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Nutritional Considerations In The Care Of Transgender And Gender-Diverse Individuals: Exploring The Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, And Roles Of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists And Nutrition Professionals, Jennifer Madeleine Waters Jan 2022

Nutritional Considerations In The Care Of Transgender And Gender-Diverse Individuals: Exploring The Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, And Roles Of Registered Dietitian Nutritionists And Nutrition Professionals, Jennifer Madeleine Waters

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Within the past few years, various nutrition-relevant considerations related to the care of transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) individuals have been emphasized. However, the preparedness of registered dietitian nutritionists (RDNs) to provide nutrition care to this highly marginalized group with unique health concerns is unknown. Available research on the knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of RDNs as it relates to the care of the TGD community is scarce. It is unknown how frequently transgender-specific health and nutrition topics are being taught to emerging RDNs and nutrition professionals. Further, the potential barriers that nutrition and dietetics educators perceive or face as it relates …


Comparing The Effectiveness And Appeal Of Delivering A Pilot Text Message And An In-Person Whole Body Approach (Wba) Program To Northern Illinois Food Bank Clients., Ashley Rae Werner Jan 2022

Comparing The Effectiveness And Appeal Of Delivering A Pilot Text Message And An In-Person Whole Body Approach (Wba) Program To Northern Illinois Food Bank Clients., Ashley Rae Werner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Background: The Whole-Body Approach (WBA) is a program created by Northern Illinois Food Bank in partnership with Northern Illinois University (NIU) Nutrition and Dietetics Graduate students and faculty. This program has been delivered over the course of six years to various food pantries around the Northern Illinois area and modified in response to participants’ feedback. The topics that are discussed throughout the program include stress management, relationship with food, mindful eating, healthy body image, and enjoyable movement. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the program was adapted to a delivered via text messages for Northern Illinois Food Bank My Pantry …


Understanding The Invasion History And Dispersal Patterns Of The Faucet Snail, Bithynia Tentaculata, Emma B. Grindle Jan 2022

Understanding The Invasion History And Dispersal Patterns Of The Faucet Snail, Bithynia Tentaculata, Emma B. Grindle

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Invasive species pose a major threat to biodiversity and are becoming increasingly common across the globe. The success of these invasive species often comes down to an ability to disperse effectively into novel environments over time and at multiple scales. Aquatic invasive species can be particularly challenging as they are not readily visible and are often well established before being formally observed. In the Upper Mississippi River region, an invasive European snail species, the faucet snail (Bithynia tentaculata) has invaded from Europe via the Great Lakes. The snail serves as an intermediate host for several species of trematode parasites that …


Microbial Community And Soil Responses To Land Management Practices In Remnant And Restored Tallgrass Prairies, Desirae Marie Klimek Jan 2022

Microbial Community And Soil Responses To Land Management Practices In Remnant And Restored Tallgrass Prairies, Desirae Marie Klimek

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Critical ecosystem functions, such as decomposition and nutrient cycling, are driven by microbial communities within soil. As such, it is important to examine the effect of restoration practices, such as the presence of native grazers and prescribed burning, on these microbes and the soil they inhabit. The Nachusa Grasslands provides a chronosequence of restored tallgrass prairies ranging in restoration age from 5 to 33 years, as well as remnant prairies, and agricultural fields. These sites were sampled seasonally from 2013-2020 and microbial ribosomal RNA genes were surveyed to characterize soil microbial communities and assess how common restoration practices affect these …


Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig Jan 2022

Impact Of Prairie Restoration On Geochemistry And Microbial Communities In Groundwater, Kayla Koenig

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Prairie restoration is important for reversing the loss of biodiversity and repairing ecosystem functions humanity is dependent on diverse ecosystems. This study looks at the impact of the beginning phases of prairie restoration on groundwater geochemistry and microbial communities the relationship between them. This research project studied the geochemistry and microbial communities in five wells before, during, and after the beginning phases of the first year of a prairie restoration on the Northern Illinois University campus. Water samples were collected bimonthly for a year and analyzed on an Ion Chromatograph. Microbial samples were collected monthly and underwent DNA extraction, amplification, …


Biomechanical Evaluation Of Hand Representation For Typing In Virtual Reality, Mobasshira Zaman Jan 2022

Biomechanical Evaluation Of Hand Representation For Typing In Virtual Reality, Mobasshira Zaman

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming popular in the workplace recently. Text entry is thus now important for efficient office use and occupational use of VR, and VR paired with a conventional keyboard is suitable for long text entry. There has been a lack of research on physical demand, posture, motion, and cognitive demand, along with the performance of typing on VR. Presence of virtual hands while typing in VR may affect typing performance, physical demand, and posture. The focus of this study was to evaluate the biomechanical effect of hand representation for typing on VR using a conventional keyboard. Fifteen …


Teaching And Learning Numeracy In Health Sciences: A High School Health Classroom Case Study, Jasmina Mesic Jan 2022

Teaching And Learning Numeracy In Health Sciences: A High School Health Classroom Case Study, Jasmina Mesic

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

High school health science teacher professional development (TPD) is one learning environment where emphasis on numeracy and nutritional health literacy can make lifelong positive impacts on the health and wellbeing of youth. It has been estimated that only 33% of United States adults have limited numeracy skills and that only 12% are health literate. The purpose of this study was to begin the development of a high school health science TPD focused on numeracy and nutritional health literacy and to assist the teacher in delivering subject matter using brain-based learning principles. An exploratory case study design was selected as the …


Characterization And Quantification Of Far Red Oxygen Production Rates In Acaryochloris Spp., Jose Manuel Orench-Benvenutti Jan 2022

Characterization And Quantification Of Far Red Oxygen Production Rates In Acaryochloris Spp., Jose Manuel Orench-Benvenutti

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Oxygenic photosynthesis is one of the primary metabolisms on Earth responsible for the evolution of complex life. Its advent around the Archean steadily increased Earth’s atmospheric oxygen from negligible amounts to biologically impressive quantities. Atmospheric oxygen is the sole result of billions of years of biological oxygenation and no abiotic process can account for its high presence in the Earth’s atmosphere. Understanding its origins and evolution can lead us to better understand Earth’s biological history and the possibility of analogues elsewhere. A research path that could lead to answers is comparing distinct incorporations of photopigments in various oxygenic phototrophs. In …


A Study Of Mutations In Sars-Cov-2 Genomes, Michael Andrew Welford Jan 2022

A Study Of Mutations In Sars-Cov-2 Genomes, Michael Andrew Welford

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-Cov-2 virus has affected the lives of everyone around the world. There has been a rapid appearance of new variants. As the variants affected the efficacy of vaccines, it is important to study the mutations of the variants. A pipeline of tools, SARS-CoV-2 Analyzer, was created to study the mutations in the most mutated S-gene of SARS-Cov-2. Two batches of data were used in this study: all samples available at The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) were downloaded in September 2021 (before the emergence of the first omicron variant) and December 2021 (after …


The Ecology And Dispersal Of The Avian Vampire Fly In Its Native And Invasive Ranges, Carly M. Crow Jan 2022

The Ecology And Dispersal Of The Avian Vampire Fly In Its Native And Invasive Ranges, Carly M. Crow

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Invasive species are considered a leading threat to global biodiversity. There are three major steps in a successful invasion: 1. A species arrives to a non-native location 2. It establishes a breeding population 3. It spreads beyond the location of arrival. The need to understand what variables facilitate a successful invasion across these steps is pressing, especially when considering systems that are vulnerable to biodiversity loss such as islands. The first chapter of this thesis focuses on the arrival step of an invasion. I present research on insects found on a tourist boat traveling between islands in the Galapagos archipelago. …


Nutrient Scarcity And Cellular Cooperation In A Clonal Hydroid, Weam S. El Rahmany Jan 2022

Nutrient Scarcity And Cellular Cooperation In A Clonal Hydroid, Weam S. El Rahmany

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Biological complexity forms when lower-level units (e.g., genes, cells, organisms) cooperatively band together. This complexity may be exemplified by multicellularity, the cooperation between the cells of the same species, or symbiosis, cooperation between the cells of different species. This cooperation is under continual threat, as defection, the opposite of cooperation, is favored by default by lower-level units (i.e., cells). Animal cancers may be the most well-known phenomena that exemplify the concept of cellular defection. Cancer cells have been shown to feature morphological and metabolic traits, developed through differential gene expression or mutations, that favor their growth at the cost of …


An Investigation Of The Sled-Push Exercise In Older Adults: Physiological Quantification, Perceived Enjoyment And Body Discomfort, Micheal A. Baumann Jan 2022

An Investigation Of The Sled-Push Exercise In Older Adults: Physiological Quantification, Perceived Enjoyment And Body Discomfort, Micheal A. Baumann

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Healthy aging is defined as the process of maintaining and developing functional ability that allows a state of mental and physical wellbeing. Physical activity, particularly exercise training, has been highly recommended for individuals of all ages, especially older adults, as way to maintain, improve or restore functional ability and health. Different modalities and types of exercise have been successfully tested in older adults but not much is known about the potential of the sled-push exercise in this population, a modality that has been highly used among athletes to improve cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle strength and endurance, and core stability. PURPOSE: The …


Representations And Perceptions Of Sexual Pleasure In Undergraduate Anatomy And Physiology (A&P) Courses, Brenda Kucha Anak Ganeng Jan 2022

Representations And Perceptions Of Sexual Pleasure In Undergraduate Anatomy And Physiology (A&P) Courses, Brenda Kucha Anak Ganeng

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The World Health Organization defines sexual pleasure as an important part of positive sexual experiences and sexual health. Despite its importance, sexual pleasure is often omitted from sexual health programming and curricula. Undergraduate human anatomy and physiology (A&P) courses serve as avenues where students who intend to go into health care learn foundational knowledge about human body systems and health; however, to our knowledge, there has been no documentation of if and how A&P students learn about sexual pleasure. A&P textbooks serve as an important resource for curriculum design and learning. I sought to answer the following research question: How …


Validation Of Prmr Equations In A Non-Caucasian Sample – Ethnicity As A Variable In Predicting Resting Metabolic Rate, Erin N. Bannister Jan 2022

Validation Of Prmr Equations In A Non-Caucasian Sample – Ethnicity As A Variable In Predicting Resting Metabolic Rate, Erin N. Bannister

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study intends to identify a predictive resting metabolic rate (pRMR) equation that is predictive of the measured resting metabolic rate (mRMR) in a sample that includes a group of Black Americans. The handful of commonly used pRMR equations, such as the Mifflin- St. Jeor or Harris-Benedict equations, were created without defining the demographics of their populations, while validation of these equations is typically done with almost exclusively Caucasian subjects. Black and brown Americans require the same evidence of precision in predictions of daily energy needs as Caucasian Americans. When applied to non-Caucasian samples, these equations appear in the literature …


Fruits Of Our Labor: Exploring The Impacts Of A Nonprofit Seed Bank On Indigenous Communities In The Southwestern United States, Rachel Mary Davis Jan 2022

Fruits Of Our Labor: Exploring The Impacts Of A Nonprofit Seed Bank On Indigenous Communities In The Southwestern United States, Rachel Mary Davis

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores the ways that the nonprofit Native Seeds/SEARCH, of Tucson, Arizona interfaces with Indigenous communities and the local seed and food systems in the Southwest United States. The thesis argues that Native seed and food sovereignty have different meanings for different Indigenous people, and that nonprofits working with Indigenous communities need to consider input from them when deciding how to catalogue, regenerate and sustain healthy grow outs for the future, especially in the light of climate change and drought.


Grassland Bird Responses To Bison And Prescribed Fire Disturbances At Nachusa Grasslands And Kankakee Sands, Antonio Del Valle Jan 2022

Grassland Bird Responses To Bison And Prescribed Fire Disturbances At Nachusa Grasslands And Kankakee Sands, Antonio Del Valle

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Grazing from native herbivores such as bison (Bison bison), in combination with prescribed fire, are applied to tallgrass prairies by managers to recreate important disturbance patterns in this ecosystem. Bird communities may be indirectly impacted by these disturbances through their direct impact on plants that provides critical breeding habitat for grassland birds. The objectives of this research are to determine the impacts that bison and prescribed fire have on grassland breeding birds in two tallgrass prairie preserves, Kankakee Sands and Nachusa Grasslands. Birds, vegetation structure, and bison activity were surveyed systematically at these two preserves in 2020 and 2021. Prescribed …


Wetland Restoration Efforts Result In Increasing Phylogenetic Diversity, Nicholas T. Foster Jan 2022

Wetland Restoration Efforts Result In Increasing Phylogenetic Diversity, Nicholas T. Foster

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Over the course of ecological restoration efforts, it has been observed that, despite restoration activities, species richness sometimes declines in a given habitat. While this response can be interpreted to mean that restoration activities are ineffective, other measures known as Phylogenetic Diversity Metrics can show that the community is actually becoming more diverse. Utilizing plant inventories collected as transect data from 1992-2021 of five wetland sites under various types of restoration in northern Illinois, a regional wetland community phylogeny was assembled. The community phylogeny was then analyzed for phylogenetic diversity measures through this 30-year period across the five sites. Additionally, …


Caregivers’ Inclination To See Their Children As Psychological Agents And Its Antecedents: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Parental Bonding, Reflective Functioning, And Maternal Mind-Mindedness, Chun-Hao Chiu Jan 2022

Caregivers’ Inclination To See Their Children As Psychological Agents And Its Antecedents: A Cross-Cultural Study Of Parental Bonding, Reflective Functioning, And Maternal Mind-Mindedness, Chun-Hao Chiu

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation examined difference in maternal mind-mindedness among American mothers, Taiwanese mothers, and mothers who emigrated from Taiwan and had their first child in the United States (Taiwanese Immigrant Mothers). It also investigated relationships between maternal mind-mindedness and mothers’ bonding with their parents during early years and their general mentalizing abilities for these three groups of mothers. One hundred twenty-three American mothers (Mage = 33.33 years old; SD = 5.31), 129 Taiwanese mothers (Mage = 35.93 years old; SD = 4.05), and 105 Taiwanese Immigrant Mothers (Mage = 36.85 years old; SD = 4.42) participated in this study online, through …


The Effect Of Fatigue On Lower Extremity Electromyography During Clean Performance In Elite Female Weightlifters, John A. Littner Jan 2022

The Effect Of Fatigue On Lower Extremity Electromyography During Clean Performance In Elite Female Weightlifters, John A. Littner

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The clean is a primary movement in the sport of Olympic weightlifting. Management of fatigue is essential to optimizing weightlifting performance. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of fatigue on EMG activation during clean performance in elite female weightlifters. Electromyography (EMG) data was collected bilaterally from the vastus lateralis (VM) and vastus lateralis (VL) during maximum voluntary isometric contraction (MVIC) and clean trials. Muscle activity was collected during pre- and post-fatigue clean trials at 60%, 70%, and 80% of the subject’s self-reported one repetition maximum (1RM). Subjects completed a fatiguing protocol consisting of two sets of …


Promoting Personal And Social Responsibility In Higher Education, Karisa L. Kuipers Jan 2022

Promoting Personal And Social Responsibility In Higher Education, Karisa L. Kuipers

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation utilizes a three-paper approach to explore the topic of promoting personal and social responsibility (PSR) in higher education. Paper one is a conceptual piece that examines the alignment between the Teaching Personal and Social Responsibility (TPSR) model and PSR in higher education. The paper proposed a kinesiology-based framework (i.e., the TPSR model) to assist in defining, implementing, and evaluating PSR education with post-secondary students. The paper offered a general overview of the higher education landscape and then presented its alignment with the TPSR model. Recommendations for implementing the framework into higher education were shared, and challenges with integrating …


Fluorescent Cellular Assays For Kinase Inhibitors, Myar Mohamed Jan 2022

Fluorescent Cellular Assays For Kinase Inhibitors, Myar Mohamed

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

One of the most successful and fastest growing groups of kinase inhibitors are small molecules that compete with ATP binding. Kinase function is closely related to many diseases, specifically cancer. Kinases within living cells are essential elements in signaling cascades and post-translational modifications. However, actual kinase activity and the efficacy of its inhibitors in living systems are hard to evaluate. A way to assess inhibitor activity is through cellular assays that directly report the inhibitor’s engagement in native environments. Our goal is to develop a simple near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent HTS-compatible cellular assay for kinase inhibitor profiling in native cellular environments. …


The Effects Of Rater Training On Rater Effects And Validity Of Direct Behavior Ratings, Abigail E. Pruitt Jan 2022

The Effects Of Rater Training On Rater Effects And Validity Of Direct Behavior Ratings, Abigail E. Pruitt

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Educators have a responsibility to accurately measure student behavior in order to identify students in need of additional behavioral support. Current behavior screening tools can be lengthy or difficult to complete, and Direct Behavior Ratings (DBRs) offer a solution. However, DBRs are rater-mediated assessments, prone to rater effects. Rater training methods can be used to mitigate these rater effects, but previous research has not investigated the best training method for reduction of rater effects. Additionally, Many Facet Rasch Measurement (MFRM) provides an opportunity to adjust student ratings in response to individual rater tendencies of severity and leniency. Therefore, the primary …


Study Protocol To Analyze The Effects Of Posture And Exoskeleton On Human Exposure To Hand-Transmitted Vibration, Parisa Torkinejad Ziarati Jan 2022

Study Protocol To Analyze The Effects Of Posture And Exoskeleton On Human Exposure To Hand-Transmitted Vibration, Parisa Torkinejad Ziarati

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Exposure to power hand tool-generated vibrations may lead to several health disorders collectively known as hand-arm vibration (HAV) syndromes. Power hand tools are often used in overhead postures in the manufacturing and construction industries. However, HAV risks are examined in the front-of-body posture in the existing safety standards and guidelines. Therefore, it is important to understand the effects of overhead working posture on vibration transmissibility (VT) in the upper extremities (UEs) and the spine. Secondly, there is a rising trend of using occupational exoskeletons (Exos) in the manufacturing and construction industries, especially involving overhead work with power hand tools. However, …