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An Analysis Of Abortion Demand In Pennsylvania 2000 - 2010, Guido Giuntini

Theses and Dissertations

In this paper I expand on previous research of the determinants of abortion demand to examine the demand for abortion in the specific case of Pennsylvania, where precise statistics are available for each county. The data considered is for the years 2000 and 2010, and allows for cross sectional and panel data analysis, specifically, first-difference permitting to look at the effect of changes over time of specific explanatory variables. Careful attention is placed on variable selection techniques to avoid the use of low significance variables. The analysis allows controlling for price, as it is considered to be constant across the …

Therapeutic Igy: Safe, Diverse, And Effective For Use Against Viral Targets, Nicole Noel Haese

Theses and Dissertations

Passive antibody treatments are used to target infectious disease, toxins, venoms, and cancer antigens. Recently, there has been an increased interest in the use of avian-derived antibody treatments such as IgY. IgY is the primary serum antibody isotype present in the avian system, and IgY treatments have already been demonstrated to be effective against a variety of bacterial and viral infectious agents. There are two forms of IgY expressed in anseriformes birds, a full length IgY that is functionally similar to mammalian IgG, and an alternatively spliced IgY, IgY(ÄFc), that is comparable to the mammalian F(ab')2 fragment. The difference in …

Part I: An Approach To The Synthesis Of Plakortethers A-E Part Ii: Rhodium-Catalyzed Intramolecular C-H Insertion On Diazosulfonates And Its Synthetic Applications, Duminda Shiromalee Liyanage

Theses and Dissertations

This research work consists of two independent studies. The first study is the development of a synthetic route to plakortethers A-E along with possible derivatives. The second study focuses on the synthetic applications of rhodium-catalyzed intramolecular C-H insertion on diazosulfonates.

Plakortethers (A-G) represent a set of marine natural products, which contain of a characteristic tetrasubstituted tetrahydrofuran fragment. This group of compounds was isolated from the Caribbean sponge Plakortis simplex. Their selective cytotoxic activity against the RAW 264-7 cell lines (murine macrophage) makes them promising candidates for biological studies and, along with their unusual structure, warrants the synthesis of these natural …

Potential Juror Credibility Evaluations Of Gay And Lesbian Witnesses, Lisa Mae Olson

Theses and Dissertations

This study looked at whether the sexual orientation of a witness has an effect on a potential juror's determination of the witness's credibility, and examined traits such as respondent gender and college major, that may predict high levels of sexual prejudice. The sample consisted of 379 undergraduate students at a medium sized, upper Midwestern university. Results did not reveal an overall link between witness credibility ratings and sexual orientation, with the gay male witness receiving the highest credibility rankings followed by the heterosexual male witness, heterosexual female witness, and lastly, the lesbian female witness. It does not appear that the …

Quantifying Nutrient Cycling And Fate Within An Abandoned Feedlot And Adjacent Wetlands, Prosper Prosper Gbolo

Theses and Dissertations

Feedlot operations over the years have increased revenue and boosted economies of states and countries, but these operations have resulted in elevated concentrations of nutrients in soils, surface water, and groundwater. Feedlot operations generate large quantities of manure and other waste, which when not managed properly can result in environmental problems.

It is hypothesized that nitrogen can cause a short-term contamination of soils and groundwater beneath abandoned feedlots, but phosphorus can cause both short- and long term contamination, especially in well-drained carbonate and iron-rich soils associated with Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations. It is also hypothesized that a spectral vegetation index …

Lab-Scale Fast-Hydropyrolysis And Vapor-Phase Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation For Producing Liquid Fuel Range Hydrocarbons From Intact Biomass, Vinod Kumar Venkatakrishnan

Open Access Dissertations

Liquid transportation fuels are primarily produced from petroleum-based non-renewable carbon sources. Sustainably available lignocellulosic biomass, as a renewable form of atmospheric carbon, could be utilized to produce hydrocarbon-based fuels with high energy density. One of the process options for this conversion is the H2Bioil process, where biomass is rapidly heated in a hydrogen environment to produce fast-hydropyrolysis vapors that are catalytically upgraded in downstream hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) to produce hydrocarbons. This process has been modeled to have high carbon and energy efficiencies of ~70% and ~75%, respectively.

This dissertation presents the results of a lab-scale experimental proof-of-concept for the H2Bioil process …

Identification Of Genomic Factors Using Family-Based Association Studies, Libo Wang

Open Access Dissertations

Genome-wide association studies become increasingly popular and important for detecting genetic associations of complex traits. However, it is well known that spurious associations could arise from statistical analysis without proper consideration of genetic relatedness of samples. Many methods have been proposed to guard against these spurious associations. Here we focus on multi-locus association studies of quantitative traits and the case-control status, and propose algorithms that take into consideration of genetic related samples to address possible confounding issues. As supervised dimension reduction methods, these algorithms performs well to conduct association studies with a large number of biomarkers but a relative small …

Comparative Transcriptome Profiling Of Two Tibetan Wild Barley Genotypes In Responses To Low Potassium, Jianbin Zeng, Xiaoyan He, Dezhi Wu, Bo Zhu, Shengguan Cai, Umme Aktari Nadira, Zahra Jabeen, Guoping Zhang

Publications

Potassium (K) deficiency is one of the major factors affecting crop growth and productivity. Development of low-K tolerant crops is an effective approach to solve the nutritional deficiency in agricultural production. Tibetan annual wild barley is rich in genetic diversity and can grow normally under poor soils, including low-K supply. However, the molecular mechanism about low K tolerance is still poorly understood. In this study, Illumina RNA-Sequencing was performed using two Tibetan wild barley genotypes differing in low K tolerance (XZ153, tolerant and XZ141, sensitive), to determine the genotypic difference in transcriptome profiling. We identified a total of 692 differentially …

Kinetics Of Polymer Cyclization Reaction And Novel Covalent Dna Cross-Linking Assays, Reza Afra

Open Access Dissertations

In this dissertation I first do an extensive review of polymer cyclization kinetics. Different theories of polymer cyclization kinetics, their assumptions and their predictions are presented along with the predictions of computer simulations. In addition, the experimental results for synthetic and biological polymers are summarized.

Blood, Tears, And Sweat: An Intersectional Excavation Of The Literary Vampire In Neoliberal Discourse, Jessica Elizabeth Birch

Open Access Dissertations

This project engages in a critical examination of the figure of the sympathetic vampire in paranormal romance novels and its relationship to neoliberal individualism, using an analytic frame informed by Valerie Smith's conceptualization of black feminist thinking; it focuses on the portrayal of the neoliberal institutions of nationalism, race, heterosexuality, and motherhood within Jewelle Gomez's The Gilda Stories, L.A. Banks's Minion, and Charlaine Harris's Dead Until Dark. As the ideology of neoliberal individualism has shaped the dominant discourse of the United States, neoliberal individualism has also remade the discourse of monstrosity with regard to vampires. The shifting representation of the …

Catalytic Hydrodeoxygenation Of Guaiacol Over Noble Metal Catalysts, Danni Gao

Open Access Dissertations

Pyrolysis of biomass is a promising technology to convert solid biomass into liquid bio-oils. However, bio-oils have high water and oxygen content which subsequently lowers their energy density relative to conventional hydrocarbons. For these reasons, an upgrading process is required. Catalytic hydrodeoxygenation (HDO) is a rapidly developing technology for oxygen removal from pyrolysis bio-oils and noble metal catalysts have shown promising activities, especially as compared to the traditional hydrodesulphurization catalysts (e.g. CoMo/Al2O3 and NiMo/Al2O3). However, further understanding and development of the catalysts through improving robustness, increasing the oil yield and reducing the hydrogen consumption are still required. In this work, …

Inhibition Of Activities Of Individual Subunits Of Intestinal Maltase-Glucoamylase And Sucrase-Isomaltase By Dietary Phenolic Compounds For Modulating Glucose Release And Gene Response, Meric Simsek

Open Access Dissertations

The occurrence of Type 2 diabetes is on the increase all over the world. Since free glucose is released through digestion of starch in the human diet, control of the starch digesting enzymes, particularly the intestinal mucosal alpha-glucosidases [Maltase-Glucoamylase (MGAM) and Sucrase-Isomaltase (SI)], has a potentially important role in both the etiology and treatment of this metabolic disorder. Inhibition of the activities of the intestinal alpha-glucosidases may be a promising way to moderate glucose delivery to the body. Although some commercial inhibitors, such as acarbose, have strong effect on these enzymes, and essentially block starch digestion, there is a need …

Uncertainty Quantification In Scientific Models, Xin Qi

Open Access Dissertations

Uncertainties widely exist in physical, finance, and many other areas. Some uncertainties are determined by the nature of the research subject, such as random variable and stochastic process. However, in many problems uncertainty is a result of lack of knowledge and may not be modeled as random variables/processes because of the lack of probability information. This is often referred to as epistemic uncertainty, and the traditional probabilistic approaches cannot be readily employed. First two parts of this work study epistemic uncertainties in the forward problems. A method to compute upper and lower bounds for the quantity of interest of problems …

Dj-1 And Atp13a2: Two Proteins Involved In Parkinson’S Disease, Josephat M Asiago

Open Access Dissertations

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease, affecting approximately 0.3% of the total U.S. population, and its prevalence increases with age. Two neuropathological hallmarks of PD are the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta, a region in the midbrain involved in initiating and sustaining movement, and the presence of cytosolic inclusions called Lewy bodies (LBs) in various brain regions. LBs are enriched with fibrillar forms of the presynaptic protein &agr;-synuclein (aSyn). Two autosomal recessive genes implicated in familial PD are PARK9, encoding the P-type ATPase ATP13A2, a lysosomal ATPase; and …

Crown Ideotypes For Genetically Improved Black Walnut (Juglans Nigra L.) Clones Under An Intensive Management Regime In Indiana, Usa, Kejia Pang

Open Access Dissertations

Developing crown ideotypes is important for more efficiently producing timber from black walnut (Juglans nigra L.), a valuable hardwood species that mainly grow in the Central Hardwood Region, US. To develop black walnut crown ideotypes for timber growth under an intensive management regime in North-Central Indiana, the following investigations were conducted:

Jmjc Domain-Containing Histone Demethylase 2 (Jhd2): Bridging The Gap Between H3k4 Trimethylation And H3 Acetylation, Kayla Marie Harmeyer

Open Access Dissertations

Gene expression has been shown to be regulated through epigenetic modifications to the N-terminal tail of histones. Among these modifications is methylation of lysine residues. The enzyme Jhd2 is a histone demethylase that functions to remove H3K4 methylation in S. cerevisiae. Jhd2 is a homologue of the human JARID1 family of histone demethylases, which has four members: JARID1A, B, C and D. JARID1B is of particular interest because it has been shown to be up regulated in 90 percent of primary breast cancers. Furthermore, JARID1A has been shown to be up regulated in gastric cancer. Therefore studying how these H3K4 …

Crown Ideotypes For Genetically Improved Black Walnut (Juglans Nigra L.) Clones Under An Intensive Management Regime In Indiana, Usa, Kejia Pang

Open Access Dissertations

Developing crown ideotypes is important for more efficiently producing timber from black walnut (Juglans nigra L.), a valuable hardwood species that mainly grow in the Central Hardwood Region, US. To develop black walnut crown ideotypes for timber growth under an intensive management regime in North-Central Indiana, the following investigations were conducted:

Kinetic Studies Of Model Reactions To Transform Biomass Into Fuels, Dhairya Dilip Mehta

Open Access Dissertations

Second-generation biofuels utilizing lignocellulosic biomass are considered to be a promising alternative to fossil-based fuels. Lignocellulosic biomass is structurally diverse and therefore requires detailed understanding of the thermal depolymerization and catalytic hydrodeoxygenation reactions to optimize the overall process. This dissertation describes the experimental work using model compounds to elucidate the role of bimetallic catalyst and control the reaction operating parameters such as temperature and hydrogen pressure to maximize energy recovery in the liquid product from biomass resource.

Characterization Of Molecular Functions Of Polyamines In Fruit Development And Ripening In Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum), Raheel Anwar

Open Access Dissertations

Putrescine (PUT), spermidine (SPD) and spermine (SPM) are three major polyamines (PAs) present in all living organisms. These biogenic amines have been implicated in diverse plant growth and development processes, including seed germination, tissue lignification, organogenesis, flowering, pollination, embryogenesis, fruit development, ripening, abscission, senescence, and stress responses. To elucidate molecular roles of PAs in fruit development and ripening, I characterized transgenic tomato plants ectopically expressing yeast spermidine synthase (ySpdSyn) or S-adenosylmethionine decarboxylase (ySAMdc) under constitutive CaMV 35S and/or fruit-specific SlE8 promoters. The ySpdSyn-expression enhanced PUT, SPD and SPM level in floral buds and fertilized developing ovaries by 2- to 3-fold …

Modulating Cell Differentiation With Protein-Engineered Microenvironments, Yeji Kim

Open Access Dissertations

Tissue damage caused by diseases and injuries requires regeneration to recover proper tissue function. Traditional treatments using autologous tissue have not yet met the need for tissue regeneration. Tissue engineering has emerged as an alternative strategy for tissue regeneration. It utilizes biomaterials that mimic native cellular microenvironments and provide environmental cues to induce specific cell responses, including differentiation. Biochemical and biophysical cues modulate cell behavior and direct construction of specific types of tissue. Thus, this work describes production and characterization of protein-engineered microenvironments that provide biochemical and biophysical cues to modulate stem cell differentiation.

Jmjc Domain-Containing Histone Demethylase 2 (Jhd2): Bridging The Gap Between H3k4 Trimethylation And H3 Acetylation, Kayla Marie Harmeyer

Open Access Dissertations

Gene expression has been shown to be regulated through epigenetic modifications to the N-terminal tail of histones. Among these modifications is methylation of lysine residues. The enzyme Jhd2 is a histone demethylase that functions to remove H3K4 methylation in S. cerevisiae. Jhd2 is a homologue of the human JARID1 family of histone demethylases, which has four members: JARID1A, B, C and D. JARID1B is of particular interest because it has been shown to be up regulated in 90 percent of primary breast cancers. Furthermore, JARID1A has been shown to be up regulated in gastric cancer. Therefore studying how these H3K4 …

On The Theory Of Brownian Aggregation In Colloidal Dispersions, Aniruddha Kelkar

Open Access Dissertations

Brownian aggregation kinetics is a topic of interest for colloidal dispersions, macromolecular fluids, nanoparticle self-assembly, and biochemical reactions. The manipulation of colloidal dispersion stability by containing or promoting aggregation rates is manifest in several natural phenomena and engineering applications. The destabilization of silt dispersions as river water mixes with the high-ionic-strength seawater near river system deltas leads to the deposition of fertile soil on the river banks. Pigments used in the stone age paintings found in the Lascaux caves of France and in the written records of Egyptian pharaohs are early examples of stabilized colloidal dispersions. Present day applications include …

Novel Strategies To Develop Better Brucellosis Vaccines Using Brucella Abortus Rb51 And B. Neotomae, Neha Dabral

Open Access Dissertations

The genus Brucella consists of Gram-negative, facultative intracellular coccobacilli that can cause chronic infections in several mammals. Brucella spp. can exhibit a smooth or rough phenotype; smooth Brucella spp. contain a surface-exposed O-polysaccharide in their cell wall structure while the rough Brucella spp. are devoid of the O-polysaccharide. Acquired immunity against Brucella infection is primarily cell-mediated and involves both CD4+ T cells and CD8+ T cell responses. However, antibodies to the O-polysaccharide also play a role in enhancing the protection against infections by virulent Brucella species in some hosts. B. abortus strain RB51 is a stable rough attenuated mutant which …

Solution Synthesized Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials, Scott William Finefrock

Open Access Dissertations

Thermoelectric heat engines are currently used in several niche applications for electricity generation and cooling. Many additional applications would be practical if thermoelectric materials with improved figures of merit could be made. Over the past twenty years, many nanostructured materials have been shown to possess improved figures of merit compared to their bulk counterparts mostly due to the reduction in thermal conductivity associated with nanostructured materials. Several classes of solution synthesized nanostructured materials have achieved high figures of merit, yet significant room for improvement exists for solution synthesized nanostructured PbTe.

Micromanipulator-Resonator System For Selective Weighing Of Individual Microparticles, Bin-Da Chan

Open Access Dissertations

Over the past decade, MEMS-based cantilever sensors have been widely used in the detection of biomolecules, environmental pollutants, chemicals and pathogens. Cantilever-based sensors rely on attachment of target entities on their surface. The attachment causes either change in surface stress or resonance frequency of the cantilever, which is detected using various schemes that range from optical to piezoelectric. The majority of these sensors rely on probabilistic attachment of multiple target entities to the sensor surface. This introduces uncertainties since the location of the adsorbed target entity can modify the signal generated by the sensor. In addition, it does not allow …

Evaluation Of A Novel Feedstuff For Horses, Catherine Whitehouse

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Determining digestibility of feed ingredients is a challenge. While forage type feeds may be fed as the sole dietary component, concentrates cannot. To determine the apparent digestibility of these ingredients a by difference method can be utilized. The study was conducted to investigate the nutritional value of corn germ dehydrated (AAFCO 48.32) for horses in comparison to two processed corns commonly fed to horses. The second objective was to compare total tract digestibility of the treatments to determine differences in digestibility of the various fiber fractions due to added concentrate and to use the difference method to determine nutrient digestibility …

Gestational Form Of Supplemental Selenium (Se) Affects Steroidogenic Gene Expression In The Newborn Calf Testis, Stefani R. Garbacik

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Selenium (Se) is an important trace mineral in the diet of cattle. Our objective was to determine whether the form of supplemental Se fed to the dam would affect the expression of genes regulating steroidogenesis in the newborn testis. Twenty-four Angus-cross cows were assigned randomly (n=8) to individual ad libitum access of a mineral mix containing 35 ppm of Se supplied as sodium selenite (inorganic, ISe; Prince Se), Sel-Plex (organic, OSe; Sel-Plex, Alltech) or a 50/50 mix of ISe/OSe (MIX) 4 months prior to breeding and throughout gestation. All male calves were castrated within 2 days of birth and total …

An Assessment Of Two Feed Additives To Improve Feed Utilization In Pigs, Amanda Shaw Thomas

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

Three experiments were conducted to assess the efficacy of including selected feed additives in the diet of weaning and grow-finish pigs. Experiment 1 utilized 24 crossbred grow-finish pigs and measured the effect of added EHY on DM, N, and energy digestibility. There were no differences in DM, Energy, and N digestibility between diets 1 through 4. Experiment 2 utilized a total of 36 crossbred pigs [18 barrows, 18 gilts] in order to determine if preference would be shown when presented with naturally-contaminated corn. There were three dietary comparisons, Control vs Diet 2 (Comparison 1), Control vs Diet 4 (Comparison 2), …

The Acoustic Emissions Produced By Escherichia Coli During The Growth Cycle, Traci Jane Cox

Theses and Dissertations--Animal and Food Sciences

The objective of this study was to determine if acoustic emissions (AE) generated by three strains of Escherichia Coli (5024-parent strain, 8279-mutant strain and 8279-random/unrelated strain) could be used to differentiate each strain during their growth cycle. An acoustic sensor with an operating range of 35 kHz-100 kHz was inserted into the growth vessel and attached to a selected channel to capture AE data. The growth vessel was loaded with 60 ml of tryptic soy broth (TSB) (0.25% fructose) media with alginate (1.1%) or without alginate and inoculated with 1% (10⁸ CFU/ml) of an E. coli strain. The growth …

Vol. 39, No. 4: Holiday 2014, School Of Medicine & Health Sciences

North Dakota Medicine Archive

No abstract provided.