Opioids like morphine are the benchmark for treating severe acute pain; however, severe side effects including respiratory depression and addiction limit their viability. One approach to improve opioid therapy focuses on a dose-reduction strategy by amplifying opioid analgesia without boosting side effects, so that less opioid can be given. To this end, we tested the hypothesis that targeting spinal cord heat shock protein 90 (hsp90) with isoform-selective inhibitors given IV could boost opioid pain relief without altering side effects, enabling a dose-reduction strategy. We tested this hypothesis with the novel Grp94-selective inhibitor KUNG65 and the novel Hsp90β-selective inhibitor KUNB106, given at a 1mg/kg dose IV in male and female CD-1 mice, followed by a 24hr treatment time, then analysis of opioid antinociception and side effects. We found that systemic (IV) KUNG65 treatment resulted in a 1.9 fold increase in morphine potency to relieve tail flick pain with similar findings for KUNB106, consistent with our earlier studies injecting inhibitors directly into the spinal cord. We also found that both KUNG65 and KUNB106 boosted morphine potency in paw incision pain. Additionally, we found that KUNG65 and KUNB106 injection could rescue established morphine tolerance in the tail flick assay. These results support our hypothesis that isoform-selective Hsp90 inhibitors can selectively engage Hsp90 in the spinal cord when given systemically, resulting in improved opioid antinociception and side effects. These results strongly suggest that Hsp90 isoform-selective inhibitors could be a powerful new tool to improve opioid therapy through a dose-reduction strategy, and further show that this effect can be achieved through a translationally relevant dosing route.

Purpose: To develop evidence-based recommendations for nurses and pediatricians regarding adverse childhood experience (ACE) screening in children and implementation of yoga as an alternative intervention for improving mental health in affected children. Background: ACEs are prevalent, and increase a child’s risk for toxic stress, impulsive behavior, and poor coping mechanisms. Yoga is effective for improving mental health in adults and is becoming increasingly studied in the youth population. Benefits discussed in the literature include kinesthetic awareness, increased appreciation for the body, and effective relaxation tools. Approach to practice: The best practice recommendations are based on a literature review conducted through searching on PubMed, PsycINFO, Psychiatry Online, and Psychology Collection with the following keywords: yoga, depression, ACE, anxiety, and adolescents. Articles reviewed in this search were published from 2012 to 2022. Outcomes: The proposed best practice recommendations are for professionals to reference when screening for ACEs and determining eligibility for a yoga intervention. Conclusions: As more research on yoga in this population is compiled and published, the recommendations for screening and referral will become increasingly specific and standardized. Once this occurs, medical professionals can feel confident in screening for ACEs, identifying candidates for yoga, and determining an effective regimen.

Autonomous cars have risen in popularity and are beginning to appear more on our roadways. Currently there are no measures to monitor their behavior and their behavior has not been fully refined enough to allow them to operate without human intervention. Currently an artificial intelligence software has the ability to track vehicles visually through a traffic camera network, but there is no way to verify its accuracy. The proposed problem was put out by the Arizona Commerce Authority and the Institute of Automated Mobility and a solution was developed by Tucson Embedded Systems and a team of University of Arizona Students. The designed solution was a scaled RC car platform that featured a GPS module and inertial measuring unit that would collect positional and kinematic data while also having a visually recognizable checkerboard calibration pattern. This platform would allow for small scale lab environment testing, but would also allow for the platform to be placed in a road car with a scaled up calibration pattern for use with traffic camera systems on roadways. The student team was able to develop and deliver a working product that would allow for the integration of autonomous capabilities into the platform in the future.

This honors thesis explores the memory of king Ívarr inn beinlausi through the social model of disability. Utilizing historical and archaeological sources, this study addresses whether Ívarr was impaired by Scandinavians of the Middle Ages. Settled in the backdrop of the Viking Age, the Icelandic Ragnars saga loðbrókar ok sona hans covers the legacy of the legendary king Ragnarr loðbrók and his sons, with particular emphasis on his firstborn Ívarr. By exploring impairment from a social model of disability, this study examines the factors that impacted how Ívarr was remembered in medieval saga and present-day depictions with a focus on media and medical constructions. Ívarr’s compliance with societal values of wisdom and strength has sustained his memory over the years. Furthermore, a close reading of the text suggests that Ívarr’s supernatural abilities derive from his aberrancy. This study argues that Ívarr was not disabled by Scandinavian medieval persons but was impaired. In contemporary depictions of Ívarr, media sources such as Vikings (2013-2020) stress his disability as a barrier to be overcome.

Women’s bodily autonomy and abortion access have been topics of mass debate since the 1800s. On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court overturned decades of precedent providing access to abortion nationwide in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization (2022). The ruling immediately led to the overturn of abortion access in 13 states and returned the legislation of abortion access to the states. Women felt the immediate effects of the limitation of their reproductive rights. Access to legal abortion can be returned nationwide, however, through the codification of Roe v. Wade (1974) into federal law. Currently, the only major issues standing in the way of returning nationwide abortion access are politics – both from Congress and the Supreme Court. With Congress’ power to regulate interstate commerce, there are multiple constitutionally justifiable methods of protecting abortion access in federal law despite the Supreme Court’s ruling. The Executive Branch also has numerous methods of returning abortion access to the women of the United States including regulation of federal lands, mail, and telemedicine.

Fire in semi humid regions of tropical Africa is driven by random lighting strikes and intentional anthropogenic burnings for charcoal production, which often result uncontrolled fire that causes landscape conversion. However, the relative contributions of localized and strictly human-caused fire vs. more regional burning facilitated by climate events in late Holocene African fire history needs to be clarified. In this study I have investigated the history and drivers of the late Holocene fire, a region in central eastern Africa adjacent to Lake Tanganyika. I have taken a paleolimnological approach, studying sedimented macrocharcoal preserved in sediment cores, to obtain a record of macrocharcoal concentrations and fluxes spanning the last ~ 500 years. I compared macrocharcoal concentrations and flux patterns with lake level and lake temperature changes for nine dated sediment cores (18M, 15M, 20MR, 25M, 21MR, 1A, KH1, 2A, and 6A) collected from nearshore east central coastal areas and southeastern basin locations. From 1500 to 2000 C.E., fires that are recorded in the cores near the northern Mahale area (the east central part of the lake where the majority of records were located) were mostly uncorrelated and presumably represent very localized fires. Only a few events are recorded in multiple cores and thus seem likely to be related to climatic drivers, such as in the late 17th century, a dry period during the Little Ice Age and or during the mid-19th century. Low fire frequencies observed during the late 20th century are possibly related to prior extensive deforestation in the study area. However, the dominance of uncorrelated late Holocene charcoal records near the Mahale area suggests that most of these fires were highly localized and likely human set (for land clearance or charcoal production) rather than being driven by regional climate events.

This thesis offers an epistolary exploration of questions of representation in American literature and the white reading position. It utilizes the form of self-address in order to investigate my own reading position as a White American and LGBTQ-identified elementary, high school, and college student of English in Colorado and Arizona. The letters address issues including cultural appropriation and the publishing industry. Literary texts discussed include works by Black and indigenous authors whose work is subject to authenticity and identity politics. Letters also discuss texts by LGBTQ authors that at the time of this writing have been censored and banned. Lack of representation in literature can lead to violence, depression, and self-esteem issues, especially in children who do not see themselves in the literature they are taught in school. In a series of self-critical and self-reflexive letter-essays, this thesis problematizes my own history and position as a reader in order to advocate for a more inclusive politics of representation in literary publishing and teaching.

Technological advancements in immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), have driven the development and adoption of the metaverse. The metaverse is a virtual world that is parallel to the real world. Many industries, including healthcare and gaming, have incorporated metaverse in their services, leading to an immersive virtual experience for users. Meanwhile, the metaverse has also brought some threats to people. This report presents a comprehensive discussion on the various security issues that users may face in the metaverse and takes Roblox as an example to analyze first whether people pay attention to the security of metaverse games. Second, people's sentiments about metaverse games. The result has shown that the public like Metaverse games but pays little attention to the security issues of metaverse games.

Vietnam is one of the fast-growing countries. Several reform programs that were launched in the mid-1980s kick-started significant changes to the country and its economy. The 1980s was the start for the privatization trend in Latin America, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia. Despite being a latecomer, Vietnam’s privatization, or equitization, has resulted in high levels of economic growth in the country. This paper examines the privatization in Vietnam and its impacts on the society and economy. In addition, it compares the outcomes in Vietnam with those in other countries by using the case study method.

The purpose of this study is to examine the factors contributing to colorism against African American Women and how these factors affect them. While colorism is frequently studied, limited research has been completed about its portrayal in the media and how that representation impacts black women. Black female participants (N=35) were surveyed about their experiences with colorism and the factors promoting colorist ideals. Participants were asked a series of demographic background questions followed by a mixture of structured and open-ended questions that explored their perception of the media’s beauty standards and how such beauty standards affect their lives. The findings show the media promotes positive stereotypes of women with lighter skin, lighter eyes, and straighter hair and negative stereotypes of women with darker skin, darker eyes, and courser hair which doesn’t negatively affect darker skinned women’s self confidence or academics but their experiences. Major findings from this present study suggest that young black women feel pressured by contemporary American standards of beauty to look a certain way. These findings also reveal how society’s idealized beauty standards have a significant influence on black women’s overall self-esteem and body image.