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Three essays on government contracting for socially oriented goals and avoidance of blame
No full textGovernment contracting and procurement have traditionally been studied as a means to achieve government efficiency and effectiveness. In recent years, however, it has gradually been promoted as a tool for other purposes. For example, because of its significant purchasing power, government contracting can be utilized to boost the economy of socially and economically disadvantaged communities and address the pressure of environmental challenges. On the other hand, studies also show that contracting out is used as a tool for avoiding blame in cases of service failure. My goal in this dissertation is to build on these nascent efforts to understand the broader managerial implications of contracting out. In doing so, I address three specific questions: (1) Does employee motivation shape support for government procurement programs that advance socially oriented goals?
(2) How are work attitudes of public employees influenced by procurement programs that promote social equity?
(3) Does government deflect blame for inequitable service provision by contracting out?
This dissertation addresses these questions across three independent studies. Chapter 2 examines how public employees’ public service motivation and risk aversion influence their intention to engage in green public procurement. To address this question, I use a novel dataset that explores work-related attitudes of Taiwanese public employees. Ordered logit regression analysis revealed that public service motivation of public employees positively correlates with their inclination to purchase green products. Conversely, risk aversion is inversely related to public employees’ willingness to buy green products.
Chapter 3 explores the influence of the U.S. government’s Small Disadvantaged Businesses Contracting Program on public employees’ work morale. The study, which utilized multilevel regressions to analyze data collected from multiple U.S. federal government websites, found that Small Disadvantaged Businesses contract is linked with increased satisfaction among federal public employees. Additionally, it is linked to lower turnover intention, particularly among public employees from historically underrepresented groups.
Finally, Chapter 4 aims to investigate whether and how citizens shift their perceived responsibility for inequitable service provision from the government to the contractor when a public service operates under a contracting structure. For this purpose, an online survey experiment that collected data from the U.S. adults was employed. A series of ANOVA tests were employed in this study. Results indicate that, as the government still bears most responsibility for inequitable service provision, contracting out reduces the citizens’ blame for failure in equity outcome placed on the government. Additionally, it is found that the information cue about potential efficiency gains from inequitable service provision do not influence patterns of blame attribution.
The findings of this dissertation contribute to the research on government contracting and procurement, public human resource management, and blame attribution for public service failure. It also brings managerial implications to government contracting practices.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Building bridges in mathematical reasoning: how students connect isomorphic problems in combinatorics
No full textThis dissertation examines the development of combinatorial reasoning in high school students through an in-depth analysis of problem-solving sessions involving the Pizza Problem. The study, part of the long-term Rutgers-Kenilworth longitudinal research project, focuses on four 11th-grade students as they explore and connect concepts related to combinatorics, Pascal's Triangle, and isomorphic relationships between different problem contexts. The research is grounded in constructivist theories of learning and draws on the work of scholars such as Maher, Uptegrove, and Francisco in the field of mathematical reasoning and problem-solving. It also builds upon Goldin's framework of problem-solving and affective pathways, and Dienes' theory of multiple embodiments in mathematics education. Using a qualitative approach that combines Powell et al.'s (2003) seven nonlinear phases and a grounded theory approach, the research analyzes video data and student work to trace the evolution of students' mathematical reasoning. The study employs VMCAnalytics to create detailed video narratives that capture key moments in the students' problem-solving process. Four specific VMCAnalytics were developed, peer-reviewed, and published, each focusing on different aspects of the students' reasoning processes. Key Findings:1.The non-linear nature of students' learning, characterized by cycles of exploration, conjecture, and revision.
2.The importance of multiple representations in developing structural understanding, particularly the role of Pascal's Triangle as a mediating tool.
3.The critical role of collaborative discourse in mathematical sense-making and the development of shared understanding.
4.The progressive development of students' ability to recognize and leverage isomorphic relationships between the Pizza Problem, the Towers Problem, and Pascal's Triangle.
5.The emergence of sophisticated combinatorial thinking, including the recognition of the 2^n pattern in various problem contexts. The research highlights how students progressively recognize and leverage isomorphic relationships between a series of counting problems, demonstrating a sophisticated level of mathematical thinking. It provides insights into the processes by which students develop abstract mathematical concepts and transfer knowledge across different problem contexts. This study contributes to our understanding of how students develop advanced mathematical concepts, particularly in combinatorics. It offers insights into effective teaching strategies that foster deep, flexible, and transferable mathematical understanding, with implications for curriculum design, instructional practices, and assessment in mathematics education. The dissertation suggests several avenues for future research, including longitudinal studies tracking the development of isomorphic thinking across different mathematical domains, investigations into the role of technology in supporting structural understanding, and explorations of how teachers can effectively scaffold the development of combinatorial reasoning.Ed.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Mentor – burnout relationship amongst emergency room nurses
No full textPurpose of the Project: Prolonged exposure to high intensity units such as the Emergency Room (ER) results in a 23.9% novice nurse turnover rate within the first year of employment. Resignation plays an important role in the burnout cycle leading to decreased job performance, satisfaction, and morale. This quality improvement project aims to establish a mentorship program that reduces burnout perception, improves nurse satisfaction, and enhances patient care.
Procedures: Utilizing Dr. Benner’s “From Novice to Expert” Nursing Theory nurses with less than one year of ER experience were recruited to participate as protégés and those with over three years of experience were eligible to participate as mentors. A 12-week program was developed pairing protégés with mentors and consisting of bi-weekly team meetings. The Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) Survey was emailed to protégés pre and post implementation to identify burnout perception.
Results: Pre and post implementation MBI Surveys measured emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and personal accomplishment on a 7-point Likert type scale. Results yielded a 6% increase in personal accomplishment scores amongst survey participants (n=17), while the other two categories remained relatively unchanged. Statistical significance was not achieved but the rise in post-intervention personal accomplishment suggests a positive impact.
Implications for Practice : Mentorships allow for knowledge dissemination and the use of evidence-based practice to improve clinical judgement, competence, critical thinking skills and confidence. These programs can foster resiliency and provide an avenue to help mitigate the effects of burnout.
Keywords: burnout, novice, nurse, Benner, mentor, Emergency Room, Maslach Burnout Inventory SurveyD.N.P.Includes bibliographical reference
Local anesthetic systemic toxicity (last) and cardiac arrest: assessment of simulation-based education training for labor and delivery staff
No full textPurpose of Project: The purpose of this project was to utilize simulation training to provide labor and delivery RNs, anesthesia providers, and OB-GYN residents with the necessary skills and knowledge sets to quickly identify local anesthetic systemic toxicity (LAST) and implement prompt treatment and/or initiate ACLS protocol if the patient progresses to cardiac arrest. The project sought to develop communication and teamwork skills amongst labor and delivery RNs, anesthesia providers, and OB-GYN residents. MethodThis is a quality improvement project that took place one two separate simulation implementation days that occurred six weeks apart. Each implementation day involved running 2-4 simulation rooms based on patient census on the labor and delivery unit. Each room had two project champions facilitating and documenting the scenario. An educational debrief and presentation was provided following implementation day one. The exact same scenario was then used on day 2 six weeks later, followed by another debrief summarizing the experiences and reinforcing educational resources. ResultsThe statistical methods used for the collected data were the Chi Square and Mann-Whitney U tests. The Chi Square test assessed skills met versus not met in implementation day one versus implementation day two groups. The was statistical significance for the increase in the number of skills that were met on day two when compared to day one (p value 0.0423 less than alpha value 0.05). A Mann-Whitney U test was performed and revealed that there is no statistical difference (U value 211 compared to U critical value 151) between the groups for the time that it took to complete each individual action item on the checklist. Implications The results of this project have implications for education development within healthcare organizations as well as clinical practice improvement. Simulation-based training can be used in a variety of settings and amongst all types of healthcare providers. When it comes to low frequency, high risk events such as LAST, it is imperative that providers can call upon skills and thought processes they may never have had to use previously.D.N.P.Includes bibliographical reference
Landscape and population ecology of wild bees
No full textDespite the importance of wild bees to pollination of wild plants and crops, and concern over declines in wild bee abundance and diversity, surprisingly little is known about most individual bee species. In particular, little is known about wild bees at a population level, or how bee populations are affected by their broader environment. In my dissertation, I address these overlooked but foundational aspects of bee ecology. In Chapter 1, I investigate the habitat associations of 84 wild bee species and the spatial scales at which they respond to habitat in their landscape. To do so, I analyzed an amalgamated dataset of bee surveys previously conducted by the Winfree Lab. I used generalized linear mixed-effect models to describe abundance of each bee species as a function of landcover at multiple scales around each collection site. After adjusting for multiple comparisons, I found 177 significant species-habitat responses across 57 species. Bee species’ habitat associations tended to vary with their phenology, with spring-flying bees being associated with forests and summer-flying bees being associated with open, non-forested habitats. Bee species responded to their landscapes at a range of scales that were not predicted by mobility-related traits, as is commonly assumed. In Chapter 2, I assessed the effect of habitat on population size and gene flow of the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. To do so, I surveyed for B. impatiens workers across southern New Jersey. I then used tools from population and landscape genetics to estimate local population sizes and assess how population size and gene flow are affected by habitat. I found that population size increased with the amount of deciduous forest and agriculture in the surrounding landscape, but these effects did not carry through to affect gene flow. I also found that my estimates of local population size were completely disconnected from observed abundance of B. impatiens in the field, suggesting that observed abundance of social bees is not a good proxy for population size. In Chapter 3, I evaluated an under-used method from population genetics to estimate average effective population densities and intergenerational dispersal distances of bumble bees. First, I demonstrated the method using my data from Chapter 2 as well as publicly available data on five other Bombus species. Then I evaluated the method’s sensitivity to study design, specifically the spatial extent of sampling. I estimated most Bombus populations to have low average effective colony densities (range: 1.1 to 41 effective colonies/km2) but also found that effective density estimates tended to decrease with increasing extent of sampling, likely due to spatial heterogeneity in population density.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Bioprospecting in the nepeta, salvia, and clinopodium genera under controlled growing environments for application in natural products and cimex lectularius l repellency
No full textThe Nepeta genus is a diverse clade within the mint family (Lamiaceae) with a wide geographic distribution and long history of ethnobotanical. Many of the traditional uses and more recent discovered uses of the genus are tied to chemical compounds these plants produce. Nepeta ssp. are probably most well-known for the euphoric effect they can have on cats. This effect and the more recent discoveries of repellency against disease vectoring arthropods like mosquitoes, ticks, and bedbugs has been attributed to Nepeta ssp. containing a class of volatile iridoid monoterpenes known as nepetalactones. There exist 8 possible isomers of nepetalactone with 6 being having been found to be naturally occurring within the genus and are typically extracted via distillation as an essential oil. The different isomers of nepetalactone have been demonstrated to have varying potency, effects, and applications relative to each other. Additionally, the production of nepetalactone isomers is dependent on both the growing condition and genetics of the Nepeta ssp. In addition, many of the Nepeta ssp. that have been studied for their secondary metabolites including nepetalactone content have not been with plants grown under the same environmental conditions. Given the lack of available literature on germplasm grown under the same conditions and need for arthropod control this dissertation was undertaken. The goal of this dissertation was to identify and improve Nepeta germplasm, as well as identify new sources, methods of extraction, and natural product for the repellency and control of bed bugs Cimex lectularius L. This lead to the largest known study of Nepeta by number of accessions grown under a controlled environment in history. A total of 85 Nepeta accession including multiple accessions across 11 species (N. cataria, N. clarkei, N. × faassenii, N. grandiflora, N. govaniana, N. nervosa, N. nuda, N. parnassica, N. racemosa, N. subsessilis, and N. stewartiana) grown under a controlled environment. Chemical and statistical analysis of extracts made from these identified 9 distinct chemotypes across the study population relative to nepetalactoid and other bioactive compound content. A subset of this population including at least one accession from each of the above species in addition to an accession of N. nepetella and 5 previously untested Salvia species (S. apiana, S. azurea, S. dorrii, S. mellifera, and S. verbenaca) were grown out and extracted with several methods including soxhlet with differing extract solvents and hydrodistillation. None of these species with the exception of N cataria had previously been tested for bed bug repellency. These extracts were then chemically analyzed via GCMS and tested for potential repellency C. lectularius. This identified ethanol as a more effective extract of the bioactive responsible for repellency in N cataria with the likely compound responsible for the observed repellency being dihydronepetalactone. Additionally, the N. clarkei accession was identified as having some repent effect and was unique for being high in dehydronepetalactone compared to all other accessions in this dissertation. The essential oil of S apiana was found to have strong repellent effect against bed bugs with the main compound responsible being camphor in the oil. Notably the S. apiana was able to produce 622% more oil per dry weight when compared to N. cataria making it a perfect candidate for future development as a natural product for bed bug control. The improvement of N. cataria germplasm was also explored on the nepetalactone-rich catnip cultivars CR3 and lead the development and first successful polyploidy induction using colchicine in N. cataria L. Lastly, this dissertation also reports the first discovery of nepetalactones in three accessions of Clinopodium nepeta. The significance of the discoveries in this dissertation are discussed in the context of identifying and or improving germplasm for natural product development.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Green streets for people: evaluating the experiential performance of green street design
No full textThis thesis develops an evaluation system that considers human experience in assessing the performance of green street design based on a people-first, experiential framework informed by cultural sustainability theory and scholarship regarding the human dimension in public space. Joan Nassauer’s “Cues-to-Care” and Jan Gehl’s “quality criteria concerning the pedestrian landscape” served as foundations for an evaluation rubric which scored design sites according to their performance in three main categories: Protection, Comfort, and Delight. Eight green street projects in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania were used as study sites, as the city is a leader in urban green infrastructure and has built over 200 green street projects since the inception of its Green Cities, Clean Water initiative in 2011.Study sites showed an average total score of 15.5 out of 22, with notable variations across categories. Patterns and trends indicate the significant impact of surrounding context and scale of design intervention on evaluation scores. Challenges included lack of specificity in score criteria, which lacked consideration for surrounding context or the same design elements fulfilling multiple criteria for a given site, as well as the inherent
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subjectivity in evaluating human experience. The results of the evaluations are based on the experience of the individual researcher who was not resident of the city nor part of the communities surrounding the sites included in the study. As such, future studies should refine the evaluation framework and incorporate more community participation, such as organizing community groups to conduct evaluations within their own neighborhoods or surveying site users on their experiences and incorporating that into the overall evaluation.
Despite the above challenges, the project provides valuable insights into holistic evaluation of green street design that prioritizes both ecological performance and positive human experience and creates vibrant and resilient communities.M.L.A.Includes bibliographical reference
A Late Quaternary history of interior ocean circulation and ventilation from the Indian Sector of the Southern Ocean
No full textThe Southern Ocean is an important player in Earth’s late quaternary climate history due in part to its role in mediating the exchange of carbon dioxide between the atmosphere and deep ocean on glacial-interglacial timescales. Reconstructions from the Atlantic and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean reveal that changes in ocean circulation and deep-sea ventilation at the end of the Last Ice Age were not synchronous across the Southern Ocean, emphasizing the importance of regional dynamics on deglacial climate change. Knowledge of circulation and ventilation changes in the Indian sector is limited by comparison, owing to the difficulty of recovering sediment cores with sufficient temporal resolution and spatial coverage in the region. Resolving this history is crucial to developing a unified theory of Southern Ocean dynamics as Earth transitioned out of the Last Ice Age. The central aim of this dissertation is to bring modern and paleo perspectives to bear on the circulation and ventilation history of the interior Indian Ocean. The first half of the dissertation (Chapters 2 and 3) describes the hydrography and stable isotope geochemistry of the modern Indian Ocean and refines proxy relationships for salinity and temperature used to reconstruct past ocean conditions in later chapters. The second half (Chapters 4 and 5) presents new high-resolution down-core records of circulation and ventilation change from upper and lower cells of the Indian sector’s overturning circulation. Each chapter makes extensive use of new sediment and seawater samples collected from the southeast Indian Ocean during the Coring to Reconstruct Ocean Circulation and Carbon dioxide across 2 Seas (CROCCA-2S) expedition in 2018. Chapter 2 combines 234 new seawater samples from the CROCCA-2S study region with historical data to present a broad-scale hydrographic survey of the south Indian Ocean. Temperature, salinity, and stable oxygen isotope data (δ18O) suggest the south Indian Ocean west of ~85°E is strongly influenced by eddy turbulence induced by the southward-flowing Leeuwin Current. The resulting mixing between subtropical and subantarctic waters yields a regional δ18O – salinity relationship distinct from the one dictated by hydroclimatic processes throughout the rest of the Indian subtropics, carrying important implications for paleosalinity reconstructions in the region. Chapter 3 presents a newly compiled database of paired foraminiferal Mg/Ca-δ18O observations from 115 Indian Ocean surface sediment samples to develop regional calibrations of the magnesium-to-calcium (Mg/Ca) temperature proxy and explore its sensitivity to salinity and carbonate chemistry in four planktic species. Multivariate regression and Bayesian factor analysis suggest temperature-only calibrations offer sufficiently robust parameterizations to reconstruct past temperatures with surface- dwelling species Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerina bulloides, despite some sensitivity to non-thermal parameters. Data from subsurface-dwelling Globorotalia inflata and Globorotalia truncatulinoides were restricted to the well-mixed water column in thesoutheast Indian Ocean, and therefore did not exhibit a broad enough dynamic range to yield robust calibrations. Chapter 4 features a reconstruction of the temperature and salinity history of Indian- sourced Subantarctic Mode Water (SAMW), an important shallow interior water mass that contributes substantially to the return flow of the global overturning circulation. Results from two foraminiferal species (G. bulloides and G. truncatulinoides) in core TT1811- 50GGC located within the region’s SAMW production center reveals an abrupt increase in salinity (~2 – 2.6 PSU) at the onset of deglacial warming (~20 ka). This high salinity event occurs synchronously (within error) with an increase in water mass age, according to radiocarbon analyses from the same core. These data capture the incorporation of salty, aged glacial bottom waters upwelled into SAMW from the Southern Ocean. Estimates of the salt load associated with this abyssal “salty blob” suggests it was a potentially important yet under-acknowledged source of negative buoyancy to the North Atlantic that could have helped reinitiate deep water production during the last deglaciation. Finally, Chapter 5 presents three new sub-millennially resolved records of deep-sea ventilation from the Indian sector of the Southern Ocean based on the stable carbon isotope composition (δ13C) of epifaunal benthic foraminifera. These new data are combined with 17 other high-resolution benthic records to develop composite δ13C stacks that reflect the underlying basin-wide ventilation signal for the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific sectors of the Southern Ocean. A comparative analysis reveals distinctly different ventilation histories for each region. The onset of ventilation was time-transgressive, beginning in the Pacific (~20.9 ka) and moving to the Indian (~18.7 ka) and then the Atlantic (~15.3 ka). The earlier ventilation of the Indo-Pacific appears to be a dynamic response to changing southern hemisphere temperature, Antarctic sea ice, and southwesterly wind intensity, whereas the late ventilation of the Atlantic coincides with the resumption of deep water production in the North Atlantic. Together, this dissertation clarifies the paleoceanographic history of the southern Indian Ocean, underscores the global impact of localized dynamics in the region, and contributes to a more comprehensive view of Southern Ocean dynamics across the last major example of global climate change.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference
Sensory evaluation of wine aromas and faults by casual wine consumers
No full textWine aromas are important chemical compounds impacting wine quality and can originate from varietal differences, viticulture, vinification, bottling, and aging. Wine faults can inadvertently occur at some step in the process, which can be detrimental to wine quality. Wine professionals are traditionally used to assess wine and are highly trained to recognize quality indictors including faults or defects, however consumers make the majority of wine purchasing decisions and their perceptions of these wine aromas and faults are less understood. Sensory evaluation of wine aromas and faults using casual wine consumers could help benefit the wine industry to better understand this target market. Other personal factors have also been shown to play a role in wine perception including age, gender, wine involvement, and wine adventurousness. Taste sensitivity to the bitter compounds 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP), a genetic indicator for taste perception, has been well studied in relation to differences in oral sensations and food perception and liking. However, PROP status has rarely been examined in wines, and is worth further examination. The aims of this thesis were: 1) to investigate consumer detection thresholds for 8 aroma compounds and wine faults presented in aqueous solutions; 2) study the impact of wine spiked with these compounds on sensory perception and liking; and 3), determine if other individual and genetic factors could play a role in compound sensitivity and wine perception.
A total of 68 casual wine consumers were recruited from the Rutgers-New Brunswick area. Taste sensitivity to PROP was examined and participants were divided into three groups: supertasters, medium tasters, and non-tasters. The following 8 compounds were evaluated: 2,4,6-trichloroanisole (TCA) “Cork Taint”, 4-ethylphenol:4-Ethylguaiacol (4EP/4EG) “Brett Taint,” Acetic Acid, an indicator of volatile acidity, Diacetyl “Butter”, ß-ionone “fruity/floral”, 1-octen-3-one “mushroom”, 2,5-dimethyl-3-methoxypyrazine (DMMP) ‘green”, and (E)-2-decenal “vegetal”. Consumer detection thresholds were obtained using Best-Estimate Threshold (BET) methodology, which is the geometric mean of the concentration at which they perceive the compound and the next lowest concentration in the series. Individual thresholds were visualized via histograms and Gaussian Mixture Modeling. Group thresholds were established using regression analysis with Abbott’s formula.
For the wine tasting portion, 4 compounds were spiked in neutral white wine (Acetic Acid, Diacetyl, ß-ionone, and (E)-2-decenal) and 4 compounds were spiked in neutral red wine (TCA, Brett Taint, 1-octen-3-one, and DMMP): control neutral red and neutral white wines were also evaluated. Spiked wine samples were evaluated using check-all-that-apply (CATA) for 30 attributes which were analyzed by Cochrane’s Q; liking ratings for 4 attributes were collected and analyzed by ANOVA and ANCOVA followed by Tukey’s HSD, controlling for age and analyzing other factors such as gender, PROP status, wine preferences, and wine adventurousness.
Reliable detection thresholds were determined for 5 compounds (ß-ionone, Diacetyl, Brett taint, Acetic Acid and DMMP). These thresholds were considerably higher for consumers than previously reported for experts with the exception of Brett Taint which was similar across subject groups. Acetic acid has not been studied in experts. Our subjects were insensitive to 1-octene-3-one and TCA, such that thresholds could not be determined for these compounds. Inspection of individual Best-Estimate Thresholds (BETs) showed a wide range of sensitivities to these compounds amongst consumers.
For the wine tasting portion, the results showed that only a few compounds had major impacts on perception and liking of spiked wines. The white wine results showed Acetic acid increased vinegar flavor (p<0.0001) and reduced liking for flavor, mouthfeel, and overall. The red wine results showed that 1-octen-3-one increased garlic flavor (p<0.05), while TCA increased musty/moldy (p<0.01) and green flavor (p<0.001), both compounds decreased nutty flavor (p<0.01). Both 1-octen-3-one and TCA reduced aroma liking (p<0.0001).
With regard to individual factors, PROP status did not impact consumer liking of specific wine samples, but super-tasters gave higher liking ratings to white wines (pooled across samples) compared to non-tasters (p<0.05). Other individual factors such as age, gender, wine adventurousness, and wine preferences also impacted wine liking ratings.
These results support our hypothesis that consumers are less sensitive to most wine aromas and faults than experts, with a few notable exceptions. When wines are spiked with these aromas and faults, some of them are noticeable to consumers, but they had minimal impact on liking. Only acetic acid reduced flavor, mouthfeel, and overall liking of white wine and TCA and 1-octen-3-one reduced aroma liking of red wine. These findings can be utilized by winemakers to better tailor their wines to the preferences of casual wine consumers who make up a major portion of the U.S. wine market.M.S.Includes bibliographical reference
RIPK3 regulates neuroinflammation during flavivirus infection of the central nervous system
No full textNeuroinflammation exhibits both protective and pathological roles during viral infections of the central nervous system (CNS). Receptor-interacting protein kinase-3 (RIPK3) protects mice from fatal encephalitis by promoting neuroinflammatory signals that drive cell-intrinsic virologic control of flaviviruses and recruit peripheral leukocytes to help contain viral spread within the CNS. However, the cell type- and brain region-specific dependencies for RIPK3 in driving neuroinflammation during flavivirus infections are not well understood. Additionally, whether RIPK3 elicits similar inflammatory responses across different neuroinvasive flavivirus infections is unclear. Our research indicates that RIPK3 is broadly essential for controlling both tick- and mosquito-transmitted flaviviruses. Using a tick-transmitted model virus, we demonstrate that neuronal RIPK3 enhances type I interferon signaling in the cerebellum during infection by upregulating interferon receptor expression. Additionally, we highlight a critical role for astrocytic RIPK3 in protecting mice from flavivirus pathogenesis, particularly emphasizing the regulation of neuroinflammation at the blood-brain barrier. Through transcriptomic analysis, we identified a range of pro- and anti-inflammatory genes differentially expressed due to astrocytic RIPK3 activation. This analysis revealed that Serpins, a family of protease inhibitors, are regulated by RIPK3- and NF-kB-dependent signaling in astrocytes. Administration of SerpinA3N during acute viral infection protected astrocytic RIPK3-deficient mice from blood brain barrier dysfunction, excessive leukocyte recruitment to the CNS, and fatal viral encephalitis. These findings identify cell-type and brain-region specific roles of RIPK3 and uncover novel immunoregulatory functions for RIPK3 in controlling viral encephalitis, providing valuable insights into the regulation of neuroinflammation during flavivirus infection of the CNS.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical reference