Digital Commons Network^™

Shelf-Life Improvement Of Distillers Wet Grains With Solubles, Janie Denise Mcclurkin-Moore

Open Access Dissertations

Distillers wet grains with solubles (DWGS) is a co-product of the ethanol production using the dry-grind process. DWG is widely used as a feed and supplemental protein source in North American cattle rations. However due to its short shelf-life, 3-4 days in the summer and 7-10 days in the winter, its use is limited to cattle feeding facilities within close proximity to an ethanol production plant. It is known that the shelf-life of DWGS in the summer diminishes drastically compared to DWGS in the winter. This effect is primarily due to temperature, which drives mold growth in high moisture feedstocks. …

Anticancer Effects Of Vitamin E Forms And Their Long-Chain Metabolites Via Modulation Of Sphingolipid Metabolism, Yumi Jang

Open Access Dissertations

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death. Studies have shown that vitamin E forms including gamma-tocopherol (γT), delta-tocopherol (δT), and gamma-tocotrienol (γTE) exhibited potent anticancer activities in various types of cancer cells. But molecular mechanisms underlying anticancer actions of γTE are not completely understood. 13’-carboxychromanols (13’-COOHs), major fecal excreted long-chain metabolites of vitamin E, have recently been shown to induce apoptosis in liver cancer cells. However, it is not clear whether 13’-COOHs have anticancer effects on other types of cancer. In the current study, we investigated the anticancer effects and mechanisms of γTE and 13’-COOHs; δT-13’-COOH and δTE-13’-COOH, …

An Investigation Of The Interactions Between Escherichia Coli And The Intestinal Microbiota In Vivo And In Vitro, Matthew E. Mokszycki

Open Access Dissertations

We previously proposed that colonizing strains of E. coli likely occupy specific niches as minimal members of mixed biofilms formed primarily by anaerobic members of the gut flora. These "restaurants" formed by the different community members of the gut provide individual strains of E. coli with various unique binding pockets and locally provided mono- and disaccharides by breaking down polysaccharides which facultative anaerobes, such as E. coli, could not break down on their own. This allows strains of E. coli that cannot grow as efficiently on available sugars to colonize if they are able to occupy niches that other …

Evaluation Of In Vitro Anti-Inflammatory, Anti-Diabetic And Anti-Lipogenic Activity Of Natural Polyphenolic Extracts And Their Pure Constituents, Pragati P. Nahar

Open Access Dissertations

The long-term goals and objectives of our group are to identify bioactive natural products relevant to human disease prevention and health promotion. To attain this goal, the objective of this thesis was to demonstrate that bioactive polyphenol-rich extracts or preparations exert positive health benefits beyond basic nutrition, thus impacting overall health and wellness. We believe that this project has immense scientific merit from a human health perspective and will be of great public impact given that consumers are seeking natural and organic choices for improving health. In this investigation, we have focused our attention on investigating the biological activities of …

Childhood Maltreatment And Its Impact On Executive Skills Within An Inpatient Setting, Jennifer Ann Dupont Frechette

Open Access Dissertations

Previous research has shown that child maltreatment can negatively impact brain development and neurocognitive systems for children, adolescents, and adults. However there are no published studies that have sought to understand the role of child maltreatment with psychiatrically hospitalized children. Psychiatrically hospitalized children are considered a high-risk population due to increased suicidality, internalizing disorders, and lower cognitive functioning. The current study examined a hierarchical and cumulative model of maltreatment with inpatient children (ages 6-14 years old) who had been maltreated (n=111) to understand its impact on executive functioning skills, compared with a psychiatric outpatient sample (n=166). …

Bringing The World Inside: British Modernism And Taste – Gustatory, Social, And Aesthetic, Michael David Becker

Open Access Dissertations

As nineteenth-century scientific and industrial developments in food processing were increasingly applied on larger scales, and to a greater diversity of food items, modernity made its mark on the early twentieth-century consumer’s daily foods. In addition to industrial and scientific developments, World War I and World War II brought significant changes to food production, distribution, and consumption as populations suddenly worried about the availability, allocation, and quality of food items. Early twentieth-century novels demonstrate a preoccupation with the newly modernized and altered foods and explore how food behaviors and tastes change during the period.

This project examines literary representations of …

Mental Health, Health Behaviors, Social Support, Self-Efficacy And Disease: An Integrative Model, N. Simay Gokbayrak

Open Access Dissertations

The utility of modifiable health behaviors for better physical health outcomes is well-established. Because mental illness is a serious public health concern worldwide, an important question pertains to whether health behaviors likewise have benefits for mental health. Although simple research methods indicate positive relations, no investigations have tested models with mediating factors to discern specific pathways between health behaviors and mental health. As such, this study aimed to do so using path analysis to examine the impact of three key health behaviors (i.e., smoking cessation, exercise, and healthy eating) on mental health. In addition, the potential roles of perceived social …

Control Of Bovine Pyruvate Carboxylase Expression By Saturated And Unsaturated Fatty Acids And Impact On Fatty Acid Metabolism, Katherine Elizabeth Boesche

Open Access Dissertations

Pyruvate carboxylase (PC; EC 6.4.1.1) ostensibly links carbohydrate and lipid metabolism by supplying oxaloacetate (OAA) from the carboxylation of pyruvate. The OAA pool is necessary in maintaining the anaplerotic supply of carbons to the TCA cycle, and to promote the complete oxidation, to CO2, of acetyl-CoA. The actions of PC in supplying OAA are critical during periods of increased cellular lipid load, including the negative energy balance experienced by periparturient dairy cows. The bovine PC gene contains three promoter sequences, with products of the proximal promoter (PCP1) being specific to glucogenic and lipogenic tissues. Previous work links control of bovine …

Investigation Of Acute Stress Impact On Nursery Pig Gastrointestinal Function And Ability Of Bioactive Components Of Garlic To Mitigate Stress-Induced Physiological Changes, Nathan Lane Horn

Open Access Dissertations

Experiments were conducted to determine the effect of post-weaning feed and water deprivation on nursery pig growth performance, gastrointestinal function, and ability of garlic-derived diallyl disulfide (DADS) and diallyl trisulfide (DATS) to mitigate deprivation-induced effects. For the first experiment, the effects of a 24-h post-weaning feed, water, or feed + water deprivation event on nursery pig growth and intestinal characteristics were determined. Water deprivation more severely impacted nursery pig growth and intestinal measurements compared to feed deprivation. The water deprivation event resulted in an increase in serum stress markers and altered intestinal morphology and tight junction gene expression during the …

Health Care Resource Use, Health Care Expenditures And Absenteeism Costs Associated With Osteoarthritis, Jyothi Menon

Open Access Dissertations

Menon, Jyothi, Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2015. Health Care Resource Use, Health Care Expenditures and Absenteeism Costs Associated with Osteoarthritis. Major Professor: Joseph Thomas III.

Manganese Toxicity: Accumulation In Bone, Effect On Brain Neurochemistry, And Impact On Adult Neurogenesis, Stefanie O'Neal

Open Access Dissertations

O’Neal, Stefanie L. Ph.D., Purdue University, December 2015. Manganese Toxicity: Accumulation in Bone, Effect on Neurochemistry, Impact on Adult Neurogenesis. Major Professor: Wei Zheng.

Associations Between The Built Environment And Physical Activity From Analyses Of Spatial Clusters, Trail Use, And Locations Where Physical Activity Occurs, Kosuke Tamura

Open Access Dissertations

Over the past two decades, an increasing number of scientific studies have examined associations between the built environment and physical activity and obesity. These studies have documented positive associations between environmental variables, such as population density, street connectivity, and composite measures of neighborhood walkability and physical activity. Studies have also shown inverse relationships between the presence of neighborhood grocery stores and recreational facilities and obesity. Despite this evidence, there continues to be limitations in built environment studies conducted to date. The three dissertation studies described here were designed to address several different aspects of built environment research that warrant greater …

Economic Development And Child Nutrition In Nepal, Ganesh Thapa

Open Access Dissertations

Child malnutrition rates in Nepal are among the highest in the world. Government and non-governmental agencies are actively seeking various pathways that might be useful to improve child nutrition outcomes in Nepal, fill gaps in understanding surrounding nutrition drivers, and shorten the time required to attain the Millennium Development Goals. This dissertation includes three essays that use a range of data, including nationally representative data on the growth of children nutrition below five years of age, to identify potential pathways for improving child nutrition in Nepal.

Notch Signaling Regulates Adipogenesis And Energy Metabolism, Pengpeng Bi

Open Access Dissertations

Evolutionarily unprepared for high caloric diets and sedentary lifestyles, humans are now unprecedentedly susceptible to obesity and its associated metabolic disorders. Obesity is resulted from malfunction of the overloaded white adipocytes, which are the primary default storage sites of energy surplus. Another two types of adipocytes can also be found in human: beige and brown adipocytes. In opposite to white adipocytes, beige and brown adipocytes ameliorate obesity by burning lipids for thermogenesis. Thus, an increase in beige/brown adipocyte content in adipose tissue, termed browning would raise energy expenditure and reduce adiposity.

Effects Of High-Protein And High-Fiber Breakfasts On Preschoolers' Feelings Of Fullness, Diet Quality And Memory, Mary Catherine Brauchla

Open Access Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Antecedents And Consequences Of Consumer – Customized Product Identification: An Identity Theory Perspective, Soyeon Kwon

Open Access Dissertations

Customization is considered one of the key sources of value creation in a highly competitive and segmented market. Recent research has demonstrated that the key to successful customization experiences lies in the degree to which consumers feel connected to a product that is customized. This study investigated consumers’ psychological connection to customized products by exploring the variable, “consumer-customized product identification (C-C identification).” Building upon identity theory and research on “extended self,” this study investigated (1) two key antecedents that influence C-C identification, (2) attitudinal and behavioral consequences of C-C identification, and (3) the moderating role of product involvement in C-C …

Dietary And Exercise Effects On Neural Responses To Visual Food Stimuli In Overweight And Obese Adults, Richard Sayer

Open Access Dissertations

Results from human neuroimaging studies consistently demonstrate that obesity is associated with altered neural reward processing of food-relevant cues. These observations have caused some investigators to question whether behavioral interventions such as dietary manipulations or physical activity might modulate processing of food cues in reward-related brain regions. The use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure neural responses to visual food stimuli is a commonly utilized paradigm for assessing neural reward responses relating to ingestive behavior of foods in humans. Using this study design, limited evidence suggests that increases in dietary protein and participation in acute and chronic aerobic …

Essays On Nudging Customers’ Behaviors: Evidence From Online Grocery Shopping And Crowdfunding, Na Zhang

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation consists of three essays that employ predictive analytics, structural modeling techniques and field experiments to understand and nudge customers’ behaviors in two types of online engagement platforms. The first one is customers’ purchase behaviors in an online grocery store and the other is customer’ contribution behaviors in a reward-based crowdfunding platform. In both contexts, we study how to actively nudge their behaviors. In Chapter 2, we investigates how, when dealing with products that are available in limited quantities, customers may be nudged to purchase them. Specifically, our main problem is to identify targeted customers to receive the limited …

Cultivating Multicultural Education In Islamic Schools In The U.S: Teachers' Perspectives About Diversity In Islamic Schools, Kadriye El-Atwani

Open Access Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the perspectives of six teachers who have taught in Islamic schools in the U.S. to comprehend the general context of multicultural education in Islamic schools. This study was designed as a descriptive collective case study primarily to investigate how racial, class, national, language and gender diversity were observed in six different Islamic schools’ climates and classrooms. Designing this research as a collective case study fostered the exploration of various social dynamics among Muslim communities in the U.S., and exemplified different characteristics of Muslim communities through the six cases. Key findings and analyses …

Race. Nation. Zombie: Imperial Masculinities Gazing At The Undead, Adryan Glasgow

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation argues that zombie narratives have always been about white masculinity and that colonialism is the true living dead monster. The zombie is not the load-bearing signifier in these stories. It is the white men who act as representatives of empire that embody tropes and evolve. This dissertation examines the survivor masculinity in zombie films over time to see how hegemonic masculinity has adapted to a range of national crises. I argue that the failure of white masculinities in these films and novel is rooted in the limited ways of knowing inherent in the Imperial Gaze. Starting in the …

Habit Formation In A Rodent Model Of Alcoholism: Genetic Susceptibility, Alcohol-Specific Effects, And Pharmacological Manipulation, David Scott O'Tousa

Open Access Dissertations

Habit formation is a well-characterized process involving a shift from response-outcome as the leading driving force underlying action to a stimulus-response mechanistic process. It is hypothesized that a transition from goal-directed behavior to habitual behavior is driven by a transition of the bulk of cognitive load from neocortical toward lower neurological mechanisms. While many neurotransmitter systems have a demonstrated involvement in this process, the dopamine system is particularly implicated. Habit formation is assessed through the maintenance of extinction responding for an undesired, or devalued, outcome.

Drug Delivery To Solid Tumors Via Polymeric Nanoparticles, Sara Ahmed

Open Access Dissertations

A main challenge in chemotherapy is to deliver an anti-cancer drug selectively to tumor and avoid off-target exposure to other body tissues and organs. Nanoparticles (NPs) have been considered a promising approach for tumor drug delivery, with popularity attributable to the famous “Enhanced Permeability and Retention effect”, where small particles enter tumor tissues through leaky vasculature and be retained there. Currently, the phagocytic clearance of NPs is avoided by coating NP surface with Polyethylene glycol (PEG). Although successful in prolonging NPs circulation, PEG prevents proper interaction of NPs with the target cells, known as “PEG dilemma”. Low molecular weight chitosan …

Distributions And Interactions In Three Groups Of Polar Marine Plankton, Alison Clare Cleary

Open Access Dissertations

Polar marine ecosystems are highly productive, with strong seasonal phytoplankton blooms, and high abundances of vertebrate predators. A key link between these phytoplankton and megafauna are the zooplankton, which package and transform phytoplankton biomass, making it available to the fish, mammals, seabirds, and other predators in the ecosystem. I investigated three groups of these important small eukaryotes. In the Bering Sea I analyzed the diet of three morphologically very similar congeners of Pseudocalanus copepods. The two copepod species with largely overlapping geographic ranges were found to have different diets, suggesting feeding differences may serve as a mechanism of niche partitioning …

Undestanding Stage Of Change Transitions Across Multiple Behaviors, Leslie Ann Daline Brick

Open Access Dissertations

Health behavior research reveals that individuals vary in their general readiness to change their behaviors, as well as their attitudes and beliefs about that change. Adolescents are an important population for health behavior change interventions because the choices and behaviors early in life can have long-term health impacts. A large (N=42158), school-based Transtheoretical Model (TTM) randomized trial evaluated two tailored, computer-delivered multiple behavior interventions designed to impact energy balance behaviors, including physical activity, fruit and vegetable consumption, and TV viewing, or substance use, including smoking and alcohol. The study took place over a four-year period, with intervention points during grades …

Understanding The Barrier And Facilitators Of Lifestyle Intervention Programs For Preventing Diabetes In High Risk Hispanic Adults, Lisa Adorno Dimaria

Open Access Dissertations

Since the Diabetes Prevention Program Research Group (2002) concluded that type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed in pre-diabetic individuals, translation of the study's intensive lifestyle intervention has been a research priority. Translational research conducted with the high risk Hispanic population is in its infancy. In general, the needs of this population have been neglected in the development and refinement of interventions to prevent T2D. This qualitative study explored intervention components and the perceived facilitators and barriers to making and sustaining dietary and physical activity behavior changes within the context of a lifestyle intervention program designed for a high …

Predicting Co-Relapse Among Nutrition And Exercise From Adolescence Through Young Adulthood, Kristina Monteiro

Open Access Dissertations

Despite significant public health efforts, obesity remains a stagnant outcome comprised of multiple health behaviors including fruit and vegetable intake (FV) and physical activity (PA). Existing research has provided correlates of FV and PA behaviors over development, with secular trends towards acquiring negative health behaviors (e.g., sedentary behaviors). This study examined demographic and dynamic predictors of FV and PA regression at one-year post-intervention within three samples including middle school, high school, and college. Regression is defined using the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) as being in Action or Maintenance at baseline and regressing to a pre-Action stage at one-year follow-up. The novel …

Middle School Students’ Perceptions Of Enjoyment In Physical Education And Its Relationship To Participation In Physical Activity Outside The School, Shima Younes-Alhourani

Open Access Dissertations

For many years, the status of physical education (PE) in public schools in Palestine as well as other countries was jeopardized. However, the decline of engagement in PE and the reduction and/or elimination of PE programs in the US and other countries including Palestine, along with the increased obesity and sedentary behaviors among children, have motivated governments in countries like Canada, the United States and England to take action (Cairney et al., 2007; & Qualifications and Curriculum Development Agency, 2007). Students in the United States and other countries, including Palestine, tend to demonstrate negative attitudes toward physical education (PE) at …

Examining Health Professional Students’ Attitudes On Interprofessional Education, Suzanne Carr

Open Access Dissertations

There is a growing need for healthcare teams to effectively collaborate and communicate to improve patient outcomes. The need to improve patient care has been well established and cited by the Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Committee on Quality Health Care in America landmark report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System (IOM, 1999; Kohn, Corrigan, & Donaldson, 2000). Health educational programs are known to be a gateway to changing behaviors of health professionals to impact practice and direct patient care. Interprofessional Education (IPE) has been identified as a viable mechanism to increase the collaboration and communication of health …

Insomnia And Identity: The Discursive Function Of Sleeplessness In Modernist Literature, Sarah Kingston

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the topic of insomnia in British and American modernist literature, focusing primarily on the ways in which the condition of insomnia and the identity category of the “insomniac” intersect with other aspects of subjectivity, such as gender, occupation, race, and social class. Through examining insomnia from a narratological perspective, using fictional, philosophical, psychological, sociological, and medical literature, I discuss the discursive function of both this disorder and identity category during the Modernist period. It also explores the relationship between insomnia and Modernism itself, regarding both the discursive production of knowledge of insomnia and the insomniac during this …

An Exploratory Study Of The Role Of The Town Nurse, Lynn P. Blanchette

Open Access Dissertations

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was designed to expand and refocus health care delivery to a more preventative mode as opposed to a curative one. Despite being a highly industrialized country, the United States of America (USA), ranks 37th in the world in a number of health outcomes including life expectancy, universal health coverage for core services, maternal outcomes and obesity rates among adults. Public health nursing is being called to respond to this need. What is missing from the literature is a description of the role of the Town Nurse.

A descriptive, exploratory study of the …