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From Big Farm To Big Pharma: A Differential Equations Model Of Antibiotic-Resistant Salmonella In Industrial Poultry Populations, Rilyn Mckallip

Honors Theses

Antibiotics are used in poultry production as prophylaxis, curative treatment, and growth promotion. The first use is as prophylaxis, or prevention of common bacterial diseases. The crowded conditions in concentrated animal feeding operations necessitate management of infectious disease to ensure overall animal health and the profitability of such operations. In these farms, between 20,000 and 125,000 birds are raised in shed-like enclosures [3], with an average of less than one square foot of space per chicken [34]. Antibiotics are currently used in chicken farms to manage and prevent common bacterial diseases such as respiratory and digestive tract infections, as well …

Reflections: A Meditation On Ballet And Pain, Claire Madeline Silverman

Honors Theses

The defining details of the character of Giselle are that she loves to dance even though she knows it could kill her (for she has a frail heart), and that she is in love with a peasant boy named Loys, though she knows her mother dislikes him. She is defiant, determined to follow her desires.

Giselle wasn’t one of the ballets that stuck out to me when I was younger. I loved the Tchaikovsky ballets — Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, The Nutcracker — and later Romeo and Juliet (Macmillan’s version) became my favorite. Giselle existed at my periphery. It’s …

Efficacy Of Tetris In Reducing Fear Response To Horror Films, Alivia Kelley

USF St. Petersburg campus Honors Program Theses (Undergraduate)

Experiencing horror on screen is a cathartic experience that employs the essential human emotion of fear. Many people are too afraid to watch horror movies. Viewing a horror movie is intended to invoke an acute fear response, but this response can extend for more than 90 minutes. Horror movies invoke a fear response that makes the sight on the screen indistinguishable from a real threat. This fear response can invoke PTSD-like trauma symptoms, such as flashbacks. Tetris has been used to alleviate these intrusive memories by overriding the traumatic visual stimulus with a visuospatial distraction increasing the cognitive load. Horror …

Migration Of Elk (Cervus Canadensis) And Barriers To Movement, Levi Watkins

Theses and Dissertations

Movement patterns of animals are varied, complex, and can be influenced by environmental and anthropogenic factors. One form of animal movement, migration, is influenced by environmental factors that alter the timing, duration, intensity, and likelihood of migration. Additionally, features of the landscape, both natural and anthropogenic, can alter how animals move through their seasonal and home ranges. Movement patterns can be impeded or prevented by features such as railroads, rivers, and roads. Here we explore characteristics of elk (Cervus canadensis) migration by evaluating the strategies of migration exhibited and the factors that influence migration of elk in central and eastern …

Comparative Study Of Adenosine Analogs As Inhibitors Of Protein Arginine Methyltransferases And A Clostridioides Difficile- Specific Dna Adenine Methyltransferase, Jujun Zhou, Youchao Deng, Iredia D Iyamu, John R Horton, Dan Yu, Taraneh Hajian, Masoud Vedadi, Dante Rotili, Antonello Mai, Robert M Blumenthal, Xing Zhang, Rong Huang, Xiaodong Cheng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

S-Adenosyl-l-methionine (SAM) analogs are adaptable tools for studying and therapeutically inhibiting SAM-dependent methyltransferases (MTases). Some MTases play significant roles in host–pathogen interactions, one of which is Clostridioides difficile-specific DNA adenine MTase (CamA). CamA is needed for efficient sporulation and alters persistence in the colon. To discover potent and selective CamA inhibitors, we explored modifications of the solvent-exposed edge of the SAM adenosine moiety. Starting from the two parental compounds (6e and 7), we designed an adenosine analog (11a) carrying a 3-phenylpropyl moiety at the adenine N6-amino group, and a 3-(cyclohexylmethyl guanidine)-ethyl moiety at the …

Constructing A Good Life – Aesthetic Practices In Tiny Living, Anu Besson

Contemporary Aesthetics (Journal Archive)

I explore how aesthetic practices, or habitual, leisurely ways of doing everyday things for aesthetic enjoyment, play an important role in a pursuit of a good life. I apply a lens of aesthetic practices on media samples portraying living in a tiny house to explore 1) how this lifestyle is presented in traditional and social media, and 2) how the tiny house movement appears to be fueled by a yearning to construct a life that supports one’s creativity and integrity of identity. This construction often takes place through or by emphasizing aesthetic practices.

Zero And Few-Shot Concept Learning With Pre-Trained Embeddings, Jamison M. Moody

Theses and Dissertations

Neural networks typically struggle with reasoning tasks on out of domain data, something that humans can more easily adapt to. Humans come with prior knowledge of concepts and can segment their environment into building blocks (such as objects) that allow them to reason effectively in unfamiliar situations. Using this intuition, we train a network that utilizes fixed embeddings from the CLIP (Contrastive Language--Image Pre-training) model to do a simple task that the original CLIP model struggles with. The network learns concepts (such as "collide" and "avoid") in a supervised source domain in such a way that the network can adapt …

The Use Of Animal-Assisted Therapy In Educational Settings, Jasmine Morris

Honors Scholar Theses

Animal-Assisted therapy is a form of goal-based intervention where an animal is a part of the treatment process. This study evaluated two different interventions that use animal-assisted therapy practices in educational settings. The first intervention studied was a UConn IDEA Grant project titled “Promoting Positive Well-Being Among Adolescent Girls of Color Using an Animal Care Framework”. Results were analyzed using a two-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), fitting separate models to each grade, and chi-squared analysis. There was no significant impact of the intervention on increasing student knowledge of the content covered in the program The second intervention studied was the …

Volatile Organic Compound Identification Using Metal Oxide Sensors And Machine Learning, Hunter Tiner

Theses and Dissertations

Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are emitted gases that include many chemicals that can be created by biological processes or the byproduct of industrial processes, and can be present in a variety of pollutants. VOCs can cause a variety of ailments in humans and animals, and are expressed in plants as a way of signaling damage or the presence of pests. In this Thesis, an Internet of Things (IOT) E-nose device is outfitted with a gas array of eight Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) type gas sensors, which are sensitive to a broad range of VOCs, yet lack selectivity and are unable …

Improved Tumor Control Following Radiosensitization With Ultrasound-Sensitive Oxygen Microbubbles And Tumor Mitochondrial Respiration Inhibitors In A Preclinical Model Of Head And Neck Cancer, Quezia Lacerda, Hebah Falatah, Ji-Bin Liu, Corinne Wessner, Brian Oeffinger, Ankit K. Rochani, Dennis B. Leeper, Flemming Forsberg, Joseph M. Curry, Gagan Kaushal, Scott W Keith, Patrick O'Kane, Margaret A Wheatley, John R. Eisenbrey

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

Tumor hypoxia (oxygen deficiency) is a major contributor to radiotherapy resistance. Ultrasound-sensitive microbubbles containing oxygen have been explored as a mechanism for overcoming tumor hypoxia locally prior to radiotherapy. Previously, our group demonstrated the ability to encapsulate and deliver a pharmacological inhibitor of tumor mitochondrial respiration (lonidamine (LND)), which resulted in ultrasound-sensitive microbubbles loaded with O2 and LND providing prolonged oxygenation relative to oxygenated microbubbles alone. This follow-up study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic response to radiation following the administration of oxygen microbubbles combined with tumor mitochondrial respiration inhibitors in a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) tumor model. …

Cross-Dataset Single-Cell Analysis Identifies Temporal Alterations In Cell Populations Of Primary Pancreatic Tumor And Liver Metastasis, Daowei Yang, Rohan Moniruzzaman, Hua Wang, Huamin Wang, Yang Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a unique tumor microenvironment composed of various cell populations such as cancer cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), immune cells, and endothelial cells. Recently, single-cell RNA-sequencing analysis (scRNA-seq) has systemically revealed the genomic profiles of these cell populations in PDAC. However, the direct comparison of cell population composition and genomic profile between primary tumors (at both early- and late-stage) and metastatic tumors of PDAC is still lacking. In this study, we combined and analyzed recent scRNA-seq datasets of transgenic KPC mouse models with autochthonous PDAC and matched liver metastasis, revealing the unique tumor ecosystem and cell composition …

Senior Vocal Recital: Benjamin Petropoulos (2023), St. Norbert College Music Department

Music Performances

SNC Music Department presents: a Senior Vocal Recital, featuring Benjamin Petropoulos, Isabella Puchalla, Colton Lemanski, & Hannah Dornfeld (2023).

British Imperialism And Cultural Anxieties In Christina Rossetti’S Goblin Market, Krystyn Stacy

Student Research Symposium 2023 (Archived)

Goblin Market (1862) by Christina Rossetti is a narrative, fantasy poem about two sisters, Lizzie and Laura, who face temptations from goblin men who, on the surface, sell fruit at a market, but whose addictive wares physically debilitate their customers to the point of death. Given that the release of this poem in the thick of England’s Victorian era coincides with the reign of the British Empire, I read and understand it in light of that historical context. In this reading, Goblin Market conveys cultural anxieties about what the British Empire means for England, specifically as it deals with commercial …

Student Research Symposium Schedule 2023, Texas A&M University-San Antonio

Student Research Symposium 2023 (Archived)

Student Research Symposium Schedule 2023, including abstracts and faculty advisor information.

Toward Understanding The Effects Of Socially Aware Robot Behavior, Oliver Roesler, Elahe Bagheri, Amir Aly

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

A key factor for the acceptance of robots as regular partners in humancentered environments is the appropriateness and predictability of their behaviors, which depend partially on the robot behavior’s conformity to social norms. Previous experimental studies have shown that robots that follow social norms and the corresponding interactions are perceived more positively by humans than robots or interactions that do not adhere to social norms. However, the conducted studies only focused on the effects of social norm compliance in specific scenarios. Therefore, this paper aims to guide further research studies by compiling how researchers in relevant research fields think the …

Synthetic Errα/Β/Γ Agonist Induces An Errα-Dependent Acute Aerobic Exercise Response And Enhances Exercise Capacity, Cyrielle Billon, Sadichha Sitaula, Subhashis Banerjee, Ryan Welch, Bahaa Elgendy, Lamees Hegazy, Tae Gyu Oh, Melissa Kazantzis, Arindam Chatterjee, John Chrivia, Matthew E Hayes, Weiyi Xu, Angelica Hamilton, Janice M Huss, Lilei Zhang, John K Walker, Michael Downes, Ronald M Evans, Thomas P Burris

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Repetitive physical exercise induces physiological adaptations in skeletal muscle that improves exercise performance and is effective for the prevention and treatment of several diseases. Genetic evidence indicates that the orphan nuclear receptors estrogen receptor-related receptors (ERRs) play an important role in skeletal muscle exercise capacity. Three ERR subtypes exist (ERRα, β, and γ), and although ERRβ/γ agonists have been designed, there have been significant difficulties in designing compounds with ERRα agonist activity. Additionally, there are limited synthetic agonists that can be used to target ERRs in vivo. Here, we report the …

Effect Of Foliar Application Of Dse Fungal Solution On Growth Of Morus Alba And Its Prospects Of Ecological Restoration Application, Bi Yinli, Wang Zhuoyou, Ke Zengming

Coal Geology & Exploration

Microbial reclamation technology has been widely used in the ecological restoration of western arid and semi-arid coal mining areas. Convenient application of microbial agent has important significance for improving the efficiency of ecological management in coal-mining subsidence. Herein, this study tested with Morus alba as the study object, and the dark septate endophyte (DSE) as the test fungus. using a greenhouse pot experiment with three treatments, which including the root inoculation of DSE fungus (GXZR), foliar application of DSE fungus (YMTM) and control Morus alba (CK), this study investigated the effects of different inoculation methods on the growth of Morus …

The Toxicology Of Particulate Matter Emitted From Coal Combustion And The Geological Origin Of Lung Cancer Epidemic In Xuanwei City, Yunan Province, China, Shao Longyi, Zhang Mengyuan, Feng Xiaolei, Jiao Jiewei, Wang Wenhua, Zhou Yiping

Coal Geology & Exploration

Xuanwei City in Yunnan Province is the area struck by the most severe lung cancer in China, with the incidence and mortality of lung cancer ranking first in the world. The study of genomics of lung cancer patients has shown that lung cancer in Xuanwei City has distinctive genetic characteristics and a unique incidence mode related to the environment. This study reviewed the epidemiological characteristics of the lung cancer epidemic in Xuanwei, as well as the level of pollution and toxicological characteristics of emissions from coal combustion. Moreover, this study discussed the geological origins of the lung cancer epidemic in …

Geothermal Energy Exploitation And Storage In Coal Field Under The Dual Carbon Goal, Wang Jiyang, Kong Yanlong, Duan Zhongfeng, Zhang Jixiong, Luo Xilian, Huang Yonghui, Luo Naning, Cheng Yuanzhi, Zhou Nan, Zhang Weizun, Pang Zhonghe

Coal Geology & Exploration

The development of geothermal energy in coalfield can not only improve the temperature environment of coal mining, but also turn waste into treasure through the clean utilization of geothermal energy. Especially, it is of great prospect to store energy in the mined-out area of coalfield under the “dual carbon” goal at present. Herein, in this paper, it was estimated that the geothermal reserves in the main coal-bearing areas of China were 1.12 × 10¹⁹ kJ, equivalent to 379.539 billion tons of standard coal, and the recoverable geothermal reserves were 1.71 × 10¹⁸ kJ, equivalent to 56.931 billion tons …

A Pretty Good War Movie, Robert K. Johnston

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Prince Caspian (2008)

Review Essay: Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens In The Imagination Of C. S. Lewis (Higgins), Sørina Higgins

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis. By Michael Ward. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978- 0-19-53138701. Pp. xii + 347. $29.95

Review Essay: Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens In The Imagination Of C. S. Lewis (Connell), Charles W. Connell

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Review of Planet Narnia: The Seven Heavens in the Imagination of C. S. Lewis. By Michael Ward. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. ISBN 978- 0-19-53138701. Pp. xii + 347. $29.95.

Toward A Narnian Valuation Of Nature: Participatory Ontology, Jeff Sellars

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Lewis’ appreciation of nature begs the question: from where does the natural world gain its purpose and meaning? Lewis’ valuation of nature can be understood perhaps best through participatory ontology: the immanent world is valued and saved only through the participation of the divine; the lower life is brought up into the higher life. This view can be seen very openly and unmistakably throughout The Chronicles of Narnia, where the natural Narnian world of plants, animals, trees, and creatures of all kinds are celebrated, and some are eventually included in the New Narnia.

Diversity In Times Of Adversity: Sounding A Horn In Narnia, D. G. Kehl

Sehnsucht: The C. S. Lewis Journal

Why, one might ask, does Lewis go to such great lengths to specify twelve different varieties of animals—“all you variety of creatures”—if not to stress diversity? In Letters to Malcolm Lewis wrote: “If grace perfects nature it must expand all our natures into the full richness of the diversity which God intended when He made them.”

Animal Performance And Productivity Of New Ecotypes Of Brachiaria Brizantha In Brazil, Valéria P. B. Euclides, Manuel C. M. Macedo, Cacilda B. Do Valle, R. Flores, M. P. Oliveira

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Brazil has the competitive advantage of a very dynamic and cost effective animal production system on pastures over other countries. The pursuit for more productive forages that will result in higher quality beef at a lower cost is then justified. Brachiaria is the most important forage genus utilised in Brazil, thus an intense search for new cultivars amongst collected and introduced ecotypes from Africa is underway. Following agronomic evaluation of this material in plots, 8 pre-selected Brachiaria ecotypes were tested under intermittent grazing in paddocks (Euclides et al., 2001). Continuing on the process of cultivar development, two out of …

Development Of A Bahiagrass Paspalum Notatum Flugge With Increased Short-Day Biomass, P. Mislevy, Ann R. Blount, T. R. Sinclair

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Low herbage productivity of subtropical grasses during the short-day winter months of October through to March can place a severe burden on livestock producers in Southeastern U.S. Researchers at the University of Florida (Sinclair et al., 2001) hypothesised that the decrease in forage production might result from physiological dormancy induced by short day length. A study using artificial lights to extend the day length demonstrated that maintaining the day length at 15 hr during the short-day length period increased 'Pensacola' bahiagrass P. notatum Flugge saure Parodi forage yield 122% when compared with normal photoperiod (Mislevy et al., 2001). …

Genetic And Molecular Characterization Of Temperate And Tropical Forage Maize Inbred Lines, B. Alarcón-Zúñiga, E. Valadez-Moctezuma, T. Cervantes-Martinez, T. Cervantes-Santana, M. Mendoza‐Rodriguez

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The livestock feeding in the Central highland of Mexico is based on harvest, grazing and annual forage conservation, being forage maize the most important silage crop (Alarcón, 1995). Even though forage maize is extensively bred in Europe, USA and Asia since 1900's, this started in Mexico in the 1960's, and little is known about the genetic diversity in both agronomic and nutritive value traits. Our breeding program goals are to analyze combining ability of biomass and quality predictors and to study the genetic relationship of inbred lines between lowland tropical and temperate races from Mesa Central, by genetic and molecular …

Effect Of Applied Biosolids To Bahiagrass Pastures On Copper Status Of Cattle, M. E. Tiffany, L. R. Mcdowell, G. A. O'Connor, N. S. Wilkinson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

When grazing ruminants consume forages high in Mo but adequate in S, there is a risk of molybdenosis (a Mo-induced Cu deficiency). This occurs when Mo, S, and Cu join to form Cu-thiomolybdate complexes in the rumen that are not readily absorbed (Suttle, 1991). High dietary S reduces Cu absorption, possibly due to unabsorbable Cu sulphide formation, independent from its part in thiomolybdate complexes. The use of municipal sludge (biosolids) as a pasture fertiliser is of interest since some contain high Mo which may induce Cu deficiency. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance and Cu status …

Effects Of Grassland Management On Herbage Lipid Composition And Consequences For Fatty Acids In Milk, Anjo Elgersma, P. Maudet, I. Witkowska, A. C. Wever

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Herbage provides bulk feed and is the basis for ruminant nutrition. Herbage lipids, especially C18:3, are a major source of beneficial fatty acids (FA) in milk. These desired FA are unsaturated FA such as CLA (conjugated linoleic acid), especially the isomer rumenic acid, and also vaccenic acid, both trans omega-7 FA (Ellen & Elgersma, 2004). As information on lipids in forages is scarce, effects were studied of N application level and regrowth period on the lipid concentration and FA composition of perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), the most important forage in temperate climate zones. A linear relation had previously …

Effect Of Feeding L-Carnitine And Sunflower Seeds On Cla Content Of Pasture-Fed Beef, S. L. Scott, W. P. Mccaughey, K. E. Buckley

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Pasture finishing enhances levels of conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) in beef lipids (Shanta et al. 1997). CLA (e.g., C18:2 c9, t11), formed during biohydrogenation of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in the rumen, can reduce the incidence of heart disease, cancer and obesity in humans. However, pasture finishing cattle can reduce carcass grade. Feeding pasture-fed cattle a high-grain diet for a short finishing period (~60 d) improves grades but may reduce lipid CLA levels. A feeding regime is required that maintains the positive nutritional attributes of pasture-fed beef and improves the meat grade. The objective of this study was to investigate …