Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Role Of Stim1 And Stim2 In Microglial Response To Spinal Cord Injury., Sarayu Alli

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Microglia, immune cells of the central nervous system, constantly survey their environment for damage. Once damage is detected, they are activated into become reactive, resulting in morphological changes, such as larger cell bodies, and functional changes, such as releasing inflammatory mediators. The switch from surveying to reactive occurs because the microglia received signals that sense danger in the environment. The release of Ca2+ from intracellular stores is involved in store-operated calcium entry (SOCE), a signaling pathway. Recent studies have shown that calcium release from the intracellular stores is a factor of microglial activation. SOCE is specific to monitoring low calcium …

Investigating Pre-Health Students’ Science Identity And The Factors That Influence Them To Change Programs Or Tracks., Taylor Humphreys

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Retention is a particularly pressing issue for undergraduate students, specifically those in pre-health programs or tracks. This can be affected by a students’ science identity, which is referred to as viewing oneself as a “science person.” This study focused on investigating science identity and influencing factors that can cause program or track change of pre-health students. Previous studies have investigated these factors regarding pre-health students applying to medical school, but this study opened the investigation to a variety of pre-health students and focused on characterizing students’ experiences prior to their health professional school applications. The analysis of peer-led focus group …

The Determination Of Macrophage Localization In Muscle Injuries Using Spatial Transcriptomics, Julliana Renales

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

The repair of traumatic muscle injury is often a long process which can in many cases be insufficient and incomplete. In such cases, scar tissue may form, leading to high risk of re-injury and the prevention of muscle regeneration. An important part of decreasing this risk is gaining a better understanding of the cellular complexities of injury repair. More specifically, macrophage cells are an important piece in the regulation of inflammation and repair. In this project, computational analysis spatial transcriptomic data was performed to examine mouse muscle injury and its development over time. This analysis was used to examine the …

Exploring Teacher Agency And Student Engagement: A Case Study Of An Urban High School In The United States, Alexandra M. Kirby

Educational Studies Dissertations

Using a mixed-methods case study design, this study explored teacher agency, student engagement, and the relationship between these two complex constructs at a Northeastern urban high school, “City High School” (CHS). Teacher agency refers to the level of control or power teachers have in their classrooms and in a school system as well as to feelings of belonging, of being supported, and of competency. Fredricks et al. (2004) suggest student engagement is an intricate construct that includes behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement. A social constructivist and critical theory lens informed the research. Three guiding research questions focused on teacher agency …

Sexual Exploitation: The Crisis And Eradicative Solution, Tonnie Adams Bracey

Nonprofit and NGO Studies Student Projects

French writer Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr wrote, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” I find this to be true in our current era of the digital age. Although technology has gifted a newly improved and vast method of making worldwide connections and broadening our perceptions and views, a change in how we communicate has conveniently presented itself, but the historic pattern of how we handle these new advancements have indeed stayed the same.
Smart phones are a mainstream vessel employing the world with a plethora of information while giving all sorts of people access to individual’s lives …

Lack Of Access To Healthcare And Neurology Within East Texas, Ashton Arlen

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Undergraduate Honors Theses

Within East Texas, there is a critical shortage of physicians and lack of access to healthcare that is taking a major toll on the health of residents. For Texas as a whole, almost 70% of their 254 counties are classified as a rural. Within the United States, Texas has the largest amount of hospital closures and rural areas including East Texas have lost over half of their hospitals since 1960 (Nevins et al. 2021). The area endures some of the highest rates of chronic health conditions such as obesity, diabetes, cancer, and mental health conditions.

In knowing about the many …

A Photo-Elicitation Of The New Orleans Mardi Gras Costume Tradition And An Exploration Of The Impact This Tradition Has On The Identity Of Participants, Celeste Falgoust

Apparel Merchandising and Product Development Undergraduate Honors Theses

Mardi Gras organizations, known as krewes, organize yearly tableaus to present their maids, queens, and debutantes in lavish costumes (Dessens, 2018). For two centuries, the city of New Orleans was the stage for a rich Mardi Gras tradition, (Madden, 1874), however, the existing body of literature failed to establish a consensus on the meanings of the tableau. To explore this tradition, interviews were conducted with women who participated in New Orleans Mardi Gras as debutantes, maids, queens, and costume designers (Bates et al., 2017). After transcribing the interviews, the researcher communicated patterns in data through a thematic analysis. …

Investigation Of Early Stage Wound Healing In Volumetric Muscle Loss, Sean Ong

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Volumetric muscle loss (VML) refers to the substantial removal of tissue from skeletal muscle due to surgery or lesions. This condition disrupts the normal regenerative process of injured muscles, leading to significant loss of muscle function. This study examines the progression of VML injury, approximately 20% of the muscle mass being removed, in the tibialis anterior (TA) muscle of a mouse model over a 15-day post-injury period. The injured muscles exhibited discoloration indicative of reduced blood flow and experienced a decrease in muscle mass throughout the study duration. Furthermore, the maximum force output of the injured TA was significantly lower, …

2023-2024 Common Data Set, Systems Intelligence And Data Analytics, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Common Data Sets

The Common Data Set (CDS) initiative is a collaborative effort among data providers in the higher education community and publishers as represented by the College Board, Peterson’s, and U.S. News & World Report. The combined goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and accuracy of information provided to all involved in a student’s transition into higher education, as well as to reduce the reporting burden on data providers.

The Unspoken Words Of Fashion: Movements Behind Harajuku’S Avant-Garde Fashion Trends, Alastair Leon

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Over the past 50 years, the Harajuku neighborhood in Tokyo, Japan, has become an epicenter for innovative fashion trends that have reached global audiences. Fashion, as a medium, is an art form that can be as powerful as traditional work. It can convey a multitude of messages, and most notably, it can be a wordless statement against dominant culture and societal norms. Social groups have used fashion as an identifier, and they are commonly linked with a subcultural identity. Self-expression is a powerful tool to fight against the status quo, and fashion enthusiasts in Japan have advocated for a rebellion …

Do Heat Waves Drive Natural Selection In Damselflies?, Adam Baranyk

Biological Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Climate change has led to changes in both mean temperatures and temperature extremes over the recent years. These changes have had differential effects on animals throughout the world. Ectotherms depend on their external environment for thermal regulation, making them especially susceptible to temperature extremes. It is not yet clear whether there is a relationship between physical traits in ectotherms, and survivorship throughout a heat wave. That is, whether or not temperature extremes driven survival selection. In this study, a heat wave was simulated artificially using thermally regulated mesocosms at different temperatures (18°C, 22° C, 26° C, 30° C) with a …

Analyzing Racial And Structural Disparities In U.S. Maternity Leave Policies, Edie A. Frantzen

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Maternity leave policy in the United States is a rising social issue for mothers. Contrary to all other developed nations, the United States does not mandate any form of paid maternity leave for new mothers, ensuring financial hardships for women and their families. Current studies have supported the lack of coverage that new mothers receive from their employers throughout the United States. To analyze this disparity, I use data from recipients of the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) in 2022. Using different statistical tests, I evaluated the commonalities of diverse recipients receiving paid maternity leave by different variables: …

Juvenile Diversion Programs In Minnesota Counties And Their Effect On Arrest Rates, Victoria Floden

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The rise of juvenile diversion programs in Minnesota has sparked widespread discussion, especially as the nation addresses its concerns about overcrowded jails and prisons stemming from past "tough-on-crime" policies. Minnesota has responded by creating alternative pathways for juvenile offenders, aiming to keep them out of the traditional justice system while still holding them responsible for their actions. However, research and existing literature are unclear as to which of these diversion programs help reduce juvenile arrest rates. Different factors in each case could provide insight into which programs are most effective. I seek to explain why certain Minnesota counties have been …

Curriculum Response To An Evolving Society: An Analysis Of Family And Consumer Sciences Education At Murray State University From 1928 To 2023, Lauren Ervin

Honors College Theses

This research aims to identify and explore the changes in the family and consumer sciences (FCS) education program at Murray State University from 1928, when the major was first offered, until 2023. The following questions were answered:

• What are the notable changes in Murray State University's FCS education program, involving curriculum, from 1928 to 2023?

• What are the notable themes, topics, and changes to the overarching FCS field from 1928 to 2023?

• How have the events in society and the FCS field influenced the FCS Education program at Murray State University?

The researcher noted the changes in the Murray State …

Stem Cell Therapy For Canine And Feline Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease, Seth Clark

Honors College Theses

This research aimed to statistically analyze the relationship between stem cell therapy and chronic renal failure in a sample of canine and feline patients. Stem cell therapy is a burgeoning field in both human and veterinary medicine, seeking mainly to better understand disease incidence and repair damaged tissues, such as those involved in spinal cord injuries and Alzheimer’s disease. In relation to veterinary medicine, prior research suggests that stem cell therapy has potential to be an effective tool against diseases such as acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. This project examined how autologous adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells affected the …

Selective Partitioned Regression For Accurate Kidney Health Monitoring, Alex Whelan, Ragwa Elsayed, Alessandro Bellofiore, David C. Anastasiu

Computer Science and Engineering

The number of people diagnosed with advanced stages of kidney disease have been rising every year. Early detection and constant monitoring are the only minimally invasive means to prevent severe kidney damage or kidney failure. We propose a cost-effective machine learning-based testing system that can facilitate inexpensive yet accurate kidney health checks. Our proposed framework, which was developed into an iPhone application, uses a camera-based bio-sensor and state-of-the-art classical machine learning and deep learning techniques for predicting the concentration of creatinine in the sample, based on colorimetric change in the test strip. The predicted creatinine concentration is then used to …

Carl Schmitt’S Loneliness And Hannah Arendt’S Action, J. Lynne Nelson

Philosophy Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Scholarship As Fun, Thomas Schultz

Dalhousie Law Journal

One theme that traverses much of Pierre Schlag’s work is a sense of profound humanity—the idea that thinking and writing about the law can and should be a deeply, genuinely human activity—an activity for which we can, and should, break up many of the barriers that stand between us, between who we really are, and what we think and write. It is an activity for which we should put aside our pretences and insecurities and the attached formalisms and exaggerations behind which we so often hide, and which in the end constrain our humanity so much, as they take on …

Un Ésprit Sérieux, Pierre Schlag

Dalhousie Law Journal

It was a sunny day when we all met in a classroom at McGill University The gathering went on all day and at the end someone proposed writing up the discussion as essays. Hence, this collection.

I’d like to take a moment of gratitude to express heartfelt thanks to all the participants. And especially to Vincent Forray and Jean d’Aspremont for organizing the event, and to Genevieve Renard Painter and Liam McHugh-Russell for bringing this collection over the finish line. I don’t know whether the intellectual generosity of the participants was because of Canada, or Montreal, or McGill, or the …

Length Of Time Differences Between Genders In Factors Of Movement From Suicidal Ideation To Suicidal Action, Carina Anderson

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

While women are more likely to take suicidal action, men are more likely to die of it. This difference has been partially, but not completely explained by the methods of suicide generally chosen by men and women. While this and other factors have been explored, there is no conclusive answer for the difference in death rates. Research suggests that men and women make decisions differently, and if these differences contribute to variations in their movement from suicidal ideation to suicidal action, we might expect to see these differences reflected in the amount of time it takes men and women to …

Foxo1 Inhibitor, As1842856, Induces Cell Cycle Arrest And Reverses Anticancer Drug-Induced Cytotoxicity In Osteosarcoma Cells, Antanay Hall

Theses (2016-Present)

Forkhead box class O (FOXO)-1 transcription factor controls cell proliferation, apoptosis, oxidative stress, and other cellular activities; FOXO1 has also been implicated in cell cycle regulation. This research project aims to determine the contribution of FOXO1 to cell cycle regulation and response to anticancer drug treatment in osteosarcoma. Osteosarcoma is the most common bone cancer, with most cases occurring in people younger than 30 years old. The study explores the impact of FOXO1 inhibitor AS1842856 on the cytotoxic effects of anticancer drugs in CCHOSD, Hos, and LM7 osteosarcoma (OGS) cell lines. Following chemical inhibition of FOXO1 and anticancer drug treatment, …

Inhibition Of Foxo Induces Oxidative Stress In Osteosarcoma, Kai K. Brown

Theses (2016-Present)

Redox homeostasis is a balance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation and neutralization by antioxidants. Oxidative stress (OS) results when the generation of ROS exceeds the neutralizing capacity of endogenous antioxidants. Reactive oxygen species are generated during cellular processes such as mitochondrial activity or metabolism of drugs. Expression of endogenous antioxidants is driven by redox-sensitive transcription factors; therefore, redox-sensitive transcription factors are essential for the maintenance of cellular redox homeostasis. There are several redox-sensitive transcription factors that contribute to the expression of endogenous antioxidants. These redox-sensitive transcription factors include nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factors (Nrf-2), hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), activator protein-1 …

Experimental Analysis Of Mybl1, Vcpip1 And Ubxn2b In Triple Negative Breast Cancers, Fawaz Opeyemi Ibikunle

Theses (2016-Present)

The focus of our laboratory is to characterize triple negative breast cancers. In a previous study we identified six genes over-expressed in a subset of the cancers. MYBL1 was one of the genes. MYBL1 is a strong transcriptional activator responsible for regulation of genes associated with cell cycle signaling, differentiation and apoptosis, all processes that drive cancers. Because of MYBL1’s involvement in processes key to cancer pathogenesis, in an earlier study, we knocked down the MYBL1 gene in efforts to identify genes that were either directly or indirectly associating with the gene to affect the triple negative breast cancer processes. …

Evaluation Of Wogonin And Chrysin In Alleviating Mycophenolate-Induced Diarrhea And Its Pharmacokinetics Profile, Abasifreke Sunday Benson

Theses (2016-Present)

Medication-induced diarrhea is a common adverse effect experienced by patients taking immunosuppressant medications used in Organ transplants. However, Mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) is the first-line drug to prevent organ transplant rejection. (Van Gelder & Hesselink, 2015) . MMF’s mechanism of action involves inhibition of inosine-5'-monophosphate dehydrogenase. It is used for the treatment and management of a variety of autoimmune diseases as well as to prevent organ rejection in patients with bone marrow and solid organ transplants; however, over 50% of its adverse effects have been reported to be diarrhea. (Arslan et al., 2007; Farooqi et al., 2020). However, few options exist …

Reconstructing The Narrative Of Slavery In The United States: Acknowledging The Complex Exploitation Of Forced, Free, And Semi-Free Labor Beyond Race And Ethnicity And The Several Communities Who Endured Systemic Labor Exploitation And Injustice In The United States, Amma Terrece Sims

Theses (2016-Present)

This thesis explores the deconstruction and modernization of the narrative surrounding slavery in the United States by recognizing the multifaceted exploitation of labor beyond racial limitations. Through an assessment of representations and historical instances of forced, free, and semi-free labor in the United States, this study explores various forms of systemic subjugation and discrimination endured by diverse communities of immigrants. Specific consideration is given to examples such as indentured servitude of the colonial era and the experiences of “new immigrants” of the industrial period in challenging the established racial paradigm correlated with slavery. The experiences of specific European ethnic sub- …

Workplace Wellness, Hannah Holder

Management Undergraduate Honors Theses

The evolving landscape of workplace dynamics underscores a growing emphasis on achieving a better work-life balance and healthier lifestyle, particularly among younger generations entering the workforce. This shift in preferences highlights the importance of companies adapting to meet the needs of employees by offering flexibility and support for wellness initiatives. A workplace culture that promotes work-life balance not only enhances employee satisfaction but also leads to increased productivity and decreased healthcare costs. While comprehensive wellness programs and flexible work arrangements are beneficial, they may not be universally applicable. However, the overarching commitment to creating a supportive and healthy work environment …

Genome-Wide Association Study/ Genomic Prediction Of Cowpea Seed Protein And Black Seed Coat Color In Cowpea, Yilin Chen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata [L.] Walp) is a crucial crop in many regions, serving as a vital protein source for humans and livestock. Addressing the need to enhance its nutritional quality and make it easier to cultivate cowpeas of specific colors, this study utilized genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to identify markers associated with protein content and seed coat color patterns in cowpea.

In the protein content study, a GWAS was conducted on 161 cowpea accessions using 110,155 high-quality single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Seven significant SNP markers were identified, all located at a locus on chromosome 8 associated with the gene Vigun08g039200, enhancing …

Exploring Binding Pockets In The Conformational States Of The Sars-Cov-2 Spike Trimers For The Screening Of Allosteric Inhibitors Using Molecular Simulations And Ensemble-Based Ligand Docking, Grace Gupta, Gennady M. Verkhivker

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Understanding mechanisms of allosteric regulation remains elusive for the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein, despite the increasing interest and effort in discovering allosteric inhibitors of the viral activity and interactions with the host receptor ACE2. The challenges of discovering allosteric modulators of the SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins are associated with the diversity of cryptic allosteric sites and complex molecular mechanisms that can be employed by allosteric ligands, including the alteration of the conformational equilibrium of spike protein and preferential stabilization of specific functional states. In the current study, we combine conformational dynamics analysis of distinct forms of the full-length spike protein trimers and …

Explaining Misinformation Detection Using Large Language Models, Vishnu S. Pendyala, Christopher E. Hall

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Large language models (LLMs) are a compressed repository of a vast corpus of valuable information on which they are trained. Therefore, this work hypothesizes that LLMs such as Llama, Orca, Falcon, and Mistral can be used for misinformation detection by making them cross-check new information with the repository on which they are trained. Accordingly, this paper describes the findings from the investigation of the abilities of LLMs in detecting misinformation on multiple datasets. The results are interpreted using explainable AI techniques such as Local Interpretable Model-Agnostic Explanations (LIME), SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP), and Integrated Gradients. The LLMs themselves are also …

Assessing The Impact Of Spraying An Enterococcus Faecium-Based Probiotic On Day-Old Broiler Chicks At Hatch On The Incidence Of Bacterial Chondronecrosis With Osteomyelitis Lameness Using A Staphylococcus Challenge Model, Anh Dang Trieu Do, Amanda Anthney, Khawla Alharbi, Andi Asnayanti, Antoine Meuter, Adnan Ali Khalaf Alrubaye

Poultry Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Bacterial chondronecrosis with osteomyelitis (BCO) lameness is a bone disease characterized by the translocation of bacteria from the gastrointestinal tract, which colonize microfractures in broiler leg bones caused by rapid animal growth rate and weight gain, resulting in lameness. As such, BCO lameness represents a significant challenge for the poultry industry. This study aims to evaluate the effect of spraying broiler chicks on d0 at hatch with an Enterococcus faecium probiotic on the incidence of BCO-induced lameness, utilizing a Staphylococcus aureus challenge model. There were four treatments: (1) negative control (no probiotic + no challenge, NC); (2) positive control (no …