Digital Commons Network^™

Ion Hydration In Bulk And Nanoconfined Water: Insights From Machine Learning Force Fields, Zachary D. Baker

Theses and Dissertations--Chemical and Materials Engineering

Understanding ionic hydration remains a central challenge in physical chemistry and materials science, as the interactions between ions and water molecules govern diverse phenomena ranging from electrolyte transport to selective ion separation. While experimental techniques have provided invaluable insights into solvation energetics and coordination numbers, they often lack atomistic resolution, particularly under nanoscale confinement where direct measurement becomes infeasible. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations can bridge this gap; however, conventional classical force fields are limited by their simplified, fixed functional forms and empirical parameterization, whereas ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) achieves higher accuracy at the expense of severe computational cost and …

Arthroscopic Rotator Cuff Repair With Or Without Acromioplasty, Mohamed Aboelnour Badran, Ahmed M. Barakat, Osama Samir Gaarour, Roshdy Mostafa El-Sallab

Mansoura Medical Journal

Background: Rotator cuff tears are a major cause of shoulder disability, particularly among individuals over 60 years of age. While subacromial decompression, including acromioplasty, has been traditionally performed during rotator cuff repair (RCR) to alleviate impingement and prevent re-tears, recent studies have questioned its necessity. This study aims to compare outcomes of RCR with and without acromioplasty. Objective: To evaluate the functional, radiological, and complication-related outcomes of rotator cuff repair with subacromial decompression versus rotator cuff repair alone in adult patients with rotator cuff tears. Methods: This retrospective comparative study was conducted at Mansoura University Hospitals between 2021 and 2024, …

Impacts Of Age And Androgen Level On Albino Rat Meibomian Gland: Light & Electron Microscopic Study, Amira A. Hamid, Nawal A. Hasanin, Hanaa A. Khalaf, Walaa H. E. Hamed

Mansoura Medical Journal

Background: Histological changes in albino rats meibomian glands in relation to age and androgen level. Aim of the work: The current research attempted to assess the impact of age and androgen level on histological structure of meibomian gland . Material and methods: Three groups of adult male albino rats were used ,each group comprised ten rats, group I: six months, group II: one year and group III : two years, Each animal at proper age was weighed , anaesthetized and blood samples were collected for estimation of dehydro-epiandrosterone (DHEA) hormone . The eyelids of each rat were dissected and prepared …

Role Of Magnetic Resonance Diffusion Tensor Imaging In Differentiating Osteomyelitis From Osteoarthropathy In Diabetic Foot, Mona Mohamed Hamid Ibrahim Barakat, Saher Ebrahim Taman, Samer Abdelhamid Regal, Ahmed Galal Sadek

Mansoura Medical Journal

Background: Diabetic foot ulcer (DFU) represents a major cause of preventable morbidity among adults with diabetes mellitus (DM). Diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) frequently arises through contiguous spread of soft tissue infection to the underlying bone. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is an advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technique that enables quantitative evaluation of tissue microstructure. Aim: To assess the diagnostic value of magnetic resonance DTI in differentiating osteomyelitis from acute osteoarthropathy in patients with diabetic foot complications. Methods: This prospective study included 28 diabetic patients presenting with clinically suspected foot complications. According to the final diagnosis, patients were classified into two …

Medical Students’ Disaster-Specific Self-Efficacy And Willingness To Respond Following An Introductory Preparedness Training, Brooke Wagner, Libby Washburn, Joseph D Visker, Carol Cox

Health Professions Education

Purpose.

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to examine medical students’ disaster self-efficacy and willingness to respond to disasters before and after attending an introductory disaster preparedness training program during fall 2023.

Method.

Medical students (eight Year 1 and 18 Year 2) attending a one-day introductory disaster preparedness program that focused on an all-hazard approach and used lecture and applied scenario practice instruction were surveyed pre-post program using a written, four-section questionnaire on their disaster-specific self-efficacy and willingness to respond to disasters. Statistical analyses were conducted using IBM SPSS Statistics (v29) and primarily consisted of descriptive statistics (frequencies and …

Farmers' Experiences Of Transitioning Towards Agroecology: Narratives Of Change In Western Europe, Maria Markiewicz-Keszycka, Áine Macken-Walsh, Aileen Carter, Simon Mooney, Emma J. Devereux, Maeve Henchion, Paul Hynds

Conference papers

Transitioning to agroecology on dairy and beef farms is touted as a sustainable response to environmental externalities. The current study conducted narrative interviews with farmers who transitioned towards agroecological food production by implementing pro-environmental diversification measures in the Republic of Ireland, the United Kingdom and France. The study aimed to determine farmers' experiences of agroecology and used a thematic approach for the analysis. Results indicate that the motivations, values and principles of farmers transitioning to agroecology are closely aligned with the ideology of the new/peasantry. Farmers' decisions were primarily influenced by ecological principles and a sense of responsibility towards environmental …

Data-Driven Functional Connectivity Investigations Into Neural Correlates Of Lateral Preferences, Link Tejavibulya

Yale Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Dissertations

Lateral preferences are ubiquitously present throughout the body despite its oversimplifications towards handedness. Studies on lateral preferences have therefore been simplified and binarized based on handedness preferences despite incongruencies and reduced proportions of right-preference as other limbs and measures are taken into consideration. In spite of this, studies on brain-laterality preferences that have been simplified and confined towards brain-handedness studies have demonstrated that handedness greatly affects how the brain is functionally organized and that these preferences are linked to high concurrences with other behavioral traits, both normative and psychiatric. For instance, males are more likely to be left-handed than females …

Artificial Intellectual Property, Daniel J. Gervais

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The year is 2031. You just got up. Your smartwatch has registered the movement, and the coffee maker is on. After your shower, you pick up your phone or read the latest news on the New York Times app on your VR goggles or palm. Except for a few remaining columnists, the news is all written by AI machines. At work, you are responsible for a report on a new product for your company, and you use Al to design the product and prepare the pitch, including the visuals and text of your presentation to the C-suite. The Al system …

L-Theanine Modulates Stress Physiology And Immunology In Nile Tilapia, Sammie Miller, Lindee Mason, Shah Sumaiya Khaled, Elena Deng, Ahmed Mustafa

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

Background: Fish are a prominent food source within the growing aquaculture industry, particularly within recirculating aquaculture systems, to alleviate global hunger demands. Diminishing detrimental stress conditions such as overcrowding prevalence and chemical toxins remain a primary goal. Nutraceuticals, particularly L-theanine, pose a natural alternative solution to alleviate these conditions. The amino acid L-theanine was scrutinized as a potential nutraceutical additive within commercial feed within the diet of Nile tilapia, Oreochromis niloticus, subjected to stress and unstressed in-vivo conditions.

Methods: To accomplish this, both 0.004% of body weight of L-theanine and 0.01% of body weight of hydrocortisone were implemented into feed …

Pharmacological Safety Profiling Of Nigella Sativa (Ns) And Hibiscus Sabdariffa (Hs) Extracts In Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Embryos: An Integrative Vet-Pharmacotoxicological Evaluation Of Lc₅₀, Teratogenicity, And Developmental Outcomes, Ahmed E. A. Mostafa

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

Herbal medicines are deeply rooted in Egyptian and Middle Eastern traditions, with Nigella sativa (NS) and Hibiscus sabdariffa (HS) being among the most widely consumed remedies. Despite extensive pharmacological evidence of their therapeutic benefits, systematic safety validation remains limited. Conventional toxicity assessments predominantly rely on rodents and higher vertebrates, which are costly, time-consuming, and ethically challenging. This gap necessitates alternative models that align with the 3R principles (Reduction, Replacement, Refinement). In this study, the zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo model was employed to evaluate the developmental toxicity and median lethal concentration (LC50) of NS and HS aqueous extracts. Zebrafish embryos at …

Effects Of Dietary L-Tryptophan On Growth Performance, Feed Utilization, And Protein Metabolism In Nile Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus), Israt Mishu, Lindee Mason, Ahmed Mustafa

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

This research examines the impact of dietary L-tryptophan supplementation on growth performance, feed efficiency, and protein metabolism in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) under stress and non-stress settings. This experiment evaluated essential growth metrics, encompassing weight gain, length gain, specific growth rate, feed conversion ratio, and protein energy retention. Nile tilapia were categorized into four experimental groups: a control group on a commercial diet, a control group supplemented with L-tryptophan (0.33%/kg feed), a stress-induced group receiving cortisol (0.02%/kg feed), and a stress-induced group receiving both cortisol (0.02%/kg feed) and L-tryptophan supplementation (0.33%/kg feed). The findings indicated that Ltryptophan supplementation significantly enhanced …

Molecular Characterization Of Leptin Gene In Sheep (Ovis Aries), Shahenda M. Hegazy, Mohamed Fouda, Ahmed Ateya, Huda A. El Emam

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

INTRODUCTION: Advances in molecular genetic techniques have simplified the process of identifying individual differences at the DNA level. Genetic polymorphisms at candidate genes controlling economic features have recently drawn a lot of scholarly attention due to their potential as a tool for genetic selection and the identification of evolutionary linkages in livestock. OBJECTIVE: This work aimed to detect nucleotide sequence variants in Lep gene as genetic markers for growth and heat tolerance traits in Barki and Abudeleik sheep using PCR-DNA sequencing approach in search of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). METHODS: 30 female ewes, 15 of each breed (Barki and Aboudeleik) …

Preparing Student Partners To Facilitate Engaging Learning Experiences, Elise Lahiere, Rachel Maggard

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Facilitating engaging learning experiences can be a challenging task even for experienced instructors. Our research explores supporting student partners as they learn to take leadership roles in an active learning professional development session that utilizes mathematical modeling as a vehicle for introducing the topic of scaffolding and emphasizing its importance.

Didactic And Active Learning Can Coexist! How To Engage Your Students Through Lectures, Jamie Shaffer

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Didactic or Active Learning? Lectures or Activities? Often, instructors believe in this false dichotomy, thinking that you have to select one or the other. This paper explores ways to enhance lectures rather than discard them, by integrating active learning segments into didactic time to increase engagement and learning.

A Call To Better Prepare Undergraduate Women To Be Working Mothers, Beth Polin

Pedagogicon Conference Proceedings

Women make up the majority of university enrollment in the United States. While curriculum equips students with technical expertise to be contributing members of their future organizations, more needs to be done to prepare women to navigate a career while maintaining life responsibilities outside of the workplace, especially motherhood.

An Alternative Method To Measure Glucose And Lactic Acid As Biomarkers Of The Postmortem Interval (Pmi), Claudio Tersaruolo, Jesus Frias, Orla Howe

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Background: In forensic investigations, the postmortem interval (PMI) is still mainly determined using pathological analysis. There have been many scientific efforts to identify alternative methods of PMI determination, which may be applied to future forensic practices. Methods: Considering the ethical implications and the availability of tissue samples for PMI experiments, we used human blood samples stored at three temperatures to mimic different environmental conditions, testing them over a period of 10 days post-sampling. These samples were biochemically tested for specific blood biomarkers, glucose (Glu) and lactic acid (Lac), to determine their potential as PMI biomarkers. Then, a mixed-effect mathematical model …

Detection Of Radiosensitive Subpopulations Ex-Vivo With Raman Microspectroscopy, Aidan D. Meade, Adrian Maguire, Jane Bryant, Daniel Cullen, Dinesh Medipally, Lisa White, John Armstrong, Mary Dunne, Emma Noone, Shirley Bradshaw, Marie Finn, Aoife M. Shannon, Orla L. Howe, Fiona M. Lyng

Articles

Although significant advances in understanding the molecular drivers of acquired and inherited radiosensitivity have occurred in recent decades, a single analytical method which can detect and classify radiosensitivity remains elusive. Raman microspectroscopy has demonstrated capabilities in the objective classification of various diseases, and more recently in the detection and modelling of radiobiological effect. In this study, Raman spectroscopy is presented as a potential tool for the detection of radiosensitivity subpopulations represented by four lymphoblastoid cell lines derived from individuals with ataxia telangiectasia (2 lines), non-Hodgkins lymphoma, and Turner's syndrome. These are classified with respect to a population with mixed radiosensitivity, …

Trait-Based Predictors Of Social Rank In Astatotilapia Burtoni, Joshua T. Johnson

All Master's Theses

Dominance hierarchies are a central feature of social species, influencing access to resources, reproductive opportunities, and survival. In many animals, body size is a primary determinant of social rank, but other morphological traits may also contribute. This study investigates how physiological traits—including body size, pigmentation, lachrymal striping, and egg spots—relate to social dominance in Astatotilapia burtoni, a socially dynamic African cichlid.

Side-profile photographs were used to measure body size, red, green, and blue pigmentation intensity, lachrymal stripe area, and egg spot count. Behavioral interactions were recorded and analyzed using the Elo rating system to generate a continuous measure of …

Josef Bohatec: The First Historian Of The Calvinist Reformation Of Rights, John Witte Jr., Thomas Jared Farmer

Emory International Law Review

This Article analyzes the pioneering work of the first great historian of Calvinist rights talk, Josef Bohatec (1876–1954), a Moravian-born and Vienna-based church historian. Bohatec built on the earlier efforts of several German scholars who were excavating pre-Enlightenment sources of human rights going back to antiquity. But Bohatec placed strong new emphasis on the original rights contributions of sixteenth-century Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) and his followers. Bohatec showed how Calvin’s legal training shaped the many new statutes and rights ordinances that he crafted for Geneva. He also showed how Calvin’s theological training shaped his highly innovative Protestant legal and …

The Use Of Lidar In The Study Of Terrain Ruggedness Of Tsunami Inudation Areas At Grewingk Lake And Taan Fiord, Alaska Usa, Shannon P. Mckinnion

All Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

THE USE OF LIDAR IN THE STUDY OF TERRAIN RUGGEDNESS OF TSUNAMI INUDATION AREAS AT GREWINGK LAKE AND TAAN FIORD, ALASKA USA

by

Shannon Patricia McKinnion

In order to test the hypothesis that lidar technologies can detect possible changes in terrain ruggedness due tsunami inundation within a designated area, digital elevation models (DEM) were generated from lidar data for two sites with known tsunami inundation— Grewingk Lake, Alaska and Taan Fiord, Alaska. Cobbles and boulders in these locations were examined using existing terrain ruggedness tools in ArcHydro— Terrain Ruggedness Index (TRI) and Vector Ruggedness Measurement (VRM). The average values …

Domestic Violence In Florence, Alabama, Isabella Sinde

Selected Social Change Portfolios in Prevention, Intervention, and Consultation

Goal Statement: My goal would be to contribute to the prevention and reduction of domestic violence in Lauderdale County, Alabama, by raising awareness, supporting and empowering survivors, and advocating for system-wide changes promoting education, the allocation of necessary aid, and community well-being.

Significant Findings: Domestic violence (DV) is a serious public health issue negatively affecting people worldwide, including in the city of Florence, Alabama. DV can cause a host of mental and physical consequences, such as poor self-esteem, internalized anger or resentment, severe injury, and even death (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2023). This issue can happen to individuals from all …

Accessible Mental Health Chicago, Guadalupe Cuevas

Selected Social Change Portfolios in Prevention, Intervention, and Consultation

Goal Statement: My prevention-focused goal statement for Accessible Mental Health Chicago is to create a program that focuses on providing mental health resources for all in all areas of Chicago. This is by having community based low-cost or no-cost mental health services throughout the city, in the local languages that are of that community.

Significant Findings: While there are some limited resources in the areas with the highest calls for mental health crisis, they are not accessible for most of the city. While there are mental health centers throughout the city there aren’t many low or no cost resources. This …

How To Be A Nature Detective (1966) By Millicent E. Selsam, Maughn Rollins Gregory

Picture Books

Coming up with the most reasonable explanation of the available clues is something we all do on a daily basis. This book describes animal tracks as clues from which children can make inferences about what kind of animal left them and what they were doing when they did.

Buried Identities: Addie Bundren And The Vanishing Rural South, Eleanor Smith

FCRH Honors Program Theses

As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner, was published in 1930 and follows the Bundrens, a poor white farming family, as they transport Addie Bundren’s body across the county to be buried with her kin in the town of Jefferson. Telling the story of a literal journey from the minimally developed countryside to the seat of Yoknapatawpha County, the novel shows how the Bundrens confront modernization, an encounter mediated through the female body of their matriarch. While existing scholarship on As I Lay Dying often emphasizes themes of gender and modernity, few studies apply the thesis advanced by some historians …

Blattella Germanica As A Vector Of Salmonella Typhimurium, Matthew Turner

Dissertations and Theses

The following investigates the role of the German cockroach (Blattella germanica) as a vector of the bacterium Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium). As such, this work examines various host-pathogen-microbiome interactions that define the vectorial capacity of the German cockroach for Salmonella. To date, the majority of literature focuses on the general association of the German cockroach with various human pathogens, claiming any dissemination to be carried out via passive mechanical transmission. This project recognizes those claims, while expanding to include the possibility of biological transmission, involving active and complex host-pathogen interactions, including mechanisms like replication within the …

Eye Region Redaction: Familiar Versus Unfamiliar Face Recognition, Tyler Gandy

Dissertations and Theses

Our brains are incredibly skilled at recognizing faces, even decades later after first viewing a face. Face recognition is a crucial social function, enabling us to identify and interact appropriately with others. Studies have identified specific brain regions, such as the fusiform face area, that are specialized for this task. Additionally, areas around the eyes have been shown to be crucial to our face recognition ability. Despite the abundant research in face recognition, little is known about how we recognize familiar versus unfamiliar faces when the eye region is redacted. To understand the role familiarity plays in eye redacted face …

Ocean Acidification Mitigation: Potential Expansion Of Sav Restoration Strategy In The Chesapeake Bay, Cree N. Taylor

Undergraduate Research Posters

Zostera marina is a species of marine macrophyte that has been largely prioritized in past submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) restoration initiatives within the Chesapeake Bay because of its 1) previous abundance, 2) demonstrated carbon burial abilities, and 3) observed ability for meadows of Z. marina to ameliorate low pH conditions. Due to the temperature variability and poor water quality associated with anthropogenic disturbances in the Chesapeake Bay, Z. Marina beds have experienced several die-off events with limited capacity for regrowth. This systematic review explored the possible benefits of focusing future SAV recovery initiatives on ensuring a diverse variety of SAV …

Analysis Of Differential Gene Expression In Androgen-Independent Clones Derived From The Mycap Pca Cell Line, Jessie L. Tignor, Melanie Sinanian, Richard Inho Joh, David Gewirtz, Jason Reed

Undergraduate Research Posters

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is a primary treatment strategy for prostate cancer (PCa), yet many tumors eventually develop androgen independence, leading to treatment resistance. To investigate the molecular changes underlying this transition, we analyzed differential gene expression in four androgen-independent (AI) clones derived from the Myc-CaP prostate cancer cell line using RNA sequencing. Gene expression profiles were compared to the parental Myc-CaP line, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified using DESeq2 and edgeR. The AI clones exhibited significant downregulation of senescence-associated genes, including Ezh2 and lamin B1, suggesting a loss of senescence-related chromatin repression. Additionally, upregulation of Wnt pathway …

Acer Rubrum: Descending Towards Forest Dominance, Elyssa L. Pearson, Christopher M. Gough

Undergraduate Research Posters

Acer rubrum, more commonly known as the red maple, is a hardwood, late successional species of tree commonly planted for its deciduous nature and vibrant coloring of its leaves in the beginning of autumn (Abrams, 1998). The species is very tolerant of varying light and soil moisture levels and often dominates sub and mid-canopy levels of hardwood forests (Missouri Botanical Gardens). It was hypothesized that as the I moved from an upland location to a lowland location near a wetland that the A. rubrum trees would be more productive and have a greater above ground biomass. This was not …

Cellulitis And Possible Osteomyelitis In The Setting Of Sapho Syndrome, Kimberly Y. Chieh, Aesha Patel, Farrah Ibrahim

UAB Huntsville Research Day - All Presentations

No abstract provided.