Digital Commons Network^™

Harnessing Microbiome And Probiotic Research In Sub-Saharan Africa: Recommendations From An African Workshop, Gregor Reid, Nicholas Nduti, Wilbert Sybesma, Remco Kort, Tobias R. Kollmann, Rodney Adam, Hamadi Boga, Eric M. Brown, Alexandra Einerhand, Hani El-Nezami, Gregory B. Gloor, Irene I. Kavere, Johanna Lindahl, Amee Manges, Wondu Mamo, Rocio Martin, Amy Mcmillan, Jael Obiero, Pamela A. Ochieng’, Arnold Onyango, Stephen Rulisa, Eeva Salminen, Seppo Salminen, Antony Sije, Jonathan R. Swann, William Van Treuren, Daniel Waweru, Steve J. Kemp

Pathology, East Africa

To augment capacity-building for microbiome and probiotic research in Africa, a workshop was held in Nairobi, Kenya, at which researchers discussed human, animal, insect, and agricultural microbiome and probiotics/prebiotics topics. Five recommendations were made to promote future basic and translational research that benefits Africans.

Environmental Drivers Of Leaf Breakdown Rate In An Urban Watershed, Ashley Rachelle Cook

Master's Theses

Leaf litter breakdown is a critical ecosystem process in urban streams, but environmental conditions in urban streams may generate confounding effects on breakdown rates. Reduced abundance of macroinvertebrate shredders may slow breakdown, but rates may increase if high nutrient concentrations stimulate microbial decomposers and if flooding enhances leaf fragmentation. We used the litter bag technique to measure the relative importance of multiple environmental drivers on breakdown of eastern cottonwood (Populus deltoides) leaves at 5 sites throughout the North Branch of the Chicago River watershed. Sites spanned a gradient of urbanization, but no specialized macroinvertebrate shredders were present at any sites. …

The Effect Of Semantic Clustering On Idea Quality In Individual And Group Ideation, Amanda Christine Egan

Master's Theses

Rietzschel, Nijstad, and Stroebe (2007) have demonstrated the benefits of "deep exploration" on creative idea generation. The current study attempted to refine this understanding by differentiating whether this effect is due simply to the number of ideas generated within a specific semantic category (fluency) or the way in which semantic categories are explored (clustering). Four conditions compared maximum versus minimum clustering crossed with nominal and interacting groups, with total quantity and fluency held constant. The unique effects of these manipulations on the total number of high-quality ideas generated, as well as the specific number of highly original and highly feasible …

Conference Program [2014], Gurc

Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference (Archived)

N/A

Science Youth Action Research: Promoting Critical Science Literacy Through Relevance And Agency, Elizabeth Coleman

Dissertations

This three-article dissertation presents complementary perspectives on Science Youth Action Research (Sci-YAR), a K-12 curriculum designed to emphasize relevance and agency to promote youth's science learning. In Sci-YAR, youth conduct action research projects to better understand science-related issues in their lives, schools, or communities, while they simultaneously document, analyze, and reflect upon their own practices as researchers. The first article defines Sci-YAR and argues for its potential to enhance youth's participation as citizens in a democratic society. The second article details findings from a case study of youth engaged in Sci-YAR, describing how the curriculum enabled and constrained youth's identity …

The Role Of Spirituality/Religion As A Coping Mechanism During Treatment For Disordered Eating, David Franczyk

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of spirituality/religion used as a coping mechanism during treatment for disordered eating. Given the mixed outcome results of current therapeutic and pharmacological treatment methods for disordered eating, it is important to investigate other factors which may influence the treatment process. This study evaluated the role of spirituality/religion used as a coping mechanism among 61 patients who were admitted into an eating disorder treatment program and then discharged over a period of 15 months. In this quantitative study, the Brief RCOPE measure was self-administered at admission to determine the levels of …

The Limits Of Rationality: Suicidality, Affectivity, And The Rational, Maria Jennifer Kulp

Dissertations

In this project, I expose conceptual and moral difficulties with the concept of rational suicide. After offering a comprehensive list of criteria used to define rationality in the bioethics literature, I turn to the scholarship of Susan Sherwin, Susan Wolf, Rosemarie Tong, Lisa Ikemoto and others to apply feminist critiques regarding the privileging of the liberal individual and claims of value neutrality in bioethics generally to the rational suicide literature specifically. Further, using the work of Genevieve Lloyd, I argue that just as definitions of rationality have been used to marginalize vulnerable populations (e.g., women and minorities), a similar marginalization …

Neuroscience And Galen: Body, Selfhood And The Materiality Of Emotions On The Early Modern Stage, Devon Wallace

Dissertations

From antiquity until the turn of the nineteenth century, temperament, mood and personality were believed to exist within, be managed by, and interact with material substance. Before the medical revolution of the late seventeenth century, early modern theories of anatomy and medicine were primarily based on the writings of Galen, who lived in the second century but was him influenced by a much older medical and philosophical tradition. In this period, the playwrights raise the same central question that now appears in so many reactions to the increasingly accepted "neurocentric" world view: "to what extent do I have an emotional …

Food Security Of Elderly In Khukot Municipality Lamlukka District And In Na Mai Tambon Administration Lardloomkaew District, Pathumthani Province, Sawanee Tengrungsun

Asian Medical Journal and Alternative Medicine

Introduction: Now Thailand becomes aging society, then, food security is another issue which should be concernedfor this aging society. The objectives of this study were to survey food security of the elderly inmunicipality and tambon administration, to compare the difference of food security in both groups, andto study the correlation between food security with health status and nutrition status of body mass indexin both groups.

Method: It was a cross sectional survey, which studied in 449 of Thai elderly who lived in Khukot municipality,Lamlukka district and 460 of Thai elderly lived in Namai tambon administration, Lardloomkaew district,Pathumthani province. Data were …

A Role For Law In Preparing For Death, Barbara A. Noah

Faculty Scholarship

This Article discusses the limits of how end of life law can address threats to patient autonomy. The reluctance of physicians, patients and family to discuss end of life matters and to confront the certainty of death, together with a culture that actively denies the aging process itself, interferes with a patient’s ability to exercise choice as death approaches. Thus, patients often suffer needlessly from the continuation of treatments and life-supportive measures that they would choose to decline if better informed about their choices and the importance of choosing. Advance directives, as a legal mechanism, often fail fully to protect …

Gambling On Our Financial Future: How The Federal Government Fiddles While State Common Law Is A Safer Bet To Prevent Another Financial Collapse, Brian Mccall

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

How To Reach Disengaged Adolescents In Physical Education: A Review Of Causes And Solutions To The Crisis In Physical Education, Sam Backstrom

Graduate Research Papers

This paper reviews the current crisis of adolescent disengagement in physical education. Evidence suggests that current practices are not effectively engaging adolescent students in physical education classes, which may have negative consequences. This paper investigates 1 what factors are causing students to become disengaged with physical education. Environmental factors as well as classroom practices are examined to determine what is causing disengagement in students. When disengagement factors are discovered, solutions are offered on how best to engage students in the physical education environment. Solutions involving both practical applications for teachers as well as possible implications for broader school-based solutions are …

Menu Labeling: The Unintended Consequences To The Consumer, Ellen A. Black

Law Faculty Scholarship

Why are Americans, along with the rest of the most populous nations, more overweight than twenty or thirty years ago? Most nutritionists and scientists agree that the answer is complex and multifaceted, with genetics, exercise, and diet all playing at least a partial role. Americans, for the last thirty years, have been reportedly eating out at restaurants more frequently than they have been eating at home; as a result, the restaurant industry has been blamed, in part, for the rise in obesity, based upon the presumption that more calories are consumed at restaurants than at home. Yet determining the underlying …

Concerns Regarding Food Biotechnology: An Ongoing Debate, Fatme Al Anouti

All Works

The development of agricultural biotechnology has led to the production of numerous types of genetically modified crops with improved traits. The prevalence of genetically modified food is increasing globally. The Rapid progress in the development of genetically modified food has significantly however increased public concern about food safety in recent years. The appearance of such foods in the global market has lately resulted in debate and scientific discussion. This debate is likely to continue, probably in the broader context of other uses of biotechnology and their consequences for human societies. To date, regulations and policies which mandate the labeling of …

The Spinnaker January 2014, University Of North Florida

Spinnaker

Student newspaper for the UNF community.

Catalog 2014-2015, University Of North Florida

UNF Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Sarpa Salpa Herbivory On Shallow Reaches Of Posidonia Oceanica Beds, Latina Steele, Kelly M. Darnell, Just Cebrián, Jose Luis Sanchez-Lizaso

Biology Faculty Publications

Sarpa salpa herbivory on shallow reaches of Posidonia oceanica beds.— Here, we examined the temporal and small–scale spatial variability of grazing by the herbivorous fish Sarpa salpa on shallow beds of the temperate seagrass Posidonia oceanica. Herbivory intensity expressed as the percent of leaf area taken by fish bites was higher in September 2006 than in February 2007, and at 0.5 m than at 1.5 m during both sampling times. All S. salpa feeding at the shallow locations studied were juveniles, with bite sizes ranging from 0.03 to 0.62 cm2. Juveniles feeding at 1.5 m were larger in February 2007 …

Early Infant Feeding And Adiposity Risk: From Infancy To Adulthood, W H. Oddy, T A. Mori, R C Huang, J A. Marsh, C E. Pennell, Paola Chivers, Beth Hands, P Jacoby, P Rzehak, B V. Koletzko, L J. Beilin

Health Sciences Papers and Journal Articles

Introduction: Systematic reviews suggest that a longer duration of breast-feeding is associated with a reduction in the risk of later overweight and obesity. Most studies examining breast-feeding in relation to adiposity have not used longitudinal analysis. In our study, we aimed to examine early infant feeding and adiposity risk in a longitudinal cohort from birth to young adulthood using new as well as published data.

Methods: Data from the Western Australian Pregnancy Cohort (Raine) Study in Perth, W.A., Australia, were used to examine associations between breast-feeding and measures of adiposity at 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, 10, 14, 17, and …

Molecular Markers Reveal Narrow Genetic Base And Culturing-Associated Genetic Drift In Teretrius Nigrescens Lewis Populations Released For The Biological Control Of The Larger Grain Borer In Africa, B. A. Omondi, J. Van Den Berg, D. Masiga, F. Schulthess

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

In biological control, successful establishment of a natural enemy species depends on its adaptability in the introduced range including its ability to re-establish desired ecological interactions with the pest. These are affected by genetic parameters hitherto largely unresolved in biological control. The larger grain borer (LGB), Prostephanus truncatus, an invasive species from meso-America, is the most important post-harvest pest of maize in Africa. We studied the genetic structure of Teretrius nigrescens, a predatory beetle previously released for the control of the pest in Africa, to test the hypothesis that establishment patterns were a result of ecotype-environment mismatch and to follow …

The Total Picture: Multiple Chemical Exposures To Pregnant Women In The Us – An Nhanes Study Of Data From 2003 Through 2010, Teri Cabana

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: Chemical exposures to US pregnant women have been shown to have adverse health impacts on both mother and fetus. A prior paper revealed that US pregnant women in 2003-2004 had widespread exposure to multiple chemicals. The goal of this research is to examine how environmental chemical exposures to US pregnant women have changed from 2003 to 2010 and to look further at the extent of simultaneous exposure to multiple chemicals in US pregnant women using biomonitoring data available through NHANES (the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey). METHODS: Using available NHANES data from the following cycles (2003-2004, 2005-2006, 2007-2008, …

Development And Preliminary Validation Of The Youth Therapist Observational Cultural Competence Scale, Carrie Tully

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing diversity of the United States creates a pressing public health need to investigate methods to increase the engagement, retention, and efficacy of mental health services for racial/ethnic minority (REM) youth. Evidence from the adult psychotherapy treatment literature suggests that enhancing therapist cultural competence leads to increases in client satisfaction, alliance, and retention (Constantine, 2002; Sodowsky, Kuo-Jackson, Richardson, & Corey, 1998; Worthington, Soth-McNett, & Moreno, 2007). However, this relationship has not been adequately explored in youth mental health services, due in part, to a lack of valid and reliable measurement. This research project included measure development and initial validation …

Examining The Effect Of Race On The Relationship Between Posttraumatic Stress Disorder And Metabolic Syndrome In Women, Leia Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition affecting approximately 8% of the adult U.S. population with rates twice as high in women than men. Increasingly, evidence has suggested a close relationship between PTSD and increased risk of metabolic diseases. However, the literature on PTSD and metabolic disease risk factors has been limited by the lack of investigation of the potential influence of race on this relation. The current study examined the possible effect of race on the relation between PTSD and metabolic risk. Data for this study were provided from sample of that included 50 African American women and …

Design And Validation Of A Computational Model For Study Of Scapholunate Joint Kinematics, Edward J. Tremols

Theses and Dissertations

As computational power has increased, computational modeling has become a very promising tool to model the biomechanics of complex joint systems. Musculoskeletal computational models have become more complex when compared to original iterations which utilized a number of simplifications. This thesis utilized a three-dimensional computational model of the wrist joint structure to investigate scapholunate kinematics. The model accurately represented the bony anatomy of the wrist and hand and represented soft tissue structures such as ligaments, tendons, and other surrounding tissues. Creation of the model was done using commercially available computer-aided design and medical image processing software, and utilized the rigid …

The Contribution Of Parent Psychosocial Functioning To Parental Monitoring, Youth Adherence, And Glycemic Control During Adolescence, Elizabeth M. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common pediatric chronic illnesses. Adolescents are at risk for poorer adherence and in turn, poorer glycemic control; however, youth whose parents remain involved in diabetes care are in better control. A parent’s level of involvement is dependent in part upon his or her own social and emotional functioning. Much is known about the link between separate aspects of parent psychosocial functioning (e.g., depressive symptoms, parental stress) and parent involvement in diabetes care, adherence, and glycemic control. However, no study to our knowledge has examined these constructs simultaneously as they interrelate …

Todo En La Familia: Examining The Relationships Among Ms Impairments, Family Needs, And Caregiver Mental Health In Guadalajara, Mexico, Melody N. Mickens

Theses and Dissertations

Individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS), especially those living in Latin America, often require assistance from family caregivers throughout the duration of disease. Previous findings suggest that family caregivers may experience positive and negative effects from providing care to individuals with MS, but few studies have examined the impact of MS caregiving on caregivers from Latin America. The current study examined the relationships between MS impairments (functional, neurological, cognitive, behavioral and emotional), unmet family needs (household, informational, financial, social support, health), and caregiver psychosocial functioning (satisfaction with life, anxiety, burden, and depression) in a sample of 81 MS caregivers from Guadalajara, …

The Effect Of Obesity On Il-1Β, Il-1ra, And Leptin Following Acute Mental Stress, Heather Caslin

Theses and Dissertations

Research regarding the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) is important because CVD is the leading cause of death in the United States (US) and many countries abroad. Risk factors, such as obesity and psychological stress, should be studied in order to understand contributing factors for CVD and the cellular mechanisms which link risk factors with the development of disease. Specifically, the combined influence of multiple risk factors on inflammation is of interest because many individuals have more than one risk factor, which additively increases an individual’s risk for CVD. Obesity is already characterized by disordered inflammation, which suggests that the …

Developing A Caenorhabditis Elegans Model For Marfan Syndrome, Pauline Fotopoulos

Theses and Dissertations

Marfan Syndrome (MFS) is one of the most common monogenic diseases and affects approximately 1 in 5,000 individuals worldwide. The syndrome is characterized by elongated extremities, tall stature, slender frame, and cardiac, and vision abnormalities due to severe connective tissue defects. It is caused by mutations in the fbn1 gene, which encodes an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, and is required for proper cardiac and skeletal development and for sequestration of TGFβ (transforming growth factor beta) and BMP (bone morphogenetic protein) within the extracellular matrix (ECM). The primary objective of this study was to establish a C.elegans MFS model and use this …

Steps Towards Successful Cryopreservation Of Fish Gametes: Improving Laboratory Protocols In The Zebrafish Model To Increase Gamete Viability And Efficiency, Megan Chastain

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

Cryopreserervation is a powerful tool for the long term storage of genetic material from endangered species. While mammalian gametes have long been freezable, eggs and embryos from fish have yet to be successfully frozen. Furthermore, protocols for freezing fish sperm have low success rates. In an effort to overcome the limitations in gamete manipulation currently impeding successful fish gamete cryopreservation, I outline two experiment using zebrafish (Danio rerio) as a model for freshwater fish species. First, I attempted to extend working time in both eggs and sperm by incubating the gametes in rainbow trout oviductal fluid (RTOF), RTOF + HEPES, …

Comparing Calorie Expenditure And Rating Of Perceived Exertion Between The Curve And A Motorized Treadmill, Nicholas Robertson

EWU Masters Thesis Collection

The purpose of this study was to determine if any difference in Calorie expenditure and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) exists when walking on the Curve or a motorized treadmill. Recruitment of participants was done through recruitment flyers placed on campus. After indicating interest, participants’ eligibility was determined by the PAR-Q and being unfamiliar with walking on the Curve. Twelve participants volunteered for the study (five males, seven females). The mean age of participants was 22.58 years ± 2.31 and mean weight was 76.96kg ± 16.19. On testing days, each participant was fitted with a polar heart rate monitor and …

Toward Health Equity For Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islanders: The Health Through Action Model, Traci Endo Inouye, Rachel Estrella

The Foundation Review

· Since 2009, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation has invested over $100 million to foster racial healing and eliminate policies, practices, attitudes, and cultural messages that reinforce differing outcomes by race.

· Health Through Action represented an unprecedented level of investment targeting AA and NHPIs. Embedded within the WKKF racial equity portfolio, it was the first time a private-sector foundation joined forces with a national AA and NHPI organization to acknowledge and address health disparities facing this population.

· HTA provided direct grants to seven AA and NHPI collaboratives and 11 AA and NHPI anchor organizations around the country to advance …