Digital Commons Network^™

Ionophoric Polyphenols Selectively Bind Cu2+, Display Potent Antioxidant And Anti-Amyloidogenic Properties, And Are Non-Toxic Toward Tetrahymena Thermophila, Alberto Martinez, Ralph Alcendor, Tanzeen Rahman, Magdalena Podgorny, Ismaila Sanogo, Rebecca Mccurdy

Publications and Research

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia affecting more than 28 million people in the world. Only symptomatic treatments are currently available. Anticipated tri-fold increase of AD incidence in the next 50 years has established the need to explore new possible treatments. Accumulation of extracellular amyloid-b (Ab) plaques, intracellular tangles in the brain, and formation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) are the major hallmarks of the disease. The active role of some metal ions, especially Cu²⁺, in promoting both Ab aggregation and reactive oxygen species formation has rendered ionophoric drugs as a promising treatment strategy. …

Rendaku: The Sociolinguistics Of Its Use In Japanese, Matthew Sofus Joseph

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed is, do sociolinguistic variables influence the use of rendaku among native speakers of Japanese? The motivating factor for this capstone was that rendaku use seems to be inconsistent. This capstone records the rendaku use of twelve native Japanese speakers in semistructured interviews to examine if aspects of their sociolinguistic backgrounds correlate with rendaku use. Key influences for this capstone were the writer’s own experience with rendaku as a Japanese learner in Japan and his professor who recognized the potential for rendaku to be studied through the prism of sociolinguistics. The research was done using semi-structured interviews …

Differentiation For All Learners: Applying Theory And Practice So All Children Reach Their Potential, Kathryn Elizabeth Kreitzer

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

Teachers in classrooms today are challenged with students with a ride range of abilities necessitating differentiation in the classroom. Faced with increasingly heterogeneous populations of students, including the mainstreaming of special education students, teachers are challenged to develop curricula that is matched to students’ abilities. This project focused on how to adapt state mandated grade level content to multiple instructional levels. Included in this project is a differentiated unit on the American Revolution based on Minnesota fifth grade standards. The unit is differentiated to first grade, third grade and fifth grade reading and writing levels. This project demonstrates how teachers …

Functional Characteristics And Quality Of Ultraviolet-Irradiated Partially Insoluble Fish Gelatin As Shark Fin Analogs, Yu Wei Chang, Chang Shu Liu, Chia Chi Chiang, Jenn Shou Tsa, Wen Chieh Sung

Journal of Marine Science and Technology–Taiwan

Tilapia skin gelatin powder was used to parpare shark fin analogs. Experimental samples were exposed to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation at 612, 1224, 1836, 2448, 3060, and 3672 mJ/cm2 . Fish gelatin exposed to UV at 1836 mJ/cm2 became partially insoluble. UV exposure reduced the transmittance of amide I at 1630 cm-1, amide II at 1480-1575 cm-1, and amide III at 1237 cm-1 in Fourier transform infrared spectra. UV treatment at 612 mJ/cm2 significantly reduced the gel strength of fish gelatin, whereas higher UV exposure increased the gel strength. UV irradiation at up to 3060 mJ/cm2 increased the b* value (yellowness) …

Functions For Murine Norovirus Protein Ns1/2 In Mice And Cells, Broc Taylor Mccune

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Noroviruses are a leading cause of epidemic gastroenteritis and a major health burden worldwide. One source for outbreaks is individuals who shed virus asymptomatically and persistently. Viral persistence is a successful strategy for viruses to spread, but the mechanisms and consequences of norovirus persistent infection are unknown. In this dissertation, we sought to determine the norovirus determinant(s) of persistence and explore the functions of the associated viral molecules.To determine the viral determinants of persistent infection and tropism, we used the murine norovirus model system in mice. Using plasmid infectious clones for persistent strain CR6 and non-persistent strain CW3, we mapped …

Molecular Mechanisms Mediating The Effects Of Acute Dietary Vitamin A Deficiency On A Defined Model Human Gut Microbiota, Matthew Charles Hibberd

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Micronutrient deficiencies represent a form of "hidden hunger" that afflict two billion people worldwide. To test the hypothesis that dietary micronutrient deficiency has differential effects on members of the human gut microbiota, a consortium containing 92 sequenced phylogenetically diverse bacterial strains was introduced into germ-free mice. Recipient animals were subjected to a diet oscillation that began with highly defined micronutrient-sufficient diet followed by a derivative diet with one of four types of single micronutrient deficiency, or a diet representing combined deficiencies, followed by return to the original sufficient diet. Times-series studies of microbial community structure and transcriptome revealed that acute …

Tau Prion Strains In Cells, Mice, And Patients, David Winland Sanders

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Prion-like propagation of tau aggregation may underlie the stereotyped progression of pathology along neuronal networks in neurodegenerative tauopathies such as Alzheimer’s disease. It has become increasingly clear that unique conformations (“strains”) of prion protein (PrP) link aggregate structure to clinical phenotypes in human prion diseases. Intriguingly, vast phenotypic diversity in pathological and clinical presentation is also observed in tauopathies. The mechanisms that account for this phenotypic diversity are completely unknown. During my dissertation work, I put forward and tested the hypothesis that distinct tau amyloid conformations (or “strains”) are responsible for unique tauopathies. First, I found that in experimental models, …

Cultivating Knowledge: The Production And Adaptation Of Knowledge On Organic And Gm Cotton Farms In Telangana, India, Andrew Flachs

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the ways in which genetically modified (GM) cotton seeds, rice seeds, and organic cotton seeds in Telangana, India set farmers on diverging economic, environmental, and social trajectories. GM cotton, a cash crop sold under hundreds of different brand names by private corporations, leads farmers to rapidly change to new seeds and copy their neighbors’ choices as they chase high yields that counter their high investments in an input-intensive agriculture. Rice, a subsistence and market crop distributed largely by public breeders, allows farmers to change their seeds more slowly as they carefully evaluate durability and taste alongside overall …

Synthesis Of Simplified Ym-254890 Analogs, Derek Thomas Rensing

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

G Protein Coupled Receptors (GPCR’s) are responsible for a multitude of physiological, cellular, and disease processes. GPCR’s signal through non-receptor based heterotrimeric G proteins and since G proteins effectively mediate GPCR signal transduction they are attractive therapeutic targets. However, little is known about the signaling pathways associated with individual G proteins. For this reason, there is intense interest in the development of chemical probes that can help identify the downstream biochemistry of individual G proteins.One small molecule natural product that shows promise along these lines is YM-254890 (YM). YM has been shown to specifically and potently inhibit the α subunit …

Environmental Education In A Dual Immersion Classroom, Annaka Marie Larson

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this project was, how can environmental education curricula be implemented in dual immersion classrooms? It describes how the author used a unit planning framework designed for dual immersion to adapt lessons from the environmental education curriculum Project WILD for her first grade Spanish immersion class. Both curriculum design and action research were incorporated into the project. She details the process of modifying the lessons, what happened when she implemented the lessons in her classroom, and how the lessons improved students’ content knowledge, language abilities, and appreciation for the environment. She concludes that environmental education can …

Suplementasi Transfer Factor® Meningkatkan Berat Badan Danketerampilan Sosial Anak Gizi Buruk-Kurang, Andi Nurlinda

Media Kesehatan Masyarakat Indonesia

Lebih dari 50% anak meninggal di negara berkembang karena infeksi yang disebabkan oleh kekurangan gizi. Menurut laporan kasus dari klinik-klinik dokter anak, Transfer Factor® efektif memperbaiki pertumbuhan dan perkembangan anak. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui keefektifan Transfer Factor® terhadap peningkatan berat badan dan keterampilan sosial anak gizi buruk-kurang usia 3-4 tahun. Jenis penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksperimen. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah semua anak yang memiliki status gizi buruk-kurang di Kelurahan Pannampu Kecamatan Tallo, Kota Makassar tahun 2015. Teknik pengambilan sampel, yaitu random sampling dengan jumlah sampel 20 anak. Data dianalisis menggunakan uji t berpasangan. Penelitian ini menemukan bahwa suplementasi Transfer …

Neural Representation Of Vocalizations In Noise In The Primary Auditory Cortex Of Marmoset Monkeys, Ruiye Ni

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Robust auditory perception plays a pivotal function in processing behaviorally relevant sounds, particularly when there are auditory distractions from the environment. The neuronal coding enabling this ability, however, is still not well understood. In this study we recorded single-unit activity from the primary auditory cortex of alert common marmoset monkeys (Callithrix jacchus) while delivering conspecific vocalizations degraded by two different background noises: broadband white noise (WGN) and vocalization babble (Babble).

Noise effects on single-unit neural representation of target vocalizations were quantified by measuring the response similarity elicited by natural vocalizations as a function of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Four consistent response …

Utilization Of Cholera Toxin B As An Adjuvant For The Subunit Pspa Vaccine, Provides Effective Protection Against Streptococcus Pneumoniae Challenge, Daniel R. Pinho

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a prevalent human pathogen associated with pneumonia. It is estimated that approximately 1 million people around the world die each year, specifically with young children and the elderly comprising a significant portion. Currently, antibiotics can treat the infection but individuals such as the young or elderly are more susceptible to bodily damage from symptoms, such as pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis, thus require more preventive measures. As a result, vaccinations are a key solution to providing effective protection against infectious pathogens. Presently, two vaccinations exist in the market: PPSV₂₃ and PCV₁₃, which only protect against …

Geometric Inference With Microlens Arrays, Ian Schillebeeckx

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explores an alternative to traditional fiducial markers where geometric

information is inferred from the observed position of 3D points seen in an image. We offer an alternative approach which enables geometric inference based on the relative orientation

of markers in an image. We present markers fabricated from microlenses whose appearance

changes depending on the marker's orientation relative to the camera. First, we show how

to manufacture and calibrate chromo-coding lenticular arrays to create a known relationship

between the observed hue and orientation of the array. Second, we use 2 small chromo-coding lenticular arrays to estimate the pose of …

Great Mirror Of Motherly Love: Maternal Fantasy, Mystic Mothers, And Reflected Selves In Modern And Contemporary Japanese Fiction, Jessica E. Legare

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Fantasy and mysticism often serve as key elements in escapist literature—constructing stories that move protagonists beyond the furthest reaches of the real, the familiar and the human. Yet, the otherworldly can also bring the protagonist within reach of the familiar if we consider the representations of mothering in the following Japanese narratives: Tanizaki Jun’ichirō’s “Longing for Mother” (1919), Izumi Kyōka’s “The Holy Man of Mount Kōya” (1900), Takahashi Takako’s “Doll Love” (1976), and Ono Masatsugu’s “Prayers from Nine Years Ago” (2014). Through their depictions based on supernatural and spiritual tropes, mystical-mother figures become metaphorical mirrors meant to reflect the protagonists’ …

Farming Through The Auca Runa: Agricultural Strategies And Terraces During The Late Intermediate Period, Altiplano, Peru, Brieanna Sylvia Langlie

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines agricultural strategies farmers employed to cope with the consequences of war and drought in the southern Peruvian Andes during the Late Intermediate Period (A.D. 1100-1450) using paleoethnobotanical data from the fortified hilltop site Ayawiri and findings from excavations of a terrace complex flanking the site. During the Late Intermediate Period, lifeways dissolved into a period of endemic warfare after the collapse of Tiwanaku. At the same time a well-documented, century-long drought surely threatened food security. Interested in how farmers responded to this political and climatic disjuncture, I analyzed 108 flotation samples collected from the residential area of …

Behavioral And Neurophysiological Mechanisms Of Recovery Post-Stroke, Lenny Eveline Ramsey

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Strokes can affect very different behavioral domains causing deficits in language, memory, visual attention and movement. This range of deficits is caused by stroke lesions that occur in different locations, and it reflects both the local structural damage as well as remote and widespread neurophysiological abnormalities of structurally normal regions of the brain. The recovery of behavioral deficits depends both on psychosocial factors like age and education, whose brain substrates are presently poorly defined, structural variables such as lesion size and location, and neurobiological repair mechanisms both locally near the lesion and network-wide.In the current work we hypothesized that behavioral …

Ecological And Genetic Consequences Of Climate Change Impacting Species Distributions, With Specific Cases In Whitebark Pine (Pinus Albicaulis Engelm.), Jennifer A. Gruhn

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Climate is widely recognized as a primary factor contributing to species distribution limits. In turn, species’ geographic ranges have contracted and expanded in concert with Earth’s climatic history and are predicted to shift in response to future climate change. We investigated the ecological and genetic consequences of species distributions in flux with their historical, current, and projected future climatic environments. Chapter 1 introduces themes and background information related to the thesis research found in Chapters 2 through 4. In Chapter 2, we questioned the extent to which ancestral climate-related traits are conserved through vast periods of evolutionary time spanning the …

Blowing Away Convention: Enchi Fumiko, Tanabe Seiko And Aging Women In Modern Japanese Literature, Sohyun Chun

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1970s, Japan's rapidly aging population has prompted a range of narratives addressing the issue of aging, which has disproportionately affected women. Prevailing narratives often present the elderly demographic as either a national burden that exhausts social resources, or a national pride that represents a well-structured healthcare system. This study focuses on aged women—often deemed expendable and unimportant by society—who occupy principal roles in various works by Japanese modern women writers. This study asks the question: why does literature occasionally lure its readers to the oft-ignored voice of the sultry crone? By granting their aging female protagonists unconventional interiorities …

Differential Associations Of Stress And Cortisol With Brain Structure And Cognition In Cognitively Normal Older Adults, Ana Kim

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The current literature shows discrepant findings as to the degree to which cumulative stress and dysregulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis are associated with brain structure and cognitive function in older adults, particularly in brain regions with high expression of receptors for glucocorticoid, and cognitive function reliant upon these regions. Past studies have been heavily focused on total hippocampus while limited studies have examined hippocampal subdivisions or other brain structures. In addition, one key moderator that may influence the associations of cumulative stress and cortisol on brain structure and cognition is the single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the stress-system genes, which …

Regulation Of Transcription And Stress Response By Card In Mycobacteria, Ashley Louise Garner

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of Tuberculosis, infects over one third of the world's population. To control this epidemic, we must develop new chemotherapeutic strategies for treatment, which requires further insight into the physiology of this bacterium. Previous studies have identified CarD as a transcriptional regulator essential during both acute and persistent infection. Depletion of CarD sensitizes strains to a diverse panel of stresses and deregulates several hundred genes and ribosomal RNA (rRNA) which suggested that CarD may be a transcriptional regulator. Chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing experiments showed that CarD was localized to promoters throughout the genome, suggesting that CarD regulates …

The Role Of Epidermal Enhancer 923 In The Chromatin Architecture And Transcriptional Regulation Of The Epidermal Differentiation Complex, Inez Oh

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The epidermis covers the surface of the skin and provides a functional barrier across the entire body. Epidermal cells or keratinocytes proliferate in the innermost basal layer and migrate upwards into the suprabasal spinous and granular layers as they differentiate, and finally into the terminally differentiated outermost stratum corneum. Keratinocytes undergoing terminal differentiation are marked by tissue-specific concomitant expression of genes encoded in the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (EDC) locus. The EDC genes are organized into four gene families - S100, Sprr, Lce, and Flg-like, which are coordinately expressed upon activation of the terminal differentiation program in keratinocytes. The molecular mechanisms …

The Normative Problem Of Shame, Timothy James Oakberg

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

What role should shame play in our lives? This is the normative problem of shame, and it is the focus of this dissertation. Through an examination of empirical research on shame and shame-proneness, I argue that shame should have only a very limited role in our lives. More specifically, we ought not cultivate shame, because a substantial amount of empirical literature points to the conclusion that shame-proneness is counterproductive at both an individual and a societal level. Expanding on this general answer to the normative problem of shame, I discuss in detail three proposals regarding shame from the realms of …

Infantile Batten Disease: Effective Therapy And Novel Model, Charles Shyng

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (INCL, Infantile Batten) is typically an early onset, neurodegenerative lysosomal storage disorder. INCL is caused by mutations to the gene CLN1 which codes for the lysosomal enzyme palmitoyl-protein thioesterase-1 (PPT1). PPT1 is a soluble lysosomal enzyme that functions to cleave fatty acyl chains from proteins destined for degradation. Deficiency in PPT1 leads to the accumulation of autofluorescent storage material, a hallmark of the NCLs. The storage material has been implicated in progressive histopathological changes in the brain such as neuronal loss, astrocytosis, microgliosis, and immune cell infiltration. These histopathological changes result in a progression of clinical …

Gene Association Mapping In The Era Of Next-Generation Sequencing And Systems Biology, Tianxiao Zhang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

In the past decade, advancement of genotyping technology, first microarray then “next-generation” sequencing, has enabled scientists to examine the susceptible genes that contribute to the risk of complex disorders using a genome-wide, “hypothesis free” strategy. However, despite this “hypothesis free” label, these genome-wide approaches (including genome-wide association and whole genome sequencing studies) depend on two implicit assumptions. The first assumption is that the genetic risk of complex traits is contributed by independent genes/variants (assumption of independence).The second assumption is that different genes have equal potentiality to confer to the genetic predisposition of the complex traits (assumption of equality). Despite the …

The Non-Masticatory Use Of The Anterior Teeth Among Late Pleistocene Humans, John Charles Willman

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Characteristic patterns of dental wear form through the use of the dentition for non-masticatory manipulative behaviors. The use of “teeth-as-tools” or the dentition as a “third hand” for manipulative behaviors emphasizes the importance of the human dentition in our otherwise extrasomatic tool-kit. The extreme pattern of anterior dental wear found in many Neandertals, together with their large anterior teeth, has led researchers to suggest that the unique craniofacial morphology of Neandertals is the result of functional adaptation to the habitual use of the dentition for manipulative tasks. However, decades of research investigating the adaptive significance and biomechanical properties of Neandertal …

Every Day You Are Improving: How College Students View The Educational Impact Of World Of Warcraft, Nariman Alawami, Heng-Yu Ku

The Qualitative Report

The purpose of the study was to explore college students’ experiences with playing World of Warcraft (WoW) and their views on the application of WoW in educational settings. A qualitative case study design was used to interview three participants who were selected purposively from a Midwestern university. Findings revealed that players thought that playing WoW was fun, relaxing, motivating, but sometimes almost to the point of addiction. The findings also support student perceptions of generalization of teamwork, cooperating, socializing, academic skills, and time management skills learned and practiced in playing WoW to academic settings. Playing WoW games can provide an …

The Impact Of Family Autism Camp On Families And Individuals With Asd, Luchara R. Wallace

The Qualitative Report

Families of children with disabilities, such as Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), often search for opportunities to acquire information about and receive emotional support from others who may have or had similar experiences. An evaluation of the Dakota Black Goose Family Autism Camp sought to determine the impact of the family camp experience. Pre- and Post-Camp surveys were administered upon families’ arrival at Camp and prior to their departure (n=17) to evaluate the overall quality of the program as well as the level of informational and emotional support anticipated and received. Follow-up interviews were completed six months post Camp to determine …

Effects Of An Electronic, Motion-Activated Scarecrow On Foraging Time In Nocturnal Vertebrate Crop Pets In South Africa, Mallory Clouse

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

The normal behaviors of animals can disrupt human activities, resulting in human wildlifeconflict. In South Africa, nocturnal crop raiders are a significant source of human wildlifeconflict for farmers. Major nocturnal pest animals are Cape porcupine (Hystrix africaeaustralis) and bushpig (Potamochoerus larvatus). Although methods of deterring animals from agricultural areas have been explored, nocturnal crop raiding remains difficult to mitigate. Most research studies focus on deterring non-human primates and elephants, but methods that may be successful in deterring such larger mammals are not necessarily effective at discouraging smaller, nocturnal crop raiders. This study examined the efficacy of …

Proceedings Of The 2016 Berry Summer Thesis Institute, University Of Dayton. University Honors Program

Proceedings of the Berry Summer Thesis Institute (2013-Present)

Thanks to a gift from the Berry Family Foundation and the Berry family, the University Honors Program launched the Berry Summer Thesis Institute in 2012. The institute introduces students in the University Honors Program to intensive research, scholarship opportunities and professional development. Each student pursues a 12-week summer thesis research project under the guidance of a UD faculty mentor. This contains the product of the students' research.