Formulation Development Of A Polymer-Drug Matrix With A Controlled Release Profile For The Treatment Of Glaucoma, Eric W. Tsoi

Master's Theses

Glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United States accounting for 9-12% of all cases of blindness. Currently, the front line treatment for glaucoma are prostaglandins that may have to be taken up to several times a day. Even with proper treatment, roughly 11% of the patients using the treatment are non-compliant and lose their vision. In this project, ForSight Laboratories has developed a pharmaceutical drug delivering implant with the capability of sustaining long-term release of a prostaglandin as a new way to treat the condition. This project reports the product development of a polymer drug matrix with …

Conjugated Linoleic Acids Alter Body Composition Differently According To Physiological Age In Moulard Ducks, Jeff Fesler, Daniel Peterson

Master's Theses

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) have been shown to have remarkable yet inconsistent metabolic effects in mice, rats, hamsters, chickens, cattle, and humans. In particular, effects on lipogenesis vary with tissue, physiological state and specie. In this study we tested the hypothesis that CLA would differentially affect ducks of the same genetic background but of differing age. Growing (7 wk) and maintenance (11 wk) Moulard ducks were grouped by age and fed a standard diet supplemented with either 5% soybean oil (control) or 5% CLA isomer mixture. Animals were harvested after 3 weeks or 6 weeks for assessment of body composition …

Building Women’S Solidarity To Advance Women’S Rights In Bolivia, Luzdary Hammad

Master's Theses

This paper takes a historical look at the deep-seated ethnic and class divisions between women in Bolivia. It also examines the cultural challenges that help explain the status of women in Bolivia and the obstacles women face to become politically active. It provides the theories of decolonization and depatriachalization as practical ways Bolivia can move past their colonial and patriarchal history. It also looks into what feminism means overall in Latin America and what strategies Latin American women have used to make change for women. It then provides a political history of Bolivia from 1994 to the present giving the …

A Critical Examination Of Green Economic Development As A Post-Disaster Recovery Approach: The Case Of Greensburg, Kansas 2007-2012, David Edgardo Leiva

Master's Theses

In May 2007, an EF-5 tornado ripped through and annihilated 95% of Greensburg, Kansas, a town of about 1,500 people in the southwestern portion of the state. On the heels of the disastrous Hurricane Katrina federal response and with the promise of two sitting presidents to use all of the federal support available, the town vowed not only to "survive, but thrive." Months later, Greensburg civic, business and elected leaders - with a host of external expertise - unveiled a recovery plan that not only set in motion the rebuilding of the two-square mile town but also offered the opportunity …

Variations Of Vibrio Populations In Pacific White Shrimp, Litopenaeus Vannamei, Aquaculture Raceways, Tracy Rene Berutti

Master's Theses

Reducing incidence of vibrioses in intensive aquaculture systems is essential to maintaining yields. This study performed real-time qPCR (quantitative polymerase chain reaction) using primers targeting 16s rDNA sequences for total bacteria, the Vibrio genus, and Vibrio parahaemolyticus in aquaculture tanks over the growing season. Total DNA concentrations in each sample were measured with a NanoDrop 2000 Spectrophotometer (Thermo Scientific, Inc. USA). These data were compared to two levels of bio-floc solids removal in addition to physical and chemical tank parameters such as temperature, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate. The total bacteria gene copy abundances were higher (p = 0.0081) …

An Examination Of Media Accounts Before And After School Shootings: A Content Analysis Of Newspaper Articles Pertaining To Firearms On Campus, John Ronald Harrington

Master's Theses

Very few topics elicit such polarizing responses as that of the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution. Since our country's infancy, firearms have been an integral part of our society. Over the years firearms have undoubtedly become ingrained in the American culture, but their presence has not been unanimously welcomed. While many Americans stand firmly by their right to bear arms, others adamantly oppose the notion that civilians should be able to possess such firearm s. This study explores the current literature regarding firearms, concealed carry firearms, and the news media's portrayal of concealed carry firearms on school campuses. …

Synthesis And Study Of Stimuli-Responsive Fluorescent Polymeric Thin Films For Early Corrosion Detection By Directly Monitoring Iron Dissolution From Steel Substrates, Kevin William Harman

Master's Theses

The successful measurement and prediction of material lifetimes is of high importance for proper maintenance on metal infrastructures for prevention of asset loss through corrosive processes. Current testing protocols include mismatched accelerated weathering techniques in combination with visual corrosion detection that consume substantial amounts of time and resources and often lead to inaccurate extrapolation to natural conditions. For corrosion science and engineering to evolve further, accurate and early detection methods of efficiently evaluating materials are necessary. Fluorescence spectroscopy is one established non-destructive analytical technique that is highly sensitive and selective to a variety of metal ion species and chemical environments …

Terror As A Social Movement Tactic: Applying The Multi-Institutional Politics Approach To The Case Of The Abu Sayyaf Group, Erika Mae Lorenzana Del Villar

Master's Theses

Solely equating terrorism with criminality discounts the social, political, cultural, and historical motivations that drive people to employ violence as a strategy for collective action. Using the multi-institutional politics approach to social movements (Armstrong and Bernstein 2008), this study explores the choice of the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG) in the Philippines to employ terror and violence as the primary social movement tactic to pursue their Islamic separatist cause. Analysis of archival and open-source data, together with original interviews, reveal that the problem is multi-institutional – developmental, cultural, historical, social and political all at the same time. The choice of violence …

Dense Recordings Reveal Typical And Atypical Development Of Tense Productivity In A Child Previously Diagnosed With Asd, Iris Chin

Master's Theses

Research on tense development has found that typically developing (TD) children are productive with tense morphology starting between two to two-and-a-half years old. Research findings on children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), however, have been mixed. To better understand how tense development may differ between TD children and children with ASD, we examined the speech of two children, one TD [Cleo] and one that previously presented symptoms of ASD [Audrey]. This study is novel in its use of the Speechome Recorder, which collects dense audio-video recordings of children’s speech in home environments. We found that both children were productive with …

Coalescence Kinetics Of Lipid Based Bicelles, Andrew Hu

Master's Theses

Uniform nanodisc structures can be self assembled from mixtures of different phospholipids. This study focuses on the theoretical and experimental growth kinetics of phospholipid based nanodiscs. Motivation for this project comes from the nanodisc’s small size and their potential use as a carrier for drug delivery. It was observed that at high total lipid concentration the nanodiscs are stable at approximately 10 nm in radius and can remain stable for a long period of time. However, growth of these nanodiscs are observed at relatively low total lipid concentration. The observed growth mechanism is not well understood. In this thesis dynamic …

Effects Of Racism And Discrimination On Personality Development Among African American Male Repeat Offenders, Tiffany Nicole Lockett

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Effects of Racism and Discrimination on Personality Development among

African American Male Repeat Offenders

Tiffany Nicole Lockett

Throughout history in the United States, the African American community has consistently been the victim of social policies put in place to disenfranchise this population (Mauer & Chesney-Lind, 2002; Painter, 2007; Parham, White & Ajamu, 1999). With a longstanding presence of systemic racism and discrimination, the criminal justice system and the dominant culture continues to pathologize this minority group and advocate for increased penalties which further stigmatize African Americans, particularly males in this group (Reiman, 1996; Russell, 1998). Though most criminology research …

Analysis And Comparison Of Parallel Plate Flow Chambers To Determine Consistency Of Fluid Forces On Cells, Sampat S. Nidadavolu

Master's Theses

Biological cells are constantly exposed to fluid forces inside the body. These fluid forces aid in certain physical and chemical reactions that cells need to maintain physiological function. To observe these forces in vitro, parallel plate flow chambers (PPFC) are used, where cells are placed inside the chamber and a fluid medium runs through the device exposing the cells to fluid forces to initiate a response. This has aided in proving that fluid forces influence cell function and are factors in various disease and physiological processes, such as the development of atherosclerotic plaque in blood vessels or bone growth. Many …

Carbonate Production Selectivity In A Room Temperature Carbonate Fuel Cell Using Pt/C, Co(Ii)Pc, And Synthesized Tobermorite As Orr Catalysts, Gregory L. Crettol

Master's Theses

Room temperature anion exchange membrane fuel cells perform better when transporting carbonate vice hydroxide ions. Carbonate anions provide long-term membrane stability and improved oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) kinetics at the cathode and hydrogen oxidation kinetics at the anode, while also showing membrane conductivity comparable to hydroxide exchange membranes. Researchers have investigated potential non-platinum catalysts that have physical and electrochemical properties that favor the adsorption of CO₂ over H₂O, thereby, promoting the direct electrochemical formation of carbonate, which prevents membrane degradation caused by OH^- attack. This thesis introduces an in situ pulsed Galvanostatic technique that parallels analytical …

Hcmv Promotes Breast Cancer Metastasis: Impacts Of Cmvil-10 In The Tumor Microenvironment, Robin Bishop

Master's Theses

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a highly species-specific, common human pathogen. While a large majority of people are infected with HCMV worldwide, infection is typically asymptomatic in immune competent individuals. To enhance virus persistence and avoid immune detection by the host, HCMV exploits the strategy of encoding homologs of cellular cytokines. One factor produced by HCMV-infected cells is the viral cytokine cmvIL-10, which acts through the cellular IL-10 receptor to induce downstream cell signaling. In instances where HCMV-infected cells infiltrate the tumor microenvironment, the presence of cmvIL-10 in may initiate events that promote a more invasive tumor phenotype. Cancer cells that …

Effects Of Perceived Individualism-Collectivism And Self-Consciousness On The Self-Disclosure In Social Networking Sites, Hongliang Chen

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

From Servitude To Freedom: Gender, Labor, And Domestic Relations, Elizabeth Michelle Talbot

Master's Theses

In the sugar parishes of Louisiana, enslaved people endured high mortality rates and declining populations at the height of the harsh slave regime in the mid-twentieth century. This resulted from regional disease, brutal working conditions, and a skewed sex ratio where enslaved men consistently outnumbered enslaved women. Following emancipation, freedwomen attempted to rebuild their families and community amid the tumultuous environment that defined the sugar parishes. This thesis utilizes Freedmen's Bureau records, American Missionary Association correspondence, census data, and local newspapers to argue that freedwomen sought to gain control over their labor, bodies, relationships, and children in the postbellum era …

The Limitations Of Democratic Peace, Anthony Glenn Jordan

Master's Theses

The theory of Democratic Peace suggests that democracies are unlikely to wage war on one another, yet it spends little time actually defining what democracies are. Research on the theory of Democratic Peace suggests that the theory only applies to mature democracies, but how is maturity determined? The criteria used by multiple scholars is needed to defend the theory from particular challenges such as the Cenepa Valley War, but even with such defenses, the criteria omits how a state treats women and racial minorities. These omissions become clear when one examines how scholars treat the United States of America. This …

Characterizing The Persistence Of Sewage Enterococci In Mississippi Coastal Waters, Kimberly Anne-Marie Lewis

Master's Theses

Enterococci are microbiological indicators of marine recreation water quality.
Their reliability as fecal indicators is questioned as they are shown to persist in the environment. Multiple laboratory studies on their persistence have been done but few under natural environmental conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate how long sewage enterococci and enterococcal DNA persist in beach water and to determine whether there is a difference in the genetic diversity and hardiness of sewage vs. environmental isolates. To study persistence, sewage was diluted with beach water, placed in microcosms, and deployed at a beach site in Longbeach and Pass …

Adolescent Narcissism And Prosocial Behavior As A Function Of Peer, Parent, And Self-Perception, Rebecca Lynn Kauten

Master's Theses

The association between narcissism and aggression has been empirically supported in adults and adolescents, but it is unclear whether narcissism might also be related to prosocial behavior. The current study aimed to investigate different facets of narcissism in adolescents and their association with self-, parent-, and peer-reported prosocial behavior. In a sample of 175 at-risk adolescents ages 16-18 (151 males, 24 females), it was expected that reports of the individual's engagement in prosocial behavior would vary as a function of the informant and the specific facet of narcissism (i.e., adaptive or pathological). However, no main effects or interactions emerged with …

The Effect Of Social Networking On Grief, Heather Margaret Gianatassio

Master's Theses

Death and loss are complicated issues. They are further complicated by the Internet and the increased usage of social media; however, there is little research on the effects of social media on grief. This project's goal was to gather information about grieving via online social networking sites. Data was collected from 20 in memoriam profile webpages on Facebook and MySpace. The deceased were between the ages of six months and 32 years. Results indicate that society is using social media as a form of support and comfort in times of loss.

An Insight Into The Microbial Diversity And Expression Of Cysteine Protease Inhibitors (Cystatin) In Rickettsia Parkeri Infected Amblyomma Maculatum, Khemraj Budachetri

Master's Theses

Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast tick) is an emerging tick species of public health significance in United States. It is a competent vector of Rickettsia parkeri, an etiological agent of a human rickettsiosis. In this study, we investigated the spotted fever group of rickettsial diversity in A. maculatum based on rickettsial ompA gene PCR. Our results showed A. maculatum harbors R. parkeri, R. amblyommii, and R. endosymbiont of A. maculatum. While only R. parkeri was detected in female salivary glands which suggest its ability to traffic from midgut to salivary glands via hemocoel. The presence of R. parkeri was further …

Religious Fundamentalism And Death Penalty Attitudes: Towards A New Operationalization Of The Constructs, William H. Whited

Master's Theses

The death penalty has remained a highly debated topic in the United States. Due to the link between public support for the death penalty and its utilization as a sanction, it is important to continue investigating the factors related to differences in death penalty support. Religion has a complicated relationship with death penalty attitudes in that certain religiosity factors are associated with support for the sanction while others are linked with opposition. Religious fundamentalism, for instance, is one variable that has been inconsistently associated with death penalty support in the literature. This discrepancy could be due to the poor measurement …

The Effects Of A Model Androgen 5a-Dihydrotestosterone On Mummichog (Fundulus Heteroclitus) Reproduction Under Different Salinities, Chelsea O'Connor Blatchley

Master's Theses

Abstract

Endocrine disrupting substances (EDSs) have the potential to disrupt sensitive hormone pathways, including those involved in development and reproduction. Both fresh and estuarine water bodies receive inputs of EDSs from a variety of sources, including sewage effluent, industrial effluent, and agricultural runoff. Based on limited available literature, freshwater species appear to respond to lower levels of EDSs than estuarine or marine species. To address this potential difference, a short-term reproductive bioassay was carried out under low and high salinity conditions using mummichog (Fundulus heteroclitus), a euryhaline species that is native to the east coast of North America. …

Classification And Volumetric Analysis Of Temporal Bone Pneumatization Using Cone Beam Computed Tomography, Aniket B. Jadhav

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Alteration Of Biological Properties Of Bacterial Lipids By Calcium Hydroxide Treatment, Sharefa Al-Asfour

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Constructing And Optimizing A Single Wafer Solar Cell Array In The Microfabrication Lab At California Polytechnic State University At San Luis Obispo, Rod Marstell

Master's Theses

CONSTRUCTING AND OPTIMIZING A SINGLE WAFER SOLAR CELL ARRAY IN THE MICROFABRICATION LAB AT CALIFORNIA POLYTECHNIC STATE UNIVERSITY AT SAN LUIS OBISPO

Solar cells are more and more becoming a significant source of energy in the world today. They are used to power entire buildings as well as small devices and everything in between, and are utilized all around the world. Smaller solar devices, such as hearing aid battery chargers, cost a lot of money relative to the monetary wealth in third-world countries. For this purpose, a less expensive, more efficient solar cell array should be developed.

This study contains …

Metamaterial Enhanced Wireless Power Transmission System, Travis Jade Heffernan

Master's Theses

Nikolai Tesla's revolutionary experiments demonstrated the possible benefits of transmitting power wirelessly as early as 1891. Applications for the military, consumers, emergency personnel, remote sensors, and others use Tesla’s discovery of wireless power. Wireless power transmission (WPT) has the potential to be a common source of consumable energy, but it will only receive serious consideration if the transmit and receive systems are extremely efficient and capable of delivering usable amounts of power. Research has been conducted to improve the efficiency and performance of nearly every aspect of WPT systems, but the relatively new field of metamaterials (MTMs) has yet to …

Evaluation Of Post-Residency Treatment Protocol Changes: A Web-Based Survey, John B. Gilbreth

Master's Theses

Clinical decision making in dentistry is multifactorial. Few studies have evaluated the influence of residency training on clinical treatment practices in dentistry. This study sought to explore the impact of resident training on post-graduate clinical protocol and the practitioner's rationale when making these decisions. Following IRB approval, a survey of 87 graduates from the Division of Endodontology at the University of Connecticut Health Center from 1978 to 2012 was administered. The method of temporization following nonsurgical endodontic therapy, dilution of sodium hypochlorite, instrumentation, treatment planning and endodontic sealer choice were evaluated and compared to the respondent’s residency training. The results …

Chronic Kidney Disease As A Modifier Of The Periodontitis-Associated Microbiome And The Response To Periodontal Therapy, Michel Araujo

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Women And Their "Food Time" An Investigation Into Food Purchases, Preparation, And Consumption Atmosphere Using Smartphone Survey Technology, Garland Jaeger

Master's Theses

Women’s food purchasing and eating habits have been studied in detail, but are still not entirely understood. Prior research has sought to segment the female food shopper market, but typically use only demographic characteristics. In this study, fifty females were recruited in San Luis Obispo, CA from March 2012 to May 2012 to keep an electronic food-time diary for one week. By collecting information through surveys distributed using a smartphone application, SurveySwipe, the study investigated the amount of time expended for each meal, as well as the manner in which the meal was prepared or purchased, and the context surrounding …