Digital Commons Network^™

Accelerated Large-Scale Multiple Sequence Alignment With Reconfigurable Computing, G Scott Lloyd

Theses and Dissertations

Multiple Sequence Alignment (MSA) is a fundamental analysis method used in bioinformatics and many comparative genomic applications. The time to compute an optimal MSA grows exponentially with respect to the number of sequences. Consequently, producing timely results on large problems requires more efficient algorithms and the use of parallel computing resources. Reconfigurable computing hardware provides one approach to the acceleration of biological sequence alignment. Other acceleration methods typically encounter scaling problems that arise from the overhead of inter-process communication and from the lack of parallelism. Reconfigurable computing allows a greater scale of parallelism with many custom processing elements that have …

Controlling The Activity Of A Phosphatase And Tensin Homolog (Pten) By Membrane Potential, Jérôme J. Lacroix, Christian R. Halaszovich, Daniela N. Schreiber, Michael G. Leitner, Francisco Bezanilla, Dominik Oliver, Carlos A. Villalba-Galea

School of Pharmacy Faculty Articles

The recently discovered voltage-sensitive phosphatases (VSPs) hydrolyze phosphoinositides upon depolarization of the membrane potential, thus representing a novel principle for the transduction of electrical activity into biochemical signals. Here, we demonstrate the possibility to confer voltage sensitivity to cytosolic enzymes. By fusing the tumor suppressor PTEN to the voltage sensor of the prototypic VSP from Ciona intestinalis, Ci-VSP, we generated chimeric proteins that are voltage-sensitive and display PTEN-like enzymatic activity in a strictly depolarization-dependent manner in vivo. Functional coupling of the exogenous enzymatic activity to the voltage sensor is mediated by a phospholipid-binding motif at the interface between voltage sensor …

Design And Development Of Nanoconjugates For Nanotechnology, Ashley Dung Quach

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Nanotechnology builds devices from the bottom up with atomic accuracy. Among the basic nano-components to fabricate such devices, semiconductor nanoparticle quantum dots (QDs), metal nanocrystals, proteins, and nucleic acids have attracted most interests due to their potential in optical, biomedical, and electronic areas. The major objective of this research was to prepare nano-components in order to fabricate functional nano-scale devices. This research consisted of three projects. In the first two projects, we incorporated two desirable characteristics of QDs, which are their abilities to serve as donors in fluorescence energy transfer (FRET) and surface energy transfer (SET) as well as to …

6,6’-Dimethoxygossypol: Molecular Structure, Crystal Polymorphism, And Solvate Formation., Carlos A. Zelaya

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

6,6’-Dimethoxygossypol (DMG) is a natural product of the cotton variety Gossypium barbadense and a derivative of gossypol. Gossypol has been shown to form an abundant number of clathrates with a large variety of compounds. One of the primary reasons why gossypol can form clathrates has been because of its ability to from extensive hydrogen bonding networks due to its hydroxyl and aldehyde functional groups. Prior to this work, the only known solvate that DMG formed was with acetic acid. DMG has methoxy groups substituted at two hydroxyl positions, and consequently there is a decrease in its ability to form hydrogen …

The Construction Of Self In An Adult Survivor Of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Elizabeth A. Meyer Christensen

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Counselors working in a wide array of settings are likely to encounter clients who have significant histories of childhood trauma, including childhood sexual abuse (CSA). The effects of CSA on the adult survivor are complex, and often difficult to resolve. Many trauma theorists have hypothesized that these problems may be mediated by disturbances in the survivor's construction of self. This exploratory, phenomenological study examined the subjective self as it moved through the processes of therapy and recovery from CSA. The data consisted of written material generated over several years of my own therapeutic work, including journals, letters, and poems. The …

Repetition And The Power Of Simplicity, Peter Barnitz

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

My art consists of the repetition of patterns, shapes, numbers, text, and found objects that communicate concepts in language, science, and math as art. My work addresses aesthetic and formal aspects of the art itself and embraces the process and experience of creating. I use repetition of lines and shapes to create a complex mass of infinite amounts of shapes, which create what I regard as a peaceful gathering of energy. These patterns can be freely interpreted as the co-dependency between everything in existence, which contributes to the changing balance of life. Similar to my patterns, my sculptures fuse several …

Iwu Alumna Guenzler-Stevens Is A Woman Of Distinction, Jackie Connelly '12

News and Events (Discontinued Series)

No abstract provided.

Navigating Heroines Between Scylla And Charybdis: Austen's Narrators, Katherine Johnson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Jane Austen champions practicality and compatibility versus purely romantic or mercenary sentiment in her novels, and through narrative techniques she preserves her heroines from imprudent marriages. Austen's heroines do not fall madly in love at first sight, but rather they acquiesce to marriage through reason and discernment. She endows her heroines with qualities that make them worthy of her interference in the marriage plot: intelligent although inexperienced, possessed of realistic expectations and sensibility and reason, and, importantly, financial instability. She carefully cultivates heroes worthy of her heroines through plot twists. However, to show her dissatisfaction with the limited roles available …

Preliminary Assessment: Identification Of Chinese Drywall And Exposure To Particulate Matter And Metals During Cutting And Installation Of Drywall, Vandana Karap

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Drywall, a popular building material made of gypsum based plaster sandwiched between two thick sheets of paper is used for building interior walls, is speedier alternative to traditional plaster, decreasing time and labor for construction. Importance of drywall increased with the demand for drywall after nine hurricanes hit Florida in 2004-05 and widespread damage caused in the Gulf Coast after Katrina in 2005. This study has two parts. First part presents an analysis of metals like strontium for the identification of Chinese drywall, and a comparison of strontium concentrations of American drywall and Chinese drywall using XRF (X-Ray Fluorescence) analysis …

Transmutational Harmony, Jonathan Mayers

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The work that I have produced during my graduate studies at the University of New Orleans addresses the impact that humans have on the environment in our contemporary world. A primary focus, but not exclusive, includes industrial materials or objects, their overwhelming presence that informs the juxtaposition of economic progress, and the reality of environmental disruption. Humor and metaphor are central themes of my work and reference my personal observations and experiences of living in the midst of these environments. Sources from Contemporary underground art have been filtered through my exposure to studio practice and art history, mainly the autonomous …

The Cultural Adaptation Of Internet Dating: Attitudes Towards Online Relationship Formation, Corey T. Miller

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the social approval of internet dating through the ranking of vignette scenarios. The scenarios are manipulated by the conditions of face-to-face interaction, presence of mutual acquaintance, and use of internet technology. Measures of legitimacy, predicted longevity, and social perception test for changes in attitudes of the varied ways in which a hypothetical couple meets. One of seven randomly distributed scenarios was ranked by a total of 346 undergraduates to disentangle the above conditions and test for an effect on social approval. Situated in the framework of cultural adaptation, script theory and the saturated self, support is found …

The Predictive Utility Of Mindfulness, Experiential Avoidance, And Values-Based Action For Well-Being In College Students, Michael Antranig Karakashian

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

College can be a trying time and research suggests that college student positive and negative outcomes are broadly influenced by their well-being. Well-being is a broad construct that can be defined in terms of theoretically and subjectively derived components characterized by hedonic (i.e., happiness and affect) and eudaimonic (i.e., a sense of personal congruence in life) concepts. Research suggests that mindfulness, experiential avoidance, and values-based action, three theoretically important variables in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), may be used as significant indicators of college student well-being. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of college student mindfulness, …

Gardner-Webb Awards More Than 340 Degrees In Annual Fall Commencement, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Gardner-Webb University, along with thousands of family and friends, celebrated the achievement of more than 340 graduates during the University’s annual fall commencement exercises on Monday. In keeping with Gardner-Webb tradition, all of the graduates were recognized individually as they received their degrees. As Gardner-Webb President Dr. Frank Bonner said in his opening remarks, “We pause to recognize our graduates one by one because we value them highly as individuals, and we are so very proud of each of them.”

A Transcriptional Analysis Of Carotenoid, Chlorophyll And Plastidial Isoprenoid Biosynthesis Genes During Development And Osmotic Stress Responses In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Stuart Meier, Oren Tzfadia, Ratnakar Vallabhaneni, Chris Gehring, Eleanore T. Wurtzel

Publications and Research

Background The carotenoids are pure isoprenoids that are essential components of the photosynthetic apparatus and are coordinately synthesized with chlorophylls in chloroplasts. However, little is known about the mechanisms that regulate carotenoid biosynthesis or the mechanisms that coordinate this synthesis with that of chlorophylls and other plastidial synthesized isoprenoid-derived compounds, including quinones, gibberellic acid and abscisic acid. Here, a comprehensive transcriptional analysis of individual carotenoid and isoprenoid-related biosynthesis pathway genes was performed in order to elucidate the role of transcriptional regulation in the coordinated synthesis of these compounds and to identify regulatory components that may mediate this process in Arabidopsis …

Agenda, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus Board Meeting, May 19, 2011, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus Board

Campus Board Agendas, Minutes, and Supporting Documents

The agenda for the University of South Florida St. Petersburg Campus Board meeting held on May 19, 2011.

Arregui V. Gallegos-Main Clerk's Record V. 1 Dckt. 38496

Idaho Supreme Court Records & Briefs, All

No abstract provided.

Rheumatoid Arthritis-Associated Polymorphisms Are Not Protective Against Alzheimer's Disease, Christopher R. Simmons, Fanggeng Zou, Steven G Younkin, Steven Estus

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are inversely associated. To test the hypothesis that genetic elements associated with increased RA risk are associated with decreased AD risk, we evaluated RA genetic risk factors recently identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for their association with AD in a two-stage, case-control analysis.

RESULTS: In our Stage 1 analysis of ~800 AD and ~1,200 non-AD individuals, three of seventeen RA-associated SNPs were nominally associated with AD (p < 0.05) with one SNP, rs2837960, retaining significance after correction for multiple testing (p = 0.03). The rs2837960_G (minor) allele, which is associated with increased RA risk, was associated with increased AD risk. Analysis of these three SNPs in a Stage 2 population, consisting of ~1,100 AD and ~2,600 non-AD individuals, did not confirm their association with AD. Analysis of Stage 1 and 2 combined suggested that rs2837960 shows a trend for association with AD. When the Stage 2 population was age-matched for the Stage 1 population, rs2837960 exhibited a non-significant trend with AD. Combined analysis of Stage 1 and the age-matched Stage 2 subset showed a significant association of rs2837960 with AD (p = 0.002, OR 1.24) that retained significance following correction for age, sex and APOE (p = 0.02, OR = 1.20). Rs2837960 is near BACE2, which encodes an aspartic protease capable of processing the AD-associated amyloid precursor protein. Testing for an association between rs2837960 and the expression of BACE2 isoforms in human brain, we observed a trend between rs2837960 and the total expression of BACE2 and the expression of a BACE2 transcript lacking exon 7 (p = 0.07 and 0.10, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: RA-associated SNPs are generally not associated with AD. Moreover, rs2837960_G is associated with increased risk of both RA and, in individuals less than …

Campus Board Meeting : 2011 : 05 : 19 : Supporting Documents, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Campus Board Supporting Documents

No abstract provided.

Childhood Meat Eating And Inflammatory Markers: The Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study, Mary Schooling, Chao Q. Jiang, Tai H. Lam, W. S. Zhang, Kar Keung Cheng, Gabriel M. Leung

Publications and Research

Background
We hypothesized that socio-economic development could, via nutritionally driven levels of pubertal sex-steroids, promote a pro-inflammatory state among men but not women in developing countries. We tested this hypothesis, using recalled childhood meat eating as a proxy for childhood nutrition, in southern China.

Methods
We used multivariable linear regression in the Guangzhou Biobank Cohort Study phase 3 (2006-8) to examine the adjusted associations of recalled childhood meat eating, <1/week (n = 5,023), about once per week (n = 3,592) and almost daily (n = 1,252), with white blood cell count and its differentials among older (≥50 years) men (n = 2,498) and women (n = 7,369).

Results
Adjusted for age, childhood socio-economic position, education and smoking, childhood meat eating had sex-specific associations with white blood cell count and lymphocyte count, but not granulocyte count. Men with childhood …

Boundary Ambiguity And Borderline Personality Traits : Implications For Adolescent Girls In Foster Care, Maureen Ann Kaplan

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

This study explores the relationship between boundary ambiguity (the level of certainty of a person's presence and role in a family) and borderline personality traits in adolescent girls in foster care. The sample consists of a total of 40 caseworkers from New England's child protection departments and psychotherapists from residential programs working with adolescent girls. They completed by email the Shedler-Westen Assessment Procedure for Adolescents (SWAP-200-A), a variation of Pauline Boss's Boundary Ambiguity Scale #1 (BAS), and demographic questionnaires. The results find that the primary hypothesis has a significant correlation, r(38)=.451, p=.003. Subordinate hypotheses also significant include: relationship between boundary …

Mosfl1 Is Important For Virulence And Heat Tolerance In Magnaporthe Oryzae., Guotian Li, Xiaoying Zhou, Lingan Kong, Yuling Wang, Haifeng Zhang, Heng Zhu, Thomas K. Mitchell, Ralph A. Dean, Jin-Rong Xu

Department of Botany and Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

The formation of appressoria, specialized plant penetration structures of Magnaporthe oryzae, is regulated by the MST11-MST7-PMK1 MAP kinase cascade. One of its downstream transcription factor, MST12, is important for penetration and invasive growth but dispensable for appressorium formation. To identify additional downstream targets that are regulated by Pmk1, in this study we performed phosphorylation assays with a protein microarray composed of 573M. oryzae transcription factor (TF) genes. Three of the TF genes phosphorylated by Pmk1 in vitro were further analyzed by coimmunoprecipitation assays. One of them, MoSFL1, was found to interact with …

Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center - 2011 - 137th Commencement, Office Of The Registrar, Lsu Health Sciences Center-No

Graduation & Commencement Programs

The program for the 137th Commencement of LSU Health Sciences Center - New Orleans held May 19, 2011.

13th Annual Pacific Research Day Abstracts, University Of The Pacific

Excellence Day

No abstract provided.

Joshua Lederberg - John Von Neumann Symposium, The Rockefeller University

Posters

The Joshua Lederberg-John von Neumann Symposium: Toward Quantitative Biology

Ms 101 Guide To Robert W. Miller, Md Papers (1921-2006), Robert W. Miller (1921-2006)

Manuscript Finding Aids

The Robert W. Miller, MD, papers, MS 101, includes materials from 1953 through 1998 related to the Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission (ABCC) and the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF). Miller was the chief pediatric physician on the team that conducted the research and observations in Hiroshima. This collection encompasses this period of time in Dr. Miller's career, as well as scholarly work relating to the results of the ABCC's research. Dr. Miller donated his collection of personal and business correspondence, journal articles, book reviews, business reports, newspaper articles, pamphlets, and a book to the John P. McGovern Historical Collections and …

Hands-On Labs (Hol): Using Technology And Web-Based Resources To Transform A Traditional Lab-Based Biology Course Into A Distance Learning (Dl) Hybrid Course, Across Schools At Pace University., Erica Kipp, Kabba Colley

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.

The Influence Of Profession And Therapy Type For The Cost Effective Treatment Of Sexual Dysfunction, David Fawcett

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual dysfunctions are serious mental health issues that impact an estimated one in three Americans. Due to the complex, relational nature of most sexual dysfunctions, mental health professionals trained to work with couples and their relationship interactions are likely to have better outcomes when treating clients with sexual dysfunction. Data from CIGNA Health Solutions was analyzed to explore differences in therapy outcome for various types of mental health professions when treating clients with sexual dysfunctions. The current research is a retrospective analysis of administrative data that explores whether or not type of profession (i.e. psychologists, Masters of social work, marriage …

Spectator 2011-05-18, Editors Of The Spectator

The Spectator

No abstract provided.

Isuchem News, May 18, 2011 (Issue 2011-7), Illinois State University, Department Of Chemistry

ISU Chem News

Newsletter of the Illinois State University Department of Chemistry

Volume 48, Number 39: May 18, 2011, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.