Digital Commons Network^™

Assessment Of Joint Kinetics In Elite Sprint Cyclists, Lynne Munro

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Sprint cycling requires the production of explosive muscle power outputs up to very high pedalling rates. The ability to assess muscular function through the course of the sprint would aid training practices for high-level performers. Inverse dynamics provides a non-invasive means of estimating the net muscle actions acting across any joint contributing to movement. However, analysis of joint kinetics requires motion-capture techniques that present some unique challenges for cycling. This thesis presents three studies investigating the application of a custom-designed force pedal system to examine the joint kinetics of elite trained track sprint cyclists. To provide the basis for selecting …

Mindfulness At Work: Assessing The Impact Of Practising Mindfulness In The Workplace On Engagement, Wellbeing, Happiness And Positivity, Fiona Peters

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Aim: The purpose of this study carried out in Perth, Western Australia was to examine the effect of mindfulness training on workers in a university setting, by assessing the impact of mindfulness training on their sense of wellbeing, happiness, positivity and level of engagement in their jobs.

Method: Participants (n = 54) were recruited through the Edith Cowan University staff Health and Wellness Program, Live Life Longer and randomly allocated into two groups of 27. Both groups were invited to take part in 6 weeks of mindfulness training with staggered starts, group 2 began once group 1 had completed the …

The Delivery Of Primary Health Care In Remote Australian Communities: A Grounded Theory Study Of The Perspective Of Nurses, Kylie Mccullough

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Around 85% of Australia’s landmass is remote and sparsely populated. Across these vast areas of desert, wilderness and tropical islands, nurses provide the majority of health care services. The residents of Australia’s remote communities have poorer health status than their metropolitan counterparts. The proportion of Indigenous people is high and health and social disadvantage is widespread. The characteristics of each remote community are unique and often reflect challenges associated with distance to tertiary health services and limited health resources. As a result, nursing practice within this context is very different to other nursing contexts. Despite recognition of Primary Health Care …

Deep Recurrent Learning For Efficient Image Recognition Using Small Data, Mahbubul Alam

Electrical & Computer Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Recognition is fundamental yet open and challenging problem in computer vision. Recognition involves the detection and interpretation of complex shapes of objects or persons from previous encounters or knowledge. Biological systems are considered as the most powerful, robust and generalized recognition models. The recent success of learning based mathematical models known as artificial neural networks, especially deep neural networks, have propelled researchers to utilize such architectures for developing bio-inspired computational recognition models. However, the computational complexity of these models increases proportionally to the challenges posed by the recognition problem, and more importantly, these models require a large amount of data …

Wet And Dry Atmospheric Deposition Of Nutrients And Bioactive Trace Metals To Coastal Waters Of The Mid-Atlantic Bight, Christine Sookhdeo

OES Theses and Dissertations

Atmospheric deposition provides a significant source of nutrients and bioactive trace metals to the surface ocean, including the seasonally oligotrophic waters of the Mid-Atlantic Bight. These atmospherically derived nutrients and trace metals enter the surface ocean via dry deposition of aerosols and wet deposition in rain. To estimate the aeolian input of nutrients and trace metals to coastal waters east of the Delmarva Peninsula, wet and dry atmospheric deposition samples were collected over a one-year time series at the Anheuser-Busch Coastal Research Center, Oyster, Virginia. Weekly composite samples were collected from May 2014 through June 2015. Nutrient species examined were …

Evaluation Of Different Management Options Of Fall Armyworm, (J.E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) And Assessment Of Its Parasitoids In Some Parts Of Ethiopia, Birhanu Sisay

All Master’s Theses

The fall armyworm (FAW) is a major pest of maize in America and its outbreaks in 2017 in Africa threatened maize, a staple food crop in the region. The effect of parasitoids, nine synthetic insecticides, eleven botanicals, five entomopathogens and pheromone lures have been studied against FAW in 2017 and 2018. Survey conducted in Jimma, Awash Melkasa, Hawasa, East and West Gojam identified three different species of parasitoids from FAW larvae belonging to Hymenoptera and Diptera. Cotesia icipe (Braconidae) was the dominant larval parasitoid in Hawassa, Jimma and Awash Melkassa with parasitism ranging from 33.8 to 45.3%. Tachinid fly, Palexorista …

The Impact Of Push-Pull Technology On Incidence And Severity Of Maize Ear Rots And Mycotoxins In Western Kenya, Owuor Maxwell Juti

All Master’s Theses

Soil is the primary reservoir for fungi of which Aspergillus and Fusarium species are the main causal agents of maize ear rot and mycotoxin production. Season and cropping systems are known to influence soil fungal community structure. It is imperative to establish the distribution and density of soil fungal communities as a requisite for formulating strategies for management of ear rot infections and mycotoxin contamination. The current study was carried out to investigate the distribution of Aspergillus and Fusarium fungi causing ear rots and producing mycotoxins from soil collected from maize fields under push-pull and maize monocrop systems in three …

Comparative Pairs Judgements For High-Stakes Practical Assessments, Hendrati Nastiti

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Assessment of practical tasks, as opposed to that of theoretical tasks, has been considered to be problematic, mainly because it is usually resource intensive and the scoring is subjective. Most practical tasks need to be assessed on site or involve products that need to be collected, stored, or transported. Moreover, because practical tasks are generally open-ended, and therefore subjective, there is concern over the reliability of the scores. In high-stakes assessment, these problems are even more challenging. There is a need for an assessment method that could overcome these problems. In this study, such a method that will be referred …

Comparing Live To Recorded Music And Stories Using Multiple Psychoneuroendocrine And Psychological Measures, Ronniet Orlando

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Listening to music brings health benefits, according to an expanding opus of empirical research. Studies to date cover a wide range of music interventions and outcome measures. Music has been applied to healthy participants, as well as clinical populations to target anxiety and pain. But little is known about whether live music is more effective than recorded music as an intervention for these common symptoms.

This exploratory study sought answers with the emerging science of saliva analysis, which focuses on biomarkers that indicate stress and immune function. In this case salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, immunoglobulin-A, interleukin- 1beta, and pH levels were …

Antibiotic Resistance In Gram Negative Bacteria Isolated From Fish Sold In Western Australia, Hannah Kathleen Robinson

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Background Information The global misuse and overuse of antibiotics in human medicine and the animal production industry is contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance in bacteria. This is a serious threat to modern medicine and public health. Antibiotic resistant organisms can cause severe infections in humans which are difficult to treat, and in some cases impossible to resolve which can lead to premature death. Several studies have been conducted across the globe to assess the use of antibiotics in the seafood industry and the associated health risks, however, limited studies have recently explored this risk in an Australian setting. …

N-Glycosylation Profiles As A Risk Stratification Biomarker For Type Ii Diabetes Mellitus And Its Associated Factors, Eric Adua

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Worldwide, the prevalence of cardiometabolic diseases, particularly type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM), and to a lesser extent, metabolic syndrome (MetS), has increased dramatically. Despite this increase, there is still a lack of robust biomarkers for cardiometabolic diseases to secure better clinical outcomes. The enzymatic attachment of oligosaccharides (glycans) to proteins-glycosylation is of metabolic and physiological significance, as exploring aberrations of glycosylation profiles can reveal novel biomarkers. In parallel, this process could also explain the biological mechanisms that underpin a suboptimal health status (SHS), a reversible subclinical stage of a cardiometabolic disease. However, studies on the correlation between glycosylation and MetS/T2DM …

Evolution Belief Trends, Jamie Jensen

ScholarsArchive Data

This is the essay code frequencies along with the raw survey data for both Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 for the following paper:

Bradshaw, WS, Phillips, AJ, Bybee, SM, Gill, RA, Peck, SL, Jensen, JL. 2018. A longitudinal study of attitudes toward evolution among Mormon undergraduates. PLOSONE.

Lessons From Labor Feminists: Using Collective Action To Improve Conditions For Women Lawyers, Marion Burke

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Towards Establishing Parenthood By Agreement In Jewish Law, Yehezkel Hezi Margalit

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Acceptance And Commitment Therapy As An Intervention For Adolescent Chronic Pain Related To Pectus Excavatum: A Case Study, Hayley N. Roberts

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

The most common chest wall deformity, Pectus Excavatum (PE), is a congenital deformity in which the sternum and adjoining chest wall cave inwards toward the spine (Lawson et al., 2003). While corrective surgical procedures have been shown to have positive effects on the physical and psychosocial well-being of patients with PE (Krasopoulos, Dusmet, Ladas, & Goldstraw, 2006), often surgical procedures, such as those done to correct PE, can result in what is known as Chronic Post-Surgical Pain (CPSP). CPSP has been shown to have great bearing on the patient’s overall well-being (Weinrib et al., 2017), meaning that while the corrective …

Faculty Perceptions Of What Makes A Student Successful In The Mathematical Sciences, Casey E. George, Lisa Skultety, Randi Congleton

Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

Faculty members play a key role in facilitating student outcome, including their learning, persistence, and degree completion. Through analyses of online survey data, this study investigates the views of faculty mentors involved in a nationwide mentoring program that aims to support underrepresented students' transition from undergraduate to graduate studies in the mathematical sciences. Specifically, faculty member's perceptions of what factors contribute to students' success or lack of success in mathematics, statistics, and biostatistics are examined. Reasons for success cited by faculty are highly individualized, such as innate ability, motivation, and dedication, yet some contextual and structural factors, including research opportunities …

Pederasty In Ancient Greece: A View Of A Now Forbidden Institution, Catherine S. Donnay

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

No abstract provided.

The Bi-Directional Relationship Between Gut Microbiota And Autoimmunity, Trevor O. Kirby

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Humans serve as a major reservoir for a vast number of microbiota. These microbes have evolved symbiotic relationships with humans due to their close proximity with their host. As a result, the immune system adapts to the microbiota thus modulating immunological function. Autoimmunity is a state in which there are aberrant immune responses produced against host tissue. Intestinal bacteria are directly impacted by instances of inflammation brought on by autoimmunity. The complicated nature between autoimmunity and bacterial modulation demonstrates a bi-directional relationship. Here, we utilize experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, a model for multiple sclerosis, to explore the bi-directional relationship that disease …

The Academic Performances Of Community College Transfer Students At Eastern Washington University (Ewu), Amanda S. Lee

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

This thesis assesses the academic progress of transfer students at Eastern Washington University. Over %60 of college graduates attend multiple institutions (United States Department of Education, 2006) and more than %70 of Washington students attend a technical or community college before entering a 4-year institution. (HEBC, 2011) This makes transfer students an extremely valuable and important population to universities across the United States. These students run into different issues then average freshmen do, such as loss of credit which can impact their time to graduation and have a negative financial impact. Transfer student success falls heavily on receiving and having …

Vegetation Community Development After Dam Removal On The Elwha River, Olivia A. Morgan

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The Elwha River is the site of the largest dam removal project in the world to date and serves as a case study for the ecological effects of large dam removal. The 2012-2014 removal of two dams on the Elwha River exposed a cumulative 2.76 km2 of previously inundated surfaces. Environmental conditions including sediment texture and nutrients, slope-aspect, dispersal distance from the river and mature forest, disturbance, and elevation vary widely across the reservoir surfaces, causing significant variation in the plant community. The first objective of my study is to continue a long-term study of the passively restored vegetation community …

Unmarked? Criminal Record Clearing And Employment Outcomes, Jeffrey Selbin, Justin Mccrary, Joshua Epstein

Faculty Scholarship

An estimated one in three American adults has a criminal record. While some records are for serious offenses, most are for arrests or relatively low-level misdemeanors. In an era of heightened security concerns, easily available data, and increased criminal background checks, these records act as a substantial barrier to gainful employment and other opportunities. Harvard sociologist Devah Pager describes people with criminal records as “marked” with a negative job credential.

In response to this problem, lawyers have launched unmarking programs to help people take advantage of legal record clearing remedies. We studied a random sample of participants in one such …

Rock Hill High Annual Reports - Accession 1305, Rock Hill High School, Rock Hill, Sc

Manuscript Collection

The Rock Hill High Annual Reports consist of reports produced by the principal which covers topics such as student clubs, assembly programs, Guidance & Religious Emphasis Weeks, graduation agendas, and achievement awards in the areas of academic, sports and talent competition.

Rights Skepticism And Majority Rule At The Birth Of The Modern First Amendment, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

Learned Hand, Oliver Wendell Holmes, and Louis Brandeis all had the same problem. They were troubled — Holmes less than the others and later, but eventually — by the widespread and mean-spirited persecution of dissenters they observed as the United States entered World War I and then reacted to the Bolshevik Revolution. Today, most persons so troubled would think that constitutional rights, and particularly the freedom of speech, exist for the very purpose of countermanding zealous political majorities that deny or neglect the claims of dissenters. But Hand, Holmes, and Brandeis, each by his own distinctive path, came to the …

African American Pentecostal Clergy Members’ Perceptions Of Mental Health And Their Subsequent Referral Practices, Jasmine Harris

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

African Americans do not seek or receive mental health services as much as their Caucasian counterparts. There is a myriad of factors that influence the reasons why many African Americans are not seeking services, including, stigma, mistrust, affordability, accessibility, and availability of services. Because of these factors, many African Americans tend to seek psychological help from their religious advisors. Pentecostal Christians’ religious views may directly conflict with seeking services from a mental health professional. This study’s aim was to explore African American clergy members’ perceptions of mental health and to determine how those perceptions influence their subsequent referral practices to …

The Relationship Between Stress, Social Problem Solving, And Psychological Distress In Mothers Of Daughters With Eating Disorders, Sarah M. Hittinger

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Mothers of daughters with eating disorders are at risk for experiencing high levels of psychological distress, which can have negative implications for mothers themselves and the children under their care. Coping strategies that effectively manage the stress of the caregiving role have been found to reduce psychological distress, but the literature does not clearly define the type of coping that is best indicated for this population of caregivers. Coping via social problem solving has been found to predict less psychological distress and moderate the stressdistress relationship in many caregiver populations. The relationship between stress, coping via social problem solving, and …

Study Of Förster Resonance Energy Transfer To Lipid Domain Markers Ascertains Partitioning Of Semisynthetic Lipidated N-Ras In Lipid Raft Nanodomains, Anna K. Shishina, Elizaveta A. Kovrigina, Azamat R. Galiakhmetov, Rajendra Rathore, Evgenii L. Kovrigin

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Cellular membranes are heterogeneous planar lipid bilayers displaying lateral phase separation with the nanometer-scale liquid-ordered phase (also known as “lipid rafts”) surrounded by the liquid-disordered phase. Many membrane-associated proteins were found to permanently integrate into the lipid rafts, which is critical for their biological function. Isoforms H and N of Ras GTPase possess a unique ability to switch their lipid domain preference depending on the type of bound guanine nucleotide (GDP or GTP). This behavior, however, has never been demonstrated in vitro in model bilayers with recombinant proteins and therefore has been attributed to the action of binding of Ras …

Structural Evidence Of A Major Conformational Change Triggered By Substrate Binding In Dape Enzymes: Impact On The Catalytic Mechanism, Boguslaw P. Nocek, Cory Reidl, Anna Starus, Tahirah Heath, David L. Bienvenue, Jerzy Osipiuk, Robert Jedrzejczak, Andzrej Joachimiak, Daniel P. Becker, Richard C. Holz

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The X-ray crystal structure of the dapE-encoded N-succinyl-l,l-diaminopimelic acid desuccinylase from Haemophilus influenzae (HiDapE) bound by the products of hydrolysis, succinic acid and l,l-DAP, was determined at 1.95 Å. Surprisingly, the structure bound to the products revealed that HiDapE undergoes a significant conformational change in which the catalytic domain rotates ∼50° and shifts ∼10.1 Å (as measured at the position of the Zn atoms) relative to the dimerization domain. This heretofore unobserved closed conformation revealed significant movements within the catalytic domain compared to that of wild-type HiDapE, which results in effectively closing off access to …

A–C Estrogens As Potent And Selective Estrogen Receptor-Beta Agonists (Serbas) To Enhance Memory Consolidation Under Low-Estrogen Conditions, Alicia M. Hanson, K. L. Iresha Sampathi Perera, Jaekyoon Kim, Rajesh K. Pandey, Noreena Sweeney, Xingyun Lu, Andrea Imhoff, Alexander Craig Mackinnon, Adam J. Wargolet, Rochelle M. Van Hart, Karyn M. Frick, William A. Donaldson, Daniel S. Sem

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Estrogen receptor-beta (ERβ) is a drug target for memory consolidation in postmenopausal women. Herein is reported a series of potent and selective ERβ agonists (SERBAs) with in vivo efficacy that are A–C estrogens, lacking the B and D estrogen rings. The most potent and selective A–C estrogen is selective for activating ER relative to seven other nuclear hormone receptors, with a surprising 750-fold selectivity for the β over α isoform and with EC₅₀s of 20–30 nM in cell-based and direct binding assays. Comparison of potency in different assays suggests that the ER isoform selectivity is related to the …

America’S Relation To World Order: Two Indictments, Two Thought Experiments, And A Misquotation, Philip C. Bobbitt

Faculty Scholarship

The State is undergoing a crisis of legitimacy owing to its inability to cope with novel problems of weapons proliferation, transnational threats including climate change, a fragile global financial infrastructure, cultural influences carried by electronic communications, and an undemocratic regime of human rights law. These fatal inadequacies are summoning forth a new constitutional order, the latest in a series of century-spanning archetypal regimes that have arisen since the Renaissance and the collapse of feudalism. A backlash against the harbingers of this new order, however, is crippling the development of those modes of action that are required to deal with the …

Promoting International Cybersecurity Cooperation: Lessons From The Proliferation Security Initiative, Duncan B. Hollis, Matthew C. Waxman

Faculty Scholarship

Global efforts by states to cooperate through international rules in combating cyber threats have generated mixed results, at best. In this paper, we examine the architecture of the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) as a possible model for future cybersecurity cooperation among interested states. We identify several features of PSI’s architecture (rather than its substantive focus on non-proliferation) for further analysis, including PSI’s low entry costs, tiered structure, and flexibility, as well as its leveraging of both territorial jurisdiction and state consent. We conclude that, despite several hurdles visible in the scope of its membership and its legal framework, PSI still …