Digital Commons Network^™

Sulforaphane Prevents Acetaminophen-Induced Hepatic Injury In Mice., Robin H. Schmidt 1984-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sulforaphane (SFN), an isothiocyanate found in cruciferous vegetables, is known to confer antioxidant protection in vivo. Rather than directly reacting with free radicals, however, SFN works by inducing Nrf2, a transcription factor that binds to the promoter regions of several known antioxidant genes and enhances detoxification. Because oxidative stress is a major contributor to acetaminophen (APAP)-induced hepatotoxicity, SFN may defend the liver against APAP overdose by activating the Nrf2 pathway and increasing endogenous antioxidant response. To test this hypothesis, mice were pre-treated with SFN for four days, injected with APAP on the fifth day, and sacrificed shortly thereafter. APAP overdose …

Exploitation Of Costimulatory Sa-4-1bbl In The Development Of Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines., Abhishek K. Srivastava

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Cancer accounts for nearly one-quarter of deaths in the United States, exceeded only by heart diseases. Despite the development of various strategies to treat cancer, it remains one of the most deadly diseases worldwide due to the limited effects of treatments available. The limited efficacy of these current treatment modalities, such as surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, are often due to their association with adverse side effects arising from lack of specificity for tumors, and most importantly their failure of eliminating residual and micro-metastatic tumors, which can lead to recurrences. Therefore, there is a dire need to develop tumor-specific therapies that …

The Regulatory Function Of Social Referencing In Preschoolers With Down Syndrome Or Williams Syndrome., Angela E. John

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The present project examined the regulatory function of social referencing in two neurodevelopmental disorders that have been well defined genetically and are characterized by differing patterns of socio-cognitive development: Down syndrome (DS) and Williams syndrome (WS). In addition, since the social referencing process requires children to coordinate three fundamental abilities (initiation of joint attention, gaze following, emotional responsivity), the present project also included three follow-up studies which examined these abilities separately. Participants were 21 children with DS (M age = 4.97 years; SD = .74) and 21 children with WS (M age = 4.92 years; SD = .76) closely matched …

Cfd Modeling Of Center Cones, Vortex Breakers And Pressure Relief Slits In A Wind Speed Accelerator., Michael D. Lucas 1988-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wind power has the potential to provide access to electricity to areas lacking the resources to create industrial power plants, as well as supplement residential energy supplies. The low resource investment and ease of installation make it ideal for these scenarios; however, it is limited by the availability of a stable power source. Only 13% of the world’s land area experiences wind speeds high enough to be usable by current technology. To improve this percentage, the use of wind concentrators has been suggested. A turbine within a concentrator would experience a higher wind speed than the surrounding body of air, …

Gyorgy Kurtag's Kafka Fragments, Op. 24 : Fragment As Form., Kaitlin Doyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This paper discusses the Kafka Fragments for Soprano and Violin, a work of forty movements composed by Hungarian composer, Gyorgy Kurtag, in 1985 through 1987. The piece is based Kurtag's own compilation of fragments written by Franz Kafka, which were taken from Kafka's diaries, personal letters, and Blue Octavio Notebooks. They are some of the most personal and intimate examples that exist within Kafka's body of writing. The paper primarily addresses Kurtag's compositional process as illustrated through the Kafka Fragments and attempts to provide insight about his especially unique qualities as a composer. The main topics of the paper include …

Comparative Fecal Metagenomics Unveils Unique Functional Capacity Of The Swine Gut, Regina Lamendella, Jorge W. Santo Domingo, Shreya Ghosh, John Martinson, Daniel B. Oerther

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: Uncovering the taxonomic composition and functional capacity within the swine gut microbial consortia is of great importance to animal physiology and health as well as to food and water safety due to the presence of human pathogens in pig feces. Nonetheless, limited information on the functional diversity of the swine gut microbiome is available. Results: Analysis of 637, 722 pyrosequencing reads (130 megabases) generated from Yorkshire pig fecal DNA extracts was performed to help better understand the microbial diversity and largely unknown functional capacity of the swine gut microbiome. Swine fecal metagenomic sequences were annotated using both MG-RAST and …

A Reconsideration Of The Apse Of Hagia Eirene., Eston Adams 1979-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The mosaic of the cross in the apse of Hagia Eirene in Constantinople is examined in order to determine the imperial patron responsible for it's construction. Key points in this study are Orthodox image veneration, Iconoclast doctrine and the events of the era of Byzantine iconoclasm (726-843 C. E.). Supplementing the written evidence is a study of the architecture of Hagia Eirene and what it reveals about the date of the apse mosaic's construction. Other important monuments discussed in comparison with the mosaic in Hagia Eirene include the apse of Hagia Sophia in Thessaloniki and the now destroyed apse of …

Roles Of Vamp3 In Melanoma Cell Migration And Integrin Trafficking., Yaman Babi 1981-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Integrins are major receptors for cell adhesion to the extracellular matrix, and play key roles in various cellular processes including adhesion, migration, proliferation and survival. Apart from developmental and physiological events, integrins are involved in many pathological conditions including cancer metastasis. During cell migration, the exocytosis of integrins at the cell front contributes to the formation and stabilization of protrusions. Previous studies showed that VAMP3, a SNARE protein that mediates exocytosis, is important in integrin trafficking and cell migration. However, the mechanism by which VAMP3 participates in integrin trafficking is not clear. Since VAMP3 is over expressed in melanoma, the …

Partial Vs. Full Support Of The Heart With A Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device : Implications For Myocardial Recovery., Carlo Renato G. Bartoli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Heart failure is a major and growing public health concern. Although heart failure has been considered an inexorable and progressive disorder, emerging evidence suggests that some patients may have reversible left ventricular dysfunction. Indeed, recent reports have documented the potential for myocardial recovery in humans in response to prolonged mechanical circulatory support with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD). However, myocardial recovery remains uncommon, and a strategy of unloading the failing left ventricle with a continuous-flow (non-pulsatile) LVAD has not been specifically developed to promote favorable myocardial remodeling. As a preliminary investigation, we developed a bovine model of chronic, …

Pattern Play : Pieced Works On Paper., Gweneth A. Dunleavy 1954-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores pattern juxtaposition using traditional American quilt block designs as the compositional basis for nine works pieced from screen printed paper. In the 1970s, the quilt was celebrated for its apparent connection to Modernist design and was reclaimed by many feminist artists including Miriam Schapiro as a symbol of the exclusion of women's crafts from the arts hierarchy. The tension between these two perspectives continues today in the contemporary art quilt movement. Block designs are tightly organized, relying on grids and repeated geometric forms to communicate multiple patterns simultaneously. Controlled placement of light and dark pieces can create …

Reconciliation Of Il-1ss Loss With Trif-Biased Tlr4 Signaling By Monophosphate Lipid A., Chelsea A. Embry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Monophosphoryl Lipid A (MPLA), a derivative of LPS endotoxin, is a TLR4 agonist that displays as little as 0.1-1% as much toxicity as its parent molecule while retaining immunostimulatory properties. We discovered that MPLA activates a TRIF-biased pattern of TLR4 signaling, resulting in reduced production of MyD88-dependent pro-inflammatory factors, and credited TRIF-bias for MPLA's reduced toxicity. A contemporary study showed that MPLA fails to promote maturation of the potent inflammatory cytokine IL-1ß. This dissertation seeks to reconcile MPLA's TRIF-biased signaling with IL-1 ß loss, and to determine the ultimate cause of MPLA's reduced toxicity compared to LPS. We find that …

Clustering Digital Ink Content To Assist With The Grading Of Student Work., Jared Hatfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In recent years the use of Tablet PCs in education has received a great deal of attention. Improved note-taking and lecture presentation have been the main focus of Tablet PCs in education. Currently, grading of student work collected as digital ink using Tablet PCs is still done mostly as it would be done if collected as pencil on paper. However, having content stored as digital ink provides an opportunity to perform analysis that is neither practical nor possible with pen and paper student content. Once student work is collected using DyKnow Vision, an interactive Tablet PC based classroom software tool, …

Transformative Reflections, Jose Portas

Theses

These written words represent the internal experiences that have comprised my inner self since my early childhood growing up in Montortal, Spain. In my mind there is an endless battle between the reality of consciousness and the surreality of the subconscious. I am trying to manage the challenges of the past, live in the present, and give the future a new understanding of how to connect and communicate through different genres with an emphasis on painting. The production of my work is meant to change how art is created and viewed today.

Visual Symbols Of The Damaged Families In Sam Shepard’S Family Trilogy, Kathryn Ann Baran

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Sam Shepard is a playwright who provides extensive stage directions for his actors. Although many literary critics disapprove of his control of the stage space through his stage directions, his specific notes on set design, costume, props and gestures offer a commentary on the characters and their actions in his dramas.

Metaphorically, Shepard’s clever positioning of his visual images in Curse o f the Starving Class, Buried Child, and True West suggests that his characters find it necessary to damage each other’s securities, to destroy their own haunted pasts, or to disrupt the family experience and the myth of the …

The Power Of The Subversive Female In Hawthorne’S The Scarlet Letter And Blithedale Romance, Jenifer P. Hecht

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Nathaniel Hawthorne is an author who has caused much intrigue, especially among feminist critics, some of whom deem him to be misogynistic and wholly supportive of the patriarchy in his texts. Evidence for this has been cited in his choice of the demure and quiet Sophia as his wife, although it is known she was amongst many close women in Hawthorne’s life, most of whom were more outspoken female contemporaries like Elizabeth Peabody and Margaret Fuller. Additionally, the assertion that Hawthorne’s writing contains misogynistic undertones is oftentimes supported by the plight of his female characters, who often suffer from painful …

Cardiac Abnormalities After Transaortic Constriction Are Worsened By Changing Glucose Metabolism And Benefited By Repair Of Mitochondrial Dna., Jianxun Wang 1969-

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Heart failure is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the USA. During the development of heart failure, many cardiac parameters change at the same time including fuel metabolism, oxidative stress and mitochondrial function. Each of these changes occurs in the context of multiple other abnormalities in the failing heart. This complexity makes it difficult to discern the importance of each of these parameters. In this dissertation changes in glucose metabolism and mitochondrial DNA repair have been targeted separately and specifically in the heart to test their roles in heart failure independently. Abnormal glucose metabolism is always found in …

The Politics Of Self-Provisioning In North-Central West Virginia, Autumn Long

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Provisioning one's own food appears to be the next step in the politicization of food production and consumption choices. In contrast to more convenient forms of "ethical consumption" such as buying organic or local, household-level food production requires a great deal of labor-time, knowledge, and social support. But does food self-provisioning elicit or engender a particular political consciousness? Based on six months of fieldwork conducted during the spring and summer of 2010, this research employs qualitative methodologies, including surveys, semistructured interviews, and ethnography, to examine the political, economic, and cultural dynamics of household-level food provisioning amongst a sample of food …

Chronic Apocynin Treatment Attenuates Beta Amyloid Plaque Size And Microglial Number In Happ(751)Sl Mice, Melinda E. Lull, Shannon Levesque,, Michael J. Surace, Michelle L. Block

Pharmacy Faculty/Staff Publications

Background: NADPH oxidase is implicated in neurotoxic microglial activation and the progressive nature of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). Here, we test the ability of two NADPH oxidase inhibitors, apocynin and dextromethorphan (DM), to reduce learning deficits and neuropathology in transgenic mice overexpressing human amyloid precursor protein with the Swedish and London mutations (hAPP(751)SL).

Methods: Four month old hAPP(751)SL mice were treated daily with saline, 15 mg/kg DM, 7.5 mg/kg DM, or 10 mg/kg apocynin by gavage for four months.

Results: Only hAPP(751)SL mice treated with apocynin showed reduced plaque size and a reduction in the number of cortical microglia, when compared …

Diesel Exhaust Activates & Primes Microglia: Air Pollution, Neuroinflammation, & Regulation Of Dopaminergic Neurotoxicity, Shannon Levesque, Thomas Taetzsch, Melinda E. Lull, Urmila Kodavanti, Krisztian Stadler, Alison Wagner, Jo Anne Johnson, Laura Duke, Prasada Kodavanti, Michael J. Surace, Michelle L. Block

Pharmacy Faculty/Staff Publications

BACKGROUND:

Air pollution is linked to central nervous system disease, but the mechanisms responsible are poorly understood.

OBJECTIVES:

Here, we sought to address the brain-region-specific effects of diesel exhaust (DE) and key cellular mechanisms underlying DE-induced microglia activation, neuroinflammation, and dopaminergic (DA) neurotoxicity.

METHODS:

Rats were exposed to DE (2.0, 0.5, and 0 mg/m3) by inhalation over 4 weeks or as a single intratracheal administration of DE particles (DEP; 20 mg/kg). Primary neuron-glia cultures and the HAPI (highly aggressively proliferating immortalized) microglial cell line were used to explore cellular mechanisms.

RESULTS:

Rats exposed to DE by inhalation demonstrated elevated levels …

Eugenics And Modern Biology: Critiques Of Eugenics, 1910-1945, Garland E. Allen

Biology Faculty Research

Eugenics in most western countries in the first four decades of the twentieth century was based on the idea that genes control most human phenotypic traits, everything from physical features such as polydactyly and eye color to physiological conditions such as the A-B-O blood groups to mental and personality traits such as “feeblemindedness”, alcoholism and pauperism. It assessing the development of the eugenics movement – its rise and decline between 1900 and 1950 – it is important to recognize that its naïve assumptions and often flawed methodologies were openly criticized at the time by scientists and non-scientists alike. This paper …

The Impact Of Teacher Attitudes On Technology Use During Instruction, Michael David Dartt

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This collective, instrumental case study measured the impact of attitudes on the amount of time technology was used by three Algebra 2 teachers. The Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) served as the theoretical framework. Data was collected through pre-observational surveys, classroom observations, and stimulated recall interviews. When common attitudes were discovered in participants, the amount of time that they used technology differed. Regarding the impact of attitudes on the amount of time spent using technology, results were mixed. In some instances attitudes had a profound influence, but in other circumstances they had none. There were cases where obstacles prevented …

Dehydroepiandrosterone (Dhea) Replacement Decreases Insulin Resistance And Lowers Inflammatory Cytokines In Aging Humans, Edward P. Weiss, Dennis T. Villareal, Luigi Fontana, Dong-Ho Han, John O. Holloszy

Open Access Publications

Plasma dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) decreases ~80% between ages 25 and 75 yr. In a preliminary study, we found that 6 mo of DHEA replacement improved insulin action in elderly individuals. The purpose of the present larger, randomized double-blind study was to determine whether a longer period of DHEA replacement improves glucose tolerance. Fifty-seven men and 68 women aged 65 to 75 yr were randomly assigned to 50 mg DHEA or placebo once daily. Year one was a randomized, double blind trial. Year 2 was an open label continuation. DHEA replacement improved glucose tolerance in participants who had abnormal GT initially, reduced …

Repair Of Large Abdominal Wall Defects Using The Proceed™ Surgical Mesh With Open Intra-Peritonium Onlay Method., Feide Liu, Jiye Li

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVES: To report our experience with the use of Proceed™, Ethicon, Norderstedt, Germany surgical mesh in the management of large abdominal wall defects with the open intra-peritonium onlay method. METHODS: Thirty-six patients with large incisional hernia or defects resulting from tumor resection carried out at the Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, General Hospital of People9s Liberation Army, China between May 2007 and June 2010 were studied. The abdominal wall defect was repaired using Proceed™ mesh with the intra-peritonium onlay method. Different parameters were evaluated considering the complications such as seroma, hematoma, wound infection, mesh infection, chronic pain, …

Religious And Political Virtues And Values In Congruence Or Conflict?: On Smith, Bob Jones University, And Christian Legal Society, Linda C. Mcclain

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Establishing Weed Prevention Areas And Evaluating Their Impact, Stephanie Christensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The spread of invasive weeds continues to be a serious economic and environmental threat. Weed prevention has the potential to stop weeds before they become well established in an area conserving time, energy, and resources. Unfortunately, weed prevention is often overlooked. Weed Prevention Areas (WPAs) are a relatively new tool developed to help improve the application of weed prevention. They are cooperatively managed areas that focus on implementing prevention and early detection strategies at a community level. The purpose of this research was to establish baseline data that will be used to evaluate the overall effectiveness of the WPA concept, …

Transmitting, Editing, And Communicating: Determining What “The Freedom Of Speech” Encompasses, Stuart Minor Benjamin

Duke Law Journal

How much can one say with confidence about what constitutes "the freedom of speech" that Congress shall not abridge? In this Article, I address that question in the context of the transmission of speech specifically, the regulation of Internet access known as net neutrality. This question has implications both for the future of economic regulation, as more and more activity involves the transmission of bits, and for First Amendment interpretation. As for the latter, the question is what a lawyer or judge can conclude without having to choose among competing conceptions of speech. How far can a basic legal toolkit …

Beespace Navigator: Exploratory Analysis Of Gene Function Using Semantic Indexing Of Biological Literature, Moushumi Sen Sarma, David Arcoleo, Radhika S. Khetani, Brant Chee, Xu Ling, Xin He, Jing Jiang, Qiaozhu Mei, Chengxiang Zhai, Bruce Schatz

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

With the rapid decrease in cost of genome sequencing, the classification of gene function is becoming a primary problem. Such classification has been performed by human curators who read biological literature to extract evidence. BeeSpace Navigator is a prototype software for exploratory analysis of gene function using biological literature. The software supports an automatic analogue of the curator process to extract functions, with a simple interface intended for all biologists. Since extraction is done on selected collections that are semantically indexed into conceptual spaces, the curation can be task specific. Biological literature containing references to gene lists from expression experiments …

Continuous Nearest Neighbor Search In The Presence Of Obstacles, Yunjun Gao, Baihua Zheng, Gang Chen, Chun Chen, Qing Li

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Despite the ubiquity of physical obstacles (e.g., buildings, hills, and blindages, etc.) in the real world, most of spatial queries ignore the obstacles. In this article, we study a novel form of continuous nearest-neighbor queries in the presence of obstacles, namely continuous obstructed nearest-neighbor (CONN) search, which considers the impact of obstacles on the distance between objects. Given a data setP, an obstacle set O, and a query line segment q, in a two-dimensional space, a CONN query retrieves the nearest neighbor p ∈ P of each point p′ on q according to the obstructed distance, the shortest path between …

Sandcanvas: New Possibilities In Sand Animation, Rubaiat Habib Kazi, Kien-Chuan Chua, Shengdong Zhao, Richard Christopher Davis, Kok-Lim Low

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Sand animation is a performance art technique in which an artist tells stories by creating animated images with sand. This video demonstrates the creative possibilities of SandCanvas, a new multi-touch digital artistic medium inspired by sand animation that simplifies the creation of sand animations. SandCanvas’s color and texture features enable faster, more dramatic transitions, while its mixed media and gesture recording features make it possible to create entirely new experiences. Session recording and frame capture complement these capabilities by simplifying postproduction of sand animation performances.

It’S Okay To Be Gay…: A Librarian’S Journey To Acceptance And Activism, Jason D. Phillips

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This chapter presents the deeply personal and professional journey of Jason D. Phillips, an academic librarian, as he navigates the challenges of embracing his identity as a gay man within the conservative environments of Southern academia. Beginning with a facetious reflection that library school "made him gay," Phillips recounts how his education and early professional experiences became transformative, offering acceptance, community, and the impetus to come out. His story unfolds across pivotal moments—from confronting internalized homophobia and grappling with visibility in conservative workplaces, to finding mentorship, building GLBT library collections, and becoming an advocate for inclusion and intellectual freedom. Phillips …