Digital Commons Network^™

Cardiovascular Disease In Central Appalachia, An Exploratory Study Of Behavioral, Community, And Patient-Centered Care Influences, Kristy Gagnon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Central Appalachian region of the United States disproportionately experiences higher rates of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and associated risk factors. Primary risk factors for CVD include hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and tobacco use, all of which have the potential to be mitigated through lifestyle behavior changes. Dietary and physical activity practices are the two main driving forces for the development of hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, while tobacco use is a behavioral choice on its own. Subsequentially, shifting lifestyle choices to emphasize healthier living has the potential to reduce CVDs within the Central Appalachian region. Considering behavioral choices are not made in isolation and …

Roots Of Quaternionic Polynomials And Automorphisms Of Roots, Olalekan Ogunmefun

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The quaternions are an extension of the complex numbers which were first described by Sir William Rowan Hamilton in 1843. In his description, he gave the equation of the multiplication of the imaginary component similar to that of complex numbers. Many mathematicians have studied the zeros of quaternionic polynomials. Prominent of these, Ivan Niven pioneered a root-finding algorithm in 1941, Gentili and Struppa proved the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra (FTA) for quaternions in 2007. This thesis finds the zeros of quaternionic polynomials using the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. There are isolated zeros and spheres of zeros. In this thesis, we …

Applying Information Theory To Software Evolution, Adriano Torres, Sebastian Baltes, Christoph Treude, Markus Wagner

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Although information theory has found success in disciplines, the literature on its applications to software evolution is limit. We are still missing artifacts that leverage the data and tooling available to measure how the information content of a project can be a proxy for its complexity. In this work, we explore two definitions of entropy, one structural and one textual, and apply it to the historical progression of the commit history of 25 open source projects. We produce evidence that they generally are highly correlated. We also observed that they display weak and unstable correlations with other complexity metrics. Our …

Argentine Women’S Narratives Of Leadership, Ileana Andrea Mocciola

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present study investigated and examined the narratives of Argentine women leaders while obtaining and exercising leadership positions. This research was based on narrative theory and the feminist standpoint theory. Argentine female participants (N = 10) were subject to interviews that overall lasted 600 minutes and were conducted through the Zoom platform. Fifty-five pages of single-spaced transcripts were analyzed and studied. The results of this study revealed that Argentine women face major challenges when it comes to tokenism, exclusion, mentorship, and stereotypes that prevent and limit them from reaching and succeeding in leadership positions.

Forming And Maintaining Intimate Friendships As A Twentysomething, Molly S. Burke

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a life stage of great change, and often instability in relationships and attachment (Demir et al., 2015; Lane et al., 2017; Shulman & Connolly, 2013). Intimate friendships can be a moderating factor and assistance in gaining stability and increasing life satisfaction (Demir, 2021; Demir et al., 2015; Sanchez et al., 2020). This study used grounded theory methodology (Creswell & Poth, 2018) to develop a model of the process which Twentysomethings undergo while forming and maintaining intimate, or best, friendships. Through interviews with best friend pairs, this study found three main phases of the best friend process: forming …

TíNh ThốNg NhấT Trong Sự Đa DạNg: Hanoi International Fellowship Ethnography, Ariel Marie Bloomer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hanoi International Fellowship (HIF) is a multinational, multiethnic International Church (IC) in Hanoi, Vietnam. This thesis investigates how HIF constitutes unity among such lived diversity in its congregation. Chapter one reviews existing literature and provides the methodology of the study. Chapter two investigates where unity and diversity are present in HIF, focusing specifically on its mission and values, ministries, and leadership. Chapter three provides a theological basis for unity in diversity. Chapter four presents the research findings from this study. Lastly, Chapter five expresses the study’s limitations, summarizes the findings, offers suggestions to HIF and other Christian communities, recommends future …

Authoritarian Propaganda Campaigns On Foreign Affairs: Four Birds With One Stone, Andrew Chubb, Frances Yaping Wang

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Why do authoritarian states sometimes play up dangerous internationalcrises and embarrassing diplomatic incidents in domestic propaganda? Isit to mobilize, threaten, divert or pacify? Recent studies in comparativepolitics have focused on regime legitimacy and stability as key drivers ofauthoritarian propaganda practices, overlooking other possiblemotivations such as mobilization of the regime’s domestic allies orstrategic signaling aimed at foreign audiences. Foreign policy analysts,meanwhile, have emphasized international dimensions of thepropaganda behavior of China — the contemporary world’s mostpowerful and technologically sophisticated authoritarian state — but haveoften mistakenly framed complementary theories as competingalternative explanations. Paying attention to the multiple domestic andinternational audiences for authoritarian propaganda, …

Competing Auctions With Non-Identical Objects, Massimiliano Landi, Domenico Menicucci, Andrey Sarychev

Research Collection School Of Economics

We study a competition model with two sellers that auction non-identical objects, unlike most of the literature on competing auctions. Each bidder has bidimensional private information, his values for the objects, and chooses the auction in which he participates (if any) after each seller has set a reserve price for her auction. We show that in some cases the duopoly reserve price is greater than the reserve price for a monopolist auctioning a single object; thus, an increase in the number of sellers may make some bidder’s types worse off. In our analysis we first characterize the unique symmetric equilibrium …

Monoracials’ Perceptions Of Biracials In Singapore, Sheila Xi Rui Wee, Chi-Ying Cheng

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

Objectives: Drawing on social identity theory, present research examined the effects of overlapping racial membership on monoracials’ categorization of biracials as in-/out-group members, as well as its impact on monoracials’ social perceptions of biracials in Singapore. Within Singapore, it is hypothesized that biracials who share racial membership with monoracials would be rated more as monoracials’ racial in-group and be evaluated more positively. Furthermore, monoracials’ positive perceptions of biracials with (vs. without) shared racial membership would be less influenced by biracials’ confrontation of racial prejudice. Method: Studies 1 (N = 242) and 2 (N = 153) sampled Chinese Singaporeans to assess …

Regulating Cryptocurrency Derivatives: A Comparative Analysis Of Approaches In The Uk, The Eu And Singapore, Rachel Phang

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Cryptocurrency derivatives have been attracting growing retail and institutional interest, raising the increasingly pertinent question of how such products should be regulated. This paper assesses different regulatory approaches in the United Kingdom, the European Union and Singapore, and considers what insights these might provide for the regulation of cryptocurrency derivatives generally.

Actions And Approaches For Enabling Industry 5.0-Driven Sustainable Industrial Transformation: A Strategy Roadmap, Morteza Ghobakhloo, Mohammad Iranmanesh, Manuel E. Morales, Mehrbakhsh Nilashi, Azlan Amran

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Although Industry 4.0 was believed to promote sustainable development, it has ignored or misunderstood many prevailing sustainability concerns, which led to the emergence of the Industry 5.0 agenda. While the desirable sustainability values of Industry 5.0 are widely acknowledged, the knowledge of how this agenda can deliver sustainable transformation is lacking. The present study addresses this knowledge gap, explaining how Industry 5.0 transformation should be managed to facilitate sustainable development. Therefore, this study strives to model the underlying mechanism for enabling such transformation. The study conducted a content-centric review of the literature and identified 11 actions and approaches that serve …

Symptomatic Benefit Of Momelotinib In Patients With Myelofibrosis: Results From The Simplify Phase Iii Studies, Ruben A Mesa, Stephen T Oh, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: Myelofibrosis (MF)-associated constitutional symptoms can severely impact health-related quality of life. Clinical trials in MF traditionally measure symptom response to treatment as a landmark endpoint of total symptom score (TSS) reduction ≥50% from baseline. However, this dichotomous assessment provides a limited view of clinically relevant symptomatic changes. Herein we evaluated longitudinal change from baseline in TSS over the continuous 24-week period and individual symptom scores to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of symptom benefits experienced by patients with MF receiving therapy.

METHODS: Longitudinal symptom change was evaluated using mixed-effect model repeated measure (MMRM) methodology with individual item-level analyses to …

The Woodcliff Experiment: Zooarchaeological Applications Using A Legacy And Cultural Resource Management (Crm) Faunal Collection, Matthew Zmijewski

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Legacy archaeological collections are often underutilized despite their valuable research utility. Archeologists might pass over these collections for research due to the age of recovery, along with the manner in which they were sampled and excavated. This thesis argues that significant archaeological research questions can be answered using these collections. To demonstrate their research potential, the author analyzes past subsistence behaviors and seasonality of occupations using the faunal remains from the Woodcliff site (25SD31). Woodcliff is a A.D. 1650-1750 Protohistoric Pawnee village located in eastern Nebraska. The faunal collection derived from excavations at the site constitute both a legacy and …

The Impacts Of Site Formation Processes On Excavation Methodology: The Study Of A World War Ii B-24 Crash Site In Munster, Germany, Alicia J. Lawson

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Academic partnerships between universities and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) are a recent development to provide top research universities resources to assist in recovering and identifying MIA service members since World War II. A University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL)/DPAA Partner excavation revisited a WWII B-24H crash site in Münster, Germany in the summer of 2022. B-24H [redacted] crashed into three agricultural fields on 23 March 1945. Utilizing quantitative and qualitative data collected on the incident-related and archaeological osseous remains and artifacts recovered from the fields and the fields’ land use history, this thesis focuses on analyzing the site formation processes …

Neuronal Or Intestinal Knockdown Of C. Elegans Nadk-1 Decreases Oxygen Consumption And Reactive Oxygen Species, Jake Regan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as H2O2 can damage cellular components and are formed as a byproduct of mitochondrial oxidative metabolism. Studies using the nematode C. elegans have found that increasing ROS during development or early adulthood can extend lifespan, while increasing ROS during later adulthood normally decreases lifespan. NADPH provides the reducing power for several cellular antioxidants and is synthesized in a two-step reaction from NAD+ with the first step being catalyzed by NAD kinase (NADK). In this study, the effects of knocking down C. elegans cytoplasmic NADK, nadk-1 globally or in a neuron or intestine-specific manner starting from …

Mankind Is Machine: A Monstrous Posthuman Reading Of Philip K. Dick’S Selected Works, Gabriel Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The works of Philip K. Dick act as an ideal template for readers to explore what it means to be human in a technologically dominated world. Dick’s emphasis on the usage of androids and artificial intelligence as literary monsters allows for a posthuman reading of the traditional literary monster, notably in how their uncanny nature and behavior helps reveal the synthetic tendencies of humanity. In Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, “Imposter,” and “I Hope I Shall Arrive Soon,” each narrative incorporates artificial intelligence and androids acting as others to reveal the machine-like qualities of Dick’s human characters. This …

Trends In China-Africa Economic Relations And Dispute Settlement, Won Kidane

Faculty Publications

The rapid rise in the last two decades of China-Africa economic interactions in trade, investment, construction projects, and loans require sustained inquiry into the substantive rules of engagement and mechanisms of dispute settlement. Evidently, however, it would quickly emerge that the improvements in supranational legal frameworks have not kept pace with the growing scale and complexity of the economic interactions. While trade relations between China and Africa are theoretically subject to the same multilateral World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, they are in practice mostly based on informal unilateral concessions. Moreover, investment relations are partially governed by fragmented and mostly outdated …

Tumor-Derived Interleukin-1Α And Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Promote Extramedullary Hematopoiesis, Derek A. G. Barisas, Ashraf Ul Kabir, Jun Wu, Karen Krchma, Minseo Kim, Madhav Subramanian, Bernd H. Zinselmeyer, Colin L. Stewart, Kyunghee Choi

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Extramedullary hematopoiesis (EMH) expands hematopoietic capacity outside of the bone marrow in response to inflammatory conditions, including infections and cancer. Because of its inducible nature, EMH offers a unique opportunity to study the interaction between hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) and their niche. In cancer patients, the spleen frequently serves as an EMH organ and provides myeloid cells that may worsen pathology. Here, we examined the relationship between HSPCs and their splenic niche in EMH in a mouse breast cancer model. We identify tumor produced IL-1α and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) acting on splenic HSPCs and splenic niche cells, …

Governance Seams, Brett Frischmann, Paul Ohm

Faculty Publications

This Essay formalizes the concept of governance seams and develops theories for what they enable; how they arise; why they are some- times dismantled; and how, why, and when regulators might step in to protect endangered governance seams or to create new ones. Governance seams are socially constructed boundaries, borders, and interfaces that harness friction-in-design to enable governance. Governance seams mediate interactions among components of sociotechnical systems and between different parties and contexts. Delineating boundaries, borders, and interfaces as loci of transparency, coordination, and oversight supports mechanisms for deliberation, contestation, and protection, both by those within and those outside the …

A Draft Human Pangenome Reference, Wen-Wei Liao, Haley J Abel, Robert S Fulton, Chad Tomlinson, Lucinda L Antonacci-Fulton, Sarah Cody, Allison A Regier, Ting Wang, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Here the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium presents a first draft of the human pangenome reference. The pangenome contains 47 phased, diploid assemblies from a cohort of genetically diverse individuals

Chemotherapy-Induced Toxicities: An Imaging Primer, Nikhil S. Patil, Natasha Larocque, Christian B. Van Der Pol, Carlos Torres, Demetrios A. Raptis, Michael N. Patlas

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has caused significant delays in the delivery of cancer treatments in Canada. As cancer treatment and imaging volumes return to normal, radiologists will encounter more cases of chemotherapy-induced toxicities. These toxicities have varied appearances on imaging, and can affect multiple organ systems. The purpose of this review is to offer a unified resource for general radiologists regarding the imaging appearances of chemotherapy-induced toxicities.

Genomic Complexity Predicts Resistance To Endocrine Therapy And Cdk4/6 Inhibition In Hormone Receptor-Positive (Hr+)/Her2-Negative Metastatic Breast Cancer, Andrew A Davis, Jingqin Luo, Rama Suresh, Foluso O Ademuyiwa, Caron Rigden, Timothy P Rearden, Katherine Clifton, Katherine Weilbaecher, Ashley Frith, Tracy Summa, Brittney Haas, Shana Thomas, Leonel F Hernandez-Aya, Lindsay L Peterson, Cynthia X Ma, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

PURPOSE: Clinical biomarkers to identify patients unlikely to benefit from CDK4/6 inhibition (CDK4/6i) in combination with endocrine therapy (ET) are lacking. We implemented a comprehensive circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis to identify genomic features for predicting and monitoring treatment resistance.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: ctDNA was isolated from 216 plasma samples collected from 51 patients with hormone receptor-positive (HR+)/HER2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC) on a phase II trial of palbociclib combined with letrozole or fulvestrant (NCT03007979). Boosted whole-exome sequencing (WES) was performed at baseline and clinical progression to evaluate genomic alterations, mutational signatures, and blood tumor mutational burden (bTMB). Low-pass whole-genome …

Multifactorial Profiling Of Epigenetic Landscapes At Single-Cell Resolution Using Multi-Tag, Michael P Meers, Geneva Llagas, Derek H Janssens, Christine A Codomo, Steven Henikoff

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Chromatin profiling at locus resolution uncovers gene regulatory features that define cell types and developmental trajectories, but it remains challenging to map and compare different chromatin-associated proteins in the same sample. Here we describe Multiple Target Identification by Tagmentation (MulTI-Tag), an antibody barcoding approach for profiling multiple chromatin features simultaneously in single cells. We optimized MulTI-Tag to retain high sensitivity and specificity, and we demonstrate detection of up to three histone modifications in the same cell: H3K27me3, H3K4me1/2 and H3K36me3. We apply MulTI-Tag to resolve distinct cell types and developmental trajectories; to distinguish unique, coordinated patterns of active and repressive …

Differential Regulation Of Cardiac Sodium Channels By Intracellular Fibroblast Growth Factors, Paweorn Angsutararux, Amal K Dutta, Martina Marras, Carlota Abella, Rebecca L Mellor, Jingyi Shi, Jeanne M Nerbonne, Jonathan R Silva

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Voltage-gated sodium (NaV) channels are responsible for the initiation and propagation of action potentials. In the heart, the predominant NaV1.5 α subunit is composed of four homologous repeats (I-IV) and forms a macromolecular complex with multiple accessory proteins, including intracellular fibroblast growth factors (iFGF). In spite of high homology, each of the iFGFs, iFGF11-iFGF14, as well as the individual iFGF splice variants, differentially regulates NaV channel gating, and the mechanisms underlying these differential effects remain elusive. Much of the work exploring iFGF regulation of NaV1.5 has been performed in mouse and rat ventricular myocytes in which iFGF13VY is the predominant …

Approaching Trans Healthcare Competency: The Implementation Of Trans Health Education For Medical Providers In Appalachia, Rebecca Altschuler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Barriers to competent and safe healthcare disproportionately impact people who are marginalized because of their race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic status. It is well documented that transgender patients in particular experience barriers to both accessing care and receiving high quality, non-discriminatory care (Hatzenbuehler & Pachankis, 2016; James et al., 2016; Rahman et al., 2019; Safer et al., 2016). This lack of access to culturally competent healthcare services contributes to health disparities that disproportionately impact the trans community. Literature on barriers to competent care for trans patients indicates that providers experience discomfort related to their ability to provide competent care (Safer …

Cyclic-Di-Gmp Regulates Salmonella Typhimurium Infection Of Epithelial Cells And Macrophages, Abdulafiz Musa

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Regulation of the bacterial second messenger cyclic-di-GMP in Salmonella Typhimurium allows it to delicately alter phenotypes to optimize invasion and survive intracellularly in epithelial cells and macrophages to become virulent and cause infection. Cyclic-di-GMP concentration is regulated by the presence of external stimuli, sensory diguanylate cyclases (DGCs) and phosphodiesterases (PDEs), and cyclic-di-GMP binding effectors. Previous studies established that maintenance of low cyclic-di-GMP concentrations is required for survival in macrophages, and that deletion of 3 active PDEs reduces this survival. Here I showed that these 3 PDEs also influenced the infection of epithelial cells. Further studies re-established the decreased survival in …

Perception Of Social Media As Seen By Educational Leadership Online Graduate Students, Todd Emma

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to understand student perceptions of social media as they relate to the programs of study for online graduate students participating in an educational leadership department (hereafter referred to as EDLR) in Tennessee. As institutions of higher education are being affected by declining enrollments, increasing tuition, rising numbers of nontraditional students, global events, and continuing budget cuts, understanding student perception of the educational experience is a fundamental element for understanding ways to address the uncertain future of higher education. Through a series of in-depth interviews, data were collected and analyzed to provide a framework …

Führer And Father In Flux: Fascism And Desire In The Works Of George Saunders, Don Delillo, And David Foster Wallace, K. Tyler Wick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the end of World War II, the possibility of fascism and totalitarianism as a global threat continues to proliferate in American art and literature to the point that many individuals paradoxically desire the very things that seek to control them. Postmodern literature often portrays fascism and totalitarianism as it exists under contemporary capitalist systems as a multiplicity of discreet machines operating within objects of desire. These objects are complicated by the 24-hour news cycle and the popularity of solitary, on-demand entertainment that in turn mediates the desires and fears of a population through strict control of information. This thesis …

The Hysterical Woman: An Analysis Of Trauma In Gothic Women’S Literature And Modern Horror Film, Molly Holdway

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores trauma related to hysteria through themes of confinement, isolation, and motherhood in the works “The Yellow Wallpaper” (1892) by Charlotte Perkins-Gilman, The Haunting of Hill House (1959) by Shirley Jackson, and The Babadook (2014) directed by Jennifer Kent. Hysteria is explored first as a diagnosis and then as a weaponized term meant to keep women facing isolation and grief in a continuous state of oppression. The gothic and gothic horror genres display these themes through the dark nature of the human mind, which is vital in understanding the stories of the female characters discussed and the …

Powerful And Powerless: Reconfiguring The Agency And Supremacy Of Women In Selected Festivals In The Yoruba Town Of Isaga Orile, 1900-1958, Olusegun Olatunji

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis discusses how the gender dynamics and religious festivals of the Yoruba people in Isaga Orile were not affected by colonialism. The study draws on various accounts, particularly from the Church Missionary Society’s journals, to attest to colonialism's restructuring of male political hegemony. Focusing on two major festivals, Gelede and Oro, the study argues that men's inclusion in Gelede reinforces female supremacy, while the Oro society shows men's hegemony and restrains women from its activities. The study found that gender dominants in these festivals played complementary roles by mirroring female and male roles within the Isaga Orile political system. …