Digital Commons Network^™

The Meaning Of Physical Activity In The Context Of Health Sciences: A Concept Analysis, Martín G. Farinola

International Journal of Physical Activity and Health

Physical activity has been defined in numerous ways. Thus, this study aimed to conduct a concept analysis of the existing physical activity definitions in the health sciences literature to evaluate its conceptual precision and assess the need for a revised or novel concept better suited for this domain. The concept analysis was accomplished using tools derived from philosophical semantics. The analysis identified six definitions that explicitly state what physical activity is with sufficient clarity to allow for conceptual examination. The findings indicated that these definitions frequently merge the concept of physical activity with its contextual attributes. To address these semantic …

Clinical Service Providers’ Perception Of Trauma Symptoms Among African Americans, Sam D. Alemayheu

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Apathy, Effort-Based Decisions And Brain Integrity In Alzheimer’S And Parkinson’S Diseases, Lee-Anne Morris, Hideo Suzuki, Seonjoo Lee, Zekai Jin, Bryan B Chen, Ana Marin, Edward D Huey, Yunglin Gazes, Sarah R Heilbronner, Campbell J Le Heron, Nora Vanegas-Arroyave

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Apathy, or loss of motivation, is a prominent syndrome accompanying both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, in addition to other disorders. One approach to understanding motivational loss is to examine the processes underlying goal-directed behaviour. Weighing up rewarding outcomes against the effort costs required to obtain them (effort-based decision-making) is a core computation when deciding to act for outcomes. Although a growing body of evidence points to disruption of this computation in people with apathy, which underlying decision parameters drive this disruption, their neural associations and whether these would generalize or differ across brain disorders have not been examined. People with …

Mitochondrial Etf Insufficiency Drives Neoplastic Growth By Selectively Optimizing Cancer Bioenergetics, David Papadopoli, Sergej Djuranovic, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Mitochondrial electron transport flavoprotein (ETF) insufficiency causes metabolic diseases known as a multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency (MADD). In contrast to muscle, ETFDH is a non-essential gene in acute lymphoblastic leukemia NALM6 cells, and its expression is reduced across human cancers. In various human cancer cell lines and mouse models, ETF insufficiency caused by decreased ETFDH expression limits flexibility of OXPHOS fuel utilisation but paradoxically increases bioenergetics and accelerates neoplastic growth via activation of the mTORC1/BCL-6/4E-BP1 axis. Collectively, these findings reveal that while ETF insufficiency is rare and has detrimental effects in non-malignant tissues, it is common in neoplasia, where ETFDH …

Herbularyo (Folk Healer): An Herbal Medicine Card Game, Maryjane T. Magsino, Inah Marie Q. Rivera, Armando M. Guidote, Genejane M. Adarlo

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Herbularyo, a card game teaching about herbal plants (HPs), was created and evaluated as a viable educational card game based on Tuomisto and Aksela’s criteria. A quasi-experiment was performed on 81 Grade 8 students from a private high school and 50 Grade 11 from a public high school. Independent t-test revealed that the control group (CG) and experimental group (EG) (p=0.386), and EG1 (played ≤5) and EG2 (played >5) (p=0.681) are not comparable with each other. Paired t-test showed EG performed better (p=0.001) than CG (p=0.901) whereas ANCOVA showed that playing Herbularyo improved students’ information retention (p=0.006). EG1 and EG2 …

Staff Education Intervention To Improve Staff Knowledge And Competency In Supporting Patients With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Self-Management, Dorothy Chudi-Agbaku

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Juvenile Justice, Kayla Baptiste

Harriet L Wilkes Honors College Theses

When a minor fatally shoots their classmate, the justice system faces a harrowing question: does this child deserve the same death sentence as an adult murderer? While most instinctively answer ‘no,’ the philosophical ‘why’ remains complex. Juvenile courts were founded on the principle that young offenders are developmentally distinct, possessing limited decision-making capacity and a unique potential for reform. Some argue that punishing juveniles identically to adults harmfully ignores these developmental limits, while others contend that exempting them from adult sanctions disregards the cruelty and intent present in their crimes. Ultimately, however, no philosophical justification for punishment—neither utilitarian nor retributive—justifies …

The Mystery Of The Epstein-Barr Virus: How To Detect An Undetectable Virus, Paris Lange

Honors Theses

The Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) is a latent virus that stays in the body after the initial acute infection. In severe cases, this virus can lead to viral myocarditis and can cause life-threatening health issues. One reason this virus is impactful is its ability to suppress the intrinsic apoptotic response through a gene called BHRF1. This gene is an early lytic gene that encodes a homolog of a human pro-survival protein named Bcl-2. This allows the gene to act as an anti-apoptotic survival factor, facilitating the viral persistence inside the host without premature death of the host’s cells. Here, the BHRF1 …

The Prospector, May 5, 2026, Utep Student Publications

The Prospector

No abstract provided.

Bioinformatic Resolution Of Candidate Stress-Response Homologs In Cryptosporidium Parvum: P53-Family Vs Sestrin Identity, Freeman Tobechukwu Ezeala Mr.

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Cryptosporidium parvum is an apicomplexan protozoan of major public-health importance, but accurate genome annotation in this organism remains difficult because of its compact genome, deep protein divergence, and the presence of compositionally biased or low-complexity regions that can mislead similarity-based analysis.

In this thesis, I examined one such annotation problem involving a conserved Cryptosporidium stress-response candidate protein, CPATCC_0028580_t1 (833 aa). The central question was whether this protein is better interpreted as a member of the p53 family, based on similarity to p53-like DNA-binding domains (PF00870), or as a member of the Sestrin family associated with the PA26 domain.

I explored …

Descriptive Analysis: Effects Of Insufficient Sleep Among College Students Ages 18-22, Divine Ighalo

Honors Theses

Background: Not getting enough sleep is common among college students and is often linked to habits such as screen time, caffeine intake, stress, and irregular routines. This study examined how these lifestyle factors are associated with insufficient sleep among college students ages 18-22 and how poor sleep affects their overall wellbeing. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey design and collected data through an anonymous 25 question online Qualtrics questionnaire. This was completed by 150 participants. The survey was designed to be completed in about 5-7 minutes. It included a mix of multiplechoice questions, frequency-based responses and select all that …

Early-Stage Rectal Mixed Neuroendocrine-Non-Neuroendocrine Neoplasm Treated With Local Excision In A Frail Elderly Patient: A Multidisciplinary Management Dilemma, Christopher M. Ahmad, Rae-Anne Kastle, Talyn Smith, Harsha Kalagana, Kerry Williams-Wuch

Student Publications

Mixed neuroendocrine-non-neuroendocrine neoplasms (MiNENs) of the rectum are rare tumors that typically demonstrate aggressive behavior, largely driven by high-grade neuroendocrine carcinoma components. Evidence guiding management is limited, particularly for early-stage lesions and for patients unable to tolerate standard oncologic surgery. We report the case of an elderly man with extensive comorbidities who was found to have a 1.3 cm rectal MiNEN following transanal endoscopic microsurgery (TEMS) performed for rectal bleeding. Histopathology revealed a moderately differentiated adenocarcinoma component and a well-differentiated grade 1 neuroendocrine tumor (NET) component, with submucosal invasion greater than 2 mm, negative margins, low tumor budding, small-vessel lymphovascular …

Small Partial Deletion Of A Highly Gc-Rich Foxf1 Exon 1 In Two Deceased Siblings With Alveolar Capillary Dysplasia, Hiuling Chan Joiner, Shruti A Pande, Przemyslaw Szafranski, Partha Sen, Gail Deutsch, Pawel Stankiewicz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Alveolar capillary dysplasia with misalignment of pulmonary veins (ACDMPV) is a rare lethal lung developmental disorder caused by haploinsufficiency of FOXF1. While larger-sized coding and noncoding copy-number variant (CNV) deletions involving the FOXF1 locus are detected in approximately half of histopathologically-diagnosed ACDMPV patients, small CNVs remain diagnostically challenging. Here, we revisited an unsolved case of familial ACDMPV with two affected siblings. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 30-year-old archival lung autopsy tissue analyzed using AI powered platform revealed a 151 bp CNV deletion involving a highly GC-rich portion of exon 1 of FOXF1 that was not detected using Sanger sequencing and …

Purine Metabolic Adaptation Protects The Endothelium From Disturbed Flow-Induced Dna Damage And Atherosclerosis, Qian Ma, Yongfeng Cai, Zhidan Zhang, Dingwei Zhao, Yuan Zhao, Peishan Xu, Tammy Lu, Wendy Zhang, Qiuhua Yang, Yaqi Zhou, Varadarajan Sudhahar, Tohru Fukai, Hanjoong Jo, Yiming Xu, Yuqing Huo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite effective lipid-lowering therapies, atherosclerosis continues to be a leading cause of death, with considerable residual cardiovascular risk. Atherosclerotic lesions develop preferentially at arterial regions exposed to disturbed flow (d-flow), which induces genomic stress, endothelial injury, and barrier dysfunction. Hemodynamic forces are known to reprogram endothelial metabolism, but the role of de novo purine synthesis (DNPS), which supplies nucleotides for genome maintenance and whose terminal steps are catalyzed by the bifunctional enzyme ATIC, remains undefined in atherosclerosis. By integrating bulk and single-cell multiomics with in vitro flow systems and in vivo models, we show that d-flow upregulates DNPS and ATIC …

Large-Scale Genetic Characterization Of Parkinson’S Disease In The African And African Admixed Populations, Fulya Akçimen, Kimberly Paquette, Peter Wild Crea, Kathryn Step, Emily Waldo, Mathew J Koretsky, Paula Saffie-Awad, Charles Achoru, Funmilola Taiwo, Simon Ozomma, Gerald Onwuegbuzie, Marzieh Khani, Spencer Grant, Lukman Owolabi, Chiamaka Okereke, Olajumoke Oshinaike, Emmanuel Iwuozo, Suleyman Can Akerman, Paul Suhwan Lee, Shyngle Oyakhire, Nosakhare Osemwegie, Kensuke Daida, Sani Abubakar, Adedunni Olusanya, Mariam Isayan, Christiane Alvarez, Rami Traurig, Adebimpe Ogunmodede, Sarah Samuel, Mary B Makarious, Fadimatu Sa'ad, Rashidat Olanigan, Kristin Levine, Ewere Marie Ogbimi, Dan Vitale, Francis Odiase, Francis Ojini, Olanike Odeniyi, Zih-Hua Fang, Nkechi Obianozie, Deborah A Hall, Ernest Nwazor, Tao Xie, Francesca Nwaokorie, Mahesh Padmanaban, Paul Nwani, Ejaz A Shamim, Alero Nnama, David Standaert, Morenikeji Komolafe, Marissa Dean, Godwin Osaigbovo, Elizabeth Disbrow, Ismaila Ishola, Ashley Rawls, Frank Imarhiagbe, Shivika Chandra, Cyril Erameh, Vanessa Hinson, Naomi Louie, Ahmed Idowu, J Solle, Scott A Norris, Abdullahi Ibrahim, Camilla Kilbane, Gauthaman Sukumar, Lisa M Shulman, Daniel Ezuduemoih, Julia Staisch, Sarah Breaux, Clifton Dalgard, Erin R Foster, Abiodun Bello, Andrew Ameri, Raquel Real, Erica Ikwenu, Huw R Morris, Roosevelt Anyanwu, Erin Furr Stimming, Kimberley Billingsley, Wemimo Alaofin, Pilar Alvarez Jerez, Osigwe Agabi, Dena G Hernandez, Rufus Akinyemi, Sampath Arepalli, Laksh Malik, Raymond Owolabi, Yakub Nyandaiti, Hampton L Leonard, Kolawole Wahab, Oladunni Abiodun, Carlos F Hernandez, Fatima Abdulai, Hirotaka Iwaki, Soraya Bardien, Christine Klein, John Hardy, Henry Houlden, Kamalini Ghosh Galvelis, Mike A Nalls, Nabila Dahodwala, Whitley Aamodt, Emily Hill, Alberto Espay, Stewart Factor, Chantale Branson, Cornelis Blauwendraat, Andrew B Singleton, Oluwadamilola Ojo, Lana M Chahine, Njideka Okubadejo, Sara Bandres-Ciga

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Elucidating the genetic contributions to Parkinson's disease aetiology across diverse ancestries is a critical priority for the development of targeted therapies in a global context. We conducted the largest sequencing characterization of potentially disease-causing, protein-altering and splicing mutations in 710 cases and 11 827 controls from genetically predicted African or African admixed ancestries. We explored copy number variants (CNVs) and runs of homozygosity in prioritized early onset and familial cases. Our study identified rare GBA1 coding variants to be the most frequent mutations among patients with Parkinson's disease, with a frequency of 4% in our case cohort. Of the 18 …

Development Of Antagonist Peptides Of The Crk/Crkl Sh2 Domains By Modifying The Peripheral Amino Acid Residues Of The Yxxp Motif., Taeju P. Park, Anuradha Roy, Justin T. Douglas, Laurie Harned, Sarah A. Neuenswander, Neka Large, Giridhar Mudduluru, Melinda Broward, David K. Johnson

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) through the phosphotyrosine-Src homology 2 (SH2) interaction play critical roles in many signal transduction pathways. CT10 regulator of kinase (Crk) and Crk-like (CrkL) are structurally and functionally similar adaptor proteins that mediate PPIs through their SH2 domains. Crk and CrkL are essential in tumor cell migration and invasion and have been proposed as therapeutic targets. However, there are no Crk and CrkL inhibitors available. Previously, we designed a conserved heptapeptide that binds to Crk by analyzing the 15 YXXP motifs in p130Cas. The peptide bound to the SH2 domain of Crk (CrkSH2) and inhibited the CrkSH2-p130Cas interaction. …

Analysis Of Dynamic Difficulty Scaling Ai In Video Games, Tyrese W. Walker

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Video games are a popular form of interactive media and, since their inception, have become one of the largest forms of media consumed. As such, they have evolved greatly from their humble beginnings into much more complex experiences, and adjusting the difficulty level to suit the needs of the player has become common practice. While there are simple ways to do so, the best games often feature a dynamic difficulty-scaling system that adapts to the player. Classics like Resident Evil and Left 4 Dead are excellent examples of innovative dynamic scaling design. By analyzing the strongest elements of these works, …

Raman Spectroscopy With Machine-Learning Classification For The Prediction Of Stereotactic Radiotherapy Induced Treatment Toxicity In High-Risk Localised Prostate Cancer, Jade F. Monaghan, Daniel Cullen, Dinesh K.R. Medipally, Rahul Suresh, Kelly M. Redmond, Ciaran Fairmichael, Suneil Jain, Aidan D. Meade, Fiona M. Lyng

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Radiotherapy can lead to late-onset toxicity, to varying extents between individuals due to differences in radiosensitivity. Predicting which patients are most at risk is key to augmenting the therapeutic window. However, the underlying biological mechanisms remain poorly understood, and current experimental methods often lack clinical applicability. This study employs Raman spectroscopy to analyse biochemical profiles in peripheral lymphocytes and plasma, aiming to monitor radiotherapeutic response and predict intrinsic radiosensitivity in high-risk localised prostate cancer patients treated with stereotactic radiotherapy. Partial-least squares discriminant analysis classification of Raman spectra at baseline (n = 20) from post-hormone therapy (n = 19), mid-treatment (pre-4 …

Pest Risk Modelling For Climate-Smart Vegetable Production In East Africa, Marc Marin Agbodjan, Komi Mensah Agboka, John Odindi, Elfatih Abdel-Rahman, Onisimo Mutanga, Frank Chidawanyika, Chrysantus Tanga, Daniel Munyao Mutyambai, Sevgan Subramanian, Bonoukpoè Mawuko Sokame

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Agricultural productivity in East Africa is increasingly threatened by climate-sensitive insect pests. This study investigates the occurrence of key vegetable pests: Brevicoryne brassicae, Plutella xylostella, Maruca vitrata, and Liriomyza mik. A comparative species distribution modelling evaluated pest risk projections under climate change. Four variable selection strategies were tested: case 1 (correlation and variance inflation factor [VIF] filtering across all predictors), case 2 (correlation and VIF filtering of bioclimatic variables merged with other predictors), case 3 (filtering based on environmental values at species occurrence point to approximate realized niches), and case 4 (dimensionality reduction using principal component analysis). These strategies were …

Large-Scale Genetic Characterization Of Parkinson's Disease In The African And African Admixed Populations, Fulya Akçimen, Scott A Norris, Erin R Foster, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Elucidating the genetic contributions to Parkinson's disease aetiology across diverse ancestries is a critical priority for the development of targeted therapies in a global context. We conducted the largest sequencing characterization of potentially disease-causing, protein-altering and splicing mutations in 710 cases and 11 827 controls from genetically predicted African or African admixed ancestries. We explored copy number variants (CNVs) and runs of homozygosity in prioritized early onset and familial cases. Our study identified rare GBA1 coding variants to be the most frequent mutations among patients with Parkinson's disease, with a frequency of 4% in our case cohort. Of the 18 …

Nitrogen Limitation Impacts The Evolution Of Tobramycin Resistance In E.Coli, Anja Hofmeier

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

We are investigating how nutrient-limitation affects the evolution of antibiotic resistance in Escherichia coli. We evolved E. coli for 24 days in nitrogen- or carbon-limited environments with and without tobramycin. Many nitrogen-limited strains that evolved with tobramycin did not develop antibiotic resistance and went extinct. Surprisingly, fitness competitions showed that nitrogen-limited populations had an even larger fitness advantage in nitrogen-limited environments with tobramycin than in their evolutionary environments. These populations had a mutation in either gene glnL or glnK. We isolated each mutation in a clone and ran fitness assays to investigate how glnL and glnK mutations affected …

The Effect Of Temperature On Competitive Interactions Between Two Species Of Invasive Crayfish, Jackson Rohrbaugh

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

The North Shore Channel (NSC) of the Chicago River is home to two invasive species of crayfish, the red swamp crayfish and the rusty crayfish. However, distribution data of these two species show that they do not occupy the same regions of the channel. I investigated whether this difference in distributions resulted from the temperature gradient present in the NSC. Specifically, I tested how competitive interactions between the two species changed in different water temperatures. I did so by placing one crayfish of each species in tanks of varying water temperatures and recording their interactions.

Towards A Unified Architecture For Jointly Learning Human And Robot Behavior, Nathan A C Hogg

Undergraduate Research and Engagement Symposium

General-purpose robotic manipulators will be maximally useful if they can be trained on existing data, such as pre-collected human footage. Recent advances in robot learning typically rely on visuals to mimic the high-fidelity movements of humans. Our goal is to model large datasets of human actions as sequences of goal-seeking behaviors, driving robotic motion by leveraging this understanding of human intent. This presentation will discuss the current state of robotic imitation learning, the advancements we have made over the past three months, and our future goals.

Femininity And Dateability: A Look At The Perception Of Asian Faces, Grace Yang

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Over the last decade, Asian Americans are the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States (Lam, 2016), and the visibility of Asian influence on popular culture has increased as well (Jin & Yoon, 2017).  As a fast-growing minority community, the Asian community has been relatively overlooked in studies about attraction and the effects of ideals of masculinity. The aim of the current study was to investigate factors that influence the perception of the Asian and non-Asian faces with respect to attractiveness, dateability and masculinity.  The current literature suggests that both Asian men and women are stereotyped to be relatively …

Parenting Style And Academic Success: How Can You Help Your Child Succeed?, Elizabeth A. Weicker

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

The goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between the parenting style a college student experienced during childhood and the student’s most recent college GPA. Using survey data collected from undergraduate students throughout the United States, a between-subjects ANOVA was conducted to comparing different parenting styles and mean GPA for those styles. The parenting styles analyzed were authoritative, authoritarian, and permissive. Results indicated significant differences in GPA between parenting styles, with the authoritative parenting style producing the highest college GPA. In addition, an independent samples t-test was conducted to analyze the relationship between student satisfaction with the parenting …

Attentional Mechanisms Of Language In Infants With Down Syndrome, Fragile X Syndrome And Siblings Of Children With Autism, Isabelle Robinson

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Children with Down syndrome (DS), fragile X syndrome (FXS), or younger siblings of a child with autism spectrum disorder (ASIB) often exhibit atypical object exploration and social engagement, which can affect important learning opportunities. The purpose of this study was to examine group differences in social attention shifting and attentional disengagement between infants with DS, FXS, and ASIBs. This study utilized data from a longitudinal study collected from 12-month-old infants with DS (n = 13), FXS (n = 14), and ASIBs (n = 24). No group differences were seen for social attention shifting. However, infants with DS …

Moving America: A Study Examining The Relationships Between Early Residential Mobility, Anxiety And Academic Performance, Kelsey Thomas, Wendy Chu, Melanie Palomares

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Early residential mobility has known negative effects on mental health outcomes and academic achievement. These effects have been studied broadly and globally, yet there lacks attention in examining early residential mobility to specific localities, regions, or states. As such, this study sought to investigate these associations, specifically its impact on anxiety and academic performance in adults residing or living in South Carolina. Participants were surveyed online regarding their demographic information, academic performance, and anxiety levels. Results found no significant relationships between early residential mobility, anxiety, and academic performance among adults residing or living in South Carolina. Despite these null findings, …

College Student's Ideal Age For Having Children, Corrie Sanders, Melanie Palomares, Kristin Kirchner

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

It has been observed that women are beginning to have children at a later age than traditionally seen in history. This study examines college student’s ideal age for having children, and how it compares to the age of their mother when she had her first child. The data was collected mainly from undergraduate students at the University of South Carolina through a survey completed by 39 participants. Through a one-way between-subjects ANOVA, this study found there was not a significant difference of the ideal age to have children between college students ages 19, 20, 21, 22, and 23. The average …

Examining Biobehavioral Indicators Of Adhd In Children With Fxs, Hannah Pressler, Kayla Smith, Ramsey Coyle, Elizabeth Will, Jane E. Roberts

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by inattention and hyperactivity/impulsivity behaviors that are inconsistent with developmental age. Children with fragile X syndrome (FXS), a genetic neurodevelopmental disorder, are often diagnosed with comorbid ADHD (53–59% of males with FXS). Despite the prevalence of ADHD in FXS, little is known about the early manifestation of ADHD. The current project aims to explore group differences in play behaviors between children with FXS and typically developing (TD) children as well as the relationship between infant play behavior and heart activity to future ADHD attention outcomes. Participants included male children with FXS and …

Predator Or Prey: The Analysis Of Gender And Race On The Perception Of Black Men As Sexual Assault Victims, Jordyn Livingston, Dr. Florencia Cornet

Caravel Undergraduate Research Journal

Men sexual assault victims have gained more attention in recent years. Despite the growing sociological literature on violence against men, previous research provides little acknowledgment of Black men sexual assault victims. In this manuscript, I analyze emerging literature in the socio-medical sciences to explore how gender and race affects the perceptions of Black men as sexual assault victims. Specifically, I utilize intersectionality as a theoretical framework to synthesize literature on blackness and masculinity in sexual assault victims to conclude that there is an intersectional point that disadvantages Black males, portraying them as sexual predators. In so doing, I provide research …