Digital Commons Network^™

Mesozooplankton Grazing Minimally Impacts Phytoplankton Abundance During Spring In The Western North Atlantic, Francoise Morison, James Joseph Pierson, Andreas Oikonomou, Susanne Menden-Deuer

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The impacts of grazing by meso- and microzooplankton on phytoplankton primary production (PP) was investigated in the surface layer of the western North Atlantic during spring. Shipboard experiments were performed on a latitudinal transect at three stations that differed in mixed layer depth, temperature, and mesozooplankton taxonomic composition. The mesozooplankton community was numerically dominated by Calanus finmarchicus at the northern and central station, with Calanus hyperboreusalso present at the northern station. The southern station was >10 °C warmer than the other stations and had the most diverse mesozooplankton assemblage, dominated by small copepods including Paracalanus spp. Microzooplankton grazing was …

Traffic Jam At The Nuclear Pore: All Roads Lead To Nucleocytoplasmic Transport Defects In Als/Ftd, Claudia Fallini, Khalil, Courtney L. Smith, Wilfried Rossoll

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal late-onset neurodegenerative disease that specifically affects the function and survival of spinal and cortical motor neurons. ALS shares many genetic, clinical, and pathological characteristics with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), and these diseases are now recognized as presentations of a disease spectrum known as ALS/FTD. The molecular determinants of neuronal loss in ALS/FTD are still debated, but the recent discovery of nucleocytoplasmic transport defects as a common denominator of most if not all forms of ALS/FTD has dramatically changed our understanding of the pathogenic mechanisms of this disease. Loss of nuclear pores and nucleoporin aggregation, …

The Response Of Synechococcus Sp. Pcc 7002 To Micro-/Nano Polyethylene Particles - Investigation Of A Key Anthropogenic Stressor, Mary C. Machado, Gina V. Vimbela, Tania T. Silva-Oliveira, Arijit Bose, Anubhav Tripathi

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Microplastics or plastic particles less than 5 mm in size are a ubiquitous and damaging pol- lutant in the marine environment. However, the interactions between these plastic particles and marine microorganisms are just starting to be understood. The objective of this study was to measure the responses of a characteristic marine organism (Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002) to an anthropogenic stressor (polyethelene nanoparticles and microparticles) using molecular techniques. This investigation showed that polyethylene microparticles and nanoparticles have genetic, enzymatic and morphological effects on Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002. An RT-PCR analysis showed increases in the expression of esterase and hydro- lase genes …

Physiological Dynamics Of Chemosynthetic Symbionts In Hydrothermal Vent Snails, Corinna Breusing, Jessica Mitchell, Jennifer Delaney, Sean P. Sylva, Jeffrey S. Seewald, Peter R. Girguis, Roxanne A. Beinart

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Symbioses between invertebrate animals and chemosynthetic bacteria form the basis of hydrothermal vent ecosystems worldwide. In the Lau Basin, deep-sea vent snails of the genus Alviniconcha associate with either Gammaproteobacteria (A. kojimai, A. strummeri) or Campylobacteria (A. boucheti) that use sulfide and/or hydrogen as energy sources. While the A. boucheti host–symbiont combination (holobiont) dominates at vents with higher concentrations of sulfide and hydrogen, the A. kojimai and A. strummeriholobionts are more abundant at sites with lower concentrations of these reductants. We posit that adaptive differences in symbiont physiology and gene regulation might influence the …

Allopatric And Sympatric Drivers Of Speciation In Alviniconcha Hydrothermal Vent Snails, Corinna Breusing, Shannon B. Johnson, Verena Tunnicliffe, David A. Clague, Robert C. Vrijenhoek, Roxanne A. Beinart

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Despite significant advances in our understanding of speciation in the marine environment, the mechanisms underlying evolutionary diversification in deep-sea habitats remain poorly investigated. Here, we used multigene molecular clocks and population genetic inferences to examine processes that led to the emergence of the six extant lineages of Alviniconcha snails, a key taxon inhabiting deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Indo-Pacific Ocean. We show that both allopatric divergence through historical vicariance and ecological isolation due to niche segregation contributed to speciation in this genus. The split between the two major Alviniconcha clades (separating A. boucheti and A. marisindica from A. kojimai, …

Water Avengers And Their Endgame, David M. Boje

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

No abstract provided.

Proportional Fitness Loss And The Timing Of Defensive Investment: A Cohesive Framework Across Animals And Plants, Michael J. Sheriff, John L. Orrock, Maud Co Ferrari, Richard Karban, Evan L. Preisser, Andrew Sih, Jennifer S. Thaler

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The risk of consumption is a pervasive aspect of ecology and recent work has focused on synthesis of consumer–resource interactions (e.g., enemy–victim ecology). Despite this, theories pertaining to the timing and magnitude of defenses in animals and plants have largely developed independently. However, both animals and plants share the common dilemma of uncertainty of attack, can gather information from the environment to predict future attacks and alter their defensive investment accordingly. Here, we present a novel, unifying framework based on the way an organism’s ability to defend itself during an attack can shape their pre-attack investment in defense. This framework …

Scientists' Warning On Invasive Alien Species, Petr Pyšek, Philip E. Hulme, Dan Simberloff, Sven Bacher, Tim M. Blackburn, James T. Carlton, Wayne Dawson, Franz Essl, Llewellyn C. Foxcroft, Piero Genovesi, Jonathan M. Jeschke, Ingolf Kühn, Andrew M. Liebhold, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Laura A. Meyerson, Aníbal Pauchard, Jan Pergl, Helen E. Roy, Hanno Seebens, Mark Van Kleunen, Montserrat Vilà, Michael J. Wingfield, David M. Richardson

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Biological invasions are a global consequence of an increasingly connected world and the rise in human population size. The numbers of invasive alien species - the subset of alien species that spread widely in areas where they are not native, affecting the environment or human livelihoods - are increasing. Synergies with other global changes are exacerbating current invasions and facilitating new ones, thereby escalating the extent and impacts of invaders. Invasions have complex and often immense long-term direct and indirect impacts. In many cases, such impacts become apparent or problematic only when invaders are well established and have large ranges. …

Variable Growth Across Species And Life Stages In Caribbean Reef Octocorals, Natascha Borgstein, Diana M. Beltrán, Carlos Prada

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Growth rates often measured as linear extension rates can serve as a proxy for organismal performance across environments, yet few estimates of these growth rates exist, and fewer are reported from multi-year monitoring. We studied the effect of species, depth, exposure, and life stages on the linear extension rates of common octocorals inhabiting Caribbean reefs. We monitored 16 species from the families Briareidae, Gorgoniidae, and Plexauridae, including eight genera: Antillogorgia, Briareum, Eunicea, Gorgonia, Muricea, Muriceopsis, Plexaura, and Plexaurella. We surveyed over 2,000 colonies across eight reefs in Southwest Puerto Rico from 2003 to 2006. Our surveys include reefs …

The Dark Triad And Honesty-Humility: A Preliminary Study On The Relations To Pornography Use, Peter Muris, Henry Otgaar, Cor Meesters, Eirini Papasileka, David Pineda

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The present article reports on a preliminary study exploring the relationships between Dark Triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy) and honesty-humility personality traits and pornography craving and deviant pornography use in a sample of 121 participants (46 men and 75 women) who completed an online survey. Narcissism and psychopathy were positively related to pornography craving and deviant pornography consumption, while honesty-humility appeared to be negatively associated with these pornography-related variables. Furthermore, the data suggested that these relationships were only present in men and not in women. While the current results should be interpreted with caution in the light of a number of …

Kinetics Of Phlip Peptide Insertion Into And Exit From A Membrane, Gregory Slaybaugh, Dhammika Weerakkody, Donald M. Engleman, Oleg A. Andreev, Yana Reshetnyak

Physics Faculty Publications

To advance mechanistic understanding of membrane-associated peptide folding and insertion, we have studied the kinetics of three single tryptophan pHLIP (pH-Low Insertion Peptide) variants, where tryptophan residues are located near the N terminus, near the middle, and near the inserting C-terminal end of the pHLIP transmembrane helix. Single-tryptophan pHLIP variants allowed us to probe different parts of the peptide in the pathways of peptide insertion into the lipid bilayer (triggered by a pH drop) and peptide exit from the bilayer (triggered by a rise in pH). By using pH jumps of different magnitudes, we slowed down the processes and established …

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes May 7, 2020, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.

Is The Establishment Clause Asymmetrical?, Sam Foer

Senior Honors Projects

Through numerous Establishment Clause cases, the Supreme Court has concluded that when public educators promote or denigrate religious views in the K-12 classroom, they violate the First Amendment. The Court has found that the protection of ‘freedom of conscience’ is embedded in the purpose of the Establishment Clause, which applies most strictly to the public school setting. This is because the sphere of conscience is most vulnerable to invasion in developing minds, and children are in a captive environment at school - they cannot escape from State instruction. Thus, states, school systems, and teachers who impose their religious beliefs onto …

The Realities Of Plant-Based Dieting, Katie Sause

Senior Honors Projects

KATIE SAUSE (Environmental and Natural Resource Economics)

The Realities of Plant-Based Dieting

In modern society, dieting has become a social norm, however, due to improper nutritional education, the transition to limiting diets can lead to adverse health effects. The societal pressures to adhere to extreme beauty standards lead individuals, especially women, to adopt diets based on their incorrect notions about nutrition and health. When this occurs, the dietary goal becomes weight loss rather than health improvements. This paper focuses on two plant-based diets: vegetarianism and whole foods-plant based. To capture the short- term bodily impacts from transitioning to a plant-based …

Targeting Acidic Diseased Tissues By Ph-Triggered Membrane-Associated Peptide Folding, Yana Reshetnyak, Anna Moshnikova, Oleg A. Andreev, Donald M. Engelman

Physics Faculty Publications

The advantages of targeted therapy have motivated many efforts to find distinguishing features between the molecular cell surface landscapes of diseased and normal cells. Typically, the features have been proteins, lipids or carbohydrates, but other approaches are emerging. In this discussion, we examine the use of cell surface acidity as a feature that can be exploited by using pH-sensitive peptide folding to target agents to diseased cell surfaces or cytoplasms.

Is That Media Literacy?: Israeli And Us Media Scholars’ Perceptions Of The Field, Ornat Turin, Yonty Friesem

Journal of Media Literacy Education

Sixty-nine media scholars from Israel and the Unites States responded to an online questionnaire aimed to identify the boundaries of media literacy. The participants received a list of thirty-two potential titles for a final paper and were asked to rate the relevancy of each topic for an undergraduate media literacy course. While the statistical analysis showed no significant difference in the ranking, deviations and distributions demonstrate disagreements as to what is important or marginal in the field. Protectionist topics were ranked high as well as topics involving children, digital media, and popular culture. It also appears that media education has …

Developing A Responsive And Adaptable Emergent Media Curriculum, Dennis Owen Frohlich, David Magolis

Journal of Media Literacy Education

The field of mass communication is constantly undergoing change and development, and the pace has accelerated with the advent of digital technologies. One challenge educators face is: how do we educate college students not just for today’s careers, but also for lifelong competencies with media? Against this backdrop, the Department of Media and Journalism at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania sought a new curriculum to capitalize on “emergent media,” that is, media that does not fit neatly into established mass communication disciplines such as journalism, telecommunications, public relations, and advertising. Our curriculum is centered around media literacy, skills development, and experiential …

Dark Ride: Disneyland. Using Educational Games For Critical Media Literacy Education, Benjamin Thevenin

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This article describes Dark Ride: Disneyland - a mobile game that encourages Disneyland guests to critically consider Disney’s representations of history, culture, and technology. The game was the creation of a group of faculty, students and professionals associated with Brigham Young University. The article contextualizes the game and its development in relation to concepts including media as public pedagogy, critical inquiries of place, critical and creative media literacy, creative production as research, and educational videogames. It reviews the project’s objective to foster critical reflection and creativity among those involved in developing the game and hopefully to extend media literacy education …

Misunderstanding Child-Centeredness: The Case Of “Child 2.0” And Media Education, Pekka Mertala

Journal of Media Literacy Education

This qualitative study demonstrates the kinds of pedagogical pitfalls that are included in simplistic understandings of child-centeredness in the context of media education, an emerging field of early childhood teacher education with only a little empirical research done so far. Course diaries from 15 preservice teachers were analyzed to find answers to the question: How do preservice teachers approach child-centered education in the context of media education? The main findings can be summarized as follows. First, preservice teachers approached child-centeredness as an all-encompassing principle that guides early childhood education. Second, media education-related issues - beliefs about children and media, ambiguity …

Multi-Instrument Assessment Of Phytoplankton Abundance And Cell Sizes In Mono-Specific Laboratory Cultures And Whole Plankton Community Composition In The North Atlantic, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Francoise Morison, Amanda L. Montalbano, Gayantonia Franze, Jacob Strock, Ewelina Rubin, Heather Mcnair, Colleen B. Mouw, Pierre Marrec

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The abundance and size distribution of plankton in the surface ocean are key metrics to understanding primary and export production, food web dynamics, and the optical properties of the water column. Here we quantified cell size and abundance of phytoplankton species from mono-specific laboratory cultures, using optical, electrical, and image-based benchtop instrumentation. Moreover, we combined particle size distribution and size fractionated chlorophyll a (Chl a) analysis with image analysis to estimate phytoplankton community composition and abundance comparing a high and low biomass station in the North Atlantic during springtime. In laboratory cultures, we found generally good agreement in estimates of …

Ocean Deoxygenation And Copepods: Coping With Oxygen Minimum Zone Variability, K. F. Wishner, Brad Seibel, Dawn Outram

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Increasing deoxygenation (loss of oxygen) of the ocean, including expansion of oxygen minimum zones (OMZs), is a potentially important consequence of global warming. We examined present-day variability of vertical distributions of 23 calanoid copepod species in the Eastern Tropical North Pacific (ETNP) living in locations with different water column oxygen profiles and OMZ intensity (lowest oxygen concentration and its vertical extent in a profile). Copepods and hydrographic data were collected in vertically stratified day and night MOCNESS (Multiple Opening/Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System) tows (0–1000 m) during four cruises over a decade (2007–2017) that sampled four ETNP locations: Costa …

Mosaic Of China Through Animated Films Chn 560, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Mosaic Of China Through Animated Films Chn 460, Joanna Burkhardt

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Biological Control Of Aedes Mosquito Larvae With Carnivorous Aquatic Plant, Utricularia Macrorhiza, Janelle Couret, Marco Notarangelo, Sarashwathy Veera, Noah Leclaire-Conway, Howard S. Ginsberg, Roger Lebrun

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

Biological controls with predators of larval mosquito vectors have historically focused almost exclusively on insectivorous animals, with few studies examining predatory plants as potential larvacidal agents. In this study, we experimentally evaluate a generalist plant predator of North America, Utricularia macrorhiza, the common bladderwort, and evaluate its larvacidal efficiency for the mosquito vectors Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in no-choice, laboratory experiments. We sought to determine first, whether U. macrorhiza is a competent predator of container-breeding mosquitoes, and secondly, its predation efficiency for early and late instar larvae of each mosquito species.

Methods

Newly hatched, first-instar Ae. albopictus …

Curriculum And Standards Committee Report No. #2019-20-10 (Courses), University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.

Curriculum And Standards Committee Report #2019-20-10: Creation Of An Undergraduate Marine Technical Certificate Program, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.

Jasmine (Jasminum Grandiflorum) Flower Extracts Ameliorate Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate Induced Ear Edema In Mice, Dongli Li, Xiaodan Tang, Chang Liu, Huifang Li, Shuzhen Li, Shili Sun, Xi Zheng, Panpan Wu, Xuetao Xu, Kun Zhang, Hang Ma

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Published data from in vitro assays support the anti-inflammatory effects of jasmine (Jasminum grandiflorum Linn.) but limited studies are reported in animal models. Herein, the anti-inflammatory effects of jasmine flower extracts (JFEs) including ethanol extract (JF-EE), petroleum ether extract (JF-PEE), ethyl acetate extract (JF-EAE), and n-butanol extract (JF-BE) were evaluated in a mouse ear edema model. Acute mouse ear skin inflammation was induced by tetradecanoylphorbol acetate (TPA; 125 µg/mL) and then treated with JFEs (100 mg/mL) or dexamethasone (DEX; 6.25 mg/mL; as a positive control). Jasmine flower extracts alleviated ear edema by reducing TPA-increased ear thickness and ear …

Metabolic Recovery And Compensatory Shell Growth Of Juvenile Pacific Geoduck Panopea Generosa Following Short-Term Exposure To Acidified Seawater, Samuel Gurr, Brent Vadopalas, Steven B. Roberts, Hollie M. Putnam

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

While acute stressors can be detrimental, environmental stress conditioning can improve performance. To test the hypothesis that physiological status is altered by stress conditioning, we subjected juvenile Pacific geoduck, Panopea generosa, to repeated exposures of elevated pCO₂ in a commercial hatchery setting followed by a period in ambient common garden. Respiration rate and shell length were measured for juvenile geoduck periodically throughout short-term repeated reciprocal exposure periods in ambient (~550 μatm) or elevated (~2400 μatm) pCO₂ treatments and in common, ambient conditions, 5 months after exposure. Short-term exposure periods comprised an initial 10-day exposure followed …

Genetic Polymorphisms In The Oxytocin Receptor Gene Of Beluga Whales And Bottlenose Dolphins, Urszula Wisniewska

Senior Honors Projects

Gene polymorphism refers to genes that have more than one occupying allele within a gene’s locus. One gene polymorphism that has recently gained the interest of scientists are genes associated with the oxytocin receptor. Recent studies in terrestrial species have found that genetic polymorphisms in the oxytocin receptor are associated with social behaviors in many species (Arahori et al., 2017). However, there is little information available about the oxytocin receptors in various aquatic species and no information on beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) and bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The aim of this research project is to gain …

Anti-Amebic Effects Of Chinese Rhubarb (Rheum Palmatum) Leaves' Extract, The Anthraquinone Rhein And Related Compounds, Avelina Espinosa, Guillermo Paz Y Mino C, Yoly Santos, Hang Ma, Michael Nadeau, Navindra P. Seeram, D C. Rowley

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Entamoeba histolytica infects 50 million people worldwide and causes 55 thousand fatalities every year. Current anti-amebic drugs (e.g. paromomycin) work either at the level of the intestinal lumen (where trophozoites proliferate via cell divisions) or on the invasive trophozoites that have penetrated the gut or colonized internal organs (e.g. metronidazole). Some of these drugs are highly toxic to patients, have generated trophozoite resistance, or caused mutations and cancer in laboratory animals. Thus, alternative anti-amebic compounds need to be identified to minimize the side effects (on patients) or resistance (by amebas) to current treatments. The literature suggests that anthraquinones (chemicals found …