This study explored the lived experience of Gen Z adults in a liminal life-stage crisis where the symbolic meaning of health, identity and brands are in transition. Sixteen ethnographic in-home interviews with college students were conducted and analyzed using Geertz's interpretive and Turner's symbolic anthropology. A hermeneutic textual analysis was used to interpret three types of phenomenological data: text, pictures and collages. An "incubation" step was key in the creative interpretation process where the leap from data to abstract themes was made. Environmental circumstances like money, time, resources and social networks change the quality of health, but the fundamental health explanatory system of a young person is a reflection of their family of origin experiences. Women associate health with mental health-independence and empowerment. Men define health as physical health-food and cooking. Skills such as cooking and shopping as well as the consumption of water, cannabis and other complementary products impact health and identity. Three health worldview themes emerged: health as negotiating identity; creating home; and taking responsibility. Implications for branding and public information campaigns to change the health beliefs and practices of young adults are offered. This thesis closes with a reflection on the "research study," the dominant symbol in …

Optical microlasers have been used in different engineering fields and for sensing various applications. They have been used in biomedical fields in applications such as for detecting protein biomarkers for cancer and for measuring biomechanical properties. The goal of this work is to propose a microfluidic-based fabrication method for fabricating optical polymer based microlasers, which has advantages, over current methods, such us the fabrication time, the contained cost, and the reproducibility of the microlaser's size. The microfluidic setup consisted of microfluidic pumps and a flow focusing droplet generator chip made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS). Parameters such as the flow rate (Q) and the pressure (P) of both continuous and dispersed phases are taken into account for determining the microlaser's size and a MATLAB imaging tool is used to reduce the microlaser's diameter estimation. In addition, two applications are discussed: i) electric field measurements via resonator doped with Di-Anepps-4 voltage sensitive dye, and ii) strain measurements in a 3D printed bone-like structure to mimic biomedical implantable sensors.

The goal of this study is to determine the intentional movement direction based on the neural signals recorded from the motor cortex using optical brain imaging techniques. Towards this goal, we developed a cross-correlation analysis technique to determine the movement direction from the hemodynamic signals recorded from the motor cortex. Healthy human subjects were asked to perform a two-dimensional hand movement in two orthogonal directions while the hemodynamic signals were recorded from the motor cortex simultaneously with the movements. The movement directions were correlated with the hemodynamic signals to establish the cross-correlation patterns of firings among these neurons. Based on the specific cross-correlation patterns with respect to the different movement directions, we can distinguish the different intentional movement directions between front-back and right-left movements. This is based on the hypothesis that different movement directions can be determined by different cooperative firings among various groups of neurons. By identifying the different correlation patterns of brain activities with each group of neurons for each movement, we can decode the specific movement direction based on the hemodynamic signals. By developing such a computational method to decode movement direction, it can be used to control the direction of a wheelchair for paralyzed patients based …

RSA cryptography is one of the most widely used cryptosystems in the world. FPGA/ASIC implementations for the classic RSA cryptosystem have high resource utilization due to the use of the Extended Euclid's algorithm for MOD inverse generation, the MOD exponent operation for encryption and decryption, and through non finite-field arithmetic. This thesis translates the RSA cryptosystem into the finite-field domain of arithmetic which greatly increases the range of encryption and decryption keys and replaces the MOD exponent with a multiplication. A new algorithm, the SPX algorithm, is presented and shown to outperform Euclid's algorithm, which is the most widely used mechanism to compute the GCD in FPGA implementations of RSA. The SPX algorithm is then extended to support the computation of the MOD inverse and supply decryption keys. Lastly, a finite-field RSA system is created and shown to support character encryption and decryption while being designed to be integrated into any larger system.

NEET proteins belong to a unique class of [2Fe-2S] cluster proteins that have been shown to participate in various biological processes such as regulating iron, reactive oxygen species and apoptosis within the cell and are localized to the mitochondria. Disruption of the mitochondrial NEET proteins are associated with different human diseases such as obesity, neurodegeneration, cancer and diabetes. In humans, a missense mutation in the CISD2 gene results in a heritable multisystem disorder termed Wolfram syndrome 2 (WFS2), a disease which displays an early onset of juvenile diabetes and various neuropsychiatric disorders. The C. elegans genome contains three previously uncharacterized cisd genes: cisd-1, which has homology to the human CISD1 and CISD2, and cisd-3.1 and cisd-3.2, both of which have homology to the human CISD3. Disruption of the cisd-3 gene(s) function results in mis-regulation of proteostasis in the mitochondria, whereas cisd-1 and cisd-3.1 disruption impacts proteostasis in the endoplasmic reticulum. Reduction of cisd-3.2 gene function also leads to a developmental delay in C. elegans. A knockout mutation of the cisd-3.2(pn68) gene function results in various germline defects including delayed development progression and morphological defects. Furthermore, I show the cisd gene(s) and protein expression profiles is present relative to sex, tissue …

The purpose of this study was to explore theorized predictors, intrapersonal effects, and interpersonal effects of political humility. Participants (N = 469) were adults recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk and undergraduate students who completed a series of measures online. First, I found that political humility is (a) positively associated with openness to experience, (b) negatively associated with political commitment, and (c) not significantly related to political diversity in one's social network. Second, regarding intrapersonal effects, I found that political humility was (a) positively associated with low emotional reactivity when presented with a different political perspective, (b) identifying positive aspects of the opposite political perspective, and (c) not significantly related to identifying negative aspects of one's own political perspective. Third, I found that both the self-reported political humility of the participant and the perceived political humility of the individual who hurt or offended the participant were positively associated with one's motivation to forgive the individual. Fourth, I found that the association between political humility and forgiveness was not significantly moderated by how close the participant felt to the offender before the hurt or offense. I conclude by discussing my findings in light of the present literature on humility.

This study examined press freedom in Saudi Arabia coverage in two study periods, which are the Gulf and Yemen wars. Six Saudi newspapers, which represent Saudi regions, have been content analyzed. They are: Al Riyadh, Al Yaum, Al Nadwah, Mecca, Okaz, and Al Jazirah. The major questions are: What are the most salient issues Saudi newspapers dealt with in their editorials during the study period? What are the differences between the two periods of study? And what are the differences between the editorial features of the Gulf and Yemen wars? The normative theory-press freedom theory was conducted for this study. The results support the lack of press freedom during the Gulf War. In contrast, some newspapers have significantly improved their performance during the Yemen War, using a higher level of press freedom.

Running From My Youth: Essays is a collection of nonfiction essays that explore important moments and experiences from the narrator's youth, and how he has addressed and remembered them in the years since. Some of the essays explore the narrator's time as a distance-runner, while others explore the awkwardness and discomfort onset by religion and nudity.

The purpose of the current study is to evaluate a procedure that can be used to introduce horses to clipping. Negative reinforcement was used in a shaping paradigm. Shaping steps were conducted by the handler, starting with touching the horse with the hand, then touching the horse with the clippers while they are off, culminating with touching the horse with the clippers while they are on. When a horse broke contact with either the hand or the clippers, the hand or the clippers were held at that point until the horse emitted an appropriate response. When the horse emitted an appropriate response, the clippers were removed, and the handler stepped away from the horse. For all eight horses, this shaping plan was effective in enabling the clipping of each horse with minimal inappropriate behavior and without additional restraint. The entire process took under an hour for each horse.

In this thesis I look at the Arkansas Project and more specifically the racial dynamics within the project and the surrounding communities in Arkansas where SNCC engaged to assist the residents fight for their civil rights. In addition, I analyze how the differences in the urban and rural communities were affected by the racial dynamics of the project's leadership. The Arkansas project was led by William Hansen, a white man, which made him and the project unique from not only other SNCC projects, but other civil rights organizations. This distinction made the strategy that had to be implemented with the project staff internally and also externally in the Arkansas communities different because his race had to be taken into consideration for all purposes. Another aspect that came into play in Arkansas was the fact that some of their activities occurred in urban communities and others occurred in rural communities. These difference in communities affected not only how the local blacks received the SNCC volunteers, but also affected how local whites received the SNCC volunteers. Although the fact that the Arkansas Project had a white field director made it unique and the racial dynamics worthy of scholarly investigation, Bill Hansen's racial …

This study examined professional practice issues in sport psychology such as qualifications, credentialing, graduate training, and the scope of practice in order to address questions about who should be teaching and providing such services. We used frequencies, t-tests, and chi-square analyses to assess trends among licensed psychologists in the subdiscipline of sport psychology. Analyses show that 26.7% (n = 52) reported providing services to individual athletes and 17.9% (n = 35) to teams in which their work focused on directly improving sport performances. Additionally, 58.5% (n = 114) reported providing mental health services to individual athletes and 10.3% (n = 20) to sport teams. These results suggest services provided to individual athletes and groups/teams of athletes seem to emphasize mental health concerns. Regarding supervision, 18.5% (n = 36) indicated they had received supervision related to improving athletes' sport performance and 35.9% (n = 70) for mental health services they had provided. Another 17.5% (n = 34) indicated having provided supervision to other professionals who were working with athletes to improve their sport performance and 40.0% (n = 78) for those who were addressing athletes' mental health. Overall, 26 (13.3%) of the psychologists had published articles concerning sport and performance psychology …

External beam radiation therapy is often used as a form of treatment for individuals diagnosed with cancer. However, because staying completely still can often be difficult for children, sedation is often used daily to remedy the need for stillness. In this document, we introduce the development, implementation, and testing of a technology designed to teach healthy children to self-monitor and control their movements. This technology monitored a child's body movement and created a continuous feedback loop, playing a preferred movie based on the amount of body movement observed. Study 1 compares the amount of body movement observed when children were instructed to remain still (instructions alone) to access to a movie contingent on maintained low rates of movement (contingent movie). Study 2 compares the amount of body movement observed in the instructions alone condition with two other conditions: non-contingent access to a movie (non-contingent movie) and contingent movie. Study 3 compares the amount of body movement observed in the instructions alone condition to the contingent movie condition over an extended period of time. Lastly, Study 4 compares the amount of body movement observed when children have previously been taught to stay still using the technology described above across various days …

The current investigation replicated and extended previous research on training of behavior professionals to implement functional assessment and analysis procedures. Specifically, the study extended procedures described by Metras to train board certified behavior analysts (BCBAs) to administer two components of the Interview Informed Synthesized Contingency Analyses (IISCA) by: (1) conducting the study in the context of a large residential/training facility for adults with ID, (2) including a participant who served as a behavior analyst for a caseload of individuals who lived and received services at the facility, and (3) adjusting the vignettes and interview scripts to reflect the change in context. This current study shows that, following a brief training sequence, the participant was able to accurately administer the open-ended interview and construct a synthesized test and control condition.

Upland cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) is the world's most prominent fiber crop. Cotton transformation is labor intensive and time consuming, taking 12 to 18 months for rooted T0 plants. One rate limiting step is the necessary production of somatic embryos. In other recalcitrant species, ectopic expression of three genes were shown to promote somatic embryogenesis: WUSCHEL (WUS), SHOOT MERISTEMLESS (STM), and BABY BOOM (BBM). WUS is responsible for maintaining stem-cell fate in shoot and floral meristems. STM is needed to establish and maintain shoot meristems. STM and WUS have similar functions but work in different pathways; overexpression of both together converts somatic cells to meristematic and embryogenic fate. BBM encodes an AP2/ERF transcription factor that is expressed during embryogenesis and ectopic expression of BBM reprograms vegetative tissues to embryonic growth. In prior studies, these genes were constitutively expressed, and cultures did not progress beyond embryogenesis because the embryogenic signal was not turned off. In our study, we set out to use these genes to increase the efficiency of cotton transformation and decrease the time it takes to regenerate a plant. A disarmed cotton leaf crumple virus (dCLCrV) vector delivers WUS, STM, or BBM into cotton tissue cultures through Agrobacterium tumefaciens …

Research with local farmers and local food consumers in the North Texas area which captures a contemporary understanding of the challenges and successes present in North Texas local farm-and-food networks. Through ethnographic research methods, including participant-observation and semi-structured interviews, the network of producers and consumers around several farmers' markets were evaluated to understand where the strengths of local food lie, and where networks need development to promote a more stable local food environment. Texas is newer to the trend of farmers' market development, with the local food system developed to foster community, educate, and promote the advantages of locally sourced goods. This research led to the academic discovery of climate adaptive ecological knowledge and farm commodification strategies; which are tools that farmers may use to build greater defense against threats to a farm's livelihood.

Amparo Davila's writing style is characterized by circumventing the boundaries between the real and the fantastic and between the known and the unknown. The author creates a narrative that evokes horror in the reader by mixing the uncanny of the unknown with the reality of the world. This study proposes that the sinister in Davila's stories are created by abandonment. This abandonment is the peremptory element of Davilian narrative and can be seen and examined throughout the author's literary work. The abandonment wields a mechanism of loneliness, madness, hopelessness and chaos that eventually provokes the sinister. The element of abandonment disturbs the main character of the story and makes him fall into an abyss from which he or she cannot escape. This abandonment is not always obvious, since most of the time the abandonment is veil by a halo of gothic and fantastic elements. The present thesis has the task of breaking down the different types of abandonment that are presented throughout this narrative, its sinister function and the theoretical and historical interpretation of the various abandonments both personal and collective that Amparo Davila presents. The route of abandonment proposed in this thesis is explained in the following three stories: …

This project seeks to include the historical significance of women in the Foreign Service and subsequently the United States Department of State between 1942 and 1964. Using the life and experience of Margaret Parx Hays, one of fewer than three hundred female foreign service officers before 1960, this study explores the importance of examining women at the "ground level." This narrative examines the life of Hays at several different duty stations and her experience navigating a male-dominant workplace congruent to the political and diplomatic missions of each stations. Hays was stationed in Buenos Aires, Argentina (1942-1945); Bogota, Columbia (1945-1947); Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (1948-1950); Washington D.C., U.S. (1951-1954; 1959-1962); Manila, Philippines (1954-1956); Mexico City, Mexico (1956-1958); and Hong Kong, China (1962-1964). Throughout the deployment at each station, Hays was confronted with major political events in her duty station's history or in the intersection of American foreign and domestic policy. Through the use of Hays's archived collection of personal papers, including letters and newspapers, this thesis presents a more representative story about women and about the Department of State as a larger whole than previous scholarship that has ignored how gender affected diplomatic history.