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Teaching Against Hierarchies: An Anarchist Approach, Stephanie Spoto

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The state of California spends more on prisons than on colleges and universities, and the fact that these two budgetary figures are often compared shows the relationship between the two state institutions. Our classrooms, starting from a very early stage, not only prepare children to be productive members of the consumer economy but educate them for complacency in the face of state violence and mass incarceration. In attempting to move away from hierarchical models of education, this article looks at the feminist pedagogical theory of bell hooks and antiauthoritarian and anarchist theorists such as Jacques Rancière and Derrick Jensen in …

Mother Of A New World? Stereotypical Representations Of Black Women In Three Postapocalyptic Films, Karima K. Jeffrey

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

This essay explores three cinematic representations of Black matriarchs who play prophetic roles in redeeming humanity in the midst of apocalyptic change: Ika (Quest for Fire), Kee (Children of Men), and The Oracle (The Matrix trilogy). Not only do these courageous women resist the politics of domination, rebelling against a dying status quo, but they "give birth" to the leaders needed to rebuild a world in chaos and decay. One film ends with a pregnant woman rubbing her belly as she stands on the precipice of evolutionary change; another positions a mother and newborn adrift, waiting to be found by …

Major Evolutionary Trends In Hydrogen Isotope Fractionation Of Vascular Plant Leaf Waxes, Li Gao, Erika J. Edwards, Yongbo Zeng, Yongsong Huang

Electrical, Computer, and Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

Hydrogen isotopic ratios of terrestrial plant leaf waxes (δD) have been widely used for paleoclimate reconstructions. However, underlying controls for the observed large variations in leaf wax δD values in different terrestrial vascular plants are still poorly understood, hampering quantitative paleoclimate interpretation. Here we report plant leaf wax and source water δD values from 102 plant species grown in a common environment (New York Botanic Garden), chosen to represent all the major lineages of terrestrial vascular plants and multiple origins of common plant growth forms. We found that leaf wax hydrogen isotope fractionation relative to plant source water is best …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Creka-Conjugated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles For Hyperthermia Applications, Anastasia M. Kruse, Samantha A. Meenach, Kimberly W. Anderson, J. Zach Hilt

Chemical, Biomolecular, and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the current challenges in the systemic delivery of nanoparticles in cancer therapy applications is the lack of effective tumor localization. Iron oxide nanoparticles coated with crosslinked dextran were functionalized with the tumor homing peptide CREKA, which binds to fibrinogen complexes in the extracellular matrix of tumors. This allows for the homing of these nanoparticles to tumor tissue. The iron oxide nanoparticle core allows for particle heating upon exposure to an alternating magnetic field (AMF) while the dextran coating stabilizes the particles in suspension and decreases the cytotoxicity of the system. Magnetically mediated hyperthermia (MMH) allows for the heating …

Novel Strategies For The Purification And Inhibition Of Protein-Tyrosine Kinases, Alexander Brown Iv

Open Access Dissertations

Protein-tyrosine kinases (PTKs) play essential roles in the cell signaling pathways of eukaryotes. However, since their discovery, PTKs have also been linked to cancer and it is now known that many of these enzymes actively promote oncogenic cell signal transduction in unregulated forms. Therefore, there has been a concerted effort on the part of researchers to identify the PTKs that potentiate such pathways, characterize their regulatory properties, and develop strategies to selectively disrupt these key elements of oncogenic signaling. Following this strategy, work described in this dissertation first focuses on the characterization of a relatively unstudied PTK, known as SRMS, …

A Population-Based Nutrition Intervention In College Students, Jennifer Arts

Open Access Dissertations

Coronary heart disease (CHD) is a leading cause of death in young adults and at least half of college students ages 18-24 have CHD risk factor. Unhealthy dietary choices made by college students contribute to the development of CHD risk factors. Eighty-percent of heart disease is preventable through diet and lifestyle and college students are ideal targets for prevention efforts since they are in the process of establishing lifestyle habits, which track forward into adulthood. The purpose of this dissertation is to provide evidence for the need to target this age group before disease progression occurs and to present the …

Importance Of Remission And Residual Somatic Symptoms In Health-Related Quality Of Life Among Outpatients With Major Depressive Disorder: A Cross-Sectional Study, Jong-Min Woo, Jin Jeon, Eunsun Noh, Hyo-Jin Kim, Sun Woo Lee, Kyung Kyu Lee, Sung Hwan Kim, Jin Pyo Hong

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is strongly associated with an impaired quality of life (QoL), which is itself affected by various factors. Symptom-oriented ratings poorly reflect the impact of disease on the QoL and level of functioning of the mental health of subjects. The purpose of this study was to assess health-related QoL (HRQoL) using preference-based measures in outpatients with MDD with regard to their remission achievement and clinical factors affecting the HRQoL.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional observational study. We recruited 811 patients with MDD from 14 psychiatric outpatient clinics in Korea. They were divided into three …

Taking Race Out Of The Picture: Health Communication And Disease Prevention For Black Americans, Amanda Lee Almond

Open Access Dissertations

The dissertation being presented in the following chapters represents an examination of philosophy of science, underlying theory, empirical evidence, and research design targeted at understanding the relevance of race when communicating stroke prevention to Black Americans. In the introduction is a description of previous research and relevant course work pertaining to the construction of the research question: Is it a good practice of science to communicate race as a disease risk in attempts to modify health behaviors of Black Americans? The work begins with a description as to how race became a construct of interest in American science and demands …

Registered Pedophiles' Thoughts On The Efficacy, Justification, And Psychosocial Impact Of Sorna (Sex Offender Registration And Notification Act) And Their Sensitivity To Sexual And Non-Sexual Violence, Aviva N. Moster

Open Access Dissertations

This study investigated registered pedophiles’ (N = 121) thoughts on the efficacy, justification, and psychosocial impact of the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) as well as examined these offenders’ views on sexual and non-sexual violence.

One thousand male pedophiles identified as medium (Tier II) or severe (Tier III) sex offenders were identified via the Internet through national public online sex offender registration databases. They were randomly selected from nine states around the country. The number of pedophiles chosen from each state was proportionate to the total number of sex offenders registered within those states.

A questionnaire was mailed …

Synthesis And Evaluation Of Amphiphilic Peptides As Nanostructures And Drug Delivery Tools, Naser Ali Sayeh

Open Access Dissertations

Intracellular delivery of cell-impermeable compounds in a variety cells using delivery systems have been extensively studied in recent years. Obtaining desirable cellular uptake levels often requires the administration of high quantities of drugs to achieve the expected intracellular biological effect. Thus, improving the translocation process across the plasma membrane will significantly reduce the quantity of required administered drug and consequently minimize the side effects in most of the cases. Efficient delivery of these molecules to the cells and tissues is a difficult challenge. Compounds with low cellular permeability are commonly considered to be of limited therapeutic value. Over the past …

The Great 2012 Arctic Ocean Summer Cyclone Enhanced Biological Productivity On The Shelves, Jinlun Zhang, Robert Campbell, Victoria Hill, Yvette H. Spitz, Michael Steele

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

A coupled biophysical model is used to examine the impact of the great Arctic cyclone of early August 2012 on the marine planktonic ecosystem in the Pacific sector of the Arctic Ocean (PSA). Model results indicate that the cyclone influences the marine planktonic ecosystem by enhancing productivity on the shelves of the Chukchi, East Siberian, and Laptev seas during the storm. Although the cyclone's passage in the PSA lasted only a few days, the simulated biological effects on the shelves last 1 month or longer. At some locations on the shelves, primary productivity (PP) increases by up to 90% and …

Glacial Forcing Of Central Indonesian Hydroclimate Since 60,000 Y B.P., James M. Russell, Hendrik Vogel, Bronwen L. Konecky, Satria Bijaksana, Yongsong Huang, Martin Melles, Nigel Wattrus, Kassandra Costa, John W. King

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The Indo-Pacific warm pool houses the largest zone of deep atmospheric convection on Earth and plays a critical role in global climate variations. Despite the region’s importance, changes in Indo-Pacific hydroclimate on orbital timescales remain poorly constrained. Here we present high-resolution geochemical records of surface runoff and vegetation from sediment cores from Lake Towuti, on the island of Sulawesi in central Indonesia, that continuously span the past 60,000 y. We show that wet conditions and rainforest ecosystems on Sulawesi present during marine isotope stage 3 (MIS3) and the Holocene were interrupted by severe drying between ∼33,000 and 16,000 y B.P. …

Pacific Freshening Drives Pliocene Cooling And Asian Monsoon Intensification, Junsheng Nie, Thomas Stevens, Yongui Song, John W. King, Rui Zhang, Shunchuan Ji, Lisha Gong, Danielle Cares

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The monsoon is a fundamental component of Earth's climate. The Pliocene warm period is characterized by long-term global cooling yet concurrent monsoon dynamics are poorly known. Here we present the first fully quantified and calibrated reconstructions of separate Pliocene air temperature and East Asian summer monsoon precipitation histories on the Chinese Loess Plateau through joint analysis of loess/red clay magnetic parameters with different sensitivities to air temperature and precipitation. East Asian summer monsoon precipitation shows an intensified trend, paradoxically at the same time that climate cooled. We propose a hitherto unrecognized feedback where persistently intensified East Asian summer monsoon during …

Evolutionary Potential Of Marine Phytoplankton Under Ocean Acidification, Sinéad Collins, Björn Rost, Tatiana A. Rynearson

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Marine phytoplankton have many obvious characters, such as rapid cell division rates and large population sizes, that give them the capacity to evolve in response to global change on timescales of weeks, months or decades. However, few studies directly investigate if this adaptive potential is likely to be realized. Because of this, evidence of to whether and how marine phytoplankton may evolve in response to global change is sparse. Here, we review studies that help predict evolutionary responses to global change in marine phytoplankton. We find limited support from experimental evolution that some taxa of marine phytoplankton may adapt to …

Uri Undergraduate And Graduate Course Catalog 2014-2015, University Of Rhode Island

URI Course Catalogs Archive

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

Multicenter Pilot Treatment Trial For Psychgenic Nonepileptic Seizures: A Randomized Clinical Trial, W. Curt Lafrance, Grayson L. Baird, John J. Barry, Andrew S. Blum, Anne Frank Webb, Gabor I. Keitner, Jason T. Machan, Ivan Miller, Jerzy P. Szaflarski

Psychology Faculty Publications

Importance: There is a paucity of controlled treatment trials for the treatment of conversion disorder, seizures type, also known as psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES). Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures, the most common conversion disorder, are as disabling as epilepsy and are not adequately addressed or treated by mental health clinicians.

Objective: To evaluate different PNES treatments compared with standard medical care (treatment as usual).

Design, Setting, and Participants: Pilot randomized clinical trial at 3 academic medical centers with mental health clinicians trained to administer psychotherapy or psychopharmacology to outpatients with PNES. Thirty-eight participants were randomized in a blocked schedule …

Hiv Viremia And Incidence Of Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma In Patients Successfully Treated With Antiretroviral Therapy, Chad J. Achenbach, Ashley L. Buchanan, Stephen R. Cole, Lifang Hou, Michael J. Mugavero, Heidi M. Crane, Richard D. Moore, Richard H. Haubrich, Satish Gopal, Joseph J. Eron, Peter W. Hunt, Benigno Rodriguez, Kenneth Mayer, Michael S. Saag, Mari M. Kiahata

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Background: The incidence of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected patients remains high despite treatment with antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Methods: We evaluated NHL incidence in HIV-infected patients followed in the Centers for AIDS Research Network of Integrated Clinical Systems who started combination ART and achieved suppression of HIV. We estimated the hazard ratio for NHL by time-varying HIV viremia categories, accounting for time-varying CD4 cell count using marginal structural models.

Results: We observed 37 incident NHL diagnoses during 21 607 person-years of follow-up in 6036 patients (incidence rate, 171 per 100 000 person-years; 95% confidence interval [CI], 124–236). …

Contextual And Cultural Influences On Parental Feeding Practices And Invovlement In Child-Care Centers Among Hispanics, Noereem Zenaida Mena

Open Access Master's Theses

Background: Hispanic preschool children in the United States are at greater risk for obesity compared to non-Hispanic whites. The objectives of our study were to explore two factors that may be important for obesity prevention in young children: 1) precursors and contextual influences on parental feeding and 2) parental engagement within the child-care setting food environment.

Methods: Four focus groups (n=37) were held with Hispanic parents of preschoolaged children at two child-care centers. Guiding questions focused on factors that influenced what and how parents feed their child, awareness of the child-care center feeding environment, and current involvement in …

Assessing Global Product Sustainability Of Consumer Electronic Products – Development Of An Integrated Approach, Richard Poenitz

Open Access Master's Theses

This Thesis will develop – on the basis of an extensively conducted literature review – a concept with which it shall be possible to better measure, assess and examine sustainability in general and sustainability impacts of (electronic) products.

Against this background, the main goals of this thesis are threefold. The first key objective is to conduct a thorough literature review that will help create a solid foundation to this and all subsequent work dealing with assessing a product’s impacts in its various life cycle stages. Light shall be shed to and clarity be achieved in a field of study that …

Biogeography And Nested Patterns Of Genetic Diversity In The Diatom Thalassiosira Rotula, Kerry A. Whittaker

Open Access Dissertations

Diatoms are some of the most biogeochemically important organisms on our planet, responsible for up to 40% of primary production in the ocean. Diatoms are also the most diverse group of algae, exhibiting high levels of cryptic speciation, and remarkable clonal diversity nested within species and populations. As single cells within a dynamic fluid environment, diatoms possess the potential to disperse throughout the globe. Yet, despite the global dispersal potential of these ecologically important organisms, little is understood about the structure and distribution of diatom diversity throughout the globe, or its ecological significance. The goal of this work was to …

Assumed To Be Black: A Critical Examination Of Being Ascribed A Racial Status On A Predominately White Campus, Shontay Delalue King Francis

Open Access Dissertations

Colleges and universities continue to add diversity and internationalization as major components of their strategic planning efforts. Students from various racial, ethnic and national backgrounds are expected to live and work together in an intellectual environment while bringing with them various views of race and culture that are maintained through varying myths and misconceptions. This study looked at the technical and cultural definitions of what it means to be ‘Black’ in the U.S. and the stereotypes of being classified within that racial category.

The goal of this research study was to understand the experience of students from the African Atlantic …

Impact Of Phytoplankton Community Structure And Function On Marine Particulate Optical Properties, Malcolm Neil Mcfarland

Open Access Dissertations

Phytoplankton are an ecologically important and diverse group of organisms whose distribution, abundance, and population dynamics vary significantly over small spatial (cm) and temporal (minutes) scales in the coastal ocean. Our inability to observe phytoplankton community structure and function at these small scales has severely limited our understanding of the fundamental ecological and evolutionary mechanisms that drive phytoplankton growth, mortality, adaptation and speciation. The goal of this dissertation was to enhance our understanding of phytoplankton ecology by improving in situ observational techniques based on the optical properties of cells, colonies, populations, and communities. Field and laboratory studies were used to …

Application Of Polymer Systems To The Detection And Retention Of Explosives, Jonathan N. Canino

Open Access Dissertations

Obtaining, handling, and storing of explosives, especially primaries such as triacetonetriperoxide (TATP), presents significant obstacles to instrument manufacturers and K-9 trainers. Microencapsulation techniques were used to trap TATP in a plastic matrix rendering it safe to handle, store at room temperature, and release by heating. Detection of most explosive vapor is a challenge for current instrumentation. This work provides a study of polymer systems for the preconcentration of explosive vapor for use with portable explosive detection technologies, specifically molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs).

Evaluating The Role Of Hypoglycemia & Comorbid Illness On Diabetes Management Behaviors, Saumitra Vijay Rege

Open Access Dissertations

Over the recent years, the incidence of diabetes has significantly increased. Use of preventive services and treatment with oral antidiabetic drugs (OAD) has remained cornerstone in the management of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Despite strong evidence that treating diabetes using these disease management strategies decreases morbidity, mortality and complications, glycemic control as well as other diabetes related outcomes remain unsatisfactory. The prevalence of diabetes in the United States has grown vastly in proportion over the last few years with the American Diabetes Association estimating that 9.3% of the population suffered from diabetes in the year 2012. These estimates are expected …

Psychiatric Hospitalization To School Transitions: Examining Professional Perceptions Of Effectiveness And Fidelity, Jacqueline Michele Tisdale

Open Access Dissertations

The present study examined the effectiveness of adolescent psychiatric hospitalization-to-school transitions from the perspective of hospital and school-based mental health providers. Twenty-four school-based mental health professionals were surveyed to gain a better understanding of their experiences of reintegrating students to school following brief psychiatric hospitalization, including collaborations with hospital-based providers and contact with students’ parents during and after hospitalization. Fourteen hospital and school mental health providers completed written narrative responses based upon a case vignette to identify ideal transition processes, and also participated in a semi-structured interview to identify barriers to successful transition plan implementation. Data was gathered and examined …

Structural And Conformational Insights Into Bulky Arylamine-Induced Mutagenesis, Lifang Xu

Open Access Dissertations

Cancer is the second deadliest disease in the United States. Over 100 different types of cancers exist, among which lung, breast and prostate cancers are those most frequently diagnosed. Genetic factors are important. However, exposures to tobacco smoke and environmental pollutants are considered to be responsible for 75%–80% of cancer. About 6% of cancer deaths every year in the US are reportedly to be directly linked to known carcinogen exposures. Therefore, it is important to study the mechanisms of how the environmental carcinogens trigger cancer initiation. Most chemical carcinogens are metabolized into reactive species in vivo to interact with DNA, …

Studying Science: Students Gaining Access To The Community Of Practice Of Environmental Studies, Renee Johnson-Thornton

Open Access Dissertations

Although nearly equivalent percentages of black and white students entering college aspire to earn degrees in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), a much smaller percentage of black students than white undergraduates complete STEM degrees (HERI, 2010). Thirty-six percent of black undergraduates who initially pursue STEM fields and go on to earn bachelor’s degrees switch to non- STEM majors, and 29.3 percent leave college before graduating, a rate 10 percentage points higher than that of their white counterparts (19.8 percent) (Chen, 2013). In the Environmental Sciences, of the 4,802 degree recipients in 2010, 81 percent (3,879) were white and only …

Professor Xavier Is A Gay Traitor! An Antiassimilationist Framework For Interpreting Ideology, Power And Statecraft, Michael Loadenthal

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

Ideology is an integral component in the reproduction of power. Integral to this central tenet of statecraft is the regulation of identity and proscribed methods of social engagement—positive portrayals of "good citizenry" and delegitimized representations of those challenging hegemony. Through an Althusserian and linguistic analysis, positioning the X-Men movie franchise as an Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), one can examine the lives of mutants portrayed in the text as indicative of preferred methods of state-legitimized sociopolitical interaction. This metaphorical and textual analysis is used to discuss the lived realities of queer persons resisting hegemony, and is located in the bodies and …

Adult Acclimation To Combined Temperature And Ph Stressors Significantly Enhances Reproductive Outcomes Compared To Short-Term Exposures, Coleen Suckling, Melody S. Clark, Joelle Richard, Simon A. Morley, Michael A.S. Thorne, Elizabeth M. Harper, Lloyd S. Peck

Fisheries, Animal and Veterinary Sciences Faculty Publications

1. This study examined the effects of long-term culture under altered conditions on the Antarctic sea urchin, Sterechinus neumayeri.
2. Sterechinus neumayeri was cultured under the combined environmental stressors of lowered pH (−0·3 and −0·5 pH units) and increased temperature (+2 °C) for 2 years. This time-scale covered two full reproductive cycles in this species and analyses included studies on both adult metabolism and larval development.
3. Adults took at least 6–8 months to acclimate to the altered conditions, but beyond this, there was no detectable effect of temperature or pH.
4. Animals were spawned after 6 and 17 months exposure to altered …

Model-Based 3-D Reconstruction Of Transparent Objects From A Single Image, Wiehrs Lewis Collier

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation describes an interdisciplinary research project that spans computer-vision, imaging of biological nanoparticles via cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-tem), and bio-informatics / proteomics. This research introduces a new method for reconstructing individual biological particles imaged via cryo-tem with typical accuracies of 88% to 98%. This individual particle reconstruction (IPR) technique is based on a hidden Markov model derived from the underlying biological structure. The processing presented in this dissertation reconstructs each individual particle from a single image, which is in contrast to current approaches that can require tens of thousands of images to create an ensemble representation …