Digital Commons Network^™

Getting Juvenile Life Without Parole “Right” After Miller V. Alabama, Doriane L. Coleman, James E. Coleman Jr.

Duke Journal of Constitutional Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

French Quarter Festivals, Incorporated: A Report On Volunteer Coordination And Educational Programming, Kylee Kidder

Arts Administration Master's Reports (1984-2016)

This internship report reviews the non-profit entity French Quarter Festivals, Inc. (FQFI), and each of the three festivals it produces. The report includes an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the organization and offers suggestions for improvements. The history of FQFI, a description of programs and a breakdown of the staff structure provide a basic understanding of the organization. For the purpose of this internship report, the timeframe being reviewed covers June 2012 through August 2012.

The Development Of The Simulation Thinking Rubric, Jessica Doolen

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Special Educators On Disproportionate Representation, Troy Daniel Gonzales

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Professional Basketball Consumer Behavior: An Analysis Of The Nba Servicscape, Atmospheric Music And Attendee Attitudes, Emotional Responses, And Behaviors, Crystal Southall

Dissertations

Sport is a unique product within the domain of entertainment and leisure services. Although the sport industry continues to grow, sport spectatorship has changed dramatically, with fans consuming sport through a variety of media outlets such as television and the Internet. Sport consumers can now watch live, delayed, or recorded sporting events when and where they choose, therefore sport organizations must focus their attention on sustainability through the creation of a competitive advantage in the staging of live sporting events. The National Basketball Association product is consumed in an increasingly stimulating consumptive landscape and therefore was the focus of the …

Resistance Is Futile: The Bacteriocin Model For Addressing The Antibiotic Resistance Challenge, Margaret A. Riley, Sandra M. Robinson, Christopher M. Roy, Morgan Dennis, Vivian Liu, Robert Dorit

Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Pathogenic bacteria resistant to many or all antibiotics already exist. With the decline in microbiological research at pharmaceutical companies, the high rate at which resistance has evolved and spread has demanded a novel approach to addressing this critical human health issue. In the present paper, we propose a new paradigm in antibiotic discovery and development, one that applies ecological and evolutionary theory to design antimicrobial drugs that are more difficult and/or more costly to resist. In essence, we propose to simply adopt the strategies invented and applied by bacteria for hundreds of millions of years. Our research focuses on bacteriocins, …

Regulation Of Alternative Carbon Metabolism In Candida Albicans, Arely Y. Gonzalez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Candida albicans is the most important fungal pathogen of humans. Transcript profiling studies show that upon phagocytosis by macrophages, C. albicans undergoes a massive metabolic reorganization activating genes involved in alternative carbon metabolism, including the glyoxylate cycle, β-oxidation and gluconeogenesis. Mutations in key enzymes such as ICL1 (glyoxylate cycle) and FOX2 (fatty acid β-oxidation) revealed that alternative carbon metabolic pathways are required for full virulence in C. albicans. These studies indicate C. albicans uses non-preferred carbon sources allowing its adaptation to microenvironments were nutrients are scarce. It has become apparent that the regulatory networks required for regulation of alternative …

Identifying Genetic Variants And Characterizing Their Role In Clubfoot, Katelyn S. Weymouth

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Clubfoot is a common, complex birth defect affecting 4,000 newborns in the United States and 135,000 world-wide each year. The clubfoot deformity is characterized by inward and rigid downward displacement of one or both feet, along with persistent calf muscle hypoplasia. Despite strong evidence for a genetic liability, there is a limited understanding of the genetic and environmental factors contributing to the etiology of clubfoot. The studies described in this dissertation were performed to identify variants and/or genes associated with clubfoot. Genome-wide linkage scan performed on ten multiplex clubfoot families identified seven new chromosomal regions that provide new areas to …

Nanotherapies For Treating Prostate Cancer, Michael Danquah

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Current prostate cancer treatment remains ineffective primarily due to ineffectual therapeutic strategies and numerous tumor-associated physiological barriers which hinder efficacy of anticancer agents. Therefore, the focus of this study was to investigate a new combination therapy approach for treating prostate cancer and develop polymeric nanocarriers to facilitate anticancer drug and nucleic acid delivery.

It was hypothesized that simultaneously targeting androgen-androgen receptor (AR) and X-linked inhibitor of apoptosis protein (XIAP) signaling pathways would be effective in treating prostate cancer. The effect of bicalutamide (antiandrogen) and embelin (XIAP inhibitor) on the growth of prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo was …

N200 And P300 Evoked By Stimuli Straddling Category Boundary In Lexical Context, Ji Young Lee

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Background and Objectives: Event-related potentials (ERPs) like N200 and P300 have been reported to reflect the categorical perception of speech. The purpose of the present study is to explore whether these ERP components reflect the influence of lexical context on categorical perception. Findings may provide evidence for bottom-up or top-down processing of speech. Methods: On a seven step series of the /bi/-/pi/ continuum, a two-forced choice labeling test was administered in two conditions: /bi/ context (e.g. bee sting) and /pi/ context (e.g. pea soup). From the labeling results, Stimulus 1which is a prototypical /bi/ was selected for standard stimuli, and …

Hematopoietic Stem Cell Threshold Sensing Controls Regulatory Pathways Facilitating Clinically Relevant Ex Vivo Expansion For Stem Cell Transplantation, Andrew D. Lasiter

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The ex vivo expansion of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for transplantation has threefold importance: 1.) First, because of the rarity of stem cells there often isn’t a sufficient supply obtainable from common sources for larger children and adults. 2.) Secondly, patient morbidity and time to hematopoietic reconstitution following myeloablative preconditioning is improved by administering a larger pool of HSCs. 3.) Lastly, gene therapies for hematological diseases still require a robust supply of HSCs to offset varying degrees of inefficiency in vector mediated transfection protocols. These reasons, and others, have been an impetus for many discoveries made within four primary subdivisions …

Mrp4 Is A Crucial Regulator Of Testosterone Biosynthesis, Jessica Ann Morgan

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The physiological role of multidrug resistance protein 4 (Mrp4) in the testes is unknown. It was discovered that Mrp4 is expressed primarily in mouse and human Leydig cells; however, there is no current evidence that Mrp4 regulates testosterone biosynthesis. The role of Mrp4 was investigated in Leydig cells where testosterone production is regulated by cAMP, an intracellular second messenger formed when the luteinizing hormone (LH) receptor (Lhr) is activated. As Mrp4 regulates cAMP, we compared testosterone levels in our Mrp4 WT and KO mice. Prepubertal KO mice had significantly reduced testicular testosterone, impaired gametogenesis, and disrupted cAMP homeostasis, resulting in …

Anti-Apoptotic Mcl-1 Localizes To The Mitochondrial Matrix And Couples Mitochondrial Fusion To Respiration, Rhonda Perciavalle

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

MCL-1, an anti-apoptotic BCL-2 family member that is essential for the survival of multiple cell lineages, is also among the most highly amplified genes in cancer. Although MCL-1 is known to oppose cell death, precisely how it functions to promote survival of normal and malignant cells is poorly understood. Here, I report that different forms of MCL-1 reside in distinct mitochondrial locations and exhibit separable functions. On the outer mitochondrial membrane, a MCL-1 isoform acts like other anti-apoptotic BCL-2 molecules to antagonize apoptosis, whereas an amino-terminally truncated isoform of MCL-1 that is imported into the mitochondrial matrix is necessary to …

High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (Hrms) Based Investigation Of Small Molecule, Bioactive Secondary Metabolites As Probes In The Examination Of Bacterial Resistance And Virulence, Jerrod Stephen Scarborough

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The widespread availability of antimicrobial chemotherapeutics over the last half of the twentieth century has offered dramatic increases in life expectancy. Unfortunately, many pathogenic agents are exhibiting ever increasing resistance to many frontline antibiotics. New chemotherapeutic agents are urgently needed to combat this threat; this work seeks to illustrate applications in which mass spectrometric techniques may be applied to the investigation of novel, small molecule chemotherapeutics for the treatment of bacterial infections. Chapter 1 contains an introduction to mass spectrometry, as well as an overview of relevant chromatographic techniques. Chapter 2 introduces the bacterium F tularensis and M ulcerans and …

The Role Of Bip Nucleotide Exchange Factor Sil1 In Immunoglobulin Biosynthesis, Tyler Sanford

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

BiP is an essential endoplasmic reticulum resident molecular chaperone of the HSP70 family that binds exposed hydrophobic regions of unfolded proteins. Substrates bound by BiP are protected from dangerous non-specific interaction with other unfolded proteins via their aggregation prone exposed hydrophobic regions, which are normally buried in the native state, and act as BiP binding targets. For these substrates to mature into the native state, BiP must be released. Like all HSP70 family members, cycles of BiP binding and release are nucleotide dependent and facilitated by two genres of cochaperones, HSP40s, and nucleotide exchange factors (NEFs). HSP40s function in stimulating …

Biogenic Amine Levels Correlate With Time Of Day, Age, Light Cycle, And Aggressive State In The Flesh Fly, Sarcophaga Crassipalpis, Veronica L. Fregoso

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The biogenic amines serotonin (5HT), dopamine (DA), and octopamine (OA) have been indicated in the regulation of behaviors, including aggression. The flesh fly, Sarcophaga crassipalpis, was used to investigate ontogenetic and circadian changes in amines and aggression. Heads of male flies were analyzed for amine content using high performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-ECD) at 3 time points on each of 4 consecutive days in 2 light cycles, 12:12 LD and 15:9 LD. Both DA and OA levels decreased with age. Light-cycle dependent differences were observed for all amines in overall levels and patterns of change throughout the …

Venezuela As An Exporter Of 4th Generation Warfare Instability, Max G. Manwaring Dr.

Books, Monographs & Collaborative Studies

Almost no one seems to understand the Marxist-Leninist foundations of Hugo Chavez’s political thought. It becomes evident, however, in the general vision of his “Bolivarian Revolution.” The abbreviated concept is to destroy the old foreign-dominated (U.S. dominated) political and economic systems in the Americas, to take power, and to create a socialist, nationalistic, and “popular” (direct) democracy in Venezuela that would sooner or later extend throughout the Western Hemisphere. Despite the fact that the notion of the use of force (compulsion) is never completely separated from the Leninist concept of destroying any bourgeois opposition, Chavez’s revolutionary vision will not be …

Ultrafast Laser-Induced Damage And The Influence Of Spectral Effects, Jeremy R. Gulley

Faculty Articles

Numerous studies have investigated the prerequisite role of photoionization in ultrafast laser-induced damage (LID) of bulk dielectrics. This study examines the role of spectral width and instantaneous laser frequency in LID using a frequency dependent multiphoton ionization (MPI) model and numerical simulation of initially 800 nm laser pulses propagating through fused silica. Assuming a band gap of 9 eV, MPI by an 800 nm field is a six-photon process, but when the instantaneous wavelength is greater than 827 nm an additional photon is required for photoionization, reducing the probability of the event by many orders of magnitude. Simulation results suggest …

Salud Y Saludos: The E-News Of The College Of Health Sciences, College Of Health Sciences

College of Health Sciences

Monthly e-newsletter of the University of Texas at El Paso.

Data Mining Of Pancreatic Cancer Protein Databases, Peter Revesz, Christopher Assi

School of Computing: Conference and Workshop Papers

Data mining of protein databases poses special challenges because many protein databases are non- relational whereas most data mining and machine learning algorithms assume the input data to be a type of rela- tional database that is also representable as an ARFF file. We developed a method to restructure protein databases so that they become amenable for various data mining and machine learning tools. Our restructuring method en- abled us to apply both decision tree and support vector machine classifiers to a pancreatic protein database. The SVM classifier that used both GO term and PFAM families to characterize proteins gave …

Differential Surface Deposition Of Complement Proteins On Logarithmic And Stationary Phase Leishmania Chagasi Promastigotes, Amanda Ramer-Tait, Soi Meng Lei, Bryan H. Bellaire, Jeffrey K. Beetham

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Previous works demonstrated that various species of Leishmania promastigotes exhibit differential sensitivity to complement-mediated lysis (CML) during development. Upon exposure to normal human serum (NHS), cultures of Leishmania chagasi promastigotes recently isolated from infected hamsters (fewer than 5 in vitro passages) are CML-sensitive when in the logarithmic growth phase but become CML-resistant upon transition to the stationary culture phase. Visualization by light and electron microscopy revealed dramatic morphological differences between promastigotes from the 2 culture phases following exposure to NHS. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that surface deposition of the complement components C3, C5, and C9 correlated inversely with promastigote CML-resistance. …

Spinal Tuberculosis: Diagnosis And Management., Mohammad R Rasouli, Maryam Mirkoohi, Alexander R Vaccaro, Kourosh Karimi Yarandi, Vafa Rahimi-Movaghar

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

The spinal column is involved in less than 1% of all cases of tuberculosis (TB). Spinal TB is a very dangerous type of skeletal TB as it can be associated with neurologic deficit due to compression of adjacent neural structures and significant spinal deformity. Therefore, early diagnosis and management of spinal TB has special importance in preventing these serious complications. In order to extract current trends in diagnosis and medical or surgical treatment of spinal TB we performed a narrative review with analysis of all the articles available for us which were published between 1990 and 2011. Althoug h the …

Glutaredoxin 2 (Grx2) Knockout Increases Sensitivity To Oxidative Stress In Mouse Lens Epithelial Cells, Hongli Wu, Liren Lin, Frank Giblin, Ye-Sheh Ho, Marjorie F. Lou

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Glutaredoxin belongs to the oxidoreductase family with cytosolic glutaredoxin 1 (Grx1) and mitochondrial gluraredoxin 2 (Grx2) isoforms. Of the two isozymes, the function of Grx2 is not well understood. This paper studied the effect of Grx2 deletion on cellular function using primary lens epithelial cell cultures isolated from Grx2 gene knockout (KO) and wild type (WT) mice. We found that both cell types showed similar growth patterns and morphology, and comparable mitochondrial glutathione pool and complex I activity. Cells with deleted Grx2 did not show affected Grx1 or thioredoxin (Trx) expression but exhibited high sensitivity to oxidative stress. Under treatment …

Unique Lips Features Extraction, Abdul Monem S., Abdul Hamza A. Abdul Karim

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Speech recognition based on visual information such as the lip shape and its movement is referred to as lip reading. The visual features are derived according to the frame rate of the video sequence. The proposed work adopted in this paper is based upon the lower part of the human face to extract the speaker sound relevant features accurately and robustly from the inner edge of the lips and trace it acoustically to prove its unique features and the possibility of merging it with sound features by measuring their physiological or behavioral characteristics curves. The results were promising and offered …

Reward Effect In Reinforcement Learning Systems, Lubna Zaghlul, Zina Waleed

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Learning Classifier Systems (LCS), are a machine learning technique which combines reinforcement learning, eVolutionary computing and other heuristics to produce adaptive systems. The system HRC (Human – Rat - Cheese) focuses in creating artificial creature (Rat) using computer simulation, and learning it how to choose between two different basic behaviors, (approach / escape) combining them to perform complex behavior, which represents the final response in changing environment. The HRC is built of two-classifier subsystems working together, each classifier system learns a simple behavior, and the system as a whole has as its learning goal the control of activities. Flat architecture …

Computing Nodes And Links Appearances On Geodesics In Networks Topologies Using Graph Theory, Siddeeq Ameen, Laith Jasim Saud

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

This paper proposes two important mathematical models related to network topology which helps in computing some of the efficiency or reliability factors of communication network as well as design purposes. Each of these models represents a topology property. The first (second) of these models is used to compute the number of appearances of any link (node) in the geodesics between nodes in a given network topology, and so can be used to help in uniformly distributing the data flow through links (nodes), as well as helping in measuring the degree of survivability of the network in case of failure of …

Enhanced Genetic Algorithm Based On Node Codes For Mobile Robot Path Planning, Mohamed Jasim, Farah S. Khoshaba

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

In this paper, a new Enhanced Genetic Algorithm (EGA) is used to find the best global path planning for a mobile robot according to a specific criterion. The EGA is enhanced by a new encoding method, new initial population creation method, new crossover and mutation operations as well as new additional operations correction operation and classification operation. The study considers the case when the mobile robot works in a known static environment. The new proposed algorithm is built to help the mobile robot to choose the shortest path without it colliding with the obstacles allocated in a working known environment. …

Insights From Characterizing Extinct Human Gut Microbiomes, Raul Y. Tito, Dan Knights, Jessica Metcalf, Alexandra J. Obregon-Tito, Lauren Cleeland, Fares Najar, Bruce Roe, Karl Reinhard, Kristin Sobolik, Samuel Belknap, Morris Foster, Paul Spicer, Rob Knight, Cecil M. Lewis, Jr.

School of Natural Resources: Faculty Publications

In an effort to better understand the ancestral state of the human distal gut microbiome, we examine feces retrieved from archaeological contexts (coprolites). To accomplish this, we pyrosequenced the 16S rDNA V3 region from duplicate coprolite samples recovered from three archaeological sites, each representing a different depositional environment: Hinds Cave (~8000 years B.P.) in the southern United States, Caserones (1600 years B.P.) in northern Chile, and Rio Zape in northern Mexico (1400 years B.P.). Clustering algorithms grouped samples from the same site. Phyletic representation was more similar within sites than between them. A Bayesian approach to source-tracking was used to …

Autumn Migration Of Mississippi Flyway Mallards As Determined By Satellite Telemetry, David George G. Krementz, Kwasi Asante, Luke W. Naylor

United States Geological Survey: Staff Publications

We used satellite telemetry to study autumn migration timing, routes, stopover duration, and final destinations of mallards Anas platyrhynchos captured the previous spring in Arkansas from 2004 to 2007. Of those mallards that still had functioning transmitters on September 15 (n = 55), the average date when autumn migration began was October 23 (SE = 2.62 d; range = September 17–December 7). For those mallards that stopped for .1 d during migration, the average stopover length was 15.4 d (SE = 1.47 d). Ten mallards migrated nonstop to wintering sites. The eastern Dakotas were a heavily utilized stopover area. The …

Analysis Of Electromagnetic Stimulation Of Transport In Water For Geoenvironmental Applications, Mahsa Azad

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Air sparging is a popular soil and groundwater remediation technique, which enables the removal of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through diffusing contaminant-free air into saturated zones of soil. However, the VOC removal process is slow due to the soils' low permeability, and might take months to years depending on the type of the soil and contaminant. The goal of this thesis is to study the effect of electromagnetic (EM) waves —with minimal heat generation— on transport mechanisms such as diffusion, in order to improve airflow and expedite the cleanup process using air sparging or similar technologies. Because water dipole molecules …