Digital Commons Network^™

Investigating The Biochemical And Catalytic Properties Of Nitrile Hydratases, Salette Martinez

Dissertations

Chemical and pharmaceutical industries make extensive use of amide compounds for the manufacture of commodity chemicals (e.g., acrylamide) and drug intermediates (e.g., nicotinamide). Production of amide compounds is typically achieved by the hydration of nitrile compounds under acidic or basic conditions, high temperatures, and copper catalysts. However, the use of such chemical methods leads to the generation of unwanted by-products and toxic wastes, in addition to low product yields and high production costs. An alternative route for amide production is the use of a natural catalyst, for example nitrile hydratases (NHase, E.C. 4.2.1.84). NHase is a metalloenzyme that efficiently converts …

Sorority Women & Eating Pathology: Communities Of Unhealthy Body Standards?, Ashley Marie Rolnik

Dissertations

The present study examines disordered eating, sorority social norms regarding the body and thinness, personal values regarding the body and thinness, body dissatisfaction, thin ideal internalization, fat talk, negative affect, and positive affect among sorority and non-sorority women. The aims of this study are to discern the underlying factor structures of the sorority/group social norms questionnaires and the personal values regarding the body and thinness questionnaire, investigate disordered eating among sorority and non-sorority women over time, and further examine the impact of social norms on sorority women's body and eating attitudes and behaviors. The results of this research illustrated three …

I Do Activist Things Even Though I'M Nothing: A Critical Ethnography Of Immigrant Youth Identity Formation In An Urban Community-School, Sophia Rodriguez

Dissertations

This dissertation explores how Latino immigrant youth make sense out of their educational experience, identity, and sense of belonging in an urban, public high school. This critical ethnography examines their social interactions. The youth live in a segregated neighborhood that is largely abandoned by policy-makers and recently impacted by massive school closures by the district. The youth, within the context of a community-school partnership, advocate for immigrant rights, march in solidarity with their teachers, and engage in organizing to transcend their immigration status and/or achievement status. The central question is: How do Latino immigrant youth in a community-school experience identity …

Identifying Novel Factors Involved In Biofilm Formation By Vibrio Fischeri, Valerie Ray

Dissertations

Biofilm formation by bacteria provides them with a means to survive harsh environmental conditions and promote colonization of a particular surface (biotic or abiotic). Due to the resistance properties of biofilms, biofilm-forming bacteria are difficult to treat in the context of host infections. Thus, investigating the processes that control biofilm formation will promote the development of novel therapeutics. To study biofilm formation in the context of a host, I utilized as a model system the marine bacterium Vibrio fischeri, which must be competent to form a biofilm to colonize its squid host Euprymna scolopes. Biofilm formation by V. fischeri requires …

Closing The "Revolving Door": Identifying Predictors Of Time To Rehospitalization In A Sample Of Psychiatric Inpatient Youth, Alison Merri Stoner

Dissertations

Previously a long-term mental health treatment option, inpatient psychiatric care is now an acute service for brief crisis stabilization and psychiatric reconstitution. Although lengths of stay have declined, rehospitalization rates have risen, calling into question the effectiveness of inpatient treatment and the extent to which inpatient and post-discharge, community-based services are working together to promote community tenure for youth. The present study had three aims: (1) evaluate the utility of the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS; Lyons, 1999) as an outcome assessment and decision support tool for youth inpatient hospitalization, (2) confirm a social ecological theory-informed factor structure …

Mutations In Phospholamban Alter The Structure And Function Of The Calcium Atpase Regulatory Complex, Neha Abrol

Dissertations

Phospholamban (PLB) is an integral membrane protein that plays an important role in regulation of cardiac calcium handling and contractility. PLB exists as a homopentamer in the membrane, which upon deoligomerization into active monomers reversibly inhibits sarco/endoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase (SERCA). Mutations in PLB that change the PLB monomer-pentamer equilibrium result in dysregulation of SERCA. To determine the structural and regulatory role of the C-terminal residues of PLB in the membranes of living cells, we fused fluorescent protein tags to PLB and SERCA. We then studied the effect of C-terminal alanine substitutions and truncation mutations on PLB oligomerization and SERCA …

Haploinsufficiency Of Cardiac Myosin Binding Protein-C In The Development Of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, David Barefield

Dissertations

Heart Failure is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the human population and represents a common endpoint for several diseases including inherited cardiomyopathies. Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by left ventricular wall thickening, diastolic dysfunction, and sarcomere disarray. Mutations in sarcomeric protein encoding genes have been established as causative for HCM.

The gene MYBPC3, encoding cardiac myosin binding protein-C (cMyBP-C), is the second most commonly mutated gene in HCM cases. As a majority of these mutations have been determined to result in a null allele which does not produce any protein, it is thought that haploinsufficiency …

Discrimination And Psychological Distress Among Latinos: The Role Of Family Conflict, Family Cohesion And Religion, Lydia Samir Billatos

Dissertations

This study examined the role of family conflict, family cohesion and religion on the relationship between discrimination and psychological distress among Latino/as in the United States with a focus on gender differences. The study had two main objectives: 1) To test alternate stress-buffering models to understand the mechanisms through which family cohesion, family conflict, and religion affect the relationship of discrimination and psychological distress, allowing for interaction effects with ethnicity and gender; 2) To test hypotheses about the possible non-linear effects of family cohesion on psychological distress, derived from the ([1989] 2000) Olson Circumplex Model (OCM), which was originally based …

Re-Examining The Female Voice In Chaucer's Italian-Sourced Works: A Study In Paleography, Textual Transmission, And Masculinity, Stacee Bucciarelli

Dissertations

Research on women in medieval literature is abundant but often focused on broad questions of narrative and character development. Among the areas seldom examined is what I will term "female voice," a term that encompasses the thoughts and speech of women in literature. This project analyzes the representation of female voice in Chaucer's work, and it explores alterations to female voices within the largely male worlds (both actual and literary) in which they were created.

This study broadens the analysis from the restrictive and traditional realm of women's studies and contextualize these alterations on a grander scale of textual and …

Examining Latino A First-Generation College Students' Educational Resilience At A Jesuit Post-Secondary Institution, Diana Chavez

Dissertations

This qualitative study focused on exploring and understanding Latino/a first-generation college students' process for drawing or enabling educational resilience to persist and achieve their postsecondary education degree. Using Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Paradigm as the framework, the study explored how interactions between individuals and their environments influenced their persistence outcomes. Using purposeful sampling, 19 juniors and seniors attending a Midwest, private, religiously-affiliated university were selected to participate. Semi-structured, in-depth interviews were conducted during one-on-one meetings.

Findings indicated that Latino first-generation college students drew on or were enabled by internal (e.g., first-generation status, self-identified academic challenges, sense of purpose) and external resources (e.g., …

Luxury Romanticism: The Quarto Book In The Romantic Period, Matthew Hale Clarke

Dissertations

This dissertation explores the cultural presence of the quarto book in Romantic-era Britain and argues that the format classed the period's defining literary ideologies--from sentimentalism, to liberalism, to Wordsworthian Romanticism, to orientalism--as luxuries meant exclusively for the nation's wealthiest consumers. Chapter 1 situates the quarto within the context of the period's luxury debates and advances a conception of the quarto as the era's predominant luxury format. Focusing on Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village, Chapter 2 argues that early quarto editions of the poem classed the sympathetic feeling it celebrated as the unique privilege of a readerly elite and describes how …

The Role Of Spirituality/Religion As A Coping Mechanism During Treatment For Disordered Eating, David Franczyk

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of spirituality/religion used as a coping mechanism during treatment for disordered eating. Given the mixed outcome results of current therapeutic and pharmacological treatment methods for disordered eating, it is important to investigate other factors which may influence the treatment process. This study evaluated the role of spirituality/religion used as a coping mechanism among 61 patients who were admitted into an eating disorder treatment program and then discharged over a period of 15 months. In this quantitative study, the Brief RCOPE measure was self-administered at admission to determine the levels of …

Investigation Of Pharmaceutical Mass Transfer Phenomena Using Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Yi Gao

Dissertations

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation has been widely used in understanding the physical basis of the structure and function of biological macromolecules. However, its application in pharmaceutical research is still at an early stage. This dissertation attempts to establish the use of MD simulation in studying several important pharmaceutical mass transfer processes. The three-series study included (1) the understanding of drug crystal dissolution at molecular level, (2) the elucidation of an unique mechanism for facile polymorphic transformation of crystalline drugs in solutions, and (3) the determination of drug-polymer interactions at water-crystal interface and the implications to crystallization inhibition.

A drug crystal …

Vascular Risk, Functional Connectivity, And Episodic Memory In Older Adults, Elizabeth Regina Tuminello Hartman

Dissertations

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and functional connectivity (FC) analyses are used to explore functional brain networks underlying a diverse array of abilities. Functional networks are composed of regions throughout the brain whose activity is closely linked to form a coherent network. One functional network, the "default mode network" (DMN), is thought to subserve self-referential thought and autobiographical memory. DMN regions include the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, inferior parietal lobe, hippocampus, and the primary "hub" of this network, the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). For reasons yet unknown, DMN FC declines in aging, which is associated with memory impairment. Vascular risk may …

Identification And Analysis Of Omentum Derived Suppressor Cells In Regards To Th17 Inhibition, Nick Huang

Dissertations

Omentum has been harnessed by surgeons for hundreds of years, providing an ideal environment for graft healing and acceptance. However, little is known about the cellular mechanisms that promote the tolergenic environment of the omentum. We examined the cellular composition and role of activated omentum in regards to T-cell immunomodulation. We then tested activated omentum as a cellular therapy in a mouse allogenic lung transplantation model.

Our findings demonstrated activated omentum is mostly comprised of non-hematopoietic cells resembling mesenchymal stem-like cells (MSCs) and myeloid derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Activated omentum exhibited anti-inflammatory properties through suppression of Th1 and Th17, while …

There's A Place For Us: How Ethnic Identities Are Revealed In Ethnic-Specific Organizations, Crystal Jackson

Dissertations

Ethnic-specific organizations have long been features of American society. Historically, they have provided ethnic actors with

a means of preserving culture and history. They have also been sites where collective interests are pursued. In this dissertation I study two ethnic-specific organizations. Using identity, incorporation and

inequality, as essential dimensions of American ethnicity, I describe how the political and civic work that occurs in two organizations reveals

group boundaries.

My data and analysis support three major findings. First, I find

that the identities that emerge from this kind of organizational work are transactional identities. Transactional identities are identities that are confirmed …

Toward The Development Of Roman Catholic Teaching About Contraception In Light Of The Experience Of South Korean Catholic Women, Taeeun Kim

Dissertations

In recent decades, the morality of artificial contraception has been hotly debated in the Roman Catholic Church. Many theologians and ethicists have challenged the hierarchical church teachings in the last fifty years. The opening chapter of the dissertation reviews Catholic Church teachings on birth control throughout history, and in Chapter Two I explore the theo-ethical reflections on artificial contraception from two different approaches (traditionalist and revisionist) and support the revisionists' perspectives, findings, and arguments. Then, in order to lay the context for my interpretations of my ethnographic interviews with ten participants, in Chapter Three I explore South Korean sexual culture …

Pirates Of Romanticism: Intellectual Property Ideology And The Birth Of British Romanticism, Jason Isaac Kolkey

Dissertations

This dissertation traces the role of unauthorized publication in the posthumous construction of British Romanticism as a literary movement. It argues that Romantic ideology emerged from conflicting claims about the nature of intellectual property and the circulation of political and artistic ideas, apparent in the texts and paratexts of pirated books. I examine how these disputes play out in reprints of the works by Percy Bysshe Shelley and Robert Southey that became cornerstones of radical culture. The dissertation goes on to discuss how the underground economy of literary piracy affected Sir Walter Scott and Lord Byron's publication strategies, the significance …

The Limits Of Rationality: Suicidality, Affectivity, And The Rational, Maria Jennifer Kulp

Dissertations

In this project, I expose conceptual and moral difficulties with the concept of rational suicide. After offering a comprehensive list of criteria used to define rationality in the bioethics literature, I turn to the scholarship of Susan Sherwin, Susan Wolf, Rosemarie Tong, Lisa Ikemoto and others to apply feminist critiques regarding the privileging of the liberal individual and claims of value neutrality in bioethics generally to the rational suicide literature specifically. Further, using the work of Genevieve Lloyd, I argue that just as definitions of rationality have been used to marginalize vulnerable populations (e.g., women and minorities), a similar marginalization …

Re-Thinking Anthropomorphism Through A Genetic Philosophy Of Time, Carolyn Jo Love

Dissertations

In the classical Christian theological understanding, God and time are tightly interwoven (e.g. time and eternity, the Incarnation, and liturgy) and inform how we comprehend the presence and absence of the Incomprehensible in our day-to-day lives. Yet the classical Christian understanding does not take into account scientific discoveries pertaining to time and how this influences our experience of time. It is within the fabric of God and time that this dissertation will argue that the concept of time contained within contemporary genetics provides a significant and innovative way of considering the Classical Christian theological notion of the presence and absence …

He Seems Like A Good Kid Lessons In Informal Social Control From A Midwestern Peer Court Program, Patricia Lee Maddox

Dissertations

This study examines how peer court jurors make meaning out of the sanctioning trials of youth offenders. In particular, it focuses on how peer court jurors understand juvenile delinquency, deterrence and punishment. Data was collected utilizing ethnographic field observation methods while attending a Midwestern County's peer court program between the end of the 2011-2012 school year and the 2012-2013 school year. Thirteen interviews were conducted after the sessions with willing peer court jurors in order to supplement the field work data.

During the peer court sessions the youth jurors tried to understand the nature of the offenses and how to …

Functional Importance Of Oxidative Post-Translational Modifications Of Ryanodine Receptor In Cardiac Sarcoplasmic Reticulum Ca2+ Handling During Oxidative Stress, Stefan R. Mazurek

Dissertations

Free ionic calcium (Ca2+) plays an essential role as a second messenger that initiates muscle contraction in the heart. Ryanodine receptor (RyR2) acts as the primary Sarcoplasmic Reticulum (SR) Ca2+ release channel in the heart. In the event that intracellular SR Ca2+ handling is compromised, both the contractility and electrical excitability of the heart can be altered. As a consequence, heart function may not be able to maintain the necessary cardiac output to meet the metabolic demand of the body.

Increased oxidation of RyR2 has been implicated in abnormal Ca2+ handling that promotes the onset and progression of cardiovascular disease. …

Master's Students' Experiences In A Graduate Preparation Program: Multicultural Competency And Social Justice Curriculum, Kristin I. Mccann

Dissertations

This dissertation study focused on master's students experiences with multicultural competency curriculum in graduate preparation programs (GPPs) and contributes to gaps in the extant literature on multicultural issues in higher education. The two overarching research questions for the study considered how, if at all, students' understanding of core concepts of the required course (privilege, oppression, and social justice) changed over time as evidenced by a primary curricular component called the photo elicitation project. Educators' experiences were also addressed, per their impact on the context in which students learned. This study employed a qualitative approach and, in line with the study's …

Multifunctional Coronavirus Papain-Like Proteases As Targets For Antiviral Therapeutics And Vaccines, Anna Maria Mielech

Dissertations

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and Middle Ease Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) pose a severe threat to humans because of high mortality. Despite the risk of coronavirus (CoV) emerging in the human population there are no antiviral drugs or vaccines to combat coronavirus infection. The focus of my dissertation was to study the multifunctionality of papain-like proteases (PLPs) encoded within coronavirus genomes to facilitate the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines. The viral PLPs are critical for processing the amino-terminal end of the replicase during virus replication and are attractive targets for antiviral therapies.

In my research, I analyzed …

Internalization Of Race Messages Among Mixed Race Individuals, Jennifer Moulton

Dissertations

The present study used grounded theory qualitative methodology to explore mixed race individuals' experiences within specific racial socialization contexts of family, friends, community, and society, to identify messages received within these contexts. How messages influence both their understandings of mixed race identity and how they racially identify themselves was also examined. Mixed race identity development was found to follow an ecological framework, in which racial socialization messages serve as a mechanism through which experiences within contexts may be interpreted, to then inform conceptions of racial identity and identification choices. Common themes of experiences emerged within contexts, including disownments/disapproval, sibling differences, …

Putting "Community" In Community Schools: Organizational And Cultural Contention In A Public-Private Partnership, Kathleen D. Pacyna

Dissertations

Public-private partnerships as a new organizational form for delivering health and human services to those who require them remains an under-studied but important topic of research in an era significantly influenced by the weakening of the traditional civic welfare infrastructure. Based on two years of ethnographic research including in-depth interviews and participant observation, this research aimed to understand better how the concept of community held by members of the public-private partnership influenced their collective attempts to create a full-service community school program in the Brighton Park neighborhood of Chicago. Research revealed that members of the partnership negotiated and contested the …

Moving Social Spaces: Public Transportation, Material Differences, And The Power Of Mobile Communities In Chicago, Gwendolyn Purifoye

Dissertations

Urban research on stratification in the public terrain has focused on how intentional and unintentional physical arrangements and social conventions limit and enable particular kinds of stratification processes and interactions. This prior research primarily focuses on static places such as plazas, restaurants, sidewalks and train stations and does not give adequate attention to the impact of mobility. As one of the few places where people of different social classes and ethno-racial backgrounds encounter each other, public mobile spaces are sites of the replication of civility and incivility among people of different race, gender, and class positions, and sites of its …

The Ethics Of Vision And Black Theology And Experience, Angelo Sylvester Riley

Dissertations

To this day, philosophical ethics and dominant discussions in Christian ethics have paid insufficient attention to how vision shapes the moral life. Too much focus is given to moral decision-making and action, while too little focus is given to the way vision and patterns of attentiveness ground our capacities for genuine morally responsible action. Therefore, in this study, I draw on important works in philosophical and Christian ethics to examine both the ethics of responsibility and the central role that an ethics of vision plays in our attempts to live responsibly. I use the "ethics of vision" as method and …

Motivating Factors Of Elementary Teachers (K-5) In Illinois Who Belong To Veteran, Baby Boomer, Generation X, And Generation Y Age Bands: A Study Of Ways In Which Improved Generational Intelligence Can Impact School Leaders, Scott Schwartz

Dissertations

The purpose of this study focused on identifying the perceived factors needed for

maintaining and improving job satisfaction of K-5 teachers in Illinois. Determining how

school leaders can improve their understanding of all generations, and therefore work to

increase motivation amongst a growing age span of teachers, is of increasing importance. Increased legal and mandated demands in the field of education have made teaching and school administration more challenging. Based on what the field of education knows about motivation and research on generational intelligences this study answered questions about what building principals need to understand about Veterans, Baby Boomers, Generation …

Seeing The State: Women, Incarceration, And Social Marginality, Cesraea Rumpf

Dissertations

Based on in-depth, semi-structured qualitative and photo-elicitation interviews with 36 formerly incarcerated women, this dissertation answers three central research questions: (1) How does the state structure women's post-incarceration experiences? (2) How do these post-incarceration experiences relate to women's experiences of criminalization and incarceration? (3) How do women respond to criminalization, incarceration, and post-incarceration? By centering women's standpoint, I draw upon poststructuralist theories of the state to show how women experienced governance across multiple sites. I first examine the violence and dehumanization women experienced in their encounters with the criminal legal system and how the state labeled women as "criminals" and …