Digital Commons Network^™

Understanding Ourselves Is The "Holy Grail" Of The Human-Kind, Zygmunt Pizlo

Dawn or Doom Conference

Richard Feynman once said 'what I cannot create, I do not understand'. It follows, that building intelligent robots that emulate us is the best way to understand the human mind.

Minds, Culture, And The Evolution Of Intelligence, Dan Kelly

Dawn or Doom Conference

Current thought on evolution and cognition suggests that modern human minds are a product of both biological and cultural evolution, and that our minds were and continue to be shaped not just by our physical environment, but also by our interaction with the very culture and technology that we ourselves create. I will consider the idea that certain forms of intelligence are "artificial" in light of this co-evolutionary perspective and its suggestion that in one broad but crucial sense, our own intelligence has extended beyond purely biological boundaries for millennia.

Women And Law: A Comparative Analysis Of The United States And Indian Supreme Courts' Equality Jurisprudence, Eileen Kaufman

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Applying The Third Un Convention On The Law Of The Sea To Living Marine Resources: Comparing The Approaches Of The United States And South Africa To Highly Migratory Species Management, Erica Wright

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Refining The Limits Of International Law, Kal Raustiala

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Geomorphic And Ecological Disturbance And Recovery From Two Small Dams And Their Removal, Desirée D. Tullos, Debra S. Finn, Cara Walter

College of Natural and Applied Sciences

Dams are known to impact river channels and ecosystems, both during their lifetime and in their decommissioning. In this study, we applied a before-after-control-impact design associated with two small dam removals to investigate abiotic and biotic recovery trajectories from both the elimination of the press disturbance associated with the presence of dams and the introduction of a pulse disturbance associated with removal of dams. The two case studies represent different geomorphic and ecological conditions that we expected to represent low and high sensitivities to the pulse disturbance of dam removal: the 4 m tall, gravel-filled Brownsville Dam on the wadeable …

Lanthorn, Vol. 49, No. 09, September 18, 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.

A Vavilovian Approach To Discovering Crop-Associated Microbes With Potential To Enhance Plant Immunity, Iago L. Hale, Kirk Broders, Gloria Iriarte

New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station Publications

Through active associations with a diverse community of largely non-pathogenic microbes, a plant may be thought of as possessing an “extended genotype,” an interactive cross-organismal genome with potential, exploitable implications for plant immunity. The successful enrichment of plant microbiomes with beneficial species has led to numerous commercial applications, and the hunt for new biocontrol organisms continues. Increasingly flexible and affordable sequencing technologies, supported by increasingly comprehensive taxonomic databases, make the characterization of non-model crop-associated microbiomes a widely accessible research method toward this end; and such studies are becoming more frequent. A summary of this emerging literature reveals, however, the need …

College Senate Minutes September 18, 2014, Bronx Community College Senate

BCC Governance Archives

Minutes for the meeting of the College Senate on September 18, 2014.

Faculty Senate Minutes September 18, 2014, Missouri University Of Science And Technology Faculty Senate

Minutes & Agendas

No abstract provided.

Swimming Against The Tide: Investigations Of The C-Bouton Synapse, Adam S. Deardorff, Shannon H. Romer, Patrick M. Sonner, Robert E. W. Fyffe

Neuroscience, Cell Biology & Physiology Faculty Publications

C-boutons are important cholinergic modulatory loci for state-dependent alterations in motoneuron firing rate. m2 receptors are concentrated postsynaptic to C-boutons, and m2 receptor activation increases motoneuron excitability by reducing the action potential afterhyperpolarization. Here, using an intensive review of the current literature as well as data from our laboratory, we illustrate that C-bouton postsynaptic sites comprise a unique structural/functional domain containing appropriate cellular machinery (a “signaling ensemble”) for cholinergic regulation of outward K⁺ currents. Moreover, synaptic reorganization at these critical sites has been observed in a variety of pathologic states. Yet despite recent advances, there are still great challenges …

Life History And Demographic Drivers Of Reservoir Competence For Three Tick-Borne Zoonotic Pathogens, Richard S. Ostfeld, Taal Levi, Anna E. Jolles, Lynn B. Martin, Parviez R. Hosseini, Felicia Keesing

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Animal and plant species differ dramatically in their quality as hosts for multi-host pathogens, but the causes of this variation are poorly understood. A group of small mammals, including small rodents and shrews, are among the most competent natural reservoirs for three tick-borne zoonotic pathogens, Borrelia burgdorferi, Babesia microti, and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, in eastern North America. For a group of nine commonly-infected mammals spanning >2 orders of magnitude in body mass, we asked whether life history features or surrogates for (unknown) encounter rates with ticks, predicted reservoir competence for each pathogen. Life history features associated with a fast pace …

The Pacifican September 18, 2014, University Of The Pacific

All Issues - Student Newspaper, The Pacifican, Pacific Weekly

No abstract provided.

The Gazette September 18, 2014, Langston University

LU Gazette, 2010-2019

The student newspaper for Langston University

Use Of Blood Oxygenator Membrane Units In Teaching Mass Balances, Friction Factor And Mass Transfer Analysis, Keith Mciver

Theses and Dissertations

Many applications of chemical engineering principles are biomedical but traditional chemical engineering education does not focus on these applications. New laboratory experiments with hollow fiber blood oxygenators allow integration of concepts into already full programs. This work describes three new educational experiments that have been developed to introduce students to concepts of mass balances, mass transfer and momentum transfer as applied to a hollow fiber blood oxygenator. In addition, a new mass transfer correlation is presented for the Medtronic Affinity NT blood oxygenator, which has not been reported previously in the literature. Mass transfer of oxygen through the hollow fiber …

On The Approximability Of The Exemplar Adjacency Number Problem For Genomes With Gene Repetitions, Zhinxiag Chen, Bin Fu, Randy Goebel, Guohui Lin, Weitian Tong, Jinhui Xu, Boting Yang, Zhiyu Zhao, Binhai Zhu

Computer Science Faculty Publications

In this paper, we apply a measure, exemplar adjacency number, which complements and extends the well-studied breakpoint distance between two permutations, to measure the similarity between two genomes (or in general, between any two sequences drawn from the same alphabet). For two genomes and drawn from the same set of n gene families and containing gene repetitions, we consider the corresponding Exemplar Adjacency Number problem (EAN), in which we delete duplicated genes from and such that the resultant exemplar genomes (permutations) G and H have the maximum adjacency number. We obtain the following results. First, we prove that the one-sided …

Study: Little Difference In Shingles Risk Among Ra Biologics, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Thymidylate Synthase Genotype-Directed Chemotherapy For Patients With Gastric And Gastroesophageal Junction Cancers, Laura W. Goff, Nilay Thakkar, Liping Du, Emily Chan, Benjamin R. Tan, Dana B. Cardin, Howard L. Mcleod, Jordan D. Berlin, Barbara Zehnbauer, Chloe Fournier, Joel Picus, Andrea Wang-Gillam, Wooin Lee, A. Craig Lockhart

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Retrospective studies indicate associations between TSER (thymidylate synthase enhancer region) genotypes and clinical outcomes in patients receiving 5-FU based chemotherapy, but well-controlled prospective validation has been lacking.

METHODS: In this phase II study (NCT00515216 registered through ClinicalTrials.gov, http://clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00515216), patients with "good risk" TSER genotypes (at least one TSER*2 allele) were treated with FOLFOX chemotherapy to determine whether prospective patient selection can improve overall response rates (ORR) in patients with gastric and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) cancers, compared with historical outcomes in unselected patients (estimated 43%).

RESULTS: The ORR in genotype-selected patients was 39.1% (9 partial responses out …

Method And Apparatus For Surface Chemical Functionalization Of Powders And Nanoparticles, Mary Gilliam, Susan Farhat, Graham Garner, Michael Magyar

Chemical Engineering Patents

A method and apparatus is provided for the modification of the surface chemistry of solid nano- and micro-particles in order to tailor the properties and functions of these particles. The method generally involves the generation of an atmospheric plasma glow discharge and energetic species that undergo chemical reaction with the surface of the primary particles. The process includes the generation of energetic species to initiate reaction, optional delivery of a precursor fluid, optional delivery of chemical species for grafting, and delivery of separated and de-agglomerated particles into the plasma discharge exiting the plasma generation chamber.

Daily Eastern News: September 18, 2014, Eastern Illinois University

September

No abstract provided.

Development Of Experiments Involving Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Principles, Alexander Struck Jannini

Theses and Dissertations

Laboratory experiments were developed to incorporate pharmaceutical engineering concepts into Freshman-level engineering courses. The goal is to increase the interest of pharmaceutical engineering in students and provide the necessary background for more advanced courses in the field. The experiments can be used on an individual basis, or to be grouped into themes for more focused learning objectives. The laboratory experiments are available at the pharmaceutical knowledge and training website www.PharmaHUB.org under the Teaching Resources tab.

The Cowl - V.79 - N.3 - Sep 18, 2014

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol 79 - No. 3 - September 18, 2014. 24 pages.

The Grizzly, September 18, 2014, Rachel Brown, Deana Harley, Olivia Frymark, Sydney A. Dodson-Nease, Jaime Bocanumenth, Steve Valverde, Maxwell Bicking, Caitlin Tillson, Rayleen Rivera-Harbach, Kristen Costello, Bryce Pinkerton, Mark Branca, Aliki Torrence

Ursinus College Grizzly Newspaper, 1978 to Present

New Leadership • Celebrating Bobby Fong • Bear Bucks Denied • UC Printing Goes Mobile • New Rabbi Makes Changes on Campus • Family Day Draws in Crowd • Alumni Share the Value of Liberal Arts • Take a Break with Lassie • Don't Hibernate, Participate in Campus Traditions • Opinion: Female Athletes Not Just Sexy; NFL Domestic Violence Scandal was Poorly Handled on All Fronts • Volleyball Looks to Improve in 2014 • Loftier Goals

What Are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, And Queer (Lgbtq) Parents' Perceived Experience Of Inclusiveness In Their Child's Preschool Classroom?, Carla Haggard

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) parents are more visible now than ever before due to reduced stigma. Preschool is often children and family's first introduction to the school system and families outside of their social network. This mixed method research study examines the perceived experiences of inclusiveness or non-inclusiveness for LGBTQ families in their child's preschool classroom. This study presents data from 70 self-identified LGBTQ parents with a child who has been in preschool within the past year in the United States. Parents in this study often felt that their child's preschool was inclusive of their family structure …

Measurements Of Dna Damage And Repair In Bacillus Anthracis Sterne Spores By Uv Radiation, Chelsea C. Marcum

Theses and Dissertations

Spores of Bacillus anthracis (Ba) sterne were irradiated with 267nm UV light using small light emitting diodes. The pRB373 plasmid with a red fluorescent protein was transformed into Ba sterne cells prior to irradiation. Following irradiation, germination media was added and the spores were incubated for various times, to allow for DNA repair. The pRB373 plasmid was isolated and analyzed using real-time PCR. Primers were designed across the RFP in the plasmid yielding two amplicons, 245bp and 547bp long. PCR amplification was not achieved for germinated samples. Spore samples isolated using bead beating methods were amplified. Results indicate a quicker …

Capturing Uncertainty In Fatigue Life Data, Brent D. Russell

Theses and Dissertations

Time-to-failure (TTF) data, also referred to as life data, are investigated across a wide range of scientific disciplines and collected mainly through scientific experiments with the main objective of predicting performance in service conditions. Fatigue life data are times, measured in cycles, until complete fracture of a material in response to a cyclical loading. Fatigue life data have large variation, which is often overlooked or not rigorously investigated when developing predictive life models. This research develops a statistical model to capture dispersion in fatigue life data which can be used to extend deterministic life models into probabilistic life models. Additionally, …

Chemical And Thermal Stability Studies Of Hydrophobic And Hydrophilic Polyvinylidene Fluoride (Pvdf) Membranes In Alkaline Environments / Mohamad Fairus Rabuni, Rabuni Mohamad Fairus

Student Works (2010-2019)

This research work has highlighted the effects of alkaline solution towards PVDF stability at the typical concentrations used in membrane cleaning and membrane contactor processes such as gas absorption using alkaline solution. In the first part of the study, PVDF membranes treated with two types of strong alkali, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) at different concentrations, temperatures and treatment times. The virgin and treated membranes were analysed using FESEM, DSC, FTIR, pure water flux measurement and tensile test. PVDF membrane was found to experience changes in its intrinsic properties following exposure towards alkaline solution. For 120 minute treatment …

Quantifying Soil Loss In The Hispaniola Borderland, Andrew Valenski

Geography and the Environment Capstone Projects

Resource management is a highly contested topic, as various methodologies have been employed by governments, corporations, and interest groups across the globe. Contemporary debates regarding resource management primarily focus on two linked issues: the role of government and problem recognition. This paper will explain the two different resource management strategies and delve into the problem recognition process. Ultimately, this paper will examine the Haitian-Dominican borderland to address both of these issues and demonstrate the need for an integrated, sustainable, interventionist approach in the management of borderland resources.

Paper prepared for the Environmental Studies Senior Seminar/Geography Capstone.

Faculty Advisor: Dr. David …

Developing Professional Skills In Stem Students: Data Information Literacy, Lisa Zilinski, Megan R. Sapp Nelson, Amy S. Van Epps

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Undergraduate STEM students are increasingly expected to have some data use skills upon graduation, whether they pursue post-graduate education or move into industry. This project was an initial foray into the application of data information literacy competencies to training undergraduate students to identify markers of data and information quality. The data consumer training appeared within two courses to help students evaluate data objects, including databases and datasets available on the Internet. The application of the Data Credibility Checklist provides a foundation for developing data reuse competencies. Based upon the initial presentation of the content, it became obvious that students need …

The Association Of The Vanin-1 N131s Variant With Blood Pressure Is Mediated By Endoplasmic Reticulum-Associated Degradation And Loss Of Function, Ya-Juan Wang, Bamidele O. Tayo, Anupam Bandyopadhyay, Heming Wang, Tao Feng, Nora Franceschini, Hua Tang, Jianmin Gao, Yun Ju Sung, The Cogent Bp Consortium, Robert C. Elston, Scott M. Williams, Richard S. Cooper, Ting-Wei Mu, Xiaofeng Zhu

Dartmouth Scholarship

High blood pressure (BP) is the most common cardiovascular risk factor worldwide and a major contributor to heart disease and stroke. We previously discovered a BP-associated missense SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism)–rs2272996–in the gene encoding vanin-1, a glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored membrane pantetheinase. In the present study, we first replicated the association of rs2272996 and BP traits with a total sample size of nearly 30,000 individuals from the Continental Origins and Genetic Epidemiology Network (COGENT) of African Americans (P = 0.01). This association was further validated using patient plasma samples; we observed that the N131S mutation is associated with significantly lower plasma vanin-1 …