Digital Commons Network^™

Effects Of Prenatal Cannabis Exposure On Offspring Emotional Development And Stress Response, Alexandra Pritchett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While cannabis may be used by women during pregnancy, its effects on their offsprings’ developing stress response system are still largely unknown. The binding sites for the active chemicals in cannabis are operational at early time points in fetal development and are expressed in key limbic brain structures. The body’s natural endocannabinoid system serves as an important regulator of the stress response. Longitudinal studies have associated prenatal exposure with increased fearfulness and mood disturbances in offspring, but, despite the growing evidence of emotional dysfunction, there remains a critical gap in knowledge explaining how early prenatal exposure may lead to future …

Estrogen Modulation Of Vta Dopamine Neuron Physiology And Behavioral Responsivity To Variable Social Stressors, Mary R. Shanley

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The behavioral output of different animals, or even the same animal in different contexts, is remarkably variable in response to the same external stimulus. This behavioral diversity is due to the complex integration of external and internal stimuli, through both neuronal and hormonal signals that selects the best behavioral response. By their nature as long-distance signaling molecules, hormones play a critical role in communicating information about internal states across the organism. Many hormones produced in the periphery target the central nervous system to modulate animal behavior, selecting for behaviors that are appropriate over behaviors that are maladaptive in that specific …

Machine Learning And Solvation Theory For Drug Discovery, Lieyang Chen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Drug discovery is a notoriously expensive and time-consuming process; hence, developing computational methods to facilitate the discovery process and lower the associated costs is a long-sought goal of computational chemists. Protein-ligand binding, which provides the physical and chemical basis for the mechanism of action of most drugs, occurs in an aqueous environment, and binding affinity is determined not only by atomic interactions between the protein and ligand but also by changes in their interactions with surrounding water molecules that occur upon binding. Thus, a quantitative understanding of the roles water molecules play in the protein-ligand binding process is an essential …

Understanding The Influence Of Zinc On Grain Cadmium Accumulation And Bioaccessibility In Rice, Michael A. Tavarez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The effect of cadmium and zinc on mineral concentrations in three cultivars of rice

Interactions between the essential mineral zinc (Zn) and the toxic heavy metal cadmium (Cd) play an important role in regulating transport of both minerals to rice grains. Understanding these interactions is crucial for limiting cadmium and increasing zinc transfer to the food chain. Previous studies on the matter have had conflicting results suggesting synergistic and antagonistic relationships between the minerals. The goal of this work was to identify the effect of external cadmium and zinc on the uptake and translocation of both minerals from roots to …

Countersexuality In Times Of Neomachismo: Representations Of Gender In Contemporary Spanish Performance (1988–2019), Mara I. Valderrama

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation traces innovative representations of gender in Spanish contemporary experimental theatre and performance art. Using Paul B. Preciado’s concept of countersexuality, I argue that an embodied practice like theatre can model new forms of being-in-the-world that supersede binaries of gender and sexuality. Specifically, I analyze how emblematic performances marshal countersexual acts to intervene in the context of Spain and neomachismo, an antifeminist trend that, in the last two decades, has sought to reassert masculine structural power. I attempt to write marginalized cases into the academic narrative that might otherwise have been overlooked or erased for being experimental in their …

Documenting The Undocumented: Experimenting Europe At The Biometric Migrant Archive, Romm Lewkowicz

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The dissertation is a critical ethnography of the biometric governance of asylum seekers and illegal migrants in the European Union, an integral apparatus for the policing of border-free Europe. Interrogating the paradox of how ‘undocumented migrants’ have been—and are—the most documented subjects in Europe today, the research explores how this documentation assumes the form of biometric technology and its relation to the postwar eradication of Europe’s internal frontiers. At the center of these processes and my research object is Eurodac: a pan-European apparatus for the biometric documentation and regulation of Europe’s paperless migrants and asylum seekers. By attending to both …

The Influence Of Evidence-Based Sex Discrimination Policies On Women’S Perceptions Of Organizational Climate, Sexism, And Identity Safety, Maya A. Godbole

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexism has proven to be a stubborn barrier to women’s participation and advancement in workplaces and academic institutions (Rosette, Akinola, & Ma, 2017). Importantly, sexism in organizational settings has endured despite the implementation of federal, state, and organizational policies that prohibit discriminatory behavior. One reason for this may be that because organizational policies are typically written for the purpose of complying to federal and state laws, they do little to foster psychological safety among employees and address the “chilly” organizational climates that enable sexism. To that end, the current research aimed to (a) develop novel, evidence-based sex discrimination policies and …

Does Low Income Effects 5-Year Mortality Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients?, Dong Jun Kim, Ji Won Yoo, Jong Wha Chang, Takashi Yamashita, Eun-Cheol Park, Kyu-Tae Han, Seung Ju Kim, Sun Jung Kim

School of Medicine Faculty Research

Background: In Korea, the universal health system offers coverage to all members of society. Despite this, it is unclear whether risk of death from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) varies depending on income. We evaluated the impact of low income on HCC mortality. Methods: The Korean National Health Insurance sampling cohort was used to identify new HCC cases (n = 7325) diagnosed between 2004 and 2008, and the Korean Community Health Survey data were used to investigate community-level effects. The main outcome was 5-year all-cause mortality risk, and Cox proportional hazard models were applied to investigate the individual- and community-level factors associated …

Valproic Acid Autoinduction: A Case-Based Review, Sean Bennett, Mujeeb U. Shad

School of Medicine Faculty Research

Although valproic acid (VPA) induces the metabolism of multiple other drugs, the clinical reports of VPA autoinduction are rare. A comprehensive literature search yielded only one published case series, which provided the rationale to conduct a review of the published cases along with a new case of VPA autoinduction. Although there may be myriad of reasons for lack of published cases of VPA autoinduction, potential underreporting may be one of the core reasons. Lack of understanding into the highly complex metabolism of VPA may also make it difficult to recognize and report VPA autoinduction. However, it is important to mention …

Integrating Oral Health Into Primary Care, Erinne Kennedy, Linda C. Niessen

Faculty and Staff Publications

This article provides data on oral diseases as they relate to systemic health conditions. Research continues to identify biologic mechanisms that link oral diseases to systemic disease and vice versa. The Smiles for Life curriculum, developed for physicians, provides a systematic approach for incorporating an oral exam into your physical evaluation. Guidelines for the use of antibiotics for tooth pain and swelling, to prevent infective endocarditis, and for patients for total joint replacements are provided.

Deep Features For Training Support Vector Machines, Loris Nanni, Stefano Ghidoni, Sheryl Brahnam

College of Business

Features play a crucial role in computer vision. Initially designed to detect salient elements by means of handcrafted algorithms, features now are often learned using different layers in convo-lutional neural networks (CNNs). This paper develops a generic computer vision system based on features extracted from trained CNNs. Multiple learned features are combined into a single structure to work on different image classification tasks. The proposed system was derived by testing several approaches for extracting features from the inner layers of CNNs and using them as inputs to support vector machines that are then combined by sum rule. Several dimensionality reduction …

Discrimination Of Methionine Sulfoxide And Sulfone By Human Neutrophil Elastase, Darren Leahy, Cameron Grant, Alex Jackson, Alex Duff, Nicholas Tardiota, Jessica Van Haeften, Xingchen Chen, Jonathan M. Peake, Michael D. Kruppa, Eliot T. Smith, David A. Johnson, William B. Lott, Jonathan M. Harris

ETSU Faculty Works

Human neutrophil elastase (HNE) is a uniquely destructive serine protease with the ability to unleash a wave of proteolytic activity by destroying the inhibitors of other proteases. Although this phenomenon forms an important part of the innate immune response to invading pathogens, it is responsible for the collateral host tissue damage observed in chronic conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and in more acute disorders such as the lung injuries associated with COVID-19 infection. Previously, a combinatorially selected activity-based probe revealed an unexpected substrate preference for oxidised methionine, which suggests a link to oxida-tive pathogen clearance by neutrophils. …

Towards Improving Agriculture Productivity, Sushma Naithani, Dhirendra Kumar, Jaindra N. Tripathi

ETSU Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Cripping The Welfare Queen: The Radical Potential Of Disability Politics, Jina B. Kim

English Language and Literature: Faculty Publications

Drawing together feminist- and queer-of-color critique with disability theory, this essay offers a literary-cultural reframing of the welfare queen in light of critical discourses of disability. It does so by taking up the discourse of dependency that casts racialized, low-income, and disabled populations as drains on the state, reframing this discourse as a potential site of coalition among antiracist, anticapitalist, and feminist disability politics. Whereas antiwelfare policy cast independence as a national ideal, this analysis of the welfare mother elaborates a version of disability and women-of-color feminism that not only takes dependency as a given but also mines the figure …

Nepalese In Denmark: How Their International Education Aspirations Transformed Into A Quest For ‘Greener Pasture’

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

The Parthenon, September 1, 2021, Xena Bunton, Isabella Robinson, Abby Hanlon, Catherine Blankenship, Tyler Spence, Carter Truman, Tyler Kennett, Abby Ayes, Noah Hickman

The Parthenon

No abstract provided.

Improving Animal Monitoring Using Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems (Suas) And Deep Learning Networks, Meilun Zhou, Jared A. Elmore, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Kristine O. Evans, Morgan Pfeiffer, Bradley F. Blackwell, Raymond B. Iglay

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In recent years, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been used widely to monitor animals because of their customizability, ease of operating, ability to access difficult to navigate places, and potential to minimize disturbance to animals. Automatic identification and classification of animals through images acquired using a sUAS may solve critical problems such as monitoring large areas with high vehicle traffic for animals to prevent collisions, such as animal-aircraft collisions on airports. In this research we demonstrate automated identification of four animal species using deep learning animal classification models trained on sUAS collected images. We used a sUAS mounted with …

Spatial Variation In Direct And Indirect Contact Rates At The Wildlife-Livestock Interface For Informing Disease Management, Anni Yang, Raoul K. Boughton, Ryan S. Miller, Bethany Wight, Wesley M. Anderson, James C. Beasley, Kurt C. Vercauteren, Kim M. Pepin, George Wittemyer

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Little is known about disease transmission relevant contact rates at the wildlife-livestock interface and the factors shaping them. Indirect contact via shared resources is thought to be important but remains unquantified in most systems, making it challenging to evaluate the impact of livestock management practices on contact networks. Free-ranging wild pigs (Sus scrofa) in North America are an invasive, socially-structured species with an expanding distribution that pose a threat to livestock health given their potential to transmit numerous livestock diseases, such as pseudorabies, brucellosis, trichinellosis, and echinococcosis, among many others. Our objective in this study was to quantify …

P53 And Vegf Expression In Human Temporomandibular Joint Discs With Internal Derangement Correlate With Degeneration, Sergio Castorina, C. Lombardo, Paola Castrogiovanni, Giuseppe Musumeci, E. Barbato, Luis Eduardo Almeida, Rosalia Leonardi

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Pathogenesis, Symptomatology, And Transmission Of Sars-Cov-2 Through Analysis Of Viral Genomics And Structure, Halie M. Rando, Adam L. Maclean, Alexandra J. Lee, Ronan Lordan, Sandipan Ray, Vikas Bansal, Ashwin N. Skelly, Elizabeth Sell, John J. Dziak, Lamonica Shinholster, Lucy D’Agostino Mcgowan, Marouen Ben Guebila, Nils Wellhausen, Sergey Knyazev, Simina M. Boca, Stephen Capone, Yanjun Qi, Yo Son Park, David Mai, Yuchen Sun, Joel D. Boerckel, Christian Brueffer, James Brian Byrd, Jeremy P. Kamil, Jinhui Wang, Ryan Velazquez, Gregory L. Szeto, John P. Barton, Rishi Raj Goel, Serghei Mangul, Tiago Lubiana, Anthony Gitter

Computer Science: Faculty Publications

The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which emerged in late 2019, has since spread around the world and infected hundreds of millions of people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). While this viral species was unknown prior to January 2020, its similarity to other coronaviruses that infect humans has allowed for rapid insight into the mechanisms that it uses to infect human hosts, as well as the ways in which the human immune system can respond. Here, we contextualize SARS-CoV-2 among other coronaviruses and identify what is known and what can be inferred about its behavior once inside a human host. Because the …

Biological Treatment Of Organic Loads In Surface Flow Constructed Wetland Using Convective Dispersion Mixing Flow Model., Saad Hamed Moharram, Abd- Elrazek Zidan, A. Rashed, S. Abedel Gawad

Mansoura Engineering Journal

Wastewater treatment through constructed wetland is a combination of physical, biological and chemical treatment processes. These processes are described by plug flow, mixed flow or by the plug - mixing flow combination. The concept for describing removal of organic loads biologically with treating the wetland as a series of completely stirred tanks reactors is practically applied (Chen et al, 1999). Each of stirred tank reactors is presumed to be completely mixed and the concentration departing each is equal to the uniform, internal concentration. A model is used to assess the BOD removal through free water surface (FWS) constructed wetland in …

Tennessee Farm Bureau News - September 2021, Tennessee Farm Bureau Federation

Tennessee Farm Bureau News

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Role Of Functional Polymorphism Of Maternal And Neonatal Vitamin D Binding Protein In The Context Of 25‐Hydroxyvitamin D Cutoffs As Determinants Of Maternal‐Neonatal Vitamin D Status Profiles In A Sunny Mediterranean Region, Spyridon N. Karras, Erdinç Dursun, Merve Alaylıoğlu, Duygu Gezen‐Ak, Cedric Annweiler, Fatme Al Anouti, Hana M.A. Fakhoury, Alkiviadis Bais, Dimitrios Kiortsis

All Works

Recent results indicate that dysregulation of vitamin D‐binding protein (VDBP) could be involved in the development of hypovitaminosis D, and it comprises a risk factor for adverse fetal, maternal and neonatal outcomes. Until recently, there was a paucity of results regarding the effect of maternal and neonatal VDBP polymorphisms on vitamin D status during pregnancy in the Mediterranean region, with a high prevalence of hypovitaminosis D. We aimed to evaluate the combined effect of maternal and neonatal VDBP polymorphisms and different maternal and neonatal 25‐hy-droxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) cut‐offs on maternal and neonatal vitamin D profile. Blood samples were obtained from …

Offshore Longline Mussel Farms: A Review Of Oceanographic And Ecological Interactions To Inform Future Research Needs, Policy And Management, L Mascorda-Cabre, Phil Hosegood, Martin J. Attrill, Danielle Bridger, Emma V. Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

With a growing human population and the need to protect our oceans from overfishing, there is a requirement for society to source alternative means of sustainable protein. Mussel aquaculture has rapidly expanded in many countries serving as an important supply of protein, but its development has been limited due to competition for coastal space and the associated environmental impacts of farming in inshore waters. Offshore aquaculture developments have the potential to overcome such issues. This review synthesises the current literature on the ecological and oceanographic interactions of longline offshore mussel farms with the aim to elucidate the main knowledge gaps …

Adverse Effects Of Moxifloxacin And Flunixin Meglumine And Their Combination On Pregnant Rats, Emad Abdal-Salam, Rasha Abdel-Gelil, Magdy Amer

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

Objective: To detail an easy approach to identify the changes that moxifloxacin and flunixin meglumine have caused in the dam of female rats. Design: Randomized controlled experimental study. Animals: This study was conducted on thirty-five female (170-200 gm) mature white rats (170-200 gm) and clinically intact, 20 mature male albino rats for the purpose of mating. Procedures:Once mating has occurred, this is considered the first day of pregnancy. Rats were randomly divided into seven groups 1) a control group 2) The moxifloxacin group 6 days 3) the moxifloxacin group 13 days 4) the flunixin meglumine group 6 days 5) the …

Rabbit Control: Rhdv1 K5, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Biosecurity factsheets

The national release of the Korean strain of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus, RHDV1 K5, took place during the first week of March 2017. It was the first time in 20 years a new rabbit biocontrol agent had been released into Australia, and was part of a 20-year national biocontrol plan for rabbits. More than 600 release sites were selected, including 110 sites in Western Australia (WA).

RHDV1 K5 is a naturally occurring Korean variant of the rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus (RHDV). Its release was expected to boost management and help slow the increase in rabbit numbers. RHDV1 K5 does not …

Anti-Müllerian Hormone Immunolocalization In Growing Follicles Of Replacement Gilts Culled Due To Anestrus, Paisan Tienthai, Padet Tummaruk

The Thai Journal of Veterinary Medicine

In female pigs, the anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH) produced by granulosa cells of developing follicles plays an important role in ovarian reserves of follicles and serum AMH levels are the biological marker of gilt reproductive performance. In the present study, we determined the AMH expression during follicular growth in replacement gilts culled due to anestrus by immunohistochemical technique. A total of 20 reproductive organs from crossbred Landrace  Yorkshire gilts were collected from swine commercial farms in Thailand and categorized by the reasons for culling, i.e., the anestrus group (n=12) and other causes not related to reproduction as the control group …

Adaptability As A Moderator On The Impact Of Childhood Sexual Abuse And The Development Of Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Courtney Marie Kalmanson

Theses and Dissertations

Globally, it is estimated that 11.8% children experience Childhood Sexual Abuse (CSA) prior to the age of 18 (Stoltenborgh et al., 2011). However, the current prevalence rate of CSA is far underestimated due to the fear, shame, and denial that the victim experiences. Similarly, many survivors of CSA experience post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) following the experience of CSA, which may develop into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) over time. Furthermore, some children may adjust well despite the traumatic experience, suggesting resiliency. Much of the research on CSA focuses on the link between CSA and development of psychopathology, including but not limited …

Evaluation Of Serum Calcium Differences In Hypertensive Crises And Control Patients: A Randomly Matched Case-Control Study, Ifeanyi Chukwu O. Onor, Rose M. Duchane, Casey J. Payne, Hannah Naquin Lambert, De Maurian M. Mitchner, Robbie A. Beyl, Anh T. Nguyen, Sarah E. Bilbe, Andrea Arriaga White, Mariah W. Johnson, Amber I. Faciane, Emmanuel Kouagou, Stephanie A. Hymel, Bria M. Wates, Asia D. Sanders, Phillip C.B. Vo, Jordan D. Bates, Raven J. Spooner, Christopher J. Gillard, John I. Okogbaa, Daniel F. Sarpong, Rim M. Hadgu, Samuel C. Okpechi, Gabriel I. Onor, Michael C. Okoronkwo, Mihran V. Naljayan, Shane G. Guillory, Shane E. Sanne

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

The role of calcium in blood pressure has been widely studied among hypertensive patients; however, no study has explored the role of calcium in hypertensive crises. The primary objective of this study is to evaluate the differences in serum calcium levels between hypertensive crises patients and a 1:1 random matched controls (age-, sex-, race-, diabetes, and body mass index matched). This study is a single-center, retrospective, chart review, case-control study of patients with hypertensive crises (case group) and patients without hypertensive crises (control group). Patients were included in the case group if they were 18 years of age or older …

Investigating The Relationship Between Effectiveness Of App Evolution And App Continuance Intention: An Empirical Study Of The U.S. App Market, Yi Liu, Xuan Wang, Jiahe Song, Xinlin Tang

Information Systems Faculty Publications

Researchers have shown app evolution to continuously lead to app success from the developer perspective. However, few studies have explored app success from the user perspective, which limits our knowledge about the role that app evolution has in app success. Building on app evolution literature and the technology acceptance model (TAM), we investigate the influence that effectiveness of app evolution has on perceived app usefulness, perceived ease of use, and app continuance intention (a proxy for app success from the user perspective). We collected survey data from 299 app users on both the Google Play and Apple’s App Store platforms …