Digital Commons Network^™

Changes In Latitudes Call For Changes In Attitudes: Towards Recognition Of A Global Imperative For Stewardship, Not Exploitation, In The Arctic, Taylor Simpson-Wood

Seattle University Law Review

For more than two centuries, the imagination of mariners has been captured by visions of a trade route across the Arctic Sea allowing vessels to travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. Known as the Northwest Passage, this fabled route is a time- and money-saving sea lane running from the Atlantic Ocean Arctic Circle to the Pacific Ocean Arctic Circle. Now, the thinning of the ice in the Arctic may transform what was once only a dream into a reality. New shipping lanes linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans are likely to open between 2040 and 2059. If loss …

An Optical Tracking System For Radiosurgery Of Uveal Melanoma By Cyberknife, Hairong Chen

Open Access Dissertations

Uveal melanoma is the most common primary intraocular tumor in adults. One of the effective managements of ocular melanoma is the localized radiation treatment. In addition to the commonly performed invasive radioactive plaque brachytherapy, using focused external photon radiations, x-rays or gamma rays, have emerged as treatment options. However, these radiation delivery methods are either involved with the invasive surgical operation or limited by the gantry movement to account for the involuntary movement of the eyeball. The goal of this doctoral research is to design and validate a method that can offer a non-invasive radiosurgery for uveal melanoma and to …

The ​Oestrogen Receptor Alpha-Regulated Lncrna ​Neat1 Is A Critical Modulator Of Prostate Cancer, Dimple Chakravarty, Andrea Sboner, Sujit S. Nair, Eugenia Giannopoulou, Ruohan Li, +16 Additional Authors

Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

The androgen receptor (AR) plays a central role in establishing an oncogenic cascade that drives prostate cancer progression. Some prostate cancers escape androgen dependence and are often associated with an aggressive phenotype. The oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is expressed in prostate cancers, independent of AR status. However, the role of ERα remains elusive. Using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and RNA-sequencing data, we identified an ERα-specific non-coding transcriptome signature. Among putatively ERα-regulated intergenic long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), we identified nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) as the most significantly overexpressed lncRNA in prostate cancer. Analysis of two large clinical …

Structures Of Human Steroidogenic Cytochrome P450 17a1 With Substrates, Elyse M. Petrunak, Natasha M. Devore, Patrick R. Porubsky, Emily E. Scott

College of Natural and Applied Sciences

The human cytochrome P450 17A1 (CYP17A1) enzyme operates at a key juncture of human steroidogenesis, controlling the levels of mineralocorticoids influencing blood pressure, glucocorticoids involved in immune and stress responses, and androgens and estrogens involved in development and homeostasis of reproductive tissues. Understanding CYP17A1 multifunctional biochemistry is thus integral to treating prostate and breast cancer, subfertility, blood pressure, and other diseases. CYP17A1 structures with all four physiologically relevant steroid substrates suggest answers to four fundamental aspects of CYP17A1 function. First, all substrates bind in a similar overall orientation, rising ∼60° with respect to the heme. Second, both hydroxylase substrates pregnenolone …

The Echo: November 21, 2014, Taylor University

2014-2015 (Volume 102)

The Next Step – Turkey trot: breaking out – Top five news events of the week – ‘You’re never too old’ – Palestinians attack Jewish synagogue in Jerusalem – Obama orders sweeping immigration overhaul – Under the Radar – Deciphering the dragon – 15 things you can relate to if you’ve studies abroad – Turkey traditions – Embarrassing moments at Taylor – Burning Questions – Humans of Upland – Echograms #TaylorU -- #TaylorU’s Top Tweets – Turkey and a movie – Speaking in breaths – Weekly Preview – Trojans stun Saints – IWU edges Taylor in Conference Championship – Athlete …

Analysis For Co-Occurring Sequence Features Identifies Link Between Common Synonymous Variant And An Early-Terminated Npc1 Isoform, Mercedeh Movassagh, Prakriti Mudvari, Maria Kokkinaki, Nathan J. Edwards, Nady Golestaneh, Anelia Horvath

Pharmacology and Physiology Faculty Publications

Direct assessment of allelic phase for DNA and RNA features of diploid genomes has been challenging for Sanger sequencing, due to its allele-conflating base-calling signal. Massively parallel sequencing technologies are based on the generation of a continuous copy of a single strand sequence segments, thus preserving the allelic relation between the features of the original molecules. We have performed a transcriptome-wide search for co-occurrence of variant nucleotides and exon-intron boundaries positioned within the length of a single sequencing read. Analysis of 75 human transcriptomes from retinal pigment epithelia (RPE), glioblastoma, low-grade brain tumor, breast cancer and colon cancer, have identified …

Phlip-Fire, A Cell Insertion-Triggered Fluorescent Probe For Imaging Tumors Demonstrates Targeted Cargo Delivery In Vivo, Alexander G. Karabadzhak, Ming An, Lan Yao, Rachel Langenbacher, Anna Moshnikova, Ramona Cosmina Adochite, Oleg A. Andreev, Yana K. Reshetnyak, Donald M. Engelman

Physics Faculty Publications

We have developed an improved tool for imaging acidic tumors by reporting the insertion of a transmembrane helix: the pHLIP-Fluorescence Insertion REporter (pHLIP-FIRE). In acidic tissues, such as tumors, peptides in the pHLIP family insert as α-helices across cell membranes. The cell-inserting end of the pHLIP-FIRE peptide has a fluorophore-fluorophore or fluorophore-quencher pair. A pair member is released by disulfide cleavage after insertion into the reducing environment inside a cell, resulting in dequenching of the probe. Thus, the fluorescence of the pHLIP-FIRE probe is enhanced upon cell-insertion in the targeted tissues but is suppressed elsewhere due to quenching. Targeting studies …

Clustering-Based Methodology For Optimal Residential Time Of Use Design Structure, Maigha, M. L. Crow

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

A price responsive demand (PRD) market has been perceived as the future of electricity markets with the capability of achieving economic benefits. It lays the foundation of demand response at the customer level. Time of use structures have been implemented widely to achieve load reshaping. This paper introduces a clustering-based methodology for obtaining optimal time of use structures (optimal number of levels and rate durations) based on historical load profiles and real-time prices. The study takes into account variation in weekday and weekend load profiles and also seasonal variations. A new hybrid policy that bridges the gap between seasonal time-of-use …

Comment On “Chemically Mediated Behavior Of Recruiting Corals And Fishes: A Tipping Point That May Limit Reef Recovery”, Andrew H. Baird, Vivian R. Cumbo, Joana Figueiredo, Saki Harii, Tom Hata, Joshua S. Madin

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

Dixson et al. (2014) report that coral larvae navigate towards chemical cues associated with healthy reefs and avoid cues from degraded reefs. However, the swimming capabilities of coral larvae and well-established patterns of recruitment and reef hydrodynamics indicate that coral larvae will not be able to use these cues to recruit to healthy reefs. Perfuming degraded reefs, as suggested by Dixson et al (2014), will not enhance recovery rather it will distract from the difficult task of reducing fishing effort and improving water quality.

Molecular Characterization Of Hemoglobin Protein In Larvae Of 4th Instar Chironomidae For Evaluating Environmental Quality, Jun Taek Oh

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Studying environmental quality is a challenging task. It is a complicated exercise since the environment is constantly influenced by numerous variables such as climate change, anthropogenic activities, and unexpected natural disasters. Traditionally, exposure to chemical pollutants depended on chemical and physical analysis of environmental media. Unfortunately, this approach has not taken into consideration bioavailability of the chemical(s) of interest to exposed organisms and/or modification of the chemical (bioactivation/detoxification) by the organism. Benthic macroinvertebrates (BMIs) have been chosen as bioindicators for numerous environmental biomonitoring programs geared towards the assessment of aquatic ecosystems. Biomonitoring requires a more subtle measure – a biomarker …

Nucleoside Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors Possess Intrinsic Anti-Inflammatory Activity, Benjamin J. Fowler, Bradley D. Gelfand, Younghee Kim, Nagaraj Kerur, Valeria Tarallo, Yoshio Hirano, Shoba Amarnath, Daniel H. Fowler, Marta Radwan, Mark T. Young, Keir Pittman, Paul Kubes, Hitesh Agarwal, Keykavous Parang, David R. Hinton, Ana Bastos-Carvalho, Shengjian Li, Testuhiro Yasuma, Takeshi Mizutani, Reo Yasuma, Charles Wright, Jayakrishna Ambati

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) are mainstay therapeutics for HIV that block retrovirus replication. Alu (an endogenous retroelement that also requires reverse transcriptase for its life cycle)–derived RNAs activate P2X7 and the NLRP3 inflammasome to cause cell death of the retinal pigment epithelium in geographic atrophy, a type of age-related macular degeneration. We found that NRTIs inhibit P2X7-mediated NLRP3 inflammasome activation independent of reverse transcriptase inhibition. Multiple approved and clinically relevant NRTIs prevented caspase-1 activation, the effector of the NLRP3 inflammasome, induced by Alu RNA. NRTIs were efficacious in mouse models of geographic atrophy, choroidal neovascularization, graft-versus-host disease, and sterile …

Harbor Notes, November 21, 2014, Jessica Blais

Harbor Notes

The November 21, 2014, issue of Harbor Notes.

Model Rasch Untuk Penelitian Sosial Kuantitatif, B. Sumintono

Research Publications (2011 to 2015)

Menurut Punch (2009) riset kuantitatif dalam ilmu sosial lebih dulu dikenal dibandingkan penelitian kualitatif. Pada masa 1800-an dimana kemajuan sains yang pesat menyebabkan ilmu-limu sosial tertarik untuk menerapkan kaidah yang digunakan dalam ilmu fisika, kimia dan biologi, yaitu dalam hal eksperimentasi dan pengukuran (measurement). Dalam aspek pertama dalam ilmu sosial dikenal disain penelitian berupa eksperimen, kuasi eksperimen dan survey (Punch, 2009; Creswell, 2012); sedangkan pada aspek kedua memunculkan teori tes klasik (classical test theory atau CTT) yang digagas oleh Spearman pada tahun 1904 (Alagumalai et al., 2005), serta pendefinisian pengukuran oleh Stevens pada 1946 (Mari et al., 2012) yang diterapkan …

Um Professor Talks Turkeys On Npr Today, Staff Report

University of Mississippi News

Richard Buchholz will talk about his research of the mating habits of America's favorite Thanksgiving bird

The Oestrogen Receptor Alpha-Regulated Lncrna Neat1 Is A Critical Modulator Of Prostate Cancer, Dimple Chakravarty, Andrea Sboner, Sujit S. Nair, Eugenia Giannopoulou, Ruohan Li, Sven Hennig, Juan Miguel Mosquera, Jonathan Pauwels, Kyung Park, Myriam Kossai, Theresa Y. Macdonald, Jacqueline Fontugne, Nicholas Erho, Ismael A. Vergara, Mercedeh Ghadessi, Elai Davicioni, Robert B. Jenkins, Nallasivam Palanisamy, Zhengming Chen, Shinichi Nakagawa, Tetsuro Hirose, Neil H. Bander, Himisha Beltran, Archa H. Fox, Olivier Elemento, Mark A. Rubin

Publications and Research

The androgen receptor (AR) plays a central role in establishing an oncogenic cascade that drives prostate cancer progression. Some prostate cancers escape androgen dependence and are often associated with an aggressive phenotype. The oestrogen receptor alpha (ERα) is expressed in prostate cancers, independent of AR status. However, the role of ERα remains elusive. Using a combination of chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and RNA-sequencing data, we identified an ERα-specific non-coding transcriptome signature. Among putatively ERα-regulated intergenic long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), we identified nuclear enriched abundant transcript 1 (NEAT1) as the most significantly overexpressed lncRNA in prostate cancer. Analysis of two large clinical …

Daily Eastern News: November 21, 2014, Eastern Illinois University

November

No abstract provided.

The Bg News November 21, 2014, Bowling Green State University

BG News (Student Newspaper)

The BGSU campus student newspaper. November 21, 2014. Volume 94-Issue 39.

Effects Of Ocean Acidification On The Dissolution Rates Of Reef-Coral Skeletons, Robert Van Woesik, Kelly Van Woesik, Liana Van Woesik, Sandra Van Woesik

Ocean Engineering and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Ocean acidification threatens the foundation of tropical coral reefs. This study investigated three aspects of ocean acidification: (i) the rates at which perforate and imperforate coral-colony skeletons passively dissolve when pH is 7.8, which is predicted to occur globally by 2100, (ii) the rates of passive dissolution of corals with respect to coral-colony surface areas, and (iii) the comparative rates of a vertical reef-growth model, incorporating passive dissolution rates, and predicted sea-level rise. By 2100, when the ocean pH is expected to be 7.8, perforate Montipora coral skeletons will lose on average 15 kg CaCO3 m􀀀2 y􀀀1, which is approximately …

Faith Based Programs In The Treatment Of Substance Abuse, Rhonda G. Burnett

Research Papers

No abstract provided.

Role Of Host Micrornas In Kaposi's Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Pathogenesis, Zhiqiang Qin, Francesca Peruzzi, Krzysztof Reiss, Lu Dai

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA species that can bind to both untranslated and coding regions of target mRNAs, causing their degradation or post-transcriptional modification. Currently, over 2500 miRNAs have been identified in the human genome. Burgeoning evidence suggests that dysregulation of human miRNAs can play a role in the pathogenesis of a variety of diseases, including cancer. In contrast, only a small subset of human miRNAs has been functionally validated in the pathogenesis of oncogenic viruses, in particular, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). KSHV is the etiologic agent of several human cancers, such as primary effusion lymphoma (PEL) and Kaposi's …

Chemistry Graduate Teaching Assistants' Experiences In Academic Laboratories And Development Of A Teaching Self-Image, Todd Adam Gatlin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play a prominent role in chemistry laboratory instruction at research based universities. They teach almost all undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses. However, their role in laboratory instruction has often been overlooked in educational research. Interest in chemistry GTAs has been placed on training and their perceived expectations, but less attention has been paid to their experiences or their potential benefits from teaching.

This work was designed to investigate GTAs' experiences in and benefits from laboratory instructional environments. This dissertation includes three related studies on GTAs' experiences teaching in general chemistry laboratories. Qualitative methods were used for each …

Teachers Teaching Teachers: A Sustainable And Inexpensive Professional Development Program To Improve Instruction, Carol L. Campbell

Dissertations and Theses

School districts face tremendous budget challenges and, as a result, professional development has been "trimmed" from many school budgets. (Habegger & Hodanbosi, 2011). School administrators responsible for planning professional development face a daunting task and often focus on PowerPoints, district mandated training, one-shot presentations, and workshops that are delivered by expensive experts. These types of activities lack teacher collaboration, time for sharing of ideas and opportunity for reflection and analysis (Torff & Byrnes, 2011, Coggins, Zuckerman & Mckelvey, 2010).

The problem addressed in this study is that teacher professional development is usually planned by school administrators who are provided little …

Assessment Of Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Symbiosis On Invasion Success In Brachypodium Sylvaticum, Caitlin Elyse Lee

Dissertations and Theses

The effects that mutualistic soil biota have on invasive species success is a growing topic of inquiry. Studies of the interactions between invasive plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) have shown changes in AMF community composition, reductions in AMF associations in invasive plants, and changes in native species fitness and competitive outcomes in invasive-shifted AMF communities. These findings support the degraded mutualist hypothesis, where invasive species alter the mutualist community composition, resulting in detrimental associations with the new mutualist community for native species. Here I present two studies that examine various aspects of the arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal (AMF) mutualism in …

Confined Mesoscopic Fluid-Like Films Analyzed With Frequency Modulation And Acoustic Detection, Rodolfo Fernandez Rodriguez

Dissertations and Theses

Complete understanding of the physics underlying the changes in viscoelasticity, relaxation time, and phase transitions that mesoscopic fluid-like systems undergo at solid-liquid interfaces or under confinement remains one of the major challenges in condensed matter physics. Moreover, studies of confined mesoscopic fluid films are relevant to technological areas like adhesion, wetting processes and nanotribology.

This thesis addresses the interaction between two sliding solids interfaces separated by a nanometer sized gap, with emphasis on the role of the mesoscopic fluid film trapped between them. For this purpose we integrated two acoustic techniques, recently introduced by our group, into a sub-nanometer precision …

Using Art To Teach Students Science Outdoors: How Creative Science Instruction Influences Observation, Question Formation, And Involvement, Christina Schull Cone

Dissertations and Theses

Elementary education has become increasingly divided into subjects and focused on the demand for high math and reading scores. Consequently, teachers spend less time devoted to science and art instruction. However, teaching art and science is crucial to developing creative and rational thinking, especially for observation and questioning skills. In this study, third grade students attending an urban school in Portland, Oregon received instruction of an art strategy using observational and quantifying drawing techniques. This study examines, "Will an art strategy observing the local environment help students make observations and ask questions?" and "In what ways are student learning and …

The Observer, Central Washington University

Student Newspaper

Student newspaper for Central Washington University for November 20-December 3, 2014. Vol. 98, No. 8.

11-20-2014 Swosu's Falk Presents New Information On Primitive Birds, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

THE BARK ARCHIVE 2014

Dr. Amanda Falk, assistant professor at Southwestern Oklahoma State University, recently presented new results on a unique early bird from Northeastern China that has puzzled researchers for decades.

Lanthorn, Vol. 49, No. 27, November 20, 2014, Grand Valley State University

Volume 49, July 7, 2014 - June 1, 2015

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.

Umm Curriculum Program Changes 11/20/2014, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Reports

No abstract provided.

Endangered And Threatened Wildlife And Plants; Threatened Status For Gunnison Sage-Grouse; Final Rule

United States Fish and Wildlife Service: Publications

We, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service), determine threatened species status under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, as amended (Act), for the Gunnison sagegrouse (Centrocercus minimus), a bird species from southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah. The effect of this regulation will be to add the Gunnison sage-grouse to the List of Endangered and Threatened Wildlife.