Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Novel Strategy To Improve Checkpoint Immune Response In Pancreatic Cancer, Poornima Devi Shaji

Theses and Dissertations

Pancreatic Cancer is the 3rd lethal causing cancers in United States with a survival rate less than 5-7%. In advanced unresectable pancreatic cancer, treatment options are restrained to surgery because of its extreme aggressiveness. Immunotherapy, one of the current advanced treatments has shown promising response in other cancers. However, this therapy is limited in pancreatic cancer due to desmoplasia and fibrotic tumor microenvironment (TME).

Our superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONS) of curcumin (Curcuma longa, principal curcuminoid of turmeric) have potential ability to inhibit desmoplasia and tumor stroma with an increased bioavailability. This would soften up the tumors for …

Microwave Spectroscopy Of Cyclohexanecarboxylic Acid, Chlorosulfonic Acid, And Its Interaction With Water, Diego Erik Rodriguez

Theses and Dissertations

This study combines computational chemistry and microwave spectroscopy to simulate the behavior of two molecules: cyclohexanecarboxylic acid and chlorosulfonic acid. In this thesis, cyclohexanecarboxylic acid will be observed on its own. On the other hand, chlorosulfonic acid will be observed on its own as well as its interaction with one, two, and three water molecules. Chapter 1: Introduction will provide insight on published literature related to cyclohexanecarboxylic acid, chlorosulfonic acid, and perfluoroalkyl substances. Chapter 2: Computational Chemistry will provide the reader with information about the foundation of computational chemistry including theory and development of the science. Chapter 3: Microwave Spectroscopy …

Factors Influencing Intent To Take A Covid-19 Test In The United States, Sheila Rutto

Theses and Dissertations

In 2020, COVID-19 became the first pandemic in the world’s history that brought the entire world to an abrupt and unexpected halt. Since the first reported case of the disease to date, the novel coronavirus has been able to wreak havoc in literary every corner of the globe and left an ever-growing number of unprecedented fatalities. The normal way of life has been disrupted, and the level of uncertainty about the end of this pandemic continues to manifest to many. Due to the urgency to bring this pandemic under control, medical officers have been able to recommend actions that people …

The Impacts And In-Depth Study Of The Environmental Contaminant, Perfluorooctane Sulfonic Acid, And Its Interactions With Water, Karla Veronica Salazar

Theses and Dissertations

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), similar to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), is a synthetic chemical that has been classified as a persistent organic pollutant (POP) by the Stockholm Convention since 2009. Due to the wide previous usage, high stability, high bio-accumulative, and low degradative properties is the reason that PFOS has been found in several compartments of the environment including ocean water, ground water, air, and sediments. Due to the strong interactions generated by the sulfonic acid end, this compound has a tendency to stay in the environment for long periods of time and has proved to be difficult in the removal from …

Home Range Dynamics And Juvenile Dispersal Of Gray Hawks In The Lower Rio Grande Valley, Michael Stewart

Theses and Dissertations

Using GPS-GSM transmitters I determined when 14 juvenile Gray Hawks (Buteo plagiatus) in the Lower Rio Grande Valley of Texas fledged from their natal areas and how far they traveled once they dispersed. These transmitters also allowed me to calculate home range sizes for 22 adults. Additionally, with the GPS-GSM transmitters and 15 VHF transmitters, I discovered that adult Gray Hawks in the study area remained in their territories year-round. Home range sizes were calculated using the minimum convex polygon estimator, the estimation of kernel home-range, and the estimation of kernel Brownian bridge home-range. The same three methods allowed me …

Ad Infinitum: The Bourgeois Construction Of An American Lady, Miriam M. Cepeda

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the emergence of the Bourgeois culture in Antebellum America during the transition of nineteenth century America into what we refer to as “modern-day America.” This period is crucial in American history as ideological concepts developed as the nation industrialized, thus creating the nation’s identity. In doing so, gender roles were voraciously prescribed with a focus on women’s sexuality as a focal point for Victorian discourse. Unlike prior to the Revolution, which gender roles were previously assumed, by the mid-nineteenth century, modes of surveillance are apparent in sermons, medical treatises, Victorian periodicals and literature, in which ideological productions …

Synthesis, Isolation And Structural Elucidation Of Cage-Shaped Aluminum And Gallium Phosphorous Aryloxide Complexes As Highly Reactive Lewis Acids And Carboxyboranes As Carbon Monoxide Releasing Molecules (Corms), Hussam Wannas Shinawa Alhamza

Theses and Dissertations

Group 13 Lewis acids have gained a lot of interest in over the years due to their reactivity, potency, and applications in the field of catalysis. Generally, there is a direct relationship between the catalytic activity of the organometallic Lewis acid and its acidity. However, this gives rise to a bigger challenge which is related to the stability of the catalyst. Our preliminary results from working on the catalytic reduction of CO2 have shown catalytic deactivation after one or two cycles. Utilizing bulkier substituents such as monodentate phenolates have shown promising increased stability and reactivity. The structural optimization (i.e., open-shape …

A Machine Learning-Based Approach To Predict And Optimize The Performance Of Zero Energy Building (Zeb): A Case Study For Florida, Benjamin Kubwimana

Theses and Dissertations

Machine learning is currently one of the most searched fields aiming to solve real-life problems. Building simulation software tools help engineers estimate building energy behaviors before the actual construction, allowing implementation of more energy efficient choices in building design and construction. Current building energy simulation software tools are mostly physics-based and still lack the benefit obtained with machine learningbased modeling, which offers fast and less computationally expensive techniques to build energy models and efficiently perform design optimization. This thesis presents a machine learning-based approach for building energy modeling and optimizing design parameters to minimize building’s energy consumption. The study is …

Variations In Otolith-Zinc Concentrations Of Brown Surgeonfish (Acanthurus Nigrofuscus) Between Marine Protected Areas And Fished Reefs, Matthew Austin Nichols

Theses and Dissertations

As human populations continue to increase, the growing reliance on exploited fish stocks has furthered patterns of declining body size and biomass worldwide. To mitigate these impacts, fisheries managers have implemented a variety of conservation strategies, including marine protected areas (MPA), as these serve as a refuge for fish, resulting in increases in numerous health metrics (fish density, biomass, body-size, and species diversity). By using fish otolith samples previously concluded to have physiological and morphometric differences between MPA and fished reef (FR) fish, this thesis explores the potential of using microchemical analysis of zinc (Zn) to reveal impacts MPAs might …

Assessment And Monitoring Of Deltaic Wetlands And Fluvial Systems: Refining And Validating A Multimetric Index Of Resaca Ecosystem Health, David Lecusay Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Resacas are ancient distributary channels of the lower Rio Grande River historically serving as floodwater drainage pathways onto the Laguna Madre, Texas. Resacas provide numerous ecosystem services and critical habitat for many species. Mainly influenced by urbanization, integrating a multimetric index for assessing and monitoring resaca ecosystem health is required for adaptive management. The Resaca Health Index (RHI) integrates structural and functional components: (1) nonredundant metrics describing fish communities (Fish Community Index); (2) Trophic State Index derived from Secchi depth; (3) decay constant from riparian vegetation leaf litter decomposing in the water column; and (4) a riparian quality index based …

An Introduction And Performance Guide To Libby Larsen's The Peculiar Case Of Dr. H.H. Holmes, Devlan Thomas Taylor

Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development Of A Magnetic Confinement Attachment For Enhanced Signal In Handheld Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Soil Analysis, Alfred C. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Field techniques for characterizing low levels of heavy elements of less than 100 parts per million in soils tend to be unreliable because of the relatively weak signal of these elements and the large, variable background inherent to analyzing soils with minimal sample preparation. To enhance the detection and analysis capability of a handheld laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) instrument, this work investigates the effects of a unique magnetic confinement apparatus on signal intensities, focusing on five iron lines as well as those from actinides in 11 soil samples. The proposed magnetic confinement apparatus achieved over 0.8 T but did not …

Smart Glasses Assisting Visually-Impaired People, Ali Delham Algarni

Theses and Dissertations

Smart Glasses Assisting Visually-Impaired artificial intelligence system providing speech recognition, object recognition, face recognition, and distance to all features for visually impaired people's enhanced (daily) autonomy. Smart Glasses Assisting Visually-Impaired People is a new integrative process that combines as such, the invention is both a further use of the technologies supporting the features listed above and an improvement to the overall activities carried out by visually impaired people in their daily lives activities such as: providing vocal commands, being able to read text, being able to receive spoken information about various objects in their surroundings, being aware of their location …

Factors That Influence The Extent To Which Cities On Florida’S Atlantic Coast Are Preparing For Climate Change: A Multiple Regression Analysis And Learning Opportunities For Policymakers, Sheila Ann Young

Theses and Dissertations

This study involved a survey (Appendix A) to leaders of 158 cities inside the counties that border the Atlantic coast of Florida. The impetus behind this study was to identify how policymakers were obtaining, understanding, and sharing information about climate change in order to help inform the policymaking process about adaptation. We cannot only train students at the secondary and university levels about climate change and expect policies to change right away. Those students, for the most part, will not be in policymaking leadership positions for years or decades. What is needed now are strategies to address the climate change …

Evolutionary Algorithms For Function Model Synthesis, Amaninder Singh Gill

Theses and Dissertations

Function modelling plays an essential role in the systematic design process. Designers are trained in the academia trained on function models, yet the acceptance of function models in the industry remains sparse. A possible reason is that there is a lack of computational support for synthesizing function models. The research presented in this dissertation aims to fill that gap. A conceptual proof of function model synthesis using a Genetic Algorithm (GA) is initially presented. Thereafter a priori rules to evaluate function model have been developed. These rules do not rely on a designer conveying designer intent to the algorithm, which …

Brevity Vs. Breadth: Can Memory Disorders Be Diagnosed Using Fewer Neuropsychological Assessments?, Analise Roccaforte

Theses and Dissertations

Object: The present study examines the clinical utility of combining a cognitive screener, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), with a measure of adaptive functioning, Texas Functional Living Scale (TFLS), to diagnose memory disorders when differentiating between cognition within normal limits (WNL), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Method: A total of 207 Health First Memory Disorder Clinic patients, ages 64-94, were included in the study. Participants were screened using the MoCA and then they completed a brief neuropsychological evaluation, which included the TFLS. Participants were only included if they received a diagnosis of cognition WNL, MCI, or AD. They …

Changes In The Abundance And Distribution Of Benthic Mollusks In Polluted Sediments Of A Shallow Subtropical Estuary, Rachael Holtsberg Stark

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) has been degraded by decades of eutrophication, and has accumulated an abundance of fine-grained, organic-rich sediments (muck). To quantify the impacts of organic sediments and environmental dredging, benthic mollusks were chosen to serve as bioindicators of environmental change, sediment health, and water quality. Data on species richness, biodiversity, and abundances was collected alongside sediment and water quality data before, during and after dredging. Organic sediment content was found to have an inverse logarithmic relationship benthic mollusk biodiversity, species richness, and abundance. Sediments low in percent organic content (0.7% to 6.1%) were located near the adjacent …

Arion 33: A Prospective Mission To Near-Earth Asteroids, Alita Regi

Theses and Dissertations

Near-Earth asteroids will become primary targets for space industrialization in the future as humanity becomes a multi-planetary species. But before such missions, it is necessary to survey these asteroids for their intrinsic scientific value. Exploring asteroids via orbiter missions can help us understand the asteroid's surface composition while providing us a cost and power model required for future missions. Therefore, it is beneficial to study asteroids to pave the way for future mining operations or more comprehensive scientific explorations. Hence, in this thesis, the target asteroids 2011 UW158 and 65803 Didymos are selected as case studies for the hypothetical mission …

3d Printed Bioglass Incorporated Collagen Matrices For Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering, Nilabh Sunil Kajave

Theses and Dissertations

Musculoskeletal injuries are a major cause of disability affecting millions of people around the world and resulting in a significant economic burden of over $14 billion. Surgical intervention using autografts and allografts is the current gold standard used in the clinic for the repair and regeneration of musculoskeletal injuries, but these treatment options are associated with major limitations such as donor-site morbidity, need for multiple surgeries, immune-related complications, and risk for disease transmission. Over the past three decades, the development and application of tissue engineering strategies for restoration and reconstruction of damaged or diseased musculoskeletal tissues have gained considerable momentum …

Assessment Of The Skeletonization And Motion Monitoring System For The Security Efficiency Of The United States Airports, Haoruo Fu

Theses and Dissertations

The screening processes at airports, including passengers and baggage, have changed dramatically in the past twenty years. The goal of the X-ray scanning is to enhance airport screening by preventing passengers from carrying weapons and contraband. X-ray is more effective compared to traditional pat-down. The X-ray shoots beams through passengers and their baggage, which provides an inner view to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners. Issues and concerns of the use of X-ray have also been raised, as some passengers complained about possible health issues due to the body exposure of radioactive waves; other experts pointed out possible human factor …

The Iconicity And Non-Arbitrariness Of Body Locations In Four Unrelated Sign Languages, John Samson

Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, I show that universally, there is a strong tendency for signs located on the body to have an iconic or non-arbitrary motivation, especially in their original form. I analyze sign language dictionaries from four unrelated sign languages and establish an iconic or non-arbitrary link between the form of the signs and their meaning, and classify those links according to 8 categories of body location iconicity and 3 categories of non-arbitrariness. The strength of this tendency depends on the percentage of signs that are shown to have an iconic or non-arbitrary link. For the data analyzed here this …

Investigating Information Structure And Word Order In Latin Poetry: An Analysis Of Epigrams, Justin Riley Soderholm

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the epigrammatic verses of the Latin poet Marcus Valerius Martialis (Martial). The emphasis is on the order of basic constituents and information structure, in particular, the concepts of sentence articulation and focus structure as modelled by Lambrecht (1994).

I categorize clauses from roughly 200 lines of epigrammatic verse by the sentence articulations topic-comment, in which propositions have predicate focus, identificational, in which propositions have argument focus, and thetic, in which whole propositions are in focus. For each articulation, I also present various examples demonstrating the variety of word orders in each. Additionally, this study examines some patterns …

Hybrid Bermudagrass And Kentucky Bluegrass Response Under Deficit Irrigation In A Semi-Arid, Cool Season Climate, Hanna R. Burgin

Theses and Dissertations

As average global temperatures rise, cool-season C3 turfgrasses, such as the most commonly grown Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.; KBG), struggle to tolerate extreme summer heat and increase their water consumption. Hybrid Bermudagrass (Cynodon dactylon [L.] Pers. × Cynodon transvaalensis Burtt Davy; HBG) is a warm-season C4 grass that may be increasingly suited for northern ecosystems traditionally classified as transition or cool-season climate zones. Glasshouse and field studies were conducted to compare HBG and KBG water use. The objective of the glasshouse study was to evaluate plant health and growth for two HBG cultivars (‘DT-1’ and ‘NorthBridge’) compared to a …

Phylogenetic Relationships Of Genera In The Caddisfly Family Limnephilidae Using Anchored Hybrid Enrichment-Based Phylogenomic Analysis (Insecta:Trichoptera), Kyle Charles Rawlinson

Theses and Dissertations

Limnephilidae is a large family within Trichoptera, consisting of 4 subfamilies (Dicosmoecinae, Ecclisomyiinae, Limnephilinae, and Philocascinae), 98 genera, and 1178 species. It is among the most diverse families within Trichoptera. It is also ecologically diverse, occupying more habitats than any other family in the order. There are currently no published generic phylogenies of Limnephilidae based on molecular data. Here we used anchored hybrid enrichment to capture and sequence 922 loci for 57 species taken from what have been considered the full range of genera in the family. We expanded the taxon sampling by adding supplementary species with DNA barcodes, 28S …

Modeling User Relationships In Online Communities Of Creators, Berkeley Andrus

Theses and Dissertations

Those who study creativity, especially from a computational perspective, have long understood the role of social influence in the creative process. This has motivated many efforts to simulate social mechanics in artificial creative systems. However, these simulations have often replicated generic or assumed human behaviors rather than specific anthropological data. In this work we take a more focused approach by quantitatively measuring interactions between creators in online social communities and replicating observed phenomena in a simulated environment. The primary contributions of this thesis are 1) defining quantitative metrics for comparing human and simulated social networks of creators, 2) providing social …

From Half-Free To Property: The Evolution Of Slavery In Dutch New Netherland And English New York, 1621-1712, Sarah E. Hendrickson

Theses and Dissertations

Between 1621 and 1712, Dutch and English colonists imported African slaves to present-day New York to help create a profitable colony. This thesis explores why the Dutch created a society with slavery and how the English transformed New York into a slave society during this period.

Investigating The Role And Localization Of B Cells In The Red-Eared Slider, Trachemys Scripta, Whitney Hurst

Theses and Dissertations

The immune system of humans has been studied extensively, but very little is known about the immune response in reptiles. Our lab has been working to better understand the immune system of a pond turtle, Trachemys scripta (red-eared slider). Turtles are known for their longevity and their immune system should play an important role in their ability to survive. Our main interest is understanding B cell function and location in slider turtles. B cells are a type of white blood cell that play a vital role in the immune response of humans, with the majority secreting antibodies that mark invading …

Say Her Name: The Narrative Afterlives Of Breonna Taylor, Tyler S. Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Within the growing literature and media coverage of police misconduct and brutality, Black women and girls are functionally invisible. Since the Black Lives Matter movement began the names of only two women have stood out among the Black male victims we know by name: Sandra Bland and Breonna Taylor. Here, I will explore through a Black feminist analytic framework, how the intersectionalities of gender and race contributed to a delay in awareness and accountability for the death of Breonna Taylor. This content analysis looked at the media coverage of Breonna Taylor for the one-year period (3/13/20-3/13/21) to uncover the reasons, …

Keep Your Friends Close: Ostracism Via Social Media As A Function Of Relational Closeness, Ryan Barta

Theses and Dissertations

Ostracism can occur on social media sites just as easily as in face-to-face interactions, but the outcomes of such events may depend on the closeness of the preexisting relationship. A needs-threat model was employed alongside measures of relational devaluation to collect data from 343 participants. The participants were assigned to one of three groups: close tie, loose tie, or control. Participants in the loose ties condition reported less basic needs fulfilment than those in the close ties condition. Additionally, participants in both experimental conditions reported similar feelings of relational devaluation compared to control participants. A post-hoc exploratory analysis of attributions …

Functional And Structural Characterization Of Trms, Omid John Zare-Mehrjerdi

Theses and Dissertations

In plants, the cell wall makes cell migration impossible so plants must carefully control the orientation of cell division to ensure proper tissue development. Before prophase, the division plane is marked by formation of the preprophase band (PPB) which disassembles at the onset of prometaphase. During cytokinesis, the cell plate localizes to the division plane and attaches to the cell wall where the PPB was located. The proteins Tonneau 1 (TON1), Tonneau 2 (TON2), and the Tonneau 1 Recruiting Motif (TRM) family may be involved in the regulation of cell division orientation and PPB formation as plants with mutations in …