Dissertations from the School of Arts and Sciences

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Biochemical Properties of MAL and MAL2 that Confer Specificity to Apical Delivery Pathways
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Biology. The Catholic University of America, My focus is to identify regulators of apical delivery in polarized epithelial cells. Each plasma membrane (PM) domain of a polarized cell performs specific functions and has a unique distribution of proteins and lipids. In simple epithelial cells, newly synthesized apical proteins take a direct route to the apical plasma membrane from the trans-Golgi network. In contrast, apical proteins in hepatocytes take an indirect transcytotic route via the basolateral membrane. Myelin and lymphocyte protein (MAL) and MAL2 have been proposed to function in direct and indirect apical targeting, respectively. Hepatocytes lack endogenous MAL consistent with the absence of direct apical targeting. Does MAL expression reroute hepatic apical residents into the direct pathway? We found that MAL expression in WIF-B cells induced the formation of cholesterol and glycosphingolipid-enriched Golgi domains that contained glycosylphosphotidyl- inositol (GPI)-anchored and single transmembrane domain (TMD) apical proteins; polymeric IgA receptor (pIgA-R), polytopic apical, and basolateral resident distributions were excluded. Basolateral delivery of newly synthesized apical residents was decreased in MAL-expressing cells concomitant with increased apical delivery; pIgA-R and basolateral resident delivery was unchanged. These data suggest that MAL rerouted selected hepatic apical proteins into the direct pathway. Recently, it was proposed that lipid-raft microdomains are too small and transient to host apically destined cargo, and that lipid-associated proteins might serve to stabilize raft-sorting platforms. Do MAL and MAL2 promote raft-stablilization and clustering? Examination of lipid-association properties revealed that MAL is raft-associated, while MAL2 is not. Does MAL and MAL2 overexpression promote lipid-association of apical proteins? MAL overexpression promoted lipid-association of both single TMD and GPI-anchored proteins whereas, MAL2 did not. Do MAL and MAL2 oligomerize to promote raft-coalescence? MAL is an oligomer and its overexpression altered the oligomeric states of single TMD and GPI-anchored apical proteins. MAL2 is monomeric and upon pIgA-R overexpression, shifted to high molecular weight fractions in velocity gradients indicating complex formation. Together, these results suggest that MAL oligomerization and lipid association may promote raft clustering and stabilization at the TGN, whereas the mechanism by which MAL2 regulates transcytosis and basolateral delivery of pIgA-R remains elusive., Made available in DSpace on 2011-03-01T11:46:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ramnarayanan_cua_0043A_10158display.pdf: 7526468 bytes, checksum: 30877323c745d83fa0ace37d101e0b74 (MD5)
Blazing Walls, Blazing Brothers: Monks and the Making of the Demon in the Pachomian Koinonia
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Early Christian Studies. The Catholic University of America, Blazing Walls, Blazing Brothers:Monks and the Making of the Demon in the Pachomian KoinoniaSidney Robert Banks, Jr., Ph.D.Director: Philip Rousseau, D.Phil. This dissertation contributes to the study of late antique demonology and the development of Christian monasticism in fourth century Egypt. In particular, I explore the relationship between the development of the Pachomian Koinonia and the belief its members held about demons. While there has been no previous publication devoted to this relationship, David Brakke has included a chapter on Pachomian demonology in his book Demons and the Making of the Monk: Spiritual Combat in Early Christianity. I differ with Brakke in two general ways. First, I place greater emphasis upon the fact that demons in Late Antique Egypt were not only threats to a person's thoughts, but also to physical bodies. Second, I place greater emphasis upon what communal life added to a monk's struggle against demonic attacks both upon his body and upon his mind. In order to carry out this task, I have made a close examination of Coptic, Greek, and Latin Pachomian texts, clearly identified in the first chapter. I have also made an analysis of other texts to place the Pachomian material in the wider cultural context of fourth century Egypt. Using this material, I describe what demons were believed to be and what they were believed to be capable of doing by people living in that time and place. I then explore what role communal life played in the Pachomian attempt to resist the demons.I conclude that the communal life shared by the Pachomian monks was a source of protection against demonic attack. In the third chapter, I show that the presence of experienced monks protected the less experienced from violent demonic attack. In the fourth chapter, I show that communal life also protected the monk from demonic assaults upon his thoughts., Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-24T17:10:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Banks_cua_0043A_10200display.pdf: 3378361 bytes, checksum: 7c20ee1b5f3dd025a1e8e7d880bd77f6 (MD5)
Bruton Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients: Pharmacodynamic Analysis and Mechanisms of Resistance
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a malignancy of mature B cells that depend on host factors in their tissue microenvironment for growth and survival, primarily mediated by B-cell receptor (BCR) signaling. Targeting Bruton's Tyrosine Kinase (BTKis) downstream of the BCR has emerged as a successful strategy for CLL treatment. These drugs inhibit BTK by irreversible covalent binding to cysteine 481 in the BTK active site. A measure of on-target effects for these agents is the fraction of drug-bound BTK (occupancy), typically exceeding 80% for all covalent BTKis in clinical use. How levels of BTK occupancy correlate to inhibition of intracellular signaling and anti-tumor effects were not defined. Additionally, BTKis disrupt the interaction of CLL cells with their microenvironment, displacing leukemic cells from the lymphoid organs and causing transient lymphocytosis in CLL patients. CD49d, the α chain of the α4β1 integrin, plays an important role in the interaction of CLL cells with their microenvironment and is one of the main adverse prognostic markers in CLL. However, the underlying biological mechanisms of how CD49d expression impacts responses to BTKis remain elusive. In this study, to better understand the mechanisms of action of BTKis, we investigated the relationship between BTK occupancy and inhibition of downstream signaling. Further, we investigated the role of CD49d in response to BTKis in CLL patients treated with acalabrutinib, one of the approved, highly selective covalent BTKi. Our study design included randomization of CLL patients to once or twice daily dosing of acalabrutinib, and dose interruptions for 48 hours during the first week. We evaluated ex vivo BTK occupancy and readouts of BCR signaling, including target gene expression and protein-based readouts, sequentially between 4 and 48 hours from the last dose. Four hours from the last dose, we observed complete saturation of BTK and significant inhibition of BTK-dependent signaling in both dosing regimens. At trough 12 and 24 hours after the last dose, BTK occupancy was higher with twice-daily (median 95%) than with once-daily dosing (median 87%). We observed superior inhibition of target gene expression with twice-daily dosing, suggesting that higher BTK occupancy translates into more potent inhibition of oncogenic signaling. We next correlated the level of free BTK with endogenous and exogenously activated BCR. During the dosing interruption period, responses to exogenous BCR activation were proportional to the levels of free BTK generated by de novo synthesis. Together, higher BTK target occupancy was achieved with twice-daily dosing over once-daily dosing, resulting in deeper and more sustained inhibition of BCR signaling. To elucidate the role of CD49d in response to BTKis, CLL patients were classified into CD49d+ and CD49d− based on CD49d expression according to the clinically validated 30% cutoff. We first analyzed CD49d expression and activation changes during acalabrutinib treatment using flow cytometry. In addition, we evaluated the clinical responses during therapy and performed transcriptomic analyses comparing gene expression changes between the CD49d groups. Clinically, CD49d+ and patients with bimodal CD49d expression, i.e. patients with concurrent CD49d positive and negative CLL cells irrespective of the size of the CD49d+ population, had a significantly higher risk of progression on acalabrutinib than CD49d− patients. CD49d+ patients showed less treatment-induced lymphocytosis than CD49d− patients. In bimodal patients, the proportion of CD49d+ CLL cells decreased on treatment, suggesting that CD49d+ cells are better able to migrate and re-enter lymphoid tissues. While acalabrutinib treatment inhibited CD49d activation, in vitro stimulation of BCR and CXCR4 signaling restored CD49d activation. Furthermore, as revealed by gene set enrichment analysis, we observed higher levels of cellular activation, proliferation, adhesion, and survival in CD49d+ CLL cells. These results suggest that CD49d may contribute to the development of BTKi resistance in CLL by enhancing cell survival through adhesion to the tumor microenvironment. Overall, our study supports dosing strategies that maximize BTK occupancy for more therapeutic efficiency. Furthermore, CD49d expression increases the risk for the development of BTKi resistance and serves as an adverse prognostic marker. Further investigation how targeting CD49d could improve BTKi therapy is warranted. , Oncology, Immunology, Pharmacology, Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor, CD49d, Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), Targeted therapy, Biology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Biology. The Catholic University of America
Callimachus and Callimacheanism in the Poetry of Gregory of Nazianzus
In this study, I analyze the poetics of Gregory of Nazianzus (ca. 330–390 AD), who was one of the first Christian poets writing in Greek to leave an extensive corpus of poetry (about 17,000 lines). Gregory work is striking not only for its breadth but also for its wide variety of themes and metrical schemes. As my focal point, I have chosen Gregory’s reception and adaptation of the poetry and poetics of Callimachus of Cyrene (ca. 290–230 BC). Callimachus was the first poet in the western tradition to enunciate an aesthetic and came to typify for subsequent authors an approach to poetry that privileged finely-wrought, compressed, and erudite compositions. I argue that for Gregory, Callimachus’ works are more than simply one more source to exploit for nice turns of phrase; rather, Callimachus pervasively shapes Gregory’s entire approach to poetic composition. This is seen not only in Gregory’s allusions to Callimachean works, which are numerous and occur quite frequently in programmatic contexts, but also in features of Gregory’s work like poikilia (variety) and a strong authorial persona that have their best precedent in Callimachus’ variegated oeuvre.In chapter one, I survey Callimachus’ reception in the second and third centuries AD. By examining the three most extensive works of hexametric didactic extant from this period (Dionysius’ Periegesis, Oppian’s Halieutica, and ps.-Oppian’s Cynegetica), I argue that Callimachus is a uniquely useful influence for probing how later poets create their poetic personae and enunciate their own aesthetic. Chapters 2–5 treat Gregory’s poetry. I have organized them around four traits that scholars have consistently associated with Callimachean poetry: originality, fineness (leptotēs), erudition, and self-awareness. In chapter two, I show how Gregory adapts the untrodden path motif found in the prologue to Callimachus’ Aetia. I contend that Gregory’s formal experimentation should be regarded as a deliberate embrace of Callimachean polyeideia. Chapter three has as its subject Gregory’s poetic style. I show that for Gregory, Callimachus typifies the concise and technically capable poet, as Gregory consistently advocates for concise speech through allusions to Callimachus’ works. In the fourth chapter, I attend to Gregory’s erudition. His self-proclaimed mastery of both pagan and Christian literature is a foundational aspect of his poetic persona. Though the patent didactic intent in some of Gregory’s verse is at odds with Callimachus’ practice, I argue that when Gregory deploys erudition for polemical and cultural ends he fits neatly within the tradition of Alexandrian didactic. In chapter five, I consider Gregory’s poetic self-awareness. I argue that, following Callimachean precedent, Gregory created sequences of multiple poems thematically linked by ring-compositions and self-allusions. I conclude that Gregory edited his poems much more extensively than has previously been recognized. My work illuminates on the one hand how pervasively Callimachus shapes Gregory’s approach to poetic composition. Yet I have also identified a number of significant ways in which Gregory consciously departs from his Callimachean model., Classical literature, Religion, Literature, Callimachus, Christian Culture, Classical Reception, Gregory of Nazianzus, Late Antiquity, Patristics, Greek and Latin, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Greek and Latin. The Catholic University of America
Cardinal Mindszenty, Anti-Communism, and American Catholicism from the Early Cold War to the Reagan Era
The tension between tradition and modernity is a major concern of twentieth-centuryreligious historiography. American Catholicism is a particularly fertile ground for this inquiry,because of the contrast between the U.S.’s pluralistic and innovation-driven society, and aCatholic ethos that had historically been resistant to change, particularly in the era before theSecond Vatican Council. The figure of Cardinal Joseph Mindszenty of Hungary provides anentry point for inquiries into this dynamic, because he was, simultaneously, a product of the old,monarchic, European order of things, and, paradoxically, a popular figure with the generalAmerican public during the early Cold War. In this dissertation, I inquire into what causedMindszenty’s incongruous popularity, and what that tells us about the new relationships thatCatholics were trying to craft between their faith and the world in the twentieth century.My research surveys both private and public opinions on Mindszenty, among bothCatholics and the general American public. I have tracked evolving receptions of Mindszentyduring different eras of the Cold War, from the fervent anti-Communism of the early Cold War,to experiments with compromise in the late 1960s and 1970s, to the flare-up of anti-Communistrhetoric at the end of the Cold War. Among Catholics, I have particularly focused on theemerging Catholic Traditionalist movement and its relationship to the image of Mindszenty.My research confirmed Mindszenty’s near-universal popularity during the early ColdWar, but also uncovered that both Catholics and non-Catholics held conflicting and nuancedfeelings towards him during the later Cold War. During the later Cold War, many dismissedMindszenty’s brand of uncompromising anti-Communism as impractical, but even non-Catholicsand liberal Catholics spoke of him with sympathy and pathos, rather than hostility. CatholicTraditionalists used the very fact that Mindszenty’s cause had fallen out of vogue as proof of hisrighteousness. A key concept in the history that I have uncovered is the idea of a “crusade”. Themythos of a struggle against evil, which Mindszenty represented, proved so durable in thetwentieth-century U.S. that even those who did not share in anti-Communist ideology harborednostalgia for its imagery., Religious history, American history, Modern history, Anti-Communism, Cardinal Mindszenty, Catholicism, Cold War, Traditionalism, Vatican II, History, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. History. The Catholic University of America
Carl Schmitt’s Political Theology and Revelation
What is the relationship between Carl Schmitt’s political theology and Christianity? Was Schmitt a Catholic, Protestant, Gnostic, Marcionist, atheist, or just an occasional opportunist? Schmitt is one of the most influential and controversial political theorists of the twentieth century, and his political theology continues to be the object of heated debates among scholars. Considering his early writing, Schmitt appears to be a Catholic thinker concerned with the public role of the Church in modern societies. However, after the publication of his Political Theology and his work on the phenomenon of secularization, some of his contemporaries, including his former friend and theologian Erik Peterson, began to point out the contradiction between his ideas and the Christian revelation. In Schmitt’s Concept of the Political, for instance, he uses Christian themes and biblical references to legitimize his concept of the political as the distinction between friends and enemies. Based on the fall of man and the doctrine of original sin, Schmitt concludes that any serious political theory must presuppose man to be evil by nature. Thus, the only form of restraining human hostility is through the identification of an external enemy, which would allow the strengthening of the internal ties of friendship and the establishment of internal peace. To achieve this internal stability, Schmitt develops his concept of the “total state,” which seeks to subordinate all indirect powers of the society to the sovereign. As the sovereign protects the community from hostility, Schmitt’s interpretation of Hobbes’s Leviathan argues that the state should become a unity of will and spirit. Consequently, no internal or external profession of faith outside the official religion of the state should be allowed, because it would delegitimize the power of the sovereign and allow the appearance of indirect powers. After World War II, Schmitt continues his political theological speculations to uncover a deeper meaning of human history. This time, however, he finds in Saint Paul’s Second Letter to the Thessalonians the concept of the katechon [restrainer], who has the historical mission of containing the appearance of the antichrist and the spirit of iniquity. These constant references to Christian themes have led many contemporary scholars to reassess Schmitt’s political theology and to consider it as evidence of his faith in divine revelation. Nevertheless, this position contrasts sharply with Peterson’s critique, which suggests that Schmitt’s ideas have heretical, and even pagan, overtones. To assess this problem, the purpose of this dissertation is to clarify Schmitt’s concept of political theology and its relationship with Christianity. It will further explore his appropriation of biblical language and narrative to comprehend whether he uses religious language to give a consistent account of its political relevance or to justify his political position., Political science, Carl Schmitt, Political Theology, Political Theory, Religion and Politics, Politics, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Politics. The Catholic University of America
Carolingian Sermons: Religious Reform, Pastoral Care, and Lay Piety
Degree Awarded: Ph.D. History. The Catholic University of America, Carolingian reformers, especially under Charlemagne in the late eighth and early ninth century, drafted ambitious legislation calling for educational as well as spiritual correctio. While work has been done on the sources that prescribed reform, much less is known about how and if these reforms were realized on the local level. I argue that the key to uncovering Carolingian reform in action is by studying the tools that reformers created and used for that purpose. I analyze two case studies, both pastoral miscellanies containing popular sermons among a variety of other texts, created to educate pastors so that they could educate the laity. I argue that these sources, when preserved in their ninth-century form, are particularly useful for understanding local reform strategies, even though modern scholars have often regarded them as derivative. My introduction examines how scholars have used other sources to contextualize Carolingian reform. I focus on the value of studying sermons and miscellanies and also explain my terminology, particularly why I am using the word "pastor" and how I understand the process of ninth-century Christianization. In chapters 2-4, I analyze Laon, Bibliotheque municipale, 265, a miscellany used at the cathedral school of Laon. It contains a table of contents created by Martin Hiberniensis, a prominent master at Laon. I use this case study to analyze how miscellanies and sermons were utilized in formal school settings; what pastors-in-training were being taught and how they were being prepared to diffuse Christianity to their future lay flocks. In chapters 5-7, I analyze Paris, BN lat. 2328, an anonymous compilation, which, like the majority of miscellanies, cannot be traced to a particular scriptorium or user, although the bulk of the material was written in the same ninth-century hand. I argue that this case study provides rare insights into why reformers were disseminating texts widely, outside of the schools, in their efforts at widespread Christianization. In sum, this thesis seeks to emphasize the strategic, practical and sophisticated ways that Carolingian reformers used miscellanies and sermons to implement ambitious educational and spiritual reform.
Changes in Attention and Depressive Symptoms Following a Brief, Internet-Delivered Mindful Breathing Intervention in an Undergraduate Sample
College students report high rates of depressive symptoms, with significant impacts on academic and social functioning. Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) have shown improvements in depressive symptoms in young adults, yet specific mechanisms of action remain to be clarified, including cognitive-affective processes. The current study investigated whether a single component of MBIs, mindful breathing, could be delivered via a brief instructional session followed by individual online practice. A 3-week online mindful breathing intervention was compared to an active control time management intervention in a sample of undergraduate students (N = 80) with a range of depressive symptoms. Self-report measures of depressive symptoms, attention, worry, mindfulness, rumination, and behavioral measures of attention, were used to assess change from baseline to post-intervention. The mindfulness group showed significant decreases in depressive symptoms and lower depressive symptoms than the time management group at post-intervention. Mindfulness participants showed a significant decrease in ADHD symptoms and a trend towards a significant decrease in worry. Mindfulness participants had changes in alerting and orienting attention, which were each associated with reduced depressive and ADHD symptoms. There were no significant changes or group differences in sustained or executive attention, mindfulness, rumination, attentional control, perseverative thinking, state affect, or difficulties with emotion regulation. Changes in ADHD symptoms did not mediate the effect of mindful breathing on improvements in depressive symptoms. Findings suggest that a time-limited online mindful breathing intervention, with brief but frequent practice sessions, could lead to improvements in depressive symptoms and attention regulation. Importantly, didactic components and group format may not be necessary to see benefits from mindfulness interventions. Changes in alerting and orienting attention may be important cognitive-affective processes targeted by mindful breathing, and may be related to improvement in depressive symptoms., Clinical psychology, Attention, Depression, Internet, Mindfulness, Students, Psychology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America
Character as the Ultimate Measure: Aspects of Student Virtue in Relation to Self and Others In the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program
Most studies on educational vouchers and student achievement have been situated in the cognitive domain without concern for the affective domain. This study explored the effects of educational voucher status, school stability, and percentage of K-12 Catholic education along with the influences of family, school, religion, self, peer/friends, extra-curricular activities, and popular media variables on a range of non-academic variables including social outcomes, nonviolent outcomes, student engagement, morality, and relationships with others. Over 850 students in grades 7-12 attending Catholic/Christian schools participating in the Cleveland Scholarship and Tutoring Program participated in an anonymous, 120-item survey. Analyses were performed by analysis-of-variance, correlations, and linear regression. Significant differences in outcomes were revealed for voucher status, gender, grade cluster, percentage of Catholic education, and years-per-school. In addition, several influencing variables were found to predict student attitudes, values, and beliefs. The results reveal the greatest combination of supports on the road to virtue for voucher students (and all students) include greater levels of school stability in a Catholic school, having strong and moderating social networks of family, school, and friends who hold a positive regard for school, while at the same time incorporating religion and engagement in extra-curricular activities in their lives, with a lack of importance subscribed to the popular media., Degree awarded: Ph.D. Education. The Catholic University of America
The Character of the Peshitta of the Book of Judges and its Relation to other Ancient Translations
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures. The Catholic University of America, Abstract of DissertationThe Character of the Peshitta of the Book of Judges and its Relation to other Ancient TranslationsCharles G. Flinn This dissertation analyzes the character of the Peshitta of Judges by applying the methodology of James Barr described in his comprehensive study: The Typology of Literalism in Ancient Biblical Translations (Gottingen, 1979), 279-325. Based on his analysis and that of other writers such as Emmanel Tov and Sebastian Brock, a verse by verse analysis is made of Chapters One to Five of Judges, including analysis of portions of Chapters Six to Twenty-one in order to evaluate the verses studied according to modes of literalism defined by Barr and other writers. Conclusions are reached about the degree to which each verse is literal or free and those verses are compared to the corresponding verses in Targum Jonathan and the Codices Alexandrinus and Vaticanus. Some comparisons were also made with the Vulgate and the Syro-Hexaplar version. Detailed conclusions have been reached about the degree to which the verses studied are literal according to Barr's typology. A high degree of literalism is found, but some of the modes of the typology defined by Barr exhibit more freedom than others. A high degree of similarity is also found between the Peshitta and the three versions compared, with Targum Jonathan found to be more similar in a plurality of the verses of Chapters One to Four, followed by Codex Vaticanus as to all five chapters. The study also leads to conclusions about the Syriac Manuscripts that may have higher value for recovering the Urtext of the Peshitta. These conclusions are based on a few places where certain Syriac MSS follow the Masoretic Text more closely than the MSS on which the critical edition is based. These occur at points where the syntax or sense of the critical text is disordered in a way that cannot be explained based on some possible alternative Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic MS. In those places, the alternative Syriac text can be explained based on the MT., Made available in DSpace on 2012-09-11T17:08:18Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Flinn_cua_0043A_10052display.pdf: 3698977 bytes, checksum: 5dc8ff0d715cff67c477888404665684 (MD5)
Characteristics and Functions of Suicde Attempts Versus Nonsuicidal Self-Injury in Juvenile Confinement
Researchers and clinicians alike have struggled to define what differentiates suicidal from nonsuicidal self-injurious behavior (see Borrill et al., 2003; Fagan et al., 2010; McAllister, 2003; O'Carroll et al., 1996). This differentiation is even more challenging in incarcerated populations, as the self-injurious behaviors (SIBs) of this group frequently differ in situational context, incidence, intent, and environmental impact from that of nonincarcerated samples (Jeglic, Vanderhoff, & Donovick, 2005; Meuner & Sellborn, 2001). This study investigated the psychosocial history and psychological profile of juvenile delinquents in order to gain a better understanding of how the characteristics and functions of suicide attempts (SA) differ from that of nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) in juvenile confinement. Archival data was collected from the deidentified records of 438 adjudicated youth, no older than 21 years of age. For all juvenile delinquents with a reported incident of self-injury, the following archival data was available: a social summary detailing basic background information, an assessment of criminogenic risk (Comprehensive Risk/Needs Assessment), mental health screenings/psychological evaluations, incident reports, and a suicide risk assessment (Suicide Status Form). A cross-sectional methodology was employed and group membership was determined based on item responses relating to youths’ reported suicidal intent. Although both intent and lethality of SIBs were initially examined to guide the division of the sample into two groups, correlational analyses indicated that the majority of youth endorsing suicidal intent evidenced low lethality behaviors—a finding that is common among incarcerated populations (Albanese, 1983; Livingston, 1997; Power & Spencer, 1987; Wool & Dooley, 1987). Analyses further revealed that juveniles in the SA group were significantly more likely than their NSSI counterparts to use substances. Additionally, SA youth reported statistically higher ratings of psychological pain, stress, agitation, hopelessness, and self-hate, suggesting higher rates of distress and an elevated suicide risk. In contrast, NSSI and SA youth did not differ significantly across various demographic and psychosocial variables, including gender, race, and the experience of childhood sexual abuse. Overall, however, subtle differences between these two groups emerged, which warrant further consideration when developing treatment plans designed to target the underlying motivation behind these adolescents’ self-injury., Degree awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America
Characterization of the Colliding Wind Region in the Superluminous Massive η Carinae
The massive binary system, η Car, is a Colliding Wind Binary with strong stellar winds that can reach hypersonic velocities up to 3000 km/s. With a high eccentricity of 0.9 and a period of 5.53 years the binary system passed periastron in February 2020. When the strong winds from the Luminous Blue Variable component (η Car A) collide with the wind from a mysterious companion (η Car B), a hot Colliding Wind Region (CWR) produces X-rays between 0.1 - 10.0- keV showing strong emission lines from Ions of elements like Fe, Ca, Mg, Si, and S. We present a new detailed X-ray line identification, with the analysis of the profiles and their changes over time using 20 years of observations made by the Chandra X-ray Observatory to characterize the physics of the CWR. We include in our analysis new Chandra observations made in 2019 and 2020 to study the sudden drop in η Car’s X-ray emission and recovery. Our new Chandra X-ray observations are compared with X-ray monitoring observations by the NICER X-ray telescope installed at the ISS. Combining 28 HETG Chandra observations I produce a spectrum with ∼1.9 Msec to make the most complete line identification of η Car to date. The S/N of the combined spectrum it is so high that “special” spectral features observed in the past are clearly observed allowing us to make a more detailed analysis. I analyze line profiles of strong lines Fe XXV, Fe XXVI, S XVI, S XV, Si XIV, Si XIII, and Mg XII measuring line centroids and widths to provide information of kinematics and dynamics in η Car’s colliding wind. The Chandra observations are contrasted with X-ray monitoring programs made by RXTE and Swift. I also present frequent monitoring by NICER of the X-ray spectra from 0.5-10 keV through NICER’s observatory science period and the approved monitoring programs obtained in Cycle 1, Cycle 2, and Cycle 3. We use NICER spectra to measure variations in column density, temperatures, emission, and flux from η Car and compare them with observations made by other X-ray telescopes. We find evidence, for the first time, of a decrease in the colliding wind temperatures just before the X-ray emission starts to decline. I compare colliding-wind binary hydrodynamical model predictions to the NICER observations. We also observed the shortest X-ray recovery of η Car., Astrophysics, Astronomy, Physics, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Physics. The Catholic University of America
Chaucerian Works in the English Renaissance: Editions and Imitations
Degree awarded: Ph.D. English Language and Literature. The Catholic University of America, Chaucerian Works in the English Renaissance: Editions and ImitationsSean Gordon Lewis, Ph.D.Director: Michael Mack, Ph.D.Chaucerian Works in the English Renaissance: Editions and Imitations articulates the connection between editorial presentation and authorial imitation in order to solve a very specific problem: why were the comedic aspects of the works of Geoffrey Chaucer--aspects that appear to be central to his poetic sensibilities--so often ignored by Renaissance poets who drew on Chaucerian materials? While shifts in language, religion, politics, and poetic sensibilities help account for a predilection for prizing Chaucerian works of sentence (moral gravity), it does not adequately explain why a poet like Edmund Spenser--one of the age's most unabashedly Chaucerian poets--would imitate comedic, works of solaas (literary pleasure) in a completely sententious manner. This dissertation combines bibliographic approaches with formal analysis of literary history, leading to a fuller understanding of the "uncomedying" of Chaucer by Renaissance editors and poets. This dissertation examines the rhetorical and aesthetic effects of editions of the works of Chaucer published between 1477 and 1602 (Caxton through Speght) as a means of understanding patterns of Chaucerian imitation by poets of the period. Although the most obvious shift in textual presentation is the change from printing single works to printing "Complete Works" beginning with the 1532 Thynne, I argue that choices made by the printing-house (in terms of layout, font, and, most specifically, editorial directions) had a gradual, cumulative effect of highlighting Chaucerian sentence at the expense of solaas. The ways in which Chaucerian texts were presented to be read throughout the Renaissance determined, to a great degree, how these texts were imitated. The evidence of this cumulative effect on poetic reception is seen in a thorough examination of the early editions of the poetry of John Skelton and Edmund Spenser, revealing that not only did the editorial rhetoric of Chaucerian editions in the English Renaissance mold the ways in which poets responded to Chaucer, but that in the case of Edmund Spenser, Spenser's poetic imitations of Chaucer led to major shifts in editorial presentation of Chaucer's works in the beginning of the seventeenth century., Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-24T17:12:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Lewis_cua_0043A_10216display.pdf: 1610966 bytes, checksum: 7be5625cb6be349843fe8cbfd2f113e3 (MD5)
Child Effects in Early Childhood: A Longitudinal Analysis of Temperament and Parenting on Child and Maternal Outcomes
This dissertation investigated the evocative effects of difficult temperament on parenting and child and maternal outcomes across early childhood. A new construct, the maternal perceptual lens, which represents the bias in maternal report excluding aspects of temperament confirmed by a behavioral measure, was computed. The maternal perceptual lens was tested as a moderator between infants’ difficult temperament and parenting in toddlerhood (Empirical Study 1) as well as maternal parenting stress and child behavior problems at age 5 (Empirical Study 2). This dissertation was a secondary data analysis using the Temperament Over Time Study (TOTS) longitudinal dataset. The sample consisted of 291 mothers and their infants. Structural equation modeling revealed that the maternal perceptual lens may be a valuable construct in the development of parenting stress. Furthermore, parenting stress may help explain the relationship between the perceptual lens and child behavior problems. Implications regarding the maternal perceptual lens in maternal and child well-being research is explored., Psychology, Child Behavior Problems, Parenting, Parenting Stress, Temperament, Psychology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America
Childhood Sexual Abuse and Comorbid PTSD and Depression in Impoverished Women
Degree awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America, Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression frequently co-occur, with the comorbid condition sometimes referred to as posttraumatic depression. Previous research has suggested that posttraumatic depression in women with a history of childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with more severe psychiatric symptoms, impaired functioning, and suicidality, and it is thus imperative to study the specific elements that may contribute to the severity of this condition. The current study sought to determine the role of negative trauma-related cognitions and PTSD symptom clusters on depression severity for CSA survivors. Data were part of a larger archival database from a randomized controlled trial of the Trauma Recovery and Empowerment Model (TREM) group intervention. All participants in the current study (N = 235) were female survivors of CSA and suffered from comorbid PTSD and depression, and the majority (88%) were African American. At the time of the study, most of these women were unemployed and many were either homeless, lived with family or friends, or lived independently in their own rented home. Participants were given a full battery of measures by means of an interview, including assessments of demographics and trauma history, recent trauma, levels of depressive symptoms, PTSD symptom cluster severity, and negative distorted beliefs following trauma. Results indicated that a more extensive history of CSA was associated with more severe PTSD symptoms. Women who experienced limited CSA reported less severe PTSD symptoms than women who experienced both moderate and severe CSA. There were no significant differences in PTSD and depressive symptoms between moderate and severe CSA. As predicted, there were strong correlations between trauma-related cognition subscales, PTSD symptom clusters, and depression severity. Recent trauma was associated with negative thoughts about the world, but counter to prediction, was not related to PTSD and depression severity. A multiple regression analysis indicated that trauma-related negative cognitions about the self and more severe PTSD arousal and avoidant symptoms significantly predicted depression severity. Findings suggest that although many factors may impact the severity of depression, it is important to focus on trauma-related negative cognitions about the self, PTSD arousal, and PTSD avoidant symptoms when treating female survivors of CSA., Made available in DSpace on 2011-06-24T17:11:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 DePetrillo_cua_0043A_10144display.pdf: 527675 bytes, checksum: fcba4a9322dcbdf296b43c7c476128b4 (MD5)
Children’s Emotional Security and Adjustment: The Role of Emotionality in Marital Conflict
The broad scope of research examining the link between marital conflict and child maladjustment has provided robust evidence establishing emotional security as an explanatory mechanism accounting for how and why, and for whom and when marital conflict is associated with poorer child outcomes. While previous studies have specified selected characteristics of parental emotion that are most likely to affect children, to our knowledge, no study has explored the role that mothers’ and fathers’ capacity to identify, manage, and comfortably express emotions during conflict plays in the development of children’s emotional security. The present study addressed this gap in the literature by longitudinally examining the moderating role of observational data of parental emotion skills during conflict—utilizing the conceptual framework of emotional security theory—in order to predict children’s internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Data were drawn from a study of 296 families across a two-year time period. Structural equation modeling was used in order to examine the links between children’s exposure to marital conflict, parental emotion skill, children’s emotional security, and children’s adjustment. Both maternal and paternal emotion skills significantly moderated the relationship between marital conflict and children’s emotional security, such that marital conflict was found to be a weaker predictor of emotional insecurity in the context of a more emotionally skillful parent. Supplementary analyses, examining parental emotion skillfulness with positive and negative emotions during marital conflict, point to gender differences and possibly highlight the role of fathers. The current study provides evidence to target interventions toward emotional communication in the marriage in order to optimize children’s development., Clinical psychology, Cognitive-Contextual, Emotional Security, Emotional Skillfulness, Marital Conflict, Marriage, Psychology, Degree Awarded: Ph.D. Psychology. The Catholic University of America

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