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On Several Efficient Algorithms For Some Partial Differential Equations, Hee Jun Choi Jan 2015

On Several Efficient Algorithms For Some Partial Differential Equations, Hee Jun Choi

Open Access Dissertations

ABSTRACT

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A Programming Framework To Ease Development Of Tightly-Coupled Cloud Applications, Wei-Chiu Chuang Jan 2015

A Programming Framework To Ease Development Of Tightly-Coupled Cloud Applications, Wei-Chiu Chuang

Open Access Dissertations

Cloud application development is currently for professionals only. To make the cloud more accessible, cloud applications should ideally be easy to develop so that virtually anyone can develop their own cloud applications. However, they are difficult to develop, because they are essentially distributed systems, where the concurrent operations may take place, and reasoning about the behavior of concurrent operations to ensure correctness is not trivial. Additionally, programmers must consider failure handling, scalability, consistency, modularity, elasticity.

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Homecoming Festivals: The Re-Accentuated Image Of Don Quixote In Western Novel, Tatevik Gyulamiryan Jan 2015

Homecoming Festivals: The Re-Accentuated Image Of Don Quixote In Western Novel, Tatevik Gyulamiryan

Open Access Dissertations

The publication of Don Quixote (1605, 1615) impacted significantly the dynamics of Western literature. The renowned novel, which builds upon a considerable number of characters and episodes, is considered one of the most read and most analyzed pieces of literature in the world. This novel opens a wide platform for socio-political criticism, religious and cultural discussions, and literary analyses. For these reasons, critics read and study, and writers mention and imitate Cervantes’ novel up until today. A multitude of significant novels written by a variety of eminent authors share characteristics with Don Quixote, and thus become “quixotic.”

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A Phenomenographic Study Of How Aerospace Engineers Experience Uncertainty When Making Design Decisions, Antonette T. Cummings Jan 2015

A Phenomenographic Study Of How Aerospace Engineers Experience Uncertainty When Making Design Decisions, Antonette T. Cummings

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigated the qualitatively different ways in which engineers working in aerospace-related industries experience uncertainty as they make design decisions. This study provides insight on how engineers increase their ability to manage various forms of uncertainty as they design large scale complex engineered systems. The results of this study are valuable for understanding learning trajectories of engineers beyond their academic experiences and for linking the professional and technical skills in industry to the undergraduate engineering learning experience.

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The Lesser Of Two Evils: The Figure Of The Jew In Elizabethan Literature, Karen Angelle Feiner Jan 2015

The Lesser Of Two Evils: The Figure Of The Jew In Elizabethan Literature, Karen Angelle Feiner

Open Access Dissertations

Critics tend to take one of three attitudes towards the Jewish figure in Early Modern drama: either a) the depiction is intended to be anti-Semitic; b) philo-Semitic; c) that the playwrights are merely observing and documenting the anti-Semitism prevalent in Elizabethan London. This reductive view oversimplifies our understanding of the complexities of Jewish characters on the British Renaissance stage. By looking past the label “Jew” that Shakespeare in The Merchant of Venice and Marlowe in The Jew of Malta use, we can understand that the Jewish character is a proxy for more relevant and threatening figures to an Anglican Christian …

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Stress Granules Modulate Syk To Cause Microglial Dysfunction In Alzheimer’S Disease, Soumitra Ghosh Jan 2015

Stress Granules Modulate Syk To Cause Microglial Dysfunction In Alzheimer’S Disease, Soumitra Ghosh

Open Access Dissertations

Microglial cells in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients are recruited to amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and exhibit an activated phenotype, but are defective for plaque removal by phagocytosis. To explore the molecular basis for these phenomena, I hypothesized that defects in the functions of the protein-tyrosine kinase SYK, which is important both for macrophage activation and phagocytosis, might underlie much of this pathology. Recent evidence from our lab indicates that SYK can associate with stress granules, ribonucleoprotein particles that form in stressed cells and contain inactive translation initiation complexes. I found that microglial cell lines and primary mouse brain microglia, …

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Exploring Perceived Communicative Competence In Upper-Level L1 And L2 Interactions In Higher Education, Heejung Kwon Jan 2015

Exploring Perceived Communicative Competence In Upper-Level L1 And L2 Interactions In Higher Education, Heejung Kwon

Open Access Dissertations

The present study explores how university-level second language learners of English prepare themselves for professional worlds in English-speaking environments in a North American context. I specifically look at how upper-level L2 students (second language learners) identify their needs and negotiate miscommunications and preconceived notions of L2 learners in various communicative events in the process of developing communicative competence (Canale & Swain, 1980; Hymes, 1972) and planning for their future careers. I also investigate how L1 English speakers (native speakers of English) form perceptions of L2 English speakers and negotiate miscommunications and misunderstandings while engaging in collaborative projects. Using ethnographic approaches …

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This Is Not A Dissertation: (Neo)Neo-Bohemian Connections, Walter Gainor Moore Jan 2015

This Is Not A Dissertation: (Neo)Neo-Bohemian Connections, Walter Gainor Moore

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation uses/packages selected post-World War II literature, film, and photography to identify and analyze various aspects/nuances and influences/connections of/on/to Neo-Bohemia in the contemporary United States, and aims to show how these textual associations and analyses interconnect with particular American cities and (neo)bohemian neighborhoods along with these spaces’/places’ related residents and players.

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Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Understanding Of Complex Circuit Concepts: An Investigation Of The Intersection Of Students’ Prior Knowledge, Design Of Learning Environments And The Nature Of The Content, Nicole Pitterson Jan 2015

Undergraduate Engineering Students’ Understanding Of Complex Circuit Concepts: An Investigation Of The Intersection Of Students’ Prior Knowledge, Design Of Learning Environments And The Nature Of The Content, Nicole Pitterson

Open Access Dissertations

Research focused on increasing students’ conceptual understanding of electric circuits discuss this concept as difficult to not only teach but for students to grasp. This difficulty has been attributed to the fact that students tend to hold inaccurate pre-conceptions of electricity which becomes problematic as the level of complexity increases from the most basic to more advanced circuit concepts. The combination of inaccurate and inadequate prior knowledge has the potential to prevent students from being able to assimilate new material they come in contact with when instructed about electric circuit concepts in formal settings. Often times, students’ inability to associate …

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Dietary And Exercise Effects On Neural Responses To Visual Food Stimuli In Overweight And Obese Adults, Richard Sayer Jan 2015

Dietary And Exercise Effects On Neural Responses To Visual Food Stimuli In Overweight And Obese Adults, Richard Sayer

Open Access Dissertations

Results from human neuroimaging studies consistently demonstrate that obesity is associated with altered neural reward processing of food-relevant cues. These observations have caused some investigators to question whether behavioral interventions such as dietary manipulations or physical activity might modulate processing of food cues in reward-related brain regions. The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural responses to visual food stimuli is a commonly utilized paradigm for assessing neural reward responses relating to ingestive behavior of foods in humans. Using this study design, limited evidence suggests that increases in dietary protein and participation in acute and chronic aerobic …

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What If They Were Right? Title Ix And The Aiaw’S Philosophy Of Coaching And Athletic Administration., Robert Scott Russell Jan 2015

What If They Were Right? Title Ix And The Aiaw’S Philosophy Of Coaching And Athletic Administration., Robert Scott Russell

Open Access Dissertations

When Title IX was first signed into law in the United States in 1972, its intended purpose was to guarantee equal opportunity for women in educational settings. In collegiate athletics Title IX quickly became a battle ground. It became a battle ground over how to increase the number of female collegiate athletes without impacting men’s programs, and also a battle ground over who would have primary responsibility for the administration of women’s sports. When the male-dominated NCAA took over the administration of women’s varsity teams after a 10-year battle with the female-led AIAW, female athletic administrators were forced to relinquish …

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Decentralized Algorithms For Nash Equilibrium Problems – Applications To Multi-Agent Network Interdiction Games And Beyond, Harikrishnan Sreekumaran Jan 2015

Decentralized Algorithms For Nash Equilibrium Problems – Applications To Multi-Agent Network Interdiction Games And Beyond, Harikrishnan Sreekumaran

Open Access Dissertations

Nash equilibrium problems (NEPs) have gained popularity in recent years in the engineering community due to their ready applicability to a wide variety of practical problems ranging from communication network design to power market analysis. There are strong links between the tools used to analyze NEPs and the classical techniques of nonlinear and combinatorial optimization. However, there remain significant challenges in both the theoretical and algorithmic analysis of NEPs. This dissertation studies certain special classes of NEPs, with the overall purpose of analyzing theoretical properties such as existence and uniqueness, while at the same time proposing decentralized algorithms that provably …

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A Techno-Economic Investigation Of Advanced Vehicle Technologies And Their Impacts On Fuel Economy, Emissions, And The Future Fleet, Richard A. Simmons Jan 2015

A Techno-Economic Investigation Of Advanced Vehicle Technologies And Their Impacts On Fuel Economy, Emissions, And The Future Fleet, Richard A. Simmons

Open Access Dissertations

A more sustainable transportation energy future for society is the principal motivation of this dissertation. The central purpose of this work is to investigate vehicle technologies that contribute to fuel and emissions reductions while preserving consumer choice, and to evaluate their technological performance and economic practicability as essential aspects of meeting aspirational targets and regulatory requirements associated with the future vehicle fleet.

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Efficient Aggregated Deliveries With Strong Guarantees In An Event-Based Distributed System, Gregory Aaron Wilkin Jan 2015

Efficient Aggregated Deliveries With Strong Guarantees In An Event-Based Distributed System, Gregory Aaron Wilkin

Open Access Dissertations

A popular approach to designing large scale distributed systems is to follow an event-based approach. In an event-based approach, a set of software components interact by producing and consuming events. The event-based model allows for the decoupling of software components, allowing distributed systems to scale to a large number of components. Event correlation allows for higher order reasoning of events by constructing complex events from single, consumable events. In many cases, event correlation applications rely on centralized setups or broker overlay networks. In the case of centralized setups, the guarantees for complex event delivery are stronger, however, centralized setups create …

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Understanding Co-Teaching And Related Self-Efficacy Change In Student Teachers Who Co-Teach, Krista Zartman Jan 2015

Understanding Co-Teaching And Related Self-Efficacy Change In Student Teachers Who Co-Teach, Krista Zartman

Open Access Dissertations

This study’s purpose was twofold. First, I sought to understand and document the experience of co-teaching as a student teacher as it is currently being conducted by universities in the State of Indiana. Secondly, I desired to understand how the documented experiences impact a pre-service student teacher’s developing sense of self-efficacy related to teaching. Therefore, this work presents the results of a mixed-methods study addressing the research questions:

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Domesticity, Manhood, And The Natural Environment In Antebellum American Literature, Matthew Michael Bastnagel Jan 2015

Domesticity, Manhood, And The Natural Environment In Antebellum American Literature, Matthew Michael Bastnagel

Open Access Dissertations

Discussions of masculinity, the natural environment, or domestic culture are relatively common in antebellum literary scholarship, but this dissertation explores the less commonly discussed connections among these three areas of study. Likewise, ecofeminist scholars have done groundbreaking work describing the relationship between gender and the environment, but, with some exceptions, descriptions of male identity and the environment most often reference an ecologically-destructive patriarchal mode. In the American antebellum period, the figure of the frontiersman best represents this patriarchal view, and his effortless mobility, self-possession, and mastery over the landscape form a dominant understanding of manhood and nature in the decades …

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Cultivating Multicultural Education In Islamic Schools In The U.S: Teachers' Perspectives About Diversity In Islamic Schools, Kadriye El-Atwani Jan 2015

Cultivating Multicultural Education In Islamic Schools In The U.S: Teachers' Perspectives About Diversity In Islamic Schools, Kadriye El-Atwani

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of six teachers who have taught in Islamic schools in the U.S. to comprehend the general context of multicultural education in Islamic schools. This study was designed as a descriptive collective case study primarily to investigate how racial, class, national, language and gender diversity were observed in six different Islamic schools’ climates and classrooms. Designing this research as a collective case study fostered the exploration of various social dynamics among Muslim communities in the U.S., and exemplified different characteristics of Muslim communities through the six cases. Key findings and analyses …

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Functional Selectivity Downstream Of Gαi/O-Coupled Receptors, Tarsis Brust Fernandes Jan 2015

Functional Selectivity Downstream Of Gαi/O-Coupled Receptors, Tarsis Brust Fernandes

Open Access Dissertations

G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are drug targets that often activate multiple signaling pathways. The multiple GPCR responses provide opportunities for biased or functionally selective ligands to preferentially modulate one signaling pathway over another. Studies with several GPCRs have suggested that selective activation of signaling pathways downstream of a GPCR may lead to safer and more effective drug therapies. The dopamine D2 receptor is the main target in therapies for Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia. First and second generation antipsychotic drugs antagonize dopamine D2 receptor. Notably, both these classes of drugs may cause side effects associated with D2 receptor antagonism (e.g. hyperprolactemia …

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Race. Nation. Zombie: Imperial Masculinities Gazing At The Undead, Adryan Glasgow Jan 2015

Race. Nation. Zombie: Imperial Masculinities Gazing At The Undead, Adryan Glasgow

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation argues that zombie narratives have always been about white masculinity and that colonialism is the true living dead monster. The zombie is not the load-bearing signifier in these stories. It is the white men who act as representatives of empire that embody tropes and evolve. This dissertation examines the survivor masculinity in zombie films over time to see how hegemonic masculinity has adapted to a range of national crises. I argue that the failure of white masculinities in these films and novel is rooted in the limited ways of knowing inherent in the Imperial Gaze. Starting in the …

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Elementary School Teachers' Attitudes Towards Multilingualism And Language Policy: Kazan, Russia, Alsu M. Gilmetdinova Jan 2015

Elementary School Teachers' Attitudes Towards Multilingualism And Language Policy: Kazan, Russia, Alsu M. Gilmetdinova

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation adopts a transdisciplinary approach to study schools as sites of language policy implementation. Contributions of language policy, TESOL and multilingual education, and linguistic anthropology help understand the role of teachers in language education. Of particular interests are teachers’ attitudes towards multilingualism and language policies, namely, the learning and teaching of national (Russian), titular (Tatar) and foreign (English) languages, as well as teachers’ negotiation of language policies in school. Federal, regional and school policy documents, 25 teacher interviews and site observations from a Tatar-medium school (1), a Russian-medium school (2) and a school with intensive English language program (3) …

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"Transistor-Like" Spin Nano-Switches: Physics And Applications, Vinh Quang Diep Jan 2015

"Transistor-Like" Spin Nano-Switches: Physics And Applications, Vinh Quang Diep

Open Access Dissertations

Progress in the last two decades has effectively integrated spintronics and nanomagnetics into a single field, creating a new class of spin-based devices that are now being widely used in magnetic memory devices. However, it is not clear if these advances could also be used to build logic devices.

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Inferred Rheology And Upper Mantle Conditions Of Western Nevada And Southern California-Northwest Mexico, Haylee Dickinson Jan 2015

Inferred Rheology And Upper Mantle Conditions Of Western Nevada And Southern California-Northwest Mexico, Haylee Dickinson

Open Access Dissertations

Understanding the viscous strength (rheology) of the mantle is essential for understanding the dynamics and evolution of the Earth. Rheology affects many geologic processes such as mantle convection, the earthquake cycle, and plate tectonics. This study uses tectonic (postseismic) and non-tectonic (lake unloading) events that have induced differential stress changes within the crust and mantle, which in turn, create surface deformation. The viscoelastic relaxation is constrained using geodetic methods, such as GPS, InSAR, or measurements of shoreline rebound. We can use these observed surface displacements to constrain numerical models of the relaxation processes that can be used to infer a …

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Cinderella And Other Fairy Tales As Secular Scripture In Contemporary America And Russia, Kate Christine Moore Koppy Jan 2015

Cinderella And Other Fairy Tales As Secular Scripture In Contemporary America And Russia, Kate Christine Moore Koppy

Open Access Dissertations

Koppy, Kate C. M. PhD, Purdue University, December 2015. Cinderella and Other Fairy Tales as Secular Scripture in Contemporary America and Russia. Major Professor: Charles Ross.

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Cultural Considerations In Forensic Science In The United States, Suzanna K. Taylor, Wayne P. Bergeron Jan 2015

Cultural Considerations In Forensic Science In The United States, Suzanna K. Taylor, Wayne P. Bergeron

Politics, Justice, Law, and Philosophy

Does the cultural context of any criminal justice element, ranging from the crime victim to the forensic science expert, have any impact on the pursuit of justice? Is forensic science completely free of cultural adulteration? Two dimensions of the cultural consideration variable this paper focuses on are (1), what areas of forensic analysis need to be considered to prevent, or at least, diminish cultural offenses in processing crime scenes and forensic evidence, and (2) the need of forensic science professionals and organizations to adopt a consistent scientific culture in processing and analyzing evidence (particularly in DNA analysis). While many empirical …

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First Graders As Sensitive Social Partners And Skilled Readers, Zaira R. Arvelo Alicea Jan 2015

First Graders As Sensitive Social Partners And Skilled Readers, Zaira R. Arvelo Alicea

Open Access Dissertations

This mixed methods dissertation is guided by a sociocultural framework and a pragmatist stance to contribute to early literacy scholarship about minority children. In particular, I explore the relationship between low socioeconomic status Puerto Rican children’s reading experience and their social cognition by: (1) assessing them through quantitative and qualitative measures that reveal their capacities in these areas at the end of their first grade year, and (2) documenting their reading experiences at home and at school through ethnographic qualitative methods. The analyses revealed significant positive correlations between the tests of reading and social understanding, a scarcity of conventional reading …

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Creation And Validation Of The Critical Thinking About Sustainability Scale, Vivian Gregory Alexander Jan 2015

Creation And Validation Of The Critical Thinking About Sustainability Scale, Vivian Gregory Alexander

Open Access Dissertations

Alexander, Vivian G. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2015. Creation and Validation of the Critical Thinking about Sustainability Scale. Major Professor: Yukiko Maeda.

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Drug Delivery To Solid Tumors Via Polymeric Nanoparticles, Sara Ahmed Jan 2015

Drug Delivery To Solid Tumors Via Polymeric Nanoparticles, Sara Ahmed

Open Access Dissertations

A main challenge in chemotherapy is to deliver an anti-cancer drug selectively to tumor and avoid off-target exposure to other body tissues and organs. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been considered a promising approach for tumor drug delivery, with popularity attributable to the famous “Enhanced Permeability and Retention effect”, where small particles enter tumor tissues through leaky vasculature and be retained there. Currently, the phagocytic clearance of NPs is avoided by coating NP surface with Polyethylene glycol (PEG). Although successful in prolonging NPs circulation, PEG prevents proper interaction of NPs with the target cells, known as “PEG dilemma”. Low molecular weight chitosan …

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Killing The Patient To Cure The Disease: Medicare's Jurisdictional Bar Does Not Apply To Bankruptcy Courts, Samuel R. Maizel, Michael B. Potere Jan 2015

Killing The Patient To Cure The Disease: Medicare's Jurisdictional Bar Does Not Apply To Bankruptcy Courts, Samuel R. Maizel, Michael B. Potere

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

The Social Security Act requires an exhaustion of administrative remedies prior to judicial review through 42 U.S.C. §§ 405(g) & (h). A hospital's appeal from a claim of overpayment by the government can take years, forcing hospital closure due to a lack of continued Medicare payments. Historically, some bankruptcy courts, looking to legislative history, have found that they lack jurisdiction over Medicare claims prior to the exhaustion of administrative remedies. However, in In re Bayou Shores, SNF, LLC and In re Nurses' Registry and Home Health Corp., the bankruptcy court found that under the plain language of § 405(h) it …

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The Non-Dischargeability Of Private Student Loans: A Looming Financial Crisis?, Preston Mueller Jan 2015

The Non-Dischargeability Of Private Student Loans: A Looming Financial Crisis?, Preston Mueller

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

Unlike the vast majority of consumer debts owed to private lenders, educational loans made by private lending institutions are protected as non-dischargeable under Section 523(a)(8) of the Bankruptcy Code. Because most borrowers cannot shirk their obligations to private student lenders, even by filing for bankruptcy, lenders are willing to lend more in this context than with other dischargeable forms of debt; thus artificially inflating the market for higher education loans. This practice is becoming crucial to the health of our overall economy as student loans have become one of the largest forms of consumer debt in the United States, second …

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Consumer Bankruptcy Panel: Undue Hardship: An Analysis Of Student Loan Debt Discharge In Bankruptcy, C. Ray Mullins, Dalié Jiménez, Rafael Pardo, Elaine Poon Jan 2015

Consumer Bankruptcy Panel: Undue Hardship: An Analysis Of Student Loan Debt Discharge In Bankruptcy, C. Ray Mullins, Dalié Jiménez, Rafael Pardo, Elaine Poon

Emory Bankruptcy Developments Journal

The Consumer Panel focused on student loan debt, featuring judicial, academic, and practical insights and a call to action to help consumers.

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