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The Molecular Pathophysiology Of Sepsis-Associated Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation And Its Pharmacologic Modulation, Amanda Temple Walborn

Dissertations

Sepsis is a life-threatening syndrome characterized by a dysregulated host response to infection. Sepsis patients are at risk of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), a severe blood coagulation disorder. In DIC, inappropriate coagulation leads to the deposition of fibrin in the microvasculature and subsequent organ failure. This consumes platelets and coagulation factors, leaving patients at risk of severe or fatal bleeding. No treatments are approved for DIC in the United States.

In order to test the hypothesis that DIC would be best described by a combination of biomarkers representative of multiple physiological processes, an array of biomarkers, representative of hemostasis, inflammation, …

Ecospatial Orientation And American Literature, Lowell Wyse

Dissertations

Place is complex, and it undergirds and influences our fictional and nonfictional narratives in ways we often fail to recognize. In this dissertation, Lowell Wyse argues for a more holistic understanding of place's role in literature while asking what it means to read environmentally€”spatially, ecologically, and historically. Drawing from ecocriticism, which emphasizes the biological world, and geocriticism, which privileges the spatial, Wyse proposes a hybrid "ecospatial" criticism, with a particular emphasis on the role of maps in reading for place. With individual chapters on the nonfiction of William Least Heat-Moon, John Steinbeck's Salinas Valley fiction, Richard Wright's Native Son, and …

Between A Rock And A Hard Place: The Black Middle Class And Mass Incarceration, Bill Byrnes

Dissertations

The United States is the world leader in incarceration. Mass incarceration does not affect all racial groups equally; research literature shows that people of color, but especially Black people in the working and lower classes, face the brunt of policing and incarceration in this country. In Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Black Middle Class and Mass Incarceration, I examine how mass incarceration affects those who are not poor by comparing and contrasting the experiences of middle-class White and Black respondents using data collected from focus groups and one-on-one interviews. Although Black and White respondents sometimes shared similar …

Measuring Community Violence, Trauma, And Family Functioning Among Youth Living In Low-Income, Urban Environments, Kyle Deane

Dissertations

Exposure to community violence is a pressing public health concern that has profound effects on an adolescent’s development and psychological well-being, and is disproportionately experienced by ethnic minority youth living in economically disadvantaged urban environments. Efforts to measure violence exposure and its sequelae have centered primarily on the use of retrospective questionnaires and cross-sectional design and often fail to consider other contributory risk or resilience factors. Comprised of three related studies, the goal of this dissertation is to address the relations between of exposure to community violence, adjustment difficulties, such as posttraumatic stress, and family functioning among African American and …

In Between: What The Experiences Of Biracial, Bisexual Women Tell Us About Identity Formation, Marissa C. Floro

Dissertations

Research on bisexual, biracial women has been scarce; identity development in particular shows not only a gap in the research for this particular population, but shows the lack of intersectional models for approaching identity as a whole. Traditional models of queer identity have used White, gay, cisgender men as the default sample and coming out as the benchmark goal for identity integration. Biracial identity research, though more holistic, rarely includes intersectionality. Through feminist, queer theory and constructivist grounded theory, this project hopes to challenge traditional models of categorical identity development, give voice and visibility to a continually underrepresented group of …

Actor's And Partner's Self-Discrepancy As Moderators Of The Relationship Between Negative Events And Reflected Appraisals: A Daily Diary Study Examining The Actor-Partner Interdependence Model In African American Couples, Natalie J. Hallinger

Dissertations

Self-worth influences how individuals perceive the health of their romantic relationships

in response to adverse experiences, especially interpersonal threats. Though explicit

self-esteem is often used as an indicator of self-worth in investigations of relationship

functioning after interpersonal threats, particularly those focusing on perceptions of felt

love and acceptance, actual:ideal self-discrepancy is an evaluative aspect of the self

that may have more direct impacts on romantic relationship functioning after negative

events that are unrelated to the relationship. Using the Actor-Partner Interdependence

Model to analyze dyadic data from 150 African American couples using multilevel

regression models, the current study’s results were contrary …

Characterization Of Cross-Genre Writing Skills In Children With And Without Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role Of Language, Handwriting, And Cognitive Processing, Elizabeth Hilvert

Dissertations

It has been estimated that writing is one of the most significant academic problems for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), with as many as 60% of children having a learning disability in writing (Mayes & Calhoun, 2008). The majority of evidence demonstrating this achievement gap, however, comes from research finding global writing deficits, using standardized tests. As a result, a number of questions remain about how the texts constructed by children with ASD specifically align or deviate from typical development. For instance, do these texts differ in terms of vocabulary, grammar, or structure? Are children with ASD better at …

A Mixed Methods Evaluation Of The Social Emotional Needs Of Middle School Students, Vicky Karahalios

Dissertations

Middle school is a critical transition for all school-aged youth. On a personal level they experience rapid changes across several areas of development. Their environment simultaneously adapts as schools’ expectations seem greater and social pressures arise. During this juncture, they are more vulnerable to academic and psychological difficulties. Research findings demonstrate how positive school climates have the ability to moderate the detrimental effects of middle school students’ self-criticism on internalizing and externalizing behaviors (Kuperminc, Leadbeater, & Blatt, 2001). Historically schools have responded to the social emotional challenges students face at an individual level, however these finding points to the importance …

An Examination Of School Psychologists’ Exposure To And Preparedness To Support Transgender Students In Schools, Natalie Meier Meier

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine school psychologists’ professional practice in relation to transgender youth. The frequency with which school psychologists engage in the professional guidelines outlined by the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP) in their position statement: "Safe Schools for Transgender and Gender Diverse Students" was explored as well as school psychologists’ feelings of preparedness to complete these duties. Results indicate rural practitioners and school psychologists in elementary and middle schools feel the least prepared to implement the NASP best practices for serving transgender students. School psychologists working in non-rural and high school settings with more …

The Experience Of Mentors In A Cross-Age Peer Mentoring Program: Exploring The Helper Therapy Principle, Dakari Quimby

Dissertations

Mentoring programs are increasingly popular interventions for promoting positive development in Black youth from high risk environments. Cross-age peer mentoring refers to an older youth serving as a mentor for a younger mentee. Although not as widely studied as adult mentoring, this relationship has been found to have a beneficial effect for both the mentor and mentee. The current study seeks to better illuminate this bidirectional benefit by focusing on one half of the relationship—the experience of cross age peer mentoring by Black American mentors from low income communities. This is an important untapped area of study as peer mentoring …

How Does She Do It All? A Test Of The Social Cognitive Career Theory Self-Management Model Of Women’S Multiple Role Management, Meghan Roche

Dissertations

In 2013 Lent and Brown presented the Social Cognitive Career Theory (SCCT) Career Self-Management (CSM) model in order to understand the processes whereby people engage in adaptive career behaviors, as well as what factors may hinder or facilitate. The current study examined the CSM model in the context of women’s multiple role balancing. Social support and access to economic resources, two variables which have garnered empirical attention in both the SCCT and multiple role literature, were tested as potentially meaningful contextual and person input variables within the model. Results indicated support for a CSM model of women’s multiple role balancing. …

Spoilage Detection In Raspberry Fruit Based On Spectral Imaging Using Convolutional Neural Networks, Karthik Kuchangi Jothi Prakash

Dissertations

Effective spoilage detection of perishable food items like fruits and vegetables is essential for retailers who stock and sell large quantities of these items. This research is aimed at developing a non-destructive, rapid and accurate method which is based on Spectral Imaging (SI) used in tandem with Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to predict whether the fruit is fresh or rotten. The study also aims to determine the number of days before which the fruit rots. This research employs a primary, quantitative and inductive methods to investigate the Deep Learning based approach to detect fruit spoilage. Raspberry fruit in particular has …

Predicting Happiness - Comparison Of Supervised Machine Learning Techniques Performance On A Multiclass Classification Problem, Dorota Nieciecka

Dissertations

In the modern world, especially in contemporary economies and politics, a population's subjective well-being is a frequent subject of the public debate. As comparisons of happiness levels in different countries are published, different circumstances and their effect on the value of the subjective well-being reported by people are also analysed. However, a significant amount of the research related to subjective well-being and its determinants is still based upon survey answers and employing conventional statistical methods providing details regarding correlations and causality between different factors and subjective well-being. Application of Supervised Machine Learning techniques for prediction of subjective well-being may provide …

Image Classification Using Bag-Of-Visual-Words Model, Kaiqiang Huang

Dissertations

Recently, with the explosive growth of digital technologies, there has been a rapid proliferation of the size of image collection. The technique of supervised image clas sification has been widely applied in many domains in order to organize, search, and retrieve images. However, the traditional feature extraction approaches yield the poor classification accuracy. Therefore, the Bag-of-visual-words model, inspired by Bag-of Words model in document classification, was used to present images with the local descriptors for image classification, and also it performs well in some fields. This research provides the empirical evidence to prove that the BoVW model outperforms the traditional …

Parental Relationship Quality And Stereotypic Role Endorsement As Predictors Of Marriage Attitudes Of African Americans, Bernasha Monique Anderson

Dissertations

Bernasha M. Anderson

Loyola University Chicago

PARENTAL RELATIONSHIP QUALITY AND STEREOTYPIC ROLE ENDORSEMENT AS PREDICTORS OF MARRIAGE ATTITUDES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

As the marriage rate of African Americans continues to decline, concern has been expressed about the stability of the African American family system among members of the community. There is currently a dearth of studies examining marriage attitudes among African Americans in the counseling psychology literature. The current study sought to expand the existing scholarship by exploring parental relationship quality and stereotypic role endorsement as predictors of African American women and men's marriage attitudes. Additionally, gender was examined as …

The Impact Of Regulatory Fit On Confrontations Of Bias, Rayne Bozeman

Dissertations

Anti-Black racism remains a major problem in contemporary American life, with deleterious consequences for Blacks. White allies possess social power to change the status quo by confronting racism. Although confrontation reduces biased behavior and prejudiced attitudes, many people refrain from spontaneously confronting. Persuasive appeals may encourage ally confronting. When these appeals are strategically framed in a manner that matches people’s regulatory orientation, they are expected to experience a sense of fit, which makes them feel better about the tasks they are engaged in. Two studies tested whether experiencing regulatory fit would enhance the persuasiveness of a pro-confrontation message. Participants were …

"Hear Us, See Us!": How Mothers Of Color Transform Family And Community Relationships Through Grassroots Collective Action, Jennifer Elena Cossyleon

Dissertations

This dissertation illuminates the local grassroots collective action of women of color and the transformative effects their community organizing efforts have on community and family relationships. Prior research highlights the reciprocal relationship between identity formation and collective action (Moore 2008; Gravante and Poma 2016; Polletta 2001; Whittier 2013; White 1999). Analysts have studied how the intersecting identities of participants motivate and contour collective action (Crenshaw 1991; Law 2012; Moraga and Anzaldúa 1981, 2015) and how collective action processes influence participants’ gendered lives and biographies (McAdam 1999; Perry 2013; Warren, Mapp and Kuttner 2015). Less understood however, are how participation in …

Gender Beliefs Of Teachers In Orthodox Jewish Early Childhood Programs, Ilana Chai Dvorin Friedman

Dissertations

The goal of this study was to explore gender beliefs of teachers in Orthodox Jewish coeducational early childhood programs and give voice to their experiences and viewpoints. Concurrently, a feminist poststructural and queer theory lens was utilized to uphold Gorsetman and Sztokman’s (2013) claim that Orthodox Jewish schooling is fraught with messages and discourses that inhibit “educating for the divine image” (p. 30). This study maintained the need to examine gender consciousness within Orthodox Jewish schooling to promote inclusion and equality.

As young children actively engage in gender construction, teachers play a vital role reinforcing and/or challenging norms and available …

Child Maltreatment And Psychosocial Functioning In The Context Of Foster Care: Self-Concept As A Mediator And A Moderator, Grace Jhe Bai

Dissertations

Youth in foster care experience high prevalence rates of emotional and behavioral problems (Burns et al., 2004; Clausen et al., 1998; Fernandez, 2009; Orton et al., 2009; see McWey et al., 2010; see Pilowsky, 1995) due to a range of risk factors they encounter. Exposure to maltreatment can generally lead to increased internalizing problems (e.g., Avery et al., 2000; Carlson et al., 1997; see McWey et al., 2010), externalizing behaviors (e.g., Prino & Peyrot, 1994; McWey et al., 2010), social problems (e.g., Bolger & Patterson, 2001; Bolger et al., 1998), and poor self-perceptions or self-worth (see Arata et al., 2005; …

Affect And Cognitive Control: The Influence Of Naturalistic Mood On Interference Processing, Lorri A. Kais

Dissertations

Every day planning and execution of goal-directed human performance is dependent upon cognitive and emotional processes that are inherently interlinked. However, the effect of naturalistic mood states on cognitive control remains relatively unexamined. The present study builds upon existing literature regarding affective and executive processes by investigating the relationship between naturally occurring positive mood state and interference processing during a modified Color-Word Stroop Task (CWST). To further clarify the time course and recruitment of neural resources during different conditions of the CWST the present study utilized event-related potentials (ERPs). Incongruent stimuli were compared to congruent stimuli in blocked (same congruency) …

Exploring The Legacy Of Imogene King In The Making Of A Nurse Educator, Leader, And Nurse Theorist, Margaret Mary Kotowski

Dissertations

Imogene King was a pioneer in the profession of nursing. Known primarily for her work as a nurse theorist, King’s career encompassed a great deal more. King was a nurse educator who impacted the lives and careers of hundreds of students through her direct teaching, her mentorship, and generous spirit when it came to share knowledge. King was also a leader in the profession of nursing taking an active role in the various state American Nurse Associations (ANA) where she lived. The ANA awarded her with the prestigious Jessie M. Scott Award for her outstanding work in education. Also, an …

The Impact Of Sociodemographic Factors On Health-Related, Neuropsychological, And Psychosocial Functioning In Youth With Spina Bifida, Jaclyn Lennon Papadakis

Dissertations

Objective: There is a lack of research on the impact of sociodemographic factors on youth with spina bifida (SB). This is concerning given the pervasive health disparities that exist in pediatric chronic illness groups. The aims of this study were to examine: (1) differences in health-related, neuropsychological, and psychosocial functioning among youth with SB based on sociodemographic risk; (2) cumulative risk as a predictor of youth outcomes, as moderated by age; (3) SB-related family stress as a mediator of the associations between sociodemographic/cumulative risk and youth outcomes, longitudinally. Methods: Participants (M age = 11.43, 53.6% female) were recruited as part …

Studying The Antagonistic Relationship Between Nkg2d And Tgf-Β Signaling In Cd8+ T Cells, Kushal Prajapati

Dissertations

Despite the remarkable success of cancer immunotherapies in treating patients with hematological cancers, the clinical response rates of immunotherapies in the case of solid tumors have been dismal. One major reason for the lower response rates is tumor-induced immune-suppression mediated by TGF-?, which directly suppresses the functionality of CD8+ T cells by inhibiting their activation, proliferation, and acquisition of inflammatory cytokines, granzyme B and perforin. On the other hand, NKG2D, a potent co-stimulatory receptor, has effects on CD8+ T cells opposite to that of TGF-?. In T cells from 22 healthy human donors, we found that the suppression by TGF-? …

Workplace Climate And Job Satisfaction: A Test Of Social Cognitive Career Theory (Scct)'S Workplace Self-Management Model With Sexual Minority Employees, Alexander Tatum

Dissertations

Given a long history of institutionalized occupational discrimination based on sexual orientation, sexual minority employees may disengage from work-related tasks in heterosexist environments. Additionally, non-affirming environments are negatively related to job satisfaction. The present study employs social cognitive career theory (SCCT)’s self-management model using a sample of 214 sexual minority employees to examine the process of sexual identity management on work satisfaction. The model hypothesizes gay-affirmative workplace environments will lead to greater levels of identity disclosure and work satisfaction. The present study also tests the moderating effect of an individual’s workplace climate on work satisfaction. Results support continued use of …

Estimating The Prevalence Of Hepatitis C In Sub-Saharan Africa, William Howard Adams

Dissertations

Hepatitis C (HCV) is a virus transmitted via contact with contaminated products such as razor-blades or by engaging in high-risk activities (i.e., such as sexual or injecting drug-use activities). Today, there are an estimated 115 million people world-wide living with HCV. Despite recent advancements in antiviral treatments that can ameliorate (or even cure) HCV, treatment remains laborious and costly and is often unavailable in resource-poor areas such as Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The primary aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of HCV in SSA.

A meta-analysis was conducted on the HCV epidemic in SSA. A literature search for …

Heteromerization Of G Protein-Coupled Receptors In Human Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells: Identification Of Hetero-Oligomeric Receptor Complexes Between Α1-Adrenergic Receptors, Arginine Vasopressin Recptor 1a, Chemokine (C-X-C Motif) Receptor Type 4, And Atypical Chemokine Receptor 3., Lauren J. Albee

Dissertations

G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) heteromerization is rapidly evolving field. Traditionally, GPCRs were thought to behave has independent entities or protomers. However, that line of reasoning has since been brought into question. Currently, it appears that many, if not all, GPCRs signal and function as heteromeric receptor complexes. The roles of GPCR heteromerization are vast and can include: maturation and trafficking; dynamic regulation; allostery and cooperativity; signal transduction; and receptor internalization.

The majority of studies identifying and characterizing GPCR heteromers were performed using recombinant receptors. Only four receptor pairs have been identified and validated in native tissues. The overall objective of …

"We Were Framed To Fail And Die": The Ethics And Poetics Of Mortality In The Works Of Gerard Manley Hopkins, Brett C. Beasley

Dissertations

This dissertation is the first comprehensive analysis of the subject of mortality in Gerard Manley Hopkins's writings. Hopkins's writings on this subject are broad and varied: while still a student at Oxford, Hopkins became fascinated by martyrs; later, as a priest he would go on to write movingly about the deaths of parishioners in his care and would extol the virtues of soldiers, or "daredeaths" as he refers to them in one poem; finally, toward the end of his life, Hopkins became preoccupied with the role our own mortality plays in shaping our life, perspective, and choices. While previous scholars …

The Experiential Effects And Relationships Between Student Anxiety In Music Performance And Classroom Assessment, Jordan Diego Chua

Dissertations

Both as an art and assessment, music demonstration and performance in test-taking are closely related. Particular traits are shared between performance in test-taking in the classroom and musical performance "on stage." Tests and performances are normally considered a "high-stakes" setting when the quality and perception of one's skill are under critical scrutiny. Since undergraduate and graduate music students experience assessments in both performance and academic areas, this study allowed consideration for the connections where these two areas overlap, and the possible interventions students may have initiated that are effective in stemming or reducing anxiety. Students' experiences regarding Music Performance Anxiety …

Leading Effective Change In Schools Of The 21st Century: The Attributes, Behaviors, And Practices Of Effective School Principals, Jennifer Lynne Ferrari

Dissertations

In a period of tremendous change, as the educational landscape shifts to ensure our students are well prepared for new and unknown futures, the role of school principal is more essential than ever. The principal, as primary driver of change, sits at the helm of school improvement. He/she is charged with leading the complex orchestration of school efforts to develop and nurture the next generation of thinkers, problem-solvers, and innovators.

This study explored the attributes, behavior, and practices of effective K-12 principals through a mixed method design. Nine principals from the suburbs of Chicago participated in this study. Using 5Essential …

Not All Fun And Games: Sexism And College Women's Alcohol Consumption, Hannah R. Hamilton

Dissertations

Previous research has suggested that racial discrimination (Pascoe & Smart Richman, 2009) and sexist experiences (Zucker & Landry, 2007) are related to increased alcohol consumption. However, ambivalent sexism theory suggests that there are two forms of sexism (Glick & Fiske, 1996; 1997). While hostile sexism refers to overtly negative attitudes towards women, benevolent sexism refers to positively valenced attitudes towards women that still serve to reaffirm masculine dominance. Therefore, the current studies explore the differential effects of experiencing hostile vs. benevolent sexism on college women's alcohol consumption using correlational (Study 1) and quasi-experimental (Study 2) methodologies. In addition, the current …