bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
An exploration of a rural Arkansas K-12 educational leader's and community's social media use
Authors:   , Breshears Amie L.
Published: April 2021

This exploratory qualitative case study was designed to examine a rural Arkansas K-12 educational leader's and community's communication using social media. Hoffman and Novak's (1996) model of marketing communications in a hypermedia computer-mediated environment served as the conceptual framework for analyzing the leader's social media use from the perspectives of students, parents, and faculty/staff members. The rural K-12 school was located in the northwest region of Arkansas. The study's participants included an educational leader nationally recognized for her use of technology and her students, parents, and faculty/staff members. Through information-gathering questionnaires, interviews, focus group sessions, observations, and document gathering, data were collected and triangulated. Three themes emerged through data analysis. The themes included: recognition of and appreciation for Mrs. Johnson's authentic proficient professional social media use on sites such as Twitter; the power of connectedness both in her relationships with students and with others around the nation through social media; and the positive impact of Mrs. Johnson's professional social media use on the school and its stakeholders, including the faculty/staff, students, and its reputation. These themes furnish an understanding of the phenomenon of a rural K-12 educational leader's professional social media use as perceived by faculty/staff, students, and parents. This study's findings indicated that a rural K-12 educational leader's students, parents, and faculty/staff positively perceive the leader's professional social media use as a sign of leadership in technology use, a model of responsible social media use, a fount of resources and ideas to be shared, and as a source of school pride and culture. Professional social media use may also function as an instantaneously accessible personal learning network for educational leaders, supplying them with peer-connections, concepts, and information free from geographical limitations. While students, parents, and faculty/staff members may be novice users of technology or social media, they believe that the educational leader's professional social media use benefits the students and the school.
Rethinking French identity through literature : the case of four 21st century novels.
Authors:   , Bleneau Virginie
Published: April 2021

Reading French newspapers or watching TV broadcasts in the mid-teens of the twenty-first century, it is hard to deny or to ignore that France is currently (or still) undergoing an identity crisis. This crisis is of course not exactly a new phenomenon; many would indeed argue that the malaise originates from the waves of immigration that followed the Second World War and the dismantling of the colonial empire, leading second-generation immigrants to demonstrate, sometimes violently, against the unjust social realities of France in the 1980's and 1990's. In this dissertation, I argue that immigration has become the scapegoat for an identity crisis that is, in fact, Franco-French. I analyze four novels - JMG Le Clezio's Revolutions (2003), Alexis Jenni's L'Art francais de la guerre (2011), Azouz Begag's Le Marteau piquecoeur (2004), and Eliette Abecassis's Sepharade (2009) - that show that the current state of affairs stems from France's post-Revolutionary interpretation of the ideal of equality, rather than immigration alone. It is France's very notion of equality as sameness that prevents its citizens from adapting to the changes brought by the dissolution of the colonial empire. My postcolonial reading of these texts will reveal the complicated interaction between the individual and the forces that participate in the construction of individual and group identities.
Influence of professor camp : a multiple case study on the Wakonse conference on college teaching
Authors:   , Gateley Crystal Aileen
Published: April 2021

Higher education faculty often enter their academic roles with little to no knowledge of effective teaching practices. Furthermore, many faculty work in academic climates where the importance of quality teaching is overshadowed by the primacy of research. The Wakonse Conference on College Teaching was established in 1990 to help faculty collaborate with one another to improve teaching. More than 2,500 faculty and future faculty have attended the conference, yet there has been no in depth exploration into the influence that the conference has for attendees. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the influence on teaching of the Wakonse Conference for faculty attendees from the University of Missouri during the academic year following their attendance at the conference. Furthermore, this study explored how communities of practice at the conference and in attendees' workplaces influenced their overall faculty development experiences. Archived document analysis included review of conference agendas and participant feedback from previous conferences. Participant observation was also conducted at the 2014 conference. In addition, a series of four interviews was conducted with 10 faculty members over a 1-year period to determine changes that could be attributed to attending the Wakonse Conference. Participants reported changes in thinking and action in both their personal and professional lives as a result of attending the conference. Although most participants reported a sense of community at the conference, a few reported instances of exclusion. Furthermore, limited support was found for the concept of an academic workplace community.
Use of citrus fiber in ground beef meatballs as a functional ingredient
Authors:   , Gedikoglu Ayca
Published: April 2021

In recent years, consumer's food choices have shifted towards healthy foods due to an increased concern about coronary heart disease and diabetes. Food products with high fat and cholesterol content have been associated with these health problems and consumption of processed meat products have been linked to these diseases. Research in developing healthy meat products is becoming more crucial. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the use of citrus fiber in ground beef meatballs as a functional ingredient. The study was conducted in four phases. In the first phase, presence of flavonoid compounds in a citrus fiber was measured by reverse-phase high-pressure liquid chromatography along with total polyphenol content, total carotenoid content and oxygen radical absorbance capacity. Results showed that citrus fiber used in this study had a trace amount of quercetin and kaempferol, and low concentrations of nobiletin, sinensetin, heptamethoxyflavone and tangeretin. For the second phase of the study, the impact of adding citrus fiber on quality attributes of ground beef meatballs were investigated. While addition of citrus fiber increased cooking yield and water holding capacity,did not change the pH of both raw and cooked meatballs. The third phase of the study determined the oxidative stability of ground beef meatballs made with different citrus fiber levels. The stability was evaluated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. Results showed that addition of citrus fiber caused oxidation in ground beef meatballs comparison to control treatments. In the final phase of the study, consumer preferences for citrus fiber added meatballs were tested.Results showed that consumers moderately liked the flavor, texture and over likeness of the meatballs made with citrus fiber. Also, addition of citrus fiber caused tenderness in the meatballs that use of citrus fiber in very lean meatball recipes can help with replacing fat and making tender meatballs.
Shaping the game : federalism and voting behavior in advanced industrial democracies
Authors:   , Newton Matthew C.
Published: April 2021

For countries that possess a federal structure, this institution is a crucial component of the constitutional arrangement of the nation. This institution arguably plays a role in nearly all aspects of a country's political environment. Although political science has much to say about federalism in the abstract, each country's federal system works differently. Unfortunately this variation has gone underappreciated in much of the scholarship on voting behavior. This dissertation seeks to inject our theoretical understanding of federalism, largely stemming from the works of William Riker, into comparative empirical analysis of voting behavior. As argued here, federalism in and of itself does not have a direct effect on behavior, instead it has indirect effects largely through the party system in place in a country. These theories will be tested for explaining differences in voter turnout cross-nationally and then again in more focused analyses of voter party choice in the three federal countries of the United States, Canada, and Germany. Ultimately the dissertation finds support for the theoretical and hypothesized effect of federalism on voters' decisions to turn out to vote, as well as how such allows for a considerable portion of the voting electorate in federal countries to cast inconsistent votes between the levels of government. These findings bring federalism back to the forefront of academic consideration in these types of studies.
Public school superintendents and the perceived impact of ethics training, professional experience and professional codes of ethics on ethical decision making : a multiple case study
Authors:   , Russell Terry C.
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the decision making processes of public school superintendents and to identify those factors that influenced decision making. Ethics education/training, professional experience and professional codes of ethics were considered as possible influencing factors. Thus, this study sought to answer how superintendents' perceive ethics education/training and professional experience influence their ethical decision making. This research further examined the use or non-use of professional codes of ethics by public school superintendents and the perceived impact these codes have on administrative decision making. This study collected data from 10 public school superintendents throughout nine regions in Missouri. Superintendents were recruited based on variety in school district size and type. Both male and female superintendents participated in the study. Research data was obtained via personal interview with the participants. Findings concluded that professional experience was by far the greatest perceived influence on study superintendents' decision making. In contrast, both ethics education/training and professional codes of ethics had little, if any, perceived impact on the ethical decision making processes of study superintendents.
The cooperative provision of ecosystem
services in agriculture
Authors:   , Stallman Heidi
    Ruth
Published: April 2021

Managing agricultural lands to provide ecosystem services (ES), such as natural pollination, may be essential for the long-term sustainability of agriculture. Most agricultural lands, however, are managed for the short-term production of food, fiber, and fuel, often at the expense of other ES, such as water quality and biodiversity. This dissertation explores cooperative solutions to the problem, where farmers work together to provide ES. We find that natural pest control, pollinating services and water quality are the agricultural-related ES most suited to cooperative management. We find that most Missouri farmers are willing to cooperate to control pests, and simple, local cooperative efforts may be more popular than more formal, regional efforts. In addition, the benefits of cooperation, environmental concern, social capital, extension agent contact and farmer preference for group work, are much more important than trust in determining which farmers may be willing to cooperate. This dissertation is important because it may help policy-makers and social entrepreneurs to organize farmers and to encourage the cooperative management of important agricultural-related ES.
Wnderstanding the experience of being a peer advisor in the freshman interest groups program at the University of Missouri
Authors:   , Wiese Jeffrey A.
Published: April 2021

The Freshman Interest Groups (FIGs) program at the University of Missouri is a first-year experience program where groups of approximately 20 students live together in a residence hall and are co-enrolled in four courses. By combining residential and academic initiatives the program helps approximately 2,000 firstyear students transition from high school to the university each year. The FIGs program employs more than 100 undergraduate Peer Advisors (PAs) to assist students in this transition. The PA position is unique in higher education because it combines responsibilities similar to traditional resident assistants along with the responsibility of teaching a university course for college credit. Adding to the complexity of this position is that the students with whom the PAs live are also their students in the classroom. While previous studies have looked at the impact similar transition programs have had on participants, few look at the impact these programs have on the student staff who work in them. Additionally, no study has been found that explores the combined experience of working as both a resident assistant and an undergraduate teaching assistant with the same group of students. In this phenomenological study, I interviewed 15 PAs and asked them to share their experience of working in the position. Through analysis of interview transcripts four themes about the PA experience emerged: managing multiple relationships, setting priorities and making sacrifices, challenges engaging residents, and the PAs' reflection of the outcomes of their experience. This study concludes that the overall essence of being a PA is about balance: balancing relationships, roles, and responsibilities. The way the PAs handle the balance of these areas provides insight into their experience that may be useful in understanding other student leadership positions which involve overlapping roles and responsibilities.
A case study of transformational leadership characteristics of a principal in a high poverty high achieving school
Authors:   , Grant Cynthia S.
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify and examine the characteristics of effective leaders in high-poverty, high-achieving schools in a single school district. Within the context of this inquiry, district and school success was measured through the level of student achievement described by the annual Missouri School Improvement Plan (MSIP) process (Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education [MODESE], 2011). The results of this narrative case study will provide researchers a holistic view of the context in which the school of focus is situated and should enhance the current body of knowledge regarding leadership characteristics present in highly-effective schools located in high-poverty areas. Furthermore, new insights to the professional practices of principals as well as building and sustaining leadership capacity for high-poverty schools within school districts (Lambert, 2006) should be revealed. These findings should result in educational leaders who will be better prepared to respond to diversity, curriculum standards, program requirements, physical and mental disabilities, and produce high achievement (Leithwood and Riehl, 2003) in high-poverty school settings. The population included an urban elementary school located in Missouri was the setting for this narrative case study. A case study permitted this researcher to retain a holistic view and obtain meaningful characteristics of day-to-day, realistic events taking place within the research setting through interviews, focus groups, document and artifact analysis, and onsite observation (Creswell, 2007; Yin, 2003). Data collections were comprised of interviews, focus groups, on-site observations, and document analysis. The interview and focus group protocols allowed the participants the opportunity to provide explanations and firsthand perspectives regarding their perspectives of the leadership style of the principal (Creswell, 2007; Lincoln and Guba, 1985). The results related to this research study are applicable for public school leaders who are facing the daunting task of school reform. Fullan, (2001) and Marzano (2003) contended the building principals is second only to the classroom teacher when it comes to positively impacting student achievement as the principal has a direct impact on student achievement.
Hierarchical spatio-temporal models for environmental processes
Authors:   , Arab Ali
Published: April 2021

The processes governing environmental systems are often complex, involving different interacting scales of variability in space and time. The complexities and often high dimensionality of such spatio-temporal processes can be effectively addressed using a hierarchical modeling framework where a complex problem is decomposed into a series of simpler problems that are linked through rules of probability. In this dissertation, hierarchical spatio-temporal models are developed and utilized for environmental processes. The methods discussed in this dissertation include a wide scope of problems related to the modeling of spatio-temporal environmental processes. Specifically, methods are described for efficient modeling of spatio-temporal environmental processes using both discrete- and continuous valued data.
Developing a computer coding scheme for the implicit achievement motive
Authors:   , Halusic Marc
Published: April 2021

Implicit motives are measured using a projective assessment, the Picture Story Exercise (PSE), involving labor-intensive coding of participant-generated writing. The present research uses insights from previous attempts to automate coding, as well as advances in natural language processing and machine learning, to create a new method of automated coding for the achievement motive (NAch). In part 1, I collected coded PSE sentences from implicit motive researchers. Two models were generated using multilayer perceptron neural networks to predict achievement motive imagery, one using the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC; Pennebaker, 2001) software, and one using a novel text processing system, called Maximum Synset-to-Sentence Relatedness (MSSR). Part 2 sought to experimentally manipulate NAch, and produce 2 more neural network models similar to those of part 1, except that the models in this case predicted experimental condition. Further, human generated NAch scores from the PSEs collected in this part were compared against computer generated NAch scores produced by the models from part 1, to provide another test of the magnitude of the relation between human and computer generated NAch scores. Part 3 tested all 4 models to predict achievement motive imagery in archival data collected by Ratliff (1979). Because these data were coded using a different NAch coding scheme, and also included other variables theoretically related to NAch, these tests were used to search for evidence of convergent and predictive validity. Findings were promising for both models developed in part 1, but further improvements will be necessary before they can replace human coders."
Extending the classroom check-up to parent involvement : a brief consultation intervention with teachers
Authors:   , Schmidt Alexandra
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] It is now well-accepted in the literature that parent involvement is important to a myriad of student outcomes. Researchers have begun identifying some of the factors that influence whether or not parents are involved in their child 's schooling, focusing on both parent factors as well as variables in the school and community. Recent shifts to focus on the role of teachers and schools has informed changes in policy and legislature to support the development of family-school partnerships and parent involvement programs in schools. While implementing large-scale parent involvement programs like family-school partnerships is one way to effect change at the systemic level, ongoing professional development and support is necessary to ensure that parent involvement practices are integrated permanently. One potential method for providing this ongoing support is through teacher consultation and coaching. This study examined the feasibility, acceptability, and effectiveness of adapting the Classroom Check-Up, an existing classroom management consultation intervention based on motivational interviewing, as a model for increasing teachers' involvement efforts.
Instructional strategies used by developmental mathematics instructors in Missouri public community colleges to promote active learning : an analysis of the cognitive complexity
Authors:   , Spain Vickie Lynn
Published: April 2021

This study sought to identify the instructional strategies used by developmental mathematics instructors in Missouri's public 2-year colleges to engage students in the learning process, determine the cognitive complexity of the instructional strategies, and determine the support needed by instructors to engage students in the learning process. A sequential mixed method design was employed in which quantitative and qualitative data was collected. Initial participants in this study included developmental mathematics instructors from all 13 of Missouri's 2-year public community colleges. Quantitative analysis was completed on the demographic data and on the rating and implementation of recommended instructional strategies. Qualitative analysis was completed on the instructor descriptions of strategies from the survey. Additionally, three participants were chosen from the survey for case study analysis. Results indicate that developmental mathematics instructors describe the methods they use to engage students in the learning process comparably to those instructional strategies as recommended by the American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges (AMATYC, 2006) to promote active learning, while including additional strategies. How the instructors rated the instructional strategies are given in depth. An overview of the instructional strategies employed by three instructors who were observed, and the cognitive complexity of the tasks and questions used in these instructional strategies is given. Furthermore, recommendations are given for support needed by developmental mathematics instructors. Implications are offered for the (1) AMATYC Framework, (2) Professional development on discovery-based learning, (3) Professional development on cognitive complexity of tasks and questions, and (4) Support needed to implement instructional strategies.
Organizational culture in substance abuse treatment
Authors:   , Duncan Carrie
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between organizational culture, organizational change, and substance abuse treatment. I applied the theoretical frameworks of organizational identity (Diamond, 1993) and organizational modes of experience (Diamond and Allcorn, 2009) to interpret the unconscious dimensions of organizational culture. I developed a three-part model of organizational culture as a framework for interpreting organizational identity as well as modes of experience and their implications for organizational change. Understanding and interpreting organizational identity and modes of experience requires an experience-near method of study that interprets transference dynamics between organizational members, and between organizational members and the researcher in role. I spent one year immersed in a substance abuse treatment organization as a participating observer. Detailed fieldnotes captured my observations and experiences in the field and explicitly recorded the data needed to analyze transference dynamics. The framework of organizational identity provided a lens through which to view the psychodynamics of each field site and the associated implications for change on a micro-level. Organizational modes of experience were a lens through which to view the thematic elements of the organizational culture as a whole at the macro-level. At each level of analysis, organizational leaders? and clinical supervisors? capacity for containment and holding were critical for fostering constructive responses to change in substance abuse treatment.
Integration of methods to study mate choice behavior in treefrogs
Authors:   , Henderson Jennifer Jean
Published: April 2021

My research incorporates results from a variety of methods to understand behavior. In my dissertation, I examined female behavior to novel, complex calls. In the gray treefrog species complex, Hyla versicolor and H. chrysoscelis, males only produce simple calls but females respond favorably to artificial, complex calls. Potential rules that constrain the attractiveness of these novel calls may be explained by temporally selective neurons that count pulses. I describe how the response properties of neurons may contribute to the behavioral selectivity of these treefrogs, as well as examine species differences in behavior. I further explored behavioral differentiation by using genetic methods to determine genetic differentiation within the species H. chrysoscelis. Behavioral differences have been reported between different populations of this species. Using microsatellite loci, I found evidence for three distinct linages: eastern, western, and Ozark. Overall, my results provide insights on mate choice behavior and how results using different methodologies, such as neurophysiology and genetics, contribute to a thorough understanding of behavior.
Characterization of Esrrb function in metastatic prostate cancer cells and transcriptional regulation of hedgehog-signaling pathway target genes
Authors:   , Lu Yuan
Published: April 2021

Orphan nuclear receptor Estrogen Receptor Related Receptor Beta (Esrrb) is a transcription factor. Although it was also shown to be important in cancer, little is known about its function in cancer cells and cancer relevant pathways. Using advanced molecular biology, bioinformatics, as well as system biology approaches, we found Esrrb-targeted genes in metastatic prostate cancer cells and distinguish a group of target genes responsive to the Esrrb selective ligand DY131. We also found Esrrb is strong regulator of oncogenic pathways Hedgehog signaling, Akt signaling and p53 signaling. Gene set enrichment analysis shows Esrrb are related to cell proliferation, regulation of apoptosis and transcription regulation, supporting its role as a transcription factor and its known function in inhibiting prostate cancer cells proliferation. Overall, our comprehensive analysis of Esrrb target genes and functions show that Esrrb is a significant factor regulating cellular proliferation and apoptosis. Its activity in regulating Hh-signaling target gene expression and Akt inhibitory effect indicates Esrrb can potentially serve as a therapeutic target in cancer treatment.
Transcriptional profiling to improve porcine preimplantation embryo development in vitro
Authors:   , Redel Bethany K.
Published: April 2021

Culture environments can have profound impacts on the developmental program of the preimplantation embryo. Even though significant improvements have been made to embryo culture environments they are still sub-optimal to the in vivo environment. It is our overall goal to understand the metabolism of these embryos so that we can continue to improve our culture system to become more similar to the in vivo environment and thus increasing embryo viability in vitro. Our first aim was to utilize the transcriptional profile of embryos cultured in vitro to mine transcripts involved with glucose metabolism. Cancer cells metabolize glucose in a manner known as the Warburg Effect in which there is high glucose uptake with lactate production even in the presence of oxygen. These in vitro produced embryos have striking similarities to cancer cells in the expression of transcripts involved with glycolysis, pentose phosphate pathway and lactate production. The second aim was to illustrate that by mining a transcriptional profile database of embryos cultured either in vitro or in vivo and assessing the differentially expressed genes we could get an idea of what the in vitro embryos are lacking in our culture system. An arginine transporter, SLC7A1, was identified as up-regulated by 63 fold in in vitro cultured embryos compared to in vivo. By adding additional arginine to our culture system, the expression of SLC7A1 decreased in blastocysts compared to our controls. There was an improvement in the percentage of blastocysts in embryos cultured with additional arginine. Arginine cultured embryos were also able to produce live piglets when transferred to a recipient gilt. Supplementing the medium with additional arginine also increased nitric oxide production in 4-cell stage embryos compared to controls and inhibiting nitric oxide synthase greatly decreased the number of embryos that made it to the blastocyst stage. The final aim was to continue analyzing the differentially expressed genes in the in vitro or in vivo cultured embryo database. A glycine transporter, SLC6A9, was up-regulated in in vitro cultured embryos compared to in vivo by about 25 fold. By adding glycine to our culture system, cell number increased by about 1.5 times our control in day 6 blastocysts. We also found decreased SLC6A9 message in the glycine supplemented embryos compared to controls. Glycine affected genes involved with glycine and serine metabolism as well as thioredoxin 1 and uracil DNA glycosylase. Mitochondrial function was analyzed and glycine does not affect mitochondrial DNA copy number, membrane potential, or mitochondrial related genes. Embryo transfers were not successful in producing piglets. In the future, experiments looking at how glycine is affecting these embryos later on in development should be conducted. Each of these experiments illustrates the benefits of transcriptional profiling to identify ways to affect embryo development and improve our embryo culture system.
Migrations
Authors:   , McConaghy Elizabeth Cundiff
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] "If I had to tell the story in one line or two, I would tell it this way: I loved her and she did not choose me, though I believed she would." At 28, the narrator tells her mother she was abused as a young child by her father. The narrator's mother does not believe her, and the two become estranged. Written in lyric form, the personal narrative is set alongside a collage of facts, stories, and photographs from a range of disciplines, including phrenology, medical science, television, zoology, pop culture, and particle physics. One of the essay's strongest through lines is that of embodied memory and the sensory experience of living in a body that has undergone trauma. Unfamiliar juxtapositions and disruptions in the text along with photographs of narrative images attempt to evoke in the reader some of the sensations the narrator herself experiences. This essay is the study of one family within broader contexts of sexual violence, cultural ambivalence, mental illness, memory, the body, and various systems of dysfunction. At its core, though, it is the story of the narrator's love for, and loss of, her mother.
Cue the disgust: the effect of smoking cues and disgusting images in anti-tobacco advertisements on smokers' and nicotine-withdrawn smokers' psychophysiological responses, smoking urges, and intent to quit smoking
Authors:   , Clayton Russell Brent
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study examined how non-withdrawn tobacco smokers and nicotine-withdrawn tobacco smokers cognitively and emotionally process anti-tobacco advertisements that vary in presence/absence of smoking cues and high/low ratings of disgust. A 2 (smoking cues) x 2 (disgust) x 2 (smoking condition) mixed-model repeated-measures experiment was conducted. Participans (N = 100 adult smokers) viewed 12 30-second anti-tobacco television advertisements in one of four random orders while psychophysiological responses were recorded. Results from this study indicated that the combination of appetitive stimuli (smoking cues) with aversive stimuli (disgust images) in a single anti-tobacco message (smoking cue/high disgust message) created cognitive dissonance for both non-withdrawn smokers and nicotine-withdrawn smokers between urges to smoke and intentions to quit. To reduce cognitive dissonance, both non-withdrawn smokers and nicotine-withdrawn smokers defensively withdrew cognitive resources from encoding messages as evidenced by cardiac acceleration and decreased recognition memory of message content. Nicotine-withdrawn smokers did not substantially cognitively and emotionally process anti-tobacco messages differently from non-withdrawn smokers. However, the results from this study suggest that when the goals of an anti-tobacco campaign are to enhance encoding of message content into memory, reduce smoking urges, and increase intentions to quit, the combination of smoking cues with highly disgusting images is likely a faulty strategy. Rather, messages should contain only a disgust-based appeal when attempting to persuade smokers or nicotine-withdrawn smokers to quit smoking.
Instructional designers' experience in online course migration for virtual school K-12 students : an interpretative phenomenological case study
Authors:   , Ma Yanfei
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This interpretative phenomenological case study examined emerging phenomenon of online course migration across different LMSs for virtual high school K-12 students. Rapid growth of K-12 e-learning demands a powerful Learning Management System (LMS) for online course delivery. When legacy online courses were moved from early generation LMSs to more advanced LMSs, online course migration processes were needed to be understood by stakeholders (e.g. LMS vendors, school administrators, instructional designers, instructors, and students). In this study, 175 self-paced online courses and 31 semester-based online courses were migrated from two previous LMSs into Canvas LMS. A wide range of data were collected and analyzed to identify instructional designersâ€™ experience in this online course migration process. Key findings of this study identified online course migration processes in five categories: project planning and management, course migration exploration, course migration enactment, course migration evaluation, and project reflection. Further, the differences and similarities between self-paced and semester-based online course migrations were identified focusing on course migration procedures and the Canvas LMS feature. The findings of this study will be helpful for relevant stakeholders to understand on how instructional designers migrated online courses from different LMSs to Canvas, and what supports need to be provided for online course migration practice. In addition, results from this study will be helpful to other virtual high schools that are migrating online courses and seeking examples of how instructional designers apply tools, skills, and strategies to online course migration for K-12 e-learning.
Coping, multicultural personality, acculturative stress and psychological adjustment among Chinese international students
Authors:   , Zhao Ran
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The present study examined coping appraisal as a mediator, collectivistic coping styles, and multicultural personality as moderators, between perceived acculturative stress and psychological adjustment among a sample of 178 Chinese international students in United States. Structural Equation Modeling analyses indicated that coping appraisal partially mediated the relationship between acculturative stress and psychological adjustment, and multicultural personality moderated the relationship between acculturative stress and psychological adjustment. Hierarchical regression analyses cross-verified the moderating effects and specifically indicated that the association between acculturative stress and psychological adjustment was weaker as Emotional Stability (one of the multicultural personality factors) increased. None of the collectivist coping styles serve as significant moderators for acculturative stress and psychological adjustment. Implications of this study's findings among Chinese international students were discussed.
Grasping pressures and phalangeal curvature in primates : an experimental in vivo approach
Authors:   , Congdon Kimberly A.
Published: April 2021

Phalangeal curvature is often used to infer arboreal locomotion in fossil primate species. This is based off an hypothesis of plasticity linked to a loading model that suggests that, when flexed during grasping, a curved phalanx will experience lower internal strains than a straight phalanx. This dissertation is the first in vivo test of this hypothesis. By examining grasping pressures exerted by individual manual and pedal digits during above-branch, below-branch and vertical-branch locomotion, and comparing those pressures to proximal manual and pedal phalangeal curvature, a number of well-accepted but untested hypotheses regarding the relationship between digital form and grasping were tested. 4 adults (2 males, 2 females) each from 4 species of lemur (Lemur catta, Propithecus coquereli, Varecia rubra) were induced to cross an artificial substrate instrumented with a pressure pad at the stated orientations. Digital pressures were then compared to the proximal phalangeal curvature of the same individuals. Findings do not demonstrate any relationship between arboreal grasping at any orientation and digital pressures. This project fails to support previously long-held hypotheses regarding the biological role of phalangeal curvature, and introduces the strong likelihood that a much more complex model of loading is necessary to understand primate phalangeal curvature. Until such a model is devised and tested, using phalangeal curvature to infer arboreal behavior is unsupportable, and should be avoided.
Arsenic for potential diagnostic imaging and radiotherapy
Authors:   , DeGraffenreid Anthony James
Published: April 2021

Targeted agents hold promise for non-invasive in vivo imaging, therapy, and monitoring of diseases. Foundational work focused on imaging and therapy of cancer has centered primarily on the use of 18F, 90Y, 99mTc, and 131I radionuclides. Use of these agents often requires conjugation to a biological targeting vector, a peptide or monoclonal antibody (mAb), to investigate biological processes. To truly be effective the physical properties of the radionuclide must be suitably matched to the time required for chemical derivatization, conjugation, to reach maximal uptake of the targeting vector at the targeting site. Radioisotopes of arsenic, 72, 77As, have half-lives well-matched for conjugation to peptides or mAbs. Even with favorable decay characteristics, production, and separation pathways, the ability to use radioarsenic has largely remained undeveloped. It is the aim of this work to address this issue through the identification and synthesis of no-carrier added radioarsenic complexes. Macroscopic synthesis of AsPh(S-Rn-S) precursors to no-carrier added 72,77AsPh(S-Rn-S) complexes, synthesis and no-carrier added radioarsenic labelling of a simple trithiol ligand, and two linkable trithiocyanate precursors, a carboxylic acid and â€œclickableâ€ alkyne, are described in detail. The development of a radiochemical separation procedure to separate no-carrier arsenic, 77As, from a neutron irradiated germanium dioxide target, evaluation of a novel copper selective resin, and synthesis of any additional unmentioned compounds are found in the attached appendices.
Kinetics and mechanisms associated with redox regulation of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B)
Authors:   , Parsons Zachary D.
Published: April 2021

Here, we report on the kinetics and mechanisms associated with redox regulation of the protein tyrosine phosphatase PTP1B. We determined rates of thiol- and phosphinemediated recovery of catalytic activity from the oxidatively-inactivated enzyme, and shed light on the chemical mechanisms involved in these processes and in the regulation of PTP family member SHP2. Additionally, we describe reactions that oxidatively-inactivated PTP1B undergo with structurally-diverse carbon acids, using both a small chemical model dipeptide of oxidatively-inactivated PTP1B, and the oxidized enzyme itself. Finally, we report a novel method by which to predict Hammett substituent constants via electronic structure calculations.
MEMS energy harvesters with a wide bandwidth for low frequency vibrations
Authors:   , Yuksek Nuh Sadi
Published: April 2021

We have designed and built macro-scale wideband electrostatic and electromagnetic power harvesters for low frequency vibration. Initially, MEMS capacitive plates for power harvesting have been designed, modeled and fabricated, and characterized. It was designed with a 2 x 2 mm2 movable metallic plate with a thickness of 10 [mu]m suspended by four straight beams above a fixed electrode with a gap of 10 [mu]m to form a variable capacitor. The suspension beams are made with a width, thickness and total length of 20 [mu]m, 10 [mu]m and 1500 [mu]m, respectively. It was found that the single cavity device can harvest almost 180 nW peak power across a 100 k[omega] load resistor at 5g. The harvested power was dependent on excitation amplitude and supplied DC voltage. The MEMS capacitive energy harvester was integrated with two impact oscillators at 18 Hz and 25 Hz for transferring energy from low frequency structural vibration with varying mechanical spectra to high frequency vibration of a high resonance frequency cantilever at 605 Hz. The results demonstrate that the device was able to harvest power on a wide range from 14 to 39 Hz at 1g excitation. The harvested power was 96 nW on a 100 k[omega] load resistor. We also studied a macro-scale electromagnetic power harvester with multi-impact oscillations to achieve a broad bandwidth at low frequency vibrations. The device consists of three low frequency cantilever designed to resonate at 12 Hz, 19 Hz and 40 Hz, a high frequency cantilever with resonance frequency of 210 Hz and a pick-up coil fixed at the tip of the high frequency cantilever. This results in a wide bandwidth response from 11-62 Hz at 1 g. A maximum output power of 23.5 [mu]W can be harvested at 1 g acceleration on an optimum load resistor of 22 [omega].
Waging campaigns on television : optimizing target audience exposure in the modern campaign
Authors:   , Dube Jennifer Ann
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] There have been claims that have come out of the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections which describe the rise of a professionalized political campaign television strategy team that is able to make decisions not only based on the media market a campaign ad runs in but also based on station/network, time of day, and TV program. In this study, I discuss the development of political media buying, the current business-driven network that political media buyers operate in, and how audiences consume television when looked at from a partisan and voting-likelihood perspective. I end this discussion with a look at partisan candidate strategies in 2012 and argue that campaigns are increasing their investment in mobilizable partisan-supporters over potentially persuadable high turnout voters. While media buying is a volatile climate with certain norms in place, campaigns do attempt to use television advertising to activate base party supporters to minimize wasteful spending. Using advertising from the 2012 Presidential and competitive Senate candidate campaigns, I show results that indicate campaigns may be optimizing the reach of mobilizable voters. I also show that Republicans and Democrats may be pursuing differing strategies using the television medium.
The [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of propargylic sulfonates to allenic sulfones and further applications to oxacycles and dihydrofuranones
Authors:   , Tata Rama Rao
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The scope of [2,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement of propargylic sulfinates to allenic sulfones by silver catalysis was expanded. A series of new propargylic sulfinate esters was generated from a variety of aromatic and heteroaromatic sulfonyl chlorides and their rearrangement to allenic sulfones is reported. In addition, the synthesis of propargylic sulfinate esters containing electron-withdrawing benzenesulfonyl chlorides was optimized and reported. In the course of pursuing a Nazarov cyclization of allenyl vinyl ketones (AVK), we discovered multiple new reactions. Allenyl alcohols underwent an intramolecular cyclization to 2,5-dihydrofurans in the presence of Fetizon's reagent and this process was then optimized using silver fluoride. The methodology was expanded to synthesize higher membered oxacycles also. A tandem cyclization of hydroxypropargylic sulfinate esters to 2,5-hydrofurans was also developed. A new synthesis of a'-hydroxyenones was developed by the oxidation of a-allenyl alcohols with Cr (VI) regents and then extended to synthesize dihydrofuran- 3(2H)-ones by acid catalysis.
A two-fold approach towards understanding properties of two self-assembled macrocycles: resorcin[4]arene and pyrogallol[4]arene
Authors:   , Drachnik Amanda M.
Published: April 2021

Self-assembled macrocycles, molecular entities that are connected together spontaneously in a cyclic manner, are studied herein. Pyrogallol[4]arene (PgC) and resorcin[4]arene (RsC), self-assembled macrocycles made from four units of pyrogallol and four units of resorcinol, respectively, are be the main focus of this work. The first two topics discussed are metal-coordination of PgC and RsC. PgC forms both dimeric and hexameric metal-organic nanocapsules (MONCs); however, these types of architectures have not yet been observed for RsC. In our attempt to create analogous MONCs involving RsC, manganese and cobalt complexes were encapsulated inside a hydrogen-bonded dimeric capsule of RsC. The investigation into metal-coordinated PgC MONCs led to additional metal-coordination on the exterior of the MONCs, thus creating metal-organic frameworks using MONCs. Both of these systems have potential in the applications of molecular magnetism, gas sorption/separation, and encapsulation of other molecules. PgC and RsC also may be used to encapsulate pharmaceuticals, e.g. Humalog and gabapentin. In this work, cocrystallization of RsC with pregabalin, a pharmaceutical similar to gabapentin in both structure (GABA functional group) and usage, was attempted. Unexpectantly, pregabalin underwent a cyclization to 4-isobutylpyrrolidone-2, a compound known in polymer synthesis. Both pregabalin and 4- isobutylpyrrolidone-2 are linked to important industrial applications. The final chapter discusses the study of the various stereoisomers of RsCs by means of electronic structure calculations, in both the gas and solution phase. Stereoisomers are structures of a molecule for which the atoms are orientated differently in space but the molecule retains its identity. It was found from these calculations that the cone conformer, where the hydroxyl-substituted side (top) of all four resorcinol subunits point up, is most stable when the tail group of the macrocycle is a hydrogen. The chair stereoisomer, where top of one subunit points up, the top of the opposite subunit points down, and tops of the remaining two subunits lie in the plane, is most stable when the tail group of the macrocycle is a phenyl. These studies are of importance to the synthetic work on this macrocycle, which affects all further studies on the macrocycle.