Digital Commons Network^™

Youth Artivism: Fostering Civic Engagement Through Public Art, Anjuli Solanki, Alexis Kane Speer, Helen Huang

Journal of Urban Culture Research

The Sustainable Thinking and Expression on Public Space (STEPS) Initiative's Emerging ARTivist program provides a platform for young people from some of Canada's most diverse and low-income communities to animate public spaces in their communities. This program has not only improved the urban experiences of local City of Toronto residents, but has built the capacity of youth as civic leaders engaged in urban design issues; empowered to transform the their urban environment. Alongside their award-winning youth led arts collective (the Toronto Emerging ARTivists), the STEPS Initiative has led the installation of several large-scale permanent art, including the World's Tallest Mural, …

The Creation Of An Integrated Set Of Musical Instruments For Mentally Disabled Children, Tepika Rodsakan, Bussakorn Binson

Journal of Urban Culture Research

The research aimed at creating an integrated set of musical instruments for mentally disabled children as off-the-shelf instruments may not always be suitable in terms of weight, size, shapes and may entail complicated playing methods. Additionally, four Thai songs were composed for this set of instruments and the results in terms of perception and reactions to the elements of music, i.e., rhythm, melody, and sound were examined. The resultant set of instruments can be described as follows: The set takes the form of a towable rectangular cart stylized as a colorful, playful animal and is comprised of five different types …

Manipulation: Jan Švankmajer's Animation Technique And Criticism On Civilization, Haruka Kawakami

Journal of Urban Culture Research

"Manipulation" is an important concept in the films of Jan Švankmajer, an influential Czech surrealist filmmaker. As a surrealist artist who aims for the liberation of humans from any kind of restraint, he insists that people should resist all kinds of societal manipulations. His insistent exposure of manipulation can be seen as a protest against its concealment as a convention. However, the idea of manipulation has more ambiguous meanings in his films. Švankmajer brings inorganic objects to life through careful manipulations, such as stop-motion animation, while applying the same techniques to humans to disrupt their identities. Consequently, both humans and …

Density Functional Theory Modeling Of It-Stacking And Electrophilic Donor-Acceptor Interactions With Application To Therapeutic Targeting Of Zinc-Finger Proteins, Patricia Beall Lutz

Chemistry & Biochemistry Theses & Dissertations

Several viruses, including viruses that cause cancer, contain conserved zinc finger (ZF) proteins that are essential for viral reproduction, making them attractive drug targets for cancer and viral treatment. ZFs are small protein domains that have Zn²⁺ tetrahedrally coordinated to at least 2 Cys and His. They form three classes of ZFs depending on the amino acid ligands, CCHH, CCCH, and CCCC. Zn²⁺ is stable towards redox reactions; however, the Cys thiolates are redox active. Oxidation of the Cys thiolates release Zn²⁺, and the ZF loses its tertiary structure and can no longer bind DNA or …

Sacred Heart University Magazine, Summer 2014, Sacred Heart University

Sacred Heart University Magazine

No abstract provided.

Innovative Financing For Renewable Energy, Richard L. Ottinger, John Bowie

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Carbon pollution from fossil-fuel combustion is the largest contributor to climate change worldwide. Renewable energy can materially help to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and their principal cause, worldwide dependence on carbon fuels. If our goal is to remain at or below 1990 numbers, then fossil fuels must be phased out of the global energy portfolio.

While other factors such as energy inefficiencies in buildings, appliances and transportation, for example; deforestation, farm animal excretion, pipeline leakage, HFCs for refrigeration, black soot and changes in land use also contribute to increased emissions, finding new, innovative ways to empower people to seize …

Cold Inducible Rna Binding Protein Is Disrupted In Er+Pr+Her2- Tumors, Grace Anyango Okello

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) control gene expression post-transcriptionally by targeting mRNAs for translational activation, repression, or degradation. To date, aberrant expression of RBPs and miRNAs has been observed in many types of human cancers. We have shown the overexpression of Cold Inducible RNA binding protein (CIRP) in human breast cancer cell lines as compared to nontumorigenic and nontransformed breast epithelial cells. Others have shown cytoplasmic CIRP to be upregulated in a subset of breast tumors. Little is known about CIRP targets or its role in breast cancer. RBP Human antigen R (HuR), whose cytoplasmic localization is associated …

Bringing Dark Money Into The Light: 501(C)(4) Organizations, Gift Tax, And Disclosure, Tyler J. Kassner

UC Law Business Journal

Political speech funneled through 501(c)(4) organizations and funded by anonymous contributions is not just legal: It’s rampant. Could applying the gift tax to 501(c)(4) contributions resolve a legal grey area while curbing this anonymous political speech? Legally, expanding the gift tax would appear to be a legitimate option. It would be consistent with prior tax expansions and it is not abnormal for tax incentives to influence taxpayer behavior. The problem is not whether Congress could expand the tax, but whether it should. Applying the gift tax to 501(c)(4) contributions may very well curtail anonymous spending by c4s, but it would …

The Uncertain Scope Of Revised Article 9'S Statutory Prohibition Of Exculpatory Breach Of Peace Clauses, Michael Korybut

UC Law Business Journal

What length may an agent for a secured lender with a lien on a debtor’s personal property go to in order to repossess the debtor property to satisfy the debt? Wombles Charters, a 1990 New York case decided under Article 9 of the Uniform Commercial Code, was the first in a trilogy to condone the use of exculpatory repossession clauses allowing actions that would otherwise amounted to a breach of the peace. In 2001, Article 9 received a makeover that many presumed would invalidate Wombles carve outs yet, there is virtually no case law on the subject. This has led …

Place, Not Race: Affirmative Action And The Geography Of Educational Opportunity, Sheryll Cashin

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Ultimately, I argue that one important response to the demise of race-based affirmative action should be to incorporate the experience of segregation into diversity strategies. A college applicant who has thrived despite exposure to poverty in his school or neighborhood deserves special consideration. Those blessed to come of age in poverty-free havens do not. I conclude that use of place, rather than race, in diversity programming will better approximate the structural disadvantages many children of color actually endure, while enhancing the possibility that we might one day move past the racial resentment that affirmative action engenders. While I propose substituting …

Rescuing Dependent Children From The Perils Of Attachment Disorder: Analyzing The Legislative Intent Of California Welfare And Institutions Code Section 361.5, Angelina Clay

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This Note critically examines the effects of California Welfare & Institutions Code section 361.5 and reunification services in juvenile dependency proceedings. The author describes attachment theory and the deleterious effects that may result when children form insecure or disordered attachments, as often happens in the context of juvenile dependency. The author posits that, based on the best interests of the child standard, attachment theory provides a reasonable ground for shortening the reunification period and severing parental rights sooner than the California statute currently provides.

Sfa Gardens Newsletter, Summer 2014, Sfa Gardens, Stephen F. Austin State University

SFA Gardens Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Cortical Injury Modulates The Pain Pathway Partially Through Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase, Bv Daiutolo, Cm Macolino, Al Tyburski, Mb Elliot

Department of Neurosurgery Faculty Papers

Introduction

Headache is a highly prevalent symptom in all severities of traumatic brain injury (TBI), and it is one of the most common symptoms of post-traumatic headache. Post-traumatic headache (PTH) remains the most common chronic pain syndrome within the TBI patient population¹. Mild and moderate forms of TBI are more prevalent than severe forms, but it is currently believed that PTH occurrence is not related to the severity of TBI¹. Despite being a common symptom following injury, little is known about the pathogenesis of post-traumatic headache. This is partly due to a lack in preclinical animal …

Mr. Perfect, Ruosi Han

Theses

This graduate thesis film, Mr. Perfect is a 21-minute feature film. As the progress of economic, science and education in modern society, women's lives are changing. Their become to be more ambitious in career; they started to try different ways of division of work in family; they get higher vision for life, especially for marriage. However, in such a fast-paced, multi-tasked, high-pressure, and high-energy environment, successful businesswomen become very tired and begin to lose themselves in the life of substance and money unconsciously. Under certain situations, a great number of them still remain single to an old age after achieving …

Accelerated Object Tracking With Local Binary Features, Breton Lawrence Minnehan

Theses

Multi-object tracking is a problem with wide application in modern computing. Object tracking is leveraged in areas such as human computer interaction, autonomous vehicle navigation, panorama generation, as well as countless other robotic applications. Several trackers have demonstrated favorable results for tracking of single objects. However, modern object trackers must make significant tradeoffs in order to accommodate multiple objects while maintaining real-time performance. These tradeoffs include sacrifices in robustness and accuracy that adversely affect the results.

This thesis details the design and multiple implementations of an object tracker that is focused on computational efficiency. The computational efficiency of the tracker …

Energetics Of An Inertia Coupled And Simple Rimless Wheel, Saloni Motichandra Vardhan

Theses

It has been shown by others that it is theoretically possible for a walking robot to achieve a perfectly efficient gait. The simplest model capable of highly efficient walking motions is the Inertial Coupled Rimless (ICR) Wheel. To examine the dynamics of the ICR wheel, two related studies were done.

To determine the lowest energy cost for the ICR wheel we examined one mechanism of energy loss, non-elastic deformation of the elastic elements. Quasi-static experimental tension tests determined that the minimal energy loss for our system was 8:4x10�4 Joules per cycle. A more realistic, high frequency test, showed that the …

Optimal Strategies For Sustainable Household Organic Material Management In The City Of Rochester, Ny, Joseph Cameron Hebda

Theses

The purpose of this research was to explore the benefits and challenges of implementing a sustainable system for managing household organic material (HHOM) in the city of Rochester, NY. Elsewhere in the United States and the world, HHOM (i.e. excess food, yard matter, and compostable paper) has been increasingly diverted from landfills to organic waste-to-energy and composting pathways (European Environment Agency 2013a; Skumatz and Freeman 2006). Landfill diversion is enabled by municipal projects that support source separation of HHOM out of the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream, thereby extracting valuable organic resources for higher-value processing (NYSDEC 2010). This has been …

Time Course Of Cocaine-Induced Behavioral And Neurochemical Plasticity, Victoria Lutgen, Linghai Kong, Kristen S. Kau, Aric Madayag, John Mantsch, David A. Baker

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Factors that result in augmented reinstatement, including increased withdrawal period duration and high levels of cocaine consumption, may provide insight into relapse vulnerability. The neural basis of augmented reinstatement may arise from more pronounced changes in plasticity required for reinstatement and/or the emergence of plasticity expressed only during a specific withdrawal period or under specific intake conditions. In this study, we examined the impact of withdrawal period duration and cocaine intake on the magnitude of cocaine-primed reinstatement and extracellular glutamate in the nucleus accumbens, which has been shown to be required for cocaine-primed reinstatement. Rats were assigned to self-administer under …

Tillamook County Waste Disposal Technology Assessment, Arvind Kumar, Ryan Menze, Joe Smith, Jerrod Thomas

Engineering and Technology Management Student Projects

Tillamook County is a rural county straddling the Northern Oregon Coast Range with the majority of the local economy based around agriculture, timber, tourism, and fishing. As part of Tillamook County’s mission statement, they strive“to enhance the quality of life for its citizens by promoting and preserving public health and safety, maintaining a stable economy, encouraging wise use of resources, and providing services in the most efficient and cost-effective manner possible.” To that end, Tillamook County, Tillamook County Economic Development Council (TCEDC), Portland State University, Oregon State University, and Tetra Tech have undergone an evaluation and technology assessment process to …

Child Labor, The Wealth Paradox, And Common Forest Management In Bolivia, Randall Bluffstone

Economics Faculty Publications and Presentations

That wealthier developing country households may rely more heavily on child labor than poorer households has come to be known as the “wealth paradox.” This paper tests for a wealth paradox with regard to common natural resource wealth by analyzing the relationship between child labor and improved common property forest management (CPFM) in Bolivia. Data are analyzed using several econometric methods and it is found that households experiencing more effective CPFM generally use more forest-based and total child labor. The analysis also confirms others’ findings of a private wealth paradox with regard to private land and extends the analysis to …

A Survey Of Urban Agriculture Organizations And Businesses In The Us And Canada: Preliminary Results, Nathan Mcclintock, Mike Simpson

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Publications and Presentations

This report summarizes the results of an online survey, conducted during February and March 2013, of 251 groups involved with urban agriculture (UA) projects in approximately 84 cities in the US and Canada. This is only a preliminary report. As such, we present descriptive statistics rather than a interpretive analysis of the survey responses. Furthermore, it is important to recognize that these results are not necessarily representative of all urban agriculture businesses and organizations across North America. Nevertheless, these results point to certain trends and patterns that offer rich opportunities for further inquiry.

Our preliminary results reveal that the UA …

Survey Of Illinois Law: Environmental Law, Kyle P. Carlson, Alison Hayden Kehrer, Emily N. Masalski

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sporadic Cjd And Retinitis Punctata Albescansa Case Report And Literature Review, Quratulain Khan, Yusra Hanif Khan

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Introduction Sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) is the most common form of CJD causing 85% of all cases. Various phenotypes of sCJD have been identified including Heidenhain variant which has early and predominant visual symptoms with most pronounced neuropathological changes in occipital lobe. Methodology. We are reporting a case of sCJD with Retinitis Punctata Albescens (RPA), a variant of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), which to our knowledge has not been reported before. A 51 year old, married, right handed, Pakistani woman presented with dementia and gait problems for 3 months and visual hallucinations for 2 months. Ophthalmological examination 3 years prior to …

Analyzing Navajo Discourse: Investigating Form And Function Of Intonational Units In Referential Discourse, Michele Kiser

Linguistics ETDs

Extensive research has been conducted on the Navajo verb complex (prefix morphology) and specific constructions (i.e. relative clause structure, subject-object-inversion), but to date the proposed establishment of a method to analyze actual discourse from a functional or usage based approach has not occurred. The goal of this study is twofold. The first is to establish a method to analyze spoken Navajo using the Intonation Units (IU) as a measure as it occurs in natural, uninterrupted speech, according to the parameters outlined by Chafe (1994), and show the influence of the morphological complexity of Navajo on the size of the IU. …

The Civil War Letters Of Andrew Lucas Hunt, Part 2

Jackson Purchase Historical Society Journal Archive

The Civil War Letters of Andrew Lucas Hunt, Part 2

Compiled and transcribed by Dieter C. Ullrich

The Effects Of Teachers' Teaching Styles And Experience On Elementary Students' Mathematical Achievement, Angela Stanford

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this causal comparative study was to determine if a statistically significant difference existed in the mathematical achievement of elementary students in classrooms led by teachers with different dominant teaching styles (Grasha, 1996) and varying years of teaching experience. Participants in this study included 29 upper elementary (grades 3-5) classroom teachers in an urban public school system located in Central Arkansas. Two one-way ANOVAs were used to compare the Arkansas Augmented Benchmark Examination's (AABE) mathematics scores of 855 students in upper elementary classrooms of teachers with varied teaching styles and years of teaching experience. A two-variable Chi-square analysis …

A Multiple Case Study Investigating The Influence Of Homeschool Parents' Perceptions Of Success On The Learning Environment, William Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this instrumental multiple case study was to understand how a select group of homeschool parents in the U.S. defines success as it pertains to their children's education, and how their ideas about success influence the learning environment that they established. The study examined the cases of eight homeschool families from the perspective of Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. I used Tomlinson's methodology of differentiated instruction as the conceptual framework, and I examined the cases with particular emphasis on this framework's primary pedagogical constructs of content, process, and product. I collected data through an open-ended questionnaire, interviews with the parents, …

The Evaluation Of Essential Oils For Antimicrobial Activity, Dallas Rohraff, Roderick Morgan

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

The emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria is of pressing concern as health care associated infections kill 99,000 people a year in the U.S. alone. Researchers are currently looking for new antibiotics in alternative sources. Essential oils are traditionally known to have medical benefits, and cinnamon, tea tree, and eucalyptus oils have shown antibiotic activity. Initial testing via standard microbiological protocols found minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values of 0.039% for cinnamon, 1.25% for tea tree, and 0.313% for eucalyptus. All three oils proved effective against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria. Cinnamon bark oil, Cinnamomum cassia Blume, appeared most effective. More thorough …

Diet Of Kit-Rearing Female Martens In Northern Michigan, Angela Kujawa, Paul Keenlance, Joseph Jacquot

Student Summer Scholars Manuscripts

The American marten (Martes americana) is a small, slender-bodied, carnivorous mammal found throughout the northern portion of North America. Our study focused on the populations in the Manistee National Forest in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and the Hiawatha National Forest in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Food availability is a large limiting factor to American marten populations due to their high metabolism and low fat storage. This can be especially important for lactating females that may have up to five kits to sustain. Kit-rearing female martens were fitted with radio collars and radio telemetry was used to track them to den sites. Scat, …

Habitat Effects On Chick-A-Dee Call Complexity, Jacqueline Renee Lynch

Open Access Theses

Past studies on the communication systems of species in urban environments (such as Common Starlings (Sturnus vulgaris), nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos Brehm), brown-headed cowbirds ( Molothrus ater), Southern brown tree frogs (Litoria ewingii )) have shown multiple ways that species change vocal signaling behavior to adjust to urban habitats (e.g. alarm calls and singing). This study further investigates the changes in signaling in relation to the chick-a-dee call of the Carolina chickadee (Poecile carolinensis). A secondary goal of this study was to compare both the amount of information and rate of calling across …