Digital Commons Network^™

Effect Of Low-Intensity Long-Duration Ultrasound On The Symptomatic Relief Of Knee Osteoarthritis: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Double-Blind Study, Dominic Klyve, Ralph Ortiz, Davie O. Draper, Thomas M. Best

Mathematics Faculty Scholarship

Background: Wearable long-duration low-intensity ultrasound is an emerging non-invasive and non-narcotic therapy for the daily treatment of musculoskeletal pain. The aim of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was to examine whether long-duration low-intensity ultrasound was effective in treating pain and improving function in patients with knee osteoarthritis. Methods: Ninety patients with moderate to severe knee pain and radiographically confirmed knee osteoarthritis (Kellgren-Lawrence grade I/II) were randomized for treatment with active (n = 55) or placebo (n = 35) devices applied daily to the treated knee. Investigators and subjects were blinded to treatment groups. Ultrasound (3 MHz, 0.132 W/cm2, 1.3 W) …

The Clinical Features Of Patients Concurrent With Guillain-Barré Syndrome And Myasthenia Gravis, Junliang Yuan, Juan Zhang, Bingwei Zhang, Wenli Hu

Neurosciences

Objectives: To evaluate all the coincidence cases of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and myasthenia gravis (MG). Methods: We performed web-based research of the overlapping incidence of GBS and MG in studies occurring from 1982 to 2016 and restricted to the English language. Results: Among 15 cases, an elevated CSF protein level without pleocytosis was found in 10 cases (66.7%); reduced nerve conduction was found in 13 cases (86.6%); a positive repetitive nerve stimulation test occurred in 11 cases (73.3%); anti-AChR antibodies were found in 13 cases (86.6%); anti-GQ1b antibodies were found in 6 cases (40%); a positive edrophonium chloride test was …

Recycling As A Nation, Kate Juon

PEEL Alumni Scholarship

Could the United States be falling behind in its overall goal to reduce the amount of waste generated because waste management has been and continues to be a state or even city-mandated responsibility? In the United States, the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) remains the only federal legislation requiring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to create guidelines for solid waste disposal and regulations. Yet, RCRA only mentions recycling via a call to increase the federal purchase of products made with recycling content. Without any mention of an enforcement mandate, the responsibility of creating policy and implementation of these policies …

Infection Dynamics Of Herpesvirus In Gopher Tortoises, Joanne Saldanha

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Gopherus polyphemus, commonly known as the Gopher Tortoise, is a dryland reptile native to the southeastern United States. It is commonly a resident of longleaf pine and dry oak sand hill habitats. It is considered a keystone species because they dig deep burrows that provide shelter to them as well as many other animals. Habitat loss, fragmentation, and disease are major threats and have caused this species to be federally listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). Disease is a major threat to the gopher tortoise’s survival, and with declining populations, the need to investigate …

Parasympathetic Nerve Derived Exosomes Inhibit Hyperglycemia Induced Apoptosis In Cardiomyoblast Cells, Reetish K. Singla

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Diabetic cardiomyopathy involves both forms of cardiac cell cell death such as apoptosis and necrosis. However, this remains unknown whether hyperglycemia induced apoptosis in the cell culture system is inhibited by parasympathetic nerve derived exosomes. We isolated parasympathetic and sympathetic nerves and derived exosomes. We developed hyperglycemia induced apoptosis in H9c2 cells. H9c2 cells were divided into 4 groups: 1) Control, 2) H9c2+ Glucose 100 mmol, 3) H9c2+ Glucose +parasympathetic-exo, 4) H9c2+ Glucose+sympathetic-exo. We determined cell proliferation and viability with MTT assay kit and apoptosis with TUNEL staining and cell death detection ELISA kit. Data was further confirmed with pro-apoptotic …

Peace Development In East Asia: China, Japan, And South Korea, Yihui Tang

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This thesis intends to explore the peacebuilding process in East Asia. It mainly examines the politics, cultures, and economies of China, Japan, and South Korea, along with the on-going issues between South Korea and North Korea. To be able to establish a stable and prosperous society in East Asia, these three countries play a major role, and they can create greater cooperation within the region and on the international level. Peacebuilding process highly depends on politic, culture, and economy of these three countries. Confidence Building Measures (CBM) and Peaceful Settlement of Disputes (PSD) are the excellent strategies for achieving peace …

Mechanical Properties Of The Skeleton Of Acropora Cervicornis, Bridget Masa

Honors Undergraduate Theses

This research explores the instantaneous mechanical behavior of the skeleton of the critically endangered staghorn coral Acropora cervicornis. Both bleached and sanded skeletons were used in this experiment. The Raman spectroscopy test showed that there was no significant change in the Raman shift between the three branches tested. The shifts were nearly identical to Raman shifts of calcium carbonate. Vickers hardness test found that 1 Bleached had the average hardness of 3.44 GPa with a standard deviation of 0.12 GPa. The sanded sample also had a similar value of 3.54 GPa with a standard deviation of 0.13 GPa. Samples from …

Feeding The Children: A Paleodietary Reconstruction Of Juveniles From Kuelap, Peru, Marley Denierio

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Before reaching adulthood, every individual experiences a period of dependency, the juvenile period, during which they rely on the older, more experienced members of their society for their security, subsistence and care. This juvenile period is an important stage of life for human physical and physiological development. In bioarchaeology, there has been limited research conducted on juveniles, particularly, the development of their own social identity and influences. The research method of stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotope analysis is used to reconstruct the paleodiet of juveniles to determine their dietary composition. Specifically, this research is focused on Kuelap, located …

A Case-Study Of The African Leopard (Panthera Pardus Pardus) Population On The Nambiti Private Game Reserve, Erica Castaneda

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The Nambiti Private Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa is a nature reserve that aids in the conservation of some of the world’s most renown species. This includes members of the "Big Five," which is comprised of the African lion (Panthera leo), the African elephant (Loxidonta africana), the Cape buffalo (Syncerus caffer), the black & white rhinoceroses (Diceros bicornis and Ceratotherium simum, respectively), and the African leopard (Panthera pardus pardus). These animals represent the top five African animals desired by trophy hunters and by tourists hoping to view wildlife (Caro …

Studies Of Norspermidine Uptake In Drosophila Suggest The Existence Of Multiple Polyamine Transport Pathways, Michael Dieffenbach

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Polyamines are a class of essential nutrients involved in many basic cellular processes such as gene expression, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Without polyamines, cell growth is delayed or halted. Cancerous cells require an abundance of polyamines through a combination of synthesis and transport from the extracellular environment. An FDA-approved drug, D,L-α-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), blocks polyamine synthesis but is ineffective at inhibiting cell growth due to polyamine transport. Thus, there is a need to develop drugs that inhibit polyamine transport to use in combination with DFMO. Surprisingly, little is known about the polyamine transport system in humans and other eukaryotes. Understanding the …

Obsidian Sourcing Analysis From Chiquiuitan, Guatemala, Sutherland X. Fertig

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The intent of this thesis is to analyze obsidian artifacts from Chiquiuitan, Guatemala to see if the samples can be traced to known obsidian sources in the Maya region based on their unique chemical elements. Another aspect of this analysis is to determine the accuracy and validity of the Handheld XRF instrument on small and irregular obsidian samples. Furthermore, sourcing analysis allows researchers to acquire information about trade, exchange, and acquisition patterns of the material and gives researchers indications to prehistoric, social, and economic features.

A Machine Learning Approach To Assess The Separation Of Seismocardiographic Signals By Respiration, Brian Solar

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The clinical usage of Seismocardiography (SCG) is increasing as it is being shown to be an effective non-invasive measurement for heart monitoring. SCG measures the vibrational activity at the chest surface and applications include non-invasive assessment of myocardial contractility and systolic time intervals. Respiratory activity can also affect the SCG signal by changing the hemodynamic characteristics of cardiac activity and displacing the position of the heart. Other clinically significant information, such as systolic time intervals, can thus manifest themselves differently in an SCG signal during inspiration and expiration. Grouping SCG signals into their respective respiratory cycle can mitigate this issue. …

New Courland, Tobago: A Gis Analysis Of A 17th-Century Settlement, Amanda Sumner

Honors Undergraduate Theses

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the Caribbean island of Tobago was contested by several European powers. Among them was an unlikely colonizer, the small Duchy of Courland, located in the western part of modern-day Latvia, which established the New Courland colony on the west coast of Tobago, in May 1654. The aim of this study was to determine the exact geographic location of this settlement through examination of historical texts, maps, and geographic information systems (GIS) data. Remote sensing and GIS methods were used to map the Courlander Fort Jacob on the site of an earlier Dutch fortification, Nieuw …

Variables Influencing Misogyny, Rachel E. Mcpherson

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Misogyny, a hatred against women, is an attitude that causes emotional distress and can negatively affect women's psychological and physical health. It has shown itself in extreme ways and can be crippling to women. Studies have shown that psychological distress is heightened when women are subjected to sexist events. Misogyny exists in the classroom, workplace, and politics, and is virtually inescapable from women. It is not uncommon for women in positions of power are often unjustly branded with cruel epithets. Despite the modernity of today's culture, misogyny is still a prevalent issue. This study seeks to assess the underlying predictors …

Quantifying Undisturbed (Native) Lands In Northwestern South Dakota: 2013, Pete Bauman, Benjamin Carlson, Tanner Butler, Brad Richardson

Quantifying Undisturbed (Native) Lands in Northwestern South Dakota: 2013

We employed simple GIS methods primarily utilizing the South Dakota Farm Service Agency’s Common Land Unit (CLU) data layers from 2013 and the 2012 United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Agriculture Imagery Program (NAIP) county mosaic aerial imagery to evaluate 7,347,812 acres of land in northwestern South Dakota. The analysis area includes: Harding, Perkins, and Butte counties along with portions of Lawrence and Meade counties outside of the Black Hills Core Highlands and Plateau Ecoregions.

We utilized the FSA CLU data layer queried to show current and former cropland to identify and remove any areas with cropping history regardless …

Distinct Mechanisms Of Alterations In Dna Methylation/Demethylation Leading To Myelodysplastic Syndromes/Acute Myeloid Leukemia And Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia, Cristina Bagacean, Anne Bordron, Tempescul Adrian, Jean Christophe Ianotto, Gaelle Guillerm, Wesley Brooks, Marie-Anne Couturier, Mihnea Zdrenghea, Christian Berthou, Yves Renaudineau

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Epigenetic dysregulation is present in both myeloid and lymphoid disorders, with important differences reported between myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS)/acute myeloid leukemia (AML), on one hand, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), on the other. Qualitative differences are reported in MDS/AML with gene fusions (e.g. TET1/LCX) and somatic mutations in epigenetic regulators (e.g. DNMT3A, TET2, IDH1/2), while differences in CLL are predominantly quantitative (e.g. DNMT3A, TET2). Indeed, and as supported by studies in animal models, a defective DNA methylation/demethylation process represents a competitive advantage to the myeloid lineage and an early event in MDS/AML, while in the case of CLL, epigenetic events appear …

Analyzing The Non-Mainstream Left And Populist-Radical Right: Do Party Promises For Women Actually Translate Into More Women Leaders And Members?, Brianna Bacigalupo

Res Publica - Journal of Undergraduate Research

Why are some parties referred to as “Männerparteien,” or men’s parties, while other parties are considered to be “female women-friendly”? This study incorporates a two-part model system to assess whether the ways in which party platforms exhibit gender ideology affects women’s leadership and membership in non-mainstream left (NML) parties and populist-radical right (PRR) parties. Using content analysis, this study analyzes election manifestos from a variety of parties within Europe in order to characterize the relative woman friendliness of the gender ideology. In turn, the study attempts to discover whether differences in gender ideology lead to differences in women’s access to …

Abjection And Vision, Brianna Perry

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

I am currently researching medieval Christian mysticism and Black Hoodoo. Both traditions are founded upon a more involved relationship with the body and spirit. The herbalism, magic and superstition involved in the Black Hoodoo tradition have served as means of resistance among Black Americans. In light of the Tuskegee Airman incident, Black Americans’ doubt of the white medical establishment has increased. In a world dominated by reason and logic, magic makes less and less sense. The role of mystics provided new opportunities and fulfillment for medieval women, who found their voices through articulating and illustrating their visions. Visions primarily served …

Computing Eigenmodes Of Elliptic Operators On Manifolds Using Radial Basis Functions, Vladimir Delengov

CGU Theses & Dissertations

In this work, a numerical approach based on meshless methods is proposed to obtain eigenmodes of Laplace-Beltrami operator on manifolds, and its performance is compared against existing alternative methods. Radial Basis Function (RBF)-based methods allow one to obtain interpolation and differentiation matrices easily by using scattered data points. We derive expressions for such matrices for the Laplace-Beltrami operator via so-called Reilly’s formulas and use them to solve the respective eigenvalue problem. Numerical studies of proposed methods are performed in order to demonstrate convergence on simple examples of one-dimensional curves and two-dimensional surfaces.

Experimental Infection Of Tadarida Brasiliensis With Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, The Fungus That Causes White-Nose Syndrome, Michelle L. Verant, Carol U. Meteyer, Benjamin Stading

KIP Articles

White-nose syndrome (WNS) is causing significant declines in populations of North American hibernating bats, and recent western and southern expansions of the disease have placed additional species at risk. Understanding differences in species susceptibility and identifying management actions to reduce mortality of bats from WNS are top research priorities. However, the use of wild-caught susceptible bats, such as Myotis lucifugus, as model species for WNS research is problematic and places additional pressure on remnant populations. We investigated the feasibility of using Tadarida brasiliensis, a highly abundant species of bat that tolerates captivity, as the basis for an experimental animal model …

Evidence For Anti-Pseudogymnoascus Destructans (Pd) Activity Of Propolis, Soumya Ghosh, Robyn Mcarthur, Zhi Chao Guo

KIP Articles

White-nose syndrome (WNS) in bats, caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), is a cutaneous infection that has devastated North American bat populations since 2007. At present, there is no effective method for controlling this disease. Here, we evaluated the effect of propolis against Pd in vitro. Using Sabouraud dextrose agar (SDA) medium, approximately 1.7 × 107 conidia spores of the Pd strain M3906-2/mL were spread on each plate and grown to form a consistent lawn. A Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion assay was employed using different concentrations of propolis (1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%, 10%, 15%, 20%, 25%), in plates incubated at 8 …

Proposition 65: Why Coffee In California May Come With A Cancer Warning, Thomas J K Schick

Loyola Consumer Law Review

No abstract provided.

2017 Trademark Law Decisions Of The Federal Circuit, Anita B. Polott, Rachel E. Fertig

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Originalism And The Common Law Infancy Defense, Craig S. Lerner

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Extraterritoriality Of Antitrust Law: Applying The Supreme Court's Analysis In Rjr Nabisco To Foreign Component Cartels, Megan L. Masingill

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can A Comprehensive Transition Plan To Barefoot Running Be The Solution To The Injury Epidemic In American Endurance Runners?, Michael A. Scarlett

CMC Senior Theses

Fossils belonging to the genus Homo, dating as far back as two million years ago, exhibit uniquely efficient features suggesting that early humans had evolved to become exceptional endurance runners. Although they did not have the cushion or stability-control features provided in our modern day running shoes, our early human ancestors experienced far less of the running-related injuries we experience today. The injury rate has been estimated as high as 90% annually for Americans training for a marathon and as high as 79% annually for all American endurance runners. There is an injury epidemic in conventionally shod populations that …

Land Suitability Analysis For Emergency Medical Services Posts Along State Highways: A Case Study Of California, Ernest Tufuor, Laurence Rilett, Yunwoo Nam, Antonio Hurtado Beltran

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

The response time of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to road accidents can be the difference between life and death. The California strategic highway safety plan highlight the need to improve the response time and recognizes that: 37% and 8% of the fatal crashes are 30 or more miles away from a trauma center in rural and urban areas respectively.

The paper seeks to: (1) demonstrate the viability of using spatial multi-criteria analysis in road safety management, and (2) provide a good scientific justification in selecting optimal counties for EMS posts. The goal is to propose areas that are close to …

Vision, Voice, And Cinematic Presence, Constantine V. Nakassis, Amanda Weidman

Anthropology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Anxieties around the appearance and audition of the female body and voice in Tamil cinema reveal a semiotic ideology of the image that does not fit neatly within the idea of cinema as representation. Instead, this ideology takes filmic images to be acts that performatively presence the actresses and singers who animate them, in other words morally charged acts for which such animators are held accountable. Drawing on linguistic anthropology and film theory, this article explores vision-image and sound-image as distinct modes of performative presence, noting the division of semiotic labor between them as well as their interaction and interdependence. …

The Common Place: The Poetics Of The Pedestrian In Kevin Huizenga’S Walkin’, Shiamin Kwa

East Asian Languages and Cultures Faculty Research and Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Still Moving: Gabrielle Bell’S Graphic Auto-Fiction, Shiamin Kwa

East Asian Languages and Cultures Faculty Research and Scholarship

In Lucky, The Voyeurs, and Truth is Fragmentary, cartoonist Gabrielle Bell adopts comics panels of approximately the same size as a passport photo. The comics draw a kind of auto-fiction that marries the fantastical and the autobiographical, frequently eliding musings on her status as a woman writer, a comics writer, and a traveler. These are all categories that share the distinction of being “threshold” or liminal categories. This chapter takes Bell’s presentation of identity as an object of formal and phenomenological inquiry. It considers how the hand-drawn rendering of the autobiographical self ironically draws attention to the irregularity of identity …