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A Comparative Study Of The Pure Tonal Whistle Vocalizations From Five Western North Atlantic Dolphin Species, William Wayne Steiner Ii

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

George Eliot And Feminism, Barbara Anne Vonvillas

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Comparative Evaluation Of Aerial And Shipboard Sampling Techniques For Estimating The Abundance Of Humpback Whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae), Gerald Preston Scott Jr.

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Development And Use Of A Proficiency Test Specimen For Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning, John A. Ares

Open Access Master's Theses

Paralytic shellfish frequently fatal malady contaminated shellfish poisoning (PSP) is a serious, frequently fatal malady resulting from the ingestion of contaminated shellfish. Filter feeding bivalves, including clams and mussels, become toxic after ingesting toxic dinoflagellate algae of the genus Gonvaulax.

Due thousands to strict guidelines on shellfish bed closures, thousands of dollars depend on an analyst’s precision in measurement of the toxins on shellfish bed closures on an analyst's precision in measurement of the toxin. Measurement has traditionally been by means of a mouse bioassay. Since no proficiency test existed, the purpose of this work was to develop one. …

Persistence Of Fear Reduction Resulting From Response Prevention, Stephen Abbot Neill

Open Access Master's Theses

A review of the literature in response prevention revealed that the technique is generally considered to reduce fear but that proper assessment of the persistence of fear reduction was lacking. Previous studies attempting to measure the durability of fear reduction either failed to control for potential confounds in within subjects designs or used problematic fear assessment techniques. The purpose of this study was to assess the stability of fear reduction using improved fear assessment procedures and random groups design strategies.

One hundred and fifty albino rats were randomly assigned to receive or not receive response prevention or to act as …

Correlation Of In Vitro Chemotaxis With In Vitro Virulence Of Bacteroides Fragilis Products, Stephen Atsekhagbo Adamu

Open Access Master's Theses

A possible mechanism of pathogenicity of Bacteroides fragilis was determined while studying interaction of rabbit peritoneal polymorphonuclear neutrophils (PMN neutrophils) with Bacteroides products (outer membrane and culture supernatant of B. fragilis VPI 9032, VPI 2553 and B. vulgatus VPI 4245; culture supernatant of B. thetaiotaomicron VPI 5482; and LPS of B. fragilis VPI 9032). Neutrophils were elicited by injection of glycogen into the peritoneal cavity of rabbits and harvested four to seven hours later.

When rabbit peritoneal neutrophils were exposed to Bacteroides products, the neutrophils released N-acetyl-β-glucosaminidase, a lysosmal enzyme. Bacteroides products also induced directional locomotion (chemotaxis) of rabbit PMN …

Farmland Preservation In Massachusetts And Rhode Island, Michael L. Mancuso

Open Access Master's Theses

This study investigates the issues and problems surrounding the decline of farms and farmland in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. A major portion of this project deals with the present legislative remedies for the agricultural decline. The forms of legislation are strongly addressed because the laws bring out the issues and problems of attempts to preserve agricultural lands. This study also makes recommendations on how preservation legislation can be improved and used beneficially in local communities. The state and local planner's role in the preservation process is also discussed.

It should be noted that in this study, the loss of agricultural …

Effects Of Liquid Membranes On Gastrointestinal Absorption Of Drugs In Rats, Alan Paul Agins

Open Access Master's Theses

A liquid membrane system was investigated as a potential antidotal treatment for acute drug overdose. The effectiveness of orally administered liquid membranes in simulated acute secobarbital, phencyclidine and strychnine poisoning was assessed in fasting rats. Four milliliters of a liquid membrane suspension was administered immediately following drug intubations. The effect of liquid membrane on gastrointestinal absorption of secobarbital and phencyclidine was determined by comparison of duration of action (sleeping time) and blood drug concentration over time in drug controls and treated rats. The effect on phencyclidine absorption was also determined from the total amount of drug and metabolites excreted in …

Acetylation Of The Choline Analog Homocholine By Membrane Bound Choline-0-Acetyltransferase In Mouse Forebrain, Christina G. Benishin

Open Access Master's Theses

The choline analog homocholine is not acetylated in vitro by choline-0-acetyltransferase (ChAT, EC 2.3. 1.6) which is solubilized by 100 mM sodium phosphate buffer washes of a crude vesicular fraction of mouse forebrain. However, both homocholine and choline are acetylated by a form of ChAT which is non-ionically associated with a subcellular fraction of mouse forebrain containing membrane associated organelles and occluded ACh (P 4 ). Acetylation of homocholine by membrane associated ChAT is saturable. 4-(l-Naphthylvinyl) pyridine (NVP) inhibits the acetylation of both choline (60%) and homocholine (40%) by membrane associated ChAT but reduces the acetylation of only choline by …

Sclerophthora Macrospora (Sacc.) Thirum., Shaw And Naras. And The Etiology Of Yellow Tuft Disease, Peter Hamilton Dernoeden

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Vertical Transmission Of Avian Adenovirus Associated Virus, George Joseph Dawson

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Factors Correlated With The Intertidal Distribution Of Meiofauna Along A Rhode Island Estuary, Muriel Gayle Kraus

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of Intraaortic Balloon Pumping By A Cardiovascular Model, Chiiming Kao

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Aortic Blood Flow Estimation From Pressure Measurements, Shankar Muthukrishnan

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Radioimmunoassay Of Testosterone And Estrogens In Bloodstains For The Purpose Of Sex Identification, Dennis Charles Hilliard

Open Access Master's Theses

The capabilities and the limitations involved in applying commercially prepared Radioimmunoassay (RIA) Kits, for testosterone (T) and estrogen (E) , for the purpose of identifying the sexual origin of a bloodstain were examined. A total of forty whole blood samples were obtained from equal numbers of young healthy male and female volunteers. Bloodstains were prepared by absorbing these blood samples onto 2 X 2 cm squares of white cotton linen. Two separate studies were conducted using these stains. Both studies examined the fractional recovery of T and E when extracted with diethyl ether, the ability of the RIA method to …

Development Of A Mammalian Collagenase Assay Using A Soluble Substrate, Nancy A. Laposta-Frazier

Open Access Master's Theses

The classical assay for detection of collagenolytic activity has been the release of soluble peptide fragments from reconstituted radioactive gels following incubation with the enzyme. Because this assay system is dependent on diffusion of the enzyme through the gel, examination of the kinetic parameters of the enzyme has been hampered. In the present study, a soluble substrate for collagenase was developed by coupling purified Type I collagen to the fluorophor, 2-methoxy-2,4-diphenyl-3(2H) furanone (MDPF). MDPF-labeled collagen was incubated with varying amounts of collagenase for two hours and electrophoresed on polyacrylamide gels. The gels were scanned on a Gilford spectrophotometer and the …

A Study Of The Discriminative Stimulus Properties And Some Analgesic Properties Of The Narcotic Agonist-Antagonist Cyclazocine, Michael D. Mccarten

Open Access Master's Theses

Separate groups of rats were trained to discriminate the narcotic agonist-antagonist, cyclazocine (1.25 mg/kg), from saline or the pure narcotic agonist, morphine (10 mg/kg), from saline. In the cyclazocine discriminating animals, the interoceptive stimuli produced by cyclazocine were found to be dose related and largely based on central opiate systems in that these effects were reversed by the narcotic antagonist, naloxone. The discriminative stimulus produced by cyclazocine was found to be completely generalized to nalorphine, ethylketocyclazocine, pentazocine and morphine while a lesser degree of generalization was seen to the experimental compounds, U-49, 274A and U-50,788E. The cyclazocine discriminative stimulus did …

A Study On The Ability Of Precursor And Acetylated Product To Refill Cholinergic Vesicles Independently Of The Cytoplasm, Stephen Harold Nelson

Open Access Master's Theses

Mouse forebrain minces were incubated in a Krebs or a lithium high K+ (L.K.) Krebs medium, cytoplasmic (S 3 ) and crude vesicular (P 3 ) fractions prepared and the levels of choline and acetylcholine (ACh) in each, determined. ACh levels were depleted by 70% in the P3 fraction of L.K. Krebs as compared to Krebs, incubated minces; while, s3 ACh levels were not significantly altered by the lithium incubation. Lithium treatment lowered the s3 choline content by 29%, with no significant effect upon P3 choline levels, when compared to s3 and P3 fractions of contralateral minces incubated in Krebs …

The Growth And Life-History Strategy Of The Soft-Shell Clam, Mya Arenaria L., Richard S. Appeldoorn

Open Access Dissertations

The growth and life-history strategy of the soft-shell clam, Mya arenaria were analyzed through the exanination of 25 populations spread throughout the species' geographic range. Growth rate was determined by length-frequency analysis and was analyzed using Gallucci and Quinn's ω parameter of the von Bertalanffy equation. Principal components analysis (PCA) was used to analyze environmental variability. Variations in growth were related to environmental differences. Growth varied inversely with latitude. This relationship was due mostly to temperature differences. PCA indicated that several environmental factors varied systematically with latitude. Growth was found to be negatively correlated to the siltiness of the sediment …

Characterization Of The Fibrotic Lesion In Dibutyltin-Induced Experimental Liver Injury, Jeannee Karen Yermakoff

Open Access Dissertations

Administration of di-n-butyltin dichloride (DBT) by oral intubation has been shown to produce hepatic fibrosis in rats. Unlike post-necrotic experimental fibrosis, DBT-induced hepatic fibrosis progresses from inflammation and biliary injury. The relationship of histological changes to various parameters of collagen synthesis and liver injury were investigated. In vitro collagen synthesis was determined by incubation of liver biopsies with labeled praline and subsequent digestion with protease-free collagenase. Prolyl hydroxylase activity in liver homogenates was taken as a second parameter reflecting the rate of collagen synthesis. DBT administration (20 mg/kg/day, p.o.) produced a progressive increase in both in vitro collagen synthesis and …

Metabolic Requirement Of Cucurbita Pepo For Boron, Carol Jean Lovatt

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of Immune Complexes In Chicken Infected With Chicken Embryo Lethal Orphan (Celo) And Avian Adeno-Associated Virus (A-Av), Wattana Wattanavijarn

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Anxiomimetic Properties Of Pentylenetetrazol In The Rat, Gary Terence Shearman

Open Access Dissertations

Investigation of the biological basis of anxiety is hampered by the lack of an appropriate animal model for research purposes. There are no known drugs that cause anxiety in laboratory animals. Pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) produces intense anxiety in human volunteers (Rodin, 1958; Rodin and Calhoun, 1970). Therefore, it was the major objective of this dissertation to test the hypothesis that the discriminative stimulus produced by PTZ in the rat was related to its anxiogenic action in man. It was also an objective to suggest the neurochemical basis for the discriminative stimulus property of PTZ through appropriate drug interactions. In an operant …

A Mechanism Of Action Of Gold In Rheumatoid Arthritis. A Biochemical And Morphological Investigation Of The Direct Effect Of Gold Sodium Thiomalate (Gst) On Human Synovial Cells In Culture, Ronald Lee Goldberg

Open Access Dissertations

Gold sodium thiomalate (GST) effects on cultured rheumatoid synovial cells were used as a model to investigate a mechanism which can explain clinical benefits gained by patients from gold therapy. Synovial tissue obtained from patients with rheumatoid arthritis who were undergoing reconstructive joint surgery was used to obtain explant culture of synovial cells. The experiments described were performed on growing monolayer cultures during the second to fifth passages. Synovial cells were exposed to GST at pharmacologically relevant concentrations (10-100 uM). Vacuoles were found by phase contrast microscopy in synovial cells in culture after 2 days of exposure to 100 uM …

Renaissance 1980, University Of Rhode Island

URI Yearbooks

This is a digitized, downloadable version of the University of Rhode Island yearbook.

Stronium And Sodium In Fossil Biogenic Calcium Carbonates, David Graham

Open Access Master's Theses

The trace element content of well-preserved fossil carbonates offers the best opportunity to estimate temporal changes in the chemical composition of seawater. Previous studies of cation uptake by cultured carbonate-secreting organisms allow changes in Sr/Ca and Na/Ca ratios in aragonite, and Sr/Ca ratios in calcite, to be directly related to changes in the seawater ratios. To achieve internal consistency in the paleochemical interpretation, these ratios were measured in discrete layers of the aragonitic bivalve Mercenaria and the calcitic bivalve Pecten, dating back to 15 my ago, and in the tests of deep sea fossil planktonic foraminifera dating back to …

R-Plasmid Transfer Frequencies From Environmental Isolates Of Escherichia Coli To Laboratory And Fecal Strains., David R. Shaw, Victor J. Cabelli

Past Departments Faculty Publications (CELS)

Multiple-drug-resistant strains of Escherichia coli were isolated from the water at an estuarine site. They represented about 8.3% of the total E. coli population. Fifty-five strains, representing each of the 32 resistance patterns identified, were mated with an E. coli K-12 F- strain. Matings were performed on membrane filters, and the cells were washed to remove any colicins produced by the donors. Thirty-one strains, about 5% of the mean E. coli density in the samples, transferred drug resistance and, hence, posessed conjugative R plasmids. Of these, 80% transferred drug resistance at a frequency of about 10(-4) or less. Nine environmental …

The Effects Of Hue And Lightness Upon Color Preference And Their Relationship To Five Manifest Needs, Elaine Puntch Gelineau

Open Access Dissertations

A three-part investigation was conducted in an effort to begin to understand the psychological meaning of color preference behavior. Phase 1 used a Q-sort technique to assess intraindividual stability of preference judgments over a five-week interval. Phase 2 used principal components analysis to discern the manner in which preference judgments were being made. Phase 3 used canonical correlation analysis to evaluate a hypothesized relationship between color preference and personality; with five scales from the Personality Research Form, purported to measure manifest needs, serving as the criterion measure. Munsell standard papers, a standard light source, and a screening test for color …

A Parallel Study Of Two British Women Poets: Ruth Pitter And Elizabeth Jennings, Indu Suryanarayan

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Ecology Of The Common Squid Loligo Pealei Lesueur, 1821 In Rhode Island Waters, William Kingsland Macy Iii

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.