Digital Commons Network^™

Examination Of An Aloe Vera Galacturonate Polysaccharide Capable Of In Situ Gelation For The Controlled Release Of Protein Therapeutics, Shawn David Mcconaughy

Dissertations

A therapeutic delivery platform has been investigated with the ultimate goal of designing a sustained protein release matrix utilizing an in-situ gelling, acidic polysaccharide derived from the Aloe vera plant. The Aloe vera polysaccharide (AvP) has been examined in order to determine how chemical composition, structure, molecular weight and solution behavior affect gelation and protein/peptide delivery. Correlations are drawn between structural characteristics and solution behavior in order to determine the impact of polymer conformation and solvation on gel formation under conditions designed to simulate nasal applications. Steady state and dynamic rheology, classic and dynamic light scattering, zeta potential, pulse field …

Factors That Contribute To A Successful Secondary Vocational Education Program In The State Of Mississippi, Erin Leigh Parker

Dissertations

This study was designed to assess and identify factors that make a vocational program successful. Using qualitative methods for collection and analysis of data, vocational instructors and students in programs identified to be successful were interviewed to better depict the classroom setting, teachers, methods, etc. of these successful programs. Participants included instructors of and students enrolled in secondary vocational programs in the state of Mississippi identified to be most successful according to C-PAS test scores in each of the following training areas: Building Trades (carpentry), Business and Computer Technology, Marketing Management Technology, and Allied Health. MS-CPAS test scores were analyzed …

The Relationship Between Principals' Leadership Self-Efficacy, Student Achievement And School Performance, Robert Louis Williams

Dissertations

The two major components of school accountability, under the Mississippi Schools Accountability System, are growth expectation and school achievement. Mississippi schools are assigned a school performance classification based upon student achievement and whether schools did not meet, met, or exceeded their growth expectation. The primary purpose of this study was to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between principals' ratings of self-efficacy, school performance, and school growth status. In addition, this study sought to determine if there is a statistically significant relationship between principals' ratings of delegatee performance, school performance and school growth status.

The participants for this …

Factors Associated With Attitudes Toward Learning In An Online Environment: Transactional Distance, Technical Efficacy, And Physical Surroundings, Jodi Elizabeth Pettazzoni

Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between a student's environment in an online course and their academic achievement. This study surveyed students who completed world literature classes in an online format that were part of their universities' general education curricula. Students responded to items assessing several constructs and personal demographic variables that together defined their learning environments: content, delivery, assessment and feedback, technical support, learner experience with technology, learner experience with distance learning, interaction, physical space, support network, characteristics of adult learners, and major. Academic achievement was the dependent variable and was defined as anticipated grade in the course. Using Spearman …

Factors Related To Nonacademic Adjustment Of Freshmen Students, Nykela Horne Jackson

Dissertations

Student retention remains a major concern of higher education institutions. With decreasing state funding, higher education institutions have implemented creative strategies and methods to recruit students. Once students are recruited it is critical that they be retained. Research has confirmed that student withdrawals can be attributed to the lack of successful transition and adjustment to the college environment. Numerous studies have focused on how demographic factors (socioeconomic status, race, employment, and parental education level) affect retention with the major focus on academic adjustment. Current research has shown that nonacademic adjustment (social adjustment, personal/emotional adjustment, and institutional attachment) plays a significant …

The Influence Of Verbal Aggressiveness And Verbal Argumentativeness On College Student Leadership Styles, Jane Anne Mattina

Dissertations

The behaviors and styles of leaders have been studied for many years yet, the study of college study leaders has not been as prevalent. This study examined the possible relationships between the levels of verbal aggressiveness and verbal argumentativeness and college student leadership styles as described by the Student Leadership Practices Inventory (Kouzes & Posner 1995).

Using quantitative and qualitative approaches with multiple college student leadership groups at three different universities and community colleges, this study found that college student leaders are less verbally aggressive than student non-leaders, and are more verbally argumentative than student non-leaders. Furthermore, positive and negative …

Unintended Facilitation Between Marine Consumers Generates Enhanced Mortality For Their Shared Prey, F. Joel Fodrie, Matthew D. Kenworthy, Sean P. Powers

University Faculty and Staff Publications

We manipulated predator densities and prey vulnerability to explore how interactions between two predators affect overall mortality of their shared prey. Our threemember study system included eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and two of its major consumers: southern oyster drills (Stramonita haemastoma) and stone crabs (Menippe adina). Field experiments demonstrated that drills and crabs foraging together generated higher than expected oyster mortality based on each species operating independently, even though crabs also killed some drills. In subsequent laboratory trials, we experimentally mimicked the handling of oysters by foraging crabs and confirmed that crabs facilitated drills by breeching oyster valves, thereby granting …

Northwest Area Water Supply Project Final Environmental Impact Statement On Water Treatment

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

For many years, residents of northwestern North Dakota have experienced water supply problems. Existing ground water sources are of poor quality and the Souris River is a marginal source from both a quality and quantity standpoint. To resolve these problems, the Northwest Area Water Supply project (Project) is being constructed. This Project is a bulk water supply system that will serve the municipal and rural water needs of the Project area (Figure 1). The planning, design and construction of the Project is a cooperative effort between the Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation) and the State of North Dakota. Reclamation provides technical …

Department Of Biological Systems Engineering Newsletter, Volume 4, Number 2, December 2008

BSE Department Magazine

Environmental Management Research
From the Department Head
Meet the Faculty
Alumni News
Comings and Goings
Alumna Profile
In Memoriam
Museum Hand-picked for HELP
Urban Water Quality
Summer Graduates
Distinguished Fellowship Awards
Partners in Pollution Prevention Interns
Quarter-scale Tractor Competition
Scholarships and Ice Cream
BSE faculty develop Odor Footprint Tool By Crystal Powers
Ethanol Co-product Storage and Utilization Conference, by John Hay
Biological Systems Engineering Department Hall of Fame: Don Eret and Ned Meier
International Symposium
Faculty and Staff News
University Service Awards
ASABE Annual Meeting

Chlorovirus-Mediated Membrane Depolarization Of Chlorella Alters Secondary Active Transport Of Solutes, Irina V. Agarkova, David Dunigan, James R. Gurnon, Timo Greiner, Julia Barres, Gerhard Thiel, James L. Van Etten

Department of Plant Pathology: Faculty Publications

Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus 1 (PBCV-1) is the prototype of a family of large, double-stranded DNA, plaque-forming viruses that infect certain eukaryotic chlorella-like green algae from the genus Chlorovirus. PBCV-1 infection results in rapid host membrane depolarization and potassium ion release. One interesting feature of certain chloroviruses is that they code for functional potassium ion-selective channel proteins (Kcv) that are considered responsible for the host membrane depolarization and, as a consequence, the efflux of potassium ions. This report examines the relationship between cellular depolarization and solute uptake. Annotation of the virus host Chlorella strain NC64A genome revealed 482 putative …

Fisheries Research Report No. 182 - A Likelihood Analysis Of Non-Indigenous Marine Species Introduction To Fifteen Ports In Western Australia, Justin I. Mcdonald

Fisheries Research Reports

As an island continent, Australia is heavily dependent upon maritime transport with over 95% of its imports and exports transported by ship (Australian State of the Environment Committee, 2001). With about one third of Australia’s coastline, Western Australia ranks fourth of the six states and territory in the number of known non-indigenous marine species.

In this study fifteen ports in Western Australia were assessed on the potential for non-indigenous marine species to become introduced through ballast water and biofouling. The overall vesselmediated incursion risk to Western Australian ports was calculated by summing the relative incursion threat posed by visits to …

Academia To Industry Technology Transfer: An Alternative To The Bayh-Dole System For Both Developed And Developing Nations, Dov Greenbaum

Fordham Intellectual Property, Media and Entertainment Law Journal

Renewed efforts to bring science and technology to the center of economic revival in developing nations recognize the centrality of the university in the creation and promotion of science and innovation. Many developed nations, following the paradigmatic U.S. technology transfer system, transfer their academic innovations to industry—through licensing intellectual property—for eventual commercialization. While conventional wisdom places the Carter era Bayh-Dole legislation at the center of that successful American system, this Article argues that the U.S. biotechnology and high tech booms are more likely attributable to the confluence of unique and propitious conditions, and that Bayh-Dole played a marginal role in …

Threshold Levels For Selected Rural South Dakota Retail And Service Businesses, Saileza Khatiwada, Michael Mccurry, Trevor Brooks

SDSU Extension Extra Archives

What new enterprise would be most likely to suc¬ceed in your community? Is opening a computer store in Buffalo, South Dakota, a good idea? What about a new church? Or a bar? While the goals of churches and taverns differ, the likelihood of success for either can be described in terms of population thresholds. Retail trade is an important part of a rural county’s economy (Blair, Traynor, and Duan 2004). Dehter (1987) saw shopping as a major contributor to high qual¬ity rural life. Each successful rural business improves the economic and social well-being of rural people. Both entrepreneurs and community …

Teaching Note: Ibm And Germany 1922–1941, Donald W. Mccormick, James C. Spee

Organization Management Journal

No abstract provided.

Biological Responses In A Dynamic Bouyant River Plume, Mark A. Moline, Thomas K. Frazer, Robert Chant, Scott Glenn, Charles A. Jacoby, John R. Reinfelder, Jennifer Yost, Meng Zhou, Oscar Schofield

Biological Sciences

Buoyant river plumes are highly dynamic and often characterized by marked physical and chemical gradients that interact to drive biological responses. For example, interactions among factors resulting in algal growth (e.g., nutrient and light availability) and algal loss (e.g., sinking and zooplankton grazing) vary with spatiotemporal changes in physics and chemistry. The nature of these interactions profoundly influences the transfer and transformation of materials carried by the plume, including nutrients and metals. In April 2005, during the Lagrangian Transport and Transformation Experiment (LaTTE), water from the Hudson River recirculated in a nearshore eddy before moving southward to mix with relatively …

Three-Dimensional Microfluidic Devices Fabricated In Layered Paper And Tape, Andres W. Martinez, Scott T. Phillips, George M. Whitesides

Chemistry and Biochemistry

This article describes a method for fabricating 3D microfluidic devices by stacking layers of patterned paper and double-sided adhesive tape. Paper-based 3D microfluidic devices have capabilities in microfluidics that are difficult to achieve using conventional open-channel microsystems made from glass or polymers. In particular, 3D paper-based devices wick fluids and distribute microliter volumes of samples from single inlet points into arrays of detection zones (with numbers up to thousands). This capability makes it possible to carry out a range of new analytical protocols simply and inexpensively (all on a piece of paper) without external pumps. We demonstrate a prototype 3D …

Why Evolution Is True By Jerry A. Coyne, Viking, 2009, Michael Zimmerman

LAS Faculty Book Reviews

No abstract provided.

Untangling The Debate: The Ethics Of Human Enhancement, Patrick Lin, Fritz Allhoff

Philosophy

Human enhancement, in which nanotechnology is expected to play a major role, continues to be a highly contentious ethical debate, with experts on both sides calling it the single most important issue facing science and society in this brave, new century. This paper is a broad introduction to the symposium herein that explores a range of perspectives related to that debate. We will discuss what human enhancement is and its apparent contrast to therapy; and we will begin to tease apart the myriad intertwined issues that arise in the debate: (1) freedom & autonomy, (2) health & safety, (3) fairness …

Dayton Engineer, Winter 2008-09, University Of Dayton

Dayton Engineer

The Dayton Engineer, published out of the Office of Public Relations, later University Communications, then University Marketing and Communications, provided news from the University of Dayton School of Engineering to alumni and friends. It was published from the late 1990s to about 2010.

An Analysis Of Illegal Bushmeat Availability In Local Restaurants Located In Voi, Kenya, Bridget A. Sutton

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The illegal bushmeat harvest has been identified as a reason for declining wildlife populations throughout much of Africa. For many years the trade was thought to exist primarily in Western Africa. The illegal use of bushmeat in Eastern Africa, including Kenya, went undocumented and unstudied. In 2004, the Born Free Foundation published a study which claimed illegal sale of wild game was substantial in butcheries throughout Nairobi, Kenya. In an effort to determine other markets of the commercial trade, the goal of this study was to analyze local restaurants in Voi, Kenya for illegal bushmeat sale. The town of Voi …

Atrazine Contamination And Suspended Sediment Transport Within Logsdon River, Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, Julie Eileen Schenck Brown

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Understanding the potential for karst aquifer contamination by sediment-sorbed pesticides is important for cave conservation efforts in agricultural landscapes. Flow rate, water quality parameters and suspended sediment concentrations were measured in Logsdon River, a ~10km karst conduit within the Turnhole Spring Groundwater Basin of Mammoth Cave National Park to determine characteristics of storm-period transport of sediment-sorbed atrazine through a conduit-flow karst aquifer.

Analysis of two independent precipitation events occurring in the Spring of 2008 from May 2-4 and May 27-29 demonstrated the rapid response of the Logsdon River to precipitation events with detections of atrazine increasing during the initial turbidity …

Faculty Senate Monthly Packet December 2008, Portland State University Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Monthly Packets

The December 2008 Monthly packet includes the December agenda and appendices and the Faculty Senate minutes and attachments from the meeting held November 2008

Timss 2007: Taking A Closer Look At Mathematics And Science In Australia, Sue Thomson, Nicole Wernert, Catherine Underwood, Marina Nicholas

TIMSS 2007

The Trends in Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2007) is the latest in a series of international studies of mathematics and science, conducted under the aegis of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). The goal of TIMSS is to provide comparative information about educational achievement across countries to improve teaching and learning in mathematics and science. TIMSS measures trends in mathematics and science achievement at Year 4 and Year 8, as well as monitoring curricular implementation. Conducted on a regular four-year cycle, TIMSS has assessed mathematics and science in 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007. In addition …

Highlights From Timss 2007 From Australia’S Perspective: Highlights From The Full Report, Taking A Closer Look At Mathematics And Science In Australia, Sue Thomson, Nicole Wernert, Catherine Underwood, Marina Nicholas

TIMSS 2007

In 2007, Australia participated in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS 2007). TIMSS 2007 is the fourth in a cycle of internationally comparative assessments conducted under the aegis of the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) dedicated to improving teaching and learning in mathematics and science for students around the world. Carried out every four years at Year 4 and Year 8, TIMSS provides data about trends in mathematics and science achievement over time. In Australia, TIMSS is part of MCEETYA’s National Assessment Program. To inform educational policy in the participating countries, this world-wide …

Finding Life: An Organic Model Of Renewal For Existing Churches, Thomas E. Rester Jr.

Doctor of Ministry

Statistics reveal most existing mainline churches are small, declining, and unable to minister effectively in their current environment. Rising stress is the result for these congregations. For mission and ministry to continue in many of these places, the stress must become an opportunity to release a deeper organic understanding of identity and ministry within the fluid postmodern context.

Chapter 2 presents biblical materials from the book of Acts. Focusing on Acts 15, we discover that in a moment of fil"eat stress and confusion, the church was able to e change and evolve to find new life in the midst of …

This Week At Sbs, V.2, N.13 | This Week At Stony Brook Southampton/In The News, Darren Johnson

Southampton Announcements and News

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Forest Fragments In Boreal, Temperate, And Tropical Ecosystems, Arjan J. H. Meddens, Andrew T. Hudak, Jeffrey S. Evans, William A. Gould, Grizelle Gonzalez

United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

An increased ability to analyze landscapes in a spatial manner through the use of remote sensing leads to improved capabilities for quantifying human-induced forest fragmentation. Developments of spatially explicit methods in landscape analyses are emerging. In this paper, the image delineation software program eCognition and the spatial pattern analysis program FRAGSTATS were used to quantify patterns of forest fragments on six landscapes across three different climatic regions characterized by different moisture regimes and different influences of human pressure. Our results support the idea that landscapes with higher road and population density are more fragmented; however, there are other, equally influential …

Increasing Our Compassion Footprint: The Animals’ Manifesto, Marc Bekoff

Human and Animal Bonding Collection

Our relationships with animals are wide-ranging. When people tell me that they love animals and then harm or kill them I tell them I’m glad they don’t love me. Many individuals, including scientists, ignore their responsibility when they interact with animals and fail to recognize that doing something in the name of science, which usually means in the name of humans, is not an adequate reason for intentionally causing suffering, pain, or death. “Good welfare” usually is not “good enough.” Existing regulations allow animals to be treated in regrettable ways that demean us as a species. Compassion is the key …

Faecal-Centric Approaches To Wildlife Ecology And Conservation; Methods, Data And Ethics, C. T. Darimont, T. E. Reimchen, H. M. Bryan, P. C. Paquet

Ethics and Conservation Biology Collection

Abundant and commonly encountered in the field, wildlife faeces have long attracted scientists. Recent advances in molecular techniques, however, especially when coupled with creative study designs, can now yield a great variety of high quality data. Herein, we review the opportunities and challenges of faecal-centric approaches to address ecological and conservation questions using wolves of coastal British Columbia, Canada, as a case system. We begin by discussing methodological considerations, which should have broad applicability to any wildlife study system. We then summarize the extensive and unique variety of data that has emerged from our ‘facts from faeces’ approach with wolves, …

Understanding The Human Aspects Of Animal Hoarding, Amanda I. Reinisch

Passive Cruelty to Animals Collection

The Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium reviewed the case records of 71 incidents from across the United States and Canada to determine what characterizes a typical animal hoarding case (5). Of the cases reviewed, 83% involved women (71% involved individuals, who were widowed, divorced, or single); 53% of the animal hoarding residences were home to other individuals including children (5%), elderly dependents and disabled people (21%). Often essential utilities and major appliances such as showers, heaters, stoves, toilets, and sinks were not functional. Residential home interiors were usually unsanitary, 93%; 70% had fire hazards; and 16% of residences involved in …