Digital Commons Network^™

The Murray Ledger And Times, September 7, 2016, The Murray Ledger And Times

The Murray Ledger & Times

No abstract provided.

We All Should Strive To Be The Palm In The Storm, Carolyn Massiah

UCF Forum

Hurricane season is beginning to hit its peak activity. Multiple storms have been brewing in the Atlantic the past couple weeks.

A Species-Level Phylogeny Of Extant Snakes With Description Of A New Colubrid Subfamily And Genus, Alex Figueroa, Alexander D. Mckelvy, L. Lee Grismer, Charles D. Bell, Simon P. Lailvaux

Publications and Research

Background With over 3,500 species encompassing a diverse range of morphologies and ecologies, snakes make up 36% of squamate diversity. Despite several attempts at estimating higherlevel snake relationships and numerous assessments of generic- or species-level phylogenies, a large-scale species-level phylogeny solely focusing on snakes has not been completed. Here, we provide the largest-yet estimate of the snake tree of life using maximum likelihood on a supermatrix of 1745 taxa (1652 snake species + 7 outgroup taxa) and 9,523 base pairs from 10 loci (5 nuclear, 5 mitochondrial), including previously unsequenced genera (2) and species (61).

Results Increased taxon sampling resulted …

Uab Professor Honored With Distinguished Appointment In Geographical Exploration, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Cracking Diversity’S Code, University Of Dayton

News Releases

The National Science Foundation has awarded University of Dayton associate professor of biology Tom Williams an $839,000 grant to research how evolution used so-called “genetic switches” to develop biological diversity.

Cracking Diversity's Code, Dave Larsen

College of Arts and Sciences Newsroom

Like snowflakes, no two people are exactly the same - even if they share common parents or ancestors.

The Collegian: September 07, 2016, The Collegian Staff

The Collegian, 2016-2017

Volume 132
Issue 3

A Model For Understanding Positive Intergroup Relations Using The In-Group-Favoring Norm, R. Matthew Montoya, Brad Pinter

Psychology Faculty Publications

We present a model of intergroup relations focused on the role of the in-group-favoring norm as capable of facilitating positive intergroup relations. We begin by defining the in-group-favoring norm and describing how it affects self-evaluations and evaluations of out-group members. We then outline how positive intergroup relations may result via the implementation of specific techniques fundamental to the in-group-favoring norm, including emphasizing the value of interactions with the out-group, establishing cooperative intergroup norms, and establishing superordinate goals. In so doing, we discuss how classic moderators of intergroup relations, including leadership, guilt, and in-group norms are facilitators of positive intergroup relations …

Wmu Board Of Trustees Formal Session September 7, 2016, Wmu Board Of Trustees

WMU Board of Trustees Meetings

Minutes of the WMU Board of Trustees meeting include appendices:

• Formal Agenda
• Proposed Meeting Minutes
• Renaming Aviation Facility Building
• AHEC Liquor License
• WMU Catering Liquor License Application
• Gift Report
• Gift Report Supplements
• Grant Report (September)
• Grant Report (June to July)
• Personnel Report
• Operating Cash Accounts
• Annuity Life Income Funds

An Expanded Evaluation Of Protein Function Prediction Methods Shows An Improvement In Accuracy, Yuxiang Jiang, Tal Ronnen Oron, Wyatt T. Clark, Asma R. Bankapur, Daniel D'Andrea, Rosalba Lepore, Christopher S. Funk, Indika Kahanda, Karin M. Verspoor, Asa Ben-Hur, Da Chen Emily Koo, Duncan Penfold-Brown, Dennis Shasha, Noah Youngs, Richard Bonneau, Alexandra Lin, Sayed M.E. Sahraeian, Pier Luigi Martelli, Giuseppe Profiti, Rita Casadio, Renzhi Cao, Zhaolong Zhong, Jianlin Cheng, Adrian Altenhoff, Nives Skunca, Christophe Dessimoz, Tunca Dogan, Kai Hakala, Suwisa Kaewphan, Farrokh Mehryar, Tapio Salakoski, Filip Ginter, Hai Fang, Ben Smithers, Matt Oates, Julian Gough, Petri Törönen, Patrik Koskinen, Liisa Holm, Ching-Tai Chen, Wen-Lian Hsu, Kevin Bryson, Domenico Cozzetto, Federico Minneci, David T. Jones, Samuel Chapan, Dukka Bkc, Ishita K. Khan, Daisuke Kihara, Dan Ofer, Nadav Rappoport, Amos Stern, Elenia Cibrian-Uhalte, Paul Denny, Rebecca E. Foulger, Reija Hieta, Duncan Legge, Ruth C. Lovering, Michele Magrane, Anna N. Melidoni, Prudence Mutowo-Meullenet, Klemens Pichler, Aleksandra Shypitsyna, Biao Li, Pooya Zakeri, Sarah Elshal, Léon-Charles Tranchevent, Sayoni Das, Natalie L. Dawson, David Lee, Jonathan G. Lees, Ian Stilltoe, Prajwal Bhat, Tamás Nepusz, Alfonso E. Romero, Rajkumar Sasidharan, Haixuan Yang, Alberto Paccanaro, Jesse Gillis, Adriana E. Sedeño-Cortés, Paul Pavlidis, Shou Feng, Juan M. Cejuela, Tatyana Goldberg, Tobias Hamp, Lothar Richter, Asaf Salamov, Toni Gabaldon, Marina Marcet-Houben, Fran Supek, Qingtian Gong, Wei Ning, Yuanpeng Zhou, Weidong Tian, Marco Falda, Paolo Fontana, Enrico Lavezzo, Stefano Toppo, Carlo Ferrari, Manuel Giollo, Damiano Piovesan, Silvio C.E. Tosatto, Angela Del Pozo, José M. Fernández, Paolo Maietta, Alfonso Valencia, Michael L. Tress, Alfredo Benso, Stefano Di Carlo, Gianfranco Politano, Alessandro Savino, Hafeez Ur Rehman, Matteo Re, Marco Mesiti, Giorgio Valentini, Joachim W. Bargsten, Aalt D.J. Van Dijk, Branislava Gemovic, Sanja Glisic, Vladmir Perovic, Veljko Veljkovic, Nevena Veljkovic, Danillo C. Almeida-E-Silva, Ricardo Z.N. Vencio, Malvika Sharan, Jörg Vogel, Lakesh Kansakar, Shanshan Zhang, Slobodan Vucetic, Zheng Wang, Michael J.E. Sternberg, Mark N. Wass, Rachael P. Huntley, Maria J. Martin, Claire O'Donovan, Peter N. Robinson, Yves Moreau, Anna Tramontano, Patricia C. Babbitt, Steven E. Brenner, Michal Linial, Christine A. Orengo, Burkhard Rost, Casey S. Greene, Sean D. Mooney, Iddo Friedberg, Predrag Radivojac

Faculty Publications

Background: A major bottleneck in our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of life is the assignment of function to proteins. While molecular experiments provide the most reliable annotation of proteins, their relatively low throughput and restricted purview have led to an increasing role for computational function prediction. However, assessing methods for protein function prediction and tracking progress in the field remain challenging.

Results: We conducted the second critical assessment of functional annotation (CAFA), a timed challenge to assess computational methods that automatically assign protein function. We evaluated 126 methods from 56 research groups for their ability to predict …

Volume 112 Issue 2, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

The Southwestern - Archive

No abstract provided.

A Randomized Controlled Trial Of A Video-Conferencing Smoking Cessation Intervention For Korean American Women: Preliminary Findings, Sun S. Kim, Somporn Sitthisongkram, Kunsook Bernstein, Hua Fang, Won S. Choi, Douglas Ziedonis

Publications and Research

Introduction: Korean women are reluctant to pursue in-person smoking cessation treatment due to stigma attached to women smokers and prefer treatment such as telephone and online smoking cessation programs that they can access secretively at home. However, there is some evidence that face-to-face interaction is the most helpful intervention component for them to quit smoking.

Methods: This study is a pilot clinical trial that examined the acceptability and feasibility of a videoconferencing smoking cessation intervention for Korean American women and compared its preliminary efficacy with a telephone-based intervention. Women of Korean ethnicity were recruited nationwide in the United States and …

Dispersion Curve Engineering Of Tio2/Silver Hybrid Substrates For Enhanced Surface Plasmon Resonance Detection, Sherif H. El-Gohary, Munsik Choi, Young L. Kim, Kyung Min Byun

Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

As surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based biosensors are well translated into biological, chemical, environmental, and clinical fields, it is critical to further realize stable and sustainable systems, avoiding oxidation susceptibility of metal films—in particular, silver substrates. We report an enhanced SPR detection performance by incorporating a TiO₂ layer on top of a thin silver film. A uniform TiO₂ film fabricated by electron beam evaporation at room temperature is an effective alternative in bypassing oxidation of a silver film. Based on our finding that the sensor sensitivity is strongly correlated with the slope of dispersion curves, SPR sensing results obtained …

The Prognostic Capability And Molecular Function Of Duodenal Cytochrome B In Breast Cancer, David Lemler

Doctoral Dissertations

Iron is an essential growth factor and cofactor for multiple molecular functions in the human body. It is a reactive metal and in excess is capable of participating in Fenton reactions, generating reactive oxygen species and damaging cells. Patients with the iron overload disease hemochromatosis, are at increased risk of hepatic and other cancers. Due to the necessity and toxicity of iron, it is tightly regulated. Cancerous cells have an increased demand for iron and to meet these needs, regulation of iron import (upregulation of transferrin receptor) and export (downregulation of ferroportin) proteins is altered. Differential expression of these iron …

Assessing The Effect Of Mobile Word-Of-Mouth On Consumers : The Physical, Psychological And Social Influences, Juanyi Jiang

Lingnan Theses

Mobile technologies enable users to discover and research products anytime, anywhere. Mobile devices allow consumers to create and share content based on physical location, facilitate seamless interactions, and provide context-relevant information that can better satisfy users’ needs and enhance their shopping experience. As consumers increasingly rely on mobile devices to search information and purchase products, they need immediate, updated, informative and credible opinions in concise forms. Meanwhile, marketers face unprecedented opportunities for mobile marketing, making ever important for them to understand the mobile word-of-mouth and its effect on the purchase behaviors of consumers on the mobile platform vs. those on …

Chlorhexidine-Induced Elastic And Adhesive Changes Of Escherichia Coli Cells Within A Biofilm, Anne E. Murdaugh, Nicole Rodgers

Faculty Publications

Chlorhexidine is a widely used, commercially available cationic antiseptic. Although its mechanism of action on planktonic bacteria has been well explored, far fewer studies have examined its interaction with an established biofilm. The physical effects of chlorhexidine on a biofilm are particularly unknown. Here, the authors report the first observations of chlorhexidine-induced elastic and adhesive changes to single cells within a biofilm. The elastic changes are consistent with the proposed mechanism of action of chlorhexidine. Atomic force microscopy and force spectroscopy techniques were used to determine spring constants and adhesion energy of the individual bacteria within an Escherichia coli biofilm. …

Determination Of Rare Earth Elements In Natural Water Samples – A Review Of Sample Separation, Preconcentration And Direct Methodologies, Andrew Fisher, Derya Kara

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

This review discusses and compares the methods given for the determination of rare earth elements (REE) in natural water samples, including sea, river, lake, tap, ground and waste waters as well as Antarctic ice. Since REE are at very low concentrations in natural waters, numerous different preconcentration methods have been proposed to enable their measurement. These include liquid liquid extraction, dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction and solidified floating drop micro-extraction. In addition to liquid-liquid extraction methods, solid phase extraction using commercial resins, resins made in-house, silica-based exchange materials and other solid media is also discussed. These and other techniques such as precipitation/co-precipitation …

Unique Metabolic Features Of Pancreatic Cancer Stroma: Relevance To The Tumor Compartment, Prognosis, And Invasive Potential., Erik S. Knudsen, Uthra Balaji, Elizaveta Freinkman, Peter Mccue, Agnieszka K. Witkiewicz

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has a dismal prognosis. The aggressiveness and therapeutic recalcitrance of this malignancy has been attributed to multiple factors including the influence of an active desmoplastic stroma. How the stromal microenvironment of PDAC contributes to the fatal nature of this disease is not well defined. In the analysis of clinical specimens, we observed diverse expression of the hypoxic marker carbonic anhydrase IX and the lactate transporter MCT4 in the stromal compartment. These stromal features were associated with the epithelial to mesenchymal phenotype in PDAC tumor cells, and with shorter patient survival. Cultured cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs) derived from …

Montana Kaimin, September 7-13, 2016, Students Of The University Of Montana, Missoula

Montana Kaimin, 1898-present

Student newspaper of the University of Montana, Missoula.

Mind/Body “Hard Problem” Is Not A Category Error, Linda A.W. Brakel

Animal Sentience

Reber’s Cellular Basis of Consciousness (CBC) has much to recommend it. However, while the CBC effectively renders null any ontological gap between mind and body, it leaves two important remaining gaps unaddressed: the epistemologic and the causal gap. Brakel’s (2013) Diachronic Conjunctive Token Physicalism (DiCoToP) is briefly introduced as a beginning remedy for the epistemologic, but unfortunately not the causal, gap. Thus the “hard problem” remains both hard and problematic.

Phenomenal Consciousness In Insects? A Possible Way Forward, Brian Key

Animal Sentience

Klein & Barron (2016) propose that subjective experience in humans arises in the midbrain and then argue that insects have the capacity for subjective experience because their nervous system can perform neural processing similar to that of the midbrain. This approach ultimately fails because it is built on the false premise that the midbrain is the source of the awareness of sensory stimuli. I instead propose that the capacity for subjective experience must be based on fundamental neural computations that generate the “what it feels like” experience. Two such computations associated with metarepresentations and high level representations entering working memory …

Engaging Faculty For Student Success: The First Year Learning Initiative, Michelle D. Miller, Blasé Scarnati

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

State Comprehensive Universities (SCUs) face numerous challenges. In the face of radically reduced support from state legislatures, SCU students and their parents remain extremely sensitive to the costs of higher education and rising tuition rates. For SCU faculty, workloads and expectations balloon, many see the academy shifting from under their feet, and more still believe that they have little say in their institutions’ direction going forward. Amid this thicket of complexity, student success has taken center stage as an important—perhaps the most important—foundation for institutional well-being. For SCUs, there is a growing expectation to retain and graduate ever more students. …

British Women Writers Conference Call For Papers

Honorable Mention

For its 25th annual meeting, the British Women Writers Conference invites papers and panel proposals considering the theme of “Generations.

Abused, Abandoned, Or Neglected: Legal Options For Recent Immigrant Women And Girls, Meaghan Fitzpatrick, Leslye Orloff

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Violence Against Women Symposium And Collected Works

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Prolactin Gene Duplication Within The Family Cichilidae, Elaine Almanza

Theses and Dissertations

The prolactin gene has undergone a duplication event within the cichlid lineage, producing two distinct forms of prolactin (PRL188 and PRL177). The hormone prolactin is critical for regulating parental care in many species. Cichlid fishes exhibit a wide variety of parental care strategies, including maternal-only, paternal-only, and biparental care. A recent study found evidence for positive selection acting on the duplicate prolactin gene (PRL177), suggesting that this duplication event was associated with the evolution of alternative mating strategies. Polymerase chain reaction was used to isolate and amplify genes for both prolactin hormones and two prolactin receptors from brain derived cDNAs …

Nicotine Regulates Activity Of Lateral Habenula Neurons Via Presynaptic And Postsynaptic Mechanisms, Wanhong Zuo, Cheng Xiao, Ming Gao, F. Woodward Hopf, Kreå¡Imir Krnjeviä‡, J. Michael Mcintosh, Rao Fu, Jie Wu, Alex Bekker, Jiang Hong Ye

Translational Neuroscience

There is much interest in brain regions that drive nicotine intake in smokers. Interestingly, both the rewarding and aversive effects of nicotine are probably critical for sustaining nicotine addiction. The medial and lateral habenular (LHb) nuclei play important roles in processing aversion, and recent work has focused on the critical involvement of the LHb in encoding and responding to aversive stimuli. Several neurotransmitter systems are implicated in nicotine's actions, but very little is known about how nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) regulate LHb activity. Here we report in brain slices that activation of nAChRs depolarizes LHb cells and robustly increases firing, …

Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity: Protected Categories Under Title Vii?, Lowell Ritter

Journal of Legislation Online Supplement

Plaintiffs and their attorneys have an increasingly viable argument that Title VII’s definition of “sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity, expanding employers’ potential liability. This is based in part on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) firm position that both sexual orientation and gender identity are protected under the statute.

Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity: Protected Categories Under Title Vii?, Lowell Ritter

Journal of Legislation Online

Plaintiffs and their attorneys have an increasingly viable argument that Title VII’s definition of “sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity, expanding employers’ potential liability. This is based in part on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) firm position that both sexual orientation and gender identity are protected under the statute.

Prevalence And Determinants Of Metabolic Syndrome In Qatar: Results From A National Health Survey, Mohamed Al-Thani, Al Anoud M. Al-Thani, Sohaila Cheema, Javaid Sheikh, Ravinder Mamtani, Albert B. Lowenfels, Walaa F. Al-Chetachi, Badria Almalki, Shamseldin A. Hassan Khalifa, Ahmad O. Haj Bakri, Patrick Maisonneuve

NYMC Faculty Publications

OBJECTIVES: To determine optimum measurements for abdominal obesity and to assess the prevalence and determinants of metabolic syndrome in Qatar.

DESIGN: National health survey.

SETTING: Qatar National STEPwise Survey conducted by the Supreme Council of Health during 2012.

PARTICIPANTS: 2496 Qatari citizens aged 18-64 representative of the general population.

PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Measure of obesity (body mass index, waist circumference or waist-to-height ratio) that best identified the presence of at least 2 other factors of metabolic syndrome; cut-off values of waist circumference; frequency of metabolic syndrome.

RESULTS: Waist circumference ≥102 for men and ≥94 cm for women was …