Digital Commons Network^™

Anti-Glycation And Anti-Oxidative Effects Of A Phenolic-Enriched Maple Syrup Extract And Its Protective Effects On Normal Human Colon Cells, Weixi Liu, Zhengxi Wei, Hang Ma, Ang Cai, Yongqiang Liu, Jiadong Sun, Nicholas A. Dasilva, Shelby L. Johnson, Louis J. Kirschenbaum, Bongsup P. Cho, Joel A. Dain, David C. Rowley, Zahir A. Shaikh, Navindra P. Seeram

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Oxidative stress and free radical generation accelerate the formation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEs) which are linked to several chronic diseases. Published data suggest that phenolic-rich plant foods, show promise as natural anti-AGEs agents due to their anti-oxidation capacities. A phenolic-enriched maple syrup extract (MSX) has previously been reported to show anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects but its anti-AGE effects remain unknown. Therefore, herein, we investigated the anti-glycation and anti-oxidation effects of MSX using biochemical and biophysical methods. MSX (500 μg mL⁻¹) reduced the formation of AGEs by 40% in the bovine serum albumin (BSA)–fructose assay and by 30% …

University Manual 2016-2017, Uri Faculty Senate

University Manual Archive

No abstract provided.

The Interactions Of Single-Wall Carbon Nanohorns With Polar Epithelium, Yujie Shi, Zujin Shi, Suxin Li, Yuan Zhang, Bing He, Dong Peng, Jie Tian, Ming Zhao, Xueqing Wang, Qiang Zhang

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Single-wall carbon nanohorns (SWCNHs), which have multitudes of horn interstices, an extensive surface area, and a spherical aggregate structure, offer many advantages over other carbon nanomaterials being used as a drug nanovector. The previous studies on the interaction between SWCNHs and cells have mostly emphasized on cellular uptake and intracellular trafficking, but seldom on epithelial cells. Polar epithelium as a typical biological barrier constitutes the prime obstacle for the transport of therapeutic agents to target site. This work tried to explore the permeability of SWCNHs through polar epithelium and their abilities to modulate transcellular transport, and evaluate the potential of …

Urinformed Spring 2017, Urinformed

URInformed: The URI Employees' Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Plant Defense Negates Pathogen Manipulation Of Vector Behavior, Baiming Liu, Evan L. Preisser, Xiaobin Shi, Huaitong Wu, Chuanyou Li, Wen Xie, Shaoli Wang, Qingjun Wu, Youjun Zhang

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

1. Although many vector‐borne plant pathogens can alter vector behaviour to the pathogen's benefit, how plants might counter such manipulation is unknown.

2. In the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (‘TYLCV’)–Bemisia tabaci–tomato interaction, TYLCV‐mediated changes in Bemisia feeding improves viral uptake and transmission. We tested how jasmonic acid (‘JA’), a central regulator of plant antiherbivore defences, affected the ability of TYLCV to (A) manipulate Bemisia behaviour; and (B) infect plants.

3. Viruliferous Bemisia fed much more than virus‐free whiteflies on JA‐deficient plants, more than virus‐free whiteflies on controls, and similarly on high‐JA plants.

4. When TYLCV was transmitted …

Seasonal Variation In Effects Of Herbivory On Foliar Nitrogen Of A Threatened Conifer, Robert N. Schaeffer, Nicole E. Soltis, Jennifer L. Martin, Aden L. Brown, Sara Gómez, Evan L. Preisser, Colins M. Orians

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Invasive herbivores can dramatically impact the nitrogen (N) economy of native hosts. In deciduous species, most N is stored in stem tissues, while in evergreen conifer species N is stored in needles, making them potentially more vulnerable to herbivory. In eastern forests of the USA, the long-lived, foundational conifer eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) is under the threat of extirpation by the invasive hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA: Adelges tsugae). We assessed the impact of HWA infestation on the patterns of seasonal foliar N availability in hemlock planted in a deciduous forest understory. Over the course of a year, …

Proteomic Responses To Elevated Ocean Temperature In Ovaries Of The Ascidian Ciona Intestinalis, Chelsea E. Lopez, Hannah C. Sheehan, David A. Vierra, Paul A. Azzinaro, Thomas H. Meedel, Niall G. Howlett, Steven Q. Irvine

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Ciona intestinalis, a common sea squirt, exhibits lower reproductive success at the upper extreme of the water temperatures it experiences in coastal New England. In order to understand the changes in protein expression associated with elevated temperatures, and possible response to global temperature change, we reared C. intestinalis from embryos to adults at 18°C (a temperature at which they reproduce normally at our collection site in Rhode Island) and 22°C (the upper end of the local temperature range). We then dissected ovaries from animals at each temperature, extracted protein, and measured proteomic levels using shotgun mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). 1532 …

Social Buffering In A Eusocial Invertebrate: Termite Soldiers Reduce The Lethal Impact Of Competitor Cues On Workers, Li Tian, Evan L. Preisser, Kenneth F. Haynes, Xuguo Zhou

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

While the impact of predator‐induced stress on prey has received considerable attention, there has been far less research into the effect of competitors. Cues from aggressive competitors should be particularly likely to evoke behavioral and/or physiological responses, since they may be indicative of both direct (interference) and indirect (exploitative) threats. The danger posed by such competitors, and the “fear” they evoke, should be reduced at lower competitor densities and by the presence of individual conspecifics specialized for defense. We assessed how Reticulitermes flavipes termite workers and soldiers were affected by cues from conspecific nestmates, conspecific non‐nestmates, and the heterospecific competitor …

Inbreeding Produces Trade-Offs Between Maternal Fecundity And Offspring Survival In A Monandrous Spider, Zhanqi Chen, Evan L. Preisser, Rong Xiao, Jian Chen, Daiqin Li, Xiaoguo Jiao

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Offspring born to related parents often have lower fitness than those born to unrelated parents, a phenomenon termed inbreeding depression. While many species have been shown to rely on pre- and/or postcopulatory mate choice to avoid inbreeding, such research has focused largely on polyandrous rather than monandrous species. The absence of postcopulatory mate choice in monandrous species suggests that precopulatory mate choice should play a more important role in inbreeding avoidance. We used a monandrous wolf spider, Pardosa astrigera, as a model system to investigate whether (1) male spiders respond differently to sibling and nonsibling females; (2) female spiders respond …

An Incipient Invasion Of Brown Anole Lizards (Anolis Sagrei) Into Their Own Native Range In The Cayman Islands: A Case Of Cryptic Back-Introduction, Jason J. Kolbe, Johanna E. Wegener, Yoel E. Stuart, Ushuaia Milstead, Katherine E. Boronow, Alexis S. Harrison, Jonathan B. Losos

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Human-mediated dispersal has reshaped distribution patterns and biogeographic relationships for many taxa. Long-distance and over-water dispersal were historically rare events for most species, but now human activities can move organisms quickly over long distances to new places. A potential consequence of human-mediated dispersal is the eventual reintroduction of individuals from an invasive population back into their native range; a dimension of biological invasion termed “cryptic back-introduction.” We investigated whether this phenomenon was occurring in the Cayman Islands where brown anole lizards (Anolis sagrei) with red dewlaps (i.e., throat fans), either native to Little Cayman or invasive on Grand …

Does Forest Extent Affect Salamander Survival? Evidence From A Long‐Term Demographic Study Of A Tropical Newt, Anthony Lau, Nancy E. Karraker, David Dudgeon

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Forest loss has been associated with reduced survival in many vertebrates, and previous research on amphibians has mostly focused on effects at early life stages. Paramesotriton hongkongensis is a tropical newt that breeds in streams but spends up to 10 months per year in terrestrial habitats. Populations are threatened by habitat degradation and collection for the pet trade, but the cryptic terrestrial lifestyle of this newt has limited our understanding of its population ecology, which inhibits development of a species‐specific conservation plan. We conducted an eight‐year (2007–2014) mark–recapture study on four P. hongkongensis populations in Hong Kong and used these …

Evolutionary Response To Global Change: Climate And Land Use Interact To Shape Color Polymorphism In A Woodland Salamander, Bradley J. Cosentino, Jean-David Moore, Nancy E. Karraker, Martin Ouellet, James P. Gibbs

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Evolutionary change has been demonstrated to occur rapidly in human‐modified systems, yet understanding how multiple components of global change interact to affect adaptive evolution remains a critical knowledge gap. Climate change is predicted to impose directional selection on traits to reduce thermal stress, but the strength of directional selection may be mediated by changes in the thermal environment driven by land use. We examined how regional climatic conditions and land use interact to affect genetically based color polymorphism in the eastern red‐backed salamander (Plethodon cinereus). P. cinereus is a woodland salamander with two primary discrete color morphs (striped, …

Activity Patterns And Habitat Use Of Ansonia Hanitschi On Gunung Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, Nancy E. Karraker, David Bickford, Samantha Fischer, Anne Devan-Song, Alicia Tan, Jennifer Sheridan, Paul Yambun, Maklarin Lakim

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Ansonia hanitschi is a small, stream-breeding toad endemic to Borneo. Little is known about its ecology or behavior. We documented diurnal activity patterns and habitat use, nocturnal habitat use, and body sizes of A. hanitschi near streams and in forests on Gunung Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, on the island of Borneo. We identified 12 unique diurnal behaviors in this species. Ansonia hanitschi are sit-and-wait predators that spend > 75% of their time during the day, on average, sitting inactive in shady areas within 1.2 m of the stream. Observed toads spent 6% of their time jumping, 4% of their time crawling, and …

Responses Of A Spotted Turtle (Clemmys Guttata) Population To Creation Of Early-Successional Habitat, Scott W. Buchanan, Bill Buffum, Nancy E. Karraker

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

The maintenance or creation of early successional habitat is commonly employed by natural resource managers, often for the benefit of native wildlife. In southern New England, USA, forest succession has reduced the amount of early successional habitat on the landscape making the creation of such habitat a management priority in the region. However, questions remain regarding the impacts of the creation of early successional habitat on certain species, especially those that are associated with late successional habitats. We conducted a radio-telemetry study of Spotted Turtles (Clemmys guttata) in Rhode Island, USA, for one year before, and one year …

Effects Of Roads And Land Use On Frog Distributions Across Spatial Scales And Regions In The Eastern And Central United States, David M. Marsh, Bradley J. Cosentino, Kara S. Jones, Joseph J. Apodaca, Karen H. Beard, Jane Margaret Bell, Christine Bozarth, Derrick Carper, Julie F. Charbonnier, Andreia Dantas, Elizabeth A. Forys, Miran Foster, Jaquelyn General, Kristen S. Genet, Macie Hanneken, Kyle R. Hess, Shane A. Hill, Faisal Iqbal, Nancy E. Karraker, Eran S. Kilpatrick, Tom A. Langen, James Langford, Kathryn Lauer, Alison J. Mccarthy, Zoey Neale, Saumya Patel, Austin Patton, Cherie Southwick, Nathaniel Stearrett, Nicholas Steijn, Mohammad Tasleem, Joseph M. Taylor, James R. Vonesh

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Aim

Understanding the scales over which land use affects animal populations is critical for conservation planning, and it can provide information about the mechanisms that underlie correlations between species distributions and land use. We used a citizen science database of anuran surveys to examine the relationship between road density, land use and the distribution of frogs and toads across spatial scales and regions of the United States.

Location

Eastern and Central United States.

Methods

We compiled data on anuran occupancy collected from 1999 to 2013 across 13 states in the North American Amphibian Monitoring Program, a citizen science survey of …

Nonconsensual Collaborations, 2012-Present: Notes On A Shared Condition, Aliza Shvarts

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

"Nonconsensual Collaborations, 2012-present: Notes on a Shared Condition" is an extended performance text. It investigates the unmarked gendered dynamics of artistic collaboration, documenting a series of “nonconsensual collaborations”—that is, performances with other artists who did not agree to their participation. Presented here as written narratives, these nonconsensual collaborations frame everyday occurrences of violation, erasure, and misrecognition, exploring how discourses of consent arise from the raced and gendered histories of property relations. They call into question the politics of representation, the status of the document, the formation of evidentiary truth, and the interpenetration of sexual and aesthetic economies. These nonconsensual collaborations …

Más Rudas Collective, 2009-2016 (An Archival Epilogue To An Epic Pachanga), Josh T. Franco

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Contemporary artists Más Rudas Collective (MRC) were active in San Antonio, Texas, from 2009 to 2016. This essay looks to primary source documents from preceding decades and keystone exhibitions of Chicana/o art to articulate MRC’s position in a network of art production and curatorial activity that takes Chicana/o identity as a conceptual framework and/or departure point. Specific examples of MRC members’ reappropriations of Mexican, Mexican American, and Chicana/o cultural elements are analyzed and considered as “weaponizations” against cultures of body shaming and misogyny. Their approach is compared to that of other artists and curators in order to highlight the variety …

Underwater Nuclear Reactor Safeguards, Aaron Morrissette, Anthony Nero, Kenneth Calabro

Mechanical Engineering Capstone Design Projects

This report will discuss the preliminary design and the overall progress made during the Fall 2016 semester by the Mechanical Engineering Senior Capstone Team Group 09 at the University of Rhode Island (URI). Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has presented Capstone Team 09 a unique challenge; utilize the principle of Safeguards by Design (SBD) to create safeguard for a new type of reactor that is currently under development. DCNS, an energy and defense company based in France, is currently developing the FlexBlue, which will be the world’s first underwater nuclear power reactor. The …

Placental Transfusion: A Review, A. C. Katheria, S. Lakshminrusimha, H. Rabe, R. Mcadams, Judith S. Mercer

College of Nursing Faculty Publications

Recently there have been a number of studies and presentations on the importance of providing a placental transfusion to the newborn. Early cord clamping is an avoidable, unphysiologic intervention that prevents the natural process of placental transfusion. However, placental transfusion, although simple in concept, is affected by multiple factors, is not always straightforward to implement, and can be performed using different methods, making this basic procedure important to discuss. Here, we review three placental transfusion techniques: delayed cord clamping, intact umbilical cord milking and cut-umbilical cord milking, and the evidence in term and preterm newborns supporting this practice. We will …

Graduate School Of Oceanography Annual Report For Fy2017, Uri Graduate School Of Oceanography

Graduate School of Oceanography Publications

Annual report for the Graduate School Oceanography of the University of Rhode Island for the 2017 fiscal year.

Includes research projects by faculty and students, biographies of new faculty, events on the Bay campus and program development and list of donors.

Vancomycin Plus Piperacillin/Tazobactam And Acute Kidney Injury In Adults: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Megan Luther, Timbrook, Aisling R. Caffrey, David Dosa, Thomas Lodise, Kerry L. Laplante

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Objectives: The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to assess acute kidney injury with combination therapy of vancomycin plus piperacillin-tazobactam, in general, adult patients and in critically ill adults. Rates of acute kidney injury, time to acute kidney injury, and odds of acute kidney injury were compared with vancomycin monotherapy, vancomycin plus cefepime or carbapenem, or piperacillin-tazobactam monotherapy.

Data Sources: Studies were identified by searching Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane from inception to April 2017. Abstracts from selected conference proceedings were manually searched.

Study Selection: Articles not in English, pediatric studies, and case reports were excluded. …

Gene Expression As A Dosimeter In Irradiated Drosophila Melanogaster, Samana Shrestha, Adam Vanasse, Leon N. Cooper, Michael Antosh

Physics Faculty Publications

Biological indicators would be of use in radiation dosimetry in situations where an exposed person is not wearing a dosimeter, or when physical dosimeters are insufficient to estimate the risk caused by the radiation exposure. In this work, we investigate the use of gene expression as a dosimeter. Gene expression analysis was done on 15,222 genes of Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) at days 2, 10, and 20 postirradiation, with X-ray exposures of 10, 1000, 5000, 10,000, and 20,000 roentgens. Several genes were identified, which could serve as a biodosimeter in an irradiated D. melanogaster model. Many of these genes have …

Not Mine Alone, Nor Mine To Own: Some Reflections On The Young Girl, Jacqueline Mabey

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This essay looks at the role of the young girl in the curatorial practice of Jacqueline Mabey. Mabey reckons with the young girl as the signifier of a spectrum of mutable cultural signifieds and young girls as subjects on their own terms in the two exhibitions under review, Miss World and Utopia Is No Place, Utopia Is Process. In doing so, she recognizes a shift in motivations from an interest in what the young girls mean as a narcissistic reflection to how she could work in service of the development of young girls.

On-Line Adaptive Dynamic Programming For Feedback Control, Xiangnan Zhong

Open Access Dissertations

Stability analysis and controller design are among the most important issues in feedback control problems. Usually, controller design for linear system can be obtained by solving the Riccati equation. However, when comes to the nonlinear control problem, Riccati equation becomes the well-known Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB) equation which is difficult to tackle directly. Fortunately, adaptive dynamic programming (ADP) has been widely recognized as one of the “core methodologies” to achieve optimal control in stochastic process in a general case to achieve brain-like intelligent control. Extensive efforts and promising results have been achieved over the past decades. The achievements cover a large variety …

Assessing Hand Hygiene Compliance In Healthcare Workers To Reduce Infectious Disease, Ahmed Salem Alhasani

Open Access Dissertations

Hand hygiene is the first line of defense against the prevalence of infectious diseases in healthcare settings. Therefore, healthcare costs can be reduced. However, having rare incidents of healthcare-associated infections (HAI) does not always mean that hand hygiene compliance is high and at its desired level. This research study aims to develop multi-statistical measurements to assess hand hygiene compliance of the medical and nursing groups at the inpatient wards, 5B, 6B and ICU at the Providence Veterans Affairs Medical Center (PVAMC). The PVAMC was trying to identify whether the few cases or rare incidents of HAI that have been reported …

Assessments Of Opportunities To Improve Antibiotic Prescribing In An Emergency Department: A Period Prevalence Survey, Tristan T. Timbrook, R. Caffrey, Anais Ovalle, Maya Beganovic, William Curioso, Melissa Gaitanis, Kerry L. Laplante

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Introduction

Approximately 30% of all outpatient antimicrobials are inappropriately prescribed. Currently, antimicrobial prescribing patterns in emergency departments (ED) are not well described. Determining inappropriate antimicrobial prescribing patterns and opportunities for interventions by antimicrobial stewardship programs (ASP) are needed.

Methods

A retrospective chart review was performed among a random sample of non-admitted, adult patients who received an antimicrobial prescription in the ED from January 1 to December 31, 2015. Appropriateness was measured using the Medication Appropriateness Index, and was based on provider adherence to local guidelines. Additional information collected included patient characteristics, initial diagnoses, and other chronic medication use.

Results

Of …

Changes In The Size Structure Of Marine Fish Communities, Richard J. Bell, Jeremy Collie, Trevor A. Branch, Michael J. Fogarty, Coilin Minto, Daniel Ricard

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Marine ecosystems have been heavily impacted by fishing pressure, which can cause major changes in the structure of communities. Fishing directly removes biomass and causes secondary effects such as changing predatory and competitive interactions and altering energy pathways, all of which affect the functional groups and size distributions of marine ecosystems. We conducted a meta-analysis of eighteen trawl surveys from around the world to identify if there have been consistent changes in size-structure and life history groups across ecosystems. Declining biomass trends for larger fish and invertebrates were present in nine systems, all in the North Atlantic, while seven ecosystems …

Uri Undergraduate And Graduate Course Catalog 2017-2018, University Of Rhode Island

URI Course Catalogs Archive

This is a downloadable PDF version of the University of Rhode Island course catalog.

Using Boundary Objects To Stimulate Transformational Thinking: Storm Resilience For The Port Of Providence, Rhode Island (Usa), Austin Becker

Marine Affairs Faculty Publications

Like many coastal ports around the world, Rhode Island’s Port of Providence in USA is at risk for climate-related natural hazards, such as catastrophic storm surges and significant sea level rise (0.5–2.0 m), over the next century. To combat such events, communities may eventually adopt so-called “transformational adaptation” strategies, like the construction of major new infrastructure, the reorganization of vulnerable systems, or changes in their locations. Such strategies can take decades or more to plan, design, find consensus around, fund, and ultimately implement. Before any meaningful decisions can be made, however, a shared understanding of risks, consequences, and options must …

"You Will Hold This Book In Your Hands": The Novel And Corporeality In The New Media Ecology, Jason Shrontz

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation examines the relationship between the print novel and new media. It argues that this relationship is productive; that is, it locates the novel and new media within a tense, but symbiotic relationship. This requires an understanding of media relations that is ecological, rather than competitive. More precise, this dissertation investigates ways that the novel incorporates new media. The word “incorporate” refers both to embodiment and physical union. This dissertation asks: when the novel and new media are coupled, what is produced?

It answers this question through the close critical reading of four novels: The Zero by Jess Walter, …