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Limitations In The Reproductive Success Of A Burrow-Nesting Bird (Momotus Mexicanus) During A Humid Season, Grégory Michaël Charre, Omar Paniagua, Marcela Osorio-Beristain

Western North American Naturalist

Burrow-nesting birds are limited by access to nest sites, particularly in years of very high humidity levels, such those seen with El Niño, or in forests that are fragmented due to the effects of human activity. We assessed the breeding success of Momotus mexicanus nesting along the earth bank of a secondary road corridor in a seasonally dry tropical forest in Central Mexico. We monitored 28 nests during the reproductive period and characterized the composition of the soil where they were constructed, as well as other physical variables. One nest produced 2 fledglings, and the other 27 failed to …

"Not Your Mother's Pta": Women's Political Activism In Twentieth-Century America, Jennifer Lynn Mcpherson

History ETDs

Not Your Mother’s PTA: Women’s Political Activism in Twentieth-Century America provides the first in-depth study of women’s political activism in the National PTA and its local PTA units. It closely examines how women integrated themselves and their ideas on women’s and children’s welfare reform into government from the 1890s through the 1970s. This project explores the resources, strategies, and methods used by PTA women working for women and children’s interests at the local and national level, primarily in public schools and government agencies. Not Your Mother’s PTA challenges the subtext of the PTA mother/housewife and shows how women used the …

Evaluating The Relationship Of Temperature And Growth Of A Larval Colorado River Catostomid, C. Latipinnis, Through Otolith Aging And Stable Isotopes (Δ18o), Adam Lawrence Barkalow

Biology ETDs

Knowledge of early life history strategies and ecological dynamics of larval fish growth and development is invaluable for effectively managing and conserving common and endangered fish species. Isotopic analysis of otoliths (bony structures of the inner ear) from larval Flannelmouth Suckers Catostomus latipinnis obtained from the Colorado River in Grand Canyon could greatly facilitate understanding of thermally-regulated growth rates, thermal preferences, and ontogenetic habitat use by these fishes. Colorado River water temperatures in the Grand Canyon are highly modified from projected historic water temperatures present before closure Glen Canyon Dam. Cold water as result of Glen Canyon dam and hypolimnetic …

A Label-Free And Ultrasensitive Immunosensor For Detection Of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin Based On Graphene Fets, Kamrul Islam, Ahmed Suhail, Genhua Pan

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

We report on a label-free immunosensor based on graphene field effect transistors (G-FETs) for the ultrasensitive detection of Human Chorionic Gonadotrophin (hCG), as an indicator of pregnancy and related disorders, such as actopic pregnancy, choriocarcinoma and orchic teratoma. Pyrene based bioactive ester was non-covalently anchored onto the graphene channel in order to retain the sp2 lattice. The G-FET transfer characteristics showed repeatable and reliable responses in all surface modifying steps using a direct current (DC) readout system. The hCG concentration gradient showed a detection limit of ~1 pg·mL−1. The proposed method facilitates the cost-effective and viable production of graphene point-of-care …

Uab Antarctic Explorer And Polar Biologist Discusses One Of History's Largest Iceberg Breaks, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Voices: Conference On Teaching Stem With Music, September 27-28, 2017, Gregory J. Crowther

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This first-of-its-kind, online-only conference will explore the use of music to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) at the college level (including AP courses). Presentations will be live-streamed from the conference website, https://www.causeweb.org/voices. Online registrations (for only $10 apiece!) will be accepted at the conference website until the conclusion of the conference on September 28, 2017.

Uncovering Gems Of Mathematics, Asuman G. Aksoy, Ellis Cumberbatch

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Gateway to Exploring Mathematical Sciences (GEMS) is an outreach program offered by the six mathematics departments of the Claremont Colleges for eighth, ninth, and tenth graders. In this paper, we describe our program (in terms of format, participants, mathematical activities and topics involved) and share why we are so enthusiastic about it.

One + One > Two: The Effects Of Pair Quizzes On Student Attitudes And Perceptions, Harrison W. Straley, Lauren Dupee

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

Pair Quizzes are cooperative pop quizzes, taken by a pair of students working together for the same grade. The first author, Chuck, had used pair quizzes in many of his courses through his tenure teaching and was interested in determining their perceived effect on student learning and attitude toward mathematics.To this end, we designed a questionnaire and distributed it to all students currently taking and who had taken two different mathematics courses within a span of four years. Responses from those who chose to complete the survey seem to indicate that the pair quizzes had a positive effect on students’ …

Multifaceted Mathematicians, Juan M. Sepulcre

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

This report attempts to provide an overview of some of the mathematicians who have combined their mathematical knowledge with other academic and non-academic specialities. The various examples given, many of them included in the well-known MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, corroborate the fact that although the idea of the typical polymath has receded with the passage of time, until the end of the Renaissance, most well-known mathematicians were also well-versed in a number of different sciences such as philosophy, astronomy, and physics. We also highlight other, less common combinations of knowledge, in famous mathematicians who were experts in other disciplines …

The Origin Of An Inquiry: Evolutionary Epistemology In James' Pragmatism, J. Ellis Perry

Episteme

Have scholars collectively failed to recognize the important role Darwin plays in James’s 1906-1907 Lowell Institute lectures on pragmatism? The goal of the paper is to elicit a “yes” verdict from the reader, although the author believes his study is insufficient for proving his intuition that Darwin played a central role in James’s thought in these lectures. The contention is that, given the importance of Pragmatism and the continued relevance of Darwinian science, it is worth the effort to read this classic James work in light of Darwin’s influence, in spite of Philip Weiner’s (and practically everyone else’s) lack of …

Nagel, Physicalism And Subjectivity, Brent Little

Episteme

Thomas Nagel offers one of the most compelling skeptical stances on physicalism. But question: Does intraspecies or interspecies subjectivity really pose an intractable problem for a modern physicalist worldview? The author of this paper does not think so and proceeds to reconcile the prima facie disconnect that Nagel does not get beyond. In general, the author provides a defense of scientific insight as well as accurate interpretations of the task of physics. To begin an answer to Nagel, we can critique his theories about the future of science. We can explain away the concern about accounting for the so-called richness …

Sodium Alginate Toughening Of Gelatin Hydrogels And Elucidation Of Possible Mechanisms, Michael Samp

Graduate Theses - Chemical Engineering

Hydrogels are soft materials used in several important biomedical applications such as drug delivery, wound dressing, tissue phantoms, and tissue engineering. Gelatin hydrogels, in particular, have several properties which would make them ideal materials, however, their poor mechanical and thermal properties often require enhancement to be viable. This report focuses on the addition of sodium alginate, another common biomacromolecule, to gelatin hydrogels and the resulting viscoelastic properties of these hybrid materials. Initial data collected using a parallel plate compression-to-failure testing setup suggested the hybrid samples had a larger toughness while showing a negligible change in the elastic modulus, an important …

Whole-Genome Dna Methylation Status Associated With Clinical Ptsd Measures Of Oif/Oef Veterans., R Hammamieh, N Chakraborty, A Gautam, S Muhie, R Yang, D Donohue, R Kumar, B J Daigle, Y Zhang, D A Amara, S-A Miller, S Srinivasan, J Flory, R Yehuda, L Petzold, O M Wolkowitz, S H Mellon, L Hood, F J Doyle, C Marmar, M Jett

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Emerging knowledge suggests that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) pathophysiology is linked to the patients' epigenetic changes, but comprehensive studies examining genome-wide methylation have not been performed. In this study, we examined genome-wide DNA methylation in peripheral whole blood in combat veterans with and without PTSD to ascertain differentially methylated probes. Discovery was initially made in a training sample comprising 48 male Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF)/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) veterans with PTSD and 51 age/ethnicity/gender-matched combat-exposed PTSD-negative controls. Agilent whole-genome array detected ~5600 differentially methylated CpG islands (CpGI) annotated to ~2800 differently methylated genes (DMGs). The majority (84.5%) of these CpGIs …

Δfosb Regulates Gene Expression And Cognitive Dysfunction In A Mouse Model Of Alzheimer's Disease., Brian F Corbett, Jason C You, Xiaohong Zhang, Mark S Pyfer, Umberto Tosi, Daniel M Iascone, Iraklis Petrof, Anupam Hazra, Chia-Hsuan Fu, Gabriel S Stephens, Annie Ashok, Suzan Aschmies, Lijuan Zhao, Eric J Nestler, Jeannie Chin

Department of Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by cognitive decline and 5- to 10-fold increased seizure incidence. How seizures contribute to cognitive decline in AD or other disorders is unclear. We show that spontaneous seizures increase expression of ΔFosB, a highly stable Fos-family transcription factor, in the hippocampus of an AD mouse model. ΔFosB suppressed expression of the immediate early gene c-Fos, which is critical for plasticity and cognition, by binding its promoter and triggering histone deacetylation. Acute histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibition or inhibition of ΔFosB activity restored c-Fos induction and improved cognition in AD mice. Administration of seizure-inducing agents to nontransgenic …

Chloroformate Derivatization For Tracing The Fate Of Amino Acids In Cells And Tissues By Multiple Stable Isotope Resolved Metabolomics (Msirm), Ye Yang, Teresa W. -M. Fan, Andrew N. Lane, Richard M. Higashi

Center for Environmental and Systems Biochemistry Faculty Publications

Amino acids have crucial roles in central metabolism, both anabolic and catabolic. To elucidate these roles, steady-state concentrations of amino acids alone are insufficient, as each amino acid participates in multiple pathways and functions in a complex network, which can also be compartmentalized. Stable Isotope-Resolved Metabolomics (SIRM) is an approach that uses atom-resolved tracking of metabolites through biochemical transformations in cells, tissues, or whole organisms. Using different elemental stable isotopes to label multiple metabolite precursors makes it possible to resolve simultaneously the utilization of these precursors in a single experiment. Conversely, a single precursor labeled with two (or more) different …

Assessing The Predictive Validity Of The Youth Level Of Service Case Management Inventory 2.0 In A Sample Of Rural Juvenile Offenders, Julie Frick

Masters Theses

This study evaluates the predictive validity of a juvenile risk need assessment, the Youth Level of Service/Case Management Inventory 2.0 (YLS/CMI), on a rural population of 215 juvenile offenders using a logistic regression model. The study includes the use of social and demographic variables as control variables, including gender, age, race, special education status, offense type, history of abuse and neglect, and the presence or absence of a police department in the geographic location of crime. The result of the study shows that the YLS/CMI composite risk score significantly predicted recidivism, (x"=19.796, df=1, N=188, p ≤.01). Directions for future research, …

Reproducibility Librarianship, Vicky Steeves

Collaborative Librarianship

Over the past few years, research reproducibility has been increasingly highlighted as a multifaceted challenge across many disciplines. There are socio-cultural obstacles as well as a constantly changing technical landscape that make replicating and reproducing research extremely difficult. Researchers face challenges in reproducing research across different operating systems and different versions of software, to name just a few of the many technical barriers. The prioritization of citation counts and journal prestige has undermined incentives to make research reproducible.

While libraries have been building support around research data management and digital scholarship, reproducibility is an emerging area that has yet to …

At The Center Of Things: How An Academic Library Built A Bridge Between Art And Science On Campus, Michelle Catalano, Catherine Essinger, Suzanne Ferimer, Stephanie Lewin-Lane, Porcia Vaughn

Collaborative Librarianship

The University of Houston Libraries sponsored an interdisciplinary event for students, faculty, and the public, titled the Artists’ Health and Wellness Colloquium and Resource Fair. Aspiring and working artists were instructed in how to maintain good health and to avoid overstressing their bodies as they practice their art. Scholars presented both historical and trending perspectives on the intersection of art and health science. The event was held in order to facilitate learning in two key research areas and to demonstrate the library's ability to bridge disparate disciplines and forge new partnerships with multiple academic units simultaneously. This article presents planning …

Academic Libraries And Non-Academic Departments: A Survey And Case Studies On Liaising Outside The Box, Amy Wainwright, Chris Davidson

Collaborative Librarianship

Partnering with non-academic departments allows academic libraries to create new programming ideas and reach more students. According to the results of a national survey, academic librarians at institutions of all sizes are partnering with many different types of non-academic departments. These partnerships offer efficiencies through shared cost and staffing and offer additional benefits to all groups involved. This article identifies the non-academic departments that these libraries are partnering with, highlights potential events to raise awareness of services, and describes ways in which these partnerships help engage with students.

Self-Reported Parenting Stress And Salivary Cortisol Following Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Intervention, Lisa R. Roberts, G. Griffin Boostrom, Salem Omar Dehom, Cameron L. Neece

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: To examine the correlation of self-reported stress and salivary cortisol, a stress biomarker.

Parents of children with developmental delays (DD) experience higher levels of stress than parents of typically developing children. Roughly one- to two-thirds of parents of children with DD experience clinical levels of parental stress (Davis & Carter, 2008). Children with DD have significantly more behavior problems, experience more emotional difficulties, and are more likely to have clinical levels of behavior problems than typically developing children (Emerson & Einfeld, 2010). Parenting stress and child behavior problems appear to have an interdependent, reciprocal relationship (Neece, Green, & Baker, …

Obesity-Induces Organ And Tissue Specific Tight Junction Restructuring And Barrier Deregulation By Claudin Switching, Rizwan Ahmad, Bilal Rah, Dhundy Bastola, Punita Dhawan, Amar B. Singh

Interdisciplinary Informatics Faculty Publications

Obesity increases susceptibility to multiple organ disorders, however, underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The subclinical inflammation assisted by obesity-induced gut permeability may underlie obesity-associated co-morbidities. Despite eminent clinical significance of the obesity led gut barrier abnormalities, its precise molecular regulation remains unclear. It is also unknown whether barrier deregulations, similar to the gut, characterize other vital organs in obese individuals. The claudin family of proteins is integral to the tight junction (TJ), the apical cell-cell adhesion and a key regulator of the epithelial barrier. Using comprehensive physiological and biochemical analysis of intestinal and renal tissues from high-fat diet fed mice, critical …

Historical Occurrence Of White-Tailed Ptarmigan In Wyoming, Clait E. Braun, Gregory T. Wann

Western North American Naturalist

We found 13 specimens (11 museum skins, 2 skeletons) of White-tailed Ptarmigan (Lagopus leucura) collected in Wyoming. All were collected in the 1911–1967 period: 12 from the Snowy Range (Albany County) and one from near Encampment (Carbon County). The last verifiable observations of White-tailed Ptarmigan in the Snowy Range were 2 separate reports in 1974, both of 4 individuals in the same location. A more recent report of 2 birds north of the Snowy Range on 15 October 2005 has also been verified. None of the verifiable observations or collection events was of more than 6 individuals. Most …

Summer 2017: Summer Fun Delivered Courtesy Of Your Magazine Online, St. Norbert College

St. Norbert College Magazine 2013-2018

It’s summer, so we like to think you’re reading your new copy of St. Norbert College Magazine on the deck or on the dock, at the lake or wherever you get to play or at least kick back a little. It’s time to serve up some lighter fare along with the staples.

Population Genetics And Host Specificity Of A Rare Parasitic Plant, Cuscuta Harperi, Brandy N. Rogers

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Cuscuta harperi is a rare parasitic plant endemic to a small number of widely disjunct populations in Georgia and Alabama. It is a habitat-specialist, occurring on sandstone and granite outcrops within its limited range; it is also exhibits a high level of host specificity, parasitizing only a few select species. C. harperi is of conservation concern due to small population sizes and threats from habitat degradation.

Here we develop genetic markers to address questions regarding population genetics of the species. We discuss the utility of microsatellites and single nucleotide polymorphisms as molecular markers to evaluate genetic variability between individuals and …

Phenotypic Variations In Violence Involvement: Results From The National Longitudinal Study Of Adolescent Health, Igor Ryabov

Sociology Faculty Publications

Numerous studies suggest that our society is stratified not only by race and class, but also by phenotypic characteristics. The main objective of the present investigation was, using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, to elucidate the link between phenotype and violence involvement. Two outcomes were examined: being a perpetrator of violence and criminal justice system contact. Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses were conducted on Asian, black and Hispanic respondents and as well as on the subsample of siblings. Independent variables included phenotype, socioeconomic status, other family, peer and neighborhood effects. Notwithstanding a certain degree of heterogeneity of outcomes across …

Range Extension Of The Giant Water Bug Belostoma Flumineum Say 1832 (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) To Saskatchewan, Canada, Iain D. Phillips, Stephen Srayko, Kate S. Prestie, Aaron J. Bell, Dale Parker

Western North American Naturalist

We collected a single specimen of the giant water bug Belostoma flumineum Say 1832 (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) during routine macroinvertebrate biomonitoring in the Souris River, Saskatchewan. This is the first record of B. flumineum in the province of Saskatchewan and represents a more northern record than the previously documented locations in Montana, North Dakota, and southeastern Manitoba.


Colectamos un único ejemplar de la chinche gigante de agua Belostoma flumineum Say 1832 (Hemiptera: Belostomatidae) durante un biomonitoreo de rutina de macroinvertebrados en el río Souris, Saskatchewan. Este es el primer registro de B. flumineum en la provincia de Saskatchewan y representa un …

Life Behind The Wall: Sensing Mechanical Cues In Plants, Olivier Hamant, Elizabeth S. Haswell

Biology Faculty Research

There is increasing evidence that all cells sense mechanical forces in order to perform their functions. In animals, mechanotransduction has been studied during the establishment of cell polarity, fate, and division in single cells, and increasingly is studied in the context of a multicellular tissue. What about plant systems? Our goal in this review is to summarize what is known about the perception of mechanical cues in plants, and to provide a brief comparison with animals.

Our Grandmothers' Stories: The Role Of Mestiza, Mexican, Spanish, Nuevamexicana Women In The Settlement And Community Development Of The Wagon Mound Area, Bianca Manuelita Encinias

Architecture and Planning ETDs

The study addresses and deconstructs inaccurate historical images, perspectives, and interpretations of Mestiza, Mexican, Spanish, and Nuevamexicana women from northeastern New Mexico in the field of planning. Concerns for the way that Mestiza, Mexican, Spanish, Nuevamexicana women are portrayed, in the history of the United States, and my observations of the way that this population of women were treated and continue to be ignored as serious topics of research for study in higher education in mainstream U.S. planning efforts led me to reconstruct the position of the Mestiza, Mexican, Spanish, Nuevamexicana women in community and economic development, as community planners …

An Integrated Bioinformatic/Experimental Approach For Discovering Novel Type Ii Polyketides Encoded In Actinobacterial Genomes, Wubin Gao

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Discovery of new natural products (NPs) is critical both for diseases treatment and crops protection. Numerous NP biosynthetic gene clusters (BGCs) in sequenced microbial genomes allow identification of new NPs through genome mining. Developing an integrated bioinformatic/experimental approach for discovering novel type II polyketides (PK-IIs) facilitates investigation of this family of NPs in an efficient, systematic way. Here, we developed an approach to analyze ketosynthase α/β (KSα/β) gene sequences to predict PK-II core structures, allowing us to target novel PK-II BGCs either from isolated genomic DNA or genomes from the NCBI databank, and to isolate novel PK-IIs produced by these …

Higuchi Fractal Dimension Of The Electroencephalogram As A Biomarker For Early Detection Of Alzheimer's Disease, Ali H. Al-Nuaimi, Emmanuel Jammeh, Lingfen Sun, Emmanuel Ifeachor

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics

No abstract provided.