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Reprogramming Of Immunometabolic Functions In Brain Microvascular Endothelial Cells During Neuroinflammation: Insights From Ischemic Stroke And Sepsis, Shokofeh Rahimpourkaldeh

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ischemic stroke and sepsis-associated encephalopathy (SAE) are two distinct conditions that share common pathophysiological mechanisms affecting brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs). Ischemic stroke results from an acute reduction in cerebral blood flow due to thrombosis or embolism, leading to energy failure, oxidative stress, and blood-brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction. SAE, a neurological complication of sepsis, arises from systemic inflammation, endothelial activation, and BBB disruption, leading to cognitive impairment and neuroinflammation. Despite their different etiologies, both conditions involve BMEC dysfunction as a central mediator of neurovascular injury. This dissertation aims to investigate the immunometabolic dysfunction of BMECs in ischemic stroke and sepsis, …

Neurobiological Variables Mediating The Relationship Between Breast Cancer And Sleep Disruption, Brittany Domenique Elliott

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Neurobiological Variables Mediating the Relationship between

Breast Cancer and Sleep Disruption

Brittany D. Elliott, MS

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in women, with more than two million new cases diagnosed world-wide each year. Improvements in screening technology and diagnostics have increased survival rates, but cancer-associated sleep disruptions persist for the majority of breast cancer survivors well beyond the treatment period. In addition to reducing quality of life, reduced sleep quality is associated with greater incidences of affective dysfunction, reduced treatment efficiency, aggressive cancer progression, increased symptom severity, and increased mortality by all causes. Thus, identifying the variables …

Cellular Level Changes Induced In Cancer Cells Due To Microgravity, Sai Deepika Reddy Yaram

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The increase in human activity in space has revealed several kinds of physiological challenges brought on by the absence of Earth's gravitational pull. NASA observed that during spaceflight, astronauts experience a 1-1.5% monthly loss in the mineral density of weight-bearing bones, with rehabilitation efforts on Earth often proving ineffective. This issue extends to muscles, the neuro vestibular system, the cardiovascular system, and vision. Cancer has emerged as a significant cause of mortality among astronauts, with studies up to 2017 showing that 41.3% of natural cause deaths among U.S. astronauts were due to cancer, primarily due to space radiation exposure. Cancer …

4d Epr Oximetry Imaging For 4d Bioprinting And Tissue Engineering, Sajad Sarvari

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Bioprinting, akin to 3D printing, employs cell-laden hydrogels such as GelMA (Gelatine Methacrylate) and Alginate instead of plastic or resin to create biological structures. The printing process followed by subsequent tissue maturation is known as 4D bioprinting, where the fourth dimension is time. Ensuring adequate and consistent oxygen, O2, supply within 3D bioprint volume over the entire maturation period process is crucial, as even transient hypoxia can impact cellular behavior and phenotypes. However, printing of fully developed vasculature remains an unresolved technical challenge. Several approaches to chemically (peroxides) or biologically (photosynthesis) generate oxygen during bioprint maturation have been proposed. However, …

Face Image And Video Analysis In Biometrics And Health Applications, Na Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Computer Vision (CV) enables computers and systems to derive meaningful information from acquired visual inputs, such as images and videos, and make decisions based on the extracted information. Its goal is to acquire, process, analyze, and understand the information by developing a theoretical and algorithmic model. Biometrics are distinctive and measurable human characteristics used to label or describe individuals by combining computer vision with knowledge of human physiology (e.g., face, iris, fingerprint) and behavior (e.g., gait, gaze, voice). Face is one of the most informative biometric traits. Many studies have investigated the human face from the perspectives of various different …

Spiking Neural Network That Maps From Generalized Coordinates To Cartesian Coordinates, Chloe K. Guie

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In this thesis, I look to understand how insects compute task-level quantities by integrating range-fractionated sensory signals to create a sparse-spatial coding of Cartesian positions. I created biologically plausible 2-D and 3-D models of one species of the stick insect (Carausius morosus) leg and encoded the foot position through a spiking neural network. This model used spiking afferents from three angles of an insect leg which are integrated by one non-spiking interneuron. This model contains many dendritic compartments and one somatic compartment that encode the foot’s position relative to the body. The Functional Subnetwork Approach (FSA) was used …

Assessment Of Heat Stress For Outdoor Work Conditions In Saudi Arabia, Jamal Alanazi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Outdoor workers have an increased risk of heat stress in Saudi Arabia since it is one of the hottest places in the Middle East. Recently, the government decided to limit outdoor work hours during the months of June, July, and August every year, and banned working under the direct sunlight from 12:00 to 03:00 p.m., although outdoor workers in the petroleum, natural gas, or emergency maintenance work industries are exempt from this prohibition. Traditionally, the efforts by safety and health professionals to mitigate work-related heat injury has been directed toward the assessment of environmental heat stress (e.g., wet-bulb globe temperature), …

On Body Mass Index Analysis From Human Visual Appearance, Min Jiang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the past few decades, overweight and obesity are spreading widely like an epidemic. Generally, a person is considered overweight by body mass index (BMI). In addition to a body fat measurement, BMI is also a risk factor for many diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers and diabetes, etc. Therefore, BMI is important for personal health monitoring and medical research. Currently, BMI is measured in person with special devices. It is an urgent demand to explore conveniently preventive tools. This work investigates the feasibility of analyzing BMI from human visual appearances, including 2-dimensional (2D)/3-dimensional (3D) body and face data.

Motivated …

Types And Causes Of Physiological Injury In Piano Playing, With Emphasis On Piano Pedagogy In China, Ruixi Niu

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Among musicians who seek medical help for their injuries each year, half are pianists. Improper playing technique is a factor influencing the development of injury. This research project focuses on the types and causes of physiological injury in the process of piano playing and includes methods of avoiding such injuries.

The types of piano-related physiological injury and associated conditions that are discussed include tenosynovitis, focal dystonia, and muscle pain. Relevant literature and investigative data—and some legends—are compared and sorted. Chinese pedagogical views concerning piano technique are discussed, along with ongoing debates concerning injury prevention and the appropriate use of exercises …

Differentiating Human Populations Based On K-Mer Classification Of Hand Bacteria, Thrisha Doppala

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Bacterial communities found in and on the human body are not only used in studying human health conditions but are also effective in differentiating individuals due to their distinct profiles. Human palm regions harbor relatively more diverse bacterial communities and are indicative of population groups, life styles, geographic locations, age groups and health conditions. Sequences extracted from hypervariable region V3 of the 16S rRNA bacterial gene of hand bacterial samples from 9 different population groups were classified into Operational Taxonomic Units (OTU) with GreenGenes reference taxonomy using RDP (Ribosomal Database Project) classifier. Frequencies of identified OTUs were used to study …

The Influence Of Instructional Design Decisions On Student Motivation In Online Courses, Robin E. Youger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The goal of higher education is to educate, train, and motivate people (Hunt, 1998). Typically, best practices and accepted design strategies are used to develop online courses that fulfill the needs of the university, faculty, and student stakeholders. This study examines two methods of instructional design -- the Quality Matters (QM) process, and Keller's ARCS motivational design process -- to understand if instructional design decisions have influence on student motivation in online courses. Quality Matters (QM) offers a well-researched process of designing online courses based on nationally-recognized standards. The QM format provides an ideal objectives-based course design; however, it does …

Phenomenology And Geographic Information Science: Experiencing Landscape Through Geospatial Technologies And Higuchi-Style Indices, L. Jesse Rouse

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Research conducted on cultural landscapes is often divided into two approaches comprising a qualitative description or quantitative measure. The separation is often driven by the difference in the approach and methods utilized. Phenomenology has often been used as the framework with which to consider the experience and quality of a landscape. The descriptive and personal nature of phenomenology seeks to separate the observer from their personal biases to yield a qualitative narrative. Conversely, Geographic Information Science (GIScience) is seen as a set of methods and tools to capture, map, and analyze the quantifiable features of a landscape. However, it is …

Cross-Spectral Full And Partial Face Recognition: Preprocessing, Feature Extraction And Matching, Zhicheng Cao

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cross-spectral face recognition remains a challenge in the area of biometrics. The problem arises from some real-world application scenarios such as surveillance at night time or in harsh environments, where traditional face recognition techniques are not suitable or limited due to usage of imagery obtained in the visible light spectrum. This motivates the study conducted in the dissertation which focuses on matching infrared facial images against visible light images. The study outspreads from aspects of face recognition such as preprocessing to feature extraction and to matching.;We address the problem of cross-spectral face recognition by proposing several new operators and algorithms …

Conceptual Learning: Enhancing Student Understanding Of Physiology, Micah J. Waltz

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Students are leaving undergraduate science programs without the knowledge and skills they are expected to have. This is apparent in professional programs, such as medical and veterinary school, where students do not possess the critical thinking skills necessary to be successful. Physiology is a required discipline for these professional programs and often before, as a pre-requisite. Physiology classrooms are an excellent place to teach critical thinking skills because the content consists of integrated processes. Therefore, in one study, it was investigated whether focusing on physiological concepts improved student understanding of physiology in both a non-physiological science course, Invertebrate Zoology, and …

The Use Of Hand Bacteria As A Human Biometric Identifier, Amanda Holbert

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Molecular and bio-molecular biometrics are an advancing field that involves the analysis of a person's unique biological markers at a molecular level to ascertain identity. Bacteria communities found on the skin of the human hand have shown to be highly diverse and to have a low percentage of similarity between individuals. The goal of this research effort is to see if a person's demographics, primarily ethnicity, share a relationship with the bacteria communities that exist on their hand. A sample collection was carried out in which the left and right inner palms of 250 individuals were swabbed to obtain a …

Microfluidic Gradient Device For Studying The Mesothelial Cells' Migration And Effects Of Carbon Nanotubes Chronic Exposure, Hanyuan Zhang

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cell migration is one of the crucial steps in many human physiological events and diseases, including cancers. Recent studies have shown that carbon nanotubes (CNTs), like asbestos, can induce accelerated cell growth and invasiveness that contribute to their mesothelioma pathogenicity. Malignant mesothelioma is a very aggressive tumor that develops from cells of the mesothelium, and is most commonly caused by exposure to asbestos. CNTs have similar structure and mode of exposure to asbestos. This has raised a particular concern regarding the potential carcinogenicity of CNTs, especially in the pleural spaces, which are key target tissues for asbestos-related diseases.;In this thesis, …

Effects Of Ethanol On Pigeons' Near-Win Responding In A Slot-Machine Analog, Alexander A. Ward

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In slot machine play, near wins are losses that are visually similarity to wins and increase gambling persistence, but provide no reinforcer. To measure effects of ethanol on near-win responding, pigeons pecked for food in a slot-machine analog following ethanol administration. In any given trial, one of four outcomes was signaled by consecutive presentations of red or green key lights, followed by a white "collect key." Three red lights signaled a win and three green lights signaled a loss. Two red lights followed by a green light signaled a near win. On winning trials, food was delivered 5 s after …

Involvement Of Cytochromep4504a In Adenosine A1 Receptor Mediated Regulation Of Vascular Tone, Swati S Kunduri

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. The regulation of vascular tone plays an important role in normal cardiovascular function. Adenosine, an autacoid has several physiological and pathophysiological roles, apart from the regulation of vascular tone. Adenosine receptor (AR) contracts and relaxes blood vessels through all four subtypes (A1, A2A, A2B, and A3) linked to different signaling mechanisms. Deciphering complex tissue responses remains difficult because relationships of individual receptor subtypes and various end-effectors (e.g., ion channels) are yet to be identified. Apart from adenosine, 20-HETE, a cytochrome P4504a (Cyp4a) metabolite of arachidonic acid (AA) …

Identifying Ancestral Origin Using A Novel Panel Of Single Nucleotide Polymorphism Locations, Zachary D. Williams

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A novel panel of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) used in the classification of ancestral origin is proposed. The panel is motivated by recent results in human identification and categorization using soft biometrics. The panel makes use of SNPs related to the height and ear size of an individual. The classifier proposed in this thesis is a standard maximum-likelihood classifier that matches an individual to the ancestral profile closest to the individual. This method produces results with lower error rates than other proposed methods.;This thesis proposes a new distinct panel of 55 single nucleotide polymorphisms for determining ancestral origin. This panel …

Bioscience Laboratory: Online And Face-To-Face Laboratory Experiences In Requisite Biosciences For Nursing At A Community College, Deborah K. Folger

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The purpose of this study was to analyze student perceptions of the online and face-to-face bioscience laboratory experiences in Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology. The study took place at a community college in a rural geographic area and data were collected from associate degree seeking first and second year nursing students via a survey questionnaire and student focus groups in addition to archival enrollment and graduate data. The research study was guided by the following questions: What are nursing student perceptions concerning the impact of Anatomy and Physiology and Microbiology bioscience laboratory experiences on the transfer of knowledge to nursing …

The Intrusiveness Of Sensor-Suit Components On The Postures Associated With Performing Repeated Whole-Body Manual Lifting Tasks, Lauren Amanda Visnansky

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ergonomics can be defined as the responsibility to ensure that the demands of a job do not exceed the capabilities of a worker (Garg, Chaffin, and Herrin, 1978). Evaluating physiological demands on workers, particularly individuals performing highly varied tasks or monitoring their work in the field, can be a complex problem. Using on-person sensors to record kinematic and physiological measurements throughout extended is one proposed method by which to collect data necessary to evaluate the demands placed on the workers. In order to assess the efficacy of the data that would be collected, it is critical to evaluate the intrusive …

Emotional Pain And Acute Nociception, Alison M. Vargovich

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study examined differences and similarities in responses to acute nociception in adults with a significant history of emotional pain relative to matched controls with a significant past positive life experience and a sample of chronic pain patients. Using 28 volunteers who responded to advertisements (n = 14, emotional pain group; n = 14, positive life experience group), and 14 chronic pain patients from a prior study, this investigation utilized measures of pain threshold and tolerance during a laboratory finger pressure pain induction experiment. Each participant experienced two levels of pressure pain (i.e., high and low) and two levels of …

The Influence Of Forgiveness And Apology On Cardiovascular Reactivity To Mental Stress, Matthew C. Whited

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This study sought to investigate the relation between forgiveness and cardiovascular reactivity and recovery in the laboratory as influenced by apology. Men (n = 29) and women (n = 50) were chosen for participation based on scoring in the top or bottom third of the Forgiving Personality Inventory. Participants were exposed to an interpersonal transgression (i.e., harassment by the experimenter) while performing a serial subtraction task. Cardiovascular activity was measured before, during, and following the task. Also following the task, approximately half of the participants received an apology from the experimenter for his/her scripted rude behavior. No reactivity differences during …

Effects Of A Mind-Consciousness-Thought (Mct) Intervention On Stress And Well-Being In Freshman Nursing Students, Judith A. Sedgeman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An emerging "health" paradigm, Mind-Consciousness-Thought (MCT), proposes that three universal Principles, Mind (life energy), Consciousness (the capacity to be aware of thinking as "reality"), and Thought (the ability to create thinking continually), explain how psychological experience is created from the inside-out, not created from the outside-in by events and circumstances. It proposes that life comes through us, not at us. It proposes that insight into the existence and operation of those principles reconnects people to their innate mental well-being, an always accessible source of balance, wisdom, and creativity (i.e., resiliency). It proposes that accessing mental well-being is incompatible with chronic …

Multispectral Iris Recognition Analysis: Techniques And Evaluation, Christopher K. Boyce

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis explores the benefits of using multispectral iris information acquired using a narrow-band multispectral imaging system. Commercial iris recognition systems typically sense the iridal reflection pertaining to the near-infrared (IR) range of the electromagnetic spectrum. While near-infrared imaging does give a very reasonable image of the iris texture, it only exploits a narrow band of spectral information. By incorporating other wavelength ranges (infrared, red, green, blue) in iris recognition systems, the reflectance and absorbance properties of the iris tissue can be exploited to enhance recognition performance. Furthermore, the impact of eye color on iris matching performance can be determined. …

Robust Pre-Processing Techniques For Non-Ideal Iris Images, Purva M. Barve

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The human iris has been demonstrated to be a very accurate, non-invasive and easy-to-use biometric for personal identification. Most of the current state-of-the-art iris recognition systems require the iris acquisition to be ideal. A lot of constraints are hence put on the user and the acquisition process.;Our aim in this research is to relax these conditions and to develop a pre-processing algorithm, which can be used in conjunction with any matching algorithm to handle the so-called non-ideal iris images. In this thesis we present a few robust techniques to process the non-ideal iris images so as to give a segmented …

Generic Multimodal Biometric Fusion, Yash Shah

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Biometric systems utilize physiological or behavioral traits to automatically identify individuals. A unimodal biometric system utilizes only one source of biometric information and suffers from a variety of problems such as noisy data, intra-class variations, restricted degrees of freedom, non-universality, spoof attacks and unacceptable error rates. Multimodal biometrics refers to a system which utilizes multiple biometric information sources and can overcome some of the limitation of unimodal system. Biometric information can be combined at 4 different levels: (i) Raw data level; (ii) Feature level; (iii) Match-score level; and (iv) Decision level. Match score fusion and decision fusion have received significant …

Models And Protocols For Evaluation Of Fingerprint Sensors, Gaurav Gupta

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Generic and repeatable testing protocols that can be applied to any biometric system are essential for the development of standards in biometric system testing. The purpose of this thesis is to summarize the current understanding in the biometrics community of the best scientific practices for conducting technical performance testing for purposes of field performance estimation. The thesis identifies various scenarios affecting the performance of a general fingerprint recognition system and compares the performance of an optical and capacitive sensor in these scenarios using the developed protocols. Modeling of these performance characteristics is done in order to predict the performance of …

Molecular Mechanisms Of G Protein-Receptor Coupling, Hongzheng Ma

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

A variety of extracellular signals are transmitted into the cell interior by interactions with a superfamily of heptahelical cell surface receptors. Heterotrimeric G proteins mediate the signal transduction by coupling these receptors to intracellular effector proteins. The molecular mechanisms in G protein-receptor coupling processes are still not completely understood. In this project, two aspects of G protein-receptor coupling were examined: (1) the G protein-coupling properties of the five human muscarinic acetylcholine receptors (mAChRs); (2) a novel regulatory mechanism by a newly identified G protein signal regulator, Activator of G-protein Signaling 3 (AGS3). To study the regulation of G protein-receptor coupling, …

Relationship Between Maternal Prenatal Vitamin Use And Infant Iron Status, Jennie Pringle Wilkins

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Subjects were fifty-six women and their infants who were between the ages of six months and twenty-four months. They were clients of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women Infants and Children (WIC) clinics. The WIC clinics were in the West Virginia counties of Ritchie, Gilmer, Calhoun, Braxton, Mason, Jackson, Pleasants, and Greenbrier where the anemia rates were greater than 10%.;Information concerning WIC participation, prenatal vitamin use, history of breast feeding, infant birth weight, and pre-term delivery were obtained through questionnaires. Infants' serum ferritin level was obtained through venous blood and analyzed.;This ex post facto study found no significant result in …