Digital Commons Network^™

The Biodiversity Hypothesis And Allergic Disease: World Allergy Organization Position Statement., Tari Haahtela, Stephen Holgate, Ruby Pawankar, Cezmi A. Akdis, Suwat Benjaponpitak, Luis Caraballo, Jeffrey Demain, Jay M. Portnoy, Leena Von Hertzen, Wao Special Committee On Climate Change And Biodiversity

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Biodiversity loss and climate change secondary to human activities are now being associated with various adverse health effects. However, less attention is being paid to the effects of biodiversity loss on environmental and commensal (indigenous) microbiotas. Metagenomic and other studies of healthy and diseased individuals reveal that reduced biodiversity and alterations in the composition of the gut and skin microbiota are associated with various inflammatory conditions, including asthma, allergic and inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), type1 diabetes, and obesity. Altered indigenous microbiota and the general microbial deprivation characterizing the lifestyle of urban people in affluent countries appear to be risk factors …

Quantification Of Human Motion On Roller Coaster Rides, Chirag Burman

Theses

Case reports have been published of people experiencing symptoms of traumatic brain injury (TBI) and/or ailments of the vascular tissue around the head. These reports pointed towards G-forces, a scalar measure without a specified direction, which represent the measure of the acceleration of an object divided by acceleration caused by gravity (9.81 m/s²), as a cause of said injuries. Research has been conducted on quantifying the G-forces experienced while on roller coasters, as well as the change in heart rate. However these studies have not been able to show a link between roller-coasters and symptoms.

This thesis aims …

New Economy : Assessment Of The Institutionalization Of An Emerging Paradigm And Academic Field Through Inquiry Into Prominent Boundary Organizations, Jeanine Cava Rodgers

Theses

It is increasingly acknowledged that in order to reach global and regional sustai nabi l ity goals, economic growth and consumption levels in wealthy developed nations will need to stabilize or reverse. Organizations and projects of a wide variety have emerged and expanded to take on this challenge, and shape the so-called, "new economy". The purpose of this research is to gain a clearer picture of the impacts of efforts to develop a shared new-economy knowledge framework on the broader sustai nabi l ity conversation, and to assess the intellectual institutionalization of same. This thesis focuses in on the influence …

Three Poems: The Lorenz Transformations, Rotating The Strange Attractor To Find The Principal Components, The Sieve Of Eratosthenes, Robin Chapman

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Federal Numeric Nutrient Criteria In Florida: When Cooperative Federalism Goes Rogue, Adam Weiss

Pace Environmental Law Review

This Comment contends that the task of finding the equilibrium between the nutrients for each water body to sustain aquatic life, without adding excessive nutrients that will impair the aquatic ecosystem can only be achieved by maintaining a balanced federal/state partnership in the cooperative federalist system upon which the Clean Water Act was built. This partnership, however, has slowly eroded during the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) attempts to regulate nutrient pollution through numeric nutrient criteria in the State of Florida. In a perfect world with unlimited resources, the EPA would work with the states to develop and implement …

The Right To Know And The Duty To Disclose: Pathways To Effective Monitoring, Reporting, And Verification Within The Constitutionalism Of Climate Justice, Teresa Thorp

Pace Environmental Law Review

The Article is in two parts. Part one examines the dynamic interactions between the right to information, human rights, and environmental law from an objective perspective. It situates monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) within a new architecture of human rights as “people’s rights.” Part two then delves into how international human rights and environmental law may inform a “subjective” test of equity by mobilizing the “right to information” in international climate law. In doing so, it shows how a new approach to international legal architecture, one based on “people’s rights,” may help to improve the effectiveness of MRV in terms …

To Whom It Doesn't Concern, Gretchen Fields

Amaranthus

No abstract provided.

Disappointments, Soon Lee Hotaling

Amaranthus

No abstract provided.

Antimony: The Use, Rights, And Regulation Of Laboratory Animals , Brenda L. Thomas

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mozart, Nanoseconds . . ., Kerri Meyer

Amaranthus

No abstract provided.

Mother..., Amy Marie Benore

Amaranthus

No abstract provided.

January 30, 2013 Cal Poly Report, Public Affairs Office

Cal Poly Report

No abstract provided.

Old Age Imposes Selection Of Precursor B Cells By A Surrogate Light Chain Dependent Mechanism, Michelle Ratliff

Open Access Dissertations

Senescent mice show diminished B lymphopoiesis as well as alterations in mature B cell compartments. Within both spleen and bone marrow (BM), aged mice show ~5-10 fold increases in "age associated B cells (ABC)", which is a normally minor mature B cell subset that lacks surface expression of CD21/35 and CD23. This population, through senescence acquired secretion of TNF-alpha, can induce apoptosis in pro-B cells directly, as well as indirectly through the bone marrow. Adoptive transfer experiments suggest ABC contribute to a pro-inflammatory environment within the bone marrow of aged mice. Old FO and FO-like BM B cells produce TNFà …

2012 Unh/Noaa Joint Hydrographic Center Performance And Progress Report, Larry A. Mayer, Noaa-Unh Joint Hydrographic Center (Jhc/Ccom)

Progress Reports

Report Period: 01/01/2012 – 12/31/2012

Pattern Of Social Interactions After Group Integration: A Possibility To Keep Stallions In Group, Sabrina Briefer Freymond, Elodie F. Briefer, Rudolf Von Niederhäusern, Iris Bachmann

Ethology Collection

Horses are often kept in individual stables, rather than in outdoor groups, despite such housing system fulfilling many of their welfare needs, such as the access to social partners. Keeping domestic stallions in outdoor groups would mimic bachelor bands that are found in the wild. Unfortunately, the high level of aggression that unfamiliar stallions display when they first encounter each other discourages owners from keeping them in groups. However, this level of aggression is likely to be particularly important only during group integration, when the dominance hierarchy is being established, whereas relatively low aggression rates have been observed among stable …

The Winonan, Winona State University

The Winonan - 2010s

No abstract provided.

Detection And Classification Of Diabetic Retinopathy Pathologies In Fundus Images, Carla Paola Agurto Rios

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) is a disease that affects up to 80% of diabetics around the world. It is the second greatest cause of blindness in the Western world, and one of the leading causes of blindness in the U.S. Many studies have demonstrated that early treatment can reduce the number of sight-threatening DR cases, mitigating the medical and economic impact of the disease. Accurate, early detection of eye disease is important because of its potential to reduce rates of blindness worldwide. Retinal photography for DR has been promoted for decades for its utility in both disease screening and clinical research …

Are Graduate Students Rational? Macroeconomic Determinants Of Graduate Enrollment And Completions In The Biomedical Sciences, John Clack

Economics ETDs

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) budget doubling from 1998 through 2003 stimulated demand for biomedical scientists, increasing both relative wages and employment. However, because research doctorates in these fields may take six years or more to complete, there is a substantial lag in the labor supply response to changing market conditions. Rational expectations models assume that prospective graduate students can forecast their expected future wages, taking into account other students likely responses and thus also future employment levels. However, prior research on student enrollment and degree completion in science and engineering fields suggests that market conditions at the time …

Transport Theoretical Studies Of Some Microscopic And Macroscopic Systems, Alden Astwood

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This dissertation is a report on theoretical transport studies of two systems of vastly different sizes. The first topic is electronic motion in quantum wires. In recent years, it has become possible to fabricate wires that are so small that quantum effects become important. The conduction properties of these wires are quite different than those of macroscopic wires. In this dissertation, we seek to understand scattering effects in quantum wires in a simple way. Some of the existing formalisms for studying transport in quantum wires are reviewed, and one such formalism is applied to calculate conductance in some simple systems. …

Numerical Simulation Of Traffic Flow Using A Hydrodynamic Model, Craig Vanderploeg

Mathematics & Statistics ETDs

We examine the solution to the system of partial differential equations for the transport and continuity equations. The model for our system of equations closely resembles the Payne-Whitham model for traffic flow. The solution can be approximated closely through the method of finite differencing. We approach this approximation of the solution through computer simulation in Matlab.

Quantification Of In Vivo Oxidative Damage In Caenorhabditis Elegans During Aging By Endogenous F3-Isoprostane Measurement, Christiaan F. Labuschagne, Edwin C.A. Stigter, Margriet M.W.B. Hendriks, Ruud Berger, Joshua Rokach, Hendrik C. Korswagen, Arjan B. Brenkman

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Oxidative damage is thought to be a major cause in development of pathologies and aging. However, quantification of oxidative damage is methodologically difficult. Here, we present a robust liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) approach for accurate, sensitive, and linear in vivo quantification of endogenous oxidative damage in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, based on F3-isoprostanes. F3-isoprostanes are prostaglandin-like markers of oxidative damage derived from lipid peroxidation by Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). Oxidative damage was quantified in whole animals and in multiple cellular compartments, including mitochondria and peroxisomes. Mutants of the mitochondrial electron transport proteins mev-1 and clk-1 showed increased oxidative damage …

Emu Today, January 30, 2013, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Biological And Biomimetic Oxygen Electro-Reduction By Enzymes, Shayna Brocato

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

Enzyme catalysts are a viable alternative to the traditional platinum based catalysts for the complete oxidation of complex fuels. Efficient oxidation of multi-carbon compounds, selective catalytic activity eliminating the need for fuel purification, and high performance under mild temperature and pH conditions make enzyme catalysts appealing for applications in vivo, implantable, and in vitro, portable energy sources. The full catalytic potential of enzymes can only be obtained if the full energy potential of a biofuel, complete oxidation to CO2, is obtained; this requires multiple reactions, i.e. multiple enzymes or an enzyme cascade. The efficiency of enzyme cascades improves with quaternary …

Flow In Thin Regions Bounded By Structured And Porous Surfaces : Applications To Load Bearings, Abishek Venkatakrishnan

Chemical and Biological Engineering ETDs

The effect of surface roughness on the load capacity and friction force of hydrodynamic bearings has received considerable interest from scientists and engineers. Surfaces of most engineered materials are textured at some level either deliberately to achieve some desired effect or produced by wear and friction of surfaces. This thesis analyses the effect of surface roughness and porosity on the load capacity of hydrodynamic bearings. The surface roughness is characterized by a single sinusoidal wave function. The implementation of sinusoidal roughness model is verified using a verification problem. Reynolds lubrication theory, derived from thin-region approximations of the Navier-Stokes equations, is …

The Bg News January 30, 2013, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. January 30, 2013. Volume 92-Issue 61.

An Investigation Of The Potential For And Application Of Life Cycle Analysis In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Michael Raymond

Theses and Dissertations

Life cycle assessment offers a unique opportunity to analyze emission reductions across all manufacturing sectors. However, few efforts have been made to apply this method to the pharmaceutical industry. The Toxic Release Inventory is a powerful tool to determine areas of high potential for emissions reductions in industry. When applied to the pharmaceutical industry and coupled with a life cycle assessment, areas for significant environmental improvement become apparent. By examining these trends and exploring a variety of emissions reductions techniques, life cycle emissions in these problem areas may be significantly reduced. These trends demonstrate that manufacture of virgin solvent and …

Genetic Diversity In The Modern Horse Illustrated From Genome-Wide Snp Data, Jessica L. Petersen, James R. Mickelson, E. Gus Cothran, Lisa S. Andersson, Jeanette Axelsson, Ernie Bailey, Danika Bannasch, Matthew M. Binns, Alexandre S. Borges, Pieter Brama, Artur Da Câmara Machado, Ottmar Distl, Michela Felicetti, Laura Fox-Clipsham, Kathryn T. Graves, Gérard Guérin, Bianca Haase, Telhisa Hasegawa, Karin Hemmann, Emmeline W. Hill, Tosso Leeb, Gabriella Lindgren, Hannes Lohi, Maria Susana Lopes, Beatrice A. Mcgivney, Sofia Mikko, Nicholas Orr, M. Cecilia T. Penedo, Richard J. Piercy, Marja Raekallio, Stefan Rieder, Knut H. Røed, Maurizio Silvestrelli, June Swinburne, Teruaki Tozaki, Mark Vaudin, Claire M. Wade, Molly E. Mccue

Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

Horses were domesticated from the Eurasian steppes 5,000-6,000 years ago. Since then, the use of horses for transportation, warfare, and agriculture, as well as selection for desired traits and fitness, has resulted in diverse populations distributed across the world, many of which have become or are in the process of becoming formally organized into closed, breeding populations (breeds). This report describes the use of a genome-wide set of autosomal SNPs and 814 horses from 36 breeds to provide the first detailed description of equine breed diversity. F(ST) calculations, parsimony, and distance analysis demonstrated relationships among the breeds that largely reflect …

January 30, 2013, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

Distributed Force Model For Arbitrarily Shaped Impc Actuators, Manuel Martinez

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

A model that describes the relationship of an arbitrarily shaped artificial muscle to the force it produces does not currently exist for actuators made of ionic polymer-metal composites (IPMC), a type of electroactive smart material. The model in this thesis couples a finite element force simulation for IPMC with a novel method of performing force measurements for IPMC actuators. The model is capable of predicting the blocked force output for IPMC actuators of arbitrary dimension. The ultimate goal of this work is to create a method of analysis that allows for the design of custom IPMC fingers that have specific …

Whither The World Polity? A Contribution To The Study Of International Organizations Through Survival Analysis Of Oecd Accession Rates, Kathryn Overton

Sociology ETDs

Accession to international governmental organizations (IGOs) has become an important corollary of modern international relations. Not only have IGOs proliferated significantly over the past fifty years, but, institutionalist paradigms, such as World Polity theory, suggest membership to such entities is inherent to the definition of modern statehood. Although IGO accession is rather commonplace, a full understanding of the motivation and gains associated with such commitments is not fully established. The current project contributes to this scholarly debate by applying World Polity theory to the question of why IGOs actively invite certain states into membership negotiations. The author employs a survival …