Digital Commons Network^™

Probing The Reaction Mechanism Of The D-Ala-D-Ala Dipeptidase, Vanx, By Using Stopped-Flow Kinetic And Rapid-Freeze Quench Epr Studies On The Co(Ii)-Substituted Enzyme, Megan L. Matthews, Gopalraj Periyannan, Christine E. Hajdin, Tara K. Sidgel, Brian Bennett, Michael W. Crowder

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

In an effort to probe the reaction mechanism of VanX, the D-ala-D-ala dipeptidase required for high-level vancomycin resistance in bacteria, stopped-flow kinetic and rapid-freeze quench EPR studies were conducted on the Co(II)-substituted enzyme when reacted with d-ala-d-ala. The intensity of the Co(II) ligand field band at 550 nm decreased (ε₅₅₀ = 140 to 18 M^-1 cm^-1) when VanX was reacted with substrate, suggesting that the coordination number of the metal increases from 5 to 6 upon substrate binding. The stopped-flow trace was fitted to a kinetic mechanism that suggests the presence of an intermediate whose breakdown …

Simulating The Maximum Domain Wall Speed In A Magnetic Nanowire, Andrew Kunz

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

The dynamics of domain wall motion in permalloy nanowires have been simulated utilizing the Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert (LLG) equation of motion. The simulation results are presented in terms of the domain wall speed for ranges of the Gilbert damping parameter alpha and nanowire width. The maximum domain wall speed is independent of alpha. The speed of the domain wall can be increased by increasing the nanowire width, but this lowers the critical field. For applied fields below the critical field, the wall moves uniformly along the wire and the speed of the wall increases with increases in the driving field. This behavior …

Review Of Spanish Second Language Acquisition: State Of The Science By B. Lafford And R. Salaberry, Todd A. Hernandez

Spanish Languages and Literatures Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

A New Colorimetric Assay For Methionyl Aminopeptidases: Examination Of The Binding Of A New Class Of Pseudopeptide Analog Inhibitors, Sanghamitra Mitra, Anna M. Dygas-Holz, Jiri Jiracek, Miroslava Zertova, Lenka Zakova, Richard C. Holz

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

A direct and convenient spectrophotometric assay has been developed for methionine aminopeptidases (MetAPs). The method employs the hydrolysis of a substrate that is a methionyl analogue of p-nitroaniline (l-Met-p-NA), which releases the chromogenic product p-nitroaniline. This chromogenic product can be monitored continuously using a UV–Vis spectrophotometer set at 405 nm. The assay was tested with the type I MetAP from Escherichia coli (EcMetAP-I) and the type II MetAP from Pyrococcus furiosus (PfMetAP-II). Using l-Met-p-NA, the kinetic constants k_cat and K_m were determined for EcMetAP-I and PfMetAP-II …

Measuring Responses To Commercials: A Projective-Elicitation Approach, Lawrence Soley

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

Photoelicitation and projective assessment are research methods derived from visual sociology and psychoanalysis respectively. This study combined the methods by having respondents view a commercial, and then showing them one of two versions of a projective drawing showing a lone or a male-accompanied woman sitting on a couch. Respondents were told that the woman in the drawing had just seen the commercial and were asked about what the woman was thinking. The results show that a paper-and-pencil attitude measure correlated moderately with the visually-primed responses, but the visually-primed responses included psychoanalytically-predicted reactions such as denial and displacement and were dependent …

Demagoguery, Democratic Dissent, And "Re-Visioning" Democracy, Steven R. Goldzwig

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review [Of Writing Across Borders], Beth Godbee, Kate Vieira

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Military Lifestyle Demands On Well-Being, Army, And Family Outcomes, Gary A. Adams, Doris B. Durand, Carl A. Castro

Management Faculty Research and Publications

Adopting M. Segal’s framework, we focused on examining four military lifestyle demands—(1) risk of service member injury or death, (2) frequent relocations, (3) periodic separations, and (4) foreign residence—and their relationships to psychological and physical well-being, satisfaction with the Army, and marital satisfaction. Questionnaire results from 346 spouses living overseas indicated that the impact of separations was negatively related to all four outcomes, while foreign residence was negatively related to physical and psychological well-being, fear for soldier safety was negatively related to physical well-being, and the impact of moving was negatively related to satisfaction with the Army. The results further …

Therapists-In-Training Who Experience A Client Suicide: Implications For Supervision, Sarah Knox, Alan Burkard, Julie A. Jackson, April M. Schaack, Shirley A. Hess

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Client suicide is often an extraordinarily painful process for clinicians, especially those still in training. Given their training status, supervisees may look to their graduate programs and supervisors for guidance and support when such an event occurs. This study qualitatively examined the experiences of 13 prelicensure doctoral supervisees regarding their client's suicide. Findings suggest that these supervisees received minimal graduate training about suicide and that support from others, including supervisors, helped them cope with their client's death. Supervisors are advised to normalize and process supervisees' experiences of client suicide. Implications for training and practice are discussed.

Problematizing The Pursuit Of Social Justice Education, Martin Scanlan

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Leadership for social justice embraces diversity, promotes inclusivity, and transforms relationships between schools and communities (Riehl, 2000). Though calls for such leadership abound (Bates, 2006; Blackmore, 2002; Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2005; Larson & Murtadha, 2002; Marshall & Oliva, 2006b), the intricacies and inconsistencies of this pursuit are less frequently subjected to case study analysis. Drawn from a multicase study of schools serving traditionally marginalized students (Scanlan, 2005), this article examines how leadership efforts toward social justice can paradoxically lead to truncated manifestations of this goal. The implications of the original study suggest that school leaders need to problematize – not …

Researchers At The Gate: Factors Influencing Districts’ Right Of Entry Decisions, Steven A. Melnick, Bill Henk

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

Background: The No Child Left Behind legislation creates an increased need for new school-based empirical studies whose implementation will depend largely on researchers’ access to various school populations and records. Access decisions are typically made by superintendents, or their designees, functioning as gatekeepers who control right of entry. Understanding the factors driving these decisions could enhance the desirability of proposals and increase access rates for quantitative and qualitative researchers alike.

Purpose: The purpose of this research was to query districts about four key access factors including (a) researcher trustworthiness, (b) associated risks, (c) costs and benefits, and (d) potential contribution …

Review Of Wordsworth In American Literary Culture By Joel Scott And Matthew Pace, Angela Sorby

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Tests Of Graphic Visuals And Cigarette Package Warning Combinations: Implications For The Framework Convention On Tobacco Control, Jeremy Kees, Scot Burton, J. Craig Andrews, John Kozup

Marketing Faculty Research and Publications

The World Health Organization recently adopted the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a groundbreaking public health treaty that will require that warning information in the form of text, pictures, or a combination of these two forms cover at least 30% of the front and back of cigarette packages. In three studies using smokers from the United States and Canada, the authors examine the effects of specific graphic visuals in the context of current U.S. verbal warnings. The findings indicate that including both graphic visual warnings, such as those used in Canada, and warning statements currently used in the United States …

Additional Evidence For The Migration Of Clay Upon Heating Of Clay–Polypropylene Nanocomposites From X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (Xps), Jianwei Hao, Menachem Lewin, Charles A. Wilkie, Jiangqi Wang

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The explanation for reduction in the peak heat release rate of polymer–clay nanocomposites which is normally accepted is that clay accumulates at the surface, forming a thermal shield which is also a barrier to mass transport. The process by which this clay arrives at the surface has never been described in print but the common assumption is that pyrolysis is required for clay accumulation to occur. In this work, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, a tool much more sensitive in surface analysis than conventional techniques, is used to probe the surface of polypropylene–clay nanocomposites that have been annealed at relatively low temperatures, …

Restorative Justice And Reparations, Margaret Urban Walker

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Age-Related Functional Recruitment For Famous Name Recognition: An Event-Related Fmri Study, Kristy A. Nielson, Kelli Douville, Michael Seidenberg, John L. Woodard, Sarah K. Miller, Malgorzata Franczak, Piero Antuono, Stephen M. Rao

Psychology Faculty Research and Publications

Recent neuroimaging research shows that older adults exhibit recruitment, or increased activation on various cognitive tasks. The current study evaluated whether a similar pattern also occurs in semantic memory by evaluating age-related differences during recognition of Recent (since the 1990s) and Enduring (1950s to present) famous names. Fifteen healthy older and 15 healthy younger adults performed the name recognition task with a high and comparable degree of accuracy, although older adults had slower reaction time in response to Recent famous names. Event-related functional MRI showed extensive networks of activation in the two groups including posterior cingulate, right hippocampus, temporal lobe …

Spinobulbar Neurons In Lamprey: Cellular Properties And Synaptic Interactions, James F. Einum, James T. Buchanan

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

An in vitro preparation of the nervous system of the lamprey, a lower vertebrate, was used to characterize the properties of spinal neurons with axons projecting to the brain stem [i.e., spinobulbar (SB) neurons)]. To identify SB neurons, extracellular electrodes on each side of the spinal cord near the obex recorded the axonal spikes of neurons impaled with sharp intracellular microelectrodes in the rostral spinal cord. The ascending spinal neurons (n = 144) included those with ipsilateral (iSB) (63/144), contralateral (cSB) (77/144), or bilateral (bSB) (4/144) axonal projections to the brain stem. Intracellular injection of biocytin revealed that the …

Pushing For Change, Lisa Hanson

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Review Of Can God And Caesar Coexist? Balancing Religious Freedom And International Law, Steven R. Goldzwig

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Approaches To Teaching The Brontës One More Time, Diane Hoeveler

English Faculty Research and Publications

Instructors of courses on the Brontë family now have another large encyclopedic resource to use in their teaching of the lives and works of the family. Like Heather Glen’s recently published Cambridge Companion to the Brontës (2002), this companion surveys the lives and writings of all of the family, including the father, Patrick, and brother, Branwell, while also covering some of the minute details in the works of the three sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. The question that I will address here is not which companion to use but how to use this particular resource. Of what use to instructors …

W.E.B. Du Bois's Unamerican End, Jodi Melamed

English Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Rahner's Primordial Words And Bernstein's Metaphorical Leaps: The Affinity Of Art With Religion And Theology, Robert Masson

Theology Faculty Research and Publications

Karl Rahner's notion of primordial words and Leonard Bernstein's conception of music as intrinsically metaphorical are engaged to suggest that there is a fundamental affinity between artistic and religious imagination. The affinity is grounded, in part at least, in metaphoric process—an elemental cognitive act in which the human spirit is stretched so that its expressions can address what lies beyond them.

Low Cell Ph Depresses Peak Power In Rat Skeletal Muscle Fibres At Both 30°C And 15°C: Implications For Muscle Fatigue, Shannon T. Knuth, H. Dave, Jim R. Peters, Robert Fitts

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Historically, an increase in intracellular H⁺ (decrease in cell pH) was thought to contribute to muscle fatigue by direct inhibition of the cross-bridge leading to a reduction in velocity and force. More recently, due to the observation that the effects were less at temperatures closer to those observed in vivo, the importance of H⁺ as a fatigue agent has been questioned. The purpose of this work was to re-evaluate the role of H⁺ in muscle fatigue by studying the effect of low pH (6.2) on force, velocity and peak power in rat fast-and slow-twitch muscle fibres …

Mechanistic Studies On The Mononuclear ZnIi-Containing Metallo-Β-Lactamase Imis From Aeromonas Sobria, Narayan Sharma, Christine E. Hajdin, Sowmya Chandrasekar, Brian Bennett, Ke-Wu Yang, Michael W. Crowder

Physics Faculty Research and Publications

In an effort to understand the reaction mechanism of a B2 metallo-β-lactamase, steady-state and pre-steady-state kinetic and rapid freeze quench electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) studies were conducted on ImiS and its reaction with imipenem and meropenem. pH dependence studies revealed no inflection points in the pH range of 5.0−8.5, while proton inventories demonstrated at least 1 rate-limiting proton transfer. Site-directed mutagenesis studies revealed that Lys224 plays a catalytic role in ImiS, while the side chain of Asn233 does not play a role in binding or catalysis. Stopped-flow fluorescence studies on ImiS, which monitor changes in tryptophan fluorescence on the enzyme, …

The Impact Of Local Predatory Lending Laws On The Flow Of Subprime Credit, Giang Ho, Anthony Pennington-Cross

Finance Faculty Research and Publications

Local authorities in North Carolina, and subsequently in at least 23 other states, have enacted laws intending to reduce predatory and abusive lending. While there is substantial variation in the laws, they typically extend the coverage of the Federal Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act (HOEPA) by including home purchase and open-end mortgage credit, by lowering annual percentage rate (APR) and fees and points triggers, and by prohibiting or restricting the use of balloon payments and prepayment penalties. Empirical results show that the typical local predatory lending law tends to reduce rejections, while having little impact on the flow (application …

Censusing And Measuring Lianas: A Quantitative Comparison Of The Common Methods, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Saara J. Dewalt, Jérôme Chave

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Lianas contribute to many aspects of tropical forest diversity and dynamics, and interest in liana ecology has grown substantially in recent years. Methods to census lianas and estimate biomass, however, differ among studies, possibly hindering attempts to compare liana communities. At Nouragues Research Station (French Guiana), we tested the extent to which liana abundance, basal area, and estimated biomass differed depending on stem diameter measurement location, inclusion of ramets, inclusion of lianas rooted within versus passing through the plot, and plot shape. We found that the mean per plot abundance and basal area of lianas were significantly greater when lianas …

Social Identity Strategies In Recent Economics, John B. Davis

Economics Faculty Research and Publications

This paper reviews three distinct strategies in recent economics for using the concept of social identity in the explanation of individual behavior: Akerlof and Kranton's neoclassical approach, Sen's commitment approach and Kirman et al.'s complexity approach. The primary focus is the multiple selves problem and the difficulties associated with failing to explain social identity and personal identity together. The argument of the paper is that too narrow a scope for reflexivity in individual decision‐making renders the problem intractable, but that enlarging this scope makes it possible to explain personal and social identity together in connection with an individual behavior …

Modulation Of Stretch Reflexes Of The Finger Flexors By Sensory Feedback From The Proximal Upper Limb Poststroke, Gilles Hoffmann, Derek G. Kamper, Jennifer H. Kahn, William Zev Rymer, Brian D. Schmit

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Neural coupling of proximal and distal upper limb segments may have functional implications in the recovery of hemiparesis after stroke. The goal of the present study was to investigate whether the stretch reflex response magnitude of spastic finger flexor muscles poststroke is influenced by sensory input from the shoulder and the elbow and whether reflex coupling of muscles throughout the upper limb is altered in spastic stroke survivors. Through imposed extension of the metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joints, stretch of the relaxed finger flexors of the four fingers was imposed in 10 relaxed stroke subjects under different conditions of proximal sensory input, …

Order Lead-Time Improvement Following Enterprise Information Technology Implementation: An Empirical Study, Mark Cotteleer, Elliot Bendoly

Management Faculty Research and Publications

This paper investigates the influence of enterprise systems implementation on operational performance. The work extends the literature on enterprise systems by focusing on changes in process dynamics as a source for ongoing firm-level performance improvement. A case discussion of Tristen Corporation, a firm that implemented ERP and subsequently experienced benefits through gains to its continuous improvement efforts, is examined in light of theorized impacts of such implementations on process dynamics. Analyses of longitudinal data suggest that performance along a key metric motivating the ERP initiative (i.e., order fulfillment lead-time) showed a significant improvement immediately after system deployment. The data further …

Envisioning The Future Of Catholic Early Childhood Education, Martin Scanlan

College of Education Faculty Research and Publications

A hallmark of education is the conviction that parents are the primary educators of their children. Elementary and secondary Catholic school staffs recognize that while schools are vital, what they provide is secondary to what happens in the family. However, an important corollary to this frequently is ignored: the importance of early childhood education. Formal early childhood education is a vital component to long-term success in academics and in life. This is especially the case for children placed at risk by poverty, race and ethnicity, home language and disability. Catholic schools rightly have affirmed the role of parents and caregivers, …