thesis

The education of profoundly intellectually disabled individuals requires identifying motivators to help them learn basic tasks and skills. When these individuals also suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder, one promising method of therapy, multisensory therapy, has been shown to relax patients, facilitating the educational process. Relaxation drastically minimizes maladaptive behaviors such as repetitive movement (stereotypy) and self-injury, allowing the participant to learn efficiently. In this study, a multi-axis measure was developed to determine behavioral differences between an experimental group that underwent the therapy and a control group that performed a functional task in their classroom. Stereotypic behaviors were significantly reduced and gaze focus was enhanced within the therapy. The significance of these effects carried over when participants were returned to their classroom.

The two earliest grammars of the Castilian language are the Grammar of the Castilian Language by Antonio de Nebrija and the Dialogue of the Language by Juan de Valdâes. The former was published in 1492, a historically paramount year for Spain, while the latter was completed in 1535 but not published until two centuries later. Working with edited texts of both grammars, secondary sources regarding the lives of Nebrija and Valdâes, and information about the history of Spain, this thesis explores the linguistic substance of both works, evidence of the authors' personal attitudes and dispositions that influenced their works, and the political and social context surrounding all of these factors. The purpose of this investigation is to gain further insight into the Grammar and the Dialogue, as well as the history of Spain and the historical development of Castilian.

Aneuploid tumor cells have characteristically unstable genomes which can be caused by mitotic defects such as multipolar spindles. Multipolarity relies upon the presence of extra centrosomes to form. However, some cells, both cancerous and noncancerous are able to avoid the formation of multipolar spindles through centrosomal clustering. Previous research has shown that there are a large number of genes whose activity contributes to the clustering activity, making analysis of individual components of the process difficult. In order to better understand centrosomal clustering in cancer cells, we induced supernumerary centrosomes in a genomically normal cell line, RPE, to observe how the normal cells cope with extra centrosomes. Using colcemid to induce extra centrosomes in the RPE cell line, we observed an intact clustering mechanism in fixed cells. Further manipulation of the cells has allowed us to induce multipolarity in this cell line using various disrupters of cell-cycle checkpoint and dynein function.

The education of profoundly intellectually disabled individuals requires identifying motivators to help them learn basic tasks and skills. When these individuals also suffer from Autism Spectrum Disorder, one promising method of therapy, multisensory therapy, has been shown to relax patients, facilitating the educational process. Relaxation drastically minimizes maladaptive behaviors such as repetitive movement (stereotypy) and self-injury, allowing the participant to learn efficiently. In this study, a multi-axis measure was developed to determine behavioral differences between an experimental group that underwent the therapy and a control group that performed a functional task in their classroom. Stereotypic behaviors were significantly reduced and gaze focus was enhanced within the therapy. The significance of these effects carried over when participants were returned to their classroom.

In his article, "The Kentucky Fried Rat : Legends and Modem Society", Gary Alan Fine suggests that American society is a folk community in which urban legends play the role of negotiating changes in social structure and other aspects of daily life (Fine 2005). Fine's argument, however, is limiting in that it only considers urban legends within the United States and fails to encompass those from abroad. As such, this thesis expands Fine's original argument to a global scale by examining urban legends, crossculturally, that involve instances of women being brutalized and objects or people being contaminated. Ultimately, the thematic elements and grotesque imagery that are used in these two categories of legends are a symbolic expression of tensions surrounding the movement of women out of the home and the increased global spread of urbanism.

By now, a vast literature has attempted to answer the question of whether democracy is conducive to economic growth. The empirical side of the literature has not come to any consensus on this issue. My thesis examines Argentina's economic and political history from 1960 to the present, including particularly volatile episodes with many military regimes. Specifically, I attempt to contribute to the democracy-growth literature by examining whether Argentina's level of democracy affected its economic growth. Controlling for a number of factors, I construct an econometric model that focuses on GDP as the dependent variable and democracy as the independent variable of interest. I claim that there is no correlation between Argentina's economic growth and its level of democracy.

This project examines the role of political learning in predicting the recent rise of left-of-center governments in Latin America, ranging from moderate center-left coalition governments to one-party populist regimes. Studies of populism consistently point to the role of natural resources and economic crises in predicting the rise of populist regimes. This study adds the concept of political learning by using measures of moderation in the current regime as a dependent variable and measures of oppression in earlier regimes as independent variables. Utilizing case studies of Venezuela and Chile as ideal types and plotting ten further cases on indicators of repression, military spending, corporate tax rates, government spending, the percent of votes going to moderates, and economic freedom scores from Freedom House, I argue that the likelihood of the rise of populist regimes is greater in countries that have not experienced the sort of intense political repression that generates political learning.

The effect of foreign aid on economic growth is still ambiguous in the economic literature. In this paper, we analyze the effect of foreign aid on economic growth in 79 developing countries from the Latin America Caribbean Region, Africa, and Asia. Using data for the year 2000, we find that foreign aid has an insignificant negative effect on economic growth when we control for other factors.

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 makes schools accountable for the performance of their students, and measures that goal through standardized testing. Florida's standardized test is the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (FCAT). This paper investigates how the incentive structure of the FCAT accountability system has resulted in costly unintended consequences, such as the disruption of local home prices, teaching towards the test, manipulation of the test pools, and an increase in the number of school dropouts. The State of Florida officially estimates that the cost to administer the FCAT is $19.44 per student. My claim is that the Florida Department of Education's estimate is profoundly understated because it does not take into account an array of internal and external costs associated with the test. By including these costs of the FCAT, I show that the FCAT does indeed cost more than $19.44 per student.

Dichloroacetate (DCA) is a chemical with potential to be a cancer therapy due to its ability to treat mitochondrial metabolic disorders. Previous studies have affirmed DCA's ability to target cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed (Bonnet et al., 2007). Javonia Washington continued research that Bonnet et al. began by testing DCA's effectson a greater number of cell types (Washington, 2008). This project collects and analyzes the data generated by Washington's research using the computer programs Excel and SPSS. The analysis shows that DCA concentration is vital when considering the chemical as an anti-cancer drug ; it had a significant effect on the cancerous cells from 0.5mM and higher, but both cancerous and non-cancerous cells died at similar rates when the concentration reached 10mM. Further, DCA affects some cancer cells more quickly than others, which could increase the risk of harming surrounding healthy cells if used improperly as a cancer treatment.