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Genetic And Biochemical Properties Of Arabidopsis Rna Polymerases Iv And V, Jeremy Haag

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

RNA Polymerases IV and V: Pol IV and Pol V) are plant-specific enzyme complexes with subunit homology to RNA Polymerase II: Pol II). The largest subunits in Pol IV and Pol V, NRPD1 and NRPE1 respectively, share a second largest subunit, NRPD2/NRPE2. The evolutionarily conserved Metal A and Metal B binding sites are required for Pol IV and V in vivo function fitting the prediction that these are functional polymerases. The Defective Chloroplast and Leaves-like: DeCL) domain at the C-terminus of both NRPD1 and NRPE1 is also required for complementation but other domains in the NRPE1 CTD are largely dispensable. …

A New Quantitative Method For The Taxonomic Identification Of Tetrapods, Stephanie Kuster

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The rarity of good fossil samples throughout geologic time frequently makes fossil identification difficult. This dissertation presents a new, multivariate, statistically validated method to identify tetrapods based on quantification of the shapes of microstructural features in cortical bone of the postcranial skeleton. The ultimate goal is to reduce the reliance on rare, near-complete fossil skeletons. The method is validated on a set of 15,745 mammalian microstructural features from eleven diverse species. An additional set of 21,122 microstructural features from one species serve to examine microstructural variation within a single skeleton. Microstructural measurements were made on thin-sections using optical microscopy. Initial …

Evaluation Of Pbr In Breast Cancer, Stephany Shockley

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The utility of Positron Emission Tomography: PET) in the detection of cancer began with the radiopharmaceutical 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxyglucose: FDG) used for measuring altered cellular metabolism. Specific radioligands are being developed to allow non-invasive analysis of protein expression to further characterize tumors. One protein that has been identified as a promising target is the Peripheral Benzodiazepine Receptor: PBR). PBR expression is up-regulated in several cancers, and in many there has been a correlation drawn between increased malignancy and protein expression levels. Therefore, developing PET methodologies to apply for PBR imaging could be an important step in understanding individual tumors as we move …

Probing The Early Stages Of Polyglutamine Aggregation With Computational Methods, Andreas Vitalis

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Exonic CAG repeat diseases are a class of neurodegenerative age-of-onset diseases caused by an unstable trinucleotide expansion in a coding region of a gene. The most prominent example is Huntington's disease: HD) whose symptoms are characterized by loss of motor control and cognitive deficits. For all nine of the known CAG repeat diseases, pathology is ascribed to the mutant proteins which carry expanded stretches of glutamine residues: polyglutamine). The length of the polyglutamine segment is inversely correlated with the disease age-of-onset. Protein aggregates are routinely found in postmortem tissue samples of brains of HD patients. These findings suggest a prominent …

Vincent Pham Interview, Devin Meyer

Asian American Art Oral History Project

2009 interview with Vincent Pham a Doctoral Student at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and co-author of Asian Americans and the Media (Polity, 2008).

39th Chicano Commencement, 2009, San Jose State University, Associated Students

Chicano Commencement

39th Annual Chicano Commencement

"La fundación para un gran futuro está en los hechos de hoy = The foundation of a great future lies within the actions of today" The 39th Annual Chicano Commencement took place on May 24, 2009 at the SJSU Event Center.

Expression Of Chemokines And Vegfs In Hnscc, Crystal Cunningham

Theses and Dissertations

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common malignancy worldwide. The 5-year survival rate when the cancer remains as a primary tumor is 81% but when it metastasizes to distant sites, defined as a metastatic cancer, it decreases dramatically to 26%. Approaches to prevent these cancers from undergoing these metastatic changes can greatly improve the survival and outcome of these cancer victims. This current study is examining the expression profiles of chemokines and VEGFs in HNSCC. By investigation the underlying pathways involved in the expressions of chemokines and VEGFS we hope to sort out the transcriptional …

Genomic Approaches For Pathway Identification In Regenerating Sensory Epithelia Of The Inner Ear, David Alvarado

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The inner ear utilizes sensory hair cells as mechano-electric transducers for sensing sound and balance. In mammals, these sensory hair cells lack the capacity for regeneration and if damaged lead to hearing or balance disorders. However, non-mammalian vertebrates such as birds maintain their regenerative abilities throughout their life. We completed a gene expression profiling time course of regenerating sensory epithelia: SE) in avian cochlea and utricle on a custom transcription factor microarray following damage by laser and chemical ablation and identified genes from known signaling cascades differentially expressed during SE regeneration. In the second study, we selected 27 of these …

Engineering The Optical Properties Of Gold Nanostructures For Biomedical Applications, Leslie Au

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This research investigated the synthesis and optical properties of Au nanostructures with an aim to use them as imaging agents and photothermal transducers for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer. I have produced Au nanocages with hollow interiors and porous walls using the galvanic replacement reaction between Ag nanocubes and AuCl₄-. I have engineered these Au nanocages to have localized surface plasmon resonance: LSPR) peaks in the near-infrared region with strong absorption. These optical properties allow for the imaging of biological tissues at deeper penetration and the photoablation of cancer. By replacing AuCl₄- with AuCl_{2 …}

Growth Factor Delivery From Fibrin Matrics Containing Affinity-Based Delivery Systems To Treat Peripheral Nerve Injury, Matthew Wood

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

This thesis work sought to develop a biomaterial to further the understanding of affinity-based delivery and to serve as a potential treatment for peripheral nerve injury. The use of an affinity-based delivery system: ABDS) with growth factors in a nerve guidance conduit: NGC) was hypothesized to promote nerve regeneration and functional recovery following a critical nerve defect. Evaluation of affinity-based delivery using peptides with varying binding affinity for heparin determined that peptide binding affinity for heparin affected the release rate and biological activity of nerve growth factor: NGF) in vitro. The ABDS presented biologically active NGF, which promoted neurite extension …

Commencement Program, 2009, Roger Williams University

Commencement Programs

Program for Commencement Exercises, including the date, location, and a list of graduates and their degrees. Program also includes other details, such as the names of speakers and honorary degree recipients, awards, and traditions.

Commencement 2009, Taylor University

Commencement

The program of the 2009 Annual Commencement of Taylor University, May 23, 2009.

Systems And Methods For Measuring Ultra-Short Light Pulses, Martin Richardson, Robert Bernath, Joshua Duncan, Michael Hemmer, Timothy Mccomb, Etienne Puyoo

UCF Patents

Systems and methods for measuring a pulse length (.tau..sub.0) of an ultra-short light pulse (P.sub.0) based on processing a number of substantially similar light pulses. The system includes an autocorrelation optical system adapted to receive the light pulses P.sub.0 and create from each light pulse two beams having an associated optical path length difference .DELTA.OPL. Providing a different .DELTA.OPL for each light pulse creates an autocorrelation interference pattern representative of an autocorrelation of the light pulse P.sub.0. An LED detector detects the autocorrelation interference pattern and generates therefrom an autocorrelation signal. A signal-processing unit forms from the autocorrelation signal a …

Frozen Robust Multi-Array Analysis (Frma), Matthew N. Mccall, Benjamin M. Bolstad, Rafael A. Irizarry

Johns Hopkins University, Dept. of Biostatistics Working Papers

Robust Multi-array Analysis (RMA) is the most widely used preprocessing algorithm for Affymetrix and Nimblegen gene-expression microarrays. RMA performs background correction, normalization, and summarization in a modular way. The last two steps require multiple arrays to be analyzed simultaneously. The ability to borrow information across samples provides RMA various advantages. For example, the summarization step fits a parametric model that accounts for probe-effects, assumed to be fixed across arrays, and improves outlier detection. Residuals, obtained from the fitted model, permit the creation of useful quality metrics. However, the dependence on multiple arrays has two drawbacks: (1) RMA can- not be …

2009 Commencement Program, Whittier College

Commencement Programs

Whittier College's One Hundred Sixth Commencement, May 22, 2009

Commencement Address: Mrs. Edelman, Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund

Best Management Practices For Corn Production In South Dakota: Corn Insect Pests, Michael A. Catangui, Billy W. Fuller, B. Wade French

SDSU Extension Circulars

Historically, the major corn insect pests have been corn rootworms (northern and western), European corn borer, and black cutworm. Bt-corn hybrids are effective against most of these pests. However, Bt-corn hybrids are not effective against corn leaf aphid, corn root aphid, sap beetles, corn rootworm adults, grasshoppers, white grubs, wireworms, seed corn beetle, and seed corn maggots. These insect pests can reduce corn yields. This chapter discusses the management and biology of important corn insect pests commonly observed in South Dakota.

An Efficient Algorithm For Real-Time Divisible Load Scheduling, Anwar Mamat, Ying Lu, Jitender S. Deogun, Steve Goddard

School of Computing: Technical Reports

Providing QoS and performance guarantees to arbitrarily divisible loads has become a significant problem for many cluster-based research computing facilities. While progress is being made in scheduling arbitrarily divisible loads, existing approaches are not very efficient and cannot scale to large clusters. In this paper we propose an efficient algorithm for real-time divisible load scheduling, which has a time complexity linear to the number of tasks and the number of nodes in the cluster.

Athletics Council Report To Faculty Senate, May 22, 2009, Athletics Council

All Faculty Senate 2007-2014 Committee Minutes and Reports

Report on meetings and efforts from the Athletics Council to Tom Sudkamp, President of Faculty Senate for 2008-2009.

Idss: Deformation Invariant Signatures For Molecular Shape Comparison, Yu-Shen Liu, Yi Fang, Karthik Ramani

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Background

Many molecules of interest are flexible and undergo significant shape deformation as part of their function, but most existing methods of molecular shape comparison (MSC) treat them as rigid bodies, which may lead to incorrect measure of the shape similarity of flexible molecules.

Results

To address the issue we introduce a new shape descriptor, called Inner Distance Shape Signature (IDSS), for describing the 3D shapes of flexible molecules. The inner distance is defined as the length of the shortest path between landmark points within the molecular shape, and it reflects well the molecular structure and deformation without explicit decomposition. …

Genetic Analysis Of Ribosome Stalling And Rescue, Douglas Ray Tanner

Theses and Dissertations

In eubacteria, ribosome stalling on broken messenger RNA transcripts can lead to cell death. The trans-translation quality control mechanism rescues many of these stalled ribosomes. In this process, tmRNA enters stalled ribosomes by mimicking a transfer RNA, accepting the stalled nascent peptide. The ribosome then releases the broken mRNA and resumes translation on a coding region within tmRNA itself. Translation of tmRNA marks the nascent peptide for destruction by the addition of a short proteolysis tag and the ribosome is released at a stop codon within the tmRNA open reading frame. An intriguing aspect of trans-translation is that …

Palmer Students Receive Um Scholarships, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Observer, Central Washington University

Student Newspaper

Student newspaper for Central Washington University for May 21, 2009

Addressing Amphibian Decline Through The Amphibian Conservation Action Plan, Dante B. Fenolio

Open Access Dissertations

The amphibian decline phenomenon now involves in excess of a third of the roughly 6000 species of amphibians on the planet. The problems that drive the declines are diverse with no end in sight. The Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP) aims to stem amphibian decline through four recommended actions by researchers and conservation biologists: (1) Expand scientific understanding of amphibian declines and extinctions; (2) continue to document amphibian diversity and ecology and how they are changing; (3) develop and implement long-term conservation programs; (4) prepare emergency response actions for eminent crises. This Dissertation focused on two of those recommendations: expanding …

Council On Academic Affairs Minutes, May 21, 2009, Eastern Kentucky University

Council on Academic Affairs

No abstract provided.

Best Management Practices For Corn Production In South Dakota: Soil Fertility, David E. Clay, Kurtis D. Reitsma

SDSU Extension Circulars

Corn requires sufficient amounts of at least 14 nutrients for optimal production (fig. 7.1). Soil fertility strategies should consider soil residual plant nutrients, cost of fertilizer relative to the value of corn, and management techniques that increase efficiency.

2009-05-21 Unm News Minute, University Of New Mexico Communication And Marketing Department

UNM News Minute 2009

No abstract provided.

Nine, Otterbein University Theatre And Dance Department

2008-2009 Season

Guido Contini, famous Italian film director, has turned forty and faces double crises: he has to shoot a film for which he can't write the script, and his wife of twenty years, the film star Luisa del Forno, may be about to leave him if he can't pay more attention to the marriage. As it turns out, it is the same crisis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nine_(musical)

A Network-Aware Distributed Membership Protocol For Collaborative Defense, David Zage, Carl Livadas, Eve M. Schooler

Department of Computer Science Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Mustang Daily, May 21, 2009

Cal Poly Student Newspaper

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

Executive Committee - Meeting Minutes, 5/21/2009, Academic Senate

Academic Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.