Digital Commons Network^™

Antoni Gaudí: Nature & Geometry, Sana Ashfaq Fatimah

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Antoni Gaudí believed that architecture is the fusion of nature and geometry. He had the power to unite form and structure and he continued to achieve this in his work which made it hold a special place in the history of Barcelona’s architecture. He is known for his work to have changed the way architecture was approached. Although many hated his work at first, it was after his death that they realized how he has the power to unite nature and geometry. To further understand his legacy, a collection, and analysis of books, journals, and scholarly material was undertaken. The …

Melanoma Chemotherapy Treatment Using Modified Cellulose-Based Injectable Hydrogel Combined With Temozolomide, Kayla Meyers

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

A local delivery method of an injectable modified cellulose nanofiber hydrogel, DNCNF PAA 10%, loaded with the chemotherapy drug temozolomide, TMZ, was studied to investigate the most effective and safest therapy window on duke melanoma 6 (DM6) and human dermal fibroblast cells (HDF-α). Loaded hydrogel concentrations of 25μM1000μM were administered inside PDMS microcurrent device for 72 hours, removed, cells stained, and quantified. For the long-term study, treatment was administered for 72 hours, treatment removed, and cells recovered for 72 hours. The data was quantified using a fluorescent live/dead cell assay and cells counted. There was a cell death dosage effect …

Winter Cover Crop Performance In The Southern Piedmont Region Of South Carolina, Payton Davis

All Theses

Cover crops (CC) offer in-field and environmental benefits when integrated into cropping systems. Low CC adoption in the southern Piedmont of South Carolina is partially due to the lack of information on CC performance and benefits within the region. To address this, eight winter CC and a fallow/pigweed treatment were investigated for their influence on soil temperature, volumetric water content (VWC), percent cover, biomass, and the occurrence of soil water repellency (SWR). A randomized complete block design experiment was conducted in the fall and winter of 2021-2022 (EXP A) and repeated in 2022-2023 (EXP B). Cover crops minimally influenced soil …

Hibernating Tricolored Bats At A Southeastern Recreation Site: Microsite Use And Public Perceptions, Rebecca Brown

All Theses

High bat mortality from white-nose syndrome (WNS) has increased the need to manage hibernation sites. Management decisions should be based on science, and when sites are accessible to the public, also need to consider human dimensions. We used Stumphouse Tunnel, a recreation site and tricolored bat (Perimyotis subflavus) hibernaculum in northwestern South Carolina, as a case study to understand potential conflicts between conservation and recreation. The population declined by 90% after the arrival of white-nose syndrome (WNS), followed by stabilization and slight increases. Because the increase was associated with more bats roosting in the publicly accessible section, a potential …

Using Visual Effects As A Means Of Establishing Or Reinforcing Scale In 3d Visual Works, Eric Dinicolantonio

All Theses

In 3D animation, visual effects help to establish and reinforce the scale of different characters and objects that are otherwise unclear. In the Fall of 2022, I taught a class about visual effects to several students. At the time, I had difficulty explaining the importance of properly scaling your 3D effects in order to add realism. With physically based effects, we must respect the laws of physics to create a visually realistic and understandable visual effect. Going through several of my previous projects, I found that I had made mistakes with scaling several of my effects. With this paper, I …

Phenomenological Qualitative Program Evaluation Of Goat Yoga For Cultivating Joy And Positively Shifting Perspective, Teri Relyea Berbel

Social Work Theses - Archive

There is increasing evidence that animal-assisted interventions are helpful for mental wellbeing in reducing anxiety and depression. There is also a large body of research supporting the benefits of yoga for symptoms of trauma. However, there can be resistance to participating in yoga interventions because of insecurity or personal aversions to the practice. Also, yoga alone may not provide sufficient positive affect attributes to promote the needed change. The combined yoga and animal-assisted intervention of “Goat Yoga” has been popular for several years as a fun and uplifting activity but has not been studied for its influence on mental wellbeing. …

Model And Observation Comparisons Of Ionospheric Current Systems, Tre'shunda James

Physics Dissertations - Archive

The interaction between the dynamically changing solar wind and Earth’s magnetosphere results in several different current systems. The most relevant to space weather are the Birkeland currents, a.k.a field-aligned currents (FACs), that couple the magnetosphere to the ionosphere. These currents flow into and out of the ionosphere and are closed through the ionosphere by the horizontally flowing eastward and westward electrojets. This FAC-electrojet current system is responsible for some of the most beautiful and detrimental space weather impacts. The aurora borealis (or northern lights) in the Northern Hemisphere and aurora australis (or southern lights) in the Southern Hemisphere are displays …

Developing Chemo-Proteomics Methods For Tyrosine Conjugation And Studies Of Organometallic Complexes Of Gold., Adway Ouseph Zacharias

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

The incredible changes in MS instrumentation since the late 1980s with the advent of electrospray ionization (ESI) and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization (MALDI) has revolutionized protein chemistry. Mass spectrometry coupled with chemical crosslinking is a powerful tool to decipher protein structure and protein-protein interactions. A majority of commercially available crosslinkers target only few amino acid residues such as lysine, arginine and cysteine, thereby limiting the utility of this technology. The prospect of using chemical reagents to target amino acids is challenging since covalent labeling experiments are performed under physiological aqueous conditions that may be detrimental to the stability of these reagents. …

Evolution Of Allostery And Conformational Dynamics Of Caspases Involved In The Extrinsic Pathway Of Apoptosis, Mithun Nag Karadi Giridhar

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Caspases are a class of cysteine proteases that play a crucial role in programmed cell death (apoptosis). We complete an evolutionary picture of folding of caspases in the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis. The folding models show that the conformational free energy of the monomeric fold is conserved in the extrinsic pathway of apoptosis. In addition, with molecular dynamics and mass spectrometry we also show that the small subunit is less stable than the large subunit and charges destabilize allosteric regions in caspases allowing for dynamics. In order to gain insight into the evolution of allostery in caspases across different species, …

Endophytic Bacteria Isolated From Aeschynomene Indica Plants And Their Role In Nod-Factor Independent Nodule Formation And Nitrogen Fixation, Meaghan Alyssa Rose

Biology Dissertations - Archive

The formation of specialized root organs known as nodules is the most defining characteristic of leguminous plants due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen to bioavailable forms enabled by rhizobial endosymbionts. This relationship has played an integral role in the agricultural practice of using such crop plants as biofertilizers to reduce the use of and dependency on synthetic chemical fertilizers. Tropical legumes, such as members of the genus Aeschynomene, are particularly recognized for their ability to form stem nodules through an unknown mechanism independently of the canonical Nod Factor signaling pathway used in standard root nodulation. The works in this …

Stress Response Pathways And The Origins Of Novelty: How Snakes Regenerate Organs And Regulate Venom, Aundrea Kristene Westfall

Biology Dissertations - Archive

Snakes have captured evolutionary biologists’ attention for decades as extreme examples of adaptive evolution models for studying how novel and extreme traits evolve in nature, but research has long overlooked or been unable to determine the molecular and genomic bases of these traits, and their underlying mechanisms. Here, I dissect the molecular mechanisms and associated signaling pathways underlying two such extreme traits – extreme intestinal regenerative capacity and the evolution of venom regulation – using functional genomics approaches to understand the conserved and non-canonical gene regulatory cascades that drives them. I first combined physiological data with RNA sequencing, proteomics, and …

Writing Workshops: The Authentic Writing Experience, Ashley Kevil

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Many of the artistic aspects of writing are lost in the common lecture-style teaching of grammar and essays. A writing workshop is used to resolve this, acting as a coaching approach to teaching writing in which students move at their own pace. To study the effectiveness of a writing workshop, a third-grade student from an urban setting was worked with three times a week. These sessions began with 10 minutes on an aspect of learning, followed by 30 minutes of writing, and 10 minutes of conferencing. After working with the student, it was found that the student’s writing greatly benefited …

Sakuga Animation In Harmony, Farhan Hossain Fahim

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

‘Sakuga’ is colloquially known to be a style of Japanese animation (anime) characterized by dynamism, fluidity, and attention to detail. It helps to make a scene livelier, more realistic, and exciting, and is typically used for action scenes. With RETAS Studio being the industry-standard 2D animation software in Japan, its Western counterpart, Toon Boom Harmony, does not see much use in the anime industry. This project attempts to create a short sakuga animation of a dragonfly using Harmony. The dragonfly’s trajectory is initially mapped out in the software, followed by sketches of the key frames defining its movement. The in-between …

Interactive Living Stream, Yuvaram Devarajulu

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The Living Stream product promotes education of the wildlife instreams of the national parks by making the sites accessible and providing the opportunity to experience nature through augmented reality. The US ARMY CORPS of Engineers stated the need for making national parks accessible to individuals unable to participate in the great outdoors. There are several individuals who often face difficulties accessing outdoor parks due to different reasons. The stream projection is expected to include several elements that resemble real water streams on earth. A projector would display a simulation of a pond with some animations of native fish and splashing …

Comparing Machine Learning Algorithms For Vehicle Route Prediction, Prithvidhar Pudu

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Route prediction is an important tool in understanding the trajectories of vehicles. This information can be used to make intelligent decisions in city planning such as traffic avoidance and pedestrian safety. Machine Learning can predict these routes by learning common patterns from previous vehicle paths. These vehicle paths are plentiful due to the abundance of IoT devices and advancements in computer vision. The most suitable machine learning algorithm that could accurately predict destinations was determined by passing vehicle data to three popular machine learning algorithms: Decision Trees, Artificial Neural Networks, and Naïve-Bayes. The training data for these algorithms was converted …

Effects Of Prebiotics, Probiotics, And Antibiotics On The Human Gut Microbiome, Ai-Vy Dinh

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The human gut microbiome is a community of microbes that are found in the gastrointestinal tract and serves many purposes to the human host, such as immune system regulation and food digestion. In adults, thousands of bacterial species may develop over time based on changes in diet, environment, and other factors. A dietary category of interest is that of prebiotics and probiotics, both of which are necessary for a healthy microbiome. Prebiotics aid microorganisms by acting as “food,” while probiotics are microorganisms themselves. A dataset was extracted from the National Center for Biotechnology Information that included abundant bacterial genera in …

Genotypic Result Of The Insulin-Like Receptor Gene Knockout In Daphnia Pulex Eb1, Anisa Sarah Kammaz

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas9 has been used in multiple gene modification studies in various organisms. Daphnia, water fleas, are used in ecological studies due to their ability to sense and respond to environmental factors. Their quick life cycles make them prime candidates for gene modification and evolutionary studies. In our experiment, Daphnia pulex EB1 was used in the knockout of the Insulin-like Receptor gene via CRISPR-Cas9 due to its effect on dwarfism in humans and developmental disorders in mice. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) sequencing was done to compare the EB1 gene of interest to the PA42 reference …

Rethinking The Civil Protection Of Patients From Misleading Pharmaceutical Marketing Under Saudi Law, Muflih Saud Almughyirah

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

The effect of pharmaceutical marketing on individuals is a universal concern. It can influence patients' health and wealth. Patients, as well as their prescribing medical doctors, have been targeted by such marketing through different means. Many patients are unaware of their position as the most vulnerable party in this context and how these promotional strategies affect their physicians' decisions. When pharmaceutical marketing includes false, misleading, or otherwise negligent statements, patients become potential victims. This research addresses patients' civil protection from misleading pharmaceutical marketing under Saudi law. The study addresses four crucial aspects of patient protection: (i) ex-ante government regulations, (ii) …

I Grew Up Indoctrinated, Consuelo Ferschweiler

Whittier Scholars Program

My capstone project is looking at homeschooling as an educational path. I started with researching homeschooling and studies done to show the affects, outcomes, and comparisons of homeschooling with other methods commonly used such as Public or Private schools. I then read a few books and material that fall into the memoir and researched memoir genre, such as Educated, to understand how the voice and gain familiarity of memoir writing and the process of researching into your own life and history.

I have been looking back on my education of growing up homeschooled and writing scenes from those memories, …

Glass, Danielle Tonnessen

Theses

This project is a full walking simulator video game and includes a demonstration of a variety of game design and development skills, including pre-development documentation, narration, game design audio, graphics, post-processing, UI elements and animation. Additionally, the project promotes the author’s ability in creative writing, and involves mental health subject matter with a focus on trauma processing, hypnosis, and survivor’s guilt.

A Study Of Wicca And Art, Shannon Hillyer

Theses

Art can be interpreted from a religious perspective given knowledge of the artist’s present or past religious affiliations. The photo series presented in this paper was part of a survey that asked participants to consider their own religious backgrounds and to determine the inspiration for the photo series. This project utilized introspection, autoethnographic research, and formalist analysis to determine if viewers could pinpoint the artist’s religious affiliation based on the themes present in the photo series. Most participants identified mythological themes were present in the series but didn’t connect those to Wicca unanimously. Art can be interpreted from a religious …

Climate Change, Food Security, And The Myth Of Unlimited Abundance, Susan A. Schneider

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The Biden-Harris White House can be commended for convening the historic White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health highlighting the critical connections between access to healthy food and sustaining a healthy population. This article explores the impact of climate change and seeks to fill a critical gap in the national discussion. It argues that dramatic changes are needed in the way we think about domestic food security and that meaningful change will be required to assure an adequate supply of healthy food, as envisioned by the White House Conference. It explores the impact of the changes to the climate …

Pestfacts Wa Issue 05 - May 2023, Benjamin S. Congdon, Cindy L. Webster, Ciara Beard, Geoff J. Thomas

PestFacts WA

PestFacts WA Issue 5 - May 2023 contents:

• Early season aphid and virus risk in cereals and canola
• Black and white tiger moth caterpillars
• Lupinosis risk this season

Artistic, Artworld, And Aesthetic Disobedience, Adam Burgos, Sheila Lintott

Faculty Journal Articles

Jonathan Neufeld proposes a concept of aesthetic disobedience that parallels the political concept of civil disobedience articulated by John Rawls in A Theory of Justice. The artistic transgressions he calls aesthetic disobedience are distinctive in being public and deliberative in their aim to bring about specific changes in accepted artworld norms. We argue that Neufeld has offered us valuable insight into the dynamic and potent nature of art and the artworld; however, we contend that Neufeld errs by constraining aesthetic disobedience to the artworld. Through a reconsideration of the parallel between aesthetic and civil disobedience, we illustrate how aesthetic disobedience …

Improving The Performance Of Automatic Target Recognition Using Data Augmentation., Rolando Holmes

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) is a task that aims to recognize targets based on data obtained from visual sensors such as Infrared cameras. Machine learning, in particular Deep Learning, has been the dominate approach to solve this task. However, in order to achieve high performance, Deep Learning requires a large amount of data that may not be available, which poses an issue when developing robust models. In this thesis, we propose the use of data augmentation from an automatic detector as an alternative source to supplement the need for more training data. We use a two stage approach to develop …

Biotic And Abiotic Factors Contributing To The Invasion Success Of Microstegium Vimineum In Eastern Deciduous Forests., Kimberly Koenig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Forest managers face multiple challenges in maintaining woodland systems, including climate change, habitat destruction and fragmentation, and the invasion of novel species. Invaders can change microclimates, alter nutrient cycling and understory habitat, and outcompete native species, leading to native species population declines and reduction in species richness. To effectively combat plant invasions it is necessary to first understand factors contributing to invasive species spread, including the complex interactions between invaders and native biota. This dissertation investigates the abiotic conditions and biotic interactions associated with invasion success of the non-native grass Microstegium vimineum, which is a species of great concern …

The Conceptual Compression Of Space And Time As Intimated In The Depiction Of The Horse In China, Circa 1250 Bce-Ce 400., Robert Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the horse in ancient China, from before its domestication in the 13th century BCE to the fourth century CE. The revolutionary utilization of the mounted horse influenced contemporary concepts of time and space. The topics include the history of equid domestication in Eurasia, horse-drawn vehicles and riding, the introduction of the horse-drawn chariot from Shang China to its decline in Eastern Zhou; the rise of cavalry in China in the fourth century BCE; and the administrative, martial, symbolic and religious roles given the horse up to the Han dynasty; the early Chinese world view as dictated by …

The Well-Tempered Android: Philosophical Posthumanism In Science Fiction Cinema., Cody Gault

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines philosophical posthumanism as a means for critical analysis of the interaction between humans and nonhuman androids in select science fiction cinematic universes. The interaction is analyzed through several facets, notably the interactions between humans and nonhuman androids, particularly as interactions between the human and nonhuman are often sites of violence. Chapter one is an introduction. Chapter two describes the development of philosophical posthumanism from humanism, also including an analysis of philosophical posthumanism, and how it can be used as a critical lens. Chapter three begins an analysis of science fiction cinema by examining the Blade Runner films …

Lung Cancer-Kidney Crosstalk Enhances Cisplatin-Induced Nephrotoxicity., Andrew Orwick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer patients represent a unique patient population with increased susceptibility to kidney disease. Drug-induced acute kidney injury (AKI) in cancer patients is a common problem. Cisplatin is a highly effective treatment used in many solid organ cancers. However, cisplatin causes AKI in 30% of patients, increasing the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) development. The kidneys maintain homeostasis of the body’s extracellular fluids and removing waste products. The kidneys filter nearly 170 liters of fluid a day and must reabsorb over 99% of the filtrate. The reabsorption occurs in tubule cells throughout the nephron, which are highly enriched in mitochondria …

Soluble Epoxide Hydrolase Inhibition: A Novel Therapeutic Strategy For Alcohol-Associated Liver Disease., Jeffrey Warner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a common chronic liver disease and healthcare burden, and a spectrum of pathologies ranging from steatosis to steatohepatitis, fibrosis, and alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH). Despite its prevalence, there are limited effective therapeutic options for the treatment of ALD/AH. Previous evidence suggested that inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH), a lipid metabolism enzyme which degrades beneficial metabolites of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids, may be a beneficial strategy. The central hypothesis of the current dissertation is that sEH inhibition will ameliorate alcohol-associated liver injury and inflammation in mouse models of ALD. Methods To determine the efficacy of …