Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation Of The Role Of Muller Glia-Derived Dickkopf3 (Dkk3) During Retinal Degeneration, Rei Nakamura

Open Access Dissertations

Retinal degeneration is characterized by the irreversible loss of photoreceptors. A key research question is the identification and characterization of photoreceptor protective factors that prevent or delay vision loss. The Wnt pathway is a critical cellular communication pathway involved in development and diseases of the central nervous system (CNS). Recently, we discovered that multiple components of the Wnt pathway were differentially expressed in the rd1 mouse model of retinal degeneration. One of the most highly upregulated genes was Dickkopf3 (Dkk3), a secreted Wnt pathway protein of unknown function. Additionally, we demonstrated that Wnt signaling is neuroprotective in primary retinal culture …

Unsex Cedaw: What's Wrong With "Women's Rights", Darren Rosenblum

International & Comparative Law Colloquium Papers

Although the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW” or the “Convention”) has succeeded in some respects, even its supporters acknowledge broad failures. CEDAW’s weakness draws on the titular mistaken diagnosis: “women” are not the issue&#;gender disparities are. The 1970’s drafting of CEDAW focused on bringing women to their place at the international law table. What’s wrong with women’s rights? In the international context, CEDAW attempts to empower women but fails to respect other gender inequality. As the preeminent treaty on gender inequality, CEDAW cannot succeed in creating gender equality if its scope remains limited …

Prospectus, November 18, 2009, Merry Thomas, Chuck Shepherd, Chrissie Mckenney, Tara Moon Christopher, Sean Hermann, Alishia Reynolds, Shagun Pradhan

Prospectus 2009

No abstract provided.

Adaptive Difference Of Gaussian Algorithm For Coherent Line Drawing, Abadi Kurniawan

Theses

Non-photorealistic rendering is a method of imitating hand-drawn images using computer as the tool. One of hand-drawn techniques used by artists is line drawing. This goal of this thesis is to produce a technique to create line drawing images from real life picture. Based on a previous technique called Flow-based Difference of Gaussian (FDoG), we try to improve the output image so that it will create more believable pictures, as it if were hand-drawn by an artist. FDoG has proven to be able to produce results with coherent and connected lines, but it fails to capture coarse details on isotropic …

The Utah Statesman, November 18, 2009, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Predictive Modeling Of Sulfur Flower Buckwheat (Erigonum Umbellatum Torrey) Using Non-Parametric Multiplicative Regression Analysis, David B. Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Impacts of humans on ecosystems in western United States have necessitated ecological restoration, which includes the development of native seed that can be used for revegetation efforts. Development of such seed sources are costly and time consuming. This study describes the use of non-parametric multiplicative regression analysis (NPMR) to develop a predictive model for occurrence of sulfur-flower buckwheat (Eriogonum umbellatum Torrey) population seed collection. This perennial forb species is of interest for seed source development in the western United States. Presence and absence data for E. umbellatum was taken from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Big Game Range …

Daily Eastern News: November 18, 2009, Eastern Illinois University

November

No abstract provided.

Brazilian Adolescents Infected By Hiv: Epidemiologic Characteristics And Adherence To Treatment, Julia K. C. Machado, Maria J. C. Sant'anna, Veronica Coates, Flavia J. Almeida, Eitan N. Berezin, Hatim A. Omar

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Over the last 3 decades since the first AIDS cases appeared, we have witnessed great progress in therapeutic methodologies that have transformed the evolution of the disease from debilitating and fatal, into chronic and controllable. HIV-infected children are arriving at adolescence and bringing specific challenges, not only to themselves, but also to their families and caregivers. This retrospective study sets forth epidemiological and treatment characteristics of 46 HIV-infected adolescents followed in a specialized university service relating said characteristics to therapy adherence assessed through a combination of three indirect methods. Therapy adherence did not reveal any association with either epidemiologic characteristics …

Exponent Vol. 41, No. 10, 2009-11-18, University Of Alabama In Huntsville

2009

No abstract provided.

Volume 47, Number 13: November 18, 2009, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

The Lumberjack, November 18, 2009

Cal Poly Humboldt's Student Newspaper

The student newspaper of Humboldt State University.

The Spinnaker [Vol. 33 No. 16], University Of North Florida

Spinnaker

Student newspaper for the UNF community.

Emerging Adulthood In India, Liann Nicole Seiter

Theses and Dissertations

This paper explores the nature of emerging adulthood in Southern India. Survey data was collected from 450 college students in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India and 100 non-students from rural villages surrounding Coimbatore. Unlike American samples, the majority of the 18- to 26-year-olds studied felt that they had achieved adulthood. The sample emphasized attributes needed to fulfill family roles as characteristics necessary for adulthood. Differences in optimism levels were found between students and non-students. Arnett suggests that emerging adulthood would be affected by cultural influences. The unique cultural and structural influences in India such as, Hinduism, caste, gendered socialization, and the …

The Hilltop 11-18-2009, Hilltop Staff

The Hilltop: 2000 - 2010

No abstract provided.

From Choice To Reproductive Justice: De-Constitutionalizing Abortion Rights, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Essay argues that the right to abortion constitutionalized in Roe v. Wade is by some measure at odds with a capacious understanding of the demands of reproductive justice. No matter its rationale, the constitutional right to abortion is fundamentally a negative right that rhetorically keeps the state out of the domain of family life. As such, the decision privatizes not only the abortion decision, but also parenting, by rendering the decision to carry a pregnancy to term a choice. It thereby legitimates a minimalist state response to the problems of pregnant women who carry their pregnancies to term and …

A Descriptive Analysis Of Mentoring On Pre-Service Physical Education Teachers Related To Classroom And Behavior Management: A Case Study, Alfredo Martinez

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

The purpose of this study was to explore the development of instructional management behaviors of pre-student teachers, who have received pre-service preparation through a course in classroom and behavior management and who receive supervision and mentoring specifically in regard to classroom and behavior management.. Two junior level pre-student teachers served as key participants in this study. The intensive mentorship occurred over the course of five weeks with two observations per week. The data were collected and triangulated through interviews, observations, field notes, video recorded lessons, and artifacts such as lesson plans. Two distinct case studies were developed in this field …

The Bg News November 18, 2009, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. November 18, 2009. Volume 100-Issue 60.

Non-Antibiotic Selection Systems For Soybean Somatic Embryos: The Lysine Analog Aminoethyl-Cysteine As A Selection Agent, Suryadevara S. Rao, Lewamy Mamadou, Matt Mcconnell, Raghuveer Polisetty, Prachuab Kwanyuen, David Hildebrand

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: In soybean somatic embryo transformation, the standard selection agent currently used is hygromycin. It may be preferable to avoid use of antibiotic resistance genes in foods. The objective of these experiments was to develop a selection system for producing transgenic soybean somatic embryos without the use of antibiotics such as hygromycin.

RESULTS: When tested against different alternate selection agents our studies show that 0.16 microg/mL glufosinate, 40 mg/L isopropylamine-glyphosate, 0.5 mg/mL (S-(2 aminoethyl)-L-cysteine) (AEC) and the acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors Exceed and Synchrony both at 150 microg/mL inhibited soybean somatic embryo growth. Even at the concentration of 2 mg/mL, …

Unraveling The Intricacies Of Spatial Organization Of The Erbb Receptors And Downstream Signaling Pathways, Michelle Costa

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Faced with the complexity of diseases such as cancer which has 1012 mutations, altering gene expression, and disrupting regulatory networks, there has been a paradigm shift in the biological sciences and what has emerged is a much more quantitative field of biology. Mathematical modeling can aid in biological discovery with the development of predictive models that provide future direction for experimentalist. In this work, I have contributed to the development of novel computational approaches which explore mechanisms of receptor aggregation and predict the effects of downstream signaling. The coupled spatial non-spatial simulation algorithm, CSNSA is a tool that I took …

Suppression Of Erbb-2 In Androgen-Independent Human Prostate Cancer Cells Enhances Cytotoxic Effect By Gemcitabine In An Androgen-Reduced Environment., Li Zhang, Jeffrey S. Davis, Stanislav Zelivianski, Fen-Fen Lin, Rachel Schutte, Thomas L. Davis, Ralph Hauke, Surinder K. Batra, Ming-Fong Lin

Journal Articles: Biochemistry & Molecular Biology

We examined the efficacy of combination treatments utilizing cytotoxic drugs plus inhibitors to members of the ErbB-ERK signal pathway in human prostate cancer (PCa) LNCaP C-81 cells. Under an androgen-reduced condition, 50nM gemcitabine caused about 40% growth suppression on C-81 cells. Simultaneous treatment of gemcitabine plus 10microM AG825 produced 60% suppression (p

November 18, 2009, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Assets And Child Well-Being In Developed Countries, Trina Williams Shanks, Youngmi Kim, Vernon Loke, Mesmin Destin

Center for Social Development Research

Although there is no universal approach to offering Child Development Accounts (CDAs), this paper introduces a framework for an age-based conceptual model that describes how such accounts might influence indicators of child wellbeing. With a focus on optimal age-appropriate development beginning at birth and ranging through young adulthood, the model incorporates research from multiple disciplines to include direct effects, indirect effects and critical milestones. We review empirical evidence from national datasets (primarily from the United States, but including research from other developed countries) to provide a context for this framework. This conceptual and empirical backdrop provides a starting point from …

Remembering The Ghost: Pedro Páramo And The Ethics Of Haunting, Benjamin Cluff

Theses and Dissertations

This study seeks to describe what I term the ethics of haunting, as related to trauma and memory, by analyzing Juan Rulfo's Pedro Páramo. It does not claim to be representative of ghosts and haunting as a whole, but more specifically to illustrate various manners in which the return of the ghost and its subsequent haunting are motivated by an ethics of memory in Rulfo's novel. Within this framework I explore remembrance as a medium of exchange between the living and the dead, haunting as a method by which gaps in the historical archive can be filled, and the …

Quantitative Analysis Of Tobacco Specific Nitrosamine In Human Urine Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers As A Potential Tool For Cancer Risk Assessment, Kumar Shah

Theses and Dissertations

Measuring urinary tobacco specific nitrosamine 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanol (NNAL) and its glucuronide conjugate may provide the best biomarker of tobacco smoke lung carcinogen metabolism. Existence of differences in the extent of NNAL metabolism rates may be potentially related to an individuals’ lung cancer susceptibility. Low concentrations of NNAL in smokers urine (<1 ng/mL) require sensitive and selective methods for analysis. Traditionally, this involves extensive, time-consuming sample preparation that limits throughput and adds to measurement variability. Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) have been developed for the analysis of urinary NNAL by offline cartridge extraction combined with LC-MS/MS. This method when reproduced demonstrated problems with matrix effects. In the first part of this work, investigation of matrix effects and related problems with sensitivity for the published offline extraction method has been conducted. In order to address the need to improve throughput and other analytical figures of merit for the original method, the second part of this work deals with development of a high-throughput online microfluidic method using capillary-columns packed with MIP beads for the analysis of urinary NNAL. The method was validated as per the FDA guidance, and enabled low volume, rapid analysis of urinary NNAL by direct injection on a microfluidic column packed with NNAL specific MIP beads. The method was used for analysis of urinary NNAL and NNAL-Gluc in smokers. Chemometric methods were used with this data to develop a potential cancer-risk-assessment tool based on pattern recognition in the concentrations of these compounds in urine. In the last part, method comparison approaches for the online and the offline sample extraction techniques were investigated. A ‘fixed’ range acceptance criterion based on combined considerations of method precision and accuracy, and the FDA bioanalytical guidance limits on precision and accuracy was proposed. Data simulations studies to evaluate the probabilities of successful transfers using the proposed criteria were performed. Various experimental designs were evaluated and a design comprised of 3 runs with 3 replicates each with an acceptance range of ±20% was found appropriate. The off-line and the on-line sample extraction methods for NNAL analysis were found comparable using the proposed fixed range acceptance criteria.

Robust Protective Factors That Help Youths With A Parent Experiencing Depression Achieve Positive Adjustment, Hsing-Jung Chen

Theses and Dissertations

Based on a resilience framework, the purpose of this study was to address knowledge gaps about minority youths who lived in rural and poor areas, had a primary caregiver with a diagnosis of depression, and faced multiple psychosocial stressors. Three research objectives included: 1) To explore the association between ecological protective factors and four developmental outcomes-emotional adjustment, behavioral adjustment, school performance, and educational aspiration; 2) To identify the robust protective factors; and 3) To explore the interactive relationships between risk and robust protective factors. Families (N=126) where the primary caregiver had a diagnosis of major depression and had a child …

Striving And Surviving: The Phenomenology Of The First-Year Teaching Experience, Michael D. Smith

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite the enduring relative popularity of teaching as a career, the research literature on teacher preparation suggests that there is growing concern about the state of the field. With each passing year, the demographic realities within k-12 classrooms bring new challenges for the teacher preparation enterprise. Shortages in high need communities and increasing numbers of provisionally certified (or uncertified) teachers represent two areas of concern. Notwithstanding the extraordinarily increasing cultural and linguistic diversity now found among the student population, the teacher population has failed to diversify in kind. The number of new teachers who are ill-prepared to respond to this …

The Antelope, University Of Nebraska At Kearney

The Antelope

No abstract provided.

School Of Medicine Academic Plan, 2009-2014

Annual Reports - Education

The University of Connecticut School of Medicine is the only public medical school in the state and one of only three public medical schools in the New England. Consequently, it plays a pivotal role in education, research, and healthcare delivery in both the state and the region. The primary mission of the School of Medicine is education at the undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels for practitioners, teachers, and researchers, conducted in an environment of exemplary patient care, research, and public service.

A New Class Of Minimum Power Divergence Estimators With Applications To Cancer Surveillance, Nirian Martin, Yi Li

Harvard University Biostatistics Working Paper Series

No abstract provided.

The Daily Egyptian, November 17, 2009, Daily Egyptian Staff

November 2009

No abstract provided.