The overall goal of my research has been to determine the neural correlates of anesthetic-induced loss of consciousness. I hypothesized that anesthetics induce unconsciousness by interfering with the functional connectivity of neuronal networks of the brain and consequently, reducing the brain's capacity for information processing. To test this hypothesis, I performed experiments in which neuronal spiking activity was measured with chronically implanted microelectrode arrays in the visual cortex of freely-moving rats during wakefulness and at graded levels of anesthesia produced by the inhalational anesthetic agent desflurane. I then applied linear and non-parametric information-theoretic analyses to quantify the concentration-dependent effect of general anesthetics on spontaneous and visually evoked spike firing activity in rat primary visual cortex.

Results suggest that desflurane anesthesia disrupts cortical neuronal integration as measured by monosynaptic connectivity, spike burst coherence and information capacity. This research furthers our understanding of the mechanisms involved with the anesthetic-induced LOC which may facilitate in the development of better anesthetic monitoring devices and the creation of effective anesthetic agents that will be free of unwanted side effects.

This research first highlights the attention O'Connor gave to Jung's and White's theories of the unconscious as found in her public lectures, her personal letters and in her book reviews. In these, she expresses great doubts about the conscious, rational mind's ability to understand Reality and argues instead that it is ultimately Mysterious. Her letters also reveal her shared concern with both Jung and White that the Church has become too influenced by the modern temper and has abandoned its respect for Mystery and for the individual's personal religious instincts. This research then examines how her understanding of the unconscious is manifest in her first novel, Wise Blood, and four of her most popular short stories: "A Good Man Is Hard to Find," "Good Country People," "The Displaced Person," and her very last story "Judgment Day." In the novel and the stories we find her protagonists, whom she once labeled as "Christ-haunted," driven by an unconscious and seemingly irrational force that longs for and leads them toward their eternal Home.

This research concludes that O'Connor, as a result of the influence of both Jung and White, saw the unconscious as a creative force that influences the imagination to connect the physical world with the eternal world and to nurture a vision that is ultimately prophetic.

A relationship exists between the PAX-RN composite score, anatomy mean grade, language diversity, and general self-efficacy score, the Nursing Pharmacology and Nursing Fundamentals course grades for associate degree nursing students. The PAX-RN composite score and the AP mean grade were related to all first semester courses for associate degree students. Differences existed in the academic success of linguistically diverse students and Native English speaking students on the PAX-RN composite scores and Nursing Fundamentals course grades.

Students may approach prerequisite courses and preadmission exams differently if the predictive nature of these factors were addressed. Nurse educators can further explore essential admission criteria which may be necessary for academic success among all students, inclusive of diverse populations.

This study investigates the economic, political, and organizational factors that influence the situationally constrained choices of an online teacher. This study identifies the ways in which higher education budgets, policies, and technological resources impact what teachers do in the classroom while investigating the everyday practices of teachers that may challenge or reinforce the opportunities and constraints created by these systemic factors at a community college. After talking with faculty and administrators, it became clear that the economic enrollment and retention pressures combined with increased faculty course loads do not encourage the development of an academically rigorous course. Furthermore, the lack of clarity surrounding the mission and the organizational practice of using copied course shells encourage teachers to create a course that promotes retention over academic quality.

To more accurately model microcantilever resonant behavior in viscous fluids and to improve understanding of lateral-mode sensor performance, a new analytical model is developed, incorporating both viscous fluid effects and "Timoshenko beam" effects (shear deformation and rotatory inertia). Analytical solutions for the frequency response are obtained and verified by reduction to known special cases. Beam response is examined for two harmonic load types that simulate current actuation methods: tip force and support rotation. Results are expressed in terms of total beam displacement and beam displacement due solely to bending deformation, which correspond to current detection methods commonly used with these devices (laser and piezoresistive detection, respectively). Resonant frequencies (f_res) and Q are determined from the theoretical beam response. The influences of the shear, rotatory inertia, and fluid parameters, as well as the load/detection scheme, on the resonant characteristics are investigated in detail. Results show that the new model reproduces the experimental trends in fres and Q for lateral- mode microcantilevers at higher b/L ratios (i.e., for the high-Q devices for which Euler- Bernoulli models prove inadequate). Over the practical ranges of system parameters considered, the results indicate that Timoshenko beam effects can account for a reduction in f_res and Q of up to 23%, but are negligible (no more than 2% reduction) for length-to- width ratios of 7 and higher. Also derived is a simple analytical expression relating Q to system parameters while incorporating Timoshenko and fluid effects. Finally, to evaluate the influence of lateral-mode chemical sensor design parameters on performance, the results for f_res andQ are related to the mass/chemical sensitivities and to the limit of detection (LOD), and illustrative calculations of sensitivity and LOD are presented.

Having stated the problem and finding it inadequately treated in the secondary literature, this dissertation presents an account of Melanchthon's philosophical development. Finding that his philosophy was ultimately founded upon his understanding of and method in rhetoric and dialectics, this dissertation explicates his mature accounts of these arts. It then presents an account of Melanchthon's philosophy as both humanistic (i.e., rhetorically based and practically rather than speculatively oriented) and fideistic (i.e, skeptical about the product of human reason alone, but finding certainty in philosophy founded upon, and somewhat limited by, Christian faith). After a final assessment of claims about Melanchthon's philosophy from the secondary literature, this dissertation considers how such a humanistic, fideistic philosophy might be helpful for Christians in a philosophically post-modern situation.

β-N-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) is a non-protein amino acid that may be involved in neurodegenerative diseases. We found that BMAA induced oxidative stress by competing with cystine at system xC- leading to depletion of glutathione. BMAA also drives system xC- mediated glutamate release, which may contribute to its induction of excitotoxicity.

Fibroblast growth factor-2 (FGF-2) is involved in multiple processes in the central nervous system, including plasticity, neurogenesis, differentiation, and neuronal survival. Also, alterations in FGF-2 and its signaling have been implicated in neurodegenerative diseases and psychiatric disorders. We found that FGF-2 greatly increased cystine uptake through system xC- in astrocyte-enriched primary cultures, but not in neuronal or microglial cultures. Our data showed that FGF-2 increased cystine uptake by upregulating system xC- by acting on FGFR1, and signaling through the PI3K/Akt and MEK/ERK pathways.

FGF-2 treatment for 48 hours caused significant neuronal death only in mixed neuronal and glial cultures, but not in neuronal-enriched or astrocyte-enriched cultures. Blocking system xC-, or AMPA/kainate receptors, eliminated the neuronal death induced by FGF-2 treatment. Therefore, it is likely that 48 hour FGF-2 treatment induces AMPA receptor mediated toxicity through increased glutamate release from astrocytes due to increased system xC- function. However, we cannot exclude the possibility that FGF-2 treatment sensitizes the neurons to normal system xC- mediated glutamate release.

Together the results indicate that 1) competitive substrates of system xC-, such as BMAA, that do not lead to glutathione production are particularly toxic; and 2) upregulation of system xC- on astrocytes may be toxic to surrounding neurons.

The point possesses more than a merely antiquarian, or reductively historical interest. Luther's construal of God's suffering is a central feature within contemporary appraisals of his theological vision. His perceived christological innovation has also funded a host of constructive appropriations of his legacy across the many sectors of modern theological inquiry. The prevailing narrative is frequently invoked soteriologically to insist that human redemption relies upon the genuine participation of God's essence in creaturely vulnerability. In its most programmatic expressions, this interpretation of Luther has buttressed the rather generic perception within contemporary theology that Luther engineers a re-conceptualization of the Christian doctrine of God, which is significant primarily because it enables a more radical recognition of God's immanent involvement with the created order. Thus construed, Luther has understandably been mined as an invaluable resource for modern theologies of divine passibility, which tend to stress the `historicization' of God's being as opposed to putatively static alternatives espoused within preexisting theological tradition. It is the intent of this study to critique the interpretation of Luther's Christology used to underwrite this reception, and thus create the conditions necessary for an alternative appropriation of the reformer's thought within contemporary discourse.

Three forms of data were collected and analyzed for this study: survey, interview, and documentations. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS. Interview and documentation data were analyzed using the cut and sort method, in which documents were cut and repeatedly sorted to detect themes related to Perry's framework.

I applied my findings to operationalize Perry's framework, in an effort to provide helpful guidance for other schools serving African American children. The knowledge gained in this study contributes to a better understanding of what makes a successful school for African American children

In a separate project, a recent and more efficient approach for the isotopic labeling of the prosthetic group in heme proteins has been exploited to produce a 13C labeled analogue of the soluble bacterial cytochrome P450cam (P450cam). Briefly, the HU227 strain of E. coli that lacks the δ-aminolevulinic acid (δ-ALA) synthase gene was employed in the heterologous expression of P450cam harboring a prosthetic group labeled with 13C at the C_m and C_α positions by growing cells in the presence of [5-13C] δ-ALA, which was synthesized in four steps from [2-13C] glycine. This system has been utilized as proof of principle for the strategy of defining active site structure in mammalian cytochromes P450 using NMR methods to furnish necessary experimental restrictions in docking routines, which are commonly employed in determining the relative affinities of drug candidates. Noting that few crystal structures of substrate bound complexes of drug metabolizing P450s exist, a truncated CYP2D6 gene has been designed following a recently published procedure and efforts were made to heterologously express a selectively13C enriched analogue of this important drug metabolizing enzyme.

"Girls `in Trouble': A History of Female Adolescent Sexuality in the Midwest, 1946-1964" provides a complex picture of teenage sexuality and pregnancy in the postwar decades. It uses magazines and newspapers, specifically advice columns, to gain insight into public opinion of unwed mothers and teenage females. Letters from girls who wrote to these magazines and newspapers asking for guidance provide a glimpse into their thoughts and fears. Studies conducted by national and local agencies reveal how society addressed the growing problem of unwed pregnancy. Records from maternity homes in Chicago and Milwaukee provide information on the daily experiences of pregnant teens.

To test the this hypothesis, the role of SMA and SMB MHC isoforms in tonic and phasic contractions was studied in phasic (longitudinal ileum and stomach circular antrum) and tonic (stomach circular fundus) smooth muscle tissues of SMB knockout mice. Knocking out the SMB MHC gene eliminated SMB MHC protein expression and resulted in up-regulation of the SMA MHC protein without altering the total MHC protein level. Switching from SMB to SMA MHC protein expression decreased the rate of the force transient and increased the sustained tonic force in SMB(-/-) antrum with high potassium (KPSS) or Carbachol (CCh) stimulation. The sustained tonic force in SMB(-/-) ileum was also significantly increased with KPSS stimulation but not with CCh. The increased tonic contraction under depolarized condition was not through changes in second messenger signaling pathways (PKC/CPI-17 or Rho/ROCK signaling pathway) or LC20 phosphorylation. Biochemical analyses showed that the expression of contractile regulatory proteins (MLCK, MLCP, PKC&alpha, and CPI-17) did not change significantly in tissues tested except for PKCá protein expression being significantly decreased in the SMB(-/-) antrum. However, specifically activating PKC&alpha with phorbol dibutyrate (PDBu) was not significantly different in knockout and wild type tissues, with total force being a fraction of the force generation with KPSS or CCh stimulation in SMB(-/-) ileum and antrum. Taken together, these data show inhibiting SMB MHC protein expression results in a compensatory increase in the SMA MHC protein expression and enhanced sustained tonic contraction with a reduced rate of force generation in these phasic tissues. These results are consistent with SMA and SMB MHC regulating tonic and phasic contraction in SM.

The argument is built around three salient themes that seem to arise consistently within and crossing over between these two genres — interiority versus theatricality/performativity, passion versus reason, and marriage versus the single state — and is arranged, by chapters, around these specific themes. By dealing with a group of novellas and plays, rather than a single novella-play relationship, this dissertation seeks to reveal patterns within the larger interaction of the early modern prose novella and Jacobean drama, patterns which can only be located by looking at several different novella-drama relationships. These patterns reveal, in turn, a richness of interconnectivity that I believe single author- or text-focused intertextual research cannot reach. Ultimately, by arguing for the novellas’ significant contributions to Jacobean dramatic works beyond the superficial levels of “textual borrowing” and “plot source material,” this dissertation reveals the “complexity and sophistication” of the early modern novella in its own right.