Digital Commons Network^™

Concomitant Targeting Of The Mtor/Mapk Pathways: Novel Therapeutic Strategy In Subsets Of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer, Dennis Ruder

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Over the last decade, a paradigm-shift in lung cancer therapy has evolved into targeted-driven medicinal approaches. However, patients frequently relapse and develop resistance to available therapies. Herein, we utilized genomic mutation data from advanced chemorefractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients enrolled in the Biomarker-Integrated Approaches of Targeted Therapy for Lung Cancer Elimination (BATTLE-2) clinical trial to characterize novel actionable genomic alterations potentially of clinical relevance. We identified RICTOR alterations (mutations, amplifications) in 17% of lung adenocarcinomas and found RICTOR expression correlates to worse overall survival. There was enrichment of MAPK pathway genetic aberrations in key oncogenes (e.g. KRAS, BRAF, …

Characterization Of Vesicular Monoamine Transporter 2 And Its Role In Parkinson's Disease Pathogenesis Using Drosophila, Antonio Joel Tito Jr., Sheng Zhang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder caused by the selective loss of the dopaminergic neurons in the Substantia nigra pars compacta region of the brain. PD is also the most common neurodegenerative disorder and the second most common movement disorder. PD patients exhibit the cardinal symptoms, including tremor of the extremities, rigidity, slowness of movement, and postural instability, after 70-80% of DA neurons degenerate. It is, therefore, imperative to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in the selective degeneration of DA neurons. Although increasing numbers of PD genes have been identified, why these largely widely expressed genes induce …

Her4 Promotes A Stem-Like Phenotype In Osteosarcoma, Rocio K. Rivera-Valentin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Metastatic disease to the lungs is the primary cause of death for patients with pediatric osteosarcoma (OS). OS has a high degree of heterogeneity and genomic instability, making understanding the pathogenesis and drivers of metastasis of this disease challenging. In an effort to explain tumoral heterogeneity, the tumor initiating cell model (TIC) states that tumors are composed of cells that form the majority of the tumor and are terminally differentiated. This model however, attributes tumorigenesis, metastasis and chemoresistance to a distinct cell population with a stem-like phenotype that can be identified using selective markers. OS appears to follow this model …

Organ Specific Vascular Response To Fibrosis Affects Breast Cancer Metastatic Organotropism, Eliot S. Fletcher, Eliot S. Fletcher

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The solid tumor microenvironment, pre-metastatic niche, and fibrotic environment are known to have significant biochemical and biomechanical similarities to the fibrotic environment. All have significantly increased levels of factors such as TGFβ, HIF1α, TNFα, PDGF, VEGF, FGF, interleukins and other growth factors that are known to be pro-tumorigenic. Clinical and basic science research has shown that fibrosis presents an environment that favors tumor growth, such as hepatocellular carcinoma being commonly preceded by liver cirrhosis, or bleomycin induced lung fibrosis enhancing pulmonary metastasis in mouse models of breast cancer. In addition to the evidence indicating that fibrosis enhances primary tumor growth …

Nucleotide Excision Repair, Crosslink Repair And Transcriptional Function Of Xpa In Human Cells, Mandira Mananadhar

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) in mammalian cells includes xeroderma pigmentosum group A protein (XPA) as a core factor. XPA and other NER proteins have been detected previously at some active promoters, and NER deficiency is reported to decrease activated transcription of selected genes. To determine the global extent of XPA influence on transcription, we analyzed the human transcriptome by RNA sequencing. We first confirmed that XPA is confined to the cell nucleus even in the absence of external DNA damage, in contrast to previous reports that XPA is normally resident in the cytoplasm and is imported following DNA damage. We …

Microenvironment-Induced Pten Loss By Exosomal Microrna Primes Brain Metastasis Outgrowth, Lin Zhang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Development of life-threatening cancer metastases at distant organs requires disseminated tumor cells’ adaptation to and co-evolution with the drastically different microenvironments of metastatic sites. Cancer cells of common origin manifest distinct gene expression patterns after metastasizing to different organs. Clearly, the dynamic interplay between metastatic tumor cells and extrinsic signals at individual metastatic organ sites critically impacts the subsequent metastatic outgrowth. Yet, it is unclear when and how disseminated tumor cells acquire the essential traits from the microenvironment of metastatic organs that prime their subsequent outgrowth. Here we show that primary tumor cells with normal expression of PTEN, an important …

The Ontology Of Immanence: Arriving At Being In Nan Shepherd's The Living Mountain, Rachel R. Gilman

Theses and Dissertations

In response to the economic and political upheaval of World War I, Scottish Modernism explored the cultural and linguistic changes of a nation trying to identify itself amidst a world-wide conflict. Scholars and critics have considered Nan Shepherd's fiction in this context—focusing on issues of gender, female identity, language, and land—but have yet to look seriously at her work The Living Mountain and its contributions to the Modernist movement. More recently, critics like Louisa Gairn and Robert MacFarlane have called attention to Shepherd's small but powerful text in an ecocritical and philosophical light, reframing her contribution to issues of Scottish …

Some Spectral Properties Of A Quantum Field Theoretic Hamiltonian, Devin Burnell Mcghie

Theses and Dissertations

We derive the ground-state eigenvalues and eigenvectors for a simplified version of the 1-D QED single electron-photon model that Glasgow et al recently developed [2]. This model still allows for meaningful interaction between electrons and photons while keeping only the minimum needed to do so. We investigate the interesting spectral properties of this model. We determine that the eigenvectors are orthogonal as one would expect and normalize them.

An Ion Detection Scheme Employing Solid State Devices For Use In Portable Mass Spectrometers, Sanjiv Nath Pant

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis presents a solid state approach to the ion detection system used in the back-end of modern mass spectrometers. Although various techniques already exist to detect ions – even with the sensitivity of a single particle, the existing techniques require high voltage or lower operation temperature to counteract the noise inherent in the system. The suggested design presents an alternative to the more popular detection system whereby the requirement of high operation voltage or low operation temperature can be precluded. This is made possible through the gate capacitance of a Metal Oxide Semiconductor Field Effect Transistor (MOSFET). This thesis …

Evidence For The Validity Of The Student Risk Screening Scale In Middle School: A Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Matthew Porter Wilcox

Theses and Dissertations

The Student Risk Screening Scale—Internalizing/Externalizing (SRSS-IE) was developed to screen elementary-aged students for Emotional and Behavioral Disorders (EBD). Its use has been extended to middle schools with little evidence that it measures the same constructs as in elementary schools. Scores of a middle school population from the SRSS-IE are analyzed with Multilevel Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MCFA) to examine its factor structure, factorial invariance between females and males, and its reliability. Several MCFA models are specified, and compared, with two retained for further analysis. The first model is a single-level model with chi-square and standard errors adjusted for the clustered nature …

A Secure, Reliable And Performance-Enhancing Storage Architecture Integrating Local And Cloud-Based Storage, Christopher Glenn Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

The constant evolution of new varieties of computing systems - cloud computing, mobile devices, and Internet of Things, to name a few - have necessitated a growing need for highly reliable, available, secure, and high-performing storage systems. While CPU performance has typically scaled with Moore's Law, data storage is much less consistent in how quickly performance increases over time. One method of improving storage performance is through the use of special storage architectures. Such architectures often include redundant arrays of independent disks (RAID). RAID provides a meaningful way to increase storage performance on a variety of levels, some higher-performing than …

Something To Talk About, Joni Hersch, Jennifer Bennett Shinall

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

To avoid the appearance of sex discrimination that would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, both Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) guidance and a common misunderstanding of the law have resulted in little or no information about family status being provided in pre-employment interviews. To investigate whether concealing family information actually improves women’s employment prospects, we conduct an original experimental study fielded on more than 3,000 subjects. Our study provides the first ever evidence that concealing personal information lowers female applicants’ hiring prospects. Subjects overwhelmingly preferred to hire candidates who provided information, regardless of content. Any explanation improved …

Clubs For The Unclubbable: Humor And Literary Sociability, Laura Kasson Fiss

TechTalks

What’s a club for the unclubbable? A book or magazine. This notion underlies a strain of humor about clubs in the aftermath of Britain’s 1870 Education Act. Beneath the jokes about men gathering to hide behind their newspapers lies an earnest aspiration to create a print equivalent of a club ethos: an institution that cultivates fellow feeling. Humorists such as Jerome K. Jerome, J. M. Barrie, Israel Zangwill and G. K. Chesterton jokingly redefined the club for new classes of readers, who tended to be “unclubbable” not because of the quality of their sociability, but for reasons of class, gender, …

The Classic, Winter 2016-2017, Public Relations

The Classic, 2010-2019

Zwemer View: Diversifying: The Work of Reconciliation; Around the Green: Excellence Affirmed; Interpretacion; Raider Days; Art in the Big Apple; New M.Ed. Director; Campus Life: A Special Student; Award-Winners; Parenthood; On the Rise; Booking It; Bridge Scholars Advance Diversity Values; SID MVP; Military-Friendly; Partners in Law; Face Value: Jennifer Rogers; Great Examples: Junko (Hirasawa '70) Nagao, Glenn Van Ekeren '74, Sheila (Born '94) De Jong; Investing in the Mission: 2015-16 giving tops $5.7 million; A Place for Discovery; Red Zone: Interception; 1000 Words: A Day in the Life; No Limits: Alumni help impoverished Romanian youth reach higher; A Real Classic; …

Effective Physical Education Professional Development, Caleb Van Otterloo

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This literature review explores how to create an effective professional development (PD) system for Physical Education (PE) teachers. The review begins by discussing Personal Learning Networks (PLNs), and the impact that they have on professional development. PLNs provide teachers with an opportunity to completely personalize their PD through Twitter, Facebook, and various other blogs. PD in schools is a huge aspect of the professional development process. Allowing time for content specific PD means teachers can analyze strategies and ideas that work for their content areas. Workshops provide teachers with the opportunity to learn from experts and continue to strive to …

Expectation-Centered Analytics For Instructors And Students, Suzanne L. Dazo

Student Work

Learning analytics is the measurement, collection, analysis, and reporting of data about learners and their contexts. An outcome and primary goal of learning analytics should be to inform instructors, who are primary stakeholders, so that they can make effective decisions in their courses. To support instructor inquiry, I apply theory on reflective practice to learning analytic development. Articulating an instructor's pedagogical expectations is one way to begin facilitating a reflective practice. Expectations based on instructor goals serve as a natural next step and the springboard from which data can be collected. I hypothesize that a learning analytic that encodes and …

Myth Or Reality? Crowdsourcing As A Complex Problemsolving Model: Evidence From Software Developed By The Crowd And Professionals, Abhishek Tripathi

Student Work

Crowdsourcing is a problem-solving model. Conventional theory suggests that solving complex problems is a province of professionals, people with sufficient knowledge about the domain. Prior literature indicated that the crowd is also a great source for solving complex problems. However, there is a lack of experimental research to support that crowdsourcing is a useful model for complex problem-solving (CPS), especially in the software development context. The broad goal of this dissertation is to address this research gap and improve understanding of crowdsourcing as a viable and effective CPS model. This research proposed and tested a research model of perceived quality …

Selection Of Efficient Taq Dna Polymerase To Optimize T-Dna Genotyping Method For Rapid Detection Of Mutant Arabidopsis Thaliana Plants, Inna B. Chastukhina, Liliia R. Nigmatullina, Lia R. Valeeva, Eugene V. Shakirov

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Plants harbor homologues of various animal genes involved in phosphorus metabolism, telomere biology and other cellular processes. Compared to experiments with many other multicellular organisms, research in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana takes advantage of short generation time and an ever increasing arsenal of genetic and transgenic tools, including large collections of T-DNA knockout and activation lines. The availability of thousands of publicly available transgenic Arabidopsis lines provides a unique opportunity to address a number of important biological questions. However, identification of individual T-DNA mutant plants from a pool of seeds provided by a biological stock distribution center remains a …

Human And Asinine Postures In Apuleius’ Golden Ass, Timothy M. O'Sullivan

Classical Studies Faculty Research

This article examines the ways in which Apuleius’ Metamorphoses thematizes the contrast between the prone posture of the ass and the upright posture of the human. A long philosophical tradition, starting with Plato and Xenophon, argued that the human body was especially constructed for celestial contemplation, while the quadruped body was more suited for baser activities such as eating and sex. Physical posture thus becomes another way for Apuleius to emphasize the “unphilosophical” nature of Lucius-as-ass. Moreover, in Book 11, numerous references to celestial contemplation give the theme an ironic climax. Apuleius uses these celestial allusions, I argue, as further …

December 2016 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Associated With Unexpected Death Of A Loved One: Cross-National Findings From The World Mental Health Surveys, Lukoye Atwoli, Dan J. Stein, Andrew King, Maria Petukhova, Sergio Aguilar-Gaxiola, Jordi Alonso, Evelyn J. Bromet, Giovanni De Girolamo, Koen Demyttenaere, Silvia Florescu

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: Unexpected death of a loved one (UD) is the most commonly reported traumatic experience in cross‐national surveys. However, much remains to be learned about posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after this experience. The WHO World Mental Health (WMH) survey initiative provides a unique opportunity to address these issues.

Methods: Data from 19 WMH surveys (n = 78,023; 70.1% weighted response rate) were collated. Potential predictors of PTSD (respondent sociodemographics, characteristics of the death, history of prior trauma exposure, history of prior mental disorders) after a representative sample of UDs were examined using logistic regression. Simulation was used to estimate overall …

Flipped Learning And Influential Factors: Case Analysis, Leping Liu, Darren Ripley, Angela Lee

Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange (JETDE)

Flipped learning has been a focus of research to explore potential learning environments that may positively affect student learning. The key issue is whether or how educators design such a learning environment, and what might be the factors that educators need to consider when designing a flipped learning environment. The first part of this study presents a critical review and analysis on factors identified from the literature that may influence the success of a flipped-learning case. 216 cases selected from current literature were analyzed on seven factors (Overall Design, Design of Information, Design of Technology Use, Active Learning, Motivation, Special …

Life-Cycle Benefit-Cost Analysis Of Safety Related Improvements On Roadways, Jordan Browne Frustaci

Theses and Dissertations

The Highway Safety Manual (HSM) lists four different methods for determining the change in crash frequency in order of reliability. Currently, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) uses the fourth reliable method. The goal of this research was to develop a tool that the most reliable method mentioned in the HSM could be used to perform life-cycle benefit-cost analyses. A spreadsheet program was built that performs the HSM's Part C Predictive Method for 11 different roadway segment types mentioned in HSM using Excel macros and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) programming. Intersections were not included in this spreadsheet program as …

James Tissot's And Emile Zola's Shopgirl:The Working Girl As La Parisienne, Elizabeth Pusey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis argues for the cultural space of late nineteenth-century Parisian shopgirls as a position of power. The shopgirls' role in society is an ambiguous position connecting fashion consumer culture, class divides, gender and identity perceptions, and the workspace. Using James Tissot's Femme à Paris series, specifically the image Demoiselles de Magasin, and Emile Zola's novel Au Bonheur des Dames as primary sources, I examine the role of the shopgirl as a liminal position within the definition of the iconic 'La Parisienne' woman. By looking at women's work and the role of shopgirls in the boutique and department store …

The Differences In Time To Stability, Foot Muscle Size, And Toe Flexor Strength Between Cheerleaders And Gymnasts, Kelsey Renee Garner

Theses and Dissertations

Context: There has been recent speculation that the intrinsic muscles of the foot may play a larger role in lower extremity control and injury than previously believed. Multiple studies have shown that certain intrinsic muscles increase in size and strength after transitioning to minimalist shoe running, theoretically decreasing injury risk. There are currently no studies that examine the effect that training barefoot has in other athletic populations. Objective: Our purpose was to compare the intrinsic and extrinsic foot muscle size and strength in gymnasts (who predominantly train barefoot) and cheerleaders (who predominantly train shod). Another purpose was to measure time …

The Colors Of Cannabis: Reflections On The Racial Justice Implications Of California's Proposition 64, Steven Bender

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Developmental Assets Supporting High School Graduation Among African American Students, Randall J. Johnson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The focus of this study was individual and community assets and barriers that African American students living in disadvantaged low income communities encounter in their efforts to complete high school. The research questions were focused on understanding the high school experiences of students who graduated and of students who dropped out. The study was a comparison of the data collected from interviews of former students to the 15 interventions identified as most effective by the National Dropout Prevention Network (http://dropoutprevention.org/effective-strategies/).

Findings suggested that 6 of the 15 developmental assets were effective for enabling African American students to graduate …

Morphological Assessment Of The Retina In Uveitis., Michael M. Altaweel, Sapna S. Gangaputra, Jennifer E. Thorne, James P. Dunn, Susan G. Elner, Glenn J. Jaffe, Rosa Y. Kim, P. Kumar Rao, Susan B. Reed, John H. Kempen

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to describe a system for color photograph evaluation in uveitis and report baseline morphologic findings for the Multicenter Uveitis Steroid Treatment (MUST) Trial. Four-hundred seventy-nine eyes of 255 subjects with intermediate, posterior, and panuveitis had stereoscopic color fundus photographs obtained by certified photographers and evaluated by certified graders using standardized procedures to evaluate morphologic characteristics of uveitis. The posterior pole was evaluated for macular edema, vitreoretinal interface abnormalities, and macular pigment disturbance/atrophy; the optic disk was assessed for edema, pallor, or glaucomatous changes. The presence of neovascularization, vascular occlusion, vascular sheathing, and tractional …

Songs From The Willow Tree: Staging Collective Inspiration For Creative Songwriting, Aubrey W. Carpenter

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The songwriting process, inspiration to song, can take many forms. This project explores a highly structured approach, using themes derived from reported individual experience to direct the creation of musical ends addressing common experience.

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 …