Digital Commons Network^™

Mixtox: An R Package For Mixture Toxicity Assessment, Xiang-Wei Zhu, Jian-Yi Chen

The R Journal

Mixture toxicity assessment is indeed necessary for humans and ecosystems that are continually exposed to a variety of chemical mixtures. This paper describes an R package, called mixtox, which offers a general framework of curve fitting, mixture experimental design, and mixture toxicity prediction for practitioners in toxicology. The unique features of mixtox include: (1) constructing a uniform table for mixture experimental design; and (2) predicting toxicity of a mixture with multiple components based on reference models such as concentration addition, independent action, and generalized concentration addition. We describe the various functions of the package and provide examples to illustrate their …

Development Of Psychometrically Equivalent Speech Recognition Threshold Materials For Native Cebuano Speakers, Melissa Dawn Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

While there is a clear and immediate need for reliable speech audiometry materials to evaluate the speech recognition threshold (SRT), these recorded materials are not available in Cebuano, a language of the Philippines with 15.8 million speakers. The purpose of this study was to develop, digitally record, evaluate, and psychometrically equate a set of Cebuano trisyllabic words for use in measuring the SRT. To create the SRT materials, common Cebuano trisyllabic words were digitally recorded by a male talker of Cebuano and presented for evaluation to 20 native speakers of Cebuano with normal hearing. Based on psychometric performance, a set …

Distributed Multi-Component Approach And System For Enhanced Security Of Public Infrastructure As A Service (Iaas) Cloud Computing Environments, Jason Nikolai

Masters Theses & Doctoral Dissertations

Cloud computing has become big business with organizations spending millions of dollars creating and deploying cloud solutions. However, adoption of this multi-tenant and dynamic technology has been slowed by security concerns. In this dissertation, to help increase adoption by reducing security risks, we examine three research questions. First, how can we detect attacks on cloud tenant instances without specific knowledge of tenant applications? Second, how can we assist cloud providers with interpretation of the alert output from security controls in an IaaS cloud environment to improve security? And, third, how can we help protect cloud tenants from insider data theft …

How Do Designers Of The Built Environment Attempt To Make Ecological Sustainability Sensory Legible?, Carly L. Bartow

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This paper attempts to provide a theoretical framework for making ecosystem function and ecologically sustainable design more perceptible or sensible to people through architecture and the built environment. Design features of the Bertschi School Science Wing and the Bullitt Center in Seattle, Washington are incorporated to illustrate the sensory legibility of ecological sustainability criteria.The criteria are available to designers to help educate a building's occupants on environmentally sustainable design and motivate more sustainable behavior.

Our Students’ Minds Matter: Integrating Mindfulness Practices Into Special Education Classrooms, Danielle Magaldi Ph.D., Jennie Park-Taylor Ph.D.

The Journal of Special Education Apprenticeship

This article explores the usefulness of mindfulness practices in special education classrooms. Mindfulness is defined as the ability to regulate and control one’s attention with an orientation toward the present moment. Mindfulness practices of breathing, imagery, movement, reflection, and acceptance exercises are described along with research on the social, behavioral, and attentional effects following mindfulness interventions. The article concludes with practical considerations for special educators considering implementing mindfulness practices into curriculum, along with future directions for mindfulness in the field of special education.

The Political Ideologies Of American Lawyers, Adam S. Chilton, Adam Bonica, Maya Sen

Articles

No abstract provided.

Knowledge Goods And Nation-States, Daniel Hemel, Lisa Larrimore Ouellette

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Constitutional Law Of Agenda Control, Aziz Huq

Articles

No abstract provided.

Task Scheduling In Modern Data Center: Task Placement And Resource Allocation, Li Shi

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In modern data centers, the wide use of virtualization techniques has enabled dynamic resource allocation in the form of virtual machines and virtual networks. With such an ability, scheduling tasks, including both computing tasks and data transfer tasks, comprises (a) placing tasks on servers or network paths and (b) allocating a certain amount of resources to each task. In such a context, minimizing the completion time of the tasks, as a critical goal on many task processing platforms, requires joint consideration of both task placement and resource allocation. While many approaches have been proposed in the area of scheduling tasks …

Mediating Trans/Nationalism: Japanese ‘Jun’Ai’ (Pure-Love) In Popular Media Representations | Mediating Trans/Nationalism: Japanese €˜Jun’Ai’ (Pure-Love) In Popular Media Representations, I-Te Rita Sung

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the jun’ai (pure-love) genre has flourished in Japan, both in works of popular literature and in film. This phenomenon coincides with a time when the country is seen by the media as being characterized by soshitsukan (sense of loss). In jun’ai films, the heroine is often the object of loss. This theme of loss in jun’ai therefore resonates with the Japanese social context, but this connection has not yet been fully elucidated. In this dissertation, I seek to explain why Japanese women, who are arguably treated as “other†within Japan, embody a transnationalism …

Appropriating A People’S Movement: The Relationship Between Community Gardens And Gentrification In New York City | Appropriating A People’S Movement: The Relationship Between Community Gardens And Gentrification In New York City, Prita Lal

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In this dissertation, I study the intersection of community gardens with gentrification. In much of the gentrification scholarship, gentrification was studied from the macro level and was thought to result from changes in the housing market, hence being viewed as a top-down process in which the elite revitalized decaying urban neighborhoods by bringing capital into these areas and building higher end housing and services or was driven by consumer choices of privileged individuals (Smith 1979; Ley 1981). Some scholars maintained a connection between community gardens and gentrification, by insisting that gardens helped facilitate gentrification (Martinez 2010; Weissman 2012). I take …

Pathogenic And Non-Pathogenic Strains Of Vibrio Parahaemolyticus In Long Island Sound: Biotic And Abiotic Factors Promoting Abundance, Jake Thickman

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Food safety is a major concern in the shellfish industry, as severe illness can result from consuming shellfish that have accumulated waterborne pathogens. Shellfish harvesting areas are typically monitored for indicator bacteria such as fecal coliforms that serve as proxies for enteric pathogens introduced from surrounding waterways, but these indicators have shown little relation to some naturally occurring pathogenic bacteria such as Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp). To examine the dynamics and ecology of pathogenic and non-pathogenic strains of Vp and address the relevance of indicator bacteria in predicting Vp concentrations, field surveys and experiments were carried out in western Long Island …

Response To Monetary And Social Feedback During Development: Associations With Depressive Symptomatology And Risk, Jennifer Nicole Bress

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Depression represents a major public health concern, with particularly harmful effects in children. Existing interventions show relatively low response rates and high relapse rates, and there has been a recent effort to identify biomarkers of depression that may improve interventions and guide the way for novel treatments. One potential biomarker is the neural response to reward. However, existing studies typically focus on monetary reward, which may be less relevant to children and adolescents than social feedback. The current study focused on the feedback negativity (FN), an event-related potential (ERP) typically elicited by monetary feedback, in the context of a novel, …

Complementarity In The Structure And Dynamics Of Protein-Dna Search And Recognition: A Multiscale Modeling Study, Kevin E. Hauser

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Transcription factors (TF) interact with DNA to regulate gene expression by specifically binding one or two sequences out of millions of possible sites in a genome. Sequence specific binding (recognition) arises from two mechanisms: amino acid-nucleobase H-bonding (direct readout), and sequence-dependent DNA deformability and structure (indirect readout). These lead to tight, specific binding. TFs can also rapidly search for their target by attaching to any sequence and then sliding along DNA. This decreases the space through which a TF randomly walks to stumble on the target. Tight binding and rapid sliding are optimized because TFs can switch between different DNA-binding …

Development Of Novel Antimicrobial Agents Through Inhibition Of Cytokinetic Protein Ftsz In Mycobacterium Tuberculosis And Sphingolipid Glccer In Fungi, Krupanandan Haranahalli Raghunandan

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

In 2014, an estimated 480,000 people developed MDR-TB and 190,000 people died as a result of it. Approximately 9.7 % of people with MDR-TB are estimated to have XDR-TB. With the increase in the number of MDR-TB and XDR-TB cases, there is a dire need for the development of new anti-TB agents with novel mechanism of action. FtsZ, a crucial bacterial cytokinesis protein is a potential target for the development of new anti-TB agents. Previously a library of 2,5,6- and 2,5,7-trisubstituted benzimidazoles were synthesized and tested for their anti-TB activity. The lead molecules inhibited the assembly of Mycobacterium tuberculosis FtsZ …

Development Of Antitubercular Agents Targeting Ftsz And Antinociceptive Agents Targeting Fatty Acid Binding Proteins (Fabp), Simon Tong

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Tuberculosis, responsible for 1.5 million deaths worldwide in 2014, is treated using first and second line drugs. The repertoire of treatments has remained virtually static for decades, but the prevalence of drug resistance has increased. The rise of MDR- and XDR-TB has rendered current treatments ineffective, and new anti-tubercular agents with unique mechanisms of action are needed to overcome this hurdle. Filamenting temperature-sensitive mutant Z (FtsZ) is an essential bacterial cell division protein and a promising target. Inhibition of FtsZ will disrupt cell division, killing bacterial cells. Libraries of 2,5,6- and 2,5,7-trisubstituted benzimidazoles were previously synthesized and tested against Mtb …

The Macro- And Micro-Anatomy Of Primate Volar Surfaces, Amanda Kathryn Kingston

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The soft tissues of the volar surfaces of primate hands and feet are the primary point of interaction between an individual animal and its environment and, as such, are likely to be under strong functional selection. These tissues serve three major functions: 1) force attenuation – the volar fat pads assist in attenuating reaction forces generated during grasping locomotion; 2) friction enhancement – the volar fat pads also act as viscoelastic surfaces that increase the coefficient of friction between the pads and substrate at low body weights; in addition, the ridged volar skin interlocks with and thus increases friction with …

Indoor Inhalation Intake Fractions Of Fine Particulate Matter: Review Of Influencing Factors, Natasha Hodas, Miranda Loh, Hyeong-Moo Shin, Dingsheng Li, Deborah Bennett, Thomas E. Mckone, Olivier Jolliet, Charles J. Weschler, Matti J. Jantunen, Paul Lioy, Peter Fantke

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Exposure to fine particulate matter ( PM2.5) is a major contributor to the global human disease burden. The indoor environment is of particular importance when considering the health effects associated with PM2.5 exposures because people spend the majority of their time indoors and PM2.5 exposures per unit mass emitted indoors are two to three orders of magnitude larger than exposures to outdoor emissions. Variability in indoor PM2.5 intake fraction ( iFin,total), which is defined as the integrated cumulative intake of PM2.5 per unit of emission, is driven by a combination of building-specific, human-specific, and pollutant-specific factors. Due to a limited …

The Missouri Miner, December 1, 2016

The Missouri Miner Newspaper

No abstract provided.

The Irrelevance Of Nanotechnology Patents, Emily Michiko Morris

Faculty Scholarly Works

Although scientists have for decades now had the ability to manipulate matter at the atomic level, we have yet to see the nanotechnological revolution that these scientists predicted would follow. Despite the years of effort and billions of dollars that have been invested into research and development thus far, nanotechnology has yielded surprisingly few end-user applications. A number of commentators have blamed this lack of progress on the Bayh-Dole Act and other changes to patent law, arguing that, although these laws are supposed to stimulate technological development, they have in fact had the exact opposite effect when it comes to …

Regional Mapping Of Flow And Wall Characteristics Of Intracranial Aneurysms, Juan R. Cebral, Xinjie Duan, Piyusha S. Gade, Bong Jae Chung, Fernando Mut, Khaled Aziz, Anne M. Robertson

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

The evolution of intracranial aneurysms (IAs) is thought to be driven by progressive wall degradation in response to abnormal hemodynamics. Previous studies focused on the relationship between global hemodynamics and wall properties. However, hemodynamics, wall structure and mechanical properties of cerebral aneurysms can be non-uniform across the aneurysm wall. Therefore, the aim of this work is to introduce a methodology for mapping local hemodynamics to local wall structure in resected aneurysm specimens. This methodology combines image-based computational fluid dynamics, tissue resection, micro-CT imaging of resected specimens mounted on 3D-printed aneurysm models, alignment to 3D vascular models, multi-photon microscopy of the …

Heterodimers As The Structural Unit Of The T=1 Capsid Of The Fungal Double-Stranded Rna Rosellinia Necatrix Quadrivirus 1, Daniel Luque, Carlos P. Mata, Fernando González-Camacho, José M. González, Josué Gómez-Blanco, Carlos Alfonso, Germán Rivas, Wendy M. Havens, Satoko Kanematsu, Nobuhiro Suzuki, Said A. Ghabrial, Benes L. Trus, José R Castón

Plant Pathology Faculty Publications

Most double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) viruses are transcribed and replicated in a specialized icosahedral capsid with a T=1 lattice consisting of 60 asymmetric capsid protein (CP) dimers. These capsids help to organize the viral genome and replicative complex(es). They also act as molecular sieves that isolate the virus genome from host defense mechanisms and allow the passage of nucleotides and viral transcripts. Rosellinia necatrix quadrivirus 1 (RnQV1), the type species of the family Quadriviridae, is a dsRNA fungal virus with a multipartite genome consisting of four monocistronic segments (segments 1 to 4). dsRNA-2 and dsRNA-4 encode two CPs (P2 and …

Uchunguzi (Journal Watch/Montre De Journal) December 2016, Benjamin Wachira

Emergency Medicine, East Africa

Uchunguzi means investigation in Swahili and provides a summary of some of the most recent international literature as presented in other leading journals, but with an emphasis on what is relevant to our continent

Are Colleges And Universities Failing To Meet The Needs Of The Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming Community By Failing To Meet The Needs Of Social Work Students?, Constance D. Siegel

Social Work Theses - Archive

With the notable trend for recognition of the transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) Community, as well as their having issues that are separate and distinct from the lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB) community, the need for social workers specifically trained to meet the needs of this population has become apparent. An absence of qualified social workers in both macro and micro fields has necessitated a review of all Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited programs to ascertain if education on TGNC individuals is being included in curriculum as is outlined in the CSWE diversity and accreditation standards. Currently, both …

Sustainable Gender Equality Framework: A Justice Perspective, Bonita Bhattarai Sharma

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

The current study emphasizes gender equality discourse within the frame of overarching sustainable development goals and proposes a shift in attention to the sustainability of components of a larger holistic social system that is built on moral imperatives of intra and intergenerational justice. The continued and building importance of the holistic and transferability of a just and inclusive system is indicative of the new global policy shift in addressing the lessons learned from past developmental approaches and the urgent need to protect the earth system. There are three key related issues that stand out within the broad context of Our …

Medication Adherence In Patients With Myotonic Dystrophy And Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy, Bryan Fitzgerald, Kelly Conn, Joanne Smith, Andrew Walker, Amy L. Parkhill, James E. Hilbert, Elizabeth A. Luebbe, Richard T. Moxley Iii

Doctoral External Publications

Myotonic dystrophy (DM) and facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) are the two most common adult muscular dystrophies and have progressive and often disabling manifestations. Higher levels of medication adherence lead to better health outcomes, especially important to patients with DM and FSHD because of their multisystem manifestations and complexity of care. However, medication adherence has not previously been studied in a large cohort of DM type 1 (DM1), DM type 2 (DM2), and FSHD patients. The purpose of our study was to survey medication adherence and disease manifestations in patients enrolled in the NIH-supported National DM and FSHD Registry. The study …

Public Transit Equity Analysis At Metropolitan And Local Scales: A Focus On Nine Large Cities In The Us, Greg P. Griffin, Ipek N. Sener

Journal of Public Transportation

Recent studies on transit service through an equity lens have captured broad trends from the literature and national-level data or analyzed disaggregate data at the local level. This study integrates these methods by employing a geostatistical analysis of new transit access and income data compilations from the Environmental Protection Agency. By using a national data set, this study demonstrates a method for income-based transit equity analysis and provides results spanning nine large auto-oriented cities in the US. Results demonstrate variability among cities’ transit services to low-income populations, with differing results when viewed at the regional and local levels. Regional-level analysis …

Passenger Satisfaction And Mental Adaptation Under Adverse Conditions: Case Study In Manila, Andra Charis Mijares, Mio Suzuki, Tetsuo Yai

Journal of Public Transportation

Public transportation systems in several developing cities face congestion, air pollution, and safety problems, yet many passengers use them regularly. This study examines the structure of passenger satisfaction and the role of mental adaptation under such conditions. Metro Manila MRT-3 was analyzed as a case study.

The actual and perceived conditions at the MRT-3 were assessed using surveys. Results of the waiting time and PM_2.5 monitoring surveys revealed that passengers queue for 30 minutes, on average, while being exposed to unsafe levels of PM_2.5. The questionnaire survey results show some discrepancies between actual and perceived values, suggesting …

Regularity Of Public Transport Usage: A Case Study Of Bus Rides In Lisbon, Portugal, Stefan Foell, Santi Phithakkitnukoon, Marco Veloso, Gerd Kortuem, Carlos Bento

Journal of Public Transportation

This paper presents an analysis of regularity in public transport usage based on a large-scale bus transportation data of Lisbon, Portugal. By exploring the combined information from the bus boarding history of riders and bus arrivals at each bus stop, an analysis of individual bus usage was performed. Daily and weekly patterns were extracted, from which it was observed that a rider takes, on average, 2 trips, visits 1.93 distinct stops, and uses 1.55 distinct bus lines daily. Inter-trip time analysis revealed a daily cycle, and a study of the interaction between riders and bus infrastructure explored how usage was …

Is Applied Behavioral Analysis Education, Medicine, Or Both?: A Study Of The Funding Challenges That Accompany An Autism Diagnosis, Yaakov Pollak

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.