Individual Differences In Personality Perception From Text Messages

Research has suggested that personality traits are detectable purely from the linguistic features of social media posts (Park et al., 2014) and text messages (Hood, Silio, & Webb, 2015; Udry, Rhoades & Webb, 2016). However, there may be individual differences in the ability to detect and utilize these linguistic cues. One trait that has been associated with accurate personality perception in previous research is intelligence (Christiansen, Wolcott-Burnam, Janovics, Burns, & Quirk, 2005; Lippa & Dietz, 2000; Murphy & Hall, 2009; Realo et al., 2003; Taft, 1955). The current study recruited 15 targets and 406 raters to investigate whether the relationship between rater intelligence and accuracy would hold true within the context of personality perception from text messages. Targets provided self-reported personality information and text messages, while raters were asked to complete an other-reported personality measure based on the text message of a particular target and an intelligence measure. Raters’ accuracy was assessed in terms of agreement with their assigned targets’ self-reported personality. Results indicated that while raters were able to achieve some level of accuracy in terms of agreement with targets’ traits, intelligence did not appear to be related to accurate personality perception in the context of text messages

Studies toward in vitro reconstitution of plant chromatin

To study the relation between chromatin structure and DNA function in detail it is necessary to have an in vitro procedure for assembling nucleosomes on a naked DNA template with properties similar to native chromatin. Such procedures exist for yeast and animal model systems but have not been developed for plants. The goal of this project was to lay the groundwork for developing a chromatin assembly extract from plants. Extracts from various plant materials were tested to determine their suitability for chromatin reconstitution. Tissues from plants are thought to have much higher levels of protease and nuclease activities than those of animals or yeast. Therefore, methods to determine the relative activity of proteases and nucleases had to be developed to determine if the template DNA, histones, and chromatin assembly proteins could survive the chromatin assembly reaction. Additionally, methods to streamline the isolation of maize nuclei and purification of histones were developed. This work lays the foundation for future research that could result in extracts to reconstitute plant chromatin in vitro

"A Model Of Excellence": The Evolution Of Sensibility In The Novels Of Jane Austen

This project concerns the development of Jane Austen’s criticism of the quality of sensibility, with a focus on her implied stance pertaining to its place and validity within social and personal behavior. By investigating and comparing Lady Susan, Sense and Sensibility, and Persuasion, it seeks to identify the nature and manner of this change in authorial judgment from a wide variety of points in her literary career. Much attention is given to each novel’s implied moral standard, which this paper terms “models of excellence.” The ever changing, “ideal” balance of such distinct qualities as sense, sentiment, and sensibility – all of which are discussed here at length – lead to a mature, socially valid reconfiguration of the heroine of sensibility. Main research questions include:* What is sensibility, and what is it not? How is it distinct from sense or sentiment?* What are the historical and social contexts of such qualities?* How does Austen’s early fiction convey her judgment of sensibility? How do later novels alter this judgment?* What constitutes an ideal character in Austen’s fiction?* How are sensibility and the ideal character reconfigured in Austen’s Persuasion

An Exploration of Interventions Used by Occupational Therapists

Among practices in the field of health care, there exists a common understanding of the importance of evidence-based practice. Evidence-based care, combining rigorous empirical research of a treatment with the desires and goals of the patient, focuses on the implementation of treatments that are proven to be effective and can apply to the best interests of all parties involved. These ideas pervade numerous healthcare fields, including the practice of occupational therapy. Unfortunately, although occupational therapy literature suggests that there are evidence-based treatments available for practitioners to utilize, it simultaneously depicts the popular use of interventions that are less substantial in their level of supporting evidence. One population served by occupational therapists that could be particularly affected by this contradiction is children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. In order to decipher what could be provoking occupational therapists to utilize treatments with lesser empirical support, the current study’s researchers asked practicing occupational therapists about their common interventions as well as their thoughts on evidence-based practice. The results of these interviews provide further evidence that occupational therapists are indeed utilizing treatments with lesser evidential support, suggesting that the contradictions in occupational therapy literature also reflect in its practice

A Study Of The Upper Domatic Number Of A Graph

Given a graph G we can partition the vertices of G in to k disjoint sets. We say a set A of vertices dominates another set of vertices, B, if for every vertex in B there is some adjacent vertex in A. The upper domatic number of a graph G is written as D(G) and defined as the maximum integer k such that G can be partitioned into k sets where for every pair of sets A and B either A dominates B or B dominates A or both. In this thesis we introduce the upper domatic number of a graph and provide various results on the properties of the upper domatic number, notably that D(G) is less than or equal to the maximum degree of G, as well as relating it to other well-studied graph properties such as the achromatic, pseudoachromatic, and transitive numbers

Group covers and partitions : covering and partition numbers

A group cover is a collection of subgroups whose union is the group. A group partition is a group cover in which the elements have trivial pairwise intersection. Previous work has been done to investigate properties related to the covering number of a group - the minimal number of subgroups necessary to forma cover. Here we define analogously the partition number of a group and examine some of its properties, including its relation to the covering number. In particular, we provide a classification of the covering and partition numbers of the dihedral groups. Also presented is a result concerning a minimal partition of the symmetric group on four elements. Further, we utilize GAP to provide some computational methods for studying partition numbers. Code samples are provided to test conditions relevant to partitions and the partition number; specifically, we are able to use GAP to help verify various conjectures about partitions of small finite groups. Included is a naïve and computationally intense method to find the partition number, as well as an attempted refinement designed to deal with the inefficiency of the naïve method

An Evaluation Of Appalachian State University Budgetary Model Effectiveness Through Departmental Satisfaction

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of Appalachian State University’s budgetary model when looking at departmental user satisfaction. This thesis investigates how satisfied departmental heads, in charge of their respective department’s budget, are with Appalachian State University’s budgeting process. In addition to the data collected on user satisfaction, a literature review was conducted to review the public budgetary systems that affect the budget of Appalachian State University – starting with the United States budgetary system and working down through the public sector budgetary levels that lead to the budgets of Appalachian State University departments. The budget of Appalachian State University was reviewed as a whole, but for the purpose of this thesis the portion of Appalachian State University’s budget that allocates funding to Appalachian State University departments was reviewed more in depth. This portion of Appalachian State’s budgetary model was evaluated using the user satisfaction data collected through survey. To collect data on departmental budgetary satisfaction, a survey was conducted. The survey collected data from a sample of the population of Appalachian State University departments that receive a portion of the Appalachian State University budget. The survey questions fit into the themes of budgetary funding satisfaction, budgetary needs, and the effects seen from Appalachian State University’s budgetary process. It was found that the Appalachian State University budgetary model was under-performing when evaluated based on user satisfaction. While many factors had to be accounted for, the data collected pointed towards ineffective trends in the portion of Appalachian State’s budgetary model that distributes funding to all campus departments. These trends were found to be the result of several factors. Within this thesis the implications of these trends and their potential causes are discussed

Optimization of Parameters for the Construction of a Sensing System to Measure the Hydrolysis of ß-Lactam Antibiotics

Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a problem that has developed over the last 75 yearsdue to over-prescribing and improper usage of these drugs. Through these processes, bacteriahave developed and spread the gene for an enzyme known as ß-lactamase, which catalyzes thehydrolysis of the ß-lactam ring in many penicillins, rendering them ineffective. Accordingly, thepurpose of this research is to create a sensing system to measure the hydrolysis of ß-lactamantibiotics using the enzyme, ß-lactamase. To accomplish this, the gene for ß-lactamase can befused with the gene for a fluorescent protein known as enhanced green fluorescent protein(EGFP), which will decrease its fluorescence upon the local pH change generated by thecatalysis of a ß-lactam ring. While previous research in this area has been successful in thedevelopment of an in vitro fusion of the genes encoding for ß-lactamase and EGFP, presentresearch is focused on separately incorporating the individual genes for EGFP and ß-lactamase inpFLAG-MAC expression vectors to verify the local pH theory and to create an in vivo protein,thus creating a whole cell sensing system

The Effect Of Ground School Instruction On Participant Perception Of Climbing Self Efficacy

Rock climbing is a fast growing adventure sport that sees use in summer camps, university programs, and commercial recreation across the world. Because of its challenging nature, rock climbing is often perceived to be a scary experience for newcomers; but it also seems to have a huge potential for self-growth. In this study we examine if the type of ground school instruction provided to climbers before a climbing experience, as well as the type of climbing system used, has a significant effect on climber’s perceived self-efficacy. Climbing is a sport with many educational and recreational applications. To include as many people as possible in the lessons climbing has to offer, facilitators may benefit from using a setup that allows participants to be the most comfortable. In this study we applied two different ground school and climbing system methods to two separate groups of college students. Both groups were administered the same three-part survey to track changes in their self-efficacy score throughout the climbing experience. We found there to be a significant difference between the two groups, with the treatment group experiencing a higher change in efficacy

Phenyl replacement reactions: solvent effects on reactions of boroxines with primary amines

When primary amines are reacted with boroxines in solvents such as diethyl ether or THF, a dative bond forms between the lone pair of electrons on the nitrogen atom and a boron atom in a predictable manner. However, when the highly complexing solvent dioxane is used, evidence of a phenyl displacement reaction has been observed. In this work I examined the effects of a variety of electron donating and withdrawing groups on boroxines, specifically whether or not these groups have an effect on the proposed outcome of the hypothesized phenyl displacement reaction. The types of boroxines and amines were varied as well as their relative ratios. The resulting reaction mixtures were evaluated by 1H-NMR, GC-MS and FT-IR. The nitrogen boron dative bond complex formed rather than the desired phenyl replacement product