Digital Commons Network^™

Mechanical Properties Of Plant Underground Storage Organs And Implications For Dietary Models Of Early Hominins, Nathaniel J. Dominy, Erin R. Vogel, Justin D. Yeakel, Paul J. Constantino, Peter W. Lucas

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

The diet of early human ancestors has received renewed theoretical interest since the discovery of elevated d13C values in the enamel of Australopithecus africanus and Paranthropus robustus. As a result, the hominin diet is hypothesized to have included C4 grass or the tissues of animals which themselves consumed C4 grass. On mechanical grounds, such a diet is incompatible with the dental morphology and dental microwear of early hominins. Most inferences, particularly for Paranthropus, favor a diet of hard or mechanically resistant foods. This discrepancy has invigorated the longstanding hypothesis that hominins consumed plant underground storage organs (USOs). Plant USOs are …

Variable Morphologic Expression Of Volcanic, Tectonic, And Hydrothermal Processes At Six Hydrothermal Vent Fields In The Lau Back-Arc Basin, Vicki Lynn Ferrini, Margaret K. Tivey, Suzanne M. Carbotte, Fernando Martinez, Chris Roman

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Ultrahigh-resolution bathymetric maps (25 cm grid) are used to quantify the physical dimensions of and spatial relationships between tectonic, volcanic, and hydrothermal features at six hydrothermal vent fields in the Lau back-arc basin. Supplemented with near-bottom photos, and nested within regional DSL-120A side-scan sonar data, these maps provide insight into the nature of hydrothermal systems along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center (ELSC) and Valu Fa Ridge (VFR). Along-axis transitions evident in localized volcanic morphology and tectonic characteristics include a change from broad low-relief volcanic domes (hundreds of meters wide,tall) that are dominated by pillow and lobate lava morphologies and are …

Similarity Assessment Techniques, Michael A. Zang, Adam Gray, Michael Hobbs, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper serves as a layman’s introduction to similarity assessment techniques, their distinction from contemporary computing paradigms, and their real-world applications. The following content derives from the experience gained by the authors in applying similarity assessment techniques to resolve the real-world problems of CDM customers, in particular those faced by the United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM).

The Influence Of Habitat Quality On The Community Structure, Distribution Pattern, Condition, And Growth Of Coral Reef Fish: A Case Study Of Grunts (Haemulidae) From Antigua B.W.I, A Small Island System, Sherry Lynette Constantine

Open Access Dissertations

The goal of this research was to determine the relative quality of near shore marine areas by investigating their influence on Haemulidae community structure, distribution pattern, condition, and growth. Habitat was defined at the small spatial scale of individual habitat types such as seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs, and at the broader spatial scale of the interconnection of these individual habitat types within a mosaic (IHM). Ten spatial, biotic and abiotic parameters (percentage coverage of sand, mangroves, hard substrate, and seagrass, turbidity, pH, salinity, temperature, average depth, and predator density) were investigated. These environmental characteristics acted as proxies for …

Community Land Conservation In The Coastal Watershed, Brian Hart

PREP Reports & Publications

The New Hampshire Estuaries Project (NHEP) provided a $10,000 grant to the Southeast Land Trust of New Hampshire (SELTNH) to support the hiring of a Community Land Protection Specialist to expand the region’s capacity to implement and complete conservation efforts within the coastal watershed, and specifically within the Lamprey River and Exeter River corridors. Over a period of eighteen months (January 2007 through June 30, 2008), the Community Land Protection Specialist (Specialist) worked with the Town of Brentwood, the Lamprey River Advisory Committee, and other community partners to conserve critical lands along the Exeter River, Lamprey River, and other areas …

Pre-Conference Proceedings Of The Focus Symposium On Intelligent Software Tools And Services, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

No abstract provided.

A Comparison Of Scleractinian Coral Abundance Between Natural And Artificial Substrata In A High-Latitude Environment Off Broward County, Florida, Usa, Deron James Bauer

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

The Dania Beach Erojacks Artificial Reef was deployed off the coast of Broward County, Florida on December 31, 1967 as a way to help combat beach erosion. Over the last forty years, the linear pile of concrete hexapods has become an important habitat, for scleractinian corals, octocorals, algae, crustaceans, mollusks, and fish. This study focuses on the density and size of the scleractinian corals found on this artificial reef and how it compares to that of the nearby natural reef. In addition, the impact of two hurricanes on the shallow portion of the artificial reef was documented. In the 2-year …

A Study On The Protein Interaction With Different Platinum Compounds, Nayna Kotadia

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Since the discovery of anti-tumor activity of cisplatin in 1960, significant progress has been made in treating metastatic or advanced cancer with cisplatin and platinum compounds. Platinum compounds covalently bind to DNA and disrupt DNA function. They are also known to bind with amino acids like methionine, histidine and cysteine to form cisplatin-protein adducts which are responsible for most of its cytotoxicity and side effects. Recent articles on cisplatin-protein have shown that adding bulky adjuncts to cisplatin or using different platinum compounds varies the degree and extent of reaction thus possibly reducing cisplatin resistance and side effects.

One of the …

New Guidelines For Treating Rheumatoid Arthritis, Reporter Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Size And Heterozygosity Influence Partner Selection In The Formosan Subterranean Termite, Claudia Husseneder, Dawn M. Simms

Faculty Publications

In monogamous species that exhibit extensive biparental investment, such as termites, both sexes are predicted to be selective when choosing a mate. Size-related traits are expected to be important in partner selection because the fat reserves of the colony founders sustain the incipient colony. Partner relatedness and heterozygosity determine the degree of inbreeding and genetic diversity within the colony and may thus also influence partner selection. To test these predictions, we investigated whether phenotypic and genetic traits influence mate choice and/or competitive advantage during pair formation of Formosan subterranean termites, Coptotermes formosanus (Isoptera: Rhinotermitidae). Pair formation in termites normally occurs …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session July 25, 2008, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

• Recommendation re Tuition - Fall 2008
• Recommendation - Extended University Programs Tuition- Fall 2008
• Recommendation re University Budget 2008-09
• Personnel Report
• Gift Report
• Grant Report

Structures And Functions Of The Normal And Injured Human Olfactory Epithelium, Jonathan P Schuermann, Jianwen Jiang, Jorge Cuellar, Oscar Llorca, Liping Wang, Luis E Gimenez, Suping Jin, Alexander B Taylor, Borries Demeler, Kevin A Morano, P John Hart, Jose M Valpuesta, Eileen M Lafer, Rui Sousa

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Hsp70s mediate protein folding, translocation, and macromolecular complex remodeling reactions. Their activities are regulated by proteins that exchange ADP for ATP from the nucleotide-binding domain (NBD) of the Hsp70. These nucleotide exchange factors (NEFs) include the Hsp110s, which are themselves members of the Hsp70 family. We report the structure of an Hsp110:Hsc70 nucleotide exchange complex. The complex is characterized by extensive protein:protein interactions and symmetric bridging interactions between the nucleotides bound in each partner protein's NBD. An electropositive pore allows nucleotides to enter and exit the complex. The role of nucleotides in complex formation and dissociation, and the effects of …

Male Survivors: Walking The Tightrope Of Masculinity, Luke Rogers

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault of men is a serious social problem and has drawn well deserved attention from many different researchers as well as the general public. Even though there is much concern and interest in this troubling crime, limited research has been conducted on the long-term effects of sexual abuse on male survivors. Using data collected by the Virginia Department of Health, this study investigated the effects of sexual abuse of men. Specifically, this inquiry examined specific emotional and physical conditions as potential consequences of sexual victimization among men and the extent to which those conditions vary between male victims and …

Modeling Pure Vasogenic Edema In The Rat Brain, Charles Nottingham

Theses and Dissertations

Targeted drug delivery to the brain is difficult to achieve using conventional techniques, largely due to the blood-brain barrier’s (BBB) impediment to drug diffusion into the brain parenchyma. In response, development of convection-enhanced delivery (CED) offers the ability to circumvent the BBB and target specific areas of the brain. Predictability of infusate movement in pathological brain states during CED will maximize the effectiveness of this treatment, and therefore modeling of infusate movement must be characterized. Previous work from our lab effectively modeled CED in rats using the middle carotid artery occlusion model of cytotoxic edema. However, previous models examined for …

The Daily Egyptian, July 24, 2008, Daily Egyptian Staff

July 2008

No abstract provided.

Psychological And Physical Adjustment To Breast Cancer Over 12 Months Following A Cognitive Behavioral Stress Management Intervention: Identifying Distinct Trajectories Of Change, Aisha Kazi

Open Access Dissertations

Breast cancer is a devastating disease that affects thousands of women every year influencing their psychological and physical well-being for many years after being diagnosed. The goal of the current study was to determine if there are distinct trajectories of functioning among breast cancer patients in the domains of negative psychological adjustment, positive psychological adjustment, and physical adjustment. This was accomplished using growth mixture modeling. Another goal of this study was to determine whether demographic, medical, and psychosocial variables were able to distinguish among the trajectories. The study combined women from two samples spanning 10 years providing a sample size …

Dna – Intimate Information Or Trash For Public Consumption?, Melanie D. Wilson

Scholarly Articles

“Surreptitious sampling” may be police officers’ trump card in cracking otherwise unsolvable crimes as serious as murder, arson and rape. Law enforcement officers engage in surreptitious sampling when they covertly collect DNAsamples from unsuspecting people, who inadvertently leave behind hair, skin cells, saliva or other biological materials.Surreptitious sampling is a terrific crime-resolution tool. It allows diligent law enforcement officers to collect proof-positive evidence of guilt or innocence without the hassle of obtaining a warrant and absent probable cause or reasonable suspicion to believe that the contributor of the biological evidence committed a crime. Provided an officer has the energy and …

At Least Four Distinct Circadian Regulatory Mechanisms Required For All Phases Of Rhythms In Mrna Amount, Sigrid Jacobshagen, Bruce Kessler, Claire Rinehart

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Since the advent of techniques to investigate gene expression on a large scale, numerous circadian rhythms in mRNA abundance have been reported. These rhythms generally differ in amplitude and phase. First studies on circadian rhythms of transcription on a large scale are also emerging. We investigated to what extent the same circadian regulatory mechanism of transcription can give rise to rhythms in RNA amount that differ in phase solely based on a parameter that is not regulated by the circadian clock. Using a discrete-time approach, we modeled a sinusoidal rhythm in transcription with various constant exponential RNA decay rates. We …

Challenging Computer Software Frontiers And The Human Resistance To Change, Jens G. Pohl

Collaborative Agent Design (CAD) Research Center

This paper examines the driving and opposing forces that are governing the current paradigm shift from a data-processing information technology environment without software intelligence to an information-centric environment in which data changes are automatically interpreted within the context of the application domain. The driving forces are related to the large quantity of data and the complexity of networked systems that both call for software intelligence. The opposing forces are non-technical and due to the natural human resistance to change.

Based on this background the paper describes current information-centric technology, proposes a vision of intelligent software system capabilities, and identifies four …

Central Florida Future, Vol. 40 No. 67, July 24, 2008

Central Florida Future

Tailgaters to have full liquor license; Rowing home; $8.75 million given to UCF; UCF project chosen as part of NASA program.

Replication Of The Wellcome Trust Genome-Wide Association Study Of Essential Hypertension: The Family Blood Pressure Program, Georg B. Ehret, Alanna C. Morrison, Ashley A. O'Connor, Megan L. Grove, Lisa Baird, Karen Schwander, Alan Weder, Richard S. Cooper, D. C. Rao, Steven C. Hunt, Eric Boerwinkle, Aravinda Chakravarti

Faculty Publications

Essential hypertension is a principal cardiovascular risk factor whose origin remains unknown. Classical genetic studies have shown that blood pressure is at least partially heritable, opening a window to understanding the pathophysiology of essential hypertension in the human using modern genetic tools. The Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium has recently published the results of screening the genomes of 2000 essential hypertension cases and 3000 controls using 500000 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). None of the variants proved to be genome-wide significant after correction for multiple tests but the most significantly associated SNPs (P<10-5) constitute a priority list that warrant follow-up in other studies. We describe here replication studies of the top six SNPs in subjects from the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute funded Family Blood Pressure Program comprising 11433 individuals recruited by hypertensive families. The results suggest that only one of the six SNPs might be associated with essential hypertension in Americans of European origin. This SNP shows a significant but opposite effect in Americans of Hispanic origin and no association in African Americans. The significance of the opposing effect estimates is unclear. No replication could be shown for hypertension status, but there are differences in study design. This attempted replication highlights that essential hypertension studies will require more comprehensive and larger genetic screens.

Waterfowl Population Status, 2008, Pamela R. Garrettson, Timothy J. Moser, Nathan Zimpfer, Kathy Fleming

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

In the Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey traditional survey area (strata 1‒18, 20‒50, and 75‒77), the total duck population estimate was 37.3 ± 0.6 [SE] million birds. This was 9% lower than last year's estimate of 41.2 ± 0.7 million birds, but 11% above the 1955-2007 long-term average. Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) abundance was 7.7 ± 0.3 million birds, similar to last year's estimate of 8.3 ± 0.3 million birds and to the long-term average. Blue-winged teal (A. discors) estimated abundance was 6.6 ± 0.3 million birds similar to last year's estimate of 6.7 ± 0.4 …

Summer Mustang, July 24, 2008

Cal Poly Student Newspaper

Student newspaper of California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.

What Riegel Portends For Fda Preemption Of State Law Products Liability Claims (Part Ii), Catherine M. Sharkey

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

A Novel And Simple Rule Of Thumb For Multiplicity Control In Equivalence Testing Using Two One-Sided Tests, Carolyn Lauzon, Brian S. Caffo

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Equivalence testing is growing in use in scientific research outside of its traditional role in the drug approval process. Largely due to its ease of use and recommendation from the United States Food and Drug Administration guidance, the most common statistical method for testing (bio)equivalence is the two one-sided tests procedure (TOST). Like classical point-null hypothesis testing, TOST is subject to multiplicity concerns as more comparisons are made. In this manuscript, a condition that bounds the family-wise error rate (FWER) using TOST is given. This condition then leads to a simple solution for controlling the FWER. Specifically, we demonstrate that …

Interview With Bill Flad, Class Of 1936, Bill Flad

Macalester Oral Histories

No abstract provided.

The Murray Ledger And Times, July 23, 2008, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

Electrokinetic Transport In Micro- And Nano- Channels:A Study Examining Electrokinetic Energy Conversion And Dielectrophoretic Particle Separation, Christian Davidson

All Theses

New micro-fabrication techniques have allowed for the recent development of micro-scale lab on a chip devices which can be utilized for on chip biological analysis as well as electrokinetic energy conversion. This thesis aims to theoretically examine the current thermodynamic efficiency discrepancies in electrokinetic energy conversion devices as well as explore the potential for efficiency increase in a device which supports fluid slip. Also, a micro-fluidic lab on a chip device is fabricated and demonstrated to be capable of continuously separating multiple particles of 1μm, 5μm and 10μm out of a bulk solution. Our device employs a DC dielectrophoretic technique, …

Breeding And Foraging Ecology Of American Oystercatchers In The Cape Romain Region, South Carolina, Janet Thibault

All Theses

The majority of American Oystercatchers (Haematopus palliatus) in South Carolina make their nests on narrow, elevated mounds of oyster shells deposited naturally along the edges of bays by storms or formed artificially by boat wakes along the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW). I compared reproductive success of American Oystercatchers nesting along the AICW with those nesting on naturally formed shell mounds in Bulls Bay within the Cape Romain Region of South Carolina during the breeding seasons of 2006 and 2007. I identified timing and causes of nest failure and attributes of re-nesting. Hatching success (15%) and productivity estimates (0.25 chicks per …

Remchlor Model Of Tritium Transport At The Made Site, Shelly Tyre

All Theses

Groundwater transport models are commonly used at sites with groundwater contamination. Models are used to study the extent of the contamination and the possible risks it poses. Contaminant transport models use properties of the aquifer and the solute to simulate how the solute moves through the aquifer. Screening level models are often used as a first modeling approach at sites to get an idea of the general trends of contaminant transport. They offer an efficient approach to modeling, usually requiring fewer input parameters than other models.
This study uses a screening level model to describe tritium transport for the second …