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- Creators: Arizona State University
Description
The development of self-regulation is believed to play a crucial role in predicting later psychopathology and is believed to begin in early childhood. The early postpartum period is particularly important in laying the groundwork for later self-regulation as infants' dispositional traits interact with caregivers' co-regulatory behaviors to produce the earliest forms of self-regulation. Moreover, although emerging literature suggests that infants' exposure to maternal stress even before birth may be integral in determining children's self-regulatory capacities, the complex pathways that characterize these developmental processes remain unclear. The current study considers the complex, transactional processes in a high-risk, Mexican American sample. Data were collected from 305 Mexican American infants and their mothers during prenatal, 6- and 12-week home interviews. Mother self-reports of stress were obtained prenatally between 34-37 weeks gestation. Mother reports of infant temperamental negativity and surgency were obtained at 6-weeks as were observed global ratings of maternal sensitivity during a structured peek-a-boo task. Microcoded ratings of infants' engagement orienting and self-comforting behaviors were obtained during the 12-week peek-a-boo task. Study findings suggest that self-comforting and orienting behaviors help to modulate infants' experiences of distress, and also that prenatal stress influences infants' engagement in each of those regulatory behaviors, both directly by influence tendencies to engage in orienting behaviors and indirectly by programming higher levels of infant negativity and surgency, both of which may confer risk for later regulatory disadvantage. Advancing our understandings about the nature of these developmental pathways could have significant implications for targets of early intervention in this high-risk population.
ContributorsLin, Betty (Author) / Crnic, Keith A (Thesis advisor) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn S (Committee member) / Mackinnon, David P (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
The purpose of drinking water regulations is to keep our drinking water safe from contaminants. This research reviewed federal regulation including the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) regulatory process, the public health effects of six nitrosamines in drinking water, analyzes of occurrence data from Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 2) and suggests how nitrosamines can be regulated. Currently only total trihalomethanes (THM) and haloacetic acids (HA) are regulated at the federal level. However, California has notification action levels and Massachusetts has guidelines of 10 ng/L for nitrosamine concentration. Nitrosamine data collected under the UCMR 2 were analyzed to assess the occurrence and the effect of disinfectant type and source water type. The data showed that N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) was detected in drinking water at concentrations higher than the minimum reporting level (MRL) of 2 ng/L. Four nitrosamines including N-nitroso-diethylamine (NDEA), N-nitroso-di-n-butylamine (NDBA), N-nitroso-methylethylamine (NMEA) and N-nitroso-pyrrolidine (NPYR) and very low detections. N-nitroso-di-n-propylamine (NDPA) was not detected in the sample analyses. NDMA was primarily detected in public water systems using chloramines other than chlorine.
ContributorsBrown, Alicia (Author) / Olson, Larry (Thesis advisor) / Peterson, Danny (Committee member) / Brown, Albert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The major goal of the current study was to extend previous research on adolescents' gender stereotyping by assessing adolescents' academic, classroom regulatory behavior, and occupational gender stereotypes. This was done by creating new measures of academic and classroom regulation gender stereotypes. Using these measures, adolescents' gender stereotypes in core academic subjects, school in general, and classroom behavior were assessed. The coherence of adolescents' stereotypes was also examined. Participants were 257 7th grade students (M age = 12 years old, range 11-13 years old; 47% male. Students were administered surveys containing several measures of stereotyping. The results indicated that, for academic subjects, contrary to expectations, very few adolescents held traditional gender stereotypes; instead, most endorsed egalitarian views. Moreover, unexpected patterns emerged in which adolescents reported counter-traditional academic stereotypes. When sex differences were found in stereotyping patterns, they could be explained in part by ingroup bias. Approximately half of the students stereotyped classroom regulatory behaviors and occupations. Results provided support for the coherence of gender stereotypes such that students who stereotyped in one domain tended to stereotype in other domains. Strengths and limitations of the present study were discussed. Potentially important steps remain for research on the relation between academic gender stereotyping and academic performance.
ContributorsGalligan, Kathrine M (Author) / Martin, Carol Lynn (Thesis advisor) / Pahlke, Erin (Thesis advisor) / Fabes, Richard A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
The purpose of this study was to examine whether maternal personality (i.e., Agreeableness and Conscientiousness) predicted maternal positive parenting (i.e., warmth/sensitivity and structure), and whether maternal parenting predicted children's regulation and sympathy and/or prosocial behavior. Additionally, the mediated effect of maternal warmth/sensitivity on the relation between maternal Agreeableness and children's regulation and the mediated effect of maternal structure on the relation between maternal Agreeableness and children's observed sympathy/prosocial behavior were investigated. Maternal personality was measured when children (N = 256 at Time 1) were 18 months old; maternal parenting was assessed when children were 18, 30, and 42 months old; children's regulation and sympathy/prosocial behavior (observed and reported) were assessed when children were 30, 42, and 54 months old. Mothers reported on their personality; maternal warmth/sensitivity was observed; maternal structure was observed and mothers also reported on their use of reasoning; mothers and caregivers rated children's regulation (i.e., effortful control [EC]) and regulation was also observed; mothers and fathers rated children's prosocial behavior; sympathy and prosocial behavior were also observed. In a path analysis, Conscientiousness did not significantly predict maternal warmth/sensitivity or structure at 30 months, whereas Agreeableness marginally predicted maternal warmth/sensitivity at 30 months and significantly predicted maternal structure at 30 months. Maternal warmth/sensitivity at 18 months significantly predicted 30-month EC, and 30-month maternal warmth/sensitivity significantly predicted 42-month EC. Maternal structure at 30 months significantly predicted 42-month observed sympathy/prosocial behavior. Maternal warmth/sensitivity at 42 months significantly predicted 54-month observed sympathy/prosocial behavior and marginally predicted 54-month reported prosocial behavior. Maternal structure and EC did not significantly predict reported prosocial behavior across any time point. EC did not significantly predict observed sympathy/prosocial behavior across any time point and maternal warmth/sensitivity at 18 and 30 months did not predict observed or reported sympathy/prosocial behavior at 30 or 42 months, respectively. Maternal Agreeableness directly predicted 30-month reported prosocial behavior and additional paths suggested possible bidirectional relations between maternal warmth/sensitivity and structure. Mediation analyses were pursued for two indirect relations; however, neither mediated effect was significant. Additional results are presented, and findings (as well as lack thereof) are discussed in terms of extant literature.
ContributorsEdwards, Alison (Author) / Eisenberg, Nancy (Thesis advisor) / Spinrad, Tracy L. (Thesis advisor) / Lemery-Chalfant, Kathryn (Committee member) / Bradley, Robert A. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) is a photoprotective regulatory mechanism essential to the robustness of the photosynthetic apparatus of green plants. Energy flow within the low-light adapted reaction centers is dynamically optimized to match the continuously fluctuating light conditions found in nature. Activated by compartmentalized decreases in pH resulting from photosynthetic activity during periods of elevated photon flux, NPQ induces rapid thermal dissipation of excess excitation energy that would otherwise overwhelm the apparatus’s ability to consume it. Consequently, the frequency of charge separation decreases and the formation of potentially deleterious, high-energy intermediates slows, thereby reducing the threat of photodamage by disallowing their accumulation. Herein is described the synthesis and photophysical analysis of a molecular triad that mimics the effects of NPQ on charge separation within the photosynthetic reaction centers. Steady-state absorption and emission, time-resolved fluorescence, and transient absorption spectroscopies were used to demonstrate reversible quenching of the first singlet excited state affecting the quantum yield of charge separation by approximately one order of magnitude. As in the natural system, the populations of unquenched and quenched states and, therefore, the overall yields of charge separation were found to be dependent upon acid concentration.
ContributorsPahk, Ian (Author) / Gust, Devens (Thesis advisor) / Gould, Ian (Committee member) / Mujica, Vladimiro (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
ABSTRACT
Since it was officially established, China’s stock market has witnessed rapid cultural, social, economic, and legal transformations during the last two decades. But the development of China’s stock market brought with it the frequent occurrence of securities crimes and other types of white-collar crimes that harmed vast numbers of public retail stockholders.
This study reviews sociolegal theories, especially law and finance theories, to shed light on the construction of regulatory mechanisms for the Chinese stock market. The critical point for stock market regulation is to curb securities irregularities and protect investors. This study applies white-collar criminological theories, especially crime-as-choice theories, to link the theoretical analyses of the causes of securities crimes to the laws, policies and practices governing the Chinese stock market. Historical, documentary and policy analyses, case analyses, and analysis of interviews, and observations of weibos and blogs are employed in this study. The data sources consist of: (1) historical information on the development of China’s stock market and its regulation, both in terms of legislation and practice; (2) interviews with 40 retail stockholders, each of whom has more than ten years of experiences in stock trading, in two Chinese cities, Shenzhen and Haikou; and (3) online statements and comments of 30 well known Chinese economists, law scholars, financial commentators, lawyers, and securities experts in Sina weibos (microblogs) and blogs.
Based on the analyses, this study suggests revising relevant laws and establishing supporting mechanisms to reduce securities irregularities and crimes in China’s stock market and strength the protection of stock investors. My study also draws attention to the growth of rights consciousness of public retail stockholders, which has potential to propel political and legal reform for the development of the Chinese stock market.
Since it was officially established, China’s stock market has witnessed rapid cultural, social, economic, and legal transformations during the last two decades. But the development of China’s stock market brought with it the frequent occurrence of securities crimes and other types of white-collar crimes that harmed vast numbers of public retail stockholders.
This study reviews sociolegal theories, especially law and finance theories, to shed light on the construction of regulatory mechanisms for the Chinese stock market. The critical point for stock market regulation is to curb securities irregularities and protect investors. This study applies white-collar criminological theories, especially crime-as-choice theories, to link the theoretical analyses of the causes of securities crimes to the laws, policies and practices governing the Chinese stock market. Historical, documentary and policy analyses, case analyses, and analysis of interviews, and observations of weibos and blogs are employed in this study. The data sources consist of: (1) historical information on the development of China’s stock market and its regulation, both in terms of legislation and practice; (2) interviews with 40 retail stockholders, each of whom has more than ten years of experiences in stock trading, in two Chinese cities, Shenzhen and Haikou; and (3) online statements and comments of 30 well known Chinese economists, law scholars, financial commentators, lawyers, and securities experts in Sina weibos (microblogs) and blogs.
Based on the analyses, this study suggests revising relevant laws and establishing supporting mechanisms to reduce securities irregularities and crimes in China’s stock market and strength the protection of stock investors. My study also draws attention to the growth of rights consciousness of public retail stockholders, which has potential to propel political and legal reform for the development of the Chinese stock market.
ContributorsHuang, Xuanyu, Ph.D (Author) / Zatz, Marjorie S. (Thesis advisor) / Cavender, Gray (Thesis advisor) / Wang, Ning (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
The requirements for a gender dysphoria diagnosis, and therefore access to medical interventions such as surgeries or hormones, reinforce a male/female binary and do not allow room for variability in how a transgender person identifies. Transgender individuals who wish to access medical interventions must reflect these regulatory requirements in order to receive a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. So what is the experience of transgender individuals who do not reflect this narrative? How do they develop identity, form community, and make decisions regarding their transition? Using feminist methodology and grounded theory methods, I conducted a research study with ten transgender-identified individuals from Phoenix, Arizona in order to address these questions. In interviews with these participants, I found that perceptions of others, normativity, and horizontal transphobia all affected how participants identity and decision-making. Further, I also found that these themes contributed to creating transgender authenticity, or the false sense that there is only one way to be truly transgender.
ContributorsHudson, Wallace J (Author) / Leong, Karen J. (Thesis advisor) / Bailey, Marlon M. (Committee member) / Vega, Sujey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
To ensure safety is not precluded in the event of an engine failure, the FAA has
established climb gradient minimums enforced through Federal Regulations.
Furthermore, to ensure aircraft do not accidentally impact an obstacle on takeoff due to
insufficient climb performance, standard instrument departure procedures have their own
set of climb gradient minimums which are typically more than those set by Federal
Regulation. This inconsistency between climb gradient expectations creates an obstacle
clearance problem: while the aircraft has enough climb gradient in the engine inoperative
condition so that basic flight safety is not precluded, this climb gradient is often not
strong enough to overfly real obstacles; this implies that the pilot must abort the takeoff
flight path and reverse course back to the departure airport to perform an emergency
landing. One solution to this is to reduce the dispatch weight to ensure that the aircraft
retains enough climb performance in the engine inoperative condition, but this comes at
the cost of reduced per-flight profits.
An alternative solution to this problem is the extended second segment (E2S)
climb. Proposed by Bays & Halpin, they found that a C-130H gained additional obstacle
clearance performance through this simple operational change. A thorough investigation
into this technique was performed to see if this technique can be applied to commercial
aviation by using a model A320 and simulating multiple takeoff flight paths in either a
calm or constant wind condition. A comparison of takeoff flight profiles against real
world departure procedures shows that the E2S climb technique offers a clear obstacle
clearance advantage which a scheduled four-segment flight profile cannot provide.
established climb gradient minimums enforced through Federal Regulations.
Furthermore, to ensure aircraft do not accidentally impact an obstacle on takeoff due to
insufficient climb performance, standard instrument departure procedures have their own
set of climb gradient minimums which are typically more than those set by Federal
Regulation. This inconsistency between climb gradient expectations creates an obstacle
clearance problem: while the aircraft has enough climb gradient in the engine inoperative
condition so that basic flight safety is not precluded, this climb gradient is often not
strong enough to overfly real obstacles; this implies that the pilot must abort the takeoff
flight path and reverse course back to the departure airport to perform an emergency
landing. One solution to this is to reduce the dispatch weight to ensure that the aircraft
retains enough climb performance in the engine inoperative condition, but this comes at
the cost of reduced per-flight profits.
An alternative solution to this problem is the extended second segment (E2S)
climb. Proposed by Bays & Halpin, they found that a C-130H gained additional obstacle
clearance performance through this simple operational change. A thorough investigation
into this technique was performed to see if this technique can be applied to commercial
aviation by using a model A320 and simulating multiple takeoff flight paths in either a
calm or constant wind condition. A comparison of takeoff flight profiles against real
world departure procedures shows that the E2S climb technique offers a clear obstacle
clearance advantage which a scheduled four-segment flight profile cannot provide.
ContributorsBeard, John Eng Hui (Author) / Takahashi, Timothy T (Thesis advisor) / White, Daniel (Committee member) / Niemczyk, Mary (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Premature babies are at risk of death from immature lung development. For this reason, pregnant mothers at risk for preterm delivery are administered dexamethasone (DEX), a synthetic glucocorticoid that promotes fetal lung development. However, exposure to DEX in utero is associated with low birth weight and cardiovascular development pathologies. Moreover, our lab found that DEX administration in-utero leads to a sex-specific increase in stress-induced tachycardia in female, but not male offspring. This project seeks to expand on this preliminary finding of the heart by examining local effectors of activity from the sympathetic system (tyrosine hydroxylase and catechol-o-methyltransferase). Tyrosine hydroxylase was measured as it catalyzes the rate limiting step of norepinephrine synthesis while catechol-O- methyltransferase was studied as it catalyzes the degradation of norepinephrine. Acetylcholinesterase was used to measure parasympathetic activity as it catalyzes the degradation of the primary neurotransmitter of the parasympathetic nervous system, acetylcholine. Analyses of sympathetic as well as parasympathetic activity were done to determine influences of in-utero DEX exposure on autonomic regulation in adulthood. Pregnant rats were administered DEX (0.4 mg/kg, i.p.) or vehicle (20% w/v 2-hydroxypropyl ß- cyclodextran) at gestation days 18-21, with euthanasia of offspring occurring at around the time the offspring reached 13-15 weeks of age. Left ventricles and right atria were pulverized, processed and subjected to western blot analysis to determine expression of proteins of interest. Males exposed to DEX in-utero saw a decrease in tyrosine hydroxylase expression in left ventricle and right atrium when compared to vehicle control, a difference not seen with females. In addition, catechol-o-methyltransferase expression was increased in right atria from male, but not female rats. Acetylcholinesterase expression was reduced in the right atria of female, but not male rats. The present findings suggest reduced norepinephrine signaling in the heart of male, but not female DEX-exposed offspring. Given that we have previously found that female, but not male rats exhibit exaggerated stress-induced tachycardia, our current findings suggest that males possess a sex-specific compensatory mechanism allowing the heart to resist increased sympathetic signaling from the brain, one that females do not possess. The underlying mechanics of this proposed mechanism are unclear, and further investigation is needed in this subject to determine the significance of the findings from our study.
ContributorsSharma, Arpan (Author) / Conrad, Cheryl (Thesis director) / Hale, Taben (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The welfare consequences of price versus quantity-based regulation are known to differ when information about marginal benefits or costs of abatement is imperfect. Does uncertainty about demand for the polluting good also matter for welfare of these two approaches to regulation? In chapter 1, I use plant-level survey data and high frequency variation in power consumption to assess the dynamic implications of uncertainty about future demand for the relative welfare consequences of carbon taxes and cap-and-trade regulation. I address this question in the context of the electricity sector where demand risk is particularly salient. I show that the choice between policy instruments depends on how firms and consumers balance unpredictable output volatility (higher with carbon taxes) vs. price volatility (higher with cap-and-trade regulation). Over a wide range of policy-relevant abatement targets, I find carbon taxes outperform cap-and-trade in terms of welfare. Financial incentives like the Production Tax Credit are central initiatives behind wind power as the leading renewable energy source in the U.S. But do institutional design features of energy markets matter for cost-effectiveness of subsidies to wind investments? In chapter 2, I answer this question by investigating how the design of procurement contracts that are typically used by wind developers affects their investment incentives. Using unit-level data from wind farm production and installed capacity, I find that structuring subsidies based on key features of the type of procurement contracts associated to wind projects leads to major reductions in public expenditures in terms of subsidy payments to wind developers without undermining their investment incentives. The U.S. federal government is known to have a history of heavily subsidizing the wind power industry. Subsidies either to output (Production Tax Credit) or investment goods (Investment Tax Credit) have been critical to replace emissions-intensive technologies with wind power. Which type of subsidy is best to incentivize wind investments at the least cost? In chapter 3, I use plant-level data of wind facilities from the Texas electricity market to develop and estimate a model of investment decisions that accounts for productivity shocks at the wind farm level and prudent behavior of developers. I find that subsidizing production can increase average yearly investment rates in wind capacity up to 2.5 percentage points over mean investment rates under alternative subsidies to capital. This is driven by precautionary savings that developers accumulate to smooth out potential future shocks to investment income when adverse weather conditions lead to low subsidy payments.
ContributorsGómez Trejos, Felipe Alberto (Author) / Silverman, Daniel (Thesis advisor) / Fried, Stephie (Committee member) / Ventura, Gustavo (Committee member) / Kuminoff, Nicolai (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023