Digital Commons Network^™

Aging Differentially Affects Axonal Autophagosome Formation And Maturation, Heather Tsong, Erika Lf Holzbaur, Andrea Kh Stavoe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Misregulation of neuronal macroautophagy/autophagy has been implicated in age-related neurodegenerative diseases. We compared autophagosome formation and maturation in primary murine neurons during development and through aging to elucidate how aging affects neuronal autophagy. We observed an age-related decrease in the rate of autophagosome formation leading to a significant decrease in the density of autophagosomes along the axon. Next, we identified a surprising increase in the maturation of autophagic vesicles in neurons from aged mice. While we did not detect notable changes in endolysosomal content in the distal axon during early aging, we did observe a significant loss of acidified vesicles …

Immune Evasion And Membrane Fusion Of Sars-Cov-2 Xbb Subvariants Eg51 And Xbb23, Julia N Faraone, Panke Qu, Negin Goodarzi, Yi-Min Zheng, Claire Carlin, Linda J Saif, Eugene M Oltz, Kai Xu, Daniel Jones, Richard J Gumina, Shan-Lu Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Immune evasion by SARS-CoV-2 paired with immune imprinting from monovalent mRNA vaccines has resulted in attenuated neutralizing antibody responses against Omicron subvariants. In this study, we characterized two new XBB variants rising in circulation - EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3, for their neutralization and syncytia formation. We determined the neutralizing antibody titers in sera of individuals that received a bivalent mRNA vaccine booster, BA.4/5-wave infection, or XBB.1.5-wave infection. Bivalent vaccination-induced antibodies neutralized ancestral D614G efficiently, but to a much less extent, two new EG.5.1 and XBB.2.3 variants. In fact, the enhanced neutralization escape of EG.5.1 appeared to be driven by its key …

Atm Mutations Associate With Distinct Co-Mutational Patterns And Therapeutic Vulnerabilities In Nsclc, Natalie I Vokes, Ana Galan Cobo, Margarita Fernandez-Chas, David Molkentine, Santiago Treviño, Vitaly Druker, Yu Qian, Sonia Patel, Stephanie Schmidt, Lingzhi Hong, Jeff Lewis, Waree Rinsurongkawong, Vadeerat Rinsurongkawong, J Jack Lee, Marcelo V Negrao, Don L Gibbons, Ara Vaporciyan, Xiuning Le, Jia Wu, Jianjun Zhang, Una Rigney, Sonia Iyer, Emma Dean, John V Heymach

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) is the most frequently mutated DNA damage repair gene in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, the molecular correlates of ATM mutations and their clinical implications have not been fully elucidated.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Clinicopathologic and genomic data from 26,587 patients with NSCLC from MD Anderson, public databases, and a de-identified nationwide (US-based) NSCLC clinicogenomic database (CGDB) were used to assess the co-mutation landscape, protein expression, and mutational processes in ATM-mutant tumors. We used the CGDB to evaluate ATM-associated outcomes in patients treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) with or without chemotherapy, and assessed the effect of …

Rsif Ghana Country Report 2023, Regional Scholarship And Innovation Fund (Rsif)

Rsif Country Progress Reports

Science, technology, and innovation are key drivers in Ghana’s transition to a sustainable economic model, with high prospects of value addition and diversification. Ghana is one of the nine African countries that is contributing to the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (Rsif) of the Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) since 2019. Its contribution of USD 2 million is through the World Bank supported Africa Centres of Excellence for Higher Education for Development Impact (ACE Impact) project, to train Ghanaian PhD students in selected African host universities and collaborating with international partner institutions. Through PASET-Rsif, Ghana …

Triple Helix: Ai-Artist-Audience Collaboration In A Performative Art Experience, Xuedan Zou

Dartmouth College Master’s Theses

Imagine an art exhibition that morphs its content according to the audience’s experience like a chameleon, reflecting the audience’s mind and culture and turning the artist’s exhibition into the viewer’s. But when the viewers leave, the work fades back to the creator’s original work and waits for the next audience. In this project, my team introduced an interactive exhibition called "Triple Helix," where audience members were provided the opportunity to alter the artworks created by the artist, thus imbuing them with their own perspectives. This interactive exhibition was held at three physical-locations and online, and a comprehensive user study was …

21st Century Skills Required In Eswatini's Higher Agricultural Education Curriculum, Zanele Muntu Gule Ms, Edwards A. Alademerin Prof, Marietta P. Dlamini Prof

Journal of Research in Technical Careers

The skills gap between agricultural education graduates from the University of Eswatini (UNESWA) and what employers are searching for is growing. Literature informs that this is mostly owing to the world's rapid changes, with ICT serving as the primary change engine, necessitating new sets of abilities from graduates as well as up-to-date teaching and evaluation methodologies in higher education institutions. These demands prompted the researchers to first establish the set of 21^st century skills that UNESWA graduates must acquire in order to thrive and participate fully in today's market. The study's purpose, therefore, was to develop a set of …

The Headless Skater Girl, Makayla French

Gandy Dancer Archives

Mixed media: acrylic and a transfer process

Special Education Cause Lawyers, Mark C. Weber

Case Western Reserve Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Scarlet - Volume Cii, No. 6 (December 1, 2023), Scarlet Staff

The Scarlet (Student Newspaper) (2011-present)

The December 1, 2023 edition of The Scarlet (est. 1939), Clark University's student-run newspaper. The Scarlet is intellectually and editorially independent of the University.

Patient Perspectives On Selecting An Academic Aesthetic Surgeon: A Qualitative Analysis, Shirley Chen Md, Benjamin C. Park Md, Alan T. Makhoul Md, Galen Perdikis Md, Catherine Hammack-Aviran Ma, Jd, Brian C. Drolet Md

Law Faculty Scholarship

This qualitative interview study investigates how patients select aesthetic surgeons and why some choose academic medical centers for cosmetic procedures. Interviews with 24 patients explored decision-making factors, perceptions of surgeon qualifications, and knowledge gaps regarding physician training and credentialing. Participants consistently prioritized interpersonal qualities such as bedside manner and prior patient satisfaction, while objective indicators like board certification were frequently undervalued. Many patients selected academic practices due to institutional reputation and the perceived availability of multidisciplinary support in the event of complications. The study also revealed widespread misunderstanding regarding physician qualifications in aesthetic surgery, highlighting the need for improved public …

Widening The Aperture: A Case Study Of Widening The Definition Of Evidence For Strategy, Jennifer James, Sandra Hilliard

The Foundation Review

The need to “widen the aperture” to consider different types and sources of evidence is paramount to sharpening grantmaking strategies that are in service of those we seek to serve. This article describes an underlying process of identifying and applying equity considerations in the evidence considered for strategy development in the context of a large, national foundation.

The aim was to develop a “common evidence base” — the core of which was a database library — and what was understood from the evidence was synthesized to bring together what was currently known, the edges of the foundation’s understanding, and emerging …

The Landscape Of Community-Based Giving Days In The United States, Abhishek Bhati, Andrew Burk

The Foundation Review

Within the last decade there has been an exponential growth of community foundation- led giving days, credited in general to the ease afforded by online giving, the social media presence of nonprofits, and the sense of community these events widely impart. However, current academic literature on these events remains sparse. This article addresses this gap with a longitudinal examination of the growth of community foundation-led giving days from 2009 to 2022.

The study found only two giving days led by community foundations in 2009, peaking at 78 in 2020, and plateauing to 71 giving days in 2022. In 2020, the …

A Year Of Learning: Educating The Philanthropic Community About Racialized And Stigmatized Nonprofits, Shariq Siddiqui, Rafeel Wasif, Abdul Samad

The Foundation Review

Islamophobia and a lack of legitimacy heavily impact Muslim-led nonprofits and limit their relationships with philanthropy in the United States, resulting in an anemic, continually underfunded sector. This article explores that disconnect within a discussion of the Year of Learning, a unique series of virtual workshops that brought together foundations and nonprofits serving the Muslim American community.

Among the barriers to more effective relationships that emerged from the workshops were the presence of Islamophobia within society at large and philanthropy in particular, a hesitance among U.S. foundations to fund faith-based work, and a lack of capacity among Muslim-led nonprofits. Also …

An In Vitro Platform To Characterize Myocardial Wound Remodeling, Jonathan Heywood

All Dissertations

Heart Failure, sometimes called Congestive Heart Failure, is a collection of pathological disruptions in which the heart is unable to pump blood properly. It affects over 6 million people in the United States, with the cost-per-patient at approximately $30,000 and the total cost estimated to be $160 billion by 2030. There is no single cause of heart failure, as it can manifest as a varying array of diseases, disorders, and syndromes. However, many of these underlying diseases result specifically from dysregulation of mechanically active cells called cardiac fibroblasts, which play a critical role in the remodeling of the extracellular matrix …

Multidimensional Chromatographic Coupling Strategies Implementing Capillary-Channeled Polymer Fiber Stationary Phases, Sarah Wysor

All Dissertations

Liquid chromatography (LC) is a widely employed technique in analytical separations due to the ease of implementing rapid analysis methods to isolate targeted analytes. While LC is commonplace, challenges often arise with complex macromolecules as it often effects isolation via only one attribute of the targeted analyte (i.e., physical, chemical). To cater to increasingly complex samples requiring multiple chromatographic workflows, two-dimensional liquid chromatography (2DLC) has emerged. Various applications, such as drug discovery, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and specialty chemical manufacturing, require highly pure final products for release to the market. Consequently, multiple chromatographic steps are necessary for isolation and purification. Within pharmaceuticals, …

The Relationship Between Community Rebounding After A Sequence Of Environmental Disasters And Social Cohesion In Puerto Rico, Saeideh Sobhaninia

All Dissertations

Experiencing disasters and losing family and friends is tough. Imagine being forced to live in a temporary shelter and not knowing when you can return to your place. This uncertainty might happen to Puerto Ricans if the fast community rebounding is not reflected in the disaster recovery. Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico devastated the island and created acute vulnerabilities that must be addressed by making communities more robust and resilient to future shocks.

This research aimed to understand the underlying reasons why some communities in Puerto Rico are more resilient and are better able to recover from a disaster while …

A Burkean Herstory: Liminal Narratives In The Life And Work Of Kenneth Burke, Heather F. Hartness

All Dissertations

Women’s contributions to the world are mostly absent from the traditional historical narrative. Who is anonymous and what is invisible often proves challenging and difficult to imagine. We build our understanding of possibilities from what we learn, read, and see. Half of the world’s population accounting for less than one-fifth of historical narratives indicates a liminal chasm; notable people are missing from history. Time marches on, and if the contributions of historically marginalized people continue to be silenced, their contributions will continue to be invisible and unvalued. Histories and herstories are not neutral accounts. Even though most histories are partial, …

Did That Help? Harnessing Natural Language Processing To Uncover Characteristics Of Peer Feedback And Their Impacts On Teamwork-Skills Learning., Annamaria V. Wolf

All Dissertations

Peer Evaluation Systems (PESs) allow members of student teams to provide one another with computer-mediated feedback in the form of qualitative, open-ended comments. The current research leverages unsupervised Natural Language Processing (NLP), namely Biterm Topic Modeling (BTM) and sentiment analysis, to uncover latent topics and degree of positivity and negativity expressed in peer feedback, respectively. BTM results revealed a 6-topic model that was reliably replicated over 10 Gibbs initializations 80% of the time. Topics were labeled Timely Communication, Idea Generation, Coordination & Adaptation, Work Quality, Team Support & Focusing, and Work Accountability. Qualitative comparison suggests that these topics demonstrate …

Force Displacement, Forced Perspective: The Rhetorics Of Refugee Experience, Jonathan Burgess

All Dissertations

This dissertation interrogates the intersection of digital media, displacement, and human rights within the contemporary geopolitical landscape, with a specific focus on the MENA region. From a perspective firmly rooted rhetoric, it dissects the complex relationship between technology and displaced populations, emphasizing the role of transmedia storytelling in shaping refugee experiences and narratives and the potential for transmedia storytelling to facilitate greater insights into needs and gaps for displaced people. Central to the analysis is the paradox of digital tools both as emancipatory devices and tools of surveillance and control, which are further elucidated through case studies.

Engaging with thinkers …

Delineating The Impact Of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Abca1/G1 And Mir-33a Expression On Atherosclerosis, Olanrewaju Oladosu

All Dissertations

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of mortality worldwide due to being the predominant factor in heart attack and stroke deaths. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is caused by cholesterol accumulating in arteries. It is historically thought that the cell type most responsible for causing atherosclerosis via excessive cholesterol accumulation is intimal monocyte-derived macrophages. However, macrophage-like cells (MLC) of vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) origin have now been proposed as another cell type to trigger atherosclerosis, since VSMC cholesterol accumulation results in these cells to trans-differentiate into a MLC phenotype. Three major genes involved in cholesterol metabolism are ABCA1, ABCG1, and …

Citizenship And Human Rights: The Path To Reparation, Larissa Rocha

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Human rights and citizenship are strictly tied together. Without citizenship to a country, one cannot have their human rights guaranteed. In the framework of reparative citizenship, and methodology of feminist political philosophy, I search for solutions for the statelessness and citizenship issues in India and Ukraine. I offer an analysis of the differences and similarities between both cases while going through both countries' colonial histories and understanding their impacts on the issues they are facing today.

Analyzing Transportation Amenities In The City Of Shamokin: An Emphasis On The Lower Anthracite Transportation System, Zane Hensal, Jeff Cianfrocca, Kosta Varkaris

Coal Region Field Station Student Projects

As the population gets older, and means of transportation get more expensive, the need for increased public transportation has increased exponentially. To develop recommendations for the Lower Anthracite Transportation System (LATS) in Northumberland County, this report compared various forms of multimodal transportation throughout the United States, and other foreign countries, and compared them with the current standards and practices set by LATS service. According to the United State Census Bureau, Shamokin is a small 3^rd class city in Northumberland County Pennsylvania, with a population of 6,901, a poverty rate of 35.9%, and is in the LATS service area. Shamokin …

A Survey On Business Intelligence Approach Based On Deep Learning, Asaad R. Kareem, Hasanen S.

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

The article provides an overview of two recent developments in technology: Business Intelligence (BI) and Deep Learning (DL). In order to support decision-making processes, BI entails gathering, integrating, and analyzing data from various sources, while DL uses artificial neural networks to learn and generate predictions from complicated datasets. This paper introduces the concepts and principles and highlights recent developments and applications in different domains of research: education, organizations, stock market, forecasting, decision-making in real-time, and security. However, the fundamental problem with the business intelligence approach is that there is no learning inVolved. Other limitations and challenges include the capacity that …

Full Issue Vol. 15 Issue 4

The Foundation Review

No abstract provided.

Environmental Exposures And Aging., Daniel Chris Gomes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, research into air pollution has shown that exposure to certain components in air pollution, primarily PM2.5 can accelerate biological aging and thereby lead to increased susceptibility to multiple diseases. We hypothesize that prolonged exposure to air pollutants can result in premature aging leading to extensive tissue dysfunction and susceptibility to diseases. To examine this, we exposed mice to PM2.5 for 9, 15, and 21 days, then measured the telomere lengths, cellular senescence, and histone methylation patterns of multiple cell types. We found consistently increased telomere attrition, cellular senescence and advanced age-consistent histone methylation patterns in groups exposed …

Study Of The Effects Of Chronic Cadmium Exposure On The Pathogenesis Of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension., Dakotah Dominique Cathey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We reported pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) patients had elevated levels of Cd in both blood and urine, therefore, this study tested whether Cd directly induces PAH or facilitates PAH pathogenesis in mouse models. C57/6J mice were initially exposed to drinking water with or without 5ppm Cd for 8 weeks. Then, half the mice in both control and Cd groups were given SU5416 and hypoxia (SuHx) for 4 weeks to induce PAH, resulting in 4 subgroups: Control, Cd, PAH, and Cd+PAH. Diastolic and systolic functions of the left and right ventricles (LV, RV) were examined with echocardiography before and after PAH. …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Silver-Coated Polyester Dendrimers With Potential Antimicorbial Properties, Che’Darria Lacey

All Theses

As bacterial cell lines continue to develop resistance to conventional antibiotic medications, the threat of untreatable bacterial infections continues to grow. The limited manufacture of new pharmaceuticals further exacerbates this severe health risk. This risk has facilitated numerous investigations to counter microbial species’ antibiotic resistance. The use of silver, a well-known natural remedy, has grown significant attraction through its use in the nanoparticle form or even as silver ions.

This thesis project involves the synthesis of branched polymers that were suitably functionalized to enable the complexation of silver ions to develop antimicrobial materials. Polyester dendrimers were synthesized utilizing divergent dendronization. …

The Current State Of Abortion Law In Virginia Leaves Victims Of Domestic And Sexual Violence Vulnerable To Abuse: Why Virginia Should Codify The Right To Abortion In The State Constitution†, Courtenay Schwartz

University of Richmond Law Review

All people must have access to safe and legal reproductive health care—especially victims of sexual and domestic violence who can and do become pregnant because of the violence they experience. This year, the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. In doing so, the Supreme Court held that the Constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. Though abortion access is currently protected in Virginia, this could change with each new General Assembly session. To guard against the danger that this poses to …

Say What?! When Chatgpt Gets It Wrong: Examining Generative Ai, Section 230 Of The Communications Decency Act, And The Essence Of Creativity, Jason Davidson, Hilary G. Buttrick

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

Since its November 2022 release, OpenAI’s large language model (“LLM”), ChatGPT, has become a household name, outscoring medical students on clinical exams, passing the bar, and polarizing academia. The wildly popular generative AI tool reached 100 million users in just sixtyone days, surpassing tech giants including Netflix, Instagram, and TikTok in reaching that milestone. ChatGPT’s robust performance in real-world applications has demonstrated its disruptive capabilities, triggering both societal excitement and concern. The advantages of this species of AI are seemingly endless: content creators can generate ideas, businesses can automate document creation, programmers can generate code, and much more.

Characterization Of Human Fibroblast Growth Factor 2 Variant To Determine Effects On Structure, Stability, And Cell Proliferation, Ryan Layes

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fibroblast growth factors (FGFs) are a family of cell signaling proteins conserved across multiple species. Each individual FGF elicits different cellular functions including, but not limited to, proliferation, migration, differentiation, angiogenesis, and wound healing. One of the most studied members, fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), has demonstrated substantial wound healing capacity in a wide range of tissues including skeletal, muscular, neural, respiratory, epithelial, and cardiovascular. This ability makes FGF2 a potential therapeutic for a wide range of conditions and injuries. However, due to a short half-life at room temperature, therapeutic use of FGF2 is limited. It has been demonstrated that …