Digital Commons Network^™

Negative Memory Bias And The Impact Of Early Childhood Stress, Elizabeth Cecile Shmikler

Dissertations

Childhood Trauma is a pervasive problem in the United States, and research suggests it serves as a strong contributor and. Predictor for a multitude of negative mental and physical health disorders (Vrijsen et al., 2018). Negative memory bias, a neuropsychological precursor to later onset of adult mental health disorders, has been scientifically related to childhood trauma (Pollak et al., 1998). Despite numerous findings supporting the relationship between negative memory bias, childhood trauma, and mental health, little is known regarding the age of onset of negative memory bias (Brainerd & Reyna, 2012; Kujawa et al., 2011). Given the research supporting the …

Decision Making By The Prefrontal Cortex And The Role Of Dopamine In Pyramidal Neuron Function, Nesrien Muftah Milad Mohamed

Dissertations

There were two primary focuses of this research. The first aim was to investigate how students’ perception toward the flipped classroom and video learning correlate to their characteristics including their demographics, first generation status, English language learner status, Grit level, motivation types, quality of peer collaboration, and social self-efficacy. Our data indicated that there is significant correlation between student’s motivation status and attitude toward learning from video lectures. The intrinsically motivated students have a higher attitude toward learning from video. This study also demonstrates that participants with high Grit scores performed better than the participants with low Grit scores. The …

“I Don’T Believe The World Is Tilted”: Emotion, Struggle, And Relationship In Making Meaning With Texts, Alison Faye Oddie

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand how the social and cultural practices of classroom literacy instruction afforded students opportunities to make meaning with texts. Research was conducted from a sociocultural perspective that focused on students as participants in social learning, in a context of interactive relations. This study was responsive to contemporary developments of the sociocultural tradition, recognizing the importance of emotion and other subjective means for constructing understanding. Two classes of a turnaround school, 18 Second-Grade students and 20 Third-Grade students, were observed as they participated in Interactive Read Aloud and Guided Reading over a period of …

Development Of Geoscience Interest And Identity Of Female First-Generation Undergraduate Geoscience Students, Dina London

Dissertations

The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to understand how female first-generation undergraduate geoscience students developed their situational geoscience interests into individual interests that, in turn, supported their geoscience identity and decision to become a geoscience major. The experiences of six female first-generation undergraduate geoscience students were used to explore how geoscience interests and geoscience identities developed over time. I analyzed three artifacts representing participants’ geoscience identity, geoscience interest development timeline, and transcribed interviews to explore emerging themes relating to interest and identity development. Participants described events relating to their situational geoscience interests, individual geoscience interests, and the formation …

The Host Mir-17-92 Cluster Negatively Regulates Mmtv Replication By Targeting Its Genomic Rna Via Mir-92a, Jasmin Baby

Dissertations

The mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) is a milk-borne infectious agent capable of inducing mammary tumors primarily and to some extent, T-cell leukemias/lymphomas in mice. While MMTV has typically been employed to investigate fundamental processes in breast cancer initiation and progression, very little is known about the virus-host interplay during this process. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are renowned master regulators of the transcriptome that influence key cellular activities, including anti-viral pathways that combat incoming viral infections. A recent study from our group revealed that unlike some retroviruses like bovine leukemia virus (BLV), MMTV does not encode virally-encoded miRNAs (v-miRs); rather, it perturbs …

Intersectional Identities Of Race And Religion Of African American Muslims And Their Attitudes Toward Seeking Mental Health Services, Cheruba A. Dhanaraj

Dissertations

African American Muslims have overlapping and interconnected identities of race and religion that can be conceptualized by the intersectionality framework to understand the complexities of barriers they face when seeking mental health services. African American Muslims have a higher risk of mental health issues due to systemic racism, racial discrimination, racial trauma, and Islamophobic discrimination. Yet, there is a lack of scholarly research or studies that focus explicitly on African American Muslims' specific mental health needs, barriers, and attitudes related to seeking mental health treatment.

This study sought to fill the gap in knowledge about attitudes toward seeking mental health …

Study Of Sustainable Development In Paper, Printing And Packaging Material Applications To Support Circular Economy, Prashant Ramesh Kotkar

Dissertations

To support circular economy and sustainability, the use of suitable material in paper, printing, and packaging industries, for several types of industrial printing material and printed product applications, plays a significant role for end user applications. Several types of packaging printing materials, specifically those finished with different printing technologies and exposed to different environmental conditions are targeted.

The purpose of this research study is to improve design and evaluation for paper, printing, and packaging material sustainability in end-user applications, to deal with the addressed sustainability issues brought by the paper, printing and packaging products end user groups. As the impacts …

Genetic And Environmental Drivers Of Microbial Colonization In Wild Birds, Sage Rohrer

Dissertations

Wild birds are teeming with microorganisms, ranging from commensal bacteria to eukaryotic parasites. These microbes impact host health in diverse ways; some long-term residents may aid digestion or provide immune system training, while others at times may induce disease. However, the factors driving the varying colonization patterns seen across taxa are still not fully understood, and wild avian populations are particularly understudied when compared to mammalian or domesticated systems. This work examines the relative importance of genetic and environmental factors driving microbiome composition and function in wild birds. We collected fecal and blood samples from Galapagos penguins (Spheniscus mendiculus …

Caregivers Of A Child With Autism In South Florida: A Phenomenological Study, Marline Whigham

Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is now well known and is being diagnosed more frequently than years ago. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2017, the combined estimated prevalence of ASD is 14.6 per 1,000 (1 in 68). Estimated prevalence among children age 8 was significantly higher among boys (23.6 per 1,000). ASD is a complicated and challenging disorder for every caregiver, health care providers, schools, and the overall community. However, caregivers of children with ASD receive little support. Little is known about what support is available for caregivers; not much research is available on how to …

Hiv And Early Life Stress On Neuroimaging And Risky Behavior, Paola Garcia Egan

Dissertations

This study examined the interactive effects of early life stress (ELS) and HIV on brain morphometry, diffusion-basis-spectrum-imaging (DBSI), risky decision-making, and sex-risk behavior. 122 people with HIV (PWH) and 113 people without HIV (PWoH), free of major psychiatric illness and neurological confounds, were stratified into high (≥ 3 events) vs. low (< 3 events) ELS [PWoH/low ELS (n = 57), PWoH/high ELS (n =56), PWH/low ELS (n = 43), PWH/high ELS (n = 79)] and underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging, DBSI, neuropsychological, and risky-behavior assessment; all PWH were virologically controlled. Compared to PWoH, PWH had smaller orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), parietal lobes, insula, caudate and anterior cingulate. No ELS effects were detected in volumetric measures. Significant interactions were found between HIV serostatus and ELS on the OFC and on cellularity of the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus after multiple comparisons adjustment. Specifically, PWH/high ELS exhibited significantly smaller OFC and PWoH/high ELS show significantly larger OFC than the other groups. PWoH/high ELS exhibited higher DBSI cellularity (neuroinflammation proxy) of the inferior-occipital-fasciculus compared to PWoH/high ELS. Regardless of HIV status, executive function moderated the relationship between the OFC and sex-risk behavior such that individuals within the sample who performed above average on a measure of executive function and had a larger OFC reported fewer sex partners in past six months than individuals with smaller volumes. No interaction was found between HIV serostatus and ELS on risky behavior measures. Clustering analyses defined ELS subgroups in PWH that were determined by demographic characteristics, duration of infection, recent CD4+ T-cell count, nadir CD4+ T-cell count and high/low ELS.Even in PWH that are virologically controlled, without major current psychiatric comorbidities, there is evidence of a synergistic impact of ELS and HIV on OFC volumes. Higher volumes in the OFC were detrimental when associated with lower executive function scores or advantageous when associated with higher executive function. Findings suggest that ELS is associated with different brain signatures among PWoH and virally suppressed PWH. However, ELS was not directly associated with risky behaviors, and subgroups in PWH were characterized by demographic variables, past substance use and HIV clinical variables.

Black Americans At A Crossroads In American Politics: Electoral Participation, Protest, And Policy Change, Tenille-Rose Martin

Dissertations

This dissertation explores Black political participation in the United States. I argue there is a relationship between Black political participation and trust in government, political efficacy, group consciousness, linked fate, political knowledge, and desire to engage in social activism. This argument draws on research on political participation, group identity, and political behavior and attitudes within the Black community.

A mixed-method approach was used in the study. Data was collected from Blacks across the country via an original survey and interviews. The data analysis chapter determined some support for the theoretical framework, albeit aspects of the model were rejected. Results determined …

Synthetic Amphiphiles As Antibiotic Potentiators, Helena Spikes

Dissertations

Antibiotic resistance has become a massive threat to modern medicine. Bacteria acquire resistance either through genetic mutations or mobile genetic elements, such as plasmids. The growing resistance crisis is exacerbated by over-prescription of antibiotics and improper use. As antimicrobial resistance becomes more widespread, superbugs (bacteria resistant to more than one class of drug) have evolved. Since few new drugs reach clinical trials and even fewer are approved by the FDA, we must find a way to make existing drugs more potent. One technique to accomplish this is by using combination therapy. By administering two or more drugs at a time, …

Applying Retrieval Practice In Climate Change Education: How Retrieval-Based Learning May Enhance High School Students’ Conceptual Understanding On Climate Change Topics, Mengyu Wang

Dissertations

This dissertation explored ways to apply retrieval practice strategy on climate change learning at the high school level. Three studies presented that retrieval practice could be used broadly on different topics of climate change and in different learning scenarios. The first study focused on the effect of question placement on learning when students studied sea level rise from an educational video lecture. The results suggested that applying retrieval practice in a style of embedded short-answer questions in videos has clear advantage over restudying the video lecture in both immediate and delayed tests, but no difference in students' performance was found …

Where Are The Black Teachers? There Should Be More To Make It Even, Harolyn Harris

Dissertations

For years, Black teachers lived and worked in the communities that they served. I was one of those teachers who lived and worked in my community, but I noticed that there were not many of us. As a Black woman, mother and teacher, I was fully aware of the numbers of Black teachers declining. I wanted to know why.

In this study, I utilized my experience as a Black student, a Black teacher, and a Black administrator to reflect my feelings. I used Critical Race Theory as the theoretical lens on my stories using autoethnography as the research method. I …

Regulation Of Parkinson’S Disease-Associated Genes By Pumilio Proteins And Micrornas In The Human Neuroblastoma Cell Line Sh-Sy5y, Lisa J. Snoderly-Foster

Dissertations

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common age-related, neurodegenerative disease. A small collection of genes has been linked to PD, including SNCA encoding the protein alpha-synuclein that aggregates in Lewy bodies, a hallmark of PD. Overexpression of these genes can lead to pathogenesis, yet the regulatory mechanisms that control protein production of the genes are not fully understood. The SH-SY5Y neuronal cell line is a common model for the study of neurodegenerative diseases, including PD. However, SH-SY5Y cells are difficult to transfect, a process necessary for genetic manipulations and downstream analysis of RNA and protein. Herein, I describe the …

Nursing Patterns Of Knowing In Assessment Of Newborn Sepsis, Lorraine B. Rubarth

Dissertations

Sepsis is a devastating, life-threatening disease and a major problem for many newborns; it develops rapidly and requires expertise to identify the early, subtle signs to prevent death or disability. Evidence from nursing practice and philosophic inquiry indicates that nurses use diverse ways of knowing in their assessments. The purpose of this research was to address research questions concerning two areas: 1) Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) nurses' patterns of knowing in the assessment of infants with sepsis as related to dimensions of nursing practice; and 2) Test the psychometric properties of the Newborn Scale of Sepsis (SOS) as a …

The Relationship Among Maternal Characteristics, Maternal Dietary Self-Regulation, And The Dietary Intake And Body Weight Status Of Two To Five-Year-Old Children, Andrea Bushaw

Dissertations

Eating preferences and practices are established early in life, yet we have little knowledge about how mothers make food decisions on behalf of their children. These decisions, however, lay the foundation for their child's lifelong food preferences and eating behaviors. Almost one-third of all children in the U.S. are overweight or obese putting them at high risk for becoming an overweight or obese adult. To make a difference in the ongoing obesity epidemic, we must better understand the relationship among characteristics of the mother who controls the young child's access to food, food choices, and feeding practices. This knowledge will …

Ferrocenium Salt Aided Substitution Reactions And Synthesis Of Glycosylated Curcumin Derivatives, Deva Saroja Talasila

Dissertations

Organic synthesis has been significantly advanced with the employment of transition metal complexes. The discovery of transition metal catalysts provided the synthetic community with powerful tools for accelerating reactions and making them more selective and efficient. Many chemical reactions do not happen without a catalyst.

Iron-based catalysts have several advantages for the chemical industry because it is a non-toxic and ecologically friendly metal. Our group previously found that ferrocenium cations with a 3+ oxidation state of iron-catalyzed propargylic substitution reactions at low temperatures. The sandwich structure of ferrocenes allows substituents to be introduced on the cyclopentadienyl rings, which allows for …

Cell Size Control Mechanisms In The Multiple Fission Cell Cycle Of Chlamydomonas, Dianyi Liu

Dissertations

Size homeostasis is achieved by a balance between cell growth and cell division, but the underlying mechanisms are yet fully understood. Green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlamydomonas) is a unique model for size control. Instead of the canonical binary fission cell cycle, Chlamydomonas uses a multiple fission cell cycle where a prolonged G1 phase is followed by rapid alternative n rounds of S/M (DNA synthesis and mitosis) cycles to produce 2ⁿ daughter cells. Two size checkpoints show size-dependence: the Commitment checkpoint governs a minimum size for a cell to divide at least once, and the S/M checkpoint governs the division …

Evalution Of Peripheral Neuropathy Among Childhood Cancer Patients, Deborah R. Lee

Dissertations

The principal toxicity for children who receive vincristine for the treatment of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) is peripheral neuropathy, with symptoms that negatively affect physical function and may require the reduction or withdrawal of chemotherapy; even though cumulative dosing has not been shown to increase peripheral neuropathy. This population not only has to deal with the physical challenges of cancer but also can have psychosocial and cognitive effects from treatment. Utilizing secondary analysis, the purpose of this dissertation is to examine peripheral neuropathy (PN) trajectory during the second year of ALL treatment which has not been investigated in children receiving …

The Influence Of Social Capital On First-Generation African American Gradaute Students: A Grounded Theory, Janeisha Anderson

Dissertations

First-generation African American/Black graduate students face challenges that must be overcome if they are to persist to degree completion. However, literature on factors contributing to their success and circumstances that hinder their academic outcomes is sparse. This qualitative grounded theory study investigated social capital and its influence on first-generation African American/Black graduate students' success. Participants (n = 17) were purposefully selected and included students who were enrolled or had already graduated, and others who had withdrawn from their graduate program. Thematic analysis of 17 interviews identified three primary themes: support within an academic setting, external support outside of an educational …

A Longitudinal Study On The Impact Of Occupational Health And Safety Practices On Employee Productivity At Sibca Llc, Maryam Ibrahim Mohamed Hussain Lari

Dissertations

Occupational health and safety (OHS) refer to practices that businesses use to proactively ensure the health and safety of employees. OHS scholars believe companies can use such practices to improve the health and safety of their organization and employee productivity. This study assesses how OHS practices can impact employee productivity at SIBCA LLC, a UAE-based company. It employed a longitudinal research design with pre- and post-intervention data collection to determine the effect of OHS practices on employee productivity. The study sample comprised 293 SIBCA LLC employees. Participants completed the same questionnaire twice, and productivity data were collected twice, 13 months …

Impacts Of Intermediate And Long-Term Vitamin D Deficiency On The Murine Gastric Epithelial Cells And Acid Secretion, Shaima Raji Sirajudeen

Dissertations

The biological functions of vitamin D (VD) are diverse. It influences immunological response, cell proliferation and differentiation, and calcium homeostasis. However, over one billion people globally are VD deficient. The VD receptors, VDR and PDIA3, mediate the biological activities of VD. Studies on the biological roles of VD are numerous but very little on the stomach. The stomach is divided into three main parts – forestomach, corpus and antrum. Gastric glands, which make up the functional units of the stomach, are made up of numerous cell lineages and are located in the corpus and antrum, which are the glandular parts …

Investigations Of The Potential Use Of Macrophages In Gastric Stem Cell Activation/Differentiation And Ulcer Healing, Subi Sugathan

Dissertations

Stomach erosions and ulcerations are common health problems, and their therapy requires tissue regeneration. While current therapy for these disorders focuses on targeting parietal cells to inhibit acid secretion, the role of stem cells in the regeneration process is neglected. In this study, the aim is to investigate the potential use of macrophages to activate gastric stem cells in co-culture experiments and in a mouse model of gastric ulcer. Bone marrow-derived macrophages were prepared and cultured in the presence of lipopolysaccharides and interleukin-4 to, respectively, induce their differentiation into pro-inflammatory (M1) and anti-inflammatory (M2) macrophages. Polarization of these phenotypes was …

Acrylamide Mitigation By Novel Lactic Acid Bacteria And Bifidobacteria Isolated From Various Food Products: Optimization Of Mitigation, Effect Of Simulated Gastrointestinal Conditions, And Potential Mechanism, Amal Salem Albedwawi

Dissertations

Acrylamide is a toxic compound that is formed in heated carbohydrate-rich food. Scientists have analyzed acrylamide levels before, during, and after processing in order to study the mitigation strategies and, due to the lack of knowledge, this study aimed to: 1) screen 120 newly isolated LAB for their acrylamide removal; 2) optimize the conditions for 6 selected strains of pH, temperature, time and salt, using the Box-Behnken design (BBD), and analyze their acrylamide removal levels; 3) investigate acrylamide removal abilities of the selected LAB isolates under in-vitro digestion conditions, using the INFO-GEST 2.0 model; and 4) examine the mechanism of …

Novel Thioglycosides As Versatile Glycosyl Donors For Oligosaccharide Synthesis, Ganesh Shrestha

Dissertations

This thesis is dedicated to the development of new methodologies for efficient synthesis of carbohydrate building blocks and their application to chemical glycosylation. S-Indolyl (SIn) anomeric moiety was investigated as a new leaving group. Understanding of the reaction pathways for the SIn moiety activation was achieved via the extended mechanistic study. The activation profile of indolylthio glycosides required large excess of activators. This drawback was partially addressed by the development of N-alkylated SInR derivatives. The activation process was studied by NMR and the increased understanding of the mechanism led to a discovery of different activation pathways taking place with …

The Ecology And Evolution Of Species Rarity In Oaks (Quercus Spp.), Yingtong Wu

Dissertations

Rare species are susceptible to extinction due to ecological and genetic factors. Understanding the distribution, ecology, and evolution of rare species can provide useful information for effective conservation. To investigate species rarity, this dissertation focuses on a species-rich and ecologically diverse genus, Quercus (oaks). In Chapter 1, I aimed to understand how interactions between hosts and soil microbes contribute to habitat restriction in oak species. I performed a soil inoculum experiment on two pairs of sister oak species that show habitat divergence. I found that host-specific soil microbes contribute to habitat divergence and exclusion among sister species of oaks, but …

Factors Impacting Multidisciplinary Team Communication And Patient-Centered Communication Along The Cancer Care Continuum, Jessica Beckham

Dissertations

The deployment of navigators as liaisons between cancer patients and their Multi-Disciplinary Teams (MDT) affords a high level of coordinated care that is otherwise difficult to attain. Highly functioning navigators provide a multitude of support roles, the primary being the dissemination and interpretation of information to and from patients and providers in a manner that is digestible to all recipients. Navigators face hurdles in the form of communication breakdowns within the MDT which can negatively impact level of care and lead to patient uncertainty. Patients face additional barriers of their own which serve to further heighten uncertainty and cause patients …

Synthesis Of Novel Dna-Binding Polyamides To Prevent Cancer-Related Gene Overexpression, Huy Q. Nguyen

Dissertations

Pyrrole-imidazole polyamides (PIPs) are nanomolecular compounds designed to fit in the tight space of DNA minor grooves. As analogs of Netropsin and Distamycin A, PIPs are specifically designed to recognize the base pairs of DNA sequences. PIPs have many biological applications, such as regulating gene expression, biochemistry pathway regulations, and suppressing the development of cancer cells. SETMAR gene is the chimeric fusion of the SET domain with the mariner transposase. Its protein (Metnase) has functions involving DNA repairs in the NHEJ pathway, regulating gene expression, DNA decatenation, etc. Despite not having an active transposable element, SETMAR still has an unknown …

Personality And Psychopathology Correlates Of Institutional Misconduct Among Juvenile Offenders, Paula Floyd

Dissertations

Juvenile delinquency is a national concern, as delinquent behavior is associated with a host of poor psychosocial outcomes during later adolescence and adulthood. To address delinquency, it is important to understand psychological adjustment among adolescents who have already made contact with the juvenile justice system. One way to explore adjustment within this population involves examining personality and psychopathology correlates of institutional misconduct (i.e., behavioral infractions while incarcerated). While there is a robust body of literature regarding personality and psychopathology correlates of misconduct in adult inmate samples, there has been far less work devoted to these relationships among justice-involved youth. Furthermore, …