Digital Commons Network^™

A Review Of Maslow’S Hierarchy Of Needs In Students During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Hunter Gardner

ALL - Honors Theses

The COVID-19 pandemic unexpectedly struck the world in 2020 and had long-lasting effects. Many people had lost their jobs, the economy faltered, and people were stuck at home with no way of seeing friends or non-immediate family. The pandemic also had a profound impact on students. Schools were forced to transition into online learning, which was something that many school districts and universities were not prepared for (Russell, Head, Wolfe-Enslow, Holland, & Zimmerman, 2022). The COVID-19 pandemic also had an impact on people's needs. According to Abraham Maslow (1943), people’s needs are arranged into a hierarchy where basic level needs …

Testing The Impact Of Actinomyces Naeslundii On The Proliferation Dynamics Of Corynebacterium And Revealing The Prescence Or Absence Of Inhibitory Properties, Quintin Hodge

ALL - Honors Theses

The gram-positive bacterium Actinomyces naeslundii is a core member of the oral microbiome and has been associated with states of health. In early human life, researchers unraveled the involvement of several different taxa of microbes present within the oral cavity in contributing to diseases including tooth destruction. Periodontitis is a prevalent oral disease that is proposed to be caused by dysbiosis, which is characterized by microbial shifts within the bacterial community resulting from changes in relative microbial abundance and spatial organization in the dental plaque microbiome, causing immense gum pain and inflammation. Corynebacterium matruchotii is also a gram-positive bacterium like …

Argonaute 2 Binding Affinity To Determine Repression Of Mirna-Mrna Pairs, Christina M. S. Karadiakos

ALL - Honors Theses

MicroRNAs (miRNA) are a class of small non-coding RNAs that play a key role in gene silencing. miRNAs form an RNA-induced silencing complex (RISC) with the argonaute 2 (AGO2) protein in order to control gene expression through silencing messenger RNAs (mRNA). The ability for a miRNA-mRNA complex to fit into AGO2 and form the RISC is based on the location and characteristics of a central bulge, but the mechanism and interactions that lead to a functional RISC remain unknown. Using available experimental data, we modeled complexes composed of a miRNA (miR-34a) and different mRNA sequences inside of AGO2. The resulting …

The Associations Between Maternal Perinatal Depression And Pre-Pregnancy Obesity With Child Neurodevelopment: A Systematic Review, Brooke Connolly

ALL - Honors Theses

This systematic review examined the association between maternal pre-pregnancy obesity and perinatal depression, and the joint effect of these conditions with child neurodevelopment. PubMed was systematically searched for studies published between January 2018-December 2023. Studies were screened and included if they were cohort studies and human studies in English. Of the 41 studies identified examining maternal perinatal depression and 45 studies identified examining maternal pre-pregnancy obesity, 12 and 9 studies were included in this systematic review, respectively. No studies were identified examining the joint association of these factors with child neurodevelopment. Overall, the studies showed an inverse association between maternal …

Roia: An Open-Source Imagej Macro For Region-Of-Interest Creation And Analysis, Teja Rathnam Buddhavarapu

ALL - Honors Theses

For those determined to study disease states, systems, or circuits in vivo, histology is the alpha and omega of our investigations. We often begin and end by confirming the location and extent of our perturbations. Yet, as deeply rooted as it is in our experimental practice, histological analyses have remained largely stagnant. Experimenter drawn regions-of-interest (ROIs), intensity normalizing by eye, and inconsistent output metrics are just some of the limitations of current image analysis pipelines. To address these challenges, I developed RoiA, a FIJI-enabled macro which automatically characterizes ROIs in a provided image and analyzes key metrics across …

Chromosome 7 Microdeletions: A Literature Review, Catherine Davi

ALL - Honors Theses

Microdeletions, deletions of part of a chromosome that are too small to be detected by light microscopy using conventional cytogenetic methods, have become a hot topic for geneticists over the past decade or so. Occurring in around one in every 4000 live births, some of these microdeletions do not allow for a viable offspring, while others have distinctive developmental consequences. Many of the genes on chromosome 7 play a large role in the early development of the head, face, and limbs and more generally on cell growth and division (Bethesda 2022). This research study reviews known microdeletions on the seventh …

Dear Mama: An Exploration Of Trauma And Black Feminist Healing Practices Through Letter Writing, Bria Nickerson

Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies M.A. Final Projects

This autoethnographic project delves into the multitude of strategies I've employed over the past decade since my mother's passing to confront and heal from my trauma. Through a series of original letters spanning from girlhood to early adulthood, I narrate my journey, delving into the depths of my emotions, thoughts, and coping mechanisms as I navigate through various traumatic experiences. Guided by Black Feminist Autoethnography as its methodology and anchored in Black Feminist Thought as its theoretical framework, this project also explores the profound impact of transgenerational trauma on the psychological well-being of Black women. From enduring slavery and racialized …

Substance Use & Systems Impact: A Mixed-Methods Community-Based Participatory Action Study, Jordan Dyett

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Individuals, families, and communities who use drugs or have a history of substance use have been highly criminalized, stigmatized, and their perspectives marginalized in research and policy. Furthermore, trajectories of research on this community tend to focus on pathologizing individuals and focus on prevention or abstinence-based outcomes, failing to embrace a broader critique of societal forces that marginalize communities and contribute to substance use. Despite the increase in deaths due to drug toxicity, policy and practice at large have failed to embrace the expertise of those with lived experience using substances, and instead continued to rely on carceral logics to …

Extreme Temperature And Other Environmental Factors On Diabetes Admissions, Donghong Gao

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Background: Although total environmental factors have been linked with adverse health outcomes, the impacts of temperature and other total environmental factors on diabetes-related hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits remain inconclusive.Objective: This dissertation aims to Aim 1) test the associations between extreme heat and diabetes hospitalizations in the summer and its transitional months, identify populations vulnerable to extreme heat’s effects, and examine the modification effects of greenness on the heat-diabetes associations in warm months (Chapters 3 and 4); Aim 2) investigate the associations between extreme cold and diabetes hospitalizations in the winter and its transitional months, identify populations vulnerable to …

Managing Work-Life Interrelationships Among High School Teachers Through Icts, Alana Elia

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The primary focus of research on information and communication technologies (ICTs) and work-life interrelationships has been on traditional office work. However, occupations such as teaching are worthwhile to study because they are structured differently than a traditional office given that students are the direct consumers of teacher labor. There is a lot of face-to-face engagement with students in the classroom, while at the same time teacher’s jobs increasingly incorporate the usage of ICTs. Secondary schools for students (generally 14 through 18 years of age) are complex environments where both teachers and students are experiencing permeations of personal life into the …

Role Of M6a Rna Methylation In Skeletal Muscle Regeneration, Isreal Ayobami Onifade

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Skeletal muscle is essential in orchestrating voluntary movement and contributes to approximately half of the body's overall mass. Dysregulation in proper skeletal muscle development can lead to muscle degenerative disorders, such as severe Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). Understanding the process of muscle development has been the central focus of numerous biological studies, focusing on myogenic transcription factors and signaling molecules like Pax3, Pax7, Myf5, MyoD, WNT, TGF-β, and BMP, IGF1, AKT/mTOR pathway. Also, studies have suggested that m6A (N6-methyladenosine) plays a crucial role in various biological processes, including skeletal muscle regeneration and development. m6A modification is the prevalent form of …

Identifying Novel Therapeutics And Modifiers Of Myotonic Dystrophy Type 1, Jesus Alberto Frias

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The expansion of microsatellite repeats within the human genome has been identified as the cause of numerous hereditary diseases, including myotonic dystrophy (DM). DM is an autosomal dominant disease with a worldwide prevalence of ~1:8000 individuals. DM presents multisystemic symptoms such as myotonia, cardiac conduction defects, muscle wasting and weakness, insulin resistance, and cataracts. There are two genetically distinct, yet clinically similar types of DM: DM type 1 (DM1), caused by CTG repeat expansions in the 3’ UTR of the dystrophia myotonica protein kinase (DMPK) gene and DM type 2 (DM2), resulting from CCTG repeat expansions in the first intron …

Gender Construction, Inequality, And Lgbt Participation In The Politics Of Myanmar, Nant Mu Say Khaleim

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study explores the complex relationships between gender dynamics, inequality, and LGBT participation within Myanmar’s political landscape in general. The aim was to identify the challenges and experiences LGBT individuals and women encounter as they navigate their political engagement in Myanmar. I strived to achieve this by conducting a qualitative content analysis of newspaper articles and reports from rights-based organizations between 2011 and 2023. In this study, I found that there are several challenges that LGBT people and women encounter; these challenges are a result of ingrained gender norms, religious beliefs, social expectations, and legal frameworks. I found that LGBT …

From Stone To Silicone: Interdisciplinary Insights Into The Co-Evolution Of Humans, Tools And Technologies, Mahnoor Zahid '24

Honor Scholar Theses

Excerpt: "The following thesis then explores how we as a species evolved in accordance to our tool technology. My initial hypothesis was that humans evolved because our tool technology made us smarter: the more we engaged with our tools, the more our brains found different ways to challenge themselves. This hypothesis stemmed from the initial observation I, as a modern human, have made: the more enriched our environment is as a human, the more our brains are able to grow. As children we are taught that exercise, books, and problem solving activities help the successful development and maturation of our …

Posthumanism In Literature: Redefining Selfhood, Temporality, And Reality/Ies Through Fiction, Eileen Kelley Pierce

English (MA) Theses

While fictional novels are often seen as a way to escape reality, their relation to reality and the ways in which they distort or reinforce our understandings of reality can provide significant insights into our cultural values and beliefs. Using posthumanist theory, I examine how understandings of selfhood and its relations to time and reality are complicated within three works of fiction and how those complications represent and articulate a societal shift in meaning and knowledge that is supported by posthumanist ideologies. The three works, No One Is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood, Wolf in White Van by John …

The Beginning Of The End: The Cultivation Of Transchronological Perceptuality In Arcadia And “Story Of Your Life”, Sawyer Kelly

English (MA) Theses

This thesis explores the spatio-temporal landscapes of Ted Chiang’s “The Story of Your Life” and Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. Both authors engage with intersections between past, present, and future, challenging readers to reframe the conventions of linear chronology in favor of a fluid, palimpsestic approach to time and space that reflects the past and future’s ongoing influence in constructing our impression of the “now.” To illustrate this temporal blending, Chiang and Stoppard implement alternative language modes predicated upon visual and sensory rhetorics, centralizing the politics of human perception as dually illuminating and obfuscating reality. This project employs an interdisciplinary approach, adopting …

The Influence Of Personal Factors On Wrongful Convictions, Ellee Jackson

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Previous work has identified factors that influence the likelihood of wrongful conviction. However, fewer efforts have been made to examine how these factors influence the amount of time between wrongful conviction and exoneration. This is crucial to the expansion of innocence research and the contextualization of wrongful convictions within the criminal justice system. This study employs negative binomial regression to analyze data collected by the National Registry of Exonerations (NRE). Using a sample of 2,349 cases in which the most severe conviction was murder, sexual assault, child sexual abuse, or drug possession, I examine the influence of an exoneree’s age, …

The Role Of B Cell Activation State And Sex In Aryl Hydrocarbon Receptor Mediated Induction Of Chemokine Receptor 9 And Alpha4beta7 Expression In Vitro, Logan Bauerle

Master's Theses

Defense of mucosal tissues from microbial infection and allergy is reliant on continual production of antibodies. The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is known to regulate B cell development and is associated with suppression of systemic humoral immunity. Recent attention has been paid to the role of the AhR in altering expression of cell adhesion molecules (CAMs). B cells express CAMs and chemokine receptors to migrate around the body for localized secretion of antibodies. AhR agonists promote B cell migration to the small intestine through upregulation of chemokine receptor 9 (CCR9) and integrin α₄β₇. Both the AhR …

Role Of Atp-Binding Cassette (Abc) Transporters As A Protector Of Testis Stem Cell Niche From Chemotherapy Drugs In Drosophila Melanogaster, Swagata Maity

Master's Theses

In chemotherapy treatments most tumor cells are destroyed by drugs, but some tumor cells are drug resistant, and these are known as cancer stem cells (CSCs). Normal adult stem cells are also chemo resistant. Therefore, investigation of normal stem cells can be useful to provide further knowledge of CSCs. One of the primary ways that CSCs achieve drug resistance is by drug efflux through transmembrane pumps called ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters. Many studies on ABC transporters have been performed in vitro using cultured cell lines, but very few studies have been performed on normal stem cell populations in vivo. Drosophila …

Potential Bioprospecting Within Vemons Of Rear-Fanged Snakes, Tanner Milbank Harvey

Master's Theses

Philodryas baroni (Baron’s Green Racer) and Trimorphodon lambda (Sonoran Lyre Snake) each belong to extensively studied genera of rear-fanged venomous snakes. Investigating the bioactivities and structural composition through methods not typically included in venomic workflows, which use homologous sequences and describe venoms by their constituent peptides, provides valuable insights into both the degree and extent to which venom diversity and complexity can be overlooked by many venomic workflows. This study explores the venom compositions of P. baroni and T. lambda and compares them to published toxins observed in opisthoglyphous snakes, specifically taxon-selective three-finger toxins and metalloprotease-dominated venoms.

This study underscores …

Characterizing The Nonequilibrium Driving Forces Responsible For The Emergence Of Life, Charles Davis Kocher

Electronic Dissertations and Theses, 2010-current

Uncovering the origin of life on earth remains a grand challenge problem for the natural sciences. Some headway has been made by reasoning about which biological macromolecules were the first to appear, as in the well-known "RNA world" hypothesis. However, new approaches are needed for further advances. We seek instead the physical driving forces, powered by nonequilibrium supplies of energy, that could have compelled the emergence of life from simple chemistry in the capricious environments of the early earth. This perspective leads us to examine the prebiotic origins and characteristics not of molecule types, but of the dynamical principles of …

Ototoxicity Monitoring Protocols For Common Chemotherapeutics, Megan Pamela Kennedy

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Cancer is a major public health concern and is increasingly prevalent worldwide. Sung et al. (2021) states that there were 19.3 million new cases of cancer across the globe, and almost 10 million deaths related to cancer in 2021. Sung et al. (2021) also notes that the United States accounts for 8% of all global cases, with an average of 1.7 million new cases annually. The top five most common adult cancers in the United States include: (1) breast, (2) prostate, (3) lung and bronchus, (4) colorectal, and (5) invasive melanoma of the skin. These cancers can be treated with …

Otitis Media: Parental Perspectives And Support Needs, Jordan Marie Johnson

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Otitis media (OM) is an infection located within the middle ear space of the auditory system and is the most common cause of hearing loss in children. Hearing loss is the disruption of the perception of an auditory signal and is further classified as conductive, sensorineural, or conductive. The effect of hearing loss can also depend on the severity, time of onset, stability, and etiology. Impairment in auditory function is linked with poorer speech and language development, educational tasks, psychosocial skills, and quality of life. Therefore, identification of hearing loss in children should be done in a timely manner to …

The Effect Of Socioeconomic Status On Adult Access To Hearing Aids, Skyler Preston Mumford

Doctoral Scholarly Projects & Capstones

Approximately 430 million people worldwide suffer from hearing loss. With Americans over the age of 65 earning a mean annual salary of less than $60,000 and the cost of a pair of hearing aids exceeding $4000, attempting to pursue hearing aids can prove to be challenging, if not an impossible task. The purpose of this project was to assess how individuals with hearing loss, above the age of majority, are impacted by their socioeconomic status with regard to accessing properly fit amplification. Evidence has shown that access to hearing aids is strongly tied to one’s socioeconomic status. In addition, there …

A Christian Perspective On Happiness: Positive Psychology And Rahner’S Theology Of Grace In The Quest For Meaning, Edwin Onyango Odhiambo

Jesuit School of Theology Dissertations

This research examines happiness from a Christian perspective, integrating theological insights with contemporary scientific understanding. It highlights the foundational role of divine grace in shaping a Christian’s approach to happiness, as articulated by one of the greatest 20th-century theologians, Karl Rahner. Rahner’s notion of uncreated grace offers a lens through which Christians can view happiness, not just as a feeling but as a stable state nurtured by a deep relationship with God and manifested in goals and actions aligned with divine will, giving a sense of belonging and purpose instrumental for lasting happiness. This study also acknowledges the relevance of …

Elastic Strips Along Isotropic Curves In Complex 3-Spaces, Dae Won Yoon, Zühal Küçükarslan Yüzbaşi

Turkish Journal of Mathematics

In this paper, we define the ruled surface in terms of the Darboux vector field of an isotropic curve in a complex 3-space, and we study the ruled surface as an elastic strip along the isotropic curve. First of all, we show that elastic strips along isotropic curves that serve critical points of the modified Sadowsky functional are characterized by three Euler-Lagrange equations. As a result, we give two conservation laws to characterize elastic strips of isotropic curves in complex 3-space and explain an isotropic helix in terms of the force vector. Finally, we give some examples to illustrate elastic …

A Study Of The Scattering Analysis Of The Multiplicative Sturm-Liouville Problem, Güler Başak Öznur, Güher Gülçehre Özbey, Yelda Aygar Küçükevci̇li̇oğlu, Rabia Aktaş Karaman

Turkish Journal of Mathematics

The main purpose of this study is to examine the scattering analysis of a multiplicative Sturm-Liouville boundary value problem. Firstly, we find the Jost solution of this problem and give the Jost function to construct the scattering function of the problem. Secondly, we obtain asymptotic equations for Jost solution and investigate some properties of the Jost function. Moreover, we present other solutions of the problem by giving the relations between these solutions and Jost solution. Finally, we define the scattering function of this problem by using the Jost function and examine the basic properties of the scattering function.

Antioxidant Activities And Protective Effects Of Shorea Macrophylla Leaf And Bark Extracts, Salfarina Ramli, Nik Nor Sabrina Sukri, Nur Adhwa’ Faqihah Zulkifli, Donna Maretta Ariestanti, Chee Yan Choo, Hasseri Halim, Nurhuda Manshoor, Richard Johari James

Pharmaceutical Sciences and Research

Shorea macrophylla, also known as the ‘Engkabang’ tree or Light Red Meranti, is renowned for its role in reforestation efforts. Despite lacking records of traditional use, the reported biological activities of other species within the Shorea genus spark curiosity about the potential biological activities of this plant. Therefore, this study aims to explore the antioxidant capabilities of S. macrophylla leaf and bark extracts, along with their protective effects against oxidative stress using a brine shrimp model. In the evaluation of antioxidant potential, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) assays were employed. Extracts were incubated in …

Bilateral Asymmetry In The First Metacarpal: The Influence Of Handedness In Humans And Non-Human Primates, Lucyna A. Bowland

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Muscle attachment sites (entheses) are often used to infer soft tissue anatomy and reconstruct behaviors within skeletal populations, but there remains a significant debate about whether and to what degree muscle use is accurately reflected in bony morphology. One of the most difficult problems in establishing the relationship between variation in muscle use and entheseal development is the inability to exclude a variety of external factors thought to influence enthesis development, including age, sex, body mass, and activity patterns. One way around this is to take advantage of the fact that humans are handed (preferentially using one hand over another, …

Season Of Grazing Interacts With Soil Texture, Selecting For Associations Of Biocrust Morphogroups, Lea A. Condon, Roger Rosentreter, Kari E. Veblen, Peter S. Coates

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Livestock grazing, a widespread land use in semi-arid systems, is often placed in opposition to the perpetuation of biological soil crusts (“biocrusts”: lichens, mosses, and algal crusts including cyanobacteria) that live on the soil surface and provide ecosystem functions. The composition of biocrusts and vascular plants varies with climate, soils, and disturbance. In general, ruderal mosses and light algal crusts make up greater proportions of biocrusts in the presence of disturbance, although morphogroups of biocrusts respond differently to various disturbances. It is unknown if there are scenarios under which grazing can occur and ruderal components of biocrust could be maintained. …