Digital Commons Network^™

Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes For Advanced Optical Materials, Wearable Biosensing, And Bioimaging, Mohammad Moein Safaee

Open Access Dissertations

Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) functionalized with synthetic or natural polymers are a class of advanced optical nanomaterials that have recently found applications in a wide range of molecular diagnostics platforms as biosensors and bioimaging agents. Despite their widespread applications, there is an urgent need to develop standard characterization assays to evaluate their optical, physical, and interfacial properties in vitro and in complex biological environments. The results from such assays are essential for defining general design principles for nanotube-based optical probes and biosensing devices. Moreover, to fully exploit the nanotube's unique properties for health monitoring, it is essential to employ micro- …

Regulating Quiescence And Division In Escherichia Coli, Eric Charles Dibiasio

Open Access Dissertations

The decision for a bacterium to grow and divide may seem like a simple process, but in reality, there are many factors that influence and regulate this choice. Bacteria have been known to respond to many environmental signals or cues that represent either favorable or non-favorable growth conditions, as well as cues, secreted from other bacteria or, in the case of a pathogen, the host. It is not uncommon for bacteria that find their environment unfavorable, to alter their growth, and in some cases, even enter into a type of non-proliferative state, which we term, dormancy. Bacterial dormancy has many …

Distribution Of Novel And Legacy Organic Pollutants In Seabirds From Contrasting Marine Environments, Anna Ruth Robuck

Open Access Dissertations

Despite their ubiquity in the environment, large data gaps exist surrounding the distribution, biotic accumulation, and possible impacts of many high priority organic pollutants, particularly those considered emerging contaminants. Emerging pollutants, or contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), represent a dynamic and rapidly evolving group of substances, some of which have been extant for decades. Chapter 1 provides background about CECs covered in this dissertation, and highlights key data gaps explored within this work.

The first three manuscripts of this dissertation (Chapters 2 – 5) focus on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS. PFAS are a family of CECs that demonstrate …

Investigating Nat Products & Pharmaceuticals Targeting Inflammation In Neurodegenerative Diseases, Shelby L. Johnson

Open Access Dissertations

Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease (AD and PD, respectively) are the two most common neurodegenerative diseases. Currently, no interventions have been successful in stopping the progression of these diseases. Here, we utilize two independent strategies: the use of natural products and repurposed pharmaceuticals to target neuroinflammation in models of neurodegeneration.

Natural products have been used for their medicinal properties for centuries in traditional eastern medicine practices. Mucuna pruriens (Mucuna) is a well-known natural source of levodopa, typically prescribed in Ayurveda for PD. A novel levodopa reduced seed extract exhibited protective effects against oxidative stress and PD specific toxic agents, both in …

Right-Shoring: Offshoring To Reshoring For A Sustainable Manufacturing Location Decision In The Healthcare Industry, Gawon Yun

Open Access Dissertations

Firms have increasingly offshored manufacturing to foreign countries in the past decades due to the expected benefits driven by low manufacturing costs in developing economies. With changes in competition and government pressure for domestic production, however, manufacturing firms have reevaluated these decisions leading some to reshore manufacturing activities. Recent studies have investigated various reshoring motivations and developed conceptual frameworks that can be used as tools in reshoring decisions. However, the complexity in decision making remains high due to product and industry specific traits impacting the manufacturing process. Examples include the increasing concern over product quality and changing regulations. Two industries …

Structured, Individualized, Video-Based Coaching To Improve Technical Skill Acquisition, Kenneth A. Lynch Jr.

Open Access Dissertations

In the current era of a reduced hourly workweek and competency-based curriculum, it is becoming increasingly clear that the cognitive apprenticeship model of training, which dominated the surgical discipline for well over a century, may no longer be the single best strategy to train the surgeons of today. There needs to be a multifaceted approach to surgical residency training, especially with regards to improving technical skill acquisition. Video-based-coaching is quickly being adapted for use in many training programs due to its low cost and broad range of applications including self-assessment, operative evaluations, and bench model training. The challenge for most …

Icg- And Gnp-Phlip: Novel Agents For Imaging And Therapy, Troy M. Crawford

Open Access Dissertations

After heart disease, cancer is the leading cause of death in the U.S. According to the National Cancer Institute, approximately 38% of the population will be diagnosed with cancer at some point over the course of their life. This number is only expected to increase with the increased age of the general public due to medical progress, leading to an increased importance in finding effective and convenient treatment that can be used across a wide array of cancers.

In theory, any tumor can be destroyed using enough of a cytotoxic method, whether it be heating, radiation, surgery, or chemotherapy. However, …

Lsvt®Big Exercise-Induced Neuroplasticity In People With Parkinson’S Disease: An Assessment Of Physiological And Behavioral Outcomes, Christine Marie Clarkin

Open Access Dissertations

Background and Purpose

The primary aim of this study was to investigate the impact of LSVT.BIG, an intensive, whole-body, amplitude-based exercise protocol for people with Parkinson’s disease (PwPD), on functional mobility, quality of life, and markers of neuroplasticity. A secondary aim was to evaluate correlations between neurobiological measures (serum brain derived neurotrophic factor - sBDNF) and functional changes associated with the intervention.

Methods

Nine people with Parkinson’s disease (PwPD), age = 69.9 years Å} 4.9, were recruited from the local community and enrolled in LSVT BIG, which includes 16, one-hour individual treatment sessions delivered over one month (4 sessions per …

Impact Of Brand Recognition In Psychological Test Selection: Identification And Corrective Procedure, Aaron M. Baker

Open Access Dissertations

The accuracy of psychological assessment may be determined largely by the quality of the test(s) selected; however, in clinical practice, tests may be selected impressionistically, and without sufficient consideration of test validity. Appreciating that not only psychometric standing, but also pragmatic considerations may be of import in test selection may help explain why surveys of test usage have not necessarily shown robust associations between frequency of test use and psychometric quality. The primary goal of this dissertation was to examine whether brand recognition (BR; presence/absence of the name of a well-known test) may sometimes diminish attention to psychometric qualities, and …

Gold And Copper-Cysteamine Nanoparticles For Radiation Therapy Enhancement On Cancer, Bindeshwar Sah

Open Access Dissertations

Radiation therapy is a common technique to kill cancer cells. The purpose of this experiment is the enhancement of radiation effect on the treatment of tumors. The main difficulty of radiation therapy is that it can damage cancerous cells as well as healthy cells. Gold nanoparticles can enhance effects of the radiation treatment on tumors due to the interaction of radiation with gold nanoparticles to produce extra electrons through the Auger effect. This causes reduced side effects on healthy cells though using less radiation dose and maximizes radiation damage on cancer cells through the extra electrons produced by the gold …

Ecologies Of Materiality And Aesthetics In British Modernist War-Time Literature, 1890-1939, Molly Volanth Hall

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines landscape representation in English novels, memoirs, manifestos, and poetry between 1890 and 1939 responding to World War I and the larger dynamics of imperialism of which it is a part. Analyzing how such works reflect and reshape dominant environmental perception during the early twentieth century’s marked acceleration of mass warfare and ecological change, it reads for the way images of mud, stone, land, and soil—collected under the term base matters—express the entanglement of environmental and national structures of feeling ranging from fear to dissociation. These base matters dominate characters’ and authors’ changing perception of the material world …

Making Energetic Materials Safer, Michelle D. Gonsalves

Open Access Dissertations

Canine (K9) units and scientists developing explosives trace detection devices (ETDs) work with and are exposed to energetic materials when imprinting the dog or building instrument libraries. However, access to extremely hazardous materials, such as explosives, is limited, with a great need for training aids that provide a safe-handling and long shelf-life material. In order to address these needs, encapsulation of energetic materials, such as triacetone triperoxide (TATP), erythritol tetranitrate (ETN) and trinitrotoluene (TNT) in a polymer matrix have been developed, and extensively characterized to ensure explosive desensitization, controlled released, clean background odor and delivery of the pure explosive as …

Feminist Action Against Pornography In Japan: Unexpected Success In An Unlikely Place, Caroline Norma, Seiya Morita

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In late 2016 a feminist movement against problems of commercial sexual exploitation, and especially issues of coerced pornography filming, arose in Japan. This article describes the history of this movement as it mobilized to combat human rights violations perpetrated by the country’s pornographers. The movement’s success came not spontaneously or haphazardly; in fact, it was orchestrated earlier over a full decade-and-a-half by activists who persevered in researching and highlighting pornography’s harms in a civil environment of hostility, isolation and social derision, even among progressive groups and individuals. The Anti-Pornography and Prostitution Research Group (APP) was particularly prominent in this history. …

Vascular Expression Of Hemoglobin Alpha In Antarctic Icefish Supports Iron Limitation As Novel Evolutionary Driver, Bruce A. Corliss, Leon J. Delalio, T. C. Stevenson Keller Iv, Alexander S. Keller, Douglas A. Keller, Bruce H. Corliss, Jody M. Beers, Shayn M. Peice, Brant E. Isakson

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Frigid temperatures of the Southern Ocean are known to be an evolutionary driver in Antarctic fish. For example, many fish have reduced red blood cell (RBC) concentration to minimize vascular resistance. Via the oxygen-carrying protein hemoglobin, RBCs contain the vast majority of the body’s iron, which is known to be a limiting nutrient in marine ecosystems. Since lower RBC levels also lead to reduced iron requirements, we hypothesize that low iron availability was an additional evolutionary driver of Antarctic fish speciation. Antarctic Icefish of the family Channichthyidae are known to have an extreme alteration of iron metabolism due to loss …

Horizontal Transmission And Recombination Maintain Forever Young Bacterial Symbiont Genomes, Shelbi Russell, Evan Pepper-Tunick, Jesper Svedberg Svedberg, Ashley Byrne, Jennie Ruelas Castillo, Christopher Vollmers, Roxanne A. Beinart, Russell Corbett-Detig

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Bacterial symbionts bring a wealth of functions to the associations they participate in, but by doing so, they endanger the genes and genomes underlying these abilities. When bacterial symbionts become obligately associated with their hosts, their genomes are thought to decay towards an organelle-like fate due to decreased homologous recombination and inef- ficient selection. However, numerous associations exist that counter these expectations, especially in marine environments, possibly due to ongoing horizontal gene flow. Despite extensive theoretical treatment, no empirical study thus far has connected these underlying population genetic processes with long-term evolutionary outcomes. By sampling marine chemosynthetic bacterial-bivalve endosymbioses that …

Selection Of Indicators For Assessing And Managing The Impacts Of Bottom Trawling On Seabed Habitats, Jan Geert Hiddink, Michel J. Kaiser, Marija Sciberras, Robert A. Mcconnaughey, Tessa Mazor, Ray Hilborn, Jeremy Collie, C. Roland Pitcher, Ana M. Parma, Petri Suuronen, Adriaan D. Rijnsdorp, Simon Jennings

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

1. Bottom trawl fisheries are the most widespread source of anthropogenic physical disturbance to seabed habitats. Development of fisheries‐, conservation‐ and ecosystem‐based management strategies requires the selection of indicators of the impact of bottom trawling on the state of benthic biota. Many indicators have been proposed, but no rigorous test of a range of candidate indicators against nine commonly agreed criteria (concreteness, theoretical basis, public awareness, cost, measurement, historical data, sensitivity, responsiveness, specificity) has been performed.
2. Here, we collated data from 41 studies that compared the benthic biota in trawled areas with those in control locations (that were either not trawled …

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R4 Book Report 1 (Br1) By Title 2018-2019, Andree Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R4 Book Report 1 (BR1) for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019. Book Report 1 is defined as "Number of Successful Title Requests by Month and Title." This report presents an annual total only.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results: 506 title requests from 454 titles.

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R4 Journal Report 1 (Jr1) 2018-2019, Andree Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R4 Journal Report 1 (JR1) for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019. Journal Report 1 is defined as "Number of Successful Full-Text Article Requests by Month and Journal." This report presents an annual total only.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results: 1,055,792 successful full-text article requests for 30,329 reported titles.

Usage Statistics: Project Counter R4 Book Report 2 (Br2) By Title 2018-2019, Andree Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Project COUNTER R4 Book Report 2 (BR2) for the University of Rhode Island for the period from July 1, 2018 - June 30, 2019. Book Report 2 is defined as "Number of Successful Section Requests by Month and Title." This report presents an annual total only.

File for download is Excel spreadsheet generated by Alma Analytics.

Results: 119,275 successful section requests for 9,528 reported titles.

Mechanism Of Action Of Htx-011: A Novel, Extended-Release, Dual-Acting Local Anesthetic Formulation For Postoperative Pain, Thomas Ottoboni, Quart, Jayne E. Pawasauskas, Joseph F. Dasta, Richard A. Pollak, Eugene R. Viscusi

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Background and objectives Obtaining consistent efficacy beyond 12–24 hours with local anesthetics, including extended-release formulations, has been a challenging goal. Inflammation resulting from surgery lowers the pH of affected tissues, reducing neuronal penetration of local anesthetics. HTX-011, an investigational, nonopioid, extended-release dual-acting local anesthetic combining bupivacaine and low-dose meloxicam, was developed to reduce postsurgical pain through 72 hours using novel extended-release polymer technology. Preclinical studies and a phase II clinical trial were conducted to confirm the mechanism of action of HTX-011.

Methods In a validated postoperative pain pig model and a phase II bunionectomy trial, the analgesic effects of HTX-011, …

Development Of Group Treatment Tasks For Adults With Neurological Disorders, Melody R. Groben

Senior Honors Projects

Gateway Café and Wellness Center is a support program offered at the University of Rhode Island for individuals with Acquired Brain Injuries (ABI), such as Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI) and Stroke. Individuals affected by ABI’s most commonly have difficulties with their cognitive, linguistic, and independence skills. Services provided to people living with ABI’s are very scarce in our community today, so allowing people to interact during Gateway Café allows these adults to receive treatment. This is achieved as URI students plan, organize, and execute activities that require the utilization of cognitive linguistic skills by the Gateway Café members. Furthermore, Gateway …

Urinformed December 2019, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Social Media Platforms For Small Fashion Businesses, Madison Noonan

Major Papers by TMD Master of Science Students

This major paper examined the effectiveness of social media platforms for small fashion businesses. The social media platforms investigated were Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Many factors such as target market, product mix, and budget need to considered. Once these factors are clearly defined, the information in the paper can be applied to the small fashion business.

The Myth Of The "Gray Area" In Rape: Fabricating Ambiguity And Deniability, Maddie Brockbank

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Sexual violence is a pervasive issue identified on post-secondary campuses. Existing research focuses almost exclusively on an American context and quantitatively explores the frequency with which sexual assault occurs on campuses. As men are overrepresented as perpetrators, it is necessary to investigate their perspectives on the issue. The present study qualitatively examines the perspectives of white, heterosexual, male students to facilitate dialogue about sexual violence on university campuses in Ontario. Several themes emerged, specifically pertaining to negotiations of consent, a perceived “grey area,” peer influence, and how the social construction of masculinity fosters specific beliefs that excuse sexually violent beliefs, …

Curricular Report No. 2019-20-6 From The Graduate Council To The Faculty Senate (Courses), University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes November 21, 2019, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Commercials As Social Studies Curriculum: Bridging Content & Media Literacy, Shanedra D. Nowell

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This essay explores ways television commercials can teach both media literacy skills and social studies content knowledge. Because of their brevity and concise messages, commercials offer teachers a wide assortment of engaging, content focused lesson topics that can be used to introduce new ideas, as writing or discussion prompts to further explore concepts, or as creative media projects to assess the content and media literacy knowledge. I examine different approaches to integrate commercials into social studies classes and include resources to guide students through deconstructing commercials, understanding advertisers’ creative techniques and appeals, and creating their own commercials.

Piloting Journalistic Learning In A Rural Trump-Supportive Community: A Reverse Mentorship Approach, Ed Madison

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Partisan politics challenge educators to determine how best to navigate discussions of controversial subjects within their classrooms. This can be particularly true for new educators in the early stages of developing their confidence and classroom management skills. This qualitative case study uses situated learning and the communities of practice theoretical constructs to investigate a new approach to educator training and co-facilitation. The new approach places recent journalism school college graduates in classrooms alongside teachers to foster real-time professional development through a process best described as reverse mentoring. The model could potentially provide educators with new pedagogical strategies during divisive political …

History Of Youth Media Production In Maine 1960-2010, Gemma A.P. Scott

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Research in media literacy seeks to understand multiple branches of inquiry, including the practice of media production. Youth in Maine have produced media independently and in organized venues for more than 50 years. This paper describes results from surveying primary source materials produced by youth in Maine between 1960 and the 2000s. Research started with media artifacts, looking to primary source materials to understand what, if anything, can be revealed from their content. A deep dive into the provenance of archival collections uncovered stories of a local history of youth media production, and expanded the inquiry to identify who was …

Head Size Of Male And Female Lizards Increases With Population Density Across Island Populations In The Bahamas, Johanna E. Wegener, Kevin P. Mulder, Robert M. Pringle, Jonathan B. Losos, Jason J. Kolbe

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In polygynous lizards, male–male competition is an important driver of morphologic and behavioral traits associated with intraspecific dominance. The extent to which females engage in aggressive behavior and thus contribute to competition-driven morphologic variation is not well studied. We used injury frequencies of brown anoles (Anolis sagrei) in 16 island populations to test the hypothesis that injury-inducing aggressive encounters increase with population density in both male and female lizards. We further asked whether intraspecific competition is a potential driver of phenotypic traits related to dominance by using population density as proxy for intraspecific competition. We found that the proportion of …