Digital Commons Network^™

Β-Hydroxy-Β-Methylbutyrate Supplementation Promotes Antitumor Immunity In An Obesity Responsive Mouse Model Of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma, Michael F. Coleman, Kristyn A. Liu, Alexander J. Pfeil, Suhas K. Etigunta, Xiaohu Tang, Salvador Fabela, Et. Al.

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Pancreatic cancer (PDAC) is a deadly disease, exacerbated by obesity, which lacks effective therapeutic interventions. Most PDAC has a limited response to immune- and chemotherapy. Treating PDAC is made additionally challenging by the rapid emergence of muscle wasting and cachexia, which predict poor response to several therapies. We have found that dietary supplementation with β-hydroxy-β-methylbutyrate promotes immunosurveillance in PDAC tumors and protects muscle. This dietary supplement has the potential to be an important adjuvant in PDAC therapy, opening the doors to immunotherapy response.

Enhanced Security Utilizing Side Channel Data Analysis, Michael Taylor

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The physical state of a system is affected by the activities and processes in which it is tasked with carrying out. In the past there have been many instances where such physical changes have been exploited by bad actors in order to gain insight into the operational state and even the data being held on a system. This method of side channel exploitation is very often effective due to the relative difficulty of obfuscating activity on a physical level. However, in order to take advantage of side channel data streams one must have a detailed working knowledge of how a …

Sampling-Based Algorithms For Two-Stage Stochastic Programs And Applications, Siavash Tabrizian

Operations Research and Engineering Management Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, we present novel sampling-based algorithms for solving two-stage stochastic programming problems. Sampling-based methods provide an efficient approach to solving large-scale stochastic programs where uncertainty is possibly defined on continuous support. When sampling-based methods are employed, the process is usually viewed in two steps - sampling and optimization. When these two steps are performed in sequence, the overall process can be computationally very expensive. In this dissertation, we utilize the framework of internal-sampling where sampling and optimization steps are performed concurrently. The dissertation comprises of two parts. In the first part, we design a new sampling technique for …

Can Activated Titanium Interbody Cages Accelerate Or Enhance Spinal Fusion? A Review Of The Literature And A Design For Clinical Trials, Nathaniel Toop, Connor Gifford, Rouzbeh Motiei-Langroudi, Arghavan Farzadi, Daniel Boulter, Reza Forghani, H. Francis Farhadi

Neurosurgery Faculty Publications

While spinal interbody cage options have proliferated in the past decade, relatively little work has been done to explore the comparative potential of biomaterial technologies in promoting stable fusion. Innovations such as micro-etching and nano-architectural designs have shown purported benefits in in vitro studies, but lack clinical data describing their optimal implementation. Here, we critically assess the pre-clinical data supportive of various commercially available interbody cage biomaterial, topographical, and structural designs. We describe in detail the osteointegrative and osteoconductive benefits conferred by these modifications with a focus on polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and titanium (Ti) interbody implants. Further, we describe the rationale …

Arginine-Rich Polypeptides Are Potent Inhibitors Of Human Papillomavirus Infection And Powerful Tools To Investigate Viral Attachment And Entry, Jesse Mckay Young

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection. It is estimated that 80% of sexually active adults will contract an HPV infection. Thus, there is a significant need for low-cost and easily distributable HPV antivirals that can be used alongside vaccines to combat infection. Herein I have identified protamine sulfate (PS) as a potent microbicide against HPV infection. PS was agnostic to genotype and efficacious pre and post HPV exposure. PS application topically reduced HPV internalization by altering epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling and suppressed EGFR-stimulated HPV entry. Our preliminary data also suggest that heparin binding epidermal growth factor …

Comparative Lcas Of Conventional And Mass Timber Buildings In Regions With Potential For Mass Timber Penetration, Maureen Puettmann, Francesca Pierobon, Indroneil Ganguly, Hongmei Gu, Cindy Chen, Shaobo Liang, Susan Jones, Ian Maples, Mark Wishnie

Publications, Reports and Presentations

Manufacturing of building materials and construction of buildings make up 11% of the global greenhouse gas emission by sector. Mass timber construction has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by moving wood into buildings with designs that have traditionally been dominated by steel and concrete. The environmental impacts of mass timber buildings were compared against those of functionally equivalent conventional buildings. Three pairs of buildings were designed for the Pacific Northwest, Northeast and Southeast regions in the United States to conform to mass timber building types with 8, 12, or 18 stories. Conventional buildings constructed with concrete and steel …

Soil Moisture Dependent Runoff In A Dryland Region: An Investigation Of The Role Of Antecedent Conditions, Monitoring, And Modeling Strategies, Gerhard Schoener

Civil Engineering ETDs

Approximately 30% of the Earth’s land surface is characterized as arid or semiarid, including much of the western United States. Accurate runoff predictions are important for informed watershed management, particularly in rapidly urbanizing areas. Infiltration excess overland flow is the dominant mechanism for runoff generation in many dryland basins, and event-based infiltration or loss models are commonly used to estimate runoff. However, predictions are associated with considerable uncertainty due to the role antecedent soil moisture, an initial condition that must be set by the modeler. The objectives of my research were to (1) evaluate the impact of antecedent soil moisture …

The Effect Of Ph On Organic Carbon Uptake And Biological Phosphorus Removal By Tetrasphaera Polyphosphate Accumulating Organisms, Derek Belka

Civil Engineering ETDs

Tetrasphaera polyphosphate accumulating organisms (PAOs) have been found in greater abundance and may remove more P in full-scale enhanced biological phosphorus removal (EBPR) water resource recovery facilities (WRRF) worldwide than the more extensively studied Accumulibacter PAO. Understanding the effect that environmental conditions, such as pH, have on Tetrasphaera metabolisms is critical to understanding EBPR WRRF process upsets, achieving consistent low effluent P concentrations, and formulating optimization strategies. The objective of this study was to determine pH effects over the range from 5.5 to 8.5 on anaerobic amino acid uptake, P release, and cation release in a Tetrasphaera-enriched culture from …

Discharge Process Optimization, Erin M. O’Neal

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

As the demands of the nurse become increased with higher acuity and documentation requirements, the delivery of discharge instructions is often one of the most, and at times, only, formal education opportunities between the nurse and the patient. It is imperative to modify the discharge process to ensure patients have the ability to confidently care for themselves after they leave the hospital. The aim of this project was to create a nursing discharge workflow that meets the educational needs of the patients. This project was a quality improvement project designed to change the nursing workflow to provide a better discharge …

Preaching To The Converted: Religious Conversion In East Anglian Medieval Drama, Eleanor Davis

English Theses and Dissertations

My dissertation investigates religious conversion in late medieval East Anglian drama (c. 1400–1500). Each of my chapters examines a play with ties to fifteenth-century East Anglia, an economically prosperous region where orthodoxy and heterodoxy coexisted and religious drama flourished. All of the plays stage at least one miraculous conversion experience, yet the plays also offer reminders that conversion is an ongoing process that demands the convert’s continual effort to keep growing in faith. I demonstrate how these anonymous plays deliver their most important lessons about conversion in their much less miraculous moments, exposing a dramaturgy that revels in its ability …

Nature And Its Place In Professional Counseling: A Qualitative Study Of Expert Views, Experiences, And Future Plans, Matthew V. Bukowski

Dissertations, 2020-current

Recent publications and initiatives within professional counseling indicate a growing interest in the connections between human wellness and the natural world. Despite consistent growth of this trend between the years 2000 and 2021, there has been little dialogue within the profession about the ethical, ideological, and social justice implications of integrating nature therapy with professional counseling and counselor education. This study investigated the views, experiences, and future plans of 10 counselor educators who integrate nature therapy into their professional roles and developed two major themes and 12 subthemes that encapsulate their responses. Participants in the study overall shared a desire …

Words, Music, Memory: An Exploration Of Four Soprano Song Cycles By Lori Laitman Based On Poetry By Victims Of The Holocaust, Sheena Ramirez

Dissertations, 2020-current

This Doctor of Musical Arts document is an exploration of the four soprano song cycles by Lori Laitman based on text settings from victims of the Holocaust, with a specific focus on the compositional and performance devices that both underpin the power of words to bear witness to lived experience and ensure the process of musical commemoration as an act of historical preservation. Lori Laitman (b. 1955) has composed ten distinct song cycles commemorating victims of the Holocaust, of which four are included in this study – I Never Saw Another Butterfly, In Sleep the World is Yours, The Ocean …

Experiencing The Pull And Push: Influences On Independent Contractor Motivation And Job Satisfaction, Andrew D. Miller

Dissertations, 2020-current

Over the past few decades, the number of individuals engaging in non-standard employment has been increasing. Drawing on self-determination theory (SDT), this study examines the motivation and job satisfaction of independent contractors, the largest form of these alternative work arrangements. Specifically, I examine how the rationale for workers entering contracting work arrangements affect in-role contractor motivation and job satisfaction. Based on a sample of N = 241 adjunct instructors from two universities, I find that the positive relationship between those entering contracting because the work offers autonomy, flexibility and the ability to pursue personally interesting work (pull factors) and their …

Post-Application Factors Affecting Community College Enrollment, Kyle L. Mccarrell

Dissertations, 2020-current

For many open-enrolled higher education institutions, including community colleges, enrollment is dropping each semester creating significant financial challenges. While much research literature focuses on four-year colleges, little is known about the students who seek to enroll at community colleges. What is known is often evaluated using college choice theoretical models, e.g., Hossler & Gallagher (1987), that focus on a limited, and often linear, student experience. Contemporary evaluation models, including Perna (2006) and Iloh (2018), seek to expand college choice understanding by incorporating contextual matters that include the diverse experiences of potential students as they consider college. These contextual theories, with …

Five Songs By Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960): From Nostalgia To Christian Hope And The Assurance Of Heaven, James K. Richardson

Dissertations, 2020-current

During the first few decades of the twentieth century, prolific composer, teacher, and conductor, Armstrong Gibbs (1889-1960), was well-regarded for his contribution to the landscape of English art song. However, against the backdrop of Modernism and the tumult of the Second World War, his musical style was deemed “out of touch.” In a 1943 chain of correspondence with fellow songwriter Roger Quilter, Gibbs describes feeling “exceedingly sore and discouraged at neglect at the hands of the critics.” He further explains, “Just because we both write music that is intelligible & frankly tries to aim at beauty, we are considered beneath …

Singers’ Experiences Of Community In The Shenandoah Valley Children’S Choir, Heidi B. King

Masters Theses, 2020-current

In the music and education fields, researchers have explored the ways people experience community in classroom and ensemble settings; however, few studies have focused on the ways adolescents experience community in the children’s choir setting. The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to explore singers’ perspectives of their experience of community in the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir. Fifteen singers participated in focus group interviews to generate primary data; rehearsal observations and document analysis served as secondary data sources. Analysis revealed that participants’ goals and motivations aligned with the stated goals of the organization, and that these shared goals gave …

Beatrice Fields

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

The Negative Impacts Of Social Media Use On Adolescent Social-Emotional Development, Jill E. Funk

Masters Projects

The topic of this project is to inform all caregivers- educators, administration, parents/guardians- including students themselves of the negative impacts social media use can have on the social-emotional development of adolescents. This project involves teenagers also known as “iGen”, their social-emotional development, appropriate use of social media, and digital citizenship. In developed countries where teenagers frequently use social media, there is a great need to be aware of the risks that can result from this usage such as poor body image, self-esteem issues, depressive symptoms, cyberbullying, and sometimes suicidal thoughts. Parents/guardians, teachers, librarians, school counselors, and school administrators who are …

Hormone Therapy For Treatment Of Depression, Johna Beard

Master of Science in Nursing Family Nurse Practitioner

No abstract provided.

Evaluating The Progress Of The Liberalization Of International Aviation Toward Open Skies, Tyler B. Spence, Daniel Friedenzohn, Steven M. Leib

Publications

The United States has engaged in well over 100 Open Skies Agreements with other ICAO member state partners reaching all parts of the globe. These Open Skies Agreements have established a practice of liberalization for airlines to have the most freedom to choose when, where, how often, and for how much they fly to locations. Despite a majority of ICAO member state partners engaging in Open Skies, there has been a reluctance of the member states to engage in the same practices with other aviation partners for similar access. A similar pattern is also evident for liberalization through the Freedoms …

2021 Fall Commencement Program For The University Of Arkansas At Little Rock., University Of Arkansas At Little Rock. Records And Registration

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Insufficient Sleep And Early Class Start Times On U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Health And Performance, Stephanie Osborn

Masters Theses, 2020-current

Emerging adults face a set of unique obstacles that combine to make getting the recommended 7-9 hours of sleep per night a challenge. Internally, adolescents and young adults have a biologically based tendency to go to sleep and wake up later. Externally, they may participate in scheduled activities that wake them up early or keep them awake late. One primary obligation that can contribute to short sleep duration in students is early class start times. Emerging adults attending a civilian college may benefit from the ability to set their bedtimes and class schedule. However, their same-aged peers attending a military …

Infusing Evidence-Based Practice Into The Cayman Islands Health Services Authority Nursing Culture, Melissa Ring

Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Projects, 2020-current

Background: James Madison University and Cayman Islands Health Services Authority (HSA) entered into a collaborative agreement the summer of 2020. There was a lack of organizational structure surrounding implementation and systemization of evidence-based practice (EBP) models and a disconnect between nurse manager knowledge and EBP implementation within HSA.

Methods: The population for this evidence-based project was 21 HSA nurse managers from the inpatient setting. Pre-intervention survey results informed organizational readiness, nurse manager knowledge and ability to implement, and guided the intervention that included the creation and implementation of a website toolkit for EBP. An EBP model was selected for nursing. …

An Evidence-Based Project: Exploring Nurse Manager Communication Competencies And Skill Development, Micaela Ross

Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Projects, 2020-current

Abstract

Evidence supports effective communication skills as essential for patient safety and organizational success. Evidence is also clear regarding ineffective communication and its negative impact. The purpose of this project was to determine an area of communication skill development needed among nurse managers of the participating island hospital and support positive change in knowledge, understanding, and ability to use effective communication skills. The aim was to improve communication skills among these nurse managers.The objectives were to determine a specific skill need, provide a focused educational intervention, and evaluate skill improvement. Pre-intervention survey results revealed a self-identified priority of effective communication …

Covid-19 In A Secure Behavioral Rehabilitation Setting: A Program Evaluation, Jennifer G. Jones

Doctors of Nursing Practice (DNP) Final Projects, 2020-current

Problem: The COVID-19 case rate as of June 5, 2020, for prisoners was 5.5 times higher than the United States (US) population case rate (Saloner et al., 2020). A secure behavioral rehabilitation facility in the US was challenged to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and made many changes to facility and program protocol in order to meet this challenge.

Methods: The purpose of this program evaluation was to examine the COVID-19 facility response, case rates, percent positivity and attack rates between units at a secure behavioral rehabilitation facility to inform further policy and procedure recommendations for the mitigation of COVID-19 …

Endovascular Approach In The Management Of Idiopathic Myointimal Hyperplasia Of The Inferior Mesenteric Vein, Yash B Shah, Derek Lee, Tamim S Khaddash

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

Background: Idiopathic myointimal hyperplasia of the mesenteric vein (IMHMV) is a rare, often undiagnosed pathology affecting the colon. Patients typically present with severe abdominal pain and inflammation caused by smooth muscle proliferation of the veins, leading to arterialization, stenosis, and potential occlusion. The etiology remains unclear, but it has been hypothesized that an arteriovenous connection may be associated with the pathology. This is the first reported case indicating such an association. This case additionally highlights the potential utility of endovascular treatment, as endovascular embolization is generally a less invasive alternative to surgical resection in the treatment of such vascular disorders. …

Development And Validation Of The Raffle; A Measure Of Reasons And Facilitators For Loot Box Engagement, J Lloyd, Laura Louise Nicklin, Stuart Gordon Spicer, Chris Fullwood, Maria Uther, Daniel P. Hinton, Jonathan Parke, H Lloyd, James Close

School of Psychology

Qualitative studies have identified a diverse array of motivations for purchasing items within video games through chance-based mechanisms (i.e., “loot boxes”). Given that some individu-als—particularly those at risk of disordered gaming and/or gambling—are prone to over-involvement with loot box purchasing, it is important to have a reliable, valid means of measuring the role of different motivations in driving purchasing behaviour. Building on prior qualitative research, this paper reports the development and validation of the “RAFFLE” scale, to measure the Reasons and Facilitators for Loot box Engagement. A 23-item, seven-factor scale was developed through cognitive interviews (n = 20) followed by …

Discovery Of An Olivine-Type Lithium Manganese Thiophosphate, Limnps4,: Via A Building Block Approach, Srikanth Balijapelly, Kartik Ghosh, Aleksandr V. Chernatynskiy, Amitava Choudhury

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

An olivine-type orthothiophospate LiMnPS4 has been synthesized for the first time through a building block approach by reacting preformed ternary lithium thiophospate with MnCl2. Diffuse reflectance measurements show an optical band gap of 2.36 eV, which is further confirmed by DFT calculations. Irreversible weak ferromagnetic ordering and metamagnetism are verified through preliminary magnetic measurements.

The Effects Of Physical Activity On Cancer Patients Undergoing Treatment With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Scoping Review., Amy L Shaver, Swapnil Sharma, Nikita Nikita, Daniel S Lefler, Atrayee Basu-Mallick, Jennifer M Johnson, Meghan Butryn, Grace Lu-Yao

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Cancer therapies are associated with multiple adverse effects, including (but not limited to) cancer-related fatigue (CRF). Fatigue is one of the most common side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), occurring in up to 25% of patients. Physical activity has been shown to help reduce CRF through modulating the immune system, and may synergistically aid in the anti-tumor effects of ICIs. This review describes the nature and scope of evidence for the effects associated with concurrent physical activity while undergoing ICI therapy.

METHOD: Scoping review methodology was utilized to identify studies, extract data, and collate and summarize results.

RESULTS: …

The Effects Of Physical Activity On Cancer Patients Undergoing Treatment With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors: A Scoping Review, Amy L Shaver, Swapnil Sharma, Nikita Nikita, Daniel S Lefler, Atrayee Basu Mallick, Jennifer Johnson, Meghan Butryn, Grace Lu-Yao

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

Background: Cancer therapies are associated with multiple adverse effects, including (but not limited to) cancer-related fatigue (CRF). Fatigue is one of the most common side effects of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), occurring in up to 25% of patients. Physical activity has been shown to help reduce CRF through modulating the immune system, and may synergistically aid in the anti-tumor effects of ICIs. This review describes the nature and scope of evidence for the effects associated with concurrent physical activity while undergoing ICI therapy.

Method: Scoping review methodology was utilized to identify studies, extract data, and collate and summarize results.

Results: …