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Ibrida., Dawn N. Struck Dec 2012

Ibrida., Dawn N. Struck

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of my current body of work, both formally and conceptually. It begins with an Introduction, explaining the origin of the term hybrid and the distinct advantages as well as disadvantages hybridization has on a species. It also discusses the effects incurred by the environment on plants and humans. Chapter II, A Curious Collection of Biomorphic Forms, provides an overview of the concepts and interplay between the surface treatments of the forms and their sculpted interior elements and how certain forms reveal, while other forms hide themselves from the viewer. It also confers the motivations behind …

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Effect Of Viewing Conditions On The Detection Of Proximal Dental Caries In Intraoral Digital Images With And Without Computer-Assisted Diagnosis., Lauren Christine Szechy 1989- Dec 2012

Effect Of Viewing Conditions On The Detection Of Proximal Dental Caries In Intraoral Digital Images With And Without Computer-Assisted Diagnosis., Lauren Christine Szechy 1989-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Dental caries is the most common childhood ailment and one of the most prevalent chronic diseases of people worldwide. Approximately 91% of dentate adults 20 years or older have experienced dental caries. Carious lesions on proximal surfaces are particularly difficult to detect clinically, which is why intraoral radiography has become a supplemental method used to aid diagnosis. It was hypothesized that the accuracy of detection of proximal caries with the unaided eye would be reduced in sub-optimal viewing conditions; furthermore, the use of computer-assisted diagnostic software (Logicon Caries Detector) would improve the overall accuracy of observers. Methods: Eighteen radiographs …

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The Effect Of Implant Placement And Simultaneous Soft Tissue Augmentation In The Esthetic Zone Using Either Connective Tissue Autograft Or Acellular Dermal Matrix Allograft On Peri-Implant Hard And Soft Tissue Healing., Gretchen A. Wigand Dec 2012

The Effect Of Implant Placement And Simultaneous Soft Tissue Augmentation In The Esthetic Zone Using Either Connective Tissue Autograft Or Acellular Dermal Matrix Allograft On Peri-Implant Hard And Soft Tissue Healing., Gretchen A. Wigand

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aims. The primary aims of this randomized, controlled, blinded clinical trial were to compare the hard and soft tissue response following either a connective tissue (CT) or acellular dermal matrix (ADM) graft placed simultaneously with a laser-grooved implant. Methods. Twenty-five patients received a single tooth implant in the maxillary anterior that was bordered by two teeth. Patients were randomly selected, using to coin toss, to receive either an ADM (test) or a CT (control) graft. At the 2-month appointment, the implant was uncovered and a lab-fabricated provisional was placed. At the 4-month appointment, following 2 months of tissue shaping, a …

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Dysregulation Of Microrna Expression In Acquired Endocrine-Resistant Breast Cancer., Tissa Thomas Manavalan Dec 2012

Dysregulation Of Microrna Expression In Acquired Endocrine-Resistant Breast Cancer., Tissa Thomas Manavalan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level by repressing translation or stimulating mRNA degradation. In this study, I tested the hypothesis that miRNAs are differentially expressed in antiestrogen-sensitive MCF-7 versus -resistant L Y2 human breast cancer cells. Microarray analyses identified 97 miRNAs that are differentially expressed between two estrogen receptor alpha (ERa) -positive human breast cancer cell lines: endocrine-sensitive MCF-7 versus -resistant L Y2 cells under basal conditions. Opposite expression of miRs-lOa,-21, -22, -12Sb, -181, -200a, -200b, -200c, -221, and -222 was confirmed between MCF-7 and L Y2 cells. The ER antagonist ICI 182,780 (fulvestrant or Faslodex) generally …

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Integrin Inhibitor Cyclorgdfv Blunts Enhanced Lps-Induced Liver Injury Caused By Ethanol In Mice., Veronica L. Massey Dec 2012

Integrin Inhibitor Cyclorgdfv Blunts Enhanced Lps-Induced Liver Injury Caused By Ethanol In Mice., Veronica L. Massey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background. Progression of alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is associated with an increase in fibrin extracellular matrix (ECM) and inflammation. Previous studies have shown that this accumulation of fibrin in ALD is mediated by impaired fibrinolysis. Additionally, it is known that fibrin(ogen) interacts with the av~3 integrin of endothelial cells. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that hepatic inflammation caused by alcohol is mediated, at least in part, by activation of integrin av~3 by fibrin(ogen). To test this hypothesis, a study was designed to determine the effect of cycloRGDN, a peptide inhibitor of integrin av~3, in a …

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Intracellular Delivery Of Nanomaterials For Sub-Cellular Imaging And Tracking Of Biomolecules., Krishna Kiran Medepalli Dec 2012

Intracellular Delivery Of Nanomaterials For Sub-Cellular Imaging And Tracking Of Biomolecules., Krishna Kiran Medepalli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nanomaterials have many intriguing applications in biology and medicine. Unique properties such as enhanced electrical properties, increased chemical reactivity and resistance to degradation, novel optical properties and comparable size to that of biological systems have led to their use in various biomedical applications. The most important applications of nanomaterials for medicine are in drug delivery and imaging. This research focuses on utilizing the biocompatibility of single walled Carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and optical properties colloidal quantum dots (QDs) for cellular drug delivery and imaging of biomolecules. The first part of this research deals with single walled carbon nanotubes which are excellent …

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Incorporating Nanomaterials With Mems Devices., Evgeniya V. Moiseeva 1980- Dec 2012

Incorporating Nanomaterials With Mems Devices., Evgeniya V. Moiseeva 1980-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation demonstrates an elegant method, known as 'micro-origami' or strain architecture to design and fabricate three-dimensional MEMS structures which are assembled using actuation of a metal-oxide bilayer with conventional planar lithography. Folding allows creating complex, robust, three-dimensional shapes from two-dimensional material simply by choosing folds in the right order and orientation, small disturbances of the initial shape may also be used to produce different final shapes. These are referred to as "pop-up structures" in this work. The scope of this work presented the deposition of colloidal gold nanoparticles (GNPs) into conformal thin films using a microstenciling technique. Results illustrated …

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Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase 2 (Aldh2) Activation Protects Hepatocytes From Mitochondrial Damage And Death Caused By 4-Hydroxynonenal., Keegan J. Baldauf 1982- Dec 2012

Acetaldehyde Dehydrogenase 2 (Aldh2) Activation Protects Hepatocytes From Mitochondrial Damage And Death Caused By 4-Hydroxynonenal., Keegan J. Baldauf 1982-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) ranks among the major causes of morbidity and mortality in the world and effects millions of patients each year. Progression of ALD is well characterized and is actually a spectrum of liver diseases, which progresses from steatosis, to inflammation and necrosis, to finally fibrosis and cirrhosis. However, the underlying mechanism(s) of ALD are not as well understood, and as a result there is no FDA-approved therapy to prevent or reverse the disease. With a better understanding of the mechanism(s) and risk factors that mediate the initiation and progression of ALD, a targeted therapy can be developed …

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Ecological Interactions Affecting The Role Of Mosquito Larvae On Dengue Virus Transmission., Jeffrey J. Bara 1984- Dec 2012

Ecological Interactions Affecting The Role Of Mosquito Larvae On Dengue Virus Transmission., Jeffrey J. Bara 1984-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the course of their life cycle, mosquitoes undergo an ontogenetic niche shift; immature larval development occurs within an aquatic habitat from which adult mosquitoes subsequently disperse into the terrestrial environment. While adult female mosquitoes transmit dengue to humans, the larval stage influences dengue virus transmission significantly in several ways. The biotic and abiotic conditions in which larvae develop influence epidemiologically important aspects of adult life history and influence the geographic distribution of mosquito species. Through vertical transmission, mosquitoes may serve as reservoir hosts for dengue during periods that are unfavorable for transmission to humans. For my dissertation, I conducted …

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Phenomenological Modeling Of Image Irradiance For Non-Lambertian Surfaces Under Natural Illumination., Shireen Y. Elhabian Dec 2012

Phenomenological Modeling Of Image Irradiance For Non-Lambertian Surfaces Under Natural Illumination., Shireen Y. Elhabian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various vision tasks are usually confronted by appearance variations due to changes of illumination. For instance, in a recognition system, it has been shown that the variability in human face appearance is owed to changes to lighting conditions rather than person's identity. Theoretically, due to the arbitrariness of the lighting function, the space of all possible images of a fixed-pose object under all possible illumination conditions is infinite dimensional. Nonetheless, it has been proven that the set of images of a convex Lambertian surface under distant illumination lies near a low dimensional linear subspace. This result was also extended to …

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The Role Of Endogenous Bcl-Xl In Regulation Of Apoptotic Signaling Pathways., Colins Ogwandi Eno 1982- Dec 2012

The Role Of Endogenous Bcl-Xl In Regulation Of Apoptotic Signaling Pathways., Colins Ogwandi Eno 1982-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bcl-2 proteins are major regulators of cellular responses to various apoptotic stimuli. Among them, overexpression of the anti-apoptotic BcI-2 protein BcI-xL modulates organelle-specific apoptotic pathways. To understand the mechanisms by which endogenous BcI-xL regulates apoptosis, mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) deficient in BcI-xL expression (Bcl-x-KO) was generated. Studies of BcI-xL exclusively targeted to an organelle in Bcl-x-KO MEFs indicate that the mitochondria- and ER-Iocalized BcI-xL play distinct roles in apoptosis resistance and Ca2+ homeostasis. Specifically, mitochondrial BcI-xL can regulate apoptosis independently of ER BcI-xL, and when localized exclusively at the ER, BcI-xL impinges on Ca2+ homeostasis but does not affect apoptosis …

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The Use Of Mathematical And Computational Models To Define The Role Of Mutation And Infection In Colorectal Cancer., Chandler D. Gatenbee 1982- Dec 2012

The Use Of Mathematical And Computational Models To Define The Role Of Mutation And Infection In Colorectal Cancer., Chandler D. Gatenbee 1982-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research over the past twenty five years has led to the development of the hypothesis that colorectal cancer is caused by the accumulation of mutations in tumor suppressor genes and proto-oncogenes. The last ten years has also revealed that the common JC Virus (JCV) is frequently found in colorectal tumors. This has led to the hypothesis that the virus, which is known to cause tumors in the lab, may playa role in colorectal cancer. However, the presence of JCV in colorectal tumors does not necessarily indicate a cause-effect relationship. Unlike in vivo and in vitro studies, mathematical and computational modeling …

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The Dynamic Equilibrium Of Human Telomeric G-Quadruplexes., Robert Buscaglia Dec 2012

The Dynamic Equilibrium Of Human Telomeric G-Quadruplexes., Robert Buscaglia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

G-quadruplexes are thought to have biological importance, with studies based on small molecule interactions and quadruplex-interactive antibodies demonstrating their potential for formation in vivo. One potential biological function of quadruplex structures is the regulation and maintenance of telomeres. Telomeres are nucleoprotein complexes involved in chromosome stability. Human telomeres are composed of the repeated DNA sequence, 5'- d(TIAGGG), that terminates in a 3' single-stranded overhang. DNA sequences with homology to the human telomere are capable of quadruplex formation in vitro. Specifically, sequences containing four-guanine stretches (e.g. 5'-d(AGGG(TIAGGGb)) are capable of forming at least five distinct unimolecular structures. Which structure is favored …

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Ridge Preservation Comparing The Clinical And Histologic Healing Of An Intrasocket Allograft Vs. A Facial Overlay Xenograft Using A Bioresorbable Barrier Membrane., Evmenios Poulias Dec 2012

Ridge Preservation Comparing The Clinical And Histologic Healing Of An Intrasocket Allograft Vs. A Facial Overlay Xenograft Using A Bioresorbable Barrier Membrane., Evmenios Poulias

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aim. The efficacy of ridge preservation procedures using grafting materials and barrier membranes has been well established in the literature. However, the loss of horizontal width even with the utilization of intrasocket only guided bone regeneration procedures can lead to loss of soft and hard tissue contour or even compromise implant placement. The primary aim of this study was to compare ridge preservation using an intrasocket mineralized particulate cancellous allograft to an intrasocket mineralized particulate cancellous allograft plus a facial overlay with a particulate bovine xenograft, both covered with a bioresorbable barrier membrane. Clinical and histologic data was used to …

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Morphological Comparison Of Visual Pathway Projections To The Temporal Lobe From Cortical Area Vi And The Tectorecipient Zone Of The Pulvinar Nucleus In The Tree Shrew (Tupaia Belangeri)., Donna Dillihay Dec 2012

Morphological Comparison Of Visual Pathway Projections To The Temporal Lobe From Cortical Area Vi And The Tectorecipient Zone Of The Pulvinar Nucleus In The Tree Shrew (Tupaia Belangeri)., Donna Dillihay

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The secondary visual pathway, from the retina through the superior colliculus and pulvinar nucleus has been linked to spatial attention (Snow et aI., 2009; Arend et aI., 2008) movement planning and motor response to visual stimuli (Wilke et aI. 2010; Grieve et aI. 2000). The tree shrew temporal cortex receives input from the tecto-recipient pulvinar nucleus, composed of the dorsal (PD) and central (PC) subdivisions (Lyon et al. 2003a). We looked at the projections from this pathway to the temporal cortex and compared them to the VI projections to the temporal cortex in the tree shrew. Our focus was to …

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Predictive Relationships Of Teacher Efficacy, Geometry Knowledge For Teaching, And The Cognitive Levels Of Teacher Practice On Student Achievement., Paul Klein Dec 2012

Predictive Relationships Of Teacher Efficacy, Geometry Knowledge For Teaching, And The Cognitive Levels Of Teacher Practice On Student Achievement., Paul Klein

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explored the predictive relationships of teacher efficacy, teacher knowledge, and teacher practices with student achievement. More specifically, secondary mathematics teachers' efficacy beliefs, geometry knowledge for teaching, and the cognitive complexity of the teachers' classroom practices were examined for 72 teachers in both urban and rural districts across Kentucky, along with the student achievement data of their students. Teacher and student data were obtained from the NSF-funded Geometry Assessment for Secondary Teachers (GAST) project, which administered geometry teacher knowledge assessments at the beginning and end of the school year, and collected cognitive complexity data from lessons through three classroom …

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Characterization Of Fhua 104/149c: A Double Cysteine Fhua Mutant With Normal Binding And Diminished Transport, Ada K. Hagan Dec 2012

Characterization Of Fhua 104/149c: A Double Cysteine Fhua Mutant With Normal Binding And Diminished Transport, Ada K. Hagan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Iron is an essential element for most bacteria and is commonly acquired by siderophores, molecules secreted under iron restricted environment to bind ferric iron. Gram negative cells actively uptake these complexes via outer membrane-transport proteins such as FhuA in Escherichia coli. Structural analysis of receptors revealed a conserved β-barrel occluded by an N-terminal plug domain. The cell membrane TonB/ExbB/ExbD complex presumably supplies energy via interaction between the FhuA N-terminal TonB box and the C-terminal domain of TonB. In order to better understand the mechanism of action the FhuA mutant 104/149C, tethering the central β-strands 4 and 6 of the …

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Expectations And Experiences Of Fathers Who Have Parented Children With And Without Intellectual Disabilities, Jane Christina Kusmik Walker Dec 2012

Expectations And Experiences Of Fathers Who Have Parented Children With And Without Intellectual Disabilities, Jane Christina Kusmik Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The parenting experience is as diverse as the children parented. Each child has diverse personality traits requiring flexibility and specificity in parenting strategy. This need for flexibility and specificity is more complex when one or more children within a family has an intellectual disability. Although research in this area is abundant, investigators have historically focused on mothers' attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors to represent the entire family (Essex, Seltzer, & Krauss, 2001; Greenberg, 2002) rather than focusing on fathers and their caregiving relationships with their children in need of malleable but consistent parenting. Using a qualitative descriptive design, this qualitative study …

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Regulation Of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype., Joshua Kuimeta Salabei Dec 2012

Regulation Of Vascular Smooth Muscle Cell Phenotype., Joshua Kuimeta Salabei

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vascular injury and chronic arterial diseases such as atherosclerosis and restenosis result in exposure of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) to increased concentrations of growth factors triggering a change from a contractile to a synthetic phenotype. The mechanisms by which growth factors trigger VSMC phenotype transitions remain unclear. Because phenotype switching involves the removal of contractile proteins, we hypothesized that autophagy is an essential modulator of VSMC phenotype. Also, the conversion to the synthetic phenotype is accompanied by cellular changes that trigger metabolic changes to meet the increasing demands for cellular energy. Little is known however about the contributions of …

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A Model Of Resilience In Children At Risk For The Development Of Anxiety., Matthew David Hartman Schrock Dec 2012

A Model Of Resilience In Children At Risk For The Development Of Anxiety., Matthew David Hartman Schrock

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anxiety is a common and debilitating disorder in children. Until recently, research in the field of child anxiety has focused on the identification of specific risk factors in the development of child anxiety. More recent studies have begun to explore more complex models of the etiology of child anxiety, but most still focus on the interplay of risk factors. Studies examining the development of child anxiety should focus on the confluence of vulnerability, risk, and protective factors to provide a more complete picture of the development of child anxiety. The current study reviews current conceptual and empirical research to propose …

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Role Of Human Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase In Carcinogen Metabolism And Human Breast Cancer Progression., Carmine Simone Leggett Dec 2012

Role Of Human Arylamine N-Acetyltransferase In Carcinogen Metabolism And Human Breast Cancer Progression., Carmine Simone Leggett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human arylamine N-acetyltransferase (NAT) is a phase II cytosolic enzyme that occurs as two isozymes, NAT1 and NAT2. This family of polymorphic enzymes catalyzes the detoxification and/or activation of many aromatic and heterocyclic amine drugs and carcinogens. These metabolism reactions can lead to detoxification of xenobiotics by N-acetylation, or bioactivation by O-acetylation which is preceded by cytochrome P450 (CYP) hydroxylation. This study evaluates the role of human arylamine N-acetyltransferase in carcinogen metabolism as it pertains to substrate selectivity, kinetic activity towards arylamine and alkylaniline substrates, and toxicological risk. Here we introduce the use of immortalized human fibroblasts (GM4429) to investigate …

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Improved Fabrication And Modeling Of Piezoresistive Microcantilever Beams For Gas Detection And Sensing., Ni Wang Dec 2012

Improved Fabrication And Modeling Of Piezoresistive Microcantilever Beams For Gas Detection And Sensing., Ni Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Symmetric piezoresistive microcantilever beams have been demonstrated in previous research to be capable of sensing the presence of surrounding gas. This occurs as the damping effect of the gas changes the beam resonance behavior. Device sensitivity has been increased dramatically after changing the symmetric beam base to an asymmetric beam base. This dissertation seeks to improve on beam fabrication and simplify the fabrication procedure compared to earlier approaches. By changing to a polymer mask and using new equipment, an entire wafer can be fabricated in far less time compared to the previous approach. While this new approach shows great promise, …

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Anxiety In Older Adults With Dementia Residing In Long-Term Care Facilities., Lauren Summer Hess Dec 2012

Anxiety In Older Adults With Dementia Residing In Long-Term Care Facilities., Lauren Summer Hess

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dementia, depression, and anxiety are the most common psychiatric disorders among long-term care residents and, because dementia is associated with behavioral problems that can be difficult to manage, the growing number of long-term care residents with dementia and mental health disorders presents a challenge for providing quality care. Research has established the co-occurrence of depression and anxiety and anxiety and agitation in this population. However, a consensus on the conceptualization of the co-occurrence of these constructs has not been reached. It has also been postulated that older adults with dementia may not be able to experience anxiety as conceptualized due …

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A Novel High Yield Process For Gold Sulfide Nanoparticle Synthesis Via Shifting Equilibrium Of Self-Assembly Reaction., Dhruvinkumar Patel Dec 2012

A Novel High Yield Process For Gold Sulfide Nanoparticle Synthesis Via Shifting Equilibrium Of Self-Assembly Reaction., Dhruvinkumar Patel

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) have attracted enormous attention in the field of nanotechnology for applications such as, immunoassay, drug delivery, contrast enhancement and tumor therapy. The typical range of gold nanoparticles varies from 1– 150 nm; there are many different subtypes of AuNPs mainly based on size, shape, and optical properties including: gold nanospheres, nanorods, nanocages, and nanoshells. The main advantage of using gold nanoparticles is the large surface-to-volume ratio; this will allow the particles to be functionalized with drugs and/or targeting agents to create many novel applications. Many AuNPs have another advantage as well, they can be fabricated to either …

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Biogenic Amine Levels Correlate With Time Of Day, Age, Light Cycle, And Aggressive State In The Flesh Fly, Sarcophaga Crassipalpis, Veronica L. Fregoso Dec 2012

Biogenic Amine Levels Correlate With Time Of Day, Age, Light Cycle, And Aggressive State In The Flesh Fly, Sarcophaga Crassipalpis, Veronica L. Fregoso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The biogenic amines serotonin (5HT), dopamine (DA), and octopamine (OA) have been indicated in the regulation of behaviors, including aggression. The flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis, was used to investigate ontogenetic and circadian changes in amines and aggression. Heads of male flies were analyzed for amine content using high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) at 3 time points on each of 4 consecutive days in 2 light cycles, 12:12 LD and 15:9 LD. Both DA and OA levels decreased with age. Light-cycle dependent differences were observed for all amines in overall levels and patterns of change throughout the …

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Further Assessment Of The Psychometric Properties Of The Sex Offender Attitude Scale, Brandon C. Bogle Aug 2012

Further Assessment Of The Psychometric Properties Of The Sex Offender Attitude Scale, Brandon C. Bogle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sex offenses in the United States are a major public health concern. Attitudes toward sex offenders are generally very negative and to be officially identified as a sex offender brings on collateral consequences that reduce incentives not to reoffend. The extent to which attitudes toward sex offenders affect discriminatory behaviors and collateral consequences is not fully understood. The Sex Offender Attitude Scale was developed in an attempt to reliably and accurately measure attitudes and stigma toward sex offenders. Initial analyses indicated the SOAS was a reliable and valid instrument. This study aimed to provide additional evidence of the psychometric properties …

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Role Of Therapeutic Devices In Enhancing Speech Intelligibility And Vocal Intensity In An Individual With Parkinson’S Disease, Swetha Swaminathan Aug 2012

Role Of Therapeutic Devices In Enhancing Speech Intelligibility And Vocal Intensity In An Individual With Parkinson’S Disease, Swetha Swaminathan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The prevailing speech therapy techniques for treating hypokinetic dysarthria in individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD) yields improvements within the clinical setting, however, maintenance and generalization of acquired behaviors continue to be a challenge. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of portable therapeutic devices including Ambulatory Phonation Monitor with biofeedback (APM) and auditory masker in maintenance and carryover of improved speech. Our participant was an individual diagnosed with PD for the past 25 years who continued to display speech disturbances despite undergoing several behavioral speech therapy programs and neurosurgical procedures. Speech intelligibility and average intensity measures under …

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Il-1Β Amplification Of Nitric Oxide Production And Its Inhibitory Effects On Glucose Induced Early Growth Response-1 Expression In Ins-1 Cells, Ada Young Aug 2012

Il-1Β Amplification Of Nitric Oxide Production And Its Inhibitory Effects On Glucose Induced Early Growth Response-1 Expression In Ins-1 Cells, Ada Young

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The pathophysiology of cytokines released by infiltrating white blood cells upon pancreatic beta cells is not fully understood. Early growth response gene-1 (Egr-1) expression is specifically and transiently up regulated in pancreatic beta cells in response to glucose. We hypothesized that interleukin-1 beta (IL-1▀) induction of nitric oxide alters glucose induced Egr-1 transcription levels. Egr-1 levels were assessed via western blot, nitric oxide was measured with a Griess Reagent kit and insulin levels via ELISA. Glucose induced both insulin and Egr-1 production in INS-1 cells. IL-1▀ dose dependently increased nitric oxide production over time and significantly attenuated glucose induced Egr-1 …

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Immobilized Bis-Indenyl Ligands For Stable And Cost-Effective Metallocene Catalysts Of Hydrogenation And Polymerization Reactions, Thomas Max Simerly Aug 2012

Immobilized Bis-Indenyl Ligands For Stable And Cost-Effective Metallocene Catalysts Of Hydrogenation And Polymerization Reactions, Thomas Max Simerly

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Reactions of catalytic hydrogenations and polymerizations are widely used in industry for manufacture of fine chemicals, pharmaceuticals, and plastics. Homogeneous catalysts for the processes that have low stability and their separation is difficult. Therefore, the development of new highly active and stable catalysts for hydrogenations and polymerizations is a necessity. The objective of this research was the development of a strategy for immobilization of heterogeneous metallocene catalysts. First, a methodology of immobilization of bis-indenyl ligands on the surface of mesoporous silica gel was designed. Four bis-indenyl ligands containing functionalized tethers of various lengths with terminal alkene groups were synthesized. All …

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Landmark Analysis Of Musteloid Carnassials Applied To Taxonomic Identification And Examination Of Sexual Dimorphism And Regional Morphotypes, Joel Alvin Christine Aug 2012

Landmark Analysis Of Musteloid Carnassials Applied To Taxonomic Identification And Examination Of Sexual Dimorphism And Regional Morphotypes, Joel Alvin Christine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Guy Wilson Cave (GWC) in Sullivan County, Tennessee holds many late Pleistocene mammal fossils. Based on visual morphology, several partial mandibles with lower carnassial from GWC appeared to be musteloids. Geometric morphometrics has been successfully used to identify fragmentary fossils, so a landmark based, 2 dimensional technique was applied to identify the GWC musteloids using the lower carnassial. Digital images of several GWC fossils and of extant reference musteloids were combined using morphometric programs tpsDIG1, tpsUtil, and tpsSuper. Statistical data analysis was performed in PASW Statistics. Results successfully separated Mephitis mephitis (striped skunk) from M. macroura (hooded skunk) and Martes …

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