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An Examination Of Familial Alcoholism And Attitudes Toward Alcohol Interventions Among College Students, Christy Capone

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the prevalence of family history of alcoholism (FHA) and its effects on alcohol use and problems in a sample (N = 408) of college students. In addition, students' goals regarding their drinking and attitudes toward various intervention approaches, including pharmacotherapy, were investigated. Using a multilevel FHA measure, an overall prevalence rate of 65.9% and a rate of 29.1% for FHA in both first and second-degree relatives were observed. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to investigate relations between gender, FHA and alcohol use and problems. Results indicated a significant positive association between FHA and alcohol-related problems and …

The Impact Of Climate Change On Benthic-Pelagic Coupling And The Biogeochemical Cycling Of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, Robinson Walter Fulweiler

Open Access Dissertations

Climate change has altered the phenology or seasonal sequencing of events in many ecosystems, including Narragansett Bay, RI (USA). The timing and magnitude of the winter-spring bloom has changed dramatically over the last three decades resulting in a 60% decline in water column chlorophyll a concentrations in mid-Narragansett Bay. This large decline is linked to a long-term warming trend. We hypothesized that the decline in chlorophyll led to a decrease in the quantity and/or quality of organic matter deposition to the benthos and fundamental changes in sediment biogeochemical cycling and benthic-pelagic coupling. We observed significant decreases in sediment respiration and …

Polymorph Characterization And Control, Michael J. Donahue

Open Access Dissertations

Sustainability in the pharmaceutical industry will require the ability to monitor, and ultimately control production processes in real time. One area of particular concern is that of polymorphism, where there is a change of crystalline state for a compound, resulting in varied physiological properties. For this work we have looked at three such processes. First, an investigation of the ability to monitor polymorphic transitions in a pharmaceutical product, glycine, has been developed though optical spectroscopy. Second, the ability to induce nucleation of a particular polymorph via a novel method of acoustic levitation has been explored. Lastly, a method of characterization …

Juvenile Abundance In A Summer Nursery And Ontogenetic Changes In The Distribution And Migrations Of Sandbar Sharks, Camilla Thomas Mccandless

Open Access Dissertations

Delaware Bay is one of two principal nursery grounds for the sandbar shark, Carcharhinus plumbeus, in United States coastal waters. Tagging studies were conducted for juvenile sandbar sharks in Delaware Bay during their summer nursery seasons from 1995 to 2000 using gillnet (1995-2000) and longline (1997-2000) gears. These studies were designed to aid fishery managers in defining essential fish habitat for juvenile sandbar sharks tagged in Delaware Bay by determining spatial and temporal distributions, overwintering nursery areas, and if natal homing occurs in sandbar sharks born in Delaware Bay. In 2001, the distribution data from these tagging studies were used …

Examining The Effectiveness Of A School-Based Mental Health Center's Services, Sally A. Mitchell

Open Access Dissertations

Untreated mental health problems among our youth result in outcomes, including suicide, homicide, substance abuse, low grades, poor attendance, and dropping out of school (Pfeiffer & Reddy, 1998; Pumariega & Vance, 1999). SBMHC's, a Systems of Care framework, can address the limited accessibility and availability to proper mental health care for children (U.S. DHHS, 1999; Gruttadaro, 2002; Flaherty & Weist, 1999). The ecological model acknowledges the interactions between the person and systems. It is sensitive to how multiple influences (environmental, biological, psychological, social) may impact youth. Despite their increase, the research on the effectiveness of SBMHC's is limited. This study …

Personal Energy Management Styles And Their Influence On Work Performance, Catherine L. Pastille

Open Access Dissertations

Expectations for work performance have extended beyond the traditional confines of the work place and beyond a forty-hour work week as communication technologies have made work possible any time and anywhere. At the same time as expectations for work performance are increasing, the energy workers need to perform their work is remaining relatively fixed in the short-term. This study explored the question of how workers manage their personal energy. It was proposed that employees stay energized for their work by developing energy management styles (EMS) which are relatively stable patterns of behavior through which they manage their personal energy relative …

Patterns Of Fuel Use And Storage In Songbirds In Relation To Diet Composition And Food Availability During Migration, Susan B. Smith

Open Access Dissertations

Migration is energetically demanding for small songbirds and requires frequent stops to rest and replenish energy reserves. Food quality and availability at migration stopover sites may influence the length of time birds spend refueling, and could therefore be used to predict the quality of habitats for migrating birds. The objectives of my research were (1) to determine the effects of dietary macronutrient composition on plasma indicators of fuel use and body composition of birds, (2) to compare the nutrient composition and adequacy of seasonal fruit resources for satisfying the nutritional requirements of songbirds, and (3) to evaluate patterns of fuel …

Stability, Structure, And Effects Of Perinatal Morbidity On Temperament From Infancy To Adolescence, Robin June Miller

Open Access Dissertations

There is a considerable amount of theoretical and empirical research on child temperament; yet there is little consensus on the theoretical perspective, definition, or measurement. In addition, the empirical research has been limited by a small age span and a focus on one temperament dimension. The theoretical framework of this study was the transactional model which views the development of a child as a product of the complex interplay between the continuous, dynamic influences of the child's biological heritage and his/her life experience provided by family and social contexts. This longitudinal, descriptive, correlational research study examined the stability, structure, and …

Developmental And Neuropsychological Perspectives On The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test In Normal Children, I. Simona Bujoreanu

Open Access Dissertations

Contemporary efforts in neuropsychological assessment of children are directed towards the use of developmentally sensitive instruments especially when targeting cognitive abilities, such as executive function, which are known to have a protracted period of development. The purpose of the present study was to advance the understanding of the WCST as a measure of executive function in six-year-old children. The test requires subjects to sort cards by three criteria: color, shape, and number of objects on the card. This study investigated the level of difficulty for young children required to use number as a sorting criterion. Based on developmental research on …

Religiosity, Health, And Well-Being Among Middle Eastern/ Arab Muslims And Christians In The Usa: A Study Of Positive Emotion As A Mediator, Lotus Makram Meshreki

Open Access Dissertations

This study examined the relationship between different dimensions of religiosity and mental health and well-being, and the mediating role of positive emotion in a sample of 181 Middle Eastern/ Arab Christians and Muslims in the U.S. Results showed a positive relationship between intrinsic religiosity and positive mental health and well-being that was mediated by positive emotion. Intrinsic religiosity had a stronger relationship to positive emotion than did extrinsic religiosity. Positive emotion in tum was related to better mental health and well-being.

Idcr: Infectious Diseases In Corrections Report, Vol. 9 No. 10, Infectious Diseases In Corrections

Infectious Diseases in Corrections Report (IDCR)

No abstract provided.

Gender And Women's Studies Newsletter For October 2006, Uri Gender And Women's Studies Department

Gender and Women's Studies Publications

The October 2006 issue of Gender and Women’s Studies Newsletter, a periodical with articles written by faculty members and some related to events within the Gender and Women’s Studies program.

Serials Unit Annual Report 2004-2006, Andree J. Rathemacher

Serials Unit Reports

Report of the activities of the Serials Unit in the University of Rhode Island Library from 2004-2006. Includes changes in personnel, procedures, activities, and collections.

The Epistemic Consumption Object And Postsocial Consumption: Expanding Consumer‐Object Theory In Consumer Research, Detlev Zwick, Nikhilesh Dholakia

College of Business Faculty Publications

We introduce the concept of the epistemic consumption object. Such consumption objects are characterized by two interrelated features. First, epistemic consumption objects reveal themselves progressively through interaction, observation, use, examination, and evaluation. Such layered revelation is accompanied by an increasing rather than a decline of the object’s complexity. Second, such objects demonstrate a propensity to change their “face‐in‐action” vis‐à‐vis consumers through the continuous addition or subtraction of properties. The epistemic consumption object is materially elusive and this lack of ontological stability turns the object into a continuous knowledge project for consumers. Via this ongoing cycle of revelation and discovery, consumers …

Conformational Basis For Sh2-Tyr(P)527 Binding In Src Inactivation, Marina K. Ayrapetov, Yue Hao Wang, Xiaofeng Lin, Xianfeng Gu, Keykavous Parang, Gongqin Sun

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Src protein-tyrosine kinase contains a myristoylation motif, a unique region, an Src homology (SH) 3 domain, an SH2 domain, a catalytic domain, and a C-terminal tail. The C-terminal tail contains a Tyr residue, Tyr527. Phosphorylation of Tyr527 triggers Src inactivation, caused by Tyr(P)527 binding to the SH2 domain. In this study, we demonstrated that a conformational contribution, not affinity, is the predominant force for the intramolecular SH2-Tyr(P)527 binding, and we characterized the structural basis for this conformational contribution. First, a phosphopeptide mimicking the C-terminal tail is an 80-fold weaker ligand than the optimal phosphopeptide, pYEEI, and similar to a phosphopeptide …

Serials Unit Annual Report 2005-2006, Andree J. Rathemacher

Serials Unit Reports

Annual report of the Serials Unit of the University of Rhode Island Library for the year 2005-2006. Covers personnel, technology, work flow, subscription changes, and future plans.

Monographic Acquisitions And Copy Cataloging (Macc) Annual Report 2005-2006, Karen M. Ramsay

Monographic Acquisitions and Copy Cataloging Reports and Documents

Annual report of the Monographic Acquisitions and Copy Cataloging (MACC) Unit, University Library, University of Rhode Island. Covers staffing, hardware and software, monograph acquisitions, inventory project, and other MACC activities during the fiscal year 2005-2006.

Digitalcommons@University Of Rhode Island Statistics Feb-Jun 2006

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the total number of full text downloads from the DigitalCommons@University of Rhode Island institutional repository for February through June 2006 [earlier data not available]. Data are provided monthly on the number of full text downloads by collection and document, and on the number of referrals by domain and country. Dissertations are included in the statistics. Digital Commons statistics are COUNTER-compliant, with downloads from robots and automated processes filtered out.

Nelinet Costs 2005-2006

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

This report lists the total charges paid by the University of Rhode Island Libraries to the bibliographic utility NELINET during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006. Costs are broken down by invoice date and category. Categories include cataloging, interlibrary loan, barcodes, tattletapes, membership, DIALOG search charges, conference fees. Cataloging total: $30,985.03. ILL total: $39,276.67. Tattletape: $9,672.00. DIALOG searches: $383.97. Membership: $2,100.00. Grand total: $126,335.56.

Reference Database Usage Statistics 2005-2006, Andree J. Rathemacher

Technical Services Reports and Statistics

Statistics on the use of online reference databases at the University of Rhode Island during the period from July 2005 through June 2006. Includes COUNTER-compliant data on sessions, searches, turnaways, full text articles downloaded, cost per search, and other metrics.

Parasitism And A Shortage Of Refuges Jointly Mediate The Strength Of Density Dependence In A Reef Fish, Graham E. Forrester, Rachel J. Finley

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Various predator-prey, host-pathogen, and competitive interactions can combine to cause density dependence in population growth. Despite this possibility, most empirical tests for density-dependent interactions have focused on single mechanisms. Here we tested the hypothesis that two mechanisms of density dependence, parasitism and a shortage of refuges, jointly influence the strength of density-dependent mortality. We used mark recapture analysis to estimate mortality of the host species, the bridled goby {Coryphopterus glaucofraenum). Sixty-three marked gobies were infected with a copepod gill parasite {Pharodes tortugensis), and 188 were uninfected. We used the spatial scale at which gobies were clustered naturally (~4 m^{2 …}

Analysis Of Distal-Less Gene Expression In Ciona Intestinalis, Michelle Cangiano

Senior Honors Projects

Several homeobox-containing genes related to Distal-less (Dlx/Dll) have been isolated from a wide variety of organisms and have been shown to function as developmental regulators. In Drosophila only one Distal-less gene has been identified so far, and in vertebrates many components of the Distal-less family have been characterized. This suggests that, during the evolution of the Chordate phylum, the Dlx genes arose from an ancestral Distal-less gene via gene duplication. Three Dll homeoboxes have been isolated from the protochordate Ciona intestinalis and their clustered arrangement has been described. Since Ciona is regarded as one of the most primitive extant chordates, …

A Critical Analysis Of The International Business Degree At The University Of Rhode Island 2002-2006, Brett Glowacki

Senior Honors Projects

International business is a growing field. Corporations worldwide are seeking individuals with language and cross-cultural experience to complement their business skills. It is the job of colleges and universities to prepare students to enter the workforce with as solid an education as those institutions are capable of giving. After holding various internships, an on campus job, and studying abroad, I have come to the conclusion that the University of Rhode Island can do a better job of preparing its international business students for the corporate world. This report critically analyzes the International Business Degree at URI based upon first-hand experience. …

Toward Synthesizing A Selective Dopamine Binding Magnetic Resonance Contrast Agent, Judy Lau

Senior Honors Projects

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a non-invasive diagnostic methodology used to provide a two-dimensional view of an internal organ or structure, especially the brain and spinal cord. Magnetic resonance contrast agents are usually injected into necessary parts of the body prior to imaging to increase the differences between different tissues or between normal and abnormal tissue, making it easier for a radiologist or doctor to interpret the image that is taken. The development of new and more efficient, effective, and selective contrast agents for various biological processes or chemicals is a growing field of research and study. My project allowed …

Explorations Of Self: A Philosophical Inquiry, Meredith Rathbun

Senior Honors Projects

Asking “Who am I?” seems to be something that everybody ponders. This concept of “I”—what is it? We all have an individual and unique “I”—something that has been with each of us since birth, something that has changed and grown, but also stayed the same in many ways. My question “What is The Self?” is imperative. What is it that experiences life, if not The Self? When a 99-year-old man watches his last sunset, reflecting on his life, what inside of him is doing that reflecting? As you read my ideas on this page, what inside of you is processing …

Biolojam – The Educational Comic, Stacey Barrie

Senior Honors Projects

BioloJam is a biology comic aimed towards 7th and 8th grade students. The goal of the project was to create an educational resource that students would find entertaining and enlightening. The project is available on the web and is free to use for educational purposes by teachers, students, and parents. There are two comics: the larger, more complicated “Cell Breakout” and the smaller, more conversational “Giraffic Park.” In Cell Breakout, the three heroes are trapped inside a video game in a plant cell, and learn all about cell functions as they try to escape. In Giraffic Park, the trio are …

Forensic Nursing: Death Investigation, Lauren Palazzo

Senior Honors Projects

Forensic Nursing is a fairly new exciting nursing specialty. Television shows such as CSI portray forensic nurses and investigators in a less than realistic manner. Forensic nursing and investigation are exciting fields to specialize in, but the role of the forensic nurse and investigator are often misunderstood. For my project I wrote a research paper on forensic nursing, joined the international association of Forensic nurses, attended the international conference in washington dc and set in on a few meetings with a board, including lawyers, represenatives from the rape crisis center, clinical managers from W&I ED, nurses, NP’s, etc. in discussing …

Development Of Anchor Loci To Map A Bt Resistance Factor In The Domesticated Silkworm, Bombyx Mori, Marc Chatenay-Lapointe

Senior Honors Projects

The BT toxin is an insecticide produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, and millions of acres of genetically modified crops expressing this agent have been planted. However, with such widespread use, there is a great potential for pests resistant to this toxin to develop. An understanding of how BT resistance operates and is inherited is central to ensuring continued use of the transgenic crops. Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm, is the model organism for the Lepidoptera, an order of insects containing many important agricultural pests. Screening shows that BT resistance is present in some silkworm strains, and linkage group 15 …

Psd-Project Sequence Database, Matthew Kayala, Akhila Kambhampati, Stephanie Forschner, Bethany D. Jenkins

Bioinformatics Software Design Projects

1. Introduction

The sequencing of nucleic acids and the subsequent analysis of their encoded the genes and proteins has revolutionized biological sciences and allowed for the determination of evolutionary origins and biochemical potential of organisms. While the technology to determine molecular sequence data has become extremely powerful in terms of both automation and thoughput, sequence analysis technology has lagged behind, unable to efficiently keep up with the vast amount of sequence data being generated both in individual labs and by researchers worldwide. The foundation of robust sequence analysis is dependent on the building and maintaining of project sequence databases (PSD) …

Translocation Of Molecules Into Cells By Ph-Dependent Insertion Of A Transmembrane Helix, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Oleg A. Andreev, Ursula Lehnert, Donald M. Engelman

Physics Faculty Publications

We have previously observed the spontaneous, pH-dependent insertion of a water-soluble peptide to form a helix across lipid bilayers [Hunt, J. F., Rath, P., Rothschild, K. J. & Engelman, D. M. (1997) Biochemistry 36, 15177–15192]. We now use a related peptide, pH (low) insertion peptide, to translocate cargo molecules attached to its C terminus across the plasma membranes of living cells. Translocation is selective for low pH, and various types of cargo molecules attached by disulfides can be released by reduction in the cytoplasm, including peptide nucleic acids, a cyclic peptide (phalloidin), and organic compounds. Because a high extracellular acidity …