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The China Embargo and the Trade War: A Legacy of Economic Ideological Containment
No full textCollege of Arts and ScienceDepartment of Histor
Site-Directed Mutagenesis of anti-CD11b Nanobody to Optimize Production
No full textA previous work from our lab produced nanobody-drug conjugates using 6x-Histidine affinity chromatography, followed by a sortase-mediated bioconjugation strategy. During the sortase reaction, the histidine tag is cleaved from the nanobody and is separated from unreacted nanobody using 6x-Histidine affinity chromatography again. If the nanobody contains histidine residues in its sequence, the reacted nanobody will still show affinity to the resin and yields are reduced. The reacted nanobody can be eluted using low concentration imidazole, but some of the unreacted product and sortase enzyme are then eluted too, reducing the purity of the sample. Further, the imidazole must be removed by buffer exchanging which reduces yield. We aimed to
target CD11b, an integrin expressed by myeloid cells, with a nanobody but the only sequence available in literature contained two histidine residues. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we aimed to mutate both sites to four other amino acids and maintain binding affinity while eliminating histidine from the sequence. In this work, we showed that phenylalanine was the preferred mutation at both sites and binding affinity was maintained after mutagenesis. We characterized the mutated nanobodies and generated nanobody-drug conjugates as a proof-of-concept for using site-directed mutagenesis with nanobody proteins without affecting binding
The experiences of youth with disabilities in accessing supports under Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973
No full textWhile youth with disabilities have unique knowledge of their support needs, little is known about their involvement in Section 504 plans. To ensure Section 504 of The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 appropriately serves students with disabilities, it is critical to hear directly from students with disabilities about their experiences. In this qualitative study, we interviewed 20 youth with disabilities to understand their experiences throughout the eligibility process for the Section 504 plan, the development of the Section 504 plan, and the implementation of the Section 504 plan. Overall, participants reported limited involvement in each part of the Section 504 plan process. Many participants reported that parent advocacy and knowledge were key to eligibility, development, and implementation. Implications for practice and directions for future research are discussed
Parent Emotion Socialization Behaviors and Adolescent Psychological Symptoms in Families with and without Tourette Syndrome
No full textAdolescents with Tourette syndrome (TS) are at heightened risk for experiencing psychosocial difficulties. While tics are the defining symptom of TS, widespread psychological comorbidities are the rule rather than the exception. Current treatments focus on tic management, yet psychological symptoms have consistently been shown to be a stronger predictor of quality of life than tic severity. As such, there is an urgent clinical need to identify risk factors for psychopathology in adolescents with TS. Parent emotion socialization (ES) is a method through which parents educate their children about emotions and model for them emotion regulation strategies. Parent ES has been implicated in the development of children’s emotion regulation skills and is related to youth psychological outcomes. Parent ES behaviors in adolescents with TS have not yet been examined, but evidence of ES behaviors in other neurodevelopmental disorders and of environmental sensitivity in TS suggests a potential differential susceptibility to parent ES behaviors in adolescents with TS. The present study utilized parent self-report questionnaires and behavioral observations of parent-adolescent dyads engaging in a conflict discussion to examine ES behaviors in parents of adolescents with and without TS. We sought to examine potential group differences in parent ES behaviors and investigate the relationship of these behaviors with adolescent psychological symptoms by group. Results revealed that while there were no group differences in parent ES behaviors, parents of both groups engaged in a range of ES behaviors. Additionally, ES behaviors were differentially associated with psychological symptoms in the TS group only. Findings implicate important future directions for research, as well as a novel target for intervention in families affected by TS and highlight the importance of parental support in this population
Handwriting Leads to Lasting Changes in Brain Function During Visual Symbol Perception
No full textWhile much research has examined the relationship between action and perception, the mechanisms by which fine-motor actions affect perception remain unclear. Handwriting, a fine-motor skill, improves visual recognition; however, these improvements outlast concurrent changes in communication between relevant brain regions, suggesting that neural communication may not directly support lasting recognition. This investigation evaluates the hypothesis that transient changes in neural communication are followed by changes in brain activation within relevant brain regions for lasting changes in recognition, consistent with the theory of interactive specialization that neural communication fine-tunes localized processing. Fifteen adult participants trained by handwriting unfamiliar symbols and were tested on visual recognition for those symbols on four days within one week. Participants underwent fMRI scans before training, immediately after training, and one week after training; at each scan, they viewed both trained and untrained symbols in a blocked design. Region of interest analyses were conducted within functional communities that underwent changes in neural communication after handwriting training in prior research. Results revealed significant changes in activation at the one-week post-training scan that was not observed at the pre-training and post-training scans. Whole-brain contrast analyses also revealed a significant difference in brain activation, again only at the one-week post-training scan. These results suggest that lasting differences in brain activation emerge after training as the neural communication changes observed immediately after training taper off. Findings suggest that fine-motor actions, such as handwriting, improve visual recognition by first inducing temporary increases in neural communication, followed by a refinement of activity into specialized activation patterns, supporting sustained perceptual and behavioral changes
Integrative Analysis of the Molecular Mechanisms Governing LQTS in the KCNQ1 Potassium Channel
No full textLoss-of-function (LOF) pathogenic variants in the KCNQ1 cardiac potassium channel predispose to type 1 congenital long QT syndrome (LQT1), with the threat of sudden death. Accurate diagnosis of potential LQT1 patients is critical for preventative treatment. However, clinically viable prediction methods remain elusive, highlighting the necessity for detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving LQT1 in KCNQ1. Our lab has conducted such research previously on the KCNQ1 voltage sensing domain (VSD), revealing that misfolding-induced mistrafficking was the predominant mechanism for this domain. We thus hypothesized that such might be the case for the channel more broadly. To expand these findings we used an integrative approach of biophysical, functional, and trafficking measurements of 61 KCNQ1 variants distributed throughout all domains of the channel. This approach required developing a novel application of the cellular thermal shift assay to quantitatively assess KCNQ1 thermal stability, providing a critical technical advance in the study of membrane protein folding and the impact of disease-causing variants. Additionally, we used previously established flow cytometry-based trafficking assays and automated whole-cell patch clamp electrophysiology to measure trafficking and function of these variants, respectively. Impaired trafficking to the plasma membrane was the most common cause of LOF across all channel domains, frequently coinciding with protein instability. However, many LOF variants, particularly in transmembrane domains, exhibited impaired conductance, altered voltage-dependence, or abnormal gating kinetics without corresponding loss of trafficking, highlighting diverse pathogenic mechanisms. From these results, five dysfunctional categories were identified, indicating a need for highly personalized treatment approaches for LQT1. Finally, we used the data from this work as well as our previous work on the VSD, a total of 112 LQT1-relevant variants, to benchmark variant pathogenicity prediction methods. The results of our analysis demonstrated that prediction accuracy depends on the dysfunctional mechanism associated with a given variant, with a clear over-reliance on protein sequence conservation scores. These findings thus elucidate the spectrum of mechanisms associated with LQT1 and provide hints for future improvements to pathogenicity prediction
The Design and Evaluation of Wearable Technologies for Reducing Back Injury Risk
No full textBack injuries are a pervasive issue among workers and military service members, often resulting from repetitive lifting and heavy load carriage. These tasks place high loads on the spine and surrounding muscles, increasing the risk of musculoskeletal injuries which can be difficult to mitigate through traditional ergonomic interventions. This dissertation focuses on advancing wearable assistive devices—specifically back exoskeletons and weight distribution devices—to reduce back injury risk. Broadly, this work contributes to the knowledge of how to design and evaluate these wearable devices, with important implications for the fields of biomechanics, wearables, occupational safety, and ergonomics.
Through four research and development projects, this work explores how wearable devices can reduce and monitor injury risk while maintaining usability. This dissertation includes testing back exoskeletons in dynamic military environments, evaluating their dual benefits of injury risk reduction and enhanced lifting performance, and developing a novel quasi-passive exosuit with integrated sensing capabilities. Additionally, it presents and evaluates a new weight distribution device for offloading body armor to a hip belt to reduce spine loads and improve user comfort. Together, these contributions expand the field’s understanding of how to develop and test wearable back-relieving technologies that are both effective and highly usable, with the ultimate goal of enabling new solutions that improve worker safety across a variety of civilian and military settings
Examining Support for Law Enforcement in Militarized Contexts
No full textMilitarizing public security—using soldiers to carry out police work on domestic soil, such as fighting organized crime and enforcing public-health regulations—is widespread globally. Research from Political Science shows that using the military on domestic soil has negative effects. Yet, despite the policy’s negative consequences, involving the military in public security is popular with citizens in recent times.
Given countries’ recent turns to militarization, what explains the continued high level of trust in the military in the region, and the consistently low level of trust in the police? This dissertation examines the drivers of public trust in law enforcement in the Americas, particularly in contexts where leaders use the national military for domestic tasks. In three empirical chapters, I identify how citizens’ characteristics and experiences could predict their level of trust in law enforcement. Taken together, the analyses in the three empirical chapters yield three cautious observations. First, individuals’ experiences appear to play a consequential role in the formation of their trust judgments in the police, but less so in their trust judgments in the military. Second, the analyses raise questions about the ability on the part of citizens to differentiate between types of military interventions. Third, these analyses provide very little evidence that the behavior of members of the military predicts trust in the police. This project contributes to scholarship on the drivers of trust in state security institutions, and how citizens formulate opinions in contexts affected by organized violence and insecurity
Improving Virtual Team Effectiveness: A Recipe for Sweet Loren's
No full textLeadership and Learning in Organizations capstone projectOur study is designed to contribute to the growing body of research on remote work, prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic, by investigating the key characteristics that drive virtual team effectiveness within a fully remote organization.
The focus of our study is improving virtual team effectiveness within Sweet Loren’s, a company that produces allergen-free foods while operating as a fully remote organization with team members geographically dispersed across multiple locations and time zones.
Our study seeks to address three critical questions related to virtual team effectiveness: What are the key characteristics of effective virtual teams? How do those key characteristics apply to fully remote organizations? And how can Sweet Loren’s improve virtual team effectiveness as a fully remote organization?
Utilizing a mixed methods approach, our study incorporates artifact analysis, empathy interviews, team observations, formal employee interviews, and surveys. We use data from qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys to investigate the influence of leadership on virtual team effectiveness.
We developed our conceptual framework to measure the impact of high-quality LMX on the key characteristics emerging from our qualitative analysis: communication, trust, knowledge sharing, and employee perceptions of virtual team efficacy and effectiveness.
Through interviews and surveys, we measure employee perceptions of the characteristics contained within our conceptual framework. Despite positive perceptions of virtual team efficacy, the findings suggest that low perceptions of high-quality LMX and communication diminish virtual team effectiveness, even when employees have higher perceptions of trust and knowledge sharing within a fully remote organization.
Our findings suggest opportunities for future research, such as studying the effect LMX has on turnover intent, attrition, and retention, the frequency of in-person experiences on virtual team effectiveness, and any interaction effects between communication, trust, and knowledge sharing as moderated by high-quality LMX. Our study also suggests an opportunity for the development of a new leadership theory designed specifically for leaders driving team effectiveness within fully remote organizations
Nonprofit Recalibration | Mixed Methods Research into Executive Succession
No full textLeadership and Learning in Organizations capstone projectNonprofit executive transitions are inherently disruptive, yet they establish the tone for future leadership. While Executive Transition Management (ETM) literature explores the complexity of nonprofit succession, less is known about the post-transition recalibration period. This study investigates how trust, belonging, and strategic vision influence the success of incoming nonprofit leaders during and after succession. Grounded in Distributed Leadership Theory (DLT), our research integrates ETM frameworks with the relational dynamics of leadership, highlighting collaboration, inclusion, and shared responsibility.
In partnership with Marts&Lundy, a nationally recognized nonprofit consulting firm, we used a mixed-methods approach - surveying nonprofit executives and conducting in-depth interviews with leaders who experienced recent transitions. Quantitative analysis revealed a statistically significant difference in perceived trust between CEOs and Boards while qualitative findings identified seven critical themes, including the importance of strategic planning, governance alignment, and leadership development in fostering trust and belonging.
Findings underscore that a clearly defined strategic vision and strong board-executive alignment promote trust, deepen belonging, and enhance recalibration outcomes. Ultimately, trust is the element that ties everything together in an organization and influences a leader’s quality of experience when joining an organization