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Regulation Of The Transcription And Subcellular Localization Of The Tumor Suppressor Pten By Δnp63Α, Mary Kathryn Leonard

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Non-melanoma skin cancers (NMSCs) are the most common form of cancer in the United States with an estimated 3.5 million new cases each year. Surgical excision is the main treatment for NMSC, but leaves the potential for disfiguring scars and does not fully reduce the risk of recurrence since the surrounding tissue is also sun damaged and may contain tumor-promoting mutations. By understanding the molecular etiology of NMSC we may be able to expand treatment options to more than just resection. Normal epidermal development is dependent upon the expression of the transcription factor p63. Amplification of the ΔNp63α isoform is …

Maturation Of The Carotid Body Oxygen-Sensor During Rat Development, Julia Paulet

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Carotid bodies (CB) are paired, oxygen-sensing organs located in the bifurcation of the carotid artery that act as peripheral chemoreceptors in the detection of hypoxic, hypercapnic and acidotic levels in the arterial blood. CBs respond to these fluctuations in blood gases by initiating firing of the carotid sinus nerve. This ultimately results in the appropriate ventilatory change to restore blood gases to their physiological levels. Studies have shown that the hypoxic response of the carotid body in juvenile mammals is low, but as maturation occurs this response is strengthened and clearly exhibited in adults. One theory suggests mitochondria play a …

Temporal And Spatial Assessment Of Pahs In Water, Sediment, And Oysters As A Result Of The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Meghan Christina Dailey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

On April 20, 2010, BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded leaking over 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico for 84 days. Exposure to oil-associated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the water and sediment could severely impact the aquatic organisms inhabiting the Gulf of Mexico (i.e. developmental defects, reproductive effects, death, etc.). Therefore, water, sediment and oyster, Crassostrea virginica, samples were collected approximately bimonthly between May 26 and November 30, 2010 from multiple sites along the Gulf Coast, namely, two sites in Mobile Bay (Denton and Sand Reefs at 1 or 0.1 m above the bay …

Reconfigurable Wideband Circularly Polarized Microstrip Patch Antenna For Wireless Applications, Ahmed Khidre

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this thesis, developments of rectangular microstrip patch antenna to have circular polarization agility with wideband performance, for wireless applications are presented. First, a new technique to achieve circularly polarized (CP) probe feed single-layer microstrip patch antenna with wideband characteristics is proposed. The antenna is a modified form of the popular E-shaped patch, used to broaden the impedance bandwidth of a basic rectangular patch antenna. This is established by letting the two parallel slots of the E-patch unequal. Thus, by introducing asymmetry two orthogonal currents on the patch are excited and circularly polarized fields are realized. The proposed technique exhibits …

Picking Up The Pieces, Michael Presley Satterfield

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Over time wooden and metal objects, such as utility poles, construction lumber, parts from cars, trucks, farm equipment, and heavy machinery, and even an old abandoned car, have become unserviceable and discarded. Lying useless until discovered by the creative explorer, they are reclaimed and become precious raw materials in an artistic project. This body of work is about our ability to pick up the pieces after a time of being at a low point in life. It is about being uplifted by a companion, memory, or idea to a better state of mind or place. The materials I choose for …

There Is No Dishonor In Desertion: Army Racial Intolerance And African-American Soldiers' Desertion, Steve Wallace

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The thesis focuses on a study concerning the desertion of African-American soldiers from the United States Army. The data were collected from the period covering the War of Independence to the mid-1960s of the Cold War. The study proposes that there are limits to which these soldiers cannot bear the burden of combat and the simultaneous fight against institutionalized racism. Some men endured their circumstances in spite of pervasive intolerance, but others simply could not make sense of the inconsistencies of their government's requirement for them to fight yet deny them basic human rights. The men believed they had the …

The Relative Effects Of Mindfulness And Values On Therapeutic Relationship: Developing Methods Of Manipulating Alliance, Regan Michelle Slater

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Comfactors research indicates that there is a positive relationship between therapeutic relationship and improved client outcomes. However, little research has been done to examine the nature of this relationship. The current study examined the relationship between mindfulness, values, and working alliance. Participants were 59 undergraduate students who were randomly assigned to one of three conditions: mindfulness plus values, mindfulness, or control. Depending on condition, participants engaged in a mindfulness plus values exercise, a mindfulness exercise, or a wait control. All participants then engaged in a conversation with the experimenter regarding a recent disagreement. Mindfulness and values connectedness were assessed pre-intervention, …

Reckoning, Wendy Elaine Buffington

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work is a collection of lyric poems with a narrative arc.

Selective Mutism: Identification Of Subtypes And Influence On Treatment, Christy A. Mulligan

PCOM Psychology Dissertations

Selective Mutism (SM) is a psychiatric disorder with a relatively low incidence that impairs social communication in some settings. There are many characteristics that appear similar in some children but are absent in others. Therefore, it was hypothesized that there may be distinct SM subtypes that warrant differential diagnosis and treatment strategies. In this study, 442 Selective Mutism Comprehensive Diagnostic Questionnaires (SM-CDQ) were analyzed to help identify children with specific characteristics that made their SM unique. Participants ranged in age from 3 to18 years old and met criteria for SM. The data were coded based on 203 variables and were …

Rebalancing Trips, Molly Land

Faculty Articles and Papers

Application of the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution procedures to the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property (TRIPS) has provoked a variety of reactions over time. Initially perceived as a significant loss for developing countries, more recent responses maintain that these fears were unfounded. This Article argues that the availability of adjudication through the WTO has indeed had significant consequences for the policy space of developing countries — just not in the manner initially imagined. One of the most important yet underappreciated consequences of the decision to link trade and intellectual property has been the conflation of trade and …

Novel Mechanism Leading To Mismatch Repair Deficiency And Mutator Phenotype, Janice Ortega Rodríguez

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

DNA mismatch repair (MMR) is a critical genome-maintenance system. It ensures genome stability by correcting mismatches generated during DNA replication, suppressing homologous recombination, and inducing apoptosis in response to severe DNA damage. As a result, defects in MMR lead to genome-wide mutations and susceptibility to both hereditary and sporadic cancer syndromes. The hallmark of cancer cells defective in MMR is their ability to display frequent instability in simple repetitive DNA sequences, a phenomenon called microsatellite instability (MSI). However, only ~70% of the MSI-positive tumors have identifiable MMR gene mutations, indicating that additional factor(s) are responsible for the MSI phenotype in …

Physiological And Toxicological Roles Of Abc Transporters In Cellular Efflux Of Substrates, Donna J. Coy

Theses and Dissertations--Toxicology and Cancer Biology

ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters are transmembrane proteins that transport a wide variety of substrates across intra and extra-cellular membranes. A few examples of endo and xenobiotic substrates are metabolic products, lipids, sterols, and drugs. An important function of ABC transporters involved in export is to prevent intracellular the buildup of toxic products. Several ABC transporters have also been associated with drug resistance upon treatment with chemotherapeutic agents. P-glycoprotein (P-GP) and the multidrug resistant (MRP) transporters of the ABC C family are examples of transporters that confer chemo-resistance.

We have studied two unique roles of ABC transporters in the liver and …

Bio 4958 : Parasitology, Biological Sciences

Approved Course Proposals

No abstract provided.

The Necessity Of Tradeoffs In A Properly Functioning Civil Procedure System, Alan B. Morrison

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Outpost Years For A Start-Up Agency: The Ftc From 1921-1925, William E. Kovacic, Marc Winerman

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The challenges and questions surrounding the design of a competition system are part of an identifiable life cycle that characterizes the development of a competition agency. The core challenges are to set priorities and execute them, but there are various potential obstacles. This article looks at the FTC’s experiences in its first decade, a period bringing extraordinary technological dynamism that reshaped the U.S. economy and transitions in political leadership, to shed light on how a new or reformed agency might go about facing predictable problems in its first years and to suggest how these agencies can improve their effectiveness.

New …

The Effectivemess Of Teaching By Siblings Of Manual Sign Langauage, Heather C. Robinson-Curtis

Theses and Dissertations--Early Childhood, Special Education, and Counselor Education

There has been little published research literature that has focused on using siblings to teach their non-verbal siblings a manual sign to communicate using the mandmodel procedure. The mand- model procedure is a naturalistic teaching strategy which has been demonstrated to improve communication and social outcomes for children with disabilities. This study investigated sibling tutors teaching their sibling tutees to use the manual sign “more” to request a want or need. The four sibling tutees were between the ages of 25 and 26 months and their sibling tutors were between the ages of 9 and 14 years. A multiple probe …

Estimating The Effects Of Condemned Inmates' Last Statements On Public Opinion About The Death Penalty: A Factorial Survey Approach, Timothy P. Colyer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There has been an increase in writings that address the last statements of condemned offenders. Many of these writings suggest that exposure to the humanity sometimes exhibited in these last statements may steer public opinion against the death penalty. This dissertation tests this suggestion by exposing 400 participants to randomly generated vignettes containing various capital crimes, demographic characteristics, and last statements. The survey data are analyzed utilizing multilevel modeling. Study results include the effects of varying levels of demonstrated humanity in the last statements of condemned offenders on public opinion, and whether specific demographic characteristics appear to influence study participant …

The Effects Of Slow Release Urea On Nitrogen Metabolism In Cattle, Vaughn B. Holder

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

The objective of this research was to investigate the effects of slow release urea on N metabolism in cattle. The ruminal behavior of Optigen®II and the effect of basal diet on the in situ degradability of urea and Optigen®II were evaluated. The effect of slow release urea and its interaction with degradable intake protein (DIP) level in the diet on N retention and excretion was evaluated utilizing 8 Holstein steers in a 4 x 4 Latin square experiment. In addition, the effect of slow release urea and DIP level on ruminal and systemic urea kinetics was evaluated using stable isotope …

The Influence Of Selenium Status On Immune Function And Antioxidant Status In The Horse, Mieke Brummer

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Selenium (Se) has received a lot of attention for its antioxidant and immune modulating properties. Yet, comparably few studies have focused on the horse. Therefore the objectives of this research were to evaluate the influences of Se status on immune function and antioxidant defense in horses. Twenty eight horses were allocated to one of 4 dietary Se treatments: low (LS), adequate (AS), high organic (SP) and high inorganic (SS). First, horses assigned to LS, SP and SS were depleted of Se and received a low Se diet (0.07 ppm Se) for 35 wk, while AS received an adequate Se diet …

Coaching In An Interactive Virtual Reality To Increase Fidelity Of Implementation Of Discrete Trial Teaching, K.M. Vince Garland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In teacher preparation, more effective pathways and practices are needed for preparing, placing, and supporting beginning teachers and principals (Darling-Hammond, 2010; U.S. Department of Education, 2009b). A common issue in the field of special education is the lack of skill transfer from one setting to another (Dieker, Hynes, Hughes, & Smith, 2008). It has been posited that “practicing up” is not ethical in that novice teachers must attempt to teach with a limited knowledge of appropriate pedagogy and skill (Dieker et al., 2008). The new challenge becomes finding an effective mechanism that provides essential learning experiences and opportunities to refine …

Liberalism Undressed, Jethro K. Lieberman

Books

In Liberalism Undressed, Jethro K. Lieberman returns to liberalism's roots to explain, in accessible and readable prose, why liberalism retains its power and appeal. He begins with the memorable thesis of John Stuart Mill, who drew from earlier liberal writers, which states "the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." Building on Mill's well-known, but rarely analyzed, Harm Principle, Liberalism Undressed undertakes to show that this widely-accepted precept-"it's a free country; I should be able to do what I want as …

Effects Of A Severe Cold Event On The Subtropical, Estuarine-Dependent Common Snook, Centropomus Undecimalis, Aaron J. Adams, Jessica E. Hill, Benjamin N. Kurth, Andrew B. Barbour

Gulf and Caribbean Research

The effects of infrequent disturbance events on marine fishes are often difficult to determine, due largely to lack of sufficient pre- and post-disturbance event data. In January 2010, subtropical southwestern Florida (USA) experienced extreme cold for 13 days, which caused extensive mortality of many fish species. The effect of this severe cold event on common snook (Centropomus undecimalis), an economically important gamefish, was assessed using three years (2007-2009) of pre-event and one year (2010) of post-event data from a tag-recapture program conducted over 28 km of Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida. All metrics pointed to a …

Ursinus Magazine, Winter 2012, Wendy Greenberg, Kathryn Campbell, Ellen Labrecque, Bobby Fong, Andrew Clark, Kelly Sorensen, Abbie Cichowski, Mariana Bergerson, Chelsea Sproul

Ursinus Magazine, 1995–Present

Farewell and congratulations to Dean Judith Levy • Drumroll, please; Mark Gadson joins Ursinus Advancement staff • Faculty books • Heefner organ • Balance and broaden • Redemptive power of music • Which fork event • America Reads holiday party hosted by Ursinus tutors • Business students compete • Student-athlete earns accolades • The Philip and Muriel Berman Museum of Art exhibitions on view • Take your best shot: Collegeville on Camera days • Homecoming 2011 • Welcome to the blogosphere • Nothing short of amazing: Ursinus field hockey wins Centennial Conference • Inauguration of Bobby Fong, Ph.D. • A …

More Than A One-Trick Pony: Exploring The Contours Of A Multi-Sector Covener, Madeleine W. Mcnamara, John C. Morris

School of Public Service Faculty Publications

Today's managers must find ways to identify and sustain productive relationships within multi-sector collaborative arrangements. This paper explores empirically the activities of a convener based on tasks identified by Agranoff and McGuire (2001) and applies this framework to the case of Virginia's Coastal Zone Management Program (VCZMP). We find that the convener displays characteristics described by Agranoff and McGuire, as well as characteristics of traditional hierarchical managers. This research suggests that both sets of skills are necessary for effective multi-sector collaborative governance.

Genetic Diversity Of The Caribbean Spiny Lobster Virus, Panulirus Argus Virus 1 (Pav1), And The Discovery Of Pav1 In Lobster Postlarvae, Jessica Moss, Mark J. Butler Iv, Donald C. Behringer Jr., Jeffrey D. Shields

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1) is an unclassified, pathogenic virus first discovered in Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys, USA, and has since been confirmed in lobsters in other parts of the Caribbean. Several studies have examined the prevalence, pathogenicity, and population dynamics of the pathogen in the lobster host, but little is known about the genetic diversity of the virus. We analyzed a fragment of viral DNA from lobsters collected in the Florida Keys, which provided the first insight into the genetic diversity of PaV1. The variation in viral sequences, both within and between individual lobsters, …

Examination Of Scavenging Associated With Wolves, Jamie Bankaitis

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Forensic anthropologists often confront external influences on a body, whether they are human, animal, or environmental. One of the major and most common confounding factors for forensic anthropologists is animal scavenging and the damage this inflicts on the skeleton. The types of scavengers present vary from region to region, and in the Northwest, large carnivores such as bears, mountain lions, and canids are abundant. These types of carnivores can not only inflict incredible trauma to a skeleton, they can also disperse the remains over very large areas, making it difficult for forensic teams to recover all of the skeletal elements …

Language Change In Spanish Heritage Speakers: The Interaction Between Lexical And Grammatical Aspect, Jackelyn Kelly Van Buren

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis focuses on preterit and imperfect usage in the Spanish of Chilean-American heritage speakers. Spanish heritage speakers in the United States are second generation bilinguals who learn Spanish in the home from Spanish speaking parents and learn English from school and the community (Montrul 2002; Rothman 2007). When societal factors limit heritage language exposure, tense and aspect morphology is susceptible to change (Guijarro-Fuentes & Clibbens 2004). Findings of a study on 11 Chilean-American heritage speakers show that production of the preterit is overextending, resulting in less frequent use of the imperfect. Large-scale studies of US Spanish-English bilinguals’ use of …

Restoring The "Shining Waters": Milltown, Montana And The History Of Superfund Implementation, David James Brooks

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This dissertation is a case study of a dam removal and river restoration within the nation's largest Superfund site. In 1981, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency included Milltown Reservoir on its first list of Superfund sites. Superfund law capped two decades of the federal government's most aggressive environmental legislation. While tracking the national story of Superfund law, my story provides a local view of how individuals, organizations, and agencies shaped the Superfund process. After the EPA designated Milltown a national Superfund site, the environment itself, persistent work within the channels of public policy, and federally-mediated compromise helped restore some shine …

Sarah Palin, Conservative Feminism, And The Politics Of Family, Jasmine Rose Zink

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Female politicians are heavily constrained by discourses that prescribe masculine values as natural, yet at times they draw on societal expectations of femininity that allow them to utilize such discourses to their advantage. Motherhood, a feminine yet powerful role, provides such an opportunity. Capitalizing on this acceptable avenue of female power, women have strategically relied on maternal appeals since they first entered public life, often to challenge patriarchal social structures. Utilizing Lakoff‘s (2002) concept of the nation-as-family metaphor and informed by the pervasive myth of the traditional family, this analysis explores the consequences of Sarah Palin‘s use of maternal appeals …

Subjective Quality Of Life In Dialysis Patients, Cindy Schaumberg

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

With the ever increasing ability of medical technology to prolong life, quality of life is an increasingly legitimate medical outcome. This is an ethnographic study on the perceived quality of life of hemodialysis dependent end stage renal disease patients. The study used participant observations and in-depth patient interviews to elicit the perspective of hemodialysis dependent end stage renal disease patients. Findings addressed the utility of dialysis for patients of, patient values leading to renal replacement therapy, and issues that might make patients perceive treatment as futile.