Digital Commons Network^™

An Interaction Between Risk Perceptipton And Trust In Response To Food Safety Events Across Products And Regions, And Their Implicaitons For Agribusiness Firms, Jonathan D. Shepherd

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Food safety events receive substantial media coverage and can create devastating economics losses for agribusiness firms. It is unclear what factors influence consumers’ purchasing decisions before or after a food safety event occurs. The objectives of this study is to identify these factors that influence purchasing decisions, determine how consumers respond to hypothetical food safety events, and compare these findings across different products and geographical regions. The data for this research was obtained from two surveys. One survey concerned fresh produce while the second focused on meat products. The SPARTA model, based on the Theory of Planned Behavior, is used …

Utilizing Mixed Surfactants For Simultaneous Pore Templating And Active Site Formation In Metal Oxides, Mohammed Shahidur Rahman

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Self-assembled nonionic alkyl glycoside surfactants are of interest for creating functional adsorption and catalytic sites at the surface of mesoporous metal oxides, but they typically impart poor long-range order when used as pore templates. Improved order and control over the functional site density may be achieved by mixing them with a cationic surfactant. To confirm this hypothesis, we investigate the lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) phase behavior of aqueous solutions of the functional nonionic surfactant n-dodecyl β-D-maltoside (C₁₂G₂) and cationic cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (C₁₆TAB). A ternary phase diagram of the C₁₆TAB-C₁₂G_{2 …}

Vortex Model Of Open Channel Flows With Gravel Beds, Brian James Belcher

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Turbulent structures are known to be important physical processes in gravel-bed rivers. A number of limitations exist that prohibit the advancement and prediction of turbulence structures for optimization of civil infrastructure, biological habitats and sediment transport in gravel-bed rivers. This includes measurement limitations that prohibit characterization of size and strength of turbulent structures in the riverine environment for different case studies as well as traditional numerical modeling limitations that prohibit modeling and prediction of turbulent structure for heterogeneous beds under high Reynolds number flows using the Navier-Stokes equations. While these limitations exist, researchers have developed various theories for the structure …

Assessing Factors Influencing Participation And Dissemination In Community-Based Public Health Coalitions: An Exploration Of Social Change, Chad Tyler Morris

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The community-based public health coalition has proliferated in public health practice since the 1970‘s as a favored means of achieving community participation in public health promotion. There is concern, however, that many contemporary coalitions are not particularly inclusive, and that population health indicators fail to demonstrate significant improvement in health outcomes resultant from coalition practice. This dissertation research was designed to critically examine participation and dissemination of coalition-derived ideas through ethnographic study of five community-based participatory public health coalitions in the United States. The research answers calls from public health scholars to improve upon the coalition theory base and to …

Painting The Mountains: An Investigation Of Tourist Art In North America, Kristin Mary Agnes Helen Kant

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the use of regional cultural icons, like hillbillies, nineteenth century pioneer caricatures, and rural/wilderness landscapes, in paintings from an Appalachian tourist center. These icons, produced by the public media’s portrayal of the Appalachian region over several generations, contribute to a sense of cultural difference associated with people of Appalachia. The research question driving this project is: would cultural distinctiveness exist if cultural stereotypes were not a part of the tourist center’s local economics, politics, and social life? Building on ideas from consumption studies, this project explores consumption practices of artists and tourists as they interact with icons …

Investigations Of S-Glutathionylation Of Brain Proteins In The Progression Of Alzheimer's Disease And Of A Potential Glutatione Mimetic As A Treatment Of Alzheimer's Disease, Shelley Faye Newman

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by neurofibrillary tangles, senile plaques and loss of synapses. Many studies support the notion that oxidative stress plays an important role in AD pathogenesis. Previous studies from our laboratory employed redox proteomics to identify oxidatively modified proteins in the AD inferior parietal lobule (IPL). The proteins were consistent with AD pathology and have been central to further investigations of the disease. The present study was focused on the identification of specific targets of protein S-glutathionylation in AD, early AD (EAD), and mild cognative impairment (MCI) using a redox proteomics approach. In AD …

Music And Identity In Circuit Chautauqua: 1904-1932, Paige Clark Lush

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation addresses the place of music in circuit chautauqua, the place of circuit chautauqua in American culture, and the role of music in defining that place. It takes into account the perception of chautauqua as a conduit by which higher culture and urban intellectual discourse could reach rural Americans, and the implications of this perception on musical programming.

The heyday of the circuit chautauqua movement (1904-1932) occurred during a time of considerable interaction between, and discussion of, entertainment and education in the United States. Music was important to the self-image of those involved in the entertainment and education industries, …

Experimental And Molecular Dynamics Simulation Studies Of Partitioning And Transport Across Lipid Bilayer Membranes, Ravindra Wadhumal Tejwani

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Most drugs undergo passive transport during absorption and distribution in the body. It is desirable to predict passive permeation of future drug candidates in order to increase the productivity of the drug discovery process. Unlike drug-receptor interactions, there is no receptor map for passive permeability because the process of transport across the lipid bilayer involves multiple mechanisms. This work intends to increase the understanding of permeation of drug-like molecules through lipid bilayers.

Drug molecules in solution typically form various species due to ionization, complexation, etc. Therefore, species specific properties must be obtained to bridge the experiment and simulations. Due to …

Identification And Characterization Of Host Factors Involved In Tombusvirus Replication, Yi Jiang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Positive strand RNA viruses are intracellular parasites, and their genome replication and infection involves complex virus-host interactions. Therefore, identification of host factors and dissection of their functions during virus replication could facilitate our understanding of the mechanism of virus infection. Those host factors may also provide new targets for viral disease control. Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) has recently become one of the model viruses to study positive strand RNA virus replication and hostvirus interactions. To identify host factors involved in TBSV replication we used yeast as a model host. Co-expression of the replication proteins and a replicon RNA (DI …

Three Essays On Residential Real Estate Brokerage, Jason S. Beck

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The first essay investigates how individual characteristics influence sales outcomes for houses they help transact. It develops hedonic housing models to assess the impacts of agent characteristics such as the level of recent and concurrent agent activity on sales outcomes (price and time on market). This is done in a Multiple Listing Service (MLS) setting using seven years of data obtained from a large Midwestern city. I find evidence that more active listing agents sell homes more quickly, though they do so to the detriment of final sales price. I also find that more listings concurrently held by agents have …

Investigation Of Surface Fine Grained Laminae, Streambed, And Streambank Processes Using A Watershed Scale Hydrologic And Sediment Transport Model, Joseph Paul Russo

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Sediment transport at the watershed scale in the Bluegrass Region of Kentucky is dominated by surface fine grained laminae, streambed, and streambank erosion; high instream sediment storage; and surface erosion processes. All these processes can be impacted by agricultural, urban, and suburban land-uses as well as hydrologic forcing. Understanding sediment transport processes at the watershed scale is a need for budgeting and controlling sediment pollution, and watershed modeling enables investigation of the cumulative effect of sediment processes and the parameters controlling these processes upon the entire sediment budget for a watershed. Sediment transport is being modeled by coupling the hydrologic …

The Interplay Between The Expression And Functions Of Wnt13 Isoforms During Apoptosis In Bovine Aortic Endothelial Cells, Tao Tang

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Wnt proteins are crucial for development/homeostasis by controlling cell fate including apoptosis (Moon RT et al. 1997). Three humanWnt13 isoforms were identified: the secreted Wnt13A, mitochondrial Wnt13B, and nuclear Wnt13C forms; and nuclear Wnt13 had an increased sensitivity to LPS/TNF-induced apoptosis in primary endothelial cells (EC); both Wnt13B and C mRNA contain two start codons (AUG+1 and +74), but the same protein encoded from AUG+74 by Wnt13C was expressed lower than Wnt13B (Struewing IT et al.2006). We hypothesize that during EC apoptosis, the nuclear Wnt13C expression is regulated translationally; nuclear Wnt13 favors apoptosis through regulating the activity/expression of apoptosis-related factors; …

Role Of Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor In Chronic Inflammatory Diseases, Violeta Arsenescu

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor (AhR) is a ligand-actviated receptor known as the dioxin receptor. Environmental pollutants called dioxin-like toxicants are found in food, cigarette smoke, automobile exhaust and air. Therefore, they could chronically amplify the pathology of numerous chronic inflammatory diseases. AhR is a well known target of these environmental chemicals that disrupt endocrine signaling. By the year 2020, the number of people older than 60 years is expected to top 1 billion. The burden of treating chronic disease is significant both in dollars spent and in lost productivity. The need to identify risk factors for chronic diseases must be evaluated …

The Distribution Of Unpaired During Drosophila Oogenesis, Travis Sexton

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Janus Kinase (JAK) activity specifies the cell fates of the follicular epithelium during Drosophila oogenesis by establishing a gradient of JAK activity with highest levels at the A/P poles. Unpaired (Upd), a ligand for the pathway, is expressed and secreted exclusively from the polar cells potentially establishing the JAK activity gradient. This project proposed that Upd acts as a morphogen to directly establish the JAK activity gradient, specifying the fates of the follicular epithelium. The aims of this work were to investigate the extracellular distribution of Upd and, in addition, factors that may be involved. Furthermore, upd3, a gene …

The Impact Of Interactive Functionality On Learning Outcomes: An Application Of Outcome Interactivity Theory, James P. Gleason

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

Scholars have examined a variety of dimensions and models of interactivity in an attempt to articulate a comprehensive definition. Outcome Interactivity Theory (OIT) considers interactivity to be the result of a communication event involving the successful integration of three predictive dimensions: the presence of actual interactive technological features, the presence of similarly reactive content elements, and relevant user experiences that empower the user to employ these interactive elements within the communication event toward a desirable outcome.

This dissertation accomplishes three major objectives: clarify the literature relating to the interactivity construct; introduce Outcome Interactivity Theory as a new theory-based conceptualization …

Content Relevance Centric Theory: An Investigation Of Content Relevance's Ability To Predict Learning Outcomes In A Training Environment, E. Patrick Leddin

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

After three decades of research, instructional communication scholars find themselves facing several key challenges. These range from an overemphasis in past studies on variable-analytic, atheoretical research to a lack of connection to learning outcomes. Many in the field contend that the time has come for instructional communication researchers to define instructional communication theories, test hypotheses, tie research efforts to learning outcomes, and clarify key terms. The present study addressed these shortcomings by proposing the Content Relevance Centric Theory and testing related hypotheses.

The research occurred in a professional training environment and involved the use of a modified content relevance instrument …

Protesting Liberalization In India: An Examination Of Discursive Strategies Used By Street-Vendors, Squatters, And Small-Retailers To Create And Universalize Resistance Narratives, Rajesh Gaur

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

The retail sector in India is experiencing a shift from an industry dominated by small grocers serving the needs of local markets to one characterized by chain retailers, both national and international. The liberalization of the retail sector in the last decade has edged the street-vendors, squatters, and small retailers from the prime business spaces to marginalized peripheries, which had led to widespread localized protests by the small retailers all over the country.

The Aminabad Market in a metro city in northern India provided a unique opportunity to study ongoing resistance against chain retailing. The retailers of Aminabad were at …

Library Annual Report

Library Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

In My Humble Opinion: Testing The Sprial Of Silence In Computer-Mediated And Face-To-Face Contexts, Robert James Zuercher

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

The purpose of this investigation is to further an understanding of the spiral of silence theory as it functions within both face-to-face (FtF) and computer-mediated contexts. Computer-mediated communication (CMC is often touted for being an empowering medium as it affords its users anonymity. This finding could have an impact on whether the spiral of silence occurs within CMC. Previous studies have relied upon hypothetical scenarios and have established weak support for the theory. Despite this study’s utilization of a within-subjects experimental design, however, no significant differences in minority opinion holders’ fear of isolation were found. Similarly, no significant relationship was …

Electrochemical And Optical Properties Of An Azo Dye Based Conducting Copolymer, Ati̇lla Ci̇haner, Fati̇h Algi

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The electrochemical and optical properties of a novel conducting copolymer called poly(2,5'-dimethyl-[4-(2,5-di-thiophen- 2-yl-pyrrol-1-yl)-phenyl]azobenzene-co-(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)) (poly(1-co-EDOT)) are reported. Electrochemically synthesized poly(1-co-EDOT) based on the azo dye has a well-defined and reversible redox couple (0.37 V vs. Ag/AgCl) with good cycle stability. The copolymer film exhibits high conductivity (13 S/cm) as well as electrochromic behavior (magenta when neutralized and transmissive sky blue when oxidized). Furthermore, electro-optically active copolymer film has a low band gap of 1.79 eV with a \pi-\pi* transition at 555 nm.

Investigation Of Biodiesel Production From Canola Oil Using Amberlyst-26 As A Catalyst, Oğuzhan İlgen, Ayşe Ni̇lgün Akin, Nezahat Boz

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The transesterification of canola oil to fatty acid methyl esters was studied using Amberlyst-26 as a solid catalyst. The influence of reaction conditions, such as the reaction time, methanol to oil molar ratio, amount of catalyst, effect of co-solvent, and alcohol and oil types, were determined. When the reaction was carried out at 45 °C with a canola oil to methanol molar ratio of 6:1, a reaction time of 1.5 h, and 3 wt.% of catalyst, oil conversion was about 67%. Methanol was much more reactive than ethanol and isopropyl alcohol (IPA) in the transesterification reaction. The conversion of canola …

Ferric Hydrogen Sulfate As An Efficient Heterogeneous Catalyst For Environmentally Friendly Greener Synthesis Of 1,8-Dioxo-Octahydroxanthenes, Hamid Reza Shaterian, Asghar Hosseinian, Majid Ghashang

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Ferric hydrogen sulfate was used as an environmentally friendly heterogeneous acidic catalyst for the greener, 1-pot, 3-component synthesis of 1,8-dioxo-octahydroxanthene via condensation reactions between aromatic aldehydes and dimedone under solvent-free thermal and microwave irradiation as well as in aqueous media conditions in short periods of times with excellent yields. The catalyst was easily separated in simple work-up and was recycled several times without loss of reactivity under the described reaction conditions.

Nitric Oxide Releasing Derivatives Of [(2-Chloroethyl)Ureido] Benzoic Acid Esters As Potential Antineoplastic Agents, Hülya Akgün, Barkin Berk, Di̇lek Demi̇r Erol, Güldem Mercanoğlu, Ömer Faruk Bayrak, Berrak Çağlayan, Asli Dedeağaç, Işil Aksan Kurnaz

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

New series of [(2-chloroethyl)ureido] benzoic acids (compounds 3-8) and nitric oxide releasing derivatives of [(2-chloroethyl)ureido] benzoic acid esters (compounds 9-14) were synthesized as potential anti-cancer agents. These compounds were screened for their anti-proliferative activities on A549 (human lung carcinoma) cells and for their cytotoxic effects on L929 (mouse fibroblast) cells. The compounds 3-8 exhibited mild cytotoxic effects on L929 cells (cell viability from 100% to 85% -- 90% only) whereas they had very little anti-proliferative activities towards A549 lung carcinoma cells. On the other hand, compounds 10, 11, and 13 had some growth inhibition activity in A549 (human lung carcinoma) …

Sentiment Classification Of Reviews Using Sentiwordnet, Bruno Ohana, Brendan Tierney

Conference papers

Sentiment classification concerns the use of automatic methods for predicting the orientation of subjective content on text documents, with applications on a number of areas including recommender and advertising systems, customer intelligence and information retrieval. SentiWordNet is an opinion lexicon derived from the WordNet database where each term is associated with numerical scores indicating positive and negative sentiment information. This research presents the results of applying the SentiWordNet lexical resource to the problem of automatic sentiment classification of film reviews. Our approach comprises counting positive and negative term scores to determine sentiment orientation, and an improvement is presented by building …

Gate-To-Channel Parasitic Capacitance Minimization And Source-Drain Leakage Evaluation In Germanium Pmos, Raymond T. Krom

Theses

This work studies the behavior of both gate-to-channel capacitance (CGC) and source-channel-drain/well leakage in metal-gate/high-κ/Ge PMOS technology (W = 10 μm and L = 10; 5; 1 μm) under development at IMEC. The hole drift-mobility of germanium is ~4X that of silicon, leading researchers to evaluate germanium as a possible channel material replacement for PMOS expected at the 32 nm technology node. In particular this study focuses on—but is not restricted to—(1) the presence of a parasitic gate-to-channel capacitance (CGC), the large non-ideal trap assisted conductance which contributes to it, and its function versus Ge-PMOS architecture and gate length; (2) …

Study Of The Polymerization Of Methyl Methacrylate Initiated By Thioxanthone Derivatives: A Magnetic Field Effect, Sevnur Keski̇n, Meral Aydin, Igor Khudyakov, Nergi̇z Arsu

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Free radical photopolymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) initiated by 2-mercaptothioxanthone (TX-SH), thioxanthone-thioacetic acid (TXSCH_2COOH), and thioxanthone-carboxymethoxy acetic acid (TXOCH_2COOH) as so called one-component initiators was performed with and without an external magnetic field (MF). These initiators contain light-absorbing and electron/hydrogen-donating fragments in one molecule and do not require an additional hydrogen donor, and initiate the polymerization of MMA in the air. Polymerization experiments were performed in solutions with 3 different optical densities at \lambda 365 nm, where the photoinitiator absorbs. It was observed that application of MF leads to both larger conversion and higher molecular weight of the prepared PMMA, …

Comparison Of Photochromic Properties And Thermal Stabilities Of Fulgide, Fulgimide, And Benzimidazole[1,2-A]Pyrrolidine-2-One Derivatives, Mahmut Köse, Ersi̇n Orhan

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

New thermally stable photochromic fulgimides and benzimidazole[1,2-a]pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives of furylfulgide and thienylfulgide were prepared and their photochromic properties were investigated. Thermal stabilities of some of the new isomers in an alcoholic solution and in PMMA (poly(methyl methacrylate)) polymer films, and pyrolytic behaviors in inert atmosphere with TGA were compared. The colored form of fulgimide and that of benzimidazole[1,2-a]pyrrolidin- 2-one derivatives showed large bathochromic shifts for visible absorption maximum compared with the colored form of corresponding fulgides. The imides and benzimidazole[1,2-a]pyrrolidin-2-one derivatives of fulgide displayed better thermal stability than corresponding fulgides.

Synthesis Of Methyl (E)-2',4''-Thiazachalcones And Their N-Alkyl Derivatives, Photochemistry With Theoretical Calculations And Antimicrobial Activities, Asu Usta, Ahmet Yaşar, Nuran Yayli, Şengül Alpay Karaoğlu, Nuretti̇n Yayli

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

A series of 9 new (E)-thiazachalcones (1-3), and their N-alkyl substituted derivatives (4-6), and stereoselective dimerization products (7-9) were synthesized, then tested for antimicrobial activity against all test microorganisms except Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The new compounds (1-6) without dimerization products (7-9) showed good antimicrobial property against Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocitogenes, and Enterococcus faecalis. The possible dimerization products of compounds (1-3) were calculated theoretically. Experimental and theoretical calculation showed that \delta-truxinic type dimer is the most stable isomer.

A Highly Soluble Asymmetric Perylene-Bis (Dicarboximide)-Acceptor System Incorporating A Methylene Bridged Methoxybenzene-Donor: Solvent Dependence Of Charge Transfer Interactions, Rene M. Williams

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The synthesis and photophysical properties of an asymmetrically substituted perylene-bis(dicarboximide), (PDI), system (1) containing a methylene bridged 4-methoxy-benzene donor and a solubilizing branched C_{13} alkyl chain are described. As compared to most PDIs, the fluorescence of 1 is strongly quenched in polar (but not in non-polar) solvents due to a photo-induced electron transfer process. Transient absorption spectroscopy and time resolved emission in e.g. acetonitrile indicates that upon excitation the radical anion of the PDI is formed with a rate of ca. 3.5 \times 10^9s^{-1}, and the charge transfer state has a lifetime of ca. 3 ns. A Frontier Molecular Orbital …

4h-Pyran-4-One Derivatives:; Leading Molecule For Preparation Of Compounds With Antimycobacterial Potential, Demet Us, Ece Gürdal, Barkin Berk, Si̇nem Öktem, Tanil Kocagöz, Berrak Çağlayan, Işil Aksan Kurnaz, Di̇lek Demi̇r Erol

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

A series of 3-hydroxy-6-methyl-2-((4-substitutedpiperazin-1- yl)methyl)-4H-pyran-4-one structured compounds were synthesized by reacting 5-hydroxy-2-methyl-4H-pyran-4-one with suitable piperazine derivatives using Mannich reaction conditions. Antibacterial activities of the compounds for E. coli, S. paratyphi, S. flexneri, E. gergoviae, and M. smegmatis were assessed in vitro by using broth dilution for determination of the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC). In addition, their inhibitory effects over DNA gyrase enzyme were evaluated using a DNA gyrase supercoiling assay. Among the synthesized compounds; compound 7 showed a 4 \mu g/mL MIC value for M. smegmatis, whereas the other compounds demonstrated moderate to high activity. Those tested in the supercoiling …