American Indians and Alaska Natives (AIAN) have more negative sexual and reproductive health outcomes than non-Hispanic whites. Little is known, however, about the factors that lead to sexual and reproductive health disparities for AIANs, including the role of sexual and reproductive health services (SRHS).
Logistic regression analyses were performed on...
Though research on EU law compliance is extensive, the question as to why some policy entrepreneurs are more successful than others, and why some countries comply better than others, remains largely disputed. Using a case study design of France, this thesis focuses on the type of domestic institutions that make...
Sulforaphane is an isothiocyanate derived from cruciferous vegetables and has been under investigation as a cancer chemopreventive agent for over two decades. The compound is well tolerated and has been shown to slow cancer progression in several different pre-clinical models of carcinogenesis, such as of the lung, breast and colon....
Since 2004, a number of interrelated controversies have surrounded proposals to site a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal near Astoria, Oregon. While public participation has impacted the decision-making process surrounding these proposals, we do not know how such public participation processes has been perceived by those who participated. Using content...
Individuals who have been traumatized have the opportunity to experience posttraumatic growth, conceptualized as positive changes that result from navigating highly challenging life circumstances (Tedeschi & Calhoun, 2004). The current model of posttraumatic growth (Calhoun, Cann, & Tedeschi, 2010) is based solely on cognitive-emotional processing yet by examining the role...
An ability to meet the changing demands associated with development
promotes purpose in life, a defining feature of psychological well-being. Midlife
adults consistently report higher purpose in life compared to older adults. However,
less is known about the dynamics of purpose in life in the transition from middle to
older...
The Open Modeling Environment (OME) is a tool developed to address some known shortcomings in ecological System Dynamics (SD) modeling research. OME provides a common set of methods for interacting directly with spatial information, reducing the need for modelers to create their own methods for doing so. The environment is...
When a star dies in a supernova, its constituent particles are torn apart and a gaseous cloud of atoms remains. These atoms may eventually condense again into large bodies such as planets and stars. There are three main theories as to how this happens: classical, kinetic, and non-local thermodynamic equilibrium...
Systems that contain multi-phase flow in porous media are of interest in diverse fields including environmental engineering, hydrogeology, and petroleum engineering etc. One of the main descriptors of multi-phase flow in porous media is the relationship between capillary pressure and fluid saturation. Capillary pressure is inherently a pore-scale variable and...
The effects of steel reinforcement, chloride-induced corrosion initiation, cracking and delamination on the electrical resistivity measurements using the Wenner probe technique were studied experimentally on custom-designed reinforced concrete slabs. Investigation parameters included (1) probe configurations with respect to rebar mesh, (2) rebar density, (3) epoxy coating on the rebar, (4)...
Monte-Carlo Tree Search (MCTS) is an online-planning algorithm for decision-theoretic planning in domains with stochastic and combinatorial structure. The general applicability of MCTS makes it an ideal first choice to investigate when developing planners for complex applications requiring automated control and planning. The first contribution of this thesis is to...
Testosterone plays an essential role in sexual differentiation of the male sheep brain. The ovine sexually dimorphic nucleus (oSDN), is 2 to 3 times larger in males than in females, and this sex difference is under the control of testosterone. The effect of testosterone on oSDN volume may result from...
This research specifically examines the collective motion of populations of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells under the influence of a chemo-attractant gradient. Their motion is compared to the mathematical model of a persistent random walk, measuring the persistence bias of the cells from their autocorrelation function and applying to the mean...
Pactamycin, a potent antitumor antibiotic produced by the soil bacterium Streptomycespactum, is a structurally unique aminocyclopentitol-containing natural product. Itconsists of a highly functionalized cyclopentitol core unit, two aromatic rings [3-aminoacetophenone (3AAP) and 6-methylsalicylic acid (6MSA)], and a 1,1-dimethylurea moiety. Despite its potent biological activity, the development of thisantibiotic was hampered...
Bioretention is a common form of green stormwater infrastructure that is used to attenuate peak flows from urban stormwater. Previous research shows that the bioretention peak response is not consistent across time or space and that the variables that affect peak hydrology are numerous. One variable that has not been...
The anthropogenic introduction of nutrients to water bodies has been shown to alter the structure and function of natural aquatic ecosystems, yet national EPA lake and reservoir nutrient criteria remain too broad for effective regional water quality management. This study uses a reference site approach to propose numeric nutrient criteria...
Studies of δ¹⁸O held in freshwater bivalve shell carbonate are useful for reconstructing paleoclimates and environmental changes and inform interpretations about past human behavior and periods of culture change. Stable isotope analyses (δ¹⁸O) of Margaritifera falcata shells found at the Cooper's Ferry archaeological site located in the lower Salmon River...
A primary aim of bereavement research is to alleviate suffering and promote well-being at the junction of life and death for the survivor in an attachment relationship. Bereavement research in the last decade has focused primarily on examining grief recovery within the context of intrapersonal processes. This emphasis has often...
The Syrian civil war generated waves of refugees who flow into neighboring countries. These refugees have been creating excess supply of labor in host countries. This study involves a series of interviews in which respondents shared their perceptions of their involvement in the labor market in Iraq. These interviews provide...