Medical Surveillance In Custodial Jsas: Preventing Bloodborne Pathogen Exposure, Kiara Gadea

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Custodians play an important role in maintaining our surroundings safe and sanitary. However, in doing so, they are their exposure to health hazards that put them at risk, yet these exposures are often overlooked. One major risk they face is contact with bloodborne pathogens, which put custodial staff at risk for infections such as hepatitis B. While Job Safety Analyses (JSA’s) outline various protective measures, many fail to incorporate medical surveillance as part of their risk management program. Overlooking this important detail leaves custodians vulnerable to health risks that can be prevented.

Adding a medical surveillance section to custodial JSA’s, …

The Use Of Sludge Content For Effective Recall Of Information, Rahaf G. Fares

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In an age where social media dominates daily consumption, the impact of engaging multi-modal media, specifically “sludge content,” on attention and memory has garnered significant interest. Sludge content, which generally combines unrelated visual gameplay with narrated audio and subtitles, has emerged as a popular form of online entertainment. This study explored whether this type of content enhances information recall by capturing users’ attention, a claim bolstered by theories of optimal arousal, non-pharmacological interventions such as fidget toys, and audiovisual redundancy. Using a within-subjects experimental design, the study investigated the effects of sludge content on effective recall through three conditions: sludge …

Temperature Effects On Fruit Doubling And Bloom Prediction In Tart Cherry, Josette M. Moon

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Tart cherry (Prunus cerasus) is a key horticultural crop in Utah. Extreme summer heat and cold weather in late spring are challenges to tart cherry production causing economic losses. These problematic weather conditions are influenced by the local landscape and are exacerbated by changing climate. This research explores (1) the impact of summer heat stress on fruit deformities, and (2) the accuracy of temperature-based predictions of spring bud development. High temperatures and water stress after harvest are known to cause a deformity known as twin or double fruits, resulting in unmarketable fruit. This disorder has been studied in …

Lifetime Stressor Exposure, Race And Ethnicity, And Habitual Stress Processes: An Evaluation Of Repetitive Negative Thinking And Hair Cortisol Concentration, Harrison Dickens

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Habitual stress processes are thought to influence acute stress reactivity and stress-related disease. Habitual stress processes have been shown to adapt in response to stressor exposure experienced across the lifespan. The current study seeks to explore whether two habitual stress processes, hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity and repetitive negative thinking (RNT), were associated with lifetime stressor exposure (self-reported and objective neighborhood-level stressors). Additionally, the current study attempts to quantify how this process may be moderated by race and ethnicity. Participants (N = 134, Mage = 18 [SDage= 1.69], 56.7% female) consisting of White (N = 52), Black (N = 37 ), …

Improved Autofluorescence Lifetime Decay Analysis For Identification Of Cellular Autofluorescence Biomarkers For Label-Free, Single-Cell Assessment Of Mitochondrial Membrane Potential, Olivia Isabel Kolenc

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Optical imaging of metabolism using the autofluorescence of the metabolic cofactors NADH, NADPH, and FAD has a wide range of sensitivities and the capability to collect a great deal of metabolic information. Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) is a non-invasive, label-free optical imaging technique capable of performing fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM) using time correlated single photon counting (TCSPC). However, autofluorescence FLIM presents a challenge in collecting sufficient photons to provide adequate signal to noise ratios (SNR) for analysis. Additionally, the specificity of autofluorescence biomarkers of metabolism has not been well-defined. Contextualizing these autofluorescence measures using established functional biomarkers can improve interpretability of …

Restoring A Longleaf Pine Savanna In The Wiregrass Gap: Community Responses To Post-Harvest Slash Manipulation, Eva Purcell

All Theses

Now reduced to just a fraction of their historical range, Longleaf pine savannas in the southeastern United States are home to a wide array of species, some of which are threatened or endemic. These characteristics have inspired widespread restoration initiatives in recent decades, accompanied by an expanding literature on how management techniques affect restoration outcomes. However, research is lacking in a unique region of longleaf pine’s range, where the dominant fire-carrying grasses are different: the Wiregrass Gap. This study investigated the effects of three different slash manipulation treatments on restoration outcomes of a Wiregrass Gap longleaf pine savanna. Specifically, we …

An Exploration Of Elderly Representation & Stereotypes In Animation, Tyler Kidd

All Theses

In the world of animated features, supporting cast members are often reduced down to simple character traits in order to give the audience a simple idea of their personality or role in the story, or to support the creation of a work that is easier to understand for people of all ages. However, this can often result in the application of negative tropes that do not reflect kindly on those being depicted. The elderly are a group that often get caught in these stereotypes, being depicted as wrinkly, clumsy, overweight villains. While you can still find many positive portrayals in …

Expandable Tissue Engineered Living Pulmonary Heart Valve For Pediatric Patients, David Podolsky

All Theses

Cardiovascular disease is an extremely deadly disease that affects people throughout the world. It is the leading cause of death worldwide, affecting over a quarter of the population.1 Some forms of cardiovascular disease directly affect the heart valves and their function. Surgery or a replacement device are the most common current treatment options. These treatments are effective in addressing heart valve diseases in adults, but they are less effective when used for children patients. This creates a need to develop a solution for the child population.

Congenital heart defects are structural abnormalities that often lead to infant mortality.2,3 Pulmonary valves, …

Mixture Effects On Metal Accumulation In The Asian Clam, Corbicula Fluminea, Mark A. Huff

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Field collected Corbicula fluminea were exposed to trace level copper, lead, and zinc with the aim of examining the preferential accumulation between the soft tissue and shell. Metal levels were based on those in a permitted industrial effluent. At 1X effluent and 2X effluent exposure levels, copper was found to preferentially accumulate in the clam soft tissue, lead was found to preferentially accumulate in the clam shell, and zinc was found to excrete back into the diluent after preferentially accumulating in the clam soft tissue. When exposed as a mixture at 1X effluent levels, copper and lead were found to …

Isolation And Characterization Of Siderophore(S) From Pseudomonas Mosselii, Casey J. Stophel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Iron is essential for growth of most microorganisms. It functions as an important cofactor in many important biological processes. However, iron found in soil is rendered insoluble and unavailable to microorganisms for use. To overcome this, many bacterial species produce siderophores, a small organic molecule that has high affinity for iron. Siderophores allow for bacterial cells to obtain otherwise insoluble iron. Pseudomonas mosselii, a Gram negative bacterium, was isolated from a local soil sample. P. mosselii was found to produce siderophore(s) under iron restricted environment, however, they have not been characterized. Therefore, it was of interest to isolate, purify and …

Investigating The Impact Of Psychoactive Plant Alkaloids On Bumblebee Behavior, Skylar Mathieson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The relationship between plants and their pollinators is often framed as a food-for-service exchange in which plants provide pollinators with nutrients in exchange for transport of their gametes. However, in addition to essential nutrients, many floral rewards (nectar, pollen) also contain defensive toxins such as alkaloids, with largely unexplored consequences for plant-pollinator interactions. I investigated how three psychoactive and addictive plant alkaloids — caffeine, nicotine, and morphine — affect foraging behavior in generalist bumblebees (Bombus impatiens) using robotic flowers. Each of these chemicals affected pollinator foraging behavior, influencing the number and duration of their visits to flowers in …

Drivers And Consequences Of Changes In Nectar Microbiome Composition Across Spatial And Biological Scales, Daniel A. Barker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Microbial communities inhabiting floral nectar, known as the nectar microbiome, are important mediators of plant-pollinator interactions. However, the ecological and environmental factors that shape the composition of these microbial communities remain poorly understood. While previous studies have examined the effects of a few microbial groups, typically independent of one another, on one plant or pollinator species, this dissertation takes a wide-scale approach to explore how abiotic conditions and biotic interaction’s structure microbial communities within floral nectar. Furthermore, I also quantify how variation in microbial richness and identity influences pollinator behavior and plant reproductive success.

This dissertation shows that microbial abundance …

Post-Harvest Storage Of Fuzzy Cottonseed: Quality, Airflow Modeling, And Energy Use, Elijah T. Porter

All Theses

Fuzzy cottonseed is a valuable byproduct of the cotton ginning process. When cottonseed exits the cotton gin, it often retains high temperatures and moisture contents. Once in a storage facility, the cottonseed needs to be conditioned for safe storage. The overall objectives of this study were to analyze quality changes in cottonseed according to storage conditions, determine the airflow resistance properties of fuzzy cottonseed, develop a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a representative cottonseed storage facility, and analyze cottonseed aeration fan strategies, runtimes, and costs. Changes in quality dictate the allowable storage time for cottonseed and are impacted by …

Effectiveness Of Electrosynthesized Hydrogen Peroxide In Urease Inactivation For Stabilization Of Source-Separated Urine To Recover Urea, Brooke E. Covert

All Theses

The practice of separating urine at a building scale, rather than mixing with domestic wastewater to be treated at water resource recovery facilities, allows for concentrated urine to be directly treated with the aim of resource recovery. However, source separation and treatment present challenges during separation, storage, and transport. This study evaluated the use of hydrogen peroxide-producing electrochemical cells, which represent a technology that uses electricity as an input, to stabilize urine through cathodically produced peroxide to enable downstream water and nutrient recovery. The electrochemical cells have been previously shown to stabilize urine with electrochemically produced peroxide as an effective …

Effect Of Cigarette Smoke Extract And Nutrient Deficiency On Energy Metabolism And Biosynthesis: An In Vitro Intervertebral Disc Explant Culture Study, Avery E. Madden

All Theses

Low back pain consistently ranks among the leading causes of disability worldwide, with degenerative changes in spinal intervertebral discs (IVDs) recognized as a key contributor. Degeneration arises from the disruption of mechanical and biological cues within the disc’s cartilaginous tissue, often exacerbated by aging or injury. In recent decades, cigarette smoking has also been identified as a significant risk factor, as IVD degeneration is more prevalent among individuals with a history of smoking. Smoke inhalation is thought to promote degeneration both directly, by exposing cells to water-soluble toxic chemicals in smoke; and indirectly, through nutrient deficiency resulting from vasoconstriction and …

Association Between Gene Family Expansion And The Rapid Diversification Of Pleurocarpous Mosses, Meredith A. Cobb

All Theses

Mosses are the second most species-rich group of land plants. They represent a critical group for understanding the evolution and diversity of land plants. Mosses comprise two major groups, acrocarps and pleurocarps. Despite having a more recent evolutionary origin than acrocarps, pleurocarps are exceptionally diverse. The difference in species richness reflects a rapid species diversification, roughly coincident with the origin and diversification of flowering plants. The speciation events giving rise to pleurocarp diversity happened so rapidly, making it historically difficult to produce strongly supported phylogenies with which to test evolutionary hypotheses. One such hypothesis is whether large-scale changes at the …

Determining The Impact Of Surface Roughness On Disinfection Efficacy Of Commercial Products Against Pseudomonas Aeruginosa And Staphylococcus Aureus Wet Surface Biofilms, Kayley Stallings

All Theses

Biofilms are resistant to many stressors including disinfectant treatments. Disinfection may be further complicated by biofilms formed on damaged surfaces, as the damaged parts provide bacteria a better place to attach and grow. To better understand the risks, a new method to standardize surface scratching, to emulate worn surfaces via surface roughness changes was developed. These surfaces were used to grow biofilms with an adapted standardized EPA method to determine disinfection efficacy differences on scratched and non-scratched high-density polyethylene (HDPE) and stainless steel (SS) coupons treated with commercial disinfectants [hypochlorite (CL)-based, hydrogen peroxide (HP)-based, and quaternary ammonium (QA)-based]. Post-80 grit …

Mammal Use Of Crossing Structures On Highways In The Southern Blue Ridge Mountains, Chloe E. Horton

All Theses

Road networks are a major driver of habitat fragmentation and wildlife mortality. Wildlife crossing structures (WCS) are a common mitigation strategy with the goal of maintaining landscape connectivity, reducing wildlife-vehicle collisions, and facilitating safe passage across highways. Most research on WCS prioritize large ungulates or carnivores, leaving potential gaps in our understanding of how diverse mammalian communities interact with these features. We investigated spatial, temporal, and behavioral patterns of small-, medium-, and large-bodied mammals using WCS in the southern Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. Using remote camera data from structures on I-40 and I-26 collected from 2018 …

Biological Hydrogen Process Improvements By High Temperature Simultaneous Saccharification And Fermentation, Frank W. Jeffries V

All Theses

The hyperthermophilic bacterium Thermotoga neapolitana is established as a versatile organism for fermentative hydrogen (H₂) production. Batch experiments were carried out to investigate the cell yield, product yield, and kinetic parameter values for individual media containing five carbohydrates. The highest H₂ yield of 15.56±0.31 mmol-H₂/g-carbohydrate was reported for glucose medium. H₂ yield was measured to be 14.51±0.38, 14.44±1.15, 11.88±0.84, and 11.53±0.73 mmol/g for media containing xylose, cellobiose, arabinose and xylan respectively. Acetic acid yield followed a similar trend, where the obtained values were 0.470±0.01, 0.462±0.04, 0.431±0.01, 0.409±0.03, and 0.406±0.01 g-acid/g-carbohydrate for glucose, cellobiose, xylose, …

Small Stream Restoration In The Piedmont Of South Carolina: Comparison Of Evaluation Tools And Water Quality’S Effects On Salamanders, Camryn Lachica

All Theses

For many years, the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) used the Guidelines for Preparing a Compensatory Mitigation Plan worksheets to guide pre-restoration evaluation and determine post-restoration mitigation credits in South Carolina. Recently, the USACE in South Carolina transitioned to the Stream Quantification Tool (SQT), which provides a more comprehensive assessment framework. Our first objective was to compare these assessment methodologies across different landscape types to determine what the SQT adds to mitigation calculations that were not considered in prior worksheets. We evaluated 16 streams in the Piedmont of South Carolina, with four replicates each of forested, suburban, urban, …

A Comparative Study Of Land Use Regulations And Impact On Coastal Estuaries, Mabel W. Dadzie

All Theses

The study presents a mixed method and longitudinal assessment of land cover change, estuarine land loss, and policy implemented to address the past and anticipated estuarine losses in the Cooper River and North and South Santee watershed over the past twenty years. This study uses National Land Cover Dataset from 2001 to 2021, NOAA’s SLR projection data and planning documents from 1990 to 2025 to examine policy evolution among ten major themes. The results illustrate significant changes in land cover, notably the transition of wetlands, agriculture, and forests to developed land, as well as an evident spike in the integration …

Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) Movement And Habitat Selection In The Edisto River, South Carolina, Jacob Hill

All Theses

Striped Bass (Morone saxatilis) are a commercially and recreationally important fish native to the Atlantic Coast of the United States. They possess a diversity of life history strategies, with northern populations tending to be anadromous and southern populations being primarily river residents. In general, southern populations are less studied, posing challenges for effective management. Between 2019 and 2024, we tagged 37 Striped Bass with acoustic telemetry transmitters in order to study seasonal migration patterns and summer habitat selection. We estimated migration probability for both the spring and fall Striped Bass migrations using data from an array of passive …

Supervised Machine-Based Learning And Computational Analysis To Reveal Unique Molecular Signatures Associated With Wound Healing And Fibrotic Outcomes To Lens Injury, Catherine Lalman, Kylie R. Stabler, Yimin Yang, Janice L Walker

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Posterior capsule opacification (PCO), a frequent complication of cataract surgery, arises from dysregulated wound healing and fibrotic transformation of residual lens epithelial cells. While transcriptomic and machine learning (ML) approaches have elucidated fibrosis-related pathways in other tissues, the molecular divergence between regenerative and fibrotic outcomes in the lens remains unclear. Here, we used an ex vivo chick lens injury model to simulate post-surgical conditions, collecting RNA from lenses undergoing either regenerative wound healing or fibrosis between days 1–3 post-injury. Bulk RNA sequencing data were normalized, log-transformed, and subjected to univariate filtering prior to training LASSO, SVM, and RF ML models …

Transfusion-Related Acute Lung Injury (Trali): Current Understanding, Challenges, And Future Directions, Fahd A. Kuriri

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI) remains one of the most serious yet often overlooked complications of blood transfusion, contributing to significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. It manifests as acute respiratory distress and non-cardiogenic pulmonary edema within 6 hours of transfusion, requiring immediate recognition and intervention. However, diagnosing TRALI is complex, as its clinical presentation overlaps with other causes of acute lung injury, and its underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. This review examines the global burden of TRALI, shedding light on underreporting issues, particularly in resource-limited settings where surveillance systems are inadequate. It explores both antibody-dependent and antibody-independent pathways, focusing …

Investigating The Role Of Genetic Variations Of Abcb1 (Rs1045642) And Cyp7a1 (Rs3808607) Genes On Serum Lipid Level Among Malaysian Male Patients Treated With Atorvastatin, Muhammad U. Afzal, Naam B. Adeeb, Nur F. Musa, Dzul A. Noor

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objective: To explore the allele frequency and associations between the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in the ABCB1 (rs1045642) and CYP7A1 (rs3808607) genes on lipid-lowering efficacy of atorvastatin among Malaysian male patients. Method: The study included 64 subjects from a previous genetic association study among male patients who were on atorvastatin. The study was carried out at HUSM, Kelantan, Malaysia from December 2023 to October 2024. The patients were split into 2 groups, each consisting of 32 subjects such as controlled (LDL level <3 mmol/L) and uncontrolled (LDL level >3 mmol/L). After genotyping each participant, the influence on their lipid profile was determined. Results: …

Effectiveness Of Epid-Based In-Vivo Dosimetry With Epigray® Software For Head And Neck Vmat Treatments, Ghassan Al-Murshedi, Yasmin Md. Radzi, Azhar Abdul Rahman

Saudi Medical Journal

ABSTRACT Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of in-vivo dosimetry (IVD) utilizing an electronic portal imaging device (EPID) in conjunction with EPIgray ® software (DOSIsoft, Cachan, France) for assessing the accuracy of dose delivery for the patient when undertaking head and neck (H&N) treatments. Methods: Using cross-sectional analysis, data were collected from the linear accelerator of twenty patients undergoing (H&N) radiotherapy treatments using the Volumetric Modulated Arc Therapy (VMAT) modality from June 2019 to October 2023 at Gleneagles Hospital Penang, Penang, Malaysia. EPIgray ® software reconstructed the delivered dose based on EPID images. These reconstructed doses were compared with the planned …

Computational Learning Across Biological And Industrial Systems: Bayesian And Segmentation Models For Epigenomic And Manufacturing Data, Prosenjit Roy

All Theses

In this thesis, we made a complete dual-domain investigation using a machine learning approach into two different scientific areas which were epigenetic analysis of seal species and pore identification in the work of additive manufacturing. The study showcased the flexibility and strength of modern computational tools in addressing complicated issues in various biological and industrial systems. We further investigated the epigenetics by using the Bayesian Neural Network and other machine learning methods to conduct a study on the DNA methylation pattern within three pinniped species (the northern elephant seal, Hawaiian monk seal, and Weddell seal) with perfect precision on species …

The Earliest University Of Nebraska Graduate Degrees, 1886-1909, Mark A. Griep

Mark A. Griep Publications

This list of the earliest graduate degrees awarded by the University of Nebraska (NU) in Lincoln was assembled to learn about the university’s research activity that preceded its admission to the prestigious Association of American Universities (AAU) in 1909.

Development Of A Machine Learning Framework For An Irrigation Decision Support System, Eric Wilkening, Derek M. Heeren, Yeyin Shi, Laila A. Puntel, Guillermo R. Balboa, Abia Katimbo, Kuan Zhang, Precious Nneka Amori, Bruno Lena

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Currently used irrigation scheduling techniques often require significant human intervention and are time consuming, particularly for variable rate irrigation. This research aimed to develop a conceptual framework that incorporates disparate data sources leveraging both mechanistic and machine learning (ML) approaches. The overarching objective is to utilize the growing availability of data and technology to manage irrigation more precisely, which will minimize negative impacts of irrigation on our water resources. An initial irrigation machine learning model was proposed and tested in this study as a key component of an edge-cloud computing and federated learning decision-making framework. The specific objectives were (1) …

Activation And Suppression Mechanisms Of The Nrg1 Helper Nlrs, Yu-Ru Wang, Ruize Zhang, Daowen Wang, Yong Wang, Zheng Qing Fu

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.