Digital Commons Network^™

Synthetic Essentiality Of Tdo2 In Apc-Mutated Colorectal Cancer, Rumi Lee

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Inactivation of the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) tumor suppressor is

common genetic event across many cancers and serves a critical initiating

event in the majority of sporadic colorectal cancers (CRC). The WNT/APC

pathway remains an elusive target for cancer, prompting us to explore

orthogonal strategies to identify specific vulnerabilities for APC-deficient

CRC and other cancers. Using the concept of synthetic essentiality (SE), we

sought to identify essential effectors of APC deficiency with the goal of

expanding targetable vulnerabilities in CRC. We identified Tryptophan 2,3-

dioxygenase 2 (TDO2) as an SE gene for APC-deficient cancers.

Mechanistically, APC loss results in TCF4/b-catenin-mediated …

Development Of High Value Oil Traits Using The Model Oilseed Crop Camelina Sativa, Evan Updike

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Plant oils are an important source of food, fuel, and feed in our society today. The oil found in the seeds of plants is composed almost entirely of triacylglycerol (TAG) molecules, which consist of three fatty acids esterified to a glycerol backbone. As crude oil supplies decline, vegetable oils are gaining traction as a renewable substitute to petroleum-based materials in fuels, lubricants, and specialty oleochemicals. However, as it currently stands vegetable oils do not possess the properties necessary to fill the void of a petroleum free world.

To address this problem, plant biotechnologists have done extensive work on genetic engineering …

Development Of Tractor Instrumentation System: Hydraulics, And Controller Area Network (Can) Data Analysis Of Agricultural Machinery, Chee Town Liew

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The tractor is a very important piece of machinery in agriculture, and it has been evolving and progressing over the years with improved and increasingly complex functionality. Controller Area Network (CAN) has been incorporated into tractors and other machinery with SAE J1939 and ISO 11783 standards, serving as the communication bus for various on-board electronic controller units (ECUs), and carries various machine operation data that can be used for analyzing machine performance. Investigation of data extraction from CAN messages was conducted by examining the SAE J1939 and ISO 11783 standards. A case study on CAN bus data analysis for a …

Tractor Instrumentation System: Hitch And Pto, And Row Crop Tractor Electrification Considerations, Andrew Donesky

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Power sources used for vehicles are advancing at a fast pace. Electric batteries are becoming more power dense, thus allowing them to be used with electric motors in place of a diesel or gas powered systems. There are several ways that energy use and storage size can be computed for agricultural field operations, such as planting, using theoretical predictions, gathering engine load data from tractor’s Controller Area Network (CAN) bus, or integrating the CAN data to determine the actual power used by implements.

While measuring data from the CAN bus is a great way to capture actual tractor use information, …

Tangibility As Technology, Joao Marinotti

Georgia State University Law Review

Property law has traditionally relied on tangible boundaries to delineate legal thinghood and to inform the bounds of in rem rights and duties. Unfortunately, property doctrines have fossilized around tangibility, causing fragmentation in the legal treatment of digital assets. In the United States, for example, cryptocurrencies and non-fungible tokens (NFTs) may simultaneously be classified as commodities, securities, currencies, assets, or not property at all, depending on the jurisdiction, domain, or specific asset in question. This fragmented system of overlapping legal treatments increases the information cost of using digital assets, decreases efficiency, and ultimately hinders future innovation. In this Article, I …

History Of The College Of The Holy Cross Naval Rotc Unit, The O'Callahan Society, College Of The Holy Cross

75th Anniversary of NROTC at Holy Cross

This history begins with an overview of the Naval ROTC Unit at the College of the Holy Cross, and includes several appendices that provide data on the Unit’s graduates, those killed on active duty, and awards for combat heroism. It also calls attention to transition points in the Unit’s history: the Vietnam War crisis in 1970 and 1971, the introduction of women to the Unit, the transition from a Holy Cross-only Unit to one based on the Worcester Consortium for Higher Education, the Peace Dividend years of the 1990s, the role of the Marine Officer Instructor, and the value of …

A Combined Theoretical And Photoelectron Spectroscopy Study Of Al3hn- (N=1-9) Clusters, Jing Xu, Xinxing Zhang, Haopeng Wang, Lijuan Fu, Xiang Li, Andrej Grubisic, Rachel M. Harris, Bryan Eichhorn, Gerd Gantefoer, Yihong Ding, Boggavarapu Kiran, Anil K. Kandalam, Kit H. Bowen

Physics & Engineering Faculty Publications

Combined photoelectron spectroscopic experiments and computational studies have been performed on Al3Hn- (n=1-9) clusters. Three modes of hydrogen bonding to the Al-3 moiety have been observed: terminal, bridging, and capping. Among various hydrides, Al3H5- and Al3H8- clusters have highest HOMO-LUMO gap and largest electron affinity, respectively. Our studies indicate that as the number of hydrogen atoms increase the presence of AlH2 groups, representing the tetrahedral coordination of the Al atom, which in turn led to the stoichiometric ring structure.

Planning, Aging, And Loneliness: Reviewing Evidence About Built Environment Effects, Yingying Lyu, Ann Forsyth

Geography & Planning Faculty Publications

Large numbers of people in many countries report being lonely with rates highest among the very old. Does the built environment affect loneliness among older people and if so, how? Using a scoping review, we examined associations between loneliness and built environments at the block, neighborhood, and city scales The (a) neighborhood environment has received most attention. Research has also examined (b) urban contexts, (c) housing, and (d) transportation access. Findings are mixed with the stronger evidence that local resources, walkability, overall environment quality, housing options, and nearby transportation alternatives can help combat loneliness.

Adaptive Activations And Shift Invariance In Shallow Convolutional Neural Networks, Chinmay Appa Rane

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Deep learning training training algorithms are a huge success in recent years in many fields including speech, text,image video etc. Deeper and deeper layers are proposed with huge success with resnet structures having around 152 layers. Shallow convolution neural networks(CNN's) are still an active research, where some phenomena are still unexplanined. CNN's are assumed to be invariant to shift due to its architecture, but recent studies have shown other wise. Apart from shift invariance, activation functions used in the network are of utmost importance, as they provide non linearity to the networks. Relu's are the most commonly used activation function. …

The Development Of Micro-Gas Chromatography System With Integrated Photonic Crystal Sensors, Priyanka Biswas

Electrical Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Miniaturization of gas chromatography (GC) systems have made it possible to utilize the analytical technique in on-site applications without having to compromise data reliability offered by the conventional benchtop GC. Various types of miniaturized microsensors and nanosensors have been developed for a micro-gas chromatography (µGC) system. However, integration of an appropriate detector in µGC systems still face significant challenge. We present a solution to the problem through integration of µGC with photonic crystal slab (PCS) sensors using transfer printing technology. This integration offers an opportunity to utilize the advantages of optical sensors such as high sensitivity, immunity to electromagnetic interference, …

Object Classication, Detection And State Estimation Using Yolo V3 Deep Neural Network And Sensor Fusion Of Stereo Camera And Lidar, Kamalkumar Bharatkumar Mehta

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Theses - Archive

Real-time object classification, localization, and detection with region-based convolution neural network (R-CNN) require high computational power, or it consumes a tremendous amount of time with the use of the available onboard computer system. Therefore, either of those ways is not practical in real-time object detection. In contrast, the YOLO-v3 network, which stands for you only look once, that uses the YOLO algorithm seems to be practical in live object classification, localization, and detection, since the YOLO algorithm seems to work faster than the sliding window algorithm used by R-CNN. Sensor fusion in this context requires estimation and association of information …

On Different Computational Aspects For Box-Cox Transformation Cure Rate Model, Pei Wang

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

Cure rate modeling is an emerging area of research not only in biomedical science but also in other disciplines such as sociology, criminal justice, economics and engineering reliability. In the first part of this thesis, use of the wider class of generalized gamma distributions is proposed as the distribution of the lifetime for a particular transformation cure rate model, known as the Box-Cox transformation cure rate model. The maximum likelihood estimation of the Box-Cox transformation cure model parameters is studied through the calculated bias, mean square error and coverage probabilities of the asymptotic confidence intervals. The flexibilities of both generalized …

Synthesis Of Nanoparticles In A Silicate Matrix, Tatiana Alexandra Estrada-Mendoza

All Dissertations

Nanoparticle synthesis is the driving force behind research and development in nanotechnology. The development of more tailored nanoparticles for different uses is increasing the need for more efficient and cleaner synthetic methods. The use of sodium silicate matrix for the synthesis of various nanoparticles is a novel strategy requiring minimum laboratory set up. Exploratory studies that are presented and discussed here highlight the robust nature, versatility, and multifaceted role this matrix plays in the synthesis of nanoparticles. This dissertation focuses on the synthesis and properties of plasmonic hybrid nanoparticles and metal sulfide nanoparticles. The introductory chapter highlights the importance of …

Career Development In Sport And Leisure: An Application Of Social Cognitive Career Theory, Nicole Sellars

Dissertations

Utilizing Social Cognitive Career Theory (Lent et al., 1994) this research aimed to determine perception differences related to sport and leisure management employment for undergraduate students in related degree programs with a specific focus on the minority groups of women and People of Color (POC). Given the lack of diversity in sport and leisure enrollment and employment (Adriaanse, 2016; Massengale & Lough, 2013; Shropshire, 2004; Vianden & Gregg, 2017), this research sought to explore whether gender and/or race were predictors of feelings of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, barriers, and supports. An electronic survey was distributed to sport and leisure management undergraduate …

Understanding Potential Climate Change Impacts On Water Resources Within A Fractured Rock Watershed In Northern Togo, Mahawa-Essa Mabossani Akara

Dissertations

More than 72% of sub-Saharan Africa land surface is comprised of hard rock with fractured rock aquifers supplying water to an estimated 25% of the rural population. Given low porosity and storativity, fractured rock aquifers are particularly vulnerable to stresses such as projected population growth and climate variability. General circulation models of sub-Saharan Africa predict increases in temperature and in occurrences of extreme precipitation trends, such as flooding and drought. Adaptation strategies that promote optimal uses of water resources have emerged, although, most focus exclusively on surface water resources. This project investigates the potential impact of climate change on surface …

Investigating The Relationship Between Departmental Support Structures, Self-Efficacy And Intention To Persist: An Examination Of Students' Experience In 19 Physics Graduate Programs Across The United States, Diana Sachmpazidi

Dissertations

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) graduate programs experience consistently high attrition rates. Moreover, persistent disparities exist in racial and gender representation. Women and People of Color are significantly underrepresented and have higher attrition rates than men and white and Asian American students. To date, little work is done to understand graduate student attrition or persistence. There is also a lack of information regarding the causes of demographic disparities in attrition. Most past studies in this context have focused on students' attributes, undergraduate preparation, and mentoring relationships. Moreover, student self-efficacy is a contributing factor for undergraduate student retention. Yet, there …

Addressing Transportation Equity By Comparing In-Service Performance Of Roadside Safety Devices Through Machine Learning Modeling, Hanzhen Wang

Theses (2016-Present)

Transportation equity plays an important role in modern communities, and a fair distribution of transportation infrastructures is vital as an integral part of transportation planning process. The In-Service Performance Evaluation (ISPE) satisfies transportation safety requirements by identifying the problems of roadside safety devices during installation and maintenance process with proper solutions, and the performance results reveal the current statue of target devices in specific areas. Although several studies have been conducted to emphasize transportation equity, there is still a lack of equity research specifically focusing on the deploying of roadside safety devices associated with ISPE results. With proper comparison of …

Assessing Transit Accessibility In African American Communities. A Case Study Of The Houston Metropolitan Area, Mckenzie Darnell Jones-Channel

Theses (2016-Present)

Transportation is the pulse that keeps today’s society moving. The movement of people, places, and things all rely on some form of transportation. There are various ways to move people; mass public transit, personal vehicles, and private transit entities are just a few ways that people move. Access to viable transportation is essential in the quality-of-life aspect of today’s society; in many cases, African American populations lack access to viable transportation. Work, school, and shopping are just a few activities that almost always require some form of transportation. Houston, Texas, is known for its diverse culture. Ordinarily, residents in the …

Vessel-To-Rail Intermodal Connectivity Analysis For The Port Of Houston, Enamul Karim Fayek

Theses (2016-Present)

Freight transportation is a crucial element of the economy and development of regions. Still, its dramatic growth in the road sector is rapidly offsetting the benefits through such impacts as congestion, noise, pollution, and environmental damage. Alternative transportation solutions such as a combined transportation network can help to reduce these impacts. Container rail-water intermodal transportation broadly means with the premise of rail transportation and water transportation as the primary, compatible with other modes of transportation to accomplish the complete transfer of the containers. As a fast-growing port, the Port of Houston Authority has grown to be very important because of …

Induced Cell Proliferation Initiated By Roxarsone (Rox) Is Not Sufficient To Prevent Acrylamide Impairments In Beas-2b Cells., Brett Lavigna Afiwa Tapoyo

Theses (2016-Present)

Natural environmental contaminants and xenobiotic compounds consumed by humans are likely to be deleterious to human health. This study evaluates the effects of the organoarsenic compound roxarsone and the organic compound acrylamide on BEAS-2B cells. Arsenic occurs naturally in the environment in inorganic and organic forms. Inorganic arsenics are carcinogenic to humans. Organic arsenics (organoarsenics) are less toxic, yet their level of toxicity cannot be ignored. Roxarsone (4-hydroxy-3-nitrobenzenearsonate) is a compound used as a poultry feed additive and antimicrobial agent. It promotes cell proliferation and possesses angiogenesis properties. Roxarsone (ROX) can be found in chicken breast meat; along with a …

Role Of The Urban Transportation Agency In Providing Urban Mobility Services: Cases Of London, Dubai, And Singapore, Rahmatullah Sherzai

Theses (2016-Present)

Transportation and mobility in a city are essential for healthy and sustainable growth. A city's mobility concerns can be focused on different elements such as the road system, public transit, shared mobility, and biking. To improve mobility in a city, it is important that all these components are integrated and coherently governed, and/or coordinated by one agency. A public transit agency is a legal entity that is usually owned by the government and integrates the urban transit services of a city under one umbrella. It operates transport services to provide mobility to the people, promote economic development, and support environmental …

Patterns Of Depredation In The Hawai‘I Deep-Set Longline Fishery Informed By Fishery And False Killer Whale Behavior, Joseph E. Fader, Robin W. Baird, Amanda L. Bradford, Daniel C. Dunn, Karin A. Forney, Andrew J. Read

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

False killer whales (Pseudorca crassidens) depredate bait and catch in the Hawai‘i-based deep-set longline fishery, and as a result, this species is hooked or entangled more than any other cetacean in this fishery. We analyzed data collected by fisheries observers and from satellite-linked transmitters deployed on false killer whales to identify patterns of odontocete depredation that could help fishermen avoid overlap with whales. Odontocete depredation was observed on ˜6% of deep-set hauls across the fleet from 2004 to 2018. Model outcomes from binomial GAMMs suggested coarse patterns, for example, higher rates of depredation in winter, at lower latitudes, and with …

Efficient Model For Electronic Transport In High Energy-Density Matter, Liam G. Stanton, Michael S. Murillo

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

A wide-ranging effective Boltzmann approach, originally intended for ionic transport, is applied to the computation of electronic transport coefficients without modification. Comparisons with datasets that resulted from a recent transport coefficient workshop and molecular dynamics simulations are made. While this model contains correlation information through its effective potential and strong scattering through its use of cross sections, it misses details of attractive, possibly quantum, interactions; comparisons with that dataset reveal the relative importance of these physics inputs. Through comparisons of data for electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, temperature relaxation, and stopping power (including a new formula for the energy split due …

Two-Dimensional Modeling Of Nonlinear Dynamics Of Forcespinning Jet Formation, Dumitru I. Caruntu, Simon Padron, Karen Lozano

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Forcespinning is a novel method that makes use of centrifugal forces to produce nanofibers rapidly and at high yields. To improve and enhance the forcespinning production method, a 2D computational forcespinning inviscid fluid dynamics model is developed. Two models, namely, time-independent and time-dependent, are obtained in order to investigate the effects of various parameters on fiber forcespinning formation (trajectory, jet diameter, tangential velocity). The fluid dynamics equations are solved using the method of multiple scales along with the finite difference method and including slender-jet theory assumptions. It is important to produce jets with small diameters in the micro- and nanorange. …

The Coalescence Of Incipient Soot Clusters, Akaash Sharma, Khaled Mosharraf Mosharraf Mukut, Somesh Roy, Eirini Goudeli

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are employed to investigate the coalescence of incipient soot clusters. Initially, one thousand acetylene molecules collide and react with each other, allowing bond breakage and new bond formation upon collision, leading to various species (e.g., linear hydrocarbons, branched polyaromatic hydrocarbons) up to the formation of nascent soot clusters with diameter of up to 3.5 nm. The structure and composition of the formed soot clusters are quantified by the packing density and carbon-to-hydrogen (C/H) ratio, respectively, during nucleation and up to the formation of large nascent soot nanoparticles. Then, the nucleated incipient soot clusters are isolated …

Shenanigans (Internet Takedown Edition), Eugene Volokh

Utah Law Review

Protecting one’s own reputation and livelihood—whether protecting it against lies, against opinions, or against the truth—is likely high on many people’s willing-to-lie-for lists. Making money is, too. Yet though I don’t think of myself as naïve on this score, the sheer magnitude and brazenness of these schemes surprised me. My sense is that it surprised many of my colleagues. Perhaps it surprised you. And this reminder of just how common fraud can be might help keep us alert to shenanigans in many other fields as well— and might help us design systems that deal better with such risks.

Microstructure, Mechanical Performance, And Corrosion Behavior Of Additively Manufactured Aluminum Alloy 5083 With 0.7 And 1.0 Wt% Zr Addition, Le Zhou, Holden Hyer, Jinfa Chang, Abhishek Mehta, Thinh Huynh, Yang Yang, Yongho Sohn

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Effect of 0.7 wt% and 1.0 wt% of Zr alloying on the laser powder bed fused (LPBF) printability/buildability of AA5083 alloys was investigated by examination of the microstructure and mechanical property. General corrosion behavior of these Zr-modified AA5083 alloys produced by LPBF in 3.5 wt% NaCl solution was also examined and compared to the LPBF AlSi10Mg alloy and AA5083-H131 alloy. Unmodified AA5083 alloy produced by LPBF exhibited extensive solidification cracks, but alloying it with Zr mitigated the cracking due to the grain refinement from the formation of the primary L1₂-Al₃Zr. Moreover, 1.0 wt% of Zr alloying …

New Infeed Correction Methods For Distance Protection In Distribution Systems, Fahd Hariri, Mariesa Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The reliability and security of power systems may be jeopardized by the increase in the amounts of renewable generation and the uncertainties produced by these devices. In particular, the protection schemes of traditional power systems have been challenged by the integration of distributed generation (DG) resources. Distance relays (DRs), which have been mainly employed to protect transmission systems, are increasingly proposed as one of the solutions to protect distribution systems with a heavy penetration of DGs. However, conventional distance protection faces several drawbacks that might lead to maloperation. One of those challenges is the "infeed effect", which causes the impedance …

Rise Of Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, Google During Covid-19 Pandemic, Shivraj Pisal

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

FAANG is an acronym for Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Alphabet (which was previously known as Google), the five most important technology giants in the United States. The technology breakthroughs of these companies have had a significant impact on global economies, since they create jobs, link people, supply goods, and generate entertainment. As a result, a detailed analysis of FAANG stocks adds to the existing body of knowledge. Furthermore, because stock markets are very volatile and are influenced by a variety of known and unknown causes, it is vital to employ adequate tools for assessing their behavior (Jadhav et al., …

Void Hunting: Ambient Noise Tomography For Spatio-Temporal Subsurface Imaging And Monitoring In Karst Environments, John B. Paustian

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Karst environments are characterized by voids, i.e. sinkholes and conduits of varying size that arise from the active dissolution of carbonate rock by acidic groundwater. These voids, whether air-, water-, or soil-filled, can be difficult to image using near-surface geophysical methods due to the limited investigation depths of most active-source methods. In addition, due to the significant effort it takes to collect active-source data, investigators are often unable to monitor spatio-temporal variations in the subsurface. The ability to detect, image, and monitor subsurface voids improves the understanding of processes that create and transform voids, a vitally important insight across a …