Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Ambient Ionization - Mass Spectrometry: Advances Toward Intrasurgical Cancer Detection, Alan Keith Jarmusch

Open Access Dissertations

My dissertation research has focused on the development of ambient ionization – mass spectrometry (MS) for clinical measurements, specifically intrasurgical cancer detection. The molecular differences between normal and cancerous tissue were detected via direct tissue analysis in vitro by touch spray ionization (TS) or by analyzing sectioned or smeared tissue using desorption electrospray ionization (DESI). The physical form of the tissue, e.g. in vitro sampling, sectioned, or smeared, was inconsequential in differentiating normal from cancerous tissue; however, the spectra acquired by TS and DESI differed due to differences in ionization processes. We envision that TS-MS and DESI-MS could impact diagnostic …

Gonadal Intersex In Teleosts: Mechanisms, Molecular Biomarkers And Diagnostic Assays, Ahmed M.E. Abdel-Moneim Mohamed

Open Access Dissertations

Natural and synthetic estrogenic and androgenic compounds are continuously released into aquatic ecosystems. Exposure of teleost fishes to these contaminants can negatively impact sex differentiation and reproductive output. Specifically, development of gonadal intersex in gonochoristic (fixed sex) fish species has been studied extensively in relation to exposure to this class of compounds. The main objectives of this dissertation were to: 1) conduct field and laboratory studies to investigate the molecular signaling pathways behind the development of gonadal intersex; and 2) establish molecular biomarkers and assays for testing the ability of environmental pollutants to develop this condition using a battery of …

Detangling The Interrelationships Between Self-Regulation And Ill-Structured Problem Solving In Problem-Based Learning, Xun Ge, Victor Law, Kun Huang

Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem-Based Learning

One of the goals for problem-based learning (PBL) is to promote self-regulation. Although self-regulation has been studied extensively, its interrelationships with ill-structured problem solving have been unclear. In order to clarify the interrelationships, this article proposes a conceptual framework illustrating the iterative processes among problem-solving stages (i.e., problem representation and solution generation) and self-regulation phases (i.e., planning, execution, and reflection). The dynamics of the interrelationships are further illustrated with three ill-structured problem-solving examples in different domains (i.e., information problem solving, historical inquiry, and science inquiry). The proposed framework contributes to research and practice by providing a new lens to examine …

Analyzing Sports Training Data With Machine Learning Techniques, Rehana Mahfuz, Zeinab Mourad, Aly El Gamal

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

In the sports industry, there has not been enough effort in analyzing the personalized monitoring data of athletes collected during training sessions. This research is an attempt to find meaningful patterns in the Purdue Women’s Soccer training data that could help the coach design more efficient training sessions. We are specifically interested in studying this problem as an unsupervised learning problem. Our initial attempt is to cluster the players as well as drills into groups using k-means, c-means and spectral clustering algorithms, combined with feature transformation and reduction steps. These basic algorithms serve as a benchmark to measure performance improvements …

Assembly Of Nucleic Acid-Based Nanoparticles By Gas-Liquid Segmented Flow Microfluidics, Matthew L. Capek, Ross Verheul, David H. Thompson

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

The development of novel and efficient mixing methods is important for optimizing the efficiency of many biological and chemical processes. Tuning the physical and performance properties of nucleic acid-based nanoparticles is one such example known to be strongly affected by mixing efficiency. The characteristics of DNA nanoparticles (such as size, polydispersity, ζ-potential, and gel shift) are important to ensure their therapeutic potency, and new methods to optimize these characteristics are of significant importance to achieve the highest efficacy. In the present study, a simple segmented flow microfluidics system has been developed to augment mixing of pDNA/bPEI nanoparticles. This DNA and …

A Dose Distribution Study Of Uranyl Nitrate In Zebrafish Using Liquid Scintillation And Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon Detectors, Lee A. Alleman

Open Access Theses

Standard curves for a Perkin Elmer TriCarb 2800 liquid scintillation detector (LSC) and a Ludlum 3030p Passivated Implanted Planar Silicon detector have been developed and utilized for studying the dose distribution of depleted uranium (DU) within zebrafish. The DU source was crystallized uranyl nitrate (N2O8U•6H2O) solution, normally used for staining in electron microscopy with a manufactured average specific activity of 0.3 uCi/g. Zebrafish, both larvae and adults, were exposed to three different mass concentrations, dissected, dissolved and counted using an LSC. The counts were compared to the standard curve correlating the measured activity to that of the mass absorbed. It …

Manufacturer Perspectives On Content Transparency And Material Health In The Us Building Products Industry, Alexandra A. Muller

Open Access Theses

Flawed U.S. federal regulation of chemicals has resulted in a materials market that undervalues human and environmental health in favor of the more traditional attributes of price, performance and aesthetics. In the building products industry, global, dynamic supply chains and proprietary information concerns further complicate the task of assessing the material health of products.

Voluntary material health programs in the green building industry are intended to incentivize the manufacture and selection of safer products by getting companies to gather and assess ingredient, hazard and risk information from their supply chain. Building product manufacturers considered early adopters of the main material …

Focusing On Selection For Fixation, John K. Tsotsos, Calden Wloka, Yulia Kotseruba

MODVIS Workshop

Building on our presentation at MODVIS 2015, we continue in our quest to discover a functional, computational, explanation of the relationship among visual attention, interpretation of visual stimuli, and eye movements, and how these produce visual behavior. Here, we focus on one component, how selection is accomplished for the next fixation. The popularity of saliency map models drives the inference that this is solved; we suggested otherwise at MODVIS 2015. Here, we provide additional empirical and theoretical arguments. We then develop arguments that a cluster of complementary, conspicuity representations drive selection, modulated by task goals and history, leading to a …

Managing Your Professional Identity: Leveraging Social Media And Emerging Metrics To Demonstrate Professional Impact, Megan R. Sapp Nelson

Libraries Faculty and Staff Presentations

This session will assist graduate students to deliberately develop an online professional identity that will uniquely identify them as an academic as well as positively highlight their personal strengths.

Students will walk away with a plan to create a unique professional identifier and an understanding of how to measure the impact of online scholarly communication.

Topics included are:

ORCID ID

social media, such as LinkedIn & ResearchGate

Alternative Metrics (Altmetrics), such has Kudos, ImpactStory, & AltMetric

Data repositories, such as GitHub & FigShare

A Study Of Alterations In Dna Epigenetic Modifications (5mc And 5hmc) And Gene Expression Influenced By Simulated Microgravity In Human Lymphoblastoid Cells, Basudev Chowdhury, Arun Seetharam, Zhiping Wang, Yunlong Liu, Amy C. Lossie, Jyothi Thimmapuram

Cyber Center Publications

Cells alter their gene expression in response to exposure to various environmental changes. Epigenetic mechanisms such as DNA methylation are believed to regulate the alterations in gene expression patterns. In vitro and in vivo studies have documented changes in cellular proliferation, cytoskeletal remodeling, signal transduction, bone mineralization and immune deficiency under the influence of microgravity conditions experienced in space. However microgravity induced changes in the epigenome have not been well characterized. In this study we have used Next-generation Sequencing (NGS) to profile ground-based “simulated” microgravity induced changes on DNA methylation (5-methylcytosine or 5mC), hydroxymethylation (5-hydroxymethylcytosine or 5hmC), and simultaneous gene …