Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Novel Class Of Chemicals For Labeling Abasic Sites In Cellular Dna And Killing Cancer Cells, Shanqiao Wei

Wayne State University Dissertations

Abasic (AP) sites are the most common type of lesions in DNA. Numerous endogenous and exogenous agents and cellular processes can induce the formation of AP sites in DNA. If left unrepaired, the deleterious AP sites cause mutagenesis and cytotoxicity. Methoxyamine is known to react with AP sites and block base excision repair. Another alkoxyamine, aldehyde-reactive probe (ARP) tags AP sites with a biotin and has been widely used to quantify these sites. In this study, I have combined both these abilities into one alkoxyamine, AA3, which reacts toward AP sites with better reactivity than ARP at physiological pH. Additionally, …

A Statistical Scoring System For Manager Voting For The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, Emily K. Moran

Honors College Theses

This paper analyzes the fielding data surrounding two players in Major League Baseball whose Rawlings Gold Glove award wins were viewed as controversial or undeserved. Derek Jeter’s Gold Glove win at shortstop in 2010 and Rafael Palmeiro’s win at first base in 1999 caused players, managers, and sports writers to question the managers who voted for those players in those years. This paper analyzes shortstops in the American League who played during the career of Jeter and first basemen in the American league who played during the career of Palmeiro. It uses some of the fielding statistics of those players …

Reflections On Social Emotional Learning And Academic Success In Early Childhood Education, Emily Wagner

Honors College Theses

Throughout my experiences in different classroom settings during my teacher education, I noticed many differences in the ways teachers approached the social emotional education of young children. The goal of this paper is to examine the difference between a classroom where social emotional learning is explicitly taught to children, and a classroom where it is not, and consider how social emotional learning impacted the students’ social and emotional abilities in the context of the classroom.

A Linguistic Comparison: Stress-Timed And Syllable-Timed Languages And Their Impact On Second Language Acquisition, Madeline M. Conlen

Honors College Theses

Acquisition of a second language can be a challenging task because no two languages are alike in their structure, syllabification, pronunciation, rhythm, etc. Also, after speaking one language for any amount of time, the speaker becomes accustomed to the specific qualities of that language; therefore, learning to speak another language takes extra effort because it is essentially rewiring the brain to think differently in many ways. One important element of language is prosody, or the patterns of stress and intonation in language (Dilley et al 237). The subsector of prosody that is to be studied is rhythm, explicitly isochrony and …

Rights Of Minorities And Neglected Groups, Deni Barci

Honors College Theses

The right of minorities and disadvantaged groups are essential to human rights and democracy. These issues are multilayered and each specific case presents its own challenges. To further understand the minority rights dilemma, the struggles of minority groups in the United States will be highlighted, as well as the Roma population in Macedonia. The comparison of domestic minority treatment within the United States and how minorities are treated in other nations will help to paint a broader picture of the difficulties that minorities across the world experience. The Roma in Macedonia have faced a more traditional form of limitation of …

Examining Expectations: Inspecting The Experiences Of Student Teaching Interns In A Yearlong Paired-Placement At An Urban School, Evan J. Lambrecht

Honors College Theses

This paper examines the experiences of student teaching interns in paired-placements in an urban school setting, specifically how the pairs experience collaboration between themselves, mentor teachers, and university field instructors. In addition, the paper will examine how the paired teaching interns are able to perceive instruction that the students received. Using data from two participant surveys collected from student-teaching interns in paired-placements, results were compared with studies from academic literature and my own experience as a paired teaching intern. A thematic analysis was carried out with the data, in which was found evidence that the teaching interns enjoyed the extra …

The Importance Of Linguistic Diversity Instruction Within Teacher Education Programs, Rhiannon L. Finney

Honors College Theses

The United States is continuously growing, and as it grows it has become more and more diverse. As diversity increases, awareness of culture becomes a more pressing and important manner. So, while schools have often worked to include and encourage multiculturalism and diversity within their boundaries, one major section has been left out of the equation. The importance of linguistic diversity is vastly misunderstood and left out of teacher education programs, negatively impacting young students, particularly those of traditionally marginalized groups. In order to better prepare prospective teachers and to help provide a real social change in an inherently racialized …

The Relationship Between Obesity And Use Of Electronics For Individuals Under The Age Of 21, Zeeshan Haque

Honors College Theses

Today, obesity is one of the largest health problems in America. There are several factors that contribute to obesity – but one problem that has been rising in this generation is the issues of children deciding to play video games, watch television, or spend time on the computer instead of healthier alternatives such as exercising or playing sports. One factor that could attribute to this is the large advancements in technology over the last few decades. The purpose of this research is to identify the relationship between electronics and obesity by analyzing data provided by the NHANES codebook. In this …

The Relationship Between Aldosterone And Left Ventricular Hypertrophy In Hypertensive Patients, Tahsin M. Rahman, Phillip Levy, Aaron M. Brody

Honors College Theses

Background - Aldosterone is a pertinent hormone in naturally elevating blood pressure within the body by increasing fluid retention in the body via electrolyte reabsorption in the kidneys. Consequently, aldosterone can have an indirect effect on the incidence of LVH considering the hormone can reinforce high blood pressure. However, recent studies have suggested that aldosterone and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone-system (RAAS) may have a direct role in leading to an increase in left ventricular mass. Patients with hyperaldosteronism, otherwise elevated circulating aldosterone, have shown high frequencies of LVH regardless of the presence of hypertension. Furthermore, cardiomyocytes have been seen to contain mineralocorticoid …

Knowledge Reuse Through Electronic Knowledge Repositories: An Empirical Study And Ontological Improvement Effort For The Manufacturing Industry, Peter Panha Chhim

Wayne State University Dissertations

Knowledge management adoption is growing, and will continue to grow in no small part because of its recent inclusion into the ISO 9001 quality standard. As organizations look towards ways in which to manage their knowledge, the codification of explicit knowledge through Knowledge Management Systems (KMS) and Electronic Knowledge Repositories (EKRs) will undoubtedly gain more interest.

An EKR is a form of KMS that emphasizes the codification and storage of organizational expertise for the purposes of Knowledge Reuse (KRU). Unfortunately, the factors surrounding KRU are not well understood. While previous studies have viewed EKR usage from a narrow perspective, a …

The Roles Of Human Cytomegalovirus Tegument Proteins Pul48 And Pul103 During Lytic Infection, Daniel Angel Ortiz

Wayne State University Dissertations

THE ROLES OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS TEGUMENT PROTEINS pUL48 AND pUL103 DURING LYTIC INFECTION

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DANIEL A. ORTIZ

December 2015

Advisor: Dr. Philip E. Pellett

Major: Immunology and Microbiology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a large double-stranded DNA virus that causes severe disease in newborns and immunocompromised patients. During infection, HCMV is able to reconfigure the host cell machinery to establish a virus producing factory, termed the cytoplasmic virion assembly complex (cVAC). Generating drugs that affect cVAC development or function provides an alternative mode of action for HCMV antivirals that can essentially eliminate virion production. The objective of …

A Design-Based Research Study Examining The Impact Of Collaboration Technology Tools In Mediating Collaboration, Kecia Johnese Waddell

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

A DESIGN-BASED RESEARCH STUDY EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF COLLABORATION TECHNOLOGY TOOLS IN MEDIATING COLLABORATION

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KECIA J. WADDELL

December 2015

Advisor: Dr. Monica W. Tracey

Major: Instructional Technology

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

Interactive collaboration technologies have expanded users' capabilities to collaborate and have driven pedagogical paradigm shifts toward more learner-centered and interactive teaching and learning. Online learners may be not sufficiently prepared for the level of collaboration fluency expected by a globally competitive digital distributed knowledge economy. This is largely due in part by how collaboration technologies is used towards impacting learning goals and outcomes in practice by online …

Automated Negotiation Among Web Services, Khayyam Hashmi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Software as a service is well accepted software deployment and distribution model that is grown exponentially in the last few years. One of the biggest benefits of SaaS is the automated composition of these services in a composite system. It allows users to automatically find and bind these services, as to maximize the productivity of their composed systems, meeting both functional and non-functional requirements. In this paper we present a framework for modeling the dependency relationship of different Quality of Service parameters of a component service. Our proposed approach considers the different invocation patterns of component services in the system …

What Do Students Value? Exploring Instructor Behaviors In Face-To-Face And Online Higher Education Classrooms, Daria S. Lafave

Wayne State University Dissertations

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Combustion, Ionization And Sporadic Pre-Ignition In A Turbocharged Gasoline Direct Injection Engine., Shenouda Mekhael

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research is focused on the use of ionization of combustion products in hydrocarbons-air flames to gain a better understanding of the combustion process in turbocharged gasoline direct injection engines. A GM 2.0 L Ecotec GDI-T engine is used in this investigation. The ion current is measured simultaneously by two in-cylinder combustion sensors: the spark plug and the fuel injector. The characteristics of the ion current signals produced by the two sensors are analyzed and correlated with the characteristics of the rate of heat release computed from the cylinder gas pressure. Since this is the first time for the fuel …

Defining The Republic, William Joseph Nichols

Wayne State University Dissertations

Abstract

DEFINING THE REPUBLIC

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WILLIAM J. NICHOLS

December 2015

Advisor: Dr. Jeffrey Grynaviski

Major: Political Science (Political Theory)

Degree: Doctor of Philosophy

The “Great Divergence” between Alexander Hamilton and James Madison is one of the most well-known events in the early history of the United States. Together, Hamilton and Madison wrote most of The Federalist, and each was pivotal in securing the acceptance of the Constitution in their state ratifying conventions. That within just a few years of the establishment of the new form of government each had worked so hard to achieve, they became bitter political enemies, is …

Resident-Led Urban Agriculture And The Hegemony Of Neoliberal Community Development: Eco-Gentrification In A Detroit Neighborhood, Theodore Pride

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation employs a Gramscian framework as an alternative approach to understand the utilization of neoliberal community-based development—which advocates free-market schemes to development, and a refocus from institutional and structural causes of poverty to endogenous community forces (social capital and community capacity building)—by low-income residents in hyper-abandoned and disinvested urban neighborhoods. Using a case study of resident-led neighborhood development in the low-income neighborhood of Brightmoor in Detroit, Michigan, I show how “everyday discourse” of urban decline in Detroit and the possible rehabilitation of the city shape the “common sense” understanding of the “problem-and-solution equation” associated with the process of neighborhood …

Computational Modeling Of High-Performance Nickel-Metal Hydride Battery Materials, Diana Felicia Wong

Wayne State University Dissertations

With 10 million hybrid electric vehicles on the road worldwide powered primarily by nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) batteries, research into this battery chemistry will improve the hybrid vehicle driving experience, extending electric-only driving ranges while reducing emissions and using less gasoline. The transfer, storage and transport of protons and electrons depend strongly on the structural and electrical features of the active material, including multiple phases, defects, and structural and compositional disorder. The contributions of such subtle defects and the difference with the bulk structure can be difficult to discern experimentally. Ab initio calculations such as the ones based on density functional …

Principal Component Analysis-Based Anatomical Motion Models For Use In Adaptive Radiation Therapy Of Head And Neck Cancer Patients, Mikhail Aleksandrovich Chetvertkov

Wayne State University Dissertations

Purpose: To develop standard and regularized principal component analysis (PCA) models of anatomical changes from daily cone beam CTs (CBCTs) of head and neck (H&N) patients, assess their potential use in adaptive radiation therapy (ART), and to extract quantitative information for treatment response assessment.

Methods: Planning CT (pCT) images of H&N patients were artificially deformed to create “digital phantom” images, which modeled systematic anatomical changes during Radiation Therapy (RT). Artificial deformations closely mirrored patients’ actual deformations, and were interpolated to generate 35 synthetic CBCTs, representing evolving anatomy over 35 fractions. Deformation vector fields (DVFs) were acquired between pCT and synthetic …

Insights Into De Novo Fes-Cluster Biogenesis Via The Eukaryotic Fes-Cluster (Isc) Pathway In Vitro, Stephen Paul Dzul

Wayne State University Dissertations

Fe-S clusters are iron-containing cofactors utilized by numerous proteins within several biological pathways essential to life. In eukaryotes, the primary pathway for Fe-S cluster production is the iron-sulfur cluster (ISC) pathway. The eukaryotic ISC pathway, localized primarily within the mitochondria, has been best characterized within Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In yeast, de novo Fe-S cluster formation is accomplished through coordinated assembly of the substrates iron and sulfur on the primary scaffold assembly protein “Isu1”. The sulfur used for cluster assembly is provided by the cysteine desulfurase “Nfs1”, a protein that works in union with its accessory protein “Isd11”. Frataxin “Yfh1” helps direct …

Development Of Gamma-Modified Atp Analogs To Study Kinase-Catalyzed Phosphorylations, Ahmed Eid Fouda

Wayne State University Dissertations

Kinase-catalyzed protein phosphorylation is one of the most important post-translational modifications that controls cascades of biochemical reactions. Irregularities in phosphorylation result in many diseases, such as diabetes mellitus, Parkinsons, and cancer. The development of new methods to monitor kinase-catalyzed phosphorylation is needed to decipher details of normal and diseased cell signaling. The Pflum lab recently developed several -modified ATP analogs to study kinase catalyzed phosphorylation reactions. The -modified ATP analogs have different tags, such as biotin for substrate labeling or aryl-azide for kinase substrates identification. Unfortunately, use of -modified ATP analogs was limited to in vitro studies due to the …

Effective Drug Treatment Induces Drug Resistance Through Rapid Genome Alteration-Mediated Cancer Evolution, Steven Horne

Wayne State University Dissertations

The central paradox associated with current cancer therapeutic strategies is initially effective treatment, which eliminates a high tumor cell count, consistently results in successful drug resistance. Mathematical and evolutionary modeling have previously suggested that therapeutic intervention could provide selective pressure for the expansion of resistant variants. Drug-related stress has been associated with genome chaos, a common phenomenon in cancer characterized as rapid, stochastic genomic fragmentation and reorganization. Since cancer represents an evolutionary process, analysis within the context of genome-mediated cancer evolution can shed light on this key problem of therapeutics. We propose that genomic change is a general response to …

An Analysis Of The Interaction Between Sin3 And Methionine Metabolism In Drosophila, Mengying Liu

Wayne State University Dissertations

Chromatin modification and cellular metabolism are tightly connected. The mechanism for this cross-talk, however, remains incompletely understood. SIN3 controls histone acetylation through association with the histone deacetylase RPD3. In this study, my major goal is to explore the mechanism of how SIN3 regulates cellular metabolism.

Methionine metabolism generates the major methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) for histone methylation. In collaboration with others, I report that reduced levels of some enzymes involved in methionine metabolism and histone demethylases lead to lethality, as well as wing development and cell proliferation defects in Drosophila melanogaster. Additionally, disruption of methionine metabolism can directly affect histone …

How Does Exposure To The Internet Affect Political Knowledge And Attitudes Among Rural Chinese?: A Field Experiment, Wenwen Shi

Wayne State University Dissertations

The Internet's political implications reach far beyond an advanced communication device in authoritarian regimes. The heated debate on the Internet's political potential in China is complicated by a lack of causal evidence demonstrated in the literature. Thus far, studies have only examined consequences of the rise of the Internet and the characteristics of netizens (wangmin), but they have failed to account for the possible transformative effect the Internet has on individual citizens. This study attempts to fill this gap by testing the impact of the Internet on rural Chinese villagers' political knowledge and political attitudes through a field experiment over …

Emerging Genres Of Online Technical Communciation, Luke Anthony Thominet

Wayne State University Dissertations

Emerging Genres of Online Technical Communication is a study of how the proliferation of non-professional participation has the potential to significantly change the shape of technical communication. More specifically, I use a genre analysis methodology to investigate three forms of user-generated content: crowdsourced documentation wikis, video games user reviews, and video game open development. In the first study, I analyze five crowdsourced documentation wikis and find systemic inconsistency in the workflow and content quality of the documentation. Subsequently, I argue that practitioners should use minimalist documentation theory to design more effective user-centered author support for the wikis. My second chapter …

Nonlinear Stochastic Systems And Controls: Lotka-Volterra Type Models, Permanence And Extinction, Optimal Harvesting Strategies, And Numerical Methods For Systems Under Partial Observations, Ky Quan Tran

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on a class of stochastic models formulated using stochastic differential equations with regime switching represented by a continuous-time Markov chain, which also known as hybrid switching diffusion processes. Our motivations for studying such processes in this dissertation stem from emerging and existing applications in biological systems, ecosystems, financial engineering, modeling, analysis, and control and optimization of stochastic systems under the influence of random environments, with complete observations or partial observations.

The first part is concerned with Lotka-Volterra models with white noise and regime switching represented by a continuous-time Markov chain. Different from the existing literature, the Markov …

Cognitive Style, Laterality, And Executive Functioning, Leia Cherie Vos

Wayne State University Dissertations

Researchers have long linked creativity to psychopathology. In particular, everyday creativity is positively associated with schizotypy, a personality style with a possible relationship with schizophrenia that is associated with cognitive dysfunction. Genetic, biological, cognitive, and behavioral studies show connections between schizotypy and creativity, but the strength and mechanisms of these connections remain inconsistent or unclear. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the relationship between these constructs from a neuropsychological perspective. In part one, a large non-clinical sample completed several questionnaires to consider the relationship between the constructs and related aspects of personality. A small indirect relationship was found …

Expression And Functions Of Il-24 And Socs3 In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Keratitis In A C57bl/6 Mouse Model, Bing Xu

Wayne State University Dissertations

The aim of this study was to elucidate the expression and functions of interleukin (IL)-24 and suppressor of cytokine signaling 3 (SOCS3), and their regulatory relationship in C57BL/6 mouse corneas in response to Pseudomonas aeruginosa (PA) infection. Among IL-20R cytokines, only IL-24 was induced at both mRNA and protein levels by the infection, and this upregulation was dampened by flagellin pretreatment. Time course studies revealed that IL-24 expression was markedly elevated, followed by a subsidence and second elevation, a pattern shared with SOCS3 but not IL-1β or IL-6. Silencing of IL-24 enhanced S100A8/A9 expression, and suppressed SOCS3, IL-1β, IL-1RN, and …

Investigating The Role Of Dna Polymerase Beta In The Aging Phenotype Of Down Syndrome, Aqila Ahmed Ahmed

Wayne State University Dissertations

Down syndrome (DS) is a chromosomal condition characterized by accelerated aging that has yet to be directly linked to a DNA repair defect. Reduced PolB and unrepaired damage from oxidative stress observed in DS, point toward defective base excision repair (BER). In this study, we report that low PolB transcript correlates with increased markers of senescence. The gene dosage effect of Trisomy 21 is likely the source for PolB downregulation. We show that the HSA21-localized miR-155 overexpression correlates with a decrease in Creb1 and PolB, thus establishing a putative regulatory pathway. Data from the DS mouse model, Ts65Dn, reveal low …

Social Media Adoption Among University Instructors In Saudi Arabia, Khalid Abdulaziz Alasfor

Wayne State University Dissertations

There is an orientation from the government of Saudi Arabia toward social media in general. The government of Saudi Arabia considers the significance of social media in educating the Saudi community. The Saudi Ministry of Education founded the National Center for E- Learning and Distance Learning (NCeL) because it considered the importance of e-learning and distance learning for higher education (he.moe.gov.sa). NCeL supports and rewards university instructors to integrate social media in the learning process (award.elc.edu.sa). Several studies proved the significance of social media with Saudi higher education students (Alkhalifa, 2008; Salem and Alghamdi, 2011; Almadhouni, 2011). Moreover, Saudi students …