Digital Commons Network^™

A Comparison Of Vitamin D Levels In Children With Early Childhood Caries, Vanessa O. Hofilena

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: To determine if there is an association between early childhood caries (ECC) and vitamin D deficiency, as measured via a serum sample. An exploratory goal was to investigate the possibility of measuring vitamin D with a salivary assay. Methods: Serum samples of patients who were scheduled for a dental or otolaryngology procedure under general anesthesia were assessed for 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D), parathyroid hormone and calcium. Results: Our analysis indicates that the vitamin D levels of the controls and ECC group were significantly different. There were significant inverse correlations between: 1) PTH levels and vitamin D and 2) decayed, missing, …

Evolution, Systematics & Geographic Parthenogenesis Of Ilyodromus (Crustacea, Ostracoda), Rylan James Shearn

Theses

Most multicellular organisms reproduce sexually at some point in their life cycle. This is paradoxical because being asexual is theoretically far more advantageous. Asexual organisms do not need to find and court new mates, they reproduce at a faster rate, and with no males, all members of the population contribute toward population growth rate. With over 20, often mutually exclusive hypotheses, this paradox resists a synthesised explanation, and continues to represent one of the largest gaps in our understanding of fundamental evolutionary theory. Clearly, more real world studies are required that document the selective mechanisms underlying differences in evolutionary fitness …

After-Effect Of Long-Term Soil Management On Soil Respiration And Otherqualitative Parameters Under Prolonged Dry Soil Conditions, Dalia Feiziene, Dalia Janusauskaite, Virginijus Feiza, Agne Putramentaite, Ausra Sinkeviciene, Skaidre Suproniene, Vytautas Seibutis, Grazina Kadziene, Irena Deveikyte, Sigitas Lazauskas, Daiva Janusauskaite, Virmantas Povilaitis

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Climatic conditions of environmental zone Nemoral 2 of Europe are favorable for agricultural development. However, more frequent events of hot air-waves and prolonged droughts occurring as a consequence of climate change lead to soil moisture content reduction down to the plant wilting point. Dry soil conditions may have negative consequences for soil as a habitat. The goal of this study was to evaluate the cumulative after-effect of long-term conventional (CT) and no-tillage (NT) application in combination with or without crop residues on soil physicochemical properties, microbiological activity, and soil respiration (SR) under prolonged dry soil conditions. Long-term CT with residue …

Lyme Disease, Mirelle Thaler

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

At What Age Should Screening Mammography Be Recommended For Asian Women?, Junko Tsuchida, Masayuki Nagahashi, Omar M. Rashid, Kazuaki Takabe, Toshifumi Wakai

Surgery Publications

Although regular screening mammography has been suggested to be associated with improvements in the relative survival of breast cancer in recent years, the appropriate age to start screening mammography remains controversial. In November 2009, the United States Preventive Service Task Force published updated guidelines for breast cancer, which no longer support routine screening mammography for women aged 40–49 years, but instead, defer the choice of screening in that age group to the patient and physician. The age to begin screening differs between guidelines, including those from the Task Force, the American Cancer Society and the World Health Organization. It remains …

Identification Of The Conformational Transition Pathway In Pip2 Opening Kir Channels, Junwei Li, Shouqin Lü, Yuzhi Lu, Chunli Pang, Yafei Chen, Suhua Zhang, Hui Yu, Mian Long, Hailin Zhang, Diomedes E. Logothetis, Yong Zhan, Hailong An

Surgery Publications

The gating of Kir channels depends critically on phosphatidylinositol 4,5-bisphosphate (PIP2), but the detailed mechanism by which PIP2 regulates Kir channels remains obscure. Here, we performed a series of Targeted molecular dynamics simulations on the full-length Kir2.1 channel and, for the first time, were able to achieve the transition from the closed to the open state. Our data show that with the upward motion of the cytoplasmic domain (CTD) the structure of the C-Linker changes from a loop to a helix. The twisting of the C-linker triggers the rotation of the CTD, which induces a small downward movement of the …

Enucleation After Embolization Of Liver Failure-Causing Giant Liver Hemangioma, Amit Sharma, Matthew Kaspar, Mohammad Siddiqui, Joohyun Kim

Surgery Publications

Patient: Female, 73

Final Diagnosis: Giant liver hemangioma

Symptoms: Abdominal discomfort • abdominal enlargement • Icterus

Medication: —

Clinical Procedure: Enucleation after embolization of liver failure-causing giant liver

Specialty: Surgery

Objective:

Unusual clinical course

Background:

Hepatic hemangioma is a congenital tumor of the mesenchymal tissues of the liver. While typically benign, these tumors can occasionally grow to sufficient size to cause a number of symptoms, including pain, severe hepatic dysfunction, or, rarely, consumptive coagulopathy. In such instances, surgical treatment may be warranted.

Case Report:

We present a case of a symptomatic giant hepatic hemangioma in an elderly patient who presented …

Organocatalytic Aryl−Aryl Bond Formation: An Atroposelective [3,3]‑Rearrangement Approach To Binam Derivatives, Gong-Qiang Li, Hongyin Gao, Craig Keene, Michael Devonas, Daniel H. Ess, LaśZlóKüRti *

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Herein we disclose an organocatalytic aryl− aryl bond-forming process for the regio- and atropo- selective synthesis of 2,2′-diamino-1,1′-binaphthalenes (BINAMs). In the presence of catalytic amounts of axially chiral phosphoric acids, achiral N,N′-binaphthyl hydrazines undergo a facile [3,3]-sigmatropic rearrangement to afford enantiomerically enriched BINAM derivatives in good to excellent yield. This transformation represents the first

example of a metal-free, catalytic C(sp²)−C(sp²) bond

formation between two aromatic rings with concomitant de novo atroposelective installation of an axis of chirality. Density functional calculations reveal that, in the transition state for C−C bond formation, the phosphoric acid proton of …

Biological Evolution In Canadian Science Curricula, Anila Ashgar, Sarah Bean, Wendi O'Neill, Brian Alters

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"The social controversy around biological evolution and creationism continues to persist throughout North America (Alters and Nelson 2002; Berkman and Plutzer 2011; Moore and Cotner 2009; Wiles and Alters 2011; Winslow and others 2011; Rissler and others 2014). This fierce debate has been quite visible in the United States, but seems to be relatively muted in Canada, which may lead many to believe that the dispute does not exist north of the border. While this issue has been researched and documented thoroughly in the US, relatively little is known about its dynamics in Canada, despite the powerful presence of such …

An Integral Perspective Of Peace Leadership, Whitney Mcintyre Miller, Zachary Gabriel Green

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"Peace leadership is the mobilization of action for just change. When people are motivated to act individually and function collectively for the benefit of humanity and the planet, peace leadership is present. Central to peace leadership is a desire for inclusion and cohesion whereby individuals are enabled to live in liberty to their fullest potential, free from the oppression of powers who seek to wield dominance. Peace leadership therefore is focused on creating a positive peace, while including essential elements working against forces for violence and aggression, or negative peace (Galtung, 3). It is an integral process to understand individual …

The Diversification Of Developmental Biology, Nathan Crowe, Michael Dietrich, Beverly S. Alomepe, Bay Lauris Byrnesim

Dartmouth Scholarship

In the 1960s, \"developmental biology\" became the dominant term to describe some of the research that had previously been included under the rubrics of embryology, growth, morphology, and physiology. As scientific societies formed under this new label, a new discipline took shape. Historians, however, have a number of different perspectives on what changes led to this new field of developmental biology and how the field itself was constituted during this period. Using the General Embryological Information Service, a global index of post-World War II development-related research, we have documented and visualized significant changes in the kinds of research that occurred …

South Dakota State University Graduate Catalog 2015-2016, South Dakota State University

South Dakota State University Catalogs and Bulletins: 1935 to present

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Math Anxiety In The Primary Grades, Amanda R. Anderson-Mix

Mathematics Graduate Theses

Math anxiety is an increasingly common occurrence among individuals when working with mathematical concepts. While researching math anxiety the author came across common gender stereotypes implying: women do not perform as well as men in the field of mathematics, women experience a much higher level of math anxiety than men, and most women do not appreciate performing mathematical tasks. Although the concept of math anxiety is an interesting topic to the author, it's important to look deeper than simply the question, “What is math anxiety?” Seeing these stereotypical assumptions that women have higher math anxiety levels, it made this author …

Jaepl, Vol. 20, Winter 2014-2015, Joonna Smitherman Trapp, Bradley T. Peters

The Journal of the Assembly for Expanded Perspectives on Learning

Essays

Libby Falk Jones - Praisesong: One (Worn) Path through AEPL

Alice Brand - Twenty Years: Reflections and Questions

Tom Gage - Hitchhiking the Labyrinth

Susan Schiller - The Dance of Spirit in AEPL

Kristie S. Fleckenstein - Stepping Beyond, In, and With JAEPL: Twenty Years of Hope

Paul Heilker - Coming to Nonviolence

Beth Daniell - To the Contrary

John Creger - The Personal Creed Project: Portal to Deepened Learning

Jessica Jones - "Put Your Ear Close to the Whispering Branch..." Deep Listening in the English Classroom

Out of the Box

Laurence Musgrove & Myra Musgrove - Drawing is …

Rodney A. Briggs Library Unit Annual Report 2014-2015, Briggs Library

Miscellaneous Campus Publications

No abstract provided.

Bowman V. Monsanto Co.: Bellweather For The Emerging Issue Of Patentable Self-Replicating Technologies And Inadvertent Infringement., Christopher M. Holman

Faculty Works

The inherent tendency of patented seeds to self-replicate has led to fears that farmers might face liability for inadvertent patent infringement. To address the perceived problem, some have proposed severely limiting the availability of effective patent protection for self-replicating technologies. Typical examples include denying patent rights to "second generation" self-replicating products, and even broadly declaring such technologies ineligible for patent protection. The fact is, lawsuits against inadvertently infringing farmers remain of largely hypothetical concern. However, changes in the market could soon render such lawsuits a reality. In addressing the resulting policy concerns, Congress and the courts have at their disposal …

An Evaluation Of An Electronic Student Response System In Improving Class-Wide Behavior, Ashley Horne

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A student response system is a technology that allows an entire classroom of students to respond to questions and receive immediate feedback from teachers during instruction. However, little research has examined the use of student response systems to support student behavior in elementary schools. This study focused on using an electronic student response system to improve class-wide behavior in two general elementary school classrooms. An ABAB and ABA reversal designs embedded within a multiple baseline design across classrooms was employed to evaluate the outcome of the intervention. Although limited, the results indicated that the classroom teachers implemented the electronic student …

Lake Campus Academic Program Review, 2014, Wright State University, Lake Campus

Academic Program Review Reports - All

This 56 page report reviews several programs offered at Wright State University's Lake Campus, specifically looking at the time from Fall 2009 to Fall 2014. Programs Reviewed: Biological Sciences Business and Administration Chemistry Communication Studies Earth and Environmental Sciences Graphic Design and Visual Media History Integrated Science Studies Liberal Studies Nursing Office Information Systems Organizational Leadership Psychology Social Work Sociology Technical and Applied Studies Tehcnical Studies (Agriculture, Food Science, Law Enforcement/Academy, SkillsTrac)

Biodiversity Comparison Among Phylogenetic Diversity Metrics And Between Three North American Prairies, P. Roxanne (Steele) Kellar, Dakota Ahrendsen, Shelly K. Aust, Amanda R. Jones, J. Chris Pires

Biology Faculty Publications

Protection of Earth’s ecosystems requires identification of geographical areas of greatest biodiversity. Assessment of biodiversity begins with knowledge of the evolutionary histories of species in a geographic area. Multiple phylogenetic diversity (PD) metrics have been developed to describe biodiversity beyond species counts, but sufficient empirical studies, particularly at fine phylogenetic scales, have not been conducted to provide conservation planners with evidence for incorporating PD metrics into selection of priority regions. We review notable studies that are contributing to a growing database of empirical results, we report on the effect of using high-throughput sequencing to estimate the phylogenies used to calculate …

Detrital Stoichiometry As A Critical Nexus For The Effects Of Streamwater Nutrients On Leaf Litter Breakdown Rates, David W. P. Manning, Amy D. Rosemond, John S. Kominoski, Vladislav Gulis, Jonathan P. Benstead, John C. Maerz

Biology Faculty Publications

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations are elevated in many freshwater systems, stimulating breakdown rates of terrestrially derived plant litter; however, the relative importance of N and P in driving litter breakdown via microbial and detritivore processing are not fully understood. Here, we determined breakdown rates of two litter species, Acer rubrum (maple) and Rhododendron maximum (rhododendron), before (PRE) and during two years (YR1, YR2) of experimental N and P additions to five streams, and quantified the relative importance of hypothesized factors contributing to breakdown. Treatment streams received a gradient of P additions (low to high soluble reactive phosphorus [SRP]; …

Reducing The Control Burden Of Legged Robotic Locomotion Through Biomimetic Consonance In Mechanical Design And Control, Caitrin Elizabeth Eaton

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Terrestrial robots must be capable of negotiating rough terrain if they are to become autonomous outside of the lab. Although the control mechanism offered by wheels is attractive in its simplicity, any wheeled system is confined to relatively flat terrain. Wheels will also only ever be useful for rolling, while limbs observed in nature are highly multimodal. The robust locomotive utility of legs is evidenced by the many animals that walk, run, jump, swim, and climb in a world full of challenging terrain.

On the other hand, legs with multiple degrees of freedom (DoF) require much more complex control and …

Region Of Interest Based Compression Of Grayscale Images, Adhokshaja Achar Budihal Prasad

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Image compression based on Region of Interest (ROI) has been one of the hot topics of interest in image processing. There is not a single widely accepted method for detecting the ROI automatically form an image. To reduce the transmission bandwidth and storage space requirements of gray scale images, an algorithm is suggested for detecting the ROI automatically based on Tsallis entropy method.

Tsallis entropy method is used to segment the image into two segments, the ROI and the background. These two segments can then be compressed at different rates, to avoid losing information in the ROI while achieving a …

Patient Populations, Clinical Associations, And System Efficiency In Healthcare Delivery System, Yazhuo Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The efforts to improve health care delivery usually involve studies and analysis of patient populations and healthcare systems. In this dissertation, I present the research conducted in the following areas: identifying patient groups, improving treatments for specific conditions by using statistical as well as data mining techniques, and developing new operation research models to increase system efficiency from the health institutes’ perspective. The results provide better understanding of high risk patient groups, more accuracy in detecting disease’ correlations and practical scheduling tools that consider uncertain operation durations and real-life constraints.

Improvements On Scientific System Analysis, Vladimir Grupchev

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thanks to the advancement of the modern computer simulation systems, many scientific applications generate, and require manipulation of large volumes of data. Scientific exploration substantially relies on effective and accurate data analysis. The shear size of the generated data, however, imposes big challenges in the process of analyzing the system. In this dissertation we propose novel techniques as well as using some known designs in a novel way in order to improve scientific data analysis.

We develop an efficient method to compute an analytical query called spatial distance histogram (SDH). Special heuristics are exploited to process SDH efficiently and accurately. …

Innocence At Stake: Possibility Of Dna Collection From Arrestees In Canada, Washim Ahmed

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Followed by a decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, which approved the collection of a defendant’s DNA upon arrests under the Fourth Amendment, the Minister of Justice, Peter MacKay indicated in an interview with the Globe and Mail that he and his Ministry are considering a similar model for Canada. This paper examines the possibility of a similar legislative framework in Canada and argues that although collection of DNA upon arrests was found justified under the Fourth Amendment, it does not necessarily mean that it will be found justified under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. …

The Perpetual Pursuit Of Sharing And Caring: Thomas Kleven's Equitable Sharing As A Guide For Legal Actors Chasing Meaningful Democracy, Sas Ansari

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Equitable Sharing presents a strong argument for the pursuit, development, and dynamic maintenance of cooperative and complementary regulatory and governance systems (including taxation) that all have the same aim: promoting equitable sharing and countering the concentration, entrenchment, and propagation of power and privilege. We are asked to look at the reasons why societies form, the ideologies justifying and supporting social formation and cooperation by all of society’s members, the manner in which they function, and the very necessary relations that form the core of social existence and operation. We are then asked to develop systems that order society and distribute …

The Bunk House Rules: Housing Migrant Labour In Ontario, Adrian A. Smith

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

The paper tackles the recent controversy surrounding an application to convert an abandoned school into housing for migrant agricultural workers in Ontario, Canada. It examines how the written reactions of community residents to a proposed municipal zoning by-law amendment convey and invoke understandings of the legal regulation of temporary labour migration. When viewed through a legal consciousness analytic lens, reconstituted to attend to the material practices and context underpinning residents’ discursive and ideological responses, what I term a ‘materialist legal consciousness studies’, it is evident that the residents’ submissions intervene in the organization and regulation of agricultural production. While framed …

The Environmental Emergency And The Legality Of Discretion In Environmental Law, Jocelyn Stacey

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

This article argues that environmental issues confront us as an ongoing emergency. The epistemic features of serious environmental issues – the fact that we cannot reliably distinguish ex ante between benign policy choices and choices that may lead to environmental catastrophe – are the same features of an emergency. This means that, like emergencies, environmental issues pose a fundamental challenge for the rule of law: they reveal the necessity of unconstrained executive discretion. Discretion is widely lamented as a fundamental flaw in Canadian environmental law, which undermines both environmental protection and the rule of law itself. Through the conceptual framework …

Systemic Corruption In An Advanced Welfare State: Lessons From The Québec Charbonneau Inquiry, Denis Saint-Martin

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

The Quiet Revolution in the 1960s propelled the province of Québec onto the path of greater social justice and better government. But as the evidence exposed at the Charbonneau inquiry makes clear, this did not make systemic corruption disappear from the construction sector. Rather, it adapted to its new institutional environment and was significantly shaped by the incentives structure it provided. The patterns of corruption emerging from the Charbonneau inquiry bear the imprint of the so-called “Québec model” inherited from the Quiet Revolution in at least three ways: (i) in the economic nationalism that made public policies partial towards French-speaking …

Regulating Water And War In Iraq: A Dangerous Dark Side Of New Governance, Tracey Leigh Dowdeswell, Patricia Hania

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

In the legal scholarship, the 'new governance' mode of governance advances an administrative arrangement where decision-making is shared amongst a range of actors, both public and private. The flexible, responsive, and collaborative governance orientation is intended to counter the ill effects of a coercive, top-down, state-centric, command- and-control approach to governance. Critics contend the new governance framework can displace the interests of local communities, disempower individuals, and dislodge basic human rights. The U.S. military has adopted such an adaptive approach in its own governance structure, which in this article is referred to as: the new governance "mentality." This mentality of …