Osteoarthritis (OA) is a degenerative joint condition prevalent in older adults that causes pain, functional interference, affects mood, and contributes to use of scheduled as well as as- needed prn and extra over-the-counter (OTC) medication. Music, with imagery and relaxation, have been shown to impact pain perception and medication in this population, yet no studies have used a blended movement intervention with music, imagery, and relaxation, to assess movement-induced pain. Also, no studies have examined an intervention of this type within a one-week period. Participants were women, between 73 and 95 (N=76), who were randomly placed in an experimental group or control group, alternatively assigned by pain level and blocked to account for multisite study facilitation. A modified visual analog scale (VAS) for pain and modified visual analog mood (VAMs) subscales of tense/relaxed (T/R), exhausted/energized (E/E), and sad/happy (S/H) were assessed immediately following movement. The functional interference from pain (via the Brief Pain Inventory-Short Form) was assessed based on recall and medication usage was equated using the Medication Quantification Scale. The independent variable was a therapist-led daily session of blended movement intervention with music, imagery, and relaxation. A series of Mann Whitney U tests revealed that there were no differences between groups on measures of movement-induced pain, mood, or functional interference. However, all measures but T/R trended towards improvement from pre to posttest scores for the experimental group. Movement-induced pain showed directional change in the experimental group compared to the control group at a level considered clinically important in prior research (Tubach et al., 2005). There was no difference in extra medication usage, but a Friedman repeated measures analysis of variance showed there was a significant difference in the experimental group's total (scheduled plus prn/extra OTC) medication across time between pretest and average intervention day. Results indicated that, overall a short-term, blended movement intervention with music, imagery, and relaxation appears to not provide analgesia for pain, or affect mood and functional interference in a statistically significant way. However, this intervention may be beneficial within one week and further investigation into applications for pain management, mood enhancement, functional interference, and medication in the OA and older adult population is indicated. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Music in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Fall Semester, 2014. / August 5, 2014. / imagery, Medication, music therapy, osteoarthritis, pain management, relaxation / Includes bibliographical references. / Jayne M. Standley, Professor Directing Dissertation; David E. Gussak, University Representative; Clifford K. Madsen, Committee Member; John M. Geringer, Committee Member; Alice-Ann Darrow, Committee Member.

HIV/AIDS can affect individuals of any age. Efforts to educate those considered to be most at-risk, based on the age at which the most individuals are infected, are ongoing and public. Less work and mainstream education outreach, however, is being directed at an older population, who can be more likely to contract HIV, is more susceptible to the effects of HIV, and more likely to develop AIDS, than younger persons. Guided by the Health Belief Model theory, research was conducted to determine what, if any, relationship existed between age of an individual and the possibility that an HIV test will be sought. Factors of gender, education, ethnicity and marital status were included in analyses. the research indicated that as age increased, likelihood for getting an HIV test decreased. Overall, most individuals had not been tested for HIV. the implications of an aged and aging population with HIV include a need for coordinated service delivery, increased education and outreach.

Osteosarcopenic obesity (OSO) is a recently identified geriatric syndrome characterized by simultaneous presence of osteopenia/osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and increased adiposity either as overt overweight or fat infiltration into bone and muscle. The diagnostic criteria for OSO are just being established, but there are no data on biomarkers that might characterize this syndrome. Our objective was to examine possible biomarkers associated with OSO syndrome, including serum sclerostin (as a hinder of bone formation), skeletal muscle-specific troponin T (sTnT) (as an indicator of muscle turnover/damage) and serum leptin and adiponectin (measurement for fat metabolism). Additionally, we analyzed C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum lipids to evaluate the level of inflammation and lipid profile, respectively. A total of n=59 healthy Caucasian women ≥65 years were classified into 4 groups based on their bone and body composition profile identified by Dual-energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA) measurements: 1) Osteopenic obese (N=35); 2) Obese-only (N=10); 3) OSO (N=10); 4) Osteopenic/sarcopenic non-obese (N=4). Osteopenia/osteoporosis was determined by T-score of L1-L4 and/or femoral neck≤-1. Appendicular lean mass adjusted for both height and fat mass. Appendicular lean mass residual value of ≤ -1.43 was used as the cut-off point for diagnosing sarcopenia. Obesity included women with body fat percentage ≥32%. Serum samples were analyzed using ELISA kits for sclerostin, sTnT, leptin and adiponectin. CRP and Lipid profile were analyzed at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital using the latex amino assay and lipoprotein assay, respectively. In addition, diet and habitual physical activity were evaluated by 3-day dietary record and the Allied Dunbar National Fitness Survey, respectively. Data were evaluated by Pearson's correlations and ANOVA followed by Tukey's tests with p≤0.05. Serum sclerostin was significantly higher in OSO and osteopenic obese group in comparison to the obese-only group. The sTnT concentrations were significantly higher in OSO group in comparison to osteopenic obese and obese-only group. Sclerostin was negatively correlated with bone mineral density/content (BMD/BMC) of all skeletal sites, and the relationship was statistically significant with femoral neck BMD/BMC. Moreover, there was a significant positive correlation between serum sclerostin and sTnT, indicating their simultaneous mediation in bone and muscle loss. The highest concentrations of serum leptin were observed among OSO group. Women in OSO group had significantly greater leptin concentration than osteopenic/sarcopenic non-obese group. Serum leptin was significantly negatively correlated with left femoral neck BMD and T-score, total BMC and left femur BMC after adjusting for weight or BMI. Statistically significant negative correlation of serum adiponectin with body fat percentage was noted, as well as with the BMD and T-scores of several skeletal sites, including total femur and femoral neck. The osteopenic/sarcopenic non-obese group had the highest level of adiponectin (µg/mL) in comparison to other groups. These results confirm the negative relationship between adiposity and serum adiponectin. Significant negative correlation between serum leptin and BMD in groups with increased body fat may indicate its mediating role between bone and body adiposity. The CRP concentrations for all participants ranged from 0.01 to 1.43 mg/dL. None of the CRP concentrations were above the high threshold (3.0 mg/dL). Although the highest concentrations of CRP were observed among OSO group, there was no significant difference between groups. The highest concentrations of cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) were observed in the OSO group. Moreover, the highest concentrations of triglyceride were observed among the osteopenic obese group vs lowest for osteopenic/sarcopenic non-obese group. Although, the lowest amount of energy intake was observed among OSO group, there was no significant difference among groups. Moreover, there was no significant difference in amount of vitamin D and calcium intake among the groups. The lowest amount of protein intake was observed in the OSO group; however, there was no significant difference among groups. There was a significant positive correlation between total calcium intake and lean/fat ratio. Moreover, there was a significant negative correlation between amount of protein intake and waist/hip ratio. In conclusion, women identified with OSO syndrome have presented with the poorest outcomes for each variable. The combination of high concentration of sclerostin, sTnT, leptin and low adiponectin can be used to better identify the metabolic profile of OSO syndrome and possibly apply as measurements for its diagnostic criteria. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Nutrition, Food and Exercise Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester 2017. / March 6, 2017. / Aging, Bone health, Menopause, Nutrition, Osteosarcopenic obesity, Sarcopenia / Includes bibliographical references. / Jasminka Ilich-Ernst, Professor Directing Dissertation; Robert J. Contreras, University Representative; Daniel L. McGee, Committee Member; Maria T. Spicer, Committee Member.

Thesis advisor: Elizabeth A. Kensinger / Thesis advisor: Hiram Brownell / The present research used a combination of resting-state functional connectivity and behavioral testing within and beyond the laboratory to examine how age is associated with potential cognitive and socioemotional motivational mechanisms in relation to first-person moral decision-making and third person moral judgments. Part I investigated whether the gray matter structure and resting-state functional connectivity of the Default Mode Network were similarly related to working memory capacity and sacrificial moral decision-making in younger and older adults. Results indicated that better working memory performance was positively associated with Default Mode Network segregation in both groups, as marked by increased within-network resting-state functional connectivity, and decreased between-network connectivity. Critically, reduced bias to endorse the utilitarian option during sacrificial dilemmas involving incidental harm was associated with increased segregation of the Default Mode Network in younger adults. Similar behavioral performance in older adults, however, was associated with reduced segregation of the Default Mode Network via increased coupling with Salience Network regions. These findings suggest that Default Mode Network functional integrity may be differentially associated with age-related changes in working memory capacity and sacrificial moral decision-making. Part II investigated whether age differences in utilitarian moral decision-making extend beyond the laboratory in non-sacrificial settings during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results indicated that older age and negative affect were associated with the purchase of extra amounts of hard to find good and medical supplies. Negative memory was additionally associated with the purchase of hard to find goods. Advancing age was also associated with reported distribution of these goods to family members, suggesting that these behaviors may have actually resulted in more utilitarian outcomes than when younger adults reported purchasing these goods. These findings suggest that advancing age may be associated with the engagement in utilitarian moral decision-making in real-world settings more than sacrificial moral decision-making literature might suggest. These results also highlight the link between emotional memory and moral decision-making in real-world settings. Part III sought to determine whether younger adults display memory biases for mixed-valence moral scenarios about others’ actions in a similar manner to the negativity biases demonstrated in the emotional memory literature. It also sought to determine whether episodic memory content could be used to predict subsequent judgments about agents’ actions. Indeed participants demonstrated an immoral memory bias for motivational content that they learned about agents’ actions. Additionally, memory for motivational content appeared to predict subsequent judgments of agents’ actions. These findings suggest that the information recalled from episodic memory stores may be important for informing subsequent moral judgments about agents’ actions. These immoral memory biases observed in younger adults highlight important avenues for future research to consider when examining age-related motivational shifts in emotional memory and moral judgment. The findings of the present work highlight the complex interplay of cognitive and socioemotional motivational mechanisms associated with age-related effects on first-person moral decision-making and third-person moral judgments. In the context of the broader literature, the findings indirectly point to the involvement of age-related motivational mechanisms in all three studies. These findings have important implications for moral development in the second half of life. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

This dissertation aimed to investigate the direct and indirect pathways between body mass and three indicators of morbidity – health conditions, disability, and self-rated health status – and how these associations differed across birth cohorts. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative longitudinal sample of adults age 51 or older, I used latent growth curve modeling to investigate the association of body mass on morbidity for five cohorts. Latent growth curve models allow for changes in body mass, health conditions, disability, and self-rated health over several waves of data to be assessed. To determine if the influence of education on health has declined, I also stratified each cohort by educational attainment groups. The results show that starting body mass is positively associated with starting health conditions; no other pathway examined was significant for all cohorts. In the three youngest cohorts, higher starting body mass was associated with worse self-rated health. Changes in body mass over time were not significantly associated with changes in self-rated health over time for the two youngest cohorts, perhaps indicating that adults at older ages do not perceive higher body mass as detrimental to overall well-being. Education was a significant predictor of body mass and self-rated health for all cohorts. When cohorts were stratified based on educational attainment, adults with at least some college had fewer health conditions than their less educated peers in all cohorts except the youngest cohort. The relationship between the rate of change in body mass and the rate of change in health conditions was not significant for the most educated group in the youngest cohort. However, higher starting body mass resulted in worse self-rated health regardless of cohort or education. Despite inconsistent findings, the results potentially support an expansion of morbidity because the onset of illness does seem to be occurring at younger ages. The effect of education on body mass and health was mostly consistent across cohorts. Stratifying the data by educational attainment suggests that the youngest and best educated cohort has not benefited from the increased level of education relative to the older cohorts in the study.

Pyrolysis oil is produced from biomass when a feedstock is rapidly heated in a non-oxidizing environment during a short residence time. While pyrolysis oil is inexpensive, major issues prevent the facile use of this oil product ‘as produced’. Principally, since the rapid condensation results in a product not in thermodynamic equilibrium, the oil components continue to react until equilibrium is reached. Understanding how and why these reactions—including polymerization—occur in pyrolysis oil is important in designing treatments to stabilize or transform pyrolysis oil before further upgrading. Physical and chemical changes in pyrolysis oils are investigated as a function of temperature and time to simulate the aging process during storage. The effects of alcohol addition on pyrolysis oil stability during high temperature treatment are investigated. The pretreatment of pyrolysis oil with low-cost alcohols is promising prior to hydrotreating or catalytic cracking.

I evaluated the effects of thermal and hydrologic conditions on growth and recruitment of Shovelnose Sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus platorynchus) in the lower Mississippi River and assessed mortality. Duration of water temperatures 12-24°C had a positive influence and temperatures below 11°C had a negative influence on annual growth. Duration of water temperatures above 28°C, duration of floodplain inundation, duration of low water, and minimum and maximum river stage did not influence annual growth. Duration of water temperatures 18-20°C and 18-24°C had a positive influence on recruitment, and duration of temperatures at and below 10°C had a negative influence on recruitment. Duration of days above 5, 6, 7, 8, and 8.9 m on the Vicksburg, MS river gage did not influence recruitment. Annual mortality was 28%. Growth and recruitment of Shovelnose Sturgeon in the lower Mississippi River appear to be positively influenced by duration of moderate water temperatures and minimally influenced by hydrologic conditions.

Ideally, asphalt pavements are designed to achieve sufficient stiffness prior to the application of traffic to resist rutting while also maintaining enough flexibility after years of service to minimize the amount of durability/brittleness related distresses (e.g. cracking and weathering). Multiple factors have caused an industry transition to mixes which are much more susceptible to crack, and durability related distresses are often the primary mechanism by which pavements fail. To restore a balance between rutting and durability distresses in asphalt pavements, the industry has started investigating balanced mix designs (BMDs). While mitigating only rutting or cracking behaviors is a straightforward exercise based on the collection of knowledge, simultaneously considering the two types of distresses is challenging considering that rutting is an early life distress and durability distresses are not typically observed until longer term aging has occurred. Mixture conditioning protocols to simulate field aging in conjunction with tests to fairly evaluate mixture integrity after conditioning are needed to scrutinize asphalt mixtures for durability related distresses during the mixture design phase. The current longer term conditioning protocol (R30) adopted by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) is not as severe as suggested when considering durability/brittleness (Isola et al. 2014; Yin et al. 2016; Cox et al. 2017). This dissertation’s primary objective is to provide guidance on asphalt mixture aging by contributing in four areas: 1) ensuring proper density measurement of field aged cores, 2) provide guidance on increased short term aging time effects in asphalt mixtures, 3) suggest improved mixture conditioning protocols to simulate longer term field aging, and 4) make suggestions for improving binder conditioning protocols to simulate longer term field aging. To these ends, a series of mixture and extracted binder tests were conducted on materials that were used to construct a full-scale test section in Columbus, MS that was monitored for aging for up to 5 after construction. The overall work presented provides simple recommendations or protocols which have the potential to improve the level of scrutiny that can be given to paving materials during the mix design phase and thus improve overall pavement performance.

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