Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of A Novel Mrna-Pertussis Vaccine Against Emerging Clinical Isolates Of Bordetella Pertussis, Graham Jeffrey Bitzer

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative obligate aerobe that causes a respiratory disease known as pertussis or whooping cough. Pertussis is most severe in younger children, especially infants but the bacteria has been known to colonize adult populations. Before the introduction of the whole-cell pertussis (wP; wP-DTP) vaccine reported numbers of pertussis cases within the US routinely topped 100,000 cases per year. However, with the widespread usage of the wP vaccine case numbers began dropping and reached a low of less than 5,000 cases per year in the late 1970’s and early 80’s. It appeared that B. pertussis was heading towards …

Summer Habitat Use, Home Range, And Effect Of Catch And Release Mortality On The Trophy Potential Of Muskellunge, (Esox Masquinongy, Mitchill, 1824), In A Southern Reservoir Population, Peter Isaac Jenkins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Research on Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy, Mitchill, 1824) catch-and-release mortality has been historically focused on the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Ontario. In the southern portion of their range, which we consider to be the portion of the species distribution south of the Mason-Dixon Line (~40°N), Muskellunge, may experience significantly warmer temperatures than those in previous studies and anglers have expressed concern about summer catch-and-release mortality. As part of a broader study to quantify catch-and-release summer mortality in the southern range of Muskellunge, we utilized radio telemetry and active tracking to verify individual movement and survival of Muskellunge in Stonewall …

Red Spruce Ecological Sites, Ecological States, And Restoration Pathways Quantified Through Soil Organic Carbon, James Edward Leonard

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Tools used by agencies and organizations like the Forest Service (FS), the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), the Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the Central Appalachian Spruce Restoration Initiative (CASRI) to help guide red spruce (Picea rubens) ecosystem restoration within Central Appalachia could better address outcomes from management practices implemented in terms of soil organic carbon (SOC) stock changes. These high-elevation landscapes have a natural capacity to produce diverse ecosystem services that affect humans, animals, and plants alike. Ecological site descriptions (ESD) are an important tool used to restore impacted landscapes and provide detailed management prescriptions specific to red spruce ecological …

An Exploration Of The Effects Of Mindfulness On Pain: The Role Of Pain Catastrophizing, Ilana Haliwa

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Chronic pain is a complex global public health concern associated with a host of negative outcomes, including loss of productivity, decreased quality of life, and greater likelihood of developing a mental health disorder. Initial evidence indicates that mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) improve pain symptomatology. However, most MBIs are time and resource intensive, and it is unclear how mindfulness may improve the pain experience. The purpose of the present set of studies was to test the effects of a brief, app-based MBI on pain experience, and to examine whether pain catastrophizing was a statistical mediator of any effect. Two studies were conducted …

Combinatorial Approaches For Effective Design, Synthesis, And Optimization Of Enzyme-Based Conjugates, Jordan Scott Chapman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The specificity and efficiency with which enzymes catalyze selective chemical reactions far exceeds the performance of traditional heterogeneous catalysts that are predominant in industrial applications such as conversion of commodity chemicals to value-added products, fuel cells, and petroleum refinement. Moreover, biocatalysts exhibit exceptionally high product turnover at ambient conditions with little health and environmental burden. These advantageous qualities have led to the prolific use of enzyme catalysis in pharmaceutical, detergents, and food preservation industries wherein their use has greatly reduced waste generation, Unfortunately, the full slate of benefits that enzymes can impart to a broader range of chemical processes is …

A Monte Carlo Simulation Of Rat Choice Behavior With Interdependent Outcomes, Michelle A. Frankot

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Preclinical behavioral neuroscience often uses choice paradigms to capture psychiatric symptoms. In particular, the subfield of operant research produces nested datasets with many discrete choices in a session. The standard analytic practice is to aggregate choice into a continuous variable and analyze using ANOVA or linear regression. However, choice data often have multiple interdependent outcomes of interest, violating an assumption of general linear models. The aim of the current study was to quantify the accuracy of linear mixed-effects regression (LMER) for analyzing data from a 4-choice operant task called the Rodent Gambling Task (RGT), which measures decision-making in the context …

The Exposome, Metabolic Dysfunction And Silicosis: A Pulmonary And Pathophysiology Study, Janet A. Thompson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The exposome encompasses the concept that an individual’s health is a combination of genetic, environmental, and occupational exposures. A worker’s exposomal profile could potentially influence their susceptibility to hazardous occupational exposures. Over 35% of adults in the United States have metabolic dysfunction (MetDys), yet interactions between MetDys and hazardous occupational exposures are generally unknown. MetDys is associated with HFWD-consumption and obesity and induces a chronic low grade systemic inflammation and alters serum adipokine profiles. Silicosis, a progressive inflammatory lung disease, results from occupational inhalation exposure to respirable crystalline silica particles. This research tests the hypothesis “Inflammation resulting from HFWD-induced …

Appalachian Broadcast News Coverage Of The Coronavirus: A Content Analysis Of Media Framing In The Midst Of A Health Crisis, Jensen M. Mills

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Media framing of broadcast news is more than identifying an issue, but rather interpreting and explaining the issue for others to better understand. Previous framing scholarship in broadcast news, as well as COVID-19 specifically, has focused mostly on national or international news, so this research explores broadcast coverage from a local perspective in a rural location. During the health crisis of COVID-19, the specific use of media frames can impact how people made sense of the pandemic. Through a content analysis of 165 newscast scripts from five different local news stations in Appalachia, this study contributes to the understanding of …

Comparison Of Antimicrobials And Delivery Methods On The Inactivation Of Listeria Monocytogenes On Apples, Rebecca B. Stearns

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction: Due to multi-state outbreaks of listeriosis on apples in 2015, 2017, and 2019, Listeria Monocytogenes (L. monocytogenes) has been deemed an emerging, under researched pathogen by the USDA-NIFA. Therefore, this study evaluated the efficacy of SaniDate 5.0®’s (SD) ability to inactivate L. Monocytogenes on apples when delivered through electrostatic sprayer (ES), garden sprayer (GS), and dip methods.

Methods: Organic apples were dip-inoculated with L. monocytogenes for 5 min and then dried for 10 min. Once dried, the inoculated apples were untreated (control), sprayed with water only, or treated with SD, 0.0064, 0.1, 0.25 and 0.50% for 20 …

Assessment Of Quechers Extraction Protocol For The Lc-Ms/Ms Detection Of Emerging Fentanyl Analogs In Biological Specimens For Clinical And Forensic Purposes, Kylea M. Morris

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Drug abuse within the United States is a dynamic and pervasive issue that affects the quality and life expectancy of our society. One of the major drug classes that are constantly utilized is opioids. Opioids are prescribed for pain management in patients suffering from cancer and other medical illnesses. Long-term use of opioids could lead to tolerance in humans, which poses a risk of reaching fatal overdose levels. Unfortunately, opioids are abused recreationally, and in some instances, individuals are unaware of the presence of dangerous synthetic drugs like fentanyl, hidden in materials such as heroin, cocaine, oxycodone, and methamphetamine. Recent …

Psychosocial Influences On And Behavioral Characteristics Of Young Adult Food Addiction, Rachel A. Wattick

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Introduction. Research on food addiction has increased in recent years, but there are few studies focusing on college-attending young adults, who may be at risk of developing food addiction due to the stress of the college environment. Additionally, causes and characteristics of food addiction are under-explored.

Aim. This dissertation aims to 1) determine the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and other early life influences on the development of food addiction in college-attending young adults and 2) determine the psychosocial and behavioral characteristics of young adults with food addiction.

Methods. A sequential explanatory mixed-methods design was used for aims 1 …

Cross-Kingdom Interactions Shape Soil Biogeochemistry In Natural And Agricultural Ecosystems, Jennifer Lynne Kane

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Microorganisms influence life on earth in innumerable ways, including in medical, industrial, environmental, and agricultural contexts. Given the increasingly apparent consequences of climate warming, interest in how to better predict and manage Earth’s carbon sinks has never been greater. Soil, the largest terrestrial carbon sink, harbors an incredibly taxonomically and functionally diverse microbial community. These soil-dwelling microbes govern the fate of soil carbon and nutrients by cycling organic matter as they live, grow, and die. It has only been relatively recently that technological advancement has allowed for in-depth surveys of the vast diversity of soil microbes. High throughput analytical capabilities …

Influences Of Disrupted Circadian Rhythms On Stroke Outcome, Jennifer A. Liu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The circadian system is composed of a subset of temporal oscillators that function through a transcriptional and post-translational molecular and functional negative feedback loop cycling approximately every 24 hours. The central clock located in the suprachiasmatic nucleus is responsible for entrainment using light as the key timekeeper (zeitgeber); it is responsible for synchronizing and optimizing physiological behavior and function to the environment. Exogenous information, such as day length and light-dark cycles, provide critical temporal cues for adjusting to environmental conditions. Proper alignment to natural light dark cycles and circadian rhythms is optimal for vital health, fitness, and survival in organisms. …

Investigating The Interplay Of The Immune System, Skin Barrier, And Microbiome Following Dermal Exposure To Triclosan, Rachel Baur

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Triclosan is an antimicrobial chemical used in healthcare products that are applied to the skin. However, exposure to triclosan has been positively associated with food allergy, aeroallergy, and asthma severity in humans. In mice, dermal triclosan exposure, although not directly sensitizing, has been shown to augment the allergic response in a model of asthma. Furthermore, exposure to triclosan on mouse skin has been demonstrated to be immunomodulatory through the activity of thymic stromal lymphopoietin and S100 calcium-binding protein A8. The skin barrier and microbiome are known to interact with the immune system and disruptions in barrier integrity and the microbiome …

Integration Of Fisheries Ecology With The Assessment Of Microplastic Consumption In Black Bass In The Upper Ohio River Drainage, Kaylyn Zipp

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores the dynamics of microplastic consumption of black bass (smallmouth, Micropterus salmoides, largemouth, M. dolomieu, and spotted bass, M. punctulatus) in the Monongahela and Kanawha River and explores dietary characteristics in the Ohio, Monongahela, and Kanawha River. The first chapter serves as an introduction and synthesis of microplastic consumption, fisheries ecology, and regional information. The second chapter quantifies microplastic consumption in the Monongahela River and explores spatial variation within and between species by pool and seasonal effects. The third chapter consists of exploratory Quasi Poisson modeling of total microplastics in the Point Marion pool, Monongahela River, WV using …

Evaluating Muskellunge (Esox Masquinongy) Catch-And-Release Mortality At Elevated Summer Water Temperature, Ian Taylor Booth

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Angling for Muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) has become widespread and increasingly popular throughout the fish’s range. Current management strategies for Muskellunge include high minimum harvest lengths (>1016mm), closed seasons, and catch-and-release regulations. Due to these strategies and angler sentiments, up to 97% of Muskellunge caught today are released by anglers assuming they will live and be caught again in the future. Previous research on catchand-release mortality in Muskellunge has suggested relatively low mortality rates (0%-5%). However, these studies were all conducted within the fish’s thermal optimum and generally at water temperatures25°C during the summer months, representing a need to evaluate …

Integration Of Spectroscopic And Mass Spectrometric Tools For The Analysis Of Novel Psychoactive Substances In Forensic And Toxicology Applications, Travon Cooman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Analytical methods aiming for the detection of novel psychoactive substances are continuously revised due to their utility in the seized drug and toxicology realms. One method frequently employed for the preliminary identification of illicit materials is portable Raman spectroscopy. Even when a substance in possession of an offender is identified, conclusive evidence that it may have been consumed requires additional confirmatory work and further toxicological evaluation of a biological specimen. Many times, the substance consumed may not be detected in the analyzed specimen due to its extensive metabolism. It is therefore challenging to rule out the identity of the drug …

Performance Of Sensor Fusion For Vehicular Applications, Nikola Janevski

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Sensor fusion is a key system in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, ADAS. The perfor-
mance of the sensor fusion depends on many factors such as the sensors used, the kinematic
model used in the Extended Kalman Filter, EKF, the motion of the vehicles, the type of
road, the density of vehicles, and the gating methods. The interactions between parameters
and the extent to which individual parameters contribute to the overall accuracy of a sensor
fusion system can be difficult to assess.
In this study, a full-factorial experimental evaluation of a sensor fusion system based
on a real vehicle was performed. …

Population Characteristics Of Three Black Bass Species In The Upper Ohio River Drainage, Levi Foster Brown

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In West Virginia, species of black bass are economically and ecologically important and support popular fisheries. In the state’s large, navigable river systems, recent information suggests that anglers consider these fisheries diminished relative to their historic stocks. This study sought to describe the population characteristics of Largemouth, Smallmouth, and Spotted Bass in the upper Ohio River drainage and evaluate possible management actions. Low relative abundances coupled with poor growth estimates for Largemouth and Spotted Bass suggests that a suite of environmental and anthropogenic factors may be reducing the quality of their recreational fisheries. Conversely, demographic estimates produced for Smallmouth Bass …

Landmark Enforcement And Principal Component Analysis For Improving Gan-Based Morphing, Samuel W. Price

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Facial Recognition Systems (FRSs) are a key target for adversaries determined to circumvent security checkpoints. Morph images threaten FRS by presenting as multiple individuals, allowing an adversary to swap identities with another subject. Although morph generation using generative adversarial networks (GANs) results in high-quality morphs without possessing the spatial artifacts caused by landmarkbased methods, there is an apparent loss in identity with standard GAN-based morphing methods. In this thesis, we examine landmark-based and GAN-based morphing methods to fuse the advantages of both methodologies. We propose a novel StyleGAN2 morph generation technique by introducing a landmark enforcement method. Considering this method, …

Clitic Doubling: The Case Of Nariño Andean Spanish, Jessica Paola Jurado Eraso

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis examines the behavior of clitic doubling in Nariñense, a little-studied Andean Spanish variety spoken in the southwest of Colombia, and compares it to well-studied varieties such as standard Peninsular, Rioplatense, and other Andean Spanish varieties. Its aim is to present novel data about clitic doubling in order to shed more light into the extensive literature about this phenomenon in Spanish. Through spontaneous speech recordings obtained from thirty native speakers of Nariñense, 133 sentences involving clitic doubling were analyzed. Features such as agreement matching between the clitic and the doubled NP, use of the preposition a to introduce the …

Frayed Connections: How Long-Term Nitrogen Additions Disrupt Plant-Soil Interactions And The Carbon Cycle Of A Temperate Forest, Brooke A. Eastman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Forests are expected to mitigate some of the negative effects of climate change by sequestering anthropogenic carbon (C) from the atmosphere, but the degree to which they drawn down C will depend on the availability of key nutrients, such as nitrogen (N). There is a fair amount of uncertainty in the future of the forest C sink, mostly owing to the fate of soil organic matter (SOM) and soil heterotrophic respiration to future conditions. In N limited systems, plants allocate a significant amount of their photosynthate belowground for the acquisition of nutrients, but under conditions of chronic N deposition, plants …

Fasciotomies, Gabriel Bass

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This collection of poems follows the disjointed and never complete trajectory of personal recovery from trauma and alcoholism. The poems and their arrangement trouble the notion of a person ever being fixed, even as they make progress toward a better version of themselves. The collection illustrates how the past can impose itself on the present, creating dissonance and complicating the speaker’s understanding of time and recovery.

Amelioration Of Mitochondrial Bioenergetic Dysfunction In Diabetes Mellitus: Delving Into Specialized And Non-Specific Therapeutics For The Ailing Heart, Andrya Jean Durr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Morbidity and mortality of the diabetic population is influenced by many confounding factors, but cardiovascular disease (CVD), remains the leading cause of death. Mitochondrial dysfunction is central in the development of cardiac contractile dysfunction, with decreased mitochondrial bioenergetic function, increased dependence on free fatty acid utilization, and a decrease in glucose utilization having been shown to contribute to contractile dysfunction. Strategies targeting the amelioration of mitochondrial bioenergetic function are attractive for limiting diabetes-induced heart failure, and preserving health-span. The goals of this dissertation were to assess two mitochondrial-centric approaches for the amelioration of mitochondrial and cardiac contractile dysfunction in diabetes …

Incidence Of Cancer, Depression, And Economic Burden Of Prescription Nsaids Among Older Adults With Osteoarthritis: Statistical And Machine Learning Approaches, Nazneen Fatima Mohammed Umer Shaikh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Understanding the role of chronic inflammation among older adults is critical because of its implications on chronic inflammatory conditions as well as its interaction with anti-inflammatory medications. Osteoarthritis (OA) is a heterogeneous multi-faceted joint disease with multi-tissue involvement of varying severity, and increasing evidence demonstrates a key role of chronic inflammation in its pathogenesis. Approximately 30 million adults in the United States have OA, and it is reported that a large proportion (43%) of them are older than 65 years. OA is typically treated using non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for minimizing pain and reducing inflammation. NSAIDs have consistently shown clinically …

Navigating Abrupt Shifts In Contextual Discourses During A Pandemic And Lack Of Mentorship: A Preservice Teacher’S Journey Developing Critical Pedagogical Discourses, Casey L. King

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study is centered on one English language arts (ELA) preservice teacher’s development of her critical pedagogical discourses (CPD) with the contextual discourses of a school placement for preservice teaching and later shift to a full-time teacher before the placement was complete during a pandemic and in the midst of implementing online learning. Data is drawn from a 4-month interpretive qualitative case study that included classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The objective for this study included how a preservice teacher uses their beliefs and identity about instruction amid changing contextual discourses in a pandemic and with a lack of mentorship. …

Utilizing The K18-Hace2 Mouse Model To Develop Protective Covid-19 Vaccines, Ting Y. Wong

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The ongoing Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is caused by the respiratory virus Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Similar to other respiratory viruses, SARS-CoV-2 is transmitted through inhalation of respiratory droplets and aerosols from infected individuals. Once inhaled, SARS-CoV-2 utilizes the receptor binding domain (RBD) on the spike protein to bind to human Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (hACE2) receptor to gain entrance into host cells to begin viral replication. SARS-CoV-2 infection can result in mild to severe cases of COVID-19 ranging from asymptomatic infections, cold or flu like symptoms to respiratory failure. The onset of the pandemic in …

Associations Between Self-Reported Awe And Heart Rate, Laura E. Bernstein

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Fredrickson’s (1998, 2013) broaden and build theory states that positive emotions can expand our social and cognitive awareness and provide health benefits. Some positive emotions, such as awe, may operate differently. We sought to understand how subjective reports of awe, induced through videos, correlate with HR. We know that HR tends to decrease with age (Umetani et al., 1998), individuals have less physiological reactivity as they age (Blanchard-Fields, 2007), and older adults report more positive emotions than negative emotions (Mroczek & Kolarz, 1998). Given these findings, we were interested in understanding whether there were age differences in self-reported awe and …

Deep Radio Observations And The Role Of The Cosmic Web In Galaxy Evolution, Nicholas M. Luber

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A current open question in the evolution of galaxies, is what are the physical mechanisms that cut off galaxies from their primordial gas reservoirs, resulting in the end of their star-formation capabilities? Recent observational programs have shown that the properties of galaxies show dependencies on their placement within the large-scale structure (LSS) of the universe. These observations have motivated recent developments in theoretical work that have shown how a galaxy's interaction with the LSS may impact its connection to primordial gas supply, and ability to continue to accrete gas, the fundamental ingredient in star-formation.

In order to investigate the role …

Transitions Between The Steps Of Group Iic Intron Forward And Reverse Splicing And Integration Into Dna, Claire Mae Smathers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Group II introns are ancient ribozymes capable of self-excision and mobility into new genomic locations. As the ancestors of both the eukaryotic spliceosome and eukaryotic retroelements, these simple RNA machines serve as excellent models for understanding the mechanisms of both gene splicing and retroelement activity in eukaryotes. Although group II introns have been studied for decades, knowledge of the most unique and arguably evolutionarily relevant class of group II introns, IIC, is limited. Our knowledge is especially limited in terms of understanding how IIC introns mediate the transition between the two transesterification steps of forward splicing and reverse splicing into …