Digital Commons Network^™

Physical Modeling Of Filament Growth And Resistive Switching In Metal Oxide-Based Rram, Kena Zhang

Material Science and Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Metal oxide-based resistive random-access memories (RRAM) exhibit several excellent performances, such as nanosecond switching speed, large write-erase endurance, and long retention time, and can potentially replace the traditional circuit elements for use as the fundamental units in next-generation hardware deep-learning or neuromorphic systems. The functionality of a metal oxide-based RRAM is attributed to an oxygen vacancy (V_O^(..))-rich conductive filament (CF), which initially forms, and later dissolves or regrows inside the oxide layer during the resistive switching process. However, the complicated interplays among the coexisting chemical, electrical, mechanical, and thermal effects during the formation, growth, and rupture of the CFs make …

Bioactivation And Detoxification Of Organophosphorus Pesticides In Freshwater Planarians Shares Similarities With Humans, Danielle Ireland, Christina Rabeler, Taixi Gong , '24, Eva-Maria S. Collins

Biology Faculty Works

Organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) are a chemically diverse class of insecticides that inhibit acetylcholinesterase (AChE). Many OPs require bioactivation to their active oxon form via cytochrome P450 to effectively inhibit AChE. OP toxicity can be mitigated by detoxification reactions performed by carboxylesterase and paraoxonase. The relative extent of bioactivation to detoxification varies among individuals and between species, leading to differential susceptibility to OP toxicity. Because of these species differences, it is imperative to characterize OP metabolism in model systems used to assess OP toxicity. We have shown that the asexual freshwater planarian Dugesia japonica is a suitable model to assess OP …

An In Vitro 3d Model To Investigate Iol: Posterior Lens Capsule Interactions On Lens Epithelial Cell Responses, Joyita Roy

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

ABSTRACT: Posterior Capsule Opacification (PCO) is the most common complication associated with Intraocular Lens (IOL) implantation. The disease is caused by the infiltration and proliferation of Lens Epithelial Cells (LEC) into the interface between the IOL and Posterior Lens Capsule (PLC). The severity of these cell responses depends on a lot of factors like the IOL design, IOL material, and interaction between the IOL and the posterior lens capsule. While some studies have also shown that adsorption of certain proteins present in the PLC, like fibronectin, may affect IOL-induced PCO in the clinical setting, the mechanism governing such interactions is …

Targeted Drug-Loaded Nanoparticle System (Tdnps) To Ameliorate And Treat Idiopathic Lung Fibrosis, Harish Ramachandramoorthy

Bioengineering Dissertations - Archive

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a fatal progressive disease with a dismal prognosis and 3-5 years of survival. Up to date, there are no effective treatments, and a few current therapies that do not ameliorate the pulmonary fibrosis but rather just increase the survival time by 2-3 years. The major factor limiting the treatment is the lack of targeted therapies to deliver the drugs past the mucosa, into the disease microenvironment. To combat this disease, we proposed a localized therapy via our targeted drug-loaded nanoparticles (TDNPs) to effectively deliver drugs and treat lung fibrosis. Our objective was to design TDNPs …

Factors Affecting Health-Seeking Behaviour Among Men Who Have Sex With Men In Starehe Sub-County, Nairobi City County, Anthony Omariba

MSc in Advanced Practice Nursing

Men who have sex with other men (MSM) exist in Africa, as they do elsewhere. The continued proscription of MSM behavior leads to exclusion and discrimination. According to a global report, MSMs are responsible for most HIV transmission. MSMs in Kenya constantly fear being hurt because of their sexual orientation, and there is scant knowledge of their health-seeking behavior. There is a need to improve the health of this group to lower disease spread to achieve global HIV reduction. This study aims to explore MSM healthcare-seeking behavior, describe barriers to healthcare-seeking, and establish perceptions of the sexual risks associated with …

The Cost Of Survival For Insulin-Dependent Diabetics, Nikol Nesterenko

UC Law Journal

Insulin, an injectable drug discovered about 100 years ago that now costs less than $5 to manufacture, is currently sold between $300 and $500 in the United States. The continuously growing price forces many insulin-dependent diabetics to forego their lifesaving medication, which can result in death. Although insulin manufacturers are a significant cause of insulin unaffordability in this country, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), such as CVS Caremark, OptumRx, and Express Scripts, are essential in the insulin market and pressure insulin manufacturers to provide higher rebates, leading to higher prices for consumers.

Some states have addressed this issue by passing legislation …

Applied Studies Of Raptor Sensory Ecology Are Rare, Christopher J.W. Mcclure, Simon Potier, Jesse R. Barber

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Light and noise often act as pollutants, but can also be used as tools for managing wildlife (e.g., sensory deterrents). Given that raptors are among the most threatened groups of birds, we expected there to be a moderate amount of applied research on their sensory ecology. We searched Web of Science and Google Scholar to quantify and classify the research that has been conducted on the applied sensory ecology of raptors. Of 32 studies assessing the effects of sensory pollution on raptors, we found that 10 studies examined effects of light pollution and 24 studies examined effects of noise pollution. …

Drone Imagery Protocols To Map Vegetation Are Transferable Between Dryland Sites Across An Elevational Gradient, Anna Roser, Josh Enterkine, Juan M. Requena-Mullor, Nancy F. Glenn, Alex R. Boehm, Marie-Anne De Graaff, Patrick E. Clark, Fred Pierson, T. Trevor Caughlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The structure and composition of plant communities in drylands are highly variable across scales, from microsites to landscapes. Fine spatial resolution field surveys of dryland plants are essential to unravel the impact of climate change; however, traditional field data collection is challenging considering sampling efforts and costs. Unoccupied aerial systems (UAS) can alleviate this challenge by providing standardized measurements of plant community attributes with high resolution. However, given widespread heterogeneity in plant communities in drylands, and especially across environmental gradients, the transferability of UAS imagery protocols is unclear. Plant functional types (PFTs) are a classification scheme that aggregates the diversity …

Understanding The Barriers To Carbon Farming On Private Lands, Harrison Naftel

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Climate change caused by manmade greenhouse gas emissions is one of the most important challenges facing society today. Through effective management for carbon sequestration private agricultural lands could become an important part of the solution to this problem. This paper explores the many different methods that farmers, ranchers, and landowners could use to implement sequestration on their land and examines the barriers to further participation in these projects by reviewing the challenges in the world’s current carbon offset markets and offering possible solutions.

Impairment-Based Multidisciplinary Rehabilitation Management In Multiple Sclerosis In Pakistan, Sarah Razaq, Fahim Anwar, Wasim Wali

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

No abstract provided.

Role Of Macrophages In Ocular Surface Fibrosis, Alyanna Corpuz

Pharmaceutical Sciences (MS) Theses

The present study is designed to investigate whether irradiation as used for conditioning regimen to ablate recipient’s diseased bone marrow prior to transplantation could trigger macrophage activation and polarization and whether macrophages could cause the transdifferentiation of ocular surface fibroblasts into myofibroblasts, thus contributing to oGVHD-associated fibrosis.

Bone marrow cells were cultured in M-CSF to obtain M0 macrophages, which were subsequently polarized into M1 and M2 phenotypes using IFN-g + LPS and IL-4, respectively.

The macrophages were exposed to 7 Gy radiation. The effect of irradiation on macrophage activation markers, phagocytosis, and apoptosis was assessed using real-time PCR, confocal microscopy, …

Adaptive Leadership, Organisational Resilience And The Mediating Effect Of Change Management Amid Egyptian Academia Crises, Maha Ahmed Zaki Dajani, Dr. Maha Ahmed Zaki Dajani

Business Administration

This study aims to investigate the impact of adaptive leadership practices on organisational resilience within Egyptian academia amid the change management crisis, using the ADKAR change model. A self-administered online questionnaire (Google Form Survey) was distributed to collect data from 135 faculty members working at several private and public universities located in Greater Cairo/Egypt. The response rate was approximately 90% (out of 150 faculty members). A structural equation modelling technique was applied to test this study‟s hypotheses. The primary purpose of this study is to provide empirical evidence that leadership adaptability and organisational resilience are among the most sustainable sources …

Acute Kidney Injury In Hospitalized Children With Sickle Cell Anemia, Anthony Batte, Sahit Menon, John Ssenkusu, Sarah Kiguli, Robert Kalyesubula, Joseph Lubega, Edrisa Ibrahim Mutebi, Robert Opoka, Chandy John, Michelle Starr

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Background: Children with sickle cell anemia (SCA) are at increased risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) that may lead to death or chronic kidney disease. This study evaluated AKI prevalence and risk factors in children with SCA hospitalized with a vaso-occlusive crisis (VOC) in a low-resource setting. Further, we evaluated whether modifcations to the Kidney Disease: Improving Global Outcomes (KDIGO) defnition would infuence clinical outcomes of AKI in children with SCA hospitalized with a VOC.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 185 children from 2 – 18 years of age with SCA (Hemoglobin SS) hospitalized with a VOC at a tertiary hospital …

Student And Teacher Perspectives On Asynchronous Learning During The Covid Pandemic, Michele Ehrhart

Education Doctorate Dissertations

The COVID Pandemic shut down schools across the country, leaving K-12 schools unprepared for virtual learning. In this mixed methods study, I examined data gathered from my 8th-grade science classes to assess the effectiveness of asynchronous instruction. My original research question was: How much if at all, did learning outcomes differ as a function of how the lessons were taught (uninterrupted instructional video versus interrupted/interactive Edpuzzle video)? Based on a preliminary examination of data, my study expanded into how self-regulated learning affected students’ comprehension, interest, and motivation. Study results showed no statistical differences in students’ comprehension based on how lessons …

Bridgewater Review, Vol. 40, No. 2, December 2022

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

Perceived Quality Of Senior Care In An Assisted Living Facility Following The Outbreak Of Covid-19, Kaylie Hill

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The COVID-19 pandemic has posed a monumental obstacle to the healthcare field in terms of severely reducing the number of healthcare workers. Among the many industries affected by staffing shortages are assisted living facilities (ALFs), in which residents are dependent on care staff for daily assistance. This study sought to investigate whether long-term residents of ALFs perceive a difference in the quality of their care under the circumstances of the pandemic as opposed to those of pre-pandemic times. Semi-structured interviews were facilitated with 10 long-term residents who have been residing in an Omaha ALF since prior to the outbreak of …

Uis Bulletin, Volume 64, No. 2, December 2022, Nivaldo Colzato

UIS Bulletin

This edition from December 2022 includes information from the UN-Water Summit on Groundwater 2022 at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris.

Contents: Editorial: The motto that builds the UIS -- President’s Column: “History, Present and Vision” -- UIS President’s Report to the General Secretary -- The Report of the UIS General Secretary -- UIS Treasurer’s Report to the General Assembly -- The closing of the International Year of Caves and Karst 2021/22 -- The first years of the UIS -- The new UIS Bureau 2022-2025 -- The UIS Archive in Postojna, Slovenia -- Report of Commission on Artificial Cavities -- Report …

The American Society Of Pain And Neuroscience (Aspn) Evidence-Based Clinical Guideline Of Interventional Treatments For Low Back Pain, Dawood Sayed, Jay Grider, Natalie Strand, Jonathan M. Hagedorn, Steven Falowski, Christopher M. Lam, Vinicius Tieppo Francio, Douglas P. Beall, Nestor D. Tomycz, Justin R. Davanzo, Rohit Aiyer, David W. Lee, Hemant Kalia, Soun Sheen, Mark N. Malinowski, Michael Verdolin, Shashank Vodapally, Alexios Carayannopoulos, Sameer Jain, Nomen Azeem, Reda Tolba, George C. Chang Chien, Priyanka Ghosh, Anthony J. Mazzola, Kasra Amirdelfan, Krishnan Chakravarthy, Erika Petersen, Michael E. Schatman, Timothy Deer

Anesthesiology Articles

INTRODUCTION: Painful lumbar spinal disorders represent a leading cause of disability in the US and worldwide. Interventional treatments for lumbar disorders are an effective treatment for the pain and disability from low back pain. Although many established and emerging interventional procedures are currently available, there exists a need for a defined guideline for their appropriateness, effectiveness, and safety.

OBJECTIVE: The ASPN Back Guideline was developed to provide clinicians the most comprehensive review of interventional treatments for lower back disorders. Clinicians should utilize the ASPN Back Guideline to evaluate the quality of the literature, safety, and efficacy of interventional treatments for …

Workshops Report For Mesophotic And Deep Benthic Community Fish, Mobile Invertebrates, Sessile Invertebrates And Infauna, Rachel Bassett, Stacey L. Harter, Randy Clark, Ian Zink, Katherine Hornick, Jennifer Hart, Hanna Bliska, Melissa Carle, Tracey Sutton, Amanda Demopoulos, Andy David, Kristopher Benson, Jill Bourque, Martha Nizinski, Nancy Prouty, Stephanie Sharuga, Alicia Caporaso, Jennifer Le, Jennifer Herting, Cheryl Morrison, Matthew Poti

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

Two workshops with subject matter experts in the appropriate fields, were held in November and December 2021 to elicit guidance and feedback from the broader mesophotic and deep benthic scientific community. These workshops focused on best practices/approaches and identifying data gaps relative to habitat assessment and evaluation goals of the Mesophotic and Deep Benthic Community (MDBC) restoration portfolio. The first workshop was a combined effort of the Habitat Assessment and Evaluation (HAE) Project Team and the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) Program. Industrial Economics, Inc. (IEc) provided extensive workshop planning, organizing, execution, and facilitation support during all stages of the workshop. Based …

To Err Is Human; Acute Appendicitis A Mistaken Clinical Identity For Metastatic Follicular Thyroid Carcinoma, A Case Report, Ahmed Jusabani, Neelam Ismail, Zainab Fidaali, Ramadhani Mjejwa, Tausi Maftah, Ally Zain Ismail

Faculty of Health Sciences, East Africa

Introduction and importance: Thyroid cancer accounts for majority of endocrine cancers with follicular thyroid cancer the second most common. It tends to spread via hematogenous route with distant metastasis thus besides presenting as a neck mass it may also present with symptoms tallying to regions of metastasis which may misguide the diagnosis. We report a case of a 50-year-old man who presented with features of appendicitis only to discover metastatic right iliac bone follicular thyroid cancer. We describe our experience on diagnostic formulation, radiological work up, surgery, radioactive iodine therapy and follow up.

Case presentation: 50-year-old man presenting with acute …

Classification And Challenges In The Histopathological Diagnosis Of Peripheral T-Cell Lymphomas, Emphasis On The Who-Haem5 Updates, Carlos Murga-Zamalloa, Kedar Inamdar

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Articles

Mature T-cell lymphomas represent neoplastic expansions of T-cell lymphocytes with a post-thymic derivation. Most of these tumors feature aggressive clinical behavior and challenging histopathological diagnosis and classification. Novel findings in the genomic landscape of T-cell lymphomas are helping to improve the understanding of the biology and the molecular mechanisms that underly its clinical behavior. The most recent WHO-HAEM5 classification of hematolymphoid tumors introduced novel molecular and histopathological findings that will aid in the diagnostic classification of this group of neoplasms. The current review article summarizes the most relevant diagnostic features of peripheral T-cell lymphomas with an emphasis on the updates …

A Structural Examination Of The Connection Between The Amygdala And Nucleus Accumbens In Adolescents With Clinical Anxiety, Alyssa Griffith

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

The prominence of anxiety disorders in today’s general population is a major public health concern. Advancing research of the underlying pathophysiology of anxiety disorders can lead to the discovery of effective treatment interventions to treat the mental and physical symptoms of anxiety, and thus improve quality of life. This study aimed to examine two brain areas in the limbic and reward systems, the amygdala and Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc), and the structural white matter connection between them. This neural circuit assigns affective valence to environmental stimuli and motivates behavior to avoid potential harm. This study utilized diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) …

The Relationship Between Demographics And Early And Later Motor Problems In Children With Motor Difficulties, Promise Robinson

2022 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

A child’s achievement of motor milestones could result in later motor problems in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). This study aimed to explore potential associations between early and later motor problems and demographic characteristics (such as race/ethnicity) in children with DCD. One hundred and thirteen parents/caregivers of children aged between 5 to 18 years with motor difficulties were asked to answer an online survey about early motor milestones, demographics, and current motor problems of children. The proper distribution for minority groups could not be found due to the sample being self-selected, however the focus was shifted to the achievement …

Pupillometry Reveals Insight Into Metacognitive Processes During Encoding, Britney Le

2022 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Metacognitions are the processes associated with how well we learn and monitor our study behavior. This can be assessed with judgments of learning (JOLs) during encoding of cue-target word pairs (e.g., dog – bowl), which are predictions on how confident we are that we will remember the target (e.g., bowl) when later presented with the cue (e.g., dog) at retrieval. The easily learned easily remembered (ELER) heuristic states that the easier it is to learn something, the easier it is to be remembered later. However, recent studies using eye tracking show that more effortful encoding, as indexed by larger pupil …

In Vivo Genetic Analysis Of Schizophrenia Through A Novel Cell Death Paradigm, Hannah Selvarathinam

2022 Fall Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder that affects a person’s thoughts and actions. Compartmentalized Cell Elimination (CCE) is a novel cell death program, where three parts of the cell die differently. CCE can be used as a tool to address questions about psychiatric illnesses. Through a forward genetic screen looking for CCE defects, the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) network stability gene atln-1/atlastin and microtubule (MT) severing ATPase spas-1/spastin, were found to be linked to Hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP), a neurodegenerative disease. A schizophrenic behavioral assay was performed on the CCE mutants atln-1, spas-1, hop-1, sel-12, and ptl-1 to explore the question of …

The Role Of Female Offenders In Sex Trafficking Rings, Caroline Johnson

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This study examines the role of female offenders in sex trafficking rings. Using the Human Trafficking Study database, I found 502 cases that had clear information coded about convictions, sentences, and genders. It was hypothesized that women typically receive a lower sentence than men do. Bivariate analysis revealed that to be true. In addition, I compared conviction rates between the two genders, finding that women are more likely to plead guilty in comparison to men.

Using a smaller sample with additional information, I also isolated the roles that women play in a sex trafficking ring. I found that 48% were …

Cover Cropping And Organic Amendments To Improve Sandy Soils Under Organic Vegetable Production, Charles Williamson

All Theses

Coastal Plain soils in the Southeastern USA are typically sandy with poor soil structure, low soil organic carbon (SOC) content, and meager soil fertility that pose challenges to organic agriculture. Adding organic inputs is a strategy to improve these soils' physical, chemical, and biological characteristics. Here, we aim to investigate the impacts of Cover Cropping (CC) and manure inclusions on sandy soils under organic vegetable production. The experiment design was a randomized complete block with two treatments of manure application (with and without) and four CC treatments of cereal rye (Secale cereale), hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), …

If You Give A Beetle A Maple: Anoplophora Glabripennis Habitat Selection Patterns On An Island In South Carolina, Meredith Bean

All Theses

At the epicenter of the Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis Motschulsky) quarantine zone in South Carolina, a small island containing an actively growing subpopulation of A. glabripennis had not completely killed its 37 host trees in 2020. Before these trees were removed and destroyed according to the USDA Eradication Program protocols, I performed an observational study to examine the microhabitat selection tendencies of the invasive A. glabripennis within this satellite infestation. After cataloging >14,000 oviposition sites and >1,600 exit holes created by A. glabripennis, I found dispersal trends according to a host’s stem status (single or multi-stemmed), vertical …

An Evaluation Of Bovine Reproductive Function From The Microrna Expression In The Female To Performance Testing In The Male, Erin Amiss

All Theses

Reproductive function is crucial to the success of a beef or dairy herd. Both the female and male play significant roles in the outcome of bovine reproduction. The bull contributes to reproductive success in many ways, such as genetics. The initial role that the bull has in reproductive success is fertilization, whether natural or by artificial insemination. One method of assessing bull performance are central bull test stations, which are traditionally administered by a university, extension center, or are privately owned. Central bull tests assess the performance of bulls from various management systems, breeds, and ages. Some measurements taken during …

To Be A Cloud, Huan Laplante

All Theses

The intersections between Buddhism, queerness, and art making support one another in their power to unveil the impermanent nature of the self. My work rests at these moments, taking refuge in the ability to simultaneously release and rebuild a sense of self that exists beyond the boundaries of individualism. To Be a Cloud documents my journey of looking into the origins of the self and reflecting upon the transience of body and mind. Utilizing a broad range of sensuous materials such as textiles, handmade paper, and charcoal, paired with the repetitive motions of stitching, tearing, and mark-making cultivate a rhythmic …