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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
- Status: Published
Description
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) consists of the primary mechanical forces to the head followed by secondary inflammatory cascades. This inflammatory cascade consists of neuroinflammation characterized by microglial activation as the first line of defense. Another component of secondary inflammation comprises of activation of peripheral immune cells that can infiltrate the compromised blood brain barrier and susceptible organs such as the lungs. Acute inflammatory processes in the lungs include a disruption of the epithelial barriers allowing infiltration of neutrophils, and edema build up in the alveoli. This is known as acute lung injury (ALI) and it dampens respiratory function in approximately 20-25% of TBI patients necessitating an intervention. Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is an intervention consisting of repeated intervals of cessation and reperfusion of blood flow to a distal limb and has treated ALI, myocardial infarction, and neurological injury. TBI was hypothesized to induce ALI through degradation of alveolar-capillary membrane and infiltration of peripheral leukocytes. Furthermore, RIC was hypothesized to protect the integrity of the alveolar-capillary membrane, reduce infiltration of peripheral immune cells, and reduce microglial activation in the brain through myokine recruitment. Male CD1 mice were subject to either midline fluid percussion or sham injury and further randomized into 4 groups: sham, sham RIC, TBI, TBI RIC. RIC was administered on proximal thigh for 4x5 minutes, with 5-minute reperfusion one hour prior to TBI. One-hour post-injury, brain, lung, BAL fluid, and blood were collected. Lung histopathology showed RIC reduced hydrostatic edema in the alveoli by protecting the alveolar capillary membrane. BAL findings revealed TBI mice had increased neutrophil counts, RIC lowered neutrophil counts. In the brain, RIC increased cortex microglial endpoints were observed with no other significant differences in microglial morphology as well as plasma myokine levels across all sham, sham RIC, TBI, and TBI RIC animals. While underlying mechanisms still have to be further studied, this current study provides evidence that RIC can be used as a therapeutic intervention to ameliorate TBI-induce ALI.
ContributorsChristie, Immaculate (Author) / Newbern, Jason (Thesis director) / Lifshitz, Jonathan (Committee member) / Saber, Maha (Committee member) / School of Life Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
In this paper I will be addressing whether Judaism accepts organ donation. A problem that faces society today is the lack of people who are registered as organ donors. This is not only a problem in the religious world, but also the secular world. A common issue for individuals is the belief that their religion is against organ donation and does not support it. Even people who don’t practice their religion strictly bring up this issue. While this might be the case for some religions and certain parts of a religion, the majority of religions are in favor of and support organ donation to save another life. This paper explores what the religion of Judaism has to say on the matter of organ donation. There are different types of ways that one can donate their organs and this paper seeks to understand what Judaism has to say about each type of organ donation. Each type of donation brings up issues of their own because of the importance that Judaism puts on life. Judaism believes that humans are put on Earth by God and will be taken off Earth by God. This brings up the issue of what defines death, especially in regard to people who have been pronounced brain dead. As a result, each situation should be dealt with on a case by case basis and one should consult with their local rabbi on whether it would be permissible to donate their organs.
ContributorsHess, Danielle (Author) / Mirvis, Stanley (Thesis director) / Robert, Jason (Committee member) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Intelli-Trail is a game where the player plays as a small blue man with the simple goal of reaching the purple door. The player will primarily interact with the game through combat. The game itself will react to the patterns in the players behavior to progressively become harder for the player to win.
ContributorsCurtin, Ethan (Author) / Gonzalez Sanchez, Javier (Thesis director) / Baron, Tyler (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Over the course of his four years of course, Matt Stockmal has told multiple historical stories for multiple different groups in multiple different mediums. As a Digital Culture major, these storytelling mediums were all infused with creative technology. As Matt comes to the close of his college career, he wanted to take the time to review his work, reflect on the merits of the medium used with regards to its ability to instill visceral impact, and write a series of tutorials using what was learned in the process of experimentation in historical storytelling.
The paper is meant to serve as a base of reference material for future, real world, project proposals to historical organizations. A mock proposal to the Fullersburg Historic Foundation, proposing the digital mediums and methods discussed, is included at the end of the paper.
In concluding thoughts, Matt I appears to have the depth and breadth of skills needed to make impactful media. And the mediums of media have been as diverse as the subjects they cover. But upon reviewing his own review, it took someone else smarter had to tell me that though there is diversity abound in his portfolio, there is a single baseline: Keeping history alive. Every one of these mediums can be used to infuse a sense of digital energy, simulated life, back into historical artifacts and documentation. The historical characters return to live when a medium brings back the motion, the energy, of the thing it is showing. If the medium infuses this life back into the story. The results are nothing short of magic.
The paper is meant to serve as a base of reference material for future, real world, project proposals to historical organizations. A mock proposal to the Fullersburg Historic Foundation, proposing the digital mediums and methods discussed, is included at the end of the paper.
In concluding thoughts, Matt I appears to have the depth and breadth of skills needed to make impactful media. And the mediums of media have been as diverse as the subjects they cover. But upon reviewing his own review, it took someone else smarter had to tell me that though there is diversity abound in his portfolio, there is a single baseline: Keeping history alive. Every one of these mediums can be used to infuse a sense of digital energy, simulated life, back into historical artifacts and documentation. The historical characters return to live when a medium brings back the motion, the energy, of the thing it is showing. If the medium infuses this life back into the story. The results are nothing short of magic.
ContributorsStockmal, Matthew Eric (Author) / Pinholster, Jacob (Thesis director) / Foushee, Danielle (Committee member) / Arts, Media and Engineering Sch T (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Like many other works of climate fiction, such as The Sea and Summer and Here, Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York 2140 pictures a city of the future that has transformed as a result of the rising sea levels caused by a number of dramatic events due to human activity. As a larger genre, climate fiction can offer us a way to picture ourselves in a state of crisis still forthcoming and to help us better prepare for a future where drastic climate events are the new norm if not avert that future all together. Unlike other novels that focus on the anxieties felt over these changes, Robinson focuses on the logic that allows contemporary societies to refuse to confront climate change. The novel challenges the economic ideology that has brought us to our current state of climate denial—the novel is a critique of capital as much as it is a call to action to implement change in our struggle to save our planet.
ContributorsMiller, Jennie Jean (Author) / Hanlon, Chris (Thesis director) / Ramsey, Ramsey (Committee member) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Humanities, Arts, and Cultural Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
The look and feel of one’s environment, be it built or organic, has great influence on mood, behavior, and general comfort. Through exploratory qualitative research, this study intends to explore the presence of wellness features in Scandinavian Design throughout the growth of the Scandinavian modern movement, and how these practices may be integrated and adapted in both commercial and residential design in the United States (U.S.). What do Scandinavian designers perceive as the essential traits of the Scandinavian design style, and what relationship, if any, exists between these traits and the concept of wellness? To answer this question, the researcher made use of a purposive sampling method based on exploratory qualitative research methodology, conducting three in-person, semi-structured interviews and extracting themes based on thematic coding. During data analysis three primary themes were identified: sustainability, materiality, and community. The data reported in this study provides some insight into Scandinavian designers’ perceptions of their own practices, and begins to connect these factors to a more global approach to architecture and design.
ContributorsKlein, Gabrielle (Author) / Bender, Diane (Thesis director) / Heywood, William (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Children whose parents are incarcerated face significate challenges that imped their education such as stigma and shame, family problems, and poverty associated with having an incarcerated parent. These problems may be exaggerated for Latina girls who must also contend with barriers related to their ethnic, classed, and gendered positions. This qualitative study focuses on four Latina daughters of incarcerated parents who have continued their education despite these barriers. The participants are currently attending college and/or university with the hopes of obtaining a better life for themselves and in three out of the four cases, for their children. This study adopts a socioecological theoretical framework to understand why some children of incarcerated parents are at risk for dropping out of school and how they overcome these risks. All four women interviewed had consistent average to high achieving grades throughout their parents’ incarceration. Most indicated that they had support by either their non-incarcerated parent or mentors. In addition, the four participants continued to have communication with the previously incarcerated parent. The research findings will be discussed throughout this paper to highlight key aspects that may have played a pivotal role in the participants’ positive educational outcomes.
ContributorsLopez, Ayla B (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis director) / Martin, Nathan (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
During the First and Second World Wars, the totality of global war and the involvement of the United States necessitated the use of American women within military medical services as nurses. Military nursing served as a catalyst for professionalizing nursing as well as the entrance women into US military jobs. This thesis explores American women’s military nursing roles during WWI and WWII within the historical context of the precedence set for female nurses’ involvement in wartime medical service in both the American Civil War and the Spanish Civil War. In so doing, it seeks to answer specific research questions focused on nurse’s wartime experiences, the formality of their role, and public perceptions of female nurses. I will examine the change over time of these issues and reasons for their evolution.
ContributorsGlew, Haley Nicole (Author) / Stoff, Laurie (Thesis director) / Foote, Nicola (Committee member) / WPC Graduate Programs (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / School of Accountancy (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Interposers have been used in the system packaging industry for years. They have advanced from basic devices used for connection to providing new opportunities for System-in-Package and System-on-Chip architectures. Currently interposers cannot be reconfigured. Systems may implement extra input-output connections for hard reconfiguration. However, programmable metallization cells (PMC) offer the opportunity to change this. PMCs offer reliable and fast switching that has the potential to be used as resistive memory cells as well. PMCs operate by growing a metal filament from the device cathode to its anode through a solid electrolyte by applying a voltage. By reversing the voltage bias, the filament will retract. The PMC’s electrolyte can also be made from a range of materials being chalcogen or oxide based, allowing for integration in a variety of systems. By utilizing PMCs in an interposer to create a “smart interposer,” it would be possible to create easily reconfigurable systems. This project investigated how PMCs function in a lab setting. By using a probe station, the current-voltage characteristics were generated for a variety of limiting current values. The PMC on and off state resistances were extrapolated for further understanding of its switch function. In addition, works-like prototypes were developed to show the function a smart interposer. In these prototypes, transistors or relays were used as the switching mechanism in place of the PMCs. The final works-like prototype demonstrated how a smart interposer might function by using a switching mechanism to swap between half adder and full adder outputs for the same inputs.
ContributorsSpiker, Bradley Dahlton (Author) / Kozicki, Michael (Thesis director) / Gonzalez Velo, Yago (Committee member) / Electrical Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectrometers are used to determine surface composition of celestial bodies such as asteroids or planets by collection of infrared spectral data. However, degraded performance for shorter wavelengths may exist when the target does not fill the field of view and may be off-axis. Further study of the optical implications of such use cases would inform future design. This research project aims to develop a systematic method of rapid prototyping in order to progressively simulate optical conditions to characterize the off-axis implications in FTIR spectrometers regarding effects on spectral data measured. With such findings, FTIR spectrometers may be developed to effectively accommodate a larger field of view beyond the current state-of-the-art without increasing the corresponding package size of aft optics such as interferometer assemblies. Throughput may be further increased than current limitations or smaller aft optics systems may be designed with the same throughput. Specific use cases which would otherwise result in degradation of spectral data could potentially be accommodated, all effectively increasing capability of the current technology. With this intent, a preliminary test setup has been developed and initial results were collected.
ContributorsAlavi, Omar Javan (Author) / Christensen, Philip (Thesis director) / Ruff, Steve (Committee member) / Madril, Edgar (Committee member) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05