Digital Commons Network^™

Control Of Matrix Metalloproteinases In A Periodontitis Model: Molecules That Trigger Or Inhibit Mmp Production, Catalina Matias Orozco

Theses and Dissertations

In periodontitis, there is a disruption in the homeostasis of the oral microbiome by peridontopathogenic bacteria. However, while bacteria is essential for periodontitis to occur, the severity, pattern and progression of the disease is not solely determined by the microbial burden, and in fact has a lot to do with the overwhelming host inflammatory response. The response can vary even in two individuals with similar periodontopathogenic profiles. The host response leads to extracellular matrix (ECM) destruction, loss of attachment, alveolar bone resorption and eventually, edentulism. The host's reaction is orchestrated by proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines and matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). MMPs …

An Investigation Of Ssglux, A Glucosidase Co-Expressed With Cslf6 In Oat (Avena Sativa) And Barley (Hordeum Vulgare), Michael Christopher Gines

Theses and Dissertations

Mixed Linkage Glucan (MLG, or (1,3;1,4)-ß-D glucan) is a component of cell walls for major cereal crops and is significant to food and beverage industries. To better understand genetic factors affecting MLG content in oats, this study investigates the presence of glucosidases likely to participate in MLG production. A glucosidase showing co-expression with CslF6—the primary gene responsible for MLG synthesis—could indicate a hand in MLG production by association. Reference genes for expression analysis as well as glucosidase candidates were first selected using in silico methods. In both cases, barley was used as model species because it has abundant public bioinformatic …

Achieving Cross-System Collaboration To Support Young People In The Transition Years: A Tip Sheet For Service Providers, Pauline Jivanjee, Eileen Brennan, Claudia Sellmaier, Maria Carolina Gonzalez-Prats, Pathways Transition Training Collaborative

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

This tip sheet advises service providers on how to reach across fragmented services and systems to assist young people to achieve their goals.

Genetically Engineered Crops: How The Courts Dismantled The Doctrine Of Substantial Equivalence, Trevor Findley

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership And The Construction Of A Syncretic Animal Welfare Norm, Andrew Jensen Kerr

Duke Environmental Law & Policy Forum

No abstract provided.

Transgender Bathroom Rights, Catherine Jean Archibald

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

After winning the right to same-sex marriage in all 50 states in June, 2015, the LGBT community is once again battling in court for its rights, this time for the right of transgender people to use bathrooms and locker rooms that match their gender identity. In its “Dear Colleague Letter on Transgender Students,” the Federal Government has recently interpreted federal law as requiring that transgender students be permitted to use bathroom and locker rooms that correspond with their gender identity in schools receiving federal funding. In two separate lawsuits, 20 states have challenged the legitimacy of this interpretation.

This Article …

The Right To Privacy And The Right To Use The Bathroom Consistent With One’S Gender Identity, Vincent J. Samar

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Obergefell’S Legacy, Mark P. Strasser

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Reframing Kurtz’S Painting: Colonial Legacies And Minority Rights In Ethnically Divided Societies, Tom Brower

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

Minority rights constitute some of the most normatively and economically important human rights. Although the political science and legal literatures have proffered a number of constitutional and institutional design solutions to address the protection of minority rights, these solutions are characterized by a noticeable neglect of, and lack of sensitivity to, historical processes. This Article addresses that gap in the literature by developing a causal argument that explains diverging practices of minority rights protections as functions of colonial governments’ variegated institutional practices with respect to particular ethnic groups. Specifically, this Article argues that in instances where colonial governments politicize and …

Spatiality Of The Stages Of Genocide: The Armenian Case, Shelley J. Burleson, Alberto Giordano

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article describes the construction of a historical GIS (HGIS) of the Armenian genocide and its application to study how the genocide unfolded spatially and temporally using stage models proposed by Gregory Stanton. The Kazarian manuscript provided a daily record of events related to the genocide during 1914-1923 and served as a primary source. Models outlining and describing the stages of genocide provide a structured and vetted approach to studying the spatial and temporal aspects of the genocidal process, especially genocide by attrition. This article links HGIS to a qualitative, historical source and describes the uncertainties that arise when mapping …

Case Note: Case Of Vasiliauskas V. Lithuania In The European Court Of Human Rights, Stoyan Panov

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

It Takes A Village: Identity Through Helping The Community, Kimberly Anne Arias

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

My capstone project is an internship at Legal Services for Seniors in Seaside. Helping senior citizens has enabled me to grow as an individual. I have always wanted to give back to the community. Educating the elderly of their rights and providing the seniors of Monterey County with free legal aid has helped me learn who I am and what I want to be.

Understanding Adolescents' Unique Experience Of Happiness Within The Family: Bridging Multiple Perspectives Of Adolescents, Parents, And Siblings, Marsha Cohen

Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the essence of middle adolescents'; unique experiences of happiness within the family system from the multiple perspectives of adolescents, their parents, and their siblings. Another goal was to make thematic comparisons between and within families in order to better understand the complexity and development of the phenomenon for adolescents. Seven families participated in this study. Each family consisted of a middle adolescent, a parent, and a sibling, yielding a total of 21 participants. A semistructured interview was conducted with each participant. Data were analyzed using Moustakas's (1994) modification of the Stevick-Colaizzi-Keen …

The Bayesian Method Of Estimation For The Number Of Latent Classes In Growth Mixture Models, Chittanun Sitthisan

Dissertations

It is widely accepted that blindly specifying an incorrect number of latent classes may result in misidentifying the class membership of observations and in inconsistently estimated parameters. The current dissertation examined the Bayesian method to estimate the number of latent classes in growth mixture models. The procedure for estimating the number of latent classes was developed via Markov chain Monte Carlo using the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm. The key idea was to construct the likelihood function and then specify the prior information toward the number of latent classes (K), and then calculate the posterior distribution for K. Simulated observations were generated by …

A Reliability Generalization Of The Parental Authority Questionnaire, Lynn M. Dean

Dissertations

How parents interact with their children impacts many crucial facets of children‟s lives. Over the last 4 decades, researchers have identified four different parenting styles: authoritative, authoritarian, permissive, and disengaged. Hundreds of studies conducted all over the world, have identified correlations between parenting style and many different child outcomes (e.g., academic achievement, coping, self-esteem, and decision-making abilities). The interpretability of these results has been limited by the unknown psychometric properties of the instruments used. The building block of any psychometrically sound measure is instrument reliability, which is the degree of non-error variance in the instrument‟s results. Sound estimates of reliability …

Examining Teachers' And College Students' Perspectives Toward E-Textbooks As An Educational Tool, Nariman Ali Alawami

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to understand the perspectives of teachers and students regarding their use of specific e-textbooks in a higher education learning environment. The e-textbooks used by the teachers and students were examined in order to determine functions and features to focus on during the inquiry. This study was particularly interested in the design of e-textbooks and how they are used by both teachers and students in the learning process. The participants in the research were also prompted to suggest improvements to e-textbooks. A case study approach was used as the methodology to examine three teachers represented …

Associations Between Teacher Interactional Quality And Student Achievement: A Classroom-Level Analysis Of Randomized And Non-Randomized Teacher Assignments In The Measure Of Effective Teaching Project, Chelsie Amber Hess

Dissertations

The powerful role teachers have on students’ learning and academic performance has been well established in the empirical literature. However, researchers have not been successful in explaining what exactly it is about teachers that foster students’ academic success in the classroom. The premise of this dissertation was that teachers who provide affirming, supportive, and organized interactions, also known as teacher interactional quality, have beneficial effects on students’ academic achievement. This dissertation used the largest education dataset of United States students, known as the Measures of Effective Teaching (MET), to examine the association of teacher interactional quality on classroom achievement. The …

Biology Laboratories At A Distance: A Case Study And Experiment Of Ecology And Evolution Labs With Community College Students, Beverly E. Ranney

Dissertations

Community colleges deliver more courses online; laboratory-based courses face challenges in how to do this. This study examined how ecology and evolution laboratories could effectively be delivered in an online biology community college course. Virtual simulations and hands-on, at-home kits were used in two groups. Results showed that students using the virtual simulations had higher learning gains and more positive perceptions towards their laboratory experiences than those students using athome kits. By evaluating learning gains on a pretest/posttest and utilizing interviews and focus groups, this research concluded that virtual simulations offered a superior learning experience for online learners. The results …

Alaska 1332 Waiver- Economic Analysis, Andrew Bibler

ISER Reports

The four guardrails that a successful 1332 waiver must meet are as follows: 1. Coverage - There must be at least a comparable number of individuals with coverage under the waiver as would have had coverage without the waiver. 2. Affordability – The waiver should not result in an increase in out-of-pocket spending required of residents to obtain coverage, relative to income. 3. Comprehensiveness – The waiver should not decrease the number of individuals with coverage that meets the essential health benefits (EHB) benchmark. 4. Deficit Neutrality – The waiver should not have any negative impact on the federal deficit. …

Aluminum Is More Tightly Bound In Soil After Wollastonite Treatment To A Forest Watershed, Weiyao Gu

Dissertations - ALL

Aluminum concentrations decreased on soil exchange sites and in soil solutions after a whole-watershed wollastonite (CaSiO3) treatment at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest in New Hampshire. This study was conducted to determine whether these decreases could be explained by changes in organically bound Al (Alorg) in soils. The concentrations of Alorg, exchangeable Al (AlKCl) and other chemical properties in organic (Oi + Oe, Oa) and 0-10 cm mineral soil layers were measured using samples collected prior to treatment (1998) and afterwards (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014). Compared to pre-treatment values, Alorg concentrations in the Oa horizon and the 0-10 cm …

Prevalence Of Triple-Negative Breast Cancer In India: Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis, Gurprataap S. Sandhu, Sebhat Erqou, Heidi Patterson, Aju Mathew

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Purpose There is considerable variation in prevalence rates of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) reported by various studies from India. We performed a systematic review and literature-based meta-analysis of these studies.

Methods We searched databases of Medline, Scopus, EMBASE, and Web of Science for studies that reported on the prevalence of TNBC in India that were published between January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2015. We extracted relevant information from each study by using a standardized form. We pooled study-specific estimates by using random-effects meta-analysis to provide summary estimates. We explored sources of heterogeneity by using subgroup analyses and metaregression.

Results …

Using Mouse Models To Define How The P53 R72p Polymorphism Impacts The Adverse Effects Of Doxorubicin And Ionizing Radiation, Emily Dominguez

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at codon 72 of the tumor suppressor gene p53 codes for either an arginine (R) or proline (P) (p53 R72P). This SNP may impact how cells respond to genotoxic insult. Studies in cell culture and in tissues from mouse models of the SNP indicate that, in response to gentoxic treatment, the two variants may differentially induce apoptosis and expression of p53 target genes. In epidemiological studies, the P variant is associated with decreased cancer survival and increased risk of side-effects from genotoxic cancer treatment. Genotoxic therapy is still the mainstay of cancer treatment, and doxorubicin …

Role Of Occludin In The Regulation Of Epithelial Tight Junctions, Bhargavi Manda

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Tight junctions (TJ) constitute the primary component of epithelial barrier function, a disruption of which is involved in the pathogenesis of many gastrointestinal, pulmonary and renal diseases. Occludin is the major transmembrane protein of TJ, a deletion of which leads to a complex phenotype including chronic inflammation in several epithelial tissues of occludin deficient mice and poor TJ integrity in epithelial cell lines. Its down regulation was seen in Crohn’s disease, tumors of the colon, brain, endometrium and breast cancer. Occludin is also known to be a target that enables Hepatitis C Virus infection and bacterial pathogenesis. But the specific …

Perceptions Of School Readiness, Developmentally Appropriate Practices, And The Role Of Professionalism, Brittany Kristine Mcallister

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Research supports the knowledge that there exist many models on and definitions of school readiness within early education. Additionally, research shows that utilizing developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) produces positive short and long term results for students; indicating the effectiveness and necessity for DAP in the classroom. The study sought to inform teachers via presentation on the subjects of school readiness and DAP; as well as gain insight on the barriers teachers face in utilizing their school readiness and DAP knowledge base in the classroom. To accomplish this, the study used a pre-survey, presentation with discussion, and a post-survey to collect …

The Effectiveness Of Extended Foster Care In Preparing Young Adults For Self-Sufficiency, Krystal L. Walker

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of the Extended Foster Care (EFC) Program in meeting the needs of emancipating foster youth by assisting them in becoming self-sufficient prior to emancipating out of the foster care system. The research method used for this study was a quantitative study design, using secondary data obtained from the County of San Bernardino, to assess the level of independent living skills foster youth obtain while participating in the program. The information was gathered on youth who were currently participating in the extended foster care program. The results of this study were …

Empowering Early Childhood Teachers: A Community Based Participatory Research Approach, Kourtney Denise Jones

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Despite a significant increase in the demands for teachers’ professional development, the work environments of teachers have not developed at a comparable rate. Due to research on inequity in teacher work environment, the purpose of this case study was to explore the role of empowerment in the early childhood education (ECE) workforce, using Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR) as a framework. This project was done with 5 educators in a for‑profit ECE center. Over the course of five weekly sessions, the educators completed questionnaires, interviews, and engaged in weekly focus groups geared towards providing the teachers with an opportunity to …

A Physical Education Curriculum For Promoting Sociomoral Development, Daniel N. Masarsky

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

One area of development that can be facilitated in the context of youth sports and physical education is sociomoral development. Sociomoral development is defined as moral development in the context of social groups. The physical education classroom today lacks the content, structure, and teaching style that middle school students need in order to cement their sociomoral development so that they can experience positive developmental growth as they mature into adulthood. The purpose of this project was to educate future physical education teachers about the importance of including sociomoral development activities in their standard PE curricula. The presentation focused on teaching …

The Importance Of Serotonergic And Adrenergic Receptors For The Induction And Expression Of One-Trial Cocaine-Induced Behavioral Sensitization, Krista N. Rudberg

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Addiction is a complex process in which behavioral sensitization may be an important component. While the behavioral effects of sensitization are well established, the intricate neurobiology of the phenomenon is still largely unknown. Dopamine systems mediate the induction of behavioral sensitization in adult rats, but there is a large amount of evidence showing that other neurotransmitter systems also modulate the induction process. For example, the α1b-adrenergic and 5-HT_2A receptor systems are known to modulate the sensitized responding of adult rats, but the roles that these receptor systems play in the induction and expression of behavioral sensitization during the preweanling …

Characterization Of The Recombination Activities Of The Entamoeba Histolytica Rad51 Recombinase, Andrew A. Kelso, Steven D. Goodson, Suchitra Chavan, Amanda F. Say, Audrey Turchick, Deepti Sharma, Leanna L. Ledford, Erin Ratterman, Kristin Leskoske, Ada V. King, Christopher C. Attaway, Yura Bandera, Stephen H. Foulger, Alexander V. Mazin, Lesly A. Temesvari, Michael G. Sehorn

Publications

The protozoan parasite responsible for human amoebiasis is Entamoeba histolytica. An important facet of the life cycle of E. histolytica involves the conversion of the mature trophozoite to a cyst. This transition is thought to involve homologous recombination (HR), which is dependent upon the Rad51 recombinase. Here, a biochemical characterization of highly purified ehRad51 protein is presented. The ehRad51 protein preferentially binds ssDNA, forms a presynaptic filament and possesses ATP hydrolysis activity that is stimulated by the presence of DNA. Evidence is provided that ehRad51 catalyzes robust DNA strand exchange over at least 5.4 kilobase …

False Positives On Neuropsychological Measures Of Effort Among Bilingual Neurologically Intact Mexican Americans, Arnoldo Amador Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The present study examines the performance of bilingual Mexican Americans on neuropsychological measures of effort in language and visual-perceptual formats. Optimal/suboptimal effort cutoff scores derived from monolingual English Speakers were used to test participants divided by language of administration and bilingual groupings based upon Spanish-English difference scores on the Woodcock Munoz Language Survey-Revised Picture Vocabulary subtest. Participants produced more false positives (misidentification of suboptimal effort) on the Reliable Digit Span, a language formatted measure, and similar rates of false positives on visual-perceptual effort measures: Test of Memory Malingering and the Dot Counting Test as compared to established rates using monolingual …