Digital Commons Network^™

Concrete Control Of Constitutionality In Portugal: A Means Towards Effective Protection Of Fundamental Rights, Antonio Cortes, Teresa Violante

Penn State International Law Review (1982 - 2011)

No abstract provided.

Medical Malpractice: The Italian Experience, Claudia Dimarzo

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Beginning with an investigation into the problematic nature of medical liability, the Article overviews the most significant approaches taken by courts and scholars in order to establish whether the physician's position before the patient is comparable with that of either a tortfeasor or a contractor.

Having explained that the most recent approaches in this regard tend toward the recognition of the contractual nature of medical liability, the Author discusses the implications of such a solution, making specific reference to the following issues: 1) the assignment of the burden of proof (along with the distinction between obligations of means and obligations …

Winter 2011 E-Certi Newsletter, Center For Educational Research And Teaching Innovation

CAFE Faculty Newsletters

Hello S&T instructors! Congratulations on finishing another semester. Is it possible to go from dismal teaching evaluations to becoming an award-winning teacher? Find out how Greg Hilmas did it. Also in this issue, we congratulate 50+ award-winning faculty members, hear about why Chem 1 is going to a “buffet” model in the spring, and offer resources for teaching Millennials.

A Comparison Of Presettlement And Modern Forest Composition Along An Elevation Gradient In Central New Hampshire, Matthew A. Vadeboncoeur, Steven P. Hamburg, Charles V. Cogbill, Wendy Y. Sugimura

All Materials

Tree species composition is influenced not only by edaphic and climatic factors but also by natural and human-caused disturbances. To understand interactions among these influences, we compared forest species composition data from the time of European settlement with modern data. We derived elevation data for 2529 trees mapped by early land surveys (1770–1850) across a 1000 m elevation gradient in central New Hampshire and compared these with modern data (2004–2009) from the Forest Inventory and Analysis program (123 plots containing 2126 trees) and from permanent plots representing case studies of different land-use histories. Spruce and beech are much less abundant …

Heat Shock Protein, Hsp90 Plays A Role In Mt1-Mmp's Ability To Activate Substrate Proteins, Theresa Buck

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

Membrane type 1 matrix metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) plays a major role in cancer invasion and metastasis. The mechanism by which MT1-MMP is trafficked to the plasma membrane where it functions to proteolytically activate its substrate proteins is not fully understood. The gene of heat shock protein (Hsp90alpha) was identified as being upregulated in HT1080 cells treated with concanavalin A (conA), a lectin that promotes proMMP-2 activation and cell migration in HT1080 cells compared to untreated HT1080 cells. To determine the mechanism underlying MT1-MMP substrate degradation and cell migration, biological and biochemical approaches were carried out. Zymography was preformed to examine the …

Janus Kinase (Jak) 2 Regulation And The Novel Activating Mutation, Jak2r546q, Lana Marie Corbo

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

Janus kinase (JAK) 2 is a critical secondary signaling protein and is ubiquitously expressed in hematopoietic cells. One of the major roles of JAK2 is to trigger signal transduction following binding of the hematopoietic growth factor thrombopoietin (TPO), to its receptor c-Mpl, which initiates megakaryopoiesis. Previous findings focused on other hematopoietic growth factor receptors suggest that JAK2 is critical for translocation of the receptor to the membrane. Using hematopoietic cell lines, in which we transiently overexpressed human JAK2, we found that increased JAK2 expression had no effect on cell surface membrane localization. We also studied the effects of c-Mpl cell …

Collimator Optimization For Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Using Detection And Localization Tasks, Yihuan Lu

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

We use signal detection and estimation and simulation methods to optimize the collimator in SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) medical imaging systems. A SPECT system images a radiopharmaceutical in the body to produce raw data called the sinogram that is then reconstructed to form a viewable image. The important imaging component is the collimator which controls a noise/resolution tradeoff in the sinogram. A signal like a tumor can be lost in the blur and noise of the sinogram. We apply an ideal observer to the sinogram to find the best collimator. We address two tasks (1) detect and localize …

Effects Of Habitat Degradation On Species Interactions And Reproductive Success In An Ecuadorian Bird Community, Jessie Knowlton

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

Interactions between species in groups are often ignored in studies of the effects of anthropogenic change on species' persistence. However, given their global ubiquity, mixed species groups have the potential to be models for community ecology. The purpose of my dissertation was to advance the understanding of the drivers of mixed species flocking behavior in birds, as well as how human disturbance affects these interactions and species' nest survival in a unique and highly threatened landscape in the Tumbesian region of Ecuador. I predicted that interspecific interactions would be disrupted and species would have lower nest survival in vegetation disturbed …

Helping To Start And Stop Myelination: Csk Has Dual Regulatory Functions During Oligodendrocyte Development, Iva Dimitrova Tzvetanova

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

The ability of oligodendrocyte progenitors (OPCs) to generate sufficient numbers of myelinating oligodendrocytes is critical both for developmental myelination and for repair following demyelination. The timing and location of gliogenesis are tightly controlled but the molecular mechanisms that underlie this control are poorly understood. Here I report that the C-terminal Src Kinase (Csk) acts as a molecular switch for Src Family Kinase activity in oligodendrocytes, with distinct and opposing roles for Csk in early versus late stages of development. Early in development Csk is critical for the appropriate onset of oligodendrocyte progenitor differentiation. Csk suppresses OPC proliferation such that Csk …

Disorders Of Schizophrenic Embodiment: A Phenomenological Investigation, Krisztina Sajber

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

The bodily manifestations of schizophrenia are not commonly in the forefront of scientific research. An investigation of the disorders of schizophrenic embodiment is nevertheless instructive not only for psychotherapeutic advances in the treatment of the schizophrenic condition, but because it offers unusual access to the pre-reflective experience of the body, a topic of great significance in contemporary phenomenology. This dissertation proposes a methodological framework for the systematic analysis of the various disorders of embodiment in schizophrenia, such as the schizophrenic modality of bodily self-alienation, the distortions of the body image experienced by schizophrenics, the processes that drive the conceptualization of …

Live Cultures: Illness, Mortality, And Masculinity In Contemporary Spanish Film, Bobby D Allbritton

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

Live Cultures" explores the ways that democratic Spain has been understood, written, and filmed as an ill kingdom, and how illness as bodily effect is an ontology that affects our understanding of our discrete selves. To consider illness a dark geography, as Sontag wrote in Illness as Metaphor, begs a continual re-interpretation of the relation of self, body and nation, an understanding of healthy or ill citizenship as it is inscribe into the body. This politicized inscription does not function alone but in tandem with gender, considering the ways that illness in its most base function operates some effect on …

Synoptic Flow Patterns That Influence Wind-Induced Mixing And The Temporal Evolution Of Hypoxia Over Western Long Island Sound, Sean Dennis Bratton

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

Bottom dissolved oxygen (DOb) concentrations in wLIS have exhibited both a long-term decline as well as marked inter-annual variability over the last several decades (1950-2009). This behavior continues despite New York City having reduced the quantity of nitrogen in upper East River Water pollution Control Plants (WPCPs) over the last two decades (Wilson t al. 2008). Processes controlling the inter-annual variability, intensity, spatial extend, and duration of hypoxia is still not fully understood. A number of studies have focused on anthropogenic factors, but air-sea interactions have also been documented to be important. The objective of this study is to identify …

Impacts On Spartina Alterniflora: Factors Affecting Salt Marsh Edge Loss., James Paul Browne

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

Spartina marshes are found on shores along the Atlantic coast of North America. A number of natural and anthropogenic impacts are thought to affect the rate of salt marsh loss. However, few long term assessments of changes in salt marshes are available. This dissertation project characterized and ranked factors that influence the recession of the edge of Spartina alterniflora salt marshes, focusing on Hempstead Bay, the westernmost bay of Long Island's South Shore Estuary reserve. I used 12 sets of aerial photographs of these marshes taken from 1926 to 2007 Using a randomization process, I chose 500 points along the …

Black, White And Green: High School Student Civil Rights And Environmental Activism In New York City And On Long Island, 1968-1975, Neil Philip Buffett

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

This dissertation highlights the contributions of high school student activists in both the Civil Rights and Environmental Movements of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Through an in-depth analysis of various New York City and Long Island community case studies, the project sheds light on the importance of place as a theoretical concept in the evolution of student-led social and political activism. The project illustrates how student involvement in both the Civil Rights and Environmental Movements did or did not manifest in two contrasting suburban and urban settings. Moreover, it highlights how place as a construct in and of itself …

Clustering And Network Analysis With Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (Snp), Hongyan Chen

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

The goal of the genome-wide association studies (GWAS) is to investigate the relationships between disease phenotypes and genotypes, which are usually determined by a large number of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Currently GWAS are often underpowered to identify SNPs with small to moderate effect sizes. In order to overcome this difficulty, two major approaches, (1) meta-analysis by increasing sample size and (2) SNP pre-selection by dimension reduction, are often adopted. Dimension reduction for SNP data has been arduous due to the categorical nature of SNP that renders most association measures such as the Pearson correlation or the Euclidean distance inappropriate. …

Integrated Biobehavioral Analysis Of Sex Differences In A Rat Model Of Schizophrenia, Igor Feinstein

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

Schizophrenia is a mental illness affecting roughly 1% of the population that is characterized by both positive/affective and negative/cognitive symptoms and is associated with abnormalities in multiple neurotransmitter systems and brain areas. Recently, reduced function of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) has emerged as an etiologic hypothesis with explanatory power for this spectrum of disturbances. However, it is unknown how NMDAR hypofunction relates to the striking sex differences that are also seen in the incidence and severity of schizophrenia's positive (female > male) vs. negative (male > female) signs, in its associated neurochemical imbalances and in the efficacies of drugs commonly used to …

Fluorescence-Based Approaches For Studying Nucleotide Excision Repair, Andy Khoo

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

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) is a versatile DNA repair pathway known for its wide substrate specificity. NER is able to recognize and remove a variety of helix distorting DNA lesions including those induced by ultraviolet (UV) light, various environmental mutagens and chemotherapeutic agents. The importance of NER is underscored by the inherited human disorder xeroderma pigmentosum (XP), which is caused by the deficiency of genes that are involved in NER. The characteristics of XP patients include an extreme sensitivity to UV light and a more than 2000-fold increased incidence of skin cancer. NER works through a "cut and patch" mechanism …

Benthic Habitat Characterization For The South Florida Ocean Measurement Facility (Sfomf), David S. Gilliam, Brian K. Walker

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

This report summarizes the distribution and relative abundance of two stony coral species (Acropora cervicornis and Acropora palmata) currently listed as threatened under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA) (Federal Register/Vol. 71, No. 129/Thursday, July 6, 2006 / Rules and Regulations, http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2006-07-06/pdf/06-6017.pdf) and seven additional stony coral species which have been petitioned for listing as endangered or threatened under the ESA (Agaricia lamarcki, Dendrogyra cylindrus, Dichocoenia stokesii, Montastraea annularis, Montastraea faveolata, Montastraea franksi, and Mycetophyllia ferox) (Federal Register/Vol. 75, No. 27/Wednesday, February 10, 2010/Proposed Rules, http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/fr/fr75-6616.pdf). This report also summarizes the abundance and distribution …

Medical Malpractice And Compensation In The Uk, Richard Goldberg

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In the first part of this paper, Dr. Goldberg examines the context in which medical malpractice liability is operating in the UK. The fact that the state-run National Health Service (NHS) is the major healthcare provider in the UK has several implications, since funding for medical malpractice compensation in the NHS comes from the taxpayer. The most recent empirical evidence on the incidence and funding of claims in England and Scotland is assessed, to show a trend of expenditure on clinical negligence increasing, particularly in England. This is followed by an examination of the statutory framework for the empowerment of …

Worthy Of Their Name? Addressing Aquatic Nuisance Species With Common Law Public Nuisance Claims, Christopher Grubb

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Aquatic invasive species like the Asian carp and zebra mussel have caused grave ecological and economic harm across the United States, and frequently harm rights common to the public such as boating, fishing, and bathing. Yet, Congress' efforts to address the problem through legislation have been piecemeal and unsuccessful. Historically, the common law of public nuisance served as an important tool to remedy transboundary pollution. More recently, courts have established that such public nuisance claims will be displaced where Congress has comprehensively regulated in a field. This Note explores whether public nuisance claims involving aquatic invasive species should be displaced …

A Century Of Chemistry Instruction At The College In Arlington: 1895-1995 (A Memoir And Scrapbook), Thomas James Cogdell

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications - Archive

No abstract provided.

Full Issue, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Microanalysis Of Micrurus Tener Vertebrae As A Means Of Potential Species Differentiation And Identification, Aracely Vazquez

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Full Issue: Vol. 65, No. 4

Sci-Tech News

No abstract provided.

Relating Land Cover And Channel Morphology To Stream Flow Function In The Lower Pee Dee Watershed, South Carolina, Zachary Smoot

All Theses

The South Carolina Pee Dee Project (SCPDP) aims to develop a method for the determination of Minimum Allowable Flows (MAFs) in streams in the Pee Dee region. This study is a portion of the larger SCPDP, focusing primarily upon analyses of geomorphic and hydrologic processes, as well as landscape and habitat analyses. Specific objectives include: 1) To distinguish the effect of various land cover classes and scales of analyses on components of stream flow function; 2) To determine trends in hydraulic geometry (regional curves) for the SCPDP region; and 3) To determine what measures of stream flow function, stream geomorphology, …

Evaluation Of Bioaugmentation Strategies To Treat High Concentrations Of Chloroform And Carbon Tetrachloride, Han Wang

All Theses

Halogenated methanes, including carbon tetrachloride (CT) and chloroform (CF), are significant groundwater contaminants. Options for bioremediation of high concentrations are limited. Previous studies have shown that an enrichment culture (designated DHM-1) that grows on corn syrup has the potential for use in bioaugmentation. DHM-1 cometabolically biotransforms high concentrations of CT and CF to nontoxic end products (mainly CO, CO2, and organic acids) in the presence of vitamin B12 (approximately 3% of chlorinated methanes on a molar basis). Sulfide is also required by this culture to function properly. However, insufficient data are available on its performance under field conditions. Also, it …

Sensory Spaces, Thomas Schram

All Theses

We are all products of our environments and simultaneously have the ability to shape and change those environments. Physical environments obviously influence how we perceive and understand ourselves in relation to our surroundings, but non-physical environments have an ever-increasing effect as well. Changing technologies and increased use of online networks pose new questions about how we understand and relate to the settings we inhabit. Inspired by the work of Sherry Turkle, my work examines the tension in the transition many people experience as they incorporate more internet-ready, globally connected technology into their daily lives. I examine the intersection between virtual …

When Is A Difference Really Different? Learners' Discrimination Of Linguistic Contrasts In American Sign Language, Joseph Bochner, Karen Christie, Peter Hauser

Articles

Learners’ ability to recognize linguistic contrasts in American Sign Language (ASL)was investigated using a paired-comparison discrimination task. Minimal pairs containing contrasts in five linguistic categories (i.e., the formational parameters of movement, handshape, orientation, and location in ASL phonology, and a category comprised of contrasts in complex morphology) were presented in sentence contexts to a sample of 127 hearing learners at beginning and intermediate levels of proficiency and 10 Deaf native signers. Participants’ responses were analyzed to determine the relative difficulty of the linguistic categories and the effect of proficiency level on performance. The results indicated that movement contrasts were the …

The Theory And Practice Of Genetically Engineered Crops And Agricultural Sustainability, David E. Ervin, Leland L. Glenna, Raymond Adelard Jussaume

Institute for Sustainable Solutions Publications and Presentations

The development of genetically engineered (GE) crops has focused predominantly on enhancing conventional pest control approaches. Scientific assessments show that these GE crops generally deliver significant economic and some environmental benefits over their conventional crop alternatives. However, emerging evidence indicates that current GE crops will not foster sustainable cropping systems unless the negative environmental and social feedback effects are properly addressed. Moreover, GE crop innovations that promote more sustainable agricultural systems will receive underinvestment by seed and chemical companies that must understandably focus on private returns for major crops. Opportunities to promote crops that convey multi-faceted benefits for the environment …

The "Padilla Advisory" And Its Implications Beyond The Immigration Context, Hanh H. Le

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.