Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Role Of Episodic And Semantic Networks In Anhedonia: Applying The Accessibility Model Of Emotional Self-Report To Psychometrically-Defined Schizotypy, Kyle Robert Mitchell

LSU Master's Theses

Individuals with schizophrenia exhibit a range of abnormalities in self-reported non-current experience of pleasure, but undisrupted current experience of pleasure. Several researchers have sought to address the mechanism of this deficit, yielding useful models of anhedonia. The accessibility model of emotional self-report suggests that deficits in hedonic response are due to differential activation of, and reliance upon, semantic and episodic memory systems. While this model has been proposed as an explanation of the deficits in hedonic response in schizophrenia, it has not been experimentally validated, and it remains to be seen whether the model will hold across the schizophrenia spectrum. …

The Effectiveness Of Online Homework Tutorials As Compared To Pen And Paper Tutorials, Molly Shuman

LSU Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to determine if students learn more from completing web based homework (WBHW) compared to completing homework by traditional means with pen and paper. Determining the efficacy of WBHW is important because many schools are being pressured to implement technology in the classroom. To determine the effectiveness of WBHW, student normalized learning gains were calculated from pre and post-test scores for 62 students. Learning gains were then compared when students completed WBHW, traditional homework, or did not complete homework at all, over four units in a high school chemistry class. No difference in learning gains …

Functional Analysis Of Drought-Resistant Genes In Barley Using Vigs, Natalie Catherine Martin

Honors Program Theses

The following study analyzed the role of the gamma-aminobutyric acid transaminase (GABAT) gene in the response of barley plants to drought stress. Expression of GABAT in barley was suppressed using virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). In VIGS, an RNA virus is used to replicate a small portion of the target RNA. In this study, barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV), that carries a piece of the GABAT gene to infect barley, was used. As the virus replicates inside infected barley plants, it also makes RNA that is complementary to GABAT messenger RNA (mRNA) that is normally made by the host. The presence …

South Atlantic Mpas And Deepwater Coral Hapcs: Characterization Of Benthic Habitat, Benthic Macrobiota, And Fish Communities; Noaa Ship Nancy Foster 2014 Cruise. Noaa Cioert Report., John K. Reed, Stephanie Farrington, Stacey Harter, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute

Faculty Scholarship

A 10 day research cruise was conducted by NOAA National Marine Fisheries, June 18 to 27, 2014, on the NOAA Ship Nancy Foster with the new Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary (FGBNMS) Mohawk ROV. Collaborators included the Cooperative Institute for Ocean Exploration, Research, and Technology (CIOERT) at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, Florida Atlantic University (HBOI-FAU), College of Charleston, and University of North Carolina at Wilmington (ROV operations). Recently, the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) established eight deepwater Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) along the outer continental shelf off the southeastern U.S. This cruise was the final cruise of a …

The Role Of Salience In Second Language Acquisition, Ian South Comeaux

LSU Master's Theses

Abstract Cues to the actor role such as word order, noun animacy, case inflection and verb agreement vary in strength across languages. The competition model (CM; MacWhinney, 2005) suggests that adult L2 acquisition is difficult due to differences in cue strength between the native and target languages. Using a paradigm inspired by the CM, the present study examines whether salience plays a role in facilitating adjustments of cue strength during L2 learning. Native English speakers were exposed to an artificial language (via an actor-assignment task) which utilized four different cues: verb agreement, case marking, animacy, and word order. Word order, …

A Class Of High-Order Runge-Kutta-Chebyshev Stability Polynomials, Stephen O'Sullivan

Articles

The analytic form of a new class of factorized Runge-Kutta-Chebyshev (FRKC) stability polynomials of arbitrary order N is presented. Roots of FRKC stability polynomials of degree L = MN are used to construct explicit schemes comprising L forward Euler stages with internal stability ensured through a sequencing algorithm which limits the internal amplification factors to ~ L². The associated stability domain scales as M² along the real axis. Marginally stable real-valued points on the interior of the stability domain are removed via a prescribed damping procedure. By construction, FRKC schemes meet all linear order conditions; for nonlinear …

Analysis Of Protein Expression For Potential Biomarkers In Human Pancreatic Tumor Cell Lines, Jade Ashley Simpson

Honors Program Theses

Pancreatic cancer is an aggressive cancer of the pancreas that has been shown to have extremely low survival rates. It can be quite lethal because of its asymptomatic early stages and inability to detect cancer at the cellular level. Once diagnosed, the cancer will have usually spread or metastasized beyond surgical resection. Thus, research is focused on finding potential biomarkers in tumor cell lines to help in earlier diagnosis of this disease leading to better treatment options. Previous work using bioinformatics data suggest several cellular genes including, CTHCR1, EPPK1, AHNAK2, and IGHG3, can be potential biomarkers for pancreatic cancer. The …

Earthworm Populations In A Wheat-Soybean Double-Crop System Under Seven Years Of Established Residue Management Practices, Jill Thomason, Mary Savin, Kristofor Brye, Donn T. Johnson

Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

Earthworms improve soil structure, distribute litter and microbes, stimulate microbial activity, facilitate decomposition, and increase nitrogen (N) availability for plant growth. Earthworm density is often reduced in low organic matter soils that are intensively managed to grow row crops. This study was designed to relate earthworm density and community composition to residue management after seven years of established management practices in a wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) double-crop system maintained in Marianna, Ark. Residue management practices included conventional tillage (CT) and no-tillage (NT), N fertilization to produce high and low wheat residue amounts left in the field, …

Above- And Belowground Biomass And Soil Respiration In A Low-Input Perennial Biofuel Production System, Jordan Young, Jessica Abernathy, Kenneth Elgersma

Undergraduate Student Work

Backgroud

• Global climate change largely depends on the atmospheric carbon balance, of which soil respiration is a significant component.
• Native perennial prairie vegetation is being tested as an alternative to corn for renewable biofuel production.
• Mixtures of this vegetation are considered ‘carbon negative’ because net CO2 sequestration exceeds atmospheric release¹.
• Studies have shown that aboveground biomass and the rate of carbon sequestration are both increased by planting a diverse mixture of species versus a monoculture¹.

Research Question:

How does the diversity of biofuel vegetation mixtures affect soil respiration, aboveground biomass and belowground biomass?

Analysis Of Ipomoea (Morning Glory) Leaf Mutants, Abigail Anne Lee

Honors Program Theses

Ipomoea (morning glory) is the largest genus in the family Convolvulaceae. Cultivation of morning glory plants began in the late Edo period in Japan, and this horticultural success resulted in thousands of plants with varying floral displays. In addition to the different flower morphologies, leaf shape is highly variable within this family making it an ideal group in which to study leaf development. We selected four mutants that vary in lobe number and lobe depth: 1) Tokyo Standard (TKS1065; wild-type; 3 lobes), yellow maple (ym1018; 5 lobes), delicate maple (dlm620; 5 deep lobes), and maple willow …

Losing Robin Williams: An Analysis Of User-Generated Twitter Content Following The Sudden Death Of A Celebrity, Samantha Mallow

Honors Program Theses

The purpose of my thesis is to examine how people use social media, in this case Twitter, to share content that reflects their attitudes toward the loss of a celebrity and the issue of mental illness. To complete my research, I examined how users of Twitter created content expressing their reactions to the sudden passing of comedian and actor Robin Williams on August 11, 2014. Williams’ death raised mental illness issues that he had faced during his life. After analyzing the data I created a short survey with eight tweets that referred to mental illness. The survey was administered to …

Finding Community: The Importance Of Intergroup Dialogue Within Diversity Workshops, Joslyn Nycole Aldape

Honors Program Theses

The number of students with diverse backgrounds has increased across universities and colleges nationwide. In fact, some institutions have hired Chief Diversity Officers. According to Jeffery L. Wilson, close to 150 institutions were a part of the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) in 2009 (433). As campuses experience an influx of new demographics, there is an increasing need to discuss diversity issues. The rapidity of this movement has created great conflict on college campuses, such as the hate crime incident that occurred at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) in October 2014. Surrounding the application Yik …

A Mathematical Model Of Meat Cooking Based On Polymer-Solvent Analogy, M. Chapwanya, Nissreen Misra

Articles

Mathematical modelling of transport phenomena in food processes is vital to understand the process dynamics. In this work, we study the process of double sided cooking of meat by developing a mathematical model for the simultaneous heat and mass transfer. The constitutive equations for the heat and mass transport are based on Fourier conduction, and the Flory–Huggins theory respectively, formulated for a two-phase transport inside a porous medium. We investigate a reduced one-dimensional case to verify the model, by applying appropriate boundary conditions. The results of the simulation agree well with experimental findings reported in literature. Finally, we comment upon …

Student Attitudes To An Online, Peer-Instruction, Revision Aid In Science Education, Barry Ryan, Aaron Mac Raighne, Morag Casey, Robert Howard

Articles

Peer instruction has been shown to have a positive effect on students’ engagement and learning. However, many of the techniques designed to incorporate peer instruction into the student experience are very heavy on resources. PeerWise is a free, low-maintenance, web-tool designed to allow peer instruction between students within a large class group. Students can write, answer and discuss Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) based on their work in-class.

In this study, we introduce PeerWise to a wide and varied cohort of science students (N=509) across different disciplines, undergraduate years, levels (certificate to honours degree) and institutes. The attitudes of the students …

Postgraduate Researchers Who Teach: How Can National Policy And The Structured Phd Centralise This Forgotten Tribe And Celebrate Their Skills In Tackling Some Of The Current Challenges In Irish Higher Education?, Barry Ryan

Articles

Some of the current challenges faced by Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) include financial constraints imposed by the economic downturn, the requirement to ‘teach more with less’, and the use of the knowledge based economy to drive economic stabilisation and recovery. HEIs have adopted a number of approaches to address these drivers of change including centralising the postgraduate research student who teaches. The role of these postgraduate research students is one that is not often highlighted within the fabric of the HEI; however, these transient researchers play two key roles: full-time researchers and novice educators. Centralising and celebrating the research skills …

Best Practices For Adoption Of An Inquiry Learning Model In K-5 Education, Michelle M. Kruse

Graduate Research Papers

This study describes best practices employed by successful teacher librarians in adopting and implementing an inquiry learning model within their schools and the obstacles overcome in doing so. It focuses on seven teacher librarians in the Grant Wood and Mississippi Bend Iowa Area Education Agencies who have completed their master's degrees or hold state licensure, and have at least one year of teaching experience. Participants took part in hour-long face-to-face, semi-structured interviews, and provided documentation of a lesson or a unit they have taught utilizing their school's inquiry learning model. After transcribing rich data from the interviews, the researcher coded …

Challenges In Handling Imprecise Parentage Matters, Jeffrey A. Parness

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Legal parentage under American state laws is significantly and rapidly evolving. And, it is increasingly imprecise. No longer is legal parentage only defined at precise moments in time or for particular conduct, as by giving birth, having biological ties, marriage to the birth mother at time of conception or birth, name placement on a birth certificate, or formal adoption. Both men and women can now become legal parents, as through de facto parenthood or equitable adoption, where neither the time of the relevant conduct nor the conduct prompting parentage can be precisely determined. Because legal parentage increasingly depends upon fluid …

Parentage Prenups And Midnups, Jeffrey A. Parness

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

In July 2012, the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws recommended for enactment in all American states the Uniform Premarital and Marital Agreements Act. Unlike its predecessor, the Act treats “premarital agreements and marital agreements under the same set of principles and requirements.” Like its predecessor, it speaks largely to agreements on property, including money. Unlike its predecessor, it expressly recognizes there may be agreements on “custodial responsibility.” Custodial agreements are not “binding” on the courts under the Act because parents and prospective parents do not have the power to waive the rights of third parties (their current …

Drilling-In And Chewing-Out Of Hosts By The Parasitoid Wasp Spalangia Endius (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) When Parasitizing Musca Domestica (Diptera: Muscidae), S.A. Broski, Bethia H. King

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Many organisms are protected from natural enemies by a tough exterior. Such protection is particularly important for immobile stages, such as pupae. The pupa of some insects is protected by a puparium, which is a shell formed from the exoskeleton of the last larval instar. However, the puparium of certain fly species is drilled through by adult females of the wasp Spalangia endius Walker. The female wasp then deposits an egg on the fly pupa within the puparium. After the wasp offspring finishes feeding on the fly pupa, it chews through the puparium to complete emergence. Despite the apparent toughness …

Substrate-Borne Marking In The Parasitoid Wasp Urolepis Rufipes (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae), J. L. Cooper, Bethia H. King

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

Many animals use pheromone marking as a way to identify their territory or other resources. Among insects, substrate-borne marking is frequently reported for females, which in many species make marks containing oviposition deterring pheromone, which other females avoid. However, there are fewer reports of substrate-borne marking for males. Here marking in males of the parasitoid wasp Urolepis rufipes (Ashmead) is described. The conditions under which males mark and whether males and females respond to the males’ marks were examined using behavioral observations. Males marked by dragging the tips of their abdomens across a substrate. They marked much more after mating …

Feeding Two Birds With One Scone? The Relationship Between Teaching And Research For Graduate Students Across The Disciplines, Joanna Gilmore, David M.G. Lewis, Michelle Maher, David F. Feldon, Briana E. Timmerman

Instructional Technology and Learning Sciences Faculty Publications

We surveyed over 300 graduate students at a Southeastern research university to increase our understanding of their perceptions of (a) the connection between teaching and research, (b) the means by which integration occurs, and (c) the extent to which teaching and research contribute to a shared skill set that is of value in both contexts. We also examined differences across disciplines in the perception of this teaching-research nexus. Overall, findings indicate that graduate students perceive important relationships between teaching and research, and they point toward opportunities for administrators to promote teaching and research integration.

Gota A Gota, No. 9, 2015, Toni Pérez Fernández

Gota a Gota

Contents: Editorial -- Fauna Subterránea de Gran Canaria, Una Historia Reciente -- Malacofauna en la Reserva Entomológica de la Cueva Secreta del Sagreo (Jaén) -- Travesía sil de las Perlas - La Covona (Valporquero de Torío, Leon) -- Estudio Geoarqueológico Preliminar de la Ocupación de la Cueva del Ocho Durante el Neolítico Antiguo (Complejo Kárstico del Cerro de Santiago, Cazalla de la Sierra, Sevilla) -- Comentarios Bibliográficos sobre Moluscos en Cavidades Subterráneas de la Península Ibérica -- Travesía A31 (Sima dei Camino del Ara) ' T1 (Grallera del Turbón) (Sistema Arañonera) (Valle de Bujaruelo, Huesca) -- Serra de na Burguesa. …

Exploration Of Materials Used In 3-Dimensional Printing For The Dental Industry, Holly Chang Hayden

Scripps Senior Theses

A limiting factor in the digitization of dental devices is the availability of materials suitable for use in both dentistry and the new digital technologies. As a rapidly growing industry, three-dimensional printing (3DP) has the potential to disrupt traditional manufacturing and prototyping methods. A review of both restorative materials and the current 3DP materials has lead to a focus on fiber- reinforced composites in the exploration for a new 3DP material. In addition, another area worth exploring and investing in would be 3D bioprinting as it opens up the possibility of regenerative dentistry.

Peptide Bacteriocins – Structure Activity Relationships, Hashem Etayash, Sarfuddin Azmi, Ramana Dangeti, Kamaljit Kaur

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

With the growing concerns in the scientific and health communities over increasing levels of antibiotic resistance, antimicrobial peptide bacteriocins have emerged as promising alternative to conventional small molecule antibiotics. A substantial attention has recently focused on the utilization of bacteriocins in food preservation and health safety. Despite the fact that a large number of bacteriocins have been reported, only a few have been fully characterized and structurally elucidated. Since knowledge of the molecular structure is a key for understanding the mechanism of action and therapeutic effects of peptide, we centered our focus in this review on the structure-activity relationships of …

Dopaminergic Signaling Within The Primary Cilia In The Renovascular System, Kimberly F. Atkinson, Samred H. Kathem, Xingjian Jin, Brian S. Muntean, Wissam A. Aboualaiwi, Andromeda M. Nauli, Surya M. Nauli

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

Activation of dopamine receptor type-5 (DR5) has been known to reduce systemic blood pressure, most likely by increasing renal vasodilation and enhancing natriuresis in the kidney. However, the mechanism of DR5 in natriuresis and vasodilation was not clearly known. We have previously shown that DR5 is localized to primary cilia of proximal renal epithelial and vascular endothelial cells. We here show that selective activation of DR5 specifically induces calcium influx only in the primary cilia, whereas non-selective activation of dopamine receptor induces calcium fluxes in both cilioplasm and cytoplasm. Cilia-independent signaling induced by thrombin only shows calcium signaling within cytoplasm. …

Synthesis And Biological Evaluation Of Novel Fused Triazolo[4,3-$A$] Pyrimidinones, Ikhlass Abbas, Sobhi Gomha, Mohamed Elneairy, Mahmoud Elaasser, Bazada Mabrouk

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

The reaction of thione 3 or its 2-methylthio derivative 4 with hydrazonoyl halides 5a-l, in the presence of triethylamine, yielded the corresponding triazolo[4,3-$a$]pyrimidin-5(1$H)$-ones 8a-l. The structure of compounds 8a-l was further confirmed by the reaction of 3 with the appropriate active chloromethylenes 11a-c followed by coupling of the products with benzenediazonium chloride to afford the azo-coupling products 6b, f, and j, which were converted in situ to 8b, f, and j. 2-Hydrazinyl-pyrido[3',2':4,5]thieno[3,2-$d$]pyrimidin-4(3$H)$-one (13) was prepared and condensed with different aldehydes 14a-f to give the corresponding hydrazone derivatives 15a-f. Oxidative cyclization of the hydrazones 15a-f give the corresponding triazolo[4,3-$a$] pyrimidin-5(1$H)$-one derivatives …

The Value Of Captains’ Behavioral Choices In The Success Of The Surfclam (Spisula Solidissima) Fishery On The U.S. Mid-Atlantic Coast: A Model Evaluation, Eric N. Powell, John M. Klinck, Daphne M. Munroe, Eileen E. Hofmann, Paula Moreno, Roger Mann

CCPO Publications

The response of the surfclam Spisula solidissima to warming of the Mid-Atlantic Bight is manifested by recession of the southern and inshore boundary of the clam’s range. This phenomenon has impacted the fishery through the closure of southern ports and the movement of processing capacity north, impacts that may require responsive actions on the part of fishery captains to mitigate a decline in fishery performance otherwise ineluctably accompanying this shift in range. The purpose of this study was to evaluate options in the behavioral repertoire of captains that might provide mitigation. A model capable of simulating a spatially and temporally …

Imber- Research For Marine Sustainability: Synthesis And The Way Forward, Eileen Hofmann, Alida Bundy, Ken Drinkwater, Alberto R. Piola, Bernard Avril, Carol Robinson

CCPO Publications

The Integrated Marine Biogeochemistry and Ecosystem Research (IMBER) project aims at developing a comprehensive understanding of and accurate predictive capacity of ocean responses to accelerating global change and the consequent effects on the Earth system and human society. Understanding the changing ecology and biogeochemistry of marine ecosystems and their sensitivity and resilience to multiple drivers, pressures and stressors is critical to developing responses that will help reduce the vulnerability of marine-dependent human communities. This overview of the IMBER project provides a synthesis of project achievements and highlights the value of collaborative, interdisciplinary, integrated research approaches as developed and implemented through …

Chesapeake Bay Nitrogen Fluxes Derived From A Land-Estuarine Ocean Biogeochemical Modeling System: Model Description, Evaluation, And Nitrogen Bonds, Yang Feng, Marjorie A.M. Friedrichs, John Wilkin, Hanqin Tian, Qichun Yang, Eileen E. Hofmann

CCPO Publications

The Chesapeake Bay plays an important role in transforming riverine nutrients before they are exported to the adjacent continental shelf. Although the mean nitrogen budget of the Chesapeake Bay has been previously estimated from observations, uncertainties associated with interannually varying hydrological conditions remain. In this study, a land-estuarine-ocean biogeochemical modeling system is developed to quantify Chesapeake riverine nitrogen inputs, within-estuary nitrogen transformation processes and the ultimate export of nitrogen to the coastal ocean. Model skill was evaluated using extensive in situ and satellite-derived data, and a simulation using environmental conditions for 2001-2005 was conducted to quantify the Chesapeake Bay nitrogen …

Acclimation, Adaptation, Traits And Trade-Offs In Plankton Functional Type Models: Reconciling Terminology For Biology And Modelling, Kevin J. Flynn, Michael St. John, John A. Raven, David O. F. Skibinski, J. Icarus Allen, Aditee Mitra, Eileen E. Hofmann

CCPO Publications

We propose definitions in terminology to enhance ongoing collaborations between biologists and modellers on plankton ecology. Organism "functional type" should refer to commonality in ecology not biogeochemistry; the latter is largely an emergent property of the former, while alignment with ecology is also consistent with usage in terrestrial science. Adaptation should be confined, as in genetics, to consideration of species inter-generational change; most so-called "adaptive" plankton models are thus acclimative, modifying vital rates in response to stimuli. Trait trade-off approaches should ideally only be considered for describing intra-generational interactions; in applications between generations, and certainly between unrelated species, such concepts …