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Properties Of Lewis Lung Carcinoma Cells Surviving Curcumin Toxicity, Michael Eric Geusz, Dejun Yan

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

The anti-inflammatory agent curcumin can selectively eliminate malignant rather than normal cells. The present study examined the effects of curcumin on the Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) cell line and characterized a subpopulation surviving curcumin treatments. Cell density was measured after curcumin was applied at concentrations between 10 and 60 μM for 30 hours. Because of the high cell loss at 60 μM, this dose was chosen to select for surviving cells that were then used to establish a new cell line. The resulting line had approximately 20% slower growth than the original LLC cell line and based on ELISA contained …

Population Viability Analysis Of The Blue-Throated Macaw (Ara Glaucogularis) Using Individual-Based And Cohort-Based Pva Programs, Juan Luis Bouzat, Rosa I. Strem

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We developed a demographic model to perform a population viability analysis (PVA) of the Blue-throated Macaw (Ara glaucogularis), a critically endangered species endemic to Bolivia. PVA simulations were run using individual based (VORTEX 9.72) and cohort-based (RAMAS GIS 4.0) programs. A baseline simulation allowed for the assessment of the status of the species based on estimates of extinction risk and population declines under current conditions of abundance and habitat availability. The role of multiple demographic, environmental, and anthropogenic parameters was evaluated to assess changes affecting population declines and extinction risk. The baseline simulation showed that the Blue-throated Macaw has a …

Unraveling The Determinants Of Protrusion Formation, Mita Varghese, Peter Gorsevski, Marilyn L. Cayer, Nancy S. Boudreau, Carol A. Heckman

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

A computerized morphometric classification technique based on latent factors reveals major protrusion classes: factors 4, 5, and 7. Previous work showed that factor 4 represented filopodia, 5 the distribution of lamellar cytoplasm, and 7 a blunt protrusion. We explore the relationship of focal contact (FC) characteristics and their integrated actin cables to factors values. The results show that FC maturation/cytoskeletal integration affects factor 5, because FC elongation/integration was correlated with its values. On the contrary, 7 values decreased with maturation, so cable or FC size or their integration must be restricted to form these protrusions. Where integration did occur, the …

Extraction Of Dna From Plant And Fungus Tissues In Situ, Scott O. Rogers, Amal S. Abu Almakarem, Katie L. Heilman, Heather L. Conger, Yury M. Shtarkman

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background: When samples are collected in the field and transported to the lab, degradation of the nucleic acids contained in the samples is frequently observed. Immediate extraction and precipitation of the nucleic acids reduces degradation to a minimum, thus preserving accurate sequence information. An extraction method to obtain high quality DNA in field studies is described. Findings. DNA extracted immediately after sampling was compared to DNA extracted after allowing the sampled tissues to air dry at 21°C for 48 or 72 hours. While DNA extracted from fresh tissues exhibited little degradation, DNA extracted from all tissues exposed to 21°C air …

Plasticity Of Total And Intracellular Phosphorus Quotas In Microcystis Aeruginosa Cultures And Lake Erie Algal Assemblages, Robert Michael Mckay, Matthew A. Saxton, Robert J. Arnold, Richard A. Bourbonniere, Steven W. Wilhelm

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Blooms of the potentially toxic cyanobacterium Microcystis are common events globally, and as a result significant resources continue to be dedicated to monitoring and controlling these events. Recent studies have shown that a significant proportion of total cell-associated phosphorus (P) in marine phytoplankton can be surface adsorbed; as a result studies completed to date do not accurately report the P demands of these organisms. In this study we measure the total cell-associated and intracellular P as well as growth rates of two toxic strains of Microcystis aeruginosa Kütz grown under a range of P concentrations. The results show that the …

An Evaluation Of The Role Of Sensory Drive In The Evolution Of Lake Malawi Cichlid Fishes, Adam R. Smith, Moira J. Van Staaden, Karen L. Carleton

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Although the cichlids of Lake Malawi are an important model system for the study of sensory evolution and sexual selection, the evolutionary processes linking these two phenomena remain unclear. Prior works have proposed that evolutionary divergence is driven by sensory drive, particularly as it applies to the visual system.While evidence suggests that sensory drive has played a role in the speciation of Lake Victoria cichlids, the findings fromseveral lines of research on cichlids of LakeMalawi are not consistent with the primary tenets of this hypothesis. More specifically, three observations make the sensory drive model implausible in Malawi: (i) a lack …

Validation Of Computational Fluid Dynamic Simulations Of Membrane Artificial Lungs With X-Ray Imaging, Cameron Christopher Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

The functional performance of membrane oxygenators is directly related to the perfusion dynamics of blood flow through the fiber bundle. Non-uniform flow and design characteristics can limit gas exchange efficiency and influence susceptibility of thrombus development in the fiber membrane. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a powerful tool for predicting properties of the flow field based on prescribed geometrical domains and boundary conditions. Validation of numerical results in membrane oxygenators has been predominantly based on experimental pressure measurements with little emphasis placed on confirmation of the velocity fields due to opacity of the fiber membrane and limitations of optical velocimetric …

Teachers’ Conception Of Indigenous Knowledge In Science Curriculum In The Context Of Mberengwa District, Zimbabwe, Daimond Dziva, Israel Muvindi, Lovemore Kusure, Vongai Mpofu, Violet Munodawafa

Journal of Pedagogy, Pluralism, and Practice

No abstract provided.

Musical Echolalia And Non-Verbal Children With Autism, Krystal Leah Demaine

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Typical imitation skills that are integral to language and social learning do not readily develop in children with autism. Echolalia, an echoing or imitation of speech sounds, has historically been considered a non-meaningful form verbal imitation. Since music is intrinsically more meaningful than language for children with autism, musical echolalia may offer path to communication for non-verbal children with autism. This research study sought to identify a potential existence of musical echolalia among nonverbal children with autism. Twelve non-verbal children diagnosed with classic autism, six boys and six girls, aged four to eight, who had no formal musical training or …

Finding Voice: An Exploration Of College Students With Learning Differences Within The Context Of Family, Lynn Abrahams

Educational Studies Dissertations

The transition to college affects not only students but also the entire family system. Parents sometimes become quite involved with a student’s college education, a phenomenon that is beginning to get significant attention in the student development and higher education literature (Wartman & Savage, 2008). When students who have documented learning disabilities enroll in college, the concerns of family members can be even greater (Brinkerhoff, 2002). The purpose of this study was to investigate identity development in college students who have language-based learning disabilities. This study utilized the method of multiple case study design (six cases). Each case involved a …

Effect Of Chlorogenic Acid And Neochlorogenic Acid On Human Colon Cancer Cells, Taylor Thurow, Sun-Ok Lee

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Prune consumption has been associated with a decreased risk of colon cancer; yet there has been confusion as to which chemical component(s) of the prune are responsible for its anticarcinogenic properties. Previous studies have evaluated chlorogenic acid as a chemotherapeutic agent; however, only a limited amount of studies have investigated neochlorogenic acid, the predominant phenolic compound found in the prune. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects that chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid have as anticarcinogenics on the human adenocarcinoma, Caco-2 cell line. The anti-colon cancer effects of chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid were analyzed by experiments …

Surviving Solver Sensitivity: An Asp Practitioner’S Guide, Bryan Silverthorn, Yuliya Lierler, Marius Schneider

Computer Science Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Answer set programming (ASP) is a declarative programming formalism that allows a practitioner to specify a problem without describing an algorithm for solving it. In ASP, the tools for processing problem specifications are called answer set solvers. Because specified problems are often NP complete, these systems often require significant computational effort to succeed. Furthermore, they offer different heuristics, expose numerous parameters, and their running time is sensitive to the configuration used. Portfolio solvers and automatic algorithm configuration systems are recent attempts to automate the problem of manual parameter tuning, and to mitigate the burden of identifying the right solver configuration. …

Reliability Of Semiautomated Computational Methods For Estimating Tibiofemoral Contact Stress In The Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study, Donald D. Anderson, Neil A. Segal, Andrew M. Kern, Michael C. Nevitt, James C. Torner, John A. Lynch

Journal Articles

Recent findings suggest that contact stress is a potent predictor of subsequent symptomatic osteoarthritis development in the knee. However, much larger numbers of knees (likely on the order of hundreds, if not thousands) need to be reliably analyzed to achieve the statistical power necessary to clarify this relationship. This study assessed the reliability of new semiautomated computational methods for estimating contact stress in knees from large population-based cohorts. Ten knees of subjects from the Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study were included. Bone surfaces were manually segmented from sequential 1.0 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging slices by three individuals on two nonconsecutive days. Four …

The Development Of Parallel Adaptive Sampling Algorithms For Analyzing Biological Networks, Kathryn Dempsey Cooper, Kanimathi Duraisamy, Sanjukta Bhowmick, Hesham Ali

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

The availability of biological data in massive scales continues to represent unlimited opportunities as well as great challenges in bioinformatics research. Developing innovative data mining techniques and efficient parallel computational methods to implement them will be crucial in extracting useful knowledge from this raw unprocessed data, such as in discovering significant cellular subsystems from gene correlation networks. In this paper, we present a scalable combinatorial sampling technique, based on identifying maximum chordal subgraphs, that reduces noise from biological correlation networks, thereby making it possible to find biologically relevant clusters from the filtered network. We show how selecting the appropriate filter …

A Novel Multithreaded Algorithm For Extracting Maximal Chordal Subgraphs, Mahantesh Halappanavar, John Feo, Kathryn Dempsey Cooper, Hesham Ali, Sanjukta Bhowmick

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Chordal graphs are triangulated graphs where any cycle larger than three is bisected by a chord. Many combinatorial optimization problems such as computing the size of the maximum clique and the chromatic number are NP-hard on general graphs but have polynomial time solutions on chordal graphs. In this paper, we present a novel multithreaded algorithm to extract a maximal chordal sub graph from a general graph. We develop an iterative approach where each thread can asynchronously update a subset of edges that are dynamically assigned to it per iteration and implement our algorithm on two different multithreaded architectures - Cray …

Phylomarker—A Tool For Mining Phylogenetic Markers Through Genome Comparison: Application Of The Mouse Lemur (Genus Microcebus) Phylogeny, Runhua Lei, Thaine W. Rowley, Lifeng Zhu, Carolyn A. Bailey, Shannon E. Engberg, Mindy L. Wood, Mary C. Christman, George H. Perry, Edward E. Louis Jr., Guoqing Lu

Biology Faculty Publications

Molecular phylogeny is a fundamental tool to understanding the evolution of all life forms. One common issue faced by molecular phylogeny is the lack of sufficient molecular markers. Here, we present PhyloMarker, a phylogenomic tool designed to find nuclear gene markers for the inference of phylogeny through multiple genome comparison. Around 800 candidate markers were identified by PhyloMarker through comparison of partial genomes of Microcebus and Otolemur. In experimental tests of 20 randomly selected markers, nine markers were successfully amplified by PCR and directly sequenced in all 17 nominal Microcebus species. Phylogenetic analyses of the sequence data obtained for 17 …

Function-­Preserving Filters For Sampling In Biological Networks, Kathryn Dempsey Cooper, Sanjukta Bhowmick, Hesham Ali

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Publications

Assays created to study systems of disease and aging can offer a whole new set of therapeutic targets. However, with experiments of this immense volume, data becomes unmanageable for many traditional analyses. Enter the biological network, a tool for modeling relationships among high-throughput data that is quickly rising in popularity. Small networks (in the order of hundreds to few thousands of nodes) use relationships between network structure to infer biological function; this relationship has been confirmed and used in many studies to advance the study of model organisms. Networks built for assessing entire genomes, or entire protein repertoires, however, tend …

Completions 2012-13, Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

IPEDS Completions

IPEDS Completions annual report contains the following information:

• Number of awards conferred by program, by level, and by race/ethnicity and gender of recipient
• Number of completers, separately by race/ethnicity, gender, age and level of award

Fall Enrollment (2012-13), Uno Office Of Institutional Effectiveness

IPEDS Fall Enrollment

IPEDS Fall Enrollment annual report contains the following information:

• Full- and part-time fall enrollments by level, by race/ethnicity and gender of student
• Number of students engaged in distance education, by level and location
• Age distributions by student level (odd-numbered years)
• State of residence of first-time first-year students (even-numbered years)
• Total number of students in the entering class
• Fall-to-fall retention rates of full-time and part-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students (less than 4-year institutions), and first-time bachelor’s degree-seeking students (4-year institutions)

Graduate Academic Catalog (2012-2013), University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Graduate Catalogs

Welcome to the 2012-2013 catalog for the Office of Graduate Studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO).

For more than 100 years, UNO has helped professionals advance their careers through a wide array of award-winning graduate programs. We focus our attention, expertise and resources on our most important responsibility—our students.

There are more than 60 graduate programs, at all levels, to explore in this catalog. UNO has numerous opportunities for you.

An Efficient And Scalable Graph Modeling Approach For Capturing Information At Different Levels In Next Generation Sequencing Reads, Julia Warnke, Hesham Ali

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Background: Next generation sequencing technologies have greatly advanced many research areas of the biomedical sciences through their capability to generate massive amounts of genetic information at unprecedented rates. The advent of next generation sequencing has led to the development of numerous computational tools to analyze and assemble the millions to billions of short sequencing reads produced by these technologies. While these tools filled an important gap, current approaches for storing, processing, and analyzing short read datasets generally have remained simple and lack the complexity needed to efficiently model the produced reads and assemble them correctly.

Results: Previously, we presented an …

Public Participation In Scientific Research: A Framework For Deliberate Design, Jennifer L. Shirk, Heidi L. Ballard, Candie C. Wilderman, Tina Phillips, Andrea Wiggins, Rebecca Jordan, Ellen Mccallie, Matthew Minarchek, Bruce V. Lewenstein, Marianne E. Krasny, Rick Bonney

Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis Faculty Publications

Members of the public participate in scientific research in many different contexts, stemming from traditions as varied as participatory action research and citizen science. Particularly in conservation and natural resource management contexts, where research often addresses complex social–ecological questions, the emphasis on and nature of this participation can significantly affect both the way that projects are designed and the outcomes that projects achieve. We review and integrate recent work in these and other fields, which has converged such that we propose the term public participation in scientific research (PPSR) to discuss initiatives from diverse fields and traditions. We describe three …

Team Science: Research 2012, University Office For Research, South Dakota State University

State of Discovery South Dakota State University's Research Magazine

CONTENTS:

Wheat [Page] 2
Nutrition [Page] 4
Health Sciences [Page] 5
Mathematics and Statistics [Page] 6
Biofuels [Page] 8
Photovoltaics [Page] 10
Mountain Lions [Page] 12
GISc Center of Excellence [Page] 14
By the Numbers [Page] 16

Air Pollution Effects On Flavonoids In Pollen Grains Of Some Ornamental Plants, Farkhondeh Rezanejad

Turkish Journal of Botany

Phenolic compounds function as stress indicators because they accumulate to high levels in many plant tissues in response to a wide range of biotic and abiotic signals. These compounds are involved in pollen development, pollination, pollen germination, and pollen tube growth. The mature pollen grains of Spartium junceum L., Lagerstroemia indica L., Thuja orientalis L., and Petunia hybrida L. collected from control (less polluted) and polluted areas [mainly SO_2, NO_2, CO, hydrocarbons (HC), and airborne particulate material (APM)]. The ethanolic aquatic extracts of pollen grains were prepared. The extracts were analysed by high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC). HPLC analysis demonstrated …

Decoupling Marriage & Procreation: A Feminist Argument For Same-Sex Marriage, Hannah Haksgaard

Faculty Publications

The quickly arriving reality of same-sex marriage is a move forward for all couples who marry, including opposite-sex and transgender couples. This piece examines the way that same-sex marriage will improve these other marriages. In particular, I argue that the "essential aspects" of marriage remain sex and reproduction - domains associated with the wife in a traditional marriage in a way that serves to denigrate women. Although the long-existing link between procreation and marriage has begun to fade, it will not be until same-sex marriage is fully legalized that opposite-sex marriage can fundamentally change. Therefore, both feminists and advocates of …

Man Vs. Nature: Should The Offspring Of Transgenic Animals Be Patentable Subject Matter?, Renee T. Wilkerson

University of Dayton Law Review

No abstract provided.

Establishment Of Photo-Activated Localization Microscopy (Palm) For Imaging Signaling Complexes On The Surfaces Of Cells, Bradley E. Iverson

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Photoactivated Localization Microscopy (PALM) permits visualization of single molecules inside cells at ~10 times the resolution of existing optical microscopes. The 10-50 nanometer resolution afforded by PALM is ideally suited to studying the organization of receptor signal transduction occurring on the surfaces of cells. Initial efforts presented here focused on cells expressing Fc receptor fused to photoactivatable green fluorescent protein (paGFP). A small fraction of the paGFP molecules were photoactivated using a 405 nm laser pulse, resulting in single molecule spots that could then be imaged using 488 nm laser excitation until they photobleached. Both lasers illuminated the sample through …

Contributions Of Seed Bank And Vegetative Propagules To Vegetation Composition On Prairie Dog Colonies In Western South Dakota, Emily R. Helms

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

Characterizing the contributions of the seed bank and vegetative propagules will enhance our understanding of community resiliency associated with prairie dog disturbances. Our objective was to determine the effects of ecological condition (EC) and distance from burrows on the soil seed bank and vegetative propagules. Based on species composition of the extant vegetation, two prairie dog colonies were selected on the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands in western South Dakota. Within each colony, two prairie dog burrows were randomly selected at each of three sample points located about 150m apart. Two soil cores were taken at 0.5m, 1.0m, and 1.5m distances …

Policing Gender, Sexuality And ‘Muslimness’, Anissa Helie

Publications and Research

In her Introduction to the book Sexuality in Muslim Contexts: Restrictions and Resistance (ZED Book, UK), Anissa Helie discusses the notion of "Muslimness" and how such a homogenizing notion, if unchallenged, may serve to justify the policing of sexuality in various Muslim countries and communities.

The book itself looks at emerging trends that affect women’s sexuality, with a particular focus on Asia and the Middle East, and documents both the curtailing of sexual rights occurring in diverse Muslim societies and the strategies designed to counter these developments.

Yet this focus in no way suggests that the policing of gender and …

International Law In The Gestational Surrogacy Debate, Kristiana Brugger

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.