Digital Commons Network^™

Trophic Dynamic Interactions In A Temperate Karst River, Elizabeth Malloy

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Surface streams in karst landscapes are often characterized by high nutrient levels due to incomplete filtration through series of innumerable, below-ground conduits. Seasonal growth of the filamentous alga, Cladophora, is typically associated with nutrient-rich waters. This research compared macroinvertebrate food web structure between riverine reaches with contrasting underlying karst topography, nutrient levels, and Cladophora cover during summer 2012 and autumn 2013. Recent work in these reaches found a high correlation between Cladophora cover and nutrient content, particularly nitrate. Four questions were addressed during this study: 1. Do longitudinal trends in algal and consumer δ13C values relate to decreased DIC availability …

Finding The "T" In Lgbtq: Esl Educator Perceptions Of Transgender And Non-Binary Gender Topics In The Language Classroom, Teresa Lynn Witcher

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

While there is a “T” in the acronym for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ), the focus in both academia and the real world often shifts solely to sexuality. Even though the real world discussion of sexuality (and perhaps academia’s as well) is also much lacking in both attention to all sexualities (not simply heterosexual and homosexual), there is also a distinct lack of awareness about subtleties all along both the sexuality and gender spectrums. Although sexuality can depend on gender to some extent, particularly where limiting prefixes related to the preference for a specific binary gender (such as …

Changes On Cran, Kurt Hornik, Achim Zeileis

The R Journal

New packages in CRAN task views

New contributed packages

Other changes

Ethics Is Not Rocket Science: How To Have Ethical Discussions In Your Science Class, Kelly C. Smith

Publications

The Rutland Institute for Ethics at Clemson University seeks to encourage discussion on campus, in businesses, and in the community about how ethical decision-making can be the basis of both personal and professional success. In the last 15 years, our fellows have, among other things, served as Co-PI’s on a wide range of grants, produced Responsible Conduct of Research training for science and engineering graduate students and faculty, managed the ethics curriculum at a medical school, and produced video lectures on ethical thinking for undergraduate Biology majors. The crown jewel of our efforts to-date is our Ethics Across the Curriculum …

What About Boem? The Need To Reform The Regulations Governing Offshore Oil And Gas Planning And Leasing, Michael Levine, Andrew Hartsig, Maggie Clements

Alaska Law Review

The nature of offshore oil and gas activities is changing as companies are forced into difficult and remote areas, including the U.S. Arctic Ocean. As evidenced by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon tragedy and Shell's error-plagued efforts to drill exploration wells in the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in 2012, the rules governing whether and under what conditions to allow offshore drilling in frontier areas have not kept pace with environmental and technical changes. These rules were implemented in 1979 and have remained substantively the same since. Recent changes to at the Department of the Interior to disband the Minerals Management Service, …

An Evaluation Of Metric Methods Of Race Differentiation In The Human Pelvic Girdle For The Application Of Expert Witness Testimony, Laura Natalie Yurka

Master's Theses

Research has shown that measurements from the pelvic bones and femur can be utilized for race estimation when the skull is absent or damaged. The literature reported levels up to 95% accuracy when utilizing discriminant function analysis to simultaneously classify race and sex. This research examined the previously reported methods of race estimation within the evidence standards for forensic science as well as current statistical standards. New metric measurements from the pelvis and femur were also proposed and tested to assess their utility as race indicators. Finally, this research addressed concerns that skeletal collections like the Robert J. Terry Skeletal …

Got Milk? Human Milk Components And The Benefits Of Breast Feeding, Amber Provenzano

Graduate Research Projects

No abstract provided.

Faculty Notes - John Carroll University, John Carroll University

Faculty Notes - John Carroll University

December 2014, Volume 7, Issue 4

Biomarkers Of Inflammation, Metabolism, And Oxidative Stress In Blood, Liver, And Milk Reveal A Better Immunometabolic Status In Peripartal Cows Supplemented With Smartamine M Or Metasmart, J. S. Osorio, E. Trevisi, P. Ji, J. K. Drackley, D. Luchini, G. Bertoni, J. J. Loor

Physiology Collection

The peripartal dairy cow experiences a state of reduced liver function coupled with increased inflammation and oxidative stress. This study evaluated the effect of supplementing basal diets with rumen-protected Met in the form of MetaSmart (MS) or Smartamine M (SM) (both from Adisseo Inc., Antony, France) during the peripartal period on blood and hepatic biomarkers of liver function, inflammation, and oxidative stress. Thirty-seven multiparous Holstein cows were fed the same basal diet from −50 to −21 d relative to expected calving [1.24 Mcal/kg of dry matter (DM); no Met supplementation]. From −21 d to calving, the cows received diets …

Angiogenic, Neurotrophic, And Inflammatory System Snps Moderate The Association Between Birth Weight And Adhd Symptom Severity, Taylor F. Smith, Arthur D. Anastopoulos, Melanie E. Garrett, Alejandro Arias-Vasquez, Barbara Franke, Robert D. Oades, Edmund Sonuga-Barke, Philip Asherson, Michael Gill, Jan K. Buitelaar, Joseph A. Sergeant, Scott H. Kollins, Stephen V. Faraone, Allison Ashley-Koch, Image Consortium

Psychology and Child Development

Low birth weight is associated with increased risk for Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); however, the etiological underpinnings of this relationship remain unclear. This study investigated if genetic variants in angiogenic, dopaminergic, neurotrophic, kynurenine, and cytokine-related biological pathways moderate the relationship between birth weight and ADHD symptom severity. A total of 398 youth from two multi-site, family-based studies of ADHD were included in the analysis. The sample consisted of 360 ADHD probands, 21 affected siblings, and 17 unaffected siblings. A set of 164 SNPs from 31 candidate genes, representing five biological pathways, were included in our analyses. Birth weight and gestational age …

Root Stimulation Using Vermi-Products In Grape Vine Propagations, Katerina M. Flores

Wine and Viticulture

Vermi-products are byproducts produced from earthworms digesting and decomposing a natural material into another. Liquid teas or extracts of vermi-products are another form of leachate material found in the completed compost bin. These products are not high in essential plant macronutrients, have an average neutral pH (around 7.0), and are known for living microbial population. Grapevine propagations cut from the Trestle Vineyard at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo were used to observe root growth development using steer compost, vermicompost, and vermi-extract. Propagations used were dormant Pinot Noir clone 777. Compost subsamples tested 5%, 10%, 20%, and 40% by …

Journal Of Food Law & Policy - Fall 2014, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Toward A Just Food Regime: Consumption, Ideology, And Democratic Strategy, Adam B. Lichtenberger

Journal of Food Law & Policy

United States agricultural policies incentivize the growth and consumption of industrial foods. Industrial foods are linked to a host of social and ecological ills. However, agricultural policies are insulated from political criticism, in part, by the myth that consumers freely and rationally choose industrial foods. This neoliberal myth is congruous with the American preferences for "stealth democracy." That is, the neoliberal myth is an elegant, but ultimately erroneous, reconciliation of conflicting political preferences: Americans do not want to be involved in politics, but they also do not want the political process to be used by special interests or politicians to …

Straddling The Columbia: A Constitutional Law Professor's Musings On Circumventing Washington State's Criminal Prohibition On Compensated Surrogacy, Peter Nicolas

Washington Law Review

In this Article, I recount—through both the prisms of an intended parent and a constitutional law scholar—my successful efforts to become a parent via compensated surrogacy and egg donation. Part I of this Article provides a narrative of my experience in becoming a parent via compensated surrogacy, and the various state and federal legal roadblocks and deterrents that I encountered along the way, including Washington State’s criminal prohibition on compensated surrogacy as well as federal guidelines issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding the use of sperm by gay donors in the process of in vitro fertilization. Part …

Physiological Effects And Therapeutic Potential Of Proinsulin C-Peptide, Gina L.C. Yosten, Christine Maric-Bilkan, Patrizia Luppi, John Wahren

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Connecting Peptide, or C-peptide, is a product of the insulin prohormone, and is released with and in amounts equimolar to those of insulin. While it was once thought that C-peptide was biologically inert and had little biological significance beyond its role in the proper folding of insulin, it is now known that C-peptide binds specifically to the cell membranes of a variety of tissues and initiates specific intracellular signaling cascades that are pertussis toxin sensitive. Although it is now clear that C-peptide is a biologically active molecule, controversy still remains as to the physiological significance of the peptide. Interestingly, C-peptide …

The Effect Of Functional Fixation In Problem Solving Among Preschool, Second Grade, And Ninth Grade Children, Michael Kenneth Nehring

Dissertations

Functional fixedness is a cognitive function whereby an individual becomes fixated on a given function of an object, which prevents the individual from using the object in an alternative fashion to solve a problem (Duncker, 1935/1945). The current study analyzed the effect of functional fixedness on 36 children from three different age groups, preschool, second grade, and ninth grade. The children were presented with a problem solving activity based on a problem used by German and Defeyter (2000), in which they concluded that young children are immune to the effects of functional fixedness. Research conducted by Chrysikou (2006) indicated using …

Relation Of Chlorine Demand To The Water Quality Of Beaver Lake, Erin E. Scott, Jaime M. Gile, Brian E. Haggard

Arkansas Water Resources Center Technical Reports

No abstract provided.

Oceanic And Atmospheric Influences On The Interannual Variability Of The Madagascar Phytoplankton Bloom, Lindsay Roupe

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Approximately every other year during the austral summer a larger phytoplankton bloom propagates off of the southeast tip of Madagascar. The cause of the interannual variability of this distinct oceanic feature remains unclear, so here we improve the analysis of the interannual variability of the bloom with a longer ocean color dataset, re-examine the existing mixed layer depth and iron fertilization hypotheses formerly used to explain bloom formation and analyze the variability in the larger ocean-atmosphere system in the region in relation to bloom formation. To resolve the forcings on the bloom, relevant satellite and reanalysis data were examined using …

Molecular Characterization Of Quahog Parasite Unknown (Qpx), A Thraustochytird Pathogen Of The Hard Clam, Mercenaria Mercenaria, Ewelina Rubin

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The hard clam or northern quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria, is one of the most valuable seafood products in the United States. Severe episodes of hard clam mortality have been consistently associated with infections caused by a thraustochytrid parasite called Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX). Studies in the present dissertation examined the molecular bases of QPX virulence towards clams. Investigation of QPX transcriptome libraries generated a database of QPX putative virulence factors and other molecules potentially involved in interactions with the clam host. Multiple differential gene expression profiles were generated using oligoarray technology for QPX strains isolated from different geographic locations and for …

The Influence Of Biogenic Opal On 231pa/230th In Sediments From The Bermuda Rise And Its Implication For Paleocirculation Reconstructions, Theresa Marie King

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Thermohaline circulation is responsible for the global transport of heat in surface waters of the ocean, and variability in this circulation has been linked to both short- and long-term climate change on time scales ranging from centuries to tens of thousands of years. Accurate reconstructions of past variability are thus critical to understanding modern and future thermohaline circulation changes and the response of the global climate system. The main circulation feature in the Atlantic is Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC), and has been reconstructed using a variety of static proxies, but more recently through the use of sedimentary 231Pa_{xs …}

Diversity Of Skates (Batoidea: Rajoidei) And The Spatial Structure Of Nw Atlantic Communities, Christopher Michael Martinez

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Trait diversity often underlies complexity observed in biological systems. Whether it is behavior, life history, form or function, variation imparts differential performance on the organism, which may influence processes at higher levels of organization. Using two approaches, my dissertation research concerns the appraisal of diversity in fishes and its consequences for their ecology and evolution. The first two chapters focus on variety of spatial behaviors in northwest Atlantic marine communities. Temporal changes in community habitat utilization, as quantified by the interspecific abundance-occupancy (A-O) relationship, were the focus of chapter one. Trends in the A-O relationship indicated large-scale reorganization in some …

Does The Seasonal Acidification Of Spawning Habitat Influence Offspring Co2 Reaction Norms Through Transgenerational Plasticity In The Coastal Fish Species, Menidia Menidia?, Christopher S. Murray

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Experimental assessments of species vulnerabilities to ocean acidification are rapidly expanding, yet the potential for short- and long-term adaptation to high CO2 by contemporary marine organisms remains poorly understood. We used a novel experimental approach that combined bi-weekly sampling of a wild, spawning fish population (Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia) with standardized offspring CO2 exposure experiments and parallel pH monitoring of a coastal ecosystem. We assessed whether offspring produced at different times of the spawning season (April-July) would be similarly susceptible to elevated (~1,100 uatm, pHNBS = 7.77) and high CO2 levels (~2,300 uatm, pHNBS = 7.47). Early in the season …

Molecular Characterization Of Quahog Parasite Unknown (Qpx), A Thraustochytird Pathogen Of The Hard Clam, Mercenaria Mercenaria, Ewelina Rubin

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The hard clam or northern quahog, Mercenaria mercenaria, is one of the most valuable seafood products in the United States. Severe episodes of hard clam mortality have been consistently associated with infections caused by a thraustochytrid parasite called Quahog Parasite Unknown (QPX). Studies in the present dissertation examined the molecular bases of QPX virulence towards clams. Investigation of QPX transcriptome libraries generated a database of QPX putative virulence factors and other molecules potentially involved in interactions with the clam host. Multiple differential gene expression profiles were generated using oligoarray technology for QPX strains isolated from different geographic locations and for …

The Mechanisms Of Nmda Receptor Activation, Rashek Kazi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Glutamate-gated ion channels embedded within the neuronal membrane are the primary mediators of fast excitatory synaptic transmission in the central nervous system. The ion channel of these glutamate receptors contains a pore-lining transmembrane M3 helix surrounded by peripheral M1 and M4 helices. In the NMDA receptor (NMDAR), opening of the ion channel pore requires rearrangements of these helical elements, but there is currently no functional model for how this occurs. To address how agonist binding is transduced into pore opening in NMDARs, we manipulated the coupling between the ligand binding domain (LBD) and the M3 helix of the ion channel …

The Policing Of Self And Others: Foucault, Political Reason And A Critical Ontology Of Police, Kevin Scott Jobe

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Situating Foucault as a philosopher of actuality, I interpret and extend Foucault's critique of police as part of a broader philosophical reflection on subjectivity, and the practices of freedom (parrhesia) and revolt that constitute our actuality as free beings. In the first chapter, I situate Foucault as a philosopher of actuality, understood as the thinking of the continuity of ourselves (" we" ) as free beings involved in struggles against authority. In the second chapter, I draw out the fundamental antagonism in Foucault's later work between pastoral modes of subjectivity and Cynic modes of subjectivity, setting up an oppositon in …

The Substance Of Health: Aristotle, Deleuze And Guattari On The Dynamic Materiality Of The Living Body And Its Influence On Medical Concepts And Practices, Rachel Elaine Tillman

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Western medicine relies on a mechanistic conception of matter as passive and inert. Yet matter, and especially living matter, is actually dynamic and agential. This has transformative implications both for our quest to understand what health is and for determining what kinds of practices best promote health. I draw on a diverse set of philosophical thinkers to articulate a dynamic conception of living bodily matter that can enable us to define health more robustly and promote it more effectively. First I discuss the theoretical framework put forth by contemporary feminist accounts of materiality (" new feminist materialisms" or " material …

Bolometric Effect And Phonon Cooling In Graphene-Superconductor Junctions, Heli Vora

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Graphene, a two-dimensional allotrope of graphite, possesses remarkable electronic properties which stem from the fact that the electrons in graphene are described by the Dirac-Weyl Hamiltonian. As a result, graphene exhibits a linear energy dispersion relation with zero effective mass. With its single-atomic-layer thickness, not only electrons but also phonons are of a two dimensional nature, differentiating graphene from the conventional semiconductor based two-dimensional electron gas systems. The combination of two-dimensional phonons, ultra small volume, low density of states and linear energy spectrum allows graphene to have weak electron-phonon coupling and extremely small electronic heat capacity. These properties make it …

Does The Seasonal Acidification Of Spawning Habitat Influence Offspring Co2 Reaction Norms Through Transgenerational Plasticity In The Coastal Fish Species, Menidia Menidia?, Christopher S. Murray

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Experimental assessments of species vulnerabilities to ocean acidification are rapidly expanding, yet the potential for short- and long-term adaptation to high CO2 by contemporary marine organisms remains poorly understood. We used a novel experimental approach that combined bi-weekly sampling of a wild, spawning fish population (Atlantic silverside, Menidia menidia) with standardized offspring CO2 exposure experiments and parallel pH monitoring of a coastal ecosystem. We assessed whether offspring produced at different times of the spawning season (April-July) would be similarly susceptible to elevated (~1,100 uatm, pHNBS = 7.77) and high CO2 levels (~2,300 uatm, pHNBS = 7.47). Early in the season …

Pvp-Ca Composite Preparation And Its Characteristics, Ruiyao Cui

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) is a commonly used polymer that has some excellent properties, such as great strength and biocompatibility. Cellulose Acetate (CA) is another excellent polymer that has been employed in many applications, including drug. PVP-CA composite has both strength and flexible properties that can be used as ultrafiltration membranes or the drug release system. PVP-CA composites comprise a new class of materials that have been the scope of this work. In this research, the electrospun PVP-CA composites were prepared under different concentrations. Then, the impact of different electrospinning parameters on fiber diameters was investigated. Moreover, acetic acid and acetone were …

Investigation Of Bio-Inspired Hybrid Materials Through Polymer Infiltration Of Thermal Spray Formed Ceramic Templates, Katherine Claire Flynn

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

High strength and toughness are often mutually exclusive in engineered materials. This is especially true of ceramics and polymers. Ceramics exhibit high strength and stiffness, but are brittle while polymers are flaw tolerant but prone to deformation at low stresses. Nature overcomes this restriction in materials by strategically combining brittle components with tough organics, leading to materials with both a high strength and toughness. One of the most impressive natural composites is nacre consisting of mainly a brittle mineral phase, 95vol% calcium carbonate (aragonite), and 5vol% biopolymer (a combination of proteins and polysaccahrides). Nature combines constituents with poor macroscale properties …