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Production And Assessment Of Usefulness Of Interactive 2-D And Stereoscopic 3-D Videos As Tools For Anatomic Dissection Preparation And Examination Review, Sereen Mahmoud Al Khalili

Open Access Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Expression Of Toll-Like Receptor (Tlr)-2 And Tlr4 In Monocytes Following Stimulations By Genital Secretions Of Hiv Infected And Uninfected Women With Symptomatic Vulvo-Vaginal Candidiasis, Teke Apalata, Benjamin Longo-Mbenza, A. Willem Sturm, William H. Carr, Prashini Moodley

Publications and Research

Vulvo-vaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common condition in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)- infected women. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 and TLR4 are key pattern-recognition receptors of the innate immune system in sensing Candida albicans. The aim of this study was to assess the expression of TLR2 and TLR4 signaling pathways in HIV-infected and uninfected women with VVC. Cervico-vaginal fluids (CVF) were obtained from 7 HIV infected and 11 HIV uninfected clinic attendees in KwaZulu-Natal between June, 2011 and December, 2011. VVC was diagnosed clinically and confirmed by Gram stain and culture of genital samples. Monocytes were isolated from a healthy adult …

Macroinvertebrate Assemblages And Dynamic Soil Properties: Influence Of Dredging, Bianca N. Ross

Senior Honors Projects

Bianca Peixoto

Senior Honors Project

Macroinvertebrate Assemblages and Dynamic Soil Properties: Influence of Dredging: Abstract

The habitat characterization of subaqueous soils is important for inventorying natural resources and monitoring changes in ecosystem processes. This project aimed to characterize benthic communities within coastal ponds of southern Rhode Island, and develop an understanding of how these communities change due to habitat alterations. I explored the distribution of benthic biology among a range of estuarine subaqueous soils and the effect of anthropogenic disturbance (dredging) on these distributions. The term “benthic” refers to the collection of organisms living in the substrate at the interface …

Probiotics Lactobacillus Plantarum 299v And Bifidobacteria B1o7 In The Prevention Of Hospital Associated Infections, Deidra Diane Nelson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Hospital acquired infections are associated with increased mortality, morbidity, and costs. Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) patients have increased risk for HAI. Probiotics may be beneficial in reducing HAI. A retrospective chohort study was completed to determine the effect of food form probiotics in the prevention of HAI among MICU patients. Patients received probiotic containing 50 billion colony forming units daily for periods of 24 hours to 93 days. Infection rates three years prior, eight months during, and one year post probiotic implementation were comllected and compared with incidence of HAI in the same patient population. Significant differences in the …

Book Review Of A Companion To James Madison And James Monroe, Dinah Mayo-Bobee

ETSU Faculty Works

Review of A Companion to James Madison and James Monroe edited by Stuart Leibiger

Elucidation Of The Substrate Recognition Mechanism Of Vccry1, Rohe Ahmad

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Vibrio cholerae cryptochrome 1 (VcCryl), a DNA repair enzyme, uses a lightdriven electron transfer to repair UV damaged single strand DNA but not double strand DNA. VcCryl has an active site FAD which is required for substrate binding and repair. Size exclusion chromatography (SEC) was used to observe changes in oligomer structure when changes in the oxidation state of the FAD cofactor were made. SEC studies found the oxidized state exists as a dimer with an observed mass of 163 kDa in solution, in dynamic equilibrium with a 67 kDa fragment. The reduced state exists as a monomer in …

Modeling Magnetic Separation Of Oil Spill Clean Up To Enhance Virtual Laboratory Learning In The Classroom, Kofi James

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis links an applied mathematics study of oil spill cleanup to a mathematics education study of the efficacy of virtual laboratory activities in physical and mathematical sciences. Oil spills will be investigated using a multi-phase Navier-Stokes Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) code for magnetic fluids, also known as ferrofluids. Simulations model cases that are not possible to study in a laboratory experiment or in the real world. Simulation results show that scaling up this process involves fluid mechanical obstacles and that real world effects, such as seawater contamination, will also impact cleanup effectiveness. A physics laboratory classroom curriculum based on …

The Effects Of Transfusion On Blood Composition And Characteristics After Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery, Christopher Keith Johnson

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Transfusion has been associated with increased morbidity and short- and longterm mortality after cardiac surgery. However, the physiological effects of transfusion in this setting are poorly described. This study aimed to examine the effects of transfusion on blood composition and characteristics after cardiac surgery.

1,134 patients underwent an isolated coronary artery bypass graft surgery with no post-operative complications. Of these, 407 (35.8%) patients received a transfusion. Propensity-matching was used to generate a balanced cohort of 636 patients. 26 variables from standard blood tests were retrospectively collected. A repeated measures analysis of variance test was used to examine how these variables …

Geometrical Prediction Models Of Visceral Adipose Tissue, Robert Cowell Moore

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Objective: Trunk shape is a known predictor of amounts of visceral adipose tissue (VAT). The amount of total adipose tissue in the abdomen also predicts visceral adipose tissue mass but it is unknown how much of VAT can be attributed to abdominal shape versus size. Using two new measures derived from external measures such as hip circumference and waist circumference, we investigated how shape and adiposity along with demographic covariates are related to amounts of visceral adipose tissue. These new measures are known as Trunk Shape and Trunk Size. These measures were then used to develop models that predicted the …

Quantitative Literacy And High School Mathematics : The Evolution Of A Collaboratively Constructed Course And Its Impact On Students' Attitudes And Numeracy, Mark Francis Russo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study describes a practitioner action research project in which I co-constructed a high school mathematics elective course with my students. The focus of the course was on developing students’ quantitative literacy. I examined the impact of the coconstruction process on the evolution of the course, analyzed how the course influenced students’ quantitative literacy and attitudes about mathematics, and reflected on some of the lessons I learned about making mathematics more relevant for my students. This study fills a gap in the literature by describing the impact of a quantitative literacy course at the high school level and by documenting …

The Influence Of Counseling And Social Support On Depression In Mothers Of Fragile Families, Megan E. Delaney

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The purpose of this study of mothers of fragile families was to examine the relationship between counseling and social support on levels of depression. Demographic variables as well as depression, counseling and social support (specifically, instrumental support) was examined over two waves of data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing study. A logistic regression was used to create predictor models for future depression including counseling, social support, current depression and relevant covariates. The findings are discussed and implication for practice and future research are included.

Anthropogenic Disturbance Of The Herpetofauna In The Northeast Us : Wildlife Disease And Habitat Modification, Paola Dolcemascolo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Herpetofauna represent some of the most striking examples of the consequences of human impact on biotic communities. They experience the full range of anthropogenically-derived stressors: habitat loss, habitat modification and degradation, pollution, collection for food and the pet trade, nuisance killings, road mortality, and disease. In this study, I examined some of the main threats faced by herpetofauna of the Northeastern United States and their implications for management of reptile and amphibians in New Jersey. I first used molecular techniques to document and assess the prevalence of two amphibian diseases, chytridiomycosis (caused by the chytrid fungus, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis) and Ranavirus, …

The Relationship Between Ectomycorrhizae And Metal Contamination In An Urban Brownfield, Jessica Marta Evans

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study examined ectomycorrhizal and plant relationships in contaminated soil in situ to determine the interactions between these three factors. Ectomycorrhizal fungi (EMF) were identified by physical morphotyping followed by sequencing of ribosomal DNA. Plant productivity was assessed through Leaf Area Index (LAI) measurements taken from May through August of 2012 and 2013. Changes in EMF community composition and plant productivity were observed based on their position on the metal contamination gradient. While EMF composition changed depending on the level of metal contamination, none of the ectomycorrhizal species consistently outcompeted other species in the highly contaminated environments. Cenococcum geophilum was …

Soft Law As Foreign Relations Law, Jean Galbraith, David Zaring

Cornell Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Electrodermal Activity During Tic Suppression In Adults, Bryan Brandt

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Although tic disorders are diagnosed as neurological disorders, neurobehavioral models suggest that tics are controlled by premonitory urges that may be conditioned to become aversive through childhood, and that tics are exhibited to alleviate such phenomena. However, only indirect measures have been used to assess the presence of the premonitory urge. This study utilized self-report and GSR measurements to examine whether a punishing contingency conditioned stimuli to be aversive during conditions of tic suppression and whether punishing contingencies exacerbate aversive private phenomena in two adults. Results indicated that conditions of response cost (RC) and differential reinforcement (DRO) were effective at …

The Isolated Self: A Re-Imaging Of The Individual In Mary Shelley’S Frankenstein And Mamoru Oshii’S Ghost In The Shell, Emily Wierzbowski

English

Mary Shelley’s 1818 Frankenstein and Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell films (1995 and 2004) were both created in times of great upheaval in scientific communities, and show that the further away we get from the organic body, the harder it becomes to articulate what is specifically human through dualisms. Shelley was writing during a period of secularization. Human identity and relations were no longer strictly based on one’s relationship to God or one’s family’s standing. Oshii’s work comes in the midst of the arrival of the new digital age. Medical enhancements and the proliferation of communication technologies such as …

Urban Agriculture: An Environmental And Moral Imperative, Bridgit Hohlfeld

Geography and Planning

As we live in a society completely dependent on oil and its products, the contradictions within this self destructive system begin to unfold. Petroleum, its acquisition, and the products created with it, have been proven to cause unmanageable effects on a worldwide scale. As our natural resources become more finite, contributing to global and local inequities through widespread competition, the need for change is apparent. By introducing local farming initiatives, the creation, distribution, and usage of these products becomes obsolete through the elimination of demand and necessity. Sustainable urban agriculture is therefore presented as a tangible solution to the problem …

One Mans Dream: How A Company's Unique Culture Can Translate Into Long Term Success, Carli Zink

Accounting Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis answers the question of whether a unique organizational culture can help a company find long-term success. My main focus of the thesis was on the Walt Disney Co., a company that I think has set the standard in organizational culture and is where I will be starting my professional career. My aim was to find what aspects of culture are most important to have, and how companies can use their culture to gain a competitive advantage. In order to answer this question, I researched companies that have been recognized for having a very successful organizational culture, as well …

Oncolog, Volume 59, Number 05, May 2014, Bryan Tutt, Therese Bevers, Zach Bohannan

OncoLog MD Anderson's Report to Physicians (All issues) Archives

• New Treatments may Improve Outcomes for AL Amyloidosis Patients: AL amyloidosis-a rare, potentially fatal disease-has no approved treatments. The ''standard'' treatments are prescribed off-label, and few clinical trials have compared their effectiveness
• Dialog: Screening Mammography Reduces Breast Cancer-Related deaths
• 'Sleeping Beauty'' Technique Modifies T Cells to Treat B Cell Malignancies: A novel technique that helps the patient's own immune system find and destroy cancer cells could extend remission times for patients with B cell lymphomas and leukemias
• INBRIEF: Analysis Suggests Need to Revise Low-Grade Glioma Classification, Treatment/Combination of Antiangiogenic Drugs Shows Activity Against Solid Tumors/ Computed Tomography Predicts Chemotherapy Response …

The Effect Of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy On Caregiver Rigidity, Job Satisfaction And Childhood Misbehavior, Victoria Tackett Riley

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

This research studied the effects of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) training in a residential care facility for children with histories of maltreatment. Initially, five direct care staff were trained to provide an adapted version of PCIT to a randomly assigned child in the facility. The goal was to improve staff’s interactions with the children in their care and increase job satisfaction while decreasing the instances of misbehavior among those children. Data was recorded four times (pre, during, and post intervention) to assess the efficacy of the intervention and included completion of the Eyberg Child Behavior Inventory (ECBI), the Rigidity scale …

The Effects Of Mindfulness And Distress Disclosure On Emotional Expression, Kelsey E. Eitel

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of a mindfulness exercise on participants’ distress disclosure (as measured by the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count). I employed a trauma written disclosure paradigm as an analogue to a therapy session in regard to disclosure. It was predicted that participants who were asked to engage in a 15-minute mindfulness exercise prior to writing about a personally traumatic event would use more emotion and cognitive processing words in their writing samples (i.e., increased distress disclosure), as compared to the participants who simply listened to a neutrally valenced audio clip. Participants were …

Health, Nutrition, And Disease In Rural Northern Jordan: A Study Of Enamel Defects Related To Childhood Stress In Skeletal Samples From The Bronze Age To The Byzantine Period, Teresa Veronica Wilson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Northern Jordan has seen periods of climate change, political transformation, and economic prosperity between the Late Bronze Age to the end of the Byzantine period. This research tests the assumption that the rural agricultural communities of this region were undernourished by examining the dentition for periodic childhood stress. Canine teeth from five sites (Ya'amun, Sa'ad, Yasileh, Natfieh, and Waqqas) that covered the time periods in question were collected to study overall quality of life.

The teeth were thin-sectioned and examined under a light microscope. Digital micrographs were made of the thin-sectioned teeth in order to record the number and location …

Maturing Temporal Bones As Non-Neural Sites For Transforming The Speech Signal During Language Development, Lisa A. Hogan

Anthropology ETDs

Developmental events in the temporal bones shift the pattern of a given speech sounds acoustic profile through the time children are mapping linguistic sound systems. Before age 5 years, frequency information in vowels is differentially accessible through the years children are acquiring the sound systems of their native language(s). To model the acoustic effects caused by developing temporal bones, data collected to elicit steady-state vowels from adult native speakers of English and Diné were modified to reflect the form of children's hearing sensitivities at different ages based on patterns established in the psychoacoustic literature. It was assumed, based on the …

The Development And Application Of Nebraska’S Northeast Habitat Management Decision Support System, Christopher Jorgensen, Roger Grosse, Marian Langan, Alicia Hardin, Eric Zach, Karie Decker, Andrew Bishop

Nebraska Game and Parks Commission: Staff Research Publications

In the face of the compounded effects of a changing climate, exponential human population growth, and accelerated land-use change, implementation of effective conservation measures grows ever more challenging, as conservation organizations are often faced with limited funding and resources. Given the complexity of managing for multiple species, each inhabiting various local habitat types, it is astonishing that we can pinpoint specific areas and tracts of land within the focus area where conservation measures would benefit all species (Figure 3). Here we demonstrate the usefulness of decision support systems in aiding policymakers and habitat managers in making decisions about where to …

Sex Reassignment Surgery: Required For Transgendered Prisoners But Forbidden For Medicaid, Medicare, And Champus Beneficiaries, Jennifer L. Casazza

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Eating Hot Peppers To Avoid Hiv/Aids: New Challenges To Failing Abstinence-Only Programs, Erica Woebse

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

This Note examines abstinence-only education curricula, including its history, criticisms against it, and the failure of judicial challenges to end its promotion and federal funding. It addresses how abstinence-only education has managed to remain a central means of teaching sexual education, despite its ineffective and controversial nature. Finally, this Note will discuss how abstinence-only education curricula may fall out of favor or be modified with new state and federal requirements that sexual educational curricula be medically accurate. This is demonstrated by the American Academy of Pediatrics v. Clovis Unified School District case in California.

Nicotine And What Else?: Hplc Elution Optimization For The Analysis Of Alkaloids Found In Electronic Cigarettes, Jessica L. Murray

Honors Theses

Electronic cigarettes, or e-cigarettes, have been scrutinized by the Food and Drug Administration and other public health organizations for issues related to quality control and efficacy. Erratic nicotine delivery and numerous toxic compounds in refill solutions have been reported. The ultimate goal of this research is to add to the growing amount of knowledge regarding e-cigarette ingredient content, safety, and quality. Standards of the tobacco alkaloids nicotine, anabasine, cotinine, and myosmine were prepared and quantified using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Various elution schemes were tested and adjusted for optimal analyte resolution, and a final elution scheme was developed to …

Nanotechnology: Current Concepts In Orthopaedic Surgery And Future Directions., M P Sullivan, K J Mchale, Javad Parvizi Md, S Mehta

Rothman Institute Papers

Nanotechnology is the study, production and controlled manipulation of materials with a grain size < 100 nm. At this level, the laws of classical mechanics fall away and those of quantum mechanics take over, resulting in unique behaviour of matter in terms of melting point, conductivity and reactivity. Additionally, and likely more significant, as grain size decreases, the ratio of surface area to volume drastically increases, allowing for greater interaction between implants and the surrounding cellular environment. This favourable increase in surface area plays an important role in mesenchymal cell differentiation and ultimately bone-implant interactions. Basic science and translational research have revealed important potential applications for nanotechnology in orthopaedic surgery, particularly with regard to improving the interaction between implants and host bone. Nanophase materials more closely match the architecture of native trabecular bone, thereby greatly improving the osseo-integration of orthopaedic implants. Nanophase-coated prostheses can also reduce bacterial adhesion more than conventionally surfaced prostheses. Nanophase selenium has shown great promise when used for tumour reconstructions, as has nanophase silver in the management of traumatic wounds. Nanophase silver may significantly improve healing of peripheral nerve injuries, and nanophase gold has powerful anti-inflammatory effects on tendon inflammation. Considerable advances must be made in our understanding of the potential health risks of production, implantation and wear patterns of nanophase devices before they are approved for clinical use. Their potential, however, is considerable, and is likely to benefit us all in the future. Cite this article: Bone Joint J 2014; 96-B: 569-73.

Emotion Focused Therapy For Couples In Addiction Treatment: The Relationship Between Quality Of Recovery, Attachment Style, And Relational Satisfaction, Bonnie Bassett

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigates the efficacy of Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples in an addiction recovery program. The literature review revealed that individuals with a secure attachment style experience increased relational satisfaction and report better ability to manage life's challenges as compared with individuals with an insecure attachment style. A pretest-posttest design was used to investigate the effect of EFT on quality of recovery from addiction. The primary measure's percentile rank scores were comparatively analyzed. A single case multiple baseline design was implemented to draw inferences based on examining the participants' assessment scores across baseline and intervention phases. The purpose …

The Influence Of Religiosity And Adult Attachment Style On Marital Satisfaction Among Korean Christian Couples Living In South Korea, Dae Woon Cho

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of religious commitment, spirituality and adult attachment style on marital satisfaction among South Korean Christian couples living in South Korea. Three hundred sixty nine South Korean Christian couples from nine Presbyterian churches in Seoul, Dejeon, Daegu, Gumi, and Busan participated in this research. The current study evaluated the psychometric utility of the Spiritual Assessment Scale (SAS) and investigated the relationships among religiosity (religious commitment and spirituality), attachment style (anxious and avoidant attachment) and marital satisfaction. For the psychometric evaluation of the SAS, Confirmatory Factor Analysis was conducted for the …