Digital Commons Network^™

Who Would You Bring Home? People’S Perceptions Of Animal Adoptability, Nicole Gaglione

Center for Urban Resilience Research Posters

Although the motto “adopt don’t shop” has increased the general public’s awareness surrounding shelters and animal adoption, there is not a whole lot of information based on people’s perceptions of what makes an animal “adoptable” or not and how this impacts shelter animals’ quality of life. In one study, it was discovered how the act of shelter employees labeling each dog based on its breed could have a major impact on the dogs adoptability. So why is this? Why are people so caught up in the breed, attractiveness, age, health, or as one study describes the “sociability” of dogs as …

Genetic Diet Analysis Of Coyote Scat From Populations In Long Beach, Alexis Isaev, Matthew Sheridan

Center for Urban Resilience Research Posters

Interactions between humans and local wildlife are inherent to urbanization and have created a demand for management solutions. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are prominent in urban ecosystems and can potentially cause a variety of residential threats, as seen at Long Beach, CA. Currently, a project is underway assessing the coyote population, in order to better understand how the animals function in the city and how best to manage them. The main components of the study include monitoring coyote activity and dispersal patterns, how the urban environment affects coyote living strategies, and a dietary analysis. The dietary analysis has two components: a …

Frequency And Rate At Which Female Hummingbirds Tend Their Nests, David Ramirez

Center for Urban Resilience Research Posters

No abstract provided.

Attic Salt, 2018, Loyola Marymount University, The Honors Program

Attic Salt

No abstract provided.

A Mixed Method Review And Comparative Analysis Of Technology-Oriented Suicide Prevention Interventions For Adolescents And Adolescent Gatekeepers, Elizabeth Kreuze

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

This five-chapter dissertation compendium first introduces readers to the prevalence and impact of youth suicide, while also introducing readers to the important role gatekeepers can play in the prevention of youth suicide. Chapter one also describes the role of school personnel as gatekeepers who can be trained to address youth suicide prevention. Chapter two highlights technology-oriented suicide prevention interventions available to adolescents and adolescent gatekeepers. The efficacy and reach of these interventions, and the location and quality of supporting research evidence is explored and discussed. Chapter three describes federal and state guidelines regarding the training of school personnel as gatekeepers, …

From Model Building To 3d Printing: Star Trek And Build Code Across The Analog/Digital Divide, Bob Rehak

Film & Media Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Youth And Média-Engagé: Is This West Africa’S Heterolinguistic Cinéma-Monde?, Carina Yervasi

French & Francophone Studies Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake (Crotalus Adamanteus) Telemetry Techniques And Translocation, Michael Thomas Jungen

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Internal implantation of radio-transmitters is the preferred attachment technique for snakes, but the high costs and invasive nature of the surgery make a functional alternative desirable. External radio-transmitters are cost-effective alternatives to surgical implantation. Rattlesnake rattles are unique morphological features that can serve as an attachment site for external radio-transmitters. Using thread and epoxy, I attached transmitters to the rattles of eastern diamondback rattlesnakes (Crotalus adamanteus; EDB). I calculated average monitoring duration using radio telemetry data collected from 49 adult EDBs telemetered from 2014 to 2017 in coastal South Carolina. On average, we monitored EDBs for 189 ±78 days with …

Forced Child Unions: From Legal Reform To Social Disruption—Formative Research In Five Communities In Chisec, Alta Verapaz, Paola Broll, Cecilia Garcés

Poverty, Gender, and Youth

Evidence has shown that child early and forced marriage/unions (CEFM/U) are harmful to the rights and development of girls and adolescents. It has also shown that increasing the minimum marriage age is not enough to eradicate this phenomenon because of the underlying practices of social institutions at the community level. This report details an investigation undertaken when a modification to the Civil Code was approved, then modified, in order to increase the minimum age of marriage in Guatemala. The investigation aimed to identify the norms, practices, and attitudes prevailing in the school, family, religion, government, and economy with regard to …

Debunked, Discredited, But Still Defended: Why Prosecutors Resist Challenges To Bad Science And Some Suggestions For Crafting Remedies For Wrongful Conviction Based On Changed Science, Aviva Orenstein

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Communication Skills In Transactional Simulations, Eric J. Gouvin, Katherine M. Koops, James E. Moliterno, Carol E. Morgan, Carol D. Newman

Transactions: The Tennessee Journal of Business Law

No abstract provided.

A Will For Willa Cather, Thomas Simmons

Faculty Publications

Artists hold their creative works dear. Whether paintings, poems, or songs, their human creators treat them with special care and often desire that same care be exercised after death. Some may wish to ban the use of a song in a television commercial. Others may wish to stop their novel from being turned into an animated Disney movie. But directing particular uses of property from the grave can be met with several objections and legal impediments. The objections sound in alarmist responses to “dead hand control.” The impediments include the Rule Against Perpetuities, uncertainty, capriciousness, and the repugnancy of restraints …

Endocrine Active Chemicals In Breast Cancer Cells: Environmental Impacts On Growth, Signaling And Epigenetic Pathways, And Drug Response, Melissa Lynn Sokolosky

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Individuals living in industrialized regions of Westernized societies are exposed to environmental contaminants by many routes, including plastics, personal care items and other consumer products. Endocrine-active chemicals (EACs), many of which are estrogenic, have been detected in human biofluids and breast tissue, warranting investigation of roles in mammary tumorigenesis. This dissertation explores the molecular changes that occur in breast cancer cells upon treatment with relevant human exposure levels of bisphenol-A (BPA), methylparaben (MP), propylparaben (PP), and decabromodiphenyl ether (DBDE), including mixtures thereof with or without 17β-estradiol (E2). Nanomolar (nM) concentrations of these EACs induced viability increases in MCF-7 (ERα+) similar …

The Role Of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase Signaling In Mitochondrial Biogenesis And Renal Injury, Pallavi Bhargava

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase (sGC) is responsible for converting GTP to cyclic GMP (cGMP). sGC function and regulation is complex and cell -type dependent. An increase in cGMP production can target phosphodiesterases (PDEs), cGMP gated ion channels, and protein kinase G (PKG). Increasing sGC activity and inhibiting the degradation of cGMP by targeting PDEs are two approaches to maintaining cGMP levels in a given system. Interestingly, cGMP can also regulate mitochondrial biogenesis (MB), the generation of new and functional mitochondria. Previously in our laboratory, we have shown that MB is suppressed after ischemia and reperfusion (I/R) injury and certain mitochondrial biogenic …

Survival Mechanisms Of Porphyromonas Gingivalis In Human Primary Gingival Epithelial Cells: An Investigation Of Host Antibacterial Nox And Autophagy Systems, Joann Simone Roberts

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Porphyromonas gingivalis, an opportunistic pathogen usurps gingival epithelial cells (GECs) as a primary intracellular niche for its colonization in the oral mucosa. P. gingivalis abrogates the effects of host danger molecule, extracellular ATP (eATP)/P2X7 signaling, such as the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) via the mitochondria and NADPH oxidases (NOX) from primary GECs. Furthermore, P. gingivalis harnesses autophagic machinery to establish a replicative niche inside LC3-positive ER-rich autophagosomes. However, the antimicrobial functions of ROS production and precise characterization of the intracellular trafficking and fate of P. gingivalis in GECs are not well understood. Therefore, using a variety of phenotypic …

Exploring The Role Of Mirna-204 In Low Milk Supply, Clare Elizabeth Burton

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Breastfeeding is the optimal method for mothers to deliver nutrients to her newborn(s), providing both short- and long-term health benefits. Unfortunately, only 24% of infants receive exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, as recommended by the World Health Organization and American Academy of Pediatrics, with the most often cited reason for this being “low milk supply”. Low Milk Supply (LMS) is a real and growing problem in the United States, with at least 5-10% (approximately 200,000) mothers experiencing LMS in the US each year. We previously observed temporal expression of miR-204 during normal mammary gland development, which led us …

Characterization Of Early Acute Inflammation In A Mouse Calvarial Critical-Sized Defect: Augmentation Via Rhbmp-2 And Pglcnac Administration, Zachary James Grey

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

Background: Currently, the gold standard intervention for substantially large bone wounds is autologous bone grafting. While effective, this therapy is complicated by creation of an invasive second surgical site and limited material available for harvest. INFUSE® Bone Graft (rhBMP-2 delivered via an absorbable collagen sponge or ACS) has been widely used as a graft substitute, resulting in robust bone formation, but at the cost of increased inflammation and often poor healing outcomes. A better understanding of the mechanisms by which rhBMP-2 influences inflammatory processes and how these processes can be modulated through other therapies will inform future novel pharmacological avenues …

Scalable Feature Selection And Extraction With Applications In Kinase Polypharmacology, Derek Jones

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

In order to reduce the time associated with and the costs of drug discovery, machine learning is being used to automate much of the work in this process. However the size and complex nature of molecular data makes the application of machine learning especially challenging. Much work must go into the process of engineering features that are then used to train machine learning models, costing considerable amounts of time and requiring the knowledge of domain experts to be most effective. The purpose of this work is to demonstrate data driven approaches to perform the feature selection and extraction steps in …

Improving Table Scans For Trie Indexed Databases, Ethan Toney

Theses and Dissertations--Computer Science

We consider a class of problems characterized by the need for a string based identifier that reflect the ontology of the application domain. We present rules for string-based identifier schemas that facilitate fast filtering in databases used for this class of problems. We provide runtime analysis of our schema and experimentally compare it with another solution. We also discuss performance in our solution to a game engine. The string-based identifier schema can be used in addition scenarios such as cloud computing. An identifier schema adds metadata about an element. So the solution hinges on additional memory but as long as …

“Woodlands” - A Virtual Reality Serious Game Supporting Learning Of Practical Road Safety Skills., Krzysztof Szczurowski, Matt Smith

Conference Papers

In developed societies road safety skills are taught early and often practiced under the supervision of a parent, providing children with a combination of theoretical and practical knowledge. At some point children will attempt to cross a road unsupervised, at that point in time their safety depends on the effectiveness of their road safety education. To date, various attempts to supplement road safety education with technology were made. Most common approach focus on addressing declarative knowledge, by delivering road safety theory in an engaging fashion. Apart from expanding on text based resources to include instructional videos and animations, some stakeholders …

What Did The First Amendment Originally Mean?, Jud Campbell

Law Faculty Publications

The First Amendment says that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” For Americans, this language is familiar. But what exactly does it mean? How far do the speech and press clauses restrict governmental power? The founders, as we will see, answered these questions very differently than we typically do today. And the reasons why highlight fundamental shifts in American constitutional thought.

The Shadow In The Light: The Dark Romanticism Of Francisco De Goya, Elizabeth Burns-Dans

Theses

The work of Francisco de Goya (1746-1828) is impressive both in its skill, and in its scope; but perhaps most strikingly in its diversity. This diversity has cultivated a crisis-narrative of Goya’s life; his famed artistic darkness only appeared following significant ‘crisis moments’ in his life. This research contends with this narrative by analysing a collection of Goya’s earlier, lesser-known artworks, the Tapestry Cartoons. The cartoons provide a powerful comparison to the collections of his later years, such as the Black Paintings (1819–23) and the Disasters of War (1810–20). Framing this analysis is the influence of Dark Romanticism, which was …

Examining Nontherapeutic Circumcision, Stephen R. Munzer

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The article argues that male minors have a moral anticipatory right-in-trust not to be circumcised without a medical indication. Topics discussed include ethical, political, and intellectual persuasions of children's rights, parental rights, religious freedom; moral implications to circumcise male minors without a medical indication; and moral rights of male minors

Shining City On A Hill At The Edge Of Tomorrow: Crispr-Cas9, Dickey-Wicker, And The Inner Space Race, Zachary A. Zalewski

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The article highlights federal government funding of Targeted Genomic Editing (TGE) experimentation on human embryos, and recommends additional funding to accelerate scientific development and inquiry. Topics discussed include background of TGE, emphasizing CRISPR-Cas9 technology; risk of an emerging knowledge gap in this field; and legitimate concerns about what kinds of research are in the public and national interest.

Repositioning Of Omarigliptin As A Once-Weekly Intranasal Anti-Parkinsonian Agent, Bassam M. Ayoub, Shereen Mowaka, Marwa M. Safar, Nermeen Ashoush, Mona Arafa, Haidy E. Michel, Mariam M. Tadros, Mohamed M. Elmazar, Shaker A. Mousa

Pharmacy

© 2018 The Author(s). Drug repositioning is a revolution breakthrough of drug discovery that presents outstanding privilege with already safer agents by scanning the existing candidates as therapeutic switching or repurposing for marketed drugs. Sitagliptin, vildagliptin, saxagliptin & linagliptin showed antioxidant and neurorestorative effects in previous studies linked to DPP-4 inhibition. Literature showed that gliptins did not cross the blood brain barrier (BBB) while omarigliptin was the first gliptin that crossed it successfully in the present work. LC-MS/MS determination of once-weekly anti-diabetic DPP-4 inhibitors; omarigliptin & trelagliptin in plasma and brain tissue was employed after 2 h of oral administration …

International Cybertorts: Expanding State Accountability In Cyberspace, Rebecca Crootof

Law Faculty Publications

States are not being held accountable for the vast majority of their harmful cyberoperations, largely because classifications created in physical space do not map well onto the cyber domain. Most injurious and invasive cyberoperations are not cybercrimes and do not constitute cyberwarfare, nor are states extending existing definitions of wrongful acts permitting countermeasures to cyberoperations (possibly to avoid creating precedent restricting their own activities). Absent an appropriate label, victim states have few effective and nonescalatory responsive options, and the harms associated with these incidents lie where they fall.

This Article draws on tort law and international law principles to construct …

Giles, The Confrontation Clause, And Inferred Intent: Do Abusers Forfeit Their Confrontation Rights By Engaging In Domestic Violence?, Evan Stastny

Law Student Publications

This Prosecuting those accused of domestic violence presents an array of challenges for prosecutors. These crimes are frequently a he-said, she-said situation with minimal physical evidence. This puts a heavy weight on victim testimony in order to obtain a conviction. Unfortunately, many victims refuse to testify at the outset, agree to testify then change their minds, or do not show up for the court date. Without that testimony, prosecutors will often drop the charges against an accused, possibly putting the victim at risk of another episode of violence.

Justice Scalia opened the door to the possibility of a prosecutor being …

Optical Mapping Of Cardiac Electromechanics, Hanyu Zhang

All ETDs from UAB

Sudden cardiac arrest is a leading cause of death in the world. One of the common causes of sudden cardiac arrest is acute regional ischemia due to coronary occlusion. However, the mechanism of arrhythmia onset in this setting is still unclear. Previous stud-ies suggest that abnormal mechanical stretch during acute regional ischemia may play a role in initiating arrhythmia through triggering ectopic electrical activation. Optical map-ping has been widely used in cardiac electrophysiological research in the past decades. Compared with conventional electrical mapping techniques, optical mapping offers a number of advantages. But a major limitation of optical mapping is that …

Overcoming Obesity-Induced Immunotherapeutic Impairment, Shannon Boi

All ETDs from UAB

Obesity affects ~40% of United States adults and is linked to the development of multiple health-related complications. Obesity is a major risk factor for developing renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the most common type of renal cancer. Metastatic RCC has poor five-year survivals, therefore, new, efficacious therapeutics are needed. One avenue is immunomodulation to generate tumor-specific, systemic anti-tumor responses that are long-lasting against local, metastatic, and recurrent tumors. Despite encouraging results, immunotherapeutic treatment of RCC is underwhelming. Cytokine therapies are largely toxic, while newly FDA-approved ‘checkpoint blockade’ (CB) antibodies have responses <50%. Here, we present a strategy employing a T cell priming therapy (AdTR/CpG) upstream of CB administration. Combinatorial use resulted in improved anti-tumoral immune responses, significantly reduced tumor burdens, and extended overall survival in pre-clinical RCC. Importantly, this approach was more efficacious than either single agent(s). Pre-clinical therapy development is often accomplished using lean, healthy animals–thus, to improve translatability we examined immune responses in the context of obesity as a major patient comorbidity. Subsequently, we investigated AdTR/CpG/CB in diet-induced obese (DIO) mice. Tumor/treatment-naïve DIO mice exhibited obesity-associated features; i.e., increased leptin/insulin and serum cytokines. These effects were not dependent on high-fat diet administration as mice resistant to weight gain had minimal alterations in these factors, and were similar to mice maintained on standard chow. As previously identified, 80% of DIO mice bearing renal tumors failed to respond to AdTR/CpG. AdTR/CpG/CB-treatment dramatically improved response rates against DIO tumors, however, decreased obese responder percentages were observed in both combinatorial therapies and was independent of high fat diet administration alone. Impaired response rates were not model or immunotherapy-specific as similar reductions in tumor clearance were seen in models of melanoma and sarcoma. Furthermore, responses were not due to initial T cell priming or unequal precursor CD8+ T cell frequencies. Detrimental changes in the tumor microenvironment underscored failure in obese mice and revealed therapeutic success was defined by a T cell-myeloid cell-inversion profile, supported by immunogenetic and flow cytometric analyses. Thus, we demonstrate a novel combinatorial approach for improving checkpoint-based outcomes, and identify the ability of host obesity to impede therapy-induced anti-tumor immunity.

St6gal-I Sialyltransferase Regulates The Activity Of Surface Receptors To Control Cell Signaling In Cancer And Immune Cells, Andrew Holdbrooks

All ETDs from UAB

Among the four classes of biological macromolecules, glycans are essential for proper cellular functioning. However, our knowledge of the contribution of these sugars, including the glycosyltransferases that add them, to cell signaling is limited. This dissertation focuses on the role of the ST6Gal-I sialyltransferase in modulating receptor-mediated signal transduction in cancer and inflammation. ST6Gal-I is a Golgi enzyme that conjugates α2-6-linked sialic acids to N-linked glycans on select glycoproteins. Through its sialylation of surface receptors, ST6Gal-I activity can significantly modify their function. The first section of this dissertation concentrates on the ST6Gal-I-mediated regulation of the signaling pathway of TNFR1, which …