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Two Approaches For Evaluating A Debtor’S “Additional Circumstance” Under The Brunner Test To Qualify For A Hardship Discharge Of Student Loan Debt, Julie Aberasturi

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Under title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”), student loan debt is typically non-dischargeable in bankruptcy, except for circumstances in which the failure to discharge “would impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor’s dependents.” However, the Bankruptcy Code does not define “undue hardship.” Instead, Congress “left it up to the various Bankruptcy Courts to utilize their discretion in defining what that term means after an analysis of the statute and a review of applicable legislative history.”

In determining what constitutes an “undue hardship,” a majority of courts rely on the three-prong Brunner test …

Standing To Challenge Bankruptcy Court’S Approval Of Retiree Benefits Settlement, Inkook Choi

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Section 1114 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) provides in relevant part that: “the debtor in possession shall timely pay and shall not modify any retiree benefits” unless “the court, on the motion of the [debtor] or authorized representative [of the retirees,]” orders or the debtor and the authorized representative agree to the modification of such benefits. A bankruptcy court may, after notice and hearing, approve a settlement, including a settlement of retiree benefit claims, under Federal Rule of Bankruptcy Procedure 9019. Consequently, creditors and other parties in interest may voice their views on …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Debtor’S Obligations To Comply With Duties To Pay Rent, Joseph Diorio

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

Under section 365(d)(3) of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”), a debtor-in-possession is required to “timely perform all the obligations of the debtor . . . arising from and after the order for relief under any unexpired lease of nonresidential real property until such lease is assumed or rejected, notwithstanding section 503(b)(1) of this title.” Section 365 was implemented to relieve landlords from the burden of proving the rent payments owed by the debtors prior to rejection were “actual and necessary” costs of preserving the bankruptcy estate. Section 365 has been heavily litigated since early …

Evaluating The Availability Of An Income-Driven Repayment Plan Under The Two Doctrinal Tests For Undue Hardship, Emily R. Fisher

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Excerpt)

A fundamental goal of bankruptcy is to give the debtor a “fresh start” by discharging their debts. For student loan debtors in bankruptcy, the opportunity of a “fresh start” is limited. Under title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”), student loans are not dischargeable unless excepting such debt from discharge would impose an undue hardship on the debtor and the debtor’s dependents. Without guidance from the statutory text, the definition of undue hardship is left up to judicial interpretation, giving rise to much litigation.

An issue that frequently arises when undue hardship is litigated is the …

Ability Of The Eeoc To Litigate For Compensation On Behalf Of A Specific Individual Despite Automatic Stay, Julia Guthy

Bankruptcy Research Library

(Exceprt)

Section 362 of title 11 of the United States Code (the “Bankruptcy Code”) provides for an automatic stay, i.e., a “statutory injunction against efforts outside [a] bankruptcy to collect debts from a debtor under the protections of the Bankruptcy Code.” However, pursuant to section 362(b)(4) of the Bankruptcy Code, a governmental agency may commence or continue an action against a debtor to enforce the agency’s police or regulatory power despite the automatic stay (hereinafter, the “§362(b)(4) Exception”). For the exception to apply, the action of the governmental agency must “protect the public health and safety” as opposed to “a …

The Platform Architecture Of Health Insurance And Managed Care, Laurell G. Richardson

Doctoral Dissertations (DBA)

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Roles Of Lipids In Staphylococcus Aureus Infection, Xi Chen

Dissertations

The Gram-positive bacterium Staphylococcus aureus is a major threat to public health and causes a multitude of infections, ranging from mild skin and soft infection, to more severe diseases including sepsis, osteomyelitis and infective endocarditis. As a successful pathogen, S. aureus employs various mechanisms to invade host tissues, evade immune responses, and survive in the host environment. One critical adaptive trait of S. aureus that promotes virulence and survival is the ability to maintain membrane homeostasis via flexible modifications to its lipid composition in response to the surrounding lipid environment. Phospholipids are the major component of the bacterial membrane and …

Il-27 Signaling In The Maintenance Of Intestinal Barrier Following Ethanol Intoxication And Burn Injury, Marisa Luck

Dissertations

Roughly half of burn patients that are hospitalized in the United States each year have detectable blood alcohol levels. Alcohol intoxication at the time of burn injury leads to worse outcomes, including longer hospital stays, increased rates of infection, and death. One of the severe consequences of intoxication and burn injury is the disruption of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, which houses the largest reservoir of bacteria in the human body. Leakiness of the gut barrier can contribute to inflammation, infection, or sepsis from gut-derived microbes. Interleukin-27 (IL-27) is a cytokine that has shown some beneficial effects in other models of …

Comparative Studies On Biochemical And Pharmacological Profiles Of Unfractionated Heparins & Their Depolymerized Derivatives From Bovine, Ovine And Porcine Origins, Ahmed Kouta

Dissertations

Heparin and heparin related drugs have remained the anticoagulant of choice for medical and surgical indications. These drugs are comprised of poly-component sulfated chains of varying length and biophysical structure with direct and indirect pharmacological effects. Heparins produce their therapeutic effects by multiple mechanisms involving both the cellular and humoral targets. These drugs represent natural products which are isolated from mammalian tissue rich in mast cells. Currently used heparin and LMWHs are obtained from porcine mucosal tissue. Other animal sources including bovine and ovine tissues also provide additional sources for the manufacturing of heparins. While there may be microchemical and …

F Plasmids In Escherichia Coli Decrease Permissivity To Coliphage, Cesar Eber Montelongo Hernandez

Dissertations

The urinary tract contains a community of bacteria called the urinary microbiota (urobiota) thatmay be relevant to health; the genomic component of the urobiota is the urinary microbiome (urobiome). Urinary bacteria have been associated with both asymptomatic states and disease conditions, such as urinary tract infection (UTI), overactive bladder (OAB), and urge urinary incontinence (UUI). Some bacteria, such as E. coli, are considered urinary pathogens (uropathogens) but also can be commensals. Bacteriophage (phage) are ubiquitous in nature and likely shape bacterial populations in every niche; thus, phage may be one factor that modulates the urobiota. Phages have a specific host …

Relationships Among Nursing Presence, Openness, And Fatigue In Acute Care Nurses, Barbara Therese Pudelek

Dissertations

Nursing presence was first identified when Florence Nightingale established a physical nursing presence or "being" and providing compassionate care or "doing" in the military hospitals during the Crimean War (Watson, 1998; Boeck, 2014; Dossey, 2000). Nursing presence has been a central focus in nursing throughout the past several decades (Turpin, 2014) and has been positively linked to the development of nurse-patient relationships. Nursing presence has been hypothesized to transpire when a joint relationship develops between the patient and the nurse. The patient allows the nurse into a relationship in which the nurse recognizes the patient as a unique being and …

Clarifying Coaching: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of A Math Content-Focused Model And Its Impact On Teachers' Practice, Content Knowledge, And Dispositions, Lauren A. Solarski

Dissertations

Coaching is increasingly becoming required or recommended as a form of teacher professional development, but the education field has only begun to define the practice and understand its features, especially in regard to its potential to improve math teaching in early childhood contexts. Using mixed methods and a Whole Teacher Approach theoretical framework, this study examined a math content-focused coaching model and its impact on teachers' math content knowledge, teaching practice, and dispositions including attitudes, beliefs, and confidence. Participants included 141 lead and assistant teachers and 5 coaches working in 27 Head Start centers in Chicago. Teachers at centers randomly …

Dismantling Tools Of The Incompetent: Exploring Cultural Competence Training In Undergraduate Education Policy And Education Studies Programs, Ashley P. Allen

Dissertations

Cultural competence is described as a set of skills, values, and principles that acknowledge, respect, and work toward optimal interactions between the individual and the various cultural and ethnic groups with which an individual might come into contact. Scholars have been critical of cultural competence training because the three-dimensional approach which is its foundation fails to address institutional and systemic racism. I posit that undergraduate programs should provide training, so graduates are culturally competent entering their respective fields. I examined cultural competence training within education policy and studies undergraduate programs because these graduates will work within education at all levels …

Emancipatory And Controlling: Examining The Negotiation Of Masculinity-Centered Practices By Women's And Gender Equity Center Practitioners, Ashley M. Brown

Dissertations

Initiatives to understand and transform masculinity have increasingly emerged in higher education, calling attention to the consequences of dominant, masculine gender expectations that permeate throughout college campuses. These masculinity-centered practices in higher education encompass formalized, departmental initiatives for students, faculty, and/or staff that examine topics related to masculinity through educational workshops, speaker events, professional development sessions, dialogue spaces, and other efforts. While it is often assumed that these practices support the advancement of gender equity, scholars have theorized the ways in which this work can also lead to depoliticized efforts that may, in fact, reify patriarchal and other systems of …

Peace Bodies: Women, Encampments, And The Struggle Against Nuclear Weapons During The Cold War, 1979-1992, Janette Clay

Dissertations

"Peace Bodies: Women, Encampments, and the Struggle against Nuclear Weapons during the Cold War, 1972-1992" examines the global 1980s women's peace camping movement. This study aims to explore and comprehend peace in new ways. It is specifically targeted to define peace campers' fundamental peace principles and to discover how they embodied them. This research interrogates the ways in which the peace camping movement influenced the political and cultural developments that led to nuclear de-escalation in the final years of the Cold War. The sources for this research include women's peace camp archival records, film footage and photographs, interviews, and oral …

Examining The Interplay Of Mental Health, Family Conflict, And Body Mass Index Among Mexican Origin Families: A Cross-Lagged Model, Laura Margaret Lehman Distel

Dissertations

Mexican-origin youth in the U.S. are at risk for obesity (Fryar et al., 2018) and mental health concerns (McLaughlin, Hilt, & Nolen-Hoeksema, 2007). One key psychosocial process implicated in this health inequity is family conflict (Conger et al., 1999), which has been associated with both poor mental health outcomes (e.g. Santiago & Wadsworth, 2009) and overweight and obesity (Halliday et al., 2013). However, no research to date has examined the complex interplay of family conflict, mental health problems and body mass indices (BMI) over time. The present study examined cross-lagged associations among child z-scored BMI (zBMI), mental health problems (internalizing …

Impact Of Violence Exposure On Children's Mental Health And Family Functioning: An Ecological-Transactional Approach, Rice Mary Dusing

Dissertations

N/A

Development Of Small Molecule Inhibitors Of Therapeutic Target Enzymes: Paths To Discover Novel Antimicrobials, Thahani Shifna Habeeb Mohammad

Dissertations

The rising antimicrobial resistance to antibiotics is a major global problem, which has been exacerbated by the inappropriate use of antibiotics. The effectiveness of frequently prescribed penicillin derivatives and β-lactamase inhibitors are compromised by the evolution of bacterial β-lactamases and antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Consequently, design and synthesis of small-molecule inhibitors of identified novel antibiotic targets is an urgent unmet medical need. We previously demonstrated that N-functionalized α-aminocyclobutanones can act as peptidomimetic enzyme inhibitors, including inhibition of a key esterase in Francisella Tularensis. The carbonyl of a cyclobutanone is electrophilic due to ring strain, therefore cyclobutanone derivatives can serve as transition state …

Adherence To A Mindfulness App For College Students With Depression: Patterns, Predictors, And Outcomes, Brynn Marie Huguenel

Dissertations

National trends indicate that mental health concerns, particularly rates of depression, continue to rise on college campuses; however, treatment utilization remains low. Technology-based mental health interventions, such as mental health apps (MHapps), are a promising means of overcoming treatment barriers. MHapps are effective in improving psychological outcomes, but low rates of adherence are a noted limitation. The current study explored patterns of adherence to a MHapp, investigated the bidirectional relation between adherence and depression, and identified motivational predictors of adherence rates. Undergraduate students (N= 66) reporting clinically-elevated depressive symptoms completed a three-month trial using Headspace, a mindfulness MHapp. Patterns of …

The Impact Of Affiliative Motivation And Trust On Confrontations Of Racism, Jamie Patrianakos

Dissertations

Anti-Black racism persists in the United States with harmful consequences for Black people. White people are able to disrupt the racial status quo and propel the conversation about racial justice forward by confronting racism. Confronting perpetrators of racism can reduce prejudice, yet people hesitate to confront because they fear social backlash, even from those with whom they share a social bond. Two online studies asked participants to complete a task eliciting stereotypical responding while being observed by a supposed interaction partner with whom they shared either a high or low desire to get along. Participants were confronted by their interaction …

Cardioprotective Extracellular Vesicles Derived-Micrornas: Sorting Mechanisms And Functions, Anh P. Phan

Dissertations

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nano-size membrane bound vesicles that are derived from the fusion of multivesicular endosomes with the plasma membranes. EVs have important roles in intercellular communication through the transfer of their unique cargoes including RNA, DNA and protein molecules to recipient cells. Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)-derived EVs have been shown to reduce infarct size and reduce the progress of heart failure after cardiac ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury in animal models. Small non-coding RNAs such as microRNA (miRNA) have been indicated as one of the active components that mediate the beneficial effects of MSC-derived EVs. However, the selective packaging mechanisms …

Moving Beyond Recruitment And Hiring: Including And Actualizing The Voices Of Teachers Of Color In A Suburban School District, Jennifer Ann Rowe

Dissertations

Loyola University Chicago MOVING BEYOND RECRUITMENT AND HIRING: INCLUDING AND ACTUALIZING THE VOICES OF TEACHERS OF COLOR IN A SUBURBAN SCHOOL DISTRICT This capstone identifies, as a problem of educational practice in American secondary schools, the failure of our school systems to equally value and validate Black and brown educators as compared with their white counterparts, consequently preventing the cultivation of an environment that would encourage these educators to flourish in the profession rather than presenting barriers to their success. Calling upon the prevailing research, Ms. Rowe evaluates approaches that school districts can take to overcome these roadblocks and foster …

Dying To Fight: The Individual And Social Processes Of The Foreign Fighter Phenomenon, Michael James Schumacher

Dissertations

Why do individuals take the extraordinary risk of traveling abroad to fight, and potentially die, in another country's conflict? This dissertation compares the motivations behind the U.S. citizens who fought on behalf of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) and the Tunisian citizens who fought on behalf of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) in the Syrian Civil War (2011 - present). The study relies on personal narratives of individual foreign fighters collected through twelve weeks of archival research at the Tamiment Library in New York City and the Ernest Hemingway Archives in Boston dedicated …

Environmental Reforestation And Social Justice In Cameroon: A Test Case For Pope Francis' Concept Of 'Integral Ecology' In Laudato Sí, Augustin Vondou

Dissertations

The following quotation from Pope Francis' encyclical Laudato Sí is one of the most quoted parts of his well-known encyclical: We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature (139).

This is a very challenging statement. Not everyone accepts this idea of an ‘integral ecology’; that is, the notion that the condition of human society is directly linked to the …

Pediatric Mental Health Hospitalizations And The Return To School: School-Based Provider Perspectives On Commmunication, Collaboration, And Systematic Practices, Lauren Elizabeth Carr

Dissertations

The provision of pediatric mental health services has changed greatly over the last several decades with more children and adolescents requiring intensive mental health treatment. Despite this increase, systemic barriers continue to prevent youth from receiving appropriate treatment following psychiatric hospitalization. An important aspect of this treatment process includes a child’s return to school, one of the most common environments for a child or adolescent outside of their home. For many children, the hospital-to-school transition team may include regular and special education teachers, school psychologists, social workers or therapists, psychiatrists, medical doctors, case managers, and nurses. Because of this, it …

Standardizing Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm Education, Marjorie Anne Gisslow

Master's Projects and Capstones

Problem: Patients receive information about a new thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) diagnosis from their primary care providers (PCPs). As TAA is a relatively rare conditions, many PCPs have rudimentary knowledge of TAA, and need information and support from cardiac specialists to address their patients’ concerns and guide their care.

Context: In the Regional TAA Surveillance Program the TAA nurses offer educational content for patients through the information they provide to the PCPs. Currently the educational material available to PCPs is not comprehensive or easily accessible.

Intervention: Uniform, comprehensive educational content provided through recommendations in the patient’s electronic medical record at …

Wastewater Treatment Alters Microbial Colonization Of Microplastics, John J. Kelly, Maxwell G. London, Amanda R. Mccormick, Miguel Rojas, John W. Scott, Timothy J. Hoellein

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Microplastics are ubiquitous contaminants in aquatic habitats globally, and wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are point sources of microplastics. Within aquatic habitats microplastics are colonized by microbial biofilms, which can include pathogenic taxa and taxa associated with plastic breakdown. Microplastics enter WWTPs in sewage and exit in sludge or effluent, but the role that WWTPs play in establishing or modifying microplastic bacterial assemblages is unknown. We analyzed microplastics and associated biofilms in raw sewage, effluent water, and sludge from two WWTPs. Both plants retained >99% of influent microplastics in sludge, and sludge microplastics showed higher bacterial species richness and higher abundance …

Low Medication Adherence Is Associated With Decline In Health-Related Quality Of Life: Results Of A Longitudinal Analysis Among Older Women And Men With Hypertension, Erin Peacock, Cara Joyce, Leslie S. Craig, Zachary Lenane, Elizabeth W. Holt, Paul Muntner, Marie Krousel-Wood

Biostatistics Collaborative Core: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the association of low antihypertensive medication adherence with decline in health-related quality of life (HRQOL) over 1 year.

Methods: We used data from older men and women with hypertension (n¼ 1525) enrolled in the Cohort Study of Medication Adherence among Older Adults. Adherence was measured using the validated self-report four-item Krousel-Wood Medication Adherence Scale (K-Wood-MAS-4) (low adherence¼ score 1) and prescription refill-based proportion of days covered (PDC) (low adherence¼ PDC< 0.80). We defined decline in HRQOL as a decrease in Mental Component Summary (MCS) or Physical Component Summary (PCS) score (from the RAND 36-Item Health Survey 1.0 administered at two time points – at the time of adherence assessment and 1 year later) equivalent to the minimal important difference (MID) for each respective summary score, calculated as the average of MID estimates derived from distribution and anchor-based approaches.

Results: The prevalence of low adherence was 38.6% using the K-Wood-MAS-4 and 23.9% using PDC. On the basis of mean MID …

The Effects Of Technological Supervision On Gig Workers: Organizational Control And Motivation Of Uber, Taxi, And Limousine Drivers, Peter Norlander, Nenad Jukic, Arup Varma, Svetlozar Nestorov

School of Business: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Does supervision from technological platforms alter gig workers’ motivation and perceptions of control? We address this question with two field studies set in the passenger livery (pick up and drop off) industry. A between-subjects field survey (n = 50) finds that UberX drivers perceive significantly greater organizational control compared to taxi drivers, but do not report significantly different levels of intrinsic motivation, needs satisfaction, or enjoyment of work. In a follow-up within-subjects field experiment (n = 79), we identify the causal impact of technological supervision on drivers’ perceptions of control and motivation. Black car limousine drivers who sometimes …

Promoting Early-Adolescent Dual Language Learners' Language Use & Reading Skills, Holly Griskell

Dissertations

Most studies of Dual Language Learners’ (DLLs’) literacy development focus on the early childhood years. As such, this three-study dissertation sought to advance our knowledge of DLLs’ English language and reading comprehension skills during early adolescence, a developmental stage when many students struggle with reading. Study 1, “Classroom Discussion and Early-Adolescent Dual Language Learners’ Motivation and Reading Comprehension”, considered how features of the classroom language environment promote DLLs’ reading comprehension skills. We examined relations between students’ (N = 413; M age = 11.66-years-old) engagement in high-quality classroom discussions and reading comprehension as a function of their motivation to participate in …