Digital Commons Network^™

What Are The Barriers And Conduits To College Success For Academically Vulnerable Students?, Marisol Zacarias

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

What are the barriers and conduits to college success for academically vulnerable students? Employing two theoretical frameworks—ecological systems theory and intersectionality—this thesis interrogates two concepts: grit/persistence and support. To do this, data were collected from a group of academically vulnerable students of color from low-income backgrounds via two methodologically different venues: a focus group in 2012 and follow-up one-on-one interviews two years later, in 2014. From the focus group, two themes emerged: discouraging messages and hope. Two years later the follow-up one-on-one interviews produced two additional themes: balancing act and support. Building positive peer relationships was identified as a key …

Deciphering The Role Of Gfi1b Gene Target Rgs18 In Erythro-Megakaryocytic Lineage Divergence, Ananya Sengupta

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The molecular programs that govern the specification of erythroid and megakaryocytic lineages remain incompletely defined. Gene targeting experiments have shown the transcriptional repressor Gfi (Growth factor independence) 1b to be essential for the generation of both erythroid and megakaryocyte cells. Transcriptional repression of Gfi1b target genes is mediated mainly by the cofactors LSD (lysine demethylase) 1 and CoREST/Rcor1 (REST corepressor 1) or other Rcor factors. To understand the mechanism of Gfi1b action, its target genes were identified by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP on Chip) screens. In this study we present the role of Rgs18 (Regulator of G protein signaling 18), a …

Neurodevelopmental Defects Associated With Gestational Exposure To Low Levels Of Dbp In Mice, Françoise Sidime

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The etiology of autism is thought to involve the complex interplay among genetic and environmental factors. Patterns of inheritance suggest an epigenetic component to the development of autism. A variety of environmental risk factors are known to induce epigenetic changes in DNA, affecting many genes including those autism-associated genes (AAG). The plasticizer dibutyl phthalate (DBP; CAS 84-74-2) is a developmental and reproductive toxin that causes a broad range of birth defects resulting in neurological impairments.

To date, although the effect of DBP as an endocrine and a reproductive disruptor are established, there are only few studies that address the effects …

An Exploration Of Target Event Encoding In A Predictive Learning Task With Humans: Integrated Or Separable Processing?, Natasha B. Nadler

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A major theme in the study of Pavlovian learning explores how attributes of a predicted event are represented and encoded. In Pavlovian conditioning, the conditioned stimulus (CS) is frequently assumed to associate with one or more of the various attributes of a motivationally significant unconditioned stimulus (US, e.g. it’s hedonic, motivational, and/or sensory features). The present research asks whether humans learn to predict and encode different aspects of motivationally neutral target events, namely, their specific sensory and temporal features in a separable or integrated manner. This question of how target events are encoded has implications for associative and timing models …

Synthesis Of Novel Aporphine-Inspired Neuroreceptor Ligands, Nirav R. Kapadia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Aporphines are a group of tetracyclic alkaloids that belong to the ubiquitous tetrahydroisoquinoline family. The aporphine template is known to be associated with a range of biological activities. Aporphines have been explored as antioxidants, anti-tuberculosis, antimicrobial and anticancer agents. Within the Central Nervous Systems (CNS), aporphine alkaloids are known to possess high affinity for several clinically valuable targets including dopamine receptors (predominantly D₁ and D₂), serotonin receptors (5-HT_1A and 5-HT₇) and α adrenergic receptors. Aporphines are also inhibitors of the acetylcholinesterase enzyme – a clinical target for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Considering the …

Metabolic Disorders, Drug Development, Drug Design And Biomarkers, Gjumrakch Aliev, Ramon Cacabelos, V. Prakash Reddy

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Facilities Forum, Georgia Southern University

Auxiliary Services (2013-2021)

• Central Warehouse Construction
• Paulson Stadium Turf Project
• GSU: High Performance Healthy Schools Recognition Day
• Submitting Work Orders
• Service Learning Team
• Georgia Power Energy Rebates
• Oh say, can you recycle
• Climate Action Plan
• Retirement
• New Hires and Promotions

Detecting Horses’ Sickness: In Search Of Visible Signs, M Hausberger, C Fureix, C Lesimple

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Assessing sickness in animals, by which we refer to non-specific states involving both physical discomfort and negative emotional states, is a real challenge. In this review, we demonstrate the need for clear and simple indicators of sickness in horses, a species in which suffering is largely underestimated. We provide a critical review of existing tools available to assess sickness in equids, which include composite pain scales and scores and welfare assessment scoring. Many such scales and scoring systems involve subjective assessments and lack of clear definitions. We discuss possible objective, visible indicators (qualitative and quantitative behavioural modifications and some postures) …

The Effect Of Biofilm Carrier Length On Nitrification In Moving Bed Biofilm Reactors: An Examination Of Mixing Intensity, Shock Loadings, And Ph Changes, Kody Garcia

Civil Engineering ETDs

Biofilms grown on free-floating attachment surfaces, as in integrated fixed film activated sludg (IFAS) and moving bed bioreactors (MBBRs) are commonly used in wastewater treatment, but little is known about how media geometry affects the biofilms and process performance. The objective of this study was to compare nitrification and growth of biofilms grown on different length media in bench-scale MBBRs. The carriers were cut from high density polyethylene tubing with one media type one-third the length of the other, but with inner and outer diameter dimensions identical. Each bioreactor was continuously operated with coarse bubble aeration and provided with a …

Shigella Iron Acquisition Systems And Their Regulation, Yahan Wei, Erin R. Murphy

School of Podiatric Medicine Publications

Survival of Shigella within the host is strictly dependent on the ability of the pathogen to acquire essential nutrients, such as iron. As an innate immune defense against invading pathogens, the level of bio-available iron within the human host is maintained at exceeding low levels, by sequestration of the element within heme and other host iron-binding compounds. In response to sequestration mediated iron limitation, Shigella produce multiple iron-uptake systems that each function to facilitate the utilization of a specific host-associated source of nutrient iron. As a mechanism to balance the essential need for iron and the toxicity of the element …

Random Field Disorder At An Absorbing State Transition In One And Two Dimensions, Hatem Barghathi, Thomas Vojta

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

We investigate the behavior of nonequilibrium phase transitions under the influence of disorder that locally breaks the symmetry between two symmetrical macroscopic absorbing states. In equilibrium systems such "random-field" disorder destroys the phase transition in low dimensions by preventing spontaneous symmetry breaking. In contrast, we show here that random-field disorder fails to destroy the nonequilibrium phase transition of the one- and two-dimensional generalized contact process. Instead, it modifies the dynamics in the symmetry-broken phase. Specifically, the dynamics in the one-dimensional case is described by a Sinai walk of the domain walls between two different absorbing states. In the two-dimensional case, …

Geographic Access To Working Family Planning Centers And Unintended Pregnancies Among Married Women: A Community Based Nested Case Control Study., Sumera Aziz Ali, Sarah Saleem, Neelofar Sami, Mir Shabbar, Muhammad Ahmed, Shafquat Rozi, Robert L. Goldenberg, Margo S. Harrison, Omrana Pasha

Community Health Sciences

Background:

Unintended pregnancies pose substantial risk to mothers and children. In Pakistan, unintended pregnancies account for 46% of all pregnancies. Lack of geographic access to open and well-supplied family planning (FP) centers may be related to the occurrence of such pregnancies, particularly in rural areas.

Objective:

The objective of this analysis is to determine if geographic access to family planning centers in the Thatta district of Pakistan is related to unintended pregnancy rates among married women.

Methods:

We conducted a community-based, nested case-control study of 800 pregnant women identified from the database of an active surveillance system, which registers and …

Neurophenotyping Of Zebrafish Larvae That Are Preconditioned With Anesthetic Agent, Julie L. Mustard, Matthew A. Strope, Christopher S. Havey, Lucy S. Wang, Norbert W. Seidler

Faculty and Staff Publications

Anesthetics evoke a stress-response, upregulating heat shock genes. This neuroprotective response to proteotoxic stress represents preconditioning, a process by which neuronal tissue, previously exposed to anesthetics, is protected against future insult. It presumes a sub-lethal injury, affecting protein unfolding. Our hypothesis is: preconditioning evokes molecular events that result in downstream changes that offer a selective advantage in terms of neuronal function. We focused on the neurobehavioral aspects which we neurophenotyped. Larval zebrafish were exposed to trifluoroethanol (TFE), an anesthetic mimetic, and tested for both individual and group behavioral markers of neuronal function. In bright/dark tests, we observed that TFE-exposed larvae …

Using A Visitor Based Framework To Observe Engagement In A Children's Museum Makerspace, Sara Mccubbins

Theses and Dissertations

Many challenges still exist in finding ways to measure the impact of informal learning environments. Much of the research that does exist is anecdotal in nature and examines engagement by intuition or informal feedback. The purpose of this concurrent mixed methods study was to better understand engagement and learning by converging both quantitative and qualitative data. In the study, an observation protocol was used to measure the engagement levels of children in a museum makerspace, and field notes were collected to explore the context in which this engagement takes place. The observation protocol used in this dissertation was the Visitor …

Couple Beads: An Integrated Method Of Natural Family Planning, George Mulcaire-Jones, Richard J. Fehring, Megan Bradshaw, Karen Brower, Gonzaga Lubega, Paskazia Lubega

College of Nursing Faculty Research and Publications

Various fertility indicators are used by natural family planning methods to identify the fertile and infertile phases of a woman's menstrual cycle: mucus observations, cycle-day probabilities, basal body temperature readings, and hormonal measures of LH and estrogen. Simplified NFP methods generally make use of a single fertility indicator such as cycle-day probabilities (Standard Days Method) or mucus observations (Billings Ovulation Method). The Couple Bead Method integrates the two simplest fertility indicators, cycle-day probabilities and mucus observations, expanding its applicability to all women, regardless of cycle regularity and length. In determining cycle-day probabilities, the Couple Bead Method relies on a new …

Good Agricultural Practices (Gap): Certification Basics, Tiffany Maughan, Dan Drost, Shawn Olsen, Brent Black

All Current Publications

This publication provides guidelines for for agriculture producers to obtain GAP certification.

Distributed Modeling Of Ablation (1996–2011) And Climate Sensitivity On The Glaciers Of Taylor Valley, Antarctica, Matthew J. Hoffman, Andrew G. Fountain, Glen E. Liston

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica host the coldest and driest ecosystem on Earth, which is acutely sensitive to the availability of water coming from glacial runoff. We modeled the spatial variability in ablation and assessed climate sensitivity of the glacier ablation zones using 16 years of meteorological and surface mass-balance observations collected in Taylor Valley. Sublimation was the primary form of mass loss over much of the ablation zones, except for near the termini where melt, primarily below the surface, dominated. Microclimates in ~10 m scale topographic basins generated melt rates up to ten times higher than over smooth …

Adverse Childhood Experiences In The New Mexico Juvenile Justice Population, Yael Cannon, George Davis, Andrew Hsi, Alexandra Bochte

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Faculty from the University of New Mexico (UNM) School of Law and the UNM School of Medicine, and New Mexico’s Children, Youth and Families Department (CYFD) initiated a joint project to look at the prevalence of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) nationally and in New Mexico. The study was intended to better establish the association between early childhood trauma and delinquency, as well as to explore the role that law and medicine can play in ensuring better health and juvenile justice outcomes for children who have experienced ACEs.

New Loci For Body Fat Percentage Reveal Link Between Adiposity And Cardiometabolic Disease Risk, Yingchang Lu, Felix R. Day, Stefan Gustafsson, Martin L. Buchkovich, Jianbo Na, Veronique Bataille, Diana L. Cousminer, Zari Dastani, Joanne E. Curran, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of adiposity and its links to cardiometabolic disease risk, we conducted a genome-wide association meta-analysis of body fat percentage (BF%) in up to 100,716 individuals. Twelve loci reached genome-wide significance (P<5 × 10−8), of which eight were previously associated with increased overall adiposity (BMI, BF%) and four (in or near COBLL1/GRB14, IGF2BP1, PLA2G6, CRTC1) were novel associations with BF%. Seven loci showed a larger effect on BF% than on BMI, suggestive of a primary association with adiposity, while five loci showed larger effects on BMI than on BF%, suggesting association with both fat and lean mass. In particular, the loci more strongly associated with BF% showed …

Getting To More Effective Weight Management In Antipsychotic-Treated Youth: A Survey Of Barriers And Preferences, Ginger Nicol, Elizabeth Worsham, Debra Haire-Joshu, Alexis Duncan, Julia Schweiger, Michael Yingling, Eric Lenze

Open Access Publications

No abstract provided.

Ki67 Expression In Breast Cancer: Correlation With Prognostic Markers And Clinicopathological Parameters In Saudi Patients, Mohamed A. Elkablawy, Abdulkader M. Albasri, Rabab A. Mohammed, Akbar S. Hussainy, Magdy M. Nouh, Ahmed S. Alhujaily

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To evaluate Ki67 immunoexpression pattern in Saudi breast cancer (BC) patients and investigate any possible predictive or prognostic value for Ki67. Methods: This is a retrospective study designed to quantitatively assess the Ki67 proliferative index (PI) in retrieved paraffin blocks of 115 Saudi BC patients diagnosed between January 2005 and March 2015 at the Department of Pathology, King Fahd Hospital, Al Madinah Al Munawarah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The Ki67 PI was correlated with individual and combined immunoprofile data of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR), and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2/neu) with their clinicopathological parameters. Results: …

Prevalence And Risks Of Habitual Snoring And Obstructive Sleep Apnea Symptoms In Adult Dental Patients, Thikriat S. Al-Jewair, Mohammed A. Nazir, Naif N. Al-Masoud, Nasser D. Alqahtani

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of habitual snoring and risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) among dental patients and investigate factors associated with high-risk OSA. Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed at the Department of Preventive Dental Sciences, College of Dentistry, University of Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, between October and December 2014. A total of 200 consecutive female and male dental patients were included in this study. Subjective and objective assessments were carried out. Habitual snoring and risk of OSA were assessed using the Arabic version of the Berlin questionnaire. Two trained investigators carried out the objective measurements of …

Intestinal Lymphangiectasia In Children: A Favorable Response To Dietary Modifications, Hasan M. Isa, Ghadeer G. Al-Arayedh, Afaf M. Mohamed

Saudi Medical Journal

Intestinal lymphangiectasia (IL) is a rare disease characterized by dilatation of intestinal lymphatics. It can be classified as primary or secondary according to the underlying etiology. The clinical presentations of IL are pitting edema, chylous ascites, pleural effusion, acute appendicitis, diarrhea, lymphocytopenia, malabsorption, and intestinal obstruction. The diagnosis is made by intestinal endoscopy and biopsies. Dietary modification is the mainstay in the management of IL with a variable response. Here we report 2 patients with IL in Bahrain who showed positive response to dietary modification.

The Free Press Vol. 47, Issue No. 13, 02-01-2016, Krysteana Scribner

Free Press, The

Students gather to weigh options abroad -- Workshop aims to dispel stereotypes around disabilities -- Governor LePage suggests Lewiston and Auburn merge into one city -- Professor’s showcase vast knowledge in their field by publishing books -- Potential changes coming to USM after Board of Trustees meeting -- USM Socialists analyze world refugee crisis through discussion -- Could cost of books lead to more theft in campus store? -- Academic horizons expanding for interested students

Squamous Cell Carcinoma Of Oral Tongue In Young Patients — A 10 Years Tertiary Care Experience, Shakeel Uz Zaman, Muhammad Adeel, Anwar Suhail

Department of Surgery Docs

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To evaluate the clinical and pathological profile of young patients with squamous cell carcinoma of tongue.

METHODS:

The retrospective study was conducted at Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, and comprised record of patients20.

RESULTS:

Of the 29 patients, 17(58.6%) were men and 12(41.3%) were women. The overall mean age at presentation was 29.6+/-4.4 years. All patients (100%) had some sort of addiction, with 15(51.7%) having more than one addiction. Of the total, 20(68.9%) patients had moderately differentiated carcinoma. At presentation, 20(68.9%) had advanced stage (III-IV) disease. Surgery was the primary modality used in all the patients (100%). Median …

Malt Lymphoma Of The Base Of The Tongue: A Rare Case Entity, Haissan Iftikhar, Moghira Siddiqui, Khurram Minhas

Department of Surgery Docs

Abstract

Lymphoma is a malignant tumour arising from lymphoid tissue, with the majority of cases being in the lymph nodes, however, in 1/4th of cases, these tumours are found in extralymphoid tissue. Lymphoid tissue is also found in organs having mucosa, such as the digestive tract, salivary gland and in tracheal tissue. This collection of lymphoid tissue is known as mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT), and non-Hodgkin lymphoma involving this extralymphoidal lymph tissue is known as MALT lymphoma. It was first reported by Isaacson and Wright in 1983, however, it was not included as a working diagnosis in clinical use until …

Type 2 Diabetes As A Risk Factor For Dementia In Women Compared With Men: A Pooled Analysis Of 2.3 Million People Comprising More Than 100,000 Cases Of Dementia, Saion Chatterjee, Sanne A. Peters, Mark Woodward, Silvia Mejia-Arango, G. David Batty, Nigel Beckett, Alexa Beiser, Amy R. Borenstein, Paul K. Crane, Mary Haan

School of Medicine Publications

Objective: Type 2 diabetes confers a greater excess risk of cardiovascular disease in women than in men. Diabetes is also a risk factor for dementia, but whether the association is similar in women and men remains unknown. We performed a meta-analysis of unpublished data to estimate the sex-specific relationship between women and men with diabetes with incident dementia.

Research design and methods: A systematic search identified studies published prior to November 2014 that had reported on the prospective association between diabetes and dementia. Study authors contributed unpublished sex-specific relative risks (RRs) and 95% CIs on the association between diabetes and …

A Large Genome-Wide Association Study Of Age-Related Macular Degeneration Highlights Contributions Of Rare And Common Variants, Lars G. Fritsche, Wilmar Igl, Jessica N. Cooke Bailey, Felix Grassmann, Sebanti Sengupta, Jennifer L. Bragg-Gresham, Kathryn P. Burdon, Scott J. Hebbring, Matthew P. Johnson, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

Advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly with limited therapeutic options. Here, we report on a study of >12 million variants including 163,714 directly genotyped, most rare, protein-altering variant. Analyzing 16,144 patients and 17,832 controls, we identify 52 independently associated common and rare variants (P < 5×10–8) distributed across 34 loci. While wet and dry AMD subtypes exhibit predominantly shared genetics, we identify the first signal specific to wet AMD, near MMP9 (difference-P = 4.1×10–10). Very rare coding variants (frequency < 0.1%) in CFH, CFI, and TIMP3 suggest causal roles for these genes, as does a splice variant in SLC16A8. Our results support the hypothesis that rare coding variants can pinpoint causal genes within known genetic loci and illustrate …

Animal Performance In Big-Time Vaudeville, Catherine M. Young

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Animal vaudevillians have been neglected by academic accounts of vaudeville. Drawing on the rapidly proliferating and highly interdisciplinary field of animal studies, this dissertation combines archival research and cultural theory to fill an important gap in our understanding of how animal bodies and images circulated during the vaudeville era. Taking up Nicole Shukin’s notion of animal capital as both animal “signs and substances” circulating in cultures of capital, I argue that vaudeville animal acts theatricalized animal capital for US citizen-consumers and often circulated animalized capital via racist ideologies and performance modes.

Theatre bookers balanced their reliance on animal acts …

Design Rules For The Nucleation, Growth, And Encapsulation Of Gold Nanoparticles With Applications To Cancer Imaging, Matthew A. Wall

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) nanoparticles are exciting candidates for high-precision cancer imaging due to their highly specific spectral signature (Raman “fingerprint”) and propensity for passive targeting of cancerous tissues. However, the signal intensity of currently available SERS nanoparticles is insufficient for cancer imaging via passive targeting in most solid tumors. The overarching aim of this body of work is to develop a new generation of SERS nanoparticles with sufficiently low limits of detection to enable robust detection of various solid tumors in vivo.

The complexity of SERS nanoparticles requires significant advances to the theoretical and experimental understanding of metal …