Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of Environmental Law Scholarship 2018-2019, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Courtney A. Tibbetts, Linda K. Breggin, Elizabeth A. Holden

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to highlight the results of the ELPAR article selection process and to report on the environmental legal scholarship for the 2018-2019 academic year, including the number of environmental law articles published in general law reviews versus environmental law journals, and the topics covered in the articles. We also present the top 20 articles that met ELPAR's criteria of persuasiveness, impact, feasibility, and creativity, from which five articles were selected to republish in shortened form, some of them with commentaries from leading practitioners and policymakers. Thus, the goal of this article is to provide an …

Diagnosis, Rupture Risk Evaluation And Therapeutic Intervention Of Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms Using Targeted Nanoparticles, Xiaoying Wang

All Dissertations

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease causes dilation of the aorta that can lead to aortic rupture and death if not treated early. It is the 14th leading cause of death in the U.S. and is cited as the 10th leading cause of death in men over age 55, affecting thousands of patients and their families. To date, AAA patients have minimal access to safe and efficient imaging modalities for diagnosis as well as pharmacotherapies. AAA is usually detected and monitored with ultrasonography or contrast-enhanced computed tomography (C.T.), which doesn’t provide biomechanical information of the AAAs that are essential for predicting …

Development Of Solid Sampling Modalities For The Liquid-Sampling Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge Microplasma, Htoo Paing

All Dissertations

Fast pretreatment of samples, low resource consumption, and high analytical throughput makes direct solid sampling techniques an attractive choice for a wide range of applications. Currently there are a plethora of analytical techniques capable of solid sampling. However, no commercial technique is available that is capable of taking advantage of the key concepts of solid samplings. General disadvantages amongst the current solid sampling instrumentation are high cost of operation, limited analyte choice, and reduced analytical performance. In that regard, it is important to develop a source that has low operation cost as well as the capability to analyze a diversity …

Detecting Periods Of Eating In Everyday Life By Tracking Wrist Motion — What Is A Meal?, Surya Sharma

All Dissertations

Eating is one of the most basic activities observed in sentient animals, a behavior so natural that humans often eating without giving the activity a second thought. Unfortunately, this often leads to consuming more calories than expended, which can cause weight gain - a leading cause of diseases and death. This proposal describes research in methods to automatically detect periods of eating by tracking wrist motion so that calorie consumption can be tracked. We first briefly discuss how obesity is caused due to an imbalance in calorie intake and expenditure. Calorie consumption and expenditure can be tracked manually using tools …

Uav-Assisted Water Quality Monitoring, Cengiz Koparan

All Dissertations

Water quality assessment for the management of water resources requires the collection of water samples for physical, chemical, and biological analysis. It is essential to reduce the cost of water quality monitoring by minimizing the number of grab samples and to reduce the sampling time by rapidly accessing the sampling points. Adaptive, remote, and smart water sampling systems can provide more effective water quality monitoring programs. An adaptive water sampling system with an unmanned aerial vehicle integrated with sensor nodes was developed and tested in this research. Individual phases of this research were; in-situ water quality measurements with a UAV-integrated …

Metagenomic, Viral And Host Genetic Analyses Of Congenital Tremor In Pigs, Kylee Marie Sutton

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The Pestivirus genus contains several viral species having a major impact on the livestock species. While there were only four major pestiviral species for a time, recent metagenomic sequencing approaches identified additional species, such as atypical porcine pestivirus (APPV). Congenital tremor was first identified almost a hundred years ago and since still has an impact on swine health. There are two main types of congenital tremor, type A and B, with type A congenital tremor further subcategorized based on causative agent. Until recently, type A-II congenital tremor did not have a known cause. Recent viral sequencing of affected samples, including …

From Simple To Sophisticated: The Organization Of Terrorist Groups, Michael K. Logan

Student Work

This dissertation draws on gang organization research and organizational theory to assess the underlying dimensions of organization in terrorist groups. Using the Leadership for the Extreme and Dangerous for Innovative Results (LEADIR) dataset, findings suggest that organization is a multidimensional construct in terrorist groups, including the structuring of activities dimension and the concentration of authority dimension. In relation to violence, terrorist groups high on the structuring of activities dimension were significantly more lethal in general and more lethal when attacking hard targets, whereas terrorist groups high on the concentration of authority dimension attacked hard targets at a significantly higher rate. …

Population Status, Threats, And Conservation Of Preuss's Red Colobus (Piliocolobus Preussi) And Other Diurnal Primates In The Ndokbou Forest, Littoral Region, Cameroon, Ruth Bowers-Sword

Masters Theses, 2020-current

The Ebo-Makombe-Ndokbou forest block in southwest Cameroon lies within the Gulf of Guinea biodiversity hotspot, characterized by extremely high levels of species richness and endemism, including those of primates. These forests may contain one of the last populations of the Critically Endangered Preuss’s red colobus monkey (Piliocolobus preussi; PRC), which is found only in southeastern Nigeria and western Cameroon. Gun hunting for bushmeat and habitat loss and degradation from logging and agriculture are the main threats to PRC. The conservation status of PRC and other primates in the Ndokbou forest are largely unknown, with most regional research efforts occurring in …

The Current: Orientation Issue - Volume 31 Issue 1, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

Orientation issue for 2020

Employed Mothers’ Satisfaction With The Breastfeeding Provisions In The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act, Rebecca A. Penders

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Objective: Guided by the Conceptual Model for Nursing and Health Policy (CMNHP), the purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which employed mothers perceived satisfaction in their breastfeeding experiences after enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) breastfeeding provisions. Methods: The participants (N=507) were employed mothers who returned to work after the birth of their infants and reported hourly pay. Convenience sampling was used to recruit women via La Leche USA Facebook account (LLL USA). Participants completed the Penders Breastfeeding Survey in Research Electronic Data Capture (REDCap). The survey consisted of 39-items; including five …

Impact Of Disturbance Regimes On Community And Landscape Biodiversity In Atlantic Coastal Pine Barren Ecoregion Streams, Sean T. Mccanty

Graduate Doctoral Dissertations

Streams are dynamic systems shaped by geographic location, hydrology, riparian vegetation, and in-stream habitat. Furthermore, ecosystem disturbance plays a major role in structuring stream communities and ecosystem processes. Disturbances include natural occurrences, such as flooding, drought, and fire events and anthropogenic disturbances such as land use changes, damming, and pollution. Agricultural use acts as a press disturbance regime, homogenizing the surrounding landscape and simplifying in-stream habitat, leaving legacy effects after farming ceases. Active restoration is intended to ameliorate these effects by reintroducing variation, with the goal of shifting the ecosystem into a more diverse and natural state. The act of …

Aug2020, Robert Kelly

Robert Kelly Manuscripts

No abstract provided.

Embryonic Exposure To The Synthetic-Progesterone Levonorgestrel (Lng) Results In Hyperactive Behavior In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Austin D. Fuentes

Theses and Dissertations

Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals has been associated with an increased risk of anxiety-like behavior at various life stages. Levonorgestrel (LNG), a synthetic contraceptive, could potentially alter steroidal regulated brain development based on the findings of this thesis. In-silico measurements were used for comparing LNG, which had been found in surface water, to chemical databases to predict the bioavailability, half-life, and estrogen binding potential. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) for illuminating the effects of LNG exposure during early zebrafish embryonic development, similar to fetal development, on behavior was investigated. Our data suggests exposure in a dose-dependent manner of LNG can potentially …

Influence Of Landscape Factors On Wildlife Presence And Road Mitigation Structure Performance, Taylor M. Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

There are roughly 80 ocelots (Leopardus pardalis) remaining in the United States, with the entire population constrained to south Texas, with roadkill being a predominant source of mortality. To prevent additional roadkill and maintain wildlife movement, Texas Department of Transportation constructed 11.9 kilometers of wildlife exclusion fencing, 5 wildlife crossing structures (WCS), and 18 wildlife guards on State Highway 100. This thesis focused on determining the effort required for a control-impact monitoring study, the influence of biotic and abiotic factors around the roadway on wildlife presence, and the performance of mitigation structures and the road mitigation corridor. This …

De-Policing Queer Possibilities, Michael Rangel

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

In the wake of a policed dystopia that is decreed by both state and social formations, this project develops an understanding of the performance and engagements of policing on racialized queer subjects. Through case and textual analysis, this project examines Black and Brown subjectivities that do the work of imagination, survival, and resistance that contest their possibilities of living. Bringing together Queer theorist and Black Feminist perspectives to define Queer subjectivity, possibility, and the tactical performance of policing- this project creates a theoretical framework about how de-policing Queer and racialized subjectivity and performance can be a life saving strategy that …

Learning Dynamics From Large Biological Data Sets: Machine Learning Meets Systems Biology, William Gilpin, Yitong Huang, Daniel B. Forger

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

In the past few decades, mathematical models based on dynamical systems theory have provided new insight into diverse biological systems. In this review, we ask whether the recent success of machine learning techniques for large-scale biological data analysis provides a complementary or competing approach to more traditional modeling approaches. Recent applications of machine learning to the problem of learning biological dynamics in diverse systems range from neuroscience to animal behavior. We compare the underlying mechanisms and limitations of traditional dynamical models with those of machine learning models. We highlight the unique role that traditional modeling has played in providing predictive …

Investigation Of A Novel Mitophagy Regulatory Pathway And Chemical Inducer, Jane E. Craig

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Mitochondria are vital organelles that coordinate cellular energy homeostasis and also have important roles in cell death. Therefore, the removal of damaged or excessive mitochondria through autophagy, a process called mitophagy, is critical for maintaining proper cellular function. Much of the research elucidating the mechanism and regulation of autophagy was performed in yeast cells, so there is still a lot of mystery surrounding how mitophagy is promoted and regulated in mammals in general and in different tissues. The most well understood mechanism involved in mitophagy is the PINK1-PARKN pathway. However, studies often rely on severe mitochondrial damage using CCCP that …

Marshaling Mcculloch, Richard A. Primus

Reviews

David Schwartz’s terrific new book is subtitled John Marshall and the 200-Year Odyssey of McCulloch v. Maryland. But the book is about much more than Marshall and McCulloch. It’s bout the long struggle over the scope of national power. Marshall and McCulloch are characters in the story, but the story isn’t centrally about them. Indeed, an important part of Schwartz’s narrative is that McCulloch has mattered relatively little in that struggle, except as a protean symbol.

Characterization Of Protein And Fat In Dairy Feeds And Implications On Digestibility And Milk Composition, Kassidy Kate Buse

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

A variety of feedstuffs are used to comprise dairy rations, each with their own nutritional contributions. In order to best utilize these feedstuffs to maximize production, characterization of their chemical composition is needed. Through the use of both in vitro and in situ methods, not only can the composition of the feed be determined, but also its digestibility. Also, because of the important role they play in human health, omega 3 fatty acids have received increasing attention. Most individuals consuming Western diets do not meet the recommended requirement for omega 3 fatty acids, and one way to improve that is …

Advancing The Science Of Dry-Aged Beef, Felipe Azevedo Ribeiro

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

In order to tightly control dry aging environmental conditions, we designed and built a computerized dry aging system that is capable of measuring and precisely controlling relative humidity (RH; ± 1%), temperature (± 0.5 °C), air flow (± 0.015m³/min), and mass loss (± 5 g). This dissertation addressed the effects of RH and ultimate pH on meat quality and sensory attributes of dry-aged beef. In study one, we learned that wet-aged steaks had higher L* (P = 0.01), a* (P = 0.03), and b* values (P < 0.001), lower discoloration scores (P < 0.05), and lower TBARS (thiobarbituric acid reactive substance) values (P = 0.03) than dry-aged treatments. Under prolonged …

Influence Of Strategic Supplementation And Genetic Potential For Milk Yield On Forage Digestibility, Amino Acid Utilization, And Livestock Production, Tasha M. King

Department of Animal Science: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

When consuming low-quality forages or at times when nutrient demands are high, ruminants may be unable to meet these requirements resulting in a state of negative energy balance. With feed costs contributing a large portion of production costs, providing dietary nutrients to maintain energy balance must be done so strategically. Additionally, producers must ensure consistent reproductive performance and offspring weaned to maintain a successful livestock enterprise. The objective of these studies was to evaluate the effect of glucogenic precursor supplementation and milk yield on forage digestibility, amino acid utilization, and livestock production. In experiment 1, a metabolism study was conducted …

Antimicrobial Susceptibility Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Streptococcus Agalactiae, And Escherichia Coli Isolated From Mastitic Dairy Cattle In Ukraine, Leta Elias, Ajay Balasubramanyam, Olena Y. Ayshpur, Iryna U. Mushtuk, Nataliya O. Sheremet, Volodymyr V. Gumeniuk, Jeffrey M. B. Musser, Artem S. Rogovskyy

Student Publications

Bovine mastitis is the predominant cause for antimicrobial use on dairy farms and is a major source of economic losses in the dairy industry. In this study, the antimicrobial susceptibility profiles of common mastitis-causing pathogens, Staphylococcus aureus (n = 62), Streptococcus agalactiae (n = 46), and Escherichia coli (n = 129), were determined for dairy cattle with mastitis across 142 Ukrainian farms. The results showed that there were more gentamicin resistant S. aureus isolates (16.95%) identified in this study than previously reported for Ukrainian dairy cattle. Moreover, low levels of amoxicillin susceptibly (13.51%) were observed for St. …

A Naïve Population Of European Oyster Ostrea Edulis With Reduced Susceptibility To The Pathogen Bonamia Ostreae: Are S-Strategy Life Traits Providing Protection?, Sian Egerton, Sharon A. Lynch, Maria Prado-Alvarez, Grace Flannery, Elaine Brennan, Tristan Hugh-Jones, David Hugh-Jones, Sarah C. Culloty

Biology Faculty Publications

European populations of the native flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, have been heavily depleted by two protozoan parasites, Marteila refringens and Bonamia ostreae, with mortalities of up to 90% reported in naïve populations. However, in studies carried out over a ten-year period, researching the parasite-host relationship of B. ostreae and O. edulis in several age cohorts within a naïve O. edulis population from Loch Ryan (LR), Scotland, 1,364 specimens were challenged and only 64 (5%), across multiple testing protocols, screened positive for B. ostreae. This article presents a case for the development of S-strategy life traits in the LR population that …

Children’S Perceptions Of Ambiguous Interracial Interactions : Behavior And Size Judgments, Julia Wefferling

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Classic work in social psychology found that children’s perceptions of ambiguously aggressive events are biased by race (Sagar and Schofield, 1980). The present research is an attempt to extend upon that work by including an examination of perceptions of the physical size of vignette actors, based on more recent work by Wilson et al. (2017). In this study, 41 children aged 9-13 were recruited to watch cartoon clips of vignettes of Black and White characters in ambiguously aggressive interactions. Participant watched one clip of each target-actor race combination and rated many characteristics (e.g. mean, friendly) of the targets and actors. …

Role Of Cyp2b In Unsaturated Fatty Acid Metabolism, Obesity, And Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease, Melissa Heintz

All Dissertations

Obesity is closely linked to the development of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). The prevalence of obesity is increasing in the United States, and the most recent 2017-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey recorded 42.4% of adults are obese. Cytochrome P450s (CYPs) play a primary role in phase I detoxification pathways, which in humans, includes over 90% of phase I-dependent metabolism of clinically used drugs, especially within CYP families 1-3. These enzymes also metabolize a vast number of environmental pollutants including industrial and agricultural chemicals, as well as endogenous compounds such as steroids, bile acids, and fatty acids. Hepatic …

Using Heparin-Coated Nanoparticles In The Treatment Of Neointimal Hyperplasia, Nardine M. Ghobrial

All Dissertations

The use of stents in the treatment of atherosclerosis leads to a potential risk of restenosis, caused by neointimal hyperplasia. Neointimal hyperplasia is mainly caused by an injury to the endothelial layer of the blood vessel followed by the proliferation of smooth muscle cells into the lumen of the blood vessel. To address this, we designed a magnetically-guided drug delivery system to locally deliver heparin to a stented artery. The nanoparticles were synthesized, characterized, and tested on relevant human cell lines.

The particles were non-toxic to human smooth muscle cells, endothelial cells, and fibroblasts. They reduced the proliferation of the …

Effectiveness Of Cleaning Protocols For A Therapeutic Animal Robot Used In The Intensive Care Unit, Breanna D. Hetland, Jennifer Heusinkvelt, Mark Rupp, Paul D. Fey, Caitlin Murphy, Gayle Gillett, Teresa Micheels, Melissa Baker, Christina Bach, Abigail Wawers

Posters and Presentations: College of Nursing

No abstract provided.

Animal Assisted Interactions With An Animal Robot During Physical And Occupational Therapy Sessions In The Pediatric Icu: A Feasibility Study, Breanna D. Hetland, Jennifer M. Heusinkvelt, Christina Bach, Abigail Wawers, Alison Moody, Sara Kinsella, Haley Haefner, Kevin A. Kupzyk

Posters and Presentations: College of Nursing

No abstract provided.

Mechanisms Of Chromate-Induced Suppression Of Rad51: A One Environmental Health Approach., Rachel M. Speer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death. Lung cancer is commonly associated with smoking, however, 1 in 5 women and 1 in 12 men who develop lung cancer are never-smokers. Environmental exposures, therefore, account for a significant portion of lung cancer cases. Hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] is a global environmental contaminant and known human lung carcinogen. Cr(VI) and other carcinogenic metals induce chromosome instability, an early event in lung cancer. Structural chromosome instability arises in part due to failed DNA repair. Particulate Cr(VI), the most potent form of Cr(VI), induces DNA double strand breaks and inhibits the high-fidelity DNA …

Tissue-Resident Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells Modulate Immune Homeostasis In Healthy Adipose., Katlin Brooke Stivers

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Our goal with this study was to gain insight into the homeostatic immune cell network in healthy adipose tissue. Specifically, we sought to determine if the immature myeloid cells found in healthy and inflamed adipose were, in fact, tissue-resident myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Using various in vitro and in vivo methods, we have uncovered a population of CD11b^Hi Ly6C^Hi Ly6G^- MDSCs resident in healthy adipose tissue. To the best of our knowledge this is the first time that these cells have been investigated and described in healthy adipose tissue. Systemic MDSC depletion lead to the accumulation of …