Digital Commons Network^™

Use Of Live And Robotic Assistance Animals For Psychological And Cognitive Health In Military Populations, Rachelle M. Cross

Dissertations

This literature review addresses the use of live and robotic animal-assisted therapy for psychological and cognitive health in military populations. More specifically, this literature review aims to address the benefits and limitations of the use of live animal-assisted therapy, complementary and alternative techniques (i.e., Combat and Emotional Stress Control Dogs and social robots) for military personnel, and possible attitudinal barriers regarding active duty and veteran soldiers, while utilizing literature conducted with the civilian population to augment. A systematic review of peer-reviewed quantitative and qualitative publications and book chapters was utilized to accomplish this. Results of the literature review indicated that …

Soft Camel Milk Cheese Effects Of Coagulants And Processing Conditions, Mustapha Mbye

Dissertations

In recent years, camel milk (CM) has been acknowledged for several health benefits, including anti-diabetic, hypoallergic, and other effects. Accordingly, CM may provide a complementary or a healthier alternative to bovine milk (BM). This has led to increased interest in processing CM to products like cheese, yogurt, and powders to extend its shelf-life. However, CM is difficult to coagulate into hard gels, affecting its cheese quality and consumer preference. The current research aimed to investigate the impact of different coagulants (chymosin, Withania coagulans, citric and acetic acid) on CM cheese quality and sensory attributes compared to BM cheese. It …

Effects Of Thermal And Non-Thermal Methods On The Chemical Composition And Bacterial Inactivation Of Camel Milk, Namariq Dhahir

Dissertations

Understanding the composition of camel milk coupled with studying the effects of thermal and non-thermal treatments on its components and bacterial inactivation were the general objectives of this dissertation. In the first study (Chapter 2), the gross composition of camel milk including milk protein, fat, casein, total solids, lactose, ash, and mineral content were analyzed. In addition, fatty acid profile, amino acid profile, protein fractions, and volatile compounds were evaluated as well. Our results revealed that camel milk has its unique nutrients profile. These findings make it easier for the researchers and consumers to understand some of the nutritional attributes …

Exploring, Understanding, Then Designing: Twitter Users’ Sharing Behavior For Minor Safety Incidents, Mashael Yousef Almoqbel

Dissertations

Social media has become an integral part of human lives. Social media users resort to these platforms for various reasons. Users of these platforms spend a lot of time creating, reading, and sharing content, therefore, providing a wealth of available information for everyone to use. The research community has taken advantage of this and produced many publications that allow us to better understand human behavior. An important subject that is sometimes discussed and shared on social media is public safety. In the past, Twitter users have used the platform to share incidents, share information about incidents, victims and perpetrators, and …

Gradient Free Sign Activation Zero One Loss Neural Networks For Adversarially Robust Classification, Yunzhe Xue

Dissertations

The zero-one loss function is less sensitive to outliers than convex surrogate losses such as hinge and cross-entropy. However, as a non-convex function, it has a large number of local minima, andits undifferentiable attribute makes it impossible to use backpropagation, a method widely used in training current state-of-the-art neural networks. When zero-one loss is applied to deep neural networks, the entire training process becomes challenging. On the other hand, a massive non-unique solution probably also brings different decision boundaries when optimizing zero-one loss, making it possible to fight against transferable adversarial examples, which is a common weakness in deep learning …

Multi-Stage Stochastic Optimization And Reinforcement Learning For Forestry Epidemic And Covid-19 Control Planning, Sabah Bushaj

Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on developing new modeling and solution approaches based on multi-stage stochastic programming and reinforcement learning for tackling biological invasions in forests and human populations. Emerald Ash Borer (EAB) is the nemesis of ash trees. This research introduces a multi-stage stochastic mixed-integer programming model to assist forest agencies in managing emerald ash borer insects throughout the U.S. and maximize the public benets of preserving healthy ash trees. This work is then extended to present the first risk-averse multi-stage stochastic mixed-integer program in the invasive species management literature to account for extreme events. Significant computational achievements are obtained using …

The Interplay Of The Physical Landscape And Social Dynamics In Shaping Movement Of African Savanna Elephants (Loxodonta Africana), Maggie Wisniewska

Dissertations

Free ranging African savanna elephants (Loxodonta africana) are increasingly impacted by human-induced habitat loss and poaching for ivory. Because elephants live in tightly knit groups, this combination of threats not only reduces the size of their populations but also degrades their social interactions. Long-term relationships with socially competent individuals, such as experienced seniors, benefit the ability of other group members to access limiting resources and avoid danger. Understanding how anthropogenic pressure may affect persistence of elephant populations is important, because elephants are an economically important keystone species. This doctoral thesis characterizes how individual elephants influence the movement of their social …

Modeling Dewetting, Demixing, And Thermal Effects In Nanoscale Metal Films, Ryan Howard Allaire

Dissertations

Thin film dynamics, particularly on the nanoscale, is a topic of extensive interest. The process by which thin liquids evolve is far from trivial and can lead to dewetting and drop formation. Understanding this process involves not only resolving the fluid mechanical aspects of the problem, but also requires the coupling of other physical processes, including liquid-solid interactions, thermal transport, and dependence of material parameters on temperature and material composition. The focus of this dissertation is on the mathematical modeling and simulation of nanoscale liquid metal films, which are deposited on thermally conductive substrates, liquefied by laser heating, and subsequently …

Towards Understanding The Role Of Central Processing In Release From Masking, Nima Alamatsaz

Dissertations

People with normal hearing have the ability to listen to a desired target sound while filtering out unwanted sounds in the background. However, most patients with hearing impairment struggle in noisy environments, a perceptual deficit which current hearing aids and cochlear implants cannot resolve. Even though peripheral dysfunction of the ears undoubtedly contribute to this deficit, surmounting evidence has implicated central processing in the inability to detect sounds in background noise. Therefore, it is essential to better understand the underlying neural mechanisms by which target sounds are dissociated from competing maskers. This research focuses on two phenomena that help suppress …

Temporal Evolution Of Structure And Function In The Periphery And Central Auditory Systems With Mild Blast Induced Tinnitus In Rat Animal Models, Ningning Shao

Dissertations

Exposure to blast causes debilitating trauma including tinnitus among soldiers and civilians (Cave et al., 2007; Remenschneider et al., 2014; Singh et al., 2016). Tinnitus is a constant ringing noise perception without external acoustic event; it affects sleep, concentration, behavior, leading to suicidal tendencies (Swan et al., 2017). Though blast induced tinnitus has been studied, structural and functional dysfunctions along auditory systems have not been systematically studied. It was hypothesized in this work that blast causes tinnitus even while the ears are mechanically protected, and the damage occurred in both central and peripheral auditory systems, which contributed to increased anxiety …

Alcohol As A Catalyst For Hiv-Associated Neuroinflammation And Tbi-Induced Iron Toxicity, Agnieszka Agas

Dissertations

Alcohol has long been considered an exacerbator of diseases, disorders, and injuries as well as many of the accompanying symptoms. As an alternative approach, this dissertation explores alcohol as a catalyst for two different human disease conditions, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated neuroinflammation and traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced iron toxicity. In HIV-1 infection, this dissertation presents a novel anti-viral drug, called Drug-S, for a possible inhibition and treatment of HIV-1 disease progression.

The first aim explores the influence of alcohol with HIV-associated neuroinflammation on macrophage migration across an in vitro model of the blood brain barrier. There is a gap in …

Exploration Of Gratitude In Cardiovascular Health: Mediators, Medication Adherence And Psychometrics, Lakeshia A. Cousin

Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation was to explore the effect of gratitude on cardiovascular health outcomes using mediators, medication adherence, and psychometrics. The specific aims were to (1) establish the state of the science for gratitude and cardiovascular health outcomes via a state-of-the-science literature review, (2) explore mediators affecting gratitude and medication adherence using a structural equation model in patients with cardiovascular disease, and (3) analyze the psychometric properties of the Gratitude Questionnaire-6, a self-report questionnaire designed to assess individual differences to express dispositional gratitude, to provide evidence for the validity and reliability of the instrument in African Americans at …

The Effectiveness Of Preoperative Preparation Program In Decreasing Parental Preoperative Anxiety, Thao L. Tran

Dissertations

This project aimed to examine the effectiveness of a preoperative preparation program (PPP) in decreasing parental anxiety. When children needed anesthesia to get outpatient procedures completed, the accompanying parents received verbal education about the process on the day of the procedure and were assisted by a support person during and after the child's induction anesthesia. Parental anxiety was measured using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI) tool before preoperative preparation and after the induction of anesthesia to assess whether the PPP improved parents' anxiety levels. The parents' decreased anxiety score in post-intervention would suggest that the PPP can be effectively and …

The Effectiveness Of Nurse-Led Diabetes Self-Management Education Among Adults With Uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Consolata G. Oronsaye

Dissertations

Ample evidence has supported the efficacy of diabetes self-management education (DSME) in diabetes care. However, specific evidence that supports the effects of nurse-led DSME on glycemic control and prevention of diabetes complications remains limited. The purpose of this quantitative, quasi-experimental project was to determine if any, and to what extent a relationship existed between a nurse-led DSME intervention and the lowering of FBS levels to 100mg/dl or below, and the reports of improved self-efficacy among patients with poorly controlled T2DM at a primary care clinic located in an underserved community in Northwest, Texas. Theoretical support for the project was drawn …

Mobbing And Job Satisfaction Among Registered Nurses In Mississippi, Brenda Collins

Dissertations

The incidences of mobbing or workplace bullying are a common occurrence among nurses. The practice has been associated with overwhelming and long-standing comprising emotional, psychosomatic, and psychosocial distress. Mobbing (workplace bullying) impacts the target, those close to them, and the organization in which they work. The experience of mobbing produces affective reactions in the target. Affective experiences on the job can impact job satisfaction within organizations. Job satisfaction plays an essential role in sustaining an adequate nursing workforce. Subsequently, some nurses become frustrated and opt for resigning or early retirement when they are no longer satisfied with the culture or …

Interleukin-17a Facilitates Chikungunya Virus Infection By Inhibiting Ifn-Α2 Expression, Biswas Neupane

Dissertations

Interferons (IFNs) are the key components of innate immunity and are crucial for host defense against viral infections. Here, we report a novel role of interleukin-17A (IL-17A) in inhibiting IFN-α2 expression, thus promoting chikungunya virus (CHIKV) infection. CHIKV infected IL-17A deficient (Il17a^-/-) mice expressed a higher level of IFN-α2 and developed diminished viremia and milder footpad swelling in comparison to wild-type (WT) control mice, this was also recapitulated in IL-17A receptor-deficient (Il17ra^-/-) mice. Interestingly, IL-17A selectively blocked IFN-α2 production during CHIKV, but not West Nile virus (WNV) or Zika virus (ZIKV), infections. Recombinant IL-17A …

Semantics-Driven Large-Scale 3d Scene Retrieval, Juefei Yuan

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Msaabcr Operon In Cell Wall Integrity And Programmed Cell Death During Biofilm Development, Bibek G C

Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is an important human pathogen in both community and health care settings. Biggest challenges with S. aureus as a pathogen is its ability to acquire antibiotic resistance and produce robust biofilms. In this work, we investigated the nature of the cell wall defect in the msaABCR operon mutant in the Mu50 (VISA) and USA300 LAC methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains. Results showed that msaABCR-mutant cells had decreased cell wall thickness and cell wall crosslinking in both strains. These defects are most likely due to increased murein hydrolase activity and/or nonspecific processing of murein hydrolases mediated by increased …

Honor And Duty: The Collegiate Education Of A Yeoman Farmer’S Son In Antebellum Mississippi, David Taylor

Dissertations

This endeavor reviews the mindsets and ideologies emerging from the South in the era known as "King Cotton," a time which predated the American Civil War and in which cotton was the primary export of the South. It is historically relevant to Higher Education in that it views this mindset through the eyes of young, white, single males and in particular, one male, a student of Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi. This description will focus on the years from 1850 to 1860 and this male population. This in no way degrades or neglects the contribution or inclusion of women in …

The Impacts Of Aging, Sedentarism, And Exercise On Neurotrophic Factor Expression And Innervation In The Heart And The Effects Of Treatment With Α-Cgrp On Heart Function, Gabriel Almeida Alves

Dissertations

Neurotrophic factors (NFs) are important molecules responsible for development, differentiation, regeneration, and maintenance of new and mature neurons. Neurotrophic factors act as neurocytokines and may assist with the regulation of axonal and dendritic arrangements and synaptic plasticity between neurons themselves or with other non-neural target tissues. In this study, we analyze the levels of two NFs: glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and nerve growth factor (NGF). Cardiomyocytes produce these neurotrophic factors which assist with the innervation pattern of the heart. The heart is innervated by the two branches of the autonomic nervous system; namely the sympathetic nervous system and …

Transdiagnostic Classification Of Behavior In Childhood: Profile Analysis And Interrater Stability, Gary Rempe

Dissertations

There is growing concern among both researchers and practitioners that mainstream psychopathological classification schemes inadequately meet the needs of individuals seeking treatment for mental illness. Recent efforts in childhood psychopathology have sought to derive new diagnostic subgroups that are less susceptible to the heterogeneity and comorbidity issues that have been reported with categories specified in more recent versions of the diagnostic and statistical manual of mental illness. These transdiagnostic subgroups are generated by using unsupervised machine-learning algorithms that separate cases into homogenous groups with information from multiple continuous indicators. This dissertation seeks to expand on this work by exploring natural …

Exploration Of Patient Variables And Characteristics Best Suited For Medical Marijuana Treatment For Anxiety And Depressive Disorders, Corey Gazoo

Dissertations

Individuals with posttraumatic stress, anxiety and depressive disorders are currently being prescribed medical marijuana as a treatment in many states across the United States. However, marijuana is still considered a schedule one narcotic by the Drug Enforcement Administration and federal government, which provides several barriers and challenges to conduct research such as approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and following guidelines from the National Institute on Drug Abuse issued by the DEA. Additionally, individuals prescribed medical marijuana for mental health disorders are not always thoroughly instructed on the type of medical marijuana, the dosage, and how frequently to …

Patterns Of Habitat Use And Trophic Structure In Turtle Grass (Thalassia Testudinum)-Dominated Systems Across The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Christian Hayes

Dissertations

Seagrass structural complexity is a primary driver of nekton recruitment and faunal community structure. Few studies, however, have quantified the role of seagrass complexity on habitat use and trophic structures over large spatial scales. A large-scale simultaneous survey was conducted to assess relationships of multiple seagrass morphological complexity metrics to nekton habitat use, trophic dynamics, and blue crab (Callinectes sapidus) growth and mortality across the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Seagrass morphological and nekton community characteristics depended on site and season, and regional variation in seagrass morphology was an important driver of juvenile nekton abundance, species richness, beta diversity, …

The Asymmetric Effect Of Sentiment On Equity Returns, Mishal Ahmed

Dissertations

In the first chapter titled “The Asymmetric Effect of Sentiment on U.S. Equity Returns”, we test the asymmetric impact of investor sentiment, proxied by the Baker-Wurgler (2007) investor sentiment index, on expected stock returns in the U.S. We regress sentiment on market and economy-wide fundamentals, use the residuals as a measure of excess sentiment and estimate long-horizon return regressions using positive and negative components of excess sentiment as predictors. We hypothesize that excessive optimism leads investors to make significant portfolio changes whereas excessive pessimism makes investors more cautious about investing, due to loss aversion. Primary results confirm our hypothesis with …

Exploring Generational Difference Of Acculturation, Ethnic Identity And Racial Identity In Liberian Immigrants And Their Children Living In The United States, Breezie J. Gibson

Dissertations

Prior literature on immigrants has focused on the impact of acculturation for groups such as Asians and Hispanic or Latinx immigrants (Orjiako & So, 2014; Sall, 2019). Compared to these two groups, the literature on Black immigrants’ experience of acculturation is scarce. In addition to the minimum visibility of Black immigrants in the acculturation literature, there is also limited knowledge relating to differences in the ethnic identity and racial identity of Black immigrants because these immigrants are often grouped monolithically with minimum attention to their diverse countries of origin. Understanding the influence of acculturation, ethnicity, and race is important because …

Preclinical Behavioral Assessment Of Chronic, Intermittent Low-Dose Psilocybin In Rodent Models Of Depression And Anxiety, Harmony I. Risca

Dissertations

Recent studies have demonstrated the clinical efficacy of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy for treatment-resistant depression and anxiety. Amidst the overall success of recent clinical trials using a single high dose of psilocybin, anecdotal reports indicate anxiolytic and antidepressant effects following a repeated low dose regimen. As therapeutic outcomes are often tightly intertwined with the individual’s subjective experience, animal models are used as objective measures to investigate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the putative antidepressant/anxiolytic effects of psychedelics. Three rodent models predictive of anxiolytic or antidepressant effects were used to evaluate effects of chronic intermittent low dose (CILD) psilocybin treatment; the Light/Dark conflict …

"Not In My Town": A Community's Response To Water And Soil Pollution, Karolina Staros

Dissertations

At the core of this dissertation is the acknowledgment that social movements are complex networks of people who face many obstacles in their efforts to achieve social change. One critique of social movements is that their goals and mission are limited to short term ideas and not long-term, systemic transformation. The lack of long term, systemic change can be observed when social movement groups mobilize for the same cause over and over again with what appears to be little progress over a period of time. The exact blueprint for a social movement’s success does not exist, but it is posited …

Identifying Health Priorities For A Vulnerable Underserved Population In Uganda, Africa Using Community Base Participatory Research And The Photovoice Approach, Cheryl Wallin

Dissertations

The purpose of this descriptive phenomenological study was to give voice to an underserved and vulnerable population in Uganda, Africa to advocate for health priorities. Nineteen members of the village of Namagera, identified as a leper colony, were selected by community members and volunteered to participate in every element of this study. Descriptive phenomenology was the guiding philosophy and community-based participatory research methods and photovoice provided the lens for social action. Leininger's theory of culture care diversity and universality (Leininger & McFarland, 2006) anchored the study in cultural caring and the community nursing practice model (Parker et al., 2020) kept …

A Mixed Method Investigation Of Industry Recognized Credentials And Academic Achievement Among Urban Schools In The State Of Missouri, Christopher L. Mcneil

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to gather the effectiveness of the Industry Recognized Credentials in preparing Career and Technical Education students’ postsecondary opportunities. This study sought to explore if students’ exposure to Career and Technical Education (CTE) programing and attainment of Industry Recognized Credentials leads to positive postsecondary placement for Kansas City Public High School students. The researcher collected data from the 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021 school years.

The researcher conducted a t-Test for difference in proportions, and the data revealed that the percentage of graduates attaining IRC for 2020-2021 was significantly higher than the previous years. The …

Complexation Of Glycoalkaloid Α- Tomatine With Sterols And Its Potential Application As An Anti-Cancer Drug, Bishal Nepal

Dissertations

Glycoalkaloids (GAs) are secondary metabolites found mostly in higher plant species and some marine invertebrates. They are known to form complexes with 3β-hydroxy sterols such as cholesterol causing membrane disruption. So far the visual evidence showcasing the complexes formed between glycoalkaloids and sterols has been mainly restricted to some earlier studies using Brewster angle microscopy. This study aimed to develop a method for topographic and morphological analysis of sterol-glycoalkaloid complexes. Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) transfer of monolayers comprising of glycoalkaloid tomatine, sterols, and lipids in varying molar ratios onto mica followed by AFM examination was performed. The AFM method used required minimal …