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Effects Of Individual Phenotypic Variation On Predator-Prey Relationships Of Xanthid Crabs In North Inlet Estuary, South Carolina, Benjamin J. Toscano

Theses and Dissertations

Ecological communities and the biological interactions that regulate community structure are notoriously complex. To make these systems more tractable, ecologists traditionally measure and model communities at the population level, treating individuals as functionally equivalent. While this approach has yielded tremendous insight into the factors governing communities, it remains unclear whether accounting for individual-level variation could improve our capacity to predict the responses of communities to perturbation, a major goal in the midst of unprecedented rates of environmental change.

The objective of this study was to examine the magnitude of individual-level phenotypic variation in predatory crabs (family Xanthidae), and the effects …

The Effects Of Arthritis Foundation’S “Walk With Ease” Program On Cognitive Function, Ryan S. Falck

Theses and Dissertations

Physical activity (PA) is believed to improve cognitive function, particularly executive function, in older adults. However, few interventions in community settings have been performed to improve executive function through PA. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a community-based walking program on executive function in older adults (60+ years). Older adults from senior centers throughout Lexington County, SC were recruited for participation in this intervention. Exclusion criteria included currently exercising >30 minutes and exercising ≥2x/week or scoring ≤25 on the Mini-Mental State Exam. The intervention consisted of an evidenced-based community walking program, the Arthritis Foundation ’ …

The Effectiveness Of Local Anesthetic Infiltration Into A Surgical Wound Prior To Surgical Closure, Kevin J. Leblanc

Theses and Dissertations

With 73 million surgical procedures annually, acute post-operative pain management is critical to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs. Local anesthetic (LA) infiltration prior to surgical incision closure is a frequently used technique in the operating room. This thesis tested the hypothesis that the use of post-incisional infiltration of local anesthetics into surgical incisions will reduce post-operative pain as evidenced by assessing the reduction in post-operative opioids and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The first phase of this study was to examine the available literature to determine what evidence existed as to the effectiveness of local anesthetics infiltrated …

Effects Of Hiv-1 Tat Protein On Structure, Function And Trafficking Of The Dopamine Transporter, Narasimha Murty Midde

Theses and Dissertations

The alarming rise in HIV-1 associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is, at least in part, associated with HIV-1 viral proteins shed from infected macrophages, including transactivator of transcription (Tat) despite the success of anti-retroviral therapies. The dopamine (DA) system is greatly involved in the progression of HAND and is influenced by psychostimulants like cocaine. The DA transporter (DAT), a key regulator of neurocognitive functions, is a major molecular target for both Tat and cocaine. Our lab previously reported that exposure to Tat decreases DA uptake through allosteric regulation and alters cocaine binding sites in DAT.

In this research project the hypothesis …

A Multiple Imputation Approach For Semiparametric Cure Model With Interval Censored Data, Jie Zhou

Theses and Dissertations

Interval censored survival data, where the exact event time is only known to lie in an observed time interval, is commonly encountered in practice. Such data analysis may be conducted under the setting where a fraction of patients can be considered as fully recovered and will not experience the event of interest in the future; while the other patients who did not recover totally will have the outcome of interest. We proposed a semiparametric estimation method for the proportional hazard mixture cure model, which is easy to implement and computationally efficient. A multiple imputation approach based on the asymptotic normal …

Vocab4me: A Tool That Provides Vocabulary Recommendations For Publishing Linked Data, Srikar Nadipally

Theses and Dissertations

The web before linked data was a database of html documents. These documents were meant for human consumption and it was hard for machines to make sense of data in html documents. The linked data was introduced with the aim of making the web a global database of data that is machine processable. Linked Data describes a method of publishing structured data so that it can be interlinked and become more useful. Realizing the promise of linked data a lot of people started publishing linked data. But the process of publishing the huge amount of existing data is cumbersome and …

Potential Stormwater Runoff Reductions By Incorporating Low Impact Development: Rocky Branch Watershed, Columbia, Sc, Brett Sexton

Theses and Dissertations

Urbanization and increasing population are primary sources of water degradation, increased flood risks, and channel morphological instability. Impervious surface areas increase with urbanization and result in decreased infiltration capactities, increased stormwater runoff, and more rapid stormwater delivery, which in turn increase flood magnitudes and frequencies. Low impact development (LID) can provide volumetric detention storage to reduce flooding. This thesis reviews types of LID, their attributes and limitations, and examines how effectively they can abstract storm runoff volumes, reduce peak discharge, and delay stormwater arrival times for relatively frequent storm events in the Rocky Branch Watershed (RBW).

The RBW is 50% …

Ghosts Of The Horseshoe: A Mobilization Of A Critical Interactive, Richard Lee Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Critical Interactives (CIs) are designed to harness the voluntary, reality-bending excitement of discovery as afforded by play, but to do so in the context of rules that mobilize procedural rhetoric to instantiate critical awareness. Critical interactives are not just about improving lives through code or education; rather, they establish a methodology for generating more aesthetic and reflective interactive experiences. To grasp more fully the logic underpinning CIs, we need to understand the powerful nature of interactivity and outline how such interactivity involves a notion of ethics, i.e., a way of living, in and through media practice.

Ghosts of the Horseshoe …

An Investigation Of Mitochondrial Bioenergetics And The Turnover Of Succinated Proteins In The Adipocyte During Diabetes, Ross Tanis

Theses and Dissertations

We previously identified the chemical modification S-(2-succino)cysteine (2SC), which is formed when the Krebs cycle metabolite fumarate reacts with protein cysteine residues, also termed protein succination. Protein succination is increased in the adipose tissue of ob/ob and db/db mice in vivo and in 3T3-L1 adipocytes grown in high glucose in vitro. The increase in 2SC in the 3T3-L1 adipocyte occurs as a direct result of glucotoxicity and increased mitochondrial stress. We have shown that uncoupling agents, which lower mitochondrial stress, prevent the increase in succinated proteins.

In this study we examined the relationship between increased succination and mitochondrial bioenergetics in …

Genes Mediating Cardiac Remodeling During Pregnancy And The Early Post-Partum-Period In Mice, Esam Aljrbi

Theses and Dissertations

The female heart undergoes adaptive remodeling during pregnancy to compensate for the increased hemodynamic load imposed by the developing fetus. However, unlike a similar adaptive process which occurs under pathological conditions (such as hypertension and valvular heart disease) the cardiac changes observed during hypertrophy associated with pregnancy are reversible. The goal of this study is to identify changes in gene expression associated with pregnancy-induced hypertrophy. We tested the hypothesis that pregnancy-induced physiological hypertrophy has a unique genetic signature, likely due to altered hormone levels, which supports and promotes reversible remodeling. Comparing the gene expression profile associated with physiological remodeling with …

A Study Of An Uncharacterized Penicillium Species Isolated From A Hypersaline Pond In San Salvador, Bahamas, Virginia Elizabeth Hopkins

Theses and Dissertations

A large number of facultative marine fungi are unexplored (Lai et al., 2007). They exist in the hypersaline environment with reduced growth and metabolism for an indeterminable period of time and are believed to have no ecological role. Here we report the discovery of one novel facultative Penicillium species that we named Penicillium virginium. We show that when transferred from its native ecosystem, a salt pond in San Salvador, Bahamas, to a laboratory fungal growth medium, Penicillium virginium demonstrates a higher growth rate in absence of salt than in presence of salt confirming that it is a facultative marine fungus. …

From Conflict Escalation To Conflict Transformation: Actual And Potential Role Of Stories And Storytelling Among Marginalized Occupational Minorities In Southern Ethiopia, Federica De Sisto

International Journal of African Development

Throughout Ethiopia there are minority groups of craft workers and hunters that are excluded from the mainstream society. Pottery is fundamental for carrying water and making food, hoes and iron plough shares are essential for agriculture; cotton cloth is indispensable for clothing; leather products are used for transporting grain or storing. And yet, the specialized workers who produce these items have such a low status that many of them are still considered to be “not human” by their surrounding majorities. The phenomenon of marginalised occupational minorities is so widespread in the country that Levine described it as a “pan-Ethiopian cultural …

The Fall Of American Soft Diplomacy In Ethiopia: A Victim Of Its Own Success, Assefa Mehretu

International Journal of African Development

Ethiopia’s soft diplomatic history with the United States goes back to the dawn of the twentieth century when King Menelik in 1905 responded favorably to the overtures by the United States for official relations between the two countries when Ethiopia was the only independent country in Africa. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the benchmarks of a successful engagement that had lasted for over seventy years only to suffer reversals from critical events both internal and external. A brief historical analysis will be rendered to highlight the role of the United States in the modernization of Ethiopia and …

Environment Stress And Increased Vulnerability To Impoverishment In Rural Ethiopia: Case Studies Evidence, Tesfaye Teklu

International Journal of African Development

Integral to the global trends in climate change, there are slow but notable long-term changes in level of weather (e.g. slow increase in temperature and decline in rainfall) accompanied with increased weather extremes such as increased frequency and intensity of drought in Ethiopia. These changes are occurring over large geographical area including the most populous and arable highlands. Rural households in these environmentally stressed areas employ multiple strategies to manage environmental risk. However, as evident from the empirical regularities below, vulnerability to poverty persists because of households’ diminished capacity to mitigate and cope with frequent occurrence of weather extremes. The …

Characterization Of Ptls-Like Phenotypes In A Conditional Rai1 Transgenic Mouse Model And Study Of Rai1 Molecular Function, Lei Cao

Open Access Dissertations

Structural variants are abundant in the genomes of phenotypically normal populations. However, some rare structural variants are found to be disease causing. Potocki–Lupski syndrome (PTLS) is a genomic disorder associated with an 3 Mb duplication in 17p11.2. Clinical features include leanness, intellectual disability, autistic features and developmental deficits. RAI1 gene dosage is associated with the PTLS phenotypes. To understand where and when Rai1 overexpression is detrimental, we generated a mouse that over-expresses Rai1 conditionally in forebrain neurons (I-Rai1). Phenotypic characterization of I-Rai1 mice showed leanness, hyperactivity, and impaired learning and memory ability compared with wild-type littermates. Rai1 overexpression is controlled …

Quaternary Growth History Of Glover's Reef, Belize: Insights Into Reef Distribution, Ecological Change, And Pleistocene Sea Level, Noelle J. Van Ee

Open Access Dissertations

Glover’s Reef is a coral atoll located outside of the Belize Barrier Reef, 30 km from the coast of southern Belize. A single-channel seismic survey of approximately 111 km of grid lines reveals that almost 90% of the surveyed lagoon patch reefs sit on Pleistocene topographic highs. In contrast to previous theories that emphasize the role of karst processes during sea-level low stands in creating topography, records from ten rotary cores into modern reef deposits indicated that the Pleistocene topographic highs are comprised of in situ reef facies: “Reefs sit on reefs”. Although Pleistocene reef deposits formed the template for …

Functional Roles Of Syngap1 In Early Embryonic Development Of Zebrafish, Bing Zou

Open Access Theses

De novo mutations of SYNGAP1 (Synaptic GTPase Activating Protein) have been found in human patients with intellectual disability, epilepsy and autism. Consistent with an important role for SYNGAP1 in nervous system development, mice heterozygous for SYNGAP1 loss-of-function mutations exhibit disrupted behavior and cognition. Studies in mice have focused on the role of SYNGAP1 at excitatory post-synapses even though SYNGAP1 is expressed prior to synaptogenesis. To study the potential roles of SYNGAP1 during early developmental stages, we carried out a syngap1 morpholino study in zebrafish and found that knockdown of syngap1 causes reduced brain size, increased cell death in the brain …

Clemson Commencement Program, August 2014, Clemson University

Clemson Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Who's Lying About Not Eating Meat?, Harold Herzog

'Animals and Us' Blog Posts

New research says some of us eat more meat than we claim. Find out who.

Rn-Bs Online Students' Perceptions Of Presence Using A Virtual Meeting Room, Michelle A. Hall

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Abstract Online nursing education has gained in popularity with over 400 RN-BSN programs in the U.S. Online learning allows students to remain in their communities and to continue working while advancing their education. The drawback for many students is the isolating nature of a totally online education. Students can feel disconnected and isolated in the asynchronous format. Students in an online RN-BS program at a large Northwestern University shared their sense of isolation and need for communication with the instructor in the totally online format. It was suggested that the use of a Virtual Meeting Room (VMR) would address this …

Effects Of Pde4 Pathway Inhibition In Rat Experimental Stroke, Fan Yang, Rachita K. Sumbria, Dong Xue, Chuanhui Yu, Dan He, Shuo Liu, Annlia Paganini-Hill, Mark J. Fisher

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

PURPOSE: The first genomewide association study indicated that variations in the phosphodiesterase 4D (PDE4D) gene confer risk for ischemic stroke. However, inconsistencies among the studies designed to replicate the findings indicated the need for further investigation to elucidate the role of the PDE4 pathway in stroke pathogenesis. Hence, we studied the effect of global inhibition of the PDE4 pathway in two rat experimental stroke models, using the PDE4 inhibitor rolipram. Further, the specific role of the PDE4D isoform in ischemic stroke pathogenesis was studied using PDE4D knockout rats in experimental stroke. METHODS: Rats were subjected to either the …

The Role Of Ape/Ref-1 In Hepatocellular Carcinoma Progression, Zhen Yang, Sun Yang, Bobbye J. Misner, Feng Liu-Smith, Frank L. Meyskens

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is responsible for a third of the estimated cancer-caused deaths worldwide. To deeply understand the mechanisms controlling HCC progression is of primary importance to develop new approaches for treatment. Apurinic/apyrimidinic endonuclease-1/redox effector factor 1 (APE/Ref-1) has been uncovered elevated in various types of cancer, including HCC. Additionally, HCC progression is always correlated with elevated copper (Cu). Our previous data demonstrated that Cu treatment initiated APE/Ref-1 expression and its downstream targets. Therefore, we hypothesized that APE/Ref-1 may be involved in HCC progression through mediating the effect of Cu to its signaling cascades. Following different treatments, human HCC cell …

Phonetics Instruction Improves Learners' Perception Of L2 Sounds, Elizabeth M. Kissling

Latin American, Latino and Iberian Studies Faculty Publications

Explicit phonetics instruction can help second language (L2) learners to moderately improve their pronunciation, but less is known about how the instruction affects learners’ perception, even though there is evidence that perception and pronunciation are related. This study provided phonetics instruction to students (n = 46) studying Spanish as a foreign language and measured the resulting change in their perception of eight target phones as compared with a control group (n = 41). Perception was assessed with discrimination tests immediately following instruction and three weeks later. Results indicated that the instruction conferred a small advantage in the delayed …

Excitatory Post Synaptic Potentials In Dendritic Spines On Basal Dendrites Of L5 Pyramidal Neurons, Erika A. Hoyos-Ramirez

Doctoral Dissertations

Excitatory postsynaptic potentials (EPSPs) occur when the neurotransmitter glutamate binds to postsynaptic receptors located on specialized/pleomorphic structures called dendritic spines, which are attached to dendrites through spine necks. These potentials constitute the input signals that neurons must process in order to maintain proper brain function, but due to the small size of spines, direct measurement of these potentials at their site of origin has remained elusive. In this study, we combine voltage-sensitive dye recording with glutamate-uncaging to directly measure the amplitude and duration of unitary EPSPs in single spines in cortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons from mouse brain slices. Our …

Synchronicity, Duality And Immortality In Daoist Thought, Rachel See

JCCC Honors Journal

The history of Daoist expression can at times seem segmented and contradictory, making it challenging to achieve a truly holistic understanding of the discourse. However, in all the variety of interpretation regarding the Dao there exists an unchanged and carefully constructed cosmology. In the article, this cosmology is presented as a discourse on the nature of duality. Because the nature of the Dao is absolute unity, a chaotic and changing existence such as we have must necessarily be created by the movements between opposing forces. It is the interplay of all duality that creates a material world of day and …

Other: Beauvoir’S Existential Feminism, Joy Mosier-Dubinsky

JCCC Honors Journal

Simone De Beauvoir considered The Second Sex to be more of a “reflection,” rather than a war-cry or how-to book for women to follow. The existentialism it contained is there simply because Beauvoir herself identified with the approach of experience being the common core of self-discovery. In truth, existentialism is quite possibly the only school of philosophical thought that adequately allows for an in-depth examination of what being a woman means. The language of existentialism is, in fact, the only approach that proves useful in approaching a discussion of feminism. While Beauvoir’s influences and interests tended toward an existential view, …

Heart Disease: Causes, Prevention, And Current Research, Deeanna Kelley

JCCC Honors Journal

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The causes and prevention of heart disease have been studied for years, and new information is emerging. For the last several decades, saturated fat and cholesterol have been thought to be major contributors to coronary artery disease, and therefore people are typically advised to strictly limit these in their diet. However, recent studies are indicating that it may not be wise to strictly limit the intake of dietary saturated fatty acids or replace them with polyunsaturated fatty acids when taking other health conditions into consideration. Depending on a …

Cc2d1a Regulates Human Intellectual And Social Function As Well As Nf-Κb Signaling Homeostasis., M. Chiara Manzini, Lan Xiong, Ranad Shaheen, Dimira E Tambunan, Stefania Di Costanzo, Vanessa Mitisalis, +15 Additional Authors

Pharmacology and Physiology Faculty Publications

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability (ID) are often comorbid, but the extent to which they share common genetic causes remains controversial. Here, we present two autosomal-recessive "founder" mutations in the CC2D1A gene causing fully penetrant cognitive phenotypes, including mild-to-severe ID, ASD, as well as seizures, suggesting shared developmental mechanisms. CC2D1A regulates multiple intracellular signaling pathways, and we found its strongest effect to be on the transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). Cc2d1a gain and loss of function both increase activation of NF-κB, revealing a critical role of Cc2d1a in homeostatic control of intracellular signaling. Cc2d1a knockdown in neurons …

D-Beta-Hydroxybutyrate Extends Lifespan In , Clare Edwards, John Canfield, Neil Copes, Muhammad Rehan, David Lipps, Patrick C. Bradshaw

Molecular Biosciences Faculty Publications

The ketone body beta-hydroxybutyrate (βHB) is a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor and has been shown to be protective in many disease models, but its effects on aging are not well studied. Therefore we determined the effect of βHB supplementation on the lifespan ofC. elegans nematodes. βHB supplementation extended mean lifespan by approximately 20%. RNAi knockdown of HDACs hda-2 or hda-3 also increased lifespan and further prevented βHB-mediated lifespan extension. βHB-mediated lifespan extension required the DAF-16/FOXO and SKN-1/Nrf longevity pathways, the sirtuin SIR-2.1, and the AMP kinase subunit AAK-2. βHB did not extend lifespan in a genetic model of dietary restriction …

Cyclic Di-Gmp-Dependent Signaling Pathways In The Pathogenic Firmicute Listeria Monocytogenes, Li-Hong Chen, Volkan K. Köseoğlu, Zehra T. Güvener, Tanya Myers-Morales, Joseph M. Reed, Sarah E. F. D'Orazio, Kurt W. Miller, Mark Gomelsky

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

We characterized key components and major targets of the c-di-GMP signaling pathways in the foodborne pathogen Listeria monocytogenes, identified a new c-di-GMP-inducible exopolysaccharide responsible for motility inhibition, cell aggregation, and enhanced tolerance to disinfectants and desiccation, and provided first insights into the role of c-di-GMP signaling in listerial virulence. Genome-wide genetic and biochemical analyses of c-di-GMP signaling pathways revealed that L. monocytogenes has three GGDEF domain proteins, DgcA (Lmo1911), DgcB (Lmo1912) and DgcC (Lmo2174), that possess diguanylate cyclase activity, and three EAL domain proteins, PdeB (Lmo0131), PdeC (Lmo1914) and PdeD (Lmo0111), that possess c-di-GMP phosphodiesterase activity. Deletion of all phosphodiesterase …