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2022

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Merely Mortal: A Quantitative Examination Of The Dehumanization Of First Responders, Kari M. Mika-Lude Jan 2022

Merely Mortal: A Quantitative Examination Of The Dehumanization Of First Responders, Kari M. Mika-Lude

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Background: While understaffing and work-related stress are not unusual within first responder professions, the past few years have added additional strain. COVID-19, political and civil unrest, and economic downturn have stretched the first responder workforce thinner than ever, contributing to a reduction in the workforce through death, early retirement, attrition, or decreased vocational effectiveness. Unfortunately, public stereotypes coupled with the tenets of first responder culture have done little to support those who serve. Public perception often involves polarized stereotypes about first responders (e.g., good guys or bad guys, heroes or villains), and first responder culture encourages a machine-like demeanor. The …

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Development Of Ph-Sensitive And Amine-Reactive Lifters For The Detection Of Latent Fingermarks, Andrei Gregory Mlakar Jan 2022

Development Of Ph-Sensitive And Amine-Reactive Lifters For The Detection Of Latent Fingermarks, Andrei Gregory Mlakar

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Latent fingermarks are among the most common forms of physical evidence left at crime scenes. Being composed largely of eccrine and sebaceous secretions, they are typically invisible unless they are treated with, e.g., powders or cyanoacrylate fumes. Drawbacks to these and other commonly used methods, however, may include limited substrate compatibility, safety hazards, inability to detect older marks, and the need for expensive instrumentation and expert practitioners. Fingermarks on curved, reflective, patterned, or luminescent substrates are particularly challenging to image with most common techniques. After treatment, fingermarks on such difficult substrates may be transferred to, or “lifted” by, flexible adhesives, …

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Facilitating Equal Access For Disabled Students Who Are Incarcerated: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Of Community Colleges' Disability Services In For-Credit Correctional Education Programs, Jenifer K. Montag Jan 2022

Facilitating Equal Access For Disabled Students Who Are Incarcerated: An Exploratory Mixed Methods Study Of Community Colleges' Disability Services In For-Credit Correctional Education Programs, Jenifer K. Montag

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Issues regarding the provision of accommodations for students with disabilities exist in both traditional college environments and nonstandard settings such as medical and legal education settings. While the situation is less than optimal for disabled students seeking degrees in the general population, who are unfettered in their academic pursuits, little is known about accommodations for disabled students who are incarcerated and enrolled in for-credit courses through community colleges that have partnerships with local prisons. This mixed methods study is focused on exploring the current state of accommodation service provision by public community college disability service providers for disabled students’ who …

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Evidence-Based Decision Making In Elementary Schools: A Case Study Of How Districts Make Decisions When Implementing Foreign Language Programs, Danielle Elizabeth Moran Jan 2022

Evidence-Based Decision Making In Elementary Schools: A Case Study Of How Districts Make Decisions When Implementing Foreign Language Programs, Danielle Elizabeth Moran

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Learning another language is considered a key 21st century subject, something that all students should begin in elementary school. However, most school districts in Illinois do not offer students the opportunity to learn another language in elementary school. There are effective and high quality programs available to learn another language that are also mutually beneficial to English learners (ELs). District leaders in charge of planning curricular programs have choices about which programs are offered and are tasked with considering the many needs of the districts they serve. The purpose of this study was to learn about the decision making of …

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“If I Had Felt Comfortable Or Accepted, I Would Have Made More Progress”: A Phenomenological Investigation Into The Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Persons In Clinical Professional Counseling, Valerie Moreno-Tucker Jan 2022

“If I Had Felt Comfortable Or Accepted, I Would Have Made More Progress”: A Phenomenological Investigation Into The Experiences Of Lgbtq+ Persons In Clinical Professional Counseling, Valerie Moreno-Tucker

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The counseling literature has indicated that LGBTQ+ persons have experienced fewer positive mental health outcomes than cisgender heterosexual persons. Professional counselors, despite their requirement to provide culturally sensitive counseling services for all communities, must learn how to better need the needs of LGBTQ+ persons and communities. This dissertation elevates LGBTQ+ persons’ voices by examining the experiences of LGBTQ+ persons in clinical professional counseling. Specifically, the IPA approach was utilized in analyzing data from six individuals who each participated in two interviews lasting 45-90 minutes each. This investigation found commonalities between each participant regarding both their helpful and unhelpful experiences in …

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Controlling Women’S Appetites: Food And Femininity In Victorian Literature, Elizabeth Murray Jan 2022

Controlling Women’S Appetites: Food And Femininity In Victorian Literature, Elizabeth Murray

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This project contributes to the growing field of feminist food studies by examining Victorian women’s relationships to food. I argue that beginning at a young age Victorian middle-class girls and women had to learn to regulate their appetites and eating as a way of performing “proper” Victorian femininity. Chapter one explains why the Victorian period, the middle-class, and women are apt subjects for a feminist food studies exploration of literature and culture. The second chapter discusses non-fiction advice literature that includes guidance about how middle-class girls and women should eat and control their bodies as part of their performance of …

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Design And Fabrication Of A Small-Sized Omni-Directional Spherical Robot, Aayush P. Patel Jan 2022

Design And Fabrication Of A Small-Sized Omni-Directional Spherical Robot, Aayush P. Patel

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

As we have witnessed through an unprecedented pandemic crisis, a lack of or decreased level of social interactions could have a negative impact on people's mental health. Ample evidence indicates that similar phenomena take place in rodents as socially isolated rodents display a high level of stress and cognitive declination. While spherical robots have recently drawn significant interest in many areas such as education, entertainment, and surveillance due to their ability to move instantaneously in any direction, the objective of this thesis is to design and fabricate a small-sized, self-locomotive omnidirectional robot to provide those animals with physical interactions as …

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Monitoring Plants Growth In Indoor Vertical Farms Using Computer Vision And Ai Techniques, Bhama Krishna Pillutla Jan 2022

Monitoring Plants Growth In Indoor Vertical Farms Using Computer Vision And Ai Techniques, Bhama Krishna Pillutla

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Climatic conditions like temperature, drought, and heavy metals disturb plant cell structures and, ultimately, plant growth that significantly affects crop production. Due to increasing climate change, maize crop yields are projected to decline by 24% by the end of century. With the increase in food demands and decrease in agricultural land and water resources, the space for effective farming is left much desired. Though limited to a few crops at this moment, Indoor Vertical Farming is one technique that requires much less land space, water, soil, and sunlight when compared to traditional farming. Vertical farming allows artificial control of temperature, …

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The Role Of Social Support In The Association Between Socioeconomic Status And Academic Outcomes For Early Adolescents, Yoonsun Pyun Jan 2022

The Role Of Social Support In The Association Between Socioeconomic Status And Academic Outcomes For Early Adolescents, Yoonsun Pyun

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Students’ experiences in school, specifically experiences of academic success, have a lasting impact on their future outcomes, such as future academic achievement, employment and financial stability, and reduced risk of substance use in adolescence and psychopathology in adulthood. However, there are a number of risk factors that affect students’ academic outcomes, such as low socioeconomic status (SES). The literature consistently demonstrates discrepancy in academic outcomes for students from different SES backgrounds, such as students from lower SES background entering high school with lower reading skills and having higher high school dropout rates in comparison to students from higher SES background. …

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Modeling And Visualization Of Long-Term Public Opinion On Covid-19 Vaccine, Ashiqur Rahman Jan 2022

Modeling And Visualization Of Long-Term Public Opinion On Covid-19 Vaccine, Ashiqur Rahman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The coronavirus pandemic created significant dependence on social media. While the social web was crucial in spreading timely information and informing the public, misinformation has also spread with little to no oversight. Several works have focused on identifying misinformation and topic analysis in COVID-19 (SARS-COV-2) tweets. While most of the previous studies focus on a shorter time frame, we analyzed a larger dataset starting from the beginning of the pandemic until the end of December 2021. Our work focuses on a novel area that identifies the motivating and demotivating topics of COVID-19 vaccination and analyzes these topics based on time, …

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Exploratory Study Of Practicum Counselor Strategies Of Connection And Disconnection, Ashley S. Roberts Jan 2022

Exploratory Study Of Practicum Counselor Strategies Of Connection And Disconnection, Ashley S. Roberts

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There is an urge within professional counseling to provide socially just and multiculturally competent care. Relational Culture Theory (RCT) aligns with these goal as included its core components is theory about how people develop in stratified cultural contexts. Although there is increasing empirical support for RCT, there is a gap in understanding of how professional counselors implement RCT strategies of connection and disconnection. Therefore, the researcher in this study implemented instrumental case study design and directed content analysis to understand practicum counselor responses to clients. Findings of this study are applied to clinical practice, counseling education, and supervision.

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Qommunities: A Characterization Of Qanon Support In The Us, Alexa Rogalla Jan 2022

Qommunities: A Characterization Of Qanon Support In The Us, Alexa Rogalla

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The far-right, pro-Trump conspiracy movement QAnon has gained popularity in recent years for their outlandish conspiratorial claims and has even been implicated in motivating some participants in the January 6th insurrection at the US Capitol as well as violent extremist events. The current state of research into conspiracy theories is lacking, especially within the field of sociology, where the social dimensions of conspiracy theories are poorly understood. This research contributes to the literature on conspiracy theories by addressing gaps in the literature through an analysis of internet searches related to QAnon, using geo-coded Google searches for QAnon related terms as …

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Cathode Electron Sources For Cold Field Emission: Fabrication Methodology For Discretely Patterned High Aspect Ratio Silicon Nanotips, Austin Luke Rose Jan 2022

Cathode Electron Sources For Cold Field Emission: Fabrication Methodology For Discretely Patterned High Aspect Ratio Silicon Nanotips, Austin Luke Rose

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The development of high aspect ratio electron sources for use in Cold Field Emission (CFE) is an area of research interest with a wide range of potential applications from electron microscopy to CFE X-ray sources for computed tomography in the medical field. The development of cathode electron sources that are capable of electron emission at room temperature is attractive because of their ability to produce bright high current electron beams with less energy spread than their Thermionic or Schottky equivalents. These parameters are impacted by the sharpness of the emitter’s apex, creating the desire for high aspect ratio emitters. Additionally, …

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Covidalert - A Wristwatch-Based System To Alert Users From Face Touching, Mrinmoy Roy Jan 2022

Covidalert - A Wristwatch-Based System To Alert Users From Face Touching, Mrinmoy Roy

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Worldwide 219 million people have been infected and 4.5 million have lost their lives in ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Until vaccines became widely available, precautions and safety measures like wearing masks, physical distancing, avoiding face touching were some of the primary means to curb the spread of virus. Face touching is a compulsive human behavior that can not be prevented without constantly making a conscious effort, even then it is inevitable. To address this problem, we have designed a smartwatch-based solution, CovidAlert, that leverages Random Forest algorithm trained on accelerometer and gyroscope data from the smartwatch to detect hand transition to …

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Quarantine And Isolation Experiences Of College Students: A Narrative, Brooke Gibson Jan 2022

Quarantine And Isolation Experiences Of College Students: A Narrative, Brooke Gibson

Masters Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic was an unanticipated phenomenon, with a lack of information surrounding quarantine and isolation experiences in college students and how this impacts their sense of belonging. This qualitative narrative study utilized semi-structured interviews to understand the participants’ experience of isolation at a rural mid-sized university in the Midwest. The research shared the students experiences and showed that participants lacked some sense of belonging whether it was with friends, family, or their institution.

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Q/A: A Semiotic Deconstruction Of Narrative Transportation On Episodic Television, Josh Grube Jan 2022

Q/A: A Semiotic Deconstruction Of Narrative Transportation On Episodic Television, Josh Grube

Masters Theses

Narrative transportation is a captivating phenomenon in which an audience member psychologically departs from material reality and immerses into the narrative world (Gerrig, 1993). Existing literature on narrative transportation mostly consists of audience-level studies, primarily focused on the phenomenon’s persuasive effects and audience attributes that mediate their ability to be transported. From a theoretical media perspective, transportation is conceived as an aspect of the larger audience cultivation process (Gerbner, 1998) due to its persuasive influence, revealing the importance of viewing it from the textual level. This thesis fills a significant gap in narrative transportation theory by examining television narratives through …

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Development Of Phase Change Thermal Storage Medium: Cooking With More Power And Versatility, Martin Osei Jan 2022

Development Of Phase Change Thermal Storage Medium: Cooking With More Power And Versatility, Martin Osei

Masters Theses

With an Insulated Solar Electric Cooker (ISEC), a 100 W solar panel directly cooks food while providing 5W off-grid electricity access; but it cooks slowly. Storing the day’s energy with phase change thermal storage allows ISEC to cook more rapidly as well as cook after sunset. The ISEC is made by sticking a 3ohm resistive to an aluminum pot (inner phase change assembly PCA) where another cooking pot fits. The resistive heater is surrounded by a bigger pot (outer PCA) that contains the PCM and is tightly sealed. The solar panel is connected to the resistive heater with a thermal …

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Low-Head Dam Removal Increases Functional Diversity Of Stream Fish Assemblages, Adam Christopher Jones Jan 2022

Low-Head Dam Removal Increases Functional Diversity Of Stream Fish Assemblages, Adam Christopher Jones

Masters Theses

Despite the growing number of dam removals to date, very few have been studied to understand their impacts on stream fish communities. Despite being the most common type of dam in the U.S., an even smaller proportion of studies focus on the impacts of low-head dam removals, instead, focusing on the impacts of removal of larger dams. In this study, two previously impounded Illinois rivers were monitored to assess the impacts of low-head dam removal on the functional assemblage of stream fishes. This was accomplished by aggregating fishes into habitat and reproductive guilds, relating community changes to habitat, environmental metrics, …

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Faculty Perceptions On Working With Students With Learning Disabilities, Ashley Jezik Jan 2022

Faculty Perceptions On Working With Students With Learning Disabilities, Ashley Jezik

Masters Theses

Students with specific learning disabilities in higher education have been rapidly increasing. Legislation has been a large factor in the equality in education for individuals with disabilities making it easier to attend higher education. College students with disabilities have the hard and important choice of self-disclosing their disability, with many choosing not to. A main role for faculty is to support their students. This qualitative study aims to identify the knowledge faculty have about this student population and how they work with their disability services office. The research shows that faculty's knowledge on students with disabilities are solely based on …

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Conduct Professionals' Experiences With Student Misconduct And Mental Health, Robyn Bauer Jan 2022

Conduct Professionals' Experiences With Student Misconduct And Mental Health, Robyn Bauer

Masters Theses

Over the years, mental health concerns have continued to rise in college students and is compounded by the natural stressors associated with navigating unfamiliar territory, increased social and academic pressures, as well as added responsibilities and obligations (Pedrelli et al., 2015). Mental illnesses have been linked to misconduct, disruptive behavior, or violent behavior among students (Center for Parent Information and Resources, 2017; Johnson et al., 2018; Semenza & Grosholz, 2019; Taylor & Smith, 2019). There is limited research focused on the intersection of mental health and misconduct. This qualitative study utilized semi-structured questions to explore how conduct professionals manage mental …

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Staff Perception Of Pbis Implementation In Illinois School Districts, Dominique Starling Jan 2022

Staff Perception Of Pbis Implementation In Illinois School Districts, Dominique Starling

Masters Theses

Behavioral management is a top priority in the educational setting. Historically, schools have implemented a variety of different methods to manage behaviors in schools. One of these methods is punitive punishment, which has led to the school-to-prison pipeline phenomena. The school-to-prison pipeline is a practice in the U.S. public schools that removes students with behavioral issues from educational institutions often resulting in placement in juvenile and criminal justice systems. Through zero tolerance and other punitive disciplinary policies, many youths find themselves dropping out or being expelled from school and eventually in juvenile detention centers and prisons. Research evidence shows that …

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Cloning Of Root-Specific Promoters In Helianthus Annuus And Populus Trichocarpa, Jacob Murphy Jan 2022

Cloning Of Root-Specific Promoters In Helianthus Annuus And Populus Trichocarpa, Jacob Murphy

Masters Theses

Tissue-specific promoters are a valuable tool in plant biotechnology because they allow for precise spatial control of transgene expression. To identify root-specific promoters in sunflower (Helianthus annuus), sunflower RNA sequence (RNA-seq) data were screened in silico by Pavlidis Template Matching (PTM) with a root-specific template. Eight root-specific genes were identified in sunflower. The 2.5kbp promoter regions of six of these root-specific sunflower genes (HaTOR1L3, HaGOXL3A, HaGOXL3B, HaAPA1, HaPOE1, and HaMOP10) were successfully cloned as well as the 3kbp promoter regions of four root-specific genes previously identified in poplar (Populus trichocarpa …

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School-Based Mental Health Professionals’ Perceptions Of And Role In Disciplinary Practices Related To The School-To-Prison Pipeline, Ashlyn Wingate Jan 2022

School-Based Mental Health Professionals’ Perceptions Of And Role In Disciplinary Practices Related To The School-To-Prison Pipeline, Ashlyn Wingate

Masters Theses

The school-to-prison pipeline is a process in which school children are funneled out of the school system and into the criminal justice system through suspension and expulsion, both forms of exclusionary discipline. Suspension and expulsion are ineffective disciplinary policies that have harmful effects on school children, contributing to grade retention, drop-out, involvement in the juvenile justice system, and higher unemployment and incarceration rates as adults. These damaging practices occur in the presence of school-based mental health professionals (school psychologists, school social workers, and school counselors) who are trained to promote the overall wellbeing and success of school children. In the …

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Self-Compassion And Emotion Regulation As Predictors Of Disordered Eating, Mandira Srivastava Jan 2022

Self-Compassion And Emotion Regulation As Predictors Of Disordered Eating, Mandira Srivastava

Masters Theses

Disordered eating attitudes and behaviors are becoming widespread, with individuals employing maladaptive compensatory strategies to cope with the distress and dissatisfaction with themselves that they face. Emotion regulation and self-compassion, both are well-researched areas, with their relationships with disordered eating also being an emerging area of interest. However, there is limited literature that has examined the relationships among the three constructs, wherein it has been reported that self-compassion and emotion regulation serve as predictors of disordered eating in individuals. The goal of this study was to look at the connections between emotion regulation and disordered eating, self-compassion and disordered eating, …

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Problematic Social Media Use And Depression In College Students: A Mediation Study, Morgan Hummel Jan 2022

Problematic Social Media Use And Depression In College Students: A Mediation Study, Morgan Hummel

Masters Theses

Recent research has shown a relationship between problematic social media use and depression symptoms in adults in the United States. Social comparison has been identified as a mediator in this relationship in previous studies. Little research has explored the underlying mechanisms in social media use and the onset of depression symptoms in college aged students. The present study examines whether social comparison mediates the relationship between problematic social media use and depression symptoms in 102 college students in the US. The participants completed measures of problematic social media use, social comparison, and depression symptoms. The results indicated a positive relationship …

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Ethnic Differences In The Way College Students Cope With Stress, Temavulane N. Motsa Jan 2022

Ethnic Differences In The Way College Students Cope With Stress, Temavulane N. Motsa

Masters Theses

Stress is one of the key concerns for students and has also been labelled the highest factor impacting students’ academic performance in colleges. A student’s ability to adequately cope with their stressors could determine their academic success or failure. This study examined whether there are any ethnic differences in the way African American and Caucasian American Students cope with stress. Data were collected from Students at Eastern Illinois University which included 45 African American Students and 40 Caucasian American students. The results revealed no significant differences in the way Caucasian American and African American students cope with stress. This paper …

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The Experiences And Transition Of Black Former Student Athletes Through And Out Of College, Nyjah Lane Jan 2022

The Experiences And Transition Of Black Former Student Athletes Through And Out Of College, Nyjah Lane

Masters Theses

Using a narrative approach this researcher used a qualitative study to examine the experiences and transitions of former Black student athletes at a Division I institution. The study involved four participants who were three to four years removed from completing college and athletic retirement. Schlossberg’s (1981) transition theory, Astin’s (1999) involvement theory, and Baxter Magolda’s (2008) Self authorship theory was used as the theoretical frameworks for this study. The findings provide insight in to how their experiences as college student athletes impacted their ability to graduate and transition out of college. The participants relied on the support and strategies they …

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Identification And Cloning Of Transcripts From Triterpenoid-Induced Neuronal Outgrowth In Neuro-2a Cells From Mus Musculus, Meshael Alrashidi Jan 2022

Identification And Cloning Of Transcripts From Triterpenoid-Induced Neuronal Outgrowth In Neuro-2a Cells From Mus Musculus, Meshael Alrashidi

Masters Theses

Neurodegenerative diseases severely reduce quality of life and are often responsible for the death of those suffering from them. In addition to the societal toll these diseases inflict on populations, the health care costs are estimated to be hundreds of billions of dollars annually for the U.S. alone. Unfortunately, direct pharmacological treatment for some of the most common of these diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, remains elusive. Traditional medicine in China and India have recommended a variety of plants for preventing and treating these diseases. For example, Centella asiatica (L.) Urban, also knows as Gotu Kola, is believed to treat and …

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Structural Basis Of Bacterial Flagellin For Naip5 Binding And Nlrc4 Inflammasome Activation And The Mechanism Of Flagellin Induced Release Of Cytokines In Vivo, Jian Cui Jan 2022

Structural Basis Of Bacterial Flagellin For Naip5 Binding And Nlrc4 Inflammasome Activation And The Mechanism Of Flagellin Induced Release Of Cytokines In Vivo, Jian Cui

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The bacterial flagellum is a whip-like structure that protrudes from the cell membrane and is one of the most complex and dynamic biological molecular machines that propels bacteria to swim toward beneficial environments and the sites of infection. It is composed of a basal body, a hook, and a long filament. The flagellar filament contains thousands of copies of the protein flagellin (FliC) monomer arranged helically and ending with a filament cap composed of oligomer protein FliD. The overall structure of the filament core is preserved across bacterial species, while the outer domains exhibit high variability, and in some cases …

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Mechanism Of Antibiotic Permeability Through The Gram-Negative Bacterial Envelope, Olaniyi Alegun Jan 2022

Mechanism Of Antibiotic Permeability Through The Gram-Negative Bacterial Envelope, Olaniyi Alegun

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria (GN) makes them distinct among superbugs that are associated with the development of antibiotic resistance. The outer membrane, and inner membrane, separated by the periplasm, form a double-membrane barrier to the entry of antibiotics into the cell. Several studies have been conducted to examine the role of outer membrane modifications such as porins, lipopolysaccharides, and efflux pumps on antibiotic resistance. However, there is a paucity of knowledge on how antibiotics behave in the periplasm, to gain access into their target region. My thesis focuses on understanding the mechanism of antibiotic permeability through the cellular …

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