Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Monovalent And Divalent Ions In Factor Xiii Activation And Crosslinking., Richard Laporca Lumata

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Factor XIII (FXIII) is an emerging target for treating blood clotting and cardiovascular related diseases. FXIII can be activated non-proteolytically by the presence of elevated Ca²⁺ levels (2-100 mM) or proteolytically by thrombin-cleavage of the Activation Peptide along with low mM Ca²⁺. The studies herein utilized fluorescence to examine how monovalent and divalent ions influence the transglutaminase activity and conformation of FXIII. Monodansylcadaverine assays revealed that increasing ionic radius (Cs⁺ > K⁺ > Na⁺ > Li⁺) and increasing ionic strength (XCl^- levels and SO₄^2- > Cl^-) elevated FXIII-A transglutaminase activity. Intrinsic …

Unraveling Dna And Identity: A Humanistic Perspective On Epistemologies And Ethics Of Genetic Ancestry Testing., Eve Carlisle Polley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The advent of DNA ancestry testing motivated a burst of human activities that constitute a scientific-technological-industrial-personal-social movement of immense scale, infused with epistemological and ethical questions of great and important variety. This movement has motivated many discourses in the social sciences, with study subjects ranging from the language usage of geneticists, to moral conundrums faced by test-takers, to potential ramifications in global structures of political power. At the same time, and especially in recent decades, the discourses of the comparative humanities have included with increasing frequency and urgency research and theorization about concepts and consequences of human social identities, alongside …

The Effects Of Interactive Object Provisioning On Corticosterone, Stress-Related Behaviors, And Cognition In Juvenile And Adult Zebra Finches (Taeniopygia Guttata), Lucas West

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Identification and reduction of unnecessary stress in lab animals is important for welfare, and for scientific validity. Providing animals with infrastructure and objects that encourage exercise and species-typical manipulative behaviors can help reduce stress by meeting physical and psychological needs. The effects of such "environmental enrichment" (EE) have been heavily studied in both zoo animals "where it has been shown to reduce maladaptive behaviors" and in lab animals such as rodents, where it clearly reduces stress and anxiety, dampens reactions to stressful events, and increases cognition and the volume of related brain regions. While there is some evidence that EE …

Genomic Analysis And Metabolic Potential Of Myxobacteria, Hanan Albataineh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Myxobacteria are known for their large genomes that bestow them with a distinct lifestyle that is characterized by fruiting body formation, gliding motility, social interactions, predation, and secondary metabolite production. The powerful combination of whole-genome sequencing and bioinformatics-driven analysis of sequence data has delivered unexpected insights into myxobacterial microbial communities. We applied these two approaches to investigate the chemical space and biosynthetic potential of myxobacteria. Mining different myxobacterial genomes for biosynthetic gene clusters led us to the discovery of a cryptic acyl-homoserine lactone (AHL) synthase encoded in the genome of the myxobacterium Archangium gephyra. Bioinformatic analysis of this AHL synthase …

Emotion Regulation In Migraine, Tracy Protti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Migraine is the third most common medical condition across the globe and a leading cause of years lived with disability due to its considerable burden. The burden is further compounded by the high prevalence of psychological comorbidities and the influence of other psychological factors on functioning. Examinations of migraine within the fear-avoidance model suggest that fear of pain (FOP) promotes maladaptive avoidance and escape behaviors, which contribute to headache-related disability. Limited research demonstrates that those with migraine engage in avoidant emotion-regulation (ER) strategies but has overlooked ER abilities beyond acceptance. The current study aimed to investigate ER in individuals with …

Protein Redesign And De Novo Design Approaches To Create Artificial Nickel-Dependent Metalloenzymes, Dhanashree Selvan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Energy crisis, energy demand and climate change are the major challenges of this century. As we face these challenges, it’s important that we depend on alternate energy forms like renewable energy sources and at the same devise ways to tackle the greenhouse effect. Therefore, it is important to move towards a carbon neutral energy economy where we can convert atmospheric carbon dioxide back into organic carbon and depend on clean energy sources like Hydrogen. These energy concerns can be tackled well if we understand the role of enzymes responsible for various biological reactions.Metals play a variety of unexpected roles in …

Do Individuals With Functional Gastrointestinal Symptoms Experience Emotions Differently? An Examination Of Emotional Responding During A Series Of Emotion Induction Tasks, Sara Witcraft

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) are disorders of the brain-gut axis characterized by physiological and emotional disturbances, including heightened comorbidity with psychiatric disorders. Individuals with FGIDs experience difficulties with emotional processing, including the awareness, identification, and regulation of emotions. Although emotional processing is implicated in the maintenance and exacerbation of FGID pathology, literature examining these associations is limited. The current study aimed to enhance understanding of the emotional processing of individuals with FGIDs. We recruited individuals with and without FGID symptoms and examined the: (1) association between gastrointestinal distress and psychopathology; (2) association between gastrointestinal distress and emotional and physiological responsivity; …

Our Bodies, Our Stories: Mental And Physical Self Connection As A Protective Factor In Sexual And Gender Minorities, Emerson A. Todd

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mind and body connection has been actively examined in neuroscience and developmental psychology backgrounds. Sociological theorists posit ways that individuals develop a sense of self through mind, body, and the social world. While research on the connection between the mind and body in disabled and aging populations is common, less is known of the everyday impact of these connections for other minority populations. The present study uses mixed-methods research to explore the relationship between mind and body and the impacts on internal and social life. The quantitative aspect of the study found significant relationships between physical and mental health …

Community Structure Analysis Of Turtles With Application To The Early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site, Julian Conley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Turtles are important components of ecosystems around the world, with diverse ecological niches and adaptations. However, there are few detailed studies of how turtle community structure reflects local environments. This project applied techniques of community structure analysis to sites across the United States to infer past ecosystem and environmental conditions of the early Pliocene Gray Fossil Site (GFS) in northeastern Tennessee based on the ancient turtle community. Results indicate extant turtle community structure closely reflects environmental conditions, and that ancient turtle communities can be used to infer climate and habitat conditions of past ecosystems. Application to the GFS turtle community …

Organizational Green Claims And Consumer Green Perceptions In The Foodservice Industry, Jangwoo Jo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the ever-growing consumer demands and global pressures for more sustainable business operations, corporations disclose their sustainable practices, products, and services to enhance their environmental image. Consumer green perceptions resulting from those organizational green claims have not been the focus of foodservice research. The application of green performance dimensionality of the foodservice domain identified that organizational green claims regarding food, environment and administration increase consumer green confusion and green trust at the same time. Based on the results of CFA, SEM, and multigroup analyses, this study suggests implications both theoretical and practical.

Development And Evaluation Of Performance Models For Asphalt, Concrete, And Composite Pavements Using Machine Learning, Rulian Ferreira De Almeida Barros

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Transportation infrastructures account for a considerable portion of public investments, which serve as the backbone of a country’s economy by providing essential services to businesses and people. In the United States, public investments in transportation infrastructure assets represent trillions of dollars. The U.S road network consists of about 4 million miles, being the world’s largest, longest, and biggest transportation system. Paved roads account for 2.6 million miles, and 93% of them are surfaced with asphalt. However, a portion of the paved roads consists of asphalt overlaid concrete pavements, also known as composite pavements. When concrete pavements start to fail, they …

Novel Applications Of Hot Melt Extrusion For Developing Oral Solid Dosage Forms With Improved Solubility, Permeability, And Stability, Dinesh Nyavanandi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In today's world, with an increasing patient population, the demand for pharmaceutical medications is increasing enormously. However, pharmaceutical industries are continuously failing to meet market and patient populations' demands. Poor solubility of the drug substances is the major roadblock affecting the pharmaceutical industries in meeting the market demand and revenue. Around 70-80% of the new chemical entities within the developmental pipeline are claimed to be poorly soluble, affecting the oral bioavailability. Improving the solubility of drug substances by preserving their stability and physiological action is the primary prerequisite for developmental scientists. The underdeveloped manufacturing process with various limitations is another …

Investigating Sound And Gear Modification As A Means Of Reducing Shark Bycatch, Eduardo Josue Rangel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sharks are unintentionally captured during commercial fishing operations and discarded, known as bycatch. Sharks captured in this manner have high mortality rates resulting in hundreds of millions of sharks killed annually. Longline operations have the highest instances of bycatch. In this study, two methods for reducing shark bycatch were investigated. A simple gear modification on longline leaders was tested by substituting monofilament (mono) leaders with ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene (spectra) leaders. A recording of thunder was tested during longline fishing for a deterrent effect. The experiments were conducted simultaneously on a 915 m longline with 50 leaders with each leader alternating between …

Repetitively Counting Sheep: Sleep As A Moderator Of Executive Function Performance On Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms, Brittany S. Sapp

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As a leading cause of disability worldwide, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is associated with considerable costs on individual and economic levels. According to a U.S. national comorbidity survey, approximately 28% of individuals experience obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms in their lifetime. As with most psychiatric disorders, sleep disturbances are highly prevalent in individuals with OCD and have been linked to greater severity of OC symptoms and poorer treatment response. Similarly, deficient executive functioning (EF) has been demonstrated in OCD, with research evidencing a connection between EF impairment and OCD course, symptom severity, and treatment response. Sleep difficulties are also implicated in impaired EF, …

Preparation And Characterization Of 3d Printed Bioadhesive Delivery Systems, Mohammed Yahya Alyahya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Drug delivery systems are evolving as pharmaceutical excipients and the manufacturing technologies evolve. Recently, 3D printing was introduced as a promising and versatile manufacturing technology of solid dosage forms from liquid, semi-solid, and solid intermediates. This work presents two examples of employing hot melt extrusion and fused deposition 3D printing technology to fabricate bioadhesive delivery systems loaded with miconazole. The first project shows a successful fabrication of four intraoral mucoadhesive film formulations, the formulations consist of different ratios of Eudragit RS, Hydroxypropyl cellulose EF (HPC EF), and Hypromellose HME 15LV. After the HME and 3DP fabrication of the films, the …

An Investigation Into The Feasibility Of Coupling Hot-Melt Extrusion Technology With Fused Deposition Modeling 3d Printing In Different Pharmaceutical Dosage Forms, Abdullah Ahmed Alzahrani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Coupling hot-melt extrusion (HME) with fused deposition modeling (FDM) three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a cutting-edge manufacturing technique that allows the exact deposition of materials in consecutive layers to create bespoke objects. HME technology has piqued academic research and the pharmaceutical industry's attention as a solvent-free continuous process for several pharmaceutical applications. It is possible to employ this technology alone/alongside other current technologies to produce new pharmaceuticals for various applications. The FDA has approved several HME commercial products for different pharmaceutical applications. HME and FDM 3D printing could open the door to a new era of pharmaceutical manufacturing. 3D printing has …

The Hollidays In Mississippi: A Documentary Project About Queer Family, Legacy, And Community Struggle, Christina Alison Huff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This MFA thesis accompanies a short documentary film encompassing a “passing of the torch” story between Eric White (GoDiva Holliday) and his drag daughter, Justin Tyler (DeePression Holliday.) After twenty years of performing and directing drag shows in Tupelo, MS, White makes the decision to let go of his passion and focus on himself. He ensures that his drag daughter, Holbrook, carries on the legacy of creating LGTBQ spaces in the conservative South. This story will also touch on the familial relationship between the two drag performers who both grew up in small-town Mississippi but in different eras. The work …

Testing Emotion Regulation As A Functional Transdiagnostic Construct, Enoch Sackey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The polythetic criteria of the DSM and ICD generate high amount of symptom heterogeneity as there are clusters of symptoms within various diagnostic category that are heuristically similar, resulting in multiple, often confusing, ways of describing sequelae of symptoms presentation. This is because the DSM and ICD classification systems were developed based on the neo-Kraepelinian framework for classifying physical illnesses, which assumes that the underlying architecture of psychopathology, which manifest in disorder symptoms, are distinct and specific. Based on this, the categorical approach to describing psychopathology has been described as purely conceptual artefact with no empirical basis in research or …

Effect Of Excipients/Solvents On The Barrier Integrity And Topical Drug Delivery Across Micropores, Abhishek Shettar

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The topical and transdermal drug delivery system offers several advantages over conventional drug delivery; non-invasive, patient compliance, avoidance of first-pass metabolism, and sustaining therapeutic drug levels for several days. As a route for drug administration, skin presents a large surface area and can be used for both local and systemic drug delivery. However, the skin forms a formidable barrier protecting the human body from external environmental rigors and excessive water loss, maintaining equilibrium. The skin's barrier properties can be attributed to its unique macromolecular organization and morphology. However, the organized structure of the skin, since intended to prevent the entry …

Look, But Don’T Touch: Impact Of Covid-19 On The Nicu Caregiver, Rebecca C. Otwell-Dove

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Admission of an infant into the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is an experience that has been associated with a variety of both positive and negative health outcomes for parent and child. While both the setting name and the admitted population alludes to a sole focus on the affected infant, what often remains underrecognized is the impact on the ones who care for the newborn long before and longer after their NICU stay. Given the recency and unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, very little research has examined the impact of COVID-19-specific stress on the experience of parents of infants …

Evaluating Bat Roost Abundance: A Comparison Of Drone-Acquired Thermal Imagery And Acoustic Estimates With Visual Observations, Karah Jaffe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Roosts provide an opportunity to census philopatric populations of bats. Comparing the efficacy of traditional methods with novel methods can provide guidance on the use of new technologies in the field. This project aims to compare the count efficacy of external emergence methodologies, i.e., drone-acquired thermal imagery, acoustic estimates, and visual counts. Surveys were conducted ten nights at two emergence sites and synchronized to compare counts. Acoustic estimates could not be established as there was a weak prediction of the linear relationship between root-mean-square pressure and emergence count; therefore, this method was removed from the comparative analysis. A linear mixed-effects …

Adaptation Of Instructional Strategies And Practices During A Pandemic, Lacy E. York Hughes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the stories of identified, effective middle school teachers as they experienced changes in instructional strategies and practices as a result of an identified crisis, COVID-19. Although there has been little documentation in the literature specifically regarding adapting instructional strategies and practices as a result of crises, crisis management, change theory, mindset theory, adaptation, and teacher effectiveness characteristics became the framework through which to interpret the data.

Data collection strategies included one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with a total of eight participants, two principals and six teachers, who met specific research participation criteria. Analysis of …

Validation Of The 40 Hz Auditory Steady State Response As A Pharmacodynamic Biomarker Of Evoked Neural Synchrony, Muhammad Ummear Raza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Schizophrenia is a troubling and severe mental illness that is only incompletely treated by currently available drugs. New drug development is hindered by a scarcity of functionally relevant pharmacodynamic biomarkers that are translatable across preclinical and human subjects. Although psychosis is a major feature of schizophrenia, cognitive and negative symptoms determine the long-term functional outcomes for patients. Stimulus-evoked neural synchrony at gamma (~ 40 Hz) frequency plays an important role in the processing and integration of sensory information. Not surprisingly, schizophrenia patients show deficits in gamma oscillations. NMDA receptor (NMDAR) activation on fast-spiking parvalbumin-positive interneurons is deemed important for the …

Adverse Childhood Experiences And Quality Of Life: A Mediating Role Of Physical Activity And Executive Function, Loni Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ACEs have been associated with heightened risk for a range of chronic health problems, substance use, and cognition in adulthood (Center for Disease Control (CDC), 2019; Hinojosa et al., 2017). One potential protective factor is physical activity (McEwen, 2016; Wu et al., 2013). Physical activity is associated with sustaining overall health, improving mental health by reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety (Murri et al., 2019; Sharma et al., 2006; Tasci et al., 2019), and maintaining a healthy body weight and BMI (WHO, 2021). Therefore, this study examined whether barriers to physical activity, physical activity levels, and executive outcomes serve as …

The Paleoecology Of High-Elevation Bison In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Implications For Modern Bison Conservation, Darian Bouvier

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The national mammal of the United States, the American Bison (Bison bison) was once nearly extinct. Populations have recovered to the degree that thousands roam the Great Plains today. Due to their large numbers and body size, this species has an oversized impact on the ecological communities where it lives and is considered a keystone herbivore in modern North American grasslands. This study explores the detailed, seasonally resolved, paleoecology of seven bison from the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem during the Late Holocene through stable isotope analyses and species niche modeling. Isotopic analyses of δ¹³C, δ¹⁵N, …

Cyclic Di-Gmp Regulates Motility, Biofilm Formation, And Desiccation Tolerance In Acinetobacter Baumannii, Garrett Reynolds

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Acinetobacter baumannii is an increasingly multidrug-resistant pathogen contributing to hospital-acquired infections necessitating the discovery of novel treatments. A bacterial second messenger, cyclic diguanosine monophosphate (cyclic di-GMP), can regulate various persistence factors that are potentially advantageous for survival in hospital environments. Cyclic di-GMP–modulating enzymes and cyclic di-GMP–binding effectors predictively are encoded in the Acinetobacter baumannii genome. I hypothesized that cyclic di-GMP controls motility, biofilm formation, and desiccation tolerance in Acinetobacter baumannii. Disrupting cyclic di-GMP–modulating enzymes or cyclic di-GMP–binding effectors should alter the regulatory effectiveness of these phenotypes. I tested the multidrug-resistant isolate Acinetobacter baumannii strain AB5075 and identified several transposon …

Consequences Of Caring: The Manifestation Of Compassion Fatigue In High School Teachers During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Randi Staggs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore the symptoms of compassion fatigue as experienced by teachers in grades 9-12 during the COVID-19 pandemic. While the research on the effects of compassion fatigue on educators is relatively sparse, the literature regarding compassion fatigue, secondary traumatic stress, and vicarious trauma in other helping professions revealed a 12-symptom framework.

Data collection strategies included individual virtual interviews and field notes. Analysis of data occurred in four phases: (a) analyzing transcripts and identifying themes, (b) categorization of data under the 12 symptoms of compassion fatigue, (c) building the explanation in narrative form, and …

Translating Particulate Hexavalent Chromium-Induced Chromosome Instability From Human Lung Cells To Experimental Animals, Human Lung Tumors And Whale Cells., Haiyan Lu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer is a major human health problem. While smoking is the most well-known cause of lung cancer, people who never smoked develop the disease. Understanding how non-tobacco environmental carcinogens cause lung cancer is key to combating this disease. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is a well-established human lung carcinogen, but its carcinogenic mechanism is uncertain. Chromosome instability (CIN) is a hallmark of lung cancer and a major factor in Cr(VI)-induced lung cancer. Studies in human lung cells show Cr(VI) induces DNA double strand breaks and suppresses homologous recombination (HR) repair by targeting RAD51, resulting in CIN. We translated these outcomes to …

The Effects Of Gang Membership And Transitions In A Gang On Within-Individual Changes In Offending., Leon Sergio Garduno

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have established that joining a gang exposes individuals to factors and environments that promote and increase antisocial and illegal behaviors, which decrease after leaving the gang (Decker & Van Winkle, 1994; Melde & Esbensen, 2014; Thornberry, Krohn et al., 1993). Scholars, by analyzing qualitative data, bivariate statistics, and by comparing gang members with non-gang members, have found that as individuals join and leave a gang they experience changes in the frequency with which they carry firearms, sell drugs, and engage in property crimes (Bjerregaard & Lizotte, 1995; Hagedorn, 1994; Thornberry et al., 1993). Researchers also have established that within-individuals’ …

Applications Of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy: From Drug Discovery To Protein Structure And Dynamics., Mark Vincent C. Dela Cerna

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The versatility of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is apparent when presented with diverse applications to which it can contribute. Here, NMR is used i) as a screening/ validation tool for a drug discovery program targeting the Phosphatase of Regenerating Liver 3 (PRL3), ii) to characterize the conformational heterogeneity of p53 regulator, Murine Double Minute X (MDMX), and iii) to characterize the solution dynamics of guanosine monophosphate kinase (GMPK). Mounting evidence suggesting roles for PRL3 in oncogenesis and metastasis has catapulted it into prominence as a cancer drug target. Yet, despite significant efforts, there are no PRL3 small molecule inhibitors …