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Contamination Of The Conchos River In Mexico: Does It Pose A Health Risk To Local Residents?, Hector Rubio-Arias, César Quintana, Jorge Jimenez-Castro, Ray Quintana, Melida Gutierrez

College of Natural and Applied Sciences

Presently, water contamination issues are of great concern worldwide. Mexico has not escaped this environmental problem, which negatively affects aquifers, water bodies and biodiversity; but most of all, public health. The objective was to determine the level of water contamination in six tributaries of the Conchos River and to relate their levels to human health risks. Bimonthly samples were obtained from each location during 2005 and 2006. Physical-chemical variables (temperature, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), Total solids and total nitrogen) as well as heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, V, Zn, and Li) were determined. The statistical analysis considered …

Hepatic Oval Cells Activated By Hepatocyte Apoptosis In Diethylnitrosamine-Induced Rat Liver Cirrhosis, Xi-Ming Xu, Guang-Jin Yuan, Jun-Jian Deng, Yao-Gui Wu, Wei Ge, Qi-Bing Song

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether hepatic oval cells are activated in diethylnitrosamine (DEN)-induced rat liver cirrhosis, and to explore its mechanism. METHODS: Liver cirrhosis was induced in rats (n=8) by weekly intraperitoneal injections of DEN at a dose of 50mg/kg body weight for 12 weeks followed by a 2-week wash out period. Rats (n=5) that received isovolumic vehicle served as the control group. Liver pathology was examined. Apoptotic hepatocytes were identified and quantified by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated deoxyuridine triphosphate nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay. Oval cells were detected using immunohistochemical staining for pyruvate kinase type M2 (M2PK) and cytokeratin 19 (CK19). The …

Design Of Adaptive Collective Foraging In Swarm Robotic Systems, Hanyi Dai

Dissertations

Inspired by the collective behavior observed in biological colonies, swarm robotics is a new approach to design a distributed control algorithm in order to coordinate a group of simple robots performing a complex group task. With only limited computation and communication ability of individual robots, one of the challenges in designing such multi-robotic systems is to understand the effect of individual robots behavior on the group performance. This thesis dedicates the research to designing a set of local interaction and adaptation rule for individual robots so that optimized collective foraging performance can be achieved at group level.

The research starts …

The Allopolyploid Origin And Population Genetics Of The Rare Solidago Houghtonii (Asteraceae), Pamela J. Laureto

Dissertations

Solidago houghtonii is a federally threatened hexaploid plant species of likely hybrid origin, limited geographic distribution, and high habitat specificity. An understanding of the evolutionary history and population genetic structure of rare species is critical to ensuring their long-term survival. To study the hybrid origin of S. houghtonii I sequenced four noncoding chloroplast (cp) DNA loci, and the nuclear ribosomal DNA ITS and 3' ETS regions from four individuals of S. houghtonii, which span its geographic range, and 25 other species of Solidago including all sympatric species. Polymorphisms within the nrDNA sequences indicated the presence of multiple homeologue types …

Characterization Of The N-Terminal Domains And Disease-Causing Mutations Of The Human Wilson Protein, Joshua Mutambuki Muia

Dissertations

The Wilson protein (ATP7B) is a copper transporting ATPase that is involved in copper trafficking and homeostasis. Unlike the other known P-type ATPases, it possesses six homologous metal binding domains at the N-terminal end. Several mutations in the gene coding for this protein lead to Wilson disease, a hepatic disorder characterized by impaired excretion of copper in the bile, and accumulation of copper in body organs such as the liver, brain, kidney, and eye cornea. Characterization of various regions of expressed and purified ATP7B has been hampered by its low stability, aggregation and degradation.

In this research, novel methods were …

Citrate Synthase And The Visual Interactions Hypothesis, Kristina Camarena

Senior Honors Projects

It has been shown that the metabolic rates of deep-living species of particular pelagic groups are significantly lower than those that live closer to the surface in the water column. Various theories as to why have been presented, including the visual interactions hypothesis, which states that because there is a greatly minimized ability to visually interact in the light-limited deep, predators have a reduced need for high metabolic rates because they do not actively go after their prey. Citrate synthase is a mitochondrial enzyme found at the beginning of the citric acid cycle, which plays an integral role in cellular …

A South County Almanac: Recollections And Observations Of The Outdoors In Southern Rhode Island, Nevan Richard

Senior Honors Projects

Since its publication in 1949, “A Sand County Almanac: With Sketches Here and There” has served as the benchmark for writing about the environment and nature. “Sand County” was written by famed environmentalist Aldo Leopold, who for most of his lifetime worked towards the conservation of wildlife and natural resources. In “Sand County,” Aldo Leopold recounts his experiences and observations in various essays and journal entries from his many years of living in Wisconsin, as well his travels across the North American continent. With its publication after Mr. Leopold’s death, it changed the face of the American conservation movement, later …

A South County Almanac, Nevan Richard

Senior Honors Projects

Since its publication in 1949, “A Sand County Almanac: With Sketches Here and There” has served as the benchmark for writing about the environment and nature. “Sand County” was written by famed environmentalist Aldo Leopold, who for most of his lifetime worked towards the conservation of wildlife, forests, and other natural resources. In “Sand County,” Aldo Leopold recounts his experiences and observations in various essays and journal entries from his many years of living in Wisconsin, as well his travels across the North American continent. With its publication following Mr. Leopold’s death, it changed the face of conservation, later inspiring …

Private Regulation And Foreign Conduct, Adam I. Muchmore

San Diego Law Review

The Article proceeds as follows. Part II examines regulatory enforcement generally, viewing the problem through the lens of two basic decisions: whether to target behaviors or outcomes, and whether to rely on direct enforcement or third-party monitoring. Part III turns to imported-food safety. It begins with an overview of current U.S. policy and then examines the effects of foreign production on the choice between ex post and ex ante regulatory strategies. Because of the limits of tort law for regulating multinational activities, ex ante regulation may be more important for imports than for domestically produced products. Part IV focuses on …

Teaching With Emotion: Enriching The Educational Experience Of First-Year Law Students, Grant H. Morris

San Diego Law Review

Through the case method and Socratic dialogue, first year law students are taught to develop critical legal analytic skills-to “think like a lawyer.” Those skills, however, are primarily, if not entirely, intellectual. This article discusses the need to address emotional issues in educating law students. Unlike other articles, my article does not merely urge professors to raise such issues in their classes and discuss them analytically. Rather, I want students to actually experience emotion in the classroom setting as they discuss various fact situations and the legal principles involved in the resolution of disputes involving those facts. Law students need …

Gothic Revival Outbuildings Of Antebellum Charleston, South Carolina, Erin Marie Mcnicholl

Master of Science in Historic Preservation Terminal Projects

The Gothic Revival was a movement of picturesque architecture that is found all over the United States on buildings built in the first half of the nineteenth century. In Antebellum Charleston people tended to cling to the classical styles of architecture even when the rest of the nation and Europe were enthusiastically embracing the different picturesque styles, such as Gothic Revival and Italianate. In the United States the Gothic Revival style can be found adorning buildings of every use. One of the unique applications to be found is on kitchen buildings and carriage houses. These applications exhibit traits of an …

Fsc: 2009 Annual Report, Taiwan: Financial Supervisory Commission

Documents

No abstract provided.

Naked Truth Soap For Men: Brand Identity, Jenna Passmore

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The essential idea of this project is to develop an entire brand identity for a fictional soap company for men that I created called Naked Truth. A brand identity encompasses visual components like logo, color and design aesthetic that help a brand stick in a consumer’s mind. In the real world of advertising, the concept of a brand identity at the forefront of any advertising a company releases. Consumers are inundated with hundreds of ads everyday, so it is important for a company to know who they are and whom they want to sell their products to in order to …

Gary’S Sneakers: A 3d Animated Short, Kelsey Adams

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Gary’s Sneakers is a 3D animated short that I made with my collaborator, Meghan Grube, for the Honors Capstone Creative Project. It is a narrative featuring three main characters: a teenage boy named Gary and his two sneakers. In this animation the large clash with the small as the lazy Gary finds himself at odds with his sneakers. It is a battle of inactivity versus dynamic movement, as the sneakers fight the sedentary lifestyle choices of their owner.

Based in the world of 3D animated shorts, Gary’s Sneakers was inspired by many other works in the genre, particularly those from …

Beneath The Waves, Allison Nast

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Beneath the Waves is an original, feature-length screenplay. It is a fairy tale set in Ireland, where a woman dives to the bottom of the ocean to reclaim her husband, who had been taken by mermaids. She succeeds in rescuing her husband, and in doing so discovers that mermaids are not the beautiful women of legend, but rather man-eating deep-sea creatures. I wrote the short story Brigid and the Mermaids in my junior year in order to get the basic storyline down in an understandable form. In writing the screenplay I used the free screenwriting program Celtx, which formats easily …

Effect Of Inflorescence Size On Female Choice In Wild Radish, Raphanus Raphanistrum, Mylenne H. Salinas

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Sexual selection is an important mechanism of speciation. Originally studied in animals, researchers now argue that plants also exhibit characteristics that have been altered by sexual selection. Flower size, nectar production, pollen load, flower scent, and petal color are plant traits that participate in attracting mates through an intermediate pollinator. Although female choice has been demonstrated to enhance offspring quality in animals, a thorough analysis remains to be conducted in plants. In this study, I experimentally altered female choice by manipulating flower number on the hermaphroditic plant, Raphanus raphanistrum. Plants with smaller floral displays had reduced female choice; thus, allowing …

Role Of Estrogen Receptor Expression In Estrogen (E-2)-Induced Modulation Of Th1 And Th2 Cytokine Responses, Bertille Gaigbe-Togbe

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Previous studies have demonstrated that repeated administration of 17β-estradiol (E-2) at a dose of 1mg/kg to both (SWR x NZB)F₁ (SNF₁) mice and (DBA x BALB/c)F1(DBF₁) mice resulted in significantly decreased survival and increased appearance of lupus nephritis pathology. However, the ways in which estrogen modulates immune responses has yet to be fully understood, specifically in regard to modulations in T_H1 and T_H2 cytokine profile. Various studies have reported the presence of two estrogen receptors (ER), a and b, which have been found to be constitutively expressed in many immune cells. …

Collaborating For Social Change: Photographic Empowerment And Activist Blogging, Jennifer Dana Weill

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Much of my coursework in my major, Women’s and Gender Studies, focuses on the way that certain identities have been privileged, oppressed, stereotyped and marginalized both socially and systematically on local and global scales. In particular, I study how societal institutions disadvantage and discriminate against non-hegemonic groups of people and the resistance and collaboration that these people have engaged in to challenge the dominant institutions.

These themes inspired me to design and create a collaborative photography collection on oppression and stereotyping among students at Syracuse University. The photographs are based on histories and stories that my participants shared with me …

Optimization And Reaction Kinetics Of The Production Of Biodiesel From Castor Oil Via Sodium Methoxide-Catalyzed Methanolysis, Scott David Crymble

Theses and Dissertations

This paper studies castor oil’s potential as a biodiesel feedstock. Base-catalyzed transesterification batch reactions were conducted at various experimental conditions while measuring the concentration of the reaction components over time. A gas chromatograph with a flame-ionization detector analyzed these samples. A factorial design of experiments was used to determine how conversion was affected by reaction temperature, sodium methoxide concentration, and ratio of methanol to oil. Conversion was maximized (0.9964) at 30 °C, 0.5% catalyst, and 9:1 molar ratio. The concentration data were used to study the reaction kinetics. Modeling the reaction as three equilibria yielded six rate constants. These values …

The Role Of A2b Adenosine Receptor Signaling In Adenosine Dependent Lung Disease, Yang Zhou

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Chronic lung diseases and acute lung injuries are two distinctive pulmonary disorders that result in significant morbidity and mortality. Adenosine is a signaling nucleoside generated in response to injury and can serve both protective and destructive functions in tissues and cells through interaction with four G-protein coupled adenosine receptors: A1R, A2AR, A2BR, and A3R. However, the relationship between these factors is poorly understood. Recent findings suggest the A2BR has been implicated in the regulation of both chronic lung disease and acute lung injury. The work presented in this dissertation utilized the adenosine deaminase-deficient mouse model and the bleomycin-induced pulmonary injury …

Variation In Social Behavior Throughout The Estrous Cycle Of A Captive Killer Whale Orcinus Orca, Kristina Marie Horback

Master's Theses

The study of cetaceans in captivity provides information on behavior, acoustics, reproduction and physiology that is often difficult to obtain with free-ranging populations. The present study examined the influence of the estrous cycle of a captive female killer whale on the rate, duration, initiation and reception of social behavior she performed with her only pool mate, a male Atlantic bottlenose dolphin. Although these two delphinid species do not commonly associate in the wild, these pool mates often engaged in affiliative tactile and social behaviors. The objectives of this project were to: (a) examine the influence of cycli~ gonadal steroid hormones …

An Examination Of Aggressive Behavior In Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops Aduncus), Lauren Elizabeth Miller

Master's Theses

Agonistic behavior is often observed in animal groups in which individuals have long-term relationships. Although bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops sp.) are known to behave aggressively, relatively little is known about such behavior among wild animals. Much of the data on delphiilid aggression comes from captive studies, and is likely biased by the limited space available to the animals. In this study, video data collected from 1997 to 2007 were analyzed to examine aggressive behaviors in a wild population of Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) off the coast ofMikura Island, Japan. The purpose of the study was to determine if age class, …

Teaching Efficacy, Innovation, School Culture And Teacher Risk Taking., Margaret Elizabeth Taylor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is an exploratory study of teacher risk taking. The risk-taking literature in education and other types of organizations is lacking in studies exploring the concept of healthy risk taking and how that risk taking is related to other concepts such as organizational culture, innovation, and efficacy. The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of teacher risk taking as it relates to teaching efficacy, school culture, and organizational support for innovation. The research design of this study utilized a five-section survey administered to 740 public and private school teachers from 53 schools in 9 Midwestern states. …

Identification And Characterization Of Steroid Receptor Ligands, Megan Kathleen Dennis

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

This work focuses on steroid receptors, including the androgen receptor (AR), the estrogen receptors (ERs) ERα and ERβ, known as the classical ERs, and GPR30, a recently described G protein-coupled estrogen receptor. Each of these receptors plays a role in many normal tissues and disease pathologies and signaling through steroid receptors is required for growth of many cancers. Additionally, many tissues express more than one estrogen receptor, making delineation of the functions of individual receptors difficult. We have previously identified a GPR30-selective agonist, G-1, and this small molecule has been shown to mediate GPR30 function in a range of in …

Perinatal Arsenic Exposure Inhibits Binding Ability Of Glucocorticoid Receptors To Nuclear Response Elements Altering Gene Expression And Affecting Learning Behavior, Ebany J. Martinez-Finley

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Learning deficits in children following arsenic (As) exposure via drinking water have been epidemiologically described in the last decade. Arsenic is a persistent environmental toxin and exposure has been shown to perturb the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) stress axis. The glucocorticoid receptors (GR) are an integral part of the HPA axis and are found throughout the central nervous system, particularly in the hippocampus, an area of the brain important in learning and memory. The mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway is involved in learning and two kinases of the MAPK pathway, Ras and Raf are transcriptionally regulated by GRs. In the studies detailed …

Efficacy And Mechanism Of Â-Defensin2 Fused Antigen Protein Vaccines, Hyun J. Park

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Vaccines which use the strategy of fusing adjuvant murine â-defensin2 (mBD2) to an antigen in order to elicit stronger anti-antigen immune responses are referred to as murine â-defensin2 (mBD2) vaccines. Previous studies have validated the potential of mBD2 vaccines, thus in this study we focus on increasing vaccine efficacy as well as mechanism elucidation. Initially, we demonstrate superior IFN-ã release levels by antigen specific effector T cells when antigen is crosspresented by dendritic cells (DC) which absorbed mBD2 vaccine (mBD2 fused antigen protein) over antigen alone. We move unto an in vivo model and note significant increases in the expansion …

Osteopontin And Cadherin 11 Are Novel Mediators And Drug Targets For Chronic Lung Diseases, Daniel J. Schneider

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Chronic lung diseases (CLDs) are a considerable source of morbidity and mortality and are thought to arise from dysregulation of normal wound healing processes. An aggressive, feature of many CLDs is pulmonary fibrosis (PF) and is characterized by excess deposition of extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins from myofibroblasts in airways. However, factors regulating myofibroblast biology are incompletely understood. Proteins in the cadherin family contribute epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT), a suggested source of myofibroblasts. Cadherin 11 (CDH11) contributes to developmental and pathologic processes that parallel those seen in PF and EMT. Utilizing Cdh11 knockout (Cdh11 -/-) mice, the goal of this …

Job Satisfaction Of University Chief Student Conduct Administrators And Their Intent To Stay Or Leave The Position, Suzie Nagel-Bennett

Dissertations

Chief student conduct administrators within higher education are responsible for administering and enforcing standards of student conduct, and navigating the vast legal, political and developmental components to fortify the ethical climate and academic integrity of institutions. Although some previous research regarding these individuals and their role does exist, no research to date could be found regarding their job satisfaction at four year public institutions in the United States. This study serves as the first research to examine overall job satisfaction, the level of satisfaction on stated intrinsic and extrinsic variables within the framework of Herzberg's (1966) dual-factor theory, and the …

It's A Matter Of Principle: The Role Of Personal Values In Investment Decisions, William R. Pasewark, Mark E. Riley

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

We investigate the role of personal values in an investment decision in a controlled experimental setting. Participants were asked to choose an investment in a bond issued by a tobacco company or a bond issued by a non-tobacco company that offered an equal or sometimes lower yield. We then surveyed the participants regarding their feelings toward tobacco use to determine whether these values influenced their investment decision. Using factor analysis, we identified investment- and tobacco-related dimensions on which participants’ responses tended to load. Two of these factors, relating to the societal impact of investment decisions and the health effects of …

Physiological Responses To Temperature In The Lizard, Sceloporus Undulatus, Joseph C. Ehrenberger

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Temperature affects all organisms differently. Physiological processes, such as metabolism, interact with temperature to determine a minimal rate of energy loss. Physiological limits, such as heat and cold tolerances, likely constrain the activity and survival of organisms. Ultimately, these physiological processes and limits determine a species‘ geographical distribution. Through experiments, I sought to understand specifically how temperature affects the physiology of the lizard Sceloporus undulatus. This species is a model organism to answer such questions, as it is geographically widespread species and well-described phylogenetically. In the first experiment, I compared standard metabolic rates of lizards from three locales and interpreted …