Digital Commons Network^™

Functional Identification Of Nucleus Tractus Solitarius (Nts) Barosensitive Neurons: Effect Of Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia (Cih), Jenya Kolpakova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Chronic Intermittent Hypoxia (CIH) is a model used to study obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Previously, we showed that baroreflex control of heart rate (HR) (baroreflex sensitivity) is reduced in CIH rats. While afferent function and HR in response to vagal efferent stimulation are enhanced, the effect of CIH on the central components, in particular NTS, is still not completely understood. F344 rats (3-4 mo) were exposed either to CIH or room air (RA) for 35-50 days. Following CIH exposure, rats were anaesthetized with Ket/Ace. Using single-unit extracellular recording technique, we recorded NTS barosensitive neurons in response to arterial pressure (AP) …

Fostering College Student Success: An Analysis Of The Educational Outcomes Of Florida College Students Utilizing Relative Caregiver, Road-To-Independence, And Adoption Tuition Exemptions, Lauren Murray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study investigated the educational outcomes of foster care youth utilizing the Road to Independence, Adopted from DCF, and Relative Caregiver tuition exemptions to pursue enrollment in Florida's state college system during the 2012-2013 academic year. An extensive literature review was conducted to examine the history of foster care, examine a contemporary portrait of the American foster care system, and the adult outcomes of former foster care. Federal and state policies impacting the population, campus support initiatives at colleges nationwide and the concept of resilience were also explored. In conjunction with the Florida Department of Education's Division of Accountability, Research …

The Interspecies Family: Attitudes And Narratives, Nicole Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Families are conceptualized and accomplished in increasingly diverse ways in the 21st century. A constructionist framework was utilized to examine a widespread contemporary family form, the interspecies family. This mixed-method approach relied on both quantitative survey data and qualitative interview data. First, survey data from the 2006 Constructing the Family Survey were analyzed to understand who in America counts pets as family. Many social demographics were associated and predicted counting pets as family but gender was one of the strongest associations. However, marital status moderated the relationship between gender and counting pets as family at a statically significant level. Men …

Translocation Of A Semiflexible Polymer Through A Nanopore, Ramesh Adhikari

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The transport of a biomolecule through a nanopore occurs in many biological functions such as, DNA or RNA transport across nuclear pores and the translocation of proteins across the eukaryotic endoplasmic reticulum. In addition to the biological processes, it has potential applications in technology such as, drug delivery, gene therapy, and single molecule sensing. The DNA translocation through a synthetic nanopore device is considered as the basis for cheap and fast sequencing technology. Motivated by the experimental advances, many theoretical models have been developed. In this thesis, we explore the dynamics of driven translocation of a semiflexible polymer through a …

Practical Use Of Ground Penetrating Radar: A Survey Of Coastal Historic Cemeteries In Brevard County, Florida, William Boynton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) research conducted in coastal environments is one area that is lacking in archaeology. Surveys conducted in this type of environment afford the opportunity to evaluate the practical use GPR under field conditions. Coastal environments are effective for this evaluation because they offer a host of conditions that GPR surveys do not normally encounter at one time. The relationship of the land to the coast, sub-surface conditions and reliable survey areas create a "perfect storm" to test how practical the use of GPR is in coastal environments. This research is a study of homestead cemeteries situated within …

Quantum Chemical Studies For The Engineering Of Metal Organic Materials, Hector Javier Rivera Jacquez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Metal Organic Materials (MOM) are composed of transition metal ions as connectors and organic ligands as linkers. MOMs have been found to have high porosity, catalytic, and optical properties. Here we study the gas adsorption, color change, and non-linear optical properties of MOMs. These properties can be predicted using theoretical methods, and the results may provide experimentalists with guidance for rational design and engineering of novel MOMs. The theory levels used include semi-empirical quantum mechanical calculations with the PM7 Hamiltonian and, Density Functional Theory (DFT) to predict the geometry and electronic structure of the ground state, and Time Dependent DFT …

The Helping Professional Wellness Discrepancy Scale (Hpwds): Development And Validation, Ashley Blount

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wellness is an integral component of the helping professions (Myers & Sweeney, 2005; Witmer, 1985). Specifically, wellness is included in ethical codes, suggestions for practice, and codes of conduct throughout counseling, psychology, and social work fields (see American Counseling Association Code of Ethics, 2014; American Psychological Association Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct, 2010; National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, 1996). Even so, wellness in helping professionals is a difficult construct to measure. Thus, the purpose of the research investigation was to develop the Helping Professional Wellness Discrepancy Scale (HPWDS) and examine the psychometric features of …

Giveforward V. Hodges, United States District Court For The District Of Maryland

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Mother, Mother, Paige Kooyenga, Fleet Library, Special Collections

2nd Student Artists' Book Contest 2016

No abstract provided.

Perceptions Of Taxing And Spending: A Survey Experiment, Conor Clarke, Edward Fox

Scholarship@WashULaw

This paper presents the results of an original survey experiment on whether the public prefers “tax expenditures” to “direct outlays” — that is, whether members of the public are more likely to support government spending that takes the form of a tax credit rather than a check or cash. Using a survey that spans a wide variety of policy areas — and with important variations in wording and information — we show that the public strongly prefers tax expenditures even when the “economic substance” of the proposed policies is identical. We also show that the public views tax expenditures as …

Characterization Of Electrodeposited Polyaniline Biosensor Platform For Escherichia Coli O157:H7 Detection, Sterling Prince

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Amperometric electrodeposition has been used to obtain uniform, conductive, and repeatable polyaniline (PANi) thin films for use in nano scaled biochemical sensors. This report describes the characterization of these films. Techniques such as ellipsometry were used to test repeatability of the deposition and the uniformity of the deposited thin films. Raman spectroscopy was utilized to confirm the composition of the deposited PANi thin films. Fluorescence microscopy was used to determine the immobilization of antibodies to the PANi thin films using biotin-avidin interactions, as well as the density of active binding sites. Ellipsometry results demonstrated that biomolecules could be immobilized on …

The Influence Of Diet Composition, Plant Defensive Chemicals, And Winter Severity On The Nutritional Condition Of A Freeranging, Generalist Herbivore, Grace L. Parikh

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Herbivory requires animals to manage intake of toxic phytochemicals. Detoxification and excretion of these chemicals prevents toxicity, but is energetically expensive. I investigated the relationship between investment in detoxification and nutritional condition for moose on Isle Royale National Park (Alces alces) during winter, using urinary indices from urine samples collected in snow. The ratio of urinary urea nitrogen:creatinine is an indicator of nutritional condition, and the ratio of glucuronic acid:creatinine is an indicator of investment in detoxification. Nutritional condition declined with greater investment in detoxification. An alternative means of managing defensive chemical intake is to diversify the diet. Microhistological …

Examining Policy Capacity Initiatives Within Climate Change Frameworks In Three Us And Canadian Sectors Using Nvivo Content Analysis, Mehjabeen Rahman

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The climate change narrative has changed from one of mitigation to one of adaptation. Governments around the world have created climate change frameworks which address how the country can better cope with the expected and unexpected changes due to global climate change. In an effort to do so, federal governments of Canada and the United States, as well as some provinces and states within these countries, have created detailed documents which outline what steps must be taken to adapt to these changes. However, not much is mentioned about how these steps will be translated in to policy, and how that …

Interactive Effects Of Climate Change And Fungal Communities On The Decomposition Of Wood-Derived Carbon In Forest Soils, Samantha L. Mosier

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Soils are the largest sinks of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. Soil organic carbon is important for ecosystem balance as it supplies plants with nutrients, maintains soil structure, and helps control the exchange of CO₂ with the atmosphere. The processes in which wood carbon is stabilized and destabilized in forest soils is still not understood completely. This study attempts to measure early wood decomposition by different fungal communities (inoculation with pure colonies of brown or white rot, or the original microbial community) under various interacting treatments: wood quality (wood from +CO₂, +CO₂+O₃, or ambient …

Household Biosand Water Filters: Materials, Capacity, And Temperature Effects On Performance, Nathan B. Arnold

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The household biosand filter (BSF) is one of the world’s most utilized point-of-use (POU) water treatment tools where drinking water is not reliably potable. The feasibility of using ferrocement for construction, the filter volume, and the effect of temperature on removal are unclear, however. The following field and laboratory research was carried out in Panama and at Michigan Technological University. Field testing of ferrocement biosand filters (FBSFs) in rural Panama yielded average coliform and E.coli removals that compared favorably to plastic and cement BSFs. Parallel testing of a larger-bodied FBSF and a conventionally-sized BSF revealed that the former is necessary …

The Crisis Of Images: A Reading Of Feed A Child’S Controversial 2014 Advertisement, Marcel Tchatchou

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This work reads Feed A Child’s 2014 South African fund raising campaign advertisement (http://goo.gl/cRboV7) through Stuart Hall’s Encoding/Decoding model of communication. Utilizing concepts from Stuart Hall’s model this paper draws attention to racial questions raised by the commercial. Even though the commercial’s stated purpose is to raise awareness of unequal social conditions in South Africa, its visual elements are racially offensive. The turmoil generated by the commercial is the consequence of the complex structure of its message, and the fact that its meaning is not determined solely by the organization’s stated intentions. This work explores the way that the processes …

The Role Of Hybridization And The United States Fish And Wildlife Service Biologists’ Discretion In The Implementation Of The Endangered Species Act, Jennifer F. Lind-Riehl

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) requires that the “best available scientific and commercial data” be used to enable the protection of critically imperiled species from extinction and preserve biodiversity. However, the ESA does not provide specific guidance on how to apply this mandate. In addition, the interpretation of scientific data can be uncertain and controversial, particularly regarding species delineation and hybridization issues. US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) field biologists must decide what the best science is and how to interpret and apply it in their recommendations. As a result, FWS field biologists often have considerable discretion when it comes …

Don't Get Testy About It: Can Teaching Critical Thinking Skills Improve Act Scores?, Glenda L. Labruyere

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Tests are an inevitable component of the educational process and the pressure, for teachers and students alike, can be tremendous. This study was designed to investigate and compare the effectiveness of two different strategies intended to assist students in the preparation for the ACT college entrance exam. One strategy was a continuation of the test preparation strategy that had been in place for several years and the other was a result of research about the type of thinking required to perform well on the ACT exam.

Students in the comparison group prepared for the ACT exam by reviewing the types …

Reducing Releases Of Pahs: A Comparative Case Study Of Coal Tar Sealant Bans In The United States, Margaret Morrison

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Coal tar based sealants are applied to parking lots, driveways, and playgrounds in order to prevent pavements from deteriorating and cracking. Approximately 85 million gallons of coal tar based sealants are applied annually in the United States. In the mid-2000s scientists discovered that these type of sealants release polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which can be harmful to human and ecosystem health. After this discovery, dozens of city, county, and state wide bans of the product were put in place. However, some attempts at statewide bans have failed, while others have succeeded. This research examines the factors explaining the difference. These …

Ph Responsive, Adhesive Hydrogels Based On Reversible Catechol - Boronic Acid Complexation, Ameya Ravindra Narkar

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Smart hydrogel adhesives with tunable properties consist of adhesive moieties in the polymer network that respond to external stimuli like pH, temperature, etc. Responsiveness of smart adhesives to pH, in particular, is important because of the simple actuation mechanism and the ability to achieve facile bonding and debonding upon command. Covalently crosslinked hydrogel adhesives were prepared by employing an N-HEAA (hydroxyethyl acrylamide) backbone embedded with dopamine methacrylamide (DMA), a marine mussel inspired adhesive protein and 3-acrylamido phenylboronic acid (AAPBA), to determine the effect of pH on the interfacial binding properties of the hydrogel adhesive with a borosilicate glass substrate. Swelling …

Restoration Of Headwater And Coastal Fens In The Lake Superior Basin Of Upper Michigan, James A. Bess

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

In 2009, research projects were initiated at Michigan Technological University to develop restoration techniques for headwater fens and coastal wetlands in the southern Lake Superior Basin in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. The primary focus of these was to quantify the efficacy of using locally collected seeds as a technique for wetland restoration. Two primary sites were selected, the Sleeper Lake Fen complex in Luce County and the Portage Waterway-Keweenaw Bay region of Lake Superior in Baraga and Houghton Counties. At the Sleeper Lake site, a combination of heavy machinery, seeding and mulch application was used to restore a 1.6 km ditch …

Climate Anomalies And Primary Production In Lake Superior, Marcel L. Dijkstra

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This dissertation supports the modeling of primary production in Lake Superior by offering site specific kinetics and algorithms developed from lab experiments performed on the natural phytoplankton assemblage of Lake Superior. Functions, developed for temperature, light and nutrient conditions and the maximum specific rate of primary production, were incorporated in a 1D specific primary production model and confirmed to published in-situ measured rates of primary production.

An extensive data set (supporting model calibration and confirmation), with a fine spatiotemporal resolution, was developed from field measurements taken bi-weekly during the sampling seasons of 2011, 2012 and 2014; considered to be meteorologically …

Investigating The Effects Of Short- And Long-Term Climatic Variation On The Water Use Of Three Northern Hardwood Tree Species, Alex R. Collins

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

Many tree species are expected to decline in the northern Midwestern United States due to climate change increasing annual temperature 3-5º C by 2100. Sugar maple (Acer saccharum), an economically important timber and syrup species, is not expected to be sustainable in its current range under projected future climate, while trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) and red maple (Acer rubrum) are expected to react more favorably to climate change. The success of individual tree species is dependent on how climate change will alter a species environment in regards to water use. Climate change could …

Ecophysiological Responses Of Sugar Maple Roots To Climatic Conditions, Mickey Philip Jarvi

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

The severity of future climate change resulting from anthropogenic alteration of the global C cycle will depend in part on feedbacks between atmospheric greenhouse gases and forest ecosystem carbon balance, but how these two systems will interact is not entirely understood. Forests are both major sinks and sources for atmospheric CO₂ through the processes of photosynthesis and ecosystem respiration. The balance between these two processes could be altered if autotrophic respiration were to increase exponentially with temperature as climate warms. Root respiration, and especially fineroot respiration (<1 mm diameter), is a major contributor to total ecosystem C exchange. A study to assess long-term responses of root respiration to warmer soil conditions was conducted at the SMART (sugar maple altered rainfall and temperature) experiment located in Alberta, MI at the Michigan Technological University’s Ford Center and Forest. It was found that acclimation of fine-root respiration in this system was not due to an insufficient supply of carbohydrates from photosynthesis (substrate limitation), but was the result of adenylate control. As a result, fine root respiration was constrained to levels needed to perform work required of the fine roots (e.g. nutrient acquisition). Acclimation also occurred for roots 1-2 mm in diameter at the 0-10 cm soil depth, but not in any roots larger than 2 mm or in roots of any size at deeper soil depths. As a result, at the ecosystem level, total root system respiration was 60% greater in warmed soil than in unwarmed soil. The studies in experimentally warmed sugar maple forests were complemented by an examination of fine-root respiration and root biomass at sixteen sugar maple forests located across a latitudinal gradient across sugar maple’s native range, spanning approximately 10°C of mean annual temperature. Sugar maple in the southern, warmer sites had lower root N, lower specific fine-root respiration at a given temperature, and less fine-root biomass than that from the northern cooler regions. Fine root respiration at ambient soil temperature actually decreased from north to south, despite a nearly 10°C increase in soil temperature. However, within sites respiration measured across three sample dates did increase with temperature. The next big question is whether these adjustments that exist across sugar maple’s range are plastic responses to l local climate or result from genotypic differences among populations in different locations. If the former is true, all sugar maple would be capable of acclimation, reduction in root biomass, and/or reduction in root N as mechanisms for dealing with climatic warming, and sugar maple would have a large capacity to adjust to future climate change. The latter would suggest that predicted rates of climatic warming could have negative impacts on this important species across its entire current range. The lack of changes in fine root biomass and root N concentration at the SMART study location after four plus years of soil warming support the possibility that differences along the latitudinal transect are largely the result of inherent genetic differences among population.

Biological Materials: Part A. Temperature-Responsive Polymers And Drug Delivery And Part B. Polymer Modification Of Fish Scale And Their Nano-Mechanical Properties, Xu Xiang

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports - Open

This research has three parts. Two parts deal with novel nanoparticle assemblies for drug delivery, and are described in Part A, while the third part looks at properties of fish scales, an abundant and little-used waste resource, that can be modified to have value in medical and other areas.

Part A describes fundamental research into the affects of block sequence of amphiphilic block copolymers prepared from on a new and versatile class of monomers, oligo(ethylene glycol) methyl ether acrylate (OEGA) and the more hydrophobic di(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate (DEGMA). Polymers from these monomers are biologically safe and give polymers …

Mia40 Protein Serves As An Electron Sink In The Mia40-Erv1 Import Pathway, Sonya E. Neal, Deepa V. Dabir, Heather L. Tienson, Darryl M. Horn, Kathrin Glaeser, Rachel R. Ogozalek Loo, Antoni Barrientos, Carla M. Koehler

Biology Faculty Works

A redox-regulated import pathway consisting of Mia40 and Erv1 mediates the import of cysteine-rich proteins into the mitochondrial intermembrane space. Mia40 is the oxidoreductase that inserts two disulfide bonds into the substrate simultaneously. However, Mia40 has one redox-active cysteine pair, resulting in ambiguity about how Mia40 accepts numerous electrons during substrate oxidation. In this study, we have addressed the oxidation of Tim13 in vitro and in organello. Reductants such as glutathione and ascorbate inhibited both the oxidation of the substrate Tim13 in vitro and the import of Tim13 and Cmc1 into isolated mitochondria. In addition, a ternary complex consisting …

Patterns Of Testosterone In Three Nearctic-Neotropical Migratory Songbirds During Spring Passage, Kristen M. Covino

Biology Faculty Works

Preparation for breeding may overlap extensively with vernal migration in long-distance migratory songbirds. Testosterone plays a central role in mediating this transition into breeding condition by facilitating changes to physiology and behavior. While changes in testosterone levels are well studied in captive migrants, these changes are less well known in free-living birds. We examined testosterone levels in free-living Nearctic-Neotropical migrants of three species during their vernal migration. Testosterone levels increased during the migratory period in males of all three species but significantly so in only two. Testosterone levels in females remained the same throughout their migration. Our results support the …

Fall Migratory Patterns Of The Blackpoll Warbler At A Continental Scale, Kristen M. Covino

Biology Faculty Works

Blackpoll Warblers (Setophaga striata) breed across Canada and the northern United States and fly across the Atlantic Ocean to South America in fall. Studies of fall migration in this species have centered on the extensive overwater flights but have ignored other aspects of this migration, including potential geographic variation. We used Blackpoll Warbler banding records from 3 coastal (Atlantic seaboard) sites and 9 inland sites to study the fall migration. The sites covered a wide range of the species' geographic distribution during breeding and fall migration in North America. The data spanned the years 1967-2013, though the particular years sampled …

Norberg V. Shutterfly, United States District Court For The Northern District Of Illinois

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Graduate Studies Fact Book

Graduate Studies Fact Books (2006-2017)

No abstract provided.