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Quantitative Structure-Property Relationships For Predicting Chlorine Demand And Disinfection Byproducts Formation In Drinking Water, Gebhard Balthazar Luilo

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Models are important tools for designing or redesigning water treatment processes and technologies to minimize disinfection byproducts (DBPs) formation without compromising disinfection efficiency. Empirical models, which are the most common, are based on bulk water quality parameters that vary with time and space. These parameters may not always have linear relationships with chlorine demand and DBPs formation which make structure-based models more attractive to study. In this dissertation, Quantitative Structure-Property Relationship (QSPR) models which make use of structural properties of individual molecules were developed using experimental data obtained from the literature. The amounts are reported in moles of chlorine (HOCl) …

Spectroscopic And Electronic Structure Studies Of Metalloenzyme Active Sites, Joseph Sempombe

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

This work reports on the electronic and geometric structural studies of xanthine oxidoreductase (XO), S-ribosylhomocysteinase (LuxS) and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) active sites resulting from the joint applications of electronic absorption, electron paramagnetic resonance and magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopic methods. XO catalyzes formal oxygen atom insertion into a substrate C-H bond, but differs from monooxygenase enzymes in that the inserted oxygen atom derives from metal activated water and reducing equivalents are generated rather than consumed. Studies on aldehyde inhibited' XO (a paramagnetic form observed during XO catalysis), analyzed in terms of the relationships between the g-, ^95,97Mo hyperfine, …

Quest For A Deaf Child: Ethics And Genetics, Teresa Blankmeyer Burke

Philosophy ETDs

This project investigates the question of whether it is morally justifiable to use genetic technology in order to bear a deaf child. Even though it may seem counterintuitive to hearing people, deaf people often desire to have deaf children. Reasons for this vary, but often include a deep longing to have a child who can fully participate in ones linguistic and cultural community. Many view using genetic technology to ensure or create a child with a disability as harmful and a dereliction of parental duty; dismissing the desire for a deaf child as misguided at best. I begin by situating …

Spectroscopic And Electronic Structure Studies Of Bis-Metallodithiolenes, Regina Peter Mtei

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Dimethylsulfoxide reductase (DMSOR) enzyme family members catalyze oxygen atom transfer to or from organic or inorganic substrate and play important roles in the global cycles of sulfur and nitrogen, as well as the detoxification of arsenite. This enzyme has recently been subject of investigation due to its catalytic nature of oxygen atom transfer. This work reports on the electronic structure and reactivity properties of dimethylsulfoxide reductase enzyme studied using spectroscopic and computational methods. The spectroscopic methods included electronic absorption (EA), electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), magnetic circular dichroism (MCD) and resonance Raman rRaman). Here, we report full characterization of the DMSOR …

Interpreting Early Triassic (Smithian) Sea-Level Change And Climate Using Sequence Stratigraphy And Oxygen Isotopes Of Conodont Apatite, Stephanie Yurchyk

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

The Early Triassic is conventionally interpreted to have a warm and ice-free climate. During this time, three globally recognized depositional sequences developed in response to ~My-scale sea-level changes. The Lower Triassic Lower Thaynes Formation records the Smithian (2nd sea-level cycle in the Early Triassic) in the western United States (Confusion Range and Weber Canyon, Utah). The Smithian portion of the Mikin Formation records an approximately time-equivalent sea-level cycle in northern India (Guling, Himachal Pradesh). The maximum flooding zone combined with existing age-diagnostic biostratigraphy allows for correlation between two sections in the western United States and one section in northern India …

Electromagnetic Pulse Technology : Biological And Terahertz Applications, Prashanth Kumar

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Since the mid-1970s, the field of Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) technology has extended to include High-Power Electromagnetic (HPE) sources/antennas. Two such EMP/HPE antennas, designed to address unique applications, are presented in this dissertation. The first is the Prolate-Spheroidal Impulse-Radiating Antenna (PSIRA). Such an antenna uses a prolate-spheroidal reflector and has two foci. A fast (<= 100 ps), high-voltage (> 100 kV) pulse launched from the first focal point is focused into a target located at the second focal point (near-field). It has been found that these pulses are useful for a variety of biological applications, such as accelerated wound healing and skin cancer (melanoma) treatment. …

Assessment Of The Biocompatibility, Stability, And Suitability Of Novel Thermoresponsive Films For The Rapid Generation Of Cellular Constructs, Jamie Reed

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Stimuli responsive polymers (SRP) are of great interest in the bioengineering community due to their use in applications such as drug delivery and tissue engineering. One example of an SRP is poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) or pNIPAM. This SRP has the capability of changing its conformation with a slight temperature change: adherent mammalian cells spontaneously release as a confluent cell sheet, which can be harvested for cell sheet engineering purposes. Since its initial use in 1968, many researchers have used pNIPAM to obtain a cell sheet composed of their cell type of interest. The differing protocols used for these diverse cell types, …

Parts Of The Whole: An Algebra Lesson, Dorothy Wallace

Numeracy

This column draws on research of Eon Harper to demonstrate how an understanding of his proposed stages of algebra acquisition would inform a systemic overhaul of algebra education. Harper's stages also explain why students may pass a series of algebra courses yet still be unable to make sense of calculus, as well as offering insight on what aspects of algebra support quantitative literacy.

Lindenwood University Strategic Plan, Fiscal 2012, Lindenwood University

Strategic Plans

Lindenwood University Strategic Plan, Fiscal 2012

A Temporal Fuzzy-Art Neural Network Architecture As A Model Of Phoneme Perception, Rex Devon Hjelm

Linguistics ETDs

This paper explores the applicability of Adaptive Resistance Theory- (ART-) type neural networks for finding and encoding linguistic structures, specifically those corresponding to acoustic patterns in natural speech. We build an interpretation of human perceptual response to acoustic pattern in natural speech, translating this to a neural architecture as a model of acquisition, storage, and classification of acoustic speech patterns.

Holding Schools Accountable For Their Sex-Ed Curricula, Rena M. Lindevaldsen

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article examines the legal and policy implications that arise when a school district decides to instruct students on issues concerning same-sex attractions. As more states afford legal recognition to same-sex relationships and adopt non-discrimination codes that include sexual orientation, schools are faced with the decision of what, when, and how to teach children about same-sex attractions. Providing instruction on this divisive issue is fraught with conflict as views and beliefs on the topic are deeply-held, diverse, and often politically charged. In disputes concerning other sensitive topics, courts long have afforded schools broad discretion to implement curriculum without interference from …

Nurturing Forensic Science: How Appropriate Funding And Government Oversight Can Further Strengthen The Forensic Science Community, Craig M. Cooley

Texas Wesleyan Law Review

This Article's objective will be to discuss why adequate funding and strict government oversight are necessary to strengthening the forensic science community's scientific foundation and improve its accuracy and efficiency. If lawmakers refuse to properly fund and oversee the forensic science community, the criminal justice system's truth-seeking mission will continue to be compromised. This not only harms innocent people, who are falsely implicated by unvalidated forensic evidence or improper forensic testimony, it inflicts another wound to the victims and their families.

Patient Care News: July 2011, St. Cloud Hospital

Patient Care News

Primary Stroke Center Survey Final Results

Educational/Professional Developmental Programs August

Synthesis And Characterization Of Cdse-Zns Core-Shell Quantum Dots For Increased Quantum Yield, Joshua James Angell

Master's Theses

Quantum dots are semiconductor nanocrystals that have tunable emission through changes in their size. Producing bright, efficient quantum dots with stable fluorescence is important for using them in applications in lighting, photovoltaics, and biological imaging. This study aimed to optimize the process for coating CdSe quantum dots (which are colloidally suspended in octadecene) with a ZnS shell through the pyrolysis of organometallic precursors to increase their fluorescence and stability. This process was optimized by determining the ZnS shell thickness between 0.53 and 5.47 monolayers and the Zn:S ratio in the precursor solution between 0.23:1 and 1.6:1 that maximized the relative …

Effects Of Milk Processing On The Milk Fat Globule Membrane Constituents, Xiomara E. Elías-Argote

Master's Theses

ABSTRACT

Effects of Milk Processing on the Milk Fat Globule Membrane Constituents

Xiomara E. Elías-Argote

The milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) is avidly studied by many groups of scientists around the world due to its unprecedented nutritional and functional properties; however, limited research has been performed on the effects of milk processing on the chemical changes of the MFGM. Thus, this study highlights the changes that lipids and proteins undergo from the time milk leaves cow’s udders. Cooling (4 °C) was included along with subsequent pasteurization by different traditional thermal processes and cold pasteurization by pulse light ultra violet treatment. …

Loss Of Dna Mismatch Repair Imparts A Selective Advantage In Planarian Adult Stem Cells, Jessica P. Hollenbach, Alissa M. Resch, Dasaradhi Palakodeti, Brenton R. Graveley, Christopher D. Heinen

UCHC Articles - Research

Lynch syndrome (LS) leads to an increased risk of early-onset colorectal and other types of cancer and is caused by germline mutations in DNA mismatch repair (MMR) genes. Loss of MMR function results in a mutator phenotype that likely underlies its role in tumorigenesis. However, loss of MMR also results in the elimination of a DNA damage-induced checkpoint/apoptosis activation barrier that may allow damaged cells to grow unchecked. A fundamental question is whether loss of MMR provides pre-cancerous stem cells an immediate selective advantage in addition to establishing a mutator phenotype. To test this hypothesis in an in vivo system, …

Chicago-Kent Magazine - Summer 2011, Iit Chicago-Kent College Of Law

Chicago-Kent Magazine

No abstract provided.

Summer 2011, Seattle University

Seattle University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Cultural Conceptions Of Health, Caroline Stephens

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Healthcare is a complicated structure, influenced by multiple economic, social and cultural factors. It is problematic enough to determine how to administer healthcare in countries that rely only on the western healthcare system, but it is even more difficult in places such as Madagascar where multiple healthcare systems exist. Today the Malagasy have a culture that combines the many French practices with the traditional Malagasy beliefs, traditions and values. Many Malagasy chose to utilize allopathic medicine, but many others still prefer to go to a traditional healer. By gaining a better understanding of the average Malagasy person’s perceptions of proper …

Western Influence, Latent Racism, And Their Impact On Access To Health Care In Madagascar, Jessica Joy

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

While the Malagasy commemorate their Independence Day on June 26 as the day they were freed from colonization and allowed to function as their own country with their own cultures and practices, colonization and Western influence has left an indelible mark on Madagascar that continues to exert its power to this day, shaping Malagasy social behaviors, values, and lives. The introduction of the slave trade to Madagascar in the mid-1800s, as well as French colonization, has left behind a thriving latent and structural racism in the country; a Western ideal of beauty, made complete by its valorization of fair skin, …

Plants, People, And Partnership In Madagascar: How Pharmaceutical Companies And Bioprospecting Ventures Must And May Positively Benefit The Communities Whose Resources They Use, Rebecca Slotkin

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For centuries, traditional medical practitioners around the world have understood the tremendous wealth of medicinal power that can be found in the natural environment. In Madagascar, traditional practitioners have both used and cared for their natural environment, which in turn has given them a wide array of medical knowledge. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “approximately 80% of the world’s inhabitants rely predominantly on traditional medicines for their primary health care” (Cao et al. 2009). Traditional medical knowledge has relatively recently come to the attention of the international medical market. This “recent ‘rediscovery’ of medicinally useful plants” (Sheldon et …

The Benefits Of Having An Integrated Health Care System In Madagascar, Elizabeth Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

For my individual research, I wanted to look into all the benefits that could be offered by collaborating allopathic and traditional healthcare systems and how such a system is accomplished in Madagascar, in order to weigh and to discover the feasibility of using integrated healthcare systems as sustainable development in other parts of the world. Furthermore, as Madagascar sets the example in my research this summer, the use of traditional and modern medicine as an integrated health care system best serves the majority of the Malagasy population for several important reasons.

Standing Our Ground: A Study Of Southeast Asian Counterterrorism Conventions Contributing To A Peaceful Existence, Major Dennis Hager

University of Miami National Security & Armed Conflict Law Review

Less than a year after the September 11th attacks on New York and Washington D.C., terrorist groups in Southeast Asia carried out a number of high profile attacks in the region. In an area ripe for global terrorism the effects of counter‐terrorism conventions can be measured and the possibility of progress in the global war observed. The regional cooperation inherent in these conventions has been crucial to the success of peace for this region, and is especially significant considering the immense cultural and political differences among these nations.

With fourteen official languages and over 500 million people living in an …

On The Spatial Heterogeneity Of Net Ecosystem Productivity In Complex Landscapes, Ryan E. Emanuel, Diego Andrés Riveros-Iregui, Brian L. Mcglynn, Howard E. Epstein

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

Micrometeorological flux towers provide spatially integrated estimates of net ecosystem production (NEP) of carbon over areas ranging from several hectares to several square kilometers, but they do so at the expense of spatially explicit information within the footprint of the tower. This finer-scale information is crucial for understanding how physical and biological factors interact and give rise to towermeasured fluxes in complex landscapes. We present a simple approach for quantifying and evaluating the spatial heterogeneity of cumulative growing season NEP for complex landscapes. Our method is based on spatially distributed information about physical and biological landscape variables and knowledge of …

Turning Students Into Problem Solvers, Larkin A. Powell, Andrew J. Tyre, Michael J. Conroy, James T. Peterson, B. Ken Williams

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In the popular movie Apollo 13, based on the actual NASA mission, three astronauts are stranded in space, their craft’s electrical system broken, their oxygen quickly running out. To help them fix the problem and return home safely, mission controllers summon a group of engineers, dump a pile of equipment onto a desk—the tools available to the astronauts—and tell them to find a solution, or more specifically, “a way to put a square peg in a round hole. Rapidly.” Eventually, the engineers’ plan saves the day, and the astronauts make it home.

State and federal agency biologists generally do …

Identification Of Salt-Induced Changes In Leaf And Root Proteomes Of The Wild Tomato, Solanum Chilense, Suping Zhou, Roger J. Sauvé, Zong Liu, Sasikiran Reddy, Sarabjit Bhatti, Simon D. Hucko, Tara Fish, Theodore W. Thannhauser

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

This article reports salt-induced changes in leaf and root proteomes after wild tomato (Solanum chilense) plants were treated with 200 mmNaCl. In leaf tissues, a total of 176 protein spots showed significant changes (P < 0.05), of which 104 spots were induced and 72 spots suppressed. Salt-induced proteins are associated with the following pathways: photosynthesis, carbohydrate metabolism, glyoxylate shunt, glycine cleavage system, branched-chain amino acid biosynthesis, protein folding, defense and cellular protection, signal transduction, ion transport, and antioxidant activities. Suppressed proteins belong to the following categories: oxidative phosphorylation pathway, photorespiration and protein translational machinery, oxidative stress, and ATPases. In root tissues, 106 protein spots changed significantly (P< 0.05) after the salt treatment, 63 spots were induced, and 43 suppressed by salt treatment. Salt-induced proteins are associated with the following functional pathways: regeneration of S-adenosyl methionine, protein folding, selective ion transport, antioxidants and defense mechanism, signal transduction and gene expression regulation, and branched-chain amino acid synthesis. Salt-suppressed proteins are receptor kinase proteins, peroxidases and germin-like proteins, malate dehydrogenase, and glycine dehydrogenase. In this study, different members of proteins were identified from leaf and root tissues after plants were subjected to salt treatment. These proteins represent …

A Molecular Assessment Of Speciation And Evolutionary History Of The Globally Distributed Spotted Eagle Ray (Aetobatus Narinari), Vincent P. Richards, Marcy Henning, Wayne Witzell, Mahmood S. Shivji

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

The spotted eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari), a species of conservation concern (Near Threatened IUCN category) is commonly associated with coral reef ecosystems worldwide where it is likely to play an important predatory role. Currently described as a single, circumglobally distributed species, geographic differences in parasite diversity have led to suggestions that A. narinari may constitute a species complex. There has been no systematic evidence to support this suggestion, however. If multiple species of spotted eagle ray exist, each will likely posses decreased geographic ranges and population sizes, altering the impacts of threats and requiring separate assessments of conservation …

Biomedical Thrillers: Fiction Based In Fact, Or Just Fiction?, Emily F. Schmitt Lavin

Biology Faculty Proceedings, Presentations, Speeches, Lectures

No abstract provided.

Department Of History Newsletter Summer 2011, Department Of History

Department of History Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Center For Grassland Studies, Summer 2011, Volume 17, No. 2

Center for Grassland Studies: Newsletters

Contents:

Litter Accumulation and Decomposition In Pastures

From the Director

The Arthropod Community Associated with Switchgrass In Nebraska

2011 Earth Day Ushered In with Celebration of Grassland Conservation

Advisory Council Tour In Southeast Nebraska

2011 Center Fall Seminar Series to Feature National Academy of Sciences Member and Nobel Laureate

August 1 Is Pre-registration Deadline for Nebraska Grazing Conference

CGS Associates

NCR-SARE Publication Touts Benefits of Prairies