Matching Items (5)
Description
This thesis explores how motherhood as a status and social identity influences the help-seeking decisions made by women who experience Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) and enter a domestic violence shelter in Arizona. Specifically, this report examines the types, severity, and frequency of violence experienced by women with children and the methods of help-seeking among women without children and women with children. Special attention is paid to women who cite their children as a primary reason for seeking legal intervention and those who cite their children as a primary reason for not seeking legal intervention in their relationships. For the purposes of this study, a survey investigating the types and severity of violence experienced, the help-seeking practices of, and the safety-planning measures taken by IPV survivors was distributed to over 600 women in emergency domestic violence shelters in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Data from both closed- and open-ended questions asked on the survey is analyzed in the context of a review of existing literature on the subject and of current Arizona state-level policies and legislation. Conclusions focus on how the surveyed women's status as mothers related to the specific variables of their victimization and the help-seeking methods they used to achieve safety, and how state-level legislation reacts and acts as a barrier to certain types of help-seeking behaviors.
ContributorsHutchinson, Kimberley Robyn (Author) / Durfee, Alesha (Thesis director) / Messing, Jill Theresa (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
Popular culture tends to downplay strong female characters to favor a plethora of male figures that children look up to as heroes. This creates a gender imbalance in exposure to inspirational characters that children can look up to as role models. For our team's creative project, we chose to write and illustrate a children's book mainly targeted at young girls, ages eight to twelve that focuses on the stories of selected female figures of Norse mythology. The five stories in our collection focus on the figures Frigg, Skadi, Elli, Idunn, and Freya and are inspired by the mythology contained in the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson and selected medieval texts on the Germanic Lombard tribe. Through our book, Women of Norse Myth: For Little Goddesses, we wanted to introduce children to Norse mythology, a branch of myth that is often overshadowed by more popular mythologies such as Roman and Greek. Additionally, our goal was to bring light to the female figures within Norse myth that are generally given less attention than their male counterparts. Keeping in mind these goals, the stories were adapted from the original myths in a manner that would be suitable for a young audience as well as our aim for female empowerment. The final manuscript contains an introduction to Norse cosmology, introductions to the figures, a glossary of Norse terms used, and the illustrated stories themselves. Together with our combined talents, interests, and goals, Women of Norse Myth: For Little Goddesses was completed, and we hope that someday it can be published and serve as a fun and inspiring storybook for children to read and learn from.
ContributorsFarine, Brittany (Co-author) / Muth, Margaret (Co-author) / Youngjohn, Trystan (Co-author) / Alexander, John (Thesis director) / Wells, Cornelia (Committee member) / Department of English (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution and Social Change (Contributor) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) ion channels are a diverse family of nonselective, polymodal sensors in uni- and multicellular eukaryotes that are implicated in an assortment of biological contexts and human disease. The cold-activated TRP Melastatin-8 (TRPM8) channel, also recognized as the human body's primary cold sensor, is among the few TRP channels responsible for thermosensing. Despite sustained interest in the channel, the mechanisms underlying TRPM8 activation, modulation, and gating have proved challenging to study and remain poorly understood. In this thesis, I offer data collected on various expression, extraction, and purification conditions tested in E. Coli expression systems with the aim to optimize the generation of a structurally stable and functional human TRPM8 pore domain (S5 and S6) construct for application in structural biology studies. These studies, including the biophysical technique nuclear magnetic spectroscopy (NMR), among others, will be essential for elucidating the role of the TRPM8 pore domain in in regulating ligand binding, channel gating, ion selectively, and thermal sensitivity. Moreover, in the second half of this thesis, I discuss the ligation-independent megaprimer PCR of whole-plasmids (MEGAWHOP PCR) cloning technique, and how it was used to generate chimeras between TRPM8 and its nearest analog TRPM2. I review steps taken to optimize the efficiency of MEGAWHOP PCR and the implications and unique applications of this novel methodology for advancing recombinant DNA technology. I lastly present preliminary electrophysiological data on the chimeras, employed to isolate and study the functional contributions of each individual transmembrane helix (S1-S6) to TRPM8 menthol activation. These studies show the utility of the TRPM8\u2014TRPM2 chimeras for dissecting function of TRP channels. The average current traces analyzed thus far indicate that the S2 and S3 helices appear to play an important role in TRPM8 menthol modulation because the TRPM8[M2S2] and TRPM8[M2S3] chimeras significantly reduce channel conductance in the presence of menthol. The TRPM8[M2S4] chimera, oppositely, increases channel conductance, implying that the S4 helix in native TRPM8 may suppress menthol modulation. Overall, these findings show that there is promise in the techniques chosen to identify specific regions of TRPM8 crucial to menthol activation, though the methods chosen to study the TRPM8 pore independent from the whole channel may need to be reevaluated. Further experiments will be necessary to refine TRPM8 pore solubilization and purification before structural studies can proceed, and the electrophysiology traces observed for the chimeras will need to be further verified and evaluated for consistency and physiological significance.
ContributorsWaris, Maryam Siddika (Author) / Van Horn, Wade (Thesis director) / Redding, Kevin (Committee member) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The objective of this study is to create a spectrophotometric assay that can measure quinone reduction in the HbRC. The key techniques used in the project consisted of a PCR, a pseudo golden gate, a transformation into E. coli, a conjugation into Heliomicrobium modesticaldum, a growth study, a HbRC prep, and absorbance spectroscopy. PCR was crucial for amplifying the Cyt c553-PshX gene for the pseudo golden gate. The pseudo golden gate ligated Cyt c553-PshX into the plasmid pMTL86251 in order to transform the plasmid with the desired gene into the E. coli strain S17-1. This E. coli strain allows for conjugation into H. modesticaldum. H. modesticaldum cannot uptake DNA by itself, so the E. coli creates a pilus to transfer the desired plasmid to H. modesticaldum. The growth study was crucial for determining if H. modesitcaldum could be induced using xylose without killing the cells or inhibiting the growth in such a way that the project could not be continued. The HbRC prep was used to isolate and purify the Cyt c553-PshX protein. Absorbance spectroscopy and JTS kinetic assay was used to characterize and confirm that the protein eluted from the affinity column was Cyt c553-PshX. The results of the absorbance spectra and JTS kinetic assay confirmed that Cyt c553-PshX was not made. The study is currently being continued using a new system that utilizes SpyCatcher SpyTag covalent linkages in order to attach cytochrome to reduce P800 to the HbRC.
ContributorsBarnes, Katherine (Author) / Redding, Kevin (Thesis director) / Mazor, Yuval (Committee member) / Singharoy, Abhishek (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Molecular Sciences (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2022-12
DescriptionPage Pilot is a digital application that utilizes gamification incentives to help elementary children master reading comprehension, curbing the growing rate of child illiteracy.
ContributorsStoft, Amanda (Author) / Fahlman, Anna (Co-author) / Muccillo, Alyssa (Co-author) / Byrne, Jared (Thesis director) / Pierce, John (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Art (Contributor) / Department of English (Contributor)
Created2024-05