Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 1982, Graduate School

Committee: Not Provided (Other) Subjects: Fine Arts

Doctor of Philosophy in Regulatory Biology, Cleveland State University, 2016, College of Sciences and Health Professions

Trypanosoma brucei is a parasite that causes fatal African sleeping sickness. Antigenic variation is an obligatory mechanism for long-term survival of T. brucei inside its mammalian host. T. brucei expresses VSG as its major surface antigen and regularly switches its VSG coat to evade the host immune response. Although T. brucei genome has more than 2,500 VSG genes and pseudogenes, it only expresses one VSG from one of 15 subtelomeric VSG expression sites (ESs) at any time. VSG switching can be transcriptional (in situ switching) or be mediated by DNA homologous recombination (such as gene conversion and reciprocal DNA crossover/telomere exchange). However, regulation of VSG switching is poorly understood. We previously found that T. brucei RAP1, a telomere protein, is essential for silencing subtelomeric VSG genes. Here we found that transient depletion of TbRAP1 increases the VSG switching frequency, and most switchers in TbRAP1-depleted cells arose thorough VSG-associated gene conversion events. Also, we detected increased amount of DSBs in the active and silent ESs upon TbRAP1 depletion. However, the underlying mechanisms of how TbRAP1 suppresses DSBs at telomeres/subtelomere remained unknown. T. brucei telomeres are transcribed, generating long, non-coding RNA called TERRA (Telomeric repeat-containing RNA). Now, we found that depletion of TbRAP1 not only leads to derepression of telomeric silent VSGs, but also results in increased TERRA levels. In addition, we observed a sixteen-fold increase in telomeric RNA:DNA hybrids (R-loops) in TbRAP1-depleted cells. R-loop has been shown to induce DSBs in yeast, mouse, and human cells and are sensitive to RNaseH, a ribonuclease that cleaves the RNA strand of the RNA:DNA hybrid. Ectopic expression of TbRNaseH1 in TbRAP1 RNAi cells resulted in reduction of the telomeric R-loop levels and reduced the DSB amount back to the WT level and suppressed the elevated VSG switching frequency phenotype. Therefore, we propose that (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Bibo Li Ph.D. (Advisor); Valentine Boerner Ph.D. (Committee Member); Aaron Severson Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michelle Longworth Ph.D. (Committee Member); Sailen Barik Ph.D. (Committee Member); Derek Taylor Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Genetics; Molecular Biology

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2016, Art

This thesis intends to outline the development of my studio practice during my MFA candidacy at The Ohio State University. I entered graduate school as a potter but through the process of maquette-making my training as a craftsperson started to unravel. Setting aside pottery making, I experimented with form, made performances, and have now returned to the object. I intend to activate the objects I make with the same energy of my previous performances and to demonstrate my interests in: experimentation, physicality, the body, and space.

Committee: Steven Thurston (Advisor); Amanda Gluibizzi (Committee Member); George Rush (Committee Member) Subjects: Architectural; Fine Arts; Gender

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2015, Art History (Fine Arts)

A large relief at the Musee du Louvre, Paris (R.F. 353), is one of several examples of the Madonna and Child in terracotta now widely accepted as by Donatello (c. 1386-1466). A medium commonly used in antiquity, terracotta fell out of favor until the Quattrocento, when central Italian artists became reacquainted with it. Terracotta was cheap and versatile, and sculptors discovered that it was useful for a range of purposes, including modeling larger works, making life casts, and molding. Reliefs of the half-length image of the Madonna and Child became a particularly popular theme in terracotta, suitable for domestic use or installation in small chapels. Donatello's Louvre Madonna presents this theme in a variation unusual in both its form and its approach. In order to better understand the structure and the meaning of this work, I undertook to make some clay works similar to or suggestive of it. This research allowed me some insight into the way this deep relief is constructed and led me to consider the possible physical context and function of the work. Considering the material aspects of the Louvre Madonna led me to see how the compositional focus on the veil and the specificity Donatello gave it suggest that this object is central to the meaning of the relief.

Committee: Marilyn Bradshaw PhD (Advisor) Subjects: Art History

Master of Arts (MA), Wright State University, 2009, International and Comparative Politics

This study measures the influence that multiple social, political, and economic conditions have on the development of ethno/national separatist terrorist organizations. It begins by analyzing the nationalist theories of primordialism, modernism, and ethnosymbolism, and the terrorist theories of strategic logic and psychology. The nationalist theories consider cultural symbols a powerful component behind nationalist movements and populations with significant symbolic attachments especially prone to react aggressively against perceived threats to those symbols. Proponents of strategic logic and psychological theory also view terrorism as reactive but deviate on whether this response is conceived rationally. Examining the origins of Basque and Catalan terrorism and Roma passivity in Spain assists in identifying background conditions that are evaluated using a logit regression model. The logit model assesses two-hundred ninety-seven minority populations in one-hundred twenty-six states, primarily between 1945 and 2003. The results show cultural identity and sensitivity, violent encounters, political freedom, social unrest, underrepresentation, disproportionate economic privation, and stagnant educational systems and other factors of civil development correlating significantly with the formation of ethno/national separatist terrorist organizations. These findings imply an ability to detect populations and environments with increased potential for producing ethno/national separatist terrorism, and that by addressing those conditions facilitating its development, it may be possible to reduce the probability of additional campaigns developing.

Committee: Liam Anderson PhD (Committee Chair); Chad Atkinson PhD (Committee Member); Primod Kantha PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: History; International Relations; Political Science; Psychology; Sociology; Statistics