Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of Synthetically Accessible Glycolated Polythiophenes For High-Performance Organic Electrochemical Transistors, Bowen Ding, Vianna N. Le, Hang Yu, Guanchen Wu, Adam V. Marsh, Edgar Gutiérrez-Fernández, Nicolás Ramos, Martina Rimmele, Jaime Martín, Jenny Nelson, Alexandra F. Paterson, Martin Heeney

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Four glycolated polythiophene-based organic mixed ionic-electronic conductors (OMIECs), PE2gTT, PE2gT, PT2gTT, and PT2gT are prepared by atom-efficient direct arylation polymerization, avoiding the need for toxic organometallic pre- cursors. PE2gT, PT2gTT, and PT2gT are operable in p-type accumulation mode organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs), with PT2gT displaying the best device performance with a μC* product figure-of-merit of 290 F cm−1 V−1 s−1 . A record volumetric capacitance among p-type glycolated polythiophene OMIECs of 313 F cm−3 is observed for PE2gT, ascribed to the high proportion- ality of polar components in its materials design. The good OECT performance of PE2gT with μC* = …

The Integrated Behavioral Model Of Mental Health Help Seeking (Ibm-Hs): A Health Services Utilization Theory Of Planned Behavior For Accessing Care, Joseph H. Hammer, David L. Vogel, Patrick R. Grzanka, Nayeon Kim, Brian T. Keum, Claire Adams, Sarah A. Wilson

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

This article introduces the integrated behavioral model of mental health help seeking (IBM-HS), a theoretical model for understanding the constructs (e.g., systemic, predisposing, and enabling factors; mental health literacy; illness perceptions; perceived need; stigma; shame; perceived benefits, motivation) that influence people’s decision making around seeking professional mental health care and their ultimate access to formal treatment. The IBM-HS is a help-seeking-specific adaptation of the empirically supported integrated behavioral model and integrative model, which are themselves evolutions of the theory of planned behavior and theory of reasoned action. The IBM-HS posits that help-seeking determinants (e.g., structural forces; cultural influences; past help-seeking …

Disorganization Of Actin Within The Shafts Of Stereocilia Is A Key Difference Between Temporary And Permanent Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (Nihl), Shadan Hadi

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

During sound stimulation, mechanosensory stereocilia of the auditory hair cell pivot around their bases, where their actin cores become denser and form rootlets protruding into the cuticular plate. It is believed that actin-based cuticular plate provides a stable mechanical support for stereocilia, while rootles are responsible for their pivotal flexibility and life-long resilience to mechanical stimuli. Not surprisingly, damage to the stereocilia bundles is known as a hallmark of permanent noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). Yet, despite decades of NIHL studies, it is still unknown which ultrastructural changes in the stereocilia bundles are evoked directly by mechanical overstimulation.

Here, we explored …

Differential Effects Of Traumatic Brain Injury On Preinjury And Postinjury Born Hippocampal Neural Precursor Cells, Hannah Downing

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

Moderate contusive traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in neuronal cell death in the cortex as well as cell death and damage in underlying structures, including the hippocampus. The hippocampus is critically involved in learning and memory and is one of two regions in the brain capable of undergoing neurogenesis throughout adulthood. Adult hippocampal neurogenesis is a complex sequence of events necessary for a neural progenitor cell (NPC) to differentiate into a mature granule cell neuron located in the granule cell layer of the dentate gyrus. TBI results in a preferential loss of immature neurons in the granule cell layer of …

Profiling The Molecular And Clinical Landscape Of Glioblastoma Utilizing The Oncology Research Information Exchange Network Brain Cancer Database, Alexandra N. Demetriou, Frances Chow, David W. Craig, Michelle G. Webb, D. Ryan Ormond, James Battiste, Arnab Chakravarti, Howard Colman, John L. Villano, Bryan P. Schneider, James K. C. Liu, Michelle L. Churchman, Gabriel Zada

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Background. Glioblastoma exhibits aggressive growth and poor outcomes despite treatment, and its marked var- iability renders therapeutic design and prognostication challenging. The Oncology Research Information Exchange Network (ORIEN) database contains complementary clinical, genomic, and transcriptomic profiling of 206 glio- blastoma patients, providing opportunities to identify novel associations between molecular features and clinical outcomes.

Methods. Survival analyses were performed using the Logrank test, and clinical features were evaluated using Wilcoxon and chi-squared tests with q-values derived via Benjamini-Hochberg correction. Mutational analyses util- ized sample-level enrichments from whole exome sequencing data, and statistical tests were performed using the one-sided Fisher Exact test …

Settlement Scaling In The Northern Maya Lowlands: Human-Scale Implications, Scott R. Hutson, Adrian S. Z. Chase, Jeffrey B. Glover, William M. Ringle, Travis W. Stanton, Walter R. T. Witschey, Traci Ardren

Anthropology Faculty Publications

Settlement scaling theory predicts that higher site densities lead to increased social interactions that, in turn, boost productivity. The scaling relationship between population and land area holds for several ancient societies, but as demonstrated by the sample of 48 sites in this study, it does not hold for the Northern Maya Lowlands. Removing smaller sites from the sample brings the results closer to scaling expectations. We argue that applications of scaling theory benefit by considering social interaction as a product not only of proximity but also of daily life and spatial layouts.

Wildfire Effects On The Fate Of Deposited Nitrogen In A Boreal Larch Forest, Weili Liu, Jiaxing Zu, B. Liu, Lin Qi, Wei Huang, Yunting Fang, Jian Yang

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

The effects of nitrogen (N) deposition on forests largely depend on the ecosystem N status and the fates of deposited N. Boreal forests are typically N-limited ecosystems and are considered to be more efficient in retaining deposited N relative to temper- ate and tropical forests. As a primary disturbance in boreal forests, wildfires may alleviate N limitation in the burned ecosystem and increase mineralization, resulting in the altered outcomes of the N deposition.

Cyp6g2 Is The Major P450 Epoxidase Responsible For Juvenile Hormone Biosynthesis In Drosophila Melanogaster, Qiangqiang Jia, Liu Yang, Jiamin Wen, Suning Liu, Di Wen, Wei Luo, Weihua Wang, Subba R. Palli, Li Sheng

Entomology Faculty Publications

Background Juvenile hormones (JH) play crucial role in regulating development and reproduction in insects. The most common form of JH is JH III, derived from MF through epoxidation by CYP15 enzymes. However, in the higher dipterans, such as the fruitfly, Drosophila melanogaster, a bis-epoxide form of JHB3, accounted most of the JH detected. Moreover, these higher dipterans have lost the CYP15 gene from their genomes. As a result, the identity of the P450 epoxidase in the JH biosynthesis pathway in higher dipterans remains unknown.

Results In this study, we show that Cyp6g2 serves as the major JH epoxidase responsible for …

Endosymbiont Diversity Across Native And Invasive Brown Widow Spider Populations, Monica A. Mowery, Laura Cecilia Rosenwald, Eric G. Chapman, Yael Lubin, Michal Segoli, Thembile Khoza, Robin Lyle, Jennifer A. White

Entomology Faculty Publications

The invasive brown widow spider, Latrodectus geometricus (Araneae: Theridiidae), has spread in multiple locations around the world and, along with it, brought associated organisms such as endosymbionts. We investigated endosymbiont diversity and prevalence across putative native and invasive populations of this spider, predicting lower endosymbiont diversity across the invasive range compared to the native range. First, we characterized the microbial community in the putative native (South Africa) and invasive (Israel and the United States) ranges via high throughput 16S sequencing of 103 adult females. All specimens were dominated by reads from only 1–3 amplicon sequence variants (ASV), and most individuals …

Go West: Population Genomics Reveals Unexpected Population Fluctuations And Little Gene Flow In Western Hemisphere Populations Of The Predatory Lady Beetle, Hippodamia Convergens, Arun Sethuraman, Schyler O. Nunziata, Angela Jones, John J. Obrycki, David W. Weisrock

Entomology Faculty Publications

Hippodamia convergens—the convergent lady beetle, has been used extensively in aug- mentative biological control of aphids, thrips, and whiteflies across its native range in North America, and was introduced into South America in the 1950s. Overwintering H. convergens populations from its native western range in the United States are com- mercially collected and released across its current range in the eastern USA, with little knowledge of the effectiveness of its augmentative biological control. Here we use a novel ddRADseq-based SNP/haplotype discovery approach to estimate its range- wide population diversity, differentiation, and recent evolutionary history. Our results indicate (1) significant population …

N(Alpha)-Acetyltransferase 40-Mediated Histone Acetylation Plays An Important Role In Ecdysone Regulation Of Metamorphosis In The Red Flour Beetle, Tribolium Castaneum, Sharath Chandra Gaddelapati, Smitha George, Anilkumar Moola, Karthi Sengodan, Subba Reddy Palli

Entomology Faculty Publications

Histone acetylation, a crucial epigenetic modification, is governed by histone acetyltransferases (HATs), that regulate many biological processes. Functions of HATs in insects are not well understood. We identified 27 HATs and determined their functions using RNA interference (RNAi) in the model insect, Tribolium castaneum. Among HATs studied, N-alpha-acetyltransferase 40 (NAA40) knockdown caused a severe phenotype of arrested larval development. The steroid hormone, ecdysone induced NAA40 expression through its receptor, EcR (ecdysone receptor). Interestingly, ecdysone-induced NAA40 regulates EcR expression. NAA40 acetylates histone H4 protein, associated with the promoters of ecdysone response genes: EcR, E74, E75, and HR3, and causes an increase …

The Mechanoreceptor Piezo Is Required For Spermatogenesis In Bombyx Mori, Zhongjie Zhang, Xiaojing Liu, Bo Hu, Kai Chen, Ye Yu, Chenxin Sun, Dalin Zhu, Hua Bai, Subba Reddy Palli, Anjiang Tan

Entomology Faculty Publications

Background The animal sperm shows high diversity in morphology, components, and motility. In the lepidopteran model insect, the silkworm Bombyx mori, two types of sperm, including nucleate fertile eupyrene sperm and anucleate unfertile apyrene sperm, are generated. Apyrene sperm assists fertilization by facilitating the migration of eupyrene spermatozoa from the bursa copulatrix to the spermatheca. During spermatogenesis, eupyrene sperm bundles extrude the cytoplasm by peristaltic squeezing, while the nuclei of the apyrene sperm bundles are discarded with the same process, forming matured sperm.

Results In this study, we describe that a mechanoreceptor BmPiezo, the sole Piezo ortholog in B. mori, …

Tree Species Richness And Ash Density Have Variable Effects On Emerald Ash Borer Biological Control By Woodpeckers And Parasitoid Wasps In Post-Invasion White Ash Stands, Caleb J. Wilson, Toby R. Petrice, Therese M. Poland, Deborah G. Mccullough

Entomology Faculty Publications

Emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) is the most destructive insect to invade North American forests. Identifying habitat features that support EAB natural enemies is necessary to enhance EAB biological control. In many forest ecosystems, tree species diversity has been linked with reduced pest abundance and increases in natural enemy abundance. We assessed the influence of tree species richness, ash density, and proportion of total ash basal area on ash canopy condition, EAB larval densities, and biocontrol by woodpeckers and parasitoids in pairs of healthy and declining overstory (DBH > 10 cm) and recruit-sized ash (DBH 2–10 cm) …

The Impact Of Measure 110 On Fatal Overdoses, Property And Violent Crime In Oregon, Hannah Mercado

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

In November 2020, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act (also known as Measure 110) was passed in Oregon with the purpose to provide access to treatment and recovery services available to anyone who may need to utilize them, while focusing on a health-oriented approach towards substance use disorder (SUD) across the state through the removal of low-level drug possession criminal penalties (Oregon Health Authority, n.d.). Historically, Oregon has consistently had some of the highest rates of substance use in the U.S., making this a pertinent issue which was addressed through the implementation of Measure 110. Citing a critical need …

Government Grant Receipts And Revenue Volatility: A Correlational Investigation Of Medium-Sized Arts Organizations, Carly Colvin

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Minimal revenue volatility has been shown to enable more accurate planning by nonprofit managers and contribute to nonprofit financial sustainability. The volatility of government revenues, a major income source for nonprofit organizations, is not a well-researched topic. This capstone presents correlational tests to study the relationship between government grant receipts and revenue volatility within medium-sized nonprofit arts organizations in California. In addition, a data compilation methodology is tested and documented to enable future research. The results do not show a correlation between receipt of government grants and revenue volatility. The ensuing considerations for nonprofit managers along with areas for future …

University Of Kentucky Healthcare Community Engagement Program Strategic Plan, Madison Fyffe

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Strategic planning is an essential tool in providing direction to an organization through analysis of its current state and ideal future, and development of strategic goals. The University of Kentucky HealthCare’s community engagement program is a robust program within the department of Brand Strategy, tasked with serving all 120 Kentucky counties and over 150 local, state, and national organizations through health education, event sponsorship, and promotional resources. In its current state, a strategic plan to guide and track performance does not exist. This capstone aims to develop a strategic plan through the assessment of strategic planning theory, stakeholder analysis, and …

Employer Incentivized Cancer Screenings In Kentucky: A Case Study, Addison Dumes, Sophia Freeman, Megan Latiff

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Kentucky has some of the highest mortality rates for colon, breast, cervical and lung cancer in the United States, according to the Center of Disease Control. Our Client, The Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, is seeking to lower these rates by increasing employer driven cancer screenings. Previous studies show many states have been successful in implementing programs to motivate employees to participate in preventative screenings. Through individual interviews with Kentucky employers, this study aims to answer what factors affect the best practices and perceived barriers amongst employers with health and wellness programs to increase the rate of preventative breast, cervical, …

Impact Of The Availability And Affordability Of Childcare On The Economy, Valentina Osunmade, Cameron French

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Kentucky's workforce participation rates are among the lowest in the nation, thus underscoring the urgent need to strengthen and sustain its workforce (Aull, 2023). One significant barrier for many families in the workforce is the lack of accessibility and affordability of childcare. The Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) in Kentucky aims to alleviate this burden for low-income families. Despite the program's importance, no prior study has examined the direct impact of CCAP enrollment on workforce participation in Kentucky. This research addresses this gap by conducting a multiple regression analysis using aggregate data from the Kentucky Center for Statistics, the US …

Venture Capital & State Policy: A Mixed Methods Approach For Identifying And Understanding “Bright Spots”, David Durman Ii, Cole Wilson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The relationship between the availability of venture capital at the state level and state policy is largely unexplored in research. To expand the understanding of this subject, the aim of this paper is to determine what states are performing greater than would be expected in the area of venture capital availability and examine the nature of policy in those states in order to glean insights in regard to policy improvement. To that end, the researchers developed a multiple regression model to identify overperforming states, then performed an examination of policy within the states identified and contacted subject matter experts within …

Lexington Black Prosperity Initiative: Addressing Lexington’S Equity Gap, Kinsleigh Smith, Jason Schubert

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The equity gap between Black Americans and white Americans is a persistent social issue. This equity gap presents itself in a variety of measures – wealth accumulation, homeownership, healthcare, educational achievement, financial stability, and more. Locally, the Lexington Black Prosperity Initiative, a program of the Blue Grass Community Foundation, is primarily focused on strengthening Lexington’s Black community and closing this equity gap. The initiative was established in 2020. As the Lexington Black Prosperity Initiative enters its fourth year of operations, they are seeking to expand their reach within the community by enacting long-lasting and sustainable programs that will work to …

City Beautification And Homelessness: Differing Priorities Of Cities Considered Beautiful And Ugly, Katia Davis

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The downtown area of a city is often considered the economic hub where people come together as a society to engage in consumerism, recreation, and build relationships. Cities use the downtown area to showcase the beauty and appeal of the area to attract new residents or retain current residents. One thing that affects many downtown areas is the presence of visible homelessness. Homelessness is often seen as an unsightly issue that affects local businesses, residents, and tourism. Local governments can choose to push the homeless presence out of downtown or create an environment that helps those in need. This paper …

Advancing The Understanding Of Successful Technology Implementation Factors Within State Dots: A Maturity Model Perspective, Amit Tripathi, Roy Sturgill, Gabriel Dadi, Hala Nassereddine, Alexa Mitchell

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

In an effort to improve the security, dependability, and quality of infrastructure systems, the implementation of complex transportation construction and maintenance projects is essential. Building upon a previous study that identified six crucial factors for effectively implementing new and emerging technologies in the State Department of Transportations (DOTs), this research aims to comprehensively explore six critical factors using a maturity model perspective. DOTs have shown increasing interest in adopting emerging and wireless technologies, as evident in various Federal Highway Administration Every Day Counts initiative. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, using survey responses from DOT personnel to evaluate the relative …

Performance Optimization For A Scintillating Glass Electromagnetic Calorimeter At The Eic, J. Crafts, Renee H. Fatemi, T. Horn, D. Kalinkin

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The successful realization of the EIC scientific program requires the design and construction of high-performance particle detectors. Recent developments in the field of scientific computing and increased availability of high performance computing resources have made it possible to perform optimization of multi-parameter designs, even when the latter require longer computational times (for example simulations of particle interactions with matter). Procedures involving machine-assisted techniques used to inform the design decision have seen a considerable growth in popularity among the EIC detector community. Having already been realized for tracking and RICH PID detectors, it has a potential application in calorimetry designs. A …

Bar-Code Variable: A Novel Approach To Efficiently Find Interaction Effects, Lee Sak Park

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

This paper introduces the bar-code variable, a novel method for processing a sequence of binary explanatory variables efficiently in the linear regression modeling framework. Represented as an integer or a sequence of bits, the bar-code variable captures infor- mation on original binary variables and their potential interaction effects. Utilizing the bar-code variable, the study explores streamlined feature selection in linear re- gression modeling with binary explanatory variables. The paper demonstrates how the bar-code variable, through re-parameterization, facilitates the transition from cell means estimates, µ̂, in the cell-means ANOVA model to coefficient estimates, β̂, in the linear regression model, and vice …

On Generative Models And Joint Architectures For Document-Level Relation Extraction, Aviv Brokman

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

Biomedical text is being generated at a high rate in scientific literature publications and electronic health records. Within these documents lies a wealth of potentially useful information in biomedicine. Relation extraction (RE), the process of automating the identification of structured relationships between entities within text, represents a highly sought-after goal in biomedical informatics, offering the potential to unlock deeper insights and connections from this vast corpus of data. In this dissertation, we tackle this problem with a variety of approaches.

We review the recent history of the field of document-level RE. Several themes emerge. First, graph neural networks dominate the …

Difs And Bayescluster: Novel Methods For Single_Cell Rna Sequencing Analysis, Kun Liu

Theses and Dissertations--Statistics

Single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) has transformed our understanding of cellular heterogeneity and gene expression dynamics. Despite its potential, the inherent noise and sparsity of scRNA-seq data pose significant challenges in clustering cells into biologically meaningful groups. This dissertation addresses these challenges through two novel methodologies aimed at enhancing the accuracy and robustness of scRNA-seq data analysis.

First, we introduce the Differential Feature Selection (DIFS) framework, designed to improve the identification of differential features in scRNA-seq data. DIFS employs a two-stage marker identification process. In the first stage, a modified Dip Test is used to filter and identify genes with significant …

College Of Law Commencement Program, 2024, University Of Kentucky

Graduation Programs

Commencement program for the University of Kentucky J. David Rosenberg College of Law Class of 2024.

Chinese Fintech Goes Global: Political Challenges And Business Strategies, Yujia He

Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce Faculty Publications

Fintech (the application of digital technology to financial services) has witnessed unprecedented growth, bringing significant implications for the financial system and sustainable development.1 The Financial Stability Board, an international body that monitors and makes recommendations about the global financial system, defines fintech as “technologically enabled financial innovation that could result in new business models, applications, processes, or products with an associated material effect on financial markets and institutions and the provision of financial services.”2 The use of technology in finance is certainly not new—consider the growth of electronic banking and high-frequency trading in the early 2000s. In the past two …

Current Clinical Concepts: Nonoperative Management Of Shoulder Instability, Margie K. Olds, Timothy L. Uhl

Physical Therapy Faculty Publications

Nonoperative management after shoulder dislocation or subluxation remains a challenging and complex task. Accurate diagnosis of the condition and shared decision-making regarding operative and nonoperative management and timing of return to play is required. In this Current Clinical Concepts paper, we introduce a shoulder instability framework that addresses these fundamental clinical dilemmas. Valid clinical prognostic tools that can be used to predict recurrent shoulder instability are reviewed. The process of shared decision-making in the realm of shoulder instability is presented. Finally, a framework for progressive rehabilitation that addresses deficits in motor control, strength, and endurance in scapular and shoulder musculature …

Acute Gastrointestinal Permeability After Traumatic Brain Injury In Mice Precedes A Bloom In Akkermansia Muciniphila Supported By Intestinal Hypoxia, Anthony J. Desana, Steven Estus, Terrence A. Barrett, Kathryn E. Saatman

Physiology Faculty Publications

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) increases gastrointestinal morbidity and associated mortality. Clinical and preclinical studies implicate gut dysbiosis as a consequence of TBI and an amplifier of brain damage. However, little is known about the association of gut dysbiosis with structural and functional changes of the gastrointestinal tract after an isolated TBI. To assess gastrointestinal dysfunction, mice received a controlled cortical impact or sham brain injury and intestinal permeability was assessed at 4 h, 8 h, 1 d, and 3 d after injury by oral administration of 4 kDa FITC Dextran prior to euthanasia. Quantification of serum fluorescence revealed an acute, …