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The Specific Role Of The Mll Cxxc Domain In Mll Fusion Protein Function, Laurie Ellen Risner

Dissertations

The MLL gene was first identified because it is involved in chromosome translocations which produce novel fusion proteins that cause leukemia. The CXXC domain of MLL is a cysteine rich DNA binding domain with specificity for binding unmethylated CpG-containing DNA. The CXXC domain is retained in oncogenic MLL fusions, and is absolutely required for the fusions to cause leukemia. This project explored the role of the CXXC domain by introducing structure-informed point mutations within the MLL CXXC domain that disrupt DNA binding, and by performing domain swap experiments in which different CXXC domains from other proteins, including DNMT1, CGBP and …

Community Assessment Of Cardiovascular Health And Risk Among People Of Mexican Descent In Berwyn, Illinois, Karen Ann Larimer

Dissertations

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the number one cause of death in the United States and affects persons of all races and ethnicities. The number of persons of Mexican ethnicity has increased significantly in the United States, notably in the community of Berwyn, a suburb of Chicago, IL where according to the U.S. 2010 census 60% of the community is now of Mexican descent. The factors that contribute to CVD risk in persons of Mexican decent within this community must be understood before culturally appropriate risk reduction strategies are designed and implemented.

Purpose: The purpose of this community-based study is …

Restoring The Balance: Setting Aside Naturalism In Favor Of Personhood In Extreme Cases, Brian Joseph Buckley

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses a simple question: Is an anencephalic child a person? These children are born with only a brain stem, and, as such, cannot experience any type of consciousness. If personhood is understood as an articulable moral category, particularly distinct from DNA membership, reasonable evidence would be required to attribute any such moral category in these cases. That is, to claim that children who may never think or feel are persons carries a philosophical burden that extends beyond mere Homo Sapiens membership. This dissertation accepts that burden and answers that anencephalic children are persons. To do this, I first …

Expression And Regulation Of Osteopontin In The Diabetic Heart, Abigail Goodman

Dissertations

Diabetes leads to several alterations in cardiac structure, one of which is fibrosis of the ventricular myocardium. Myocardial fibrosis is a common underlying factor in most cardiac pathologies. Osteopontin (OPN) is a small phospho-protein that has been implicated in fibrotic tissue remodeling. In the heart, the expression of OPN protein is increased after acute and chronic pathologies. Upregulation of OPN coincides with a transition to heart failure and a direct role for OPN in the progression of diabetic cardiomyopathy to heart failure has been reported.

The overall objective of this project is to determine if OPN is upregulated in the …

Spirituality And Physical Health: Identifying Possible Mediators Utilizing The Quadripartite Framework Of Spirituality, Meghanne Reilly Sennott

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to further understand the relationship between spirituality and physical health. Contrary to popular assumption, spirituality and religion do not relate to physical health in the same manner. In this investigation, although religious attendance was significantly related to physical health, spirituality was not significantly associated with physical health. In fact, religious affiliation was found to moderate the relationship between spirituality and physical health. The interaction suggests that there is a positive relationship between spirituality and ill physical health for those with no religious affiliation, but no relationship between spirituality and physical health for those with …

Religion, Science, And The Conscious Self: Bio-Psychological Explanation And The Debate Between Dualism And Naturalism, Paul J. Voelker

Dissertations

This dissertation approaches metaphysical and metaethical questions concerning the nature of the human person, the existence and nature of God, and the nature of moral judgment through contemporary neuroscience, cognitive science, scientific moral psychology, and analytic philosophy of mind. Contrary to proposals that seek a harmonious integration of "religion and science" this dissertation argues that contemporary bio-psychological sciences give one ample reason to be skeptical of many of the metaphysical and metaethical claims embedded in religious traditions like Christianity and Buddhism. The first three chapters of the dissertation focus on the metaphysical issue of mind-body dualism while the fourth chapter …

Justice Across Group Boundaries: Extending Empathy-Motivated Helping To Out-Groups, Elizabeth K. Jacobs

Dissertations

This research integrates the theoretical perspectives of three separate but related areas of social-psychological research to hypothesize about relationships between the emotion of empathy and an individual's effort to extend helping behaviors to out-groups. The literatures on social justice, prosocial behavior, and group stereotypes are reviewed. An experimental study manipulated empathic concern for an out-group by varying the perspective through which participants interpret an experience that is had by a fictional immigrant group to America. In addition, the study manipulated the stereotypes that characterized the immigrant group. The effects of these independent variable manipulations on psychometric measures of empathic concern, …

Negotiating The Boundaries Of Mental Health And Illness: A Study Of Recovery In Permanent Supportive Housing, Dennis P. Watson

Dissertations

Current sociological understandings of the effect that mental health services on consumers' daily lives are still heavily informed by research conducted during the era of institutional treatment. This is problematic considering that changes to mental health care have shifted the locus of treatment to community settings for the majority of those living with serious and persistent mental illness (SPMI). With this shift there has been a greater focus on consumer-centered recovery in mental health care. The current study addresses this gap in the research by studying the recovery process for formerly chronically homeless individuals with dually diagnosed serious and persistent …

Teachers' Perspectives On Race And Gender: Strategic Intersectionality And The Countervailing Effects Of Privilege, Laurie Cooper Stoll

Dissertations

As a policy prescription, education is often considered a panacea for racism and sexism, and teachers therefore the conduits for social equality. Strategic intersectionality suggests that teachers who have marked identities, especially those who inhabit more

than one, may under certain circumstances experience a "multiple identity advantage" that can situate them as particularly effective advocates for others who are disadvantaged. This institutional ethnography explores the underlying premises of strategic

intersectionality and the countervailing effects of privilege through observations and indepth interviews of teachers in a primarily white elementary school, a primarily Hispanic elementary school, and a primarily African American elementary …

The Synthesis And Host-Guest Applications Of Synthetic Receptor Molecules, Zachary Richard Osner

Dissertations

Host-guest chemistry involves the complimentary binding between two molecules. Host molecules have been synthesized to bind negative, positive, and neutral molecules such as proteins and enzymes, and have been used as optical sensors, electrochemical sensors, supramolecular catalysts, and in the pharmaceutical industry as anti-cancer agents.1 The field of nanoscience has exploited guest-host interactions to create optical sensors with colloidal gold and Dip-Pen nanolithography technologies. Gold nanoparticles, have been functionalized with DNA, and have been developed as a selective colorimetric detection system, that upon binding turns the solution from a red to blue in color.2

Cyclotriveratrylene (CTV) 1 is a common …

Factors Related To The Racial Socialization Of Asian American Children, Kimberly Langrehr

Dissertations

Within the last decade, research on racial awareness, ethnic identity, and racial socialization strategies among transracially adoptive parents' has increased, reflecting the unique racial, cultural, and family dynamics among American families. The purpose of this study is to expand upon this literature, exploring the racial makeup of adoptive parents' interpersonal relationships and how this relates to racial awareness and racial socialization practices of children adopted from Asian countries. Given that this study specifically focuses on parents' of children adopted from Asian countries, this study will also look at adoptive parents' knowledge concerning the racial reality faced by Asian Americans in …

Role Of Non-Coding Rna Nc4 In Mll And Cyp33 Mediated Regulation Of Hoxc8, Jessica Arvindbhai Solanki

Dissertations

MLL or Mixed Lineage Leukemia gene is clinically known for its involvement in genetic translocation with more than 70 different partners identified each giving rise to a highly leukemogenic fusion protein. With a poor prognosis of MLL related leukemia, an investigation into its role during hematopoiesis has been a very active field of research. In order to design strategies to combat the MLL leukemia, it becomes essential to delineate the molecular mechanisms behind the function of MLL wild type protein. Wild type MLL is a transcriptional maintenance protein from the Trithorax Group (TrxG) that resides in complex with other chromatin …

Familial Influences On The Coping Strategies Of African American Youth From Foster Care Families And Biological Families, Cynthya Campbell

Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of three parental factors: caregiver socialization of coping, caregiver modeling of coping and caregiver/child relationship (i.e. parent support) on coping strategies of African American youth in foster care and those who reside with at least on biological parent. Approximately, 110 African American children and adolescents and their caregivers reported on coping strategies used to manage stressors and stress-evoking events. Controlling for SES, child age and child gender, regression analyses were conducted to determine whether youth residing in foster care reported less attachment and less caregiver socialization of coping as …

From Classroom To Workplace: Becoming A Social Worker, Sarah Louise Hessenauer

Dissertations

This exploratory qualitative study examines the key educational experiences that graduated bachelor level social workers identified as being most helpful to them in their current social work careers. Twenty traditional aged social workers who graduated from CSWE accredited, bachelor level, social work programs in the last 4 to 24 months and who had been working in a social work agency for a minimum of three months were asked to voluntarily participate in the study. The social workers participated in one-on-one interviews in which they were asked to describe their educational experiences and their beliefs about how those experiences supported them …

Student Organizational Skills And Motivation: What's The Connection?, Vesna Cejovic

Dissertations

Many studies have pointed out the academic advantages of teaching students to be more organized. While there is a great deal of information with regard to organizational skills of students, and an immense amount of inquiry into the phenomenon of motivation in nearly every field of study, there have been incredibly few studies that have combined the two issues in an effort to examine the potential relationship between organizational skills and self-motivation and how that relationship might help to increase the importance of making organizational skills an indispensable element of elementary school curricula. This mixed-methods, pretest/posttest case study examined a …

Abstention To Consumption: The Development Of American Vegetarianism, 1817-1917, Adam Daniel Shprintzen

Dissertations

The history of vegetarianism in the United States has long been shrouded in myth, assumption and obfuscation. Vegetarianism as a vital ideological and political movement has often been presented--even by its proponents--as a product of twentieth century modernism, reflecting a rise in ethical consumer awareness. The historical record of the nineteenth century, however, tells a very different story. The notion that dietary choices could be connected with larger social and political goals was formulated during, and changed dramatically in the nineteenth century. This dissertation charts the rise and evolution of vegetarianism in the United States from 1817 until 1917.

This …

A Developmental Model Predicting Adjustment In Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorders: The Role Of Executive Functions, Social Impairment, And Friendship Quality, Rebecca Wasserman Lieb

Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are pervasive developmental disorders characterized by several core deficits including social skills impairments and difficulty processing social information. Little is known about the role of contributing factors adjustment in this population. The first aim of this study was to evaluate two meditational models of youth with ASD in which social impairment and friendship quality mediated the relation between various domains of executive functions (EF) and adjustment, as well as a full developmental model in which EF contributed to compromised social skills which influenced friendship quality leading to increased adjustment difficulties in this population. The second aim …

Meta-Analysis Of The Relationship Between Collective Teacher Efficacy And Student Achievement, Rachel Jean Eells

Dissertations

Collective teacher efficacy is an emergent school level variable reflecting a faculty's collective belief in its ability to positively affect students. It has been linked in the literature to school achievement. This meta-analysis systematically synthesized results from 26 component studies, including dissertations and published articles, which reported at least one correlation between collective teacher efficacy and school achievement.

The research questions addressed the distribution of effect sizes for the relationship and the moderator variables that could explain any variance found among the studies. It was hypothesized that collective teacher efficacy would be strongly associated with subsequent student achievement, and that …

To Advance A Race: A Historical Analysis Of The Intersection Of Personal Belief, Industrial Philanthropy And Black Liberal Arts Higher Education In Fayette Mckenzie's Presidency At Fisk University, 1915-1925, Christopher Nicholson

Dissertations

This dissertation used archival and historical methods to examine Fayette Avery McKenzie's tenure as President at Fisk University from 1915-1925. Specifically, this project investigates the influence McKenzie's work with Native Americans, industrial philanthropy, and American culture of the period played in McKenzie's administration. The research seeks to provide a more complete narrative of McKenzie's administration that is absent from current scholarship, and examine how McKenzie's work at Fisk helped advance Black liberal arts higher education. Analysis of McKenzie's personal papers and other primary and secondary sources provide a strong scholarly basis to examine his administration from multiple perspectives. Through an …

Spectroscopic Study Of New Sensors For Organophosphates, Metals, And Cyanide Based On Rhodamine And Cholic Acid Derivatives, Arambe Gedara Aruna Weerasinghe

Dissertations

Despite the increasing interest in developing sensors for nerve gas agents, efficient detection remains challenging. Among the various sensors developed so far, fluorescence sensors play an important role due to their simplicity. We developed six new rhodamine-based compounds that can be used as fluorescent turn-on sensors. Compound 1 and 3 gave high fluorescent enhancement with diethyl chlorophosphate (DCP) compared to the other compounds. Very high selectivity and sensitivity were observed as these compounds did not show significant fluorescent enhancement with dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), HC1 and transition metal ions. The potential sensor can be used in solution as well as on …

Exploring Collaborative Governance: Case Studies Of Disruptions In Coastal Zone Management Collaborations And Resulting Effects Upon The Collaborations And Outcomes, Roselyn Zator

Dissertations

This study examined disruptions in collaborative governance in four state coastal zone management commissions or councils in California, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and South Carolina. The comparative case study used qualitative analysis of pre- and post- disruption conditions. The disruption was defined as a chain of events that started with a loss or diminished level of public trust in the decision-making of the commission or council. The loss of public trust led to changes in the external environment meta-variable (political action) that affected (disrupted) the institutional design and relationship dynamics meta-variables of the commissions or councils.

To better understand the …

Inositol And Rhizopine Metabolism - Key Pathways For Competitive Host Nodulation In Sinorhizobium Meliloti, Petra R. A. Kohler

Dissertations

"The rhizopine concept suggests that rhizopines, which are inositol derivatives, function as nutritional mediators and play an important role in host-bacteria interactions. This thesis analyzes the hypothesis that not only rhizopines but also naturally occurring inositol isomers, such as myo-, D-chiro-, and scyllo -inositol, function as nutritional mediators in the Sinorhizobium meliloti - alfalfa nitrogenfixing symbiosis. The idhA-encoded myoinositol dehydrogenase is responsible for the first step in the degradation of myo- and D-c/z/ra-inositol. A different dehydrogenase, IolY, was found to be essential for growth with scyllo-'mositol. The iolA and iolCDEB genes were required for the further degradation of myo-, D-chiroand …

Modifying Copper Phthalocyanine To Improve The Performance Of Organic Solar Cells, Mohammad Al-Amar

Dissertations

Organic materials are of great interest for use as low cost electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the performance of organic solar cells is inferior to the performance of inorganic solar cells. There are many factors that affect the quality of the organic solar cells performance including; the absorption-spectrum bandwidth of organic materials is narrower than the solar spectrum, and when sunlight is absorbed a strongly bond electron and hole pair (exciton) is produced. The exciton forms due to the low dielectric constant and the large effective masses. The aim of this research is to improve the performance of these organic …

Dielectric Properties Of Nitrogen Incorporated Ultrananocrystalline Diamond Films , Salem Alfaify

Dissertations

Deposition of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond (UNCD) films have been carried out and dielectric properties of nitrogen incorporated UNCD films were studied using spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), UV/VIS spectroscopy, and reflectance spectroscopy. Dielectric functions of the films were correlated with their nanostructure, elemental concentration, and growth conditions. The films were grown in a 915 MHz microwave plasma chemical vapor deposition system with 0%, 10%, and 20% N2 gas diluted into Ar/CH4/H2 plasma. Samples were deposited on 6-inch Si substrates. For UV/VIS spectroscopy studies, samples were deposited on quartz substrates. The bonding structure was investigated by Raman spectroscopy and the surface morphology of the …

"Don't Let The Job Change You; You Change The Job": The Lived Experiences Of Women In Policing, Carrie Buist

Dissertations

In the last decade, the percentage of women working as police officer has not seen any significant increase. This dissertation, "Don't Let the Job Change You; You Change the Job:" The Lived Experiences of Women in Policing uses in-depth, participant guided interviews with current women police officers to gain a better understanding of their experiences. The goal of this project was to allow the women to speak for themselves, and in sharing the narratives of their lived experiences as officers, both add to and build on the existing research on women working in policing. In addition to the interviews, observations …

Jamaican American Child Disciplinary Practices, Stephaney Carter

Dissertations

Little is known about child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. Literature on child discipline in Jamaica and other Caribbean nations has mainly focused on physical discipline, and no empirical studies have investigated the types of discipline used in the Jamaican American community. The purpose of this study was to describe current child disciplinary practices in Jamaican American families. A total of 311 primarily first-generation Jamaican American parents from New York City completed the 54-item Jamaican Child Discipline Survey, designed for this study, either online or in paper-pencil format. The main foci of the study included the use of child …

An Examination Of Post-Secondary Education Access, Retentionand Success Of Foster Care Youth, Angelique Day

Dissertations

Changes in the U.S. economy have made the attainment of a higher education credential more important than ever to ensure self-sufficiency. Therefore, it is critical that the child welfare, K-12, and higher education systems encourage and support the postsecondary educational aspirations of court wards. When the state makes the decision to remove a child from his/her biological home, it bears the responsibility to provide the educational guidance as well as assistance otherwise provided by families during the transition from high school to college.

This dissertation explores the educational outcomes of older youth in care by first looking at the perceptions …

Experiences That Influence A Student's Choice On Majoring In Physics, Donya Rae Dobbin

Dissertations

Currently the production of college graduates with science and engineering degrees is insufficient to fill the increasing number of jobs requiring these skills. This study focuses on physics majors with an in-depth examination of student transitions from high school to college. Many different areas of influence could affect a student's decision to major in physics. The first phase of this study addresses all of the potential areas of influence identified from the literature. The goal was to identify common influences that might be used to increase students' interest in majoring in physics. Subjects (N=35) from the first phase were recruited …

The Impact Of Structured Group Counseling On Resiliency, Self-Efficacy, And Racialidentity Among African American Female Teenagers, Lashonda B. Fuller

Dissertations

African American female teenagers are at-risk for low academic achievement as well as personal and social problems. These concerns have the potential to impact their psychological development including resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. This is an issue that needs focused attention. Therefore, the purpose of this dissertation was to determine if a structured group counseling model effectively impacts African American female teenagers‟ resiliency, self-efficacy, and racial identity. The researcher conducted four structured counseling groups over a period of 20 weeks; however, the teenagers participated in consecutive 10 week sessions. The treatment was applied to two groups simultaneously, and the groups …

Neuroprotective Effects Of A Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Agonist And Modulator In The Rodent Retina, Kazuhiro Iwamoto

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to assess the potential neuroprotective effect of an alpha7 nAChR agonist, PNU-282987, and modulator, PNU-120596, in an in vitro model of excitotoxicity and an in vivo model of acute glaucoma. In in vitro studies, retinas obtained from Long Evans rats were cultured using various concentrations of the PNU compounds to analyze neuroprotection against glutamate-induced excitotoxicity. After 3 days in culture, RGCs were identified using an antibody against Thy 1.1, visualized using a fluorescent dye and quantified. In culture, glutamate significantly decreased the number of RGCs. However, if either PNU compound was introduced before the …