Digital Commons Network^™

A Study Of Techniques And Mechanisms Of Vagus Nerve Stimulation For Treatment Of Inflammation, Jesse P. Somann

Open Access Dissertations

Vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) has been on the forefront of inflammatory disorder research for the better part of the last three decades and has yielded many promising results. There remains, however, much debate about the actual biological mechanisms of such treatments, as well as, questions about inconsistencies in methods used in many research efforts.

In this work, I identify shortcomings in past VNS methods and submit new developments and findings that can progress the research community towards more selective and relevant VNS research and treatments. In Aim 1, I present the most recent advancements in the capabilities of our fully …

Search For Electrophysiological Indices Of Hidden Hearing Loss, Chandan H. Suresh

Open Access Dissertations

Recent studies in animals indicate that even moderate levels of exposure to noise can damage synaptic ribbons between the inner hair cells and auditory nerve fibers without affecting audiometric thresholds, giving rise to the use of the term “hidden hearing loss” (HHL). Given the pervasive exposure to occupational and recreational noise in the general population, it is likely that individuals afflicted with HHL will go unidentified unless sensitive clinical measures are developed to diagnose this condition. To date, the studies employed to characterize HHL in humans have yielded equivocal results - some studies show wave I amplitude decrement while others …

Assessing Novel Bioelectric Effects Of Nanosecond Pulsed Electric Fields On Cell Stimulation, Proliferation And Microorganism Inactivation, Ram Anand Vadlamani

Open Access Dissertations

Bioelectrics is the application of electric fields to cells in a conducting media, treating the cell as a circuit comprising resistors and capacitors (membranes and intracellular fluids respectively). Recent advancements in construction of nanosecond pulse generators allow for construction of low cost devices capable of generating nanosecond pulsed electric fields (nsPEFs). These fields are capable of forming pores on the extra and intra cellular membranes, while also affecting intracellular organelles, DNA and the nucleus. With the first generation of nano-signalling devices set to enter the medical field for treatments ranging from carcinomas to regenerative therapy, the intent of this study …

Effects Of Schisandrin B On Rod Photoreceptors In The Pde6c Larval Retina, Prahatha Venkatraman

Open Access Dissertations

Current Rapid prototyping tools although reduce development time, they still have several restrictions such as print volume and print times. Through this thesis, two prototyping kits are proposed, a rod connector based, user controlled computational support system that re-purposes surface models and transforms them into structurally scaffolded constructs with movable joints; and a planar connector based system that implements movable joints to create functional prototypes. The rod based system enables users to interactively personalize scaffolded structures by re-purposing existing surface mesh models; analyze scaffolded constructs in-situ for better structurality, add movable joints to increase functionality, and attach personalized appearances to …

Modulating Wettability Of Layered Materials By Controlling Headgroup Dynamics And Alkyl Chain Conformations, Terry Angelo Villarreal

Open Access Dissertations

Evolution to the next generation of organic photovoltaics and computer processors requires the capability to pattern organic and inorganic materials consistently at interfaces with feature sizes as small as 5-7 nm. A particular challenge is to generate interfaces that display chemical patterns consisting of two or more very different constituents at such scales. Biology routinely orders orthogonal chemical patterns at this scale, as is observed in the structure of the cellular membrane. Phospholipids have also been observed to form repeating striped phases on layered materials, e.g. graphene, molybdenum disulfide (MoS2), and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG).

Research performed in the …

Environmental Life Cycle Impact And Complexity Assessment Of Rare Earth Production, Ehsan Vahidi Movassagh

Open Access Dissertations

Rare Earth Elements (REEs) find applications in clean energy technology, including wind turbines, electric vehicles, and high efficiency lighting therefore, as the renewable energy market expands, demand of REEs is anticipated to rise. However, it is well known that the production of REEs carries large environmental burden and as a result, reducing environmental footprints of REE production becomes critical. The first action towards reducing the environmental degradation during production of REEs is the thorough examination of the energy requirements and environmental emissions. To date, Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is the standard methodology to evaluate the environmental performance of a system, …

Materials Design With Molecular Dynamics: Novel Properties In Martensitic Alloys Through Free Energy Landscape Engineering, Samuel Temple Reeve

Open Access Dissertations

Novel properties in martensitic alloys are predicted using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, the uncertainty from input models in MD is explored and quantified, and new data infrastructure for MD is developed.

The possible regimes of material properties are extended through free energy landscape engineering (FELE), where coherent, epitaxial integration of two materials at the nanoscale can result in metamaterials with fundamentally different behavior. Free energy as a function of strain is calculated using MD simulations and analytically combined to predict potential new properties for a Ni 63% - Al 37% martensitic alloy combined with B2 NiAl, shown to be an …

Parental Divorce, Parental Conflict Dimensions, Perception Of Gains, Growth, And Parent-Child Relationship In College Students, Matthew M. Welsh

Open Access Dissertations

The primary focus of this study was to examine the possible associations among perceptions of pre-divorce parental conflict, perceived gains of parental divorce, posttraumatic growth, and current relationship quality with parents. The literature review focuses on college student development, empirical studies related to negative and positive outcomes for children, adolescents, and college students of divorce, and factors related to negative and positive outcomes for children, adolescents, and college students of divorce. Findings are based on data I collected from 430 participants from Purdue University. I addressed my questions and tested the associated hypotheses through the use of MANOVA and hierarchical …

Characterization Of The Human Dead-Box Rna Helicase Ddx5, Zheng Xing

Open Access Dissertations

Gene expression in eukaryotes is highly complex. The central player in gene expression is the messenger RNA (mRNA). After transcription, the mRNA is bound by numerous RNA binding proteins to form a messenger ribonucleoprotein complex (mRNP) that dictates the function and fate of the messengers. Proper mRNP formation is critical for gene expression. DEAD-box proteins are the largest class of RNA helicases that play fundamental roles in RNA and RNP structure remodeling. However, the precise biological roles of the vast majority of them are not well described. To fill in this gap, my research focused on the characterization of the …

Postsecondary Stem Paths Of High-Achieving Students In Math And Science: A Longitudinal Multilevel Investigation Of Their Selection And Persistence, Soohyun Yi

Open Access Dissertations

This study used a quantitative approach to investigate high-school students’ talent-development pathways in STEM from 10th through 12th grades and for 8 years thereafter. The purpose of this study was to longitudinally investigate three important choices and accomplishments on the STEM talent development trajectory: a) selecting a STEM major in college; b) persisting with the STEM major until graduation; and c) selecting a career in STEM after college graduation. Given that students with gifts and talents are more likely to persist and succeed in STEM fields than average achievers, and understanding their unique needs may be the first important task …

Random Weighting Approach In Nonlinear And Hierarchical Regression Models, Yue Zhang

Open Access Dissertations

Nonlinear regression models with random and fixed effects are commonly used to analyze repeated measures data. Such data, consisting of repeated measurements taken on several individuals, typically arise in biological and biomedical applications amongst many other applications. The standard two-stage estimation (STS) method is intuitive and simple to implement in such circumstance, but the main difficulty is that not much is available on the sampling distribution of the resulting parameters estimates. In this work, we develop re-sampled versions of the least squares estimators (LSE) of the parameters in nonlinear regression as well as hierarchical nonlinear regression models. The approach we …

Laboratory Safety Training Design And Evaluation For Aeronautical Engineering Technology Students In Part 147 Program, Xun Zhao

Open Access Dissertations

The FAA Part 147 program at Purdue University requires students in Aeronautical Engineering Technology (AET) major to take 1125 hours of laboratory works. Students are required to work in several different laboratory environments including airframe, powerplant, aircraft sheet metal processing, composite materials processing, electricity and electronics, non-destructive testing, aircraft system, maintenance practices and advanced manufacturing. Although course instructors emphasize laboratory safety, there is currently no pre-laboratory training for all students before they log any laboratory hours. Starting from 2004, occupational injuries and illness rates in the air transportation industry were shown to be much higher than the average for private …

Modeling The Behavioral Landscape Ecology Of A Reintroduced Carnivore, Casey C. Day

Open Access Dissertations

The American marten (Martes Americana) is an endangered forest carnivore native to the Upper Midwestern United States and culturally significant to local Ojibwe tribes. In this region, the marten faces a number of potential threats to its persistence, including competition, predation, lack of prey availability, lack of recruitment, and lack of population connectivity. To evaluate how marten behavior affects the conservation and management of this species, I developed an individual-based model to simulate marten dispersal and home range establishment. In Chapter 2, I describe the model and the process of calibrating it to perform comparably to real-world martens. I also …

Genetic Diversity And Origin Of The Feral Horses In Theodore Roosevelt National Park, Igor V. Ovtchinnikov, Taryn Dahms, Billie Herauf, Blake Mccann, Rytis Juras, Caitlin Castaneda, E. Gus Cothran

Biology Faculty Publications

Feral horses in Theodore Roosevelt National Park (TRNP) represent an iconic era of the North Dakota Badlands. Their uncertain history raises management questions regarding origins, genetic diversity, and long-term genetic viability. Hair samples with follicles were collected from 196 horses in the Park and used to sequence the control region of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and to profile 12 autosomal short tandem repeat (STR) markers. Three mtDNA haplotypes found in the TRNP horses belonged to haplogroups L and B. The control region variation was low with haplotype diversity of 0.5271, nucleotide diversity of 0.0077 and mean pairwise difference of 2.93. We …

Dr. Sue Cooke Joins Initiative To Fight Shortage Of New Antibiotics, Unh Communications And Public Affairs

UNH Today Archive

No abstract provided.

Local Repressor Acrr Regulates Acrab Efflux Pump Required For Biofilm Formation And Virulence In Acinetobacter Nosocomialis, Bindu Subhadra, Jaeseok Kim, Dong Ho Kim, Kyungho Woo, Man Hwan Oh, Chul Lee

Faculty Publications - Biological Sciences

Multidrug efflux systems contribute to antimicrobial resistance and pathogenicity in bacteria. Here, we report the identification and characterization of a transcriptional regulator AcrR controlling the yet uncharacterized multidrug efflux pump, AcrAB in Acinetobacter nosocomialis. In silico analysis revealed that the homologs of AcrR and AcrAB are reported in the genomes of many other bacterial species. We confirmed that the genes encoding the AcrAB efflux pump, acrA and acrB forms a polycistronic operon which is under the control of acrR gene upstream of acrA. Bioinformatic analysis indicated the presence of AcrR binding motif in the promoter region of acrAB operon …

Alternative-A Candidate Handbook Master Of Arts In Teaching (M.A.T.), University Of Alabama In Huntsville

Student Handbooks

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Candidate Handbook, University Of Alabama In Huntsville

Student Handbooks

No abstract provided.

The First Amendment Case For Public Access To Secret Algorithms Used In Criminal Trials, Vera Eidelman

Georgia State University Law Review

As this Article sets forth, once a computerized algorithm is used by the government, constitutional rights may attach. And, at the very least, those rights require that algorithms used by the government as evidence in criminal trials be made available—both to litigants and the public. Scholars have discussed how the government’s refusal to disclose such algorithms runs afoul of defendants’ constitutional rights, but few have considered the public’s interest in these algorithms—or the widespread impact that public disclosure and auditing could have on ensuring their quality.

This Article aims to add to that discussion by setting forth a theory of …

Georgia State Law Review Symposium Keynote Address: Uncovering Forensic Flaws - An Outside Perspective, Spencer S. Hsu

Georgia State University Law Review

This transcript is a reproduction of the Keynote Address by Spencer Hsu at the 2017–2018 Georgia State University Law Review Symposium — From the Crime Scene to the Court room: The Future of Forensic Science Reform — on April 6, 2018.

Spencer Hsu is an investigative reporter at the Washington Post, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, and a national Emmy Award nominee.

Deploying The Secret Police: The Use Of Algorithms In The Criminal Justice System, Jessica Gabel Cino

Georgia State University Law Review

Algorithms saturate our lives today; from curated song lists to recommending “friends” and news feeds, they factor into some of the most human aspects of decision-making, tapping into preferences based on an ever-growing amount of data. Regardless of whether the algorithm pertains to routing you around traffic jams or finding your next dinner, there is little regulation and even less transparency regarding just how these algorithms work. Paralleling this societal adoption, the criminal justice system now employs algorithms in some of the most important aspects of investigation and decision-making.

The lack of oversight is abundantly apparent in the criminal justice …

Three Transformative Ideals To Build A Better Crime Lab, Nicole B. Cásarez, Sandra G. Thompson

Georgia State University Law Review

This Article proposes that policy makers should consider establishing their jurisdiction’s crime laboratories as government corporations independent of law enforcement as a means of improving their quality and efficiency. Simply building new buildings or seeking accreditation will not solve the endemic problems that crime laboratories have faced. Rather, we propose that crime laboratories be restructured with a new organizational framework comparable to the Houston Forensic Science Center's (HFSC) status as a local government corporation (LGC), which has proven to be conducive to creating a new institutional culture.

From our experience with the HFSC, we also believe that crime laboratories are …

Middle Permian (Late Guadalupian) Back-Reef Carbonate Of Panther Canyon, Apache Mountains, Trans-Pecos Texas, Joshua Caleb Moore

Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses - Archive

In the Apache Mountains of West Texas, Middle Permian (Guadalupian) strata a portion of the Delaware Basin part of the Capitan Reef is well exposed in many canyons that cut through the northern escarpment in the eastern part of the mountains. In Panther Canyon, the massive part of the Capitan Reef is well exposed and overlain by a stratigraphic sequence of lagoonal carbonate deposits referred to the Yates and Tansill Formations. At the entrance to Panther Canyon, two sections of these stratified carbonate rocks have been measured and described: the PC7 section, 31.8 meters thick, with eight distinct packages and …

Do Density And Food Availability Influence Survivorship And Reproduction In The Freshwater Bivalve, Sphaerium Simile?, Lauren O’Neil

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The small freshwater bivalve Sphaerium simile, like most “fingernail clams” (Sphaeriidae), does not exhibit a planktonic larval stage but instead offspring are brooded inside the valves of the parent. The species is generally regarded as reproductively specialized, or relatively “K” selected along the r‐K continuum. Multiple offspring can develop simultaneously, but brooding siblings are commonly at different developmental stages. An experiment was conducted to evaluate the relative success of brooding offspring and adults in different adult densities and feeding regimes. A controlled laboratory experiment examined four treatment groups, with adult density and feeding frequency as independent variables. There were two …

The Differences Of Musical Self-Expression And The Interrelationships Within Group Music Improvisation Between Japan And The United States, Rieko Eguchi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Individualism and collectivism are described in various domains, and those are often referred to describe people’s cultural characteristics. Those characteristics are also deeply related to how to perceive ‘self’ in a cultural context. As a presupposition, America is often regarded as an individualistic society, and Japan is often regarded as a collectivistic society. From a music therapy perspective, sound reflects our inner world. Based on these concepts, this study was designed to investigate if there were any culturally-related characteristics in the sound of group music improvisation in America and Japan, and any connectedness regarding self-expression and interrelationship.

The purpose of …

Effects Of World Trade Center Particulate Matter From September 11, 2001 On Biochemical Pathways Associated With Apoptosis And Cell Viability, Eric Tobias

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The dust that resulted from the collapse of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers on September 11th, 2001 contained organic and inorganic compounds. The survivors and first responders were breathing these compounds while fleeing and rescuing others. Some of the particles that were inhaled were small enough to affect the alveolar region of the lungs. This study looks at the effect that World Trade Center dust has on MRC-5 human lung fibroblasts. Cell viability is observed over time using an alamarBlue® assay. Previous studies have shown that MRC-5 cells that are exposed to WTC dust lose viability after 24 hours …

Developing And Validating The Teacher Self-Efficacy For Teaching Students With Autism Spectrum Disorder In Inclusive Classrooms (Tse-Asdi) Scale, Corinne Gaffney Catalano

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This is a multi-method study to develop and validate an instrument to measure teachers’ self-efficacy for teaching students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in inclusive early childhood classrooms, Teacher Self-efficacy for Teaching Students with ASD Inclusive Classrooms Scale: TSE-ASDI. I conducted literature and expert reviews as well as cognitive pre-testing with my target populations of pre-service and in-service early childhood teachers. I conducted a quantitative study using exploratory factor analysis, reliability analyses, correlational analyses, and by comparing mean differences in scores when grouped by teaching status, special education preparation and experience with individuals with ASD. My measure development process provided …

The Antimicrobial Activity Of Lipophilic Green Tea Polyphenols On S. Mutans And The Eskape Pathogens, Mathew Milad Abtahi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Dental caries, or cavities, is a highly prevalent disease affecting societies of different economic and geographic status across the globe. This disease is caused by dental decay by bacteria fermenting the carbohydrates in food and producing acid end-products that dissolve the enamel. Though there are a few different bacteria that can cause cavities, Streptococcus mutans is the main etiological cause of dental caries. The earliest stages of cavity formation are typically marked with biofilm development, in which the thick slime layer confers bacteria greater adherence to the enamel surface, the ability to adapt to more adverse conditions, and quorum sensing …

Molecular Ecology And Management Of Nuisance And Invasive Marine Species : Chrysaora Chesapeakei, Moerisia Sp., And Gonionemus Vertens, Dena J. Restaino

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Ecological communities are under constant pressure from anthropogenic disturbances. Marine and estuarine systems are affected by human use and development of both coastal land and the surrounding water. One consequence of this use is the deterioration of water quality, which can lead to changes in community structure and a loss of species richness. Another effect of increased usage of marine water ways in the introduction of invasive species. These non-natives also have the ability to change community structure and reduce ecosystem services. In particular cnidarians are able to thrive in degraded systems in part owing to their ability to tolerate …

Benthic Invertebrate Communities Of Barnegat Bay New Jersey : Effects Of Hard-Clam (Mercenaria Mercenaria L.) Aquaculture Grow-Outs On Benthic Communities, Rebecca Shell

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Plots of three treatment types (industry-standard screens with clams, screens without clams, and control) were installed at Sedge Island, Barnegat Bay, in 2012. 177 species from eight phyla were collected. Hard-clam plots had lower Shannon-Weiner Index values and higher sedimentary sorting coefficients as compared to both control treatments. ANOSIM identified benthic communities inside hard clam plots as statistically distinct from the two control treatments. There was no significant effect of treatment on functional groups assigned by burrowing depth. Seasonal peaks in May are clear for Polydora cornuta and Tritia obsoleta, as well as for suspension feeders and omnivores. All burrowing-depth …