Digital Commons Network^™

Compositions Comprising Celtos Immunogens And Antibodies And Method Of Use Thereof, Niraj Tolia, John Jimah, Nichole Salinas, Darya Urusova, John Adams, Shulin Xu, Allison Roth, Hirdesh Kumar

USF Patents

The present disclosure provides immunogenic compositions and methods for vaccination with a CelTOS immunogen. The immunogenic composition comprises Babesia, Theileria or Cytauxzoon CelTOS. The immunogenic composition may also comprise CelTOS with structural changes that affect immune recognition.

Choice Of Animal Models To Investigate Cell Migration And Invasion In Glioblastoma., Piyanka Hettiarachchi, Taeju Park

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Glioblastoma is an aggressive and prevalent form of brain cancer characterized by rapid tumor cell migration and invasion into surrounding healthy tissues, making it resistant to conventional treatments. Despite advances in therapeutic approaches, patient prognosis remains poor, with a median survival of approximately 15 months. Tumor cell infiltration along perivascular spaces and white matter tracts is a major driver of recurrence, underscoring the need for experimental models that accurately capture these invasive behaviors. Animal models remain indispensable for this purpose, offering insights that cannot be fully replicated in vitro. This review focuses on applying animal models to elucidate the mechanisms …

Anionic Azo Dyes: Wastewater Pollutants As Functionalizing Agents For Porous Polycarbonate Membranes Aiding In Water Decolorization, Alan Jarrett Messinger, Isabella S. Mays, Brennon Craigo, Jeffrey Joering, Sean P. Mcbride

Physics Faculty Research

Efficient water decolorization techniques are vital for ensuring fresh water for future generations. Azo dyes are used heavily in the textile industry and are a challenge to remove from industrial wastewater. This research expands on recent innovative work where anionic azo dyes themselves were used to functionalize track-etched porous polycarbonate filtration membranes with decolorized water obtained as a byproduct. The objective of this research is to determine whether the observed dye rejection is dependent on the magnitude of the intrinsic charge of the dye molecule or on its structure, using two selectively chosen anionic azo dye series during functionalization. The …

Danicamtiv Reduces Myosin’S Working Stroke But Activates The Thin Filament By Accelerating Actomyosin Attachment, Brent Scott, Lina Greenberg, Caterina Squarci, Kenneth S. Campbell, Michael J. Greenberg

Physiology Faculty Publications

Heart failure is a leading cause of death worldwide, and even with current treatments, the 5-y transplant-free survival rate is only ~50 to 70%. As such, there is a need to develop new treatments for patients that improve survival and quality of life. Recently, there have been efforts to develop small molecules for heart failure that directly target components of the sarcomere, including cardiac myosin. Danicamtiv is one of these molecules; however, its direct effects on myosin’s single molecule mechanics and kinetics are not well understood. Using optical trapping techniques, stopped flow transient kinetics, and in vitro reconstitution assays, we …

Navigating The Challenges Of Global & National Uncertainty, The Global & National Security Policy Institute

LAII Events

Tuesday, August 26, 2025 | 08:00 am - 05:00 pm

Student Union Building Ballroom C

About:

The Global & National Security Policy Institute will gather the New Mexico security community for a symposium featuring practitioner and academic perspectives on the challenges of intelligence analysis, grand strategy, extended deterrence in Taiwan, the nuclear age, technology and advancement, and global cooperation for enhancing non-traditional security as well as poster presentations by GNSPI's Junior Research Fellows.

Notes:

This event is free and open to the public.

Utilization Of Colors, Lighting, And Materials As A Narrative Ai-Tool To Convey Human Emotions In Museums’ Interior Spaces. A Case Study Of The Museum Of Islamic Art Cairo, Egypt., Dalia Moati, Rawan Medhat, Fagr Hesham, Nada Khaled, Tamer

Architectural Engineering

This study explores the relationship between museum interior design and human emotional responses, focusing on how key design elements—color, lighting, and materials—can be optimized to enhance visitor engagement and emotional well- being. Conducted at the Museum of Islamic Art in Cairo, Egypt, the research examines two critical spaces along the visitor journey: the Medicine Hall, introducing the experience, and the Writings Hall, situated toward the end of the route, where fatigue and emotional disengagement often occur. Over a nine-week period, a mixed-methods approach was employed, integrating structured observation, behavioral mapping, and AI-assisted image modifications to generate controlled design variations, alongside …

Exploring The Service-Learning Volunteer Experience Of African American Male Educators In Urban Schools, Gia N. Paige

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Educators who self-identify as African American male educators are underrepresented in educational leadership and scholarship on service learning, despite the significant roles they play in shaping urban educational spaces. In this qualitative phenomenological study, the lived service experiences of five African American male educators who engaged in service-learning and volunteerism in urban schools were explored. The purpose was to examine how these educators narrated their service experiences and how those experiences intersected with their identity as African American males. African American male theory was used to frame the study, emphasizing cultural heritage, resistance to deficit perspectives, and the affirmation of …

What Perceptions Do Esl- Endorsed Teachers In A Midwest-Urban School District Hold Regarding The Achievement Gap Between Their Ells And Non-Ell Students?, Hannah Jeanne Walling

Masters Projects

In today's diverse and interconnected society, the educational landscape is marked by a significant influx of students who are English language learners (ELLs). These students, while enriching the cultural tapestry of classrooms, face unique challenges in acquiring academic skills and achieving success in their educational journey. This thesis aims to delve into the achievement gap that exists between English language learners and their non-English language learner counterparts and what perceptions their teachers have on them, with a particular focus on the United States educational system. By examining the factors contributing to this disparity, exploring effective instructional strategies, and proposing targeted …

Suppression Of Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy By A Macrophage Efferocytosis Receptor, Sahil Shah, Aparnaa Ananthakrishnan, Matthew Deberge, Kristofor Glinton, Rebecca T L Jones, Mallory Filipp, Ivana Shen, Joey Lockhart, Connor W Lantz, Edward B Thorp

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy remains a major cause of late morbidity following heart transplantation. While accumulating evidence implicates innate macrophages in the inflammatory progression of CAV, the underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In murine models of CAV, we identified proteolytic cleavage of MERTK, a key anti-inflammatory receptor on macrophages, as a contributing factor to CAV progression. In a model of CAV, MERTK deficiency accelerated allograft rejection and increased intimal leukocyte infiltration. In contrast, mice expressing a genetically cleavage-resistant form of MERTK (MertkCR/CR) exhibited prolonged graft survival, reduced intimal thickening, diminished immune cell infiltration, and decreased circulating effector T cells. …

The Role Of Recruited Adipose Stromal Cells And Their Fibroblastic Differentiation In Cancer, Lingyi Cai, Mikhail G Kolonin, Dimitris Anastassiou

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Adipose stromal cells (ASCs) are perivascular mesenchymal progenitors of adipose tissue. In cancer patients, ASCs can mobilize and migrate to the tumor, where they subsequently play an important role in cancer progression. This biological process involves the conversion of recruited ASCs into cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs). ASC-derived CAFs influence the tumor microenvironment through extracellular matrix remodeling, vascularization, and immunomodulation. These and other processes mediated by secreted paracrine factors also affect gene expression in carcinoma cells to promote the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), metabolic adaptation, survival, and invasiveness of cancer cells. ASC-derived CAFs can enhance tumor aggressiveness, accounting in part for the link …

Ifit3 Activation Significantly Contributes To Hiv-1-Associated Neurodegenerative Disorder-Mediated Neuroinflammation, Ranjit Kumar Das, Nirakar Sahoo, Deepa Roy, Chun Xu, Jose Galarza, Maria Camila Mejia Garza, Hansapani Rodrigo, Asim K. Duttaroy, Upal Roy

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

Introduction: The advent of effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has significantly improved HIV-1 treatment, saving millions of lives. However, HAND remains a concern, particularly among aging individuals with HIV-1. The mechanisms underlying HAND are not well understood.

Methods: This study investigated the role of interferon-induced protein with tetratricopeptide repeats 3 (IFIT3) and its upstream regulator, signal transducer, and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1), in HAND pathology. Using the SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cell line and HIV-infected humanized mice, we examined the effects of the cART drugs, HIV Tat protein, and HIV-1 virus on STAT1 and IFIT3 expression.

Results: The results showed that …

Danicamtiv Reduces Myosin's Working Stroke But Activates The Thin Filament By Accelerating Actomyosin Attachment, Brent Scott, Lina Greenberg, Caterina Squarci, Kenneth S Campbell, Michael J Greenberg

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Heart failure is a leading cause of death worldwide, and even with current treatments, the 5-y transplant-free survival rate is only ~50 to 70%. As such, there is a need to develop new treatments for patients that improve survival and quality of life. Recently, there have been efforts to develop small molecules for heart failure that directly target components of the sarcomere, including cardiac myosin. Danicamtiv is one of these molecules; however, its direct effects on myosin's single molecule mechanics and kinetics are not well understood. Using optical trapping techniques, stopped flow transient kinetics, and in vitro reconstitution assays, we …

Birth Outcomes In The Hispanic Population In The United States: Trends, Variation, And Determinants (2011–2021), Yanchao Yang, Sota Fuji '27, Thinh Nguyen '26

Business Analytics Faculty Publications

Infants born to mothers who self-identify as Hispanic account for a substantial and growing share of births in the United States, yet limited research has examined disparities in birth outcomes across Hispanic origin subgroups. This study aims to document trends and identify important factors associated with Cesarean section (C-section), low birth-weight, and prematurity within the Hispanic population. We use data from the National Vital Statistics System (2011–2021), covering nearly all U.S. births. We compare outcomes across Hispanic, non-Hispanic White, and non-Hispanic Black mothers and further disaggregate by Hispanic origin (Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Central/South American, and Other/Unknown). We use logistic …

Artificial Intelligence In Ocular Transcriptomics: Applications Of Unsupervised And Supervised Learning, Catherine Lalman, Yimin Yang, Janice L. Walker

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Transcriptomic profiling is a powerful tool for dissecting the cellular and molecular complexity of ocular tissues, providing insights into retinal development, corneal disease, macular degeneration, and glaucoma. With the expansion of microarray, bulk RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), and single-cell RNA-seq technologies, artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a key strategy for analyzing high-dimensional gene expression data. This review synthesizes AI-enabled transcriptomic studies in ophthalmology from 2019 to 2025, highlighting how supervised and unsupervised machine learning (ML) methods have advanced biomarker discovery, cell type classification, and eye development and ocular disease modeling. Here, we discuss unsupervised techniques, such as principal component analysis …

Signaling By Intracellular Β2-Adrenergic Receptors Regulates Ampa Receptor Trafficking And Synaptic Plasticity, Boram Lee, Xiaomin Xing, Kyle E. Ireton, Bing Xu, Paul J. Gasser, Johannes W. Hell

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Signaling by norepinephrine (NE) via adrenergic receptors (ARs) mediates attention, yet the underlying molecular mechanisms are largely unknown. AMPA receptors (AMPARs) form a complex with β2ARs, Gs, adenylyl cyclase, and protein kinase A (PKA) to augment AMPAR phosphorylation and, thereby, surface expression. We show that signaling by intracellular β2ARs is required for these effects and two different forms of long-term potentiation (LTP) that depend on β2AR signaling and phosphorylation of the AMPAR GluA1 subunit on S845. Inhibition of two NE transporters, the organic cation transporter 3 (OCT3) and the plasma membrane monoamine transporter (PMAT), impairs phosphorylation of the AMPAR GluA1 …

Multiplex Imaging Mass Cytometry Reveals Prognostic Immunosuppressive Subpopulations And Macrophage-Driven Metastasis In Osteosarcoma, Benjamin B Gyau, Junyan Wang, Weiguo Wu, Brooks Scull, Angela M Major, Weidong Jin, Justin M M Cates, John Hicks, Tsz-Kwong Man

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Osteosarcoma is a type of bone cancer that mostly affects kids and teens. The biggest danger is when the cancer spreads to the lungs, and current treatments do not work well for those cases. Immunotherapy, which helps the body’s immune system fight cancer, has worked for other cancers but is limited for osteosarcoma because we do not fully understand the environment around the tumor. Our research looked at various cells around the tumor to study why patients have worse outcomes. We found that certain cells, called M2 macrophages (M2) and myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), which weaken the immune system, are …

Computer-Aided Reading Of Chest Radiographs For Paediatric Tuberculosis: Current Status And Future Directions, Mackenzie Dupont, Robert Castro, Sandra V Kik, Megan Palmer, James A Seddon, Devan Jaganath

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Computer-aided detection (CAD) systems for automated reading of chest x-rays (CXRs) have been developed and approved for tuberculosis triage in adults but not in children. However, CXR is frequently the only adjunctive tool for clinical assessment in the evaluation of paediatric tuberculosis in primary care settings, and children would benefit from CAD models that can detect their unique clinical and radiographic features. To advance CAD for childhood tuberculosis, large, diverse paediatric CXR datasets linked to standardised tuberculosis classifications are required. These datasets would be used to train and validate paediatric-specific models for tuberculosis screening, diagnosis, and severity stratification. Previous studies …

Pfkfb3 Activates Cad To Enhance De Novo Pyrimidine Synthesis For Cell Growth, Qingen Da, Yongfeng Cai, Qian Ma, Qiuhua Yang, Yapeng Cao, Yaqi Zhou, Dingwei Zhao, Zhiping Liu, Jiean Xu, Junming Quan, Liang Zhang, Rui Wang, Xuejun Jiang, Xiao Liu, Kunfu Ouyang, Zhen Han, Jikui Liu, Tao Wang, Chunxiang Zhang, Neal L Weintraub, David J R Fulton, Jun Zhao, Mei Hong, Zigang Li, Yuqing Huo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Aerobic glycolysis, termed the Warburg effect, is one of the aberrant metabolic pathways in highly proliferating cells. Glycolysis provides glycolytic metabolites to support the generation of biomass, such as nucleotides, amino acids, and lipids. Research on the direct interactions between glycolysis and other metabolic pathways is an emerging field that has garnered significant interest. Phosphofructokinase-2/fructose-2,6-bisphosphatase 3 (PFKFB3) activates glycolysis by synthesizing fructose-2,6-bisphosphate (F2,6BP), which allosterically activates the rate-limiting enzyme 6-phosphofructo-1-kinase (PFK-1). In this study, we found that PFKFB3 directly interacts with and regulates the phosphorylation of carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 2, aspartate transcarbamylase, and dihydroorotase (CAD), the enzyme catalyzing the first three …

Effects Of Cryoprotective And Mitochondrial Stabilizing Agents On Vitrified Bovine Oocytes, Allison Hoang

LSU Master's Theses

Oocyte vitrification success is highly dependent on cryoprotectant agent (CPA) choice as well as possible additives that could help preserve mitochondrial membrane potential (mMP), reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, and calcium homeostasis within the cell. It is a delicate balance between levels needed for proper oocyte function and activation and levels needed to induce apoptotic pathways. The results of oocyte cryopreservation determine the eventual oocyte viability and subsequent fertilization and embryo development.

In this study potential permeating cryoprotectant combinations were explored such as ethylene glycol (EG) and propylene glycol (PG) or EG in combination with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Also, the …

Cathartocytosis: Jettisoning Of Cellular Material During Reprogramming Of Differentiated Cells, Jeffrey W Brown, Xiaobo Lin, Gabriel Anthony Nicolazzi, Xuemei Liu, Thanh Nguyen, Megan D Radyk, Joseph Burclaff, Jason C Mills

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Injury causes differentiated cells to undergo massive reprogramming to become proliferative and repair tissue via paligenosis. Gastric chief cells use paligenosis to reprogram into progenitor-like spasmolytic-polypeptide-expressing metaplasia (SPEM) cells. Stage 1 of paligenosis is the downscaling of mature cell architecture via a process involving lysosomes. Here, we notice that sulfated glycoproteins are not only digested during paligenosis but also excreted into the gland. Various genetic and pharmacological approaches show that endoplasmic reticulum membranes and secretory granule cargo are also excreted and that the process proceeds in parallel with but is mechanistically independent of autophagy. Three-dimensional light and electron microscopy demonstrated …

High-Speed Voltage Imaging Of Action Potentials In Molecular Layer Interneurons Reveals Sensory-Driven Synchrony That Augments Movement, Spencer T Brown, Meghana R Holla, Michelle A Land, Shuyuan Yang, Alex J Mcdonald, François St-Pierre, Indira M Raman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Testing whether the synchrony of action potential firing is a cerebellar coding mechanism requires simultaneous recording, with high temporal fidelity, from populations of identified neurons. Here, we used targeted one-photon voltage imaging at 2–4 kHz to record action potentials from groups of ~10–300 molecular layer interneurons (MLIs) expressing a positively tuned, genetically encoded voltage indicator, FORCE1f or pAce. In awake resting mice, crus I MLIs fired brief (~1-ms) spikes at 20–60 spikes/s. Sensory stimuli of air puffs to the whiskers evoked short-latency (< 10 ms) increases in spiking probability. In most trials, >50% of MLIs fired synchronously with 4-ms temporal precision. The magnitude of puff-evoked whisks correlated tightly with …

37th Convocation Pakistan

Speeches from convocations, inaugurations, and major events

No abstract provided.

The Monstrous Other: Exploring Negative Representations Of Queerness In Genre Cinema, Mark Gambino

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

The following literature review is an extract from my SAE University College Masters thesis, Disrupting negative representations of queerness in genre cinema, conferred in September 2024. The project explored representations of the queer Other in film horror, through artefact-exegesis, with the creative artefact, horror film Shadows, interrogating the coding of trans / queer characters as the ‘monstrous Other’ in the horror film genre, and how this notion can be subverted and transcended.

Pigments, Bridge Of Disciplines, Candace Gwyther

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

What follows is an excerpt from Pigments: The Bridge of Disciplines, a practice-based Masters thesis exploring the intersection of oil painting and ceramics through shared material processes. The literature review grounds the research in theories of Meshwork, Play, Bricolage, and Path making, framing an interdisciplinary approach that challenges traditional boundaries and fosters new modes of creative expression.

Considerations When Exploring One’S Arts-Based Practice As Research, David L. Page

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

This article shares insight into some of the knowledge gained on a higher degree research (HDR) study journey, which I wish I had access to prior to my commencement of that journey. I presented this on 8 July 2025 at the SAE University College Week 7 Forum, and trust this insight may be of interest to those SAE faculty who are new to higher education (HE) research, who have an interest in exploring one’s own arts-based practice as part of the Scholarship and Research activities now being encouraged at SAE University College.

Bodies That Sparkle And Spill: A Poetics Of The Burlesque Parent, Lola Montgomery

Imaginings: creative practice and inquiry

The embodied experiences of burlesque performers during motherhood are explored in an online discussion, through femme theory, Bakhtin's grotesque body, and Butler's gender performativity. The participants' bodies are explored as sites of contestation, able to perform diverse roles simultaneously. Through performance, Mulvey's masculine gaze is inverted into a poetics of feminine praxis.

Montserrat Developments Impacting Local Coral Reefs, Emma I. Bartholomew

2025 Symposium

Montserrat is a small island in the Caribbean, and over half of the island is in the exclusion zone because of the active volcano, Soufrière Hills. In that half was the old capital, Plymouth, which has since been abandoned, and its old port. The old port was getting less reliable and accessible, so they decided to build a new port in Little Bay, closer to the seat of government in Brades. This study explored how the addition of the new port impacted the corals in that area. We explored several different bays and recorded the diversity and health of the …

Proceedings Of The 2025 Berry Summer Thesis Institute, University Of Dayton. University Honors Program, Dorian Borbonus, Nicholas J. Canfield, Triet M. Cao, Thomas Crossman, Jeffrey Huettemann, Aung Myat Khaung, Chase Kinder, Elizabeth Krahe, Anh Duc Nguyen, Quynh Anh Nguyen, Anna M. Petre, Kayden G. Rothery, Anna M. Schmitz, Rachel Zeller

Proceedings of the Berry Summer Thesis Institute (2013-Present)

Thanks to a gift from the Berry Family Foundation and the Berry family, the University Honors Program launched the Berry Summer Thesis Institute in 2012. The institute introduces students in the University Honors Program to intensive research, scholarship opportunities and professional development. Each student pursues a 12-week summer thesis research project under the guidance of a UD faculty mentor. This contains the product of the students' research.

Strategies Used In The Biotechnology Industry To Develop And Continuously Improve Compliant Regulatory Processes To Meet The Food And Drug Administration Quality Federal Regulations, Vicki Mckee

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Failure to comply with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quality regulations can lead to enforcement actions for the biotechnology (biotech) industry. Noncompliant regulatory strategies have the potential for adverse medical outcomes for patients. As a result, managers in the biotech industry are concerned about ensuring compliance to avoid adverse medical outcomes for patients and sustain business operations. Grounded in Deming’s total quality management concept, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry project was to explore effective quality management strategies that managers in the biotech industry use to develop and continuously improve compliant regulatoryQuality Federal Regulations processes to meet …

Medication Safety: A Policy Journey To Reduce Medication Errors, Elia M. Campos, Kathleen Klimpel, Joseph Burkhard

Doctor of Nursing Practice Final Manuscripts

Abstract

Medication Safety: A Policy Journey to Reduce Medication Errors

Background: Medication errors have long been a significant concern. Unsafe medication practices and errors can pose serious risks of injury and preventable harm within healthcare systems.

These errors can lead to severe consequences and have the potential to result in injury, disability, or even death. The World Health Organization highlights that in the United States, an estimated 1.3 million people experience medication-related harm, with 7,000-9,000 people dying due to a medication error each year (WHO, 2023). On average, one adverse drug effect (ADE) adds more than $2,000 to the cost …