Digital Commons Network^™

Crosstalk Between Wnt And Rho Pathways In Ameloblast-Lineage Cells, Kate Shusterman

PCOM Biomedical Studies Student Scholarship

Exposure to high levels of fluoride during tooth development will lead to mineralization defects and a decrease in enamel strength, known as enamel fluorosis. It has been proposed that fluoride may alter the cytoskeleton of ameloblasts, cells that secrete enamel during tooth development. This change is carried out through the Rho pathway, more specifically through RhoA. RhoA is stimulated by Wnt3a, a part of the Wnt pathway involved in regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation. The main component of the Wnt pathway, β-catenin, is expressed in dental epithelium and acts by linking cadherins to the actin cytoskeleton in cell adhesion. …

Book Review: Spiritual Leadership In A Secular Age: Building Bridges Instead Of Barriers By Edward H. Hammett, Lloyd W. Rodgers

Great Commission Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Shedding Light On Shady Grove: Further Reflections On The Erie Doctrine From A Conflicts Perspective, Joseph P. Bauer

Journal Articles

This Article, a contribution to the Notre Dame Law Review symposium issue on the Supreme Court’s recent Shady Grove decision, is a follow-up to an article published in the same journal eleven years ago, in which I suggested that the Erie doctrine could be usefully informed by drawing on caselaw and jurisprudence from the horizontal choice of law setting. Shady Grove addressed the question of whether a New York state law, barring the assertion of claims for statutory damages, was binding in an action brought in the federal courts, or whether Federal Rule 23, which does not contain a similar …

Cultural Acceptance And Its Effect On Tourism, I-Hsuan Shih

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This professional paper examines the relationship between cultural acceptance in conjunction with social perception and cultural tourism promotion strategies. It provides a matrix to evaluate the likely success of promoting a specific cultural aspect of a destination and suggestions for ways of dealing with a lack of cultural acceptance or negative perceptions. It underscores the need for tourism strategic planners to take into account the cultural acceptance of a proposed project by the host community before proceeding.

Traumatic Family Narratives In A Cosmopolitan World: Identity In American Third Generation Holocaust Survivors, Karen L. Burton

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Examines what role traumatic family narratives play in identity formation of subsequent generations. Considers transmission processes of memory and history. Specifically focuses on identity of adult (age 18-40) grandchildren of Holocaust survivors in America juxtaposed with identity of adult Jewish Americans whose families were not directly impacted by the Holocaust. Original research in the form of oral history is analyzed using sociological frameworks.

Recycle Bin: A Collection Of Interconnected Sudden Fiction, Kathleen Brewin Lewis

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

Contains a collection of ten stories, all works of fiction, linked together by the appearance of a recycle bin in each story. The introduction and closing essay relate the author's process as a student and a writer.

The Body, Kristen Brooke Harrison

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

A collection of poetry.

Exploring Dress And Behavior Of The Emo Subculture, Kaci Schmitt

Dissertations, Theses and Capstone Projects (Full IR Collection)

The thesis analyzes the dress, behavior, and subcultural characteristics of "emo kids." Interviews, observations, and secondary text analyses are used to determine findings.

A Study Of The Factors That Influence Early Stages Technology Investment By Food Enterprises, Grainne Kavanagh

Masters

To promote industry sustainability and to catalyze links between publicly-funded knowledge providers and companies, the Irish government has invested significantly in food-orientated research and development. This project aims to facilitate a greater understanding of the motivations and barriers influencing the decision by small and medium-sized food enterprises (SME) to invest in technological innovation, emanating from research conducted in publicly-funded organisations. A critical review of the literature was used to develop a framework for investigating the uptake of technological innovations from sources external to the company. In order to ground this framework within the specific context of the Irish food industry, …

Twin-Screw Extrusion Processing Of Distillers Dried Grains With Solubles (Ddgs)-Based Yellow Perch (Perca Flavescens) Feeds, Ferouz Y. Ayadi, Kurt A. Rosentrater, Kasiviswanathan Muthukumarappan, Michael L. Brown

Natural Resource Management Faculty Publications

Increases in global aquaculture production, compounded with limited availabilities of fish meal for fish feed, has created the need for alternative protein sources. Twinscrew extrusion studies were performed to investigate the production of nutritionally balanced feeds for juvenile yellow perch (Perca flavescens). Five isocaloric (~3.06 kcal/g) ingredient blends, adjusted to a target protein content of 36.7% db, were formulated with 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, and 40% distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) at an initial moisture content of 5–7%db, with appropriate amounts of fish meal, fish oil, whole wheat flour, corn gluten meal, and vitamin and mineral premixes. …

Dynamo In The Desert: Energy Development And Environmental Contestation In The San Juan Basin, 1960-1985, S. Andrew Wakefield

History ETDs

This thesis examines coal-energy development in the San Juan Basin, which is located in the culturally rich and environmentally diverse Four Corners region. Between 1960 and 1985 intensive coal-energy development—in the form of strip mines and power plants—took place in the western portion of the San Juan Basin. This period saw the enactment of major environmental legislation and the rise of the modern environmental movement. My thesis specifically focuses on how this development unleashed environmental damage upon the regions land, water, and air. Beyond examining environmental destruction, my thesis explores how different groups came into conflict over coal-energy development. The …

A Collaborative Study Of Vitamin D3 Uptake By Microcrustaceans (Daphnia Spp.): Studies Towards Linking Vitamin D3 And Nile Blue A, Pamela Meehl

Theses

A collaborative study to determine what role, if any, vitamin D3 plays in the survival of a zooplankton genus, Daphnia (spp.), under the stress of UV radiation is currently ongoing. The portion of the study described here is a method towards linking vitamin D3 to a fluorophore (Nile Blue A). Functionalization and linking of Nile Blue A and vitamin D3 is explored utilizing "click" chemistry, carbonyldiimidazole (CDI) coupling and diisopropylcarbodiimide (DIC) coupling.

Strengthening Government Laboratory Science And Technology Programs: Some Thoughts For The Department Of Homeland Security, Samuel Musa, Richard Chait, Vincent Russo, Donna Back

Defense and Technology Papers

This paper summarizes the second phase of a research and analysis project that stemmed from the initial work which provided DHS Science and Technology leadership with examples of practical approaches to risk-informed decisionmaking and metrics for program and project selection. The second phase was undertaken to provide additional relevant information to DHS as it seeks to strengthen its laboratory programs.

Communication And Media Studies Newsletter Volume 2, Summer, Communications & Media Studies

Communication and Media Studies Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Instructors' Decisions That Integrate Inquiry Teaching Into Undergraduate Courses: How Do I Make This Fit?, Iris Alkaher, Erin Dolan

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

In this qualitative study, we describe and characterize the pedagogical decisions that three college instructors made to mitigate challenges they faced as they taught by inquiry, as well as the rationale for their decisions and their perceptions of the efficacy of their decisions. We found that instructors made a range of decisions, including reorganizing course content and structure, adding more opportunities for and models of inquiry practice, adding more opportunities for feedback and assessment, and enhancing scaffolding of the inquiry. Notably, single instructional decisions had the capacity to mitigate multiple challenges. The instructors were satisfied with many of their decisions, …

Legislative Control Of The Menhaden Fishery, Matthew G. Curtis

Law Student Publications

This article aims to highlight the unique stance taken by Virginia’s legislature and explain why this management is better left to the commission responsible for managing every other fishery in the Commonwealth. While there may not be a conclusive link between reduction industry practices and a decline in water quality, Virginia’s legislators should recognize the shift towards an ecosystem-based model as the most effective way to sustainably manage fisheries and all natural resources.

When Responsive Legislation Ignores The Forest For The Trees, Matthew G. Curtis

Law Student Publications

Large-scale financial disasters have resulted in equally large-scale overhauls of the system responsible for financial industry regulation. Choice over responding parties to these disasters is minimal, and the public inevitably looks to the government for assistance and explanation. The increasingly globalized economy causes any nationwide financial regulation in the U.S. to be felt throughout international markets. U.S. environmental regulation, while not felt immediately abroad, can have drastic impacts on business planning, environmental risk-management, and human rights in the developing world.

Faith, Faithfulness, And Virtue, Robert Audi

Faith and Philosophy: Journal of the Society of Christian Philosophers

No abstract provided.

Envisioning The Regulatory State: Technocracy, Democracy, And Institutional Experimentation In The 2010 Financial Reform And Oil Spill Statutes, K. Sabeel Rahman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mechanical Test Methods For Assessing Porcine Carotid And Uterine Artery Burst Pressure Following Ex Vivo Ultrasonic Ligature Seal And Transection, Carissa M. Krane, Margaret Pinnell, Courtney Gardner, Mercedes Thompson, James Coleman, Robert Wilkens

Biology Faculty Publications

A test method was developed to identify those variables important for assessing the performance of ultrasonic surgical devices in ex vivo ligature sealing of porcine carotid and uterine arteries. Ruggedness testing using a small sample size in pilot experiments was conducted using a newly developed test method in an effort to assess the usefulness of this methodology and to identify test variables that might warrant further testing. The development of this test method included the use of a custom-designed prototypic tension device for load-controlled ex vivo vessel stretching during saline perfusion and subsequent seal and transection of porcine arteries with …

Detection Of Specific Biological Antigens Using Ac Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy, Darrel Angelo Mazzari

Dissertations (1934 -)

When certain antigens are present in our environment, a rapid, on-site, accurate, selective, and repeatable detection method can be invaluable in preventing illness or saving lives. Rapid detection of these antigens is important to avert spreading infections.

Currently, capturing a sample and sending it to a laboratory can take weeks to get results, which can be much too long. Conventional sensing methodologies include various electrical measurements as capacitive, potentiometric, piezoelectric, surface plasmon resonance (SPR), and quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Of particular power and interest is Alternating Current (AC) Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) which provides for the characterization of the electrical …

The Mitospecific Region Of Mrp20 And Its Importance For The Assembly Of Mitochondrial Ribosomes In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Jasvinder Kaur

Dissertations (1934 -)

Yeast mitochondrial ribosomes are composed of an rRNA scaffold, encoded by the mitochondrial genome and many different proteins, which, with the exception of one, are encoded by nuclear genes. These ribosomal proteins are imported into the mitochondrial matrix following their synthesis in the cytosol, however, little is known about the subsequent events which result in an assembled, translationally-competent ribosome. Many of the mitochondrial ribosomal proteins bear homology to bacterial ancestors. In addition to the acquisition of mitochondrial targeting signals, a number of these nuclearly-encoded ribosomal proteins have acquired additional domains, often at their C-termini, which are termed "mitochondrial-specific domains". The …

Mathematical Modeling And Dynamical Analysis Of The Operation Of The Hypothalamus - Pituitary - Thyroid (Hpt) Axis In Autoimmune (Hashimoto's) Thyroiditis, Balamurugan Pandiyan

Dissertations (1934 -)

This thesis is a mathematical modeling study of the operation of the negative feedback control through the hypothalamus-pituitary- thyroid (HPT) axis in autoimmune (Hashimoto's) thyroiditis. Negative feedback control through the HPT axis is a mechanism in which the high levels of thyroid hormone; free thyroxine (FT4) in the blood inhibits the secretion of the pituitary hormone, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) into the blood. Similarly, the low levels of free thyroxine (FT4) sensed by the pituitary gland and then it secretes thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) into the blood. Autoimmune (Hashimoto's) thyroiditis is a disease in which the immune system turns against …

On Wings Of Hope, Volume 15, No. 3, 2011, Phadp, Esther Brown, Jeff Rieber, Anthony Boyd, Carey Grayson

On Wings of Hope

July–September 2011 edition. Includes A Christian Perspective, whose authors are listed elsewhere in this archive.

Allometric Scaling And Metabolic Ecology Of Microorganisms And Major Evolutionary Transitions, Jordan G. Okie

Biology ETDs

My dissertation centers around investigating big-picture questions related to understanding the consequences of metabolism and energetics on the evolution, ecology, and physiology of life. The evolutionary transitions from prokaryotes to unicellular eukaryotes to multicellular organisms were accompanied by major innovations in metabolic design. In my first chapter, I show that the scaling of metabolic rate, population growth rate, and production efficiency with body size have changed across these transitions. Metabolic rate scales with body mass superlinearly in prokaryotes, linearly in protists, and sublinearly in metazoans, so Kleibers 3/4 power scaling law does not apply universally across organisms. This means that …

Christian's Aren't Perfect ...: Christ's Ministry In The Heavenly Sanctuary, Felix H. Cortez

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Paratransgenic Control Of Vibriosis In Shrimp Aquaculture, Bobban Subhadra

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Infectious diseases are an increasing threat to shrimp farming industries worldwide and account for nearly $3 billion of annual economic loss. The need to devise novel approaches against these infectious agents is pressing, as traditional methods are insufficient to ward off infections. The main aim of this study was to apply paratransgenesis to control infectious agents mediating shrimp diseases. As proof-of-concept we showed that Artemia, a food source in shrimp aquaculture, internalized bacteria expressing recombinant proteins. Stable expression and retention of these marker molecules up to 10 hours after feeding with the transgenic bacteria were evident within the gut of …

Small Molecule Inhibition Of Staphylococcus Aureus Virulence, Erin Sully

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

The increasing emergence of antibiotic resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, particularly those caused by a single clone of methicillin resistant S. aureus (USA300 MRSA), coupled with the slowing of antibiotic discovery makes research into novel therapies a priority (Lowy, 2007). One strategy evolving is the development of drugs that target bacterial virulence factors as opposed to growth (Cegelski et al., 2008). Due to the lack of selective pressure, bacterial resistance to the drugs would be minimized while the infection, attenuated by the inhibition of virulence factor production, could be cleared by the innate immune factors of the host. Virulence factors identified …

C-Myb Alternative Splicing: A Novel Biomarker In Leukemia, Ye E. Zhou

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

c-myb encodes a transcription factor that is essential for hematopoiesis and for normal development of other tissues. There is ample evidence showing the activated alleles of c-myb gene can induce leukemias in several animal species. However, there was no clear evidence showing that c-myb could be oncogenic in human cancers until recent studies revealed that the human c-myb locus is subjected to chromosomal rearrangement in some pediatric T-ALL and adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC) patient samples. The c-myb gene contains 15 constant exons and 6 alternative exons and can undergo extensive alternative splicing. These alternatively spliced variants encode variant Myb proteins …

Neurosteriod Enhancement Of Glutamatergic Transmission Via Transient Receptor Potential Melastatin 3 Chanels In The Developing Cerebellum, Paula Andrea Zamudio-Bulcock

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Neurosteroids are compounds synthesized de novo within the central nervous system and affect brain function via genomic and non-genomic mechanisms. Sulfated neurosteroids modulate synaptic neurotransmission via interactions with various membrane receptors located at pre- and/ or postsynaptic sites, including metabotropic and ionotropic neurotransmitter receptors and ion permeable channels. The interactions of sulfated neurosteroids with these types of targets can induce rapid changes in neurotransmitter release and/or in postsynaptic responses. Since the 1940's, pregnenolone sulfate (PregS), the sulfated version of the steroid precursor, pregnenolone, has been suggested to have anti-stress, anti-aging, antidepressive, neuroprotective and memory enhancing effects in the mature brain. …