The thesis analyzes the apathetic youth turnout myth and researches to see if voter suppression can explain the reason behind low youth turnout. This thesis is a study done with Arizona State University students to assess their level of voter turnout, their levels of political engagement, and if they have experienced voter suppression. Respondents were also asked about the support given by ASU in terms of helping with the voting process. Results indicate that Arizona State students have high levels of political engagement, and that 1 in 5 ASU students have experienced voter suppression. Furthermore, ASU students on a whole are uncertain about the role ASU should play in supporting students with the voting process.

The purpose of this study was to test the reproducibility of the current data set. It was hypothesized that older adults’ scores on the Repeatable Battery for Assessment of Neuropsychological Status (RBANS) would decrease from their initial visit to their one year follow-up visit and that greater overall age is associated with worse performance. Overall, the older adults with a follow-up visit in this study experienced greater decline on the RBANS DMI than on the RBANS total scaled score. There seems to be a negative trend in which individuals with higher first-visit VCI scores experience greater improvement on the first trial of the motor task with the non-dominant hand. The same trend can be seen in DMI scores where higher initial DMI scores are associated with greater improvement on the first non-dominant hand trial of the motor task. This initial trend suggests that visuospatial scores have an association with long-term change in the motor task. The number of participants in this data set were limited, thus more data will be needed to increase confidence in conclusions about these relationships in the future.

Traumatic brain injury involves a primary mechanical injury that is followed by a secondary<br/>inflammatory cascade. The inflammatory cascade in the CNS releases cytokines which are<br/>associated with leukocytosis and a systemic immune response. Acute changes to peripheral<br/>immune cell populations post-TBI include a 4.5-fold increase of neutrophils 3 hours post-injury,<br/>and 2.7-fold or higher increase of monocytes 24 hours post-injury. Flow Cytometry is a<br/>technique that integrates fluidics, optics, and electronics to characterize cells based on their light<br/>scatter and antigen expression via monoclonal antibodies conjugated to fluorochromes. Flow<br/>cytometry is a valuable tool in cell characterization however the standard technique for data<br/>analysis, manual gating, is associated with inefficiency, subjectivity, and irreproducibility.<br/>Unsupervised analysis that uses algorithms packaged as plug-ins for flow cytometry analysis<br/>software has been discussed as a solution to the limits of manual gating and as an alternative<br/>method of data visualization and exploration. This investigation evaluated the use of tSNE<br/>(dimensionality reduction algorithm) and FlowSOM (population clustering algorithm)<br/>unsupervised flow cytometry analysis of immune cell population changes in female mice that<br/>have been exposed to a LPS-induced systemic inflammatory challenge, results were compared to<br/>those of manual gating. Flow cytometry data was obtained from blood samples taken prior to and<br/>24 hours after LPS injection. Unsupervised analysis was able to identify populations of<br/>neutrophils and pro-inflammatory/anti-inflammatory monocytes, it also identified several more<br/>populations however further inquiry with a more specific fluorescent panel would be required to<br/>establish the specificity and validity of these populations. Unsupervised analysis with tSNE and<br/>FlowSOM demonstrated the efficient and intuitive nature of the technique, however it also<br/>illustrated the importance of the investigator in preparing data and modulating plug-in settings.

Student academic performance has far-reaching implications not only on individual students but also the universities and colleges they attend. Student academic performance can affect their time in school as well as their future earning potential, and colleges and universities have a shared interest in the academic performance and retention of their students as many state and federal funding opportunities consider these metrics when allocating taxpayer dollars. To assist in the mutual desire for students to succeed, the Calm Connection start-up venture formed with the goal of integrating biofeedback therapy with a student’s unique education needs. For students, one of the largest barriers to effective learning is issues of focus and information retention, and the repeated use of biofeedback therapy trains students to overcome these focus issues and works in conjunction with our app’s study aid and scheduling ability.

As political campaigning becomes increasingly digital and data-driven, data privacy has become a question of democratic governance. Yet, Congress has yet to pass a comprehensive federal data privacy law and even the strongest subnational data privacy laws exempt political campaigns from regulation. <br/><br/>This thesis examines how data privacy laws impact data-driven and digital political campaigning. Specifically, it investigates what information is incorporated into the political data ecosystem, how data privacy laws regulate the collection of this data, and how actors in the political data ecosystem respond to these laws. It examines both sector-specific federal law and subnational data protection regulation through a case study of California. This research suggests that although the California Consumer Privacy Act and California Privacy Rights Act are landmark steps in American data protection, subnational data privacy law remains inhibited by the federal market-based approach.

William Blake posits that without contraries, there will be no progress. The concepts of Heaven and Hell are originally used to represent the contrary of reason and energy, but it is also appropriate to represent Heaven and Hell in terms of order and entropy. This newly proposed contrary relies on the application of entropic brain theory, which states that normal, waking consciousness (secondary consciousness) has decreased entropy relative to primary consciousness. It is argued that Blake uses the concept of Hell to promote the use of psychedelics in order to progress human life by informing the surrounding world that the body limits human perception of the surroundings. This indirectly advocates for an increase in entropy in the brain because psychedelics induce a higher repertoire of functional connectivity motifs that allow for the dissolution of the “self” to help remove the doors of perception and reveal the infinite. Additionally, it is determined that Blake uses the contrary of entropy and order, which is representative of Hell and Heaven, to predict the impending wave of liberty/revolution (progress) in England.

Disinformation has long been a tactic used by the Russian government to achieve its goals. Today, Vladimir Putin aims to achieve several things: weaken the United States’ strength on the world stage, relieve Western sanctions on himself and his inner circle, and reassert dominant influence over Russia’s near abroad (the Baltics, Ukraine, etc.). This research analyzed disinformation in English, Spanish, and Russian; noting the dominant narratives and geopolitical goals Russia hoped to achieve by destabilizing democracy in each country/region.

This thesis address the disparities seen in access to quality healthcare between rural and urban Namibian mothers. This thesis design also delves into the effectiveness of recent initiatives, such as mobile clinics, and their ability to diminish these barriers and overall impact childhood mortality rates. The methods of this research included a literature review that identified and analyzed the socioeconomic barriers these mothers face, interviews with health care professionals in Namibia, and an application of the H.M. Becker Health Belief Model. This design determined that barriers to care included, income, education, transportation, and employment attainability. Through the analysis of the Health Belief Model, it was determined that the benefits of receiving care outweigh the barriers to quality care and mobile clinics do accurately identify and diminish these barriers.

In oxygenic photosynthesis, conversion of solar energy to chemical energy is catalyzed by the<br/>pigment-protein complexes Photosystem II (PSII) and Photosystem I (PSI) embedded within the<br/>thylakoid membrane of photoautotrophs. The function of these pigment-protein complexes are<br/>conserved between all photoautotrophs, however, the oligomeric structure, as well as the<br/>spectroscopic properties of the PSI complex, differ. In early evolving photoautotrophs, PSI<br/>exists in a trimeric organization, but in later evolving species this was lost and PSI exists solely<br/>as a monomer. While the reasons for a change in oligomerization are not fully understood, one<br/>of the 11 subunits within cyanobacterial PSI, PsaL, is thought to be involved in trimerization<br/>through the coordination of a calcium ion in an adjacent monomer. Recently published<br/>structures have demonstrated that PSI complexes are capable of trimerization without<br/>coordinating the calcium ion within PsaL.<br/>5 Here we explore the role the calcium ion plays in both<br/>the oligomeric and spectroscopic properties in PSI isolated from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803.

Exploration of a mouse model (C57BL/6J) capable of demonstrating behavioral changes after adolescent social isolation that are consistent with prior findings may prove beneficial in later research. This study examined 2 proposed long-term effects of isolated housing (one mouse/cage), when compared to group housing (two mice/cage) during adolescence. Mice were placed in their respective housing conditions after weaning (PND 21) and remained in those conditions until PND 60. The same cohorts were used in both phases of the experiment. Phase 1 sought to confirm previous findings that showed increases in ethanol intake after adolescent social isolation using a 2-bottle preference Drinking-in-the-Dark (DID) design over a 4-day period (PND 64-PND 67.). Phase 2 sought to elucidate the effects present after adolescent social isolation, as measured using response inhibition capabilities demonstrated during fixed-minimum interval (FMI) trials (PND 81-PND 111). Findings in phase 1 of the experiment were non-significant, save a strong tendency for female mice in both housing conditions to drink more as a proportion of their bodyweight (g/kg). However, a trend of lower bodyweight in single housed mice did exist, which does suggest that detrimental stress was applied via the used of adolescent isolation in that housing condition. Findings in phase 2 showed little effect of adolescent social isolation on mean inter-response time (IRT) at any criterion used (FMI-0, FMI-4, FMI-6). Evaluation of mean interquartile range (IQR) of IRTs showed a significantly greater amount of variation in IRT responses within single housed mice at the highest criterion (FMI-6), and a trend in the same direction when FMI-4 and FMI-6 were tested concurrently. Taken as a whole, the findings of this experiment suggest that the effect of adolescent social isolation on ethanol intake is far less robust than the effect of sex and may be difficult to replicate in a low-power study. Additionally, adolescent social isolation may interfere with the ability of mice to show consistent accuracy during FMI tasks or a delay in recognition of FMI criterion change.