ABSTRACT: Every year, natural hazards such as hurricanes devastate entire regions, cause widespread major infrastructure damages (e.g., roadway/bridge closures, power outages, etc.), and claim lives in the U.S. The State of Florida, which is surrounded by subtropical waters from three sides due to its unique geography, is one of the southern states significantly vulnerable to hurricanes. In recent years, hurricanes Hermine (2016), Irma (2017), and Michael (2018) have caused substantial damages to the infrastructure such as roadway and bridge closures and power outages in Florida. Many Floridians had to evacuate to safer locations under mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders before these hurricanes hit. Massive delays and major congestion on the evacuation routes made the problem even more challenging for the residents of affected regions as they needed to evacuate in a timely manner. In 2017, Hurricane Irma, a Category 4 hurricane, took on the entirety of Florida, causing the state's largest evacuation ever as 7 million residents fled the hurricane. Floridians fleeing the hurricane faced a unique challenge on where to go since Irma made an unusual landfall from the south, enveloping the entire state forcing evacuees to drive farther north, and creating traffic jams along Florida evacuation routes worse than any other hurricane in history. Therefore, there is no doubt that there is a need to extensively assess the spatiotemporal traffic impacts of hurricanes such as Irma on Florida's major highways based on the real-time traffic data before, during, and after the hurricane made landfall.Furthermore, due to hurricanes, many Floridian communities and specifically those along coastal areas are required to evacuate to safer places such as emergency shelters. Therefore, shelters in Florida play a pivotal role in meeting the needs of their communities and providing services to the public. Ensuring spatial accessibility to these facilities is essential. Providing accessibility has been even more challenging since these communities were hit by the COVID-19 pandemic during the hurricane season, thereby restricting shelter capacity due to social distancing requirements. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also indicate that it is potentially hazardous to use congregate shelters. This capacity challenge can be addressed by the use of alternative non-congregate shelters (i.e., lodging establishments such as hotels and motels). These are recommended by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) in order to protect public health and limit general population sheltering. In addition to hurricane shelters, rapid population growth, urbanization, and economic development have been creating other challenges in providing transportation-based accessibility to other critical facilities over the last decade. This is especially critical when we consider ensuring the transportation-based accessibility to essential facilities such as healthcare providers since these facilities provide important services to people. During a disaster such as the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, this issue becomes more confounding since these facilities play crucial roles in helping their communities to better prepare and recover from this uncontrolled outbreak. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, a drastic increase in the number of coronavirus patients caused a shortage of healthcare resources such as Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and ventilators in the U.S. The high demands for these services led to a reduction in the efficiency of the entire healthcare system. This dissertation proposes several novel methodological approaches to help solve aforementioned problems with the following objectives: • to assess the spatial accessibility of different age groups to mental health facilities that offer mental and behavioral services to the people in the State of Florida. • to assess accessibility of COVID-19 patients to healthcare providers in Florida. • to assess the spatial accessibility of Northwest Florida communities to congregate and non-congregate shelters during a disaster such as the COVID-19 pandemic. • to spatiotemporally analyze Hurricane Irma's traffic impacts on Florida's major highways (I-95, I-75, I-10, I-4, and turnpike) based on real-time traffic data before, during, and after the hurricane made landfall. • to develop a methodology to integrate evacuation and storm surge modeling with a case study analysis of Hurricane Irma hitting Southeast Florida. Findings clearly showed that imperfect forecasts and the uncertainty surrounding Irma's predicted path resulted in high levels of congestion and severe delays on Florida's major evacuation routes. Moreover, the results revealed that many areas in the northwest and southern Florida have lower access to critical facilities such as shelters or healthcare facilities compared to other locations. The residents in central Florida (e.g., Tampa and Orlando cities) had the highest level of accessibility given their higher access ratios. In addition, the results indicated that people in coastal areas where a higher number of lodging facilities are located have better access. Considering the capacity of each facility shows that many areas in Northwest Florida have lower access to lodging establishments than emergency relief shelters.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 25, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): COVID-19 Pandemic, Evacuation, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Resilience, Transportation Accessibility, Urban Mobility
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Eren Erman Ozguven, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mark W. Horner, University Representative; Ren Moses, Committee Member; John Sobanjo, Committee Member; Maxim Dulebenets, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Civil engineering
SUBJECT: Transportation--Planning
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Goodman_fsu_0071E_16817.pdf
TITLE: Cytotoxic Effects of Microplastics on Human Cells
AUTHOR: Goodman, Kerestin E.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Sang, Qing-Xiang
MEMBER (university representative): Lenhert, Steven John
MEMBER (committee member): Yang, Wei
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 (118 pages)
ABSTRACT: Since their production in the early 1950s, plastics have become a big part of everyday life for people around the world. Plastics are found in nearly every sector of society from homes to businesses to the medical field and various industries. Unfortunately, with the ever-increasing rate of plastic production, there is also an increase in the amount of plastic pollution. These plastics over time begin to break down and degrade into even smaller plastics, called microplastics. Microplastics have been detected in every part of the environment: in the air, in soil, and multiple bodies of water. Furthermore, microplastics have been found in everyday items such as honey, sea salt, water bottles, seafood, and many other human consumables. Their ubiquity in the environment and human food chain has caused great concern for human health. However, not much is known about how these tiny plastics affect humans. Therefore this work focuses on the impacts that microplastics have on humans on the cellular level. In this work, we looked at two of the major routes of exposure to humans which are inhalation and ingestion, and used cell lines as models to study the effects of microplastics. We chose 1 and 10 micron polystyrene spheres because this type and size of microplastics are one of the most common microplastic pollutants. Three human cell lines were chosen to serve as a cellular model to conduct these studies. A549 human carcinoma alveolar lung cells were chosen as the lung cell model, Hep G2 hepatocellular liver cells were chosen as the liver cell model and HEK 293 human embryonic kidney cells were chosen as the kidney cell model. In this work, it was observed that microplastics did cause a significant reduction in cell proliferation in the lung, liver, and kidney cell lines. These findings were very interesting and proved that microplastics have a similar proliferation effect on very different cell lines. This study also revealed metabolic differences between the cell lines tested. Although the A549 lung cells showed a slight decline in metabolic activity over time, the HEK 293 kidney cells showed a greater decline in metabolic activity after 24h, while the Hep G2 liver cells showed an initial decline at 24h, but then showed very little change after this time point. Additionally, morphological changes were observed in all cell lines. The A549 lung cells exposed to microplastics showed filopodia and microspikes extending from the cellular membrane at 72h exposure. The Hep G2 liver cells exposed to microplastics, showed a complete declustering of cells while the HEK 293 kidney exposed cells at 72h remained in clusters, but a significant amount of blebbing was observed. These morphological changes serve as a visual indicator that these cells are not behaving in the same manner as their unexposed counterparts. Using phase contrast microscopy, the 1micron polystyrene microplastics were observed to be taken up, at time points of 24h-72h and it was observed in certain cells that particles uptaken centered around the nucleus in each cell line. Confocal fluorescent microscopy was used to confirm uptake of particles at 24h for the A549 lung cells and 72h for the Hep G2 liver and HEK 293 kidney cells. For the HEK 293 kidney and Hep G2 liver cells, the percentage of cells that uptook these particles at 24h, 48h, and 72h was analyzed using flow cytometry. The HEK 293 kidney cells had a higher percentage of cells uptaking the particles at the higher concentration of 100µg/ml at all time points. For the lower concentration tested, 5µg/ml the HEK 293 kidney cells had a higher percentage of cells taking up the particles at 24h, a lower percentage of cells taking up the particles at 48h, and about the same amount of cells taking up the particles at 72h when compared to the Hep G2 liver cells. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) studies were done using the Hep G2 and HEK 293 kidney cell lines. 1micron PS-MPs produced the most significant ROS response with the 5µg/ml concentration in Hep G2 liver cells across all time points while the 50µg/ml concentration produced the most significant ROS response at the majority of the time points. EdU studies were performed at 24h in Hep G2 liver cells and HEK 293 kidney cells. Both Hep G2 and HEK 293 Edu studies revealed that 1micron PS-MP exposed cells did have a lower percentage of cells synthesizing DNA as compared to their unexposed counterparts, which correlates with our proliferative studies that show unexposed cells have a higher proliferative rate than exposed cells. Cell invasion studies were performed in Hep G2 and HEK 293 kidney cells. Results from the 72h invasion studies revealed that Hep G2 liver cells are more invasive with the exposure of 1micron PS-MPs as compared to unexposed cells. However, results for the HEK 293 cells are inconclusive due to all cells (both exposed and unexposed) migrating to the bottom chamber at 72h. Endocytotic studies at 24h in both the Hep G2 liver and HEK 293 kidney cells did show a red fluorescence signal, suggesting that particles had been uptaken in the cells. However, with the images shown it is unclear whether particles were uptaken in the endosomes and whether the fluorescent signal is from the particles being localized in the endosomes. Further analysis is needed. These studies reveal that microplastics do have an effect on human cell lines and cause cell proliferative, cell stress, metabolic, and morphological changes in human lung, liver and kidney cells exposed to polystyrene microplastics.
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 16, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Cell Proliferation, Human Cells, Microplastics
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Qing-Xiang Amy Sang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Steven Lenhert, University Representative; Wei Yang, Committee Member; Lei Zhu, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Biochemistry
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Gueterman_fsu_0071N_16434.pdf
TITLE: Between the Digital and Physical: Legitimization and Virtuality in E-Sports Opening Ceremonies
AUTHOR: Gueterman, Alexander Michael,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): League, Panayotis
MEMBER (committee member): Gunderson, Frank D.
MEMBER (committee member): Brewer, Charles E. (Charles Everett)
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 (107 pages)
ABSTRACT: AbstractE-sports is one of the fastest growing entertainment genres in the world, with millions of viewers and ever-increasing revenue streams flowing into bigger and more impressive tournament displays. One of the ways that this revenue is utilized by e-sports producers and event managers is to engage audiences with musical events prior to large finals tournaments, events which are emblematic of the games being played and the competitive nature of the participating professional gamers. Within this thesis, I aim to deconstruct these events in their context, understanding the ways that these events provide a microcosm of the e-sports genre and move forward a legitimization of e-sports as a whole. I look closely at the 2019 League of Legends World Championship Finals Opening Ceremony (and other similar League of Legends opening ceremonies as necessary) as a particular example of this phenomenon, focusing on emergent themes such as virtuality, intersectionality in terms of race, class, and gender, and economic influences on e-sports. I draw on Bruno Latour's actor-network theory as well as theories of music mediation developed by scholars such as Georgina Born to inform my analysis, and to determine how assemblages of physical and digital mediators influence and interact with one another in the opening ceremonies I analyze. These events are more than simply a precursor to the main event; they are themselves signifiers of the widely interconnected nature of e-sports which has only continued to expand into new markets, new audiences, and new platforms. By closely analyzing the themes introduced by these ceremonies and the ways that technologies are utilized by the individuals associated with these events, we can move closer to understanding why e-sports has undergone such a massive explosion of growth in such a brief span of time; further, this can also inform the ways that entertainment will continue to expand and evolve in an increasingly virtual landscape.
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): March 29, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Musicology
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Panayotis League, Professor Directing Thesis; Frank Gunderson, Committee Member; Charles Brewer, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Music
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Gurdogan_fsu_0071E_16811.pdf
TITLE: Eigenvector Shrinkage for Estimating Covariance Matrices
AUTHOR: Gurdogan, Hubeyb,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Kercheval, Alec N.
MEMBER (university representative): Perfect, Steven Bruce
MEMBER (committee member): Zhu, Lingjiong
MEMBER (committee member): Ekren, Ibrahim
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 (90 pages)
ABSTRACT: Portfolio managers faced with limited sample sizes must use factor models to estimate the covariance matrix of a high-dimensional returns vector. For the simplest one-factor market model, success rests on the quality of the estimated leading eigenvector ``beta". When only the returns themselves are observed, the practitioner has available the ``PCA" estimate equal to the leading eigenvector of the sample covariance matrix. It is documented that this estimator performs poorly in various ways. To address this problem in the high-dimension, limited sample size asymptotic regime and in the context of estimating the minimum variance portfolio, Goldberg, Papanicolau, and Shkolnik (\cite{goldberg2018}) developed a shrinkage method (the ``GPS estimator") that improves the PCA estimator of beta by shrinking it toward the target unit vector$q = (1,\dots, 1)/\sqrt{p} \in \bR^p$. We investigate what allows this shrinkage to present improvements. We reveal, incorporating the information that $beta$'s are finitely dispersed in the asymptotic regime, leverages the unit vector $q$ as a relevant target vector. In fact, the GPS estimator were using a systematic information inherited by the $beta$'s of the market. This invokes the question of how to pick a favorable shrinkage target in the possible settings that there is further information which promotes more unit vectors like $q$. In that regard, we continue their work to develop a more general framework of shrinkage targets that allows the practitioner to make use of further information to improve the estimator. Examples include sector separation of stock betas, and recent information from prior estimates. We prove some precise statements and illustrate the resulting improvements over the GPS estimator with some numerical experiments. Moreover, we perform an in depth analysis of the asymptotics of the optimization bias term $\mathcal{E}_p$, the major driver of various error metrics of the estimators of $\beta$'s as pointed out in \cite{goldberg2018} , associated wit the GPS estimator.
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 8, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Covariance matrix estimation , minimum variance portfolio, shrinkage
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Alec Kercheval, Professor Directing Dissertation; Steve Perfect, University Representative; Lingjiong Zhu, Committee Member; Ibrahim Ekren, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Mathematics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Haluska_fsu_0071E_16863.pdf
TITLE: The Regulation of DNA Replication Initiation, DNA Stress Response, and Mitotic Exit in Budding Yeast
AUTHOR: Haluska, Cory M.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Wang, Yanchang, (Biomedical Sciences Professor)
MEMBER (university representative): Yu, Hong-Guo
MEMBER (committee member): Tomko, Robert J., Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Gunjan, Akash
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Medicine
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Biomedical Sciences
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (114 pages)
ABSTRACT: Tight regulation of the cell cycle is essential to maintain genome integrity. Errors at any stage during cell cycle, including replication, chromosome segregation, and mitotic exit, can lead to genome instability, which has been shown to contribute to tumorigenesis or cell death. Despite the importance of these cellular processes, many of their molecular mechanisms are still not fully understood. We used budding yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism to investigate cell cycle regulation because this organism is genetically tractable and much of the processes during cell cycle are conserved from yeast to humans. In budding yeast, Mcm10 is an essential DNA replication factor that interacts strongly with the Mcm2-7 complex, a conserved helicase in all eukaryotes. Within the Mcm2-7 complex, Mcm10 has been shown to interact with both the Mcm2 and Mcm6 subunits. We have been able to show that Mcm10 has DNA binding capability but the function of this binding has yet to be determined. Additionally, we have shown that Mcm10 is able to bind to RPA, the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) binding protein, and this interaction is strengthened in the presence of ssDNA. Assembly of the DNA replication machinery, replisome, at replication origins is largely driven by the phosphorylation imposed by Dbf4-dependent kinase (DDK) and cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK). Inactivation of DDK via a cdc7-1 mutant disrupts the interaction between Mcm10 and Mcm2, indicating a potential earlier role during replication for Mcm10 than previously anticipated. Selective depletion of Mcm10 via an iAID (auxin-induced degradation) system decreases Mcm2 chromatin association. Therefore, we speculate that Mcm10 functions during the early stage of DNA replication initiation by maintaining the stable chromatin association of the Mcm2-7 helicase. DNA replication stress activates the S-phase checkpoint that arrests the cell cycle, but it is poorly understood how cells recover from this arrest. CDK and Protein Phosphatase 2A (PP2A) with the B regulatory subunit Cdc55 (PP2ACdc55) are key cell cycle regulators in budding yeast. We found that yeast cells lacking functional PP2ACdc55 showed slow growth in the presence of hydroxyurea (HU), a DNA synthesis inhibitor, without obvious viability loss. Moreover, PP2A mutants exhibited delayed anaphase entry and sustained levels of anaphase inhibitor Pds1 after HU treatment. A DNA damage checkpoint Chk1 phosphorylates and stabilizes Pds1. We showed that chk1Δ and mutation of the Chk1 phosphorylation sites in Pds1 largely restored efficient anaphase entry in PP2A mutants after HU treatment. In addition, deletion of SWE1 that encodes the inhibitory kinase for CDK or mutation of the Swe1 phosphorylation site in CDK (cdc28F19) also suppressed the anaphase entry delay in PP2A mutants after HU treatment. Our genetic data suggest that Swe1/CDK acts upstream of Pds1. Surprisingly, cdc55Δ showed significant suppression to the viability loss of S-phase checkpoint mutants during DNA synthesis block. Cell cycle-regulated protein modifications, such as phosphorylation and ubiquitination, are critical for a successful cell duplication. Protein SUMOylation is a biochemical process that adds a small ubiquitin-like modifier (SUMO) to protein lysine residues. Elimination of SUMOylation in yeast cells results in cell cycle arrest, indicating the essential role of this modification in the cell cycle. Protein poly-SUMOylation has been shown to trigger its ubiquitination, and the subsequent extraction and/or proteasomal degradation. Cdc14 phosphatase not only antagonizes the phosphorylation imposed by CDK but also triggers CDK inactivation. Therefore, Cdc14 is essential for mitotic exit, a process that inactivates CDK. Prior to anaphase entry, Cdc14 is sequestered within the nucleolus through two anchor proteins Tof2 and Net1. Interestingly, these two proteins are subjected to SUMOylation. Our results indicate that SUMOylation does not play a role in Cdc14 nucleolar localization, but polySUMOylation appears to promote nucleolar delocalization of Net1 and Tof2. Additionally, we found that Tof2 degradation is dependent on the ubiquitination mediated by both SUMO-targeted ubiquitin ligase (STUbL) and Anaphase Promoting Complex (APC), a E3 ubiquitin ligase essential for anaphase entry. These observations support a two-step ubiquitination model for the degradation of SUMOylated proteins as well as a potential role for polySUMOylation in mitotic exit by triggering Cdc14 release from the nucleolus. Taken together, our results have identified Mcm10 as a potential scaffold protein ensuring chromatin association of the Mcm2-7 helicase during single strand extrusion, a process essential for the initiation of DNA replication. We have uncovered a PP2A-Swe1-CDK-Chk1-Pds1 axis that promotes recovery from DNA replication stress. Lastly, our results indicate that polySUMOylation may promote mitotic exit by delocalizing Cdc14 anchor proteins Tof2 and Net1 from the nucleolus. Furthermore, our results indicate that STUbL and E3 ligase APC are likely involved in proteasomal degradation of nucleolar protein Tof2, supporting a model that two-step ubiquitination of SUMO substrates promotes their proteasomal degradation. The findings presented in the thesis demonstrate several new layers of cell cycle regulations, which may provide new therapeutic strategies with regards to cancer and other cell-based therapies.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Biomedical Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 16, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): DNA Replication, Mcm10, Mitotic exit, PP2A, SUMO, Swe1
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Yanchang Wang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Hong-Guo Yu, University Representative; Robert J. Tomko, Jr., Committee Member; Akash Gunjan, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Cytology
SUBJECT: Molecular biology
SUBJECT: Biochemistry
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Harmon_fsu_0071E_16784.pdf
TITLE: Nation and Church in the French Revolution
AUTHOR: Harmon, Joseph Peter,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Blaufarb, Rafe
MEMBER (university representative): Dupuigrenet Desroussilles, François, 1953-
MEMBER (committee member): Williamson, George S.
MEMBER (committee member): Wood, Laurie M. (Laurie Marie) (Laurie Marie)
MEMBER (committee member): Burson, Jeffrey D
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of History
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (250 pages)
ABSTRACT: In the French Revolution, revolutionary legislators faced the problem of how to relate to the Catholic Church, to which the vast majority of citizens belonged. Inheriting theological, legal, and Enlightenment philosophical categories for thinking about religion and the Church, the legislators adapted to contingent circumstances by constructing a national church through a series of decrees motivated by different aims and partly conflicting in spirit and in their consequences. This reshaped version of eighteenth-century Gallican ideas of church reform created a problem faced by each successive regime, contributing to the escalation of violent conflict between the revolutionary governments and the Catholic Church.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of History in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): September 10, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Catholic Church, cult, French Revolution, secularization
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Rafe Blaufarb, Professor Directing Dissertation; François Dupuigrenet Desroussilles, University Representative; George S. Williamson, Committee Member; Laurie M. Wood, Committee Member; Jeffrey D. Burson, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: History
SUBJECT: Religions--History
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Hendrickse_fsu_0071E_16850.pdf
TITLE: Comparing to the Ideal on Social Media: Testing the Moderating Effect of Appearance Schematicity
AUTHOR: Hendrickse, Joshua,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Arpan, Laura M.
MEMBER (university representative): Paek, Insu, (Professor of measurement and statistics)
MEMBER (committee member): Raney, Arthur A.
MEMBER (committee member): Clayton, Russell B.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: School of Communication
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (74 pages)
ABSTRACT: Three studies investigated appearance self-schemas within the context of the appearance comparisons made on Instagram. It was expected that women with higher levels of appearance schematicity would be more likely to compare with, and be affected by, exposure to Instagram. Study 1 provided correlational evidence that the relationship between Instagram activity and negative body image was strongest for these women. Study 2 provided experimental evidence that direct exposure to the thin ideal on Instagram increased women's body dissatisfaction, however appearance schematicity failed to moderate their impact. Finally, Study 3 tracked the within persons, day-to-day fluctuations of Instagram exposure and body dissatisfaction across nine days. Results showed that, on any given day, when women with higher levels of appearance schematicity were exposed to thin ideal influencers on Instagram, their body image suffered. Taken together, the findings suggest that Instagram is closely associated with negative body image, but that context matters. Future research should consider the relationships that the users form with idealized influencers on Instagram and its impact on the development of appearance self-schemas.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 16, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Appearance Comparisons, Appearance Self-Schemas, Body Image, Instagram, Social Media
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Laura M. Arpan, Professor Directing Dissertation; Insu Paek, University Representative; Arthur A. Raney, Committee Member; Russell B. Clayton, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Communication
SUBJECT: Social psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Hertel_fsu_0071N_16830.pdf
TITLE: Trust and Behavioral Intention Toward Generative Adversarial Network (GAN)-Derived Avatar Healthcare Provider (HCP) in Simulated Telehealth Setting
AUTHOR: Hertel, Nicole,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Ho, Shuyuan Mary
MEMBER (committee member): Lustria, Mia Liza A.
MEMBER (committee member): He, Zhe
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 (75 pages)
ABSTRACT: This study is a preliminary exploration of adoption of generative adversarial network (GAN)-derived avatar healthcare providers (HCPs). To our knowledge, GAN-derived avatars as de facto HCPs have not been investigated in relation to user trust and behavioral intention in a simulated telehealth setting. Therefore, drawing from the Computers are Social Actors (CASA) paradigm, this study focuses on how perception of GAN-derived avatar HCPs in a one-way video encounter impacts trust and behavioral intention. A pretest-posttest experiment was conducted to gain insight into participants' trust and behavioral intention. A survey was used as the instrument to collect responses before/after viewing a brief video featuring an HCP (human or GAN-derived avatar) presenting information on a common medical condition. Hypotheses were that GAN-derived avatar and human counterparts would be (1) perceived as equally trustworthy and (2) associated with similar behavioral intentions (i.e., following provider advice, returning to provider, recommending provider). The analysis (N=147) offers evidence in support of both hypotheses, showing that avatar HCPs and human HCPs are not perceived significantly differently in terms of trust and behavioral intention. Although participant ratings of trust and behavioral intention were similar for both types of HCPs, findings indicated participant trust and behavioral intention declined for both types of HCP encounters over time (compared to pre-encounter beliefs/expectations). Additionally, participants were more willing to offer trust than behavioral intention for both types of HCPs. Findings lay groundwork for further inquiry of establishing novel roles for GAN-derived avatars in healthcare contexts such as telehealth.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the School of Information in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 7, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): behavioral intention, generative adversarial network (GAN)-derived avatar, healthcare provider (HCP), human-computer interaction, patient-physician relationship, trust
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Shuyuan H. Metcalfe, Professor Directing Thesis; Mia Liza A. Lustria, Committee Member; Zhe He, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Animal behavior
SUBJECT: Computer science
SUBJECT: Artificial intelligence
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Holland_fsu_0071E_16804.pdf
TITLE: Employment and Earnings Disparities Before and after the Implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act: An Intersectional Approach
AUTHOR: Holland, Margaret McGrath,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Randolph, Karen A.
MEMBER (university representative): Taylor, John
MEMBER (committee member): Radey, Melissa
MEMBER (committee member): Cox, Bradley E.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Work
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Work
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (177 pages)
ABSTRACT: The current study applied an intersectional person-in-environment theoretical framework to evaluate how belonging to multiple and varying micro-level social categories of gender, race, and disability affected employment and earnings. Accounting for multiple and varying social categories was found to be important in predicting employment and earnings outcomes. In addition, this study investigated the effects of SSI/SSDI, a mezzo-level program, and the ADA, a macro-level policy, on employment and earnings. Receiving SSI/SSDI and the implementation of the ADA were found to not have affected the study outcomes. All the findings demonstrate that there is a need for programs and policies that can adequately address issues of employment and earnings for people with disabilities with differing gender and racial social categories.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the College of Social Work in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 02, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Americans with Disabilities Act, difference-in-differences, earnings, employment, intersectionality
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Karen A. Randolph, Professor Directing Dissertation; John Taylor, University Representative; Melissa Radey, Committee Member; Bradley E. Cox, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Social service
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Hooks_fsu_0071E_16825.pdf
TITLE: Multiple Mating and Larval Biology in the Florida Crown Conch (Melongena Corona)
AUTHOR: Hooks, Alexandra Page,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Burgess, Scott C.
MEMBER (university representative): Baco-Taylor, Amy R. (Amy Rose)
MEMBER (committee member): Hughes, Kimberly A., 1960-
MEMBER (committee member): McCoy, Sophie J. (Sophie Julia)
MEMBER (committee member): Levitan, Don R.
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 (95 pages)
ABSTRACT: Multiple mating mediates how ecological and evolutionary forces affect populations and there are many explanations for why it is so common. Despite this, taxonomic biases and observational approaches have limited a full understanding of when certain causes and consequences should manifest in certain taxa and ecosystems. Therefore, in this dissertation I used the marine gastropod, the Florida crown conch (Melongena corona) to 1) quantify natural levels of polyandry (i.e., number of sires) across a reproductive season, 2) experimentally manipulated the number of males that mate with females to test the hypothesis that polyandry produces more offspring that are larger and more variable in size at hatching. I also used genetic markers to quantify paternity share after development at hatching. I found that females mated with more males did not produce more offspring at the embryo or hatching stage. Multiple mating also did not affect mean offspring size at hatching. However, multiple mating increased within-brood variation in offspring size at hatching, suggesting differences in intracapsular competition in mixed broods. Paternity share within broods at hatching was skewed, rather than evenly distributed, resulting in a lower effective number of sires relative to the number of mates. Overall, commonly hypothesized benefits of polyandry were not detected in our experiments. Instead, multiple mating is likely controlled by males in this system where mate order, male size, or male copulation all contributed to sire success. The diversity and consequences of developmental mode in marine invertebrates has, for a long time, provided the opportunity to understand different evolutionary solutions to living in variable environments. In this dissertation, I report here novel behavioral variability in hatchlings of the marine gastropod Melongena corona, that has broad significance for understanding the correlated evolution of development, dispersal, and reproductive strategies in a variable environment. All hatchlings crawl-away from egg capsules after emergence as larval pediveligers. Many subsequently swim for a brief period (second to minutes) before crawling again. From detailed observations of 120 individuals over 30 days, I observed 28 (23.3%) hatchlings swimming at least once (8 – 50% per maternal brood). I manipulated hypothesized environmental cues and found that the proportion of hatchlings that swam was highest in the absence of cues related to habitat or food, and lowest when only habitat cues were present. The relative growth rate of hatchlings was highest when habitats contained a putative juvenile food source. About 44% of hatchlings were competent to metamorphose at emergence, but do not metamorphose. The rate of metamorphosis increased with age but depended on the presence of cues. Hatching from benthic egg capsules as crawl-away larvae, while also having the capacity to swim, may have evolved to maintain flexibility in balancing the benefits and risks of benthic versus pelagic mortality, and to maximize survival between reproductive locations and nursery habitat.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Biological Sciences 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): Scott C. Burgess, Professor Directing Dissertation; Amy Baco-Taylor, University Representative; Kimberly A. Hughes, Committee Member; Sophie J. McCoy, Committee Member; Don R. Levitan, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Biology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Huang_fsu_0071E_16877.pdf
TITLE: Efficacy of Psychotropic Medications on Suicide and Self-Injury: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials
AUTHOR: Huang, Xieyining,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Ribeiro, Jessica D. (Jessica Diana)
MEMBER (university representative): Becker, Martin Swanbrow
MEMBER (committee member): Joiner, Thomas, Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Plant, Ashby
MEMBER (committee member): Lin, Lifeng
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 (119 pages)
ABSTRACT: Despite the increasing use of pharmacotherapy, suicide and self-injury rates have continued to rise in the United States. There are at least four potential explanations for this pattern: (1) no medication is particularly efficacious for suicide and self-injury; (2) only a small proportion of psychotropic medications are highly efficacious; (3) most psychotropic medications produce non-zero but small-magnitude effects; and (4) many medications are highly efficacious, but their effects have not been reflected in suicide and self-injury rates due to other constraints (e.g., access, compliance). In order to empirically examine these possibilities, the present meta-analysis comprehensively summarizes all published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that have reported the causal effects of psychotropic medications on suicide and self-injury. A total of 251 papers comprising of 718 unique RCTs were included. A frequentist pairwise meta-analytic approach and a Bayesian network meta-analytic approach were adopted. Potential effect modifiers were examined via metaregressions, and potential biases were evaluated through sensitivity analyses. Results revealed that only a small number of medications were efficacious, and these effects were circumscribed to specific outcomes. Moreover, the most efficacious medications were not the most commonly studied. These patterns were largely consistent across potential effect modifiers, though certain study and sample characteristics (e.g., sample age, treatment length) did significantly moderate findings. Sensitivity analyses yielded consistent results. This study highlights two main opportunities for improvement in the development and refinement of psychotropic interventions. As the most effective interventions are likely to directly target causes of suicide and self-injury, future research is needed to (1) better understand the treatment mechanisms of psychotropic medications; and (2) identify the causal processes underlying suicide and self-injury.
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 15, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jessica D. Ribeiro, Professor Directing Dissertation; Martin Swanbrow Becker, University Representative; Thomas E. Joiner, Committee Member; E. Ashby Plant, Committee Member; Lifeng Lin, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Huse_fsu_0071E_16836.pdf
TITLE: Bridging Communities and Scholars through CBPR: A Systematic Review of Communication and Participation Practices within Community-Based Participatory Research Teams
AUTHOR: Huse, Laura-Kate Gonyea,
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Muhamad, Jessica Wendorf
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Bunz, Ulla
MEMBER (university representative): Coutts, Christopher
MEMBER (committee member): Dale, Katherine R.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: School of Communication
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (133 pages)
ABSTRACT: Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is an approach to health research that prioritizes translation and community partner participation. The field of CBPR is multidisciplinary, so traditional definitions of communication within CBPR have focused on information transfer. However, communication is a dynamic and multifaceted process with multiple levels of influence. The goals of this dissertation are threefold: 1) to apply communication discipline's perspective of communication to better understand how CBPR teams communicate, 2) to examine the factors that affect communication and participation within CBPR teams, and 3) to identify patterns that will contribute to the development of a theory of CBPR team communication and participation. Through a systematic review study of N=105 articles, patterns of communication and participation were identified. Logistics can communicate equity between the scholars and the community partners and facilitate effective communication. Frequent meetings and communication strengthen the communication of the team. Information sharing is imperative for work to be completed on these research projects. However, there was little evidence that transformation through the process of CBPR was valued as a goal by the CBPR teams. Communication and not simply information transfer should be a priority and a goal for CBPR teams. When starting new CBPR partnerships, creating clear expectations and a shared language can reduce miscommunication. Not many CBPR teams explain how they continue to ensure effective communication after initially discussion boundaries and duties, however. These early findings suggest that throughout the CBPR process, the intercultural teams of CBPR might be forming a new group, however more research is needed to explore the impact of interdependence and time on group identity. Community members frequently participate in CBPR as an expert in their community and local knowledge. Having teams train both in research practices and in local knowledge ensures that the team is co-learning. Boundaries to participation include university IRB and conflicting goals between scholars and community partners. Having community members involved in the creation of research questions for the project is related to higher levels of involvement in other stages of research. Community participation in the research process does not seem to be hindered based purely on the research methodology chosen, but non-traditional research methodologies did have higher levels of community participation than other research methods within conducting the research. Finally, indigenous community populations were more involved in the ethical approval stages of research than any other target population. These findings do serve as the first step in applying communication and group theory to CBPR teams, and do help us to better understand how teams are communicating and ensuring participation. Kurt Lewin (1951) said, "there's nothing so practical as a good theory" (p. 169). The findings of this dissertation serve as the first step in attempting to understand the communication and participation practices within CBPR teams. A significant finding of this dissertation, however, is that the reporting methods for CBPR team communication and participation is lacking. Peterson (2010) argued that until CBPR scholars are able to define what true participation is, and change the perceptions of what rigorous research looks like, CBPR will continue to be used as a trendy term that will perpetuate the status quo of research practices. This will hurt the goal of CBPR, which is to create social change (through the reduction of health inequities) for marginalized. The field of CBPR should consider changing the reporting practices of CBPR reports to better facilitate reporting the process of CBPR.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 4, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Community health partnerships, community-academic collaboration, Community-based participatory research, inter-cultural communication, partnership process, team communication
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jessica Wendorf Muhamad, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Ulla Bunz, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Christopher Coutts, University Representative; Katherine Dale, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Communication
SUBJECT: Health education
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Janakiraman_fsu_0071N_16916.pdf
TITLE: Exploring Subtypes of Disgust in Sexual Minorities: The Role of Disgust in the Minority Stress Model, Interpersonal Theory, and Suicidal Ideation
AUTHOR: Janakiraman, Roshni,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Joiner, Thomas, Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Meyer, Alexandria
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 (55 pages)
ABSTRACT: Sexual minority individuals experience significant mental health disparities compared to the overall population, including significantly increased risk for suicide. This disparity is partially explained through the interconnected Interpersonal Theory-Minority Stress Model (IT-MSM). Disgust subtypes could further inform the IT-MSM. The current study seeks to validate the Disgust with Life Scale (DWLS) as a measurement of disgust subtypes, while simultaneously examining the relationships between the disgust subtypes, the IT-MSM variables, and suicidal ideation.  The psychometric properties of the Disgust with Life Scale (DWLS) were tested through Confirmatory and Exploratory Factor Analyses. Five linear regression models were used to assess the hypothesized relationships between the study variables. Results indicated that the DWLS was best described by a two-factor solution: Disgust with Self and Disgust with Society. Disgust with Self had a significant relationship with the Interpersonal Theory variables (β1 = .85, β2 = .36, p < .001), strengthened the relationship between externalized and internalized homophobia (β = .10, p < .001), and was uniquely associated with suicidal ideation (β = .46, p < .032). The hypothesized relationships between Disgust with Society and study variables were not confirmed. Disgust with Society had a significant negative association with perceived burdensomeness (β = -.19, p < .001). These findings indicate the disgust subtypes can inform the theoretical conceptualization of suicide risk in sexual minorities, which can inform future research and prevention strategies.
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): November 3, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Disgust, Interpersonal Theory, LGBT, Minority Stress, Sexual Minority, Suicide
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Thomas E. Joiner, Professor Directing Thesis; Alexandria Meyer, Committee Member; Elizabeth A. Plant, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Clinical psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Jiang_fsu_0071E_16808.pdf
TITLE: The Influence of Regulatory Focus and L2 Self-Gudies on English Language Learners' Task Anxiety, Task Enjoyment, and Oral Task Performance Influence of Regulatory Focus and L2 Self-Guides on English Language Learners' Task Anxiety, Task Enjoyment, and Oral Task Performance
AUTHOR: Jiang, Chen,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Papi, Mostafa
MEMBER (university representative): Turner, Jeannine E.
MEMBER (committee member): Hiver, Philip V.
MEMBER (committee member): Whitacre, Ian Michael
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 (192 pages)
ABSTRACT: In two studies, I explored the relationships among regulatory focus and L2 self-guides (which are qualitative differences in motivation), L2 oral task emotions, and L2 oral performance. In Study 1, 133 second-year high school students in China 1) completed questionnaires measuring their background information, the self-reported L2 oral proficiency levels, L2 self-guides, and chronic regulatory focus,2) completed an oral task and 3) completed questionnaires measuring their anxiety and enjoyment levels in the oral task. Each participant had a 10-minute break after completing Study 2 data collection. The participants were randomly and evenly separated into three groups by the research assistants. Participants in the first group answered some questions designed to induce their situational promotion focus orientation. Participants in the second group answered different questions designed to generate their situational prevention focus orientation. The control group participants did not answer any questions. After that, all the participants completed the second oral task. Finally, they completed questionnaires assessing their task anxiety and task enjoyment. Multiple regression and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. The multiple regression results showed that, in Study 1, L2 learners' oral performance was positively predicted by their chronic prevention focus and their level of enjoyment during the oral task, and negatively predicted by their ought L2 self/other. In addition, the L2 learners' chronic promotion focus and ideal L2 self/own positively predicted their enjoyment during the oral task. In Study 2, ANOVA results indicated that the anxiety levels of the L2 learners who received situational promotion focus treatment was higher than the anxiety levels of the L2 learners who received situational prevention focus treatment and who did not receive treatment. There were no differences across the groups in terms of task enjoyment and performance. The results of the study confirmed the importance of motivational variables related to L2 learners' obligations and significant others (chronic prevention focus and ought L2 self/other) in influencing Chinese L2 learners' task emotions and overall performance. Overall, the findings can enrich the understanding of L2 learners' motivation and emotions in L2 oral performance, which can in turn help educators design more effective teaching methods and provide a more enjoyable learning experience for L2 learners.
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 16, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): anxiety, enjoyment, motivation, oral tasks, regulatory focus, regulatory focus theory
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Mostafa Papi, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jeannine E. Turner, University Representative; Phi Hiver, Committee Member; Ian Whitacre, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Educational psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Jiang_fsu_0071E_16815.pdf
TITLE: Characterization and Detection of Parvalbumin from Four Finfish Species
AUTHOR: Jiang, Xingyi,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Rao, Qinchun, 1974-
MEMBER (university representative): Logan, Timothy M., 1961-
MEMBER (committee member): Salazar, Gloria
MEMBER (committee member): Singh, Prashant
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 (301 pages)
ABSTRACT: Introduction: As the major allergen in finfish, parvalbumin is responsible for more than 90% of fish allergy. To reduce the occurrence of finfish allergy, on the one hand, food allergen characterization could assist in protein modifications to decrease allergenicity. One way to evaluate parvalbumin antigenicity under different conditions is to utilize monoclonal antibody (mAb). On the other hand, it is critical to develop assays for allergen residues quantification. Currently, many antibody-based immunoassays are available for finfish parvalbumin detection, while there is limited research on aptamer development against finfish parvalbumin.Objectives: (1) to purify and characterize parvalbumin from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua), Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), striped mullet (Mugil cephalus), and tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus); (2) to characterize monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific to finfish parvalbumin; and (3) to develop and characterize ssDNA aptamers. Methodology: For objectives 1 and 2, parvalbumin from each finfish species was purified using column chromatography. The purity and amino acid sequence were obtained using gel electrophoresis and LC-MS/MS, respectively. Effect of chelators, reducing chemical and oxidizing agent on antibody-antigen interaction was studied using immunoblot. For objectives 3 and 4, ssDNA aptamers were developed using systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX). The obtained sequences and the published anti-parvalbumin aptamer sequences were commercially synthesized. Their target analyte, selectivity, structure and affinity were analyzed. Results: Parvalbumin was successfully purified from four fish species with more than 97% purity. The yield of parvalbumin from cod, salmon, mullet, and tilapia was 1.1 mg/g, 0.4 mg/g, 3.4 mg/g, and 1.2 mg/g of wet muscle, respectively. It suggested that parvalbumin content and distribution were species-dependent. All purified parvalbumin was identified with a sequence coverage of at least 89%. PAS results showed that parvalbumin was not glycosylated. Parvalbumin from different fish species showed different electrophoretic mobility. Native parvalbumin contained both monomers and oligomers. In the presence of reducing agent (dithiothreitol) and detergent (sodium dodecyl sulfate), parvalbumin oligomers dissociated into monomers. As for the immunochemical properties, immunoreactivity of all four fish parvalbumin decreased when its calcium was chelated. By using the microplate SELEX, a total of 20 candidate aptamer sequences were obtained. All aptamers had a hair-pin structure, which occurred when two regions of the same strand are complementary to each other and form the Watson-Crick base pairs. It is noted that at different temperatures, the same candidate sequence may have different structures. The developed and published aptamers all showed reaction with several finfish proteins. Conclusion: This study (1) investigated the purity, conformation, and immunoreactivity of parvalbumin from four finfish species; (2) characterized the mAbs specific to finfish parvalbumin; and (3) developed and characterized the ssDNA aptamers. In summary, parvalbumin is a mixture of monomers and oligomers due to covalent and non-covalent interaction under the native condition. Its immunoreactivity is affected by calcium chelation. The purified parvalbumin has the potential to be used in the development of capturing agents such as antibodies and aptamers, which can be further utilized in the assay development for the detection of undeclared fish allergenic residues in foods.
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 5, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Qinchun Rao, Professor Directing Dissertation; Timothy M. Logan, University Representative; Gloria Salazar, Committee Member; Prashant Singh, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Food
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Joyner_fsu_0071E_16854.pdf
TITLE: Improving Methods for Causal Inference in Addiction Science: Presenting a New Extension of the Co-Twin Control Model Using Quantile Multilevel Modeling
AUTHOR: Joyner, Keanan J.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Patrick, Christopher J.
MEMBER (university representative): Ebener, Deborah J.
MEMBER (committee member): Proudfit, Greg Hajcak
MEMBER (committee member): Schatschneider, Christopher
MEMBER (committee member): Taylor, Jeanette E.
MEMBER (committee member): Petscher, Yaacov M
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 (107 pages)
ABSTRACT: The prevention of substance use disorders (SUDs) is of utmost societal importance due to their debilitating impact on affected individuals and their family members (Rehm et al., 2009). In seeking to identify risk factors for SUDs that can serve as targets for preventative efforts, it is important to distinguish between liability characteristics that predate SUDs and consequences stemming from heavy substance use. One novel method for addressing this issue is the co-twin control (CTC) model, allowing for estimation of the quasi-causal effect of one variable on a clinical outcome of interest (Begg & Parides, 2003; Joyner et al., 2020). While this innovative modeling method has yielded important insights into the nature of causal effects, all current implementations of the CTC method dictate effects to be invariant across participants. However, this need not be the case. Using univariate quantile behavioral genetic models, researchers have demonstrated that certain phenotypes are differentially heritable depending on the level at which the phenotype is expressed (Logan et al., 2012; Schwartz et al., 2017). The current project extended this analytic approach to the case of the CTC model through the use of quantile multilevel modeling. This new quantile CTC ("qCTC") modeling method permitted inferences to be made regarding the extent to which adolescent substance use causally affects outcomes in adulthood at different levels of the outcome variable. The value of this new variant of the CTC model for clarifying the role of adolescent substance use and personality characteristics in the etiology of SUDs in adulthood was demonstrated using existing data from two large twin-study samples. Results indicated differential heritability of SUDs at different points along its distribution, but not addiction-related traits. Furthermore, there were not variant CTC effects of adolescent substance use across the distribution of addiction-related traits. This study sets the groundwork for examination of other phenotypes in the qCTC framework.
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): October 22, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Christopher J. Patrick, Professor Directing Dissertation; Deborah Ebener, University Representative; Greg Hajcak, Committee Member; Christopher Schatschneider, Committee Member; Jeanette Taylor, Committee Member; Yaacov Petscher, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Kanupp_fsu_0071E_16893.pdf
TITLE: Parental Leave and Primary School Academic Achievement: An Exploratory Comparative Study of National Policies and Their Relationships with Assessment Scores in Mathematics, Science, and Reading
AUTHOR: Kanupp, Katherine P. S.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Herrington, Carolyn D.
MEMBER (university representative): Jones, Ithel
MEMBER (committee member): Park, Toby J.
MEMBER (committee member): Akiba, Motoko
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Education
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (191 pages)
ABSTRACT: This study used mixed methods to investigate the relationships between parental leave policy components and academic achievement measured by TIMSS and PIRLS. Qualitative document analysis was used to analyze the policy documents and available literature on all the parental leave policies that had been implemented early enough to potentially affect the children who were assessed by the TIMSS and PIRLS in the countries under study. Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) was then used to categorize countries based on the components of their parental leave policies, and to identify potential causal pathways to see whether and how these policy components contribute to academic achievement. Exploratory descriptive and correlational statistical analyses were then used to help evaluate the QCA results and investigate the quantitative relationships between the policy components and student achievement in reading, mathematics, and science. The study found that the potential causal pathways identified in the fsQCA differed for each of the three outcomes of interest, with stronger evidence of set relationships between the components of parental leave policies and achievement in science than for achievement in reading. The fsQCA failed to find evidence for a unique relationship between the policy components and achievement in mathematics. However, the results did reveal ways that certain policy components can contribute to mathematics achievement under certain contextual conditions, particularly when combined with high rates of female employment and a high-quality alternative to parental care in the early years. The results of the exploratory regression analyses found statistically significant relationships between maternity leave and the three academic outcomes. It also found smaller but statistically significant correlations between the other types leave and reading and science, but not for mathematics. Broadly speaking, the results of this study provide support for the assumption that paid parental leave policies can contribute to academic achievement in reading, mathematics, and science. However, the study did not provide support for the assumption that more paid leave is necessarily better, and may provide evidence that other contextual factors, such as female employment rates and a high-quality alternative to parental care, are just as important, if not more, for academic achievement.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 15, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Child Development Policy, Mixed Methods, Parental Leave
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Carolyn C. Herrington, Professor Directing Dissertation; Ithel Jones, University Representative; Toby Park-Gaghan, Committee Member; Motoko Akiba, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Education and state
SUBJECT: Early childhood education
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Kennedy_fsu_0071E_16042.pdf
TITLE: An Investigation of the Impact of Weight Stigma on Binge-Eating Components in Adult Women
AUTHOR: Kennedy, Grace A.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Keel, Pamela K., 1970-
MEMBER (university representative): Burdette, Amy M.
MEMBER (committee member): Plant, Ashby
MEMBER (committee member): Schmidt, Norman B.
MEMBER (committee member): Wagner, Richard K.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Psychology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2020
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (64 pages)
ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Exposure to weight stigma increases food consumption in individuals who are—or perceive themselves to be—overweight, and such exposure predicts greater odds of binge eating. To date, however, no study has experimentally tested if exposure to stigmatizing anti-obesity public health campaigns elicits key components of binge-eating behavior: increased food consumption and loss of control (LOC) over eating. The current study sought to elucidate the association between weight stigma and binge-eating components via experimental design and examine whether increases in shame account for these associations. METHOD: Nonsmoking women (N= 92) with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 25 kg/m2 were randomized to either a weight stigma condition [public service announcement (PSA) about harms of obesity] or a parallel control condition (PSA on smoking). After viewing PSAs, participants were invited to freely consume snacks in an ad lib meal and then provide immediate ratings of LOC eating. Participants completed momentary ratings of shame and other affective states before and after the PSAs. RESULTS: Participants in the weight stigma condition consumed significantly less food than those in the control condition but had greater increases in shame. Although conditions did not differ significantly in the experience of LOC eating, the weight stigma condition indirectly elicited LOC eating in the ad lib meal via increased shame. DISCUSSION: Findings provide support that weight-targeted health campaigns are experienced as stigmatizing by women with high BMIs. In the short-term, weight stigma PSAs may produce the intended effect of reducing food intake, but the cost to the emotional and psychological health of the viewer likely outweighs the benefit.
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): June 23, 2020.
NOTE (Keywords): binge eating, disordered eating, obesity, weight stigma
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Pamela K. Keel, Professor Directing Dissertation; Amy M. Burdette, University Representative; Elizabeth A. Plant, Committee Member; Norman B. Schmidt, Committee Member; Richard K. Wagner, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Clinical psychology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Korzaan_fsu_0071E_16482.pdf
TITLE: Mstislav Rostropovich, Alfred Schnittke, and Boris Tchaikovsky: Relational Context and Analysis of Two Works for Unaccompanied Cello
AUTHOR: Korzaan, Joshua,
MEMBER (professor directing treatise): Sauer, Greg
MEMBER (university representative): Jones, Evan Allan
MEMBER (committee member): Ryan, Pamela
MEMBER (committee member): Speed, George
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 (52 pages)
ABSTRACT: Mstislav Rostropovich (1927-2007) was one of the preeminent cellists and musical pedagogues of the twentieth century. He brought the art of cello technique and musical interpretation to new heights, but perhaps his greatest contribution to the cello community was his advocacy for new cello repertoire, which led to many new works for the cello from a wide variety of composers. As he traveled the world Rostropovich was constantly forming friendships with his colleagues. Many of these relationships with composers bore fruit in the form of new works for cello. A very few of Rostropovich's relationships and their resulting works command the majority of scholarly and pedagogical attention. This treatise seeks to broaden this discussion through the exploration of two lesser-known pieces written for Rostropovich, Improvisation for Violoncello Solo (1994) by Alfred Schnittke and Suite for Solo Cello (1960) by Boris Tchaikovsky. The paper presents a thorough analytical and pedagogical study of each piece in its biographical context. This treatise is intended to introduce cello students and teachers to new repertoire as well as help them overcome the analytical and technical challenges each piece poses to the potential performer.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Treatise submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Music.
NOTE (Date of Defense): March 29, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Biography, Cello, Rostropovich, Schnittke, Tchaikovsky, Unaccompanied
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Gregory Sauer, Professor Directing Treatise; Evan Jones, University Representative; Pamela Ryan, Committee Member; George Speed, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Music
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Lai_fsu_0071E_16849.pdf
TITLE: Geospatial Analysis of Informal Settlements in a Large Latin-American City: Satellite Mapping of Urban Patterns and Linking with Criminal Incidents
AUTHOR: Lai, Feilin,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Yang, Xiaojun, 1965-
MEMBER (university representative): Liu, Xiuwen, 1966-
MEMBER (committee member): Folch, David C.
MEMBER (committee member): Uejio, Christopher K.
MEMBER (committee member): Zhao, Tingting, (Geography Professor)
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Geography
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (120 pages)
ABSTRACT: Occupying a significant share of the urban landscape in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), informal settlements are the home to nearly one-quarter of the urban population in this region. Mapping land cover and informal settlement patterns is crucial not only for supporting urban planning efforts but also for developing a better understanding of informal settlement distribution and development. My dissertation integrates remote sensing, machine learning, and spatial analysis to achieve two major goals: (1) to advance mapping techniques for informal settlements and urban land cover from satellite imagery and (2) to explore the linkage between urban settlement patterns and crime incidents. The study area covers the municipality of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, the third-largest South American city with a complex urban landscape, diverse demography, long-standing development of informal settlements, and crime issues. The city stands out as a challenging mapping case and a special area to explore the nexus between urban layout and crime incidents. The dissertation consists of six chapters. Chapter 1 introduced the background of informal settlement and research design. Chapters 2 to 4 discussed three informal settlement mapping methods with the use of ancillary data fusion, multiple classifier systems (MCS), and deep learning, which could be adopted for different situations in terms of data availability and computational resources. Specifically, Chapter 2 examined the relative merits of a textural metric, road density, slope, and thermal infrared information in relation to the complexity of urban land cover classes. Chapter 3 introduced the design of a concatenate MCS with a training sample refinement mechanism to enhance the urban settlement mapping accuracy without using ancillary data. Chapter 4 proposed a patch-based fully connected neural network (PB-FCN) customized for a limited number of manual-collected training data from medium-resolution satellite imagery. Chapter 5 discussed the relationship between the areal percentage of two urban built-up types and reported violent crimes, robberies, and thefts, and examined whether their relationships would be conditioned by socioeconomic factors, both spatially and aspatially. Finally, Chapter 6 discussed the significance and the broad impact of this research. The major novelties of this dissertation include: 1) revealing the role of thermal information in resolving class ambiguity, 2) examining the impact of training data for the combiner upon the MCS performance, 3) demonstrating the strength of deep learning for remote sensor data mining and addressing some critical issues in designing deep learning models for remote sensor data, and 4) examining crime issues in a Latin-American city combining both structure and environmental factors from a spatial perspective. Overall, this dissertation took the initial steps in data inventory and spatial analysis to address the housing challenges faced by one-third of the urban population. For the discipline of geography, this study improves the understanding of the distribution and coverage of informal settlements spatially and reveals the urban structure of a large Latin-American city. For crime studies, this study provides spatial insights into the link between urban patterns and criminal incidents. Transferrable mapping methods have been developed based on a global dataset for urban settlements and land cover types, which is significant for informal settlement management, resource allocation, and impact analysis of planning policies. Future work can be prospected in examining spatiotemporal patterns of informal settlements across regions and environmental inequalities among different urban settlement types.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Geography in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 12, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Ancillary data, Crime modeling, Deep learning, Informal settlement, Multiple classifier system, Rio de Janeiro
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Xiaojun Yang, Professor Directing Dissertation; Xiuwen Liu, University Representative; David C. Folch, Committee Member; Christopher Uejio, Committee Member; Tingting Zhao, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Remote sensing
SUBJECT: Geographic information systems
SUBJECT: Geodesy
SUBJECT: Computer science
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: LaJoie_fsu_0071N_16909.pdf
TITLE: Online Proactive Health Monitoring Methods Using a Neural Network for DC Link Capacitors in an AC/DC/AC Converter
AUTHOR: LaJoie, John,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Li, Hui, 1970-
MEMBER (committee member): Foo, Simon Y.
MEMBER (committee member): Anubi, Olugbenga Moses
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (70 pages)
ABSTRACT: As capacitors age, the likelihood of failure increases. Electrolytic capacitors typically failwhen their electrolyte layers evaporate, resulting in an open-circuit fault which is minimally dangerous to other circuit components in the system. However, in recent years, film capacitors have become a common choice for DC-link capacitors in rectifier and inverter circuits, owing to their superior durability and lifetime to electrolytic capacitors. The drawback of film capacitors is that their failures are typically short-circuit faults which occur when the capacitor dielectric wears through. Short-circuit faults create high current stresses on neighboring circuit components such as MOSFETs and IGBTs, which can in turn propagate component failures throughout the entire system. Therefore, capacitor health monitoring is of utmost importance for DC-link capacitors. In this thesis, the current state of capacitor health monitoring is analyzed. Two novel capacitor health monitoring techniques which utilize an artificial neural network (ANN) are then proposed to estimate the current capacitance of a DC-link capacitor. The present capacitance is compared to the initial capacitance to gauge the health of the capacitor. The first method uses the RMS values of the DC-link voltage ripple and load current. The second method utilizes the magnitude of the line frequency harmonics present in the DC-link voltage. The two methods are verified via simulation. Finally, the potential for further research and improvements are discussed.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 3, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Capacitor Health Monitoring, Neural Network, Online
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Hui Li, Professor Directing Thesis; Simon Foo, Committee Member; Olugbenga Anubi, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Electrical engineering
SUBJECT: Artificial intelligence
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Lawrence_fsu_0071N_16889.pdf
TITLE: The Influence of ENSO and the IOD on Atmospheric Fronts and Frontal Precipitation across Australia
AUTHOR: Lawrence, Lindsay,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Parfitt, Rhys
MEMBER (committee member): Atwood, Alyssa Regine
MEMBER (committee member): Chagnon, Jeffrey M.
MEMBER (committee member): Dewar, William K.
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 (76 pages)
ABSTRACT: Over the past few decades, Southeast Australia has experienced severe regional climatic events, including devastating floods and some of the most extreme droughts on record, linked in part to influences from both the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). In this manuscript, the extent to which ENSO-IOD driven rainfall anomalies are communicated specifically through variations in atmospheric fronts is quantified. Consistent with previous studies, the most extreme wet (dry) conditions result from the co-occurrence of La Niña-Negative IOD (El Niño-Positive IOD). With maximum anomalous wet and dry conditions in southeast Australia during Austral winter, it is found that most of these precipitation anomalies result from changes to the frontal precipitation associated with the passing of atmospheric fronts. These anomalies accompany changes in both the frequency of atmospheric fronts as well as the precipitation rate associated with those fronts. Interestingly, the distribution in the dynamic strength of individual fronts remains relatively unchanged. Instead, the variability in atmospheric fronts and their associated precipitation appears to be related to latitudinal fluctuations in the eddy-driven jet.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 05, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Atmospheric Fronts , Australia, ENSO, Extreme Climate, IOD, Precipitation
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Rhys Parfitt, Professor Directing Thesis; Alyssa R. Atwood, Committee Member; Jeffery M. Chagnon, Committee Member; William K. Dewar, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Meteorology
SUBJECT: Oceanography
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Lee_fsu_0071E_16364.pdf
TITLE: 14-3-3 Proteins, NMDAR Hypofunctionality, and Actin Dynamics in Schizophrenia
AUTHOR: Lee, Gloria Soo-Yeon,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Zhou, Yi, (Graduate Research Assistant)
MEMBER (university representative): Wang, Zuoxin
MEMBER (committee member): Kabbaj, Mohamed
MEMBER (committee member): Levenson, Cathy W.
MEMBER (committee member): Megraw, Timothy L.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Medicine
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Biomedical Sciences
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (211 pages)
ABSTRACT: One of the core pathogenic mechanisms for schizophrenia is believed to be dysfunction in glutamatergic synaptic transmissions, particularly hypofunction of N-methyl D-aspartate receptors (NMDARs). In addition, previous genetic and postmortem studies have identified several 14-3-3 isoforms as potential candidate risk genes for schizophrenia. 14-3-3 proteins are a family of homologous proteins involved in many biological processes, including signaling, neurite outgrowth, and ion channel regulation. To investigate the association between 14-3-3 dysregulation and schizophrenia, our lab has previously generated 14-3-3 functional knockout mice. These mice exhibited schizophrenia-associated behaviors accompanied by reduced synaptic NMDARs in forebrain excitatory neurons. These findings suggested that 14-3-3 proteins may act as a key component of the postsynaptic NMDAR complex with a positive role in regulating synaptic levels of NMDARs. Here we focus on NMDARs as one of the molecular substrates of 14-3-3 protein signaling at the glutamatergic synapses. In addition, 14-3-3 functional knockout mice exhibited lowered hippocampal and cortical dendritic spine density, reduced dendritic complexity from the cortex, and significant reduction of Ser3-phosphorylated cofilin levels from the hippocampus. These findings suggested that 14-3-3 proteins may play a crucial role in dendritic spine density and dendritic complexity, possibly through their role in the actin signaling pathway. Chapter 1 reviews animal models of NMDAR hypofunction and the importance of studying the molecular mechanism for NMDAR hypofunctionality. Chapter 2 describes how 14-3-3 proteins regulate synaptic localization of NMDARs by examining changes in levels of synaptic NMDARs upon 14-3-3 inhibition in primary neurons. This work found that 14-3-3 protein inhibitor (difopein) expression in primary glutamatergic cortical and hippocampal neurons resulted in decreased numbers of synaptic puncta containing NMDARs, including the GluN1 GluN2A, or GluN2B subunits. In heterologous cells, 14-3-3 proteins enhanced the surface expression of these NMDAR subunits. Furthermore, this work identified that 14-3-3ζ and ε isoforms interact with NMDARs via binding to GluN2A and GluN2B subunits. Chapter 3 examines the role of 14-3-3 proteins on dendritic spine density, dendritic complexity, and actin dynamics and shows that inhibition of 14-3-3 proteins decreased dendritic spine density and dendritic complexity in glutamatergic cortical and hippocampal neurons. In addition, 14-3-3 proteins enhance dendritic spine density and dendritic complexity in only glutamatergic hippocampal neurons via the actin signaling pathway. Taken together, these results demonstrate that 14-3-3 proteins play a critical role in NMDAR synaptic trafficking by promoting surface delivery of NMDAR subunits GluN1, GluN2A, and GluN2B. 14-3-3 proteins also play a role in dendritic spines and dendritic structure dynamics by acting on the 14-3-3/cofilin signaling pathway, with alterations reported to be hallmark features of schizophrenia. As NMDAR hypofunctionality is known to act as a convergence point for the progression of symptoms of schizophrenia, further studies on these signaling pathways may help understand how dysfunction of 14-3-3 proteins can cause NMDAR hypofunctionality and lead to schizophrenia-associated behaviors. In addition, understanding how 14-3-3 proteins may also act on neuroanatomical changes related to schizophrenia, possibly through its role in actin dynamics, will help determine novel therapeutic targets for schizophrenia. The work presented contributes to the development of animal models and novel therapeutic targets to further understand the importance of glutamatergic neurotransmission as modified by the interaction between 14-3-3 proteins and NMDARs and how it relates to neuropsychiatric disorders. Collectively, these data provide a potential link between 14-3-3 dysfunction, NMDAR synaptic trafficking, NMDAR hypofunctionality, actin dynamics, and schizophrenia-associated behavioral deficits.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Biomedical Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 8, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): 14-3-3 dysfunction, 14-3-3 proteins, Actin Dynamics, N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDA receptor, NMDAR), NMDAR hypofunctionality, Schizophrenia (SCZ)
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Yi Zhou, Professor Directing Dissertation; Zuoxin Wang, University Representative; Mohammad Kabbaj, Committee Member; Cathy Levenson, Committee Member; Timothy Megraw, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Neurosciences
SUBJECT: Neurosciences
SUBJECT: Biology
SUBJECT: Molecular biology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Li_fsu_0071E_16788.pdf
TITLE: Bayesian Decision Tree Ensembles for Nonparametric Problems
AUTHOR: Li, Yinpu,
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Sinha, Debajyoti
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Linero, Antonio Ricardo
MEMBER (university representative): Bertram, R. (Richard)
MEMBER (committee member): Chicken, Eric, 1963-
MEMBER (committee member): Huang, Chao
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Statistics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (127 pages)
ABSTRACT: Bayesian additive regression trees(BART) provides flexible approach to fitting a variety of regression models while avoiding strong parametric assumptions. The sum-of-trees model is embedded in a Bayesian inferential framework to support uncertainty quantification and provide a principled approach to regularization through prior specification. This dissertation presents two extensions of BART. The first extension builds a Bayesian nonparametric model for conditional density regression. The generative model used is based on rejection sampling from a base model. Like other BART models, this model is flexible, has a default prior specification, and is computationally convenient. To address the distinguished role of the response in our BART extension, we further introduce an approach to targeted smoothing of BART models which is possibly of independent interest. We study the proposed model theoretically and provide sufficient conditions for the posterior distributions to concentrate at close to minimax optimal rate adaptively over smoothness classes in the high-dimensional regime in which many predictors are irrelevant. To fit our model, we propose a data augmentation algorithm which allows for existing BART samplers to be extended with minimal effort. We illustrate the performance of our methodology on simulated data and use it to study the relationship between education and body mass index using data from the medical expenditure panel survey(MEPS). The second extension is a Bayesian nonparametric estimation of a survival time subject to right-censoring in the presence of potentially high-dimensional predictors. We argue that several approaches, such as random survival forests and existing Bayesian nonparametric approaches, possess several drawbacks, including: computational difficulties; lack of known theoretical properties; and ineffectiveness at filtering out irrelevant predictors. We propose two models based on the Bayesian additive regression trees (BART) framework. The first, Modulated BART (MBART), is fully-nonparametric and models the failure time as the first occurrence of a non-homogeneous Poisson process. The second, CoxBART, uses a Bayesian implementation of Cox's partial likelihood. These models are adapted to high-dimensional predictors, have default prior specifications, and require simple modifications of existing BART methods to implement. We show the effectiveness of these methods on simulated and benchmark datasets. We also establish that, for a simplified variant of MBART, the posterior distribution contracts at a near-minimax optimal rate in a high-dimensional sparse asymptotic regime.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Statistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 16, 2021.
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Debajyoti Sinha, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Antonio Linero, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Richard Bertram, University Representative; Eric Chicken, Committee Member; Chao Huang, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Statistics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Li_fsu_0071E_16820.pdf
TITLE: Scalable Manufacturing of Semiconducting Composite Devices for Ionizing Radiation Detection
AUTHOR: Li, Haoran,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Yu, Zhibin
MEMBER (university representative): Siegrist, Theo
MEMBER (committee member): Zeng, Changchun (Chad)
MEMBER (committee member): Dickens, Tarik
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (131 pages)
ABSTRACT: Ionizing radiation detection including X-rays and Gamma rays have widely applications on clinic diagnostic, security check, industrial inspection, and cosmic exploration. The core idea of sensing these "invisible" photons is transferring the incident photons into readable signals by semiconductors. Semiconductor photoconductors and scintillators such as amorphous selenium (a-Se), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and thallium doped sodium iodide (NaI:Tl), etc. are predominantly used in commercial ionizing radiation detectors. These materials are generally obtained through a high temperature, vacuum, and time-consuming producing processes that limits the scalable-processibility and contributes to the relatively high cost of such detectors. In last decade, halide perovskite, a semiconducting compound (linear formula: ABX3, where A=Cs or MA; B=Pb; X=Cl, Br, I) with astounding optoelectronic properties and low-cost nature, has attracted a lot of attentions. Such compounds can be dissolved into certain organic solvents and its precursors can further be crystallized into single crystals and polycrystal thin films. Most importantly, high atomic number elements such as cesium and lead contained make the perovskite a potential candidate for ionizing radiation detection purpose. Therefore, this dissertation focusses on the perovskite-based radiation detectors. To develop a new semiconductor detector which consisting combined properties of scalable-processibility and high detection sensitivity, the idea of produce perovskite-polymer semiconductor composites is firstly introduced in this dissertation. Pre-synthesized perovskite microcrystals and various polymers (polystyrene, polylactic acid, polystyrene-polyisoprene-polystyrene) are evenly mixed to fabricate the semiconducting composites. The positive impact of polymer-assisted composite on its mechanical properties can be summarized from the results. Subsequently, the scalable manufacturing processes, which include but not limited to hot-molding, melt-extruding, and 3D printing methods, are discovered to fabricate the customized-shape composite devices. On the other hand, improving the optoelectrical properties of perovskite-polymer composite is another crucial task. A unique method is demonstrated in this dissertation to modify perovskite microcrystals' surface for better dispersity of the perovskite microcrystals in composite. Followed by this, the perovskite/polymer ratios are also discussed for higher photon detection sensitivity. It is necessary to investigate charge carrier's behavior in our composites, which include but not limit to charge carriers' generation, separation, and transportation, within physical, chemical, and electrical interphases. Therefore, the mobility and lifetime of charge carriers (electrons and holes) are measured by Time-of Flight (TOF) technique. The mobility-lifetime product reaches to 10^(-4)~10^(-3) cm^(2)V^(-1), which can be compared with CdZnTe (CZT) based X-ray detectors. The Space Charge-Limited Current (SCLC) method and Many's equation was used to support the data from the TOF technique, these mobility and lifetime values extracted by different methods are showing strong consistency. Finally, as a proof of concept, a lead-free halide double perovskite, where one Ag+ and one Bi3+ replace two neighboring Pb2+ sites in the unit cells of haloplumbate perovskites without destroying the corner-sharing metal-halide octahedral networks of perovskite crystals, is used to fabricate the X-ray detection device to eliminate the toxicity of lead halide perovskite. The composite processing method introduced previously is also employed to halide double perovskite, for achieving solution-processed and flexible X-ray detectors and imagers with higher sensitivities.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 9, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Charge carriers' behavior, Composite, Detection, Ionizing radiation, Perovskite, Polymer
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Zhibin Yu, Professor Directing Dissertation; Theo M. Siegrist, University Representative; Changchun Zeng, Committee Member; Tarik Dickens, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Industrial engineering
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Liang_fsu_0071E_16814.pdf
TITLE: Efficient Indexing Methods for Query Processing on Large Graphs
AUTHOR: Liang, Yongjiang,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Zhao, Peixiang
MEMBER (university representative): Zhang, Jinfeng, (Statistics Professor)
MEMBER (committee member): Kumar, Piyush, (Computer Science 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 (112 pages)
ABSTRACT: As the standard formalism and powerful abstraction of networked data, graphs have been used to model and interpret structured information from protein interaction and program dependence, to business coordination and Internet topology. The proliferation of graphs has sparked a growing interest in enabling efficient accessmethods and flexible, structure-aware querying capabilities on large graphs. In order to account for noisy and distorted information arising unavoidably in real-world graphs, and to virtually any graph management tasks, it is essential and highly desirable to enable locating user-specified graph patterns on large graphs. In this thesis, we worked on subgraph query and similarity search problems on large graphs. In our first project, we worked on subgraph query problem. We consider subgraph querying with the availability ofquery workload information, $W = \{w_1, \ldots, w_n\}$, where $w_i \in W$ is a previously issued query with all its subgraph-isomorphic embeddings identified and cached beforehand. % Given a new query $q$, our goal is to exploit $W$ for subgraph query processing and optimization of $q$ in $g$. We introduce a new, workload-aware subgraph querying framework, \wasq\ (\textbf{W}orkload-\textbf{a}ware \textbf{S}ubgraph \textbf{Q}uerying), built upon key insights that query workload can be effectively leveraged for subgraph query rewriting, search plan refinement, partial results reusing, and false-positive embedding filtering toward expediting the whole subgraph querying process. In our second project, we worked on the single-query based similarity search problem.Formally, given a graph database $\mathcal{G} = \{g_1, g_2, \ldots, g_n\}$ and a query graph $q$, we aim to search the graph $g_i \in \mathcal{G}$ such that the graph edit distance between $g_i$ and $q$, GED$(g_i, q)$, is within a user-specified GED threshold, $\tau$. We propose a \emph{parameterized}, partition-based GED lower bound that can be instantiated into a series of tight lower bounds towards synergistically pruning false-positive graphs from $\mathcal{G}$ before costly GED computation is performed. We design an efficient, \emph{selectivity-aware} algorithm to partition graphs of $\mathcal{G}$ into highly selective subgraphs. They are further incorporated in a cost-effective, multi-layered indexing structure, \mlindex\ (\textbf{M}ulti-\textbf{L}ayered \textbf{I}ndex), for GED lower bound crosschecking and false-positive graph filtering with theoretical performance guarantees. In our third project, we consider the \textit{multi-query optimization} problem,where a set of graph similarity queries, modeled by the well-known graph edit distance (GED) constraint, are posed against a graph database. We examine a new approach to enhancing \emph{collective} pruning and querying capabilities for graph similarity search in a \textit{multi-query} scenario. In light of the key observation that relates varying-size frequent and rare subgraph patterns to (mis)matching partitions, we select in a principled way salient features to enable \emph{selectivity-aware, feature-based} graph partitioning, leading to enhanced filtering capabilities for multi-query optimization. Furthermore, we propose multi-query grouping and ordering techniques to further speedup multi-query processing.
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 2, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Indexing, Query Processing, Similarity Search, Subgraph matching
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Peixiang Zhao, Professor Directing Dissertation; Jinfeng Zhang, University Representative; Piyush Kumar, Committee Member; Xiuwen Liu, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Computer science
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Lieberman_fsu_0071N_16780.pdf
TITLE: Demoralization in Schizophrenia: A Pathway to Suicidal Ideation?
AUTHOR: Lieberman, Amy,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Joiner, Thomas, Jr.
MEMBER (committee member): Kofler, Michael J.
MEMBER (committee member): Schatschneider, Christopher
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 (29 pages)
ABSTRACT: Background: Individuals with schizophrenia are at increased risk for suicide, with research showing insight into one's schizophrenia to elicit depression and hopelessness, both established risk factors for suicide. The present study hypothesized that insight into one's schizophrenia may lead to suicidal ideation by way of demoralization. Namely, a hopeless awareness of functional deterioration post-illness-onset may prompt a threat to one's previous sense of identity, thereby causing suicidal ideation. Methods: 119 patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder completed self-report measures of insight into their illness, demoralization, and suicidal ideation. Additionally, premorbid and current cognitive functioning were assessed. We predicted that demoralization, insight into one's schizophrenia, current cognitive functioning, and cognitive deterioration (i.e., the difference in cognitive performance before and after illness-onset) would each relate to increased suicidal ideation. Next, three separate models explored the mediating role of demoralization on suicidal ideation: with suicidal ideation entered as the dependent variable and demoralization entered as the mediator in each model, the first model included insight into illness (i.e., a relatively subjective measure) as the independent variable, the second included current cognitive functioning (i.e., a relatively objective measure) as the independent variable, and the third included shift in cognitive functioning (i.e., the difference between premorbid and post-illness-onset cognitive functioning) as the independent variable. Results: Consistent with our hypothesis, greater demoralization led to increased suicidal ideation (B= .028, SE= .01, p <.01). However, contrary to our prediction, insight into illness did not lead to demoralization (B= -.86, SE= 1.81, p=.64), nor was insight correlated with suicidal ideation (r= .159, p=.238). Additionally, greater cognitive functioning predicted decreased demoralization (B= -.78, SE=.36, p=.04), rather than the hypothesized increase. Similarly, a relationship between cognitive performance and suicidal ideation represented a non-significant trend (r -.259, p=.052). Finally, shift in cognitive performance did not lead to either demoralization or to suicidal ideation. Demoralization did not mediate any relationships. Conclusions: In the present sample, insight into illness did not predict either demoralization or suicidal ideation. Additionally, while previous work has found increased cognitive performance to be a risk factor for suicidal ideation in schizophrenia, in our sample, cognitive performance was associated with both decreased demoralization as well as decreased suicidal ideation.
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 17, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): cognition, demoralization, hopelessness, insight, schizophrenia, suicidal ideation
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Thomas Joiner, Professor Directing Thesis; Michael Kofler, Committee Member; Christopher Schatschneider, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Clinical psychology
SUBJECT: Psychology
SUBJECT: Cognitive psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Lim_fsu_0071E_16700.pdf
TITLE: Incorporating Bayesian Variable Selection into the Spatial Mixed Effects Models with Process Augmentation: Bayesian Wavelet Neural Network (BWNN)
AUTHOR: Lim, Jaehui,
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Bradley, Jonathan R.
MEMBER (professor co-directing dissertation): Chicken, Eric, 1963-
MEMBER (university representative): Jakubowski, Elizabeth M.
MEMBER (committee member): Barrientos, Andrés Felipe
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Arts and Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Statistics
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (90 pages)
ABSTRACT: In this dissertation, we introduce a model that we call the Bayesian wavelet neural network (BWNN) for variable selection in the sparsely observed spatio-temporal data setting. Our first attempts were motivated by a process augmentation approach and forward selection, and also included an approach based on the use of credible intervals. Simulation studies indicated several drawbacks of these methods, which motivated many components of the BWNN. The BWNN's first layer models an initial representation of the latent process with a spatial mixed effects model (SME). Then, the BWNN includes a layer defined by the Spike-and-slab (SS) method, which is a well-known Bayesian variable selection method. The SS method represents an initial selection of basis functions and covariates in the BWNN. An additional layer is included to select the final set of features (i.e., basis functions and covariates). This layer is another motivating component of BWNN since the SS (by itself) does not use a single set of selected features for modeling. The final layer of the BWNN uses the selected features in a SME model. We demonstrate how to construct the BWNN, and test its prediction accuracy and variable selection ability through various examples. We then fit the BWNN model to GPA data, a motivating dataset of BWNN development, where the data is highly sparse over space and time. Motivated by the BWNN's use of wavelets, we consider BWNN as a new type of wavelet threshold method, which we investigate empirically. Specifically, we make comparisons between BWNN and existing wavelet threshold methods and show empirical results.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Statistics in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): August 26, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Bayesian Statistics, Bayesian Variable Selection, Neural Network, Process Augmentation, Spatial Mixed Effects Model, Wavelet Basis Functions
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Jonathan R. Bradley, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Eric Chicken, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Elizabeth Jakubowski, University Representative; Andres F. Barrientos, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Statistics
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Liu_fsu_0071E_16874.pdf
TITLE: Functional Porous Materials: Manufacturing Process Exploration and Composite Integration
AUTHOR: Liu, Zhe,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Zeng, Changchun (Chad)
MEMBER (university representative): Spainhour, Lisa
MEMBER (committee member): Liang, Zhiyong (Richard)
MEMBER (committee member): Dickens, Tarik
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (125 pages)
ABSTRACT: Modern technology demands new materials with superior properties and novel functionalities. Porous materials have great potential in applications with functionalities, such as energy absorption, sound absorption, thermal insulation, catalysis, molecular separation, and emerging energy and health monitoring technologies. Conventional porous materials have been studied for many decades. In recent years, they have also emerged as novel functional materials with unique properties. This dissertation focused on both three-dimensional (3D) and two-dimensional (2D) porous materials as functional materials. New functional porous materials will focus on the function-led design of the porous structures, including auxetic materials, flexible porous sensors, and flexible porous thermal protection materials. Also, the raw materials of porous structures are another critical parameter to affect the performance of foam materials. The methods of fabricating different kinds of porous materials are described later in detail. The experimental and modeling results focus on the mechanics of the porous structures, tunable mechanical properties, and functional performance, including extraordinary energy absorption capabilities, ultralight thermal insulation capabilities, and flexible sensing properties. Applications in industrial areas and future prospects were also discussed. Followed by a brief introduction (Chapter One) and literature review (Chapter Two), 3D porous materials were explored as novel pseudo-piezoelectric materials in Chapter Three. A low-cost fabrication method was developed to produce hybrid cyclic olefin copolymer (COC) / polypropylene (PP) piezoelectric foams. The hybrid piezoelectric foam was shown to maintain excellent piezoelectric properties. At the same time, the hybrid piezoelectric foams also exhibited markedly improved thermal stability. The mechanics of the hybrid foam was studied and discussed in this chapter. The hybrid piezoelectret combines the advantages of both components, namely, COC's superior charge-storage properties and PP's good flexibility and low cost. In Chapter Four, a new class of 3D hybrid porous materials, auxetic foams, has been designed and fabricated. Here, hybrid auxetic foams with buckling porous architectures were made with polyurethane and phenolic resins. The hybrid foams combine extraordinary mechanical properties, e.g., substantially improved strength, modulus, and energy dissipation. The hybrid foams exhibited a unique near-zero Poisson's ratio behavior. The hybrid foams have superior functions due to the dual-material 3D systems that show high stiffness of the phenolic resin and flexibility of polyurethane-based auxetic porous foams. Finite element analysis (FEA) showed that the near-zero Poisson's ratio behavior resulted from the mismatch of the mechanical properties of the two constituent polymers and the change of the deformation mechanism. Carbon nanotubes (CNT) are advanced materials with extraordinary mechanical, thermal, and electrical performance. In this dissertation study, 2D CNTs porous networks are explored as force sensors (Chapter Five) and thermal protection materials (Chapter Six). Chapter Five describes a flexible piezoresistive strain sensor integrated by carbon fiber and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) porous thin films. Flexible sensors with tunable Poisson's ratio were designed and validated through different carbon fiber stacking sequences. By varying the fiber layup, flexible carbon fiber composites showed a Negative Poisson's ratio (NPR). The result shows that the negative Poisson's ratio of substrate composites enhances the sensor's sensitivity. The hybrid composite - CNT sensor shows a linear signal response, and the response is highly repeatable and reproducible with excellent sensor performance. This work provides valuable guidelines to design the negative Poisson's ratio of carbon fiber composites. It demonstrates that flexible sensors with negative Poisson's ratio have great potential for use in pressure sensing, health monitoring, and even human-computer interaction. The CNT porous network also exhibits extraordinary thermal conductivity. Chapter Six discusses a systematic design of a porous CNT/phenolic thermal protection layer (TPL) with heat shield functionality while maintaining designed mechanical strength compared to traditional CFRP composites. These TPLs were integrated onto the surface of carbon fiber/bismaleimide composites. Hybrid composites with different TPL volume fractions were produced. The porous CNT network resulted in a 17% decrease in the through-thickness thermal conductivity for hybrid composites. A flame torch test was used to evaluate the thermal shield effectiveness. The hybrid composites showed a noticeable increase in residual flexural strength and modulus compared to the control samples under a heat flux of 20 W/cm2. It also discusses the effects of porous CNT networks' coefficient of thermal expansion and protection mechanisms.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): November 9, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): Auxetic foam, CNT foam, Composite, Flexible sensor, Functional materials, Thermal protection
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Changchun Zeng, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lisa Spainhour, University Representative; Zhiyong Liang, Committee Member; Tarik Dickens, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Industrial engineering
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Liu_fsu_0071N_16807.pdf
TITLE: Co-Parenting of Adolescent Children, Parenting Stress, Marital Problems, and Parents' Mental Health
AUTHOR: Liu, Aosai,
MEMBER (professor directing thesis): Cui, Ming, 1971-
MEMBER (committee member): McWey, Lenore M.
MEMBER (committee member): Rehm, Marsha Lynn
MEMBER (committee member): Hay, Carter H.
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Health and Human Sciences
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Human Development and Family Science
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (67 pages)
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this study is to answer the call for studies on the well-being of parents with adolescents and to gain further understanding of its influential mechanisms in family systems. Guided by family systems theory (Minuchin, 1974) and the ecological model of co-parenting (Feinberg, 2003), I proposed a conceptual path model linking co-parenting, parenting stress, marital problems, and parents' mental health problems. Using a sample of 116 parents of adolescents from cross-sectional data (Parenting and Adolescents' Well-Being project), I conducted Structural Equational Modeling to test the hypothesized model. Results supported my hypothesis that lower co-parenting quality was positively associated with parents' mental health problems through parenting stress and marital problems. This study contributed to the field by raising awareness of parents' psychological well-being, emphasizing the central role of co-parenting of adolescents in its relation to parents' mental health problems, and examining parenting stress and marital problems as essential linking mechanisms. The findings from the present study could inform clinicians and therapists regarding the design of prevention and intervention programs aiming to promote better psychological health of parents of adolescent children.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Thesis submitted to the Department of Human Development and Family Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 8, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): co-parenting, marital problems, mental health, parent of adolescents, parenting stress
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Ming Cui, Professor Directing Thesis; Lenore McWey, Committee Member; Marsha Rehm, Committee Member; Carter Hay, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Mental health
SUBJECT: Psychology
DEGREE: Masters
FILENAME: Marante_fsu_0071E_16795.pdf
TITLE: Peer Support for School-Based Speech-Language Pathologists: Effects of Social Support on Occupational Stress and Burnout in the School Setting
AUTHOR: Marante, Leesa Marie,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Hall-Mills, Shannon S.
MEMBER (university representative): Phillips, Beth M.
MEMBER (committee member): Wood, Carla, (Speech-Language Pathology Professor)
MEMBER (committee member): Cabell, Sonia Q.
MEMBER (committee member): Farquharson, Kelly
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Communication and Information
CORPORATE NAME: School of Communication Science and Disorders
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (92 pages)
ABSTRACT: Low retention of school-based speech-language pathologists (SLPs) is a growing problem that can have drastic consequences at the school and student levels. Factors contributing to this shortage include features of the work environment, role ambiguity, low salaries, and a demanding workload with higher caseloads, which can result in limited time for paperwork and lesson planning for optimal service delivery models. Over time, these factors can lead to job stress and burnout in the profession. Although self-care and self-awareness techniques are viable sources of stress reduction, social support is a work-level resource that has an established effect on occupational stress and burnout with direct implementation in the work setting. Social support can serve as a valid buffer for job-related stressors. However, it is still unknown if social support can reduce stress and burnout symptoms specifically for school-based SLPs. The aim of the current study was twofold: (1) to determine the current levels and predictors of occupational stress and burnout SLPs are experiencing, and (2) to determine the effect of social support on SLPs' reported occupational stress and burnout symptoms. Using a cross-sectional survey design, 453 school-based SLPs from across the United States reported their workload manageability, career intentions, access to social support, and their stress and burnout levels. Results indicated that SLPs, on average, reported overall stress levels in the somewhat noticeable range, moderate access to social support, high levels of emotional exhaustion, low to moderate feelings of depersonalization, and moderate to high feelings of personal accomplishments. Using a subsample of participants from the survey and a randomized control trial design, forty-six participants participated in a weekly social support group program called PSSST! Let's Talk. They were randomly assigned into two groups: a treatment group and a delayed treatment group. The data did not reveal significant post-test differences between the treatment and delayed treatment groups. However, change across post-and delayed post-intervention for the treatment group was observed. Implications, limitations, and future directions of this work are discussed.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the School of Communication Science and Disorders in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): October 13, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): burnout, occupational stress, school-based, social support, speech- language pathologist, working conditions
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Shannon Hall-Mills, Professor Directing Dissertation; Beth Phillips, University Representative; Carla Wood, Committee Member; Sonia Cabell, Committee Member; Kelly Farquharson, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Speech therapy
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Marklin_fsu_0071E_16785.pdf
TITLE: State Matters: The Role States Play in Population Health
AUTHOR: Marklin, Scarlett,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): McFarland, Michael J., (Sociology professor)
MEMBER (university representative): Randolph, Karen A.
MEMBER (committee member): Tillman, Kathryn H.
MEMBER (committee member): Carlson, Elwood, 1950-
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: College of Social Sciences and Public Policy
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Sociology
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (172 pages)
ABSTRACT: Health outcomes within the United States continue to widen showing an ever-growing gap between states when it comes to population health. Over the past three decades research conducted on population health primarily focused on individual characteristics and attitudes that affect and influence health. The role that the state plays in population health mortality is largely absent in research. A more complete picture is needed to understand the variability in health outcomes from a lens considering both individual and state level influences. This dissertation utilizes the social determinants health framework and the World Health Organizations Healthy People 2020 to identify three major themes, each uniquely assessing key social determinants at the state level to provide insight into the role that states play in population health regarding key cardio-metabolic conditions of interest. This dissertation provides results suggesting that the role that place plays in cardio-metabolic conditions is dependent upon a complex system of social determinants characteristic of the state in which individuals interact. This complex system impacts health to varying degrees and while individual educational attainment can moderate the impact, the state still plays a key role in overall population health. Results highlight that for some state level characteristic variables education matters more in areas that are more resource deprived, but for other state characteristics, education matters more in areas with greater resource potential.
NOTE (Submitted Note): A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sociology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
NOTE (Date of Defense): September 30, 2021.
NOTE (Keywords): cardio-metabolic conditions, diabetes, obesity, public healthcare systems, social milieu , state economic development
NOTE (Bibliography Note): Includes bibliographical references.
NOTE (Advisory Committee): Michael J. McFarland, Professor Directing Dissertation; Karen Randolph, University Representative; Kathryn Tillman, Committee Member; Elwood Carlson, Committee Member.
SUBJECT: Demography
SUBJECT: Health education
SUBJECT: Sociology
DEGREE: Doctoral
FILENAME: Marzano_fsu_0071E_16828.pdf
TITLE: Modelling Neurovascular Structure from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells for Extracellular Vesicle Delivery
AUTHOR: Marzano, Mark C.,
MEMBER (professor directing dissertation): Li, Yan
MEMBER (university representative): Zhou, Yi, (Graduate Research Assistant)
MEMBER (committee member): Grant, Samuel C.
MEMBER (committee member): Guan, Jingjiao
CORPORATE NAME: Florida State University
CORPORATE NAME: FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
CORPORATE NAME: Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering
PUBLICATION: Tallahassee, Florida: Florida State University, 2021
PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION: 1 online resource (140 pages)