Digital Commons Network^™

Technology Use By Registered Dietitians For Patient Care In An Outpatient Setting, Donika Emerllahu

Theses

Background Technology use in digital health tools has increased significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted many in-office patient care services. Although healthcare practices have adopted several technologies, they remain surrounded by a saturated increase in consumer-based wearables and smartphone applications. As a result, attitudes and acceptability toward integrating these technologies for patient care are evolving. Digital health tools is an umbrella term including several technologies utilized among health care providers for the purpose of patient care. The inclusion of digital health tools by Registered Dietitian Nutritionists’ (RDNs) in practice provides a more robust and personalized approach to patients and their …

Optimizing Vaccine Procurement For Affordability And Profits, Bruno Alves-Maciel

Theses

This thesis presents methods to increase savings in the global vaccine market without compromising its sustainability. Considering a hypothetically coordinated vaccine market (HCVM), where one or more coordinating entities are responsible for negotiating quantities and prices of vaccines on behalf of countries with different purchasing powers, this work explores four different and complementary issues related to market configurations impacting global affordability and profits: (1) the level of cooperation among coordinating entities; (2) optimal country assignment to coordinating entities; (3) benefits in procuring vaccines through tenders of formularies rather than purchasing doses individually; and (4) the value of a dollar saved …

Towards A Robust And Long-Lasting Antimicrobial Surface, Justin A. Silva

Theses

Bacterial adhesion to surfaces such as medical devices causes approximately 1.7 million infections and 75,000 deaths each year in the United States. Throughout the past several years, many studies have been conducted on micro- and nanostructure-enabled antimicrobial surfaces. However, this idea is controversial, as some studies have shown that superhydrophobic micro and nanostructures cannot prevent bacterial growth over time and that they are not a practical solution to reduce healthcare-related infections. The objective of this study is to develop a mechanically durable and long-lasting antimicrobial surface to prevent bacterial growth. High-aspect-ratio micro mushroom structures are fabricated by high resolution stereolithography …

Deprivation Of Liberty Relating To Detention In Irish Residential Care Centres For The Older Person; A Legal And Ethical Analysis, Florence Horsman Hogan

Theses

People enter residential care for a wide variety of reasons, with many people stating they would prefer to live in their own homes. Lack of community resources may lead to an older person entering residential care against their stated will and preferences. Recent case law in Ireland has established that outside of the Mental Health Act (2001) and for infection control purposes the 1947 Health Act, there is no legal provision in Irish healthcare which allows for a person to be detained against their will. The Assisted Decision Making (Capacity) Act 2015 is a key piece of legislation to enable …

Critical Corridor: Survey Of Predator Occurrence And Habitat Use In A Threatened Rainforest Protected Area: Comatsa-Sud And Marojejy National Park, Madagascar, Patrick H. Ross

Theses

Madagascar is a nation praised for its floral and faunal endemism and biodiversity. Among the island nation’s most emblematic fauna are its native mammalian carnivores; they are members of the threatened and endemic Eupleridae family. The Corridor of Marojejy – Anjanaharibe Sud – Tsaratanana (COMATSA) is a system of forest protected areas in which three large protected areas are connected in northern Madagascar: Tsaratanana Reserve, Anjanaharibe Sud Special Reserve and Marojejy National Park which is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. COMATSA is a newly protected and currently threatened corridor system that lacks detailed surveys and assessments of its native …

An Empirical Investigation Into Current And Future Overheating Frequency In Nzeb And Passivhaus Dwellings In Ireland, Evan Finegan

Theses

The European Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) 2011, ensures that all new Irish dwellings designed after 01st November 2019 are nearly zero energy (nZEB) dwellings. The Passive House (PH) standard has been the most commonly applied energy standard across the globe in recent decades, while overheating is identified as a growing issue in nZEB and PH dwellings. The EPBD requires all dwellings to be designed to reduce energy consumption, while considering general indoor climate conditions to avoid the negative effects of overheating. Overheating frequency simulations are not mandatory for dwellings under Irish legislation. Anticipated climate change trends will result in …

Analysis Of Global Banking Network, Sonali Kannan

Theses

The outbreak of the Global Pandemic Covid-19 that spread terribly across various countries from the end of 2019, has severely altered people’s life and economy. Various reports across papers and news articles on how each government was managing the costs of vaccines, medical equipment, and necessities. The world saw shifts in stock markets, unemployment, the tourism industry completely coming to a standstill, and more. Has this Covid Pandemic which played a crucial role within geographical boundaries altered the financial transactions across countries on a higher level? With the help of the statistics available with the Bank of International Settlements, this …

Post-Season Depression, But Not Anxiety, Differs From In-Season Status In Ncaa Diii Lacrosse Student-Athletes, Jimmy Spillane

Theses

Objective: While mental health among collegiate athletes is receiving increased attention, research on when student-athletes suffer the most from anxious or depressive thoughts is limited. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine how anxiety and depression levels change in student-athletes between in-season, and after completion of the playoffs (after-season), timepoints.

Design: The present study was a pre-post study design with a repeated measures assessment six weeks apart that collected data using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and Harvard Department of Psychiatry/National Depression Screening Day Scale (HANDS). The survey set was delivered using the Qualtrics Platform (Qualtrics International Inc, …

Investigation Of Thickness And Robustness Of Ultrathin Parylene Membranes For Tissue Barrier And Co-Culture Models, Shayan Gholizadeh

Theses

Ultrathin porous membranes are currently used for various biomedical applications, ranging from co-culture systems to tissue barrier models. In the blood-brain barrier model, the intimate proximity between endothelial and glial cells plays a significant role in cell-cell communication and transmigration across the barrier, which cannot be physiologically modeled with conventional co-culture systems typically separating cell types by more than 10 μm. A thickness gradient membrane can enable studies where the goal is to understand the physical characteristics of co-culture arrangement in the barrier model. Here, a robust method to generate ultrathin porous Parylene C (UPP) membranes is developed not just …

Color In Pharma: Color Associations And Expected Efficacies, Rema M. Amawi

Theses

Colors influence our daily perceptions and expectations which can manifest in a variety of ways. This research has three main objectives: the first is to demonstrate this effect on the relationship between the colors of pills and their perceived and expected efficacies. The second is to test this effect on a wide variety of demographics, thereby demonstrating that categories such as ethnicity, location, age, gender, educational levels, and pill usage frequency can influence the choices made by participants. Finally, the third objective is to understand the reasoning behind the choices made by participants, as well as the color associations exhibited. …

Effects Of Wettability, Lithology, And Permeability On The Optimum Slug Size Of Low Salinity Water Flooding In Carbonates: An Experimental Approach, Hala Khaled Hasan Alshadafan

Theses

Low salinity water flooding has attracted academic and industry communities due to its relatively simple and applicable technology. One of the drawbacks of applying the IOR/EOR technique is the lack of the availability of low salinity water in large quantities at the reasonable cost required for a technically and environmentally successful project. To overcome this problem, the industry proposed to use produced water/sea water after dilution, and reverse osmosis filter technology to achieve the required salinity. Both techniques are quite costly and might hinder the project's economic success. Low salinity water as slug size followed by high salinity water was …

Asssembly And Deployment Of The Uaeu 256-Element Radio Array For Space Science, Ibrahim J.M. Alghoul

Theses

The scope of this project, a 256-element Radio Interferometer Array was assembled and deployed as part of the “UAEU Radio Astronomy Pathway Project”, which is jointly supported by the College of Science and the National Space Science & Technology Centre (NSSTC) at the UAE University. This antenna array was deployed at the NSSTC site, and it will serve as the central part of the ground-based radio observations facility to be utilized for multi-disciplinary space science research at the UAEU. The facility is capable of making low-frequency radio observations of astronomical sources and events, measurements for spacecraft tracking, atmospheric studies, planetary …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Graphene Oxide-Based High-Density Polyethylene / Polypropylene Nanocomposites For Biomedical Applications, Albaina Ali Aldhaheri

Theses

Polymeric nanocomposites have recently become one of the most essential sought-after materials for biomedical applications. Among many others, High-Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is being widely used as a bearing material for the artificial hip and knee joints. However, the weak surface properties of HDPE limit the total artificial hip joints’ survival chances. The addition of polypropylene (PP) improves the surface properties of HDPE composites along with their thermal, chemical, and mechanical properties which are crucial in biomedical applications. Moreover, PP can be easily blended with polyethylene (PE) as it has an almost similar chemical resistance to PE. However, PP is more …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Nanostructured Hybrid Materials For Gas Sensing Applications, Husam H.D Altakroori

Theses

The rapid increase in environmental pollution has become a major concern, and its monitoring has evolved into a priority for human health. This fact has directed the researchers to make more efforts to find new techniques for the detection of gases hazardous to the environment and human health. With the tremendous advances in technology, gas-sensing devices have become popularly used in environmental applications to detect various toxic gases at very low concentrations.

This work aims at developing high-performance gas sensors with enhanced sensitivity, selectivity, low response time, and low operating temperature. The proposed sensors are fabricated based on the integration …

Static Testing Of Hybrid Rocket Engine Using Biomass Waste, Saleh Mohammed Musaed Badi

Theses

This work investigates experimentally for the first time the performance of two solid biomass wastes as propellants for a Hybrid Rocket Motor based on the combustion and propulsion parameters such as combustion chamber pressure, thrust force, chamber temperature, combustion characteristics, and flame length generated. The main objective of this study is to examine the performance of the proposed biomass fuels (Date stone powder and Jojoba waste powder) in comparison with typical hydrocarbon fuels. To make an accurate comparison, Paraffin Wax-based propellant was used in this study as a reference fuel to compare with biomass performance using the same testing facility …

Distribution Modelling Of Socotra Cormorant Using Maxent, Areej Mustafa Jaradat

Theses

This thesis is concerned with species distribution modeling of the Socotra Cormorant (Phalacrocorax nigrogularis), a regionally endemic seabird to the Arabian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, and the Gulf of Aden. Socotra Cormorants are important for the marine ecosystem as they apply top-down control and maintain the balance between trophic levels. They also contribute to the cycling of nutrients significantly. The bird is categorized as vulnerable by the IUCN. Large portions of their suitable habitat are disturbed or degraded due to oil exploration and coastal development. The seabird is poorly studied in every ecological aspect. The main objective of …

A Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (Mcdm) Approach For Data-Driven Distance Learning Recommendations, Aysha Meshaal Alshamsi

Theses

Distance learning has been adopted as an alternative learning strategy to the dominant face-to-face teaching methodology. It has been largely implemented by many governments worldwide due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implication in enforcing lockdown and social distancing. In emergency situations distance learning is referred to as Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). Due to this dynamic, sudden shift, and scaling demand in distance learning, many challenges have been accentuated. These include technological adoption, student commitments, parent involvement, and teacher extra burden management, changes in the organization methodology, in addition to government development of new guidelines and regulations …

The Use Of Actinobacteria To Improve The Efficacy Of Phytoremediation Of Heavy Metal-Polluted Soils In The United Arab Emirates, Fatima Abdulmoneim Hussain

Theses

In an effort to gain the advantages provided by actinobacterial enzyme (1- aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid) (ACC) deaminase (ACCD) in the phytoremediation of heavy metals from the environment, the ability of native actinobacteria with ACC deaminase activity to promote the growth of Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon L.) in soils contaminated with nickel nitrate was evaluated under greenhouse conditions. This enzyme hydrolyzes (ACC), the immediate biosynthetic precursors of the hormone ethylene (ET) in plant tissues to ammonia and α keto-butyrate. The main objectives of this study were: (1) Isolating beneficial native heavy metal-tolerant actinobacteria from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) contaminated soil capable …

Physicochemical, Techno-Functional And Bioactive Properties Of Camel Whey Protein Concentrate As Affected By Spray-Drying And Ultrasonication Treatment, Alanoud Muhsen Al Thaibani

Theses

Whey protein concentrates (WPCs) are gaining importance as a functional ingredient due to their nutritional, techno-functional and bioactive properties. In this study, WPCs were prepared from skimmed camel milk, then either spray-dried (SD) at 170, 185 and 200°C, or treated by ultrasonication (US) (20 kHz) for 5, 10 and 15 min followed by freeze-drying to obtain powders. The characterization of WPC powders was carried out by Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and Reverse-Phase Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography (RP-UPLC) which showed that the US treatment degraded the proteins more than SD. The morphology, particle size, and surface charge of WPC …

Mangrove Growth Promotion By Endophytic Actinobacteria And Seaweed Extract, Ameera Khalfan Salem Alkaabi

Theses

In this study, I aimed to determine the impact of the application of a commercial seaweed extract (SWE) bio-stimulant and endophytic actinobacterial isolates on growth performance and endogenous hormonal levels of mangroves. Therefore, I isolated endophytic plant growth promoting (PGP) actinobacteria (PGPA) from mangrove roots; and evaluated their potential as biological inoculants on mangrove seedlings under greenhouse and open-field nursery conditions. Seven salt tolerant isolates had the ability to produce different levels of in vitro plant growth regulators (PGRs) and 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) deaminase (ACCD), and to solubilize phosphorus. Accordingly, only one isolate, Streptomyces tubercidicus UAE1 (St), was …

Deep Learning Based Segmentation And Classification For Improved Breast Cancer Detection, Bita Khosrow Asadi Khosrow Asadi

Theses

Breast Cancer is a leading killer of women globally. It is a serious health concern caused by calcifications or abnormal tissue growth in the breast. Doing a screening and identifying the nature of the tumor as benign or malignant is important to facilitate early intervention, which drastically decreases the mortality rate. Usually, it uses ultrasound images, since they are easily accessible to most people and have no drawbacks as such, unlike in the other most famous screening technique of mammograms where in some cases you may not get a clear scan. In this thesis, the approach to this problem is …

Thermal Stress Mitigation Of Single-Phase Sinewave Inverter By Using Double Switch H Bridge Configuration, Mohammad Mousa Ahmad Hushki

Theses

The increasing demand for renewable energies and the ongoing advancement in the industry require continuously evolving power converters in terms of efficiency, power density, and reliability. Furthermore, power converters’ applications in harsh and remote environments such as offshore wind turbines demand robust and reliable designs to help reduce operational costs. Power switch failure is a critical reliability issue that leads to the converter going out of service, causing an unscheduled maintenance event. The main reason behind power switch failure is thermal cycling. Therefore, the first part of this thesis attempts to develop an effective double switch H bridge inverter topology …

Impact Of Saline Water Irrigation On Date Palm (Phoenix Dactylifera) Associated Bulk Soil Bacterial Communities In Oases Agroecosystem Of Uae, Fardous Abdi Ibrahim Jibar Alhashmi

Theses

Irrigation of date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) with saline groundwater is routinely practiced in the arid agroecosystems of United Arab Emirates (UAE), due to freshwater scarcity. Saline groundwater irrigation is known to deposit salts in the top layers of soil and increase soil salinization. However, how increasing soil salinization affects the belowground bacterial communities, is not well investigated. Soil samples were collected from 14 different date farms where irrigation water source was either non–saline water or saline groundwater. Soil bacterial communities were identified using 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding. The results showed that bacterial diversity (including Shannon diversity, richness, and …

Factors Affecting The Antibacterial Activity Of Cefiderocol On Klebsiella Pneumoniae With Diverse Characteristics, Lana Jamal Rashed Daoud

Theses

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing serious threat that poses a burden on the healthcare system. Spread of AMR bacteria limits treatment options; thus, new antimicrobial agents are required. Cefiderocol (CFDC) is a novel siderophore cephalosporin, approved by the FDA in 2019 for use in treating infections caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens; but it is not yet in clinical use in the UAE. CFDC is equipped with stabilizers against β-lactamases as well as a siderophore side chain that allows it to penetrate the outer membrane of bacteria through the iron uptake pathways. The aim of this study is to …

Robust Detection Of Coronary Heart Disease Using Machine Learning Algorithms, Anas Haitham Domyati

Theses

Predicting whether or not someone will get heart or cardiac disease is now one of the most difficult jobs in the area of medicine. Heart disease is responsible for the deaths of about one person per minute in the contemporary age. Processing the vast amounts of data that are generated in the field of healthcare is an important application for data science. Because predicting cardiac disease is a difficult undertaking, there is a pressing need to automate the prediction process to minimize the dangers that are connected with it and provide the patient with timely warning. The chapter one in …

Performance Evaluation Of Glass-Fiber Reinforced Cement-Free Geopolymer Concrete, Mohammad Zuaiter

Theses

The alkali-activation of aluminosilicate materials produces a geopolymer binder that promises to be a sustainable replacement to cement in concrete. Yet, such concrete has experienced brittle behavior and poor resistance to cracking. As a means of improving its performance, this research assesses the feasibility of utilizing glass fibers in slag-fly ash blended geopolymer concrete for structural applications. A blend of slag and fly ash served as the binding material. Two types of glass fibers were used individually or as a hybrid combination. Type A and B glass fibers had similar properties but different lengths of 24 and 43 mm, respectively. …

Multifunctional Bioactive Properties Of Plant-Based Protein Hydrolysates Derived From Citrullus Colocynthis (Bitter Apple) And Pennisetum Glaucum (Pearl Millet) Seeds, Munira Jassem Alblooshi

Theses

Protein hydrolysates (PH) from plant-based proteins (PBP) are gaining importance due to the availability, sustainable and economical production when compared to their an-imal origin counterpart. Therefore, this study explored under-utilized PBP hydroly-sates derived from Bitter apple (BA) and Pearl millet (PM) and determined their bio-active properties. Enzymatic hydrolysis (EH) of BA and PM proteins was carried out by enzymes such as alcalase (A), bromelain (B), and chymotrypsin (C) for 3, 6, and 9 h to produce PH possessing high bioactive properties. Highest degree of hydrolysis (DH) was reported in BAPH generated with C9 (87.8%) whereas for PMPH highest DH was …

Optimization Of Palmitic Acid Production In Chloroidium Sp. Utex 3007 As A Sustainable Source Of Palm Oil Alternative, Amnah Salem Alzahmi

Theses

The increase in palm oil consumption and production has resulted in removing up to 90% of trees in some tropical forests. The green microalgae Chloroidium sp. UTEX 3007 can be an alternative sustainable source of palm oil due to its high palmitic acid content. The objective of this study was to generate a mutant Chloroidium population that is capable of producing and accumulating elevated levels of palmitic acid and to characterize the obtained populations’ lipid contents. The palmitic acid production optimization in Chloroidium sp. UTEX 3007 was conducted via a workflow of ultraviolet (UV) mutagenesis and sorting of high-lipid producing …

Un-Fair Trojan: Targeted Backdoor Attacks Against Model Fairness, Nicholas Furth

Theses

Machine learning models have been shown to be vulnerable against various backdoor and data poisoning attacks that adversely affect model behavior. Additionally, these attacks have been shown to make unfair predictions with respect to certain protected features. In federated learning, multiple local models contribute to a single global model communicating only using local gradients, the issue of attacks become more prevalent and complex. Previously published works revolve around solving these issues both individually and jointly. However, there has been little study on the effects of attacks against model fairness. Demonstrated in this work, a flexible attack, which we call Un-Fair …

A Detailed Parameter Study Into The Dermal Absorption Of Chemical Warfare Agents And The Effects Of Pharmacokinetics, Koko Lear

Theses

Chemical warfare agents (CWAs) are substances of varying toxicity profiles. These chemicals exhibit complex dynamics and pose a serious health risk when released into the environment. A mathematical model based on Fick’s second law of diffusion was developed to comprehend how these compounds were absorbed into the skin. The analysis applied to both small and large doses and, successfully, predicted experimental results. This work also includes the effects of CWA physicochemical properties on evaporation and dermal absorption through the stratum corneum. A sensitivity analysis was conducted to assess the impacts of small variations in the initial dose, environmental conditions, and …