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Money And Tragedy In The Nineteenth-Century Novel, Clany Soileau

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The nineteenth-century novelists studied in this dissertation used tragic form to investigate economic and social changes taking place around them. Honoré de Balzac’s Le Père Goriot (1834), William Dean Howells’ The Rise of Silas Lapham (1884-1885), Giovanni Verga’s Mastro-don Gesualdo (1888), Benito Pérez Galdós’s Miau, (1888), and Thomas Mann’s Buddenbrooks (1901) reflect the interest of writers in France, the United States, Italy, Spain, and Germany in questions concerning how money in an evolving capitalist society not only had a major role in shaping the behavior and personalities of specific individuals but also affected such institutions as the family. Under these …

The Contribution Of Socio-Economic Status And Maturity On Injury Risk In Youth Soccer, Kristin Noel Stoneberg

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Soccer is considered the universal sport as it is played by youth in nearly every nation around the world. With such a large number of children involved in soccer, injury is inevitable. Many possible risk factors have been identified, but very little current data address other risk factors such as maturity and socio-economic status (SES). The purpose of this study was to determine injury rates and the association between injury, maturity, socio-economic status, and other risk factors in youth soccer players. There were 440 youth soccer players ages 6-18 years involved in the cohort sample and a sub-sample of 102 …

Comparison Of Dot Chromosome Sequences From D. Melanogaster And D. Virilis Reveals An Enrichment Of Dna Transposon Sequences In Heterochromatic Domains, Elizabeth Slawson, Christopher Shaffer, Colin Malone, Wilson Leung, Elmer Kellmann, Rachel Shevchek, Carolyn Craig, Seth Bloom, James Bogenpohl 2nd, James Dee, Emiko Morimoto, Jenny Myoung, Andrew Nett, Fatih Ozsolak, Mindy Tittiger, Andrea Zeug, Mary-Lou Pardue, Jeremy Buhler, Elaine Mardis, Sarah C.R. Elgin

Biology Faculty Research

Background: Chromosome four of Drosophila melanogaster, known as the dot chromosome, is largely heterochromatic, as shown by immunofluorescent staining with antibodies to heterochromatin protein 1 (HP1) and histone H3K9me. In contrast, the absence of HP1 and H3K9me from the dot chromosome in D. virilis suggests that this region is euchromatic. D. virilis diverged from D. melanogaster 40 to 60 million years ago. Results: Here we describe finished sequencing and analysis of 11 fosmids hybridizing to the dot chromosome of D. virilis (372,650 base-pairs) and seven fosmids from major euchromatic chromosome arms (273,110 base-pairs). Most genes from the dot chromosome of …

Acceleration Of Profile-Hmm Search For Protein Sequences In Reconfigurable Hardware - Master's Thesis, May 2006 , Rahul Pratap Maddimsetty

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

Profile Hidden Markov models are highly expressive representations of functional units, or motifs, conserved across protein sequences. Profile-HMM search is a powerful computational technique that is used to annotate new sequences by identifying occurrences of known motifs in them. With the exponential growth of protein databases, there is an increasing demand for acceleration of such techniques. We describe an accelerator for the Viterbi algorithm using a two-stage pipelined design in which the first stage is implemented in parallel reconfigurable hardware for greater speedup. To this end, we identify algorithmic modifications that expose a high level of parallelism and characterize their …

The Winter Ecology Of The Piping Plover (Charadrius Melodus) In Coastal Georgia, Brandon Lennon Noel

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Author's abstract: The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is a federally listed species with three distinct breeding populations, including Great Plains (threatened), Great Lakes (endangered), and Atlantic Coast (threatened), all of which winter along the Atlnatic and Gulf coasts of the United States. I studied the winter ecology of the Piping Plovers on Little St. Simons Island (LSSI), Georgia, from 2003-2006, with emphasis on the conservation significance of this site for the endangered Great Lakes population. During 2003-2004 and 2004-2005, LSSI supported up to 100 Piping Plovers during peak migration, and approximately 40 birds wintered at this site. All populations had …

Lessons And Implications From A Mass Immunization Campaign In Squatter Settlements Of Karachi, Pakistan: An Experience From A Cluster-Randomized Double-Blinded Vaccine Trial, M. Imran Khan, Rion Leon Ochiai, Hasan Bin Hamza, Shah Muhammad Sahito, Atif Habib, Sajid Bashir Soofi, Naveed Sarwar Bhutto, Shahid Rasool, Mahesh K Puri, Mohammad Ali, Shafi Mohammad Wasan, Mohammad Jawed Khan, Remon Abu- Elyazeed, Bernard Ivanoff, Claudia M Galindo, Tikki Pang, Allan Donner, Lorenz Von Seidlein, Camilo J Acosta, John D Clemens, Shaikh Qamaruddin Nizam, Zulfiqar A Bhutta

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Objective: To determine the safety and logistic feasibility of a mass immunization strategy outside the local immunization program in the pediatric population of urban squatter settlements in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methods: A cluster-randomized double blind preventive trial was launched in August 2003 in 60 geographic clusters covering 21,059 children ages 2 to 16 years. After consent was obtained from parents or guardians, eligible children were immunized parenterally at vaccination posts in each cluster with Vi polysaccharide or hepatitis A vaccine. Safety, logistics, and standards were monitored and documented.
Results: The vaccine coverage of the population was 74% and …

Shape Based Automated Mapping Of Histological Mouse Brain Sections, Manasa Danda

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

In the development of an automatic image mapping system for mouse brain images, we focus on obtaining the best match in the two dimensional atlas images for the query image of a mouse brain section. The matching issue has to deal with the tissue distortions and tears, which are routinely encountered and possible scale, rotation and shear changes. With the goal to achieve high performance for image matching, a dual-stage approach is proposed which is based on radial distributions and region-based template matching.;Our main challenge is identifying shape features and corresponding distance metrics that produce effective characterization of 2D sections …

Signaling Pathways Involved In Regulation Of Glucose -6 -Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6pd) By Arachidonic Acid, Indrani Talukdar

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) is the rate-limiting enzyme of pentose phosphate pathway and provides NADPH for de novo fatty acid biosynthesis. For the later reason, G6PD is known as a lipogenic enzyme. Insulin induces expression of G6PD mRNA via activating the PI3 kinase pathway in primary rat hepatocytes. Addition of arachidonic acid, a polyunsaturated fatty acid, in the medium interferes with the PI3 kinase pathway, and thus inhibits the insulin-mediated induction of G6PD. Arachidonic acid in the presence of insulin induces p38 MAP kinase pathway over insulin treatment alone. Activation of p38 MAP kinase by arachidonic acid interferes with the insulin …

Depression, Volition, And Death: The Effect Of Depressive Disorders On The Autonomous Choice To Forgo Medical Treatment, Matthew Butkus

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many contemporary models of medical ethics champion patient autonomy to counterbalance historically paternalistic decision-making processes. These models tend to suggest an autonomous agent free from cognitive bias and systematic distortion (e.g., Kantian or Cartesian rational agents). Evidence is emerging from the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience that fundamentally challenge this cognitive model, demonstrating the dependence of cognition on deeper, avolitional structures (e.g., backstage cognition, cognitive heuristics and biases, automaticity, emotionally-valenced memory, etc.), and hence, shifting the cognitive model towards reductionistic and deterministic philosophies and psychologies. Medical ethics models must adapt their sense of autonomy in light of …

Model Validation For Aqua Ammonia Scrubber Process And Exploratory Research Into Alkyltin Pollutants: Alkyltin Method Evaluations, Kathleen Stutz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

NETL Project Abstract: This study constitutes an application of electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (ESI/TOF-MS) for the analysis of aqueous ammonia chemical species produced in a model reactor developed by The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the US Department of Energy. The reactor is the result of experimental research performed by NETL on applying aqueous ammonia solution for the simultaneous reduction of acidic gaseous emission from fossil fuel-fired utility plants. The goal of using ESI/TOF-MS was to evaluate NETL process efficiency through analysis of the aqueous ammonia species present at various points aqua ammonia scrubber process, and to validate …

The Isolation Of Intragenic Suppressors To Point Mutations In The 3' Coding Region Of Ftsz Of Streptomyces Coelicolor, Andrew Joseph Szabo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

FtsZ is the earliest known acting protein in the prokaryotic division machine. In Streptomyces coelicolor, mutations in ftsZ result in hyphae that cannot support division and the formation of uninucleoid spores. Part of this study focused on isolating intragenic suppressors to the ftsZ(A275V) mutation to investigate the function of the C-Terminal Domain of the protein. To date, eight intragenic suppressors of A275V have been isolated, three in this study. Their distribution in FtsZ is scattered, although there seems to be a preference for mutations that are near the GTP-binding domain. Also, the function of the highly conserved C-Terminal Core Domain …

Limited Proteolysis Of Human Histone Deacetylase 1, Nayana Kamath, Paulina Karwowska-Desaulniers, Mary Kay H. Pflum

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) proteins are associated with cell proliferation, differentiation, apoptosis, and cancer. Specifically, HDAC1 is linked with cell growth, a hallmark of cancer formation. HDAC1 is a phosphoprotein and phosphorylation at S421 and S423 promotes HDAC1 enzymatic activity and protein association. While single and double point mutants of HDAC1 at S421 and S423 appear functionally similar, the evidence suggests that HDAC1 is phosphorylated simultaneously at both S421 and S423 in vivo. Additional experiments are necessary to probe the role of double phosphorylation of HDAC1 at S421 and S423.

Results

To characterize HDAC1 phosphorylation at S421 and S423, …

Predictors Of Self-Rated Health: A 12-Month Prospective Study Of It And Media Workers, Dan Hasson, Bengt B. Arnetz, Tã¶Res Theorell, Ulla Anderberg

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Objective

The aim of the present study was to determine health-related risk and salutogenic factors and to use these to construct prediction models for future self-rated health (SRH), i.e. find possible characteristics predicting individuals improving or worsening in SRH over time (0–12 months).

Methods

A prospective study was conducted with measurements (physiological markers and self-ratings) at 0, 6 and 12 months, involving 303 employees (187 men and 116 women, age 23–64) from four information technology and two media companies.

Results

There were a multitude of statistically significant cross-sectional correlations (Spearman's Rho) between SRH and other self-ratings as well as …

K-Spmm: A Database Of Murine Spermatogenic Promoters Modules & Motifs, Yi Lu, Adrian E. Platts, G Charles Ostermeier, Stephen A. Krawetz

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Understanding the regulatory processes that coordinate the cascade of gene expression leading to male gamete development has proven challenging. Research has been hindered in part by an incomplete picture of the regulatory elements that are both characteristic of and distinctive to the broad population of spermatogenically expressed genes.

Description

K-SPMM, a database of murine Spermatogenic Promoters Modules and Motifs, has been developed as a web-based resource for the comparative analysis of promoter regions and their constituent elements in developing male germ cells. The system contains data on 7,551 genes and 11,715 putative promoter regions …

Decreased Intracellular Zinc In Human Tumorigenic Prostate Epithelial Cells: A Possible Role In Prostate Cancer Progression, Liping Huang, Catherine P. Kirschke, Yunfan Zhang

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Zinc plays important roles in maintaining normal function of the prostate and in development of prostate malignancy. It has been demonstrated that prostate malignant epithelial cells contain much less cellular zinc than the surrounding normal epithelial cells. However, the pathway(s) which leads to lower zinc accumulation in malignant prostate epithelial cells is poorly understood. In this study, the zinc homeostatic features of two human prostate epithelial cell lines (non-tumorigenic, RWPE1, and tumorigenic, RWPE2) were investigated. Effects of over-expression of ZIP1 in RWPE2 on cell proliferation and apoptosis were also studied.

Results

RWPE2 accumulated less intracellular zinc than RWPE1 …

Fm-Test: A Fuzzy-Set-Theory-Based Approach To Differential Gene Expression Data Analysis, Lily R. Liang, Shiyong Lu, Xuena Wang, Yi Lu, Vinay Mandal, Dorrelyn Patacsil, Deepak Kumar

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Microarray techniques have revolutionized genomic research by making it possible to monitor the expression of thousands of genes in parallel. As the amount of microarray data being produced is increasing at an exponential rate, there is a great demand for efficient and effective expression data analysis tools. Comparison of gene expression profiles of patients against those of normal counterpart people will enhance our understanding of a disease and identify leads for therapeutic intervention.

Results

In this paper, we propose an innovative approach, fuzzy membership test (FM-test), based on fuzzy set theory to identify disease associated genes from microarray …

The Missing Body–Yoga And Higher Education, Judith Beth Cohen

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Using her own yoga practice as a basis, this author argues for more bodily involvement in learning and offers several exercises she has used to accomplish this.

Diminished Nicotine Withdrawal In Adolescent Rats: Implications For Vulnerability To Addiction, Laura O'Dell

Departmental Papers (Psych)

No abstract provided.

Department Of Family Medicine 2005 Annual Report, Wayne State University School Of Medicine, Department Of Family Medicine And Public Health Sciences

Annual Reports

2005 annual report includes: WSU Trains Family Medicine Physicians; Letter from the Chair, Maryjean Schenk; Introducing New Faculty; Full-time affiliate and voluntary faculty; In memoriam of Bernard Dash; Faculty Serving in the Dean's office; Faculty Profiles; Honors, Awards and New Appointments in 2005; Family Medicine Residency and Residents; Occupational and Environmental Medicine; Behavioral Science; External Funding; Highlights from 2005 Publications; Peer-Reviewed Publications; Editorial and Peer-Review Activities; Division of Medical Education; Family Medicine Initiatives; Presentations at Professional Meetings; People of Detroit: A Living Project; Practice-based Research; University Family Physicians - Detroit and Royal Oak; Staff; Trends in Federal Grants and Publications.

Truth As Relationship: The Psychology Of E. Graham Howe, Ian Charles Edwards

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dr. Eric Graham Howe (d. 1975) was one of the most important psychologists in early 20th century Britain. Yet, for the most part, his work is relatively unknown. Howe was unjustly dismissed by the psychoanalytic community of his time. Howe was not only left out of the history of psychoanalysis, but also the history of psychology. Because of Howe's uninhibited eclecticism, because both the psychoanalytic and psychological literatures have ignored his work, and because he contributed to his own posthumous neglect, it was necessary to write a comprehensive survey of Howe's writings. Such a survey demonstrated the depth of his …

Microbial Transformation Of Arsenic And The Characterization Of Clostridium Sp. Strain Ohilas, Edward Fisher

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The impact of electron donor (acetate, pyruvate, lactate, formate, and hydrogen) and arsenate concentration (1, 5, 10, and 20 mM) on microbial arsenate reduction in freshwater sediments from the Ohio River, Pittsburgh PA was investigated. Hydrogen (with acetate as the carbon source) appeared to be the best electron donor and 5 mM sodium arsenate the most effective for both growth and orpiment (As2S3) production. A mesophilic, spore-forming, motile, low-mole %GC gram-positive bacterium was isolated from Ohio River sediments on medium with 20 mM lactate and 10 mM arsenate. Although pH 8 was optimal for growth, 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis …

The Effects Of Women's Health And Life Experiences On Surgical Intervention, Debra Jeanne Hastings

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that violence against women is a significant public health problem that has reached catastrophic levels. Women who are abused use health care services at higher rates than those who are not abused and continue to experience health problems long after the original trauma. Few studies have examined the association between women's history of victimization and numbers and types of surgical interventions over the life course.

A triangulated study using quantitative and qualitative approaches was designed. The cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted through use of a survey of 156 women who were scheduled for elective surgery. The qualitative methodology, …

An Assessment Of The Levels Of Stress Among Beginning Counselor Education Graduate Students, Students Beginning The Counseling Practicum And Students Graduating From Their Program Of Studies, Richard Christian Hoffman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The following study examines stress among graduate level counselor education students at different stages during their training program. The students were assigned to three groups according to training level: (1) beginning, (2) practicum, and (3) graduating. The Stress Profile (Nowack, 1999) was administered to the students (N= 58). Three constructs were chosen from the survey: (1) stress, (2) cognitive hardiness, and (3) psychological well-being. The constructs were developed using the theoretical framework of Lazarus's (1999) theory of appraisal and stress. These variables were compared among the students to determine if a difference in stress levels exists at different times during …

The Effect Of Papp-A On The Proliferation And Differentiation Of Mg-63 And Human Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Shelby Hott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pregnancy associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) plays an important role in the activity of the Insulin-like Growth Factor (IGF) family by proteolytically cleaving IGF-Binding Protein-4 (IGFBP-4) causing it to dissociate from IGF-I in vivo. This increases the bioavailability of IGF-I, allowing IGF-I to participate in growth and development. My goal was to evaluate the ability of PAPP-A to directly stimulate proliferation and differentiation of human adult mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSC) cells in vitro.

Commercially available PAPP-A, comprised of a heterotetrameric complex consisting of two PAPP-A subunits and two pro-MBP (proform of eosinophil major basic protein) subunits, was used in the following …

Solid-Phase Induction Of Xenopus Laevis Animal Caps By Fgf-2: A Novel Developmental Approach, Peter Maropis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cells become different in development due to induction, a ligand-mediated cell interaction. This type of interaction is an area of intense research for developmental biologists studying the effects of different growth factors (during development). The conventional approach to induction with Xenopus Laevis, African Clawed Frog, employs placing cells or tissues in a growth factor solution. This design reveals an enormous amount of information and insight into developmental processes, but it is not an accurate approach to simulate in vivo conditions. Here, I use a novel approach, termed solid-phase induction, as a more realistic and controllable approach. I utilize a glass …

Economic Instruments For Water Pollution Control Policy Making Issues: Experiences From Colombia, Monica Mildrei Montoya

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As part of the pollution control effort several developing countries have established economic-based initiatives to improve environmental quality. In this study the Colombian water pollution charge, which was implemented in 1997, is analyzed. The two key questions that this study attempts to answer are: 1) Does the performance of the pollution charge program in Colombia undermine the notion that economic instruments are not feasible in developing countries? 2) Which factors determine the performance of the water pollution charge program across regional environmental agencies in Colombia?

The answer to these questions provides valuable information for developing countries looking for more efficient …

When Wombs Became Weapons: Women, Policy, And Propaganda In The Third Reich, Melanie Predis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to examine how the Nazi State used visual forms of propaganda in order to convey certain gender-specific policy aims to women living in the Third Reich. This will be accomplished by using the novel scholarly approach (referred to as the New Intentionalist approach) that these policy aims were not only fulfilling a State-centered need, but they also were reflecting a desire and a voice of agreement within the German population of women. In other words, while these policies were certainly driven by the immediate political needs of the National Socialists, such policies could not …

A Mechanistic Evaluation Of How Melatonin Enhances Alkaline Phosphatase Activity In Human Adult Mesenchymal Stem Cells, Nicholas Radio

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current osteoporosis therapy is directed toward inhibiting the activity of bone-resorbing osteoclasts. Decreased bone producing osteoblast efficiency however, is largely responsible for osteoporosis development. Therefore, novel osteoporosis treatments should stimulate osteoblast formation and activity. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to determine melatonin's role and subsequent mechanism(s) involved in differentiating human adult mesenchymal stem cells (hAMSCs) into osteoblasts as assessed by alkaline phosphatase activity (ALP) and determine whether receptor compartmentalization facilitates these signaling mechanisms. Melatonin significantly increased osteogenic medium-induced alkaline phosphatase activity, an enzyme associated with functional osteoblasts, indicating melatonin enhances osteoblast differentiation. The mitogen activated protein kinase signaling …

Genetic Population Structure Of The Federally Endangered Etowah Darter, Etheostoma Etowahae, Shane Ritchea

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Etowah darter is a recently described member of the Etheostoma (Nothonotus) jordani species group believed to be geographically restricted to the Upper Etowah River in Georgia. Small population sizes and restricted range present potential risks to the continued existence of this endangered species. The most geographically proximal records of the relatively abundant greenbreast darter, E. jordani, were reported from Stamp Creek (a tributary to the middle section of the Etowah River); however, in recent surveys Nothonotus individuals have been documented from intermediate localities and appear to be morphological mixtures of E. jordani and E. etowahae. Two alternative hypotheses may …

The Effects Of Sex And Reproductive Condition On Chemosensory Communication In The Terrestrial Salamander, Plethodon Shermani, Stephanie Schubert

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Non-volatile chemosensory cues may be detected by sensory neurons of the vomeronasal organ (VNO) and elicit changes in reproductive behavior and physiology of conspecifics. In the terrestrial salamander, Plethodon shermani, the VNO of males is larger than that of females, despite males' smaller overall body size. I hypothesized that a larger VNO reflects an enhanced ability to detect chemosensory cues, and that animals with elevated levels of steroid levels would be more sensitive to cues from the opposite sex.

Chemo-investigatory behavior was both sexually dimorphic and hormonally modulated. In contrast, responsiveness of the VNO (as measured by agmatine uptake, a …