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Effects Of Optic Nerve Head Astrocyte-Derived Exosomes On Neuronal Survival And Differentiation In Vitro In A Model For Exfoliation Glaucoma, Harsh Nilesh Hariani

Master's Theses

Exfoliation glaucoma (XFG) is characterized by deposition of exfoliation material at the trabecular meshwork thereby blocking aqueous outflow and consequently increasing intraocular pressure (IOP). Elevated IOP initiates glaucomatous biomechanical damage at the optic nerve head (ONH) eventually resulting in retinal neuronal death and vision loss. The major cell type at ONH are ONH astrocytes (ONHA). A chronic downregulation of LOXL1 expression has been reported in ONH of XFG patients. We hypothesized that wild-type and LOXL1 knock-down ONHA derived exosomes have differential effects on neurons in vitro.We here report that ONHAs release exosomes, which can be taken up by astrocytes and …

Dna Methylation Patterns Of Repetitive Elements On Hc21, Navy Neang

Master's Theses

Cancer is one of the most prominent diseases resulting in death, thus the need for early detection remains essential to its treatments. It is usually associated with DNA methylation changes during tumorigenesis. While many studies focus on euchromatin, some studies have looked at the methylation changes in heterochromatin, since the methylation changes of repetitive elements is common and they contribute to karyotypic instability leading to enhanced chances for more mutations in tumor progression. Using bisulfite PCR and HC21 as a model, this study examines the DNA methylation changes of three repetitive elements in prostate cancer, NBL2, satellite I subfamilies, and …

A Chronic Route?: Examining The Path Between Community Violence Exposure, Posttraumatic Stress & Juvenile Delinquency In Low-Income, Urban, African-American Youth, Kaleigh Valencia Wilkins

Master's Theses

Background: Exposure to community violence (ECV; direct victimization and witnessing) can predict negative outcomes for youth such as posttraumatic stress (PTSS) and juvenile delinquent behavior (JDB). Psychosocial reactions to violence can be different based on gender. Predictors of ECV in youth is less understood. This study aims to explore potential chronic pathways between initial ECV and continued ECV for early adolescents. The relationship between ECV as a predictor and ECV as an outcome is hypothesized to be mediated by both PTSS and JDB and moderated by gender. Method: A total of 266 African-American, sixth grade students in high crime, high …

Beyond Family: Patterns Of Kin And Fictive Kin Caregivers Among Children And Youth In The Child Welfare System, Jennifer Osborne

Master's Theses

Children and youth in the child welfare system experience significant benefits from placement with custodial kin caregivers in psychological, social, relational, and educational domains (Winokur, Holtan, & Batchelder, 2018; Vasileva & Petermann, 2018). Additionally, the extant literature suggests that non-custodial kin and non-custodial fictive kin, or individuals unrelated by blood or marriage though afforded the same unofficial status as family (Taylor, Chatters, Woodward, & Brown, 2013), also contribute positive outcomes (Smetana, Campione-Barr, & Metzger, 2006). However, little research has examined the ways in which custodial kin, non-custodial kin, and non-custodial fictive kin work together to provide social support to children …

Behavioral Ecology And Physiological Health Of Managed Populations Of Juvenile Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea Blandingii) In Urban Wetlands, Armand Andre' Cann

Master's Theses

Substantial threats to reptile species biodiversity have become apparent in the last few decades. This is partly caused by significant losses in grasslands and their associate prairie-wetland ecosystems. One Midwestern prairie-wetland species, Blanding's Turtles (Emydoidea blandingii), are at risk of extirpation due to habitat loss, fragmentation, and increased predator populations. Consequently, significant head-starting efforts, a form of reintroduction conservation using captive-reared and then released turtles, have been conducted to recover populations of E. blandingii in northeastern Illinois. However, the success of these programs both locally and range-wide have not been fully quantified. Unfortunately, many approaches to guaging success involve long-term …

Investigating The Nightime Departures Of Glaucous-Winged Gulls (Larus Glaucescens) And The Role Of Social Facilitation, Devon Leigh Mcclain

Master's Theses

Daytime behaviors and occupancy patterns of Glaucous-winged Gulls (Larus glaucescens) have been described and can be mathematically predicted based on environmental factors. However, little is known about the nighttime behaviors of Glaucous-winged Gulls. I used trail cameras to study the daytime and nighttime colony occupancy patterns of Glaucous-winged Gulls on a breeding colony on Protection Island, Washington, USA. Early in the breeding season gulls desert the colony en masse during nighttime even after some gulls have initiated clutches. Using acoustic recording units to identify an acoustic cue that signals the onset of the coordinated nightly departures from the colony, I …

A Study Of Inactive Enzyme-Homologues: The Biochemical And Biological Function Of Ecm14 In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Robert Christian Mcdonald

Master's Theses

Like most major enzyme families, the M14 family of metallocarboxypeptidases (MCPs) contains several pseudoenzymes predicted to lack enzyme activity and with unknown molecular function. The genome of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encodes only one member of the M14 MCP family, a pseudoenzyme named Ecm14 proposed to function in the extracellular matrix. Ecm14 is found throughout ascomycete fungi, with a group of related pseudoenzymes found in basidiomycetes. Although the prodomain of Ecm14 can be cleaved in vivo and in vitro by endopeptidases, suggesting an activation mechanism, no activity has been detected using standard carboxypeptidase substrates.

In order to examine the function …

Human Path Prediction Using Auto Encoder Lstms And Single Temporal Encoders, Hayden Hudgins

Master's Theses

Due to automation, the world is changing at a rapid pace. Autonomous agents have become more common over the last several years and, as a result, have created a need for improved software to back them up. The most important aspect of this greater software is path prediction, as robots need to be able to decide where to move in the future. In order to accomplish this, a robot must know how to avoid humans, putting frame prediction at the core of many modern day solutions. A popular way to solve this complex problem of frame prediction is Auto Encoder …

Electrical Characterization Of Blood Clots, William Mcgrath

Master's Theses

This work reports the use of dielectric spectroscopy to study blood and blood clots. A test setup was developed and electrode behavior was characterized with water and salt solutions. By measuring changes in electrical permittivity, trends differentiating clotting and non-clotting blood were identified. Non-clotting blood exhibited an increase in normalized permittivity at high frequencies that is credited to the sedimentation of red blood cells (RBCs) in static blood samples. Clotting blood was found to show a decrease in permittivity after some time at high frequencies. This is associated with the aggregation of red blood cells. Platelet rich plasma (PRP) and …

Expression And Purification Of Snake Antivenom Peptide In Pichia Pastoris, Israel Juarez Contreras

Master's Theses

It has been shown that a peptide of the first 10-15 N-terminal amino acids of the lethal toxin neutralizing factor (LTNF) protein found in opossums (Didelphis spp.) holds promise as a low-cost therapy for snake envenomation. To date, the 11-mer has been expressed in E. coli and shown to neutralize snake venoms. However, possible endotoxin concerns warrant an investigation into other microbial hosts. The methylotrophic yeast, Pichia pastoris, shows promise as an alternative host. Active LTNF peptide was expressed and purified in P. pastoris. This was accomplished by subcloning a tandem repeat of the first 15 N-terminal amino acids of …

The Deformability Of Red Blood Cells In Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (Me/Cfs), Brendan Robert Schmidt

Master's Theses

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disease that causes profound fatigue in its sufferers as well as loss of concentration, headaches, and sleep abnormalities. Unfortunately, the disease is poorly diagnosed, and etiology is not known. Although the ME/CFS patients do not show anemic readings, and their arterial partial pressure is normal, it is possible that their extreme post-exertional malaise stems from poor microvascular perfusion and oxygenation. Previous studies have indicated that the red blood cells (RBCs) in ME/CFS patients show evidence of oxidative damage. We hypothesized that the RBC deformability metrics can serve as a reliable biomarker of ME/CFS …

Summer Habitat Used By American Kestrels In Santa Clara County, California, Nicole Tomes

Master's Theses

Urbanization can be a primary source of the loss of native species populations by causing habitat loss, fragmentation and land conversion (Tilman et al., 2001; Krauss et al., 2010; Marzluff, 2001). Birds of prey, which are mid or top carnivores, are especially at risk from the loss of habitat that can occur on both the breeding and wintering grounds. Raptors can be considered environmental indicators of habitat degradation because of their small populations, low population densities, and high position in local food webs. This research investigated the habitat preference of the American Kestrel (Falco sparverius) (kestrel), a widely distributed raptor, …

Relationship Between Habitat Variables And Leopard Shark (Triakis Semifasciata) Population Trends In The South San Francisco Estuary, Patrice Frazier

Master's Theses

The San Francisco Estuary (the Estuary) supports a diversity of native marine species, including the leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata). As the human population has increased in the Bay Area, elasmobranchs have simultaneously been subjected to habitat loss and changes in hydrology. On a large scale, global climate change is also affecting the Estuary's water quality. There is little research on the long-term population size of leopard sharks in the Estuary. Leopard shark catch data collected by the Marine Science Institute (MSI) and water quality data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS) from 1998 to 2017 were analyzed to assess …

Non-Invasive Hyperglycemia Detection Using Ecg And Deep Learning, Renato Silveira Cordeiro

Master's Theses

Hyperglycemia is characterized by an elevated level of glucose in the blood. It is normally asymptomatic, except for an extremely high level, and thus a person can live in that state for years before the negative - sometimes irreversible - health impacts appear. Unexpected hyperglycemia can also be an indication of diabetes, a chronic disease that, when not treated, can lead to serious consequences, including limb amputations and even death. Therefore, identifying hyperglycemic state is important. The most common and direct way to measure a person’s glucose level is by directly assessing it from a blood sample by pricking a …

High-Throughput Screening Of A Metagenomic Library Using A Novel E. Coli Chip For Discovery Of Antibiotic Resistance Genes, Richard Paul Manarin Tiongco

Master's Theses

The growing prevalence of antibiotic resistance is one of the greatest challenges facing humankind today. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have estimated that about 2 million people in the US each year develop an infection caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and about 23,000 people die. To combat this growing crisis, efforts geared toward the discovery of novel compounds, such as antimicrobial peptides (AMPs), have spurred. However, current approaches for identification of such compounds have proven to be costly, time-consuming and ineffective. This problem underscores the need for a new approach, one that is fundamentally different from traditional methods …

Habitat Selection Of The Spotfin Killifish In Coastal Connecticut, Megan L. Upp

Master's Theses

The Spotfin Killifish (Fundulus luciae) is a salt marsh inhabitant, occupying a habitat subject to change from 1) historic changes from mosquito ditching practices to 2) more contemporary anthropogenic changes from sea level rise and coastal development. Though thought to be a habitat specialist along the Atlantic coast, Spotfin Killifish resource selection has yet to be quantified. Spotfin Killifish presence or absence data was recorded with measured habitat characteristics at sites along a 14 km stretch of coastal Connecticut. Three hypotheses were proposed to create probabilistic models that could predict Spotfin Killifish presence or absence using logistic regression: …

Allies In Training: The Construction & Management Of Cis Allyship At State University, Davida J. Schiffer

Master's Theses

Many universities provide LGBT Ally Training Programs, but who are the allies who attend them? My research examines how participants conceptualize cis allyship and how they enact it in their professional and personal lives. In describing the gendered and racialized role of cis allyship, I situate my analysis in theories of doing gender & performativity (West & Zimmerman 1987; Johnson 2013) and the scholarship around white allies in academic diversity narratives (Bonilla-Silva 2006; Collins & Bilge 2016). Focusing on an Ally Training program at State University, I conducted an ethnography of 4 Ally Trainings and performed 21 interviews with 12 …

Atrial Fibrillation Detection From Smartwatch Based Photoplethysmography Signals, Syed Khairul Bashar

Master's Theses

Detection of atrial fibrillation (AF) from a wrist watch photoplethysmography (PPG) signal is important because the wrist watch form factor enables long term continuous monitoring of arrhythmia in an easy and non-invasive manner. We have developed a novel method not only to detect AF from a smart wrist watch PPG signal, but also to determine whether the recorded PPG signal is corrupted by motion artifacts or not. In order to detect the motion and noise artifacts from PPG signal, we have used both the accelerometer signal and variable frequency complex demodulation based time-frequency analysis of the PPG signal. After the …

Investigating The Relationship Between Hormone Receptors Dax-1 And Estrogen Receptor Within Prostate Cancer Cell Lines, Meghana G. Vijayraghavan

Master's Theses

Prostate cancer (PCa) is estimated to be the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among men in the United States in 2019. While most prostate tumors rely on androgens for growth signaling, there are subsets of tumors that become androgen-resistant, therefore resisting conventional androgen-depravation therapy. Consequently, research has focused on targeting different hormone receptors for novel therapeutics. One such receptor is Dosage-sensitive sex reversal, adrenal hypoplasia critical region, on chromosome X, gene 1 (DAX-1). DAX-1 is known to interact with other hormone receptors, such as androgen receptor (AR) and estrogen receptors (ERs) to suppress the proliferative effects …

Characterization And Membrane Stability Study For The Switchable Polarity Solvent N,N-Dimethylcyclohexylamine As A Draw Solute In Forward Osmosis, Kevin K. Reimund

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Intramuscular Injection Of Plant Derived Antimicrobials: A Potenial Use Against M.Bovis In Cattle, Elizabeth Johnson

Master's Theses

Plant derived antimicrobials (PDAs) such as trans-cinnamaldehyde, eugenol and carvacrol, possess strong antibacterial properties yet are generally regarded as safe. In the current crisis of antibiotic resistance, the use of PDAs as alternatives to prevent and control bacterial infections in livestock has gained momentum. The inhibitory effects of PDAs on common bacteria such as C.difficile, Listeria, Salmonella have been widely studied. PDAs have also been found effective in wall-less bacteria such as Mycoplasma, for which common antibiotics are not effective and vaccines are not always effective. In animal husbandry, PDAs can be potentially added in feed to metaphalactively prevent …

Best Practices For Renovating Golf Course Fairways To More Sustainable Bentgrasses In The Northeastern United States, Zoe Esponda

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Fracture Analysis Of The Lower Oceanic Crust, Atlantis Bank, Southwest Indian Ridge, Trent Jackson

Master's Theses

Atlantis Bank (AB) is an oceanic core complex (OCC), formed at the slow-spreading (spreading rate/yr) Southwest Indian Ridge (SWIR)-Atlantis II transform junction. AB is a domal massif composed of lower crustal and upper mantle rocks exhumed along a normal-sense detachment shear zone/fault. OCCs are of high interest since oceanic crust comprises the majority of Earth’s crust and OCCs form up to 15% of the crust that is formed at slow-spreading ridges. Brittle deformation, such as faults and fractures provide pathways for fluids to interact with the crust, which increases heat and mass exchange between the crust and hydrosphere, and is …

Processing Speed For Action And Semantic Memory, Tyler A. Surber

Master's Theses

Previous research suggests that the processing of affordances may require more perceptually relevant information than words can provide (Surber et al., 2018; Chainay & Humphreys, 2002). The present study investigates this hypothesis with the shoebox task used in Bowers and Turner (2003). A list of 81 object nouns (targets) and associated features (primes: affordance, semantic, and non-associates) was compiled from the McRae, Cree, Seidenberg, and McNorgan (2005) norms. Affordances denote possibilities for action in relation to the object (e.g. chair – sit), whereas semantic features indicate definitional characteristics (e.g. chair – has legs). Affordances and semantic features served as primes …

Machine Learning Applications To Predict Road Crash And Soccer Game Outcomes, Lu Bai

Master's Theses

Machine learning has become a cutting-edge and widely studied data science field of study in recent years across many industries and disciplines. In this thesis, two problems (1- crash severity prediction, 2- soccer game outcome prediction.) were investigated by using a set of machine learning approaches, namely: Ridge regression, Lasso Regression, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Neural Network (NN), Random Forest (RF).

The first study is focused on investigating the critical factors affecting crash severity on a comprehensive time-series state-wide traffic crash data. The dataset covers crashes occurred in the state of Connecticut between 1995 and 2014. Traffic crashes are an …

Preparing Future Dance Educators For Diverse Student Populations, Kaylee Anne Morrison

Master's Theses

The purposes of this study were to create a curriculum map for a potential Bachelor of Arts in Dance Education for a four-year university, promote quality dance education, and find ways to advocate for dance programs in rural communities. To determine the data, the researcher created an electronic survey, met with participants in person, and recorded interviews to collect the evidence. Thirty-six electronic survey participants were current and former dance educators. The participants for the interviews were ten current and former K-12 administrators, seven university faculty, and six general education teachers/curriculum specialist from diverse K-12 campuses. The researcher designed the …

Alternative Conceptions, Initial Knowledge, And Self-Efficacy Of The Novice And Expert Geologist Regarding Mineral Identification, Amanda Manzanares

Master's Theses

Research shows the novice geologist begins an introductory geology course with alternative conceptions about minerals and other geoscience concepts. Students use their prior understanding of these concepts as the basis for future learning. If students’ frameworks include alternative conceptions about foundational geoscience concepts, these could hinder their ability to learn more factual and complicated ideas and facts in the future. It takes time to change these alternative conceptions. For this reason, instructors need to understand their students’ prior understandings of geoscience concepts at the beginning of the courses to move students to a better understanding of the material. Moreover, the …

Using Self-Compassionate Focused Writing Prompts By Middle School Students In The Dance Classroom: Shaping How Students Respond To Their Art And View Themselves As Artists, Kathleen Stein

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of using self-compassionate focused journal writing as a way to induce a more self-compassionate and less self-critical view in students of themselves and their art. This study examinedthe connection between the use of self-compassionate focused journal writing prompts and an increase in the levels of self-compassion that a student feltfor him or herself. The purpose of this study was to provide students with the self-compassion tools, strategies, and skills necessary to deal with perceived setbacks in their choreographic process and performance. This quantitative and qualitative study was designed to answer …

Sagebrush Seeds Of Success: A Genetic Analysis Of Bureau Of Land Management Seeds Of Success Seeds And Of Eriogonum Umbellatum, Emily Katherine Schumacher

Master's Theses

Due to the increasing frequency of anthropogenic disturbances, greater effort needs to be put into identifying appropriate seed material for large scale restoration projects. The Bureau of Land Management created the Seeds of Success (SOS) project to increase stocks of native seeds for restoration projects following worsening disturbances. However, there is little known about the genetic composition of these seeds, so it is unclear if these seed accessions will be able to establish healthy and persistent native plant communities. This thesis identified that in 20 accessions of SOS seeds, inbreeding was low to moderate in 17 accessions, allelic richness was …

Chromium Mediated Oxidative Transposition Of Secondary Benzylic Alcohols, Samara Weber

Master's Theses

Carbonyl transposition serves as an important reaction in organic synthesis. Carbonyl transposition results in transposition of the functional groups without loss of the carbonyl moiety. Chromium oxidations of tertiary unsaturated carbinols have been studied since the 1970’s for their ability to cause carbonyl transposition. It is only recently that carbonyl transposition of secondary unsaturated benzylic alcohols has been reported with the use of chromium. Different oxidation reactions were examined for the potential carbonyl transposition products. Oxidation of unsaturated benzylic alcohols were maintained at varying temperature with pyridinium chlorochromate to monitor for the formation of product. As the temperature increased an …