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Title: The Public Stigma of Tourette Syndrome
Creator: Tooley, Anastasia Cherise
Date: 2021
Description: There is a dearth of quantitative research examining the public stigma of Tourette syndrome (TS), and no known studies assessing public...
Show moreThere is a dearth of quantitative research examining the public stigma of Tourette syndrome (TS), and no known studies assessing public perceptions of difference (how similar they are), disdain (how bad they are), and blame (how responsible they are) toward individuals with TS. The current study sought to understand the public stigma of TS as a visible and unconcealable condition. An internet sample of 450 adults were recruited through MTurk. Participants read four brief vignettes, each describing an adolescent with TS, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), or a history of juvenile detention. Results showed TS to be associated with neutral or negative public perceptions across stigma facets. When compared to OCD and ASD, vignettes describing TS were viewed with similar difference, disdain, and blame. TS was least familiar to participants. Findings highlight differences in stigma for concealable versus visible stigmatized conditions which has implications for future research and anti-stigma interventions.
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Title: ELECTROCHEMICAL BEHAVIOR OF ADDITIVELY MANUFACTURED NON-SPHERICAL TI-6AL-4V POWDER IN 3.5 WT. % NACL SOLUTION
Creator: Bagi, Sourabh Dilip
Date: 2021
Description: In laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), also known as selective laser melting (SLM), the feedstock powder and processing parameters affect the...
Show moreIn laser powder bed fusion (LPBF), also known as selective laser melting (SLM), the feedstock powder and processing parameters affect the properties of additively manufactured parts. Limited research has been conducted on non-spherical Ti6Al4V feedstock powder prepared by Hydride-Dehydride process. Significant progress in metal powder additive manufacturing (AM) requires the inter-linking of multiple variables, which includes starting materials, process settings, and post-treatment to achieve desired resultant properties. Owing to the rapid emergence of metal 3D-printing, process-property relationships, and appropriate post-treatment conditions have not been as extensively characterized as for conventional materials, thus requiring significant attention. Over the years, spherical powders were used in powder bed AM machines and there have been various concerns related to powder as well as processing parameters leading to defects formation, poor part quality, and unsatisfactory performance. It is critical to keep the cost of manufacturing low for large-scale production which results in significant interest in low-cost powder, making it vital to understand the effect of microstructural defects on corrosion behavior. Recently, economical powder attracted attention in AM, thus, making it is necessary to understand the role of possible microstructural defects on corrosion behavior. In powder bed additive manufacturing, feedstock and processing affect final microstructure and properties of the 3D printed parts. While numerous studies have evaluated 3D-printing of spherical powder, very limited research has examined the processing of the non-spherical feedstock. In this research, parts are manufactured by SLM of hydride-dehydride (HDH) Ti6Al4V powder. heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing are applied on SLM parts. The microstructures, potentiodynamic curves, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy are characterized for SLM processed, heat treated, and hot isostatically pressed HDH Ti6Al4V specimens. Results indicate although the as-built specimen has anisotropic microstructure (i.e., lamellar α + acicular α’ + β phases), the heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing result in homogenized grain structures and enhanced corrosion behavior. Results indicate that type of constituent phase, grain size, and morphology directly determine corrosion resistance. This research is beneficial for the manufacturing of low-cost titanium alloys. In the current research, we evaluate non-spherical powder processing by hydride-dehydride (HDH) method and selective laser melted in powder bed AM machine followed by heat treatment and hot isostatic pressing to alter microstructure and electrochemical behavior. If successful, the usage of non-spherical morphology in conjunction with the newer powder dispensing method of double smoothing will enable remarkable improvements in the quality and performance of additively manufactured products. This method will also cut down costs associated with a greener powder production method and enhance the fabrication rate. It is a well-established fact that corrosion behavior is drastically affected by heterogeneous microstructure and defects. Thus, it is paramount to conduct a systematic study on the role of processing parameters and post process heat treatment, which can enhance our understanding of possible defect formation in micro and macro scale and their impact on electrochemical behavior.
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Title: BURNOUT AMONG SEXUAL MINORITIES: THE ROLE OF CONCEALMENT, RUMINATION, AND ORGANIZATIONAL NON-DISCRIMINATION POLICIES
Creator: Burke, Margaret
Date: 2021
Description: Employee burnout is detrimental to individuals (e.g., physical and mental health concerns), as well as to organizations (e.g., diminished...
Show moreEmployee burnout is detrimental to individuals (e.g., physical and mental health concerns), as well as to organizations (e.g., diminished performance). Although numerous studies have examined burnout across a variety of industries and populations, there are limited studies that have examined burnout specifically among sexual minority employees, referring to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) workers. This study integrated Meyer’s (2003) Minority Stress Model and Hatzenbuehler’s (2009) Psychological Mediation Framework to investigate the role of concealment, rumination, and non-discrimination organizational policies on burnout among 406 sexual minority employees working in a variety of industries (e.g., healthcare, retail, education, etc.). To test the relationships between these variables, a mediation model and a mediation with moderation model was tested using Hayes’ (2018) Process macro. Results indicated that concealing one’s sexual orientation at work was positively related to rumination, and in turn, was positively related to burnout. Contrary to one of the hypotheses, organizational non-discrimination policies that were inclusive of sexual minorities did not moderate the relationship between concealment and burnout. Previous research, implications, and limitations to this study are discussed in detail.
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Title: IDEOLOGICALLY MOTIVATED INTENTIONAL ADULTERATION: THEORY INTO INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION
Creator: DeVuyst, Adrian Jeffrey
Date: 2021
Description: Ideologically motivated intentional adulteration is an attempt to cause harm to consumers of food. Within the context of the United States of...
Show moreIdeologically motivated intentional adulteration is an attempt to cause harm to consumers of food. Within the context of the United States of America (US), the current methods of addressing this risk are evolving in the modern post-Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) era. Currently, the US has the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which requires companies to have a food defense plan with a risk assessment, mitigation strategies, and recordkeeping. Additional options from Global Food Safety Initiatives (GFSI) benchmarked standards offer additional options for a company. However, even with these standards companies are still being impacted by intentional adulteration. Historical examples from the poisoning of bread in Hong Kong during British occupation and spreading of bacteria on salad bars by the followers of Rajneesh, to more modern examples of putting needles in strawberries and urinating on production equipment show a food defense system that is not always able to address intentional adulteration. The question of why companies are still having intentional adulteration comes up. The lack of food defense events and primary research on the topic creates a system where individual companies must gather data. Evaluations and surveys at a manufacturing site, N=11, indicates that there is high confidence among front line workers about their level of knowledge, but workers are unable to articulate the basic principles of food defense. Each individual company is required to create a personalized food defense system in the status quo, but the results of the survey given suggests that the data they could gather may be insufficient to create an effective food defense system.
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Title: Computationally Efficient Predictive Control Strategies for Autonomous Vehicles
Creator: Bhattacharyya, Viranjan
Date: 2021
Description: This thesis aims at developing computationally efficient (hence real-time applicable) control strategies for autonomous vehicles in the...
Show moreThis thesis aims at developing computationally efficient (hence real-time applicable) control strategies for autonomous vehicles in the presence of uncertainty, while incorporating high fidelity vehicle dynamics. The motivation for the control strategies is to ensure safety and improve energy efficiency of the vehicles. In this research, an effort has been made to develop control strategies to strike a balance between these competing factors. The specific contributions are: development of a new hierarchical control framework that can guarantee avoidance of red-light idling in the presence of uncertainty in preceding vehicle information/prediction in connected environment (hence improves system mobility); exploitation of a data-driven modeling approach for identifying a linear predictor for the nonlinear vehicle dynamics, which facilitates formulation of a convex equivalent problem of the original non-convex problem (hence facilitates computational tractability); introduction of a novel vehicle dynamics-aware fast game-theoretic planner for behavior and motion planning of vehicles in uncertain and unconnected environments. This thesis explores both the possible directions of future autonomous vehicles: connected and unconnected autonomous vehicles. In particular, the first problem relates to longitudinal fuel efficient driving (eco-driving) in a connected urban environment, where the connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) aim at the improvement of fuel efficiency and reduction of red-light idling (stop and go motion). The CAVs also focus on ensuring collision avoidance with the preceding vehicles despite the prediction uncertainty in future trajectory of preceding vehicles. This problem assumes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, and is a longitudinal control problem. The next problem considers the uncertainty in prediction of future states of neighbouring vehicles in an unconnected environment and involves both lateral and longitudinal control. Following previous research, the interactive nature of driving is modeled using game-theory and a computationally efficient game-theoretic planner is introduced. Simulation results show the efficacy of the proposed methods in terms of computational tractability and fuel-efficiency.
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Title: Evaluation of Bax∆2 Positive-Staining in Skin Samples Using Two Immunohistochemical Methods
Creator: Basheer, Sana
Date: 2021
Description: BaxΔ2 is a pro-death and tumor suppressor protein that sensitizes cells to certain chemotherapies. Previous diaminobenzidine (DAB)-based...
Show moreBaxΔ2 is a pro-death and tumor suppressor protein that sensitizes cells to certain chemotherapies. Previous diaminobenzidine (DAB)-based staining revealed that Bax∆2 is found in all organs, including breast, colon, and skin tissues. In the skin, the Bax∆2 positive cells were mainly found in the basal cell layer of the epidermis with a few Bax∆2 positive cells in the connective tissue of the dermis, although their cellular identity was unknown. Previous literature has shown that melanin, which is found throughout the cells of the epidermis, is a brown color that provides no visual contrast to the DAB staining. While the DAB-based immunostaining showed cells that appeared to be Bax∆2 positive, this result needed to be confirmed. For this, a set of human skin samples from normal and cancerous tissue of various patients was examined. The co-staining of these samples for Bax∆2 and basal cells using immunofluorescence revealed that the apparent Bax∆2-positve DAB staining in epidermal basal cells and squamous cell carcinoma as false-positive, but the Bax∆2 positive cells found in the dermal connective tissue were not false positive—which is consistent with both previous DAB-based and fluorescence-based immunostaining. Using co-immunostaining for Bax∆2 with different cellular markers, the Bax2-positive cells in the connective tissue were identified potentially as macrophages and fibroblasts. Further studies are required to confirm the identity of the Bax∆2 positive cells in the connective tissue.
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Title: Modeling and Control Methods for Boundary Constrained Soft Robots
Creator: Zhou, Qiyuan
Date: 2021
Description: Soft and deformable robots have been an active field of research in the past few years. However, they are limited in that they cannot apply...
Show moreSoft and deformable robots have been an active field of research in the past few years. However, they are limited in that they cannot apply much force to an environment due to the limitations of the flexible materials from which they are made of. To help overcome this limitation, a new architecture named the Jamming and Morphing Enabled Bot Array (JAMoEBA) system was conceived. This system consists of a flexible outer membrane which encloses an interior composed of a granular medium. Active sub-units along the flexible outer membrane allow for actuation and locomotion of the system. The granular material coupled with the flexible outer membrane allows the robot to maintain the characteristics typically associated with soft robots (continuum, compliant, configurable). At the same time, the granular material is also able to undergo a solid phase transition with the application of pressure to the flexible outer membrane and allow the system to behave more like a rigid robot if needed. This allows for the robot system to exploit the desirable characteristics of both soft and rigid robots in its tasks.The purpose of this thesis is to offer a discussion and demonstration of various simulation methods for the physically accurate modeling of the JAMoEBA constrained boundary robotic system and to show some of the control methods which have been investigated within the selected modeling framework. Simulation methods based on Lennard-Jones (L-J) potentials, non-smooth contact dynamics (NSCD), as well as the discrete element methods based on complementarity (DEM-C) and penalty (DEM-P) conditions as implemented in the open source physics library Project Chrono are considered. Comparisons are made in the areas of physical accuracy, computational efficiency, and feature availability in the consideration of the best simulation method for the JAMoEBA system. Investigations of control strategies such as leader-follower and heuristics based approaches are carried out using the selected simulation method. Finally, a framework for self contained localization which relies on measurements from onboard sensors and linear Kalman filtering is tested within the simulation framework, and the effectiveness of approximating the shape of the JAMoEBA system using elliptical Fourier descriptors is shown.The main contributions made in this thesis are in the areas of suitable modeling methods, controls strategies, and localization techniques for the novel boundary constrained JAMoEBA soft robot architecture. The work done serves as a solid foundation for the future study of this novel soft robotic architecture due to the demonstration of successful methods for modeling, control, and localization of the system. The work presented is not meant to be a comprehensive or deep dive into any one specific area, but rather a jumping off point for future areas of research.
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Title: EFFECTIVENESS OF CLEANING STRATEGIES FOR REMOVING MILK CHOCOLATE FROM PILOT-SCALE PIPE/VALVE ASSEMBLY AND CHOCOLATE PROCESSING EQUIPMENT
Creator: Zhang, Liyun
Date: 2019
Description: Dark chocolate manufactured on shared processing lines with milk chocolate is a high-risk food for consumers with milk allergy. Inadequate...
Show moreDark chocolate manufactured on shared processing lines with milk chocolate is a high-risk food for consumers with milk allergy. Inadequate cleaning of shared chocolate manufacturing equipment can result in milk contamination of subsequent products, and product recalls. Limited information is available on the effectiveness of different cleaning procedures for preventing the transfer of milk to dark chocolate processed on shared equipment. Pilot-scale experiments investigated the effectiveness of three dry cleaning methods: 1) no cleaning, 2) pig purging, and 3) a cocoa butter flush (40°C, 1 hour) for removing milk chocolate residue from a heated (40ºC) standard (1.5” OD) sanitary stainless steel pipe (30.5 cm length) and attached butterfly or ball valve. After cleaning, milk-free dark chocolate (~27 kg, 40°C) was pumped through the pipe/valve combination. Dark chocolate push-through samples were collected and analyzed for milk concentrations with a Neogen Veratox total milk ELISA kit. Experiments with no cleaning resulted in initial milk concentrations up to 6,070 (9.6% CV) ppm milk and up to 14,900 (0.3% CV) ppm milk for the pipe/butterfly valve and the pipe/ball valve, respectively. Cocoa butter recirculation through the pipe/butterfly valve decreased initial milk concentrations to 680 (10.3% CV) – 2720 (2.6% CV) ppm milk. Use of a pig purging dramatically reduced milk levels to 45 (4.3% CV) – 180 (15.7% CV) for the pipe/butterfly valve and below limit of quantification of ELISA (LOQ, 2.5 ppm milk) for the pipe/ball valve. After most cleaning treatments, > 14 kg of dark chocolate push-through was required to obtain milk levels < LOQ.A second set of pilot-scale experiments determined the efficacy of cleaning procedures for removing milk chocolate from selected chocolate processing equipment. Three cleaning methods explored removal of milk chocolate from a ball mill and conche: 1) no cleaning, 2) a cocoa butter flush (40°C, 5 min), and 3) wet cleaning (detergent-rinse-air dry). After cleaning, three batches of milk-free dark chocolate (40°C) were processed in the ball mill (~0.35 kg) and conche (2.5 kg), and each batch was collected and analyzed for milk. Milk chocolate (1.5 kg) was processed on a 3-roll refiner, followed by push-through with dark chocolate (~8 kg), with 0.3 kg samples collected at 5-min intervals. Milk was not detected (Show less

Title: Towards Assisting Human-Human Conversations
Creator: Nanaware, Tejas Suryakant
Date: 2021
Description: The idea of the research is to understand the open-topic conversations and ways to provide assistance to humans who face difficulties in...
Show moreThe idea of the research is to understand the open-topic conversations and ways to provide assistance to humans who face difficulties in initiating conversations and overcome social anxiety so as to be able to talk and have successful conversations. By providing humans with assistive conversational support, we can augment the conversation that can be carried out. The AdvisorBot can also help to reduce the time taken to type and convey the message if the AdvisorBot is context aware and capable of providing good responses.There has been a significant research for creating conversational chatbots in open-domain conversations that have claimed to have passed the Turing Test and can converse with humans while not seeming like a bot. However, if these chatbots can converse like humans, can they provide actual assistance in human conversations? This research study observes and improves the advanced open-domain conversational chatbots that are put in practice for providing conversational assistance.While performing this thesis research, the chatbots were deployed to provide conversational assistance and a human study was performed to identify and improve the ways to tackle social anxiety by connecting strangers to perform conversations that would be aided by AdvisorBot. Through the questionnaires that the research subjects filled during their participation, and by performing linguistic analysis, the quality of the AdvisorBot can be improved so that humans can achieve better conversational skills and are able to clearly convey their message while conversing. The results were further enhanced by using transfer learning techniques and quickly improve the quality of the AdvisorBot.
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Title: ENERGY INNOVATIONS IN BUILDINGS AND URBAN FABRICS
Creator: Hirematt, Chandrasekharaiah Ashish
Date: 2021
Description: In his keynote speech on the "Infrastructures of Integration" at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Ricky...
Show moreIn his keynote speech on the "Infrastructures of Integration" at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), said “…you can actually invest in better infrastructure to do things better.” However, the population grows at the rate of almost one billion per decade. With about four fifths of it happening in urban areas, the challenge for sustainability is huge and the key for the future.Urban fabrics are expanding both vertically as well as horizontally to accommodate the population growth. With the scale of expansion happening, challenges such deforestation, resource depletion, habitat destruction, energy production and consumption are some of the major challenges that need to be focused on ecologically. It is also important to note that ecological solutions are very highly dependent on social and economic progress of the society. Energy efficient design is one which does zero or minimal damage to the environment while meeting the energy needs of the society. This thesis will discuss the concept of developing energy efficient designs as well as net zero designs in urban settings. With the help of three projects, this thesis aims to discover the challenges along with the obvious advantages of such designs. The first experiment is to look at the reduction of energy consumption in the city of Chicago with multiple neighborhoods set up in an iron grid. It was observed that taller buildings are much more energy efficient due to the reduction of surface area exposed to the external environment. This observation was used to develop a climate specific energy efficient urban fabric design in the city of Shenzhen. The design of the off-shore tower involves tackling larger issues such as the pandemic while having energy production as a bi-product of the same. Thus, the thesis argues that investment in infrastructure to build a better infrastructure should be done to solve social and economic challenges which will, in turn make it easier to produce energy efficient designs.
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Title: EXAMINING THE ROLES OF PUBLIC STIGMA AND ACCULTURATION ON CARE-SEEKING IN PAKISTANIS
Creator: Laique, Aamir
Date: 2021
Description: Pakistani Americans face bi-directional cultural influences related to their heritage culture and the mainstream culture of the host. The...
Show morePakistani Americans face bi-directional cultural influences related to their heritage culture and the mainstream culture of the host. The present study examined the impact of culture on the relationship between public stigma and care-seeking attitudes. A sample of 158 Pakistani Americans was collected using MTurk. Hierarchical regression was conducted to examine the moderating effect of heritage acculturation and mainstream acculturation on the relationship between public stigma and care-seeking. Multiple regression analysis predicting care-seeking from public stigma, heritage acculturation, and mainstream acculturation did not yield a statistically significant model. Hierarchical regression analyses examining the moderating effect of heritage acculturation and mainstream acculturation were non-significant. Acculturation had no notable impact on stigma and care-seeking. This study was unable to demonstrate significant results. Future considerations should include inter-generational differences, other forms of stigma that may play a crucial role, and inclusion of different measures to determine if there are other scales better suited for the target population.
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Title: Unsupervised Learning of Visual Odometry Using Direct Motion Modeling
Creator: Andrei, Silviu Stefan
Date: 2020
Description: Data for supervised learning of ego-motion and depth from video is scarce and expensive to produce. Subsequently, recent work has focused on...
Show moreData for supervised learning of ego-motion and depth from video is scarce and expensive to produce. Subsequently, recent work has focused on unsupervised learning methods and achieved remarkable results which surpass in some instances the accuracy of supervised methods. Many unsupervised approaches rely on predicted monocular depth and so ignore motion information. Moreover, unsupervised methods which do incorporate motion information do so only indirectly by designing the depth prediction network as an RNN. Hence, none of the existing methods model motion directly. In this work, we show that it is possible to achieve superior pose estimation results by modeling motion explicitly. Our method uses a novel learning-based formulation for depth propagation and refinement which transforms predicted depth maps from the current frame onto the next frame where it serves as a prior for predicting the next frame's depth map. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed approach surpasses state of the art techniques for the pose prediction task while being better or on par with other methods for the depth prediction task.
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Title: Integrity based landmark generation: A method to generate landmark configurations that guarantee mobile robot localization safety
Creator: Chen, Yihe
Date: 2020
Description: From the bronze-age city Nineveh to the modern metropolitan like Tokyo, traffic shape cities and profoundly affect the life of people. Similar...
Show moreFrom the bronze-age city Nineveh to the modern metropolitan like Tokyo, traffic shape cities and profoundly affect the life of people. Similar to how the wide-spreading of automobile had modified the modern cities in early 20th century, we are now standing on the eve of yet another traffic revolution. With the vast spreading of autonomous/semi- autonomous robotics application, it is important for the urban designers to design or retrofit urban environment that is safe and friendly to the autonomous robots; As more robots are deployed in life-critical situations, such as autonomous passenger vehicles, it is imperative to consider their safety, and in particular, their localization safety. While it would be ideal to guarantee safety in any environment without having to physically modify said environment, this is not always possible and one may have add landmarks or active beacons to reach an acceptable level of safety for landmark-based localization. Localization safety is assessed using integrity, the primary safety metric used in open-sky aviation applications that has been recently applied to mobile robots and can ac- count for the impact of rarely occurring, undetected faults. Conventional integrity monitor- ing method has high dependency on GPS system, while the traditional Global Navigation Satellite System - Inertia Measurement Unit (GNSS-IMU) based localization does not ap- plied in the metropolitan areas due to the signal blocking and multi-pathing problem caused by high-rise structures. Thus, this dissertation concentrates on the feature based integrity monitoring method. This dissertation formulates environmental localization safety problem as a system- atic optimization problem: given the robot’s trajectory and the current landmark map, add the minimal number of new landmarks at certain location such that the integrity risk along the trajectory is below a given safety threshold. This dissertation proposes two algorithms to solve the problem: Integrity-based Landmark Generator (I-LaG) and Fast I-LaG. I-LaG adds fewer landmarks but it is relatively computationally expensive; Fast I-LaG is less com- putationally intensive at the expense of more landmarks. Both simulation and experimental results are presented.
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Title: ENHANCED OPTICAL TOMOGRAPHY IN DIFFUSE MEDIA USING OPTICAL GATING OF EARLY PHOTONS
Creator: Ghosh, Aishwarya
Date: 2020
Description: Tissue biopsies, where a volume of tissue is removed from a patient, typically through needle extraction, provides critical information about...
Show moreTissue biopsies, where a volume of tissue is removed from a patient, typically through needle extraction, provides critical information about the cellular and molecular aspects of an individual patient’s health and/or disease. However, current pathological assessments of tissue biopsies evaluate less than 1% of the volume of the tissue (e.g., one to a few 5-micron slices are sectioned out of the biopsy and stained/processed for microscopic analysis). Since the bulk of tissue biopsy is carried out through optical imaging (absorption or fluorescence), a more 3D, “whole-biopsy” view is conceivably possible with optical projection tomography (OPT). The challenge with OPT has been that for clinically relevant sized biopsies, most photons undergo multiple scattering events that lead to loss of spatial resolution that makes accurate pathological analysis intractable. In my MS thesis, I worked on the development of an enhanced OPT system that employs optical gating based on non-linear up-conversion of infrared ultrashort laser pulses to isolate “early-arriving” photons that experience significantly less scatter than the bulk of photons transiting a scattering biological sample. Considering the complexity of such a system, the entirety of my MS thesis work was spent constructing and testing the femtosecond optical gated OPT system and though I was unable to validate its operation in biological samples, simulations suggest that the properties we were able to achieve could allow high resolution optical imaging in 0.1-1 cm-diameter specimens.
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Title: Framework For Cloud-Based BIM Governance
Creator: Mehraj, Isma
Date: 2020
Description: Due to the rapid adoption of building information modeling (BIM) in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) every building can...
Show moreDue to the rapid adoption of building information modeling (BIM) in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) every building can be visualized and interpreted even before its foundation touches the ground. BIM methods are expanding and have entered mainstream use that requires immediate consideration. BIM is new and difficult to operate as mostly due to the enormous amount of data that causes improper data management. The objective of this study is to formulate a cloud-based BIM governance framework with a focus on practical issues for its implementation in the construction organizations. A framework was developed to study Data Management, Team Collaboration, Data Organization, and Legal Assurance as major constructs. It is expected that the constructs will provide a benchmark for BIM cloud governance implementation for BIM /VDC engineers to follow. The incorporation of this framework in BIM practices would produce new opportunities for the AEC community to work in collaboration and increase efficiency in data sharing. A survey among a wide spectrum of BIM/VDC practitioners from major construction organizations in the United States was conducted to explore and find evidence of the strength of the constructs. We anticipate that this framework will provide a basis for assessment and recognition of pivoting, driving factors for practical and effective BIM implementation.
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Title: Exploring differences in eating disorder symptomatology and treatment outcomes between sexual minority and heterosexual women in eating disorder treatment programs
Creator: Murray, Matthew Ford
Date: 2020
Description: Research on eating disorder (ED) symptomatology in sexual minority (SM) women is limited and has demonstrated inconsistent findings with...
Show moreResearch on eating disorder (ED) symptomatology in sexual minority (SM) women is limited and has demonstrated inconsistent findings with respect to how they differ from heterosexual women. Further, many studies combine SM women into one group, potentially masking important sub-group differences. Existing data appears to suggest that SM women may be at similar or increased risk for certain types of disordered eating behaviors and present with body image concerns that may differ from heteronormative female body ideals. However, it is unclear how weight and shape control behaviors differ across sexual orientations in women seeking treatment for EDs, and if there are differences in treatment outcomes. The present study used analyses of variance and covariance to test 1) group differences in frequency and severity of ED symptomatology and 2) differences in group by time interaction effects as an indicator of treatment outcomes in a sample of 3,120 adult women of diverse sexual orientations who presented for ED treatment between 2015 and 2018. Participants identified their sexuality as heterosexual, lesbian, bisexual, or other/unsure. Results indicated notable group differences in ED symptoms upon admission to treatment. Bisexual women, in particular, presented to treatment at younger ages, with higher BMIs, and more severe illnesses than heterosexual women. Further, results from the present study suggest that despite such differences, women across sexual orientation groups achieved similar treatment outcomes. These findings underscore the importance of subgroup analyses of ED symptoms in SM women and have both clinical and research implications related to ED psychopathology in this population.
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Title: Testing Models of Minority Stress and Cognitive Escape in a Large Sample of Lesbian/Gay Individuals
Creator: Manser, Kelly
Date: 2020
Description: Compared to heterosexual individuals, gay/lesbian individuals experience health and sociopolitical disparities. Health disparities include...
Show moreCompared to heterosexual individuals, gay/lesbian individuals experience health and sociopolitical disparities. Health disparities include higher prevalence of binge drinking, tobacco use, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) among gay/lesbian individuals. Sociopolitical disparities are rooted in structural stigma and include policies and norms that fail to protect, or actively discriminate against, gay/lesbian individuals. These health and sociopolitical disparities can be understood by converging two theories previously tested among gay/lesbian individuals – minority stress and cognitive escape. Minority stress theory asserts factors such as structural stigma may relate to proximal stress and negative health sequelae in targeted minority groups, while cognitive escape theory suggests escape-related behaviors like substance use may mediate links between systemic factors and individual health. This study used binary logistic regressions to test mediation models in which substance use mediated links between structural stigma and health within a large sample of gay/lesbian individuals. Structural stigma was operationalized as number of sexual orientation anti-discrimination laws, health was operationalized as presence versus absence of any CVD conditions, and substance use was operationalized as binge drinking and tobacco use. Models were tested in an aggregated sample, and also in sex/gender subsamples. In bivariate and component-path analyses, structural stigma predicted smoking frequency across samples. Stigma-binge drinking linkages were more salient among lesbian women compared to gay men. According to Sobel tests, smoking status mediated the stigma-CVD status relation for males-only and combined-sex samples. Study strengths, limitations, and implications are discussed.
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Title: SALMONELLA SURVIVAL AND TRANSCRIPTOMIC RESPONSE ON FRESH-CUT CANTALOUPE FLESH WITH AND WITHOUT ORGANIC ACID PRETREATMENT
Creator: Zhou, Xinyi
Date: 2020
Description: Outbreaks of Salmonella enterica associated with fresh-cut melons are becoming more frequent in recent years. Antimicrobial activity of...
Show moreOutbreaks of Salmonella enterica associated with fresh-cut melons are becoming more frequent in recent years. Antimicrobial activity of organic acids on fresh-cut melons have been previously studied. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism behind the antimicrobial activity of organic acid.Four strains of S. enterica were utilized: Newport 36796 and 339652, and Typhimurium LT2 and 46249. Both high and low inoculation levels were performed. For low level, each strain was individually cultured and spot-inoculated onto separate 100 g untreated fresh-cut cantaloupe samples resulting in 4 log-CFU/g. For high level, samples were first submerged into 2% citric acid or malic acid for 1 minute or left as untreated control. Cantaloupe were spot inoculated with one of four strains which resulted in 7-log CFU/g. All inoculated samples were air-dried for 1 h then stored at 4°C for 7 d in deli containers. Enumeration was conducted at 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7 d. Duplicate samples were used in each of three independent trials and results were analyzed by Student’s t-test, p≤0.05. Samples for sequencing were prepared using the TruSeq Stranded mRNA kit and run on a MiSeq according to the manufacturer instructions.For low inoculation level, population of all four strains increased significantly from 0 to 3 d. The two cantaloupe outbreak-related strains (Newport 339652 and Typhimurium 46249) increased significantly between 0 and 7 d from 3.44±0.11 to 3.76±0.13 and 3.36±0.12 to 3.78±0.19 log CFU/g, respectively. For high inoculation level, the population on the untreated cantaloupe was 6.55±0.18 log CFU/g at 7 d, whereas it was significantly lower on the citric and malic acid-treated cantaloupes (6.26 ± 0.09 log CFU/g and 6.07 ± 0.18 log CFU/g). After 1 d, S. enterica genes were downregulated up to 437.4-fold compared and upregulated up to 23.2-fold. The notable downregulated genes encoded proteins related to catalyzing metabolism (L-aspartate oxidase) and also related to nutrient uptake (PstC).The results of this study can aid in understanding population dynamics of S. enterica on fresh-cut cantaloupes and efficacy of malic and citric acids. The results can also aid in understanding mechanism underlying S. enterica survival on fresh-cut cantaloupes.
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Title: PREPARATION OF MG3SB2-XBIX THERMOELECTRIC MATERIAL AND THEIR LASER SINTERING BEHAVIOR
Creator: Xiao, Xudong
Date: 2020
Description: In the introduction part, a novel thermoelectric material, Zintl compounds were introduced due to its potential high thermoelectric...
Show moreIn the introduction part, a novel thermoelectric material, Zintl compounds were introduced due to its potential high thermoelectric performance in low-temperature applications as thermoelectric devices. Recent researches focused on Mg3Sb2-based Zintl Compounds was summarized in this article, and the general methods and its limitations to fabricate Mg3Sb2-based thermoelectric modules were introduced. Thus, a novel selective laser melting process was introduced, and it has enormous potential to fabricate Mg3Sb2-based thermoelectric modules in commercial applications. What’s more, the challenges of selective laser melting method were also discussed in the articles. For developing selective laser melting as the mature method to fabricate Mg3Sb2-based thermoelectric modules, many works and researches need to be done. In my project, the powder of Mg3.1(Sb0.3Bi0.7)1.99Te0.01 thermoelectric material was synthesized by using the mechanical alloying process and the proper particle size and distribution of powder using for selective laser melting was obtained by increasing the time of mechanical alloying. The thermoelectric properties of the powder prepared by mechanical alloying were measured, and it shows the powder still in a good performance after a long-time mechanical alloying particle reduction process. Finally, the obtained powder was treated by different parameters of continued wave fiber laser. The morphology and composition of the sintered area were analyzed to better understanding the process of laser sintering. More work needs to be done for using a selective laser melting method to fabricate Mg3Sb2-based thermoelectric modules in the future.
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Title: PURIFICATION AND ANALYSIS OF BAXΔ2 PROTEIN AGGREGATES FROM MAMMALIAN CELLS
Creator: Wang, Xiling
Date: 2020
Description: BaxΔ2 is a unique isoform of the proapoptotic protein Bax that does not target mitochondria. The proapoptotic function of BaxΔ2 is through...
Show moreBaxΔ2 is a unique isoform of the proapoptotic protein Bax that does not target mitochondria. The proapoptotic function of BaxΔ2 is through forming cytotoxic aggregates in the cytosol. The cytotoxicity of BaxΔ2 is known as associated with the BH3 killing domain and the C-terminus, which recruits caspase 8. BaxΔ2 proteins without C-terminal form large cytosolic protein aggregates unable to induce caspase 8-dependent cell death. Since abnormal cytosolic protein aggregates often contain complexes of proteins that involved in many diseases, we would like to purify BaxΔ2 aggregates and examine their components. In this study, we expressed GFP-tagged BaxΔ2(Δ6) in the Bax-negative HCT116 cell line and purified the aggregates via different digestion processes. We found that most aggregates were trapped into a DNA pellet after cell lysis. Digestion with DNase could release the aggregates, which were susceptible to detergent solvent. The yield of purification is very low and needed improvement. The results from Western Blot showed that, in addition to BaxΔ2 proteins, stress granule protein TIAR was also potentially in the aggregates. Identification of the components inside aggregates will help us to understand the mechanism of BaxΔ2 cytotoxicity.
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