2923 research outputs found
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Hello, I am Evelyn Hinojosa
No full textEvelyn Hinojosa is a studio art major. The title of her research project is Body Ownership in Art
Hello, I am Jamie Sparkman
No full textJamie Sparkman is a senior biology major and chemistry minor. The title of her project is: The Influence of MED12 Knockdown on Adipogenesis
Hello, I am Kelsey Shoemaker
No full textKelsey Shoemaker is a senior in Agricultural Business. The title of her research project is: Influence of Container Color and Medium Depth on Avian Herbivory of Longleaf Pine Seed
Relationship between Kinetics of Countermovement Jump and Proximal Mechanics of Collegiate Baseball Pitching
Get PDFPurpose: To identify how countermovement jump (CMJ) kinetics influence kinematics and momentum of the baseball pitching motion with a focus on lower body and proximal movement. Methods: Nineteen Division I collegiate pitchers (age = 19.9 ± 1.5 years; height = 1.86 ± 0.06 m; weight = 90.7 ± 13.8 kg) performed a bilateral CMJ test and threw 5 strike fastballs from the stretch with a slide step on a custom-made pitching mound built for a laboratory setting. A 3D motion capture system tracked whole-body kinematics at 240 Hz from 29 reflective markers. Two force plates recorded ground reaction forces (GRFs) from each leg at 1040 Hz during both jump test and pitching captures. A one-way ANOVA separating high and low fastball velocity groups by an athlete’s median performance identified differences in pitching mechanics and jump kinetic variables. Meaningful differences between the variables were determined by cohen’s d effect size with 95% confidence intervals. The same statistical calculations were repeated to identify differences in pitching mechanics and jump kinetic variables between two groups, split based on the medians of pitchers’ total linear momentum in anterior-posterior direction.
Results: High throwing velocity group showed a significant increase in absolute peak power (p \u3c 0.01) and higher GRF (p \u3c 0.01) than low throwing velocity group for CMJ. The high momentum group showed a significant increase in concentric impulse (p \u3c 0.05) than the low momentum group. All of the pitching mechanics variables except for the momentum profiles did not show significant differences in both ANOVA tests.
Conclusions: Key findings suggest the importance of lower body power, as CMJ data has the potential to separate throwing velocity ability in pitchers, coupled with greater total mediolateral and transverse momentum with higher peak power in the CMJ.
Keywords: baseball pitching, countermovement jump, fastball velocity, ground reaction force
Lateral Torsional Buckling Resistance of Continuous Steel Stringers in Existing Bridges
Get PDFSome of the Louisiana’s bridges built in the 1950s and 1960s used two-girder or truss systems, in which floorbeams are carried by main members and the continuous (spliced) stringers are supported by the floorbeams. The main members are either two edge (fascia) girders or trusses. When the flexural capacity of continuous stringers is calculated, the moment gradient factor (Cb) is not accurately calculated considering the lateral torsional buckling (LTB) at the negative moment section. In particular, the bracing effect of the non-composite concrete deck is not accounted for, and as a result, the current practice has underestimated the LTB strength of continuous stringers significantly, which would cause either expensive bridge rehabilitation or unnecessary bridge postings. This dissertation presents the re-assessment of methodology behind flexural capacity of continuous stringers with the effort focusing on more realistic values for Cb. Theoretical solution and finite element analyses were addressed to examine Cb in continuous stringers. The analysis results were also calibrated using the lab testing data. Recommendations were provided on how to determine Cb more accurately and load rate the continuous stringers more reasonably.Chapter 1 presents a literature review including various codes and specifications, and relevant work by several researchers. Chapter 2 addresses a theoretical solution for the LTB resistance of continuous stringers. Chapter 3 illustrates the finite element analyses of the continuous stringers accounting for various bracing conditions and load cases. Chapter 4 addresses the lab testing findings and discusses the bracing effect due to various types of bracings, including the intermediate steel diaphragms, timber ties, and non-composite concrete deck. Chapter 5 presents the conclusions and recommendations on load ratings of continuous stringers with non-composite deck
Glial Endothelial Brain Cell Co-cultures for Testing Signaling Response and Delivery of Novel Materials Across Blood Brain Barrier
Get PDFThe brain accounts for 20% of overall energy metabolism in the body though it just comprises 2% of the total body mass but has a limited capacity of storing energy unlike other critical organs in the body such as the heart and liver. This energy along with oxygen and nutrients is supplied by cerebral blood flow (CBF), any interruption of which can cease the brain function within seconds with a potential irreversible neuronal injury, within minutes. Vascular cells along with astrocytes and neurons are a part of a recently developed concept known as the Neurovascular Unit responsible for Neurovascular coupling (NVC), a phenomenon whereby an increase in neuronal activity leads to elevation of local CBF. The blood-brain barrier(BBB) chiefly composed of the vascular cells and astrocytes comprises the major role in NVC and thus is central to understanding brain functions and disorders.
Nitric oxide (NO) is a calcium-dependent vasoactive mediator that heavily influences NVC while intracellular calcium (Ca++) is a second messenger that serves for complex signaling roles in the brain. Impairment in the homeostasis of these signals can lead to extreme functional alterations in the brain. Furthermore, both NO and Ca++ changes have been shown to affect BBB permeability which is a common feature observed in many neurological disorders. Therefore, this research investigates the alteration of NO and Ca++ signals in the rat brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMVECs) and astrocytes, the two major cell types of BBB during inflammation, and further evaluates the effect of cellular interaction between them in modulating these signals by developing their co-culture model. It focuses on phenotypic and biochemical changes in BBB due to inflammation, as inflammation related failure of BBB is implicated in the initiation or progression of a wide variety of neurological disorders. Both NO and Ca++ were found to increase excessively in BMVECs unlike the astrocytes during inflammation, and in the co-culture model, the presence of astrocytes was found to provide negative feedback to these elevated NO and Ca++signals from BMVECs. Considering the dominant role of NO and endothelial cells in NVC, this research investigates a potential application of a novel material, copper -cystine biohybrid known as Copper High Aspect Ratio Structures (CuHARS) in catalyzing NO in BMVECs in normal as well as in induced inflammatory conditions. CuHARS was able to increase the NO concentration in normal BMVECs by stimulating endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) activity, known to have neuroprotective roles besides inhibiting the usually harmful NO synthesis in an inflammatory condition. Thus, CuHARS displays potential in therapeutic applications for NO related NVC disorders in addition to the antimicrobial and wound healing applications studied earlier.
The tight junctions, unique to the endothelial lining of the brain, limit the entry of drugs against neurological and mental disorders from reaching into the brain. This poses an immense challenge in developing treatments for brain disorders. This research explores the naturally available Halloysite nanotubes (HNTs) for drug loading and delivery across the BBB. HNTs loaded with a fluorescent dye (RITC) and ionomycin separately were tested on BMVECs to study periodic and real-time attributes of HNTs in drug delivery. HNTs were found to deliver the payload gradually over an extended period to the BMVECs cells
Hello, I am Meagan McMillian
No full textMeagan McMillian is majoring in Theatre. The title of her research project is: Recreating 19th century Regency Headwear with 21st Century Materials and Tools
Hello, I am Julie Rutledge
No full textDr. Julie Rutledge is an associate professor in Human Development and Family Science and the director of the ENRICH Center
Hello, I am Nicole Leavitt
No full textNicole Leavitt is a senior nutrition and dietetics major. The title of her project is: Relationship among Sleep, Food Security Status, Financial Factors During the Early COVID-19 Experience
The relation of physical activity to quality of life, balance, and cognition in adults with Parkinson\u27s Disease: A pilot study
Get PDFAs the 2nd most common neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s disease (PD) is compiled of motor and nonmotor symptoms (Dashtipour et al., 2015). Motor symptoms include bradykinesia (slow movement), resting tremor, rigidity, and postural instability, and nonmotor symptoms include cognitive delays (Steib et al., 2018). Many studies have found positive results using exercise as therapy, but few have inspected daily levels of physical activity on balance, cognition, and quality of life in adults with PD. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to examine the relationship between physical activity level and progressive symptoms of PD - specifically bradykinesia, balance, cognitive function, and QoL, compared with healthy older adults (HOA). After an initial meeting, participants wore accelerometers on their hip for two weeks to track daily physical activity. Then, they completed a timed up and go (TUG), quality of life inventory, Eriksen Flanker test, and 1-back assessment. Results indicate that moderate & moderate vigorous activity levels may provide the best outcomes on the cognitive tasks for the PD group, however, there was limited significance for HOA. No significant outcomes were observed for the TUG or QoLI. Moderate and MVPA provided favorable cognitive effects for PD. With so much stacked against those with PD, daily physical activity simply added to one’s routine may be the best adjunctive strategy to combat symptoms of the disease