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Different Meal, Same Flavor: Cospeciation And Host Switching Of Haemosporidian Parasites In Some Non-Passerine Birds, Diego Santiago-Alarcon, Adriana Rodríguez-Ferraro, Patricia Parker, Robert Ricklefs

Biology Department Faculty Works

BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that haemosporidian parasites (Haemoproteus(Parahaemoproteus) and Plasmodium) infecting passerine birds have an evolutionary history of host switching with little cospeciation, in particular at low taxonomic levels (e.g., below the family level), which is suggested as the main speciation mechanism of this group of parasites. Recent studies have characterized diverse clades of haemosporidian parasites (H. (Haemoproteus) and H. (Parahaemoproteus)) infecting non-passerine birds (e.g., Columbiformes, Pelecaniiformes). Here, we explore the cospeciation history of H. (Haemoproteus) and H. (Parahaemoproteus) parasites with their non-passerine hosts.MethodsWe sequenced the mtDNA cyt b gene of both haemosporidian parasites and their avian non-passerine hosts. We …

Narrowed Constellations In A Supranational Climate Change Regime Complex: The "Magic Number" Is Four, Myanna Dellinger

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Justifying War And The Limits Of Humanitarianism, Mohamed S. Helal

Fordham International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Little Goes A Long Way: Pressure For College Students To Succeed, Jennifer R. Davis

The Journal of Undergraduate Research

When college students begin college they experience pressure from multiple sources. For example, they experience pressure from their parents to succeed, from their professors, and pressure from themselves to do well in classes. This pressure could lead to high anxiety and possibly even poor performance in classes. Prior research that has examined the impact of anxiety on performance includes the Yerkes-Dodson law and the Processing Efficiency Theory. Both argue that anxiety increases the performance to a point, but then performance decreases again with too much pressure. The Processing Efficiency Theory also includes motivation. This motivation increases the drive to succeed …

Captive For Life: Conserving Extinct In The Wild Species Through Ex Situ Breeding, Irus Braverman

Contributions to Books

Published as Chapter 12 in The Ethics of Captivity, Lori Gruen, ed.

Are there “fates worse than death,” to use Kurt Vonnegut’s title? Is captivity one such fate? Captive for Life examines these questions through the lens of conservation biology’s ex situ models of captive management — and captive breeding in particular — for wild animals, and especially for species that have been designated as Critically Endangered or as Extinct in the Wild. Drawing on interviews with leading conservation biologists, the chapter describes the erosion of the distinctions between species management in captivity and in wild nature, often referred to …

Adam Smith On Money, Mercantilism And The System Of Natural Liberty, Ryan P. Hanley, Maria Pia Paganelli

Economics Faculty Research

Adam Smith’s theory of money played a key role in his development of one of the conclusions for which he is most famous today: the superiority of the system of natural liberty to mercantilism. This essay examines the part played by money in this argument, and specifically Smith’s theory of money’s origins and evolution and its relevance to his theory of natural liberty. The essay goes on to show how his position contributes to his critique of mercantilism and other proto-monetary policies as illustrative of his wider objection to interventionism, in conjunction with his understanding of the ‘science of the …

Persimals, Steven Luper

Philosophy Faculty Research

What sort of thing, fundamentally, are you and I? For convenience, I use the term persimal to refer to the kind of thing we are, whatever that kind turns out to be. Accordingly, the question is, what are persimals? One possible answer is that persimalhood consists in being a human animal, but many theorists, including Derek Parfit and Jeff McMahan, not to mention John Locke, reject this idea in favor of a radically different view, according to which persimalhood consists in having certain sorts of mental or psychological features. In this essay, I try to show that the animalist approach …

Stigmatized Workers And Identity Formation: Spiritual Healers Of Botánicas In San Antonio, Erin Drake

The Expositor: A Journal of Undergraduate Research in the Humanities

No abstract provided.

Considering The Human And Nonhuman In Literary Studies: Notes For A Biographic Network Approach For The Study Of Literary Objects, Edward L. Bullock

Theses and Dissertations--English

In recent years critical projects spanning philosophy, the social sciences, science studies, and nearly everywhere that has employed the term ecology have engaged in thinking humans and non-humans together as collectively producing outcomes, where objects do work beyond how humans perceive or make use of them. Taking Zelda Fitzgerald’s Save Me the Waltz as its focus, this thesis explores how this reorientation might contribute to literary studies and to literary criticism more specifically. The thesis considers a notion that novels constitute objects with biographies running “against” the biographic material of their authors, mobilizes actor network theory as a manner of …

Settling Mud, Running Streams, And “The Whole Thing About Men And Women”: Subverting Classical Discourse And The Role Of Character In Gertrude Stein’S “Melanctha”, Elizabeth D. S. Wise

Theses and Dissertations--English

The thesis begins by exploring Stein’s autobiographical connections to the Jamesian concepts of bottom nature and habit, in an attempt to demonstrate that both, in the pen of Gertrude Stein, are as connected to classical virtue theory and the development of character as a moral state and characters as created persons within her creative oeuvre, as they are connected to psychological experiments in William James’ laboratory. In wading through what may seem to be muddy waters of Stein’s slippery definitions and circular sentences, the thesis shows that Stein uses the discourse of classical virtue theory to achieve her goal—breaking down …

Development Of A Moldable Composite Bone Graft Substitute Releasing Antibacterial And Osteogenic Drugs, Matthew E. Brown

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Large infected bone defects (IBD) are very complicated to treat due to their high variability; they often require multiple procedures. Bone autografts are the gold standard for treatment but have several drawbacks, such as a need for a second surgery site, limited grafting material, and donor site morbidity. The objective of this research was to develop a moldable synthetic bone grafting material capable of releasing both antimicrobial and osteogenic drugs over a clinically relevant time course for the treatment of IBDs. Current treatment methods for large IBDs require two separate procedures to treat the bone defect and the infection.

This …

Bioerodible Calcium Sulfate Bone Grafting Substitutes With Tailored Drug Delivery Capabilities, Bryan R. Orellana

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Bone regeneration or augmentation is often required prior to or concomitant with implant placement. With the limitations of many existing technologies, a biologically compatible synthetic bone grafting substitute that is osteogenic, bioerodible, and provides spacing-making functionality while acting as a drug delivery vehicle for bioactive molecules could provide an alternative to ‘gold standard’ techniques.

In the first part of this work, calcium sulfate (CS) space-making synthetic bone grafts with uniformly embedded poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE) biodegradable hydrogel particles was developed to allow controlled release of bioactive agents. The embedded gel particles’ influence on the physical and chemical characteristics of CS was …

Mucoadhesive Films For Treatment Of Local Oral Disorders: Development, Characterization And In Vivo Testing, Sandeep K. Ramineni

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

Mucoadhesive drug delivery systems which are being used from 1980’s to avoid first pass metabolism of drugs, commercially exist for only systemic drug delivery with fast erosion times (15-60 min), that may not be appropriate for local oral disorders. The goal of this research was to develop and characterize mucoadhesive films with flexibility of carrying different drugs and proteins and provide sustained release for local treatment of oral disorders.

Mucoadhesive films composed of polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and carboxymethlycellulose (CMC) were formulated with imiquimod, an immune response modifier. Problems such as solubilization of imiquimod to increase drug loading, uniformity in films and …

Clogging Of Fine Sediment Within Gravel Substrates: Macro-Analysis And Momentum-Impulse Model, Davis Huston

Theses and Dissertations--Civil Engineering

An understanding of the clogging of fine sediments within gravel substrates is advanced through the use of dimensional analysis and macro-analysis of clogging experiments in hydraulic flumes. Dimensional analysis is used to suggest that the dimensionless clogging depth can be collapsed using the original and adjusted bed-to-grain ratios, substrate porosity, roughness Reynolds number, and Peclet number. Macro-analysis followed by statistical analysis of 146 experimental test results of fine sediment deposition in gravel substrates suggests that the dimensionless clogging depth can be collapsed using the substrate porosity and roughness Reynolds number reflecting the processes of gravity settling and turbulence induced fluid …

Additives To Control Mechanical Properties And Drug Delivery Of Injectable Polymeric Scaffolds, Paul Fisher

Theses and Dissertations--Biomedical Engineering

In situ forming implants (ISIs) are popular due to their ease of use and local drug delivery potential, but they suffer from high initial drug burst, and release behavior is tied closely to solvent exchange and polymer properties. Additionally, such systems are traditionally viewed purely as drug delivery devices rather than potential scaffold materials due to their poor mechanical properties and minimal porosity. The aim of this research was to develop an injectable ISI with drug release, mechanical, and microstructural properties controlled by micro- and nanoparticle additives.

First, an injectable ISI was developed with appropriate drug release kinetics for orthopedic …

Cold Warriors In The Sunbelt: Southern Baptists And The Cold War, 1947-1989, Matthew J. Hall

Theses and Dissertations--History

Cold Warriors in the Sunbelt studies the ways in which the Cold War experience shaped the attitudes, values, and beliefs of white evangelicals in the South. It argues that for Southern Baptists in particular—the region’s most dominant religious majority—the Cold War provided a cohesive and unifying fabric that informed the world views Southern Baptists constructed, shaping how they interpreted everything from global communism, the black freedom movement, the Vietnam War, and controversies regarding the family and gender. This dissertation further contends that the Cold War experience, and the formative influence it had over several decades, laid the groundwork for the …

Determining Hillslope Diffusion Rates In A Boreal Forest: Quaternary Fluvial Terraces In The Nenana River Valley, Central Alaska Range, Laurel Anne Walker

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The subarctic boreal forest biome is predicted to experience higher magnitudes of warming than other biomes due to climate change. The effects of this warming will be pronounced in areas underlain by discontinuous permafrost where melting permafrost and distinct changes in vegetation patterns are expected. To better understand rates of hillslope diffusion in the boreal forest I have used a geomorphic process modeling approach, using data from a sequence of Quaternary fluvial terraces located in the Nenana River valley of central Alaska. I hypothesized that diffusion rates here would be slower when compared to the mid-latitudes, and faster on north …

Temporal And Spatial Characterization Of Macondo 252 Signatures In Gulf Of Mexico Shelf And Slope Sediments, Olivia P. Woodruff

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The long-term fate of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico (GOMx) following the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill has yet to be fully characterized. Elemental (% C and % N), stable isotopes (δ¹³C_organic), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecular signatures were investigated in shelf and slope sediments collected in October 2010 and 2011 to gain insight into processes affecting the distribution and fate of spilled Macondo oil. Particulate organic carbon (POC) ranged between 1.55 and 2.22 wt. % in 2010 and 0.55 and 2.06 % in 2011 while the corresponding δ¹³C_organic ranges were …

A Petrographic Characterization Of The Leatherwood Coal Bed In Eastern Kentucky, Michelle N. Johnston

Theses and Dissertations--Earth and Environmental Sciences

The Eastern Kentucky Coal Field is located in the central portion of the Appalachian Basin. The Pennsylvanian Breathitt Formation in this region is characterized by numerous sequences of bituminous coal-bearing sedimentary rocks. These coals have distinct maceral compositions due to variations in depositional environments. Coal characterization is an important method for determining conditions that influenced peat accumulation and overall depositional settings of mires.

This study focuses on the characterization of the maceral composition of the Middle Pennsylvanian-age Leatherwood coal bed. It utilizes petrographical, palynological, and geochemical analyses to describe specific depositional environments and associated peat accumulation conditions.

Petrographic analyses indicate …

Renal Humoral, Genetic And Genomic Mechanisms Underlying Spontaneous Hypertension, Jason A. Collett

Theses and Dissertations--Biology

In spite of significant progress in our knowledge of mechanisms that control blood pressure, our understanding of the pathogenesis of hypertension, its genetics, and population efforts to control blood pressure, hypertension remains the leading risk factor for mortality worldwide. It’s estimated that 1 out of every 3 adults has hypertension. Hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease and stroke, and is considered a primary or contributing cause of death to more than 2.4 million US deaths each year. Although spontaneous hypertension has been the subject of substantial research, many critical questions remain unanswered.

To investigate mechanisms underlying spontaneous …

Knowing And Being Known: Sexual Delinquency, Stardom, And Adolescent Girlhood In Midcentury American Film, Michael Todd Hendricks

Theses and Dissertations--English

Sexual delinquency marked midcentury cinematic representations of adolescent girls in 1940s, 50, and early 60s. Drawing from the history of adolescence and the context of midcentury female juvenile delinquency, I argue that studios and teen girl stars struggled for decades with publicity, censorship, and social expectations regarding the sexual license of teenage girls. Until the late 1950s, exploitation films and B movies exploited teen sex and pregnancy while mainstream Hollywood ignored those issues, struggling to promote teen girl stars by tightly controlling their private lives but depriving fan magazines of the gossip and scandals that normally fueled the machinery of …

Subsistence And Biodiversity Conservation In The Sundarban Biosphere Reserve, West Bengal, India, Priyanka Ghosh

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

My dissertation research investigates the impacts of biodiversity conservation on the local population living in the Sundarban Biosphere Reserve (SBR). More specifically, the research examines the impacts of conservation on local fishing communities living on the edge of the Sundarban Reserve Forest. In addition, it examines the causes and characteristics of conflicts between the biosphere reserve managers and the local fishing communities over the resource use of the biosphere reserve. The research project also explores the impacts of ecotourism on the local population that lives on the edge of the Sundarban Tiger Reserve (STR). STR is one of the important …

Biomechanical Effects Of Trees And Soil Thickness In The Cumberland Plateau, Michael Shouse

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Previous research in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas suggests that, on relatively thin soils overlying bedrock, individual trees locally thicken the regolith by root penetration into bedrock. However, that work was conducted mainly in areas of strongly dipping and contorted rock, where joints and bedding planes susceptible to root penetration are more common and accessible. This project extended this concept to the Cumberland Plateau, Kentucky, with flat, level-bedded sedimentary rocks. Spatial variability of soil thickness was quantified at three nested spatial scales, and statistical relationships with other potential influences of thickness were examined. In addition, soil depth beneath trees was compared …

Husserl's Dyadic Semantics, Jesse Delaney

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

Husserl’s Logical Investigations contain an apparent discrepancy in their account of meaning. They first present meanings, contra psychologism, as commonly available, reiterable, invariant, possibly valid, and independent of our “acts of meaning”. They then present meaning, almost psychologistically, as a kind of intentional experience on which all truths and other transcendent meanings depend. I offer a critical developmental study of this problem within Husserl’s semantics. I argue (1) that Husserl had reason to adopt his dyadic account of signification, (2) that this “two-sided” account shaped, and was reciprocally informed by, the two-step phenomenological method, and (3) that Husserl’s proposed resolution …

Truth And Falsehood In Plato's Sophist, Michael Oliver Wiitala

Theses and Dissertations--Philosophy

This dissertation is a study of the ontological foundations of true and false speech in Plato’s Sophist. Unlike most contemporary scholarship on the Sophist, my dissertation offers a wholistic account of the dialogue, demonstrating that the ontological theory of the “communing” of forms and the theory of true and false speech later in the dialogue entail one another.

As I interpret it, the account of true and false speech in the Sophist is primarily concerned with true and false speech about the forms. As Plato sees it, we can only make true statements about spatio-temporal beings if it …

Effectiveness Of A Farm Field Trip, Bonnie S. Sigmon

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

The annual Sigmon Farm Tour was started in 1992 as an agricultural education program where students could experience being on a farm with the goal of increasing the agricultural literacy levels of the participants. Every year the entire 4th grade student population of Rockcastle County spends the day touring the farm and participating in experiential mini lessons given by the cooperating farm service and health agencies. The program has continued for 20+ years without an evaluation as to whether it is achieving its objectives. This evaluation will also exhibit the programs strengths and weakness so it can continue to improve. …

Evaluating Sampling Strategies For Rainfall Simulation Studies And Surface Transport Of Antibiotics From Swine Manure Applied To Fescue Plots, Holly K. Enlow

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Antibiotics are commonly used in animal agriculture to treat and prevent diseases and promote growth. Unfortunately, large amounts of antibiotics are not metabolized, but instead are excreted in urine and feces. Rainfall simulation studies were used to investigate the transport of the antibiotic oxytetracycline and various constituents in runoff and the ability of alum to reduce pollutant transport. Runoff samples were collected at several points during the simulated storm event from each of four treatments: control (C), manure only (M), manure and antibiotics (MA), and manure, antibiotics and alum (MAA). Flow-weighted composite samples were created and compared to the flow …

Sequential Co-Culture Of Anaerobic Bacteria On Switchgrass In A Continuous Flow-Through Reactor For Biofuel Production, Noelia M. Elia

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Solid substrate cultivation (SSC) using lignocellulosic non-food feedstock, such as switchgrass, is an alternative for advanced biofuel production. Acetone-Butanol-Ethanol (ABE) fermentation in two stages using a sequential culture of microorganisms from the class Clostridia is an approach proposed to increase the butanol production.

The goal was to test the efficacy of a sequential culture on high solid substrate cultivation in batch and continuous cultivation, and to evaluate conditions to optimize butanol production using switchgrass as substrate.

Initial batch experiments were used to determine particle size effect, choice of solvent producer and pretreatment evaluation: The effect of particle size on gas …

Storm Hydrograph Characteristics And Curve Numbers Of Loose-Dumped Spoil In Eastern Kentucky, Mary Katherine Weatherford

Theses and Dissertations--Biosystems and Agricultural Engineering

Traditional mine reclamation often results in highly compacted lands which prohibit tree growth and survival, reduce infiltration rates, and increase runoff. In 2005, six 0.4 ha plots were constructed on the Bent Mountain surface mine in eastern KY by the University of Kentucky in accordance with Forestry Reclamation Approach’s low compaction guidelines. The plots consisted of two replications each of (1) brown weathered sandstone (BROWN), (2) gray unweathered sandstone (GRAY), (3) and a combination of both sandstones and shales (MIXED). The goal of this project was to assess the hydrologic performance on a storm event basis (monitoring years 2012-2013) of …

Calpain 5: A Non-Classical Calpain Highly Expressed In The Cns And Localized To Mitochondria And Nuclear Pml Bodies, Ranjana Singh

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

Calpain 5 (CAPN5) is a non-classical member of the calpain family. It lacks the EF-hand motif characteristic of the classical calpains, calpain 1 and 2, but retains catalytic and Ca²⁺ binding non EF domains. Tra-3, an ortholog of CAPN5, is involved in necrotic cell death in C.elegans; although specific role of CAPN5 has not been investigated in the mammalian CNS. I compared relative mRNA levels of calpains in rat CNS, which revealed that CAPN5 is the second most highly expressed calpain. We examined relative levels of CAPN5 from late embryonic day 18 to postnatal day 90 and …