Digital Commons Network^™

Driveability Of Recycled Plastic Pin (Rpp) In North Texas, Arif Mohammad Aziz

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

The Recycled Plastic Pins (RPP) have been extensively used as an alternative to the conventional slope stabilization methods in stabilizing shallows slope failure in Texas, Missouri, Kansas, and Idaho in the United States. The RPP provides additional resistance along the potential slip surface when it is driven into the slope and increases the factor of safety. RPPs are fabricated from recycled plastics and waste materials (i.e. polymers, sawdust, and fly ash), and is nondegradable in nature. It is found to be very useful and beneficial engineering materials for civil engineering infrastructure projects. The cost-effectiveness of using any engineering material largely …

Electrowetting-On-Dielectric (Ewod) Digital Microfluidic Device For Synthetic Organic Chemistry, Matin Torabinia

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Over the past decades, microscale chemical reaction technology has been attractive in diverse areas of chemistry. It allows the precise control of quantified reagents and highly efficient heat and mass transfer, because of a large interface-to-volume ratio–particularly in case of the exothermic reaction and mixing–, reduced consumption of toxic or expensive agents, improved reaction profiles, and enhanced selectivity compared to macro-scale reactions. The mainstream microscale reaction processes were established using continuous microchannel flow systems, which has emerged as a powerful complement to batch chemistry on the laboratory scale due to relative advantages, some of which include: increased safety, more accurate …

Advances In Liquid Chromatography And Liquid Chromatography- Mass Spectrometry For The Chiral Analysis Of Amino Acids And Differentiation Of Isomeric Amino Acid Residues In Peptides/Proteins From Complex Matrices, Siqi Du

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

Amino acids are essential building blocks in all living organisms. Initially it was believed that only L-amino acids were relevant in higher organisms, and D-amino acids were laboratory artifacts. Today, various D-amino acids have been detected in different organisms, including humans, and some even play essential roles in biological processes. In addition, abnormal D-amino acid levels have been reported in patients with different diseases. The variations in D-amino acid levels might be of some diagnostic value. However, our knowledge of D-amino acids remains limited and most of the D-amino acids are not well investigated due to the lack of a …

Direct Functionalization Of Inert C-H And C=C Bonds Using Copper And Zinc Catalysts Supported By Fluorinated Ligands, And The Chemistry Of Fe(Co)5 And Its Analogs With Coinage Metal Ions, Tharun Teja Ponduru

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

Transition-metal catalyzed direct functionalization of inert C-H and C=C bonds through nitrene- and oxo-transfer reactions are powerful and attractive synthetic strategies for constructing C-N and C-O bonds (e.g. found in amines, aziridines, alcohols, and carbonyl compounds) directly from hydrocarbon feedstocks, and have significant synthetic potential in chemical processes leading to natural products, pharmaceuticals and biologically active molecules. Chapters 2 and 3 of this work mainly focus on nitrene- and oxo-insertion chemistry catalyzed by transition metal complexes. We employed different types of fluorinated ligands to support copper and zinc metal centers. Therefore, complexes [HB(3,5-(CF3)2Pz)3]Cu(NCMe), [H2B(3,5-(CF3)2Pz)2]Cu(NCMe), [H2B(3,5-(CF3)2-4-(NO2)Pz)2]Cu(NCMe), [{(3,5-(CF3)2Pz)ZnEt}2(μ-THF)], [{(3-(CF3),5-(t-Bu)Pz)ZnEt}2(μ-THF)], [{(3,5-(i-Pr)2Pz)ZnEt}2(μ-THF)], [N{(CF3)C(C6F5)N}2]CuNCCH3, and …

High Confidence Identification Of Cross-Linked Peptides By Mass Spectrometry Cleavable Cross-Linking Technologies, Jayanta Kishor Chakrabarty

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

Mass spectrometry (MS)-based chemical cross-linking technique is a potential tool for understanding the protein structure and protein-protein interactions. However, low abundances of cross-linked products and the data complexity are the major challenges in this field. New strategies are required to pinpoint cross-linked peptides with high confidence. Our lab designed and synthesized a novel cross-linker with two differential MS-cleavable bonds, namely DUCCT. DUCCT-cross-linked peptide generates different diagnostic fragment ions in Collision Induced Dissociation (CID) and Electron Transfer Dissociation (ETD) (tandem mass spectrometric technique) which helps in the unambiguous identification of cross-linked peptide. We demonstrate the efficiency of DUCCT technology with model …

Flexible Ph Sensor For Smart Sensing, Khengdauliu Chawang

Electrical Engineering Theses - Archive

pH level of biofluid is crucial in understanding physiological health. Commercial glass electrode pH sensors are bulky and cannot provide real time data. In this study, a novel miniature pH sensor capable of continuous wireless communication was developed, which is a promising technology for providing point-of-care diagnosis. Iridium Oxide because of its wide pH sensing range and biocompatibility has attracted attention from biomedical and food industries; high sensitivity of Iridium Oxide based sensor is attributed to its high charge density. Flexible polyamide Kapton substrate (127 µm) is taken as base substrate and E-Beam method is employed to deposit adhesion and …

A Mathematical Analysis Of A Model Of Drug Action On Intracellular Calcium Dynamics, Marah Townzen Funk

2019 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The dysregulation of intracellular Ca2+ dynamics is a hallmark feature of several types of cancer. Administering a combination of a drug that blocks store-operated Ca2+ entry and a drug that inhibits tyrosine kinases is a novel chemotherapeutic approach currently being explored. Using data from experimental trials of these drugs, an existing model of Ca2+ dynamics was modified via the Michaelis-Menten theory of enzyme kinetics to reflect the behavior of the cell upon administration of the drugs. Mathematical analyses were performed to determine the overall repercussions of this modification. This included sensitivity analysis to reveal the model's sensitivity to changes to …

Effect Of Chicken Manure On Methane Production From Msw In Lab Scale Anaerobic Reactors, Md Tauhidul Islam

Civil Engineering Theses - Archive

One of the major problems of urbanization is the production of a huge amount of Municipal Solid Waste. The cities and metropolitan areas are generating more and more solid waste and these wastes are filling up the landfill rapidly. Creating new landfills after a few years is not a solution as there is not much space in urban areas. Moreover, making the landfills far away from cities is not economically viable as longer hauling distance increases the cost. In this scenario, Bioreactor landfill is a viable solution to this problem. Bioreactor landfills can save a lot of space and it …

Sighting Acute Myocardial Infarction Through Platelet Gene Expression., Giuliana Gobbi, Cecilia Carubbi, Guidantonio Malagoli Tagliazucchi, Elena Masselli, Prisco Mirandola, Filippo Pigazzani, Antonio Crocamo, Maria Francesca Notarangelo, Sergio Suma, Elvezia Paraboschi, Giuseppe Maglietta, Srikanth Nagalla, Giulia Pozzi, Daniela Galli, Mauro Vaccarezza, Paolo Fortina, Sankar Addya, Adam Ertel, Paul Bray, Stefano Duga, Carlo Berzuini, Marco Vitale, Diego Ardissino

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Acute myocardial infarction is primarily due to coronary atherosclerotic plaque rupture and subsequent thrombus formation. Platelets play a key role in the genesis and progression of both atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Since platelets are anuclear cells that inherit their mRNA from megakaryocyte precursors and maintain it unchanged during their life span, gene expression profiling at the time of an acute myocardial infarction provides information concerning the platelet gene expression preceding the coronary event. In ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), a gene-by-gene analysis of the platelet gene expression identified five differentially expressed genes: FKBP5, S100P, SAMSN1, CLEC4E and S100A12. The logistic regression …

An Evidence-Based Intervention To Reduce The Use Of Physical Restraints In A Female Adolescent Population At An Inpatient Psychiatric Unit, Mambo Ndingwan

Doctor of Nursing Practice

The use of physical restraints within psychiatric units is problematic since it raises a range of legal, ethical, and clinical questions (American Psychiatric Nurses Association, 2014). The use of physical restraint has become a common practice in many psychiatric units despite the negative effects associated with its use. Selecting strategies such as verbal de-escalation to manage aggressive psychiatric inpatients shows promise with patients when used by providers and staff in mental health facilities. The purpose of this evidence-based project was to introduce and train staff to utilize the Modified Overt Aggression Scale (MOAS) and verbal de-escalation in psychiatric units in …

Feel-Sad Tv: Sadness Pornography In Contemporary Serials, Blake K. Beaver

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

This article develops a theory of sadness pornographies in contemporary feel-sad television. Under the sad porn category, the essay explores a key sub-genre in contemporary serial dramas: trauma porn. The article is anchored in an affective analysis of two contemporary serials: Amazon's Transparent and NBC's This Is Us, both of which center multigenerational, familial trauma. Through a combined Berlantian and Spinozist optic, the essay attends to various episodes from the two serials to illuminate the phenomenon of trauma porn in current feel-sad media. In this reading, the essay considers how Spinoza's understandings of the temporality of affect relate to the …

Feminist Friendship As An Affective Engagement Through The Arts: A Decolonial And Posthuman Becoming-With Rebeca Lane's Alma Mestiza, Miguel Ángel Blanco Martínez, Paola Mendoza Téllez-Girón

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

This paper considers friendship as an affective terrain of feminist alliance among subjects that belong to territories with a colonial record responding to the colonial/modern gender system (Lugones 2007) through the arts. Friendship is here conceptualized as an engagement of feminist solidarity unfolding within theoretical and practical models of change and resistance against the logics of cultural imperialism (Lugones and Spelman 1983). Turning friendship into a polyphonic feminist reaction, this work is conducted by acknowledging the need to foster dialogues where different authorial voices and feminist positionalities meet, reflect, and speak. The paper settles the encounter between its authors in …

Volume 28: Affect, Robby Hardesty, Alina Hechler

disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory

The 2018-19 Editorial Collective is pleased to present the 28th volume of disClosure: A Journal of Social Theory. Our inspiration for this odd bundle of pages is rooted in the aesthetic of the self-printed zine. While we regret that we couldn't sneak into Miller Hall in the middle of the night to guerrilla-copy the entire issue on a late-80s black-and-white Xerox, we are proud to say that each page of this volume was assembled entirely by hand. Every page is bordered or backgrounded by collages: these are pages that peel and flake, assembled from bits and pieces cut up …

Pay Her More! How Sex And Motherhood Play A Role In The Unequal Pay Of Women On The World Stage, Raquel S. Zilbeman

San Diego International Law Journal

“[O]vert pay discrimination between women and men” is what typically comes to mind when one thinks about the gender wage gap. While women often ask for “equal pay for equal work,” gender discrimination is only responsible for a small amount of the pay gap. “The gender wage gap is also about choice and opportunity. . . . [It is] rooted in [global] social norms about women[,] family [and motherhood which constantly change and evolve—making it] much harder to solve.” It is grounded in the way our society has evolved over the last one hundred and fifty years, during which more …

Effective Exploration Behavior For Chemical-Sensing Robots, Kevin Nickels, Hoa Nguyen, Duncan M. Frasch, Timothy F. Davison

Engineering Faculty Research

Mobile robots that can effectively detect chemical effluents could be useful in a variety of situations, such as disaster relief or drug sniffing. Such a robot might mimic biological systems that exhibit chemotaxis, which is movement towards or away from a chemical stimulant in the environment. Some existing robotic exploration algorithms that mimic chemotaxis suffer from the problems of getting stuck in local maxima and becoming “lost”, or unable to find the chemical if there is no initial detection. We introduce the use of the RapidCell algorithm for mobile robots exploring regions with potentially detectable chemical concentrations. The RapidCell algorithm …

Pharmacognostical Study Of Combretum Aculeatum Vent. Growing In Sudan, Kamal M. Hamad, Manal M. Sabry, Sabah H. Elgayed, Abdel-Rahman El Shabrawy, Ahlam M. El-Fishawy

Bulletin of Faculty of Pharmacy Cairo University

Aim of Study: Combretum aculeatum Vent is commonly used in traditional medicine but no published botanical characterization was available. Macro- and microscopical characters of the aerial parts (leaf, stem and bark) have been studied with the aim to find the diagnostic features, and pointed towards their identification in both entire and powdered form. Results: Proximate analysis like moisture contents (7.52 %), total ash (14.09%), water-soluble ash (0.7%), acid-insoluble ash (2.99%) and alcohol soluble extract (9.5%) were determined. Percentage yield of sequential extractive values of sample in petroleum ether (1.85%), methylene chloride (0.92%), ethyl acetate (2.2%) and n-butanol (1.66%) were also …

Porous Silicon Photonics At Unity Confinement Factors For Surface Adlayer Biosensing, Tahmid Hassan Talukdar

All Theses

Guided wave-optics is an emergent platform for label free optical biosensing. However, device sensitivity toward surface-attached biomolecules is directly restricted because of only evanescent interaction and low modal overlap with the active sensing region. In this work, we demonstrate a mesoporous silicon waveguide design created via a novel inverse processing technique that overcomes the limitations imposed by evanescent field sensing by achieving maximal transverse confinement factor in the active sensing region. Our sensor can also maintain this confinement factor and sensitivity across a large dimensional variation while preserving single-mode operation. Our devices are characterized in a Fabry-Perot interferometer configuration and …

The Alliance Of Genome Resources: Building A Modern Data Ecosystem For Model Organism Databases., Alliance Of Genome Resources Consortium, Carol J Bult, Judith A. Blake, Brian R Calvi, J. Michael Cherry, Valentina Difrancesco, Robert Fullem, Kevin L Howe, Thom Kaufman, Chris Mungall, Norbert Perrimon, Mary Shimoyama, Paul W Sternberg, Paul Thomas, Monte Westerfield

Faculty Research 2019

Model organisms are essential experimental platforms for discovering gene functions, defining protein and genetic networks, uncovering functional consequences of human genome variation, and for modeling human disease. For decades, researchers who use model organisms have relied on Model Organism Databases (MODs) and the Gene Ontology Consortium (GOC) for expertly curated annotations, and for access to integrated genomic and biological information obtained from the scientific literature and public data archives. Through the development and enforcement of data and semantic standards, these genome resources provide rapid access to the collected knowledge of model organisms in human readable and computation-ready formats that would …

The Mayfly Newsletter, Donna Giberson

The Mayfly Newsletter

The Mayfly Newsletter is the official newsletter of the Permanent Committee of the International Conferences on Ephemeroptera

The Impact Of Social And Cultural Factors On Minority Students’ Participation In An International Baccalaureate Diploma Program, Elizabeth Scott-Janda

Dissertations

Although concern about mathematical achievement inequities has become widespread, even in well-funded, high-performing high schools, unequal outcomes for minority and disadvantaged students can seem persistent and difficult to change despite strong efforts. This project reports on an ethnographic study that examined how social environments within schools can affect students’ choices of whether or not to attempt advanced coursework in mathematics, especially among marginalized groups like Hispanic minorities, low socio-economic status (SES) and rural populations. It considered how social and peer environments affect students’ approaches to schooling, and decisions they make that will have long-term implications for their futures. In particular, …

Effects Of A Chronic 0.1 Μm Arsenic Exposure On P19 Mouse Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation And Pluripotency, Benjamin Mcmichael

All Theses

Globally, at least 140 million people are exposed to levels of arsenic greater than the World Health Organization recommended standard of 10 ug/L (10 ppb) through their drinking water and food. Epidemiological studies have correlated arsenic exposure during embryonic and fetal development with reduced birth weight, as well as muscular and neurodevelopmental deficits. The goal of the current study was to determine the mechanisms by which a chronic, low-level arsenic exposure impairs cellular development and differentiation. This was achieved by exposing P19 mouse embryonic stem cells (mESC’s) to 0.1 μM arsenic (7.5 ppb), a concentration lower than the current drinking …

Multimodal Mobile Sensing Systems For Physiological And Psychological Assessment, Nguyen Phan Sinh Huynh

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Sensing systems for monitoring physiological and psychological states have been studied extensively in both academic and industry research for different applications across various domains. However, most of the studies have been done in the lab environment with controlled and complicated sensor setup, which is only suitable for serious healthcare applications in which the obtrusiveness and immobility can be compromised in a trade-off for accurate clinical screening or diagnosing. The recent substantial development of mobile devices with embedded miniaturized sensors are now allowing new opportunities to adapt and develop such sensing systems in the mobile context. The ability to sense physiological …

How Courts In Criminal Cases Respond To Childhood Trauma, Deborah W. Denno

Marquette Law Review

Neurobiological and epidemiological research suggests that abuse and adverse events experienced as a child can increase an adult’s risk of brain dysfunction associated with disorders related to criminality and violence. Much of this research is predictive, based on psychological evaluations of children; few studies have focused on whether or how criminal proceedings against adult defendants consider indicators of childhood trauma. This Article analyzes a subset of criminal cases pulled from an 800-case database created as part of an original, large-scale, empirical research project known as the Neuroscience Study. The 266 relevant cases are assessed to determine the extent to which, …

Cholesterol Efflux Capacity And Its Association With Metabolic Syndrome In A Multi-Ethnic Population (Dallas Heart Study): A Cross-Sectional Study, Oludamilola Akinmolayemi

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a multi-component risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes. MetS has been found to be associated with increased risk of incident CVD, cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, and prevalence atherosclerosis. Cholesterol efflux capacity (CEC) is a measure of the functional property of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). In addition, it characterizes the ability of HDL-C to accept cholesterol from extra-hepatic cells in the periphery to the liver and has been shown in clinical studies to be inversely associated with atherosclerosis cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) . Low HDL-C is one of the …

Insuring The Integrity Of Global Registries, Aardhra Meenakshi Venkatachalam

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Data quality is a priority in public health because it is used for public health program planning and implementation, research, as well as policy. The information gleaned from the data allows us to assess health status, and improve health needs. This paper evaluated methods for cleaning, managing and addressing missing data in the Lagos State Ambulance Service registry. The techniques included screening, data organization, diagnostic phase, treatment phase and a missing data phase to holistically handle the data. The percentage of systemic errors was reduced through the use of the 5-step method. Missing data was informative for state of origin, …

Civic Engagement Among Youth Exposed To Community Violence: Directions For Research And Practice, Sonia Jain, Alison Cohen, Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, Catherine Duarte

Journal of Youth Development

Historically and contemporarily marginalized youth who are disproportionately exposed to community violence are often the same youth who are less likely to be civically engaged. However, the community violence and civic engagement literatures have not yet fully explored how these experiences may be linked in young people’s lives and in relation to what other forces. Using developmental assets and ecological-transactional frameworks, we review the emerging literature on civic engagement among youth exposed to community violence and how external developmental assets and neighborhood collective efficacy may create opportunity for their increased civic engagement. We present numerous conceptually- and empirically-based hypotheses to …

Index To Volume 87

Nebraska Bird Review

14 pages: Akers, Danny 108 to Zeglen, Nancy 45

2019 Hitchcock Raptor Banding Project In Perspective, Jerry Toll

Nebraska Bird Review

Hitchcock Nature Center in Pottawattamie County, north of Crescent, Iowa, is home to the Hitchcock HawkWatch and Raptor Banding Project. The Nature Center is in the heart of the Loess Hills which, together with the flat expanse of the Missouri River Valley to the west, provides the perfect conditions for creating the updraft that aids migrating birds. The Hawkwatch began in 1992, and every fall from September through December, birds-of-prey enthusiasts gather on the 45-foot observation tower to watch and count thousands of eagles, hawks, and other raptors as they migrate south. Every year since 2007, Sandy Reinken and I …

Jnchc Front & Back Matter, Vol. 20, No 2, Fall/Winter 2019

Journal of the National Collegiate Honors Council Online Archive

Cover

Masthead

Contents

Call for Papers, Editorial Policy, & Submission Guidelines

Dedication -- Art L. Spisak

About the Authors

About the NCHC Monograph Series

Order form

Back cover

The Nebraska Bird Review, Volume 87 December 2019 Number 4

Nebraska Bird Review

Fall Field Report, August - November 2019, by W. Ross Silcock …118-138

2019 Hitchcock Raptor Banding Project in Perspective, by Jerry Toll …138-147

Imperial Fall Field Days, Sept 13-15, 2019 …148-152

Index to Volume 87 …153-166

Subscription and Organization Information …167