Digital Commons Network^™

Elucidation Of The Molecular Mechanisms Of Electrically-Induced Cardioprotection, Anne Elizabeth Roessler

Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death worldwide. A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, is a major event in cardiovascular disease characterized by reduced blood flow to the heart. The ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury associated with an MI results in a region of dead tissue in the heart called an infarct, the size of which influences patient prognosis. In the 1980s, it was discovered that short, non-lethal episodes of I/R, termed ischemic preconditioning (IPC), can protect the heart against a subsequent MI. Ischemic preconditioning demonstrated the phenomenon of endogenous cardioprotection. Cardioprotection has great potential …

Using Satellite Observations Of River Height And Vegetation To Improve National Water Model Initialization And Streamflow Prediction, Nicholas J. Elmer

Dissertations

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Water Prediction (OWP) implemented an operational, high-resolution National Water Model (NWM) in August 2016 to provide unprecedented hydrologic forecast capabilities on a national scale. The NWM, which will become the standard for operational hydrologic forecasting in the United States in a few years, provides streamflow forecasts for 2.7 million channel reaches within the continental United States. However, only 0.25% of these channel reaches are currently being initialized with actual observations gathered by approximately 7000 in-situ U. S. Geological Survey (USGS) stream gauges. Furthermore, no other satellite datasets are being assimilated or …

Determination Of The Roles Of Non-Conserved Residues Surrounding The Functional Ggq Motif Of Rf2 In Translation Arrest, Jerusha Salome Emmanuel

Dissertations

The metabolism of bacteria is finely tuned through differential regulation of gene expression, which allows bacteria to adapt to changes in the external environment. Oftentimes, expression of genes is regulated during protein synthesis. Changes in concentration and chemical composition of factors involved in protein synthesis contribute to the regulation of the expression of genes. Such differences are often exploited by researchers to control cell growth of microorganism of health and industrially relevant. Regulation of protein synthesis often produces the machinery called ribosome to stall (also known as ribosome arrest), where interactions between ribosomal nucleotides, translation factors, the nascent peptide and …

Molecular Role Of Angiopoietin-Like 4'S Carboxy-Terminal Domain In Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Progression, Crissy L. Tarver

Dissertations

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) represents 85% of pancreatic cancers. With early stage diagnosis, PDAC has a relative five-year survival rate of 34% but drops to 3% with metastasis. There is a lack of distinct symptoms and dependable biomarkers which delays diagnosis, leading to poor prognosis. Angiopoietin-like 4 (ANGPTL4) protein has been indicated in the progression of several types of aggressive cancer. ANGPTL4 is natively present in two fragments, an amino-terminus coiled-coil domain (nANGPTL4) and a carboxy-terminus fibrinogen-like domain (cANGPTL4), which have demonstrated diverse biological functions. Biochemical studies have been performed but a full structural understanding of functions and interactions is …

Synthesizing Realistic Social Networks Using Personality Compatibility, Daniel Anthony O'Neil

Dissertations

Social structures and interpersonal relationships may be represented in abstract mathematical objects known as social networks. A social network consists of nodes corresponding to people and links between pairs of nodes corresponding to relationships between those people. Social networks can be constructed by examining groups of people and identifying the relationships of interest between them. There are circumstances where such empirical social networks are unavailable, or their use would be undesirable. Consequently, methods to generate synthetic social networks that are not identical to real-world networks but have desired structural similarities to them are valuable. A process for generating synthetic social …

Human Resource Management And Innovation: Perceptions Of Hr Leaders, Jeremiah Nelson

Dissertations

Creativity and innovation are essential for organizations to identify, create and exploit their competitive advantages to succeed in an increasingly complex and dynamic business environment (Ceylan, 2013; De Tienne & Mallette, 2012; Sharifirad & Ataei, 2012). Human capital is an important source of competitive advantage, but little is known about how human resource (HR) managers, as the functional owners of this resource, perceive their influence of innovation. The roles of HR professionals have evolved. Where they were once strictly administrative, they now function as business partners supporting strategy and offering leadership. These changes can create situations of role ambiguity and …

Personality Characteristics And Job Satisfaction Of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists In North Carolina, Paul Barton Moore

Dissertations

Organizational leadership, at any level, strives to increase performance and efficiency, among other outcomes. One way to accomplish this is by increasing follower job satisfaction. Literature indicates that there are intrinsic and extrinsic factors that influence job satisfaction. These factors, however, have not been explicitly studied for the profession of nutrition and dietetics for the Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN). The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of personality characteristics and job satisfaction of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists in North Carolina. Personality characteristics were defined by the Big 5 Inventory personality test, while job satisfaction and its components were …

A Formal Systems Engineering Methodology For Cyber-Physical Systems: The Verifiable Design Process, Nadew S. Kibret

Dissertations

Cyber-physical systems (CPS) are systems that exhibit tight integration between their physical and computational components. They are hybrid systems containing continuous states and discrete states emanating from the physical and computational components, respectively. Systems engineering of these systems is challenging due to the tight integration of their computational, physical and communication technologies. As their level of acceptance increases in mission critical applications such as health care, smart grid, autonomous vehicles and smart cities, the need to ensure their safe operation is paramount importance as well. Therefore, design methodologies followed in their development are required to result in system behavior that …

Academic Libraries And Toxic Leadership, Alma C. Ortega

Dissertations

Toxic leadership has yet to be officially recognized as an area of inquiry in the field of library and information studies. Indeed, the literature on academic libraries is only now beginning to address the topic. None of this should be surprising because leadership, in general, continues to be an under-discussed topic in the library and information studies literature.

The topic of leadership, of course, is the central theoretical construct of the leadership studies field, and, in this field, toxic leadership has been systematically studied and discussed. This literature reveals the negative consequences of having a toxic leader as the head …

Psychiatric Patients’ Perception Of Involvement In The Plan Of Care, Jaspal Kaur Gill

Dissertations

Background: There is an increased need to actively engage and involve patients in their care planning in healthcare facilities including psychiatric facilities (Wills, Riefer, Schauer, & del Vecchio, 2011). There has been a growing interest in patient-centered care and patients’ involvement in their plan of care as it leads to positive healthcare outcomes and increased patient satisfaction. However, there is a lack of research on how psychiatric patients perceive their involvement in the care planning while they are admitted to an inpatient psychiatric facility.

Aim: The aim of this qualitative phenomenological research study was to explore patients’ perception …

Lived Experience After Surgery Among Hispanic Adults, Kimberly Sanchez

Dissertations

Background: In 2010, more than 51.4 million procedures were performed in hospitals in the United States. Almost half of all patients had a surgical procedure prior to their hospital discharge and over 80% of patients experienced acute pain after surgery. When acute pain persists for two or more months after surgery, chronic pain develops, costing the United States up to $635 billion annually. Hispanics, in particular, disproportionately experience disparities in pain treatment as they are less likely to receive analgesics. Routine pain assessments conducted using instruments may be inaccurately capturing the pain experience of Hispanic adults. No research has …

Game Types, Game-Related Behaviors And Resilience: Creating A Roadmap For Effective Gamification Design In Higher Education, Patrick Marino

Dissertations

Gamification, or the use of game-based mechanics and thinking in real world applications, is on the rise in educational environments. While various applications seek to increase engagement and motivation for tasks related to student success, research regarding best practices for the design of such systems is lacking. In fact, conflicting outcomes from various gamification studies at the secondary and tertiary education levels suggest that not all gamification designs are effective for increasing student success. Meanwhile, research from the medical field indicates gamification can be used to increase resilience; which has been linked to various student success outcomes including academic performance. …

The Effects Of A Transition Program On The Academic Achievement Of Ninth Grade Students In A California Suburban High School, Igor Nicholas Milosavljević

Dissertations

Problem

High school graduation rates have improved over the last decade. However, approximately one-fourth of U.S. high school students still do not graduate within four years. The rates are higher especially among minority and low socioeconomic status students, including students with special needs and English Language Learners. More ninth graders fail than any other grade in high school. A disproportionate number of students held back in ninth grade subsequently drop out. Students who do not complete high school face significant social, financial, and health challenges. Programs have been developed to address this need. One of those is the Accelerated Academic …

Liberal Democratic Civic Education And Rampage School Gun Violence: Why We Need An Alternative Theory Of Democracy To Guide Contemporary Civic Education, Samantha Deane

Dissertations

In this dissertation, which relies on philosophical inquiry, I use the case of rampage school gun violence to explore democratic education. Drawing a distinction between liberal-foundational democratic education, which aims to educate the individual on how to become an autonomous rational agent and pragmatic-antifoundational democratic education, which looks to help individuals to understand agency as shared, I argue antifoundational democratic education teaches individuals how to affect their environment and take responsibility for the renewal of their democratic society. Rather than allocating blame in the singular individual, antifoundational democracy teaches citizens how to share the blame, take responsibility for unacceptable violence, …

Aerococcus Urinae: Establishing The Pathogenesis Of An Emerging Uropathogen, Evann E. Hilt

Dissertations

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is the world's most common bacterial infection. Much is known about the infectious process (pathogenesis) of a few of the bacteria that cause these infections, especially E. coli. Unfortunately, the pathogenesis of E. coli and other uropathogenic bacteria was explored almost exclusively in the belief that the bladder is supposed to be sterile. Our recent evidence, however, debunks this dogma. We used modern methods to reveal diverse bacterial communities in the bladders of adult women. These communities differ in women with and without lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including UTI and urinary incontinence (UI). Many bacteria …

Retrieving And Reimagining Sanctuary And Solidarity: Racial Disparities In Infant Mortality, Alyson Capp

Dissertations

In Milwaukee, Black babies die before their first birthday nearly three times as often as White and Hispanic babies. Prematurity is the major cause of infant mortality, and social determinants of health play a large role. Commitments from within Christian bioethical traditions can critique ethical frameworks commonly in use in US bioethics by calling for the incorporation of analysis of social power dynamics that is necessary for addressing this issue. Original ethnographic fieldwork that listens closely to Black mothers and health professionals uncovers key themes related to women's and infant health at the intersection of race, class, and gender. By …

Behavioral Symptom Clusters, Inflammation, And Quality Of Life In Chronic Low Back Pain Patients, Anitha Saravanan

Dissertations

Chronic low back pain (CLBP) is a prevalent condition, often involving an inflammatory process. Those with CLBP frequently experience behavioral symptoms, including depressed mood, fatigue, and sleep disturbance, which may exacerbate pain and reduce quality of life (QOL). The purpose of this study was to identify behavioral symptom clusters (depressive mood, fatigue, poor sleep) in individuals with CLBP, and to determine whether there are differences in pain, QOL and inflammation (plasma IL-6) based on cluster membership. CLBP patients (N=69; age = 56±13 years) completed measures of pain, depressive mood, fatigue, sleep, and QOL. Blood was obtained for IL-6 measurement. LCA …

A Correlational Study To Examine The Relationships Between The Workplace Big Five Personality Profile And The Leading Managers 360 Assessment Of Senior And Mid-Level Managers, Maurice A. Ferrell

Dissertations

Much has been said about personality and leadership. Leadership was initially attributed to leaders only having certain traits and attributes (Nock, 1940). In the early 20th century, leadership traits were studied to determine what made certain people great leaders. The Great Man Theory of Leadership, which was introduced during this time period, suggested that leaders were born and not made. It was these unique physical traits and attributes that were credited with making great leaders. Herbert Spencer, a noted philosopher, sociologist, biologist and political theorist of the Victorian era, countered that the Great Man Theory was childish, primitive and unscientific. …

Analyzing Disaster-Related Twitter Data And Identifying Panic Triggers For Cyber Disruption Prevention And Emergency Response Enhancement, Nasser A. Assery

Dissertations

Twitter has emerged rapidly as an ideal platform for news updates especially during natural disasters. During disasters, people exchange endless amount of information on Twitter. This information may include warnings, evacuation orders, updates etc. Making sense of this information is challenging due to the limitations of available tools to analyze high-volume data. There have been studies done to make use of twitter data as it contains valuable information that has the potential to help improve the efficiency of disaster response. This research presents a framework to extract, automatically label, and classify tweets from two recent disaster events in order to …

Sources And Atmospheric Oxidation Of Sulfur Dioxide And Formaldehyde Based On Wintertime Aircraft Observations Over The Eastern United States, Jaime R. Green

Dissertations

Plume intercepts from flights on the NSF-C-130 during the Wintertime Investigation of Transport, Emission and Reactivity (WINTER) campaign were used to estimate (1) the oxidation rates of Sulfur Dioxide (SO₂) under wintertime conditions and the factors that determine SO₂ removal; and (2) to examine the oxidation, lifetime and source apportionment of formaldehyde (HCHO). Observations suggest that OH governs the rate SO₂ oxidation in the eastern United States during winter. The range of mean oxidation rates during the day from power plants were 0.22–0.71%/hr, producing SO₂ lifetimes of 13–43 days, if SO₂ consumption is assumed …

An Exploration Of The Role Of Mentoring On The Leadership Skills Of African American Senior Leaders In A Corporate Setting, Regina A. Stephens

Dissertations

This study explored the lived mentoring experiences of African American senior leaders who report directly to Vice Presidents or Presidents in a corporate setting, and how those mentoring experiences played a role in their leadership skills. African Americans having the guidance to appropriately navigate an organization to acquire those positions continue to be perplexing. Mentoring could be one essential step to help African Americans to prepare to lead in a corporate setting. Mentoring is a growth and development technique that has been in existence for quite some time and has helped many to understand how developmental relationships have proven its …

Assessing The Temporal Dynamics Of The Lower Urinary Tract Microbiota And The Effects Of Lifestyle, Travis Kyle Price

Dissertations

Urinary tract infections (UTIs) are among the most common bacterial infections in humans, accounting for $3.5 billion in health care expenditures yearly in the United States alone. Yet, treatments for UTI have seen little innovation over the past decade. As demonstrated in other body sites, such as the vagina and gastrointestinal (GI) tract, acute and infectious diseases often have indirect microbial contributions which serve as intriguing new targets for therapies. The recent discovery of the existence of a resident community of bacteria (i.e., microbiota) in the bladders of both women and men, represents a novel avenue for targeting UTIs. However, …

Laying The Foundation To Improve Literacy In A K-12 Islamic School Through The Introduction Of A Professional Learning Community: A Formative Evaluation, Hanan Matari, Ruqia Ali

Dissertations

To improve professional development, a professional learning community (PLC) was initiated at a small, K–12 Islamic school in northwest suburban Chicago, IL. This evaluation describes and assesses the initiation and year-one implementation of the PLC, and focuses on teachers’ literacy instruction skills. A formative evaluation approach was used to monitor and assess progress and encourage teachers’ ownership of their learning. Teachers collaborated in large and smaller grade or subject area PLC groups to identify, chart, and implement new teaching strategies under peer observation for feedback. Teachers succeeded in establishing school-wide literacy strategies; however, issues challenged the PLC’s future—time, resources, and …

Patient Outcomes Associated With Delayed Rapid Response System Activation: A Retrospective Comparative Study, Ricardo Padilla

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of the dissertation study was to determine the difference in survival and length of stay (LOS) between patients who experienced a delay in Rapid Response System (RRS) activation and those patients who had no delay.

Rationale: There is evidence to support that the RRS is often not activated in a timely manner potentially leading to negative patient outcomes.

Background: Delaying treatment for in-hospital clinical deterioration has been associated with Serious Adverse Events (SAEs), including increased mortality, protracted LOS during hospitalization, and significant increased financial costs. The RRS was created as a hospital-wide approach to prevent SAEs; however, …

Charter Schools And Special Education Enrollment Rates, Mary Ann Lind

Dissertations

There is a growing concern that public charter schools, as publicly funded entities, which are mandated to ensure FAPE and IDEA, are lagging significantly behind public non-charter schools, when it comes to special education student enrollment. This potentially creates an unbalanced special education student ratio between public non-charter schools and public charters. This dissertation examines the enrollment rates of special education students between public charters and public non-charter schools in a large, metropolitan American school district, over a five-year period. This body of work examines causality and the effect of enrollment data along with the potential implications.

Development Of Composite Honeycomb Protective Structures For Above-Ground Steel Storage Tanks Against Wind-Borne Debris, Tamara Grooms Baker

Dissertations

Within the civil engineering industry, the evaluation of a retro-fit system or more- specifically, a post-installed, glass fiber reinforced polymer and honeycomb system over steel is evaluated on how this retro-fit system can help minimize impact and critical kinetic energy onto steel storage tanks caused from wind-borne debris to structures in hurricane prone regions. Determining an accurate formula for critical kinetic energy for steel has also been an on-going process in our industry for over 200 years. This research helps to get one-step closer to accurately determining a valid equation. Existing theories and equations of critical kinetic energy have been …

Characterization Of Putative Peptidyl-Trna Hydrolase Domain Containing 1, Geordan L. Burks

Dissertations

Putative peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase domain containing 1 (PTRHD1) is a eukaryotic protein predicted to be a Pth2-like peptidyl-tRNA hydrolase. Peptidyl-tRNA hydrolases (Pth) perform the essential function of recycling tRNA from peptidyl-tRNA in the event of translational failure. This function is ubiquitous in all domains of life. Homologues of bacterial (Pth1) and archaeal (Pth2) Pths are present in eukaryotes; however, simultaneous knockout of Pth1 and Pth2 has no effect on cell viability, suggesting the presence of additional proteins in eukaryotes that contain Pth activity. PTRHD1 was proposed as one such eukaryotic Pth and was tested for Pth hydrolase activity. While PTRHD1 did …

A Look Inside The Black Box: Understanding Communicative Exchanges In Online Learning Environments, Sara Douglas

Dissertations

Participation in academic discussions and peer collaboration activities is instrumental to student engagement, motivation, and mastery of course content. These activities also improve 21st century skills, such as listening, managing diverse viewpoints, and communicating effectively. Although online learning options in the United States have dramatically increased in the past decade, there is limited evidence that online high school courses offer sufficient opportunities for students to communicate and collaborate with teachers and peers. The purpose of this mixed-methods study seeks to find out if, how, and why students interact with others in online courses. Findings from observations of five high school …

Variations In Individualistic And Collectivistic Cultural Orientation And The Protective Factors That Contribute To Resilience: Comparisons From Jamaica, Rwanda, And The United States, Stacey Nicely

Dissertations

Problem

Despite the advancement in resilience research, and although mental health professionals are encouraged to become culturally competent, it is still unclear how I/C cultural orientation influence various protective factors that contribute to resilience. Individualists emphasize independence and autonomy while collectivists emphasize interdependence and in-group consensus (Hofstede, 1991; Markus & Kitayama, 1991). Therefore, it is expected that the protective factors that promote resilience will also operate differently for individualists as compared to collectivists (Triandis, 1995). Yet, mental health practitioners have very little information available to them to guide their intervention efforts with individualists and collectivists. When practitioners work with individuals …

The Influence Of Pornography Consumption, Religiosity, And Family Sexual Communication On Emerging Adults' Engagement In Hookup Culture In The United States, Angie Powels Horner

Dissertations

Purpose

The primary purpose of the current research was to understand the influence of considerable social-cultural factors, including pornography consumption, religiosity, and family sexual communication, on the sexual values and behaviors of the emerging adult population. Particularly, how pornography consumption, religiosity, and family sexual communication influence emerging adult engagement in hookup culture was examined.

Method

Participants completed several surveys, which measured participants’ pornography consumption, personal religiosity, family sexual communication, and engagement in hookup culture. A path analysis model was used to analyze the relationship between the proposed variables.

Results

The path analysis model indicated that the initial model was a …