Digital Commons Network^™

Visual Arts: Teaching Creativity From Within, Del Camara

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

In the ever-changing world of visual arts education, there is a gap in the literature about the incorporation of creativity, risk-taking, and play in the curriculum. The purpose of this study was to understand how high school visual arts educators teach visual arts and creativity in the age of digital media, including the practices art teachers use to engage their students in their development of art-making and ways teachers encourage students to take risks in art-making practices. Utilizing an arts-based research method focusing on four case studies in the Central Valley of California, this inquiry examined the way visual arts …

Natural Product Induction In Pencillium And Human Caspase Crystallography, Kelly J. Mcgrath

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Kite And The String: Why Philosophy Needs More Storytellers, Mason James Voehl

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

This thesis seeks to explore the relationship between philosophy and storytelling as grounded in their shared task of instructing readers in how to live a rich and moral life. Using a combination of narratives and the philosophical theories of Martha Nussbaum, Edward Mooney, and Iris Murdoch, I claim that philosophy and storytelling ought to be natural allies rather than territorial enemies as each reveals and attends to separate but equally important aspects of the good life in community with others. I then extend this claim into the context of environmental philosophy, using the work of writer Jason Mark as an …

3d Printing Of The Proximal Right Femur: It’S Implications In The Field Of Forensic Anthropology And Bioarchaeology, Myriah Adonia Jo Allen

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

3D scanning and Printing have become useful in many scientific fields over the last few years, and Physical Anthropology/ Archaeology is not an exception. With skeletal collections decreasing all over the globe and the question of preservation on the rise, it has become necessary to look towards different methods in which one can obtain important information. 3D scanning has become useful over the last few decades and therefore it is important to establish where this new technology can be of use. This paper will bring 3D scanning and printing into question and determine whether this technology should be used in …

An Assessment Of Fecal Water Contamination In The Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness, Daniel Paul Pendergraph 5024527

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Wilderness water sources are often defined as pristine or high quality due to the lack of point source pollution. Non-point source pollution from recreation to water resources can be extensive and is well-studied in protected areas globally. Bacterial contamination, specifically fecal bacteria, poses a significant threat to human health because of the risk for outbreaks of illness and disease. Water sources in designated Wilderness areas are particularly vulnerable to fecal water contamination due to high volume of backpackers and lack of backcountry waste facilities. To estimate the occurrence of fecal water contamination in Wilderness water resources, an exploratory analysis was …

Avoiding Adverse Effects: New Ideas In Drug Discovery For Targeting Pparγ, Trey M. Patton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARγ) has been a drug target to treat type 2 diabetes for the last 20 years when rosiglitazone and pioglitazone were approved by the FDA in 1999. While effective at increasing insulin sensitivity, these drugs cause serious adverse effects due to their full agonist characteristics. For that reason, drug discovery efforts have attempted to reduce or prevent the amount of agonist character of new PPARγ targeting ligands. Unfortunately, there have been no new FDA approved drugs for the receptor. There is a need for new ideas to produce better quality pharmaceuticals that lessen the impact of …

Multinucleated Giant Cell Formation And Phenotype, Kevin Lewis Trout

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Multinucleated giant cells (MGC) are homotypic macrophage syncytia associated with granulomas. Despite their correlation with pathology, MGC functional contributions to inflammation are relatively unknown. The objective of this work was to gain an understanding of MGC phenotype. First, techniques were developed to better enable the study of these cells in vitro. Second, inorganic particles known to cause inflammation were observed to cause MGC formation in the lungs. Finally, the particle that resulted in the highest macrophage fusion was used together with the in vitro system to compare MGC and macrophage phenotype in response to stimulation. The results contribute to fundamental …

Rescue Of Als Protein Fus Toxicity By Taf, Elliott Hayden

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Amyotrophic Lateral Scleroses (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by the degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord leading to progressive paralysis and ultimately death within 5 years of symptom onset. Only two drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for treating ALS that slow the disease progression by about 3 months. Mutations in the gene Fused in Sarcoma (FUS) cause inherited forms of ALS. FUS is a nuclear, multifunctional RNA-binding protein (RBP) involved in multiple RNA metabolic pathways. Mutations in FUS cause mislocalization of the protein from the nucleus to …

Chondrichthyan Diversity Within The Burlington-Keokuk Fish Bed Of Southeast Iowa And Northwest Illinois (Mississippian: Osagean), Matthew Michael James Hoenig

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Chondrichthyan remains occur in abundance within a thin layer of limestone at the top of the Burlington Limestone at the point of the contact with the overlying Keokuk Limestone. This layer of rock, the "Burlington-Keokuk Fish Bed," is stratigraphically consistent and laterally extensive in exposures of the Burlington Limestone near its type section along the Iowa-Illinois border. Deposition of the fish bed occurred on the Burlington Continental Shelf carbonate ramp off the subtropical western coast of Laurussia during the Lower Carboniferous (Late Tournaisian; Osagean) due to a drop in sea level, although the specific mechanism(s) that concentrated the vertebrate fossils …

Calpain-Calpastatin System In Peripheral Nerve Myelination And Demyelination, Domenica Elizabeth Drouet Saltos

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Myelin is the structure formed by glial cells that electrically insulates axons aiding in propagation of action potentials. Disruption of myelin sheath (demyelination) is common to neurological diseases, such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The calcium-dependent protease, calpain, is known to modulate myelination during central nervous system (CNS) development. Endogenous calpain inhibitor, calpastatin, regulates calpain activity. The calpain-calpastatin system has been implicated in the CNS demyelination occurring in diseases. Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) is a hereditary demyelinating polyneuropathy affecting proper functioning of peripheral nerves, demonstrating the importance of myelin in the peripheral nervous system (PNS). However, calpain’s role in the mechanism(s) of …

Calcium Imaging Of Developing Proprioceptive Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons, Kaitlyn Louise Parkes

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Proprioception is an important sensation capable due to proprioceptive sensory neuron afferents found in muscles in the periphery being processed by the central nervous system. The nervous system is a complex system that continues to develop and mature as an animal ages. Much is not known of proprioceptive neurons and how they develop with time. Calcium is an important molecule in maintaining action potentials and homeostasis in neurons which can be studied to understand a variety of things about a neuron. This study uses genetically encoded calcium indicators to tag parvalbumin positive cells in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) in …

Enhancing Group Social Perceptiveness Through A Swarm-Based Decision-Making Platform, David A. Askay, Lynn E. Metcalf, Louis Rosenberg, Gregg Willcox

Industrial Technology and Packaging

Swarm Intelligence is natural phenomenon that enables social animals to make group decisions in real-time systems. This process has been deeply studied in fish schools, bird flocks, and bee swarms, where collective intelligence has been observed to emerge. The present paper describes swarm.ai—a collaborative technology that enables swarms of humans to collectively converge upon a decision as a real-time system. Then we present the results of a study investigating if groups working as “human swarms” can amplify their social perceptiveness, a key predictor of collective intelligence. Results showed that groups reduced their social perceptiveness errors by more than half when …

18th And 19th Tshl Legislative Sessions Supporting Documents 2019-2023, Texas Silver Haired Legislature Foundation

Texas Silver-Haired Legislature

Supporting documents from the 18th and 19th Texas Silver-Haired Legislature legislative sessions from 2019-2023.

Investigation Of Iron Mediated Molecular Transformations And Synthesis Of 2-Amino-Α-Carboline And Its Analogues Relevant For Dna Adduct Formation, Anita Adjoa Oppong

Open Access Dissertations

The discovery of new synthetic methods and routes for making new bonds is one of the highest incentives to an organic chemist. Innovative, efficient, effective, economical and exceptionally environmentally friendly synthetic methods are being continuously discovered. Transition metal catalyzed C-H activation has been unearthed as one of these methods, especially iron catalyzed direct C-H activation. Fundamental to making more discoveries is understanding the mechanism behind a specific reaction. To this end, the mechanism behind iron catalyzed C-H activation was investigated. Results indicate the intermediary transition state for the iron species involves an Fe(I) species but the attempt to synthesize this …

Manufacturing Resilience On The Margins: Street Gangs, Property, &Vulnerability Theory, Lua Kamál Yuille

Penn State Law Review (2003 - Present)

Within law, contemporary street gangs are cast as corporatized criminal enterprises, whose primary goal is the acquisition of illicit economic capital. The sophistication of corporate gangs has led to the development of novel control mechanisms like gang injunctions, which are civil legal remedies employed to disperse unwanted gang activity from protected communities. This article suggests that the idea of propertyand the vulnerability associated therewith-is central to understanding gangs. Accepting the well-established proposition that gangs arise due to the unavailability or inaccessibility of markets for mainstream and legitimized forms of capital, this article argues that gangs are best understood as corporate …

Rethinking Pedagogy: Exploring The Potential Of Digital Technology In Achieving Quality Education, Lorenzo Alemán De La Garza, Alessandra Anichini, Péter Antal, Aurélie Beaune, Helen Crompton, Avgoustos Tsinakos, Et Al.

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

(First Paragraph) The Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development (MGIEP) is UNESCO’s Category 1 education Institute in the Asia-Pacific region devoted to education for peace and sustainable development, as enshrined in SDG Target 4.7. UNESCO MGIEP promotes the use of digital learning platforms where teachers and students can co-create and share a highly interactive learning experience. With the rise of the internet, there has been a proliferation of online content and digital resources intended to support teaching and learning, albeit widely varying in quality. Digital education media and resources, if carefully designed and implemented, have a …

Learning With Mobile Devices, Helen Crompton, John Traxler

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

The concept of learning with small portable computers was developed by Alan Kay in 1972. Since that early conception, scholars, such as Traxler, Sharples, and Soloway are the pioneering scholars who paved the way to a better understanding of the philosophical, pedagogical, and conceptual underpinnings of mobile learning today. In this chapter, an overview is provided to explicate the initial foundations of the emerging field of mobile learning (mlearning). Next, current scientific knowledge is delineated with explicit references to the early scholars. This chapter concludes with a preview of the future research directions in mobile learning.

Standards Spotlight: Iste Learner Standard Provides A Road Map To Lifelong Scholarship, Helen Crompton

Teaching & Learning Faculty Publications

(First paragraph) Like most educators, I’m a learner first. I want to know all there is to know about teaching to best meet the needs of my students. That’s why I went to college for 15 years to gain my teaching qualifications, including a master’s degree and a Ph.D. in educational technology and mathematics education. I’m now a tenured professor, but I can honestly say that I’m only part way through my learning journey.

Remotely Activated Biomaterials For Optimizing The Temporal Profiles Of Therapeutic Molecules, Tania T. Emi

Open Access Dissertations

Remotely activated hydrogel-based biomaterials can maximize the therapeutic effects by providing localized deliveries and minimizing off-target side effects. Smart hydrogels respond to an externally applied stimulus by delivering therapeutic molecules. While showing promise in releasing molecules in a precise spatial manner, they do not inherently provide temporally dynamic delivery profiles (e.g., controlled timing, rates, and sequences) required to direct sequences of biological events.

Biological processes are characterized by a sequence of events regulated by a complex interplay of signaling factors. For example, in the instance of ischemia (where a tissue no longer receives oxygen and nutrients due to a lack …

An Investigation Of Histocompatibility Testing And Mhc Class I In Xenotransplantation, Gregory Ryan Martens

All ETDs from UAB

In the United States, hundreds of thousands of patients suffer from end-stage organ failure or terminal diseases without the option of a life-saving transplant because of severe organ shortages. Xenotransplantation offers a possible solution by using genetically engineered pigs as organ donors. Application of pig-to-human organ transplantation has been limited by antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), but recent genetic engineering advances have eliminated pig glycan xenoantigens and dramatically reduced antibody binding. In human-to-human transplantation, allotransplantation, AMR is prevented by pretransplant screening donors and recipients. The major histocompatibility complex (MHC), class I and II, are primary targets for antibodies and may also bind …

Neurocognition In Patients With Primary Dystonia, Lindsay Niccolai

All ETDs from UAB

Dystonia is defined as involuntary, sustained muscle contractions often causing twisting and repetitive movements. While dystonia is classified as a movement disorder with marked motor disturbance, there are also non-motor features associated with this disorder such as psychiatric, sensory, and neurocognitive deficits. This dissertation research focuses on the neurocognitive deficits found in patients with primary dystonia. Prior studies examining cognition in primary dystonia have often had the limitations of having small samples and lacking control groups. In addition, cognition is often assessed in deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgical candidacy evaluations, but neurocognitive deficits have not been studied as a predictor …

“Thank You, Siri”: Politeness And Intelligent Digital Assistants, Nathan Burton, James Gaskin

Faculty Publications

Interactions with intelligent digital assistants like Apple's Siri, Amazon's Alexa, and Google’s Google Assistant can often be direct and terse, which is leading many to worry that users’ uncivility towards digital assistants is causing users to become ruder in their human interactions. Although digital assistants are nearing ubiquity, not much is known about how interactions with this form of artificial intelligence may negatively impact human social behaviors. Practice-oriented researchers have started initial explorations into the effects of interaction with digital assistants from a social psychology perspective, and academics have pursued similar questions within the paradigm of current human-computer interaction research. …

Reflections On Changing Pedagogy Of Augmentative And Alternative Communication, Kelly Kleinhans, Lauren E. Bland, Richard Dressler

Journal of Excellence in College Teaching and Learning

Augmentative and alternate communication (AAC) is a service delivery area in the field of speech-language pathology. Individuals with significant and complex communication impairments benefit when a speech-language pathologist develops a communication system that either replaces or augments traditional speech. AAC includes the use of assistive technology designed to represent language and produce voice output. The profession's credentialing body, the American Speech-Language Hearing Association, requires university training programs to document student's knowledge and skills in AAC for working with clients across the lifespan. The authors reflect on how pedagogy associated with AAC has been transformed over time by external influences like …

Reputation Failure: The Limits Of Market Discipline In Consumer Markets, Yonathan A. Arbel

Articles

Many believe that consumer-sourced reputational information about products should increasingly replace top-down regulation. Instead of protecting consumers through coercive laws, reputational information gleaned from the wisdom of the crowd would guide consumer decision-making. There is now a growing pressure to deregulate in diverse fields such as contracts, products liability, consumer protection, and occupational licensing.

This Article presents a common failure mode of systems of reputation: "Reputation Failure." By spotlighting the public-good nature of reviews, rankings, and even gossip, this Article shows the mismatch between the private incentives consumers have to create reputational information and its social value. As a result …

Effects Of A Ketogenic Diet On Body Composition, Metabolic Health, And Quality Of Life In Ovarian And Endometrial Cancer Patients, Caroline Whitney Cohen

All ETDs from UAB

Ketogenic diets (KDs) have garnered considerable research attention in recent years, having been investigated as a therapy for neurologic, metabolic, and even dermatologic diseases. Recent research has also focused on KDs as a potential intervention for cancer, with preclinical studies demonstrating profound effects such as inhibiting tumor growth, enhancing the effects of radiation and chemotherapy, and prolonging survival. However, to date few studies have been conducted in cancer patients. In order to determine if KDs might augment existing cancer treatment protocols, additional research is needed. Accordingly, the objective of this project was to conduct the first randomized, controlled trial examining …

Examining The Role Of The Unfolded Protein Response In Depression, Matthew Timberlake

All ETDs from UAB

Depression is the leading cause of disability worldwide and impacts nearly 350 million people with a disproportionate representation in women with a 1:1.7 ratio of occurrence compared to men. This disorder is characterized by shifts in mood to include feelings of hopelessness, sadness, and lethargy as well as changes in diet, motivation, and sleep patterns. Further, over 50% of patients who struggle with depression also have suicidal ideation and as many as 10% of those commit suicide. At present, treatment plans include behavioral therapy (often) in conjunction with antidepressant medications which act on monoamines and their circuits in the central …

Teachers’ Experiences Of Change From Traditional Teaching Methods To Active Participatory Learning Approaches Within The Alabama P-3 Pilot Program: A Case Study, Shushan Vardanyan

All ETDs from UAB

This case study explored teachers’ experiences with the implementation of the Alabama P-3 initiative to move away from traditional teaching methods to active participatory learning (APL) approaches. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine teachers from four schools who taught kindergarten (K), first, or second grade. The data were analyzed through comparison of K and primary (P) teachers’ experiences of the implementation of the initiative using Lewin’s (1951) change theory as an a priori theory. The data were organized into two a priori themes: the process of change and forces influencing the change. The process of change theme was presented in …

Effect Of Antidepressants On Cytokines Profiles Seen In Inflamed Tissue And Serum Samples In Patients With Moderate Chronic Periodontitis, Silvia M. Villalobos

All ETDs from UAB

This study evaluated whether depression with or without the use of antidepressant was associated with changes in inflammatory markers, intraorally and systemically, GCF volume, serum biomarker levels. Cross-sectional data were collected from individuals with moderate periodontitis who were assigned to one of three groups based upon their medical history, medication usage, and answers to a validated survey instrument that assessed their level of clinical depression. Three groups of patients were compared: 1) patients with clinically diagnosed depression taking antidepressant medications [selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), norepinephrine-dopamine reuptake inhibitor (NDRIs), or serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs)]. 2) patients with clinically …

Modulation Of Klotho Affects Dendritic Spine Remodeling And Neuronal Network Activity, Hai T. Vo

All ETDs from UAB

Klotho protein expression has profound effects on lifespan where klotho-deficient mice exhibit premature aging phenotypes and live only to ~8 weeks of age while klotho-overexpressing mice have lifespans that are at least 20% longer than wild-type mice. Klotho expression also has similar effects on cognitive function as klotho-deficient mice develop cognitive impairment by 7 weeks of age and klotho-overexpressing mice show enhanced cognitive function. These effects also extend to humans as polymorphisms that alter circulating levels of klotho have likewise effects on lifespan and brain function. Despite the fact that modulation of klotho expression has reciprocal effects on cognitive function, …

Novel Biomarkers For Parkinson Disease, Shijie Wang

All ETDs from UAB

Parkinson disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder with no reliable biochemical biomarkers for disease prediction or progression, nor disease-modifying treatments to slow the relentless progression. Mutations in the leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene are known to increase LRRK2 kinase activity and increase the risk for late-onset PD. In this thesis, I discovered that LRRK2 is secreted into exosomes in urine and CSF, where LRRK2 kinase activity, reflected by autophosphorylation at pS1292 site, is preserved and reflective of cytosolic LRRK2 levels. In a cohort of biosamples from LRRK2 mutation carriers and matched controls, with and without PD, …