Digital Commons Network^™

Ant Predation Of Blow Flies During Decomposition And Its Potential Impact On Pmi Estimations, Vincent J. Nappi

Student Theses

When an organism dies, the process of decomposition begins and many insects are attracted to the decomposing remains, or carrion, as a prospective food source for themselves, or their offspring. Blow flies (Family: Calliphoridae), in particular, are one of the first insects to discover and colonize a dead body due to the ability to detect a decomposing resource from large distances. As a result, forensic entomologists take advantage of the behavior and developmental cycles of early colonizers to calculate the post-mortem interval (PMI) in order to determine the time since death. However, along with the insects that are attracted to …

Breaking Out From Tradition: Redesign Of Large Physiology Lecture Increases Engagement, Inclusion, And Student Outcomes, Jordyn Dickey, John Redden, Kristen Kimball

Honors Scholar Theses

The human digestive system is a diverse network of cells, tissues, and organs that is regulated by intrinsic (e.g. nervous and endocrine systems) and extrinsic factors (e.g. secretions, pH, and the microbiome). Given the volume of content and the dense physiology involved, this system is difficult for instructors to teach and equally challenging for students to understand. This is especially true in our two-semester Human Anatomy and Physiology course for pre-health students at the University of Connecticut. In the Spring 2017 semester, we developed and implemented an active learning based approach when teaching the histology and regulation of gastric secretions …

Spatial And Temporal Trends In Diet For Pinfish (Lagodon Rhomboides) From Turtle Grass (Thalassia Testudinum) Beds With Contrasting Environmental Regimes In The Lower Laguna Madre, Texas, Maximiliano Barbosa

Theses and Dissertations

Seagrass meadows in far South Texas are dominated by turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum), and juvenile pinfish (Lagodon rhomboides) are abundant grazers of seagrass epifauna. As they grow, pinfish exhibit an ontogenetic dietary shift and begin consuming increasing amounts of plant material. In this study, contrasting environmental regimes in two seagrass meadows were examined to identify how they might affect pinfish diets, diet shifts, and growth across the growing season. The eastern site was sheltered from prevailing southeasterly winds by a barrier island, while the western site was shallower and subjected to higher wind energy and turbidity. …

Reanalyzing The Activity Anorexia Protocol Using An Addiction Theory, Rolando Alfredo Botello

Theses and Dissertations

One researched and developed phenomenon is activity anorexia (AA) in rats and its resemblance to the human pathology anorexia nervosa (AN). Researchers have long relied on this comparative model for AN as AA. This study aims to reanalyze the overt physiological phenomena of AA to test an addictive theory against the prevalent AA theory. Equal numbers of subjects could eat or run during a one hour feeding period and all activity was monitored per 30 minutes. Results showed that daily running correlated with an increase in food consumption with no effect of food suppression. The only factor that regressed to …

Transitioning Adults From A Tube-Feeding To An Oral Feeding In Long-Term Care Facilities, Patricia D. Mejorado

Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this investigation is to gain information regarding the transition of adults from a tube feeding to an oral feeding in long-term care facilities. Twelve surveys were administered to the speech language pathologist population from the UTRGV and UTPA communication sciences and disorders alumni via email invitation. The survey consisted of questions regarding: years practiced in long-term care facilities, interdisciplinary collaboration, protocol and/or algorithms for transitioning patients from a tube feeding to an oral feeding, documentation programs, access to meal intakes, the SLP’s role in the transition to oral feedings, and areas of concerns regarding the transition from …

Survey Of Sensory Diet Use Among California Occupational Therapy Practitioners, Morganne Peterson, Allison Hunt, Emily White

Dissertations, Masters Theses, Capstones, and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study was to examine the use of sensory diets in the field of occupational therapy. This study investigated the use of sensory diets among California occupational therapy practitioners. A mixed-methods design was used to collect data through an online survey. The survey was sent out to members of the Occupational Therapy Association of California (OTAC) and received 98 respondents within one month. Participants worked among various clinical settings and implemented sensory diets with various client populations. Practitioners reported using terms such as “sensory strategies,” “sensory tools,” and “sensory supports” which indicates an overall misunderstanding associated with …

An Exploratory Study On Perceptions Of (Ipe) Towards Interprofessional Practice In Athletic Training, Carolyn Goeckel

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

An Exploratory Study on Perceptions of (IPE) Towards Interprofessional Practice in Athletic Training

Context: Healthcare professional, including athletic trainers (ATs), are called to be collaborative-ready practitioners to effectively meet the needs of today’s patient-centered care. Currently, little research exists exploring the infusion of IPE (interprofessional education) practices in athletic training programs or its effectiveness in producing collaborative-ready athletic training (AT) professionals. While research is needed to evaluate whether IPE learning models can produce AT professionals that are collaborative-ready for PCC (patient-centered care) several foundational questions should be addressed. First, educational researchers need to establish an understanding of athletic trainers’ perceptions …

An Exploration Of Barriers To Health Care Access Among Uninsured Patients: Using The Moderating Effect Of Patients’ Enablement, Enedelia L. Jessup

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT On March 23, 2010, Congress passed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) to increase value of care, improve clinical outcomes, decrease health care costs, and increase affordability in health care access. The purpose of the study attempts to examine the moderating effects of patient enablement impacting barriers, low socio economic status, and unmet basic needs, toward health care access in uninsured populations post ACA. Only certain aspects of patient enablement in self-management of an individual’s health care goals have been conducted with uninsured populations with barriers toward health care access. The research design was a quantitative, exploratory, …

Cost Burden Of Social Isolation For Wheelchair Users In Louisville, Kentucky., Connie Light

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Social isolation is an important predictor for poor health status, chronic diseases, and healthcare utilization and costs. There is a growing number of Americans with one or more disabilities, and evidence suggests that many are also socially isolated. This is especially true for those with immobility, as the built environment including housing structures are not universally designed to be accommodating. Immobility describes those who use walkers, canes, or wheelchairs, with the latter suffering the most impact. The cost of social exclusion can be measured by the exacerbation of disease in wheelchair users, whose fragile health status and social networks …

Identification Of Young Children With Visual Impairments Including Unique Characteristics And Factors Related To Responsive Services, Deette L. Snyder

Dissertations

In order to truly meet the unique learning needs of young children with blindness and visual impairment (BVI), it is critical to accurately define the population to create and implement quality and responsive support services. The current analysis utilized existing data gathered from the Babies Count database to examine the defining characteristics of a sample of 588 young children, aged birth to three, with BVI and then used these characteristics to predict the influence of potential barriers to early referral. This study also examined the multiple variables through descriptive statistics and then utilized a multiple regression procedure to determine which …

Code Lite: Developing Pediatric Residents’ Resuscitation Knowledge And Skills Using A Guided Mentoring Approach, Alyssa Stoner, Jenna Miller, Jennifer Flint, Shekinah Hensley, Brian Lee, Kadriye O. Lewis

Posters

Background: Simulation-based learning is a popular training method in healthcare education. Literature supports multiple aspects of simulation-based training for technical skills and behavioral skills, however the effects of different pedagogies have not been investigated in this educational method.

Objective: Examine the effects of guided mentorship during simulation on pediatric residents’ learning experience.

Clemson Commencement Program, May 2018, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Essays In The Economics Of Health And Ageing, Yi Jin Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

This dissertation consists of four papers in applied microeconomics / the economics of health and ageing that analyse the causal effect of public policies, or of events / issues amenable to policy intervention. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the papers in this dissertation.

Chapter 2 investigates whether a major and growing environmental disamenity – dengue fever – leads to protective behavior that increases residential electricity consumption. Being near a dengue cluster leads to a persistent increase in electricity consumption in 4-room and 5-room/bigger flats (by 1.7% and 1.1% respectively). In addition, electricity consumption rises discontinuously when a dengue cluster’s …

A Pathway To Scholarship: A Qualitative Study Of The Single African American Mother's Role In The Academic Development Of Their Sons For Kindergarten, Onda Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations

The voices of single African American mothers are critical to research on kindergarten readiness. This study examined maternal influence on the kindergarten readiness of African American male children of single African American mothers. Research on the topic of maternal academic support for sons indicated a deficit view of mother’s expectations for her son’s performance and cognitive ability in the year prior to entering kindergarten. Studies on the educational outcomes of African American male students suggested this subgroup significantly underperformed on standardized tests in mathematics and reading compared to their peers. The education community references the achievement gap as this difference …

The Effects Of Invasive Tunicates On The Growth And Reproduction Of The Blood Star, Henricia Sanguinolenta, Kaitlin Samantha Van Volkom

Master's Theses and Capstones

Introduced species have become established in multiple systems around the globe where they are both predators and have been recognized as prey by native species. In the Gulf of Maine, introduced tunicates (Botrylloides violaceus, Diplosoma listeranium, and Didemnum vexillum) have become established in fouling and natural rocky benthic systems. In recent years, many native species such as Mitrella lunata and Stronglyocentrotus droebachiensis have recognized and begun to consume these introduced species. One such species is the native blood star, Henricia sanguinolenta. H. sanguinolenta, is a generalist sponge predator, but it has started to consume these invasive tunicate species as a …

Drinking Behaviors And Health In Old Age, Kaleigh Knapp

Master's Theses and Capstones

Alcohol abuse among the elderly population is rapidly becoming a widespread public health concern. As it goes undetected and undiagnosed in many within this age cohort, there is an increased need to further examine the effects of alcohol consumption on physical and mental health. This study investigated how and to what extent drinking behaviors affect physical and mental health in older people. Data came from the 2012 and 2014 Health and Retirement study, a nationally representative survey of Americans aged 51 and older. Our sample was restricted to people who participated in both waves of the survey from 2012 and …

Designing Road Safety Interventions For Young Drivers: The Power Of Peer Influence, L Weston, Ej Hellier

School of Psychology

Peer passengers are associated with risky driving behaviour and increased collision rate in young drivers, but the mechanism by which young drivers are influenced by their peers is not well understood. Here we report two studies that explore the effect of peer influence on young drivers. The first explored the relationship between susceptibility to peer influence and young drivers’ engagement in risky driving behaviour. 163 young drivers completed self-report measures of risky driving behaviour and susceptibility to different forms of peer influence. Results showed that young drivers who were influenced by their peers to attain social prestige and through peers …

News On Nootropics: Is Metacognition Right For You?, Diana Aboubakare

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Shifting The Blame: A Closer Look At Eating Disorders, Kelsey Trulik

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Spinal Cord Injuries: The Life After, Woo Jeon

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Temperature And Dissolution Media On Crystallization Of Amorphous Drugs And Potential Effects On Predicting Bioavailability, Mary Kleppe

Doctoral Dissertations

Poorly soluble crystalline drug candidates are often made amorphous to increase their solubility with the intent to enhance oral bioavailability, thus improving the likelihood of becoming a commercial drug product. Currently, considerable time, material and effort are expended to determine whether an amorphous approach will provide the required bioavailability improvement. However, often the solubility enhancement of the amorphous form is not fully realized in vivo due to solution-mediated phase transformation (SMPT). This study investigated the effects of key factors, through experimentation and modeling, that affect SMPT and model the potential effects of SMPT on bioavailability.

Sparsely parameterized biopharmaceutical models were …

Trim24 As An Oncogene In The Mammary Gland, Aundrietta Duncan

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Despite the many advances made in breast cancer research and treatments, breast cancer remains one of the deadliest diseases plaguing women worldwide. While many findings on genetic mutations and their role in predisposing people to breast cancer have been uncovered, we are just beginning to understand the extent to which epigenetic regulators promote tumorigenic phenotypes, metastasis, and chemotherapeutic resistance. Moreover, new experimental tools offer the ability to address questions we were previously unable to assess. My project takes advantage of a new mouse model to understand the role of a proto-oncogenic, transcriptional co-regulator, TRIM24, in mammary gland development and disease. …

Evaluation Of Animal Manure-Based Compost As An Environmental Source Of Clostridium Difficile, Muthu Dharmasena

All Dissertations

The number of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) cases associated with healthcare and community is increasing. Increased isolation of this pathogen from environmental samples of soil, water, livestock animals and their feces, and produce suggests its dissemination in the environment. Identification, molecular characterization, and revealing the relationship of those isolates with human pathogenicity would be very helpful in understanding the epidemiology of CDI. Livestock manure is a rich source of nutrients for the growth of many crops, and composted manure is widely used as a fertilizer in organic farming. Microbial activities increase the temperature of composting materials, providing sufficient heat to …

A Comparison Of Craniofacial Asymmetry In Gorilla Gorilla Gorilla And Pan Troglodytes Troglodytes, Ashly Noel Romero

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) – random deviations from bilateral symmetry in an organism’s paired features – is a good candidate for investigating developmental stability. This easily accessible measurement can be used to understand the relationship between stress and development across organisms, and growth rate plays a vital role in developmental processes. Few studies have investigated craniofacial FA in non-human primates, and those that have suggest that levels of FA are higher in slower growing species. This study examines craniofacial FA in two primate species (Pan troglodytes troglodytes and Gorilla gorilla gorilla; n=81) to elucidate the effect of growth rate on FA …

The Evolution Of Testis Architecture And Sperm Morphology In Anolis Lizards, Hannah R. Hall

Biology Honors Theses

The major function of the testes is sperm production. Sperm morphology is incredibly diverse both within and across species, and this variation results in part from differences in the duration and patterns of cell division during sperm development, or spermatogenesis. To produce this diversity, testis architecture may evolve in correlation with sperm morphology, as for example, sperm length is correlated with the evolution of thicker epithelia of the seminiferous tubules in birds. In this study, I examined relationships between sperm morphology and testis size and architecture in a group of 18 species of Anolis lizards from the Dominican Republic and …

Identification Of Elements Essential For Replication Origin Activity In Escherichia Coli, Prassanna Rao

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing number of drug resistant pathogenic bacteria has created a growing health care crisis. Solving the crisis will require a number of solutions, among them being development of new antibiotics that target novel cell processes. Initiation of chromosomal DNA replication is one such unexploited process. Bacterial cells begin chromosome replication by building a nucleoprotein complex called the orisome which, unwinds replication origin DNA, and loads the replicative helicase. A greater understanding of how orisomes assemble, and how the assembly is regulated, should provide a source of druggable targets to be used in future antibiotic discovery efforts. However, although all …

The Current Volume 29 : Orientation Issue-Pullout Section, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

This is a section found in the orientation issue.

May 2018 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Performance Assessment Of Solid State Anaerobic Digestion Of Poultry Litter, Mason Puckett

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The disposal of poultry litter can exert an economic and environmental burden to the agriculture community. As a result, it is desirable to reduce the amount of waste and recover resources from the waste. This study focuses on the construction and preliminary testing of a laboratory scale (20 L) solid state anaerobic digester (AD) fed with dry poultry litter. Glucose was added in addition to the poultry litter to achieve the appropriate C:N ratio to support the growth of anaerobic microorganisms. The AD was first fed every 4 days at 4 g VS/L/feeding for 24 days, rested (no feeding) for …

College News: Misty Johanson Named Business Dean

Business Exchange

Misty Johanson, director of DePaul's School of Hospitality Leadership, was appointed dean of the Driehaus College of Business on March 1, 2018.