Digital Commons Network^™

August 2023, Robert Kelly

Robert Kelly Manuscripts

No abstract provided.

A Review Of The Role Of Anxiety In Diagnosis Of Children And Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Paradigm Shift In Conceptualization And Diagnosis, Evan Wahlquist

Dissertations

Early evidence of co-occurring anxiety symptoms in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) dates back to the first descriptions of ASD by Leo Kanner (1943) and Hans Asperger (Frith & Mira, 1992). While current research has identified anxiety disorders as one of the most prevalent co-occurring disorders in children and adolescents with ASD, little is known about the nature of the relationship between these disorders. In an effort to explain these high prevalence rates, recent research has started to investigate the relationship between these two disorders. To join these efforts, this clinical research project explored the role of …

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 …

The Future Of Deep Fakes: Analyzing The Potential Future Consequences Of The Widespread Use Of Deepfakes On The Policing Sector, Maryam Salem Alshamsi

Theses

In today’s world there is a growing uncertainty in terms of the truthfulness of what we see and hear. People digest a great amount of information throughout the day using their devices, yet the quality and credibility of content is in question. People question if we are experiencing and perceiving the same reality at this point. This issue is not novel, however, it has progressed and developed to a level of realism that deceives people and affect their comprehension of information. Rapid technological advancement has raised the concern of what is referred to as “Deepfakes”, a machine learning technique that …

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.

The Impacts Of Transfer Learning For Ungulate Recognition At Sevilleta National Wildlife Refuge, Michael Gurule

Geography ETDs

As camera traps have grown in popularity, their utilization has expanded to numerous fields, including wildlife research, conservation, and ecological studies. The information gathered using this equipment gives researchers a precise and comprehensive understanding about the activities of animals in their natural environments. For this type of data to be useful, camera trap images must be labeled so that the species in the images can be classified and counted. This has typically been done by teams of researchers and volunteers, and it can be said that the process is at best time-consuming. With recent developments in deep learning, the process …

Examining Potential Trade-Offs Between Pest Management And Pollination To Sunflower Production In Nebraska, Luis Ochoa Cadena

Department of Entomology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sunflower (Helianthus annuus) is cultivated for oil and seed production worldwide, and the United States produces 2.5% of the world’s oilseed sunflower primarily grown in the Great Plains. In 2022, oilseed and confectionary U.S. sunflower production increased by 48 and 44%, respectively, compared to last year's records. However, sunflower production can be seriously compromised by insect pests. The red sunflower seed weevil (Smicronyx fulvus LeConte) is considered the most serious pests in North America and causes severe economic damage yearly. On the other hand, native bees contribute substantially to sunflower yield. Currently, insecticide applications are the primary tool to suppress …

The Effects Of Betaine Supplementation On Fluid Balance And Heat Tolerance During Passive Heat Stress In Men, Brandon D. Willingham, Liliana I. Rentería, Tristan J. Ragland, Michael J. Ormsbee

Kinesiology

Introduction: Consuming intracellular osmolytes, like betaine (BET), may attenuate symptoms of heat stress. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of BET supplementation on fluid balance and heat tolerance after a 7-day loading period and during passive heat exposure. Methods: A double-blind, placebo controlled, crossover study compared BET or placebo consumption (50 mg·kg⁻¹, twice daily) for 7 days in young, recreationally active men (N = 11). Results: During the loading period, no significant interactions were found for any marker of fluid balance between or within conditions. During heat exposure, significant time effects but no condition …

Wireless Investors & Apathy Obsolescence, Sergio Alberto Gramitto Ricci, Christina M. Sautter

Faculty Works

This Article discusses how a subgenre of retail investors makes investors’ apathy obsolete. In prior work, we dub retail investors who rely on technology and online communications in their investing and corporate governance endeavors “wireless investors.” By applying game theory, this Article discusses how wireless investors’ global-scale online interactions allow them to circulate information and coordinate, obliterating collective action problems.

The Effects Of Primary And Secondary Task Workloads On Cybersickness In Immersive Virtual Active Exploration Experiences, Rohith Venkatakrishnan

All Dissertations

Virtual reality (VR) technology promises to transform humanity. The technology enables users to explore and interact with computer-generated environments that can be simulated to approximate or deviate from reality. This creates an endless number of ways to propitiously apply the technology in our lives. It follows that large technological conglomerates are pushing for the widespread adoption of VR, financing the creation of the Metaverse - a hypothetical representation of the next iteration of the internet.

Even with VR technology's continuous growth, its widespread adoption remains long overdue. This can largely be attributed to an affliction called cybersickness, an analog to …

Acquisitions Unit Annual Report 2022-2023, Andrée J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Annual Report of the Acquisitions Unit, University Libraries, University of Rhode Island for FY2023. Covers personnel, work flow, special projects, and serial, monograph, and e-resource acquisitions. Supplemental files include data on library materials expenditures by a number of variables as well as important working documents from the year.

Reimaging The Library Of The Future. From Social Condenser And Community Hub To Regenerative Design, Steffen Lehmann

Architecture Faculty Research

The primary objective of this article, an architectural forecasting opinion piece written by a design expert, is to investigate the various models of public library buildings and explore the continuous evolution of library design (presenting valuable information for anyone planning a library). The main question explored in this article is: What will be the design characteristics of the next-generation library? Methods used include precedent analysis, cases selected from an international list of 50 libraries built between 2010–2023 following a web search using the phrase “public library architecture” and analyzing these cases for repeated thematic similarities. Three similarities are identified.

Effect Of Impurities In Plastic Waste On The Performance Of Plastic Road, Niloy Gupta

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Plastic waste generation has become a global concern, with a large portion of plastics ending up in landfills. China's recent decision to stop importing waste from various countries, including the USA, has exacerbated the issue of plastic pollution. These plastics, as coming from the household and commercial trash, contain impurity and contamination. This makes the recycling process of plastics more hectic and causes issues in reusing them for other purposes. Impurity and contamination, in fact, is a major issue in material science. Researchers have been studying ways to improve the performance of bituminous pavement, as highways are experiencing increased demand …

Analysis Of The Impact Of Covid-19 On Construction Cost And Schedule Overruns, Nikhitha Adepu

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The construction industry, renowned for its dynamic nature, encountered unprecedented uncertainties throughout its history. However, the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic served as a powerful catalyst, underscoring the urgent need for a deeper comprehension of the challenges it introduced and their potential implications for the industry's future. While numerous studies have explored this topic, a comprehensive understanding of the specific factors that disrupted the construction sector during the pandemic remains elusive. To bridge this knowledge gap, this study identifies, categorizes, and ranks these challenges, while also proposing effective management strategies to mitigate their detrimental impact on construction projects. To lay …

All Things Weird And Wonderful: A Creative Exploration Of Disability Representation, Lara Ameen

Education (PhD) Dissertations

My dissertation, All Things Weird and Wonderful: A Creative Exploration of Disability Representation, begins with a thorough review of the literature of disability representation in TV and film to set the stage for the one-hour supernatural drama pilot I wrote, which I also adapted into a complete Adult urban fantasy novel.

Pitched as the supernatural drama version of Hulu’s Only Murders in the Building meets Netflix’s Raising Dion, All Things Weird and Wonderful is a one-hour supernatural drama about an asexual college freshman with cerebral palsy named Genevieve Ross, who has supernatural powers, and an Egyptian American college senior with …

No Strong Evidence Of The Protein Leverage Hypothesis In Pregnant Women With Obesity And Their Infants, Maryam Kebbe, Jasper Most, Abby D. Altazan, Leanne M. Redman

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate the role of dietary protein on macronutrient and energy intake, maternal adiposity during pregnancy, and infant adiposity at birth. Methods: In 41 women with obesity, early-pregnancy (13–16 weeks) protein intake was assessed with food photography and expressed as a ratio of Estimated Average Requirements (EAR) in pregnancy for protein (0.88 g/kg/d), herein “protein balance.” Energy intake was measured by the intake-balance method, gestational weight gain as grams per week, and fat mass by a three-compartment model. Spearman correlations and linear models were computed using R version 4.1.1 (p < 0.05 considered significant). Results: Women had a mean (SD) age of 27.5 (4.8) years and a pregravid BMI of 34.4 (2.9), kg/m2, and the majority were non-White (n = 23, 56.1%). Protein balance in early pregnancy was not significantly associated with energy intake across mid and mid/late pregnancy (β = 328.7, p = 0.30 and β = 286.2, p = 0.26, respectively) or gestational weight gain (β = 117.0, p = 0.41). Protein balance was inversely associated with fat mass in early, mid, and late pregnancy (β = −10.6, p = 0.01, β = −10.4, p = 0.03, β = −10.3, p = 0.03, respectively). Protein balance did not predict infant adiposity at birth (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Low …

The Dynamic Nature Of Wrack: An Investigation Into Wrack Movement And Impacts On Coastal Marshes Using Suas, Grayson R. Morgan, Daniel R. Morgan, Cuizhen Wang, Michael E. Hodgson, Steven R. Schill

Faculty Publications

This study investigates the use of small unoccupied aerial systems (sUAS) as a new remote sensing tool to identify and track the spatial distribution of wrack on coastal tidal marsh systems. We used sUAS to map the wrack movement in a Spartina alterniflora-dominated salt marsh monthly for one year including before and after Hurricane Isaias that brought strong winds, rain, and storm surge to the area of interest in August 2020. Flight parameters for each data collection mission were held constant including collection only during low tide. Wrack was visually identified and digitized in a GIS using every mission orthomosaic …

The Possibility Of A Global Civilization, Robert Elliott Allinson

Comparative Civilizations Review

This article inquires into the question of what is civilization. It considers that a sine qua non of a civilization is a non-violent culture. It investigates the concept of violence and extends the concept to cover examples of citizens who live in conditions of poverty, ill health, lack of food, lack of education, lack of adequate housing, and inadequate living conditions. The argument in the article is that a civilization that allows such conditions to exist perpetrates violence upon its citizens and therefore does not deserve the appellation, ‘civilization.’ Those citizens who do not protest against such violence are not …

Monitoring Wise Civilization By Creating An Index, Andrew Targowski

Comparative Civilizations Review

The Wise Civilization Index will assess how wise we are in developing and living in a sustainable civilization.

Recently, people have started to worry about the state of the climate. This has been reflected in the finding that the climate temperature should be kept to a growth of below two degrees Celsius by 2100 to save our species from a slow death (The Paris Agreement of 2015). After all, raising the human body temperature by two degrees threatens illness and even death by four degrees. The same (relatively) can be done with Earth. However, apart from the climate, the problem …

The Mything Link: Why Sacred Storytelling Is A Key Human Survival Strategy, Ken Baskin

Comparative Civilizations Review

For several decades, societies across the globe have faced a real existential threat with challenges such as global warming. Yet no one in the elite has been able to do anything to improve conditions. We seem to be trapped in the kind of situation that Einstein described when he discussed problems that can’t be solved with the logic that created them.

University Of Central Florida Undergraduate Catalog, 2023 - 2024, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Two Thymomas Of Different Histological Subtypes Arising In A Giant Thymolipoma: Case Report And Review Of The Literature., Vincent C Daniel, Konstantin Shilo

Surgery Articles

Thymolipoma is a rare benign tumor of the anterior mediastinum. Only a few reports describing thymoma arising within a thymolipoma have been documented in the literature. We report herein a detailed description of thymolipoma giving rise to 2 thymomas of different histological subtypes. A 74-year-old male with history of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma gradually developed 2 soft tissue nodules within a large right hemithorax fatty mass that was present for the past 20 years. Computed tomography (CT)-guided needle biopsy revealed one of the soft tissue nodules to be a thymoma, and the entire mass was surgically resected. Final pathological examination …

Effect Of Shock Tunnel Geometry On Shockwave And Vortex Ring Formation, Propagation, And Head On Collision, Rachel L. Bauer, Emily M. Johnson, Alexander D. Douglas, Catherine E. Johnson

Mining Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Vortex ring research primarily focuses on the formation from circular openings. Consequently, the role of tunnel geometry is less understood, despite there being numerous research studies using noncircular shock tunnels. This experimental study investigated shockwaves and vortex rings from different geometry shock tunnels from formation at the tunnel opening to head on collision with another similarly formed vortex ring using schlieren imaging and statistical analysis. The velocity of the incident shockwave was found to be consistent across all four shock tunnel geometries, which include circle, hexagon, square, and triangle of the same cross-sectional area. The velocity was 1.2 ± 0.007 …

Nh Farm Network Open Forum Disaster Response 07 10 23, Olivia Saunders

UNH Cooperative Extension

No abstract provided.

Positron Emission Tomography And Magnetic Resonance Imaging Methods And Datasets Within The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (Dian), Nicole S. Mckay, Brian A. Gordon, Russ C. Hornbeck, Aylin Dincer, Shaney Flores, Sarah J. Keefe, Nelly Joseph-Mathurin, Clifford R. Jack, Robert Koeppe, Peter R. Millar, Beau M. Ances, Charles D. Chen, Alisha Daniels, Diana A. Hobbs, Kelley Jackson, Deborah Koudelis, Parinaz Massoumzadeh, Austin Mccullough, Michael L. Nickels, Farzaneh Rahmani, Laura Swisher, Qing Wang, Ricardo F. Allegri, Sarah B. Berman, Adam M. Brickman, William S. Brooks, David M. Cash, Jasmeer P. Chhatwal, Gregory S. Day, Martin R. Farlow, Christian La Fougère, Nick C. Fox, Michael Fulham, Bernardino Ghetti, Neill Graff-Radford, Takeshi Ikeuchi, William Klunk, Jae-Hong Lee, Johannes Levin, Ralph Martins, Colin L. Masters, Jonathan Mcconathy, Hiroshi Mori, James M. Noble, Gerald Reischl, Christopher Rowe, Stephen Salloway, Raquel Sanchez-Valle, Peter R. Schofield, Hiroyuki Shimada, Mikio Shoji, Yi Su, Kazushi Suzuki, Jonathan Vöglein, Igor Yakushev, Carlos Cruchaga, Jason Hassenstab, Celeste Karch, Eric Mcdade, Richard J. Perrin, Chengjie Xiong, John C. Morris, Randall J. Bateman, Tammie L. S. Benzinger, Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer Network (DIAN) is an international collaboration studying autosomal dominant Alzheimer disease (ADAD). ADAD arises from mutations occurring in three genes. Offspring from ADAD families have a 50% chance of inheriting their familial mutation, so non-carrier siblings can be recruited for comparisons in case–control studies. The age of onset in ADAD is highly predictable within families, allowing researchers to estimate an individual’s point in the disease trajectory. These characteristics allow candidate AD biomarker measurements to be reliably mapped during the preclinical phase. Although ADAD represents a small proportion of AD cases, understanding neuroimaging-based changes that occur during …

The Incidence Of Hematological Toxicities In Colorectal Cancer Patients Treated With Fluoropyrimidine-Based Regimens At Princess Noorah Oncology Center., Mansoor Khan, Sara Alharbi, Shahad Aljuhani, Mariam Tunkar, Amjaad Morya, Abdelmajid Alnatsheh Pharmd, Majed Alshamrani, Razaz Felemban

PCI Publications and Projects

Background Fluoropyrimidine-based regimens are used for the management of colorectal cancer, which is the second most common cancer in Saudi Arabia. We aimed to study the incidence of hematological toxicities in colorectal cancer patients treated with fluoropyrimidine and fluoropyrimidine-based regimens at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, King Abdulaziz Medical City- Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  Methods A retrospective cohort study that included adult colorectal cancer patients who were treated with fluoropyrimidine-based regimens from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2018 at Princess Noorah Oncology Center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia was performed. Our primary objective was to determine the incidence of anemia, neutropenia, and thrombocytopenia …

Biochemical And Structural Characterization Of The First-Discovered Metazoan Dna Cytosine-N4 Methyltransferase From The Bdelloid Rotifer Adineta Vaga, Jujun Zhou, John R Horton, Gundeep Kaur, Qin Chen, Xuwen Li, Fabian Mendoza, Tao Wu, Robert M Blumenthal, Xing Zhang, Xiaodong Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Much is known about the generation, removal, and roles of 5-methylcytosine (5mC) in eukaryote DNA, and there is a growing body of evidence regarding N6-methyladenine, but very little is known about N4-methylcytosine (4mC) in the DNA of eukaryotes. The gene for the first metazoan DNA methyltransferase generating 4mC (N4CMT) was reported and characterized recently by others, in tiny freshwater invertebrates called bdelloid rotifers. Bdelloid rotifers are ancient, apparently asexual animals, and lack canonical 5mC DNA methyltransferases. Here, we characterize the kinetic properties and structural features of the catalytic domain of the N4CMT protein from the bdelloid rotifer Adineta vaga. We …

H3k36 Methylation Maintains Cell Identity By Regulating Opposing Lineage Programmes, Michael S Hoetker, Masaki Yagi, Bruno Di Stefano, Justin Langerman, Simona Cristea, Lai Ping Wong, Aaron J Huebner, Jocelyn Charlton, Weixian Deng, Chuck Haggerty, Ruslan I Sadreyev, Alexander Meissner, Franziska Michor, Kathrin Plath, Konrad Hochedlinger

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The epigenetic mechanisms that maintain differentiated cell states remain incompletely understood. Here we employed histone mutants to uncover a crucial role for H3K36 methylation in the maintenance of cell identities across diverse developmental contexts. Focusing on the experimental induction of pluripotency, we show that H3K36M-mediated depletion of H3K36 methylation endows fibroblasts with a plastic state poised to acquire pluripotency in nearly all cells. At a cellular level, H3K36M facilitates epithelial plasticity by rendering fibroblasts insensitive to TGFβ signals. At a molecular level, H3K36M enables the decommissioning of mesenchymal enhancers and the parallel activation of epithelial/stem cell enhancers. This enhancer rewiring …

Utilizing Crispr Cas9 To Visualize Dopamine Receptors In Caenorhabditis Elegans, Lauren Michelle Velasquez

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Dopamine (DA) is a neurotransmitter with imperative implications in many functions including movement, reward, and cognition. Studying the pathways of dopaminergic neurons at multiple levels allows us to understand the ways in which these systems can go wrong. We study dopamine in a model system such as the worm Caenorhabditis elegans because of its relatively simple and well-characterized nervous system. DA is involved in regulating chemosensory behaviors in worms. The purpose of this research project is to definitively answer the following question: Are the dopamine receptors DOP-1 and DOP-4 expressed in chemosensory neurons? Previous reporter assays show that neither of …

Hsp70 And Hsp22 As Toxicity Bioreporters In Drosophila Melanogaster, Zakkary Hudson

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Of the over 80,000 chemicals used commercially in the United States, few have had sufficient safety and toxicological information collected. To further reduce animal usage, methods that will lessen reliance upon traditional animal toxicology testing and increase the usage of alternative, high throughput toxicology screening methods are being explored. One such method is the utilization of biomarkers and bioreporters in model organisms such as Drosophila melanogaster. The biomarkers, HSP22 and HSP70 have been successfully utilized in various studies involving Drosophila melanogaster bioreporter constructs to evaluate chemical toxicity. In this study, both an in vivo and in vitro HSP22 and …