Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Solutes In The Cryopreservation Of Adherent Neuroblastoma (Neuro-2a) Cells, Trisha L. Bailey

Masters Theses

A simple method to cryopreserve adherent monolayers of neuronal cells is currently not available, but the development of this technique could facilitate numerous applications in the field of biomedical engineering, cell line development, and drug screening. However, complex tissues of some exceptional animals survive freezing in nature. These animals are known to accumulate several small molecular weight solutes prior to freezing. Following a similar strategy, we investigated the effects of osmolytes such as trehalose, proline, and sucrose as additives to the traditional cryoprotectant dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO) in modulating the cryopreservation outcome of mouse neuroblastoma (Neuro-2a) cells. Neuro-2a cells adhered to …

The Retrospective Diagnosis Of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder In Adolescents: Family Physicians' Challenges, Adam M. Pechmann

Masters Theses

The primary purpose of the study was to identify current retrospective practices used by family physicians in the diagnosis of Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in adolescents and young adults. In other words, do physicians adhere to best practices and examine information from childhood in order to diagnose ADHD in adolescents and young adults? In addition, this study aimed to examine the information physicians request for ADHD diagnosis, types of treatments they recommend, the type of information they use to assess treatment outcomes, and professional attitudes regarding the nature of ADHD. Participants completed a questionnaire designed to answer the research questions. Participants …

Online Diagnosis Of Diabetes With Twitter Data, Farheen Ali

Masters Theses

"Innovation in technology enables people to communicate, share information and look for their needs by just sitting in rooms and going through some clicks. While social media has played a very important role in connecting people worldwide, its potential has stretched beyond the innovative idea of connecting people through their social networks. While many thought there was no meeting point for the healthcare sector and social media, it was a surprise when research and innovations have shown that social media could lay a very significant role in the health care sector.

Research has been done in developing models that could …

Palynological Interpretations Of Deep Sea Drilling Projects Cores In The Gulf Of Mexico And Bahamian Platform, Adam Patrick Barron

Masters Theses

"One hundred drill core samples were from Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) Sites 94, 98, and 540 were investigated for their palynological contents (pollen, spores, acritarchs, dinoflagellate cysts, and dispersed organic matter) to infer the paleoenvironmental and paleoceanographic history of the Gulf of Mexico and the Bahamian Platform during the middle Eocene to middle Miocene interval. At Sites 94 and 540, abundant dinoflagellate cysts (chiefly Operculodinium centrocarpum, Lingulodinium machaerophorum, Impagidinium sp., Nematosphaeropsis sp., and Spiniferites spp.) were used as paleoenvironmental indicators. Two alternating palynofacies assemblages were identified from dispersed organic matter analysis: terrestrially influenced assemblage A and marine dominated assemblage …

Comprehensive Benefits Of Green Roofs, Madison R. Gibler

Masters Theses

"Green infrastructure uses vegetation, soils, and natural processes to manage water and create healthier urban environments, providing traditional roof services and alternative stormwater management technologies. Other benefits and impacts are not yet fully understood or valued. Research conducted assesses specific stormwater benefits of green roofs, providing information on nutrient leaching from media; and analyzes potential energy benefits through side-by-side comparisons of full-scale white, traditional black rubber, and green roofs in the mid-continent Missouri climate. Roofing media selection impacted leaching of nutrients, suspended solids, and organic carbon from the tested green roof media. Thermal properties were investigated at the building level, …

Emission And Energy Analysis Of Self-Sufficient Biomass Power Plant To Achieve Near Net Zero Co₂ Emission, Baburaj Kanagarajan

Masters Theses

"The use of biomass to fuel power plants is considered by many to be a carbon neutral solution to carbon dioxide emissions. One objection to this method of power generation is the gasoline or diesel spent in the transportation and feedstock production, which is a major contributor to carbon emission. In addition, costs associated with the transportation of the biomass fuels are also a major limiting. This work investigates the use of a hybrid farming facility as a means of distributed generation combined. A model that incorporates a small scale biomass power facility located within a farming facility is examined. …

Experimental And Computational Evaluation Of Water Management And Performance Of A Bio-Inspired Pem Fuel Cell In Comparison To A Conventional Flow Field, Venkatanaga Bhaskar Prakash Saripella

Masters Theses

"Fuel cells are being increasingly used in various stationary and transportation power applications due to their higher energy efficiency and lower pollution. Flow field design in Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells is a major area of research for performance improvement. Bio-inspired flow field designs have significant potential for increased performance by effective distribution of reactants with better water management capabilities. In this study, a bio-inspired flow field design, formulated using Murray's law and mimicking a typical leaf venation pattern, is experimentally and computationally investigated in comparison to a conventional single serpentine design. Experiments are conducted using a special transparent …

Fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory: Applications And Extensions, Clayton Parker Smith

Masters Theses

"Adaptive Resonance Theory, ART, is a powerful clustering tool for learning arbitrary patterns in a self-organizing manner. In this research, two papers are presented that examine the extensibility and applications of ART. The first paper examines a means to boost ART performance by assigning each cluster a vigilance value, instead of a single value for the whole ART module. A Particle Swarm Optimization technique is used to search for desirable vigilance values. In the second paper, it is shown how ART, and clustering in general, can be a useful tool in preprocessing time series data. Clustering quantization attempts to meaningfully …

Compressed Sensing Techniques For Radial Ultra-Short Echo Time (Ute) Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Xiahan Yang

Masters Theses

"This thesis proposes two techniques, namely Compressed Sensing (CS) and self-gating, for pre-clinical (CMRI) to reduce scan time and RF exposure to mouse heart, simply experimental procedures, and improve imaging quality. The proposed CS technique reduces the number of radial trajectories in Ultra-short Echo Time (UTE) CMRI scans on a 7 Tesla MRI machine to acquire 13% to 38% of the fully sampled k-space data. To reconstruct the image, the Non-Uniform Fast Fourier Transform (NUFFT) is utilized in each iteration of the l1-norm optimization algorithm of the CS to reduce error and aliasing. Experimental results with a phantom and a …

Rote-Lcs Learning Classifier System For Classification And Prediction, Benjamin Daniels

Masters Theses

"Machine Learning (ML) involves the use of computer algorithms to solve for approximate solutions to problems with large, complex search spaces. Such problems have no known solution method, and search spaces too large to allow brute force search to be feasible. Evolutionary algorithms (EA) are a subset of machine learning algorithms which simulate fundamental concepts of evolution. EAs do not guarantee a perfect solution, but rather facilitate convergence to a solution of which the accuracy depends on a given EA's learning architecture and the dynamics of the problem.

Learning classifier systems (LCS) are algorithms comprising a subset of EAs. The …

Ph Dependent Antibiotic Resistance Of An Alkaliphilic, Halotolerant Bacterium Isolated From Soap Lake, Washington, Tiffany Charlynn Edwards

Masters Theses

"Soap Lake, located in Washington State, is a meromictic, soda lake. Many bacterial isolates retrieved from Soap Lake have been noted to possess resistance to multiple antibiotics. A likely explanation for the wide range of antibacterial resistance exhibited by these strains is due to the impact of high alkalinity on the antibiotics themselves and not due to the presence of antibiotic resistance genes. The aim of our study was to determine if select antibiotics are effective against Halomonas eurialkalitoleranis, a bacterium capable of growth over a wide range of neutral to alkaline pH values, to investigate the influence of alkalinity …

Healing Of Bone Defects In A Rodent Calvarial Defect Model Using Strong Porous Bioactive Glass (13-93) Scaffolds, Yinan Lin

Masters Theses

"The main objective of this project was to evaluate the capacity of strong porous silicate (13-93) bioactive glass scaffolds prepared by a robocasting technique to regenerate bone and stimulate angiogenesis in a rat calvarial defect model. The scaffolds were created with the same grid-like microstructure but in a variety of formulations: (i) as-fabricated, (ii) pretreated in an aqueous phosphate solution to convert the glass surface to hydroxyapatite, (iii) loaded with bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP2) (1 µg per scaffold), and (iv) doped with copper (0.4-2.0 wt. % CuO). When compared to the as-fabricated scaffolds, the pretreated scaffolds enhanced bone regeneration at …

A Geochemical Investigation Of Co₂ Sequestration And Site Characterization At Two Missouri Locations, Robert Allen Swain

Masters Theses

"The feasibility of sequestering CO₂ in saline aquifers of Lamotte Formation sandstone was investigated at wells located near Thomas Hill power plant, Moberly, MO and Sioux City Power Plant in Florissant, MO. Governing factors of using aquifers for CO₂ disposal include water salinity, potential for carbonic acid buffering, rate of precipitation of carbonate minerals following CO₂ introduction into the host aquifer, and the integrity of the Davis and Derby-DoeRun shale as a trap rock to prevent migration of the CO₂ phase and carbonic acid into the overlying potable Ozark Aquifer.

Both in situ and laboratory methods …

Survey And Data Analysis Of Polymer Flooding Pilot And Field Applications In China, Yandong Zhang

Masters Theses

"Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes are regarded as important methods to recovery remaining oil after primary and secondary recovery. It is significant to select the most appropriate EOR process among the possible techniques for a candidate reservoir. EOR screening criteria has been created using available EOR datasets and served as the first step to compare the suitability of each EOR method for a particular reservoir. Most of these datasets are collected from EOR surveys published by Oil & Gas Journal. This study proposes a comprehensive study of a dataset including 55 pilot and field polymer flooding applications in China. Statistical …

Chemical Quantification With Ubiquitous Optoelectronic Devices, Altamash Mukhtar Fakki

Masters Theses

"Optical sensing in medical diagnosis and chemical analysis using optoelectronic devices is a growing technology since it offers many advantages including real time analysis, remote sensing capability and low cost approach. This thesis demonstrates that an optical sensing platform utilizing optical mouse, the ubiquitous optoelectronic computer peripheral, can be used in quantitative oxygen and pH analysis.

Work in the first paper includes the use of optical mice for fluorescence intensity imaging of commercial oxygen patch. This involves gray color intensity analysis of filtered images to determine the gaseous oxygen level.

In the second paper, the optical mice is used to …

In Vitro Study Of Wound-Healing Capabilities Of Bioactive Glass Fibers Under Various Culture Conditions, Sisi Chen

Masters Theses

"Bioactive borate glass has been recognized to have both hard and soft tissue repair and regeneration capabilities through stimulating both osteogenesis and angiogenesis. However, the underlying physiological and cellular mechanism behind this function remains unclear. In this study, in vitro dynamic flow modules were designed to mimic the micro-environment near the vascular depletion and hyperplasia area in wound-healing regions, and were used to investigate the biocompatibility and functionality of borate glass nano-/micro-fibers. Glass-cell interactions were investigated either by dosing fibers to the upstream of or co-cultured with cells, and two types of borate glasses (with or without CuO/ZnO doped were …

Understanding Impurities In Copper Electrometallurgy, Paul Laforest

Masters Theses

"This work involves examining two industrial reports of methods to handle impurities in copper electrowinning and electrorefining. The first part evaluates the addition of Hydrostar, Cyquest N-900, DXG-F7, and Guartec EW to copper electrowinning electrolyte to affect MnO₂ deposition on coated titanium anodes (CTAs). The second part examines the effects of anode chemistry and thiourea addition on the ductility of electrorefined copper starter sheet.

In part one, a laboratory cell was used to simulate a short cycle electrowinning cell via chronopotentiometric operation with an IrO₂-Ta₂O₅ CTA at 40⁰C. A cyclic voltammetric sweep was applied …

Sensitivity Of Cellular Oxidative Damage To Biosynthetic Rate And Metabolic Rate, Palihawadana Walauwe Kamalika Kaushalya Amunugama

Masters Theses

"The relationship between energy expenditure and longevity is a long standing question in aging studies. The empirical results have contradictory effects on the existing theories. A theoretical model and an experimental test of it were presented, revealing the detailed tradeoffs between metabolic rate, biosynthetic rate and cellular damage level. The dissipative mechanisms of oxidative metabolism cause various forms of cellular damages. To counteract the accumulation of damage, organisms have evolved highly efficient maintenance mechanisms. If there is no other energy demand possess, then most of the cellular damage would be repaired, regardless of how metabolic rate varies. However, the repairing …

A Gaussian Mixture Model For Automated Vesicle Fusion Detection And Classification, Haohan Li

Masters Theses

"Accurately detecting and classifying vesicle-plasma membrane fusion events in fluorescence microscopy, is of primary interest for studying biological activities in a close proximity to the plasma membrane. In this paper, we present a novel Gaussian mixture model for automated identification of vesicle-plasma membrane fusion and partial fusion events in total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy image sequences. Image patches of fusion event candidates are detected in individual images and linked over consecutive frames. A Gaussian mixture model is fit on each image patch of the patch sequence with outliers rejected for robust Gaussian fitting. The estimated parameters of Gaussian functions over …

Estimation Of Tip-Sample Force In Tapping Mode Atomic Force Microscopy Using Neural-Network And Repetitive Control Approaches, Alireza Toghraee

Masters Theses

"Atomic Force Microscopy is one of the most powerful tools for imaging, measuring and manipulating materials at nanometer scale. Among different modes of AFM, tapping mode, in which the oscillating tip touches the sample periodically, is most common mode. During the tip approach and retract, the tip interacts with sample and experiences different force regimes. This tip-sample interaction force contains information about the sample topology, material properties and tip geometry. However, quantitative measurement of the time-varying tip-sample interaction forcing function is challenging in the tapping mode because of the combined dynamic complexities of the cantilever and nonlinear complexity of the …

Discrete-Time Neural Network Based State Observer With Neural Network Based Control Formulation For A Class Of Systems With Unmatched Uncertainties, Jason Michael Stumfoll

Masters Theses

"An observer is a dynamic system that estimates the state variables of another system using noisy measurements, either to estimate unmeasurable states, or to improve the accuracy of the state measurements. The Modified State Observer (MSO) is a technique that uses a standard observer structure modified to include a neural network to estimate system states as well as system uncertainty. It has been used in orbit uncertainty estimation and atmospheric reentry uncertainty estimation problems to correctly estimate unmodeled system dynamics. A form of the MSO has been used to control a nonlinear electrohydraulic system with parameter uncertainty using a simplified …

Bridging In Vi Tro & In S Il Ico Techniques: Uncovering The Structural Characteristics And Light-Dependent Modifications Of The Light-Response Btb Proteins In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Nicholas Reitz

Masters Theses

The conjugation of the NEDD8 protein has been found to cause a wide range of changes to the overall function of a protein. The addition of NEDD8 to a conserved lysine on Cul proteins has been found to provide Cul with increased flexibility, while the transcription factor protein p53 was prevented from binding to DNA after NEDD8 conjugation. Using Arabidopsis thaliana, we investigated the potential conjugation of NEDD8 to the AtLRB1 and AtLRB2 proteins, which are both members of Cul3-RING E3 Ubiquitin Ligase complexes, using both in vitro and in silico techniques. The AtLRBs are negative regulators of the red …

Political Intolerance In The 21st Century: The Role Of Ideology And Emotion In Determining Intolerant Judgments, Matthew Cain

Masters Theses

Decades of research in Social Psychology have demonstrated that political intolerance is not displayed equally with respect to ideology. In particular, conservatives and those with right-wing beliefs are much more likely to display intolerant judgments than those with liberal or left-wing beliefs. This "prejudice gap" has been found to be so ubiquitous that it is now the conventional wisdom regarding the relationship between ideology and intolerance. However, a small, but growing literature challenges this presumed ideological asymmetry and has instead found that liberals and conservatives display intolerance under certain circumstances. Synthesizing the recent research showing ideological symmetry in intolerance judgments, …

Effects Of Treated Wastewater Effluent On Microbial Community Structure In A Natural Receiving Aquatic System, Matthew D. Hladilek

Masters Theses

Despite our dependency on treatment facilities to condition wastewater for eventual release to the environment, our knowledge regarding the effects of treated water on the local watershed is extremely limited. Responses of these lotic systems to the treated wastewater effluent have been traditionally investigated by examining the benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages and community structure; however, these studies do not address the microbial diversity of the water systems. In the present study, planktonic and benthic bacterial community structure were examined at fourteen sites (from 60 m upstream to 12,100 m downstream) and at two time points along an aquatic system receiving treated …

Same-Sex Peer Influence On Female Undergraduate Body Image Perception, Caitlyn Buchanan

Masters Theses

Regardless of age, race, or socioeconomic class, women throughout western cultures are well documented for having body image related insecurities. These insecurities can be the result of pressure to look and behave a certain way from a variety of sources including media and peers. This study explored the role that same-sex peers play in undergraduate women's perception of body image. Four undergraduate women at a public, Midwestern university who lived within campus housing were interviewed. Results of the study showed that same-sex peers did not play a significant role in the women's perception of body image. The results of this …

Comparison Of Agency And Volunteer Stream Assessments Using Macroinvertebrate Assemblages, David William Petry

Masters Theses

Professional stream assessments can be both time and cost intensive. Many states have developed citizen science programs in an effort to provide reliable data to supplement agency assessments. To test how two of these protocols and their conclusions compare, I sampled 16 sites in seven streams within east central Illinois using techniques from two different organizations: Illinois RiverWatch and Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. Overall, spring RiverWatch, fall RiverWatch, and fall IEPA sampling all produced unique results and conclusions. Compared to fall IEPA assessments, spring RiverWatch was affected by differences in both sampling protocol and season. RiverWatch sampling in fall reduced …

A Study On The Personality Characteristics Of Dreamers, Joshua Lambert

Masters Theses

Nightmares are frightening dreams that cause the dreamer to wake, with the events that occur within the nightmare well remembered after awakening. There are those who experience nightmares frequently (at least one nightmare a week). While studying nightmares, Hartmann (1989, 1991) theorized a distinct personality trait he referred to as boundaries of the mind, and conceptualized a boundary continuum ranging from thin boundaries to thick boundaries. Those with thin boundaries were hypothesized to express permeability between cognitive processes, whereas those with thick boundaries are thought to better separate cognitive processes. Those who experience frequent nightmares are typically shown to report …

Being Bromo In A Heterosexual Dominated Culture: A Qualitative Approach, Nathan J. Wehr

Masters Theses

Homosexual males want to be a part of a social fraternity for the same reasons heterosexual males want to join a social fraternity, however, homosexual males going through recruitment could soon be welcomed into an environment that is not supportive of homosexual males. Studies have proven that unwelcoming and unsupportive environments can hinder identity development of males who are either homosexual, questioning their sexual identity, or bisexual (Long, 2011). This study was designed to focus on the support fraternities have for homosexual members joining fraternities and the level of support as a fraternity community. Using a qualitative approach, the researcher …

Moral Judgments Of Differing Transgressions & The Influence Of Willingness To Seek Counseling & Religiosity, Marni Naleway

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine how moral judgments differ towards substance abusers and unfaithful spouses. Furthermore, the study compared judgments regarding the gender of the transgressor, the transgressor's willingness to go to counseling, and the participant's level of religiosity. Participants in the study were provided with a scenario describing a substance abuse transgression or an infidelity transgression followed by a survey of questions inquiring about their judgments towards the transgressor. Results indicated individuals judge a transgressor more harshly in an infidelity transgression compared to a substance abuse transgression. Results also indicated a gender bias between transgressions as …

Metagenomic Analysis Of The Lacrimal Caruncle Region Of Canis Lupus Familiaris Using Miseq Technology, Seun A. Ikugbayigbe

Masters Theses

The identification of ocular microbiota may allow early diagnosis and treatment strategies against eye diseases and disorders with canines. However, clinical microbial identification has been limited to cloning and conventional culture-based studies, which typically underestimate community diversity. In this report, lllumina MiSeq analysis of the 16S rRNA gene was used to examine the microbiome of the lacrimal caruncle region from five healthy dogs. The breeds sampled were a Golden Retriever (Dog A), a Weimaraner (Dog B), a Shih Tzu mix (Dog C), a Yorkie mix (Dog D), and a Dachshund (Dog E). MiSeq analysis revealed a total of 370 operational …