Digital Commons Network^™

Influencing Students To Become Stewards Of The Earth's Ocean, Jenifer Trimble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this action research study was to document 8th grade students' experiences at a residential marine learning facility as they discovered the interconnections between life on Earth and its dependency on ocean health. My goal was for students to take their new knowledge and share it with others in a quest to become educated and caring stewards of the Earth's ocean. Students in this study participated in open peer and instructor discussions, performed full and guided inquiry activities, and snorkeled among the shallow water habitats that transition from mangroves toward coral reefs to discover the interconnections among shallow …

A Comparison Of Aluminum And Iron-Based Coagulants For Treatment Of Surface Water In Sarasota County, Florida, David Yonge

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this research, five different coagulants were evaluated to determine their effectiveness at removing turbidity, color and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) from a surface water in Sarasota County, Florida. Bench-scale jar tests that simulated conventional coagulation, flocculation, and sedimentation processes were used. Iron-based coagulants (ferric chloride and ferric sulfate) and aluminum-based coagulants (aluminum sulfate, polyaluminum chloride (PACl) and aluminum chlorohydrate (ACH)) were used to treat a highly organic surface water supply (DOC ranging between 10 and 30 mg/L), known as the Cow Pen Slough, located within central Sarasota County, Florida. Isopleths depicting DOC and color removal efficiencies as a function …

Iron Molybdenum Cofactor: Catalyst In Dihydrogen Production And Nifen's Role In The Femo-Co Biosynthetic Pathway, Deborah Bolin Maxwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Humankind’s tremendous industrial and technological progress over the last two centuries has been driven by the natural abundance and availability of fossil fuels. As those reserves deplete, the prudent course of action would be to develop other readily available fuel sources. Some research efforts using biomolecules involve the hydrogenases and nitrogenases with the goal of evolving dihydrogen. At the nitrogenase active site, the iron-molybdenum cofactor (FeMo-co) catalyzes the reduction of dinitrogen and protons to form ammonia and dihydrogen. Toward the goal of producing dihydrogen passively as an alternative fuel, a novel advanced material has been developed. CdSe nanoparticles complexed with …

Livelihoods Support Programs, Conservation Attitudes, And Tropical Biodiversity: An Evaluation Of Biocomplexity In Southeastern Ghana, Edem Kodzo Ekpe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human activities are a major driver of biodiversity degradation and loss, especially in tropical forest areas, where forest-fringe towns and villages depend on the forests for their livelihoods. In order to reduce threats that human activities pose to biodiversity, livelihoods support programs are employed as economic incentives for biodiversity conservation. These programs support the livelihoods activities of local communities, with the aim of triggering favorable attitudes and behaviors towards conservation, and ultimately reduce biodiversity degradation. Their effectiveness as conservation tools has not been evaluated. I investigated the effects of livelihoods programs on conservation attitudes and the consequent effects on biodiversity …

Relating Ancient Maya Land Use Legacies To The Contemporary Forest Of Caracol, Belize, Jessica N. Hightower

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Human land use legacies have significant and long lasting impacts across landscapes. However, investigating the impacts of ancient land use legacies ( > 400 years) remains problematic due to the difficulty in detecting ancient land uses, especially those beneath dense canopies. The city of Caracol, one of the most important Maya archaeological sites in Belize, was abandoned after the collapse of the Maya civilization (ca. A.D. 900), leaving behind numerous structures, causeways, and agricultural terraces that persist beneath the dense tropical forest of western Belize. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) technology enables detection of below canopy Maya archaeological features, providing an …

Genetic Interactions Between The Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Gefmeso And Gtpase Signaling Components In The Drosophila Wing Reveal Microenvironment Dependent Variation Within Gtpase Signaling N, Ashley Megan Iketani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Ras superfamily of GTPases are important regulators of morphogenesis involved in control of cytoskeletal dynamics, intracellular trafficking, apical-basal polarity and cell migration. Mis-regulation of GTPase signaling interferes with development and is linked to pathogenesis. Traditionally, GTPase signaling has been depicted as a series of independent linear pathways. However, recently it has become apparent that multiple GTPases can interact to regulate a single cellular process, functioning in poorly understood networks of cross talk between pathways during development. Jim Fristrom (unpublished data) identified a mutation (18-5) that interacts with components of the GTPases Rho1, Rala, and Cdc42 signaling in multiple developmental …

Light-Activated Binary Nucleotide Reagent For Inactivation Of Dna Polymerase, Evan M. Cornett

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This work explores a binary reagent approach to increase the specificity of covalent inhibitors. In this approach, two ligand analogs equipped with inert pre-reactive groups specifically bind a target biopolymer. The binding event brings the pre-reactive groups in proximity with each other. The two groups react, generating active chemical intermediates that covalently modify and inactivate the target. In the present study we compare the new approach with the traditional single-component reagent strategy using DNA polymerase from bacteriophage T4 as a model target biopolymer. We report the design and synthesis of two analogs of deoxythymidine triphosphate, a natural DNA polymerase substrate. …

An Analysis Of Communication Anxiety And Reading Comprehension In Sixth, Seventh And Eighth Grade Students, Tami Mullens Davis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research was to determine whether communication apprehension impacted reading comprehension in sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students and to examine the impact of family socio-economic status. Many studies have demonstrated the negative relationship between communication apprehension and academic achievement, however, studies of elementary and middle school students have been conspicuously missing from this research. Findings of this study indicated that the levels of communication apprehension rose slightly as grade level increased. Results showed that females in the study had higher levels of communication apprehension than males. The study also found that those students receiving free and …

It's Not All About The Animals: Veterinarians' Perspectives On Their Work, Nicole Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines lived experiences of veterinarians. A common feature of being a veterinarian is curing and caring for nonhuman animals. It is the love and connection most veterinarians share for animals that ignite their journey to become an animal doctor. Data collected during semi-structured interviews with 17 veterinarians reveal that there are many more intricacies to the job than just animal medicine. These veterinarians suggest that they must treat animals as learning tools during veterinary training and once they complete school, they deal with people and business on a regular basis. Most veterinarians would like their jobs to be …

Investigation Of Breakdown Power During Electrical Breakdown Of Aligned Array Of Carbon Nanotubes, Udai Bhanu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Massively parallel arrays of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNT) have attracted significant research interests because of their ability to (i) average out inhomogeneities of individual SWNTs, (ii) provide larger on currents, and (iii) reduce noise to provide higher cutoff frequency for radio frequency applications. However, the array contains both metallic and semiconducting SWNTs and the presence of metallic nanotube in an aligned array negatively affects the device properties. Therefore, it is essential to selectively remove metallic nanotubes to obtain better transistor properties. It was recently found that although such a selective removal can be effective for a low density array, …

Infectious Disease Risks In Developing Countries: A Non-Market Valuation Exercise, Shreejata Samajpati

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the non-market valuation of health-risks of malaria, an infectious disease that imposes a substantive public health burden across the globe, hitting particularly hard the tropical developing nations of Africa and Asia. The United Nations Millennium Development Goals include malaria control as a priority and large investments are underway to promote effective prevention and treatment. Despite such concerted supply-side efforts, malaria-related mortality and morbidity still abound due to a complex interface of factors like climate-change, poverty, inadequate control behavior, infection and prevention externalities, parasite resistance etc. This research project digs into the demand-side of the health problem, …

High Pressure Micro-Spectroscopy Of Biological Assemblies And Cells, Sang Hoon Park

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Functional properties of living cells depend on the thermodynamic variables such as temperature and pressure. A unique tool to investigate volume effects on structure and metabolism of the cell and biomolecules is pressure perturbation. We have developed a new setup that enables micro-spectroscopy and optical imaging of individual live cells at variable pressure from 0.1 to 400 MPa. Following characterization of the setup, pressure and temperature effects on the secondary structure of the peptide Poly-L-glutamic acid (PGA) in deuterated water buffer solution were investigated. The amide I band of PGA is sensitive to pressure and temperature, and by spectral deconvolution, …

Postcranial Osteometric Assessment Of Korean Ancestry, Elizabeth Carol Okrutny

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The determination of ancestry is an important part of an individual's identification when creating a biological profile. This thesis scrutinizes postcranial variation using over 65 osteometric sorting measurements in an attempt to identify those measurements that display the most significant differences among Koreans, Africans, and Europeans. Data was collected from four American skeletal collections and one South Korean skeletal collection for a total sample population of 306 individuals: 24 of Korean ancestry, 66 of African ancestry, and 216 of European ancestry. In an effort to minimize the number of measurements needed for ancestral assessment, stepwise discriminant analysis was performed for …

Food Safety And Risk Governance In Globalized Markets, Sandra Hoffmann, William Harder

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Setting Gender Identity Free: Expanding Treatment For Transsexual Inmates, Travis Wright Colopy

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Mitochondrial Iron Uptake Through Mitoferrin2 Sensitizes Human Head And Neck Squamous Carcinoma Cells To Photodynamic Therapy, Hsin-I (Cindy) Hung

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) is an FDA-approved, minimally invasive treatment modality that utilizes light in the presence of oxygen to activate photosensitizing agents to produce cell death. Phthalocyanine 4 (Pc 4), a second generation photosensitizer has shown efficacy in vitro, in vivo and in a phase I clinical trial. Pc 4 localizes primarily to mitochondria and endoplasmic reticulum, where it causes apoptotic cell death during PDT. Previously, our laboratory showed that photo sensitizers that localize to lysosomes are more effective in killing cancer cells than ones directed to mitochondria after PDT. Here, we investigated the interactions between lysosomes and mitochondria in …

Rethinking The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement's Criminal Copyright Enforcement Measures, Miriam Bitton

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Judicial Gatekeeping Of Police-Generated Witness Testimony, Sandra Guerra Thompson

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Two Models Of The Prison: Accidental Humanity And Hypermasculinity In The L.A. County Jail, Sharon Dolovich

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

What Is A Healthy Community?, Denise Tanata Ashby, Jennifer Pharr

Lincy Institute Reports and Briefs

The health of a community is dependent not only upon the genetics of its residents, but also upon the environment within which those individuals live. A person’s health is a product of their environment. As such, a healthy community is one in which all residents have access to a quality education, safe and healthy homes, adequate employment, transportation, physical activity, and nutrition, in addition to quality health care. Unhealthy communities lead to chronic disease, such as cancers, diabetes, and heart disease. The health of our communities is critical to the growth and development of our region. To build healthy communities …

The Prevalence Of Hpv Associated Disease In Women Under Age 21: Who Will Be Missed Under The New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines?, Amanda Decew

Yale School of Nursing Digital Theses

Objective: To quantify the number of adolescent females <21 with pre-cancerous cervical lesions or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2+/AIS in the state of Connecticut and identify any correlates which may be associated with CIN 3.

Methods: CIN 2+/AIS precancerous cervical lesions are a reportable condition in the State of Connecticut for the purpose of public health surveillance. A subset of this data (681 women) under 21 years of age was analyzed for the years 2008-2010.

Results: Of the 681 records, 478 (70.2%) women had CIN 2, 92 had CIN 2/3 (13.5%), and 110 (16.2%) had CIN 3. The highest annual rates for CIN 2+/AIS were found in Litchfield (342.98/100,000) and New London (287.85/100,000) counties. CIN 3 occurred at an average rate statewide of 38.6/100,000 per year for …

The Prevalence Of Hpv Associated Disease In Women Under Age 21: Who Will Be Missed Under The New Cervical Cancer Screening Guidelines?, Amanda Decew

Public Health Theses

Objective: To quantify the number of adolescent females <21 with pre-cancerous cervical lesions or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) 2+/AIS in the state of Connecticut and identify any correlates which may be associated with CIN 3.

Methods: CIN 2+/AIS precancerous cervical lesions are a reportable condition in the State of Connecticut for the purpose of public health surveillance. A subset of this data (681 women) under 21 years of age was analyzed for the years 2008-2010.

Results: Of the 681 records, 478 (70.2%) women had CIN 2, 92 had CIN 2/3 (13.5%), and 110 (16.2%) had CIN 3. The highest annual rates for CIN 2+/AIS were found in Litchfield (342.98/100,000) and New London (287.85/100,000) counties. CIN 3 occurred at an average rate statewide of 38.6/100,000 per year for …

Health Effects Associated With Foreclosure: A Secondary Analysis Of Hospital Discharge Data, Nancy N. Menzel, Sheniz Moonie, Melva V. Thompson-Robinson

School of Public Health Faculty Research

Objectives. The purpose of this study was to assess the health effects of high home foreclosure rates in an area of the United States of America and the utility of hospital discharge data for this purpose. Methods.We analyzed hospital discharge data from three postal zip codes using the principal diagnosis for 25 Diagnostic Related Groups associated with stress. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize hospital discharge rates for each condition by year and zip code. To test for differences across time, the Cochran-Armitage trend test was performed. Results. Most conditions did not demonstrate a statistical change between 2005 and 2008. …

Establishing A Third Gender Category In Nepal: Process And Prognosis, Michael Bochenek, Kyle Knight

Emory International Law Review

In December 2007, the Supreme Court of Nepal issued a groundbreaking verdict in favor of sexual and gender minorities. The decision in Pant v. Nepal quickly became famous for declaring full, fundamental human rights for all "sexual and gender minorities"-lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex ("LGBTI") citizens.

Gold Medalist To Cheater?: Improving The World's Fight Against Doping In The Wake Of Fina V. Cielo, Geoffrey Rathgeber

Emory International Law Review

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Brazilian swimmer César Cielo Filho ('Cielo') lunged into the wall first in fifty-meter freestyle, finishing in 21.30 seconds, an Olympic-record time. In victory, Cielo thrust his fists into the air and repeatedly slammed them into the water, splashing with wild gesticulations. A half-minute later, he became more subdued and slid back into the water, hugging the lane line as tears welled in his eyes. After years of training and unwavering commitment to the sport of swimming, he had finally become the fastest swimmer in the world and an Olympic gold medalist. Three …

An Exhibit Wordle, Allison Marsh

Handouts

No abstract provided.

A Crossword Puzzle For Kids, Allison Marsh

Handouts

No abstract provided.

Word Find, Allison Marsh

Handouts

No abstract provided.

Images From The Exhibit, Page 1, Allison Marsh

Handouts

No abstract provided.

Lesson Plans, Activities, And Further Reading, Allison Marsh

Handouts

No abstract provided.