Digital Commons Network^™

Consideration Of Genetic Connections In Child Custody Disputes Between Same-Sex Parents: Fair Or Foul?, Jessica Feinberg

Articles

Historically, in child custody disputes involving same-sex couples who conceived their children through assisted reproductive technology, the law only recognized the relationship between the child and the member of the same-sex couple who was the child’s genetic parent. Consequently, non-genetic parents in these situations were frequently denied standing to seek custody or visitation following the dissolution of their relationship with the child’s genetic parent. Due to recent legal advancements, however, it is becoming far more common for both members of a same-sex couple to be legally recognized as the parents of a child conceived through assisted reproductive technology. Unfortunately, despite …

Gradual Marriage, Jessica Feinberg

Articles

The time has come to reform the law governing marriage. In determining the rights and obligations between spouses arising from marriage, current law does not adequately account for the way in which spousal behaviors and expectations change over the course of a marriage. With regard to intact marriages, under the existing legal framework, the spousal rights and obligations enjoyed by couples in intact marriages arise all at once—at the moment a couple is granted a marriage license—and do not change as the years of marriage pass or as children are born to the marriage. In terms of dissolving marriages, with …

Dualism, Physicalism, And Professional Or Alternative Health Seeking: A Gendered Perspective, Taylor M. Caldwell

Pitzer Senior Theses

Evidence supporting a range of 6-14 years between mental illness symptom recognition and psychological help seeking has spurred a substantial interest in help seeking barriers. The present study suggests that mind and body dualism, the perceiving of the mind as an entity distinct from the body, is one such barrier to help seeking. Despite the fact that beliefs in mind-body dualism or its opposite, that of physicalism, are evident in virtually all human cultures and religions, surprisingly little is known about the psychological and behavioral implications of holding such beliefs. An exception to this disparity is a study that demonstrated …

Exploring The Construct Validity Of The Behavioral Rating Inventory Of Executive Function (Brief): Comparing Variance Associated With Common Method Versus Similar Constructs, Lauren K. Hoefling

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Behavioral Rating Inventory of Executive Function (BRIEF) is a teacher and parent questionnaire designed to measure executive functioning (EF). Due to the role of EF in ADHD, the BRIEF is often used in assessment of ADHD. The purpose of the current study was to explore the convergence and divergence of the BRIEF with a performance-based measure of EF, behavior rating scales, an observational measure of child behavior during testing, and longer-term academic outcomes. The current study used archival data representing 105 children referred to an ADHD evaluation clinic. It was hypothesized that the BRIEF would be significantly correlated with …

Amphibian Response To Wetlands In Restored And Reclaimed Grasslands: Passive Recolonization And Active Reintroduction Techniques, Rochelle M. Stiles

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amphibian declines are occurring globally with one-third of species expected to face extinction over the next few decades. Numerous strategies are being developed to conserve amphibian species, including Amphibian Arks assurance colonies (captive populations), captive-breeding, captive-rearing, and specific habitat modifications to ensure survival of populations and persistence of species. These efforts are time consuming and expensive, and success is not guaranteed. Because amphibians carry little economic or emotional clout, the most effective way to conserve these animals, across much of North America, is to conserve or restore the ecosystems they inhabit. Restorations and reclamations re-create habitat that support passive recolonization …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Biological Studies Of A Piperidinyl Appended Dipicolylamine Ligand And Its Rhenium Tricarbonyl Complex As Potential Therapeutic Agents For Human Breast Cancer, Amali Subasinghe, Inoka C. Perera, Svetlana Pakhomova, Theshini Perera

Faculty Publications

© 2016 Amali Subasinghe et al. A novel ligand bearing a central piperidinyl sulfonamide group, N(SO2pip)dpa, and its corresponding Re tricarbonyl complex, [Re(CO)3(N(SO2pip)dpa)]+, have been synthesized in good yield. The methylene CH2 signal seen as a singlet (4.54 ppm) in a 1H NMR spectrum of the ligand in DMSO-d6 appears as two doublets (5.39, 5.01 ppm) in a spectrum of the [Re(CO)3(N(SO2pip)dpa)]+ complex and confirms the presence of magnetically nonequivalent protons upon coordination to Re. Structural results revealed that the Re-N bond lengths fall within the normal range establishing coordination of ligand to metal. The presence of intraligand π→π and …

Histidine Switch Controlling Ph-Dependent Protein Folding And Dna Binding In A Transcription Factor At The Core Of Synthetic Network Devices, D. K. Deochand, I. C. Perera, R. B. Crochet, N. C. Gilbert, M. E. Newcomer, A. Grove

Faculty Publications

© 2016 The Royal Society of Chemistry. Therapeutic strategies have been reported that depend on synthetic network devices in which a urate-sensing transcriptional regulator detects pathological levels of urate and triggers production or release of urate oxidase. The transcription factor involved, HucR, is a member of the multiple antibiotic resistance (MarR) protein family. We show that protonation of stacked histidine residues at the pivot point of long helices that form the scaffold of the dimer interface leads to reversible formation of a molten globule state and significantly attenuated DNA binding at physiological temperatures. We also show that binding of urate …

Urban Microbiomes And Urban Agriculture: What Are The Connections And Why Should We Care?, Gary M. King

Faculty Publications

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016. A large percentage (~50 %) of the global human population lives in urban systems. The transition from largely rural to urban lifestyles began gradually, but has accelerated. Given the magnitude of anthropogenic changes in the Earth system as a whole and concerns about resource availability and continued population growth, questions about the sustainability of urban systems have become a focal point for a variety of research and civic efforts, including programs promoting urban agriculture as a means to provide local food sources and to better manage critical nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus. The …

Differential Plant Invasiveness Is Not Always Driven By Host Promiscuity With Bacterial Symbionts, Metha M. Klock, Luke G. Barrett, Peter H. Thrall, Kyle E. Harms

Faculty Publications

© The Authors 2016. Identification of mechanisms that allow some species to outcompete others is a fundamental goal in ecology and invasive species management. One useful approach is to examine congeners varying in invasiveness in a comparative framework across native and invaded ranges. Acacia species have been widely introduced outside their native range of Australia, and a subset of these species have become invasive in multiple parts of the world. Within specific regions, the invasive status of these species varies. Our study examined whether a key mechanism in the life history of Acacia species, the legume-rhizobia symbiosis, influences acacia invasiveness …

Differential Roles Of Two Homologous Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor Genes In Regulating Cell Cycle And Innate Immunity In Arabidopsis1[Open], Safae Hamdoun, Chong Zhang, Manroop Gill, Narender Kumar, Michelle Churchman, John C. Larkin, Ashley Kwon, Hua Lu

Faculty Publications

© 2016 American Society of Plant Biologists. All Rights Reserved. Precise cell-cycle control is critical for plant development and responses to pathogen invasion. Two homologous cyclindependent kinase inhibitor genes, SIAMESE (SIM) and SIM-RELATED 1 (SMR1), were recently shown to regulate Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) defense based on phenotypes conferred by a sim smr1 double mutant. However, whether these two genes play differential roles in cell-cycle and defense control is unknown. In this report, we show that while acting synergistically to promote endoreplication, SIM and SMR1 play different roles in affecting the ploidy of trichome and leaf cells, respectively. In addition, we …

Two New Species Of Siphocampylus (Campanulaceae, Lobelioideae) From The Central Andes, Laura P. Lagomarsino, Daniel Santamaría-Aguilar

Faculty Publications

© L.P. Lagomarsino, D. Santamaría-Aguilar. Two species of Siphocampylus (Campanulaceae: Lobelioideae) from the Central Andes of Peru and Bolivia are described, illustrated, and discussed with reference to related species. One species, Siphocampylus antonellii, is endemic to high elevation grasslands of Calca, Peru, while the second, S. siberiensis, is endemic to cloud forests of Cochabamba, Bolivia. Both species are robust shrubs that produce tubular pink flowers that are likely pollinated by hummingbirds.

African Fire Cultures, Cattle Ranching, And Colonial Landscape Transformations In The Neo-Tropics, Andrew Sluyter, Chris S. Duvall

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Syntheses And Cellular Investigations Of Di-Aspartate And Aspartate-Lysine Chlorin E6 Conjugates, R. G.Waruna Jinadasa, Zehua Zhou, M. Graça H. Vicente, Kevin M. Smith

Faculty Publications

© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016. Chlorin e6 is a tricarboxylic acid degradation product of chlorophyll a. Four chlorin e6 bis(amino acid) conjugates were regioselectively synthesized bearing two aspartate conjugates in the 131,173- and 152,173-positions, or at the 131,152via an ethylene diamine linker. One additional conjugate bearing two different amino acids, lysine at 131via an ethylene diamine linker and an aspartate at 152via a β-alanine linker was also synthesized. The cytotoxicity and uptake of four di(amino acid) chlorin e6 conjugates were investigated in human HEp2 cells, and compared with chlorin e6. The most cytotoxic and most taken up conjugates …

Synthesis And Regioselective Functionalization Of Perhalogenated Bodipys, Ning Zhao, Sunting Xuan, Brandon Byrd, Frank R. Fronczek, Kevin M. Smith, M. Graça H. Vicente

Faculty Publications

© The Royal Society of Chemistry. Three perhalogenated BODIPYs (1b-3b), bearing chloro and bromo groups at all carbon positions, were synthesized and characterized. The reactivity of BODIPY 3b was investigated under Stille cross-coupling reactions, and single crystal X-ray analysis was used to confirm the regioselectivity of the reactions. Further substitution at the boron atom produced nona-functionalized BODIPYs 7a,b, which show 676 and 739 nm emissions with 91 and 100 nm Stokes shifts, respectively.

Rletters: A Web-Based Application For Text Analysis Of Journal Articles, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

While textual analysis of the journal literature is a burgeoning field, there is still a profound lack of user-friendly software for accomplishing this task. RLetters is a free, open-source web application which provides researchers with an environment in which they can select sets of journal articles and analyze them with cutting-edge textual analysis tools. RLetters allows users without prior expertise in textual analysis to analyze word frequency, collocations, cooccurrences, term networks, and more. It is implemented in Ruby and scripts are provided to automate deployment.

Is Genetic Drift A Force?, Charles H. Pence

Faculty Publications

One hotly debated philosophical question in the analysis of evolutionary theory concerns whether or not evolution and the various factors which constitute it (selection, drift, mutation, and so on) may profitably be considered as analogous to “forces” in the traditional, Newtonian sense. Several compelling arguments assert that the force picture is incoherent, due to the peculiar nature of genetic drift. I consider two of those arguments here—that drift lacks a predictable direction, and that drift is constitutive of evolutionary systems—and show that they both fail to demonstrate that a view of genetic drift as a force is untenable. I go …

Modulation Of Il-27 In Adipocytes During Inflammatory Stress, Heesun Nam, Bradley S. Ferguson, Jacqueline M. Stephens, Ron F. Morrison

Faculty Publications

© 2015 The Obesity Society. Objective While it is well established that adipose tissue-derived inflammation plays an important role in the pathogenic mechanisms linking obesity with metabolic dysfunction, the inflammatory mediators involved have not been fully elucidated. Here, we explored IL-12 family cytokines with a focus on IL-27 during obesity-induced inflammation in mice and cultured adipocytes (ADs) following exposure to inflammatory stimuli. Methods Relative mRNA abundance of IL-12 cytokines was assessed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in genetically obese B6-ob/ob mice as well as C57BL/6J mice fed a high-fat diet and in ADs following exposure to inflammatory stimuli. …

Abstract Book: Papers And Posters, Conference Of Latin Americanist Geographers, New Orleans, January 3-5, 2017, Andrew Sluyter

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Research Matters Spring 2016, Louisiana State University And Agricultural & Mechanical College

Research Matters & RNR Newsletters

Research Matters is a publication which highlights ongoing research, international travel experiences, classroom happenings and degree program developments of and for the School of Renewable Natural Resources' students and faculty.

In The Shadow Of Boone And Crockett: Race, Culture, And The Politics Of Representation In The Upland South, Andrea S. Watkins

Civil War Book Review

Legal Notions of Identity and Poverty Chased Imagined Categories of Antebellum Races

The issues of race, poverty, politics and culture in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries feature prominently in Ian C. Hartman’s In the Shadow of Boone and Crockett. Hartman, assistant profe....

Biology And Management Of The Mexican Rice Borer (Lepidoptera: Crambidae) In Rice In The United States, J. M. Beuzelin, B. E. Wilson, M. T. Vanweelden, A. Mészáros, M. O. Way, M. J. Stout, T. E. Reagan

Faculty Publications

© The Author, 2016. The Mexican rice borer, Eoreuma loftini (Dyar), is an invasive pest of rice, Oryza sativa L., in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. This pest also damages sugarcane, Saccharum spp. hybrids; corn, Zea mays L.; and sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench, and feeds on weedy noncrop grasses. Multiple aspects of integrated pest management including use of pheromone traps, manipulation of planting dates, harvest cutting height, stubble management, noncrop host management, soil fertility management, host plant resistance, use of insecticides, and biological control have been studied for Mexican rice borer management. However, the current management …

Obesity Impairs Skeletal Muscle Regeneration Through Inhibition Of Ampk, Xing Fu, Meijun Zhu, Shuming Zhang, Marc Foretz, Benoit Viollet, Min Du

Faculty Publications

© 2016 by the American Diabetes Association. Obesity is increasing rapidly worldwide and is accompanied by many complications, including impaired muscle regeneration. The obese condition is known to inhibit AMPK activity in multiple tissues. We hypothesized that the loss of AMPK activity is a major reason for hampered muscle regeneration in obese subjects. We found that obesity inhibits AMPK activity in regenerating muscle, which was associated with impeded satellite cell activation and impaired muscle regeneration. To test the mediatory role of AMPKα1, we knocked out AMPKα1 and found that both proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells are reduced after injury …

Deletion Of A Predicted Β-Sheet Domain Within The Amino Terminus Of Herpes Simplex Virus Glycoprotein K Conserved Among Alphaherpesviruses Prevents Virus Entry Into Neuronal Axons, Nithya Jambunathan, Anu Susan Charles, Ramesh Subramanian, Ahmad A. Saied, Misagh Naderi, Paul Rider, Michal Brylinski, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. We have shown previously that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) lacking expression of the entire glycoprotein K (gK) or expressing gK with a 38-amino-acid deletion (gKΔ31-68 mutation) failed to infect ganglionic neurons after ocular infection of mice. We constructed a new model for the predicted three-dimensional structure of gK, revealing that the gKΔ31-68 mutation spans a well-defined β-sheet structure within the amino terminus of gK, which is conserved among alphaherpesviruses. The HSV- 1(McKrae) gKΔ31-68 virus was tested for the ability to enter into ganglionic neuronal axons in cell culture of explanted rat ganglia using …

Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Ul37 Protein Tyrosine Residues Conserved Among All Alphaherpesviruses Are Required For Interactions With Glycoprotein K, Cytoplasmic Virion Envelopment, And Infectious Virus Production, Dmitry V. Chouljenko, Nithya Jambunathan, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Misagh Naderi, Michal Brylinski, John R. Caskey, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. The herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) UL37 protein functions in virion envelopment at trans-Golgi membranes, as well as in retrograde and anterograde transport of virion capsids. Recently, we reported that UL37 interacts with glycoprotein K (gK) and its interacting partner protein UL20 (N. Jambunathan, D. Chouljenko, P. Desai, A. S. Charles, R. Subramanian, V. N. Chouljenko, and K. G. Kousoulas, J Virol 88:5927-5935, 2014, http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00278-14), facilitating cytoplasmic virion envelopment. Alignment of UL37 homologs encoded by alphaherpesviruses revealed the presence of highly conserved residues in the central portion of the UL37 protein. …

Deletion Of A Predicted Β-Sheet Domain Within The Amino Terminus Of Herpes Simplex Virus Glycoprotein K Conserved Among Alphaherpesviruses Prevents Virus Entry Into Neuronal Axons, Nithya Jambunathan, Anu Susan Charles, Ramesh Subramanian, Ahmad A. Saied, Misagh Naderi, Paul Rider, Michal Brylinski, Vladimir N. Chouljenko, Konstantin G. Kousoulas

Faculty Publications

© 2016, American Society for Microbiology. We have shown previously that herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) lacking expression of the entire glycoprotein K (gK) or expressing gK with a 38-amino-acid deletion (gKΔ31-68 mutation) failed to infect ganglionic neurons after ocular infection of mice. We constructed a new model for the predicted three-dimensional structure of gK, revealing that the gKΔ31-68 mutation spans a well-defined β-sheet structure within the amino terminus of gK, which is conserved among alphaherpesviruses. The HSV- 1(McKrae) gKΔ31-68 virus was tested for the ability to enter into ganglionic neuronal axons in cell culture of explanted rat ganglia using …

Suborbital Flights: Environmental Concerns And Regulatory Initiatives, S. M. Mousavi Sameh

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

In Space, No One Can Hear You Contest Jurisdiction: Establishing Criminal Jurisdiction Of The Outer Space Colonies Tomorrow, Taylor Stanton Hardenstein

Journal of Air Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Guided Notes On Pre-Lecture Quiz Scores In Introductory Psychology, Kathryn Glodowski

Doctoral Dissertations - College of Arts and Sciences

"Guided notes covering lectures have been shown to improve note quality and increase scores on quizzes covering lecture material. We sought to determine whether guided notes would also be beneficial in helping students prepare for quizzes covering assigned readings. We evaluated the efficacy of guided notes for reading assignments on undergraduates’ scores on quizzes covering reading material during three academic semesters (in Study 1 and Study 2). Guided notes produced a statistically significant improvement in quiz scores during two of three semesters."

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall, Travis W. Reynolds

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …

Missing The Trees For The Forest: The Socioecological Significance Of Dispersed Farmland Trees In Northern Ethiopia, Jacob A. Wall

Honors Theses

Scattered trees are prominent features in the agricultural landscape of the Ethiopian highlands. The dry Afromontane forests of the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia have faced centuries of deforestation - the FAO estimates only 3% of the region is forested today. The remaining landscape has been largely converted into agricultural and grazing lands, with the exception of some limited government-protected lands, as well as thousands of small forest fragments left around Orthodox Churches (“church forests”). But while a growing body of scholarship has highlighted the ecological and cultural importance of church forests and other natural forest fragments, the roles of …