Digital Commons Network^™

Summer Research And Creativity Grants, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

The abstracts in this section were submitted by students who received Research and Creativity Awards for the summer of 2008. Many are not final reports, because the projects were still in process when the submissions were due. Rather, they are progress reports. However, these abstracts provide a clear and wonderfully diverse picture of the broad range of scholarly activities being undertaken by undergraduates at the University of Kentucky.

Behavioral And Morphological Parameters Of Neurons Predict The Inhibitory Potential Of Cspg Motifs: A Novel Technique, Edward Matin Kobraei

Kaleidoscope

Our lab aims to systematically identify the structural elements of chondroitin sulfate proteoglycans (CSPGs) that inhibit regeneration following spinal cord injury (SCI). CSPGs are extracellular matrix molecules produced by astrocytes of glial scar tissue following SCI. Central to this project is the use of CSPGs referred to as “Designer PGs,” which contain engineered modifications in the GAG chains and/ or the protein core of the neural CSPG aggrecan. Using established bioassays in vitro, we qualitatively and quantitatively measure growth cone behaviors and morphology as they interact with Designer PG molecules. These measurements are then translated into a composite inhibitory quotient …

On The Brink: The Melting Of Earth’S Polar Ice Caps, Stephanie Kelley

Kaleidoscope

Research indicates that earth’s polar ice caps are melting at a faster rate than ever before, a product of continued global warming. Unfortunately, side effects of this melting may negatively impact the lives of humans who dwell on this planet. Consequences may include: a significant loss of albedo, a considerable rise in sea levels, damage to aquatic ecosystems, and/or an ice age resulting from the shutdown of major oceanic currents. Although the situation is not yet imminent and the causes not yet pinpointed, the present outlook is too grim to ignore.

What Is Brewing In Your Latté? An Economic Analysis Of The Fair Trade Coffee Movement, Erin E. Troland

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

“In A Competition Full Of Hamburgers, You’Re A Steak:” American Idol And The Role Of Reality Television In The Maintenance Of Our Egos, Kathryn L. Braun

Kaleidoscope

Over the past decade, reality shows have ascended to the top of the Nielsen rating charts and have assumed a dominance that is difficult to cast aside. One such reality show, American Idol has grown in popularity over its last six seasons. This chapter discusses one of the main arguments of a larger honors thesis that examines the underlying motives that keep American viewers watching. As a cultural commodity, American Idol can be viewed as a product of American values and holds a societal purpose for its viewers. Therefore, the arguments within this chapter propose that the great popularity enjoyed …

Complete Issue Of Volume 7

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Nurturing University Students To Be Social Entrepreneurs: Relevance Of Service Leadership Education, Daniel T. L. Shek, Li Lin

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

When the concept of social entrepreneurship becomes more popular, many universities explicitly claim that they wish to nurture social entrepreneurs. In this paper, the concept of social entrepreneurship and the successful attributes of social entrepreneurs are outlined. With reference to the question of how university students can be nurtured to be social entrepreneurs, it is suggested that the service leadership model proposed by the Hong Kong Institute of Service Leadership and Management is a good framework to be considered. In the framework, it is asserted that there are three attributes of a successful service leader – leadership competence, moral character, …

Method And System For Diagnosis Of Lawsonia Intracellularis, Harold F. Stills Jr., David W. Horohov, Allen E. Page

Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics Faculty Patents

A method, system, and kit are provided for diagnosing L. intracellularis infection or exposure in a subject. The method includes purifying whole L. intracellularis from host cells and host debris produced in or on a suitable medium and adhering the purified whole L. intracellularis on a suitable material to form an antigen substrate for determining whether a subject produces L. intracellularis-specific antibodies against the antigen to thereby indicate L. intracellularis exposure or infection in the subject. The kit includes purified whole L. intracellularis produced from host cells and host debris adhered to a suitable material to form an antigen …

Electronic Signatures: Review And Analysis, Bryan Gibson

Kentucky Transportation Center Technical Assistance Report

Electronic signatures, or e-signatures, are an increasingly ubiquitous component of a rapidly digitizing world. Compared to traditional paper signature, e-signatures have emerged as a viable, potentially more efficient method of entering into a contract. An e-signature can be thought of as an electronic symbol or marking associated with the signer. It acts as a signature and functions in lieu of a manual paper signature. This technical assistance report briefly reviews relevant Kentucky statutes and guidelines regarding e-signatures and public recordkeeping as well as applicable federal law. Following this, the report presents conclusions and points for continued discussion. Relevant statues and …

Maintenance Of Brucellosis In Yellowstone Bison: Linking Seasonal Food Resources, Host-Pathogen Interaction, And Life-History Trade-Offs, John J. Treanor, Chris Geremia, Michael A. Ballou, Duane H. Keisler, Patrick J. White, John J. Cox, Phillip H. Crowley

Biology Faculty Publications

The seasonal availability of food resources is an important factor shaping the life-history strategies of organisms. During times of nutritional restriction, physiological trade-offs can induce periods of immune suppression, thereby increasing susceptibility to infectious disease. Our goal was to provide a conceptual framework describing how the endemic level bovine brucellosis (Brucella abortus) may be maintained in Yellowstone bison based on the seasonality of food resources and the life-history strategies of the host and pathogen. Our analysis was based on active B. abortus infection (measured via bacterial culture), nutritional indicators (measured as metabolites and hormones in plasma), and carcass …

Borrelia Burgdorferi Reva Significantly Affects Pathogenicity And Host Response In The Mouse Model Of Lyme Disease, Rebecca Byram, Robert A. Gaultney, Angela M. Floden, Christopher Hellekson, Brandee L. Stone, Amy Bowman, Brian Stevenson, Barbara J. B. Johnson, Catherine A. Brissette

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

The Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, expresses RevA and numerous outer surface lipoproteins during mammalian infection. As an adhesin that promotes bacterial interaction with fibronectin, RevA is poised to interact with the extracellular matrix of the host. To further define the role(s) of RevA during mammalian infection, we created a mutant that is unable to produce RevA. The mutant was still infectious to mice, although it was significantly less well able to infect cardiac tissues. Complementation of the mutant with a wild-type revA gene restored heart infectivity to wild-type levels. Additionally, revA mutants led to increased evidence of arthritis, …

Online Driver’S License Renewal, Valerie J. Keathley, Andrew Martin, Jennifer R. Walton

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

The Kentucky Department of Vehicle Regulation is exploring the possibility of developing and implementing online driver’s license renewal. The objective of this project was to: 1) evaluate online driver’s license and REAL ID renewal programs in other states to identify best practices; 2) examine two options to institute online renewal; and 3) identify what legislative changes would be required in Kentucky to authorize an online renewal program. KTC surveyed 25 states with online license renewal programs in place, and received responses from 14 states. Survey respondents indicated that online renewal is more efficient, improves customer service, cuts down on foot …

Factors Leading To The Creation, Development, And Maintenance Of Positive Social Relationship, Daniel T. L. Shek, Jocelyn L. Lin

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

In contrast to the manufacturing economy where the focus is primarily placed on the man-machine interface, social relationships are important building blocks in the service economy. Hence, identifyig the factors leading to creation, development, and maintenance of positive social relationships within the context of leadership is an important consideration. In this paper, a lecture covers the nature of social relationships and the related determinants (including trust, care, and respect) are outlined. Through this lecture, students can develop the ability to identify the characteristics and determinants of positive social relationships, appreciate the importance of positive relationships to service leaders, and evaluate …

Complete Issue Of Volume 8

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Use Of Social Media As A Virtual Community And Support Group By Left Ventricular Assist Device (Lvad) Patients, Bryan Boling, Amanda Hart, Chizimuzo T.C. Okoli, Tamra Halcomb, Peggy El-Mallakh

The VAD Journal

Abstract

Background

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) patients may benefit from participating in a social support group; however, several factors may limit the availability of these communities. Alternatively, online social support communities may be more accessible for LVAD patients. No studies have examined patterns and reasons for health-related social media use among people with LVADs

Methods

An online survey of patients actively participating in LVAD social media groups was conducted using both multiple choice and open-ended questions.

Results

Thirty-nine participants (65% male) completed the survey. Participants’ reasons for weekly engagement in online communities were to seek (69.2%) and offer (66.7%) …

Water Expert: A Conceptualized Framework For Development Of A Rule-Based Decision Support System For Distribution System Decontamination, J. L. Gutenson, A. N. S. Ernest, J. R. Fattic, L. E. Ormsbee, A. A. Oubeidillah, X. Zhang

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

Significant drinking water contamination events pose a serious threat to public and environmental health. Water utilities often must make timely, critical decisions without evaluating all facets of the incident. The data needed to enact informed decisions are inevitably dispersant and disparate, originating from policy, science, and heuristic contributors. Water Expert is a functioning hybrid decision support system (DSS) and expert system framework that emphasizes the meshing of parallel data structures in order to expedite and optimize the decision pathway. Delivered as a thin-client application through the user's web browser, Water Expert's extensive knowledgebase is a product of inter-university collaboration …

Oswald Research And Creativity Program, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Summer Research And Creativity Grants, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

The abstracts in this section were submitted by students who received Research and Creativity Awards for the summer of 2009. Many are not final reports because the projects were still in process when the submissions were due. Rather, they are progress reports. However, these abstracts provide a clear and wonderfully diverse picture of the broad range of scholarly activities being undertaken by undergraduates at the University of Kentucky.

The Crisis Of Identity In Post-Revolutionary Cuban Film: A Sociological Analysis Of Strawberry And Chocolate, Andrew Zachary Shultz

Kaleidoscope

This paper analyzes Tomás Gutiérrez Alea and Juan Carlos Tabío´s Strawberry and Chocolate (1993) from the sociological perspective of film as a cultural text informed by the political, historical, and social world in which it is produced. A symbolic interactionist/cultural studies model is used as a guide for the interpretive and qualitative methods utilized in approaching the film. Of particular interest to the sociological analysis of the film is the changing political context of the Cuban Revolution during the “special period” of the early 1990s, the use of stereotypes in the characterization of the actors, and finally its representation of …

An Analysis Of United States-Iran International Relations, James Tyler Chapman

Kaleidoscope

My research strove to further the knowledge of United States-Iran international relations through comprehensive analysis. I investigated and presented information on the internal politics of Iran, and I analyzed and commented on the organization of the government of Iran. I critically examined the historical scholarship on the affairs of state between the United States and Iran, and I investigated the current state of affairs and prospects for the future. From this understanding, it became possible and necessary for rigorously logical and insightful decisions to be made in the current political environment in which emotions and passions dominate, and I probed …

Gender And Capital Punishment: The Case Of Gaile Owens, Jenna Brashear

Kaleidoscope

The United States’ use of capital punishment is a practice oft-debated in many disciplines, but the gender imbalance of the death penalty in favor of women makes feminists one group hesitant to discuss the practice. Although females account for one in ten murder arrests, they are only one percent of the criminals actually executed. This paper examines the implications of capital punishment for women, and attempts to explain why women are executed at a disproportionately low rate. Trends that emerge include institutional structures, such as aggravating or mitigating factors, which are constructed in a manner that dictates the severest punishments …

The C-Terminal Domain (Ctd) Of Human Dna Glycosylaseneil1 Is Required For Forming Berosome Repair Complex With Dna Replication Proteins At The Replicating Genome: Dominant Negative Function Of The Ctd, Pavana M. Hegde, Arijit Dutta, Shiladitya Sengupta, Joy Mitra, Sanjay Adhikari, Alan E. Tomkinson, Guo-Min Li, Istvan Boldogh, Tapas K. Hazra, Sankar Mitra, Muralidhar L. Hegde

Toxicology and Cancer Biology Faculty Publications

The human DNA glycosylase NEIL1 was recently demonstrated to initiate prereplicative base excision repair (BER) of oxidized bases in the replicating genome, thus preventing mutagenic replication. A significant fraction of NEIL1 in cells is present in large cellular complexes containing DNA replication and other repair proteins, as shown by gel filtration. However, how the interaction of NEIL1 affects its recruitment to the replication site for prereplicative repair was not investigated. Here, we show that NEIL1 binarily interacts with the proliferating cell nuclear antigen clamp loader replication factor C, DNA polymerase δ, and DNA ligase I in the absence of DNA …

What It Takes To Get Passed On: Message Content, Style, And Structure As Predictors Of Retransmission In The Boston Marathon Bombing Response, Jeannette Sutton, C. Ben Gibson, Emma S. Spiro, Cedar League, Sean M. Fitzhugh, Carter T. Butts

Communication Faculty Publications

Message retransmission is a central aspect of information diffusion. In a disaster context, the passing on of official warning messages by members of the public also serves as a behavioral indicator of message salience, suggesting that particular messages are (or are not) perceived by the public to be both noteworthy and valuable enough to share with others. This study provides the first examination of terse message retransmission of official warning messages in response to a domestic terrorist attack, the Boston Marathon Bombing in 2013. Using messages posted from public officials' Twitter accounts that were active during the period of the …

Derivation Of An Analytical Solution To A Reaction-Diffusion Model For Autocatalytic Degradation And Erosion In Polymer Microspheres, Ashlee N. Ford Versypt, Paul D. Arendt, Daniel W. Pack, Richard D. Braatz

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

A mathematical reaction-diffusion model is defined to describe the gradual decomposition of polymer microspheres composed of poly(D,L-lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) that are used for pharmaceutical drug delivery over extended periods of time. The partial differential equation (PDE) model treats simultaneous first-order generation due to chemical reaction and diffusion of reaction products in spherical geometry to capture the microsphere-size-dependent effects of autocatalysis on PLGA erosion that occurs when the microspheres are exposed to aqueous media such as biological fluids. The model is solved analytically for the concentration of the autocatalytic carboxylic acid end groups of the polymer chains that comprise the microspheres …

Preserving Kentucky’S Newspapers: Analogue Beginnings To Digital Frontier, Kopana Terry, Eric Weig

Library Presentations

Over fifty years ago an historian and a library director traveled the back roads of Kentucky (USA) with a portable microfilm camera, two lights, and a dream of preserving Kentucky’s newspapers. From their ambitions arose a successful newspaper preservation program at the University of Kentucky Libraries (UKL). Now in its sixth decade, the program has developed a new way of preserving contemporary born-digital newspapers. This paper explores some of the people and events behind the early success of UKL’s program, as well as an in-depth look at the development and functionality of Paper Vault: a largely automated, in-house process delivering …

Applying Failure Modes And Effects Analysis To Public Health Models: The Breathe Easy At Home Program, Johnna S. Murphy, Margaret Reid, Amanda Ali, Laura Harrington, Megan Sandel

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) is a structured process used to identify and prioritize risks by ranking them based on severity, occurrence, and detectability. Historically, FMEA has been used within industries, including automotive and health care. This project explored the adaption of the FMEA template to a small public health program designed to improve asthma outcomes. The Breathe Easy at Home (BEAH) program is a multi-sector partnership that uses a web-based system to link clinical sites with housing code inspections and enforcement for patients with asthma.

In July and August 2014, an FMEA was conducted to uncover risks within …

Evidence For The Involvement Of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate In The Homing And Engraftment Of Hematopoietic Stem Cells To Bone Marrow, Mateusz Adamiak, Sylwia Borkowska, Marcin Wysoczynski, Malwina Suszynska, Magda Kucia, Gregg Rokosh, Ahmed Abdel-Latif, Janina Ratajczak, Mariusz Z. Ratajczak

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

The α-chemokine stromal-derived factor 1 (SDF-1), which binds to the CXCR4 receptor, directs migration and homing of CXCR4⁺ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) to bone marrow (BM) stem cell niches. Nevertheless, it is also known that CXCR4^-/- fetal liver-derived hematopoietic stem cells engraft into BM and that blockade of CXCR4 by its antagonist AMD3100 does not prevent engraftment of HSPCs. Because of this finding of SDF-1-CXCR4-independent BM homing, the unique role of SDF-1 in HSPC homing has recently been challenged. While SDF-1 is the only chemokine that chemoattracts HSPCs, other chemoattractants for these cells have recently been described, including …

Your Professional Brand, Jennifer A. Bartlett

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

This column discusses recent publications in the library literature on the topic of professional marketing and promotion in the context of defining and establishing personal brands.

Intracellular Listeria Monocytogenes Comprises A Minimal But Vital Fraction Of The Intestinal Burden Following Foodborne Infection, Grant S. Jones, Kate M. Bussell, Tanya Myers-Morales, Abigail M. Fieldhouse, Elsa N. Bou Ghanem, Sarah E. F. D'Orazio

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

Listeria monocytogenes is a highly adaptive bacterium that replicates as a free-living saprophyte in the environment as well as a facultative intracellular pathogen that causes invasive foodborne infections. The intracellular life cycle of L. monocytogenes is considered to be its primary virulence determinant during mammalian infection; however, the proportion of L. monocytogenes that is intracellular in vivo has not been studied extensively. In this report, we demonstrate that the majority of wild-type (strain EGDe) and mouse-adapted (InlA^m-expressing) L. monocytogenes recovered from the mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) was extracellular within the first few days after foodborne infection. In addition, …

Amphiphilic Tobramycin Analogues As Antibacterial And Antifungal Agents, Sanjib K. Shrestha, Marina Y. Fosso, Keith D. Green, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

In this study, we investigated the in vitro antifungal activities, cytotoxicities, and membrane-disruptive actions of amphiphilic tobramycin (TOB) analogues. The antifungal activities were established by determination of MIC values and in time-kill studies. Cytotoxicity was evaluated in mammalian cell lines. The fungal membrane-disruptive action of these analogues was studied by using the membrane-impermeable dye propidium iodide. TOB analogues bearing a linear alkyl chain at their 6″-position in a thioether linkage exhibited chain length-dependent antifungal activities. Analogues with C₁₂ and C₁₄ chains showed promising antifungal activities against tested fungal strains, with MIC values ranging from 1.95 to 62.5 mg/liter …