Technology In Senior Living Communities, Lu Zhang, Yunying Zhong, Wei Wei

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

OVERVIEW

While the senior living industry has witnessed remarkable growth over the years, the challenges associated with labor shortage are becoming more evident as well. The gap between supply and demand is driving the integration of technological solutions to better support older people and their daily activities. Besides, the senior living industry has increasingly embraced the spirit of hospitality, which emphasizes the importance of enhancing services and amenities. Such a cultural shift also calls for more technologies to assist caregivers in fulfilling their job responsibilities more effectively. Therefore, this chapter delves into six prevalent types of technology adopted by senior …

Digital Marketing In Hospitality And Tourism, Prem Kumar

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

OVERVIEW

Advancements in communication have led to relationship era of marketing from production era. The internet, information and communication technology (ICT) tools, and the Web revolution have played a pivotal role resulting into digital marketing of products and services in hospitality and tourism. Tourism industry is considered to be an information intensive industry where consumers have become co-creators of digital content on different media. The industry has witnessed a power shift form service provider to the consumers who have ability to attract and influence others with their shared experiences on digital platforms. Firms are adopting a digital marketing mix which …

Preclinical Development Of Epicertin, A Novel Biotherapeutic For The Treatment Of Ulcerative Colitis., Micaela Ann Reeves

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Epicertin (EPT) is a recombinant variant of the cholera toxin B subunit with a C-terminal KDEL endoplasmic retention motif. Previously, orally administered EPT demonstrated mucosal healing activity in acute and chronic dextran sulfate sodium colitis models, indicating its therapeutic potential for ulcerative colitis (UC) treatment. However, oral dosing with EPT requires neutralization of gastric acid prior to administration, hindering its facile application in the treatment of chronic diseases like UC. One solution to this issue is that EPT may also be administered intracolonically without losing efficacy. This work describes the determination of a target intracolonic dose of EPT for future …

Pyridine Nucleotide Redox Potential In Coronary Smooth Muscle Couples Myocardial Blood Flow To Cardiac Metabolism., Marc Matthew Dwenger

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The maintenance of myocardial oxygen supply during stress is essential for sustaining cardiac health. Enhancement of coronary blood flow upon increases in myocardial oxygen demand (i.e., hyperemia) relies on regulation of voltage-gated K⁺ (Kv) channels by their intracellular β subunits (i.e., Kvβ proteins). Considering that, Kvβ proteins are aldo-keto reductases (AKRs) and regulate Kv channel gating, we tested the hypothesis that elevation of myocardial oxygen demand modifies intracellular NAD(H) in arterial myocytes. Furthermore, we tested whether the resultant change in the redox state of the pyridine nucleotide pool directly regulates coronary Kv1 channel activity. High-resolution imaging mass spectrometry and …

Investigations Of Potential Mechanisms Underlying Spinal Cord Injury-Induced Polyuria., Jason H. Gumbel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in neurological impairments including motor, sensory, and autonomic dysfunction. These neurological deficits result in a litany of complications apart from muscular paralysis, including bladder, bowel, cardiovascular, and sexual function. SCI-induced polyuria (the overproduction/passage of urine) remains understudied, and therefore mechanisms behind it are largely unknown and require extensive investigation for potential targeted therapies to improve quality of life. The objective of this dissertation was to investigate potential mechanisms of SCI-induced polyuria and explore potential therapies to improve quality of life in the SCI population. Metabolic cages, Western blot, enzyme-linked immunoassay, and immunostaining were first used …

Impact Of Pank1 Deletion On Mitochondrial Acetylation And Cardiac Function During Pressure Overload., Timothy N. Audam

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have associated elevated protein acetylation levels with heart failure in humans. Although mechanisms promoting elevated acetylation levels are not fully known, excess acetyl-CoA may drive enzyme-independent acetylation of cardiac proteins. Accumulation of acetyl-CoA depends on the availability of sufficient CoA, whose production is regulated by pantothenate kinases in the CoA biosynthetic pathway. We show that cardiac proteins are hyperacetylated during heart failure in humans and tested in mice whether limiting CoA abundance would improve ventricular remodeling during pressure overload-induced hypertrophy. We limited cardiac CoA levels by deleting the rate-limiting enzyme in CoA biosynthesis, Pank1 (one of three PANK-encoding …

Assessing The Role Of Arsenic Exposure And Mirna-186 In Skin Tumorigenesis And Chromosomal Instability., Angeliki Lykoudi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic arsenic exposure through drinking water is a global health issue, affecting more than 200 million people. Arsenic is a group I human carcinogen and causes chromosomal instability (CIN). Arsenic exposure is the second most cause of skin cancer after UV radiation. MiR-186 is overexpressed in arsenic-induced squamous cell carcinoma relative to premalignant hyperkeratosis. Predicted targets of miR-186 are cell cycle regulators. Thus, we hypothesize that miR-186 overexpression drives malignant transformation of HaCaT cells by induction of CIN. Stable clones of HaCaT transfected with pEP-miR-186 expression vector or empty vector were maintained under puromycin selection were exposed to 0 or …

Characterizing The Role Of Macrophages In Cisplatin-Induced Kidney Injury And Progression To Chronic Kidney Disease., Sophia M. Sears

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cisplatin is a commonly used chemotherapeutic for treatment of many solid-organ cancers. Unfortunately, 30% of patients treated with cisplatin develop acute kidney injury (AKI), and even patients who do not develop AKI are at risk for long term declines in kidney function and development of chronic kidney disease (CKD). While traditional rodent toxicity studies have utilized a single, lethal dose of cisplatin, new models of cisplatin-induced kidney injury have revealed that repeated, low doses of cisplatin lead to development of kidney fibrosis. This model can be used to examine AKI-to-CKD transition processes. C57BL/6 mice are one of the most used …

The Role Of Sphingolipids In Aki And The Progression To Ckd: Potential Therapuetic Targets., Nicholas A. Hoffman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is most simply defined as a rapid decline in kidney function over a period of hours to days. There is currently a lack of effective treatment options for patients with AKI, highlighting the need to identify new therapeutic targets. Sphingolipids play a number of roles in different models of AKI, suggesting they could be promising future targets for treating kidney injury. Specifically, sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and its receptors (S1PRs) have been implicated in numerous inflammatory disorders and models of AKI. The purpose of this review is to better characterize the role of S1P receptors in models of …

The Uncanny Desire In American Animation And Film., Kristen Hankins

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Although surrealism was short lived, the impact on popular culture is ongoing. Analyzing this impact is quite interesting because it set a standard for American animation and film. In this thesis, Freud’s theories of psychoanalysis and the uncanny are investigated through the lens of the camera in American cinema and animation. This thesis looks at cartoons and films that were made after Breton’s surrealist manifestos were published. This thesis aims to show the viewer the lasting impact that Breton had on American popular culture. This thesis is divided into three chapters with an introduction and conclusion. Chapter one discusses Fleischer …

An Analysis Of Taste Neuron Morphological Variability: Influences Of Neuron Type And Plasticity., Lisa Christina Ohman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Taste neurons are functionally and molecularly diverse, but their morphological diversity was, until recently, completely unexplored. Taste neurons were considered relay cells, communicating information from taste-transducing cells to the brain without variation in morphology. Instead, individual taste neurons are tremendously morphologically variable. To determine how differences in branching relate to the number and types of taste-transducing cells providing neuronal input, I combined sparse cell genetic labeling with a whole-mount immunohistochemistry and analysis workflow. I found that the maximum number of taste-transducing cells capable of providing convergent input onto individual gustatory neurons varied with a range of 1-22 taste-transducing cells. Consistently, …

A Method For Identifying Ancient Introgression Between Caballine And Non-Caballine Equids Using Whole Genome High Throughput Data., Kalpani De Silva

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introgression is one of the main mechanisms that transfer adapted alleles between species. The advantageous variants will get positively selected and retained in the recipient population while rest of the variants undergo negative selection. When analyzing horse genome, two alleles were found in CXCL16 gene, one associated with susceptibility and one with resistance to developing persistent shedding of the Equine Arteritis Virus. The two alleles differ by 4 non-synonymous variants in exon 1 of the gene. Comparison with 3 non-caballine equids (zebras, asses and hemiones) revealed that one haplotype was almost identical to the haplotype found in non-caballines while the …

How Do Cover Crops Change Soil Health In A No-Till System?, Aysha Kirsten Tapp Ross

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nutrient levels and aggregation measurements are currently the most accurate means to measure soil health. It has been suggested that bacterial and fungal communities may prove to be a more accurate measure of soil health. In this study soil microbe communities and nutrient levels were compared in rye cover cropped soils to measure for differences between treatments. Effects between the microbial communities and environmental measurements were also measured within those treatments to test for correlations between soil health measures and microbial communities. The plots were put in a biennial corn (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max …

Computational And Biochemical Characterizations Of Anhydrobiosis-Related Intrinsically Disordered Proteins., Brett R. Janis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anhydrobiosis is the remarkable phenomenon of “life without water”. It is a common technique found in plant seeds, and a rare technique utilized by some animals to temporarily stop the clock of life and enter a stasis for up to several millennia by removing all of their cellular water. If this phenomenon can be replicated, then biological and medical materials could be stored at ambient temperatures for centuries, which would address research challenges as well as enhance the availability of medicine in areas of the world where refrigeration, freezing, and cold-chain infrastructure are not developed or infeasible. Furthermore, modifying crop …

The Association Between Depression And Anxiety With Covid-19 Outcomes., Erica Miller

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous studies have shown that mental disorders affect COVID-19 mortality. This study investigated the effect of depression and/or anxiety on COVID-19 outcomes. Depression/anxiety was defined by actively taking medication and/or diagnosis. The outcomes were ICU admission; ventilation; mortality; and time to mortality. Of 698 hospitalized patients, there were 204 (29%) defined to have either depression or anxiety. There were 109 deaths, and of those, 52 (48%) were diagnosed with depression/anxiety. Multivariable logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine associations. ICU admission and ventilation were not significantly associated with depression/anxiety. Depression/anxiety was associated with mortality (OR: 1.84, …

Characterization Of The Multifunctional Enzyme Proline Utilization A, Yizi Mao

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Proline is a unique and important amino acid. Proline is a proteogenic amino acid and its metabolism is involved in many critical cellular functions. Therefore, proline metabolism is tightly regulated, and dysfunction of proline metabolism is related to human diseases. The first step of proline oxidization to ∆¹-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid (P5C) is catalyzed by proline dehydrogenase (PRODH). P5C is then non-enzymatically hydrolyzed to glutamate-γ-semialdehyde (GSA), which can be further oxidized to glutamate by P5C dehydrogenase (P5CDH/GSALDH). In Gram-negative bacteria, the PRODH and P5CDH enzymes are expressed as one polypeptide called proline utilization A (PutA). In some Gram-negative bacteria an …

Intricacies In Agronomic Management: The Role Of Interdisciplinary Education, Adam M. Striegel

Doctor of Plant Health Program: Dissertations and Student Research

As a science, agronomy is built upon the connection of inter-disciplinary fields of study. Management (M) of various discipline considerations (and their subsequent interactions) can be influenced by and have significant effects on genetic by environment (GxE) expression. This has led to the promotion of GxExM systems. However, optimizing GxExM programs requires extensive, interdisciplinary knowledge. To evaluate interdisciplinary training provided in undergraduate education, 11 four-year universities were selected in the United States that offer baccalaureate degree majors in agronomy or crop science. Surveys of undergraduate programs of study were conducted, with all required coursework separated into general degree components (general …

Comparing Machine Learning Techniques With State-Of-The-Art Parametric Prediction Models For Predicting Soybean Traits, Susweta Ray

Department of Statistics: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Soybean is a significant source of protein and oil, and also widely used as animal feed. Thus, developing lines that are superior in terms of yield, protein and oil content is important to feed the ever-growing population. As opposed to the high-cost phenotyping, genotyping is both cost and time efficient for breeders while evaluating new lines in different environments (location-year combinations) can be costly. Several Genomic prediction (GP) methods have been developed to use the marker and environment data effectively to predict the yield or other relevant phenotypic traits of crops. Our study compares a conventional GP method (GBLUP), a …

Enhancement And Evaluation Of An Online Module On Functional Behavior Assessment Using Universal Design For Learning, Sacha Cartagena

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of UDL-based enhancements of an online module on functional behavior assessment. The UDL framework is an instructional design framework designed to enhance access, engagement, and learning using three overarching principles: multiple means of engagement, multiple means of representation, and multiple means of action and expression. The researcher utilized a two-group randomized control trial (RCT) with pre- and posttest measures. The control group completed a publicly available module on functional behavior assessment while the intervention group completed an enhanced version of the same module. Results demonstrate that both the intervention and …

The Banner - V. 156, No. 11 - (December 2021), Christian Reformed Church In North America

The Banner

No abstract provided.

Ai, On The Law Of The Elephant: Toward Understanding Artificial Intelligence, Emile Loza De Siles

Buffalo Law Review

Machine learning and other artificial intelligence (AI) systems are changing our world in profound, exponentially rapid, and likely irreversible ways.3 Although AI may be harnessed for great good, it is capable of and is doing great harm at scale to people, communities, societies, and democratic institutions. The dearth of AI governance leaves unchecked AI’s potentially existential risks. Whether sounding urgent alarm or merely jumping on the bandwagon, law scholars, law students, and lawyers at bar are contributing volumes of AI policy and legislative proposals, commentaries, doctrinal theories, and calls to corporate and international organizations for ethical AI leadership. Unfortunately, erroneous, …

Nepalese Summer, Dikshya Upadhyay

Theses

No abstract provided.

Portraits: A Study In Objects, Family Relations, And Race, Julie Quintero

Theses

My final project is a body of mixed-media portraits which were exhibited at SculptureWorks Ferguson in December, 2021. Each of the twenty works are visual representations of events, identities, or relationships, experienced in both the past and the present. The materials used to help push each narrative include fabric, yarn, coffee filters, embroidery, wood, stain, plaster, metal, concrete, inks, conte, paints, and/or found objects. Each piece demonstrates a unique combination of image, media, and technique in the field of contemporary art. Some of the works include objects made by the people being portrayed. Others include materials that were acquired via …

2d Motion Graphics Enhancement Of The User Experience On Web Applications, Lora Paro

Theses

This project focuses on the creation and use of 2D motion graphics to enhance the user experience of applications on the web including but not limited to social media, educational and entertaining digital videos. The aim of this project is to enhance skills in the creation of 2D motion graphics using Adobe After Effects, Adobe Character Animator, and Adobe Illustrator while benefitting the user experience of visually delivered moving graphics to capture more of the audience’s attention rather than the traditional use of static imagery. Experience gained with research on 2D motions graphics and Adobe After Effects with then be …

Insight Into The Evolution Of Anuran Foot Flag Displays: A Comparative Study Of Color And Kinematics, Nigel K. Anderson, K. V. Gururaja, Lisa A. Mangiamele, Erin C. Netoskie, Sarah Smith, Matthew J. Fuxjager, Doris Preininger

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Understanding how complex animal displays evolve is a major goal of evolutionary organismal biology. Here, we study this topic by comparing convergently evolved gestural displays in two unrelated species of frog (Bornean Rock Frog, Staurois parvus, and Kottigehara Dancing Frog, Micrixalus kottigeharensis). This behavior, known as a foot flag, is produced when a male ?waves' his hindlimb at another male during bouts of competition for access to mates. We assess patterns of variation in the color of frog feet and the kinematics of the display itself to help pinpoint similarities and differences of the visual signal elements. We find clear …

Large-Scale Genome Sampling Reveals Unique Immunity And Metabolic Adaptations In Bats, Diana D. Moreno Santillán, Tanya M. Lama, Yocelyn T. Gutierrez Guerrero, Alexis M. Brown, Paul Donat, Huabin Zhao, Stephen J. Rossiter, Laurel R. Yohe, Joshua H. Potter, Emma C. Teeling, Sonja C. Vernes, Kalina T.J. Davies, Eugene Myers, Graham M. Hughes, Zixia Huang, Federico Hoffmann, Angelique P. Corthals, David A. Ray, Liliana M. Dávalos

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Comprising more than 1,400 species, bats possess adaptations unique among mammals including powered flight, unexpected longevity, and extraordinary immunity. Some of the molecular mechanisms underlying these unique adaptations includes DNA repair, metabolism and immunity. However, analyses have been limited to a few divergent lineages, reducing the scope of inferences on gene family evolution across the Order Chiroptera. We conducted an exhaustive comparative genomic study of 37 bat species, one generated in this study, encompassing a large number of lineages, with a particular emphasis on multi-gene family evolution across immune and metabolic genes. In agreement with previous analyses, we found lineage-specific …

Local Canopy Disturbance As An Explanation For Long-Term Increases In Liana Abundance, Stefan A. Schnitzer, David M. Defilippis, Marco Visser, Sergio Estrada-Villegas, Rigoberto Rivera-Camaña, Boris Bernal, Salomé Peréz, Abelino Valdéz, Seberino Valdéz, Antonio Aguilar, James W. Dalling, Eben N. Broadbent, Angelica M. Almeyda Zambrano, Stephen P. Hubbell, Maria Garcia-Leon

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Canopy disturbance explains liana abundance and distribution within tropical forests and thus may also explain the widespread pattern of increasing liana abundance; however, this hypothesis remains untested. We used a 10-year study (2007–2017) of 117,100 rooted lianas in an old-growth Panamanian forest to test whether local canopy disturbance explains increasing liana abundance. We found that liana density increased 29.2% and basal area 12.5%. The vast majority of these increases were associated with clonal stem proliferation following canopy disturbance, particularly in liana-dense, low-canopy gaps, which had far greater liana increases than did undisturbed forest. Lianas may be ecological niche constructors, arresting …

Women’S Work And Men’S Devotions: The Fabrics Of The Passion In “O Vernicle”, Jenny C. Bledsoe

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

This article explores how male Cistercians producing an early fifteenth-century miscellaneous manuscript made devotional use of images representing women’s textile labor. An early manuscript copy of “O Vernicle,” a Middle English arma Christi poem, appears in Royal 17 A. xxvii, likely produced at Bordesley Abbey. The Royal version of “O Vernicle” features a unique marginal illumination of two women of Bethlehem and Jerusalem wearing green and red dresses. The woman in green holds a baby swaddled in a green and blue cloth with red stripes, similar to a Scottish tartan. Three other examples demonstrate the illuminator’s careful attention to fabric’s …

About The Contributors

Medieval Feminist Forum: A Journal of Gender and Sexuality

No abstract provided.

The Enduring Enigma Of Public Official Status In Libel Law, Nat Stern

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.