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Electrokinetic Particle Manipulations In Spiral Microchannels, John Dubose

All Theses

Recent developments in the field of microfluidics have created a multitude of new useful techniques for practical particle and cellular assays. Among them is the use of dielectrophoretic forces in 'lab-on-a-chip' devices. This sub-domain of electrokinetic flow is particularly popular due to its advantages in simplicity and versatility. This thesis makes use of dielectrophoretic particle manipulations in three distinct spiral microchannels. In the first of these experiments, we demonstrate the utility of a novel single-spiral curved microchannel with a single inlet reservoir and a single outlet reservoir for the continuous focusing and filtration of particles. The insulator-based negative-dielectrophoretic (repulsive) force …

Assessing The Response Of Small Mammal Functional Guilds To A Simulated Pathogen Attack In A Deciduous Forest Ecosystem, Katie Keck

All Theses

Oak trees (Quercus species) are a foundation species that influence the population dynamics of other organisms by stabilizing ecosystem processes. Globally, oak-dominated forests have experienced widespread mortality due to the fungal pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum, which causes the disease Sudden Oak Death (SOD). I investigated the impact of a simulated pathogen attack such as SOD on the small mammal assemblage of an oak forest in Cornwall, New York. Specifically, I tested the hypothesis that specialist species are most impacted by the loss of foundation species and that they would decline in abundance because of changes in food and habitat resources. In …

Persistence Of A Vulnerable Semi-Aquatic Turtle In An Intensively-Managed Forest Landscape, Christopher O'Bryan

All Theses

Understanding spatial and population ecology of organisms allows land managers to predict how changes in distribution and composition of landscape features influence persistence. Our goal was to investigate body size, sex ratios, survival, individual movements, and habitat selection of a vulnerable freshwater turtle species, the spotted turtle (Clemmys guttata), in an intensively-managed forest landscape in eastern North Carolina, USA. Spotted turtles naturally occur in wetland-dominated landscapes, but this system is heavily-altered, with >222,000 hectares of pine plantations and >10,000 km of ditches managed by Weyerhaeuser Company. During 2012-2013, we captured and individually marked 280 turtles, and used radio-telemetry (n = …

The Salient Traditional Medicinal Plants And Conservation Strategies Of The Loita Maasai Of Kenya, Jedidah Nankaya

All Theses

Approximately 80% of the rural population in developing countries relies on traditional medicinal plants for their health care needs. As a result, people have developed their knowledge of these traditional medicines through their experiences and daily observations. In the Maasai community, this information is deeply rooted in their culture, transferred from one generation to the next orally and along gender lines. This study explored the traditional medicinal plants used by the Loita Maasai to treat human health problems with the aim of identifying the salient medicinal plants of the Loita Maasai and their uses (Chapter 2). In addition, due to …

The Leconte Lodge: A Lens For The Evolution And Development Of The Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Lindsay D. Lanois

All Theses

Officially established in 1934, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park originated as part of a widespread cultural trend towards outdoor recreation, national tourism, and the federal government's assumption of responsibility for land conservation. However, the area of Tennessee and North Carolina selected by the federal government for the national park was not a purely unsettled landscape. Not only did the land serve as home to approximately ten permanent agricultural communities, but it also featured several hotels and lodges inspired by the burgeoning twentieth-century tourism industry. Beginning as a rudimentary hiking cabin constructed in 1925 and evolving throughout the 1930s, the …

A Fluidic Fiber Platform Modified For The Selective Extraction And On Fiber Fluorescence Detection Of Proteins And Nucleic Acids, Natasha Khan

All Theses

Solid phase extraction has become a popular tool for analytical method development as a sample preparation technique. Solid phase sorbents can generally extract analytes based on polarity or selectively based on highly specific interactions between the analyte and an immobilized surface molecule. Biomolecular recognition based solid phases utilize antibodies, nucleic acids, and proteins as a secondary affinity layer on a solid phase support for selective analyte extractions and have been used for sample preparation, purification, separations, bioassays, and molecular diagnostics. Polymer supports for solid phase extraction are desirable for their low cost, abundance, chemical inertness, and pH stability. This thesis …

Investigating The Impact Of Novel Iron Oxide Nanoparticles On Legionella Pneumophila Biofilms And Trophic Interactions, Brennen Jenkins

All Theses

Microbial biofilms serve as the base of food webs and are important for nutrient cycling in aquatic ecosystems. Nanoparticles (NPs) that enter into these aquatic systems have the potential to settle and become trapped within biofilms. As NPs become further integrated into consumer products, understanding their fate and effects on aquatic ecosystems is of paramount importance. Previous studies from our lab show that gold NPs induce dispersal of Legionella pneumophila biofilms. NPs with platinum and iron oxide core chemistries also lead to similar dispersal events, however, silver core NPs do not seem to induce these events due to NP aggregation. …

Effect Of Low And High Molecular Weights Water Soluble Chitosan On Oxidation Of Whole Milk Powder, Wesam Al-Jeddawi

All Theses

Autoxidation significantly decreases the shelf life of whole milk powder due to primary and secondary oxidation products such as hydroperoxides, aldehydes, ketones, alcohols and hydrocarbons. Water soluble chitosan has been shown to reduce oxidation by chelating metals or combining with lipids resulting in a significant antioxidative effect. The objective of this study was to determine the antioxidative effects of different concentrations of low (L) and high (H) molecular weight water soluble chitosan (9 and 90 kDa, respectively) on whole milk powder (WMP). Commercially dried WMP was obtained and rehydrated 50% (wt/wt) with various aqueous chitosan solutions (2% L2, 4% L4, …

Inverse Problems Using Reduced Basis Method, Phil Gralla

All Theses

Inverse Problems is a field of great interest for many applications, such as parameter identification and image reconstruction. The underlying models of inverse problems in many applications often involve Partial Differential Equations (PDEs). A Reduced Basis (RB) method for solving PDE based inverse problems is introduced in this thesis. The RB has been rigorously established as an efficient approach for solving PDEs in recent years. In this work, we investigate whether the RB method can be used as a regularization for solving ill-posed and nonlinear inverse problems using iterative methods. We rigorously analyze the RB method and prove convergence of …

An Examination Of Students’ Technology Apprehension, Communication Competence, And Achievement Emotions In Community College Developmental Education Courses, Sara Crocker

All Theses

Despite the infusion of information and communication technology into higher education, the effects of incorporating this technology in community college classrooms, particularly developmental courses, remains to be thoroughly studied. The demographic differences found in community colleges versus four-year institutions are stark and warrant their own focused investigation. The college experience is an emotion-laden one, especially from the position of an academically at-risk student. Experiencing high levels of technology apprehension could negatively affect a student’s achievement emotions. In exploring technology apprehension, self-perceived communication competence should be taken into account because of the communicative nature of the technology used in higher education. …

Preying On The Graying: A Statutory Presumption To Prosecute Elder Financial Exploitation, Andrew Jay Mcclurg

UC Law Journal

With seventy-eight million baby boomers in or nearing retirement, elder financial exploitation has been labeled the “Crime of the 21st Century,” yet little has been done to address the problem. While states and the federal government have passed hundreds of laws protecting children based on the assumption they are vulnerable and unable to protect themselves, older at-risk adults have been comparatively ignored despite extensive research showing they too are vulnerable. A substantial roadblock to prosecuting elder financial predators is the inability to prove that the financial transfers at issue were the result of exploitation rather than legitimate transactions. Many victims …

Proposal For An Art Therapy Clinical Program Within The U.S. Department Of Veterans Health Administration, Darshini Walton

EVMS School of Health Professions Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, the military veteran population has increased due to the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. This increase is congruent with the escalation of a Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) diagnoses among military war veterans. Currently, the Veterans Health Administration’s (VHA) PTSD treatment utilizes various pharmacologic and/or psychotherapeutic interventions ranging from Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure Therapy (PE), to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy in residential and outpatient settings. In the event a veteran has a “complicated medical case” or comorbidity that does not respond to conventional medical treatment, the veteran may be referred to an art therapist, …

"Parent Trigger" Legislation In The United States: A Key To Parent Empowerment In The Local Context, Julie A. Zoellin Cramer Phd

Dissertations

Parent involvement in public education has changed over time in the United States. Recently it has taken on a more radical dimension aimed at shifting the role of parents. These efforts are identified by some as parent empowerment and arguably may be part of a larger policy movement to secure parent voice in equity-focused education reform. The policy innovation allows parents with students in persistently underperforming schools to force a change in school governance. Since the passage of the first parent trigger law in California in 2010, three parent petition campaigns have forced a turnaround in school governance. The purpose …

We Are Not Mahogany An Exploration Of The Social Construction Of Masculinity In Ugandan Meaning-Making, Nathaniel P. Dunigan Phd

Dissertations

In the study of both economic and human development, the men of the global South [sic] are often considered to be responsible for the lack of progress and for the lack of human flourishing. An abundance of literature exists exploring how women and children make meaning in the global South with many clear indicators that the choices made by men in their lives have led to an overall sense of need and a lack of wellness. Attempting to better understand how men of different cultures make sense of their world and navigate their life experiences can only enhance strategies in …

Central And Secondary Struggles In Social Interventions: The Impact Of Group Relations Learning On Real Life Practices, Ole-Kristian Setnes Phd

Dissertations

Recently, there has been considerable research focusing on outcomes of Group Relations conferences as a unique form of adult experiential learning. Most of the focus has been on participants' learning during and immediately after conferences with less attention paid to applications of learning outside conferences in participants' professional and/or personal lives. The San Diego group relations/ case-in-point model is integrated into the University of San Diego's graduate leadership studies program. Participants in this study included 10 individuals who had participated in this model's experiential learning as teaching assistants. The methodology that was implemented, Relational Qualitative Research, synthesizes elements from several …

A Phenomenological Study Of Acceptability Of Preexposure Prophylaxis Therapy Within The Lived Experiences Of Hiv Negative Male-To-Female Transgender Young Adults, Gloria N. Nwagwu Phd

Dissertations

The male-to-female transgender (MtF-TG) are individuals assigned a male gender at birth but self identify as female. MtF-TG young adults experience discrimination, stigmatization, isolation, and homelessness as a result of gender identity and gender expression. The transgender populations are linked to high rate of new HIV infection. The use of Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) therapy demonstrated a decrease in HIV infection risk ranging from 42% to 73% among sexual minority individuals. The goal of this three-part study was achieved through concept analysis, data collection, and analysis. The following aims were addressed; analyze the concept of transgender, explore currently used HIV prevention …

Identification Of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms In Post-Icu Patients, Heather Warlan Phd, Rn, Ccrn

Dissertations

Background: Patients receiving critical care are experiencing post-traumatic stress syndrome (PTSS) as a result of life-saving interventions received in the intensive care unit (ICU). PTSS is associated with poor patient outcomes and decreased quality of life compared to post-ICU patients without PTSS. Personal and clinical characteristics that place patients at higher risk for PTSS are still being examined. It is also unknown to what extent patients are being screened for ICU-induced PTSS. Objectives: This body of work aims to examine the risk factors associated with ICU-related PTSS and describe the screening experiences of patients who recently received care in an …

The Effects Of Leadership And High-Stakes Testing On The Retention Of Teachers, Amy Krohn Thibodeaux

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine whether principal leadership behaviors and the demands of high-stakes tests had an impact on teachers’ intent to remain in the teaching profession. Perceptions of teachers concerning the contributing factors that led to their intent to remain in the teaching profession were also examined. Factors included in this study were examined by the researcher in an effort to gain knowledge of what leads to teacher job satisfaction in the teaching profession.

The researcher used a quantitative survey instrument with a qualitative component. The survey instrument was created by the researcher and consisted of …

“No On 26” And @Ms4healthyfams: A Study Of Excellence Theory Public Relations In The Magnolia State, Karelia L. Schmitz

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to better understand how public relations campaigns that are designed to influence public policy can incorporate principles from James E. Grunig’s Excellence Theory to improve campaign effectiveness and relevance. In this case study of the Mississippians for Healthy Families campaign in opposition to Mississippi Proposition 26, social media distributed was viewed to analyze its content messages and practices. The study’s research question was designed to understand communication methods used by Mississippians for Healthy Families through the “No on 26” campaign, and the question was examined through a content analysis of materials collected from MS4HealthyFamilies …

Regulation Of Gene Expression In Karenia Brevis, Skylar C. Rodgers

Honors Theses

Karenia brevis is species of dinoflagellate responsible for most of the harmful algal blooms that occur in the Gulf of Mexico. These blooms can be detrimental to the environment and the economy of a coastal region due to the brevetoxins produced by Karenia brevis. Currently, the cause of these blooms, as well as the mechanisms of associated toxin production, are unknown. Efforts to characterize Karenia brevis at a molecular level are ongoing. However, based on genomic findings, researchers have hypothesized that regulation of gene expression occurs post-transcriptionally. In many organisms, non-coding RNAs, such as natural antisense transcripts (NATs), play …

Body Image And Beauty Routines Among College Women: Genital Grooming And Sexual Attitudes, Amber L. Hammons

Honors Theses

The selection of body altering products available to twenty-first century women is easily accessible and widely utilized. These products, though, are vastly different from those once available to their female predecessors. Although women’s bodies have been sites for societal pressure and control for centuries before the twenty-first, American girls in this century experience body image norms and pressures in qualitatively different ways than girls who came before them. Of particular interest to this study is the differing bodily experience of early twentieth century women to that of twenty-first century women.

The trading in of corsets and floor-length dresses for razors …

The Human Immune Response To The Flagellins Of Burkholderia Dolosa., Molly Mcdonald

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is the most commonly inherited lethal disorder in Caucasian populations. Chronic bacterial infection both decreases lung function and lowers the quality of the CF patient’s life. In one of the most recent CF epidemics, Burkholderia dolosa, an organism previously uncharacterized as an epidemic strain, infected over forty patients and led to the death of over seven patients at Children’s Hospital Boston. Preliminary research revealed that this strain of B. dolosa possesses genes for two distinct types of flagella, which is uncommon in bacterial pathogens. In this study we examine the interaction of human cells and B. dolosa, …

State V. Young Appellant's Reply Brief Dckt. 41541

Idaho Supreme Court Records & Briefs, All

No abstract provided.

Microgenomic Approaches To Identify Clinically Relevant Gene Signatures That Discriminate Histologic Types Of Breast Carcinomas., Sean Thomas Butterbaugh

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Background: Breast cancer presents itself in a variety of histologic types, and the two most common types are invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC) and invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC). Based on comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) analyses, ILC is more closely related to low grade IDC than it is to intermediate and high grade IDC. Results from the BIG 1-98 trial demonstrate that post-menopausal women who are affected with estrogen receptor positive (ER+) ILC or luminal B (high grade) IDC experience a greater magnitude of benefit when they are treated with the aromatase inhibitor (AI) letrozole compared to treatment with the antiestrogen tamoxifen. …

The First Successful Use Of A Low Stringency Familial Match In A French Criminal Investigation, Emmanuel Pham-Hoai, Frank Crispino, Greg Hampikian

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

We describe how a very simple application of familial searching resolved a decade-old, high-profile rape/murder in France. This was the first use of familial searching in a criminal case using the French STR DNA database, which contains approximately 1,800,000 profiles. When an unknown forensic profile (18 loci) was searched against the French arrestee/offender database using CODIS configured for a low stringency search, a single low stringency match was identified. This profile was attributed to the father of the man suspected to be the source of the semen recovered from the murder victim Elodie Kulik. The identification was confirmed using Y-chromosome …

Adapting To A Changing Climate: Local Drivers For Policy Response, Andrew J. Bilich

Honors Scholar Theses

Responding to the present and looming effects of global climate change presents a challenging task for policymakers at all levels of governance. The outcomes of climate change do present serious adaptation problems for global policy makers, but the implications of climate change are more immediately experienced by local communities and policy makers. Historical policymaking models suggest that economic well-being is an influential driver in local policy adoption. This particular analysis explores the relationship between economic variables and the development of climate adaptation policies by Connecticut municipalities. To test the degree of interaction present, adaptation policy data in the form of …

Detection Methods For Small Analytes: Improvement Of Novel Spr Technology Detection Of Toxins And Toxicants, William B. Ollayos

Honors Scholar Theses

Humans are exposed to a variety of toxic substances in their day-to-day activities that may have adverse health effects if not properly identified. An integrated dual-mode instrument that combines grating-coupled surface plasmon resonance (GCSPR) and grating-coupled surface plasmon coupled emissions (GCSPCE) should allow for the efficient detection of toxic analytes in a high-content system using gold-coated superparamagnetic nanobeads. The goal of this study is to validate the binding characteristics of the reagents intrinsic to this innovative assay methodology. Competition enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) assays were conducted on NNK toxicants and SEB toxins, which were the …

The Role Of Amp-Activated Protein Kinase (Ampk) In Regulating The Early Stages Of Acute Pancreatitis, Mohamed Shitia

Honors Scholar Theses

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory disease that is initiated by the activation and retention of digestive zymogens inside pancreatic acinar cells (acini). It is proposed that adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) regulates early responses of acute pancreatitis in acini. A recent study shows that induction of experimental pancreatitis in isolated rat acini with supraphysiologic cerulein (orthologue of cholecystokinin) increases intracellular zymogen activation, but decreases AMPK levels. Furthermore, in vitro pharmacologic stimulation of AMPK reduces zymogen activation, having a protective effect. In this study, the effectiveness of two AMPK activators was examined in two separate in vivo pancreatitis models. In the …

The Reversal Effects Of Curcumin, An Herbal Remedy, On The Impairments Induced By Vmat-2 Inhibitor Tetrabenazine, Emily Qian, Samantha E. Yohn

Honors Scholar Theses

Substantial evidence has shown that dopamine (DA), particularly in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), is involved in behavioral activation and effort-related processes, such as overcoming work related response costs. Interference with accumbens DA transmission through administration of the vesicular monoamine transportor-2 (VMAT-2) inhibitor tetrabenazine (TBZ) produces an alteration of response allocation in the concurrent FR5/chow choice procedure, biasing animals toward the lower effort alternative. It has been suggested that these drug-induced shifts in effort-related choice behavior seen in rodents are analogous to symptoms such as psychomotor retardation, anergia, and fatigue, which can be observed in people with depression and other related …

Antioxidant Gene Therapy Against Neuronal Cell Death, Juliana Navarro-Yepes, Laura Zavala-Flores, Anandhan Annadurai, Fang Wang, Maciej Skotak, Namas Chandra, Ming Li, Aglaia Pappa, Daniel Martinez-Fong, Luz Maria Del Razo, Betzabet Quintanilla-Vega, Rodrigo Franco

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Oxidative stress is a common hallmark of neuronal cell death associated with neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, as well as brain stroke/ischemia and traumatic brain injury. Increased accumulation of reactive species of both oxygen (ROS) and nitrogen (RNS) has been implicated inmitochondrial dysfunction, energy impairment, alterations in metal homeostasis and accumulation of aggregated proteins observed in neurodegenerative disorders, which lead to the activation/modulation of cell death mechanisms that include apoptotic, necrotic and autophagic pathways. Thus, the design of novel antioxidant strategies to selectively target oxidative stress and redox imbalance might represent important therapeutic approaches against neurological disorders. …