Digital Commons Network^™

A Fresh Look At Two Genesis Creation Accounts: Contradictions?, Jiri Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Every Parent’S Worst Nightmare: Myths Of Child Abductions In Us News, Spring-Serenity Duvall, Leigh Moscowitz

Faculty Publications

Through a content analysis, this study seeks to uncover the predominant narrative themes centered on gender and class that shaped mainstream U.S. newspaper coverage of child kidnappings from 2000-2003. The abductions that dominated news coverage were neither random nor representative cases; clear patterns emerged in the kidnappings that garnered the most media attention. Though statistically rare, the news media disproportionally covered stories of young Caucasian girls being snatched from their middle-to-upper class homes by male strangers, manufacturing a nationwide epidemic. Our analysis reveals how gender and class were used to construct vulnerable girl victims and predatory male perpetrators. News narratives …

Rex1/Zfp42 As An Epigenetic Regulator For Genomic Imprinting, Jeong Do Kim, Hana Kim, Muhammad B. Ekram, Sungryul Yu, Christopher Faulk, Joomyeong Kim

Faculty Publications

Zfp42/Rex1 (reduced expression gene 1) is a well-known stem-cell marker that has been duplicated from YY1 in the eutherian lineage. In the current study, we characterized the in vivo roles of Rex1 using a mutant mouse line disrupting its transcription. In contrast to the ubiquitous expression of YY1, Rex1 is expressed only during spermatogenesis and early embryogenesis and also in a very limited area of the placenta. Yet, the gene dosage of Rex1 is very critical for the survival of the late-stage embryos and neonates. This delayed phenotypic consequence suggests potential roles for Rex1 in establishing and maintaining unknown epigenetic …

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Decrease Cardiac Function Before And After Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury In Vivo, Kevin Lord, David Moll, John K. Lindsey, Sarah Mahne, Girija Raman, Tammy Dugas, Stephania Cormier, Dana Troxlair, Slawo Lomnicki, Barry Dellinger, Kurt Varner

Faculty Publications

Exposure to airborne particles is associated with increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. During the combustion of chlorine-containing hazardous materials and fuels, chlorinated hydrocarbons chemisorb to the surface of transition metal-oxide-containing particles, reduce the metal, and form an organic free radical. These radical-particle systems can survive in the environment for days and are called environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs). This study determined whether EPFRs could decrease left ventricular function before and after ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) in vivo. Male Brown-Norway rats were dosed (8mg/kg, intratracheal) 24h prior to testing with particles containing the EPFR of 1, 2-dichlorobenzene (DCB230). DCB230 treatment decreased …

Skeletal Muscle Mitochondrial Capacity And Insulin Resistance In Type 2 Diabetes, Sudip Bajpeyi, Magdalena Pasarica, Cedric Moro, Kevin Conley, Sharon Jubrias, Olga Sereda, David H. Burk, Zhengyu Zhang, Alok Gupta, Lise Kjems, Steven R. Smith

Faculty Publications

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the role of maximum mitochondrial capacity on the variation in insulin sensitivity within a population of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Research Design and Methods: Fifty-eight participants enrolled in a cross-sectional design: eight active controls [maximum aerobic capacity (VO2max) . 40 ml/kg . min], 17 healthy sedentary controlswithout a family history (FH-) and seven with a family history (FH+) of diabetes, four obese participants, and 21 patients with T2DM. Mitochondrial capacity was measured noninvasively using 31P magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the vastus lateralis. Maximal ATP synthetic rate (ATPmax) was …

Poe's Mythologies: Transatlantic Nineteenth Century Hellenism As World Literature, David Greven

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Soil Carbon And Material Fluxes Across The Eroding Alaska Beaufort Sea Coastline, Chien-Lu Ping, Gary J. Michaelson, Laodong Guo, M. Torre Jorgensen, Mikhail Z. Kanevskiy, Yuri L. Shur, Fugen Dou, Jingjing Liang

Faculty Publications

Carbon, nitrogen, and material fluxes were quantified at 48 sampling locations along the 1957 km coastline of the Beaufort Sea, Alaska. Landform characteristics, soil stratigraphy, cryogenic features, and ice contents were determined for each site. Erosion rates for the sites were quantified using satellite images and aerial photos, and the rates averaged across the coastline increased from 0.6 m yr^-1 during circa 1950-1980 to 1.2 m yr^-1 during circa 1980-2000. Soils were highly cryoturbated, and organic carbon (OC) stores ranged from 13 to 162 kg OC m^-2 in banks above sea level and averaged 63 kg OC …

Relieving (Most Of) The Tension: A Review Essay Of Samuel R. Bagenstos, Law And The Contradictions Of The Disability Rights Movement, Nicole Buonocore Porter

Faculty Publications

This Review Essay reveals the considerable contribution made by Professor Samuel Bagenstos in his book, Law and the Contradictions of the Disability Rights Movement, where he acknowledges and tackles most of the contradictions and tensions within the disability law field. Instead of repeating familiar arguments about a backlash against the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Bagenstos recognizes and explains that much of the lack of success of the ADA can be attributed to tensions in the goals and projects of the disability rights movement. He makes a very convincing argument that the anti-discrimination and accommodation model of the ADA, …

No Place For Children: Addressing Urban Blight And Its Impact On Children Through Child Protection Law, Domestic Relations Law, And "Adult-Only" Residential Zoning, James G. Dwyer

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Heat Expands All Things: The Proliferation Of Greenhouse Gas Regulation Under The Obama Administration, Jonathan H. Adler

Faculty Publications

Although Congress did not put climate change legislation on President Obama’s desk, the Obama Administration still moved ahead with various regulatory measures to control GHG [greenhouse gas] emissions. Using authority under the Clean Air Act and other existing environmental statutes, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other agencies have been expanding existing regulatory programs to cover GHG emissions and address climate change concerns. Several measures are already in place and others are in the regulatory pipeline, although citizen suit litigation could produce still more.

The extension of federal regulatory authority to control GHG emissions under existing statutory frameworks is a …

Interpretation Of BereʼŠît In The Context Of Genesis 1:1-3, Jiri Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Sabbath And Sanctification, Roy Gane

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Dante’S Understanding Of The Two Ends Of Human Desire And The Relationship Between Philosophy And Theology, Jason Aleksander

Faculty Publications

I discuss Dante’s understanding that human existence is “ordered by two final goals” and how this understanding defines philosophy’s and theology’s respective scopes of authority in guiding human conduct. I show that, while Dante devalues the philosophical authority associated with the traditional Aristotelian emphasis on the significance of contemplative activity, he does so in order to highlight philosophy’s ethico-political authority to guide human conduct toward its “earthly beatitude.” Moreover, I argue that, although Dante subordinates earthly beatitude to spiritual beatitude, he nonetheless maintains that philosophy’s authority to reveal a path to spiritual beatitude requires its fundamental independence from theology.

Environmental Harms, Use Conflicts, And Neutral Baselines In Environmental Law, Todd S. Aagaard

Faculty Publications

Accounts of environmental law that rely on concepts of environmental harm and environmental protection oversimplify the tremendous variety of uses of environmental resources and the often complex relationships among those uses. Such approaches are analytically unclear and, more importantly, insert hidden normativity into putatively descriptive claims. Instead of thinking about environmental law in terms of preventing environmental harm, environmental problems can be understood more specifically and more meaningfully as disputes over conflicting uses of environmental resources. This Article proposes a use-conflict framework as a means of acquiring a deeper understanding of environmental problems and lawmaking without favoring any particular normative …

Nuclear Versus Mitochondrial Dna: Evidence For Hybridization In Colobine Monkeys, Christian Roos, Dietmar Zinner, Laura S. Kubatko, Christiane Schwarz, Mouyu Yang, Dirk Meyer, Stephen D. Nash, Jinchuan Xing, Mark A. Batzer, Markus Brameier, Fabian H. Leendertz, Thomas Ziegler, Dyah Perwitasari-Farajallah, Tilo Nadler, Lutz Walter, Martin Osterholz

Faculty Publications

Background: Colobine monkeys constitute a diverse group of primates with major radiations in Africa and Asia. However, phylogenetic relationships among genera are under debate, and recent molecular studies with incomplete taxon-sampling revealed discordant gene trees. To solve the evolutionary history of colobine genera and to determine causes for possible gene tree incongruences, we combined presence/absence analysis of mobile elements with autosomal, X chromosomal, Y chromosomal and mitochondrial sequence data from all recognized colobine genera. Results: Gene tree topologies and divergence age estimates derived from different markers were similar, but differed in placing Piliocolobus/Procolobus and langur genera among colobines. Although insufficient …

Stem Cell Factor And Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor Reduce Β-Amyloid Deposits In The Brains Of App/Ps1 Transgenic Mice, Bin Li, Maria E. Gonzalez-Toledo, Chun Shu Piao, Allen Gu, Roger E. Kelley, Li Ru Zhao

Faculty Publications

Introduction. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is widely recognized as a serious public health problem and heavy financial burden. Currently, there is no treatment that can delay or stop the progressive brain damage in AD. Recently, we demonstrated that stem cell factor (SCF) in combination with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) (SCF+G-CSF) has therapeutic effects on chronic stroke. The purpose of the present study is to determine whether SCF+G-CSF can reduce the burden of β-amyloid deposits in a mouse model of AD. Methods. APP/PS1 transgenic mice were used as the model of AD. To track bone marrow-derived cells in the brain, the bone …

Expression And Localization Of Clc Chloride Transport Proteins In The Avian Retina, Emily Mcmains, Vijai Krishnan, Sujitha Prasad, Evanna Gleason

Faculty Publications

Members of the ubiquitously expressed CLC protein family of chloride channels and transporters play important roles in regulating cellular chloride and pH. The CLCs that function as Cl-/H+ antiporters, ClCs 3-7, are essential in particular for the acidification of endosomal compartments and protein degradation. These proteins are broadly expressed in the nervous system, and mutations that disrupt their expression are responsible for several human genetic diseases. Furthermore, knock-out of ClC3 and ClC7 in the mouse result in the degeneration of the hippocampus and the retina. Despite this evidence of their importance in retinal function, the expression patterns of different CLC …

Environmentally Persistent Free Radicals Induce Airway Hyperresponsiveness In Neonatal Rat Lungs, Shrilatha Balakrishna, Jordy Saravia, Paul Thevenot, Terry Ahlert, Slawo Lominiki, Barry Dellinger, Stephania A. Cormier

Faculty Publications

Background: Increased asthma risk/exacerbation in children and infants is associated with exposure to elevated levels of ultrafine particulate matter (PM). The presence of a newly realized class of pollutants, environmentally persistent free radicals (EPFRs), in PM from combustion sources suggests a potentially unrecognized risk factor for the development and/or exacerbation of asthma.Methods: Neonatal rats (7-days of age) were exposed to EPFR-containing combustion generated ultrafine particles (CGUFP), non-EPFR containing CGUFP, or air for 20 minutes per day for one week. Pulmonary function was assessed in exposed rats and age matched controls. Lavage fluid was isolated and assayed for cellularity and cytokines …

Determining Solution Space Characteristics For Real-Time Strategy Games And Characterizing Winning Strategies, Gary B. Lamont, Kurt Weissgerber, Brett J. Borghetti, Gilbert L. Peterson

Faculty Publications

The underlying goal of a competing agent in a discrete real-time strategy (RTS) game is to defeat an adversary. Strategic agents or participants must define an a priori plan to maneuver their resources in order to destroy the adversary and the adversary's resources as well as secure physical regions of the environment. This a priori plan can be generated by leveraging collected historical knowledge about the environment. This knowledge is then employed in the generation of a classification model for real-time decision-making in the RTS domain. The best way to generate a classification model for a complex problem domain depends …

Membrane Voltage Fluctuations Reduce Spike Frequency Adaptation And Preserve Output Gain In Ca1 Pyramidal Neurons In A High-Conductance State., Fernandez Fr, Broicher T, Truong A, White Ja

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Marr Homologs With Urate-Binding Signature, Inoka C. Perera, Anne Grove

Faculty Publications

Bacteria that associate with living hosts require intricate mechanisms to detect and respond to host defenses. Part of the early host defense against invading bacteria is the production of reactive oxygen species, and xanthine oxidase is one of the main producers of such agents. The end-product of the enzymatic activity of xanthine oxidase, urate, was previously shown to be the natural ligand for Deinococcus radiodurans-encoded HucR and it was shown to attenuate DNA binding by Agrobacterium tumefaciens-encoded PecS and Burkholderia thailandensis-encoded MftR, all members of the multiple antibiotic resistance regulator (MarR) family. We here show that residues involved in binding …

Oral Treatment Of Rodents With Insecticides For Control Of Sand Flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) And The Fluorescent Tracer Technique (Ftt) As A Tool To Evaluate Potential Sand Fly Control Methods, T. M. Mascari, J. Clark, S. Gordon, M. A. Mitchell, E. D. Rowton, R. Stout, L. D. Foil

Faculty Publications

In laboratory studies, insecticides (diflubenzuron, novaluron, methoprene and, pyriproxyfen) that have been incorporated into rodent diets were effective as feed-throughs against sand fly larvae. Novaluron also was effective against sand fly larvae at low concentrations and under simulated field conditions. Ivermectin has been shown to be effective as a systemic insecticide, killing 100% of blood-feeding sand flies for up to seven d after rodents were treated. The fluorescent tracer technique (FTT) is the use of certain fluorescent dyes (rhodamine B or uranine O) as feed-through transtadial biomarkers for phlebotomine sand flies, systemic biomarkers for blood-feeding sand flies, and permanent markers …

Generation Of Trophoblast Stem Cells From Rabbit Embryonic Stem Cells With Bmp4, Tao Tan, Xianghui Tang, Jing Zhang, Yuyu Niu, Hongwei Chen, Bin Li, Qiang Wei, Weizhi Ji

Faculty Publications

Trophoblast stem (TS) cells are ideal models to investigate trophectoderm differentiation and placental development. Herein, we describe the derivation of rabbit trophoblast stem cells from embryonic stem (ES) cells. Rabbit ES cells generated in our laboratory were induced to differentiate in the presence of BMP4 and TS-like cell colonies were isolated and expanded. These cells expressed the molecular markers of mouse TS cells, were able to invade, give rise to derivatives of TS cells, and chimerize placental tissues when injected into blastocysts. The rabbit TS-like cells maintained self-renewal in culture medium with serum but without growth factors or feeder cells, …

Natural Law And The Rhetoric Of Empire: Reynolds V. United States, Polygamy, And Imperialism, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

In 1879, the U.S. Supreme Court construed the Free Exercise Clause for the first time, holding in Reynolds v. United States that Congress could punish Mormon polygamy. Historians have interpreted Reynolds, and the anti-polygamy legislation and litigation that it midwifed, as an extension of Reconstruction into the American West. This Article offers a new historical interpretation, one that places the birth of Free Exercise jurisprudence in Reynolds within an international context of Great Power imperialism and American international expansion at the end of the nineteenth century. It does this by recovering the lost theory of religious freedom that the Mormons …

The Complexity Of Jurisdictional Clarity, Scott Dodson

Faculty Publications

The ideal of clear and simple jurisdictional rules seems like a no-brainer. Clarity in areas of subject-matter jurisdiction generally reduces the cost of litigating those issues and thus preserves litigant and judicial resources for the merits of a dispute. As a result, scholars and justices regularly promote the rhetoric of jurisdictional clarity. Yet no one has probed that rhetoric or reconciled it with the reality of subject-matter jurisdiction doctrine, which is anything but clear and simple. This Article begins to fill that gap, and, in the process, shifts the perspective of existing conversations between rules and standards and between mandates …

Latter-Day Saint Poetry And Songs Of The Utah War, Kenneth L. Alford Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

During the Utah War (1857–58), Latter‐day Saints wrote and published a large number of poems and song expressing their loyalty to the Church, anger at the federal government, and defiance of the United States soldiers who were marching toward Utah Territory. This article places those poems and stories in context and shares many of them.

Evidence For Mesenchymal-Epithelial Transition Associated With Mouse Hepatic Stem Cell Differentiation, Bin Li, Yun Wen Zheng, Yuuki Sano, Hideki Taniguchi

Faculty Publications

Mesenchymal-epithelial transition events are related to embryonic development, tissue construction, and wound healing. Stem cells are involved in all of these processes, at least in part. However, the direct evidence of mesenchymal-epithelial transition associated with stem cells is unclear. To determine whether mesenchymal-epithelial transition occurs in liver development and/or the differentiation process of hepatic stem cells in vitro, we analyzed a variety of murine liver tissues from embryonic day 11.5 to adults and the colonies derived from hepatic stem/progenitor cells isolated with flow cytometry. The results of gene expression, immunohistochemistry and Western blot showed that as liver develops, the expression …

Lea Proteins During Water Stress: Not Just For Plants Anymore, Steven C. Hand, Michael A. Menze, Mehmet Toner, Leaf Boswell, Daniel Moore

Faculty Publications

Late embryogenesis abundant (LEA) proteins are extremely hydrophilic proteins that were first identified in land plants. Intracellular accumulation is tightly correlated with acquisition of desiccation tolerance, and data support their capacity to stabilize other proteins and membranes during drying, especially in the presence of sugars like trehalose. Exciting reports now show that LEA proteins are not restricted to plants; multiple forms are expressed in desiccation-tolerant animals from at least four phyla. We evaluate here the expression, subcellular localization, biochemical properties, and potential functions of LEA proteins in animal species during water stress. LEA proteins are intrinsically unstructured in aqueous solution, …

Detecting Toxic Diatom Blooms From Ocean Color And A Regional Ocean Model, Clarissa R. Anderson, Raphael M. Kudela, Claudia R. Benitez-Nelson, Emily Sekula-Wood, Christopher T. Burrell, Yi Chao, Gregg Langlois, Jo Goodman, David A. Siegel

Faculty Publications

[1] An apparent link between upwelling‐related physical signatures, macronutrients, and toxic diatom blooms in the various “hotspots” throughout California has motivated attempts to forecast harmful algal blooms (HABs) as a function of select environmental variables. Empirical models for predicting toxic Pseudo‐nitzschia blooms in one such region, the Santa Barbara Channel (SBC), are tested in a nowcast mode using predictions based on merging data from MODIS ocean color geophysical products and the Regional Ocean Modeling System (ROMS) applied to the Southern California Bight. Thresholds for each model generate event forecasts. Spatially‐explicit, monthly HAB maps are compared to shipboard observations and California …

Improving Tree-Thinking One Learnable Skill At A Time, Kristy Lynn Halverson

Faculty Publications

Representations are a critical way to communicate scientific knowledge. Systematists biologists are acknowledged as expert tree thinkers who can both read and build phylogenetic trees (e.g., cladograms) accurately. The purpose of this study was to identify the core skills essential to help college students overcome tree-thinking challenges. In this study, I used pre/posttests, interviews, weekly reflective journal entries, field notes from course observations, and student responses to coursework to learn how upper-level college biology students developed representational competence with phylogenetic trees. I identified essential core skills by investigating students' tree-thinking progression over the course of the semester. Three major patterns …