Digital Commons Network^™

Changes In Rna Expression Of Hut78 Cells Resulting From The Hiv-1 Viral Protein R R77q Mutation, Joshua S. Ramsey

Theses and Dissertations

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is the causative virus for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). AIDS is characterized by chronic inflammation and reduction of CD4+ T-cells in the blood. This leads to the patient becoming immunocompromised and much more susceptible to disease in general. Different phenotypes in the progression of AIDS have been observed in patients in either progressing to AIDS faster as a Rapid Progressor (RP), or slower as a Long-Term Non-Progressor (LTNP). Researching elements that result in the LTNP phenotype is of interest as it has the potential to offer alternative treatments and therapies to those suffering from …

"Unraveling Shame": Therapy Experiences Of Religious Sexual Minority College Students, Audrey Louise Parker

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual minority adolescents and adults experience higher rates of psychological risk factors and mental health disorders than their straight peers. As theorized by the minority stress model, this increased distress may be related to both external stressors (including discrimination and violence) and internal stressors (concealment, expectation of rejection, and internalized homonegativity). For some sexual minority individuals who also hold religious beliefs, conflict between their sexual orientation and religious beliefs may act as another stressor. Sexual minority adolescents and adults present to therapy at higher rates than their straight counterparts, and clients seeking help with religious and sexual conflict make up …

Physiological Arousal, Attentiveness, Emotion, And Word Retrieval In Aphasia: Effects And Relationships, Tyson G. Harmon, Angela Johnson, Vivian Ward, Shawn Nissen

Faculty Publications

Purpose: To (a) compare physiological arousal and attentiveness during a confrontational naming task between participants with aphasia and a control group across four conditions that varied according to emotionality of presented stimuli and (b) explore relationships among physiological arousal, attentiveness, perceived arousal, and naming performance. We hypothesized that participants with aphasia would show lower levels of arousal and attentiveness than control participants and that emotional conditions would lead to increased physiological arousal and attentiveness.

Method: Eight participants with aphasia and 15 control participants completed a confrontational naming task under positive, negative, and neutral conditions and rated their perceived arousal after …

Telling Stories In Noise: The Impact Of Background Noises On Spoken Language For People With Aphasia, Tyson G. Harmon, Brenna Scadden Nelson, Christopher Dromey, Kirsten Dixon Clawson

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Determine how different background noise conditions affect the spoken language of participants with aphasia during a story retell task.

Method: Participants included 11 adults with mild to moderate aphasia and 11 age- and gender-matched controls. Participants retold stories in a silent baseline and five background noise conditions (conversation, monologue, phone call, cocktail, pink noise). Dependent measures of speech acoustics (fundamental frequency, mean intensity), speech fluency (speech rate, disfluent words), and language production (correct information units, lexical errors, lexical diversity, and cohesive utterances) were compared between groups and across conditions.

Results: Background noise resulted in higher fundamental frequency (F_{0 …}

A Grounded Theory Of Relational Masculinity In Brazil, Douglas M. Wendt

Theses and Dissertations

Many societal problems in Brazil, including sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and fatherlessness, are said to be related to hegemonic masculine development, commonly known as toxic masculinity. Very little research has been conducted in Marriage and Family Therapy and related fields that explores masculinity in the context of family systems and within relational frameworks. Current research in this area focuses largely on the negative aspects of traditional masculinity that reinforce narrow stereotypes rather than highlight possibilities of relationally healthy masculine development. The aim of this study was to develop a constructivist grounded theory of relational masculinity in Brazil by interviewing …

The Effects Of A High-Carbohydrate Versus A High-Fat Shake On Biomarkers Of Metabolism And Glycemic Control When Used To Interrupt A 38-Hour Fast: A Randomized Crossover Study, Landon S. Deru

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The primary aim of this study was to determine the impact of various fast-interrupting shakes on markers of glycemic control including glucose, β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), insulin, glucagon, GLP-1, and GIP. Methods: Twenty-seven adults (12 female, 15 male) completed all three conditions of this study. One condition consisted of a 38-hour water-only fast, and the other two conditions were similar but the fasts were interrupted at 24 hours by either a high carbohydrate/low fat (HC/LF) or a low carbohydrate/high fat (LC/HF) shake. Results: The water only fast resulted in 135.3% more BHB compared to the HC/LF condition (t = 7.77, p < 0.0001) and 69.6% more compared to the LC/HF condition (t = 5.12, p < 0.0001). Conversely, the LC/HF condition exhibited a 38.8% higher BHB level than the HC/LF condition (t = 2.70, p = 0.0086). Additionally, the area under the curve (AUC) for glucose was 14.2% higher in the HC/LF condition than in the water condition (t = 6.23, p < 0.0001) and 6.9% higher compared to the LC/HF condition (t = 3.14, p = 0.0024), with the LC/HF condition yielding 7.8% more glucose than the water condition (t = 3.21, p = 0.0020). At the 25-hour mark, insulin and glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) were significantly elevated in the HC/LF condition compared to the LC/HF condition (F = 3.84, p = 0.0002 and F = 2.27, p = 0.0244, respectively) and compared to the water condition (F = 7.00, p < 0.0001 and F = 9.96, p < 0.0001, respectively). Furthermore, insulin, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), and GIP were increased in the LC/HF condition compared to the water condition at 25 hours (F = 3.19, p = 0.0016, F = 2.43, p = 0.0158, and F = 12.13, p < 0.0001, respectively). Notably, glucagon concentrations at the 25-hour mark decreased in the HC/LF group compared to the LC/HF condition (F = 3.37, p = 0.0009). However, by the 38-hour time point, no statistically significant differences were observed among the conditions for any of the analyzed hormones. Conclusions: While a LC/HF shake does not mimic a fast completely, it does preserve some of the metabolic changes including elevated BHB and glucagon, and decreased glucose and insulin compared to a HC/LF shake.

God, Can You Help Me? Effects Of Religious Coping On Patients With Anxiety And Trauma, Camron Angell

Student Works

Historically, religion has been overlooked in psychology as a method of coping due to stigma and an apprehension to bring up religious beliefs. Recent literature suggests positive religious coping can help patients with anxiety and PTSD (Anastasi & Newberg, 2008; Areba et al., 2018; Plante et al., 2000; Starnino et al., 2019; Yazici et al., 2020). Religious coping, both positive and negative, appears to affect patients with anxiety and PTSD. Positive religious coping is thought to have a positive effect on both anxiety and PTSD and can lead to greater mental health outcomes (Areba et al., 2018; Harris et al., …

Integrating Clinical Cancer And Ptm Proteomics Data Identifies A Mechanism Of Ack1 Kinase Activation, Eranga R. Balasooriya, Deshan Madhusanka, Tania P. López-Palacios, Riley J. Eastmond, Dasun Jayatunge, Jake J. Owen, Jack S. Gashler, Christina M. Egbert, Chanaka Bulathsinghalage, Lu Liu, Stephen R. Piccolo, Joshua L. Andersen

Faculty Publications

Beyond the most common oncogenes activated by mutation (mut-drivers), there likely exists a variety of low-frequency mut-drivers, each of which is a possible frontier for targeted therapy. To identify new and understudied mut-drivers, we developed a machine learning (ML) model that integrates curated clinical cancer data and posttranslational modification (PTM) proteomics databases. We applied the approach to 62,746 patient cancers spanning 84 cancer types and predicted 3,964 oncogenic mutations across 1,148 genes, many of which disrupt PTMs of known and unknown function. The list of putative mut-drivers includes established drivers and others with poorly understood roles in cancer. This ML …

Online Protection Laws.Full Issue

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

A Npo's Values And Identity, William B. Calder

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Values become an organizational “petri dish” that soon establishes the culture of the workplace. This article reinforces the notion that effective leaders know how to leverage NPO values to ensure positive organizational results. Therefore, values provide a useful context for NPO behaviour and how individuals interact and carry out their assigned tasks.

Core beliefs manifest themselves through NPO actions and form the basis of its identity as an organization which permeates everything that it does. Values must be discovered, explained, and put into practice; since they are the basis of initiatives and heighten the further development of an organization’s vision …

Factors Influencing Employee Satisfaction In Nonprofit Organizations In The United States, Kristi Egbert

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Employees in nonprofit organizations are not paid as much as for-profit employees according to the United States 2014 Labor Statistics. Nonprofits work to meet community needs. Since turnover rates impact a company’s ability to these needs (Lee, 2015), it is important to learn what keeps employees satisfied. This review found that employees find the work itself satisfying when they see how they support the organization’s mission (Haley-Lock, 2007), chances to move up in the company, autonomy, (Weisberg & Dent, 2016), and inclusivity (Brimhall, 2019), and workplace relationships (Mathieu & Nabiak, 2016; Slater & Slater, 2018) are related with job satisfaction.

Article Summaries (Online Protection Laws Of Children)

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

Online Safety Laws By Country, Haoming Song, Angie Holzer

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Protective Factors: A Framework For Mental Health Action And Education, Rich Stowell

Journal of Nonprofit Innovation

Mental health advocates, practitioners, and research have long used the framework of risk factors and protective factors to understand mental health. This article examines the origins of the concept of protective factors and describes how it contributes to the applications of resources in the mental health space.

Evaluating A Large Language Model’S Ability To Solve Programming Exercises From An Introductory Bioinformatics Course, Stephen R. Piccolo, Paul Denny, Andrew Luxton-Reilly, Samuel H. Payne, Perry G. Ridge

Faculty Publications

Life scientists frequently write computer code when doing research. Computer programming can aid researchers in performing tasks that are not supported by existing tools. Programming can also help researchers to implement analytical logic in a way that documents their steps and thus enables others to repeat those steps. Many educational resources are available to teach computer programming, but this skill remains challenging for many researchers and students to master. Artificial-intelligence tools like OpenAI’s ChatGPT are able to interpret human-language requests to generate code. Accordingly, we evaluated the extent to which this technology might be used to perform programming tasks described …

Streamlining The Detection Of Human Thyroid Receptor Ligand Interactions With Xl1-Blue Cell-Free Protein Synthesis And Beta-Galactosidase Fusion Protein Biosensors, J. Porter Hunt, Tyler J. Free, Jackelyn Galiardi, Kevin M. Watt, David W. Wood, Bradley Charles Bundy

Faculty Publications

Thyroid receptor signaling controls major physiological processes and disrupted signaling can cause severe disorders that negatively impact human life. Consequently, methods to detect thyroid receptor ligands are of great toxicologic and pharmacologic importance. Previously, we reported thyroid receptor ligand detection with cell-free protein synthesis of a chimeric fusion protein composed of the human thyroid receptor beta (hTRβ) receptor activator and a β-lactamase reporter. Here, we report a 60% reduction in sensing cost by reengineering the chimeric fusion protein biosensor to include a reporter system composed of either the full-length beta galactosidase (β-gal), the alpha fragment of β-gal (β-gal-α), or a …

What's All The Fuss About Pickleball? Motivational Profiles Of Middle Age And Older Adult Recreational Pickleball Players, David C. Barney, Zack E. Beddoes, Keven A. Prusak, Brandon Weekes

Faculty Publications

As a person becomes older their physical activity options may change or be reduced. One activity that is proving differently among older adults is pickleball. As of 2022 over 3.1 million people in the United States participate in pickleball (USAPA Pickleball, 2022). From the casual observer, many recreational tennis courts have been modified to accommodate the increase of pickleball players. Also, many of these pickleball players are older (40 +). Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the motivational profiles of 40 and older adults towards playing pickleball. Generally, it was learned that 40 and older adults participate …

Dynamic Skin Strain Fields In The Lumbar Region During Functional Movement, Andrew Gibbons, Anton Bowden, Ulrike H. Mitchell, David T. Fullwood

Student Works

Increasing efforts to leverage skin mounted wearables has exposed a gap in our understanding of skin strain in the lumbar region. Lumbar skin is known to be both inhomogenous and anisotropic, and experiences dramatic material strain during activities of daily living (ADLs). Previous efforts to quantify strain fields during ADLs has been limited to a few activities (primarily flexion) and have neglected inhomogeneity or anisotropy. The purpose of the present work was to address this gap by measuring large-deformation skin strain tensors in healthy volunteers during a cadre of functional movements.

36 tightly packed retro-reflective markers were mounted to the …

Recent Breakthroughs In Using Quantum Dots For Cancer Imaging And Drug Delivery Purposes, Aisha Hamidu, William G. Pitt, Ghaleb A. Husseini

Faculty Publications

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Because each person’s cancer may be unique, diagnosing and treating cancer is challenging. Advances in nanomedicine have made it possible to detect tumors and quickly investigate tumor cells at a cellular level in contrast to prior diagnostic techniques. Quantum dots (QDs) are functional nanoparticles reported to be useful for diagnosis. QDs are semiconducting tiny nanocrystals, 2–10 nm in diameter, with exceptional and useful optoelectronic properties that can be tailored to sensitively report on their environment. This review highlights these exceptional semiconducting QDs and their properties and synthesis methods when used …

Trumpet Directivity From A Rotating Semicircular Array, Samuel D. Bellows, Joseph E. Avila, Timothy W. Leishman

Directivity

The directivity function of a played musical instrument describes the angular dependence of its acoustic radiation and diffraction about the instrument, musician, and musician’s chair. Directivity influences sound in rehearsal, performance, and recording environments and signals in audio systems. Because high-resolution, spherically comprehensive measurements of played musical instruments have been unavailable in the past, the authors have undertaken research to produce and share such data for studies of musical instruments, simulations of acoustical environments, optimizations of microphone placements, and other applications. The authors acquired the data from repeated chromatic scales produced by a trumpet played at mezzo-forte in an anechoic …

Helping Families Adapt To Individual Circumstances: The Case Of Stay-At-Home Fathers, Kade Cope

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

The Importance Of Teaching Kids How To Be Hopeful, Cambria Siddoway

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Starved For Conversation: The Lost Art Of Human Connection, Emily Scott

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Don't Forget About Their Siblings: Mental Health In Siblings Of Autism, Kylie W. Martin

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Childhood Screen Time And Child Development, Angela Webb

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Oxytocin And Attachment Development, Sage Delamare

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Raising Praise: A Parent's Role In Influencing Adolescent Self-Esteem Through Different Forms Of Praise, Karlee Mcrae

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

For The Strength Of Parents, Macall Smith

Family Perspectives

No abstract provided.

Adhd In Women: Psychological, Academic, And Social Effects, Sienna Kelson

Family Perspectives

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurological disorder that involves a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity-impulsivity which interferes with functioning or development. ADHD is commonly diagnosed in childhood and can persist into adulthood (Kok et al., 2020; Fraticelli et al., 2022). It is estimated that ADHD affects 5-7% of school-age children with a male-to-female ratio of approximately 3:1 (Kok et al., 2016). For a long time, ADHD was assumed to be primarily a male disorder, but researchers are increasingly finding that the number of males and females with ADHD is likely close to equal (Nussbaum, 2012). There is increasing evidence …

Lack Of Women In Federal Level Politics In The United States, Ellie Romans Draper

Ballard Brief

Women comprise 50.5% of the United States population, but only 28% of all officeholders in the 2023 US Congress. The scarcity of female role models in politics—caused by societal expectations, inadequate candidate recruitment, and a lack of interest in political leadership —contributes to a shortage of women in politics. Further, the double bind imposes contradictory expectations upon women, affecting their political ambition and others’ perceptions of their competence. As a result, there are policy gaps, especially in areas that affect women and their communities. Women’s underrepresentation also undermines democracy because the government is unable to reflect the interests of the …