Digital Commons Network^™

Elucidation Of Novel And Established Campylobacter Species With Clinical And Agricultural Significance Through Phenotypic, Genotypic, And Taxonomic Investigation, Caoimhe Lynch

Theses

Campylobacter spp. are well-established human, veterinary and economic pathogens, with a broad host range spanning from terrestrial and marine mammalian, avian and reptilian hosts. The scope of the study includes novel and notorious species within the genus, with reference to zoonotic agents Campylobacter jejuni and Campylobacter coli - the leading cause of human bacterial gastroenteritis in the EU and Ireland, Campylobacter fetus that represents the most common campylobacter causing bacteraemia and two novel species isolated from pigs not described in the literature previously. C. jejuni and C. coli isolates (n = 350) recovered from broiler caecal and neck skin samples, …

Optimising The Carcass Merit Of Irish Beef Cattle Using Genetic And Non-Genetic Information At The Animal And Herd Level, David Kenny

Theses

Failure of beef carcasses to achieve desirable carcass specifications represent inefficiencies within the supply chain, namely greater carcass processing costs and the inability of the resulting primal cuts to conform to high-value market specifications. Analysis of a representative sample of prime Irish beef cattle conducted in this thesis determined that 59% of cattle fail to achieve the desired carcass specifications of the supply chain at slaughter. The objective of this thesis was to use readily available information to define strategies that could help to reduce this statistic. Firstly, the likelihood of Irish beef carcasses achieving the desired carcass specifications was …

Designing For Enchantment: The Application Of New Media Technologies For The Design Of Enchanting Museum Experiences, Liam Madden

Theses

This thesis documents and presents a number of ideas that aim to enhance the visitor experience of Nano Nagle Place (NNP). The primary aim of this project is to explore the novel application of new media technologies for the construction and creation of enchanting experiences within the context of the contemporary museum / visitor centre. Though the aim was to introduce technology into the museum space, a leading principle from the outset was to ensure any interventions resonated with the heritage of the museum. The focus of was not on the technologies used to create the interventions but rather on …

Genomic Changes Associated With Transitions To Heterospory And Genome Downsizing In Land Plants, Rijan R. Dhakal

Theses

Green plants, ubiquitous and essential in the biosphere, have two reproductive life cycles: heterosporous and homosporous. Heterosporous plants are generally seen more often in daily life and tend to be the source of staple foods. Heterosporous reproduction has evolved at least 11 times from ancestral homosporous lineages. Heterospory, presumed to have selective advantages, has a perplexing correlation with chromosome numbers. Here I have used novel data, tools, and methodology to discover 19, so far unknown, gene families, with the potential to explain the correlation between the reproductive life cycle in green plants and chromosome numbers. The discovery of these gene …

Beyond The Supernova : Time, Space, And Utopia In Outer Wilds, Sarah Salajka

Theses

Video games have evolved from simplistic marks moving on a screen to a diverse and inventive storytelling medium unique from other narrative forms. They allow for new methods of approaching traditional literary forms, such as the utopia. The utopian genre has seen a series of formal changes as social and historical contexts changed over time. This thesis proposes a new approach to the utopian genre borne from the current inability to imagine a future. While previous literary versions of utopia were expressed by moving forward through time or displacement through space, current social and environmental circumstances render this impossible, and …

Population Genomics Of A Rare Plant : Tiehm's Buckwheat, Benjamin M. Cecil

Theses

Eriogonum tiehmii is a rare plant found in Nevada with a range of approximately three hectares (Morefield, 2020). E. tiehmii is of particular interest due to lithium and boron in the soil. This area is one of only two known lithium-boron deposits globally (Fluor Enterprises 2020). This makes its habitat prime mining location. E. tiehmii is being considered for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act of 1973. The objectives of the study were to determine the closest relative of E. tiehmii by estimating genetic relationships between E. tiehmii and other taxa, and to describe the genetic structure among E. …

Characterization Of Trat Protein Encoded In Incf Resistance Plasmids, Katelyn Ashley Lott

Theses

Drug-resistant infections pose serious medical threats, and causative resistance genes spread through plasmid conjugation. The TraT protein is a virulence factor encoded in drug-resistance F-plasmids. TraT itself provides protection from conjugation, serum complement, and bacteriophages, but the protective mechanism is unknown. To facilitate mechanism studies, I developed improved purification protocols for isolation of the soluble domain of F-plasmid TraT from Escherichia coli. Wild-type TraT and two variants were obtained. TraT domain forms several types of oligomers in vitro, also observed in full-length TraT. This oligomerization is stable without membrane attachment and in broad range of salt concentrations. Purified …

Life In Mossville, Louisiana: Policy Implications Of Toxic Waste Exposure And Environmental Racism, Clare Kelsey

Theses

Environmental damage disproportionately affects communities of color. Understanding how environmental racism uniquely affects marginalized communities is crucial to effectively develop public policies that will address the systematic racism that is rooted in many existing policies and practices. The town of Mossville, Louisiana provides a case study of a Black town that experienced devastating environmental pollution as well as displacement from the oil and petrochemical industries in the region (Rogers, 2015), with few residents still in the area. This thesis presents a qualitative study utilizing peer-reviewed literature, secondary sources, and life narratives of Mossville residents. These oral histories serve to amplify …

The Discovery Of Lilly Pulitzer And Her Business Of Fashion, Susan Mallott

Theses

This thesis will be an investigative look at fashion designer Lilly Pulitzer. The significance of this project is based on the discovery of Lilly Pulitzer as one of the most successful women entrepreneurs in the fashion industry. Despite Lilly Pulitzer’s success, not much has been written about her. The few articles found written about her restated the same information. The writings about her talk of her privileged background and her social status but do not delve into who she was as a person or the social stigmas that she dealt with by being a businesswoman during the 1960’s. The purpose …

The Fountain Formula. Damien Hirst’S Use Of Marcel Duchamp’S Readymade Controversy, Grayson Nader

Theses

Controversial art challenges the norms of society, by pushing boundaries to expose what is comfortable and uncomfortable. It inevitably garners attention and demands discourse. Marcel Duchamp was an innovator of controversy. He was angered by the status quo and material greed of the art industry of the early 1900s and rebelled against it with his now-famous readymade, Fountain. In Fountain, Duchamp created a formula that used controversy to garner attention from the public, the media and the art world. This formula was used by various artists throughout the past century. Contemporary artist Damien Hirst was disillusioned by the monotony of …

The Effects Of Preference Assessments On The Duration Of Independent Play For A Child With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Elise Amo, Robbie Hanson

Theses

Plays skills are important within typical development and independent play has shown to lead to the development of other skills, such as increased social interactions (Edwards et al., 2018). Previous research has demonstrated increases in independent play for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who display skill deficits in this area. However, research has been largely lacking for increasing independent play for individuals with ASD who simply display a preference for interacting with adults. The current study examined the effectiveness of incorporating a multiple-stimulus without replacement (MSWO) preference assessment to increase the duration of independent play for a child with …

Tourism Trails And Resurgent Pathways: An Exploration Of The Nexus Between Indigenous-Led Tourism And Resurgence Discourses Alongside Karajarri Traditional Owners Of The Saltwater Kimberley, Australia, And Beyond, Bobbie Chew Bigby

Theses

This research explores the intersections between Indigenous-led tourism and resurgence among Indigenous communities. Resurgence is understood as practices promoting connections with culture, Country (i.e. Indigenous lands and waterways), and community. The research utilises a comparative case study approach to specifically analyse the experience of Karajarri Traditional Owners (TOs) of the saltwater Kimberley region of northwestern Australia. Comparative examples are drawn from Indigenous-led tourism development by other coastal Kimberley Aboriginal tourism leaders, as well as from the author’s own Tribal Nation, the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, United States.

The conceptual framework for this work is derived from the following concepts from …

Does Acupuncture/Dry Needling Improve Pain And Itch In Abnormal Hypertrophic Scars, Catherine Tuckey

Theses

This research program investigated the use of acupuncture intervention as an adjunct for hypertrophic scar (HTS) management. Mechanistic evidence from ex vivo and animal studies suggests that acupuncture has the potential to modulate neurogenic inflammation to influence pain and itch associated with HTS. Further, acupuncture may mediate non-neuronal cells involved in the proliferation and remodelling stage of healing to promote scar maturation. Previous studies using acupuncture for scar management demonstrated positive outcomes, however low-quality clinical trials and case studies provide limited evidence for treatment benefit.

A treatment protocol was designed to investigate the effects of locally applied acupuncture compared to …

Community Development Supporting Ecological Conversion, As Identified In Laudato Si’: On Care For Our Common Home, Anne Jennings

Theses

In this extraordinary time of multiple, intersecting crises with compounded costs in social, economic, and environmental degradation, calls for transformative change are emerging from all levels of humanity – global to local. Within that setting, my study concentrated on investigating change at a local level to address the research question ’How can community development theory and practice contribute to ecological conversion, as identified in Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home?’

Since its release, Laudato Si’ has provoked considerable academic/theological and scientific/environmental debate that does not necessarily contain local people’s views and everyday lived experiences, given their often-limited access …

Reinterpreting The Villain: Changing The Pattern Of The Fairy Tale Through Sleeping Beauty’S Maleficent, Mackenzie Waldon

Theses

Recent filmic representations of the fairy tale villain can offer powerful counter-narratives to archetypal fairy tale stories. This thesis examines how certain contemporary representations of fairy tales have reinterpreted the traditional ‘villain’ archetype, revealing a greater diversity of perspectives. Using John Stephens’ and Peter Stockwell’s cognitive poetics theory on schema and scripts as a theoretical framework, this thesis closely analyses the known Disney fairy tale villain, Sleeping Beauty’s (1959) Maleficent, as she is portrayed in the live-action films Maleficent (2014) and Maleficent: Mistress of Evil (2019), as well as Disney’s Descendants (2015, 2017, 2019) films. By analysing the patterns and …

Sustainable Food Waste Management Through The Integration Of Anaerobic Digestion And Thermochemical Processes, Diana Carolina Rodriguez Alberto

Theses

The processing of food waste along with animal manure through anaerobic digestion (AD) is a popular waste management strategy. However, there is the concern that with the proliferation of AD the management of its nutrient-rich effluent, known as digestate, becomes a challenge. Current digestate management practices not only present environmental risks, but also issues related to the seasonality of field spreading and the storage and transportation of large volumes of material. The integration of the AD process with thermochemical conversion (TC) could help reduce some of these issues. The production of biochar from materials already available in the digester setting, …

An Evaluation Of The Biologics Price Competition And Innovation Act And Its Impact On Innovation In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Tara Williams

Theses

In the pharmaceutical industry, innovation is vital to bring more life-saving treatment options to patients. However, pharmaceutical manufacturers face strict safety and effectiveness guidelines set forth by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), before being able to place their innovations on the market. In attempts to balance the need for continuous innovation and stringent regulation, policymakers created the Biologics Price Competition and Innovation Act (BPCIA) of 2009. The BPCIA allows biosimilars manufacturers to enter a shortened FDA approval pathway and provides incentives for biologics manufacturers with the aims to decrease cost and increase access to medications for patients by …

Mandhar Smart Application For The Visual Pollution In Muhaisnah-2 Area – Dubai Uae, Hamda Mohamed Alharmoudi

Theses

People naturally love beauty, beautiful views, and a beautiful environment. Beauty is the human eye that makes him happy and brings pleasure to his heart. If sport feeds the body and science feeds the mind, then beauty feeds the soul and the mind, all the beauty around us feeds the brain that has a positive impact on human life, and the distortion that we encounter in our life has a negative impact on us. Therefore, visual pollution is defined as, everything that is inconsistent with the beauty of the environment that surrounds us which create a harmful change for the …

Investigation Of Behavioral And Cognitive Traits Affecting Dispersal Tendencies In Eastern Mostquitofish (Gambusia Holbrooki), Jennifer Dougherty

Theses

Dispersal plays an important role in ecological and evolutionary processes. Despite being important to population and invasion dynamics, more information is needed to understand what traits act as drivers of dispersal tendencies. Here, we examined how different behavioral, environmental, and cognitive traits predicted dispersal tendency in the Eastern mosquitofish (Gambusia holbrooki). We examined how chronic exposure to an antidepressant affects different behaviors and dispersal in wild- caught G. holbrooki. We then tested additional behaviors and their relationship to dispersal tendency. We found that exposure to fluoxetine did not affect performance in any of the behavioral assays or on dispersal. In …

Augmented Reality-Supported Spatially Aware Visual Links For Multiple Displays And Devices, Jordan Gilbreath

Theses

Visual data analysis and sensemaking can benefit from utilizing multiple displays to organize large amounts of information. However, analyzing information scattered across multiple displays can be challenging. Existing solutions to solving this problem often require mental effort to understand cross-display relationships. A hybrid approach, named AR-SAViL, is presented which addresses this problem by using an augmented reality headset to track displays and their contents in real time, drawing visual links directly between related information. The performance of the system is evaluated through exploration of an existing dataset and expert review, and findings suggest AR-SAViL has potential to assist visual analysis …

Building A User-Based Recommendation System Using A Model-Based Collaborative Filtering Approach, Shaheer Airaj Ahmed

Theses

The modern day internet faces a very famous problem called information overload. Where the amount of information is huge and the need for personalized results to match ones preferences for ease of access to other information like it. This is especially a problem in the e-commerce and streaming industries where the amount of items available is massive and users need a way to surf through results quickly and efficiently to find the exact items they are looking for and possibly look at similar recommendations. Modern day recommendation engines use user-item data to find items an active user may like based …

Correlating Sentiment In Reddit’S Wallstreetbets With The Stock Market Using Machine Learning Techniques, Sultan Ali Alzaabi

Theses

The issue that this study addresses is to observe whether there exists a statistical relation between the stock market and Reddit’s wallstreetbets. Previous research mainly focused on the relation between the stock market and Twitter. To gather data for the study, comments were scrapped from the subreddit wallstreetbets for a period of four months, Jan 1, 2021, till April 30, 2021. Different sentiment classifiers were, then, applied on a sample of the data to observe the most accurate classifier for the study. The study concluded that the most accurate sentiment classifier was an SVM classifier trained on 80% of Reddit …

Using Characters To Narrow Culture Gaps, Xiangyu Han

Theses

There are a lot of different cultures around the world. It is hard for people with various cultural backgrounds to understand each other. Language is the most direct expression of cultural barriers. With the different structures of languages, communication becomes unsmooth. People can get to know each other better if we narrow down the gaps. The research here discusses the possibility of building a connection between language characters through the graphic. This work will use Chinese and English as an experimental. Images and pictures are the most visual information for people to read. And languages are the most direct information …

Suno ("Listen"), Kajal Kohli

Theses

Suno (“Listen” in Hindi) is a 3D Animated Short that revolves around our main character Sid’s day in his life where he decides to find someone who would listen to him about what he’s going through without passing judgement of their own. Sid is an 18-year-old boy living in a typical Indian household with his parents and grandmother. Sid has always been a brilliant student academically and has had accolades in sports rendering him in what one may call an astounding over-all achiever. Even so, he has started to feel burned out and depressed. He has gone into his own …

Two Moons, Chuhan Peng

Theses

People may think that they can better understand the world through convenient technology in this Internet age. The fact is that even though we can search almost everything on Google, we still live and are confined to a small world. What's worse, big smart data will provide you with "privately customized" information services based on your specific situation. People gradually become accustomed to a voice and are more inclined to think that the world is what they see. This has also led to the fact that people of different social classes and cultural environments may be very different, and they …

Winner, Yizhang Liu

Theses

Winner is an animated 3D graduate thesis film. The entire film, including the credits, is 4 minutes 34 seconds long. The production phase went from August 2020 to December 2021. The story is about an old man who wants to profit from a robot he invented, but finally paid for his selfishness in the end. The man is a robot inventor. He uses a chip to control the robot and uses it to participate in the robot fighting competition. His robot won one championship after another, and he was rewarded with bags after bags of money. He became richer and …

Rocks, Xuting Liu

Theses

ROCKS is a 2D animation thesis film of 6 minutes and 20 seconds and talks about a young woman dealing with difficult memories of her father who is an astronaut and his decision to go away on a long space flight when she was a young girl. The story is about memory, family and making peace with the past, as well as the progress of growing up. The major software used during the entire production process include: Adobe Photoshop, TVPaint, Adobe After Effect and Procreate. It is inspired by some of my own experience as a young girl, and the …

Fruffeltin, Jared Ratzel

Theses

Fruffeltin is a short 2D animated film following the journey of a goofy children’s book character trying to win back the affection of a child after being replaced by a fighting video game. The film’s core message regarding mental health awareness is illuminated through the visualization of character-driven animation, juxtaposing environments and symbolic details. The concept stems from my own personal growth trajectory and reflection upon it within the framework of animated creatures and robots. The narrative follows Fruffeltin, a children’s book character with three leaves on his head, who lives to make a young boy laugh by performing silly …

Underwater, Yuan Zheng

Theses

This thesis seeks to highlight the importance of work-life balance to our mental health. By experiencing an imbalanced life from the first-person view, this thesis focuses on using an abstract visual style to present the character’s inner world and the desperation for relaxation.

Cross-Platform Methods In Computer Graphics That Boost Experimental Film Making, Yue Zhang

Theses

Computer graphics arts such as animations, video games, and special effects in live-action movies have become essential for people seeking entertainment and education. This study aims to explore the potential for experimental film in presenting scientific theory as well as assessing different production strategies in 3D image creation. To invite people into some abstract or complicated scientific topics more readily, non-narrative film form is a viable method to relay this type of information. It's crucial to look at how independent filmmakers employ various ways to fulfill their particular creative purposes. I’ll be demonstrating how these processes worked in making my …