Digital Commons Network^™

Fate Of 17Α-Estradiol, 17Β-Estradiol, And Estrone In Agricultural Soils And Sediments, Michael L. Mashtare Jr

Open Access Dissertations

The shift to concentrated animal production facilities and increasing rural-urban migration has increased the localized land application of nearly 1 billion tons of manure and biosolids annually. Although these applications provide nutrients and contribute to soil tilth, they also serve as a source for an estimated 49 tons of the natural manure-borne estrogens, 17α-estradiol (17α-E2), 17β-estradiol (17β-E2), and estrone (E1). While these estrogens are critical to endocrine systems, the low concentrations observed in the environment can disrupt endocrine function in non-target organisms, e.g., altering secondary sex characteristics which can lead to changes in wildlife communities.

Research presented here focuses on …

Understanding Osmoregulation And Immunity In Heteromyid Rodents Through Insights Gained From Rna-Seq, Nicholas John Marra

Open Access Dissertations

Understanding the genetic basis of adaptation is one of the central questions of evolutionary genetics. In the face of selective pressure, individuals with adaptive phenotypes survive and pass on their beneficial alleles that conferred this fitness advantage. Over sufficient time scales and under strong selection, differences accumulate between taxa in the form of physical and/or behavioral traits that have been shaped differently. By looking at the transcriptomes of related taxa we can identify sequence and regulatory differences that represent molecular signatures of these different selection regimes. When we study these differences between taxa that have evolved under opposing selective forces …

Neuroprotection By Chitosan And Chitosan Nanoparticles, Bojun Chen

Open Access Dissertations

In the U.S., about 200,000 people are currently living with spinal cord injury (SCI). An estimated of 50%-70% of all SCI cases occurs in the range of ages between 15-35 years old. The destructive neurotrauma results in the majority of adult disability, even after patients suffering with SCI survived from the acute death. There are two stages involved in the progression of SCI, the primary stage and the secondary stage. The primary stage is mainly the mechanical damage to the central nervous system. The rapid collapse of the integrity of cell membrane and tissue is often one of the initial …

Synthesis Characterization And Applications Of Colloidal Supported Metal Nanoparticles, Kalyani Gude

Open Access Dissertations

Nanocatalysts show excellent catalytic activity because of their immense surface-to-volume ratio. In homogeneous nanocatalysis, the catalyst remains in the same phase as the reactants and products. Traditionally available homogeneous nanocatalysts include colloidal suspensions of transition metal nanoparticles. In heterogeneous nanocatalysis, the catalyst and the reactants are in different phases. Traditionally available heterogeneous nanocatalysts include metal nanoparticles adsorbed onto bulk supports such as silica, alumina, carbon etc. The main advantage associated with homogeneous nanocatalysts is that they have high selectivities compared to heterogeneous nanocatalysts. The main disadvantages associated with homogeneous nanocatalysts include poor thermal stability, metal contamination and difficulty recovering the …

Study Of Ph(Low) Insertion Peptides (Phlips) Interaction With Lipid Bilayer Of Membrane, Dhammika Anuradha Weerakkody

Open Access Dissertations

The pH-dependent interactions of pHLIPs^® (pH (Low) Insertion Peptides) with lipid bilayer of membrane provides an opportunity to study and address fundamental questions of protein folding/insertion into membrane and unfolding/exit, as well as develop novel approach to target acidic diseased tissue such as cancer, ischemic myocardium, infection and others.

The main goal of the work presented here is to answer the following questions:

- What is the molecular mechanism of spontaneous insertion and folding of a peptide in a lipid bilayer of membrane;

- What is the molecular mechanism of unfolding and exit of a peptide from a lipid …

Protein Structure Modeling And Its Application To The Mechanics Of Actomyosin Interaction, Cynthia N. Prudence

Open Access Dissertations

Study and modeling of protein structures provides an opportunity to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of key biological processes, as well as interpret experi- mental data obtained by variety of physical methods. The main goal of my work was to develop computational algorithms for the analysis of protein structures, the docking of protein-protein interactions, the implementation of these algorithms and the correlation of protein structure analysis with the results of steady-state and kinetics fluorescence measurements.

First, we developed and implemented algorithms for the decomposition of multi- component protein fluorescence spectra and the correlation of these spectral parameters with protein structural properties. …

Hybrid Optical Acoustic Seafloor Mapping, Gabrielle Inglis

Open Access Dissertations

The oceanographic research and industrial communities have a persistent demand for detailed three dimensional sea floor maps which convey both shape and texture. Such data products are used for archeology, geology, ship inspection, biology, and habitat classification. There are a variety of sensing modalities and processing techniques available to produce these maps and each have their own potential benefits and related challenges. Multibeam sonar and stereo vision are such two sensors with complementary strengths making them ideally suited for data fusion. Data fusion approaches however, have seen only limited application to underwater mapping and there are no established methods for …

Seasonal Particle And Carbon Dynamics In The Eastern Bering Sea, Matthew S. Baumann

Open Access Dissertations

The ocean margins of high-latitude seas, such as the eastern Bering Sea, are recognized as important areas for the enhanced scavenging removal of particle reactive chemicals and for the potential to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide via photosynthetic conversion to biogenic particles and subsequent downward particle transport to deeper waters. This region is expected to warm in the future, and with the warming will come a reduction in the extent and duration of seasonal sea-ice. This physical process exerts an important control on the timing, location, and magnitude of the spring primary production bloom. Within the context that 2008-2010 are characterized …

Childhood Maltreatment, Posttraumatic Cognitions, And Health Outcomes Among Young Adults, Elizabeth Reichert

Open Access Dissertations

Childhood maltreatment is a significant public health issue that has been linked to a myriad of negative long-term mental and physical health consequences. While the devastating health outcomes have been well established in the literature, the potential mechanisms of this link are less understood. In an effort to elucidate this relationship, the present study examined maladaptive cognitions (i.e., posttraumatic cognitions related to the self and world) that can form as a result of experiencing the trauma of maltreatment. Specifically, this cross-sectional study investigated the association between childhood maltreatment and self-reported mental and physical health concerns among a sample of young …

Sequence Effects On The Repair And Replication Of Arylamine-Dna Adducts, Vipin Jain

Open Access Dissertations

Cancer is a collection of diseases defined by uncontrolled cell growth and dissemination of abnormal cells. It is the second most deadly disease in the United States. Exposure to chemicals, both endogeneous and exogeneous is one of the major causes of cancer initiation. The role of chemicals in carcinogenesis was observed back in the eighteenth century when surgeon Pott observed a large number of scrotal cancer cases in chimney sweeps and associated it with to the soot exposure. However, research in the field of chemical carcinogenesis was renewed when Yamagawa and Ichikawa reported the development of malignant tumor on the …

The Effects Of N-Butonol On The Model And Reconstituted Membrane Of Clostridium Pasteurianum, Yogi Kurniawan

Open Access Dissertations

During n-butanol fermentation, n-butanol partitions into microbial membranes result in destabilizing cellular lipid membranes by altering their lipid composition (generally the ratio of saturated to unsaturated lipids) whereas adapted microorganisms respond by altering the ratio of unsaturated to saturated lipids. The mechanism of how microbes achieve a high adaptation in response to n-butanol is barely known. This dissertation describes the role of unsaturated lipids and charged lipid composition in modulating n-butanol partition into membrane using model bacteria (i.e. lipid bilayer vesicles or liposomes and Langmuir monolayers) and those studies were compared with reconstituted membranes (Clostridium pasteurianum) that represented …

The Impact Of Predator-Prey Relationships On The Formation Of Harmful Algal Blooms In Heterosigma Akashiwo, Elizabeth L. Harvey

Open Access Dissertations

Heterotrophic protists are the primary grazers of phytoplankton in the marine environment, and changes in the rates of consumption will influence phytoplankton abundance, community composition, and ecological function. The objective of this research was to investigate the influence of predators on the formation and promotion of harmful algal blooms (HABs), specifically blooms of the toxic raphidophyte alga, Heterosigma akashiwo. To observe microscopic predator-prey interactions and their macroscopic distributions, video and image analysis were used to simultaneously quantify population distributions and individual 3D movements of both protistan predators and prey cells in laboratory tanks with realistic salinity structures. In behavioral experiments, …

Using Molecular Tools To Elucidate Controls On Microbes Driving The Nitrogen Cycle In Marine Sediments, Shelley Marie Brown

Open Access Dissertations

Marine sediments harbor metabolically versatile bacteria whose activities can influence the cycle of nutrients on global scales. Microbial communities driving nitrogen (N) cycling are extremely diverse, thus making it difficult to identify the functional groups and elucidate controls on their activity. Denitrifiers in sediments remove significant amounts of N from the coastal ocean, while diazotrophs are typically considered inconsequential. Recently, N fixation has been shown to be a potentially important source of N in coastal sediments, however, the environmental drivers controlling this process are poorly understood. The goal of this dissertation was to identify and target the likely active denitrifiers …

Migration And Stopover Ecology Of Songbirds And Bats Along A Major Ecological Barrier, Adam D. Smith

Open Access Dissertations

Migration is a physiologically and energetically demanding period in the life cycle of a migratory animal. Most migrant songbirds alternate between periods of nocturnal flight, when energy is used, and stopover, when energy is accumulated for the next flight period; indeed, songbirds spend most of their time and energy on stopover. Conversely, the habits of migratory bats remain largely enigmatic, but there is reason to expect that models of songbird migration can inform bat migration research. I investigated, at multiple scales, the migration ecology of songbirds and bats and the stopover ecology of songbirds along the Atlantic Coast of southern …

Feeding Ecology Of Skates And Rays In Delaware And Narragansett Bays, John Andrew Szczepanski Jr.

Open Access Dissertations

Skates and rays are an integral part of the trophic structure of many estuarine ecosystems. However, there are many aspects of the fisheries biology of these species that require further exploration. For example, few comparisons have been done of the feeding habits of sympatric species that potentially overlap in resource usage, diets over time, or food preferences between fish populations from different regions. Most of what is known of batoid elasmobranch (skate and ray) diets on the Western Atlantic coast is a compilation of data from the entire continental shelf with no distinction of diets for populations within different estuaries …

Metabolism, Hypoxia Tolerance And Heat Shock Response Of Amphipods, Emphasizing The Hyperiid Amphipod Phronima Sedentaria, Leanne Elizabeth Elder

Open Access Dissertations

This work investigates the ecophysiology of marine amphipods. Amphipods are an important part of the zooplankton community in the pelagic environment. Amphipods are a food source for a variety of fishes and also have a role in carbon cycling. Little is known about their physiology and how they have adapted to environmental variation.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that global warming is causing temperatures to rise throughout the world’s oceans, a trend that will continue with rising human carbon emissions. As temperature and CO₂ levels increase, oceanic oxygen levels are predicted to decrease, and as a …

Analyzing And Quantifying Dynamc Program Behavior In Terms Of Regularities And Patterns, Celal Ozturk

Open Access Dissertations

Current processors employ aggressive prediction mechanisms to improve performance and reduce power. Most optimizations, however, are as a result of fairly ad-hoc observations or they primarily rely on heuristic. It is increasingly important to understand and quantify a program's dynamic behavior to effectively design next-generation prediction mechanisms. Although quantifying frequent behavior in an application's dynamic execution behavior is trivial in cases such as observing the frequency of each type of instruction, it is very challenging to summarize dynamic data reference behavior. As a result, most prediction mechanisms (data prefetchers, branch predictors, and other) employed in current processors today rely on …

Suppression Of Pxr Expression By Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress And Microrna, Thaveechai Vachirayonstien

Open Access Dissertations

The pregnane X receptor is a nuclear receptor, functioning as a ligand activated transcriptional factor. PXR is recognized as a major regulator of xenobiotic metabolism. Several important Phase I and Phase II enzymes, and drug transporters are regulated by PXR. PXR is also a master regulator of CYP3A4, which is one of the most important enzymes in drug metabolism. Thus, knowledge of regulation of PXR expression is crucial to understand alterations in drug metabolism. Many liver diseases such as steatosis and inflammatory liver diseases alter the expression of drug metabolizing enzymes and transporters. CYP3A4 is down-regulated in these diseases. Endoplasmic …

Model-Based Approaches To Characterize Clinical Pharmacokinetics Of Atorvastatin And Rosuvastatin In Disease State, Joyce Macwan

Open Access Dissertations

Cardiovascular disorders are the leading cause of death in the United States. Members of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) class of lipid-lowering drugs are used worldwide for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disorders. Cardiovascular disorders are the primary cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus and obesity as well as renal and liver transplantation. The rising global burden of these chronic disorders has resulted in long-term use of statins to prevent and treat cardiovascular disorders in diverse patient populations. Several statins are commercially available; however, atorvastatin calcium (Lipitor^®, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, NY) is the …

Use And Unintended Consequences Of Antidepressant Medications By Depressed Older Adults, Eun Sun Noh

Open Access Dissertations

Background

National guidelines suggest 12-18 months of antidepressant treatment for depressed patients to maximize the benefits of treatment; however, patterns of medication use according to the guidelines are less well understood, especially in older adults who are at higher risk of adverse drug events. In addition, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are recommended as a first-line therapy for older adults because of their favorable adverse event profile; however, several observational studies have suggested an association between SSRI use and an increased risk of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. While this link remains controversial, it is important to evaluate the risk of GI …

Benthic-Pelagic Coupling As A Function Of Changing Organic Inputs In Coastal Ecosystems, Lindsey Fields

Open Access Dissertations

Benthic-pelagic coupling links the sediments and the water column in shallow coastal marine ecosystems. Measurements of benthic-pelagic coupling have been made for decades in shallow, estuarine ecosystems, but relatively few measurements have been made in transitional inner continental shelf areas. Accordingly, the Providence River Estuary and mid-Narragansett Bay have many measurements while ecosystems on the Southern New England inner continental shelf have few. However, even in estuarine areas, the reactions and response times of benthic-pelagic coupling to recent anthropogenic and climate-induced changes are poorly constrained.

Recently, a climate-induced oligotrophication has weakened the relationship between the benthos and the water column …

Girl Talk: Analyzing Discourse Among Urban Middle School Girls, Carey Delauder Bledsoe

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation is a qualitative study of an all-girls’ advisory in a coeducational, urban middle school located in a mid-sized city in the northeast. The advisory group met daily over the course of the 2010-2011 academic year. Drawing from data collected over one year of fieldwork--including participant observation, analysis of discourse, dynamic interviews, and the analysis of social constructs --this study explores how a group of mostly African American and Latina students created a caring community in order to increase their academic and social success.

Each chapter of the dissertation examines the challenges and obstacles the girls in the advisory …

Gender-Twisting And Bros Talking: Discursive Performance Of Gender, Power, And Recognition In The Sex Ed. Class, Odile Mattiauda

Open Access Dissertations

In American Schools, students are rarely offered educational experiences about gender and sexuality. Programs that do address sexuality are rarely based on moral beliefs and democratic values of tolerance and inclusivity. Sexuality education is predominantly taught by health teachers, rather than human sexuality educators, and their focus is on facts, statistics, and controversial issues such as the prevention of teenage pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV/AIDS. This limited perspective on sexuality neglects the important role of gender identity and sexual orientation (Donovan, 1989; Haffner & De Mauro, 1991; Nelson Trudell, 1993)

Using teacher-researcher-participant-observer qualitative methodology, I examined the discourse …

Applying Qbd And Pat In Biological Manufacturing For “Continued Process Verification”, Prakash Bedre

Open Access Dissertations

The objective of this research topic is to show QbD and PAT tools such as multivariate analysis can perform “Continued Process Verification by using a Real-Time Multivariate Process Monitoring (RT-MSPM) system. There are not one but many challenges The pharmaceutical and bio-pharmaceutical manufacturers are facing multiple challenges such as changing regulatory requirements, healthcare reforms, economic pressure and availability of advance manufacturing technology to make better quality products at reduced costs.

Due to the recent technological developments, significant opportunities exist for improving pharmaceutical development, manufacturing and quality assurance through innovation in product and process development, process analysis, and process controls. The …

Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment Of Childhood Anxiety: Examining A Parent Consultation Model, Allison M. Smith

Open Access Dissertations

Strong evidence supports the use of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for the treatment of clinical anxiety in children. As parents may play an etiological role in the development, progression, and maintenance of childhood anxiety, researchers have noted that including parents in child treatment confers some benefit upon child outcomes. Conducting CBT solely with the parents of anxious children may be equally beneficial and potentially more cost-effective than treatment modalities with only the child. The present study examined the efficacy of a ten-session parent-only CBT intervention delivered individually to parents of anxious children (ICBT) in comparison to a ten week wait-list control …

Role Of Nuclear Factor E2 Related Factor 2 (Nrf2) In Development Of Steatosis And Drug Transporter Alterations, Vijay Rs More

Open Access Dissertations

Steatosis is fat deposition in liver arising from conditions like obesity, diabetes, and/or alcohol consumption. It is a benign condition with normal liver function, and can often be reversed. Both alcoholic and non-alcoholic liver steatosis can further progress to irreversible steatohepatitis to cirrhosis and substantial loss of liver function. Nuclear factor E2 related factor 2 (Nrf2) is a transcription factor known to combat oxidative stress in the cell. The contribution of Nrf2 to other cellular functions, such as lipid homeostasis is emerging. The work herein assessed how enhanced Nrf2 activity impacts progression of hepatic steatosis with long-term high fat diet …

Pharmacodynamic Mechanisms Of Tolfenamic Acid Induced Sp1 Degradation Relative To Alzheimer's Disease Pathology, Lina I. Adwan

Open Access Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) continues to disrupt the lives of millions of patients and caregivers around the world. The few drugs currently used for AD have modest effects on the symptoms and do not prevent the progression of the disease into total memory loss and death. With the increase in the number of AD cases and the high social and economical costs of the disease, there is a great need to find disease-modifying therapeutics that target the core pathology of the disease as well as improve the symptoms and the patients’ everyday quality of life. Two types of pathological aggregates are …

Readiness For Hpv Vaccination: A Comparison Of Male And Female College Students, Anne C. Fernandez

Open Access Dissertations

Background: Human Papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted disease in the world. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in both sexes, accounting for approximately 5% of all cancers worldwide. Receiving the HPV vaccine can substantially reduce the risk of HPV infection and subsequent disease. At this time the majority of Americans reach adulthood without being vaccinated. Increasing HPV vaccination among young adults requires empirical assessment and understanding of HPV-related beliefs and behaviors among this population. To achieve this goal, three studies were conducted.

Study 1: This study examined demographic and psychosocial correlates of HPV …

Compounds From A. Platanoides Bark, V. Corymbosum Roots & Topical Formulations Using Maple Syrup, Raed Omar

Open Access Dissertations

The United States is the world’s largest producer of blueberries and the world’s second largest producer of maple syrup. Maine is the nation’s leading producer of wild blueberries, harvesting 82.6 million pounds of wild blueberries. Similarly, the New England region represents roughly 75% of the total U.S. production of maple syrup. These plants play a vital role in New England’s economy and are commonly consumed; however, these plants benefit more than the economy. The secondary metabolites of these plants are both antioxidants, and also anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and anti-viral agents. Blueberries are commonly consumed and have been investigated exhaustively. On the …

Cyclic Peptides: Design, Characterization, Self-Assembly, And Applications As Nano Drug Delivery Systems, Amir Nasrolahi Shirazi

Open Access Dissertations

Over the past two decades, drug delivery systems have become a subject of major interest in the pharmaceutical industry for the treatment of different diseases, such as cancer, viral infections, and genetic disorders. A wide range of compounds show high binding affinity and great potential in in vitro non-cellular assays through direct interacting with molecular targets. However, many compounds show low potency in cell-based assays due to their limited delivery across the cell membrane. The physicochemical properties of several compounds, such as size, poor water solubility, hydrophobic nature, and negative charge, limit their cellular uptake significantly. Thus, there is an …