Digital Commons Network^™

Lidocaine Mucoadhesive Film Fabrication Using Fused Deposition Modeling 3d Printing, Mohammed Yahya Alyahya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hot-melt extrusion and 3D printing are among the recent means of processing techniques adopted in the pharmaceutical industry. These technologies are used as a method of preparing solid dispersions develop complex shapes that are difficult to be obtained using other means of production. In the current research work, many formulations loaded with lidocaine HCl were prepared and extruded using 11mm twin-screw extruder. The extrudate filaments were then fed into a fused deposition modelling (FDM) printer to fabricate mucoadhesive films meant to buccal applications to manage local pain within the oral cavity that requires the intervention with local anesthetics. The printed …

Approaches To Alleviate The Vigabatrin Induced Retinal Toxicity, Anitha Police

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Safety of therapeutics is one of the primary concerns during the treatment of any ailments. Most of the toxic effects of drugs occurs due to accumulation of drug in organs, which is dependent on the dosage of the drug. The ideal therapy should minimize the risk of causing adverse events at the same time elicit intended therapeutic effects. Vigabatrin (VGB) is an antiepileptic drug used primarily in the treatment of infantile spasms and it acts by inhibiting gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) transaminase thereby increasing inhibitory neurotransmitter GABA levels. At therapeutic doses, VGB accumulates in retina leading to peripheral visual …

Service-Learning, Comcore, And The Secondary English Classroom: A Mixed Methods Study, Kimual Snow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT The prevalence of high-stakes, standardized testing, along with the emergence of the ComCore State Standards has decreased teachers’ capacity to establish and implement authentic learning opportunities for students in 21st century secondary English classroom. In a progressive literacy environment, teachers must commit to real-world learning that allows students to navigate complex informational texts without sacrificing high curriculum standards. A number of qualitative studies reveal how service-learning has been used in various classrooms to address deficiencies in student motivation and engagement, which in turn, sought to increase students’ academic outcomes. However, few provide the quantitative evidence that administrators want to …

Efficient Generating And Processing Of Large-Scale Unstructured Meshes, Cuong Manh Nguyen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Unstructured meshes are used in a variety of disciplines to represent simulations and experimental data. Scientists who want to increase accuracy of simulations by increasing resolution must also increase the size of the resulting dataset. However, generating and processing a extremely large unstructured meshes remains a barrier. Researchers have published many parallel Delaunay triangulation (DT) algorithms, often focusing on partitioning the initial mesh domain, so that each rectangular partition can be triangulated in parallel. However, the comproblems for this method is how to merge all triangulated partitions into a single domain-wide mesh or the significant cost for communication the sub-region …

Role Of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Receptor In The Regulation Of Astrocyte Structure, Function And Cognition, Disha Prabhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Levels of Insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-1) are reduced in several neurological disorders, including aging and neurodegeneration. Aged animals have reduced IGF1 signaling and exhibit impairment in cognition. Supplementing rodents with IGF-1 reverses some of the cognitive deficit, suggesting that IGF-1 signaling could potentially be targeted to ameliorate cognitive decline in older adults. For this, a thorough understanding of the mechanisms by which IGF-1 regulates the function of various cell types in the brain is needed. A majority of studies have focused on the effects of IGF-1 regulating neurons. However, astrocytes that form roughly about 40% of brain mass also …

The Southern Front: Gay Liberation Activists In The U.S. South And Public History Through Audiovisual Exhibition, David Hooper Schultz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This project expands upon the historical work done in the master’s thesis “The Carolina Gay Association, The Southeastern Gay Conferences, and Gay Liberation in the 1970s South,” and builds on its work through an examination of public history’s impact for LGBTQ+ southerners. The audiovisual exhibit, both physically and online, investigates queer southern activism within the context of the Carolina Gay Association and its subsequent conferences, the Southeastern Gay Conferences. The public history work uncovers how activists remember their own involvement within the organization and how they were connected to national conversations surrounding gay liberation. The photography portion of the project …

Building Efficacy In Early-Career Teachers: An Applied Research Study On The Role Of Professional Development On Teacher Efficacy, Duncan Gray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teacher efficacy is closely connected to student achievement and teacher retention. The applied research explored how rethinking certain aspects of professional development would impact the efficacy of the teachers in an upper elementary building. The research program included two distinct components. School administrators redesigned after school professional development sessions in order to allow teachers to facilitate their own learning and lead sessions on areas of interest. The second component was a structural model that alloearly-career educators to visit other classrooms. Both of the components shosome promise for increasing teachers’ sense of efficacy, but the response from the after-school sessions was …

The Influence Of Screw Configuration And Other Mechanistic Approaches On The Morphology And Release Of Drugs From Polymeric Matrices Utilizing Hot-Melt Extrusion Technology, Joseph Morott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Twin-screw extrusion, often referred to as Hot-Melt Extrusion within the pharmaceutical industry, is an efficient, continuous and solvent-free process that has been investigated extensively for its solubility enhancement applications, and, to a lesser degree, for its potential to replace more conventional “batch” technologies. The research contained herein focuses on the latter of these with attention paid to the effects of screw configuration. In this research, the twin-screw extrusion process was utilized to produce taste masked formulations of a BCS I API, which necessitated the prevention of amorphous phase formation. The resulting granules were subsequently incorporated into an immediate release orally …

Portraits Of Professional Collaboration: Faculty-Librarian Teaching Partnerships, Carrie L. Forbes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many regional accrediting organizations for higher education have embraced information literacy as a key component for both student success and student learning outcomes. Through embedded librarianship practices, librarians are now taking a leading role in developing and promoting users’ information literacy skills and in adopting an active classroom teaching approach. Faculty-librarian team teaching is a best practice for integrating information literacy into the higher education curricula, but the extant research has largely focused on the barriers to collaboration. Using Walsh and Kahn’s (2010) model of “collaborative working” as a conceptual framework, this dissertation explores the qualities and characteristics of four …

Application Of Nanofiltration To Delactosed Permeate To Produce Food Grade Retentate And Permeate Streams, Lee Alexander

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Delactosed permeate (DLP), commonly referred to as mother liquor, is a plentiful byproduct in the dairy industry. It is a direct byproduct of edible lactose manufacture produced in cheese and dairy ingredient facilities. Despite being rich in lactose and minerals, DLP is most commonly relegated to an animal feed product due to its high ash content, it inhibits and disallows crystallization of any remaining lactose. Delactosed permeate showed many inconsistencies from supplier to supplier and within lots from the same supplier in the eight DLP samples obtained from four separate mozzarella and cheddar manufacturing facilities. Nanofiltration (NF) opens potential food …

Development Of A Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (Nirs) Platform For Rapid Wheat Quality Analysis, Lily Schimke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wheat is a valuable cereal grain in terms of its growability, versatility, and multifunctional nutritional components. Research into the genetic characteristics and growing conditions of the grain is advantageous to wheat breeders, farmers, food scientists, food processors, and consumers. Optimizing the quality of the wheat grain is important to yielding a crop with the most desirable traits. Analytically obtaining data on the quality attributes of wheat is a lengthy and resource intensive process. Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) technology is rapid, cost-effective, and a powerful analytical tool that can be harnessed to create predictive calibrations for estimations of wheat parameters. …

Plant Microbial Interactions In Wheat: Fusarium Head Blight And Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungi, Yaqoob Rashid Thurston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plant microbial interactions consist of the many relationships between plants and microbes which involve studies that observe the biology and molecular genetics of pathological, symbiotic, and associative interactions. Worldwide studies involving these interactions are scarcely available in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). In South Dakota (SD), wheat research is a major platform used to understand the nature and consequences of these interactions. Specifically, our research efforts here at South Dakota State University (SDSU) concentrate on two different, but valuable, interactions in wheat: the fungal pathogen that causes fusarium head blight (FHB) and the symbiotic interaction of arbuscular mycorrhizae fungi (AMF) with …

Analysis Of Coevolving Residues Of Xcdxcdx-Phd, A Distinct Type Of Phd-Finger, Shraddha Basu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Plant homeodomain (PHD), a Zinc-finger scaffold, is a conserved protein module in eukaryotes that typically recognizes unstructured histone tails, and thus, PHDs play a crucial role in chromatin signaling. The sequences of Zinc-fingers, in general, diversify during the course of evolution often giving rise to subtypes (e.g., RBR-RING (Dove 2017) or zf-CxxC subtypes (Long 2013) who typically contain specific sequence signatures. We recently discovered that PHD fingers also contain a distinct subtype, namely the xCDxCDx-PHD. xCDxCDx-PHD has a distinct composition of specific amino acids that coevolved (coevolving residues) in the course of evolution, and xCDxCDx-PHD also shows a unique mechanism …

Feeding Increasing Levels Of Reduced-Oil Distillers Dried Grains With Solubles From Two Ethanol Fermentation Methods Impacts Finishing Pig Growth Performance And Belly Quality, Austin Egolf

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reduced-oil distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) are an affordable source of energy in finishing pig diets, but differences in DDGS fermentation method on finishing pig growth performance and belly quality is relatively unknown. The objectives of this study were: 1) determine the influence of increasing dietary inclusion rate of hot fermentation (HF) and cold fermentation (CF) DDGS on growth performance, carcass characteristics and belly quality, and 2) compare the effect of HF and CF DDGS on finishing pig growth performance, carcass characteristics, and belly quality. Crossbred pigs (n = 200) were used in a randomized complete block design and …

Solvolytic Lignocellulosic Biomass Liquefaction, Mustafa Alluhaibi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing energy demand, petroleum prices, global warming, and depleting fossil fuel resources are the main challenges faced by the human beings. Many scientists are searching for sustainable and alternative sources of fossil fuels as solutions to these challenges. Lignocellulosic biomass is one of the renewable and eco-friendly abundant sources that has been considered by both academia and industry sectors as a renewable source for bio-oil and chemicals. Direct liquefaction of biomass in the sub-/super-critical solvent has considered a practical method to convert lignocellulosic material into liquid fuel. However, undesirable properties such as poor stability, low energy value, and high acidity …

Evaluation Of Processing Variables To Increase The Solids Of Milk Protein Concentrates Prior To Drying, Achyut Mishra

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is a common practice in dairy industries to nanofilter milk protein concentrate (MPC) to increase the solids and further drying efficiency. Increasing protein and solids in MPC increases viscosity and resist feed-flow in membrane filtration. Previous research proved that increased temperature and hydrodynamic cavitation (HC) have significantly reduced the viscosity of MPC which can potentially increase the level of solids by reducing concentration polarization during nanofiltration (NF). We utilized plate and frame filtration (PF) as an alternate method to reduce the viscosity of MPC. In first objective, we studied the application of HC or elevated temperature (50˚C) or both …

Characterization Of Naturally Derived Polymer By Oxidative, Thermal, And Spectrometric Methods, Ranen Roy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Extensive use of fossil fuel for different purposes has resulted in significant depletion of it at an alarming rate. Therefore, a potential and sustainable alternative source are badly needed at this moment. Nowadays, lignocellulose biomass is appealing to much interest by the researchers because of its potential nature as a renewable carbon source. It is the most abundant renewable source which is composed of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Among them, lignin is considered the 2nd most abundantly natural polymer after cellulose which comprises 10-30 % of biomass depending on the source and the environment. Lignin is a three-dimensional cross-linked organic …

Bedding Application And Increasing Dosage Of Trenbolone Acetate And Estradiol In Implants For Beef Steers: Influence On Growth Performance, Carcass Characteristics, And Circulating Metabolite Responses, Dathan T. Smerchek

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Three randomized complete block design feedlot experiments were conducted over the course of two years. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of bedding use in confined beef steers. The third experiment evaluated the effects of implants containing increasing doses of trenbolone acetate (TBA) and estradiol benzoate (EB) in confined beef steers. Experiment 1 used Simmental × Angus steers (n = 240; initial body weight (BW) = 365 ± 22.5 kg). Experiment 2 used newly weaned Charolais × Red Angus steers (n = 162; initial BW = 278 ± 13.4 kg). Steers were allotted to 1 of 2 treatments: …

The Parmesan Cheese Model System: Alleviation Of Browning Defect In Parmesan Cheese, Megan Huegli Aubrey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In cold temperature storage, Parmesan cheese can develop an undesirable browning defect. Certain pyrazine compounds converted from methylglyoxal have been identified and associated with the brown pigmentations in Parmesan cheese samples. This study focused on creating a cheese model system to study variables that caused browning and variables that helped reduce or alleviate browning. The cheese making steps for the cheese model system were monitored by measuring pH and TA and the final composition for % fat, % moisture, % salt and pH. Additionally, the cooling curve was studied to ensure all wheels of cheese made were cooled similarly. Cheese …

Characterization Of Ovine Ileal Epithelial And Myofibroblast Cell Lines And Their Role In Innate Immunity, Shaurav Bhattarai

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Development of continuous cell lines has been an indispensable tool for studying disease pathogenesis at cellular and molecular level. Intestinal epithelial cells serve as a barrier between the luminal contents and internal tissue and face unique challenge in maintaining homeostasis. Any form of disruption in the uppermost intestinal epithelium exposes underlying intestinal subepithelial myofibroblast (ISEMF) cells to the luminal content, which results in the generation of immune responses from ISEMF cells. Our main goal was to establish and characterize intestinal epithelial and myofibroblast cell lines from a 3-day old sheep. ISEMF cells play significantly important role in wound healing, tissue …

Analysis Of Two Maize Mutations That Arose After Exposure To Radiation From A Plutonium-Beryllium Source And Developing Molecular Markers For Antimorph Aei1-5180, An Alternative To Aei To Increase Amylose Content In Maize Endosperm, Prameela Awale

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis consists of two independent projects dealing with two different aspects of maize. The first project is about the maize reproduction, where we try to uncover the candidate genes of two mutations that affect pollen viability and successful fertilization. The second project is about maize endosperm starch, where we developed molecular markers to characterize a mutant allele that knocks a major starch branching enzyme in maize.

Analysis of two maize mutations that arose after exposure to radiation from a plutonium-beryllium source
Maize is a monoecious and diclinous plant. Sexual reproduction takes place by the fusion of haploid male and …

Soil Physical And Hydrological Properties, And Greenhouse Gas Emissions Under Integrated Crop-Livestock Agroecosystems, Navdeep Singh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cover crops (CCs) and grazing play a critical role in successful implementation of the integrated crop-livestock system (ICLS) because they can have a direct impact on soils and greenhouse gas emissions. The objectives of this study were to (i) evaluate the short-term impacts of CCs [grass dominated cover crops (GdC) and legume dominated cover crops (LdC)] and grazed CCs and corn (Zea mays L.) residue under oat (Avena sativa L.)–CC–corn rotation on soil physical and hydrological properties; (ii) quantify the architecture of soil pores using X-ray computed tomography (CT) for soils managed under long-term ICLS, native grazed pasture and corn-soybean …

Cover Crop Nutrient Cycling On Western South Dakota Croplands, Justin Brown

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cover crops (CC) are widely gaining attention and implementation by producers. Much of this is due to the positive influence that CCs can have. Increases in crop yield, biological diversity, water infiltration, and nutrient cycling have been observed as well as reductions in wind and water erosion. The semiarid climate of western South Dakota presents a challenge in the use of CCs with the limited rainfall received. Little research has been done in this area on the effects of CCs on cropland. Three studies were performed to evaluate CCs on nutrient cycling, forage production and crop yield. First, is an …

Tailoring The Grain Boundaries Of Wide-Bandgap Perovskite Solar Cells By Molecular Engineering, Khalid Emshadi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Due to the attraction of fabricating highly efficient tandem solar cells, wide-bandgap perovskite solar cells have attracted substantial interest in recent years. However, polycrystalline perovskite thin-films show the existence of trap states at grain boundaries, which diminish the optoelectronic properties of the perovskite and thus remains a challenge. This research demonstrates a one-step solution-processing of the [MA_0.9Cs_0.1Pb(I_0.6Br_0.4)3] wide-bandgap perovskite using Phenylhydrazine Iodide with amino groups to successfully passivate the trap density within grain boundaries and increase the perovskite grain size. The reinforced morphology and grain boundaries treatment considerably enhanced the photovoltaic performance …

Enhanced Beta (Β) Glucan Beverages – Evaluation Of Satiety, Nutrition, And Shelf Stability, Beatrice Serwaa Manu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oats and barley are unique cereals owing to their nutritional and health benefits. Soluble dietary fiber components, especially β-glucan found in both grains, have been associated with the reduction of cholesterol, normalization of blood sugar levels and suppression of hunger. These nutritional and therapeutic attributes are ideal for production of novel and more diversified food products from these cereals. β-glucan, however, imparts high viscosity in food systems particularly in high moisture foods, thus impairing their sensory characteristics. Reduced viscosity oat-barley beverages, using partial enzyme and acid hydrolysis, may fill a void in the market segment and yet serve as effective …

Developing And Evaluating Novel Methods To Estimate Bread Baking Quality Of Winter And Spring Wheat Cultivars, Bipin Rajpurohit

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bread loaf volume is a significant economic factor in the baking industry. Numerous flour and dough quality tests exist in estimating the functional traits of wheat. However, none of these tests accurately or fully predict bread loaf volume. The ultimate reliable method to determine the baking potential of wheat flours is a standard baking experiment which is time-consuming and effort-intensive. Therefore, there is a need to develop empirical methods to predict the baking potential of wheat flours that use small sample sizes and yet, are economical to implement in large throughput wheat breeding programs. A Vacuum Dough Expansion System (VDES) …

Antidiabetic Activity Of Cissus Rotundifolia Plant Growing In Saudi Arabia, Saad Ali Alshehri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a metabolic disease characterized by high levels of blood glucose resulting from defects in insulin production or action. A world-wide increase in the diabetes rate is projected to reach pandemic levels over the next 10-20 years. Current data shows that high numbers of the population in Saudi Arabia suffer from diabetes and prediabetes. Non-traditional treatments of diabetes from medicinal plants has shown potential antidiabetic activity. A considerable percentage of the population still prefer or use medicinal plants as a treatment or supplement to traditional medicine. Cissus rotundifolia (family Vitaceae) is a known plant in southwestern Saudi …

Effect Of Soy Lecithin Concentration On Formulating Dairy Emulsions Through Ultrasound Treatment, Collette Kernyuy Nyuydze

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The ability of high intensity ultrasound to produce stable emulsions without the addition of surfactant was evaluated in a dairy-based formulation. The formulation consisted of protein (4.33 ± 0.05%, whey protein concentrates (WPC80), carbohydrates (21.52 ± 0.75%, sucrose and maltodextrin), oil (2.90 ± 0.05%, soybean oil), and surfactant (0-.05%). Pre-emulsions formulated with either 0, 0.025, and 0.05% of soy lecithin were treated for 5 min at an acoustic intensity of either 42.58 ± 2.98, 56.83 ± 3.01, or 70.48 ± 2.97 W cm^-2. The stability of the emulsions was evaluated through particle size, dynamic rheology, gel electrophoresis, and …

Implementing And Assessing The Use Of A New Strategy For Training Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistants, Amanda Hyett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) largely contribute to undergraduate education but are often underprepared for their role as educators. Most graduate students attend graduate school to perform research and are then asked to teach for the first time without sufficient pedagogy training. To assist in increasing the GTAs pedagogical knowledge, a scenario-based activity series was developed and implemented for first- and second-year GTAs. Developing scenario-based scenarios from actual laboratory events provided GTAs with the opportunity to practice prior to engaging in the laboratory classroom. The Teaching Assistant Intervention Activities (TAIAs) included topics such as interpersonal skills and behaviors, group process, working …

Valorization Studies On Ice-Cream Wastewater And Whey Permeate, Maryam Enteshari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ever growing demand for dairy products in many countries has led to advancements in the manufacture of such products. Nowadays, revolutionary trends for high-protein dairy foods and drinks products have brought about new challenges from processing requirements and manufacturing aspects. Using different membrane processing has enabled dairy manufacturers to produce different fraction of milk proteins such as micellar caseins, ultra-filtered (UF) milk proteins, whey proteins concentrate (WPC), and micellar casein concentrate (MCC) to meet the nutritional needs with variety of milk product options. However, the installation of new processing lines and establishing further manufacturing steps requires more consumption of water …