Digital Commons Network^™

Age-Associated Alterations In The F344xbn Rat Heart And The Efficacy Of Chronic Acetaminophen Ingestion As A Therapeutic Approach, Sunil K. Kakarla

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Despite advances in therapeutic and diagnostic strategies cardiovascular disease still remains the leading cause of death in older people. Recent studies suggest that age- related elevations in oxidative stress are associated with increases in cardiac apoptosis and compensatory hypertrophy of the remaining cardiomyocytes. Acetaminophen has been shown to exhibit cardioprotective effects following ischemia-reperfusion injury by acting as an antioxidant. Here, we investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying aging associated cardiac remodeling in male F344XBN rats and examine the efficacy of chronic acetaminophen ingestion as a therapeutic approach.

Aging in male F344XBN rats is characterized by a significant increase in heart size, …

Altered Regulation Of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases And Glut4 Expression In Skeletal Muscle, Liver, Heart And Kidney Of Obese Zucker Rat, Sudarsanam Kundla

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Metabolic syndrome is characterized by insulin resistance and hyperglycemia. The molecular mechanism(s) underlying this alteration in skeletal muscle, liver, kidneys and heart in metabolic syndrome patients are presently unclear. Recent data have demonstrated that the p38and extracellular-signal-regulated kinases (ERK 1/2) - mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) proteins may be involved in the regulation of (Glucose transporter type 4) GLUT4 expression levels. Other data have suggested that miRNA may also play a role. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to compare the tissue content, phosphorylation of protein kinases (AKT), p38, c-JUN Nterminal kinase(JNK), ERK1/2, GLUT4 and transcriptional factor Myocyte enhancer factor-2 …

Predicting Bison Migration Out Of Yellowstone National Park Using Bayesian Models, Chris Geremia, P. J. White, Rick L. Wallen, Fred G. R. Watson, John J. Treanor, John Borkowski, Christopher S. Potter, Robert L. Crabtree

School of Natural Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Long distance migrations by ungulate species often surpass the boundaries of preservation areas where conflicts with various publics lead to management actions that can threaten populations. We chose the partially migratory bison (Bison bison) population in Yellowstone National Park as an example of integrating science into management policies to better conserve migratory ungulates. Approximately 60% of these bison have been exposed to bovine brucellosis and thousands of migrants exiting the park boundary have been culled during the past two decades to reduce the risk of disease transmission to cattle. Data were assimilated using models representing competing hypotheses of bison migration …

Carbon Fluxes In Ecosystems Of Yellowstone National Park Predicted From Remote Sensing Data And Simulation Modeling, Christopher Potter, Steven Klooster, Robert Crabtree, Shengli Huang, Peggy Gross, Vanessa Genovese

School of Natural Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: A simulation model based on remote sensing data for spatial vegetation properties has been used to estimate ecosystem carbon fluxes across Yellowstone National Park (YNP). The CASA (Carnegie Ames Stanford Approach) model was applied at a regional scale to estimate seasonal and annual carbon fluxes as net primary production (NPP) and soil respiration components. Predicted net ecosystem production (NEP) flux of CO2 is estimated from the model for carbon sinks and sources over multi-year periods that varied in climate and (wildfire) disturbance histories. Monthly Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) image coverages from the NASA Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument …

Airnow-I Shanghai: Crossing Cultures, Sharing Knowledge, Sharon S. Dawes, G. Brian Burke, Lei Zheng

Center for Technology in Government

AIRNow-International (AIRNow-I) is an initiative led by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to redesign the US air quality monitoring and public reporting system to be scalable, interoperable, portable, and affordable to any country. Its guiding vision is a readily usable worldwide platform for sharing air quality information to improve public health. This case study assesses the internationalization of AIRNow through the lens of a collaborative project between EPA and the Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center (SEMC) in China. We trace the history of air quality policy and management in both countries and then explore the structure and dynamics of their …

Kjv In The Usa: The Impact Of The King James Bible In The Usa, Brian C. Wilson

Comparative Religion Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua64/2 The Challenge: Magazine Of The Center For Gifted Studies (No. 26, Winter 2011), Center For Gifted Studies, Tracy Inman Editor

Gifted Studies Publications

No abstract provided.

Ua23 Spirit Of Engagement 2011, Aurelia Spaulding, Alive Center, Western Kentucky University

ALIVE Center Publications

No abstract provided.

Civil Recourse Or Civil Powers?, Curtis Bridgeman

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shotguns, Weddings, And Lunch Counters: Why Cultural Frames Matter To Constitutional Law, Anders Walker

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Application Of A Simulation Model For Assessing Integration Of Smallholder Shifting Cultivation And Sheep Production In Yucatán, Mexico, David Parsons, Charles Nicholson, Robert W. Blake, Quirine M. Ketterings, Luis Ramírez-Aviles, Jerome H. Cherney, Danny G. Fox

Agribusiness

Simulation models are effective tools to examine interactions between livestock, cropping systems, households, and natural resources. Our study objective was to use an integrated livestock and crop model to assess the outcomes from selected suites of management decisions observed in smallholder sheep-cropping systems of Yucatán, Mexico. The scenarios contrasted specialized systems versus mixed farming, and evaluated the outcomes of increased crop-livestock integration. Mixed enterprise scenarios involving sheep provided more income than specialized enterprises, and capitalized on a lower price of on-farm maize grain, efficient utilization of surplus labor, and availability of common land. Labor and management income was greatest for …

A Communication Approach To Understanding Rapid Responses To Others: The Importance Of Flexibility Across Goal Conditions, Betsy App

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two studies evaluated the communication approach to rapid display responses (RDRs) to others by 1) examining the influence of specific communicative goals on RDRs and, 2) identifying the social outcomes associated with correspondence between communicative goals and responses. Both studies showed that people in general can change the magnitude of their most rapid responses according to communication goals to either respond or suppress responses. For some stimulus-response pairs, the ability to flexibly deploy RDRs to align with goals is associated with positive social outcomes for those who are socially active. In Study 1, individual differences among socially active first-year college …

What’S Wrong With The Picture? Reviewing Prison Arts In America, Lindsey R. Hammitt

Saint Louis University Public Law Review

No abstract provided.

Persistence: "My Grandmother's Eyes" And Other Memories, Christine Fede Williams

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Persistence: “My Grandmother’s Eyes” and Other Memories is a collection of five essays based on the author’s life. “My Grandmother’s Eyes” depicts the difficult, but loving, communication between the author and her grandmother, who speaks Italian as a first language. “Christmas: A Journey” compares and contrasts the celebration of Christmas in the author’s Italian-American family and her celebration of Christmas as an adult. “Room in My Heart” describes the events leading up to a decision to adopt a child. “Renaming Oriental Avenue” follows three threads: the author’s relationship to the Monopoly game; the author’s study of the Japanese language and …

Hard Work, Jamie Rogers

The Oval

No abstract provided.

Thurgood Marshall: The Writer, Anna P. Hemingway, Starla J. Williams, Jennifer M. Lear, Ann E. Fruth

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Multi-Component Visual Signals In Darters (Genus Etheostoma), Jennifer M. Gumm, Tamra C. Mendelson

Faculty Publications

As complex traits evolve, each component of the trait may be under different selection pressures and could respond independently to distinct evolutionary forces. We used comparative methods to examine patterns of evolution in multiple components of a complex courtship signal in darters, specifically addressing the question of how nuptial coloration evolves across different areas of the body. Using spectral reflectance, we defined 4 broad color classes present on the body and fins of 17 species of freshwater fishes (genus Etheostoma) and quantified differences in hue within each color class. Ancestral state reconstruction suggests that most color traits were expressed in …

The Ins And Outs Of Corporate Greenwashing, Jennifer Bender

Student Theses 2001-2013

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Profile: Make It Beautiful, Taylor Kilbride

Fresh Voices: Composition at Cal Poly

No abstract provided.

Healthcare And Justice: A Moral Obligation?, Ian Henneberger

Philosophy Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Dueling Dualisms: Christian Theology In Response To Global Climate Change, Daniel Rocklin

Religious Studies Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

Corporate Governance Reform In A Time Of Crisis, Christopher M. Bruner

Scholarly Articles

In this article I argue that crisis-driven corporate governance reform efforts in the United States and the United Kingdom that aim to empower shareholders are misguided, and offer an explanation of why policymakers in each country have reacted to the financial crisis as they have. I first discuss the risk incentives of shareholders and managers in financial firms, and examine how excessive leverage and risk-taking in pursuit of short-term returns for shareholders led to the crisis. I then describe the far greater power and centrality that U.K. shareholders have historically possessed relative to their U.S. counterparts, and explore historical and …

One Adolescent's Construction Of Native Identity In School: "Speaking With Dance And Not In Words And Writing", Amy Wilson-Lopez, M. D. Boatright

Teacher Education and Leadership Faculty Publications

This case study describes how one eighth-grade student, Jon, asserted Native identities in texts as he attended a middle school in the western United States. Jon--a self-described Native American, Navajo, and Paiute with verified Native ancestry--sought to share what he called his Native culture with others in his school wherein he was the only Native American, despite his perception that schools have historically suppressed this culture. To study how the texts that Jon designed in school may have afforded and constrained the expression of Native identities, the authors collected three types of data over the course of eight months: (a) …

Comparative Analysis Of Rural And Urban Start-Up Entrepreneurs, Hyunjeong Joo

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

This study investigates the reasons for apparent differences in entrepreneurship rates in rural and urban areas using a Survey of Rural Kentucky Residents (SRKR) and the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED) data. We estimate the determinants of dissimilar characteristics for rural and urban areas in two aspects: one is individual and contextual resources; the other is cultural tendencies of resources.

The results of the analysis suggest that the difference in available individual, economic, and social support resources does not explain the observed difference in entrepreneurship rate. The results also indicate that gender, ethnicity, income, and number of children in …

Finding Access To The Federal Courts: How The Inconsistent Application Of Federal Jurisdiction In Cases With Significant Foreign Relations Implications Affects Mining And Agriculture Industries, Rebecca C. Griffin

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Ua42/1 Wku Winter Term, Wku Summer Sessions & Winter Term

WKU Administration Documents

Annual report of the WKU Winter Term giving a summery of course enrollments, college data, course section information and marketing efforts.

Finding Possession: Labor, Waste And The Evolution Of Property, Jill M. Fraley

Scholarly Articles

Although possession has long been intimately linked to labor, recent historical work on land claims during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries suggests that the clash of divergent legal cultures of possession drove the two apart. This clash yielded an American concept of possession much more deeply connected to industrialization than the traditional understanding of labor. By providing evidence of how our concept of labor was industrialized, this article questions the outcomes in modem possession cases, particularly as they impact development and environmental preservation in rural areas.

Cloudvista: Visual Cluster Exploration For Extreme Scale Data In The Could, Keke Chen, Huiqi Xi, Fengguang Tian, Shumin Guo

Kno.e.sis Publications

The problem of efficient and high-quality clustering of extreme scale datasets with complex clustering structures continues to be one of the most challenging data analysis problems. An innovate use of data cloud would provide unique opportunity to address this challenge. In this paper, we propose the CloudVista framework to address (1) the problems caused by using sampling in the existing approaches and (2) the problems with the latency caused by cloud-side processing on interactive cluster visualization. The CloudVista framework aims to explore the entire large data stored in the cloud with the help of the data structure visual frame and …

Antihypertensive Treatment Differentially Affects Vascular Sphingolipid Biology In Spontaneously Hypertensive Rats, Léon J. A. Spijkers, Ben J. A. Janssen, Jelly Nelissen, Merlijn J. P. M. T. Meens, Dayanjan Wijesinghe, Charles E. Chalfant, Jo G. R. De Mey, Astrid E. Alewijnse, Stephan L. M. Peters

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

We have previously shown that essential hypertension in humans and spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR), is associated with increased levels of ceramide and marked alterations in sphingolipid biology. Pharmacological elevation of ceramide in isolated carotid arteries of SHR leads to vasoconstriction via a calcium-independent phospholipase A2, cyclooxygenase-1 and thromboxane synthase-dependent release of thromboxane A2. This phenomenon is almost absent in vessels from normotensive Wistar Kyoto (WKY) rats. Here we investigated whether lowering of blood pressure can reverse elevated ceramide levels and reduce ceramide-mediated contractions in SHR.

Methods and Findings

For this purpose SHR were treated for 4 weeks with the angiotensin …

Hypertension Is Associated With Marked Alterations In Sphingolipid Biology: A Potential Role For Ceramide, Leon J. A. Spijkers, Rob F. P. Van Den Akker, Ben J. A. Janssen, Jacques J. Debets, Jo G. R. De Mey, Erik S. G. Stroes, Bart-Jan H. Van Den Bom, Dayanjan Wijesinghe, Charles E. Chalfant, Luke Macaleese, Gert B. Eijkel, Ron M. A. Heeren, Astrid E. Alewijnse, Stephan L. M. Peters

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Publications

Background

Hypertension is, amongst others, characterized by endothelial dysfunction and vascular remodeling. As sphingolipids have been implicated in both the regulation of vascular contractility and growth, we investigated whether sphingolipid biology is altered in hypertension and whether this is reflected in altered vascular function.

Methods and Findings

In isolated carotid arteries from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto (WKY) rats, shifting the ceramide/S1P ratio towards ceramide dominance by administration of a sphingosine kinase inhibitor (dimethylsphingosine) or exogenous application of sphingomyelinase, induced marked endothelium-dependent contractions in SHR vessels (DMS: 1.4±0.4 and SMase: 2.1±0.1 mN/mm; n = 10), that were virtually …