Digital Commons Network^™

Exploration Of Motion Capture System To Investigate Human Shoulder Kinematics, Ola Alsaadi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The glenohumeral joint (GH) is commonly conceptualized as a ball-and-socket joint [1], and its center of rotation (COR) is presumed to coincide with the geometric center of the medial-superior region of the humeral head [2]. Recent research has endorsed improvements in COR estimation through invasive and noninvasive techniques, including cadaver studies, stereophotogrammetry, and motion capture (MOCAP) systems. Despite increased interest in wearable technology within human movement analysis, the problem of COR estimation employing MOCAP systems and its validation against bi-planar fluoroscopy remains relatively unexplored.

This study employed a marker-based MOCAP system to compare the accuracy, error, and precision of three …

Kinematic Analysis Of Gait And Deep Knee Flexion For Pre- And Post-Operative Total Knee Arthroplasty, Samantha Collins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a form of arthritis that develops in the joint due to overuse and aging causing pain, discomfort, and disability. Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA) is a surgical procedure performed when OA symptoms are severe with an estimated 600,000 patients in the United States currently receiving TKA. Studies have reported dissatisfaction of the knee for 14-39% of patients. This study collected knee kinematics before and after surgery using stereo radiography for precise measurement of gait and deep knee flexion activities. Results showed healthy knee kinematics were not restored and no significant changes could be seen from OA kinematics in …

Investigating The Role Of Tethering In Exosomal Secretion, Zdeněk Otruba

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Exosomes are a type of membrane vesicles utilized in intercellular communication. Exosomes are first packaged into larger membrane vesicles called multivesicular bodies (MVBs). When exosomes are secreted, the membrane of the MVBs fuses with the cellular membrane, and then the exosomes are released. Experimental observations suggest that the movement of the exosomes is hindered during this process; they require much longer time to leave the fusion site than they would if they were diffusing freely. A prevalent hypothesis is that the cause of this hindrance is attachment of the exosomes to the cell surface. Recent work suggests that tetherin, a …

An Exploration Of Palauan Fishing Methods And Fisheries: A Study For The Conservation Of Dugongs, Mia Glover

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dugong (Dugong dugon) is an important marine mammal in Palau. However, current population dynamics are not well understood. This study aimed to connect scientific data with local knowledge by examining the social implications of changing fishing methods and their impact on dugong population dynamics in the face of climate change and fisheries commercialization. Through interviews with local fishers, it was found that destructive fishing methods like trawling and long lining have led to habitat loss and degradation for dugongs. These tactics, driven by economic factors, have disrupted the delicate balance between human activities and the preservation of dugong habitats, …

Novel Approach For Non-Invasive Prediction Of Body Shape And Habitus, Emma Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

While marker-based motion capture remains the gold standard in measuring human movement, accuracy is influenced by soft-tissue artifacts, particularly for subjects with high body mass index (BMI) where markers are not placed close to the underlying bone. Obesity influences joint loads and motion patterns, and BMI may not be sufficient to capture the distribution of a subject’s weight or to differentiate differences between subjects. Subjects in need of a joint replacement are more likely to have mobility issues or pain, which prevents exercise. Obesity also increases the likelihood of needing a total joint replacement. Accurate movement data for subjects with …

Dietary Parental Effects In A Generalist Heribivore, Emma J. Sellers

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

The environment or experiences of a parent generation can impact the fitness of the next generation, a phenomenon known as parental effects. The parental diet, for example, can have consequences for their offspring who may perform better or worse on the same diet. Dietary specialists are often the focus of studies of parental effects due to diet because a narrow diet breadth suggests that the offspring environment may be predictable. Dietary generalists, in contrast, are less often studied regarding parental effects and this may be because their wide diet breadth makes the future environment less predictable.

We investigated whether parental …

Small Gtpase Regulated Intracellular Protein Trafficking In Endothelium, Caitlin Francis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Intracellular protein trafficking is the movement of membrane-bound organelles to and from requisite locations within the cell. Small GTPases are a critical component to the spatiotemporal accuracy of intracellular trafficking pathways as they determine the specificity and direction of organelle transport. There exists over 150 small GTPases categorized into 5 sub-families and are employed across all cell types. Despite their universal expression and relevance to cellular function, small GTPases remain incompletely understood across tissue types. In various instances, the trafficking pathway of a particular Rab in one cell type may belong to a completely disparate pathway in another cell type. …

A Gis Look At Woody Plant Encroachment (Wpe): Mapping Grassland Degradation Through Habitat Succession, Brandon M. Wolf

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The grasslands of North America remain at a fraction of their historic range. Estimates of acreage remaining vary between 4% and 13%. Affectionately known as the Great Plains, these grasslands have been converted for agriculture, rangeland, infrastructure, and civilization itself. Woody Plant Encroachment (WPE) on the grasslands is a silent, often overlooked, serious threat. The use of a simple GIS can estimate current acreage of a grassland, its adjacent woodland corridor, riparian buffers, and predict future acreage based on trends and hypothetical management scenarios, or lack thereof. The American prairie, though a remnant of its former self, is still home …

Modeling Vegetation Cover At Mount St Helens Using Highly Correlated Vegetation Indices, Sara Livingston

Geography and the Environment: Graduate Student Capstones

The eruption of Mount St. Helens in 1980 devastated the landscape and obliterated all ground vegetation within a 620 km2 blast zone radius. The destructive forces of the lateral blast, debris avalanche, tephra plume, and lahar flow created a complex mosaic of disturbance zones, that subsequently yielded various rates of landscape recovery. Remote sensing is an efficient method for monitoring landscape-scale changes by recording the distinct spectral reflectance of vegetation. Based on statistically significant correlations between Vegetation Indices and vegetation parameters, an empirical model can be developed for vegetation cover predictions. This capstone analysis found that NDVI holds the strongest …

Lipophilic Probes For Cellular Ethylene Detection, Morgan R. Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The structure of ethylene is simple, yet its biological effects are significant. When considering its role in biology it is almost exclusively regarded as a plant hormone. Research on ethylene from plants was progressed by several advancements in analytical instrumentation, from its discovery to elucidation of its signaling pathway. There is currently limited understanding of ethylene’s role in mammals, but evidence suggests that it may be a biomarker for oxidative stress! Additional tools and technology are crucial to study this surprising and important signaling role in mammals. Our group has developed molecular ethylene probes as a strategy to detect ethylene …

The Pathophysiological Mechanisms Of Alzheimer's Disease; Investigating Therapeutic Interventions For Disease Onset, Alexandra A. Sandberg

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s Disease is a multifarious disease that progressively affects more people as both the proportion of older adults in the population and life expectancy increase in both the United States and worldwide. This devastating disease is a result of rampant neuronal loss in the memory centers of the brain that robs the independence of those who are diagnosed and places a heavy burden on those who care for them. Traditionally speaking, research has focused on the hallmark pathology of amyloid plaques, targeting them to try and prevent disease onset. However, countless failures in clinical trials aimed at this said pathology …

Morphological Variation And Community Science In Orthoptera, Amy Byerly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Patterns of morphological divergence across species’ ranges provide insight into local adaptation and speciation. Here, we compare phenotypic divergence among 4,221 crickets from 337 populations of two related species of field cricket, Gryllus firmus and G. pennsylvanicus and their hybrids. We find that these species differ across their geographic range in key morphological traits, such as body size and ovipositor length, and we directly compare phenotype with genotype for a subset of crickets demonstrating nuclear genetic introgression, phenotypic intermediacy of hybrids, and essentially unidirectional mitochondrial introgression. We discuss how these morphological traits relate to life history differences between the species. …

Responses Of Arthropods To Fire And How Pollinators And Pollination Services Are Affected By Fire Severity, Blyssalyn V. Bieber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fires impact ecosystems globally and due to climate change, there are shifts in fire regimes that impact ecological communities which provide essential ecosystem services. Focusing on arthropods, fire can influence this ubiquitous animal group in various way. We performed a comprehensive meta-analysis evaluating how fires impact differing arthropod functional groups. We found that overall, fire negatively effects community level responses for most functional groups with herbivores as the only exception showing some positive effects of fire. We also studied mixed-severity fires that burned >20 years ago and compared floral visitor communities across fire severities. We implemented a pollinator exclusion experiment …

The Role Of Ehd2 In Endothelial Cells, Rachael Judson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The role of EHD2 in terms of Cav1 interaction had not been previously characterized and was the main goal of this research. Cav1 has been shown to lead to the ubiquitination of Rac1. Because of this, the role of EHD2 in Rac1 regulation was investigated. An increase in long-term migration in endothelial cells was observed and suggested that EHD2 impacts the RhoA pathway instead of the Rac1 pathway. This lead to the hypothesis that EHD2 controls a part of the RhoA pathway. This hypothesis is supported by the loss of filamentous actin and an increase in serrated junctions in cells …

Soil Resilience And Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi: How Fungi Can Inform Climate Change Mitigation And Adaptation In Maya Milpa Management, Courtney Mathers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In Mexico’s state of Yucatán, climate change impacts like prolonged and less predictable dry season length are manifesting as threats to agricultural production and food security. Nearly two thirds of Yucatán’s population is indigenous, many of whom live in rural communities that rely on rainfed subsistence agriculture (INEGI 2015). Ensuring sufficient food production in the face of climate change relies on the quality of agricultural soils. With both mismanagement of agricultural soils and climate change posing as threats to food production in Mexico, soil management practices that increase a soil quality should be identified and promoted. The primary objective of …

Investigating Spatiotemporal Kinetics, Dynamics, And Mechanism Of Exosome Release, Anarkali Mahmood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Exosomes are small lipid-based vesicles that can carry biomolecules from one cell to another. While exosomes are crucial to maintain homeostasis in healthy cells, they are exploited by unhealthy cells to aid disease progression. Exosomes likely facilitate disease progression via the transfer of disease-causing biomolecules from unhealthy to healthy cells. Exosomes are generated in Multivesicular endosomes (MVEs) and are then secreted into the extracellular space to travel to other cells. Despite being a crucial step, very little is known about exosomes release mechanism and dynamics. To further our understanding of exosomes, specifically their secretion, my work has focused on investigating …

Organellar Zn2+ Homeostasis And The Role Of Trpml Channels In Neuronal Lysosome Physiology And Axonal Transport, Taylor Franklin Minckley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Zinc (Zn²⁺) is crucial for proper cellular function, and as such it is important to measure and track Zn²⁺ dynamics in living cells. Fluorescent sensors have been used to estimate Zn²⁺ content of subcellular compartments, but little is known about endolysosomal Zn2+ homeostasis. Similarly, although numerous sensors have been reported, it is unclear whether and how Zn²⁺ can be released from intracellular compartments into the cytosol due to a lack of probes that can detect physiological dynamics of cytosolic Zn²⁺. My dissertation started with comparing and characterizing different Zn²⁺ sensors including the …

Inhibition Of De Novo And The Prion-Like Spread Of Amyloidogenesis Using In Vitro And In Vivo Disease Models, Johnson Anazoba Joseph

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The aberrant fibrous, extracellular, and intracellular proteinaceous deposits in cells, organs and tissues are referred to as amyloids. These deposits are dominated by β-sheet structures that have been implicated in several neurodegenerative diseases and cancer. In this work, the types of amyloidosis studied include Parkinson’s disease (PD) using UA196 and NL5901 strains of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans), Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using GMC101 strain of C. elegans, and cancer-associated mutant p53 aggregation in MIA PaCa-2 mutant cells. Several molecules including SK-129, NS132, NS163, bexarotene, a polyphenol (-)-epi-gallocatechine gallate (EGCG), ADH40, RD148, and RD242 were screened in vitro and in …

Environmental Gradients Impact Key Leaf Traits In Riparian Trees, Amanda Malone

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Specific leaf area (SLA) reflects a plant’s carbon investment per area and relates to generalized leaf economics spectrum growth strategies (LES). To fill gaps of knowledge about intraspecific SLA variation and why it is often inconsistent with the LES, we studied the response of two riparian tree species along the urban-rural gradient in Northeastern Colorado: an invasive, nitrogen-fixer with broad tolerances and a nitrogen-limited and shade-intolerant native. Despite these differences, the two species responded similarly, apart from the response to the urban-rural gradient, in which lower nitrogen in rural areas was associated with a more conservative strategy in the native …

Antioxidant Biomarkers And Nutraceutical Therapeutics In Neurodegeneration And Neurotrauma, Lilia A. Koza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), yielding a Glascow Coma Scale of 13-15, is the most commonly occurring severity of TBI. Pathology from mTBI consists of blood brain barrier disruption, neuroinflammation, oxidative stress, excitotoxicity, mitochondrial dysfunction, protein aggregation, axonal degeneration, and resulting neuronal death. These processes deplete the body’s endogenous antioxidant system. We report a retrospective analysis of antioxidant blood biomarkers in patients with a history of mTBI from a local sports medicine clinic, Resilience Code. We found persistent sex-specific antioxidant depletions in mTBI patients associated with worsened symptomology.

Certain populations, such as athletes, are at high risk for repetitive mTBI …

Optimized Microbial Recombinant Production Of Hiv-1 Anti-Envelope Antibody Fragments With Applications To Single Particle Tracking Of Virus Assembly, Merissa Michelle Bruns

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In my findings, I have established a set series of protocols to recombinantly produce, purify and apply various fluorescent probes in vitro for the fluorescent labeling and study of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) envelope (Env) protein during HIV viral assembly. There remains insufficient knowledge about the molecular dynamics and interactions of HIV-1 Env protein with its counterpart, Gag, on the inner host cell surface during assembly of a mature virus particle. There also remains an insufficient amount of data for the understanding and clarification of the mechanism of action of a known host cell HIV-1 restriction factor, …

Understanding Patterns And Functional Impacts Of An Invasive Tree And Its Biological Control In A Riparian System, Annie L. Henry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Invasive species have become an inextricable part of the landscape, particularly in riparian plant communities, and removal is often a key component of restoration programs. Biological control (biocontrol) is a method of removal that is often both efficient and effective. However, the impact of biocontrol on target species and indirect effects from invasive species removal can be hard to predict. While monitoring the impact of invasive species removal usually involves some species-based assessment such as changes in diversity, historically dominant species or native species, these strategies do not typically provide insight into the mechanisms underlying plant community response to removal. …

Rab35 Centered Membrane Trafficking Pathway Directs Apical Constriction During Drosophila Gastrulation, Hui Miao

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Force generation in epithelial tissues is often pulsatile, with actomyosin networks generating high-tension contractile forces at the cell cortex before cyclically disassembling. This pulsed nature of cytoskeletal forces implies that there must be cellular processes to extract unidirectional changes that drive processive transformations in cell shape. During Drosophila melanogastergastrulation, the invagination of the prospective mesoderm is driven by the pulsed constriction of apical surfaces. Here, we address the mechanisms by which the irreversibility of pulsed events is achieved while also permitting uniform epithelial behaviors to emerge. We use MSD-based analyses to identify contractile steps and find that when a …

The Ecological Resilience Of A Tropical Montane Pine Forest To Droughts, Fire, And Hurricane Disturbance, Daniel Erland Brugger Swann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Owing to the geographic isolation and unique climatic conditions which occur in tropical montane forests (TMFs), these systems are highly sensitive to changes in both climate and disturbance. Therefore, as ongoing climate change alters disturbance regimes – potentially facilitating multiple disturbance interactions much greater than that of isolated disturbances – TMFs may be shifted to alternate stable states. However, study of TMF resilience is essentially unknown given the lack of long-term studies in these systems. We address the resiliency of the tropical montane pine forests of the Cordillera Central, Dominican Republic using long-term climate records, remeasured vegetation data, and reconstructed …

The Role Of Vps54 In Drosophila Melanogaster Neuronal Development And Age Progressive Neurodegeneration, Emily Wilkinson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vps54 is a subunit of the Golgi-associated retrograde protein (GARP) complex, which is involved in tethering endosome-derived vesicles to the trans-Golgi network (TGN). The “wobbler” mouse is the phenotypic result of a destabilizing point mutation in Vps54. This mutation causes neurodegeneration and is subsequently used as a model for human motor neuron disease. Presently, it is unclear how disruption of GARP complex function leads to motor neuron degeneration. To better understand the role of Vps54 in motor neuron development, function, and age-related neurodegeneration, we disrupted expression of the Vps54 ortholog in Drosophila and examined the impact on larval neuromuscular junction …

Validation Of A Deployable Proteomic Assay For The Serological Screening Of Sexual Assault Samples, Catherine O'Sullivan Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protein mass spectrometry (MS) has emerged as a technique to supplant traditional serological tests for body fluid identification. It was hypothesized that proteomic techniques would surpass the sensitivity and specificity of traditional serological techniques. An automated workflow coupled with protein MS has been developed for the confirmatory identification of five biological fluids. A developmental validation was completed, assessing parameters such as reproducibility, sensitivity, ion suppression, and limit of detection. Implementation was determined through tandem sample processing by MS, traditional serological tests, and standard DNA profiling methods. The MS approach offered superior detection limits while also providing true confirmatory results, producing …

Intellectual Property Rights In The Seed Industry: Barriers To Sustainable Agriculture, Elena A. Filatova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The dynamics of the dominant industrial agriculture system restrict the seed industry’s innovative landscape, leading to significant negative consequences including an exacerbation of environmental risks which threaten global food security. This thesis explores how exclusionary intellectual property rights (IPRs) in the context of the seed industry constrict innovation, evolutionary pathways, and opportunities for the implementation of sustainable agriculture methods. To overcome these barriers, the application of an open source framework to seed innovation, specifically through the platform of the Open Source Seed Initiative, is evaluated as a tool for enhancing innovative capacities in seed development while broadening the accessibility and …

Nucleic Acids Promote Oligomerization Of Immunoglobulin G, Alexa Gomez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nucleic acids have been found to prevent aggregation as chaperones, as well as act as co-factors and promote aggregation of amyloidogenic proteins leading to various diseases. Immunoglobulin G, IgG, are prone to aggregate as therapeutic proteins, and light chains of IgG can form amyloid fibrils, causing a disease known as light chain amyloidosis. Here we discuss the effect nucleic acids have on full-length immunoglobulin G aggregation. Our results show G-quadruplex DNA, and bulk DNA lead to oligomerization of full-length IgG, and induce increases in secondary structure. Tryptophan fluorescence indicates structural changes are occurring in the presence of DNA. Additionally, IgG …

Modeling Disorder In Proteins Yields Insights Into The Evolution Of Stability And Function, Jonathan Huihui

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The central dogma of molecular biology dictates that a DNA sequence codes for an RNA sequence, which in turn codes for a sequence of amino acids that comprises a protein. Proteins are responsible with performing myriad functions within living organisms and most proteins require a folded structure in order to perform their function. The protein's structure is the direct link from sequence to function. This is known as the sequence - structure - function paradigm. However, this does not mean that the unfolded state is unimportant. In order to properly model the stability of the folded state, one needs to …

Characterization Of The Whale Shark (Rhincodon Typus) Melanocortin-2 Receptor, Brianne Hoglin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Among bony vertebrates, the melanocortin-2 receptor ortholog is unique among the family of five melanocortin receptors on the basis that it is dependent on its accessory protein, MRAP1, for trafficking and activation, and is selective for activation by ACTH alone. Previous studies on the MC2R orthologs of select cartilaginous fish, the elephant shark (Callorhinchus milii) and the red stingray (Dasyatis akajei), revealed divergent traits in a less obligatory relationship on MRAP1 and its ability to be activated by ACTH or the MSH-sized peptides. However, observed traits were not consistent between these two cartilaginous fish species, posing …