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Taxation, Liberty, And Property Rights: A Libertarian Defense Of Universal Health Coverage, Graeme Bradley Cave

Wayne State University Dissertations

Today, the United States is widely recognized as the only developed country without universal health coverage. Unfortunately for the United States, that is problematic. Despite lacking universal health coverage, the United States spends more on health care than any other country. In return, it has a large uninsured population, a large underinsured population, and overall comparatively poor health outcomes. Unsurprisingly, then, everyone in the philosophical literature on health care justice—for one reason or another—says the United States should join every other developed country and get universal health coverage. Everyone, that is, except for libertarians.In my dissertation, I argue that libertarians …

Pre-Pregnancy Drinking Among A Sample Of High-Risk Women And The Association Of Social Networks, Sandra Lee King

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACTPRE-PREGNANCY DRINKING AMONG A SAMPLE OF HIGH-RISK WOMEN AND THE ASSOCIATION OF SOCIAL NETWORKS

Background: Characteristics of drinking alcohol can include drinking contemporaneously; at the same time as others, and concordantly; when individuals exhibit identical traits or characteristics. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the association of pre-pregnancy drinking among a unique sample of high-risk women and to investigate the association of their social network members as predictors of alcohol consumption during the 3-month preconceptional period. Analysis was conducted on the patterns of alcohol consumption among study participants who were recruited from the Healthy Families Indiana (HFI) …

Therapeutic Dual-Targeting Of Cytosolic And Mitochondrial One-Carbon Metabolism, Aamod Sanjeev Dekhne

Wayne State University Dissertations

One-carbon metabolism (1CM) is compartmentalized in the mitochondria and cytosol and generates a host of metabolites critical to tumor propagation. Although drug-targeting of cytosolic 1CM remains a clinically-relevant mainstay, development of clinically-useful agents targeting mitochondrial 1CM remains elusive. Of particular pharmacological interest is the mitochondrial 1CM enzyme, serine hydroxymethyltransferase2 (SHMT2). SHMT2 expression correlates with the oncogenic phenotype in lung, colon, breast, glioma, and liver cancer and, overall, is the fifth-most differentially expressed metabolic enzyme in cancer cell versus normal tissue. Despite the unequivocal oncogenic importance and therapeutic potential of SHMT2, there are no clinically relevant (i.e. active in vivo) inhibitors …

Understanding The Resilient Practices Of Journalists In The Face Of Hostile Sources: An Intersectional Approach, Kelsey Renee Mesmer

Wayne State University Dissertations

After former President Trump began calling the news media “the enemy of the American people,” many scholars and journalism practitioners worried about such anti-media’s trickle-down effect and how it would complicate work for local reporters. Given a growing need to pay attention to hostility toward journalists, this project sought to better understand the ways journalists experience the trickle-down effects of anti-media rhetoric in the form of hostile interactions with sources who vilify journalists; how women and journalists of color experience these effects to different, possibly heightened degrees; and how journalists are resilient in spite of these challenges. Drawing on 38 …

Protein Phosphatase 2a In Metformin’S Action In Primary Human Skeletal Muscle Cells, Aktham H. Mestareehi

Wayne State University Dissertations

Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by hyperglycemia caused by defects in insulin secretion, insulin action, or both. Diabetes is associated with damage, dysfunction, and failure of various organs, such as the eyes, heart, kid-neys, and brain. Diabetes is mainly classified into type 1 (T1DM) and type 2 diabetes (T2D). Diabetes affects more than 34 million people in the USA (about 1 in 10) and more than 90% of diabetic patients have type 2 diabetes (T2D). Insulin resistance is a main characteristic feature of type 2 diabetes. Skeletal muscle insulin resistance is con-sidered to be the primary defect …

How Do We Learn To Hope? The Development Of The Parent Report Of Child Hope, Lauren A. Sparks

Wayne State University Dissertations

Hope has been shown to be an important protective factor, with hypothesized origins in early childhood (Snyder, 2002). However, despite the established importance of hope, little research to date has examined its developmental origins. Specifically, a lack of appropriate instrumentation represents a significant barrier to detecting hope in children under the age of eight years old. The current study meets this need by examining the reliability and validity of a novel parent-report measure of hope in early childhood, titled the Parent Report of Child Hope (PRCH). The PRCH represents an initial step towards understanding individual differences in early childhood hope. …

Characterization Of Clostridium Cochlearium As A Potential Probiotic For Obesity Management, Paba Edirisuriya

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACTCHARACTERIZATION OF CLOSTRIDIUM COCHLEARIUM AS A POTENTIAL PROBIOTIC FOR OBESITY MANAGEMENT

ByPABA EDIRISURIYA MAY 2021 Advisor: Dr. Kequan Zhou Major: Nutrition and food science Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Emerging evidence indicates that manipulation of gut microflora is a potential therapeutic approach for managing obesity. Probiotic effects on host weight reduction have repeatedly been revealed through previous studies. Clostridium cochlearium is a butyrate-producing, spore-forming bacteria that have been reported to present in the mammalian gut. Our simulated Invitro digestion model revealed that C. cochlearium could survive in the unfavorable conditions of the human gastrointestinal tract, including low pH (pH2), high bile …

Cardio-Renal Mechanisms Of Fructose-Induced Salt-Sensitive Hypertension, Peter Eric Levanovich

Wayne State University Dissertations

Dietary consumption of fructose facilitates increased intestinal fluid absorption and renal sodium reabsorption, thereby increasing fluid retention. The net result of this is a sustained increased in extracellular fluid volume that leads to states of hypervolemia and subsequent hypertension. Simultaneously, arterial pressure is being elevated by increased autonomic drive stemming from the sympathetic nervous system and various other endovascular proteins that induce vasoconstriction. Under these conditions, the addition of high dietary sodium promotes hypertension prior to the development of significant metabolic disturbances; the subtlety of which may go unnoticed by patients for prolonged periods. While much is understood regarding the …

Solving And Applications Of Multi-Facility Location Problems, Anuj Bajaj

Wayne State University Dissertations

This thesis is devoted towards the study and solving of a new class of multi-facility location problems. This class is of a great theoretical interest both in variational analysis and optimization while being of high importance to a variety of practical applications. Optimization problems of this type cannot be reduced to convex programming like, the much more investigated facility location problems with only one center. In contrast, such classes of multi-facility location problems can be described by using DC (difference of convex) programming, which are significantly more involved from both theoretical and numerical viewpoints.In this thesis, we present a new …

Clinical Significance, Functional Role And Molecular Mechanism Of 2’-O-Methyltransferase Ftsj3 In Promoting Cancer Progression, Morenci Manning-Powell

Wayne State University Dissertations

2’-O-methylation (2’-O-Me), one of the most common modifications within RNA, has multiple roles in modulating RNA structure, stability, and interactions, as well as gene transcription and translation. We previously performed integrative genomic and transcriptomic analysis of 58 RNA methyltransferases, and identified FTSJ3 (FtsJ RNA 2ʹ-O-methyltransferase 3) as significantly amplified/overexpressed in breast cancer. Knockdown of FTSJ3 inhibits breast cancer cell growth in vitro. However, the clinical significance, functional role, and molecular mechanism of FTSJ3 in human cancer remains to be elucidated. In the present study, we first analyzed the differential mRNA and protein expression of FTSJ3 between tumor and normal tissues …

Intelligent Healthcare Process Discovery And Operational Coordination Using Discrete Event Simulation And Machine Learning, Suleyman Yildirim

Wayne State University Dissertations

The healthcare system in the US is rapidly changing and reshaping to adopt continuously evolving demand for improved operational efficiency and treatment effectiveness from patients and providers in critical health services. Healthcare service systems and clinical treatment operations need to be more predictable to increase operational efficiency through proactive operations management. This research contributes to the literature by discovering clinical processes and calibrating discrete-event simulation models in healthcare service systems using data-driven and process-driven predictive models. Unlike the data-driven predictive approaches such as machine learning and statistical methods, the proposed methodologies in this thesis leverages and focuses on process-based methods …

Mnrr1: Understanding The Role Of A Novel Mitochondrial-Nuclear Regulator, Stephanie L. Gladyck

Wayne State University Dissertations

Mitochondria are complex organelles that generate most of the energy required to sustain life and function in metabolic and signaling pathways required to maintain cellular homeostasis. MNRR1 (mitochondrial nuclear retrograde regulator 1 or CHCHD2) is a small, bi-organellar twin CX9C protein that is emerging as an important regulator of mitochondrial function, apoptosis, and cellular stress by participating in mitochondrial-nuclear crosstalk. Our lab has previously shown that in the mitochondria, MNRR1 regulates complex IV (Cytochrome c oxidase or COX) and is able to finetune the oxidase function through phosphorylation status. We have also shown that during stress, mitochondrial MNRR1 levels deplete, …

Modulation Of Pharyngeal Health In Bacterial Diet-Dependent Survival, Deniz Sifoglu

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACT

MODULATION OF PHARYNGEAL HEALTH IN BACTERIAL DIET-DEPENDENT SURVIVAL

by

DENIZ SIFOGLU

August 2021

Advisor: Dr. Joy Alcedo Major: Biological Sciences Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Both diet and bacterial microbiome modulate insulin signaling, which regulates key physiological processes that are important for survival. However, the mechanisms through which diet and the microbiome modulate insulin signaling remain unclear. To understand these mechanisms, I turned to the nematode worm C. elegans, whose diet consists of different types of bacteria. Like humans and other animals, C. elegans has to modulate its responses to its diet and to bacteria to optimize its survival. Because …

The Hatcher-Quinn Invariant And Differential Forms, Joshua Lenwood Turner

Wayne State University Dissertations

An intersection problem consists of submanifolds $P, Q \subset M$ having non-empty intersection. In 1974, Hatcher and Quinn introduced a bordism-theoretic obstruction to finding a deformation of $P$ off of $Q$ by an isotopy. This dissertation studies the problem of finding an analytical expression for the Hatcher-Quinn obstruction---one which involves the language of differential forms. We first introduce the notion of a smooth structure on a set by introducing a system of mappings called plots. By generalizing this to the fibered setting, we use the concept to give a model for the homology of the generalized path space $E$ i.e., …

Removing The Mask Of Comedy To Reveal The Person Beneath: A Rhetorical Analysis Of How Three Comedians Engage In, And Go Beyond, The Post-Comedy Turn, Steve Ingham

Wayne State University Dissertations

From court jesters to lounge performers, the ‘Chitlin’ Circuit’ to vaudeville, radio to Netflix, the goal of comedy has been the same: use a comic frame to make the audience laugh. However, some modern comedians have altered that paradigm, including purposefully non-comedic material in their stand-up specials. While other comedians have done this before, they did so as an addendum to the narrative of their special, not as an integral part of that narrative. In this project, I engaged in a rhetorical analysis of three modern comedians, through the lens of humor theory, as they included purposefully non-comedic material, engaging …

Software As A Service: The Mediating Role Of Consequences Of Saas Diffusion On Firm Performance, Cristina Marie-Mccarthy Recchia

Wayne State University Dissertations

ABSTRACTSOFTWARE AS A SERVICE: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF CONSEQUENCES OF SAAS DIFFUSION ON FIRM PERFORMANCE by CRISTINA MARIE-MCCARTHY RECCHIA DECEMBER 2021 Advisor: Dr. Ratna Babu Chinnam Major: Industrial Engineering Degree: Doctor of Philosophy There are ample studies that support a positive link between information technology and firm performance. Bharadwaj (2000) and Chae (2014, 2018) are two examples that provided a foundation for this work. These scholars looked at how capabilities associated with information technology contribute to improved financial performance using a specific set of financial ratios. In addition, there are studies that examine a positive link between Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) and …

An Inquiry Into The Relationship Between Individuals Who Are Blind Or Visually Impaired And Suicide, Henry Joseph Tyszka

Wayne State University Dissertations

In the United States, death certificates document pre-existing conditions only when they directly contribute to a death. This precludes generating data in the event of a suicide involving a blind or visually impaired individual and for that reason existing suicide data is scarce for this population. This Grounded Theory study, with the participation of a Licensed Professional Counselor, interviewed twenty blind or visually impaired individuals utilizing the CDC Self-Directed Violence survey instrument to determine the level of stressors that were experienced by the participants as well as the nature and number of protective supports, amongst other factors. The study reinforced …

Secure Automatic Speaker Verification Systems, Muteb Aljasem

Wayne State University Dissertations

The growing number of voice-enabled devices and applications consider automatic speaker verification (ASV) a fundamental component. However, maximum outreach for ASV in critical domains e.g., financial services and health care, is not possible unless we overcome security breaches caused by voice cloning, and replayed audios collectively known as the spoofing attacks. The audio spoofing attacks over ASV systems on one hand strictly limit the usability of voice-enabled applications; and on the other hand, the counterfeiter also remains untraceable. Therefore, to overcome these vulnerabilities, a secure ASV (SASV) system is presented in this dissertation. The proposed SASV system is based on …

Labor Union Women And Leadership: Using Labor Education To Build Female Leader Participation For A Stronger Labor Movement, Jacqueline Daugherty

Wayne State University Dissertations

Female union members are nearly fifty percent of the total membership of organized labor, and yet female union members continue to be underrepresented in leadership positions creating a leadership gender gap. The problem of a leadership gender gap is longstanding and is demonstrated in all levels of organized labor, from local to international unions, as well as in the labor federations. The problem stems from deep-rooted barriers that women face with leadership in labor organizations and impacts female union member’s voices and issues being heard at the bargaining table, and can therefore negatively affect women’s wages, hours and working conditions …

Synthesis And Reactivity Of Metal Bis(Alkoxide) Complexes In Nitrene Coupling And Polymerization Of Polar Monomers, Duleeka Chamini Wannipurage

Wayne State University Dissertations

The nitrene homocoupling to produce azoarenes was done using two different iron (II) alkoxide complexes, Fe(OCtBu2(3,5-Ph2C6H3)2(THF)2 and Fe[OO]Ph(THF)2. Due to the steric bulkiness of HOCtBu2(3,5-Ph2C6H3 ligand, this complex exhibited selectivity for the bis(alkoxide) ligation; no tris(alkoxide) complexes were observed. As a result, both bulky and non-bulky aryl nitrenes are coupled with Fe(OCtBu2(3,5-Ph2Ph)2(THF)2, albeit the coupling of the less bulky substrates requires higher temperatures and longer reaction times. Stoichiometric reactions of Fe(OCtBu2(3,5-Ph2C6H3)2(THF)2 with non-bulky aryl azides led to the observation of the iron(III) tetrazene radical anion complexes, that can produce azoarene products after heating. Tetrazene complexes likely serve as a “masked …