The Predictive Nature Of Learning And Study Strategies In Online Physical And Occupational Therapy Education, Evan Michael Pucillo

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

There is a nationwide shortage of health professionals and a growing demand for education programs. As physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) education programs rapidly expand to generate more candidates for the health workforce, they have increasingly adopted online instruction. The PT and OT programs can be rigorous, and it is beneficial for educators to understand how to best support academic outcomes in an online environment. Students may adhere to specific learning and study strategies to ensure success. Prior work indicates Anxiety, Attitude, Concentration, Time Management, Motivation, and Self-regulation strategies are significantly related to academic outcomes (Crede & Kuncel, …

How Women In Leadership Describe Their Rise To Leadership In Nigeria, Princess Chinyere Halliday Enyiukwu

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The significance of female marginalization and inclusion in leadership decision making has been increasingly a topic of deliberation. Women and men share typical characteristics such as knowledge, educational qualification, expertise, socioeconomic status, yet women are continuously marginalized. The bias that women face because of their gender is a lot more pronounced in countries where the traditional roles of the sexes are defined rigidly. Due to these strict gender roles, women find it hard to get to the positions of leadership in organizations. Gender discrimination against women in the workplace is a common issue that women around the world face. Leadership …

A Transcendental Phenomenological Study Of Faculty Use Of Universal Design For Learning That Includes Multiple Means Of Expression While Teaching Online General Education Courses At A Technical College, Monique Stephaun Baucham

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Little is known about the perceived benefits of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) to help college students with learning disabilities. The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to study general education faculty members’ perceptions on student achievement when faculty employ multiple means of expression, the third principle of UDL, which is to vary the means of assessment at a technical college in southeastern Georgia. The transcendental phenomenological studies human experiences. The theoretical framework used to guide this study includes two adult learning theories: Knowles’s (1998) andragogy and Mezirow’s (1996) self-directed and transformational learning. Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development was …

A Temperature Sensor For Measuring Dielectric Loss Heating In A Dielectrophoresis Device, Imtiaz Hossen

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Dielectrophoresis is an extensively used technique in the field of biomedical science that manipulates particles in a non-uniform electric field. One of its drawbacks is heat dissipation during the DEP operation that raises the local temperature of the DEP device. Temperature increases during dielectrophoresis (DEP) can affect the response of biological entities and ignoring the effect can mislead the result of the analysis. The heating mechanism of a DEP device is typically considered to be the result of Joule heating as bare electrodes are used in a conductive solution. However, when electrodes are insulated from the solution the presence of …

Survival-Related Clustering Of Cancer Patients By Integrating Clinical And Biological Datasets, Xinming Wei

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Subtype-based treatments and drug therapies are essential aspects to be considered in cancer patients' clinical trials to provide appropriate personalized therapies. With the advancement of the next-generation sequencing technology, several computational models, integrating genomic and transcriptomic datasets (i.e., multi-omics) in the prediction of subtype-based classification in cancer patients, were emerged. However, integration of the prognostic features from the clinical data, related to survival risks with the multi-omics datasets in the prediction of different subtypes, is limited and an important research area to be explored. In this study, we proposed a data integration pipeline with the prognostic features from the clinical …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of Small Molecule Inhibitors Of Pyruvate Carboxylase, Daniel John Burkett

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Through structure-based drug design (SBDD), a series of small molecules have been synthesized and evaluated for inhibitory activity against the pyruvate carboxylase (PC) enzyme via two biological assays. The -hydroxycinnamic acid scaffold was identified as the most privileged scaffold for inhibition of PC. Analogues of phenylpyruvic acid were generated and evaluated, leading to the discovery of inhibitors with single digit micromolar (M) IC50 values. The most potent inhibitors identified were evaluated for inhibitory activity against other metalloproteins, and 2-hydroxy-3-(quinolone-2-yl)propenoic acid did not significantly inhibit human carbonic anhydrase II, matrix metalloproteinase-2, malate dehydrogenase, or lactate dehydrogenase. The small molecules presented in …

Investigating The Role Of Lin-35 And The Dream Complex In Preserving Fertility Under Stress In C. Elegans, Frances Virginia Compere

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Organisms are subjected to environments that can fluctuate and cause them stress. Therefore, organisms must have the ability to adapt to the stress to survive and propagate. Temperature stress is becoming an increasingly relevant type of stress due to climate change and is known to affect fertility in many types of organisms including the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. Here we examine the role of LIN-35, the single C. elegans homolog of the tumor suppressor Retinoblastoma (pRB), in fertility under moderate temperature stress. We found that lin-35 mutants lose fertility more drastically under moderate temperature stress than wildtype worms, and that …

Soybean Maturity Group And Planting Date Influence Grain Yield And Nitrogen Dynamics, Carrie C. Ortel, Trenton L. Roberts, Kyle A. Hoegenauer, Larry C. Purcell, Nathan A. Slaton, Edward E. Gbur

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Manipulation of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] maturity group (MG) and planting date will increase the yield of a soybean crop while simultaneously influencing the potential soil-nitrogen (N) credits. Variations in N returned to the soil by soybean can significantly affect the amount of fertilizer-N needed for the subsequent crop. Four soybean MGs (3.5, 4.7, 5.4, and 5.6) were evaluated at optimal and late planting dates in Arkansas. Grain yield was significantly different among MGs in 2016 (P = .0012) and 2017 (P = .0004), with the 4.7 MG consistently yielding the highest at 3,232 kg ha(-1). Plant total aboveground …

Igf1r Immunohistochemistry In Ewing's Sarcoma As Predictor Of Response To Targeted Therapy., Elizabeth Gonzalez, Marilyn Bui, Atif Ahmed

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Objectives: Ewing's sarcoma is an aggressive malignancy of bone and soft tissue in children and young adults. Despite advances in modern therapy, metastasis can occur and results in high mortality. The objective of this study was to identify whether the signaling transduction proteins, insulin growth factor receptor (IGF1R) and S6 kinase (S6K), can predict poor prognosis in Ewing's sarcoma.

Methods: After the Institutional Research Board approval, immunohistochemical experiments on tissue microarray slides containing 32 archived Ewing's sarcoma tumor samples were performed with antibodies against IGF1Rb and p-S6K. Immunohistochemical staining results were correlated with patients' clinical data including clinical stage and …

Hur/Elavl1 Drives Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumor Growth And Metastasis, Marta Palomo-Irigoyen, Encarni Pérez-Andrés, Marta Iruarrizaga-Lejarreta, Adrián Barreira-Manrique, Miguel Tamayo-Caro, Laura Vila-Vecilla, Leire Moreno-Cugnon, Nagore Beitia, Daniela Medrano, David Fernández-Ramos, Juan José Lozano, Satoshi Okawa, José L Lavín, Natalia Martín-Martín, James D Sutherland, Virginia Guitiérez De Juan, Monika Gonzalez-Lopez, Nuria Macías-Cámara, David Mosén-Ansorena, Liyam Laraba, C Oliver Hanemann, Emanuela Ercolano, David B Parkinson, Christopher W. Schultz, Bs, Marcos J Araúzo-Bravo, Alex M Ascensión, Daniela Gerovska, Haizea Iribar, Ander Izeta, Peter Pytel, Philipp Krastel, Alessandro Provenzani, Pierfausto Seneci, Ruben D Carrasco, Antonio Del Sol, María Luz Martinez-Chantar, Rosa Barrio, Eduard Serra, Conxi Lazaro, Adrienne M Flanagan, Myriam Gorospe, Nancy Ratner, Ana M Aransay, Arkaitz Carracedo, Marta Varela-Rey, Ashwin Woodhoo

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

Cancer cells can develop a strong addiction to discrete molecular regulators, which control the aberrant gene expression programs that drive and maintain the cancer phenotype. Here, we report the identification of the RNA-binding protein HuR/ELAVL1 as a central oncogenic driver for malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs), which are highly aggressive sarcomas that originate from cells of the Schwann cell lineage. HuR was found to be highly elevated and bound to a multitude of cancer-associated transcripts in human MPNST samples. Accordingly, genetic and pharmacological inhibition of HuR had potent cytostatic and cytotoxic effects on tumor growth, and strongly suppressed metastatic …

Potential Adoption Of Integrated Pest Management Strategy For Suppression Of Mango Fruit Flies In East Africa: An Ex Ante And Ex Post Analysis In Ethiopia And Kenya, Beatrice W. Muriithi, Nancy G. Gathogo, Gracious M. Diiro, Samira A. Mohamed, Sunday Ekesi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

To sustain agricultural development in Africa, innovative strategies for addressing a myriad of biotic and abiotic constraints facing the agricultural systems must be established. One current biotic stress is the mango infesting fruit flies. In the effort to contain the widely spreading and damaging invasive species of tephritid fruit fly (Bactrocera dorsalis) (Hendel), an area-wide integrated pest management (IPM) program is being promoted in the horticultural sub-sector in sub-Saharan Africa. Such a new technology in which farmers have limited information before commercialization may have diffusion paths that are different from the often-assumed sigmoid (or “s”) shaped curve. We apply the …

Soil Health And Ecosystem Services: Lessons From Sub-Sahara Africa (Ssa), J. Kihara, P. Bolo, M. Kinyua, S. S. Nyawira, R. Sommer

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Management practices to improve soil health influence several ecosystem services including regulation of water flows, changes in soil biodiversity and greenhouse gases that are important at local, regional and global levels. Unfortunately, the primary focus in soil health management over the years has been increasing crop productivity and to some extent the associated economics and use efficiencies of inputs. There are now efforts to study the inter-relationship of associated ecosystem effects of soil health management considering that sustainable intensification cannot occur without conscious recognition of these associated non-provisioning ecosystem services. This review documents the current knowledge of ecosystem services for …

Experiences Of Graduate Level Students Of Color With Race In Psychology Diversity Courses, Lakesha Winley

Dissertations

The ethnoracial makeup of individuals entering fields of study such as psychology continues to change but the experiences of graduate level students of color in these programs is a phenomenon that has received little attention. When attempting to understand these experiences specific to racial content, the literature is almost nonexistent. This qualitative inquiry was designed in an attempt to understand, assess, and depict the experiences of students of color related to experiences of racial content in their American Psychological Association (APA) accredited graduate level diversity/multicultural psychology courses. The focus was on their reactions (e.g., emotional, physical, somatic) to class discourse, …

Psychotherapy Model For The Training Of Counselors In India, Vini Kalra

Dissertations

Common mental disorders in India are on the rise and are adding to the national burden of mental health care on a day-to-day basis. The demand for treatment of mental illnesses has risen considerably, though there is a shortage of mental health professionals who can deliver counseling services. The Indian government has made efforts to improve the scalability of services by training lay health counselors to diagnose and conduct brief counseling with the mentally ill and those involved with their care. Despite efforts to scale up services, the treatment gap still exists, as mental health services are not uniformly distributed. …

Community Violence, Protective Factors, And Resilience: Gender Differences In African American Youth, Kimberly Nelson-Arrington

Dissertations

African American youth are exposed to community violence in varying degrees. Over the last few decades, much research has focused on the negative implications of such exposure. While it is helpful to explore the detrimental effects of community violence on this population, the factors that promote resilience, leading to favorable outcomes, should be explored with just as much fervency. The present study sought to explore the protective factors that contribute to resilience in African American youth exposed to community violence. While resilience is a multidimensional construct, this study focused on the participants’ psychological outlook, namely their sense of hopefulness and …

Military Sexual Trauma In Veterans: Consequences, Treatment, And Therapeutic Implications, Chelsey Siville

Dissertations

Amongst Veterans served within the Veterans Affairs healthcare system, approximately 1 in 50 men and 1 in 3 women have experienced military sexual trauma (MST). While every individual is different, a common characteristic or identity amongst those who have served is that of a warrior – someone perceived as strong and ready to defend both their country and fellow soldier. Experiencing military sexual trauma can create a painful and discrepant identity as well as impact almost all domains of functioning. Unfortunately, trauma is an all too common occurrence in the lives of many service members and the multifinality of trauma …

2020-2021 Academic Catalog, Saint Mary's College Of California

Academic Catalog

No abstract provided.

A Multimodal Approach For Monitoring Driving Behavior And Emotions, Arash Tavakoli, Vahid Balali, Arsalan Heydarian

Mineta Transportation Institute

Studies have indicated that emotions can significantly be influenced by environmental factors; these factors can also significantly influence drivers’ emotional state and, accordingly, their driving behavior. Furthermore, as the demand for autonomous vehicles is expected to significantly increase within the next decade, a proper understanding of drivers’/passengers’ emotions, behavior, and preferences will be needed in order to create an acceptable level of trust with humans. This paper proposes a novel semi-automated approach for understanding the effect of environmental factors on drivers’ emotions and behavioral changes through a naturalistic driving study. This setup includes a frontal road and facial camera, a …

Freeways And Farms: Veggielution & Taylor Street Urban Farms Study, Joshua Baur, Ashley Estrada

Mineta Transportation Institute

This report presents the results of a project conducted by researchers at San Jose State University in partnership with Veggielution and Taylor Street Farm staff, funded by the Mineta Transportation Institute in San Jose, CA. The research team interviewed staff and volunteer farm workers to explore how nearby roadways impact experiences at farm sites. Research on outdoor nature-based recreation consistently identifies peaceful, natural site characteristics as important to a positive outdoor experience. This project sought to identify whether farm user attitudes and experiences would be consistent with these research findings resulting in farm users reporting that nearby roadways negatively impacted …

Gene Patents, Drug Prices, And Scientific Research: Unexpected Effects Of Recently Proposed Patent Eligibility Legislation, Charles Duan

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Recently, Congress has considered legislation to amend§ 101, a section of the Patent Act that the Supreme Court has held to prohibit patenting of laws of nature, natural phenomena, and abstract ideas. This draft legislation would expand the realm of patent-eligible subject matter, overturning the Court's precedents along the way. The draft legislation, and movement to change this doctrine of patent law, made substantial headway with a subcommittee of the Senate holding numerous roundtables and hearings on the subject.

This article considers some less-discussed consequences of that draft legislative proposal. The legislation likely opens the door to patenting of subject …

Improving Nutrition And Immunity With Dry Chain And Integrated Pest Management Food Technologies In Lmics., Peetambar Dahal, Meghnath Dhimal, Krishna Belbase, Sundar Tiwari, John Groopman, Keith West, Bradley Pollock, Subodh Pyakurel, Ganga Acharya, Sunil Aryal, Yug Nath Ghimire, Manish Neupane, Rosina Poudel, Johan Van Ashbrouck, Keshavulu Kunusoth, Sarah De Saeger, Marthe De Boevre, Gokarna Gharti-Chhetri, Tek Bahadur Gurung, Kent J Bradford

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Proteomics Of The Egg Cell Membrane Of The Sea Star Patiria Miniata, Emily Wiseman

Theses and Dissertations

The conception of life, the creation of a genetically distinct being, is an event that has fascinated humanity for ages. It was only recently, at the turn of the 20th century, that the field of reproduction research reached an age of molecular mechanics, and with that, an onslaught of difficulties were encountered. The egg is a unique cell type because it contains a number of mRNA transcripts that do not express proteins necessary for the initial moments of gamete interaction or egg activation. Instead, these RNAs are stored in the egg for expression during early embryonic development. Coupled with the …

The Consequences And Correlates Of Racial Identity Discordance: An Explication Of The Social Construction Of Race, Eli X. Ornelas

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The current study analyzes the rates at which different racial groups experience identity discordance, or the phenomenon of one’s self-ascribed racial identity not being commensurate with external perceptions of one’s race. While previous research has documented the possibility of discrepancy between self-ascribed and external classifications of racial identities, few empirical studies have sought to determine which racial groups are most susceptible to experiencing identity discordance or investigated specific mechanisms that may contribute to that discordance. Utilizing the 2006 wave of the Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), the current study investigates the rate of identity discordance for Whites, Blacks, Hispanics, …

Epstein Barr Virus-Immortalizedｂlymphocytes Exacerbate Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis In Xenograft Mice, Pascal Polepole, Alison Bartenslager, Yutong Liu, Thomas M. Petro, Samodha C. Fernando, Luwen Zhang

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common autoimmune disorder affecting the central nervous system. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is a causative agent for infectious mononucleosis (IM) that is associated with MS pathogenesis. However, the exact mechanism by which EBV, specifically in IM, increases the risk for MS remains unknown. EBV immortalizes primary B lymphocytes in vitro and causes excessive B lymphocyte proliferation in IM in vivo. In asymptomatic carriers, EBV-infected B lymphocytes still proliferate to certain degrees, the process of which is tightly controlled by the host immune systems. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mimics key features of MS in humans …

Development Of An Improved Arterial Roadway Performance Reliability Methodology, Ernest Tufuor

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The need for reliable performance measures of urban arterial roadways is increasing because of the rise in traffic congestion and the high value of travel time. Consequently, travel time reliability (TTR), which combines components of measures of central tendency and measures of dispersion of travel times, has recently received considerable research interest.

The basis of all TTR metrics is the travel time distribution (TTD). Estimating and forecasting arterial TTDs for TTR analysis is the focus of this dissertation. This dissertation proposes a new TTR methodology that is a marked improvement on recent TTR estimation and forecasting methodologies including the current …

Professional Military Education In The Marine Corps Reserve: A Narrative Inquiry, Adam Fullerton, Deryl K. Hatch-Tocaimaza, Seth S. Synstelien, Aaron Meltzer

Department of Educational Administration: Faculty Publications

While there are numerous qualitative studies that explore civilian experiences in continuing professional education programs, there is a dearth of research on the professional military education (PME) system. These systems, which sustain continuing education and professional development for more than 2 million active and reserve members of the military, are navigated in a myriad of different ways, depending on the branch of service, active or reserve status, and ability to go to resident PME courses by using an online format. This study, using a narrative inquiry framework, explores the lived experience of seven reserve staff noncommissioned officers (SNCO) as they …

Laboratory Analysis Techniques For The Perinatal Microbiome: Implications For Studies Of Probiotic Interventions, Emily Malloy, Ashley Kates, Lauren Watson, Leona Vandevusse, Nasia Safdar, Lisa Hanson

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

The microbiome is composed of many organisms and is impacted by an intricate exchange between genetics and environmental factors. The perinatal microbiome influences both the developing fetus and the pregnant person. The purpose of this article is to describe the tests that are currently available for laboratory analysis of the perinatal microbiome in relationship to probiotic interventions. This article focuses on the bacterial component of the microbiome. Although adverse outcomes associated with the perinatal microbiome have been studied, a comprehensive understanding of the physiologic perinatal microbiome is still emerging. Early efforts to influence the perinatal microbiome through probiotics are currently …

Dynamic Trajectory Generation And A Robust Controller To Intercept A Moving Ball In A Game Setting, Ravi Prakash, Laxmidhar Behera, Santhakumar Mohan, Sarangapani Jagannathan

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Complex and interactive robot manipulation skills, such as playing a game of table tennis against a human opponent, are a novel problem with multifaceted challenges. Accurate dynamic trajectory generation in order to respond to the tennis ball from the opponent and a novel control scheme for robust and high-performance tracking of the ball in such dynamic situations is a prerequisite to winning the game. In this paper, the dynamic movement primitives (DMPs) are employed for the stable generation of dynamic trajectories in the presence of environmental uncertainties such as ball position and velocity, opponent position and velocity and so on. …

Environmental Sustainability: Kosovo’S Waste Management And Its Road To Circular Economy, Diella Lulaj

Theses

The aim of this project is to evaluate environmental degradation in Kosovo, by concentrating on waste management, and to give recommendations on how to improve waste management in Kosovo, through implementing circular economy concepts. More specifically, the focus of the project will be circular economy in the cycle of waste management, the possibilities and obstacles to implement it in Kosovo. Case studies are used to explain the waste management in UK and India and their process of switching from a traditional economy to a circular economy; as well as an analysis of Western Balkans’ experiences with waste management to understand …

Nanoscale Carbon-Based Electrochemical And Temperature Sensors, Olivia Viola Scheibel

Theses

Nanoscale sensors are required to study the interesting and complex physical, chemical, and biological phenomenon which occurs in microdomains. Carbon-based nanostructures (CNS) have been utilized in nanosensors with applications in many fields due to their versatility and unique properties. Several manufacturing processes can be used to produce CNSs though they often are expensive and require time-consuming purification and micro-assembly processes to integrate them into larger structures.

Here, novel silica-based structures are explored as unique templates on which to form CNSs that are easily integrated into sensors which can directly interface with standard laboratory equipment. The high electrical conductivity of CNSs …