BS, Kent State University, 2023, College of Arts and Sciences / Department of Biological Sciences

In North America, the genus Lobelia includes several very similar species that also usually have very high degrees of overlap; most species are sympatric, often with five or more species (Spaulding and Barger, 2016). These geographically-overlapping species also often have overlapping reproductive seasons, which means that they do not experience geographic or temporal isolation. However, despite this lack of isolation and their similarity, the species have remained distinct. This suggests that there is another isolating mechanism that prevents hybridization, possibly morphological shifts in populations that are at a higher risk for hybridization due to sympatry. To test this, I measured 50+ floral traits for 223 flowers from 20 species of North American Lobelias. I used this data to compare the floral morphologies between sympatric and allopatric populations. I calculated the amount of sympatry and the type of morphological change in several different ways, but in every one, I found that there was a large difference between flowers from sympatric and allopatric populations. I also tested the species-specific effect of sympatry, or whether living with specific species would affect a flower in different ways. I found strong evidence that the effect of sympatry is very different if that sympatry is with L. cardinalis or L. inflata, likely due to the fact that neither species can hybridize; L. inflata is exclusively self-pollinating and L. cardinalis is the only bird-pollinated species. There is little existing research into the effects of different types of sympatry on Lobelia floral morphology, so I hope future research will continue to investigate these interactions.

Committee: Andrea Case (Advisor); David Ward (Committee Member); Linda Spurlock (Committee Member); Mark Kershner (Committee Member) Subjects: Biology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2022, Psychology

The relationship between Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and creativity is an area of current interest, yet there are very few studies in the literature with adolescents. Those few studies have found mixed results as to whether there is an association between ADHD and creativity. Theoretically, lower levels of inhibitory control, characteristic of individuals with ADHD, may aid creativity by way of looser associations and access to remote ideas (Mendelsohn, 1976; Radel et al., 2015; Abraham et al., 2006). On the other hand, higher levels of inhibitory control may be a necessary component of creativity in order to filter and evaluate ideas and generate something novel (Cassotti et al., 2016). By accounting for the role of inhibitory control in the present study, we sought a clearer understanding of this relationship. The primary aims of the present study were to analyze differences in creative performance between typical adolescents and adolescents with ADHD and to analyze the role of inhibitory control. Forty-four participants completed the study in a remote format and 30 completed the study in person. Of the 44 remote participants, 27 were typically developing and 17 had ADHD. Looking at the remote group, hypotheses were not supported in that there were no differences on the divergent creativity measures or on convergent creativity measures between typical adolescents and adolescents with ADHD. Regarding inhibitory control, there were no meaningful associations between inhibitory control and creativity in the remote group or in the ADHD in-person group. This study was the first to include a measure of inhibitory control in investigating differences in creativity between typical adolescents and adolescents with ADHD. Results suggest that although adolescents with ADHD do not have a creative advantage compared to their typical peers, they do not have a deficit either. Results of the present study support those found in the literature on the relation (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sandra Russ PhD (Committee Chair); Elizabeth Short PhD (Committee Member); Eva Kahana PhD (Committee Member); Anastasia Dimitropoulos PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Psychology

Psy. D., Antioch University, 2021, Antioch Santa Barbara: Clinical Psychology

A child greets their world with play. In their eyes anything is possible and everything is an opportunity to be creative and have fun. Adults, on the other hand, often greet their world with limitations, rules, and status quo. Unfortunately, somewhere in the teenage years, the innate ability to play is traded in for socially accepted safety, structure, and financial success. In recent years there has been increasing support to bring play back into adult life. In an effort to encourage adults to laugh, sing, and enjoy life more, this dissertation begins by exploring the foundations of play and play theory. I look at the link between play and applied improvisation and connect both concepts to creativity. I further examine the impact of improvisational training in an organizational setting as a way of increasing divergent thinking in the creative problem-solving process. Through an exhaustive examination of the literature and consulting with experts in play, applied improv, and business management, I found strong support that applied improvisational training increased creative problem solving through seven key overlapping findings. These findings are then brought together in the Pursuit of Play Workshop. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA https://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLINK ETD Center https://etd.ohiolink.edu.

Committee: Brett Kia-Keating EdD (Committee Chair); Ashley Nielsen PhD (Committee Co-Chair); Clay Drinko PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Instructional Design; Organizational Behavior; Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Wright State University, 2018, Biomedical Sciences PhD

Synaptic plasticity, the ability of neurons to modulate their inputs in response to changing stimuli, occurs in two forms which have opposing effects on synaptic physiology. Hebbian plasticity induces rapid, persistent changes at individual synapses in a positive feedback manner. Homeostatic plasticity is a negative feedback effect that responds to chronic changes in network activity by inducing opposing, network-wide changes in synaptic strength and restoring activity to its original level. The changes in synaptic strength can be measured as changes in the amplitudes of miniature post-synaptic excitatory currents (mEPSCs). Together, the two forms of plasticity underpin nervous system functions such as movement, learning and memory, and perception, while preventing pathological states of hyper- or hypoactivity that could occur if network activity were not maintained. The current hypothesis of homeostatic plasticity states that mEPSC amplitudes exhibit uniform multiplicative scaling, a transformation in which the amplitudes are scaled up or down globally by a multiplicative factor. This hypothesis constrains the possible mechanism of homeostatic plasticity, which remains unknown despite intensive study. Here, we compare an experimental data set previously collected in our laboratory to the results of an empirical simulation of uniform multiplicative scaling and conclude that the homeostatic increase in mEPSC amplitudes in our data is not uniform. We develop and validate a novel method, comparative standardization, for calculating the scaling transformation between treated and untreated mEPSC amplitudes and identifying the transformation as either uniform, divergent, or convergent. When applied to our experimental data, comparative standardization finds divergent scaling, in which the homeostatic effect increases with synaptic strength, causing the control and treated mEPSC amplitude distributions to diverge. The divergent scaling transformation computed by compara (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Kathrin Engisch Ph.D. (Advisor); Mark Rich M.D., Ph.D. (Committee Member); David Ladle Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Raymer Ph.D. (Committee Member); Courtney Sulentic Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Neurosciences

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2018, Psychology

The role of video games and today's culture is ever-growing, making it important to understand the effect they can have on our cognitive processes. Because video games provide an outlet for play, there is evidence to support that video game play can produce similar outcomes on cognitive processes as the real-world play it is designed to imitate. By changing the environmental settings within a video game and having objectives that encourage either exploration of the environment or construction of items and structures, specific types of play can be encouraged, thus improve cognitive processes. The goal of these studies was to determine what effects two types of video game play, Exploratory Representational Play (ERP) and Constructive Play (CP) have on divergent thinking and problem-solving, respectively. Study 1 examined the effect of both goals and different video game environments for ERP and CP have on divergent thinking and problem-solving. Study 2 considered CP and ERP goals and different video game environments separately to examine whether either of these manipulations influenced divergent thinking and problem-solving. In Study 1 the ERP and the non-video game playing control conditions had better problem-solving scores than the CP condition. Study 2 found strong support for having either ERP or CP goals to improve divergent thinking. Across both studies, the manipulation of differing play-type objectives and settings led to more of the intended play behaviors, exploration and construction. These studies suggest that video game play can be designed to mimic real-world game play but more research is needed to understand how cognitive processes can be affected by video game play.

Committee: Christopher Wolfe (Committee Chair); Yvette Harris (Committee Member); Leonard Smart (Committee Member); Doris Bergen (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2018, Psychology

An important question in the creativity field is how self-perceptions of creativity predict actual creative performance. This question has been studied in adults but rarely in children or adolescents. Creativity has been shown to relate to problem solving and coping. These skills are important in adolescence, an age characterized by new challenges and interpersonal conflict. In the present study, two measures of self-perceptions of creativity, the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale (RIBS) and the Kaufman Domains of Creativity Scale (K-DOCS), and a measure of creative performance, the divergent thinking task, were administered to thirty-four adolescents in grades seven through eleven. It was hypothesized that both self-perception measures would be associated with performance on the divergent thinking task. A major finding was that the K-DOCS, but not the RIBS, predicted divergent thinking scores. Results provided support for use of the K-DOCS as a valid indicator of creative performance in this age group.

Committee: Sandra Russ PhD (Committee Chair); Julie Exline PhD (Committee Member); Elizabeth Short PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Toledo, 2016, Curriculum and Instruction: Gifted and Talented

Creativity is an aspect of the human condition that eludes a common definition, description, and experience. When trying to make sense of creativity, some describe creative behavior while others describe creative products. There are those who are curious about the process of creativity and others who want to understand what inspires that process. Some want to understand the external context that awakens and nurtures creativity and others seek to unveil the internal context of creators while they go about their work. This dissertation joins this multi-faceted conversation about creativity. Through a qualitative research design, this descriptive, multi-case study captured the essence of the lived experience of creativity through the voices of eight young poets recognized for their creative work. The creativity of these young people was acknowledged when they placed in an Ekphrastic Poetry Contest sponsored by the Toledo Museum of Art. In the telling and the observing of eight young creators' personal experiences with creativity, the following research question is answered: How have the winners of Ekphrastic Poetry Contests experienced creativity? Previous research has explored both the development of creativity and the experience of creativity. The findings of this study both affirm previous research and illuminate areas not yet fully explored. Participant voices and experiences were heard and preserved through a variety of data collection methods: interviews, observations, document analysis, and focus groups. In the presentation and analysis of the data, the essence of their lived experience with creativity contributes to the knowledge of creativity and its various facets. The findings of this study can be summarized as follows: creativity is defined as the making of something new and original as well as a vehicle to express oneself. Creativity is awakened and nurtured through engagement in a variety of creative activities, through support of others, and i (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Robert Schultz Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Brian Kennedy Ph.D. (Committee Member); Joel Lipman J.D. (Committee Member); Susanna Hapgood Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Art Education; Curriculum Development; Early Childhood Education; Education; Educational Theory; Gifted Education; Language Arts; Literacy; Teacher Education; Teaching

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Akron, 2014, Psychology-Industrial/Organizational

In order to better understand the creative process it is necessary to understand how a person evaluates creative ideas, not just how they are generated. This study examines how people might choose as best ideas higher in originality or in practicality from a standard list of TV show ideas. This series of studies uses the model of idea evaluation proposed by Mumford, Lonergan, and Scott (2002) which says that people first forecast how the idea will work out if implemented, then compare the ideas against each other before finally choosing a single idea to pursue. Study 1 examined whether this model matched how people naturally evaluate ideas, but the results did not support the model. Study 2 examined if people can be influenced to favor originality or practicality by going through the process in different ways. Changing the process did affect idea evaluation as expected, especially for those low in divergent thinking, an individual difference related to generating new ideas. Study 3 tested whether the regulatory focus context could affect idea evaluation. The regulatory focus context did affect idea evaluation; those with a promotion focus favored original ideas and those with a prevention focus favored practical ideas. Further research is needed into the way people naturally evaluate ideas and also research is needed into idea evaluation in a setting that is more real world.

Committee: Andrea Snell Dr. (Advisor); Paul Levy Dr. (Committee Member); James Diefendorff Dr. (Committee Member); Joelle Elicker Dr. (Committee Member); R. Ray Gehani Dr. (Committee Member) Subjects: Cognitive Psychology; Personality Psychology; Social Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2014, Psychology

Pretend play has been associated with creativity in the research literature. In school-aged children, both cognitive and affective processes in play have been related to measures of creativity, including divergent thinking and creative storytelling. In the only previous examination of these play processes in preschool-aged children, cognitive and affective play processes related to divergent thinking. One goal of the current study was to replicate this finding and examine the relationship between pretend play and storytelling creativity in a preschool sample. A second goal was to test the effectiveness of a brief play intervention implemented within a preschool setting. Adult-led play interventions have effectively improved play skills and related developmental skills for children with documented play deficits. There is a need for an empirically-based, brief play intervention for typically developing preschool-aged children. As pretend play peaks during the preschool years, a play facilitation intervention implemented during these key years could have a large impact on a child’s pretend play and development. A pilot study adapted the intervention developed by Russ and colleagues for use with preschool-aged children and their parents and found medium to large effect sizes for increased play skills for the intervention group at outcome. The current study aimed to examine the effectiveness of this intervention for children within a preschool setting without parental involvement. Forty-one typically developing children participated from a local preschool. Pretend play, divergent thinking, and creative storytelling were assessed at baseline and outcome. Children were randomly assigned to the play skills intervention group or the active control group. All children received three 20-30 minute individual play sessions with a researcher. At baseline, results were that cognitive and affective processes in play related to divergent thinking and creat (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Sandra Russ Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Robert Greene Ph.D. (Committee Member); Carolyn Ievers-Landis Ph.D. (Committee Member); Jennifer Anderson Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology; Developmental Psychology; Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 2013, Chemistry

Triterpenoids are a broad and structurally diverse class of natural products primarily derived from the plant kingdom. The triterpenoid family consists of nearly thirty thousand members with over two hundred unique carbocyclic skeletons. Consequently, triterpenoids are known to have a wide array of biological activities, including antifungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, as well as anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties. Considerable efforts in drug discovery have focused on the isolation and structural elucidation of novel triterpenoid molecules from the plant sources. Moreover, semisynthetic triterpenoids, created by further manipulation of the exterior functional groups, have been shown to enhance the potency of their natural precursors. In this regard, the increase in structural complexity of triterpenoid-like molecular libraries through alteration of the carbocyclic core skeleton of the parent natural product can be viewed as a promising tool to study the chemical biology and medicinal chemistry of this natural product family. This work represents a general synthetic strategy for remodeling of a triterpenoid skeleton based on the reactivity patterns of lanosterol, and application of the devised strategy to pentacyclic triterpenoid bryonolic acid. Lanosterol was chosen because of the unsaturated B/C ring fusion, which can undergo iterative allylic oxidation/oxidative cleavage to produce transannular polyketones. These polyketones, in turn, can form distinct molecular skeletons via regio- and stereoselective aldol addition and Norrish-Yang photocyclization. The main advantage of this approach is that instead of relying on reaction development and catalysis to impart stereochemical and regiochemical selectivity, the inherent complexity of the natural product-derived substrates drives stereoselective and regioselective reactions. The central finding described herein is that the subtle changes in the parent triterpenoid, which is subjected to the devised divers (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Gregory Tochtrop (Advisor); Anthony Pearson (Committee Chair); John Protasiewicz (Committee Member); Blanton Tolbert (Committee Member); John Letterio (Committee Member) Subjects: Chemistry; Organic Chemistry; Pharmaceuticals

Doctor of Philosophy, Miami University, 2004, Chemistry and Biochemistry

Solid-phase synthesis has developed rapidly in recent years. It is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry for the syntheses of biooligomeric molecules, some small molecules, and combinatorial chemistry as well. Polymeric reagents are currently playing an important role in solid-phase synthesis. A polymeric reagent, polymer-supported diphenylphosphoryl azide (DPPA), was prepared from phenol resin. The conversion from phenol resin to polymer-supported DPPA is about 80% efficient. This polymer-supported version of DPPA is useful due to its lower toxicity, moisture tolerance and ease of workup after reaction. The synthetic application of this solid-phase reagent was explored by conversion of a variety of carboxylic acids to urethanes and ureas through Curtius rearrangement reactions. Carboxylic acids bearing different functional groups (aromatic, aliphatic and heterocyclic carboxylic acids) were subjected to the reactions. The corresponding products were isolated with satisfactory yields. By using this polymer-supported DPPA, oxazolidinone, imidazolidinone and thiazolidinone derivatives were also successfully prepared from carboxylic acids with different reactive functional groups in the ¦A position, such as alcohols, thiols and primary or secondary amines. The desired compounds were obtained in good yields via Curtius rearrangement and subsequent intramolecular cyclization. This polymer-supported DPPA was further used in the divergent syntheses of polyurethane dendrimers. Purification became easier in the synthesis because a simple filtration could remove DPPA and all other phosphorous derivatives. Four molecules with different sizes, branching numbers and polarity were used as core molecules. Solvent selection was also considered in the synthesis. All the molecular weights of these polyurethane dendrimers were determined by MALDI-TOF Mass Spectra, which established the formation of the dendrimers. The diameters of all polyurethane dendrimers were calculated using (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Richard Taylor (Advisor) Subjects: Chemistry, Organic

Master of Arts, Case Western Reserve University, 2010, Psychology

The aim of this study was to examine relationships among play, creativity, emotion regulation and executive functioning. Play ability was assessed using the Affect in Play Scale, Brief Rating (APS-BR), a measure used to score children's cognitive and affective processes during play. It was hypothesized that results would show relationships among play ability, creativity, emotion regulation and executive functioning. Sixty-one female participants, in kindergarten through 4th grade, were assessed using the APS-BR, the Alternate Uses Test, a storytelling task, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task, 64-Card Version (WCST-64), and parent report on the Emotion Regulation Checklist (ERC). Main findings were that play ability significantly related to creativity and emotion regulation, and creativity related to emotion regulation. No significant relationships were found with executive functioning. The results of this study contribute to the construct validity of the APS-BR and support the theory that play, creativity and emotion regulation are linked.

Committee: Sandra Russ Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Arin Connell Ph.D. (Committee Member); Elizabeth Short Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology

Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, 1995, Psychology

The present study investigated the effect of mood induction on divergent thinking. Children's expression of affect and cognitive integration of affect, measured in their fantasy play, were examined as moderator variables. Ninety-six second and third grade children were administered a divergent thinking test, a mood induction procedure, a second divergent thinking test, the WISC-R Vocabulary and Block Design subtests, and the Affect In Play Scale. The main hypotheses of this study, that induced happy, sad, and angry moods would affect the divergent thinking of children, specifically, with positive mood having a facilitative effect, were not supported by the main analyses. However, residualized change score analyses that maximized the reliability of the mood induction and simplified the mood conditions to a positive versus negative contrast did obtain significant results. Overall, the negative mood inductions resulted in an increase of divergent thinking flexibility and originality whereas the positive mood induction resulted in a decrease of divergent thinking flexibility and originality. A series of exploratory, simple change score analyses was generated in order to explore the data further. The results indicate a pattern of significant differences such that the post-test scores were greater than the pre-test scores for divergent thinking flexibility and originality (not fluency) for all three mood conditions, supporting the main hypotheses of the study. Secondary hypotheses were not supported in that children's ability to express and integrate affect in their play did not moderate the effects for positive and negative affect. Additional exploratory analyses found quality of children's play to be significantly, positively related to original divergent thinking. The results support further investigation of affective processes and creativity

Committee: Sandra Russ (Advisor) Subjects: Psychology, Social

Master of Science (MS), Bowling Green State University, 2010, Physics

Glottal obliquity occurs when the centerline of the glottis is not vertical, a consequence of oscillations of the vocal folds that are not mirror images of each other. This study examined the intraglottal surface pressure distributions for three cases of obliquity: 2.5, 5, and -3.75 degrees, relatively small oblique angles. These correspond to included glottal angles that are convergent, uniform, and divergent, respectively. The Plexiglas model M5 of the laryngeal airway with rectangular glottal ducts and insertable vocal fold pieces was used to obtain the pressure distributions. Glottal diameter and transglottal pressure were primary parameters for each obliquity case. The glottal diameters were 0.005, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.08, 0.16, and 0.32 cm. The pressure distributions ranged from 3-25 cm H2O for most cases. For each diameter, pressures were measured along both the flow wall (to which the flow jet adheres or was directed) and the non-flow wall (the side opposite the flow wall). Results indicate that the small angle obliquity cases studied here suggest significant pressure distribution differences compared to the symmetric glottis of the same included angle for the following conditions: for the convergent glottis for medium and large diameters; for the uniform glottis for small and for large diameters. However, there was little effect on pressure distributions for the divergent glottis, for small diameters for the convergent glottis, and for medium diameters for the uniform glottis. Relative to diameter change, strong effects were found. As the diameter was reduced, the pressure distributions rose both upstream and in the glottis for the uniform glottis, and increased in the glottis for the convergent glottis. For the divergent glottis, reducing the diameter moved the minimal pressure downstream to the minimal diameter location, and increased the pressures on the inferior vocal fold surfaces. In addition, when the airflow is shifted to change which wall is t (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Lewis Fulcher PHD (Committee Chair); Ronald Scherer PHD (Committee Co-Chair); Haowen Xi PHD (Committee Member) Subjects: Physics