13251 research outputs found
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Development of PEG-b-PLA Based Micelles for Neutralization of a Toxic Peptide
No full textI herein report the preparation and characterization of PEG-b-PLA block copolymer micelles and PEG-b-PLA/PLA mixed micelles as potential “plastic antidotes” for a toxic peptide, melittin. PEG-b-PLA micelles have been used in a number of biomedical applications for their biodegradability and biocompatibility. Along these lines, I investigated the colloidal stability and the peptide absorption properties of PEG-b-PLA/PLA mixed micelles. A series of PEG-b-PLA block copolymer micelles and PEG-b-PLA/PLA mixed micelles were prepared, and their colloidal stability was studied. The hydrodynamic diameters of stable micelles were determined by using Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). The capability of the micelles to capture and neutralize a hydrophobic toxic peptide derived from bee venom, melittin, was evaluated by hemolytic assay. The micelles consisting solely of PEG-b-PLA block copolymer were only found to inhibit melittin-induced hemolysis to a limited degree. Meanwhile, the micelles that consist of both PEG-b-PLA and PLA completely neutralize the effects of melittin. We attributed the contributing factor in melittin neutralization to the chemical nature of the micelle surface rather than the surface-to-volume ratio of the nanoparticle. The micelle mixture that exhibited the highest neutralization was comprised of 75% PLA and 25% PEG-b-PLA
The Longitudinal Study of Code-Switching in English-Instructed Spanish-English Bilingual Children
No full textThe population of bilingual children is growing in the U.S. Code-switching, a common occurrence in bilingual language production, is the use of words in the non-target language (e.g., English) when speaking the target language (e.g., Spanish). There are different approaches within the literature about how code-switching is dealt with. The purpose of this study is to longitudinally track changes in code-switching in English and Spanish narrative retell language samples, verify how code-switching impacts the lexical measure of number of different words, and whether code-switching may be indicative of Spanish language loss. Thirty-seven Spanish-English bilingual preschoolers who attended an English immersion school provided Spanish and English narrative samples across six semesters (waves). Code-switching was coded at the word level to analyze the proportion of code-switched words in each language over time. Growth-curve model estimates revealed non-significant deceleration in the proportion of code-switching over time in Spanish narrative retells and significant deceleration in code-switching in English narrative retells across 6 waves. The number of different words was impacted by the inclusion and exclusion of code-switching in narrative retells with the target language of Spanish, but not in English. Variations among individual participants and proportion of code-switching was noted in Spanish narrative retells. In English narrative retells, the proportion of code-switching was low, relatively uniform across participants, and did not occur after wave 2. Number of different words neither including nor excluding code-switching began at different points in Spanish narrative retells, but at approximately the same point in English. Language loss was not experienced by all participants. Further research on which variables influence code-switching may reveal more information on its potential connection to language loss
Role of Cyclophilin A and TRIM5α in HIV-1 Infection and Capsid Uncoating
No full textMicroglial cells are immune cells that protect the central nervous system and are subject to HIV- 1 infection. HIV-1 infection of these cells can lead to HIV Associated Neurocognitive Disorders (HAND). Since HIV-1 only codes for 15 different proteins, the virus also uses cellular factors, like Cyclophilin A (CypA), to assist in viral replication. The cell also has antiretroviral restriction factors, like tripartite motif-containing protein 5 (TRIM5α), to protect against infection. The goal of this project is to investigate the role of CypA in the early steps of HIV-1 replication and TRIM5α restriction in microglial cells. I hypothesize that CypA facilitates HIV-1 infection and assists in normal capsid uncoating kinetics. I also predict that blocking CypA interaction will allow for TRIM5α restriction to decrease HIV-1 infection. To study how the interaction between CypA and the capsid affects uncoating, the in situ uncoating assay was performed in the presence and absence of the drug Cyclosporin A which blocks this interaction. Lower amounts of CA were found in conditions with CypA binding compared to the absence of CypA. This result suggests that CypA assists with uncoating in CHME3 cells. To research the interplay between CypA and TRIM5α in microglial cells, TRIM5α expression was knocked down using siRNAs and CsA treatment was used to block CypA binding to the capsid. A decrease in TRIM5α expression resulted in an increase of HIV-1 infectivity. This effect was greater when CypA interactions were inhibited. This data indicates that TRIM5α restriction occurs in CHME3 microglial cells when CypA is inhibited. It is likely that CypA plays more than one role in HIV-1 infectivity and replication. Here, I have characterized the effect of CypA on HIV-1 uncoating and the connection between CypA and TRIM5α in microglial cells
Police officers’ job satisfaction: combining public service motivation and person-environment fit
No full textThis study examines front-line police officers’ job satisfaction in mid-sized municipal departments in the Midwestern United States. We use a 2019 cross-sectional survey of seven police departments (N = 234) to examine the relationships between officers’ job satisfaction and their public service motivations (PSM), perceptions of person-environment fit with three referent groups–top managers, supervisors, and coworkers–and their perceptions of self-legitimacy. The results suggest that organizational fit with top managers, PSM, and officers’ self-legitimacy are all positively related to job satisfaction, explaining nearly half of the variance in the sample. Using multiple regression models, we explore the potential mediating effects of fit on PSM but find little support for this proposition. Among individual-level control variables that were assessed, only tenure was significantly (negatively) related to job satisfaction
Fragmented Worlds, Fractured Families - Narrative Levels in Graphic Memoir
No full textThis collection of creative writing explores the dynamics of parent-child relationships, as well as the way time can cause these roles to shift and reverse, bringing into question who has the right to tell another’s story. The individual pieces are both in the mediums of prose and graphic narrative, often focused on themes of family and trying to reconcile fractured perspectives. These works are introduced through an essay demonstrating how graphic narratives are uniquely situated to show narrative levels, and how narrative levels are key to showing the shifts in parent-child relationships and the way perspectives can differ while still feeding off one another
Examining High Status via Resource Control Strategies, Emotional Intelligence, and Empathy
No full textThe innate drive for human belongingness in cooperative societies is coupled with strategies they use to gain resources. Individuals in high social status use specific strategies to gain their status. Emotional intelligence and empathy are also factors that enable status acquisition as they facilitate connectedness and the ability to relate to others, which can be important for the development of humans as social beings. High status, or popularity among peers, is usually examined via peer-reports of sociometric and perceived popularity, however, they may be evaluated via likability or social dominance respectively due to shared characteristics. This study examined self-reported social dominance and self-reported likability as classifications of high status. Prior research shows socially dominant individuals (perceived popular) use a combination of prosocial and coercive strategies, though strategy usage has not been determined for individuals high in likability (sociometric popularity). Analyses showed prosocial strategies predicted self-reported likability, and both prosocial and coercive strategies predicted social dominance. This means self-reported likable individuals only use prosocial resource control strategies. Analyses showed emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of both high status variables. This study also explored the relationship of high status to cognitive and affective empathy and found that cognitive empathy predicted self-reported likability and social dominance, but that affective empathy did not predict either high status variable. This research differentiates between the two types of self-reported high status
We May Undertake to Run the Churches: The Stanton-Ames Order and Union Military-Supported Church Confiscation During the American Civil War
No full textDuring the American Civil War, the Methodist Episcopal Church was authorized and supported by the federal government to take control of Methodist Episcopal Church, South, churches and parsonages in which a loyal minister appointed by a loyal bishop did not officiate. Authorized under the popularly styled “Stanton-Ames order,” northern Methodist agents traveled southward alongside the Union army, and the two parties worked in conjunction to eject southern Methodist ministers from their pulpits and replace them with ministers who were loyal to the Union. These confiscations happened across the South, but they were executed by northern Methodist officials who engaged in the work with differing degrees of enthusiasm. Although their subsequent occupation of these properties was short-lived, the dramatic northern action exposed the powerlessness of southern divines to protect the sanctity of their own sacred spaces. After the war, when northern Methodists believed a reunited Methodism was imminent, southerners pointed to northern actions under the Stanton-Ames order as a reason to maintain their separate and distinct organization. As the northern connection pushed for reunion, southern intransigence, fueled by their contempt for northern Methodist conduct during the war, forced the northern Methodists to become penitents, confessing wrongs and compromising on principles, and allowing the southern Methodists to deflect any criticism for supporting slavery and treason
Saga beyond the Gate: Chapter One, the Coming of the Gate Ghost
No full text“Saga Beyond the Gate: Chapter One, the Coming of the Gate Ghost” explores performance sculpture used as religious ritual. My work emphasizes ritual, creation myths, relics, physical manifestations of lived religion, and the power of narrative belief. One often turns to religion, science, or spirituality, to seek answers to questions about being a conscious entity, and one’s journey to the end. This saga uses scripts from all three of these schools of thought, placing the world of the Gate Ghost into tangible reality, as a play on a stage. Artefacts represent objects of power and mystery. Characters embody morality tales, set against the world around them. Publicly-constructed dramatic scenes present setting as a conversation between the familiar and the realm of high strangeness. The catalyst of my work is a fear of any form of life beyond death. I explore modes of the afterlife by physically manifesting infinite creative worlds and providing parallel escapes from this timeline. My ritual performances imbue this lived reality with meaning, drawing from the traditions of Corpus Christi plays, the culture of Eucharistic Hosts, and other communal manifestations of belief. By presenting props and costumes within the context of written narratives, I analyze the relationship between sacred objects, the human body, and existential tension. Using science fiction as a religion, I reorient beliefs about materials, souls, and time-based reality by unveiling a constructed world before the viewer
The Good, The Bad, and the Unspoken: Complex Layers of Motherhood
No full textThis body of work represents my frustrations about domestic life, by
communicating the raw, unfiltered side of how sometimes my anxiety and
motherhood coincide. By addressing the harsh stigmas society has towards both
anxiety and motherhood, I hope to normalize the reality rather than continue the
cycle of these idealized notions of what motherhood is supposed to be. Each piece
represents a small seemingly insignificant moment from my average day, but it is
when they start to accumulate together that results in an anxiety attack. The titles
of each piece are the positive mantras I repeat endlessly to convince myself that I
am doing a good job raising my children. Motherhood is anything but easy, and
because of that “Good Moms” come in all forms. That is why I have created a
platform to discuss; The Good, The Bad and the Unspoken
The Effect of Sex Education Programs on Rape Culture
No full textAlthough schools in the United States primarily present abstinence only or comprehensive sex education programs, neither of these programs discuss the topic of sexual consent. In addition, these programs reinforce negative ideologies regarding rape-myths and victim blaming. The purpose of the current study is to determine if the prior type of sex education effects participants’ beliefs in rape-myth acceptance, sexism, willingness to help, and importance of consent, and if the sex education priming effects the participants’ likelihood to victim blame, express victim empathy, and their bystander behavior. The data reflected that those participants who received abstinence only sexual education did report higher rape culture adherence in victim blaming, rape-myth acceptance, and hostile and benevolent sexism (p \u3c .05) compared to those students who received comprehensive sex education. These findings have implications for both sex education and rape prevention programming. They also indicate that more research is needed in this area