bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Modulation of inflammatory responses by Sutherlandia frutescens
Authors:   , Lei Wei
Published: April 2021

Sutherlandia frutescens (L.) R. Br (Lessertia frutescens) is a medicinal plant traditionally used in southern Africa. It has been used for patients suffering from numerous types of cancer, infectious diseases, and various inflammatory conditions. This study was designed to determine the impact of S. frutescens on the inflammatory response and anti-microbial activities on cell and/or animal models. Aqueous and ethanolic extracts of S. frutescens were made and verified using HPLC. These extracts were used to treat murine macrophages (e.g., RAW 264.7 cells and primary macrophages isolated from mice) to evaluate the impact of S. frutescens on in vitro inflammatory responses. This study found that the aqueous extract and a polysaccharide-enriched fraction from the aqueous extract exhibited an immuno-stimulatory activity on murine macrophages. Treatment with aqueous extract or polysaccharides increased the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), nitric oxide (NO), and inflammatory cytokines/chemokines via activating the toll-like receptor 4 signaling pathway. On the other hand, the ethanolic extract of S. frutescens dose-dependently decreased the production of ROS, NO, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and various inflammatory cytokines and chemokines in murine macrophages co-stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon gamma (IFNy). Follow up experiments demonstrated that the anti-inflammatory activity of the ethanolic extract was mediated via reductions in the activation of NF-kB, extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), and signal transducers and activators of transcription 1 (STAT1). RNA sequencing provided more evidences to support the anti-inflammatory activity of the ethanolic extract of S. frutescens. To our surprise, chlorophylls isolated from S. frutescens had a greater effect on the anti-inflammatory of S. frutescens than that of unique compounds (i.e., sutherlandiosides and sutherlandins). To investigate the impact of oral consumption of S. frutescens on in vivo inflammatory responses and anti-microbial activities, mice were fed with AIN-93G based diet with/without containing ground S. frutescens powder or were gavaged with S. frutescens extracts followed by challenge with E. coli or LPS. These experiments found that oral consumption of S. frutescens had limited or no impact on the in vivo inflammatory responses and anti-microbial activities. Overall, this study provide a better understanding on the beneficial therapeutic properties of S. frutescens using in vitro models, however these studies in a laboratory mouse model suggest that consumption of S. frutescens had only a modest impact on host anti-microbial and inflammatory responses to a gram-negative microbial challenge whether intact microbes or bacterial endotoxin (i.e., LPS) was used.
Evaluation of the pass system : a multi-component function-based tier 2 intervention for escape-maintained student behaviors
Authors:   , Latimore Tracey G.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Among typically developing children, escape is one of the most common functions of problem behavior. Research suggests students who engage in escape-maintained behaviors may be at a greater risk for academic failure (Chuang, 2012; McIntosh, Horner, Chard, Dickey, and Braun, 2008b; Miles and Stipek, 2006). Schools are in need of a continuum of low effort, effective strategies for students who engage in escape-maintained behaviors. One low effort, easy intervention for students who escape academic tasks is the Pass System. The Pass System is a secondary tier intervention that includes choice-making, differential reinforcement, and response cost. The Pass System enables a student to receive differential reinforcement for choosing to do their work or use a pass to only do part of the work and provides negative reinforcement for refusing to complete tasks. It allows students to escape within limits and provide continued incentive for engaging in the desired behavior. The current study investigated the effectiveness of the Pass System using a multiple baseline design across four elementary-aged students engaging in escape-maintained behaviors. Four teachers implemented the Pass System with ongoing support and consultation. Interrupted time-series regression analyses and visual analyses were used to evaluate the effects of the Pass System on student behavior. Results indicated improvements in problem behaviors, compliance, and academic engagement. The Pass System was highly favored among teachers and students. The Pass System was found to be a viable intervention for educators to use with students who engage in escape-maintained behavior.
An itegrated model of c2c e-commerce usage focusing on personality, usability, risk, social influence, and institutional feature dimensions
Authors:   , Yoon Hyun Shik
Published: April 2021

In recent times, the transactional scale of the consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce has grown rapidly and C2C e-commerce has become more popular. In C2C e-commerce, customers are likely to face more risk buying fake and poor quality products. However, the main stream of research has focused on business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. In this research, a quantitative model of C2C e-commerce usage was developed, which incorporates five dimensions, namely, (1) personality dimension, including openness, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, (2) usability dimension, including perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and perceived website quality, (3) risk dimension, including perceived security and perceived privacy, (4) green concern as a social influence dimension, and (5) institutional feature dimension, including buyer protection policy and third party recognition. This study provides a quantitative model to describe C2C e-commerce usage as a distinct area of research from B2C e-commerce. In addition, the result shows customers' purchase intention to use C2C e-commerce can be increased by redesigning C2C e-commerce websites.
Modes of reflexivity in community supported agriculture : the case of the people's republic of delicious foods
Authors:   , Dawdy Jordan R.
Published: April 2021

As food has become unknowable, untrustworthy, and deleterious to all involved, people have responded with alternatives to the industrial agrifood system. One method in particular is Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in which shares of a farming project are sold in advance of production. Although many particular aspects of production and distribution are unique to each endeavor, all CSAs allow members to act reflexively with their food source. Reflexivity is presented as a process of understanding the situation at-hand while matching it with ones' own identity to produce social action. To examine reflexivity in CSA more intimately, a qualitative inquiry was undertaken. During the 2012 growing season, participants of The People's Republic of Delicious Foods CSA were utilized to highlight reflexive practices. Reflexive eating was shown in members through the development of deeper connections with food and the strengthening of trust with farmers. Reflexive farming manifested as the application of knowledge and ethics by the farmer in order to cultivate relationships with members and to continue improving upon CSA. Reflexivity, both in farming and eating, exhibits meaningful engagement that expresses and promotes motives and concerns, imbued with politics. CSA provides the farming space to actively engage in reflexive behavior while nourishing a personal experience with agriculture and food. Working in tandem, reflexive farming and eating act as a mode to build trust for those involved and may alleviate problems associated with CSA. Although relatively small in size, CSA encourages reflexive behavior that may spark change well in to the future.
Waiting for the cold to end : a qualitative exploration of PhotoVoice as a therapeutic intervention with survivors of sexual assault
Authors:   , Rolbiecki Abigail Jordan
Published: April 2021

Sexual assault has reached epidemic proportions, and disproportionately affects college-aged women. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is the most commonly associated mental health disorder associated with sexual assault. There are many scientifically proven successful interventions for treating PTSD among survivors; however, these interventions fail to address posttraumatic growth as a form of recovery. Research states that without posttraumatic growth, symptoms associated with PTSD will continue to surface. This study explored PhotoVoice "a participatory action research method" as a brief therapeutic intervention for survivors of sexual assault. The purpose of this research was to examine how PhotoVoice allowed survivors to grow post-trauma as they reconstructed their identities through a process of cognitive restructuring, exposure, and narrative group work. Nine women participated in PhotoVoice, and each woman was given a camera to photograph images that represented her sexual assault, or healing experiences. They met together three times to discuss their photos. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to guide the discussion. Each group held an exhibit where they displayed their photos and invited attendees. Qualitative results showed that participants were able to confront their triggers through a process of exposure, as well as address their negative distortions through cognitive reframing and meaning-making. The exhibits allowed participants to reclaim control over their self-narratives, as well as educate stakeholders about the traumatic impacts of sexual assault at a Midwestern university. Quantitative results revealed a decrease in symptoms of PTSD, as well as an increase in posttraumatic growth and positive rape attributions.
The effects of gamification on self-efficacy and persistence in virtual world familiarization
Authors:   , Cosgrove Peter J. "Asikaa"
Published: April 2021

Students who are inexperienced with multi-user virtual environments (MUVEs) such as Second Life can experience significant difficulties when first entering the virtual classroom. The unfamiliar paradigm of moving an avatar around a simulated Euclidean space can lead to disorientation, confusion, frustration and ultimately, a defeatist affect that leads to abandonment of the format. Overcoming these barriers-to-entry necessitates a foundational training course in which students can become efficacious in the basic use of virtual worlds. However, researchers have not fully established evidence-based best practices for the design of these training courses. Gamification, the process in which non-game activities are endowed with the typical attributes of a game, is a technique that has been empirically shown to improve motivation and satisfaction in such fields as education and the workplace. This study experimentally tested the effects of gamifying a virtual world familiarization course on self-efficacy, persistence, task skill and satisfaction. The results inform a theoretical model and substantive recommendations for the design of familiarization courses for virtual world learning programs.
Essays in corporate finance
Authors:   , Ferris Christine
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] [1] NEW CLASSIFICATIONS FOR CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD -- I DID IT MY WAY. In this paper I determine whether a new classification of chairmen (former CEOs) should be added to the traditional current CEO and independent categories. I examine the impact the three categories of chairmen have on firm performance and whether CEO compensation differs between the three categories. If firms with chairmen who are former CEOs have significantly different firm performance or CEO compensation than the other two groups, a third category of chairmen (former CEOs) should be used in future research. The findings shed light on the value of having former CEOs control the board, and should influence the results of studies using chairmen as a control variable. I find that chairmen who are former CEOs are significantly different than current CEOs and independent chairman, and should be separated into their own category. Firms with chairmen who are former CEOs have highest firm performance. These firms also pay less in CEO compensation than firms with current CEOs/chairmen but more than firms with independent chairmen. [2] A TEMP IN THE CORNER OFFICE : THE IMPACT OF INTERIM CEOS ON FIRM PERFORMANCE. This paper examines the impact an interim CEO's previous experience and tenure length have on accounting- and market-based firm performance. I also examine the number of significant changes an interim CEO makes to the firm and the impact of those changes. I find that the prior experience an interim CEO has does not have a significant impact on firm performance. Interim CEOs are significantly less likely to make major changes to the firm than their predecessors; however, some of the changes they make have a significant impact on firm performance.
Midnight's grandchildren : adolescence in contemporary global literature
Authors:   , Fugate Marissa
Published: April 2021

"Midnight's grandchildren : adolescence in contemporary global literature" assesses the trope of adolescence in contemporary global literature, as it is employed to describe and act as a metaphor for emerging nations. My inquiry reads against the prevailing idea of adolescence as a pejorative term indicating a transitional state, and argues for adolescence as an enduring and distinct realm of infinite possibility. I chose to investigate how this social information is delivered through narrative art, which has a long history of works on adolescence, such as the bildungsroman. Unfortunately, most narratives look specifically at how the adolescent grows up, or what happens while they are looking forward towards adulthood. These types of literature play a part in the intimate link between the accepted cultural definition of adolescence as a space to outgrow and the rhetoric used to discuss and ultimately exclude emerging nations from participation in the global community. The ramifications of reading adolescence as a transitory place that always begets maturity is a systematic marginalization of nations -- and associated literary output -- that do not fall into and comply with the expectations of late-stage global capitalism. One effect of this marginalization is an insistence that the emerging nation novel acknowledge its debt to the colonial "parent." I contend that the anxiety provoked by adolescent reproduction maps onto social anxiety about emerging nations. By re-imagining adolescence in the novel as a distinct plane of existence without the baggage of "growing up," I argue that it is possible to reimagine emerging nations on new terms that devalue and destabilize the current order.
Understanding the reacculturation experiences of first-generation, undecided students
Authors:   , Glaessgen Tracey A.
Published: April 2021

When students enter institutions of higher education, they are typically leaving behind one culture to join another. First-generation students have a higher attrition rate as do undecided students, but little research has been conducted on students who have both characteristics. The researcher applied Bruffee's reacculturation process to understand the challenges and experiences that first-generation, undecided students have as they transition to a new academic environment. This qualitative, exploratory case study included 35 students utilizing interviews, focus groups, observations, and writings to triangulate the data collected. Findings revealed heightened feelings of stress, desire to become comfortable on campus, reliance upon continuing-generation friends, helpfulness of specialized first-year seminar course, and an uncertainty towards advisors' roles. Based upon research findings and framework, recommendations for practice are shared.
Exploring the communicative and attitudinal covariates of violent and non-violent political engagement
Authors:   , Hawthorne Joshua
Published: April 2021

This project is primarily concerned with the relationships between communication behaviors, including pro-attitudinal media use and political social media use, political attitudes, including in-group bias and political trust, and political behaviors, including both violent and non-violent political engagement. Political violence is defined broadly, including both communicative and verbal political violence factors, and a new measure of political violence is designed and validated using psychometric methods. A novel data collection and analysis plan is utilized to collect social media posts authored by participants in order to link indicators of social media content with data collected via a self-report survey. The results show that pro-attitudinal media use is related to higher levels of in-group bias and lower levels of political trust. Further, higher levels of bias are associated with non-violent political engagement and lower levels of political trust are associated with violent political engagement. The collected data revealed indirect effects between pro-attitudinal media use and both non-violent and violent political engagement through in-group bias and political trust respectively. To conclude, I situate these results within the research literature and outline future research that can further elaborate on these relationships, establish further evidence of the validity of the political violence scale, and refine and improve the social data collection plan.
Wealth and governance in unstable states : South Africa as a context for Mancur Olson's theory of collective action
Authors:   , Kelrick Pamela E.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Mancur Olson's theory of collective action has primarily been construed and applied to developed countries with formal economies and (generally) socio-political stability. Yet, he asserted that his theory of collective action would apply in developing countries, even those which are far less stable. This study examined Olson's assertion that collective action applies in developing countries, using South Africa as a case study. The empirical analyses included canonical correlation analysis and generalized additive models, using attribute, spatial, and temporal data to understand the spatial and temporal dynamics between wealth and governance in South Africa. Geographic clustering by race and economic class remains persistent despite democratic reforms and improved governance engagement. In addition, findings of the empirical analyses were used to evaluate Olson's theory of collective action and frame the policy implications. Collective action is consistent with findings, but, in the context of developing countries, ought to include more prominent considerations of path dependency, increasing returns, and historical institutionalism.
Utilizing gene therapy methods to probe the genetic requirements to prevent spinal muscular atrophy.
Authors:   , Miller Madeline R.
Published: April 2021

Spinal Muscular Atrophy is clinically recognized as a progressive weakness within the trunk and proximal limbs that will lead to breathing failure and death within infants. As a neurodegenerative genetic disease, SMA is caused by loss of motor neurons, which in turn is caused by low levels of the Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) protein. The mechanism by which a ubiquitously expressed protein such as SMN is able to cause the specific death of motor neurons is highly debated and of great interest. Work presented here focuses on understanding the biological requirements of SMN and its downstream effects on the neuromuscular junction. To this end we utilize viral based gene delivery as a powerful tool to assess the effects of genes of interest in vivo. Our findings contribute to the conversation regarding whether SMA is truly a "motor neuron" disease, suggesting that astrocytes play a meaningful role in staving off SMA. Further, we investigate the domains within SMN needed to maintain its function in a mammalian system. We take a novel and challenging approach to identify a minimal domain capable of maintaining function. Finally, we demonstrate the practical use of morophological analysis of the neuromuscular junction as a means to characterize SMA pathology.
At home in Babylon : Billy Sunday's revival team and evangelicalism in modern America
Authors:   , Wiard Jennifer L.
Published: April 2021

This dissertation offers a provocative reassessment of Billy Sunday and his big-tent revivals in the Progressive Era. Departing from the dominant fundamentalist caricature of the evangelist, it argues that Sunday and his team helped create modern America. By embracing progressivism, the bureaucratic ethos, women's liberation, and the culture of consumption, they created a revival program that adapted a once-frontier tradition to America's largest cities and made revivalism part of the urban-industrial experience. This project, then, is not simply a biography of Billy Sunday. It is the story of his revival team, especially the women in it, and how revivalism became an agent of cultural transformation that deepened the hold of a new social order.
Barriers and values of moral distress among critical care nurses
Authors:   , Wilson Melissa A.
Published: April 2021

This dissertation explores the presence of moral distress and effective interventions to lessen its impact on critical care nurses. Manuscript one was completed prior to entering the doctor of philosophy in nursing program but was instrumental in building the foundation for successive work within this dissertation. An exploratory, descriptive designed study was used to examine moral distress and identify situations in which nurse's experienced high levels of moral distress. Nurses completed a 38-item moral distress scale, a coping questionnaire, and indicated their preferred methods for institutional support in managing distressing situations. Manuscript two includes a formal analysis of the Moral Distress Theory and identified limitations in the existing theoretical model based on a review of literature. Finally, manuscript three is a study identifying barriers and values during moral distress situations that can be used to potentially target interventions aimed at lessening the impact of moral distress.
International sporting events and human rights : does the host nation play fair?
Authors:   , Bowersox Zack
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] International sporting events like the Olympics and FIFA World Cup generate a great deal of attention for the athletes, the games, and for the nations that host these events. Hosting can be very prestigious for a nation, yet not all hosts are apt to be strict observers of international norms regarding human rights and human security. In these instances, the tourists who travel to see the event, and the media that broadcasts it, are better able to observe the poor behavior of a state who would rather use this opportunity to increase its international standing. Are host nations apt to improve their behavior for the sake of an international sporting event? Are they more responsive to the international criticism of their behavior when hosting an event? This research finds that states are in fact more responsive to international rights criticism, and, for the duration of the event are better observers of human rights. Yet, this positive effect is only apparent for the duration of the event.
Mining the state : the subnational consequences of natural resource extraction on citizen engagement
Authors:   , Miller Rebecca
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Scholars link natural resource wealth to a host of anti-democratic consequences. The bulk of this literature focuses on the consequences of oil revenues, which have the power to dramatically transform a country. However, mining can have a similar effect subnationally. At the local level, mining dominates an economy. The mining industry's economic power in areas of weak local governance can produce a competing governing entity. This effect is most pronounced within the realm of public goods provision. Given mining's ability to become a competing state-like entity, this dissertation asks how resource extraction influences citizen interactions with the state. Focusing specifically on the Republic of South Africa, I find that mining leads to increases in political trust, but also results in increases in support for authoritarian service providers. In addition, I find that mining reduces citizen voice, by both reducing the count of protests and decreasing voter turnout. These findings contribute to the resource curse literature by demonstrating that mining can promote a political resource curse while also addressing issues of local economic development.
Conditional justice : determining implementation and effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms
Authors:   , Polizzi Marc S.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Research on transitional justice (TJ) has debated the usefulness of these structures for democratization, promotion of human rights, and the prevention of future conflict. Some scholars argue transitional justice threatens old elites to the point of resistance, further destabilizing the democratization process and risking a reversion to autocracy. Others contest TJ cultivates a foundation for reconciliation and accountability necessary for lasting peace. The states that engage in transitional justice, however, are fundamentally different from those that do not, and these differences must be accounted for in order to ascertain the 'true' effect of transitional justice. In this dissertation, I use treatment effects models to better isolate the impact of TJ while controlling for the factors leading to implementation of these mechanisms. I find states engaging in TJ have stronger democratic institutions and independent judiciaries than if they did not implement TJ, but these same states also face higher human rights violations following TJ. This indicates transitioning states have leaders with their own incentives to use the coercive power of the state to consolidate their own hold on power.
Abortion decision-making and the impact of the 72-hour waiting period
Authors:   , Ruhr Lindsay Rae
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] In 2011, 45% of pregnancies were unintended (UIP), dropping from a rate of 51% in 2008. This rate is still high for a developed country such as the United States. In 2011, 42% of UIPs ended in abortion, which is slightly higher than the 40% in 2008. Abortion restrictions are increasingly being put on women and abortion providers in the United States, resulting in barriers to accessing safe abortions. In 2013, 70 antiabortion measures were enacted across 22 states in the U.S. This study examined one of these laws, the increase in the abortion waiting period in Missouri from 24 to 72 hours. The present study is a mixed methods design that consisted of the examination of retrospective data, elicitation interviews, baseline surveys, and follow-up surveys in order to understand the impact of this new restriction. The retrospective data were collected from two time periods: 1) when Missouri had a 24-hour abortion waiting period, and 2) during the first year of the 72-hour waiting period. The Integrated Behavioral Model (IBM) provided a theoretical framework for understanding a woman's intention to return for an abortion after the waiting period. Self-efficacy (p = .0042) and attitude (p = .0164) were found to be statistically significant predictors of a woman's intention to return to the clinic after the 72-hour waiting period. Findings will be useful to policy makers and women's health advocates as they try to understand and lessen the effects of abortion restrictions on women.
Synthesis and properties of small molecules designed to covalently capture native and oxidized forms of protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B)
Authors:   , Ruddraraju Kasi Viswanatharaju
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) is a validated target for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity. The discovery of selective inhibitors with drug-like properties has proven to be challenging because there are [about]80 PTP family members that share a similar and positively charged active site. To overcome these challenges, we have pursued two novel approaches for the covalent inactivation of PTP1B. Exo-affinity labeling agents exploit covalent reactions with amino acids outside the enzyme active site to gain both affinity and selectivity. We prepared several affinity labeling agents using a 12-step convergent synthesis. Enzyme assays revealed that some of these agents are capable of inactivating the enzyme by covalent modification. In another project, we prepared a low molecular weight mimic of the oxidized form of PTP1B that is generated in cells, during insulin signaling events. Seeking molecules capable of covalent capture of oxidized PTP1B, we treated this chemical model with several carbon nucleophiles, such as 1,3-diketones and sulfone-stabilized carbon anions. These carbon nucleophiles readily reacted with the model compound, under mild conditions to give stable adducts. Inactivation experiments revealed that 1,3-diketones are capable of inactivating the oxidized PTP1B at micromolar concentrations.
Cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying immune tolerance against type 1 diabetes
Authors:   , Chen Weirong
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Type 1 diabetes (T1D), also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, is a chronic autoimmune disease caused by the destruction of insulin-producing beta-cells in the pancreatic islets by self-reactive immune cells. About three million Americans have T1D currently and each year there are more than 30,000 new T1D cases in the United States. Hyperglycemia in T1D patients may affect major organs and cause complications including cardiovascular diseases, nerve damage, kidney problems, blindness, and amputation. Unfortunately, there is no cure for T1D and T1D patients have to rely on life-long insulin replacement to maintain blood glucose levels in the normal range. Therefore, immunotherapies which target pathogenic T cells specifically while circumventing broad immune suppression are desired to treat T1D. Our lab has incorporated a mimotope p79 into an Ig molecule, and the resulting Ig-p79 chimera is able to prevent the adoptive transfer of T1D in NOD.scid mice by diabetogenic BDC2.5 T cells. Consequently, these T cells are retained in the spleen and cannot migrate to the pancreas due to diminished expression of the transcription factor T-bet and chemokine receptor CXCR3. Moreover, we found mTOR, a key serine/threonine protein kinase, is the major target of Ig-p79 and T cells undergoing antigen-induced tolerance have an impaired function of mTORC1, but not mTORC2. This mechanism is brought about by antigen presenting cells through upregulation of PD-L1 inhibitory molecules. Under this circumstance, PDL1 on antigen presenting cells interacts specifically with PD-1 on T cells, leading to recruitment of SHP-2 phosphatase to the cytoplasmic tail of PD-1. Active SHP-2 then induces dephosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase protein, which in turn results in the defective activity of mTORC1, diminished expression of CXCR3 and suppression of T1D development. Thus, our findings suggest that drugs that target mTORC1 in diabetogenic T cells would provide an approach to prevent and treat T1D. Moreover, this study also opens a new avenue for antigen presenting cells that express high levels of PD-L1 as means to induce tolerance of pathogenic T cells in T1D patients.
Grassroots community organizing in the wake of a public school closure
Authors:   , Cleary Colleen
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Urban school districts across the country are responding to poor performance, declining enrollments, and budget shortfalls by closing public schools in large numbers. Much of the research to date has focused on the impact of school closure on student achievement; we know little about its broader impact, particularly on the low-income communities of color most affected. This study used qualitative methodology and a participatory action research design to examine the impact of a public school closure on a low-income community of color in Chicago. Findings show that school closure had a range of negative impacts, among them a chaotic and crowded school environment with reduced access to resources, disconnection from social roles and networks for both parents and students, and created further disinvestment in a neighborhood on the edge of gentrification. Grassroots community organizing helped parents and community members make sense of the closure, and engaged them in the educational policy process to work for change. Findings inform our understanding of how one community experienced and reacted to a public school closure, and have implications for both scholars and educational leaders.
Explanation for the cognitively bounded : psychology and the pragmatics of explanation
Authors:   , Lauer Richard
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] People consume, construct, and desire explanations. When our cars break down, hear strange noises in our homes, or a machine won't work, we want to know why those events happened. Moreover, formulating explanations is thought to be a chief concern of science. But what makes something an explanation? Philosophers have offered several answers; explanations appeal to causes, laws, mechanisms, or other types of information. One view, the view that I focus on in this dissertation, is that what makes something an explanation is how it is received by its audience. To explain to your audience is to communicate effectively in a particular way. This view is very intuitive. However, philosophers have been mostly silent about the role that the psychology of an explanation's audience in both characterizing something as an explanation and in characterizing what makes something a good explanation. This dissertation brings recent psychological research on explanation to bear on audience-centered theories of explanation. I argue that psychological studies about explanation yield insights about the nature of explanation that are best captured if we assume that audiences are cognitively limited beings. Surprisingly, this assumption about audiences has not been made explicit (or has been outright ignored) by philosophers who take the audience-centered approach. To show how it is that the cognitive limits of audiences constrain and determine what makes a particular utterance an explanation, I argue that we should model the situation of an explainer who confronts the problem of explaining to her audience. Under these circumstances, the best explanation is the explanation that has the features that best appeal to the audience's psychology. This proposal gives an explicit place to the psychology of the audience absent in other audience-centered accounts.
The exploration and regulation of gender and sexual identities in literacy education
Authors:   , Van Horn Selena E.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The goal of this dissertation study was to explore and understand the regulation of gender and sexual identities in literacy education, and the discourses within/around schools involving gender and sexual identities. This dissertation is organized in three articles that separately focus on specific aspects of the study and together present a cohesive body of work. I designed a study to merge theory and methodology, employing a blend of methodologies that call for a deconstruction of the linear format of a traditional qualitative dissertation. I read, questioned, and thought with Butler (1990) and Foucault (1977/1980) to understand how performativity and power/knowledge produced literacy curriculum, teachers, and multiple discourses in a Midwestern public school district. The methodological blend was comprised of postqualitative inquiry (St. Pierre, 2011; Lather and St. Pierre, 2013), thinking with theory (Jackson and Mazzei, 2012), and arts-based research (Baron and Eisner, 2012; Leavy, 2015). This study is significant in three ways: (1) it questions and highlights the ways that gender and sexual identities are discursively created and maintained, and the schools' role in this practice, (2) it seeks to understand the role and significance of the teacher in supporting multiple perspectives, identities, and ways of knowing, and (3) it is important to the issues of our current sociopolitical climate, in terms of marriage equality, religious freedom bills, and (lack of) LGBTQ anti-discrimination policies.
The effects of stereotype threat on the associative memory deficit of older adults
Authors:   , Brubaker Matthew S.
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] One of the suggestions made in the literature regarding older adults' episodic memory decline is that it is caused by their reduced ability to bind together components of an episode and retrieve the binding (termed an associative deficit). The purpose of the current research is to assess whether the age-related associative memory deficit is at least partially mediated by stereotype threat, which has been shown to negatively affect performance on a wide variety of cognitive tasks, including memory performance of older adults. To date the effects of stereotype threat on older adults' memory performance have only been shown using tests of item memory, and between subject manipulations. The question assessed in the current research is whether older adults' associative memory will be affected by stereotype threat more than item memory, rendering it one potential factor underlying the associative deficit. To answer this question, three experiments were conducted, which used an item-associative recognition memory paradigm while manipulating stereotype threat both within and between subjects. The first two experiments attempted to establish the baseline effect by directly comparing item and associative memory in younger and older adults under induced stereotype threat, reduced stereotype threat, and no stereotype threat (i.e. control) conditions. While a baseline age-related associative deficit was not shown in the control condition, inducing stereotype threat did have a significant negative effect on older adults' associative memory performance without affecting item memory performance -- suggesting that stereotype threat does increase the age-related associative deficit. The third experiment further assessed the stage of processing -- encoding, retrieval, or both -- during which the effect of stereotype threat on older adults' memory occurs. Results showed that when stereotype threat was induced only at retrieval, memory performance was in line with performance with the reduced stereotype threat and control conditions, suggesting that this effect of stereotype threat occurs primarily during encoding of the information.
Inflammatory and cardiac response to end-stage pneumonic plague
Authors:   , Coate Eric Allan
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] Yersinia pestis is the etiologic agent of pneumonic plague, a devastating disease in humans characterized by acute bronchopneumonia that is frequently accompanied by bacteremia and sepsis. In 2001, the Amerithrax attacks occurred resulting in an increased awareness for better understanding of threat agents which can be weaponized and the need for therapeutic development. Within, we report on studies on the role of Y. pestis virulence factors on the host response as well on evaluation of therapeutics. As such, we refined a Brown Norway rat animal model with the goal of studying the pathophysiological and therapeutic response to pneumonic plague. We defined the natural history of pneumonic plague in this model. Interestingly, development of cardiac arrhythmias during the end-stage of the infection was discovered. In addition, the host response to the virulence factor YopJ was characterized in an in vivo pneumonic plague infection. Although bacteremia was present in WT and yopJ-infected animals during late stage disease, there was a delay in sepsis in the absence of YopJ. Electrophysiology of the cardiac system was analyzed to elucidate the cause of the arrhythmia development as a disease progression. Findings included elevation of the STE interval in the heart indicating potential disruption of electrical ion channels. Significant differences in the STE were found between WT and mutant yopJ-infected animals. Overall, the discovery of the STE interval could potentially be a finding used for prognostic development for biomarker. Lastly, doxycycline and meropenem were evaluated as a therapeutic for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). We report within this dissertation critical threshold PEP treatment windows for both antibiotics.
Amorphous silicon germanium oxide (Si[sub]xGe[sub]yO[sub]1-x-y) thin films for uncooled infrared microbolometer
Authors:   , Hai Muhammad Lutful
Published: April 2021

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT REQUEST OF AUTHOR.] This dissertation presents a detailed characterization of amorphous Silicon Germanium Oxide (Si-Ge-O) thin films for uncooled infrared (IR) microbolometers. Every object, whose temperature is more than absolute zero, radiates IR radiation. Uncooled infrared microbolometer can detect that IR radiation and can be used for thermal imaging. Such IR imaging cameras detect variations in heat and create an electronic image of everything in view. These cameras have many important applications in both the commercial and defense sectors including automotive and truck safety, medical diagnostics, surgical interventions, surveillance, law enforcement, security, etc. Unlike many other infrared imaging products, microbolometers can operate at room temperature, resulting a significant cost reduction.
The effect of augmented reality and virtual reality interfaces on epistemic actions and the creative process
Authors:   , Chandrasekera Tilanka
Published: April 2021

The aim of the study is to investigate how VR and AR interfaces affect the creative design process in design education. Theories from cognitive psychology, information sciences, and design cognition are provide an explanatory mechanism to indicate that epistemic action reduces cognitive load, thereby reducing fixation in the design process and enhancing the creative design process. Thirty undergraduate design students were randomly divided into two groups that used AR or VR to complete a simple project that required students to design the interior of an office. Mixed qualitative and quantitative methods were used. A linkography protocol was used to understand the effect of different interfaces on the creative design process and a questionnaire was administered to examine the effect of user characteristics on the creative design process. Results of the study indicated that AR interfaces tend to encourage more epistemic actions during the design process than the VR interfaces. Epistemic actions were found to reduce the cognitive load thereby reducing fixation in the creative design process. From calculating entropy of the design process, AR appeared to provide a more conducive environment for creativity than VR. The second part of the study focuses on how individual characteristics of the students moderate the effect of technology traits in enhancing the creative design process. Learner preferences were analyzed through learning styles and technology acceptance was measured to understand how different learning styles affect technology acceptance of the two media types of AR and VR. The theoretical background suggests that perceived ease of use correlates with creativity. Hence, learner preferences were hypothesized to affect the use of different types of media in the creative design process. The results did not indicate that learner preferences affected the creative design process but did support the conclusion that certain user preferences lead to higher acceptance levels for technology.
Structure/function studies of CFTR's pore-forming domain reveal evolutionary divergence between CFTR and ABC transporters
Authors:   , Gao Xiaolong
Published: April 2021

Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane conductance Regulator (CFTR) is the culprit behind Cystic Fibrosis (CF), a genetic disease highly occurs among Caucasians. Studying the structure/function of CFTR chloride channel not only facilitates our understanding of the molecular nature of this protein, but also potentially provides cures for the debilitating disease. In my study, by adopting site-directed mutagenesis and Patch Clamp as well as other various molecular biology techniques, I focused my efforts in CFTR's pore domain and made the following revealing findings: First, the first transmembrane segment (TM1) contributes to CFTR's pore lining with its whole length and the restrictive region identified in TM1 confirms that CFTR's pore is constituted by three main components: a narrow region flanked by the internal and external vestibules. Second, while TM1 and TM6 contribute to pore lining for CFTR in a relatively symmetrical manner, a lack of symmetry between TM6 and its topological counterpart -- TM12 suggests the two-fold pseudo-symmetry seen with other ABC proteins does not apply in CFTR's TMDs. At last, the gate of CFTR resides in a region (337 -- 344 in TM6) that encompasses the above mentioned narrow region (338- 341 in TM6) which may also serve as the selectivity filter for this anion channel, challenging the prevailing degraded ABC transporter hypothesis that states CFTR evolves from an ABC transporter by simply degenerating the intracellular gate.
The spatial dimensions of Savanna fire ecology in Kruger National Park, South Africa
Authors:   , Godwin Daniel
Published: April 2021

Savannas are thought to be bistable with forests potentially occurring above [about]650 mm / yr of Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP) due to the limiting effects of fire on tree cover. This is predicated on two assumptions: 1) fires increasingly limit woody cover in more mesic (> 650 MAP) savannas and 2) increasing tree cover produces feedbacks that reduce fire intensity. These assumptions are investigated in a spatially explicit framework. We use Kruger National Park (KNP), South Africa as our study system, in part due to the wide range of frequency of fires, the large variation in natural communities and rainfall, and the large body of previous research for comparisons and modeling efforts. To investigate whether tree cover produces feedbacks on fire intensity, we measured fire behavior as a function of grass fuel load and woody cover in experimental burns within KNP. We found weak but positive relationships (not negative, as assumed) between woody cover and fire intensity, independent of grass fuel load, and no relationship between tree cover and grass fuel load. At a landscape scale, we modeled the factors predicted to drive fire severity in KNP. We observed that fireline intensity is a strong predictor of many estimations of fire severity in small fires, but across larger fires, rainfall and woody cover likewise can predict impacts on herbaceous consumption and woody cover, respectively. Lastly, to investigate whether trees escape fire less often in more mesic savannas, we used a stochastic model parameterized with real data. After a review of published growth rates, we modeled fire escape probability using mean annual precipitation, fire frequency, and fireline intensity values across KNP. When accounting for species turnover across rainfall gradients, we found a nearly flat relationship between the probability of individuals escaping fire and rainfall. Our research challenges two key assumptions for fire-mediated bistability of mesic savannas.