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Our Envirome, Spring/Summer 2019, Issue 40

Sustain Magazine

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Mixing On Monochloramine Formation Through In-Line Injection Of Chemicals In Water Disinfection Process, Farhikhteh Samadi

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Addition of chlorine and ammonia to water for monochloramine formation in the secondary disinfection process in treatment plants has some challenges. Monochloramine formation as the only desirable product of the chloramination process is affected by several factors. These factors are pH, chlorine to nitrogen ratio and chemical mixing. In this study an investigation was conducted to measure the effect of mixing on monochloramine formation through direct injection of chemicals in a pipeline when keeping the other factors constant. In this study two sets of experiments were conducted. In the first study a tracer salt testing was used to find a …

Exploring The Capacity Of Bacteria For Natural Product Biosynthesis, Ozkan Fidan

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This dissertation is focused on exploring the potential of bacteria for the biosynthesis of natural products with the purposes of generating novel natural product derivatives and of improving the titer of pharmaceutically important natural products.

A wide variety of compounds from various sources have been historically used in the treatment and prevention of diseases. Natural products as a major source of new drugs are extensively explored due to their huge structural diversity and promising biological activities such as antimicrobial, anticancer, antifungal, antiviral and antioxidant properties. For instance, penicillin as an early-discovered antimicrobial agent has saved millions of lives, indicating the …

Control Of Infectious Diseases In A Metapopulation, Ceyda Best

All Dissertations

With the motivation of the complex infectious disease control problem, we provide two different approaches to model the resource allocation problem to control an epidemic in a metapopulation. All of our models utilize a detailed stochastic simulation model that is validated with the data from the 2014 Ebola epidemic. This simulation model provides a tool for comparing the performance of different policies.

The first model defines a dynamic allocation problem, which is modeled by a Markov Decision Process, and aims to find feasible and effective quarantine policies to control an epidemic with limited resources. We assume that the populations share …

Evaluation Of Data Collection Operations For Real-Time Influenza Surveillance During An Emergency, Yuwen Gu

Dissertations

It is unclear how data collection operations for surveillance alter the disease portrayal that influenza reported trends attempt to provide during an emergency. This study developed a model that simulates the collection and testing of influenza specimens after an outbreak is declared in Michigan. It performed simulation based optimization to understand which operational factors affect the biases between the growth rates of original and observed influenza incidence trends, and to quantify the predictive power of the influenza incidence trends at different points of data collection. The results show that emergency driven high risk perception increases the reporting, which leads to …

Conference Program, Christina Chan, Mattheos Koffas, Steffen Schaffer, Rashmi Kshirsagar

Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XXI

No abstract provided.

Computational Investigation Of The Interactions Between Bioactive Compounds And Biological Assemblies, Tye D. Martin

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Small, biologically active molecules with unique properties and applications are potential solutions to a wide range of threats to global health including infectious agents and neurodegenerative disease. Experimental studies on a class of oligomeric p-phenylene ethynylenes (OPEs) have shown potential both as bioactive antimicrobials and fluorescent sensing agents for tracking amyloid-β (Aβ) aggregates found in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). A second type of small molecule with potential applications in AD therapy, curcumin, has been found to interfere with Aβ fibril growth. Curcumin also attenuates Aβ-membrane interactions and Aβ toxicity. Our goal has been to use computational techniques to better understand the …

A Microfluidics-Based Cross-Flow Filtration Platform For Rapid Processing Of Amphiphilic Biomarkers From Blood, Kiersten D. Lenz

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

Early and accurate detection of bacterial infections can help save lives, prevent the spread of disease, and decrease the overuse of antibiotics. Our team at the Los Alamos National Laboratory has developed novel assays to detect bacterial biomarkers from patient blood at the point-of-care in order to facilitate a universal diagnostic platform. However, these biomarkers are amphiphilic in nature, and this biochemical property causes them to be sequestered by high-density and low-density lipoproteins (HDL and LDL) in the host’s blood. Extraction of the bacterial biomarkers from the lipoprotein complexes is thereby required for the development and deployment of a diagnostic …

Dual-Modality Smartphone-Based Fiber-Optic Microendoscope System For Early Detection Of Cervical Neoplasia, Xiangqian Hong

Dissertations (1934 -)

Cervical cancer remains the leading cause of death for women in low middle-income countries (LMICs), where the incidence and mortality of cervical cancer are disproportionately high. Due to the poor medical conditions and lack of resources, the benefits of early screening methods such Pap smear and HPV test have yet to be realized in these areas. The more viable screening option - visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) is relatively easier to implement and lower in cost. However, the effectiveness of VIA on the early detection of cervical cancer is still in question because of its low specificity, which may …

Scale Optimization Of Milkguard Biosensor For Detecting E. Coli In Human Breast Milk, Jerard Roniel Del Rosario Madamba

Bioengineering Master's Theses

Milkguard is an alginate-based biosensor developed to detect E. coli in human breast milk via the metabolism of X-gal (5-Bromo-4-Chloro-3-Indolyl β-D-Galactopyranoside) by β-galactosidase. In order to deconvolute metabolic reproducibility from scaling laws, the commercial enzyme β-galactosidase was used to mimic the biological function of the bacterial lac operon. Downscaling was explored as an optimization of the biosensor design based on numerical solutions to Fickian-based diffusion models. The characterization of large capsules (d ≅ 3 mm) and atomized microcapsules (d ≅ 300 ± 60 μm) yielded size-specific Michaelis-Menten constants. Small capsules (K_m = 3.6 x 10^-4 M; Vmax ’’ …

Using Big Data Analytics To Improve Hiv Medical Care Utilisation In South Carolina: A Study Protocol, Bankole Olatosi, Jiajia Zhang, Sharon Weissman, Jianjun Hu, Mohammad Rifat Haider, Xiaoming Li

Faculty Publications

Introduction Linkage and retention in HIV medical care remains problematic in the USA. Extensive health utilisation data collection through electronic health records (EHR) and claims data represent new opportunities for scientific discovery. Big data science (BDS) is a powerful tool for investigating HIV care utilisation patterns. The South Carolina (SC) office of Revenue and Fiscal Affairs (RFA) data warehouse captures individual-level longitudinal health utilisation data for persons living with HIV (PLWH). The data warehouse includes EHR, claims and data from private institutions, housing, prisons, mental health, Medicare, Medicaid, State Health Plan and the department of health and human services. The …

Computational Modeling Of Bacterial Outer Membranes And Development Of High-Throughput Screening Platform For Antibiotics, Huilin Ma

Dissertations - ALL

Antibiotic resistance is a major health challenge because it limits the treatment options for common infectious diseases and will cause 10 million deaths each year after 2050. There is an urgent need to reduce the misuse of antibiotics and seek new classes of antibiotics that induce less or no resistance. Despite the push for new therapeutics, there has been a precipitous decline in the number of newly approved antibacterial drugs due to a limited understanding of how bacteria adapt to the chemical stress stimuli. The development of antimicrobial resistance is especially true for Gram-negative bacteria that develop resistance to antibiotics …

Data Visualization Of Treatment Outcomes For Tuberculosis Patients, Joy Jenkins

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease, and different treatments have been discovered over the years. However, patients may develop various drug resistance levels that affect the likelihood of becoming cured or dying. In this study, we sought to employ data visualization to explore the relationship between treatment trajectory, as indicated by smear and culture results in the follow-up tests and patient outcomes. A large sample of patients have been broken down by demographics including age, gender, and drug resistance status. Sankey diagrams were used to visualize the pathway progression of the patients over time split between two time periods- months 0-6 …

Methods To Remotely Eliminate Biofilm From Medical Implants Using 2.4 Ghz Microwaves, Brett Glenn

Mechanical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Infections associated with biofilm growth are usually challenging to eradicate due to their high tolerance toward antibiotics [11, 12]. Biofilms often form on the inert surfaces of medically implanted devices [13]. No matter the sophistication, microbial infections can develop on all medical devices and tissue engineering constructs [12]. Related infections lead to 2 million cases annually in the U.S., costing the healthcare system over $5 billion in additional healthcare expenses [12].

Novel solutions to biofilm’s microbial colonization span the spectrum of engineering and science disciplines. Yet a practical solution still does not exist. The research presented here will explore a …

Chromium(Vi) And Oxyanion Remediation Of Vadose Zone Soils With Zero Valent Iron (Zvi) And Biological Reduction, Nicolas Kim Wong

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

In areas with high industrial development, soil and groundwater are often heavily contaminated with hexavalent chromium [ Cr(VI) ], which commonly occurs as the oxyanions chromate ( CrO42- ) and dichromate ( Cr2O72- ). By itself, Cr(VI) is a common contaminant in various industrial wastes, but other oxyanions such as nitrate [ NO3- ], chlorate [ ClO3- ], and perchlorate [ ClO4- ] can appear with Cr(VI) as co-contaminants based on the type of industrial waste. Cr(VI) and ClO3- occur as co-contaminants in areas where sodium chlorate is manufactured as a bleaching agent for the pulp and paper industry (ERCO …

Simulating Alternative Tuberculosis Diagnosis Methods In Underdeveloped Countries, Luke Turner

Industrial Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease in the world; it is especially rampant in underdeveloped countries because they do not have the infrastructure, technology, or funding to properly combat the infection. However, the development of portable point-of-care diagnosis machines can reverse this epidemic as they far surpass conventional laboratory identification. The question now is where to place these machines, which is a difficult decision with a lack of data. Therefore, a flexible simulation model is created to test the implementation of these machines with different countries and configurations. The simulation tests the baseline model and three proposed implementations of the …

Proceedings, Msvscc 2019, Old Dominion University, Department Of Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering, Old Dominion University, Virginia Modeling, Analysis And Simulation Center

Modeling, Simulation and Visualization Student Capstone Conference

Old Dominion University Department of Modeling, Simulation & Visualization Engineering (MSVE) and the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) held the 13th annual Modeling, Simulation & Visualization (MSV) Student Capstone Conference on April 18, 2019.

The Conference featured student research and student projects that are central to MSV. Also participating in the conference were faculty members who volunteered their time to impart direct support to their students’ research, facilitated the various conference tracks, served as judges for each of the tracks, and provided overall assistance to the conference.

Appreciating the purpose of the conference and working in a cohesive, …

Iron-Containing Nanoparticles For The Treatment Of Chrionic Biofilm Infections In Cystic Fibrosis, Leisha M. A. Martin

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is the most common genetic disease resulting in the morbidity and mortality of Caucasian children and adults worldwide. Due to a genetic mutation resulting in malfunction of the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) protein, CF patients produce highly viscous mucus in their respiratory tract. This leads to impairment of the mucociliary clearance of inhaled microbes. In addition to reduced microbial clearance, anoxic environmental conditions in the lungs promote biofilm-mode growth of the pathogenic bacterial species Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Chronic infections of P. aeruginosa begin in early childhood and typically persist until respiratory failure and death result. The …

The Effects Of Organic And Inorganic Nanoparticles On Bacterial Deactivation, Lauren Cooper

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Antibacterial resistance is one of the greatest problems in modern medicine, as healthcare professionals are experiencing more and more difficulty in providing effective care. As such, alternative methods of treatment are needed in order to overcome this issue. One recently proposed method of alternative treatment is photodynamic therapy. Photodynamic therapy is a light-based method of treatment that utilizes (1) a photosensitizing agent, (2) light, (3) produced oxygen species. When the photosensitizing agent is injected into an infected region of interest and then irradiated with a certain wavelength of light, the agent is photoactivated and begins to produce harmful forms of …

Coupling Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations And Statistical Moments For Designing Healthy Indoor Spaces, Shamia Hoque, Firoza B. Omar

Faculty Publications

Cross-contamination between occupants in an indoor space may occur due to transfer of infectious aerosols. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) provides detailed insight into particle transport in indoor spaces. However, such simulations are site-specific. This study couples CFD with statistical moments and establishes a framework that transitions site-specific results to generating guidelines for designing “healthy” indoor spaces. Eighteen cases were simulated, and three parameters were assessed: inlet/outlet location, air changes per hour, and the presence/absence of desks. Aerosol release due to a simulated “sneeze” in a two-dimensional ventilated space was applied as a test case. Mean, standard deviation, and skewness of …

Street And Sidewalk Sanitation, Julia Jackson, Alyssa J. Baker, Cara M. Cavanaugh, Brandt T. Slayton, Rafananda Tejada

ENGS 89/90 Reports

Due to its lack of affordable housing and large homeless population, the city of San Francisco struggles with increasing amounts of human waste on its streets. Our system is, therefore, designed to contain and remove human fecal matter from paved surfaces. The clear dome protects the user and surrounding environment from contamination, while also allowing the user to see the cleaning process and ensure the mess is fully removed. The swiveling high-pressure jets enable the user to dislodge even dried feces efficiently and effectively. The following paper outlines the research, design, analysis, and testing involved in creating the final product.

Dose Dispensing Tool For Pediatric Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis, Miza Mwanza, Ebony N. Smith, Jamie H. Au, Wei Wei Buchsteiner

ENGS 89/90 Reports

There are no current second-line antibiotics for children with Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR TB). Current methods to treat pediatric MDR TB consist of splitting up adult formulated pills in accordance to the WHO’s recommended dosages, which depend on the weight and age of the child. This process is very inconsistent, tedious, and time consuming when using the state-of-the-art tools (kitchen knives, standard pill cutters). Under the sponsorship of Health Advocacy Innovations (HAI), we developed a mechanical tool that makes ingesting pills for child patients more convenient, consistent, and swift. Our dose-dispensing tool cuts pills into quarters, stores 30 pills, dispenses …

Towards Multi-Lingual Pneumonia Research Data Collection Using The Community-Acquired Pneumonia International Cohort Study Database, William A. Mattingly, Kimberley A. Buckner, Senen Pena

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

Background: Although multilingual interfaces are preferred by most users when they have a choice, organizations are often unable to support and troubleshoot problems involving multiple user languages. Software that has been structured with multiple languages and data interlinking considerations early in its development is more likely to be easily maintained. We describe the process of adding multilingual support to the CAPO international Cohort study database using REDCap.

Methods: Using Google Translate API we extend the supported Spanish language version of REDCap to the most recent version used by CAPO, 8.1.4. We then translate the English data dictionary for CAPO to …

Clinical Research In Pneumonia: Role Of Artificial Intelligence, Timothy L. Wiemken, Robert R. Kelley, William A. Mattingly, Julio A. Ramirez

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Attractiveness And Influence Of Information On Cascade Size Distribution, Dong Jian, Bin Chen, Liu Liang, Chuan Ai, Zhang Fang, Xiaogang Qiu

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: The distribution of the cascade size can capture the distribution of popularity of a social network. Numerous studies have shown that the cascade size distribution follows fat-tail distributions, including power-law distribution and bimodal distribution; The underlying characteristic of this highly skewed distribution lacks quantitative experimental analysis. Based on the heterogeneous stochastic information dissemination model, namely the SVRF model, this paper examines the impact of the information attractiveness and influence on the cascade size distribution through lots of computational experiments. We find that when the mean value of the information influence and attractiveness is small, the cascade sizes follow …

Preliminary Study Of Modeling And Simulation Technology Oriented To Neo-Type Artificial Intelligent Systems, Libo Hu, Xudong Chai, Zhang Lin, Li Tan, Duzheng Qing, Tingyu Lin, Liu Yang

Journal of System Simulation

Abstract: A brief interpretation of the rapidly developing “New Internet+ Big Data+ Artificial Intelligence+” era is given in the paperand the essence and the architectureof neo-type artificial intelligence systems are explained. The meaning of neo-type artificial intelligence system oriented modelling and simulation technology is proposed and the new challenges they are facing are discussed. The research contents and preliminaryresults on neo-type artificial intelligence system oriented modelling and simulation technology are given, which includeneo-type artificial intelligence system oriented modelling/secondary modelling, intelligent simulation computer, smart cloud simulation and intelligent simulation hardware/software supporting system technology, and intelligent simulation system application engineering technology. Several …

Irrigation Water Quality—A Contemporary Perspective, Arindam Malakar, Daniel D. Snow, Chittaranjan Ray

Nebraska Water Center: Faculty Publications

In the race to enhance agricultural productivity, irrigation will become more dependent on poorly characterized and virtually unmonitored sources of water. Increased use of irrigation water has led to impaired water and soil quality in many areas. Historically, soil salinization and reduced crop productivity have been the primary focus of irrigation water quality. Recently, there is increasing evidence for the occurrence of geogenic contaminants in water. The appearance of trace elements and an increase in the use of wastewater has highlighted the vulnerability and complexities of the composition of irrigation water and its role in ensuring proper crop growth, and …

Laboratory Water Distiller Project, Duncan Njunge

All Undergraduate Projects

Abstract

The goal of the water distiller project is to provide purified water to all hospitals and laboratories for daily use. As per WHO standards, purified water is a great necessity in these facilities for DNA sequencing, protein research, among others. Available water is not always clean because it is transported through pipes and can get into contact with organisms thereby causing the spread of waterborne diseases. Water distillation processes remove 99.9% of contaminants and water chemicals like fluorine and calcium to produce pure water. For every use, the distiller mechanism uses an electric current as the source of energy …

Research Day Abstracts 2018-2019

Student Research

No abstract provided.

Neutrophil Extracellular Traps In Breast Cancer And Beyond: Current Perspectives On Net Stimuli, Thrombosis And Metastasis, And Clinical Utility For Diagnosis And Treatment, Hunter T. Snoderly, Brian A. Boone, Margaret F. Bennewitz

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

Abstract

The formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs), known as NETosis, was first observed as a novel immune response to bacterial infection, but has since been found to occur abnormally in a variety of other inflammatory disease states including cancer. Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in women. In breast cancer, NETosis has been linked to increased disease progression, metastasis, and complications such as venous thromboembolism. NET-targeted therapies have shown success in preclinical cancer models and may prove valuable clinical targets in slowing or halting tumor progression in breast cancer patients. We will briefly outline the mechanisms by …