13251 research outputs found
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Elucidating the Role of Hemodynamic Force in Regulating the Attachment of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells (VSMCS) to Maturing Vessels During Mouse Embryonic Development
No full textBlood vessel maturation is characterized by the recruitment and attachment of vascular smooth muscle cells (vSMCs) around immature blood vessels, which ultimately form the tunica media. Improper maturation can lead to vascular birth defects ranging from minor birthmarks to lethal brain aneurysms. Previously, our lab demonstrated that hemodynamic force plays an important role to regulate vSMCs recruitment from neighboring low-flow to high-flow vessels followed by the attachment of these vSMCs to the high-flow vessels. To understand the reason for the preferred attachment of vSMCs to high-flow vessels, instead of low-flow vessels, I hypothesize that hemodynamic force modulates the expression of extracellular matrix genes to promote the deposition of a thick basement membrane around the immature high-flow vessels to increase its adhesiveness to migrating vSMCs. To test this hypothesis, I utilized an extraembryonic tissue called the yolk sac, which is a thin/transparent membrane only comprised of simple blood vessels, and I compared gene expression differences by qPCR between yolk sac tissues under normal blood flow with those having reduced blood flow. I found that there is a decrease in matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) expression in high-flow vessels as compared to low-flow vessels. My data support our hypothesis as lowering MMP9 should promote deposition of a thicker basement membrane, thus enhancing the attachment of vSMCs to high-flow vessels
Maintenance of Language and Learning Skills Using PEAK Relational Training During Extended School Closure
No full textAutism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental and neurological disorder that affects how people communicate, interact with others, behave, and learn. Applied Behavior Analysis is a scientific approach to predicting and influencing behavior that has been applied successfully in supporting children with ASD. Due to communication and intellectual differences experienced by those diagnosed with ASD, it is important to identify therapies and interventions that focus on language development as well as maintenance of intervention gains during unexpected lapses in instruction. The PEAK Relational Training System (Dixon et al., 2017)is a treatment framework that exists within ABA to address language and cognitive skills. In this case study evaluation, which was completed in a public school setting, four students with ASD were assessed using the PEAK Comprehensive Assessment (PCA) prior to the COVID-19 shutdown. During the shutdown, these students received a significant decrease in the amount of direct instruction and instruction was delivered via telehealth. When school resumed the next fall, these students were reassessed, and three out of the four students showed an increase in their PEAK Assessment scores. This case study shows the effectiveness of a modified telehealth model created and conducted by school teachers and staff in a rural public school in Nebraska during the mandatory COVID-19 closures. Once the shutdown was over, scores were collected and analyzed from existing data collected during this time as well as pre-post analysis of PCA scores
Detecting User Emotions From Audio Conversations With the Smart Assistants
No full textWith the proliferation of smart home devices like Google Home or Amazon Alexa, significant research endeavors are being carried out to improve the user experience while interacting with these smart assistants. One such dimension in this endeavor is ongoing research on successful emotion detection from short voice commands used in smart home environment. Besides facial expression and body language, etc., speech plays a pivotal role in the classification of emotions when it comes to smart home application. Upon successful implementation of accurate emotion recognition, the smart devices will be able to intelligently and empathetically suggest appropriate actions based on the users’ current emotional state. Keeping that in focus, this research aims to advance the existing literature on emotion detection from voice commands in smart home applications. Initially, I chose two publicly available datasets as audio conversation datasets to highlight my application\u27s most effective classification algorithm. Through a comparative analysis, I have concluded that the Tree-based Pipeline Optimization Tool (TPOT) algorithm outperforms other machine learning techniques to detect accurate emotion from an audio. On a concurrent study, I observed that Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficient (MFCC) in combination with Mel Spectrogram (MEL) result in higher classification accuracy than other existing audio feature combinations available in literature. Upon this conclusion, I have adapted TPOT combined with MEL and MFCC audio feature for our in-house smart home dataset. This Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved in-house dataset contains 5000 smart home voice commands covering five distinctive emotional states from 12 different users. Moving forward, I proposed four new audio features named Chunk Gap Length (CGL), Mean Chunk Duration (MCD), Mean Word Duration Per Chunk (MWDPC), and Per Chunk Word Count (PCWC) to be utilized along with existing MFCC and MEL for improving the accuracy of emotion detection. My evaluation results show that combinations of custom features with MFCC and MEL provide better accuracy in detecting the correct emotion compared to MFCC and MEL alone
Predictable Book Shifting
No full textThere are many methods to carry out a library book shift but those methods allow for varying degrees of predictability. The Bookshift.py script, when used in conjunction with accurate measurements of a library’s collection and shelving, provides library staff with predictability, flexibility, and the ability to shift in parallel. For every shelf, the script outputs a phrase such as the following, “The last book from this shelf goes 12.3 in/cm into shelf 776.” While complicated shifts can still create surprises, using Bookshift.py or similar methods typically make those surprises easy to correct
Queering Job: Inverted Liberation in Boy Erased and Other Conversion Trauma Narratives
No full textThis thesis explores conversion trauma narratives with the goal of transforming—inverting The Book of Job’s holy resolution to instead entail queer liberation apart from Evangelicalism. Analyzing Conley’s bestselling memoir, Boy Erased, I discuss Conley’s suffering and how his liberation is not found by means of repressing or converting his attraction to the same gender. I also analyze Emily Danforth’s novel, The Miseducation of Cameron Post to highlight how fictional accounts of queer liberation from conversion therapy help to increase awareness of the harms of conversion therapy. Throughout my thesis, I incorporate my own story of queer suffering, survival, and resilience. I steal away Job’s narrative for the sake of my own resolution away from church, forced masculinity, and closeted identity
Managing semi-arid oak forests (Quercus brantii Lindl.): Mature oak trees of different dimensions create contrasted microhabitats influencing seedling quality
No full textWe investigated the influence of mature of oak trees of various dimensions on soil properties, acorn and oak seedling characteristics in semi-arid forests in western Iran. A total of 24 oak trees were selected in comparable site conditions according to three size categories: small trees (DBH\u3c 20 cm), medium trees (DBH: 20–50 cm) and large trees (DBH\u3e 50 cm). Soil properties, light availability below canopy, acorn dimensions and weight, various below- and above-ground seedling morphological traits were measured. Besides, a seedling quality index (SQI) was also produced as an integrative measure of the seedling response. We found an increasing light availability from small trees to large trees (1512–103 μmol m−2 s−1) and soil fertility was largely improved from small trees to large trees: soil organic carbon (1.33–2.2%), available phosphorus (12.9–18.1 ppm) and potassium (301.2–470.4 ppm). However, soil properties did not significantly differ between medium and large trees. In contrast, acorn weight and dimensions as well as many seedling traits, including the aerial and belowground biomass and the SQI, were the highest in the medium tree category. To fully explore the relationships among our large set of variables, we produced a partial least square path model which explained 72% of the variation of SQI across the three tree classes. To conclude, we identified a clear effect by mature trees which provided favourable conditions for seedling establishment, but that effect was mediated by tree size and optimal conditions were found below the canopy of medium trees
How Does Reactivity to Social Connectedness Affect Personality Traits and Mediate the Relationship between Trauma and Resilience?
No full textThis research seeks to explore the relationship between trauma and resiliency development while analyzing how personality traits and reactivity to social connectedness mediates this relationship. The current study was created in order to address several main considerations: (1) Do trauma experiences impact levels of resiliency developed in individuals? (2) Do certain personality characteristics, specifically extraversion and emotional stability, affect the relationship between traumatic experiences and resiliency? (3) Does an individuals’ level of extraversion or emotional stability affect their reactivity to social connectedness? (4) Does reactivity to social connectedness mediate the relationship between trauma and resilience? Participants cumulative trauma experiences and life stressors were measured with the Life Stressor Checklist-Revised (LSC-R) and compared to total resiliency scores evaluated by the Resiliency Scale for Adults (RSA), to identify if trauma exposure is linked to resiliency development. Additionally, personality characteristics were measured by the Personality Inventory (Big Five IPIP) to determine if certain personality traits affect the relationship between trauma and the development of resiliency. Furthermore, social connectedness was measured by the Social Connectedness Scale-Revised (SCS-R) and galvanic skin response in order to assess if levels of reactivity to social connectedness are related to personality traits and if that reactivity impacts the relationship between trauma and resiliency
Evaluating the Impact of Off-Farm Decisions on Federal Government Program Utilization and Financial Success for Missouri\u27s Beginning Farmers
No full textFarmers and ranchers will have to increase production by approximately 70% by the year 2050 according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (2017). People in the agriculture industry face several challenges from start-up costs to limited land availability (Ahearn, 2011). There are federal and state government programs available to assist with some of these challenges but bring their own hardships as well. This study measures off-farm decisions that affect financial performance and utilization of government programs for Missouri’s farmers and ranchers. Three types of financial performance of Missouri farms are prioritized in this study, liquidity (current ratio), solvency (debt-to-asset ratio), and profitability (rate of return on assets). In addition, government payments received were evaluated as a dependent variable in this study to explore what factors affect the level of payments received by beginning and all Missouri farmers. Using data from the 2019 Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS) for the state of Missouri, several significant results were found. Government payments received and the having an experienced operator displayed better financial performance. Farmers choosing to work off-farm for health benefits, retirement benefits, and income reasons compared to those that did not result in less government payments received. Overall, the results of this study provide valuable information for those involved in the agriculture industry today, tomorrow, and in the future
Cesarean Skin-to-Skin Contact: Who Gets the Experience in the Operating Room?
No full textFor the past decade, skin-to-skin contact immediately after birth has been the general recommendation for all births, as there is evidence that it provides many benefits for mothers and infants. Yet, research has shown that immediate skin-to-skin contact is not the standard practice after most Cesarean births. This study assessed access, incidence, and circumstances surrounding Cesarean skin-to-skin contact (CSSC) in the operating room and examined influencing maternal characteristics of age, education, race, and number of births via a survey of 2327 people. Women who experienced a Cesarean section birth in the past 10 years were recruited through Facebook groups for mothers to take an online survey. Study results found that respondents were offered and experienced CSSC during their most recent Cesarean birth much less often than they would have desired. The study found statistically significant associations with CSSC in older maternal age, having previous Cesarean birth experience, and higher levels of education. Previous vaginal birth experience and race were not statistically significant associations with CSSC based on this study’s sample. This study examined access and incidence of CSSC in order to increase awareness and advocacy so that all women having a Cesarean section birth can be given the option of experiencing CSSC