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Cost-Effectiveness Analysis Of Colorectal Cancer Screening Strategies Using Active Learning And Montecarlo Simulation, Amirhosein Fouladi

Master's Theses

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the deadliest types of cancer in the US due to its high incidence and mortality rates. Detection of CRC in the early stages through available screening tests increases the patient's survival chances. In this study, we investigate the cost-effectiveness of a wide variety of multi-modal CRC screening policies. More specifically, we develop a Monte Carlo simulation framework to model the CRC natural history and preventive interventions. Age-specific and size-specific progression rates of adenomatous polyps are estimated using an innovative active learning method. Specifically, we develop a decision tree model to estimate size-specific and age-specific …

Physiological Feelings, Edward F. Pace-Schott, Marlissa C. Amole, Tatjana Aue, Michela Balconi, Lauren M. Bylsma, Hugo Critchley, Heath A. Demaree, Bruce H. Friedman, Anne Elizabeth Kotynski Gooding, Olivia Gosseries, Tanja Jovanovic, Lauren A.J. Kirby, Kasia Kozlowska, Steven Laureys, Leroy Lowe, Kelsey Magee, Marie-France Marin, Amanda R. Merner, Jennifer L. Robinson, Robert C. Smith, Derek P. Spangler, Mark Van Overveld, Michael B. Vanelzakker

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The role of peripheral physiology in the experience of emotion has been debated since the 19th century following the seminal proposal by William James that somatic responses to stimuli determine subjective emotion. Subsequent views have integrated the forebrain's ability to initiate, represent and simulate such physiological events. Modern affective neuroscience envisions an interacting network of "bottom-up" and "top-down" signaling in which the peripheral (PNS) and central nervous systems both receive and generate the experience of emotion. "Feelings" serves as a term for the perception of these physical changes whether emanating from actual somatic events or from the brain's representation of …

Postsecondary Students’ Perceptions Toward Accepting And Understanding Biological Evolution: A Qualitative Metasynthesis, Erin Childress

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative meta-synthesis is the exploration and analysis of postsecondary students’ perceptions towards accepting and understanding evolution. Evolution as a process and theory is a foundation for understanding the biological sciences. Within the scientific and educational communities, evolution is a central theme tying the fabric of the biological sciences together. A three-tiered analysis was used to determine postsecondary students’ perceptions towards accepting and understanding evolution. This meta-synthesis analysis was guided by the following research questions: (1) What perceived conflicts do post-secondary students face when learning about evolution? and (2) Based on post-secondary students’ perspectives, how do personal …

A Nature- Informed Expressive Arts Therapy Method And Group Participation In Youths, Ella E. Huzdovich

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Abstract

The purpose of this research study was to implement the elements of nature inside a group therapy room in an adolescent partial hospitalization program. This was a comparative study where two groups were led before environment was changed, and two groups were led after environment was changed. The group therapy room was redesigned after the first two groups were conducted. Added to the group therapy room was a 100 x 144 inch forest mural that covered one entire wall, a diffuser that released a forest scent, two large indoor plants, and playing in the background were birds chirping synchronous …

A Pbpk Model Of Low-Concentration Vitamin D Supplementation In The Absence Of Sunlight, Colton Sawyer

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

Mechanics Of Phenotypic Aging Trajectories In C. Elegans And Humans, William Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Overall, my dissertation integrates longitudinal measurements of physiology to investigate the aging process. In the first half, I examine the surprising and largely unexplained degree of variation in lifespan within even homogeneous populations. I sought to understand how physiological aging differs between long- and short-lived individuals within a population of genetically identical C. elegans reared in a homogeneous environment. Using a novel culture apparatus, I longitudinally monitored aspects of aging physiology across a large population of isolated individuals. Aggregating several measures into an overall estimate of senescence, I find that long- and short-lived individuals start adulthood on an equal physiological …

Health Information Seeking Behaviour Of University Students In Nigeria, Cynthia Onwe, Foluke Okocha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

This study was conducted to examine the health information needs and seeking behavior of students in Nigeria It also focused on the following: health information sources used by the students, sources of health information, how these health information are used, extent to which their health information needs are satisfied, demographic factors that influence health information needs and seeking behaviour of the students and the main barriers students encounter in meeting their health information needs. The findings from the study showed that students have a variety of health information needs and their needs vary among gender. It also found that the …

The Effects Of Beetroot Juice Consumption On Maximal Oxygen Consumption, Margaret Vacher-Weiss

Honors Program Theses and Projects

There are many synthetic dietary supplements available to those wishing to enhance their athletic abilities. Unfortunately, dietary supplements do not follow the same strict regulations as do foods or drugs do by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA, 2018). Therefore, they often contain ineffective and sometimes unsafe substances, which may cause short and long-term harmful effects to the consumer (Hirsch, J., 2018). However, there are in fact natural and safer ways to achieve the same effect a synthetic supplement may claim to provide.

Many natural foods are claimed to produce an ergogenic effect (i.e. – enhance athletic performance), one of them …

Interaction Design Needs Modified Principles Of “Design Affordance” For Navigation Applications, Shannon Connell

Theses

It is a common scene for many of us getting from point A to point B these days. One we forget did not exist a little over a decade ago. A phone or device is taken out, a destination is typed into a search box, and a route or several are offered. The user then makes a route decision, places the device within sight, or holds it as they travel. The user relies on provided instructions for most of the route taken and tangential subsequential decision-making. These behaviors are not only accepted as the norm, but our reliance deems them …

Are Steps Per Day Enough? Quality Versus Quantity Of Ambulatory Behavior After A Light-Intensity Physical Activity Intervention For Older Cancer Survivors., Elizabeth Michaela Harding

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Physical activity and exercise are powerful means by which to preserve physical function, and stave off mobility loss, morbidity and mortality. Historically, physical activity (PA) interventions have been structured around the national guidelines for PA and exercise. However, some populations such as older adults and those with chronic disease and mobility limitations may find these recommendations too rigorous or daunting. Consequently, they tend to spend more time engaged in sedentary behaviors that further exacerbate the already detrimental effects of age and chronic disease. PA interventions that serve to bridge the gap between sedentary behavior and exercise are needed as our …

Measurement Of Strength Gains Using A Fascial System Exercise Program, Michele M. Bond, Richard Lloyd, Robyn A. Braun, James A. Eldridge

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 12(1): 825-838, 2019. Current fascia research is allowing for an interdisciplinary understanding of the body’s anatomical, biomechanical, and neurological connectivity via the fascial network. Fascial research and its application has been validated and established in various clinical areas of research. The purpose of this study was to apply the current knowledge of the fascial system to general exercise protocols. This study involved 20 women, ages 30-60 years, who were novice weight trainers, mostly sedentary, and with no injuries, excessive pain or disease. The 10-week study compared strength gain changes between a strength training regimen control …

A Comparison Of Exercise Interventions From Bed Rest Studies For The Prevention Of Musculoskeletal Loss, Nagarjun N. Konda, Rama S. Karri, Andrew Winnard, Mona Nasser, Simon Evetts, Eilis Boudreau, Nick Caplan, David Gradwell, Rochelle M. Velho

More Faculty of Health Research

Musculoskeletal loss in actual or simulated microgravity occurs at a high rate. Bed rest studies are a reliable ground-based spaceflight analogue that allow for direct comparison of intervention and control participants. The aim of this review was to investigate the impact of exercise compared to no intervention on bone mineral density (BMD) and muscle cross-sectional area (muscle CSA) in bed rest studies relative to other terrestrial models. Eligible bed rest studies with healthy participants had an intervention arm with an exercise countermeasure and a control arm. A search strategy was implemented for MEDLINE. After screening, eight studies were identified for …

Widowhood: The First Anniversary Spousal Bereavement-Related Stress, Coping, And Well-Being In Older Women, Mary Elizabeth Minton

Dissertations

By 2020 approximately one million individuals will experience spousal bereavement annually, primarily older women. However, little is known about the survivor's well-being around the first year death anniversary. This study examined spousal bereavement-related stress, coping, and well-being in widows 65 years and older at months 11, 12, and 13 following the death of the spouse based on Lazarus and Folkman's transactional approach and Schaefer and Moos' model of life crises and transitions. Using a prospective, longitudinal, correlational design, data were collected from 47 widows.

That Bike Is Too Heavy: Merging Bicycling Physics, Human Physiology And Travel Behavior, Alexander Y. Bigazzi

PSU Transportation Seminars

Are the Biketown bikes too heavy? Does better gear motivate people to cycle more? How much faster will someone go on an e-bike?

Although urban cycling is widely known as physically active transportation, the actual physics of cycling have been given little attention in transportation engineering and planning. In contrast, the field of sports science has developed detailed data and models of road bicycle performance, but only for sport and racing cyclists.

What can we learn about utilitarian cycling by integrating knowledge of the physical attributes of bicycles and cyclists?

This seminar examines the ways in which bicycle physics, and …

Effects Of A 28-Day Carbohydrate-Restricted Diet On Metabolic And Performance Markers In Professional Firefighters, Hunter Scott Waldman

Theses and Dissertations

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in firefighters (FF) around the nation. Recent observational studies have emerged suggesting that FF consume calorically dense foods, high in sugar and fat, but low in nutritional value which can exacerbate heart diseases and impair performance. The potential to improve cardiometabolic and performance measurements when following a carbohydrate (CHO) restricted diet (CRD) has gained interest in the literature. To date, only one study has employed a nutrition intervention in FF, yet its’ focus was on nutrient dense foods and antioxidant supplements. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the cardiometabolic …

Bioinspired Glycopolymers: Models To Investigate The Effect Of Saccharide Structure And Concentration On Amyloid Beta Aggregation, Pradipta Kumar Das

Dissertations

Aggregation and subsequent deposition of amyloid-β (Aβ) peptide on neuronal cell membranes have been implicated as a cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Gangliosides in their clustered form seed and promote the Aβ aggregation process. However, the effects of the structure and the concentration of ganglioside saccharides on Aβ aggregation are not well understood. We investigated how the specific structure of saccharides (β-D-galactose and β-D-glucose) affect the aggregation pathways, kinetics, and the aggregated structures of Aβ via in vitro experiments. The effects of the local concentration of saccharides on the Aβ aggregation were also investigated.

To mimic the multivalent effect of the …

Wearable Biomedical Sensors, Wenyuan Shi

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Focusing on current major research interests about the wearable biomedical sensors, numerous achievements contributed by researchers and engineers are reviewed in chapter 1. Development and research trends, as well as challenges of the wearable technologies are discussed. In chapter 2, a new double-resonance sensor was presented for monitoring body dehydration with two resonant frequencies. Using the waveguide method and the finite-element simulations, the sensor was designed with optimal parameters. Electromagnetic field distributions, Q factors, and sensitivities of the sensor are analyzed. The sensor’s equivalent circuit was deduced. The finite-element model and the equivalent circuit model were simulated for identifying various …

Role Of Angiotensin I And Ii On The Tissue Mechanics Of The Aortic Heart Valve Via Receptor Binding And Converting Enzymes, Josh Fahy

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) plays a crucial role in the regulation of renal, cardiac, and vascular physiology. This system regulates in vivo blood pressure and fluid balance. As renal blood flow decreases, the kidneys convert prorenin into renin and secrete it into the circulatory system. Renin then converts angiotensinogen into angiotensin I (ang-I). The ang-I is then converted into angiotensin II (ang-II) by the angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE). Ang-II, a vasoconstrictor, increases blood pressure by causing the blood vessels to narrow. Recent evidence suggests that RAS may be involved in the progression of valve disease, most notably, aortic stenosis.

The first …

Curricular Report No. 2018-19-12 From The Graduate Council To The Faculty Senate: Curricular Changes, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Shod Versus Unshod Walking On Center Of Pressure Variability, Zachary Barrons

Master's Theses

The purpose of the present investigation was to examine the influence of footwear on walking stability. Twenty healthy women walked at 1.3 m/s on an instrumented treadmill. One hundred steps (50-right, 50-left) were analyzed from two walking conditions (shod, unshod). The variability of the center of pressure (COP) for each step was calculated for quadrants of the contact period. Significant differences in variability were seen between shod and unshod conditions in all quadrants as well as differences between left and right feet in quadrants one and four. Restricted foot motion while shod may explain the differences seen in COP variability. …

Development And Psychometric Analysis Of The Roy Adaptation Modes Scale (Rams) To Measure Coping And Adaptation, Sandra A. Russo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Peoples’ lives are often interrupted or changed by experiencing a serious illness. It is important to study and understand the various coping processes that people have in adapting to illness. The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure a person’s coping response to illness-related stimuli using the Roy Adaptation Model (RAM) as its structure and framework. This study is quantitative descriptive design to develop the validity and reliability of a new instrument the Roy Adaptation Modes Scale (RAMS). A review of RAM based measurement instruments found no instrument that measured all four adaptive modes that is …

A Comparison Of The Curricula Of The Top-Ranked Prelicensure Baccalaureate Nursing Programs In The United States, Silvia Imanda

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

What constitutes an ideal prelicensure nursing curriculum is not well understood. Specifically, what are the strategic curricular sequencing and curricular themes or focus might be included to contribute to producing high quality graduates? The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study investigation was to look at successful programs and identify effective curricular sequencing and curricular themes or focus that might be inferred to have contributed to producing high quality graduates. Seven top-ranked prelicensure baccalaureate nursing programs were selected based on three national college rankings services. Based on data from interviews and publicly accessible documents, seven case studies were compared and …

Wearable Technology Devices: Heart Rate And Step Count Analysis, Jeffrey Montes

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The overarching purpose of this dissertation was to evaluate and analyze heart rate and/or step count measurements for six popular wearable technology devices: the Samsung Gear 2, FitBit Surge, Polar A360, Garmin Vivosmart HR+, Leaf Health Tracker, and the Scosche Rhythm+ in four separate conditions: free motion walking, free motion jogging, treadmill walking, and treadmill jogging. The four studies presented here utilized one test design and data collection protocol in which many measurements could be addressed simultaneously. Currently, there is no accepted standardized protocol to evaluate wearable technology devices. The test design utilized for this research series was introduced as …

Follicle-Stimulating Hormone, But Not Cardiorespiratory Fitness, Is Associated With Flow-Mediated Dilation With Advancing Menopausal Stage, Corinna Serviente, Sarah Witkowski

Exercise and Sport Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective:The aim of the study was to evaluate if there are differences in endothelial function before and after acute exercise in women at different menopausal stages with high and low cardiorespiratory fitness.Methods:Participants were healthy high-fit premenopausal (n = 11), perimenopausal (n = 12), and postmenopausal women (n = 13) and low-fit perimenopausal (n = 7) and postmenopausal women (n = 8). Brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) was measured before and after acute moderate intensity exercise. FMD was calculated as (Diameterpeak-Diameterbaseline)/ Diameterbaseline) × 100. Differences between high-fit women and between high- and low-fit perimenopausal and postmenopausal women were assessed with repeated-measure …

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, Emma Eccles Jones College Of Education And Human Services, May 1, 2019, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

The Department of Nursing and Health Professions in the Emma Eccles Jones College of Education and Human Services proposes offering an online Bachelor of Science Nursing degree completion.

Honey, Are These My Kids? My Hands? My Organs? My Cells?, Anoohya Muppirala

Scientific Kenyon: The Neuroscience Edition

No abstract provided.

Stabilizing Forces In Acoustic Cultural Evolution: Comparing Humans And Birds, Daniel C. Mann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learned acoustic communication systems, like birdsong and spoken human language, can be described from two seemingly contradictory perspectives. On one hand, learned acoustic communication systems can be remarkably consistent. Substantive and descriptive generalizations can be made which hold for a majority of populations within a species. On the other hand, learned acoustic communication systems are often highly variable. The degree of variation is often so great that few, if any, substantive generalizations hold for all populations in a species.

Within my dissertation, I explore the interplay of variation and uniformity in three vocal learning species: budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), …

Integrative Approaches To The Undergraduate Public Health Major Curriculum: Strengths, Challenges, And Examples, Marc T. Kiviniemi, Sarahmona M. Przybyla

Health, Behavior & Society Faculty Publications

Many “first generation” undergraduate public health degree programs were designed based on “siloed” course structures centered around subunits in the discipline (e.g., Introduction to Epidemiology, Introduction to Environmental Health) that may be meaningful primarily to experts in the field. An alternative to the siloed approach is an integrative curricular design, in which courses are designed around meaningful thematic units (e.g., explaining public health problems, asking and answering scientific questions in public health), with an emphasis on drawing connections between knowledge from different but complementary disciplinary areas as a means to improve student learning and retention. The integrative approach shifts the …

Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors And Physical Fitness In Volunteer Firefighters, Zachary T. Martin, Rebecca A. Schlaff, Jade K. Hemenway, Jillian R. Coulter, Jeremy L. Knous, John E. Lowry, Joshua J. Ode

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 12(2): 764-776, 2019. Forty-seven percent of volunteer firefighter line of duty deaths are caused by cardiovascular events. Aggressive cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factor reduction and improved physical fitness could reduce CVD mortality within this population. We assessed CVD risk factors and physical fitness in a large cohort of volunteer firefighters to help establish a health and fitness profile of this population, which may serve as evidence for the need to initiate programs aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality caused by CVD in the volunteer fire service. Seventy-four male volunteer firefighters were assessed for eight CVD …

Medical Liability Reform In The United States: A Comprehensive Approach To Medical Error, James Gerard Muller

Proceedings of GREAT Day

No abstract provided.