Solar Power Utilization as an Alternative Energy Resource for Disaster Relief
Manqerios, Wael
The world is facing a significant energy crisis, and it differs from one country to another. Many industries strive to achieve a better greener solution for energy production by using non-depleting sources like the Sun, the wind, hydroelectricity, and geothermal power plants. We find that the most common resource around the world is the sun. And the most common way to collect solar radiation is PV panels, as they are available around the world, relatively easy to install, and many people are already familiar with them.
Global warming, ozone layer depletion, ocean acidification, droughts and heat waves are often associated with climate changing and temperature rising. All of which is playing a significant factor in the new danger we are facing, the natural disasters frequency occurrence hitting several areas simultaneously. The primary challenge happens after a disaster strike is losing electricity because of power lines cut. Loss of electricity leads to many needs going unmet.
Can solar power, along with other environmental strategies, be utilized to replace the use of traditional generators in long-term disaster relief? This research looks at environmental strategies (passive & active) which can make a big difference in the long-term recovery process for people who lost their homes.
The strategies that are discussed can be applied to many long-term structures to help reduce the energy needs in a green environmental way. Energy needs, conservation, and use are the primary focus here as we compare traditional approaches to available innovative environmental approaches in the disaster relief process, mainly in long-term housing. The ultimate goal is to meet people’s energy needs after a disaster without harming the environment.
Solar Power Utilization as an Alternative Energy Resource for Disaster Relief
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Environmental Contamination from Glove Disposal Practices
Environmental Contamination from Glove Disposal Practices
Munoz, Kimberley
Purpose: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) provides a barrier between health professionals and pathogens. Misconceptions related to PPE and its role in environmental contamination, may lead to risky behaviors and/or perceptions in healthcare professionals due to broken barriers of protection. Evidence suggests that doffing and disposal of used PPE can lead to environmental contamination. The purpose of this study was to ascertain the potential for environmental contamination when medical gloves are flung, tossed, or thrown; while using a harmless PR772 bacteriophage and fluorescent dye tracers. The objectives of this study were to 1) measure the overall spread of bacteriophage and fluorescent dye from glove disposal to the surrounding environment; 2) determine the contamination along the glove flight path and the distance from the health professional; and 3) compare the occurrence of bacteriophage and fluorescent dye in the vicinity of glove disposal.
Methods: Fifteen Health Professionals flung, tossed, or threw PR772 and fluorescent dye contaminated gloves into a wastebasket, located 1.22 m away. Twenty designated sample areas were set up along the glove flight path, along a wall behind the wastebasket and outside the flight path that represented equipment within a patient room. Following each glove disposal trial, designated Sample Areas were: 1) visually inspected with a blacklight to quantify the fluorescent dye stains and 2) swabbed with a 3M Letheen Broth sponge to quantify PR772.
Results: The mean of PR772 contamination from all sample areas was 4.22 log10 PFU/mL. The area closest to the participant (
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Causes of Organ Rejection in Kidney Transplantation and a New Proposed Strategy to Improve Survival of the Graft
Causes of Organ Rejection in Kidney Transplantation and a New Proposed Strategy to Improve Survival of the Graft
Abdelhabib, Mohamed
The kidney is an essential organ that serves a crucial role in preserving homeostasis by filtering blood, regulating fluid levels and maintaining acid/base balance. Any extensive damage to the main unit of the kidney, the nephron, will cause several complications. There are multiple etiologies of kidney injury and they are classified as either acute or chronic. Acute causes are usually easier to treat and the damage resulting from it can be reversed. However, in chronic cases the injury to the kidney might be too severe to the point that renal replacement therapy is recommended. The two options of kidney replacement available are dialysis and kidney transplant. This review will focus on the complications of kidney transplant and ways to increase survival of the graft.
The biggest concern with transplantation is rejection of the organ. Rejection usually happens due to immunological response against the graft. That is why pre-operative measures are taken to try to match the donor to the recipient as much as possible. The process involves matching major histocompatibility complex (MHC) and blood antigens. These two molecules are the most important in matching as they play a role in the immune response. The function of MHC in the immune system is to present self and foreign antigens to immune cells. Once immune cells are activated against antigens from the graft, rejection can occur..
Organ rejections involves both the innate and adaptive arms of immunity. Nonetheless, the involvement of adaptive immunity in transplant rejection is better understood. With the adaptive immunity, there are two pathways of rejection, direct and indirect. The direct pathway is where immune cells within the graft present antigens to the recipient’s immune cell to initiate the attack. On the other hand, the indirect pathway is where the recipient’s immune cells recognize antigens from the transplanted organs as foreign and activate the immune system to attack the transplanted organ.
Since rejection is mostly an immunological process, the current drug therapies suppress the immune system to increase survival of the graft. These drugs target the activation of immune cells and their proliferation. The new strategy for treatment proposed here is to increase survival of the graft through blockade of MHC-I presentation. The proposed method is to target antigen presentation by MHC-I through a mechanism that is similar to the ICP-47 Herpes Simplex Virus protein that inhibits the function of TAP proteins in antigen presentation. Such a strategy would increase survival of the graft by reducing the effects of the direct pathway of rejection.
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Novel Pad Conditioning and Slurry Dispense Methods in Chemical Mechanical Planarization
Novel Pad Conditioning and Slurry Dispense Methods in Chemical Mechanical Planarization
Stuffle, Calliandra
The first part of this study investigates the pad surface generated by conditioning with three different CVD-coated diamond discs and the corollary effect on polishing performance in copper CMP. The discs that were used had significantly different micro-structures with varying degrees of aggressiveness. Confocal microscopy was used to study the pad surface after the polishing experiments had been performed, where the contact area, contact density and surface topography were analyzed. The most aggressive disc generated a pad surface with the most contact area, contact density and the tallest asperities. These parameters decreased as the aggressiveness of the disc decreased. Thermal, tribological, and kinetic aspects of copper polishing were also investigated. The pad surface generated by the most aggressive disc produced the highest material removal rates. However, the pad surface generated by the least aggressive disc produced a slightly elevated coefficient of friction and mean pad temperature when compared to the other pad surfaces, most likely due to fluid suction caused by the glazed pad surface. Analysis of the chemical and mechanical rate constants indicated that this process was chemically limited for all P × V investigated.
The second part of this study analyzed the thermal, tribological and kinetic aspects of the new and developing area of cobalt “buff step” CMP. A process-specific combination of consumables and polishing settings were used to investigate the removal of silicon dioxide in order to better characterize the second step of cobalt polishing in middle of the line (MOL) applications, where the overburden of deposited cobalt had already been polished away, and residual cobalt, along with the liner, needed to be completely removed. This was realized by polishing some of the surrounding dielectric in the “buff step”. Our study showed that the removal rate of the oxide and the mean pad temperature increased with increasing P × V, while the coefficient of friction remained relatively constant, indicating a “boundary lubrication” tribological mechanism. A well-established modified two-step Langmuir-Hinshelwood model was used, for the first time for this set of consumables, to simulate the removal rate data, which yielded chemical and mechanical rate constants. These results indicated that the process was mechanically limited for almost all polishing parameters investigated, except for the most elevated P × V.
The final part of this study continued work on the cobalt “buff step” for MOL applications by investigating the use of a novel slurry injection system (SIS) developed by our research group. The tests compared the effect of using the SIS versus the point application (PA) method for three different slurry flow rates at constant pressure and velocity. Higher silicon dioxide removal rates were realized by using the SIS for each flow rate, in comparison to those generated by the PA method. For both methods, the removal rate and coefficient of friction increased with increasing flow rate, while the mean pad temperature remained relatively constant. Similar removal rates were measured for the SIS versus PA at different flow rates, indicating that a 25 to 33% reduction in slurry consumption could be realized by implementing the SIS. A subtle yet critical change was made to the two-step Langmuir-Hinshelwood to account for the chemical effects of fresh slurry dilution by residual rinse water and spent slurry. A nearly three-fold reduction in the root mean squared error between the experimental and simulated removal rates was achieved by addressing these chemical effects, while leaving all other optimized parameters constant from the successful simulation of the removal rate data from part two of this study which used the same set of consumables but one constant flow rate and PA method.
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Might Recycled Water Inhibit Toxin-Producing Cyanobacteria?
Might Recycled Water Inhibit Toxin-Producing Cyanobacteria?
Lynch, Robert
Cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, is a phytoplankton phylum found in surface water bodies worldwide. For decades, blue-green algae has caused severe aesthetic water quality problems and induced water deoxygenation, leading to fish kills and other detrimental outcomes. Furthermore, some cyanobacterial genera, most notably several Microcystis species, are known to produce hepatotoxic peptides known as microcystins. Such toxin production is of critical and increasing public health concern, as hepatotoxic cyanobacterial blooms in freshwater lakes and streams have been implicated in human and animal sickness, and even death. Studies have correlated increased toxin production to enhanced temperature, nutrient concentrations, and light intensity, but research results examining microcystin toxin production in response to environmental stimuli have rarely been conclusive outside of the laboratory or over multiple seasons. Our research implemented advanced molecular techniques (real-time quantitative PCR) to detect and quantify cyanobacterial genes (CYAN) and toxin synthetase genes (mcyD) in water samples collected from a recycled water retention pond and a groundwater-filled pond. Water samples also underwent chemical and physical analyses to identify factors correlating to decreased toxin synthesis. Our results show similar concentrations of CYAN in both ponds but lower concentrations (sometimes below limits of detection) of mcyD levels in the recycled water retention pond. LC-MSMS showed average toxin concentrations of 6.702 ± 0.067 µg L-1 in the groundwater-filled pond while toxins were undetectable (detection limit ≥ 3 ppt) in the recycled water retention pond. Levels of mcyD in the groundwater pond were negatively correlated (p ≤ 0.05) with Cr52, a find that has been paralleled in previous research. Concentrations of Fe56 were significantly lower in the groundwater pond (p ≤ 0.05), suggesting iron-limitation may have been a contributing factor to microcystin-biosynthesis. Knowledge of the regulation of microcystin toxin biosynthesis may facilitate implementation of water management strategies to avoid environmental conditions that induce dangerous water quality conditions.
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Exploring the Relationship Between Accreditation and For-Profit Higher Education Institutions
Exploring the Relationship Between Accreditation and For-Profit Higher Education Institutions
Parkman, Amanda Lee
This paper explores the relationship between for-profit higher education institutions and accreditation. Two sets of research questions are examined. The first set of research questions looks at the characteristics of for-profits regionally accredited versus nationally accredited. The second set of research questions looks at the characteristics of for-profits that keep accreditation versus those who lose accreditation. Analysis is conducted using panel longitudinal data that has been merged together from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), the Office of Federal Student Aid, and the Postsecondary Education Participation System (PEPS). Both descriptive statistics and logistic regressions are used to explore the hypotheses in this paper. The findings contribute to the field’s understanding of for-profits and accreditation. This paper found in general for-profits are not losing accreditation. Regionally accreditors in particular are not revoking accreditation. Larger for-profits are more likely to be regionally accredited. Revenue, enrollment, and number of campuses, in particular seem to keep institutions from losing accreditation. Policy continues to be created (or reversed) to address concerns over for-profits but it has done so without enough statistical analysis to backup those decisions. The relationship between for-profits and accreditation is mutually beneficial and therefore needs to be further researched and addressed.
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La Caravana de la Resistencia: Narratives of Survival and Displacement from LGBTQI Central American Asylum Seekers
La Caravana de la Resistencia: Narratives of Survival and Displacement from LGBTQI Central American Asylum Seekers
Taracena, Maria Inés
Using four stories from members of the first trans-gay caravan of Central American asylum seekers—nicknamed by supporters Arcoíris 17—this thesis analyzes gendered structural, legal and everyday violence in Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua—where most of Arcoíris 17 members are from. This thesis evaluates the role of gendered violence in the displacement of LGBTQI communities. The experiences of Arcoíris 17 showed that this violence followed them north, into Mexico—where the caravan’s mobilization became even more dangerous, as the country increasingly violates the human rights of Central American asylum seekers, under the pretext of immigration enforcement. It was also in Mexico, where many of the caravan members were attacked by organized crime. Their final destination was the United States, where members of Arcoíris 17 applied for asylum, and subsequently were exposed to other forms of violence, as they were imprisoned in detention centers. However, these stories of vulnerabilities don’t define the lives of Arcoíris 17—a community with agency and in constant resistance against heteronormative, racist states and societies.
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Applications of Phase and Amplitude Spatial Light Modulators
Applications of Phase and Amplitude Spatial Light Modulators
Chen, Guanghao
Spatial light modulators (SLM) have been widely adopted for applications such as optical data
storage, optical tweezers, laser beam shaping including generation and detection of Optical
Angular Momentum. In this thesis, we experimentally demonstrate two applications of Liquid
Crystal (LC) SLM for eigenmode multiplexing for holographic data storage, and fast binary
modulation by using MEMS and amplitude based SLM. In the holographic data storage system
(HDSS) research, we successfully achieved nine holograms recording with angular multiplexing
and eigenmode multiplexing methods using projector hacked low-cost SLM. In DMD (digital
micromirror device) beam scanning, we realized beam scanning with single DMD binary
amplitude holography and phase holography. With the phase modulator, total efficiency of the
system reaches around 16% and is expected to be 32% with light recycling method. In the last part
of the thesis, we also introduce our work on repurposing a commercial video projector as a ??
phase-only SLM for our research. Phase modulation accuracy was tested with a Linnik microscope
interferometer. Detailed modification procedures are given at the end of the thesis for future
application of the projector hacked SLMs.
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Preservice Agriculture Teachers Development of Knowledge of Content and Students During Their Student Teaching Experience
Preservice Agriculture Teachers Development of Knowledge of Content and Students During Their Student Teaching Experience
Argueta, Arthur
The central research question that guided this study was: how does PCK develop in the area of KCS within the unit of plant growth and development among Arizona agriculture preservice teachers? This research was conducted using a multi-case study design where each preservice teacher served as an individual case. Five preservice teachers were interviewed, observed teaching a lesson and had lesson plans analyzed throughout the student teaching experience. There were 6 major themes that emerged from the data: evolving beliefs of agricultural education, underutilization of lesson plans, emphasis on hands-on “learning”, student motivation is primarily external, instruction shifts from teacher preferences to student needs, and college classes as the dominate source of content knowledge. These themes support future research on KCS development over the course of a teachers’ career including experienced teacher KCS development. Additionally, further exploration into the influence of hands-on education in agricultural education is needed. Recommendations for practice include: increased focus on knowledge of students in preservice education, clear instruction on how to break down content for high school students, and deep, consistent reflections to encourage belief development over the student teaching experience.
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Application of Feedback Analysis in Hydrological Modeling
Application of Feedback Analysis in Hydrological Modeling
Kahler, Elizabeth
Feedback analysis has been a standard element of the design of electrical systems for almost one hundred years and has been an important tool in climate change studies for decades. This study is motivated by the lack of feedback analysis in hydrologic science. I propose that feedback analysis can be applied to hydrologic models to identify the most and least stable parts of a hydrologic system. In this study, I focus on developing a feedback framework for a simple hydrological model and quantify a feedback strength, which is a relative index of the importance of a feedback mechanism in regulating the system response to an external stress. Resource managers may use the feedback strength as a tool to identify and protect the least stable areas, or identify the feedback mechanisms in stable areas that could be developed to enhance stability in more vulnerable areas. This project builds on feedback analysis of simple electronic circuits, borrows from advances in the atmospheric sciences, and develops a new feedback analysis for groundwater systems and models.
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Design of Photonic Network-on-Chip Architectures Using Multilevel Signaling and Link Allocation Pareto-Optimization
Design of Photonic Network-on-Chip Architectures Using Multilevel Signaling and Link Allocation Pareto-Optimization
Kao, Tzyy-Juin
Parallel computer systems built with multiprocessors have become ubiquitous in all high-performance computing domains. Performance gains due to the parallel processing will come from the proliferation of processing cores, leading to hundreds of cores integrated on a single chip. The Network-on-Chip (NoC) design paradigm overcomes the problems of wire delays and limited communication bandwidth by replacing conventional shared buses with an interconnection network that allows simultaneous communication and thereby increasing system performance.
Silicon photonic devices are compatible with standard CMOS technology and use photons instead of electrons to bring light onto a chip. Photonic links feature high data transmission rates and low propagation losses, especially suitable for replacing long-distance wires. In the wavelength-division multiplexing technique, several dozen wavelengths share a waveguide without interference and can be modulated and received individually. Recent advancements in NoC designs have leveraged the benefits of silicon photonics. However, many photonic NoC architectures require 3D-stacking technology and more dies to place the additional photonic devices, resulting in higher manufacturing costs.
In this dissertation, we study how to design high-performance NoC architectures using silicon photonics. We propose a compact structure of optical multilevel signaling link (OMLS), high bandwidth OMLS-NoC architectures, and an automated link allocation Pareto-optimization framework. The OMLS link doubles the transmission bandwidth of each waveguide by transmitting data into a 4-ASK signal. It exhibits great potential for improving bandwidth, area, and cost of optical interconnects, and for NOCs in particular. To highlight the potential advantages of OMLS for NoCs, an OMLS implementation approach is proposed to satisfy communication demands of future multicore architectures. Finally, the Pareto- optimization framework utilizes both deterministic and stochastic optimization algorithms to achieve optimal link allocations based on performance objectives, such as latency and power, to generate computer-designed NoC architectures and automate architecture design in the future.
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The Streetcar Effect: Capital, Revitalization and the Battle over Gentrification in a Sunbelt City
The Streetcar Effect: Capital, Revitalization and the Battle over Gentrification in a Sunbelt City
Launius, Sarah Anne
This dissertation investigates how, after three decades of failed attempts to revitalize Tucson’s downtown, reinvestment increased rapidly amid the Great Recession and the elements that seemed to have coalesced to build momentum. The findings presented herein center on the early stages of contemporary gentrification and redevelopment to expand our analysis of those state actions that create the possibilities for each. As such, this dissertation expands on our understanding of the economic cycles that lead to gentrification by looking specifically at actions fostered by the state that create the possibility for profit in Tucson’s downtown. The political priorities and possibilities envisioned by governments and quasi-governmental agencies shape the scale and content of redevelopment in Tucson’s downtown. Through these three central papers, findings demonstrate that active state intervention in the property market plays a critical role in both producing the conditions for redevelopment and spurring downtown investment. Specifically, public incentives function as gap financing (Appendix A), allowing local developers to gain construction loans in a credit-constrained city. In the case of investment attributed to the streetcar (Appendix B), much of the purported $1 billion in investment is from public coffers to the disadvantage of actual transit riders. Finally, these more contemporary actions are rooted within a long history of property dispossession in the United States, a process supported by the state against racialized peoples – a process that is maintained, in part, through patterns of uneven development that foster redevelopment and displacement (Appendix C). Taken together, these three papers extend the theorization of the so-called entrepreneurial state and the new techniques to channel public investments in a way that drives tax revenues into a pauper-state’s coffers. Yet, these moves are not simply about the state’s role in driving innovative redevelopment schemes. Rather, these papers discuss what’s at stake in urban revanchism as well as, and through, the on-going pathologization of nonwhite land and property.
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The Effect of Cortical Spreading Depression Induced Episodic Headache on Blood-Brain Barrier Structure and Function
The Effect of Cortical Spreading Depression Induced Episodic Headache on Blood-Brain Barrier Structure and Function
Cottier, Karissa Ellen
Previous research has demonstrated that BBB structure and function are altered as a result of various neurological disorders including ischemic stroke, traumatic brain injury, epilepsy, and infections of the brain. Additionally, the BBB has also been shown to alter its function in response to nociception. Despite the strong evidence for BBB alterations in both neurological disorders and pain, there is still debate on whether BBB permeability is altered in episodic headache disorders such as migraine. Cortical spreading depression (CSD) in the CNS is suggested as a common mechanism contributing to both headache production and BBB changes. In previous studies examining BBB changes in response to CSD, animals were anesthetized during the study, preventing any behavioral assessments. Additionally, in studies examining CSD induced nociceptive behaviors, BBB permeability was not assessed. Therefore, this work represents the first joint assessment of nociceptive responses and BBB integrity in response to CSD. In these studies, we observed a transient increase in BBB paracellular permeability in the cortex, but not brainstem, in response to KCl induced CSD. Additionally, at corresponding time points, we found that KCl induced CSD reduced periorbital withdrawal thresholds and rearing behavior, indicative of a state of facial mechanical allodynia.
Despite strong evidence for CNS involvement in headache disorders, drug development for headache disorders remains focused on peripheral targets. Difficulty in delivering drugs across the BBB may partially account for this disparity. In this work, we demonstrated that KCl induced CSD increased the CNS uptake of radiolabeled sumatriptan in both the cortex and the brainstem. We also found that KCl induced CSD increased the expression of the putative sumatriptan transporter Oatp1a4 in the brainstem, which likely underlies the observed increased brainstem permeability to sumatriptan following CSD induction. Repeated CSD events may be harmful long-term. Therefore, we also investigated whether pre-treatment with the migraine prophylactic topiramate could prevent the CSD induced increase in BBB permeability. In these studies a single dose of topiramate was not able to block CSD induced BBB changes; importantly, topiramate and other migraine prophylactic drugs are typically given chronically to reduce the occurrence and severity of attacks. Therefore further studies should be conducted to determine if chronic topiramate treatment has any protective effects on the BBB in this model.
Often, changes in BBB permeability are accompanied by decreases in tight junction protein expression, including occludin, claudin-5, and ZO-1. Here, however, we did not observe any changes in expression of either occludin or claudin-5 in response to cortical KCl induced CSD. BBB permeability can also be decreased through changes in TJ protein localization. We observed a change in claudin-5, but not occludin or ZO-1, localization in rats where CSD was induced with cortical KCl injections. This was recapitulated in an in vitro model using bEnd.3 mouse brain endothelial cells. Additionally, treatment of these cells with a CSD cocktail comprised of KCl, ATP, and glutamate with a pH of 6.8 was also able to cause claudin-5 relocalization. Interestingly, potassium influx mechanisms including the Na+/K+ ATPase and Kir6 channels have been implicated in BBB regulation. We found that blockade of these mechanisms with digoxin or AMP-PNP, respectively was able to prevent KCl or CSD cocktail-induced claudin-5 relocalization. Since claudin-5 is the component of the BBB which regulates permeability to ions and small molecules, these changes may represent the BBB’s effort to re-establish membrane ionic equilibrium.
Finally, this work addresses sex differences in migraine, particularly as they relate to the BBB. In previous studies, female sex hormones have been shown to facilitate both nociception and CSD production. Here, we found that female rats had a more intense response to cortical KCl induced CSD. Additionally, we demonstrated that the female sex hormone 17-β-estradiol can, on its own, induce nociceptive behaviors in rats. Finally we observed several changes in BBB structure and function related to sex hormones. Consistent with previous studies, we found that ovariectomy increased BBB permeability. When investigating estradiol induced molecular changes at the BBB, we turned our attention to the sodium/hydrogen exchanger NHE1 due to its role in regulating cell excitability, its reported functional regulation by estradiol, and in vitro data implying expression may play a role in triptan uptake. Here, we found that estradiol reduces NHE1 expression in a concentration dependent manner in GPNT rat brain endothelial cells, but not other CNS cell types such as microglia or astrocytes. Additionally, we found that testosterone did not affect its expression. These data suggest that estradiol may control CNS ion balance and excitability due to its regulation of BBB ion exchangers such as NHE1.
Together, the results presented herein demonstrate that CSD induces episodic headache-like behaviors that coincide with alterations in BBB structure and function. These changes can be taken advantage of clinically, by dosing drugs at specific times to increase their access to the CNS. On the other hand, episodic headache induced BBB changes may also produce long-term deleterious effects. Therefore, further studies should be conducted to fully elucidate the mechanisms behind headache induced BBB changes so that they may be prevented through appropriate therapeutic interventions.
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The Leucine-Repeat Rich Receptor-Like Kinases XIP1/CEPR1 and CEPR2 Control Lateral Root Initiation and Elongation in Arabidopsis
The Leucine-Repeat Rich Receptor-Like Kinases XIP1/CEPR1 and CEPR2 Control Lateral Root Initiation and Elongation in Arabidopsis
Dimitrov, Ivan D.
Roots serve both to anchor plants in the soil, and to help plants acquire water and nutrients. Plants have to optimize the growth of their root system, as roots cost energy to expand and maintain. This is accomplished through short and long distance signaling pathways that connect environmental conditions of the roots and available energy in shoots. XIP1/CEPR1 and CEPR2 are two Leucine-Rich Repeat Receptor-Like Kinase that are important for root growth responses to differing nitrogen levels in the environment. While previous results implicated these two receptors in signaling from roots to shoots, here I have shown that they are part of a short-range pathway within roots that controls lateral root initiation. Furthermore, through the use of genetic tests I have connected a group of physically-interacting proteins to XIP1/CEPR1 and CEPR2-related phenotypes. I have shown that these receptors and interacting proteins play roles in controlling early growth, flowering time, silique maturation, and lateral root initiation, emergence and elongation.
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Application of Machine Learning Techniques for Prognosis of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients in Intensive Care Units
Application of Machine Learning Techniques for Prognosis of Traumatic Brain Injury Patients in Intensive Care Units
Ehsani, Sina
With advances in digital health technologies and proliferation of big biomedical data in recent years, applications of Machine Learning (ML) in healthcare and medicine have gained significant attention. Modern Intensive Care Units (ICUs), in particular, are equipped to generate rich multimodal clinical data on critically-ill patients. In this thesis, we focus on applying machine learning techniques for prognostication of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) patients in ICU, which is the leading cause of death and disability among children and adults of age less than 44. We present two case studies to demonstrate the feasibility and applicability of machine learning techniques: one for mortality prediction in TBI patients and the second for extracting patterns from physiological data collected from TBI patients. For the case study I, clinical data including demographics, vital signs, and physiological data for the first 72 hours of TBI patients were extracted from the Medical Information Mart for Intensive Care III (MIMIC III) database. Several traditional supervised machine learning algorithms such as artificial neural network, support vector machine, and logistic regression were employed to construct prediction models. Bagging and Voting techniques were implemented to improve the performance of these algorithms. By comparing the performances of these algorithms, we showed that deploying voting techniques on several different ML models can improve the overall performance. These algorithms obtained the highest Area Under receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC) of 0.91. For the case study II, an exploratory, secondary analysis of physiologic data of TBI patients from the Phase III trial of Progesterone for Traumatic Brain Injury, Experimental Clinical Treatment (PROTECT) was performed. Subspace clustering was used to extract relationships between various physiologic variables. For both studies, 10-fold cross validation was used for evaluation purposes.
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A Two-Stage Estimation of Elasticities for Disaggregated Salad Products
A Two-Stage Estimation of Elasticities for Disaggregated Salad Products
Lobo, Andrew
Demand elasticities are estimated for seven lettuce and leafy green products through two-stage estimation using data from the 2015 National Consumer Panel. Products are aggregated into categories by the amount of convenience they offer the consumer. The two least-convenient good categories—unprocessed lettuce and fresh-processed lettuce—are found to be inferior goods, while more convenient goods are found to be normal or even luxury goods. All seven categories are found to be own-price elastic.
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THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR: MYTHS AND REALITIES
THE SPANISH CIVIL WAR: MYTHS AND REALITIES
Bernal, Marisa Diana
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NOSOTRAS: GENDER AND THE CONTRUCTION OF ECUADORIAN TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITIES IN MADRID, SPAIN.
NOSOTRAS: GENDER AND THE CONTRUCTION OF ECUADORIAN TRANSNATIONAL IDENTITIES IN MADRID, SPAIN.
Algar, Araceli Masterson
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THE POLITICAL HUMANISM OF THOMAS STARKEY: A STUDY OF HIS POLITICAL THOUGHT
THE POLITICAL HUMANISM OF THOMAS STARKEY: A STUDY OF HIS POLITICAL THOUGHT
De Weese, Malcolm L. Jr.
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SAVAGES, SINNERS, AND SAINTS: THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM AND THE IMPERIAL CONTEST, 1778-1839
SAVAGES, SINNERS, AND SAINTS: THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM AND THE IMPERIAL CONTEST, 1778-1839
Kashay, Jennifer Fish
This dissertation uses the writings of sailors, traders, and diplomats, American
missionaries, and Hawaiian chiefs, as well as anthropological theories and ethnographic
insights about Hawaiian culture to examine the cultural milieu created by western
sojourners in Hawaii, contestation over the interrelated issues of morality, sexuality,
religion, economics, and politics that occurred with the arrival of American evangelists,
and the ways in which Hawaiian chiefs and commoners negotiated a delicate and
calculated path between the embattled imperialist forces in their islands. This study
places Hawaiian experiences within the broader outlines of American social, religious,
and expansionist history. It offers a distinctly new interpretation of imperial relations in
Hawaii, one that others may choose to build upon.
In the past two decades, scholars of postmodernism and subaltern studies have
devised new approaches to examining western imperialism in Africa, India, and China.
However, only a handful of scholarly works have focused on western imperialism in
Hawaii. Following trends in colonial scholarship and anthropological theory, particularly
the work of Marshall Sahlins, this study uses an ethnographic approach to explain how
Hawaiians viewed the religious, social, political, and cultural changes that resulted from
the presence of foreigners in their kingdom and their responses to the challenges of
imperialism. As such, this dissertation is highly interdisciplinary and draws upon the
secondary literature in anthropology, missiology, colonialism, and Native American
history.
The issue of Hawaiian sovereignty has received national attention in recent years.
Most scholars date the loss of Hawaiian independence to the moment in 1893 when U.S.
Marines helped dethrone Queen Lili'uokalani. In reality, the forces that led to the
annexation of the islands to the United States began with Captain James Cook's 1778
arrival in Hawaii. By focusing on the complex relations between two polarized groups of
foreigners-American missionaries and western traders, sailors, and diplomats-and
Hawaiian chiefs and commoners, this study reveals how the combined effects of western
economic, religious, cultural, and political imperialism, cultural disintegration, native
factionalism, and chiefly miscalculation created the context for the loss of Hawaiian
political and economic control after 1839, much earlier than previously asserted in the
Iiterature.
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