Digital Commons Network^™

What Is A Child? The Conception Of Childhood Viewed Primarily Through The Funerary Culture From The Predynastic Era To The Middle Kingdom, Courtney Mcrae

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis uses an interdisciplinary analysis of the theories involving cultural ideas of childhood, as well as archaeological approaches to studying the funerary material culture related to children, in an attempt to determine the role of children in ancient Egypt. To achieve this, the author examines grave goods in relation to child burials from the Predynastic (5000-3200 BC) to the Middle Kingdom (2055-1650 BC) to examine the correlation between funerary material cultures with different stages of childhood. The author used these time periods in order to properly conduct an in depth analysis of early Egyptian culture. The author also analyzes …

Terfezia Boudieri And Terfezia Claveryi Inhibit The Lps/Ifn-Γ-Mediated Inflammation In Raw 264.7 Macrophages Through An Nrf2-Independent Mechanism, Abdelhameed Dawood

Theses and Dissertations

Desert truffles have been used as traditional treatments for a variety of inflammatory disorders. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their anti-inflammatory effects in RAW 264.7 macrophages have remained to be fully elucidated. Therefore, the present study investigated the anti-inflammatory activities of two main desert truffles, Terfezia boudieri and Terfezia claveryi and the underlying mechanisms associated with their anti-inflammatory activities in RAW 264.7 macrophages stimulated with lipopolysaccharide/interferon-gamma (LPS/IFN-γ) in order to develop innovative therapeutics for the treatment of inflammation.

To address this objective, RAW 264.7 cells were treated with increasing concentrations of T. boudieri and T. claveryi extracts in the presence …

Skeleton-Based Hand Gesture Recognition Using Data-Level Fusion, Oluwaleke Yusuf

Theses and Dissertations

Hand Gesture Recognition (HGR) is a form of perceptual computing that allows artificial systems to capture and interpret human gestures. HGR has applications in human-machine interaction, virtual reality, augmented reality, and human behavior analysis. The human hand can assume a near-infinite number of poses and orientations to form myriad gestures, thus increasing the difficulty of the HGR task.

The hand skeleton of connected joints effectively describes the hand’s geometric shape and thus contains richer semantic gesture information while eliminating noise from individual differences in physical hand characteristics. The efficacy and computational efficiency of skeleton-based HGR frameworks can be significantly enhanced …

Alternative Child Care Governance: The Kafala Family-Based Care Arrangement In Egypt, Heba El Azzazy

Theses and Dissertations

Over the past decade, Egypt has witnessed several changes in relation to its alternative care system for orphans and children without parental care. Starting 2014, the Egypt government along with Civil Society actors started to adopt the UN General Assembly guidelines on Alternative Care; which call on States to take solid actions to develop their respective deinstitutionalization strategy that aims towards the progressive elimination of institutional cares and prompting family-based care approaches for children deprived of parental care. According to the current situation, kafala is the main alternative family- based care option practiced in Egypt. Generally, there is very limited …

Cognitive Assessment Of Health-Care Workers Exposed To Ionizing Radiation And The Assessment Of Radiation Safety Awareness In Different Radiation Oncology Hospitals In Egypt, Basma M. Saleh

Theses and Dissertations

The increase in cancer cases and subsequent increase in chemotherapy and radiotherapy sparked worries over hospital workers' health and safety. There is a global trend towards routine assessment of awareness, safety measures, and radiation protection culture among healthcare workers. There is also a trend towards monitoring the various associations between radiation exposure and different health outcomes. In low- and middle-income countries, the use of advanced techniques and biomarker tests to track the health status of the workers is hard to achieve. This is due to the scarce resources and economic instabilities and that is why using a survey as a …

An Artificial Intelligence Tool For The Selection Of Delay Analysis Technique In Construction, Mostafa Farouk

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing complexity and magnitude of projects impose greater impact of delays on stakeholders. Construction delays are a major source of disputes in construction projects. Since a construction project depends on interactions and shared responsibilities among parties, research works were directed toward identifying delay causes, quantifying their impacts, and proposing ways to deal with them. Several delay analysis techniques (DATs) are available, but when applied to the same project’s delays provide different results. Thus, the selection of the DAT to use in evaluating delays becomes vital. Reviewing the literature, it has been realized that often there are disagreements, which lead …

Students’ And Teachers’ Perceptions Of Using Memes In Esl Classrooms, Fadwa Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

Using humor in the language classroom has proven to be an effective pedagogical teaching tool that builds rapport between students and teachers. It also reduces anxiety and affective filter as well as increases students’ performance and willingness to communicate in class using their L2 (Azizinezhad & Hashemi, 2011; Banks, 2014; Soares, 2015). Previous studies used humor broadly starting from humorous comments in class to funny TV shows, movies, or songs. Some studies went further using funny memes in class and fewer studies went all the way making students create memes as part of their class requirements (Purnama, 2017). Results of …

Differential Transcriptional Alterations In Detoxification Genes In Parkinson’S Disease In Egypt, Nourhan Shebl

Theses and Dissertations

PD is the most common motor neurodegenerative disease worldwide. The underlying cause of PD is still unknow, owingthis to the complexity of the disease. Often, genetics and environmental factors are collaborating in the initiation of the disease. Despite the diversity of its genetical and environmental profiles, the Egyptian population is one of the mostunderrepresented population in terms of PD research. In this study, we investigated PD through various perspectives tohighlight the complexity of the disease in Egypt, taking into consideration the diversity of the Egyptian population. We recruited PD patients and reference controls from 4 governorates: Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, and …

Carbon Dioxide Capture Potential Of Chitosan-Nanocrystalline Cellulose Aerogel Composite Materials: Synthesis, Functionalization, And Characterization, Victor Oghenekohwo

Theses and Dissertations

The carbon dioxide capture technology has been established as an invaluable player in the current global efforts to allay the warming of the planet and climate change. In this connection, the study centers on the valorization of waste organic materials for the application described herein. The sorbents, sourced from a combination of by-products of food processing and agricultural residue waste products, viz. seafood waste and sugarcane bagasse, showed prospects for selective carbon dioxide capture, adsorbing up to 5.78 mg/g of the gas at 273 K and 2.82 mg/g at 298 K, as observed on the Micromeritic ASAP 2020 surface area …

Waste-Derived Hybrid Nanocomposite For The Simultaneous Removal Of Antibiotics And Dyes From Water Bodies, Abdelkader Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

A novel eco-friendly approach was used to synthesize a hydroxyapatite-carbon nanocomposite (HAP-C) by utilizing the industrial waste of cement kiln dust (CKD) as a source of calcium for the synthesis. Citric acid was first used to chelate the calcium from CKD, then the chelate was converted into a mixture of calcium carbonate and carbon by calcination at 450°C for 1 h. The mixture was used as a precursor for the synthesis of HAP-C by reacting it with ortho-phosphoric acid via a precipitation method. HAP-C was then calcined at different temperatures of 400, 500, and 700°C under inert atmosphere, with a …

Adsorption Of Antibiotics In Wastewater By Stevia Rebaudiana Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles, Hania Guirguis

Theses and Dissertations

Green zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs), synthesized using Stevia rebaudiana extract, are investigated as novel adsorbents for the removal of the antibiotics ciprofloxacin (CIP) and tetracycline (TET) from water. The green ZnO NPs were synthesized using a novel, rapid and ecofriendly technique that utilized a natural source with high sugar content as a reducing agent and a less energy intensive approach that did not require annealing or calcination at high temperatures. The particles are mesoporous, with a hexagonal wurtzite structure, a BET surface area of 15.28 m2/g and a size range of 37.36-71.33 nm. At pH 5, the green ZnO …

Computational Identification Of Circulating Micrornas Associated With The Early Stage Of Ovarian Cancer, Ahmed Abdelrahman El Hosseiny

Theses and Dissertations

Background: Ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among gynaecological malignancies. Its high fatality rate is due to the difficulty of early detection. Current screening methods are inadequate, and therefore, a new less-invasive early detection method is urgently needed. MicroRNAs are promising biomarker candidates for cancer detection, however, their potential for early detection use is understudied. Aim of the work: We sought to identify sensitive and selective microRNA markers for early diagnosis of ovarian cancer from blood serum samples through computational analysis. Methods: In this investigation, we used bioinformatic methods to analyze MicroRNA-Seq data obtained from public databases for …

Polyethyleneimine Shell Nucleic Acid Nanostructures From Gold Nanoparticle Template For Chemotherapeutic Drug Delivery, Brendan Guy Rucci

Theses and Dissertations

The next generation of anticancer agents will emerge from rationally designed nanostructured materials. This work involved the synthesis and characterization of novel hollow DNA-conjugated gold nanoparticles (DNA-AuNPs) for controlled drug delivery. Polyethyleneimine (PEI) was bound to citrate-capped AuNPs, forming polymer-shell nanoparticles. Dissolution of the gold core via iodine formed hollow core polymeric nanoparticles (HCPPs) and a high density of DNA (85 molecules/particle) containing daunorubicin was conjugated. Particles were spherical with an average diameter of 105.7±17.3 nm and zeta potential of 20.4±3.54 mV. We hypothesize the DNA backbone electrostatically condensed to the primary amines on the surface of the particle toroidally, …

A 3d Bioprinted Hydrogel Microfluidic Device For Screening Applications, Anant Bhusal

Theses and Dissertations

The microfluidic enabled the integration of engineered miniaturized tissue models for drug screening. Conventional polydimethylsiloxane or plastic-based devices require multiple fabrication steps, which are challenging. We developed a 3D bioprinting approach to create prototypes of hydrogel-based multi-material microfluidic devices integrated with microtissue models. The approach utilizes poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate and gelatin-methacryloyl to create microfluidic chips using multi-material bioprinting capacity with a high resolution of 15µm on x-y and 50µm on the z-axis and post-printing viability of >90%. We demonstrated easy regulation of stiffness from 24±5 kPa to 1,180±9 kPa and burst pressure from 16±1kPa to 256±19 kPa in the chip …

The Effects Of Target Facial Stimuli Race, Emotional Expression, And Time Delay On Facial Recognition Memory, Makayla Smullin

Theses and Dissertations

Emotional expression, race, and length of time between initially seeing the face and subsequent recognition potentially contribute to face recognition. In this study, race and emotional expression of the facial stimuli, and time delay between study and test were manipulated. A sample of 91 participants was recruited from Illinois State University. Participants completed a study session and two test phases evaluating facial recognition performance of racially Black and White facial stimuli. Target images from the RADIATE face stimulus set (Conley et al., 2018; Tottenham et al., 2009) were used in this study. Faces were presented with either a happy or …

The Association Between Civic Engagement Via Participatory Art And Adolescents’ Self-Esteem And Self-Efficacy, Michaela Ann Hayes

Theses and Dissertations

Civic engagement refers to actions taken by individuals to address issues of public concern, which can come in many forms including engagement in art. Participation in these activities can have positive impacts on the individual, including improved mental and physical health, as well as on the community through increased appreciation for differences and acquisition of values such as tolerance. The Bioecological Model suggests that an individual's participation in civic activities is influenced by the various levels of their environment. These experiences may be particularly impactful for adolescents. Indeed, adolescents who participated in civic engagement activities have been found to have …

The Effect Of Alcohol On Lipid Membrane-Membrane Fusion And Snare Proteins, Robert E. Coffman

Theses and Dissertations

Currently the treatment of alcohol use disorder is very difficult and often requires the combination of therapy and medications, with many who undertake treatment experiencing relapse over time. There is also no treatment in use to prevent the development of alcohol use disorder. It is the aim of this work to provide information that may be useful for the development of a preventative treatment for developing alcohol use disorder by elucidating more of the acute effects of alcohol use. It is known that these effects originate in the brain. Within the brain are circuits made up of neurons that communicate …

Comparative Metabolite Profiling And Fingerprinting Of Mature And Immature Grains Of Different Species Using A Multiplex Approach Of Lc-Ms And Gc-Ms Coupled To Chemometrics, Doaa Bahaa Abdelhalim Saied

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of the current study was the assessment of heterogeneity amongst metabolites of 5 cereal and leguminous grains of different species, and cultivars i.e., Triticum aestivum L., Hordeum vulgare L., Vicia faba L. & Cicer arietinum L. at different maturity stages. Gas chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) post silylation technique was employed for nutrients profiling. A total of 70 peaks belonging to sugars, fatty acids/esters/steroids and organic acids were identified including sucrose, melibiose, glucose and fructose as major sugars, butyl caprylate, hydroxybutanoic acid and malic acid to contribute for the discrimination between grain species and different maturity …

Metamorphis, Luca Lee Sobarzo Faust

Theses and Dissertations

Web3D interactive experience that explores time, communication, and transformation, from a personal storytelling perspective. Hosted on a web platform, the experience displays three environments: Metamorphis, Cuir AI, and Hain. These spaces propose a fragmented narrative that seeks to interrogate both the characters and the viewer’s perception on the linearity of time

Enhancing Sustainable Process Designs Through Strategic Material Utilization And Waste Minimization Approaches, John David Chea

Theses and Dissertations

Sustainability is a growing concern as resources are continually depleted for various applications without adequate renewal plans. The resulting impacts on the ecosystem, health, and resource circularity are often overlooked. This research analyzes improvement opportunities at each major stage in a product's life cycle. Raw material acquisition, product synthesis, process waste management, and the fate of a material in the end-of-life phases were examined. The viability of utilizing renewable resources has been demonstrated in this work by extracting bio-based chemicals from underutilized renewable resources at a commercial scale and transforming the extracted resources into polymeric materials. The optimization of raw …

Greywater Treatment Using Integrated Sand Filtration With Ultrafiltration For Reuse, Aya El-Wattar

Theses and Dissertations

Membrane flux was observed and the two membrane sizes that achieved stable flux were chosen to be used in the later stages of the study. The chosen membranes were of 300 kDa and 400 kDa Molecular Weight Cutoff (MWCO).

The third phase of the study involved running the full system on synthetic greywater then on real greywater. The parameters investigated were COD, TSS, Turbidity and BOD₅. Total COD removal after sand filtration, 300kDa UF and 400 kDa UF was 65, 66 and 73.4% respectively. Total TSS removal after sand filtration, 300kDa UF and 400 kDa UF was 93.1, …

Using Dielectric Scatters To Selectively Excite Embedded Eigenstates In Cavity Resonators, Olugbenga Joshua Gbidi

Theses and Dissertations

Bound states in the continuum (BICs) are waves that remain in the continuous spectrum of radiating waves that carry energy, however, still localized within the spectrum. BICs, also embedded eigenmodes, exhibit high quality factors that have been observed in optical and acoustic waveguides, photonic structures, and other material systems. Presently, there are limited means to select these BICs in terms of the quality factor and their excitation. In this work, we show that a different type of BIC, Quasi-BICs (Q-BICs), in open resonators can have their quality attuned by introducing embedded scatters. Using microwave cavities and dielectric scatters as an …

Investigation Of The Effect Of Senescence On Daily Activity Patterns In Male Octopus Insularis, Mariam Steinblatt

Theses and Dissertations

Senescent male octopuses often show comparatively increased activity. We observed daily activity for an adult male Octopus insularis. The subject's diurnal behavior was marked movement or stationary to observe differences. Movement increased over 26 days, but the difference was non-significant. The observation period was likely short, and the subject already senescent.

Design And Synthesis Of Substituted N,3,3-Triphenylpropanamide And 1-Benzhydryl-N-Phenylazetidine-3-Carboxamide Analogs And Their Biological Evaluation, Michael Dorogan

Theses and Dissertations

As D₁R agonism has significant implications in the treatment of cognitive deficits, we sought to develop novel D₁R PAMs, through the derigidification of BMS D₁R PAM hit compound. While we were able to synthesize derigidified analogs of the BMS hit compound, derigidification did not produce active D₁R ligands.

Realisms And The Body After War: Document, Truth, And Critique In Postrevolutionary Mexico And Weimar Germany, Eliana Blechman

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines realisms and representations of the body in postrevolutionary Mexico, using the critical framework surrounding Neue Sachlichkeit and post-World War I Weimar society as a comparative model. Through imagery of soldiers, women, and class disparity, artists utilized realisms to relay record, suggest truth, and create criticism.

Does Gender Matter? Gendered Relations In The Recording Studios, Diane Wong

Theses and Dissertations

Only 8.6% of all recording engineers currently employed in the United States are women. To understand the influence of a woman’s gender in their recording career, this study presents their experiences from multiple angles – the recording studio business, women engineers’ obstacles, the recording education pipeline, and diversity and inclusion in the industry.

The Case Of The Disappearing Owner: Do Dogs Show Behavioral Evidence Of Violation Of Expectation?, Rita Kanagat

Theses and Dissertations

The What the Fluff challenge became a series of viral YouTube videos that started in 2018. In the videos, a person stood behind a blanket in a doorway in front of their dog and lifted and lowered the blanket revealing and obscuring themselves, and finally disappearing with a final blanket drop. The dogs’ reactions were varied but were suggestive of a violation of expectation response. We conducted a community science study that employed methodologies consistent with the What the Fluff Challenge paradigm that were conducted in the owners’ homes with their dogs. Each owner was required to run a control …

Emotional Landscapes, Jin Young Jeong

Theses and Dissertations

“Emotional Landscape” delivers a sense of gravity, openness, and breathing space through oil paintings on linen of abstracted bodily forms. The imagery in the works generates an atmosphere where one can feel rooted and anxiety-free. The paintings invite a close read of the complexities of compounded affects.

Investigating The Role Of Vasopressin Receptor 1a Expressing Neurons In Mouse Dorsal Raphe, Tirth Nimishbhai Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Human social interactions heavily impact our physical and mental wellbeing. Arginine-vasopressin (Avp) and serotonin have both been implicated in modulation of social behaviors ranging from affiliation to aggression. In male mice, Avp neurons in the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST) show increased activity during prosocial behavior. BNST sends Avp afferents to the dorsal raphe (DR) in the midbrain, a home to a large portion of serotonin neurons in the mouse brain. Previous data suggests that DR is activated during male prosocial behavior with a female stimulus, and Avp indirectly excites serotonin neurons. We hypothesized that DR contains a population …

The Predictive Validity Of The Dial-4 With A Diverse Preschool Population, Lauren M. Pucci

Theses and Dissertations

School readiness refers to continuous, multi-faceted, abilities that develop during early childhood and encapsulate how prepared children are to learn as they enter their first formal school experience (Howard, 2011; Romano et. al., 2010; Stormont et. al., 2015). Children who exhibit greater school readiness skills, such as cognitive, language, and fine and gross motor abilities, prior to the start of kindergarten are more likely to succeed academically throughout their later school years (Ricciardi et. al., 2021; Schachter et. al., 2019; Williams & Lerner, 2019), while children who lack school readiness skills are more likely to demonstrate difficulties throughout elementary school …