Digital Commons Network^™

Placental Co-Culture Model Reveals Listeria Monocytogenes Utilization Of Monocytes For Vertical Transmission, Breanna Mackenzie Amelunke

Online Theses and Dissertations

Listeria monocytogenes is an opportunistic pathogen that can cross the protective placental barrier and infect the fetus, leading to congenital disabilities or death. Extracellular L. monocytogenes infection of the placenta has been well studied; however, the bacteria have not been observed translocating this barrier intracellularly. As an intracellular pathogen, L. monocytogenes could infect phagocytic cells that can be transported across the placental barrier. A novel cell co-culture system comprised of BeWo and HPVEC cell lines was established to model the human placental barrier. Barrier integrity was confirmed using immunostaining of tight junctions and a FITC-dextran permeability assay. The model was …

Exploring The Past With Place: Incorporating Multimodal Archival Composition In Secondary English Education, Sarah King

Online Theses and Dissertations

This project presents a comprehensive pedagogical approach that integrates place theory, multimodality, and archival elements to create a versatile framework for crafting compelling narratives and meaningful connections for public audiences. This project consists of three assignment models, collectively titled "Exploring Personal History Through Archives." These assignments guide students through a progressive and cohesive learning experience, incorporating multimodal archival composition. Collectively, these assignments enhance students' abilities to analyze and integrate information from diverse sources to address historical questions and challenges, empowering them to appreciate the role of archives in shaping history, navigate perspectives, and contribute to the preservation and sharing of …

From The Governor's Desk To A Bullet In Your Chest: The Fatal Implications Of Anti-Trans Legislation, Iyan Wickel

Online Theses and Dissertations

Proposed discriminatory legislation in the hundreds has resulted in a renewed look at trans communities, both of support and vitriol. Just as new legislation has been proposed in recent years at a rate that is higher than ever before, so has the reported rate of murder of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, seemingly at a similar rate with hate fueled rhetoric and legislation. This general observation was the driving force behind this study; to determine whether or not anti-trans legislation in particular coincided with the rate of murder of trans and gender non-conforming people. The study at hand examined the …

A Critical Comparison Of Answering Behavior Threshold Determination Methods As An Indicator Of Engagement On The 2015 Pisa Science Items, Lauri Elizabeth Mackelburg-Davis

Dissertations

The validity of low-stakes achievement tests is questionable when disengaged answering (i.e., rapid-guessing and rapid-omitting) is present in even moderate amounts. Thus, identifying these disengaged test-takers is important so that statistical or behavior mediation practices can be put into place. The first step in identifying disengaged examinees is to determine the divide between the engaged examinees and those that are disengaged. Many methods for discriminating between disengaged from engaged answering behavior on computer generated assessments exist. Many methods require expertise in statistical methods, while others require little to no mathematics knowledge. However, these simpler methods are routinely used with little …

Software Jimenae Allows Efficient Dynamic Simulations Of Boolean Networks, Centrality And System State Analysis, Martin Kaltdorf, Tim Breitenbach, Stefan Karl, Maximilian Fuchs, David Komla Kessie, Eric Psota, Martina Prelog, Edita Sarukhanyan, Regina Ebert, Franz Jakob, Gudrun Dandekar, Muhammad Naseem, Chunguang Liang, Thomas Dandekar

All Works

The signal modelling framework JimenaE simulates dynamically Boolean networks. In contrast to SQUAD, there is systematic and not just heuristic calculation of all system states. These specific features are not present in CellNetAnalyzer and BoolNet. JimenaE is an expert extension of Jimena, with new optimized code, network conversion into different formats, rapid convergence both for system state calculation as well as for all three network centralities. It allows higher accuracy in determining network states and allows to dissect networks and identification of network control type and amount for each protein with high accuracy. Biological examples demonstrate this: (i) High plasticity …

Police And Cross-Cultural Psychology: The Impact Of Human Values On Violence, Claudio V. Torres, Sharon Glazer

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

Researchers of police psychology must be well-acquainted with police work and culture both nationally and organizationally. However, most studies developed in police psychology do not fully account for the national context within which a study was done. In this article review, we discuss two social phenomena commonly studied by police psychologists: aggression and violence. Taking primarily a cross-national approach, we focus on the predictive role of individual values on aggression and violence. Schwartz’s (1992) values theory, at the individual level of analysis, was chosen due to its importance to cross-cultural psychology, as well as its implications on well-being (e.g., Sagiv …

Security Analysis Of Holystone Drones: Examining Attack Vectors And Data Extraction Techniques, Sandesh Ambadas More

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, the surge in popularity of small-scale Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), especially Holy Stone models, has raised significant security concerns. This study examines specific Holy Stone drone models, including the HS 175D, HS 430, HS 360S, and HS720, focusing on sub-250g drones exempt from FAA registration and those requiring registration and Remote ID. Despite advancements in drone technology, our research reveals persistent vulnerabilities that could be exploited by malicious actors for illicit purposes, posing a substantial security risk. Our comprehensive analysis involved simulated attacks in identifying and exploiting these vulnerabilities, leading to the successful acquisition of flight logs, …

Characterization Of Human Mobility From Cellular Data, Zaid Matloub

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates human mobility patterns using crowd-sourced cellular network data from different Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in the United States, spanning the Houston, New York-Newark, NJ City, and 13 other significant MSAs. By focusing on prominent spatial mobility parameters highlighted in existing literature, the study unveils consistent findings regarding the predictability of human mobility across diverse time scales and geographic regions. The research underscores the significance of selecting appropriate sampling thresholds based on the mobility parameters being examined, the size of the dataset, and available computational resources. Through a meticulous analysis, it emerges that while values such as mean …

Substance Use Patterns Among High School Students - A Replication Study Of The 2020 Youth Risk Behavior Survey, Haley Irons

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

The study selected for replication is “Prescription Opioid Misuse and Use of Alcohol and Other Substances Among High School Students” by Christopher Jones and colleagues published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report Supplement in August 2020. The original report used data from the Centers for Disease Control’s 2009-2019 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), which is a cross-sectional survey administered every two years to a sample of public- and private-school students in 9th–12th grade in the United States. Researchers from the original report aimed to use the 2009-2019 YRBS data to examine substance use among high school students, characterize the …

Antibiotic Prescribing Patterns In The Emergency Department, Maddison Mcconnaughhay

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Purpose: Antibiotic resistance is a major public health problem in the United States, resulting in significant morbidity and mortality (CDC, 2019). This study seeks to understand how antibiotic use for dental problems may contribute to antibiotic resistance and adverse drug reactions while only temporarily relieving the underlying oral health condition. Previous research suggests differences in prescribing patterns for pain management by provider type, but little is known about antibiotic prescribing patterns, especially for diverse groups of pediatric patients (Chua, et al., 2019). This study aims to characterize antibiotic prescribing patterns in a midwestern children's hospital emergency department for non-traumatic dental …

Environmental Exposure Effects To Humans And Trends Of Harmful Algal Blooms In Nebraska, Ericka Sanders

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Harmful algae blooms (HAB) are becoming more of a human health concern. Humans are exposed to harmful algae blooms from freshwater bodies used for recreational activities. The presence of harmful algae blooms has been increasing across the United States. Aerosol, dermal, and ingestion routes of exposure are ways humans can develop an illness when around a HAB. Environmental exposure to humans above 8 ppb per liter of surface water can cause mild to severe symptoms and, in rare cases, may be fatal. Exposure can be acute or chronic. The Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy (NDEE) has implemented a monitoring …

Investigating Potential Quantitative Trait Loci For Susceptibility To Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis In The Bxd Family Of Mice, Margaret Caroline Danehy

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Multiple Sclerosis is an autoimmune inflammatory condition that causes disability, axonal damage in the central nervous system, and eventual paralysis. One of the main risk factors for developing MS is genetics, with recent studies identifying multiple risk alleles associated the major histocompatibility complex. By utilizing the BXD family of mice, we investigated genetic factors that affect a BXD strain’s susceptibility to EAE, an inducible disease model for MS. We induced EAE in several BXD mice strains via an emulsion of complete Freund’s adjuvant and MOG35-55, and then measured disease severity in each strain. From there, we measured incidence rate of …

Experimenting With Transparency: A Mixed Methods Approach To Assessing Crisis Communication Messaging, Melissa Greco Lopes

Education Doctoral

This study sought to add to the body of research on transparency in crisis communication messaging in a higher education setting through the lens of Coombs’ (1995) situational crisis communication theory. Using a mixed methods explanatory sequential experimental design, the study collected quantitative data via an experiment to determine how specific elements of a message might result in more positive perceptions of message and organizational trust, transparency, and reputation. Next, the study collected qualitative data through four focus groups to provide a deeper understanding of which elements of the message readers found most transparent and how it might have impacted …

The Retention Of Newly Tenured Faculty Of Color At A Community College In New York State, Jacqueline Goffe-Mcnish

Education Doctoral

Given the lack of retention of employees of color from 1991 to 2001, this qualitative descriptive case study investigated the benefits of, barriers to, and strategies for the retention of faculty of color at a community college in New York State. The participants were five administrators and eight faculty members who self-identified as people of color and as White people. Each participant was interviewed using semi-structured questions via Zoom and all interviews were recorded. A notebook was created, and participants’ interviews were transcribed and coded.

Six categories were identified through the coding process, which included the social, psychological, physical, intellectual, …

Ongoing Challenges And Success Stories Of Title Ix Compliance In The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference: A Qualitative Study, Louis W. Hurd

Leadership Education Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the challenges athletic administrations face regarding Title IX compliance and strategies used to maintain compliance. This study will be narrowing the focus to the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NCIS), focusing on athletic administrators, Title IX coordinator/Senior woman administrators, and women’s sport coaches. The results of this study will identify the challenges athletic administrations face with complying with Title IX in their respective schools, as well as how women’s sport coaches perceive that compliance to be fulfilled.

Unbearable Suffering While Working As A Nurse During The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Chloé Littzen-Brown, Hanne Dolan, Angie Norton, Claire Bethel, Jennifer T. May Phd, Rn, Anp-Bc, Jessica Rainbow

Publications

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in negative consequences for nurse well-being, patient care delivery and outcomes, and organizational outcomes.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of nurses working during the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States.

Design: This study used a qualitative descriptive design.

Setting(s): The setting for this study was a national sample of nurses working during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States over a period of 18 months.

Participants: Convenience and snowball sampling were used to recruit 81 nurses via social media and both national and state listservs.

Methods: Using a single …

Twitter Policing, Hemanth Kumar Medisetty

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Police departments are frequently utilizing social media platforms to actively interact with the public. Social media offers an opportunity to share information, facilitate communication, and foster stronger connections between police departments and the communities they serve. In this context sentiment analysis of social media data has become a tool, for identifying sentiments and tracking emerging trends.

This project utilizes sentiment analysis to examine the social media interactions with particular data obtained from the Twitter (X). Initially, the project gathers social media data, from twitter mentioned accounts on Twitter utilizing web scraping techniques. Afterwards, we perform a thorough sentiment analysis using …

The Importance Of Teaching Social-Emotional Skills To Young Children, Stephanie Valdez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project enhances the social-emotional skills of preschool children, which are fundamental for relationships, emotional management, and empathy. Children lacking these skills may struggle in learning, behavior, and socializing when they progress to elementary school. Studies have shown that social-emotional competence and cognitive competence are critical predictors of academic accomplishment (Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) and Student Benefits: Implications for the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Core Elements, n.d.). Children in preschool who lack these skills may experience difficulties in learning, behavior, and socializing as they progress to elementary school (Amy Morin, 2019). A significant issue arises when children encounter obstacles …

The Potential Of Tropical Montane Cloud Forest Epiphytes To Acclimate To A Drier Microclimate., Emily Anders

Master's Theses and Capstones

Tropical Montane Cloud Forests (TMCF) are characterized by frequent cloud immersion and host a rich community of canopy epiphytes. Epiphytes rely on atmospheric inputs of water, making them susceptible to reductions in cloud immersion. We used an experimental cloud reduction experiment in a Peruvian TMCF to examine the potential of five functional groups of vascular epiphytes (orchids, ferns, shrubs, bromeliads, and succulents) to acclimate to reduced cloud immersion via plasticity in morphological and physiological traits related to water use, water storage, and productivity. Complementary data for vascular and nonvascular epiphyte growth and dieback collected over a 3-year period provided additional …

Expanding Recognition And Inclusion Of Animal-Free Organic Agriculture In The Sustainable Agriculture Movement, Mona Seymour

Urban and Environmental Studies Faculty Works

Animal-free organic agriculture resides at the margins of sustainable agriculture discourse, practice, and imaginaries, which center animal-based forms of farming. However, the concerns and goals of sustainable agriculture are overwhelmingly consistent with those of many forms of animal-free organic agriculture (AFOA), described as organic farming sans animal production, labor, and byproducts. Despite this sidelining, AFOA has great potential to contribute to a more robust sustainable agriculture movement. In order to emphasize the continuities between animal-based and animal-free sustainable agriculture, this Perspective identifies a number of key similarities between animal-free and animal-based sustainable farming, including mutual foci on soil health and …

Pandemic Impacts On Women’S Mental Health: A Literature Review, Wenqi Gong

Honors Scholar Theses

For many years, women's mental health has been a topic of discussion in the research field, and these problems are usually regarded as the result of gender inequality. This study identifies mental health differences among women in different family structures in the context of a pandemic, by citing scenario-based research from 2020 to 2023. More specifically, by comparative analysis, disparities in a series of variables are observed between married and unmarried women. These findings figure out risk factors that tend to distress women. The literature review emphasizes the huge challenges confronting women today, and the root causes of the psychological …

The Slapp Happy State: Now Is The Time For Ohio To Pass Anti-Slapp Legislation, Brooke White

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

Noaa Great Lakes Harmful Algal Bloom Communication Preparedness Workshop Report, Crrc, Noaa

Coastal Response Research Center

On January 17-18, 2023, the CRRC and NOAA’s DPP co-sponsored a virtual workshop titled “Great Lakes Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) Communication Preparedness Workshop”. This workshop was a focused discussion on HAB preparedness and response capabilities across the federal government and state agencies. The specific objectives for this workshop were: 1) Ensure effective coordination and communication across local, state, and federal governments, and other relevant entities; 2) Compile and review existing plans, policies and procedures about effectively communicating HAB threats, including benthic and nuisance blooms, across relevant agencies; 3) Determine the points of contact (POC’s) responsible for HAB event preparedness and …

Voices In Education Law Advocacy, Kristen E. Murray

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Multi-Channel Search For Signatures Of Ev2-Scale Sterile Neutrinos In Icecube, Benjamin Randolph Smithers

Physics Dissertations - Archive

The IceCube Neutrino Observatory is a cubic-kilometer-scale neutrino observatory built using a gigaton of instrumented ice near the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station in Antarctica; it measures the Cherenkov light emitted by the daughter particles of deep inelastic scattering interactions occurring inside and around the detector from neutrinos of both astrophysical and atmospheric origin. For eV2-scale sterile neutrino models, matter-effects can yield resonant muon antineutrino to sterile oscillations for TeV-scale up-going neutrinos. For certain combinations of mixing angles, this is expected to yield resonant muon antineutrino to tau antineutrino oscillations at the same energies and angles as the muon neutrino disappearance. …

Agenda (12-1-2023), Associated Students, Incorporated

Associated Students, Incorporated records

No abstract provided.

The Quiet And Other Fantastical Tales, Emily Nicole Cerda

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis briefly discusses the genres and subgenres of speculative fiction—focusing on fantasy, horror, and science fiction—and is primarily a short story collection that also includes a few novel chapters. The critical introduction delves into the present and overly complex subgenre categorization methods, how and why new subgenres are created, and provides simple definitions for the main genres of speculative fiction and fantasy subgenres.

The subgenres that will be discussed through either a short story, novel chapter(s), or definition include, but are not limited to: fairytales, portal fantasy, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, historical fantasy, magical realism, epic fantasy, mythic fiction, …

Overexpression Of Ubtf Correlates With Aggressive Phenotypes Of Prostate Cancer Cells, Guillermo Andres Saldana

Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer (PrCa) is one of the most common malignancies in men globally and the second leading cause of cancer associated deaths in developed countries. Accumulating evidence have demonstrated involvement of various molecular and cellular factors in the development, progression and chemoresistance of PrCa and many of them were successfully established as potential molecular targets for therapy. Despite these advancements, the underlying mechanisms of PrCa occurrence is still unclear, which limits the diagnosis and therapy. Therefore, it is an urgent need to discover potential molecular targets which can be used in rational design of new strategies for the prevention and …

The Wackiness Of Wacky World, Michael Dan Mccormick

Theses and Dissertations

This critical introduction takes a closer look at the situations presented in my manuscript “Wacky World” and offer insight on the actions seen from the main character. This insight is meant to clear confusion as to whether or not the character can be viewed as a heroic figure and explore his personality to draw conclusions. “Wacky World”, a full-length play, tells the story of a man with an obsession with a defunct theme park and the deranged actions that he takes in order to prevent its demolition.

I explore the topic on whether or not sympathy …

Electrolysis Degradation Of Cyanuric Acid In Wastewater At Cu/Go Cathodes, Chioma Chinwe Nwakanobi

Theses and Dissertations

This work evaluates the development of electrochemical processes for the oxidative degradation of persistent organic chemicals in waste waters, specifically the oxidation of cyanuric acid in the presence of NaCl at Cu/GO cathodes and Ti anodes. The experiment used a graphene oxide doped copper mesh cathode to examine different concentrations of cyanuric acid (30 mg/L, 40 mg/L, and 50 mg/L) and various concentrations of NaCl electrolyte (0.007mol/L, 0.03mol/L, 0.07mol/L, 0.1mol/L, and 0.2mol/L). In addition, the effect of pH (2, 4, 6, and 8), and applied current (0.200A, 0.150A and 0.100A) were studied. The Cu/GO electrode played a central role in …