Digital Commons Network^™

Route Exploration And Synthesis Of The Reported Pyridone-Based Pdi Inhibitor Stk076545, Eric Greve, Sergey V. Lindeman, Christina Scartelli, Lin Lin, Robert Flaumenhaft, Chris Dockendorff

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The enzyme protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) is essential for the correct folding of proteins and the activation of certain cell surface receptors, and is a promising target for the treatment of cancer and thrombotic conditions. A previous high-throughput screen identified the commercial compound STK076545 as a promising PDI inhibitor. To confirm its activity and support further biological studies, a resynthesis was pursued of the reported β-keto-amide with an N-alkylated pyridone at the α-position. Numerous conventional approaches were complicated by undesired fragmentations or rearrangements. However, a successful 5-step synthetic route was achieved using an aldol reaction with an α-pyridone allyl …

Effects On Initial Fixation Of Cementless Tibial Trays In Total Knee Arthroplasty, Brooke Fritts Thompson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bone mineral density (BMD), among other factors, largely effect the initial stability of the cementless tibial tray component in a total knee replacement (TKR), where increased motion at the tray-bone interface hinders bony ingrowth. With a lack of bony ingrowth, the cementless implant will not experience long-term success. Understanding which factors influence initial stability yields insight into surgical technique considerations and help inform a surgeon’s implant choice. The objective of this study was to evaluate factors influencing the initial stability of cementless tibial trays using a 6-degree of freedom (6-DOF) robotic joint simulator, the AMTI VIVO, and combined loading scenarios …

Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement: Structural And Hemodynamic Analysis, Saba Ravaghi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) is being developed to become a substitute therapy for surgery in prohibitive or high surgical risk patients to treat severe mitral regurgitation. A limited number of TMVR systems are under clinical evaluation. However, transcatheter mitral valve (TMV) long-term durability and hemodynamic performance is not known. TMV durability and hemodynamics must match with that of surgical bioprostheses for potential commercialization of TMVR. Experimental and computational approaches were used to find the leaflets’ three-dimensional anisotropic mechanical properties in a transcatheter Edwards SAPIEN 3 valve and a surgical Carpentier-Edwards PERIMOUNT Magna mitral valve and finite element (FE) simulations …

Big Brother, Othello, And Dogs That Don't Bark: The Use Of Literary Allusion In Federal Appellate Opinions, Kristin B. Gerdy

Faculty Scholarship

Unlike a fish, in the words of Justice Elena Kagan, a literary5 allusion is not “a discrete thing that possesses physical form”6 distinguishable from other expressive devices. Instead, literary allusions can take many forms, be used for many purposes, and have various effects on the reading audience. If the most basic form of a fish is the common goldfish in a bowl, then the most basic judicial literary allusion is a reference to a well-known story in a judicial opinion that is used to make a comparison in a reader’s mind. But just as there are many types of fish …

A Profound Ignorance: Modern Pneumatology And Its Antimodern Redemption [Review] / Radner, Ephraim., Silvia Canale Bacchiocchi

Andrews University Seminary Studies (AUSS)

Book Review

The Influence Of Diet On The Gut Microbiome, Kayla Wede

Health and Nutritional Sciences Graduate Students Plan B Capstone Projects

There is growing research that directly looks at the relationship between the human diet and the gut microbiome. This paper is a narrative review of the current literature on how the human diet can influence the gut microbiome. Without a healthy gut, bacterial imbalances can occur which have been linked to health complications. There are many factors that affect the gut microbiome such as diet, medications, and exercise. There is also limited research that looks at the macronutrients and their role in gut health. It is known that the type of food that people consume is a major influencer of …

Nanoparticles As Alternative Ceramic Glaze Colorants, Nathan Dinh

Honors Theses

Metallic nanoparticles, including gold and silver, have been used in wide-ranging applications due to their versatile characteristics. These include catalysis, biosensing, imaging, cancer treatments, and art. Due to the phenomenon called surface plasmon resonance, metallic particles change optical properties when sized in the nanoscale based on their composition, shape, diameters, or aspect ratios. In study, these robust nanoparticle systems are applied as an alternative to traditional bulk metal colorants in ceramic glazes.

In this study, the research goals are two-fold: to understand firing mechanism on the gold nanoparticle size and to develop these processes for wider use by regular artisans. …

“We’Re Here, We’Re Queer, We Will Not Live In Fear!”: A Content Analysis Exploring Gender Disparity In The Public Reappropriation Of Lgbtq+ Slurs, Nicolas Hall

Capstone Showcase

As minorities, members of the LGBTQ+ community have faced many hardships throughout history, such as the use of language as a weapon against them. However, this research explores the public display of linguistic reappropriation of LGBTQ+ derogatory language and terms within the community. Throughout history, the use of slurs (e.g. faggot and dyke) and their social definitions have shifted from having no connection to the community to directly affected these individuals. These terms have been used to demonize members of the LGBTQ+ community for decades. Despite this reality, there are some scholars who suggest that these terms are being reappropriated, …

A Window, Mirror, And Wall: How Educators Use Twitter For Professional Learning, Elizabeth Sturm, Laura Quaynor

Education Department Faculty Articles

Teachers and other professionals increasingly utilize Twitter as a medium for professional expression and professional learning. These types of Twitter exchanges often take place in formal chats which are moderated by professional organizations or other knowledge brokers in the field. As moderated public online forums become more common, educators may wish to understand the benefits and limitations of this type of professional learning. This paper reports on a study of educators’ discourse in two hosted Twitter chats focused on global education and analyzes the ways in which these types of chats align with research on high-quality professional learning. Results indicate …

The Long Arm Of Medicine: Creation Of The Turkish Medical Infrastructure, Legitimacy, Governmentality, And The Rockefeller Foundation, Eric Bossert

Honors Theses

During the early Turkish Republic, a goal of the new government was to set up systems that would help develop the country. One of these systems was their medical infrastructure which included medical education, public health, and hospitals. Ever suspicious of foreign investment since the events leading to the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the Turkish government decided to employ the help of the American aid organization, the Rockefeller Foundation because of their seeming lack of imperialistic goals. Turkish government and the Rockefeller Foundation sought to further their aims through cooperation. The Turkish government sought to gain legitimacy for its …

White Or Indian? Whiteness And Becoming The White Indian Comics Superhero, Yvonne Patricia Chireau

Religion Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Many Kinds Of Objects That Technoscientific Objects Are, Hugh Lacey

Philosophy Faculty Works

Technoscientific objects are penetrating ever more profoundly into the socio-ecological systems that shape the contemporary lifeworld in ways that have brought about widely celebrated benefits, and also many kinds of risks for human health, the environment and society. There are many kinds of technoscientific objects, such as physical, chemical or biological objects that are outcomes of technical/experimental/instrumental interventions made in the course of research conducted in such areas as computer science, biotechnology, nanotechnology, neurosciences, geo-engineering, synthetic biology and artificial intelligence. Moreover, every technoscientific object is itself an object of many kinds, not only an object whose genesis, functioning and effective …

1984 And Film: Trauma And The Evolution Of The Punjabi Sikh Identity, Hayley Dawn Segall

Honors Papers

This capstone analyzes Punjabi Sikh identity to expand scholarly discourse on trauma and identity formation. After providing background on Sikh roots in Punjab, this piece relates Sikh trauma from 1984 to a contemporary collective identity. In June 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi launched Operation Bluestar; troops stormed the sacred Golden Temple to capture a perceived militant, Jarnail Bhindranwale. Because hundreds of civilians died in the crossfire, Gandhi was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards. In retaliation, Hindu nationalists slaughtered thousands of Sikhs in the Delhi Riots. The effects of violence against Sikhs in Operation Bluestar and the Delhi riots reflect both …

Meaning In Apocalypse, Alexander Johan Metz

Honors Papers

Modernity has always contained the threat of destruction. Mostly, the threat has been shapeless. It has manifested itself in the collective psyche as a vague fear of a far-off wasteland: an unknown apocalypse. The more tense moments of history have sometimes lent the fear real shape. For many years, it seemed as if atomic destruction was just over the horizon. Indeed, the early years of atomic testing wrought significant ecological damage. In the post-Cold War era, the fear of atomic destruction, at least by full nuclear exchange between the superpowers, has receded, but the apocalyptic threat has not. Climate change, …

Moving Honestly - Pangalay Performance, National Identity, And Practice-As-Research, Kara Elena Nepomuceno

Honors Papers

Previous research analyzes the legacies of various Philippine dances in the United States. This project seeks to describe the growing impact of the dance form pangalay, given its rising popularity among Philippine performing arts groups and among individual artists in the diaspora. Pangalay’s sustained, curvilinear style supports Filipino American dancers’ needs for physical well-being, relationship to colonized land, and expression of diasporic culture. Yet when pangalay is framed as a unifying dance aesthetic of Filipino identity, it obscures ongoing internal oppression within the Philippines as Christianized upper classes embrace the dance form yet cohere wealth by displacing Muslim groups.

To …

Legal Consciousness And The Legal Culture Of Nagpra, Eleanor Haskin

Honors Papers

This thesis explores the "life history" of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). It chronicles NAGPRA's story beginning with what created the perceived need for such an act, the work and the groups of people that went into its ultimate advent in 1990, the "nitty-gritty" details/language of the policy itself, and its various successes and failures throughout the years. With research conducted through the lens of legal anthropology, this paper focuses on the certain "requirements" (education, class, race, ethnicity, tribal affiliation, etc.) that have allowed people(s) to actively participate in the formation/policy-building of NAGPRA, become NAGPRA representatives, …

Las “Brujas” En Las Carceles Clandestinas De Argentina: La Prisionera Politica Embarazada Y Otra Madres En La Imaginaria Cultural Del Terrorismo Estatal, Brianne Cotter

Honors Papers

My research attempts to build an archive of the violence that mothers and daughters faced under the Argentine "Dirty War" dictatorship of 1976-1983 with specific attention to pregnant women who visibly straddle the identity of mother and daughter. By looking to state-sanctioned resources and fictional narratives, including novels and film, I hope to better understand a lived experience of pregnant prisoners that has been historically erased, and understand how this intergenerational trauma instilled a legacy of terror through the exploitation of feminized bodies. My thesis proposes that subversive, pregnant women posed the historically rich threat of being “brujas” (witches) against …

“Don't Frack With Us!” An Analysis Of Two Anti-Pipeline Movements, Rachael Lucille Hood

Honors Papers

This study seeks to compare grassroots organizing efforts against two different fracked gas pipelines. Rooting my analysis in the theory of social movements, I focus on the role of the ideological grounding of the resistance movements, the composition of resistance coalitions formed, and the tactics and strategies employed in opposition to these pipelines. I find that a broad-based coalition with a focus on relationship-building is important to the success of the movement. Additionally, I determine that the presence and involvement of small, medium, and large nonprofits as well as the use of direct action strongly contribute to the success of …

Friends, Barbarians, Future Countrymen: Clientela And Caesar’S De Bello Gallico, J.T. Godfrey

Honors Papers

Imagine a Roman citizen of the 50s BCE unrolling Caesar’s Commentarii de Bello Gallico. They might expect a dramatic tale of barbarians rushing naked against Roman shields with faces painted blue, blonde mustaches adorning their faces, their hair like horses’ manes flowing in the wind. Our Roman would probably believe Gallic society to be even more mysterious than their battle tactics; after all, they counsel with druids, they count by nights, and they believe in a never-ending cycle of life and death. Although some Romans possibly read Posidonius’ account of Gallic society (which dispels some of these prejudices), most would …

A Future For Paris? Federalism, The Law Of Nations, And U.S. Courts, Jamison E. Colburn

Faculty Scholarship

The 'We Are Still In' movement raised novel and urgent questions about the status of executive agreements, treaties, and customary international law in U.S. courts. As sub-national governments increasingly face difficult trade-offs between climate change mitigation and adaptation, American courts will confront challenges thereto likely grounded in various types of "dormant" preemption of state and local initiatives. This symposium essay argues that our courts must first situate sub-national actions on climate mitigation within a complex and evolving context of mitigation as a globally-scaled collective good that can only be provided if contributions thereto accumulate over time. They must also avoid …

Harvesting Electrical Energy Produced By Electrogenic Bacteria In Microbial Fuel Cells, Chinedu Ahuchaogu, Kausik Das

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

Cellular respiration is the process by which organic matter oxidizes, and the energy stored in the chemical bonds of the food releases. Normally, cellular respiration occurs inside the mitochondria of cells; however, a unique type of bacteria releases electrons externally. These specialized organisms are called electrogenic bacteria. Our goal is to construct a microbial fuel cell (MFC) with electrogenic bacteria, harvest the external electrons created by cellular respiration, and channel them through an external circuit to generate electricity. Mud soil, which has a high number of electrogenic bacteria in the environment, was used to construct an MFC. In the presence …

Biological Pathways Associated With Wild And Domestic Animals, Cayla Steemer, Laura Carson, Jim Hu, Gloria Regisford

Pursue: Undergraduate Research Journal

Background: Zoonotic diseases are problematic, in that, they impact both wild and domestic animals alike. Thus, there is a need to investigate the genomes of wild and domestic. Gene ontology (GO) is a major bioinformatics initiative, whereby descriptions of gene products across the database are developed and unified to describe all species. This process is performed by biocurators, who gather, annotate, and validate information on the databases, consequently affording easy access to accurate and updated data. In this study, we investigated the biocuration of two biological processes, DNA integration, which is used for DNA coding, and the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) …

Redirected Mindset: A Guide To A More Holistic Practice In Physical Rehabilitation, Sara Anderson, Ashley Malina

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Problem: Current practice is that the occupational therapists’ identity has become rooted in the practice setting they are working in versus the core values and beliefs of the profession. Despite the core values and beliefs of the profession, occupational therapists have pigeon-holed themselves as physical or mental health practitioners (Terry & Westcott, 2012). This results in restricted assessments and interventions that are not holistic and often not occupation based (Terry & Westcott, 2012). “Occupational therapy practitioners need to have an understanding of the physical, emotional, and psychosocial aspects of recovery from physical disability to address potential obstacles to their patient’s …

Finding Your Fire A Group Therapy Manual Designed For Women Who Experience Ptsd From Sexual Violence, Brittanie Schafer

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Purpose: Studies have shown that sexual violence affects approximately 17.7 million women annually (RAINN, 2019). Many of these women lead busy lives, often balancing the roles set upon them by jobs and families. With this in mind, many women believe that they do not have the time to attend therapy or that their other roles in their lives are more important. Some women still do not have the confidence to go to therapy out of the fear of reliving the trauma, experiencing embarrassment, and/or coping with low self-esteem (Keefe, Wiltsey Stirman, Cohen, DeRubeis, Smith, & Resick, 2018). Occupational therapists have …

North Carolina's H.B.2: A Case Study In Lgbtq Rights, Preemption, And The (Un)Democratic Process, Mark Dorosin

Journal Publications

In 2014, community advocates in Charlotte, North Carolina, began organizing to press the city to amend its antidiscrimination ordinance to add several new protected classes, including sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. After a contentious hearing where opponents argued that the change-which would allow transgender people to use public restrooms according to their gender identity-would subject women and children to "sexual predators," the city council voted down the amendment. Undaunted, advocates worked over the next several months to elect new council members and a mayor who supported LGBTQ rights. The amendments to the civil rights ordinance were then brought …

Doctrine Of Dignity: Making A Case For The Right To Die With Dignity In Florida Post-Obergefell

Florida A & M University Law Review

The discussions about the right to privacy have evolved, and the national landscape on physician-assisted suicide has changed since Krischer. Surely, it is time Floridian citizens are given the opportunity to decide whether the right to privacy guaranteed by the Florida constitution includes the right to die with dignity. Numerous states across the nation have adopted legislative provisions which afford those within that state’s borders the ability to die with dignity through physician-assisted suicide. In addition, the seemingly unrelated decision of the United States Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges has reopened the discussion of Glucksberg and its holding. In …

Ban Child Marriages: Florida Is Not Acting In The Best Interest Of The Child

Florida A & M University Law Review

This Note argues that Florida must follow Delaware and New Jersey and ban all minor marriages, without exception. Although the right to marry is a fundamental right, the states have the power to set the age requirements to obtain a marriage license. Permitting any minor to marry, even with specific limitations, is harmful to a child. Thus, Florida must ban all marriages of any person under the age of eighteen. Florida’s current marriage statute sets the minimum age to marry at seventeen, once specific exceptions are met. The statute is an improvement from Florida’s previous marriage statute, which is now …

The Role Of Warm, Dry Summers And Variation In Snowpack On Phytoplankton Dynamics In Mountain Lakes, Isabella A. Olesky, Whitney S. Beck, Roderick W. Lammers, Cara E. Steger, Codie Wilson, Kyle R. Christianson, Kim Vincent, Gunnar Forrest Johnson, Pieter T.J. Johnson, Jill S. Baron

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Climate change is altering biogeochemical, metabolic, and ecological functions in lakes across the globe. Historically, mountain lakes in temperate regions have been unproductive because of brief ice-free seasons, a snowmelt-driven hydrograph, cold temperatures, and steep topography with low vegetation and soil cover. We tested the relative importance of winter and summer weather, watershed characteristics, and water chemistry as drivers of phytoplankton dynamics. Using boosted regression tree models for 28 mountain lakes in Colorado, we examined regional, intraseasonal, and interannual drivers of variability in chlorophyll a as a proxy for lake phytoplankton. Phytoplankton biomass was inversely related to the maximum snow …

Blood Substitution Therapy Rescues The Brain Of Mice From Ischemic Damage, Xuefang Ren, Heng Hu, Imran Farooqi, James W. Simpkins

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Acute stroke causes complex, pathological, and systemic responses that have not been treatable by any single medication. In this study, using a murine transient middle cerebral artery occlusion stroke model, a novel therapeutic strategy is proposed, where blood replacement (BR) robustly reduces infarctions and improves neurological deficits in mice. Our analyses of immune cell subsets suggest that BR therapy substantially decreases neutrophils in blood following a stroke. Electrochemiluminescence detection demonstrates that BR therapy reduces cytokine storm in plasma and ELISA demonstrates reduced levels of matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in the plasma and brains at different time points post-stroke. Further, we have …

Pain Experiences And Their Relation To Opioid Misuse Risk And Emotion Dysregulation, Jonathan W. Nauser, Cecelia I. Nelson, Richard T. Gross, Alison M. Vargovich

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Pain is a complex, multidimensional experience but often is measured as a unidimensional experience. This study aimed to separately assess the sensory and affective components of pain and identify their relations to important pain-related outcomes, particularly in terms of opioid misuse risk and emotion dysregulation among patients with chronic pain receiving treatment in Appalachia. Two hundred and twelve patients presenting to a multidisciplinary pain center completed the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS-18), Screener and Opioid Assessment for Patients with Pain—Revised (SOAPP-R), and short-form McGill Pain Questionnaire (SF-MPQ). The sensory experience of pain was unrelated to emotion dysregulation (r = …