Bachelor of Arts, Ohio University, 2015, Political Science

The United States Constitution recognizes citizens as human beings with certain rights that are meant to guarantee a certain level of equality and humanity. Disparately, the legal status of the human body itself is unclear. This thesis examines how different actors within the legal system, specifically the Court and police officers, systematically decline legal recognition of the body, resulting in abuse and degradation of the body, in order to create and maintain power. Further, this thesis aims to identify how this disregard of the body adversely affects ethnic bodies. An examination of criminality, pain, interrogation practices, use of the Fourth Amendment, and broadening police powers will illustrate a power structure that has purposely failed to address the body in the law in order to dehumanize certain groups and maintain a system of privilege and power that robs ethnic bodies of their personhood and legal consciousness.

Committee: Kathleen Sullivan (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2020, Mathematics

This thesis is concerned with topics in convex geometry. In the first part, we define a new class of convex bodies, the gravitational illumination bodies. We prove some properties of the gravitational illumination bodies. The main theorems relate gravitational illumination bodies to quantities in affine differential geometry, the affine surface area and p-affine surface area. In chapter 1, we gather notation and give background material from analysis and convex geometry. In chapter 2, we define the gravitational illumination body of a convex body and state our main theorems. In chapter 3 we compute the gravitational illumination body for the Euclidean ball and consider the case of polytopes. In chapter 4 we prove properties of the gravitational illumination body. In chapters 5 and 6 we prove our main results. In the second part, we show a stability result for floating bodies in terms of the Hausdorff metric and the Florian metric. It is an open problem whether the same convex body can be the floating body of two different bodies. A corollary of the stability result, yields that this is only possible if the original bodies are close. In chapter 7, we state and prove our main theorems on the stability of floating bodies.

Committee: Elisabeth Werner (Advisor); Colin McLarty (Committee Member); Mark Meckes (Committee Member); Carsten Schuett (Committee Member); David Singer (Committee Member) Subjects: Mathematics

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2019, Philosophy

Descartes famously reduces the diversity and change we observe in material bodies to the diversity and change in the movements of their parts. Thus, for Descartes, a causal account of diversity and change in the natural world is given by a causal account of the motions of bodies. Given Descartes's reduction of matter to mere extension, several readers of Descartes, such as Daniel Garber (1992, 1993) and Walter Ott (2009), have argued that God's immediate activity on bodies must exhaust this type of causal account. This reading of Descartes on the causes of motion, however, is challenged by the difficulty of understanding how the simple and unchanging nature of God's action could directly produce a material world in constant flux. Other readers, such as Helen Hattab (2000) and Tad Schmaltz (2008, 2015), have argued that while God is directly responsible for matter in motion in general, given God's immutability Descartes must have treated other entities besides God as genuine causes of the continuously changing and various states of bodies. These readings, however, give rise to a number of problems, including explaining how these causal entities might fit into Descartes's austere, substance-mode ontology. In this dissertation, I propose an alternative interpretation of Descartes on the causes of motion that draws from the strengths of these two general types of readings while avoiding the difficulties they face. I argue in defense of the claim, in line with readers like Hattab and Schmaltz, that Descartes must recognize causes besides God in accounting for the diversity and change in the motions of bodies. Moreover, I maintain with readers like Garber and Ott that, for Descartes, God must be the only genuine efficient cause of these motions. I contend, however, that despite God's having this status, there is still room for bodies and their modes in a causal account of natural change. To understand how Cartesian bodies could have a causal influence in the wor (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lisa Downing (Advisor); Julia Jorati (Advisor); Tamar Rudavsky (Committee Member); Lisa Shabel (Committee Member) Subjects: Philosophy

Master of Science, The Ohio State University, 2018, Dentistry

Statement of problem. While the accuracy of digital implant impressions in single unit and short span situations has been demonstrated, the effect of various scan bodies and scan techniques on the accuracy and scan time in completely edentulous situations is not well understood. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of 4 different scanning techniques and 5 different commercially available intraoral scan bodies on the trueness (distance and angular deviation), precision (variance amongst the scans) and scan time in a completely edentulous situation with 4 implants. Materials and Methods. Five different intraoral scan body systems were evaluated: AF ( IO-Flo, Atlantis Denstply Implants), NT (Nt-Trading GmbH & Co. KG), DE (Dess-USA), C3D (Core3Dcentres NA), and ZI (Zimmer Biomet Dental), and 4 different scanning techniques were evaluated: unmodified master model (NO), glass fiduciary markers placed on the edentulous ridge (GB), pressure indicating paste brushed over the ridge and palate (PP), and floss tied between the scan bodies (FL). Five identical polyurethane edentulous maxillary models with 4 parallel dental implant analogs (TSV 4.1, Zimmer Biomet Dental) in the first molar and canine positions. The scan bodies were attached to the models and the entire surface was scanned using a calibrated structured blue light industrial scanner (Carl Zeiss Optotechnik GmbH) to generate a master reference model. Five consecutive digital impressions were made of the model using an intraoral scanner (Trios, 3Shape A/S) and 1 of the 4 techniques (n=5) assigned at random. The test scans were superimposed over the master reference model using a best fit algorithm, and then the distance deviation and angular deviation of the scan bodies was calculated. Scan time was also recorded. A two-factor ANOVA was used to examine the effect of scan body and technique on the trueness and on scan time, with subsequent Tukey or Bonferroni-corrected Student's t-tes (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Burak Yilmaz DDS, PhD (Advisor); Edwin McGlumphy DDS, MS (Committee Member); Jeremy Seidt PhD (Committee Member); William Johnston MS, PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Dentistry

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2018, American Culture Studies

Beginning from Foucault's notion that “where there is power, there is resistance,” I uncover how fat people are at any given time accepting, resisting, and/or subverting the oppressive power embedded in social norms surrounding their bodies (95). Each chapter reveals a new layer, a new complication as to how, why, and when individuals are (un)able, (un)willing, and/or (un)certain about how they can and are treating their own and other people's fat bodies. In my study, I take as a given that behavior is fluid, ever changing, shifting, and in progress. My study demonstrates how media messages are being accepted, resisted, re-appropriated, altered, internalized, and/or ignored by individuals; thus, my study brings focus to the complex relationships fat people have surrounding their subjectivity, their sense of power, agency, and ability to resist, as well as the interplay of the intersections of their social identities, and their sense of embodiment and the performance of their fat body.

Committee: Lesa Lockford Ph.D. (Advisor); Sandra Faulkner Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kimberly Coates Ph.D. (Committee Member); Madeline Duntley Ph.D. (Other) Subjects: American Studies; Gender; Mass Media

Bachelor of Arts, Ohio University, 2015, Political Science

The United States Constitution recognizes citizens as human beings with certain rights that are meant to guarantee a certain level of equality and humanity. Disparately, the legal status of the human body itself is unclear. This thesis examines how different actors within the legal system, specifically the Court and police officers, systematically decline legal recognition of the body, resulting in abuse and degradation of the body, in order to create and maintain power. Further, this thesis aims to identify how this disregard of the body adversely affects ethnic bodies. An examination of criminality, pain, interrogation practices, use of the Fourth Amendment, and broadening police powers will illustrate a power structure that has purposely failed to address the body in the law in order to dehumanize certain groups and maintain a system of privilege and power that robs ethnic bodies of their personhood and legal consciousness.

Committee: Kathleen Sullivan (Advisor) Subjects: Political Science

Master of Fine Arts, The Ohio State University, 2014, Art

This writing is an extension of my art practice. The material of the work becomes a different form through the writing in a book. I continue to explore the relationship between two. The artist becomes the writer and the viewer becomes the reader. Together we experience the process of making. I manipulate the physical and immaterial to make a tangible experience. I transcribe an audio recording of voices for the eyes. Through responsive movements, I create a score for two performers. The concept of my work mirrors the experience the reader has with the writer. There is a division between two. Both forms of work create a separation, yet a moment of togetherness. This shared moment is where the work exists.

Committee: Amy Youngs (Advisor); Ann Hamilton (Committee Member); Amanda Gluibizzi (Committee Member); Jeanine Thompson (Committee Member) Subjects: Fine Arts

Doctor of Philosophy in Engineering, University of Toledo, 2007, Mechanical Engineering

This dissertation presents experimental investigations of several novel active flow control methodologies that have been implemented for aerodynamic control and maneuvering of slender bodies at low and high angles of attack through flow manipulation. For low angles of attack, a U.S. Army Smart Cargo projectile was examined. For high angles of attack a U.S. Air Force countermeasure concept projectile termed DEX (Destructive Expendable) was examined. Low angle of attack control was attempted using two novel separation control techniques: reconfigurable porosity and miniature deployable spoilers. Results show that significant aerodynamic forces are generated by implementing reconfigurable porosity and can be effectively used to steer and maneuver air vehicles. Porous patterns with a “saw-tooth” configuration seem to be the most effective in generating consistent control forces over a wide range of angles of attack. Miniature deployable spoilers successfully demonstrated their ability in producing both positive and negative pitch and yaw controls by modulating the spoiler height and length when used on the boattail and Aero Control Fins (ACFs) of a projectile. The effect of aftbody strake parameters such as shape, locations (axial and azimuthal), deployment height, and number of strakes implemented was examined on a short blunt-nose projectile. Large yaw control authority was attained for a > 40 deg. The largest yaw control authority was produced by a rectangular-shaped strake. A robust closed-loop feedback controller was successfully tested using dynamic wind tunnel experiments to control the coning motion of a projectile. The controller showed good control authority and was capable of attaining and maintaining the commanded roll angle with a tolerance of ± 10 deg. A study was conducted to gain some insights into the fluid mechanics of short blunt-nose bodies of revolution at high angles of attack. Off- and on-surface flow visualization records are collected to study t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: T. Ng (Advisor) Subjects:

MS, Kent State University, 2024, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Mathematical Sciences

In this thesis, we examine the volume product of the unit balls in Lipschitz-free spaces. In particular, we study metric spaces corresponding to different graphs having 3, 4, or 5 vertices. Our analysis involves studying the structure of Lipschitz-free spaces over these graphs. We construct the unit ball in the Lipschitz-free space and find its polar body, i.e., the unit ball in the dual norm. Next, we compute the volumes of the unit ball and the polar body and find the exact value of the volume product of those spaces. We compare the outcome of this computation with the volume product of the unit cube to confirm Mahler's conjecture for those Lipschitz-free spaces. In this thesis, we also review many essential definitions and facts before presenting examples to support our analysis. This work is based on the fundamental properties of Lipschitz functions and spaces, emphasizing their geometric and algebraic properties.

Committee: Artem Zvavitch (Advisor); Dmitry Ryabogin (Committee Member); Peter Gordon (Committee Member) Subjects: Mathematics

MFA, Kent State University, 2024, College of the Arts / School of Art

“Soft Machines: Abject Bodies, Queer Sexual Expression, and the Deterritorialized Transfeminine Figure” explores the relationship between the abjection associated with the feminine figure and queer discourses surrounding sexual expression and gender dynamics. Julia Kristeva, in her 1980 work “Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection”, examines the social and cultural disruptions caused by objects/subjects on the boundaries of “The Symbolic Order”. Kristeva's work, along with the works of Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari, lend themselves to the development of a perspective on queer bodies that allow them to revel in the abjection imposed on them. The transfeminine figure is regarded as a taboo, an infringement on the boundaries of both social order and biological determinism. It is in this that “Soft Machines” weaponizes abjection to illustrate expressions of queer love and desire that align themselves with femme perspectives, an act of resistance against the centering of masculine accounts of queer sexual expression. “Soft Machines” situates itself as a feminist body of work exploring the boundaries of printmaking, painting, and sculpture using watercolor silkscreen monotype on canvas and installation. “Soft Machines” explores a corporeal color palette reminiscent of skin and the bodily interior. The “figures” printed on the canvas works are ambiguously internal and external, twisting and folding over each other across the print/paintings. My research into the relationship between painting and printmaking inform these aesthetic and formal decisions, “queering” the traditional formats of both by producing works that could be read by viewers in either context. The main painting device throughout this work is specifically watercolor, chosen for its historical relationship to women in the arts as well as its ability to stain textiles with minimal material disruption. The balancing of softness and the visceral is central to this work and is reflective of my research inte (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Taryn McMahon (Advisor); Shawn Powell (Committee Chair); John Paul Morabito (Committee Chair); Eli Kessler (Committee Chair) Subjects: Fine Arts

Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2024, Pharmacology and Toxicology

Cisplatin is an effective chemotherapeutic agent that is used to treat lung, breast, esophageal, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers. Despite being effective in treating a wide variety of cancer types, its cytotoxicity to off-target healthy tissues restricts its therapeutic application. The platinum atom of cisplatin interacts with DNA and results in the formation of inter-and intra-strand crosslinks, which are often referred to as DNA adducts. These adducts are mutagenic and potentially lethal to cells. The sole pathway for cells to excise intra-strand cisplatin-DNA adducts from the genome is through nucleotide excision repair. The fate of unrepaired DNA adducts is not understood fully. However, using a combination of differential centrifugation and DNA immunoblotting, we have detected cisplatin adduct-containing damaged DNA associated with small extracellular vesicles (SEVs) that are released into the cell culture medium. Moreover, the inhibition of caspase signaling blocks this release. Our observation that this response holds with multiple different cancer cell lines (U2OS, HeLa, HEK293, A375) suggests that it is a general phenomenon of cancer cell response to cisplatin. Because SEVs are involved in intercellular communication and can transmit their contents throughout the body, this work has important implications for the systemic effects of DNA damage-based anti-cancer therapies. Moreover, the detection of cisplatin adduct-containing DNA could be useful as a marker of cancer cell killing or side effects

Committee: Michael G. Kemp Ph.D. (Advisor); Yong-jie Xu M.D., Ph.D. (Committee Member); Ravi P. Sahu Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Genetics; Pharmacology; Toxicology

PHD, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Mathematical Sciences

In 1903, Hermann Minkowski started the modern theory of convex geometry, the study of convex bodies in n-dimensional Euclidean space. The foundation for convex geometry is the so-called Brunn-Minkowski Theory. There are a few core facts in this theory: the Brunn-Minkowski inequality, which asserts that volume is (1/n)-concave over compact sets; that the volume of Minkowski sums of convex bodies is a homogeneous polynomial of degree n, whose coefficients are the mixed volumes; that there exist a class of operators on convex bodies, the so-called Minkowski valuations, which create "more symmetric versions" of a given convex body; and that the surface area measure of a convex body is a Borel measure on the sphere, and, in fact, Minkowski's existence theorem states every Borel measure on the sphere (up to some minor constraints) is the surface area measure of a convex body. In this dissertation, we will discuss extensions of these concepts beyond from volume (the Lebesgue measure) to measures with density. The standard Gaussian measure will serve as our prototypical example. We work on extensions of mixed volumes, the so-called mixed measures, and prove a series of inequalities for them. We also establish a weighted version of Minkowski's existence theorem, and studied weighted analogues of Minkowski valuations. Applications to information theory are also shown. Along the way, we establish a weighted extension of a reverse Hölder-type inequality, known as Berwald's inequality.

Committee: Artem Zvavitch (Advisor); Matthieu Fradelizi (Advisor); Dmitry Ryabogin (Committee Member); Volodymyr Andriyevskyy (Committee Member); Fedor Dragan (Committee Member); Maxim Dzero (Committee Member) Subjects: Mathematics

Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Bowling Green State University, 2023, English (Rhetoric and Writing) PhD

This dissertation examined media rhetoric in the Los Angeles Times about 51 murdered marginalized women in the “Southside Slayer” serial killer cases. The “Southside Slayer” was five different Black men who did not fit the profile of a serial killer and were able to continue murdering women from 1983 to 2007. The victims and/or killers were all associated at one point with the “Southside Slayer” moniker and/or task force, even though some of the killers were later given different nicknames in the press. The goal of this study was to identify harmful narratives against marginalized women victims, and how they were perpetuated through the Los Angeles Times. Through qualitative archival research and a feminist social constructionist lens, language and word/phrase choices in 126 articles from the Los Angeles Times dating from 1985 to 2020 were examined for the use of synecdoche, derogatory language, and negatively connotative language when referring to the fifty-one women. In addition, use of the victims' names, use of the killers' names, and use of killer-friendly language were examined. Using critical discourse analysis and grounded theory, harmful narratives and dehumanization of the women were perpetuated through the underuse of victims' names combined with overused combinations of synecdoche, derogatory, and/or negatively connotative words/phrases. Digital media of today was also examined, and perpetuation or disruption of the harmful narratives and dehumanization varied.

Committee: Lee Nickoson Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Christopher Ward Ph.D. (Other); Radhika Gajjala Ph.D. (Committee Member); Chad Iwertz-Duffy Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Composition; Journalism; Mass Communications; Mass Media; Rhetoric; Social Structure; Womens Studies

MFA, Kent State University, 2023, College of the Arts / School of Art

The transactional interplay between “Blackness” and “whiteness” is a dysfunctional melody that sets the tone for America's inner workings. This is particularly true for those who fit the description of a Magical Body. A Magical Body as defined by sociologist; Tressie Mcmillian Cottom are "bodies that society does not mind holding up to take the shots for other people. Magical bodies are bodies that have negative things done to them so other people can be conformable. Magical bodies are seen as self-generating, and as not requiring any investment from the state or from other people.” It is in the mundane that the members of my family represented in this body of work are consistently confronted with the reality of what it means to be a Magical Body. More importantly, it is in the mundane that my family has continued to live, love, and celebrate our existence. The body of work titled Magical bodies is an exploration of the lack of representation of Black people figures in art historical canon. This work focuses on making space for Black figures to counter act the notion of erasure in the canon.

Committee: Janice Garcia (Advisor); Eli Kessler (Committee Member); Davin Banks (Committee Member) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Studies; American History; Art Criticism; Art History; Black History; Ethics; Fine Arts; Personality; Spirituality

Master of Science (M.S.), University of Dayton, 2023, Mechanical Engineering

Adaptive materials with programmable surface topography control can be utilized for selective boundary-layer tripping. Liquid crystal elastomers (LCE) have lately gained significant attention to be leveraged to enable these changes via repeatable and controlled out-of-plane deformations. The LCE can be preferentially aligned with circumferential patterns through the thickness of the film, which yields a predictable conical out-of-plane deformation when thermally activated. These reversible and predictable deployments can be utilized to develop a multifunctional surface designed for bodies in flow. This thesis concentrates on the experimental research of LCE behavior for purposes of active flow control via controlled surface topography. First, the deformations of the 12.7-mm diameter patterned LCE samples were characterized using digital image correlation in a controlled pressure chamber under positive and negative gauge pressures. The LCE's performance was highly dependent upon boundary conditions, specimen dimensions, and imprinted defect location relative to the boundary conditions, thus leading to the refinement of the LCE formulation to allow for a higher modulus. Then, to exhibit the potential for flow control, varying arrangements of representative topographical features were 3D-printed and characterized in a preliminary wind tunnel experiment using particle image velocimetry (PIV). Results demonstrated that a two-row arrangement of 1.5-mm feature height produced an asymmetric wake about a 73-mm cylinder, reducing drag while generating lift. Subsequently, a proof of concept model with active LCE elements was fabricated and tested using a force-balance instead of PIV in a wind tunnel. The results of the conceptual model demonstrated that LCEs exhibit the necessary performance to be used in flow control applications.

Committee: Richard Beblo Ph.D (Advisor); Siddard Gunasekaran Ph. D (Committee Member); Gregory Reich Ph. D (Committee Member) Subjects: Aerospace Engineering; Aerospace Materials; Engineering; Materials Science; Mechanical Engineering

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2023, Mathematics

In this thesis, we study sections of line bundles on Hilbert schemes of points on surfaces. The Hilbert scheme of points on C2 has an algebraic description, due to Haiman, which allows for a concise description of its total coordinate ring. We use this to give an algebraic description of the total coordinate ring of the Hilbert scheme of points on any smooth projective toric surface. Motivated by the theory of Newton-Okounkov bodies, we then study degenerations of these rings to semigroup algebras, which are more suitable for combinatorial study. We give a combinatorial description of the resulting semigroup for the Hilbert scheme of points on C2, and a conjectural description for several other toric surfaces of interest. Our results imply upper bounds for the effective cones of these Hilbert schemes, which we conjecture to be sharp in several cases. Finally, we study the punctual Hilbert scheme parametrizing subschemes of C2 supported at a single point. Characters of these line bundles are known to be enumerated by higher Dyck paths via area and bounce. We give a combinatorial interpretation of the limit of these characters, the Duistermaat-Heckman measure of the punctual Hilbert scheme, in terms of similar statistics on continuous Dyck paths.

Committee: David Anderson (Advisor); Eric Katz (Committee Member); Maria Cueto (Committee Member) Subjects: Mathematics

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Ohio University, 2022, Communication Studies (Communication)

During the Colombian armed conflict, the tossing of corpses and limbs into the rivers became a common strategy used by perpetrators of enforced disappearance to erase evidence. However, by the mid-1980s, the inhabitants of Puerto Berrio, a small town located on the Magdalena River banks, began to pull out the cadavers floating down the river. The villagers buried them in the town´s cemetery as NN (which means “no name,” from the Latin nomen nescio), decorated the graves, and began to build religious bonds based on reciprocity and gratitude. This dissertation analyzes the narratives by which people in Puerto Berrio have rhetorically constituted the Magdalena River as a space of disappearance and La Dolorosa Cemetery as a space of re-appearance. I coined the term rhetorics of adoption of unidentified bodies to account for this relationship and the meanings by which corpses were invested. Whereas the river emerged as a space used by perpetrators to carry out the disappearance of unwanted bodies, the cemetery became a space to resist this crime and reinscribe the nameless corpses into the social and religious life of the community as subjects of devotion. Unique to this study is the analysis of two complementary spaces existing and converging within the same ecology.

Committee: Roger Aden Dr. (Committee Member); Black Laura Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: Communication; Rhetoric

Master of Science (MS), Ohio University, 2021, Biological Sciences (Arts and Sciences)

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative movement disorder characterized by the loss of dopaminergic (DA) neurons in substantia nigra pars compacta and the formation of Lewy Bodies (LBs), cytoplasmic protein deposits of α-Synuclein (αSyn). In recent years, an intriguing concept of prion-like spreading of pathogenic proteins such as αSyn has emerged. Released αSyn spreads between neurons causing neurodegeneration, but the actual propagation mechanism is still under investigation. In order to test cell-to-cell propagation of αSyn, I investigate αSyn release. In my project, I develop a larval neuromuscular junction (NMJ) model in order to study αSyn release mechanisms. I hypothesize that neuronal activity regulates pathological αSyn release. Thus, using optogenetics to stimulate neurons that co-express αSyn and Channel Rhodopsin (ChR2) in Drosophila melanogaster larvae, I examine αSyn release induced by neuronal depolarization. I use ELISA technique to detect and compare released αSyn levels in the hemolymph of different fly lines. Results show activity-dependent αSyn release. This activity-dependent αSyn release is also influenced by synaptic transmission, mutations, and phosphorylation of αSyn. Hence, αSyn release might be induced in some regions of PD brain in response to excitability, and this αSyn release might underlie the disease progression. Therefore, targeting αSyn release could be further studied in hope of establishing new therapeutic interventions to stop or slow PD pathology.

Committee: Daewoo Lee (Advisor); Corinne Nielsen (Committee Member); Robert Colvin (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology; Neurobiology; Neurosciences

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2021, Biomedical Sciences PhD

The carotid bodies (CB) are peripheral chemoreceptors that detect changes in arterial oxygenation and, via afferent inputs to the brainstem, correct the pattern of breathing to restore blood gas homeostasis. Elucidating the “signal” that couples carotid body sensory type I cell (CBSC) hypoxic mitochondrial inhibition with potassium channel closure has proven to be an arduous task; to date, a multitude of oxygen-sensing chemotransduction mechanisms have been described and altercated (Varas, Wyatt & Buckler, 2007; Gao et al, 2017; Rakoczy & Wyatt, 2018). Herein, we provide preliminary evidence supporting a novel oxygen-sensing hypothesis suggesting CBSC hypoxic chemotransductive signaling may in part be mediated by mitochondria-generated thermal transients in TASK-channel-containing microdomains. Confocal microscopy measured distances between antibody-labeled mitochondria and TASK-potassium channels in primary rat CBSCs. Sub-micron distance measurements (TASK-1: 0.33 ± 0.04µm, n = 47 vs. TASK-3: 0.32 ± 0.03µm, n = 54) provided the first direct evidence for CBSC oxygen-sensing microdomains. Using a temperature-sensitive dye (ERthermAC), hypoxic-inhibition of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation in CBSCs was suggested to cause a rapid and reversible inhibition of mitochondrial thermogenesis and thus temperature in these microdomains. Whole-cell perforated-patch current-clamp electrophysiological recordings demonstrated CBSC sensitivity of resting-Vm to temperature: lowering bath temperature from 37°C to 24°C induced consistent and reversible depolarizations (Vm at 37°C: -48.4 ± 4.11mV vs. Vm 24°C: -31.0 ± 5.69mV; n = 5; p<0.01) in isolated, primary rat CBSCs. We propose that hypoxic inhibition of mitochondrial thermogenesis may play a critical role in hypoxic chemotransduction in the carotid body. A reduction in temperature within cellular microdomains will inhibit plasma membrane ion channels, influence the balance of cellular phosphorylation–dephosphorylation, and (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Christopher N. Wyatt Ph.D. (Advisor); Eric S. Bennett Ph.D. (Committee Member); Paula A. Bubulya Ph.D. (Committee Member); Kathy Engisch Ph.D. (Committee Member); Robert M. Lober M.D., Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Biomedical Research; Cellular Biology; Neurobiology; Neurosciences; Physiology

Bachelor of Arts (BA), Ohio University, 2021, English

Stolen away from their homeland and forced into the New World, African Americans have constantly faced pressures to assimilate to Western culture. Rather than giving them space to express their blackness authentically, members of Western culture have worked to perpetuate a universal imagery of black identity that in turn further establishes their inferiority to the white race. This paper employs postmodern blackness to reconstruct black identity in Western society and to also shed light on the black voices that have historically been silenced.

Committee: Gary E. Holcomb Dr. (Advisor) Subjects: African American Studies; African Americans; African History; African Literature; African Studies