bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Electrospinning lecithin-polycaprolactone scaffolds with gold nanoparticles for osteoarthritis prevention
Authors:   , Matson Toni Christian
Published: September 2024

The human body has articular cartilage covering the ends of the bones to act as a shock absorber and aid in movement. In a disease state, this articular cartilage breaks down causing pain, swelling, and stiffness. With time, the cartilage continues to wear down, and bone on bone interactions occur. This disease is osteoarthritis (OA), and it is the most prevalent joint degenerative disease, affecting approximately 27 million Americans. OA cannot be reversed, so treatment methodologies are mostly palliative, which only provides temporary pain relief, or alternatively are very invasive, requiring total knee replacement. To help mitigate the progression of OA, a hydrophilic, immunomodulatory membrane was developed, which would be placed over the articulating surface to prevent further degeneration of osteoarthritic cartilage. The electrospun membrane is composed of 20 nm gold nanoparticles, soy lecithin, and the polymer polycaprolactone (PCL). Soy lecithin and PCL solutions were electrospun to develop a unique nonwoven mat for OA. The electrospinning parameters were optimized to achieve different solution ratios for the best fiber formation. Different concentrations of lecithin and PCL were used: the amount of solute needed was 40 percent (w/v) and the amount of lecithin mixed with PCL was 40 percent (40:40), and 50 percent (w/v) solute needed with 50 percent soy lecithin with PCL (50:50). 20 nm gold nanoparticles were then introduced at 1 percent, 5 percent, and 10 percent (v/v) to modulate the inflammatory response. The chemical composition of the scaffolds was analyzed via Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), and the thermal properties were investigated using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) to determine stability and percent of materials. Contact Angle Measurements were taken to observe the hydrophilicity of the scaffolds. Neutron Activation Analysis (NAA) was performed to quantify the gold nanoparticles present in the mats. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) was conducted to determine fiber formation as well as nanoparticle presence. To characterize the biocompatibility and cytotoxicity of the mats, WST-1 and ROS assays were performed using L929 murine fibroblast cells. It is expected that lecithin and gold will be homogeneously integrated with the PCL and that the mechanical properties will be strong enough to withstand the microenvironment of the knee. This study demonstrated that it is possible to successfully electrospin lecithin and polycaprolactone nanofibrous scaffolds with various polymerized solution concentrations with and without gold nanoparticles. It was hypothesized that the electrospun lecithin/PCL/nanoparticle scaffold would promote hydrophilicity while maintaining strength and flexibility, thereby prolonging mechanical stability in cartilage
Beyond sight
Authors:   , McMurry Caleb
Published: September 2024

Beyond Sight highlights the research, personal experiences, and conceptual underpinnings that inform Caleb McMurry's artwork in his homonymous Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition. Personally informative and subjective experiences, while not scientifically quantifiable, are no less valid. Such experiences, in combination with human beings limited sensory apparati point to fault lines in our perceptual limitations and understanding of reality. Human beings may not be able to escape the world, but we can trace elements of higher order that push through the immediate.
The role of conflict communication in the link between marital and sibling relationship qualities
Authors:   , Odudu Christopher
Published: September 2024

Research shows that persistently intense marital conflict has deleterious effects on children, leading to adjustment problems such as anxiety or aggression (Grych & Fincham, 2001; Ha, Overbeek, Vermulst, & Engels, 2009). However, research findings on the association between marital and sibling relationship qualities have not been consistent, where research has shown a 'spillover' effect from marital to sibling relationship quality and how siblings demonstrate a 'compensation' effect (Roth, Harkins, & Eng, 2014; Stocker & Youngblade, 1999). Thus, the present study examined whether observed sibling interactions (the extent to how siblings discuss conflict constructively or destructively) moderate the association between marital relationship quality and sibling relationship quality. Hierarchical linear regression was utilized to assess the hypothesized associations between marital and sibling relationship quality, and whether communication served as a moderating variable between marital and sibling relationship quality. No support found for spillover or compensation effects for older or younger siblings. However, sibling conflict communication was consistently associated with sibling relationship quality and older siblings' significant simple slopes analyses. Findings suggest that older siblings are more directly affected by the marital relationship and that other moderating variables besides conflict communication may impact the direct association between marital and sibling relationship quality.
Variations of functional communication training and their effects on resurgence
Authors:   , Schmitz Brittany
Published: September 2024

A common treatment that is implemented to decrease problem behavior and increase appropriate behavior in individuals diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is functional communication training (FCT; Carr & Durand, 1985). Although demonstrated to be highly effective, it is possible that procedures will not be implemented with fidelity by caregivers in the natural environment. In these situations, functional communicative responses (FCRs) are likely to undergo extinction, increasing the likelihood of the reemergence of problem behavior (e.g., Fisher et al., 1993; Hanley, Iwata, & Thompson, 2001), known as resurgence. In applied contexts, the resurgence of problem behavior during temporary lapses in procedural fidelity represents a reality for which there are currently few solutions (Lambert et al., 2017). One possible treatment for resurgence of problem behavior in the face of extinction challenges is multiple mand training during FCT. The purpose of this study is to evaluate what effect teaching multiple FCRs as outlined in serial FCT by Lambert, Bloom, Samaha, and Dayton (2017) has on resurgence of problem behavior and FCRs during extinction challenges. We will then evaluate what effect implementing a lag schedule of reinforcement following serial FCT will have on resurgence of problem behavior and FCRs during extinction challenges compared to serial FCT.
Non-intrusive energy use efficiency index for assessing energy efficiency of a home
Authors:   , Schrader Michael
Published: September 2024

The cost of energy is always on the rise. With improvements, homeowners can diminish the amount of energy their house consumes. Many homeowners want to take advantage of the lowered monthly costs that come with energy efficient appliances. Additionally, home buyers may desire a way to compare the energy efficiency of one home to another. Much of the energy efficiency of a home depends on the structure, rather than the appliances contained therein. We introduce a Non-intrusive Energy Use Efficiency Index (NEU-EI) to provide a benchmark in assessing the efficiency of a building, to the potential benefit of homeowners, contractors, and others.
Editorial analytics : how a U.S. newspaper applies data to match target audiences
Authors:   , Tsyrenzhapova Dariya
Published: September 2024

This research is an in-depth case study of a major regional U.S. daily embracing audience data under the pressure of limited resources and shrinking advertising budgets. The legacy news operation observes analytics through "the rearview mirror," believing that it is neither a true measure of audience engagement nor journalistic quality. Experiencing first-hand the implications of a commodified consumer attention, newsmakers find themselves conflicted between exercising their traditional role of public service and them leaning toward "soft" news to drive higher page-view revenue. By applying the actor-network theory as its central theoretical framework, the study addresses an intricate interplay of day-to-day editorial decision-making, Big Data analytics and the market economics of evolving digital news business.
University student indigenous intercultural sensitivity and short-term study abroad
Authors:   , Ullestad Mollie
Published: September 2024

There is an extreme underrepresentation of indigenous peoples within American study abroad programs, and student participants rarely gain an authentic experience, awareness, and intercultural sensitivity towards such groups. This case study seeks to address this disparity through the creation of a new geography short-term study abroad program titled, "Resources and Indigenous Peoples of Oceania", at the University of Missouri. This program is based on providing geographic opportunities for students to experience the diverse physical landscapes of New Zealand and interact with the local Maori indigenous people and their culture. The Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS) is used both before and after the study abroad program to measure changes in student participants' indigenous intercultural sensitivity, as well as student program journal entries and final papers. The goal of this case study is to discover whether or not a study abroad program with a focus on elements of indigenous culture can actually improve students' intercultural sensitivity towards such groups.
Effects of journalism education on student engagement : a case study of a small-town scholastic press programe
Authors:   , Vogts Todd R.
Published: September 2024

Using social capital theory as the lens, this case study investigates how being part of a scholastic journalism program impacts the academic, social, and civic engagement levels of students in a small-town, rural setting by observing and interviewing journalism staff members at Canton-Galva High School in Canton, Kansas. Two journalism advisers and eight journalism students were interviewed, and observations took place during the Spring 2018 academic semester. The students were part of either the bi-weekly news magazine or the yearbook. Concepts of media literacy and pedagogical practices of the journalism advisers were also explored. Though the results cannot be generalized to encompass the experiences of students in all high school journalism programs, the study finds Canton-Galva High School students, who are experiencing increased academic engagement, fail to engage socially or civically directly as a by-product of participating in the journalism program largely due to weakness in pedagogy of the journalism courses. Students are increasing their social capital, though, by being exposed to tenets of social and civic participation.
A study of non-profit social media engagement
Authors:   , Weathers Heather
Published: September 2024

As more nonprofit organizations increase their usage of social media to reach new audiences, audience research is needed to help practitioners formulate strategic communications plans that reach the goals of the organization. Too often nonprofit communicators drive top-down communication strategies using social media that have very little audience engagement. This study looked at the user interactions with nonprofit organizations on Facebook and attempted to categorize user-generated content based on the AEIO model (attention, emotion, information, opinion). The goal of this study was to determine the most common types of interaction Facebook users have with nonprofit organizations as well as the types of content users create to initiate engagement with a nonprofit organization via Facebook. This study found that the most common type of engagement with a nonprofit organization was a user reacting (i.e., using Facebook's like, love, anger, or wow reactions) to an organization's post, with sharing an organization's post a distant second, followed by commenting on the organization's post and a user creating their own message. To the extent they existed, messages seeking the attention of the users' friends to highlight the users' involvement with the organization were the most common overall user-generated content.
Target detection with morphological shared-weight neural network : different update approaches
Authors:   , Ye Yixuan
Published: September 2024

Neural networks are widely used for image processing. Of these, the convolutional neural network (CNN) is one of the most popular. However, the CNN needs a large amount of training data to improve its accuracy. If training data is limited, a morphological shared-weight neural network (MSNN) can be a better choice. In this thesis, two different update approaches based on an evolutionary algorithm are proposed and compared to each other for target detection based on the MSNN. Another network training, based on back propagation, is used for comparisons in this thesis, which was proposed by Yongwan Won and applied by my colleague and fellow graduate student, Shuxian Shen and Anes Ouadou. Single-layer and multiple-layer MSNNs are both presented with different approaches. For a dataset, the author created part of a dataset for this thesis and used another dataset created by Shen to make comparisons with her network. Results of the MSNN are compared with CNN results to show the performance. Experiments show that for a single-layer MSNN, the performance of an evolutionary algorithm with partial backpropagation is the best. For a multiple layer MSNN, backpropagation performs better, although the MSNN still has a better performance than the CNN.
In the land of hobitss where the slow slip events lie
Authors:   , Yohler Ryan Michael
Published: September 2024

Continuous GPS campaigns over the last few decades have brought an unprecedented look into the behaviors and processes that drive subduction zones. A major discovery during this time has been Slow Slip Events, which release tectonic stress over longer periods than earthquakes. Although slow slip occurs in a variety of places along a subduction interface, a particular place of interest are those slow slip patches that occur offshore and near the subduction trench since these may trigger damaging tsunami earthquakes. While onshore GPS have been able to model these offshore events with some resolution, offshore resolution is always limited with onshore geodetic networks. Recent advances in geodesy have placed seafloor geodetic instruments directly above the slipping patches. I evaluate the time-dependent behavior and range of potential seismic moments of slow slip event that took place offshore Gisborne New Zealand in 2014 while incorporating realistic elastic properties and co-inverting onshore and offshore instruments. The results indicate a significant decrease in uncertainty when using the offshore data while the heterogenetic properties result in an increase. While the realistic elastic properties show a decrease in peak during the slow slip event, they create a higher seismic moment. In addition, the addition of offshore data moves the onset of the event several days sooner and significantly increases the most likely seismic moment. The study showcases the use of newly available seafloor geodetic data for resolving offshore deformation.
Happy to serve : the role of audience engagement in journalism job satisfaction
Authors:   , Dulin Matthew
Published: September 2024

Journalism jobs have experienced significant changes in recent years. From adding multimedia skills in expectations during the era of convergence, to the current demand for audience engagement skills, practitioners have seen the demands on their work grow exponentially as resources are being dramatically reduced. While this has been shown to be a recipe for burnout, this study seeks to understand the motivational properties of new skillsets and tasks. Through the job characteristics model, used in previous eras to study "job enlargement," where workers are assigned multiple tasks as a way to improve productivity and satisfaction, the value of audience engagement as a tool to provide enhanced feedback and perceived significance is explored. Social capital theory helps explain how a news worker who employs more audience engagement in their work may experience better job outcomes compared to one who does not. A relationship is indeed found through a survey of news workers (N=110) across the industry, demonstrating that audience engagement contributes positively to the job characteristics model for some journalists. These findings have implications for newsroom managers, who may be able to apply the job characteristics model to further enhance work outcomes and job satisfaction through intelligent job enlargement.
Dietary inflammatory index in patients with Alzheimer's dementia compared to controls
Authors:   , Halt Allison Kathleen
Published: September 2024

Alzheimer's dementia (AD) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease causing progressive memory loss, cognitive decline across numerous domains, and, eventually, loss of daily living activities. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a significant risk factor for the development of Alzheimer's disease and is believed to be the mildest endpoint on the spectrum of AD. However, not all patients with MCI progress to AD. Understanding individual, modifiable factors influencing differences between MCI and AD can help us understand why some patients progress and others do not. One such well-studied, modifiable factor is diet. The dietary inflammatory index (DII) evaluates various dietary components on how their pro-and anti-inflammatory properties and is a tool that enables us to analyze how pro-or anti-inflammatory an individual's diet is. We found that DII significantly differs between controls, patients with MCI, and patients with AD; controls have the most anti-inflammatory diet and patients with AD having the least anti-inflammatory diet. This evidence supports the crucial role of diet and chronic inflammation in the development and progression of AD.
Symphonic requiem
Authors:   , Cypret Kaylene
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The goals of my study are to research the plainsong mass for the dead, to learn from scores of instrumental requiems, and to compose an instrumental requiem that fulfills the requirements of my master's degree in music composition. In studying the plainsong masses of the requiem I will find some melodic materials that will be suitable themes and cells in my composition. In observing nonlinguistic requiems, I hope to gain some insights from the composters about writing strategies, specifically dealing with the integration of plainsong melodies. This study is important to me because I intend to use this research as a beginning to further studies of the music of the Missa pro defunctis. Moreover, it will influence my own future scholarship in this area including the study of essays, monographs, and analyses of requiem compositions. I composed a one part of a requiem that incorporated motives, themes, and melodies from the Gregorian plainchant parts "Requiem Aeternam," "Kyrie," title of the work will be Symphonic Requiem. The approximate duration of the composition is approximately 15 minutes. The instrumentation is 2 flutes, 1 oboe, 1 English 4horns, 2 Bb clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 C trumpets, tenor trombone, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, percussion, violin I, violin II, viola, cello, and bass. The structure of the work is in the binary configuration A B and two-part ternary from (ABA + ABA).
Applications of deep neural networks to protein structure prediction
Authors:   , Fang Chao
Published: September 2024

Protein secondary structure, backbone torsion angle and other secondary structure features can provide useful information for protein 3D structure prediction and protein functions. Deep learning offers a new opportunity to significantly improve prediction accuracy. In this dissertation, several new deep neural network architectures are proposed for protein secondary structure prediction: deep inception-inside-inception (Deep3I) networks and deep neighbor residual (DeepNRN) networks for secondary structure prediction; deep residual inception networks (DeepRIN) for backbone torsion angle prediction; deep dense inception networks (DeepDIN) for beta turn prediction; deep inception capsule networks (DeepICN) for gamma turn prediction. Every tool was then implemented as a standalone tool integrated into MUFold package and freely available to research community. A webserver called MUFold-SS-Angle is also developed for protein property prediction. The input feature to those deep neural networks is a carefully designed feature matrix corresponding to the primary amino acid sequence of a protein, which consists of a rich set of information derived from individual amino acid, as well as the context of the protein sequence. Specifically, the feature matrix is a composition of physio-chemical properties of amino acids, PSI-BLAST profile, HHBlits profile and/or predicted shape string. The deep architecture enables effective processing of local and global interactions between amino acids in making accurate prediction. In extensive experiments on multiple datasets, the proposed deep neural architectures outperformed the best existing methods and other deep neural networks significantly: The proposed DeepNRN achieved highest Q8 75.33, 72.9, 70.8 on CASP 10, 11, 12 higher than previous state-of-the-art DeepCNF-SS with 71.8, 72.3, and 69.76. The proposed MUFold-SS (Deep3I) achieved highest Q8 76.47, 74.51, 72.1 on CASP 10, 11, 12. Compared to the recently released state-of-the-art tool, SPIDER3, DeepRIN reduced the Psi angle prediction error by more than 5 degrees and the Phi angle prediction error by more than 2 degrees on average. DeepDIN outperformed significantly BetaTPred3 in both two-class and nine-class beta turn prediction on benchmark BT426 and BT6376. DeepICN is the first application of using capsule network to biological sequence analysis and outperformed all previous gamma-turn predictors on benchmark GT320.
Journalists' use of newspaper comment sections in the newsgathering process
Authors:   , Brown Lisa R.
Published: September 2024

As computers and, increasingly, cell phones, are used by an ever growing percentage of the population, newspapers have turned to online comment sections accompanying articles as forums for readers to communicate. Journalists differ greatly in the extent to which they use comment sections for source development and newsgathering, however. Comment sections that allow for anonymous comments often include expletives, personal attacks and other vitriolic language, a turnoff for some. Some newspapers have sought to curb vitriolic language by requiring commenters to list their name or use some other form of name verification, such as using a Facebook account to make a post, since Facebook requires a first and last name. This research consisted of an online survey sent to reporters (N=100) at dozens of daily U.S. newspapers. The purpose of the research was to examine reporters' use of newspapers' online comment sections and to study differences in responses between reporters who worked at newspapers that allowed anonymous online comments and newspapers that required some form of name verification, such as Facebook, that includes a commenters' first and last name. My research found that there was a statistically significant difference in frequency in which reporters at newspapers that allow anonymous comments and newspapers that don't allow anonymous comments read their newspaper's online comments: reporters who work at newspapers that allow anonymous comments read them more often than reporters who work at newspapers that require commenters to include their name. There was not a statistically significant difference between the two groups in their responses to how they use the comments to find information for another story or find sources or attempts to contact commenters to find additional information for a story. There was not a statistically significant difference in the two groups' responses to whether they attempted to contact commenters for additional information for a story, reporters' feelings on how reading comments make their jobs more efficient, or reporters' feelings on whether reading comments was an efficient way to find story ideas. Additionally, reporters were given the opportunity to give suggestions on how to make comment sections more useful for reporters.
Deepnet : an extensible data acquisition and curation framework supporting computer vision deep learning research
Authors:   , Nivin Tyler
Published: September 2024

We present a system, DeepNet, for ingestion, curation, and management of geospatial data images to facilitate a range of geospatial research. The system allows for the semi-autonomous ingestion of geospatial data from a variety of sources while pre-serving data integrity and provenance. This data repository can then be utilized in a number of ways, with our focus being on the creation of high resolution remote sensing imagery data sets (HR-RSIDS) of a variety of modalities. In addition to aggregating public data sets, the framework includes open source research data points which are found during the course of curation and quality assurance of data while utilizing the framework. These features are of particular value since there is a real possibility that features found during the utilization of the system do not exist in any previously ingested geodata source; the result being that the system grows through its utilization without the reliance on third-party geodata data sets being released publicly. By using DeepNet, we can substantially accelerate the production of HR-RSIDS from public data that is available without imagery. While curating the imagery and data does take a non-trivial amount of time, DeepNet has been designed to support multiple-user curation via a web application component. Allowing multiple people the ability to curate the data and imagery simultaneously allows for the curation process to scale linearly with the number of people doing the curation work. Once the data have been curated, creating a new data set from the data can be done in a matter of minutes. This is especially useful because it allows the data sets created with DeepNet to be corrected, augmented, and extended with new data. We present both the design and implementation of the framework, as well as a number of current and potential uses for the data that the framework manages.
Second class : local and elite media framing of poverty in the Appalachian opioid epidemic
Authors:   , Schrader Kelsie
Published: September 2024

The opioid epidemic has disproportionately affected the rural Appalachian region, and poverty is a root cause of this. However, both poverty and the Appalachian region are historically under-covered and negatively framed in media -- a result, some say, of journalism's concentration in expensive, coastal cities that are inaccessible to people of lower classes. This study examines how an outlet's geographic location influences its coverage of class by comparing local and elite coverage of the opioid epidemic in Appalachia. A textual analysis of media coverage revealed a widespread lack of discussion of systemic, class-related factors as contributors to Appalachia's opioid epidemic and an elite tendency to portray Appalachia and its people as different from the rest of the country. These findings suggest an industry-wide class bias, as well as an elite-specific geographic bias. Such findings suggest a need for greater accessibility in the journalism field in general and grater geographic diversity among elite outlets in particular.
Taste biases : confounding sensory and label evaluations for yogurt
Authors:   , Boase Emma
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] When you taste something bitter, something with a thicker consistency, or something with less sweetness does it make you think it is healthier? Does the taste of the product lead you to think it has more calories? Do you suffer from a taste bias? In this study 105 participants completed a two-stage experiment and subsequent questionnaire to quantify their taste-derived perceptions, label-influenced perceptions and relevant psychometric beliefs and attitudes towards organic Greek, and Classic type yogurts. Participants tasted two-types of yogurt (Greek and Classic) first blind, then again with the type displayed on a label, as well as the presence or absence of an organic label. They then completed a comprehensive beliefs and attitudes questionnaire about yogurt, nutrition, calorie estimation, and organic food. Using the psychometric measures gathered - three clusters were characterized. All three clusters experienced a 'taste' bias to the Greek and organic factors but to different effects. This study examines the sensory and psychographic interrelation of food purchasing behavior and the presence and magnitude of the 'halo effect' in a way that is previously unexplored in the existing literature.
Effects of levels of statistics and the role of number anxiety on perceived story credibility and personal involvement
Authors:   , Herring Cassidy
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this research is to examine effects of levels of statistics on perceived story credibility and personal involvement and the role of number anxiety on these results using a sports news release as a communications format. The concepts guiding the research are number anxiety, numeracy and a derivative concept, statistics literacy, defined below. The method is an experiment using one independent variable, statistics level, defined as the inclusion of no, low (simple statistics, such as frequencies or percentages, and high (more complex statistics, such as single-event probabilities, p-values, etc.). The experiment is between-subjects. Dependent variables are perceived story credibility and personal involvement. Number anxiety is measured as a potential control variable. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed. Results revealed that only one dependent variable, perceived credibility, yielded significant results. Recommendations for future research are provided.
A mathematical relationship between palpation forces and displacement associated with restriction
Authors:   , Hoyer Anneke
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] A numerical model was developed based on clinical data that describes osteopathic clinician palpation forces and displacement. The model delivers an accurate (R[subscript 2] [greater than or equal to] 0.95) representation of forces and displacements. Palpation is the examination of the body by means of the hands and fingers to evaluate the condition of the body though pressure and displacement; specifically, this study focuses on the examination of the lumbar spinal region. The purpose of this work is to better understand tactile perception of clinicians who use this hands-on approach to assist in their assessment and diagnosis of the patient. Clinicians use perceived "restriction" to determine the health of the vertebra and body. Palpation forces can be modeled by using three key variables: stiffness, damping and apparent mass of the system. Using existing experimental data sets that were generated by tracking palpation techniques of multiple clinicians and human subjects, 91 percent of the total number of force application cycles analyzed were found to have a goodness of fit that was better than 95 percent when comparing the experimental data to the response of the three-parameter force/displacement model. A normalized stiffness difference (NSD) model was generated to quantify restriction conclusions perceived by clinicians. Recommendations for design specifications for a palpation training device that would operate using the model created in this work are suggested. The design of the training device is the subject of future work. Strategies to improve the model and experimental methods are proposed for future work.
Parameter establishment for the design of interference fit tibial component of total knee replacement
Authors:   , Koboldt Kevin F.
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Over 4.7 million Americans are living with total knee replacements with an additional one million receiving the surgery each year. With these numbers predicted to grow each year, there is a need for a more robust and effective prosthetic to improve patient results and reduce surgery costs. One aspect with potential for improvement is the fixture method; most prosthetics are cemented to the bone. This method is non-ideal because of the common failure mode of cement degradation as well as the increase in surgery time for cement curing. A novel interference fit implant is evaluated using finite-element processes to minimize micromotion. Bone anisotropy and patient geometry is incorporated into simulations using computed tomography (CT) data taken directly from patients. Design parameters, including interference degree, implantation depth, and prosthetic material, are established and examined using an orthogonal array for design of simulations. It is concluded that the most important design factor by far is the degree of interference, eclipsing the other design factors in the optimization criterion, micromotion.
The evolution of agenda-setting theory : how local TV station's Facebook posts affect news decisions of evening broadcasts
Authors:   , Anderson Connolly Angela
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The relationship between a local television news station and its audience has changed. No longer is it a one-way conversation, but rather, social media has opened a dialogue between the gatekeepers who make editorial decisions for the station and the community the television station serves. During the day, a TV station might post to Facebook several stories in progress, and this research explores whether the stories that get a lot of traction are then included in the evening broadcast. Ultimately, the objective is to see whether audience participation on a local TV station's social media might lead to different ways of thinking about agenda-setting theory. A total of 903 Facebook posts were analyzed from five television stations in the Boston area, including the type of interactions and the number of Facebook followers for each station. The findings show that, in general, the higher the overall score for a social media posting, the more likely the story would be included in the television news broadcast.
Motivations behind individuals' engagement with urban, community-building nonprofits on Facebook : a uses and gratifications approach
Authors:   , Conway Christian
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This research examines how individuals engage with urban, community-building nonprofits on Facebook. Nonprofits rely heavily on social media marketing (SMM) given its cost efficiency and nonprofits' limited budgets (Young, 2017). Given the importance of social media to nonprofits, it is important to examine why individuals are engaging with nonprofits on Facebook. Applying Uses and Gratifications (U&G), the current research identifies motivations behind the public's engagement with nonprofits. U&G provides a psychological communication perspective that assesses how individuals use mass media and what gratifications they get from media uses. While U&G has been applied to social media in general, U&G has not been used to examine this narrow inquisition in nonprofit research. An urban, community-building nonprofit is defined as a 501(c)(3) that is based in a major city in the United States, and the nonprofit's work must be oriented towards helping the community that it is based in. The purpose of this study is to find what uses and gratifications individuals seek when they engage with an urban, community-building nonprofit's Facebook site and to what extent those gratifications are believed to be obtained. This study utilizes a survey methodology and Whiting and Williams (2013) uses and gratifications social media framework will be used to uncover what motivates individuals' engagement with urban, community-building nonprofits on Facebook.
Neurokinin-1 antagonism as a novel treatment for feline asthma : investigation of the role of substance p in airflow limitation and airway inflammation
Authors:   , Grobman Megan Elizabeth
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Feline asthma, a chronic respiratory condition, results cough and/or episodic respiratory distress induced by airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR), airway eosinophilia, and airway remodeling. Homeostasis in the lung is partially maintained by the neuroimmune axis, where cross-talk between these systems is mediated via cytokines, neuropeptides and their receptors. The studies described herein evaluate tachykinins and their receptors as diagnostic tools and/or interventions using an experimental model of feline asthma. The first phase of this project evaluated capsaicin, a transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1) agonist, as an indirect bronchoprovocant in experimentally asthmatic cats. Five cats induced to have asthma using Bermuda grass allergen (BGA) were studied. Twenty-four hours after aerosol challenge of BGA, cats were anesthetized and aerosols of saline followed by 10 fold increasing concentrations of capsaicin (0.4 to 4000 [mu]M) were nebulized. This was followed by ventilator acquired pulmonary mechanics. No significant alteration was seen in either SPO2 or airway resistance (EC200raw) indicating that capsaicin is not an effective bronchoprovocant in a feline asthma model. The second phase of the study examined acute and chronic administration of maropitant citrate, a NK1 receptor antagonist, on clinical signs, airway hyperresponsiveness, and airway eosinophilia when given immediately following allergen challenge and in a chronic setting. To study efficacy in acute asthmatic crises, 7 cats received subcutaneous maropitant (2mg/kg) or placebo (PBS) 10 minutes after BGA challenge; after a 2 week washout, alternate treatment was given. To study efficacy for chronic airway damage, six cats received maropitant (2mg/kg) in a food treat or a food treat alone every 48 hrs for 4 weeks; after a 2 week washout, alternate treatment was given. Study endpoints included a subjective scoring system with visual analogue scale (VAS), ventilator-acquired pulmonary mechanics to assess AHR after bronchoprovocation with methacholine, and airway eosinophilia. Mann-Whitney Rank Sum Tests were used with P<0.05 considered significant. A single injection of maropitant failed to diminish VAS scoring (P= 0.710), AHR (P=0.456) or airway eosinophilia (P= 0.165) versus placebo. Chronic administration of maropitant failed to diminish VAS scoring (P=0.589), AHR (P=0.818), or airway eosinophilia (P = 0.699) versus placebo. Maropitant failed to improve any measured parameter of feline asthma in either an acute crisis or with chronic ongoing inflammation and cannot be recommended as a treatment.
How interactive infographics foster audience engagement
Authors:   , Xu Huiqi
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Interactive infographics serve as a container that helps store and present information for journalists and newsrooms to the audience. The increasing use of interactive infographics in news stories has attracted many communication researchers to investigate different aspects of interactive infographics. Built on the previous information graphics research, an online experiment was designed to examine how different levels of infographics -- none, low, medium, and high, would impact audience engagement with a story via interactive infographics. The results showed that low-level interactive infographics have significant contribution to foster audience engagement compared to no infographics condition, however, high-level interactive infographics produced a similar level of audience engagement compared to no infographics condition. Implications for media practitioners and communication researchers will be discussed, but are objects to some limitations.
Control system design of tape winding machine
Authors:   , Zhu Xuehui
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Tape winding creates a composite structure by the reinforcement of material, and it has been commonly used in industry. However, the operation of a manual machine would be strenuous and time-consuming. The development of control system is the main process to automate the 2-axis winder. While the change of speed is necessary, the force on material determine the quality of products. The control goal is to track the output tension on tape with the user-defined value. In the feedback loop, stepper motor is selected as the actuator for more accuracy control with position. The research will provide a math analysis of the real model, as well as the application of different control theories. Conventional PID algorithm reduces the stead-state error as well as respond time. On the other hand, fuzzy PD controller has higher adaptability to disturbance and better dynamic properties. Both the simulation and test results will be discussed in the thesis. The software simulation includes the verification of the designed controller and the construction of user-oriented interface.
Scalable Bayesian nonparametric learning for biomedical big data
Authors:   , Gu Chiyu
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Recent advances in array-based and next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have revolutionized biomedical research, especially in cancer. The analysis of the datasets compiled from these technologies, usually referred to as 'omics data, are often challenging because of high dimensionality and complex interaction structures. These challenges can be addressed with Bayesian nonparametric models, a flexible class of inference approaches that extend parametric Bayesian models using in finite dimensional distributions. In this dissertation, novel statistical methods based on Bayesian nonparametric models and their extensions are developed to handle 'omics data for various inference goals. First, we propose a nonparametric Bayesian procedure for high-dimensional regression for biomedical datasets. Next, a flexible Bayesian approach built on a novel fi rst order mixture model called the Sticky Poisson-Dirichlet process or the multicuisine restaurant franchise is introduced for the purpose of detecting differential genomic signatures of disease. Finally, we further explore the effectiveness of the proposed high-dimensional regression framework with an application to a different type of data from lung cancer research.
Facilitating emergent bilingual's participation in mathematics : an examination of a teacher's positioning acts
Authors:   , Smith Erin Marie
Published: September 2024

This study examined the mathematical learning opportunities provided to Latinx emergent bilinguals (EBs) in an elementary classroom. I used positioning theory (Rom Harre and van Langenhove, 1999b) to examine the acts of one third-grade teacher, Ms. Bristow, over two years to identify the ways she interactively positioned Latinx EBs in whole-class settings through spoken and written acts. An examination of the data revealed Ms. Bristow positioned EBs in five ways: inviting EBs to co-construct mathematics, revoicing EBs' mathematical contribution, acting as an intermediary between EBs and peers, valuing EBs' mathematical contributions, and recording EBs' mathematical thinking. These positioning acts provided multiple opportunities for EBs to use spoken mathematical discourse--a critical component to mathematical learning. The positioning acts also fostered the storylines: EBs are mathematically competent, EBs can explain their mathematical thinking to others, and EBs are contributors to the coconstruction of math. The findings from this study have implications for teacher education and mathematics educators.
Reinventing a moral mode : a textual analysis of 21st century "living Lei Fengs" in China Daily
Authors:   , Konczal Lea
Published: September 2024

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This study explores how China Daily has extended the collective memory of iconic Chinese role model Lei Feng in articles about so-called "living Lei Fengs" published from 2003 to 2017. The study uses quantitative and qualitative textual analysis and employs theories of collective memory to explain how the Chinese government and media collaborate in using new national role models to shape the public narrative about Lei Feng in the minds of Chinese and foreign readers. The findings reveal and introduce three major strategies of collective memory shaping: direct reauthorization, which seeks to keep Lei Feng's traditional characteristics alive by promoting role models who hew closely to Lei's original image; indirect reauthorization, which addresses topical problems by ascribing new traits to Lei Feng's successors based on their connections with specific social issues; and transference, which anoints foreigners as living Lei Fengs in an effort to build international goodwill. This study concludes that so far in the 21st century, China Daily has regularly promoted all three types of living Lei Fengs as part of a strategy to combat "spiritual pollution" from the West and building a positive image of China abroad. The findings also indicate that the Chinese government retains a strong hold on state media and continues to use it to influence citizens by promoting changing versions of public memories.
Terahertz miim rectenna for energy harvesting applications
Authors:   , Allison Evan
Published: September 2024

Harvesting energy from electromagnetic radiation has been researched for over a century. Utilizing energy harvesting antenna to collect radiation from solar and terrestrial sources has shown promise to be a viable method of energy transfer. Generally, the energy density of electromagnetic radiation increases with frequency with the highest intensity in the optical frequencies. This work focuses on harvesting of terahertz radiation utilizing a rectifying antenna. The objective is to demonstrate zero-bias rectification of alternating current terahertz radiation captured by an antenna to useable direct current with a metal-insulator-insulator-metal diode. The direct current diode characteristics are presented with a two-term exponential fit to understand the rectifying capabilities of the rectenna. The power of the terahertz source is measured and estimated. Two material sets of diodes in the rectenna are measured under illumination from the terahertz source. The zero-bias rectification demonstrated is crucial to producing energy-harvesting devices. The rectification efficiency of the rectenna is 7.1 x 10[-10] and 1.7 x 10[-9] for the Ni-NiO-Nb[2]O[5]-CrAu and Ni-NiO-ZnO-CrAu devices, respectively.