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33rd Annual African American Commencement, 2015, San Jose State University, Associated Students

African American Commencement

33rd Annual African American Commencement

"Black Grad: Striving Today to Create a Better Tomorrow." The 2015 African American Commencement ceremony was held on Friday, May 22, 2015 in the Student Union Ballroom at San Jose State University.

A Geospatial Analysis Of Norovirus Outbreaks In California, And An Investigation Of The Impact Of Environmental Variables, Alexandra Groen

Master's Projects and Capstones

Previous studies and empirical evidence suggest norovirus outbreaks in California exhibit correlation with environmental variables and exhibit spatial spread patterns. Few studies have been done looking at what causes norovirus seasonality in temperate climates and more research is needed on the regional level. This study aims to find what relationships exist with outbreak occurrence and environmental variables in California, as well as any spatial patterns of spread or clustering of outbreaks. Spatial analysis tools were used to find any relationships between California norovirus outbreak data and environmental variables. The results showed a south to north spread of outbreaks in California …

Transcriptional Regulation By Dax-1 In Pluripotent And Differentiated Cells, Alexandra C. Maramba

Master's Theses

DAX-1, an orphan nuclear hormone receptor, acts mainly as a repressor through transcriptional protein complexes. Its unique structure and specific expression raises questions as to what its precise interactions are and how it mediates its repressive function. While it is known to play a role in sexual development and adrenal insufficiency, expression in certain types of cancer suggests additional functions and interactions. Knock in of DAX-1 into a low-DAX-1 expressing cancer cell line has been previously observed to increase apoptosis, while, inversely, down in a high-DAX-1 expressing cancer cell line shows a decrease in apoptosis. Target genes that belong to …

Macroalgal Responses To Ocean Acidification Depend On Nutrient And Light Levels, Psm Celis-Plã¡, Jason M. Hall-Spencer, Paulo Antunes Horta, Marco Milazzo, Nathalie Korbee, Christopher E. Cornwall, Félix L. Figueroa

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Unintended Consequences Of Enforcement In A Fisheries Institution: Results From An Artefactual Experiment In Tanzania, Spencer Maccoll

Master's Theses

Overfishing and the destruction of fishing commons in developing countries is a growing problem. Policymakers and local community leaders are looking for solutions to keep their fishing commons sustainable. Fines and enforcement mechanisms are commonly suggested to help preserve the commons. This paper discusses a novel artefactual experiment conducted throughout several fishing communities in Tanzania to determine the effect of enforcing a ban on illegal fishing gear on fishing behavior. Results indicate that the fishers in the enforcement treatment group depleted the fish stock significantly faster than the unenforced control group. One possible explanation for this result is that the …

Investigations Of Thioether Generation For S-D-Ribosyl-L-Homocysteine Synthesis, Brendan Corcoran

Master's Theses

Creation of the thioether linkage is a fundamental step for the chemical preparation of the bacterial quorum sensing molecule S-D-ribosyl-L-homocysteine (SRH). Although previous preparations of SRH and its analogues have been reported in the literature, they employ assorted methods with varied results. Therefore, a reassessment of the methodology used for synthetic preparation of the thioether bond in SRH-like molecules is here considered. This work examines four methods of thioether generation following two mechanisms, bimolecular nucleophilic substitution (S_N2) and radical-initiated thiol-ene coupling, in an attempt to generate SRH in a more efficient and reproducible manner. Both mechanisms address …

3d Modeling Techniques For Print And Digital Media, Megan Ashley Stephens

Theses

In developing my thesis, I looked to gain skills using ZBrush to create 3D models, 3D scanning, and 3D printing. The models created compared the hearts of several vertebrates and were intended for students attending Comparative Vertebrate Anatomy . I used several resources to create a model of the human heart and was able to work from life while creating heart models from other vertebrates.

I successfully learned ZBrush and 3D scanning, and successfully printed 3D heart models. ZBrush allowed me to create several intricate models for use in both animation and print media. The 3D scanning technique did not …

Got Hair That Flows In The Wind: The Complexity Of Hair And Identity Among African American Female Adolescents In Foster Care, Lakindra Michelle Mitchell Dove

Dissertations and Theses

African American children are disproportionately over-represented in the child welfare system. Many of these children linger in the system and experience disconnection from their biological families, communities, cultural beliefs, values, and practices. Familial socialization and cultural exposure are essential to developing a positive ethnic identity and self-concept. For African American female adolescents, hair and hair care are critical areas for such socialization and support. This qualitative study explored the hair and hair care perceptions and experiences of African American female adolescents in foster care. The goal was to examine hair and hair's connection to, and influence on, sense of self …

Art Therapy Considerations With Transgender Individuals, Bryan A. Schnebelt

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study examines the use of art therapy as a treatment modality with transgender individuals, as well as provides a brief background into transgender identity, in order to recognize considerations for enhanced care of this population. A semi-structured interview approach was applied with art therapists who have utilized art therapy with transgender clients. This study focuses on areas of identity development, aspects of trauma and transphobia and their effects, treatment approaches, and cultural components to working with transgender individuals. Through this research, a recognition of transgender identity as its own cultural entity was found to be important in …

The Role Of Art Making In The Recovery From A Physical Disability Due To Trauma, Erika Y. Schreefel

LMU Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative research study presents an examination of the role that art making fulfills in the recovery efforts following the development of a physical disability due to a trauma. Preexisting literature informed the current study on art making’s ability to manage psychological and physical stressors that can accompany the development of a physical disability due to a trauma experience. The current study utilized a focus group to gain a better understanding of art making’s benefits by obtaining firsthand accounts from individuals with experience incorporating art making in their own recovery process. Data collected during the focus group suggests that the …

A Heuristic Study Of A Wounded Healer, Samantha Mcmullen

LMU Theses and Dissertations

Art therapy and narrative therapy techniques are both used separately in treating sexual abuse, however they are not often used together. This heuristic study explores the experience of a wounded healer when using art within a narrative therapy process, specifically storytelling, to support healing from multigenerational incestuous abuse. This researcher used a science fiction story she is currently writing, to stimulate 8 reflections on the parallels in that story and in her personal trauma narrative, and then made adjoining art pieces about the reflections. The data was analyzed to find themes, such as protection, anger and fear. The art helped …

Guest Speaker: Dr. Vincent Racaniello The Gerald M. Scherba Lecture

Meeting of the Minds

Guest Speaker: Dr. Vincent Racaniello

The Gerald M. Scherba Lecture

Communicating Science

Guest Speakers: Dr. Vincent Racaniello And Dr. Kathy Spindler

Meeting of the Minds

No abstract provided.

Student Honoree: Jason Alipio

Meeting of the Minds

No abstract provided.

Revitalization Of The Urban Core In Liuzhou, Huanhuan Zeng

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Liuzhou City is a successful industrial city in southwest of China. It is the second largest city and the largest industrial base in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Over the past twenty years, the processes of industrialization and urbanization have resulted in pollution and a shortage of the land that pose barriers to further development. To cope with these problems, Liuzhou City has devised a strategy for the transformation for the city’s economic development known as the Revitalization of the Urban Core Plan. Transformation involves extending the urban core through the creation of new districts, conversion of rural to urban space, …

Patenting Genes: Genetically Modified Organisms (Gmos), Kelsey Gibbs

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Protecting intellectual integrity of inventions is not a new concept. Protection in the form of patents dates as early as Ancient Greece. In the United States, patent laws have a very broad scope that have been very loosely interpreted. These laws were designed to protect man-made innovations. Until the 1980s this principle has been upheld. In 1980, a Supreme Court case ruled that a bacteria had been genetically modified by the insertion of genes. The inserted genes transformed the bacteria from a product of nature to a commodity. This case opened a floodgate of patents sought for genetically modified organisms. …

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Cynthia Crawford

Meeting of the Minds

No abstract provided.

Novel Advances In Alzheimer's Disease, Jacob P. Naumann

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia in adults, is a progressive degenerative neurological disease that affects memory, cognition, and behavior. Dr. Alois Alzheimer discovered and diagnosed the irreversible disease in 1906 after documenting the famous case of Auguste Deter.¹ Since the discovery of the disease, numerous advances have made it possible to not only better understand the causal factors, but also to improve the medical diagnosis and preventative measures that healthcare providers can implement. For the first time since 1984, the National Institute on Aging (NIAA) and the Alzheimer’s Association (AA) proposed and published new diagnostic guideline …

Insect Communities: Ellensburg Upstream Versus Downstream Sites, Michael Balda

Symposium Of University Research and Creative Expression (SOURCE)

Urban stream syndrome occurs when an urban area affects a stream system. Stream burial is common in urban systems, and burial blocks incoming light, potentially affecting available food resources and, in turn, affecting the insect communities. I tested for changes to the stream ecosystem as a result of urbanization by measuring insect community parameters upstream and downstream of buried sites in the three creeks in Ellensburg, Washington, that are affected by urban stream syndrome. I measured chlorophyll on rocks, total suspended sediments (TSS), fine benthic organic matter (FBOM), ammonium, and phosphorus to relate to insect communities characteristics. I hypothesized that …

Psychological Predictors Of Survival And Disease Recurrence In Women With Breast Cancer Following Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Management, Jamie M. Stagl

Open Access Dissertations

Women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer experience elevated psychological distress associated with diagnosis and treatment that may have long term implications for disease progression and overall survival. Group-based Cognitive-Behavioral Stress Management (CBSM) has been shown to improve quality of life (QOL) and depressive symptoms in women with early stage breast cancer up to 12 months post-surgery. The current study aimed to examine whether women who received CBSM have better survival, breast cancer specific survival, and disease free interval at 8-15 year follow-up. The study also aimed to determine whether women in the CBSM group report less depressive symptoms and …

Different Populations Of Blacklegged Tick Nymphs Exhibit Differences In Questing Behavior That Have Implications For Human Lyme Disease Risk, Isis M. Arsnoe, Graham J. Hickling, Howard S. Ginsberg, Richard Mcelreath, Jean I. Tsao

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

Animal behavior can have profound effects on pathogen transmission and disease incidence. We studied the questing (= host-seeking) behavior of blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) nymphs, which are the primary vectors of Lyme disease in the eastern United States. Lyme disease is common in northern but not in southern regions, and prior ecological studies have found that standard methods used to collect host-seeking nymphs in northern regions are unsuccessful in the south. This led us to hypothesize that there are behavior differences between northern and southern nymphs that alter how readily they are collected, and how likely they are …

Socio-Cultural Influences On The Behaviour Of South Asian Women With Diabetes In Pregnancy: Qualitative Study Using A Multi-Level Theoretical Approach, Trisha Greenhalgh, Megan Clinch, Nur Afsar, Yasmin Choudhury, Rita Sudra, Desirée Campbell-Richards, Anne Claydon, Graham A. Hitman, Philippa Hanson, Sarah Finer

Publications and Research

Background Diabetes in pregnancy is common in South Asians, especially those from low-income backgrounds, and leads to short-term morbidity and longer-term metabolic programming in mother and offspring. We sought to understand the multiple influences on behaviour (hence risks to metabolic health) of South Asian mothers and their unborn child, theorise how these influences interact and build over time, and inform the design of culturally congruent, multi-level interventions. Methods Our sample for this qualitative study was 45 women of Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan, or Pakistani origin aged 21–45 years with a history of diabetes in pregnancy, recruited from diabetes and antenatal …

Sarr Chen Miles Musaraj Receive Research Grants, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

“High Functioning”: Successful Professionals With Severe Mental Illness, James T. R. Jones

Duke Forum for Law & Social Change

No abstract provided.

What We Look Like (2015), Benjamin (B.J.) Tindal Jr.

Season 2014-2015

No abstract provided.

Dna Analysis Of Surfactant Associated Bacteria In The Sea Surface Microlayer In Application To Satellite Remote Sensing Techniques: Case Studies In The Straits Of Florida And The Gulf Of Mexico, Bryan Hamilton

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Several genera of bacteria residing in the sea surface microlayer and in the near-surface layer of the ocean have been found to be involved in the production and decay of surfactants. Under low wind speed conditions, surfactants can suppress short gravity capillary waves at the sea surface and form natural sea slicks. These features can be observed with both airborne and satellite-based synthetic aperture radar (SAR). Using a new microlayer sampling method, a series of experiments have been conducted in the Straits of Florida and the Gulf of Mexico in 2013 to establish a connection between the presence of surfactant-associated …

Resilience Of Transport Infrastructure Systems, Pekka Leviäkangas, Aki Aapaoja

CSID Journal of Infrastructure Development

This paper proposes a generic resilience framework that is applied to transport infrastructure systems. The framework is based on prior research and literature material on resilience. The paper first reviews some of the relevant literature and builds a resilience model that distinguishes the attributes and sub-attributes of resilience. Then the resilience model and transport system components are merged into single system resilience matrix. The complexity of resilience of a meta-system – a system comprising several sub-systems – is underlined. Finally, the implications on other meta-systems, for example those governed by cities and municipalities, are briefly discussed. In fact, cities and …

Genome-Wide Association Study Of Cerebrospinal Fluid Prostatic Acid Phosphatase Levels, Lyndsay A. Staley, John S. K. Kauwe

Journal of Undergraduate Research

In genome wide association studies (GWAS), the use of endophenotypes, or intermediate traits, have been found to provide novel insights into understanding the genetics of complex human disease and the pathways and proteins associated with them. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been shown to contain analytes that may provide promising insight into disease pathways that may not be identified using blood or other biological fluids. The analytes were selected from the Rules Based Medicine, Inc. (RBM) (Austin, TX) Human Discovery Panel 1.0, which includes a range of signaling, structural, and trafficking proteins that have previously shown relationships with human disease pathology. …

Diverging Predation Environment Between Two Sister Species Of Live Bearing Fish: Boldness, Activity, And Exploration., David Money, Jerald B. Johnson

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Our study takes advantage of a unique species pair within Brachyrhaphis, Brachyrhaphis roseni and B. terrabensis,, which provides insight into how divergence proceeds once speciation is complete. Brachyrhaphis roseni and B. terrabensis are sister species that occur in the same river drainages throughout northwestern Panama. A similar pattern occurs between these two species as occurs within other species of Brachyrhaphis, such that B. roseni lives in the presence of ambush predators (e.g., Hoplias microlepis and Gobiomorus dormitor) in lower elevation streams, and B. terrabensis, lives in largely predator-free, higher elevation streams. Therefore, using B. roseni and …

Effects Of Phosphorous Availability On Nematode Growth And Morphology In Vitro, Ammon Perkes, Byron Adams

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The Growth Rate Hypothesis (GRH) proposes that since high-growth protein synthesis in organisms requires phosphorous-rich rRNA, growth is correlated with and dependent on phosphorous availability to said organisms. The limitation imposed by phosphorus availability thus becomes a selective factor that drives evolution. (Elser et al, 2002). This project seeks to test the GRH in vitro using Plectus murrayi a species of Antarctic nematodes. Previous research in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica found a correlation between life history in P. murrayi, including growth, and phosphorous availability. (Adhikari et al, in prep). We seek to replicate this difference in vitro …