Digital Commons Network^™

Characterizing Migratory Signaling Pathways Of Transplantable Retinal Progenitor Cells And Photoreceptor Precursor Cells Toward Restoration Of Degenerative Retina ' A Systems Biology Approach, Uchenna John Unachukwu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A common feature of several heterogeneous diseases that result in retinal degeneration (RD) is photoreceptor loss, leading to an irreversible decline in visual function [15-17]. There are no cell replacement treatments available for RD diseases such as age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Although many RD cases are of a genetic origin, a promising strategy to treat diseased phenotypes is by replacing lost photoreceptor cells, for synaptic integration and restoration of visual function. To advance photoreceptor-replacement strategies as a practical therapy, in light of highly restricted integration rates reported across studies, this body of research focused on defining …

Emotion Dysregulation: A Predictor For Cbt Treatment Outcomes In A Comorbid Ptsd And Sud Population, Jennifer Robin Wallach

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trauma has been shown to disrupt self-regulatory processes; emotion regulation deficits have also been implicated in the initiation and maintenance of substance use disorders (SUDs). Treatments for these complex comorbid problems utilize a variety of approaches. However, to date, few studies have examined the effect of various available treatments on emotion dysregulation in this population. This study extends the research on emotion regulation among the population with comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and SUD. This study is a secondary analysis of part of the data from a randomized clinical trial assessing the relative efficacy of two active treatment conditions for …

The Reciprocal Relationship Among Object Relations, Attention, And Language In A Sample Of School-Aged Children, Katherine Ann Eiges

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Background: Object relations (OR) disturbances are implicated in a broad range of socio-emotional problems and psychopathology in childhood, which are also common among children diagnosed with attention and language impairments. Though attachment-based factors are shown to play a role in the socio-emotional adjustment of children with learning disabilities, the specific influences of attention and language deficits on OR development is unknown. The present study aims to investigate the reciprocal influences of attention and language functioning on OR development. An empirically established OR measure for the Rorschach was systematically adapted to the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and examined for convergent validity …

Mechanisms Of Vocal Coordination In Zebra Finches, Jonathan I. Benichov

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social animals frequently emit communication calls. Although these calls are often innate in their acoustic structure, they can be used adaptably to coordinate behavior with other individuals. It is not known, however, what each animal needs to learn in order to achieve and maintain synchronized call patterns with others. To study this process, we have developed a vocal robot that can be programed to generate call patterns or to sense a bird's contact (short) calls and respond with precisely timed call answers. By varying the robot's vocal behavior, including call timing and rhythm, we tested how interacting zebra finches adapt …

Gender And Trauma From World War I To The War In Iraq: Narrative In The Aftermath Of Loss, Jenny Young Kijowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Trauma Studies is predicated on the idea of unspeakability: events that are experienced as deep psychic wounds break the frameworks for understanding, resulting in an inability to translate the experience into language. Scholars who study the literature of trauma are thus faced with this central paradox: how do writers speak the unspeakable? Trauma literature is generally regarded as texts that not only are thematically centered on a traumatic event or series of traumatic events, but also structurally reflect the symptoms of trauma. Thus the formal qualities of trauma narratives include fragmentation, contradiction, repetition, circularity, and intrusion, such that these texts …

On The Threshold: Breadwinning, Capitalism And The Absent/Present Father In The Works Of Three Late 20th-Century U.S. Novelists, Nancy J. Hoch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As society industrialized in the nineteenth century and jobs moved outside the home, a figure which I call the absent/present father began to make his appearance in American literature. This figure, hovering physically or emotionally on the threshold of family life, never completely present but never completely absent either, has filled the pages of fiction from that time until recently when, as the U.S. becomes postindustrial, depictions of the absent/present father decline.

Bringing a socio-economic as opposed to the usual psychological perspective to my close readings of the fictional family, I explore the cultural work the absent/present father does in …

Why Robots Should Be Social: Enhancing Machine Learning Through Social Human-Robot Interaction, Greeff J De, T Belpaeme

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.

Special Programs, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Oswald Research And Creativity Program, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Undergraduate Awards And Honors, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Summer Research And Creativity Grants, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

S.P.U.R., Amanda Fleming

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

On My College Experience..., Brandon Sutton

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Beckman Scholars Program, Uk Office Of Undergraduate Research

Kaleidoscope

No abstract provided.

Distributed Task Related Bold Signal During Auditory Sub-Second Timing, Yuriy Bronshteyn

Kaleidoscope

The brain's input/output functions depend heavily on temporal processing. We sought to identify regions of the brain active in task performance during temporal discrimination of a sub-second auditory interval. We presented ten subjects with 40 paired tones and asked them to judge whether these comparison intervals were longer or shorter than a 100 ms standard. We then localized correlations between the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent signal and task performance across subjects using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. We saw no task-related frontal cortex activation and significant activation of traditional auditory areas. Auditory regions included the bilateral superior and middle temporal …

The Inequitable Tax Benefits Of Adoption, Nathaniel S. Hibben

Liberty University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Has Evolution Disproved God?: The Fallacies In The Apparent Triumph Of Soft Science, Tim Newton

Liberty University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Educational Pathways To Remote Employment In Isolated Communities, David C. Denkenberger, Julia Way, Joshua M. Pearce

Department of Materials Science and Engineering Publications

Those who live in isolated communities often lack reliable, skilled employment opportunities, which fundamentally undermines their human security. For individuals who wish to remain in their isolated communities for family, religious, philosophical or other reasons, their attachment to their communities creates a disincentive for higher education. This promotes low educational achievement, which in turn results in low socioeconomic status, lack of social mobility, and a generational cycle of poverty. The human misery that results from such a feedback loop is observed in isolated communities throughout North America, including aboriginal communities in Canada. Fortunately, maturation of information and communication technologies now …

Spartan Daily, September 29, 2015, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily (School of Journalism and Mass Communications)

Volume 145, Issue 15

Rapid And Efficient Pesticide Detection Via Cyclodextrin-Promoted Energy Transfer, Nicole Serio, John Roque, Andrew Badwal, Mindy Levine

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Cyclodextrins facilitate non-covalent fluorescence energy transfer from a variety of pesticides to high quantum-yield fluorophores, resulting in a rapid, sensitive detection scheme for these compounds with detection limits as low as two micromolar. Such a facile detection tool has significant potential applications in agriculture and public health research.

Reproductive Constraints Influence Habitat Accessibility, Segregation, And Preference Of Sympatric Albatross Species, Michelle Kappes, Scott Shaffer, Yann Tremblay, David Foley, Daniel Palacios, Steven Bograd, Daniel Costa

Faculty Publications, Biological Sciences

The spatiotemporal distribution of animals is dependent on a suite of factors, including the distribution of resources, interactions within and between species, physiological limitations, and requirements for reproduction, dispersal, or migration. During breeding, reproductive constraints play a major role in the distribution and behavior of central place foragers, such as pelagic seabirds. We examined the foraging behavior and marine habitat selection of Laysan (Phoebastria immutabilis) and black-footed (P. nigripes) albatrosses throughout their eight month breeding cycle at Tern Island, Northwest Hawaiian Islands to evaluate how variable constraints of breeding influenced habitat availability and foraging decisions. We used satellite tracking and …

Wild-But-Not-Too-Wild Animals: Challenging Goldilocks Standards In Rewilding, Erica Von Essen, Michael P. Allen

Between the Species

Rewilding is positioned as ‘post’-conservation through its emphasis on unleashing the autonomy of natural processes. In this paper, we argue that the autonomy of nature rhetoric in rewilding is challenged by human interventions. Instead of joining critique toward the ‘managed wilderness’ approach of rewilding, however, we examine the injustices this entails for keystone species. Reintroduction case studies demonstrate how arbitrary standards for wildness are imposed on these animals as they do their assigned duty to rehabilitate ecosystems. These ‘Goldilocks’ standards are predicated on aesthetic values that sanction interventions inconsistent with the premise of animal sovereignty. These include culling, relocations and …

The Standing Of The Public Interest, Amitai Etzioni

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward A More Ecologically Informed View Of Severe Forest Fires, Richard L. Hutto, Robert E. Keane, Rosemary L. Sherriff, Christopher T. Rota, Lisa A. Eby, Victoria A. Saab

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

We use the historical presence of high-severity fire patches in mixed-conifer forests of the western United States to make several points that we hope will encourage development of a more ecologically informed view of severe wildland fire effects. First, many plant and animal species use, and have sometimes evolved to depend on, severely burned forest conditions for their persistence. Second, evidence from fire history studies also suggests that a complex mosaic of severely burned conifer patches was common historically in the West. Third, to maintain ecological integrity in forests born of mixed-severity fire, land managers will have to accept some …

Dna Methylation Dynamics Of Germinal Center B Cells Are Mediated By Aid, Pilar M. Dominguez, Matt Teater, Nyasha Chambwe, Matthias Kormaksson, David Redmon, Jennifer Ishii, Bao Vuong, Jayanta Chaudhuri, Ari Melnick, Aparna Vasanthakumar, Lucy A. Godley, F. Nina Papavasiliou, Oliver Elemento, Rita Shaknovich

Publications and Research

Changes in DNA methylation are required for the formation of germinal centers (GCs), but the mechanisms of such changes are poorly understood. Activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) has been recently implicated in DNA demethylation through its deaminase activity coupled with DNA repair. We investigated the epigenetic function of AID in vivo in germinal center B cells (GCBs) isolated from wild-type (WT) and AID-deficient (Aicda^−/−) mice. We determined that the transit of B cells through the GC is associated with marked locus-specific loss of methylation and increased methylation diversity, both of which are lost in Aicda^−/− animals. Differentially …

Religion And Ethical Attitudes Toward Accepting A Bribe: A Comparative Study, Robert W. Mcgee, Serkan Benk, Bahad?R Yüzba??

College of Business and Economics

This study presents the results of an empirical study of ethical attitudes toward bribe taking in six religions—Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, the Baha’i faith, Hinduism, and Judaism. The paper begins with a discussion of the theoretical and empirical literature on the subject. The empirical part of the study examines attitudes toward accepting bribes in 57 countries from the perspectives of six religions using the data from Wave 6 (2010–2014) of the World Values Survey. The sample population is more than 52,000. More than a dozen demographic variables were examined. The study found that attitude toward bribe taking does differ by religion.

Application Of Subspace Clustering In Dna Sequence Analysis, Tim Wallace, Ali Sekmen, Xiaofei Wang

Computer Science Faculty Research

Identification and clustering of orthologous genes plays an important role in developing evolutionary models such as validating convergent and divergent phylogeny and predicting functional proteins in newly sequenced species of unverified nucleotide protein mappings. Here, we introduce an application of subspace clustering as applied to orthologous gene sequences and discuss the initial results. The working hypothesis is based upon the concept that genetic changes between nucleotide sequences coding for proteins among selected species and groups may lie within a union of subspaces for clusters of the orthologous groups. Estimates for the subspace dimensions were computed for a small population sample. …

Satellite Based Assessment Of Hydroclimatic Conditions Related To Cholera In Zimbabwe, Antarpreet Jutla, Haidar Aldaach, Hannah Billian, Ali S. Akanda, Anwar Huq, Rita Colwell

Civil & Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

Introduction:

Cholera, an infectious diarrheal disease, has been shown to be associated with large scale hydroclimatic processes. The sudden and sporadic occurrence of epidemic cholera is linked with high mortality rates, in part, due to uncertainty in timing and location of outbreaks. Improved understanding of the relationship between pathogenic abundance and climatic processes allows prediction of disease outbreak to be an achievable goal. In this study, we show association of large scale hydroclimatic processes with the cholera epidemic in Zimbabwe reported to have begun in Chitungwiza, a city in Mashonaland East province, in August, 2008.

Principal Findings:

Climatic factors in …

The Current Volume 26 : Issue 6, Nova Southeastern University

Student Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Silver Nanoparticles Induce Tight Junction Disruption And Astrocyte Neurotoxicity In A Rat Blood-Brain Barrier Primary Triple Coculture Model, Liming Xu, Mo Dan, Anliang Shao, Xiang Cheng, Cuiping Zhang, Robert A. Yokel, Taro Takemura, Nobutaka Hanagata, Masami Niwa, Daisuke Watanabe

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) can enter the brain and induce neurotoxicity. However, the toxicity of Ag-NPs on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and the underlying mechanism(s) of action on the BBB and the brain are not well understood.

METHOD: To investigate Ag-NP suspension (Ag-NPS)-induced toxicity, a triple coculture BBB model of rat brain microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes was established. The BBB permeability and tight junction protein expression in response to Ag-NPS, NP-released Ag ions, and polystyrene-NP exposure were investigated. Ultrastructural changes of the microvascular endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes were observed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Global gene expression …