Digital Commons Network^™

Opioids And Opioid Use Disorder Treatment In Pregnancy: Spontaneous Abortion And Childhood Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Mennatullah Hasan

Open Access Master's Theses

Opioids, recognized for their efficacy in pain management, have seen a marked increase in prescription rates for use during pregnancy over the last two decades. Opioid utilization in this context is primarily attributed to the management of pain, a prevalent condition in pregnancy. Notably, over 70% of pregnancies are associated with low back and pelvic pain, while other frequent pain conditions include myalgia, joint pain, and migraine. The predominant indication for prescribing opioids during pregnancy is the treatment of acute pain. This trend is expected to persist or even escalate, considering the rising maternal age and the concomitant increase in …

Classification Models For Predicting Mouse Spinal Motoneuron Physiological Type Based On Their Electrical Properties, Reuben Mawuena Kwadzo Ahorklo

Open Access Master's Theses

Accurate prediction of mouse spinal motoneuron physiological types based on electrical properties faces challenges due to missing data and imbalanced class distributions. Technical difficulties, physiological variations, and experimental issues contribute to data gaps in electrophysiological recordings. Imbalanced class distributions arise from the rarity of certain motoneuron types. The resulting risk of biased or unreliable classification models hampers their utility in motor control studies. Thus, we claim that the electrical properties of mouse spinal motoneurons can be accurately predicted and classified based on specific, measurable features.

This study focuses on two classification models, a multinomial logistic regression (MLM) and a Random …

A Study Of The Structure-Activity Relationships Of Carcinogenic Protein- And Dna-Binding Chemicals, Alicia M. Crisalli

Open Access Dissertations

Chapter 1

Chemical contaminants in our environment may interact with macromolecules such as proteins and DNA in our bodies and have the potential to disrupt normal biological processes, leading to diseases such as cancer and metabolic conditions. Elucidation of these mechanisms, particularly the relationship between their structure and subsequent biological outcomes, is paramount to mitigating the harm associated with human exposure to such contaminants. It is also an important tool in the drug design/discovery process. This introductory chapter shall serve as background knowledge for readers unversed in the field, outlining several families of persistent chemical contaminants known to cause cancer …

Pelagic-Benthic Coupling In The Gulf Of Maine: Multidecadal Molecular Isotope Records Of Zooplankton And Deep Sea Corals Bioarchives, Catherine Nowakowski

Open Access Dissertations

The export of organic matter from the surface to deep ocean has major implications for global biogeochemical cycles, the transfer of energy across food webs, and the sequestration of carbon through the biological pump. Therefore, understanding the physical and biological conditions that control these processes is important to understanding pelagic-benthic coupling and resulting controls on ocean productivity, fisheries production, and Earth’s climate regulation. Equally important is consideration of and collaboration with diverse audiences that need to understand this information to make scientifically informed decisions about climate and environment policies that come from this research. Despite the importance of this knowledge, …

Paradigm Shift, Expansion, And Inclusion: Visual Literacy Research For The Field Of Information, Yan Ma

Graduate School of Library and Information Studies Faculty Publications

In addition to the continuing call for the inclusion of visual literacy into the curriculum for library and information science education, a paradigm expansion in research to develop and lead an interdisciplinary research advancement is a pressing task. The proposed paradigm shift in research results from the shift in the nature of information from text-based to visual information. Such a paradigm shift requires expanding research methodologies and theoretical frameworks. At the same time, paradigm inclusion is needed to invite and embrace interdisciplinary research and diverse research methodologies and theoretical frameworks to study visual information. This paradigm shift, expansion, and inclusion …

The Social And Ecological Dimensions Of Coral Reef Biomonitoring, Elaine Wang Shen

Open Access Dissertations

Coral reefs contain a disproportionately high amount of marine biodiversity and support millions of people worldwide by providing food security and livelihoods. This coupled relationship between reefs and people is increasingly threatened globally by climate change and globalization, as well as locally by overfishing, habitat destruction, and nutrient pollution. Biomonitoring the varied ecological outcomes of these threats and estimating how conservation and management interventions mitigate them are crucial scientific endeavors for understanding the socio-ecological complexity of coral reef dynamics. Common ecological indicators of reef health, however, are theoretically and taxonomically limited when used alone, thus a combination of modeling and …

A Case Study Of White Shark Tourism In Cape Cod: Conservation And Management Considerations For A Growing Industry, Letty Cass

Open Access Master's Theses

In the past ten years, Cape Cod, Massachusetts has become a notable hot spot for white shark (Carcharodon carcharias) aggregation, which can be attributed to an increase of their food source, the gray seal. This increase in white sharks has had many positive and negative impacts on the community. In recent years, some businesses have taken advantage of the increased white shark presence by offering shark viewing tours directly off the coast of Cape Cod. This study investigated the growth and development of the shark tourism industry by conducting eleven semi-structured interviews with members of the shark tourism …

Power And Sample Size Calculations For Evaluating Spillover Effects In Networks With Non-Randomized Interventions, Ke Zhang

Open Access Master's Theses

Determining the appropriate sample size that is needed to achieve a desired level of statistical power is an integral aspect of study design, as it ensures that studies are adequately powered and that their results are reliable and meaningful. Adequate statistical power can also address some practical and ethical considerations. Various methodologies for power and sample size calculations have been developed for distinct types of studies. However, the implications for power when estimating spillover effects in sociometric network-based studies with non-randomized interventions (SNS-NRIs) remain inadequately explored. In this study, we first conducted a series of simulations to evaluate how the …

Historical And Technical Analysis Of A Baltimore Album Quilt Top, Susan E. Day

Open Access Master's Theses

Almost 200 years after their creation, quilts in the Baltimore Album style continue to fascinate scholars and collectors. They encompass the most intricate of appliqué designs accomplished with sophisticated skills. Their designers remain little-known. A previously unresearched and unfinished Baltimore Album Quilt top is described and analyzed. It is compared to three other historic Baltimore Album Quilts from museum collections, all inscribed and dated between 1845 and 1850, all originating from northern Baltimore County, Maryland, and all interrelated through designs or inscriptions.

Research questions address the maker(s) of the top, the identity and circumstances of the intended recipient, and the …

Effects Of Mate Choice On The Reproductive Success Of New England Cottontails (Sylvilagus Transitionalis), Hannah Petit

Open Access Master's Theses

The vulnerable New England cottontail (NEC, Sylvilagus transitionalis) has lost most of its historic range. Roger Williams Park Zoo (RWPZ) and affiliates created a reintroduction breeding program that breeds wild-caught rabbits and releases the offspring to amplify declining populations. To improve offspring production, a mate choice experiment was conducted that tested the preference of 8 females with 3 males in a pen that allowed visual and olfactory contact with all males simultaneously. The length of time, frequency of visits, female urine markings, number of barrier investigations, and female proximity to each of the males was recorded. These behaviors were …

Green Nation: State Forestry And Its Failures In The Atlantic Pyrenees, 1827-1848, Timothy R. Jarvis

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis argues that state forestry programs in nineteenth-century France failed to produce adequate conservation systems, resulting in the devastation of the natural world. After the revolutionary era, a highly centralized and technocratic state attempted to solve old environmental problems with modernized solutions. This tension between old and new ways of thinking reached a watershed moment during the middle of the nineteenth century, when Romantic and Enlightenment worldviews clashed within the environmental theater of state forestry. This confrontation radically transformed how the French perceived and interacted with nature. Concepts such as radical empiricism, biological evolution, and natural theology became cultural …

Best Management And Egg Washing Practices For Small-Scale Poultry Producers To Improve Food Safety, Julie Bosland

Open Access Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation research was to determine the best management and egg washing practices for small-scale egg producers and backyard chicken owners to help improve food safety. The main goals were to establish the most effective management and egg washing procedures to reduce total coliform bacteria load on eggshells and increase egg cleanliness. To determine the methods used for experiments in chapters 3-5, a survey was conducted on egg handling, washing and management techniques in backyard poultry and small-scale producers within the Northeastern U.S. The effect of management practices and egg washing methods on the eggshell cuticle was …

Bee Visitation To Three Clover Species (Trifolium Spp.), Common Selfheal (Prunella Vulgaris) And Creeping Thyme (Thymus Serpyllum), Julia J. Vieira

Open Access Master's Theses

Native bees are experiencing global declines due to multiple factors including habitat loss, pesticide use, pathogens, and climate change. Several recent bumble bee studies across New England have documented declines in species richness throughout the region. Bee visitation to different flower species in bloom concurrently can be influenced by actual floral preferences, timing of nectar and pollen presentation, relative abundances of the flower species, and other factors. I assessed bee abundance, diversity, and selective foraging patterns in southern Rhode Island on four planted flower species: white clover (Trifolium repens L.), medium and mammoth red clover (Trifolium pratense L.), …

Ipbes Invasive Alien Species Assessment: Chapter 2. Trends And Status Of Alien And Invasive Alien Species, Hanno Seebens, Laura A. Meyerson, Sebataolo J. Rahlao, Bernd Lenzner, Elena Tricarico, Alla Aleksanyan, Franck Courchamp, Emre Keskin, Hanieh Saeedi, Alifereti Tawake, Petr Pyšek, Et Al

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Chapter 2: Trends and status of alien and invasive alien species of the Thematic Assessment Report on Invasive Alien Species and their Control of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services.

Uptake Of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances By Fish, Mussel, And Passive Samplers In Mobile-Laboratory Exposures Using Groundwater From A Contamination Plume At A Historical Fire Training Area, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Larry B. Barber, Heidi M. Pickard, David A. Alvarez, Jitka Becanova, Steffanie H. Keefe, Denise R. Leblanc, Rainer Lohmann, Jeffrey A. Steevens, Alan M. Vajda

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Aqueous film-forming foams historically were used during fire training activities on Joint Base Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and created an extensive per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) groundwater contamination plume. The potential for PFAS bioconcentration from exposure to the contaminated groundwater, which discharges to surface water bodies, was assessed with mobile-laboratory experiments using groundwater from the contamination plume and a nearby reference location. The on-site continuous-flow 21-day exposures used male and female fathead minnows, freshwater mussels, polar organic chemical integrative samplers (POCIS), and polyethylene tube samplers (PETS) to evaluate biotic and abiotic uptake. The composition of the PFAS-contaminated groundwater was complex and …

Testing The Efficacy Of Behavioral Nudges For Reducing Plastic Bag Use And Perception Of Levy-Based Policy Among Retail Customers In Bangladesh, Md Tahsin Hasan

Open Access Dissertations

Over the last five decades, plastics have penetrated our lives slowly yet with such certainty that we cannot imagine a day without plastic products. From bottled water to injection syringes, we are submerged in plastics. Plastics have significantly improved human lifestyles and reduced living costs by providing cheap household items. However, it is also evident now that plastics threaten the natural environment and animal and human health. Specifically, single-use plastics are the most ubiquitous nuisance to the environment. Food packaging, pet bottles, and single-use plastic bags are the most found plastic items in household garbage. According to statistics from the …

Associations Between Oyster Consumption And Iron, Zinc, And Cadmium Concentrations In Ghanaian Women, Alyssa Abreu

Open Access Dissertations

Background: Oysters are an excellent source of iron and zinc but may be contaminated by heavy metals such as cadmium. The micronutrient and metal content of smoked, dried oysters as well as the impact of oyster consumption on iron, zinc, and cadmium concentrations in Ghana is unknown.

Objectives: Our objectives were to 1) determine the micronutrient and metal content and health risk of dried, smoked oysters, 2) determine the associations between dietary iron intake with hemoglobin or ferritin concentrations and anemia, 3) determine the associations between oyster consumption and iron, zinc and cadmium concentrations in Ghanaian women living near the …

Understanding The Impact Of Hydroclimatic Variables In Forecasting Geospatial Diarrheal Disease Risk, Farah Nusrat

Open Access Dissertations

Over 2 billion people globally are living in water-stressed regions. With population increase, poor management of natural resources, and a changing climate, water scarcity has become a widespread phenomenon in today’s world. As a result, waterborne diseases remain a major global health problem due to a lack of safe water supply and sanitation facilities. A large part of the global population is still at risk of having waterborne and water-related diarrheal diseases despite many scientific advancements. Meanwhile, Climate Change is exacerbating waterborne disease patterns and trends, as seen by the large increase in diarrheal cases globally. It is thus imperative …

Cranberry Vine And Its Effects On The Periparturient Ovine And Her Offspring, Delaney Smith

Open Access Dissertations

Gastrointestinal nematodes (GIN) are a major health concern globally, particularly for small ruminant producers. The most deadly of these GIN is an anemia-inducing parasite called Haemonchus contortus. Infections of H. contortus are most severe during what's known as the periparturient period (PPP), which is the last 6 weeks of gestation and first 8 weeks of lactation in maternal animals. Widespread genetic resistance of H. contortus to the traditionally used chemical dewormers have led producers and researchers alike to turn to the plant kingdom for answers. Plant based compounds have been used as bioactive compounds for centuries to cure a …

Underlying Mechanisms Of Ubiquitin Specific Peptidase 2 Isoforms Regulation In Hepatocellular Carcinoma By The Farnesoid X Receptor Signaling Pathway, Winifer M. Ali

Open Access Dissertations

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), or liver cancer, is the sixth most common cancer worldwide, and the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths. In 2023, an estimated 41,210 new HCC cases and 29,380 deaths have been reported in the United States with an overall 5-year relative survival rate of 20.8%. It has been predicted that by 2025, there will be more than one million cases of HCC globally. Unfortunately, there are limited effective treatments and current treatment options available are invasive and burdensome. HCC patients are usually diagnosed at the late stages of liver cancer when the only viable treatment options are …

Children’S Outcomes And Maternal Opioid Exposures During Pregnancy, Shuang Wang

Open Access Dissertations

Opioid use among pregnant women has markedly escalated in the United States in recent decades. Alarmingly, one-fifth of these women fill one or more prescriptions for opioids despite concerns about perinatal safety. Consequently, the prevalence of opioid use disorder (OUD) in pregnancy and adverse outcomes in offspring has increased in parallel. In this dissertation, we explored the potential mediating roles of adverse pregnancy and birth outcomes residing in pathways between prenatal opioid exposure and neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in children. Additionally, we assessed the potential synergistic effect of opioid and antidepressant use in pregnancy on NDDs in offspring and the potential …

Biophysical Characterization Of Phlip And Phlip-Cargo Conjugates Developed For Imaging And Therapy, Hannah Visca

Open Access Dissertations

Acidity is considered an alternative biomarker for targeting diseased tissues, such as in the acute phase of inflammation or tumors with poor prognosis. The family of pH Low Insertion Peptides (pHLIPs) are known markers of tissue acidity which provide a useful method for the diagnosis and/or treatment of disease by extracellular or intracellular delivery of imaging agents or therapeutic molecules. In my research, I employ fluorescence and CD spectroscopic techniques to understand how pHLIP's pH-dependent interactions with and insertion into the lipid bilayer of the cell membrane are affected by its sequence and conjugation with cargo and how this correlates …

Diagnostic Brains, Experiential Minds And Metamodernism: Mcewan, Self, And Mccarthy As Case Studies, Mohamed Anis Ferchichi

Open Access Dissertations

In the wake of critical stances encompassing both modernism and postmodernism, we witness a theoretical preoccupation with how recent literary innovations position today's British fiction within the legacy of the novel form. On the one hand, postmodernism disrupted modernism's experiential phenomenology of interiority, subject, and character (what I call an experiential inflexion in critical comprehension of the form). On the other hand, what was declared "the decade of the brain" shifted some narrativization to exteriority, syndromic specifics, and reductive somaticism (what I see as a diagnostic inflexion in critical comprehension of the form). In considering today's British fiction within the …

Elucidating The Mechanisms Of Stress Tolerance In Reef-Building Coral Holobionts, Emma Strand

Open Access Dissertations

Coral reefs worldwide are threatened by climate change effects like increasing ocean warming and ocean acidification. These increased pressures cause a dysbiosis between the coral host, algal endosymbionts, and associated coral microbiome that results in the coral host expelling algal endosymbionts, leaving the coral host with a stark white ‘bleached’ appearance. Without their endosymbionts, coral hosts are forced to sustain themselves energetically with heterotrophy instead of relying on the autotrophic carbon and energy sources that once came from the algal endosymbionts. When this response, termed ‘coral bleaching’, happens reef-wide during an extreme wave of increased ocean temperatures, this is called …

Development Of Localized Drug Delivery Strategies For The Treatment Of Cancers And Infectious Diseases, Weizhou Yue

Open Access Dissertations

Difficult-to-treat human diseases and disorders such as brain cancer and posterior segment eye diseases greatly threaten human health and quality of life. However, the presence of physiological barriers such as the blood-brain barrier (BBB), cornea, and the blood-retinal barrier, renders these organs highly impervious to most therapeutics. As a result, most therapeutics administered systemically have low therapeutic efficacy even with high doses and are often associated with systemic side effects and/or toxicity. Localized drug delivery strategies such as injectables/implants, or locally-acting dosage forms, can circumvent physiological barriers and directly introduce therapeutics to the site of action to improve bioavailability, and …

The Influence Of Nutrient Regime On Diatom Diversity And Diatom Diazotroph Associations, Samantha Patricia Setta

Open Access Dissertations

Phytoplankton are important primary producers at the base of the marine food web. Diatoms are one of the most diverse groups of phytoplankton. Compared to other phytoplankton, diatoms have higher nutrient requirements due to their larger size, and as such, their distribution is limited by nutrients. Because of this, diatoms thrive in high-nutrient ocean regions, such as coastal and high-latitude waters, where the bulk of prior diatom research has occurred. However, diatoms are also found in low-nutrient oligotrophic waters, where they can form blooms and contribute up to 30% of total annual carbon sequestration. Many studies have documented the metabolic …

Development Of Polymeric Nano- And Microparticle-Based Controlled Release Platforms, Ryan Ivone

Open Access Dissertations

The success of the development of drug delivery formulations hinges upon their ability to maintain therapeutic efficacy, while simultaneously aiming to minimize off-site side effects and reduce the dosing burden often faced by patients. Localized formulations deliver therapeutics directly to the disease site and can help circumvent physiological obstacles such as the first pass effect, which remains one of the primary barriers for oral drug delivery. Barriers such as the first pass effect can drastically reduce the overall bioavailability of a formulation, potentially requiring a higher initial dose to remain therapeutically effective. However, many compounds demonstrate dose dependent side effects, …

Flux To Flow: A Clearer View Of Earth’S Water Cycle Via Neural Networks And Satellite Data, Albert Eric Larson

Open Access Dissertations

Earth’s weather and climate changes dynamically, and humans must monitor the evolution of our environment or fail to plan and adapt. Water is our most valuable resource, and as such it is of the utmost importance to have a continuous view of its movements as water cycles over, in, and under land, in the atmosphere, and in the sea. One way that we observe the water cycle is with satellite measurements. Unfortunately, the resolution of these instruments is typically too coarse to visualize many transient phenomena of interest. If their vision is fine enough, the instrument captures only a small …

The (Mis)Formation Of Identity In Joseph Conrad’S Novels: Ideology, Community, And The Self, Youngji Cho

Open Access Dissertations

Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, Nostromo, and The Secret Agent contain two broad themes: on the one hand, they critically portray the dominant influence of society or societal ideologies on the individual from a socio-political standpoint; on the other hand, they focus on the (dis)illusion of the protagonists regarding their own “ideal” identities from a personal standpoint. Rather than addressing one or the other, as many previous studies of Conrad’s novels have done, this dissertation argues for the intimate continuity between socio-political ideologies and personal identity by finding the point of contact between these two seemingly disparate issues. …

Microfluidic Paper-Based Devices For The Detection Of Chemical And Biological Agents, Hojat Heidaribafroui

Open Access Dissertations

This work was motivated by two needs: to develop low-cost, high-sensitivity, and accurate systems for detecting phosphate in seawater, and to create a platform technology by integrating Bi-Material Cantilever (B-MaC) valves for rapid and affordable biosensors that can be used at home or point-of-care settings to detect pathogens.

Detecting low levels of phosphate in the seawater using an inexpensive sensor is crucial for marine scientists to make informed decisions on where to measure next, compared to the current method of collecting samples and analyzing them ashore. To address these needs, we developed a portable infrared lightbox that can be wirelessly …