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Consequences Of Estrogen Receptor Beta Phosphorylation In The Aged Female Brain And Heart, Elena Pinceti

Dissertations

Female life expectancy in the United States has steadily increased and now averages 81 years. Meanwhile, the age at which women reach menopause remains constant at 51 years. Both neurological and cardiovascular disorders increase following menopause, affecting women’s quality of life and leading to large health care costs. Estrogens are neuroprotective and cardioprotective for women, however when administered long after menopause, they fail to improve their health.

The effects of estrogen are mediated by Estrogen Receptor α (ERα) and Estrogen Receptor β (ERβ). Evidence supports that ERβ plays an important role in neuroprotection and cardioprotection, but aspects of ERβ molecular …

Mechanistic Variations Of The Bronsted Linear Free Energy Relationships For Nonezymatic Nucleotidyl Transfer Reactions, Zheng Zhang

Dissertations

As the essential enzymes in human bodies, DNA polymerases play a significant role in DNA replication, repair, genetic recombination, and reverse transcription. In 1956, the enzyme of DNA polymerase I, also named as Pol I, was discovered by Arthur Kornberg and colleagues. Subsequently, the Noble Committee had decided that the Noble Prize in Physiology or Medicine for 1959 was to be awarded to Kornberg for his excellent original work that describes the DNA replication process whereby the DNA polymerase copies the nucleotide sequence of a DNA template strand. Because of the complex enzyme structure in the DNA polymerase, it is …

What Is Mortal Shall Be Swallowed Up By Life (2 Cor 5:4): A Critical And Constructive Engagement With John Hick's Theology Of Death In Death And Eternal Life (1976), Hongmei Zhao

Dissertations

The springboard for my investigation is John Hick’s theology of death or “par-eschatology” in Death and Eternal Life (1976), a postmortem soteriology rooted in Irenaeus’ teleological framework of person-making. I organize my project around the two constitutive aspects of human existence: time and space, or temporality and embodiment.

Regarding postmortem temporality, I present: 1) new scholarships in the New Testament, early Christianity, and Reformation studies, and 2) recent developments in ecumenical dialogues and the Justification-Sanctification Debate. Through this, I demonstrate a widely emerging emphasis–the centrality of sanctification in the Christian understanding of salvation. I argue that this crystalizing consensus lends …

The Psychological Impact Of Smartphones: The Effect Of Access To One's Smartphone On Psychological Power, Risk Taking, Cheating, And Moral Orientation., Amanda Christine Egan

Dissertations

Egan and Larson (2015) found that access to one’s smartphone resulted in an increase in one’s sense of psychological power. Psychological power is associated with a variety of behavioral outcomes, many of them moral in nature (Keltner, Gruenfeld, & Anderson, 2003). This dissertation attempted to conceptually replicate the findings obtained by Egan and Larson (2015) and to extend them by testing whether smartphone-induced power had moral implications. Specifically, Study 1 tested whether access to one’s smartphone increased psychological power, and in turn promoted risk taking and a shift in moral orientation. Study 2 tested whether access to one’s smartphone increased …

The Role Of Microrna In Cardioprotection: Ischemic Preconditioning And Mesenchymal Stem Cell Paracrine Effects, Kristin Luther

Dissertations

Changes in gene expression and protein levels are an important aspect of cardioprotection in which short non-coding RNA known as miRNA may play a key regulatory role. We investigated the functions of several miRNAs in the context of two cardioprotective stimuli, ischemic preconditioning (IPC) and mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) paracrine effects. We hypothesized that downregulation of a set of miRNAs (miR-148a/b, miR-30b, and let-7a*) augments expression of protective heat shock proteins during IPC, and that MSC exosomes transfer miR-21 to cardiomyocytes, resulting in downregulation of pro-apoptotic genes and reduction of infarct size.

IPC increased the level of Hsp70, Hsp90, and …

Using Tops For Identification Of Gifted Hispanic Students, Barbara Martin

Dissertations

USING TOPS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF GIFTED HISPANIC STUDENTS

Researchers have noted an underrepresentation of Hispanic ELL students in gifted education. A literature review revealed several problems encountered when assessing and identifying gifted Hispanics and have also suggested a variety of solutions including use of non-standardized alternative assessments. In this project, the researcher explored the attitudes of educators regarding the addition of a non-standardized tool. The TOPS is a non-standardized tool used to systematically gather and document qualitative observational data within the context of instruction (Harradine, Coleman, & Winn, 2014). The researcher used both a survey questionnaire and a semi-structured interview …

Use Of Video Games In Patients' Self-Management Of Pain: A Feasibility Study, Janet Donnelly Phd(C), Rn-Bc, Acns-Bc, Pccn

Dissertations

Background: Pain affects more than 75 million Americans and is the primary reason people seek medical attention. Pain is a common cause of disability and diminished quality of life. While anecdotal evidence exists regarding nurses’ use of distraction therapy activities in pain management, little empirical research data is available.

Purpose: To examine the effects of video game use (VGU) on pain perception, pain interference perception and perceived self-efficacy in pain management in adult inpatients.

Conceptual Model: The conceptual model is based on Self-efficacy Theory (Bandura, 1995). The antecedents of the concept of distraction therapy with use of VGs in patients’ …

Deposition And Characterization Of Hermetic, Biocompatible Thin Film Coatings For Implantable, Electrically Active Devices, Robyn K. Sweitzer

Dissertations

Retinal prostheses may be used to support patients suffering from Age-related macular degeneration or retinitis pigmentosa. A hermetic encapsulation of the poly(imide )-based prosthesis is important in order to prevent the leakage of water and ions into the electric circuitry embedded in the poly(imide) matrix. The deposition of amorphous aluminum oxide (by sputtering) and diamond like carbon (by pulsed laser ablation and vacuum arc vapor deposition) were studied for the application in retinal prostheses. The resulting thin films were characterized for composition, thickness, adhesion and smoothness by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, profilometry and light microscopy. Electrical …

“My Masculinity Is A Little Love Poem To Myself”: Trans*Masculine College Students’ Conceptualizations Of Masculinities, T.J. Jourian

Dissertations

Men and masculinities studies in higher education are gaining prominence within the literature, illuminating how cisgender men understand and grapple with masculinity on college campuses. Additionally, the increased visibility of trans* students has fueled the expanding scholarship and attention to their experiences, often however centering on White gender-conforming trans* students with little if any focus on their multiple and intersecting identities. This phenomenological study seeks to bridge these two areas of literature, by investigating how trans*masculine students understand, define, and adopt a masculine identity, and how that identity is informed by their various intersecting and salient identities. Dominant masculinities function …

Understanding The Role Of Women As Leaders In Mexican Politics: Looking Back And Moving Forward, Rafael Tovar Y Lopez-Portillo

Dissertations

The constant changes that occur in a globalized world have pushed gender equality to the forefront of many debates in the western world. Nevertheless, cultural values continue to influence the way in which governments, societies, and individuals behave in regard to the roles that men and women play. In Mexico, despite the cultural values that are embedded in society, women have been able to succeed in areas where, until a few decades ago, it would have been unimaginable. During the last forty years, the Mexican government has gone through a gradual transformation that has allowed women to become an active …

An Exploration Of Attachment, Trauma, And Treatment Outcome In A Cognative Behaviorable Therapy-Based Group Anger Management Program: A Multiple Case Study, Cynthia K. Swope

Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between trauma, attachment styles, and treatment outcomes among violent offenders attending a group cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)-based anger management program. Using a mixed method, multiple case study design, the researcher examined the individual experiences of seven individuals court-mandated to attend a community-based anger management program. Semi-structured interviews were utilized to develop the participant narratives used in the qualitative analyses. Participant scores on the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Questionnaire, the Experience in Close Relationships (ECR-R) Questionnaire, and the Novaco Anger Scale (NAS) provided quantitative measures of trauma history, attachment style, and anger disposition. The results of …

Runtime Performance Enhancement Of Nondeterministic Applications On Partailly [I.E. Partially] Reconfigurable Architectures Using Task Agglomeration, David Austin

Dissertations

Reconfigurable hardware architectures have the potential to dramatically improve run-time performance by altering their low-level hardware to match the inherent structure of a given application. Partially-reconfigurable architectures extend this capability by allowing their reconfigurable resources to be partitioned into multiple subregions which are independently configurable. This permits the run-time reconfiguration of a single hardware partition while other partitions continue their operation unabated. The major limiting factor of these architectures is the relatively long time required to perform this fine-grained hardware modification. Previous research on the Single-Chip Multiprocessor and Dynamically Reconfigurable Hybrid Architecture have developed an application framework and a partially …

Associative Data Analytics And Its Application To Protein Crystallization Analysis, Imren Dinc

Dissertations

Data analytics focuses on processing raw data to extract important information and involves data acquisition, data analysis, and visualization. To maximize the amount of information obtained, an efficient experimental design method is necessary. Many existing experimental design methods do not consider the previous experimental results when constructing new trial conditions. It is quite difficult to employ supervision in this domain due to limited data size and skewed data distribution. Once the data is collected, proper analysis methods should be developed for making useful decisions regarding the type of data collected (e.g., numerical, time, visual, image analysis). Visualization that encompasses both …

Electroosmotic Microfluidic Oligonucleotide Synthesis Reactor, William R. Gaillard

Dissertations

The principle objective of this dissertation is the development of a microfluidic oligonucleotide (oligo) synthesis reactor that sequences oligos with equal quality to commercial synthesizers and with equal waste reduction to previously published microfluidic synthesizers. The microfluidic approach to oligo synthesis increases throughput due to parallelization, provides simplification by integration of multiple functions into one platform, and decreases cost due to miniaturization and waste reduction. Microfluidic oligo synthesizers demonstrate these advantages over industrial synthesizers but have error rates that are too high for commercialization. The microfluidic synthesizer design investigated in this dissertation incorporates several innovations to reduce the error rates …

Robust Support Media For High Throughput Chromatographic Separations, Javier Sanchez Santiago

Dissertations

Affinity chromatography is used to separate biomolecules based on highly specific interactions, such as receptor and ligand, enzyme and substrate or antigen and antibody. Traditional chromatographic separation systems have the disadvantages of low flowrates, high pressure drop across the column, low capacity and poor reusability. Ceramic monoliths have been previously used as active support for affinity chromatographic columns due to their compact geometry and outstanding mechanical properties. In addition, mathematical models have been developed in order to determine the adsorption and elution times depending on the monolith geometry. The reversible interaction between L-asparagine and L-asparaginase has been exploited, using a …

Musical Listening Interest, Socio-Demographic And Socio-Psychological Factors As Predictors Of Test Anxiety Among Students Of A Christian University In Jamaica, Wayne E. N. Ireland-Cleghorne

Dissertations

Problem

There is an enormous deficit in the literature on the factors associated with test anxiety generally, and test anxiety and music listening interest in particular, in the Caribbean region. This deficit is made even more distinct by the numerous studies that exist on test anxiety elsewhere and the effect it has on students’ behavior and performance in the classroom.

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between musical listening interest and test anxiety, while controlling for variables that are deemed plausible predictors of test anxiety. Predictor variables utilized include sociodemographic factors such as gender, age, …

Self-Efficacy, Locus Of Control, Perceived Stress And Student Satisfaction As Correlates Of Dissertation Completion, Gabriela A. Dumitrescu

Dissertations

Purpose of the Study

Doctoral students face a multitude of challenges in the process of completing their degree, and barriers to the success of doctoral program completion can occur at many different levels. Many factors contribute to dissertation completion or non-completion. Studying the influence of these factors on the task of dissertation completion may result in enhancing dissertation progress and program completion. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of self-efficacy, locus of control, perceived stress and student satisfaction on dissertation completion among doctoral students in educational psychology at selected university in the United States.

Method

Survey …

The Role Of Foxo Transcription Factors In Alcohol-Induced Deficient Fracture Repair, Philip M. Roper

Dissertations

Proper and complete repair of a bone fracture is essential in quality of life maintenance, but poor healing and fracture malunion are still medically and socially relevant problems. Alcohol abuse impairs normal fracture healing, leading to delayed or incomplete union. This dissertation aims to clarify mechanisms behind this alcohol-induced impaired healing, thereby elucidating potential methods of intervention.

Alcohol-induced oxidative stress has been linked to many morbidities associated with alcohol abuse. This dissertation elucidates a potential mechanism through which alcohol inhibits fracture healing by increasing oxidative stress. Using a rodent model, I found that alcohol exposure decreases fracture callus formation and …

Men As Caregivers: Latino Fathering Of Children With Cancer, Noe Mojica

Dissertations

Although women are often viewed as primary caregivers of children, the twenty-first century social conditions are challenging men in the Latino community to assume an increasingly active role in raising children. This study explored the relationships between Latino fathers' masculine identity, caregiving and coping when faced with the demands generated by having a child diagnosed with cancer. The study pursued to inquire the relationship between Latino fathers’ masculinity, their caregiving activities, and how they cope with pediatric illness. Results indicated no significant relationship between masculinity and caregiving or coping. However, there was a significant relationship with conflict between work and …

Neural Correlates Of Political Attitudes: Emotion And Ideology In The Brain, Dane Gorman Wendell

Dissertations

Do conservatives and liberals have differing sensitivities to avoidance, inhibition, and negative emotion? Do psychological factors beneath our conscious awareness underlie the political ideologies we embrace? Political science researchers have broken new ground over the past ten years in our understanding of the psychology and physiology of political ideology. However, large questions remain about how political ideology may be related to avoidance motivations and negative emotion. This work expands our current knowledge in this area by presenting three studies with multiple methodologies: original survey data, electroencephalographic measurements, and behavioral experiments in a lab setting. Working in the tradition of J.A. …

Transverse Stratified Structure For Tunable Beaming And Filtering At Terahertz Frequencies, Daniele Lo Forti

Dissertations

The terahertz field is rapidly expanding due to technological progress over the last few years. While source and detectors are available in this frequency range, there is still no firmly established technology for tunable filters and modulators. In this work a number of transverse stratified configurations of metal and dielectric layers are studied for modulating Terahertz radiation in amplitude and phase. The first configuration analyzed is a set of metal plates placed on top of each other and separated by a thin layer of Liquid Crystal (LC). The period of the grating is such that the only propagating order is …

Design And Synthesis Of Nanostructured Palladium Catalysts By Atomic Layer Deposition, Mar Piernavieja Hermida

Dissertations

Atomic layer deposition (ALD) has been shown to be effective at controlling metal and metal oxide sites and demonstrated to be a promising tool to apply oxide over-coating layers onto supported metal catalysts with atomically precise thickness control, which allowed optimizing both the stability and activity. The mechanisms for depositing Al2O3, TiO2, palladium and ZnO were investigated with quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) and ellipsometry in order to better understand and improve the process. Presented is a study of ALD from nanometer to single atom size palladium catalysts. There are many uses for of palladium nanoparticles, catalysts, polymer membranes, sensor, plastics …

Characterization Of Ubiquitin-Proteasome Dynamics In Caenorhabditis Elegans Muscle Cells During Protein-Folding Stress, Gregory A. Skibinski

Dissertations

In order to adapt to changing conditions and life stages, cells must remodel the composition of the proteome by specifically removing obsolete or damaged proteins. Failure to remove proteins at the appropriate time can cause a variety of cellular dysfunctions that can lead to cell death and conditions such as cancer, Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease. Protein quality control is especially important during aging and stress, as the accumulating load of damaged, misfolded, and aggregated proteins can overwhelm the cell's ability to maintain the proteome. The ubiquitin-proteasome system is responsible for the specific degradation of many proteins within eukaryotic cells. …

Special Education Disproportionality Through A Social Lens: A Mixed Methods Approach, Marianne J. Fidishin

Dissertations

The disproportionate nature of special education, notably with African American students, is longstanding and most pronounced in judgmental eligibility categories such as intellectual disability and emotional disturbance. Numerous studies on disproportionality conclude there is not a single causative factor, but point to the multifactorial nature of the issue and the complex interplay among different factors. Research related to the role social factors exhibited in an institution have on special education referral and eligibility determination is more limited. This is important since practices employed during the eligibility process take place within the institution’s social environment and are underpinned by the beliefs …

Emature: Intergenerational Networks In Digital Media Spaces, Andras Lukacs

Dissertations

While the literature on adolescent usage of the Internet and mobile communication technology is burgeoning, the technological affordance of increased intergenerational contacts and intergenerational friendships received less attention. This project documents how intergenerational virtual networks operate in one particular massively multiplayer online game (World of Warcraft) from the standpoint of adolescent players. Online social worlds are similar to offline settings in a lot of ways. Users must obey certain behavioral standards and follow established rules and moral codes to participate. Despite accounts of online democracy and networked individualism, control and authority is central to the functioning of these environments. Power-relationships …

Development Of "Inside-Out" Pegylated Crosslinked Hemoglobin Polymers: Novel Hemoglobin-Based Oxygen Carriers (Hboc), Kyle Douglas Webster

Dissertations

The development of an effective blood substitute is urgent due to increasingly common blood shortages, the need to type-match donated blood, and communicable diseases (e.g. HIV) posing risks for blood transfusions around the world. There have been many attempts at creating hemoglobin-based oxygen carriers (HBOC) using a variety of techniques centered around the use of polyethylene glycol (PEG) conjugated to hemoglobin (Hb) tetramers. A novel method, “Inside-Out” PEGylation, has been developed by our lab to produce a polyethylene glycol crosslinked hemoglobin (PEG XL-Hb) polymer. This method utilizes a single PEG backbone that is surrounded by multiple proteins, instead of covering …

Cardiac Calcium Atpase Dimerization Measured By Fluorescence Resonance Energy Transfer And Chemical Cross-Linking, Daniel Blackwell

Dissertations

The cardiac sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA) establishes the intracellular calcium gradient across the sarcoplasmic reticulum membrane. It has been proposed that SERCA forms homo-oligomers that increase the catalytic rate of calcium transport. We investigated SERCA oligomerization in rabbit left ventricular myocytes using a photoactivatable cross-linker. Western blotting of cross-linked SERCA revealed higher molecular weight species consistent with SERCA oligomerization. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) measurements in cells transiently transfected with fluorescently-labeled SERCA2a revealed that SERCA readily forms homo-dimers. These dimers formed in the absence or presence of the SERCA regulatory partner, phospholamban (PLB) and were unaltered by PLB phosphorylation …

Remains To Be Seen: Execution And Embodiment In The Early English Atlantic World, Erin M. Feichtinger

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the development of capitalism in the early English Atlantic World (1580 - 1752) and the manipulation of the legal system to criminalize the laboring body in order to more fully exploit the productive output of labor.

Social Skills In Youth With Spina Bifida: A Longitudinal Multimethod Investigation Of Bio-Neuropsychosocial Predictors, Christina Ehrman Holbein

Dissertations

Objective: Despite research documenting social dysfunction in youth with spina bifida (SB), little is known about the etiology of these social difficulties; most investigations identifying predictors of social deficits have concentrated exclusively on one domain. This longitudinal study examines the relative predictive power of neurocognitive (attention and executive function), family (cohesion and conflict), and health-related (body mass index, condition severity) variables on later social skills in youth with SB.

Methods: 112 youth with SB (T1 mean age = 11.19 years) and their families participated in study visits two years apart. Study variables were assessed by multiple methods (questionnaire, medical chart …

Development Of Folate Directed, Protein Based Photodynamic Therapy Agents, Rojenia Jones

Dissertations

To attack cancer cells in a specific manner, we have developed a folate-targeted, photodynamic therapy (PDT) agent. The folate (FA) and the chlorin e6 (Ce6) photosensitizer were attached to bovine serum albumin (BSA) using carbodiimide chemistry. Since over 50% of cancers overexpress folate receptors, FA-BSA-Ce6 can be taken up by them and is an effective PDT agent. Hela cells exposed to FA-BSA-Ce6 in the dark showed no cytotoxicity. Upon exposure to light, the conjugate was dose (time and concentration) dependent. Concentrations less than or equal to 2 µM were not effective at killing Hela cells but concentrations of at 5 …