Digital Commons Network^™

College Choice, Consumer Behavior, And Gender Enrollment Patterns: A Mixed Methods Case Study Of Marathon University, Jessica I. Prach

Theses and Dissertations

Gender and enrollment patterns in higher education have changed over the past 40 years, where women are now the majority of students enrolling in colleges and universities nationally each year compared to men (U.S. Department of Education, 2018b). Despite enrollment trends indicating a dramatic increase of female students at colleges and universities, Marathon University has experienced the opposite. The purpose of this concurrent, mixed methods case studies was to identify why female students are choosing not to enroll at Marathon University, despite relatively even rates of application and admission compared to male students. The intent of this study was to …

Septentrionalism: Whiteness And 19th Century Representations Of Scandinavia, Madison Elisabeth Boland

Theses and Dissertations

During the nineteenth century, the British Empire grappled with a rapidly changing world, both in terms of the industrializing landscape at home and the multi-ethnic nature of their expanding empire. With native white British making up the privileged minority, the understanding of what a subject of the British Empire looked like began to change, contributing to racial anxieties and a rise in British nationalism. To consolidate and strengthen their sense of national identity, many white Victorians sought to define Britishness upon racially exclusive lines, prioritizing a Germanic or Anglo-Saxon ethnicity above all others, including other European ethnicities. One way the …

Investigating The Role Of Iron-Sulfur Signaling In Yeast Transcriptional Regulation, Malini Gupta

Theses and Dissertations

As an essential cofactor in a myriad of cellular processes, uptake and mobilization of iron must be tightly controlled. Iron homeostasis in fungi involves balancing iron uptake and storage with iron utilization to achieve adequate, non-toxic levels of this essential nutrient. Extensive work in the non-pathogenic yeasts Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Schizosaccharomyces pombe have uncovered unique iron regulation networks for each organism that control iron metabolism via distinct molecular mechanisms. The activities of all fungal iron-sensing transcription factors characterized to date are regulated via iron-sulfur cluster signaling.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, expression of iron uptake, utilization and storage genes is primarily regulated …

The Use Of Natural Anthraquinone Emodin As A Primary And Complementary Therapeutic In The Treatment Of Colorectal Cancer, Alexander-Jacques Theodore Sougiannis

Theses and Dissertations

5 Fluorouracil (5FU) chemotherapy is widely used in the treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC), and has been the first-choice chemotherapy drug for CRC for many years. However, nearly 10% of patients receiving chemotherapy die during the first 30 days of treatment. Further, it is estimated that 70% of surviving patients will develop non-specific toxicities as a result of chemotherapy treatment. We characterize these toxicities in an animal model of chemotherapy treatment and show that perturbations in the gut microbiome might be exacerbate the prolonged effects of chemotherapy. A compound that could attenuate the multiple non-selective toxicities associated with chemotherapy could …

Associations Between County-Level Socioeconomic Status And Opioid Overdose Rates In Northern New England, Samuel Godfrey

Theses and Dissertations

Background – The opioid epidemic persists as a significant concern to public health as the proliferation of fentanyl presents additional risks for illicit opioid users. States such as Maine and New Hampshire experience far greater opioid overdose rates compared to the overall US opioid overdose rate. Many studies on the opioid epidemic use socioeconomic and macroeconomic factors individually but few use a composite index of multiple of these measures. Limited attention has been paid to the need for a composite index of socioeconomic status at the small area (county) level designed to quantify the impact of socioeconomic status on the …

Identifying And Characterizing Transgenic Lines That Drive Gene Expression In The Adult Fat Body Of The Drosophila Melanogaster, Michael Edward Meyerink

Theses and Dissertations

Adult Drosophila Melanogaster is a powerful model organism in genetic studies and has high tissue and gene homology to humans. Like humans, Drosophila tissues communicate in order to respond to physiological stimuli, such as diet, aging, and disease. The fat body, homologous to human adipocytes and hepatocytes, functions as both an endocrine and energy storage organ; and has been shown to play a critical role in many metabolic processes. The aim of this study is to characterize differences in fat body gene expression to ultimately identify if there are subpopulations of adipocytes with different functions related to fat body communication …

Checkmate: Exploring Father-Son Communication Regarding Reproduction And Sexual Health In Males With Cystic Fibrosis, Dianna C. Sanderson

Theses and Dissertations

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a heritable monogenic condition with allelic heterogeneity. A variety of sequence alterations in the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene results clinically in multisystem disease including a reduced reproductive capacity in affected males. Knowledge of reproductive capacity is often disclosed to parents by medical providers and to affected male children by medical providers and their parents. Despite advanced technology and therapeutics yielding the benefits of increased life expectancy and quality of life, males affected with CF largely remain uninformed in broader areas of sexual health and particularly in how their concept of masculine …

Text Mining Contemporary Popular Fiction: Natural Language Processing-Derived Themes Across Over 1,000 New York Times Bestsellers And Genre Fiction Novels, Morgan Lundy

Theses and Dissertations

This study endeavors to apply computational methods to a large dataset of popular fictional material, to see what topics emerge when viewed across genre lines and from a new, “machine” perspective. The dataset consists of 1,136 popular and commercially successful novels published between 2005 and 2016, including New York Times bestsellers and “genre fiction,” including science fiction, young adult, romance and mystery novels. Methods are discussed, including dataset preparation, LDA topic modeling and topic number optimization, qualitative topic interpretation, data analysis and visualization. The experiment was conducted in two parts, with the "document" or unit of analysis as each full …

Natural Product Berbamine Enhances The Efficacy Of Doxorubicin Treatment For Triple Negative Breast Cancer, Jake Tyler

Theses and Dissertations

According to breast cancer statistics, 279,100 new cases are expected in the United States in 2020 (Siegel et al., 2020). Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer with a significantly shorter median overall survival compared to other subtypes of breast cancer. Unlike hormone-positive or HER2-positve breast cancers with effective hormonal or targeted therapies available, there has been very little clinical success from targeted therapies for TNBC. Doxorubicin (Dox) is one of the most used chemotherapy drugs. The only limitation of Dox treatment is its cytotoxicity. Berbamine dihydrochloride (BBM) is a natural benzylisoquinoline alkaloid that …

Adjustment Of A Coastal Buoyant Outflow Under Tidal And Wind Forcing, A K M Nahid Hasan

Theses and Dissertations

The discharge of brackish water from estuaries typically forms distinct coastal plumes, often visible through their color signature due to sediment load and particulate matter from rivers. The processes of mixing and dispersion of coastal plumes are subjected to natural variations in the magnitude and timing of freshwater inflows, tides and meteorological conditions. This study presents shipboard observation of the bulge region of a buoyant plume off Winyah Bay, SC. The observation comprises downward looking 600 and 1200 kHz ADCP (Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler) and CTD measurements. Along with standard CTD casts, water samples were collected to analyze and determine …

The Tripartite Model Of Efficacy Beliefs For Youth With Visual Impairments, Alexandra Stribing

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three studies which explored self-perceptions, parents’ perceptions, and metaperceptions in youth with a visual impairments (VI) using the tripartite model of efficacy beliefs. These studies have the potential to practitioners and parents providing novel understandings of perception influences in youth with a VI. Thus, the purpose of this dissertation was to explore self-perceptions, parents’ perceptions, and metaperceptions in youth with a VI.

The purpose of Study 1 was to determine the content/face validity of the selfperceptions, parents’ perceptions, and metaperception questionnaires for youth with VI. Participants (N = 13, males = 2; females = 11) included …

Focal Dystonia Causes And Treatments: A Guide For Pianists, Juan Nicolás Morales Espitia

Theses and Dissertations

Focal dystonia is a movement disorder that precludes the execution of fine motor skills. Although research on focal dystonia has been intensified during the last few decades, particularly because it has affected eminent musicians such as pianists Leon Fleisher and Gary Graffman, violinist Peter Oundjian, and oboist Alex Klein, there are still several answered questions, as well as numerous misconceptions, commonly associated with this disorder. This document comprehensively explores dystonia’s mechanism of action, causes, potential risks, and treatments. The publicly available statements of three prominent concert pianists who successfully recovered from focal dystonia are also included in this document. Additionally, …

Morphological Changes In The Visual Sensory System Of Congeneric Fishes Inhabiting Clear And Turbid Aquatic Environments, Habeeb Mohsin Hammadi Alsudani

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the histological aspects of the visual system of six species of fish. Menidia extensa and Fundulus waccamensis are found in Lake Waccamaw, which is a unique aquatic environment of the Atlantic coastal plain characterized by low turbidity, higher pH and clarity. Menidia beryllina, Menidia menidia, Fundulus diaphanus and Fundulus heteroclitus are found in the Waccamaw River, which is characterized by high turbidity. These species have undergone morphological changes likely related to inhabiting two ecological systems that differ in their environmental characteristics. We tested the hypothesis that fish modify their visual system to adapt to various environments.

The …

Development Of Natural Product-Derived Cationic Polymers For Biomaterial Applications, Moumita Sharmin Jui

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, multicyclic natural products and metallocene-containing polymers were synthesized for biomedical applications.

Chapter 1 describes the overall background, the recent development of natural product-based antimicrobial biomaterial and metallocene containing polymer for biomedical application. Afterward, the primary research objectives of my research are illustrated.

In chapter 2, a multicyclic natural product derived guanidine-based facially amphiphilic homopolymers and copolymers were synthesized. Cholic acid is one of the bile acid derivatives used to prepare facially amphiphilic moieties. A neutral polyethylene glycol (PEG) component was used to prepare copolymers with cholic acid. Reversible-addition fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization technique was used to …

A Mindfulness And Contemplative Inquiry Coursefor Pre-Service Art Educators, Rebecca Sue Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

This research project incorporates a series of mindfulness and contemplative workshops withinthe established curriculum of an advanced art studio methods course for pre-service arteducators. Educational research studies suggest that individuals who complete a mindfulnesscourse of study experience increased mental and physical stamina; enhanced memory retention;and decreased irritability, anxiety, depression, and chronic stress. Research also indicates thatindividuals who practice mindfulness have improved relationships and bolstered immunesystems (Williams & Penman, 2012. These studies suggest that mindfulness training can makepositive contributions to teaching and learning, enabling teachers and students to perform at theirbest capacity in their respective roles. Many studies hypothesized that mindfulness …

Computational Tools For Analyzing Correlations Between Microbial Biological Diversity And Ecosystems, Behzad Torkian

Theses and Dissertations

Metagenomics has developed into a reliable mechanism to analyze microbial diversity of microbial communities in the recent years. Through the use of next-generation sequencing, metagenomic studies can generate billions of short sequencing reads that are processed by computational tools. However, with the rapid adoption of metagenomics, a large amount of data has been produced. This high level of data production requires the development of computational tools and pipelines to manage data scalability and performance. In this thesis, we developed several tools that will aid in the exploration of the large amount of DNA sequence data, and we further developed a …

An Examination Between Neighborhood Characteristics And Alzheimer’S Disease And Related Dementias And Caregiver Mental Health In South Carolina, Dana Mahmoud Alhasan

Theses and Dissertations

Research has examined the relationship between neighborhood environments and cognitive decline, yet few have investigated the role of neighborhood characteristics specifically on incident Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD), on severity of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) including neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), and on caregiver mental health including depressive symptoms. This dissertation aimed to 1) ecologically examine the geographic distribution of ADRD and investigate ecologic associations between census-tract neighborhood characteristics and diagnosed ADRD case incidence from 2010-2014 in the South Carolina (SC) Alzheimer’s Disease Registry; 2) estimate the cross-sectional association between neighborhood characteristics and NPS among those with AD in 2010 in SC; …

Teachers’ Needs And Preferences Vs. Administrators’ Perceptions: Recommendations For Educational Technology-Focused Professional Development Using Action Research In A Suburban High School, Lori Latham

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research was to identify and describe teachers’ needs and preferences and administrator perceptions of teachers’ needs and preferences for educational technology-focused professional development at a public southeastern high school in a suburban school district in order to make recommendations for future professional development. In our fast-paced, ever-changing digital landscape, professional development should emphasize the effective use of educational technology while also catering to goals and ability levels of educators. Teachers are tasked with instilling digital literacy skills with their students but need quality professional development to do so. This study focused on two research questions. …

Structural, Functional And Immunological Studies Of Group 1 And 2 House Dust Mite And Profilin Allergens For The Development Of Allergen Specific Diagnostics And Immunotherapy, Anyway B. Kapingidza

Theses and Dissertations

Group 1 and 2 house dust mites (HDM) allergens elicit IgE response in more than 80% of sensitized individuals. These allergens affect 10-30% of the world’s population. Prolonged inhalation of low doses of allergens (microgram amounts inhaled over months or years) by genetically predisposed individuals leads to the induction of a Th2-type immune response induced by allergen-specific immunoglobulin E (IgE) produced by plasma cells resulting in allergic diseases like asthma, atopic dermatitis, and rhinitis. Group 1 and 2 HDM allergens, in particular, are associated with the development of the aforementioned allergic diseases. The goal of this research was to characterize …

The Role Of Acute And Chronic Neuroinflammation In Depression: Uncovering The Relationship Between Histamine And Serotonin Transmission, Melinda Hersey

Theses and Dissertations

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Disorders of the brain, including depression, are notoriously difficult to treat because the basic pathology underlying behavioral outcomes remains undefined. Robust chemical biomarkers of these diseases have not been identified, nor are there reliable methods to measure brain chemicals. Depression is associated with chemical and inflammatory changes in the brain that are predicted to contribute to the pathology. By studying the serotonin and histamine systems we aim to better define the neurochemical basis of depression. Serotonin has long been hypothesized to play a role in depression since selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) …

Relationship Between Sedentary Time And Physical Activity With Glycemic Variability And Oxidative Stress, Joshua Robert Sparks

Theses and Dissertations

Overweight and obesity is becoming more prevalent in adults across the United States. Overweight or obese adults are at an increased risk for the development of cardiometabolic disorders. Glycemic variability has recently been introduced as a sensitive measurement of glycemic health as it incorporates oscillations in glucose concentrations over an extended period. Further, evidence has suggested that glycemic variability plays a pivotal role in the induction of oxidative stress commonly found in adults diagnosed with cardiometabolic disorders. Physical activity (PA) and exercise have been utilized as therapeutic treatments for overweight and obesity related complications. Therefore, the overall goal of this …

Selenium, Platinum And Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles' Applications To Cancer And Fibrotic Diseases In Medicine, Badria Almurshidi

Theses and Dissertations

Nanomedicine is a new field of science defined by the European Science Foundation as “the science and technology of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease and traumatic injury, of relieving pain, and of preserving and improving human health, using molecular tools and molecular knowledge of the human body” (ESF 2004). The medical community has, however, made significant steps forward in understanding the potential nanomaterials may have in medical treatment of certain diseases. Current nanoparticles being evaluated include platinum, selenium, and ceria (Pt, Se, and CeO2, respectively). While it is understood that these nanoparticles have potential medical applications, there is a significant …

Systematic Development Of Photocatalysts, Mary Victoria Bobo

Theses and Dissertations

Photocatalysis is a rapidly growing field and a powerful synthetic tool that has recently seen many advancements, showing immense promise to replace classic catalysis with a mild and elegant alternative methodology. Visible light driven catalysis relies on redox stable transition metal and organic based photoactive catalysts (photocatalysts) that absorb visible light efficiently and facilitate electron/energy transfer. The desire for greener and more renewable catalytic methods has caused research to shifted away from traditional transition metals (due to scarcity and environmental toxicity) and toward organic based photocatalysts. Due to similar photophysical and electrochemical characteristics of each of these classes of photocatalysts …

The Impact Of Psychosocial, Clinical, And Neighborhood Factors On Inflammatory Outcomes Among African American Women, Malcolm Seth Bevel

Theses and Dissertations

Inflammatory-related chronic diseases are disparagingly prevalent among African Americans in the United States, particularly in the Southeastern region. Access to community gardens shows promise in mitigating chronic disease outcomes, despite multiple barriers to physical activity and diet among underserved populations. We seek to determine if psychosocial or clinical factors mediate the association between the treatment effect of a healthy lifestyle intervention and inflammatory biomarker levels among African American women, respectively. We also seek to analyze the relationship between residing in a food desert/swamp and inflammatory biomarker levels, while gaining a qualitative perspective about community garden access among African American women. …

Effect Of Cannabinoid Treatment On Immune Cell Functions During Acute Lung Injury, Amira Kamil Mohammed

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) is a highly potent CDC select agent that can trigger acute lung injury (ALI) via robust T cell proliferation and differentiation, and massive cytokine and chemokine release. Δ9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a psychoactive ingredient found in Cannabis sativa. In the current study, we investigated the effects of treatment with THC on SEB-induced acute lung injury. To this end, acute lung injury was induced by a dual dose of SEB in C3H/HeJ mice, which were then treated with vehicle or THC. THC-treatment led to survival of all the SEB-administered mice when compared to vehicle-treated. This corroborated with THC-induced …

Influence Of Stormwater Management On Oxygen Demand And Organic Matter Cycling In Urbanizing Headwater Catchments, Kelly Mccabe

Theses and Dissertations

Excessive organic matter (OM) is driving declining dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in coastal ecosystems, worldwide. The quantity, source, and composition of OM transported to coastal ecosystems via stormwater runoff has been altered by land use changes associated with urbanization and subsequent headwater alterations that accompany urban stormwater management. To understand the role of stormwater runoff in the decline of coastal DO, biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) was determined for samples collected during rain events from the outfalls of a variety of stormwater infrastructure with watersheds spanning a range of development. Measurements of particulate and dissolved carbon and nitrogen and chlorophyll-a concentrations …

The Logic Of Capital And The Possibility Of Resistance In Chris Abani’S Graceland, Caleb Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This paper argues that Chris Abani’s GraceLand, in the structuring both of the novel’s diegetic and non-diegetic materials and of the presence of labor in the narrative, offers a model of how particularity can effect resistance to capital through iterative survival. The argument begins with a close explication of Dipesh Chakrabarty’s deconstructive reading of Capital, demonstrating how the phenomenon of capital operates and proliferates through a logical structure that simultaneously necessitates and must eradicate the particular labors and histories that ‘precede’ any given instance of capital. With this theoretical framework in hand, the argument looks to James. M. …

Are You A Boy Or A Girl?: Representations Of Transgender Children In Picture Books, Joshua Hill

Theses and Dissertations

This research was a critical content analysis of picture books that contained transgender children utilizing Butler’s (2004, 2006) performativity of gender and recognizability of gender alongside Engdahls’s (2014) wrong-body discourse. The question was, how do picture books about transgender represent various versions of queerness in children? This analysis was done by examining 20 total picture books which included 10 books about trans girls, six books about trans boys, and four books about nonbinary children. These 20 books were then broken down into eight books for a deeper analysis of the ways that queerness was represented. The findings included the ways …

Sense Of Community Among Independently Housed Individuals With Serious Mental Illness, Ladonna L. Gleason

Theses and Dissertations

People with serious mental illness often struggle to fully integrate into their communities and feel accepted within their own neighborhoods. Prior research suggests that people who participate in supportive or supported housing programsmay benefit fromsupport designed to facilitate integration within one’s community. However, little prior research has explored how sense of community is constructed for individuals who live in the community without benefit of support programs. With so little research concerned with sense of community for those without housing services, there exists a large gap in the literature for this population. The purpose of the current study was to add …

The Interaction Between Caffeine Consumption, Alcohol Use, And Amount Of Sleep On Bone Health, Haley Davis-Martin

Theses and Dissertations

Using cross-sectional data from the 2009-2010 and 2013-2014 NHANES surveys we examined potential interaction between caffeine consumption, alcohol use, and sleep and its relation to bone health, measured using bone mineral density (BMD). The study population consisted of 2,405 individuals at least 40 years old who were not taking any medications or hormones that would affect bone mineral density. Several factors such as smoking status, exercise, dietary intake of calcium, dietary intake of vitamin D, dietary intake of phosphorus, presence of arthritis, age, gender and race were considered in this project. We found a statistically significant negative linear relationships between …