Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationThe development of devices to electrically interact with the brain is a challenging task that could potentially restore motion to paralyzed patients and sight to those with profound blindness. Neural engineers have designed many types of microelectrode arrays (MEAs) with this challenge in mind. These MEAs can be implanted into brain tissue to both record neural signals and electrically stimulate neurons with high selectivity and spatial resolution. Implanted MEAs have allowed patients to control of a variety of prosthetic devices in clinical trials, but the longevity of such motor prostheses is limited to a few years. Performance decreases over time as MEAs lose the ability to record neuronal signals, preventing their widespread clinical use. Microstimulation via intracortical MEAs has also not achieved broad clinical implementation. While microstimulation for the restoration of vision is promising, human clinical trials are needed. Chronic in vivo functionality assays in model systems will provide key insight to facilitate such trials. There are three goals that may help address insufficient MEA longevity, as well as provide insight on microstimulation functionality. First, thorough characterizations of how performance decreases over time, both with and without stimulation, will be needed. Next, factors that affect the chronic performance of microstimulating MEAs must be further investigated. Finally, intervention strategies can be designed to mitigate these factors and improve long term MEA performance. This dissertation takes steps towards meeting these goals by means of three studies. First, the chronic performance of intracortically implanted recording and stimulating MEAs is examined. It is found that while performance of implanted MEAs in feline cortex is dynamic, catastrophic device failure does not occur with microstimulation. Next, a variety of factors that affect microstimulation studies are investigated. It is found that many factors, including device iv damage, anesthesia depth, the application of microstimulation, and the use of impedance as a reporter play a role in observations of performance variability. Finally, a promising intervention strategy, a carbon nanotube coating, is chronically tested in vivo, indicating that carbon nanotubes do not cause catastrophic device failure and may impart benefits to future generations of MEAs

Truth Telling: Testimony and Evidence in the Novels of Elizabeth Gaskell

This dissertation argues that Elizabeth Gaskell\u27s novels (Mary Barton, Ruth, North and South, Cranford, Sylvia\u27s Lovers, and Wives and Daughters) challenge nineteenth-century notions of what constitutes reliable, credible, and admissible truth claims. Gaskell challenges the protocols for judging truth that are emerging in the mid-nineteenth century in response to new epistemic conditions and protocols that threaten to silence female speakers, whether they are advocating on their own behalf (as defendants) or on behalf of others (as witnesses). By using the decidedly male legal system in the form of courtroom trials and interrogation-like scenarios for her female characters in their everyday lives, Gaskell shows her reading jury that judgments are too quickly dispensed and verdicts erroneously assumed, and she thus promotes sympathetic judgments of others, women specifically. In her fiction, she seeks temporal justice for her heroines, and, when that is unachievable, she has them seek divine justice instead. To establish the credibility of her heroines, Gaskell uses a rich array of narrative devices to critique women\u27s discursive abilities and to re-authorize their representations of reality. This dissertation focuses on examples of trials, evidence, and testimony as they play out via plot, character, and narration. In plot, she arranges events in order to provide her heroines with opportunities to speak and act. To establish character, she develops her heroines through description, actions, interiority, and dialogue, all of which prepare the reader to take as credible the speech of the heroine in her climactic utterance of a powerful truth. Through narrative voice, she advocates for credible judgments by incorporating moral discourse, personal disclosures, and intrusive narrators. Gaskell\u27s novels strive to promote sympathy, reasonable judgments, and more measured perceptions in her readers. In her fiction, she not only proclaims that women are credible truth-tellers but, by constructing her stories in ways that give female characters agency, she leads her readers to this same conclusion

What’s in the Potato Barn: A Discourse of Redemption in Three of Kurt Vonnegut’s Novels

This thesis discusses how three of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels (Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, and Bluebeard) become a discourse on redemption when using Linda Hutcheon’s historiographic metafiction. Starting with Slaughterhouse-Five, Vonnegut opens the discussion about redemption by creating a character struggling with PTSD who is unable to be redeemed. In Breakfast of Champions, Vonnegut continues the discourse by introducing Rabo Karabekian who opens Vonnegut as character’s mind to the idea that redemption is possible. By Bluebeard, Rabo Karabekian is able to obtain redemption for both himself and for his author. By studying these three books together it becomes clear that Rabo Karabekian is able to bring a form of redemption to Vonnegut and his literary canon

The Contribution of Self-Regulation to Reading Comprehension in Adolescent Learners

The purpose of this study was to examine the dually implicated processes of language and self-regulation in reading comprehension and to determine if self-regulation contributes unique variance to reading comprehension beyond word recognition/decoding and oral language comprehension. The study also sought to determine if the unique contribution of self-regulation to reading comprehension differs for students with language/learning difficulties and students with typical language/learning histories. Thirty-two 6th, 7th, and 8th graders participated in this study. Of these participants, 17 students had language/learning difficulties and 15 students had typical language/learning histories. All participants attended a low performing public middle school located in a rural school district. Each participant was administered a battery of assessments that elicited measures of reading comprehension, oral language comprehension, word recognition/decoding, and self-regulation. The dependent variable in the analyses was the performance score on the reading comprehension measure. Independent variables included the measures of oral language ability, word recognition/decoding, and self-regulation. Hierarchical multiple regression and correlation analyses were used to explore the relationship among these variables and to determine their contribution to reading comprehension. The results of this investigation indicated that self-regulation contributed significant variance to reading comprehension in addition to the variance accounted for by oral language comprehension and word recognition/decoding in adolescent learners. Further, the investigation found that self-regulation was moderately correlated with word recognition/decoding and highly correlated with oral language comprehension. Findings also revealed that self-regulation contributed a greater proportion of variance to reading comprehension for students with typical language/learning histories than for students with language/learning difficulties, supporting earlier research showing poor readers fail to use active comprehension strategies when reading

Use of Music to Reduce Anxiety in Short Wait Periods for Patients Receiving Care in an Urgent Care Clinic

Abstract The concept of waiting has received limited attention in the world of research. In modern society, waiting has become a commonplace event, especially in healthcare. Although the waiting experience can produce anxiety, healthcare environments can be easily manipulated in order to increase human comfort and reduce situational anxiety. One such way of accomplishing this is to introduce music to an environment. This paper will discuss the findings related to short wait periods, anxiety, and music within the literature, and the findings within this research study. This study found listener-selected music to be statistically effective in reducing anxiety for patients waiting in the exam room to be seen by a primary healthcare provider in an urgent care clinic

Massive Blood Transfusion Practises: A Survey Of Level 1 Trauma Centers

Abstract Background: Traumatic injury is the leading cause of death for individuals under the age of 45 years old, regardless of race, origin, or sex (CDC, 2019). Among patients who sustain traumatic injury, hemorrhage remains the leading cause of death (American College of Surgeons [ACS], 2014). Hemodynamic stability may be achieved through administration of blood products such as packed red blood cells (PRBC), plasma, and platelets (PTL). Patients with severe exsanguination may require administration of blood products in large quantities, also known as a massive blood transfusion (MBT). Local Problem: Nationally, traumatic injury accounts for over 150,000 deaths annually (American Association for the Surgery of Trauma, 2020). Management of MBT at trauma facilities as well as massive transfusion protocols (MTP) vary among trauma centers. While traumatic injury and exsanguination remains a burden on the healthcare system, there is no standardized approach to facilitate administration of MBT. Hypocalcemia can result as citrate is used as a preservative in blood products, causing chelation of endogenous calcium and placing the patient at risk for tetany, cardiac arrythmias, acidosis, worsening coagulopathy, and death. Intervention: To evaluate how level 1 trauma facilities manage MBT, to determine if a protocol is utilized, and to evaluate perceptions and experiences related to MBT practice, a qualitative study was performed. Utilizing interpretive description, a survey was administered to healthcare providers working within either the trauma department or blood bank. Results: Massive transfusion protocol (MTP) initiation and MBT administration vary across the board. The approach to laboratory management as well as calcium monitoring and replacement is highly variable among level 1 trauma centers. Conclusion: Evaluating how level 1 trauma centers manage MBT practices has shown the need for further research to promote the development of a standardized MTP with the goal of improving outcomes among trauma patients. Search Terms: Massive blood transfusion, massive transfusion protocol, hemorrhagic shock, MBT and trauma, MBT and hypocalcemia

Graduate Recital: Rebecca Parker, Clarinet

Kemp Recital Hall Friday Evening April 7, 1995 6:30p.m