Digital Commons Network^™

Gpsa Council Meeting, 5/1/2010, Graduate And Professional Student Association

GPSA Meeting Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

A Sample Of Rural And Global Health Issues, Carol J. Bett, Barbara Cechanowicz, Demetrius Chapman, Stephen Hernandez, Hannelore Kriegor, Melanie Mayo, Loyce Phoenix, Conrad Rios, Teresa Sellstrom, Max Veltman

Global, Rural, & Cultural Health Book Series

The challenges faced by local, national, and global communities in an ever-changing world have continued to grow as we complete the first decade of the 21st century. The doctoral students writing this book undertook the effort with advocacy for disenfranchised populations in mind. This compilation illuminates the challenges and gaps in access to health care confronted by a wide range of people, from overweight children, lesbians, and Native Americans to individuals in rural communities in Papua New Guinea. As the reader can readily see, we are a group of students with wide-ranging experiences and interests.

Bunching Effect In Single-Molecule T4 Lysozyme Nonequilibrium Conformational Dynamics Under Enzymatic Reactions, Yuanmin Wang, H. Peter Lu

Chemistry Faculty Publications

The bunching effect, implying that conformational motion times tend to bunch in a finite and narrow time window, is observed and identified to be associated with substrate enzyme complex formation in T4 lysozyme conformational dynamics under enzymatic reactions. Using single-molecule fluorescence spectroscopy, we have probed T4 lysozyme conformational motions under the hydrolysis reaction of polysaccharide of E. coli 13 cell walls by monitoring the fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET) between a donor acceptor probe pair tethered to T4 lysozyme domains involving open close hinge-bending motions. On the basis of the single-molecule spectroscopic results, molecular dynamics simulation, and a random walk …

160th Commencement, Spring

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Curriculum Coherence: A Comparative Analysis Of Elementary Science Content Standards In People's Republic Of China And The Usa, Fang Huang

Dissertations

This study examines elementary science content standards curriculum coherence between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America. Three aspects of curriculum coherence are examined in this study: topic inclusion, topic duration, and curriculum structure. Specifically this study centers on the following research questions: 1) What science knowledge is intended for elementary students in each country? 2) How long each topic stays in the curriculum? 3) How these topics sequence and connect with each other? 4) And finally, what is the implication for elementary science curriculum development?

Four intended science curriculum frameworks were selected respectively for each …

Memory, Haunting And The Sensorial, Kristine Lyn Granger

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This thesis is the exploration of my artistic development throughout my three years ofgraduate school. It follows my exploration moving from sculptural form to myrediscovery of the importance of image in my work. I am an image-based artist. Myexperience at graduate school has strengthened my identification of self. The thesisexplores personal history and it's connection to the content of my work; which hasbeen illuminated by, memory, haunting and the sensorial.

Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium For Iodine-Hydroiodic Acid-Water Mixtures At Elevated Temperatures And Pressures For The Sulfur-Iodine Cycle, Sarah Mena

All Theses

An alternative scenario to the overdependence on fossil fuels is the use of thermochemical cycles to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The Sulfur-Iodine (SI) cycle, developed at General Atomics in the mid 1970s, is a leading candidate of international interest for the centralized production of hydrogen from nuclear and/or solar power. For a comprehensive assessment of the SI cycle, thermodynamic data for I2-HI-H2O mixtures at elevated temperatures and pressures have been identified as a basic research need.

The focus of this study was liquid-liquid equilibrium (LLE) measurements for the above system. To carry out the measurements, a continuous-flow apparatus …

Sensitivity Constrained Pmu Placement Utilizing Multiple Methods, Zheng Zhao

All Theses

Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU), which is based on the GPS technique, is able to provide power engineers with immediate and precise measurements. By utilizing PMUs, the reliability and stability in power system are expected to be improved. Conventionally, an optimal PMU placement is considered to use the least number of units to make the entire system completely observable. In this thesis, it is recommended to not only optimize the number of PMUs but also install the majority of PMUs on the most sensitive buses in a power system. Thus a bus sensitivity analysis based on Decoupled Power Flow method is …

Bravura, Mass Communication Department-Winona State University

Bravura

Bravura was produced by Winona State University Mass Communication students as part the senior practical application course for journalists and photojournalists. This issue of Bravura explored the theme of sustainability. Pracitcum Students: Rebecca Erdmann, Nick Furlong, Jake Rajewsky, Katie Morgren, Melanie Blanchette, Chrsitina McDaniel, Jessica Larsen, Michelle Kowalewski, Sawyer Derry. The nine students also produced the multimedia stores for Winona360.0rg.

Trade Liberalization, Corn Prices And A Rural Community In Guatemala, José N. Cabrera-Schneider

Department of Anthropology: Theses and Student Research

Trade liberalization policies in Guatemala have impacted agricultural production. This thesis focuses on how trade liberalization has happened, what have been the impacts at a national level and describes how a community has adapted to the implementation of these policies. The implementation of trade was influenced by several, international and national institutions. Among the international institutions are the World Bank, the World Trade Organization and the United States Agency for International Development. At the national level the institutions that have partaken in shaping the trade policies are the military and the owners of capital and labor. The implementation of trade …

Chemical Genetics Of Plasmodium Falciparum, W. Armand Guiguemde, Agnang A. Shelat, David Bouck, Sandara Duffy, Gregory J. Crowther, Paul H. Davis, David S. Smithson

Biology Faculty Publications

Malaria caused by Plasmodium falciparum is a disease that is responsible for 880,000 deaths per year worldwide. Vaccine development has proved difficult and resistance has emerged for most antimalarial drugs. To discover new antimalarial chemotypes, we have used a phenotypic forward chemical genetic approach to assay 309,474 chemicals. Here we disclose structures and biological activity of the entire library—many of which showed potent in vitro activity against drug-resistant P. falciparum strains—and detailed profiling of 172 representative candidates. A reverse chemical genetic study identified 19 new inhibitors of 4 validated drug targets and 15 novel binders among 61 malarial proteins. Phylochemogenetic …

Disclosure, Summer 2010, Illinois State University, Department Of Finance, Insurance, And Law

Disclosure

Newsletter of the Department of Finance, Insurance, and Law

Structural Equation Modeling With Time Series Data, Tianyi Zhang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), also commonly referred to as path analysis in the absence of latent variables, is a powerful multivariate analysis approach to explore and to confirm causal relationships. It imposes a structure on the covariance matrix and the imposed structure is subsequently validated by the data. In recent years, SEM has been extended to analyze autoregressive moving average (ARMA) time series data assuming time-constant path coefficients. The mechanism of ARMA-based SEM makes it the ideal procedure for the analysis of directional brain functional pathways based on the multi-subject, multivariate time series data generated through the functional magnetic resonance …

Ecological And Evolutionary Interactions Between The Copepod Acartia Tonsa And The Dinoflagellate Cochlodinium Polykrikoides, Xiaodong Jiang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The dinoflagellate Cochlodinium polykrikoides Margalef has formed dense blooms and caused severe fish kills on a global scale in recent decades. The effects of C. polykrikoides on survival, feeding, and fecundity of the copepod Acartia tonsa Dana were examined to determine if it is harmful to grazers. C. polykrikoides significantly reduced copepod survival, feeding, and fecundity within the range of bloom densities. Two bioassay experiments suggested that copepod mortality was due to multiple harmful compounds produced by C. polykrikoides. Although Cochlodinium polykrikoides is harmful to Acartia tonsa at high cell densities, the mixed-diet experiments indicated that C. polykrikoides was nutritious …

On Microstructure Evolution In Fiber-Reinforced Elastomers And Implications For Their Mechanical Response And Stability, Zhiyun Li

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Lopez-Pamies and Idiart [Lopez-Pamies, O. | Idiart, M.I. | 2010, Fiber-reinforced hyperelastic solids: A realizable homogenization constitutive theory. Journal of Engineering Mathematics, doi:10.1007/s10665-009-9359-y.] have recently put forward a homogenization theory with the capability to generate exact results not only for the macroscopic response and stability, but also for the evolution of the microstructure in fiber-reinforced hyperelastic solids subjected to finite deformations. In this thesis, we make use of this new theory to construct exact, closed-form solutions for the change in size, shape, and orientation undergone by the underlying fibers in a model class of fiber-reinforced hyperelastic solids along arbitrary 3D …

Involvement Of Surfactant Proteins In Ocular Innate Defense, Xiaolan Lin

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The ocular surface is a delicate structure that susceptible to injury and infection. Ulcerative keratitis is a painful eye condition characterized by stromal infection, ulcerative epithelium, decreased vision and cornea scar. Due to the reason that formation of vascularization, fibrosis or scarring in corneal epithelium can cause disastrous effects on vision, inflammatory response in the eye must be tightly controlled in space and time. Ocular innate defense system consists of antimicrobial peptides and immune cells that secreted or accumulated at the surface; they work in concert to eliminate intruding pathogens. Under normal circumstances, innate immunity suffices in providing quick, non-specific …

Investigation Of The Dynamics Of Qpx, A Pathogen Of The Hard Clam Mercenaria Mercenaria, In The Environment And Clams, Qianqian Liu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX) is a potentially lethal pathogen of the hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria along the northeastern coast of the United States. To enumerate QPX in clams and in environmental samples, a SYBR Green real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR) assay targeting the ITS region of the QPX rRNA operon was developed. The qPCR assay was used to test samples collected in 2006 from the site of a recent QPX disease outbreak in Raritan Bay, NY, and from a site where QPX has not been detected in Peconic estuary, NY. No QPX was detected in any seawater sample analyzed while QPX …

Dopamine And Leptin Interactions In Rodent Models Of Obesity And Cocaine Abuse, Michael Michaelides

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Dopamine (DA) is a catecholamine neurotransmitter and along with its receptors plays a well-documented role in motivation and goal-directed behavior. Clinical studies have previously documented striatal DA D2 receptor (D2R) deficits in obese individuals and chronic cocaine users. These studies suggest that impaired DA-D2R signaling in the striatum may underlie deficits in goal-directed behaviors that can ultimately lead to obesity and drug addiction. However, such studies have not addressed the question of whether D2R deficits precede obesity and cocaine abuse or whether D2R decline in response to repeated overeating and cocaine use.This thesis aims to answer this question by further …

Spatial, Temporal And Reversible Regulation Of Endogenous Gene In Vivo Using Rna Interference, Prem K. Premsrirut

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

RNA interference is a powerful tool for controlling gene expression in mammalian systems; as such, it has become an effective alternative to conventional knockout approaches. RNAi has proven to be an efficient method to inhibit tumor suppressor gene function and yield insight into the important players in cancer biology. Still, the promise of regulatable RNAi transgenic mice has yet to be realized because the reproducible generation of these animals remains a significant technical limitation. By combining optimized fluorescence-coupled mir30-based shRNA technology with high efficiency ES cell targeting, I have developed a flexible and scalable pipeline for the rapid and reliable …

Studies On The Establishment Of Transcriptional Silencing In Yeast, Jie Ren

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Epigenetic silencing refers to a transcriptionally inactive state, which involves the formation, maintenance and heritable transmission of heterochromatin, in concert with cell-cycle progression. It plays an important role in growth and development in eukaryotes ranging from yeast to human. My dissertation research concentrated on this process with budding yeast as the model system.I have studied how silencing is established in concert with cell-cycle progression. In S. cerevisiae, the two cryptic mating type loci, HML and HMR, are transcriptionally silent. Previous studies on one locus (HMR) identified an S-phase requirement for establishment of silencing, but couldn't explain the underlying mechanism. Although …

A Comparison Of Hidden Markov Model Based Programs For Detection Of Copy Number Variation In Array Comparative Genomic Hybridization Data, Andrea Roberson

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) can detect copy number variation (CNV) across the genome. Five current Hidden Markov Model (HMM) software systems for estimating copy number variation with aCGH data were compared. These comparisons were in terms of their effectiveness for identifying CNVs in simulated data based on the ratio of signal intensities. There was significant variability in the error rates. The system that adjusted for outliers in the model, the Robust Hidden Markov Model (HMM-R), appeared to have the best performance. The emission density function of the HMM is a mixture of two normal densities, in which one component …

Restoration Of The Hudson River Oyster: A Physiological And Spatial Assessment Of Crassostrea Virginica's Restoration Potential In The Hudson River, Ny, Adam Faulkner Starke

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The Hudson River was once home to abundant eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica, (Gremlin 1791) populations which catered to an enormous fishery and supplied a number of vital ecological services to the estuary. Since this time, oysters have become depleted and the estuary's vitality has been compromised. Recognizing the current state of the Hudson, a comprehensive restoration plan has been implemented and targets the recovery of oysters and oyster reefs. To begin moving forward with these plans, a two year study investigating the physiological responses of the oyster to New York's Hudson River was made. The results have provided useful insights …

New Transition Metal Chemistry With Phosphino-Thiol Ligands, David Spritzer

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Hydrogenases are a class of enzyme with the unique ability to catalytically reduce or oxidize hydrogen. Due to this ability they have received much attention from chemists who want to harness this power in a controlled setting. This power will allow not only for the mass production of hydrogen but also the potential for the production of cheaper catalysts to be used in fuel cells. The focus of this research is to create different models for the active site of hydrogenase based around the nickel center of the [NiFe] class of hydrogenase. It is believed that this nickel center is …

Design And Synthesis Of Novel Benzimidazole Library For The Discovery And Development Of The Next Generation Antibacterial Agents, Christina Susanto

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Tuberculosis, commonly known as"TB," is a contagious infection that is caused by exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Many current anti-TB drugs target bacterial cell wall synthesis, protein synthesis, and fatty acid synthesis. It is important to explore new bacterial targets in fighting the progression of tuberculosis. The bacterial cellular division process as an anti-TB target has not been fully explored and holds great potential in future combinatorial treatment of drug resistant tuberculosis. Since FtsZ (Filamental temperature-sensitive protein Z) is the most essential and abundant protein in bacterial mitosis, more specifically the coordination of bacterial cytokinesis, it has been targeted as a …

Part 1. Synthesis And Bioassay Of Snf Analogues; Part 2. 1,2-Addition Of Organometallic Reagents To Unprotected Juglones And Progress Toward The Synthesis Of Ravidomycins; Part 3. Synthesis Of Cis-Alkenes Via A Novel Copper-Mediated Cross-Coupling Of 1,1-Dibromoalkenes And Halides, Pei Wang

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Part 1. Multidrug resistance (MDR), one of the major clinical problems in cancer chemotherapy, is a condition enabling a disease-causing organism to resist distinct drugs or chemicals of a wide variety of structure and function targeted at eradicating the organism. One of the mechanisms is an overexpression of P-glycoprotein, the product of the mdr-1 gene in human cells. SNF (the code name of Snow Brand Milk Prod. Co.) compounds showed a potent immunosuppressive activity in vitro by suppressing B-cell proliferation (induced by lipopolysaccharide) and T-cell proliferation (induced by concanavalin A) in non-cytotoxic concentrations. They also showed a multidrug resistance (MDR) …

Extent Of Denitrification In Northport Groundwater, Caitlin Young

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Long Island drinking water is provided by a sole source aquifer with nitrate levels exceeding the federal limit of 10ppm in some communities. Previous studies undertaken in the community of Northport identified a 50% loss of nitrogen in the system (MUNSTER, 2004; MUNSTER, 2008). A study of 15N- NO3- and 18O-NO3 identified sewage and fertilizer applications as the primary nitrogen contaminators in Northport (BLEIFUSS et al. | 2000) but did not conclusively find evidence of denitrification or ammonia volatilization in the isotope signature. No study to date has been able to identify the mechanism for 50% nitrogen loss within the …

Probing The Protein Folding Mechanism By Simulation Of Dynamics And Nonlinear Infrared Spectroscopy, Christopher Marai

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This dissertation presents simulation based approaches towards the study of the dynamics and nonlinear spectroscopy of protein folding. The folding mechanisms of two model protein systems, the N-terminal domain of ribosomal protein L9 (NTL9) and the synthetic Beta3s mini-protein were investigated. All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy (2DIR) computations were employed in the investigation of the folding mechanisms of these model systems. In this work, the folding mechanism and transition state ensemble (TSE) of the 56-residue N-terminal domain of L9 (NTL9) was probed. The TSE was identified from high temperature unfolding all-atom MD simulations in conjunction with …

The Invasion Of The Colonial Ascidian Didemnum Vexillum, Into South Shore Bays Of Long Island, New York-Feeding And Metabolic Characteristics, Carlene Theresa Harrington

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The invasive ascidian, Didemnum vexillum, has recently spread into south shore bays of Long Island, New York including Great South Bay and Shinnecock Bay. In order to determine the impact this invasive species will have on these bays, colonies from Shinnecock Bay were studied, due to easiest accessibility. D. vexillum currently forms extensive mats on the pillars of Ponquogue Bridge located in Shinnecock Bay. These mats have the potential to drastically alter the structure of the ecosystem; an effect which has been observed in other waters that the species has invaded. Thus, in order to predict the impact D. vexillum …

Reverberation In The Void, Elizabeth Dee Heifferon

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

This thesis serves as the written defense for the sculptural and performance work completed by Elizabeth Dee Heifferon at Stony Brook University 2007-2010. The work originates out of a concern for reconnecting the human and the natural through mutually beneficial energy exchange. In the philosophy that guides the work, there is a focus on the dynamics of energy exchange: within bodies, between bodies and forms, and within the void. In the corporeal aspect of the work, there is an exploration of environmentally safe materials and an emphasis on physical processes incorporating elements of contemporary dance and hatha yoga. This thesis …

The Civic Virtue Of Women In Quattrocento Florence, Christine Contrada

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Fifteenth century Florence has long been viewed as the epicenter of Renaissance civilization and a cradle of civic humanism. This dissertation seeks to challenge the argument that the cardinal virtues, as described by humanists like Leonardo Bruni and Matteo Palmieri, were models of behavior that only men adhered to. Elite men and women alike embraced the same civic ideals of prudence, justice, fortitude, and temperance. Although they were not feminists advocating for social changes, women like Alessandra Strozzi, Margherita Datini, and Lucrezia Tornabuoni had a great deal of opportunity to actively support their own interests and the interests of their …