Digital Commons Network^™

Asymptotic And Numerical Analysis Of Time-Dependent Wave Propagation In Dispersive Dielectric Media That Exhibit Fractional Relaxation, Matthew Frank Causley

Dissertations

This dissertation addresses electromagnetic pulse propagation through anomalously dispersive dielectric media. The Havriliak-Negami (H-N) and Cole-Cole (C-C) models capture the non-exponential nature of such dielectric relaxation phenomena, which is manifest in a variety of dispersive dielectric media. In the C-C model, the dielectric polarization is coupled to the time-dependent Maxwell's equations by a fractional differential equation involving the electric field. In the H-N case, a more general pseudo-fractional differential operator describes the polarization.

The development and analysis of a robust method for implementing such models is presented, with an emphasis on algorithmic efficiency. Separate numerical schemes are presented for C-C …

A Tale Of Two Carbon Sinks: Can Forest Carbon Management Serve As A Framework To Implement Ocean Iron Fertilization As A Climate Change Treaty Compliance Mechanism?, Randall S. Abate

Seattle Journal of Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

Global Warring And Permanent Dry: How Heat Threatens Human Security In A Warmer World, Jennifer Marlow, Jennifer Krencicki Barcelos

Seattle Journal of Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

The Endangered Species Act And Its Role In Land Use Planning: Lessons Learned From The Pacific Northwest, Eric S. Laschever

Seattle Journal of Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

Education In The Environment: A Strategy For Continued Interagency Outdoor Education Programming: Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending May 2011, Margaret N. Rees

Reports (PLI Education)

Highlights of the university’s focused efforts during the past three months include the following:

• Two Families in Nature events were held, benefitting approximately 140 people
• The Families in Nature program was honored at the Nevada Recreation & Park Society 2011 Conference (March 16-18). It was chosen both as Program of the Year and Best Program for Children
• More than 500 4th-6th grade students participated in Wilderness Education activities and saw the “Art of Nature” Wilderness presentation
• The Nevada Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights was promoted through 11 outreach booths and events
• A total of 17 teachers participated in a workshop …

The Dynamic Nature Of The Folded And Unfolded States Of The Villin Headpiece Helical Subdomain, Lauren Wickstrom

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

[to be added]

Establishing An Interdepartmental Fluorescent Microscopy Facility, Marcy Kelly, David Zuzga

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.

Skin, Nalani L. Williams

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

[to be added]

Tetrabromobisphenol A Decreases Cell-Surface Proteins Involved In Human Natural Killer (Nk) Cell–Dependent Target Cell Lysis, Tasia Hurd, Margaret M. Whalen

Chemistry Faculty Research

Human natural killer (NK) lymphocytes are able to destroy tumor cells and virally-infected cells. Interference with their function can leave an individual with increased susceptibility to cancer development and/or viral infection. We have shown that the tumor-destroying (lytic) function of NK cells can be dramatically decreased by exposure to the environmental contaminant tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA). TBBPA is a flame retardant used in a variety of materials including circuit boards, carpeting, and upholstery and has been found in human blood samples. TBBPA interferes with NK cell lytic function, in part, by decreasing the ability of NK cells to bind to target …

Immunolocalization Of Influenza A Virus And Markers Of Inflammation In The Human Parkinson’S Disease Brain, Troy T. Rohn, Lindsey W. Catlin

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Although much is known regarding the molecular mechanisms leading to neuronal cell loss in Parkinson’s disease (PD), the initiating event has not been identified. Prevailing theories including a chemical insult or infectious agent have been postulated as possible triggers, leading to neuroinflammation. We present immunohistochemical data indicating the presence of influenza A virus within the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc) from postmortem PD brain sections. Influenza A virus labeling was identified within neuromelanin granules as well as on tissue macrophages in the SNpc. Further supporting a role for neuroinflammation in PD was the identification of T-lymphocytes that colocalized with an …

Dissolution Testing Of Prednisone And Salicylic Acid Calibrator Tablets At Different Tablet Locations, Anandhavalavan Arulmozhi

Theses

Dissolution testing is routinely carried out in the pharmaceutical industry to determine the rate of dissolution of solid dosage forms. This test is one of the several tests that pharmaceutical companies typically conduct on oral dosage formulations (e.g., tablets) to determine compliance. The USP Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2 is the most common of the apparatuses listed in the USP. However, it has been shown previously that the dissolution profile of a tablet undergoing dissolution in the USP Dissolution Apparatus 2 can be affected by the tablet location in the apparatus.

In this work, the dissolution rates of both non-disintegrating tablets …

Synthesis Towards Synthetic Adenosine Receptor, Rajni Gupta

Theses

Adenosine is a biologically important molecule as it acts as local modulator with cytoprotective function in the body. Adenosine accumulates in the extracellular space in response to metabolic stress and cell damage, and elevations in extracellular adenosine level are found in conditions like myocardial ischemia, hypoxia, inflammation and trauma. Its abnormal concentration therefore could be a marker of many diseases. Therefore determining its concentration can help understand the physiological state of the body. However its selective detection by synthetic receptors is not possible till date.

Efforts have been made here to design molecular tweezer for adenosine. Multistep synthesis was done …

Biomechanical Analysis Of Asymmetric And Dynamic Lifting Task, Xiaopeng Jiang

Theses

Lifting tasks is one of the leading causes of occupational lower back disorders (LBD). Aimed at deriving internal forces of human musculoskeletal system during lifting, biomechanical models are utilized to address this problem. This thesis provides an indepth literature review of such modeling, and the results of experiments used to address LBD issues.

An isometric pulling experiment was conducted to study the correlation between electromyography (EMG) and predicted muscle forces by AnyBody Modeling System™ with increasing hand loads. An infinite order polynomial (min/max) optimization criterion predicted percentage of maximum muscle forces, which achieved 98% correlation with normalized EMG. In a …

Fast Program For Sequence Alignment Using Partition Function Posterior Probabilities, Meera Prasad

Theses

The key requirements of a good sequence alignment tool are high accuracy and fast execution. The existing Probalign program is a highly accurate tool for sequence alignment of both proteins and nucleotides. However, the time for execution is fairly high. The focus is therefore, to reduce the running time of the existing version of Probalign, maintaining its current accuracy level.

The thesis conducts a detail analysis of the performance of Probalign to bring down the running time of the existing code. A modified version of Probalign, Version 1.4 is released. A new program for sequence alignment with faster computation is …

Ranking Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms With Support Vector Regression In Continuous Phenotypes, Seif Shahidain

Theses

Support vector machines (SVM) have been used to improve the ranking of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) over traditional chi-square tests in disease case studies [2]. In this investigation, ranking SNPs with support vector regression (SVR) was compared to the Wald test in predicting continuous phenotypes. SVR-ranked SNPs consistently outperformed the Wald test-ranked SNPs to provide a more accurate prediction of the phenotype with fewer SNPs across several methods of prediction.

A Microfluidic Culture For Two Populations Of Dorsal Root Ganglia For Differential Staining, Ishnoor Sidhu

Theses

The goal of this study was to design and fabricate a microfluidic system that can be used to visibly distinguish the two populations of dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) by differential staining. Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) is the most widely used silicon-based organic polymer, and is particularly known for its wide spread use in microfluidics. Various methods have been employed to pump fluids in these channels for applications ranging from patterning of cells and biomolecules to control of local environment factors such as temperature, which requires external pumping or other applied forces. We demonstrated a pump-free device that exploits the surface energy stored …

Investigation Of The Potential Catalytic Activities Of Several Metal Organic Framework (Mof) Materials, Guangyu Zhang

Theses

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are promising porous materials due to their high porosities, large apparent surface areas, tunable pore properties and selective uptake of small molecules. Many researches have been focused on developing new MOF structures and exploring their use in gas storage and separation. Only few studies investigated the catalytic properties of MOFs. In this study, catalytic properties are explored over several MOFs including zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8), Ni(FA) and Zn(FA). These MOFs are used as catalyst supports for iron or platinum nanoparticles. The catalysts are prepared using incipient wetness impregnation method and characterized with Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET), pulse chemisorption, X-ray …

Thermochemical Properties, Bond Energies And Internal Rotor Potentials In Methyl Ethyl Sulfide And Oxygenated Sulfur Hydrocarbons Intermediates For Modeling Its Combustion And Atmospheric Chemistry, Guanghui Song

Theses

Small (1 to 4 carbon) hydrocarbon sulfides and thiols are formed in the biosphere by microorganisms and subsequently emitted into the lithosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere. In the atmosphere they are oxidized by photochemical and radical reactions to intermediate hydrocarbon and to sulfur oxides. The oxides of these sulfur compounds and the intermediates from the oxidation process are known to form aerosols that can counteract the global warming green house effect. Recent studies also suggest that some aerosols can also contribute to global warming. Sulfur oxides are also major contributors to acid rain as the results of the atmospheric chemistry oxidation …

Rhob Variants And Methods Of Use, Said M. Sebti

USF Patents

In one aspect, the present invention concerns RhoB variant polypeptides and isolated degenerate polynucleotides encoding the RhoB variant polypeptides. In another aspect, the present invention concerns nucleic acid constructs containing a polynucleotide encoding a RhoB variant polypeptide, and host cells genetically modified to express such polynucleotides. In another aspect, the present invention provides a method of inhibiting the growth of, and inducing apoptosis in, cancerous cells by contacting the cells with an effective amount of a RhoB variant.

Methods For Inhibiting Stat3 Signaling In Immune Cells, Hua E. Yu, Richard Jove, Marcin Kortylewski, Drew M. Pardoll

USF Patents

Methods of enhancing antitumor activity of an immune cell comprising contacting the immune cell with a Stat3 inhibitor are described. Also described are methods of killing a tumor cell or inhibiting tumor growth in a subject comprising contacting an immune cell of the subject with a Stat3 inhibitor.

Surface Acoustic Wave Device Coding For Multi-Device Id Tags And Sensors (Cip), Donald Malocha, Nikolai Kozlovski

UCF Patents

Methods and systems for coding SAW OFC devices to mitigate code collisions in a wireless multi-tag system. Each device producing plural stepped frequencies as an OFC signal with a chip offset delay to increase code diversity. A method for assigning a different OCF to each device includes using a matrix based on the number of OFCs needed and the number chips per code, populating each matrix cell with OFC chip, and assigning the codes from the matrix to the devices. The asynchronous passive multi-tag system includes plural surface acoustic wave devices each producing a different OFC signal having the same …

Renin-Angiotensin-Aldosterone Genotype Influences Ventricular Remodeling In Infants With Single Ventricle., Seema Mital, Wendy K. Chung, Steven D. Colan, Lynn A. Sleeper, Cedric Manlhiot, Cammon B. Arrington, James F. Cnota, Eric M. Graham, Michael E. Mitchell, Elizabeth Goldmuntz, Jennifer S. Li, Jami C. Levine, Teresa M. Lee, Renee Margossian, Daphne T. Hsu, Pediatric Heart Network Investigators, Girish S. Shirali

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Background: We investigated the effect of polymorphisms in the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) genes on ventricular remodeling, growth, renal function, and response to enalapril in infants with single ventricle.

Methods and results: Single ventricle infants enrolled in a randomized trial of enalapril were genotyped for polymorphisms in 5 genes: angiotensinogen, angiotensin-converting enzyme, angiotensin II type 1 receptor, aldosterone synthase, and chymase. Alleles associated with renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system upregulation were classified as risk alleles. Ventricular mass, volume, somatic growth, renal function using estimated glomerular filtration rate, and response to enalapril were compared between patients with ≥2 homozygous risk genotypes (high risk), and those …

Empowering And Engaging Teen Girls Through Media From The Perspective Of A Practitioner And Producer, Marie Celestin

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

Mainstream media plays an important part of our lives. For teens today, often labeled the “digital generation,” media sources affect the way they read, understand, and interpret information and are a critical influence on the way they see themselves. I have been a media critic since I was a teenager, but the Critical and Creative Thinking program allowed me to articulate my vision for a fairer representation of women and girls while tapping in my creative toolbox to produce original and bolder images of real girls through the G.I.R.L.S. (Growing Individuals Reacting to Life's Struggles) Project and GIRL TV—in short, …

Tim-3 Negatively Regulates Il-12 Expression By Monocytes In Hcv Infection, Ying Zhang, Cheng J. Ma, Jia M. Wang, Xiao J. Ji, Xiao Y. Wu, Zhan S. Jia, Jonathan P. Moorman, Zhi Q. Yao

ETSU Faculty Works

T cell immunoglobulin and mucin domain-containing protein 3 (Tim-3) is a newly identified negative immunomodulator that is up-regulated on dysfunctional T cells during viral infections. The expression and function of Tim-3 on human innate immune responses during HCV infection, however, remains poorly characterized. In this study, we report that Tim-3 is constitutively expressed on human resting CD14+ monocyte/macrophages (M/MØ) and functions as a cap to block IL-12, a key pro-inflammatory cytokine linking innate and adaptive immune responses. Tim-3 expression is significantly reduced and IL-12 expression increased upon stimulation with Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) ligand - lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and TLR7/8 ligand …

Chronic Granulomatous Disease: A Review Of The Infectious And Inflammatory Complications, Eunkyung Song, Gayatri B. Jaishankar, Hana Saleh, Warit Jithpratuck, Ryan Sahni, Guha Krishnaswamy

ETSU Faculty Works

Chronic Granulomatous Disease is the most commonly encountered immunodeficiency involving the phagocyte, and is characterized by repeated infections with bacterial and fungal pathogens, as well as the formation of granulomas in tissue. The disease is the result of a disorder of the NADPH oxidase system, culminating in an inability of the phagocyte to generate superoxide, leading to the defective killing of pathogenic organisms. This can lead to infections with Staphylococcus aureus, Psedomonas species, Nocardia species, and fungi (such as Aspergillus species and Candida albicans). Involvement of vital or large organs can contribute to morbidity and/or mortality in the affected patients. …

The Development And Characterization Of A 60k Snp Chip For Chicken., Martien Am Groenen, Hendrik-Jan Megens, Yalda Zare, Wesley C. Warren, Ladeana W. Hillier, Richard Pma Crooijmans, Addie Vereijken, Ron Okimoto, William M. Muir, Hans H. Cheng

Department of Animal Sciences Faculty Publications

Background

In livestock species like the chicken, high throughput single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotyping assays are increasingly being used for whole genome association studies and as a tool in breeding (referred to as genomic selection). To be of value in a wide variety of breeds and populations, the success rate of the SNP genotyping assay, the distribution of the SNP across the genome and the minor allele frequencies (MAF) of the SNPs used are extremely important.

Results

We describe the design of a moderate density (60k) Illumina SNP BeadChip in chicken consisting of SNPs known to be segregating at high …

Thermochemistry And Bond Energies Of Acetohydrazide, Amides And Cyclic Alkyl Ethers, Sumit Charaya

Theses

Structure, thermochemical properties, bond energies and internal rotation potentials of Acetic Acid Hydrazide (CH₃CONHNH₂), Acetamide (CH₃CONH₂) and N-methyl Acetamide (CH3CONHCH3) and their radicals corresponding to loss of hydrogen atom have been studied. Gas phase standard enthalpies of formation and bond energies were calculated using the DFT methods B3LYP/6-31G(d,p), B3LYP/6-31G(2d,2p) and the composite CBS-QB3 methods employing a series of work reactions to further improve accuracy of the ΔH_f°(298K). Molecular structures, vibration frequencies and internal rotor potentials were calculated at DFT level. The enthalpies of the parent molecules CH₃-C=ONHNH_{2 …}

Dissolution Of Disintegrating Solid Dosage Forms In A Modified Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2, Shrutiben Rameshbhai Parekh

Theses

Dissolution tests are routinely carried out in the pharmaceutical industry to determine the dissolution rate of solid dosage forms. Dissolution testing serves as a surrogate for drug bioavailability through in vitro–in vivo correlation (IVIVR), and it additionally helps in guiding the development of new formulations and in assessing lot-to-lot consistency, thus ensuring product quality. The United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) Dissolution Testing Apparatus 2 is the device most commonly used for this purpose. Despite its widespread use, dissolution testing using this apparatus remains susceptible to significant error and test failures. There is documented evidence that this apparatus is sensitive to several …

Transdermal And Transbuccal Delivery Of Lidocaine And Nicotine : Combined Effects Of Iontophoresis And Chemical Enhancers, Ran Wei

Theses

This study focused on the effects of iontophoresis and chemical enhancers on drug release. The transport of Lidocaine HCl (LHCl) and Nicotine Hydrogen Tartrate (NHT) through the skin and mucosa was evaluated for potential clinical applications. These two potential delivery routes have the advantage of avoiding first-pass effect. Samples were pretreated with enhancer solutions for one hour before the experiments. Passive or 0.3 mA iontophoresis-assisted drug diffusion was conducted for 8 hours to monitor the cumulative amount of drug released. Graphical methods and mathematical optimization techniques were implemented to analyze the data. The effects of chemical enhancers on the delivery …

Does Foot Have A Leg To Stand On?: A Dilemma For An Attempt To Ground Evaluative Judgment In Biological Teleology, Emalee Popoff

Theses

In Natural Goodness, Philippa Foot aims to give an account of goodness and badness in action in terms of natural goodness and defect. In this paper I argue that Foot’s account of natural goodness fails as an attempt to ground the evaluation of living things in their life forms, even before its extension to moral evaluation. Foot’s overall project depends on her characterization of a life form, and she gives an account of life forms in terms of a theory of biological teleology. Teleological propositions, for Foot, give an answer to the question “What part does it play in the …