; however, missiology and theology are related disciplines. This same rational does not apply to the social sciences and missiology. Missiology can benefit enormously from a social science approach to research but may be paralyzed by utilizing social science research as a whole package."

An Exploration Of The Relationship Between Strategy And Structure To The Work Of Starting And Supporting Church Planting Movements, Laurence G. Burn

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"A church that defines itself by movement structures sees the center or activity as taking place in hearts and homes of its members. The mission is living the message, empowering, facilitating, and catalyzing and should define the culture of the organization. It is my conviction that this journey with its focus on creating movements represents a seismic shift in thinking and behavior. There is no doubt that further research is needed that by God’s grace will help create a multitude of disciple-making movements again in many parts of the world."

Family Resilience In Displacement: Defining Validity And Reliability In A Hermeneutic Phenomenology Inquiry, Regine Rimarzik

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

"The voices of the poor confirmed a common recommendation among scholars to combine the best of person-focused approaches with the best of variable-focused approaches in resilience studies. This could be especially beneficial for comparative studies in terms of religion and culture adherence. In other words, I am considering to slightly tweak my research topic and widen the scope towards a comparative religious study within the same environment and to specify the impact of comparative faith traditions on the human development context in displacement. Finally, my better understanding of the nature of family resilience awakened my curiosity for discovering the nature …

Sex Differences In The Subjective Effects Of Oral Δ9-Thc In Cannabis Users, Jessica S. Fogel, Thomas H. Kelly, Philip M. Westgate, Joshua A. Lile

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Previous studies suggest that there are sex differences in endocannabinoid function and the response to exogenous cannabinoids, though data from clinical studies comparing acute cannabinoid effects in men and women under controlled laboratory conditions are limited. To further explore these potential differences, data from 30 cannabis users (N=18 M, 12 F) who completed previous Δ⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ⁹-THC) discrimination studies were combined for this retrospective analysis. In each study, subjects learned to discriminate between oral Δ⁹-THC and placebo and then received a range of Δ⁹-THC doses (0, 5, 15 and a “high” dose of …

Impulsivity Symptoms As Core To The Developmental Externalizing Spectrum, Michelle M. Martel, Cheri A. Levinson, Christine A. Lee, Tess E. Smith

Psychology Faculty Publications

Impulsivity is posited to be a key part of the externalizing spectrum during childhood, but this idea has received minimal empirical attention. The goal of the present investigation was to utilize network analysis to determine whether behavioral impulsivity symptoms are key components of the externalizing network across several developmental periods from preschool into adolescence. Participants were 109 preschoolers (64 % male) ages 3 to 6, 237 children (59 % male) ages 6 to 9, 372 children (59 % male) ages 10 to 13, and 357 adolescents (59 % male) ages 13 to 17 and their parents. Parents completed ratings of …

Nicotine Self-Administration Remodels Perineuronal Nets In Ventral Tegmental Area And Orbitofrontal Cortex In Adult Male Rats, Dolores B. Vazquez-Sanroman, Reyna D. Monje, Michael T. Bardo

Psychology Faculty Publications

Nicotine, a major psychoactive component of tobacco smoke, alters gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) modulation of dopamine neurons in the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Changes in structural neuroplasticity can occur in GABAergic parvalbumin (PRV) positive neurons, which are enveloped by structures of the extracellular matrix called perineuronal nets (PNNs). In the current study, rats were trained to self-administer intravenous nicotine (0.03 mg/kg/infusion) for 21 days in 1-hour daily sessions with an incrementing fixed ratio requirement; a control group received saline infusions. At either 45 minutes or 72 hours after the last session, immunofluorescence measurements for PNNs, PRV and c-Fos were conducted. In …

Cellular And Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Alcohol-Induced Aggressiveness Of Breast Cancer, Yongchao Wang, Mei Xu, Zun-Ji Ke, Jia Luo

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

Breast cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in women. Both Epidemiological and experimental studies indicate a positive correlation between alcohol consumption and the risk of breast cancer. While alcohol exposure may promote the carcinogenesis or onset of breast cancer, it may as well enhance the progression and aggressiveness of existing mammary tumors. Recent progress in this line of research suggests that alcohol exposure is associated with invasive breast cancer and promotes the growth and metastasis of mammary tumors. There are multiple potential mechanisms involved in alcohol-stimulated progression and aggressiveness of breast cancer. Alcohol may increase the mobility …

A Comparison Of Sex Differences In Psychotropic Medication Use In Older People With Alzheimer's Disease In The Us And Finland, Daniela C. Moga, Heidi Taipale, Anna-Maija Tolppanen, Antti Tanskanen, Jari Tiihonen, Sirpa Hartikainen, Qishan Wu, Gregory A. Jicha, Danijela Gnjidic

Pharmacy Practice and Science Faculty Publications

Aims—Given the high prevalence of psychotropic medication use in people with dementia and the potential for different prescribing practices in men and women, our study aimed to investigate sex differences in psychotropic medication use in older adults with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) living in the US and Finland.

Methods—We used data collected between 2005 and 2011 as part of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) in the US, and Medication use and Alzheimer’s disease (MEDALZ) cohorts in Finland. We evaluated psychotropic medication use (antidepressant, antipsychotic, anxiolytic, sedative, or hypnotic) in participants aged 65 years or older. We employed multivariable …

Novel Neuroevolution Techniques For The Life Science Domain, Timothy Manning

Theses

The life science domain is a high value research area, both in terms of the benefits in increased knowledge and in societal impact. Much of the research funding has focused on wet lab based approaches to increase visibility into biological processes and producing maximal relevant information on which to make decisions. Given the complexity of biological functions, in many cases this has led to an information overload. Researchers are now able to routinely generate and access petabytes of data as a result of high throughput experiments, and this capability is growing. This data can be difficult to interpret and intractable …

Transfer And Competency Exchange Of Wisetek Into The Data Centre Hubs Of Frankfurt And Amsterdam: An Empirical Study, Thomas G. O'Farrell

Theses

This research study is an examination of Wisetek; an organization that has expanded from their head office in Cork, Ireland into the North America, Asian and the MENA region. This study is particularly focused on analysing the data centre hubs of Frankfurt and Amsterdam, a market where Wisetek do not have a presence and are looking to explore the region further. The growing problem of E-waste defined in this research, and the benefits of the services that Wisetek offer of managing E-waste, is a solution for data centres. Wisetek was founded in 2007 by Sean Sheehan and is a provider …

Metabolic Characteristics Of Macrophage Activation With Phenotype Microarrays, Tanya Kathryn D'Souza

Theses

Inflammation is a natural protective response and is characterised by the activation of numerous immune cells, including macrophages which can release a variety of inflammatory mediators. Macrophages play a flexible role in the initiation and effector phases of the immune response and change their behaviour to respond to environmental stimuli. The main objectives in this study were to create and characterise different macrophage behaviours and employ a novel metabolic characterisation platform the Phenotype Microarray^TM to attribute additional characteristics to the currently well recognised phenotypes. Five activated macrophage states were demonstrated and characterised. Unactivated macrophages (MO) demonstrated undetectable levels of …