Digital Commons Network^™

The Bzip Transcription Factor Spa Heterodimerizing Protein Represses Glutenin Synthesis In Triticum Aestivum, Anne Plessis, Julie Boudet, Jean Charles Gaudin, Marielle Merlino, Mireille Dardevet, Sibille Perrochon, David Alvarez, Thierry Risacher, Pierre Martre, Catherine Ravel

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

No abstract provided.

Naturalizing Knowledge: The Project Of Evolutionary Epistemology, Dmitriy Cherchenko

University Honors Theses

Traditional epistemology deals with questions about the possible sources of knowledge, the conditions which make a belief an item of knowledge, and the extent to which we can know, as well as the nature of justification and what can make a belief justified for someone. Evolutionary epistemology (EE) breaks from TE to avoid its perceived shortcomings by both dismissing some traditional questions and emphasizing new, related questions that are more readily answerable given what we know about the biology and phylogenetic history of humans. The new questions assume that we are physical, naturally evolved beings and that cognition can be …

Relative Contribution Of Plaques, Tangles, And Pkan Neurons In Patients With Cognitive Impairment, Vy H. Nguyen

University Honors Theses

Dementia is cognitive impairment often associated with old age diseases namely, Alzheimer's Disease. However, contrary to popular beliefs, dementia is divided into multiple subgroups according to age and disease progression. Interestingly, patients in the older subgroups often do not display characteristic pathologies, such as beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, in high abundance as observed in patients with Alzheimer's Disease. Instead, cerebrovascular disease in the form of large or many smaller strokes is more commonly present. A notable novel observation made in the older group has been nonviable but preserved "mummified" neurons which resemble those found in an inherited, childhood disease …

Breaking Binary Being In The Future Fiction Of Star Trek, Jeremiah D. Ackerman

University Honors Theses

Understanding "gender" is more complicated than traditional views of the male sex equating to being a man, and female sex equating to being a woman. This gender binary coding does not accurately represent a large number of people who identify as agender (not of a gender), or gender-fluid (not having a fixed gender.) I am investigating to what extent Star Trek (which is a science fiction often accredited with the premise of representing humanity's more equitable future society) reproduces traditional gender roles or offers alternate gender identities. I look at literature from other scholars about gender performances in Star Trek …

Risk Communication In Lactation Consulting, Stephanie Elliott

University Honors Theses

Breastfeeding has well-established benefits for lifelong health, and public health initiatives have long concerned themselves with increasing breastfeeding rates. There is a debate within the lactation community about whether breastfeeding promotion should emphasize the benefits of breastfeeding or the risks of formula feeding. Benefit-based messaging is the established norm in both public health campaigns and interpersonal counseling by health professionals. Proponents of risk-based messaging point to breastfeeding as the biological norm and argue that formula feeding should always be situated against the norm of breastfeeding. In order to understand the philosophical underpinnings of risk-messaging, the efficacy of each method, and …

Norse And Super-Refractory Status Epilepticus: A Single-Center Retrospective Chart Review, Manaz Rezayee

University Honors Theses

Rationale: New-Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus (NORSE) is a rare life-threatening condition in previously healthy patients who develop new-onset medically-refractory status epilepticus of unclear etiology.¹NORSE commonly leads to super-refractory status epilepticus (SRSE), a severe form of status epilepticus for which seizures persist despite 24 hours of adequate anti-seizure and anesthetic treatment. The goal of this study is to examine the clinical characteristics and epidemiology of super-refractory NORSE, a subset of SRSE, to determine risk and prognostic factors associated with this rare condition, and mortality rates.

Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study of all cases of SRSE admitted to …

Predicting Cost Of Care In Total Hip Replacement, Cecily Corrine Froemke, Martin Zwick

Complex Systems Faculty Publications and Presentations

Legislative reforms aimed at slowing growth of US healthcare costs are focused on achieving greater value per dollar. To increase value healthcare providers must not only provide high quality care, but deliver this care at a sustainable cost. Predicting risks that may lead to poor outcomes and higher costs enable providers to augment decision making for optimizing patient care and inform the risk stratification necessary in emerging reimbursement models. Healthcare delivery systems are looking at their high volume service lines and identifying variation in cost and outcomes in order to determine the patient factors that are driving this variation and …

Sorbent Enrichment Performance Of Aromatic Compounds From Diluted Liquid Solution, Le Meng

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Sorbent enrichment is treated as the extend sample preparing method from liquid extraction. The theories of liquid extraction also extend to sorbent enrichment, which is based on the distribution equilibrium. With the development of advanced materials, sorbents have been improved dramatically in the past twenty years. Nowadays, more and more enrichment performance cannot be explained from the angle of distribution model.

Herein, the sorption model is emphasized in this study. As the majority exist, aromatic compounds are the focused class of analytes. This study analyzed the sorption from two factors, the interaction between adsorbate and sorbent from their aromaticity, and …

Examining Work-Life Balance Of Female Faculty In Chair Roles At Medical Academic Institutions: A Phenomenological Study, Stephanie N. Dunn

Human Resource Development Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to explore the work-life balance of women in Chair positions within medical academic institutions and to research their ability to balance roles at work and home. The study wanted to investigate the impact of a prestigious leadership position on their lives. The study explored the reason for their success in such a male-dominated position and how they obtained such a position. The women who participated in this study gave accounts for their triumphs and disappointments during the data collection phase of the study.

This research was a phenomenological study based on three theoretical …

Resolving Authorship Disputes By Mediation And Arbitration, Zen Faulkes

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Background Disputes over authorship are increasing. This paper examines the options that researchers have in resolving authorship disputes. Discussions about authorship disputes often address how to prevent disputes but rarely address how to resolve them. Both individuals and larger research communities are harmed by the limited options for dispute resolution. Main body When authorship disputes arise after publication, most existing guidelines recommend that the authors work out the disputes between themselves. But this is unlikely to occur, because there are often large power differentials between team members, and institutions (e.g., universities, funding agencies) are unlikely to have authority over all …

Social Transmission Of Ethanol Preference In A Sign-Tracking Paradigm, Pat Severino

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The Observer/ Demonstrator Effect suggests that rats can socially obtain preferences for novel foods/drugs by interacting with experienced conspecifics. Sign-tracking is a paradigm which uses a conditioning procedure to evoke compulsive-like behaviors directed towards a tangible conditioned stimulus (CS) paired with a motivating unconditioned stimulus (US). The present study investigated the possibility that increased alcohol use results from the combination of socially transmitted cues and the kind of conditioning effect seen in sign-tracking procedures. Therefore, it was hypothesized that social exposure to an alcohol-experienced conspecific would summate with the conditioning experience and increase the sign-tracking of a bottle CS containing …

Learning In The Margins: The Educational Experiences Of An African American Male With Disabilities, Aisha Holmes

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

African American males with disabilities meet challenges in K-12 public education and higher education. Educational practices often focus on a deficit interpretation of the abilities of African American males with disabilities. Educational stakeholders who do not reflect their layered identities of race, gender, ability, and socioeconomic status often make educational decisions for this student population. The purpose of this study is to include in the educational conversations the voice of an African American male with disabilities who experienced K-12 public education and higher education. Using narrative inquiry and analyzed through the lens of DisCrit, findings from the study revealed two …

Fatty Acid Amides And Their Biosynthetic Enzymes Found In Insect Model Systems, Ryan L. Anderson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A fatty acid amide is precisely as the name suggests: A fatty acid (CHn-COOH), in which the hydroxyl group of the carboxylic acid is displaced by an amine functional group from a biogenic amine (R-NH2), ultimately forming an amide bond. Furthermore, these fatty acid amides can be composed of a variety of different acyl chain lengths donated by the fatty acid and a myriad of different biogenic amines. Thus, these molecules can be subdivided in a number of different ways including the separation of short chain (acetyl to heptanoyl) and long chain (palmitoyl to arachidonoyl) and also based off the …

Teacher Attitude And Self-Efficacy Differences Regarding English Language Learners And Disabled Learners., Miriam Carballo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

There has been little research combining both groups of students who were English Language Learners (ELLs) and Exceptional Student Education (ESE) students in relation to teacher attitudes and self-efficacy. The purpose of this study was to compare teacher attitudes and self-efficacy related to instructing either ELLs with or without disabilities in elementary schools

Teachers from six elementary schools in the XYZ Excellence School District participated in a 52-item comprehensive survey. Two questionnaires and the demographic form were combined to create one comprehensive questionnaire totaling 52 questions for the purposes of this study. Teachers were solicited to participate in the study …

Pursuing Resilience Of Coastal Communities Through Sustainable And Integrated Urban Water Management, Pacia Díaz

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Reliability of water supply in the urban setting has become essential for communities to function and thrive. It is needed for more than mere human consumption and well-being. Although modern cities have water treatment and distribution systems, pressures from urbanization, population growth and the anticipated pressures of climate change are affecting the quality of water supply and the reliability of treatment and distribution systems. There is therefore an urgent need to take appropriate measures to improve the resilience of water supply systems before the impacts are irreversible.

Improving the resilience of water supply systems can be a challenge. In the …

Cyclophilin 40 As A Novel Disaggregase, Jeremy Dustin Baker

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The negative health and economic impacts of neurodegenerative diseases on Americans is astounding and accelerating with an aging population. The Alzheimer’s Association reports that 5.7 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a number which is expected to increase to 14 million by 2050. In economic terms, AD and other neurodegenerative disorders will cost the US over $275 billion in 2018, rising to over $1 trillion annually by 2050. AD causes gross brain atrophy and is most damaging throughout the cortex and the hippocampus, regions required for higher cognitive function and memory. AD presents as tangles within neurons composed of …

Actinomycin D And Telmisartan Combination Therapy Targets Lung Cancer Stem Cells, Ryan Green

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The failure of lung cancer treatments has been attributed partly to the development of drug resistance, however the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are poorly understood. It has been suggested that a very small group of specific cells within the heterogeneous tumors, cancer initiating stem cells (CSC), develop resistance to treatment, survive and later initiate the growth of new tumors. Due to their pivotal role in maintenance and relapse of tumors following the acquisition of drug resistance, we reasoned that novel drugs targeting cancer cells and CSC might provide the most effective treatments, if not a cure. To this end, …

Uv-B Radiation And The Green Tide-Forming Macroalga Ulva, Mt Brown

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Introduction. For plants, sunlight not only provides a source of energy to drive primary production, but also information to guide photo-morphogenesis and reproduction (Kendrick and Kronenberg 1994). Also light in the 400-700 nm waveband range (photosynthetic active radiation, PAR) solar radiation reaching the earth’s surface contains a small fraction of ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B; 280-320 nm), which is harmful to plants. UV-B quanta have high levels of energy and are effectively absorbed by important biological molecules, such as DNA, proteins, and lipids, which subsequently get destroyed. UV-B radiation directly alters the structure of DNA and indirectly damages nucleic acids (Mitchell and …

Lindenwood Digest, November 16, 2018, Lindenwood University

Lindenwood Digest

The Lindenwood Digest has been a digital employee newsletter since 2009.

My Experience In Swaziland With Give Hope, Fight Poverty, Megan Kaser

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Megan Kaser, a recent 2017 alum in the College of Health and Human Sciences at Purdue University, describes her experience with Give Hope, Fight Poverty (GHFP)—a nonprofit organization in Indianapolis, Indiana. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in physician assistant studies. GHFP’s mission is “to foster philanthropy domestically by designing service-learning programs that engage U.S. college students with rural communities in Swaziland, Africa, and work together to educate, empower, and lift orphaned and vulnerable children—particularly those living in child-headed households— out of poverty” (Give Hope, Fight Poverty, n.d.). By incorporating college students in the implementation of GHFP orphan education …

"Wrapping" Up In Kenya: A Student’S Learning Experience In Eldoret, Kenya, Alexander R. Mills, Monica L. Miller, Rakhi Karwa, Sonak D. Pastakia, Aileen Y. Chang, Edith Tonui, Sara Fletcher, Phelix Were, Ellen Schellhase

Purdue Journal of Service-Learning and International Engagement

Alexander R. Mills received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree in May 2017 and has completed a PGY-1 community-based pharmacy practice resident with Walgreen Company and Purdue University College of Pharmacy. During his time at Purdue, he was heavily involved with Purdue’s chapter of The American Red Cross Club, serving as the president and coordinator of community outreach programs. Upon completing his PGY-1, he will continue to pursue his aspirations to care for the medically underserved while currently completing a PGY-2 residency specializing in ambulatory care and academia at the University of Mississippi in Jackson.

Diffusion And Stability Of Magnetic Nanoparticles In Complex And Biological Fluids, Carlos Rinaldi

Amgen Seminar Series in Chemical Engineering

Magnetic nanoparticles are of interest in a variety of applications that take advantage of their manipulation using externally applied magnetic fields. In this talk I will summarize our recent work on characterizing the diffusion and stability of magnetic nanoparticles in complex and biological fluids through their response to time-varying magnetic fields. I will discuss the physical principles of this measurement technique and then demonstrate how quantitative measurements can be made accurately in simple fluids. Then I will show results for nanoparticles suspended in complex fluids, such as gelling solutions, polymer solutions, and polymer melts. Finally, I will present results for …

The Development Of Hybrid Lipid-Polymer Nanoparticle Architectures For The Sustained-Release Of Small Hydrophilic Molecules, Keegan Curry, Jill M. Steinbach-Rankins Dr.

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Introduction: Polymeric nanoparticles (NPs) have been utilized as drug delivery vehicles for a variety of applications. However, achieving sustained-release of small hydrophilic agents is a primary challenge for their use in prolonged delivery applications.

Objective: This study investigates how novel lipid-polymer hybrid particle architectures can be used to improve the release profile of small hydrophilic encapsulants. Here, PLGA NPs were produced via electrospraying and emulsions. Particles with a core-shell architecture were produced via coaxial electrospraying and the ability of this architecture to sustain release was examined. In addition, we combined polymeric core-shell NPs with a lipid coating to improve biocompatibility, …

Elevated Calcium Levels In Kentucky Lake: A Possible Emerging Problem With An Invasive Species, Adam T. Martin

Posters-at-the-Capitol

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) are an exotic and invasive mollusk that have spread extensively through various rivers and lakes in the United States. These mussels are notorious for their “biofouling” capabilities costing billions of dollars in their removal from industrial, public, and power plant water supply lines. While having been present in the Tennessee River drainage with occasional small reproducing populations since the early 1990s, zebra mussels were never abundant or widespread. In 2017, high densities were found on structures and solid substrates throughout the lower portion of Kentucky Lake. Calcium is one of the essential elements that contributes …

Holistic, Ethical Leadership For The 21st Century, David C. Barrett

School Leadership Review

The New Oxford American Dictionary (2001) delineates two definitions for a leader: “1) The person who leads or commands a group, organization, or country; a person followed by others. 2) A short strip of nonfunctioning material at each end of a reel of film or recording tape for connection to the spool.” How often does the latter definition seem more applicable for many of our educational leaders than the former? What are the philosophical foundations of leadership? What does a modern, ethical leader look like? These are just a few questions that will be explored in this article. The challenge …

Education Cannot Get Where It Wants To Go Because It Cannot See Where It Needs To Go: Seeing “Learning” In A New Light, Geoffrey Caine

School Leadership Review

Educational leaders and teachers are in a no-win situation. That is because most of the current tools and programs for improving education, ranging from the Common Core State Standards to iPads, cannot work. At least, as currently conceived.

Student Entrepreneurs, Sarah Moss

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Sanford Health Partners With Dordt In Research, Erika Buiter

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Learning Statistics Through Guided Block Play: A Pre-Curriculum In Statistical Literacy, Robert P. Giebitz

Organization, Information and Learning Sciences ETDs

Learning to use data to investigate the world and make decisions has become an essential skill for all citizens. Play and curiosity are powerful motivators for learning. Inquiry – the process of asking questions and seeking answers – can engage the natural curiosity of young learners and motivate early learning. Recent research in statistics education has shown that children as young as 4 and 5 years old can learn to collect, organize, and interpret data they acquire through observation, counting, and measuring in a process of guided inquiry. Guided block play has been used for over 100 years to enable …

When Passion Meets Talent, Andrews University

Student Movement V. 103 (2018-2019)

No abstract provided.