Digital Commons Network^™

Pharmacodynamics Of Monoamine Transporter Releasing Agents And Reuptake Inhibitors, Alexa Holloway

Theses and Dissertations

Ligands of the human monoamine transporters encompass a wide range of both illicit and therapeutic drugs that act upon neural circuitry related to reward, motivation, and the processing of salient stimuli. The present study utilizes two methods for analyzing transporter substrates and inhibitors in order to characterize activity and assess potency. The first measures transient changes in intracellular calcium as a surrogate for transporter activity by harnessing the electrical coupling of monoamine transporters and L-type calcium channels. This is used to analyze novel chimera of the strong hDAT inhibitors methylphenidate and ��-PPP in order to assess the contribution of specific …

Class/Act Embodied Practices For Performative Pedagogy, Chauntee Irving

Theses and Dissertations

Class/Act: Embodied Practices for Performative Pedagogy is a personal and practical exploration of embodiment’s role in higher education acting pedagogy. In my thesis, I propose that embodied acting practices rooted in phenomenology and corporeal dramaturgy surpass conventional acting curricula. Embodied training is often confused with movement curricula and is regularly considered a shallow and/or unintelligent means to approaching acting work. However, I will argue the efficiency and effectiveness of embodied teaching techniques in four parts. Part One: Seeing is a retrospective of how my personal experiences outside of the classroom have drawn me toward embodied aesthetics. Part Two: Knowing unveils …

The Day Is Just Another Surface, Brooks M. Heintzelman

Theses and Dissertations

Within a practice founded on both typographic form and language, I have continued to push myself to make work that is more sensitive to place, more contextual, more (hopefully) generous toward a public audience. These pieces might serve as useful instruments of institutional critique, resources for comprehension, or moments in which to interrogate preconceived modes of seeing. I deploy original texts in public spaces in order that they might force viewers to decide how to personally resolve the content they encounter. Is it language or object? Literal or figurative? Graphic design or art? The further I develop this body of …

A Sacred Gift: Rebalancing Our Relationship With Water, Noora Naser Melhim

Theses and Dissertations

In the Middle East, and specifically Qatar, water has significant cultural history and preciousness as a commodity. Today, the rapid economic development has resulted in a disconnection from the past leading to subconscious overconsumption of water.

This thesis investigates water from the context of cultural relevance, by examining systems of distribution before and after the discovery of oil. It reinterprets the materiality of the traditional ceramic vessels used to contain and preserve water with the intention of using the natural properties of clay, such as cooling and filtering, to produce new artifacts. The intent of this research is to critically …

Characterizing The Cellular Nature Of The Physical Interactions Necessary For Collective Neuron Migration, Rebecca Vareed

Theses and Dissertations

Neuronal migration is an essential process in the development of the nervous system. Neurons are born in one location and migrate sizable distances to their final location. In many other developmental processes, cells migrate as collectives, where the migration of one cell influences the migration of another cell; this process has yet to be shown in the developing central nervous system. Using the conserved tangential migration of facial branchiomotor neurons (FBMNs), I aim to determine the nature of the collective migration in the developing nervous system. Here, two models of FBMN collective migration are tested: the “Pioneer” model, where following …

Manufactured By Nature: Growing Generatively Designed Products, Mohammad Jawad

Theses and Dissertations

Mass production and assembly lines are yesterday’s manufacturing methods. They have exhausted Earth’s resources and limited the possibilities of design in terms of both form and material, prompting designers to search for new processes. A new generation of making includes biomimicry-inspired technologies such as 3D printing and parametric simulation, which have transformed the production paradigm. Utilizing nature as industry, this thesis explores the possibility of “growing” designed objects by employing nature’s own processes and resources. It integrates bio materials, generative design and additive manufacturing to produce objects for a post-industrial world. The project outcomes employ natural minerals, crystallization and 3D …

Alcohol Use And Drinking Motives In Bereaved Undergraduates, Laura J. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the effect of the experience of a loss on alcohol use and drinking motives in a college sample. Participants for this study were drawn from the “Spit for Science” project (Dick et al., 2014). The sample included 3,013 students (31.8% men, 68.2% women; 44.3% White, 21.1% Black, 19.6% Asian, 6.0% Latinx; mean age = 18.96; 16.2% bereaved) from Virginia Commonwealth University. Data were collected from participants’ freshman spring and sophomore spring time points on the Life Events Checklist, Alcohol Consumption items, and Drinking Motives Questionnaire-Revised. Participants who were bereaved between the freshman and sophomore timepoint did not …

An Evaluation Of Induced Shear Stress On Endothelial Cellular Adhesion Molecules, Edward B. Crabb

Theses and Dissertations

The pathophysiology of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD) is highlighted by vascular dysfunction and low-grade vascular inflammation. Furthermore, the site-specific distribution of atherosclerosis throughout the arterial vasculature is primarily determined by local hemodynamic force. Therefore, this dissertation outlines three experiments designed to investigate the role of acute mental and physical (i.e., aerobic exercise), and vascular wall shear stress (SS) on the inflammatory aspects of atherosclerosis. Chapter 2 examines the effect of acute laboratory-induced mental stress on intracellular pro-inflammatory signaling pathways in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Chapter 3 investigates the impact of acute laboratory-induced mental stress and maximal aerobic exercise on the …

The Effect Of Music Characteristics On The Novelty And Usefulness Of Creative Ideas., Kathleen Keeler

Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the relationship between music and creativity. Prior research has conflicting results with some finding that music does influence creativity and some reporting no relationship and others finding that music is harmful to creativity. All of these studies, however, have largely focused on the presence vs. absence of music without consideration for the characteristics (i.e., musical key, tempo, etc.) that make up the sound we identify as music and their unique effects on us emotionally, physically, and cognitively. This dissertation contends that different characteristics of music influence different components of creativity (i.e., novelty and usefulness) through their effects …

Singing The Landscape: A Meditation On Song, Sound And Community At The Fall Line Of The James River, Sara Bouchard

Theses and Dissertations

I work in the medium of song. A multidisciplinary artist and composer, I make work that is immersive, time-based and often participatory. I interact with landscape and the complexities of American history, bringing into focus local ecologies through the lens of song.

This document accompanies my thesis performance The Sound of a Stone, an immersive exploration of song, language, ecology and locational listening performed in a 4-channel surround format. In the semi-improvised composition, I sample live vocals, mandolin and found natural objects in a combination of roots music traditions and experimental techniques. Utilizing the software Ableton Live to process …

The Wild Beasts, Peter Cochrane

Theses and Dissertations

The Wild Beasts springs from my desire to thank my ever-expanding queer chosen family and mentors for their strength. Working through the often violent and othering aspects of the lens and photographic histories I create floral portraits responding to each person’s being and our relationship. Using the 19th century, 8x10 large format view camera—the same used by colonialists and ethnographers to “capture” the divinity of Nature—I erect each as a traditional still life studio setup at the threshold between the natural world and that constructed by humans. These environments speak both to the character of each friend and also to …

Long-Term Effects Of Notch1 Signaling On Neural Stem Cells Following Traumatic Brain Injury, Cruz Sevilla Jr

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a devastating problem which stands as a leading cause of death and disability. The elderly is significantly affected by TBI, typically as the result of falls, and recovery is especially limited. This, in part, is associated with decreased tissue-specific stem cell regeneration and replacement of damaged cells in the aged brain. The diminished ability of the aged brain to recover is especially devastating after TBI, likely leading to permanent loss of sensory, motor, and cognitive functions. Studies have shown that the mature mammalian brain contains Neural Stem Cells (NSCs), found in specific regions of the …

Executive Functions As Moderators Of Response To Behavioral Interventions For Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Stephen J. Molitor

Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) experience significant academic impairment and multiple interventions have been developed to address common academic problems, such as difficulties with homework, organization, and planning skills. Given cost and resource constraints, research is needed on factors that mental health providers can use to select the most appropriate interventions. To date, there has been minimal research evaluating moderators of response to ADHD interventions. Further, many of the variables that have been studied do not have strong theoretical ties to the mechanisms of change invoked by the interventions. This study examined potential moderators of treatment response to two academic …

Au@Tio2 Nanocomposites Synthesized By X-Ray Radiolysis As Potential Radiosensitizers, Maria C. Molina Higgins

Theses and Dissertations

Radiosensitization is a novel targeted therapy strategy where chemical compounds are being explored to enhance the sensitivity of the tissue to the effects of ionizing radiation. Among the different radiosensitizers alternatives, nanomaterials have shown promising results by enhancing tumor injury through the production of free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this work, Gold-supported titania (Au@TiO₂) nanocomposites were synthesized through an innovative strategy using X-ray irradiation, and their potential as radiosensitizers was investigated. Radiosensitization of Au@TiO₂ nanocomposites was assessed by monitoring the decomposition of Methylene Blue (MB) under X-ray irradiation in the presence of the nanomaterial. …

The Role Of Tumor And Tumor Microenvironment On Breast Cancer-Associated Adipocyte Plasticity, Janina V. Pearce

Theses and Dissertations

Cancer-associated cachexia is a condition defined by a sustained net-negative energy imbalance. Although the different types of adipose tissue – white, beige, and brown – have been implicated in contributing to cancer-associated cachexia, the mechanisms of these maladaptive changes and their impact on whole-body energy expenditure have not been fully elucidated. Using breast cancer as our model, we demonstrate white adipose tissue browning in murine and human breast cancer; furthermore, we demonstrate that this effect is extremely localized and takes place early in tumor progression. We utilized in vitro cell culture techniques and demonstrate that cancer secreted factors and cross-talk …

The Role Of Mindfulness In Self-View Investment: Neural And Subjective Indicators, Hadley Rahrig

Theses and Dissertations

Self-concept is strongly influenced by beliefs about one’s personal psychological attributes, and these beliefs are held with varying degrees of confidence and consequence. Hence, it is investment in self-views of those attributes that helps to regulate and maintain stable self-concept. Self-view investment is relevant to numerous self-related functions, but high self-view investment can also contribute to maladaptive self-views. Theory suggests that mindfulness cultivates a less personal, more objective perception of one’s thoughts, emotions and behaviors, and training in mindfulness has been shown to alter self-referential processing. The current pilot study (N=21) investigates the possible role of dispositional mindfulness in two …

Longitudinal Patterns Of Depression Symptoms Among Emerging Adults, Sarah W. Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Research has suggested that depression symptoms generally decrease after late adolescence; however, there is increasing attention paid to depression symptoms among college students given the stressors unique to this time period and negative outcomes associated with depression. This study examined latent trajectories of depression symptom severity among college students. Participants were 9,889 college students who participated in the Spit for Science project (Dick et al., 2011). Growth Mixture Modeling was used to identify the presence of four subgroups of individuals with similar patterns of initial level and change in depression severity over four years of college, including Low/Minimal (55.9%), Decreasing …

A Computational Assessment Of Lisfranc Injuries And Their Surgical Repairs, Michael Perez

Theses and Dissertations

While Lisfranc injuries in the mid foot are less common than other ankle and mid foot injuries, they pose challenges in both properly identifying them and treating them. When Lisfranc injuries are ligamentous and do not include obvious fractures, they are very challenging for clinicians to identify unless weight bearing radiographs are used. The result is that 20%-40% of Lisfranc injuries are missed in the initial evaluation. Even when injuries are correctly identified the outcomes of surgical procedures remain poor. Existing literature has compared the different surgical procedures but has not had a standard approach or procedures across studies. This …

Targeted Therapies For Ewsr1-Fli1 Translocated Ewing Family Of Tumors, Daniel A.R. Heisey

Theses and Dissertations

The EWSR1-FLI1 t(11;22)(q24;q12) translocation is the pathognomonic genomic alteration in 85% of the Ewing Family of Tumors (EWFT) a malignancy of the bone and the surrounding tissue, predominantly affecting children and adolescents. This translocation results in the formation of a chimeric oncoprotein which acts as an aberrant transcription factor that is currently not pharmaceutically druggable, driving the need for more effective targeted therapies. The EWSR1-FLI1 translocation induces a variety of changes including dysregulation of the epigenome and altered gene expression to drive tumorigenesis, and consequently contributes to the hypersensitivity of EWFT to several classes of chemotherapeutics. We sought to exploit …

Load Scheduling With Maximum Demand And Time Of Use Pricing For Microgrids, Hayder O. Alwan

Theses and Dissertations

Several demand side management (DSM) techniques and algorithms have been used in the literature. These algorithms show that by adopting DSM and Time-of-Use (TOU) price tariffs; electricity cost significantly decreases, and optimal load scheduling is achieved. However, the purpose of the DSM is to not only lower the electricity cost, but also to avoid the peak load even if the electricity prices low. To address this concern, this dissertation starts with a brief literature review on the existing DSM algorithms and schemes. These algorithms can be suitable for Direct Load Control (DLC) schemes, Demand Response (DR), and load scheduling strategies. …

Methods For Joint Normalization And Comparison Of Hi-C Data, John C. Stansfield

Theses and Dissertations

The development of chromatin conformation capture technology has opened new avenues of study into the 3D structure and function of the genome. Chromatin structure is known to influence gene regulation, and differences in structure are now emerging as a mechanism of regulation between, e.g., cell differentiation and disease vs. normal states. Hi-C sequencing technology now provides a way to study the 3D interactions of the chromatin over the whole genome. However, like all sequencing technologies, Hi-C suffers from several forms of bias stemming from both the technology and the DNA sequence itself. Several normalization methods have been developed for normalizing …

Perceived Impact Of Ambient Operating Room Noise By Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists, Marianne S. Cosgrove

Theses and Dissertations

It is widely acknowledged that elevated levels of noise are commonplace in the healthcare environment, particularly in high acuity areas such as the operating room (OR). Excessive ambient noise may pose a threat to patient safety by adversely impacting provider performance and interfering with communication among perioperative care team members. With respect to the certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA), increased ambient OR noise may engender distractibility, diminish situation awareness and cause untoward health effects, thereby increasing the possibility for the occurrence of error and patient injury.

This research project analytically examines the perceived impact of ambient noise in the operating …

The Role Of The Mechanical Environment On Cd117+ Endothelial Cell Angiogenesis, Patrick Link

Theses and Dissertations

Angiogenesis is a complex process coordinating cell migration, proliferation, and lumen formation. Changes to the microenvironment regulate angiogenesis through mechanotransduction and cytokine signals. In pulmonary hypertension, something in the process becomes abnormal, resulting in changes to the microenvironment and the formation of a glomerulus of dysfunctional capillaries, called a plexiform lesion. Endothelial cells, expressing CD117 (CD117+ EC clones) increase in the plexiform lesions of pulmonary hypertension, independent of pro-angiogenic VEGF signaling. We hypothesize that the mechanical environment and the macromolecular composition of the extracellular matrix, both, contribute to the aberrant angiogenesis. When we changed the mechanical environment, we changed the …

Engineering The Alveolar Gas Exchange Barrier With Extracellular Matrix Coatings For Bioengineered Lungs, Bethany M. Young

Theses and Dissertations

Lower respiratory diseases are currently the third leading cause of death worldwide. For many end-stage patients with these diseases, there is no cure and a shortage of donor organs available for transplant. A promising solution is to design regenerative scaffolds or complete bioengineered lungs, using decellularized lung tissues as a template for regeneration. Recent advances in the field have made significant strides towards developing a transplantable lung. However, the current technology has not produced a functional lung for in vivo transplant due to immature gas exchange barriers. The mechanisms driving alveolar barrier maturation and role that extracellular matrix (ECM) plays …

Nutrient Uptake Among Urban And Non-Urban Streams Within The Piedmont Physiographic Province Of Virginia, Joseph T. Famularo

Theses and Dissertations

To assess how urbanization impacts stream nutrient uptake, a series of instantaneous (i.e. slug) nutrient additions were conducted in 3 urban and 3 non-urban streams during open and closed canopy conditions. Single additions of N, P, and combined additions of N and P were performed at each site. These data were used to test the hypothesis that high N:P concentrations in urban streams would result in P-limited conditions, and to assess differences in nutrient uptake kinetics (i.e., the relationship between uptake and concentration) between urban and non-urban streams. The results show that there were no consistent differences in N vs. …

Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Exosomes Increase The Antiproliferative Activity Of Doxorubicin In Breast Cancer, Alexander M. Hirsch

Theses and Dissertations

The field of cancer research has grown immensely in recent decades and has led to a better understanding of the causes of the disease, as well as greatly improved treatment for various types of cancers, especially breast cancer. One of the most effective treatments involves the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin (DOX). DOX is an effective tool against all types of breast cancer, especially against triple negative breast cancer. However, DOX causes adverse side effects that include damage to the heart and skeletal muscle, particularly above specific cumulative doses. Recent evidence suggests that embryonic stem cell-derived (ES) exosomes, nanoscale extracellular vesicles that …

Endogenous Opioid Peptides And Brain Development: Endomorphin-1 And Nociceptin Play A Sex-Specific Role In The Control Of Oligodendrocyte Maturation And Brain Myelination, Esraa M. Mohamed

Theses and Dissertations

Myelin is an extensive cell membrane produced by oligodendrocytes to ensheath neuronal axons in the central nervous system with the primary goal of maximizing the efficiency of electrochemical impulse transmission. During brain development, oligodendrocytes differentiate into myelin forming cells in a tightly regulated process which makes them vulnerable to multiple insults. Previous results from the laboratory showed that the timing of oligodendrocyte differentiation and rat brain myelination were altered by perinatal exposure to buprenorphine and methadone, opioid analogues used for treating pregnant addicts. The mechanism by which these opioids exerted their effects involved two opioid receptors, the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) …

Cellular And Molecular Mechanisms Of Collective Migration In Facial Branchiomotor Neurons, Jane K. Rebman

Theses and Dissertations

The directed migration of neurons is influenced by multiple guidance cues, that may include soluble attractive chemotactic factors and cell-cell contact mediated collective migration. The nature of these neuron-neuron interactions and their integration with chemotaxis remains unclear. Contact inhibition of locomotion (CIL), a process whereby cells undergoing a collision cease their migration towards the colliding cell, has been identified as a driving force behind the collective migration of several cell populations in vivo, but has not been described for neurons in the central nervous system. We have established that Cadherin2 (Cdh2), a cell adhesion molecule, mediates the physical interactions …

Non-Covalent And Covalent Interactions Between Phenylacetylene And Quinoline Radical Cations With Polar And Non-Polar Molecules In The Gas Phase, Adam C. Pearcy

Theses and Dissertations

Gas phase molecular clusters present an ideal medium for observing factors that drive chemical reactions without outside interferences from excessive solvent molecules. Introducing an ion into the cluster promotes ion-molecule interactions that may manifest in a variety of non-covalent or even covalent binding motifs and are of significant importance in many fields including atmospheric and astronomical sciences. For instance, in outer space, molecules are subject to ionizing radiation where ion-molecule reactions become increasingly competitive to molecule-molecule interactions. To elucidate individual ion-molecule interaction information, mass spectrometry was used in conjunction with appropriate theoretical calculations.

Three main categories of experiment were conducted …

Etiological Contributions Of Genetic And Environmental Factors To Nonmedical Use Of Prescription Drugs Among Young Adults, Cassie Overstreet

Theses and Dissertations

Key variables such as trauma exposure (TE) and internalizing symptoms (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]) have been shown to correlate with non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD); however, the temporal associations between these phenotypes remain poorly understood. Moreover, there is a paucity of research that incorporates the influence of genetic factors in the etiology of NMUPD. Although it has been demonstrated that drug use disorders are moderately heritable, research aimed at identifying the specific genes conferring risk is virtually non-existent for NMUPD. Therefore, determining the contribution of genetic and environmental factors associated with risk is critical to understanding NMUPD. To …