The Smalling of America?: Growth Management Statutes and the Dormant Commerce Clause

When we start talking about quality of life, they start talking about cheap underwear. And I keep saying, You cannot buy small-town quality of life at a Wal-Mart; they don\u27t sell it.

Labelling and testing of foods designated as suitable for diabetic and low calorie diets

The aim of this project was to assess whether consumers, especially those following a diabetic or low calorie diet, would benefit from newly designed food labels denoting glycaemic load and whether these labels would help them make a faster food selection.peer-reviewe

Dynamic Behavioral Analysis of Malicious Software with Norman Sandbox

Current signature-based Anti-Virus (AV) detection approaches take, on average, two weeks from discovery to definition update release to AV users. In addition, these signatures get stale quickly: AV products miss between 25%-80% of new malicious software within a week of not updating. This thesis researches and develops a detection/classification mechanism for malicious software through statistical analysis of dynamic malware behavior. Several characteristics for each behavior type were stored and analyzed such as function DLL names, function parameters, exception thread ids, exception opcodes, pages accessed during faults, port numbers, connection types, and IP addresses. Behavioral data was collected via Norman Sandbox for storage and analysis. We proposed to find which statistical measures and metrics can be collected for use in the detection and classification of malware. We conclude that our logging and cataloging procedure is a potentially viable method in creating behavior-based malicious software detection and classification mechanisms

Extension of a high-order Petrov-Galerkin implementation applied to non-radiating and radar cross section geometries

Capabilities of a high-order Petrov-Galerkin solver are expanded to include N-port systems. Tait-Bryan angles are employed to launch electro-magnetic waves in arbitrary directions allowing off axis ports to be driven. The transverse-electric (TE) formulation is added allowing waveguide geometries to be driven directly. A grid convergence study is performed on a coax-driven waveguide system. Physical data are matched to a hybrid-T junction (magic-T) electromagnetic waveguide structure to verify the TE driving formulation along with the Tait-Bryan angles and modified post-processing routines. A simple sphere case is used to exercise the radar cross section (RCS) routines and to examine the benefits of curving elements for high-order simulations

Dynamic Behavioral Analysis of Malicious Software with Norman Sandbox

Current signature-based Anti-Virus (AV) detection approaches take, on average, two weeks from discovery to definition update release to AV users. In addition, these signatures get stale quickly: AV products miss between 25%-80% of new malicious software within a week of not updating. This thesis researches and develops a detection/classification mechanism for malicious software through statistical analysis of dynamic malware behavior. Several characteristics for each behavior type were stored and analyzed such as function DLL names, function parameters, exception thread ids, exception opcodes, pages accessed during faults, port numbers, connection types, and IP addresses. Behavioral data was collected via Norman Sandbox for storage and analysis. We proposed to find which statistical measures and metrics can be collected for use in the detection and classification of malware. We conclude that our logging and cataloging procedure is a potentially viable method in creating behavior-based malicious software detection and classification mechanisms

The role of attention, attitude, culture, and social expectancies in the human-animal bond : a biopsychosocial approach.

The human-animal bond may positively impact human health. However, employing the human-animal bond in human health and behavioral treatments strategies faces several unresolved issues. Challenges facing human-animal bond research include accepting a theoretical model that encourages systematic organization of human-animal bond research, and investigating the human-animal bond's underlying mechanisms. Using eyetracker technology and various social measures, the goal of the current research was to investigate the role of attention, attitude, culture, and social expectancies in the human-animal bond. Participant's eye movements were monitored as they examined photographs depicting various levels of human-animal interaction. Participants also rated their impressions of the human in each photograph for several characteristics. Results showed that participants attended differently to varying levels of human-animal interactions and made more positive judgments about humans interacting with an animal versus the mere presence of an animal. Biological, psychological, and social factors may be important to how humans relate to and benefit from social interactions with animals

Optimization of in silico designed fatty acid synthase modulators derived from the lead molecule orlistat

Orlistat; or tetrahydrolipstatin has been found to have inhibitory effects on human Fatty Acid Synthase (hFASN), an enzyme overexpressed in many tumors responsible for energy upkeep and fatty acid synthesis. The crystalline structure of hFASN was used to extract Orlistat; analysis it’spharmacophoric moieties and generate a library using Orlistat as a scaffold to be utilized within a database for high throughput screening. Two distinct methods were used; and over 1,200 unique molecules have been generated, all compliant with Lipinski’s rule of 5.peer-reviewe

Most Likely to Succeed: The Exploration of Factors Affecting Successful Completion of a Practical Nursing Program

In the realm of higher education, retention is a concept vital to the progression and security of all institutions. This remains true for all nursing programs as well because reports have shown an attrition rate as high as 50% in some nursing programs across the globe. Along with the nursing shortage projected in the next 20 years, retention in nursing programs poses a massive problem for not just higher education but healthcare as well. Therefore, it is important for nursing educators to understand the factors affecting student completion of a nursing program. This two-phase, mixed-methods study sought to answer the overarching research question: What factors contribute to completion of the Southcentral Community and Technical College (SKYCTC) Practical Nursing (PN) program within three semesters? Since the majority of nursing programs utilize a selective admission process for accepting students, the first phase of the study gathered admission criteria on six cohorts of students accepted into the SKYCTC PN program from August 2008 through May 2015. This quantitative data was analyzed to determine if any of the admission criteria were related to completion of the program. For the second phase, qualitative data was gathered through a focus group attended by 11 graduates of the SKYCTC PN program between August 2008 and May 2015. The purpose of the focus group was to gather environmental or academic influences that graduates attributed to their success in completing the program