Digital Commons Network^™

Acoustic Interactions: Pitch Coordination During Parent-Infant Interaction, Valerie Frances Mcdaniel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation investigates the development of pitch coordination between infants and mothers during the first year. The study contributes a longitudinal aspect to the small literature on this topic and introduces a new approach to understanding parent-infant interaction through the use of fine-grained acoustic analysis. Focusing exclusively on mutually-coordinated segments of interaction, acoustic measures examined pitch matching and other harmonic relationships between temporally contiguous utterances of the primary caregiver and infant. Fundamental frequency (fo) measurements were taken at turn exchanges, both at response boundaries and within overlapping vocalizations. Data was collected from 12 mother-infant dyads across two ages 3 months …

Saudi Efl Learners Knowledge And Use Of English Prepositional Verbs In Academic Writing, Hatim Abdulhadi Masoudi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Prepositional verbs are essential for English as a foreign language (EFL) and English as a second language (ESL) learners in academic writing. However, most learners, regardless of their proficiency, encounter difficulties using these verbs, and there is a lack of research on these difficulties. This study sought to describe, analyze, and understand Saudi EFL learners knowledge and use of English prepositional verbs in academic writing. The study also assesses the relevant teaching contexts and reasons behind common errors.The study utilized a mixed-methods approach with data collected from a cloze test, multiple-choice test, and semi-structured interview. The two tests were administered …

Neural Mechanisms Underlying Hierarchical Speech-In-Noise Processing, Caitlin Elise Nelms Price

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

One of the most commonly reported complaints related to hearing is difficulty understanding speech-in-noise (SIN). Numerous individuals struggle to effectively communicate in adverse listening conditions, even those with normal hearing. These difficulties are exacerbated due to age and hearing-related deficits such as hearing loss and auditory processing disorders. Despite the high prevalence of SIN deficits in individuals across the lifespan, the neural mechanisms underlying successful speech comprehension in noise are not well understood. Communication in noise is an incredibly complex process that requires efficient processing throughout the entire auditory pathway as well as contributions from higher-order cognitive processes including working …

Algorithmic Methods For Large-Scale Genomic And Metagenomic Data Analysis, Quang Tran

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

DNA sequencing technologies have advanced into the realm of big data due to frequent and rapid developments in biologic medicine. This has caused a surge in the necessity of efficient and highly scalable algorithms.This dissertation focuses on central work in read-to-reference alignments, resequencing studies, and metagenomics that were designed with these principles as the guiding reason for their construction.First, consider the computing intensive task of read-to-reference alignments, where the difficulty of aligning reads to a genome is directly related their complexity. We investigated three different formulations of sequence complexity as viable tools for measuring genome complexity along with how they …

Collaborative Writing In An Online Synchronous Mode: Comparing L2 Learners Interactions, Texts, And Co-Authoring Experiences In Pairs And Groups, Emil Fermin Ubaldo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The writing-to-learn the language (WLL) dimension in L2 writing argues for the language learning potential of written language production (cf. Manchn, 2011). This perspective has been supported by empirical research demonstrating that collaborative writing in peer groups can be an effective way to help language learners build both linguistic knowledge and writing skills (Storch, 2013; Swain, 2001). These studies generally investigated dyads collaborating in face-to-face environments. Limited research suggests, however, that the benefits of collaborative writing may be greater in small groups (e.g., Fernndez Dobao, 2012). Despite growing imperative for the use of technology in collaborative writing (Li & Storch, …

Electro- And Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production By Molecular Cobalt Complexes With Pentadentate Ligands In Aqueous Solutions, Ping Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Solar hydrogen production via artificial photosynthesis has the potential to provide clean and renewable fuel for the worlds increasing energy demands. The availability of efficient, robust, and low-cost catalysts capable of splitting water into oxygen and hydrogen is critical for future applications. There has been significant progress in designing molecular catalysts for hydrogen production based on earth-abundant metals such as Ni, Co, and Fe. Hydrogen production based on metalorganic-framework (MOF) templates has also received great interest over the past few years. Among the reported catalysts for H2 production, cobalt complexes with polypyridyl groups have gained much attention because of their …

Never Silence My Sexy: A Narrative Inquiry Study With Young Black Women Who Have Engaged In Sexy Selfies, Crystal Lashell White

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Hip Hop feminist research seeks to combat oppressive experiences of Black women by encouraging them to share their stories through its main tenets: fuck with the grays (Morgan, 2017), bring wreck (Pough, 2015), and pleasure politics (Morgan, 2015). Previous research on sexy selfies has mainly investigated the trends, motivations, and dangers of these practices, but only a few include the lived experiences and voices of Black women. Building on research surrounding identity and sexy selfie engagement within 21st century Hip Hop (HH) and social media cultures, this HH feminist narrative inquiry study investigated the following research questions: (1) How is …

In Vitro And In Vivo Evaluation And Mechanical Improvement Of The Electrospun Chitosan Membrane, Hengjie Su

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Guided bone regeneration (GBR) membranes are used for providing barrier function in guiding bone regeneration. Chitosan has been explored for making GBR membranes since it is biocompatible and biodegradable. Our group developed electrospun chitosan membranes (ESCM) using two novel post-spinning treatments; triethylamine (TEA)/di-tert-butyl dicarbonate (tBOC) treatment and the butyryl-anhydride (BA) treatment. These treatments prevented swelling and retained the nanofibrous structure of the membranes in aqueous environments, and exhibited physical properties, cell and tissue responses, and effective barrier function in vivo that are promising for GBR applications. The objectives of this research were to:1.Further evaluate impact of TEA/tBOC-stabilized nanofiber structure of …

Posthuman Iterations Of Literacy Coaching: A Walking Inquiry, Leslee Kathryn Bailey Tarbett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Literacy coaching holds great potential to support professional growth over time, however, within the research literature, there has been a consistent call for a more expansive and interconnected exploration of the many aspects (social, linguistic, material, affective, etc.) that work together to produce knowledge in a literacy coaching context. This posthuman post-qualitative study explored how a K-2 school environment created certain iterations of literacy coaching through specific school policies, practices, spaces, non-human materials, and humans (e.g. interactions with teachers, administrators, etc.). Participants included one school-based literacy coach, school principal, two teachers, and the district literacy supervisor working at Magnolia Springs …

The Relationship Between The Impact Of Ulcerative Colitis And Crohns Disease On Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Moderated By Remission Status, Remission Expectations And Post Traumatic Growth, Alexandra Fuss Vanderwerff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Every year millions of people worldwide are affected by Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohns Disease (CD), two chronic diseases that are marked by acute phases. The Enduring Somatic Threat (EST) model was proposed to address the trauma that results from ongoing somatic concerns rather than discrete external events. Prior research has shown that people living with acute conditions experience symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); however, very little research has been conducted concerning the relationship between UC and CD and symptoms of PTSD and whether the EST model could be extended to the UC/CD population. Additionally, literature suggests that remission …

Optogenetic Guide Rna Production For Spatiotemporal Regulation Of Crispr/Cas Systems, Diego Augusto Velasquez Pulgarin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Spatiotemporal organization and regulation of genomic and epigenomic processes is a phenomenon central to life. The pursuit of knowledge about these processes often requires specialized tools to be able to dissect biological mechanisms. CRISPR/Cas has emerged as a powerful tool for genome engineering, and has seen widespread use. Coupling CRISPR/Cas systems with tools that allow for spatiotemporal control is predicted to be transformational to the ability to perturb systems and gain the insights necessary to understand a diverse set of biological questions, and ultimately treat some of the most pervasive and elusive diseases. This dissertation describes the development of an …

Through The Wires Of Connection: The Role Of Empowered To Connect Parent Education In Trauma-Informed Parenting And Parent-Child Relationships, Nicole West

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This repeated measure design evaluates the effectiveness of the trauma-informed parent education course known as Empowered to Connect. This research used a quantitative method to investigate whether caregivers who are exposed to trauma-informed material improve their trauma-informed parenting skills and their parent-child relationship with their biological, foster, adoptive, and/or kinship children. Trauma-informed parenting is defined as a caregivers understanding of the impact of trauma on development and his or her ability to parent a child who has experienced a disruption in attachment and connection. A One-Way Repeated Measures Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), descriptive statistics, and a Wilcoxon Signed-Rank Test were …

The Impact Of Parenthood On Substance Use Disorder Treatment Participation And Motivation Of Incarcerated Offenders, Shelly L. Wilkerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The United States has more people in prison than any other country in the world. While many of these prisons offer treatment groups designed to rehabilitate inmates, it is unknown at what rate individuals participate in these groups and what their motivation is for involvement. This study investigated the impact of parenthood on substance use disorder treatment participation and motivation of incarcerated males and females. Descriptive statistics and chi square tests of independence were used to examine differences in participation rates and motivation of incarcerated parents and non-parents and incarcerated male and female parents. The study showed statistically significant results …

Ways Of Being, Seen And Unseen: Concepts, Practices, And The Emergence Of Trans Ways Of Life, James Edward Zubko, Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The dissertation presents a philosophical analysis of social possibilities in connection with gender. Specifically, the dissertation concerns how people take up social possibilities for different ways of living gender and how these possibilities emerge. The goal of the dissertation is to construct a philosophical framework that can be used to analyze social possibility in connection with trans (transsexual, transgender and gender non-conforming) existence. The dissertation argues that it is salutary to analyze the how concepts, practices and embodiment affect access to gendered social possibilities. The dissertation draws first on Heidegger in order to develop an ontological account of possibility as …

Representation Learning With Autoencoders For Electronic Health Records, Najibesadat Sadatijafarkalaei

Wayne State University Theses

Increasing volume of Electronic Health Records (EHR) in recent years provides great opportunities for data scientists to collaborate on different aspects of healthcare research by applying advanced analytics to these EHR clinical data. A key requirement however

is obtaining meaningful insights from high dimensional, sparse and complex clinical data. Data science approaches typically address this challenge by performing feature learning in order to build more reliable and informative feature representations from clinical data followed by supervised learning. In this research, we propose a predictive modeling approach based on deep feature representations and word embedding techniques. Our method uses different deep …

Tecumseh And Tenskwatawa: Myths, Memories, And Messages For Present Times, Matt Hoerauf

Wayne State University Theses

Tecumseh has been hailed as the most famous Indigenous leader in the United States and Canada. Many scholars have bemoaned the difficulty to separating man from myth. One thing is clear: there could be no Tecumseh without his brother Tenskwatawa. It was Tenskwatawa who first had a religious awakening that birthed a spiritual movement. It was Tenskwatawa who was the first leader of this pan-Indigenous group of followers. Tecumseh’s leadership would not emerge until nearly six years later. In the many works on Tecumseh, Tenskwatawa’s story can be easily found. However, he is nearly always portrayed as less important and …

The Freshair Wristband: Comparison Of Personal Exposure Measured Using Different Wearable Form Factors, Elizabeth Ziying Lin

Public Health Theses

Organic air pollutants are widely used in building materials, personal care and household products. Studies have been linking the exposure to these organic air pollutants with adverse health outcomes, including respiratory, cardiovascular, neurobehavioral outcomes, and cancer. Techniques to measure personal exposure to organic air pollutants include backpacks containing filters/pumps, and a set of single pollutant monitors. These techniques usually involve solvent extraction of filters. They are expensive, time-consuming, and inefficient which are not suitable for large scale, longitudinal exposome studies. The FreshAir samplers were developed to capture a wide range of compounds simultaneously throughout the exposure, its high degree of …

A Feel For The Space: Engagement With The Built Environment Of Treatment Spaces Among Individuals In Recovery, James Richey

Public Health Theses

Background

Treatment spaces for substance use disorders (SUD) are diverse with respect to treatment modality and population served. However, there is a lack of literature describing the design of treatment spaces and treatment engagement. This project aims to identify how the built environment of SUD treatment spaces play a role in treatment acceptability, retention, and outcomes.

Methods

We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with individuals in outpatient SUD treatment in southern Connecticut. These interviews explored individuals’ experience with the built environment of treatment spaces and facilities, including architectural and design-related features (e.g., functionality, spatial arrangement), and how space influences adherence to …

Inorganic Materials For Local Drug Delivery, Michael Anthony Harris

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Orthopedic infections, including periprosthetic joint infections and osteomyelitis, are debilitating complications that greatly increase mortality rates and expenditure of healthcare resources. Treatment protocols include surgical debridement of infected tissue, removal of any foreign implants, and several weeks of systemic antibiotic therapy, yet recurrence rates remain high. Local antibiotic delivery systems augment traditional therapy techniques by increasing antibiotic concentrations at the site of infection to levels that are unachievable by IV or oral delivery, thereby improving bacterial clearance rates. Current clinical products are commonly prepared at the surgeons direction, with only limited data and anecdotal reports guiding antibiotic choice and loading. …

On Transcribing Richard Wagners Siegfried Idyll For 21st-Century Wind Ensemble Instrumentation, Brian Edward Hodge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This project contains a transcription of Wagners Siegfried Idyll for wind band. The dissertation project includes documentation as to the transcription process, as well as historical references for Richard Wagner and for two previously transcribed contrasting approaches with Lucien Cailliets Elsas Procession to the Cathedral and Micheal Votta/John Byrds adaptation of Trauermusik. A detailed theoretical analysis of the original work is presented to contextualize the transcription process.

The Effectiveness Of Neurofeedback On Dissociation And Emotion Regulation, Possible Mediators Of Externalizing Behavior In Adolescents In Residential Treatment, M. Greg Horn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Residential treatment (RT) has shown a minimal effect in the treatment of aggression and delinquency in adolescents. Adverse childhood experiences predict these externalizing behaviors, and it is theorized that problems of self-regulation are involved. Neurofeedback has been used to facilitate self-regulation. Little research has examined how problems with self-regulation mediate the relationship between adverse childhood experiences and externalizing behaviors. Participants in the current study were male and female adolescents between ages 11 and 17 enrolled in a residential treatment facility. Participants were randomly assigned to either the treatment-as-usual or neurofeedback with treatment-as-usual condition. Multiple regression was utilized to examine a …

Women's Experiences With Leadership Development In An Outdoor-Based Experiential Training Program, Maria Del Socorro Hubbard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Outdoor-based experiential training (OBET) programs are a popular option for leadership development. However, few qualitative studies have explored the structural and textural factors within these programs that contribute to the leadership development of businesswomen who participate in them. This qualitative phenomenological study used a constructivist epistemology to explore the experiences of a sample of women who, during 2018 and 2019, participated in a five-day OBET program for leadership development sponsored by their employer. Gender schema theory served as a theoretical framework to consider the research questions: 1) How do women experience leadership development in an OBET program? 2) What experiences …

Beyond What We Knew:Health And Disease Among Blacks,With An Emphasis On Women In Memphis, From Slavery To Early Twentieth Century, Letoshia Foster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Letoshia, Foster, Ph.D. The University of Memphis, August 2020. Beyond What We Knew: Health, and Disease Among Blacks: With an Emphasis on Women in Memphis, From Slavery to Early Twentieth CenturyThis dissertation provides a comprehensive analysis of health issues among Black people in Memphis from the antebellum period through the early twentieth century. Throughout this period, slavery and Jim Crow had an inescapable effect on black Memphians lives. Race and gender were strong indicators for poor health outcomes. The topics of morbidity and mortality among Blacks over a seventy-year period is reflected in various types of scholarship, especially medical history …

Investigating Teachers Perspectives Toward Integrating Culture Into Learning And Teaching English As A Foreign Language, Monera Almohawes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study investigated teachers perspectives toward integrating culture into language teaching in Saudi Arabia. In particular, the research sought to investigate the reported perceptions and attitudes of English teachers in Saudi Arabia toward cultures role in learning and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). The study also examined the relationship between teachers opinions and their practices, what teachers understand by integrating culture into an EFL context, and the materials and strategies that teachers use in their classrooms related to culture and challenges that they might face. Data were gathered from full-time teachers, and a mixed-methods approach was employed to …

Factors Influencing Mate Choice In A Eusocial Mammal, The Damaraland Mole-Rat (Fukomys Damarensis), John Bowman Kelley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Damaraland mole-rat (DMR; Fukomys damarensis) colonies are composed of the breeding female (often termed the queen), her breeding partner, and their offspring. The non-breeding offspring do not expend energy to increase their fitness directly, they contribute to the reproductive effort of the breeding pair by: helping to care for their siblings, foraging for food, defending the colony from predators, and maintaining and enlarging the burrow system. DMR practice strict inbreeding avoidance within their natal colonies and, as a result, are considered obligate out-breeders. The expression of sexual behaviors in DMR does not depend solely upon exposure to an unfamiliar conspecific, …

Humans And Nonhumans Becoming Political: Memphis Women's March Assemblages, Margaret Ann King

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In this post-qualitative feminist study, object-interviews with women who participated in the Memphis Womens March (MWM) and nonhuman objects were used to explore the interconnections of the MWM and the women and the nonhuman objects, and the relational knowledge generated by the interconnections between humans (e.g., the women who marched, other marchers) and nonhumans (e.g., posters, banners, t-shirts, pink pussyhats, and/or photographs). This study is significant in two ways. First, this post-qualitative feminist study attends to the interconnections of the MWM and the women and the signs. Second, this study will contribute to current post-qualitative work by utilizing object-interviews to …

Endogenous And Social Factors Influencing Infant Vocalizations As Fitness Signals, Helen L. Long

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This dissertation evaluated the role of social and endogenous prelinguistic vocalizations as fitness signals in human development. It consists of three studies. The first investigated the reliability of listener judgments of the degree of infant vocal imitativeness in parent-infant vocal turn pairs as a measure of the saliency of potential vocal fitness signals. Participating listeners demonstrated moderate to high intra- and inter-rater agreement, suggesting vocal imitation has the potential to be used as a signal of fitness to caregivers in early development. The work also showed that vocal imitation in infancy is rare. The second study quantified the extent to …

Machine Learning Approaches For Biomarker Identification And Subgroup Discovery For Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Liangqun Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric disorder caused by environmental and genetic factors resulting from alterations in genetic variation, epigenetic changes and neuroimaging characteristics. There is a pressing need to identify reliable molecular and physiological biomarkers for accurate diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, as well to deepen the understanding of PTSD pathophysiology. Machine learning methods are widely used to infer patterns from biological data, identify biomarkers, and make predictions. The objective of this research is to apply machine learning methods for the accurate classification of human diseases from genome-scale datasets, focusing primarily on PTSD.The DoD-funded Systems Biology of PTSD Consortium …

2020 Supplement Vol. 1, American Dental Association

ADA Transactions

This item is part of the Supplements subtitle of The ADA Transactions, a serial publication of the annual activities of the ADA House of Delegates (HOD)/Board of Trustees (BOT) made up of three separate subtitles: Annual Reports and Resolutions, Supplements, and the Transactions. Generally, The ADA Transactions are published in multiple volumes throughout the year. The Supplements function like an appendix and are, in more recent editions, numbered separately with page numbers determined by HOD reference committee assignation. Items are described variously as "Supplement #", "Volume #", etc. throughout the series but have been labeled here as Vol. # for …

There’S Nothing Worse Than Losing To A Girl: An Analysis Of Sex Segregation In American Youth Sports, Julia Konieczny

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.