Digital Commons Network^™

The Statesman, V. 55, I. 28, Stony Brook University

Stony Brook Statesman-Sucolian

v. 55, i. 28

Current, April 30, 2012, University Of Missouri-St. Louis

Current (2010s)

No abstract provided.

Influence Of Substrate And Hydraulic Variables On Habitat Preferences Of A Sculptured And An Unsculptured Freshwater Mussel, Daniel Goodding

Biology Theses

Freshwater mussels of the family Unionidae in North America have been in decline for at least the past 150 years. Major causes behind the decline are thought to be related to alteration or loss of habitat. Recent efforts by researchers have focused on understanding habitat associations of mussels so that more effective conservation efforts can be applied. Recent studies have identified variables that limit mussel community distributions. These variables are a combination of substrate and hydraulic variables that are associated with substrate stability. Furthermore, recent studies have suggested mussel studies are most informative at larger spatial scales and at high …

April 30, 2012 Reporter, University Of Alabama At Birmingham

eReporter (campus newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Estrogen Replacement Therapy As A Means To Reduce Risk Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Erika Perez

Whittier Scholars Program

This senior project is a research paper discussing Alzheimer’s disease. The incidence of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is significantly higher in women compared to men after the age of 80. Higher AD rates may be attributed to changes in estrogen levels around menopause age, and so hormone replacement therapy (HRT), specifically estrogen replacement therapy (ERT) has been considered as a clinical measure to prevent AD. Studies on the beneficial effects of ERT on the brain have yielded inconsistent results. This review aims to assess the possible neuroprotective effects of ERT on preventing or attenuating AD by considering recent literature on the …

The Collegian (2012-04-30), Rene Cardona Jr.

UTB/TSC Archives - The Collegian [Newspaper]

Vol. 64, No. 29

Molecular Phylogenetics And Phylogeography Of The American Box Turtles (Terrapene Spp.), Bradley T. Martin

Biology Theses

The classification of the American box turtles (Terrapene spp.) has remained enigmatic to systematists. Previous comprehensive phylogenetic studies have focused primarily on morphology. The goal of this study was to re-assess the classification of Terrapene spp. by obtaining DNA sequence data from a broad geographic range and from all four species and 11 subspecies within the genus. Tissue samples were obtained for all taxa except for T. nelsoni klauberi. DNA was extracted, and the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cytochrome b (Cytb) and nuclear DNA (nucDNA) glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate-dehydrogenase (GAPD) genes were amplified via polymerase chain reaction and sequenced. The sequence data were analyzed …

2011-12 Faculty Senate - April 30, 2012 Minutes Summary, Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Agendas & Minutes

No abstract provided.

Daily Eastern News: April 30, 2012, Eastern Illinois University

April

No abstract provided.

Using Ecological Niche Modeling To Predict Occurence Of Rare Fish And Unionid Mussels In East Texas, Ashley Dunithan

Biology Theses

Fish and Unionid mussels are important components of aquatic ecosystems and the population decline of these organisms has become a topic of concern. Currently, there are six species of concern and three-state-threatened fish species and six state-threatened Unionid species that occur in east Texas. However, little information is known about the ecology of these species. In this study, I used ecological niche modeling, the software packages Maxent, and eleven abiotic environmental parameters to predict the probability of occurrence of rare fish and mussel species in east Texas. We were unable to model the fish species; however, the models for the …

A Comparative Analysis Of Feature Extraction Techniques For Eeg Signals From Alzheimer Patients, Ramya Priya Mudhiganti

Electrical Engineering Theses

This research deals with the study of Alzheimer Disease (AD). Electroencephalogram (EEG) signal is a clinical tool for the diagnosis and detection of AD. EEG signals are analyzed for the diagnosis of AD applying several linear and non-linear methods of signal processing. This work studies and implements several measures of EEG signal complexity and then compares the complexity features measured or extracted from EEG signals. Time domain analysis of EEG signals is performed using several signal processing techniques such as higher order moments, entropies and fractal dimension calculation using fractal analysis. Frequency domain analysis of EEG signals is performed using …

Predictive Simulation Of Gait At Low Gravity Reveals Skipping As The Preferred Locomotion Strategy, Marko Ackermann, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

The investigation of gait strategies at low gravity environments gained momentum recently as manned missions to the Moon and to Mars are reconsidered. Although reports by astronauts of the Apollo missions indicate alternative gait strategies might be favored on the Moon, computational simulations and experimental investigations have been almost exclusively limited to the study of either walking or running, the locomotion modes preferred under Earth's gravity. In order to investigate the gait strategies likely to be favored at low gravity a series of predictive, computational simulations of gait are performed using a physiological model of the musculoskeletal system, without assuming …

4-30-2012, Executive Cabinet

NCSA Minutes

No abstract provided.

Clark Memorandum: Spring 2012, J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law School

The Clark Memorandum

• A Handful of Pumpkin Seeds (Monroe G McKay)
• Musings of a Small-Town Lawyer (Steven E. Snow)
• The Boundaries of Belonging (Lynn D. Wardle)
• Timpanogos Legal Center (Jane H. Wise)

A Critical Analysis Of Redd+ Legal Architecture In Reducing Emissions From Forestry Sectors In Indonesian, I Gusti Agung Made Wardana

Indonesia Law Review

A new scheme called “Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries plus Conservation, Sustainable Management of Forests, and Enhancement of Forest Carbon Stocks” (REDD+) is being discussed to be one of the essential elements of the post-2012 global climate change regime. Many countries have put their proposal on the architectures of such scheme to the UNFCCC and demonstrated pilot projects on the ground as well. The research has been conducted to analyze critically the extent to which the REDD+ architecture being designed in Indonesia would be able to deliver climate effectiveness, costs efficient, equity outcomes and social …

Pyrosequencing The Bemisia Tabaci Transcriptome Reveals A Highly Diverse Bacterial Community And A Robust System For Insecticide Resistance, Wen Xie, Qing-Shu Meng, Qing-Jun Wu, Shao-Li Wang, Xin Yang, Ni-Na Yang, Ru-Mei Li, Xiao-Guo Jiao, Hui-Peng Pan, Bai-Ming Liu, Qi Su, Bao-Yun Xu, Song-Nian Hu, Xuguo Zhou, You-Jun Zhang

Entomology Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is a phloem-feeding insect poised to become one of the major insect pests in open field and greenhouse production systems throughout the world. The high level of resistance to insecticides is a main factor that hinders continued use of insecticides for suppression of B. tabaci. Despite its prevalence, little is known about B. tabaci at the genome level. To fill this gap, an invasive B. tabaci B biotype was subjected to pyrosequencing-based transcriptome analysis to identify genes and gene networks putatively involved in various physiological and toxicological processes.

METHODOLOGY AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using Roche 454 pyrosequencing, …

Impact Of Strategy Implementation On Performance Of Generic Strategy: Evidence From Thailand, Mayookapan Chaimankong, Dissatat Prasertsakul

The South East Asian Journal of Management

The purpose of this paper is to examine the strategic orientation in terms of Miles and Snow typologies of the firms in emerging country and investigate their implications on performance. Unlike previous research, this paper focuses the importance of strategy implementation to the performance implications of Miles and Snow typology. Data was collected from 111 key informants from firms in Thailand’s chemical industry using probability sampling. The one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) results showed that prospectors performed better than the other three strategic types, whereas reactors exhibited the lowest performance scores. While the success in strategy implementation is found to …

Engineering Of Polyamidoamine (Pamam) Dendrimers For Gene And Drug Delivery, Quan Yuan

Theses and Dissertations

Dendrimers are a class of polymers with a highly branched, three-dimensional architecture composed of an initiator core, several interior layers of repeating units and multiple surface groups. They have been recognized as the most versatile compositionally and structurally controlled nanoscale building blocks throughout the fields of engineering, materials science, chemistry, and biology, and they have been widely investigated for drug and gene delivery. Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers have inherent properties for gene delivery because of their high buffering capacity, polycationic surface and numerous surface groups for biofunctionlization. This dissertation is organized into four independent sections. The first section investigates a series …

Activation Of An Nlrp3 Inflammasome Restricts Mycobacterium Kansasii Infection, Chang-Chieh Chen, Sheng-Hui Tsai, Chia-Chen Lu, Shiau-Ting Hu, Ting-Shu Wu, Tsung-Teng Huang, Najwane Saïd-Sadier, David M. Ojcius, Hsin-Chih Lai

All Dugoni School of Dentistry Faculty Articles

Mycobacterium kansasii has emerged as an important nontuberculous mycobacterium pathogen, whose incidence and prevalence have been increasing in the last decade. M. kansasii can cause pulmonary tuberculosis clinically and radiographically indistinguishable from that caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. Unlike the widely-studied M. tuberculosis, little is known about the innate immune response against M. kansasii infection. Although inflammasome activation plays an important role in host defense against bacterial infection, its role against atypical mycobacteria remains poorly understood. In this report, the role of inflammasome activity in THP-1 macrophages against M. kansasii infection was studied. Results indicated that viable, but not heat-killed, …

Faculty Senate Agenda, April 30, 2012, Utah State University

Faculty Senate & Faculty Senate Executive Committee

• FDDE Annual Report
• EPC Items
• HR Code Changes: 307 Conflicts of Interest, 350 Educational Benefits, 369 Organ Donor Leave
• Update on Commencement
• Calendar Committee Report
• Continuing USU-Eastern Integration
• Committee on Committees Annual Report
• Post-Tenure Review Task Force Issues #2
• Open Access Policy
• PRPC Code Changes Section 405.7.2(1) and 405.8.3(1) (Second Reading)
• Nominations for Committee on Committees

Fast Neural Network Algorithm For Solving Classification Tasks, Noor Albarakati

Theses and Dissertations

Classification is one-out-of several applications in the neural network (NN) world. Multilayer perceptron (MLP) is the common neural network architecture which is used for classification tasks. It is famous for its error back propagation (EBP) algorithm, which opened the new way for solving classification problems given a set of empirical data. In the thesis, we performed experiments by using three different NN structures in order to find the best MLP neural network structure for performing the nonlinear classification of multiclass data sets. A developed learning algorithm used here is the batch EBP algorithm which uses all the data as a …

Therapeutic Drug Monitoring Of Factor Viii Prophylaxis Using Its Plasma Coagulant Activity And Global Hemostasis Biomarkers: A Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Pilot Study, Hawaj Maitham Al

Theses and Dissertations

Background: The current clinical practice of factor VIII (FVIII) prophylaxis revolves around converting patients with severe hemophilia A, hereafter simply referred to as hemophilia, phenotype (defined as plasma factor VIII coagulant activity [FVIII:C] <1 IU dL-1) to moderate hemophilia phenotype (defined as plasma FVIII:C from 1–5 IU dL-1). However, a wide inter-individual variation in bleeding tendency is observed despite changes in plasma FVIII:C (pharmacokinetic [PK] changes). Therefore, monitoring FVIII prophylaxis by global hemostasis biomarkers (pharmacodynamic [PD] response) can potentially be beneficial. Objective: To conduct appropriate PK/PD modeling using plasma FVIII:C and global hemostasis (platelet function and blood viscoelastic) biomarkers in severe hemophilia. Methods: Nine non-bleeding severe hemophiliacs (plasma FVIII:C <1 IU dL-1) with variant bleeding tendency (5 frequent bleeders and 4 infrequent bleeders) were infused with a recombinant factor FVIII (rFVIII) prophylactic dose (mean = 32.1 international units per kilogram [IU kg-1]). Blood was collected at baseline and 0.5-, 1-, 2-, 4-, 8-, 12-, 24- and 48-hours (h) post-dose for plasma FVIII:C, platelet function (platelet contractile force [PCF], clot elastic modulus [CEM] and force onset time [FOT]) and blood viscoelastic (reaction-time [R], kinetics-time [K] and maximum amplitude [MA]) biomarkers and activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT). Non-compartmental analysis (NCA) was performed using standard methods. Compartmental analysis (CA) and PK/PD modeling were performed by non-linear regression. Correlation and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to explore the role of clinically relevant modifiers of bleeding tendency, as appropriate. ANOVA was used to assess inter-group differences in pertinent PK and PD parameters. P value <0.05 significance level was pre-specified for all statistical tests. Results: Mean (±SD) volume of distribution at steady state (Vss), total clearance (CLtot) and terminal half-life (t1/2) from NCA were 40.5 (±11.2) milliliter per kilogram (mL kg-1), 2.9 (±1.2) milliliter per hour per kilogram (mL h-1 kg-1) and 11.6 (±6.2) h, respectively. Mean (±SD) Vss and CLtot from the one-compartment body model (CA) were 39.6 (±8.9) mL kg-1 and 3.1 (±1.3) mL h-1 kg-1, respectively. The mean (±SD) baseline effect (E0) and slope from the PK/PD linear modeling were: for aPTT, 48.9 (±4.4) seconds (sec) and -0.025 (±0.009) second deciliter per international unit (sec dL IU-1), respectively; for PCF, 0.3 (±0.3) kilodynes (kdynes) and 0.008 (±0.004) kilodynes deciliter per international unit (kdynes dL IU-1), respectively; and for CEM, 0.0 (±0.0) kilodynes per square centimeter (kdynes cm-2) and 0.032 (±0.016) kilodynes deciliter per international unit per square centimeter (kdynes dL IU-1 cm-2), respectively. The mean (±SD) maximum effect (Emax) and half the maximum effective concentration (EC50) from the PK/PD sigmoidal Emax model were: for FOT, 70.1 (±16.9) % reduction and 87.8 (±31.4) IU dL-1 for FOT, respectively; for R, 74.9 (±26.0) % reduction and 68.5 (±28.4) IU dL-1, respectively; and for K, 73.2 (±36.4) % reduction and 67.2 (±29.0) IU dL-1, respectively. MA was not PK/PD modeled due to its low sensitivity. Conclusions: Plasma FVIII:C remained ≥1 IU dL-1 over the prophylactic interval. FOT and R were the most sensitive biomarkers at lower plasma FVIII:C. PCF and CEM were more sensitive than K and aPTT at lower plasma FVIII:C. MA was the least sensitive biomarker. Correlation and inter-group differences did not reach statistical significance (small sample size). These results may be used to assess risk of bleeding and dose-optimize FVIII prophylaxis in severe hemophilia.

Gender Bias In A Patriarchal Society; A Media Analysis On Virginity And Reproductive Health, Billy K. Sarwono

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

Women and health are two very close issues as family health lies most often in the hands of women. Ironically, their awareness toward their own health is still low. Cultural constraints have made single, unmarried women or virgins feel reluctant to go to obgyn clinics, though there is an increasing prevalence of cervical cancer in Indonesia. Related to the role of the media to reduce the number of women with cervical cancer, a question rises. How do the media represent this conflict? The object of the study is a documentary film about several problems faced by women. The unit of …

The Interacting Effects Of Clumped Seed Dispersal And Distance- And Density-Dependent Mortality On Seedling Recruitment Patterns, Noelle G. Beckman, Claudia Neuhauser, Helene C. Muller-Landau

Biology Faculty Publications

1. Seed dispersal and natural enemies both influence spatial patterns of seedlings, which in turn influence future abiotic and biotic interactions, with consequences for plant populations, distributions and diversity. Clumped seed deposition is common, especially for vertebrate-dispersed seeds, and has the potential to significantly affect interactions with density-responsive enemies, yet has received relatively little attention.
2. We used spatially explicit simulation models to examine how different patterns of seed dispersal and natural enemy attack structure seedling spatial patterns. We simulated clumped seed dispersal by combining a two-dimensional Student’s T dispersal kernel for expected seed rain with a negative binomial distribution for seed …

The Bg News April 30, 2012, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. April 30, 2012. Volume 102-Issue 99.

Tourism And Environment: Toward Promoting Sustainable Development Of Tourism: A Human Rights Perspective, Ni Ketut Supasti Dharmawan

Indonesia Law Review

Tourism activities in era globalization bring positive and negative impacts especially for the host countries destination. To minimize the negative impacts it is very important to always promote the sustainable development of tourism including from a human rights perspective. This paper will discuss concerning who have responsibility to promote a human rights related with sustainable development of tourism. To explore the topic in this article, Author will study both international human rights instruments and environmental convention as well as the soft law regarding the tourism sector such as the UN WTO Global Code Of Ethics. The Law No. 10 Year …

O, Karen Donnellan

Theses

My work is driven by the metaphysical and the potential for healing through the manipulation of energy. Points of research include the enso (the only symbol used in Zen Buddhism), which uses the circle as a symbol of wholeness, divinity, and enlightenment. The writings of Alex Grey, Eckhart Tolle and the work of Ann Hamilton will also be investigated. I plan to create work from turned wooden vortex forms, the shapes of which are based on the movement of energy within the body. These objects will be transformed from wood, through rubber, wax, plaster, iron, bronze to cast, and blown …

A Multifaceted Approach Identifies Erbb2 And Erbb3 Proteins And Microrna-125b As Key Contributors To Prostate Cancer Progression, Danielle Weaver

Theses and Dissertations

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer affecting men today. Therefore, there is a strong need for accurate biomarkers and successful therapeutic treatments. A novel approach combining a computationally built protein-protein interaction network of proven microRNA protein targets with high throughput proteomics identified ErbB2 and ErbB3 as key proteins in prostate cancer. These results coupled with microRNA array screening of an androgen-independent prostate cancer progression model, substantiated by single microRNA analysis, suggested miR125b as a key tumor suppressor contributing to prostate cancer progression. miR125b expression was shown to be substantially increased in the non-tumorigenic P69 cell line compared to its …

Cosm Biology News, Georgia Southern University

Biology: News & Publications (2012-2017)

• Six physics majors honored with Sigma Pi Sigma membership

Alix Binds A Ypx3l Motif Of The Gpcr Par1 And Mediates Ubiquitin-Independent Escrt-Iii/Mvb Sorting, Michael R. Dores, Buxin Chen, Huilan Lin, May M. Paing, William A. Montagne, Timo Meerlo, Joann Trejo

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.