Digital Commons Network^™

Targeted Delivery Of Anti-Inflammatory And Anti-Oxidant Drugs For Treatment Of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases, Yun Xiang

All Dissertations

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) was found to be the fourth leading cause of death in 2004, but current treatments can only relieve the symptoms and improve the quality of life for the patients. Glucocorticoids have been broadly applied in other inflammatory conditions with promising therapeutic effects, but performed poorly in COPD. The phenomenon called glucocorticoid resistance is responsible for glucocorticoid insensitivity in COPD. Researchers have proven that elevated oxidative stress in the lung of a COPD patient is one of the main causes of blocking the function of glucocorticoids. We hypothesize that reducing the oxidative stress in the lung …

Toward Understanding The Thermodynamics And Mechanisms Of Actinide Sorption Reactions, Shanna Estes

All Dissertations

The environmental fate of actinides is greatly influenced by interfacial reactions, including sorption onto solid surfaces. Because changes in the primary hydration sphere of the actinide are expected to greatly influence the thermodynamics (i.e., reaction enthalpy and entropy) of these reactions, examining actinide sorption thermodynamics may provide insight into actinide sorption mechanisms. Additionally, examining actinide sorption thermodynamics may enhance the ability to model or predict these reactions in environmental or engineered systems where variable or elevated temperatures are expected. However, few researchers have studied actinide sorption thermodynamics. Therefore, this research examined the thermodynamics of Eu(III) (a trivalent actinide analog), Th(IV), …

Assessment Of The Effect Of Sustainability Practices On Financial Leakage In The Hotel Industry In Jordan, Nidal Alzboun

All Dissertations

ABSTRACT Tourism revenues are not an accurate indication of the financial impact of this industry because in some cases a proportion of the profits leaves the host country for various reasons, resulting in what is referred to as leakage. The research reported here investigates this issue in connection with the sustainability practices of hotels in Jordan, one of the strategies firms and governments can adopt to enhance performance and to address problems related to environmental, community, and economic development adding a novel contribution to the tourism literature. A mixed method approach was used to collect and analyze the data obtained …

Design With Emotion: Improving Web Search Experience For Older Adults, Tamirat Abegaz

All Dissertations

Research indicates that older adults search for information all together about 15% less than younger adults prior to making decisions. Prior research findings associated such behavior mainly with age-related cognitive difficulties. However, recent studies indicate that emotion is linked to influence search decision quality. This research approaches questions about why older adults search less and how this search behavior could be improved. The research is motivated by the broader issues of older users' search behavior, while focusing on the emotional usability of search engine user interfaces. Therefore, this research attempts to accomplish the following three objectives: a) to explore the …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Chemically Functionalized Shape Memory Nanofoams For Unattended Sensing Applications, Anna Paola Soliani

All Dissertations

The work in this dissertation is devoted to the synthesis and characterization of novel materials for off-line unattended sensing: shape-memory grafted nanofoams. The fabrication process and characterization of highly efficient, polymeric nanosensor element with the ability to selectively detect analytes and retain memory of specific exposure events is reported. These shape memory nanofoams could potentially act as efficient and highly sensitive coatings for evanescent waveguide-based optical monitoring systems. On exposure to specific analytes, the polymeric coatings locally change their internal structure irreversibly at the nanolevel, affecting the local optical properties such as refractive index. Currently, enrichment polymer layers (EPLs) are …

Sustainable Heritage Tourism: A Tourist-Oriented Approach For Managing Petra Archaeological Park, Jordan, Mohammad Alazaizeh

All Dissertations

Although sustainability of heritage tourism has become a major concern from the perspectives of both academics and practitioners, the majority of research and studies have tended to understand the cultural and educational issues of heritage tourism rather than focusing on the application of sustainability in a practical context. To achieve sustainability in heritage tourism, heritage sites should be managed effectively in a way that ensures preservation of heritage resources and provides quality experiences to the tourists. Traditionally, heritage tourism planning and management relied on a top-down, professional-led approach that ignores the interests of different stakeholders (e.g., heritage tourists) in heritage …

Development And Application Of Scalable Two-Dimensional High Performance Liquid Chromatography For Aromatic Selective Separations Of Biologically Active Phytochemicals From Oplopanax Horridus, Gregory Jones

All Dissertations

The high demand for more efficient purification processes with increased automation and throughput pushes the development of more advanced preparative, pilot, and process scale HPLC instrumentation that is capable of achieving higher purities in a shorter amount of time than are currently achieved using one dimensional separations. A preparative scale 2D HPLC system was designed and reduced to practice in order to demonstrate the capacity for scalability of on-line comprehensive 2D HPLC separations of basic compounds from a challenging natural product extract of Oplopanax horridus. The methodology and instrumentation design herein permits direct method transfer from analytical to preparative scale …

Surface Modifications Of Capillary-Channeled Polymer (C-Cp) Fiber Stationary Phases: Improving The Efficiency Of Highly Selective Analyte Separations, Abby Schadock-Hewitt

All Dissertations

High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) is a fundamental methodology for the characterization and purification of macromolecules. Since its development in the 1970's, HPLC has significantly advanced its instrumentation and column technology to become a powerful analytical technique. A considerable amount of research focuses on advancements to the stationary phase, or solid support, on which molecules interact and separate. To overcome limitations of other phases that lead to poor mass transfer, slow speeds, and low efficiency, nonporous and superficially porous phases have been developed. Specifically, fiber based polymer stationary phases show great promise as stationary phases for protein separations. The Marcus …

High Frequency Devices And Circuit Modules For Biochemical Microsystems, Jiwei Sun

All Dissertations

This dissertation investigates high frequency devices and circuit modules for biochemical microsystems. These modules are designed towards replacing external bulky laboratory instruments and integrating with biochemical microsystems to generate and analyze signals in frequency and time domain. The first is a charge pump circuit with modified triple well diodes, which is used as an on-chip power supply. The second is an on-chip pulse generation circuit to generate high voltage short pulses. It includes a pulse-forming-line (PFL) based pulse generation circuit, a Marx generator and a Blumlein generator. The third is a six-port circuit based on four quadrature hybrids with 2.0~6.0 …

The Development And Characterization Of Tannic Acid Cross-Linked Collagen Scaffolds For The Prevention Of Breast Cancer Recurrence In Lumpectomy Patients, Beau Inskeep

All Dissertations

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer amongst women, second only to lung cancer. In 2014, it was estimated that there were approximately 295,000 new cases of breast cancer diagnosed in women, with approximately 40,000 deaths caused by breast cancer in the United States. It has been reported that a woman has a 12% chance of developing breast cancer in her lifetime and a 3% chance of dying from breast cancer. There are several treatment options available for breast cancer, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, as well as two different forms of surgery, mastectomy and lumpectomy. However, none of these …

Investigating The Effects Of Biochemical And Biophysical Signals On Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Differentiation, Ruikai Chen

All Dissertations

In blood vessel engineering, an optimal bioartifical scaffold can be characterized as a 3D tubular structure with high porosity for nutrient diffusion and enough mechanical strength to sustain in vivo dynamic environment. The luminal surface of the scaffold is supposed to have a continuous layer of endothelial cell that is ideally non-immunogenic and non-thrombogenic while the media layer of the construct is assigned for the ingrowth of vascular smooth muscle cell which can provide structural integrity and contractility. While reconstructing endothelial cell layer has been at the center of interest in most polymeric vascular replacements related research, growing VSMCs has …

Development Of An In Vitro Three-Dimensional Breast Tissue Model To Decipher The Effects Of Stromal Heterogeneity On Normal And Cancerous Mammary Epithelial Cells, Erin Mccave

All Dissertations

A goal of breast cancer research is to develop a detailed understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease progression and to generate approaches to improve early detection, monitoring, and treatment of breast cancerous lesions. Current breast cancer therapies are not successful for all cases as they were developed as a standard of care for 'average' breast cancer condition. To further current clinical success, the characteristics of each tumor mass must be considered. Such an individualized or personalized approach is incompatible with current understanding of 'average' breast cancer tumors and responses to treatments. The long-term objective of the present research is …

Biology And Control Of The Bed Bug Cimex Lectularius L., Kevin Hinson

All Dissertations

After vanishing from the public eye for more than 50 years, bed bugs have resurged to become one of the most widely discussed and heavily researched insect pests in the westernized world. Our inability to prevent and successfully treat infestations has been the driving force behind this wave of research. I addressed gaps in our understanding of bed bugs by examining behavioral and life history characteristics, as well as insecticide application responses. I showed that natural-based products are generally ineffective against bed bugs, particularly when used as a residual treatment. I also found that bed bugs may be killed through …

Phylogenomics And Historical Biogeography Of The Gooseneck Barnacle Pollicipes Elegans, Sergio Andres Marchant Rojas

All Dissertations

This dissertation explores the systematics, biogeography, and genomics of the gooseneck barnacle Pollicipes elegans, a marine crustacean of the tropical Eastern Pacific. In Chapter 1, I provide a broad framework for my research by introducing and focusing on the long-­‐standing debate of the mechanisms behind the latitudinal gradient in species diversity, which provided the initial motivation for using Pollicipes elegans as a model system to study the mechanisms leading to genetic differentiation and speciation in tropical regions. In Chapter 2, I examine the genetic structure, infer patterns of connectivity across the warm tropical waters of the eastern Pacific, and reconstruct …

Determining Dna Damage Prevention Mechanisms For Multifunctional Selenium And Sulfur Antioxidants And The Dna-Damaging Capabilities Of Clotrimadozle And Pseudoephedrine-Derived Metal Complexes, Matthew Todd Zimmerman

All Dissertations

DNA damage by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is a cause of many chronic diseases. This work examines the ability of sulfur and selenium antioxidants to prevent oxidative DNA damage and the mechanisms for this activity. Although iron- and copper-generated hydroxyl radical are primary causes of damage under oxidative stress conditions, studies typically focus on ROS scavenging rather than antioxidant-metal binding as a mechanism for sulfur and selenium antioxidant behavior. Mass spectrometry studies of sulfur and selenoamino acids (Chapter 2) show that most form CuI and FeII complexes, regardless of their metal-mediated DNA damage prevention abilities. Because their electrochemical properties do …

Materials Science Of Electrochemical Formation Of Tungsten Nanosharp Probes, Maryana I. Nave

All Dissertations

This dissertation is centered on the development of a methodology that aims to engineer millimeter long and ten microns thin nanosharp tungsten probes. The current state of the art of electropolishing techniques is reviewed. We discuss the probes produced by electrochemical etching of a wire until it breaks into two pieces. This process is difficult to control because of the complexity of the associated hydrodynamic flows. These techniques were called convection-limited electropolishing (CLE) because the kinetics of wire etching is controlled by the convective diffusion of ions. We introduced a newly developed technique, precipitation-limited electropolishing (PLE), which enables production of …

Contributions Of The Human Ssb Complex And Mei5-Swi5 Complex To Homologous Recombination, Leanna L. Ledford

All Dissertations

DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) are the most threatening type of DNA damage in a cell. Homologous recombination (HR) is the most accurate repair mechanism for DSBs, and if HR fails, the integrity of the genome can be compromised. Two recombinases, RAD51 and DMC1, are vital for HR but require assistance for HR to proceed efficiently and accurately. Several proteins, including mediators, single-strand binding proteins, and accessory proteins, have been shown to function in the HR with the recombinases. Mediators are responsible for overcoming inhibition caused by the single-strand binding protein, Replication protein A (RPA). Accessory proteins assist the recombinases through …

Facilities Forum, Georgia Southern University

Auxiliary Services (2013-2021)

• Facilities Veterans Honored
• Shooting Sports Education Center
• Health Services Center
• Employees, GSU Awarded by BOR
• Saving Energy with Solar Charged Golf Carts
• Going Green with New Hand Dryers
• Keeping Georgia Southern Beautiful
• CPR and AED Training
• Campus Installation of AEDs
• Tailgate Recycling Program
• New Hires and Promotions
• End of Year Project Initiation Form

Advanced Network Inference Techniques Based On Network Protocol Stack Information Leaks, Roya Ensafi

Computer Science ETDs

Side channels are channels of implicit information flow that can be used to find out information that is not allowed to flow through explicit channels. This thesis focuses on network side channels, where information flow occurs in the TCP/IP network stack implementations of operating systems. I will describe three new types of idle scans: a SYN backlog idle scan, a RST rate-limit idle scan, and a hybrid idle scan. Idle scans are special types of side channels that are designed to help someone performing a network measurement (typically an attacker or a researcher) to infer something about the network that …

Investigation Of Nuclear And Cytoplasmic Functions Of The Dlipin Protein Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Qiuyu Chen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lipin family proteins are highly conserved proteins present in species ranging from mammals to yeast. Lipin 1, the first Lipin gene identified in fatty liver dystrophy (fld) mutant mice, encodes the bifunctional protein Lipin 1, which can serve as an Mg2+-dependent phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP) and transcriptional co-regulator. dLipin, the single Lipin ortholog of Drosophila melanogaster, is required in triglyceride synthesis and fat body development. To study the transcriptional co-regulator activity of dLipin, nuclear receptors were screened to find receptors that interact with dLipin. The genetic interaction data indicated that Drosophila hepatic nuclear receptor 4 (HNF4) was a promising candidate …

Consumer Acceptance And Willingness To Pay For Genetically Modified Rice In China: A Double Bounded Dichotomous Choic Contingent Valuation Survey Calibrated By Cheap Talk, Jing Jin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Considering population growth, limitations on land and water resources, and contamination to the ecosystem due to agricultural activities, current rice production in China is facing pressure to fulfill national demand. Self-sufficiency of rice has been a long-held political objective of the Chinese government and it is national goal to maintain the equilibrium between the national production and consumption or even achieve a supply surplus in rice. With the developing bio-technology of genetic modification (GM), scientists believe that using genetically modified cultivars may ease the pressure mentioned above. However, both the government and the people are very cautious about large-scale cultivation …

The Effects Of Book Format On Parent-Child Interaction During Joint Book Reading, Jennifer Lynn Bowman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology is a part of our society and is ever changing. Therefore, it is important to examine the effects that such innovations have on parent-child interactions, especially those that have been shown to promote children's early literacy learning and future school success. This study was conducted in the context of a larger project, The Family Reading Project, which investigated parent-child engagement in joint reading activities using mobile devices. This research compared parent and child behaviors when reading traditional books versus reading e-books to determine if book format had any effect on parent-child interaction. The results of this study were that …

Identification And The Significance Of Selective Proteins In Bile And Plasma Of Normal And Health-Compromised Chickens, Balamurugan Packialakshmi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the last 50 years, animal breeding programs in commercial poultry have made significant progress in the bodyweight gain of broilers but led to several metabolic and skeletal disorders. Lameness associated with proximal femur known as femoral head separation (FHS) or femoral head necrosis (FHN) is one of the major metabolic disorders in poultry industry. In order to select for healthy chickens, markers that can distinguish between healthy and affected birds are required. Biomarkers from blood represent an ideal and rich source of markers which can be obtained using minimally invasive methods. The biomarkers were explored in an experimental model …

Designing Magnetically Responsive Ultrafiltration Membranes, Robert William Dong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes developed out of a need for protein separation processes. Currently, they are used in a variety of industries ranging from food manufacturing to pharmaceuticals for two main purposes: concentration, separation, and buffer exchange. UF membrane processes in product streams undergo frequent use and like all membrane processes experience a gradual decline in performance due to fouling phenomena both irreversible and reversible. Ultimately, performance declines to a point where the UF membrane needs to be replaced. Frequent replacement of UF membranes is detrimental to major industries that require high product throughput using UF processes. Thus, it is important …

Antibacterial Activity Of Commercially Available Plant Extracts On Selected Campylobacter Jejuni Strains, Divya Oppath Sivasankaran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Campylobacter jejuni is recognized as a leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide with approximately 850,000 cases per year in the United Sates. A total of 18 species of Campylobacter have been identified worldwide to date. Foodborne transmission of C. jejuni is mainly through the consumption of unpasteurized milk, contaminated poultry meat and water. C. jejuni can survive in very diverse environments under stressful conditions in human and animals which is different from the specific conditions and media required in laboratory experiments. There has been increased research in recent years to identify naturally occurring antibacterial agents to control and eliminate C. …

Regulation Of Phialide Morphogenesis In Aspergillus Nidulans, Hu Yin

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Filamentous fungi have two distinctive life cycles, vegetative growth and development for sexual or asexual spore formation. The asexual reproduction in development as conidiation in Aspergillus nidulans is the dominant form of producing spores effectively. A complex conidiophore structure is developed during asexual reproduction process. The conidiophore is formed from hyphal cell and consists of stalk, vesicle, metulae, phialide and conidial spores. Phialides are essential sporogenous cells in the conidiophore structure. The growth pattern is switched from acropetal to basipetal between phialide and spores, which makes phialide a unique cell type in A. nidulans and other phialide producing fungi. …

Modeling The Evolution Of Generativity And The Emergence Of Digital Ecosystems, C. Jason Woodard, Eric K. Clemons

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Recent literature on sociotechnical systems has employed the concept of generativity to explain the remarkable capacity for digital artifacts to support decentralized innovation and the emergence of rich business ecosystems. In this paper, we propose agent-based computational modeling as a tool for studying the evolution of generativity, and offer a set of building blocks for constructing agent-based models in which generativity evolves. We describe a series of models that we have created using these building blocks, and summarize the results of our computational experiments to date. We find in several different settings that key features of generative systems can themselves …

Issues Of Social Data Analytics With A New Method For Sentiment Analysis Of Social Media Data, Zhaoxia Wang, Victor J. C. Tong, David Chan

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Social media data consists of feedback, critiques and other comments that are posted online by internet users. Collectively, these comments may reflect sentiments that are sometimes not captured in traditional data collection methods such as administering a survey questionnaire. Thus, social media data offers a rich source of information, which can be adequately analyzed and understood. In this paper, we survey the extant research literature on sentiment analysis and discuss various limitations of the existing analytical methods. A major limitation in the large majority of existing research is the exclusive focus on social media data in the English language. There …

Managing Devil Facial Tumour Disease In Tasmanian Devils (Sarcophilus Harrisii): An Investigation Of Heat Shock Proteins As Potential Vaccine Adjuvants, Monika Payerhin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The world’s largest carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian devil (Sarcophilus harrisii), is facing extinction from a deadly, highly communicable cancer that has already decimated over 85% of devil populations in the wild: devil facial tumour disease (DFTD). DFTD cells effectively evade recognition by the immune system, and every devil that contracts the disease dies from it. Many attempts have been made at developing a vaccine that could help save this now-threatened species. Heat shock proteins have been linked to enhanced immune recognition of pathogens, making them potential candidates for acting as adjuvants to such a vaccine against DFTD. In this study, …

The End Of An Era: The Cancer Stem Cell Hypothesis And Its Therapeutic Implications, Emily Paton

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Cancer, a leading cause of death in many developed countries, has become a global health burden. Much of the drain on healthcare systems has resulted from the high cost and ineffectiveness of conventional cancer treatments, which often lead to cancer relapse or metastasis. The failures of chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery have been elucidated by the cancer stem cell (CSC) hypothesis, which postulates that a small percentage of tumor cells drive tumorigenesis. These cells can sustain cancer through their capacity to self-renew and differentiate into specialized tumor cell types, similar to how healthy stem cells maintain healthy tissues. Conventional cancer treatments …