Digital Commons Network^™

Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator Modulator Therapies In Cystic Fibrosis: A Retrospective Evaluation Of A Nationwide Specialty Pharmacy Database, Zumi Mehta

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a progressive, genetic disorder caused by a mutation in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene. Patients with CF experience excessive mucus build up and infections leading to complications in the pancreas, lungs, and other organs. There has been a paradigm shift in the treatment of CF with the introduction of CFTR modulator therapies and given their high acquisition cost, assessing their economic burden along with the adherence rate of patients is imperative. Objective: (i) To assess the utilization of CFTR modulator therapies in a specialty pharmacy CF patient population and (ii) to calculate …

Development Of A Pharmaceutical Tablet Authentication System Using Spectroscopic Techniques In Combination With Multivariate Chemometric Methods, Md Nayeem Hossain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The spread of falsified drugs is increasing worldwide. Currently, 10%-30% of drugs in the world are falsified. Unfortunately, the supply chain system of developing countries (from manufacturers to customers) is not well monitored and suffers the highest rates of fraudulent activities. Also, the rise of product procurement from the internet increases the chance of American consumers' exposure to poor quality drugs. To combat this horrendous activity, surveillance of pharmaceutical materials is required in the supply chain system. Spectroscopic techniques (e.g., Near-Infrared and Raman spectroscopies) can be a potential solution to authenticate samples in different locations; they are non-destructive, safe, rapid, …

Creativity And The Evolution Of Musical Ideas: Putting The Creative Principles Of Austin Kleon To Work, Dustin Schulze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

All composers internalize the musical ideas of other composers and infuse them into their own original work. But the fear of being labeled “derivative” causes most composers to shy away from talking about these influences openly and directly. In Austin Kleon’s book, Steal Like an Artist, he faces the issues of influence and imitation in a deliberately self-aware fashion. The principal objective of this thesis will be to internalize the musical ideas of other composers and infuse them into an original musical work of my own, entitled Kyros. By articulating the exact way in which I am using the work …

Folk Music Of Atlantis: An Exploration Of Water As A Sound Source In Music, Lucy Jackson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Folk Music of Atlantis is a programmatic composition for water instruments and orchestra depicting the mythical city of Atlantis. I have researched water’s musical properties: its pitch bending, its ability to create sound through motion, and its percussive effects on various materials. Drawing upon my research, I have invented a collection of water-based instruments that take advantage of these properties. Folk Music of Atlantis demonstrates their potential, combining them with both the traditional orchestra and the innovations in water music of past composers.

The written portion of the thesis includes a historical overview of water as a musical sound source, …

British Eugenics Failure And Success, Angela Gallagher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The historical narrative of eugenics often focuses on those eugenic societies and movements that ‘succeeded’ in part or in full in achieving a eugenic society. Less studied are those societies that failed, whether due to social backlash or internal incoherence. The British Eugenic Educational Society as the foundational point of eugenics, has therefore been overlooked as a result of it’s perceived lack of contribution to eugenic thought and its failure to pass eugenic legislation. Founded by Francis Galton, the originator of the philosophy of eugenics, the British Eugenic Educational Society should have been successful given it’s reputation and the numerous …

Friendship In The Digital Age: Implications From A Philosophy Of Communication Approach, Tiffany Petricini

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Friendship is a central relationship-style that grounds us. Much of the literature on the effects of technology on our relationships, especially friendship, has taken a skeptical approach. The notion of friendship is historically-situated, thus, it requires attention in each era and has prompted questions throughout human history. Our time is no exception. Changing cultures and redefinitions of basic human institutions have led us to our current moment, in which we are experiencing a loud and continuing debate on the effect of technology on our lives. Advancements in science have allowed us to understand our past and present in new ways. …

Evaluating An Evidenced Based Program: Ruling Our Experiences (Rox) For 9/10-Year-Old Girls In The Yough School District, Lisa Mumau

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During elementary school years, girls experience social, emotional, and physical changes that affect their abilities to manage relationships and establish positive images of themselves. Given the aforementioned issues, girls need effective elementary school programming to support positive self-esteem and the development of girls’ Social Emotional Learning (SEL) Competencies. The purpose of this mixed-method study focused on evaluating the Ruling Our Experiences (ROX) program for 9/10-year-old girls. The methods used were designed to address the three research questions: Based on the implementation of the ROX program in Yough elementary schools, to what extent do participants exhibit a greater level of positive …

Pierre Hadot's Holistic Philosophy Of Communication, Jonathan Crist

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pierre Hadot’s holistic philosophy of communication attends to the health of the self and community through practice of spiritual exercises for the transformation of one’s entire being, working at the nexus of mind, body, soul, and cosmos. The task is ever-incomplete, works in an understanding of “human being as essentially an exposure that lacks a closed identity” and “keep[s] sight of the opening, wound, or lack that remains at the heart of any community and all communication” (Butchart 136). This is responsive to the present moment experiencing disjointed experience of time and space, increased anxiety, underdeveloped capacity for attention, and …

Characterization Of Photoacoustic Flow Cytometry Signals, Craig Benzinger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Photoacoustic flow cytometry has been utilized to clinically determine the presence of melanoma circulating tumor cells (CTCs). Further investigation was conducted into the morphology of detection signals and how they could be manipulated to allow for further classification. Novel features were extracted from waveforms that appear to have strong classification ability. Neural networks were also used to determine classification potential and the creation of feature mapping for future unsupervised classification. Detections were expanded from single waves to a time dependent multiwave event. Waveforms were also determined to be of non-parametric distribution, allowing for classification by neural network but not allowing …

The Physiology And Evolution Of Selenite Respiration In Bacteria, Michael Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The selenium oxyanions selenate (Se(VI)) and selenite (Se(IV)) can be utilized by some bacteria and archaea as terminal electron acceptors in anaerobic respiration. Se(VI) and Se(IV) respiration is mediated by a phylogenetically and ecologically diverse array of organisms, suggesting that selenium respiration is ubiquitous in natural environments. Several respiratory Se(VI) reductases have been characterized in bacteria, revealing that Se(VI) respiration has evolved independently several times in this domain. Se(IV) respiration, in contrast, has yet to be characterized. I have purified and characterized the first respiratory Se(IV) reductase from Bacillus selenitireducens MLS10. The Se(IV) reductase appeared to purify as a single …

Gene Delivery To The Blood-Brain Barrier For Ischemic Stroke Therapy, Wanzhu Zhao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stroke is a major cause of death in the United States. We aim to develop safe and efficient approaches for the treatment of stroke. Regenerative therapies have been identified as the major need for curing stroke [1]. We explored two different carriers (poly (ethylene glycol)_5k-poly (L-aspartate-diethylenetriamine)₄₈ (PEG-DET) / Pluronic P84 (P84) and exosomes (EXOs) / microvesicles (MVs)) to deliver brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plasmid DNA (pDNA), a functional gene encoding a neurotrophin. In the first project, our data showed that DNA nanoparticles (NPs) with 0.03% P84 was a promising formulation to deliver Luciferase pDNA into immortalized human …

The In/Authentic Subject: Kierkegaard, Heidegger, And Selfhood, Joseph Tighe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation represents an attempt to understand the self, what it is, what it means, and how it provides subjective identity. These concerns are situated within a personal narrative that describes the loss of self and its rediscovery subsequent to that loss. In critically examining the work of both Soren Kierkegaard and Martin Heidegger on the concept of authenticity, I have attempted to come to terms with my experience of the loss of selfhood as well as the conditions of possibility for its return. I argue that Kierkegaard’s construction of the self, while problematically religious, convincingly describes the experience of …

Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry And Irmpd Spectroscopy To Determine The Intrinsic Reactions Of Uranyl-Containing Ions, Irena Tatosian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Developing a comprehensive understanding of the intrinsic reactivity of uranium-containing species remains an important goal, as it may influence future developments in areas ranging from new approaches to nuclear fuel processing to studies of the migration and fate of the element in the environment. At a more fundamental level, such studies contribute to the understanding of the role that 5-f electrons may play in chemical bonding, the so called “f-electron challenge”. Electrospray ionization (ESI) is an effective way to generate gas-phase complexes containing uranium and uranyl ions for subsequent studies of intrinsic structure and reactivity. Studies in the gas-phase are …

Delineating Subsurface Karst Potential Using Electrical Resistivity In The Shell Mountain Province, Fort Hood Military Installation, Texas, Annie Robison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fort Hood Military Installation is located within the Lampasas Cut Plain in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas, and is characterized by exposures of Lower Cretaceous Trinity and Fredericksburg Group carbonates. The Shell Mountain Province is an elevated plateau located in western Fort Hood utilized by the military for heavy mechanical (troop and wheeled) maneuver training and hosts significant surficial and subsurface karst. Ongoing karst inventories in western Fort Hood conducted by range managers have documented over 100 individual karst features. Recent studies utilizing LiDAR and remote sensing techniques delineated karst potential in this area and identified over 13,909 discrete depressions. …

St. Ignatius' Quill Pen: Exploring The Orality-Literacy Difficulty In The Spiritual Exercises, Hongchao Qian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Informed by the work of Walter Ong, in the first prelude of the First Week in the Spiritual Exercises, St. Ignatius of Loyola used an emblematical image, the “prison-cage”, to provide phenomenological accounts for the exercitants to examine the existential situation within. This dissertation explores into the difficulty of being rhetorical in mediating on the existential situation emblematically. I try to understand the orality-literacy dynamic within the Exercises through the theoretical framework of semiotic phenomenology. The Ignatian emblematics can be understood as phenomenological descriptions that asked the exercitants to provide the parts of moral-phenomenological reductions and phenomenological interpretations within …

Caring For Victims Of Child Maltreatment: Pediatric Nurses’ Moral Distress And Burnout, Angela Karakachian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Moral distress is a significant concern for nurses as it can lead to burnout and intentions to leaving the profession. Pediatric nurses encounter stressful and ethically challenging situations when they care for victims of suspected child maltreatment. Data on pediatric nurses’ moral distress in this situation are lacking, as most research in this field has been done in adult inpatient and intensive care units.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to describe pediatric nurses’ moral distress and determine the impact of caring for victims of suspected child maltreatment on nurses’ moral distress, burnout, and intention to leave.

Design …

Using Point Of View Video Modeling To Teach Math To Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Saudi Arabia, Hamad Hamdi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The utilization of academic skills plays a significant role in an individual’s function in society. For countries who are still developing an effective base of evidence-based practices, such as Saudi Arabia, single-subject research can be a powerful tool in discovering best practices for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of point-of-view video modeling (POVM) in improving the math skills (addition with regrouping) of elementary participants with ASD. A multiple baseline across participants design was used to examine the effectiveness of the intervention on each participant’s ability to solve two-digit by …

The Effects Of Teacher Professional Development And Self-Efficacy On Classroom Uses Of Information And Computer Technologies, Elif N. Gokbel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The uses of new technologies during mathematics instruction are essential for maintaining opportunities for students to gain better understanding of the content and become digital learners in the information age. Although scholars found technology integration is helpful in improving students’ mathematics achievement, the role of teachers’ preparedness for technology integration remains critical.

Technology professional development and self-efficacy are two major factors impacting teachers’ successful integration of instructional technologies. The purpose of this study was to provide a more in-depth look into (i) mathematics teachers technology uses during direct instruction, dialogic instruction, and assessment; (ii) the relationship between various types of …

N-Terminal Imine Derivatization For Enhanced De Novo Peptide Sequencing: A Study Of The Fragmentation Pattern Generated From Cid Of Peptide-Imines, Khiry L. Patterson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this work, the fragmentation pattern derived from model peptides derivatized to create N-terminal imines (Schiff bases) were evaluated. Collision-induced dissociation of the protonated peptide-imines ([M+H]⁺) generally produced complete series of the sequence informative a_n and b_n ions, now undoubtedly characteristic of the peptide ion species. A novel product ion was also observed, denoted the y^ǂ ion, determined by IRMPD spectroscopy and density functional theory to be generated from the elimination of the N-terminal amino acid residue despite the N-terminal modification. It was concluded the pathway involved a nucleophilic attack by an amide nitrogen and …

An Investigation Of Technology Implementation Through The Lens Of Student Centered Learning And The Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge Paradigm, Adam Wasilko

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

National statistics show that there are increases in access and availability of computers, and technology, in both the classroom and students’ personal lives (Culp et al. 2005, Hoffman & Ramirez, 2018). However, Tas (2017) and Wachira and Kenngwee (2010) posit that there is stagnation, even declines in certain cases, of the integration of instructional technologies in delivering student center learning in the classroom. This decline is even more prevalent in the science classroom (Vickrey, Golick, & Stains, 2018). Teachers face many challenges in the classroom; especially when technology integration is considered (Blackburn, 2016). This study seeks to determine which conditions …

The Problem Of Nature In The Phenomenology Of Merleau-Ponty, Alessio Rotundo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In my dissertation, I show that Merleau-Ponty’s idea of nature yields a double meaning: nature as ensemble of genetic and productive processes that are attainable in experience (phenomenal nature) and nature as that which enables this experience (transcendental nature). My thesis is that the two meanings of nature, when taken together, offer a guide to Merleau-Ponty’s final philosophical formulations about “flesh” and the “visible” and the “invisible.” The aim of the dissertation is to trace the salient conceptual and methodological complications entailed by this conception. I argue that the bivalence of the problem of nature in Merleau-Ponty receives a methodological …

Effects Of Warming On Decomposition Of Submerged Plant Litter And Associated Microorganisms In Streamside Channels, Kaity Ackerman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Surface air temperatures are predicted to increase in the near future, which will likely affect microbial activity and carbon flow in stream ecosystems. I performed an experiment in streamside channels at Coweeta Hydrological Laboratory, NC to assess responses of litter-associated microorganisms to moderate increases in water temperature (5 levels, ambient to +4°C). The objectives of the experiment were to determine: (1) if there are differences in the magnitude of responses to temperature among various microbial parameters and (2) whether microbial responses to temperature vary among plant litter of different carbon quality. Thus, I measured litter decomposition rate, fungal biomass (ergosterol), …

A Machine Learning Approach For Allocating Route Cost To Customers For Transportation And Logistics Services., Alison Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Advancements in big data enabled management practices inspire logistics companies to study deeper into their transportation operations with a data driven approach. One such question asks: How can a logistics firm identify high-cost customers in their service network? In the presence of rich data on routes involving many customers, this thesis develops a framework to allocate a route cost among customers that the route serves, where each route is associated with multiple route features related to the transportation cost. Cost is allocated using the proportional allocation approach in combination with the random forest method in machine learning. First, this framework …

The Effects Of Self-Regulated Strategy Development Instruction On Argument Writing Skills Of Adolescents With Mild Disabilities., Stacy Crawford Bewley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent data from the National Center for Education Statistics (2012) indicates that a large majority of students with disabilities continue to perform at basic proficiency or below in the area of writing, which has serious implications for post-secondary academic endeavors and successful transition into the workforce (US Department of Labor, 2014; Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2017). Therefore, it is imperative to identify and implement effective writing interventions for this population of students. Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) has been widely researched in elementary and middle school settings, but much less research has been conducted with high school students. The purpose of …

Hearing Loss: Investigating The Comfort, Confidence, Knowledge, And Preparedness Of Kentucky School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists., Amanda Matsumoto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to advances in technology, the number of users with hearing devices have increased. These users are often mainstreamed into classrooms with typical hearing peers. However, even with these devices, speech and language impairments may still persist. This study was conducted to analyze school-based speech-language pathologists’ (SLP) comfort, confidence, knowledge, and preparedness in treating students with hearing loss in Kentucky schools. 48 SLPs practicing in all levels of school including elementary, middle, and high, completed an anonymous online survey through the Qualtrics^® platform. Responses were received from SLPs representing 11 out of the 15 regions throughout Kentucky. Spearman’s rank …

Black Middle-Class Neighborhoods In Louisville Through Multiple Lenses., Jamar M. Wheeler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an articles-based, mixed methods study that analyzes Black middle-class neighborhood attainment in Louisville. Racialized social structure theory is the theoretical framework that is employed to make sense of the adverse positionality of Black middle-class neighborhoods. Racialized social structure theory posits that individuals are placed in racial categories that are hierarchically arranged, which, at the neighborhood level, translates to White and Black householders advancing their material interests in competing ways. These competing interests are asymmetrical in terms of power relations, which means that the neighborhood choices of the Black middle-class are constrained by the routinized ways that the …

Contemporary Francophone West African Social Movements In The Rise Of Neo Pan-Africanism: A Case Study Of Y En A Marre In Senegal., Cheikh Ahmadou Bamba Ndiaye

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of the Y en a marre movement in 2011 has reshaped the face of social activism in Francophone sub-Saharan Africa. In less than a decade of its existence, Y’en a marre has become iconic in Senegalese civil society and beyond. Their effective opposition to the Wade regime between 2011 and 2012 reverberated beyond the Senegalese border through their slogan “touche pas à ma constitution” (Do not touch my constitution), a rallying cry that young people in Burkina Faso and the Democratic Republic of Congo later appropriated, thus giving the movement a Pan-African platform. The birth of Y’en …

The Role Of Slc7a11 In Controlling Extracellular And Intracellular Redox Environments Of Lung Fibroblasts - Potential Targets For Intervention In Aging And Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis., Yuxuan Zheng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal lung disease characterized by extracellular matrix deposition by fibroblasts. Aging and oxidative stress increase the susceptibility to IPF. Redox couples, cysteine/cystine (Cys/CySS) and glutathione/glutathione disulfide (GSH/GSSG), and their redox potentials (E_h) quantify oxidative stress. Fibroblasts from old mice maintain more oxidized extracellular E_h(Cys/CySS) than young mice. Microarray shows down-regulation of Slc7a11 potentially mediates this age-related oxidation. Slc7a11 is the key component of system X_c^-, an antiporter that imports CySS and exports glutamate. The first aim of this dissertation is to investigate the mechanistic link between Slc7a11 …

Novel Inference Methods For Generalized Linear Models Using Shrinkage Priors And Data Augmentation., Arinjita Bhattacharyya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Generalized linear models have broad applications in biostatistics and sociology. In a regression setup, the main target is to find a relevant set of predictors out of a large collection of covariates. Sparsity is the assumption that only a few of these covariates in a regression setup have a meaningful correlation with an outcome variate of interest. Sparsity is incorporated by regularizing the irrelevant slopes towards zero without changing the relevant predictors and keeping the resulting inferences intact. Frequentist variable selection and sparsity are addressed by popular techniques like Lasso, Elastic Net. Bayesian penalized regression can tackle the curse of …

We've Got The 'Hots' For Changing Teacher Misconceptions Of Learning Styles: A Mixed-Methods Approach., Allison Paige Fowler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I added to the literature surrounding the myth that teachers should cater to students’ learning styles to improve learning outcomes. I operated from the “hot” paradigm for conceptual change, through the use of the Cognitive Reconstruction of Knowledge Model (CRKM) as the theoretical framework to examine teachers’ conceptual change about learning styles. More specifically, I considered teachers’ existing conceptions as related to their essentialist beliefs, as well as how their motivation and the content of the message contribute to conceptual change. I also responded to the literature on teacher perceptions of researchers by examining the use of …