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The effect of education and party membership on individual free market beliefs.
No full textRegarding the effect of education on political attitudes, some studies in Sociology find that higher levels of education are associated with an increase in liberal attitudes. Other studies in Political Science give reason to believe that party membership modifies the relationship between education and political attitudes. Both theories, however, focus on the development of cultural attitudes, and pay less attention to the development of economic attitudes (both of which are termed “political attitudes”). In other words, the effect of education and party membership on economic attitudes receives less attention and we seek to fill this gap. Using the World Values Survey, we show that at higher levels of education, Republicans and Democrats are further apart in their economic attitudes compared to Republicans and Democrats at lower levels of education. We conclude with a discussion of these findings in relation to the competing theories introduced above
Exploration of patient perception of quality communication with health care providers in maternal health.
No full textEffective communication between patients and healthcare providers is critical during the perinatal period, yet many women report feeling dismissed, misunderstood, or unheard during pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum care. This dissertation explores the communication experiences of pregnant or recently pregnant women in Central Texas.
The first manuscript of this dissertation employs a qualitative exploratory design, utilizing focus groups and semi-structured interviews with a diverse sample of women who are pregnant or have given birth within the past four years. Participants include women of varying racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds to capture a broad range of perspectives. The aim of this study is to qualitatively explore patient perceptions of communication quality in pregnancy-related care and to identify key determinants shaping perceptions of high- and low-quality interactions. Grounded theory methodology was applied to analyze categories, leading to the development of theories around preferred communication practices. By identifying what matters most to birthing women, this research aims to enhance patient-provider interactions, increase patient satisfaction, and ultimately contribute to reductions in maternal mortality rates and health disparities.
The second manuscript is a brief report that calls pregnancy health providers to lead in advancing informed consent and shared decision-making practices. Building on findings from the first manuscript, it discusses next steps for professionals in response to women's expressed needs regarding pregnancy-related communication. Poor communication in maternal care is not limited to marginalized populations nor rooted in sexism; but stems from the over medicalization of pregnancy which has resulted in it being treated as a pathogenic condition. Reframing pregnancy as a normal physiological process requires a patient-centered, collaborative approach to prenatal care and childbirth. Such a model fosters women's empowerment, enhances health literacy, and strengthens trust in the healthcare system. Improved communication and partnership between providers and pregnant women can lead to better maternal and child health outcomes and encourage lifelong engagement with healthcare
Functional genomics of male accessory glands and sex-related genes in the mosquito vector Culex pipiens.
No full textIdentification and functional assessment of sex-specific genes in the Culex pipiens mosquito is necessary to locate potential targets for sterilization of this species for mass release into the environment as an efficient vector control method. This research focused on identifying and categorizing genes primarily associated with Cx. pipiens male accessory glands (MAGs) after performance of a broad analysis over the whole mosquito genome, separately for males and females at adult and pupal stages. In particular, RNAi knockdown of the cytosol aminopeptidase (CPIJ003539) and membrin (CPIJ006096) genes had each led to notable reproductive impairments in male Cx. pipiens, while phenotypic differences between control and knockdown male accessory glands indicated the likely importance of those genes to the MAG. Further qRT-PCR analyses revealed that suppression of membrin alters the expression pattern of genes related to juvenile hormone (JH) synthesis in the MAGs, which might further indicate membrin’s importance to male reproduction
Senior leaders’ perceptions of an employee engagement program in a medical school department : a single case study.
No full textHealth care organizations face challenges in retaining employees due to the high demands of their work environments, constant changes in the industry, and workforce shortages. There is also an increased need for skilled employees as the need for health care expansion increases. These challenges have led to burnout, job dissatisfaction, and limited career advancement opportunities The resulting disruptions to operations increase organizational costs, weaken workplace culture, and impair patient care outcomes. One way to support health care industry employees is by implementing thoughtfully designed employee engagement programs. These programs can create a collaborative and inclusive environment that fosters trust, builds resilience, and promotes retention. The purpose of this single case study was to explore the perceptions of senior leaders in an operations and facilities management department at a medical school in a large university in the midwestern region of the United States regarding the impact of the department’s employee engagement program on employee retention. The three data sources for this study were a questionnaire, interviews, and a focus group. I aligned these data sources with the three dimensions—physical, cognitive, and emotional effort—of Kahn’s (1990) work engagement theory, which was the theoretical framework for the study. The findings of this study revealed six themes regarding employee engagement as perceived by senior leaders. First, senior leaders perceived engagement programs as essential for recognizing and motivating employees to participate actively, resulting in increased physical effort. Second, they perceived professional development and training as crucial in encouraging employees to exert increased physical effort. Third, they perceived team collaboration and active communication as essential in motivating employees and increasing their engagement and cognitive effort. Fourth, they perceived supportive leadership practices as essential to increase employee engagement and cognitive effort. Fifth, they perceived that a strong workplace culture supporting psychological safety enhances employee emotional effort and job satisfaction. Finally, they perceived participation and performance management as essential to supporting employee growth, retention, and emotional effort. These findings have implications for senior and executive leadership in operations and facilities management, employee engagement program designers, other campus department leaders, and employees within the medical school
Fault detection in multivariate processes : handling autocorrelation, contamination, and small sample sizes in engineered systems.
No full textMultivariate statistical process monitoring is commonly used to detect faults, or unexpected deviations from normal operating behavior, in complex processes. Faults are typically identified by comparing process behavior in real-time to previously observed in-control process behavior. Many existing methods perform well when monitoring multivariate processes, but they typically require that certain assumptions are met, including multivariate normality and independence. Furthermore, the availability of a large set of in-control historical data is also usually assumed, but often unstated. However, in some cases, minimal historical data are available, and the assumptions of multivariate normality and/or independence may be violated. Furthermore, even when a large set of historical data is available, it may be contaminated with outliers, making it difficult to mathematically characterize in-control behavior. In this work, we explore methods to account for small sample sizes, violations of independence, and contaminated data. In particular, we propose and evaluate non-parametric methods to identify thresholds separating in-control from out-of-control behavior that account for nonnormality and dependence. An extensive literature review covering approaches for handling small sample sizes and contamination is presented, including examples illustrating the shortcomings and trade-offs of existing methods, and finally, a novel Bayesian approach using robust estimators is proposed to handle situations in which historical data are both limited and contaminated with outliers
Ecological implications of hydrologic alteration : patterns, processes, and predictions.
No full textFlow is the master variable in lotic systems, driving physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. The stabilization and use of aquatic resources has put humans at odds with aquatic communities, altering the natural flow regime they have evolved to be adapted to. Beyond the uncertainty of when a system can be considered “altered” is the even greater uncertainty of what the ecological implications of that alteration might be. As both natural and anthropogenic sources increase stress on lotic systems, it is vital for humans to understand and manage the effects of hydrologic alteration. Natural resource managers often prefer conceptualizing ecological responses in thresholds – tipping points at which a resource is lost, or a system is irreversibly shifted into a new stable state. In this dissertation, I describe the patterns of hydrologic alteration and flow-ecology research in and around Texas, working towards understanding the processes that drive hydrologic alteration and ecological responses. With knowledge of mechanisms, we can predict how future anthropogenic activities may alter lotic systems, and the implications of that alteration on the biota therein
Zen and the art of high school teaching : a qualitative single case study exploring high school teachers’ experiences implementing social-emotional learning in Des Moines, Iowa public school classrooms.
No full textThis qualitative, single-case study explored the experiences of five high school teachers in Des Moines, Iowa, as they integrated Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) into their classrooms. Using a questionnaire, in-depth semi-structured interviews, and a focus group, the study collected rich, detailed data, enabling in-depth exploration of teachers’ definitions of SEL, teacher-student relationships, classroom management techniques, personalized implementation strategies, and the need for broader administrative and parental support. The findings identified five themes that provide a comprehensive understanding of SEL integration in secondary education settings.
First, the study reveals that teachers often lack a clear, universal definition of SEL, leading to varied classroom interpretations and implementation strategies. These varying definitions influenced how they integrated SEL into their instruction, highlighting the need for greater clarity and consistency in SEL frameworks. The second theme emphasized trust-building as the foundation of teacher-student relationships. Teachers consistently identified trust as essential for creating a safe and supportive classroom environment where students feel comfortable expressing emotions, self-reflecting, and developing critical SEL competencies.
The third theme underscored the role of structured classroom management practices in fostering SEL. Teachers relied on clear expectations, consistent routines, or socio-emotional support to create an environment where students could develop self-regulation and interpersonal skills. However, specific classroom management strategies varied among educators, reflecting differences in personal teaching styles, student needs, and school contexts. The fourth theme highlighted the personalized nature of SEL implementation as teachers adapted their strategies to fit their unique classroom settings. Finally, the study revealed challenges in SEL implementation, particularly in parent communication and administrative support. Teachers expressed a need for more consistent backing from administrators, including clear policies and communication, to support SEL implementation in their classrooms. Additionally, the teachers emphasized that challenges exist with their collaboration with parents, and addressing this concern could enhance SEL’s effectiveness by reinforcing SEL beyond the classroom
Covalent modification of cells and tissue.
No full textBioconjugation is a useful tool for covalently linking therapeutics, polymers, and fluorescent markers to antibodies, proteins of interest, transplant cells, and animal vasculatures. The standard non-selective protein conjugation strategy is amine acylation with active ester linkers to form amide bioconjugates, however this method is inadequate for contexts where traceless cleavable bioconjugates are desired. This dissertation describes the formation of carbamate bioconjugates from active carbonate linkers on ribonuclease, bovine pericardium, murine hepatocytes, and murine kidney vasculature. The formation of carbamate bioconjugates was compared to that of amide bioconjugates. The bioconjugates were also analyzed for their stability in different pH environments and the presence of serum, and for their impact on cell viability and cell function. The results demonstrate that carbamates are a suitable alternative to amides for bioconjugation with proteins, tissue, and cells. Additional bioconjugation experiments were tested on the exterior of avian muscle tissue and rat groin flaps. The success of the covalent tissue modification could theoretically be used to locally delivery drugs at the interfacial side of vascularized composite tissue transplantation
The tie that binds : a multiple-case study that explores the ways in which parents perceive their involvement in their special education children’s formal school experiences.
No full textParents are the keystone of a child’s formal educational experience. Too few parents whose children qualify for special education services involve themselves in their child’s formal education experiences, resulting in less-than-optimal student educational outcomes (Epstein, 2018). Parental involvement in their child’s formal education is vital for children to reach their full learning potential. However, barriers to parental involvement in their child’s formal educational experience continue to exist and diminish their benefits. Research suggests there is a lack of parental involvement in a child’s educational experience, especially for students who qualify to receive special education services. The purpose of this multiple-case study was to explore the ways parents describe their involvement in their special education middle school child’s formal educational experiences at school. I utilized the qualitative multiple-case study to assist in understanding six special education middle school parents’ involvement experiences. I aligned each question in the data source with Epstein’s (1995) six types of involvement, which include “parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision-making, and collaborating with the community” (p. 12). The data collection included individual interviews, journal reflections, and a focus group. I analyzed the data into codes, categories, and themes and then developed and assessed interpretations of the data. The findings, recommendations, and implications from this multiple-case study highlight the importance of parental involvement in a child’s formal educational experience, specifically middle school adolescents who receive special education services. First, parents perceived their willingness to do what it takes, regardless of parenting style, to get the unique educational support their child needs. Second, parents perceived that effective communication helps build relationships with school personnel. Third, parents perceived that volunteering fosters relationships at school and in the community. Fourth, parents perceived that learning at home is dependent on the adaptability to outside influences. Fifth, parents perceived that barriers exist that make it difficult for parents to be involved with their child’s education at school. Sixth, parents perceived that access to resources influences parental involvement at school. These findings have implications for school district administrators, campus administrators, classroom teachers, parents of children who receive special education services, and community leaders
Deep proteome profiling of methylation in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.
No full textThe epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) is the process of cells becoming mobile, which is important in the context of cancer metastasis. Lysine demethylase 6A (KDM6A) regulates EMT by removing tri-methylation on the 27th lysine residue of histone 3 (H3K27me3) to return mobile, mesenchymal cells to their stationary, epithelial state. In previous studies, KDM6A has localized in the nucleus to target H3K27me3; however, our collaborators recently determined that KDM6A also localizes at the Golgi. Thus, identifying methylated protein targets of KDM6A in the Golgi with proteomics is important to reveal other regulators of EMT. Proteomics experiments detect high numbers of peptides and proteins in complex samples; although, methylation is a difficult post-translational modification to detect due to high false discovery rates and masked detection of low abundant methylated peptides during liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) analysis. Therefore, proteomics workflows must be optimized to yield high numbers of confident methylation sites. Herein, we evaluated different aspects of proteomics workflows for deep proteome profiling of MCF-7 breast cancer cells. We determined that two popular sample cleanup methods capture different types of proteins based on hydrophobicity and employed solvent-precipitation single pot solid phase enhanced sample preparation (SP4) to detect high numbers of proteins in membranous samples, such as the Golgi (Chapter 2). We assessed the impact of popular database searching retention-time alignment and imputation algorithms on statistical comparisons between samples to accurately compare differentially expressed proteins. (Chapter 3) Lastly, we assessed confidently detected methylated peptides using commercially available strong-cation-exchange (SCX) tips and heavy-methyl stable isotope labeling of amino acids in cell culture (heavy-methyl SILAC) (Chapter 4). Ultimately, these methods enabled the detection of high numbers of confident methylation sites and will be applied to assess samples with varying degrees of KDM6A and determine non-histone protein regulators of EMT in the Golgi