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Socratic Encounters: Plato's Alcibiades, Andre Archie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation is to situate our reading of the Platonic dialogue Alcibiades Major among both ancient and modern readings of the dialogue. Since the nineteenth century the issue of authenticity has preoccupied most modern commentators of the dialogue, but from all reasonable evidence, commentators from the ancient world had no such qualms about attributing the authorship of Alcibiades Major to Plato. Our reading of Alcibiades Major is in line with modern commentators who take both the dialogue's dramatic features and educative value seriously, while not ignoring that in some quarters Alcibiades Major's authorship is still in dispute. …

Interart Studies From The Middle Ages To The Early Modern Era: Stylistic Parallels Between English Poetry And The Visual Arts, Roberta Aronson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation develops and applies interart studies, an interdisciplinary approach to the analysis of literature. The four chapters are unified by an interart analytic methodology intended either to bring a new insight to an unresolved topic in literary interpretation or to offer a new interpretation of a major poem in English literature. The approach is best characterized as "synchronic," a term that Murray Roston uses to designate the interrelation of the visual and literary arts of the same era. The synchronic approach demands that parallels drawn between the visual arts and a literary work be stylistically and thematically clear and …

Evaluation Of Smoking Prevention Television Advertisements By Middle School Youth: Effects Of Gender, Ethnicity, And Grade Level, Anne Bongiorno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smoking is the number one preventable cause of cancer deaths, yet more than 3,000 children start smoking each day (United States Department of Health and Human Services [USDHHS], 2001). There is a growing body of evidence that smoking behaviors in youth can be changed through effective health communication but little is known about how to systematically design and evaluate messages to achieve this outcome (Hornik, 2002). The literature is sparse about how messages are evaluated by youth. No published literature was found about how the ethnicity of featured actors in tobacco prevention television advertisements (spots) influenced youth evaluation of spots …

Follow-Up Of College Students With A History Of Developmental Speech Disorders, Christine Buchheit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study examined 16 college students with a childhood history of an articulation disorder involving isolated "residual" phoneme errors (RE) and 16 control subjects. Subjects were administered an experimental battery designed to tax the phonological system. Measures included conventional and pseudo-word spelling, syllabification, nonsense word repetition, and expository writing. Subjects also responded to questions assessing student adjustment and academic performance. Results revealed that the RE subjects performed comparably to controls on all of the experimental and academic/adjustment measures (p < .05). Two subjects in the RE group were still producing noticeable articulation distortions as adults. One of these subjects had highly favorable outcomes, whereas the other subject performed relatively poorly on several of the experimental and student adjustment measures. These findings suggest that some individuals who make persistent articulation distortion errors as adults may display subtle phonological and or social deficits that should be explored in future research.

"All Hayll, All Hayll, Both Blithe And Glad": Direct Address In Early English Drama, 1400-1585, Michelle Markey Butler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines direct address in English drama from 1400 to 1585. All 91 non-fragmentary plays from this period were used in order to enable a comprehensive understanding of the technique. While direct address is widely acknowledged as a fundamental technique in early English drama, it is almost never studied, its effects and functions being assumed to be 'obvious' and 'natural,' and therefore neither requiring nor meriting focused consideration. This study shows that direct address was used systematically in early drama, and its effects could be quite sophisticated. To see this, it is crucial to consider the use of rhetorical …

Child Care In The United States: Assessing Parental Preferences In The Selection Of Nonparental Care, Andrea Castiglione

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between child, respondent, parent/guardian, and household characteristics and the preferences of the availability of sick care, a small group size, a reasonable cost, and a caregiver who shares similar beliefs about raising children in the selection of nonparental arrangements. SPPS was used to obtain bi-variate analyses of the categorized independent variables and their relationship to each of the four dependent variables regarding parental preferences of nonparental arrangements. Those who have a lower level of education, a lower total household income, rent their home, and have received welfare benefits within the past three years are more …

Statistically Designed Spheronization And Scale-Up Of Ibuprofen Microparticulates Using The Rotor Disk Fluid-Bed Technology: Coating For Prolonged Release And Hard Gelatin Encapsulation Of Microparticulates, Beatrice Chukwumezie

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aim was to develop uncoated and coated ibuprofen microparticulates in a one-step fluid-bed machine with rotor-disk insert, for immediate and prolonged drug delivery. Feasibilty studies using ibuprofen: Avicel (RC-581; 50:50), sodium lauryl sulfate (1%) as surfactant and water as binder in FLM-15 Vector Flo-coater with 12" stainless-steel and waffle-disk inserts showed that amount of binder, plate type and the presence of surfactant affected most of spheroid characteristics. These variables were used in a 2x2x3 full factorial (replicated) experiment. Blocking was used to study batch-to-batch reproducibility of the process and product variables. Our results confirmed that the binder amount, plate-type …

Evaluation Of The Design, Development, And Implementation Of The School Performance Network Portal And Communication Institute, Josephine Crame

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The School Performance Network (SPN) Portal was envisioned during the formation stage of SPN as the primary mechanism for K-12 educators and SPN partners, to communicate and to collaborate. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the design, development, and implementation of the SPN Portal and Communication Institute as they demonstrate fidelity to SPN's mission: to connect educators with resources and ideas to improve teaching and learning resulting in a change of the culture of education in South Western Pennsylvania. This study investigated the formative stages of the design, development, and implementation of the School Performance Network (SPN) Portal …

Culture Care Of Puerto Rican Elderly In A Community Setting, Rosemary Schleicher Fliszar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this ethnonursing study was to discover the culture care meanings, beliefs, expressions, and practices of urban elderly Puerto Ricans residing in a mid-sized community. The Culture Care Theory was used as the guiding framework in studying the domain of inquiry: the discovery of the meanings and practices of generic care and professional health care of elderly community dwelling Puerto Ricans. The qualitative research method used for this study was the ethnonursing research method. Twelve key informants and twenty-one general informants were interviewed. Four themes were extracted from analysis of the data, and patterns to support the themes …

The Influence Of Stigma On Help Seeking Attitudes For Depression, Margaret Jordan Halter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Major depression is a common, debilitating, and life threatening illness, and its treatment may be hampered by stigma. There have been a limited number of studies that link stigma and help seeking attitudes for depression. The purpose of this descriptive correlational study was to identify the relationship between stigmatizing attitudes and help seeking behavior. Also of interest was the impact of person-level variables that may be associated with a person's desire to seek help. Goffman's Stigma Theory and Weiner's Attribution Theory served as theoretical foundations. Data were collected by questionnaires distributed to patients (N = 117) waiting to be seen …

The Use Of Speech Disfluency As An Indicant Of Paradigm Development In Pharmacy's Academic Subdisciplines, Erin Renee Holmes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study compared speech disfluency rates within five subdisciplines of pharmacy to estimate their paradigm development, and identified alternative factors associated with differing rates. Rates were observed in randomly selected courses. Lecturers completed a modified version of the Brief Fear of Negative Evaluation survey and a self-rated anxiety measure. Ten percent of recordings were randomly selected for analysis by two judges to determine inter-reliability. An ANCOVA was conducted on the frequency of lecture disfluencies, with the frequency of interview disfluencies serving as the covariate. The overall mean disfluency rate in lectures was 2.11 disfluencies/minute. Average dislfuency rates among the five …

Changes In Islamic Hermeneutics And Social Evolution: A Comparative Study Of Turkey And Algeria, Sadik Kirazli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In comparing the evolution of the current struggle between religious challengers and the ruling class in Algeria and Turkey, this paper examines why and how Algerians became involved in a civil war which has continued almost six years, and why Turkey was not like Algeria. In order to carry out this investigation, the following research questions are developed: What key factors favored or discouraged the use of violence in both countries?

Since religion in and of itself does not lead to intolerance, what are the key factors that nourished the deviant interpretation? What is the impact of the sociopolitical cultural …

An Evaluation Of The Wider Horizons Program In Pittsburgh Form 1989 To 2002, Breandan Gearard Magee

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was an evaluative study of the Wider Horizons program in Pittsburgh from 1989 to 2002. This program offers young unemployed Irish and Northern Irish adults the opportunity to live and work in the USA for up to eight weeks.

A sample population of 44 past participants partook in qualitative interviews to help determine if the Wider Horizons program had achieved its three stated goals. The three dependant variables in this study were, one securing employment upon return to Ireland, secondly one returning to further education upon to Ireland, and finally a recorded increase in one's ethno-religious tolerance upon …

How Do Undergraduate Mathematics Faculty Learn To Teach Online?, Margaret Mcdonough Pankowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the training that faculty receive to teach undergraduate mathematics courses online and the effectiveness of that training. An online survey was distributed to 64 faculty who taught undergraduate mathematics courses online. In responding to the survey, faculty supplied information about the duration, topics, and types of training they received both before and after beginning to teach online, about their use of best practices for online education, and about their attitudes toward online education. Subsequent to completion of the survey, four focus group interviews were conducted with a total of 14 of the survey respondents. During focus group …

Health Practices Of Homeless Women, Margaret Chaney Wilson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Homeless women and female-headed families represent the fastest growing subgroups of homeless individuals. To expand the body of knowledge and provide further insight into the complex area of homelessness and health, health practices of homeless women were investigated using a cross-sectional, descriptive, and non-experimental design using Pender's Health Promotion Model as the theoretical framework. Homeless women (N=137) were recruited from five shelters in northeastern Indiana. Homeless women in this study were found to be highly educated, mostly unemployed, and primarily single. A greater number of African Americans than represented in the local population were found to be shelter residents. Health …

Propensity To Engage In Interracial Dialogue On Race: A Descriptive Study Of Participants And Contributing Factors, Rebecca Willow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This hermeneutic inquiry examines factors that contribute to the self-selection of participants in interracial dialogue on race and the implications of the findings. This study was conducted within the socio-cultural context of race relations in the United States where the problem of racism has defined the national character, has arguably been the most divisive force in the country's consciousness, and remains its central social problem. Throughout U.S. history, a great deal of national energy has been generated and invested in racially influenced movements followed by efforts to make amends for such movements (e.g., slavery, the Civil War, Reconstruction, the Civil …

Transformation Of Arsenic Oxyanions In Bacterial And Model Systems, Ganna Polshyna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The HPLC-UV-Vis method with 7.5 mM sulfuric acid as a mobile phase and 195 nm wavelength detection was used for the separation and quantification of As(III) and As(V) in bacterial media used for growing of Clostridium sp. Strain OhILAs bacteria. In this method, the arsenic species were eluted in order As(V) > As(III), and the retention time were not affected by bacteria media matrix. It has been shown that the shape of the curve of increasing of the As(III) concentration is similar to that of bacteria growing. The main disadvantage of the present method is its failure to separate As(III) ions …

Nitrogen Metabolism In Iron-Respiring Bacteria, Ching (Tony) Lung Hsieh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen metabolism was investigated in three species of iron respiring bacteria Geobacter metallireducens, Geobacter sulfurreducens, and Sulfurospirillum barnesii. G. metallireducens and G. sulfurreducens were shown to grow in medium containing N2, NO3-, or NH4 but nitrite inhibited growth. BLAST analysis of the draft genomic sequence of G. metallireducens revealed only Nar, Nrf, and Nif homologues but no assimilatory genes (i.e., Nas). Two nar operons were identified, narCGHJIK1K2, and narCGHI. A putative CAP/CRP recognition binding site was found upstream and two molybdenum biosynthetic genes were found downstream of the large operon. Both operons contain a novel cytochrome c (NarC) that has …

Oxonitriles: Cyclizations In Total Synthesis, Pravin Iyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oxonitriles are versatile synthetic intermediates. The thesis provides a survey of the synthesis and reactions of cyclic oxonitriles followed by an approach to Kuehneromycin A that features oxonitrile chemistry. The discussion presents a synthetic route to the sesquiterpenoid, Kuehneromycin A, using oxonitrile-based methodology. A key feature is a new oxidative cyclization reaction that has been developed as a method for assembling functionalized trans-decalins. The mechanism of this reaction is presented to explain the excellent stereoselectivity. Similarly, a mechanistic analysis of a novel isomerization of quarternary centers is presented in detail.

Theoretical Aspects Of Designing New Vaccines For Breast Cancer: Docking Studies Of Peptide/Hla-A2.1 Complexes, Tugba Kucukkal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

HER2/neu is a transmembrane glycoprotein that is overexpressed in many tumors, including ovarian and breast cancers. The HER2/neu peptide IISAVVGIL (GP2) is recognized by tumor-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes in the context of human class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) HLA-A2.1. One limiting-factor for using GP2 as a tumor vaccine is its poor affinity for HLA-A2.1, even though it has the correct peptide-binding motif. The research aims are to develop an accurate docking method for the binding of GP2 to HLA-A2.1, to understand the molecular forces that give rise to strong binding, and to predict mutations that lead to new tumor …

Uncoiling The Gut Of Eleutherodactylus Coqui: Characterization Of The Anatomical Development And Proliferation Pattern, Carrie Elizabeth Langer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among the frogs there are two forms of development: biphasic and direct. Xenopus laevis, a biphasic developer, develops from an embryo into a tadpole, and then metamorphoses into an adult frog. Eleutherodactylus coqui is a direct developer, meaning that it lacks a tadpole stage. The embryo develops directly into the adult form. Comparing development between these two frogs provides insight on the evolution of these groups. I present an anatomical description of the gut development of E. coqui, and compare my findings to the development of X. laevis. E. coqui does not have a highly coiled gut like that of …

Cloning And Expression Of Dazl In Rana Pipiens, Jamie Boorech

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The DAZ gene on the human Y chromosome has been implicated in male fertility. Humans and other animals possess an autosomal version of this gene, referred to as DAZ-like or Dazl, which functions in gametogenesis and fertility. In order to expand our knowledge of Dazl, I cloned Dazl from the northern leopard frog Rana pipiens. To obtain the clone, I screened a R. pipiens ovary cDNA library with a RpDazl-specific PCR-generated radioactive probe. RpDazl, as determined by sequencing, is 3.5kb in length, with an 843 nucleotide open reading frame (ORF) and a 3' untranslated region (UTR) of 2635 nucleotides. At …

Regulation Of Steroid Sulfatase In Human Breast Cancer Cells And Screening Of Human Tissues For Steroid Sulfatase Status, Abhinav Chandra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring cancer in women and is the second leading cause of death. About 40% of breast cancers are hormone-dependent and require estrogen for their growth. The steroid sulfatase pathway is an important means of converting local inactive estrogens to their active forms, thus supporting tumor growth. A substantial amount of research has been performed in the design of steroid sulfatase inhibitors, but the regulation of steroid sulfatase has been largely overlooked. My goal was to study the regulation of steroid sulfatase by different steroid hormones, using two human breast cancer cell lines the hormone-dependent …

Isolation Of Intragenic Suppressor Mutations Of A Dominant-Negative Ftsz Allele, Carla Ciccone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Streptomyces coelicolor, a gram-positive bacterium containing division genes that are dispensable for growth and viability. ftsZ encodes the earliest acting cell division protein in prokaryotes. In S. coelicolor a mutation at codon 275 in ftsZ (ftsZ25), changes an alanine to a valine causing a block in division. Using a homology model of the crystal structure of FtsZ, I hypothesized that changing another amino acid having direct interaction with amino acid 275 might restore function. The structure-directed mutation changed a leucine to a valine at codon 259. The double mutation did not restore division to the organism; this change alone also …

Principles Of Chemical Reactivity On The Diels-Alder Reaction In Ionic Liquids And Lewis Acid Catalysis Using Large-Scale Computations, Orlando Acevedo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

My Ph.D. dissertation describes three different external influences on pericyclic reactions: (1) ionic liquids, (2) Lewis acids and (3) bis(oxazoline)-Cu(II) complexes. (1) Ionic liquids deliver enhanced rates and endo/exo selectivities on the Diels-Alder reaction. The goal is to establish a firm understanding of the molecular interactions that give rise to the observed rate and selectivity enhancements. In order to accomplish our goal, we have used density functional theory methodology, specifically the Becke three parameter with Lee, Yang and Parr corrections at the 6-31G(d), to describe short-range effects, and have created new force field parameters using CHARMM to allow faster classical …

Cloning And Characterization Of A Git1 Homolog Gene From Schizosaccharomyces Pombe, Christi Nolder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phosphatidylinositol (PI) deacylation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae results in the formation and excretion of glycerophosphoinositol (GPI). This is a predominant route of PI turnover and is not unique to S. cerevisiae. Released GPI can be transported back into the cell through a membrane permease encoded by the GIT1 gene, Git1p. Maximum transport is achieved in low inositol/low phosphate conditions at pHs below 7, and the addition of a protonophore to the GPI transport assay abolishes transport activity. These findings suggest that Git1p is a proton symporter. An excess of unlabeled glycerol-3-phosphate (G3P) inhibits the transport of radiolabeled GPI into S. cerevisiae. …

Regulation Of Vitellogenin And Other Serum Proteins By Estrogen And Xenobiotic Estrogens In Salamanders, Lisa Marie Nespoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental estrogens pose potential health risks to humans and wildlife by disrupting physiological and developmental processes; therefore, our laboratory has been designing in vivo bioassays on induction of the egg-yolk precursor protein vitellogenin. I have provided information on vitellogenin induction by estrogens in tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum), spotted salamanders (Ambystoma maculatum), hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis), Morelet's crocodiles (Crocodylus moreletii), and developed vitellogenin immunoassays in these species. Salamanders were estrogen-injected; blood was collected at intervals. Estrogen exposed male salamanders of all species, produced substantial quantities of a 200-kDa protein, the approximate size of vertebrate vitellogenins. Sequencing of estrogen-induced proteins showed substantial homology …

Factors Effecting Uptake And Visualization Of Superparamagnetic Iron Oxide Particles By Macrophages: Relevance For Use In Mri Plaque Imaging, Walter John Rogers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease kills nearly 1 million Americans each year. While treatment at all levels has made significant advances over the past 3 decades, diagnosis is still limited to structural or hemodynamic changes associated with advanced disease. More than 60% of myocardial infarctions (MI) result from the rupture and associated acute thrombosis of atherosclerotic plaque that reduce lumen size by less that 50%. Ultra small superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (USPIO) have recently been proposed as a macrophage targeted magnetic resonance contrast agent. The goal of the present study was to determine if, and the extent to which, molecules known to alter …

Using Pc12 Cells And Rat Cortical Neurons To Evaluate Poly(Caprolactone) And Collagenous Microcarriers For Applications In Nerve Guide Fabrication, Rebecca Waddell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Tissue-engineered nerve guides can provide mechanical support as well as biochemical stimulation for nerve regeneration. PC12 cells and rat cortical neurons were used to test poly(caprolactone) (PCL), collagenous microcarriers (CultiSphers), and a novel composite of the two materials as an initial step in the fabrication of multi-channeled nerve guides. PC12 cells were found to attach, proliferate and differentiate on laminin-coated PCL and on CultiSphers. When the initial concentration of PC12 cells was increased, the percentage of CultiSphers with cells attached increased as well. Changing the cell culture conditions from static to dynamic, however, had the opposite effect on cell attachment. …

Living With Life-Threatening Illness: An Inquiry Into Children's Experience Of Cancer, Kristy Novinski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies concerning children living with illness have been limited by (a) a narrow focus on the child's cognitive development, (b) reliance on sources outside of the child's experience, (c) reliance on methods based on the language and quantitative modes of measuring used by adults rather than the experience of the child, (d) models that emphasize methods of control in coping, and (e) a tendency to pathologize the responses of the child.

In contrast, the current study involved speaking directly with school-aged children living with a diagnosis of cancer. The qualitative method developed for this study involved a two-fold approach, …