Digital Commons Network^™

Beginning With Brown: Springboard For Gender Equality And Social Change, M. Margaret Mckeown

San Diego Law Review

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, the Supreme Court’s opinion in Brown v. Board of the Education was not the end of litigation over discriminatory practices, nor was it the beginning of the end. It was, however, the end of the beginning. Brown marked a dramatic capstone to a series of lawsuits challenging the concept of “separate but equal” embodied in Plessy v. Ferguson. But it also signaled a new phase of civil rights litigation: advocates emboldened by Brown’s resounding endorsement of equality sought new constitutional protections against discrimination. Among them were women seeking to extend Brown’s logic towards a constitutional mandate …

“Inhumanly Beautiful”: The Aesthetics Of The Nineteenth-Century Deathbed Scene, Margo Masur

English Theses

Death today is hidden from our everyday lives so it cannot intermingle with the general public. So when a family member dies, their body becomes an object in need of disposal; no longer can they be recognized as the familiar person they once were. To witness death is to force individuals to confront the truths of human existence, and for most of us seeing such a sight would fill us with an emotion of disgust. Yet during the nineteenth century, the burden of care towards the sick or dying was shared by a community of family, neighbors, and friends; the …

Computer Simulation For Teaching The Structure Of Atoms And Periodic Table In Secondary Schools In Kenya: An Action Research, Ondoro Julius Okomo

Master of Education

Student engagement with learning is beneficial in improving conceptual understanding in chemistry. However, teaching and learning chemistry in Kenya reveals inadequate opportunity for secondary students to amply engage with learning. Traditional, teacher-centered, pedagogy is cited as the main cause of learner disengagement with abstract concepts in chemistry. This action research studied how Computer Simulation (CS) can be used to enhance teaching and learning the structure atoms and periodic table in secondary schools in Kenya through meaningful learner engagement. The study is guided by the question: How can I learn to teach the atomic structure of elements and periodic table using …

Investigating How Assessment Contributes To Learning During English Language Lessons In A Secondary School In Kenya, Diana Ongayo Amunga

Master of Education

In Kenya, there are high stakes national examinations. As a result, these examinations greatly impact content, methods and even strategies used in school. This has resulted into a situation where, instead of assessment supporting learning , the assessment activities end up interfering with learning, as stakeholders strive to better learner achievement, in the process overlooking lifelong learning which is the goal of the curriculum. The pedagogical shift from the teaching to the learning culture has to some extend impacted teachers' classroom activities, with learners' voice being allowed in learning activities. However, educators continue to take full charge of assessment activities …

To Explore How Science Teachers Use Practical Activities In A Lesson: A Case Of A Community Based Secondary School In Western Tanzania, Madinda Mlimandoke

Master of Education

The research study was conducted to explore how teachers in a community-based secondary school in Kigoma region used practical activities in a science lesson. The qualitative case study design used to study a single community school namely Tudigite (pseudo name) by involving 3 science teachers (who were teaching physics, chemistry and biology in form one by that time of data collection) and 12 students (6 girls and 6 boys) from the 3 form 1 streams. Purposive sampling was employed to select the 3 science teachers while stratifies random sampling used to get the 12 students from form 1 streams. Data …

The Role Of Schools In Promoting A Reading Habit Among The Lower Secondary School Students In A Town Council In Northwestern Uganda, Zubair Data Ismail

Master of Education

Many studies have reported that recreational reading among students, that is, the habit of reading beyond the academic demands leads to development of language skills necessary for improving educational outcomes essential for national development. This study was designed to establish the extent to which students were involved in recreational reading, the level of support the schools were giving to them, challenges faced in doing that, as well as suggested solutions to address the challenges. Two government schools were chosen for this study on the role of schools in promoting a reading habit among the lower secondary school students in a …

Current Concepts Of Muscle And Tendon Adaptation To Strength And Conditioning, Jason Brumitt, Tyler Cuddeford

Faculty Publications - College of Physical Therapy

Injuries to the muscle and/or associated tendon(s) are common clinical entities treated by sports physical therapists and other rehabilitation professionals. Therapeutic exercise is a primary treatment modality for muscle and/or tendon injuries; however, the therapeutic exercise strategies should not be applied in a “one-size-fits-all approach”. To optimize an athlete’s rehabilitation or performance, one must be able to construct resistance training programs accounting for the type of injury, the stage of healing, the functional and architectural requirements for the muscle and tendon, and the long-term goals for that patient. The purpose of this clinical commentary is to review the muscular and …

Integrating Resource Selection Into Spatial Capture-Recapture Models For Large Carnivores, K. M. Proffitt, Joshua F. Goldberg, Mark Hebblewhite, R. Russell, B. S. Jimenez, H. S. Robinson, K. Pilgrim, M. K. Schwartz

Wildlife Biology Faculty Publications

Wildlife managers need reliable methods to estimate large carnivore densities and population trends; yet large carnivores are elusive, difficult to detect, and occur at low densities making traditional approaches intractable. Recent advances in spatial capture-recapture (SCR) models have provided new approaches for monitoring trends in wildlife abundance and these methods are particularly applicable to large carnivores. We applied SCR models in a Bayesian framework to estimate mountain lion densities in the Bitterroot Mountains of west central Montana. We incorporate an existing resource selection function (RSF) as a density co-variate to account for heterogeneity in habitat use across the study area …

A Prospective Analysis Of Factors Associated With Decreased Physical Activity In Patients With Cirrhosis Undergoing Transplant Evaluation, Anna Christina Dela Cruz, Valery Vilchez, Sooyeon Kim, Benjamin Barnes, Abhishek Ravinuthala, Anthony Zanni, Roberto Galuppo, Achuthan Sourianarayanane, Trushar Patel, Erin Colleen Maynard, Malay B. Shah, Michael F. Daily, Timothy L. Uhl, Karyn A. Esser, Roberto Gedaly

Internal Medicine Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Physical activity has been associated with improved recovery time after transplantation. Handgrip strength has been related to post-transplant outcomes.

AIM: To evaluate predictors of physical activity and grip strength in cirrhotic patients undergoing liver transplant evaluation.

METHODS: Single center, prospective analysis.

RESULTS: A hundred patients were evaluated (54% male, mean age 53 ± 9). Common etiologies of liver disease were non-alcoholic hepatitis (27%), hepatitis C (22%), and alcoholic liver disease (21%). Mean MELD score was 13.5. Forty one percent had a history of smoking. Ninety-three patients completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. The median total physical activity score of …

Effects Of Environmental And Anthropogenic Factors On The Range Contraction Of Bird And Mammal Species, Patrice M. Betz

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

The largest contributor to biodiversity loss is habitat destruction caused by humans. A common consequence of habitat destruction is a reduction in the geographic range of a species. Little research has been done to separate the contribution of anthropogenic and environmental variables to the extinction or persistence of species that have experienced range contraction. In this thesis, I examined the relative effects of several variables (elevation, mean annual precipitation, mean annual temperature, human population density, distance from roads, and proportion of land converted to built-up land, cropland, and rangeland) on the geographic ranges of declining bird and mammal species from …

3d Geometric Morphometrics In Modern And Extinct Foot-Propelled Diving Birds: An Evaluation Of The Tarsometatarsus For Species Identification, Mackenzie E. Kirchner-Smith

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Hesperornithiformes (Aves: Ornithurae) were flightless foot-propelled diving birds that lived during the Late Cretaceous and have a good fossil record compared to most Mesozoic birds. Extinct taxa are often identified using fragmentary or isolated specimens, and several species of Hesperornis have been named from the morphology of the tarsometatarsus, often relying on size for taxonomic differentiation. However, little has been done to examine intraspecific variation in this bone and evaluate its use for taxonomic identification. To test for intraspecific and interspecific variation in the tarsometatarsus of hesperornithiforms, variation in extant members of the foot-propelled diving Gaviidae (loons) and Podicipedidae (grebes) …

Occupancy Modeling Of Herpetofauna And Grassland Nesting Birds At Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Kasandra A. Brown

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

Only about 11% of native grasslands remain in the United States (North America Bird Conservation Initiative, 2011). Grasslands are a considerable source of biodiversity and play a crucial role in nutrient cycling (Suttie et al. 2005; Holechek et al. 2011). Stewards, such as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, are essential to grassland conservation, especially in Kansas, where less than one percent of land is under federal stewardship or public trust (Holechek et al. 2011). Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, an 8,900 hectare refuge located in Stafford County, has traditionally been managed as a stopover for migratory birds, but is now …

Population Structure And Habitat Association Of Aquatic Testudines In Quivira National Wildlife Refuge, Jeffrey T. Seim

Master's Theses or Doctor of Nursing Practice

I researched aquatic turtle population structure and habitat association of the turtles of Quivira National Wildlife Refuge (QNWR), in central Kansas. This group of organisms was focused on because of the lack of baseline knowledge and understanding of species presences, population sizes, structure, or habitat use on the refuge. I selected wetland units for sampling based on water permanence and quality of habitat. I then deployed baited hoop traps on these wetland units from April 24 to July 4, 2015. Captures were identified to species, measured, marked, and then release. Schnabel Multiple Census Method and Combined Percent Estimates were used …

Perceptions Of Tornadoes, Tornado Warnings, Safety Actions, And Risk: Effects On Warning Response Among Undergraduates In Nebraska, Sabrina T. Jauernic

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Few studies show how university students perceive and respond to tornado warnings, or how they gain tornado-related knowledge. Lacking in the literature are investigations of how perceptions of tornado risk may influence actions. Using two separate surveys and two large samples of undergraduates enrolled in the University of Nebraska, the author determined significant relationships between student demographics, perceptions, and response actions. Incorrect perceptions were found, such as overpasses and southwest corners of buildings being safe, and cities being invulnerable to tornadoes. International students, especially, assumed cities were safe from tornadoes. Students had a tendency to confirm their risk instead of …

Population Dynamics And Movement Of Channel Catfish In The Red River Of The North, Stephen F. Siddons

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Channel Catfish are widely distributed across North America and highly valued as a sport fish and for food. While most Channel Catfish fisheries are managed under liberal harvest regulations, the Red River of the North (Red River) in Manitoba, Canada is managed with restrictive harvest regulations to promote a trophy fishery. Two barriers (dams) are present on the main stem of the Red River and may fragment the population to some degree. My objectives were to: 1) analyze population dynamics of the trophy Channel Catfish population on the lower Red River, 2) compare population characteristics of Channel Catfish in selected …

Beneath The Forest, Volume 8, No. 2, Fall 2015, Johanna L. Kovarik

Beneath the Forest

Contents: An Evening Photo Shoot in Blanchard Springs Caverns - Rapid Inventory of Cave and Karst Features Using LiDAR and Field Assessment - Rare and Uncommon Plants of Rockhouses: Episode Three - Charting New Paths: Exploring the Geology and Biota of Granite City - Blanchard Springs and a Billion Points of Light

Abcc9/Sur2 In The Brain: Implications For Hippocampal Sclerosis Of Aging And A Potential Therapeutic Target, Peter T. Nelson, Gregory A. Jicha, Wang-Xia Wang, Eseosa T. Ighodaro, Sergey C. Artiushin, Colin G. Nichols, David W. Fardo

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

The ABCC9 gene and its polypeptide product, SUR2, are increasingly implicated in human neurologic disease, including prevalent diseases of the aged brain. SUR2 proteins are a component of the ATP-sensitive potassium (“K _ATP ”) channel, a metabolic sensor for stress and/or hypoxia that has been shown to change in aging. The K _ATP channel also helps regulate the neurovascular unit. Most brain cell types express SUR2, including neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes, microglia, vascular smooth muscle, pericytes, and endothelial cells. Thus it is not surprising that ABCC9 gene variants are associated with risk for human brain diseases. For example, Cantu syndrome is …

The Effect Of Teacher-Child Interactions On Child Outcomes, Jean R. Ubbelohde

Student Work

There is a strong body of research that suggests teacher-child interactions have a positive impact on child outcomes. Quality preschool programs include a focus on intentional positive interaction between teachers and children. To support positive developmental gains in young children, early childhood settings must include responsive and cognitively stimulating daily interactions between adults and children (Hamre, 2014). Children with more responsive teachers show improved outcomes across social, behavioral and cognitive domains (Hamre, Hatfield, Pianta, & Jamil, 2014). The purpose of this correlation study was to determine the effect of teacher-child interactions on child outcomes. This focus of the study was …

The Practical Implications Of Association Of Molecular Pathology V. Myriad Genetics, Inc. And Brca1 - & Brca2 - Based Hereditary Cancer Test Patent Litig. V. Ambry Genetics Corp. On The Biotechnology Industry, Samuel J. Berse

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Sports At/On The Borderlands: Translations, Transitions, And Transgressions - Nasss Conference Program 2015, North American Society For The Sociology Of Sport

North American Society for the Sociology of Sport Programs

No abstract provided.

A Novel Approach To Identify Shared Fragments In Drugs And Natural Products, Ashkay Balasubramanya, Ishwor Thapa, Dhundy Raj Bastola, Dario Ghersi

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Proceedings & Presentations

Fragment-based approaches have now become an important component of the drug discovery process. At the same time, pharmaceutical chemists are more often turning to the natural world and its extremely large and diverse collection of natural compounds to discover new leads that can potentially be turned into drugs. In this study we introduce and discuss a computational pipeline to automatically extract statistically overrepresented chemical fragments in therapeutic classes, and search for similar fragments in a large database of natural products. By systematically identifying enriched fragments in therapeutic groups, we are able to extract and focus on few fragments that are …

Clear Cell Renal Cell Carcinoma With Borderline Features Of Clear Cell Papillary Renal Cell Carcinoma: Combined Morphologic, Immunohistochemical, And Cytogenetic Analysis, Sean R. Williamson, Nilesh S. Gupta, John N. Eble, Craig G. Rogers, Susan Michalowski, Shaobo Zhang, Mingsheng Wang, David J. Grignon, Liang Cheng

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Articles

Clear cell papillary renal cell carcinoma is increasingly recognized as a distinct tumor with unique morphology, immunohistochemistry, and cytogenetics. Histopathology often mimics clear cell renal cell carcinoma; however, metastasis has not been reported, emphasizing the clinical value of recognizing these likely nonaggressive tumors. We studied tumors with borderline morphology of clear cell papillary renal cell carcinoma, utilizing immunohistochemistry and fluorescence in situ hybridization or karyotyping. Tumors from 22 patients (ages 33 to 82 y) were analyzed. Clear cell papillary renal cell carcinoma-like morphology varied from 10% to 90% of the tumor (median 25%). Sources of resemblance included: branched glands (95%), …

Alternative Courts And Drug Treatment: Finding A Rehabilitative Solution For Addicts In A Retributive System, Molly K. Webster

Fordham Law Review

    Sentencing drug crimes and treating drug-addicted defendants often stem from contradictory theories of punishment. In the late twentieth century, courts traded rehabilitation for retributive ideals to fight the “War on Drugs.” However, beginning with the Miami-Dade Drug Court, treatment and rehabilitation have returned to the forefront of sentencing policy in traditional and alternative drug courts.

    Jurisdictions have implemented a variety of policies designed to treat addiction as opposed to punishing it. Community courts, such as the Red Hook Community Justice Center in Brooklyn, New York, community-panel drug courts, such as the Woodbury County Community Drug Court in Iowa, and Hawaii’s …

Factors Contributing To Students Seeking An Alternative Secondary School Setting, Brian Crawford

Doctor of Education (EdD)

This is a case study of six students who chose to leave a comprehensive high school that has a reputation for academic excellence. Through a triangulation of data from semi-structured private interviews with the students and their school counselors and the students’ academic records, the details of the students’ experiences at a high school exposed some of the personal factors and school-based factors that influenced their decision to leave. All of these students struggled academically, socially, or emotionally. The major thematic categories for reasons the students left that emerged from the interviews were student mobility, mental illness, socio-economic pressure, academic …

Concentration-Independent Mri Of Ph With A Dendrimer-Based Ph-Responsive Nanoprobe, Mohammed Pi Bhuiyan, Madhava P. Aryal, Branislava Janic, Kishor Karki, Nadimpalli Rs Varma, James R. Ewing, Ali S. Arbab, Meser M. Ali

Neurology Articles

The measurement of extracellular pH (pHe ) has significant clinical value for pathological diagnoses and for monitoring the effects of pH-altering therapies. One of the major problems of measuring pHe with a relaxation-based MRI contrast agent is that the longitudinal relaxivity depends on both pH and the concentration of the agent, requiring the use of a second pH-unresponsive agent to measure the concentration. Here we tested the feasibility of measuring pH with a relaxation-based dendritic MRI contrast agent in a concentration-independent manner at clinically relevant field strengths. The transverse and longitudinal relaxation times in solutions of the contrast agent (GdDOTA-4AmP)44 …

Identification Of Regions Of Normal Grey Matter And White Matter From Pathologic Glioblastoma And Necrosis In Frozen Sections Using Raman Imaging, Rachel Kast, Gregory Auner, Sally Yurgelevic, Brandy Broadbent, Aditya Raghunathan, Laila M. Poisson, Tom Mikkelsen, Mark L. Rosenblum, Steven N. Kalkanis

Neurosurgery Articles

In neurosurgical applications, a tool capable of distinguishing grey matter, white matter, and areas of tumor and/or necrosis in near-real time could greatly aid in tumor resection decision making. Raman spectroscopy is a non-destructive spectroscopic technique which provides molecular information about the tissue under examination based on the vibrational properties of the constituent molecules. With careful measurement and data processing, a spatial step and repeat acquisition of Raman spectra can be used to create Raman images. Forty frozen brain tissue sections were imaged in their entirety using a 300-µm-square measurement grid, and two or more regions of interest within each …

Inquiry-Based Experiments For Large-Scale Introduction To Pcr And Eestriction Enzyme Digests, Kelly E. Johanson, Terry J. Watt

Faculty and Staff Publications

Polymerase chain reaction and restriction endonuclease digest are important techniques that should be included in all Biochemistry and Molecular Biology laboratory curriculums. These techniques are frequently taught at an advanced level, requiring many hours of student and faculty time. Here we present two inquiry-based experiments that are designed for introductory laboratory courses and combine both techniques. In both approaches, students must determine the identity of an unknown DNA sequence, either a gene sequence or a primer sequence, based on a combination of PCR product size and restriction digest pattern. The experimental design is flexible, and can be adapted based on …

Disaster Preparedness Education And Resource Needs For Pregnant And Post-Partum Families, Ellen A. Erickson Bonner

Nursing Theses and Dissertations

Hurricane Katrina in 2005 heightened awareness of the need to educate vulnerable populations on disaster preparedness. However, little has been written specifically on the preparedness needs of the pregnant and post-partum families. Only one article explores disaster preparedness education for this population. To fill this gap. An interprofessional sample (n=115) rated the relevance of the educational topics and birthing kit items proposed by the panel from the previous Delphi study. The education topics were reduced to four themes that explained 66.80% of the variance and the birthing kit items were reduced to six themes that explained 70.99% of the variance.

Abundance, Stable Isotopic Composition, And Export Fluxes Of Doc, Poc, And Dic From The Lower Mississippi River During 2006-2008, Yihua Cai, Laodong Guo, Xuri Wang, George Aiken

Faculty Publications

Sources, abundance, isotopic compositions, and export fluxes of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), dissolved and colloidal organic carbon (DOC and COC), and particulate organic carbon (POC), and their response to hydrologic regimes were examined through monthly sampling from the Lower Mississippi River during 2006–2008. DIC was the most abundant carbon species, followed by POC and DOC. Concentration and δ¹³C of DIC decreased with increasing river discharge, while those of DOC remained fairly stable. COC comprised 61 ± 3% of the bulk DOC with similar δ¹³C abundances but higher percentages of hydrophobic organic acids than DOC, suggesting its …

Determination Of Nanoparticle Localisation Within Subcellular Organelles In Vitro Using Raman Spectroscopy, Esen Efeoglu, Mark Keating, Jennifer Mcintyre, Alan Casey, Hugh Byrne

Articles

Ease of sample preparation, narrow spectral bandwidth and minimal influence from water are features of Raman spectroscopy which make it a powerful, label-free way to study a wide range of biological structures and phenomena. In this context, given the concerns over their toxicology arising from their increased production and use, evaluation of nanoparticle uptake and localisation in biological systems and determination of the mechanisms of subcellular interaction and trafficking can provide long-term solutions for nanotoxicology, and potential strategies for nanomedicine. In this study, Raman spectroscopy is explored to monitor the sequential trafficking of nanoparticles through subcellular organelles in-vitro and to …