Digital Commons Network^™

Advanced Optical Biosensing Using Ratiometric Fluorescent Polymer Dots And Nanozyme, Shuyi He

Dissertations and Theses

Biosensors have been deeply valued and widely used in fermentation technology, environmental monitoring, food engineering, clinical medicine, and the military. However, current biosensors still face many technical challenges, such as miniaturization, convenience, high precision, and low power consumption which restrict the popularization and development of biosensors. Meeting these challenges require the development of advanced materials and technologies. Optical biosensors offer distinct advantages such as high sensitivity, rapid response time, and the potential for miniaturization, making them ideal for overcoming the existing limitations. My research in this dissertation explores the development and application of advanced functional nanomaterials in optical biosensing, focusing …

Fda Modernization Act 2.0: The Beginning Of The End For Animal Testing In Drug Development, Julia Williams

Animal Law Review

Historical drug testing protocols utilized animal testing to determine whether drugs were safe and effective for use in humans. However, recognizing that testing drugs on other species is potentially dangerous for humans, troubled by failures, unnecessarily expensive, and time consuming, the FDA Modernization Act 2.0, passed in December 2022, removed animal testing as a requirement for new drug applications. While this was an important step forward, a notable failure of that Act is that it did not go far enough to end animal testing. Accordingly, this Article proposes an FDA Modernization Act 3.0.

The FDA Modernization Act 3.0 would ensure …

Cyclistai: A Smartphone Solution For Cyclist Stress Assessment Using Deep Learning, Aairish Singh

Computer Science and Engineering Theses - Archive

Cycling presents a compelling solution for promoting personal health and environmental well-being, particularly for short-distance travel. Despite its numerous advantages, cycling uptake in the United States remains disproportionately low, primarily due to safety concerns. Traditional frameworks for assessing cyclist stress are hindered by their impracticality and inability to provide real-time evaluations. Self-report surveys and physiological measurements offer alternative approaches but suffer from limitations such as retrospective reporting biases and accessibility challenges, respectively. This thesis introduces CyclistAI, a novel smartphone-based cyclist stress assessment model that leverages context sensing. By combining Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) techniques, CyclistAI …

Exploring The Impact Of Diabetes On Feet: Analysis Of Foot Ulcers With A Focus On Eczema-Related Considerations, Namlhun Jachung

Pitzer Senior Theses

Diabetes mellitus, a chronic metabolic disorder, has far-reaching consequences on various organ systems, with the lower extremities being particularly susceptible to complications. This study delves into the profound effects of diabetes on the feet, specifically examining the interplay between diabetes-induced foot ulcers, and potential complications arising from coexisting eczema. Two distinct experiments were designed to investigate critical aspects of this complex relationship.

The first experiment aims to compare Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL) levels among diabetic patients with and without eczema. The study involves a cohort of diabetic patients, stratified based on the presence or absence of eczema, and measured TEWL …

The Origin Of Educational Technology In China, Long Li

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Educational Technology is the means and methods employed in educational activities. Since the inception of education, there has been a parallel development of Educational Technology with a rich historical background. The entire evolutionary process of Educational Technology can be divided into three stages: Pre-Educational Technology, Current Educational Technology, and Post-Educational Technology, corresponding to the past, present, and future of Educational Technology. Throughout history, the Chinese nation has made irreplaceable contributions to the creation and inheritance of human civilization. The educational philosophy embedded in the discussions of education and technology among various schools of thought in ancient China and the educational …

A Cfd Framework To Study Complex Effects Relating To Airborne Viral-Pathogen Transmission, Rajendra Shrestha Mr.

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This research used computational fluid dynamics (CFD) to examine the behavior of airborne droplets released during respiratory events. The CFD model utilizes an Eulerian-Lagrangian approach, with turbulence resolved using the Spalart-Allmaras detached eddy simulation. The first part investigates airborne transmission and how modifying saliva during a sneeze impacts this process. The study employs CFD to simulate these respiratory events in a ventilated room. It finds that larger droplets alone are insufficient for droplet settling due to secondary breakdown processes. Modifiers that increase the Ohnesorge number show resistance to aerosolization from secondary breakup, resulting in more droplets with high settling rates, …

Adaptable And Trustworthy Machine Learning For Human Activity Recognition From Bioelectric Signals, Morgan S. Stuart

Theses and Dissertations

Enabling machines to learn measures of human activity from bioelectric signals has many applications in human-machine interaction and healthcare. However, labeled activity recognition datasets are costly to collect and highly varied, which challenges machine learning techniques that rely on large datasets. Furthermore, activity recognition in practice needs to account for user trust - models are motivated to enable interpretability, usability, and information privacy. The objective of this dissertation is to improve adaptability and trustworthiness of machine learning models for human activity recognition from bioelectric signals. We improve adaptability by developing pretraining techniques that initialize models for later specialization to unseen …

Lsu General Catalog 2024-2025, Louisiana State University And Agricultural And Mechanical College

LSU General Catalog

The LSU General Catalog describes all undergraduate and graduate departments and programs with degree requirements and courses offered for each one. The LSU General Catalog includes information on registration and financial aid as well as academic services offered to all students.

An Artificially Intelligent Approach To Medical Device Monitoring, Cristian A. Rodriguez

St. Thomas Law Review

The integration of artificial intelligence (Al) in medical devices, particularly the subset of Al technologies known as machine learning, has sparked a new era of precision and efficiency in healthcare. AI/ML-enabled medical devices are proving to be invaluable as they have already improved patient diagnosis, treatment, and disease prediction. As machine learning continues to be adopted in medical devices, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) continues to receive more marketing submissions and pre-submissions for AI/ML-enabled medical devices, a trend that is expected to increase over time. While the FDA has made significant progress in proposing regulatory frameworks that will …

Analysis Of The Magnetohydrodynamic Effects On Non-Newtonian Fluid Flow In An Inclined Non-Uniform Channel Under Long-Wavelength, Low-Reynolds Number Conditions, Manjunatha Gudekote, Rajashekhar Choudhari, Prathiksha Sanil, Hanumesh Vaidya

Open Access archive

This study utilises mathematical modelling and computations to analyse the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) effects on non-Newtonian Eyring-Powell fluid flow in an inclined non-uniform channel under long-wavelength, low Reynolds number conditions. The governing equations are solved by applying slip boundary conditions to determine the velocity, temperature, concentration, and streamline profiles. The key findings show that the magnetic parameter dampens the flow rate. The relationship between the variable viscosity, velocity, and temperature is nonlinear. The wall rigidity parameter and axial velocity are directly proportional until a threshold. Increasing inclination angles distorts streamlines. The magnetic field alters concentration contours and thermal transport. MATLAB parametric …

Efficient Design Of Neural Network Hardware Accelerator For Enhanced Performance In Deep Learning Systems, Tamador Nadem Mohaidat

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Artificial intelligence (AI) hardware accelerator is an emerging research for several applications and domains. The hardware accelerator aims to provide high computational speed while retaining low cost and high learning performance. The main challenge is to design complex machine learning models on hardware with high performance. In this thesis, the aim is to develop the hardware implementation of perceptron within a neural network. Innovative hardware-based approaches are explored to optimize perceptron networks, enhancing accuracy, reliability, and fault tolerance while minimizing resource requirements and power consumption.

A thorough investigation into machine learning accelerators and associated challenges was initially conducted. The hardware …

Mindfulness And Mathematics: The Relationship Between A Mindful Teacher And Mathematics Intervention, Ave Mayeux

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents in American classrooms are currently required to fulfill multiple roles, making them particularly vulnerable to stress due to intense academic demands and social pressures. This stress can be particularly challenging for adolescents who struggle with stress, anxiety, depression, and/or self-regulation. Previous research indicates a positive correlation between mindfulness practices and reduced anxiety, improved social skills and interactions, enhanced academic performance, and better self-perception. This self-study explored the implementation of mindfulness exercises in a mathematics intervention classroom by adapting and creating appropriate resources, and facilitating mindfulness exercises suitable for adolescent students. Data in this self-inquiry study was generated through meticulous …

Development Of A Novel Bioink For Human Vascularized Organoids, Bradley Allen Bromet

Masters Theses

"There is a need for a model to better mimic human physiology in the clinic, so the objective was to develop a novel bioink for a 3D tissue model to study human disease and development in a dynamic 3D environment. The results from each corresponding study helped in developing a novel bioink for use in a bio printed human vascularized organoid. The bioink composed of alginate with other natural hydrogels to function as extracellular matrix and with the addition of borophosphate bioactive glasses (BPBGs) to replace growth factors, can be used with multiple cell types to bio print the proposed …

Transforming Legal Sex, Noa Ben-Asher

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comparisons Of Unilateral And Limb Symmetry Indexes Between Fixed Dynamometry Testing Modes, Emily E. Frizzell

Honors College Theses

Hamstring muscles strains are extremely common and can vary in severity. The biarticular structure of the hamstring groups is one reason that they are more susceptible to injuries. The recurrence of these injuries is also common even after they have been through a rehabilitation phase in their recovery. This project aims to compare and associate knee flexion and extension muscle performance characteristics between isometric, isotonic, and isokinetic assessment modes. These different modes of assessment will test analyze muscle performance under varying muscle lengths, movement velocities and biomechanical load modes. The data collected from this testing will be analyzed to see …

The Association Between Mental Health, Fear Of Missing Out, And Sleep Quality Among University Students In The Sichuan Chongqing Region, China: A Cross Sectional Study, Yuncheng Jia

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Background: Sleep quality is a critical determinant of health, with poor sleep linked to adverse physical and mental outcomes. Among university students, excessive screen time, social media engagement, and psychological factors like Fear of Missing Out (FoMO) exacerbate sleep disturbances. Despite growing recognition of FoMO’s role in mental health challenges, its direct relationship with sleep quality remains understudied. This study aim to investigates the associations between mental health, FoMO, and sleep quality among university students in China’s Sichuan-Chongqing region, a population highly immersed in digital culture. And provide insight on how sleep quality is shifting in digital era.Methods: A cross-sectional …

The Impact Of Climate Change On Montanans’ Mental Health, Phoebe Bean

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Climate change poses many threats to human health, from vector-borne illnesses and food shortages to injuries and premature deaths related to extreme weather events. Less understood outcomes include the consequences of climate change for mental wellbeing; although the field of psychology examining these effects is growing, gaps in the literature regarding climate-related distress persist, particularly regarding the diverse ways in which people experience climate change-related psychosocial impacts and how they cope with distress. Thus, this study examined the impact of climate change on mental wellbeing through a comprehensive survey that sampled Montana residents across the state (n = 247). Results …

A Bioarchaeological Overview Of The Late Woodland Period Gooden Mound Group, Fulton County, Illinois, Aaron M. Durchholz

Theses and Dissertations

Extensive research in paleopathology has documented adverse effects accompanying a shift in subsistence strategy from largely nomadic, hunting and gathering lifestyles to those of more sedentary, agrarian systems. Comparative assessment of the human skeletal remains of early foragers and later farmers recovered from archaeological sites around the world have consistently demonstrated a decrease in average age at death in the latter.

Across the pre-Columbian North American Midwest, the transitional period between the Late Woodland and Mississippian periods, sometimes referred to as the terminal or Mississippian Acculturated Late Woodland, portended establishment of semi-permanent to permanent hamlets, increasingly reliant upon the adoption …

Effect Of Dietary Flavonoids On Growth In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Vivian Rivera

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Plant foods contain a diversity of biologically active compounds called phytochemicals, produced by plant species as secondary metabolites. A phytochemical group known as flavonoids has received much scientific attention in recent times with respect to their antioxidative and anti-inflammatory roles. This investigation examined how quercetin and naringenin, the most common dietary flavonoids, affect growth potential of yeast under optimal and stress conditions (temperature, glucose, and oxidative stress). Using Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model, a dose dependency effect of quercetin and naringenin was observed under optimal conditions when liquid cultures were treated with three different concentrations (75 μM, 150 μM, and …

Gait Entrainment & Energetics Of Young Adults To Discrete Mediolateral Perturbations, Lindsey D. Lee

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation post-2024

Entrainment is a natural phenomenon that occurs with synchronization to a rhythmic stimulus which can be auditory, visual, or mechanical. An everyday example is walking next to someone and synchronizing your steps. Previous studies have explored entrainment from auditory cues, such as a metronome, and mechanical cues, such as an exoskeleton applying a force at the ankle. These studies have found entrainment is more likely to occur if the stimulation frequency is close to the person’s natural locomotion frequency. Previously we found when discrete mediolateral perturbations were applied on a treadmill, participants increased their speed and retained this increased speed …

An Investigation Of Alkb-Family Dna Repair Enzymes And Their Interaction With Synthetic, Modified Oligonucleotides, Samuel Dean Howarth

Open Access Dissertations

Chapter One will detail the synthesis, purification, and characterization of DNA oligonucleotides containing one of fifteen modified nucleic acid bases. For each modification, relevant background information is provided to highlight its biological significance. This chapter primarily focuses on the development of oligonucleotide stocks for use in future biochemical and cellular assays. Several of these modifications are recognized substrates of AlkB-family enzymes, while others remain uncharacterized as potential substrates.^1-4 The discovery of novel substrates for AlkB-family enzymes can be facilitated through comprehensive in vitro biochemical assays, contingent upon the availability of well-characterized substrate stocks. The methods and findings presented here …

Cellular Level Changes Induced In Cancer Cells Due To Microgravity, Sai Deepika Reddy Yaram

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The increase in human activity in space has revealed several kinds of physiological challenges brought on by the absence of Earth's gravitational pull. NASA observed that during spaceflight, astronauts experience a 1-1.5% monthly loss in the mineral density of weight-bearing bones, with rehabilitation efforts on Earth often proving ineffective. This issue extends to muscles, the neuro vestibular system, the cardiovascular system, and vision. Cancer has emerged as a significant cause of mortality among astronauts, with studies up to 2017 showing that 41.3% of natural cause deaths among U.S. astronauts were due to cancer, primarily due to space radiation exposure. Cancer …

Sounds Marks, Deborah Gerhardt, Jon J. Lee

Faculty Articles

A lion roars just before a film rolls. A doughboy giggles. A giant green man laughs a hearty, “Ho, Ho, Ho.” These iconic sounds are all federally registered as trademarks. They identify specific brands and distinguish their products and services from the competition. Human brains treat sounds like these as categorization tools and cognitive shortcuts—ideal trademark symbols. But what about the sounds your favorite toys or electronic devices make? Or those made by a fictional character in the latest block- buster? This Article tackles these issues and others. We push back against the widely-held belief that all unconventional trade-marks—product designs, …

Counterterrorism Uses Of Force: The Laws Of War And Jus Ad Vim, Salomon, Paolo

Santa Clara Journal of International Law

Al Qaeda’s terror attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001, introduced heretofore unseen issues under International Humanitarian Law. After Al-Qaeda’s attacks, the Bush administration began its Global War on Terror by invading Afghanistan in order to find those responsible for the attacks on September 11, 20001. This invasion caused Al-Qaeda to flee into Pakistan’s Tribal Areas in order to evade American forces. The Bush administration began employing drone strikes in Pakistan’s Tribal Areas to degrade Al-Qaeda’s ability to conduct operations against the United States. The Obama administration continued and expanded the use of drone strikes. Amid the use …

The Auricular Surface Of Chimpanzees (Pan Troglodytes) As An Indicator Of Age, Kalila Garrison

All Master's Theses

Great ape skeletal remains are scarce and their use in biological profile estimations has been limited. Skeletal remains analysis provides key demographic information and ecological context to the individual. Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) share skeletal morphological characteristics with humans, and this study seeks to understand if two noninvasive methods using the auricular surface of the ilium to age human skeletal remains could be applied to chimpanzees. The sample consisted of n = 8 individual left auricular surfaces from known age groups of both sexes. Firstly, the Buckberry and Chamberlain Method assigns numerical values to five different traits on the auricular …

Future Focused: 2023-24 Report Of The President, Office Of The President, Gonzaga University

Office of the President Publications

Each year, Gonzaga University's Office of the President produces an annual Report of the President. This publication that highlights just a few of the many accomplishments over the previous academic year, and is intended to convey gratitude to our Trustees and Regents, benefactors, and many supporters.

Calcium Permeability Of Rat Trpv1 In A Close State When Expressed In Xenopus Laevis Oocytes, Zinnia Adhikary

Theses and Dissertations

Transient Receptor Potential V1 (TRPV1) is a nonselective cation channel, which is expressed in nociceptors/ pain detecting receptors. Activated by a wide variety of exogenous and endogenous physical and chemical stimuli such as heat, TRPV1 is involved in temperature detection, body temperature regulation, and pain perception. It is generally accepted that TRPV1's conductance to cations, including Ca2+, depends on its conformational change from a closed to an open state following gating. In the current study, I observed that the plasma membrane of Xenopus laevis oocytes, upon exogenous expression of rat TRPV1, exhibited weak permeability to Ca2+, as evidenced by the …

Searching For Novel Mutations That Regulates The Mouse Polycystin-2 (Trpp2) Ion Channel, Akhilraj Rajan Pillai

Theses and Dissertations

Polycystin-2 (PC2) is an ion channel belonging to the polycystin subfamily of the transient receptor potential (TRP) cation channel superfamily. Mutations in PC2 are associated with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), one of the most common genetic diseases in humans. Despite extensive studies over the past decades, the role of PC2 in normal and ADPKD kidneys remains largely unknown, and the activation and regulation of this ion channel are elusive. To gain a better understanding of the structure and function of the mouse PC2 channel, this study focused on generating five pore mutations in a gain-of-function (GOF) mutant of …

Empowering Children With Special Needs (Cwsn) In Computer Science: An Interactive Hand Gestures Approach To Number Conversion Teaching, Renjith P.R., Jeeva Jose

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

It is essential for teachers to effectively address the diverse needs of students within the classroom environment, encompassing variations in IQ, communication skills, problem-solving abilities, and mathematical proficiency. Ensuring the inclusion of CwSN (Children with Special Needs) is imperative to prevent social division in the classroom. While the department offers accommodations such as scribes, interpreters, or extra time for examinations, these measures may not fully address the specific needs of CwSN. This study explores the efficacy of employing hand gestures as a teaching tool for CwSN in computer science, particularly in the realm of number conversions. A machine learning-based tool …

Optimizing Large Language Models And Multimodal Approaches For Biomedical Publication And Satellite Imagery, Youngsun Jang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation comprises two main sections: the first focuses on natural language processing (NLP) for extracting key information from scientific literature using large language models (LLMs), and the second addresses remote sensing for detecting natural disasters, such as floods, from satellite imagery using a multimodal approach. The first section investigates methods to enhance Transformer-based models in classifying and extracting information from biomedical scientific publications. Key contributions include the development of a custom dataset for classification and Question and Answering (Q&A) tasks, fine-tuning Transformer models like the Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) and addressing multi-span answer issues with the TAg-based …