186 research outputs found
Pooja Tewari Interview
No full textPooja Tewari (Class of 2020) was interviewed by Jonathan Angulo via the Zoom internet-based video conferencing software on August 17, 2020. She was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. During her interview, Ms. Tewari describes race relations at her high school and what motivated her to attend SMU. While at SMU, she was involved in the Physician Scientist Training Program, which opened recruitment doors for her. She was also active in organizations like the Indian Student Association and the Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority. In her interview she also discusses her memories of the tearing down of the Multicultural Greek House, which was a safe space for communities of color. She graduated in 2020 with degrees in Health and Society and Biological Sciences. At the time of the interview, Ms. Tewari was a graduate student at the University of Texas El Paso
Multicomponent targeted proapoptotic anticancer drug delivery system
No full textCancer is one of the leading causes of death in United States. The current approaches for the treatment of solid tumor available are the surgery for the removal of primary tumor followed by chemotherapy and /or radiation. The efficacy of chemotherapy is limited by the following factors; (1) adverse side-effects on healthy organs, (2) development of cellular resistance and (3) low solubility of many anticancer drugs. The primary objective of this dissertation is to overcome all the above stated limitations. The methods employed in this dissertation includes designing, synthesizing and evaluating a novel drug delivery system comprising of 1) multiple copies of an anticancer drug, Camptothecin (CPT) ; 2) a polymeric carrier, Polyethylene glycol (PEG); 3) multiple copies of a targeting moiety to cancer cells, Luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) peptide; 4) multiple copies of a suppressor of antiapoptotic cellular defense, BH3 peptide both in vitro and in vivo on A2780 human ovarian carcinoma cells and malignant ascites and animal models respectively. Conjugates of CPT, LHRH and CPT, LHRH, BH3 were evaluated for cytotoxicity, cancer specificity and antitumor activity. The multicomponent anticancer delivery system will significantly enhance the efficacy of an anticancer drug in the treatment of all the stages of cancer when compared with free drug, non-targeted delivery systems or the system consisting of one copy of each active component.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Pooja Chandn
Offshoring and outsourcing of core corporate activities: the global relocation of pharmaceutical industry clinical trials
No full textThis dissertation examines the offshoring and outsourcing of core activities in the pharmaceutical industry. Using primary and secondary data sources, the dissertation adopts a multi-level approach to examine four research questions related to the sourcing strategies of core activities such as clinical trials. Specifically, I look at operational and strategic factors that influence the decision to relocate core activities both organizationally (in-house versus external vendors) and geographically (activities conducted in home nation versus trials in foreign countries). Drawing on Dunning's framework, the dissertation next examines the role of four motives (resource, market, efficiency and strategic asset seeking) in the offshoring decisions while distinguishing between offshore outsourcing and offshoring to foreign affiliates. Using multiple case studies, the third study further investigates the evolution of firms sourcing strategies from conducting core activities in-house to increasingly outsourcing and offshoring them. The final study in the dissertation examines the impact of offshoring and outsourcing on the performance of core activities. Data for this dissertation comes from multiple sources: Primary data from in-depth structured interviews and online survey of vice presidents of clinical affairs of pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms, as well as secondary data from Medidata, Orbis, and World Development Indicators. The dissertation offers evidence that firms tend to use different sourcing strategies for different motives. Specifically, offshoring to foreign affiliates is primarily driven by strategic factors and firms tend to prefer this strategy for strategic asset seeking purposes. Offshore outsourcing on the other hand is motivated by resource and efficiency seeking behavior and the important determinants for this strategy are mainly operational. The third type of sourcing strategy is domestic outsourcing and firms are driven by both strategic as well as operational determinants for this strategy. The qualitative study on strategy evolution points towards a five stage process which begins with in-house sourcing followed by domestic outsourcing, foreign affiliates, offshore outsourcing and finally backsourcing of core activities. Evidence from the dissertation suggests that outsourcing has a positive impact on performance when compared to in-house while offshoring has a negative impact compared to domestic sourcing.Ph.D.Includes abstractVitaIncludes bibliographical referencesby Pooja Thaku
Target reliability indices for quay walls, jetties, and flexible dolphins
No full textStructural codes rely on generalised target reliability indices, which are mainly derived for buildings. It is unclear, however, whether these indices are applicable to the specific risk-profile of quay walls, jetties, and flexible dolphins. In this study, target reliability indices for marine structures were derived from various risk acceptance criteria, such as economic optimisation, individual risk, societal risk, the life quality index, and the social and environmental repercussion index. This article uses a method to determine reliability targets distinguishing time-dependent and time-independent variables, because some important stochastic design variables in the design of marine structures, such as soil and material properties, are largely time-independent. The assessment framework of ISO 2394, taking into account social, economic, and environmental impact, has proven to be a solid basis for reliability differentiation. The method of approach considered in this paper can also be used for evaluating target reliability indices of other geotechnical structures.Accepted Author ManuscriptHydraulic Structures and Flood Ris
Dynamic Planning for Flexible Port Infrastructure after Panama Canal Expansion: A Real Case Study
No full textThis paper presents a study carried out to first assess the impact of the Panama Canal expansion (PCE) on selected Caribbean ports, and thereafter, to examine how the ports can adapt in order to seize new opportunities created by the expansion. An applied case of long-term dynamic planning and flexibility in engineering design is presented for a new port terminal in Barranquilla, Colombia. Furthermore, this paper presents the results of a stochastic method for quantifying opportunities from containerized traffic using dynamic forecasting, real options analysis, and Monte Carlo simulation, within the framework and spirit of adaptive port planning under uncertainty.Accepted Author ManuscriptRivers, Ports, Waterways and Dredging Engineerin
Use of Dominant Point Detection Feature for Recognition of Online Handwritten Devanagari Script
No full textAfter the invention of computers, a great amount of work has been done in the field of
computer human interface. But the problem of exchanging data between human beings
and computing machines is still challenging. An enormous research has been done for
efficient character recognition and even now research is going on.
Basically Character recognition techniques associate a symbolic identity with the image
of a character. To make the complicated process of online handwritten character
recognition easier and more robust, focus should be on salient features of character.
After pre-processing feature extraction is done. Feature extraction is a vital phase of
character recognition. Features extracted from character encode the structural
characteristics of character shape. One of the methods to get efficient recognition is to
extract dominant points of characters.
Dominant points can be used to recognize the character more proficiently. Dominant
points are commonly considered as points with local maximum curvature (elevated
position). In other words, it can be said that dominant points of a character are those
points where the slope value changes noticeably. The dominant points are taken as output
from feature extraction phase and input for recognizing the character. The dominant
points are extracted for characters and also the distance of these points from centre of
character is calculated. On the basis of these features, recognition is accomplished.
Recognition is done through SVM
Examining Social Determinants Of Health And Cervical Cancer Risk And Outcomes In Ecuadorian Women
Full text linkBackground and Significance: The burden of cervical cancer in the Latin American region is high. The crude incidence rate and the crude mortality rate in Ecuador are significantly higher than that of South America and the World. Riobamba, Ecuador, where the Fundación Internacional Buen Samaritano Paul Martel (FIBUSPAM) hospital is located, has been found to be one of the cities most affected with cervical cancer in the country. Risk factors for cervical cancer that have been identified in Latin American women include chronological age, age of first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, number of pregnancies, use of oral contraceptives, smoking, and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) status. Barriers in accessibility to cervical cancer screening in Latin American women include health-system related, social, and cultural barriers.
Objective/Hypotheses: The purpose of the study is to identify factors associated with the risk of cervical cancer in Ecuadorian women. This study also seeks to identify the factors associated with preventing Ecuadorian women from accessing cervical cancer screening services. The first hypothesis is that in Ecuadorian women, risk factors of smoking, oral contraception use, age, age of first sexual encounter, number of sexual partners, previous positive STD test, previous diagnosis of specific STDs, number of children, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, will be associated with a positive Visual Inspection with Acetic Acid (VIA) result. The second hypothesis is that in Ecuadorian women, VIA result, past healthcare services access, level of education received, socioeconomic status, and ethnicity will be associated with time taken to healthcare facility and type of transport used to reach the healthcare facility.
Methods: A secondary data analysis was executed on a cervical cancer dataset collected from February 2017 to May 2017 from the FIBUSPSAM cervical cancer program, which used a screen-and-treat method of screening 1000 Ecuadorian women with a VIA test and treating them with cryotherapy.
Results: There was a statistically significant difference in the percent of people who have ever used birth control and VIA result (p=0.006, X2=12.57). There was a statistically significant difference in the percent of people by ethnicity and type of transport used to reach the clinic (p=0.000, X2=54.90). Also, there was a statistically significant difference in the percent of people by education and type of transport used to the health care facility (p=0.000, X2=71.83). It was also found that age had a statistically significant impact on VIA result F(3, 929)= 5.509, p=0.001. Finally, the time taken to seek services at the healthcare facility differed significantly by ethnicity H-value=17.02 df=3, p=0.001.
Conclusions/Recommendations: Study findings indicate that birth control usage and age were significantly associated with VIA result. Additionally, ethnicity and highest education level received were significantly associated with type of transport used to reach the healthcare facility. Finally, ethnicity was significantly associated with time taken to healthcare facility. These findings advance literature related to cervical cancer risk and access to cervical cancer services and the health consequences for minority and medically-underserved communities globally. For priority communities, policies consistent with these results can be proposed to the Ministry of Public Health in Ecuador to increase cervical cancer screening programs that incorporate population/region specific risk factors and barriers
Expression of Keratin 19 in Relation to CDK Inhibiting Treatment of Breast Cancer
No full textA presentation that was delivered in the Fifth University Research Day at the Catholic University of America in 2020.This research was collaborated with Pooja Sharm
MyFutures: Imagining speculative care and support futures in The Netherlands
No full textIn many Western societies, decisions about leaving home and spending your last years in a care home are often taken suddenly. Immediate health issues force family, friends and neighbours who offer informal support to ask for immediate formal support. Such urgent situations do not lead to the best solutions.Design Conceptualization and Communicatio
Characterization of the arsenate and selenate reducing bacterial community of agricultural soils of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam
No full textArsenic and selenium occur as metalloids in the Earth’s crust and microorganisms can utilize the oxyanions of arsenic and selenium as terminal electron acceptors for respiration in the process of dissimilatory reduction. In this study the microbially mediated reduction of selenium and arsenic in agricultural soils of the Mekong River delta, Vietnam was investigated. By employing culture dependent enrichment setup and terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism (T-RFLP) community fingerprinting, we have been able to show the microbially mediated reduction of As and Se oxyanions in agricultural soils and sediments of staple crops such as rice and cabbage. An arsenate and selenate reducing bacterium belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae was isolated from the rice soil irrigated by ground water. Microbially mediated transformations of As and Se may modulate the toxicity of these elements and change their mobility and bioavailability, which affects their translocation and accumulation in plants. This study is providing preliminary information on the role of bacteria in As and Se biotransformation in agricultural soils of the Mekong river delta.M.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Pooja Mishr
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