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Directed Evolution Of Hedgehog Protein Autoprocessing Activity: Combined Experimental & Computational Approach, Ted Kuke

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Sonic hedgehog protein is vital for embryonic development while also being linked to multiple cancers and holoprosencephaly. The native reaction of hedgehog is a sterolysis reaction whereby cholesterol binds to the HhC catalytic domain and attacks the HhN signaling domain, resulting in a covalent HhN-cholesterol signaling product. The structure of the sterol recognition region (SRR) of Sonic Hedgehog, where cholesterol binds, is currently unknown. In this thesis, I used directed evolution to select a triple mutant of Hedgehog’s catalytic HhC domain, (D46H, Q150H, A196T), which is over 5000 times more catalytically efficient at reacting with epicoprostanol (ECP), a non-native substrate …

Teacher’S Perspectives Regarding Kindergarten Students’ Behaviors And Social Skills Post-Pandemic, Latalia Middlebrook Robbins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Kindergarten teachers and support professionals in the social-emotional community within a local school district experienced changes in student behaviors and social skills since returning to in-person schooling following the pandemic. After COVID-19, teachers found themselves engaging students who presented a lack of social skill development, contributing to the behaviors within the classroom microsystem. This study used Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to support research efforts to examine how learning environments and interactions contributed to students’ preparation for Kindergarten. The research explored 12 Kindergarten teachers' and support professionals' perspectives concerning Kindergarten student behaviors and social skills. The research design was an …

African Immigrants’ Perceptions Of Employee Performance And Organizational Cultural Barriers In Fortune 500 Companies., Opeyemi Oluwakemi Adebayo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The frequent underemployment of African immigrants and lower job earnings continues to be a problem in the United States. African immigrants in the United States struggle to effectively navigate the U.S. organizational culture system due to cultural barriers. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore perceptions of African immigrants regarding their employee performance and cultural barriers in terms of communication within Fortune 500 companies in Houston, Texas. Research questions involved how African immigrants navigated and adapted to cultural expectations within Fortune 500 companies and how adaptation influenced their perceptions of job satisfaction and performance. The study was …

International Methods Of Offender Profile Construction, Standardization, And Effective Criminal Investigative Processes, Savannah Peoples

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Offender profiling is a tool used within criminal investigations to infer offender characteristics according to evidence collected from a crime scene. The practice of offender profiling has been applied since the Roman era, empirically developed, and recently popularized in media depictions. Existing studies demonstrate that there is a lack of peer reviewed literature that examines current methods of criminal profile construction, opportunities for standardization, and effective criminal investigative processes. Motivation for this study came after reviewing research that revealed high rates of serious and violent international serial offending, noted as a major challenge for law enforcement agencies, and a significant …

Teacher’S Perspectives Regarding Kindergarten Students’ Behaviors And Social Skills Post-Pandemic, Latalia Middlebrook Robbins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Kindergarten teachers and support professionals in the social-emotional community within a local school district experienced changes in student behaviors and social skills since returning to in-person schooling following the pandemic. After COVID-19, teachers found themselves engaging students who presented a lack of social skill development, contributing to the behaviors within the classroom microsystem. This study used Urie Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory to support research efforts to examine how learning environments and interactions contributed to students’ preparation for Kindergarten. The research explored 12 Kindergarten teachers' and support professionals' perspectives concerning Kindergarten student behaviors and social skills. The research design was an …

Increasing Charitable Giving To Nonprofit Organizations, Raynia T. Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit leaders often experience a reduction in funding for various reasons, which can jeopardize the organization's financial sustainability and even its continued existence. As a result, securing reliable funding is a primary concern for nonprofit leaders, as a lack of funding could lead to the organization’s closure. Grounded in the hierarchy of effects theory, this qualitative multiple case study aimed to explore strategies nonprofit leaders use to raise funding from charitable giving sources. The participants were five nonprofit leaders with experience in increasing charitable giving for their nonprofit organizations. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, review of available organizational documents, …

Effective Strategies To Improve Job Satisfaction And Reduce Property Manager Turnover, Rita Khan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High turnover rates among property managers disrupt service quality, increase operational costs, and diminish tenant satisfaction. Despite these negative impacts, there is limited research on effective retention strategies within the industry. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore strategies that property management leaders use to improve job satisfaction and reduce turnover. Six experienced property management leaders from the Midwestern United States who have successfully implemented retention strategies participated in this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clark’s six-phase thematic analysis, revealing four key themes: work-life balance …

Executive Summary: Staff Education Project Staff Education On Mental Health First Aid To Improve Staff Knowledge Of The Identification, Understanding, And Response To Patients Experiencing Mental Health, Vashawn Mosley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Summary This evidence-based staff education project on Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) was implemented to improve staff knowledge on how to recognize, understand, and respond to signs of mental illnesses and substance abuse disorders. Current annual training for mental health staff covers response techniques when patients experience mental health crises that have already escalated to the point of physical aggression. The MHFA education program helps staff understand mental health and substance abuse disorders, ultimately improving chances of preventing escalation. The practice-focused question for this project was: Among mental health professionals at a rural mental health organization, what is the impact …

International Methods Of Offender Profile Construction, Standardization, And Effective Criminal Investigative Processes, Savannah Peoples

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Offender profiling is a tool used within criminal investigations to infer offender characteristics according to evidence collected from a crime scene. The practice of offender profiling has been applied since the Roman era, empirically developed, and recently popularized in media depictions. Existing studies demonstrate that there is a lack of peer reviewed literature that examines current methods of criminal profile construction, opportunities for standardization, and effective criminal investigative processes. Motivation for this study came after reviewing research that revealed high rates of serious and violent international serial offending, noted as a major challenge for law enforcement agencies, and a significant …

Identifying Barriers To Effective Clinical Decision Support Use In Preventing Medical Errors: The Pharmacy’S Perspective, Jonathan Stoliker, Monika Baranek, Megan Park

Annual Research Symposium

The purpose of this research is to understand the perceptions of pharmacy personnel in community and hospital settings concerning their workflows, the Clinical Decision Support (CDS) alerts they interact with, and how their interpretation of these alerts influences patient care. This research aims to begin to investigate pharmacy personnel-voiced factors that influence high rates of alert dismissal. The project also aims to qualify what design factors contribute to more effective CDS Alerts from the pharmacy’s perspective.

Nanotechnology And Nonmaterial Applications In Oil Industries In Recent Years: A Review, Fatma Ehssan, Tabarak Haider, Thamer A. Abdullah, Mustafa Hathal, Viola Somogyi, Khalida Al-Azawi

Journal of Applied Sciences and Nanotechnology

Several disciplines recognize nanotechnology's revolutionary potential, including nanoelectronics, nanobiomedicine, and nanodevices. Surprisingly, the oil and gas industry's upstream exploration and production sector has shown limited enthusiasm. Increased oil recovery and the use of unconventional resources are vital for success, but recessions, particularly during low crude oil prices in the 19th century, pose additional challenges. In response, significant attention has turned to applying nanotechnology to overcome these industrial barriers. Recently, government agencies and the global oil sector have boosted investments in exploration, drilling, production, treatment, and wastewater management. Notably, nanosensors provide precise reservoir monitoring, while nanofluids with advanced nanoparticles significantly enhance …

Predicting Chaotic Systems With Quantum Echo-State Networks, Erik Connerty, Ethan N. Evans, Gerasimos Angelatos, Vignesh Narayanan

Publications

Recent advancements in artificial neural networks have enabled impressive tasks on classical computers, but they demand significant computational resources. While quantum computing offers potential beyond classical systems, the advantages of quantum neural networks (QNNs) remain largely unexplored. In this work, we present and examine a quantum circuit (QC) that implements and aims to improve upon the classical echo-state network (ESN), a type of reservoir-based recurrent neural networks (RNNs), using quantum computers. Typically, ESNs consist of an extremely large reservoir that learns high-dimensional embeddings, enabling prediction of complex system trajectories. Quantum echo-state networks (QESNs) aim to reduce this need for prohibitively …

Co-Creating Atmospheres: The Use Of Design For Vā/Wā, Community, And Common Sense, A.-Chr. Engels-Schwarzpaul, Emily Parr

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Design is usually understood as a professional activity by which objects and processes are given form through the deliberate and innovative deployment of aesthetic means. While design disciplines are branching out beyond their traditional concerns, and co-design increasingly involves nonprofessionals, designers’ conceptual engagement with the perceptual processes set in train by design remains limited, even though they know them to be important from experience. Aristotle’s common sense, for instance, is not commonly discussed in the design literature—yet its communal aspects could enrich not only co-design. Another expansion of perception beyond the individual occurs in atmospheres, which we register when …

Clinical Use Of Bedside Portable Ultra-Low-Field Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging In Patients On Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation: Results From The Multicenter Safe Mri Ecmo Study, Sung-Min Cho, Shivalika Khanduja, Christopher Wilcox, Kha Dinh, Jiah Kim, Jin Kook Kang, Ifeanyi David Chinedozi, Zachary Darby, Matthew Acton, Hannah Rando, Jessica Briscoe, Errol L Bush, Haris I Sair, John Pitts, Lori R Arlinghaus, Audrey-Carelle N Wandji, Elena Moreno, Glenda Torres, Bindu Akkanti, Jose Gavito-Higuera, Steven Keller, Huimahn A Choi, Bo Soo Kim, Aaron Gusdon, Glenn J Whitman

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Early detection of acute brain injury (ABI) at the bedside is critical in improving survival for patients with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support. We aimed to examine the safety of ultra-low-field (ULF; 0.064-T) portable magnetic resonance imaging (pMRI) in patients undergoing ECMO and to investigate the ABI frequency and types with ULF-pMRI.

Methods: This was a multicenter prospective observational study (SAFE MRI ECMO study [Assessing the Safety and Feasibility of Bedside Portable Low-Field Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients on ECMO]; NCT05469139) from 2 tertiary centers (Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, MD and University of Texas-Houston) with specially trained intensive …

Maka: Un Processo Collaborativo Raccontato A Tre Voci, Simone Brioni Dr., Geneviève Makaping, Elia Moutamid

Department of English Faculty Publications

The documentary Maka offers an account of Makaping’s journey of migration from Cameroon, her arrival in Italy in 1982 following the tragic death of her partner, her success as a journalist and television host, and her more recent relocation to Mantua. Maka focuses on questions of national belonging, and it reflects on how the perception of migration and race has changed since Makaping first came to Italy in the 1990s. This contribution includes a short article in which the protagonist, the writer and the director of the film reflect upon their collaboration. It also includes a video recording of the …

Identifying Subject Bias In Wifi-Based Human Activity Recognition Evaluation Methods, Amany Elkelany, Robert J. Ross, Susan Mckeever

Conference papers

WiFi-based Human Activity Recognition (HAR) has emerged as a promising approach for monitoring and analysing human activities in a non-intrusive manner, leveraging WiFi signals for activity classification. Despite advancements, existing WiFi-based HAR research lacks consideration of subject (human) bias. This results in learning models performing well on individuals used in the training samples but failing to generalise to new/unseen subjects, in contrast to known good practices in machine learning. In this paper, we address this oversight directly by systematically examining the evaluation methodology for the WiFi-based HAR context. Specifically, we investigate the impact of Leave-One-Subject-Out Cross-Validation (LOSOCV) in a hybrid …

Evaluating The Perceived Benefits Of Education In Revenue Cycle Management And The Impact On Medical Claims Reimbursement, Jessica L. Miller

Student Dissertations

Efficient Revenue Cycle Management (RCM) is essential for healthcare organizations to ensure timely and accurate reimbursement for medical claims. The research problem was the significant inadequacies in RCM process in medical billing that has resulted in financial burdens imposed on providers, patients, and the organizations that provide medical services. There are clearly identified educational gaps in RCM that contribute to claim denials, delays, and revenue loss, underscoring the need for robust training programs. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceived impact of education in RCM on medical claim reimbursement outcomes within the U.S. healthcare system. The study …

Hyflex On The Go: The Mobile Hyflex Project At Tu Dublin, Frances Boylan, Ciara Bell

Papers, presentations and other resources

Background:

Under Stream 3 of the N-TUTORR project and work package 3.2 Digital Campus, the Digital Education Team at TU Dublin worked closely with the N-TUTORR Digital Campus Lead to fund and establish a number of HyFlex related projects. The Mobile HyFlex Project was one of these and set out to explore and evaluate the provision of quality delivery in teaching spaces traditionally ill-equipped for such a flexible mode. The project attracted the attention of staff from across all three campuses with 90 applying to be involved. In May 2024, 50 staff were issued with a MS Surface Pro and …

Micrornas: Where Brilliance, Perseverance, And Ambition Converged, Rares Drula, George A Calin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Victor Ambros at the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Gary Ruvkun at Harvard University were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Medicine and Physiology for the discovery of microRNAs. This “groundbreaking discovery revealed a completely new principle of gene regulation that turned out to be essential for multicellular organisms, including humans” (1). This is a well-deserved and highly anticipated recognition for a seminal discovery published 31 years ago in back-to-back Cell publications (2, 3). This landmark finding changed the way we understand gene expression regulation among most multicellular organisms (4) and had …

Increasing Charitable Giving To Nonprofit Organizations, Raynia T. Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nonprofit leaders often experience a reduction in funding for various reasons, which can jeopardize the organization's financial sustainability and even its continued existence. As a result, securing reliable funding is a primary concern for nonprofit leaders, as a lack of funding could lead to the organization’s closure. Grounded in the hierarchy of effects theory, this qualitative multiple case study aimed to explore strategies nonprofit leaders use to raise funding from charitable giving sources. The participants were five nonprofit leaders with experience in increasing charitable giving for their nonprofit organizations. Data were collected through semistructured interviews, review of available organizational documents, …

The Effect Of School Closings On Juvenile Delinquency In Detroit, Denise Gray

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Education and delinquency are two social issues that can impact youth's social and educational success. From 2007 to 2018, 17,597 public schools closed in the United States, affecting three million students. This study focused on the influence of juvenile crime and students' educational experiences in urban communities where a disproportionate number of public schools closed. The problem was limited research on how school closing impacted juvenile delinquency. This qualitative study explored the influence of public school closure on juvenile delinquency through the lens of defense attorneys. Travis Hirschi's social control theory and Robert Agnew's strain theory were used as the …

Effective Strategies To Improve Job Satisfaction And Reduce Property Manager Turnover, Rita Khan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High turnover rates among property managers disrupt service quality, increase operational costs, and diminish tenant satisfaction. Despite these negative impacts, there is limited research on effective retention strategies within the industry. Grounded in Herzberg’s two-factor theory, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore strategies that property management leaders use to improve job satisfaction and reduce turnover. Six experienced property management leaders from the Midwestern United States who have successfully implemented retention strategies participated in this study. Data were collected through semistructured interviews and analyzed using Braun and Clark’s six-phase thematic analysis, revealing four key themes: work-life balance …

Transition Of Patients With Systemic Lupus Erythematosus From Pediatric To Adult-Oriented Rheumatology Care, Seher Şener, Gözde Yardimci, Ezgi̇ Batu, Levent Kiliç, Ümmüşen Kaya Akça, Müşerref Kasap Cüceoğlu, Zeynep Balik, Özge Başaran, Yelda Bi̇lgi̇ner, Şule Apraş Bi̇lgen, Seza Özen

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Background/aim: The transition from pediatric to adult-oriented care for individuals with juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) poses significant challenges. This study aims to assess the outcomes of transitioning patients with juvenile-onset SLE from pediatric to adult-oriented care.Materials and Methods: Patients with juvenile-onset SLE were included. They were transferred in face-to-face meetings where at least one pediatric rheumatologist and one adult rheumatologist were present (the transition time: October-December 2020).Results: The median (25th-75th percentiles) age at diagnosis and the time of the first examination at an adult-oriented rheumatology department of 65 SLE patients were 14.3 (10.9-15.1) years and 19.2 (18.5-20.4) years, respectively …

Cover And Contents

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

No abstract provided.

Phenotypic And Molecular Characterization And Antimicrobial Susceptibility Pattern Of Pasteurella And Mannheimia Species Obtained From Cattle And Sheep With Pneumonia, Eli̇f Karadeni̇z Pütür, Fati̇h Büyük, Yaren Ersoy

Turkish Journal of Veterinary & Animal Sciences

Among the heterogeneous Pasteurellaceae family, Pasteurella multocida and Mannheimia haemolytica are the pathogenic species that cause enzootic pneumonia in cattle and sheep. This study aimed to characterise Pasteurella and Mannheimia species obtained from pneumonia cases in cattle and sheep. 100 cattle and 100 sheep lungs diagnosed with infectious pneumonia as a result of histopathological examination were analyzed for Pasteurellaceae members by phenotypic methods, VITEK 2 Compact system and PCR. Antibiotic susceptibilities and phylogenetic analysis of the isolates were done by VITEK 2 Compact System and 16S rRNA-PCR, respectively. Seven Pasteurella multocida and 9 Mannheimia haemolytica were identified. All strains were …

Designing Atmospheres: An Aesthetic Practice Across The Pluriverse?, Burkhard Meltzer

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

Experiences of sensing of and finding oneself in a place largely depend on the design of atmospheres. Against the background of an increasing interest in ecological perspectives across various disciplines and regions, this text revisits Gernot Böhme’s respective aesthetic concept from the early 1990s. Arturo Escobar’s recent publication, “Designs for the Pluriverse,” which aims at restructuring relations between local design practices and global connections, will serve as a contemporary space of resonance for this exploration. How far might the aesthetic concept of atmosphere help to bridge gaps within today’s pluriversal thinking?

How Atmospheres Communicate: Aesthetics Of Burial Grounds And Car-Showrooms, Jürgen Hasse

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

On the one hand, atmospheres constitute themselves from situations. On the other hand, they are also produced for a specific purpose, in order to communicate feelings and the meanings associated with them. This article elaborates theoretical foundations of a recent philosophy of atmospheres. It turns out that aesthetic form not only follows function but that function also follows form. In the emission of atmospheres, there is a dialectic between surface aesthetics and depth aesthetics. Two examples illustrate the affective power of atmospheres. In the example of cemeteries, plants act in a special way as an immersive media of communication. In …

Designing A Smart Atmosphere In São Paulo: Public Spaces And The Green Image, Christiane Wagner

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

It has been suggested that urbanization does not create ways of life but rather offers models that satisfy the expectations of public life. These models can result from the ways that architects, designers, artists, and social actors shape the urban atmosphere setting. In this context, this paper focuses on how São Paulo has worked toward designing a smart city with elements that advance complex issues and promote climate change solutions. This paper explores the processes of aestheticizing and expanding public spaces through an empirical qualitative analysis in which the visual value of a space is evaluated based on cognitive and …

Multidisciplinary Travel Health Education: Current Status And Rationale For Standardized Competencies, Karl M Hess, Sheila M Seed, Eva H Clark, Tara Lombardo, Francesca F Norman, Gerard Flaherty

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This perspective highlights the inconsistent integration of travel health education across medical, nursing and pharmacy educational programmes globally and calls for standardized travel health competencies based on the International Society of Travel Medicine’s (ISTM) Body of Knowledge to help improve patient care outcomes as global travel returns to pre-pandemic levels.

Evaluation Of The Impact Of Heat Stress At Flowering On Spikelet Fertility And Grain Quality In Barley, Camilla Beate Hill, Tefera Angessa, Sharon Westcott, Lee-Anne Mcfawn, Hamid Shirdelmoghanloo, Yong Han, Chengdao Li

Grain and Other Field Crops Research Articles

Against the backdrop of a warming climate, heat stress has become one of the most limiting factors to crop productivity and food security worldwide. The flowering stage is susceptible to high temperatures in cereal crops, leading to severe grain yield losses by decreasing fertility and seed-setting rate. Our objective was to (1) assess a global panel of 572 barley varieties with contrasting genetic backgrounds for various agronomic traits related to spikelet fertility and grain quality, (2) identify barley germplasm with superior spikelet fertility and seed set under extreme heat conditions, and (3) understand the relationship between spikelet fertility and grain …