Digital Commons Network^™

A Comparison Of Student Characteristics In Traditional And Web-Based College Science Courses, Meghan Andrikanich

ETD Archive

Distance learning options at colleges and universities are increasing dramatically (e.g. National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 1998 NCES, 2001). Web-based courses create an interesting learning environment for study (e. g., Dupin-Bryant, 2004 Maki and Maki, 2003). Because science is a topic that induces anxiety for many students (e. g., Brownlow, et al., 2000 Greenburg and Mallow, 1982), and test anxiety has been linked to reduced academic performance (e. g., Bruch, 1981 Spielberger, 1979), the intersection of course format, science, and test anxiety is an area in need of research. Quantitative results found no significant difference between age, racial/ethnic background, …

Rotor Position And Vibration Control For Aerospace Flywheel Energy Storage Devices And Other Vibration Based Devices, B. X. S. Alexander

ETD Archive

Flywheel energy storage has distinct advantages over conventional energy storage methods such as electrochemical batteries. Because the energy density of a flywheel rotor increases quadratically with its speed, the foremost goal in flywheel design is to achieve sustainable high speeds of the rotor. Many issues exist with the flywheel rotor operation at high and varying speeds. A prominent problem is synchronous rotor vibration, which can drastically limit the sustainable rotor speed. In a set of projects, the novel Active Disturbance Rejection Control (ADRC) is applied to various problems of flywheel rotor operation. These applications include rotor levitation, steady state rotation …

Role Of Transcription Factor Mef2a In Development Of Coronary Artery Disease (Cad) And Myocardial Infarction (Mi), Maniragava Sai Bhagavatula

ETD Archive

Coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI) are the leading cause of death in developed countries. Genetic factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of CAD and MI. The revolutionary advances in molecular genetics have provided new insights into the genetic pathways involved in this disease. Recently, our laboratory used linkage analysis to map the first disease-causing gene for CAD and MI to chromosome 15q26 in a large family and subsequently mutation analysis identified a 7-amio acid deletion in MEF2A, a gene encoding a transcription factor. Later we identified three novel mutations N263S, P279L, G283D in four other …

New Insights Into Molecular Mechanisms Of Fludarabine, Alina D. Bulgar

ETD Archive

Nucleotide analogs (e.g. fludarabine) are antimetabolites used in the treatment of a wide variety of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Upon being metabolized to their active triphosphate form, these agents are incorporated into DNA. Among other molecular targets, their incorporation may lead to activation of base excision repair (BER) pathway. The molecular mechanism of BER recognition and repair of the incorporated fludarabine has not yet been elucidated. The main focus of this research was to study the involvement of BER pathway in the response to fludarabine induced DNA damage. Also, the possibility of enhancing antineoplastic activity of fludarabine by inhibition …

Phylogeography Of Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus Dolomieu) And Comparative Myology Of The Black Bass (Micropterus, Centrarchidae), William Calvin Borden

ETD Archive

Biogeographic patterns were investigated within a single species and among its congenerics. Smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) were characterized by portions of the cytochrome b gene and the control region although bass in Lake Erie were also evaluated using eight nDNA microsatellites. Overall, little population structure was observed among sites in Lake Erie which was surprising given that most male smallmouth bass exhibit nest site fidelity. But, these lake bass were divergent from bass residing in nearby tributaries indicating that lacustrine bass are reproductively isolated from riverine bass even though both groups may spawn in the same rivers. Adjacent riverine populations …

Quadrupole Magnetic Field-Flow Fractionation;A Novel Technique For The Characterization Of Magnetic Particles, Francesca Carpino

ETD Archive

In the last few decades, the development and use of nanotechnology has become of increasing importance. Magnetic nanoparticles, because of their unique properties, have been employed in many different areas of application. They are generally made of a core of magnetic material coated with some other material to stabilize them and to help disperse them in suspension. The unique feature of magnetic nanoparticles is their response to a magnetic field. They are generally superparamagnetic, in which case they become magnetized only in a magnetic field and lose their magnetization when the field is removed. It is this feature that makes …

Hydrogenase Inhibition By O2: Density Functional Theory/Molecular Mechanics Investigation, Daniela Dogaru

ETD Archive

[Fe-Fe]-hydrogenases are enzymes that reversibly catalyze the reduction of protons to molecular hydrogen, which occurs in anaerobic media. In living systems, [Fe-Fe]-hydrogenases shift the reversible reaction towards H2 formation. The [Fe-Fe]-hydrogenase H-cluster is the active site, which contains two iron atoms (Fep-Fed, i.e., proximal and distal iron). Because most experimental and theoretical investigations confirm that the structure of di-iron air inhibited species is FepII-FedII-O-O-H-, O2 has to be prevented from binding to Fed in all di-iron subcluster oxidation states in order to retain a catalytically active enzyme. By understanding the catalytic processes of metalloenzymes, researches are enabled to produce an …

The Development Of An In Vivo Spinal Fusion Monitor Using Microelectromechanical (Mems) Technology To Create Implantable Microsensors, Lisa Anne Ferrara

ETD Archive

Surgical fusion of the spine is a conventional approach, and often last alternative, to the correction of a degenerative painful spinal segment. The procedure involves the surgical removal of the intervertebral disc at the problematic site, and the placement of a bone graft that is commonly harvested from the patients iliac crest and placed within the discectomized space. The surrounding bone is expected to incorporate and remodel into the bone graft to eventually provide an immobilized site. Spinal instrumentation often accompanies the bone graft to provide further immobility to the targeted site, thus augmenting the fusion process. However, the status …

Relationship Between Arch Height And Midfoot Joint Pressures During Gait, Dong Gil Lee

ETD Archive

A foot arch is a multi-segmented curved structure which acts as a spring during locomotion. It is well known that ligaments are important components contributing to this spring-like property of the arch. In addition, intrinsic and extrinsic foot muscles contribute to arch support. According to the windlass foot model, arch height and midfoot joint orientation change during gait. However, it is not known whether altered joint configurations result in increased joint stress during gait. If so, it is possible for there to be a "vicious cycle" in which joint stress increases as the arch height diminishes, which may then lead …

Education For Girls In The House Of The Good Shepherd, U.S. 1940-1980, Nancymarie Phillips

ETD Archive

Convent education has sought to impart a set of moral values that would lead to a productive life, both spiritually and socially. The foundress of the Good Shepherd Sisters started a convent-based social service institution for vulnerable women and girls in Europe that evolved into a postsecondary education system in the United States for adolescent girls remanded by the judicial system. Convent education has been an underresearched area in the history of American education, and this dissertation takes parochial education for girls into account in the broad sweep of American educational developments. This historical study utilizes archival research, oral histories, …

Subverting Blackface And The Epistemology Of American Identity In John Berryman's 77 Dream Songs, Amy Rosby

ETD Archive

John Berryman has been criticized for his employment of white performance of blackface minstrelsy's conventions and dialect in 77 Dream Songs because of the complex history of this tradition of blackface's problematic performance of racial fantasy and because of Berryman's designation as a white, confessional poet. However, when one observes the history of this tradition of minstrelsy, its initial reception, its "transcodification" into the white American racial ideology, and subsequent scholarly analyses of its implications, it is evident that Berryman creates an anti-model of minstrelsy which consequently becomes a minstrelsy of "whiteness." Through this anti-model, which shifts the public gaze …

Myspace Or Ourspace: A Cross-Cultural Empirical Analysis Of Myspace Comments, Bettina Lunk

ETD Archive

The goal of the current study was to compare users from two distinct cultures to examine the extent to which they communicate differently through MySpace comments and to see how such differences might relate to their cultural background and biological sex. For this purpose, Hofstede's theories of individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity and Ting-Toomey's face negotiation theory were used as frameworks. Content analysis was performed on 150 Hungarian and 150 American randomly selected MySpace comments. One-way ANOVAs and crosstabulations showed some significant differences and similarities between Hungarian and American MySpace comments. Real-life cultural differences and sex-linked differences were found to be reflected …

The Role Of Acceptance And Pain Intensity In Chronic Pain Disability And Physical Functioning, Lisa Lukwinski Ferguson

ETD Archive

Chronic pain is a wide spread, debilitating disorder. With the development of Relational Frame Theory, the pathological nature of avoidance behaviors has been brought to the forefront of chronic pain research and acceptance based therapies are being extensively studied. Although interdisciplinary chronic pain rehabilitation programs draw from a variety of disciplines, they incorporate many components of acceptance therapy. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between chronic pain acceptance, pain intensity, disability, and physical functioning. This study sought to answer the following questions: 1) Do patients who complete an interdisciplinary chronic pain rehabilitation program differ from …

The Effects Of Opiod And Benzodiazepine Weaning On Cognitive Ability In The Context Of A Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program, Daniel M. Fishman

ETD Archive

Pain is a component of many disease processes however in some cases, when pain becomes a chronic condition it can become the problem itself. It can be a debilitating condition which is emotionally and economically costly to the individual, his or her family, and societies as a whole. Theories of pain have evolved over the last several decades to incorporate a Biopsychosocial Model of Pain. The biological portion of the model relies on The Gate Control Theory of Pain, although some emerging research points to a Neuromatrix model. As is suggested by the term, Biopsychosocial Model of Pain, the biologic …

Landmine Casualty Data: Best Practices Guidebook, Cisr

CISR Studies and Reports

The inadequacy of data collection on landmine victims was recognized from the earliest years of the AP Mine Ban Convention2 implementation process. Significant sums of money were invested by the international mine action donor community in the development of an Information Management System for Mine Action (IMSMA) and in the execution of Landmine Impact Surveys (LIS), with the goal of obtaining and processing needed information on landmine accidents and victims as well as other information about the presence of landmines. These tools have assisted countries to collect and manage information about landmine and other Explosive Remnants of War (ERW) contamination …

Pro Musica Newsletter, Winter 2008, Bowling Green State University. College Of Musical Arts

Pro Musica Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Protocol: Streamline Cloning Of Genes Into Binary Vectors In Agrobacterium Via The Gateway® Topo Vector System, Ruqiang Xu, Qingshun Quinn Li

Anatomy and Neurobiology Publications

Background

In plant functional genomic studies, gene cloning into binary vectors for plant transformation is a routine procedure. Traditionally, gene cloning has relied on restriction enzyme digestion and ligation. In recent years, however, Gateway^® cloning technology (Invitrogen Co.) has developed a fast and reliable alternative cloning methodology which uses a phage recombination strategy. While many Gateway- compatible vectors are available, we frequently encounter problems in which antibiotic resistance genes for bacterial selection are the same between recombinant vectors. Under these conditions, it is difficult, if not sometimes impossible, to use antibiotic resistance in selecting the desired transformants. We have, …

Cellular Automata Simulation Of Topological Effects On The Dynamics Of Feed-Forward Motifs, Advait Apte, John W. Cain, Danail Bonchev, Stephen S. Fong

Chemical and Life Science Engineering Publications

Background

Feed-forward motifs are important functional modules in biological and other complex networks. The functionality of feed-forward motifs and other network motifs is largely dictated by the connectivity of the individual network components. While studies on the dynamics of motifs and networks are usually devoted to the temporal or spatial description of processes, this study focuses on the relationship between the specific architecture and the overall rate of the processes of the feed-forward family of motifs, including double and triple feed-forward loops. The search for the most efficient network architecture could be of particular interest for regulatory or signaling pathways …

Self-Assembled Deoxyguanosine Based Molecular Electronic Device On Gan Substrates, H. Liddar, J. Li, A. Neogi, P. B. Neogi, A. Sarkar, S. Cho, Hadis Morkoç

Electrical and Computer Engineering Publications

Nanoscale hybrid molecular organic photodetectors based on self-assembled guanosine molecules conjugated to wide-bandgap GaNsemiconductors has been realized in the ultraviolet wavelength regime. Metal-semiconductor-metal based photodetector is fabricated using ordering of modified guanosine based semiconductor nanowires which exhibit I-Vcharacteristics with high current response and higher rectification ratio compared to Si based hybrid photodetectors. Photocurrent response of a two-terminal device shows the typical characteristics of a semiconductorphotodiode with a cutoff wavelength at ∼325nm. The I-Vcharacteristics have been elucidated using the induced polarization properties of self-assembled guanosine semiconductor.

Dengue Virus Pathogenesis In Mouse Central Nervous System: Studies On Host Response To Dengue Virus Infection, Juliano Bordignon, Christian Probst, Ana Luiza P. Mosimann, Vanessa Stella, Daniela Pavoni, Gregory A. Buck, Paul Fawcett, Silvio M. Zanata, Lucia Noronha, Marco Krieger, Claudia Nunes Duarte Dos Santos

Microbiology and Immunology Publications

Dengue virus (DENV) causes a self-limiting fever (DF) or severe hemorrhagic fever/shock-syndrome (DHF/DSS). Recently, clinical profile of DENV infection is changing, and neurological manifestations are becoming frequent. We previously demonstrated that mutations on E and NS3 proteins may account for DENV neurovirulence for mice. To validate the involvement of the observed mutations in the appearance of neurovirulent viral phenotypes, we constructed cDNA infectious clones encompassing the observed mutations. Aiming to determine host response to infection with neurovirulent and parental strains of DENV-1, we used a Mus musculus biochip (Virginia Commonwealth University) encompassing whole mouse genome. Newborn Swiss mice were infected …

Us Missile Shield Plan Heightens European Insecurities, Tom Clonan

Articles

European Missile Shield The US Missile Defence Agency (MDA) – without recourse to NATO – is engaged in bilateral negotiations with Poland and the Czech Republic to site missile-shield silos and X-Band radar facilities in central Europe. The US intends to site 10 long-range interceptor missiles at one weapon silo - approximately the size of a football pitch - in Poland by 2011. They also intend to forward-deploy an X-Band radar station from the Marshall Islands in the Pacific to the Czech Republic in the same time period. The Russians have reacted angrily to this development with Russian Defence Minister …

Selective Delivery Of Β Cell Antigen To Dendritic Cells In Vivo Leads To Deletion And Tolerance Of Autoreactive Cd8+ T Cells In Nod Mice, Arunika Mukhopadhaya, Tadashi Hanafusa, Irene Jarchum

Publications

Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is an autoimmune disease resulting from defects in central and peripheral tolerance and characterized by T cell-mediated destruction of islet β cells. Cytotoxic CD8⁺ T cells, reactive to β cell antigens, are required for T1D development in the NOD mouse model of the disease, and CD8⁺ T cells specific for β cell antigens can be detected in the peripheral blood of T1D patients. It has been evident that in nonautoimmune-prone mice, dendritic cells (DCs) present model antigens in a tolerogenic manner in the steady state, e.g., in the absence of infection, and cause T …

Phenotyping Genetic Diseases Using An Extension Of Μ-Scores For Multivariate Data, Jose F. Morales, Tingting Song, Arleen D. Auerbach, Knut M. Wittkowski

Krueger Laboratory

As the field of genomics matures, more complex genotypes and phenotypes are being studied. Fanconi anemia (FA), for example, is an inherited chromosome instability syndrome with a complex array of variable disease phenotypes including congenital malformations, hematological manifestations, and cancer. To better understand specific aspects of the genetic etiology of FA and other rare diseases with complex phenotypes, it is often necessary to reduce the dimensions of the disease phenotype information. Towards this end, we extend a novel non-parametric approach to include information about a hierarchical structure among disease phenotypes. The proposed extension increases information content of the phenotype scores …

10th Annual Student Academic Conference, Minnesota State University Moorhead

Student Academic Conference Abstract Books

Minnesota State University Moorhead Student Academic Conference abstract book.

Prospective Student Information Booklet (2007-08), Florida State University College Of Law

Prospective Student Information Booklets

Booklet containing curriculum and course information for future law students.

Bryn Mawr College Undergraduate Catalog 2008-09, Bryn Mawr College

Bryn Mawr College Calendar

No abstract provided.

History Of Middle States

Middle States Information and Publications

This history was undertaken at the request of a committee, composed of Charles C. Tillinghast, Karl G. Miller, Robert C. Clothier, and Gene Gisburne, designated by Father McGinley, President of the Association, to develop a suitable brochure on the history of the Association in commemoration of its 75th anniversary.

Review Of Rita Felski, Ed., Rethinking Tragedy., Verna A. Foster

Bryn Mawr Review of Comparative Literature

Rita Felski, ed., Rethinking Tragedy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. x + 368 pp. ISBN 0801887390.

Intimate Moments Among The Dead: Death And Time In The Work Of Loren Eiseley, Lawrence Kimmel

Philosophy Faculty Research

This essay is written in the shadow of the wisdom of Loren Eiseley. The source of the thought herein is drawn from Eiseley's unique vision of time and the relational ambiguities of the living and the dead, or at the very least these notes are haunted by the penetrating and often dark insights of this inveterate bone hunter and very human scholar of man's origins. What follows, then, is written against the background reference to what is arguable a unique approach and singular sensitivity to the world of the dead in the writings of Loren Eiseley.

2008-2009 Bulletin Of Information - Undergraduate, Seattle University

Bulletin of Information

No abstract provided.