Theses and Dissertations from UMD

Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2

New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM

More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.

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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Physiological dynamics of injury and regeneration in the clonal freshwater annelid Pristina leidyi
    (2022) Rennolds, Corey William; Bely, Alexandra E; Biology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    The threat that mechanical injury poses to homeostasis and survival has spurred the evolution of diverse processes to mitigate these effects. The most dramatic of these is regeneration, a process that restores the form and function of lost body parts. The apparent benefits of regeneration may come at considerable cost, however, and these may substantially diminish regeneration’s adaptive value in certain contexts, potentially contributing to evolutionary losses of regeneration. The costs and benefits of regeneration are poorly understood in most animals, precluding more than speculation of the evolutionary drivers of regeneration. Naids are a group of small, clonally reproducing freshwater annelids that feature great diversity of regenerative ability and are well suited to experimental studies. I used the species Pristina leidyi to determine how injury and regeneration affect organismal function and fitness, integrating physiological and molecular approaches. I first investigated how injury and regeneration differentially affect an individual’s ability to tolerate environmental stress, an ecologically relevant and energetically demanding task. I found that stress tolerance is reduced by regeneration in a stressor- and tissue-specific manner while, unexpectedly, tolerance is temporarily improved shortly after injury. These effects are unrelated to whole-organism metabolic rate, which surprisingly does not differ between early and late injury recovery. Using 3’ TagSeq, I found that, while injury and heat stress elicit largely distinct responses, both upregulate certain shared damage control pathways. I then tested whether the physiological cost of regeneration has potential to translate into fitness costs by examining the interaction between regeneration and reproduction, which occurs by asexual fission in this species. By modulating resource availability, I found evidence for an energetic trade-off between regeneration and reproduction that is masked when food is abundant. This tradeoff is manifested through a reduction in per-offspring allocation rather than reproductive rate. Overall, my results demonstrate that injury and regeneration costs are highly context dependent in P. leidyi. More broadly, these findings contrast in key ways from evolutionarily distant animals with very different life history traits, illustrating the importance of investigating the physiological mechanisms that may mediate selection on regeneration in diverse lineages.
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    SHOE MIDSOLE DROP AFFECTS JOINT-LEVEL KINETICS AND ENERGETICS DURING JUMP-LANDING
    (2019) Garcia, Gina Lorraine; Shim, Jae K; Kinesiology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Traditional athletic footwear is designed with an elevated heel, causing ankle plantarflexion (positive drop). Conversely, research suggests an elevated forefoot (negative drop) could take advantage of calf musculature and improve jump height. It is unknown, though, if a negative drop simultaneously benefits landing mechanics related to lower extremity injury risk, and how individual lower extremity joints are affected, which contribute to whole-body jump-landing performance. Maximum vertical countermovement jumps were performed by 16 females in shoes with negative (NEG), neutral (NTRL), and positive (POS) drops. Although jump height was similar, peak concentric joint power was significantly greater in NEG than POS at the ankle, but opposite at the knee during jumping. During landing, eccentric work was greatest in POS. Joint work was greater in NEG than POS at the ankle, but opposite at the knee. These findings suggest shoe drop can affect joint-level jump-landing mechanics without concomitant changes in whole-body performance.
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    Survey on Horse-Related Injuries and Safety Practices in Maryland and Virginia
    (2010) Bethune, Lisa Anne; Carter-Pokras, Olivia; Epidemiology and Biostatistics; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Horseback riding is a leading cause of sports injury. This thesis identifies socio-demographic characteristics of adults sustaining horse-related injuries, and factors associated with receipt of medical treatment and improvement of safety behaviors among those injured. A web-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in Maryland and Virginia during July 1st - September 1st 2010 (n=908). Ninety-four percent (93.7%) of respondents had ever sustained a horse-related injury. Women and adults with ≥15 years of experience with horses had higher odds of injury than men and adults with <15 years of experience. Roughly half of the injured (48.2%) had received emergency treatment. The odds of receiving medical treatment for injuries occurring at a competition/show were 2.42 (1.08-5.44) times the odds of receiving medical treatment for injuries occurring at home. Provision of informational and emotional support from friends/family, healthcare professionals, or equine industry professionals was significantly associated with improving safety practices among the injured.
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    Self-Protective Behaviors and Injury in Domestic Violence Situations: Does it Hurt to Fight Back?
    (2008-05-01) Wyckoff, Rachael Anne; Simpson, Sally S; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)
    Routine activities theory has different implications regarding situational crime prevention when applied to domestic violence. Indeed, it is often impossible for the victim to make herself a less suitable target or increase capable guardians. Therefore, women sometimes engage in their own form of situational crime prevention; self-protective behaviors. However, relatively little is known empirically about self-protective behaviors, their prevalence, context, and link to victim injury. Using both quantitative and qualitative data from the Women's Experience of Violence (WEV) funded NCOVR project, I explored the phenomenon of self-protective behaviors in domestic violence situations to examine whether the use of self-protective behaviors impacts the probability and severity of subsequent injury. I found that forceful physical behaviors increase injury whereas both forceful and nonforceful verbal behaviors actually served as a protective factor against subsequent injury.