Digital Commons Network^™

Reforming California Sentencing Practice And Policy: Are We There Yet?, Michael Vitiello

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Toward Improved Discoverability Of Scholarly Content: Cross-Sector Collaboration Essentials, Mary M. Somerville, Lettie Y. Conrad

University Libraries Librarian and Staff Articles and Papers

By way of follow-up to earlier work in understanding and improving discoverability of scholarly content, this article reports on recent data and reflections that led to clearer definitions of discovery and discoverability, as well as deeper cross-sector collaborations on standards, transparency, metadata, and new forms of partnerships. Recent advances in discoverability are also described - from enhanced librarybased web-scale searching to serving researcher needs through the Open Researcher and Contributor ID (ORCID) registry. The article points to a 2014 SAGE white paper that presents in greater detail opportunities for wider collaboration among libraries, publishers, service providers, and researchers in the …

Characterization Of Small Conductance Calcium-Activated Potassium Channels In A Human Lens Epithelium Cell Line (B3), Wedad Ali Saqar

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Small conductance calcium-activated potassium (SK) channels belong to the family of K+ channels. They play a significant role in cell volume regulation and in lens homeostasis, and thus are associated with cataract formation. This study was designed to demonstrate the presence of the four different isoforms of SK channels (SK1, SK2, SK3, and SK4) in human lens epithelial (HLE)-B3 cell line using Western blot (WB), immunofluorescence (IF), and reverse transcriptase coupled to the polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Cataract formation involves SK-mediated K+ loss and gain of Na+ ions by lens cells. Further, it has been shown in previous studies that …

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Education And Human Performance, Spring 2014, Terrie Sypolt

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, History, Spring 2014, Richard Harrison

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Inactivation Of At1a Receptors Attenuate Lactate Accumulation And Improve Cardiac Performance And Acid-Base Homeostasis During Endurance Exercise, Ahmad Mohammed Alhajoj

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Angiotensin Type 1 (AT1) receptors are involved in cardiovascular pathology. Losartan, the AT1 receptor blocker, in combination with exercise has been shown to be effective in improving cardiac performance. The goal of the study was to investigate the role of AT1a receptors on cardiac function, and exercise tolerance in response to aerobic exercise using AT1a receptor knockout (AT1aKO) mice. An exercise wheel system was used for the exercise paradigm. Male (C57BL/6) wild type (WT) and AT1aKO mice were randomly assigned to four groups: WT control (n=6), WT exercise (WTEX, n=8), AT1a KO (KO) control (n=5), and AT1a KO exercise (KOEX, …

Destruction Of Chlorinated Hydrocarbons By Zero-Valent Zinc And Bimetallic Zinc Reductants In Bench-Scale Investigations, Christopher Scott Cushman

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Many remediation technologies have been developed to treat extensive subsurface contamination by chlorinated hydrocarbons (CHCs). One such technology is a permeable reactive barrier (PRB), which contains reactive media that acts as an electron donor in order to reduce CHCs. Extensive effort has been placed on finding the most suitable reactive media in PRBs, with zero-valent iron (ZVI) being the most commonly utilized media. However, zero-valent zinc (ZVZ) is a promising replacement for ZVI in PRBs as it will more readily donate electrons, resulting in more rapid degradation of CHCs. In addition, amending a secondary/catalytic metal to primary metal surface can …

The Camkkβ Inhibitor Sto-609 Causes Artefacts In Ca2+ Imaging And Selectively Inhibits Bkca In Mouse Carotid Body Type I Cells, Jennifer G. Jurcsisn

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It has previously been reported that AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) may be critical for hypoxic chemotransduction in carotid body type I cells (Wyatt et al, 2007). This study sought to determine the importance of the regulatory upstream kinase of AMPK, CamKKβ, in the acute response to hypoxia in isolated mouse type I cells.

Initial studies indicated several previously unreported artefacts associated with using the CamKKβ inhibitor STO-609 and calcium imaging techniques. Strong STO-609 autofluorescence meant that Fura-2 could not be used and X-Rhod-1 imaging revealed that STO-609 quenched fluorescence even in the absence of intracellular Ca2+. The whole-cell configuration of …

A Feminist Oversight: The Reproductive Rights Of Women In Prisons, Rebecca Burgan

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Historically, the value of a woman has been based on her ability to produce healthy and successful (male) children, leaving little room for worth based on intelligence or other achievements. Second wave feminists made significant strides for women's reproductive choices, acknowledging that motherhood is not the only way for a woman to have fulfillment or value. While women throughout the United States have more access, opportunity, and choice, women in United States prisons have not benefited from the same advancements in reproductive freedom. The denial of women's reproductive freedoms in prison can be attributed to the high costs of pregnancy …

American Insanity: The Demise Of The Elite And A Critical/Historical Analysis Of The Dsm, Tiffany B. Hunter

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The International Classification of Diseases, Sixth Edition (ICD-6; World Health Organization, 1949) is a universal health care management tool for examining the pathology of diseases and how to properly diagnose and treat said diseases. The birth of the first edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I; American Psychiatric Association, 1952) is the product of the ICD and the American Medico-psychological Association and first delivered shortly after the end of the Second World War. As per request of the American Armed Forces, which were ill-equipped to manage the surge of mental disorders after the war, the need …

Early Increase Of Cd11c In Human Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells In The Presence Of A/California/07/2009 (H1n1pdm), Amber M. Braddock

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Influenza A continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality. Vaccine production time, viral antigenic variability and low vaccine efficacy contribute to the annual pandemics and seasonal epidemics. A better understanding of human immune responses to influenza A could result in more effective vaccines. Dendritic cells (DCs) play an important role in the initiation of immune responses. Populations of B lymphocytes secrete protective antibodies but the role of different populations of B cells in the protective response is unknown. In this thesis we developed assays to determine subclasses of influenza specific antibodies. Mononuclear cells were assessed using flow cytometry to identify …

The Modulatory Role Of Circulating Microvesicles In Endothelial Progenitor Cell Function Is Altered In T2dm, Hala Mustafa Ammar

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Circulating microvesicles (cMVs) are the extracellular MVs released from the cells in the blood and on the vascular wall. Our previous study demonstrates that cMVs of diabetic mouse are detrimental to endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs), which are known to be very important for maintaining normal endothelial function and structure. In this study, we compared the levels of circulating EPCs and EPC-derived MVs (EPC-MVs) in diabetic and healthy subjects. Also, the migration ability, apoptosis rate and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production of EPCs cultured from diabetic and healthy subjects were determined. More importantly, we evaluated whether cMVs from healthy subjects (ch-MVs) …

Development And Application Of An Analyst Process Model For A Search Task Scenario, Hendrickson K. Karl

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A key intelligence analyst role in open source search is the transformation of data into understanding. Better comprehension is needed of how new tools impact the analyst search process. The use of function analysis, heuristic analysis, and a usability study combine to provide the basis for developing an analyst process model, which affords the researcher with a structure to measure the impact of tools and expertise in performing a search task. The experiment utilized representative analyst scenario tasks in comparing baseline tools with the Geospatial Open Search Toolkit (GOST). The results show error rates increase when using a new toolset …

Characterization Of A Utica Shale Reflector Package Using Well Log Data And Amplitude Variation With Offset Analysis, Andrei Butterfield

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Using well logs and AVO gradient analysis, I identify and characterize a package of reflectors associated with the Utica Shale from vibroseis data collected by Wright State University at the Gabor Gas Storage field near Canton, Ohio. I also correlate TOC measurements from wells to densities and velocities at the same depths. On the seismic data, I interpret prominent reflections from the top and bottom of the Utica Shale and an intra-Utica reflector of varying frequency content associated with a velocity/density low in well log data. I investigate the possibility that the lateral variation in frequency content and change in …

Modeling Physical And Hydraulic Properties Of Disordered Porous Media: Applications From Percolation Theory And Fractal Geometry, Behzad Ghanbarian-Alavijeh

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A fundamental component of the hydrologic cycle is the movement of fluids in the pore space of geological formations and soils. Prediction of the motion of fluids in such porous materials requires first modeling the physical properties of the medium itself, and second, invoking a capable theory to describe fluid transport in tortuous interconnected pathways. In this dissertation, for the former we use fractal geometry since most phenomena in nature are fractal, and for the latter percolation theory is applied because it has successfully described flow and transport in disordered networks and media. We propose models for the soil water …

Development Of A Co-Culture System To Mimic The Transfection Of Hsv-1 From Keratinocytes To Neuronal Cells, David A. Dixon

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To more closely mimic the in vivo progression of HSV-1 a novel in vitro method was created. In this study HEL-30 keratinocytes were infected with a 0.1 MOI of HSV-1 and plated unto a membrane with 8μm diameter pores. The membrane insert was then placed into culture wells that contained Neuro-2a cells (N2A). The neurites from the neuronal cells made cell-to-cell contact with the infected HEL-30 cells and the virus was transmitted into the neuronal cells. To determine if infection occurred in the N2A cells the cells were lysed and the lysate incubated with Vero cells to titrate virus plaque …

Evaluation Of Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (Fnirs) For Assessment Of The Visual And Motor Cortices In Adults, Brenna Giacherio

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Introduction: Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a relatively young technique in the field of medical imaging. As such, it has yet to be widely implemented for clinical use, despite its promising advantages. However, unlike fMRI-its much bulkier and costly counterpart-fNIRS has yet to be proven as a standalone imaging tool within a clinical setting, particularly that of ophthalmology or physical therapy.

Methods: Ten healthy young adults (23.8 ± 4.8 years) participated in the study. Activation of the visual cortex was achieved utilizing various reversing checkerboard stimuli across three data collection sessions for each participant. Further, activation of the motor cortex …

Non-Equilibrium Models For High Temperature Gas Flows, Daniil Andrienko

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A multi-physical approach is developed for non-equilibrium high enthalpy flows to cover a wide range of interdisciplinary studies. Compressible Navier-Stokes equations are coupled with the chemical model and equation of energy conservation for internal degrees of freedom. The model is capable of accounting for the non-equilibrium dissociation and thermal radiation heat transfer in gas flows. The methodology covers a range of problems from the combustion in subsonic counter-flowing jets to the hypersonic re-entry flows. The present approach attempts to validate the finite rate chemistry mechanisms by modeling the diffusive non-premixed flame of hydrogen at a very low Mach number. The …

Multicultural Public Policy And Homegrown Terrorism In The European Union, Macklin Keith Everly

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From the 1970s to the 1990s, Western European democracies embraced multiculturalist public policy (MCPP). This was in an effort to address and accommodate the minority rights of immigrants who found their way to Europe during its post-WWII labor force recovery. By the mid-1990s, there was a backlash against such policy and movement towards integrationist values. This has been exacerbated in the wake of radical Islamist terror attacks like those of 9/11, the London 7/7 bombing, and the Paris Metro Bombings of 1995. Attention has been focused on the threat, incidence, and causal factors of homegrown jihadism within Europe. The research …

Rab3a As A Modulator Of Homeostatic Synaptic Plasticity, Andrew G. Koesters

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The nervous system is faced with perturbations in activity levels throughout development and in disease or injury states. Neurons need to adapt to these changes in activity, but also need to maintain circuit firing within a normal range to stabilize the network from becoming too excited or too depressed. Homeostatic synaptic plasticity, the compensatory increase or decrease in synaptic strength as a result of excessive circuit inhibition or excitation, is a mechanism that the nervous system utilizes to keep network activity at normal levels. Despite intense effort, little is known about the mechanisms underlying homeostatic synaptic plasticity. Numerous studies have …

Routes To N-Heterocycle Functionalized Poly(Arylene Ether Sulfone)S, Jesse L. Picker

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The synthesis of poly(arylene ether sulfone)s, with a pendant aryl iodide, was achieved via nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) polycondensation of 3-iodo-3',5'-difluoro-diphenylsulfone. The polymer series was subjected to amino acid promoted, copper catalyzed coupling reactions with various N-heterocycles. The resulting polymers became crosslinked and insoluble in any organic solvents. The iodo monomer was then subjected to an amino acid promoted, copper catalyzed coupling reaction with carbazole. The successful synthesis of 3'-(9-carbazole) 3,5-difluorodiphenylsulfone is reported. A series of PAES containing a carbazole substituent were synthesized and characterized. The polymers were characterized by a combination of NMR spectroscopy, SEC, TGA, DSC, UV-Vis spectroscopy. …

Biaxial Material Design Method For The Reduced Aperture Waveguide Model, Jason M. Brand

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The design and characterization of metamaterials has emerged as a field of great interest in electromagnetics in recent years. The characterization has been accomplished primarily by means of fabrication, measurement, and parameter estimation. Previous work by Knisely and Havrilla [8] has shown that biaxial anisotropy can be created by machining air vias uniaxially into a homogeneous, isotropic material. This research project proposes a design method for manufactured biaxial materials. Full wave modeling and simulation is used for samples with varying via size, separation and pose to obtain the scattering parameters S11 and S21. To compare the simulated S-parameters to theoretical …

Automated Complexity-Sensitive Image Fusion, Brian Patrick Jackson

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To construct a complete representation of a scene with environmental obstacles such as fog, smoke, darkness, or textural homogeneity, multisensor video streams captured in diferent modalities are considered. A computational method for automatically fusing multimodal image streams into a highly informative and unified stream is proposed. The method consists of the following steps: 1. Image registration is performed to align video frames in the visible band over time, adapting to the nonplanarity of the scene by automatically subdividing the image domain into regions approximating planar patches

2. Wavelet coefficients are computed for each of the input frames in each modality …

Identification Of The Sites Of Action Of Inhibitors Of Mammalian Phospholipase D2 (Pld2) And The Role Of Interacting Protein Partners, Ramya Ganesan

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Phospholipase D (PLD) is a key enzyme for the remodeling of phospholipids in the cell membrane. PLD has been implicated in many physiological functions such as chemotaxis and phagocytosis as well as pathological functions such as ischemia/reperfusion and cancer metastasis. Several small molecule inhibitors of PLD have been recently developed to overcome these pathological effects. We have concentrated on 5-Fluoro-2-Indolyl des-Chlorohalopemide (FIPI) which is an indole derivative of halopemide that inhibits the two mammalian isoforms PLD1 and PLD2. We also concentrate on N-[2-[1-(3-Fluorophenyl)-4-oxo-1,3,-8-triazaspiro[4.5]dec-8-yl]ethyl]-2-naphthalenecarboxamide (NFOT) and N-[2-(4-oxo-1-phenyl-1,3,8-triazaspiro[4,5]dec-8-yl)ethyl]-2-naphthalenecarboxamide (NOPT) that are specific inhibitors of the PLD2 isoform. In spite of knowing their …

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Judaic Studies, Spring 2014, Richard Harrison

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Music, Spring 2014, Richard Harrison

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Subject Librarian Newsletter, Communication, Spring 2014, Richard Harrison

Libraries' Newsletters

No abstract provided.

The Driving Forces Behind Changes In Catholic Schools In The Eastern Region Of The United States, Denise T. Smith

Theses & Dissertations: Molloy Faculty

Catholic elementary and middle schools have witnessed numerous changes throughout the years. The current study analyzed the driving forces behind these changes, including a decline in enrollment. This decline may be attributed to a variety of individual forces, including three significant shifts: population shifts in the United States; population shifts in the dioceses of the U.S.; and shifts in religious beliefs and perceptions. These forces were revealed by looking at the demographics, ethnicity, and migration of the general population, the changes in Catholic school population, and perceptions surrounding these beliefs and religion. This research collects, sorts, and analyzes data from …

Queer Alchemies: Radical Futurity In The Shell Of The Now, Elizabeth R. Canfield

Theses and Dissertations

This work operates at the intersection of academics, art, and activism. Within queer studies there is a tension between assimilation and liberation, sometimes situated as between pragmatism and utopia. This work re-examines Frankfurt school Marxist views of utopia through a queer theoretical lens in order to employ the radical imagination and queer futurity to examine new ways of practicing liberation. Drawing from theorists like Judith Butler, Jose Esteban Munoz, and Gloria Anzaldua, this work uses art (film, writing, zine-making, and sound) as a way to envision and enact a better world situated in the present.

Detection And Rapid Recovery Of The Sutter’S Mill Meteorite Fall As A Model For Future Recoveries Worldwide, Marc Fries, Lucille Le Corre, Mike Hankey, Jeff Fries, Robert Matson, Jake Schaeffer, Vishnu Reddy

United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Publications

The Sutter’s Mill C-type meteorite fall occurred on 22 April 2012 in and around the town of Coloma, California. The exact location of the meteorite fall was determined within hours of the event using a combination of eyewitness reports, weather radar imagery, and seismometry data. Recovery of the first meteorites occurred within 2 days and continued for months afterward. The recovery effort included local citizens, scientists, and meteorite hunters, and featured coordination efforts by local scientific institutions. Scientific analysis of the collected meteorites revealed characteristics that were available for study only because the rapid collection of samples had minimized terrestrial …