Digital Commons Network^™

Transcriptome Sequencing Of The Blind Subterranean Mole Rat, Spalax Galili: Utility And Potential For The Discovery Of Novel Evolutionary Patterns, Assaf Malik, Abraham Korol, Sariel Hubner, Aaron Avivi, Alvaro Hernandez, Jyothi Thimmapuram, Shahjahan Ali, Mark Bond, Fabian Glaser, Arnon Paz

Cyber Center Publications

The blind subterranean mole rat (Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies) is a model animal for survival under extreme environments due to its ability to live in underground habitats under severe hypoxic stress and darkness. Here we report the transcriptome sequencing of Spalax galili, a chromosomal type of S. ehrenbergi. cDNA pools from muscle and brain tissues isolated from animals exposed to hypoxic and normoxic conditions were sequenced using Sanger, GS FLX, and GS FLX Titanium technologies. Assembly of the sequences yielded over 51,000 isotigs with homology to ~12,000 mouse, rat or human genes. Based on these results, it was …

Flow-Induced Responses Of Normal, Bowed, And Augmented Synthetic Vocal Fold Models, Preston Roylance Murray

Theses and Dissertations

The voice is the primary mode of communication for humans. Because the voice is so important, voice disorders tend to severely diminish quality of life. A better understanding of the physics of voice production can help to improve treatment of voice disorders. For this thesis research a self-oscillating synthetic vocal fold model was developed, compared with previous synthetic vocal fold models, and used to explore the physical effects of augmentation injections on vibration dynamics. The research was conducted in two stages. First, four vocal fold models were evaluated by quantifying onset pressure, frequency, maximum glottal gap, flow rate, and medial …

Smb-Interp: An N-Th Order Accurate, Distributed Interpolation Library, Stephen Mardson Mcquay

Theses and Dissertations

The research contained herein yielded an open source interpolation library implemented in and designed for use with the Python programming language. This library, named smbinterp, provides an interpolation to an arbitrary degree of accuracy. The library is parametric in that is can take input from the user to adjust the underlying interpolation mechanism. The characteristics and behavior of the library according to the adjustment of these parameters is presented herein, as well as the results of a mesh resolution study depicting the accuracy obtained by the library. The smbinterp library was designed with parallel computing environments in mind. The library …

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program 2011, Nicholle Booker, University Of Nevada, Las Vegas

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

On August 9, 2011 the UNLV College of Sciences will celebrate the accomplishments of undergraduate students participating in the Summer 2011 Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP) and the Research Experience For Undergraduates (REU) Program.

The public is invited to attend, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

Please join us to view student research posters. Student research topics include: biomedicine and human health, Nevada's fragile environment and ecosystems, climate change, stem cell research, microbiology, astrophysics, and many others.

Over 25 UNLV undergraduates and a cohort of 25 undergraduates selected from colleges and universities across the nation will mark the …

Methods Of Using Black Bear Parathyroid Hormone, Seth W. Donahue

Michigan Tech Patents

Black bear parathyroid hormone (PTH) and functional fragments thereof are provided. Also provided are methods of using black bear PTH and functional fragments for increasing cAMP in a bone-forming cell; reducing apoptosis in a boneforming cell; decreasing the ratio of expression levels of Bax protein to Bcl-2 protein in a bone-forming cell; increasing the expression level of one or more of a bone matrix protein, a transcriptional activator, or a transcriptional regulator in a bone-forming cell; enhancing bone mineral density, increasing bone mass, decreasing bone loss, or reducing the incidence of bone fractures, or any combination thereof, in a subject; …

Carotid Plaque Regression Following 6-Month Statin Therapy Assessed By 3t Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance: Comparison With Ultrasound Intima Media Thickness, Raymond Q. Migrino, Mark Bowers, Leanne Harmann, Robert W. Prost, John F. Ladisa

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Background

Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) allows volumetric carotid plaque measurement that has advantage over 2-dimensional ultrasound (US) intima-media thickness (IMT) in evaluating treatment response. We tested the hypothesis that 6-month statin treatment in patients with carotid plaque will lead to plaque regression when measured by 3 Tesla CMR but not by IMT.

Methods

Twenty-six subjects (67 ± 2 years, 7 females) with known carotid plaque (> 1.1 mm) and coronary or cerebrovascular atherosclerotic disease underwent 3T CMR (T1, T2, proton density and time of flight sequences) and US at baseline and following 6 months of statin therapy (6 had initiation, …

Effect Of Au Content On Microstructural Evolution Of Snagcu Solder Joints That Undergo Isothermal Aging And Reliability Testing, Patrick J. Hyland

Master's Theses

Electronics, especially, printed circuit boards (PCBs) are a widespread technology. Metal coatings or “surface finishes” are often added to PCB board pads and component leads during manufacturing to improve their performance. Electroplated nickel/gold over copper is a popular surface finish for printed circuit boards and component leads. The presence of gold in solder joints, however, is known to have detrimental effects referred to as gold embrittlement. It is generally understood that tin-lead solder joints with less than 3 weight percent (wt%) of gold will not experience reliability issues. The acceptable level of gold in lead-free solder joints, however, is less …

Density-Based Fuzzy Clustering As A First Step To Learning The Rules: Challenges And Possible Solutions, Gözde Ulutagay, Vladik Kreinovich

Departmental Technical Reports (CS)

In many practical situations, it is necessary to cluster given situations, i.e., to divide them into groups so that situations within each group are similar to each other. This is how we humans usually make decisions: instead of taking into account all the tiny details of a situation, we classify the situation into one of the few groups, and then make a decision depending on the group containing a given situation. When we have many situations, we can describe the probability density of different situations. In terms of this density, clusters are connected sets with higher density separated by sets …

Influence Of Natural Organic Matter On Plutonium Sorption To Gibbsite, Laura Simpkins

All Theses

Understanding plutonium geochemical behavior is imperative to the development of schemes for remediation of plutonium environmental contamination and accurate assessment of risks posed by the disposal of plutonium bearing wastes. The primary mechanism of plutonium mobility in the environment is subsurface transport. The mobility of plutonium is significantly influenced by redox and complexation reactions. Although the effects of surface mediated redox reactions on plutonium's subsurface mobility have been previously documented, little has been done to determine the impact of organic materials on sorption behavior and oxidation states. To adequately predict the behavior of plutonium in the environment, the influence of …

An Investigation Into Segmenting Traffic Images Using Various Types Of Graph Cuts, Jonathan Dinger

All Theses

In computer vision, graph cuts are a way of segmenting an image into multiple areas. Graphs are built using one node for each pixel in the image combined with two extra nodes, known as the source and the sink. Each node is connected to several other nodes using edges, and each edge has a specific weight. Using different weighting schemes, different segmentations can be performed based on the properties used to create the weights. The cuts themselves are performed using an implementation of a solution to the maximum flow problem, which is then changed into a minimum cut according to …

Determination Of Freshwater Algal Biomass And Sulfolipid Content As Functions Of Inorganic Carbon Treatment, Melissa Morella

All Theses

Cultures of mixed freshwater algae were grown in open batch reactors made up of modified BG-11 media that contained 0, 25, 50 or 100% of the suggested inorganic carbon content (0, 0.5, 0.1 and 0.2 g/L Na₂CO₃) to assess the subsequent production of the high-value product, sulfoquinovosyl diacylglycerol (SQDG). After 25 days of growth, the reactors were composed of primarily Oscillatoria growth. All four reactors exhibited a trend of increasing biomass and alkalinity with time, and an initial increase then decrease in pH. The total inorganic carbon (TIC) in all reactors exhibited a mirrored, opposite trend …

Articulated Mechanism Design And Kinematics For Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery Robot, Wei Jian Chin

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Natural Orifice Translumenal Endoscopic Surgery (NOTES) is a fairly recent surgical approach that eliminates the need for external incisions on the patient. NOTES takes the minimally invasive surgery paradigm a step further by using a natural orifice as the pathway to transport surgical tools to the surgical site and completely eliminating the need for even the smallest incision on the skin. Although the concept of NOTES has been in existence for the past decade, technological deficiencies prevent it from being widely accepted in human surgeries. A novel multifunctional robot for NOTES has been developed to overcome these limitations and make …

Substrate Topography Design And Fabrication For Osteoblast And Dental Pulp Stem Cells Studies, Gloria Chen

All Theses

Research for cell guidance based tissue engineering has rapidly grown due to the increasing interest in tissue engineering and reconstructive medicine applications, such as cranial reconstruction. Many research teams have begun the process of identifying what factors influence cell behavior (including cell growth, proliferation, alignment and spreading). Published studies have pointed to the influence of the cell medial pH, substrate stiffness, chemistry and topography. Conclusive results are often hard to identify since researchers often vary many of these factors simultaneously and it is hard to decouple individual factor influence. These reports also points out that the cellular response can be …

Groundwater Contamination Potential In Northern Nevada From Mining, Associated Communities, And Agriculture As Forecasted By Two Vulnerability Methods, John L. Swatzell

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Two methodologies, DRASTIC and the NDEP method, were used to compare the groundwater vulnerability of mining, associated towns, and agricultural areas in northern Nevada. The DRASTIC and NDEP methods were compared to determine which method produces a more accurate depiction of vulnerability. Vulnerability maps were created using the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) DRASTIC and Nevada Department of Environmental Protection (NDEP) methodologies. The DRASTIC map uses seven aspect layers of geologic and hydrologic information with assigned values and weights that are applied to a mathematical equation. The NDEP method uses field data collection for potential contaminant sources and well …

Traffic Safety: Modeling, Analysis And Visualization, Puneet Lakhanpal

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Traffic Safety has always been one of the major issues of concern in United States. Every year, stringent efforts are made by the national agencies and safety offices to uplift the traffic safety standards and build systems which can guide them in policy making, reducing crashes and routing the financial resources in an optimal direction. This thesis studies the traffic safety from three different angles: modeling, analysis and visualization. In the beginning, these three components are explored in the domain of Injury Severity. Later on, the focus is shifted towards the Traffic Safety related to Safety Belts. Factors and models …

Targeted Multistage Delivery Of Nanoparticles To The Bone Marrow, Aman Mann

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Bone marrow is a target organ site involved in multiple diseases including myeloproliferative disorders and hematologic malignancies and metastases from breast and prostate. Most of these diseases are characterized with poor quality of life, and the treatment options are only palliative due to lack of delivery mechanisms for systemically injected drugs which results in dose limitation to protect the healthy hematopoietic cells. Therefore, there is a critical need to develop effective therapeutic strategies that allow for selective delivery of therapeutic payload to the bone marrow. Nanotechnology-based drug delivery systems provide the opportunity to deliver drugs to the target tissue while …

Capturing The Lost Phosphorus, Bruce E. Rittmann, Brooke K. Mayer, Paul Westerhoff, Mark Edwards

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Minable phosphorus (P) reserves are being depleted and will need to be replaced by recovering P that currently is lost from the agricultural system, causing water-quality problems. The largest two flows of lost P are in agricultural runoff and erosion (∼46% of mined P globally) and animal wastes (∼40%). These flows are quite distinct. Runoff has a very high volumetric flow rate, but a low P concentration; animal wastes have low flow rates, but a high P concentration together with a high concentration of organic material. Recovering the lost P in animal wastes is technically and economically more tractable, and …

Benefits Of Near-Term Cloud Location Forecasting For Large Solar Pv, Timothy Robert Rudd

Master's Theses

As the ‘green’ energy movement continues to gain momentum, photovoltaic generation is becoming an increasingly popular source for new power generation. The primary focus of this paper is to demonstrate the benefits of close-to real-time cloud sensing for Photovoltaic generation. In order to benefit from this close-to real-time data, a source of cloud cover information is necessary. This paper looks into the potential of point insolation sensors to determine overhead cloud coverage. A look into design considerations and economic challenges of implementing such a monitoring system is included. The benefits of cloud location sensing are examined using computer simulations to …

Equivalent Circuit Implementation Of Demyelinated Human Neuron In Spice, Nathan A. Angel

Master's Theses

This work focuses on modeling a demyelinated Hodgkin and Huxley (HH) neuron with Simulated Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis (SPICE) platform. Demyelinating disorders affect over 350,000 people in the U.S and understanding the demyelination process at the cellular level is necessary to find safe ways to treat the diseases [9]. Utilizing a previous SPICE model of an electrically small cell neuron developed by Szlavik [32], an extended core conductor myelinated neuron was produced in this work. The myelinated neuron developed has seven active Nodes of Ranvier (nodes) separated by a myelin sheath. The myelin sheath can be successfully modeled with …

Zeolite‐Based Algae Biofilm Rotating Photobioreactor For Algae And Biomass Production, Ashton M. Young

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alkaline conditions induced by algae growth in wastewater stabilization ponds create deprotonated ammonium ions that result in ammonia gas (NH₃) volatilization. If algae are utilized to remediate wastewater through uptake of phosphorus, the resulting nitrogen loss will hinder this process because algae generally require a stoichiometric molar ratio of N₁₆P₁. Lower ratios of N/P due to loss of ammonia gas will limit the growth and yield of algae, and therefore will reduce phosphorus removal from the water phase into the algae phase. In order to reduce nitrogen loss through volatilization, an ammonium selective zeolite, …

Expression And Characterization Of Protein Chimera With Embedded Activated Protein C Generation, Minjeong Schneider

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Increasing demand of medical implants has lead researchers to develop biomaterial surfaces that offer improved performance and lower thrombogenecity. There have been attempts to model biomaterial surfaces after the native endothelium as it represents an optimal non-thrombotic surface. Typically, when biomaterials are contacted with blood, they often invoke the activation of clotting cascades. Thus, to overcome surface mediated thrombotic events, proteins and molecules with anticoagulant attributes of the endothelium have been immobilized onto biomaterial surfaces. Protein C (PC) plays a main role in blood coagulation and acts as an anticoagulant when it is converted into activated protein C (APC). Activation …

Low-Resolution Vision For Autonomous Mobile Robots, Vidya Nariyambut Murali

All Dissertations

The goal of this research is to develop algorithms using low-resolution images to perceive and understand a typical indoor environment and thereby enable a mobile robot to autonomously navigate such an environment. We present techniques for three problems: autonomous exploration, corridor classification, and minimalistic geometric representation of an indoor environment for navigation.
First, we present a technique for mobile robot exploration in unknown indoor environments using only a single forward-facing camera. Rather than processing all the data, the method intermittently examines only small 32X24 downsampled grayscale images. We show that for the task of indoor exploration the visual information is …

Using Discrete Event Computer Simulation To Analyze The Effects Of Proposed Changes To Personnel In A Hospital Medical Laboratory, Gerardo Morales

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

A discrete event computer simulation is used to model a portion of the medical laboratory at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance in order to assess the current situation as well as to review the planed personnel changes. The area under observation is the section in which the processor(s) receive, label and distribute the patient samples. There are four cases modeled in the simulation: The main focus is to determine if one or two processors are needed per shift and if the high level of phone calls poses a significant delay to the processors’ workflow. The simulation results indicate that having two …

Numerical Modeling Of Aquaculture Dissolved Waste Transport In A Coastal Embayment, Subhas K. Venayagamoorthy, Hyeyun Ku, Oliver B. Fringer, Alice Chiu, Rosamond L. Naylor, Jeffrey R. Koseff

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Marine aquaculture is expanding rapidly without reliable quantification of effluents. The present study focuses on understanding the transport of dissolved wastes from aquaculture pens in near-coastal environments using the hydrodynamics code SUNTANS (Stanford Unstructured Nonhydrostatic Terrain-following Adaptive Navier-Stokes Simulator), which employs unstructured grids to compute flows in the coastal ocean at very high resolution. Simulations of a pollutant concentration field (in time and space) as a function of the local environment (bathymetry), flow conditions (tides and wind-induced currents), and the location of the pens were performed to study their effects on the evolution of the waste plume. The presence of …

Controlled Release Of 6-Aminonicotinamide From Aligned, Electrospun Fibers Alters Astrocyte Metabolism And Dorsal Root Ganglia Neurite Outgrowth, Nicholas J. Schaub, Ryan J. Gilbert

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Following central nervous system (CNS) injury, activated astrocytes form a glial scar that inhibits the migration of axons ultimately leading to regeneration failure. Biomaterials developed for CNS repair can provide local delivery of therapeutics and/or guidance mechanisms to encourage cell migration into damaged regions of the brain or spinal cord. Electro spun fibers are a promising type of biomaterial for CNS injury since these fibers can direct cellular and axonal migration while slowly delivering therapy to the injury site. In this study, it was hypothesized that inclusion of an anti-metabolite, 6-aminonicotinamide (6AN), within poly-l-lactic acid electro spun fibers could attenuate …

Silk Fibroin-Based Scaffolds For Tissue Engineering Applications, Jennifer Mccool

Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on the comparison of the electrospun silk scaffolds to the electrospun silk fibroin gel scaffolds. Moreover, this study examined the differences in cross-linking effects of genipin and methanol as well as solvents on the mechanical properties and cell compatibility of the scaffolds. Silk scaffolds were electrospun from an aqueous solution or 1,1,1,3,3-hexafluoro-2-propanol (HFIP) without genipin, immediately after 8 % (wt) genipin was added to the solution, and 18 hours after genipin blended with the solution. Uniaxial tensile testing determined that the silk scaffolds electrospun from water exhibit a higher modulus and peak stress than that of the …

Applied And Mechanistic Studies Of Microbial 17beta-Estradiol Degradation, Zhongtian Li

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The presence of natural estrogens, a class of endocrine disrupting compounds, in water has caused increasing concerns over their adverse impacts on the health of aquatic eco-systems and human beings. In this study, adsorption characteristics of two natural estrogens, 17β-estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1), on granular activated carbon (GAC) were investigated in isotherm tests and in a GAC column. The GAC column was then converted to a biologically active carbon (BAC) column and the removal efficiency of E2 and its primary biodegradation intermediate E1 were monitored. During BAC operation, the impacts of various reactor operation parameters, such as the carbon …

Automating The Fret Slotting Process Using A Plc Controlled 1.5 Axis Mill, James Stratton

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

Stratton, James A. M.S., Purdue University, August 2011. Automating the Fret Slotting Process Using a PLC Controlled 1.5 Axis CNC Mill. Major Professor: Richard Mark French.

Can automation assist small job shops and hobbyists in the production of stringed instruments? This research set out to answer the question using a quantitative approach to determine if an economical CNC machine could be produced in such a fashion as to seamlessly join the workshop as an affordable, yet precise instrument to aid in the production of stringed instruments. The key was to incorporate common industrial automation equipment into the operation of the …

53rd Rocky Mountain Conference On Analytical Chemistry

Rocky Mountain Conference on Magnetic Resonance

Final program, abstracts, and information about the 53rd annual meeting of the Rocky Mountain Conference on Analytical Chemistry, co-endorsed by the Colorado Section of the American Chemical Society and the Society for Applied Spectroscopy. Held in Snowmass, Colorado, July 24-28, 2011.

Enhanced Degradation Of Fats, Oils And Greases In Domestic Wastewater Sewer Networks And Grease Interception Systems Using Peat Humic Substances, Matthew Hunnemeder

Theses and Dissertations

The efficacy of peat humic substances in enhancing the degradation of fats, oils and greases (FOG) was investigated under controlled laboratory conditions using bench scale well-mixed bioreactors. An experimental design was used to evaluate the effects of temperature and peat humic substance (PHS) concentration on FOG degradation in domestic wastewater for a temperature range from 10 deg.C to 30 deg.C and a PHS concentration range from 0 to 20 ppm(v). Factors and interactions significantly affecting the rate of FOG degradation were identified, and models to predict FOG degradation rates as a function of PHS concentration and temperature were developed. The …