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The Potential Acidification Of The Mulberry River, Arkansas, Jason Richard Burgess-Conforti

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Mulberry River is a 110 km long tributary of the Arkansas River in northwest Arkansas and has been designated as a National Wild and Scenic River since 1992. In 2008, the Mulberry River was added to the 303(d) list of impaired water bodies due to the low pH of a 14.6 km segment of the river which has since increased to 68.7 km. To date, there has been little research performed on the Mulberry River and long-term routinely sampled water quality data is unavailable. The objectives of this dissertation were 1) to evaluate changes in water quality of the …

Role Of Angiotensin I And Ii On The Tissue Mechanics Of The Aortic Heart Valve Via Receptor Binding And Converting Enzymes, Josh Fahy

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a crucial role in the regulation of renal, cardiac, and vascular physiology. This system regulates in vivo blood pressure and fluid balance. As renal blood flow decreases, the kidneys convert prorenin into renin and secrete it into the circulatory system. Renin then converts angiotensinogen into angiotensin I (ang-I). The ang-I is then converted into angiotensin II (ang-II) by the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Ang-II, a vasoconstrictor, increases blood pressure by causing the blood vessels to narrow. Recent evidence suggests that RAS may be involved in the progression of valve disease, most notably, aortic stenosis.

The first …

Investigation Of Acute Radiation-Induced Changes In Oxygenation In A Murine Breast Tumor Model, Alaa Abdelgawad

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Around 50-60% of all cancer patients undergo radiation therapy. Although some patients show complete response with no recurrence, a significant proportion of the population still develop radiation resistance. It is important to identify tumor resistance at early stages of therapy in order to adjust treatment protocol and avoid extra exposure to radiation. Current methods to assess treatment response are only limited to anatomical measurements of tumor volume after therapy. Novel approaches that shed the light on any functional information during the course of radiotherapy could significantly improve our ability to identify patients who do not respond to radiation therapy. Diffuse …

The Effects Of Pre And Post Exercise Low-Level Laser Therapy On Biochemical Markers Of Skeletal Muscle Fatigue In Equines, Carson Freeman

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Our objective was to determine whether administering low-level laser therapy before or after exercise had the greatest effect on biochemical markers of skeletal muscle fatigue in equines such as cortisol and blood lactate. Twelve quarter horses were divided into three groups: Group A received no laser therapy, Group B received laser therapy before exercise, and Group C received laser therapy after exercise. A Class II ERCHONIA ® PL500 handheld low-level laser was utilized for treatment with a wavelength of 635nm. Exercise was utilized using a horse walker system for 30 minutes five days a week for three weeks. Blood was …

The Farnsworth House & 'The Grand Budapest Hotel': Cinematic Spaces, Rylie Davis

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mies van der Rohe designed the Farnsworth House as a personification of his architectural vision, an architectural language void of the mistakes of the past that could be taught universally. Mies’ illusory idea of free-flowing anti-space was ideologically unconnected to the cinematic arts, nevertheless the application of his design philosophy consequently resulted in spaces that were scenographic and cinematic. Just as a cinematographer establishes a relationship between the viewer and the scene, Mies van der Rohe used perspective to frame views transforming the Farnsworth House into an intermediary object establishing a relationship between nature and the viewer. The Farnsworth House …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Spring 2019, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Phenotypic Characterization Of Differentiation Of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells To Smooth Muscle Cells, Jackson Hedrick

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs) are expansions in the aortic wall with an increased tendency to rupture. These expansions are triggered by the breakdown of key aortic extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins—elastin and collagen. The degradation of aortic ECM proteins is the consequence of overexpressed matrix metalloproteases (MMPs)–MMP-2 and MMP-9. Adult vascular smooth muscle cells (SMCs) lack the ability to repair the elastic matrix assembly; thus, it is imperative to find a solution to both restore the imbalance of essential ECM proteins in the aorta and mitigate the effects of MMPs. Previous studies have revealed that bone marrow derived mesenchymal stem cells …

Determination Of Optimum Harvest Date For Winter Malting Quality Barley In Northwest Arkansas, Paul Wolf

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Due to the strict quality requirements, only 10 percent of worldwide barley is used for malting, though malting quality barley comes with a price increase of up to 50 percent or higher. With the craft brewery industry growing in Northwest Arkansas there is a growing demand for locally sourced malt quality barley. However, data is lacking regarding production practices for barley in Arkansas. The optimum harvest date for malting quality barley is at physiological maturity. This is because many of the malting traits (such as germination energy) decline as harvest is delayed, which will make it difficult to meet the …

The Effects Of Eicosapentaenoic Acid (Epa) And Docosahexaenoic Acid (Dha) On Brown Adipogenesis In Stem Cell Culture, Darynne Dahlem

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), are major maternal dietary supplements due to their positive benefits on neurological tissue growth during the first 12 weeks of gestation. Previous studies show that EPA and DHA inhibit muscle formation but promote adipogenesis. However, no research has addressed the question whether high intake of EPA and DHA affects brown fat development during gestation. The objective of this study was to measure the effect of EPA and DHA supplement on brown adipogenesis and potential pathways related to mitochondrial biosynthesis using fibroblasts as in vitro model. Using Oil-Red-O staining …

Geospatial Analysis Of Rickettsial Species, Amy Frank

Animal Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Rickettsia species are obligate intracellular, arthropod-borne bacteria with a potential to cause multiple diseases including Rocky Mountain spotted fever (RMSF). Fleas, mites, and ticks serve as vectors for Rickettsia, but ticks are the primary vector of interest. RMSF and other rickettsial diseases have continued to gain importance in both human and veterinary medicine as RMSF is the most common tick-borne disease within the United States according to the Lyme and Tick-Borne Disease Research Center. A statewide citizen science project was utilized to determine the prevalence of Spotted Fever Group (SFG) Rickettsia in Arkansas. This project yielded results in 64 …

The Perception Of Iron-Deficient Anemia In Bolgatanga, Ghana Among Women Of Childbearing Age, Sydney Albrecht

The Eleanor Mann School of Nursing Undergraduate Honors Theses

Objective: To understand the perception of anemia among the women of childbearing age in Bolgatanga, Ghana, and to correlate the reasoning with the high incidence of anemia in the area.

Method: This research was a qualitative study consisting of 67 interviews over the course of the three weeks that were spent in Bolgatanga. 50 of these interviews were women of childbearing age (15-49), 6 were health professionals, and 11 were women older than the age range provided. Interviews were taken from the maternity clinics nearby as well as from women in a rural area that was a 10-minute taxi ride …

Acting Styles Of Caryl Churchill Performance, Mischa Hutchings

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis contains materials pertaining to my thesis performance and one-person show. This thesis also includes my headshot, resume and link to my website.

Feedforward And Feedback Signals In The Olfactory System, Srimoy Chakraborty

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The conglomeration of myriad activities in neural systems often results in prominent oscillations. The primary goal of the research presented in this thesis was to study effects of sensory stimulus on the olfactory system of rats, focusing on the olfactory bulb (OB) and the anterior piriform cortex (aPC). Extracellular electrophysiological measurements revealed distinct frequency bands of oscillations in OB and aPC. However, how these oscillatory fluctuations help the animal to process sensory input is not clearly understood. Here we show high frequency oscillations in olfactory bulb carry feedforward signals to anterior piriform cortex whereas feedback from the aPC is predominantly …

Development And Evaluation Of Selected Chemoprophylaxis Candidates And A Candidate Live-Attenuated Vaccine For Prevention Of Histomoniasis In Turkeys, Lesleigh Beer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Histomoniasis, commonly known as blackhead disease, has increased in prevalence due to the regulatory ban of prophylactics and therapeutics within the past 30 years. The objective of this thesis was to evaluate the efficacy of selected dietary chemoprophylaxis candidates as well as an in vitro live-attenuated vaccine candidate Histomonas meleagridis for prevention of histomoniasis. Chapter one addresses deoxycholic acid and a biliogenic diet intended to endogenously increase production of this secondary bile acid. Deoxycholic acid was effective in vitro but failed to prevent histomoniasis when evaluated during the in vivo experimental disease trial with turkeys. The biliogenic diet did not …

Feeling Clumsy, Feeling Alien: Gender And Affect In Victorian Sensation Fiction, Gracie Mae Bain

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

“Feeling Clumsy, Feeling Alien: Gender and Affect in Victorian Sensation Fiction” explores the interactions between the shock of reading sensation fiction and the affective potential of the genre using Sara Ahmed’s definition of the killjoy and the affect alien. The sensation genre, as explained in its name, is potentially useful when thinking about affective ties in the Victorian period. The first chapter, “Tracing Sensations: Finding and Following the Killjoy” explores the affective footwork that readers of sensation fiction are asked to perform in their sympathetic process with the female villains and fallen heroines. Affective tools employed by sensational fiction create …

Music, Language, And Rhythmic Timing, Rhimmon Simchy-Gross

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Neural, perceptual, and cognitive oscillations synchronize with rhythmic events in both speech (Luo & Poeppel, 2007) and music (Snyder & Large, 2005). This synchronization decreases perceptual thresholds to temporally predictable events (Lawrance et al., 2014), improves task performance (Ellis & Jones, 2010), and enables speech intelligibility (Peelle & Davis, 2012). Despite implications of music-language transfer effects for improving language outcomes (Gordon et al., 2015), proposals that shared neural and cognitive resources underlie music and speech rhythm perception (e.g., Tierney & Kraus, 2014) are not yet substantiated. The present research aimed to explore this potential overlap by testing whether music-induced oscillations …

Socially Constructing Marijuana Policy And Target Populations In The News Media, Jonathan Taylor Langner

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research focuses on different aspects of the co-construction African Americans and marijuana in the news. First, the historical background of modern drug laws, including marijuana prohibition, and how this was dependent on racialized fears in the wake of the abolition of slavery. Next, the prevalence and variety of marijuana constructions in a national newspaper, with careful attention paid to associations with racial identifiers. Finally, how African American athletes and marijuana are co-constructed in an exemplary article.

Chapter 2 describes how racial fears relate to the social construction of disadvantaged population in the media. We first describe the current situation …

Hormone Signaling, Gene Expression, And Mitochondrial Hormone Receptor Expression In Avian Muscle (Cells), Kentu Rushadd Lassiter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mitochondria are vital to the proper growth and function of muscle cells since they’re responsible for the majority of ATP production used for cellular energy. Previous studies have investigated how differences in mitochondrial function affects feed efficiency (FE) in broilers phenotyped for High and Low FE. Low FE broilers have been shown to have increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS), thus contributing to higher levels of oxidative stress and damage seen in these birds. Global gene and protein expression studies conducted on breast muscle of the High FE and Low FE phenotypes have suggested that differences in mitochondrial function …

Comparing Elo, Glicko, Irt, And Bayesian Irt Statistical Models For Educational And Gaming Data, Breanna Morrison

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Statistical models used for estimating skill or ability levels often vary by field, however their underlying mathematical models can be very similar. Differences in the underlying models can be due to the need to accommodate data with different underlying formats and structure. As the models from varying fields increase in complexity, their ability to be applied to different types of data may have the ability to increase. Models that are applied to educational or psychological data have advanced to accommodate a wide range of data formats, including increased estimation accuracy with sparsely populated data matrices. Conversely, the field of online …

Amphibian And Reptile Community Responses To Forest And Riparian Disturbance, Jacquelyn Christine Guzy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Riparian zones are transitional, semi-terrestrial areas regularly influenced by freshwater. These areas serve as dispersal corridors for many animal and plant species and ultimately function as important reservoirs of biodiversity in altered landscapes. While much of the riparian habitat in the United States has been affected by anthropogenic activities, management actions may mitigate potentially negative influences of these activities. For example, Streamside Management Zones (i.e., riparian buffers; SMZs) are commonly implemented within managed forests to protect water quality, but may also provide habitat for riparian-associated wildlife. Yet, little research has rigorously addressed the value of SMZs for wildlife, particularly cryptic …

They Soon Forgot Their Words - Documentary, Karen Paulk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This documentary film, They Soon Forgot Their Words, is about the language issues that threaten the Kaqchikel Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. It is one of 21 Mayan languages spoken in the country and is one of the most widely used with more than 500,000 speakers. Unfortunately, however, scholars have noticed that Kaqchikel is in a state of “shift” a process where one language combines with another in speech. As is the case with many Mayan languages in Guatemala, Kaqchikel is often combined with Spanish in speech. The colloquial name used for the combining of these two languages is “kaqchinol.” …

Evaluation Of Crop Tolerance And Weed Control In Corn And Grain Sorghum With Atrazine Replacements, Jacob Thomas Richburg

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Atrazine is a foundational herbicide for weed control in both corn (Zea mays L.) and grain sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] production. However, studies have shown that while atrazine may be an effective herbicide for preemergence and postemergence control of weeds, it also has risks. The low Koc of atrazine as well as its extensive use over the past 50 years have led it to become the most common groundwater contaminant near agricultural soils. Given these findings, atrazine has faced severe scrutiny while under consideration for reregistration. In the event that atrazine is not reregistered, corn and grain sorghum producers …

Do Enallagma Exsulans From Streams And Lakes Show Patterns Of Divergence?, Savannah Rae Graham

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Divergent selection across heterogenous environments could lead to adaptive divergence in populations resulting in potential local adaption. These populations have phenotypic differences that are fitness related and make native individuals more fit than non-native individuals. My research focuses on a species of damselfly, Enallagma exsulans, to explore local adaptation and morphological differences as a result of divergent selection or plasticity. My first study explored potential local adaptation of wild caught stream and lake E. exsulans using a reciprocal transplant design, a classic approach for this objective. The stream and lake sites chosen were on a small spatial scale allowing for …

Ix: Story About The Law Of Non-Discrimination - Documentary, Denzel Jenkins

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this project is to provide historical awareness for how Title IX, the anti-gender discrimination law in education, evolved to where it is today and the impact it has on universities in the United States. Strong-willed individuals sought change in the late 1960s and 1970s to prevent gender discrimination in education, thus beginning the creation of the law and making it a powerful tool for women’s rights. As Title IX expanded its reach, universities have been shaped by gender discrimination in athletics, sexual assault, harassment and rape. This project outlines the evolution of Title IX through research based …

Incorporating Recent Geochemical And Isotopic Constraints In Age Dating The Waters Of Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas, Kristina Marie Raley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mean water age for spring discharge in Hot Springs National Park was calculated as approximately 4,400 years by Bedinger et al (1978) using carbon-14. Their analysis indicated that the water was a mixture of a small portion of cold water that was less than twenty years old with a preponderance of hot water. However, this result includes some error due to Bedinger et al. using general isotopic values for soil dissolved inorganic carbon and mineral carbon instead of obtaining actual values from the study area. A more accurate age calculation for the springs has been made possible by additional geological …

Using Peripheral Venous Pressure Waveforms To Predict Key Hemodynamic Parameters, Ali Zohair A Alalawi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Analysis of peripheral venous pressure (PVP) waveforms is a novel method of monitoring intravascular volume. Two cohorts were used to study the hemodynamics change of the body state and its influence on the PVP using (1) dehydration setting with infants suffering from pyloric stenosis and (2) hemorrhage setting during a craniosynostosis elective surgery. The goal of this research is to develop a minimally invasive method of analyzing the PVP waveforms and find correlations with volume loss.

Twenty-three pyloric stenosis patients PVP were acquired at five stages and were divided into euvolemic, normal fluid volume, and hypovolemic, significant fluid loss. Seven …

Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy To Quantify In Vivo Tissue Optical Properties: Applications In Human Epithelium And Subcutaneous Murine Colon Cancer, Gage Joseph Greening

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Colorectal cancer is the 4th most common and 2nd deadliest cancer. Problems exist with predicting which patients will respond best to certain therapy regimens. Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy has been suggested as a candidate to optically monitor a patient’s early response to therapy and has been received favorably in experimentally managing other cancers such as breast and skin. In this dissertation, two diffuse reflectance spectroscopy probes were designed: one with a combined high-resolution microendoscopy modality, and one that was optimized for acquiring data from subcutaneous murine tumors. For both probes, percent errors for estimating tissue optical properties (reduced scattering coefficient and …

The Effect Of Using Technology On Students’ Understanding In Calculus And College Algebra, Razieh Shahriari

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This mixed qualitative and quantitative methods study addressed the effect of technology on college algebra and survey of calculus students’ understanding. This research study was conducted in fall 2016 on eight college algebra classes with a total of 315 students, and in summer 2017, on two survey of calculus classes with a total of 40 students at the University of Arkansas.

Several sources were used to collect data. A pre- and post- student attitude survey was administered during the first and last week of the semester for both college algebra and survey of calculus courses. Students’ scores and paper work …

Comparative Plasma Proteomics In Muscle Atrophy Induced By Cancer Cachexia And Hindlimb Unloading, Kirsten Rene Dunlap

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Muscle atrophy results from a dysfunction in protein turnover that leads to loss of mass and function and occurs concurrently with multiple pathologies such as cancer and extended bed rest. Atrophy reduces overall quality of life while increasing morbidity and mortality. Currently, efficacious therapeutic interventions to treat and prevent muscle wasting in all its forms are lacking, however if conserved mechanisms can be identified between wasting conditions, this would aid in the development of multipurpose therapeutics to ameliorate this pathology. Purpose: To examine circulating factors present across atrophic pathologies. Methods: 35 male C57BL/6J mice were assigned to hindlimb unloading …

Volumetric Muscle Loss: The Role Of Physical Activity And Autologous Repair On Force Recovery And Signaling Pathways, Richard Perry

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Volumetric muscle loss affects both military and civilian persons. The hallmark of this injury is incomplete muscle regeneration, excessive fibrosis, and chronic inflammatory signaling resulting in permanent functional loss. Since permanent functional loss drastically reduces quality of life, many studies have been conducted to improve force recovery. Current scientific literature considers a repair strategy of either devitalized scaffolds infused with growth factors or viable tissue plus activating factors to be the more promising interventions for optimal force recovery. PURPOSE The purpose of this study is to incorporate autologous repair and physical activity and observe the effects of muscle force recovery …