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Unraveling The Anti-Inflammatory Mechanisms And Efficacy Of Cannabidiol On The Progression Of A Murine Model Of Multiple Sclerosis From The Innate To The Adaptive Immune System To Clinical Symptoms, Christa Marie Frodella

Theses and Dissertations

Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid with structural similarity to Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), is currently being investigated as a therapeutic for its immunosuppressive effects. One disease for which CBD is extensively researched is multiple sclerosis (MS), a demyelinating, autoimmune disorder, and its murine model counterpart, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE). The focus of this dissertation aimed to analyze the transcriptomic brain pathways in EAE and its comparison to MS in addition to CBD’s immunosuppressive mechanisms in the innate and adaptive immune systems. Evidence presented here showed that transcriptomic signaling pathways in the EAE brain of mice with clinical symptoms were similar …

Evaluation Of Soybean [Glycine Max (L.) Merr.] Cultivar Response To Prophylactic Fungicide Application, Steven B. Stoker

Theses and Dissertations

Soybean growers in the southern United States commonly deal with disease issues that can limit yield potential. As a result, growers have adopted prophylactic fungicide application targeted at specific growth stages as a standard management practice. However, yield responses to prophylactic applications have become sporadic over time. One major change that has occurred is adoption of cultivars with improved disease tolerances. Therefore, the objective of this research was to evaluate yield response of cultivars representing multiple genetic backgrounds to fungicides applied prophylactically at the R4 soybean growth stage. Experiments were conducted in 2020 and 2021 to determine the yield impact …

Parent-Child Relationships And Parental Distress As Moderators Between Chronic Illness And Psychological Problems In Emerging Adults., Abigail Kukay

Theses and Dissertations

The current study aimed to better understand how parental functioning and parent-child relationships might moderate the effects of chronic illness on psychological problems in emerging adulthood. Three hypotheses were made: (1) the presence and severity of chronic illness would associate positively with emerging adult psychological problems, (2) parental distress would moderate the effects between chronic illness presence/severity and emerging adulthood psychological problems, and (3) parent-child relationship quality would moderate the effects between chronic illness presence/severity and emerging adult psychological problems. Data analysis consisted of testing interaction effects, pairwise parameter comparisons, and multiple group analysis. The three-way interaction between endorsing a …

Critical (Re)Approach To Higher Education Admission Policy: The Impact Of Open Enrollment Policy Implementation, Shirdonna Yvonne Lawrence

Theses and Dissertations

Federal and state policies affecting higher education, like the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1832, Brown vs. Board of Education, and Higher Education Act of 1965 have posited change regarding the proliferation of diversity and expansion of access (Thelin, 2011).

I analyzed BOT policies for enrollment and conducted a socio-diagnostic CDA on the implementation of admission policy to understand the impact of the policies’ implementation. I focused on 1) exploring how open enrollment (OE) policies were constructed, 2) how institutions adopt and interpret these policies, and 3) how individuals at the institution enact these policies, by conducting a discourse-historical analysis …

Development Of A Crosslinked Osteochondral Xenograft And A Collagen Stabilizing Intra-Articular Injection To Remediate Cartilage Focal Lesions To Prevent Osteoarthritis, Mark Lewis Mosher

Theses and Dissertations

Osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of disability in adults in America. It is a progressive and degenerative disease where the articular cartilage is broken down and lost from the surfaces of bones causing chronic pain and swelling in the joints, and currently has no cure. The most commonly osteoarthritis starts from a focal lesion on the cartilage surface, which will expand on the surface and downwards through the thickness of the tissue. The current gold standard for correcting cartilage focal lesions is the osteochondral autograft/allograft transplantation (OAT), which replaces the defect with a fresh osteochondral graft. The …

Determinism V. Free Will & Genetic Evidence Of Addiction In Plea Bargaining And Sentence Mitigation: Conversion Of Incarceration To Probation And Rehabilitation Based On Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (Gars) Test, Kenneth Blum, Paul Mullen, Richard Green

St. Mary's Law Journal

In this Article, Dr. Kenneth Blum and his team present the case of a presently abstinent, thirty-five year old alcoholic (“AG”) who has several convictions for DWI. AG has undergone and continues to be engaged in out-patient substance abuse treatment. He entered treatment before adjudication and was mandated by the court to continue treatment to assist in maintaining sobriety. Treatment included the administration of the Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (“GARS”) Test.

AG was facing a probable five-year sentence for his fifth DWI conviction in Bexar County, Texas. However, because AG’s genetic risk results indicated a genetically induced dopamine dysfunction, hypodopaminergia, …

Food Insecurity In Nevada, Zachary Walusek

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

Defining the Food Insecurity Landscape, Methodology, Findings

Influenza And Wastewater Surveillance, Tiffany Familara, Hayley Baker, Anthony Harrington, Ching-Lan Chang

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

Quantitative PCR led to identification of influenza A viral RNA at three schools in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Predicting The Next Pandemic: Utilizing Wastewater-Based Epidemiology As A Novel Technique For Detecting Mpox Dna, Austin Tang, Michael Moshi, Hayley Baker, Ching-Lan Chang

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

Mpox cases are trending downward in Las Vegas, aligning with national trends. The study demonstrates that it is possible to extract mpox DNA directly from wastewater and quantify the genetic material using qPCR. This research indicates that WBE can be utilized to give a relative abundance of virual nucleic acids in wastewater, giving opportunities for early-warning systems and other public health interventions. Mpox remains a global threat to public health, continued surveillance of MPXV using wastewater is necessary to ensure that we can detect unusual spike in viral DNA level. Mpox detected in the wastewater samples will be sequences to …

Intertribal Band, Lydia Wolfe

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Research Journey: Class Project (1) Read article by Ed Johnson - school band traveling world in early 1900s (2) What happened to the band after this tour? Not much documentation was found on early school band years (3) Oftentimes extracurricular activities are overlooked in research (4) Looking deeper can sometimes lead to bigger revelations of the student body

High School Environment In The Clark County School District, Oscar Canale, John David Reyes, Asia Sunga, Jay Tumanan

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Our group was interested in analyzing the high school public education system in the Clark County School District. As Las Vegas residents, it is important to know how the schools in our city are being affected, especially since many of us went to school here. It is also detrimental to know as it could potentially be the schools of our future children and generation. We took data from the 2017-2018 school year and decided to model the total index score of each high school based on four different variables. Chronic absenteeism is defined as the percentage of students in the …

A Literature Review On Developments In Timber Design And Its Impact On Carbon Emissions, Raquel Jackson

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Carbon dioxide emissions are a growing issue worldwide as urbanization and industrialization continues to increase (ie. Steel and concrete). Non-renewable resources limit steel and concrete production. Despite current methods to reduce greenhouse gasses, carbon emissions remain difficult to reduce from steel and concrete industries.

Antibiotic Production Of Facultative Anaerobic Bacteria From Soil Isolates, Cierra Paaaina-Daquioag, Debra Kerr

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

In nature, antibiotics are produced by organisms to deter and possibly communicate with other organisms. The use of antibiotics to treat infections revolutionized medicine, but bacteria and fungal pathogens become resistant due to the overuse of these medications. A potential solution is to search for novel antibiotics produced by soil bacteria. Bacteria gene expression patterns, including antibiotic production, are different under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. The objective of this research project was to identify soil bacteria that produce antibiotics that inhibit the growth of benign relatives of the ESKAPE pathogens under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. A secondary objective was to …

Sociodemographic Factors Associated With Breastfeeding Information Provided During Prenatal Care Visits In Clark County, Nevada, Alexandra Maria Acosta, Smriti Neupane

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Breastfeeding information during prenatal care visits is associated with maternal race/ethnicity and maternal educational level. Black/African American race and college-level education are associated with increased breastfeeding information provided during prenatal care visits of Nevadan mothers.

French Jewish Citizenship Of The Late 18th To Early 19th Century, Jourdin Wilson

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

Results show that regions/origins influenced how French Jews felt about their citizenship, and how they were treated: (1) “The Jews of Bordeaux and Bayonne enjoyed the most advantageous legal status,” who had “Marrano origins” and acted as Portuguese merchants, made up Sephardi Jews in France (Hyman 1998, “Chapter One”). (2) Napoleon’s methods greatly influenced Jews’ citizenship. Limitations: finding English translations, understanding anti-Semitism. Future Research: (1) Findings suggest that researching particular groups or regions of French Jews leads to more varied and nuanced perspectives, rather than generalizing. (2) Choosing a region and study a particular community of Jews in France.

3-D Visualizations Of Terrestial Exoplanet Interiors Generated With Magrathea In Blender, Tristan Benally, David Rice

Undergraduate Research Symposium Posters

There has been significant progress in simulating exoplanet interiors in the past decade. With the discovery of the TRAPPIST-1 system in the last few years, there have been many publications presenting models to best characterize specific aspects of exoplanets in study. However, with more parameters and considerations for different characteristics of an exoplanet there will be a need to represent many findings into a comprehensive model in the future. We extend the capabilities of MAGRATHEA from a planet interior solver to start incorporating multi-faceted functions starting with generating 3-D terrestrial planetary visualizations using a 3-D open-source computer graphic software called …

Fall/Winter 2022: Pasta Passion Captivates Food Historian, St. Norbert College

St. Norbert College Magazine 2019-2023

Kitchen gadgets ancient and modern are household gods to food historian Aaron Brown (Classics, Humanities). When he’s not contemplating the culinary ways of Ancient Rome, the visiting assistant professor captures the aromatic essence of more than a decade’s research trips to Italy by turning out hand-made pasta dishes that every nonna would approve.

Fall/Winter 2022: Former Un High Commissioner Speaks At Snc, St. Norbert College

St. Norbert College Magazine 2019-2023

Former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein spoke at St. Norbert College about global and U.S. human rights challenges, emphasizing historical context, the importance of moral education, and the power of dissent and combating xenophobia.

Telehealth Acceptance Among Appalachian Respondents During Covid 19: A Secondary Data Analysis, Victoria Hood-Wells, Florence M. Weierbach, Amy Wahlquist, Janet M. Keener, Manik Ahuja, Hadii M. Mamudu

ETSU Faculty Works

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between telehealth use, telehealth satisfaction, and chronic medical conditions among residents living in Appalachian and non-Appalachian communities.

Sample: A COVID-19 public health survey was distributed via social media and healthcare clinics in the tri-state region of central Appalachia. Survey responses were limited to adults aged ≥18 years who consented to participate in the survey that self-identified as an individual with one or more chronic medical conditions (n=195).

Method: Simple descriptive statistics including frequencies, percentages, means, and standard deviations (SDs) were calculated for variables of interest both overall and by …

Ideological Extremism, Conspiratorial Thought, And Support For Authoritarianism In The United States, Sophie N. Martino

Honors Theses

Since the nation’s founding, Americans have tended to take democracy for granted. People see democracy as a given, believing that adherence to democratic values will persist. However, in the past few election cycles, there has been a trend in support for authoritarianism in the United States – not just with political leaders and figures, but also with individuals susceptible to authoritarian values and signals. This thesis seeks to address this apparent threat of authoritarianism in the United States, delving into possible factors that play a role in the growing support for authoritarian attitudes among Americans. I believe that two phenomena …

Moral Status And The Oversight Of Research Involving Chimeric Animals, Patricia Marshall, Kaitlynn P. Craig

Faculty Scholarship

The use of nonhuman animals in research has long been a source of bioethical and scientific debate. We consider the oversight and use of nonhuman animals in chimeric research. We conducted interviews with twelve members of embryonic stem cell research oversight committees, nine members of institutional animal care and use committees, and fourteen scientists involved in human–nonhuman-animal chimeric research in different areas of the United States. Interviews addressed animal welfare and conceptual issues associated with moral status and humanization of nonhuman animals that contain human cells. Our findings suggest that concepts of enhanced moral status and consciousness are not very …

Applying Unsupervised Machine Learning Clustering Techniques To Early Childcare Soundscapes, Kenton Hummel, Erica E. Ryherd, Iason Konstantzos, Abbie Raikes

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Faculty Publications

Early childhood is a critical time period for language, brain, cognitive, and social/emotional development. Out-of-home childcare is a normative, typical experience for millions of young children. Although Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in K-12 settings has received recent, significant attention, the links between IEQ and children’s learning and development in early childcare settings is a less understood topic. This work focuses specifically on the sound aspect of IEQ in early childcare settings to better understand typical noise levels and occupant experience. Standard approaches to analyzing background noise will be presented alongside more detailed statistical analyses utilizing unsupervised machine learning clustering techniques. …

The Demographic And Socioeconomic Patterns Of New Latino Immigrants In New York City In The 2010s, Qiyao Pan

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines the demographic and socioeconomic patterns of new immigrants that arrived between 2010 and 2019 in New York City. It focuses on the characteristics and shifting dynamics of these newcomers in three time periods: 2010-2012, 2013-2015, and 2016-2019.

Methods: This report uses the American Community Survey PUMS (Public Use Microdata Series) data for all years released by the Census Bureau and reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa, (https://usa.ipums.org/usa/index.shtml). See Public Use Microdata Series Steven Ruggles, J. Trent Alexander, Katie Genadek, Ronald Goeken, Matthew B. Schroeder, and Matthew Sobek. Integrated Public …

Association Of Brafv600e Mutation With The Aggressive Behavior Of Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma: A Meta-Analysis Of 33 Studies, Abdallah S. Attia, Mohammad Hussein, Peter P. Issa, Ahmad Elnahla, Ashraf Farhoud, Brandon M. Magazine, Mohanad R. Youssef, Mohamed Aboueisha, Mohamed Shama, Eman Toraih, Emad Kandil

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

An association between the BRAFV600E mutation and the clinicopathological progression of papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) has been suggested. We aimed to summarize the relevant literature and determine the predictive value of BRAFV600E mutation in predicting clinical outcomes and risk stratification in patients with PTMC. A systematic search using PubMed, Cochrane, and Embase up to February 2020 was performed. A total of 33 studies met the inclusion criteria, resulting in a pool of 8838 patients, of whom 5043 (57.1%) patients were positive for BRAFV600E mutation. Tumors with positive BRAFV600E mutation had a higher tendency for multifocality (RR = 1.09, 95%CI = …

Active Vs Passive Investing, Garret Buchheit

Honors Theses

With the increased popularity of passive investing, the long-term investment success of active management is being questioned more frequently. For this reason, this research seeks to find whether actively managed funds produce sufficient returns that cover the fees and management costs associated with them. A comparative analysis was made with 5401 actively managed U.S. mutual funds and several common market indices over three, five, and ten-year time spans ranging from 2012 to 2021. Additionally, an analysis was made comparing active and passive management in the recessionary period of 2007 to 2009. Finally, analysis was conducted on annual holdings turnover rates …

Pfas Mass Balance, Donovan Vitale

Honors Theses

First-generation, PFOS-dominant Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) concentrate of approximately 200 gallons was released to the sewer system from the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport on March 30, 2021. The AFFF release migrated to the Kalamazoo Water Reclamation Plant (KWRP), raising plant effluent above the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE) PFOS water quality standard for a total of 46 days post-spill, although the influent concentrations exhibited sharp declines after only 7 days. By sampling influent, effluent, and biosolids daily, the only known long duration, high-frequency PFAS data set of an accidental AFFF release was generated. This study has …

An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Virtual Reality In Distance Learning, Rashana Weerasinghe

Honors Scholar Theses

This study focuses on the applicability of emerging technologies in education. To explore this, our research was conducted through an “Intro To Emerging Technology” course taught by the OPIM Department at the University of Connecticut. The class meets in two modalities: virtual reality environment and video-conferencing platform. Our research explores the learning outcomes produced by the different classroom environments, seeking to better understand the impact of virtual reality in distance learning. The purpose of this is to identify and predict how virtual reality will be integrated into a distance learning environment and understand if it can be used as a …

Effect On 360 Degree Video Streaming With Caching And Without Caching, Md Milon Uddin

Electrical Engineering Theses

People all around the world are becoming more and more accustomed to watching 360-degree videos, which offer a way to experience virtual reality. While watching videos, it enables users to view video scenes from any perspective. To reduce bandwidth costs and provide the video with less latency, 360-degree video caching at the edge server may be a smart option. A hypothetical 360-degree video streaming system can partition popular video materials into tiles that are cached at the edge server. This study uses the Least Recently Used (LRU) and Least Frequently Used (LFU) algorithms to accomplish video caching and suggest a …

Effects Of A Behavioral Intervention On Physical Activity, Diet, And Health-Related Quality Of Life In Pregnant Women With Elevated Weight: Results Of The Hipp Randomized Controlled Trial, Sara Wilcox Ph.D., Jihong Liu, Gabrielle Turner-Mcgrievy Ph.D., Rd, Alycia K. Boutté, Ellen Wingard

Faculty Publications

Background

Physical activity (PA), diet, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) are related to maternal and infant health, but interventions to improve these outcomes are needed in diverse pregnant women with elevated weight.

Methods

Health In Pregnancy and Postpartum (HIPP) was a randomized controlled trial. Women who were pregnant (N=219, 44% African American, 56% white) with overweight or obesity but otherwise healthy were randomized to a behavioral intervention grounded in Social Cognitive Theory (n=112) or to standard care (n=107). The intervention group received an in-depth counseling session, a private Facebook group, and 10 content-based …

Photocatalytic Anti-Markovnikov Hydroetherification Of Olefins, Kimberly A. Loyer

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The development of olefin hydroetherification reactions via the addition of an alcohol nucleophile and hydrogen atom across an unsaturated carbon-carbon bond has remained a sought- after synthetic transformation. The formation of ethers via this methodology has traditionally required the use of transition metals and/or harsh conditions to catalyze the reaction and is challenging to make selective. However, the Nicewicz laboratory has since developed an anti- Markovnikov intramolecular hydroetherification of alkenols using photoredox catalysis. With the mechanism of this pivotal transformation—and of photoredox reactions in general—being largely unexplored mechanistically, the Hirschi lab implemented experimental 13C kinetic isotope effects (KIEs) and density …