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Preparation And Characterization Of Electrospun Poly(D, L-Lactide-Co-Glycolide) Scaffolds For Vascular Tissue Engineering And The Advancement Of An In Vitro Blood Vessel Mimic, Tiffany Richelle Pena

Master's Theses

PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF ELECTROSPUN POLY(D,L-LACTIDE-CO-GLYCOLIDE) SCAFFFOLDS FOR VASCULAR TISSUE ENGINEERING AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF AN IN VITRO BLOOD VESSEL MIMIC

Tiffany Richelle Peña

Currently, an estimated 1 in every 3 adult Americans are affected by one or more cardiovascular complications. The most common complication is coronary artery disease, specifically atherosclerosis. Outcomes of balloon angioplasty treatments have been significantly improved with the addition of drug eluting stents to the process. Although both bare metal and drug eluting stents have greatly increased the effectiveness of angioplasty and decreased the occurrence of restenosis, several complications still exist. For this reason, the stent …

Designing A Microbial Prolyl Peptidase Delivery System For The Treatment Of Celiac Disease, Matthew J. Shurtleff

Master's Theses

Celiac disease is an autoimmune enteropathy resulting from the ingestion of gluten and gluten-like proteins from wheat, barley and rye in afflicted individuals. Indigestible gluten-derived peptides rich in proline residues are known to be responsible for eliciting the inappropriate immune response characteristic of the disease. In this investigation, surface level expression of prolyl peptidase activity by genetically engineered probiotic lactobacilli was postulated to be a possible treatment for this disease. Plasmid-based reporter vectors were constructed utilizing a novel, homology-based cloning technique to assess the expression and localization signals from the S-layer protein gene of Lactobacillus acidophilus. These plasmids were mutated …

Nature Vs. Civilization: A Review Article Of Films By Luhrmann, Vera Zubarev

CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture

No abstract provided.

Spatial, Seasonal, And Size-Dependent Variation In The Diet Of Sacramento Pikeminnow In The Main Stem Of Chorro Creek, Central Coast California, Brian G. Dugas

Master's Theses

This study examined the diet composition of ninety-nine Sacramento pikeminnow (150-410 mm [5.9-16 in] fork length [FL]) collected from the upper and lower main stem of Chorro Creek, Morro Bay Watershed, California in 2006. The goal of this study was to characterize the spatial and seasonal variability in the diet of Sacramento pikeminnow within Chorro Creek and to determine what proportion of the diet is represented by rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and their anadromous form (steelhead). Prey was identified in 88% of the samples collected in the early season and 84% of the samples collected in the late season. Fish …

The Moral High Ground In An Age Of Vulnerability, Tyler Moselle

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Mark Danner’s New York Review of Books piece on torture in conjunction with John Nichols’ comment on the Bush administration, outline moral, legal and political problems related to the global war on terrorism and the ascendancy of the American imperial presidency. Most people seem to be repulsed by the idea of torture but are not morally committed enough or fully dedicated to prevent it from being employed to defend their way of life. Torture is a policy decision predicated on fear, self-defense, and vulnerability in an age of globalized insurgency: one way to respond is to take the moral high …

Consumer Show Visitors: A Case Study , Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

Tourism marketers often have a difficult time trying to weigh the costs and benefits of exhibiting at consumer shows. What defines success at a consumer show is different for each exhibitor, so a show that has great potential for one exhibitor may not be worth the effort and expense for another. In light of this, this case study was undertaken in an effort to answer several questions about attendees of the Washington Sportsmen’s Show, held in Puyallup, Washington in January, 2009.

When The Negotiator Sees Red, Jayanth Narayanan, Jochen Reb, Jianwen Chen, Xue Zheng

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The negotiations literature abounds with studies about how cognitive heuristics affect negotiation outcomes. However, the role of colors in negotiations remains unexplored. The color red is associated with male dominance and leads to superior outcomes in sporting contests (Hill and Barton, 2005a). In this study, we examined the effect of wearing the color red on outcomes in distributive negotiations. Our findings revealed that when male negotiators wore red clothing, they gained a distributive advantage over their counterpart wearing white.

A Comparison Of Four Models Of Delay Discounting In Humans, Todd L. Mckerchar, Leonard Green, Joel Myerson, T. Stephen Pickford, Jade C. Hill, Steven C. Stout

Research, Publications & Creative Work

The present study compared four prominent models of delay discounting: a one-parameter exponential decay, a one-parameter hyperbola (Mazur, 1987), a two-parameter hyperboloid in which the denominator is raised to a power (Green and Myerson, 2004), and a two-parameter hyperbola in which delay is raised to a power (Rachlin, 2006). Sixty-four college undergraduates made choices between hypothetical monetary rewards, one immediate and one delayed, and the fit of the four models to their data was assessed. All four equations accounted for a large proportion of the variance at both the group and the individual levels, but the exponents of both two-parameter …

Periodic And Chaotic Traveling Wave Patterns In Reaction-Diffusion/Predator-Prey Models With General Nonlinearities, S.C. Mancas, Roy S. Choudhury

Publications

Traveling wavetrains in generalized two–species predator–prey models and two–component reaction–diffusion equations are considered. The stability of the fixed points of the traveling wave ODEs (in the usual ”spatial” variable) is considered. For general functional forms of the nonlinear prey birthrate/prey deathrate or reaction terms, a Hopf bifurcation is shown to occur at two different critical values of the traveling wave speed. The post–bifurcation dynamics is investigated for five different functional forms of the nonlinearities. In cases where the bifurcation is supercritical, the post– bifurcation behaviour yields stable periodic orbits of the traveling–wave ODEs in the spatial variable. These correspond to …

Rethinking Patentable Subject Matter: Are Statutory Categories Useful?, Aaron J. Zakem

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Champagne Seas—Foretelling The Ocean’S Future?, J Hall-Spencer, E Rauer

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Imagine you are an ocean researcher and you want to study the ecological impacts of ocean acidification. You know from studies carried out under controlled laboratory conditions that lowered pH can impact the physiology, growth, and development of certain organisms. What you want to know next is how these changes in individual species translate into the direct and indirect ecological changes that occur in the open ocean. Here we summarize the results from a new approach to understanding the ecological implications of ocean acidification: observational studies and IN SITU experimentation at ocean sites with low pH and high CO2.

University Of San Diego News Print Media Coverage 2009.06, University Of San Diego Office Of Public Affairs

Print Media Coverage (1947-2009)

Printed clippings housed in folders with a table of contents arranged by topic.

The Role Of Transportation In Campus Emergency Planning, Mti Report 08-06, Frances Edwards, Daniel C. Goodrich

Mineta Transportation Institute

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina created the greatest natural disaster in American history. The states of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama sustained significant damage, including 31 colleges and universities. Other institutions of higher education, most notably Louisiana State University (LSU), became resources to the disaster area. This is just one of the many examples of disaster impacts on institutions of higher education. The Federal Department of Homeland Security, under Homeland Security Presidential Directive–5, requires all public agencies that want to receive federal preparedness assistance to comply with the National Incident Management System (NIMS), which includes the creation of an Emergency Operations Plan …

2009 June, Office Of Communications & Marketing, Morehead State University.

Morehead State Press Release Archive, 1961 to the Present

Press releases for June of 2009.

What Will You Name It? Dordt College Commencement Address, May 9, 2008, Jeri Schelhaas

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

A Mathematical Model Of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis, Karthik Bathena

Theses

A SIS model for Cutaneous Leishmaniasis is developed and analyzed. The model contains a human population of incidental hosts, along with animals that are the reservoir hosts and the sandfly vector. Reproductive rates for the persistence of the infection are derived from the model. Conditions for the existence of endemic and disease-free equilibrium are obtained. The stability analysis of the disease-free equilibrium is investigated and numerical simulations for the model are provided.

Bone Artifacts At Mont Repose: Possible Motivationos For Production And Trade, James B. Harper

College of Graduate Studies: Theses & Dissertations

Material culture is a vital component of archaeology. The identification and designation of artifacts and their uses can assist in contextualizing historical sites. At Mont Repose, a rice plantation inhabited during colonial and antebellum times, a structure has been partially excavated. Included in a collection of bone artifacts unearthed from this site are bone buttons, bone toothbrushes, bone handfan parts, bone lice combs, and artifacts thought to be parts of a needle case or a Yoruba status item. These items display a high degree of manipulation and offer many interesting hypotheses regarding slave plantation life. The bone artifacts associated with …

Hetero-Romantic Love And Heterosexiness In Children’S G-Rated Films, Karin A. Martin, Emily Kazyak

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This article examines accounts of heterosexuality in media for children. The authors analyze all the G-rated films grossing $100 million dollars or more between 1990 and 2005 and find two main accounts of heterosexuality. First, heterosexuality is constructed through hetero-romantic love relationships as exceptional, powerful, magical, and transformative. Second, heterosexuality outside of relationships is constructed through portrayals of men gazing desirously at women’s bodies. Both of these findings have implications for our understanding of heteronormativity. The first is seemingly at odds with theories that claim that heterosexuality’s mundane, assumed, everyday ordinariness lends heteronormativity its power. In fact, the authors suggest …

Introduction: Can Constitutionalism, Secularism And Religion Be Reconciled In An Era Of Globalization And Religious Revival?, Michel Rosenfeld

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conflicts Between General Laws And Religious Norms, Dieter Grimm

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Secularism, Religion, And Liberal Democracy In The United States, Kent Greenawalt

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Power Of Symbols And Symbols As Power: Secularism And Religion As Guarantors Of Cultural Convergence, Susanna Mancini

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Investigation Of The P13k/Akt/Foxo And The Ras/Raf/Mek/Erk Signalling Pathways In Ovarian Development, Claire Wynne

Masters

The formation and development of ovarian follicles is regulated by the interactions of germ cells and somatic cells, intraovarian growth regulatory factors and the pituitary gonadotrophins, FSH and LH. Despite the fact that granulosa cells of large follicles are highly proliferative, granulosa cell tumours are rare suggesting that potent regulatory mechanisms, including apoptotic factors, control proliferation and differentiation of these cells. Two critical pathways that intercommunicate to influence ovarian cell proliferation and differentiation are the PI3K1AKT/FOXOI pathway and the Ras/Raf/MEKIERK cascade. As FSH can stimulate both pathways, a super-ovulatory regimen of hormones PMSG/hCG (FSHlLH analogues) administered to immature wildtype mice …

Managing Your Horse On A Tight Budget, Patricia Evans

All Current Publications

This publication gives tips to giving your horse the proper love and care it needs while sticking to a budget.

Utah’S Adaptive Resources Management Greater Sage-Grouse Local Working Groups Accomplishment Report 2008, Utah State University

All Current Publications

No abstract provided.

Time-Mode Circuits For Analog Computation, Vishnu Ravinuthula, Vaibhav Garg, John G. Harris, José A.B. Fortes

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We introduce time-mode circuits, a set of basic circuit building blocks for analog computation using a temporal step function representation for the inputs and outputs. These novel time-mode circuits are low power, provide good noise performance and offer improved dynamic range. The design, IC implementation and detailed theoretical signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) analysis of a prototype time-mode circuit-a weighted average computation circuit-are discussed. This new way of computation is studied with respect to existing conventional voltage-mode and current-mode circuits. Two possible applications of these time mode circuits are presented: an edge detection circuit for 16 pixels and a 3-tap FIR filter …

Effects Of Learning Rate On The Performance Of The Population Based Incremental Learning Algorithm, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy, K. A. Folly

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The effect of learning rate (LR) on the performance of a newly introduced evolutionary algorithm called population-based incremental learning (PBIL) is investigated in this paper. PBIL is a technique that combines a simple genetic algorithm (GA) with competitive learning (CL). Although CL is often studied in the context of artificial neural networks (ANNs), it plays a vital role in PBIL in that the idea of creating a prototype vector in learning vector quantization (LVQ) is central to PBIL. In PBIL, the crossover operator of GAs is abstracted away and the role of population is redefined. PBIL maintains a real-valued probability …

Learning Nonlinear Functions With Mlps And Srns, R. Cleaver, Ganesh K. Venayagamoorthy

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

In this paper, nonlinear functions generated by randomly initialized multilayer perceptrons (MLPs) and simultaneous recurrent neural networks (SRNs) are learned by MLPs and SRNs. Training SRNs is a challenging task and a new learning algorithm - DEPSO is introduced. DEPSO is a standard particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm with the addition of a differential evolution step to aid in swarm convergence. The results from DEPSO are compared with the standard backpropagation (BP) and PSO algorithms. It is further verified that functions generated by SRNs are harder to learn than those generated by MLPs but DEPSO provides better learning capabilities for …

Assessing Public Opinion Directly To Keep Current With Changing Community Needs, Raymond K. Yang, Robert J. Fetsch, Thomas M. Mcbride, Janet C. Benavente

Journal of Extension

In communities that are changing, Cooperative Extension's programs should change to meet the needs of community members. Directly assessing community members' needs and concerns is valuable in developing and offering educational programs that will be responsive to community needs and attract audiences. We describe a simple survey method that can efficiently assess community members' concerns. The method is useful in developing broad programs that can address several related issues. A specific example of the process is presented using a county facing well-recognized rural/urban issues.

Barrow Island Ute Guide - Non-Indigenous Insects, Spiders And Snails, Mike Grimm, Kristofer Collett, Peter Davis, Marc Widmer, Andras Szito, Rob Emery, Peter Mangano

Biosecurity published reports

Barrow Island, the second largest island in Western Australia, is a Class A Nature Reserve and home to a variety of rare and endangered fauna and flora, some of which occur nowhere else. The island lies about 70 km off the north-west coast of Western Australia and 150 km west of Karratha.

Oil discoveries in the 1960s and the development of massive Northwest Shelf gas reserves since the 1990s made Barrow Island an important site for these industries. Strict environmental and quarantine conditions are placed on industry seeking permits to drill oil wells and construct gas processing plants. Oil production …