Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Introducing An H113a Mutation Into Atg10 Y73q To Reduce Autophagic Activity And Understand The Effect Of Atg On Autophagosome Size And Number, Konrad L. Lautenschlager

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Autophagy is an essential recycling process that occurs within eukaryotic cells, however, the individual functions of the current thirty-two known autophagic proteins are not yet entirely understood. At this time, it is known that the autophagic protein Atg7 works upstream of both Atg3 and Atg10. Atg3 is affected by Atg7 and allows for the attachment of Atg8 and the lipid PE which is part of the autophagosome membrane. The Atg10 pathway is also affected by Atg7 but attaches Atg12 to Atg5 which upregulates the function of Atg3 and ultimately Atg8 lipidation. These protein interactions are necessary for forming autophagosomes, large …

Expanding The Network Evaluation Toolkit: Combining Social Network Analysis & Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Debbie Gowensmith

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collective action networks are complex systems of interrelated individuals or groups that come together for a common social change purpose (Ernstson, 2011). Researchers have used social network analysis (SNA) to examine the relationship structures and characteristics of collective action networks. However, determining whether collective action networking produces outcomes has been challenging because networks are complex, affected by context, and produce interdependent data. I addressed these challenges by pairing SNA with qualitative comparative analysis (QCA), a configurational comparative method. Using QCA, researchers can tease out which conditions are necessary or sufficient to produce an outcome. I analyzed a collective action network …

Model-Based Testing Of Smart Home Systems Using Efsm, Cefsm, And Fsmapp, Afnan Mohammed Albahli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Smart Home Systems (SHS) are some of the most popular Internet of Things (IoT) applications. In 2021, there were 52.22 million smart homes in the United States and they are expected to grow to 77.1 million in 2025 [71]. According to MediaPost [74], 69 percent of American households have at least one smart home device. The number of smart home systems poses a challenge for software testers to find the right approach to test these systems. This dissertation employs Extended Finite State Machines (EFSMs) [6, 24, 105], Communicating Extended Finite State Machines (EFSMs) [68] and FSMApp [10] to generate reusable …

Topics In Moufang Loops, Riley Britten

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

We will begin by discussing power graphs of Moufang loops. We are able to show that as in groups the directed power graph of a Moufang loop is uniquely determined by the undirected power graph. In the process of proving this result we define the generalized octonion loops, a variety of Moufang loops which behave analogously to the generalized quaternion groups. We proceed to investigate para-F quasigroups, a variety of quasigroups which we show are antilinear over Moufang loops. We briefly depart from the context of Moufang loops to discuss solvability in general loops. We then prove some results on …

Inhibitors Of Alpha-Synuclein Aggregation, Jemil Ahmed

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alpha-Synuclein (αS) – a neuronal, disordered, presynaptic protein – aggregates into amyloid fibrils and accumulates in the substantia nigra pars compacta of Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. The aggregation and accumulation of αS amyloid fibrils leads to death of dopaminergic neurons; a hallmark of PD. Although it’s not clear why αS aggregates, prior studies have found that intrastriatal injection of fibril alone is sufficient to cause PD pathology in mouse and non-human primates models. These observations implicate αS as a therapeutic target against PD.

Unfortunately, there are three caveats when attempting to target αS. First, αS is a neuronal protein expressed …

Ascp-Iomt: Ai-Enabled Lightweight Secure Communication Protocol For Internet Of Medical Things, Mohammad Wazid, Jaskaran Singh, Ashok Kumar Das, Sachin Shetty, Muhammad Khurram Khan, Joel J.P.C. Rodrigues

VMASC Publications

The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is a unification of smart healthcare devices, tools, and software, which connect various patients and other users to the healthcare information system through the networking technology. It further reduces unnecessary hospital visits and the burden on healthcare systems by connecting the patients to their healthcare experts (i.e., doctors) and allows secure transmission of healthcare data over an insecure channel (e.g., the Internet). Since Artificial Intelligence (AI) has a great impact on the performance and usability of an information system, it is important to include its modules in a healthcare information system, which will be …

Towards Plasmon Mapping Of Sers-Active Ag Dewetted Nanostructures Using Spels, Mohamed Beshr, E. Dexter, Paul E. Tierney, Aidan Meade, Shane Murphy, George Amarandei

Articles

Thermal dewetting of silver thin flm can lead to SERS-active Ag nanoparticles. Here, we report our progress towards using scanning probe energy loss spectroscopy (SPELS) to map the plasmonic behaviour of SERS-active Ag nanoparticles (NP) by investigating NPs produced through the dewetting study of Ag thin flms on SiO2/Si and Ti/SiO2/Si substrates. The nanoparticles size and spatial distribution were controlled by the deposition and thermal annealing parameters. The results of preliminary SPELS measurements of these structures, alongside SERS data show that there is a correlation between the Raman enhancement and the nanoparticle size and interparticle spacing.

Synthesis Of Fast Curing, Water-Resistant And Photopolymerizable Glass For Recording Of Holographic Structures By One- And Two-Photon Lithography, Tatsiana Mikulchyk, Mohamed Oubaha, Alicja Kaworek, Brendan Duffy, Markus Lunzer, Aleksandr Ovsianikov, Sabad-E Gul, Izabela Naydenova, Dervil Cody

Articles

Advancements in hybrid sol-gel technology have provided a new class of holographic materials as photopolymerizable glasses. Recently, a number of photosensitive glass compositions with high dynamic range and high spatial resolution have been reported and their excellent capability for volume holography has been demonstrated. Nevertheless, challenges remain, particularly in relation to the processing time and environmental stability of these materials, that strongly affect the performance and durability of the fabricated holograms. State-of-the-art photopolymerizable glasses possess long curing times (few days) required to achieve thick films, thus limiting the industrial implementation of this technology and its commercial viability. This article presents …

Dynamics And Turnover Of Lipid And Protein Domains In Cells And Supported Bilayers, Alan Weisgerber

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Protein and lipid clustering is an important mechanism for cell processes such as exo- and endo-cytosis and creating functional signaling complexes. It has been seen that both lipids and proteins are involved with the formation of cluster domains on cell membranes, yet little is known about the interplay between the two. In this work I began with visualizing lipid sorting to artificially induced curvature in supported lipid bilayers, with lipid tails affecting the sorting differently to curvature. These results demonstrate that lipids sort to curvature on curved, supported lipid bilayers. The sorting depends on the number of lipids in the …

Application Of An Organizational Evaluation Capacity Assessment In A Multinational Ngo: A Case Study To Support Applied Practice, Ryan James Smyth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As evaluation capacity building (ECB) has rapidly emerged as a practice in human service organizations and as a field of academic inquiry, attention has focused on methods of evaluation capacity building while assessment of organizational evaluation capacity (EC) has lagged behind. To examine the practice of organizational evaluation capacity assessment, this dissertation presents two separate but related studies. In sub-study 1, I present a qualitative evidence synthesis of the research theorizing organizational evaluation capacity models. In sub-study 2, I support the implementation of one of the tools from the evidence-synthesis at a multinational human service organization. I use a concurrent …

Directly Polymerizable Co Releasing Molecules, Jackson Snow

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the commonly held consensus that carbon monoxide (CO) is toxic, it has been shown to be an essential signaling molecule in the human neuronal system and has been noted to have anti-inflammatory properties, act as a vasodilator, have anti-proliferative impacts on tumors, and many other beneficial effects. The current limitation to using CO as a therapeutic molecule is delivering the proper dosages using CO releasing molecules (CORMs) without exhibiting toxicity. The first chapter of this thesis will review the biological significance of CO in biological systems, the limitations of existing CORMs, and the properties of diphenylcyclopropenone (DPCP) that make …

Geomorphic Evaluation Of The Goose Lake Fault And Fluvial Terraces At The Yager Creek–Van Duzen River Confluence, Northern Coastal California, Samuel E. Bold

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Upper-plate deformation in the southern Cascadia subduction zone is dynamic and complex, situated in the transition between northward translation to westward convergence. Rock uplift and incision rates characteristic of this dynamic region are preserved in suites of fluvial and marine terraces. Fluvial terraces at the Yager Creek–Van Duzen River confluence record fluvial incision rates, and are crosscut by the understudied Goose Lake fault, an upper plate structure. In this work, I use high resolution lidar imagery to map terrace surfaces, and use optically stimulated luminescence, radiocarbon, and Beryllium-10 geochronology to bracket terrace ages and calculate incision and slip rates. With …

Comparing Molecular Methods To Estimate Fish Stomach Contents And Gastric Evacuation Rates: Implications For Measuring The Impacts Of Predation On Central Valley Chinook Salmon, Cory M. Dick

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) migrating through the Sacramento – San Joaquin Delta (the Delta) in central California have higher mortality rates than salmonids migrating through other west coast estuaries. Some hypotheses for high mortality rates include entrainment into water export facilities, physical alterations of the river system, and predation. Of these factors, predation is considered the least understood but may have the largest impact. Predation from large populations of non-native piscivorous fishes in the Delta is believed to effect abundances of Central Valley Chinook salmon, however sufficient data supporting this hypothesis is scarce. In this study, I …

Sediment Production From Forest Roads In Areas Affected By The August Complex Fire In Northern California, Zachary J. Gigone

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Wildfire activity is increasing in California and is an important factor affecting erosion rates. Landscapes recently affected by wildfire, areas that have been salvage logged after a fire, and unpaved forest roads are all major sources of sediment which can impair water quality and negatively impact many aquatic species. Therefore, this study was conducted to quantify erosion rates from native and gravel surfaced forest road segments after the August Complex fire, evaluate the impact of salvage logging activities on sediment production from roads, and understand the effect of soil burn severity on sediment production from these road segments. Finally, this …

Factors Affecting Customers’ Decision To Share Personal Data With Mobile Operators, Ammar Ali Qaffaf

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Companies that personalize their services based on users’ specific needs have increased sales and customer satisfaction. Personalization requires analyzing the user’s behavior and correlating the action with other pieces of information. The information available for cellular service providers has grown substantially as connectivity becomes ubiquitous. Customers are unknowingly sharing their locations, habits, activities, and preferences in real-time with their service providers. Although cellular service providers state that they share personal data with external entities in their publicly available privacy policies, users have limited control over who can access their personal information. Users have no, or suboptimal, control to manage their …

Social Media Analytics And Information Privacy Decisions: Impact Of User Intimate Knowledge And Co-Ownership Perceptions, Bradley Alukwe Wangia

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Social media analytics has been recognized as a distinct research field in the analytics subdomain that is developed by processing social media content to generate important business knowledge. Understanding the factors that influence privacy decisions around its use is important as it is often perceived to be opaque and mismanaged. Social media users have been reported to have low intimate knowledge and co-ownership perception of social media analytics and its information privacy decisions. This deficiency leads them to perceive privacy violations if firms make privacy decisions that conflict with their expectations. Such perceived privacy violations often lead to business disruptions …

Modified Structured Domain Randomization In A Synthetic Environment For Learning Algorithms, Bryan L. Croft

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) has the capability to solve many complex tasks in robotics, self-driving cars, smart grids, finance, healthcare, and intelligent autonomous systems. During training, DRL agents interact freely with the environment to arrive at an inference model. Under real-world conditions this training creates difficulties of safety, cost, and time considerations. Training in synthetic environments helps overcome these difficulties, however, this only approximates real-world conditions resulting in a ‘reality gap’. The synthetic training of agents has proven advantageous but requires methods to bridge this reality gap. This work addressed this through a methodology which supports agent learning. A framework …

A Validity-Based Approach For Feature Selection In Intrusion Detection Systems, Eljilani Hmouda

CCE Theses and Dissertations

Intrusion detection systems are tools that detect and remedy the presence of malicious activities. Intrusion detection systems face many challenges in terms of accurate analysis and evaluation. One such challenge is the involvement of many features during analysis, which leads to high data volume and ultimately excessive computational overhead. This research surrounds the development of a new intrusion detection system by employing an entropy-based measure called v-measure to select significant features and reduce dimensionality. After the development of the intrusion detection system, this feature reduction technique was tested on public datasets by applying machine learning classifiers such as Decision Tree, …

Impact Of Knowledge Management Processes Upon Job Satisfaction And Job Performance, George Reid Cooper

CCE Theses and Dissertations

While we might know anecdotally that the implementation of knowledge management in an organization improves job satisfaction and job performance, there are limited empirical studies that assess this assumption. There have been studies done in this area but the results vary in terms of which knowledge management processes have an impact upon job satisfaction and which do not. Similarly, many studies make assumptions that job satisfaction leads to improved job performance without testing for that variable. The goal of this dissertation is to assess whether the knowledge management processes have a positive impact upon job satisfaction and job performance and …

An Approach For Efficient Robust Adversarial Training In Deep Neural Networks, Cesar Zalzalah

CCE Theses and Dissertations

With advancements in computer hardware, deep neural networks outperform other methods for many applications, such as image and voice recognition. Unfortunately, existing deep neural networks are fragile at test time against adversarial examples, which are intentionally calculated perturbations that cause a neural network to misclassify the correct input label. This vulnerability makes the use of neural networks risky, especially in critical applications. Extensive prior research studies to build a robust neural network using diverse approaches have been proposed to tackle this problem, including customized models and their parameters, input pre-processing to detect and remove adversarial perturbations, blocking the adversarial input, …

How Is Pelagic Sargassum-Associated Biodiversity Assessed? Insights From The Literature, Kristie S.T. Alleyne

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Over the past decade unprecedented blooming of pelagic Sargassum has occurred across the Equatorial Atlantic from West Africa to the Caribbean. Although pelagic Sargassum mats are considered beneficial in the open ocean, providing valuable habitat for a diverse array of endemic and associated species, they also inundate coastal areas and cause a plethora of management challenges for fisheries, tourism, nearshore coastal ecosystems, public health and the socioeconomic welfare of coastal communities. In—water harvesting has been suggested as a desirable management solution to prevent shoreline inundation, but destruction of the associated biodiversity is a concern with this approach and has not …

Data Relevant To "Going Mobile To Address Emerging Climate Equity Needs In The Heterogeneous Urban Environment", Katia Lamer

SoMAS Research Data

During its first few deployments, the mobile observatory has captured unique observations. Among them are vertical air motion measurements along the faces of the supertall One Vanderbilt skyscraper in Manhattan, NY which are shown to hold information critical to improving our understanding of the role of buildings in the ventilation of heat, pollution, and contaminants in urban street channels. Also, air temperature measurements collected during travel along a transect between Suffolk County and Manhattan, NY offer a high-resolution view of the urban heat island and reveal that temperature disparities also exist within the urban dome across different communities.

Beyond The Green Iron Cage: Exploring The Macro And Micro-Level Influences On Executive Decisions About Sustainability Investments In Small And Medium Size Firms, Igor Estraykh

Theses and Dissertations

Although research on corporate environmental sustainability has shed light on different aspects of organizational and individual level factors that influence corporate decisions, it does not fully account for how individual executives within firms react to these forces and make decisions, specifically within small to medium size enterprises (SMEs). This study used a grounded theory approach to interview 19 SME executives from 13 different industries to explore how organizational and individual level factors influence their ability to evaluate and make decisions related to sustainability initiatives. The study found that SME executives faced isomorphic pressures for sustainability, individual agency pressures, significant resource …

Magnetic And Mechanical Properties Of Ultrasoft Magnetorheological Elastomers, Andy T. Clark

Bryn Mawr College Dissertations and Theses

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs), composite materials consisting of magnetic particles embedded in a non-magnetic elastomeric matrix, can reversibly modulate their mechanical and magnetic properties through tuning the applied magnetic field H. Recently, ultrasoft MREs have received tremendous attention due to their great potential in biomedical applications. However, the effects of the polymer stiffness and magnetic particle concentration on the magnetic and mechanical properties of ultrasoft MREs still need to be better understood. In this dissertation, the author presents a comprehensive investigation of the magnetic and mechanical properties of ultrasoft MREs as well as their biomedical applications.

The effect of polymer …

The Wright Message, 2021-2022, University Of Northern Iowa. Department Of Mathematics.

The Wright Message

Contents

From the Dean --- 1
Around Wright Hall --- 3
In Memoriam: Diane Lee Baum --- 4
Faculty Spotlight --- 4
Retiring Faculty --- 5
Statistical Consulting Center staff changes --- 7
Alumni Spotlight --- 8
News from the CTLM --- 10
Student Spotlights --- 11
Donor Spotlight --- 18
First Woman to Win International Meshing Award --- 19
Contribution Recognition --- 20
Department Funds --- 22
Contribution Forms --- 23

Numerical Investigations Of 2-D Magnetic Nozzles On Pulsed Plasma Plumes, Joshua Daniel Burch

Masters Theses

"This research presents studies of a novel type of magnetic nozzle that allows for three-dimensional (3-D) steering of a plasma plume. Numerical simulations were performed using Tech-X's USim® software to quantify the nozzle's capabilities. A2-D planar magnetic nozzle was applied to plumes of a nominal pulsed inductive plasma (PIP) source with discharge parameters similar to those of Missouri S&T's Missouri Plasmoid Experiment (MPX). Argon and xenon plumes were considered. Simulations were verified and validated through a mesh convergence study as well as comparison with available experimental data. Periodicity was achieved over the simulation run time and phase angle samples were …

Tholins: A Gas Phase Computational Study Of Methanimine And Related Species, Bradley T. Chem

Online Theses and Dissertations

Titan has been referred to as the “gem of the Solar System.” This significance comes from its dense atmosphere, which is the only atmosphere in our Solar System other than Earth’s that is dense enough to produce a hydrological cycle (or methanological cycle, in the case of Titan). Scientists in the fields of astrobiology and astrochemistry believe that Titan’s current atmospheric conditions could resemble that of the primordial Earth, and as such is being studied to further our understanding of how life forms. While Titan’s atmosphere contains an abundance of organic molecules, methanimine (MA) and it’s related species the methyl …

Chromatographic Studies Of Some Hormone And Metabolic Modulators Used For Doping In Sports, Ruth Marie Speidel

Online Theses and Dissertations

The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) is an international agency that monitors the use of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) in sports; their mission is “to lead a collaborative worldwide movement for doping-free sport” (Who We Are, 2022). For this mission, the WADA needs quick, sensitive, reproducible, and accurate methods for analyzing athletes’ biological fluids for possible PEDs. This research focuses on developing and validating simple, sensitive, rapid, and reliable gas chromatography- mass spectrometry (GC-MS) methods for the analysis of two hormone and metabolic modulators, toremifene and trimetazidine. Previously, there has been limited GC-MS methods used to analyze toremifene and trimetazidine. Quantification …

Developing A New Treatment For Superficial Fungal Infection Using Antifungal Collagen-Hsaf Dressing, Jing Zhong, Xiayi Yan, Xin Zuo, Xuan Zhao, Jiahui Yang, Qin Dou, Lulu Peng, Yuxiang Zhu, Yichen Xiao, Zeran Bian, Dalian He, Qiushuang Xu, Stephen Wright, Yaoyao Li, Liangcheng Du, Yan Wang, Jin Yuan

Chemistry Department: Faculty Publications

Fungal pathogens are common causes of superficial clinical infection. Their increasing drug resistance gradually makes existing antifungal drugs ineffective. Heat stable antifungal factor (HSAF) is a novel antifungal natural product with a unique structure. However, the application of HSAF has been hampered by very low yield in the current microbial producers and from extremely poor solubility in water and common solvents. In this study, we developed an effective mode of treatment applying HSAF to superficial fungal infections. The marine-derived Lysobacter enzymogenes YC36 contains the HSAF biosynthetic gene cluster, which we activated by the interspecific signaling molecule indole. An efficient extraction …

Business Intelligence Trends: A Review Of Mobile Business Intelligence, Shanika Edirisinghe

Articles

The early stages of Decision Support Systems evolved with the technological improvements and availability of massive amounts of data. The concept of Business Intelligence became apparent along with this evolution which incorporates a range of fields and supports decision making in business organizations. Mobile business intelligence is a popular trend in the domain of business intelligence at present. Business organizations employ mobile business intelligence as an extension to the existing business intelligence systems. This study intends to present a review of mobile business intelligence while addressing its benefits, challenges, and limitations. Moreover, this study provides details of several use cases …