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Yoga Instructor Belief Scale: Instrument Development And Validation, Tegan Jemma Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In response to the growing interest in mind-body practices as preventative, therapeutic and educational interventions, the current work describes the instrument development and validation process to address a gap in yoga research. Yoga is a mind-body practice used in clinical and school settings that uses an integrative curriculum which simultaneously targets skill development/maintenance in physical, cognitive and emotional realms. Yoga is heterogeneous, as there is variability across styles and interventions. Yoga is also educational, as there are integrative skills being learned. The heterogeneous and educational nature of yoga necessitates reporting that accounts for variability in the instruction across instructors of …

Place, Identity, And Language Learning: The Transformative Role Of Place-Based English Language Instruction, Daniel Scott Harper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study examines the intersections of place and second language learning. Learner identity has been found to be an important construct in second language learning. In recent years, place and space have become central topics in the study of sociolinguistics and identity. One area of place and language that has not been studied in depth, however, is whether place plays a role in second language learning. This study begins to fill this gap by examining the second language learning experiences of thirteen Japanese study abroad students who were enrolled in an eight-week, content-based language course. The content of the course …

Considering Microbial Pesticides As A Disease Mitigation Strategy For The Amphibian Fungal Disease, Chytridiomycosis, Denita Mychele Weeks

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Chytridiomycosis is an infectious amphibian disease caused by the pathogenic fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd). Bd attaches to keratin on the epidermis of amphibians, invades skin cells, and may lead to pathogenesis in susceptible individuals. However, susceptibility varies within and among species. While this is due to many factors, the skin microbial community is a significant contributor to disease resistance. Amphibians form symbiotic relationships with environmental microbes on the skin surface, some of which produce antifungal agents that inhibit Bd. Interestingly, many agricultural biopesticides utilize the common soil-dwelling bacteria, Bacillus thuringiensis. Through agricultural use, these bacteria likely increase in environmental abundance …

Efficient Solution Of Minimum Cost Flow Problems For Large-Scale Transportation Networks, Yuan Zhou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

With the rapid advance of information technology in the transportation industry, of which intermodal transportation is one of the most important subfields, the scale and dimension of problem sizes and datasets is rising significantly. This trend raises the need for study on improving the efficiency, profitability and level of competitiveness of intermodal transportation networks while exploiting the rich information of big data related to these networks. Therefore, this dissertation aims to investigate intermodal transportation network design problems, especially practical optimization problems, and to develop more realistic and effective models and solution approaches that will assist network operators and/or decision makers …

Map3k4 Controls The Chromatin Modifier Hdac6 During Trophoblast Stem Cell Epithelial To Mesenchymal Transition, Robert Jackson Mobley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The first epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) occurs in trophoblast stem (TS) cells during implantation. Inactivation of the serine/threonine kinase MAP3K4 in TS cells (TSKI4 cells) induces an intermediate state of EMT, where cells retain stemness, lose epithelial markers, and gain mesenchymal characteristics. Investigation of relationships among MAP3K4 activity, stemness, and EMT in TS cells may reveal key regulators of EMT. Here, we show that MAP3K4 activity controls EMT through the ubiquitination and degradation of HDAC6. Loss of MAP3K4 activity in TSKI4 cells results in elevated HDAC6 expression and the deacetylation of cytoplasmic and nuclear targets. In the nucleus, HDAC6 …

Role Of Breastfeeding Duration, Maternal Smoking During Pregnancy, And Dna-Methylation For The Risk Of Eczema, Nandini Mukherjee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Prior studies linking breastfeeding duration and maternal gestational smoking, respectively, to offspring eczema report contradictory findings. However, it is not known whether maternal gestational smoking and breastfeeding duration can jointly influence eczema and whether these exposures mediate their effect on eczema via DNA Methylation (DNA-M) of CpG (cytosine-phosphate-guanine) sites. With data from the Isle of Wight (IOW) birth cohort, UK, we first evaluated the combined effect of maternal gestational smoking and breastfeeding duration on eczema at ages 1-to-2 (n=980), 4 (n=902), 10 (n=966), and 18 years (n=929) using Generalized estimating equations (GEE). We found a protective effect of longer duration …

Exploration Of The Experiences Of Self-Identified Lesbian Division I Student-Athletes In The United States, Meghan Pfeiffer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In the world of Division I intercollegiate athletics, much remains to be understood about self-identified lesbian student-athletes experiences, educational practices, and conditions that promote their development. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the academic and sport experiences of self-identified lesbian Division I student-athletes in the United States. In addition, the study aimed to understand how strategies used by lesbian Division I student-athletes helped establish or increase the level of comfortability and inclusivity within both environments. The research questions that guided this study were as follows: 1. How do self-identified lesbian Division I student-athletes experience their higher education …

Biochemical Characterisation Of The Oscillatory Function Of Clock, Nimish Kathale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Circadian clocks are oscillator systems that drive rhythms in behavior and physiology in an organism to coordinate with the light-dark cycle. The molecular clock is made up of core clock genes acting in a transcriptional negative feedback loop. Transcriptional activators BMAL1 and CLOCK form a heterodimer which binds to cis E/E-box elements present in the promoter region of target genes including Per1,2,3 and Cry1,2. PER and CRY proteins then translocate to the nucleus to repress BMAL1/CLOCK-mediated transcription. This transcriptional negative feedback mechanism underlies circadian oscillations. BMAL1 and CLOCK are bHLH and PAS domain transcription factors and play a central role …

Multiple Stimuli Responsive Drug Delivery System Based On Magnetic Nanoparticle Embedded Chitosan Microbeads, Ankita Mohapatra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Direct drug administration has several shortcomings such as low circulation concentration due to rapid flushing by the immune system, non-specificity to target tissue and inefficient delivery to avascular sites. A widely adopted solution to these limitations is to sterically shield the drug from a harsh in vivo environment by encapsulation in a biocompatible, bio-degradable substrate. These Drug Delivery System (DDS) can be localized at the site and release drug gradually until the drug reserve is exhausted. However, the efficiency of this DDS can be further enhanced by designing them to elute drug in response to an external stimulus. This enhancement …

"Can You Hear Me Now?": The Role Of Hip-Hop In The Identity And Personal Epistemology Of Black Girls, Ashley Nicole Payne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Hip-hop has been shown to be a significant force of identity, knowledge, and cultural development, particularly for Black youth (Brown, 2009; Emdin, 2010; Hill, 2009; Love, 2012). Building on research surrounding identity and knowledge development within hip-hop, this Black/hip-hop feminist research study seeks to understand the role that hip-hop plays in the lives, identity and personal epistemology of Black adolescent girls. The following research questions guided this study: (1) What role does hip-hop (i.e., rap, dance, and graffiti) play in the lives of Black girls? (2) How does hip-hop inform racial and gendered identity for Black girls? (3) How do …

Preparing For Blended Learning: Examining Self-Efficacy Of Secondary Teachers, Catherine Brouke Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The purpose of this cross-sectional survey study was to determine the level of teacher self-efficacy to teach in a blended learning environment after receiving blended learning professional development (PD). The study used secondary analysis of existing data and interviews to answer the following research questions:1.What is the level of self-efficacy to teach in a blended learning environment for secondary teachers after receiving blended learning PD?2.What component of the blended learning PD contributed the most to teachers level of self-efficacy?3.How can the blended learning PD be improved to assist the teachers in improving their level of self-efficacy?The study used two instruments: …

Urbanization In Jackson, Madison County, Tn And The Environmental Impact Of Urbanization On The Region, Thomas Depriest

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Urbanization of the southeastern region of the United States is an ongoing process with wide ranging environmental implications. Tennessee is among southern states expected to develop at higher than average rates. Therefore, the purpose of this doctoral research is twofold; to holistically examine urbanization in Jackson, Madison County, TN and the environmental impact of urbanization on the region. To accomplish these objectives, a study of land-use and land cover (LULC) change in Madison County from 1992-2011 was first conducted. To determine if any significant relationships existed between socio-demographic factors and quantified LULC changes Spearmans Correlation was utilized. Relationships between socio-demographic …

Development And Validation Of A Career Resilience Scale For Adults With Disabilities, Eric Suedmeyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Adults with disabilities face multiple internal, social, and systemic barriers that hamperefforts to attain and maintain meaningful employment. In order to achieve success in vocational pursuits, individuals with disabilities must demonstrate perseverance in the face of probable adversity; this construct is career resilience. No scale has been developed to measure a persons career resilience that is specifically tailored to people with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure the career resilience of adults with disabilities. After creating the Career Resilience for Adults with Disabilities Scale (CRADS), two studies were conducted to evaluate the scale. …

Polishing Gems: A Supplemental Curriculum For Developing The Musical Literacy And Musical Expression Skills Of Junior High Flute Students, Jennifer Lynn Amox

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study determines the content for a supplemental curriculum designed to improve musical literacy and musical expression skills using the Arkansas School Band and Orchestra (ASBOA) all-state junior high flute etudes. It addresses the first two steps (analysis of practical problems and development of possible solutions) of a Design-Based Research (DBR) project. The author intends to address the third and fourth steps (iterative cycles of testing and refinement and reflection and enhancement) in future research studies. A pilot study identified technical and interpretive deficiencies exhibited in nine (N = 9) student audition recordings using excerpts from the ASBOA etudes. A …

Identifying Pathways To Smoking And Alcohol Consumption After A Natural Disaster: Findings From Hurricane Katrina, Adam Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Survivors of disasters often experience severe psychological symptoms and disorders, including depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and report using psychoactive substances, such as alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes. This dissertation examined whether depression severity and PTSD were pathways to postdisaster smoking and alcohol consumption using a representative cohort of adult cigarette smokers from Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana nine and eighteen months after Hurricane Katrina (N=2004). Results from path analyses showed that disaster exposure increased depression and posttraumatic stress nine months after Hurricane Katrina, and the effect persisted across time for depression. Disaster exposure also increased the risk for …

Gratitude Interventions With Physical Therapy Patients, Adam Frose

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Physical injuries and ailments affect many people each year, causing pain, loss of mobility, and decreased functionality in their daily lives. Given that psychological factors affect physical recovery, interventions that can be added to physical therapy to bolster psychological resilience could substantially enhance positive health outcomes for patients. Gratitude interventions have been shown to increase a variety of positive health outcomes. The study explored whether providing gratitude interventions to physical therapy patients would increase positive physical functioning addressed in physical therapy as well as overall life satisfaction and gratitude in comparison to a control group of patients receiving physical therapy …

Probabilistic Clustering Ensemble Evaluation For Intrusion Detection, Steven M. Mcelwee

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Intrusion detection is the practice of examining information from computers and networks to identify cyberattacks. It is an important topic in practice, since the frequency and consequences of cyberattacks continues to increase and affect organizations. It is important for research, since many problems exist for intrusion detection systems. Intrusion detection systems monitor large volumes of data and frequently generate false positives. This results in additional effort for security analysts to review and interpret alerts. After long hours spent reviewing alerts, security analysts become fatigued and make bad decisions. There is currently no approach to intrusion detection that reduces the workload …

Machine Learning Methods For Septic Shock Prediction, Aiman A. Darwiche

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Sepsis is an organ dysfunction life-threatening disease that is caused by a dysregulated body response to infection. Sepsis is difficult to detect at an early stage, and when not detected early, is difficult to treat and results in high mortality rates. Developing improved methods for identifying patients in high risk of suffering septic shock has been the focus of much research in recent years. Building on this body of literature, this dissertation develops an improved method for septic shock prediction. Using the data from the MMIC-III database, an ensemble classifier is trained to identify high-risk patients. A robust prediction model …

Machine Learning For Exploring State Space Structure In Genetic Regulatory Networks, Rodney H. Thomas

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Genetic regulatory networks (GRN) offer a useful model for clinical biology. Specifically, such networks capture interactions among genes, proteins, and other metabolic factors. Unfortunately, it is difficult to understand and predict the behavior of networks that are of realistic size and complexity. In this dissertation, behavior refers to the trajectory of a state, through a series of state transitions over time, to an attractor in the network. This project assumes asynchronous Boolean networks, implying that a state may transition to more than one attractor. The goal of this project is to efficiently identify a network's set of attractors and to …

A Novel Cooperative Intrusion Detection System For Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Adam Solomon

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) have experienced rapid growth in their use for various military, medical, and commercial scenarios. This is due to their dynamic nature that enables the deployment of such networks, in any target environment, without the need for a pre-existing infrastructure. On the other hand, the unique characteristics of MANETs, such as the lack of central networking points, limited wireless range, and constrained resources, have made the quest for securing such networks a challenging task. A large number of studies have focused on intrusion detection systems (IDSs) as a solid line of defense against various attacks targeting …

Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning Using Augmented And Virtual Reality In Museum Education, Ronald Punako Jr.

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Recent advancements in the cost, availability, and capability of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices and software are spurring their mass distribution to the public. This fundamental shift in the use of AR and VR predominantly from military and academic research laboratories to the public presents new opportunities and challenges for the design of instructional technology. While studies of AR and VR have been conducted to inform the design of individual instructional products, few studies have focused on computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) products in which AR and VR learners work together toward shared learning goals.

The museum education …

Evaluation Of Machine Learning Techniques For Early Identification Of At-Risk Students, Mansour Hamoud Awaji

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Student attrition is one of the long-standing problems facing higher education institutions despite the extensive research that has been undertaken to address it. To increase students’ success and retention rates, there is a need for early alert systems that facilitate the identification of at-risk students so that remedial measures may be taken in time to reduce the risk. However, incorporating ML predictive models into early warning systems face two main challenges: improving the accuracy of timely predictions and the generalizability of predictive models across on-campus and online courses. The goal of this study was to develop and evaluate predictive models …

About Prepared To Teach, Bank Street College Of Education

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Learn more about Prepared To Teach and our work around sustainable funding for teacher preparation.

The Relationship Between Childhood Trauma And Special Education: A Literature Review, Andrea E. Becker

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Each year as many as ten million children witness or experience domestic violence in the United States (Winder, 2015) and have shown to experience greater struggles in school. This type of trauma has no boundaries, it can occur in all socioeconomic levels, across all ethnic groups, and all education levels. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network of the United States reports forty percent of students have experienced some form of adversity or trauma (Brunzell et al., 2015). Trauma can be a life shattering experience that can forever alter your biology and view of the world being a safe place (Brunzell …

Camera Traps In Wildlife Research: Through My Lens, Bryson P. Allen

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Wildlife species can be difficult to study because they can have very large ranges and can be wary of observers. Researchers have been using camera traps in recent decades as a way to study wildlife behavior and population metrics. Here I explore the history of these tools in wildlife biology, their possible applications, and limitations.

The Impact Of Outdoor Education On Health, Tessa A. Leake

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

I studied the effect that outdoor education and experiential learning has on health by interviewing students who participated in the University of Montana’s Patagonia study abroad course during winter-session 2018. I interviewed participants before and after the course and asked them a series of questions about their health. Questions included how they defined health, what the greatest determinants of health are, if they have control over their health, and if they considered themselves to be in good health. Students were also asked to rate their levels of health overall, mentally, and physically in regard to both themselves and in comparison …

Healthy Heart Project, Emily Hurst

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

The Healthy Heart program has been offering fitness testing, cardiovascular and chronic disease testing and education, and clinical experience for students in the course KIN483: Exercise, Disease, and Aging for a number of years. The program offers an important service to the Missoula community by providing each participant with accurate health indicators and results, such as ECG (heart) rhythms, cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and strength measures, body composition, and peripheral artery disease screening. The program gives students experience learning practical skills by performing a 2-hour exercise testing session, communicating with a community member, analyzing testing data, and compiling then discussing results. …

Crest In The Nucleus Accumbens Core Regulates Cocaine Conditioned Place Preference, Cocaine-Seeking Behavior, And Synaptic Plasticity, Yasaman Alaghband, Eniko Kramar, Janine L. Kwapis, Earnest S. Kim, Thekla J. Hemstedt, Alberto J. Lopez, Andre O. White, Amni Al-Kachak, Osasumwen V. Aimiuwu, Kasuni K. Bodinayake, Nicole C. Oparaugo, Joseph Han, K. Matthew Lattal, Marcelo A. Wood

Faculty Publications - Psychology Department

Epigenetic mechanisms result in persistent changes at the cellular level that can lead to long-lasting behavioral adaptations. Nucleosome remodeling is a major epigenetic mechanism that has not been well explored with regards to drug-seeking behaviors. Nucleosome remodeling is performed by multi-subunit complexes that interact with DNA or chromatin structure and possess an ATP-dependent enzyme to disrupt nucleosome-DNA contacts and ultimately regulate gene expression. Calcium responsive transactivator (CREST) is a transcriptional activator that interacts with enzymes involved in both histone acetylation and nucleosome remodeling. Here, we examined the effects of knocking down CREST in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core on drug-seeking …

Exposure To High Levels Of Noise Poses Hazards And Risks For Development Of Hypertension And Heart Disease: Potential Roles Of Unrecognized Ionized Hypomagnesemia And Release Of Ceramides And Platelet-Activating Factor, Burton M. Altura, Asefa Gebrewold, Anthony Carella, Nilank C. Shah, Bella T. Altura

Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine (Middletown) Publications and Research

It has been demonstrated in numerous human and animal studies that audiogenic stress (AS) can induce elevation of arterial blood pressure and cardiac damage and that noise –induced hearing loss may be associated with alterations in magnesium (Mg) metabolism. Our laboratories, over a period of approximately 40 years, have been investigating why AS causes high blood pressure and cardiac damage. This review focuses on a number of newer discoveries on why AS causes dysfunctions of the cardiovascular system (CVS) This review discusses the pivotal physiological and biochemical importance of Mg to body health and the fact that most Americans and …

Clinical Relevance Of Μ-Opioid Receptor A118g Polymorphism In Demographically Variant Populations, Iryna Pokotylyuk, Srishti Kulshrestha, Zvi G. Loewy, Priyank Kumar

Touro College of Pharmacy (New York) Publications and Research

Use of opioids is essential in providing a broad and effective analgesic effect. Opioid dosing has to be monitored and controlled in order to manage pain and the corresponding side effects due to opioid treatment. A very common single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) associated with the µ opioid receptor is A118G. A118G, located on exon 1 of the µ-opioid receptor gene (OPRM1), may alter how patients respond to opioid treatment. This polymorphism results in an exchange of adenine for guanine, which in turn leads to substitution of asparagine for the aspartic acid. In order to understand how individuals with the G …