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Modeling Undetected Live Poliovirus Circulation After Apparent Interruption Of Transmission: Implications For Surveillance And Vaccination, Dominika A. Kalkowska, Radboud J. Duintjer Tebbens, Mark A. Pallanscha, Stephen L. Cochi, Steven G. F. Wassilak, Kimberly M. Thompson Jan 2015

Modeling Undetected Live Poliovirus Circulation After Apparent Interruption Of Transmission: Implications For Surveillance And Vaccination, Dominika A. Kalkowska, Radboud J. Duintjer Tebbens, Mark A. Pallanscha, Stephen L. Cochi, Steven G. F. Wassilak, Kimberly M. Thompson

Faculty Bibliography 2010s

Background: Most poliovirus infections occur with no symptoms and this leads to the possibility of silent circulation, which complicates the confirmation of global goals to permanently end poliovirus transmission. Previous simple models based on hypothetical populations assumed perfect detection of symptomatic cases and suggested the need to observe no paralytic cases from wild polioviruses (WPVs) for approximately 3-4 years to achieve 95% confidence about eradication, but the complexities in real populations and the imperfect nature of surveillance require consideration. Methods: We revisit the probability of undetected poliovirus circulation using a more comprehensive model that reflects the conditions in a number …

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Critical Programming: Toward A Philosophy Of Computing, John Bork Jan 2015

Critical Programming: Toward A Philosophy Of Computing, John Bork

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Beliefs about the relationship between human beings and computing machines and their destinies have alternated from heroic counterparts to conspirators of automated genocide, from apocalyptic extinction events to evolutionary cyborg convergences. Many fear that people are losing key intellectual and social abilities as tasks are offloaded to the everywhere of the built environment, which is developing a mind of its own. If digital technologies have contributed to forming a dumbest generation and ushering in a robotic moment, we all have a stake in addressing this collective intelligence problem. While digital humanities continue to flourish and introduce new uses for computer …

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Regulation Of Vldl Trafficking By Orp 10, Philip A. Wessels Jan 2015

Regulation Of Vldl Trafficking By Orp 10, Philip A. Wessels

HIM 1990-2015

Of the challenges facing the improvement of human health, none has taken the forefront quite like the endeavor to discover novel treatments for heart disease. As heart disease has now become the leading cause of death throughout the world [1], the medical community has made incredible strides in the mission to treat atherosclerosis which is the major contributor to heart disease. Very Low Density Lipoproteins (VLDL) are secreted by the liver and subsequently converted to Low Density Lipoproteins (LDL). Many factors contribute to the narrowing of the arterial walls, however oxidized LDL is the main factor that leads to the …

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Perceived Social Support And Self-Care In Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure, Lyne Chamberlain Jan 2015

Perceived Social Support And Self-Care In Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure, Lyne Chamberlain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Problem: Heart failure is the most frequent cause for hospital readmissions in Medicare recipients, with an estimated annual cost of $12 billion. Heart failure hospitalizations are also an independent risk factor for increased mortality. Self-care, thought to be enhanced by perceived social support, is key to managing this syndrome, and up to 50% of readmissions are considered the result of inadequate self-care. Purpose: To evaluate perceived social support and self-care characteristics of patients hospitalized with an exacerbation of heart failure, and to compare these characteristics with a study of ambulatory patients with heart failure. In addition, to assess the relationship …

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Way Of The Butterfly: A Journey Towards Transformation Through Self-Portraits In-Between, Masami Koshikawa Jan 2015

Way Of The Butterfly: A Journey Towards Transformation Through Self-Portraits In-Between, Masami Koshikawa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It has not been easy for me to talk about myself or describe my feelings or thoughts. Coming from Japan, a collective society, we typically are not raised to do so. Throughout the MFA program at UCF, I have shared my feelings and thoughts through my work. It is important to discuss and inform others of our cultural similarities and differences so that we may gain a better understanding of each other. This process has helped me grow not only on an artistic level, but also on a personal level. My journey towards integration has led me to a meaningful …

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Body Mass Bias Mitigation For Females In Military Physical Readiness Testing Through Load Carriage Implementation, Aaron Yeaton Jan 2015

Body Mass Bias Mitigation For Females In Military Physical Readiness Testing Through Load Carriage Implementation, Aaron Yeaton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The US Military requires specific fitness testing, known as the Physical Readiness Test (PRT), for its members to determine their overall fitness levels. The test currently being used has been shown to have bias towards heavier mass individuals of up to 20%. Prior research has been completed and several recommendations have been made to eliminate mass bias, but this has been conducted almost exclusively on males. There is very little data and research on military physical fitness testing for women besides combat specific evolution exercises. A possibility exists to eliminate the bias for females through implementing load carriage during PRT …

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Evaluation Of Strength And Hydraulic Properties Of Buried Pipe Systems Used For Stormwater Harvesting, Mario Samson Mena Jan 2015

Evaluation Of Strength And Hydraulic Properties Of Buried Pipe Systems Used For Stormwater Harvesting, Mario Samson Mena

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Water scarcity has been identified as a global issue. Both water harvesting and an efficient water piping system are some of the important factors to meet the water demand. In this study, high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipes used as an underground storage was evaluated and a Microsoft EXCEL based model was developed, called PIPE-R Model. To study the structural integrity of the pipes, laboratory and field testing were conducted. For the water harvesting, UCF Stormwater Management Academy designed an EXCEL based model to simulate the system's performance to store and redistribute water for an average year. The purpose of PIPE-R Model …

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Digital Studio, Ucf Libraries Jan 2015

Digital Studio, Ucf Libraries

Technology Fee Funded Projects

In recent years, academic libraries have begun providing areas where students and faculty can load data, manipulate it, and display results in a rich, interactive setting. Institutions like Georgia State University http://library.gsu.edu/home/services-and-support/services/curve/ and NC State University https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/data/data-visualization  have carved out these spaces and provided the necessary resources to support them. UCF Libraries has followed their progress and been interested in implementing similar services here. Faculty and students have kept us informed about their interest in and desire for having similar spaces at UCF.

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Overexpression Of Human Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase In Mice; The Effect Of Increase Superoxide Scavenging On Autonomic Control Of The Heart., Jeffrey Hatcher Jan 2015

Overexpression Of Human Cu/Zn Superoxide Dismutase In Mice; The Effect Of Increase Superoxide Scavenging On Autonomic Control Of The Heart., Jeffrey Hatcher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dysregulation of the autonomic cardiovascular control is a complication of diseases including diabetes, hypertension, sleep apnea, and aging. A common factor in these conditions is an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) in neural, cardiac, and endothelial tissues. Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1) is an intracellular anti-oxidant enzyme that catalyzes dismutation of the superoxide anion (O2.-) to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2). Expression and function of this enzyme are diminished in pathologies that impair cardiovascular autonomic control. This study employed mice overexpressing a transgene for human SOD1 (hSOD1) to determine if its overexpression would alter autonomic regulation of BP, HR, and BRS in …

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Helping Mothers Defend Their Decision To Breastfeed, Kandis Natoli Jan 2015

Helping Mothers Defend Their Decision To Breastfeed, Kandis Natoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The United States has established breastfeeding as an important health indicator within the Healthy People agenda. Healthy People target goals for breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity remain unmet. The US Surgeon General's Office reports that lack of knowledge and widespread misinformation about breastfeeding are barriers to meeting Healthy People goals. Breastfeeding mothers are vulnerable to messages that cast doubt on their ability to breastfeed. Very little research has examined specific approaches to help people resist negative messages about health beliefs and behaviors. The objective of this quasi-experimental study was to test an intervention designed to help mothers defend their breastfeeding …

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Alcohol Consumption, Frailty, And The Mediating Role Of C-Reactive Protein In Older Adults, Mona Shah Jan 2015

Alcohol Consumption, Frailty, And The Mediating Role Of C-Reactive Protein In Older Adults, Mona Shah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Frailty is a well-established indicator of late-life decline and is accompanied by higher rates of comorbidity and disability. Meanwhile, an estimated 41% of adults over the age of 65 report consuming alcohol – an identified health risk and protective factor depending on dosage. Given that the demographic group of older Americans is projected to double by the year 2050, identification of frailty risk and protective factors is imperative. The goals of this thesis are to: (1) identify how varying levels of alcohol consumption relate to frailty, and (2) elucidate a possible mechanism that accounts for the relationship between alcohol consumption …

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Development Of A Nano-Sensing Approach And A Portable Prototype For Real-Time Detection And Quantification Of Free Mercury In Stream-Flow: Combining Science And Engineering In Pro Of The Environment, Warinya Chemnasiri Jan 2015

Development Of A Nano-Sensing Approach And A Portable Prototype For Real-Time Detection And Quantification Of Free Mercury In Stream-Flow: Combining Science And Engineering In Pro Of The Environment, Warinya Chemnasiri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Mercury (Hg) is a well-known hazardous environmental contaminant existing in several forms, but all are toxic to human in one way or the others. Since Hg usually settles into water polluting the environment and accumulating in living organisms, it is crucial to monitor Hg levels in the aquatic ecosystem. Although there are many well established techniques currently used to detect Hg, most of them require elaborate and time-consuming sample preparation and pre-concentration procedures, as well as costly and bulky equipment that limit their practical application in the field. In order to overcome the existent limitations in Hg determination methods, Hernandez …

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Exploring Social Identity Through Stable Isotope Analysis In The Kellis 2 Cemetery, Kaitlin East Jan 2015

Exploring Social Identity Through Stable Isotope Analysis In The Kellis 2 Cemetery, Kaitlin East

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The material remains of ancient Egypt provide extensive and wide ranging data about the empire throughout its history. However, little evidence is available from ancient Egypt, or any past culture, with which to rebuild an image of social identity or individual experiences. This is especially problematic when the dominant narrative ignores experiences of minorities and minimizes the variation existing throughout the empire. Stable isotope analysis has the potential to reveal variability in lived experience of past peoples by acting as a proxy for behavior that can be analyzed from bone. Such an approach has been applied on individuals from the …

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Nano And Nanostructured Materials For Optical Applications, Panit Chantharasupawong Jan 2015

Nano And Nanostructured Materials For Optical Applications, Panit Chantharasupawong

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nano and nanostructured materials offer unique physical and chemical properties that differ considerably from their bulk counterparts. For decades, due to their fascinating properties, they have been extensively explored and found to be beneficial in numerous applications. These materials are key components in many cutting-edge optic and photonic technologies, including photovoltaics, waveguides and sensors. In this dissertation, the uses of nano and nanostructured materials for optical applications are investigated in the context of optical limiting, three dimensional displays, and optical sensing. Nanomaterials with nonlinear optical responses are promising candidates for self-activating optical limiters. In the first part of this study, …

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Undergraduate Prescription Stimulant Misuse: The Impact Of Academic Strain, Social Norms, And Gender, Lauren Norman Jan 2015

Undergraduate Prescription Stimulant Misuse: The Impact Of Academic Strain, Social Norms, And Gender, Lauren Norman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the misuse of prescription stimulants among undergraduates for a variety of different purposes, including: academic, other instrumental, and recreational. This research is important as existing literature as well as national level surveillance data indicates a substantial increase in this type of prescription drug misuse, especially among young adults aged 18-25. Drawing from several theoretical frameworks, this research focuses on how academic strain, social norms, and gender influence prescription stimulant misuse among undergraduates. Roughly 900 quantitative surveys were collected that specifically address undergraduate prescription stimulant misuse. The results indicate that college students are at an increased likelihood of …

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Assessing Approximate Arithmetic Designs In The Presence Of Process Variations And Voltage Scaling, Adnan Aquib Naseer Jan 2015

Assessing Approximate Arithmetic Designs In The Presence Of Process Variations And Voltage Scaling, Adnan Aquib Naseer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As environmental concerns and portability of electronic devices move to the forefront of priorities, innovative approaches which reduce processor energy consumption are sought. Approximate arithmetic units are one of the avenues whereby significant energy savings can be achieved. Approximation of fundamental arithmetic units is achieved by judiciously reducing the number of transistors in the circuit. A satisfactory tradeoff of energy vs. accuracy of the circuit can be determined by trial-and-error methods of each functional approximation. Although the accuracy of the output is compromised, it is only decreased to an acceptable extent that can still fulfill processing requirements. A number of …

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Identification Of The Domain(S) In Protein Disulfide Isomerase Required For Binding And Disassembly Of The Cholera Holotoxin, Laura Herndon Jan 2015

Identification Of The Domain(S) In Protein Disulfide Isomerase Required For Binding And Disassembly Of The Cholera Holotoxin, Laura Herndon

HIM 1990-2015

Cholera, caused by the secretion of cholera toxin (CT) by Vibrio cholerae within the intestinal lumen, triggers massive secretory diarrhea which may lead to life-threatening dehydration. CT is an AB5-type protein toxin that is comprised of an enzymatically active A1 chain, an A2 linker, and a cell-binding B pentamer. Once secreted, the CT holotoxin moves from the cell surface to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of a host target cell. To cause intoxication, CTA1 must be displaced from CTA2/CTB5 in the ER and is then transferred to the cytosol where it induces a diarrheal response by stimulating the efflux of chloride …

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An Investigation Into The Use Of Evidence-Based Interventions In Classrooms For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Allison Twyman Jan 2015

An Investigation Into The Use Of Evidence-Based Interventions In Classrooms For Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Allison Twyman

HIM 1990-2015

A survey was sent to classroom teachers in Central Florida educating students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to investigate: 1) intervention practices currently used in the classroom for students with ASD; 2) if the interventions being used are evidence-based, and; 3) if there a difference in use of evidence-based interventions between teachers with the Florida Autism Endorsement and teachers without the Endorsement. A nonprobability purposive study was conducted via an email-based survey. The survey was designed using the tailored design method and was created in Qualtrics.com, an online survey software program. The survey was divided into three major sections: an …

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Detection And Characterization Of Pathogenic Mycobacteria Using Binary Deoxyribozymes, Bradley Rosenkrantz Jan 2015

Detection And Characterization Of Pathogenic Mycobacteria Using Binary Deoxyribozymes, Bradley Rosenkrantz

HIM 1990-2015

The genus Mycobacterium contains many pathogenic bacteria that are known to cause serious diseases in humans. One of the most well-known of these bacteria is Mycobacterium tuberculosis, or Mtb, which is the causative agent of tuberculosis. It infects nearly one-third of the world’s population and kills 1.4 million people annually. Another important mycobacterial pathogen is Mycobacterium abscessus, or Mabs, which causes respiratory infections in cystic fibrosis patients. One of the biggest difficulties in combating these pathogens is the lack of effective diagnostics, as current strategies hold many pitfalls and can be unreliable. One common method used is sputum smear microscopy …

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The Effect Of Bacterial Vaginosis Associated Bacteria On Epithelial Factors Mediating Hiv Transmission, April Nguyen Jan 2015

The Effect Of Bacterial Vaginosis Associated Bacteria On Epithelial Factors Mediating Hiv Transmission, April Nguyen

HIM 1990-2015

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a common female reproductive tract (FRT) condition characterized by an overgrowth of anaerobic species concurrent with the disappearance of commensal Lactobacilli species, is associated with a 60% increased risk of HIV-1 transmission. However, the role of the FRT epithelia in bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria (BVAB)-augmented HIV- 1 transmission is unclear. To evaluate the increased risk of HIV-1 acquisition, we treated FRT epithelia with Atopobium vaginae, a prevalent BVAB, to determine the nature of the host response to BVAB exposure. Treatment of endocervical cells with A. vaginae resulted in a 1500-fold increase in the expression of the antimicrobial peptide …

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The Nature And Importance Of Art Criticism And Its Educational Applications For K-12 Teachers, Tia Blackmon Jan 2015

The Nature And Importance Of Art Criticism And Its Educational Applications For K-12 Teachers, Tia Blackmon

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis will critically examine the importance, purpose, methods, and applications of art criticism. Initial background information on types of critical judgment will lay the foundation to understanding the different methods of art criticism. While the articles and journals read on criticism vary in style and method they all have the goal to become a basic framework for examining the form and content of works of art. My goal of this thesis will be to take researched methods of criticism and create my own methods of criticism to be used in the K-12 art education classroom. The body of my …

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Using Antenna Tile-Assisted Substrate Delivery To Improve Detection Limits Of Deoxyribozyme, Amanda J. Cox Jan 2015

Using Antenna Tile-Assisted Substrate Delivery To Improve Detection Limits Of Deoxyribozyme, Amanda J. Cox

HIM 1990-2015

One common limitation of enzymatic reactions is the diffusion of a substrate to the enzyme active site and/or the release of the reaction products. These reactions are known as diffusion –controlled. Overcoming this limitation may enable faster catalytic rates, which in the case of catalytic biosensors can potentially lower limits of detection of specific analyte. Here we created an artificial system to enable deoxyribozyme (Dz) 10-23 based biosensor to overcome its diffusion limit. The sensor consists of the two probe strands, which bind to the analyzed nucleic acid by Watson-Crick base pairs and, upon binding re-form the catalytic core of …

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Empowerment Unit Plan For Haitian Restavek Children, Ashley Craig Jan 2015

Empowerment Unit Plan For Haitian Restavek Children, Ashley Craig

HIM 1990-2015

Restavek, French for "one who stays with", is a word used to describe child slaves in Haiti. These children are given away by their parents at a young age because of financial hardships or for hopes of life in the urban areas to be better than life in the rural areas. The Restaveks, far from their family and anyone they know, end up as slaves without access to education, healthcare, and sometimes food. As a result, many of these children suffer from malnutrition, abuse, and illnesses. The majority of Restaveks are young girls. In the communities, they are shunned and …

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Matriarchs And Sweethearts And Rebels, Oh My! Archetypes As An Approach To Multiple Group Membership, Alissa N. (Gebben) Neal Jan 2015

Matriarchs And Sweethearts And Rebels, Oh My! Archetypes As An Approach To Multiple Group Membership, Alissa N. (Gebben) Neal

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of this thesis was to examine a potential cognitive mechanism for simultaneous processing of age, race, and gender schemas. Marcus and Fritzsche (2014) propose that the outcome of the tripartite relationship of age, race, and sex are associated with archetypes, and that these archetypes categorize different intersections uniquely. To facilitate this, age groups selected were “old” and “young”, race groups selected were “Black” and “White”, and sex/gender groups selected were “female” and “male”. Several photographs representing each intersection were selected from LinkedIn for use in the pilot study, which were rated via a survey measuring the target’s stereotype, …

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Exploring The Legal Liability Of Genetically Modified Organisms And Their Impact On Society, Jarrett Davis Jan 2015

Exploring The Legal Liability Of Genetically Modified Organisms And Their Impact On Society, Jarrett Davis

HIM 1990-2015

Controversy surrounds the use of Genetically Modified organisms (GMOs): whether the process of developing GMOs should be allowed, and if so, how they should be labeled. Efforts by activist groups have caused food associated with GMOs to carry a stigma, but farmers across the nation are fighting to continue to grow GMO crops and maximize their yield. In the 1970’s, GMOs were credited for assisting in the attempt to defeat world hunger and had a positive image. However, there has been a recent trend toward political and consumer resistance of food items that contains GMOs. A prediction of an abrupt …

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Deciphering Holland's Code, Dennis D. Turner Jan 2015

Deciphering Holland's Code, Dennis D. Turner

HIM 1990-2015

The Party Exercise found on countless career guidance websites and popularized by the best-selling, job-hunting book What Color Is Your Parachute (Bolles, 2015) purports to provide an estimate of an individual's Holland's code. This study examines whether this commonly used Party Exercise accurately predicts an individual's Holland's code (Holland, 1997). Undergraduate students (N=473) completed The Party Exercise and then the Self- Directed Search (Holland & Messer, 2013). The results of this study do not support the use of this popular “Party Exercise” as a valid estimate of an individual's Holland code.

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Polyamine Transport Inhibitor Effects On Pancreatic Cancer Proliferation Cells In Vivo, Frederick Hogan Jan 2015

Polyamine Transport Inhibitor Effects On Pancreatic Cancer Proliferation Cells In Vivo, Frederick Hogan

HIM 1990-2015

Pancreatic cancer is a serious disease, one in which the survival rate over five years is less than 6%. (1) Often, malignant tumors will exhibit uncontrolled proliferation and it is postulated that they have high metabolic needs. One of the areas of interest in cancer metabolism is the unique need for large amounts of polyamines in order to sustain this uncontrolled proliferation. Polyamines are organic compounds that all cells need for proliferation and differentiation. (2) Cells obtain polyamines by manufacture of them directly or obtain them from the environment through their transport across the cell membrane. When cancer cells have …

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Development Of Novel Fluorescent Tools For Investigating Virulence Factors And Drug Susceptibility In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Kaley Wilburn Jan 2015

Development Of Novel Fluorescent Tools For Investigating Virulence Factors And Drug Susceptibility In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, Kaley Wilburn

HIM 1990-2015

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the causative agent of Tuberculosis (TB), a life-threatening disease primarily affecting the lungs that infects about one third of the world's population and causes 1.3 million deaths annually. It is estimated that TB has been infecting humans for around 70,000 years and has killed more people than any other infectious disease. The highly effective, persistent, and multifaceted virulence strategies that have allowed Mtb to continue to spread and thrive for so long are still poorly understood at the molecular level. This lack of knowledge contributes to ongoing challenges to curing TB. Although drugs capable of killing …

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Detection Of Drug-Resistance Conferring Snps In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Using Binary Dnazymes, Marina Addario Jan 2015

Detection Of Drug-Resistance Conferring Snps In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Using Binary Dnazymes, Marina Addario

HIM 1990-2015

Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) is the pathogen that causes Tuberculosis (TB) and is responsible for an average of 1.5 million deaths annually. Although a treatment regimen does exist, Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR-TB) and eXtremely Drug Resistant (XDR-TB) TB strains are becoming a more prevalent concern partly due to failure of patient compliance with the current six to nine month drug treatment regimen. The current diagnostic methods are not able to identify these MDR and XDR-TB strains efficiently therefore more effective point-of-care (POC) diagnostics and drug susceptibility testing (DST) are urgently needed to detect drug resistance and facilitate prompt, appropriate treatment plans. In …

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Elucidating The Molecular Pathway Of Atypical Plasmodium Falciparum Kinases Through Substrate Characterization, Daniel Segarra Jan 2015

Elucidating The Molecular Pathway Of Atypical Plasmodium Falciparum Kinases Through Substrate Characterization, Daniel Segarra

HIM 1990-2015

Plasmodium falciparum, the organism responsible for the most prevalent and most virulent cases of malaria in humans, poses a major burden to the developing world. The parasite is increasingly developing resistance to traditional therapies, such as chloroquine, so the need to determine novel drug targets is more prevalent than ever. One such method involves targeting proteins unique to the malarial proteome that do not have homologues in humans. An especially promising group of targets are protein kinases, which are involved in many different biochemical pathways within the cell. Eukaryotic cell cycle progression is moderated by a family of protein kinases …

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