Digital Commons Network^™

Defining The Role Of Elastic Fibers In Tendon Mechanics, Jeremy D. Eekhoff

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Tendons serve as a linking component of the musculoskeletal system by transferring forces between muscle and bone. As such, the structural proteins of the tendon extracellular matrix are of vital importance for the tissue to function properly and maintain its mechanical integrity. Collagen is the principal constituent of tendon and makes up its aligned hierarchical organization. Other structural proteins, such as elastin, are in comparison understudied and not well understood in relation to tendon function. Elastin, the main component of elastic fibers, has unique mechanical properties including high extensibility, fatigue resistance, and elasticity; these properties are important for elastin-rich tissues …

Human Plcg2 Haploinsufficiency Results In A Novel Immunodeficiency, Joshua Brandon Alinger

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

NK cells are critical for the recognition and lysis of herpesvirus-infected cells. Patients with NK cell immunodeficiency may suffer from unusually severe and/or recurrent herpesvirus infections; however, the genetic cause is frequently unknown. PLCG2 encodes a signaling protein in NK cell and B cell receptor signaling, in which dominant-negative or gain-of-function mutations may cause cold urticaria, antibody deficiency, or autoinflammation. However, loss-of-function mutations and PLCG2 haploinsufficiency have never been reported in human disease. We examined 2 families with autosomal dominant NK cell immunodeficiency with dual high-dimensional techniques, mass cytometry and whole-exome sequencing, to identify the cause of disease. We identified …

Photoacoustic Imaging Of Colorectal Cancer And Ovarian Cancer, Xiandong Leng

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Photoacoustic (PA) imaging is an emerging hybrid imaging technology that uses a short-pulsed laser to excite tissue. The resulting photoacoustic waves are used to image the optical absorption distribution of the tissue, which is directly related to micro-vessel networks and thus to tumor angiogenesis, a key process in tumor growth and metastasis. In this thesis, the acoustic-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (AR-PAM) was first investigated on its role in human colorectal tissue imaging, and the optical-resolution photoacoustic microscopy (OR-PAM) was investigated on its role in human ovarian tissue imaging.Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. …

Numerical Investigations Of Logic Gates And Transistors In Quantum And Classical Information Processing, Anthony Corbin

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The development of numerical analysis techniques for electromagnetics and quantum mechanics problems has dramatically increased the rate of new discoveries. Propelled by the exponential growth of computers over the past decades, numerical software has brought the ability to reliably experiment with new ideas and predict new phenomena, even before the physical realizations of these ideas in the labs. This work will demonstrate the application of this capability by applying numerical analysis techniques to design and analyze new devices. First, a system of optical logic gates using a nonlinear metallodielectric grating is completely designed and simulated using numerical analysis. Second, the …

Deep Multi-Omics Investigations Elucidate Novel Oncogenesis Paradigms, Therapeutic Targets, And Mechanisms Of Treatment Resistance In Cancer, Daniel Cui Zhou

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Addressing Pragmatic Challenges In Utilizing Ai For Security Of Industrial Iot, Maede Zolanvari

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Industrial control systems (ICSs) are an essential part of every nation's critical infrastructure and have been utilized for a long time to supervise industrial machines and processes. Today’s ICSs are substantially different from the information technology (IT) devices a decade ago. The integration of internet of things (IoT) technology has made them more efficient and optimized, improved automation, and increased quality and compliance. Now, they are a sub (and arguably the most critical) part of IoT's domain, called industrial IoT (IIoT).

In the past, to secure ICSs from malicious outside attack, these systems were isolated from the outside world. However, …

“Africa Of The Heart”: The African Experience In Derek Walcott's Omeros, Hussein Kadhum Challab

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

Derek Walcott's book-length poem Omeros won critical acclaim soon after its publication in 1990. In this poem, the world of the Caribbean is linked with that of Homer by recalling the dramas of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey in a Caribbean setting. Africa is heavily featured in Omeros as most of the major characters of the poem who in one way or another go through the African experience. 'Return to Africa' is a recurrent theme in Derek Walcott's works. However, this kind of return is not for the sole purpose of finding their old lost homeland, but rather for establishing roots …

The Scars Of Capitalism In Virginia Woolf’S Mrs. Dalloway And ‘Kew Gardens’, Median Mashkoor Hussein

Alustath Journal for Human and Social Sciences

This paper discusses the scars of capitalism in Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway and ‘Kew Gardens’. Following one day of the character’s life, the discussion will investigate how the novel and the short story introduce the capitalist ideology that dictates the character’s everyday life and how the characters, in different ways and to certain extents, react to it. In Mrs. Dalloway, Woolf depicts capitalism as an oppressive system that can be very rewarding to those who submit to its ideals and, at the same time, very catastrophic to those who try to confront it or question its validity. In ‘Kew …

Probing New Physics Beyond The Standard Model Via New Neutrino Interactions, Garv Chauhan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The Standard Model (SM) of Particle Physics provides a self-consistent quantum field theoretic framework to explain three of the four known fundamental forces (electromagnetic, weak, strong) along with classifying all known elementary particles. Since its conception in the 1960s, the SM has been one of the most tested theories of physics and has withstood all experimental batterings. In spite of these successes, there are compelling indications, both experimental and theoretical, that require us to expand our understanding of the nature beyond the SM (BSM). Arguably the most glaring indication of BSM physics is the observation of neutrino oscillations, which implies …

Mass Spectrometry-Based Protein Footprinting: High-Throughput Maldi Platform And Large Protein Complexes Of Baf, Ruidong Jiang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Human’s advances in understanding biological processes rely heavily on the breakthroughs in biophysical tools. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based protein footprinting, which interrogates protein structures by measuring protein solvent assessable surface area (SASA), has grown rapidly in the last decade, successful in providing valuable data for numerous protein systems. This thesis focuses mainly on this technology.We set out to push the boundary of MS-based protein footprinting further into the new areas, preparing it for potential future applications including large-scale experiments that require high-throughput analysis the structure of large, complicated protein complexes. This thesis devotes five chapters to the method development of MS-based …

Psychological Assessment And Testing, Leslie A. Miller, Ruby Daniels

Marketing Faculty Publications (Archived)

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Promotion On Instagram With Psychographics On The Intensity Of Visits At The Ministry Library In Indonesia, Tri Hartanto, Muhammad Azwar

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Libraries have an essential role in managing collections to meet the information needs of users. Libraries need to do more intense promotions by optimizing Instagram's social media. This study aims to determine how much influence promotion on Instagram with psychographics has on the Intensity of visits at the ministry library in Indonesia. This research was conducted in the library of the ministry of education and culture, Indonesia. This study uses associative statistics with a quantitative approach. The data analysis used was multiple linear regression to test the hypothesis of the influence of variables X1 and X2 on variable Y. Sampling …

Beach Hazards: Riu Funana, Cape Verde, C Stokes, G Masselink, T Scott, L Brodie

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Web Content Analysis Of State University Websites Of West Bengal: An Evaluative Study, Ankit Das, Dr. Pritam Gurey

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Now-a-days websites and its services are the most growing and the fast-changing segment, play an important role as an informational gateway for every institution through online mode. The purpose of this paper is to analyse and evaluate the web contents of twenty-six state universities websites of West Bengal selected according to UGC, under Ministry of Education, Government of India and its contribution to global academic knowledge base. After preparing check list, various aspects related to the content of university website are examined; such as accessibility, currency, speed, accuracy, aesthetic value, language, user friendliness, navigation, currency, relevancy, applicability, pertinence and qualitative …

Collaboration Between Librarians And Academics In The Department Of Information Studies For Curriculum Development In Kzn, Petros Pn Dlamini, Bethiweli Mlambo, T Masenya

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The aim of this study is to assess the level of collaboration between librarians and Library and Information Science (LIS) academics for the development of the LIS curriculum, being aware that collaboration is an instructional strategy that positively affects student academic achievement. The term collaboration has become popular concept in areas of life where two or more individuals, organisations, institutions or nation embark upon a mutually agreed process. Collaboration provides the opportunity for experts and researchers to partner and fine-tune thoughts and develop strategies for multi-dimensional thinking towards achieving common and uniform practice. Collaboration between librarians and LIS academics has …

Users’ Satisfaction With Resources And Services Of Public Libraries: A Case Of Govt. Jinnah Public Library Sahiwal, Pakistan, Muhammad Tariq Mr, Ahmad Nawaz Mr, Rais Ahmad Samdani Dr

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Public libraries play a pivotal role in the development of national culture, society, economy and other factors. Users have extreme importance when libraries are discussed. Good resources and services are essentially required for library users. The objective of this study was to evaluate the users’ satisfaction with the resources and services of a public library. Quantitative research approach based on survey method was used to conduct this study. A structured questionnaire was designed to collect the data from the registered members of Government Jinnah Public Library Sahiwal (GJPLS). Convenience sampling technique was applied to approach sample size of this study. …

Limits On Parameter Estimation Of Quantum Channels, Vishal Katariya

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The aim of this thesis is to develop a theoretical framework to study parameter estimation of quantum channels. We begin by describing the classical task of parameter estimation that we build upon. In its most basic form, parameter estimation is the task of obtaining an estimate of an unknown parameter from some experimental data. This experimental data can be seen as a number of samples of a parameterized probability distribution. In general, the goal of such a task is to obtain an estimate of the unknown parameter while minimizing its error.

We study the task of estimating unknown parameters which …

On The Challenges And Rewards Of Analyzing Molecular Dynamics At The Terabyte And Millisecond Scale, Justin Roy Porter

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Markov state models (MSMs) are powerful tools for estimating and concisely representing the conformational ensemble accessible to biological macromolecules, particularly proteins. Conformational ensembles are of special importance biological function, both in health and disease, because biology derives from molecules’ entire conformational distribution rather than any single structure. Consequently, MD is poised to become a powerful tool for personalized medicine and for the study of molecular sequence-function relationships generally. However, because of their hyperdimensionality and size, just generating MD datasets and Markov state models (MSMs) that represent biologically relevant molecules is a substantive technical challenge. Then, even …

Lrg1 Is An Adipokine That Mediates Obesity-Induced Hepatosteatosis And Insulin Resistance, Sijia He, Jiyoon Ryu, Juanhong Liu, Hairong Luo, Ying Lv, Paul R. Langlais, Jie Wen, Feng Dong, Zhe Sun, Ravindranath Duggirala

School of Medicine Publications

Dysregulation in adipokine biosynthesis and function contributes to obesity-induced metabolic diseases. However, the identities and functions of many of the obesity-induced secretory molecules remain unknown. Here, we report the identification of leucine-rich alpha-2-glycoprotein 1 (LRG1) as an obesity-associated adipokine that exacerbates high fat diet–induced hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance. Serum levels of LRG1 were markedly elevated in obese humans and mice compared with their respective controls. LRG1 deficiency in mice greatly alleviated diet-induced hepatosteatosis, obesity, and insulin resistance. Mechanistically, LRG1 bound with high selectivity to the liver and promoted hepatosteatosis by increasing de novo lipogenesis and suppressing fatty acid β-oxidation. LRG1 …

Transcriptional Reprogramming Differentiates Active From Inactive Esr1 Fusions In Endocrine Therapy-Refractory Metastatic Breast Cancer, Xuxu Gou, Shunqiang Li, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Genomic analysis has recently identified multiple

Regional Reprogramming And The Small Intestine: Analysis And Modeling Of Adaptive Regeneration Of The Epithelium, Sarah Elizabeth Waye

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The small intestine in homeostasis is capable of regular regeneration, but in cases of massive injury like Short Bowel Syndrome, the innate human response often fails to fully compensate for the loss of nutrient absorptive surface area that accompanies bowel resection. Murine models display an active compensatory reaction deemed “adaptation” in which the surface area of the bowel is increased to accommodate nutrient absorptive needs. This observation has highlighted several gaps in knowledge regarding bowel adaptation. Firstly, what occurs on a molecular level in murine models during adaptation? Secondly, how can the findings in mice be applied to humans in …

Regulation Of Metabolic Stress By The Snhg3 Locus, Arthur Curtis Sletten

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Dyslipidemia and lipotoxicity are pathologic signatures of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Excess lipid causes cell dysfunction and induces cell death through pleiotropic mechanisms that link to oxidative stress. However, pathways that regulate the response to metabolic stress are not fully understood. To identify novel genes involved in metabolic stress, our group performed an unbiased forward genetic screen for lipotoxicity resistance. My studies focused on characterizing one of the mutant cell lines isolated from this screen, in which promoter trap mutagenesis disrupted one allele of the small nucleolar RNA hosting gene 3 (Snhg3). I demonstrate that diminished expression …

Influence Of Focal Activity On Macroscale Brain Dynamics In Health And Disease, Zachary Pollack Rosenthal

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Macroscopic recordings of brain activity (e.g. fMRI, EEG) are a sensitive biomarker of the neural networks supporting neurocognitive function. However, it remains largely unclear what mechanisms mediate changes in macroscale networks after focal brain injuries like stroke, seizure, and TBI. Recently, optical neuroimaging in animal models has emerged as a powerful tool to begin addressing these questions. Using widefield imaging of cortical calcium dynamics in mice, this dissertation investigates the mechanisms by which focal disruptions in activity alter brain-wide functional dynamics. In two chapters, I demonstrate 1) that focal sensory stimulation elicits state-dependent, global slow waves propagating from primary somatosensory …

Weedy Rice As A Model System For The Study Of Microevolutionary Interactions In Agricultural Contexts, Marshall Jon Wedger

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Just under one-half of the global population relies on cultivated rice (Oryza sativa) astheir primary source of calories, making the optimization of rice agriculture immensely important. One of the primary constraints to rice agriculture is the de-domesticated (feral) form of rice known as ‘weedy rice’ that aggressively competes for space, soil nutrients, and light. Heavy infestation can reduce crop yields by as much as 80%. As a closely-related weedy descendant of cultivated rice, chemical control is difficult in rice fields, and physical weeding is labor intensive, time consuming, and largely ineffective due to early life-stage mimicry of the crop. Weedy …

Surveillance And Dynamics Of Bacteria And Resistance Genes In Humans And Hospitals, Alaric Wences D'Souza

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Bacteria live in, on, and around us. These bacteria affect human health through beneficial commensal interactions that promote normal development and through harmful infections or perturbations leading to disease. Understanding the prevalence, spread, and resilience of these bacteria in humans and human environments is critical to clinical medicine and epidemiology. I investigated environmental and human resident bacteria to understand dynamics in bacterial communities and how these dynamics may impact human health.Hospitals are one critical location of human-bacterial interactions. Bacteria can contaminate hospital surfaces from patients or environmental sources and subsequently transmit from surfaces to vulnerable patients. I analyzed bacteria from …

Causal Function And Bias Correlation Of The Orbitofrontal Cortex In Economic Choices, Shi Weikang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Economic choices entail two mental processes, value calculation and value comparison (Niehans, 1990). Studies in the last twenty years have shown that neurons in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) could support both processes. Namely, in the studies in which monkeys chose between two juice options with various amounts, three functional cell groups had been found in the OFC: offer value cells encode the value of individual juices, chosen juice cells encode the choice in a binary way and chosen value cells encode the value of the chosen juice (Padoa-Schioppa and Assad, 2006). These results suggest a decision circuit within OFC with …

On Arousal And The Internal Regulation Of Brain Function: Theory And Evidence Across Modalities And Species, Ryan Raut

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The brain is an organ. It is subject to the same physiological regulatory processes that engage the rest of the body’s organs, sculpted over hundreds of millions of years to sustain life so effectively. The central message of this thesis is that the holistic functioning of the brain, rather than operating at some level above or independent from these systemic regulatory processes, is deeply related to them. In short, as our limited attention spans might suggest: brain function is internally regulated. I propose that this internal regulation is a primary function of intrinsic brain activity. Chapter 2 provides a theoretical …

Pervasiveness Of Library Anxiety Among The Students Of Library And Information Science: An Assessment, Mahe Bushra Asghar, Rubina Bhatti, Salman Bin Naeem

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Library anxiety is a real and prevalent phenomenon. Some students feel uncomfortable or discouraging while using or contemplating the use of library. These feelings may affect the academic performance of students, cause library avoidance and impede them from getting the best out of library resources. The present study is conducted with an aim to assess the pervasiveness of library anxiety among the graduate students of Library and Information Science enrolled in public sector universities of Pakistan. . The Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale, consisting of six dimensions which are divided into 53 statements, was used for this study. The Cronbach’s alpha …

Informetrics Of Webinars Through Video Conferencing Platforms For Teaching And Learning By Different Lis Professional During Covid-19 Period: An Evaluative Study, Laltu Aich, Ankit Das

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Now-a-days education and educational resources are open to all but we are facing a terrible epidemic situation due to Corona virus (COVID-19), so we need different electronic learning platforms for e-learning. In this present study, authors have explained, how many webinars are organized by Library and Information Science (LIS) professional during this period April 2020 to June 2021, distribution of webinars based on month capacity, how many web conferencing platforms used in LIS related webinars, distribution of types of organizers of webinars, distribution of webinars based on the respective region, distribution of webinars by time duration and time schedule. The …

A Study On Impact Of Library Resource Utilisation And Ict Literacy On Earning Of The Post-Graduate Students Of Assam, India, Arnob Paul, Masuma Ahmed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information and communication technology, or ICT, is a broad term for information technology that emphasises the importance of unified communications and telecommunications integration, as well as intelligent building management systems and audio-visual systems in modern information technology. ICT refers to all technical tools that are used to manage data and facilitate communication. It consists of computer and network hardware, as well as software and required applications. With the increasing demand for information and communication technology literacy among the young students, it is important to know the impact of ICT literacy on the level of part time income of the students. …