ABSTRACT: Stem cells have been proven to be an essential part of the human body when it comes to growth, development, maintenance, and repair. Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) are programmed to behave and differentiate with the simialr capabilities as embryonic stem cells, which are known to be able to differentiate into all cell types and can be cultured for an extended amount of time. Research has led to the concept that hiPSCs can be used for medical purposes directly through injection, but there are possible serious difficulties including immune rejection and teratoma formation. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are now shown to be the mechanism and machinery behind stem cells repairative properties. Loaded with proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids, EVs contain cargo that affect the cells that are targeted by them and diseases like cancer use EVs to propagate the growth of tumor cells. Today, one of the most difficult areas of the body to repair with medicine or treatment is the central nervous system (CNS). A few specific CNS disorders include Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's diesease, stroke, and others. A common factor that is seen in all these cases is that there is damage to the blood-brain barrier (BBB), the only major protection that the CNS has from the blood in your body. It separates the conditions of blood from the CNS as the physicological changes that occur in the blood would be damaging to nerve cells. EVs have been shown to have positive effects on damaged CNS cells, specifically when using EVs derived from the same cell type. The main issue with using EVs is that there is little data explaining their targeting capabilities in vivo as tracking has been proven difficult. Iron oxide nanoparticles have gained much interest due to their biocompatibility and can be visualized with magnetic resonance imaging. Now EVs need to be studied to see if they have the ability to transmigrate across the BBB through specific mechanisms. It is essential that a BBB model can be constructed in vitro in order to examine EV transmigration. The BBB is made up of four cell types that construct what is called the neurovascular unit and includes brain microvascular endothelial cells and pericytes (and astrocytes and neurons). Together, these two cells work together to maintain the structure and barrier properties of the BBB. These cells are differentiated from undifferentiated hiPSCs and co-cultured to form the BBB phenotype. This project derived and characterized brain pericytes and endothelial cells from hiPSCs as well as co-cultured the derived cells. A good in vitro BBB model that exhibits proper trans endothelial electrical resistance (TEER) that are comparable to in vivo BBB along with EVs loaded with iron oxide allows for an acceptable representation of how this interaction would occur in vivo. Overall this project should further our comprehension of how EVs interact with the BBB and if they indeed transmigrate across the BBB, leading to advances in medicine and EV-related therapy and drug delivery.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): August 18, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Blood Brain Barrier, Cell culture model, Endothelial cells, Exosomes, Pericytes, Stem cells
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Yan Li, Professor Directing Dissertation; Yi Zhou, University Representative; Samuel C. Grant, Committee Member; Jingjiao Guan, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Biomedical engineering
SUBJECT: Cytology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Mears_fsu_0071E_16840.pdf
TITLE: Revelations and Resilience: Environmental Apocalypse in Southern Literature
AUTHOR: Mears, Emilie,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Epstein, Andrew, 1969-
MEMBER (university representative): Valisa, Silvia, 1971-
MEMBER (committee member): Jaffe, Aaron
MEMBER (committee member): Mariano, Trinyan
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of English
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (115 pages)
ABSTRACT: During the twentieth century, American literature witnessed a transformation in representations of apocalypticism and nature. The apocalypse changed from a theological, divine force to a secular, manmade crisis and nature was no longer an active agent as evil menace or nurturing mother but was rendered wholly indifferent. In both modernist representations of apocalypse and nature what became noticeably missing was God and the soul. In works of Southern literature that portray eco-catastrophe, however, God and the soul were never lost. In looking at the ecological tropes of Southern literature during this period, I find that writers access the immaterial world through the particularities of the Southern environment. Whereas the Transcendentalists of nineteenth-century New England considered nature as a medium for transcendence or a place of spectral visitors, the focus remained on our material world—how the immaterial encroaches upon the material. Representations of theological forces within the South at the turn of the twentieth century represented Southern nature as creating a portal into the underworld—Southern grotesque material fading into the immaterial. As part of the larger discourse on environmental apocalypse, this dissertation outlines an ecotheology of the South. Through this ecotheological lens, I analyze eschatological events in Southern literature to steer current ecocritical and Southern Studies discourse away from the spectacle of disaster and toward a narrative of resilience during times of environmental devastation and revelation.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 25, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Aesthetics, Apocalypse, Ecocriticism, Ecotheology, Literature, Southern Studies
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Andrew Epstein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Silvia Valisa, University Representative; Aaron Jaffe, Committee Member; Trinyan Mariano, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: American literature
SUBJECT: Human ecology--Study and teaching
SUBJECT: Sociology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Mehrani_fsu_0071E_16868.pdf
TITLE: From Isolation to Crowd: Molecular Structures and in Situ Molecular Pathways Elucidated by Cryo-EM
AUTHOR: Mehrani, Atousa,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Stagg, Scott
MEMBER (university representative): Fajer, Piotr G.
MEMBER (committee member): Stroupe, M. Elizabeth (Margaret Elizabeth)
MEMBER (committee member): Li, Hong, (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
MEMBER (committee member): Roper, Michael Gabriel
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (205 pages)
ABSTRACT: Cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) has become a prevailing technique at the interface of structural and cell biology. The current resolution revolution in cryo-EM has led to a surge of structures determination at near-atomic resolution. The advancements have allowed to visualize the small-molecule ligands bound to the macromolecules and provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms of complex biochemical processes. Chapter 1 reviews the cryo-EM single-particle analysis along with the recent advances of this technique. In Chapter 2, we have used single-particle cryo-EM to determine the Escherichia coli 70S ribosome structure bound to small molecule inhibitor KKL-2098. KKL-2098 has shown to have antibiotic properties, and it inhibits the trans-translation activity of bacteria seen in many pathogenic strains, including antibiotic-resistant Neisseria gonorrhoeae. The structure is resolved at a global resolution of 3.1 Å, and the map reveals the positioning of the L-27 N-terminus in an unprecedented ribosomal site (Movie1: Conformational Change of bL27). The map and the model of the bacterial ribosome bound to the KKL-2098 allow a deeper analysis of the antibiotic-resistant activity of ribosomes and ultimately improve drug design. One limitation of cryo-EM is its restriction to visualize relatively thin samples. This limitation leaves the molecular organization of eukaryotes largely unexplored. Cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) milling is a cell thinning method implemented in cell biology in less than a decade. Cryo-FIB significantly expanded the range of samples that can be analyzed by cryo-EM. The technique is at the early stages of development and is prone to several limitations. Chapter 3 reviews cryo-electron tomography and the application of cryo-FIB milling. Chapter 4 discusses how cryo-EM has advanced the field of the structural biology of vesicle trafficking complexes and membrane remodelling. This chapter highlights the remaining questions and future applications of cryo-FIB milling on the horizon to determine the structure of vesicle trafficking macromolecules in situ. Finally, in Chapter 5, we have implemented a cryo-FIB milling approach to visualize the in situ organization of the Trk-fused gene (TFG). TFG is involved in the process of COPII-mediated vesicle transport. Besides, it has been reported that TFG has a vital role in glucose homeostasis, and it controls insulin secretion in β-cell in vivo by multiple mechanisms. Despite challenges associated with the set-up of cryo-FIB milling on site, we have successfully established a workflow of milling 200-nm thin lamella and demonstrated that these lamellae are applicable to provide insight into various cellular pathways. Our tomograms are rich in showing the featureful structure of early secretory pathways and components of vesicle trafficking, including vesicles coats (COPI, COPII), endoplasmic reticulum exit sites, ER bound ribosomes, Lysosomes (Movie 2: Tomogram Revealing the Cellular Landscape of RPE Cell Line) and Golgi stacks. In addition, we observe phase-separated regions near the ER-exit site, which is consistent with the earlier studies demonstrating the meshwork structure of TFG. We have further observations, including the hypertrophy of mitochondria and more extensive membrane recruitment when TFG is overexpressed compared to the wild-type strain. This can explain the additional functional impact of TFG in regulating cell metabolism.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 9, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Scott M. Stagg, Professor Directing Dissertation; Piotr Fajer, University Representative; M. Elizabeth Stroupe, Committee Member; Hong Li, Committee Member; Michael G. Roper, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Chemistry
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: MejiaPrado_fsu_0071E_16775.pdf
TITLE: Inventando la Naturaleza: Imaginarios y Estrategias de Conservacíon del Medio Ambiente en la Amazonía Peruana
AUTHOR: Mejía-Prado, Diego F.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Galeano, Juan Carlos, 1958-
MEMBER (university representative): Ordóñez, Juan Carlos, 1973-
MEMBER (committee member): Poey, Delia
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (239 pages)
ABSTRACT: This work proposes that the biodiversity crisis that has been documented in recent years in the Amazon is directly related to the ideas about the use of nature that the first European explorers, conquerors, and settlers proposed about the region. Chapter 1 studies the first European descriptions of the Amazon and the way in which they focused on highlighting the abundance and diversity of nature as a source of resource extraction and implementation of exogenous production models. It is proposed that these explorers, who described the indigenous people as passive entities that did not have the knowledge or the character to make the land produce, acted as prospectors of nature, in search of species and ecosystems that they could appropriate. This idea assumes that humans are separated from nature, and justifies the exploitation of biodiversity for the benefit of capital accumulation. Chapters 2 and 3 study the initiatives that have emerged in two National Reserves of the Peruvian Amazon, where the State, communities, and businessmen have partnered to face the loss of biodiversity, and to approach nature in apparently different. In these communities, natural resource co-management programs have been implemented that show encouraging results in terms of the recovery of biodiversity and the generation of direct and indirect economic benefits for some sectors, through the conservation and controlled exploitation of species with commercial value. However, at the end of Chapter 3 it is shown that these conservation strategies are based on the principles of exploitation of the land and its inhabitants imposed by European explorers and conquerors, thus questioning the sustainability of these systems, and proposes that these strategies are a remnant of some of the productive models that were violently proposed on Amazonian species and communities.In Chapter 4, other perceptions and practices of the original Amazonian inhabitants are exposed and analyzed, reflected in their symbolic narratives, and in radical contrast with the Eurocentric vision. These visions, mostly rooted in the economic narratives of modernity, actually constitute variations of systems of exploitation of people and natural resources, such as empowerment and patronage, where a few people benefit at the cost of work and the oppression of communities. Amazonian. The conclusions explore the separation between the human species and other species, and highlight the importance of listening to indigenous peoples as a way of responding to the current bi-diversity crisis. It highlights the importance of biodiversity as a whole and of each species in particular, and argues that it is imperative to relate to Amazonian nature in a different way than we have been doing to implement new forms of environmental protection and restoration.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): August 11, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Amazonia, Comanagement, Ecocriticism, National Reserves
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Juan Carlos Galeano, Professor Directing Dissertation; Juan Carlos Ordóñez, University Representative; Delia Poey, Committee Member; Keith Howard, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Human ecology--Study and teaching
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Mendez_fsu_0071N_16912.pdf
TITLE: Hog Island Spit Site (8LV00087) and Shoreline Mapping to Determine the Effects of Sea Level Rise on Site Destruction
AUTHOR: Mendez, Tiffani,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Halligan, Jessi J.
MEMBER (committee member): Peres, Tanya M.
MEMBER (committee member): Mehta, Jayur M. (Madhusudan)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Anthropology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (138 pages)
ABSTRACT: This thesis will discuss the increasing threat that climate change poses to archaeological sites through sea level rise and erosion. This will provide background on the effects climate change will have on site preservation and destruction. It will assess specific risks that climate change poses to the Hog Island Spit site (LV00087) and how the site has changed over time. Previous records of the site will be shown in comparison to the present state of the site. I will be using GIS to conduct shoreline mapping of the site presently and discuss the changes that may or may not have occurred, and possible causes if change is present. Finally, I will explain the relevance of the work done at Hog Island to other barrier island sites in the area. I will conclude with a call to bring greater attention to at risk sites, which will need to be documented in the coming years or we risk losing them altogether.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 1, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jessi Halligan, Professor Directing Thesis; Tanya M. Peres, Committee Member; Jayur Madhusudan Mehta, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Archaeology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Meng_fsu_0071E_16869.pdf
TITLE: The Application of an MVPA Decoding Approach in Examining the Effect of Category Learning on Attentional Modulation and Neural Representations
AUTHOR: Meng, Yue,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Nee, Derek Evan
MEMBER (university representative): Barbu, Adrian G., 1971-
MEMBER (committee member): Proudfit, Greg Hajcak
MEMBER (committee member): Kaschak, Michael P.
MEMBER (committee member): Folstein, Jonathan R.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (53 pages)
ABSTRACT: In two previous studies, Folstein et al. (2017) and Folstein and Monfared (2019), we trained participants to categorize a set of novel cartoon alien animals based on their visual features. After training periods of different length, they performed a target detection task on the trained stimulus set and an untrained stimulus set in an EEG session. Previous analysis focused on ERP components including the selection negativity (SN) and the N250, which are thought to represent attentional selection of stimulus features and formation of new representations of learned stimuli. Findings from both studies suggest that category learning did not have much impact on how selective attention, as reflected by the SN, was applied to stimulus features. The effect of training, however, differed between the two studies. In Folstein et al. (2017), training enhanced the N250, whereas in Folstein and Monfared (2019), two separate components, the N200 and the N320, were enhanced by training.In the current study, we reanalyzed the existing EEG data using a Multivariate Pattern Analysis (MVPA) decoding approach, which allowed us to examine the temporal characteristics of the training and attentional effects with greater sensitivity. We found that the training effects and the attentional selection of target features were independent processes. Although training-related ERP components were different between the two previous studies, MVPA findings suggest that the training effects had similar time courses between the two studies but differed in scalp distributions. Moreover, the pre-200 msec training effect from MVPA results suggest the possibility of an N170 in the EEG, which was not detected in previous studies. Current findings also support that the N200 and N320 represent distinct neural processes indexing the training effect.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 11, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Derek E. Nee, Professor Directing Dissertation; Adrian G. Barbu, University Representative; Greg Hajcak, Committee Member; Michael P. Kaschak, Committee Member; Jonathan R. Folstein, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Moon_fsu_0071E_16926.pdf
TITLE: Magneto-Optical Studies of Dirac and Weyl Semimetals
AUTHOR: Moon, Seongphill,
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Smirnov, Dmitry
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Chiorescu, Irinel
MEMBER (university representative): Hu, Yan-yan
MEMBER (committee member): Febres Cordero, Fernando
MEMBER (committee member): Ni, Guangxin
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Physics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (123 pages)
ABSTRACT: Studying of relativistic particles in the condensed matter system became possible after adiscovery of graphene in 2004. What follows from graphene was search for other materials hosting relativistic particles, such as Dirac semimetals and Weyl semimetals. Low energy fermionic excitations of such materials show linear energy-momentum dispersion relationship, which can be described by the Dirac and Weyl Hamiltonians. In this dissertation, we utilize low temperature magneto-infrared spectroscopy to obtain detailed understanding of band dispersion of the Dirac and Weyl semimetals. Low energy electronic band structures of Weyl semimetals consist of two non-degenerated linear bands with crossing points, which is called Weyl bands. Weyl semimetals can be categorized into type-I and type-II depending on degree of tilting of the Weyl bands. In the first part of this dissertation, we present magneto-optical spectroscopy experiment on a archetypical type-I Weyl semimetal, NbP. We observed a complicated structure of inter-Landau level transitions, which only can be satisfactorily explained by a newly proposed Weyl Hamiltonian model, which includes tilting effect. Our work demonstrates that Weyl band of NbP is strongly tilted from ideal type-I case and a theoretical model with effect of tilting can give accurate information of Weyl band structures. A zinc-blende crystal of HgCdTe has been known to have highly tunable band structure as a function of cadmium content and temperature. At optimal concentration and temperature, band structure is predicted to show linear band dispersion. Band structures of HgCdTe have been successfully described by Kane model, thus, quasiparicles in the system are called Kane fermions. Here, in the second part of the thesis, we study chemical composition and temperature dependent band structure evolution of Hg1−xCdxTe through magneto-optical spectroscopy. Our observation proves that the Kane fermions in HgCdTe become true massless quasiparticles at a specific condition.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 8, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Dirac semimetals, Weyl semimetals
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Dmitry Smirnov, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Irinel Chiorescu, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Yan-Yan Hu, University Representative; Fernando Febres Cordero, Committee Member; Guangxin Ni, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Condensed matter
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: MoralesRapallo_fsu_0071N_16812.pdf
TITLE: Effect of Detensioning on Rupture of Stainless Steel Strands in Pretensioned Concrete Members
AUTHOR: Morales Rapallo, Ariana C.,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Rambo-Roddenberry, Michelle Deanna
MEMBER (committee member): Spainhour, Lisa
MEMBER (committee member): Tawfiq, Kamal Sulaiman
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (96 pages)
ABSTRACT: Precast prestressed concrete members are widely used in civil engineering structures around the world with growing demand in the last few years due to the rapid urbanization and industrialization driving an increase in infrastructure projects. Precast pre-tensioned concrete members are especially beneficial for accelerated bridge construction (ABC) methods because of the reduction of cost, less traffic interference, and faster project development that are enabled by precasting the elements off-site. New technologies and emerging materials (e.g. high strength stainless steel strands) have recently been introduced to the construction industry as an alternative to corrosion resistance prestressing. However, the detensioning procedures during the load transfer in the precasting yard have not yet been studied for the implementation of such materials. In the casting beds, once the strands have been tensioned to the desired prestressing force and the concrete has been placed and achieved the necessary compressive strength, then the detensioning of strands takes place. This process transfers the prestressing force from the bulkhead of the precasting bed to the concrete member. This detensioning procedure can be accomplished by saw cutting the strands with a hydraulic pump, or by means of a flame torch. If the strands are abruptly cut using the saw cut method, the sudden release of pretensioning force may cause damage at the end of the member, slippage, and an increase in strand development length. Therefore, it is generally recommended to gradually detension the strands using a torch while following a symmetrical pattern to guarantee that the force is being transferred to the member with no damage. For efficiency reasons and to improve the economy of the process, multiple concrete members are usually cast in series using a long casting bed, in which all strands are placed along the length of the bed and tensioned. Once the concrete has reached the required strength for transfer (in some cases 24h after casting), the strands are cut in between and at the ends of the members. This transfers the load to each concrete member.For large members with multiple layers of prestressing strands, the strands sometimes break between the end of the concrete member and the bulkhead during the detensioning process. The strand rupture occurs due to the accumulation of elastic shortening of the concrete member as each strand transfers its force into the concrete. In consequence, the successively increased shortening of the concrete member amplifies the tensile strain in the remaining uncut strands. For concrete elements in harsh environments, high-strength stainless steel (HSSS) prestressing strands are being implemented with the goal of producing longer lasting structures. However, HSSS strands have some disadvantages compared to the generally used carbon steel strands. HSSS strands elongate more compared to regular carbon steel strands and have a much lower ultimate breaking strain.The risk of yielding leading to breakage during the detensioning process needs to be studied, as precasters are unfamiliar with this new material. The reduction in ultimate yielding strain significantly affects the pretensioning properties of the stainless steel strands, and it may increase the risk of rupture arising from the elastic shortening of the concrete member. This study aims to evaluate the yielding of the remaining uncut strands during the detensioning process based on the properties of both carbon steel strands and high strength stainless steel strands in large precast prestressed concrete members. Characteristics such as the number of strands, free length between the member and bulkhead, detensioning procedures, and the concrete member span length are considered the driving factors for the potential yielding and failure of strands during the load transfer process due to the additional tensile strain in the uncut strands caused by the shortening of the concrete member. A parametric study was created to extensively analyze the elastic shortening of the concrete using different beam sizes and number of strand. Finally, the strains in the uncut strands were compared to the yielding strain of HSSS strands to determine how many strands could be cut before the uncut strands yield. The yielding strain was chosen as the limiting strain, because thereafter strains are in the nonlinear range and cause permanent deformation, and because relatively little strain capacity remains after yielding until breakage occurs -- compared to carbon steel strands. Ultimately, this study provides conclusions and recommendations to improve the practices during the detensioning process to help ensure a smooth implementation of high-strength stainless steel strands in the precast prestressed concrete industry.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 1, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Bridge, High Strength Stainless Steel Strand, Material, Precast , Prestressed concrete, Structure
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Michelle Rambo-Roddenberry, Professor Directing Thesis; Lisa Spainhour, Committee Member; Kamal Tawfiq, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Engineering
SUBJECT: Civil engineering
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Murphy_fsu_0071N_16813.pdf
TITLE: Characterizing the Effects of Undernutrition on Iron Regulation in Female and Male Mice
AUTHOR: Murphy, Robert,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Hennigar, Stephen R.
MEMBER (committee member): Berryman, Claire E. (Elizabeth) (Elizabeth)
MEMBER (committee member): Levenson, Cathy W.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Health and Human Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (80 pages)
ABSTRACT: Background: Undernutrition and anemia are comorbid conditions. The anemia associated with undernutrition is often attributed to increased rates of infection; however, iron deficiency is also common in areas where undernutrition is prevalent. A limited number of studies have shown that undernutrition reduces dietary iron absorption, which may be mediated by increases in the iron regulatory hormone hepcidin. Findings from these studies suggest that increases in hepcidin with undernutrition are independent of the traditional signaling pathways involved in the control of hepcidin synthesis (dietary iron intake and infection/inflammation) and occur in response to gluconeogenic signals. In situations of undernutrition, gluconeogenesis may be activated as glycogen stores are depleted and hepcidin-mediated declines in ferroportin may inhibit iron recycling and dietary iron from entering portal circulation. Objective: The primary objective of the current study was to determine the effects of varying severities and durations of energy restriction on hepcidin and iron homeostasis in male and female mice. Methods: Fourteen-week-old male and female C57BL/6 mice (n=180) were randomized into 7 diet groups: ad libitum and varying levels of energy restriction (10%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80%,100% energy restriction, n=10/diet). Feed was split into 2 meals provided in the morning and evening and was calculated based on the feed consumed by the ad libitum males or females, respectively. Mice were fed their respective diets for up to 3 weeks. Results: At 48 h, liver hepcidin mRNA increased 4-fold (P<0.01) and serum hepcidin increased by 55% (P<0.005) with 100% energy restriction compared to mice fed ad libitum. At 3 weeks, there was a similar 4-fold increase in liver hepcidin mRNA with both 10% (P<0.01) and 20% (P<0.01) energy restriction, and serum hepcidin increased by 30% with 10% (P=0.083) and 20% (P=0.099) energy restriction. Exploratory analyses revealed sex differences where serum hepcidin increased by 55% (P=0.01) and 63% (P<0.01) with 10% and 20% energy restriction, respectively, in male mice but not female mice. Serum iron declined with energy restriction at 48 h (P=0.04), but there were no post-hoc differences. At 3 weeks, serum iron was reduced with both 10% (P<0.05) and 20% (P<0.01) energy restriction compared to mice fed ad libitum. At 48 h, serum hepcidin was positively correlated with liver hepcidin mRNA (R=0.361, P=0.005) and c-reactive protein (R=0.286, P=0.031), but was not correlated with liver gluconeogenic enzymes. At 3 weeks, serum hepcidin was positively correlated with liver hepcidin mRNA (R=0.539, P<0.0001), and the liver gluconeogenic enzymes Pck1 (R=0.461, P=0.003), Creb3l3 (R=0.590, P<0.0001), Pygl (R=0.569, P<0.0001), and Ppargc1a (R=0.357, P=0.026); and negatively correlated with change in bodyweight (R= –0.436, P=0.006), lean mass (R= –0.408, P=0.010), fat mass (R= –0.414, P=0.009), liver weight (R= –0.502, P=0.001), and gastrocnemius weight (R= –0.382, P=0.017). Conclusions: These findings provide support for gluconeogenesis as a physiologically significant stimulator of hepcidin, even with mild-to-moderate energy restriction of 10-20%. If mild-to-moderate undernutrition increases hepcidin similarly in humans, these findings may provide a possible mechanism for the increased rates of iron deficiency and iron deficiency anemia observed in undernourished populations.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): September 13, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Stephen R. Hennigar, Professor Directing Thesis; Claire E. Berryman, Committee Member; Cathy W. Levenson, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Nutrition
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Murray_fsu_0071E_16816.pdf
TITLE: Structure-Function Analysis of the Multicomponent Redox Enzyme Sulfite Reductase
AUTHOR: Murray, Daniel Travis,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Stroupe, M. Elizabeth (Margaret Elizabeth)
MEMBER (university representative): Li, Hong, (Chemistry and Biochemistry)
MEMBER (committee member): Jones, Kathryn M.
MEMBER (committee member): Bass, Hank W.
MEMBER (committee member): Tang, Hengli
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Biological Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (120 pages)
ABSTRACT: Escherichia coli NADPH-dependent assimilatory sulfite reductase, SiR, provides reduced sulfur for assimilation into biomass. The ability of SiR to perform its high-volume electron transfer reaction without the release of partially reduced sulfur-oxygen intermediates is hypothesized to be the result of its unique stoichiometry and inherent flexibility that enable a cis/trans electron transfer mechanism. SiR is comprised of an octameric flavoprotein, SiRFP, and four copies of a hemoprotein, SiRHP, that assemble in an 8:4 complex. NADPH donates electrons to SiRFP, where they are stored and transferred between domains before being transferred to SiRHP, the site of sulfur reduction. The flavin-binding domains of SiRFP, known as the FNR and Fld domains, are connected by a flexible linker, whereas the N-terminal domain is responsible for octamerization. Sulfite is reduced by six electrons before being released from SiRHP's active site as sulfide. How this metalloflavoprotein performs its reaction with such efficiency is incompletely understood. This dissertation analyzes the structure and function of SiR using a combination of structural, biochemical, and biophysical techniques in order to better understand this dynamic oxidoreductase. Thus, Chapter 1 serves as an introduction into what is currently known of SiR.Small-angle neutron scattering (SANS) features prominently throughout this dissertation and will be discussed at length in Chapter 2. This technique is used to elucidate the solution structures of SiR proteins, showing monomeric SiRFP to have an extended conformation as oxidized, counter to its diflavin reductase. The extended conformation of SiRFP is conducive to productive electron transfer to neighboring subunits in its higher-order complexes. Previous studies show that an internal truncation of SiRFP's flexible linker diminishes sulfur-reducing activity in SiR heterodimer but not in the holoenzyme. Anaerobic reduction assays on SiRFP variants are analyzed by UV-Visible spectrophotometry and show that its flavins are capable of being reduced by both dithionite and NADPH in the face of the internal truncation, which supports the notion that electron transfer may occur inter- and intramolecularly between SiRFP domains. These studies are described in detail throughout Chapter 3. In Chapter 4, SANS of reduced SiRFP monomer reveals a novel conformation, placing its Fld domain close to the binding interface with SiRHP. The transition between open and closed conformations by SiRFP upon reduction is not unprecedented, as demonstrated by its diflavin reductase homologs. Chapter 4 also includes neutron scattering studies that provide the first solution structure for a SiR heterodimer with assignments for the positions of each subunit and their domains. To confirm subunit and domain assignments within those structures, neutron contrast variation is used to further elucidate each subunit. In this approach, deuterium labeling of SiRHP, in vitro reconstitution of complexes with partially deuterated SiRHP and hydrogenated SiRFP subunits, and alteration of solvent H2O:D2O ratios allow for the manipulation of neutron contrast and the obtainment of isolated scattering profiles for each component of SiR. These experiments also show that SiRFP adopts an extended confirmation upon binding SiRHP and SiRHP becomes more compact. Structural details of higher-order assemblies of SiR, namely, octameric SiRFP and the dodecameric holoenzyme, have proven challenging to obtain. Chapter 5 presents the results of SANS measurements of these complexes, combined with contrast variation, that yielded the overall size, shape, and conformation of SiR in solution. Combined with analytical ultracentrifugation, the long-hypothesized stoichiometry of SiR is confirmed to be 8:4. The SiR dodecamer exhibits flexibility, adopting a heterogeneous ensemble of subunit orientations and domain conformations. SiRFP's structure undergoes a global compaction upon complex formation with SiRHP and SiRHP subunits that exist in a dynamic range of positions. SiRHP exists in peripheral locations about the complex as well as positions that may approach one another. The centers of mass of SiRFP and SiRHP are separated from one another in the holoenzyme, suggesting SiR is an asymmetric complex. Together, these results represent an initial mapping of SiR's structure and indicate a model for electron transfer in SiR that occurs in a cis and trans manner that may be further tested by studies informed upon the results described herein. Moving forward, as described in Chapter 6, SANS of anaerobically reduced SiR may reveal redox-sensitive structural rearrangements not immediately obvious from measurements of oxidized enzyme. Additionally, high-resolution structures of SiR may be obtained by affinity capture using streptavidin monolayer electron microscopy grids, where biotinylated SiRFP octamer or SiR dodecamer become immobilized on 2D streptavidin monolayer-crystals before their analysis with cryogenic-electron microscopy (cryo-EM).
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Biological Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 22, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Enzymology, Protein biochemistry, Small-angle scattering
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): M. Elizabeth Stroupe, Professor Directing Dissertation; Hong Li, University Representative; Kathryn M. Jones, Committee Member; Hank Bass, Committee Member; Hengli Tang, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Biochemistry
SUBJECT: Biophysics
SUBJECT: Molecular biology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Nelson_fsu_0071E_16675.pdf
TITLE: Investigations of the f-Electron State in Novel Crystalline Environments
AUTHOR: Nelson, William Lucas,
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Baumbach, Ryan E.
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Schlottmann, Pedro U.
MEMBER (university representative): Albrecht-Schmitt, Thomas E.
MEMBER (committee member): Capstick, Simon, 1958-
MEMBER (committee member): Xiong, Peng
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Physics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (113 pages)
ABSTRACT: The 4f and 5f electron states from the lanthanide (La - Lu) and actinide (Ac - Lr) elements area deep reservoir for novel physics. A variety of emergent states are seen in different f-element containing materials including complex magnetism, strong hybridization between the f and conduction electron states, unconventional superconductivity, and the coexistence of magnetism and superconductivity. The f-state also has the potential to impact other fundamental characteristics such as the crystal structure, melting temperature, and durability of a material, and this is especially true for actinide elements. Indeed, it is these combined behaviors that cause f-element materials to be so useful in everyday life where many technologies depend on them. Computers and cell phones contain most of the lanthanide elements, while actinide materials help generate power. New materials (e.g., topological insulators, thermoelectrics, and unconventional superconductors) that contain f-elements are synthesized every day and may lead to further advancements like quantum computers, more effcient energy storage, and more economical power generation and transfer. In this dissertation, we present results from studies of several distinct families of f-electroncompounds including, (i) the growth and characterization of an europium{based compound that forms in the ubiquitous ThCr2Si2 structure, (ii) a new uranium containing high entropy alloy that exhibits superconductivity at low temperatures, and (iii) a study of the first NpTe1.75 single crystals, which are related to the recently discovered `Lazarus' superconductor UTe2. For (i), we find that changes in the immediate environment around an f state atom creates different magnetic ground states and field induced effects. In (ii) we show that actinide elements can be incorporated into high entropy alloys, and note (given the physical strength and chemical robustness of high entropy alloys) that such inclusion may open the way towards new and safer nuclear waste forms. Additionally, the high critical field superconductivity is explored. Finally, our work on NpTe1.75 reveals its structure and bulk magnetic properties, which we contrast with those of UTe2. This work opens paths towards producing orthorhombic NpTe2 which might have similar properties to orthorhombic UTe2. Taken together, each of these studies show how the interplay between crystal structure and the f-state can influence material properties, further opening up materials study, where it remains an ongoing challenge to understand how to systematically produce interesting behaviors in these materials.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 10, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): actinide, f-electron, high entropy alloy, lanthanide, superconductivity
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Ryan E. Baumbach, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Pedro Schlottmann, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Thomas Albrecht-Schönzart, University Representative; Simon Capstick, Committee Member; Peng Xiong, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Physics
SUBJECT: Materials science
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Nguyen_fsu_0071E_16835.pdf
TITLE: Exploring the Relationship between Polymer Topology and Ionic Conductivity: Novel and Precise Five-Carbon Spacing Polymer Electrolytes in Lithium-Ion Battery Applications
AUTHOR: Nguyen, Nam Quang Hai,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Kennemur, Justin Glenn
MEMBER (university representative): Hallinan, Daniel T., Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Schlenoff, Joseph B.
MEMBER (committee member): Hu, Yan-yan
MEMBER (committee member): Zhu, Lei, 1978-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (140 pages)
ABSTRACT: This dissertation will be mainly exploring the relationship between polymer topology and ion transport properties of single-ion conductors (SICs) in lithium-ion battery application. Specifically, we strive to understand the impact of precise 5-carbon spacing on ion transports behavior of precision single-ion conductor.In chapter 2, the investigation was conducted on blending lithium sulfonate salt of precise 5-carbon spacing polymer electrolyte (p5PhS-Li) with poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO), a popular solvating polymer. The highest ionic conductivity of this type of SIC was achieved on the order of 10-7 S/cm at 90 °C. Results from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) also indicated that polymer blends are at least partial miscible. The conclusion was made due to strong ionic interactions between sulfonate anions and lithium cations that lead to small magnitude of interaction parameter as well as melting point depression in PEO with complicating interpretation of transference number. We were strived to improve the ionic conductivity of single-ion conductors by altering the chemical structures of anions from sulfonate to trifluoromethylsulfonylimide salt (TFSI) that has been shown to increase electrochemical, thermal stabilities and ionic conductivity in chapter 3. Upon characterizing with 1H NMR, 19F NMR and 13C NMR, the efficiency of post polymerization reaction was obtained as high as 90 %. The conversion of sulfonated into TFSI-containing SIC (p5PhTFSI-Li) was shown to improve thermal stability as well as plasticize by an appearance of glass transition temperature (Tg) with higher TFSI content corresponds to lower (Tg). The ionic conductivity of true SIC p5PhTFSI-Li was lower than previously studied p5PhS-Li which contradicted to our hypothesis. The improvement in ionic conductivity was only observed when p5PhTFSI-Li was doped with PEO. Study by DSC also revealed that no crystallinity in PEO was detected, and these blends exhibited a single Tg which is attributed to the miscible behavior of the components. X-ray scattering also complemented with DSC study as ionic aggregates are diluted by the introduction of PEO. Realizing the immediate effect of PEO addition on the ionic conductivity of SICs, chapter 4 of the thesis further expands wider range of blend composition between PEO and p5PhTFSI-Li. Study by DSC reveals one single Tg for every blend composition which is consistent with results obtained from chapter 3. The addition of p5PhTFSI-Li retarded crystallization kinetics of PEO until it fully disrupted the crystalline phase of PEO, which proves that these two components provide greater compatibility than PEO/p5PhS-Li. Highest ionic conductivity of 6.37 x 10-4 S cm-1 was also obtained at 42 wt% of p5PhTFSI-Li, which is on par with that observed in literature TFSI-based SICs. Transference number was also observed to approach unity for experimented compositions. The future of p5PhTFSI-Li is wide open as the material will be investigated in block polymer as well as electrochemical stability. Last but not least, a side project was researched on catechol-containing precision polymer in underwater adhesion applications in chapter 5. Even though the research was not timely done, the synthesis of catechol-containing precision polymer was investigated on monomer synthesis, thermodynamics of polymerization, efficiency of polymerization and copolymerization with a similar comonomer structure. This project will leave opportunities for incoming graduate student to take over and analyze the adhesion performance the catechol-containing precision polymer.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 9, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Justin G. Kennemur, Professor Directing Dissertation; Daniel T. Hallinan, Jr., University Representative; Joseph B. Schlenoff, Committee Member; Yan-Yan Hu, Committee Member; Lei Zhu, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Chemistry
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Nissenbaum_fsu_0071E_16653.pdf
TITLE: Identification, Climatology, and Model Forecast Skill of Northeast US Mesoscale Snowbands
AUTHOR: Nissenbaum, Mark,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Hart, Robert E. (Robert Edward), 1972-
MEMBER (university representative): Elsner, James B.
MEMBER (committee member): Chagnon, Jeffrey M.
MEMBER (committee member): Fuelberg, Henry E.
MEMBER (committee member): Wing, Allison
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (160 pages)
ABSTRACT: Mesoscale precipitation bands were investigated in 38 winter storms that impacted the northeast US between 2004 and 2015 in the GridRad reflectivity mosaic dataset and compared to simulated bands in the 12 km North American Mesoscale Model (NAM) at all forecast times. A total of 921 band timesteps were identified in GridRad and 3681 band timesteps were identified in NAM. Bands were classified by their appearance into embedded, isolated, broken, merged, fine scale, or heavy precipitation band types. These band types were further classified into multi-bands if two or more bands occurred alongside each other with similar band orientation angles and appearances. Embedded bands were the most common band type, representing 72.4% of all bands in the radar dataset and 87.7% of all bands in the NAM for all storm cases. The remaining band types were well-represented in the radar mosaic but were captured less often in the NAM, likely due to the coarse model grid. The composite thermodynamic environment of the observed bands was studied using the North American Regional Reanalysis (NARR), but the band types contained overlapping confidence intervals and did not significantly differ from each other. However, band angle and time relative to occlusion featured weak and moderate significant correlations with slantwise convective available potential energy (SCAPE). These relationships suggest that large values of SCAPE are more likely in northeasterly tilted bands compared to northwesterly tilted bands as well as bands that occur before occlusion. The performance of NAM was evaluated against the observed bands in GridRad. NAM poorly resolved the observed bands at the analysis time and had even lower performance at greater lead times. By forecast hour 72, the threat score (TS) values fluctuated around 0, suggesting that almost all model skill regarding the prediction of mesoscale bands is lost. Model performance also varied according to the stage of cyclone development. TS values improved in the 5-20 hours following occlusion compared to the hours before and during occlusion. To better understand the factors that affect model performance, the environment composing low and high skill events was investigated. The low skill environment consists of a single upper-level jet south of the surface low, while the high skill environment consists of a surface low favorably positioned within the ascending branch of two robust upper-level jet streaks. A case study of a low skill event demonstrated rapid error growth in the strength, position, and amplitude of the upper-level trough at forecast hours as early as 30 hours prior to the banding event. In comparison, a case study of a high skill event achieved similar levels of error growth as late as 60 hours prior to the banding event, with smaller error growth at earlier lead times. This would suggest that low and high skill banding events are characterized by short- and long-range predictability windows, likely due to biases in the positions of troughs and ridges within the large-scale synoptic flow.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): June 25, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Robert E. Hart, Professor Directing Dissertation; James B. Elsner, University Representative; Jeffrey M. Chagnon, Committee Member; Henry Fuelberg, Committee Member; Allison A. Wing, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Meteorology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: OsegueraGamba_fsu_0071E_16904.pdf
TITLE: Letting a Hundred Flowers Bloom: Good Lives Pluralism
AUTHOR: Oseguera Gamba, Jorge P.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Bishop, Michael A.
MEMBER (university representative): Keel, Pamela K., 1970-
MEMBER (committee member): May, Simon Căbulea
MEMBER (committee member): LeBar, Mark
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Philosophy
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (140 pages)
ABSTRACT: This dissertation aims at contributing to conceptual debate about good lives by offering a framework for understanding the concepts that concern us here. I present a theory of the good lives in terms of well-functioning. A life that functions well is one that instantiates FAST processes. This name, "FAST," is an acronym that stands for the four categories of elements that these processes are composed of: positive Feelings, positive Attitudes, Successful interactions with the world, and positive Traits. In such processes, these elements causally interact in a way that they create a self-maintaining process. When someone's life instantiates this type of process, they have a good life. There are many ways of instantiating these processes, and therefore there are many ways one can have a good life. First, I will present some studies I conducted about the folk concept of well-being as an empirical effort to make progress in the debates. The results offer a diagnosis of the problems that beset the traditional approach to studying good lives: its exclusive reliance on intuitions. As a result, I adopt an interdisciplinary approach, in which attempts to make sense of our intuition as well as the science that investigates good lives. The resulting framework makes sense of Positive Psychology and its object of study. It understands good lives in terms of well-functioning lives and provides criteria to evaluate the plurality of normative categorizations that have been used to understand good lives.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Philosophy in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 17, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Good Life, Well-being
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Michael A. Bishop, Professor Directing Dissertation; Pamela K. Keel, University Representative; Simon James Peter May, Committee Member; Mark LeBar, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Philosophy
SUBJECT: Ethics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Osterhouse_fsu_0071N_16921.pdf
TITLE: Implications of the Five Major Religious Death Systems for Hospice Music Therapy Practice
AUTHOR: Osterhouse, Sarah,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Gooding, Lori F. (Lori Fogus)
MEMBER (committee member): Standley, Jayne M.
MEMBER (committee member): Gregory, Sarah Dianne
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Music
CORPORATE NAME: College of Music
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (45 pages)
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this thesis is to research and compile the five major religions in the United States in order to provide hospice music therapists with informative material on how the philosophies of those religions may affect a patient and family's quality of care at end-of-life. Music and spirituality have intrinsic connections that are valuable in the field of hospice music therapy, where music may be used to accomplish a clinical, therapeutic, or spiritual goal. There is a high demand for culturally competent healthcare with the increasingly diverse cultures and ethnic populations in the US. The five major religions in the United States include Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, and they will be analyzed according to the death system model described by Kastenbaum in 1977, which breaks down a death system into the places, people, times, objects and symbols that surround death philosophy in that system. Additional information was categorized for each religion in terms of overview and general beliefs, beliefs about death, end of life care, mourning and grieving, and hospice music therapy implications. The results provide an informative foundation for hospice music therapists to work with patients from one of the five major religions in the US and prompt music therapists and other professionals to seek cultural competency and cultural humility both professionally and interpersonally.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 16, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Hospice Music Therapy, Multicultural, Music Therapy, Palliative Care, Religion
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Lori Gooding, Professor Directing Thesis; Jayne Standley, Committee Member; Diane Gregory, Committee Member.
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Park_fsu_0071E_16841.pdf
TITLE: Effects of Aging and Exercise Training on Bone Vascular Function and Bone Structural Adaptations
AUTHOR: Park, Hyerim,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Delp, Michael D.
MEMBER (university representative): Levenson, Cathy W.
MEMBER (committee member): Kim, Jeong-Su
MEMBER (committee member): Salazar, Gloria
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Health and Human Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (113 pages)
ABSTRACT: Purpose: Adequate skeletal perfusion is necessary to maintain bone remodeling processes and bone health. Natural aging leads to progressive bone loss, which may be associated with impaired bone vasomotor function and impaired perfusion. Although these age-related changes can be ameliorated by exercise training, the specific mechanisms underlying exercise-induced alterations of bone vasomotor function in advanced age remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to elucidate whether the exercise-induced vasomotor effects on the femoral principal nutrient artery (PNA) as well as bone blood flow are associated to bone structural adaptions in old age. Methods: Young (4–6 mo old) and old (20–22 mo old) male Fischer-344 rats either did treadmill endurance exercise training (15 m/min, 15° incline, 60 min/day, 5 days/week) for 10–12 weeks or remained sedentary (SED) in cages. Multiple vasomotor functions were evaluated in femoral PNAs: 1) Endothelium-dependent vasodilation to acetylcholine (ACh) alone, or in the presence of eNOS inhibitors (L-NAME). 2) Endothelium-independent vasodilation was tested using the nitric oxide (NO) donor, Dea-NONOate. 3) Receptor-dependent vasoconstrictor responses was tested using the α-adrenergic agonist phenylephrine (PE). 4) Receptor-independent responses were examined using potassium chloride (KCl). 5) Finally, the pressure-induced myogenic responses (0 up to 100 mmHg) were also examined. Protein expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) and antioxidant enzyme superoxide dismutase (SOD1) were examined in femoral PNAs. Regional blood flow to the femur was also assessed at rest and during treadmill exercise. Lastly, trabecular bone structures of the distal femoral metaphysis were determined by micro-computed tomography. Results: NO-mediated, endothelium-dependent vasodilation (ACh) and endothelium-independent relaxation (Dea-NONOate) were impaired by advanced age, but exercise training enhanced the response to ACh in femoral PNAs from both young and old rats. Age did not alter α-adrenergic receptor-dependent (PE) or independent (KCl) vasoconstrictor responses, whereas exercise training showed enhanced vasoconstrictor response to PE in old rats. In addition, advanced age impaired the pressure-sensitive myogenic response, while there was no alteration following exercise training in both young and old groups. Exercise training restored the age-induced decline of eNOS expression in femoral PNA by 55% from old rats, whereas age and exercise training had no effect on SOD1 expression (p<0.05). Regional femur blood flow to the proximal and distal metaphysis and epiphysis, as well as diaphyseal marrow, were lower in old rats than in young rats at rest (-38%, -39%, and -39%, respectively), while exercise training led to increased blood flow (42%) to distal metaphysis and epiphysis in old rats. Moreover, exercise-trained old rats showed significantly increased regional blood flow during exercise compared to old SED rats (proximal distal metaphysis and epiphysis and diaphyseal marrow: 114%, 135% and 119%, respectively). This increased blood flow to the proximal and distal metaphysis and epiphysis was even higher in older exercise-trained rats than in young exercise-trained rats. Trabecular bone structures, including BV/TV, trabecular connectivity density, number, and separation (-30%, -66%, -35% and 68%, respectively) (p<0.001) were deteriorated in the distal femoral metaphysis in old rats compared to young rats, while these bone properties were not altered with exercise training. Conclusion: Taken together, the findings of this study demonstrated that vasomotor responses are impaired in the femoral PNAs of old rats, which are closely associated with age-induced alterations in bone structures. However, exercise training in old rats reversed the diminished vasomotor regulation, including vasodilator responses and enhanced regional bone and marrow blood flow. However, these exercise training-induced improvements in bone and marrow perfusion and vasodilator responsiveness do not appear to enhance the structural properties of trabecular bone in aged rats.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 2, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Michael Delp, Professor Directing Dissertation; Cathy Levenson, University Representative; Jeong-Su Kim, Committee Member; Gloria Salazar, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Medical sciences
SUBJECT: Kinesiology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Park_fsu_0071N_16796.pdf
TITLE: How Do People Feel in the Moment Before They Engage in a Suicide Attempt?: Investigation of Affective Experience within the Immediate Suicidal Context
AUTHOR: Park, Esther Chanhye,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Ribeiro, Jessica D. (Jessica Diana)
MEMBER (committee member): Joiner, Thomas, Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Plant, Ashby
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (41 pages)
ABSTRACT: An accurate understanding of the affective state people experience within the immediate suicidal context carries far reaching implications for how we conduct risk, as well as how we devise intervention strategies. Despite the limited evidence for affective pattern preceding suicidal behavior, the notion that most people feel intense negative affect (e.g., Baumeister, 1990; Shneidman, 1993) is largely accepted in the field. The present study aims to examine how people feel in the immediate context of suicidal behavior. Method: A total of 538 participants (179 past attempters, 231 past/current suicide ideators, and 128 participants with no past suicidality) were recruited. Past attempters were asked to rate their affective state during the most recent suicide attempt on three 0-100 visual sliding scales, each assessing positive and negative valence, and arousal. We also tested whether prior suicide attempt-related factors—frequency and recency-- influence the individuals' recalled affective experience. Finally, we explored the link between past suicidality and affective forecasting for future suicide context by comparing past attempters, ideators, and nonsuicidal participants in how they predicted to feel before a future suicide attempt. Results: Overall, notable individual variabilities were found in how past attempters recalled feeling negative affect (M=84.43, SD= 20.27, range: 0-20); arousal (M=49.22, SD= 33.10) intensity between 40-60; and positive affect under 40 but above 0 (M=12.71, SD= 19.11). Attempters with more recent attempt history recalled significantly higher positive affect, while multiple attempters (vs. single attempters) recalled significantly higher arousal. Regarding forecasted affect for future suicide attempt, we found that attempters, ideators, and nonsuicidal individuals predicted similar intensity of negative and positive affect in a future suicidal context; only significant group difference emerged in arousal ratings with ideators predicting to feel higher intensity level of arousal than both past attempters and participants without past suicidality. Discussion: Implications and limitations of our study are further discussed.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): August 30, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jessica D. Ribeiro, Professor Directing Thesis; Thomas E. Joiner, Committee Member; E. Ashby Plant, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Clinical psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Payrovnaziri_fsu_0071E_16783.pdf
TITLE: Explainable Artificial Intelligence for Predictive Modeling of Electronic Health Records in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases
AUTHOR: Payrovnaziri, Seyedeh Neelufar,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): He, Zhe
MEMBER (university representative): Liu, Xiuwen, 1966-
MEMBER (committee member): Rankin, Yolanda, 1970-
MEMBER (committee member): Riccardi, Gregory A.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: School of Information
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (126 pages)
ABSTRACT: Predictive modeling can help researchers tackle challenges such as detection, prevention, and treatment for diseases with high mortality rates such as cardiovascular diseases. These diseases involve multiple risk factors that make traditional risk score systems insufficient for an accurate and effective outcome prediction especially in the context of analyzing large multimodal heterogeneous data. A significant increase in computational power has enabled researchers to investigate the benefits of applying artificial intelligence to predictive modeling for medicine and healthcare. Nevertheless, in medical practice, predictions made by a complex artificial intelligence-based model have to be validated by a human expert. Thus, the necessity of explainable artificial intelligence in medicine is increasing. This dissertation accomplishes four research objectives. First, a systematic scoping review of explainable artificial intelligence models based on real-world electronic health records data is produced. The necessity of explainable artificial intelligence for medicine requires such a review of the state-of-the-art research in the field. The main goal is to provide insights into the current research trend by categorizing machine learning methods, explainable artificial intelligence methods, and machine learning prediction tasks. Also, reproducibility and interpretability evaluation of the reviewed papers are discussed. Challenges and opportunities are presented from the perspective of medical professionals and potential gaps and issues in the field are discussed. The second objective entails enhancing the performance of predictive models. In the case of either intrinsic explainable artificial intelligence or post-hoc methods, the underlying predictive model should be accurate. Long-term and short-term mortality risks in patients with cardiovascular diseases are modeled using machine learning and deep learning methods. These models are built based on multimodal electronic health records data. Structured data (fixed and longitudinal) and unstructured data in the form of discharge summary notes are used. The predictive performance of models based on machine learning and deep learning methods on various data and architectures are compared. It is shown that incorporating a richer set of features enhances the predictive performance of deep models. The third objective is to investigate the impact of imputation techniques for handling missing values in electronic health records data on the prediction performance and interpretation results of the predictive models. Missingness is recognized as a major data quality issue of electronic health records and its impact on the interpretations of predictive models warrants more investigation. The performance of imputation methods on missing values as well as the impact of imputation methods on 1) the performance of predictive models and 2) the interpretations of predictive models are examined. It is observed that the imputation methods for handling missing values impact the performance and interpretation results of the predictive models. The fourth objective is focused on the interpretability enhancement of the predictive model based on longitudinal data. Few studies have investigated the application of Shapley additive explanations, a state-of-the-art explainable artificial intelligence method, on longitudinal medical data. Longitudinal laboratory test measurements and vital signs data is modeled using recurrent neural networks. Shapley additive explanation is applied to the model. Global and local interpretations of the model are presented. Also, a new representation is proposed to enhance the interpretation results of the explainable artificial intelligence method.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): September 21, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Zhe He, Professor Directing Dissertation; Xiuwen Liu, University Representative; Yolanda Rankin, Committee Member; Gregory Riccardi, Committee Member.
 When the older brother runs off by himself, the younger brother begins roaming Hell's different landscapes in search of him. As he searches, the younger brother ruminates on their now fractured relationship. In the tradition of Virgil, Dante, Milton, Swift, Shelley, Joyce, Sarte, and Arthur Rimbaud, Pearson leads his speakers on a speculative, epistolary journey through the nether realm inspired by Christian beliefs and tradition. Drawing on the works of French Symbolists and the literary traditions of the American South, A Season in Hell with Rimbaud guides readers through an intimate rendering of one brother's journey to find his lost and estranged brother, perhaps recovering a part of himself in the process.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 20, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): James Kimbrell, Professor Directing Dissertation; Enrique Álvarez, University Representative; Ravi Howard, Committee Member; Robert Stilling, Committee Member; John Ribó, Committee Member; Adrienne Stephenson, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: British literature
SUBJECT: Irish literature
SUBJECT: English literature
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Peng_fsu_0071E_16886.pdf
TITLE: Mid-Lithospheric Discontinuity: Assessing the Role of Amphiboles in Metasomatized Cratonic Mantle
AUTHOR: Peng, Ye,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Mookherjee, Mainak
MEMBER (university representative): Siegrist, Theo
MEMBER (committee member): Humayun, Munir
MEMBER (committee member): Wang, Yang, (Graduate Assistant in Teaching)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (195 pages)
ABSTRACT: In recent years, high-resolution seismological studies have documented anomalously low shear wave velocity in the middle of the lithosphere, referred to as mid-lithospheric discontinuity (MLD). In contrast to the low seismic velocity, MLD does not show any anomalous electrical conductivity based on available magnetotelluric (MT) observations. This is a perplexing observation since low shear wave velocities are usually associated with partial melts. This plausible inference of partial melts contradicts the observed stability and longevity of cratons. A partially molten layer is rheologically weak and might lead to the erosion of the cratonic root by the convecting mantle over geological timescales. Instead, mantle metasomatism might provide a plausible and alternate explanation for such a low shear wave velocity layer in the middle of the lithosphere. The metasomatized mantle is likely to stabilize secondary mineral phases, such as amphiboles. To evaluate whether mantle metasomatism or the presence of amphiboles can explain the geophysical observations of MLD, we need good constraints on the thermoelasticity and electrical conductivity of amphiboles at conditions relevant to MLD depths. However, pertinent data on the thermoelasticity and transport properties of amphiboles and how they vary as a function of pressure, temperature, and chemistry are currently lacking.To bridge this gap, in my Ph.D. dissertation work, I provided better constraints on the thermoelasticity of amphiboles using first principles simulation. To benchmark the simulation-based data, I calculated fundamental thermodynamics such as heat capacity and compared it with the heat capacity derived from the vibrational spectroscopic data using a Raman spectrometer. The excellent agreement between the theoretically predicted and experimentally derived thermodynamic data validated the simulation methods used in my Ph.D. dissertation. Next, I predicted the thermoelasticity of end-member amphibole tremolite and compared my predicted data with experimental results available at ambient conditions. Again, the agreement between simulations and ambient experimental data was excellent, rendering further confidence in predictions based on first principles simulations. I then explored the thermoelasticity of pargasite amphibole relevant for MLD. In addition, I complied and updated the thermoelastic database of other hydrous minerals that are likely to be stable at MLD, such as chlorite and phlogopite. Based on the modal abundances of mineral assemblages from cratonic xenoliths and experimental petrology, I predicted the aggregate shear wave velocity of the metasomatized cratonic mantle. Our updated thermoelastic database on hydrous phases showed that the hydrous minerals can only explain a fraction of the observed velocity reduction at MLD depths. We found that explaining the 100% of velocity reduction would require an unrealistic amount of hydrous minerals in the metasomatized cratonic mantle. I supplemented my thermoelasticity study with an in-depth examination of the electrical conductivity of an amphibole-bearing rock at MLD conditions. The results from high-pressure and temperature experimental studies showed that the electrical conductivity of amphibole is relatively high compared to volumetrically dominant mantle minerals such as olivine and pyroxene. Our results indicated that the electrical conductivity of amphiboles is quite sensitive to the alkali content. The pargasitic amphibole end-member likely to be stable in the metasomatized mantle tends to have a high alkali content. Thus, based on my results, I anticipated a high electrical conductivity for the alkali-rich amphiboles. However, high-electrical conductivity in MLD regions is not observed, and thus only a small fraction of alkali-bearing amphiboles can be allowed to explain the observed electrical conductivity profiles observed at MLD. Thus, our results indicated that the presence of amphiboles cannot simultaneously explain the seismological and MT observations at MLD. Hence, mantle metasomatism is unlikely to be the sole mechanism to explain MLD. Additional mechanisms need to be explored in addition to mantle metasomatism. These additional mechanisms may include seismic anisotropy and rheological changes, i.e., elastically accommodated grain boundary sliding, at MLD depths.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 12, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): amphibole, elasticity, electrical conductivity, high pressure high temperature, mid-lithospheric discontinuity, Raman spectroscopy
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Mainak Mookherjee, Professor Directing Dissertation; Theo Siegrist, University Representative; Munir Humayun, Committee Member; Yang Wang, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Geophysics
SUBJECT: Mineralogy
SUBJECT: Geology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Peters_fsu_0071N_16787.pdf
TITLE: People Whose Romantic Partners Match Their Partner Ideals Have Satisfying, Positive Interactions with Those Partners
AUTHOR: Peters, Sierra D.,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Meltzer, Andrea L.
MEMBER (committee member): Maner, Jon K.
MEMBER (committee member): Hart, Sara, (Professor of Psychology)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (96 pages)
ABSTRACT: People's long-term partner ideals are functional in that they guide adaptive mate-selection decisions and thus people should be more satisfied with, and consequently, have more positive interactions with their romantic partners to the extent that those partners match their ideals (i.e., demonstrate high ideal-partner consistency). Very little research, however, has examined the behavioral implications of ideal-partner consistency and no research, to our knowledge, has examined the extent to which relationship satisfaction mediates this association. Moreover, some scholars have challenged the broader validity of ideal-partner consistency. Thus, the present research aimed to test the predictive validity of long-term ideal-partner consistency for relationship satisfaction and downstream relationship behaviors by using (a) three different studies comprising four independent samples, (b) the strongest methods available, and (c) four commonly used metrics of ideal-partner consistency (to rule out the possibility that results are unique to a single metric). Results demonstrated that people whose partners more (versus less) closely match their ideals were more satisfied with their relationships, which was associated with increased positive partner interactions (Studies 1 and 2) and decreased negative partner interactions (Studies 1 and 3). Notably, these associations emerged across all metrics of ideal-partner consistency and using both self-report and observational measures of partner interactions. Together, these findings provide the strongest empirical test to date of the ideal standards model, suggesting that ideal-partner consistency is indeed associated with people's relationship evaluations and subsequent interactions with their partners.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): September 3, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): evolutionary psychology, partner preferences, romantic relationships
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Andrea L. Meltzer, Professor Directing Thesis; Jon K. Maner, Committee Member; Sara A. Hart, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Social psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Phillips_fsu_0071E_16806.pdf
TITLE: Change Happens: Practitioner Use of Change Management Strategies
AUTHOR: Peters, Jeffrey B.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Klein, James D.
MEMBER (university representative): McDowell, Stephen D., 1958-
MEMBER (committee member): Dennen, Vanessa P., 1970-
MEMBER (committee member): Shute, Valerie J. (Valerie Jean), 1953-
MEMBER (committee member): Brooks, Christopher Darren
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (126 pages)
ABSTRACT: This study investigated the strategies that change management practitioners use to promote organizational change. Organizations implement change management plans to avoid losses in productivity and employee motivation (Bakari et al., 2017). Although there is an abundance of literature suggesting how change managers should implement a successful organizational change, practitioners and theorists approach change management differently (Saka, 2003). Practitioners may ignore the popular change literature (Bamford & Forrester, 2003) by relating their implementations to the context of the change instead of a prescribed model. There is a lack of empirical evidence in change management research that supports the theories mentioned in publications (Bakari et al., 2017; Bamford & Forrester, 2003; Brown, 2014; By, 2005; Cinite et al., 2009). The popular literature commonly states that 70% of organizational change fails (Balogun & Hope Hailey, 2008; Beer & Nohria, 2000; Burnes, 2015; Cinite et al., 2009; Washington & Hacker, 2005), but does not describe why the change fails (Decker et al., 2012). Although popular literature identifies numerous models and strategies to promote change, the field lacks empirical evidence that explains what strategies practitioners use and how they determine that their change was successful. The purpose of this research was to examine the choices that change managers make and how change managers promote organizational change. I collected survey data through questionnaires (n = 49) and interviews (n = 20) to answer the following four research questions: 1. What strategies do change managers use to facilitate organizational change? 2. How do change managers implement change management strategies to promote organizational change? 3. How do change managers measure the effectiveness of their change implementations? 4. How has the current global pandemic impacted the strategies used by change management professionals? The questionnaire results identified how frequently participants used the strategies found in six popular change management models. I used the interviews to determine how the change managers used the strategies in their implementations, how they measured their change implementations, and how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the strategies that they used. By triangulating the data from the questionnaire and interviews, I identified ten strategies that change managers often used when they implemented a successful organizational change. The strategies were (1) communicate with the employees about the change, (2) receive open support and commitment from administration, (3) focus on organizational culture, (4) use managers and supervisors as change agents, (5) include employees in change decisions, (6) listen to the employees' concerns about the change, (7) reward new behavior, (8) use training to prepare employees and leaders for change, (9) help clients relate the organization's vision to the change, and (10) build trust to increase buy-in. Most strategies contained sub-strategies that described how the participants implemented the change. Findings revealed that change managers used the strategies contextually based on the individual needs of the organization. This suggested that a linear prescriptive change model did not align with every change implementation. Communicating with members of the organization expanded across numerous strategies and promoting the change through leadership was an essential component of the change instead of an individual strategy. The participants measured the effectiveness of the change with both formal and informal feedback. They based the success of their change implementations on pre-defined goals set by the organization's administrators. Open support and commitment from administration was essential to promote a successful organizational change. The participants created short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals to show that the change was on-task, and they used informal assessment such as water cooler talks to determine how the employees viewed the change. Although the participants had not completed a change implementation during the COVID-19 pandemic, they discussed the effects of promoting organizational change in an online environment. The change managers were unable to use informal assessment through water cooler talks or observe non-verbal cues about how participants perceived the change. The pandemic also required change managers to adapt employees to online work before the change manager could implement the pre-determined change.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 20, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Change management, Change strategies, Organizational change, Organizational development, Performance improvement
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): James D. Klein, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen D. McDowell, University Representative; Vanessa P. Dennen, Committee Member; Valerie Shute, Committee Member; C. Darren Brooks, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Instructional systems--Design
SUBJECT: Educational psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Pieper_fsu_0071N_16801.pdf
TITLE: Examination of Conceptual Pacts and Perspective Taking in Remote Communication
AUTHOR: Pieper, Ashley,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Kaschak, Michael P.
MEMBER (committee member): Hart, Sara, (Professor of Psychology)
MEMBER (committee member): Boot, Walter Richard
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (35 pages)
ABSTRACT: Conceptual pacts are agreed-upon ways of talking about things that are specific to a conversation and a conversation partner. Most research focuses on conceptual pacts with participants being co-present in some way. However, we do not know if what has been found still applies when participants are not co-present. Along similar lines, Krauss and colleagues found that participants do still take their partner into account in asynchronous studies by examining the differences in written letters made by participants with different people in mind – themselves, a friend, and a stranger (Fussell & Krauss, 1989; Krauss, 1987; Krauss, Vivekananathan, & Weinheimer, 1968). However, these studies did not look at conceptual pacts. The present series of studies aimed to deepen the areas understanding of conceptual pacts and asynchronous conversations by expanding on Krauss' work to include conceptual pacts in asynchronous settings. Overall, our data did not support that conceptual pacts are made during asynchronous conversations. These findings suggest follow-up studies to clarify in what settings conceptual pacts are made.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Psychology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 1, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Conceptual Pact, Conversation, Langauge
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Michael P. Kaschak, Professor Directing Thesis; Sara Hart, Committee Member; Walter R. Boot, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
SUBJECT: Language and languages
SUBJECT: Developmental psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Pierre_fsu_0071N_16845.pdf
TITLE: Effects of Resveratrol and MitoQ on Gene Expression and Endothelial Function in a Mouse Model of Erectile Dysfunction
AUTHOR: Pierre, Clifford J.,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): La Favor, Justin
MEMBER (committee member): Gordon, Bradley S.
MEMBER (committee member): Lee, Choogon
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Health and Human Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (56 pages)
ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to explore the effect of antioxidant-like drugs, Resveratrol and MitoQ, on erectile function and gene expression in a castration model of erectile dysfunction (ED) and to see if these changes were mediated via nuclear factor E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2). ED is one of the most common sexual dysfunctions in men and is associated with hypogonadism, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. These conditions exhibit oxidative stress-induced endothelial dysfunction. C57BL/6 mice were separated into four group: sham, castrate-only, cast + resveratrol, and cast + MitoQ. DMT myograph system was used to assess erectile function and RT-PCR was used to assess relative gene expression. Upon castration, erectile function significantly declined. Castrate-only had impaired acetylcholine-, sodium nitroprusside-, and nonadrenergic noncholinergic-mediated relaxation when compared to sham. Also, castrate-only had a significantly higher contractile response to neurovascular stimulation and PE. Next, Nrf2 targeted genes: Hmox1, Gclc, Nqo1, and antioxidant genes were significantly lower when compared to sham. Resveratrol and MitoQ treatment partially improved antioxidant genes. There were significantly higher levels of SOD1, Gstm1, and CAT when compared to castrated-only groups. These improvements did not translate to improvements in erectile function. In summary, our results show that castration does lead to erectile dysfunction by increasing oxidative stress-induced endothelial dysfunction. Specifically targeting oxidative stress through Nrf2 induction did not mitigate the physiological changes seen with castration.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 28, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Castration, Erectile Dysfunction, MitoQ, Nrf2, Oxidative Stress , Resveratrol
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Justin La Favor, Professor Directing Thesis; Bradley Gordon, Committee Member; Chogoon Lee, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Medical sciences
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Podkorytov_fsu_0071E_16873.pdf
TITLE: Intrinsic Properties and Biases of Deep Learning Models
AUTHOR: Podkorytov, Maksim,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Liu, Xiuwen, 1966-
MEMBER (university representative): Barbu, Adrian G., 1971-
MEMBER (committee member): Kuhnle, Alan
MEMBER (committee member): Zhao, Peixiang
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (98 pages)
ABSTRACT: Statistical data models based on the deep learning paradigm have shown remarkable performancein many domains, surpassing human performance in a set of tasks under restricted settings. However, the fundamental reasons enabling these achievements have not been well understood. The understanding of the underlying mechanisms of modern deep learning models is paramount for the following reasons. First, we would like to properly use the models for downstream tasks; for this purpose we need to identify and understand the failure modes of the models. Second, we would like to identify and quantify the biases the models exhibit to facilitate the fair use of the models when protected groups of population are involved. However, illuminating the underlying mechanisms is very challenging due to their size and complexity. In this dissertation, we study intrinsic properties of two publicly available deep learning models,BERT in the domain of natural language processing, and Glow in the domain of computer vision. Both models have achieved the state of the art for their respective tasks at the time of their publication, and such remarkable performance makes them attractive study subjects. While the natural language processing and computer vision domains are drastically different, common analysis techniques can be applied to both models; the observation also implies that similar techniques could be used in other domains not covered by the current dissertation. In both cases, we analyze the geometric properties of the embeddings and quantify the layer-by-layer transformations through correlations and other analyses. The results lead to novel insights on how the models generate intermediate representations and give rise to their performance, and enable better understanding of the underlying mechanisms.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Computer Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 19, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Xiuwen Liu, Professor Directing Dissertation; Adrian Barbu, University Representative; Alan Kuhnle, Committee Member; Peixiang Zhao, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Computer science
SUBJECT: Artificial intelligence
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Porter_fsu_0071E_16890.pdf
TITLE: The "Retro-Ensemble": Using Historical Analogs of Ensemble Forecasts as Post-Processing to Improve Prediction
AUTHOR: Porter, Michael J.,
MEMBER (professor co-directing thesis): Fuelberg, Henry E.
MEMBER (professor co-directing thesis): Chagnon, Jeffrey M.
MEMBER (university representative): Mascagni, Michael
MEMBER (committee member): Ahlquist, Jon E.
MEMBER (committee member): Sura, Philip
MEMBER (committee member): Du, James
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (136 pages)
ABSTRACT: ABSTRACTNumerical weather prediction and ensemble forecasting have improved the skill of medium range forecasts. However, multi-model ensembles can be computationally expensive and difficult to interpret so post-processing techniques are often employed. One such technique, analog forecasting, involves scouring a back-catalog of forecasts to find ones similar to a target forecast. This can enhance forecast skill by accounting for flow-dependent error growth because the accuracy of past forecasts provides context for the current one. However, questions remain as to how one can best determine if a past forecast is 'similar' enough to be a useful analog. This research develops a new analog method, the 'RetroEnsemble,' that integrates existing (but previously uncombined) analog search techniques with novel strategies to look retrospectively in order to generate guidance for an operational ensemble forecast.  This method also (a) allows for temporal offsets to consider additional potential analogs (synoptically similar forecasts), and (b) identifies analogs independently for the different members of an ensemble forecast system. The RetroEnsemble is optimized for local application and provides bias correction for a multi day precipitation forecast from the Short Range Ensemble Forecast (SREF) system. Rainfall verifications corresponding to the best analogs are combined into a historically derived probability density function for a new SREF forecast. Four years of data are used as a training set to determine how to best find analogs; then, the RetroEnsemble was tested against an independent year of forecasts to serve as proof-of concept for this post-processing technique. The RetroEnsemble demonstrates improved skill across a range of spatial resolutions. The technique was most useful for the forecast of summer rainfall and for forecast conditions where the SREF had lower skill (e.g. underperforming ensemble members, or when the SREF predicted isolated rainfall). Results from the testing period show similar trends, but lower skill improvement and less absolute skill. A fully developed RetroEnsemble methodology could allow forecasters to harness 'big data' by calibrating nationally provided ensemble output for local needs. Further, as is initially explored here, it may provide a better understanding of which combinations of parameterization schemes yield more accurate forecasts under certain atmospheric states.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 4, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Analog Forecasting, Ensemble Forecasting, Numerical Weather Prediction, Redemptive Forecasting
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Henry E. Fuelberg, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Jeffrey Chagnon, Professor Co-Directing Thesis; Michael Mascagni, University Representative; Jon E. Ahlquist, Committee Member; Philip Sura, Committee Member; Jun Du, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Meteorology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Prather_fsu_0071E_16563.pdf
TITLE: Octonions – Hilbert Spaces, Fibrations and Analysis
AUTHOR: Prather, Benjamin R.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Hoeij, Mark van
MEMBER (university representative): Fuelberg, Henry E.
MEMBER (committee member): Aldrovandi, Ettore
MEMBER (committee member): Bowers, Philip L., 1956-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Mathematics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (94 pages)
ABSTRACT: The goal of this thesis is to develop rigorous foundations for octonionic structures for their potential use in theoretical physics.I begin by defining the octonions and exploring some of their algebraic properties. In particular, they are endowed with a Hopf algebra like structure, laking only associativity. Next I turn to octonionic linear algebra.We show that all octonionic Hilbert spaces have a basis, define octonionic $L^2$ spaces and show they produce an orthomodular form. Solèr's Theorem is then generalized to include these spaces. My attention then shifts to the split signature composition algebras, starting with Hopf fibrations and the closely associated projective spaces. For the associative split composition algebras we get families of Hopf fibrations for each dimension. The octonionic cases fail to allow projective spaces beyond the plane. I then consider analysis on octonionic functions, leading to Cauhcy integral forumula over both the split and proper algebras.This result over the split octonions is novel, and completes the list of Cauchy integral formula over the composition algebras. Finally, I consider a broad generalization of the octonions, discussed by Albequerque and Majid, and highlight some of the issues that emerge once we extend past the composition algebras.In particular, I define doubling algebras and attempt to classify the doubling algebras of small dimension.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Mathematics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 28, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Caucy integral formula, Hopf fibrations, modules, non-associative, octonions, split-octonions
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Mark van Hoeij, Professor Directing Dissertation; Henry Fuelberg, University Representative; Ettore Aldrovandi, Committee Member; Philip Bowers, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Mathematics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Ramakrishna_fsu_0071E_16894.pdf
TITLE: Probing Phase Transitions in Metal-Organic Framework Multiferroics Using Solid-State NMR
AUTHOR: Ramakrishna, Sanath Kumar,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Yang, Wei
MEMBER (university representative): Chiorescu, Irinel
MEMBER (committee member): Reyes, Arneil P.
MEMBER (committee member): Shatruk, Mykhailo
MEMBER (committee member): DePrince, A. Eugene, III
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (110 pages)
ABSTRACT: This dissertation is focused on NMR studies of phase transitions in perovskite-like Metal-Organic Framework Multiferroics. The materials studied are [(CH3)2NH2]Mg(HCOO)3 and [(CH3)2NH2]Mn(HCOO)3. Dimethylammonium magnesium formate, [(CH3)2NH2]Mg(HCOO)3] shows a dielectric transition around (T = 270 K), the mechanism behind this phase transition is explored in detail using high-resolution solid-state NMR on 13C (γ = 10.7054 MHz/T, I = 1/2), 15N (γ = 4.3143 MHz/T, I = 1/2), 25Mg (γ = 2.6055 MHz/T, I = 5/2) found in the compound. The chemical shift and spectral changes with varying temperatures indicate the onset of phase transition which agrees with the previous dielectric constant measurements. We found evidence for a mixed behavior of order-disorder and displacive type phase transition by analyzing the chemical shift of the 13C and 15N in the compound. In addition, we quantified the timescale of the dynamics of nitrogen and dimethylammonium cation in the cavity by carrying out spin-lattice relaxation (T1) measurements and fit it to BPP theory to calculate the correlation time (τc). Near the phase transition, we also observed a co-existence of high-temperature and low-temperature phase peaks evident from the 13C spectra.Dimethylammonium manganese formate, [(CH3)2NH2]Mn(HCOO)3] (Mn-MOF) is one of the first materials in the class of metal-organic framework multiferroics. It shows a ferroelectric transition at (T = 185 K) and an antiferromagnetic phase transition at (TN = 8.5 K). We carried out wideband NMR measurements on 1H (γ = 42.5774 MHz/T, I = 1/2) and 14N (γ = 3.0752 MHz/T, I = 1) to explore both the magnetic and electric ordering using a single characterization technique. The measurements were carried out on 12 T and 17 T wideband NMR instruments with a homemade probe. The 1H spectra, 14N spectra, T1, and T2 relaxation measurements indicated both antiferromagnetic and ferroelectric phase transition, the values obtained for Tc (Ferroelectric) and TN (Antiferromagnetic) using NMR agree with the previously reported values. Angular dependence measurements were used to label the protons present in the compound. The nitrogen hopping mechanism above and below the phase transition temperature is observed with the help of 14N NMR. T1 relaxation for the central methyl proton exhibited an anomalous behavior with double exponential curves of T1 for the same temperature. We also found that the interaction between the Mn ions is stronger than the mean-field theory using the critical scaling fit. The dissertation also includes a project on using a triple pulse scheme to eliminate background signals and acoustic ringing in both spin 1/2 and quadrupolar nuclei. With the appropriate changing of pulse phase in subsequent scans, one can suppress the acoustic ringing effects and by introducing an additional flip-angle dependent scaling the background signal coming from outside the probe is eliminated. We have successfully shown a new pulse technique to obtain a clean spectrum for nuclei with low NMR sensitivity and with high acoustic ringing.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 12, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Ferroelectrics, Metal-Organic Frameworks, Multiferroics, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, Solid-State NMR
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Wei Yang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Irinel Chiorescu, University Representative; Arneil Reyes, Committee Member; Michael Shatruk, Committee Member; Eugene DePrince, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Chemistry
SUBJECT: Macroecology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: RamirezBullon_fsu_0071E_16847.pdf
TITLE: Refined Approaches to Improving Efforts to Conserve Plant Biodiversity
AUTHOR: Ramirez-Bullon, Natali,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Winn, Alice A.
MEMBER (university representative): Pau, Stephanie
MEMBER (committee member): Travis, Joseph, 1953-
MEMBER (committee member): Underwood, Nora C.
MEMBER (committee member): Steppan, Scott J.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Biological Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (79 pages)
ABSTRACT: Most mega-biodiverse countries have low to upper middle incomes (Fisher and Christopher 2007), resulting in a shortage of funding and expertise to implement conservation actions in these biodiversity hotspots. Creating conservation guidelines can help developing countries comply with international conventions and, in some cases, result in poverty reduction by ensuring the protection of natural resources (Fisher and Christopher 2007). Distinguishing species that require immediate conservation actions to prevent extinction of species that are rare but demographically stable can help make conservation decisions when resources are scarce. To date, only 5% of all species known to science have been evaluated for risk of extinction (IUCN 2016), and of those listed as critically endangered, endangered, or vulnerable, a greater proportion are plant species than animal species (IUCN 2016). Generating data to evaluate extinction risk based on data on population dynamics for all species under these categories would take too much time, and decisions must often be made quickly. However, there are databases that contain demographic and functional trait data for hundreds of species of plants, that can, in principle, be used to identify traits that characterize species that are demographically stable and distinguish them from species in danger of imminent extinction. Yenni et al. (2012) proposed that strong self-limitation would enable some rare species to persist at low abundance (Yenni et al. 2012). Focusing on low abundance and its natural causes could help identify key characteristics that would help direct conservation efforts to the species at greatest risk of extinction. I conducted intraspecific competition experiments in the field for related pairs of common and low abundance but persisting herbaceous plant species in the understory of longleaf pine savannas to test the hypothesis that low abundance persisting taxa experience stronger self-limitation. I found that low abundance species were taller and experienced less herbivory damage than their respective closely related common species. However, I did not find evidence of stronger self-limitation in low abundance species compared to closely related common species. To further examine the hypothesis that some low abundance species can persist naturally at low abundance due to strong self-limitation, I took advantage of global databases of demographic and trait data. I used information from these databases to designate 336 herbaceous plant species as common or low abundance. For species with trait data, I classified them as either demographically stable or increasing (50 common, 17 low abundance) or declining (31 common, 11 low abundance). I compared trait values for these groups focusing on those expected to be related to competitive ability. I was expecting traits associated with strong competitive ability could provide a tool to identify rare taxa that are at lower risk of extinction. I found that low abundance species regardless of their population growth rates had trait values consistent with greater competitive ability when compared to common species. However, I was unable to identify any trait that could distinguish low abundance herbaceous plant for which stable or increasing population growth rates were measured. In the face of projected human population growth, an alternative approach for preserving biodiversity is to preserve entire communities that encompass substantial biodiversity rather than assessing individual species. For this approach, there are different ways to assess biodiversity, one of them is to measure phylogenetic diversity, these measures can determine which areas will maximize future options for diversification. I examined the effects of human activities on phylogenetic diversity and structure in the longleaf pine savannas. I found that even after 100 years of continuous restoration efforts after plowing, phylogenetic diversity does not recover to the overall evolutionary history of undisturbed plant communities. Species that did not return after anthropogenic disturbance were not a random subset of species. One explanation for this clustering is that abiotic filtering influences recovery after disturbance. Although I did not find a successful way to distinguish species at higher risk of extinction from those that are not, I wouldn't discourage the approaches I used because species representation was small for the field experiments, and the overlap of species for which both demographic and trait data were available was limited. Natural history information in species descriptions was brief and sometimes non-existent in many demographic papers, which limits the power to identify plant traits that are associated with risk of extinction. There is potential for more synthetic approaches to help conservation decision making, however those efforts would be more successful after we address this data deficit. An initial step towards resolving this data gap would be to prioritize the collection of trait data for species for which demographic data already exist.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Biological Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 1, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): density manipulation, longleaf savanna, phylogenetic diversity, plant conservation
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Alice Winn, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephanie Pau, University Representative; Joseph Travis, Committee Member; Nora Underwood, Committee Member; Scott Steppan, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Ecology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Ren_fsu_0071E_16829.pdf
TITLE: Mining on Graphs: Graph Neural Network and Applications
AUTHOR: Ren, Yuxiang,
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Zhang, Jiawei
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Zhao, Peixiang
MEMBER (university representative): Zhang, Jinfeng, (Statistics Professor)
MEMBER (committee member): Liu, Xiuwen, 1966-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Computer Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (172 pages)
ABSTRACT: The graph is a data structure that exists widely around us, including traditional fields like physics, biology, and cosmology, as well as emergent fields like social networks, software engineering, and financial trading platforms. The graph-structured data contains objects (nodes) information and reflects their relationships (edges). The learning tasks become more challenging when considering the nodes and edge information simultaneously. Traditional machine learning methods focus on nodes' attributes but ignore the structural information. We are now in an era of deep learning, which outperforms traditional machine learning methods in a wide range of tasks and has a significant impact on our daily lives. Driving by deep learning and neural networks, the deep learning-based graph neural networks (GNNs) become convincing and attractive tools to handle this non-Euclidean data structure. The dissertation thesis includes my research works throughout the Ph.D. research in two directions of graph data mining. The first direction is about the innovation and improvement of graph neural networks. A large number of GNNs have appeared, but as a general representation learning model, there are still some difficult topics worth delving into. I focus on three questions: Unsupervised/self-supervised Learning of GNNs, GNNs for heterogeneous graphs, and Training larger and deeper GNNs. Concerning unsupervised/self-supervised learning of GNNs, the dissertation introduces my research works contributing to it in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. In Chapter 5, I introduce a mutual information maximization-based GNN for heterogeneous graph representation learning. Chapter 6 discusses my contributions to training larger and deeper GNNs through a subgraph-based learning framework. The other direction is the Application of GNNs in Real-world Topics. As an effective tool for processing graph data, GNNs being applied to solve real-world graph mining problems can further verify the effectiveness. Meanwhile, the application of GNNs requires a combination of domain knowledge and specific data modeling, which is also a challenge that needs to be addressed. In Chapter 7, I apply GNNs to the emerging and non-trivial topic of fake news detection. When dealing with the fake news detection topic, I innovate the GNNs model to handle the challenges of the fake news detection problem, which is critical for GNNs to exert the best effect. Experiments with real-world fake news data show that the novel GNN can outperform text-based models and other graph-based models, especially when using less labeled news data. In the last chapter, I provide concluding thoughts about this dissertation thesis.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Computer Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 14, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Artificial Intelligence, Data Mining, Graph Learning, Graph Mining, Graph Neural Network
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jiawei Zhang, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Peixiang Zhao, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Jinfeng Zhang, University Representative; Xiuwen Liu, Committee Member; Xiaonan Zhang, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Computer science
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Rifqi_fsu_0071N_16832.pdf
TITLE: The Potential Influence of Interior Furnishings on Sense of Dignity for Residents of Domestic Violence Shelters
AUTHOR: Rifqi, Sarah A.,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Pable, Jill
MEMBER (committee member): Robinson, Kelley
MEMBER (committee member): McLane, Yelena
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Fine Arts
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Interior Architecture and Design
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (177 pages)
ABSTRACT: Although domestic violence against women is a global issue that subjects them to harmful consequences, very little research has been conducted on the furniture features and characteristics in domestic violence shelters that can have an influence on residents' sense of dignity. Using a dignity framework, this study examined furniture features that may influence four aspects of human perception supportive of personal dignity: control, privacy, safety, and community. The study used mixed methods that include a survey distributed to two shelters residents, and in-depth interviews with the shelters' management staff. Furniture style and placement were explored in three shelter areas: the commons, the dining area, and the sleeping area.Gathered responses from shelters' residents and staff members gave rise to several design considerations. Findings indicated that providing multiple seating options for users based on their personalities or their situation can enhance their sense of control. Individual chairs, built-in partitions, lockable storage, and curtains over beds may reduce the ability to see users and their belongings. Also, furniture placement can keep users away from each other, which can support the sense of privacy. The safety notion can be reinforced in furniture features by providing locks on lockers and storage spaces, providing armrests, and using specific materials. Lastly, furniture has an impactful effect on enhancing people's social skills. Three important factors in furniture features that encourage residents to socialize are size, location, and arrangement. These design considerations were then applied in a hypothetical domestic violence shelter in Atlanta, GA. This study is intended to help designers make design decisions that may help victims of domestic abuse who reside in shelters preserve or rebuild their self-worth, recover from their past, and plan for the future.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Interior Architecture and Design in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 22, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Abuse, Domestic, Furniture, Interior design, Violence, Women
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jill Pable, Professor Directing Thesis; Kelley Robinson, Committee Member; Yelena McLane, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Arts
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Rivero_fsu_0071E_16862.pdf
TITLE: Teaching about Global Issues in the Classroom Teaching about Global Issues in the Classroom: Learning from Expreinced World History Teacheer Learning from Experienced World History Teacher
AUTHOR: Rivero, Keith Rene,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Myers, John P. (John Patrick)
MEMBER (university representative): Roehrig, Alysia D., 1975-
MEMBER (committee member): Khurshid, Ayesha
MEMBER (committee member): Jakubowski, Elizabeth M.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: School of Teacher Education
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (147 pages)
ABSTRACT: Today's students will face issues and problems that are global scale and require a collaborative global effort to resolve effectively. To help prepare students to resolve these global issues, students must learn to participate in the global democratic process as part of their citizenship education. In particular, scholars argue students need to engage in authentic examinations of actual real-world global issues in the classroom to better prepare them for the roles as democratic global citizens. In the U.S., the world history course serves as an ideal curricular space to incorporate teaching about global issues in the classroom. However, there is little empirical research exploring how high school world history teachers are actually teaching about global issues in their classrooms. To fill this gap, this study examines how nine high school world history teachers in Florida think about and describe teaching about global issues within the context of their world history classrooms using a qualitative interpretative interview design with elicitation tasks. Based on the data collected the participants believe that the world history course serves as an ideal curricular space to incorporate teaching about global issues and help students develop the civic tools needed for future global citizenship. The study also reveals the challenges that teachers face when attempting to teach the civic aims of the course. Namely, political polarization and the official standards. This study's findings provide empirical evidence that incorporating issue-centered instruction in the world history classroom can be used as a pedagogical tool to help prepare students to be active and caring members of a global democratic community.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the School of Teacher Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 10, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): John P. Myers, Professor Directing Dissertation; Alysia Roehrig, University Representative; Ayesha Khurshid, Committee Member; Elizabeth Jakubowski, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Social sciences--Study and teaching
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Ruiz_fsu_0071N_16743.pdf
TITLE: Going the Extra Mile: The Influence of Additional Police Follow-Ups on Couples of Domestic Violence
AUTHOR: Ruiz, Carlee,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Beaver, Kevin M.
MEMBER (committee member): Warren, Patricia Y.
MEMBER (committee member): Schwartz, Joseph
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Criminology and Criminal Justice
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (74 pages)
ABSTRACT: The current study evaluates the 6-month Modesto Police Department's Domestic Violence Initiative. This is a police intervention with goal of reducing domestic violence cases within Modesto, CA. With a quasi-experimental approach, the program focused police interventions in a single area of the city and used a different, similar area as a control. The interventions included in-person and telephone follow-ups, text messages, and educational flyers given to couples who experienced domestic violence crime, noncriminal verbal only fights, and other types of crime that involved an issue between a romantic or ex-romantic couple. There were three modes that were measured for success: the amount of domestic violence incidents per couple, the duration between repeat events, and the change in the level of violence (measured by the Cambridge Crime Harm Index) between initial events and repeat events. By using a negative binomial regression and controlling for suspect sex, it was found that if a couple received a follow-up or all three interventions then they had more reported repeat domestic violence incidents. Through the use of a Mann-Whiney U Test, there was no difference in days between repeat incidents whether the couple received an intervention or not. Another Mann-Whiney U Test found that if the couple received any form of intervention except for text message there was a suppression effect on the increase of violence between repeat domestic violence incidents. In addition, there are key findings of the surveys that the officers took when conducting the follow-ups. Overall, the current study found mixed results on the effectiveness of the police interventions on domestic violence.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): August 30, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): crime, domestic violence, evidence-based policing, police effectiveness, police interventions
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Kevin Beaver, Professor Directing Thesis; Patricia Warren, Committee Member; Joseph Schwartz, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Criminology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: SampathKumar_fsu_0071E_16865.pdf
TITLE: A Comprehensive Study of Vortex Asymmetry on Slender Bodies at High Angles of Incidence
AUTHOR: Sampath Kumar, Roopesh,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Kumar, Rajan, (Professor of Mechanical Engineering)
MEMBER (university representative): Speer, Kevin G. (Kevin George)
MEMBER (committee member): Shoele, Kourosh
MEMBER (committee member): Clark, Jonathan E.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (129 pages)