Digital Commons Network^™

Physicochemical Properties Of Poly (Ε-Caprolactone) And Magnesium Oxide Incorporated Poly (Ε-Caprolactone) Nanofibers, Daisaku Gicheha

All Theses

Polymer nanofibers are used to develop materials that possess customized characteristics for diverse applications. The applications of nanofibers are influenced by their significant surface-to-volume ratio, the porosity of the nanofiber lattice, and distinctive physicochemical characteristics. The molecular orientation of electrospun nanofibers is a crucial and intricate feature that has a direct impact on the structures and properties of the nanofiber mat. The utilization of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), and X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD), facilitated the determination of the morphology, chemical structure, and thermal properties of nanofibers. The SEM analysis revealed that the …

Human-Modified Landscapes Driving The Global Primate Extinction Crisis, Erik Joaquín Torres-Romero, Vincent Nijman, David Fernández, Timothy M. Eppley

Anthropology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The world's primates have been severely impacted in diverse and profound ways by anthropogenic pressures. Here, we evaluate the impact of various infrastructures and human-modified landscapes on spatial patterns of primate species richness, at both global and regional scales. We overlaid the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) range maps of 520 primate species and applied a global 100 km2 grid. We used structural equation modeling and simultaneous autoregressive models to evaluate direct and indirect effects of six human-altered landscapes variables (i.e., human footprint [HFP], croplands [CROP], road density [ROAD], pasture lands [PAST], protected areas [PAs], and Indigenous …

A Familiar Unknown, Samantha Sonnenfeld

Theses

This thesis examines how using glass can challenge perceptions of small moments and their importance by overlaying stellar imagery on everyday spaces to imbue notions of investigative leisure with cosmic importance. I use many types of glass to reinterpret what function can mean and how objects can create lenses for understanding each other, our universe, and ultimately ourselves. Looking at where conversations are shared and introspection blossoms, I find that objects hold their own gravity and can draw us into a moment that sets the scene for solo or group development.

Dean's Research Newsletter, August 2023, Neil W. Schluger

SOM Dean's Research Newsletter

No abstract provided.

A Spatially Resolved Single-Cell Genomic Atlas Of The Adult Human Breast, Tapsi Kumar, Kevin Nee, Runmin Wei, Siyuan He, Quy H Nguyen, Shanshan Bai, Kerrigan Blake, Maren Pein, Yanwen Gong, Emi Sei, Min Hu, Anna K Casasent, Aatish Thennavan, Jianzhuo Li, Tuan Tran, Ken Chen, Benedikt Nilges, Nachiket Kashikar, Oliver Braubach, Bassem Ben Cheikh, Nadya Nikulina, Hui Chen, Mediget Teshome, Brian Menegaz, Huma Javaid, Chandandeep Nagi, Jessica Montalvan, Tatyana Lev, Sharmila Mallya, Delia F Tifrea, Robert Edwards, Erin Lin, Ritesh Parajuli, Summer Hanson, Sebastian Winocour, Alastair Thompson, Bora Lim, Devon A Lawson, Kai Kessenbrock, Nicholas Navin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The adult human breast is comprised of an intricate network of epithelial ducts and lobules that are embedded in connective and adipose tissue1-3. Although most previous studies have focused on the breast epithelial system4-6, many of the non-epithelial cell types remain understudied. Here we constructed the comprehensive Human Breast Cell Atlas (HBCA) at single-cell and spatial resolution. Our single-cell transcriptomics study profiled 714,331 cells from 126 women, and 117,346 nuclei from 20 women, identifying 12 major cell types and 58 biological cell states. These data reveal abundant perivascular, endothelial and immune cell populations, and highly diverse luminal epithelial cell states. …

Exploring And Testing Wildfire Risk Decision-Making In The Face Of Deep Uncertainty, Bart R. Johnson, Alan A. Ager, Cody Evers, David Hulse, Max Nielsen-Pincus, John P. Bolte

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

We integrated a mechanistic wildfire simulation system with an agent-based landscape change model to investigate the feedbacks among climate change, population growth, development, landowner decision-making, vegetative succession, and wildfire. Our goal was to develop an adaptable simulation platform for anticipating risk-mitigation tradeoffs in a fire-prone wildland– urban interface (WUI) facing conditions outside the bounds of experience. We describe how five social and ecological system (SES) submodels interact over time and space to generate highly variable alternative futures even within the same scenario as stochastic elements in simulated wildfire, succession, and landowner decisions create large sets of unique, path-dependent futures for …

Raps Sheet, Summer 2023, Retirement Association Of Portland State

RAPS Sheet: Monthly Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Past, Present, And Future Of The Latino Paradox, Sheila Flores

University Honors Theses

The Latino/Hispanic paradox has left scholars and researchers puzzled as to how Latinos, despite facing socioeconomic challenges, show better health outcomes when compared to other racial/ethnic groups. The emergence of this phenomenon can be traced back to the 1980s/1990s when researchers first noticed Latinos in the United States having characteristics of lower mortality rates and improved health compared with non-Hispanic whites despite having a better socioeconomic status. Performing a literature review of scholars analyzing the past, present, and future of the Latino Paradox will thus allow for an understanding of its origin, current state, and the possible potential trajectories that …

Musculoskeletal Pain, A Possible Indicator Of Central Sensitization, Is Positively Associated With Lower Urinary Tract Symptom Progression In Community-Dwelling Older Men, Angela Senders, Scott Bauer, Yiyi Chen, Barry Oken, Howard A. Fink, Nancy E. Lane, Kamran P. Sajadi, Lynn M. Marshall

OHSU-PSU School of Public Health Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Musculoskeletal pain, a possible marker of central sensitization, is associated with higher prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) among older men. We investigated whether musculoskeletal pain is associated with LUTS progression.

Methods

Participants were 5 569 men age ≥65 years enrolled in the prospective, multicenter Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Study. Self-reported musculoskeletal pain within 12 months before baseline was categorized as any pain and multilocation pain. Pain interference within 4 weeks of baseline was assessed with the SF-12 questionnaire. LUTS were assessed repeatedly with the American Urological Association Symptom Index (AUA-SI). Men with severe LUTS at baseline …

Effects Of Acute And Chronic Gut Injury On Secretory Lineage Differentiation, Roger Atanga

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Acute and chronic injury to the gut has several detrimental consequences. However, dysregulation of secretory lineage cells is a common observation. To model acute gut injury, we use non-fissile uranium bearing dust (UBD), an environmental toxicant prevalent in communities adjacent abandoned uranium mines, majority of which are located in the Southwestern United States. Repeated exposure to environmental toxins and heavy metals has been obscurely linked to intestinal inflammation, increased susceptibility to pathogen-induced diseases, and higher incidences of colorectal cancer. However, there is no molecular evidence that non-fissile uranium can cause damage to the intestinal epithelia. Human colonoids exposed to UBD …

Heterochiral Dna Nanotechnology For Biomedical Applications, Tracy L. Mallette

Biomedical Engineering ETDs

In the past 30 years, there have been major advancements on how to treat and diagnose disease because of the improvement and increase in accessibility of sequencing technology. Nucleic acid-based therapeutics can manipulate protein expression. Likewise, pathogens can be identified and detected with single nucleotide specificity. However, the underlying oligonucleotide technology requires protection against natural defense systems that have evolved to destroy foreign nucleic acids. Many chemical modifications that can protect nucleotides also have significant cytotoxic side effects and must be carefully designed into the strands. A novel way to protect against nuclease-mediated degradation is through the use of mirror-image, …

Synthesis And Reactivity Of Heteroatom Embedded Cycloalkynes In Spaac, Nickel Catalyzed Alkylarylation Of Alkenes, And Carbofluorination Of Alkynes, Namrata Khanal

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Part I covers Chapters 1, 2, and 3

cycloaddition reactions, that is utilized in biorthogonal chemistry. This metal free version The strain promoted azide-alkyne cycloaddition (SPAAC) reaction is one of the popular 1,3-dipolar of click reaction offers advantage over copper catalyzed click reaction. Since it eliminates the use of copper that is toxic to cells, it is considered favorable for biocompatible reaction. Due to the increased reactivity with dipoles without the use of metal catalyst, cycloalkynes, in particular cyclooctynes, have been employed as the biorthogonal reagent in biorthogonal chemical reaction for the study of a biological processes in vivo. The …

The (Im)Mobility Of Being: The Anti-Black And Colonial Roots Of Contemporary Policing, Korey Tillman

Sociology ETDs

Popular debates over policing often revolve around spectacular forms of police violence that grab national media attention. In this study, I examine the everydayness of contemporary U.S. policing and the antiblack and colonial roots that sustains its many forms. Drawing on three years of ethnographic fieldwork with a grassroots abolitionist organization and homeless service provider, and 23 interviews with Black adults across the U.S., I show how mundane policing serves as sites of racialization where the category of human is contested. I offer stops as an analytic to observe how these mundane forms of policing occur in places such as …

Disrupting Whiteness In Education Organizations: Community Testimonios Of Strategy, Resistance, And Perseverance In Educational Justice Organizing, Florence E. Castillo

Sociology ETDs

Through this project, I utilize multiple approaches to disrupt whiteness. I make a case for centering Indigenous and non-Western methods, such as testimonio in sociological studies, to disrupt the academic whiteness of knowledge creation and validation. Whiteness itself is amorphous and looks different depending on circumstances, location, who holds power, and context (Hughey 2016). Utilizing a theory of racialized organizations, I shed light on how whiteness is normalized in education institutions through race-neutral, everyday actions (Ray 2019). This further disrupts whiteness by rendering it visible. Finally, I highlight the different modes of resistance that educational activists use to disrupt whiteness. …

Genomic Analyses In Cornelia De Lange Syndrome And Related Diagnoses: Novel Candidate Genes, Genotype-Phenotype Correlations And Common Mechanisms, Maninder Kaur, Justin Blair, Batsal Devkota, Sierra Fortunato, Dinah Clark, Audrey Lawrence, Jiwoo Kim, Wonwook Do, Benjamin Semeo, Olivia Katz, Devanshi Mehta, Nobuko Yamamoto, Emma Schindler, Zayd Al Rawi, Nina Wallace, Jonathan J Wilde, Jennifer Mccallum, Jinglan Liu, Dongbin Xu, Marie Jackson, Stefan Rentas, Ahmad Abou Tayoun, Zhang Zhe, Omar Abdul-Rahman, Bill Allen, Moris A Angula, Kwame Anyane-Yeboa, Jesús Argente, Pamela H Arn, Linlea Armstrong, Lina Basel-Salmon, Gareth Baynam, Lynne M Bird, Daniel Bruegger, Gaik-Siew Ch'ng, David Chitayat, Robin Clark, Gerald F Cox, Usha Dave, Elfrede Debaere, Michael Field, John M Graham, Karen W Gripp, Robert Greenstein, Neerja Gupta, Randy Heidenreich, Jodi Hoffman, Robert J Hopkin, Kenneth L Jones, Marilyn C Jones, Ariana Kariminejad, Jillene Kogan, Baiba Lace, Julian Leroy, Sally Ann Lynch, Marie Mcdonald, Kirsten Meagher, Nancy Mendelsohn, Ieva Micule, John Moeschler, Sheela Nampoothiri, Kaoru Ohashi, Cynthia M Powell, Subhadra Ramanathan, Salmo Raskin, Elizabeth Roeder, Marlene Rio, Alan F Rope, Karan Sangha, Angela E Scheuerle, Adele Schneider, Stavit Shalev, Victoria Siu, Rosemarie Smith, Cathy Stevens, Tinatin Tkemaladze, John Toimie, Helga Toriello, Anne Turner, Patricia G Wheeler, Susan M White, Terri Young, Kathleen M Loomes, Mary Pipan, Ann Tokay Harrington, Elaine Zackai, Ramakrishnan Rajagopalan, Laura Conlin, Matthew A Deardorff, Deborah Mceldrew, Juan Pie, Feliciano Ramos, Antonio Musio, Antonie D Kline, Kosuke Izumi, Sarah E Raible, Ian D Krantz

Pediatrics Research and Scholarship

Cornelia de Lange Syndrome (CdLS) is a rare, dominantly inherited multisystem developmental disorder characterized by highly variable manifestations of growth and developmental delays, upper limb involvement, hypertrichosis, cardiac, gastrointestinal, craniofacial, and other systemic features. Pathogenic variants in genes encoding cohesin complex structural subunits and regulatory proteins (NIPBL, SMC1A, SMC3, HDAC8, and RAD21) are the major pathogenic contributors to CdLS. Heterozygous or hemizygous variants in the genes encoding these five proteins have been found to be contributory to CdLS, with variants in NIPBL accounting for the majority (>60%) of cases, and the only gene identified to date that results in …

Wild Bee Utilization Of Engineered Pollinator Habitat In Eastern Nebraska Agroecosystems, Shianne Lindsay

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Habitat loss is a leading cause of biodiversity decline globally. Further, loss of natural and semi-natural habitat is a major factor contributing to declines in wild pollinator populations. Among intensive agroecosystems in the Midwestern United States, corn, soy, and small grain fields dominate the landscape and leave limited space available for forb-rich habitat that supports diverse pollinator assemblages to exist and thrive. There are numerous barriers and challenges to integrating pollinator habitat into such agroecosystems and quantitative assessments of impacts on pollinator communities are largely lacking. The establishment of high-quality pollinator habitat can provide both high flower abundance and species …

Growth And Emergent Functionalities Of Oxide Thin Films Utilizing Interface Engineering, Detian Yang

Department of Physics and Astronomy: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Complex oxide interfaces have offered intriguing novel emergent phenomena and multiple functionalities through interfacial reconstructions of spin, orbital, charge, and lattice degrees of freedom. Interface engineering via manipulating interfacial interaction, defects and multiple interfacial quantum charges and orders constitutes the essential method and technique to achieve desired functionalities in oxide heterostructures. In this thesis, shown are two examples of utilizing interfacial reconstruction and interfacial strain engineering to achieve intrinsic exchange bias and realize epitaxial growth of mixed-valence hexagonal manganite thin films, respectively.

Firstly, we demonstrated intrinsic exchange bias induced by interfacial reconstruction in Ni_xCo_yFe_3-x-yO …

The Perceptions Of Psycap Growth Among College Student Leaders Who Mentor, James Lee

Department of Agricultural Leadership, Education, and Communication: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The purpose of this cross-sectional study is to examine the perceptions of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) growth among college student leaders who mentor. Recent research documented a positive association between mentoring and the mentee’s PsyCap growth, yet little is known about how mentoring impacts the mentor’s PsyCap. Additionally, though PsyCap has been researched considerably in the last decade, little is known about both the antecedents of PsyCap and the social mechanisms that contribute to the growth of PsyCap. This study addresses these gaps and examines the influence of mentoring for leadership development on the mentors’ perceptions of PsyCap growth. There are …

Resistance Narratives: Storytelling Of Transnational Insurgencies In 1960-70s Us And Mexico, Tania Libertad Balderas

English Language and Literature ETDs

Resistance Narratives: Storytelling of Transnational Insurgencies in 1960-70s US and Mexico emphasizes how the narratives from the Mexican Insurgency, the American Indian Movement (AIM), and the leftist faction of the Chicana/o Movement in the 1960s and 1970s articulate intersecting notions of resistance, liberation, and transnational solidarity. The comparative analysis of the testimonial novel Las mujeres del alba (2019) by Chihuahuan novelist Carlos Montemayor, the autobiographies Lakota Woman (1991) and Ohitika Woman (1993) by Sičháŋǧu Lakȟóta writer and AIM militant Mary Brave Bird (formerly Crow Dog), and the memoirs and plays by the San Diego-based group Teatro de las Chicanas, collected …

Investigation Of Possible Inflammatory Response After Ultrasound And Microbubble Procedure In The Spinal Cord., Jenna Wilkerson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this experiment is to explore the inflammatory effects of focused ultrasound paired with intravenously delivered microbubbles when used in the lumbar spinal cord. There are currently very few pharmaceuticals that can successfully enter the blood spinal cord barrier (BSCB). This technique used at the lumbar enlargement might allow targeted treatment of pathologies involving the spinal cord.

To test the possible inflammatory response of this technique, an animal experiment was performed. 15 animals were given a T12 laminectomy and allowed to fully recover. Once recovered, all animals received FUS+MB at L2 and were euthanized in groups of five …

Development And Application Of A Microfluidic Platform For Quantifying Intra-Tumoral Compressive Stress., Zachary P. Fowler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer progression is linked to the emergence of aberrant mechanical signaling in the tumor microenvironment. Modulation of extrinsic signals, such as ECM stiffness and composition, have been thoroughly explored. However, the development of solid stresses within the tumor remains poorly understood. To address this, we have developed a microfluidic platform that generates deformable alginate microbeads that allow for the quantification of compressive stresses generated within a growing glioblastoma (GBM) tumorsphere. PDMS microfluidic devices were fabricated via SU-8 mold with channels ranging from 10µm-40µm in diameter. Fluorescently labeled sodium alginate underwent a cross-linking reaction within the device to generate monodisperse beads …

Design And Evaluation Of A Multi-Functional Surgical Device For Microgravity Surgeries., Sienna Shacklette

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Dormant Season Burning And Flooding On Invasive Cattail, Typha X Glauca, On Rainy Lake And Lake Kabetogama In Northern Minnesota, Erika Meints

All NMU Master's Theses

Typha x glauca is one of the most invasive plants in North America. The plant exhibits hybrid vigor and displaces native flora by rapidly forming dense monotypic stands that can break free from the substrate and form floating mat types when established. I tested the effects of prescribed burning, on Typha x glauca in wetlands to adjacent large lakes in Voyageurs National Park in northern Minnesota. My team surveyed four wetlands that were burned in late winter of 2020-21, and six that were unburned controls. Pre-burn data was also collected for all ten wetlands. Pre-flooding data from other wetlands within …

“Early Covid” Changes In Parenting, Education, And Work On Parental Stress: A Gendered Comparison Of Canadian Parents, Holly Harris

Undergraduate Honors Theses

In May 2020, data were collected through survey as the COVID-19 pandemic was unfolding and still in its “early” months. The sample N=1,208 is of Canadian parents in a residential romantic relationship, who live with a residential child under the age of eighteen years old, who have access to the internet, and speak English or French. I examine how disruptions to child’s education/daycare, work, and parental childcare activities predicted parental stress through regression models. Findings indicate that fathers and mothers stress since the onset of COVID-19 were the same and that gender was not a moderator to parental stress. A …

Effects Of Short-Term Exposure To A Pesticide Mixture On Free-Swimming Behavior In Goldfish, Carassius Auratus, Esmirna Cantu, Michelle Rivera, Brittney Lacy, Md. Saydur Rahman

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Highlights

• We observed effects of pesticides exposure on free-swimming behaviors in goldfish.

• Pesticides profoundly impacting natural swimming patterns.

• Behavioral analysis showed a dose- and time-dependent, decrease in distance swam.

• Vertical/horizontal spatial behavioral use both affected under exposure conditions.

Abstract

The prevalence of pesticides in the aquatic environment continues to increase due to anthropogenic activities and poses a threat to aquatic organisms. Notably, the intensive use of pesticides can cause detrimental effects (i.e., chemical stressors) on animal behavior. The aim of this study was to determine the short-term exposure effects (5-day) of an environmentally relevant pesticide mixture (low- and high-dose: metolachlor …

Cultural Mechanism Of Mothers' Perceptions Of Youth Psychopathology, Yen-Ling Chen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Cross-cultural research systematically identifies variations in cultural practices, meanings, and responses across different cultural groups. For example, psychiatric symptoms vary in their salience and degree to which they are reported across cultures. Cultural differences in causal attributions likely lead to differences in an individual’s help-seeking intention. However, there are limitations in previous cross-cultural studies about perceptions of psychopathology, including not measuring impairment level and parental distress, as well as the problematic use of categorical variables as predictors. To overcome limitations in previous work, the current project examined the cultural mechanism of mothers’ perceptions of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology in youth. …

Babywearing's Influence On Parent And Infant Heart Rates, Joo-Hee Han

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Babywearing is the practice of carrying an infant in a baby carrier close to the body. It provides an environment that allows the bodies of the parent and infant to be close together. The closeness of parent and infant improves the well-being and coregulation of the parent and infant, which could be estimated with heart rate (HR). Few studies have examined mother-infant dyads, but even fewer have examined father-infant dyads. This study examined mother-infant and father-infant dyads, especially for infants with neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS). The significance of studying babywearing in this vulnerable population is that if babywearing is associated …

Depression, Anxiety, And Estimated Cardiorespiratory Fitness In College Students, Christian Ison

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Depression and anxiety disorders are two common mental health conditions worldwide. College students are considered a high-risk population for the development of these conditions. Improved cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) has been shown to decrease depression and anxiety risk, symptoms, and severity but this relationship and the extent to which improved CRF can reduce these risks has yet to be examined in the college student population. Validated and reliable non-exercise estimated cardiorespiratory fitness (eCRF) algorithms could be used to identify relationships and associations with depression and anxiety severity levels among college students. The purpose of this study was to assess eCRF and …

Informing Management Strategy For The Relict Leopard Frog (Rana Onca): Insights Into Breeding Biology And An Attempt To Improve Augmentation Success Through Pre-Exposure And Clearance Of An Emerging Amphibian Pathogen, Rebeca Rivera

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The Relict Leopard Frog, Rana onca, is a species of conservation concern that suffered a decline sometime during the 20th century. Even after two decades of intensive management, the species currently only occupies 20 spring sites in southern Nevada and northwestern Arizona. The causes for the historical decline are mostly speculative, but relate to habitat loss, introduced predators, and emergent disease. Since 2001, R. onca has been under an intensive conservationprogram managed by a multiagency conservation team. There are several objectives specified in the program including the need to investigate the biology of the species and incorporate findings into …

Facial Expression Recognition Using Convolutional Neural Networks (Cnns) And Generative Adversarial Networks (Gans) For Data Augmentation And Image Generation, Shekhar Singh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Facial expressions play a crucial role in human communication, serving as a powerful means to convey emotions. However, classifying facial expressions using artificial intelligence (AI) can be challenging, especially with small datasets and images. Facial Expression Recognition (FER) is an active area of research, with Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) being widely employed for classification. In this research, we propose a CNN-based approach for FER that utilizes both original and augmented datasets to enhance classification accuracy. Experimental results on the FER2013 dataset show test accuracies of 63.39% and 64.59% for the original and augmented datasets, respectively, in a seven-class classification task. …