Digital Commons Network^™

Quantification Of Immunometabolite Derived Protein Modifications During Mitochondrial Metabolic Stress, Justin Hunter Cox

Theses and Dissertations

The immunometabolite itaconate accumulates during lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation of macrophages and microglia. Itaconate non-enzymatically reacts with cysteine residues to generate 2,3-dicarboxypropylcysteine (2,3-DCP), referred to as protein dicarboxypropylation. The tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle metabolite fumarate non-enzymatically reacts with the amino acid cysteine to form S-(2-succino)-cysteine (2SC), resulting in irreversible protein succination. Since fumarate and itaconate levels dynamically change in activated immune cells, the levels of both 2SC and 2,3-DCP reflect the abundance of these metabolites and their capacity to modify protein structure and function. I generated esters of 2SC and 2,3-DCP from protein hydrolysates and used stable isotope dilution liquid chromatography-tandem …

On The Use Of Cfd Modeling And Analytic Methods To Describe Pressure Drop In Highly Dense Structured Adsorbents In Gas Separation Processes And Fundamentals Of Adsorption, Ryan Timothy Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

The scope of this work can be divided into two main thrusts on topics found within adsorption. The first, and primary, topic is the use of CFD and analytical modeling to describe the flow of gas through a parallel, structured adsorbent channel which is described in Chapters 1 and 2. Chapter 1 establishes a non-experimental methodology based on using a 3D Navier-Stokes (NS) computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model in lieu of experiments, for developing 1D axial pressure drop correlations for structured adsorbents with parallel channels. Chapter 2 utilizes the methodology established in Chapter 1 in order to develop a new …

Exploring The Immune System’S And Silybin’S Impact On Cancer Cachexia, Patrice Cunningham

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer cachexia is a complex syndrome that is characterized by the unintentional loss of body weight with or without fat loss. During cancer cachexia, there is an increase in inflammation consistent with various inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), Interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β ), and interleukin-6 (IL-6); all of which are known to increase proteolysis and aid in the progression of muscle loss and weakness. Immune cells such as macrophages are increased during cachexia and are known to have varying effects on muscle inflammation, regeneration, and the progression of fibrosis in a disease state. However, therapies aimed solely at …

The Effect Of Covid-19 Restrictions On The Social Support Experiences Of Black Women Giving Birth In South Carolina Hospitals During The First Year Of The Covid-19 Pandemic (2020) As Compared To A Previous Birth, Tiffany Eva Byrd

Theses and Dissertations

The United States is experiencing a maternal health crisis, which disproportionately affects Black women. Black women die from pregnancy-related causes two to three times as often as their White counter parts, and the majority of maternal death are preventable. In recent years, public health and national governing authorities have devoted resources to monitoring the health crisis and raising the public’s knowledge of warning signs; however, maternal mortality rates continue to rise. Noted contributors to Black maternal mortality include, but are not limited to, racism, delayed treatment and response to health emergencies, and lack of social and emotional support during childbirth, …

“I’M Speaking”: Black Women Leading School Public Relations, Managing Communications And Personal Challenges, Keisa Gunby

Theses and Dissertations

Operationalizing feminist communication theory with a critical lens, this research analyzes virtual, semi-structured interviews with 13 Black women who are integral to impacting organizational culture through the brand management and narratives to the stakeholder groups of employees, parents and community members for a public school district. This study aims to describe the oppression and invisibility of Black women in school public relations and amplify their voices as they lead the communication, marketing, and promotional efforts in public school districts across the United States. The interview transcripts were analyzed utilizing NVivo software through the first round of coding initial and the …

Assessing Obgyn Residents’ Knowledge, Attitudes, And Current Practices For Carrier Screening, Aubrey Morgan Surian

Theses and Dissertations

Obstetricians and gynecologists (OBGYNs) are the main providers that order carrier screening on a regular basis, so it is important to understand their knowledge, attitudes, and current practices regarding this screening. There are two primary professional organizations that have established practice guidelines for carrier screening, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) and American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG). With the growth of pan-ethnic carrier screening, these guidelines have become remarkably different. This study aimed to assess resident OBGYN’s utilization of pan-ethnic carrier screening, discern any discrepancies between knowledge, attitudes, and current practices, identify possible practice resources that may …

A Click Chemistry Amplified Nanopore Assay For High Performance Testing Of Protein Biomarkers In Diseases, Xiaoqin Wang

Theses and Dissertations

Nanopore detection technology enables nanometer-scale single-molecule detection, yielding valuable insights into analyte molecules' properties such as size, shape, charge, and concentration. Due to its label-free nature, high sensitivity, and real-time capabilities, it finds widespread application in genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, and environmental monitoring. Click chemistry, encompassing the attachment of a probe or substrate to a biomolecule, termed bioconjugation, features the copper-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition as a quintessential reaction, forming a 5-membered heteroatom ring. This study harnesses this reaction to craft single-strand DNA probes for nanopore testing, leveraging copper's catalytic properties for signal amplification. Host-guest reaction, a noncovalent bond between molecules, specifically …

Neural Mechanisms Of Estrogen And Inflammation In Female Stress Susceptibility, Samantha Jane Bouknight

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) are highly debilitating psychiatric disorders that notably share stress as an etiological factor. Stress is a common occurrence experienced daily by virtually everyone and, while most people are resilient, a substantial portion of the population exhibit risk factors that yield them susceptible to developing stress-related psychiatric disorders. One prominent factor that has long been known to increase this risk is the female biological sex with women presenting at least twice as often with disorders like PTSD and MDD compared to men. Interestingly, this bias exists distinctly during the reproductive years and …

Beyond The Plastic Facade: Unveiling The Multifaceted Discourse And Impact Of Barbie In Film, Sarah Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

This paper presents an exploration into the multifaceted dimensions of public discourse surrounding Barbie, the film released in 2023 directed by Greta Gerwig, by leveraging advanced natural language processing techniques. Employing BERTopic for topic modeling, I analyzed conversations embedded in YouTube comments from Warner Bros.'s own promotional content as well as third-party YouTube content pre- and post- the film’s release to unearth the themes and sentiments associated with the iconic character. Our primary objective was to look beyond the stereotypical perception of Barbie as a two-dimensional figure and shed light on the diverse and complex discussions surrounding her cinematic representation. …

Effects Of A Classroom Cognitive Apprenticeship On Scientific Reasoning, Student Agency, And Biology Self-Efficacy On Students In High School Biology, Anne Morris Byford

Theses and Dissertations

Students entering high school often bring misconceptions about the nature of science and experimentation with them from middle school. Many also bring a belief that they are not a “science kid” and, therefore, cannot be a strong student in Biology. This belief can lead to a lack of self-efficacy and of student agency in the classroom. Exposure to authentic research experiences has been shown to increase in self-efficacy and scientific reasoning. Typical research experiences have been limited to summers, specialized after school programs and, in many cases, honors students. To circumvent the unequitable access to these experiences and to determine …

Investigation Of The Environmental Factors Regulating The Biomass And Toxin Production Of The Benthic Cyanobacterium Microseira Wollei In Lake Wateree, South Carolina, Kara Clyburn

Theses and Dissertations

Impacts from anthropogenic activities and climate change are significantly altering nitrogen (N) cycling processes and biological productivity along the freshwater to marine continuum, and the acceleration rate of excessive N and phosphorus (P) concentrations entering aquatic environments is unprecedented. As a result, nutrient pollution is contributing to the increasing magnitude and duration of cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms (cHABs), oxygen (O2) depletion, loss of biodiversity, and impacts to human and ecosystem health. Lake Wateree, South Carolina (SC) is a freshwater drinking and contact recreational water resource with elevated symptoms of eutrophication, including the increasing prevalence of the N2 fixing benthic cyanobacterium …

Reading Ecogothic Memory In Contemporary Southern Swamp Novels, Megan Caroline Brockhard Knight

Theses and Dissertations

The ecogothic is a lens through which to engage memory, southern constructivism and identity, environmental intervention, and the literature of the American Southeast. This project establishes a framework of literary criticism that defines the ecogothic, interprets memory as truth imagined, and identifies the position of memory in the environment as a construction with which it is necessary to grapple to understand identity. This framework, compiled of existing and original scholarship, is then applied to three contemporary swamp narratives written by three different southern women writers. The swamp setting creates a unique microcosm of gothic liminality, neither fully land nor water, …

Dual-Phase Membrane Reactor And Calcium Oxide-Based Sorbents For High-Temperature Carbon Capture, Utilization And Storage, Kangkang Zhang

Theses and Dissertations

Greenhouse gases, especially CO2 emissions, are responsible for global warming and the reduction of greenhouse gases is vitally important for the sustainability of our modern society. Currently, the most mature CO₂ capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technology relies on flue gas “amine washing”, a costly and energy intense process that can negatively impact on the efficiency of existing power plants and the cost of electricity produced. Therefore, developing more efficient and cost-effective CCUS technologies is highly imperative. With the increasing production of natural gas in recent years, direct natural gas conversion into valuable chemicals also becomes more attractive than …

Perception Of Alzheimer’S Actionability Among End Users Of Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Tests, Emily Mason

Theses and Dissertations

The APOE ε4 allele is the best-known genetic risk factor for developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease. Although new evidence is emerging, the extent to which lifestyle improvements can reduce Alzheimer’s risk needs further investigation. Research suggests that individuals with a higher genetic risk may be more likely to engage in risk-reducing health behavior changes following results disclosure. This study aimed to better understand these findings by assessing the health behavior and perceptions of Alzheimer’s actionability among consumers of DTC genetic tests. Our study revealed that individuals with 2 copies of the APOE ε4 allele were less likely to make lifestyle modifications …

Estuarine Microbial Community Composition And Efficiency Changes In Response To Vibrio Parahaemolyticus Exposure, Sarah Mulligan

Theses and Dissertations

Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a pathogenic bacterium whose full impact on natural estuarine phytoplankton communities has not been fully resolved. The primary goal of this research was to test how the addition of V. parahaemolyticus to a natural estuarine microbial community would impact the other microbes present. We hypothesized V. parahaemolyticus exposure would reduce phytoplankton biomass and alter the composition of phytoplankton and bacterial communities. Experimental bioassays (60h) were used to assess the effects of the presence of V. parahaemolyticus . Samples for measurements of chemotaxonomic photopigment concentrations, 16S sequencing-based community composition, photosynthetic efficiency, cell density, and V. parahaemolyticus abundance were …

Becoming Musical: Towards A Typology Of Non-Musical Sounds In Recorded Popular Music, Jacob David Mccooey

Theses and Dissertations

There are many instances in popular music in which traditionally non-musical sounds are used musically. There is currently no research on the types and functions of non-musical sounds used musically (NMSUMs). I have collected and organized a collection of example tracks that contain these NMSUMs and analyzed their functions to determine a typology of these sounds. The analysis of the NMSUMs focused on intertextuality, intratextuality, form, texture, and how the sounds relate to traditional, musical sampling. Throughout the course of the analysis, several trends were distinguished amongst the many tracks gathered, and these trends form the basis of the typology.

Scene Text Detection And Recognition Via Discriminative Representation, Liang Zhao

Theses and Dissertations

Scene texts refer to arbitrary text presented in an image captured by a camera in the real world. The tasks of scene text detection and recognition from complex images play a crucial role in computer vision, with potential applications in scene understanding, information retrieval, robotics, autonomous driving, etc. Despite the notable progress made by existing deep-learning methods, achieving accurate text detection and recognition remains challenging for robust real-world applications. The challenges in scene text detection and recognition stem from: 1) diverse text shapes, fonts, colors, styles, layouts, etc.; 2) countless combinations of characters with unfixed attributes for complete detection, coupled …

Understanding The Role Of Host Derived Interleukin 1 Alpha In Breast Cancer Progression, Manikanda Raja Keerthi Raja

Theses and Dissertations

In breast cancer research, Interleukin-1 alpha (IL1α) remains a lesser-explored frontier, while its counterpart, Interleukin-1 beta, has garnered extensive scrutiny and understanding. To address this knowledge gap, our investigation leveraged the MMTVdriven HER2+ orthotopic model in Wildtype (WT) and IL1α-/- mice. Our approach demonstrated tumor regression in IL1α-/- mice at the 2-week timepoint, while WT tumors grew exponentially. At 2 weeks, IL1α-/- mice exhibited an immune "hot" microenvironment with increased CD45+ immune cells, particularly CD11b+ myeloid, and CD8+ T cells. CD8+ cells in IL1α-/- mice showed enhanced anti-tumor cytokine production and proliferative capability, with …

Ecoaldeas As A Critical Dystopic Landscape, Meagan Elizabeth Cobb Heath

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation centers on the following three dystopic works from Spain: the novella “2084. Después de la Revolución” by Elia Barceló, the novel Cenital by Emilio Bueso, and the Netflix series La valla directed by Daniel Écija. I contend that the ecoaldea in each of these works is not merely a setting, but rather is an experimental space from which solutions to current crises (primarily the climate crisis) can be created and tested. The intersectional theoretical framework used to analyze this assertion is based on science fiction, dystopic studies, ecocriticism, and postgrowth imaginaries. Each chapter addresses: (1) how the society …

Four Essays On Banking, Bank Management, And Bank Lending, Jiarui Guo

Theses and Dissertations

This abstract synthesizes findings from four studies examining the liquidity creation, bank-borrower relationships, corporate capital structure, and managerial impact on firm performance, particularly within the context of banking and financial crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

The research first identifies the dual shocks of the pandemic—disease and policy-driven (government shutdowns)—on bank liquidity creation. I find that these shocks prompted banks to reallocate liquidity creation from assets (decreasing loans) to liabilities (increasing liquid deposits), which reduced profits and heightened risks.

In exploring bank-borrower relationships, the study highlights the role of banks in utilizing soft private information, such as the moral character of …

Global Well-Posedness Of Nonlocal Differential Equations Arising From Traffic Flow, Thomas Joseph Hamori

Theses and Dissertations

Macroscopic traffic flow models describe the evolution of a function ρ(t, x), which represents the traffic density at time t and location x according to a differential equation (typically a conservation law). Numerous models have been introduced over the years which capture the phenomenon of shock formation in which the solution develops a discontinuity. This presents difficulties from the standpoint of mathematical analysis, necessitating the consideration of weak solutions. At the same time, this undesirable mathematical behavior corresponds to unsafe driving conditions on real roadways, in which the heaviness of traffic may vary abruptly and dramatically. This thesis introduces and …

Electronic Structure Investigation Of Photoswitch-Embedded Organic Frameworks And External Electric Field Effects On Carbon Dioxide, Austin Hill

Theses and Dissertations

Metal- and Covalent-Organic Frameworks (MOFs and COFs, respectively) are chemically versatile systems that have diverse applications, ranging from drug delivery to energy storage. This versatility is due to the highly tunable nature of organic frameworks, which utilize metal clusters, chemically diverse metals, and organic ligands. Researchers have recently demonstrated how MOFs and COFs can be remotely tuned through the use of photochromic organic linkers and light (Martin, et al., 2022). The implications of these findings are significant and have numerous applications, primarily in optical switching and energy storage. However, the photochromic mechanism within the organic framework must be investigated, which …

Assessing Multi-Annual Phytoplankton Community Compositions And Biomass Across Tidal Creek And Open Water Estuarine Habitats In South Carolina, Shannon Elizabeth Powers

Theses and Dissertations

The urbanization of coastal environments in recent decades has caused an accelerating increase in nutrient-rich runoff from the landscape. The presence of these excess nutrients in the aquatic environment can result in degradation of water quality and harmful algal blooms. In South Carolina (SC), coastal development continues to threaten the resiliency of salt marsh estuaries, especially in combination with other stressors like climate change and sea level rise. Estuaries are important nurseries and habitats for fisheries and ecotourism. The South Carolina Estuarine and Coastal Assessment Program (SCECAP) is an ongoing monitoring program that assesses the habitat condition along the coast …

From North To South: North Carolina's Black Union Veterans In The South Carolina Lowcountry, Elizabeth L. Laney

Theses and Dissertations

For the almost two thousand black Union veterans living in South Carolina following the end of the Civil War, the formation of robust social networks, particularly those composed of fellow veterans, would be the key to sustaining themselves and public memory of their service. This was especially true for the veterans of the 35^th US Colored Troops (USCT), formerly the 1^st North Carolina Colored Volunteers, who settled in smaller rural communities throughout the South Carolina Lowcountry. Establishing social networks through marriage, forming local veteran support systems and initiating local celebrations were just some of the ways that out-of-state …

Histories Of Stress: A Life Course Approach To Population Health In Late Medieval And Early Modern Berlin, Emily Brennan

Theses and Dissertations

Given our current climate crisis and urban population increases, researchers are increasingly interested in the health outcomes at the intersection of climate change and urbanization. Since climate change and urbanization affects human health in a variety of ways, more work is needed in diverse cultural contexts to understand temporal and geographic variations of such phenomena more fully. Using skeletal individuals from 13^th – 18^th century Berlin (n = 387), this project analyses demographic and health trends from the founding of the city in the late medieval period (c. 1200 – 1500) to the early modern period, when the …

Medieval To Modern: Morgan Le Fay As Folk Icon Of Women In Power In Modern King Arthur Stories, Colleen Victoria Etman

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation interrogates the ways that society views women with/in power through Arthurian adaptation. The body of work that makes up the Arthurian story is a sort of folk legend, a myth being told and retold by various authors in their own way. By using folk studies to analyze both medieval and modern texts, we can dissect what is important enough to remain over time. This signifies cultural values; things that have remained over time are reflective of the values of the writers producing these works, as well as the audiences consuming them. By interrogating these stories, we can make …

Characterizing The Role Of The Escherchia Coli Monothiol Glutaredoxin, Grxd, As An Iron-Sulfur Cluster Carrier Protein, Claire Elizabeth Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

Iron-sulfur (Fe-S) clusters are important cofactors with a primary role of electron transport that are required by proteins involved in wide range of biological pathways such as respiration, photosynthesis, and DNA repair. In Escherichia coli (E. coli), the assembly and transfer of these clusters to their target apo-protein is a highly coordinated process encoded by the multiprotein systems iscRSUAhscBAfdx and sufABCDSE operons. These clusters are assembled on a scaffold protein, where they are then transferred to a carrier protein that will deliver the cluster to the target apo-protein. The Isc and Suf systems contain their own carrier proteins IscA …

Patients’ Experience Of Care Following Perinatal Case Conference, Mary Elise Nolen

Theses and Dissertations

The Perinatal Case Conference (PCC) at Prisma Health-Midlands Maternal-Fetal Medicine (MFM) is a biweekly multidisciplinary meeting to discuss pregnancies with prenatally identified congenital anomalies. Patients are primarily cared for by MFM and may have appointments with various subspecialists during their pregnancy. The goals of the PCC are multidisciplinary collaboration in planning for the management of each pregnancy and familiarizing each practitioner with the pending cases, so if or when intervention is needed, the clinicians are familiar with the case.

Researchers performed a chart review and surveyed patients whose pregnancies were discussed in the PCC to learn the patient’s perspective of …

Simultaneous Crack & Wave Propagation And Acoustic Emission Signal Modelling Using Peri-Elastodynamic, Md Mushfiqur Rahman Fahim

Theses and Dissertations

This work presents the use of Peri-Elastodynamic, a guided wave simulation method based on meshfree non-local Peridynamics theory. To model simultaneous crack and wave propagation simulation and its application on Acoustic Emission (AE) signal modelling, a new formulation is presented. The field of nondestructive evaluation (NDE) and structural health monitoring (SHM) is slowly embracing the advancement in Machine Learning (ML) / Artificial Intelligence (AI) for better and cost-effective assessment of structures and damage prediction. AI/ML can revolutionize the NDE/SHM field by automating the data collection and analyzing processes. However, the big challenge is that the model needs a sheer amount …

Mental Trauma, Colonial Mimicry, And Internalized Racism In Tsitsi Dangarembga's The Book Of Not, Lily Kay Lynn Cook

Theses and Dissertations

Tsitsi Dangarembga’s second novel in her Nervous Conditions trilogy, The Book of Not (2006) emphasizes the disabling nature of colonial domination and terror through pain and violence inflicted on the body and the mind. Through the use of Frantz Fanon’s colonial and post-colonial theory and Homi Bhabha’s concept of colonial mimicry the critical nature of Tambudzai—the main protagonist—position in the novel becomes apparent. Just as the title suggests, the novel becomes a book of negation and unbecoming as Tambudzai tries to find her place as a woman in Southern Rhodesia while attending a European colonial institution while war rages just …