Digital Commons Network^™

Mimicking The Mechanical Behavior Of Advancing Disc Degeneration Through Needle Injections, Jeremy S. Alsup

Theses and Dissertations

Objective - To investigate the effects of injected protease solution on the mechanical advancement of disc degeneration, and to establish test protocol for future pre-clinical validation of spinal arthroplasty devices. The hypothesis that injection of a protease into a cadaveric lumbar disc will mimic advanced degeneration mechanics was the subject of this study. Summary of Background Information - Spinal disc degeneration is a universal condition that progresses in adults due to aging, disease, or injury. Stages of disc degeneration have been categorized in cadaver specimens, with each degeneration level exhibiting characteristic changes in flexibility parameters. Spinal disc tissue can be …

Diffuse Idiopathic Pulmonary Neuroendocrine Cell Hyperplasia (Dipnech) To Carcinoid: Exploring The Link, Jacob D. Mcfadden Msii, Jeffrey P. Baliff Md

Department of Pathology Honors Program Student Research Symposium

Neuroendocrine cells (NECs) play important roles in normal lung development, autonomic regulation of lung function, and response to hypoxia or injury. They are located between the respiratory epithelium and the basement membrane of bronchi and bronchioles (below), often as single cells or small clusters.

NEC proliferation is a common pathologic occurrence, well established as a reactive response to chronic lung injury. Much less commonly, NEC proliferation is observed in the absence of apparent inciting factors. This neoplastic phenomenon is termed “diffuse idiopathic pulmonary neuroendocrine cell hyperplasia” (DIPNECH).

DIPNECH is recognized as a precursor lesion for carcinoid tumors. While the progression …

Ocular Manifestations Of Rosai-Dorfman Disease, Phoebe L. Mellen, B.S., Ralph C. Eagle Jr., M.D.

Department of Pathology Honors Program Student Research Symposium

History of Rosai-Dorfman Disease

In 1969, Dr. Juan Rosai and Dr. Ronald F. Dorfman reported four cases of an entity that previously had puzzled pathologists and clinicians. The four cases had failed to fit under any diagnosis, but shared a few common characteristics. Each patient presented with painless, massive lymphadenopathy, most commonly of the cervical lymph nodes¹. Other locations included the inguinal, intra-parotid, and axillary lymph nodes. The patients all presented with fever and leukocytosis¹. The differential diagnosis included malignant lymphoma, malignant histiocytosis, reticuloendotheliosis, and chronic inflammation. However, the histopathological characteristics of the cases did not …

Perceptions Of The Underrepresentation Of Women In Agriculture And Motives For Movement Into The Industry, Jennifer Long

Honors Projects

In the U.S., agriculture has historically been a male-dominated industry. Women have been underrepresented in agriculture even as they have played important roles on and off the farm. In the last 25 years, however, women have been moving into agriculture and increasing their visibility in positions on and off the farm even in light of structural changes to agriculture and environmental concerns. Learning motives for moves into the industry can help supply information about the changing roles of women in agriculture and help determine whether agricultural trends follow other occupational trends. Giving a voice to women that have been underrepresented …

Filling A House With Meaning: The Construction Of A Chicago Housing Cooperative, Laura Hones

Honors Projects

A housing cooperative is a non-profit form of housing tenure that has been a feature of American university campuses since the 1930s. Living in a co-op allows members the benefits of low rent, a close-knit social group, and democratic control of their living space. Unlike communes, however, members do not typically share income or unite around a particular ideology. This paper is the result of ethnographic research of one such house, Haymarket House of Qumbya Housing Cooperative in Hyde Park, Chicago. In 1988 the founders of Haymarket established its methods of structuring everyday life on principles of socialism, egalitarianism, and …

Daily Eastern News: April 26, 2013, Eastern Illinois University

April

No abstract provided.

Rio+20 And Biodiversity: What Next? The International And Brazilian Perspectives, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Extended written remarks of the oral panel presentation by Professor Nicholas A. Robinson at the international colloquium in tribute to Ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo do Machado on Rio+20 and Biodiversity: Assessing the Future We Want. Presented as part of the Inaugural Panel, held in the Senate Chamber of Brazil in Brasilia on 26 April 2013 and televised nationally.

The Effects Of A Violence Assessment Checklist On The Incidence Of Violence For Emergency Department Nurses, Sarah Knapp

Evidence-Based Practice Project Reports

Workplace violence (WV) is commonplace in American culture, and nurses working in emergency departments (ED) are not immune to its effects. Violence against emergency department nurses is prominent in current nursing literature, and a cause for major concern. Regrettably there is no consistent tool being used to assess for potential patient violence specific to the emergency department. Current assessment tools have been developed and are commonly used in the mental health arena. This evidence-based practice project concentrated on answering the clinical question of whether or not a violence risk assessment checklist reduced the incidence of violence and increased perception of …

Chromosome-Specific Telomere Length In Women With Breast Cancer: Their Relationship To Chemotherapy And Acquired Psychoneurological Symptoms, Areej Alhareeri

Theses and Dissertations

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common diagnosed malignancies in females. Although 90% of early diagnosed women are expected to survive for at least 5 years, their quality of life is adversely affected by a cluster of symptoms which we collectively named “psychoneurological symptoms’’ (PN). Given that acquired telomere attrition has been speculated to be a causal factor in chronic diseases and the lack in the literature of mechanisms giving rise to PN symptoms, this study was performed to assess telomere length using a chromosome-specific telomere assay before receiving chemotherapy and at the first chemotherapy. We showed significant …

A Positive Dimension: Exploring Factors That Enhance Utilization Of And Adherence To Prevention Of Mother-To-Child Transmission (Pmtct) Of Hiv Services In An Urban Setting In Kenya, Lydia Murithi

Theses and Dissertations

Despite expansive scale-up of prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV services in Kenya over the last decade, Kenya remains one of the countries contributing high numbers of children living with HIV globally and among the 22 PMTCT global plan priority countries. Using a mixed methods approach this study examined enabling factors –individual, social and structural – that enhance utilization of and adherence to PMTCT services in a plural urban setting in Kenya. The study was conducted from October-December of 2012 at St. Mary’s Mission Hospital, Lang’ata. HIV-positive birthmothers whose infants were HIV-negative at the time of the study were …

Modification Of Nanostructures Via Laser Processing, Louis Franzel

Theses and Dissertations

Modification of nanostructures via laser processing is of great interest for a wide range of applications such as aerospace and the storage of nuclear waste. The primary goal of this dissertation is to improve the understanding of nanostructures through two primary routes: the modification of aerogels and pulsed laser ablation in ethanol. A new class of materials, patterned aerogels, was fabricated by photopolymerizing selected regions of homogeneous aerogel monoliths using visible light. The characterization and fabrication of functionally graded, cellular and compositionally anisotropic aerogels and ceramics is discussed. Visible light was utilized due to it’s minimal absorption and scattering by …

Spring Commencement Ceremonies, University Of North Florida

Commencement Printed Materials

Program for the Spring Commencement ceremonies.

Child Maltreatment Prevention And Health Promotion: Examining The Effectiveness Of A Nurse Home-Visiting Program, Paul Lanier

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

Problem: Child abuse and neglect is a devastating, yet preventable, social problem. Early childhood home visiting services are currently considered the most promising approach to maltreatment prevention. Expansion of evidence-based home visiting services authorized by the Affordable Care Act has created a need to better understand the utilization and effectiveness of preventive services delivered in the community. Nurses for Newborns is a nurse home visiting program serving high-risk caregivers and medically-fragile newborns using a flexible, client-driven service model.

Methods: This study used longitudinal services data linked with administrative child welfare data. A sample of low-income families: n = 3,620) who …

The New Hampshire, Vol. 102 [103], No. 47 (Apr. 26, 2013), The New Hampshire

The New Hampshire Print Edition

An independent student produced newspaper from the University of New Hampshire. This volume was printed as 102, but it is the 103rd volume in the series. This was corrected in pencil.

Water | Desire: Design Of A Responsible Urban Retreat In Georgetown, Washington, Dc, Tanya Zimmerli

Theses and Dissertations

The design of an urban retreat within an industrial building in Georgetown, DC provides an opportunity to experience water in the built environment. The location of the building between two bodies of water—the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac River—creates an opportunity to connect water and the visitors. Management of the water to ensure responsible resource use was researched and accommodated in the design. Water is further used to shape the space and the moods created by the volumes, materials and finishes. The final project provides a luxurious shower and locker room, a series of pools, and a tea …

Structural And Functional Characterization Of Sortase A, Vishaka Santosh

Theses and Dissertations

Sortases have been known to be essential in Gram-positive bacteria for attaching proteins onto the peptidoglycan layer of the bacterium. Sortase A has been found to be useful as a “molecular stapler”, although; in vivo, the enzyme is responsible for attaching proteins to the peptidoglycan layer of Gram-positive bacteria. It accomplishes both of these tasks by joining two proteins together via an LPXTG sorting sequence. The enzyme has been proven to be very useful in attaching any two proteins together without worrying about recombinant techniques to generate the fusion protein. The problem with this enzyme is that the catalytic diad, …

The Role Of Camk-Ii In Skeletal Muscle Function And Swimming Behavior In Zebrafish, Minh Nguyen

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research showed mutations in muscle sarcoplasmic reticulum-bound calcium handler proteins cause swimming defects in embryonic zebrafish. CaMK-II is a highly conserved Ca2+/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase expressed in all vertebrates has been defined to activate and inactivate multiple Ca2+ handler proteins involved in excitation- contraction coupling and relaxation of cardiac and skeletal muscle. In this study, evidence is provided through pharmacological and genetic intervention that CaMK-II inhibition and overexpression causes swimming defects, particularly response to stimuli and swimming ability, reinforced by immunolocalization of skeletal muscle. Transient CaMK-II inactivation does not have any long-term defects to swimming behavior. Overexpression of wild-type, constitutively …

The Parthenon, April 26, 2013, John Gibb, Tyler Kes

The Parthenon

The Parthenon, Marshall University’s student newspaper, is published by students Monday through Friday during the regular semester and weekly Thursday during the summer. The editorial staff is responsible for the news and the editorial content.

How Black Fraternity Men Understand The Pursuit Of Hegemonic Ideologies, Pepper E. Walker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study explored how Black men makesense of the masculine aspect of their identity andadult development juxtaposed with the ideology of leadership within the realms of a Black, Greek-letterfraternity on a predominantly White college campusin the South. Historically, administrators of colleges and universities have accepted those who participate as active members of Greek-letter organizations, as campus leaders who go on to become leaders in teh community. Participants included 7 members of Chi Omega Sigma, Fraternity, Inc. (pseudonym). Each participant was interviewed and provided life stories following the line of masculinity from birth to present. By examining masculinity throughthe lens of …

Metagenomic Analyses Of The Human Gut Virome, Alejandro Reyes

All Theses and Dissertations (ETDs)

The human gut harbors tens of trillions of microbes belonging to all three domains of life, Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya; most are members of Bacteria. These organisms collaborate and compete for functional niches and physical space: habitats), together forming a continuously functioning metabolic organ that influences many aspects of host biology. The factors that drive the assembly, determine the stability, and shape the adaptive responses of the gut microbiota to a variety of perturbations are the subject of intense study as greater appreciation is gained of the importance of this microbial community for human health. My thesis focused on the …

Catherine Opie's Domestic Series, Sara Harney

Theses and Dissertations

American photographer Catherine Opie combines portraiture and documentary photography in her photographic series titled Domestic. At the center of this series lies the idea of community and the question of how community is constructed, a theme which unites Opie’s seemingly disparate bodies of work. Domestic depicts lesbians from across the United States in scenes of domesticity, living as couples, families, and housemates. Using formal portrait conventions to aestheticize the images, Opie photographed her subjects in and around their actual homes to create images that are documentary in essence. The series works to represent the lesbian community, which Opie felt had …

The Effects Of Tarsh Overexpression On Lung Carcinomas, Young Kim

Theses and Dissertations

Lung cancer arises from epithelial cells that line the air passages of the lungs. It is the second most common malignancy in the United States; trends suggest that over 228,000 new patients will be diagnosed with lung cancer in 2013. Due to the fact that lung cancer is highly aggressive, it has proven difficult to control. The 5-year survival rate has been shown to be only 15.9%, despite the advances made in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, we are faced with the problem of finding more effective methods that allow for an earlier diagnosis and the improved treatment of …

April 26, 2013, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Closure Of The Failed Ash Dredge Cell At Kingston – The Engineering Challenge, Vernon J. Dotson, Darrell E. Herron, Alan F. Rauch, Micahel J. Steele

World of Coal Ash Proceedings

No abstract provided.

The Observer, Central Washington University

Student Newspaper

Student newspaper for Central Washington University for April 25-May 1, 2013. Vol. 94, No. 4.

A Study Of Microtubule Dipole Lattices, Shubhendu Nandi

Open Access Dissertations

Microtubules are cytoskeletal protein polymers orchestrating a host of important cellular functions including, but not limited to, cell support, cell division, cell motility and cell transport. In this thesis, we construct a toy-model of the microtubule lattice composed of vector Ising spins representing tubulin molecules, the building block of microtubules. Nearest-neighbor and next-to-nearest neighbor interactions are considered within an anisotropic dielectric medium. As a consequence of the helical topology, we observe that certain spin orientations render the lattice frustrated with nearest neighbor ferroelectric and next-to-nearest neighbor antiferroelectric bonds. Under these conditions, the lattice displays the remarkable property of stabilizing certain …

Burr’S Pond And The Runnins River Annual Watershed Survey

Watershed Access Lab Projects

For the past twelve years, AP Biology students at Seekonk High School have been required to complete an independent research project to fulfill the Ecology unit of the course during the summer prior to the course. Students must apply what they learned in their readings to a local ecosystem, Burr’s Pond, which is attached to the Runnins River in Seekonk. Students spend time at the pond area during the summer documenting organisms, evidence of population dynamics, animal behavior, trophic levels, nutrient cycling, etc. Students put together a Burr’s Pond Summer Field Research Project Portfolio to be submitted on the first …

The Runnins River Biosurvey Year 5 (2012-2013)

Watershed Access Lab Projects

On October 3rd & 4th Mr. Bonneau and Mr. Wills from Seekonk High School took their Biology II classes out to the Runnins River in Seekonk, MA for the 5th Annual Runnins River Biosurvey.

The Runnins River is approximately ten miles long and over 70% of the length of the river meanders through the town of Seekonk, making Seekonk the town with the greatest impact on the river. What we wanted to see is if the commercial and residential properties in the town had any impact on the river between two given points.

The classes went to both an upstream …

Exstream Ecology: A Survey Of The Rumford River

Watershed Access Lab Projects

The students of Mansfield High School performed a water quality study on the Rumford River on Tuesday, November 12, 2013 in Mansfield, Massachusetts. The study location consisted of one site on the Town of Mansfield Conservation Commission property on Fischer Lane.

The purpose of this study was to introduce benthic macroinvertebrates and their role as indicators for evaluating stream water quality. Students utilized state of the art methods and techniques during all aspects of this study.

The Rumford River is listed on the Environmental Protection Agencies (EPA) National Priority List (NPL). The river was polluted with dioxins, furans and phenols …

Recognition Dinner, 2013, University Of Minnesota Morris. Chancellor's Office

Faculty And Staff Recognition Dinner Programs

Award winners:

John Tate Award: Jennifer Goodnough

Morse-Minnesota Alumni Association Award: Jennifer Deane

UMM Alumni Association Teaching Award: Nic McPhee and Timna Wyckoff

Mary Martelle Memorial Awards: Karen Ellis and Shauna Wimmer

University of Minnesota Morris Faculty Distinguished Research Award: Jong-Min Kim

Outstanding Staff Awards: Bobbi Charles, Lynn Halbakken Tatge, and Cathi Halbe

Morris Academic Staff Award: Argie Manolis

Retirees: Diana George, Ken Hodgson, Tap Payne, Bonnie Tipcke, Jim Togeas, Sharon Van Eps, and Doug Williams