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Aftermath, David Aldridge

Mighty Pen Project Anthology & Archive

On his first day in the Vietnamese bush, a soldier takes upon himself to recover the body of a fallen comrade.

Articles, stories, and other compositions in this archive were written by participants in the Mighty Pen Project. The program, developed by author David L. Robbins, and in partnership with Virginia Commonwealth University and the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond, Virginia, offers veterans and their family members a customized twelve-week writing class, free of charge. The program encourages, supports, and assists participants in sharing their stories and experiences of military experience so both writer and audience may benefit.

Development Of A Multi-Robot Testbed For Direct Human-Swarm Interaction, Venkata Satya Kiran Maridi

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Robotic swarms are well suited for missions that involve covering large areas such as environmental monitoring, search-and-rescue operations, as well as those that require fusing information from multiple sources such as target tracking and machine inspection. However, navigating a swarm of robots effectively requires performing higher-level functions that are typically executed by humans such as commanding them to stay close and guiding them along with a preplanned route. In this context, the ability of multiple robots to stay together autonomously significantly reduces the cognitive load on a human operator. The goal of this thesis is to design and build a …

Does Infant Negative Affect Moderate The Impact Of Parenting On Effortful Control? A Test Of The Differential Susceptibility Hypothesis, Anton Petrenko

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parenting and early temperament characteristics have previously been shown to impact development of children’s self-regulation, which is in turn linked to a variety of developmental outcomes. However, few studies have evaluated interactions between difficult temperament and parenting, and only four published studies have specifically tested whether infants’ difficult temperament serves as a maker of differential susceptibility to parenting on self-regulatory development. The current study evaluated whether infant negative affectivity (NA) serves as a marker of differential susceptibility to positive and negative parenting on levels of effortful control (EC) at 18 months, which is at an earlier time point than has …

Evaluating The Role Of Energy Demand Prediction And Renewable Energy Utilization On Energy Dependency Management: A Generic System Dynamics Model, Emad Rabiei Hosseinabad

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Supplying energy has become one of the biggest concerns of developed countries due to the growing energy needs in the last decades. Security of energy supply has forced countries to rely more on energy imports from external sources, and become energy dependent to a greater extent. Utilizing available renewable energy resources has been characterized as a reliable indicator to mitigate energy dependency in countries as well as securing the supplying of energy-based needs in the future. This research explores the impact of renewable energies as trustful resources in mitigating energy imports form external sources with investigation of its viability with …

Understanding Carbohydrate Recognition Mechanisms In Non-Catalytic Proteins Through Molecular Simulations, Abhishek A. Kognole

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Non-catalytic protein-carbohydrate interactions are an essential element of various biological events. This dissertation presents the work on understanding carbohydrate recognition mechanisms and their physical significance in two groups of non-catalytic proteins, also called lectins, which play key roles in major applications such as cellulosic biofuel production and drug delivery pathways. A computational approach using molecular modeling, molecular dynamic simulations and free energy calculations was used to study molecular-level protein-carbohydrate and protein-protein interactions. Various microorganisms like bacteria and fungi secret multi-modular enzymes to deconstruct cellulosic biomass into fermentable sugars. The carbohydrate binding modules (CBM) are non-catalytic domains of such enzymes that …

Design And Analysis Of Curcumin Conjugated Poly(Beta-Amino Ester) Networks For Controlled Release In Oxidative Stress Environments, Carolyn T. Jordan

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Oxidative stress, the imbalance of free radical generation with antioxidant defenses, leads to cellular inflammation, apoptosis and cell death. This compromised environment results in debilitating diseases, such as oral mucositis (OM), atherosclerosis, and ischemia/reperfusion injury. Antioxidant therapeutics has been a proposed strategy to ameliorate these imbalances and maintain homeostatic environments. However, the success of these approaches, specifically curcumin, has been limited due to characteristics such as hydrophobicity and high reactivity when released as bolus doses to contest to oxidative stress induced diseases. The development of a controlled release system to aid in protection of the antioxidant capacity of curcumin, as …

The Potential Benefits Of Using Humor To Reduce Prejudice And Violence, Ethan Radatz

Masters Theses

In the field of social psychology, there have been multiple sources of research demonstrating the proposed links between prejudice and humor. The breadth of this research appears to hold the common theme of observing how the use of negative humor can disenfranchise different outgroups, or groups that seem to be at the bottom of the social ladder (e.g. the poor, marginalized ethnic/racial groups, sex, gender, and so on). Furthermore, the concepts of prejudice, as well as humor have been rarely observed through any nonviolence framework. The present study examined any relationship between humor (affiliative, self-enhancing, aggressive, and self-defeating), nonviolence (physical …

A Qualitative Case Study On Best Practices Of Emotional Support Animal Policies, Jordan E. Dadez

Masters Theses

This study sought to understand the best practices and protocols of Emotional Support Animal policies in residential life. A qualitative case study was conducted to provide insight on the best practices of residential life Emotional Support Animal Policies. Four participants from institutions with established policies were interviewed to gain understanding of these protocols and policies, what is involved in the approval and accommodations process, and what challenges the participants face. The results showed a need to evaluate and change the current process that most institutions utilize for Emotional Support Animal approval. The approval process and accommodations process are two separate …

Promoting A Galaxy Far, Far Away: Changes In Promotional Strategies Seen In Star Wars Marketing Campaigns, Michael Fenton

Masters Theses

This piece examines promotional material from the Star Wars campaigns for The Phantom Menace in 1999 and The Force Awakens in 2015 to find differences in promotional strategies with regards to globalization, fandom and fan perception and the use of online spaces. Trailers, tie-in product materials and websites are given visual and textual analysis to find how the films have evolved to accommodate a larger, more culturally diverse audience. In doing so this piece seeks to understand how the changing consumer landscape is impacting the way product are advertised, and how prospective advertisers can maximize their audience through adjusting their …

Digit Ratio As A Predictor Of Risk Taking And Sensation Seeking Personality Traits And Behaviors, Hanna Elizabeth Hobson

Masters Theses

Digit ratio is the difference in length between the pointer finger and the ring finger on either hand. Commonly referred to as the 2D:4D ratio, this ratio is determined prior to birth, and serves as an indicator of prenatal hormone exposure. Digit ratio has been found to correlate with fundamental personality and behavior characteristics in adulthood. Digit ratio is also thought to be a determinate of sexual orientation in both men and women, but has been debated in the literature. This study examined multiple 2D:4D relationships. Men who were found to have a more masculinized (ie. lower) digit ratio had …

The Effect Of Self-Recognition In The Competition Between Genets Of Solidago Altissima, Charles Jaques

Masters Theses

Competition is a major driving force in the abundance, distribution, and diversity within any biological system. Plants are more likely to suffer reductions in fitness as a consequence of competition, as they typically occur in dense communities. Individuals within these populations must respond to both inter- and intraspecific competition. Recent studies suggest that the ability to distinguish kin from non-kin may play an integral role in the success of individuals within different plant populations and communities. However, a less known interaction is that between individual clones within a genet as they grow, spread, and begin to interact with nearby rival …

Impact Of Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus X Giganteus) Cultivation On Midwestern Farmland Birds, Matthew Craffey

Masters Theses

Giant Miscanthus (Miscanthus x giganteus) is a promising bioenergy feedstock, newly introduced to North America. However, the qualities that make Giant Miscanthus an attractive bioenergy feedstock may pose challenges to local wildlife. To assess the impacts of Giant Miscanthus on Midwestern farmland birds, I conducted point count and vegetation surveys at three sites in east-central Illinois where Giant Miscanthus was being cultivated. I used occupancy modeling to assess the relative influence of Giant Miscanthus on five species relative to other habitat and landscape characteristics. Dickcissel (Spiza Americana), Eastern Meadowlark (Sturnella magna), and Red-Winged Blackbird …

Evaluation And Demographic Response Of The Shovelnose Sturgeon Commercial Caviar Fishery In The Wabash River, Jessica L. Thornton

Masters Theses

Shovelnose sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus Rafinesque) are considered one of the last commercially viable options for sturgeon roe harvest. Due to the collapse of several marine sturgeon fisheries and the Similarity of Appearances provision which protect shovelnose sturgeon in only a part of their range, the caviar fishery in the Wabash River remains an important point of supply for this lucrative natural resource. In this thesis, I presented an evaluation of the shovelnose sturgeon commercial caviar fishery in the Wabash River. More specifically, I described the demographic response of this population to continued exploitation over a 10-year period. Additionally, I …

Representation Of The Titanic In Children's Literature, Charity Rose Huwe

Masters Theses

State and national education initiatives are the driving force behind increased exploration of diverse texts, namely informational texts. Trade books offer opportunity for interdisciplinary units to develop through the rise of informational text use in both English/language arts and history/social studies. Primary source documents serve as a liaison to filing gaps in the information left out from textbooks and trade books. A more thorough understanding of historical figures and events are a result of such analysis. The initiatives do not dictate specific curricular material; teachers use their discretion when choosing available trade books, primary documents, and other curricular resources. In …

A Neonicotinoid Affects The Mating Behavior Of The Biological Control Agent Spalangia Endius, Aspen Kremer

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Spalangia endius Walker is a parasitoid wasp that oviposits in the pupal stage of certain fly species, killing the fly in the process. Its fly hosts include economic pests in livestock-rearing operations, and it is sold commercially as a biological control agent. Male and female S. endius may encounter the commonly used pesticide imidacloprid while walking or resting on treated surfaces, and females may encounter imidacloprid while searching for hosts in contaminated manure. Contact with imidacloprid has been shown to affect survival and subsequent ability to parasitize hosts in S. endius. The present study examined the sublethal effect of imidacloprid …

Anatomy Of A Precision Grip In Human And Non-Human Primates, Caitlin Marie Bemis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prehensility is a hand activity that applies forces while grasping an object. In the crudest sense, prehensile movements of the hand can be divided into two types based on an actor needing a precision or a power grip. To analyze prehensility more specifically, I suggest that the movements of the hand can be divided into three categories including power, modified precision, and true precision grips. A power grip is when an object is held in one hand with the aid of the palm with fingers buttressing the object, while a true precision grip is when an object is picked up …

Assessing The Jurassic Cleveland-Lloyd Bone Bed Predator Trap Hypothesis By Statistical Comparison Of Allosaurus Fragilis And Pleistocene La Brea Canis Dirus Femora, Angela D. Reddick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Since its discovery in 1939, the Late Jurassic, Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry (CLDQ) has been assumed to be a Jurassic predator trap by most visitors to the site. This idea's longevity is due in part to the disproportionately high ratio of carnivores to herbivores (3:1) uncovered from the quarry. However, despite decades of active research on the taphonomy and geochemistry of the deposit, the predator trap hypothesis remains unproven. In order to test whether the quarry has or does not have the characteristics of a predator trap, this study specifically analyzed the population of the quarry's most abundant animal, Allosaurus fragilis. …

Bicarbonate Enrichment May Mitigate Oxidative Stress In Two Octocorals And Their Photosynthetic Symbionts, Jeffrey Golladay

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The ecological communities built by corals are some of the most biodiverse in the world, and the current rate of climate change threatens their long-term persistence, with mass coral bleaching events becoming more frequent. Ocean acidification (OA) is one consequence of increased atmospheric CO2 that results in changes in seawater carbon chemistry with the potential to impact organisms that rely on seawater dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) for calcification, photosynthesis, or both. Corals are unique animals that participate in a symbiotic relationship with dinoflagellate algae of the genus Symbiodinium spp., in which the algal symbionts translocate most of the products of …

"The Lives Of The Wicked" : Love, Death, And The Hero In Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, Amy Erickson

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis discusses Stephen Sondheim's 1979 musical adaptation of the novel that originated the story of Sweeney Todd in 1846, The String of Pearls. Sondheim's musical has been lastingly popular with its American audience despite the story's British roots, due in large part to the American innovation of the tale. Sondheim's Americanization emphasizes several themes, already staples of American culture as evidenced by trends in popular cultural artifacts such as Batman, which speak to American audiences and allow them to connect with the British story of Sweeney Todd. In Sondheim's transformation, the villainous Sweeney Todd becomes a complex lover, along …

"Paleobotic" Smilodon, Bernard Boston

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A major challenge in the reconstruction of any fossil taxon is to determine the functional capabilities of the animal while it was alive. For extinct animals, this process can benefit from analysis of the functional capabilities of the closest available living relatives. To provide a more accurate estimation of the movement capacity of an extinct animal, we designed a three-dimensional model of the forelimb of the sabertooth cat, Smilodon. The model is intended as an answer to the challenge facing the research community of providing a system that can refine the understanding of the functional capabilities of extinct animals accurately …

"Your Body Must Be Heard" : Uncovering A New Language Through Female Pain And Bodily Empowerment, Jaclyn Swiderski

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis uses Virginia Woolf's essay "On Being Ill" in order to examine her novel The Waves, and Paule Marshall's novel Praisesong for the Widow. In each of these novels, the main female protagonists are experiencing mental pain that becomes manifested physically. Although each of them are experiencing pain for multiple reasons, their pain at the core is caused by certain societal institutions such as marriage, motherhood, and the medical field. In order to get past their pain and move toward healing, all of the women examined here use their deviant sexualities. Deviancy, here, is defined as anything going against …

Diet And Vegetation Impacts Of A Reintroduced Bison Herd, Ryan Christopher Blackburn

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

To redress prairie loss, managers seed former agricultural lands and reinstate key ecosystem processes with prescribed fires and reintroduction of native grazers to create restored prairies. Bison (Bison bison) were almost hunted to extinction in the late 1800's but are recovering and have recently been reintroduced to restored prairies for their ecosystem-engineering roles. The effects bison and fire have on remnant (never-plowed) prairie vegetation are well documented. However, there is little known about how bison will affect and shape vegetation patterns in restored prairies. These effects may be largely driven by bison's dietary preference to forage primarily on grasses. This …

Dietary Constraints And Strategies In The Red-Bellied Lemur (Eulemur Rubriventer), And Their Implications For Conservation, Amanda Marie Du Bour

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Understanding the diet of the vulnerable red-bellied lemur ( Eulemur rubriventer) is essential for preventing its extinction. Previous E. rubriventer research focused on populations in Ranomafana National Park, located in the southeast part of the island, making research in other forest locations a priority for the understanding of dietary breadth and constraints in this species. My research questions consider whether protein is the nutritional driver for foraging choices in E. rubriventer, how fiber influences cathemeral activity, and seasonal variability in day and night time dietary items. My research team and I identified the plant and animal species that composed a …

Does Excluding A Top Mesopredator Induce A Trophic Cascade : Effects And Diet Of An Omnivorous Predator In A Restored Prairie, Kirstie Savage

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Predators can shape prey communities through consumptive and non-consumptive interactions. By inducing fear of predation, predators can cause changes to prey foraging behavior that can negatively impact prey reproduction and body-condition. Furthermore, both consumptive (density-mediated) and non-consumptive (trait-mediated) predator-prey interactions can cascade down the food web to have indirect impacts of vegetation (trophic cascade). As we continue to lose apex predators and undergo land change, understanding how the new top dogs shape prey communities and restorations is increasingly important. Through utilizing predator-exclosure fences, mark-recapture analysis, plant biomass and stable isotopes we evaluated the role of coyotes as top mesopredator in …

Comparing Relaxation Versus Mastery Micro-Break Activity : A Within-Task Recovery Perspective, Amanda Lynn Conlin

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Recovery from work is thought to occur outside of the workplace. However, employees may have the opportunity to recover within the work day via micro-breaks, or short momentary breaks during demanding work tasks. Two strategies for mitigating fatigue include psychological detachment and replenishing motivational incentives via positive affect. This study examined whether recovery was possible during a work task and to what extent different break content facilitated later performance. In an experimental study, 201 students were randomly assigned to receiving a relaxation micro-break (n = 63), a mastery micro-break (n = 68), or no break (n = 72) in the …

Role Of Colony Integration In Metabolic Scaling Of Colonial Animals, Maram Almegbel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Metabolism, one of the canonical features of life, shows a clear correlation to organismal size. Metabolic scaling is explaining the relationship between organism body mass and metabolic rate. To explain the relationship between the metabolism and body size, several factors have to be examined including resource uptake, usage, and transportation of resources throughout the body. Empirically, metabolism usually scales as approximately mass to the ¾ power. Many theories seek to explain this relationship in terms of surface area to volume. These theories typically model unitary organisms as spheres, with surface area to volume increasing as roughly volume to the 2/3 …

Rousseau's Plutarchism, Nathan Richard Mccormick

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Jean-Jacques Rousseau gives Plutarch's Parallel Lives a prominent role in his treatise on education, Emile. In many ways, this decision is perplexing because Plutarch's teachings concerning virtue and vice seem to pose a direct threat to Rousseau's educational regimen which aims to produce a natural, whole, and sincere man. However, upon closer examination, there is evidence that suggests that Rousseau fully recognizes how Plutarch's writings can threaten his program, which leads him to institute several innovative changes to how the Parallel Lives is administered in the Emile. Namely, the natural man is only allowed to be exposed to a few, …

System Of Indebtedness : Experiences With Wage Garnishment In Chicago, 1957-1970, J. Marcos Reynolds

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Rising indebtedness, bankruptcies, and job losses were all part of the working-class experience with wage garnishment, the major debt collection system during the last century. Garnishment was a powerful legal institution used by creditors to access workers' wages before they received their paycheck, and it gave the creditor a great deal of power during the loan repayment period, because the borrower had few legal options after signing their wages away. When used, it drained workers' incomes and hurt their future job prospects. This dissertation focuses on wage garnishment as a system of indebtedness, and analyzes the way these predatory lines …

Reduction Of Ketones To Alcohols And Tertiary Amines Using 1-Hydrosilatrane, Sami E. Varjosaari

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

1-Hydrosilatrane is an easily synthesized, stable, solid silane which can be made into an efficient reducing agent in the presence of a Lewis base, by taking advantage of the properties of hypervalent silicon. Due to the simplicity of use and handling, 1-hydrosilatrane has the potential to be an appealing alternative to other more widely used reducing agents. Aromatic and aliphatic ketones were readily reduced with 1-hydrosilatrane in the presence of potassium tert-butoxide. The discovery of diastereoselectivity in the reduction of menthone, a chiral ketone, led to enantioselective reductions of prochiral ketones using chiral Lewis base activators. Enantiomeric excesses of up …

Examining Cross-Lagged Relations Between Behavioral Inhibition And Inhibitory Control During Early Childhood : Predicting Subsequent Internalizing And Externalizing Problems, Jacob Benjamin Holzman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prior research has demonstrated that the early childhood developmental period is an important time period to study the emergence and development of temperament characteristics, including behavioral inhibition and inhibitory control, as well as factors that influence such characteristics. In particular, previous research has suggested that behavioral inhibition may facilitate the development of inhibitory control due to behavioral inhibition emerging earlier than inhibitory control and sharing behavioral features (i.e., inhibition). Although previous studies have examined relations between behavioral inhibition and inhibitory control, limited research has examined such relations during the emergence of inhibitory control or by utilizing multiple methodologies (i.e., observation …