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Evaluation Of A Nitrate-Assimilating Bacterium For Potential Use In Nitrate Bioremediation, Deidra Angeline Lies

Environmental and Conservation Sciences

Increasing levels of nitrate (NO3-N) in water resources have brought about the need to find ever more versatile forms of NO3-N removal from contaminated water. The ability of several microorganisms to transform NO3-N has been embraced as an economical form of bioremediation. Free cell and immobilized forms of Methylobacterium fujisawaense ATCC® No. 35065 (M. fujisawaense) were used in this study for NO3-N removal in batch settings. NO3-N removal results were as high as 100% for freely suspended cells after 96 hours and 95% for immobilized cells also after 96 hours. Statistical analyses found no significant difference in overall NO3-N removal …

From Bray-Curtis Ordination To Markov Chain Monte Carlo Simulation: Assessing Anthropogenically-Induced Andor Climatically-Induced Changes In Arboreal Ecosystems, Buddhika D. Madurapperuma

Environmental and Conservation Sciences

Mapping forest resources is useful for identifying threat patterns and monitoring changes associated with landscapes. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Science techniques are effective tools used to identify and forecast forest resource threats such as exotic plant invasion, vulnerability to climate change, and land-use/cover change. This research focused on mapping abundance and distribution of Russian-olive using soil and land-use/cover data, evaluating historic land-use/cover change using mappable water-related indices addressing the primary loss of riparian arboreal ecosystems, and detecting year-to-year land-cover changes on forest conversion processes. Digital image processing techniques were used to detect the changes of arboreal ecosystems using ArcGIS …

Effect Of Larval Diet On Endogenous Carbon Reproductive Resources Of Fifth Instars And Adult Females Of The Moth, Heliothis Virescens, Smita Dutta Suman

Entomology

Mostly adult Lepidoptera feed on plant nectar. That is, adults can only contribute to carbon, and not nitrogen, acquisition. The moth Heliothis virescens were used to explore the hypothesis that larval nutrition influences various adult carbon pools and that these, in turn, may affect pheromone production quantitatively. H. virescens larvae were reared on diets differing in carbohydrate, fat or protein content and resulting 5 th instars and adults were analyzed for carbon pools, hemolymph trehalose concentration (HTC) and lipid content. Across all the diet treatments, changes in carbohydrate content affected carbon pool the most. In particular, for insects reared on …

“It’S Not About Health; It’S About Sex, Pumpkin”: Reproductive Autonomy, Medicalization, And Contraceptive Rhetoric In The Wake Of The War On Women, Alyson Lise Guthrie

English

The purpose of this study is to better understand the ways in which contemporary women describe their contraceptive needs in the wake of the war on women, primarily in the context of the Sandra Fluke and Rush Limbaugh controversy. After surveying contemporary American women, this study aligns with previous research in finding that the majority of participants describe their contraceptive needs in a variety of ways, but primarily as a means for planning, preventing, or delaying pregnancy. However, women who were not in committed relationships were much more likely to cite medical reasons for their contraceptive use, and much less …

Physiotherapists Have Accurate Expectations Of Their Patients’ Future Health-Related Quality Of Life After First Assessment In A Subacute Rehabilitation Setting, Steven M. Mcphail, Emily Nalder, Anne-Marie Hill, Terry P. Haines

Physiotherapy Papers and Journal Articles

Background.

Expectations held by health professionals and their patients are likely to affect treatment choices in subacute inpatient rehabilitation settings for older adults. There is a scarcity of empirical evidence evaluating whether health professionals expectations of the quality of their patients’ future health states are accurate.

Methods.

A prospective longitudinal cohort investigation was implemented to examine agreement (kappa coefficients, exact agreement, limits-of-agreement, and intraclass-correlation coefficients) between physiotherapists’ (n=23) prediction of patients’ discharge health-related quality of life (reported on the EQ-5D-3L) and the actual health-related quality of life self-reported by patients (n=272) at their discharge assessment (using the EQ-5D-3L). The mini-mental …

Cost Effectiveness Of Patient Education For The Prevention Of Falls In Hospital: Economic Evaluation From A Randomized Controlled Trial, Terry P. Haines, Anne-Marie Hill, Keith D. Hill, Sandra G. Brauer, Tammy Hoffmann, Christopher Etherton-Beer, Steven M. Mcphail

Physiotherapy Papers and Journal Articles

Background

Falls are one of the most frequently occurring adverse events that impact upon the recovery of older hospital inpatients. Falls can threaten both immediate and longer-term health and independence. There is need to identify cost-effective means for preventing falls in hospitals. Hospital-based falls prevention interventions tested in randomized trials have not yet been subjected to economic evaluation.

Methods

Incremental cost-effectiveness analysis was undertaken from the health service provider perspective, over the period of hospitalization (time horizon) using the Australian Dollar (A$) at 2008 values. Analyses were based on data from a randomized trial among n = 1,206 acute and …

Circumstances Of Falls And Falls-Related Injuries In A Cohort Of Older Patients Following Hospital Discharge, Anne-Marie Hill, Tammy Hoffman, Terry P. Haines

Physiotherapy Papers and Journal Articles

Background:

Older people are at increased risk of falls after hospital discharge. This study aimed to describe the circumstances of falls in the six months after hospital discharge and to identify factors associated with the time and location of these falls.

Methods:

Participants in this randomized controlled study comprised fallers (n = 138) who were part of a prospective observational cohort (n = 343) nested within a randomized controlled trial (n = 1206). The study tested patient education on falls prevention in hospital compared with usual care in older patients who were discharged from hospital and followed for six months …

Assessment Of Potential Anti-Cancer Stem Cell Activity Of Marine Algal Compounds Using An In Vitro Mammosphere Assay, J De La Mare, J Sterrenberg, M Sukhthankar, M Chiwakata, D Beukes, G Blatch, A Edkins

Medical Papers and Journal Articles

Background: The cancer stem cell (CSC) theory proposes that tumours arise from and are sustained by a subpopulation of cells with both cancer and stem cell properties. One of the key hallmarks of CSCs is the ability to grow anchorage-independently under serum-free culture conditions resulting in the formation of tumourspheres. It has further been reported that these cells are resistant to traditional chemotherapeutic agents.

Methods: In this study, the tumoursphere assay was validated in MCF-7 cells and used to screen novel marine algal compounds for potential anti-cancer stem cell (CSC) activity in vitro.

Results: MCF-7 breast cancer cells were observed …

A Qualitative Study Of The Experiences Of Gatekeeping Among Phd Counselor Educators, Carol A. Erbes

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the gatekeeping experiences of a group of PhD counselor educators, by utilizing a phenomenological approach. This design was chosen as it could best examine the lived experiences of the participants. Nine PhD counselor educators participated in this study through a series of two interviews. All of the participants had a general definition of gatekeeping and all were able to express clearly how important the process was in ensuring as much as possible that only qualified students enter their programs, graduate from their programs, and enter the field as effective counselors. Each participant …

An Examination Of The Predictive Relationship Between Mode Of Instruction And Student Success In Introductory Biology, Lynette Kathleen Hauser

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

Community colleges continue to increase online course offerings as these institutions strive to offer open access, cost effective education to a growing student population. With an increased student demand for online learning, community colleges should explore the possibility of offering all courses in the online environment, including science courses. The purpose of this quantitative research was to investigate the success of non-science major students in biology 102 on campus comparing students who completed biology 101 online to students who completed biology 101 on campus within Virginia community colleges. This was the first multi institutional, multi semester study of community college …

Shared Leadership In Six Sigma Teams From The North Shore-Lij Health System, Brian J. Galli

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The main goal of the research was to identify the relationships that the internal research team environment and external coaching variables had with the degree of shared leadership in the context of Six Sigma teams from the North Shore LIJ Health System. Furthermore, the research ascertained the relationships that these variables had with two performance metrics: a team's ability to complete project deliverables and satisfy customer's requirements. This research also sought to understand additional factors that affected the five variables.

The research found that while shared leadership did not positively change as a team progressed through the phases of the …

Personal Reflection: Reflections On A Family Health History Assignment For Undergraduate Public Health And Nursing Students, Ronica N. Rooks, Cassandra Ford Phd

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

This personal reflection describes our experiences with incorporating the scholarship of teaching and learning and problem-based techniques to facilitate undergraduate student learning and their professional development in the health sciences. We created a family health history assignment to discuss key concepts in our courses, such as health disparities, culture, and cultural competency in patient, provider, and health care team interactions. In this essay we share how we were able to listen to students’ needs regarding the assignment and make improvements based on their feedback. This was an iterative process where we learned as much as our students by remaining flexible …

East Versus West: Effectiveness Of Knowledge Acquisition And Impact Of Cultural Dislocation Issues For Mainland Chinese Students Across Ten Commonly Used Instructional Techniques, Kumaran Rajaram, Sarbari Bordia

International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning

The research analyses the new trend of training culturally diverse students in western style business education in Singapore where a substantial number of mainland Chinese students enroll in business courses. Building on ideas by Hosfede (1984), Morey and Frangioso (1998) and Rodrigues (2004), 402 mainland Chinese students who were enrolled in Singaporean business training programs provided differential ratings of the learning effectiveness, familiarity, comfort and ease of knowledge transfer for each of the ten commonly used instructional strategies previously investigated by Rodrigues (2004) based on a questionnaire. Both “active” and “passive” instructional techniques facilitate effective learning and acquiring of knowledge …

Sharing The Risks And Rewards Of Economic Migration, Anu Bradford

Faculty Scholarship

International cooperation on economic migration has been difficult to achieve. The interests of emigration countries ("source countries") and immigration countries ("destination countries') seem impossible to align. These countries disagree on who should migrate: source countries resist migration that leads to a brain drain, while destination countries welcome these very migrants given that they are likely to be the most productive citizens and the least likely to become fiscal burdens on the destination country. In addition, destination countries resist migration that leads to domestic unemployment through labor replacement. As a result, international economic migration remains restricted at a substantial cost to …

"Children Are Different": Constitutional Values And Justice Policy, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

This essay explores the importance for Eighth Amendment jurisprudence and for juvenile crime regulation of Miller v. Alabama (2012) and two earlier Supreme Court opinions rejecting harsh sentences for juveniles. It argues that the Court has broken new ground in defining juveniles as a category of offenders who are subject to special Eighth Amendment protections. In Miller and in Graham v. Florida (2010) particularly, the Court has applied to juveniles' non-capital sentences the rigorous proportionality review that, for adults, has been reserved for death sentences. The essay then turns to the implications of the opinions for juvenile crime policy, arguing …

The Accessibility Of Birth Control Methods: Assessing The Household Demographics & Socioeconomic Factors On The Demand For Contraceptives In The Philippines, Darlene Angelini R. Co, Charlyn Janna H. Francisco, Maria Theresa M. Nogoy, Wilhelm Matthew R. Ong

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

The Reproductive Health Bill No. 5043 (RH Bill) is a controversial issue in the Philippines. It has been a topic of debates by public and private groups. The RH Bill will allow citizens universal access to medically safe, affordable, and effective reproductive health care services and information. It encourages the use of contraceptives, like condoms, birth-control pills. It aims to reduce the rapid increase in the Philippine population. Hence, preventing it from reaching a hundred million in five years as estimated by the Department of Health.

This study highlights the most controversial issue of the bill: Making contraceptives readily available …

Estimating The Effects Of Urbanization On Carbon Emissions: Evidence In The Philippines, Jerome Abesamis, Jumel Carlo Campos, Cecille Castelle

Angelo King Institute for Economic and Business Studies (AKI)

Urbanization, or the social and economic modernization of metropolitan cities (Poumanyvong & Kaveko, 2010), has obtained unprecedented growth. As an inevitable phase of globalization, it has fuelled society’s consumption patterns, alongside incessant technological development. Mass production and industrialization, the primary thrusts of the global market, require consumption of non-renewable resources arising from the increase in energy usage. These centers of production are concentrated in urban, highly populated areas. This phase of progress, however, comes at the expense of environmental quality. Levels of carbon emissions are concentrated in areas with high population density. This hampers the natural flow of the ecosystem …

A Comparative Study In Health Habits And Attitudes Of Students Of Muscat And Dhofar In The Sultanate Of Oman, Saead Al-Dhafri, Abdullah K. Ambusaidi

Journal of Educational and Psychological Studies

This study examined the possible differences in health attitudes and habits between Omani students from Muscat school district (north Oman) and students from Dhofar school district (south Oman). The participants responded to a group of questionnaires that included: health problems, weight satisfaction, attitudes towards physical activities, health and food habits, and attitudes towards and use of harmful substances. The sample consisted of 450 randomly selected middle and high school students. Independent t-tests and Chi-squares were used to answer the study questions. The results showed statistically significant differences in the levels of health problems, attitudes towards physical activities, frequency of eating …

The Effects Of Intent And Consequences On The Assignment Of Penalties Related To Hiv Non-Disclosure Situations, Yang Deng

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Laws related to HIV require individuals infected with HIV to disclose their HIV-positive status before engaging in sexual behavior. These laws vary as to whether to include the intent of HIV non-disclosure as a criterion for prosecution. Penalty assignment for HIV non-disclosure is consistent with moral judgment. Literature regarding moral judgment has been inconsistent as to whether individuals process information regarding intent and consequences independently or interdependently when recommending penalties. The present study seeks to explore the effects of intent and consequences on recommended penalties in HIV non-disclosure situations. A 3(intent) × 2(consequence) ANOVA design was conducted with recommended penalties …

Conservation Mooring Study, Urban Harbors Institute, University Of Massachusetts Boston

Urban Harbors Institute Publications

Most boaters who moor their vessels in Massachusetts waters have traditionally employed free swinging moorings that use heavy bottom chain. In important sensitive habitats such as eelgrass beds, these types of moorings often have negative impacts on the benthic habitat – from the circular movement of the chain around the anchor point, and/or from the anchor itself.

This document objectively describes the different characteristics of conventional moorings versus conservation moorings designed to minimize disruption to the benthic habitat. This report includes discussions on the following topics:

• Technologies available
• Ecological impacts
• Functional differences
• Economical differences
• Regulatory issues

These comparisons, along with …

A Polymer-Based Microfluidic Device With Electrolyte-Enabled Distributed Transducers (Eedt) For Distributed Load Detection, Peng Cheng

Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The capability of detecting distributed static and dynamic loads is indispensable in a wide variety of applications, such as examining anatomical structures of biological tissues in tissue health analysis and minimally invasive surgery (MIS) and determining the texture of an object in robotics. This dissertation presents a comprehensive study of a polymer-based microfluidic device with electrolyte-enabled distributed transducers and demonstrates a new concept on using a single microfluidic device for distributed-load detection, which takes advantage of the low-cost microfluidic fabrication technology and the low modulus and biocompatibility of polymer. The core of the device is a single deformable polymer microstructure …

Functional Near Infrared Detection Of Real And Imagined Finger Taps Using Support Vector Machine, Linear Discriminant Analysis, And Decision Tree Classification Methods, Eugene A. Stoudenmire

Computational Modeling & Simulation Engineering Theses & Dissertations

This study investigates the thesis that given cerebral response samples of an individual's left, right, both, and imagined finger tapping, continuous wave (CW) functional Near Infrared (fNIR), unregistered with fMRI, can differentiate between any two of the four categories.

Fifty subjects were outfitted with a single source/detector attached to a single, square pad, affixed to their heads using devices such as elastic bands and caps for light shielding. Slides depicting arrows pointing left, right, both directions, or made of dashed lines were presented to each subject, with a slide of text interspersed between each. Subjects tapped with their left finger, …

Het Gebruik Van Risicotaxatie Instrumenten Onder Spv-En (The Use Of Risk Assessment Instruments Among Community Psychiatric Nurses), Sophie De Valk, Corine De Ruiter, Jorge Folino, Matthew Large, Thierry Pham, Kim Reeves, Carolina Condemarin, Louise Nielsen, Martin Rettenberger, Robyn Mei Yee Ho, Verónica Godoy-Cervera, Kimberlie Dean, Maria Francisca Rebocho, Karin Arbach-Lucioni, Martin Grann, Katharina Seewald, Michael W. Doyle, Sarah Desmarais, Richard Van Dorn, Randy Otto, Jay Singh

Faculty Scholarship

In Dutch
Auteur en een groot aantal alumni-collega's van de Universiteit van Maastricht, hebben gekeken welke risicotaxatie-instrumenten SPV-en gebruiken om het risico van recidive in te schatten bij clienten uit de forensische psychiatrie. Met behulp van START kan volgens hen het risico voor anderen, het risico op victimisatie, risico op zelfbeschadigend gedrag, suïcidegevaar, ongeoorloofde afwezigheid, middelenmisbruik en zelfverwaarlozing bij deze forensische groep vastgesteld worden.

In English
The author and colleagues from the University of Maastricht investigated the use of structured risk assessment instruments in forensic psychiatry. Using instruments such as the START may aid in the assessment of violence, victimization, …

Malpractice Mobs: Medical Dispute Resolution In China, Benjamin L. Liebman

Faculty Scholarship

China has experienced a surge in medical disputes in recent years, on the streets and in the courts. Many disputes result in violence. Quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence of medical malpractice litigation and medical disputes in China reveals a dynamic in which the formal legal system operates in the shadow of protest and violence. The threat of violence leads hospitals to settle claims for more money than would be available in court and also influences how judges handle cases that do wind up in court. The detailed evidence regarding medical disputes presented in this Essay adds depth to existing understanding …

Free-Living Amoebae In Sediments From The Lascaux Cave In France, Angela M. Garcia-Sanchez, Concepcion Ariza, Jose M. Ubeda, Pedro M. Martin-Sanchez, Valme Jurado, Fabiola Bastian, Claude Alabouvette, Cesareo Saiz Jimenez

International Journal of Speleology

The Lascaux Cave in France is an old karstic channel where the running waters are collected in a pool and pumped to the exterior. It is well-known that water bodies in the vicinity of humans are suspected to be reservoirs of amoebae and associated bacteria. In fact, the free-living amoebae Acanthamoeba astronyxis, Acanthamoeba castellanii, Acanthamoeba sp. and Hartmannella vermiformis were identified in the sediments of the cave using phylogenetic analyses and morphological traits. Lascaux Cave sediments and rock walls are wet due to a relative humidity near saturation and water condensation, and this environment and the presence of abundant bacterial …

Cure From The Cave: Volcanic Cave Actinomycetes And Their Potential In Drug Discovery, Naowarat (Ann) Cheeptham Dr., Tara Sadoway, Devon Rule, Kent Watson, Paul Moote, Laiel C. Soliman, Nicholas Azad, Kingsley Donkor, Derrick Horne

International Journal of Speleology

Volcanic caves have been little studied for their potential as sources of novel microbial species and bioactive compounds with new scaffolds. We present the first study of volcanic cave microbiology from Canada and suggest that this habitat has great potential for the isolation of novel bioactive substances. Sample locations were plot ted on a contour map that was compiled in ArcView 3.2. Over 400 bacterial isolates were obtained from the Helmcken Falls cave in Wells Gray Provincial Park, British Columbia. From our preliminary screen, of 400 isolates tested, 1% showed activity against extended spectrum ß-lactamase E. coli, 1.75% against Escherichia …

The Effects Of Uv Light On The Antimicrobial Activities Of Cave Actinomycetes, Devon Rule, Naowarat Cheeptham

International Journal of Speleology

The goal of this study was to determine whether actinomycetes isolated from a volcanic cave in western Canada could produce novel antimicrobial compounds against six multidrugresistant pathogens when exposed to UV light. One hundred and seventy-six actinomycete strains isolated from Helmcken Falls Cave, Wells Gray Provincial Park, BC, were screened against six pathogens using the “plug assay” in UV light and no light conditions. Of the 176 strains tested, 100 or 57% of the cave actinomycete strains had antimicrobial activities against the pathogens in 124 different instances: 35 instances when exposed to UV and no light, 30 when exposed to …

An Evaluation Of A Probiotic Supplement On Dairy Calf Growth: Birth - 60 Days Old, Kristy Quezada

Honors Theses

The objective of this study was to determine if feeding probiotics to a young calf ould result in earlier development of rumen function and the concomitant increase in daily grain intake, permitting the calf to be weaned at a younger age. A total of heifer calves were assigned at birth to one of two groups: the control group was fed grain without any probiotics and the treatment group was fed the same grain, but with the probiotics added. The probiotic used was Dairyman's Edge Pro(R). The calves were measured for height and weight at birth, 30 days, weaning, and 60 …

I Like To Pay Taxes: Taxpayer Support For Government Spending And The Efficiency Of The Tax System, Yair Listokin, David M. Schizer

Faculty Scholarship

Why do people pay taxes? The simplest answer is that they have a legal obligation to do so. But it has long been recognized that this legal obligation alone provides an inadequate explanation for taxpaying behavior, just as legal obligations generally offer an inadequate explanation for most law-abiding activity.Another answer, then, is that some people pay taxes because – like Oliver Wendell Holmes – they like to do so. In other words, they appreciate that the government provides a vast array of public goods, such as rule of law, roads, schools, and aid to the poor, and find satisfaction in …

Hormone Epimers Regulate Er Stress And Core Regulatory Genes: Network Analysis With Applications To Glioma And Chronic Pressure Ulcers, Thomas L. Shaak

Theses and Dissertations

DHEA has been determined to have medically significant activity and is the parent compound to the more active metabolites; 17α-AED, 17β-AED and 17β-AET, which exhibit strong biological activity that has been attributed to androgenic, estrogenic or anti-glucocorticoid activity in vivo and in vitro. This study compared DHEA, 17α-AED, 17β-AED and 17β-AET for their ability to activate the human AR, ER and GR receptors and determine the relative androgenicity, estrogenicity and glucocorticoid activity. The results show that, at the receptor level, these androstene hormones are weak AR and even weaker ER activators. Direct androstene hormone activation of the human AR, ERα, …