Recent advances in assisted reproductive technologies have resulted in an increasing number of children born by gamete donation. Children conceived by egg donation lack a genetic link with their mother whereas children conceived by donor insemination lack a genetic link with their father. In families in which parents do not disclose their use of donated gametes, the child is unaware that their mother or their father in not their genetic parent. The aim of this thesis was to assess the impact of non-disclosure, and of the absence of a genetic link between parent and child, on family functioning and child adjustment. Data were obtained from a representative sample of 36 donor insemination, 32 egg donation and 54 natural conception families when the target child was 7 years old. Standardised interview, questionnaire and observational data were obtained from mothers, fathers, children and the child?s teacher. Few differences in family functioning were found between disclosing and non-disclosing gamete donation families. Likewise, few differences emerged between gamete donation families and natural conception families. The families were found to be functioning well irrespective of whether the parents had disclosed and of whether the child lacked a genetic link with a parent. However, comparisons between donor insemination and egg donation families showed that disclosure status and family type interacted in complex ways. Contrary to predictions, disclosure was not always associated with favourable outcomes. Children in disclosing donor insemination families were rated by teachers as having fewer behavioural problems. However, observational ratings showed lower levels of positive mother-child interaction in disclosing egg donation families. The process of disclosure was also explored. In all but one disclosing family, parents had started to talk to their child about their donor conception by age 4, with disclosure typically initiated and maintained by the mother. Despite mothers? concerns, children did not appear distressed by information about their donor conception. However, interviews with the children themselves suggested that most had little understanding of their donor conception at age 7.

Thesis advisor: Catherine Y. Read / Background. Clostridium difficile infections (CDI) account for 20-30% of healthcare-acquired infections, resulting in serious patient and economic burdens. CDI incidence has grown rapidly due to overuse of antibiotics and an aging population, posing a significant public health threat. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) using donor stool has demonstrated clinical efficacy rates up to 94% and long-term restoration of a healthy intestinal microbiome. Challenges with donor screening, lack of research about optimal stool donor characteristics and intestinal microbiome composition, and a poorly fit screening model, create barriers to the availability of FMT. Purpose. This study aimed to generate essential information about FMT donor characteristics predictive of passing the screening and donor intestinal microbiome compositions associated with FMT clinical efficacy. The primary aims were to 1) identify previously unstudied characteristics of prospective FMT donors that are predictive of passing a stool bank’s screening process; and 2) determine whether donor intestinal microbial diversity is related to FMT clinical efficacy in preventing recurrent CDI. Methods. This study was conducted as a secondary analysis on a cohort of previously screened donors (n=770). Aim 1 was tested through a logistic regression of donor characteristics (gender, age, body mass index, frequency of bowel movements, diet, tobacco and alcohol use, and seasonality) with screening outcomes. Aim 2 was tested through a simple regression evaluating donor intestinal microbial diversity and rates of FMT clinical efficacy. Results. One donor characteristic in the logistic regression, frequency of bowel movements (p = 0.018), was significantly predictive of whether a donor passed the screening. Specifically, donors who had fewer than two bowel movements per day were more likely to pass. All other characteristics were not predictive. Similarly, the linear regression evaluating alpha diversity and FMT clinical efficacy was not significantly predictive of clinical efficacy (p = 0.140). Conclusion. Findings were used to support recommendations for improving prospective donor screening that nurses and other clinicians can implement to decrease challenging logistics, reduce costs and barriers, and potentially increase FMT clinical efficacy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2019. / Submitted to: Boston College. Connell School of Nursing. / Discipline: Nursing.

This dissertation aims to understand the effect of incompatible side chains on the complexes of pi-conjugated electron-rich donors and electron-deficient acceptors in solution. The role of incompatible side chains were studied in simple mixtures of organic donor and acceptor molecules that form donor-acceptor complexes. The incompatible branched and linear alkane side chains on the acceptor and donor respectively prevented complex formation between naphthalene diimide acceptor and naphthalene ether donor. However, the incompatible hydrocarbon-fluorocarbon and polar-non polar side chain pairs did not affect complex formation between the donor and acceptor. In quaterthiophene-naphthalene diimide dyads, the incompatibility of the side chain on the acceptor with respect to the side chain on the donor do not have any influence on the donor-acceptor complex formation. Irrespective of the attached side chains, all the dyads show charge transfer absorption bands and have similar electron transfer rates. The effect of point of attachment of the acceptor to the donor in the quaterthiophene-flavin dyad is also studied.

No description available.

Currently, there is a great interest towards developing organic semiconductors for use in solar cells and lighting displays. Derivatives of one of the most important chromophores, diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP), are commonly employed as the active material in field-effect transistors, as they exhibit high hole mobilities. The intramolecular structure of 2T-DPP-2T with four thiophene units(T) is classified as a donor-acceptor-donor (DAD) chromophore, where the bithiophene units are donors and the DPP unit is the acceptor. The absorption spectrum of the aggregated form of a polymer based on the 2T-DPP-2T repeat units in 1,1,2,2-tetrachloroethane solution (TCE) was measured by Janssen et. al. The spectrum is red-shifted relative to a unaggregated polymer, which is an identifying feature of a J-aggregate. In addition, the ratio of the first two vibronic peaks decreases substantially in going from the unaggregated phase to the aggregate, which is an identifying feature of an H-aggregate. These contradicting behaviors were also observed by Punzi et. al. for an aggregate of the 2T-DPP-2T chromophore. Such behavior cannot be explained by the classical Frenkel-Holstein model. One challenge has been that the intermolecular charge transfer (ICT) plays an important role in the absorption and emission spectrum in the molecular aggregates of DPP. The bulk of this thesis has been to expand the Frenkel-CT-Hosltein model to include intramolecular and intermolecular charge transfer. The model accounts unusual red-shifted H-aggregates observed in the experiments. The experimental spectra of two different DPP-based chromophores are successfully reproduced with our theoretical model. Furthermore, based on perturbative expression for ICT coupling, an effective Frenkel Holstein (EFH) model is proposed and employed to successfully simulate the absorption and emission spectrum of DPP4T aggregates, as long as charge-transfer coupling is smaller than the energy gap between the Frenkel- and ICT excitations. The emission spectrum of DPP4T is also successfully reproduced by this new model, including the temperature dependence. / Chemistry

In 2011, over 30 billion dollars were given to colleges and universities across the United States; donors included individuals, corporations, foundations, and religious organizations. Of the 30 billion dollars, 43% of this financial support came directly from individual and alumni donors (Council for Aid to Education, 2011). Leslie and Ramey (1988) stated that “voluntary support is becoming the only source of real discretionary money [that a college or university has]” (p. 115). The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the ability of responses from senior class students on the 2006 National Survey of Student Engagement to be used as predictors of alumni donor participation in liberal arts colleges. The sample of this study was 10 Carnegie Baccalaureate Colleges from the southeastern United States. The institutions that participated provided alumni donor participation data for members of the undergraduate class of 2006 for a five-year post-graduation period. Logistical regression models were developed to represent the multivariate impacts of NSSE benchmark scores and student demographics independent variables on the bivariate alumni donor participation rate dependent variable. The results indicated that two NSSE benchmarks, measured by the 2006 NSSE, (Level of Academic Challenge and Student-Faculty Interaction) and three demographic variables (parental level of education, Greek Life membership, and receipt of an institutional scholarship) had a positive relationship with increased alumni donor participation.

Research report presented to the SBL, Unisa, Midrand. / This report proposes to make a contribution in the area of governance by critically analyzing the governance structure of SNV (The Netherlands Development Organization) in implementing projects. This study is motivated by the scarcity of published documentation on corporate and project governance practices specific to the African and particularly Kenyan context which organisations interested in pursuing good governance and managerial practices can use as a reference point.

published_or_final_version / Chemistry / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

The Anglo-Saxon patron often commissioned images in which he or she bears a visual rendering of his or her donation. The donor’s model is often overlooked in modern scholarship because there is no existing framework with which to address larger issues raised by the image type. This thesis proposes a framework developed through a close reading of Anglo-Saxon poetry. Using the Old English literary trope of the tacen, or in modern English, the token, this thesis seeks to reframe the donor’s model in order to understand how the model creates meaning. Like the donor’s model found in medieval donor portraits, the tacen in Anglo-Saxon literature is a held object that in large part symbolizes the gift giver’s relationship with the community. This thesis argues that beyond merely a model used to attribute patronage, the tacen found in Anglo-Saxon donor portraits acts simultaneously as a visual record of an event and an object used to teach and encourage viewers. Viewing the donor’s model as a tacen also surpasses the purely historical function of the image type by allowing the representation of the model to transcend both time and space. Using the concept of the tacen as a framework for analysis demands that an entirely new set of questions be asked of Anglo-Saxon donor portraits (and potentially all medieval donor portraits) in which a model is featured. This thesis strives to answer the how instead of the what. And in doing so it has the potential to foster a greater understanding of the image type that spread, by the requests of patrons, throughout the Anglo-Saxon world and the wider medieval world. Beyond cultivating a greater understanding of the medieval donor portrait, this thesis underlines the profound connections between medieval literature and art and highlights the advantages of interdisciplinary scholarship. / text

The reactions of five trihalomethyl group substituted electron-deficient olefins with electron-rich olefins were studied in order to determine the effect of steric bulk upon the subsequent reactions of the tetramethylene intermediates initially formed. Reactions of β-trihalomethyl group substituted olefins yielded cyclobutane adducts, resulting from a gem dimethyl effect which accelerates the collapse of the tetramethylene intermediate. Reactions of α-trihalomethyl group substituted olefins gave both small molecule and polymeric products. Polymers were produced in reactions where steric interactions between the termini of the tetramethylene intermediates prevented ring formation. Ester substituted electron-deficient olefins reacted with electron-rich olefins to give both cyclobutane and 6-alkoxy-3,4-dihydro-2H-pyran derivatives. A transition from concerted to stepwise reaction was observed, resulting from steric hindrance in the transition state leading to [4+2] cycloaddition. Exploratory studies of ion-radical propagation and chain transfer in polymerization processes were also conducted. The acid catalyzed free radical polymerization of imines was attempted, along with chain transfer studies of zwitterion-radical intermediates.