Digital Commons Network^™

The American And Swedish Criminal Justice System: A Comparative Study, Josefin Hedstrom

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hosting 22 percent of the world’s prison population, the United States is the number one country in the world regarding incarceration rates where 1 in 109 adults are locked up behinds bars and about two-thirds of offenders will recidivate within three years of their release (Durose, Coope, & Snyder, 2014; Kaeble, Glaze, Tsoutis, & Minton, 2016; U.S. Census Bureau, 2015; Walmsley, 2013). Sweden has one of the lowest recidivism and incarceration rates in the world where only 29 percent reoffend and 1 in 2,278 of their total population is behind bars (Kriminalvården, 2017; The World Bank, 2016). The purpose of …

A Role Of Vitamin B2 In Reducing Amyloid-Beta Toxicity In A Caenorhabditis Elegans Alzheimer’S Disease Model, Muhammad Tukur Ameen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is associated with amyloid-beta peptide deposition and loss of mitochondrial function. Using a transgenic C. elegans AD worm model expressing amyloid-beta in body wall muscle, we determined that supplementation with either of the forms of vitamin B₂, flavin mononucleotide (FMN) or flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) protected against amyloid-beta mediated paralysis. FMN and FAD were then assayed to determine effects on ATP, oxygen consumption, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) with these compounds not significantly improving any of these mitochondrial bioenergetic functions. Knockdown of the daf-16/FOXO transcriptional regulator or the FAD synthase enzyme completely abrogated the …

Kinetics And Activation Energy Parameters For Hydrolysis Of Acetic Anhydride In A Water-Acetone Cosolvent System, Samson Olowoyo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The hydrolysis of acetic anhydride is a widely-studied liquid phase reaction studied since 1906. Different approaches have been used to study the kinetics of this reaction. Approaches used by researchers have involved the use of sophisticated experimental set-ups. In this work, the pH technique has been adopted which involves the use of a pH meter to monitor the hydrolysis reaction. Analysis of the hydrolysis reaction has been performed for water/acetone cosolvent systems over a range of temperatures and mole fractions. Eyring analysis was performed under isomole fraction conditions and activation enthalpy, entropy, and Gibbs free energy for hydrolysis of acetic …

Escaping The Arrhenius Tyranny: Metabolic Compensation During Exposure To High Temperature In Daphnia, Bret L. Coggins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Poikilothermic organisms experience trade-offs by differential physiological demands generated by temperature extremes. Many such organisms exhibit acclimatory effects, adjusting their metabolism and physiology to recently experienced temperatures. One such acclimatory effect is metabolic compensation, the deceleration of biological rates below Arrhenius expectations. Daphnia magna is eurythermal, and if acclimated to mildly stressful temperatures first, survives longer in lethal temperatures. This study examined the effect of ambient temperature (5°C-37°C) and acclimation history (lifetime at 10°C or 25°C) on the oxygen consumption rates of 8 genotypes of Daphnia with high or low acute temperature tolerance. There were decelerations of respiratory rates across …

The Effect Of Ethanol On Skeletal Muscle Endocrine Function And The Novel Myokines Myonectin And Irisin, Kendra Hagood

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Excessive alcohol consumption is a leading cause of death and disability globally and can lead to diseases such as alcoholic skeletal myopathy. Skeletal muscle is the largest organ in the human body and functions to regulate whole-body energy homeostasis. Additionally, skeletal muscle can function as an endocrine organ via secretion of myokines. Two myokines, myonectin and irisin, present a wide range of effects upon metabolism, inflammation, and tissue survival- signaling. We hypothesized that chronic alcohol consumption will result in reduced circulating myonectin and irisin levels. Mice were fed an ethanol-containing or control diet for 10 days or 6 weeks. Tissues …

Nebline, May 2018

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Farmers: Use climate for planning, weather for doing

Farm & Acreage

Pests & Wildlife

Horticulture

Early Childhood

4-H & Youth

and other extension news and events

Corticosteroid Administration To Prevent Complications Of Anterior Cervical Spine Fusion: A Systematic Review., Shayan Abdollah Zadegan, Seyed Behnam Jazayeri, Aidin Abedi, Hirbod Nasiri Bonaki, Alexander R. Vaccaro, Vafa Rahimi-Movaghar

Rothman Institute Papers

Study Design: Systematic review.

Objectives: Anterior cervical approach is associated with complications such as dysphagia and airway compromise. In this study, we aimed to systematically review the literature on the efficacy and safety of corticosteroid administration as a preventive measure of such complications in anterior cervical spine surgery with fusion.

Methods: Following a systematic literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane databases in July 2016, all comparative human studies that evaluated the effect of steroids for prevention of complications in anterior cervical spine surgery with fusion were included, irrespective of number of levels and language. Risk of bias was assessed …

The Psychosocial Effects Of Compensated Turnout On Dancers: A Critical Look At The Leading Cause Of Non-Traumatic Dance Injuries, Rachel Smith

Honors Theses

Dancers suffer from extremely high injury rates compared to the general population (Noh, Morris, & Anderson, 2003). Most of the injuries are overuse injuries (60-75%), as opposed to traumatic injuries (Thomas & Tarr, 2009). One of the most common overuse injuries is compensated, or forced, turnout (Negus, Hopper, & Briffa, 2005). Continual misplacement of turnout wears and tears on the body, leading to pain and injury. However, dancers feel the risk is worth it to stay relevant in a physically demanding career that has little-to-no off-season to heal (McEwen & Young, 2011). Dance companies typically have the mindset of pushing …

Aging In Beverly, Massachusetts: A Community Needs Assessment, Caitlin Coyle, Claire Wickersham, Jan Mutchler

Center for Social and Demographic Research on Aging Publications

This report describes research undertaken by the Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging within the Gerontology Institute at the University of Massachusetts Boston, on behalf of the Beverly Council on Aging and Senior Community Center (hereto referred to as the Beverly Senior Center), to investigate the needs, interests, preferences, and opinions of Beverly’s population of residents who are age 60 and older. The contents of this report are meant to inform the Beverly Senior Center, and organizations that work with and on behalf of older residents of Beverly, for the purposes of planning and coordination of services, but …

A Spatiotemporal Analysis To Identify Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities In Nebraska, Sangho Lee

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

This study aims to identify the geographic locations of “naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs)” and whether there were spatiotemporal patterns of naturally occurring retirement communities in Nebraska for the time periods of 2000 to 2010, and to 2015. As the American population continues to age, older people generally prefer to live in their own homes for later years of life, instead of moving into assisted living. These demands have resulted in the increase of elderly populations who are “aging in place”. Nevertheless, there have been few spatiotemporal analyses about the distribution patterns of elderly households in terms of NORCs for …

Enhancement Of Nafld Risk By Vinyl Chloride : Role Of Adipose Tissue In A Mouse Model., Brenna R. Kaelin

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Background: Vinyl chloride (VC), an environmental contaminant, is directly hepatotoxic at high concentrations. However, our group has recently demonstrated that VC and the VC metabolite chloroethanol (CE), at concentrations that are not considered hepatotoxic, enhanced liver injury caused by high-fat diet (HFD). These data therefore suggest that the impact of VC exposure on hepatic tissue may be enhanced with underlying metabolic syndrome and/or liver injury. It is known that there is an axis between adipose and hepatic tissue in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), with the former impacting pathology in the hepatic tissue via release of pro-inflammatory cytokines and/or lipolysis. …

Nutraceutrical Snack Prepared From Sprouted Rough Rice And Green Gram And Its Physichocemical Properties, In Vitro Glycemic Index, And Sensory Attributes, Rachel Browder

Food Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Snacks make up a large portion of the U.S. daily meals, but unhealthy snacks may be causing consumers to become overweight or obese. A healthy alternatives are germinated cereals and legumes, which undergo chemical compositional changes producing smaller size molecules for easier digestion and generate bioactives. Therefore, the objective of this research was to develop a healthy and nutritional snack chip from germinated, Arkansas produced rough rice and germinated green gram that will be easier for the body to digest, provide much higher protein than conventional chips or crackers with low on the glycemic index, and still meet consumer demands …

The Effect Of Breakfast On Energy Metabolism, Appetite, And Food Intake In Young Versus Older Men, Allie Murphy

Human Nutrition and Hospitality Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

As life expectancy continues to rise, it is important to consider optimal nutrition recommendations to improve health outcomes, quality of life, and physical independence in older adults. Previous studies have focused on the impact of breakfast on postprandial appetite in younger adults. Research on the effects of breakfast on appetite in older adults is limited. Several studies have identified protein as a key nutrient for older adults. Protein has been shown to increase satiety for longer periods of time and decrease cravings later in the day when compared to high carbohydrate meals. However, more research is needed to determine the …

Analysis Of Gut Microbiota From Aedes Albopictus Mosquitoes Collected In Central Illinois, Megan E. Cooper

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Aedes albopictus, Asian tiger mosquitoes, are vectors of a wide number of human viral diseases including, West Nile virus, Dengue virus, Chikungunya virus and (recently) Zika virus. A large body of evidence has suggested that microbiomes of mosquito midguts are closely associated with specific mosquito life processes such as nutrition, reproduction, aggregation and defense against toxins. In this study we characterize the bacterial flora of the midguts of adult female Ae. albopictus collected from woodlots and residential areas in Champaign and Coles Counties of Central Illinois (40 samples in each category). After extraction of DNA from dissected midguts, we …

Federal Circuit Courts’ Impact On Immigration Reform: An Analysis Of Judicial Ideology And Immigration Policy, Evanna Ojeda

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Regulation of immigration policy is an expressed power granted to the federal government in the Constitution; however, state and local governments often pass immigration policy legislation to address gaps in federal legislation. This research project seeks to understand the role of federal circuit courts ruling powers in determining the legal standing and substitute holding of merits for immigration policy regulation. By analyzing the political ideology of presiding judges and understanding the relationship between political ideology and judicial decision support for federal or state regulated policy, this project seeks to recognize the role of federal circuit courts in enhancing and shaping …

Blockchain: The Backbone Of Supply Chains In Omni-Channels, Yejin Lee

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

From the financial industry to the healthcare industry, many use cases for blockchain have been explored and adopted. However, unlike most industries, the retail industry has yet to fully explore blockchain’s capabilities, for the industry’s priority is in improving its practices first. One of its practices in the works is omni-channels, which face struggles of its own, that oftentimes result from supply chain inefficiencies. This paper will utilize already explored blockchain potentials as a guide to explore and introduce new potentials in blockchain for supply chain in omni-channels.

Mcdonnell'S Misapprehension Of The Role Of Access In Politics And Public Corruption, Jeffrey A. White

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Women’S Empowerment In Agriculture And Agricultural Productivity: Evidence From Rural Maize Farmer Households In Western Kenya, Gracious M. Diiro, Greg Seymour, Menale Kassie, Geoffrey Muricho, Beatrice Wambui Muriithi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

This paper documents a positive relationship between maize productivity in western Kenya and women’s empowerment in agriculture, measured using indicators derived from the abbreviated version of the Women’s Empowerment in Agriculture Index. Applying a cross-sectional instrumental-variable regression method to a data set of 707 maize farm households from western Kenya, we find that women’s empowerment in agriculture significantly increases maize productivity. Although all indicators of women’s empowerment significantly increase productivity, there is no significant association between the women’s workload (amount of time spent working) and maize productivity. Furthermore, the results show heter-ogenous effects with respect to women’s empowerment on maize …

Food Localization: Empowering Community Food Systems Through The Farm Bill, Brian Albert Fink, Alexandra Oakley Schluntz, Joshua Ulan Galperin

Journal of Food Law & Policy

More diverse and value-driven public engagement has transformed the American food system. This engagement has changed the behavior of industries, consumers, policymakers, and communities. At the heart of this change is the drive among countless individuals and organizations to promote a wider variety of food choices and shape the food system in harmony with their values. Despite the local and sovereign nature of this engagement, federal food and agricultural policies have contributed substantially to this transformation of the American food system. In isolation, many of these policies support discrete programs and individuals. In the aggregate, these policies strengthen different facets …

Arkansas Soybean Research Studies 2016, Jeremy Ross

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Arkansas is the leading soybean-producing state in the mid-southern United States. Arkansas ranked 11th in soybean production in 2016 when compared to the other soybean-producing states in the U.S. The state represents 3.4% of the total U.S. soybean production and 3.8% of the total acres planted to soybean in 2016. The 2016 state soybean average was 47 bushels per acre, 2.5 bushels per acre less than the state record soybean yield set in 2014. The top five soybean-producing counties in 2016 were Mississippi, Phillips, Poinsett, Crittenden, Arkansas Counties. These five counties accounted for 34.7% of soybean production in Arkansas in …

Differences In Food Store Environment In Low-Income Grand Rapids Neighborhoods Composed Of Different Ethnicities, Brenna Powers

Honors Projects

Background: Environment has a large impact on one’s health. Populations that have a lack of access to healthy foods have a higher risk for developing nutrition related illnesses. The purpose of this independent 499 study was to determine if there is a disparity in healthy food availability, food store environment, food quality and price between a low-income racially heterogeneous neighborhood and low-income Hispanic/Latino neighborhood in the Grand Rapids area.

Methods: Two low-income neighborhoods of different ethnic mixes were selected using the Johnson Center Community Profiles. The Grandville population is 2,206 with 77.2% Hispanic and Latino, 11% Black or African American, …

Effectiveness Of The Dangerous Decibels Program In Children From Military Families, Danielle R. O'Dorisio

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

There is a high prevalence of permanent hearing damage due to exposure to hazardous sound levels in many populations, including children (5.2 million between the ages of 6-19) and military members (88,285 reports of noise-induced hearing-related visits in active duty military members and disabilities of the auditory system being the third most common injury among veterans). Research has indicated that children are more likely to join the military if they have a parent who is/was in the military. Therefore, if children, specifically children from military families, can be informed about the risk of noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) and learn prevention …

From The Cradle To The Grave: How The Embryonic Environment Shapes Responses To Climate Throughout The Life Cycle, Michael A. Carlo

All Theses

With rapidly warming climates, biologists are challenged to predict organismal responses to environmental variation, changes in biodiversity, and shifts in species distributions. In many cases, organismal responses differ across life stages that exhibit differences in physiological tolerances, habitat requirements, and resource allocations strategies. For instance, mobile life stages can alter behavior in response to changes in the thermal environment, whereas immobile life stages are often vulnerable to warming temperatures due to behavioral constraints and the limited microclimatic conditions experienced over small spatial extents (e.g., an embryo in an egg). Unfavorable developmental conditions can reduce growth, alter developmental rates, and increase …

The Relationship Between Mentally Unhealthy Days And Access To Healthcare And Healthcare Services Utilization Among The Long-Term Uninsured In South Carolina, Tamara Semaj Dobson-Brown

All Theses

Background: The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) made a tremendous impact on the nation’s nonelderly (ages 18-64) uninsured population. Despite the ACA provisions, they fell short of universal health insurance coverage; especially in states that chose not to expand Medicaid, like South Carolina. Those left uninsured are likely to experience great difficulty with the health care delivery system, especially in areas that have a high concentration of uninsured residents. Purpose: To assess the effect of psychological vulnerability, as measured by mentally unhealthy days, on access to healthcare and healthcare utilization among the long term uninsured in South Carolina. …

The Effect Of Hot Fill And Hold Processing On The Performance Of Multilayer Packaging Films, Meredith Leigh Johnson

All Theses

Heat transfer in thermal processing is crucial to ensure all parts of a product are sufficiently treated to achieve commercial sterility without unacceptable loss of quality. Optimizing pasteurization methods is recommended to preserve quality attributes such as color, texture, and flavor while maintaining food safety integrity. This research evaluated the temperature variability in pouches during a hot fill and hold process and the effect of those identified differences on color quality of a tomato based food simulant. The performance of multilayer films for pasteurized products in accelerated storage conditions were also studied. The research project was separated into two phases. …

Nutritional Interventions During Late Gestation And At Weaning To Improve Beef Cattle Performance And Carcass Quality, Jessie Elizabeth Tipton

All Theses

Late gestation and post-weaning are two critical periods a calf needs to receive proper nutrition to insure adequate growth for the rest of the animal’s lifespan. Supplementation at these critical time points may be necessary in order to meet nutritional requirements. The objectives of this research were to 1) assess the performance and endocrine regulation of 15 mo old heifers born to dams who were nutrient restricted with or without protein supplementation during the last 100 d of gestation (NRS and NR, respectively) and 2) determine the effects of weaning age, lipid supplementation, and days on lipid supplement on growth, …

A Comparison Of The Development Of The Salt Industries In Michigan And Ontario, Hannah Margarethe Kieta

Honors College Theses

“A Comparison of the Development of the Salt Industries in Michigan and Ontario” examines the development of the salt production industry in these two sub-national regions. They derive salt from the same deposit and historically have used very similar methods of mineral extraction, but due to the political differences between the United States and Canada, the trajectories of their growth have been different. The salt industry, which coalesced in the middle of the 19^th century, was heavily impacted by the growing forces of capitalism and protectionism (particularly directed by the American interests toward the Canadian manufacturers), and by the …

Phylogeny And Evolutionary Genomics Of Non-Photosynthetic Diatoms, Anastasiia Onyshchenko

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diatoms are prolific photosynthesizers responsible for some 20% of global primary production. In real terms, the oxygen in one of every five breaths traces back to photosynthesis by marine diatoms. Among the tens of thousands of diatom species, a small handful of colorless diatom species in the genus Nitzschia have lost photosynthesis altogether and rely exclusively on extracellular organic carbon for growth. I used DNA sequence data to reconstruct the phylogeny of this group, and found that nonphotosynthetic diatoms are monophyletic, indicating that photosynthesis was lost just one time over the course of some 200 million years of diatom evolution. …

Non-Target-Site Based Tolerance To Herbicides In Amaranthus Palmeri, Reiofeli Algodon Salas-Perez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Palmer amaranth, one of the most aggressive and damaging broadleaf weeds in the USA, has evolved resistance to multiple herbicide modes of action. The overall objective of this research was to elucidate the mechanisms by which Palmer amaranth adapt to herbicide selection stress. This research aimed (1) to evaluate the efficacy of fomesafen, glufosinate, glyphosate and trifloxysulfuron to Amaranthus populations; (2) identify candidate genes for endowing tolerance to glufosinate; (3) investigate the involvement of non-target-site resistance (NTSR) mechanism in an ALS-resistant population; and (4) to examine the molecular basis of resistance to PPO inhibitors in Palmer amaranth populations from Arkansas. …

The Comparison Of Using The Preferred Or Non-Preferred Wrist When Measuring Physical Activity In College Students, Bryce Daniels

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Introduction. People who participate in regular physical activity have a decreased risk of chronic diseases and premature death. A dramatic decrease of physical activity occurs from adolescence to young adulthood. With important implications to health, physical activity is an important behavior to measure. However, inconsistencies exist on how to measure physical activity. When using accelerometers, differences between the preferred or non-preferred wrist may result in different estimates of physical activity. Purpose. The purpose of this study was to compare the preferred and non-preferred wrist accelerometry measured physical activity using commonly used research accelerometers during structured daily college activities (Actigraph GT3x-bt …