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Regulation Of Cra, A Regulatory Gene Of Glycolytic And Gluconeogenic Pathways In Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium, James H. Allen

Open Access Dissertations

The Cra protein is a global regulator of carbon and energy metabolism for glycolysis and gluconeogenesis. The live oral vaccine candidate, Salmonella typhimurium SR-11 Fad, is unable to utilize gluconeogenic substrates as sole carbon sources and is avirulent and protective in BALB/c mice. Furthemore, the era gene is interrupted in this strain of Salmonella. The cra gene was suspected to be regulated by another global regulator, acetyl phosphate. To further investigate the regulation of the cra gene and to determine if gluconeogenesis is linked to virulence, mutations in the gluconeogenic genes fbp (fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase), maeB (NADP-dependent malic enzyme), and sfcA …

Determining Components Of Fluorophoric Dom In Narragansett Bay Using Fluorescence Eems And Parafac, Jessica Dombroski

Open Access Master's Theses

Fluorophoric dissolved organic matter (FDOM) is an important component of the carbon cycle, factors in nutrient cycling, plays a role in determining the fates of trace metals and hydrophobic organic contaminants, and influences the inherent optical properties of water, affecting photosynthetic activities, productivity, and abundance of organisms in the area.

Fluorescence spectroscopy is a sensitive analytical method that can be used in conjunction with the canonical decomposition parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) to separate component fluorescence signatures embedded in excitation-emission matrices (EEMs) of complex chemical mixtures. In this study, the methods of fluorescence spectroscopy and PARAFAC were used to determine the …

Guaging Team Culture For Gay Student Athletes: A Descriptive Examination Of Intercollegiate Football, Amy L. Apicerno

Open Access Master's Theses

The purpose of this exploratory study was to learn more about Division I-A and Division I-AA collegiate football team culture and how it relates to gay student athletes. The study attempted to gauge player reactions to the presence of a gay teammate. It used qualitative methods and convenience sampling with phone interviews and a three part inquiry.

Twenty-eight scholar athletes participated, including eleven Division I-AA players and 17 from Division I-A. All were current players and attended geographically diverse institutions from four regions of the country. Telephone interview responses were transcribed by the interviewer, and responses were color coded by …

Survival During And After Khmer Rouge, Sara S. Brown

Open Access Master's Theses

My personal life trauma experiences during the Khmer Rouge regime are described in this paper along with applications to Constructivist Self Development Theory (CSDT). This theory provides a basis for understanding the interrelatedness of biological and psychological self adaptation necessary to surviving and maintaining a consistent sense of self and the world. Five areas of self that were described in CSDT and which were applicable to my experiences of trauma are as follows:

1. Frame of reference: one's ability of understanding self and world, including spirituality. Although I was only seven years old at the time, somehow I understood the events …

Bioactive Secondary Metabolites Produced By Marine Microorganisms: Their Isolation, Structural Elucidation And Function, Jiayuan Liu

Open Access Master's Theses

Compared to their terrestrial counterparts, marine microorganisms seem to be a relatively unexplored resource for novel bioactive metabolites. This thesis research aimed to discover new bioactive compounds of pharmaceutical value from the secondary metabolites produced by marine bacteria and fungi. The ecological role of marine bacteria involving the production of antibacterial metabolites was also investigated.

This thesis describes three different studies, all of which are focused on the secondary metabolites produced by marine bacteria or fungi. First, bacteria-bacteria antagonism as a mechanism limiting the spread of Vibrio cholerae in the ocean was investigated using a marine particle-attached bacterial model, SWAT3, …

An Assessment Of Predation By The Lobate Ctenophore Mnemiopsis Leidyi (Agassiz, 1865) On Ichthyoplankton In Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, Angela R. Allen

Open Access Master's Theses

I investigated the importance of predation on fish eggs and larvae by the lo bate ctenophore, Mnemiopsis leidyi, in Narragansett Bay, RI, USA, by measuring the abundance and distribution of M. leidyi and its ichthyoplankton prey at five stations in the East and West Passages of the bay from May to August, 2002. During early-June, the M. leidyi population reached an abundance of 682 m^-3 in the mid-bay, while fish egg densities were 3.2 m^-3 and fish larvae were absent. In late June, a maximum larval fish density of 34 100m^-3 was observed, and ctenophore abundance …

Macrozooplankton And Micronekton In The Arabian Sea Oxygen Minimum Zone, Mary Rapien

Open Access Dissertations

As part of the U.S. Joint Global Ocean Flux Study, zooplankton were collected day and night in vertically stratified MOCNESS net tows at six stations, during four seasonal cruises in the Arabian Sea. Organisms comprising the large size fraction, primarily fish, shrimp, amphipods, and euphausiids (macrozooplankton and micronekton), were identified and enumerated, and their abundance and distributions from 300-1000 m were examined in relation to environmental factors including the OMZ and the monsoon cycle. Contributions to carbon cycling were also estimated for several taxa. Few animals showed significant seasonal differences in abundance. Abundances and distributions of many taxa varied geographically, …

Queer Times: Christopher Isherwood's Modernity, Jamie M. Carr

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation maps Christopher Isherwood's intellectual and aesthetic reflections from the late 1930s through the late 1970s. Drawing on the queer theory of Eve Sedgwick and the ethical theory of Michel Foucault, I illuminate Isherwood's post-war development of a queer ethos through his focus on the aesthetic, social, and historical politics of the 1930s in his novels Prater Violet (1945), The World in the Evening (1954), and Down There on a Visit (1962), and in his memoir, Christopher and His Kind: 1929-1939 (1976). Though he was a leftist writer in the 1930s, after this decade Isherwood comes to reflect on …

Spatial Diffusion Model For Simulation Of Urban Land Cover Change, Yuming Wen

Open Access Dissertations

Spatial diffusion is a stochastic spatio-temporal process. Spatial diffusion phenomena occur because of the existence of a concentration gradient of information or material flow. At a regional level, most human-induced land-use and land-cover change, including urban land-cover change, can be considered as a spatial diffusion process. In this research, a spatial diffusion (SDIF) model has been developed to simulate urban land cover change at a regional level. This research aims to establish a theoretical framework for spatial diffusion modeling and build a spatial diffusion modeling system for simulation of urban land-cover change. The Chicago metropolitan region was selected as the …

Isolation Of Marine Metabolites From Symbiodinium Species Of Dinoflagellates, Katherine Evelyn Drainville-Higgins

Open Access Dissertations

The initial scope of this project was to determine if the symbiotic dinoflagellate, Symbiodinium sp., produces palytoxin, the highly lethal and complex compound originally found in the zoanthid, Palythoa spp. Through the examination of cell extracts made, this compound was not found. Instead, other secondary metabolites were isolated and their structures elucidated. The following is a summary of accomplishments. (1) The conditions to grow several strains of Symbiodinium organisms were investigated for the necessary extensive culturing required for cellular extraction. As a result, an isolate from Palythoa sp. obtained in Puerto Rico was successfully cultured. Previously, sustaining cultures of Palythoa …

Renaissance 2004, University Of Rhode Island

URI Yearbooks

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

Global Climate Change And Shifting Sea Ice: Planning For New Fishery Development In The Arctic, Kimberly Anne Lellis

Open Access Master's Theses

This thesis examines the implications of global warming for fisheries management in the Arctic waters off Alaska. In particular, the purpose of this thesis is to ascertain the current level of awareness, concern, and planning by physical scientists, social scientists, and federal and state resource managers for a potential future scenario that could develop in Alaska if: 1) warming ocean temperatures cause an expansion or a shift in the ranges of commercial fish species; and 2) the retreat of sea ice due to climate change allows commercial fishing fleets to expand into new areas such as the Chukchi Sea. Commercial …

Sea Changes Ashore: The Ocean And Iceland's Herring Capital, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Steingrímur Jónsson, Helga Ögmundardóttir, Igor M. Belkin

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The story of Siglufjörður (Siglufjordur), a north Iceland village that became the "Herring Capital of the World," provides a case study of complex interactions between physical, biological, and social systems. Siglufjörður's natural capital - a good harbor and proximity to prime herring grounds - contributed to its development as a major fishing center during the first half of the 20th century. This herring fishery was initiated by Norwegians, but subsequently expanded by Icelanders to such an extent that the fishery, and Siglufjörður in particular, became engines helping to pull the whole Icelandic economy. During the golden years of this "herring …

From Genes To Ecosystems: The Ocean's New Frontier, Scott C. Doney, Mark R. Abbott, John J. Cullen, David M. Karl, Lewis Rothstein

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The application of new molecular and genomic techniques to the ocean is driving a scientific revolution in marine microbiology. Discoveries range from previously unknown groups of organisms and novel metabolic pathways to a deeper appreciation of the fundamental genetic and functional diversity of oceanic microbes. The “oceanic genotype” represents only the potential biological capacity and sets an upper constraint on possible pathways and ecosystem rates. The realized structure and functioning of marine ecosystems, the “oceanic phenotype”, reflects the complex interactions of individuals and populations with their physical and chemical environment and with each other. A comprehensive exploitation of the wealth …

Supply-Side Ecology And The Response Of Zooplankton To Climate-Driven Changes In North Atlantic Ocean Circulation, Charles H. Greene, Andrew J. Pershing, Bruce C. Monger, Mark C. Benfield, Edward G. Durbin, Maria C. Casas

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Pros And Cons Of The Learned Helplessness Construct And The Battered Woman Syndrome: A Critical Analysis And Possible Reformulation, Lucille Andreozzi Stern

Open Access Dissertations

Two prevailing, contrasting theories, learned helplessness and health psychogenesis, have been proposed to describe and explain the battered woman's experience and response to domestic violence. This research examined the status (scientific adequacy) of each theory's database to determine where the preponderance of evidence lies.

The investigator articulated nine factors that differentiate the two theories. Trained independent raters then rated study outcomes as falling into one of three categories: pro-learned helplessness, pro-health psychogenesis, or supportive of both theories. Studies of two research samples (shelter and community) were identified and assessed (rated) along four methodological dimensions (sample, instrumentation, statistical analysis, and hypothesis …

Microstructure Studies In Surfacant Systems, Vivek Agarwal

Open Access Dissertations

Microstructures in two mixed surfactants systems that show novel transformations as a function of composition and temperature have been explored. Indirect imaging methods like Small Angle Neutron Scattering (SANS) along with direct imaging methods like Cryogenic Transmission Electron Microscopy (Cryo-TEM) and recently developed Freeze Fracture Direct Imaging (FFDD have been used extensively to characterize and identify the changes in the microstructures in the mixed surfactant systems as a function of composition, temperature and external force fields.

As water is added to a solution of an anionic surfactant, AOT (2 ethylhexyl sodium sulfosuccinate) and a zwitterionic surfactant, lecithin (phosphatidylcholine) in isooctane, …

Resilience In Ex-Refugees From Cambodia And Vietnam, Lynne Ee Lin Yong

Open Access Dissertations

The negative impacts of various forms of trauma on the physical and mental health of victims are well documented, including the experiences of the French Indo-Chinese, who suffered a range of traumatic experiences ranging from displacement to torture. However, a sizable percentage of French Indo-Chinese refugees living in the U.S. do not exhibit psychopathology. Very little is known about the Indo-Chinese refugees who are not seeking services and are doing well in their host country. This study focused on resilient Cambodian and Vietnamese ex-refugees, with the goal of identifying resiliency factors and their underlying processes, in order to inform the …

Essays On Fisheries Management, Ramesh Baskaran

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three manuscripts that explore the present issues on both commercial and recreational fishery management in the United States of America. It reviews recent development and different management strategies in fisheries, which shows the need to expand and improve the present fishery management in order to entail sustainability of resources as well as the economic well-being of the fishery participants. The first manuscript is policy oriented and suggests a rights-based cooperative approach may provide an incentive for the rational management of Atlantic sea scallop fishery. Due to excessive harvest capability and regulatory inefficiencies, the sea scallop industry …

Ecological Determinants Of Lyme Disease In An Endemic Community, Neeta N. Pardanani

Open Access Dissertations

We investigated potential risk factors for Lyme disease at the level of a southern Rhode Island community where vector ticks ( Ixodes scapularis Say) and human Lyme disease are endemic. We recruited homeowners with and without household histories of Lyme disease that would permit sampling of ticks and small mammals around the wooded edge of their properties. Entomologic factors including nymphal tick abundance, rates of tick infection with Lyme disease-causing bacteria (Borrelia burgdorferi ), and the density of infected nymphs were measured. We evaluated the relationship between these variables and the history of Lyme disease cases within households. The relationship …

Management Of Flounder Infectious Necrotizing Enteritis (Fine) In Cultured Juvenile Summer Flounder, Eric Joseph Gauger

Open Access Dissertations

Knowledge that can be applied towards the diagnosis and prevention of Flounder Infectious Necrotizing Enteritis in summer flounder ( Paralichthys dentatus), caused by the bacterial pathogen Vibrio harveyi, are presented in this research. Biochemical profiles are insufficient to differentiate V. harveyi from other closely related species. Biochemical profiles can, however, be used in conjunction with 16S ribosomal DNA sequencing to provide a reliable method for identifying V. harveyi. A monitoring program for V. harveyi and other potential bacterial pathogens in cultured juvenile summer flounder found that V. harveyi was the most abundant and commonly found bacterial species in juvenile summer …

Older Lesbian Perspectives On Advance Care Planning For The End Of Life, Jean W. Powell

Open Access Dissertations

This study used grounded theory methodology and in-depth interviews with 12 older lesbians to investigate three research questions: (1) How do participants define and engage in the process of end-of-life planning? (2) Are there special issues associated with end-of-life planning that participants believe are different from those faced by heterosexual women? and (3) How do participants describe a good death and what steps might make a good death more likely? The participants consisted of an ethnically diverse sample of 12 self-identified lesbian women between 60 and 80 years of age. Each participant responded to semi-structured interview questions. Each interview was …

Transboundary Impacts Of Fishing Activities Along The Northeast Continental Shelf, Mark Lucas Soboil

Open Access Dissertations

In Manuscript I, I construct a stylized conceptual model to evaluate the international trade of the Atlantic groundfish fishery between the US and Canada. The model incorporates both the biological and economic components of the fishery, and explores the environmental, economic and some welfare implications through trade. First I explore the consequence of each country imposing a different fishery management regime. Second, I incorporate the spatial dynamics of the stock into this framework. Third, I use the conceptual model to discover the effects this may have on international trade. And finally I include the spatial dynamics of the stock into …

Organizational Climate For Diversity, Cultural Comfort, And Professional Relationships: Predicting Perceptions Of The Workplace Among Employees Of Color, Ivory Roberts-Clarke

Open Access Dissertations

Very little empirical research has been conducted to understand the unique experiences of employees of color. This study analyzed the perceptions that employees of color have about their places of employment. The total sample included 204 participants, 83 African Americans, 51 Caribbean/West Indians, 32 Latinos/Latinas, 15 Asians, 12 Africans, 8 Multi-ethnic individuals, 1 Native/Indigenous Subgroup, and 1 Middle Eastern. There were 133 women, 70 men, and 1 participant who did not identify his or her gender. Participants were recruited at professional conferences and via the internet where they anonymously completed a questionnaire at a website that was created for this …

The Birth Of Bizdames: A Rupture In The Conversation, Engaging The Body In Decision-Making, Kathleen Mallon

Open Access Dissertations

Organizational studies consistently find that managers spend more time talking than any other activity (Mintzberg, 1973; Simon, 1945), that strategic decisions are developed and enacted through interactive talk (Perlow, 2003; Shaw, 2002), and that a diversity of perspectives has a positive effect on decision-making and organizational performance (Agyris, 1977). Conversely, the evidence suggests that cultures that perpetuate silence are less effective (Bourgeois, 1985; Enz & Schwenk, 1991; Morrison & Milliken, 2000; Ryan & Oestreich, 1991). Thus, knowledge about the inter-relationship of the micro-mechanisms of silence and talk and their effect on organizational performance is critical to management theory and practice …

Revaluing The Literary Naturalist: John Burroughs's Emotive Environmental Aesthetics, Stephen Mark Mercier

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation widens the circle of environmental aesthetics and ecocriticism by considering the role of the emotive in "appreciation." I demonstrate that emotion is a central feature in the literary naturalism of John Burroughs (1837-1921). Burroughs's model for environmental aesthetics combines narrative knowledge, sensory immersion, and emotional responses. Furthermore, I argue that Burroughs's "sentimental" emotions perform crucial roles in politics and therefore have serious implications for environmental consciousness. The rhetorical strategies inherent in Burroughs's paradigm for environmental aesthetics is essential to contemporary efficacious environmental discourse. This dissertation reclaims the importance of emotional affiliation with creatures, particularly birds, and their habitats. …

Sociocultural Contexts Of Asian American/Pacific Islander Women's Hiv Risk Enhancing/Reducing Responses, Jennifer C. Huang

Open Access Dissertations

HIV prevention issues for Asian American and Pacific Islander (API) women are complex and multifaceted. Comprehending the risk enhancing/reducing responses of API women in heterosexual relationships requires an examination of various sociocultural influences, such as gender roles, cultural expectations, community, economic conditions, acculturation and public policies that shape API women's decision-making and HIV risk enhancing/reducing responses. In order to address these issues, a mixed method study (i.e., qualitative and quantitative) was conducted to elucidate these sociocultural factors. Additionally, this study sought to investigate the various ecological levels that are associated with API women's sexual risk enhancing and reducing behaviors. Participants …

Determination Of Chlorophyll A Concentrations And Phytoplankton Primary Production In New England Estuarine Waters Using Ocean Color Remote Sensing From Low-Flying Aircraft, Darryl Joel Keith

Open Access Dissertations

The response of coastal systems to the addition of nutrients (especially nitrogen) is generally to stimulate phytoplankton biomass, measured using the concentration of chlorophyll a as a surrogate. However, the concentration and distribution of chlorophyll in the aquatic environment is variable in space and time. Historically, random to systematic design strategies have collected samples from specific locations in space (i.e. a point measurement). These strategies also are limited in sampling intra-annual, seasonal, and episodic events. Therefore, in order to sample on all time scales of interest over large geographic areas, a large number of point measurements and resources are required. …

The Role Of Glycolytic Substrates In The Initiation And Maintenance Phases Of Colonization Of The Mouse Large Intestine By Escherichia Coli Mg1655 And Escherichia Coli Edl933, Regina L. Miranda

Open Access Dissertations

Escherichia coli is a gram-negative motile rod, and is one of the most common bacterial strains isolated from the human intestinal tract (1,2). E. coli K-12, strain MG1655, is a non-pathogenic laboratory strain of E. coli whose genome has been fully sequenced (1). E. coli O157:H7, strain EDL933, a shigatoxin-producing E. coli (STEC), is a human pathogen, whose genome has also been fully sequenced (34). E. coli EDL933 was first isolated in August of 1982 from patients in the United States suffering from an outbreak of bloody diarrhea, which was traced to contaminated hamburgers (8,9,10,11). E. coli O157:H7 infections are …

The Four Hundred Sixteenth Report Of The Curricular Affairs Committee, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Bills

No abstract provided.