Digital Commons Network^™

Exploration Of Nucleic Acid Hydrogran Bonding Using Molecular Mechanics And Dft Calculations, Simi Kaur

Biological Sciences

Many recent theoretical and experimental techniques have been developed to probe the structurefunction relationships of complex biomolecules. The roles of RNAs are dependent upon various intricate structural motifs and interactions, including hairpins, pseudoknots, long range territory contacts, bulges and internal loops, that are not easily captured by these methods. We had previously developed an enhanced replica exchange molecular dynamics method that incorporated secondary structure information in the form of distance restraints in order to effectively overcome kinetic barriers and sample conformational space. In several structures, restrained RNA base pairs near large bulges displayed a preference for stacking over hydrogen bonding …

Variability In Pcb Exposure Of Adolescent Sexual Maturation In Published Articles, Harshal Shet

Anthropology

One of the most important aspects of science is replication of research studies between different labs. This capability for scientists to check their work, and that of other scientists, leads to research results of interest being well-accepted and qualified. When research studies cannot be replicated under ideal experimental conditions, people can believe results that are not consistent, and the data is not real. The main objective of this study was to examine the variability on the levels of different PCB congeners from various studies and their effects on sexual maturation in adolescent population. The detectable levels of different PCB congeners …

Hippocampal Extracellular Potassium Levels And Formation Of Spatial Memory In Response To Retrodialysis Insulin Administration, Gabrielle Shames

Anthropology

Insulin is the most common treatment for hyperglycemia, such as that caused by type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus. Insulin causes cellular uptake and storage of glucose to maintain homeostasis and also plays important roles in other systems; an important example is regulation of potassium. In the periphery, insulin administration has been shown to increase the cellular uptake of potassium via Na+/K+ ATPase, leading to hypokalemia. Research in our lab and others has shown that insulin is a key regulator of cognitive function and local metabolism within the hippocampus. To date, however, no studies have examined whether insulin acts …

Rock Inhibitor Increases Proacinar Cells In Adult Salivary Gland Organoids, Matthew Koslow, Kevin J O’Keefe, Zeinab F. Hossein, Deirdre A. Nelson, Melinda Larsen

Biological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Salisphere-derived adult epithelial cells have been used to improve saliva production of irradiated mouse salivary glands. Importantly, optimization of the cellular composition of salispheres could improve their regenerative capabilities. The Rho Kinase (ROCK) inhibitor, Y27632, has been used to increase the proliferation and reduce apoptosis of progenitor cells grown in vitro. In this study, we investigated whether Y27632 could be used to improve expansion of adult submandibular salivary epithelial progenitor cells or to affect their differentiation potential in different media contexts. Application of Y27632 in medium used previously to grow salispheres promoted expansion of Kit+ and Mist1+ cells, while in …

Baby Girl Z : A Novel, Kathryn Bradley

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The novel Baby Girl Z examines the worlds of fertility treatment, neonatal intensive care, and early motherhood. The critical introduction highlights the connections between Baby Girl Z and contemporary fiction, autofiction, and memoirs about motherhood while exploring how the traditional tools of literary analysis and creative writing, when paired with feminist rhetorical analysis, promote a new reading of these texts as the literature of lived, traumatic experience. The theoretical underpinnings of the novel can be found in works that explore the intersections of the fields of creative writing, feminist rhetorics and maternal theory, such as Leigh Gilmore’s Autobiographics. The novel’s …

Water Vapor Near-Uv Absorption: Laboratory Spectrum, Field Evidence, And Atmospheric Impacts, Linsen Pei, Qilong Min, Yuyi Du, Zhechen Wang, Bangsheng Yin, Kai Yang, Patrick Disterhoft, Thomas Pongetti, Lei Zhu

Environmental Health Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Absorption of solar radiation by water vapor in the near-UV region is a poorly-understood but important issue in atmospheric science. To better understand water vapor near-UV absorption, we constructed a cavity ring-down spectrometer with bandwidth of 5 cm^-1 (~0.05 nm) and obtained water vapor absorption cross-sections at 1 nm increments in the 290-350 nm region. Water vapor displays structured absorption over this range with maximum and minimum cross-sections of 8.4×10^-25 and 1.6×10^-25 cm²/molecule. Major water vapor absorption bands were observed at 293-295, 307-313, 319, 321-322, and 325 nm, with cross-section values higher than 4.0×10^{-25 …}

A Preliminary Study Of Three-Point Onboard External Calibration For Tracking Radiometric Stability And Accuracy, Mustafa Aksoy, Paul E. Racette

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Absolute calibration of radiometers is usually implemented onboard using one hot and one cold external calibration targets. However, two-point calibration methods are unable to differentiate calibration drifts and associated errors from fluctuations in receiver gain and offset. Furthermore, they are inadequate to characterize temporal calibration stability of radiometers. In this paper, a preliminary study with linear radiometer systems has been presented to show that onboard external three-point calibration offers the means to quantify calibration drifts in the radiometer systems, and characterize associated errors as well as temporal stability in Earth and space measurements. Radiometers with three external calibration reference targets …

Awareness Of Sex Offender Registration Policies And Self-Reported Sexual Offending In A Community Sample Of Adolescents, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Hayley M. D. Cleary

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Sex offender registration laws are widely implemented, increasingly restrictive, and intended to serve both specific and general deterrent functions. Most states have some form of policy mechanism to place adolescents on sex offender registries, yet it remains unclear whether adolescents possess the requisite policy awareness to be deterred from sexual offending. This study examined awareness of sex offender registration as a potential sanction and its cross-sectional association with engagement in several registrable sexual behaviors (sexting, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, and forcible touching) in a community sample of 144 adolescents. Results revealed that many adolescents were unaware that these behaviors could …

Catching Killers With Consumer Genetic Information, Angela Hackstadt

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

In April 2018, Joseph James D'Angelo was arrested as a suspect in the Golden State Killer case. DNA evidence collected at a 1980 crime scene finally shed light on the murderer's identity in early 2018 when investigators turned to GEDMatch, a service that allows users to upload and share DNA data obtained from consumer genetic tests. Consumer genetic testing, DNA collection, and familial DNA searching all raise ethical and privacy concerns. If investigators are using genetic genealogy to solve cold cases, where does that leave consumers?

Discussion Of War And Rights: The Impact Of War On Political And Civil Rights, David Rousseau

Campus Conversations in Standish

How does warfare impact the political and civil liberties of men, women, and minorities? Hintze (1906) and Lasswell (1941) argue states facing a severe security threat are likely to reduce rights in order to minimize domestic opposition to the war and maximize mobilization potential. Downing (1992) and Klinkner and Smith (1999) argue that under certain circumstances mobilization for war can unintentionally lead to an expansion of rights. This presentation explores these arguments with finding from historical case studies (e.g., Imperial Russia, Austro-Hungarian Dual Monarchy, African Americans in World War I and II, and Tirailleurs Senegalese in World War I).

Developing Ethical, Responsible, And Reliable Information Producers, Trudi E. Jacobson

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

The university course that I teach addresses information literacy and metaliteracy, derived from both the Association of College & Research Libraries Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education and metaliteracy's roles (https://metaliteracy.org/ml-in-practice/metaliterate-learner-roles/) and learning domains, respectively. The course uses Wikipedia editing to bring home a number of important concepts and practices to students, These include the frames Information Has Value (in particular, we consider gender issues connected to Wikipedia editing and content), Searching as Strategic Exploration, and Information Creation as a Process. The metacognitive and affective learning domains are highlighted, and two metaliteracy themes, Engage with Intellectual Property …

Who Is Screened Out? Application Costs And The Targeting Of Disability Programs, Yue Li, Manasi Deschpande

Economics Faculty Scholarship

We study the effect of application costs on the targeting of disability programs. We identify these effects using the closings of Social Security Administration field offices, which provide assistance with filing disability applications. Closings lead to a persistent 16 percent decline in the number of disability recipients in surrounding areas, with the largest effects for applicants with moderately severe conditions and low education levels. Disability applications fall by only 10 percent, implying that the closings reduce targeting efficiency based on current eligibility standards. Increased congestion at neighboring offices appears more important as a channel than higher travel or information costs.

Are There Health Hazards Coming From The Rollout Of 5g?, David O. Carpenter

Campus Conversations in Standish

No abstract provided.

The Summer 2019 Uprising: Building A New Puerto Rico, Pedro Caban

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Faculty Scholarship

The summer uprising of 2019 in Puerto Rico was a repudiation of politics as usual and revealed that Partido Popular Democrático (PPD) and Partido Nuevo Progresista (PNP) dominance of the island’s political system is no longer assured. The political landscape has been transformed by the popular uprising, and new actors and forces are emerging that may cause Congress to rethink the terms of Puerto Rico’s colonial subordination.

The Espy Project: From Paper Archives To Digital Scholarship, Mark Wolfe, Melissa Mcmullen, Amanda Partridge

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

The M.E. Grenander Department of Special Collections and Archives has digitized the most complete existing collection of execution records and is making them available for digital scholarship. M. Watt Espy spent his life documenting the death penalty in the United States. He created over 24,000 index cards and over 100,000 pages of reference material to document each case. The project connects this source material to a problematic 1980s-era execution dataset. We implemented Samvera’s open source digital repository software, Hyrax, which provides online access to all of the digitized materials. Hyrax allows users to query digital collections for online viewing or …

The Library’S Role In Building Campus Conversations: Extending Academic Discourse, Trudi E. Jacobson, Tyler Norton

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Robert H. Pruyn: An Albany Yankee In The Tycoon's Court, Susanna Fessler

Campus Conversations in Standish

Robert H. Pruyn (1815-1882), a "good Dutchman" of Albany, served as the second American foreign minister to Japan, 1861-1865. This was a time of civil war in the States, and a time of great civil unrest in Japan. Pruyn prided himself both on his diplomacy and his appreciation of Japanese culture. This talk will focus on some of the lesser-known details of his experience as revealed in his many personal letters home, held by the Albany Institute of History and Art.

Teaching Critical Thinking And Metaliteracy Through Oer: Theory And Practice In A Course Collaboration, Trudi E. Jacobson, Sally Friedman

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Textbooks are often the primary reference when we think of open educational resources (OER). While these textbooks are important and offer obvious economic benefits to students, the range of OER is wide and growing. In this paper, we introduce a specific set of OER, under the rubric of the metaliteracy framework, designed to strengthen critical thinking and the overall learning capacities of students. We describe a successful collaboration between an instructor of a political science course and a librarian, which employed these resources to enhance the overall student experience and to focus student attention on becoming more active contributors to …

Venezuelan Refugee Crisis: A Consequence Of U.S. Economic Sanctions, Joel Alexander Lopez

Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Honors Program

Significant trends of outward migration from Venezuela date back to the 1998 election of former Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. These migratory trends may be attributed to a number of reasons such as political corruption, economic mismanagement and hyper-dependency on oil. Venezuelans have since fled from the political turmoil and extreme economic recession that continues to ravage their country and impoverish their families at an alarming rate. However, it was not until the year 2017 that migration in Venezuela skyrocketed into the state of crisis it is in today.

Creating Shareable Knowledge: Exploring The Synergy Between Metaliteracy And Open Pedagogy, Trudi E. Jacobson

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Open educational resources (OERs) have created conditions for a transformational change in teaching and learning. New models and frameworks provide the basis for innovative, learner-centered pedagogical practices. Open pedagogy, which builds upon the use of OERs and open educational practices, envisages learners as knowledge creators. Metaliteracy proposes a number of active, reflective learner roles, with a particular emphasis on online, participatory environments. Learners who find themselves in open pedagogical situations may feel anxiety and uncertainty concerning the unaccustomed environment and expectations placed upon them. Metaliteracy provides a comprehensive scaffolding and flexible framework for the learning required in such settings, a …

Hot Spots Policing Of Small Geographic Areas Effects On Crime, David M. Hureau, Anthony A. Braga, Brandon Turchan, Andrew V. Papachristos

School of Criminal Justice Faculty Scholarship

Background

In recent years, crime scholars and practitioners have pointed to the potential benefits of focusing crime prevention efforts on crime places. A number of studies suggest that there is significant clustering of crime in small places, or “hot spots,” that generate half of all criminal events. Researchers have argued that many crime problems can be reduced more efficiently if police officers focused their attention to these deviant places. The appeal of focusing limited resources on a small number of high-activity crime places is straightforward. If crime can be prevented at these hot spots, then citywide crime totals could be …

Estimating Flight Characteristics Of Anomalous Unidentified Aerial Vehicles, Kevin H. Knuth, Robert M. Powell, Peter A. Reali

Physics Faculty Scholarship

Several Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (UAP) encountered by military, commercial, and civilian aircraft have been reported to be structured craft that exhibit ‘impossible’ flight characteristics. We consider a handful of well-documented encounters, including the 2004 encounters with the Nimitz Carrier Group off the coast of California, and estimate lower bounds on the accelerations exhibited by the craft during the observed maneuvers. Estimated accelerations range from almost 100g" role="presentation">100g to 1000s of gs with no observed air disturbance, no sonic booms, and no evidence of excessive heat commensurate with even the minimal estimated energies. In accordance with observations, the estimated parameters …

What Have We Learned Today? A Synthesis Of Cases Presented, Elaine M. Lasda

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Chapter Seven from the book, The New Metrics: Practical Assessment of Research Impact

Synthesizes the strengths, challenges, and opportunities for the five cases described in the book. Providing research impact services in specialized libraries and information centers presents many opportunities for both the library/information center and the greater organization. There is a need for continued advocacy for responsible use of research impact metrics.

A Brief History And Overview, Elaine M. Lasda

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

Chapter One from the book, The New Metrics: Practical Assessment of Research Impact

Provides an introduction, background information and overview of bibliometrics. Describes the new contexts in which bibliometric indicators are being used in specialized situations, and introduces five case studies where such metrics are being used in new ways.

Dark Networks And Pathogens Undermining Democracies: Guillermo Del Toro And Chuck Hogan’S The Strain, Carmen A. Serrano

Languages, Literatures and Cultures Faculty Scholarship

As economies and cultures morph due to technoscience, vampire entities also mutate so as to still provoke fear ‒their bodies change, their populations grow and their networks expand; yet the way to annihilate them becomes less obvious. Responding to these modern day changes, Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s television series The Strain (2014-2017) uncannily echoes, or perhaps foreshadows, the social realities under an informational, networked, and epidemiological paradigm. The filmmakers here present viewers with hybrid monsters and environments that are highly interconnected and pathogenic, reflecting contemporary social fears regarding failing democracies and global pandemics. Drawing from Guillermo del Toro’s …

Missing The Mark: Obama And Trump's Use Of Similar Communication Strategies, Chamberlain Harris

Political Science

This paper examines the traditional notion that President Obama and President Trump were polar opposites. It seeks to answer the questions of how are similar or different the Trump and Obama campaign communication strategies are and how these strategies have changed from campaigning to governing mode. The paper seeks to answer these questions by looking at six key communication strategies. These six communication strategies and explanations are known as the social media strategy, branding, engaging with the public, autonomy over the messaging, focus on personality, and rhetoric. This paper looked at the relationship between these strategies by first analyzing the …

Wrinkles In Time : An Exploration Of Non-Uniform Temporal Resolution In Network Data, Daniel John Ditursi

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The continued proliferation of timestamped network data demands increasing sophistication in the analysis of that data. In particular, the literature amply demonstrates that the choice of temporal resolution has a profound impact on the solutions produced by many different methods in this domain -- answers differ when data is viewed second-by-second as opposed to week-by-week. Additionally, research also shows quite clearly that the rates at which network events happen are not constant -- some times are "faster" or "slower" than others, and these variations are not necessarily predictable. Given the above, it is clear that there must be problem settings …

Crossing Boundaries, Drawing Anew : Exploring The Treatment Of American Indian Land With A Penobscot Lens Through The Life And Traditions Of The Red Man By Joseph Nicolar, Andrea Guerrero

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The relationship between the Wabanaki and the land informs their creation myths, their cultural expertise, and individual and communal identity. The connection is so integral to their identity that when privatization of property usurps their connections to the land, an entire

Pose Based Human Activity Recognition, Wenbo Li

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Pose based human activity recognition is an important step towards video understanding. The last decade has witnessed the great progress in this field which is driven by multiple technical innovations, i.e., kinect, pose estimation techniques, deep learning, etc.

The Influence Of Mir-322 On Skeletal Muscle Differentiation, Miles Alexander Soyer

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Skeletal muscle plays a crucial role in coordinating voluntary movement and accounts for nearly 50% of total body mass. Dysregulation in skeletal muscle development is known to cause muscle degenerative diseases including the devastating Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). The majority of the biological studies investigating muscle development were based on myogenic transcription factors and signaling molecules including: Pax7, Myf5, MyoD, WNT, TGF-β and BMP. After the discovery of non-coding RNAs including microRNAs, it was postulated that these molecules could regulate gene expression and thus affect differentiation and development. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs (~17-25 nucleotides) that regulate gene expression negatively …