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Influence Of Vitamin E On Innate And Humoral Components Of The Immune System Of Pregnant Ewes And Their Lambs, Saritha Anugu

Open Access Master's Theses

The effect of parenteral administration of vitamin E during the pregnancy and lactation period of ewes and their lambs on innate and humoral components of the immune system was investigated in a 3 part study. 1.) Pregnant/Lactating ewes: Fifteen pregnant Dorset sheep were supplemented with vitamin E (30 IU d-α-tocopherol /Kg body weight (BW), E, n=l0) or placebo (emulsified base, P, n=5) from the last trimester of gestation through weaning. Blood and colostrum were analyzed every 2 wk for α-tocopherol, selenium, glutathione peroxidase activity, lysozyme activity, total IgG and IgG antibodies against tetanus toxoid. 2.) Lambs (0-8wks): Lambs born to …

Construction And Sequence Sampling Of Deep-Coverage Large-Insect Bac Libraries For Three Model Lepidopteran Species, Chengcang Wu, Dina Proestou, Dorothy Carter, Erica Nicholson, Filippe Santos, Shaying Zhao, Hong-Bin Zhang, Marian R. Goldsmith

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: Manduca sexta, Heliothis virescens, and Heliconius erato represent three widely-used insect model species for genomic and fundamental studies in Lepidoptera. Large-insert BAC libraries of these insects are critical resources for many molecular studies, including physical mapping and genome sequencing, but not available to date.

Results: We report the construction and characterization of six large-insert BAC libraries for the three species and sampling sequence analysis of the genomes. The six BAC libraries were constructed with two restriction enzymes, two libraries for each species, and each has an average clone insert size ranging from 152–175 kb. We estimated that …

Serving Godae Data And Products To The Ocean Community, Jon D. Blower, Frederique Blanc, Mike Clancy, Peter C. Cornillon, Craig Donlon, Peter Hacker, Keith Haines, Steve C. Hankin, Thomas Loubrie, Sylvie Pouliquen, Martin Price, Timothy F. Pugh, Ashwanth Srinivasan

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The Global Ocean Data Assimilation Experiment (GODAE [http://www.godae.org]) has spanned a decade of rapid technological development. The ever-increasing volume and diversity of oceanographic data produced by in situ instruments, remote-sensing platforms, and computer simulations have driven the development of a number of innovative technologies that are essential for connecting scientists with the data that they need. This paper gives an overview of the technologies that have been developed and applied in the course of GODAE, which now provide users of oceanographic data with the capability to discover, evaluate, visualize, download, and analyze data from all over the world. The key …

Musical Chairs Mortality Functions: Density-Dependent Deaths Caused By Competition For Unguarded Refuges, Jameal F. Samhouri, Richard R. Vance, Graham E. Forrester, Mark A. Steele

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Structural refuges within which prey can escape from predators can be an important limiting resource for the prey. In a manner that resembles the childhood game of musical chairs, many prey species rapidly retreat to shared, unguarded refuges whenever a predator threatens, and only when refuges are relatively abundant do all prey individuals actually escape. The key feature of this process is that the per capita prey mortality rate depends on the ratio of prey individuals to refuges. We introduce a new class of mortality functions with this feature and then demonstrate statistically that they describe field mortality data from …

Sex For Dinner, Death For Breakfast: James Bond And The Body, Brian A. Dixon

Open Access Dissertations

This study is concerned with the literature, films, artwork, and advertising associated with Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 and examines various representations of the human body that play an integral role in his adventures. For Fleming, the body is simultaneously a site of secrecy, revelation, contact, and exposition presaging the future of politics, culture, sexuality, and consumption. The various accoutrements that are common to the 007 adventures--including elaborate references to fashion, food and drink, sex, and methods of execution--accentuate and attune this focus. An examination of these elements and their bodily referents serves to reveal the extent to which these …

Milking The Umbilical Cord At Term Cesarean Section: Effect On Hemoglobin Levels In The First 48 Hours Of Life, Debra A. Erickson-Owens

Open Access Dissertations

New evidence suggests immediate clamping of the umbilical cord may contribute to anemia of infancy. It can deprive a full-term infant of 25% of its blood volume, representing up to 50 mg/kg of iron. Poor iron stores can affect the developing brain. Immediate clamping is routine at cesarean section but lacks scientific evidence. Delayed clamping for two minutes can reduce anemia but is not always feasible at cesarean section. Cord milking may offer an alternative at cesarean section for the prevention of anemia. This pilot study, a partially-blinded randomized controlled trial, compared immediate clamping and cord milking in full-term infants …

A Biochemical Study On The Regulation Of The Src And Fgfr Family Of Protein Tyrosine Kinases, David J. Kemble

Open Access Dissertations

The Src and FGFR family of protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) are key mammalian enzymes in signal transduction. Regulating their enzymatic activity is imperative and disrupting this regulation can lead to devastating outcomes, including cancer. Our primary focus is to dissect the structure-function relationship that guides the regulation of PTKs. In this study we used site directed mutageneis, bacterial expression, and kinetic analysis to investigate how Src and FGFR PTKS is regulated by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and autophosphorylation. Accumulating evidence suggests that protein tyrosine phosphorylation-based pathways are under the regulation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Although protein tyrosine phosphatases are …

Alternative Conceptions Of Introductory Geoscience Students And A Method To Decrease Them, Karen Melissa Kortz

Open Access Dissertations

College students often leave introductory geoscience courses with alternative conceptions, and these alternative conceptions are a barrier to their grasp of geological conceptions. This dissertation clarifies the problem and suggests pedagogical strategies for correcting it. It is an integration of research on students' conceptions of geoscience topics with the application of that knowledge to the development of materials to change these conceptions to be more scientifically accurate. This research identifies and documents alternative conceptions students have in several key geoscience topics and the consequences of these alternative conception in terms of preventing understanding. After documenting the alternative conceptions, I investigate …

Assessing Essential Fish Habitat And Connectivity Using Otolith Chemistry And Growth Of Temperate And Tropical Fish, Ivan Mateo

Open Access Dissertations

Many shallow water habitats are vulnerable to loss or deterioration from a variety of processes, including erosion, pollution, and urbanization. Conservation of these 'nursery' habitats protects an important source of young individuals to offshore adult fish populations. The first part of this dissertation investigates whether young-of-the year (YOY) tautog Tautoga onitis, French grunt Haemulon flavolineatum, and schoolmaster Lutjanus apodus from different nursery habitats can be distinguished by chemical signatures in their otoliths. Concentrations of ten elements, as well as stable oxygen (18O) and carbon (13C) isotopes, were determined in otoliths. Chemical signatures differed significantly among fish from different nurseries (MANOVA …

Conservation Genetics Of Association Of Zoos And Aquariums And Wild Matshie's Tree Kangaroo (Dendrolagus Matschiei) From Huon Peninsula, Papua New Guinea, Thomas Joseph Mcgreevy Jr.

Open Access Dissertations

The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) Matschie's tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus matschiei) population is at a critical point for assessing long-term viability; they have endured a founder effect and have low mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diversity. The mean kinship (MK) strategy is used to preserve their genetic diversity by minimizing the overall kinship of the population; however, the MK strategy has not been evaluated in an AZA population. Wild D. matschiei is listed as endangered and genetically unique populations may warrant management as separate conservation units. My objectives were to: (i) develop molecular markers to facilitate genetic analyses, (ii) assist AZA …

Resistance To Northern Root-Knot Nematode (Meloidygyne Hapla Chitwood) In Lettuce (Lactuca Sativa L.), Parminderjit Kaur

Open Access Dissertations

The present study was undertaken to identify lettuce gel' plasm having resistance to M. hapla. Approximately 500 Lactuca accessions were evaluated in the greenhouse for resistance to M. hapla. Six week old seedlings were inoculated with M. hapla at 5,000 eggs per plant. Twelve weeks after inoculation data were recorded on root galling and fresh root weight. The accessions with a root galling score of two or less were considered resistant to M. hapla and were screened in a second trial. Two L. sativa accessions (PI 508476 and PI 419140) and three wild Lactuca accessions, L. saligna PI 281876, L. …

A Validation Study Of The Misbehaviors Questionnaire, Racheal Taki Reavy

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the validity of the Misbehaviors Questionnaire (MBQ), a revision of the Self Report Delinquency scale, which aims to diagnose conduct disorder (CD) and to serve as a valid measure for assessing misbehaviors. The MBQ further assesses whether each misbehavior involved the use of alcohol or marijuana, allowing for comparisons of substance-related clusters of misbehaviors. Participants were 190 incarcerated adolescents (85.8% male; average age 17 years) at a juvenile correctional facility in the Northeast. While incarcerated, they were asked about substance use and misbehaviors in the three months prior to incarceration, as well as parental, peer, and demographic …

The Use Of Cnidarian Nematocysts By The Aeolidian Nudibranch Cratena Pilata, Sarah Fogg-Matarese

Open Access Dissertations

Nudibranchs feed on anemones and hydroid polyps. The ingested cnidarian nematocysts are stored in cerata, dorsal extensions of the gut, and used to defend against predatation. Specialized smooth muscle sacs in the cerata, the cnidosacs, contain modified epithelial cells, the cnidophages, that hold the nematocysts. Light microscopic and behavioral studies indicate that, upon adequate stimulation, the cnidosac and cerata contract, opening the ceras tip and releasing the stored nematocysts. Ultra-thin sections revealed that the smooth muscle cells of the ceras encompass a network of caveolae and that synaptic terminals containing dense-cored and clear vesicles impinge on the muscles of the …

"All The World's A Stage": (Re)Familiarizing Shakespeare: A Study Of Romeo And Juliet In The East And The West, Beau La Rhee

Open Access Dissertations

This study analyzes William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (1596) and his Globe Theater as well as John Gielgud's (1935), Peter Brook's (1947), and Tae-Suk Oh's (2005 and 2006) adaptation of it to explore how the play is retold, reinterpreted, and brought alive for new audiences through different cultures and through the theater of today. As the acclaimed western directors, the Korean director Tae-Suk Oh accurately interprets Shakespearean devices in the source text and employs methodologies drawn from his own culture as well as Elizabethan culture. He effectively relates the world of the play to the world of the audience through …

Overwintering Ecology Of Young-Of-The-Year Winter Flounder In Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, Richard James Bell

Open Access Dissertations

Winter flounder is an important commercial and recreational species and was once one of the most abundant fish in Narragansett Bay. The stock declined in the mid-1980s paralleling a similar trend throughout southern New England and has shown very little, if any, recovery. Many strong age-0 year-classes failed to survive to age-1 or older and work has indicated that a mortality bottleneck occurs sometime after the summer of the first year of life. This study investigated the diet, lipid content, growth, mortality and distribution of YOY winter flounder during the winter. YOY winter flounder were found to eat throughout the …

The Relationship Between Assistive Technology State Standards For Teachers, Assistive Technology Implementation, And Student Performance In The Context Of Evidence-Based Practice, Elizabeth Minchin Dalton

Open Access Dissertations

Purpose: Consideration of assistive technology (AT) for special education students has been federally mandated since 1997. Since the 2002 No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), rigorous evidence-based educational practices are also mandated. While national technology standards for teachers in general education exist to guide educational technology (ET), it is not clear if AT standards exist for U.S. teachers, or on what evidence standards are based. The purposes of this study, therefore , were to 1) describe three state-level regulatory elements related to AT: i) presence of formally adopted AT standards , ii) level of scientific evidence supporting those standards and …

The Invasive Colonial Ascidian Didemnum Vexillum On Georges Bank - Ecological Effects And Genetic Identification, Nicole L. Lengyel, Jeremy S. Collie, Page C. Valentine

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Since the discovery of the invasive colonial tunicate Didemnum vexillum Kott, 2002 on Georges Bank in 2002, research has focused on investigating the spread of the tunicate invasion, evaluating its potential impact on the benthic community, identifying it to species level, and determining its region of origin. The percent cover of Didemnum vexillum, measured from bottom photographs, ranges from 0-100% in individual photos and between 0-79% when averaged within photo transects. Individual photos represent an area of the seabed measuring ~ 0.39 m2 while photo transects range from ~ 700-1000 meters in length. Hydroids are the second most abundant …

Reference Database Usage Statistics 2007-2008

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the use of online reference databases at the University of Rhode Island during the period from July 2007 through June 2008. Includes COUNTER-compliant data on sessions, searches, turnaways, full text articles downloaded, cost per search, and other metrics.

Spatial Density Dependence Scales Up But Does Not Produce Temporal Density Dependence In A Reef Fish, Graham E. Forrester, Mark A. Steele, Jameal F. Samhouri, Bryn Evans, Richard R. Vance

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Field experiments provide rigorous tests of ecological hypotheses but are typically of short duration and use small spatial replicates. We assessed empirically whether the results of experiments testing for density dependence applied at larger spatial domains and explained temporal population dynamics. We studied a small coral reef fish, the goldspot goby {Gnatholepis thompsoni), in the Bahamas. We assessed the effects of interactions with conspecifics and with an ecologically similar species, the bridled goby {Coryphopterus glaucofraenum). Two density manipulations on small reef patches revealed that goldspot goby mortality over one month increased as conspecifics became crowded. On …

Serials Unit Annual Report 2007-2008, Andree J. Rathemacher

Serials Unit Reports

Annual report of the Serials Unit, University of Rhode Island Library. Covers personnel, work flow, subscriptions, and statistics on expenditures by a number of variables.

Opioid Therapy And Prescription Drug Diversion, Frederick W. Burgess, E. Pawasauskas

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Methadone Analgesia For Persistent Pain: Safety And Toxicity Considerations, Frederick W. Burgess, E. Pawasauskas

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Serials Solutions Subject Search Report 2007-2008

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the total number of Serials Solutions subject searches at the University of Rhode Island Libraries by month for 2007-2008. Shows how many times the A-Z full text electronic journal list (at http://zu4tq4pb5v.search.serialssolutions.com/) was browsed by specific subjects.

Serials Solutions Click-Through Statistics By Provider And Database 2007-2008

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the total number of database and journal-level clicks, by provider and database, of Serials Solutions tools at the University of Rhode Island Libraries by month for 2007-2008. Clicks may have originated from the A-Z full text electronic journal list (at http://zu4tq4pb5v.search.serialssolutions.com/), from OpenURL links ("360 Link"), or the 856 fields of Serials Solutions-generated MARC records ("360 MARC Updates").

Development Of Methods For The Genetic Manipulation Of Flavobacterium Columnare, Andrew M. Staroscik, David W. Hunnicutt, Kate E. Archibald, David R. Nelson

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Background:

Flavobacterium columnare is the causative agent of columnaris disease, a disease affecting many freshwater fish species. Methods for the genetic manipulation for some of the species within the Bacteroidetes, including members of the genus Flavobacterium, have been described, but these methods were not adapted to work with F. columnare.

Results:

As a first step toward developing a robust set of genetic tools for F. columnare, a protocol was developed to introduce the E. coli – Flavobacterium shuttle vector pCP29 into F. columnare strain C#2 by conjugal mating at an efficiency of 1.5 × 10^{-3 …}

Bilayer Interactions Of Phlip, A Peptide That Can Deliver Drugs And Target Tumors, Manuela Zoonens, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Donald M. Engelman

Physics Faculty Publications

The pH-dependent insertion of pHLIP across membranes is proving to be a useful property for targeting acidic tissues or tumors and delivering drugs attached to its C-terminus. It also serves as a model peptide for studies of protein insertion into membranes, so further elucidation of the insertion mechanism of pHLIP and its features is desirable. We examine how the peptide perturbs a model phosphatidylcholine membrane and how it associates with the lipid bilayer using an array of fluorescence techniques, including fluorescence anisotropy measurements of TMA-DPH anchored in bilayers, quenching of pHLIP fluorescence by brominated lipids and acrylamide, and measurements of …

Searching The Biological Literature, John L. Kelland

Public Services Faculty Publications

Table of Contents. Chapter 1. Organization of the Scientific Literature and the Flow of Information in the Sciences. Chapter 2. Primary Sources. Chapter 3. Reference Sources. Chapter 4. Databases. Chapter 5. Basic Principles of Searching and Search Logic Chapter 6. Citation Indexes and Citation Searching . Chapter 7. The Citation Concept and its Impact on Society Chapter 8. Resources on the World Wide Web Chapter 9. U. S. Government Publications Chapter 10. Lessons Learned Index

Alternate Conceptions Of Preservice Elementary Teachers: The Itakura Method, Aaron D. Isabelle, Cornelis De Groot

College of Education Faculty Publications

In this study, we determined the effectiveness of the inquiry-based Itakura method for mediating alternate conceptions of preservice elementary teachers (N = 38) in an integrated mathematics, science, and technology methods course. We investigated alternate conceptions in the expansion of solids due to heating. There was a significant increase in participants’ immediate learning gains after participating in the Itakura method. Retention data was gathered after 1, 2, and 3 months. After 3 months, retention levels dropped slightly, but not significantly. Responses revealed that the majority of the participants did not revert back to alternate conceptions after 3 months.

The Many Faces Of Fear: Comparing The Pathways And Impacts Of Nonconsumptive Predator Effects On Prey Populations, Evan L. Preisser, Daniel I. Bolnick

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background:

Most ecological models assume that predator and prey populations interact solely through consumption: predators reduce prey densities by killing and consuming individual prey. However, predators can also reduce prey densities by forcing prey to adopt costly defensive strategies.

Methodology/Principal Findings:

We build on a simple Lotka-Volterra predator-prey model to provide a heuristic tool for distinguishing between the demographic effects of consumption (consumptive effects) and of anti-predator defenses (nonconsumptive effects), and for distinguishing among the multiple mechanisms by which anti-predator defenses might reduce prey population growth rates. We illustrate these alternative pathways for nonconsumptive effects with selected empirical examples, and …

World Voice: Invisible Lines & Mindfulness And Peaceful Living, Joseph A. Santiago

Senior Honors Projects

All my life I have always wanted to make a difference in people’s lives. As I come to the last stretch of my bachelor’s degree I can look back on all the moments in school and in the workplace where my path was elusive and I longed for expression. In creating these two books I have shaped a platform where people across the globe can come together and share their voice. There are times when we all feel that no one is listening to us, and no one understands us. Over the last few months I have talked with people …