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Profiling And Modification Of Silicon Nitride Based Planar Substrates And Nanopores, Nuwan Dhananjaya Bandara

Open Access Dissertations

A nanopore—typically defined as a through-hole with dimensions <100 nm in all directions that functions as the sole path between two electrolyte reservoirs—is a robust single molecule sensor element which has enjoyed a wealth of applications spanning genomics and proteomics, with fledgling contributions to glycomics over the past two decades. Two classes of nanopores exist—biological and solid state. Biological nanopores, for example, α-hemolysin, are highly reproducible and precise—with nanopore lengths and critical constriction sizes that are well known and reproducible. This is not the case with solid state nanopores. Assuming total nanopore length is equal to the nominal thickness of the membrane provided by the manufacturer is a standard practice in the nanopore field. However, given fabrication tolerances, there is some room for error, in certain instances close to 60% of the provided nominal thickness. Any error in nanopore length will couple to errors in the radius calculation. Another two key assumptions are: i) the nanopore has a cylindrical shape unless (and often even if) the shape is otherwise known and ii) a single nanopore through the membrane is formed when one is intended. These issues were addressed by developing a framework that shows errors in harboring such geometric assumptions and eventual consequences for nanopore-based sensing experiments.

The focus of nanopore-based sensing has been predominantly on DNA and protein profiling with only fledging contributions to glycomic profiling. Silicon nitride-based solid state nanopores were used to understand translocation conditions related to alginate and then to study source variability associated with alginates. The two alginates used (from two different sources) gave two distinct signal patterns. Heparin, a common anticoagulant was contaminated in 2008 with over sulfated chondroitin sulfate (OSCS)—a structurally similar adulterant—which lead to ~120 deaths in the United States. Nanopores, with sizes ranging from ~8.6 nm- ~13.6 nm were used …

After “Being Thrown In The Classroom”: The Development Of Pedagogical Skills In Veteran Adjunct Faculty Teaching In The Natural Sciences, Heather Shannon Miceli

Open Access Dissertations

The postsecondary landscape has changed drastically in the past 40 years, with one of the most obvious changes being the increased reliance on adjunct or part-time faculty. Approximately 50% of the current faculty employed by postsecondary institutions are categorized as part-time faculty, up from approximately 25% in 1975 (American Association of University Professors, 2017; Snyder, de Bray, & Dillow, 2016). While there is literature surrounding the impacts of this phenomenon, the majority of studies are entrenched in a positivist framework, utilize quantitative methods, and many use large datasets to distill down whether students are more or less successful when taught …

Characterizing The Functional Role And Regulated Assembly Of Protein Polymers Mind And Ftsa During Escherichia Coli Cell Division, Joseph Jake Conti

Open Access Dissertations

It is an immense undertaking for any organism, including a bacterium, to self-replicate. Accurate and rapid division is essential for bacteria to proliferate and produce progeny, especially in environments where there is competition for resources. The nucleoid, the region of the cell that contains the DNA, harbors the genetic information required to achieve robust division, but it is the assembly of the cell division machinery, collectively referred to as the divisome, that produces and coordinates the mechanical force necessary to divide a cell. The hallmark of prokaryotic cell division is the formation of a protein super-structure, called the Z-ring, which …

Virtual Environments For The Induction Of Action, Brian Adrian Flowers

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is a study on the ways in which Virtual Reality can actively and reactively affect human physiology. The first manuscript describes the design of a highly generalized Virtual Reality biofeedback system. This system was developed such that, given proper design, it would be able to provide users with a highly responsive Virtual Environment to meet the criteria of embodiment, which will increase the user's responsiveness to stimuli. The system also functions as a biofeedback system that can be used for biomechanical as well as physiological feedback by using a generalized design paradigm.

The second manuscript describes a biofeedback …

Exploring The Role Of A Novel Device In Weight Loss Outcomes And Behaviors, Jacqueline Ann Beatty

Open Access Dissertations

Obesity is a serious public health problem. There is a need for scalable weight loss interventions that can help people lose weight and decrease their risk of obesity related chronic disease development. Self-monitoring is a key component of successful weight loss. The Eat Less, Move More (ELMM) device is wrist-worn, and is capable of counting bites by detection of a wrist-roll motion that is specific to eating. The device can also measure seconds between bites, as a proxy to eating rate (ER) measurement, as well as the number of steps taken by the user. The aim of this body of …

An Evaluation Of Atypical Antipsychotic Use, Costs And Effectiveness In The Pediatric Population, Kellye A. Donovan

Open Access Dissertations

The pediatric mental health burden in the United States (US) is substantial, with more than 4 million children meeting diagnostic criteria for a mental health disorder. As of 2014, this number represented 20% of US children and adolescents. In 2010, mental health disorders are estimated to cost children and their families $247 billion dollars annually and severely impact quality of life for children and their families. From 2007 to 2010, inpatient admissions for mental health disorders in pediatric patients increased 24% and mood disorder admissions in pediatric patients increased 80% from 1997-2010. An estimated $11.6 billion was spent on pediatric …

Understanding Confined Fluids In Shale Gas Systems, Edward Alan Thomas

Open Access Dissertations

Given the complexity of shale gas at high pressures, researchers aim to characterize the thermodynamic properties of confined fluids using a mixture of experimental, modeling, and simulation techniques. In this work we frequently use the predictive capabilities of simulation to couple the property results to models. The overall results are then compared to experimental data for verification purposes.

We employ a Monte Carlo simulation technique to ensure that a simple linear mixing rule for internal energies of departure holds thereby allowing pure component data to extend to mixtures. The results are coupled to the Gibbs-Helmholtz Constrained equation of state allowing …

The Biological Function Of Human Epididymis Protein 4 In Epithelial Ovarian Cancer, Nicole Elizabeth James

Open Access Dissertations

Epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is the most common gynecologic malignancy worldwide. EOC has a notably poor prognosis, owing to the fact that patients are frequently diagnosed at a late stage after the disease has significantly progressed. While many patients typically respond well to frontline platinum-based chemotherapy, the tumor becomes chemoresistant when a recurrence follows within five years. Therefore, there is an urgent need for the discovery of non-invasive early detection biomarkers and novel targeted therapies.

Human Epididymis Protein 4 (HE4) is a secretory protein that is encoded by the gene whey acidic protein (WAP)-four disulfide core domain protein 2. The …

Effectiveness Of Energy Efficiency Incentive Programs, Georgios Sfinarolakis

Open Access Dissertations

This work addresses the effectiveness of energy efficiency (EE) incentive programs in reducing electricity consumption and assisting states in meeting their energy policy goals. EE programs provide financial incentives to encourage consumers to make investments in energy efficient equipment and reduce energy consumption. This study carries out a quantitative analysis to provide insights into EE programs performance. In two empirical applications, the research examines program performance on two levels: national coverage including all US-based utilities in the first application and state performance in the second application.

The first empirical application examines stipulated energy savings from electric utilities across all states …

Regulation Of Ubiquitin Specific Peptidase 2 Expression By Farnesoid X Receptor In Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Christina Nadolny

Open Access Dissertations

Liver cancer is in the ten leading cancer types for estimated new cases and deaths in the United States in 2018, and is often detected at late stages when it is rapidly fatal. Of the types of liver cancers in humans, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most lethal and prevalent. An important factor in the development of HCC is Farnesoid X Receptor (FXR). FXR acts as master regulator of bile acid homeostasis, and is involved in lipid, cholesterol, and glucose homeostasis. In addition, it plays a protective role against HCC, the precise mechanisms of which has yet to be identified. …

Effect Of A Technology-Integrated, Nutrition Education Program On Low-Income Youths’ Dietary Intake, Kate Balestracci

Open Access Dissertations

Childhood obesity is an important public health problem as it relates to several chronic diseases and continues to be high, particularly among low-socioeconomic (SES) and racial and ethnic minority populations. In 2011-2014, 25.0% of Hispanic 6-11-year-old school-aged children were considered to be obese or extremely obese, followed by 21.4% of non-Hispanic black children and 13.6% of non-Hispanic white children. When compared to higher-SES children of the same ethnicity and race, low-SES Hispanic, white, and black children were 2.7, 1.9 and 3.2 times more likely to be obese, respectively. Contributing to the obesity epidemic among children is the excess consumption of …

Collective Synchrony In Team Sports, Daniel Martin Smith

Open Access Dissertations

Collective synchrony is the simultaneous occurrence of behavior, cognition, emotion, and/or physiology within a group of three or more people. In this dissertation, I draw from various literatures to inform exploratory empirical and methodological investigation of collective synchrony in team sports. These include physiological synchrony, which has been examined primarily in dyads, and collective behavior in sports teams.

In Manuscript 1, I present a conceptual framework of collective synchrony in team sports. I argue that three possible antecedents (copresence, shared task, and coordination) underlie the interindividual matching of emotion, behavior, and cognition. This matching contributes to collective behavioral synchrony and/or …

Development And Validation Of The Arabic Versions Of The Transtheoretical Model Scales For Exercise, Iman Aly Almohammadi

Open Access Dissertations

High prevalence of physical inactivity in Saudi Arabia is a major public health problem that contributed to the increasing lifestyle-related diseases. Thus, interventions to promote and increase exercise are necessary. The Transtheoretical model demonstrated significant impacts in this area, however, effective interventions require psychometrically sound measures. The goal of this study is to develop, assess the psychometric properties, and confirming the factorial invariance of the Arabic versions of the Decisional Balance and Self Efficacy measures for exercise, as well as test their predicted theoretical relationships with Stages of Change with a population-based sample of Saudi adults (N=685). Three …

Developing A New Perspective: Using Narrative Inquiry And Visual Methods To Explore Hegemonic Masculinity In Physical Education, Jeffrey A. Heath

Open Access Dissertations

It has been said that the primary goal of public education is to deliver a diverse academic curriculum to all students (Ravitch, 2010). However, public schools have also long been identified as places where students are introduced to implicit messages of subordination and oppression (Foucault, 1975; Freire, 1970). In many cases, members of the school community that adhere to locally accepted notions of gender identity (Kimmel, 2008), sexuality (Pascoe, 2007), race-ethnicity (hooks, 1994), and/or general ways of being (Nakkula & Toshalis, 2006) experience routine success while their nonconforming peers are left on the educational periphery to fend for themselves. This …

Integrated Clinical Experiences (Ices) In Physical Therapy: Impact On Communication Skills And Professionalism Prior To First Full-Time Clinical Internship, John Mclinden

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate student and programmatic factors that may influence doctor of physical therapy (DPT) students’ communication skills and professionalism before and after participating in a first time integrated clinical experience (ICE). Clinical education is an important component in healthcare education, including physical therapy (PT) education. It can take many forms including internships, co-ops, clerkships, and integrated clinical experiences (ICEs). The ICEs have been given specific attention in physical therapy because the Commission on Accreditation in Physical Therapy Education (CAPTE) has mandated their inclusion in DPT curricula. Best practices for ICEs, however, have not been …

Physical Characterization Of Warburg Effect In Cancer Cells, Da Wei

Open Access Dissertations

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the United States after heart disease. Because the frequency of cancer diagnoses is correlated with life expectancy, we can expect the rate of cancer diagnosis to increase with the increase of life expectancy. Additionally, cancer treatments are notoriously costly and challenging due to the heterogeneity of the cancer cell population. For these reasons, devising methods to study the characteristics, efficiently diagnose and treat cancer is extremely important.

Warburg effect has been considered as the most unique mechanism that differ cancer cells from normal cells. Normally, most of the healthy cells predominantly …

Conformations, Energetics, And Kinetics Of Peptides In Membrane Environment, Ganga P. Sharma

Open Access Dissertations

Chapter 1: We present the exact solution of a microscopic statistical mechanical model for the transformation of a long polypeptide between an unstructured coil conformation and an α-helix conformation. The polypeptide is assumed to be adsorbed to the interface between a polar and a non-polar environment such as realized by water and the lipid bilayer of a membrane. The interfacial coil-helix transformation is the first stage in the folding process of helical membrane proteins. Depending on the values of model parameters, the conformation changes as a crossover, a discontinuous transition, or a continuous transition with helicity in the role of …

Questing Feminism: Narrative Tensions And Magical Women In Modern Fantasy, Kimberly Wickham

Open Access Dissertations

Works of Epic Fantasy often have the reputation of being formulaic, conservative works that simply replicate the same tired story lines and characters over and over. This assumption prevents Epic Fantasy works from achieving wide critical acceptance resulting in an under-analyzed and under-appreciated genre of literature. While some early works do follow the same narrative path as J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, Epic Fantasy has long challenged and reworked these narratives and character tropes. That many works of Epic Fantasy choose replicate the patriarchal structures found in our world is disappointing, but it is not an inherent …

Climate Change And Coastal Cultural Heritage: Insights From Three National Parks, Alanna Casey

Open Access Dissertations

Global climate change is expected to contribute to between 30 and 122 centimeters of sea-level rise by 2100, as well as increase the frequency and intensity storm surge, flooding, and erosion in coastal systems (IPCC 2014; Melillo, Richmond and Yohe 2014; Moser, Williams and Boesch 2012). Consequently, coastal cultural resources including archaeological sites, historic structures, and cultural landscapes will face increasing damages from salt water inundation, storm erosion, that comprise the frequency and intensity of the negative impacts of these coastal climate changes on cultural heritage resources, sites, and landscapes will also increase (Daly 2011b; WHC 2006; Cassar 2005). Current …

Resilient Response In An Age Of Change: Emergency Response Organizations’ Resilience In Times Of Disaster, Clara Decerbo

Open Access Dissertations

Impacts from major storms, floods, hurricanes, and heavy precipitation events disturb the lives of millions of people around the world every year, causing billions of dollars of damages and economic losses. As the number and destructiveness of natural disasters increase, the study of resilience offers possible solutions for minimizing loss of life and damage from disasters. Resiliency of communities and organizations in the face of global climate change is attracting increasing attention as a way to slow or reverse the increasing costliness and disruption of natural disasters. Despite the growing interest in resilience, no research focuses on the particular resilience …

Development Of Carbonate Electrolytes For Lithium Metal Electrodes, Zachary Lee Brown

Open Access Dissertations

The development of energy storage technology is an important topic for facilitating the employment of renewable energy in society. Therefore, current energy storage research is heavily focused on enabling rechargeable high-energy density lithium-based batteries. In particular, permitting reversible electrochemical plating and stripping of the lithium metal negative electrode (or lithium metal anode) in carbonate electrolytes can achieve this goal. Unfortunately, the performance of the lithium metal anode in carbonate electrolytes is plagued by unsafe dendrite formation and poor Coulombic efficiency upon cycling. This dissertation attempts to reveal the role of the composition and structure of the Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) …

Evaluating Usability Of An Electronic Health Record Smartphrase: Triage Nurses Use And Perceptions, Alaa Dalky

Open Access Dissertations

Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems have the potential to be beneficial, but healthcare vendors are challenged to find ways to make them easier to work with and more productive. Systems and tools should be designed to enable nurse-patient engagement, seamlessly fit into practice, and be based on workflow needs. The usability of EHR systems is probably the key factor in making the design of the system fit healthcare providers’ workflow and display patient information clearly. A quantitative descriptive, non-experimental study was conducted to evaluate the usability of a new SmartPhrase interface tool embedded into the Epic EHR system. Twenty-three telephone …

Monitoring Salt Marsh Condition And Change With Satellite Remote Sensing, Anthony Daniel Campbell

Open Access Dissertations

Salt marshes are a frontline of climate change providing a bulwark against sea level rise, an interface between aquatic and terrestrial habitat, important nursery grounds for many species, a buffer against extreme storm impacts, and vast blue carbon repositories. Since the 1700s salt marshes have been in flux due to anthropogenic actions, such as reclamation for development causing loss and an influx of sediment from land clearing leading to marsh expansion. The Clean Water Act of 1972 provides legal protections for wetlands, limiting wetland reclamation and requiring that impacts be offset. However, salt marshes continue to change rapidly due to …

Inductive Equational Logic Programming, Arthur A. Mcdonald

Open Access Dissertations

Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is an area of research that is at the intersection of Machine Learning and Logic Programming. An ILP system uses positive and negative facts (examples) and optional background knowledge to induce a logic program that 1) accurately describes the facts and 2) successfully predicts the outcome of unseen examples.

This thesis introduces a new ILP algorithm implemented in Equational Logic that takes a hybrid approach to induction, using bottom-up generalization combined with inverse narrowing to create recursive equations.

We also introduce a framework for the induction of conditional equations from positive ground examples.

Value Chain Improvements In Small-Scale Fisheries: Case Studies From West Africa, Kristine Beran

Open Access Dissertations

Seafood is one of the most traded food commodities in the world by value. Small-scale fisheries contribute significantly to the global production and supply of seafood. Yet, many small-scale fisheries in developing countries fail to maximize value of seafood products due to post-harvest loss, production, distribution, and marketing challenges. The purpose of this study is to examine how post-harvest innovations might address some of these challenges, whom they benefit along the fisheries value chain, and factors that influence adoption of innovations through two case studies in West Africa.

A multi-methods approach was used to collect extensive quantitative and qualitative data …

Brain-Body Sensory Fusion: Merging Fnirs/Eeg Neuroimaging And Full-Body Motion Capture, Mohammadreza Abtahi

Open Access Dissertations

Functional connectivity between the brain and body kinematics has not been largely investigated due to the requirement of being motionless in neuroimaging techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The importance of investigating this connectivity arises from the fact that the connectivity is disrupted in many neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD). PD is a neurological progressive disorder characterized by movement symptoms including slowness of movement, stiffness, tremors at rest, and walking and standing instability.

Body kinematics are generally divided into two categories of fine and gross motor tasks. Fine motor movements are referred to small range kinematics …

A Multiphysics Computational Framework For Understanding Cell And Microtissue Morphogenesis, Bahador Marzban

Open Access Dissertations

A sophisticated computational model is developed to consider different interactive parts between cells and its components and their local microenvironment. The present work is mainly focused on the modeling of the coupling of the stress and concentration of the signaling proteins within the cell domain. In this research, the fundamental aspects and details of a coupled Contraction-Reaction-Diffusion (CRD), is presented. The model accounts for diffusion of the proteins and mechanical equilibrium of the cells simultaneously while considering different subunits which are affecting the cell migration. For instance, cell-cell interaction, nucleus effects, focal adhesion distribution, anisotropic stress fiber formation, membrane tension, …

Stimuli-Responsive Biomaterials For Drug Delivery To Improve Cancer Immunotherapy And Chronic Wound Healing, Anita E. Tolouei

Open Access Dissertations

Sequential delivery of biomolecules is very important as many biologics underlying injury and disease follow an orderly and sequenced series of events. Here we developed and introduced for the first time a dual compartment biomaterial system with an outer compartment made of gelatin and inner compartment that is a ferrogel which can be magnetically stimulated in order to provide on-demand, sequential delivery of multiple bio-instructive payload. We studied the potential application of this dual-compartment biomaterial system in different therapeutic contexts that may benefit from on-demand sequential deliveries, such as in cancer immunotherapy and in chronic wound healing.

Chronic wounds can …

Investigating Beginning Secondary Mathematics Teachers’ Perceptions And Development Of Their Pedagogical Content Knowledge, Nicole D. Hersey

Open Access Dissertations

Research has shown that there are different types of knowledge possessed by teachers that impact their effectiveness as practitioners. These types of teacher knowledge have been connected to student achievement, teacher retention, teacher efficacy, and teacher quality. Currently, there is a gap in the literature about how secondary mathematics teachers develop their knowledge for teaching, known as Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), during the transition from pre-service to in-service teaching. Understanding how this knowledge develops and individuals’ perceptions of their development has implications for teacher preparation programs and school leaders.

The goal of this study was to investigate the development of …

Benthic Habitat Mapping And Its Applications To Coastal Resource Management, Monique Lafrance Bartley

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is comprised of three chapters focused on benthic habitat mapping of coastal waters within northeast region of the United States to support science-based regulatory and management strategies. The first chapter is entitled: Shallow water benthic habitat mapping utilizing the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) to establish baseline conditions post-Hurricane Sandy at Fire Island National Seashore, New York. In response to Hurricane Sandy, a benthic habitat mapping study was conducted at Fire Island National Seashore (FIIS), New York, representing one of the first comprehensive mapping efforts undertaken by the National Park Service. FIIS was of particular interest …