When observers view a naturalistic (l/f) broadband image, the various spatial components present in the image stimulate many detecting-mechanisms that suppress each other. This suppression is anisotropic, being relatively greater for mechanisms...
In this study, the author examined the relationship of probability misconceptions
to algebra, geometry, and rational number misconceptions and investigated the potential
of probability instruction as an intervention to address misconceptions in all...
Creative writing (Higher education)--Study and teaching--United States; Composition (Language arts)--Study and teaching; English language--Rhetoric--Study and teaching (Higher)
The trend in writing curriculum has been to diversify and separate courses. This dissertation looks at one set of divided curricula--creative writing and composition--in order to examine the ways in which writing pedagogy has been affected by this...
Recent advances in high throughput methodologies offer researchers the ability to understand complex systems via high dimensional and multi-relational data. One example is the realm of molecular biology where disparate data (such as gene sequence,...
Various vision tasks are usually confronted by appearance variations due to changes of illumination. For instance, in a recognition system, it has been shown that the variability in human face appearance is owed to changes to lighting conditions...
G-quadruplexes are thought to have biological importance, with studies based on small molecule interactions and quadruplex-interactive antibodies demonstrating their potential for formation in vivo. One potential biological function of quadruplex...
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an idiopathic pervasive neurodevelopmental disorder associated with various neuropathologies and immunological dysfunctions. Cytokines are regulatory proteins that facilitate communication between the immune and...
Arsenic--Physiological effect; Cardiovascular system--Diseases; Liver--Effect of arsenic on; Arsenic--Toxicology
Chronic arsenic exposure is associated with increased cardiovascular disease (CVD). Prenatal arsenic exposure at 49 ppm arsenic accelerates atherosclerosis underlying CVD in ApoE-/- mice, but the mechanism is unknown. This dissertation examines the...
In light of western cultural trends toward individualism, the presence of altruistic marital attitudes and behavior is examined as a predictor of marital happiness. Most quantitative studies exploring correlates of marital happiness use the same...
It has been shown that GSK3 β plays a critical role in the inflammation response by differentially regulating MyD88-dependent pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines production in TLR4-stimulated innate immune cells. The work included in this...
Accelerated life testing; Reliability (Engineering); Service life (Engineering)
This dissertation is focused on finding lower confidence limits for the reliability of systems consisting of Wei bull components when the reliability demonstration testing (RDT) is conducted with zero failures. The usual methods for the parameter...
The focus of this dissertation work is the formulation and improvement of anemia management process involving trial-and-error. A two-stage method is adopted toward this objective. Given a medical treatment process, a discrete Markov representation...
Due to the complex nature of interactions at the genomic level as well as the large number of proteins present in an organism, understanding the functions of various genes that are expressed is essential. Creating an analysis pipeline for Expressed...
This thesis is divided into two parts below. Part I Adriamycin (ADR) can produce nephrotoxicity in rodents. The underlying mechanism may relate to ADR induced oxidative stress. In this study, we used transgenic mice (NMT3), which over-expressed the...
Star Wars films--History and criticism; Myth in motion pictures; Lucas, George, 1944-
The Star Wars franchise is one of the most successful film series of all time. The original three
movies, along with the more recent three prequels, serve as the foundation to a vast empire of
Star Wars television shows, action figures, comic...
Speech intelligibility has been found to improve with prior exposure to a reverberant room environment. It is believed that perceptual mechanisms help maintain accurate speech perception under these adverse conditions. Potential factors underlying...
Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of mortality and morbidity in Western societies. Thus, understanding the molecular mechanisms to reduce myocardial ischemia and limit infarction size are of great importance. Ample evidence has shown that...
Neuropsychology; Motor ability; Eye-hand coordination
Two major theoretical models, Direct Mapping and Functional Equivalence, suggest that the observation of action and imagery of action, respectively, involve activation of similar motor related areas. Despite the wealth of evidence that supports...
Given a metric space (K, d), the hyperspace of K is defined by H(K) = {F c K: F is compact, F ≠ 0}. H(K) is itself a metric space under the Hausdorff metric dH. Hyperspaces have been extensively studied by topologists since the 1970's, but the...
Periodontitis--Age factors; Natural immunity; Age factors in disease
Periodontal disease arises from excessive host inflammatory responses to the tooth-associated microbial biofilm, known as dental plaque. Severity ranges from superficial inflammation of the gingivae (gingivitis) to extensive destruction of...