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Iccb Program Review: Assisting Illinois Community Colleges To Improve Quality, Daniel S. Hagberg

Dissertations

This qualitative case study explored the process that the Illinois Community College Board (ICCB) undertook to evaluate their statewide Program Review system and the modifications that were implemented based upon that evaluation. Data was collected through interviews with members of the Task Force that undertook the review and recommended the changes to the system. Extant documents that were used by the Task Force further enriched the findings and analysis which was done through the lens of the Baldrige A-D-L-I (Approach, Deployment, Learning, Integration) Process Evaluation rubric. Although the steps taken through the work of the Task Force seemed to align …

Muscle Weakness During Aging: A Deficiency State Involving Declining Angiogenesis, Charles T. Ambrose

Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Faculty Publications

This essay begins by proposing that muscle weakness of old age from sarcopenia is due in large part to reduced capillary density in the muscles, as documented in 9 reports of aged persons and animals. Capillary density (CD) is determined by local levels of various angiogenic factors, which also decline in muscles with aging, as reported in 7 studies of old persons and animals. There are also numerous reports of reduced CD in the aged brain and other studies showing reduced CD in the kidney and heart of aged animals. Thus a waning angiogenesis throughout the body may be …

Of Truths, Secrets, And Loyalties: Political Belonging And State Building In Poland After State Socialism, Saygun Gokariksel

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is an ethnographic study of the accusations of 'collaboration' with the communist-era secret service in Poland's capitalist democracy. Situated in the global context of the 1989 'revolutions,' it examines the role of law in redrawing the moral and political boundaries of the new body politic and redefining the loyalties of the new citizen-subject of the neoliberalizing state. Specifically, my research concentrates on the legal process called 'lustration' (lustracja) in Poland, the state-centered purges of real or imagined secret communist agents, informers, and spies. Focusing on the contentious legal-political struggles from 2005 to 2008 and their aftermath, it explores …

Discrimination, Substance Use, And Cultural Buffers Among Native American College Students, Brenna L. Greenfield

Psychology ETDs

The negative effects of racial discrimination and microaggressions on health have been consistently documented, but only a handful of studies have examined this topic among Native Americans. The goal of this study was to test the Indigenist Stress-Coping Model (Walters, Simoni, & Evans-Campbell, 2002) among Native American college students attending two post-secondary institutions in the Southwestern United States. It was hypothesized that microaggressions would be positively related to substance use, and that cultural factors would attenuate the strength of this relationship. A total of 347 participants (65% female) completed a one-time online survey that included the Microaggressions Scale, the Actualization …

Effect Of Inflammatory Bowel Disease-Related Characteristics And Treatment Interventions On Cardiovascular Disease Incidence, Sudeep Thapa, Hind Hadid, Jason Schairer, Waseem Imam, Syed-Mohammed Jafri

Internal Medicine Articles

BACKGROUND: An association between inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cardiovascular diseases has been shown in multiple studies. However, little is known about the effect of IBD-related characteristics on cardiovascular events.

METHODS: The authors conducted a retrospective, nested case-control study of IBD patients who presented to the institution from 2000 to 2004, allowing for a 10-year follow-up period. One hundred eleven patients who developed cardiovascular events (cases) and 222 patients who did not develop cardiovascular events (cases) were included in the study after matching for Framingham cardiovascular risk score (2008). Relationships between predictor variables and cardiovascular outcome were assessed by conditional …

Nebline, September 2015

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: 4-H Youth “Let the Good Times Grow” at Super Fair

Food & Health

Family Living

Farm & Acreage

Horticulture

Pests & Wildlife

4-H & Youth

Extension Calendar

and other extension news and events

Prescribed Fire Monitoring Report, Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve 2014 (Iqcs Fire Number 285382, 285383, 266782, 285677), Sherry A. Leis, Sarah E. Hinman

United States National Park Service: Publications

Introduction

In 2014, the preserve’s federal and NGO partners conducted prescribed fires during March, April, and October that encompassed 8129.8 acres of Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR). This was a unique burn year in that prescribed burns occurred in the spring, the traditional burn season, and the fall. Fall burns were conducted to support needed archaeological surveys as part of the environmental compliance for a symphony event scheduled for June 2015 at the preserve. Burns at TAPR were coordinated with local US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), and various units of the National Park Service.

Burns …

Timber Talk, Vol. 53, No. 3, September 2015

Timber Talk: Nebraska Forest Industry Newsletter

In This Issue

Lumber Market News ...........................1

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Green..................................2

Hardwood Lumber Price Trends—Kiln Dried...........................2

Open for Business..................................3

U.S. Pumps out More Pellets.................4

Should I Buy a Sawmill.........................5

Nebraska Forest Industry Spotlight......7

The Trading Post....................................8

Timber Sales...........................................8

Trim21 Regulates Nmi-Ifi35 Complex-Mediated Inhibition Of Innate Antiviral Response, Anshuman Das, Phat X. Dinh, Asit K. Pattnaik

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

In this study, using an immunoprecipitation coupled with mass spectrometry approach, we have identified the E3 ubiquitin ligase Trim21 as an interacting partner of IFI35 and Nmi. We found that this interaction leads to K63-linked ubiquitination on K22 residue of Nmi, but not IFI35. Using domain deletion analysis, we found that the interaction is mediated via the coiled-coil domain of Nmi and the carboxyl-terminal SPRY domain of Trim21. Furthermore, we show that depletion of Trim21 leads to significantly reduced interaction of Nmi with IFI35, which results in the abrogation of the negative regulatory function of the Nmi-IFI35 complex on innate …

Is “Culture” A Workable Concept For (Cross-)Cultural Psychology?, Ype Poortinga

Online Readings in Psychology and Culture

In this essay three points are addressed:

First, despite repeated findings of limited cross-cultural variation for core areas of study, research in cross-cultural psychology continues to be directed mainly at finding differences in psychological functioning. This often happens at the cost of attention for similarities between groups, or invariance. As a consequence, cross-cultural psychology as a field is feeding into stereotyped views of “them” versus “us”.

Second, the notion of culture implies a holistic perspective, in which various aspects of the behavior repertoire within a group tend to be seen as hanging together. Such views tend to contribute to ideas …

Ink (2015 Fall/Winter, Culture Cover)

Ink, 2008-

The student-run features magazine covering the fashion, art, music and culture worlds at VCU and in Richmond. Published annually in print and updated regularly online.

Teacher Immediacy From The Perspective Of Teachers Who Educate At-Risk Students In A High School Alternative Setting: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Connie Locklear

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study is to gain a deeper, richer understanding of teacher immediacy from the perspective of teachers who educate at-risk students in an alternative setting. This study consisted of 12 teachers who educate high school students that have dropped out of school or were potential dropouts prior to entering the alternative program. The study was designed to answer the following questions: (a) What are the opinions of teachers who work in an alternative setting about teacher immediacy? (b) What do teachers state as obstacles to establishing teacher immediacy? (c) What additional resources do teachers state …

A Quantitative Study Of Dropout And Suspension Rates Of Native American High School Students Enrolled In Title Vii And Non-Title Vii School Districts, Annette Skinner-Coleman

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The North Carolina Commission of Indian Affairs (NCCIA) works collaboratively with The North Carolina State Advisory Council on Indian Education (SACIE) to support educational agencies with large populations of American Indian and Alaska Native students. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) and the North Carolina SACIE identified the American Indian students as having one of the highest dropout rates in North Carolina. This quantitative study employed a design combining causal comparative and correlational methods to examine the relationship between high school dropout and suspension rates among American Indian high school students enrolled in school districts that provide Title …

A Collective Case Study Of Expectant Father Fears, Robert Grand

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This qualitative, collective case study explored how men perceive fears of childbirth and level of preparedness to become fathers. An additional purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of expectant and new fathers with regard to how the Boot Camp for New Dads (BCND) program helped them to alleviate pregnancy fears and develop preparedness to become a parent. Data collection consisted of semi-structured interviews and focus groups conducted after the participants completed a three-hour boot camp for the BCND program. Additionally, participants completed the Kessler-6, a short questionnaire designed to glean their perspectives of fears after the childbirth. …

Woodstocc: Extracting Latent Parallelism From A Dna Sequence Aligner On A Gpu, Stephen V. Cole, Jacob R. Gardner, Jeremy D. Buhler

All Computer Science and Engineering Research

An exponential increase in the speed of DNA sequencing over the past decade has driven demand for fast, space-efficient algorithms to process the resultant data. The first step in processing is alignment of many short DNA sequences, or reads, against a large reference sequence. This work presents WOODSTOCC, an implementation of short-read alignment designed for Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) architectures. WOODSTOCC translates a novel CPU implementation of gapped short-read alignment, which has guaranteed optimal and complete results, to the GPU. Our implementation combines an irregular trie search with dynamic programming to expose regularly structured parallelism. We first describe this implementation, …

Using Common Factors Outcome Research To Guide A Strength Based Counseling Approach With Nursing Home Residents, Arnold B. Coven, Mary Jo Jezylo, Katarzyna Jurowicz

Michigan Journal of Counseling: Research, Theory and Practice

This article explores how outcome research findings can be used to guide strength based counseling with nursing home residents. The problems nursing home residents face are identified. The four common factors of client strengths, the counseling relationship, hope/expectancy, and model techniques are presented and guide the case illustrations. The need for research with this population is underlined.

Biology Discipline Program Assessment 2015, Biology Discipline

Assessment of Student Learning Reports

No abstract provided.

Portland State Magazine, Portland State University. Office Of University Communications

Portland State Magazine

PSU’s alumni magazine, published 2-3 times a year. In this issue: PSU’s part in making Portland a national transportation model; sipping coffee in zero gravity; new possibilities for foster youth; PSU’s Ooligan Press—a unique, student-run publishing house; graduating at 77; and more.

Constructing A Dynamic Model Of Concussion, Erin S. Kenzie, Elle L. Parks, Wayne W. Wakeland

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Aim: To construct a causal-loop diagram and corresponding system dynamics model of concussion pathology and recovery at the individual scale. These models will contribute to a greater understanding of the factors involved in concussion recovery and will inform the development of a new classification system for traumatic brain injury.

Shear Lag Sutures: Improved Suture Repair Through The Use Of Adhesives, S. W. Linderman, I. Kormpakis, R. H. Gelberman, Victor Birman, U. G. K. Wegst, G. M. Genin, S. Thomopoulos

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Drugs On Tap: Managing Pharmaceuticals In Our Nation’S Waters, Gabriel Eckstein

Faculty Scholarship

Pharmaceuticals in the environment and public water supplies are believed to have serious impacts on human and environmental health. Current research suggests that exposure to certain drugs and their residues may result in a variety of adverse human health effects. Other studies more conclusively show that even minute concentrations of pharmaceuticals in the environment can have detrimental effects on aquatic and terrestrial species. Unfortunately, the cost of removing these pernicious substances is out of the financial reach of most municipalities and wastewater and drinking water treatment operators.

Despite the concerns, little effort has been made to develop broad management, mitigatory, …

The Ras G Domain Lacks The Intrinsic Propensity To Form Dimers, Elizaveta A. Kovrigina, Azamat R. Galiakhmetov, Evgenii L. Kovrigin

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

Ras GTPase is a molecular switch controlling a number of cellular pathways including growth, proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. Recent reports indicated that Ras undergoes dimerization at the membrane surface through protein-protein interactions. If firmly established this property of Ras would require profound reassessment of a large amount of published data and modification of the Ras signaling paradigm. One proposed mechanism of dimerization involves formation of salt bridges between the two GTPase domains (G domains) leading to formation of a compact dimer as observed in Ras crystal structures. In this work, we interrogated the intrinsic ability of Ras to self-associate in …

The Kumaraswamy-G Poisson Family Of Distributions, Manoel Wallace A. Ramos, Pedro Rafael D. Marinho, Gauss M. Cordeiro, Ronaldo V. Da Silva, Gholamhossein Hamedani

Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

For any baseline continuous G distribution, we propose a new generalized family called the Kumaraswamy-G Poisson (denoted with the prefix “Kw-GP”) with three extra positive parameters. Some special distributions in the new family such as the Kw-Weibull Poisson, Kw-gamma Poisson and Kw-beta Poisson distributions are introduced. We derive some mathematical properties of the new family including the ordinary moments, generating function and order statistics. The method of maximum likelihood is used to fit the distributions in the new family. We illustrate its potentiality by means of an application to a real data set.

Impossible Heights: From Mining To Sport In The Mountain West, 1849 To 1936, Jason Strykowski

History ETDs

The discovery of gold in California inspired a rush of amateur miners to the Sierra Nevada mountains in 1849. Meanwhile, Europeans hurried to their Alps to climb during the Golden Age of Mountaineering. These events, seemingly separate, came from the same basic impetus. The Scientific Revolution eased the old fear of mountains from the religious tradition and gave humans the license and curiosity to explore. Mountains also offered capital incentive to adventurers in the form of mineral deposits, tourism and the glory that comes with athletic accomplishment. Between 1849 and 1936, "mountaineers" transformed the nearly inaccessible high places of the …

Summaries Of Arkansas Cotton Research 2014, Derrick M. Oosterhuis

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

No abstract provided.

An Overview Of Acute Myeloid Leukemia, Ryan Durkee

Honors Projects

Acute Myeloid Leukemia is a rare disease with an estimated 20,830 new cases in the U.S. in 2015.4 Although it is a rare disease it is crucial to understand the history, pathophysiology, and epidemiology of AML. Comprehending the steps behind treating AML is another crucial aspect in appreciating the care that must be put into AML and the patients that suffer from it. A comprehensive look into these two aspects of AML will give a better understanding for what causes AML, how it is treated, and what these patients experience. Through this comprehensive study the future of this field will …

Impedance Spectroscopy-Based Cellular Analysis Device, Shekhar Bhansali, Abdur Rub Abdur Rahman

USF Patents

An electrical impedance sensing device which integrates multielectrode automated impedance spectroscopy capability with automatic parameter extraction and data analysis to create an automated cell behavior monitoring system. The device comprises radial electrodes and an out-of-plane counter electrode. Quantitative impedance data provided information on cell adhesion, spreading, proliferation and detachment due to cell cycle processes as well as cell-drug interaction, with spatio-temporal resolution. The resulting dataset is processed for impedance distribution and used to characterize cellular motion, morphology, electrochemical and dielectric properties. Also, a method is described for studying cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions, determining electrical characteristics of cell layers, and identifying …

Finite Element Modelling Predicts Changes In Joint Shape And Cell Behaviour Due To Loss Of Muscle Strain In Jaw Development, Lucy H. Brunt, Joanna L. Norton, Jen A. Bright, Emily J. Rayfield, Chrissy L. Hammond

School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications

Abnormal joint morphogenesis is linked to clinical conditions such as Developmental Dysplasia of the Hip (DDH) and to osteoarthritis (OA). Muscle activity is known to be important during the developmental process of joint morphogenesis. However, less is known about how this mechanical stimulus affects the behaviour of joint cells to generate altered morphology. Using zebrafish, in which we can image all joint musculoskeletal tissues at high resolution, we show that removal of muscle activity through anaesthetisation or genetic manipulation causes a change to the shape of the joint between the Meckel's cartilage and Palatoquadrate (the jaw joint), such that the …

The Role Of Biological Fluid And Dynamic Flow In The Behavior And Cellular Interactions Of Gold Nanoparticles, Emily K. Breitner, Saber M. Hussain, Kristen K. Comfort

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Background: Due to their distinctive physicochemical properties, nanoparticles (NPs) have proven to be extremely advantageous for product and application development, but are also capable of inducing detrimental outcomes in biological systems. Standard in vitro methodologies are currently the primary means for evaluating NP safety, as vast quantities of particles exist that require appraisal. However, cell-based models are plagued by the fact that they are not representative of complex physiological systems. The need for a more accurate exposure model is highlighted by the fact that NP behavior and subsequent bioresponses are highly dependent upon their surroundings. Therefore, standard in vitro models …

Anty 210n.01: Introduction To Physical Anthropology, Corey Ragsdale

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2011-2015

No abstract provided.