2020 MU dissertations - Access restricted to MU
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Item Bathing on the edge of empire : local variation and regional adaptation in the late Roman military bathhouses of Arabia/Palaestina(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020) Darby, Robert; Rautman, Marcus Louis, 1955-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation examines the evidence for Roman military baths in the provinces of Arabia and Syria Palaestina dating from the late 2nd-5th c. C.E., and their place within the regional, socio-political, economic, and cultural contexts. The goals of the current project are three-fold: First, it considers long-held scholarly interpretations and assumptions regarding the role of baths in acculturating indigenous, non-Roman peoples and uses ancient epigraphic evidence, architectural remains, building materials, technological advancements, and decorative elements to test these ideas. Second, it identifies local influences and regional variations in military bathhouses from Arabia/Palaestina during the Late Roman and Early Byzantine periods, while further considering officers and other high-ranking military administrators as patrons of bath construction. Third and finally, it reassesses the function of these baths in service of the army and attempts to understand their multi-faceted use as both utilitarian structures and symbols of imperial power.Item The comprehensive arrogance scale(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020) Corcoran, Mike; Sheldon, Kennon M. (Kennon Marshall)[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] I developed a novel measure of arrogance based on the conceptual framework for research proposed by Cowan et al. (2019). This framework conceptualizes arrogance as having a tripartite structure consisting of different types of arrogance: individual arrogance, comparative arrogance, and antagonistic arrogance. These three different types of arrogance are proposed to consist of six different components. Individual arrogance involves distorted information and limitations in one's abilities, overestimation of one's information and abilities, and resistance to new information about one's limits; comparative arrogance involves failure to consider the perspective of others and the belief or assumption of self-superiority; and antagonistic arrogance involves denigrating and devaluing others. I designed a 60-item scale based on these six components (the Comprehensive Arrogance Scale: CAS). In Study 1a, I tested the factor structure of this scale with a student sample. I reduced the total number of items to 24, and found that the scale does not support the proposed tripartite structure, but instead shows a two-factor structure. This two-factor structure consists of components I have labeled �Self-Superiority" and �Social-Superiority." Study 1a also provided initial validity tests of this new scale. In Study 1b, test-retest reliability was established. Study 2 examined arrogance in relation to self-esteem and found this new measure of arrogance provides incremental validity predicting preserving feelings of superiority above and beyond self-esteem. For Study 3, I examined the behavioral outcomes associated with arrogance, and tested the ability of the arrogance scale to predict these outcomes differentially from intellectual arrogance, intellectual humility, self-esteem, and narcissism. I found mixed support of my hypotheses. Specifically, those high in the CAS took less advantage of reading helpful resources regardless of perceived difficulty of the activity, and this pattern was in part mediated by feelings of superiority. I did not find support for the hypotheses that individuals high in CAS would practice less, nor did I find evidence for any of the hypothesized moderations. The current studies present the first empirical test of a novel framework of arrogance and provide a foundation for future research into the CAS and arrogance.Item Influence of supervised activity zones during recess on sedentary activity, social skill development, and problem behavior in elementary-aged children(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020) Barnas, Jillian L.; Ball, Stephen D. (Stephen Daniel); Kanaley, Jill[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Due to the childhood obesity epidemic, many school-based interventions have been developed to target physical inactivity before it develops in their adult years. However, due to the heightened importance on academic achievements, many schools have reduced opportunities for children to engage in physical activity (PA) to lessen negative behaviors. PURPOSE: This study compared changes in PA, social skills, and problem behaviors in youth with supervised and unsupervised activity-zone playgrounds (AZP) during school recess. METHODS:143 third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade boys and girls from two elementary institutions had their PA measured using Actigraph-GT3X accelerometers for a total four weeks. Baseline data were collected for one week prior to activity zoning. Afterwards, the playgrounds were divided into six activity zones for two weeks, with activity zones supervised at only one institution. Activity zones were removed, and PA data were collected for one-week post intervention. Educators completed the Social Skills Improvement System pre- and post-intervention which measured social skills, problem behaviors, and academic competence. RESULTS: Few differences were seen in PA engagement and behavior between the supervised and unsupervised conditions throughout the duration of AZP implementation. Initial activity status affected PA engagement that occurred with AZP implementation such that reductions in vigorous PA and increases in light PA were detected among active students (p [less than] .05) with no changes among inactive students. Increases in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) with subsequent decreases in sedentary activity during recess were noted for third grade students in addition to improvements in their social skill scores by 3 [percent] (p = .003). Fifth grade students showed no significant change in PA engagement or behavior during the intervention. No differences in problem behaviors or academic competence were detected (ps [greater than] .05). CONCLUSION: AZPs during recess can improve PA engagement and can lead to improvements in school day behavior, especially in younger students. Supervising AZPs may be detrimental to PA engagement during recess, however, this is may be dependent on the reliability of employed supervisors. Additionally, considerable attention is needed with regards to developing activities that will appease students of differing activity statuses, older students, and that will prevent a decrease in higher intensity PA engagement.Item Top-soil root architecture characteristics of obsolete and modern soybean cultivars and shoot and seed nutrient contents(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020) Almtarfi, Hussien I. Taresh; Fritschi, Felix B., 1969-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Soybean (Glycine max Merr.) is one of the most important cash crops worldwide. It is widely used to produce oil and protein for food and animal feed. Soybean grain yield has increased considerably over the last century thanks to management and genetic improvement. Critical work over several decades has contributed to a steady increase in soybean yield. Breeding for greater yields has altered shoot characteristics resulting in, for example, increased light interception and enhance partitioning of photosynthates to seeds; however, the effects of breeding on the soybean root system remain unclear. Although root system architecture traits play a key role in water and nutrient acquisition, the relationship between genetic gain in soybean yield and root system architecture has not yet been characterized thoroughly. Therefore, the objective of my dissertation research was to examine top-soil root system characteristics of maturity group IV soybean varieties released between 1930 and 2005, and their relationship to yield and mineral nutrient uptake. To this end, 24 soybean varieties, including two or three per decade of release, were grown at two locations in 2016 and 2017. A broad range of root architecture traits were assessed at the beginning seed fill stage using visual an imaging approaches. Additionally, shoot dry biomass, plant height, and yield were determined. The experiments revealed significant positive relationships with the year of cultivar release (YOR) for root architecture traits that are related to greater root length in the top soil. The score of overall root complexity, which was considered to be an integrated measure of the top-soil root architecture, increased linearly with cultivar YOR. Yield measurements were consistent with previously reported increases with YOR and averaged between 16.48 kg ha-1 yr-1 and 20.56 kg ha-1 yr-1 in the four environments. A significant positive correlation between overall root complexity and yield was found in three of the four environments, indicating that changes in top-soil root architecture contributed to the observed increases in yield with YOR. Examination of the relationships between root system characteristics and shoot and seed nutrient contents revealed positive correlations for most root phenotypes. Additionally, consistent significant correlations between shoot K, S, Mn, Zn, and Cu concentrations and their concentration in the seeds were observed across the four environments. Compared to seed nutrient concentrations, shoot nutrient concentrations were more variable across environments This study revealed that increases in genetic yield gain of soybean were associated with an increase in root system complexity in the top soil, and presents evidence for the role of root system architecture in improving soybean performance. Also, these findings provide interesting insights into the relationships between root architecture characteristics and nutrient uptake as well as the relationship between shoot tissue and seed nutrient concentrations and contents across different environments and cultivars released over 75 years. The findings emphasize the promise of selection for desirable root architecture traits in breeding programs to compensate for the reduction in the nutritive value of soybean seeds in new cultivars.Item Static and creep response of RC beams strengthened with CFRP(University of Missouri--Columbia, 2020) Al-Khafaji, Ayssar; Salim, Hani A., 1966-[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI--COLUMBIA AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] The use of carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) for strengthening and retrofit of existing reinforced concrete members has been proven to be effective in improving their structural performance. Although existing research studied the behavior of concrete structural element strengthened/retrofitted with CFRP sheets, there is still a need to improve the understanding of the behavior of reinforced concrete (RC) continuous beams strengthened/retrofitted with different (CFRP) configuration under negative moments. In addition, the effects of sustained loading and environmental impact on the performance of the strengthened beams, CFRP sheets, and their bond to concrete still need more investigation. Therefore, in this dissertation the short-term and long-term performance of reinforced concrete rectangular beams strengthening with CFRP was evaluated. In addition, the effect of CFRP U-wrap on the performance of RC beams was also studied under short and long-term loadings. The response of RC T-beams retrofitted with CFRP was also investigated in this dissertation under positive and negative curvature. The short-term static testing included beams under a controlled lab environment and other beams under outdoor environment for 18 months. The long-term testing included beams under controlled lab environment with sustained loads for 332 days. These beams were also tested to failure to evaluate their residual strength and stiffness after undergoing the sustained long-term loading. It was found that the use of the U-Wrap strips increases the effectiveness of the longitudinal reinforcement which leads to increase in the load carrying capacity of the strengthened beams. The strength of RC beams that had web steel reinforcement was not impacted as a results of exposure to outside weather for 18 months. Their strength was very similar to the beams that were left in the lab under controlled environment. However, the beam reinforced with longitudinal CFRP and CFRP U-wrap after exposure to external weather for 18 months had a strength 17 percent less than that of the same beam under no exposure. The beam with exposure failed by deponding of the U-wrap leading to premature failure of the beam compared to the beam with no exposure where the failure was controlled by rupture of the U-wrap. This indicates that the use of web steel reinforcement is more effective than using CFRP U-wrap. It was found that the residual strength of the long-term creep-tested beams was 5 to 18 [percent] lower than the strength of the short-term beams except for the steel over-reinforced beam. Whereas, the residual stiffness did not change significantly. However, the residual toughness was 22 [percent] to 64 [percent] of the toughness of the short-term beams due to creep damage. The web steel reinforcement played an important role in improving the overall performance and failure mode of the CFRP-RC beams.