bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Development and experimental benchmarking of numeric fluid structure interaction models for research reactor fuel analysis
Authors:   , Kennedy John Charles
Published: April 2021

As part of the Global Threat Reduction Initiative (GTRI) reactor conversion program, five U.S. High Performance Research Reactors (HPRRs) are currently studying a novel Low Enriched Uranium (LEU) foil based fuel to replace their current High Enriched Uranium (HEU) dispersion fuel. The proposed fuel uses a monolithic U-10Mo foil meat clad in aluminum, whereas the current HEU fuel meat is comprised of Uranium dispersed in an aluminum matrix, before being clad in aluminum. Along with a change in the physical structure of the fuel, the fuel plate thickness has been significantly decreased. Given that these fuel plates are subject to high velocity coolant flow, these changes in the plate design have led to a need to characterize the structural response of the plates in presence of high velocity flow. The proposed method for completing this analysis is to use novel fluid-structure interaction (FSI) simulations. These simulations are carried out using commercial CFD and FEA solvers Star-CCM+ and Abaqus, and iteratively coupling their solutions together at the interface between the plate and the fluid. Given the unique nature of these simulations, it is necessary to first benchmark and qualify the codes for this analysis. To generate benchmark quality data, a flow loop and test section have been constructed for studying plate deflection and channel pressure drop under a variety of fluid flow conditions. Similar experimental analysis which considered equally sized fluid channels has been studied by a number of individuals in the past. The work presented here differs however, by intentionally offsetting the plate and creating fluid channels of different thickness. This offset effectively simulates manufacturing tolerances of a real fuel assembly. A method for generating 'As-Built' numeric models of the experiment geometry is presented. These As-Built numeric models have been shown to dramatically improve matching between experiment and numeric solutions, particularly at low- to mid-range flow rates. At higher flow rates, the experiment exhibited a dynamic 'snap' behavior that could not be replicated numerically. Additional interrogation of the boundary conditions revealed a possible explanation for this snap, however numeric methods do not yet exist for recreating this behavior. In earlier works which considered equally sized channels, plate deflection was not examined in detail and was found to be largely unpredictable and reliant upon the manufacturing tolerances of the experiment. In the numeric and experimental work presented here, plate deflection behavior at low to mid-range flow rates is qualitatively consistent with theoretical expectations.
To die so far from Dixie : modeling epidemic dysentery in a Civil War prison camp
Authors:   , Lander Rebecca Shattuck
Published: April 2021

Epidemics have played a role in shaping human experiences of conflict among both soldiers and civilians. Prisoners of war, displaced populations, and confined refugees have experienced, and continue to experience, outbreaks of infectious disease, which are exacerbated by physical, environmental, and psychological stressors. Observations of epidemics at the global, regional, or national level are not always able to provide a complete picture of the unique health challenges of these wartime populations. This research develops and applies a computer simulation model to examine the way human behaviors, and the impact of those behaviors on the environment, can impact the way diarrheal diseases develop and spread in confined high-density living situations. This simulation was tested against the recorded death and sickness patterns for a dysentery outbreak at Camp Douglas, Illinois, a 19th Century Civil War prison camp. The agent-based simulation used in this research is a unique approach, and is based on the feedback relationship between human movement and behavior and the resulting contamination of physical spaces with infectious material, rather than direct person-to-person pathogen transmission. The results of this simulation suggests that modeling disease transmission based on environmental result in distinct epidemic dynamics. The results of this research emphasize the importance of examining the relationship between humans, their environment, and patterns of health and disease. Additionally, it highlights the way that model design can help to increase knowledge of how even limited movement and interaction options available to confined individuals can lead to significant differences in patterns of disease spread and epidemic development, which can help to better design public health interventions targeted at confined populations.
Environmental preferences of users in co-located colleges
Authors:   , Parker Janet Stockton
Published: April 2021

Co-location, the merging of two organizational entities into one shared space, requires collaboration to be successful. The benefits of co-location can be realized if the combined entities are compatible. This dissertation investigates the compatibility between two co-located education entities through three related questions: What are the environmental preferences among users in a co-located college environment? What are the organization system type preferences of the co-located organizations? Does a distinguishable pattern between environmental preferences and organization system type emerge? A replicated survey of each college's personnel, divided by administration and staff, faculty, and student populations, determined the environmental preferences, or perceptions, of each school's organization systems. A key behavior that facilitates a positive co-location experience is having the leadership of both entities collaborate and communicate with each other. Mutual respect and professional courtesy are important to those working and learning within a co-located environment. Two assessment tools were developed and found to be useful in identifying the underlying nature of colocation compatibility. The Wilcoxon Rank Sum Test was used to analyze preferences. Among the 23 Environmental Preference survey items only one statistically significant difference emerged between the two colleges - student work display areas, wherein both colleges ranked it as an important preference. Multi-attribute Utility Technology (MAUT) was used to quantify data from the organization systems analysis, composed of four system-types. The system type preferences for both colleges were aligned across all four system types with only marginal differences. The two colleges were highly compatible. Other organizations may find the instruments useful in determining co-location compatibility.
Comparison of rumen microbe taxa among wild and domestic ruminants
Authors:   , Taxis Tasia Marie
Published: April 2021

Microbes that inhabit the rumen provide a diverse set of enzymes that degrade ingested plant material. Without microbes, ruminants could not survive. Our research has focused on identifying microbial taxa associated with environment and phenotypic traits of host animals in order to improve livestock production and efficiency. Rumen contents were collected from a total of 48 animals from five host species, both wild and domestic, consuming either a concentrate- or forage-based diet. The objectives of this study were to analyze the distribution of microbial taxa among host species and identify microbial taxa associated with host diet, species, and domestication status. DNA was extracted from rumen content and sequenced for identification of microbial taxa present within each host animal. The distribution of microbial taxa was similar among host species. Each host species contained a few highly abundant microbial taxa and many microbial taxa in lower abundance. As host species were added to the analysis, the total number of microbial taxa identified increased and the number of microbial taxa common among all host species decreased, supporting the existence of a core microbial community. In this study we identified 66, 73, and 23 microbial taxa that differed among host diet, species, and domestication status, respectively. While on farm implications are far from being offered, studies of the microbial community add to the breadth of knowledge and identify microbes associated with performance and efficiency of livestock.
The frontier myth and the frontier thesis in contemporary genre fiction
Authors:   , Yoo Jihun
Published: April 2021

The aim of this dissertation is to investigate how City of Glass, No Country for Old Men, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Mason and Dixon invoke various aspects of the frontier myth. City of Glass evokes the myth by illustrating its drive for order, Adamic innocence and rebirth. It visions a New World and a regenerated man (new Adam) of civilization and order from an Old World of savagery and chaos. No Country for Old Men dramatizes the Old World vs. New World paradigm of the frontier myth. This is achieved by depicting a frontier figure who is born out of the combination of the traditionalism of the Old World and the savagery of the New World. He is a figure who not only expresses frontier values such as free will and rugged individualism but also participates in the American Dream. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? engages with the frontier myth by problematizing central factors of the frontier model of economy-capitalism. The novel charters the (unequal) position of the androids as a way of providing socioeconomic-political advantages to humans within capitalistic economy. By the linkage between myth and reality through myth-narrator's myth-making vision, Mason and Dixon's narrative recapitulates the symbolic essence of America inherent in the frontier myth that transfigures American history into American romance, allegory, and myth. This dissertation allows us to understand how postmodern and contemporary genre fiction invests its attention to the (seemingly obsolete) frontier myth and tradition.
Epistemic democracy and political legitimacy
Authors:   , Zhang Sheng
Published: April 2021

My dissertation aims to answer two questions: (1) Is democracy epistemically valuable? (2) Is the epistemic value of democracy, if it has any, necessary for justifying its legitimacy? I argue that democracy in certain form can be epistemically valuable. However, I also argue that the epistemic value of democracy is not necessary for justifying its legitimacy. To defend the epistemic value of democracy, I propose a postdeliberation version of Condorcet's jury theorem. I argue that this version of the jury theorem can avoid the common challenges against the classic version. To reject the necessity of epistemic value for democratic legitimacy, I argue that, given that the epistemic value of democracy is subject to disagreement, it cannot be used to justify legitimacy. In addition, I provide a purely proceduralist argument for democratic legitimacy, which appeals to the egalitarian principle that every citizens ought to be equally respected by the state. This argument, if succeeds, shows that the epistemic value of democracy is not necessary for justifying democratic legitimacy.
A grounded theory approach : inter-organizational relationships in community college fundraising
Authors:   , Almquist Jacqueline Celeste
Published: April 2021

As state funding for community colleges dwindle, presidential turnover is predicted, even as demands for educational programs and services increase, fundraisers are left to manage relationships and secure resources for organizational mission and vision fulfillment and sustainability. Community colleges provide a rich context for studying inter- organizational relationships (IORs) since fundraising professionals manage multi-layer relationships associated with their organizational role. This unique environment typifies IORs as the college governing board relationship works with the foundation fundraising board relationship in interdependent ways to advance organizational goals. My study presents the Theory of Fundraising Relationship Management (TFRM) as a framework for understanding how fundraising professionals manage the relationships in the inter- organizational community college context. A model operationalizes TFRM and positions the college president-fundraiser dyad as central to the relationship management processes presented in four distinct quadrants: (1) formalizing board interdependence; (2) tailoring interactions; (3) enlisting and educating others; (4) and raising money. The management of these relationships are entrenched with dialectical tensions of empowerment- disempowerment, expressionsuppression, and integration-separation. Implications provide researchers and practitioners alike with the communicative processes embedded in fundraising relationship management by adding to the literature and providing an actionable agenda.
Spatio-temporal models of county-level economic growth
Authors:   , Beregovska Tetyana
Published: April 2021

In one chapter of this dissertation we study how earnings of workers in a county are related to earnings of workers in the neighboring counties in time and space. Conventional spatio-temporal models study these relationships while measuring them on average across all counties in the neighborhood. We believe that the counties in the neighborhood may not be similar due to some their characteristics so the relationships between earnings of the workers in neighboring counties may not be similar either. So we hypothesize that if we can distinguish counties by the shares of the workers employed in different sectors of the economy in the overall number of workers in the county or, rather, by the change of those shares, then we can observe different effects that earnings in neighboring counties can have on each other. We build a model that allows measuring the relationships between neighboring counties' earnings of the workers based on the change in their sectoral share of the number of the workers and find that these relationships are different both in their size and direction of the effects that earnings have on each other -- positive or negative. This finding opens the door to a better understanding on how economies work when the geographical units -- counties -- are treated differently in the analysis. The other chapter of this dissertation is devoted to the study of the relationships of the earnings of workers in different sectors of the economy. We use conventional model with the average overall effects that sectoral earnings have on each other but look at the relationships between earnings in the sectors within the same county which measures their growth in time and between neighboring counties which measures their growth in time and geographical space. We also believe that due to this particular choice of points of interest earnings in different sectors and different counties have their own average level which we measure as fixed effects.
ICP-MS analysis of fission product diffusion in graphite for high-temperature gas-cooled reactors
Authors:   , Carter Lukas Michael
Published: April 2021

High-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs) are one of the candidates being considered for the replacement of current nuclear reactor designs. Diffusion coefficients for fission products in HTGR graphite are required for estimation of fission product release rates from such reactors. We developed a method for analysis of fission product of fission product surrogate release rates from heated graphite samples. The graphite samples were infused with fission product surrogate material, and material which diffused from the graphite samples was transported via a carbon aerosol laden He jet system to an online inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer for quantification of the release rate. Diffusion coefficients for cesium in IG-110 and NBG-18 grade nuclear graphites are reported.
My hands, remembering
Authors:   , Fath Lauren
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Lauren Fath's nonfiction writing uses handicraft as an entree to examining familial history and the inheritance of objects. Each essay in her collection centers on the pursuit of a particular craft, such as knitting, sewing, or refurbishing antiques. Fath situates that pursuit alongside her search for family secrets and recondite inherited pasts. Ultimately, handicraft emerges as a means of preserving traditions, expressing nascent love, and recovering from a broken marriage. My Hands, Remembering demonstrates that writing about handicraft should attend to not just the emotional benefits of craft, but to craft methodologies themselves, and how craft techniques can be both passed down and created anew. Fath suggests in her critical introduction that ethnographers who write about handicraft should embrace what she calls "ethnography of methodology," in which a crafter's technical approaches and aesthetic choices receive as much attention as the product (the object itself) or the outcome (a sense of community with other crafters). This essay collection contributes to a growing influence of ethnography and autoethnography upon creative nonfiction, and more particularly to the use of the material as a means of exploring the personal. Fath's work also represents a contemporary era of handicraft and traces how interests such as knitting and sewing are both passed down to and reinvented by a new generation of crafters.
Firm transparency and innovation : international evidence
Authors:   , Zhong Rong (Irene)
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Transparency can provide financing benefits to innovation by reducing financial frictions, and it can also entail proprietary costs by revealing information to competitors. Using a large sample of firms from 29 countries, I find a robust, positive association between firm transparency and innovation. This positive relation is more pronounced in environments in which proprietary costs are lower (i.e., countries with stronger legal system over property rights), financing benefits are higher (i.e., countries with more developed financial markets, firms with greater financial constraints) or with a combination of all these factors. Tests using 2SLS regression as well as a DiD approach around mandatory IFRS adoption indicate that endogeneity is unlikely to be driving my findings. Overall, this study highlights an unexplored firm-specific channel linking transparency to innovation key to economic growth, and shows that transparency supports a higher level of innovation by improving firm access to lower cost external financing.
Transatlantic geographies of faith in the long eighteenth century
Authors:   , Paul Juliette
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Noting the thousands of books that American colonists imported from the British Isles, scholars have imagined America as a satellite of British literary culture in the long eighteenth century. However, we have yet to consider the impact colonial books made on British culture. This dissertation studies colonial accounts, many published in the British Isles, to discover the British response to the unique spiritual and material situations of colonial life. Placing these books alongside some of the most innovative works of British fiction, poetry, and prose of the eighteenth century illuminates how early American devotion deeply influenced the development of British religious literary culture. In chapters devoted to the novels, poems, and correspondence of four British writers, I uncover their substantial references to colonial books and accounts. In her novel, Oroonoko, Aphra Behn draws on West Indian beliefs about slave baptism, while Christopher Smart, in his poem, Jubilate Agno, creates a space for English prayer akin to missionary depictions of Christian Indian conversion. Similarly, Samuel Richardson identifies his fiction, Clarissa, with colonial forms of practical devotion, as Mary Wollstonecraft reforms the English language of romantic love in response to the American topography of her lover, Gilbert Imlay. I argue that because many colonists had separated from the Church of England, accounts of colonial faith represented narratives capable of revising English devotion at a remove from Anglican authority, in fiction, poems, and letters. These works, considered part of the rise of secularism in English culture, participated in a devotional reform continuous with the Protestant Reformation.
Fault evolution and strain partitioning within deforming continents
Authors:   , Ye Jiyang
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Diffuse deformation within continents and over broad plate boundary zones deviates from the prediction of plate tectonics theory. Some of the deforming continents are now well delineated by space geodetic measurements, but the cause of such diffuse deformation remains poorly understood. My Ph.D. research focuses on two regions: 1) Fault evolution and Strain partitioning in Southern California: High-precision GPS measurements have enabled kinematic modeling of the present-day strain partitioning between these faults, but the causes of such strain partitioning and fault evolution remain uncertain. Using a three-dimensional viscoelasto-plastic finite element model, I have explored how the plate boundary fault system evolves to accommodate the relative plate motion in Southern California. My results show that, when the plate boundary faults are not optimally orientated to accommodate the relative plate motion, new faults will be initiated. In particular, the Big Bend of the San Andreas Fault, which is the main plate boundary fault, impedes the relative plate motion, thus forces the development of a system of secondary faults. 2) Active strain rates of crustal deformation in mainland China: In the past decades Chinese scientists and international teams have measured GPS velocities at more than a thousand sites in mainland China, allowing calculation of detailed spatial distribution of the crustal strain rates. Using the latest GPS data, I have calculated strain rates in different tectonic provinces in China and compared them with neotectonic data. I have also calculated strain rates using earthquakes and geological fault slip rates. The differences of strain rates derived from different data sets show the time-scale dependence of strain rates. Comparing GPS strain rates with seismic moment release patterns illustrates the limitations of using earthquake catalog for earthquake hazard analysis.
After sales services for repairable parts with service level agreements
Authors:   , Afzali Baghdadabadi Rana
Published: April 2021

In this study, inventory systems for repairable-parts with service level consideration are studied. The first study develops a multi-parts inventory system and transportation decisions. A failed part might be repairable at the stock location, or at repair facilities, or it might be non repairable, which should be replaced by a new purchased part. The objective is to find the base stock levels and shipping modes that maximizes the total weighted fill rate within a given budget. An optimization model and the properties of the objective function are developed. An approximation method is used to eliminate the highly non-linearity of the objective function, and the optimality of approximated model is discussed under specific conditions. The results of numerical experiments show the benefits of alternative transportation mode. Failure rates are observed to be the most significant factor in determining the assigned base stock level and shipping mode. A two-echelon repairable-parts inventory system is considered in the second study, where emergency purchasing and ordering from the central warehouse are allowed to obtain high service level. A dynamic decision making model is developed that minimizes the system's operational costs, including transportation, stocking and purchasing new parts during the contract period, and provides the required service level over the contract period. The numerical experiments show the benefits of purchasing and ordering options in systems with high penalty costs and long repair times, especially where the allocated inventory to the stock location is not enough to guarantee the target service level. Our model also provides the best base stock levels that minimize the operational costs and initial investments at the stock location. In the previous studies, we assumed that the contractual terms are given to the supplier and are considered as fixed parameters. The main focus in the last study is providing the contractual terms to the supplier that prompts him to provide a better service performance. The decision maker in this system is the customer, and he requires a minimum service level from the supplier. The customer is willing to grant the supplier for a better service performance by providing incentives. The objective is to find the terms of contract, the fixed payment, incentives and contract duration, that maximize the service provided by the supplier during the planning horizon under a constrained budget. We first develop a mixed integer programming model assuming the information on the supplier's cost and service is visible to the customer. Then, we extend our model to a robust model in which the uncertainty of information is included.
On the high density hydrogen films adsorbed in carbon nanospaces
Authors:   , Dohnke Elmar
Published: April 2021

The commercialization of hydrogen-powered fuel cell cars, with their environmentally friendly emissions, provides an opportunity to replace current gasoline powered vehicles. The main drawback of hydrogen as a fuel is the low density at ambient temperatures. The gas needs to be compressed to high pressure or kept under cryogenic temperatures to achieve reasonably long driving ranges. These obstacles can be overcome if the tanks are filled with a porous material that adsorbs a high volume of hydrogen. Many materials are put forward for this purpose, such as metal organic frameworks (MOFs) and engineered carbon nanospaces (synthetic carbon). To get a better understanding of the materials performance, an attempt was made to analyze the properties of the adsorbed hydrogen film. High pressure hydrogen isotherms at cryogenic temperatures (77 K, 50 K) have been studied to estimate adsorbed film properties such as density and thickness. Furthermore, how isosteric heat of adsorption, surface chemistry, and pore size distribution affect the adsorbed film has been investigated. At supercritical temperatures and high pressures, a film density 20% higher than liquid hydrogen at 1 bar and 20 K was obtained. These densities are independent of the isosteric heat of adsorption or pore size distribution. The adsorbed film densities behave similarly for all carbon-based surfaces at 77 K. Additionally a new method was developed to estimate specific surface areas of gas storage materials from high pressure isotherms and tested against the BET theory. The new method does not require knowledge of the packing fraction or cross-sectional area of an adsorbed molecule in the film. In most cases the new method leads to surface areas comparable to those found using BET theory if cryogenic high pressure isotherms are used. A new manometric (Sieverts type) adsorption instrument was designed and test, capable of measuring sub- and supercritical hydrogen isotherms at high pressure.
Mapping the language-specific cerebrocerebellar network of the human brain through diffusion tensor imaging
Authors:   , George Ian D.
Published: April 2021

Language was arguably a key influence in the evolution of the human brain and the evolution of this behavior in humans was likely associated with gross morphological changes and novel neural networks. My dissertation looked at one such network and verified anatomical connectivity between regions of the cerebellum, thalamus, and frontal lobe active during language using a combination of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The results of the DTI analysis and fiber tracking support the hypothesis that there is discrete anatomical connectivity in a language-specific network. The second aim of my dissertation to characterize and quantify this anatomical connectivity in the language-specific functional network between the cerebrum and cerebellum. We analyzed the language-specific cerebrocerebellar network (LSCN) in 59 right-handed neurotypical males through DTI images. My results show the white matter tracts in the LSCN have greater connectivity than that of the white matter in the whole brain, indicating that there is a discrete network between the cerebrum and cerebellum exclusively for language. This anatomical connectivity information about this neural network can now be used in conjunction with behavioral measures in future research on the evolution of the human brain, evolution of language, and pathologies that affect language production.
I. Patterning of silicalite-1 films using CO2 laser ablation. II. Impact of deposition and laser densification of silicalite-1 films on their optical characteristics
Authors:   , Mandal Swarnasri
Published: April 2021

Nanostructured materials represent an intriguing foundation on which to build new devices for applications in electronics, photonics, energy storage, and biological/chemical analysis. The standard methods used to pattern such devices are based on typical microfabrication techniques, which involve multiple complex and time-consuming steps with several limitations. Here, we present a simple, flexible alternative to both techniques: CO2 laser ablation. We demonstrate the effects of this technique on a model zeolite thin film system, pure-silica MFI (silicalite-1), to evaluate its potential for patterning complex, multicrystalline, nanostructured materials. Using this technique, we demonstrate that it is possible to make 3D structures in these films, such as channels of varying width (82-611.98 [mu]m), depth (2.58-7.13 [mu]m), separation distance (minimum 25 [mu]m), and edge effects, by varying laser power, spot size, and raster speed. The resulting randomly and b-oriented films of thickness 94.324-550.89 nm showed the ability to reach a range of refractive indices (1.327-1.678), depending on film orientation and deposition technique. The intensities of their IR and Raman absorption regions indicate an increase in crystallinity with CO2 laser irradiation from 10 to 20% power, and then a decrease above 30%. Determining these fundamental optical properties will allow us to explore the functionality of these materials for a wider array of applications in optoelectronics, where nanostructured materials can make a significant difference in scale, cost, efficiency, and overall performance.
Strained indium arsenide/gallium arsenide layers for quantum cascade laser design using genetic algorithm
Authors:   , Mueller David W.
Published: April 2021

Achieving high power, continuous wave, room temperature operation of midinfrared (3-5 um) lasers is difficult due to the effects of auger recombination in band-to-band designs. Intersubband laser designs such as quantum cascade lasers reduce the effects of recombination, increasing efficiency and have advantages in large tunability of wavelength ranges. Highly efficient quantum cascade laser designs are typically used in lasers designed for >5 um wavelength operation due to the small offset of conduction band energy [delta]E[subscript c] in lattice matched materials. Some promising material systems have been used to achieve high-power output in the first atmospheric window (3-5 [mu]m) but still suffer from low efficiency. Larger [delta]E[subscript c] conduction band offset is attainable through the use of strained materials. However, these material systems have limitations on the traditional (100) crystal orientation due to the large strain and low critical thickness. The necessity for controlled two-dimensional, optical quality layer growth limits the amount of strain incorporation due to defect formation in highly lattice mis-matched layers. The material systems used in this study are GaAs (100) and (111)B, AlGaAs, and (Ga)InAs. In the initial stage of research, I found that pseudomorphic growth of highly strained InAs layers on GaAs (111)B is possible. However, the growth window is very narrow and necessitates precise control over growth temperature and anion overpressure to achieve optical quality layers. As a result, a second stage of research explores the design space made available by this finding by using genetic algorithm based design and simulation of devices with a Schrodinger-Poisson solver - nextnano.
Probing the viral replication of HCV and XMRV : biochemical characterization, inhibition kinetics and role of host proteins in viral replication
Authors:   , Ndongwe Tanyaradzwa P.
Published: April 2021

The studies described in this thesis focus on RNA viruses XMRV and HCV. In Chapter II we focused on Xenotropic Murine leukemia-Related Virus (XMRV). We characterized the biochemical activity and kinetics of the XMRV reverse transcriptase and discovered key mechanistic differences between XMRV, Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV), and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) reverse transcriptase (RT) enzymes. In Chapter III and IV we focused on Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), the causative agent of hepatitis C infection. We studied the role of an antiviral host factor Mov10 in the viral replication of HCV. We demonstrate that Mov10 overexpression in human hepatoma cells restricts HCV RNA production in a fully infectious virus cell culture system, leading to decreased virus production over time. Additionally, overexpression of Mov10 in producer cells decreases the infectivity of the produced virus. Confocal microscopy shows HCV infection results in redistribution of endogenous Mov10 to circular structures surrounding lipid droplets, proximal to viral proteins core and NS5A. Finally, we demonstrate that the RNA-binding function of Mov10 is responsible for its antiviral effect. Decreasing Mov10 protein expression levels decreased HCV replication and infection levels. Our data reveal a complex balance between Mov10 and HCV. In Chapter IV we studied several aspects of HCV. (i) We discovered two novel small molecule inhibitors of the HCV helicase that have antiviral function. (ii) We discovered that Dcp2 is a novel HCV host restriction factor that can block HCV replication, and (iii) we provide insights into the mechanism(s) of action of approved and clinically advanced direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs).
Suspicion, competence, and coping in preschool teachers' identity work
Authors:   , Pruit John C.
Published: April 2021

The purpose of this research is to explore and analyze the everyday complexities of being a preschool teacher. I spent two years doing ethnographic research in a Montessori preschool and collected twenty-three interviews from the preschool teachers working there. This dissertation analyzes preschool teacher identity work in the context of suspicion, competence, and coping. In a general way, I find gender to be a turning point in preschool teachers' identity. Men preschool teachers are met with a form of suspicion casting them as threats to preschool children. Similarly, competence is different for men and women. Women are granted competence because they are naturalized as caretakers, while men must prove they are competent to work with children. Last, coping is part of preschool teachers' emotional labor and identity work. I find coping with stress in a constructive manner is a major part of preschool teachers' identity work.
Graphical evolving transformation system machine
Authors:   , Thieu Thanh
Published: April 2021

For years, scientists have challenged the machine intelligence problem. Learning classes of objects followed by the classification of objects into their classes is a common task in machine intelligence. For this task, two objects representation schemes are often used: a vector-based representation, and a graph-based representation. While the vector representation has sound mathematical background and optimization tools, it lacks the ability to encode relations between the patterns and their parts, thus lacking the complexity of human perception. On the other hand, the graph-based representation naturally captures the intrinsic structural properties, but available algorithms usually have exponential complexity. In this work, we build an inductive learning algorithm that relies on graph-based representation of objects and their classes, and test the framework on a competitive dataset of human actions in static images. The method incorporates three primary measures of class representation: likelihood probability, family resemblance typicality, and minimum description length. Empirical benchmarking shows that the method is robust to the noisy input, scales well to real-world datasets, and achieves comparable performance to current learning techniques. Moreover, our method has the advantage of intuitive representation regarding both patterns and class representation. While applied to a specific problem of human pose recognition, our framework, named graphical Evolving Transformation System (gETS), can have a wide range of applications and can be used in other machine learning tasks.
Device-level composition in ReWire
Authors:   , Graves Ian
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] ReWire provides engineers with a tool to specify, verify and implement hardware devices for FPGAs from a high-level Haskell-like language. Previous work has shown ReWire to be a productive source language for developing whole systems in the form of single, monolithic monadic specifications. To achieve scale, modularity and reusability, some form of modularity principle must be identified and realized within ReWire. What are the basic units of a ReWire specification and how may such units be identified, abstracted over and reused to achieve a realistic work flow for device construction in ReWire? This research identifies a modularity principle for ReWire as a suite of language abstractions for breaking apart ReWire specifications into its constituent components called Connect Logic and considers its implementation and application. Extending ReWire with support for device-level composition would significantly enhance its usefulness. This work integrates a suite of functions into ReWire which provide engineers the ability to incorporate existing specifications into new designs and the ability perform traditional decomposition of large specifications. Connect Logic provides an intuitive way to consider synchronous versus combinational logic in hardware designs. We demonstrate applications of Connect Logic to improve the performance of systems including cryptographic ciphers. We utilize Connect Logic to develop a fully pipelined microprocessor, to implement commonly used high-level concurrency primitives in hardware, and we demonstrate Connect Logic as a substrate for visual programming.
Hyperglycemia and type 2 diabetes : impact on neural cardiovascular control
Authors:   , Holwerda Seth H.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is often characterized by chronic hypertension and exaggerated increases in arterial blood pressure (BP) during exercise. However, investigations of the neural mechanisms that are known to be critically involved in BP regulation at rest and during exercise in T2D have been lacking. Also, hyperglycemia decreases arterial baroreflex (ABR) control of heart rate (HR) in conditions of reduced insulin sensitivity, but whether hyperglycemia reduces ABR control of HR in healthy subjects has not been investigated. In study #1, findings demonstrated that ABR control of HR is reduced following acute hyperglycemia in healthy subjects independent of insulin sensitivity, and also during hyperinsulinemia. Study #2 focused on ABR control of HR and muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA) in T2D patients, which are chronically hyperglycemic and hyperinsulinemic. No differences in ABR control of MSNA were observed; however, ABR control of HR was significantly reduced in T2D patients compared to lean controls, but not weight-matched (i.e., obese) controls. These findings suggest a potential selective impairment in ABR control of HR in T2D that may be a consequence of obesity. Finally, given the exaggerated BP responses to exercise in T2D patients, and the vital contribution of skeletal muscle neural feedback to the BP responses to exercise, study #3 focused on BP and MSNA responses to activation of skeletal muscle neural afferents in T2D patients. The findings demonstrated that BP and MSNA responses to activation of skeletal muscle afferents sensitive to muscle metabolites was augmented in T2D patients.
Exploring the strengths development of Taiwanese international students during the cultural transition process : a grounded theory study
Authors:   , Chen Hsiu-Hui
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] According to the Open Doors report, the number of undergraduate international students increased from 407,529 to 764,495 in the U.S. from 1990-91 to 2011/12 academic years (Open Doors, 2012). One of the missions of U.S higher education is to encourage the enrollment of international students for academic, cultural, and economic purposes (Sumer, Poyrazli, and Grahame, 2008). With the growing attention on international students, there is gap in the current literature that calls for strength-based approach. The aim of this study was to develop a model illustrates the strengths development of Taiwanese international college students in the cultural transition process by using grounded theory research design. The strengths developmental model emerged from the study provided us a better understanding of (a) how the strengths were utilized and (b) how their strengths take place in the cross-cultural experiences from their perspective, also (c) gain a better idea of the appropriate services and environment for international students.
Possible mechanisms of metabolic dysfunction in ovariectomized rats : impact of intrinsic aerobic fitness
Authors:   , Park Young-Min
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Ovariectomized (OVX) rodents are used as a model of human menopause as frequently both experience weight gain, decreased insulin sensitivity and decreased physical activity, which may manifest into metabolic syndrome. Intrinsic aerobic capacity may influence OVX-induced metabolic dysfunction. Female rats selectively bred for high (HCR) and low (LCR) aerobic capacity were used to elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which intrinsic aerobic fitness impacts OVX-associated metabolic dysfunction. We demonstrated that HCR were not fully protected against an OVX-induced decline in insulin sensitivity partially due to a [about]30% attenuation of insulin-stimulated skeletal muscle glucose uptake. HCROVX were protective against HFD-associated insulin resistance through a unique mechanism of behavioral change (i.e. compensatory increase in spontaneous physical activity), while LCROVX exacerbated insulin resistance following HFD. HCR were not protected from OVX-induced reduction in voluntary wheel running; yet HCRhad greater DA activation, compared to LCR, which was associated with their enhanced running distance. Collectively, these data suggest that high aerobic fitness may play a critical role in attenuating metabolic dysfunction associated with OVX and external stress due to their intrinsically enhanced insulin sensitivity. However, high aerobic fitness is not fully protective to OVX-induced impairments in metabolic function and physical activity levels, indicative of a strong physiological effect of ovarian hormone loss.
Influences of subjective social status, control and perfectionism on international students' cross-cultural transition
Authors:   , Fu Chu-Chun
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This study examined the influences of subjective social status, sense of control, and perfectionistic discrepancy on career development outcomes and satisfaction with life among 233 Chinese and Taiwanese international students before and after they study abroad in the U.S. The results showed that subjective social status at Time-1 was significantly associated with career outcome expectations, career search self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life at Time-2, but not significantly associated with Time-2 career adaptability. Post-arrival sense of control fully mediated the link between subjective social status in home country with career outcome expectations, career search self-efficacy, and satisfaction with life in the U.S. Moreover, a moderated-mediation effect was found, in which perfectionistic discrepancy weakened the sense of control-career outcome expectation association in the mediation model of subjective social status and career outcome expectation by sense of control. Additional results are provided. Implications of these findings are outlined.
Network coherence in autism spectrum disorder : a multimodal neuroimaging study of functional connectivity and spectroscopy MRI
Authors:   , Hegarty John P. II
Published: April 2021

The underlying neuropathology and effects on neuronal activity in individuals with ASD are still being elucidated; as well as their impact on intervention and treatment outcomes. Frontal, temporal, parietal and cerebellar pathways exhibit disrupted structural and functional connectivity in individuals with ASD and we sought to investigate the potential clinical utility of altered network coherence. Beta-adrenergic antagonism improved information processing in a subset of individuals with ASD and improved performance was related to pharmacologicallymediated alterations in functional connectivity in the fronto-parietal control network. These findings support the potential utility of beta-adrenergic antagonists for some patients with ASD and the clinical significance of alterations in network coherence. There are also additional considerations for functional connectivity investigations in ASD. The cerebellum is interconnected via feedback loops to the neocortex and thus has some modulatory influences on cortical and subcortical neuronal circuits. The cerebellum is consistently implicated in the neuropathology of ASD but has been largely ignored in investigations of functional network coherence. Functional connectivity between the cerebellum and neocortex was anticorrelated in a subset of individuals with ASD. These individuals exhibited reduced glutamate levels in the cerebellum and diminished interpretive linguistic abilities, suggesting a potential mechanism underlying altered cerebrocerebellar connectivity in some individuals with ASD as well a cognitive outcome of alterations in cerebrocerebellar network coherence.