ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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Description
Hydration status serves as an essential pillar of human health. Adequate hydration reduces cardiovascular strain, improves the body's ability to thermoregulate, stabilizes mood, and may reduce the risk of physiologic diseases like that of diabetes and urolithiasis. While many studies have shown the importance of adequate fluid intake on hydration status, very few have investigated the influence of dietary food moisture on hydration status. This study collected daily food diaries, daily fluid diaries, and spot urine samples over a 24hr period from 694 participants in Northwest Arkansas participating in the HYBISKUS study. Fluid and food diaries were logged in NDSR and analyzed using JMP while combined spot urine samples were analyzed using a freezing point depression osmometer to retrieve 24hr urine osmolality. Urine osmolality data was extracted from 24hr urine samples and used as the hydration status biomarker for study participants. The average contributions of water from fluids and foods in participants was 79.3 ±9.6% and 20.7 ±9.5% respectively. This study found that dietary food moisture has a significant effect on hydration status in adults with no specific macronutrient groups take precedence over any others in regard to dietary food moisture contributions. These results suggest that there are legitmate reasons to consider dietary food moisture intake when water intake recommendations are made for adults attempting to optimize health or prepare for physical exercise.
ContributorsKleinschmidt, Hunter (Author) / Kavouras, Stavros SK (Thesis advisor) / Sweazea, Karen KS (Committee member) / Katsanos, Christos CK (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Mast cells, components of the immune system, promote allergic symptoms such as itching, sneezing, and increased intestinal motility. Although mast cells have a detrimental role in allergies, they might have unrecognized physiological functions. Indeed, mast cells have been reported to protect against lethal envenomation. I hypothesized that mast cells have a protective role in the defense against toxins. Because toxin-induced diarrheal diseases are one of the top five causes of mortality in children worldwide (induced by cholera toxin, for example), I tested the role of mast cells in sensing relevant dietary toxins. My goals were to a) establish an in vitro model of mast cell activation using foodborne toxins and b) determine the mast cell transcriptional programs induced by these toxins. To establish the in vitro model, I generated mast cells from murine bone marrow precursors and cultured them in mast cell-specific media for 5 weeks. Mature mast cells were then stimulated with toxins from phylogenetically distinct origins. I found that, surprisingly, no toxin was able to induce significant cell death, even after 24h of culturing, suggesting that mast cells are resistant to the toxic effects of these compounds. To assess mast cell activation, I quantified the levels of TNF-α 6h after toxin exposure. None of the toxins were able to induce TNF-α production by mast cells, suggesting that toxins might not induce inflammation in mast cells. However, I found that mast cells induced expression of activation-related transcripts like Il1b, Tpsab1, Alox5, Egr1, Tnfa and Hdc in response to cholera toxin, when compared with controls. Mast cells stimulated with retrorsine induced the expression of Tph1, Alox5, Il1b and Hdc. Deoxynivalenol induced Ltc4, Il6, Tpsab1, Tnfa, Hdc, and Alox5 while okadaic acid induced Il6, Tnfa, Tph1, Alox5, Egr1, Il1b and Hdc expression. Aconitine only induced Il6, Hdc, and Tpsab1. Lastly, Ochratoxin A induced expression of Il1b, Il6, Tpsab1, Egr1 and Hdc. Altogether, these results suggest that mast cells directly sense and respond to food toxins, which was unknown. How exactly mast cells contribute to toxin defenses will be crucial to investigate as they impact both toxin-induced and inflammatory diseases.
ContributorsGalarza, Mayka (Author) / Borges Florsheim, Esther (Thesis advisor) / Lucas, Alexandra (Committee member) / Mana, Miyeko (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Evolutionary theory provides a rich framework for understanding cancer dynamics across scales of biological organization. The field of cancer evolution has largely been divided into two domains, comparative oncology - the study of cancer across the tree of life, and tumor evolution. This work provides a theoretical framework to unify these subfields with the intent that an understanding of the evolutionary dynamics driving cancer risk at one scale can inform the understanding of the dynamics on another scale. The evolution of multicellular life and the unique vulnerabilities in the cellular mechanisms that underpin it explain the ubiquity of cancer prevalence across the tree of life. The breakdown in cellular cooperation and communication that were required for multicellular life define the hallmarks of cancer. As divergent life histories drove speciation events, it similarly drove divergences in fundamental cancer risk across species. An understanding of the impact that species’ life history theory has on the underlying network of multicellular cooperation and somatic evolution allows for robust predictions on cross-species cancer risk. A large-scale veterinary cancer database is utilized to validate many of the predictions on cancer risk made from life history evolution. Changing scales to the cellular level, it lays predictions on the fate of somatic mutations and the fitness benefits they confer to neoplastic cells compared to their healthy counterparts. The cancer hallmarks, far more than just a way to unify the many seemingly unique pathologies defined as cancer, is a powerful toolset to understand how specific mutations may change the fitness of somatic cells throughout carcinogenesis and tumor progression. Alongside highlighting the significant advances in evolutionary approaches to cancer across scales, this work provides a lucid confirmation that an understanding of both scales provides the most complete portrait of evolutionary cancer dynamics.
ContributorsCompton, Zachary Taylor (Author) / Maley, Carlo C. (Thesis advisor) / Aktipis, Athena (Committee member) / Buetow, Kenneth (Committee member) / Nedelcu, Aurora (Committee member) / Compton, Carolyn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Decay of plant litter represents an enormous pathway for carbon (C) into the atmosphere but our understanding of the mechanisms driving this process is particularly limited in drylands. While microbes are a dominant driver of litter decay in most ecosystems, their significance in drylands is not well understood and abiotic drivers such as photodegradation are commonly perceived to be more important. I assessed the significance of microbes to the decay of plant litter in the Sonoran Desert. I found that the variation in decay among 16 leaf litter types was correlated with microbial respiration rates (i.e. CO2 emission) from litter, and rates were strongly correlated with water-vapor sorption rates of litter. Water-vapor sorption during high-humidity periods activates microbes and subsequent respiration appears to be a significant decay mechanism. I also found that exposure to sunlight accelerated litter decay (i.e. photodegradation) and enhanced subsequent respiration rates of litter. The abundance of bacteria (but not fungi) on the surface of litter exposed to sunlight was strongly correlated with respiration rates, as well as litter decay, implying that exposure to sunlight facilitated activity of surface bacteria which were responsible for faster decay. I also assessed the response of respiration to temperature and moisture content (MC) of litter, as well as the relationship between relative humidity and MC. There was a peak in respiration rates between 35-40oC, and, unexpectedly, rates increased from 55 to 70oC with the highest peak at 70oC, suggesting the presence of thermophilic microbes or heat-tolerant enzymes. Respiration rates increased exponentially with MC, and MC was strongly correlated with relative humidity. I used these relationships, along with litter microclimate and C loss data to estimate the contribution of this pathway to litter C loss over 34 months. Respiration was responsible for 24% of the total C lost from litter – this represents a substantial pathway for C loss, over twice as large as the combination of thermal and photochemical abiotic emission. My findings elucidate two mechanisms that explain why microbial drivers were more significant than commonly assumed: activation of microbes via water-vapor sorption and high respiration rates at high temperatures.
ContributorsTomes, Alexander (Author) / Day, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Garcia-Pichel, Ferran (Committee member) / Ball, Becky (Committee member) / Hall, Sharon (Committee member) / Roberson, Robert (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
The desire to start a family is something millions of people around the globe strive to achieve. However, many factors such as the societal changes in family planning due to increasing maternal age, use of birth control, and ever-changing lifestyles have increased the number of infertility cases seen in the United States each year. Infertility can manifest as a prolonged inability to conceive, or inability to carry a pregnancy full-term. Modern advancements in the field of reproductive medicine have begun to promote the use of Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) to circumvent reduced fertility in both men and women. Implementation of techniques such as In Vitro Fertilization, Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection, and Pre-Implantation Genetic Testing have allowed many couples to conceive. There is continual effort being made towards developing more effective and personalized fertility treatments. This often begins in the form of animal research—a fundamental step in biomedical research. This dissertation examines infertility as a medical condition through the characterization of normal reproductive anatomy and physiology in the introductory overview of reproduction. Specific pathologies of male and female-factor infertility are described, which necessitates the use of ARTs. The various forms of ARTs currently utilized in a clinical setting are addressed including history, preparations, and protocols for each technology. To promote continual advancement of the field, both animal studies and human trials provide fundamental stepping-stones towards the execution of new techniques and protocols. Examples of research conducted for the betterment of human reproductive medicine are explored, including an animal study conducted in mice exploring the role of tyramine in ovulation. With the development and implementation of new technologies and protocols in the field, this also unearths ethical dilemmas that further complicate the addition of new technologies in the field. Combining an extensive review in assisted reproduction, research and clinical fieldwork, this study investigates the history and development of novel research conducted in reproductive medicine and explores the broader implications of new technologies in the field.
ContributorsPeck, Shelbi Marie (Author) / Baluch, Debra P (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Thesis advisor) / Sweazea, Karen (Committee member) / Ellison, Karin (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
Eusocial insect colonies have often been imagined as “superorganisms” exhibiting tight homeostasis at the colony level. However, colonies lack the tight spatial and organizational integration that many multicellular, unitary organisms exhibit. Precise regulation requires rapid feedback, which is often not possible when nestmates are distributed across space, making decisions asynchronously. Thus, one should expect poorer regulation in superorganisms than unitary organisms.Here, I investigate aspects of regulation in collective foraging behaviors that involve both slow and rapid feedback processes. In Chapter 2, I examine a tightly coupled system with near-instantaneous signaling: teams of weaver ants cooperating to transport massive prey items back to their nest. I discover that over an extreme range of scenarios—even up vertical surfaces—the efficiency per transporter remains constant. My results suggest that weaver ant colonies are maximizing their total intake rate by regulating the allocation of transporters among loads. This is an exception that “proves the rule;” the ant teams are recapitulating the physical integration of unitary organisms.
Next, I focus on a process with greater informational constraints, with loose temporal and spatial integration. In Chapter 3, I measure the ability of solitarily foraging Ectatomma ruidum colonies to balance their collection of protein and carbohydrates given different nutritional environments. Previous research has found that ant species can precisely collect a near-constant ratio between these two macronutrients, but I discover these studies were using flawed statistical approaches. By developing a quantitative measure of regulatory effect size, I show that colonies of E. ruidum are relatively insensitive to small differences in food source nutritional content, contrary to previously published claims.
In Chapter 4, I design an automated, micro-RFID ant tracking system to investigate how the foraging behavior of individuals integrates into colony-level nutrient collection. I discover that spatial fidelity to food resources, not individual specialization on particular nutrient types, best predicts individual forager behavior. These findings contradict previously published experiments that did not use rigorous quantitative measures of specialization and confounded the effects of task type and resource location.
ContributorsBurchill, Andrew Taylor (Author) / Pavlic, Theodore P (Thesis advisor) / Pratt, Stephen C (Thesis advisor) / Hölldobler, Bert (Committee member) / Cease, Arianne (Committee member) / Berman, Spring (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Programmed cell death plays an important role in a variety of processes that promote the survival of the host organism. Necroptosis, a form of programmed cell death, occurs through a signaling pathway involving receptor-interacting serine-threonine protein kinase 3 (RIPK3). In response to vaccinia virus infection, necroptosis is induced through DNA-induced activator of interferon (DAI), which activates RIPK3, leading to death of the cell and thereby inhibiting further viral replication in host cells. DAI also localizes into stress granules, accumulations of mRNAs that have stalled in translation due to cellular stress. The toxin arsenite, a canonical inducer of stress granule formation, was used in this project to study necroptosis. By initiating necroptosis with arsenite and vaccinia virus, this research project investigated the roles of necroptosis proteins and their potential localization into stress granules. The two aims of this research project were to determine whether stress granules are important for arsenite- and virus-induced necroptosis, and whether the proteins DAI and RIPK3 localize into stress granules. The first aim was investigated by establishing a DAI and RIPK3 expression system in U2OS cells; arsenite treatment or vaccinia virus infection was then performed on the U2OS cells as well as on U2OSΔΔG3BP1/2 cells, which are not able to form stress granules. The second aim was carried out by designing fluorescent tagging for the necroptosis proteins in order to visualize protein localization with fluorescent microscopy. The results show that arsenite induces DAI-dependent necroptosis in U2OS cells and that this arsenite-induced necroptosis likely requires stress granules. In addition, the results show that vaccinia virus induces DAI-dependent necroptosis that also likely requires stress granules in U2OS cells. Furthermore, a fluorescent RIPK3 construct was created that will allowfor future studies on protein localization during necroptosis and can be used to answer questions regarding localization of necroptosis proteins into stress granules. This project therefore contributes to a greater understanding of the roles of DAI and RIPK3 in necroptosis, as well as the roles of stress granules in necroptosis, both of which are important in research regarding viral infection and cellular stress.
ContributorsGogerty, Carolina (Author) / Jacobs, Bertram (Thesis advisor) / Langland, Jeffrey (Committee member) / Jentarra, Garilyn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
This thesis focuses on large-scale direct simple shear (LDSS) testing to analyze the behavior of coarse mine tailings subject to cyclic loading. The motivation behind this research stems from recent failures of tailings dams, prompting mine owners globally to reassess the safety of their tailing’s impoundments. Testing was carried out at the Arizona State University (ASU) Enamul and Mahmuda Hoque geotechnical laboratory using a unique LDSS device. Cyclic shearing, at different levels of strains, under constant normal stress test was carried out to investigate the modulus reduction and damping behavior of the tailings. Constant volume tests were conducted to simulate the undrained behavior of the tailings and provide insight to the tailings’ liquefaction potential. In both the constant normal stress and constant volume tests the tailings were sheared to the strain limit of the device to assess the post-cyclic shear behavior of the tailings. Testing was also conducted on tailings from the same parent material after screening the larger particle to evaluate the effect of the particle size. The thesis also includes recommendations for improving future test results. This thesis provides valuable insights on the behavior of coarse mine tailings which ultimately contributes to enhancing safety and environmental sustainability in the mining industry.
ContributorsDangi, Rajesh (Author) / Kavazanjian, Edward (Thesis advisor) / Zapata, Claudia (Committee member) / Tirkolaei, Hamed Khodadadi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Contraceptives are a vital part of reproductive care by preventing unwanted pregnancy, providing relief to premenstrual syndrome or PMS symptoms, and more. Birth control has been around for many centuries and has given women autonomy over their reproductive health. The Griswold v. Connecticut Supreme Court case in 1965 was the first ruling that made birth control accessible to the public under the law. However, this ruling only pertained only to married couples until the Eisenstadt v. Baird case in 1972. That case gave single women the ability to legally purchase contraceptives for themselves. In the decades since those rulings, many laws and policies have been put into place to give those in lower-income areas the ability to purchase contraceptives as well. With this increase in accessibility, those who use contraceptives, or are thinking of starting birth control, need to understand how to use it, when to use it, and the effects of using contraceptives. In the United States, nurses outnumber doctors by a 4:1 ratio and spend more time with patients than anyone else in a clinic or hospital environment. Nurses, being the main healthcare providers with whom a patient will interact, often are the ones patients ask questions about care and overall advice. Nurses must be able to relay valuable information about treatments or medicines, such as birth control, and give accurate information on the effects such treatments have. Nursing students need to be prepared. However, the amount of information provided, and opinions given might be affected by their nursing education, past experiences with birth control, and more. This project surveys nursing students at Arizona State University on their attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs towards birth control interventions, and how their individual experiences and education influence these perceptions.
ContributorsHiggins, Ilani Elyce (Author) / Gur-Arie, Rachel (Thesis advisor) / Ellison, Karin (Thesis advisor) / Maienschein, Jane (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
The consequences of failures from large-diameter water pipelines can be severe. Results can include significant property damage, damage to adjacent infrastructure such as roads and bridges resulting in transportation delays or shutdowns, adjacent structural damage to buildings resulting in loss of business, service disruption to a significant number of customers, loss of water, costly emergency repairs, and even loss of life. The American Water Works Association’s (AWWA) 2020 “State of the Water Industry” report states the top issue facing the water industry since 2016 is aging infrastructure, with the second being financing for improvements. The industry must find innovative ways to extend asset life and reduce maintenance expenditures. While are many different assets comprise the drinking water industry, pipelines are a major component and often neglected because they are typically buried. Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a process used to determine the most effective maintenance strategy for an asset, with the ultimate goal being to establish the required function of the asset with the required reliability at the lowest operations and maintenance costs. The RCM philosophy considers Preventive Maintenance, Predictive Maintenance, Condition Based Monitoring, Reactive Maintenance, and Proactive Maintenance techniques in an integrated manner to increase the probability an asset will perform its designed function throughout its design life with minimal maintenance. In addition to determining maintenance tasks, the timely performance of those tasks is crucial. If performed too late an asset may fail; if performed too early, resources that may be used better elsewhere are expended. Utility agencies can save time and money by using RCM analysis for their drinking water infrastructure. This dissertation reviews industries using RCM, discusses the benefits of an RCM analysis, and goes through a case study of an RCM at a large aqueduct in the United States. The dissertation further discusses the consequence of failure of large diameter water pipelines and proposes a regression model to help agencies determine the optimum time to perform maintenance tasks on large diameter prestressed concrete pipelines using RCM analysis.
ContributorsGeisbush, James R (Author) / Ariaratnam, Samuel T (Thesis advisor) / Grau, David (Committee member) / Chong, Oswald (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024