Digital Commons Network^™

Disharmony Of The Soul: A Philosophical Analysis Of Psychological Trauma And Flourishing, Adam Blehm

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue that psychological trauma hinders human flourishing by disrupting psychic harmony and hindering virtuous relationships. Given the negative symptomology of posttraumatic stress related disorders (i.e., PTSD) this conclusion may seem a bit obvious to some. However, making the case for trauma as a hindrance to human flourishing is more complicated than it may first appear.

First, in the extant literature, trauma as a concept tends to be unclear. In much of the empirical and philosophical literature, trauma can include a certain kind of event, experience, effect, or a combination of all three. Furthermore, because of practical …

Isolation Of Drug-Sensitive Eimeria Species From Wild Turkey Feces And Development Of A Model Bioshuttle Program For Eimeria Meleagrimitis For Domestic Turkeys, Maria Carolina Trujillo Peralta

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this thesis was to determine the anticoccidial profile of Eimeria spp. derived from wild turkeys. These drug-sensitive Eimeria spp. have potential to be used as vaccine candidates to control coccidiosis in commercial turkeys. Chapter two consists of a brief literature review focused on coccidiosis in turkeys. Chapter three addresses the methodologies utilized to isolate, recover, and speciate Eimeria recovered from wild turkey feces in the eastern two-thirds of the United States. From this, we successfully obtained single oocyst-derived stocks for E. meleagrimitis, E. dispersa, E. meleagridis, E. gallopavonis, and E. adenoeides. Chapter four describes the experiment conducted …

Ectotherm Thermoregulation At Fine Scales: Novel Methods Reveal A Link Between The Spatial Distribution Of Temperature And Habitat Quality, Ian Axsom

Master's Theses

Investigating ecological questions at the scale of individual organisms is necessary to understand and predict the biological consequences of environmental conditions. For small organisms this can be challenging because we need tools with the appropriate accuracy and resolution to record and quantify their ecological interactions. Unfortunately, many of our existing tools are only appropriate for medium to large organisms or those that are wide ranging, inhibiting our ability to investigate the ecology of small organisms at fine scales.

In Chapter 1, I tested a novel workflow for recording animal movements at very fine spatial and temporal scales. The workflow combined …

Passion-Driven Statistics: A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience (Cure), Naomi J. Spence, Rachel Anderson, Sherryse Corrow, Susan A. Dumais, Lisa Dierker

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This paper describes the use of scientific practices in the Passion-Driven Statistics CURE and presents the results of surveys from the implementation of this CURE at three different colleges. Overall, students experienced positive changes in thinking and working like a scientist, personal gains related to research, and gains in research skills, attitudes and behaviors. The Passion-Driven Statistics CURE aims to equip the future STEM workforce with the data analysis skills and reasoning needed across industries.

Graph Theoretical Modeling Of Dna As A Vehicle For A Course-Based Undergraduate Research Experience, Amanda Harsy

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This paper outlines a mathematics course centered around the interdisciplinary topic of modeling self-assembling DNA which was used as a venue for a mathematics course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). The structure and logistics of designing and teaching such a course in addition to suggestions and student feedback from the course are also included.

Applied Mathematics Laboratory: A Course-Based Research Internship, Mathew Gluck, Alexei Kolesnikov

The Mathematics Enthusiast

The paper describes the Applied Mathematics Laboratory (AML), a course-based model of undergraduate research engagement in applied mathematics at Towson University. We provide historical background of similar programs at other institutions in the US; describe the implementation and the logic model of the AML; include an example of a recent project; and describe the place of the AML in the context of other course-based student research experiences in STEM.

Climate Justice And Racial And Gender Equity: Creating And Promoting Featured Collections, Sherry Buchanan

Library Faculty and Staff Publications and Presentations

PDXScholar, the repository for Portland State University, showcases three main collections that are automatically curated based on filters – tags that collect and display the content: Climate Justice, Racial and Gender Equity, and COVID-19. In this presentation, I will give an overview of our featured collections, their development and promotion, including the criteria for inclusion, technical aspects, and impact. The Digital Commons automated collection tool and system configuration will be briefly explained.

Sex Trait Discrimination: Intersex People And Title Vii After Bostock V. Clayton County, Sam Parry

Washington Law Review

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects employees from workplace discrimination and harassment on account of sex. Courts have historically failed to extend Title VII protections to LGBTQ+ people. However, in 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Bostock v. Clayton County changed this. Bostock explicitly extended Title VII’s protections against workplace discrimination to “homosexual” and “transgender” people, reasoning that it is impossible to discriminate against an employee for being gay or transgender without taking the employee’s sex into account. While Bostock is a win for LGBTQ+ rights, the opinion leaves several questions unanswered. The reasoning in …

Esg Framework For Investment Managers Of Wuimc, Morgan Davies, Sammi Fremont, Sophie Kielian, Lauren Michaels, Abree Peterson, Eve Spalding, Jane Whellan

Sustainability Exchange Projects

ESG Framework for Investment Managers for Sustainability Exchange, Washington University in St. Louis, Fall 2022

North Coast Otters Public Arts Initiative: Commemorative Auction Catalog, J. M. Black

Archives & Reprint Series (imprint)

In 1999, a citizen science program for submitting river otter observations was created through the Humboldt State University Wildlife department. In 2017, Jeff and Gilly Black from the HSU Wildlife department were inspired by the public arts initiative by The Art of Fundraising project of England's Dartmoor National Park. In 2019, a special partnership with Ink People Center for the Arts, North Coast Open Studios, HSU’s Art Department, Crescent City Art, and the Trinity County Arts Council led to local North Coast artists decorating more than 100 3-foot-tall otter sculptures. The sculptures were displayed at shops, galleries, schools, and other …

Traumatic Ulcerative Granuloma Mimicking Squamous Cell Carcinoma In Oral Lichen Planus, David I. Tindle Dds, Ms, Dabom

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Background: Oral lichen planus is an immune mediated mucosal disorder affecting up to 2% of the population. Dysplasia has been known to develop in 0.1% to 1% of patients with lichen planus. This necessitates close surveillance for the development of atypical lesions.

Case: Described is the case of a 68-year-old female patient with oral lichen planus who developed a non-healing ulceration on her right lateral tongue. Out of concern for neoplasia, a biopsy was performed. Histopathologic report indicated features consistent with traumatic ulcerative granuloma. The lesion did not return.

Conclusions: Oral lichen planus is a common mucosal disease. Although uncommon, …

Analysis Of Ecological Tradeoffs Between Congeneric Shrimp In Coastal Mississippi Waters, Baylor K. Lynch

Honors Theses

Palaemonidae is an ecologically important and abundant family of shrimp that link the benthos to many estuarine food webs. Palaemon pugio and Palaemon vulgaris regularly co-occur along estuarine edge habitats despite previous studies suggesting different preferred sediment types and salinity regimes. The objective was to determine if competition is occurring between the congeners by comparing their relative abundance and assessing isotope niche space along an estuarine gradient. I seasonally sampled various edge habitats at four sites throughout Biloxi Bay, MS, using fyke nets fished over a tidal cycle from November 2020 to November 2021. Collected organisms were identified to the …

Opening The Vault: An Osteobiography Of Three Individuals From A New Orleans Cemetery, Jordan Butler

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to reconstruct the lives of three individuals buried in Cypress Grove Cemetery in New Orleans through osteobiographies, which combines knowledge gained from human remains, material culture, and mortuary practices. The opportunity for analysis arose since the vault was being demolished due to its dilapidated condition.

The individuals were White and of middle-class status and date to the later nineteenth century. One burial is a middle-aged man who was of average height and showed no evidence of pathology; his muscle markers do suggest he was relatively Physically active during his life. Another individual is an …

Dean's Update, December 2022, Jerry L. Nadler

SOM Dean's Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of The Alpha1a Adrenergic Receptor In Modulating Psychiatric Symptoms, Jason Power

Theses and Dissertations

The adrenergic system plays a key role in the treatment and understanding of the etiology of mental illnesses. Despite antidepressants having the effect of reducing the reuptake of specific neurotransmitters, such as norepinephrine (NE), the mechanism of the antidepressant effect is poorly understood. It is apparent that antidepressants increase the rate of neurogenesis occurring within the hippocampal region of the brain with the hippocampus found to have an increased density around the time of symptom improvement (rate plateaus after 4-8 weeks after treatment). With an increased rate of neurogenesis taking ~1 month to occur, it was hypothesized that treatment with …

The Empirical Research On University Instructors’ Competencies In Virtual Reality Environment From The Perspective Of Students’ Learning Experience, Jing Ma, Yue Wang, Meng Jiang

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

The integration of virtual reality (VR) and education is a key way to realize the modernization of higher education. Instructors’ competencies directly affect students’ learning experiences and achievements. Based on the IBSTPI competency standards compiled by the International Board of Standards for Training, Performance, and Instruction (IBSTPI), this study developed an instructors’ competencies scale suitable for the VR environment from the perspective of students’ learning experience and conducted an empirical research on the current situation of instructors’ competencies in VR environment. The scale categorizes of instructors’ competencies included six dimensions: establishing and maintaining learning motivation competencies, expressing competencies, questioning competencies, …

Comparative Genomics Of Five Valsa Species Gives Insights On Their Pathogenicity Evolution, Guangchao Sun, Shichang Xie, Lin Tang, Chao Zhao, Mian Zhang, Lili Huang

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Valsa is a genus of ascomycetes within the Valsaceae family. This family includes many wood destructive pathogens such as the well known Valsa mali and Valsa pyri which cause canker diseases in fruit trees and threaten the global fruit production. Lack of genomic information of this family is impeding our understandings about their evolution and genetic basis of their pathogenicity divergence. Here, we report genome assemblies of Valsa malicola, Valsa persoonii, and Valsa sordida which represent close relatives of Valsa mali and Valsa pyri with different host preferences. Comparative genomics analysis revealed that segmental rearrangements, inversions, and translocations …

The Role Of Radiomics And Ai Technologies In The Segmentation, Detection, And Management Of Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Dalia Fahmy, Ahmed Alksas, Ahmed Elnakib, Ali Mahmoud, Heba Kandil, Ashraf Khalil, Mohammed Ghazal, Eric Van Bogaert, Sohail Contractor, Ayman El-Baz

All Works

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common primary hepatic neoplasm. Thanks to recent advances in computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), there is potential to improve detection, segmentation, discrimination from HCC mimics, and monitoring of therapeutic response. Radiomics, artificial intelligence (AI), and derived tools have already been applied in other areas of diagnostic imaging with promising results. In this review, we briefly discuss the current clinical applications of radiomics and AI in the detection, segmentation, and management of HCC. Moreover, we investigate their potential to reach a more accurate diagnosis of HCC and to guide proper treatment planning.

Xanthium Spinosum L. Extracts Inhibit Breast Cancer In Mice By Apoptosis Induction And Immune System Modulation, Lina T. Al Kury, Zainab Taha, Asma Ismail Mahmod, Wamidh H. Talib

All Works

Plants have been considered for many years as an important source of medicine to treat different diseases. Xanthium spinosum L. (Asteraceae, Compositae) is known for its diuretic, anti-inflammatory, and sedative effects. It is also used in the treatment of several ailments, such as cancer. In order to evaluate the anticancer and immunomodulatory activities, crude ethanol extract was prepared from the aerial part of X. spinosum and then fractionated using solvents with different polarities. As well, the chemical composition of X. spinosum extract and fractions were identified using LC-MS analysis. The antitumor effect of X. spinosum was assessed in both in …

Low Power Multi-Channel Interface For Charge Based Tactile Sensors, Samuel Hansen

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Analog front end electronics are designed in 65 nm CMOS technology to process charge pulses arriving from a tactile sensor array. This is accomplished through the use of charge sensitive amplifiers and discrete time filters with tunable clock signals located in each of the analog front ends. Sensors were emulated using Gaussian pulses during simulation. The digital side of the system uses SAR (successive approximation register) ADCs for sampling of the processed sensor signals.

Adviser: Sina Balkır

Learnfca: A Fuzzy Fca And Probability Based Approach For Learning And Classification, Suraj Ketan Samal

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Formal concept analysis(FCA) is a mathematical theory based on lattice and order theory used for data analysis and knowledge representation. Over the past several years, many of its extensions have been proposed and applied in several domains including data mining, machine learning, knowledge management, semantic web, software development, chemistry ,biology, medicine, data analytics, biology and ontology engineering.

This thesis reviews the state-of-the-art of theory of Formal Concept Analysis(FCA) and its various extensions that have been developed and well-studied in the past several years. We discuss their historical roots, reproduce the original definitions and derivations with illustrative examples. Further, we provide …

Sequence-Based Bioinformatics Approaches To Predict Virus–Host Relationships In Archaea And Eukaryotes, Yingshan Li

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Viral metagenomics is independent of lab culturing and capable of investigating viromes of virtually any given environmental niches. While numerous sequences of viral genomes have been assembled from metagenomic studies over the past years, the natural hosts for the majority of these viral contigs have not been determined. Different computational approaches have been developed to predict hosts of bacteria phages. Nevertheless, little progress has been made in the virus-host prediction, especially for viruses that infect eukaryotes and archaea. In this study, by analyzing all documented viruses with known eukaryotic and archaeal hosts, we assessed the predictive power of four computational …

Dei Without Equity: Lab Coat Culture And Persistent Racism In Bioengineering Laboratories, Janet Canady

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

From biased algorithms to discriminatory devices to medical racism, it is clear that biomedical products are created in ways that reproduce racial disparities in access and use. Yet the most common solutions recommended by biomedical research institutions emphasize diversity, equity, and inclusion practices that research has already proven ineffective and sometimes harmful. In fact, labs rarely scrutinize whether and how their research products reflect racial bias, assumptions, or ideals. In this paper, I shift the focus to consider how bioengineering laboratories function as a site in which racial processes contribute to product outcomes. I ask, what are the racial dynamics …

(R1888) On The Mackey-Glass Model With A Piecewise Constant Argument, Mehtap Lafci Büyükkahraman

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, we deal with the Mackey-Glass model with piecewise constant argument. Because the corresponding difference equation is the difference solution of the equation, the difference equation can clearly predict the dynamic behavior of the equation. So, we look at how the difference equation behaves.We study the asymptotic stability of the equilibrium point of the difference equation and it is obtained that this point is a repeller under some conditions. Also, it is shown that every oscillatory solution of the difference equation has semi-cycles of length at least two, and every oscillatory solution of the difference equation is attracted …

Would You Make It To The Future? Teaching Race In An Assisted Reproductive Technologies And The Law Classroom, Sonia Gipson Rankin

Faculty Scholarship

Would you make it to the future? For the last five years, I have started my Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) lecture in Family Law with this question. Students take the query seriously. They ponder their lived experiences such as home training, medical history, education, financial well-being, personality traits, work ethic, and social graces when determining if they would be the “model DNA” someone might select in a future society. The good-natured jokes about being nearsighted, having a pitiful jump shot, and wearing orthodontic headgear turn reflective when someone raises the question: would someone in the future select my race? In …

Sustainability And Health Impacts Of Pulse Crops In The United States Using Life Cycle Assessment, Prathamesh A. Bandekar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Environmental sustainability and human health impact of pulses produced and consumed in the United States was assessed using life cycle assessment (LCA). The study included three objectives 1) to estimate environmental impact of current production and consumption practices in the United States using attributional LCA; 2) to estimate environmental and human health impact of iso-caloric diets containing varying amounts of pulses using Hybrid-LCA and Combined Nutritional and Environmental-LCA (CONE-LCA); and 3) to estimate environmental impact of increased demand for pulses using consequential LCA. Scope of the study varied for each objective with system boundary encompassing cradle-to-grave activities for objective 1 …

Conservation Genomics: Utilizing Genetic And Transcriptomic Sequencing For Effective Conservation Management Of Astragalus Osterhoutii, Christine Mowad

Master's Theses

Astragalus osterhoutii M.E. Jones (Fabaceae) is a federally listed, rare, endemic species restricted to seleniferous soils in Grand County, CO (Anderson, 1989). This research utilized both RADseq and RNAseq to generate neutral and adaptive genomic datasets. Neutral data analysis aimed to determine i) the genetic diversity of A. osterhoutii and each of its populations level, ii) how genetic structure is partitioned across the species range, and iii) the closest relative to A. osterhoutii. Analysis of adaptive, RNAseq data aimed to identify i) differentially expressed genes, ii) if patterns of expression are similar to neutral data, and iii) differences in Se …

Single Muscle Fibre Contractile Function With Ageing, Gregory J. Grosicki, Carlos S. Zepeda, Christopher W. Sundberg

Physical Therapy Faculty Research and Publications

Ageing is accompanied by decrements in the size and function of skeletal muscle that compromise independence and quality of life in older adults. Developing therapeutic strategies to ameliorate these changes is critical but requires an in-depth mechanistic understanding of the underlying physiology. Over the past 25 years, studies on the contractile mechanics of isolated human muscle fibres have been instrumental in facilitating our understanding of the cellular mechanisms contributing to age-related skeletal muscle dysfunction. The purpose of this review is to characterize the changes that occur in single muscle fibre size and contractile function with ageing and identify key areas …

Reducing Opioid Use In Older Adults Through Pain Management Screening And Use Of A Pain Treatment Algorithm, Erika Power

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Older adults are prescribed more medications for chronic issues due to increased age, a phenomenon called polypharmacy. Unfortunately, older adults also experience persistent pain more often than younger adults. This age group is prone to utilizing opioids for longer than expected due to lack of screening for pain by providers accompanied by a lack of open and ongoing discussion about pain management options with patients. Evidence suggested that older adults are at an increased risk for improper use of opioids for pain management and often suffer side effects from long-term opioid use. Some possible side effects of opioid use in …

Exploring The Effects Of Fatty Acids (Pufas) On The Antimicrobial Resistance In Vibrio Cholerae, Naina Patel

Honors Theses

As antibiotic resistance becomes a major challenge for public health professionals, our research objectives aimed to investigate the potential for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) to create membrane vulnerability in the gram-negative pathogen Vibrio cholerae to help improve the efficacy of several antibiotics. V. cholerae, normally residing in aquatic environments, is capable of altering its phospholipid composition through the uptake and assimilation of exogenous polyunsaturated fatty acids. The purpose of this study was to measure PUFA-mediated changes in the membrane permeability and antibiotic resistance of Vibrio cholerae. The three physiologically relevant PUFAs used were linoleic acid [18:2], arachidonic acid [20:4], and …