Digital Commons Network^™

Papermaking Factors Affecting Lateral Web Position During Commercial Heat Set Web Offset Printing, George W. Shields

Masters Theses

The interaction of water with paper plays a role in web handling characteristics during commercial heat set web offset printing. Water absorption leads to lower web tension for a given strain.

This research investigates paper properties and their role in preventing lateral web movement from cross machine air flows in the drying section during normal printing operations. Tensile properties of sheets are measured at various moisture contents and then used to determine the equilibrium stress-strain relationship for papers at moisture contents typical of heat set web offset printing. Permeability, fiber orientation and tensile stiffness are evaluated against lateral web movement …

A Deep Learníng-Based Data Minimization Algorithm For Big Genomics Data In Support Of Lot And Secure Smart Health Services, Mohammed Aledhari

Dissertations

In the age of Big Genomics Data, institutes such as the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI),1000-Genomes project, and the international cancer sequencing consortium are faced with the challenge of sharing large volumes of data between internationallydispersed sample collectors, data analyzers, and researchers, a process that up until now has been plagued by unreliable transfers and slow connection speeds. These occur due to the inherent throughput bottlenecks of traditional transfer technologies. One suggested solution is using the cloud as an infrastructure to solve the store and analysis challenges. However, the transfer and share of the genomics datasets between biological laboratories …

Symptoms, Infectious Pathway, Treatment, And History Of Rabies In The United States, Paul Beckman-Ellenwood

Honors Theses

Rabies is a virus of the Lyssavirus family that is endemic to almost all parts of the world and claims over 55,000 lives every year. The virus is capable of being vectored through any warm-blooded animal and has a variable incubation time in its hosts. Once the disease finishes incubating and symptoms appear in the host, the disease is always fatal to humans. To prevent this there are several treatments available, but they can be expensive or difficult to obtain in parts of the world that have the most problems with rabies. To solve this vaccines have been created to …

Defining The Immune Response And Cellular Pathologies In Multiple System Atrophy, Annamarie Valenti

Masters Theses

Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the accumulation of misfolded α-synuclein (α-Syn) in oligodendrocytes of the central nervous system (CNS). A previous study in our lab used Affymetrix DNA microarray analysis to show the downregulation of various mitochondrial related genes, as well as the upregulation of genes involved in inflammatory/immune responses in MSA brain tissue. Therefore, it is hypothesized that an increased presence of immune proteins exists in the MSA brain accompanied by glial cell pathology including decreases in cell metabolism and cell viability. This study uses immunohistochemistry (IHC) to show the increased presence of CD68 …

The Role Of Calcium In Regulation Of Glial Cell Line Derived Neurotrophic Factor By Skeletal Muscle Cells, Alicia M. Boynton

Masters Theses

Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is an important signaling molecule for the somatic motor nervous system. GDNF protein is produced and secreted by skeletal muscle cells and helps maintain motor neuron innervation at the neuromuscular junction. Treatment with exogenous GDNF prevents denervation which is characteristic of aging and neurodegenerative disease. The therapeutic potential of GDNF cannot be fully explored without understanding the mechanisms by which GDNF protein production is regulated. The primary objective of this study was to determine the role of calcium in regulating GDNF protein expression by skeletal muscle cells. Skeletal muscle cells (C2C12) were grown in …

Evolution Of Caffeine Biosynthetic Enzymes And Pathways In Flowering Plants, Ruiqi Huang

Dissertations

Convergent evolution generally refers to the independent evolution of similar biological function more than once in unrelated species. Caffeine is thought to have evolved by convergence, and is naturally produced through secondary metabolism in plants to defend against pathogen attack and insect feeding or to attract pollinators. The same caffeine biosynthetic pathway has been elucidated in Camellia (tea) and Coffea (coffee), in which xanthosine is sequentially methylated to caffeine via 7-methylxanthine and theobromine. However, although the same catalysis pathway is used, different (paralogous) enzymes in the SAMT/BAMT/theobromine synthase (SABATH) multigene family are used in the two species. In my dissertation, …

Oncolytic Tanapoxvirus For Melanoma Therapy, Tiantian Zhang

Dissertations

Oncolytic viruses (OVs), which preferentially infect cancer cells and induce host anti- tumor immune responses, have emerged as an effective melanoma therapy. Tanapoxvirus (TPV), which possesses a large genome and causes mild self-limiting disease in humans, is potentially an ideal OV candidate. The purposes of our studies are to engineer TPV into effective OVs via arming immumo-stimulatory proteins and/or manipulating the virokines, and to explore the immuno-modulatory activities of TPV.

Interleukin-2 (IL-2) plays a critical role in activating T cells, natural killer cells and macrophages in both the innate and adaptive immune systems. In our study, a recombinant TPV expressing …

Fate Of Conductive Ink Pigments During Recycling And Landfill Deposition Of Paper-Based Printed Electronics, James Edward Atkinson

Dissertations

Printed electronics (PE) are being developed as an alternative to traditional electronics, due to the more efficient use of materials and lower cost of production. The overall goal of this study was to understand how metallic pigments in conductive inks in PE are partitioned during landfill disposal and paper recycling conditions. The purpose is to assess the potential environmental impacts of PE landfilling in terms of metal leaching and to help develop new strategies for sequestering metallic ink components while paper-based PE are subjected to conventional paper recycling methods. The objective of this research is to study the fate of …

Health Benefits Of A Plant-Based Diet, Jenna Jackson

Honors Theses

While the rise and spread of Western culture has created remarkable advances in science, healthcare, and technology, it has also brought about a variety of chronic diseases that never once existed. Much of these ailments can be attributed to the typical Western diet, which places heavy emphasis on meats, dairy, and refined grains, contrasting the typical Eastern or Oriental diet which primarily focuses on fruits, vegetables, fish, and whole grains. This dietary transition has resulted in increased glycemic load, increased levels of unhealthy fats and cholesterol, decreased micronutrient and fiber levels, and skewed acid-base and sodium-potassium ratios. All of these …

Enzyme Characterization Of Sabath Family Members, Troy Burtchett

Honors Theses

Enzymes can have many different functions within an organism. One such common function is methylation. The SABATH family of enzymes perform methylation of various organic acids. Many of the members of this family of enzymes have become specialized in the acid they methylate. For example: salicylic acid methyl transferase (SAMT) will primarily methylate salicylic acid, and benzoic acid methyl transferase (BAMT) will primarily methylate benzoic acid. By comparing the sequence of these enzymes, it has been found that a conserved region consisting of the sequence SSYSLMWLS appears in some form across all the members of the SABATH family. The 6 …

Implementation Of A Biology Summer Bridge Program For First-Year Biology Majors, Madelyn Aittama

Honors Theses

Students are entering higher education at an escalated rate, but many are unprepared for the rigorous coursework that lies ahead of them. As nationwide programs are continuously being implemented throughout high schools to better prepare students for college life, many students are still not equipped with the skills necessary to succeed in obtaining a bachelor’s degree. Many students feel discouraged and inadequate when they perform below their academic expectations, and for a large portion of students pursuing higher education, this results in discontinuing their education. While retention rates amongst STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) students are particularly low, the …

Assessing A Punching Bag Feedback Performance Device, Neil Deochand

Dissertations

Physical exercise has been integrated into treatment efforts in reversing the number of overweight and obese individuals. Furthermore, exercise extends mortality, enhances general quality of life, and it is a protective health factor for preventing the progression some mental health disorders. Electronic athletic training equipment easily allows monitoring of real-time physical activity, and enables tracking of progress made toward individualized performance goals. There are limitations to only using visual feedback (e.g., visual depictions of heart rate, speed, distance traveled, or calories burned etc.) to track and improve exercise and athletic performance, especially for some sports, such as boxing. This issue …