Digital Commons Network^™

Weeds In The Flower Garden: An Exploration Of Plagiarism In Graduate Students’ Research Proposals And Its Connection To Enculturation, Esl, And Contextual Factors, Joanna Gilmore, Denise Strickland, Briana Eileen Timmerman, Michelle Maher, David Feldon

Faculty Publications

Existing literature provides insight into the nature and extent of plagiarism amongst undergraduate students (e.g., Ellery, 2008; Parameswaran & Devi, 2006; Selwyn, 2008). Plagiarism amongst graduate students is relatively unstudied, however, and the existing data are largely based on self-reports. This study investigated the rates and potential causes of plagiarism amongst graduate students in master’s and doctoral programmes in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and science or mathematics education by examining actual research proposals written by graduate students. Results indicate that plagiarism is a prevalent issue at each of the three university sites sampled and across all of the investigated disciplines. …

A Faculty Learning Community On The Scholarship Of Teaching & Learning: A Case Study, Trent Maurer, Diana Sturges, Padmini Shankar, Deborah Allen, Saida Akbarova

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Excerpt: What happens when a group of faculty interested in SoTL gets together? This essay presents a case study of the Faculty Learning Lommunity [FLC] on SoTL at Georgia Southern University since its inception in 2006. Included in the discussion are the history and origins of the FLC, its evolution over the last four years, the products and outcomes of the FLC, and reflections from recent members on the influence of the FLC on their teaching,...

Made In America? Assumptions About Service Learning Pedagogy As Transnational: A Comparison Between Ireland And The United States, Susan V. Iverson, Amanda Espenschied-Reilly

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

Using exploratory, qualitative interviews, the authors studied conceptions of academic service-learning in the United States and the Republic of Ireland in order to elucidate the ways in which culture and social context shaped practitioners' perceptions and practices regarding service-learning pedagogy. Participants articulated a shared understanding of service-learning, identified similar barriers to utilizing service-learning and institutionalizing its practice, and discussed tensions surrounding the purpose of service-learning. However, Irish participants distanced their practice from the historical and cultural context of U.S. service-learning, demonstrating the process of localization. We conclude that the overarching tenets of service-learning may be transferable but the social, cultural, …

Academic Analytics And Data Mining In Higher Education, Paul Baepler, Cynthia James Murdoch

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The emerging fields of academic analytics and educational data mining are rapidly producing new possibilities for gathering, analyzing, and presenting student data. Faculty might soon be able to use these new data sources as guides for course redesign and as evidence for implementing new assessments and lines of communication between instructors and students. This essay links the concepts of academic analytics, data mining in higher education, and course management system audits and suggests how these techniques and the data they produce might be useful to those who practice the scholarship of teaching and learning.

2009-2010 Profile, Morehead State University. Institutional Research & Analysis.

Office of Institutional Research & Analysis Publication Archive

2009-2010 issue of Profile Magazine.

Lentivirus-Mediated Reversion-Inducing Cysteine-Rich Protein With Kazal Motifs Gene Transfer Suppresses Pancreatic Cancer Invasion In Vitro., Qing-Shui Tian, De-Chun Li

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the biological functions of reversion-inducing cysteine-rich protein with Kazal motifs (RECK) over-expression in pancreatic cancer cell line Panc-1. METHODS: This study was carried out in the Department of General Surgery, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China from January to September 2009. The design of the study was to construct a recombinant lentivirus carrying the RECK gene (LV-RECK) to be used to infect Panc-1 cells, and investigate the biological functions of RECK in pancreatic cancer in vitro. The RECK expression was measured by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blotting. Cell proliferation and apoptosis …

Oxidative Stress In Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Women., Rayah S. Baban

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVES: To investigate biochemical changes in lipid peroxidation, nitric oxide, and vitamin E in recurrent pregnancy loss women, and compare these with healthy pregnant, and non-pregnant women. METHODS: A case control study was conducted from September 2008 to December 2009 at Al-Khadimiya Teaching Hospital, Baghdad, Iraq. Ninety-six subjects were included in the study, 32 were patients with recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL), and 32 pregnant women in their third trimester, and another 32 non-pregnant women were used as controls. Blood samples were collected from each patient at the time of pregnancy loss. Serum from patients and controls was then used to …

Characteristics Of Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors In A Middle Eastern Population., Fareed H. Barakat, Hussam A. Haddad, Ismail I. Matalka, Mohammed S. Al-Orjani, Mahmoud M. Al-Masri, Maher A. Sughayer

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVES: To demonstrate the immunohistochemical and epidemiological characteristics of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST) in a Middle Eastern population. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of all intra-abdominal mesenchymal tumors (excluding childhood embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma and small round blue cell tumors) collected from the archives of the Pathology Departments of King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, and King Abdullah University Hospital, Irbid, Jordan between 2001 and 2008. The immunohistochemical profile of all cases was studied at King Hussein Cancer Center, Amman, Jordan, between January and August 2009. RESULTS: Gastrointestinal stromal tumors comprised 45% of the intra-abdominal mesenchymal tumors (42 out of 93 cases), …

Family History Of Alcohol Abuse Associated With Problematic Drinking Among College Students, Joseph W. Labrie, Savannah Migliuri, Shannon R. Kenney, Andrew Lac

Heads Up!

Studies examining family history of alcohol abuse among college students are not only conflicting, but have suffered various limitations. The current report investigates family history of alcohol abuse (FH+) and its relationship with alcohol expectancies, consumption, and consequences. In the current study, 3753 student participants (35% FH+), completed online assessments. Compared to FH−same-sex peers, FH+ males and FH+ females endorsed greater overall positive expectancies, consumed more drinks per week, and experienced more alcohol-related negative consequences. Further, FH+ females evaluated the negative effects of alcohol to be substantially worse than FH− females. An ANCOVA, controlling for age, GPA, race, and alcohol …

Philosophy And Theology: Notes On Diachronic Personal Identity, Christopher Kaczor

Philosophy Faculty Works

The author discusses different theories related to philosophy and theology. He cites the four rival theories of diachronic personal identity mentioned by researcher Bertha Alvarez Manninen, which explores the genetic, animalism, and psychological account. The author also mentions the argument of philosophy professor of Michael Tooley regarding the role of the brain and personal identity. Furthermore, he mentions several studies that suggest ways on how to cure personality disorder.

Fractured Circles Of Race: A Heuristic Model For Teaching About Racial Categorization In Anthropological And Historical Perspective, Robert Shanafelt

Southern Anthropologist

This paper presents a heuristic model for teaching about human variation and transformations of concepts of race over time. It suggests that key aspects of the complexities related to the topic can be fruitfully discussed by making use of the image of a feedback loop between folk models and scientific models of human kinds and human variations. In order to elucidate this discussion, a brief review of the history of racial thinking and some current ideas about race, genetics, and biomedicine are also presented.

Complete Issue, Journal Editors

Southern Anthropologist

Special Issue: Race and ethnicity in the New south

The Merciful Executioner: Spectacles Of Sexual Danger And National Reunification In The George Stinney Case, 1944, Annette Louise Bickford

Southern Anthropologist

The literal and metaphoric defining of postbellum America drew on a politics of exclusion, giving wider force to struggles over national identity and citizenship encoded by race, and inflected by sexual discourses. Despite emancipation claims, men of African descent were increasingly excluded from a citizenship based on notions of “whiteness,” and this was reflected in the shift from the spectacle of vigilante lynching to the spectacular trial. I use the case of George Stinney to illustrate how juridical law, like extra-legal lynching, affirmed a national identity articulated through the legitimation and restoration of white rule, perceived to be under threat. …

Common House Spiders Could Be Vectors Of Community-Acquired Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, Richard Roberts

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Aim: To identify whether common household spiders such as Tegenaria saeva and Amaurobius ferox are likely vectors and reservoirs for Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Methods and Results: Spiders were tested for the presence of S.aureus on the fangs, lower and upper abdomen and the legs. S.aureus was isolated from the fangs and isolates were subcultured to test for oxacillin resistance. Of the sample that was tested a mean of 83.4 x 102 cfu/fang for total counts of S.aureus was found. While 23% of the isolates tested for oxacillin-resistance were oxacillin resistant. Conclusion: Common household spiders can easily act as vectors and …

Environmental Factors And Patterns Of Behaviour In Zoo-Housed Sumatran Tigers, Panthera Tigris Sumatrae, Kimberley Jayne

The Plymouth Student Scientist

This study investigated how increased environmental predictability in captivity can impact upon animal behaviour. ‘Busyness’ was piloted as a method of measuring activity in relation to environmental factors and observations were conducted on the behaviour of 2 zoo-housed Sumatran tigers, Panthera tigris sumatrae. Graphical analysis revealed the tigers to show increased Busyness leading up to the time they were taken off-show, possibly indicating anticipation of this event. Both animals displayed stereotyped pacing within specific enclosure sections. The female tiger showed increased pacing leading up to the time she was taken off-show, whereas the male showed the opposite. Suggestions were made …

The Cytotoxic Effect Of Glycerophospholipid: Cholesterol Acyltransferase (Gcat) On Mammalian And Fish Cell Lines In Vitro, Andrew Moriarty

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Glycerophospholipid: cholesterol acyltransferase (GCAT) is an enzyme produced by the bacteria Aeromonas salmonicida. A. salmonicida is the causative agents of the fish disease furunculosis and GCAT is an important enzyme when considering the virulence and progression of this disease. This study aims to show how the cytotoxic affects of the GCAT enzyme can vary between mammalian and fish cells. Both cloned and crude native forms of GCAT were exposed to mammalian and fish cell lines and observed for signs of damage over a 24 hour period. The cloned GCAT extraction was exposed to both fish and mammalian erythrocytes, while the …

The Effect Marina Design And Recreational Boating Has On The Spread Of Non Indigenous Species, Amy Brock-Morgan

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The spread of Non Indigenous Species (NIS) is a global problem and has major implications for the pattern of local biodiversity and ultimately the functioning of ecosystems. Invasive NIS are recognised as a major threat to biodiversity in article 8 on the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD). Once NIS are introduced controlling them is expensive, time-consuming and can have negative effects on native biota. It recent years, the marine environment has seen an increase in recreational boating, international shipping and aquaculture but to date only the latter two have received international attention. In 2008 legislation changed to prohibit the use …

The Mitochondrial Permeability Transition Pore Components, Zoltan Mohar

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP) is a non-specific channel in the inner mitochondrial membrane (IMM) that opens following ischaemia and reperfusion due to the presence of various stimuli, such as oxidative stress, elevated phosphate concentration, and adenine nucleotide depletion. MPTP opening causes the mitochondria to swell and become dysfunctional. This results in cell death, especially by necrosis, due to the loss of oxidative phosphorylation and the subsequent drop in adenosine triphosphate levels. In search of the identity of the pore numerous studies have been done by several research groups in the last three decades. For many years a widely …

Characteristics Of Wool Fibres From Mule Sheep, Nicola Bishop

The Plymouth Student Scientist

A study was conducted to find out if there were any differences in the characteristics of wool fibres from mule sheep in sheep of different ages. Wool samples were taken from 91 North of England Mule Sheep from Seale Hayne Farm in Newton Abbot, Devon. The hypothesis tested was that there are no differences in the characteristics of wool fibres (greasy weight, clean weight, dirt content, mean length and mean diameter) due to the age of the sheep. The age of each sheep was determined by the number of pairs of incisor teeth located on their lower jaw according to …

The Mechanisms Of Marine Bacterial Interactions, Grace Phillips

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Bacteria are found in numerous habitats within the vast marine realm. Many marine bacteria live together as a biofilm which allows them to closely interact and intimately influence each other‟s lives, mainly by the production of extracellular compounds such as antibiotics and exopolysaccharides. Coordination of the biofilm and communication between bacteria is controlled by a mechanism known as quorum sensing in which signal molecules called autoinducers are released and detected, resulting in an alteration of behaviour. These activities ultimately have implications on other organisms; controlling populations of invertebrates and algae, and affecting the health of eukaryotes, a major cause for …

Abundance And Diversity Of Anuran Species In Danum Valley, Sabah, Borneo, Abigail Porter

The Plymouth Student Scientist

1. Anurans are important components of tropical ecosystems; however, the biodiversity of these species is under threat due to the rapid deforestation of Southeast Asian forests. 2. Abundances and numbers of individuals of anuran species from three different sites were surveyed. One site being that of a relatively undisturbed primary Dipterocarp forest, the other two being disturbed habitats, a secondary forest recovering from logging and a drainage ditch which has formed a pool site. 3. Species abundance and numbers of individuals was significantly different P<0.05 between the three sites. The primary forest site showed higher mean abundances of species and individuals of anuran species, with the secondary forest having the lowest abundances and the pool site having an intermediate value. 4. Variables of temperature and light levels were shown to have an impact upon frog species, with the highest temperatures and light readings found in the sites with less species and individuals. pH was neutral for all three sites so was not seen as a consequence effecting anurans. 5. The differences in anuran abundances and species in the three sites may indicate that environmental factors may be having detrimental impacts on anurans. 6. The need to census amphibians has never been more urgent than it is now. Among herpetologists, there is a growing awareness that amphibians are declining and becoming extinct in many parts of the world.

The Microbial Role In Carbon Cycling Within Seagrass Sediments, Heather Guy

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Seagrasses are an important feature of coastal systems worldwide, capable of fixing significant amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into cellular material, potentially helping to alleviate rising carbon dioxide levels. However, the capacity of seagrass beds to act as carbon sinks is largely dependent on the amount of organic matter accumulated within the sediments following transformations by the microbial community. The microbial role in carbon cycling within seagrass sediments has been poorly researched, most likely because the importance of marine microbes in ocean cycling processes was only recently recognized, due to key advancements in molecular biology. This review examines …

Gsk-3alpha Directly Regulates Beta-Adrenergic Signaling And The Response Of The Heart To Hemodynamic Stress In Mice., Jibin Zhou, Hind Lal, Xiongwen Chen, Xiying Shang, Jianliang Song, Yingxin Li, Risto Kerkela, Bradley W Doble, Katrina Macaulay, Morgan Decaul, Walter J Koch, John Farber, James Woodgett, Erhe Gao, Thomas Force

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

The glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) family of serine/threonine kinases consists of 2 highly related isoforms, alpha and beta. Although GSK-3beta has an important role in cardiac development, much remains unknown about the function of either GSK-3 isoform in the postnatal heart. Herein, we present what we believe to be the first studies defining the role of GSK-3alpha in the mouse heart using gene targeting. Gsk3a(-/-) mice over 2 months of age developed progressive cardiomyocyte and cardiac hypertrophy and contractile dysfunction. Following thoracic aortic constriction in young mice, we observed enhanced hypertrophy that rapidly transitioned to ventricular dilatation and contractile dysfunction. …

Ecosystem Services And Federal Public Lands: Start-Up Policy Questions And Research Needs, J. B. Ruhl

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

The State And Regional Role In Developing Ecosystem Service Markets, Gail L. Achterman, Robert Mauger

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Additionality: The Next Steps For Ecosystem Service Markets, Karen Bennett

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Merricks's Soulless Savior, Luke Van Horn

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Research View, Summer 2010

Research View

Contents of this issue include:

Idea Guy: New director works to commercialize campus research

Making New Species: Researcher studies evolution using mice, apes and Neanderthals

Global Competence: UM training an antidote to cultural myopia

Cell's Eye View: Research surveys offenders locked in a DUI world

Individualized Medicine: UM research aims to improve tribal health

Increased Abundance And First Breeding Record Of The Neotropic Cormorant (Phalacrocorax Brasilianus) On The Alluvial Plain Of Mississippi, Katie C. Hanson, Travis L. Devault, Stephen J. Dinsmore

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Phalacrocorax brasilianus (Neotropic Cormorant) has been observed with increasing frequency in the alluvial plain (Delta region) of Mississippi. In the past 6 years, 22 individuals have been observed in 20 separate sightings during spring and summer. These sightings have occurred at breeding colonies of other colonial waterbirds and commercial aquaculture facilities of Ictalurus punctatus (Channel Catfish). Two sexually mature Neotropic Cormorants have been collected at a colonial waterbird breeding colony near the Mississippi River in the western Delta region among flocks of Phalacrocorax auritus (Double-crested Cormorants). Twice during the summer of 2008, confirmed nesting of Neotropic Cormorants were documented in …

Securing Foreign Oil: A Case For Including Military Operations In The Climate Change Impact Of Fuels, Adam J. Liska, Richard K. Perrin

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Military operations are major industrial activities that use massive amounts of fuel and materials that significantly contribute to climate change. In this article, we assert that military activity to protect international oil trade is a direct production component for importing foreign oil— as necessary for imports as are pipelines and supertankers—and therefore the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from that military activity are relevant to U.S. fuel policies related to climate change. Military security for protection of global maritime petroleum distribution is part of the acquisition process, but in addition, recent Middle Eastern wars may also be related to securing petroleum …