Digital Commons Network^™

News From Hope College, Volume 40.3: December, 2008, Hope College

News from Hope College

No abstract provided.

Laboratory Studies Of Responses Of Anuran Amphibians To Roundup Exposures: Reference Toxicant And Components, Lindsay Moore

All Theses

Roundup¨ has been implicated as a possible cause for the declining amphibian populations in North America. Carefully designed laboratory toxicity tests are crucial for accurate risk assessment of the responses of anuran populations to incidental exposures of Roundup¨ herbicides. The overall objective of these studies was to determine the response of North American anuran species to exposures of Roundup¨ formulations and components to support or refute the claim that Roundup¨ is a factor in amphibian decline in North America. Aqueous 96 hour static non-renewal laboratory tests were utilized to (1) evaluate the effectiveness of copper sulfate as a reference toxicant …

A Microbiological Survey And Characterization, Andrew Daane

All Theses

In our study, two dairy compost heaps and one vegetable scrap compost heap were constructed on two research farms in Clemson, SC. Samples were taken from each heap from different locations at 8 elected intervals and analyzed for enterococci and VRE counts by spread plating on Bile Esculin agar (BEA) and BEA containing 6 g/ml of vancomycin, respectively. The initial populations of enterococci and VRE in compost were in the range of 6.46-7.43 and 5.36-6.70 log CFU/g, respectively. After 30 days of active composting the average VRE populations declined ca. 4.6, 4.07, 3.97 and 1.6 logs at the top, center, …

Demographic, Economic, And Social Transformations In Bronx Community District 9: Parkchester, Unionport, Soundview, Castle Hill, And Clason Point, 1990 - 2006, Astrid S. Rodríguez

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report analyzes demographic and socioeconomic characteristics among the five largest Latino nationality groups during 1990-2006 in the NYC Community District 9 of the borough of the Bronx, which comprises the neighborhoods of Parkchester, Unionport, Soundview, Castle Hill, and Clason Point.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: Puerto Ricans are the largest Latino subgroup in the Bronx Community District 9, accounting …

Socio-Economic Mobility Among Foreign-Born Latin American And Caribbean Nationalities In New York City, 2000-2006, Howard Caro-López

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This study examines demographic and socioeconomic factors of racial/ethnic groups in New York City between 2000 and 2006 – particularly the Latino population.

Methods: Data on Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups were obtained from the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey, reorganized for public use by the Minnesota Population Center, University of Minnesota, IPUMSusa. Cases in the dataset were weighted and analyzed to produce population estimates.

Results: On the whole there was considerable variation between immigrants from different Latino national groups in New York City, with respect to economic performance between 2000 and 2006. Smaller national groups in New …

Volunteer Functions, Satisfaction, Commitment, And Intention To Leave Government Volunteering, Gisela R. Salas

Graduate Student Dissertations, Theses, Capstones, and Portfolios

Traditionally, volunteerism has been deeply embedded in United States history with citizens showing a high level of social participation. In the United States there are 60.8 million volunteers, however, the supply of volunteer labor has been insufficient to meet the demands of organizations with recent reports showing a decrease. Trends as far back as the 1980s indicated that budgetary constraints coupled with increasing demands makes volunteering the logical alternative to sustain service delivery.

Many community, civic, and governmental organizations need and use volunteers to accomplish their missions. One of the greatest challenges, however, is ensuring that the volunteers remain satisfied …

Unsupervised Indexing Of Medline Articles Through Graph-Based Ranking, Jorge R. Herskovic

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The biomedical literature is extensively catalogued and indexed in MEDLINE. MEDLINE indexing is done by trained human indexers, who identify the most important concepts in each article, and is expensive and inconsistent. Automating the indexing task is difficult: the National Library of Medicine produces the Medical Text Indexer (MTI), which suggests potential indexing terms to the indexers. MTI’s output is not good enough to work unattended. In my thesis, I propose a different way to approach the indexing task called MEDRank. MEDRank creates graphs representing the concepts in biomedical articles and their relationships within the text, and applies graph-based ranking …

Antibacterial Coatings For Medical Devices Based On Glass Polyalkenoate Cement Chemistry, A. Coughlan, D. Boyd, C. W.I. Douglas, Mark R. Towler

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A biofilm is an accumulation of micro-organisms and their extracellular products forming a structured community on a surface. Biofilm formation on medical devices has severe health consequences as bacteria growing in this lifestyle are tolerant to both host defense mechanisms and antibiotic therapies. However, silver and zinc ions inhibit the attachment and proliferation of immature biofilms. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether it is possible to produce silver and zinc-containing glass polyalkenoate cement (GPC) coatings for medical devices that have antibacterial activity and which may therefore inhibit biofilm formation on a material surface. Two silver and zinc-containing …

Editorial, C Nayak

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

No abstract provided.

Modeling Physical-Chemical Properties Of High Dilutions: An Electrical Conductivity Study, Carla Holandino, Rafael Harduim, Venício Da Veiga, Sheila Garcia, Carlos Zacharias

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

The most common way to perform succussions is to place a liquid preparation inside a glass vessel and beat it vigorously against a hard elastic surface, either manually or using a mechanical apparatus. This procedure has been assumed able to transfer mechanical energy to the molecular level, where it becomes available to perform chemical work. Such interpretation has been enforced by observed changes in the electrical conductivity (EC) of High Dilutions (HD) due to succussion. In order to address this question, we compared the electrical conductivity changes of HD prepared from Vincristine sulfate (VCR) samples with those of an inert …

Paraffin: A Multicentric Double Blind Homoeopathic Pathogenetic Trial Carried Out By Ccrh, Rajpal Rajpal, V Siddiqui, N Dey, K Das, Yogendra Rai, Vinay Singh

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Objective: Objective of the study was to elicit the pharmacodynamic response of the drug Paraffin on healthy human volunteers in non-toxic doses. Methodology: Drug was proved through a double-blind method and multi-centric study. Trial drug was proved in three potencies (6C, 30C and 200C) on 43 volunteers who were declared apparently healthy during their pre-trial medical examination by medical specialists. The volunteers consumed 56 doses (four doses per day for fourteen days) of each potency (6C, 30C and 200C) in three stages for a varying period. The symptoms generated during the trial period were noted by the volunteers and elaborated …

Mentha Piperita – A Multicentric Clinical Verification Study Conducted By Ccrh, P Chakraborty, J Singh, M Rai, Pramodji Singh, A Vichitra, A.K.N. Singh, Deepa Chakraborty, D Singh, Hari Singh

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Mentha piperita has been used in Homoeopathy for many conditions like dry and spasmodic cough, hoarseness of voice, husky voice, productive cough, tendency to catch cold, headache, painful throat, infantile colic, pruritus vulvae, pain in neck, pimples on face, herpetic eruptions, etc as found in the literature. Besides these, pharyngitis, vertigo, coryza, tracheitis, gastritis, constipation and Urticaria were also relieved by this medicine and thus unfolding the hidden character of the medicine in there clinical conditions during the study. A total of 6372 patients participated in this multicentric clinical verification study at various Units/Institutes under Central Council for Research in …

Immunological Studies On Rheumatoid Arthritis Treated With Homeopathic Drugs: Results Of The Pilot Study, Prakash Rao, M Prasanna

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Introduction & Objective: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a systemic disease, is characterized by a chronic inflammatory reaction in the synovium of joints. The inflammation is mediated by inflammatory cytokines. The objective of the study was to evaluate efficacy of homeopathic drugs and changes in the cytokine profile of rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with homeopathic drugs. Materials and Methods: A total of 35 rheumatoid arthritis patients and 10 healthy controls completed this pilot study. The patients were treated with Rhus tox. (8), Pulsatilla (8) and Medorrhinum (9) according to totality of symptoms. The control group (10) received placebo. The patients were evaluated …

A Big Urinary Calculus Expelled With Homoeopathic Medicine, A Gupta, Jaya Gupta, V Siddiqui, Alok Mishra

Indian Journal of Research in Homoeopathy

Urinary stones of up to 5 mm. of diameter are known to pass spontaneously through the urinary tract, whereas those exceeding 7 mm. of diameter almost always require surgical intervention. A case of 16.9 mm calculus, lodged close to left uretero-vesicular junction, presented with severe cramping pain in the left lumbar region, which radiated downwards to the groin area. Patient also had severe pain at the end of urination. After analysing the totality of symptoms presented by the patient, Sarsaparilla 30C was prescribed. Three doses of this homoeopathic medicine could expel the stone, without causing considerable discomfort or bleeding.

Gender Dependence And Attitudes Toward The Distribution Of Household Labor: A Comparative And Multilevel Analysis, Sheri L. Kunovich, Robert M. Kunovich

Sociology Research

We use comparative and multilevel methods to examine attitudes toward the distribution of household labor in 32 countries. We test hypotheses derived from Baxter and Kane’s (1995) gender dependence theory, which suggests complex relationships between societal-level gender dependence, individual-level gender dependence, and gender attitudes. Country-level data are from the United Nations and survey data are from the International Social Survey Programme’s 2002 Family and Changing Gender Roles III module. Our analysis is among the first to combine societal and individual indicators of gender dependence using multilevel modeling and to test for cross-level interactions between societal and individual gender dependence. Results …

Bioflocculation For Control Of Wastewater Pond Microalgae, Daniel Thomas Frost

Master's Theses

Investigates several hypotheses regarding the use of bioflocculation as a harvesting method for wastewater pond microalgae. Research performed on pilot-scale high rate ponds (HRPs) on the California Central Coast.

Comparison Of Electrically Mediated And Liposome-Complexed Plasmid Dna Delivery To The Skin, Loree C. Heller, Mark J. Jaroszeski, Domenico Coppola, Richard Heller

Bioelectrics Publications

BACKGROUND: Electroporation is an established technique for enhancing plasmid delivery to many tissues in vivo, including the skin. We have previously demonstrated efficient delivery of plasmid DNA to the skin utilizing a custom-built four-plate electrode. The experiments described here further evaluate cutaneous plasmid delivery using in vivo electroporation. Plasmid expression levels are compared to those after liposome mediated delivery.

METHODS: Enhanced electrically-mediated delivery, and less extensively, liposome complexed delivery, of a plasmid encoding the reporter luciferase was tested in rodent skin. Expression kinetics and tissue damage were explored as well as testing in a second rodent model.

RESULTS: Experiments …

Modular Multi-Stage Axial Compressor Design, Christopher S. Hemerly

Master's Theses - Daytona Beach

Increasingly, companies are becoming more interested in reducing cost. Recent studies indicate that up to 80% of the Lifecycle costs (LCC) has been embedded in the engine's DNA at the end of the development and design phase. One concept to aid in the cost reduction is the modular design of expensive and development-intensive components, such as multi-stage axial compressors. It is the objective of this approach to utilize a "core" module in all the compressors, thus maximizing commonality and minimizing all relevant development, design, manufacture, procurement, and service costs; these reductions in cost are projected to increase affordability by five-fold. …

Iraqis In Egypt A Statistical Survey In 2008, Philippe Fargues, Saeed El-Masry, Sara Sadek, Azza Shaban

Faculty Journal Articles

Emigration from Iraq has been occurring since the 1970s. The Iran-Iraq War, Gulf War and the subsequent international sanctions placed on the Iraqi regime have all produced waves of emigration. After US occupation of Iraq, however, and particularly since 2005, the country has witnessed unprecedented levels of out-migration. Since the US led war on Iraq in 2003, massive numbers of Iraqis have been displaced from their homes causing the largest influx of refugees into the region. The situation of Iraqi refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon has received the attention of academics. In comparison, the picture of Iraqis in Egypt …

The Effects Of A 40mg Lasik Treatment On The Threshold Frequency Of Electrically Induced Muscle Cramps, Sara F. Bergeron

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Context: Muscle cramps that are caused by exercise can be painful and debilitating to an active individual. One theory to explain the cause of exerciseassociated muscle cramps is dehydration. While dehydration is a popular theory it has 111 yet to be studied as a sole factor to the incidence of muscle cramps. Objective: To examine the effect of mild dehydration on the threshold frequency (TF) of electrically induced muscle cramps (EIMC) in the flexor hallucis brevis.

Workplace Electronic Privacy Protections Abroad: The Whole Wide World Is Watchin, William A. Herbert

Publications and Research

Legal and public policy ideas and concepts are known to traverse national borders. The rapidity of this multinational exchange of ideas has been substantially enhanced through the technological revolution over the past two decades. How a nation adopts or rejects particular ideas and concepts reflects on its particular history, culture and priorities. The establishment of legal protections for privacy against intrusions by governments, employers, companies and individuals represents a concept that has been adopted in different ways by other nations. This article will focus on how the European Union and certain Western countries have approached the issue of protecting individual …

First Choice, December 2008, Wusf Public Media

First Choice Monthly Newsletter

The December 2008 issue of WUSF's newsletter "First Choice."

Escherichia Coli Ftna Acts As An Iron Buffer For Re-Assembly Of Iron-Sulfur Clusters In Response To Hydrogen Peroxide Stress, Jacob P. Bitoun, Genfu Wu, Huangen Ding

Faculty Publications

Iron-sulfur clusters are one of the most ubiquitous redox centers in biology. Ironically, iron-sulfur clusters are highly sensitive to reactive oxygen species. Disruption of iron-sulfur clusters will not only change the activity of proteins that host iron-sulfur clusters, the iron released from the disrupted iron-sulfur clusters will further promote the production of deleterious hydroxyl free radicals via the Fenton reaction. Here, we report that ferritin A (FtnA), a major iron-storage protein in Escherichia coli, is able to scavenge the iron released from the disrupted iron-sulfur clusters and alleviates the production of hydroxyl free radicals. Furthermore, we find that the iron …

A Nation Transformed: How The Civil War Changed America Forever, Clayton E. Jewett

Civil War Book Review

The Civil War as an Agent of Change

The Collegian (2008-12-01), Isis Lopez

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 61, No. 15

Visualisation Of Critical Infrastructure Failure, W D. Wilde, M J. Warren

Australian Information Warfare and Security Conference

The paper explores the complexity of critical infrastructure and critical infrastructure failure (CIF), real life examples are used to discuss the complexity involved. The paper then discusses what Visualisation is and how Visualisation can be applied to a security situation, in particular critical infrastructure. The paper concludes by discussing the future direction of the research.

Five Decades Of Agricultural Policies In Nigeria: What Roles Has Statistics Played?, Akinboyo O. I

Bullion

All over the country and internationally, the publications of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) such as the Annual Report and Statement of Accounts, the Statistical Bulletin, Economic and Financial Review, the Bullion and Nigeria: Major Economic and Banking Indicators and those of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have become a veritable source of data and reference materials on Nigeria. Without basic i n f o r m a t i o n o n e c o n o m i c developments, it would be very difficult for policy makers to assess economic performances. The f o …

The School Counselor As An Emerging Professional In The Japanese Educational System, Jeannine R. Studer

International Education

The writer discusses the emergence of school counselors in Japan. She emphasizes that clinical psychologists are fulfilling the emerging school counselor role. She then discusses the emergence of school counselors in the U.S. and outlines disturbing influences in students' lives that concern school counselors in both countries. Finally, she considers whether disputes and issues that affected U.S. school counselors could act as a guide for their Japanese counterparts.

“Nobody Told Us About What Happened”: The Current State Of Holocaust Education In Romania, Thomas Misco

International Education

Using data obtained primarily from about 40 government officials and educators and from students and community members, the writer examined Holocaust education in Romania. He presents results on academic freedom, the education ministry's role, teacher training, class time and the macrocurriculum, content, the teacher, and universities and discusses contextual features. He then provides recommendations based on the results.

Scratching The Surface: A Comparison Of Girl Soldiers From Three Geographic Regions Of The World, Carolyn R. Spellings

International Education

Over 300,000 children are estimated to be conscripted participants in conflicts throughout the world. Depending on the particular armed group that employs child soldiers, girls represent 6 to 50% of child soldiers. Despite this prevalence of involvement, the experience of girls as soldiers in war and political conflict has rarely been investigated. In order to build a foundation for more focused study on girl soldier experiences, this literature review aims to provide a comprehensive report of girl soldiers throughout the world. The analysis focused on three aspects of conflict experience: (1) how girls become affiliated with armed groups; (2) their …