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Nicotine Self-Administration And The Impacts On Medial Habenula And Interpeduncular Nucleus Neurophysiology, Nathan Alexander Olszewski

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Nicotine use is a tremendous public health issue in the United States, with over 23 million people being dependent on the substance. Low cessation rates associated with nicotine use are largely attributed to the withdrawal and craving symptoms that occur after abstinence of use from nicotine. The medial habenula (MHb) and interpeduncular nucleus (IPN) are two brain regions heavily associated and linked with nicotine withdrawal. Here, I sought to understand how these brain regions are altered in their physiology during nicotine intake. Utilizing E-Vape self-administration, mice were first taught to selfadminister nicotine of various, clinically relevant, dosages which correlate to …

A Conserved Ethylene-Triggered Cell Death Mechanism May Underlie Hollow Stem Formation Across Plant Species, Mengxiao Yan, Weijuan Fan, Yinghui Meng, Jiamin Zhao, Wei Yang, Ziyin Xu, Yusen Gao, Haiyan Zhuang, Wuyu Zhou, Yuqin Wang, Qingjun Huang, Ling Yuan, Hongxia Wang, Jun Yang

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Hollow stems have independently evolved multiple times across the plant kingdom and play crucial roles in plant development and various environmental adaptations. However, the mechanisms underlying stem hollowness remain poorly understood. Water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) is one of the few hollow-stemmed plants in the Convolvulaceae family (eudicot: asterid), and its hollow stems are essential for thriving in aquatic environments. Using histochemical staining and transcriptome analysis, we found that programmed cell death (PCD) is involved in cavity formation at water spinach shoot tips. Single-cell and spatial transcriptome analyses further revealed that ethylene and reactive oxygen species (ROS) likely drive …

Safety And Efficacy Findings From A Phase Ib/Ii Study Of Asp-1929 Photoimmunotherapy With Pembrolizumab In Recurrent And/Or Metastatic Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, David M. Cognetti, Joseph M. Curry, Jennifer Johnson, Michael Kwon, Shirley Y. Su, Francisco Civantos, Coral Olazagasti, Joseph Valentino, Susanne Arnold, R. Bryan Bell, Michael K. Gibson, Kyle Mannion, Kathryn M. Van Abel, Katharine A. Price, Haiying Dong, Amy H. Thorne, Toshiaki Suzuki, Ann M. Gillenwater

Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery Faculty Publications

Background: ASP-1929 photoimmunotherapy—cetuximab conjugated to IRDye 700DX and red light (690 nm) for localized drug activation—results in rapid, selective cell killing.

Methods: This phase Ib/II open-label study evaluated ASP-1929 photoimmunotherapy plus pembrolizumab in patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC (≥ 1 accessible lesion, PD-L1 combined positive score ≥ 1, ineligible for standard locoregional ther- apy). Primary objectives were safety/tolerability and objective response rate (ORR). Secondary objectives included overall sur- vival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS).

Results: Eighteen patients (median age 63 years, 74% male) comprised the photoimmunotherapy-evaluable population. The confirmed ORR was 27.8% (95% CI 9.7–53.5); four of five responders had complete …

Assessment Of Hearing Health Among Adults In Rural Health Clinics, Mit A. Patel, David Adkins, Laura Bellnier, Anthony Mahairas, Matthew L. Bush

Otolaryngology--Head & Neck Surgery Faculty Publications

Objective: Hearing loss (HL) negatively impacts all aspects of health, yet poor access to hearing healthcare (HHC) among adults is a pervasive public health problem. The inaccessibility of HHC is amplified in rural adults. Rural health clinics (RHC) are a critical healthcare system tasked with improving health in rural communities and the objective of this study is to assess the prevalence of HL and the utilization of HHC within RHCs.

Methods: Using cross-sectional study design, adults were recruited from 10 RHC throughout rural Kentucky, mostly within Appalachia. The primary outcomes were (1) presence of HL on screening and (2) history …

The Internet At War: An Empirical And Legal Analysis Of Harmful Narratives On Social Media During Armed Conflict, Bailey Ulbricht, Allen Weiner

Michigan Technology Law Review

This Article empirically investigates the connection between harmful narratives on social media and violent acts perpetrated against persons protected under international humanitarian law (IHL) during armed conflict, and then examines the legal implications of such a relationship. First, examining comprehensive datasets from two inter-state armed conflicts (Russia-Ukraine and Armenia-Azerbaijan) as case studies, this Article documents patterns in Telegram data indicating that more violent acts are preceded by increases in harmful narratives than decreases in such content. This suggests that harmful narratives on social media platforms may plausibly contribute to the incidence of real-world violence committed against protected persons during armed …

Supplemental Bibliographic Details. From 2001 Mars Odyssey To Earth’S Climate Crisis: Integrating Gamma Spectroscopy, Martian Soil Simulants, And Plant Genomes For Agroecology, Anchored In Sri Lanka’S Mars-Context Serpentinites, Suniti Karunatillake, Maheshi Dassanayake, Carlos Gary Bicas

Planetary Science Lab

Bibliographic details follow to supplement hyperlinked citations in the multinational GANGOTRI-supporting project conceived by Karunatillake, Dassanayake, and Gary-Bicas

Evaluating Impact Of Occupational Exoskeletons On Physical Fatigue Using Wearable Sensors And Deep Learning, Hardik Vora, Fatemeh Davoudi Kakhki, Armin Moghadam

Mechanical Engineering

Musculoskeletal disorders remain a leading source of occupational injury in manufacturing and logistics industries, often resulting from repetitive lifting and load transfer tasks. While back-support exoskeletons have shown promise in alleviating physical strain, their biomechanical impact under realistic task conditions and their integration with intelligent monitoring systems require further exploration. This study investigates the efficacy of a passive lumbar-support exoskeleton in reducing muscle fatigue during manual material handling tasks by combining high-resolution surface electromyography (sEMG) data with a deep learning-based classification framework. Ten participants performed lifting and rotational (twisting) tasks with and without exoskeleton assistance, while EMG signals were collected …

Reliability-Based Performance Evaluation Of Slurry Wall For Leakage Control At Chakaria Landfill, Bangladesh, Shishir Bhandari

Civil Engineering Theses

Landfill leachate threatens groundwater quality in low-lying coastal Bangladesh, where a shallow water table and a discontinuous natural clay barrier heighten contamination risk beneath municipal solid waste sites. At the Chakaria Landfill in Cox's Bazar District, a cement-bentonite slurry wall was proposed as a vertical cutoff to control seepage, but its reliability under the site's high-groundwater condition had not previously been evaluated in probabilistic terms.

This study evaluated the wall's performance using a two-dimensional SEEP/W finite-element seepage model, a validated response surface (RSM) equation relating seepage rate to wall permeability, thickness, depth, and a Hasofer-Lind first-order reliability (FORM) analysis built …

Creating A University-Based Accessible Makerspace For Use By Local Community Members Through Participatory Design Workshops, Erin Higgins, John J. Magee Iv, Foad Hamidi

Computer Science

While Do-It-Yourself Assistive Technology (DIY-AT) has been shown to provide needed AT for individuals who might not otherwise have access, the makerspaces utilized to create these technologies have proven to be inaccessible. A promising direction for creating accessible makerspaces is to utilize participatory methods to develop new spaces for use by a diverse community of individuals. We explored these possibilities through participatory design workshops focused on building a new accessible community makerspace situated within a university campus setting. Through these workshops, we found that there are unique physical, technical, and human supports needed to create an accessible space for the …

Vestibular Migraine And Ssri Withdrawal, Grace Fairchild, Sarah Redding, Ashley Flagge

V&B Posters

No abstract provided.

Competitive Dance And The Adolescent’S Body: Considering Pedagogical Approaches To Teaching Competitive Dancers, Catri E. G. Barba

Dance (MFA) Theses

Diving into the past and researching for the future, this thesis explores the development and perpetuation of hyper-sexualized adolescent bodies through the competitive dance scene. Drawing on dance theorists, educational theorists, and embodied research (i.e., the author’s body archive), this thesis explores how the competition gaze is performed for and by a capitalist patriarchy. Specifically, this thesis critically reflects on the author’s career as a young competitive dancer in the greater Los Angeles, California, area during the 1990s and 2000s, as well as a competition dance instructor and K-12 educator for two decades, and how those personal experiences have shaped …

Dancing With Ghosts: Memory And Melancholy In The Subversive Artist, Caley R. Vancil

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis examines how subversive artists use autonomy and memory to imagine new ways of existing beyond systemic violence. Through analysis of theory and performance studies, it highlights the efforts and risks these artists take to challenge representation and the political aspects of embodiment. The interconnected roles of language, power, and imagination are emphasized as essential to creating a more just and liberated world.

Accompanying this research is a dance piece that responds to the sorrows within American society. Developed as an improvisational score, the dance becomes a process of reinvention, employing movement and imagination to seek collective solutions. The …

Ibeji: Screendance As Living Archive, A Manuscript For Live Performance, Quentin W. Sledge

Dance (MFA) Theses

This work is a multimedia live performance that simultaneously moves through a live archival process which captures the essence of the work. It asks: how can dance archives evolve into participatory, user-centered repositories that account for the embodied and ephemeral nature of dance, and how might screendance expand archives into interactive, co-curated spaces that sustain liveness beyond preservation? Grounded in archival theory, Africana Aesthesis over Euro-Western Aesthetics, and auto-ethnographic practice, this project responds to the historic limitations of Euro-Western archival systems, particularly their inability to hold the spiritual, cultural, and embodied dimensions of dance.

The objective of this research is …

Theatre And Dance As Divine Purpose: Liberating The Christian Performer In Pursuit Of Artistic Worship, Abby Owen

Dance (MFA) Theses

This study examines the historical relevance of theatre and dance alongside religious forms of worship, with a particular emphasis on their integration into Christian churches of the Middle Ages, in comparison to the current Western era. Beginning with their origin, this research examines the creation of theatre and dance in Ancient Greece as a means of connecting with spiritual deities, tracing their recorded transition into accepted acts of everyday worship by Christian leadership. At the same time, this research scrutinizes contemporary congregations’ lack of artistic incorporation, denouncing the rise of restricted worship in response to present-day condemnation of the female …

Maternal Becoming: Reimagining Transformation Through Reverse Metamorphosis, Terese M. Cardamon

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis research investigates how pregnancy and early motherhood reshape identity, agency, and one’s relationship with the body and interrogates the narrative that frames motherhood as inherently joyful. Focusing on matrescence, meaning the process of becoming a mother, the project explores this transformation through the myth of Demeter and Persephone, the author's lived experience, and scholarly frameworks that center feminist perspectives, and includes an embodied exploration that integrates literature, poetry, and movement. Central to this inquiry is the unsettling experience of a transforming body and the visceral, horrific sensation of becoming unfamiliar to oneself. The concept of reverse metamorphosis, a …

My Body Is Bad, Daintry Tennapel

Dance (MFA) Theses

my body is bad is an integrative endeavor that critically examines cultural and theological teachings within the Evangelical Church, focusing on the rise of Purity Culture and its connections to a broader history of patriarchy and white supremacy in America. This work investigates the psychological, emotional, sexual, and spiritual impact on women raised within Purity Culture, analyzing its core teachings and the systems that perpetuate them. By exploring the intersection of political, societal, and religious ideologies, this work interrogates how these forces—manifested through Purity Culture narratives—shape women’s identities, self-worth, and sexual agency. This work combines scholarly research, survivor testimonies, and …

Reflecting Their Gaze: Resisting Distorted Perceptions Of Self And Other As Object, Francesca F. Harman

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis is an investigation into ways of seeing, constructions of otherness, objectification, influences on self-perception, and most urgently, how artists can resist objectification through the affirmation of their own subjectivity. Drawing from scholarship in feminist theory, performance studies, visual culture studies, and film theory, this thesis engages the writing of thinkers such John Berger, Jean-Paul Sartre, bell hooks, Rae Langton, Ann Pellegrini, Martha Nussbaum, and Coco Fusco. This thesis critically examines the way in which comparison, perceived lack, and fear of the Other contribute to constructions of identity. Distorted perception is at the root of objectification, and often leads …

Rediscovering The Hidden Nan Yumiao (Mysterious Rain), Katherine E. Nettles

Dance (MFA) Theses

This thesis explores complex themes of becoming, belonging, and how they shape identity through the perspective of transracial adoption. The investigation draws from personal experiences, cultural texts, and nature vs. nurture research. Combining self-reflection with scholarly sources allows for a broader picture of adoption trauma rather than a fixed bias. The author's research considers the circumstances surrounding adoption, including birth parents giving their child up due to social, economic, legal, or political constraints. This thesis examines finding a place of belonging in public, in community, in family, and in society. This concept of belonging has different meanings based on people's …

Volume 19 - Issue 1: La Créole - A Journal Of Creole History & Genealogy, Melissa Daggett, Alan Rosenberg, Ingrid R. Stanley, Pascal Dehoux, Shannon Santiesteban Ll.M., Ed.D., Govinda Sanyal, Jerry L. Parker, Natalie Keefer, Trent L. Threton, Linda Broussard-Mehlinger Phd, Kassie M. Edwards, Laura Guccione, Dr. Laura Rosanne Adderly

La Créole - A Journal of Creole History & Genealogy

The Louisiana Creole Research Association, Inc., known as LA Creole, was founded on August 21, 2004 as a New Orleans-based, non-profit family research and educational organization. Its purpose is to assist Creoles of Color in researching their ancestry, to educate the general public about Creole history and culture, and to celebrate the contributions and legacy of a unique, sometimes forgotten people. La Créole, the Association’s journal is published annually.

On The Clock: The Centrality Of Time In Teacher Work, Jack Schneider, Ashley Carey, Ayana Bass, Breanne Lucy, Babatunde Alford, Nathan Jones

Education Faculty Publications

American teachers work substantially more hours than their international peers; yet much of this work occurs outside the contract day. Despite this, teachers in the U.S. consistently report insufficient time to complete essential tasks—particularly lesson planning, collaboration, and professional reflection. This paradox of long working hours and persistent time scarcity creates chronically high workloads, with documented consequences for teacher stress, burnout, and turnover. Ultimately, these conditions affect student outcomes and the sustainability of the profession. Yet time continues to be overlooked in policy design and implementation.

This paper proposes an ecological framework with six interconnected components: education policy, professional context, …

A Mold Mating Surface Temperature Monitoring System For Injection Molding Using Infrared Thermography And Mahalanobis Distance, Yoshio Fukushima, Makoto Fukushima, Sho Shibuya, Keigo Kudo, Yuta Abe

ASEAN Journal on Science and Technology for Development

In plastic injection molding, minimizing defects is crucial for sustainable and stable manufacturing because resin behavior and molding conditions fluctuate due to variations in material lots, seasonal shifts, and factory environmental factors such as temperature and humidity. Among various process parameters, mold temperature　- specifically the mold mating surface temperature immediately after part ejection-　 plays a critical role in mitigating these variations and maintaining consistent product quality. However, embedding conventional sensors into the mating surface is structurally difficult. While non-contact infrared thermography is an effective alternative, shiny metallic mold surfaces suffer from low emissivity, leading to inaccurate readings. Furthermore, high-end …

Neuroevolution Of Compact Search Heuristics In Sokoban, Yeonghun Lee

Computer Science Honors Papers

This thesis investigates whether neuroevolution can produce heuristic functions for A* search on Sokoban that are drastically more parameter-efficient than a conventional gradient-trained baseline. Sokoban is a combinatorial planning puzzle that is both NPhard and PSPACE-complete, and solving it at scale requires an accurate cost-to-go heuristic to guide search. The standard approach fixes a neural network architecture and trains it by gradient descent; this thesis investigates whether evolutionary search over network topology can find heuristics that are competitive in accuracy while using orders of magnitude fewer parameters.

Four heuristic approaches are implemented and compared on the medium-difficulty split of the …

Dammed If You Do: Should The Government Be Liable For Hurricane Flooding And Other Natural Disasters?, Lior Jacob Strahilevitz

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

When hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters strike, government officials must make difficult decisions under time pressure and amidst uncertainty over how best to save lives and mitigate the resulting damage to private property. Sometimes landowners who do not second-guess the appropriateness of those decisions made in exigent circumstances nonetheless insist that the government should foot the bill for the resulting destruction. In a 2025 opinion (Ablan) and a 2022 decision (Milton), both involving flooding damage resulting from Hurricane Harvey, the Federal Circuit articulated an expansive vision of government liability under the Takings Clause that can be squared with neither …

Performing Within Performance: Gender Nonconformity In Drama, Eliana Lazzaro

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Technology, Capabilities, And Power In The Indian Political Economy: A History Of Growth Without Development, Apremeya Sudarshan

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Data-Driven Analysis Of Galactical Evolution, Vidit Bhandari

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Economics Of Marriage, Sofia Vuong

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Heidegger And Eco-Anxiety: Constructing Ways To Deal With Eco-Anxiety Through Interpretations Of Heidegger, Leif Gajkowski

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Trade Composition And Economic Growth In Vietnam: Evidence From Sectoral Bilateral Trade With The United States And China, Truc Hoang

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Fantastical Fright In Life: An Anthology Of Autobiographical Comics, Anh Amy Nguyen

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.