Digital Commons Network^™

A Rare Case Of A Silent Pheochromocytoma Concomitant With An Incidentally Found Small Bowel Carcinoid Tumor, Michael Salzle, Anna Szafran-Swietlik, Tobias Carling

West Florida Division GME Research Day 2026

No abstract provided.

Bpa: Effects Of The "Plastic Era", Bianca G. Pietrangeli

Student Work

Infographic review of sources of BPA and its impacts on human health with a focus on osteoporosis.

Wet Aging And Internal Endpoint Cooking Temperature Influence Color Of Lamb Longissimus Lumborum Muscle, Oluwatobi M. Ogunsola

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Color is a critical quality attribute that influences consumer purchase decisions for fresh and cooked lamb and is governed by myoglobin's redox chemistry. Wet aging is commonly used to enhance lamb tenderness, while endpoint cooking temperature is the primary determinant of internal cooked color. However, the combined effects of these factors on the color stability of the lamb longissimus lumborum (LL) muscle during refrigerated storage remain unclear. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the effect of wet aging duration on the color attributes and lipid oxidation of fresh lamb LL chops and endpoint cooking temperature and refrigerated storage …

Trustworthy Multimodal Ai For Medical Imaging: Enhancing Diagnosis, Reasoning, And Human-Agent Interaction In Extended Reality, Jai Prakash Veerla

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

The transition from traditional microscopy to digital pathology has digitized diagnostic data, yet clinical workflows remain constrained by two-dimensional screens and passive, opaque analysis tools that fail to capture the spatial complexity of biological systems. While Foundation Models now promise to reason across histology and genomics, a critical disconnect persists between the richness of this data and the limited cognitive bandwidth of clinicians, who currently lack the immersive interfaces and trustworthy agents necessary to utilize it effectively. This dissertation presents a unified framework for "Embodied Agentic AI," establishing a pipeline that augments physician capabilities through immersive visualization, robust security, and …

Toxic Torts Are In Your Blood: An Examination Of Pfas And Tort Liability, Aiden M. Holden

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), are a group of chemicals widely manufactured for industrial and commercial applications in the past decade due to their remarkable stability. Despite the “useful” nature of PFAS in various applications, they represent one of the most profound environmental and public health crises of the modern era. The chemical stability of PFAS has made them almost completely resistant to natural degradation, earning them the moniker “forever chemicals.” PFAS forever haunt our plant, contaminating the soil, water, and the blood of approximately 95% of the United States population. As the scale of corporate malfeasance by chemical …

Know Fear: The Culture Of Fear In Community Conversations, Penelope Meredyk, Lotus Porte-Moyel, Fiona Carson, Cosley Bruno, Barrett Clement, Sophia Sproull, Morgan Davis

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

“K(no)w Fear” is an award winning piece of verbatim theater based on word-for-word interviews and collected research that's goal was to cultivate a connective and thoughtful community open to exploring what shapes us all: fear. Our GLI Capstone team gathered the resources for this theater piece by conducting interviews with a mixed demographic of people we know as well as strangers on the street, asking questions like: “How do you feel about death?” and “If fear were a place for you, where would it be?” With consent, their answers were used to build an immersive, verbatim theatre piece where actors …

Corals, Creation, And Conservation: Evaluating Human-Marine Relations Through Coral Reef Biology And Artistic Practice, Emma Gray Garman

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between humans and marine ecosystems through two complementary lenses: scientific research and artistic practice. The biology chapter proposes a five-year coral reef monitoring study across four Queensland, Australia islands — two heavily visited and inhabited (Fitzroy and Green Islands) and two minimally visited and uninhabited (High and Woody Islands) — to assess whether human activity correlates with bleaching severity over time. Grounded in preliminary survey data from Green Island in 2024, which revealed approximately 54% of coral bleached or dead, the study hypothesizes that reefs adjacent to inhabited islands will exhibit greater bleaching severity, consistent …

Balancing Wood And Food: Assessing The Drivers And Spatiotemporal Conflicts Of Eucalyptus Plantation Expansion In Guangxi, China, Wen H. Cai, Qiuxia Huang, Jian Yang, Le Yu, Yuanzheng Yang, Jiaxing Zu, Jiali Wang, Zhenxian Li

Forestry and Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Eucalyptus has become one of the most widely cultivated tree genera in subtropical China, generating significant economic returns but raising land-use conflicts with agriculture. Understanding the driving mechanisms behind this expansion is crucial for sustainable land-use management. To inform strategies for balancing wood production and agricultural stability, we investigated the spatiotemporal expansion dynamics and predicted the potential suitable habitat distribution of Eucalyptus plantations using a Boosted Regression Tree (BRT) model. Our analysis revealed three distinct spatiotemporal expansion phases. Crucially, this expansion has progressively shifted from marginal sloped terrain onto flat valley bottoms, intensifying the agriculture-forestry conflict in the region. Climatic …

Transcriptional Signatures Of Rapid Protection From Sudan Virus Infection By A Single Dose Of A Vesicular Stomatitis Virus-Based Vaccine, Brianna M. Doratt, Sheridan B. Wagner, Delphine C. Malherbe, Gregory T. Smith, Andrea Marzi, Ilhem Messaoudi

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Sudan virus (SUDV) has caused multiple outbreaks of human disease with case fatality rates ranging from 41 to 100%. We have previously shown that a single vaccination with a recombinant vesicular stomatitis virus-based vaccine expressing the SUDV-Gulu glycoprotein (VSV-SUDV) prevented clinical and fatal disease from lethal SUDV challenge in cynomolgus macaques. With the high probability of future outbreaks, it is critical to determine the molecular mechanisms of VSV-SUDV-mediated protection and the ability to impart rapid protection against SUDV infection. In this study, RNA from whole blood samples obtained from nine cynomolgus macaques that were challenged with SUDV-Gulu post-vaccination with either …

Characterizing Immune Perturbations In Peripheral Blood Following The East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment, Sheridan B. Wagner, Hami Hemati, Siva Gandhapudi, Timothy J. Hilbert, Candace J. Brancato, Erin N. Haynes, Ilhem Messaoudi

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Background: The East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment on February 3rd, 2023, resulted in the exposure of residents and the surrounding area to numerous hazardous chemicals, which included known acute irritants and human carcinogens. Despite evacuation and cleanup, both residents and responders reported high occurrences of symptoms associated with exposure in the months following, such as eye, skin, and respiratory irritation, headaches, and fatigue. The long-term health consequences for residents remain uncertain.

Objective: To assess the potential for immune perturbations resulting from the exposure, we performed a broad investigation of circulating immune cells and mediators from residents of East Palestine, OH, …

Combinatorial Immunotherapy Drives Exhaustion In Tumor Antigen–Specific Cd8+ T Cells Within The Mouse Renal Tumor Microenvironment, Holly R. Stephens, Elizabeth Elkins, Jing Li, Zoey N. Swalley, Henry Nnaemeka Ogbonna, Pia Muri, Zachary Roberts, Francesca R. Dempsey, Md Akkas Ali, Md Hasanul Banna Siam, Richard Kirkman, Jianqing Zhang, Sunil Sudarshan, Daniel J. Tyrrell, Hubert M. Tse, Daniel L. Smith Jr, Lyse A. Norian

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Immunotherapies have greatly improved outcomes for patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC), yet response rates remain suboptimal and the factors promoting therapy resistance versus sensitivity are incompletely understood. Currently, no preclinical model of orthotopic renal cancer exists that permits evaluation of tumor antigen–specific (TAS) CD8⁺ tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs). To address this deficiency, we developed a mouse renal cancer model that permits tracking of adoptively transferred TAS CD8⁺ T cells. Renca-LUC tumor cells were transduced to express tumor ERK (tERK), a model antigen expressing a one-amino-acid change from wild-type ERK, resulting in recognition by tERK/H-2K^d-specific DUC Thy1.1 …

Evaluating Sampling Strategies To Monitor Southern Fox Squirrel (Sciurus Niger Niger) Populations, Casey Robin Hitchens

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Reliable population monitoring is essential for evaluating wildlife translocations and informing conservation management, yet traditional monitoring approaches are often labor intensive and require prolonged sampling. This study evaluated marking techniques, survey methods, and population estimation approaches for monitoring a translocated population of southern fox squirrels (Sciurus niger niger) at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, USA (MCRDPI). From January-June 2023, I conducted six live trapping and camera trapping sessions across five survey sites. I compared the performance of color-coded collars and tail shaves for individual identification and the recapture probability between live traps and camera traps. Logistic mixed-effects …

Nanobubble-Enabled Foam Fractionation To Remove Freshwater Microalgae And Microcystin, Yihan Zhang, Lili Li, Shan Xue, Tsung-Ta David Hsu, Anne C. Hurley, Meiyin S Wu, Xuezhi Zhang, Wen Zhang

Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Climate change and water pollution intensify algal blooms in natural lakes and reservoirs, leading to significant water quality challenges. Effectively removing excessive microalgae and algal toxins or micropollutants is essential for improving water quality, preserving aesthetic value, and protecting human health. This study evaluated the use of nanobubble-enabled foam fractionation for the removal of Microcystis aeruginosa and three microcystin congeners (MC-LR, MC-RR, and MC-YR). Foam was generated using air nanobubbles combined with surfactants—cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and chitosan—to enhance foamability and stability. Among the tested surfactants, CTAB exhibited the highest foamability, yielding improved removal performance. When CTAB …

Znf16 Is A Nucleolar-Associated Protein That Regulates Expression Of Rdna And Cancer-Associated Genes, Chelsea L. George, Laura A. Espinoza Quevedo, Jason Paratore, Matthew J. Alcaraz, Arlene P. Levario, Yasir Rahmatallah, Galina V. Glazko, Nathan S. Reyna, Laura Diaz-Martinez

Biology Faculty Scholarship

ZNF16 (also known as HZF1 and KOX9) is a multi-C2H2 zinc finger protein first identified via its expression in human T-cells and shown to have a role in blood cell differentiation. ZNF16 was later shown to be ubiquitously expressed in a variety of fetal and adult tissues, suggesting a broader function. In this study, we confirm the ubiquitous expression of ZNF16 in a variety of cancer and non-cancer cell lines and show that ZNF16 depletion reduces cell viability in all cell lines tested. Furthermore, we show that ZNF16 localizes to the nucleolus in a transcription-dependent manner, interacts with the intergenic …

Impact Of Cross-Client Heterogeneity In Federated Learning For Real-World Plant Disease Classification, Ritesh Janga

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Deep learning applications are being adopted in agricultural image analysis that include challenges of data privacy and limited institutional data and heterogeneity of different types of architectures. However, Federated Learning is a model that allows collaborative training on data that does not have to be shared among parties. Therefore, Federated Learning is an effective method of collaborative training; however, its comparative effectiveness as compared to individual (local) training on diverse architectures has never been examined in an agricultural context. The objective of this study was to examine Federated Learning for the purpose of crop disease classification on extreme non-IID distributed …

Cordgrass (Spartina Alterniflora) In Bio-Restoration Integrated Coastal Substrate (Brics): Restoring The New England Coastline., Kaitlyn Frances Shelley

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

The Engineering for Agri-Environment Laboratory (EAE) is dedicated to developing nature-based solutions that enhance the resilience of agricultural and coastal ecosystems. The study involves current work (trial 2) underway in Spring 2026 and Summer 2026, integrating principles of sustainable engineering and plant science. BRICS, our Bio-Restoration Integrated Coastal Substrate, proposes a new way to reduce erosion, stabilize root structures, provide a critical habitat for wildlife, and promote vegetation throughout the coast.

Evaluating The Healthfulness Of The University Of New Hampshire’S Food Environment Using The Healthy Campus Environmental Audit (Hcea), Margo Kamis

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

Evaluating the Healthfulness of the University of New Hampshire’s Food Environment Using the Healthy Campus Environmental Audit (HCEA)

Interactions Between Red Foxes And Coyotes Across Urban And Wild Habitats, Caroline E. Savage, Taylor S. Readyhough, Remington J. Moll, Jonathon D. Cepek

UNH URC Open (2026 and after)

Dens are critical to the life history of many mammal species, particularly when raising young. Excavating a den is energetically costly, so several species can use existing dens, and multiple species may inhabit the same den complex simultaneously. However, the extent of den sharing among urban mammals is understudied. Between March 2021, and June 2023, we used camera traps to monitor a multi-species den site in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. We documented den visitation and use by at least 11 mammal species, including red fox, coyote, raccoon, woodchuck, and Virginia opossum. Coyotes and red foxes both exhibited scent-marking at the den …

Soil Organic Carbon And Soil Health Property Responses To Land Management Across Topographic Positions, Mia D. Makovsky

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

uring the last ice age, ice sheets advanced and retreated across the upper Midwest, leaving behind a landscape characterized by poorly drained hummocky topography. Well-aerated soils have formed on uplands and lowlands are dominated by hydric soils. These wetlands and hydric soils have potential to store large quantities of carbon, particularly compared to the well-aerated uplands, but many have been drained and cultivated for decades. Conservation agriculture methods have emerged to protect and conserve soil health from negative effects due to cultivation.The purpose of this study is to determine how agricultural management practices and landscape properties (e.g, topographic position) affect …

Analyzing The Impact Of Sunscreen Pollutants On The Development Of Lytechinus Variegatus, Christina M. Lillenas, Chesney J. Anderson, Ann M. Buchmann

Nebraska Academy of Sciences: Programs and Proceedings

Lytechinus variegatus or the variegated sea urchin is found in shallow, tropical waters. Lytechinus variegatus can be found in sandy reef beds, and sea grass, covered in algae and debris to protect itself from the UV rays and predators. Sea urchins play a crucial role in coral reef ecosystems. Sea urchins follow an omnivore diet, feeding on algae and phytoplankton. In coral reef ecosystems, sea urchins eat unwanted algae, allowing coral reefs to continue growing and thriving. Without the presence of sea urchins in coral reef communities, algae can negatively affect the growth and success of coral reefs. Sunscreen serves …

Inferring Genes And Biological Systems Under Selective Pressure In The Secondarily Temperate Cryonotothenioids, Esteban Cabrera

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Notothenioid fishes represent one of the most compelling examples of adaptive radiation driven by extreme environmental change, having diversified in the chronically cold waters of the Southern Ocean. While most cryonotothenioids evolved highly specialized cold-adapted characteristics, several secondarily temperate species later re-invaded warmer environments. These lineages provide a rare opportunity to examine evolutionary reversibility and the genomic mechanisms enabling escape from extreme specialization. In this study, we investigate two secondarily temperate species, Dissostichus eleginoides and Champsocephalus esox, comparing their protein-coding orthogroups to background sets from Antarctic cryonotothenioids and basal temperate teleosts. Using phylogeny based evolutionary models (BUSTED, aBSREL, and RELAX) …

A Trajectory Of Zostera Marina (Eelgrass) Ecosystem Recovery: Pre- And Post-Hurricane Sandy Degradation In Barnegat Bay, New Jersey, Edgar A. Medina

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Hurricane Sandy struck Barnegat Bay, New Jersey in 2012 and obliterated the benthic marine ecosystem with extensive damage to Zostera marina meadows. Previous genetic assessments of Barnegat Bay Z. marina in 2008 revealed low heterozygosity and low connectivity between populations. The great disruption caused by Hurricane Sandy motivated us to investigate the long-term effects of the storm on the genetic condition of the eelgrass populations in the year 2021. The investigation revealed improvements in heterozygosity, inbreeding, and connectivity. These findings drove us to investigate the genetics of Barnegat Bay eelgrass populations in the intervening years of 2013 and 2017 with …

Patient Characteristics, Growth Indices, And Treatment Outcomes Among Children With Feeding Difficulties, Amelia Kearney

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Pediatric feeding difficulties is an umbrella term that is used to describe children with a variety of problematic feeding behaviors and/or mealtime impairments that can impact age-appropriate food consumption, growth and the caregiver-child relationship. There is a lack of research from nutrition professionals regarding the nutrient intake, diet quality and growth outcomes among patients with pediatric feeding difficulties. Furthermore, changes in nutrient intakes during intensive outpatient treatment have not been formally assessed. PURPOSE: The purpose of Manuscript 1 was to describe the demographic profile, medical history, and baseline mealtime behaviors, usual diet, and diet quality of patients with feeding difficulties …

Prevalence And Outcome Of Splenic Injury Among Pediatric Trauma Patients, Omar Emad El-Din Bedair Hassan El-Nekity, Magdy Basheer, Amir A. Fikry, Mohamed Shetiwy

Mansoura Medical Journal

Background Pediatric trauma represents a critical public health issue, being the leading contributor of death and long-term disability in this age group. Blunt abdominal trauma is particularly common, with the spleen identified as the most frequently injured organ due to children's distinct anatomical traits. This study aims to detect morbidity, mortality, and complications resulting from splenic injuries in the pediatric population. Patients and methods This observational cross-sectional study was conducted at Mansoura University Emergency Hospital from September 2024 to September 2025. It included 104 pediatric patients with splenic injury out of 3600 pediatric trauma patients. Results The prevalence of splenic …

Toward Interpretable Multi-Omics Multimodal Biomedical Artificial Intelligence, Yanjun Lyu

Computer Science and Engineering Dissertations

The complexity of human disease arises from biological processes that unfold across multiple scales, from molecular variation through cellular function, tissue organisation, brain phenotypes, each of which is associated with distinct measurement modalities, regularities, and characteristic. Contemporary biomedical artificial intelligence has brought the opportunity to reveal the complexity with in; however, its methodological default, in which models are trained on most readily available modality, does not adequately engage with the multi-scale connected structure by which biological meaning is constituted. The research area of multi-omics and multi-modal AI for biomedicine remains at an early exploratory stage, and the work presented in …

Influence Of Microbial Communities And Dilute Heavy Metals In Green Manure On Growth In Lactuca Sativa, Robert Lemay

Student Research Projects

This experiment investigated the effects of a green manure (Lemna minor, common duckweed) grown in varying levels of heavy metals and inoculated with local microbiomes on a crop (Lactuca sativa, volcana lettuce). The growth and health of the duckweeds were measured via root length and biomass, and the health of the lettuce crop was measured via head diameter and biomass.  Two levels of heavy metal concentrations were based on real-world stormwater runoff data to mimic an agricultural environment where accumulation of metals in local water bodies may be absorbed into green manure duckweeds. One microbial treatment and …

Limitations Of Reproductive Manipulation By Bacterial Endosymbionts In A Spider Host, Jordyn D. Proctor

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Maternally inherited bacterial endosymbionts are common in arthropods. Many of these bacteria manipulate host reproduction to favor the production of infected females, thereby increasing bacterial prevalence in the host population, even if cost is incurred to the host. However, there are also many factors that may inhibit symbionts’ ability to spread in host populations, including environmental constraints, symbiont-imposed costs on the host, interactions with co-infecting bacteria, or host biology. I explored two aspects of symbiont biology within a spider host, Mermessus fradeorum (Linyphiidae), which has varying combinations of up to five different bacterial endosymbionts in local populations: Rickettsiella, Tisiphia …

Impacts Of Livestock Dewormers On Dung Beetle Foraging Choices Across Spatial Scales, Madison L. Kluge

Theses and Dissertations--Entomology

Dung beetles provide ecosystem services in pasture systems but are vulnerable to chemical residues in livestock dung. Parasiticides containing macrocyclic lactones (MLs) are used to control parasites in livestock and are excreted unmetabolized in dung, exposing non-target organisms to these compounds. We used a multi-scale approach to examine whether ML residues alter dung beetle foraging ecology. At the field scale, we assessed dung beetle abundance and community composition using traps baited with dung from untreated cattle and cattle treated with ivermectin, moxidectin, or eprinomectin across eight farms and natural areas. At a smaller scale, we conducted behavioral assays to quantify …

Health Disparities In Cardiovascular Care: The Impact Of Diabetes Education And Post-Discharge Interventions For African American Adults At Risk For And After Myocardial Infarction, Trinity L. Billingsley

Nursing | Senior Theses

Background: Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, affecting African American adults at higher rates compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Diabetes as a comorbidity is one of the risk factors of experiencing a myocardial infarction, remaining one of the leading causes of death among individuals with diabetes. Objective: To examine the effectiveness of structured diabetes education tailored to African American adults who are at risk for and after a myocardial infarction. Additionally assessing the complications of a myocardial infarction, the outcomes associated with structured education will be compared to the outcomes of …

Acute Fatty Liver Of Pregnancy And Fetal Fatty Acid Oxidation Disorders: A Systematic Review, Dante Varotsis, Sarah Araji, Rebecca Horgan, Jennifer E. Powel, Rodney Mclaren Jr., Brian Kirmse, Mona Makhamreh, Huda B. Al-Kouatly

Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the association between maternal acute fatty liver of pregnancy (AFLP) and fetal fatty acid oxidation (FAO) disorders and to define the clinical and genetic characteristics of mothers with AFLP and their fetuses affected by FAO disorders, we performed a systematic literature review of all reported cases of AFLP that underwent genetic testing for FAO disorders.

DATA SOURCES:

We searched PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, CINAHL (EBSCO), Scopus, and ClinicalTrials.gov. Terms included were related to AFLP and FAO testing.

METHODS OF STUDY SELECTION:

We conducted a systematic literature review from inception through May 18, 2025, to evaluate the …