Matching Items (121)
Description
Aging is a universal process that every being encounters on their journey of life. The effect of dance as a form of improvement of physical and well-being on the aging body brings upon the question of the impact of somatic-based movement, specifically gestural movement on the perceptions of aging within older and younger adults through a bi-cultural lens of the United States and India. This was investigated using a series of creative partnership workshops that included listening, drawing, and culminating movement activities, followed by a group discussion about the creative process. There were four different participant groups: a group of college students taking an Aging in American Culture collegiate class, a Somatic Practices collegiate dance class, a group of older adults at the Tempe Multigenerational Center, and a group of older adults in Bangalore, India. Inter-generational and cross-cultural observations were discussed, and it was seen that the workshops were able to foster feelings of community and camaraderie among participants depending on the group’s relationship to dance-making. From the research, a dance performance was developed and performed specifically with women of color in ASU’s Dance program with the choreographic process discussed in detail, along with key takeaways about facilitating a multi-dimensional experience for the dancers and choreographer. Future directions for the work include working with intergenerational populations and researching community effects on gendered aging experiences across cultures in the dance world.
ContributorsDabeer, Shreya (Author) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Thesis director) / Standley, Eileen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
This work focuses on a novel approach to combine electrical current with cyanobacterial technology, called microbial electrophotosynthesis (MEPS). It involves using genetically modified PSII-less Synechocystis PCC 6803 cells to avoid photoinhibition, a problem that hinders green energy. In the work, a cathodic electron delivery system is employed for growth and synthesis. Photoinhibition leads to the dissipation energy and lower yield, and is a major obstacle to preventing green energy from competing with fossil fuels. However, the urgent need for alternative energy sources is driven by soaring energy consumption and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. When developed, MEPS can contribute to a carbon capture technology while helping with energy demands. It is thought that if PSII electron flux can be replaced with an alternative source photosynthesis could be enhanced for more effective production. MEPS has the potential to address these challenges by serving as a carbon capture technology while meeting energy demands. The idea is to replace PSII electron flux with an alternative source, which can be enhanced for higher yields in light intensities not tolerated with PSII. This research specifically focuses on creating the initiation of electron flux between the cathode and the MEPS cells while controlling and measuring the system in real time.
The successful proof-of-concept work shows that MEPS can indeed generate high-light-dependent current at intensities up to 2050 µmol photons m^‒2 s^‒1, delivering 113 µmol electrons h^‒1 mg-chl^‒1. The results were further developed to characterize redox tuning for electron delivery of flux to the photosynthetic electron transport chain and redox-based kinetic analysis to model the limitations of the MEPS system.
ContributorsLewis, Christine Michelle (Author) / Torres, César I (Thesis advisor) / Fromme, Petra (Thesis advisor) / Woodbury, Neal (Committee member) / Hayes, Mark (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The New Jersey Childhood Obesity Study, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, aims to provide vital information for planning, implementing and evaluating interventions aimed at preventing childhood obesity in five New Jersey municipalities: Camden, Newark, New Brunswick, Trenton, and Vineland.
These five communities are being supported by RWJF's New Jersey Partnership for Healthy Kids program to plan and implement policy and environmental change strategies to prevent childhood obesity.
Effective interventions for addressing childhood obesity require community-specific information on who is most at risk and on contributing factors that can be addressed through tailored interventions that meet the needs of the community.
Using a comprehensive research study, the Center for State Health Policy at Rutgers University is working collaboratively with the State Program Office for New Jersey Partnership for Healthy I<ids and the five communities to address these information needs. The main components of the study include:
• A household survey of 1700 families with 3 -18 year old children
• De-identified heights and weights data from public school districts
• Assessment of the food and physical activity environments using objective data
Data books and maps based on the results of the study are being shared with the community coalitions in the five communities to help them plan their interventions.
ContributorsOhri-Vachaspati, Punam (Author) / Lloyd, Kristen (Author) / Chao, Jolene (Author) / Petlick, Nirvana (Author) / Brownlee, Susan (Author) / Yedidia, Michael J., 1946- (Author) / Rutgers Center for State Health Policy (Contributor) / Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. National Program Office (Funder)
Created2010
ContributorsSmith, J. B., 1957- (Director) / Mancuso, Simone (Director) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Director) / Contemporary Percussion Ensemble (Performer) / ASU Dance (Performer)
Created2015-12-02
ContributorsBrownlee, Susan (Author) / Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam (Author) / Lloyd, Kristen (Author) / Yedidia, Michael J., 1946- (Author) / Gaboda, Dorothy (Author) / Chao, Jolene (Author) / Lamm, Michael (Author) / Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. National Program Office (Funder) / Rutgers Center for State Health Policy (Contributor)
Created2010
Description
What are the embodied educational experiences among students who were forced to migrate from war areas in Ukraine and study at Ukrainian displaced universities? Building on somatic literature and process philosophy, I developed embodied method of data collection and body-echo analysis to explore the complexities, entanglements and relationality of education and embodied experiences in the context of forced migration in Ukraine. The goal of this dissertation was to learn about students’ experiences of forced migration through an essentially embodied learning processes that integrate mental and physical capacities. I believe that students learn through sensing their way through forced migration, accumulating layers of kinesthetic information hidden in their bodies. More specifically, the students in this study moved either with Displaced Universities from the war areas in Ukraine or independently in several waves or enrolled at the Displaced Universities to receive their education in mainland Ukraine at relocated Displaced Universities. The key insights include 1) uniqueness of embodied experience(s) of forced migration for each student; 2) invisible or virtual university spaces created by forced migration in Ukraine; 3) displaced universities created a virtual relational space in Ukraine where university is people not building; 4) somatic practice allowed an entry point into the safe space of talking about forced migration; 5) unique reactions of students to the somatic movement; 6) sense of belonging to space and people; 7) students’ insights very often remain unfinished thoughts and students at times lack the language to talk about their experiences; 8) students educational trajectories should be viewed as unique experiences even when factors are the same or similar; 9) war is a continuous background of the experience even if students move to a safe place in a different country; 10) humor and care have a visible supportive and healing effects in the context of uncertainty. For this reason, I bring embodied experiences of students from Ukrainian Displaced Universities into education, and I expand the limits of cognitive thinking, and focus more into embodied learning through sensing and relating to one-self and others in the context of forced migration.
ContributorsVitrukh, Mariia (Author) / Koro, Mirka (Thesis advisor) / Dinn-You Liou, Daniel (Committee member) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Committee member) / Sereda, Viktoria (Committee member) / Blue Swadener, Beth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The study of broad therapeutic advantages of dance is a growing field of interdisciplinary study. Yet, direct health benefits of dance from a molecular standpoint are still largely unknown. Literature review of dance performance displays in birds as well as other creatures and use of creative tools to analyze the diverse, lifelong experiences of dancers helped shed some light on the subject. Although dance experience exposes harms tied to the social constraints of how the form is experiences buried under joyful takeaways of dance, research supports overall health benefits from moderate amounts of dance maintained in perfect equilibrium.
ContributorsWilliams, Caroline (Author) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Thesis director) / Moore, Marianne (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor) / School of Music, Dance and Theatre (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
First, this study is intended to comprehend what is perceived to be “good” dancing from two perspectives: the dancers and the dance choreographer/teacher. Second, the goal of this research is to achieve their perceived idea of “good” dancing using the categories of dance aesthetics, movement efficiency, and performance quality as a direction. A phenomenological research approach was applied to understand the terminologies: movement aesthetics, movement efficiency, and performance quality and whether they are essential and contribute to defining what is considered to be “good” dancing. The research was conducted over the course of ten weeks, which included workshops/rehearsals, discussions, and journals and concluded with the showcase of the choreographies in the dance concert performance. This study revealed that there were many similarities in the participants and the researcher’s perception of what “good” dancing is. Through the application of the various somatic methodologies and frameworks, they learned how to perform in their own best way in the different movement styles so that it is beautiful to look at, easy on their bodies, and safe for their bodies. All of the participants were able to achieve a better understanding of their own bodies. Besides gaining individual heightened awareness and understanding of their bodies, they also gained a better understanding on how to work as a collective to achieve the aesthetics of the group from the perspective of the entire dance piece.
ContributorsChoong, Jemima (Author) / Fitzgerald, Mary (Thesis advisor) / Conder, Carley (Committee member) / Bowditch, Rachel (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The complex network of the immune system defends the human body against infection, providing protection from pathogens. This work aims to improve preparation and structural knowledge of two proteins on opposite sides of the immune system spectrum. The first protein, secreted autotransporter toxin (Sat) is a class I serine protease autotransporter of Enterobacteriaceae (SPATE) that has cytotoxic and immunomodulatory effects on the host. Previous studies on Sat show its ability to aid in bacterial colonization and evasion of the immune system. This work improves the stability of Sat by making mutations to the active serine protease motif (GDSGS) while inhibiting remaining activity with reversible and irreversible serine protease inhibitors. Characterization of Sat by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), and size-exclusion chromatography led to the first structural studies of Sat by x-ray crystallography and cryo-EM. Human leukocyte antigen class I proteins play an important role in the adaptive immune system by presenting endogenous viral peptides at the cell surface for CD8+ T cell recognition. In vitro production of HLA-I proteins is a difficult task without endoplasmic reticulum chaperones as present in vivo. Disulfide bond formation, folded light chain and a peptide bound are all key to refolding the HLA-I heavy chain for complex formation. The work presented in this dissertation represents systematic studies aimed at improving the production of HLA-I proteins in vitro in bacterial expression systems. Optimization of every step of the preparation was investigated providing higher expression yields, quality of inclusion bodies, and refolding improvements. With further improvements in the future, this work forms the basis for a more efficient small and large-scale production of HLA-I molecules for functional and structural studies.
ContributorsKiefer, Dalton (Author) / Anderson, Karen (Thesis advisor) / Fromme, Petra (Thesis advisor) / Chiu, Po-Lin (Committee member) / Mazor, Yuval (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Time-resolved serial femtosecond crystallography is an emerging method that allows for structural discovery to be performed on biomacromolecules during their dynamic trajectory through a reaction pathway after activation. This is performed by triggering a reaction on an ensemble of molecules in nano- or microcrystals and then using femtosecond X-ray laser pulses produced by an X-ray free electron laser to collect near-instantaneous data on the crystal. A full data set can be collected by merging a sufficient number of these patterns together and multiple data sets can be collected at different points along the reaction pathway by manipulating the delay time between reaction initiation and the probing X-rays. In this way, these ‘snapshot’ structures can be viewed in series to make a molecular movie, allowing for atomic visualization of a molecule in action and, thereby, a structural basis for the mechanism and function of a given biomacromolecule.
This dissertation presents results towards this end, including the successful implementations of the first diffusive mixing chemoactivated reactions and ultrafast dynamics in the femtosecond regime. The primary focus is on photosynthetic membrane proteins and enzymatic drug targets, in pursuit of strategies for sustainable energy and medical advancement by gaining understanding of the structure-function relationships evolved in nature. In particular, photosystem I, photosystem II, the complex of photosystem I and ferredoxin, and 3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonate-8-phosphate synthase are reported on, from purification and isolation, to crystallogenesis, to experimental design and data collection and subsequent interpretation of results and novel insights gained.
This dissertation presents results towards this end, including the successful implementations of the first diffusive mixing chemoactivated reactions and ultrafast dynamics in the femtosecond regime. The primary focus is on photosynthetic membrane proteins and enzymatic drug targets, in pursuit of strategies for sustainable energy and medical advancement by gaining understanding of the structure-function relationships evolved in nature. In particular, photosystem I, photosystem II, the complex of photosystem I and ferredoxin, and 3-deoxy-D-manno-2-octulosonate-8-phosphate synthase are reported on, from purification and isolation, to crystallogenesis, to experimental design and data collection and subsequent interpretation of results and novel insights gained.
ContributorsCoe, Jesse (Author) / Fromme, Petra (Thesis advisor) / Sayres, Scott (Thesis advisor) / Mujica, Vladimiro (Committee member) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018