Digital Commons Network^™

“Money For Food”: A Deeper Look At Food Insecurity And Class Privilege In Higher Education, April Lopez

Theses - ALL

Assumptions around the class privilege of college students are misconstrued. Food insecurity rates among college students (between 20-50%) far outweigh the rate of food insecurity nationally (12%) (Dubick et al., 2016). With the rising cost of tuition, insufficient financial aid, and the growth of first-generation and lower income students entering higher education, an increasing number of college students are struggling to balance paying for tuition and basic needs such as food. This paper looks at how factors such as race, undergraduate year, first-generation status, and employment status impact a student’s likelihood of being food insecure. While most studies focus on …

Methodological Analysis On Settler Territoriality And The Rise Of The Yellowstone Wild Bison Advocacy Movement, Red G.R. Burkett

Theses - ALL

Bison bison, also known as the North American Buffalo, are a keystone species of endemic megafauna in the Great Plains prairie ecosystem. Bison were driven nearly to extinction in the late 19th century when millions of buffalo were massacred by settlers in order to starve Indigenous civilians and force them onto federally-managed Reservations as a step in the centuries-long ethnic-cleansing of Turtle Island. Such genocidal methods were a primary tool in erasing the land claims of Indigenous nations and colonizing the territories of Indigenous communities who depended on bison as a primary source of food and materiel for social reproduction. …

From Tradition To Modernity: Craftsmanship Of Four Treasures Of The Study And The Evolution And Development Of Painting Techniques, Yuanjing Chu

Theses - ALL

This thesis delved into the evolution of Chinese painting styles, spanning from ancient times to the present, placing emphasis on both traditional art painting styles and contemporary illustrations. By closely examining the production process of the Four Treasures of the Study (ink, inkstone, brush, paper) and thoroughly analyzing the fundamental elements of lines, ink tones, and aesthetic conception, this paper aims to demonstrate the similarities and differences between ancient Chinese art and contemporary Chinese illustration and how tools of the time influenced stylistic evolution over time. Additionally, the author’s visual thesis integrates artistic techniques from the past with contemporary painting …

Innate Immune System In The Context Of Radiation Therapy For Cancer, Boopathi Ettickan, Robert Den, Chellappagounder Thangavel

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Radiation therapy (RT) remains an integral component of modern oncology care, with most cancer patients receiving radiation as a part of their treatment plan. The main goal of ionizing RT is to control the local tumor burden by inducing DNA damage and apoptosis within the tumor cells. The advancement in RT, including intensity-modulated RT (IMRT), stereotactic body RT (SBRT), image-guided RT, and proton therapy, have increased the efficacy of RT, equipping clinicians with techniques to ensure precise and safe administration of radiation doses to tumor cells. In this review, we present the technological advancement in various types of RT methods …

Using Motivation To Assess Affective States Of Captive Red Kangaroos (Macropus Rufus) In Response To Visitor Presence And Crowd Size In A Walk-Through Zoo Exhibit, Julia King

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates how visitor presence influences affective states of captive red kangaroos housed in a walk-through zoo exhibit by using motivation to consume a food reward in desired vs undesired locations and with/without an additional challenge feeder as a proxy for affective state, while considering individual variation and personality.

Age And Sex Of Wild Asian Elephants Observed In And Around Protected Areas In Kanchanaburi, Thailand, Leah D. Wersebe

Theses and Dissertations

This study observed the wild Asian elephant population in and around Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary and found a greater proportional presence of adults and subadults than calves and infants per observation, and a greater proportion of males than females outside of the protected area compared to inside the protected area.

The Effect Of An Elephant Conservation Education Program On The Knowledge Base Of Children In Thailand, Angela Larios

Theses and Dissertations

Habitat fragmentation and human-elephant conflict (HEC) are two factors that have caused harm to both Asian elephants and humans in Thailand. Think Elephants International (TEI) is a non-profit organization whose goal is to educate children on these issues to encourage more interest in and knowledge about elephant conservation in the youth of Thailand. TEI has developed a systematic education initiative and established a method for assessing the program’s efficacy using a pre- and post-survey. The current study analyzes student responses from one open-ended question from this survey collected both before and after the students participated in the TEI program. This …

Death Becomes Her: Rejecting The Muse And Reclaiming The Female Body In Leonor Fini’S Skeleton Women, Janna Singer-Baefsky

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is organized through the varied ways Fini incorporated death imagery, like the skeleton, into her art. I trace how she changed her interpretations of death from being a symbol in earlier works to then rendering death as the subject itself and concluding with depicting herself as death.

Remedios Varo: Inspirations And Creative Strategies, Margaret Colbert

Theses and Dissertations

Remedios Varo is best known for the narrative, if enigmatic and symbol-laden, paintings she produced while living in Mexico from 1941 to 1963. This thesis argues that Varo’s key creative strategy was to mine and mimic the subject matter and motifs of other artists—Hieronymus Bosch and Leonora Carrington – as well as the visual culture related to the occult and other esoteric practices that she found in published sources, specifically by Carl Jung and Kurt Seligmann.

Seasonal Crop Foraging Habits Of Asian Elephants And The Response Of Farmers Near The Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Kanchanaburi, Thailand, Scott J. Gulizio

Theses and Dissertations

The consequences of human-elephant-conflict are of concern to a range of interests, including conservation, animal welfare, and socio-economic initiatives. Loss of crops due to elephants is a particularly contentious issue and a multitude of elephant deterrents have been tried to help prevent or diminish crop-foraging. This study examines the seasonal crop-foraging habits of Asian elephants just outside of Salakpra Wildlife Sanctuary, Thailand. Specifically, we sought to analyze when the elephants would forage crops, for how long, and how farmer presence affected this behavior. Additionally, to better understand patterns of deterrent use, we cataloged which deterrents were deployed by the farmers …

The Rise Of Mercury: The Economic And Health Impacts Of Artisanal Gold Mining In Colombia, Jilmar D. Robledo Caicedo

Theses and Dissertations

Gold prices triggered mining booms in Colombia, leading to wealth and mercury pollution. These effects on human health remain unknown. This research investigates the effect of gold mining finding a significant effect on fetal deaths reduction, suggesting gender and gestational age are fundamental to understanding the interplay of gold mining.

Characterizing Feedlot Feed Using Depth Cameras And Imaging Technology, Jean Niwenshuti

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Imaging technology is a growing field that provides solutions in many areas from manufacturing to agriculture. Through previous research, imaging technologies have been studied in livestock farming to monitor the animal’s health and welfare in the production process. However, the feedlot industry is still behind in validating the feasibility to use some of these technologies nor to adopt such technologies to address challenges the industry is facing, such as lack of skilled labor.This work proposes using novel imaging methods to identify feed types and estimate the amount of feed remaining in a typical Midwestern feedlot feed bunk. These methods have …

The International Patent Practice Narrative: Patent Agents, Epistemic Capture And The Patent Bargain, Wissam Joseph Aoun

PhD Dissertations

This work explores the question of how professionalization of patent agency along with its accompanying discourse has affected the direction of international patent institutions and networks. Professionalization of patent agency is defined as the government regulation of who may provide patent agent services to the public through the form of professional licensing requirements. To the extent that professionalization of patent agency has created a unique discourse of patent agency, to what degree and in what respects has this discourse transformed global patent institutions? In particular, has this discourse created a form of ‘epistemic’ or ‘cultural’ capture that has the effect …

Overview Of Iron Deficiency And Iron Deficiency Anemia In Women And Girls Of Reproductive Age, Richard J. Derman, Anmol Patted

Global Health Articles

Over 50% of pregnant women are anemic and the majority of these are iron deficient. Micronutrient deficiency, the symptom of heavy menstrual bleeding in nonpregnant individuals, and loss of blood associated with pregnancy and obstetric delivery contribute to iron deficiency (ID). Poor outcomes with low maternal iron can affect not only the pregnancy but can also have major bearings on the offspring. Correction of ID and iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in pregnant and prepregnant populations with single-dose intravenous iron supplementation may offer improved outcomes. A harmonization process that incorporates all major randomized controlled trials studying the use of single-dose IV …

Biophysical Properties Of Trophoblast Placental Plasma Membrane, Nelly-Raissa Setchie-Tchato

Theses - ALL

The lack of experimental research on a woman’s placenta due to ethical restrictions has led to little to no research on the biophysical changes at the molecular level that a woman undergoes during pregnancy. This research aims to understand biophysical changes in placental trophoblast cells that facilitate diffusion between maternal and fetal blood during the first and third trimesters. It is challenging to comprehend the function of the placental trophoblast lipid membrane in regulating molecular transport between the mother and placental trophoblast cells due to inadequate in vitro models. For this reason, we utilized recent findings on the lipid compositions …

Biophysical Properties Of Trophoblast Placental Plasma Membrane, Nelly-Raissa Setchie-Tchato

Theses - ALL

The lack of experimental research on a woman’s placenta due to ethical restrictions has led to little to no research on the biophysical changes at the molecular level that a woman undergoes during pregnancy. This research aims to understand biophysical changes in placental trophoblast cells that facilitate diffusion between maternal and fetal blood during the first and third trimesters. It is challenging to comprehend the function of the placental trophoblast lipid membrane in regulating molecular transport between the mother and placental trophoblast cells due to inadequate in vitro models. For this reason, we utilized recent findings on the lipid compositions …

Shp2 Inhibition Sensitizes Diverse Oncogene-Addicted Solid Tumors To Re-Treatment With Targeted Therapy, Alexander Drilon, Manish R Sharma, Melissa L Johnson, Timothy A Yap, Shirish Gadgeel, Dale Nepert, Gang Feng, Micaela B Reddy, Allison S Harney, Mohamed Elsayed, Adam W Cook, Christina E Wong, Ronald J Hinklin, Yutong Jiang, Eric N Brown, Nickolas A Neitzel, Ellen R Laird, Wen-I Wu, Anurag Singh, Ping Wei, Keith A Ching, John J Gaudino, Patrice A Lee, Dylan P Hartley, S Michael Rothenberg

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rationally targeted therapies have transformed cancer treatment, but many patients develop resistance through bypass signaling pathway activation. PF-07284892 (ARRY-558) is an allosteric SHP2 inhibitor designed to overcome bypass-signaling-mediated resistance when combined with inhibitors of various oncogenic drivers. Activity in this setting was confirmed in diverse tumor models. Patients with ALK fusion–positive lung cancer, BRAF^V600E-mutant colorectal cancer, KRAS^G12D-mutant ovarian cancer, and ROS1 fusion–positive pancreatic cancer who previously developed targeted therapy resistance were treated with PF-07284892 on the first dose level of a first-in-human clinical trial. After progression on PF-07284892 monotherapy, a novel study design allowed the addition …

Spatial Transcriptomics Of Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms Of The Pancreas Identifies Nkx6-2 As A Driver Of Gastric Differentiation And Indolent Biological Potential, Marta Sans, Yuki Makino, Jimin Min, Kimal I Rajapakshe, Michele Yip-Schneider, C Max Schmidt, Mark W Hurd, Jared K Burks, Javier A Gomez, Fredrik I Thege, Johannes F Fahrmann, Robert A Wolff, Michael P Kim, Paola A Guerrero, Anirban Maitra

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Intraductal Papillary Mucinous Neoplasms (IPMNs) of the pancreas are bona fide precursor lesions of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). The most common subtype of IPMNs harbor a gastric foveolar-type epithelium, and these low-grade mucinous neoplasms are harbingers of IPMNs with high-grade dysplasia and cancer. The molecular underpinning of gastric differentiation in IPMNs is unknown, although identifying drivers of this indolent phenotype might enable opportunities for intercepting progression to high-grade IPMN and cancer. We conducted spatial transcriptomics on a cohort of IPMNs, followed by orthogonal and cross species validation studies, which established the transcription factor NKX6-2 as a key determinant of gastric …

Csf1r Regulates Schizophrenia-Related Stress Response And Vascular Association Of Microglia/Macrophages, Ling Yan, Yanli Li, Fengmei Fan, Mengzhuang Gou, Fangling Xuan, Wei Feng, Keerthana Chithanathan, Wei Li, Junchao Huang, Hongna Li, Wenjin Chen, Baopeng Tian, Zhiren Wang, Shuping Tan, Alexander Zharkovsky, L Elliot Hong, Yunlong Tan, Li Tian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Microglia are known to regulate stress and anxiety in both humans and animal models. Psychosocial stress is the most common risk factor for the development of schizophrenia. However, how microglia/brain macrophages contribute to schizophrenia is not well established. We hypothesized that effector molecules expressed in microglia/macrophages were involved in schizophrenia via regulating stress susceptibility.

METHODS: We recruited a cohort of first episode schizophrenia (FES) patients (n = 51) and age- and sex-paired healthy controls (HCs) (n = 46) with evaluated stress perception. We performed blood RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and brain magnetic resonance imaging, and measured plasma level of colony stimulating …

Reconstructing Ancient Dispersal Through Antarctica: A Case Study Of Stream-Inhabiting Beetles, V Sykora, Leonel Herrera-Alsina, Crystal Maier, Nicolás Rafael Martínez-Román, Miguel Archangelsky, David T. Bilton, Matthias Seidel, Richard A.B. Leschen, Martin Fikáček

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Aim Although Antarctica hosted a diverse fauna and flora in the past, its modern climate is too extreme for many lineages: their recent extinction makes it difficult to include the continent in historical biogeographical analyses. We use southern temperate stream‐inhabiting beetles as a model to explore whether Antarctica may be included in historical biogeographic reconstructions in a group absent from Antarctica today, and to test its role in shaping the current distribution of stream‐inhabiting insects. Taxon Coleoptera, Elmidae. Location Southern Hemisphere temperate regions and Antarctica. Methods We included Antarctica in historical biogeographic analyses indirectly, as a component of distance matrices …

Conserved Temporal Processing Principles In Olfactory Systems, Doris Ling

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Olfaction is a primitive sensory modality used by animals to perform basic functions such as searching for food or mates. Olfactory cues are highly temporally dynamic and therefore time is an important encoding dimension in this sensory modality. How olfactory information is encoded by the temporal patterns of neural responses remains a fundamental question in the field of sensory neuroscience. Furthermore, it is not understood whether different organisms employ similar neural encoding principles. In this work, I investigated how neural activity is patterned over time in the primary olfactory system of the American bird locust (Schisctocerca americana). Previous studies have …

Neighborhood- And Finer-Scale Spatial Variations In Environmental Noise And Air Pollution, Maryssa Loehr

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The urban environment contains both air pollution and noise pollution from various sources. For noise pollution, sources include biogenic emissions such as insect chorus and anthropogenic emissions such as highway traffic and airplane flyovers. Numerous studies link exposure to noise with increased health risks through mechanisms such as disruption of sleep and introduction of external stress factors. It is not clear whether biogenic and anthropogenic noise have differential impacts. Ultrafine particulate matter (UFP) contribute to adverse health outcomes such as asthma, obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiovascular disease, and lung cancer. Ambient UFP is currently not regulated in the United States with …

Catalog Of The World Species Of Trichodesma Leconte, 1861 (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) And Associated Genera, Kyle E. Schnepp

Insecta Mundi

A catalog of the species of Trichodesma LeConte (Coleoptera: Ptinidae) for the world is provided, including synonyms and misspellings. Six additional genera, Anobiopsis Fall, Belemia Español, Nanodesma Zahradník, Nicobium LeConte, Trichobiopsis White, and Trichodesmina Español, are also cataloged for com­pleteness. The species name, author, year, and page number of description are given for each species, as well as references for combinations by different authors. The type depository is given when known, and followed by a “?” when unknown but suspected, and a general distribution is given by region of the world followed by country. Authorship of the genus Trichodesma in …

Total Rna Sequencing Reveals Gene Expression And Microbial Alterations Shared By Oral Pre-Malignant Lesions And Cancer, Alessandro Villa

All Publications

Head and neck cancers are a complex malignancy comprising multiple anatomical sites, with cancer of the oral cavity ranking among the deadliest and the most disfiguring cancers globally. Oral cancer (OC) constitutes a subset of head and neck cancer cases, presenting primarily as tobacco- and alcohol-associated oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC), with a 5-year survival rate of ~ 65%, partly due to the lack of early detection and effective treatments. OSCC arises from premalignant lesions (PMLs) in the oral cavity through a multi-step series of clinical and histopathological stages, including varying degrees of epithelial dysplasia. To gain insights into the …

Mechanisms Of Immunopathology And Protection In Genital Herpes Simplex Virus 2 Infection, Ying Shiang Lim

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Genital Herpes Simplex Virus-2 (HSV-2) infections is a highly prevalent and incurable sexually transmitted disease. Upon infection at the primary genital mucosa, HSV-2 localizes to the sensory ganglia to establish chronic latency. Symptomatic and asymptomatic recurrences can then occur episodically to promote viral transmissions. Painful genital and peri-genital lesions can be formed, increasing the risk for secondary HIV-1 acquisition by three times. Despite being a serious public health risk with severe physiological and psycho-sociological impacts, there are currently no cures or FDA-approved vaccines for this chronic infection. Thus, it is imperative to understand how the immune system interacts with HSV-2 …

The At-Hook Is An Evolutionarily Conserved Auto-Regulatory Domain Of Swi/Snf Required For Cell Lineage Priming, Dhurjhoti Saha, Solomon Hailu, Arjan Hada, Junwoo Lee, Jie Luo, Jeff A Ranish, Yuan-Chi Lin, Kyle Feola, Jim Persinger, Abhinav Jain, Bin Liu, Yue Lu, Payel Sen, Blaine Bartholomew

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The SWI/SNF ATP-dependent chromatin remodeler is a master regulator of the epigenome, controlling pluripotency and differentiation. Towards the C-terminus of the catalytic subunit of SWI/SNF is a motif called the AT-hook that is evolutionary conserved. The AT-hook is present in many chromatin modifiers and generally thought to help anchor them to DNA. We observe however that the AT-hook regulates the intrinsic DNA-stimulated ATPase activity aside from promoting SWI/SNF recruitment to DNA or nucleosomes by increasing the reaction velocity a factor of 13 with no accompanying change in substrate affinity (K

The Co-Delivery Of Adenovirus-Based Immune Checkpoint Vaccine Elicits A Potent Anti-Tumor Effect In Renal Carcinoma, Nan Jiang, Yanyan Zheng, Jiage Ding, Jiawei Wang, Fei Zhu, Meng Wang, Navid Sobhani, Praveen Neeli, Gang Wang, Hailong Li, Junnian Zheng, Dafei Chai

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Immune-based checkpoint therapy has made significant progress in cancer treatment, but its therapeutic effect is limited. A replication-defective adenovirus (Ad) vaccine encoding tumor antigen carbonic anhydrase IX (CAIX) combined with Ad-encoding immune checkpoint PD-L1 was developed to treat renal carcinoma. Three tumor models, subcutaneous, lung metastasis and orthotopic tumor were established, and Ad vaccines were used to immunize them and evaluate the vaccine's therapeutic effect. Compared to the single Ad vaccine group, the subcutaneous tumor growth was significantly reduced in Ad-CAIX/Ad-PD-L1 combination group. Co-immunization of Ad-CAIX/Ad-PD-L1 enhanced the induction and maturation of CD11c

Can Gulf Ribbed Mussels Enhance Coastal Restoration Projects In A Future With Climate Change?, Skylar Liner

LSU Master's Theses

Living shorelines present one restoration approach using biotic elements (via ecosystem engineers) to stabilize shorelines and increase valuable habitat. Gulf ribbed mussels (Geukensia granosissima) are important ecosystem engineers within brackish and salt marshes in the northern Gulf of Mexico, and can increase nutrient availability, enhance marsh vegetation production, and potentially improve shoreline stability. It is unknown whether mussels will maintain these functions as future climate change predicts increases in temperature and water level, which may exceed the mussel’s tolerance. A field survey conducted during the summer of 2022 identified the daily maximum temperature at the marsh surface, where mussels naturally …

Information Needs Of Children Having A Radiology Technique: Imaging Centers, Rahele Mehrabi, Fatemeh Sheikhshoaei, Vahid Changizi, Nastaran Poursalehi, Faride Pak, Mehrzad Mehdizadeh

Proceedings of the IATUL Conferences

Background: Nowadays, health care systems are seeking to find ways to promote self-care, patient empowerment and informed decision-making. Production of health information content is considered an important tool for improving the health literacy of patients. Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the components of children's health information in radiology centers in order to explore information need of children. Materials and Methods: This qualitative exploratory case study was conducted on 71 people, 25 including 6-14 year-old children, 25 parents of 0-14 year-old children, and 23 staffs(radiology technicians and doctors) of Radiology Department at Children's Medical Center Hospital )Tehran, …

A New, Simple And Practical Approach To Increase The Effects Of Aerobic Exercise On Serum Levels Of Neurotrophic Factors In Adult Males, Mahdi Bahramnejad, Vahid Valipour Dehnou, Rasoul Eslami

International Journal of Exercise Science

International Journal of Exercise Science 16(2): 932-941, 2023. Environmental enrichment (EE) is defined as a combination of complex inanimate and social stimulation. Physical activity and EE may augment the beneficial effects of each other. This study aimed to assess the effects of running in an enriched environment on neurotrophic factors in adult males. Twelve volunteer adult males (age 26.75 ± 5.34 yrs, body mass 70.72 ± 8.61 kg, height 172.50 ± 5.68 cm, VO_2max 56.8 ± 2.93) completed two sessions, each consisted of one hour of running at an intensity of 12-13 on the Borg Scale. One session was …