Digital Commons Network^™

Identification Of Genetic Implications In Psychiatric Disorders, Jiawei Wang

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) affects approximately 8% of the general population, with higher rates in those exposed to extreme stress, including combat veterans or victims of sexual assault. Despite extensive study of the neurobiological correlates of PTSD, little is known about its molecular substrates. In Chapter 1, differential gene expression and network analyses of 4 prefrontal cortex (PFC) postmortem subregions of male and female PTSD subjects demonstrates extensive remodeling of the transcriptomic landscape. The data revealed a highly connected down-regulated set of interneuron transcripts in the most significant gene network associated with PTSD and integration of this data with genotype …

Computational Investigations Of Catalytic Surfaces: Methane Oxidation, Carbon Dioxide Reduction, And Chiral Chromatography, Facheng Guo

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Catalytic surfaces are essential for our daily life, from cracking crude oil for automobiles to producing ammonia as a fertilizer. To have a better understanding of heterogenous catalytic reactions, three different types of catalytic surfaces are computationally investigated in this thesis: metal oxide catalytic surfaces for methane oxidation, a heterogenized catalyst on a metal surface for carbon dioxide reduction, and high-Miller index crystal surfaces for chiral chromatography. The computational investigations are supported by experimental evidence; in situ diffused reflectance infrared fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) revealed the reaction mechanism underlying methane oxidation on hematite (110) surfaces, and sum-frequency generation (SFG) spectroscopy …

Enhancing The Creative Process In Digital Prototyping, Zeyu Wang

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Despite advances in computer-aided design (CAD) systems and video editing software, digital content creation for design, storytelling, and interactive experiences remains a challenging problem. This dissertation introduces a series of studies, techniques, and systems along three thrusts that engage creators more directly and enhance the user experience in authoring digital content. First, we present a drawing dataset and spatiotemporal analysis that provide insight into how people draw by comparing tracing, freehand drawing, and computer-generated approximations. We found a high degree of similarity in stroke placement and types of strokes used over time, which informs methods for customized stroke treatment and …

Economic Measurement For Ecosystem Assets And Services, Ethan Teichman Addicott

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Impacts from global change are demonstrably affecting ecosystems and natural assets that are central to supporting and sustaining human well-being. To mitigate these impacts effectively, comparable measures to evaluate policy outcomes are needed. The three chapters of this dissertation contribute to scholarship at the intersection of economics and ecosystem measurement using examples from coastal and marine economics. The first chapter addresses the use of information criteria, in particular, Akaike's Information Criterion, for model selection in ecology. In collaboration with other economists and ecologists, I argue that researchers can reach incorrect conclusions about cause-and-effect relationships by relying on information criteria. We …

Investigating A Locomotor Neuron That Makes A Potential Sensory Cilium Lying Over The C. Elegans Egg-Laying Apparatus, Designing An Accessible System For Neuron Identifications, And Advancing Imaging And Modeling In The Egg-Laying System, Nakeirah Tm Christie

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

The neural circuit for Caenorhabditis elegans egg laying has been studied intensively for decades, yet its known components cannot account for how egg laying and locomotion behaviors are coordinated. In my graduate work within the Koelle lab, I worked to further complete that model circuit. The first half of this dissertation covers my work on the PVP neurons. I discovered that the PVP neuron pair, which has previously been implicated in locomotion, makes previously-undescribed branches that terminate in large wing-shaped endings directly over the egg-laying apparatus. The PVP wing structures occur only in hermaphrodites and develop during the L4 larval …

"Unable To Find Any Trace Of Her": Black Women, Genealogies Of Escape, And Alabama Prisons, 1920 - 1950, Micah Grace Khater

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

This is a history of Black women’s experiences within, around, and outside of the perimeters of the southern carceral regime. Through an expansive case study of Alabama through the post-World War I moment, the interwar years, the Great Depression, Great Migration, the New Deal, and the infrastructural modernization in the post-World War II moment, this dissertation examines the relationship that carcerality forged between space and time. From penitentiaries, penal camps, and jails, incarcerated Black women challenged the boundaries of carcerality in the rural and urban South. In response, the state ritualized recapture as a mode of epistemological, ontological, and genealogical …

Epigenetic Regulation Of Stem Cell Fate Decisions By Dna N(6)-Methyladenine, Raman Venkat Nelakanti

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Stem cells are the parental cells from which all other cells of the organism originate. Their diverse functions range from producing an embryo from a single-celled zygote and replenishing cells that are lost during adulthood. Over the past decades, there has been growing interest in understanding how stem cells regulate their cell fate decisions, whether to self-renew or differentiate into daughter cell types. One mechanism controlling these decisions is epigenetic regulation, which involves stable changes to gene expression that do not change the DNA sequence. Studying the epigenetic pathways that regulate stem cells will provide a better understanding of development, …

Molecular And Cellular Analyses Of Thermotactic Behavioral Strategies In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Agustin Almoril-Porras

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Animals must be able to flexibly deploy distinct behavioral strategies that allow them to fulfill specific goals in a shifting environment. I used the thermotaxis behavior of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as a paradigm to study the deployment and transition between two complementary behavioral strategies, gradient migration and isothermal tracking. I performed reverse and forward genetic screens to examine the contribution of known and novel molecules that regulate the execution of these two strategies. I found a novel allele of the gap junction gene inx-1/Innexin and demonstrated that it is required to terminate isotherm-oriented forward runs. Mutants for this gene …

Molecular Mechanisms That Promote Fitness Of A Mammalian Gut Symbiotic Bacterium, Weiwei Han

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

The mammalian gut is densely populated with trillions of microbes, collectively termed the gut microbiota. The gut microbiota is critical to the health of the host. Therefore, it is critical to understand how beneficial microbes persist in the gut. This dissertation presents molecular mechanisms by which conserved genetic factors promote gut colonization by the abundant human gut symbiotic bacteria from the Bacteroides genus. Bacteroides species have an extraordinary ability to utilize various complex polysaccharides available in the gut. I have identified the global regulon of a transcriptional regulator, BT4338, necessary for the utilization of polysaccharides and intestinal colonization by B. …

A Peak Through The Noise: Capturing Biological Heterogeneity In Aging With Our Machine Learning Toolkit, Kyra Thrush

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Despite significant investment of resources for its study, Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is an incurable disease with incredibly high prevalence in the older adult population. The confusion surrounding the recent approval of Aduhelm (Aducanumab) has highlighted a fraught history of inconsistent clinical trial results, difficult risk/ benefit analyses, and the desperate need for hope for an ever-increasing number of patients and their families. The primary motivation of this work is to directly characterize and embrace the heterogeneity of Alzheimer’s disease with the intent of future subtyping of patients in a data-driven manner. In this project we use extant postmortem multi-omics data …

Expanding The Repertoire And Applications Of Single-Domain Antibodies, Feimei Liu

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Camelid single-domain antibody fragments (“nanobodies”), first described in the late 1980s, have proven particularly useful as both research tools and therapeutic agents. Tremendous progress has been made over the past three decades to understand these 15-kDa immunoglobulin domains derived from camelid heavy chain antibodies, from their structure, evolution, and biochemical properties to their various applications as a versatile binding moiety. Commercialization of nanobodies exploded in 2001, as a growing body of literature revealed salient features of nanobodies, including favorable solubility, stability, high-affinity, and deep penetration of its structure to active sites of enzymes. The approval of the first nanobody-based therapeutic, …

Elf4 Transcriptionally Regulates The Inflammatory Capacity Of Cd4 T Cells, Molly Lynn Bucklin

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Inborn errors of immunity provide a unique lens through which broader biological and immunological mechanisms can be elucidated. While inborn errors of immunity constitute a range of manifestations, monogenic autoinflammatory diseases offer insights into the regulation of classically protective inflammation. Inflammation is mediated by many different cell types and complex factors that must carefully regulate initiation, duration, and magnitude of a given response. Autoinflammation occurs when there is no clear trigger and often results in a sustained and potentially pathogenic response. We have discovered a novel monogenic disease, Deficiency of ELF4 X-Linked (DEX), caused by the deficiency of the transcription …

Attention Neural Network For Cardiac Strain Analysis In 3d Echocardiography, Shawn Ahn

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Coronary artery disease remains the leading cause of death around the world. Acute myocardial infarction (MI) causes regional dysfunction which places remote areas of the heart at a mechanical disadvantage resulting in long term adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling and complicated congestive heart failure (CHF). Stress echocardiography is currently the clinically established, cost-effective 2D imaging technique for detecting and characterizing myocardial injury by imaging the left ventricle at rest and after either exercise or pharmacologically-induced stress to reveal ischemia and/or infarct. However, the inherent limitations of a 2D echocardiography make it difficult to characterize the whole 3D volume of ischemic/infarct …

Pro-Life Science: The Production And Circulation Of Reproductive Knowledge In North American Anti-Abortion Movements, 1968-2003, Megann Licskai

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

My work shows the inextricability of what I call “pro-life science” from religious, moral, and violent anti-abortion activism. While activists tried to distinguish their scientific pro-life work from “other” kinds of activism, these research programs were built on and then reinforced the movements pro-life scientists tried to distance themselves from. This project spans the three turbulent decades of pro-life activism that bridges the liberalization of American abortion laws to twenty-first century abortion restrictions. The dissertation begins in the years preceding Roe v. Wade, as anti-abortion activists created pro-life reproductive health centers. After the 1973 decision to legalize abortion in the …

Patterns Of Acute Liver Injury And Post-Acute Liver Sequelae Of Covid-19, Basile Njei

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Background: Emerging data suggests severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) may indirectly or directly cause acute liver injury (ALI) in patients with Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, activation of lung epithelial immune cells can lead to massive release of cytokines that can affect other organs, including the liver. Additionally, SARS-CoV-2 can induce local inflammation in the liver, either by activating liver-resident immune cells or by directly infecting cholangiocytes and hepatocytes after binding to angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors. This has raised the possibility of a predominantly biliary epithelial direct SARS-CoV-2-mediated damage as opposed to hepatocyte …

Metabolic Abnormalities In Post-9/11 Veterans Of The United States And The Role Of Blast Exposure, Psychological And Somatic Conditions, Dora Lendvai

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Metabolic abnormalities – including overweight/obesity, glucose dysregulation and insulin resistance (IR) – are an emerging health concern in military Veterans of the United States (US) who served since the 2001 terrorist attacks (post-9/11 Veterans). There are unique risk factors for overweight/obesity in this young Veteran population, including military-service related exposures (such as blast exposure [BE] and combat trauma), changes in lifestyle after military service, and the presence of psychological (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD] and mood disorders) or somatic (e.g., sleep disorders and pain) conditions that can impact metabolic health overtime. The aims of this dissertation study were: 1) to …

Control Of Synaptic Cargo Delivery By Microtubule End Resident Proteins, Jun Hyun Park

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Neuron, a cell type that comprises the nervous system, requires unique polarized transport for its function. The neuronal polarity stems from the inherent biochemical asymmetry of the microtubule polymer which has GTP-bound tubulin enriched, dynamic plus end and more stable minus end on each pole. In most neurons, an axon has microtubule orientation where its plus end faces away from the cell body (plus-end out) while a dendrite has either mixed or plus end facing towards the cell body (minus-end out). Since microtubule orientation largely dictates the types of cargoes entering each neurite, microtubule polarity essentially defines the identity of …

Blanket Statements, Issue 155, Fall 2022

Blanket Statements: News Publication of the American Quilt Study Group

Blanket Statements, Issue 155, Fall 2022

Columnas: The Honors Program Newsletter At Bentley University, Debayan Sen, Hailey Jennato, Gabe Holmes, Daniel Furze

Honors Program

Page 1: SOCIAL MEDIA—A VEHICLE FOR SOCIAL CHANGE OR VIRTUE SIGNALING? ~ By Debayan Sen ’23

Page 2: WILL ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTICS REPLACE THE HUMAN WORKER? ~ By Hailey Jennato ’24

Page 3: HOW TO HEALTHILY COMMUNICATE IN A RELATIONSHIP: NO, NOT JUST A ROMANTIC ONE ~ By Gabe Holmes ’26

Page 4: THE W SLANT ~ By Daniel Furze ’26

The Isom Report - Fall 2022, Jaime Harker, Theresa Starkey

Isom Report

The official newsletter of the Sarah Isom Center for Women and Gender Studies.

2023 Western Australian Crop Sowing Guide, B. Shackley, B. Paynter, J. Bucat, M. Seymour, H. Dhammu

Bulletins 4000 -

Welcome to the 2023 edition of the Crop Sowing Guide for WA, which introduces 31 new variety releases: two wheat, seven barley (one as feed only and six currently under malt evaluation), 15 canola, three hay-only oat and four lentil varieties.

The Crop Sowing Guide for WA has been compiled by officers in the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development. It provides information to support variety decisions for each of the major crops for the upcoming season.

In this edition, the canola NVT series are now identified by GRDC/NVT as ‘Low-Med Rainfall’ and ‘Med–High Rainfall’ to reflect the environments …

Community Pet Food Drive And Pet Food Pantry, Katie M. Sipe

IPS/BAS 495 Undergraduate Capstone Projects

My capstone project entailed a community pet food drive held at the Star Albertsons where all the donations were donated to the local food bank in Star. I also was able to create a place for a permanent barrel located in front of the local Star Outreach Food Bank for pet food only donations.

The Time Has Come For Digital Explosive Ordnance Risk Education, Robin Toal

The Journal of Conventional Weapons Destruction

The increase in the number of civilian casualties from landmines and other explosive ordnance (EO) in recent years has driven the demand for new and innovative ways to provide communities with risk education. Additionally, with access limited by the COVID-19 pandemic, humanitarian organizations like MAG (Mines Advisory Group) have had to adapt their approach, focusing on digital explosive ordnance risk education (EORE) to reach individuals and communities affected by EO.

Lindenwood University Student Handbook, 2022-2023, Lindenwood University

Student Handbooks

Information and guidelines for Lindenwood University students.

Fish & Wildlife News: Fall 2022, Matt Trott

Fish and Wildlife News

No abstract provided.

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Edition 9, October 2022, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

The purpose of this L.I.N.K.S. newsletter is to provide a monthly update of opportunities and resources for K-12 schools to connect with the University of Nebraska's CASNR Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems (FEWS²) programs and partners.

Included in this edition:

K-12 Partners website is live

Curriculum and classroom resources for all levels

Eye on curriculum and resources

Idena Nebraska Ag Expo career exploration event

Teacher opportunities

Link to list of new partnerships

Ask an expert

Students experiences: Student internship opportunities with USDA NRCS and Scholarships available

Eye on CASR research: Commodity marketing for high school students

Send your students …

From Ginkgo Biloba To The Almond Tree In Blossom: Spiritan Spirituality In Portugal, Tony Neves Cssp

Spiritan Horizons

No abstract provided.

Animal Frequency In The Presence & Absence Of Human Disturbance, Jade Riddle, Angel Stanley, Teresa Orellana

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

No abstract provided.

Determination Of Nitrate In Aqueous Media, Ebony Arauz Tellez, John Bohannon, Rebecca Mills, Virginia Tam, Isabelle Villarreal, Melissa C. Rhoten

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

Determining the amount of inorganic ions in aqueous media is important in the food industry and environmentally. In the environment high levels of ions like nitrate (NO₃^-), nitrite (NO2^-), and phosphate (PO₄^3-) can lead to unhealthy conditions for aquatic species. Similarly, high levels of nitrate and nitrite can cause health issues in humans. One method for determining nitrate levels in aqueous samples involves reducing the nitrate species to nitrite via a redox reaction with finely divided zinc powder followed by conversion to a diazonium salt and complexation with 1-napthylamine to form a …

Fy2023 Faculty Salaries Over $50,000, Clemson University

Salary Reports

No abstract provided.