Digital Commons Network^™

Mechanisms Of Correlated Neuronal Activity In The Globus Pallidus, Hamza Albawaliz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the mechanisms of correlated neuronal activity in the globus pallidus externus (GPe), a key structure in the basal ganglia. Neuronal activity in the GPe is reportedly decorrelated in healthy subjects but can become highly correlated in Parkinson’s disease. However, high-density neuronal recordings in the GPe of healthy rats reveal a surprising degree of correlated activity. This raises the question of whether intrinsic properties or network connectivity alone can account for such patterns. To explore this, a computational model was developed in which GPe neurons are represented as coupled phase oscillators influenced by experimentally derived phase-response curves and …

Ai-Powered Prediction Of Co2 Dissolution In Seawater For Enhanced Carbon Capture Efficiency, Arthur Frot Berthelot

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change remains one of the most pressing global challenges, with carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions playing a crucial role in exacerbating global warming and ocean acidification. Among emerging mitigation strategies, carbon capture and storage (CCS) stands out as a promising solution. This dissertation explores a novel carbon capture approach utilizing seawater and nickel nanoparticles (NiNPs) stabilized by carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) to enhance CO2 dissolution. Unlike conventional amine-based methods, which are resource-intensive and reliant on freshwater, this approach offers a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative. To address the high cost and complexity of experimental CO2 capture studies, a predictive artificial intelligence …

The “I’M Too Much, Yet Never Enough” Paradox: A Critical Approach To Discourses Of Afro-Latinidad Among Second-Generation-Immigrant Women In South Florida, Eleni Victoria Webster

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study critically examines discourse and the ways it shapes identities and community belonging for self-identifying Afro-Latina, second-generation-immigrant women in South Florida. This qualitative research uses an intercultural communication framework to analyze interviews and collected poems. Informed by grounded theory and a Black feminist critical approach rooted in the intersectionality theory, the data is analyzed through comparative thematic and metaphorical rhetorical analyses. When discussing the discourses related to the development of ethno-racial identities for Afro-Latinas, certain communicative patterns of self-discovering, self-defining, and self-envisioning emerged. With regard to community belonging, three metaphorical discourses arose: not-enoughness, in-betweenness, and un-humanness. The internalization of …

Microplastic Variability In Wetland Sediments And Vegetation: A Case Study Of Spruce Bluff Preserve, Fl, Juana Maria Baudrix

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plastic pollution has become an imminent threat to the environment and human health. This study explores the occurrence, distribution, and retention mechanisms of microplastics (MPs) in Spruce Bluff Preserve, a 97-acre freshwater wetland ecosystem located along the eastern bank of the St. Lucie River in Port St. Lucie, FL. Understanding MP dynamics in transitional freshwater ecosystem is crucial for environmental management efforts given Florida’s heavily fragmented and managed landscape. This research specifically examined the relationship between wetland vegetation and MP retention in sediments across different ecological zones within the preserve. Surface sediment samples were collected along 8 transects of varying …

Fetal Microchimerism Of The Eye Lens, Jamie Moubarak

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fetal microchimerism (FMc) is the presence of a small fetal cell population in the mother, sometimes exhibiting stem cell–like properties. FMc has been observed within many placental mammal organs, except the eye. We used Yspecific PCR on genomic mouse DNA to test the hypothesis that fetal microchimerism can also be found in the lens. Of the parous females tested, we detected an Ssty2-specific amplicon in 83% (5/6) of samples and an Sry-specific amplicon in 2/4 samples. 100% (5/5) of non-age-matched parous females were positive for both primers. These results provide evidence that cells of fetal or placental origin …

The Resonance Of Desire: A Sonic Exploration And Guide To Recreating Disney’S Signature ‘I Want’ Songs, Aiyanna E. Riley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the sonic architecture of Disney’s Renaissance-era “I Want” songs and develops a framework for recreating their signature production style. This study analyzes how vocal timbre, microphone choices, layering, stereo placement, and mixing strategies contribute to the immersive qualities that define the Disney sound. Drawing from historical accounts, interviews with industry professionals, and technical literature, the thesis documents production practices unexamined in scholarly work. Inspired by David Gibson’s The Art of Mixing, my analyses prioritize spatial and textural qualities in Disney mixes, highlighting how sound design shapes narrative impact. The study culminates in two original compositions modeled …

Developing A High-Throughput Machine Learning Screening Platform For Genetic And Pharmacological Modulators On Caenorhabditis Elegans Seizure Behavior, Paul A. Scarpinato

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Epilepsy is a chronic neurological disorder characterized by recurrent seizures that affect over 50 million people worldwide, including more than 3.5 million in the United States. Seizures arise from a disrupted balance between excitation and inhibition. Although antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) remain the primary treatment to restore the excitation and inhibition balance, approximately 30% of patients experience drug-resistant epilepsy, highlighting the need for additional antiseizure medications. The Caenorhabditis elegans electroshock assay was developed in relative alignment with the rodent maximal electroshock seizure (MES) test, the gold standard for preclinical AED screening, provides a cost-effective platform for prescreening candidate AEDs.

This work …

Neural Dynamics In The Cortico-Basal Ganglia-Thalamic-Cortical Loop Underlying Flexible Motor Timing, Zidan Yang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability to flexibly time actions is a fundamental aspect of voluntary motor control. The frontal cortex and striatum exhibit ramping neural activity that predicts movement initiation, suggesting they function as a core timing circuit. However, the distinct computational roles of these highly interconnected regions and the specific cell types involved have remained elusive. This thesis investigates the neural mechanisms of motor timing by combining cell-type-specific perturbations, multi-regional electrophysiology, and computational modeling in mice. First, we demonstrate that the frontal cortex and striatum play complementary roles in an adjustable timing mechanism. Transiently silencing the frontal cortex effectively “pauses” the ramping …

Analyzing Lithic Tool Usage In Rio Chico, Manabí, Through Obsidian Flake Assemblages, Jake Lasky

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A collection of obsidian flake tools was recovered from two sites featuring multiple cultural occupations in Rio Chico (N4C3-170), southern Manabí province, Ecuador. This thesis analyses this collection through macroscopic techniques to indicate differences in how obsidian was utilized throughout cultural occupation in quantity and typology. Diagnostic features of the flake tools have been recorded to draw these distinctions, and depositional context is checked to determine cultural usage at the site.

Currently, the cultural occupations that used obsidian the most at Rio Chico seem to have been the Guangala (100 BCE- 800 CE) and Manteño (800-1500 CE), who fall into …

Lobizona And Cemetery Boys: Broadening Representation Of The Latinx/Chicanx Community, Genesis Pabon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on two young adult speculative fiction novels, Lobizona and Cemetery Boys, that showcase the need for accurate representation of the Latinx/Chicanx and LGBTQ+ communities. Themes of sexuality, race, identity, and the gender binary within Latinx/Chicanx cultures will be explored. The narratives of the protagonists in both novels disrupt the gender binary in the United States and the Latinx/Chicanx community. There is a lack of literature that focuses on Latinx/Chicanx young adult speculative fiction, particularly in the United States, highlighting the need for more scholarly research in this area. It is essential for literary scholars and readers to …

A Genealogy Of Somaesthetics: Sources And Directions, Tyler James Bonnet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation traces the origins of somaesthetics—an interdisciplinary field of study dedicated to the improvement and enrichment of the body’s aesthetic perception—through a genealogical method. The purpose of this method is to provide an account of the development of somaesthetics while simultaneously marshalling critical resources for its development and application. This dissertation fills a gap in somaesthetics by explicating its core philosophical commitments and its interdisciplinary composition. By means of reconstruction, the first part of this dissertation recounts the pragmatist background of somaesthetics, including fundamental commitments to experience, pluralism, and meliorism. The dissertation argues the reconstruction of pragmatism for somaesthetics …

Synergetics In Complex Adaptive Systems, Joseph C. Mckinley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Synergetics is an emerging paradigm which quantitatively describes and predicts the dynamics of complex living and nonliving systems. It has illuminated how complex systems can spontaneously self-organize by coordinating the activity of their constituent components toward some coherent, collective behavior. This coordinated activity can produce complex macroscopic spatiotemporal patterns without the need for central planning. In this dissertation, we develop and explore generalizations of the Haken-Kelso-Bunz (HKB) model of coordination dynamics. These generalizations include modeling higher-dimensional systems of coupled multistable oscillators with arbitrary diversity and coupling parameters, where the system components have the capacity to “learn” or adapt their intrinsic …

A Computational Framework For Multi-Scale Analysis Of Mouse Cerebral Blood Flow Regulation, Hadi Esfandi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cerebral hemodynamic imaging is increasingly used as a non-invasive technique to study brain function and dysfunction in both research and clinical settings. Recent advances in imaging technologies have enabled high-speed, high-resolution, whole-brain measurements of blood flow and oxygenation. Improving the interpretation of these cerebral hemodynamic signals through a mechanistic understanding of their cellular drivers would enable more accurate characterization of brain function and pathology. However, no existing biophysical model fully captures the fine-grained dynamics observed in these signals. This dissertation introduces a biophysically grounded computational framework for multi-scale analysis of the mouse cerebral blood flow regulatory system, which captures mechanistic …

Investigating How Evolution Has Affected The Neuroanatomy Of Adult Astyanax Mexicanus, Peter Igwilo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topology of the brain is highly conserved across phyla, yet the evolutionary processes driving anatomical divergence remain poorly understood. The fish Astyanax mexicanus, which exists in both surface- and cave-dwelling morphs within the same species, provides a powerful model for studying brain evolution. While previous studies have focused on larvae, imaging adult brains has been challenging due to their size and opacity. This study overcame these limitations using tissue clearing, light sheet imaging, and computational analysis to generate a comprehensive adult brain atlas. Using nuclear staining and antibody labeling, brain-wide 3D maps were created to compare regional size, shape, …

The Covid-19 Pandemic As An Environmental Jolt And Its Impact On Firms And Essential Workers, Kimberly Kay Hyett Nehls

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental jolts are sudden, large-scale disruptions that challenge organizational and societal stability and demand new ways of understanding adaptation across individuals and firms. This two-paper dissertation explores the human and organizational dimensions of such jolts through the empirical context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Paper 1 examines how global tourism firms navigated the crisis, introducing the constructs of global stakeholder interconnectedness and stakeholder prioritization fluidity to refine stakeholder theory. The findings show how international exposure shaped communication strategies under duress. Paper 2 turns to the lived experiences of low-wage essential workers, extending sensemaking theory through the concept of constrained sensemaking, highlighting …

Centrosomal And Non-Centrosomal Microtubule Networks Coordinate To Drive Nuclear Dynamics In Developing Epithelium, Rashmi Budhathoki

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The morphogenesis of developing tissues relies on extensive cellular rearrangements in shape, position, and identity. A key process in reshaping tissues is cell intercalation-driven elongation, where epithelial cells align and intercalate along a common axis. Typically, analyses focus on how peripheral cortical forces influence cell shape changes. Less attention is given to how inhomogeneities in internal structures, particularly the nucleus, impact cell shaping. Here, we examine how pulsed contractile and extension dynamics interact with the nucleus in elongating Drosophila embryos. Our data show that tightly packed nuclei in apical layers hinder tissue remodeling/oscillatory behaviors. We identify two mechanisms for resolving …

Trainee Countertransference And Competency In Bereavement Therapy: Strengths And Limitations Of The Wounded Healers, Meghan Paynter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Countertransference is a common experience in therapy, happening among clinicians of all stages of their career and the outcomes of this experience hinge largely on how countertransference is managed. Challenging topics, such as grief, only make countertransference harder to manage effectively and the management of this experience improves with practice and time—something trainees have not yet ascertained. Given the pervasiveness of grief as a human experience, also indiscriminate in nature, the experiences of trainees experiencing countertransference are important to understand, including what is experienced, how they experience it, and how it impacts their process and self-perception of confidence and competence …

The Protective Role Of Resilience In Indirect Aggression Perpetration And Victimization, Amelia Klass

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between resilience and indirect aggression, specifically relational and social aggression, utilizing a sample of 104 females aged 18–22. Indirect aggression, characterized by behaviors such as social exclusion, gossip, and manipulation, is associated with significant emotional and interpersonal difficulties. Using a theoretical basis that includes gender schema theory, social learning theory, and social information processing theory, this study investigates whether resilience has a significant relationship in both the perpetration of and victimization through the use of indirect aggression. Participants completed self-report measures, including the Adult Resilience Measure – Revised and the Young Adult Social Behavior Scales …

Collecting The Strands: A Psychoanalytic Study Of Hair-Pulling In Women, Jacklyn Corsitto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigated compulsive hair-pulling (i.e., trichotillomania) in women from a psychoanalytic perspective. The assumption, from a psychoanalytic viewpoint, is that the symptom of hair-pulling serves meaningful, and multiple, psychical purposes that should be analyzed rather than immediately removed, as would be the case in the current gold standard of treatment—behavioral therapy with habit reversal training. This behavioral modality leaves little to no room for exploring the historical, relational, symbolic, and emotional dimensions of hair-pulling. This dissertation fleshed out these dimensions and investigated what hair-pulling was doing for the individual, what its function or purpose was, and, indeed, what ideational …

The Influence Of Visualization Type And Gender On Multimedia Learning Performance: An Experimental Study, Ziji Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The widespread availability of multimedia learning resources, driven by technological progress, presents both opportunities and challenges in education. While these resources, often designed with animations to aid learning, their effectiveness in learning across STEM and non-STEM fields remains controversial. Besides, researchers have increasingly turned their attention to understanding how individual learner characteristics such as gender and spatial ability influence effectiveness of multimedia learning.

This dissertation examined the impact of visualization type and gender on learning algorithms (STEM) and Chinese characters (non-STEM) after accounting for the effect of spatial ability, focusing on learning outcomes and cognitive load. The fact that males …

Narrative As Story And Ground: Toward A Dialogic Communication Theory Of Narrative Care, Preston Carmack

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We live in a historical moment when a nuanced understanding of narrative as both ground and story is essential. In examining the work of two primary scholarly voices working with narrative and operating from a communicative lens, Walter R. Fisher and Ronald C. Arnett, this project lays a theoretical foundation for understanding the dialogic interplay of narrative as story and narrative as ground. Through tracing Fisher's and Arnett's contrasting interpretations of the work of Alasdair MacIntyre, a preeminent neo-Thomistic philosopher whose work has significantly contributed to the study of ethics and narrative construction of human rationality, coordinates related to telling …

The Application Of Macrophage-Targeted, Anti-Inflammatory Celecoxib Nanoemulgel For Nerve Regeneration In Peripheral Nerve Injury, Lu Liu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) refers to damage to the nerve located outside the brain and spinal cord. PNI is commonly caused by a physical accident (trauma) or medical operation^{1, 2}. The impact on the quality of life of PNI patients is directly correlated to neuropathic pain, resultant depression, and increased stress². Even after recovering from the PNI, patients still experience phantom pain and lose the ability to work due to the loss of tactile sensory or motor function^2-4. However, unlike damage to the central nervous system (CNS), peripheral nerves can regenerate because macrophages clean …

Enumerating Escherichia Coli (E. Coli) Concentrations And Evaluating Optical Brighteners As A Potential Indicator Of Human Wastewater Contamination In La Nana Bayou, Banita Creek, And Their Tributaries, Nacogdoches, Texas, Swastika Acharya, Matthew Mcbroom, Yuhui Weng, Yanli Zhang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

La Nana Bayou was added to the Texas 303(d) list in 2000 after it failed to meet water quality standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) for primary contact recreation due to elevated Escherichia coli (E. coli) levels. E. coli is a bacterial species commonly found in the intestines of humans and warm-blooded animals. It serves as an indicator of fecal contamination in freshwater, though its presence alone cannot identify the contamination source. Optical brighteners (OBs), chemicals found in laundry detergents, cleaning agents, toilet papers, and clothing, are unique to human wastewater. This study aimed …

Peer Functioning And Risk For Co-Occurring Adhd And Anxiety Symptoms In School-Aged Children: A Cross-Sectional And Longitudinal Analysis., Helena F. Alacha

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. Youth with Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often have higher rates of anxiety in comparison to their peers without ADHD. Children with co-occurring ADHD and anxiety exhibit a unique clinical presentation that poses challenges to both assessment and treatment. Consequently, children with comorbid ADHD and anxiety experience increased impairment, and often have poorer long-term outcomes than children with either ADHD or anxiety alone. Preliminary evidence suggests that different psychosocial phenomena commonly experienced by children with ADHD—such as peer functioning—may increase susceptibility to anxiety. Considering that children with ADHD encounter a range of peer difficulties, the present study proposed and evaluated different …

Effects Of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate In A Mouse Model Of Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease., Paxton Michelle Brizendine/Ames

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), a pervasive environmental pollutant, has been increasingly associated with the development of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD); nonetheless, its connections with alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) have not been well studied. This study investigates the hypothesis that PFOS exposure alters hepatic metabolism, thereby leading to alterations in ALD severity. Male C57BL/6J mice were fed isocaloric control or 5% ethanol (EtOH) diet for 15 days. From day 6 of feeding, mice were concurrently gavaged with 1 mg/kg PFOS or 2% Tween-80 vehicle for 10 days, followed by a 5 g/kg EtOH binge dose. PFOS and ethanol co-exposure significantly …

Cbl Regulation Of C-Met Signaling In Corneal Epithelial Cells., Kate Elise Tarvestad Laise

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The cornea is the most anterior portion of the eye and permits light passage through to retina, allowing formation of a clear image as long as it remains healthy. If the cornea sustains damage, it creates and entrance for foreign body invasion, infection, and ultimately blindness in the immunocompromised eye. Healing the corneal tissue is critical for vision restoration and pain alleviation, as it is the most densely innervated tissue in the body. Growth factors and their cognate receptors are currently under investigation as tools to restore proper corneal physiology. We hypothesize that manipulating the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) /c-Met …

Metabolic Regulation Of Cardiac Fibroblast Phenotype And Function., Collin Kleis Wells

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cardiac fibroblasts are central effectors of cardiac repair after myocardial infarction (MI). In response to signaling cues, they differentiate to a range of phenotypes with robust capacities to synthesize and secrete extracellular matrix (ECM) and signaling molecules. Although activated fibroblast phenotypes are associated with pronounced changes in metabolism, it remains unclear how the metabolic network upholds the effector functions of fibroblasts in the post-infarcted heart. Here, we identified that critical enzymes in the phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) cycle, i.e. pyruvate kinase muscle-2 (PKM2) and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase-2 (PCK2), are elevated in the heart after MI and examined their role in regulating post-MI remodeling …

Hybrid Geographies And Nature In The City: A Tale Of Two Greenspaces In Louisville, Ky., Rebecca Dixon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many conservation initiatives position nature and the urban as opposing constructions, which means the possibilities where cities can work with nature are often overlooked. This study uses the lens of relational geographies to examine nature in the city by comparing two greenspaces in the Beargrass Creek watershed in Louisville, Kentucky: Waterfront Botanical Gardens and the Louisville Nature Center. The two organizations are compared by using a combination of content analysis, discourse analysis, and GIS flood analysis methods to determine how their geographical location and history affect the ways in which the dynamic between nature and culture is reproduced. Results show …

My Achilles Years., Ash William Bittner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a historically and rhetorically grounded creative project exploring the traumas of war. This project is divided into three broad chapters, each using a different (and relevant) approach to cover the content contained within that chapter. The first chapter relies on that historical grounding, exploring the history of PTSD as it is currently understood, before exploring ancient Greek poetry and theater and both the historical and military contexts for each, before finally discussing modern warfare and the “Forever War” of the American War on Terror that lasted for nineteen years. With the historical grounding set, it moves into …

Recent Studies On The Reactions And Synthesis Of Nitrogen And Sulfur - Containing Heterocyclic Pharmacophores., Bernard Louis Adjei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nitrogen and sulfur-containing heterocycles remain significant classes of compounds in the field of medicinal and organic chemistry due to their unique structural features and diverse biological activities which make them of considerable interest for drug discovery and development. Notable examples of the nitrogen containing heterocycles include the phthalimide and glutarimide rings present in thalidomide. Thalidomide, a potent small-molecule therapeutic agent, precipitated a significant global drug crisis due to its teratogenicity, causing congenital malformations in phocomelia infants, which remains unrivaled over half a century ago. Currently, thalidomide derivatives are extensively utilized in the therapeutic management of various hematological malignancies. Recent investigations …