Digital Commons Network^™

Synthesis Of Bioactive Heterocycles, Shaila Akter Shetu

Theses and Dissertations

The Discovery of a variety of heterocyclic drugs for the treatment of cancer and other diseases (e.g, neglected tropical diseases) is a medical breakthrough and inspiring for the research community as a whole. A wide range of natural, semi-synthetic, and synthetic anticancer drugs are synthesized using various methods. Among them, β -lactams stand out as a novel class of antibiotics that has different types of biological as well as anti-cancer properties. β -lactam has become a premier and active research subject towards the development of revolutionary anti-cancer drugs. In recent years, a large amount of investigations have been done to …

Tympanostomy Tubes In Children: A Fem Study Of Adverse Effects, Manuel Nicolas Jaramillo Bucheli

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The current study investigates if tympanic (myringotomy) tubes affect hearing by comparing the harmonic displacement response to sound excitation within the hearing frequency range for healthy vs. surgically-treated pediatric tympanic membranes. The use of ear myringotomy tubes has proven an effective method for combating recurrent ear infections in infants and children. These tubes are placed in the tympanic membrane through an incision and connect the middle ear to the external ear, thereby allowing fluid drainage and middle-ear ventilation. While this treatment has been proven beneficial in alleviating urgent pus accumulation in the middle ear, recent research shows that it …

Call The Doctor! A Study Of Parental Medical Nonadherence Within Child Custody Proceedings, Karissa Lynn Cummons

Theses and Dissertations

Medical nonadherence is a common and formidable problem that many pediatric healthcare providers face when treating children with acute and chronic medical conditions because adhering to a physicians’ treatment recommendations is beneficial for successful treatment, disease prevention, and healthy promotion (Dawood et al., 2010). It was estimated that at least one third of patients are unable to complete or adhere to relatively short treatment regimens (Dawood et al., 2010). Reasons for nonadherence to a physicians’ recommendations range from extended duration of treatment, multiple prescribed medications, and periods of symptom remission (Dawood et al., 2010). Despite a parent’s or family’s reason …

Intersections Of Gender And Age: Identification And Attributional Processes On Leadership Effectiveness, Kayla Lynne Bigerton

Theses and Dissertations

As more women enter leadership roles and the ages of leaders becomes more diverse, there is a need for more intersectional research. An intersectional approach was used to assess the impact of leader gender and age on leadership effectiveness through identification and attributional processes. In doing so, different age conceptualizations were also examined. Gender did not have an impact on identification and attributional processes and age had mixed results. Age similarity was not significantly related to leader identification, but perceived leader age had a negative relationship with idiosyncratic fit. Further, social age was examined with different age ranges representing "young”, …

The Effect Of Video Model Dosage And Self-Monitoring On Parent's Use Of Language-Promoting Behavior, Kacie Marie Mcgarry

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has found a disparity between the language trajectories of children within a high, medium, or low-economic-status family. A relationship is reliably found between the language trajectory of toddlers and success throughout school. This study will evaluate a training package to teach parents to engage in behaviors that promote language and assess the training's short-term effect on the trajectories of children (i.e., growing language) within low-socioeconomic backgrounds. Specifically, experimenters will evaluate the impact of the dosage of video modeling, self-evaluation, and self-monitoring on the acquisition of the targeted skills. Data may suggest that the more accurate the individual is …

Modeling Settlement And Filtration Of The Indian River Lagoon Benthic Community, With An Emphasis On Living Dock Restoration Mats, Sandra Lisette Rech

Theses and Dissertations

The Indian River Lagoon (IRL) is one of the most biologically diverse estuaries in North America. An increase in population and anthropogenic effects have led to eutrophication, a decline in water quality, and overall degradation. The Living Docks program is a citizen science initiative started at the Florida Institute of Technology for lagoon restoration. In this program, public and private docks are volunteered to become Living Docks, where oyster mats made of plastic mesh and dead, dried oyster shells are attached to dock pilings in an effort to provide a natural substrate for benthic organism growth. The community which develops …

Towards Orchestration In The Cloud-Fog Continuum, Xavier Jesus Merino Aguilera

Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of the Internet-of-Things has raised demand for computing, storage, and network resources. The cloud model is ill-equipped to handle the volume and variety of data travelling to and from the cloud’s core as more data is generated and consumed at the network’s edge. Some applications necessitate low-latency connectivity and geographical awareness, highlighting the cloud’s centralization shortcomings. By localizing resources, minimizing bandwidth utilization, and lowering latency, the fog and edge layers are proposed to circumvent these limitations. At these layers, resource orchestration is crucial because poor resource management has an impact on service delivery. The aim of this study …

Identifying Properties Of Blockchain Making It Relevant To Iot Applications, Ashwaq Alaklabi

Theses and Dissertations

Blockchain is a distributed ledger system that enables machine-to-machine interactions combined with the Internet of Things (IoT). It employs a series of transactions stored in a database, confirmed by numerous sources, and written into a shared ledger distributed across all nodes. The marriage of IoT with blockchain has several potential benefits, including the ability for a smart device to act autonomously without the need for a centralized authority. It can also monitor how devices communicate with one another. A blockchain network can track and sell almost anything of value, lowering risk and costs for everyone involved. Numerous applications from diverse …

The Effects Of Neuroticism And Treatment Delivery Modality On Therapeutic Outcomes In A Community Mental Health Training Clinic, Michelle Elizabeth Sibol

Theses and Dissertations

The onset of the novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) two and a half years prior to this writing resulted in shifts in everyday life, as individuals worldwide were required to shelter-in-place and abide by social distancing guidelines to slow the spread of the disease. This resulted in a marked increase in the utilization of virtual platforms (“teletherapy”) by mental health care providers, including training clinics, to continue providing therapy services to the community at large. Although the pandemic restrictions have lifted, adaptations made during shelter-in-place mandates remain, including provision of services via teletherapy platforms. The pandemic shed light on the …

Headache Disorders And Neurocognitive Performance Pre- And Post-Concussive Injury, Kaci Gorres

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between pre-existing headache disorders, such as headache or migraine, and neurocognitive testing obtained before and after college-athletes sustain a concussion. Method: A total of 1129 NCAA Division II college athletes from Florida Tech were included in the present study. Participants were included in this study if they completed baseline and/or post-trauma neuropsychological evaluations that included the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool – Fifth Edition (SCAT-5) and Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Tool (ImPACT). Athletes’ headache and/or migraine history was self-reported at baseline and indicated their position in headache history or …

On Clinical Use Of Infrared Cameras For Video-Based Estimation Of 3d Facial Kinematics, William Mackenzie Harrington

Theses and Dissertations

Neurological and neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and stroke can cause speech and orofacial motor impairments with devastating effects on quality of life. Analysis of orofacial movement provides vital information for early diagnosis and tracking disease progression, but current clinical practice relies on perceptual assessments performed by clinicians, which are unreliable and insensitive to early symptoms. New methods in machine learning have enabled automatic and objective assessment of orofacial kinematics from color and depth videos, hence we introduce MEADepthCamera, a mobile application for RGB-D video and audio recording and automatic estimation of 3D facial …

Fabrication Of Solar Absorber Tube With Internal Fin Structure With In718 And Effect Of Boron With In718 For Solar Absorber Tube Using Selective Laser Melting 3d Printing Technology, Naznin Nuria Afrin

Theses and Dissertations

This research aimed to fabricate Solar Absorber Tubes for Solar-Thermal Power Plant with internal fin structures using Selective Laser Melting (SLM) technology. In this study, we investigated the effect of B with IN718 in 3D printing using SLM for solar absorber tubes. The objective was to study the material-process-properties relationship with goal to identify and validate the optimal parameters for the SLM process. Material selected for this study was IN718 with 0.5% and 1% B particle mixed using a V-shape mixing machine. The flowability test was conducted using the Angle of Repose (AOR) method. 3D printed samples …

Development Of Vegetable Oil-Based Nano-Lubricants Using Ag, H-Bn And Mgo Nanoparticles As Lubricant Additives, Kollol Sarker Jogesh

Theses and Dissertations

Because of the harmful impact of petroleum-based lubricant on the environment and human body, vegetable oil-based lubricant with eco-friendly nanoparticles has a great potential to be an alternative lubricant if it possesses proper lubricating properties. In this study, thermal conductivity, viscosity and tribological properties (wear scar diameter and coefficient of friction) of vegetable oil-based nanolubricant, developed from soybean oil and sunflower oil, modified with Ag, h-BN and MgO nanoparticles as lubricant additives, were evaluated. For thermal conductivity evaluation, a line heat source method was used with KD2 Pro-Thermal Property Analyzer. For viscosity evaluation, Haake Mars 40-rheometer was used to evaluate …

Influence Of Pretreatments On Physiological Status And Post-Planting Survival Of Thornforest Seedlings In A Restoration Context, Douglas E. Mainhart

Theses and Dissertations

Semi-arid ecosystems across the globe have faced land conversion posing a threat to the important ecosystem services they provide. Revegetation-centered restoration efforts in arid regions have low success due to limited water availability and higher temperatures. Typically, practitioners utilize methods that modify field conditions around seedlings to mitigate these stressors. I evaluated the efficacy of in-nursery treatments to improve plant water status. Three pretreatments were applied: elevated CO2, drought hardening, and an antitranspirant foliar spray. My goal was to understand how these pretreatments would impact survival and growth in the field and what physiological traits they altered. Elevated CO2 and …

Exploring The Interpersonal, Leadership, And Organizational Factors Related To The Burnout Of Bilingual, Latinx Professional School Counselors [Explorando Los Factores Interpersonales, De Liderazgo Y Organizacionales Relacionados Con El Agotamiento De Los Consejeros Escolares Profesionales Bilingües Y Latine], Crystal Marie Prado

Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the relationship between interpersonal competencies, educational leadership styles of campus principals, organizational practices, and the burnout of professional school counselors (PSCs). A mixed-methods research design was utilized to examine the correlation between identified predictor variables and the level of burnout as measured by the five dimensions of the Counselor Burnout Inventory (CBI; Lee et al., 2007), the three subscales of the Maslach Burnout Inventory: Educators Survey (MBI-ES, Maslach et al., 1986), and personal narratives documenting the participating PSC's most significant professional experiences. The investigation included 100 bilingual, Latinx PSCs from four urban/suburban school districts of border towns …

Incorporating Native Plants In Insectary Strips To Promote Insect Diversity And Below-Ground Beneficial Microbes In South Texas, Lindsey N. Richards

Theses and Dissertations

Farm edges are generally the most undisturbed areas in a farm with diverse vegetation and can enhance agrobiodiversity and provide crucial food and shelter for wildlife, insects, and soil biota. Planting native wildflowers with the ability to reseed and withstand local climatic conditions for semi-permanent vegetation around farm edges or in between crops has potential to biologically control pests. To test this, we ran a two-year study and installed three different flowering insectary strips on a certified organic vegetable farm in South Texas during the winter season. The treatments were: 1) a commercially sourced 17-species native wildflower seed mix; 2) …

The Financial Health Of R2, Land-Grant Universities: The Relationship Of Government Appropriations And Other Major Revenue Streams On Overall Financial Health, Aaron Mitchell

Theses and Dissertations

College and university administrators must be able to process large amounts of financial information quickly and be able to communicate information about financial performance to governing boards. Financial ratio analysis provides a framework for administrators to identify financial and operational concerns as well as variances from institutional plans and policies. Modern financial ratio analysis in the higher education industry relies on a set of standard ratios that comprise the Composite Financial Index (CFI). With more frequent debilitating economic events such as the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic and the predicted enrollment cliff on the horizon, college and university administrators …

To Stay Or Leave: Commitment Decisions Of Early-Career Faculty, Kevin Moberg

Theses and Dissertations

While tenure-track job options have been decreasing in higher education, tenure remains one of the most influential variables in the faculty reward structure. This research project aimed to understand the experience of organizational commitment of early-career tenure-track faculty members prior to earning tenure. Particularly, the project investigated which factors such faculty members considered to be important when deciding to remain at or leave their university and how they applied their meanings of those factors in their decision making process of whether to commit to their institution of employment. The qualitative data for this project were collected through in-person interviews with …

A Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study On Voluntary Reporting Of Professional Groups In U.S. Commercial Aviation, James Norman

Theses and Dissertations

Aviation safety culture research does not exist regarding the specific factors that either promote or discourage voluntary safety reporting among different frontline groups in U.S. Part 121 operations. Moreover, while safety culture has been shown to vary across workgroups, cross-sectional research across multiple aviation organizations regarding voluntary reporting is lacking. To address this gap in the literature, an exploratory study was conducted utilizing a sequential, confirmatory mixed methods approach. A 28-item survey was distributed to air traffic controllers, dispatchers, maintenance technicians, and pilots. The instrument quantitatively assessed organizational safety values, reporting friction, previous reporting experience, just culture, and voluntary reporting …

A Comparative Qualitative Case Study About The Role Of College Debt And Personal Finances In Career Experiences Of Higher Education Professional Staff, Renee Nilsen

Theses and Dissertations

As the cost of higher education has risen, partly due to the embrace of neoliberalism in higher education, students and families have faced a growing cost-sharing burden. Along with an increased demand for graduate education credentials, this trend has led to the growth of student loan debt in the United States. This narrative case study researched how personal finance situations have impacted the career experiences of people aged 28-40 who work as professional staff in higher education. Bronfenbrenner’s Bioecological Model guided the design and analysis to capture the dynamics between the policy realms, institutional and industry career development provisions, and …

The Effects Of The Alpha1a Adrenergic Receptor In Modulating Psychiatric Symptoms, Jason Power

Theses and Dissertations

The adrenergic system plays a key role in the treatment and understanding of the etiology of mental illnesses. Despite antidepressants having the effect of reducing the reuptake of specific neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine (NE), the mechanism of the antidepressant effect is poorly understood. It is apparent that antidepressants increase the rate of neurogenesis occurring within the hippocampal region of the brain with the hippocampus found to have an increased density around the time of symptom improvement (rate plateaus after 4-8 weeks after treatment). With an increased rate of neurogenesis taking ~1 month to occur, it was hypothesized that treatment with …

The Language Of Recruitment: How Minority Status, Racial Minority Centrality, & Linguistic Cues Impact Applicant Perceptions, Clark Waters

Theses and Dissertations

As color-blindness, the intentional denial of racial differences, continues to occupy corporate policy, expressions and consequences of modern racism in the workplace remain pervasive. Color-blind attitudes can be harmful due to their focus on perceived equality, at the expense of actionable, functional equity. Establishing a culture of racial equity in the workplace requires an understanding of how the language used to discuss race can impact potential applicants’ opinions of the company. To attract a diverse pool of job applicants, the language of recruitment is of particular importance in the current study. Using a vignette-style survey design, a diverse sample of …

Analysis Of Proposed Active Radiation Shielding Design Concept For Spacecraft, Claire Mechmann

Theses and Dissertations

A need exists to protect the crew of interplanetary spacecraft from lethal doses of Galactic Cosmic Radiation (GCR) and Solar Energetic Particles (SEPs). As plans progress to send humans beyond lower Earth orbit (LEO) and outside of Earth’s protective magnetosphere, agencies involved in this endeavor find themselves confronted with the obstacle of shielding the crew from this harmful radiation. A proposed active shielding concept design has been suggested, utilizing charged dielectric capacitors to deflect incoming charged particles. This analysis will examine the feasibility of the proposed design and offer potential materials useful for application. The results should prove informative for …

Employment Transitions From Active-Duty Army Officer To Civilian: An Exploration Of The Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities Possessed By Combat-Experienced, Army Field-Grade Officers, James Daniel Crook

Theses and Dissertations

Two decades of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have concluded, bringing an end to the longest military conflicts in the history of the United States of America. Following the example of post-war history, the military’s posture is to reduce personnel end-strength. The post-war military requires fewer soldiers, and a significant number of transitioning officers make the journey from military to civilian employment. This quantitative study discovered the knowledge, skills, and abilities of combat-experienced, active-duty, Army field-grade officers and explored the change from military to civilian employment. This study addressed the gap in the literature regarding this specific group of transitioning …

Importance Of Light Activation For Plant Cryptochrome And Antibacterial Drug Delivery Strategies, Merfat Ahmed Hammad

Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this project is to investigate the benefits of applying light in different systems. In the first part, the magnetoreception process that occurs in the light activated cryptochrome of Arabidopsis Thaliana was investigated. In the second part, photo-carbon monoxide releasing molecules (photo-CORMs) were investigated for their antibacterial effect to develop biomedical strategies. Overall, this has been achieved in three different studies. The first study investigated if the forward lightdriven reaction is involved in the magnetoreception process or not in cryptochrome (CRY). To accomplish this, the plant seedlings were tested for 90 minutes as follows: 5 minutes in the …

How Well Do Your Family Members Know You? The Relationship Between Informant Report And Cognitive Performance Of Older Adults, Mairy Yousif

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Given the clear impact and prevalence of dementia on the aging population, there is a need for greater research and understanding in this area. As the dementia progresses, medical providers rely heavily on caregiver and family member reports of the patient’s functioning and other aspects of their care. Therefore, it is important to know how accurate caregivers and family members are in judging their loved ones’ cognitive and physical strengths and weaknesses. This study aims to expand upon these previous studies by comparing caregiver/collateral reports of cognitive and functional status on the DSRS to neuropsychological tests and an objective …

Design And Optimization Of High-Power Density Permanent Magnet Motor With Integrated Cooling For Aircraft Propulsion, Aravindakshan Thirumalai Ananthanpillai

Theses and Dissertations

There is a critical need for the electrification of transportation systems. While power density required for ground-based vehicles can, to some extent, be met by current off-the-shelf motors and generators, aircrafts require significant improvements both in terms of power density and efficiency. The concept relies on the tight integration of a high-power density dual-rotor permanent magnet motor, high power density SiC power converters, and a shared closed loop cooling system rejecting the heat in the propulsion ducted fan air stream. The motor is based on a dual-rotor configuration using permanent magnets forming ideal Halbach arrays allowing for high magnetic loading …

The Effect Of Zonation, Biofouling, And Corrosion Products On Cathodic Protection Design For Offshore Monopiles, Caglar Erdogan

Theses and Dissertations

Cathodic protection (CP) is required to prevent corrosion of the submerged steel for offshore wind monopile foundations in the marine environment. The design of these systems depends on the environmental conditions, including temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen, depth, micro- and macro-organisms, and water flow rates. The standards utilized to design cathodic protection systems consider only some of these conditions. This research identified the gaps in knowledge for the design of corrosion prevention systems for offshore wind monopile foundations and investigated the changes in cathodic current densities due to macro-galvanic cells, fouling communities and corrosion products established on uncoated vertical steel …

The Relationship Between Hallucinations And Visuospatial Impairment Among Individuals With Dementia, Ruta Sohoni

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: This study examines the neuropsychological functioning, specifically using the Hooper Visual Organization Test (VOT), to understand the impact of hallucinations on the level of impairment in the visuospatial domain.

Method: Archival data obtained over three years from a total of 73 patients from the Health First Memory Disorder Clinic was used in this study. Participants were included in the study if they endorsed experiencing hallucinations, were given the VOT during their brief neuropsychological evaluation, and were diagnosed with dementia or unspecified neurocognitive disorder. The patient’s electronic medical record was used to retrospectively gather additional details regarding their hallucinations and …

Modulation Of Monoamine Transporters By Palmitoylation In Human Health And Disease, Christopher Ryan Brown

Theses and Dissertations

The projects discussed in this dissertation outline the physiologic consequences of S-palmitoylation, a lipid-based post-translational modification, on the serotonin and norepinephrine transporters (SERT and NET, respectively). SERT and NET are trans-membrane proteins that belong to the SLC6 family of secondary active transporters. During neuro- and neuro-hormonal transmission, SERT and NET utilize the differential ionic concentrations of the extracellular and intracellular spaces to remove their corresponding substrates (serotonin [5HT] and norepinephrine [NE]) from the extracellular space. Each monoamine modulates distinct and overlapping physiologic functions, with dysregulation driving the pathogenesis of neuro-cognitive, neuro-humoral, sympathetic, cardiac, and vascular diseases. Because of this, these …