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Fathers And Sons In Modern British, Irish, And Postcolonial Fiction, Alison Hitch

Theses and Dissertations--English

In this dissertation, I examine the portrayal of filial relationships in the fiction of James Joyce, Hanif Kureishi, and Zadie Smith. I assert that each of these authors, albeit in different ways, uses the archetypal father and son relationship to interrogate the formation of national identity and the concept of national belonging in modern, anticolonial or postcolonial cultures, including Ireland at the dawn of the twentieth century and Britain in the late twentieth century. Chapter one focuses on Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (1916) and Ulysses (1922). I argue that rather than solely bonding in …

The Decision To Decentralize Good Provision In The United States: A Study In Clean Energy Policy, Whitney Michelle Davis

Theses and Dissertations--Public Policy and Administration

Normative economic theory provides justification for at least partially centralized renewable energy provision due to the large, positive externalities associated with renewable energy production. However, the United States is one of the few countries without centralized renewable energy policy. Instead, the federal government actively chooses decentralized renewable energy provision by using fiscal transfers to support subnational renewable energy development. This dissertation explores why U.S. legislators choose decentralized renewable energy provision by asking two primary questions. First, what is the motivation for using federal fiscal transfers for decentralized renewable energy output considering what we know about positive spillovers and market failure …

Automatic 13C Chemical Shift Reference Correction Of Protein Nmr Spectral Data Using Data Mining And Bayesian Statistical Modeling, Xi Chen

Theses and Dissertations--Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is a highly versatile analytical technique for studying molecular configuration, conformation, and dynamics, especially of biomacromolecules such as proteins. However, due to the intrinsic properties of NMR experiments, results from the NMR instruments require a refencing step before the down-the-line analysis. Poor chemical shift referencing, especially for ¹³C in protein Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) experiments, fundamentally limits and even prevents effective study of biomacromolecules via NMR. There is no available method that can rereference carbon chemical shifts from protein NMR without secondary experimental information such as structure or resonance assignment.

To solve this problem, we …

Ecology, Monogamy, And The Evolution Of Animal Families, Jacqueline Rae Dillard

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Family-living has been recognized as a necessary prerequisite for the evolution of advanced cooperative societies, yet the evolutionary and ecological processes that drive the coupling of different forms of cooperation in family-based societies are still poorly understood. In my dissertation, I investigate the correlated evolution of parental care, monogamy, and cooperative breeding in a variety of family-based taxa. I explore the mating and social behavior of family-living beetles with incipient cooperation to better understand the factors driving these social traits. Specifically, I evaluate different causes of extra-pair mating in socially monogamous beetles, the potential benefits that young adult offspring may …

Intraspecific Variation In Dehydration Tolerance: Insights From The Tropical Plant Marchantia Inflexa, Rose A. Marks

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

Plants are threatened by global change, increasing variability in weather patterns, and associated abiotic stress. Consequently, there is an urgent need to enhance our ability to predict plant community dynamics, shifts in species distributions, and physiological responses to environmental challenges. By building a fundamental understanding of plant stress tolerance, it may be possibly to protect the ecological services, economic industries, and communities that depend on plants. Dehydration tolerance (DhT) is an important mechanism of water stress tolerance with promising translational applications. Here, I take advantage natural variation in DhT to gain a deeper insight into this complex trait. In addition, …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Health Influencer Videos On Youtube In The Ostomy Community, Sarah Irenke Sophia Bell

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The expansion of YouTube into the mainstream media and its place as the second most-used website in the world makes it a prime place for health information seeking. However, content can be created and uploaded by anyone and thus, the threat of misinformation on YouTube is high. Medical researchers have established that videos created by health professionals on YouTube promote accurate information whereas videos by non-professionals promote generally inaccurate or misleading information. Yet, videos created by non-professionals have more views and higher relevance rankings on YouTube. To begin to understand this phenomenon, a descriptive study is used to lay a …

Navigating The Michelle P. Waiver: A Narrative Examination Of The Impact Of Parent Caregiver-Related Uncertainty And Decision Making For Children With Disabilities, Whittney H. Darnell

Theses and Dissertations--Communication

The Michelle P. Waiver (MPW) is the primary means of health insurance for more than 10,000 people in the state of Kentucky. The waiver is especially popular among families with young children with disabilities because it is robust in its benefit offerings and also one of the few Medicaid resources that does not include parental income as a qualifying factor in eligibility. Through the waiver, children receive a medical card as well as additional coverage for medical expenses that fall beyond the scope of traditional health insurance. For these young children to gain access to the comprehensive offerings of the …

Multigenerational Genomic And Epigenetic Effects Of Manufactured Silver Nanomaterials In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Anye Wamucho

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

There has been an increase in the incorporation of silver nanomaterials into consumer products due to their antimicrobial properties. Therefore there is potential for silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) to leach out into the environment during different life-cycle stages of these nanomaterial-containing products. Concern about the toxicity of Ag-NPs has led to investigations into their toxic effects on a variety of organisms mainly using acute and sub-chronic, single-generation exposures. The focus of this project was to understand the effects of long-term continuous multigenerational exposure to AgNO₃ and Ag-NPs in both pristine and environmentally transformed forms, on the model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans …

Weld Penetration Identification Based On Convolutional Neural Network, Chao Li

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Weld joint penetration determination is the key factor in welding process control area. Not only has it directly affected the weld joint mechanical properties, like fatigue for example. It also requires much of human intelligence, which either complex modeling or rich of welding experience. Therefore, weld penetration status identification has become the obstacle for intelligent welding system. In this dissertation, an innovative method has been proposed to detect the weld joint penetration status using machine-learning algorithms.

A GTAW welding system is firstly built. Project a dot-structured laser pattern onto the weld pool surface during welding process, the reflected laser pattern …

Advanced Fault Area Identification And Fault Location For Transmission And Distribution Systems, Wen Fan

Theses and Dissertations--Electrical and Computer Engineering

Fault location reveals the exact information needed for utility crews to timely and promptly perform maintenance and system restoration. Therefore, accurate fault location is a key function in reducing outage time and enhancing power system reliability.

Modern power systems are witnessing a trend of integrating more distributed generations (DG) into the grid. DG power outputs may be intermittent and can no longer be treated as constants in fault location method development. DG modeling is also difficult for fault location purpose. Moreover, most existing fault location methods are not applicable to simultaneous faults. To solve the challenges, this dissertation proposes three …

Evaluation Of The Effect Of Milner-Fenwick Video-Based Education And Teach-Back On Knowledge Acquisition In Atrial Fibrillation Patients, Melissa Czarapata

DNP Projects

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate if video education impacts knowledge acquisition and health literacy in patients with atrial fibrillation. METHODS: This study employed a descriptive, pretest-posttest single site comparative design. Baseline health literacy was assessed before video education was completed using the Atrial Fibrillation Knowledge scale. Health literacy regarding atrial fibrillation was again assessed for the same participants immediately after video education was completed and again in 7 to 10 days through the use of the Atrial Fibrillation Knowledge scale and teach-back questions. RESULTS: There was no statistical significance found when comparing scores before and after …

The Effect Of A Simulation-Based Education Program On Nihss Accuracy And Inter-Rater Reliability Among Nursing Staff In The Neurological/Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit, Amanda Novak

DNP Projects

PURPOSE: The purpose of this Quasi-experimental study was to examine the effect of a simulation-based educational NIHSS workshop on nursing accuracy and inter-rater reliability upon use of the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS).

METHODS: This study was conducted in the Neurological/Neurosurgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at Baptist Health, a comprehensive stroke center located in Lexington, KY. The sample included 26 eligible nurses employed in the aforesaid unit. Nurses completed the NIHSS on a patient actor in a simulated scenario (this session was videotaped), a one-on-one debriefing with review of the videotape was conducted afterward, and then the nurse …

The Effect Of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Screening On Outcomes Of Adult Surgical Patients In A Suburban Hospital, Candice Gray-Cunningham

DNP Projects

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) characteristics are present in up to one-quarter of the U.S. adult population (Fernandez-Bustamante, Bartels, Clavijo, Scott, Kacmar, Bullard, Moss, Henderson, Juarez-Colunga, & Jameson, 2017). It is estimated that 80-90% of patients with moderate to severe OSA have never been diagnosed (Chung, Abdullah, & Liao, 2016a). The high prevalence of OSA combined with low diagnosis rates give rise to an environment with considerable surgical risk, including respiratory failure and cardiac arrhythmias (Kaw, Chung, Pasupuleti, Mehta, Gay, & Hernandez, 2012). Guidelines have been established by the Society of Anesthesia and Sleep (SASM) for preoperative OSA screening in …

What Is The Prevalence Of Adhd In Children Who Were Diagnosed With Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome? A Retrospective Chart Review., Scott Graham

DNP Projects

Background: Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) is the set of signs and symptoms present in a newborn whose mother was addicted to drugs while pregnant. NAS can occur due to sudden withdrawal from several drugs, including opioids, benzodiazepines, methamphetamines, and caffeine. It can cause many different issues in the newborn, including diarrhea, tremors, fever, and seizures. While these specific signs and symptoms are self-limited, research is showing that these children grow in to childhood and adolescence with increased risk of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), autism, motor dysregulation, and other cognitive and behavioral sequelae.

Purpose: The purpose of this project was to establish …

Forage Quality Of Cool Season Perennial Grass Horse Pastures In The Transition Zone, Annmarie Christine Riley

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Cool season perennial grasses are the foundation of equine nutrition in the transition zone. The objective of this study was to evaluate forage quality using ADF, NDF, IVTDMD, CP, WSC, and ESC and changes in vegetative swards seasonally, diurnally, across species (Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, orchardgrass, and perennial ryegrass) and cultivar. This study was conducted in 2015 and 2017 and plots were maintained vegetatively with two to four week mowing. Morning and afternoon sample collection occurred monthly during the growing season. Samples were flash frozen; freeze dried, ground, and scanned using Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict forage quality. …

Field Evaluation Of Tobacco Engineered For High Leaf-Oil Accumulation, James Perry

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

The biofuel market is dominated by ethanol and biodiesel derived from cellulosic and lipid-based biomass crops. This is largely due to the relatively low costs and reliability of production. At present, production of non-food plant-derived oils for biofuel production in the U.S. is minimal. A research team from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), an independent Australian federal government research institution, has developed an efficient transgenic system to engineer oil production in tobacco leaves. This novel system is comprised of multiple transgenes that direct the endogenous metabolic flux of oil precursors towards triacylglycerol (TAG) production. Additional genes were …

Impact Of A Warmed Environment, Spike Morphology And Genotype On Fhb Levels In A Soft Red Winter Wheat Mapping Population, Elisane Weber Tessmann

Theses and Dissertations--Plant and Soil Sciences

Fusarium head blight (FHB) is a serious disease of wheat (Triticum aestivum) and other small grains; disease severity is affected by temperature and rainfall. This research comprised three studies: an artificially warmed experiment during 2016-2017, a morphology study and an FHB resistance screening study in 2015-2016, using approximately 250 wheat cultivars and breeding lines from programs in the eastern US. The location was the University of Kentucky Spindletop Research Farm in Lexington, KY. Higher levels of Fusarium damaged kernels and the toxin deoxynivalenol (DON) were observed in the warmed treatment compared to the control, and plant development was …

Oxidative Depolymerization Of Lignin To Low Molecular Weight Aromatics, Yang Song

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

To date, most lignocellulosic biorefinery strategies have focused on optimizing conversion of cellulose to ethanol, leaving lignin as an underutilized biomass constituent. Lignin is engineered by nature with the intent to protect plants from chemical and biological attack; this leaves lignin with high structural irregularity and recalcitrance, rendering conversion of the lignin macromolecule to valuable products particularly challenging. Nevertheless, given that the economics of cellulosic ethanol production are strongly dependent on the value that can be obtained for the lignin co-product, the successful valorization of lignin is a crucial step in the transition towards a bio-based economy.

This thesis focuses …

Studies Of Oxidative Damage, Brain Proteome, And Neurochemical Metabolites In Cognitive And Neurodegenerative Disorders: (1) Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment; (2) Parkinson Disease Rat Model, Xiaojia Ren

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The rate of cancer patients is increasing as the development of science and technology. Twenty million cancer survivors are estimated living in the United States by 2025. However, many cancer survivors show cognitive dysfunction, negatively affecting the quality of life. These cognitive impairments are recognized as chemotherapy-induced cognitive impairment (CICI), also called "chemo brain" by cancer survivors, including the diminished ability of memory and learning, hard to concentrate and focus, as well as diminution of executive function and processing speed. The etiologies and pathologies of CICI are complicated, especially in most cases the anti-cancer drug cannot cross the blood-brain barrier …

Investigation Of Amyloid Β Oligomer Dissociation Mechanisms By Single Molecule Fluorescence Techniques, Hope Cook Abdalla

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is currently considered the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease and places a large financial burden on society as healthcare resources are limited and the disease does not have a cure. Alzheimer’s disease is characterized by the presence of amyloid beta (Aβ) plaques and neurofibrillary tangles; however current literature suggests Aβ oligomers are the main aggregating species leading to AD symptoms. Therefore, the underlying cause of Alzheimer’s, accumulation of amyloid beta, is currently being studied in hopes of developing treatment options. Our research aims at determining the mechanism and kinetics of Aβ oligomer dissociation into non-toxic monomers in the …

Biomass-Derived Activated Carbons For Electrical Double Layer Supercapacitors: Performance And Stress Effect, Wenxin Cao

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The vigorous development of human civilization has significantly increased the energy consumption in recent years. There is a great need to use renewable energy sources to substitute the depleting traditional fossil fuels, such as crude oil, natural gas and coal. The development of low-cost and high-performance energy storage devices (ESDs) and systems have drawn great attention due to their feasibility as backup power supply and their applications in portable electronics and electric vehicles. Supercapacitors are among the most important ESDs because of their long charging-discharging cycle life, high power capability and a large operating temperature range. In this thesis, high-performance …

Towards The Rational Design And Application Of Polymers For Gene Therapy: Internalization And Intracellular Fate, Landon Alexander Mott

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Gene therapy is an approach for the treatment of acquired cancers, infectious disease, degenerative disease, and inherited genetic indications. Developments in the fields of immunotherapies and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing are revitalizing the efforts to move gene therapy to the forefront of modern medicine. However, slow progress and poor clinical outcomes have plagued the field due to regulatory and safety concerns associated with the flagship delivery vector, the recombinant virus. Immunogenicity and poor transduction in certain cell types severely limits the utility of viruses as a delivery agent of nucleic acids. As a result, significant efforts are being made to develop …

Development Of Novel Temperature Responsive Polymeric Sorbents And Their Applications In Water Remediation, Shuo Tang

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Water remediation utilizing sorption has found strong interest due to its inexpensiveness, universal nature and ease of operation. In particular, thermo-responsive sorbents consisting of N-isopropylacrylamide (NIPAAm) offer significant potential as “smart” and advanced materials to remove multiple aqueous pollutants. NIPAAm exhibits excellent thermo-responsiveness, which senses the external temperature variation and changes its swelling and sorption behaviors in a sharp and rapid manner. At the beginning of this work, an extensive review of literature has been compiled to provide a summary of NIPAAm-based thermo-responsive sorbents in water/wastewater remediation applications.

Initially, we developed a novel approach to synthesize and characterize NIPAAm copolymeric …

Cell Surface Coatings For Mammalian Cell-Based Therapeutic Delivery, Pei-Jung Wu

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

The cell plasma membrane is an interactive interface playing an important role in regulating cell-to-cell, cell-to-tissue contact, and cell-to-environment responses. This environment-responsive phospholipid layer consisting of multiple dynamically balanced macromolecules, such as membrane proteins, carbohydrate and lipids, is regarded as a promising platform for various surface engineering strategies. Through different chemical modification routes, we are able to incorporate various artificial materials into the cell surface for biomedical applications in small molecule and cellular therapeutics.

In this dissertation, we establish two different cell coating techniques for applications of cell-mediated drug delivery and the localization of cell-based therapies to specific tissues. The …

Impact Of Conformational Change, Solvation Environment, And Post-Translational Modification On Desulfurization Enzyme 2'-Hydroxybiphenyl-2-Sulfinate Desulfinase (Dszb) Stability And Activity, Landon C. Mills

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Naturally occurring enzymatic pathways enable highly specific, rapid thiophenic sulfur cleavage occurring at ambient temperature and pressure, which may be harnessed for the desulfurization of petroleum-based fuel. One pathway found in bacteria is a four-step catabolic pathway (the 4S pathway) converting dibenzothiophene (DBT), a common crude oil contaminant, into 2-hydroxybiphenyl (HBP) without disrupting the carbon-carbon bonds. 2’-Hydroxybiphenyl-2-sulfinate desulfinase (DszB), the rate-limiting enzyme in the enzyme cascade, is capable of selectively cleaving carbon-sulfur bonds. Accordingly, understanding the molecular mechanisms of DszB activity may enable development of the cascade as industrial biotechnology. Based on crystallographic evidence, we hypothesized that DszB …

Nanoharvesting And Delivery Of Bioactive Materials Using Engineered Silica Nanoparticles, Md Arif Khan

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Mesoporous silica nanoparticles (MSNPs) possess large surface areas and ample pore space that can be readily modified with specific functional groups for targeted binding of bioactive materials to be transported through cellular barriers. Engineered silica nanoparticles (ESNP) have been used extensively to deliver bio-active materials to target intracellular sites, including as non-viral vectors for nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) delivery such as for siRNA induced interference. The reverse process guided by the same principles is called “nanoharvesting”, where valuable biomolecules are carried out and separated from living and functioning organisms using nano-carriers. This dissertation focuses on ESNP design principles for both applications. …

Illuminating Dna Packaging In Sperm Chromatin: How Polycation Lengths, Underprotamination And Disulfide Linkages Alters Dna Condensation And Stability, Daniel Kirchhoff

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

During spermiogenesis, somatic chromatin is remodeled and a vast majority (> 90%) of DNA histones are replaced by short arginine-rich peptides called protamines. This compaction is immense, with protamine-DNA self-assembly in sperm chromatin resulting in a final volume roughly 1/6th of a somatic nucleus. This near crystalline organization of the DNA in sperm is thought crucial both for the transport of the paternal genes as well as for the protection of genetic information as sperm chromatin is transcriptionally inactive and all DNA repair mechanisms are shut down.

Chapter 1 will include an overview of the topics discussed in this document, …

Investigation Of Thiol-Containing Biomarkers And Their Role In The Exposome, Tracy Gastineau-Stevens

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Exposomics is an emerging area of study that looks at how the environment around a person or persons affects their overall health. Biomarkers have emerged as useful tools to better understand how the exposome affects a person. In this work, we investigate two potential endogenous biomarkers, homocysteine and glutathione that have been previously implicated in a number of diseases that have been linked to environmental causes. We also investigated an environmental exposure, the fungicide Ziram, which epidemiologically has been linked to diseases. In our investigation, we utilized capillary electrophoresis and capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry to develop a method for homocysteine and …

The Myth Of Settlement In Mdl Proceedings, Douglas G. Smith

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Don't Forget To Subscribe: Regulation Of Online Advertising Evaluated Through Youtube's Monetization Problem, Nicole E. Pottinger

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.