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Comparative Metabolites Profiling And Fingerprinting Via A Multiplex Approach Of Uv And Lc/Ms Of Coffee Seeds In The Middle East And In Relation To Their Antioxidant Effects, Enas Elhawary

Theses and Dissertations

Coffee is a worldwide beverage of increasing consumption owing to its unique flavor and several health benefits. The current research aimed at investigating multiple bioactive compounds in coffee belonging to the two major species of Coffea, including C. arabica and C. canephora or C. Robusta, either green or roasted, along with 15 commercial specimens collected from the Middle East. Two platforms were employed, including ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (UHPLC/MS) and UV for profiling and fingerprinting, respectively. Identification of the UPLC/MS dataset was aided by using the global natural product social molecular networking (GNPS). A total of 91 …

Evaluation Of The Antimicrobial Activity Of Vangueria Volkensii Bark, Fruit, Leaf, And Stem Extracts, Douglas Parnell Holland

Theses and Dissertations

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Medicinal plants have been used for thousands of years and continues to have a critical role in the healthcare system worldwide, and it is estimated that 80% of all pharmaceutical drugs are plant based in origin. Plants from the Rubiaceae family have gained the attention of scientist because they exhibit great medicinal potential and value. However, Vangueria volkensii has no published research on its pharmacological activity and properties. Materials and Methods: In the present study, Vangueria volkensii bark, fruits, leaves, and stems were sequentially extracted via Soxhlet extraction using petroleum ether (PE), acetone (ACE), and ethanol (ETOH) solvents. …

“God’S Fair Land Of Ireland Did Not Hold Her Equal”: Disgust As An Anti-Eugenics Tool In James Joyce’S Ulysses, Lizzie Belnap

Theses and Dissertations

While many modernist authors exhibited eugenicist tendencies which I While many modernist authors exhibited eugenicist tendencies which I will detail in this paper, Joyce wrote, implicitly and explicitly, against it. Joyce’s anti-eugenics aesthetic, expressed almost in passing by Stephen Dedalus in A Portrait of the Artist As a Young Man (1916), becomes entangled in questions of bodies and national identity in Ulysses. I intend to identify a series of moments in which disgust and bodily difference in Ulysses counter the eugenics trends in elitist modernism while simultaneously criticizing racism in Irish nationalism that, in some ways, drove the movement for …

The Role Of The Cytosolic Chaperonin Cct In Folding Β-Propeller Proteins, William Grant Ludlam

Theses and Dissertations

Many Proteins require the aid of molecular chaperones to achieve a stable folding state and avoid misfolding pathologies. A major eukaryotic chaperone is the cytosolic chaperonin CCT. While CCT is known to fold a significant portion of all cytosolic proteins, there is no general model for the mechanism CCT uses to fold substrate proteins. One class of proteins that CCT is known to fold are β-propeller containing proteins. Here, we present structural and biochemical data on the processes that CCT uses to fold three distinct β-propeller proteins: the G-protein Beta 5 (Gβ5) subunit of the Gβ5-RGS complex, mLST8 of the …

Romantic Symbolism Re-Examined: The Ontic Fallacy, Ryan Mitchell Worth

Theses and Dissertations

Romantic symbolism is a poorly understood concept. It was first formulated by the Romantics in a variety of contexts. Goethe develops his theory of the symbol most notably in his scientific works. Schelling's approach to the Romantic symbol is firmly rooted in his philosophical writings. Coleridge articulates a Romantic notion of symbolism across his extensive literary criticism. The foundational influence of these related theories of Romantic symbolism can be seen in the artistic, literary, and scientific productions of Romantic minded individuals all over Europe in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. However, the nature and scope of the Romantic …

Developing The Definite Integral And Accumulation Function Through Adding Up Pieces: A Hypothetical Learning Trajectory, Brinley Nichole Stevens

Theses and Dissertations

Integration is a core concept of calculus. As such, significant work has been done on understanding how students come to reason about integrals, including both the definite integral and the accumulation function. A path towards understanding the accumulation function first, then the definite integral as a single point on the accumulation function has been presented in the literature. However, there seems to be an accessible path that begins first with understanding the definite integral through an Adding Up Pieces (AUP) perspective and extending that understanding to the accumulation function. This study provides a viable hypothetical learning trajectory (HLT) for beginning …

Sensory Sensitivity And Intolerance Of Uncertainty Influence Anxiety In Autistic Adults, Karys M. Normansell-Mossa

Theses and Dissertations

Several models of anxiety in autistic adults have focused on the role of intolerance of uncertainty which has biological and evolutionary bases, as a cognitive explanation for the high prevalence of anxiety in autism. This framework suggests that all people are born with a healthy level of intolerance of uncertainty, and as we develop, this intolerance is lessened as we learn when situations are safe and begin to understand and manage the uncertainty. This process of learning about managing uncertainty does not happen in the same way in those who are high in autistic traits, which could be the reason …

Parental Incarceration And Juvenile Delinquency: The Role Of Gender, Kirstie S. Weyland

Theses and Dissertations

Parental incarceration is connected to many negative outcomes for children including negative externalizing behaviors. Most studies are not conclusive in determining whether maternal incarceration or paternal incarceration has a more detrimental impact on children. This study looks at a sample of 2,458 youth from the Fragile Families and Child Well-Being Study (FFCWS) and their parents and compares the gender of the incarcerated parent and that of the child to determine if there are differences in the risk of delinquent behavior among adolescent children. Results found that parental incarceration overall increased the risk of juvenile delinquency and that female children are …

Facilitating Sars-Cov-2 Rna-Dependent Rna Polymerase (Rdrp) Drug Discovery By The Aid Of Hcv Ns5b Palm Domain Binders: In Silico Approaches And Benchmarking, Laila Khaled

Theses and Dissertations

Corona Virus 2019 Disease (COVID-19) is a rapidly emerging pandemic caused by a newly discovered beta coronavirus, called Sever Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS COV-2). SARS COV-2 is an enveloped, single stranded RNA virus that depends on RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) to replicate. Therefore, SARS COV-2 RdRp is considered as a promising target to cease virus replication. SARS COV-2 polymerase shows high structural similarity to Hepatitis C Virus-1b genotype (HCV-1b) polymerase. In our present study, we are relying on in-silico analysis to propose possible SARS COV-2 RdRp palm subdomain inhibitors to be used as a remedy for COVID-19. …

Pegylation Stabilizes The Conformation Of Proteins And The Noncovalent Interactions Within Them, Steven R. E. Draper

Theses and Dissertations

PEGylation has been used for decades to enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of protein therapeutics. This method has been effective at increasing the serum half-life of these drugs, but the mechanism of how it does this is unclear. Chapter 1 is an introduction to the methods of PEGylation. In chapter 2 we show that the effect of PEGylation on the conformational stability of the WW domain differs based on amino acid linker and conjugation site. We show that all positions in the WW domain that were tested can be stabilized by at least one amino acid linker. The rate of proteolysis …

The Many Faces Of Schizophrenia Risk: Can Measures Of Risk Be Aggregated?, Thomas W. O'Kane

Theses and Dissertations

There are currently many different conceptualizations of schizophrenia risk, which we argue is detrimental to any efforts to build a cumulative science in this area. This paper sought to evaluate various conceptualizations of schizophrenia risk and the extent to which they overlap. This paper attempts to identify overlap by utilizing meta-analytic methods in conjunction with data collected from a sample of undergraduate college students (n = 80). To do so, we first collected estimates of various schizophrenia risk measures and risk correlates from the literature. These estimates were subsequently combined with collected data. This paper attempted to analyze review data …

Population Dynamics Of Mule Deer (Odocoileus Hemionus): Maternal Effects And De Novo Genome, Sydney Lamb

Theses and Dissertations

Population dynamics of large ungulates are complex and vary with fluctuations in factors such as predation, resource availability, human disturbance, and weather (Gaillard et al. 1998, Forrester and Wittmer 2013). These regulating factors exhibit similar effects on ungulate populations by changing vital rates such as birthrate, death rate, emigration or immigration (Gaillard et al. 2000). To better understand the mechanisms influencing population change, it is useful to involve tools from multiple disciplines (Krausman et al. 2013). Here we explore population dynamics of mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) through the lenses of two distinct fields: population ecology and genomics. In the first …

Assessment Of The Chemical Mechanism Of Staphylococcus Aureus 5’-Methylthioadenosine/S-Adenosylhomocysteine Nucleosidase, A Novel Target For Drug Design, Kumari Vaijayanti Karn

Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus 5’-methylthioadenosine/S-adenosylhomocysteine nucleosidase (SaMTAN), a multiple substrate-specific enzyme that catalyzes the irreversible hydrolytic reaction by cleaving the glycosidic bond in different adenosine based metabolites and plays a key role in biofilm production regulated by bacterial quorum sensing (Mishra & Ronning, 2012). The reaction mechanism of SaMTAN has been suggested to be acid-base catalyzed hydrolysis. The active site of SaMTAN has five amino acid residues that are candidates for the general acid residues or the general base residues. It has been suggested that Glutamic acid 11, 171 and 173 (E11,E171 and E173) may play as the general base while Aspartic …

Perceptions Of Illinois Community College Chief Academic Officers: Fulfilling The Mission, Mark A. Coykendall

Theses and Dissertations

This study documents voices of the most experienced active Illinois community college chief academic officers (CAOs). Adaptive leadership theory is used to frame the effort of CAOs to infuse accountability into the core community college open access mission. The analysis of conversations with these CAOs reveals a focus on accountability that centers around student success initiatives rather than an urgent need to improve completion rate. The CAOs interviewed perceived student success and open access as crucial components of the mission of community colleges. The CAOs describe the work they do to help fulfill the mission and how that work has …

Remote Sensing And Spatial Variability Of Leaf Area Index Of Irrigated Wheat Fields, Austin Paul Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

Leaf area index (LAI) is a versatile indicator of crop growth that is used to estimate evapotranspiration (ET), monitor nitrogen status, and estimate crop yield. Traditional methods for measuring LAI can be improved using high resolution remote sensing. The aim of this study was to compare approaches for estimating LAI from UAV-derived visible vegetation indices. Coincident ground-based and remotely sensed data were obtained from two irrigated wheat fields and were sampled at a total of 5 events in 2019 and 2020. Ground-based LAI was measured with a ceptometer and remotely sensed images were collected using a consumer-grade UAV. Mosaiced orthophotos …

More Than Stories: Indigenous Environmental Reciprocity In The Poetry Of Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner, Rebecca Purse

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis brings to the forefront the traditional stories Marshallese poet, performer, and climate change activist Kathy Jetñil-Kijiner shares in her published poetry. Indigenous studies scholars agree that Indigenous stories have power--power to change, power to inform, and power to heal. The traditional stories in Jetñil-Kijiner's poetry reveal the power of the environment and the potential relationships that can exist between humans and natural beings. While these traditional stories work to disrupt the narrative that Indigenous perspectives, knowledges, and cultures are somehow inferior to their colonial neighbors', they also assert the need for a return to environmental reciprocit--or the establishment …

Leveraging Social Network Analysis And Supervised Machine Learning To Study Coordination In Online Information Campaigns, Tuja Khaund

Theses and Dissertations

Online social networks (OSNs) are a major component of societal digitalization. OSNs alter how people communicate, make decisions, form or change their beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors. Thus, they can now impact financial systems and political communication at scale. As one type of OSN, social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. serve as outlets for users to convey information to an audience as broad or targeted as the user desires. Over the years, these social media platforms have been infected with automated accounts, or bots, that are capable of hijacking conversations, influencing other users and manipulating content dissemination. Although …

The Effects Of Shed Antler Hunting On Ungulate Movement, Space-Use And Resource Selection, Steven B. Bates

Theses and Dissertations

Shed antler hunting has increased in popularity during the past decade, but little is known about how this recreational activity affects ungulate movements and space use. We placed geographic positioning system (gps)-collars on 133 bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis), bison (Bison bison), and mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) to quantify their movements, space use, and resource selection during shed antler hunts on Antelope Island Utah, USA, from 2012 to 2015. In Chapter 1, we calculated means and 95% confidence intervals for distance moved during 90-minute segments (16 points/day); pre-event (control, seven consecutive days prior to event), event (one to two days), and …

The Effects Of Interspecific Competition And Predation On Survival Of Neonate Mule Deer, Daniel W. Sallee

Theses and Dissertations

Mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus) populations are influenced by multiple factors, including interspecific competition and predation. Interspecific competition can affect resource acquisition and survival through altering space use and access to preferred habitat. Mule deer in some areas alter space use in the presence of competing species, including bison (Bison bison), cattle (Box taurus), elk (Cervus canadensis), and feral horses (Equus caballus), however the influence of competition on survival of mule deer during specific life history stages, such as birthing and rearing of neonates, is largely unknown. In addition to competition, predation can influence mule deer populations and even limit population …

Zbulimi I Baktereve Listeria Monocytogenes Në Mostrat E Qumështit Në Rajonin E Prizrenit Sipas Metodës “Hytech Slide”, Vlera Dorambari

Theses and Dissertations

Në këtë studim, prania dhe prevalenca e Listeria monocytogenes u hetua në 10 mostrat e qumështit të lopës së papërpunuar të blerë nga tregjet e rrugëve në qendër të Prizrenit. Prania e L. monocitogjenes u zbulua duke përdorur metodën e Hytech Slide në L. monocitogjene u zbulua në 80% (8/10) të 10 mostrave të qumështit të analizuara.

Rezultatet e hulumtimit zbuluan se qumështi i papërpunuar i shitur në tregjet e rrugëve në qendër të Prizrenit mund të jetë burim i ndotjes me L. monocitogjene dhe të paraqesë një kërcënim të mundshëm për shëndetin publik.

Medical Signal Recognition System Based On Machine Learning, Deep Learning, And Internet Of Things, Arwa Hameed Mohammed Taqi

Theses and Dissertations

Internet of Things (IoT) technology is becoming increasingly common in the healthcare industry. The significant benefits of IoT are decreased operational costs, improved outcomes of the treatment through virtual infrastructures and accessibility of real-time information for making informed decisions, improved disease management, reduced errors, and enhanced patient experience. This enables hospitals to address the demands of the ever-growing population in this world. On the other hand, medical signal classification systems are systems that recognize normal from abnormal medical signals. These systems depend on two modes, training mode in which the system learns about the dominant features of the signals, and …

Design And Fabrication Of Zinc Oxide Optofluidic Laser Elements, Kyle T. Bodily

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis systematically goes through the derivation, simulation, and experimentation of Zinc Oxide optofluidic micro laser elements. Single and coupled ring resonators were simulated to show single mode transmission as well as enhanced coupling capabilities when surrounded by high refractive index liquid. Devices with diameters ranging from 100-500 µm were successfully fabricated inexpensively through standard cleanroom procedures. The devices were tested using two different pump laser systems. Testing included such factors as high pump intensity, various angles of excitation, and low temperature. In all cases PL emission was observed and recorded.

Developing A Basic Formal Supply Chain Ontology To Improve Communication And Interoperability, David Morrow

Theses and Dissertations

Information is crucial to supply chain performance because it is used to make decisions and trigger actions. Organizations across world-class supply chains increasingly use information technology to analyze and process supply chain data. However, supply chain management lacks a common language, making information exchange difficult. An ontology can provide a standardized framework that organizes a given knowledge domain. This research proposes a common language for developing a supply chain ontology that can be built into a basic formal ontology understood by both humans and computers. According to current research, an established and widely used supply chain framework is a good …

Evolutionary Generation Of Diversity In Embedded Binary Executables For Cyber Resiliency, Mitchell D. I. Hirschfeld

Theses and Dissertations

Hardening avionics systems against cyber attack is difficult and expensive. Attackers benefit from a "break one, break all" advantage due to the dominant mono-culture of automated systems. Also, undecidability of behavioral equivalence for arbitrary algorithms prevents the provable absence of undesired behaviors within the original specification. This research presents results of computational experiments using bio-inspired genetic programming to generate diverse implementations of executable software and thereby disrupt the mono-culture. Diversity is measured using the SSDeep context triggered piecewise hashing algorithm. Experiments are divided into two phases. Phase I explores the use of semantically-equivalent alterations that retain the specified behavior of …

Integrating Vibratory Membrane-Based Water Recovery Systems For Sustainable Food And Beverage Production, Michael Vincent O. Laurio

Theses and Dissertations

A vibratory nanofiltration (NF) system was investigated for the preconcentration of coffee extracts for soluble coffee production. The simulated coffee extracts studied contained mostly suspended and colloidal organic components that, although were effectively rejected by the NF membrane (>99% turbidity rejection), affected the vibratory NF performance. The vibratory NF operation improved permeate flux, rejection efficiencies, and reduced flux decline from those observed in crossflow (CF) operation. Further, the effects of applied transmembrane pressure (TMP) and vibrational frequency (F) at corresponding displacement (d) were investigated and modeled. A semi-empirical resistance-in-series model was employed to characterize the mass transfer mechanism, osmotic …

Applications Of And Algorithms For Genome Assembly And Genomic Analyses With An Emphasis On Marine Teleosts, Brandon D. Pickett

Theses and Dissertations

The burgeoning frequency of genome sequencing in recent years is a testament to both the improvements in sequencing technologies and the utility of genomic analyses for biological discovery. The rapid proliferation in technological advancements and availability of complementary data types and techniques has obfuscated the optimal process of genome assembly and raised the barrier to entry to unprecedented levels. In this dissertation, we describe the genome assemblies performed for several marine teleosts and discuss the algorithms and applications required for genome assembly, including some of our specific contributions to the genome assembly and annotation space. In Chapter 1 and Chapter …

Computational Modelling Of Drugs For Alzheimer’S Disease (Ad) And Applications On Artifical Neural Network Systems (Nets), Nouf Masarweh

Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is an irreversible and progressive disease that affects neurons and their connections in parts of the brain specifically the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. The purpose of this research is to modify current medications used for the treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease utilizing computational modelling. The medications chosen to be modified are the most common drugs used in AD patients to treat mild to severe symptoms. The modifications are concluded to increase the half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) value which is the concentration needed for the drug to inhibit a specific biological function. Drug design throughout this research has …

Design And Sensitivity Analysis Of Blood Supply Chain Network, The Merits Of Lateral Resupply, Mohammad Arani

Theses and Dissertations

The vibrant subject of blood banking and blood distribution is addressed where lateral resupply of blood products is allowed. In this research, a blood supply chain network design (BSCND) consisting of four conventional levels each of which corresponding to one entity in the real world is comprehensively studied: donors, blood collection facilities, blood centers, and hospitals. Two important properties are considered within the blood supply chain network (BSCN): ABO-Rh factors and shelf lives of blood products. Moreover, an integrated inventory system for sharing hospitals’ inventory levels is designed to investigate the two performance indicators of the network in terms of …

Faculty Perspectives On Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Integration: A Descriptive Study From The American University In Cairo, Sondos Mohamed Moshtohry

Theses and Dissertations

The interdisciplinary approach and the science of the brain are successfully wedded. Globally, neuroscience is expanding and offering substantial advances and versatile applications within various domains affirming the worthiness of its investments; however, nationally, a similar engagement with the field is not evident. This study proposes the integrative research cloud model as a framework for interdisciplinary engagement. The American University in Cairo (AUC) is known for its forward-looking strategy and belief in interdisciplinarity that is why it was chosen as the setting for this study. Accordingly, the opinions and perspectives of its faculty from the different schools and departments on …

Meanings Of Mindfulness And Spiritual Awakening: Affliction And Holistic Healing In Contemporary Cairo, Sohayla El Fakahany

Theses and Dissertations

In contemporary Cairo, people turn to various modes of spiritual, alternative, and complementary healing. Some are rooted in formal religious traditions, and others are inspired by a new globalized form of holistic healing such as yoga or meditation. What makes these practices more controversial than spiritual healing practices like el-Zar or el-Hadra is the exchange of money for the promise of healing or foreknowledge. Spiritual healing is often deemed “charlatanistic” by religious exclusivists. This entanglement of the practices with religion creates a threat because it provides an alternative to the modes of religiosity supplied by the main hegemonic Egyptian religious …