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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego, and San Diego State University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 81-89).

This study was designed to analyze whether the sleep aid eszopiclone may facilitate the efficacy of fluoxetine on social defeat stress (SDS) in the mouse. Subjects were adult male ‘intruder’ C57/B6 mice that that were exposed to a retired ‘resident’ male breeder ICR mouse in this animal’s home cage for a 5 min period for 10 consecutive days. During this interaction, the resident would establish physical dominance of the intruder. After confrontation, the intruder was housed in a cage that allowed sensory contact with the resident mouse but that would not allow physical interaction during the 10-day period. Once the 10 days of interaction were complete, all animals were assigned to one of four drug treatment groups, and treatment was given for up to 18 days: saline treatment, fluoxetine (10 mg/kg) only, eszopiclone only (3 mg/kg), or fluoxetine + eszopiclone. A social interaction test was given on days 1, 5, 10, and 15 of drug treatment. Sucrose preference was also tested during the interaction test. Results showed that eszopiclone facilitated the action of fluoxetine on the interaction test at days 1 and 5, and these two groups were equivalent on days 10 and 15. SDS produced a significant decrease in sucrose preference that was not affected by drug treatment. This study demonstrates that eszopiclone facilitates the action of fluoxetine in the SDS paradigm, paralleling clinical studies that showed facilatory effects of the drug combination in depressed patients. Future work will examine neurochemical mechanisms underlying the effects of this drug combination

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / AIM People with marginalized sexual orientations experience mental health and substance use problems at a higher rate compared to heterosexuals. Experiences of discrimination have been identified as a significant factor in explaining such disparities, and a growing body of literature has developed seeking to explore the contexts in which discrimination occurs. However, one context that is understudied is the online environment. Based on Meyer’s (2003) Minority Stress Model (MSM), it is postulated that specific proximal group-specific processes mediate the relationship between discrimination and health outcomes, with other social factors providing protective effects. However, research is sparse empirically investigating different mechanisms, consequences, and potential modifying factors for sexual minority young adults experiencing online heterosexist discrimination (OHD). Thus, the current study aims to explore experiences of OHD among young adults. METHODS Using the MSM as a guiding framework, the study examined proximal factors of internalized heterosexism, online concealment, and rejection sensitivity as mechanisms underlying the effect of OHD on health outcomes and online social support as a moderating factor. 383 young adults (18-35) with marginalized sexual orientations were recruited from an introductory psychology subject pool, two online crowdsourcing platforms (Prolific, MTurk), and the community. They completed measures of OHD, online social support, online concealment, rejection sensitivity, internalized heterosexism, psychological distress, and substance use. RESULTS Path analyses in Mplus revealed that two proximal stressors (rejection sensitivity, sexual orientation concealment) were positively related to psychological distress as a result of OHD. Sexual orientation concealment was associated with increased risk for cannabis use due to OHD. Online social support from LGBTQ+ peers did not buffer these relationships. CONCLUSION The MSM is a viable guiding framework in exploring OHD. Rejection sensitivity and online sexual orientation concealment are important constructs to consider for future research and may be ideal treatment targets for individuals experiencing psychological distress or engaging in cannabis use due to OHD.

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Context: The global communication system is in a tremendous growth, leading to wide range of data generation. The Telecom operators in various Telecom Industries, that generate large amount of data has a need to manage these data efficiently. As the technology involved in the database management systems is increasing, there is a remarkable growth of NoSQL databases in the 20th century. Apache Cassandra is an advanced NoSQL database system, which is popular for handling semi-structured and unstructured format of Big Data. Cassandra has an effective way of compressing data by using different compaction strategies. This research is focused on analyzing the performances of different compaction strategies in different use cases for default Cassandra stress model. The analysis can suggest better usage of compaction strategies in Cassandra, for a write heavy workload. Objectives: In this study, we investigate the appropriate performance metrics to evaluate the performance of compaction strategies. We provide the detailed analysis of Size Tiered Compaction Strategy, Date Tiered Compaction Strategy, and Leveled Compaction Strategy for a write heavy (90/10) work load, using default cassandra stress tool. Methods: A detailed literature research has been conducted to study the NoSQL databases, and the working of different compaction strategies in Apache Cassandra. The performances metrics are considered by the understanding of the literature research conducted, and considering the opinions of supervisors and Ericsson’s Apache Cassandra team. Two different tools were developed for collecting the performances of the considered metrics. The first tool was developed using Jython scripting language to collect the cassandra metrics, and the second tool was developed using python scripting language to collect the Operating System metrics. The graphs have been generated in Microsoft Excel, using the values obtained from the scripts. Results: Date Tiered Compaction Strategy and Size Tiered Compaction strategy showed more or less similar behaviour during the stress tests conducted. Level Tiered Compaction strategy has showed some remarkable results that effected the system performance, as compared to date tiered compaction and size tiered compaction strategies. Date tiered compaction strategy does not perform well for default cassandra stress model. Size tiered compaction can be preferred for default cassandra stress model, but not considerable for big data. Conclusions: With a detailed analysis and logical comparison of metrics, we finally conclude that Level Tiered Compaction Strategy performs better for a write heavy (90/10) workload while using default cassandra stress model, as compared to size tiered compaction and date tiered compaction strategies.

Compressibility profoundly affects many aspects of turbulence in high-speed flows - most notably stability characteristics, anisotropy, kinetic-potential energy interchange and spectral cascade rate. Many of the features observed in compressible flows are due to the changing nature of pressure. Whereas for incompressible flows pressure merely serves to enforce incompressibility, in compressible flows pressure becomes a thermodynamic variable that introduces a strong coupling between energy, state, and momentum equations. Closure models that attempt to address compressibility effects must begin their development from sound first-principles related to the changing nature of pressure as a flow goes from incompressible to compressible regime. In this thesis, a unified framework is developed for modeling pressure-related compressibility effects by characterizing the role and action of pressure at different speed regimes. Rapid distortion theory is used to examine the physical connection between the various compressibility effects leading to model form suggestions for the pressure-strain correlation, pressure-dilatation and dissipation evolution equation. The pressure-strain correlation closure coefficients are established using fixed point analysis by requiring consistency between model and direct numerical simulation asymptotic behavior in compressible homogeneous shear flow. The closure models are employed to compute high-speed mixing-layers and boundary layers in a differential Reynolds stress modeling solver. The self-similar mixing-layer profile, increased Reynolds stress anisotropy and diminished mixing-layer growth rates with increasing relative Mach number are all well captured. High-speed boundary layer results are also adequately replicated even without the use of advanced thermal-flux models or low Reynolds number corrections. To reduce the computational burden required for differential Reynolds stress calculations, the present compressible pressure-strain correlation model is incorporated into the algebraic modeling framework. The resulting closure is fully explicit, physically realizable, and is a function of mean flow strain rate, rotation rate, turbulent kinetic energy, dissipation rate, and gradient Mach number. The new algebraic model is validated with direct numerical simulations of homogeneous shear flow and experimental data of high-speed mixing-layers. Homogeneous shear flow calculations show that the model captures the asymptotic behavior of direct numerical simulations quite well. Calculations of plane supersonic mixing-layers are performed and comparison with experimental data shows good agreement. Therefore the algebraic model may serve as a surrogate for the more computationally expensive differential Reynolds stress model for flows that permit the weak-equilibrium simplification.

abstract: Latino children are more than twice as likely to live in poverty than their non-Latino, White peers (Kids Count Data Center, 2017), yet limited work has aimed to understand neighborhood influences on pathways of mental health among Latino children. Substantial work documents the deleterious effects of living in a disadvantaged neighborhood on mental health outcomes throughout the lifespan (Leventhal & Brooks-Gunn, 2000). Parental and familial variables may explain neighborhood influences on children’s mental health during the first few years of life (May, Azar, & Matthews, 2018). The current study evaluated the influence of three neighborhood indicators (concentrated disadvantage, residential instability, and the percentage of residents identifying as Hispanic/Latino) on maternal postpartum depressive symptoms and child behavior problems at 3 and 4.5 years via mediation and moderated mediation models among a sample of 322 low-income, Mexican American mother-child dyads. Contrary to hypotheses and existing literature, concentrated disadvantage and residential instability were not predictive of maternal or child mental health outcomes. The percentage of residents identifying as Hispanic/Latino emerged as a protective neighborhood factor for both mothers and children. The neighborhood ethnocultural context may be especially relevant to understanding pathways of mental health specific to Mexican American families. More research is needed to understand specific parental and familial mechanisms underlying this protective effect. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Psychology 2019

abstract: Biculturalism embodies the degree to which individuals adapt to living within two cultural systems and develop the ability to live effectively across those two cultures. It represents, therefore, a normative developmental task among members of immigrant and ethnic-racial minority groups, and has important implications for psychosocial adjustment. Despite a strong theoretical focus on contextual influences in biculturalism scholarship, the ways in which proximal contexts shape its development are understudied. In my dissertation, I examine the mechanisms via which the family context might influence the development of bicultural competence among a socio-economically diverse sample of 749 U.S. Mexican-origin youths (30% Mexico-born) followed for 7 years (Mage = 10.44 to 17.38 years; Wave 1 to 4). In study 1, I investigated how parents’ endorsements of values associated with both mainstream and heritage cultures relate to adolescents’ bicultural competence. Longitudinal growth model analyses revealed that parents’ endorsements of mainstream and heritage values simultaneously work to influence adolescents’ bicultural competence. By examining the effect of multiple and often competing familial contextual influences on adolescent bicultural competence development, this work provides insights on intergenerational cultural transmission and advances scholarship on the culturally bounded nature of human development. In study 2, I offer a substantial extension to decades of family stress model research focused on how family environmental stressors may compromise parenting behaviors and youth development by testing a culturally informed family stress model. My model (a) incorporates family cultural and ecological stressors, (b) focuses on culturally salient parenting practices aimed to teach youth about the heritage culture (i.e., ethnic socialization), and (c) examines bicultural competence as a developmental outcome. Findings suggest that parents’ high exposure to ecological stressors do not compromise parental ethnic socialization or adolescent bicultural competence development. On the other hand, mothers’ exposures to enculturative stressors can disrupt maternal ethnic socialization, and in turn, undermine adolescents’ bicultural competence. By examining the influence of multiple family environmental stressors on culturally salient parenting practices, and their implications for adolescent bicultural competence development, this work provides insights on ethnic-racial minority and immigrant families’ adapting cultures and advances scholarship on the family stress model. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Family and Human Development 2019

The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the stressors of caregiving for a schizophrenic patient and related outcomes. The Caregiver Stress Model was used as the conceptual framework for the current study. The sample of the study was composed of 98 Turkish caregivers of schizophrenic patients who were treated at psychiatry clinics of hospitals in Ankara. Twelve mediation models were tested using marital satisfaction and social support as mediators. The models contained primary stressor (basic needs), secondary stressor (activities of living), and intrapsychic strain (parental efficacy) as independent variables / and depression and general psychological health as dependent variables. The results suggested both social support and marital satisfaction as significant mediators of the relationships of both primary and secondary stressors with the outcome variables / however, social support and marital satisfaction were not significant mediators of the relationships between parental efficacy and outcome variables. The significant implications and limitations of the study were also discussed.