STOCHASTIC ALGORITHMS FOR SIMULATING PROTEIN ASSEMBLY IN BIOLOGICAL CELLS

Understanding membrane protein assembly using computational methods is critical in developing drug delivery strategies for tight junction diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Crohn’s diseases. While experimental methods, such as freeze-fracture micrographs, provide microscopic details of the protein strand networks, they cannot offer molecular-level information, which is necessary for drug design. This work attempts to close the gap by computationally predicting strand networks of the claudin family of proteins that form tight junctions across neighboring cells in epithelial and endothelial tissues. Using claudin dimer data collected by the Protein AssociatioN Energy Landscape (PANEL) method coupled with some Markovian approximations, we built a linear time algorithm to generate claudin networks of over 1 million proteins, which has not been attempted before. Representing such detailed biological systems in silico required a systematic application of probability theory and design principles in programming. This work will allow us to bridge micron and angstrom length scales and provide molecular-level details of the claudin strand assembly. This study can also be applied to problems in other domains that require assembly of entities given the probabilities of events

Representation Matters: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Media Texts About Eight Black Women College Presidents at 4-Year Institutions

Research has found that diversity has a positive impact on innovation, but the profile of higher education leaders has not become drastically more diverse. Although there have been modest changes, they have not been consistent with the changing demographics of college students. The few high-profile presidential appointments of Black women that have received media attention have been the exception rather than the norm. This dissertation used critical discourse analysis and content analysis to examine how eight Black women college presidents were written about in the media. The research questions explored the discourse about Black women college presidents and their leadership in media text; how stereotypes and controlling images perpetuated throughout the media texts; and how the discourse changed, if at all, in each of their presidencies. Data consisted of articles published in national, regional, and local news sources. A total of 1,048 articles were identified, 305 of which were about the presidents. With Black feminist thought as the theoretical framework, this study had three main findings. First, presidents were characterized as historic, controversial, or invisible in the media texts. Second, the media texts objectified presidents with descriptions of their physical appearances. Third, media texts used the controlling image of superwoman to describe the presidents as exceptional. This dissertation adds to the scholarly literature on Black women college presidents. Examining how these eight Black women presidents were presented in media texts highlighted the challenges Black women college presidents face, and practical recommendations were made to counter these challenges

Impact of Long-Term Dietary High Fat and Eicosapentaenoic Acid on Behavior and Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis Activity in Amyloidogenic APPswe/PSEN1dE9 Mice

Introduction: Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) alters neurocognitive and emotional function and causes dysregulation of multiple homeostatic processes. The leading AD framework pins amyloid beta plaques and tau tangles as primary drivers of dysfunction. However, many additional variables, including diet, stress, sex, age, and pain tolerance, interact in ways that are not fully understood to impact the onset and progression of AD pathophysiology. We asked: (1) does high-fat diet, compared to low-fat diet, exacerbate AD pathophysiology and behavioral decline? And, (2) can supplementation with eicosapentaenoic (EPA)-enriched fish oil prevent high-fat-diet-induced changes? Methods: Male and female APPswePSdE9 mice, and their non-transgenic littermates, were randomly assigned to a diet condition (low-fat, high-fat, high-fat with EPA) and followed from 2 to 10 months of age. We assessed baseline corticosterone concentration during aging, pain tolerance, cognitive function, stress coping, and corticosterone response to a stressor. Results: Transgenic mice were consistently more active than non-transgenic mice but did not perform worse on either cognitive task, even though we recently reported that these same transgenic mice exhibited metabolic changes and had increased amyloid beta. Mice fed high-fat diet had higher baseline and post-stressor corticosterone, but diet did not impact cognition or pain tolerance. Sex had the biggest influence, as female mice were consistently more active and had higher corticosterone than males. Conclusion: Overall, diet, genotype, and sex did not have consistent impacts on outcomes. We found little support for predicted interactions and correlations, suggesting diet impacts metabolic function and amyloid beta levels, but these outcomes do not translate to changes in behaviors measured here

Paradise Lost: The Effect of Judicial Review on Congressional Debate

How does judicial supremacy affect constitutional deliberation in Congress? Normative critics of judicial supremacy argue that judicial supremacy warps congressional debate by disincentivizing members of Congress from independently considering the moral and legal issues at stake in legislation. As this dissertation’s quantitative analysis, topic modeling, and qualitative textual analysis show, the Supreme Court’s decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius (2012) disincentivized members of Congress from engaging in independent constitutional interpretation and normative argumentation. Before the Supreme Court’s decision in Sebelius, members of both parties debated the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate and used constitutional discourse as scaffolding for normative argumentation. However, as seen in this dissertation’s quantitative analysis, topic modeling, and qualitative textual analysis, Sebelius reduced the quantity of constitutional deliberation over the Commerce Clause and the quality of constitutional deliberation over the Taxing and Spending Clause. Post-Sebelius, most members of Congress expressed their acceptance of Sebelius and used the decision as a justification for character attacks on their political opponents. Finally, Congress’ inability to independently consider the legal issues at stake in the Affordable Care Act shaped the Affordable Care Act’s interpretative effects and undermined Republicans’ long-term policy goal of entrenching the individual responsibility model of health care. This dissertation advances (with empirical evidence) two claims: that constitutional deliberation in Congress is significant for both normative and practical reasons. This dissertation argues that constitutional deliberation in Congress is normatively desirable because constitutional discourse can serve as scaffolding for normative argumentation in congressional debate. This dissertation finds evidence that judicial supremacy warps this normatively desirable debate in Congress and therefore provides empirical support for the normative claims of critics of judicial supremacy that judicial supremacy has negative effects on the United States’ constitutional system. This dissertation also argues that constitutional deliberation in Congress is practically significant because constitutional discourse can affect policy implementation, policy entrenchment, and a policy’s interpretative effects. Constitutional discourse in Congress matters

Pediatric chronic pain and anxiety and depression symptoms: The association with parenting stress

As many as 38% of children experience chronic pain, and of these children about 26% have a comorbid mental health diagnosis. Parents of children with a chronic health condition demonstrate elevations in stress when compared to parents with healthy children. It is likely that when chronic pain is comorbid with mental health disorders, parents may experience greater stress. Social isolation and financial burdens may be associated with parenting stress, which may be even higher in parents of children with chronic pain compared to parents of children without chronic pain. While most pediatric chronic pain literature focuses on how parenting behaviors (or “protective behaviors”) can amplify or reduce their child’s pain, less research has examined parents’ emotional needs. A better understanding of parenting efficacy, resources, and stress is needed for parents who have children with comorbid pain and internalizing mental health disorders. Using the National Survey of Children’s Health, this study examined parent-level factors that may predict stress, including social support, financial resources, and parenting efficacy, as well as child-level factors that may be associated with higher parenting stress (anxiety/depression symptom severity), with child chronic pain as a moderator to allow comparisons between parents of children with and without chronic pain. Analyses were conducted in a sample of parents of children with and without chronic pain (N = 3080, M child age = 11.7, 55.6% female, 50.1% with pain). Moderation analyses were conducted to examine if child chronic pain was a moderator of the relationships between parent-level and child mental health predictors with parenting stress as an outcome. Results indicated that lower parenting efficacy was a significant predictor of higher parenting stress (b = -1.45, SE = 0.07, t = -21.98, p \u3c 0.001). Additionally, more severe anxiety and depression symptoms each indicated more parenting stress. Financial resources and social support were surprisingly not predictive of lower parenting stress. There was a significant main effect of chronic pain on parenting stress across models. However, chronic pain was not a significant moderator, such that parenting efficacy and child mental health were not more strongly related to parenting stress in the group of parents with children with chronic pain. Attending to children’s mental health needs and parents’ perception of their coping abilities may help improve stress for parents of children with chronic pain

Military-Connected Small Business Profiles: Access to Capital and Resources Across Revenue Stages

This research brief presents a thorough analysis of the military-connected entrepreneurship ecosystem, detailing the progression of business development from inception to sustainability. Leveraging data from the NSMAE and bolstered by generous financial support from Walmart, it outlines the specific challenges and growth opportunities faced by military-affiliated small businesses. These challenges include navigating access to capital, overcoming operational hurdles, and seizing growth opportunities. This brief categorizes businesses into five stages—Foundational, Startup/Launch, Growth, Acceleration, and Sustainability—characterized by distinct financial conditions, operational challenges, and resource management strategies