bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Heat transfer enhancement of vapor condensation heat exchanger
Authors:   , Rajab Husam
Published: April 2021

A typical vapor condensation condenser consists of two major heat transfer processes, i.e., vapor condensation and forced convection. In order to enhance heat transfer, the condensation heat transfer utilizing the porous medium is investigated, and at the same time, the elliptical pin fin effect on the forced convection of nanofluid studied. The forced convective heat transfer on nanofluids in an elliptical pin-fin heat sink of two different pin orientations is numerically studied by using a finite volume method. With increasing Reynolds number, the recirculation zones behind the pins increased. There were more recirculation zones for the pins with different angular orientations than for pins with the same angular orientation. It is observed that the Nusselt number for the pins with different angular orientations was higher than that for pins with the same angular orientation. The results show that with increasing volume fraction of nanoparticles and angular orientation of pins for a given Reynolds number, Euler and Nusselt numbers as well as overall heat transfer efficiency increase. The non dimensional mass, momentum and energy equations based on non dimensional pressure, temperature, heat capacity, capillary, and bond numbers are developed for the vapor condensation occurring in the porous medium. The volumetric viscous force for the flow is described by Darcy's law. For the microscopic interfacial shear stress, a permeability term that relates flow rate and fluid physical properties (i.e. viscosity) to pressure gradient K[subscript l]=[mu][subscript l]/[subscript l]p[superscript l] is implemented. The effects of permeability, porosity, and effective pore radius parameters on porous medium performance are introduced. The occurrence of thin liquid film inside pores is addressed and the Laplace-Young equation is depicted. In calculations the Darcy-Ergun momentum relation is implemented which provide accurate means to determine the capillary performance parameters of porous medium. The dimensionless thicknesses of the two-phase and liquid regions and embodiment of unique characteristics based on the total thermal diffusivity and absolute permeability are depicted. Therefore, analyses of the phase change and two-phase flow are made by defining regions, over which appropriate approximations are made.
Investigating peptide-lipid interactions at single molecule level
Authors:   , Matin Tina Rezaie
Published: April 2021

Despite the utmost importance of protein- lipid interactions in cellular activity, due to technical difficulties, this class of interactions has not been understood mechanistically. Obtaining a more complete understanding of these interactions would, for example, aid the design of more compatible and effective medicine to target specific cells. We developed a physical technique to study such interactions and investigated the interactions between small portions of a model protein with different types of membrane. We were able to detect physical interaction differences between the two at the single-molecule level. This technique is generalizable to study other small molecule-membrane interactions and helps scientists to have a better understanding of the transport of energy, nutrition and waste in and out of the cells. The machine that has been used in our investigations is a mechanical microscope called an AFM (atomic Force Microscope). In addition to making a topographical images, this tool enables us to pick up small molecules in a controlled and precise manner.
Comprehensive management of pelvic floor dysfunction in women
Authors:   , Starr Julie A.
Published: April 2021

Objective: Advanced Practice Nurses (APRNs) in a urogynecology clinic are uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive, nonsurgical care for women with symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction (PFD) including urinary, defecatory, and pelvic pain complaints. The aim of this study was to determine immediate and longterm effectiveness of comprehensive pelvic floor rehabilitative administered by an APRN. Methods: This study is a secondary analysis of a robust data set collected between February 2013 and February 2016. Data were analyzed on 406 subjects who completed up to five treatment sessions with an APRN, which included pelvic muscle biofeedback; vaginal electrogalvanic stimulation; behavior modification; and in some cases pessary fitting or pharmacologic intervention. Validated quality of life QOL instruments (e.g. PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7) and visual analog scale (VAS) were collected following initiation of treatment; and at six and twelve months. Results: Subjects experienced clinical and statistically significant improvement in QOL, which was durable at one year. VAS data revealed an 80% improvement in urinary, defecatory, and pain symptoms. Conclusion: Comprehensive nonsurgical management of women with symptoms of PFD by an NP is efficacious and results in improved QOL which is durable to one year.
Foundational scientific knowledge in athletic training curricula
Authors:   , Wehring Susan Patricia
Published: April 2021

During 2015 the Commission on Accreditation of Athletic Training Education (CAATE) first publically identified they believe strong foundational scientific knowledge produces the best health care providers. Next, in May 2016 a set of proposed accreditation standards were published. One standard delineated that all AT programs must include: anatomy, biology, chemistry, physics, physiology, and psychology as prerequisite knowledge. No studies to date have examined the relationship of foundational scientific knowledge course inclusion in AT curricula as a predictor of BOC pass-rates. This study was conducted to determine if there is a significant relationship between foundational scientific knowledge courses and 3-year aggregate first-attempt Board of Certification (BOC) pass-rates among CAATE accredited professional Athletic Training (AT) programs. All CAATE accredited professional programs in the United States were evaluated and three hundred and forty-nine (n=349) programs were used in this study. AT programs electronically published required science courses for degree completion and 3-year aggregate first-attempt program BOC pass-rates were utilized. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-tests, and regression analyses were used to evaluate inclusion of science courses in AT curricula as predictors of BOC pass-rates. Results indicated that physics I was most significant, compared to the other courses, when predicting BOC passrates, accounting for 6% variance. The difference between the means was statistically significant (t (204.85) = -5.103, r2 = 0.06, p = .000). AT programs that include physics and chemistry demonstrate a significant difference in BOC pass-rate means when compared to programs that do not. The difference between the means was found to be statistically significant with a small effect size (t (347)= -2.179, r2 = .014, p=.030 ).
Professional networks of U.S. foreign correspondents and the reshaping of journalistic norms and practices
Authors:   , Park Youn-Joo
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Foreign correspondence now holds a tenuous position in the journalism industry because in midst of financial struggles, news organizations have been willing to axe the budget for international news. This study explored what the professional networks of foreign correspondents looked like when major U.S. newspapers devoted resources to bureaus abroad. In-depth interviews of fifty-four foreign correspondents from eighteen newspapers informed the history of international reporting from 1960 through 2013. The patterns of relationships were analyzed using the constant comparative method and the components identified in social network theory. The analysis on foreign correspondents' relationships with sources explored how their interactions abroad led to adjustments in journalistic practices and values and how their intrinsic personal identities influenced those relationships. Furthermore, this socio-historical study examined what influenced the foreign correspondents' working arrangements, including theoretical insights into the remote professional interactions with the home office, the typologies of working arrangements with helpers, the insider-outsider relationships with local journalists, and elite professional expat community of foreign correspondents. The research concludes by tying this information to the future of foreign correspondence.
A comparative study of home educated students and traditionally educated students after completion of a Midwestern university first-year experience program
Authors:   , Wolfe Jeremey David
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this study was to assist educational leaders in developing policy to better understand the home educated students and aspects of their first-year experience. This was achieved using a quantitative approach to gather information from three different student population groups, traditionally educated students, home educated students, and privately educated students. This information was gathered from a Midwestern university using a self-report student survey after the students had completed a first-year experience program. This quantitative study had 251 respondents, primarily from one Midwestern university. The study utilized the Knowledge, Attitude and Behavior Items Survey. The survey contained 39 items separated into a demographic section and three subscales: (a) knowledge, (b) attitudes, and (c) behavior. The survey was adapted from The University Experience Battery Items (Schrader and Brown, 2008) by eliminating questions, focusing the language and adding a demographic section. This study has implications both theoretically and practically. For home educated students the study provides insight into how this specific population compares to other student groups. The data from this study shows home educated students self-reported the practical knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors for a successful transition into higher education. This may encourage home educated students to engage and enroll in first-year experience programs when entering higher education. This study suggests students finish these programs with those necessary qualities for student success. The primary recommendation for further study was there was not a significant difference in survey answers for the three student populations. Further examination should be performed on other students groups, pertaining to first-year experience programs. This research only separated the results by the model of education used before entering higher education. Additional investigation on the impact of first-year experience programs with minority groups, socio-economic status, gender, and other demographic categories would lead further development of these programs. Replication of this study to a broader range of universities and higher education institutions would allow for a more diverse population, allowing for improved generalizability.
Therapeutic targets for spinal muscular atrophy : Inhibiting the inhibitors
Authors:   , Osman Erkan Y.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is an autosomal recessive disorder that is a leading genetic cause of infantile death. SMA is the most common inherited motor neuron disease and occurs in approximately 1: 6,000 live births. The gene responsible for SMA is called survival motor neuron-1 (SMN1). A human-specific copy gene is present on the same region of chromosome 5q called SMN2. SMN2 is nearly identical to SMN1; however, mutations in SMN2 have no clinical consequence if SMN1 is retained. The reason why SMN2 cannot prevent disease development in the absence of SMN1 is that the majority of SMN2-derived transcripts are alternatively spliced, resulting in a truncated and unstable protein. The presence of SMN2 in all SMA patients is fundamental to the biology of the disease; however, from a translational perspective, targeting SMN2 may prove to be the most important therapeutic opportunity for all patients. The presence of SMN2 opens the door to a number of exciting therapeutic strategies, including anti-sense oligonucleotides (ASOs) that prevent the pathogenic SMN2 splicing event. Our efforts are focused on several repressor regions upstream and downstream of SMN2 exon 7. Importantly, when manipulating these repressor regions, hallmarks of the disease at the cellular level such as neuromuscular junction pathology in various SMA animal models are corrected. Currently, there are no approved SMA-specific compounds, and developing a broad array of therapeutic strategies to address this complex disease is essential. The development and design of highly-potent ASOs provide novel molecular targets for SMA therapeutics that can dramatically improve disease phenotype and extend patients' life span.
C4 photosynthetic evolution : sub-types, diversity, and function within the grass tribe Paniceae
Authors:   , Washburn Jacob Daniel
Published: April 2021

Most plants convert sunlight into chemical energy using a process known as C[subscript 3] photosynthesis. However, some of the world's most successful plants instead use the C[subscript 4] photosynthetic pathway which allows them to more efficiently use water, nitrogen, and solar energy. In the past 30 million years, C4 photosynthesis has convergently evolved from C3 over 60 times and new lineages are in the process of evolving even today. Because of this complex evolutionary history, C[subscript 4] is not "one" uniform photosynthetic type, but a diverse collection of photosynthetic sub-types that are classically grouped according to their use of three different biochemical pathways. The grass tribe Paniceae is especially interesting in this aspect because it contains all three of these biochemical subtypes as well as important food and bioenergy crops. To better understand the evolution of C[subscript 4] photosynthesis, DNA and RNA sequencing were undertaken for various species from within the Paniceae and used for phylogenetic and comparative genomic studies. Cell type specific RNA expression profiling for the two major C4 cell types was also completed for representative species of each C[subscript 4] sub-type. Streamlined bioinformatics pipelines for both chloroplast and nuclear phylogenetics were developed for processing the data. These analyses resulted in: 1) The first "genome scale" phylogenetic tree of the grass tribe Paniceae, 2) The clearest evidence to date of the evolutionary relationships between the three classically defined C[subscript 4] sub-types, 3) The most convincing results to date that the chloroplast and nuclear phylogenies of the Paniceae are incongruent, 4) Evidence that this chloroplast nuclear incongruence is likely due to introgression and/or incomplete lineage sorting, and 5) Strong support for sub-type mixing as well as the existence of a PCK sub-type.
The communicative construction of workplace flexibility stigma
Authors:   , Rick Jessica M.
Published: April 2021

Workplace flexibility is becoming more and more common in American workplaces. However, most of these policies are created for professional and white-collar workers. Scholars have argued that the "missing middle," that is, workers who are neither in the professional class nor low-wage workers, are often ignored in formal policies. Scholars have argued that workers experience a stigma for using these policies; however, little is known about how this stigmatization process occurs. This dissertation employs a grounded theory methodology to analyze 29 semi-structured interviews with missing middle workers to understand how they communicatively construct workplace flexibility and its attending stigma. Analysis of the data suggested the missing middle constructed workplace flexibility by drawing upon macro, meso, and micro-level D/discourses. In doing so, my participants communicated a fine line between use and abuse of workplace flexibility policies based on a) the perception of a worker as lazy, b) the perception of a worker using flexibility too frequently, and c) the perception of a worker having a non-acceptable rationale for using flexibility. Thus, workers become stigmatized for being perceived to abuse, not use, the policies. Based on the data, I offer a ground theory of this flexibility stigmatization process, that includes: a) organizational norms surrounding flexibility, b) the use of workplace flexibility, c) talk surrounding flexibility, and d) stigma perceptions. I then offer potential ways this communicative process can be re-constituted and transformed by human resource personnel, managers, and workers to disrupt the cycle of workplace flexibility stigma.
Gold nanoclusters and fluorescence-based sensing
Authors:   , Chen Xi
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The main topic of this dissertation focuses on development of analytical methods, mainly modification and application of metal nanoclusters in fluorescence-based sensing. Based on bovine serum albumin passivated gold nanoclusters (AuNCs@BSA) we firstly developed a fluorescent biosensor platform, combining cholesterol oxidase with assistance of surfactant, for selective detection of water insoluble analyte, cholesterol in aqueous condition. Moreover, we designed a series of modification strategy to enhence thermal reversibility of AuNCs@BSA, aiming at reducing hysteresis remained during thermal cycles. Taking advantage of optimized thermal reversibility in terms of fully recoverable fluorescence intensity, analytical performance of modified AuNCs@BSA was investigated and an aqueous-phase temperature sensor was achieved. In addition to AuNCs, we developed novel glutathione stabilized copper NCs with green-emission in assistance of ascorbic acid reduction, which showed great resistance to nitro compounds. Further, analytical application of as-prepared Cu NCs to ratiometric sensing on explosive molecules, cooperating with AuNCs@BSA, was investigated. In the last, a novel and facile temperature mapping method using ionic liquid and organic fluorescent molecular rotor were described. Making use of viscosity-sensitive fluorescent dye, temperature was converted to ratio value of fluorescence intensity and recorded, enabling visualized thermal map.
Living and dying Lakota : an ethnography of a tribal nursing home
Authors:   , Schulhoff Anastacia
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This ethnographic research looks at people who reside, visit, and work at a Native American tribal nursing home. Using grounded theory to sort through 18 months of participant observations, extensive fieldnotes, and 22 interviews -- 12 with staff, three administrators, and seven residents' interviews -- my findings show that there is a complex tension between institutional and cultural particulars competing with one another in a tribal nursing home. The goal of this dissertation is to make visible the assemblages of meaning that are passed over by managerial views of nursing homes. By doing so, I show that a tribal nursing home cannot simply be understood as another nursing home, but must be understood in terms of its cultural resonance. I show how different fields of meaning engender culturally specific signifying practices and narratives that construct the nursing home under study as distinctly "Native American." Fields in this context is much like the social worlds that Gubrium (1975) defines as a setting where they create order, meaning, and structure. I trace how particular objects of signification practices -- family talk, discursive and material anchors, and ceremonies - help define what it means to be Native American in a tribal nursing home, thus constructing a unique institutional culture. This dissertation begins to fill the large gap in the fields of gerontology and sociology about Native Americans in general, and Native Americans use and understanding of nursing homes, in particular.
Putting theory to practice : a quasi-experimental test of a new model for experiential teaching and a case study in broadcast journalism education
Authors:   , Stanfield Kellie
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] How journalism is taught matters to society, as the work journalists produce can shape publics' understanding of information. A debate between academics and practitioners has emerged over the future of journalism education, with many in the industry saying it's too theory focused, and many in the academy arguing it's too practice based (Deuze, 2006; de Burgh, 2003; Skinner, Gasher, and Compton, 2001). This study proposed and tested a new model for teaching journalism that is grounded in experiential learning and reinforcement. The goal of this Experiential Teaching Model is twofold. First, it aims to provide a theory-based framework for teaching journalism that articulates a step-by-step process for producing learning. Second, it aims to incorporate journalism theories and research into skills-based courses, to offer a solution to the debate over journalism education. The proposed model was tested through a quasi-experiment of an introductory broadcast journalism course, using a pretest-posttest control group design. Findings suggest the new model provides a more effective way of teaching broadcast journalism skills and theory than a traditional lecture format. Case study findings support and explain the quantitative results, and reveal this was the first time theory was taught in the course's history at the Missouri School of Journalism.
Anxiety, attentional control, and performance : quiet eye training in Division I baseball
Authors:   , Sullivan Meaghan C.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The quiet eye (QE) represents the time needed to cognitively process information being fixated or tracked and to focus attention on the demands of the task (Vickers, 2009). Research indicates that an optimal combination of QE, attentional control, and gaze behavior is linked with superior skill execution (Harle and Vickers, 2001), and that the successful integration of these attentional behaviors may also combat the negative effects that anxiety can have on performance (e.g., Vine and Wilson, 2011). To advance the research on QE training in pressurized interceptive timing tasks (Vickers, 2016), this mixed-method study explored how QE training impacted the hitting performances of Division I baseball players during a pressure situation. The results showed that, despite experiencing more overall anxiety, the QE group maintained performance under pressure. A main effect for group also approached significance, with the QE group nearly outperforming the control group. However, this difference was not statistically significant. Regardless, analyses of the participants' written feedback indicated that the QE group reported greater task-focus, less distractibility, improved pitch perception, and reduced muscle tension. Taken together, these findings provide strong support for implementing QE training in interceptive timing tasks, particularly as it relates to preserving performance under pressure.
Understanding and preventing youth suicide : adding caregiver training to a youth prevention program
Authors:   , Homer Kestrel
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Suicide is the second leading cause of death for individuals ages 10-34 years-old (CDC, 2015). Suicide prevention programs aim to teach the risk factors and warning signs of depression and suicide. The Signs of Suicide (SOS) program is an empirically supported, school-based program. Study 1 extended previous findings (see Schilling et al., 2014), and helped support the efficacy of the SOS Middle School Program. Although students reported high levels of knowledge about depression and suicide prior to the SOS intervention, they reported having significantly higher knowledge afterward. The SOS program teaches youth to tell a responsible adult if they are concerned about themselves or a friend. The majority (90%) of students in study 1 reported they would talk to a parent; a higher percentage than the 85% who said they would speak to a friend. However, this is problematic if caregivers do not know how to best respond. Study 2 implemented and assessed a youth suicide prevention training program created specifically for caregivers and compared this to a treatment as usual prevention handout. Outcome variables were assessed at 3 time points, before the intervention, directly afterward, and 6-9 months later. Results typically followed the same pattern: both groups began with a relatively high level of knowledge, at Time 2, directly after the intervention, there was an increase in knowledge, and at Time 3, months later, this knowledge did decrease, but was still often higher than the initial reported level of knowledge at Time 1. Similar to study 1, the majority (64-77%) of caregivers in study 2 reported communicating with their child about mental health issues. Both studies were well received by participants, which supports the importance of both youth, and their caregivers, learning about risk factors and warning signs. Study 1 and 2 aided in understanding, and thus improving, suicide prevention for youth, as well as caregivers of youth.
Personal and organizational predictors of service provision for refugees
Authors:   , Jang Eunyoung
Published: April 2021

This cross-sectional research study examined related predictors such as knowledge of refugees, familiarity with community resources, cultural competence, and organizational culture factors associated with service provision for refugees among a sample of service providers. Three theories/models provided the theoretical framework-- the gateway provider model (Stiffman, Pescosolido, and Cabassa, 2004), cultural competence model (Schim, Doorenbos, and Borse, 2005; Suarez-Balcazar et al., 2011), and organizational theory (Glisson et al., 2008a; Glisson et al., 2008b). This study aimed to 1) describe the characteristics of a sample of refugee service providers, and 2) examine how service providers' personal factors and organizational culture factors are associated with service provision. One hundred seventy refugee service providers across the United States completed an online survey. Descriptive statistics, bivariate analysis, multiple regression analysis, and mediation analysis were employed to address four research questions and related hypotheses. Seventy-five point three percent of study participants were white and 81.5% were female. The age of subjects ranged from 23 to 75 years of age. Most (60%) of the study participants completed a graduate degree or higher and 86.3% of participants had not been a refugee before. Further, 62.3% of study participants were employed in a refugee resettlement related job. Most of the respondents worked in the Midwest (35.6%) and South (36.3%) regions. The vast majority of participants (84.9%) were working at a refugee resettlement agency. The major findings indicated that service providers' personal factors (i.e., knowledge of refugees, familiarity with community resources, and cultural competence) were significantly associated with overall service provided and referrals as well as each domain of service provided and referrals. Proficient organizational culture was positively associated with service provided and referrals, and constantly rigid organizational culture was negatively associated with service provided and referrals. Cultural competence behavior had a mediation effect on the association between service providers' familiarity with community resources and service provision. In addition, cultural competence behavior had a mediation effect on the association between service providers' work experiences and service provision. The findings provide important insights for refugee service providers, refugee service organizations, researchers, and policy makers for improving refugee service by developing a cultural competence training program and an online networking system.
Significance linked connected component analysis plus
Authors:   , Jiang Xiaobo
Published: April 2021

An image coding algorithm, SLCCA Plus, is introduced in this dissertation. SLCCA Plus is a wavelet-based subband coding method. In wavelet-based subband coding, the input images will go through a wavelet transform and be decomposed into wavelet subband pyramids. Then the characteristics of the wavelet coefficients within and among subbands will be utilized to removing the redundancy. The rest information will be organized and go through entropy encoding. SLCCA Plus contains a series improvement method to the SLCCA. Before SLCCA, there are three top-ranked wavelet image coders. Namely, Embedded Zerotree Wavelet coder (EZW), Morphological Representation of Wavelet Date (MEWD), and Set Partitioning in Hierarchical Trees (SPIHT). They exploit either inter-subband relation among zero wavelet coefficients or within-subband clustering. SLCCA, on the other hand, outperforms these three coders by exploring both the inter- subband coefficients relations and within-subband clustering of significant wavelet coefficients. SLCCA Plus strengthens SLCCA in the following aspects: Intelligence quantization, enhanced cluster filter, potential-significant shared-zero, and improved context models. The purpose of the first three improvements is to remove redundancy information further while keeping the image error as low as possible. As a result, they achieve a better trade-off between bit cost and image quality. Moreover, the improved context lowers the entropy by refining the classification of symbols in cluster sequence and magnitude bit-planes. Lower entropy means the adaptive arithmetic coding can achieve a better coding gain. For performance evaluation, SLCCA Plus is compared to SLCCA and JPEG2000. On average, SLCCA Plus achieves 7% bit saving over JPEG 2000 and 4% over SLCCA. The results comparison shows that SLCCA Plus shows more texture and edge details at a lower bitrate.
The influence of race on behavior and the neural correlates of expectancy during an economic decision game
Authors:   , Levsen Meredith P.
Published: April 2021

I investigated how another person's race influences resource sharing during a social economic decision-making game that depends on trustworthiness. Seventy-eight university students played a behavioral economics Trust Game with players of different races while EEG was recorded. I predicted that negative stereotype-based expectancies of Black players would cause participants to be more trusting of White than Black players, and also that these expectancies would be evident in the event-related potential (ERP) component, RewP, which is sensitive to expectancy violations (or prediction errors). Results largely conformed to predictions, in that White participants shared more money with White players than with Black players; this effect was weaker (and not statistically significant) when data from the full sample, including 11 non-White participants, was used in the model. This preferential treatment of White players was more pronounced in individuals who held more biased racial attitudes. Additionally, RewP was greater for feedback from Black relative to White players on trials when offer amounts were higher than average, implying that when feedback was most salient (because more money was at stake), it was more unexpected when Black players reciprocated generosity, and less expected when they did not. Exploratory analyses of an ERP component associated with racial categorization of faces, the P2, was larger to Black versus White faces, as in previous studies. Of interest here, the race effect in P2 amplitude was moderated by racial attitudes, such that less-biased individuals showed larger race differences in the P2, suggesting that these participants allocated more attention to social categories in an attempt to respond in a less biased way. These novel results were not entirely consistent with my original hypotheses, and thus more research is necessary to replicate and help explain the present results.
A middle school co-teaching program evaluation in one suburban midwestern school district : perceptions from regular education co-teachers, special education co-teachers, and building administrators
Authors:   , McGinnis Ashly M.
Published: April 2021

Middle school co-teachers and administrators offered information during focus groups, interviews, and surveys pertaining to co-teaching. Co-teaching in this study is defined as a special education teacher and a regular education teacher collaboratively providing instruction to a group of student with diverse learning needs. This qualitative program evaluation, conducted in a Midwestern suburban area, provides an analysis of middle school co-teaching with a focus on collaboration and professional development. The purpose of this study was to discover perceptions of middle school co-teaching from those at the front lines, including special education co-teachers, regular education co-teachers, and building administrators. The conceptual framework for this study was collaboration as defined by Friend and Cook (2013). Open and axial coding were used in the data analysis process. Findings indicated a lack of consistent and ongoing professional development, concerns with collaboration between co-teachers, and confusion with roles in co-teaching.
Democracy and the failure of liberalism? : globalization and the reemergence of Orientalist essentialism in Hindutva's construction of fundamentalist Hindu identity
Authors:   , Pillai Kavita
Published: April 2021

This dissertation demonstrates the emergent character of nationalism in conjunction with economic liberalism and global capitalism. It demonstrates how globalization and right wing fundamentalist nationalisms are mutually dependent. The cultural aggrandizement and glorification of the nation, an ugly reality in western industrialized countries, can be seen as a way in which states seek to engage productively with the processes of capitalist expansion and global competitiveness. In the post-colonial nation of India, the discourse of cultural unity and chauvinism takes particular forms that trace their lineages to the practices of colonial subordination and anti-colonial resistance. The Indian state's relatively recent open markets and the rise of Hindu Right-Wing movement invites us to reconsider the relationship between globalization and nationalism in more complex terms that takes cognizance of postcolonial agency. It also draws attention to the antidemocratic and illiberal effects of globalization. Across the globe, mainstream conservative parties have adapted to the rise of the far-right by co-opting some of their largest issues like religious fundamentalism, racial hegemony, and fear of the other. So far, that strategy has proven mostly successful, but this dissertation contends that a push for a well-informed and educated citizenry who can partake in nuanced dialogue is the way to the combat the rise of fundamentalisms.
Simulating prehistoric population dynamics and adaptive behavioral responses to the environment in Long House Valley and Black Mesa, Arizona
Authors:   , Warren Amy L.
Published: April 2021

This project contributes to our understanding of human adaptability to environmental stress and climate change in Long House Valley and Black Mesa, Arizona from AD 800-1350. This was accomplished through the development of a series of agentbased archaeological models. The first stage, Disaggregation, created a model that simulated individual persons within the Long House Valley landscape, a departure from the household-level models common in archaeological modeling. The second stage, Demography, applied empirically derived fertility and mortality rates to these human populations to provide insight into the effects of such rates on population patterns. The final stage expanded the modeled environment to include Black Mesa and allowed for the migration of individuals and households between the two areas in response to varying environmental and demographic pressures throughout the study period. The results of this project indicate that the introduction of biological and ethnographic realism to a model can produce unexpected results, including those that deviate from the population patterns observed archaeologically. Despite these unexpected interactions, the results support the importance of variations in agricultural productivity in driving human migrations in the region. Future archaeological models should consider further exploration small-scale, local population movements and the effects of dynamically changing fertility and mortality rates.
Prairie stream ecology : temporal and spatial patterns of macroinvertebrates
Authors:   , Warwick Jessica M.
Published: April 2021

Tallgrass prairie streams and their fauna are understudied, due in part to their rarity. The composition of prairie stream communities differs geographically due to regionally and locally determined environmental characteristics and varies over time due to disturbance events. This research focused on expanding the current knowledge of temporal and spatial variation in the macroinvertebrate communities of Missouri prairie streams. Intra-seasonal variation in the macroinvertebrate community of one prairie stream was correlated with changes in the stream environment and resulted in three relatively short-lived but significant community groupings. These intra-seasonal community shifts also affected functional feeding group structure and led to significant differences in biomonitoring measures over the course of weeks. For situations in which small, dynamic stream systems need to be monitored, sampling should be conducted at frequent intervals to capture changes in communities that may occur within seasons. The regional diversity and community structure of prairie headwater stream communities is in part driven by both the intermittent nature and the relative scarcity of prairie stream habitat. The macroinvertebrate communities of the headwater networks from five prairies in Missouri were unique. Differences in their taxonomic composition led to differences in biomonitoring metric values. The distinct community compositions of the headwater prairie streams studied and the high regional diversity documented are likely driven by geographic isolation rather than local environmental factors. Each of these prairie stream systems is an important contributor to species diversity at a regional level. Conservation and restoration efforts must work to preserve the biotic diversity in prairie streams to support existing macroinvertebrate communities that remain. For lotic insects to maintain stable populations across fragmented prairie patches and their intermittent streams in Missouri, dispersal must occur between patches to enable recolonization of streams after disturbance. Leptophlebia konza Burian was thought to be restricted to its type locality of Konza Prairie, Kansas; however, a population was discovered at Hi Lonesome Prairie in Missouri during an extensive search of 54 prairies. DNA sequence data from cytochrome oxidase subunit 1, CO1, show that both populations of L. konza lost genetic diversity during a recent bottleneck, either because of habitat fragmentation or competition from other species, including Leptophlebia johnsoni McDunnough. The rarity of L. konza populations across Missouri when taken into consideration with DNA sequence data suggest that L. konza populations are unstable and unable to disperse between remaining prairie patches. Water quality monitoring and research activities taking place in prairie streams must take into account spatial and temporal variation in both community structure and genetic diversity across these landscapes.
Protection from pneumonic plague by the induction of heme oxygenase-1
Authors:   , Willix Joshua
Published: April 2021

Yersinia pestis is the etiological agent of the disease known as plague. The pathology of this disease is characterized by organ failure due to necrosis and hyperinflammation towards the end of the disease. However, Y. pestis has a type 3 secretion system (T3SS) with effector Yops that stifle inflammation, a pgm locus that enables better survival within the mammalian host, and a tetraacylated LPS that renders innate immune sensing by TLR4 anti-stimulatory. Based on the evidence of these virulence factors, added with the lack of inflammation that is present at the beginning of the infection we made the hypothesis that the inflammation may not be related to the pathogen, but to the damage the pathogen creates. This led our laboratory to investigate the damage to the host as the potential source of this hyperinflammation response. We found that the production of yersiniabactin was necessary to induce damage and establish Y. pestis colonies in the lung. This lung damage induced the cytoprotective enzyme heme oxygenase-1, which is an enzyme that catalyzes heme degradation into CO, biliverdin, and Fe2+. We show that by upregulating HO-1 activity by administering a compound, cobalt protoporphyrin IX, we were able to ameliorate the hyperinflammation, lessen tissue damage, and increase survival in animals infected with Y. pestis.
Election timing as a predictor of electoral outcomes in public school bond elections in Missouri
Authors:   , Dutton Shiloh D.
Published: April 2021

This quantitative study sought to investigate the differences in the electoral outcomes of school bond elections in Missouri from 2009-2016 based on election timing. The researcher utilized election timing theory as a framework for the study. Data from Missouri school bond elections was compiled from online databases, the Missouri State Auditor's office, and archived newspaper reports. Results suggest that differences exist in electoral outcomes for school bond issues based on election timing. The study concludes with recommendations for Missouri school administrators, designed to aid in the successful passage of school bond issues.
Professional development design in elementary school blended learning environments : changes in teacher mindsets and adaptive thinking skills
Authors:   , Holt Angela Nicole
Published: April 2021

This mixed method convergent study explored the impact of design and delivery of professional development practices in a large, urban school district in Missouri. Certificated classroom teachers at 23 pre-determined elementary school sites (541 participants) were electronically surveyed. Additionally, three department leaders were interviewed and their responses provided insights about core features of professional development (content focused, active learning, coherence, duration and collective participation) present within the district. The International Association for K-12 Online Learning's (iNACOL) Blended Learning Teacher Competency Framework and transformative learning theory both provided a lens for examining professional development design and practice within the research study. The quantitative results of the study reveal significant increase in teacher responses from the technical skill and adaptive thinking domains. Additionally, qualitative data collected during the study found professional development delivered during the implementation window did include all five core features of professional development (content focused, active learning, coherence, duration and collective participation). While significance was noted in several variables studied, the Mindset domain showed no significant improvements in teacher responses on either measurement.
Monitoring motivation and academic growth in writing for young English language learners
Authors:   , Smith Robert Alexander
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this study was to explore the technical adequacy and appropriateness of using benchmarks established with the general population with two forms of Curriculum Based Measures-Writing (CBM-W), Word Dictation (WD) and Picture Word (PW), with English Language Learners (ELs) in the 1st through 3rd grades as well as explore the utility of combining a measure of motivated academic behavior (i.e., Social, Academic, and Emotional Behavior Risk Screener-Academic Behavior subscale (SAEBRS-AB)) with CBM-W for identifying risk in writing for young ELs. ELs in the 1st through 3rd grades (n = 71) were administered two forms of WD and PW in the fall, winter, and spring of the same academic year. Teachers (n = 9) also completed the SAEBRS-AB at each time-point for each participating student. Correlations between forms at each time-point were used to establish alternate form reliability and validity was established using two criterion measures via correlations and regression. The utility of combining CBM-W with SAEBRS-AB was examined via logistic regression and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis using researcher determined cutscores for risk on the two criterion measures. Results indicated that both forms of CBMW are reliable and valid measures of general writing performance for young ELs, that benchmarks drawn from the general population are generally applicable to young ELs, and that integrating the SAEBRS-AB with either form of CBM-W improves diagnostic accuracy.
Decentering experience : beyond visitor or object centered philosophies in university art museums and exhibition design
Authors:   , Straughn-Navarro Rachel. M.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] In the face of current museum trends towards heavily visitor-centered philosophies, this research offers a better understanding of how museums can theorize and practice in-between the demands of their object-centered, classificatory academic disciplines and the visitor-centered, pedagogical theories and best practices of their educational missions. The exhibition, Rooted, Revived, Reinvented: Basketry in America (RRR:BIA) exemplifies the boundary work between these concerns as its development served as an authentic learning experience for museum studies students and established continuous interaction between the students and baskets in the exhibition. In a philosophical exploration of the application of Object-Oriented Ontologies (OOO) and ActorNetwork-Theory (ANT) in the university art museum, this research focuses on the transactional and agential relationships between students and art objects. Phenomenological descriptions of the museum studies courses along with student interviews distill the essence of the relationships built between the students and their chosen baskets. As the situated context for these interactions, university art museums ultimately must act as boundary objects to successfully navigate between visitor-centered and object-centered concerns, emphasizing the intersection of object and visitor, and the quality, depth, and durability of that connection in order to fully leverage their impact on university students' learning.