Digital Commons Network^™

Testing Mice At Risk Of Pancreatic Cancer For Altered Protein Pathways Found In Diabetes, Henley Cheung

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Pancreatic cancer is nearly asymptomatic, which can result in extensive grow and even metastasis to other organs before detection. When diagnosed at a late stage, the survival rate is 3%. Early detection is therefore the key to treating pancreatic cancer. Diabetes was identified as a risk factor for the development of pancreatic cancer, but the mechanism remains unknown. In this project, the objective was to delineate a link between diabetes and pancreatic cancer by examining their shared protein signaling pathways. In a previous study, hyper-activation of AKT1 resulted in a pre-diabetic phenotype and also increased upregulation of downstream phosphorylated mTOR …

On The Security Of Nosql Cloud Database Services, Mohammad Ahmadian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Processing a vast volume of data generated by web, mobile and Internet-enabled devices, necessitates a scalable and flexible data management system. Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS) is a new cloud computing paradigm, promising a cost-effective and scalable, fully-managed database functionality meeting the requirements of online data processing. Although DBaaS offers many benefits it also introduces new threats and vulnerabilities. While many traditional data processing threats remain, DBaaS introduces new challenges such as confidentiality violation and information leakage in the presence of privileged malicious insiders and adds new dimension to the data security. We address the problem of building a secure DBaaS for a …

Imagery Of Invasion And Occupation In Rawlings's "Jacob's Ladder", Christopher Nank

The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Journal of Florida Literature

No abstract provided.

Ichetucknee Springs: Measuring The Effects Of Visitors On Water Quality Parameters Through Continuous Monitoring., Sarah Faraji

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ichetucknee Springs System is in north central Florida, under the jurisdiction of the Suwannee River Water Management District (SRWMD). The Ichetucknee River is one of the most pristine spring-fed rivers in Florida and became a state park in 1970. Over 400,000 people visited the Ichetucknee Springs State Park in 2016. From that total, over 130,000 people came during the tubing season alone (Memorial Day to Labor Day). During the tubing season, only 750 visitors per day are allowed to launch from the North Launch, near the Ichetucknee Head Spring. The park enforces visitor usage of the river during these time …

Detection Of Inorganic Phosphate In Environmental Water Samples Using A Terbium And Gold Nanoparticle-Based Fret Chemosensor, Madeleine Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A novel chemosensor for the detection of inorganic phosphate (Pi) in environmental water samples is outlined. The sensing solution is comprised of a luminescent lanthanide, terbium (Tb3+), chelated to ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) acid in solution with cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)- capped gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). The Tb-EDTA and AuNPs undergo a Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) mechanism in which the Tb3+ luminescence is quenched. Upon the addition of inorganic phosphate (Pi), the AuNPs begin to aggregate and precipitate out of solution. The aggregation of AuNPs results in the restoration of the Tb-EDTA signal which can then be correlated to Pi concentration in …

Mucking About: Hydrologic Regime And Soil Carbon Storage In Restored Subtropical Wetlands, Alicia Huber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wetlands are extremely important ecosystems that have declined drastically worldwide, continue to be lost, and are threatened globally. They perform a number of important ecosystem services such as flood control, provide habitat for many species, and have aesthetic and recreational value. Wetlands are also important to the global carbon (C) cycle. Wetland soils are especially effective C sinks because they have high primary productivity and low decomposition rates due to flooded, anoxic conditions. Increased recognition of wetlands' value has led to more ecological and hydrological restoration of degraded wetlands to mitigate the effects of wetland destruction. Hydrological restoration, which attempts …

Characterization Of Novel Borrelia Burgdorferi Transcripts Expressed During Tick And Mammalian Infection, Philip Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to characterize the transcriptome of Borrelia (Borreliella) burgdorferi to discover novel transcripts, important for pathogenesis. As a spirochete and the etiological agent of Lyme disease, the foremost vector-borne bacterial infection in the world, B. burgdorferi fulfills a distinctive niche among bacterial pathogens. Persisting in the disparate environments of a tick vector and mammalian reservoirs, it is absolutely dependent on its hosts for transmission and nutrient acquisition. B. burgdorferi harbors a complex fragmented genome which is largely linear, unlike that of most prokaryotes, lacks an array of classically described metabolic genes, and contains an unusually …

Canine-Assisted Therapies Among U.S. Veterans With Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: An Integrative Review Of The Literature, Olivia A. Kondos

Honors Undergraduate Theses

A sizeable number of U.S. veterans of all ages experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) which can impact their quality of life; physically, mentally and socially. Consequences of PTSD are associated with physical and emotional disabilities, including ideation of self-harm and even suicide. Increasingly, animal-assisted therapies (AAT) are used to treat PTSD and other physical and behavioral conditions in veterans. Over the decades, AATs have used dogs, cats, horses, and dolphins among other animals. The purpose of this integrative review is to examine the use of AAT focusing on canine assisted therapy (CAT) among veterans diagnosed with PTSD. The methodology involved …

The Microbial Ecosystem Of Beer Spoilage And Souring: Competition And Cooperation In The Age Of Bioinformatics, Andrew Kettring

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The brewing industry generates $350 billion in revenue in the US annually, representing 1.9% of the gross domestic product. Spoilage is a persistent problem throughout production and distribution that causes economic loss, and is therefore meticulously avoided. Contrarily, artisanal sour beers are necessarily produced by a diverse variety of these spoilage organisms metabolically interacting in symbiosis as a microbial ecosystem. We sought to gain insight into factors driving assembly of microbial communities by testing a long-debated Darwinian hypothesis. A collection of community members were screened in co-culture and novel bioinformatics tools were developed to predict observed interactions. A fundamental understanding …

Plasticity Of Central And Peripheral Nervous System: Effects Of Oxygen-Glucose Deprivation (Ogd) And Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia (Cih), Jin Chen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transient receptor potential canonical 6 (TRPC6) channels are permeable to Na+ and Ca2+ and are widely expressed in the brain. In this study, we investigated the role of TRPC6 following ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) and oxygen-glucose deprivation (OGD). We found that TRPC6 expression was increased in wild type (WT) mice cortical neurons following I/R and in primary neurons with OGD, and that deletion of TRPC6 reduced the I/R-induced brain infarct in mice and the OGD- /neurotoxin-induced neuronal death. Using live-cell imaging to examine intracellular Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]i), we found that OGD induced a significant higher increase in glutamate-evoked Ca2+ influx compared to …

Polyelectrolyte And Hydrogel Stabilized Liquid Crystal Droplets For The Detection Of Bile Acids, Jinan Deng

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Liquid crystal (LC) droplets show great potential as an optical probe for sensor applications due to their large surface areas and stimuli-response director configurations. Bile acids with amphipathic properties, which are formed in liver and secreted into the small intestine, play an important role in the digestion of fats and fat-soluble vitamins. After the digestion process, most of bile acids are recycled back to the liver and ready for the next digestion. Only a few of them are excreted into body fluids. However, there is significant increases in the concentration level of bile acids in body fluids for patients with …

Visual Saliency Detection And Semantic Segmentation, Nasim Souly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Visual saliency is the ability to select the most relevant data in the scene and reduce the amount of data that needs to be processed. We propose a novel unsupervised approach to detect visual saliency in videos. For this, we employ a hierarchical segmentation technique to obtain supervoxels of a video, and simultaneously, we build a dictionary from cuboids of the video. Then we create a feature matrix from coefficients of dictionary elements. Next, we decompose this matrix into sparse and redundant parts and obtain salient regions using group lasso. Our experiments provide promising results in terms of predicting eye …

Investigating The Quantity And Types Of Microplastics In The Organic Tissue Of Oysters And Crabs In The Indian River Lagoon, Heidi Waite

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Microplastics are widespread and abundant. Few studies have examined the diversity and abundance of microplastics in wild organisms. This study determined the microplastic quantity and types in the organic tissues of the eastern oyster Crassostrea virginica and Atlantic mud crab Panopeus herbstii from the Indian River Lagoon (IRL). This study also investigated whether location affected the microplastic abundance and variety. Organisms were collected from three sites across Mosquito Lagoon in the northern IRL. Oysters were frozen after collection. Crabs were placed in containers for 5 days before freezing. The soft organic tissue was chemically digested using hydrogen peroxide, filtered, …

The Sound Of Politics: An Examination Of Political Orientations And Musical Preferences Among College Aged Adults, Omari Stringer

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Music fits in a larger media culture that can influence the thoughts and beliefs of many people. Specifically, there is an interest in the relationship between music and any influences it may have on political views or orientations. Based on the existing literature, it is hypothesized that there will be a significant correlation between political orientations and involvement in music and political orientations with music genre preferences. It is also hypothesized that there will be a relationship between socioeconomic status and music preferences. Furthermore, it is expected that participants will report a high level of music involvement, considering how accessible …

The Role Of Frabin (Fgd4) In Aggressive Prostate Cancer, Alexia M. Bossan

Honors Undergraduate Theses

A major problem in prostate cancer (PCa) management is the development of drug resistance. It is known that there are changes in PCa biology upon prolonged treatment with drugs, including anti-androgen drugs that alter cellular signaling processes leading to the development of castration resistant PCa. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are regulatory molecules that modulate gene expression through inhibition of protein translation and modulate cellular functions. Altered expression of miRNAs is often noted in drug resistant cancer including PCa. Studies from our laboratory have identified a number of down-regulated miRNAs in PCa, including miR-l 7-92a miRNAs. Frabin (FGD4) is a target of the …

The Effect Of Biofeedback On Coping For Patients With Depression, Amber L. Atkinson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Background: Individuals with depression have a higher incidence of comorbidity which significantly decreases their ability to function and increases their utilization of health care. Due to the severity of the economic burden resulting with depression, research is needed to further examine the most effective treatments for depression. Biofeedback is a therapy that teaches patients how to control the physical affects that manifest during depression.

Aim: The purpose of this review of literature is to discover the benefits of biofeedback for patients diagnosed with depression.

Method: An electronic literature search was conducted using various databases to retrieve articles examining biofeedback as …

The Response Of Satellite Glial Cells To P2x7 Receptor Activation, Christina D. Kursewicz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Satellite glial cells (SGCs) surround the cell bodies of neurons of the peripheral nervous system, including those of the sensory ganglia. Their close apposition to the neuronal soma allows for bi-directional communication between neurons and SGCs, which are thought to regulate neuronal activity. After nerve injury, SGCs in the dorsal root ganglia contribute to neuropathic pain. Although the mechanisms are not fully understood, SGCs show increased coupling via gap junctions, and communicate with the neuron via bi-directional purinergic signaling after nerve injury. The increased coupling between SGCs and neurons may have implications for chronic pain following peripheral nerve injury. In …

Metacognitive Coaching As A Means To Enhance College And Career Success For Students With Executive Function Disorders, Christine Parsons

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Preparing undergraduate students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields continues to be a national priority. This project analyzed the effects of virtual metacognitive academic coaching between graduate student coaches and undergraduate STEM majors with Executive Function disorders at a large, four-year university. The project team analyzed the persistence of the undergraduate students in their major, as well as the graduate students’ abilities to transfer the coaching experiences to K-12 settings. A mixed-methods design evaluated qualitative (i.e. student/coaches’ surveys and interviews) outcomes for undergraduate STEM majors and for graduate students. The goal of this project is to …

Structural Transition During Fibrillogenesis Of Amyloid Β Peptide, George Sidrak

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease marked by progressive neuronal cell death, leading to dementia. AD is the most common disease that results in dementia and largely affects the elderly, with five million people in the United States diagnosed with the disease as of 2015 and approximately 35 million people worldwide. Diseases resulting in dementia cost the US healthcare system an estimated $172 billion in 2010 and that cost is expected to increase as the population ages and as diagnostic techniques improve so that more people are treated (Holtzman, 2011). The disease was first reported by psychiatrist Alois Alzheimer …

A Stinging Effect: The Legal Implications Biting Into The Effects Of The Zika Virus, Keanu Bader Mr

Honors Undergraduate Theses

People are afraid of contagious diseases. The thought that disease can spread throughout an entire population tends to make people wary of their interactions with their surrounding environment. Hearing about, or even seeing pictures of mosquitoes can make people squeamish or even stimulate an itch. Throughout the ages, the reaction to contagious diseases has been to quarantine and isolate. From the bubonic plague to the 1918 “Spanish” flu, the protocol was to quarantine those infected and isolate the rest. It may be this practice that inspired such precautions be taken by the public. Often these precautions are not warrantless and …

How Disgust, Physiological Activity And Moral Foundations May Predict Political Attitudes And Religious Beliefs: A Systematic Review, Kayla M. Mannion

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The goal of this research synthesis is to obtain evidence about a new and upcoming idea of how political ideology and religious beliefs may be predicted by disgust, moral codes and physiological activity. Previously, it was believed by some that politics and religion were a product of an individual's environment and influences of an individual's family and friend's beliefs. Current research is trying to explain how much a person's biology influences their beliefs. This thesis will aim to explain how it is possible to obtain these types of data and why this research is important.

Real Loneliness And Artificial Companionship: Looking For Social Connections In Technology, Fernando L. Montalvo

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Loneliness among older adults is a problem with severe consequences to individual health, quality of life, cognitive capacity, and life-expectancy. Although approaches towards improving the quality and quantity of social relationships are the prevailing model of therapy, older adults may not always be able to form these relationships due to either personality factors, decreased mobility, or isolation. Intelligent personal assistants (IPAs), virtual agents, and social robotics offer an opportunity for the development of technology that could potentially serve as social companions to older adults. The present study explored whether an IPA could potentially be used as a social companion to …

An Rnai Screen To Identify Components Of A Polyamine Transport System, Adam J. Foley

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Polyamines, specifically putrescine, spermidine, and spermine, are small cationic molecules found in all organisms. Cells can biosynthetically make these molecules, or alternatively, they can be transported from the extracellular environment. Malignant cells have been shown to require relatively high amounts of polyamines. There is a chemotherapeutic agent, DFMO, used to block the biosynthesis of polyamines. Many malignant cells can circumvent DFMO therapy by activating their transport system. A potential solution is to simultaneously block biosynthesis and transport of polyamines. However, little is known about the polyamine transport system in higher eukaryotes.

This thesis aims to add to the basic biological …

Alpha-Synuclein: Insight Into The Hallmark Of Parkinson's Disease As A Target For Quantitative Molecular Diagnostics And Therapeutics, Baggio A. Evangelista

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second-most common neurodegenerative disease after Alzheimer’s disease. With 500,000 individuals currently living with Parkinson’s and nearly 60,000 new cases diagnosed each year, this disease causes significant financial burden on the healthcare system - amassing to annual expenditures totaling 200 billion dollars; predicted to increase through 2050. The disease phenotype is characterized by a combination of a resting tremor, bradykinesia, muscular rigidity, and depression due to dopaminergic neuronal death in the midbrain. The cause of the neurotoxicity has been largely discussed, with strong evidence suggesting that the protein, alpha-Synuclein, is a key factor. Under native conditions, …

The Impact Of Arthritis On The Health-Related Quality Of Life Among Individuals At The University Of Central Florida, Ryan E. Garwood

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This purpose of the study is to examine the difference in the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between individuals who suffer from physician-diagnosed arthritis compared with individuals who do not suffer from physician-diagnosed arthritis in a population of university students, faculty, and staff. The study sampled from a population of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Central Florida. Through the implantation of a cross-sectional ecological design, differences between the two groups were measured with a survey that measures health-related quality of life, such as the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). The SF-36 questionnaire was distributed to subjects …

Characterizing The Function Of The N-Terminal Domain Of Omi/Htra2, Christine Nguyen

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The yeast two-hybrid system was used to isolate and characterize protein interactors of the N-terminal domain of the serine protease Omi/HtrA2 (high temperature requirement protein A2) encompassing amino acids 31-133. This large domain of Omi/HtrA2 is usually cleaved and removed through autoproteolysis to produce the mature form of the protein. Whether the N-terminal domain has any function after its removal is unknown. Omi/HtrA2 is involved in a variety of diseases including cancers, neurodegenerative disorders, and metabolic disorders, but thus far, it is assumed that its normal function is the degradation of specific substrates. To characterize any potential function of Omi/HtrA2’s …

Exploring The Relationship Between Symptom Management And Distress In Pediatric Oncology Nurses, Amanda M. Schultz

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Pediatric oncology is known to be a stressful work environment due to the difficult aspects regarding patient care. This known stress related to work and caring for pediatric oncology patients can negatively impact nurses, patients, and families. The purpose of this study is to examine: relationships between patient symptom management and nurse distress; strategies used by nurses to manage symptoms in pediatric patients with cancer; nurse perceptions of the effectiveness of non-pharmacologic or nursing interventions; and nurse distress related to managing symptoms in pediatric patients with cancer. Registered nurses (N=13) at a local children’s hospital participated in an online survey. …

Wearable Passive Wireless Mems Respiration Sensor, Sina Moradian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this study a passive sensor that wirelessly monitors the profile of the human respiratory system is presented. The sensor was designed to be wearable, weighs less than 10 grams and is durable. The sensor is made of a RF piezoelectric MEMS resonator and an ultra-high frequency antenna made of a thin metal film formed on a flexible substrate . The resonance frequency of the TPoS resonator shifts as a function of condensation and evaporation of water vapor on the surface of the resonator and changes in resonator's temperature. These parameters change in each in response to inspiration and expiration …

High Performance Techniques For Face Recognition, Ahmed Aldhahab

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The identification of individuals using face recognition techniques is a challenging task. This is due to the variations resulting from facial expressions, makeup, rotations, illuminations, gestures, etc. Also, facial images contain a great deal of redundant information, which negatively affects the performance of the recognition system. The dimensionality and the redundancy of the facial features have a direct effect on the face recognition accuracy. Not all the features in the feature vector space are useful. For example, non-discriminating features in the feature vector space not only degrade the recognition accuracy but also increase the computational complexity. In the field of …

Precision Metrology Of Laser Plasmas In The Xuv Band, John Szilagyi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The XUV band, a region of light spanning the wavelength range of 5 - 200 nm, is located between the Ultraviolet and X-ray regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. It is further divided into a 100 - 200 nm region called the Vacuum Ultraviolet (VUV), and a 5 – 100 nm region called the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV). Applications of this light have been slow to develop due to the lack of suitable sources, efficient optics, and sensitive detectors. Recently, many industries such as the semiconductor manufacturing industry, medical surgery, micromachining, microscopy, and spectroscopy have begun to benefit from the short wavelengths …