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Virulence Regulation In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Via The Alginate Regulators, Algu And Algr, The Posttranscriptional Regulator, Rsma, And The Two-Component System, Algz/R, Sean Stacey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a Gram-negative bacillus able to colonize a wide variety of environments. In the human host, P. aeruginosa can establish an acute infection or persist and create a chronic infection. P. aeruginosa is able to establish a niche and persist in human hosts by using a wide array of virulence factors used for: movement, killing host cells, and evading immune cells and antibiotics. Understanding virulence factors and their regulation has proved to be an important means of combating the morbidity and mortality of P. aeruginosa as well as the ever-increasing threat of drug resistance. By targeting virulence factors …

Public Perceptions On Domestic Sex Trafficking And Domestic Sex Trafficking Victims: A Quantitative Analysis, Faith Browder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sex trafficking is a grossly misconstrued and increasing issue within the United States. The purpose of this study was to extend current knowledge regarding the public’s education on domestic sex trafficking and perceptions of domestic sex trafficking victims. The public’s awareness of domestic sex trafficking and perceptions of domestic sex trafficking victims were examined through the utilization of a 31 closed-ended question survey. The survey included questions about domestic sex trafficking and prostitution myths, domestic sex trafficking victim characteristics, domestic sex trafficking legislation, law enforcement’s involvement in domestic sex trafficking cases, and demographics. The sample consisted of 195 Criminal Justice …

Extraction And Purification Of Biologically Active Metabolites From Rhodococcus Sp. Mtm3w5.2, Mohrah Alenazi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Rhodococcushas been recognized as a potential antibiotic producer. Recently, a strain of Rhodococcussp. MTM3W5.2 was isolated from a soil sample collected in Morristown, Tennessee and was found to produce an inhibitory compound which is active against other related species. The purpose of this research is to extract, purify and analyze the active metabolite. The compound was extracted from RM broth cultures and purified by preliminary fractionation of crude extract through a Sephadex LH-20 column. Further purification was completed using semi-preparative reversed phase column chromatography. Final purification was obtained using multiple rounds of an analytical C18 HPLC column. Based …

The Determinants Of Affect, Emotional Arousal, And Autobiographical Memories On Music-Evoked Nostalgia, Alycia Sterenberg

Masters Theses

The purpose of this study is to further explore both person – level and context – level constructs established by Barrett et al. (2010) in relation to music-evoked nostalgia. This study also measures the strength of the relationship between self-reported arousal levels and electrodermal activity (EDA) as well as if they are good predictors of nostalgia. Methods include listening to personalized playlists to elicit feelings of nostalgia while electrodermal activity collects changes in arousal. Participants then answer questions of song familiarity, pleasure, arousal, and autobiographical salience to gather context – level constructs. Results indicate that both person – level and …

Fat Bias And Culture Shock: Psychosocial Adjustments In Post-Obesity Life, Scott Thomas Macpherson

Masters Theses

Obesity in the United States is unprecedented levels, affecting adults and children as well. As our society has become for sedentary since industrialization, the nation has become fatter. The escalating rate of obesity has had a negative effect on the health of millions of Americans. Health problems such as metabolic disorders and other comorbidities, for instance, hypertension, Type II diabetes, heart disease, weight related cancers etc., (Mozaffarian and Benjamin 2013). The collective cost of obesity is to the nation is staggering, weighing in at $270 billion a year, childhood obesity costs nearly $15 billion alone (Hammond and Levine 2010). This …

December 2018 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Galleria Mellonella As An Alternate Infection Model For Burkholderia Species And A Comparison Of Suspension And Surface Test Methods For Evaluating Sporicidal Efficacy, Joseph D. Thiriot

Theses and Dissertations

Melioidosis is a neglected tropical disease that continues unabated in many countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. There is no vaccine and antimicrobial treatment is expensive and complicated. Virulence models are important tools used to investigate genes involved in pathogenesis. Galleria mellonella is the larvae of the wax worm moth that has been used to model various infections. Based on previous studies, we attempted to establish an infection model using Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia thailandensis, a related species which is avirulent in humans. Injections of various forms of these species (fresh and frozen) were used to develop Kaplan-Meier plots. We …

Propensity To Trust And The Impact On The Academic Success Of Student-Athletes: Implications For Athletic Officials In Higher Education, Trevor Thomas Wilson

Theses and Dissertations

Student-athletes enter higher education in the United States with diverse backgrounds and academic preparation. In some cases, student-athletes are underprepared for the academic rigor, social structure, and ethical expectations of these institutions. Athletic coaches are charged with the recruitment of highly skilled, competitive, and prepared student-athletes, while other athletic officials are responsible to provide the proper academic support, care, and overall well-being of student-athletes. If coaches, athletic administrators, advisors, and learning specialists could identify educational and demographic patterns related to student-athletes' propensity to trust, they would be better equipped to gain these students' trust and help them navigate the stress …

Endocytosis As An Additional Mechanism Of Glucose Transport To The Hexose Transporter In Trypanosoma Brucei, Jongsu Choi

Theses and Dissertations

Trypanosoma brucei is an extracellular kineotoplastid parasite that causes human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness. As trypanosomes undergo vector to host transition, heavy transcriptional adaptation such as metabolic shift to glycolysis and upregulated endocytosis occurs. Specifically, glycolysis in the infectious stage becomes the sole source of energy production; thus, the glucose transport mechanism in T. brucei provides one of the most promising therapeutic targets for development of new drugs to treat HAT. Despite an established trypanosome hexose transporter (THT) model for glucose transport across the plasma membrane, there remains gaps in the detailed mechanism of glucose transport …

Heber J. Grant: A Study Of Gospel-Oriented Family Relatonships, Robert Richard Pommerening

Theses and Dissertations

Heber J. Grant: A Study of Gospel-Oriented Family RelationshipsRobert Richard Pommerening IIIDepartment of Religious Education, BYUMaster of ArtsUnder the direction of President Gordon B. Hinckley, the fifteenth president of TheChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Church released the document, The Family: AProclamation to the World. The Proclamation outlines core values of family life, which ifconsistently practiced can lead to successful family relationships. Through a study of hispersonal journals, letters, and recorded anecdotes from his life, these values can be identified inHeber J. Grants life. As one studies the Proclamation alongside President Grant (particularly theinteractions he had with his …

Combining Faithfulness With Learning: Avoiding The Path Of Secularization At Brigham Young University, J. Gordon Daines Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Most research universities in the United States began as religiously affiliated institutions. Beginning in the late 19th century and continuing over the course of the 20th century, the vast majority of these institutions engaged in a process of secularization through which faith moved from the center of academic life to the periphery. This paper elucidates a conceptual framework for understanding how and why Brigham Young University did not follow the path of secularization that so many research universities, originally religious in nature, pursued. It examines the steps that the university and its sponsoring institution (The Church of Jesus Christ of …

Using Non-Destructive Testing To Predict Bending Modulus Of Carbon Infiltrated-Carbon Nanotubes, Fred Stile Fagergren

Theses and Dissertations

Fabrication of carbon infiltrated carbon nanotubes (CI-CNT) can result in large mechanical property variation, and methods to characterize properties usually involve destructive testing. Finding a non-destructive way to test for stiffness of this material reduces the number of parts that have to be made. It also simplifies testing of complex parts. The stiffness of CI-CNT beams is related to the type of carbon material infiltrated between the carbon nanotubes (CNTs), how it interacts with the CNTs, and how much of it there is. The amount of material can be estimated using the density of the beam, and both the type …

Contributions Of Target-Lure Similarity And Sensory Modality To Lure False Alarms, Daniel Kent Bjornn

Theses and Dissertations

The processes of pattern separation and pattern completion are very important in the correct discrimination of similar memories. Much research has been conducted on these processes, but there are some gaps that need to be addressed. First, there is some debate as to whether false alarms to lure items come about because of a failure to accurately encode a memory or a failure to retrieve a memory. Second, much of the research on pattern separation and pattern completion in humans is done with visual stimuli and contributions of stimulus modality to these processes are not well understood as a result.Study …

Normally Supportive Sublattices Of Crystallographic Space Groups, Miles A. Clemens

Theses and Dissertations

Normal subgroups can be thought of as the primary building blocks for decomposing mathematicalgroups into quotient groups. The properties of the resulting quotient groups are oftenused to determine properties of the group itself. This thesis considers normal subgroups of threedimensionalcrystallographic space groups that are themselves three-dimensional crystallographicspace groups; for convenience, we refer to such a subgroup as a csg-normal subgroup. We identifypractical restrictions on csg-normal subgroups that facilitate their tabulation. First, the point groupof an csg-normal subgroup must be a normal subgroup of the crystallographic point group of thespace group, which we refer to for convenience as a cpg-normal subgroup. …

Predicting Speaking, Listening, And Reading Proficiency Gains During Study Abroad Using Social Network Metrics, Timothy James Hall

Theses and Dissertations

L2 proficiency gains during study abroad vary widely across individuals and programs, and much of the research in the study abroad literature attempts to identify the causes of this variance. Social network data has proven useful in explaining some of the variance in oral proficiency gains (Baker-Smemoe, Dewey, Bown, & Martinsen, 2014; Isabelli-García, 2006), and the current study builds on those findings by applying the same methodology to listening and reading proficiency in addition to speaking. Proficiency gains in listening, reading, and speaking were measured for 17 students from a US university studying abroad in Nanjing, China for one semester. …

Alaska’S Merit Selection Of Judges: The Council’S Role, Past And Present, Teri White Carns, Susie Mason Dosik

Alaska Law Review

Delegates to Alaska's Constitutional Convention adopted a Judiciary Article that called for the state's judges to be selected and retained in a merit selection system. Modeled after the "Missouri Plan," attorneys applying for judgeships are reviewed by the Judicial Council; two or more candidates are nominated to the governor; the governor appoints from the Council's list; and all judges periodically stand for retention in the general elections. Alaska's Judicial Council is composed of three non-attorneys appointed by the governor and confirmed by the legislature, three attorneys appointed by the Alaska Bar Board of Governors, and the Chief Justice who serves …

Judicializing History: Mass Crimes Trials And The Historian As Expert Witness In West Germany, Cambodia, And Bangladesh, Rebecca Gidley, Mathew Turner

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Henry Rousso warned that the engagement of historians as expert witnesses in trials, particularly highly politicized proceedings of mass crimes, risks a judicialization of history. This article tests Rousso’s argument through analysis of three quite different case studies: the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial; the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; and the International Crimes Tribunal in Bangladesh. It argues that Rousso’s objections misrepresent the Frankfurt Auschwitz trial, while failing to account for the engagement of historical expertise in mass atrocity trials beyond Europe. Paradoxically, Rousso’s criticisms are less suited to the European context that represents his purview, and apply more …

Straining To Prevent The Rohingya Genocide: A Sociology Of Law Perspective, Katherine Southwick

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This paper analyzes the generally muted international response to the protracted plight of the Rohingya, a persecuted Muslim minority in Myanmar, from the perspective of sociology of law. The first part provides background on the Rohingya crisis and discusses relevant international legal frameworks relating to crimes against humanity and genocide. The second part adapts analytical frameworks developed by Felstiner, Abel, and Sarat on the emergence and transformation of disputes, in order to examine some of the factors that frustrate the processes of naming crimes, blaming perpetrators, and claiming rights and protection for the Rohingya minority in the international context. Work …

Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (Egfr) Inhibition By Polychlorinated Biphenyls Contributes To Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (Nafld)., Josiah Hardesty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes how poly-chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) exacerbate the pathogenesis of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). While PCBs were banned in 1979, they still persist in contaminated biota, including food, and are detected in human plasma and adipose. The body burden of PCBs is associated with elevation of liver enzymes and necrosis markers in humans, characteristic of NAFLD. PCB exposure in high-fat diet fed mice leads to steatohepatitis that recapitulate the findings seen in exposed humans. The global estimate of people diagnosed with NAFLD is up to 1 in 4 people, unrelated to dietary or genetic factors. The hepatic mechanisms …

Efficient Counterfactual Learning From Bandit Feedback, Yusuke Narita, Shota Yasui, Kohei Yata

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

What is the most statistically efficient way to do off-policy optimization with batch data from bandit feedback? For log data generated by contextual bandit algorithms, we consider offline estimators for the expected reward from a counterfactual policy. Our estimators are shown to have lowest variance in a wide class of estimators, achieving variance reduction relative to standard estimators. We then apply our estimators to improve advertisement design by a major advertisement company. Consistent with the theoretical result, our estimators allow us to improve on the existing bandit algorithm with more statistical confidence compared to a state-of-theart benchmark.

The Sociality Of Post-Truth: Neoliberal Culture And Its Rationality, Debbie Sonu

Publications and Research

As said by Hannah Arendt (1951), “being right has nothing to do with the objective truthfulness of the Leader's statements which cannot be disproved by facts, but only by future success or failure” (p. 383). Thus, the only reassurance audiences need in a post-truth culture is the constant reassurance that he, the leader, is winning, winning, winning. If post-truth signifies an appeal to the emotional drive irrespective of factual or rational truth, how does post-truth emerge and what are the conditions that feed this possibility? What in this society has ignited the affirmation of white nationalism, authoritarian leadership, and the …

Instructor Humor As A Tool To Increase Student Engagement, Carl Christman

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As various stakeholders examine the value and quality of higher education, a greater emphasis is being put on educational outcomes. There is constant focus on improving the quality of undergraduate education and one of the keys to this is understanding what makes a good instructor. Effective instructors rely on a variety of tools and techniques to engage their students and help them learn. One common tool that instructors in higher education rely on in the classroom is humor.

The primary research question this study is attempting to answer is: In what ways, if any, does humor infused instruction promote high …

Investigating Employability: Testing The Raw Framework, Daniell Jean Study

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In a recent model of employability, Hogan, Chamorro-Premuzic, and Kaiser (2013) defined employability as the ability to gain and maintain employment and find new employment when necessary. The authors presented employability as a formative construct containing an ability dimension (the ability to do the job), a social skills dimension (being rewarding to work with), and a motivational dimension (being willing to work hard). There is no question as to whether these three dimensions affect one’s level of employability; research is abundant on the positive relationships between intelligence, social and emotional skills, motivation and career success. However, little research has been …

C.L. Sonnichsen Special Collections Department Newsletter, Special Collections

UTEP Library

Electronic newsletter of the UTEP Special Collections Department.

Crude Oil Prices Forecasting: Time Series Vs. Svr Models, Xin James He

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This research explores the weekly crude oil price data from U.S. Energy Information Administration over the time period 2009 - 2017 to test the forecasting accuracy by comparing time series models such as simple exponential smoothing (SES), moving average (MA), and autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) against machine learning support vector regression (SVR) models. The main purpose of this research is to determine which model provides the best forecasting results for crude oil prices in light of the importance of crude oil price forecasting and its implications to the economy. While SVR is often considered the best forecasting model in …

Table Of Contents Jitim Vol 27 Issue 3, 2018

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Table of Contents

Using Sas™ Software To Enhance Pedagogy For Text Mining And Sentiment Analysis Using Social Media (Twitter™) Data, Ramesh Subramanian, Danielle Cote

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This pedagogical paper describes how a graduate course in Text Mining was developed and taught in a fully online format at Quinnipiac University. The software used was SAS™ Enterprise Miner. This paper discusses the design, software used and the methodology followed in the course. A critical component of the course required the students to delve deep into social media data by completing a detailed project on analyzing sentiment analysis using large files of social media data. A sample report of this project, which was a key deliverable for the course, is described at length in this paper.

The Relationship Between Organizational Resources And Green It/S Adoption: A Rbv Approach, Lutfus Sayeed, Alberto Onetti

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

ABSTRACT

The objective of the present study was to empirically explore the impact of the implementation of Green IT/S measures on organizational resources in the US and European firms. The study examined the influence of reconfiguration of resources within a firm while adopting various Green IT/S practices and technologies. Green IT/S implementation requires resource commitment from organizations (Bose and Luo, 2011). What are these resources and how do they affect the extent of Green IT/S measures adopted by businesses? Resource Based View (RBV) of the firm was used as the theoretical framework of the study. The relationship between the adoption …

Du'notte Travel Agency, Zor Alexander, Special Collections, Fleet Library

5th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2019

No abstract provided.

Strike Anywhere, Cynthia Qiao, Special Collections, Fleet Library

5th Baker & Whitehill Student Artists' Book Contest 2019

No abstract provided.