Digital Commons Network^™

Molecular Cloning And Characterization Of Two Arnt (Arnt-1 And Arnt-2) Genes In Atlantic Croaker And Their Expression During Coexposure To Hypoxia And Pcb77, Md. Saydur Rahman, Peter Thomas

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Aryl hydrocarbon receptor nuclear translocator (ARNT) is an important transcriptions factor that binds/coactivates drug-metabolizing genes in vertebrates. In this study, we report the cloning and characterization of two ARNT (ARNT-1 and ARNT-2) genes and their mRNA and protein expression in liver tissues of Atlantic croaker after co-exposure to hypoxia and 3,3',4,4'-tetrachlorobiphenyl (PCB77). The full-length croaker ARNT-1 and ARNT-2 genes encode proteins of 537 and 530 amino acids, respectively, and are highly homologous to ARNT-1 and ARNT-2 genes of other vertebrates. ARNT mRNAs are ubiquitously expressed in all tissues. Hypoxia (dissolved oxygen: 1.7 mg/L) exposure (1-4 weeks) did not affect hepatic …

Children Of Mumbai’S Brothels: Investigating Developmental Prospects, Primary Relationships, And Service Provision, Rochelle L. Dalla, Sarah Erwin, Lee Kreimer

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Objective: To understand the context of the lives of children reared in India’s red-light brothel districts. Background: Substantial empirical insight has emerged on the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC). Yet the extant literature on brothel-based children (BBC), a uniquely vulnerable subset of at-risk children, is paradoxically deficient. Understanding the developmental needs of BBC is critical to mitigating risk.

Method: In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with 9 service providers and 30 women residing in 2 red-light brothel districts of Mumbai. Phenomenological inquiry informed the research methodology and data analysis.

Results: Mothers’ goals for children included survival, academic success, and future …

Low Cost Reconstructive Options After Musculoskeletal Tumour Resection In Developing Countries: Affordable, Effective And Durable Alternatives, Arif Ali, Obada Hasan, Ahmed Habib, Masood Umer

Section of Orthopaedic Surgery

Over the last two, three decades, the overall survival rates for non-metastatic malignant tumours of the bone have dramatically improved. This has become possible due to the recent advances and multidisciplinary approach towards these diseases, specifically the advent of multi-agent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Limb salvage has now become the norm in the treatment of musculoskeletal tumours without compromising on the overall survival and recurrence of the disease. In the era of metal, prosthetic reconstruction has become the standard procedure specifically in the large tumours which involve the joints as this method of reconstruction helps in joint mobility and early weight-bearing. …

The Implementation Of Building Information Modeling (Bim) Towards Sustainable Construction Industry In Egypt "The Pre-Construction Phase", Amira Elshazly Mohamed

Theses and Dissertations

Global environmental changes, energy consumption, and the scarcity of water have all imposed the need to implement sustainable development strategies worldwide. The construction industry and its healthy practices are not exception, as it should take more strides to alleviate harmful impacts of unsustainable construction practices on the built environment. Sustainable construction has many aspects such as passive design, selection of the appropriate materials and construction techniques, energy efficient systems, and water conservation. In Egypt, current situation regarding energy consumption, accelerated urbanization, and high pollution rates are urging the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) professionals to convert current conventional construction approaches …

Phyt-Dewatering Of Sewage Sludge, Amira Galal Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Over-population has resulted in an alarming rise in waste water ‎production. This lead to an increased amount of sludge and this can cause ‎serious environmental problems and health risks. This is because it carries different ‎types of pollutants. In Egypt, some sludge dewatering techniques are depending on natural evaporation (ex-ample, drying bed). However, this need very wide land areas. The other techniques are depending on mechanical ways (example, belt press)‎‏.‏‎ However, this is considered a high cost technology. ‎This research study investigated the potential efficacy of using water plants in expediting the process of sludge dewatering in drying bed. The …

Through The Keyhole: Ethnographic Analysis Of Cyber Violence In Egypt, Radwa Fouda

Theses and Dissertations

Internet has long existed in Egypt, however sudden scholarly interest came after the 2011 revolution. The global scholarly body tended to couple internet accessibility to the so-called Arab-spring, without studying the other forms and politics of internet as an evolution, and almost none have delved in the dungeons of Cyber violence in the MENA Region, needless to say in Egypt. It focuses mainly on individual-to-individual perpetration of violence, how, when and why people variably define unsolicited intervention with their data as "violence", and how, when and why, they choose other notions to define such incident(s). By doing so, it opens …

Physical And Biological Insights Of Nanostructured Ti-8mn Alloy For Coronary Drug Eluting Stent Material, Alaa Mohyeldin Soliman

Theses and Dissertations

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the main cause of death worldwide. Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) is the common cause of heart failure. In CAD, lipids and fats that are circulating with the blood may get accumulated within the injured arteries' walls and restrict the blood flow to the myocardium, which in turn results in atherosclerosis. Since the approval of Drug Eluting Stents (DES) by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a treatment option for CAD, multidisciplinary research is being conducted to introduce biomaterials with adequate physical properties as well as excellent clinical outcomes. …

Utilizing Wastewater As Nutrition Source For The Cultivation Of Chlorella Vulgaris, Ali Mohamed Roshdy

Theses and Dissertations

Investigating alternatives for fossil fuels have always been an area of interest for scientist around the globe. The decline in the oil & gas stock along with the increasing demand for energy that accompanies the increase in population has created the need for an alternative energy solution. From the renewable energy solution, microalgae stand out as a very promising source for biofuel production due to its high lipid content. However, the production of biofuel from microalgae is still of a high cost compared to production of the same amount from fossil fuels. The unfeasibility commercial production for biofuel from microalgae …

The Challenges Of Urban Sprawl And Its Impacts On The Fragmented Agricultural Lands: A Case Study Of Tersa, Giza, Aya Farid Youssef

Theses and Dissertations

Parallel to the fast growing population, the whole world in general and the developing countries in particular are experiencing an unusual rapid rate of urbanization. Unmanaged urban sprawl is one of the major challenges in the urbanization process. Urban sprawl occurs as an expansion over the limited fertile land and therefore adds more stress to agricultural resources, food security as well as stressing the available infrastructure. This research aims to study and highlight the influences of urban sprawl on the agricultural lands in Egypt with particular emphasis on the fragmented agricultural lands produced by it. The study sheds light on …

Deferred Cooling System, Maha Farouk El Bedaiwy

Theses and Dissertations

The thesis is concerned with the development of a system for dissipating heat from a thermodynamic cycle operating in environments where fresh water is scare and ambient temperatures are high, therefore evaporative cooling is not an option whereas ambient temperatures are too high most of the day for adequate air cooling. An example of this is solar driven vapor compression cycles in desert climates. The proposed system exploits the substantially cooler night time ambient temperatures and the highly effective net radiation exchange with night sky. Since solar driven equipment require to operate during daytime when solar energy is available and …

Ecological Consequences Of Anomalies In Atmospheric Moisture And Snowpack, Aaron N. Johnston, Jason E. Bruggeman, Aidan T. Beers, Erik A. Beever, Roger G. Christophersen, Jason I. Ransom

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Although increased frequency of extreme‐weather events is one of the most secure predictions associated with contemporary climate change, effects of such events on distribution and abundance of climate‐sensitive species remain poorly understood. Montane ecosystems may be especially sensitive to extreme weather because of complex abiotic and biotic interactions that propagate from climate‐driven reductions in snowpack. Snowpack not only protects subnivean biotas from extreme cold, but also influences forage availability through timing of melt‐off and water availability. We related relative abundances of an alpine mammal, the American pika (Ochotona princeps), to measures of weather and snowpack dynamics over an …

Soil And Vegetation Survey Of Antelope Pasture, Curlew Grazing Allotment, Oneida County, Id, Merran Owen, Kari E. Veblen, Thomas A. Monaco, Janis Boettinger

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

Antelope Pasture, located in the Black Pine Valley of Oneida County, Idaho, is a 1500-acre portion of the Curlew Grazing Allotment, managed by the Pocatello Field Office of the BLM (Figure 1). The pasture is heavily invaded with exotic annuals such as cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), halogeton (Halogeton glomeratus), and clasping pepperweed (Lepidium perfoliatum), and grazing is temporarily discontinued. Land-use history of the pasture includes livestock grazing, possible homesteading and cultivation of Agropyron cristatum (crested wheatgrass).

Association Between Leptin, Obesity, Hormonal Interplay And Male Infertility, Sofia Amjaad, Mukhtiar Baig, Nida Zahid, Sundus Tariq, Rehana Rehman

Department of Surgery Docs

Male infertility is a major health problem worldwide. We investigated a possible association between leptin, obesity, hormonal interplay and male infertility. This cross-sectional study of 313 males (178 infertile and 135 fertile) was carried out in 2017. The subjects were categorised by body mass index (BMI) and body fat percentage (BF%) into normal weight, overweight and obese. Significantly higher levels of BMI and BF% (p-value < 0.001) and lower levels of FSH, LH, testosterone, and SHBG (p-value < 0.001) were found in infertile males. However, no significant difference was observed in leptin levels (p-value = 0.35). Leptin levels were significantly higher, and all the sex hormones were significantly lower (p-value < 0.001) in obese subjects, whereas according to BF% only leptin, FSH and SHBG were significantly different. Leptin showed a significant positive correlation with BMI and BF% (p < 0.001). A strong positive link to serum testosterone was found with age, FSH, and LH (p < 0.001) and a negative one with BMI and BF% (p < 0.001). In mutivariable anlaysis, after adjusting for the other covariates, a significant association between FSH and testosterone (p-value <0.001) was found. Serum leptin levels did not differ significantly in fertile and infertile groups, and no association was found with infertility. Furthermore, male obesity was found to be associated with infertility with the decrease in levels of sex hormones.

Automated Nuclear Cartography Reveals Conserved Sperm Chromosome Territory Localization Across 2 Million Years Of Mouse Evolution, Benjamin Matthew Skinner, Joanne Bacon, Claudia Cattoni Rathje, Erica Larson, Emily Emiko Konishi Kopania, Jeffrey Martin Good, Nabeel Ahmed Affara, Peter James Ivor Ellis

Biological Sciences: Faculty Scholarship

Measurements of nuclear organization in asymmetric nuclei in 2D images have traditionally been manual. This is exemplified by attempts to measure chromosome position in sperm samples, typically by dividing the nucleus into zones, and manually scoring which zone a fluorescence in-situ hybridisation (FISH) signal lies in. This is time consuming, limiting the number of nuclei that can be analyzed, and prone to subjectivity. We have developed a new approach for automated mapping of FISH signals in asymmetric nuclei, integrated into an existing image analysis tool for nuclear morphology. Automatic landmark detection defines equivalent structural regions in each nucleus, then dynamic …

Life, Death, And Corporeal Resistance In Immigration Detention, Jana Michelle Moss

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzes corporeal strategies of resistance used by immigration detainees in the global North. Corporeal resistance is defined as an act of protest that physically harms the actor but is not intended to harm anyone else. Examples include hunger strikes, lip sewing, self-immolation, and other forms of public suicide. In response to the prevailing public opinion that detainees' acts of self-harm or suicide are simply acts of desperation by disenfranchised people who have nothing to lose, I argue that they can be a logical and strategic response to state necropolitics. Detainees take back corporeal necropower by reasserting control of …

Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Infections: A Review Of Epidemiology And Treatment Options, Julie Harting

The University of Louisville Journal of Respiratory Infections

No abstract provided.

Biomaterial Substrate Modifications That Influence Cell-Material Interactions To Prime Cellular Responses To Nonviral Gene Delivery, Amy Mantz, Angela K. Pannier

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Gene delivery is the transfer of exogenous genetic material into somatic cells to modify their gene expression, with applications including tissue engineering, regenerative medicine, sensors and diagnostics, and gene therapy. Viral vectors are considered the most effective system to deliver nucleic acids, yet safety concerns and many other disadvantages have resulted in investigations into an alternative option, i.e. nonviral gene delivery. Chemical nonviral gene delivery is typically accomplished by electrostatically complexing cationic lipids or polymers with negatively charged nucleic acids. Unfortunately, nonviral gene delivery suffers from low efficiency due to barriers that impede transfection success, including intracellular processes such as …

Meaningful Learner Information For Mooc Instructors Examined Through A Contextualized Evaluation Framework, Kerrie Douglas, Mitch Zielinski, Hillary Merzdorf, Heidi Diefes-Dux, Peter Bermel

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Improving STEM MOOC evaluation requires an understanding of the current state of STEM MOOC evaluation, as perceived by all stakeholders. To this end, we investigated what kinds of information STEM MOOC instructors currently use to evaluate their courses and what kinds of information they feel would be valuable for that purpose. We conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 faculty members from a variety of fields and research institutions who had taught STEM MOOCs on edX, Coursera, or Udacity. Four major themes emerged related to instructors’ desires: (1) to informally assess learners as an instructor might in a traditional classroom, (2) to …

The Surprising Reach Of Fda Regulation Of Cannabis, Even After Descheduling, Erika Lietzan, Sean M. O'Connor

Faculty Publications

As more states legalize cannabis, the push to "deschedule" it from the Controlled Substances Act is gaining momentum. At the same time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved the first conventional drug containing a cannabinoid derived from cannabis - cannabidiol (CBD) for two rare seizure disorders. This would all seem to bode well for proponents of full federal legalization of medical cannabis. But some traditional providers are wary of drug companies pulling medical cannabis into the regular small molecule drug development system. The FDA's focus on precise analytical characterization and on individual active and inactive ingredients may be …

Correction: New Approaches For Assessing Squid Fin Motions: Coupling Proper Orthogonal Decomposition With Volumetric Particle Tracking Velocimetry (Doi:10.1242/Jeb.176750), Ian K. Bartol, Paul S. Krueger, Carly A. York, Joseph T. Thompson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Squid, which swim using a coupled fin/jet system powered by muscular hydrostats, pose unique challenges for the study of locomotion. The high flexibility of the fins and complex flow fields generated by distinct propulsion systems require innovative techniques for locomotive assessment. For this study, we used proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) to decouple components of the fin motions and defocusing digital particle tracking velocimetry (DDPTV) to quantify the resultant 3D flow fields. Kinematic footage and DDPTV data were collected from brief squid, Lolliguncula brevis [3.1–6.5 cm dorsal mantle length (DML)], swimming freely in a water tunnel at speeds of 0.39–7.20 DML …

Investigating Gαs Pepducin’S Effect On Β2ar Signaling For Chf Pharmacology, Nida Bajwa, Nathan Hopfinger, Charles Scott

Phase 1

Introduction: Congestive heart failure affects nearly six million Americans and significantly impairs their quality of life. New and better interventions are needed to improve HF patients’ survival and outcomes. Pharmacologics that bias β2AR signaling towards arrestin, which promotes cardiomyocyte survival and contractility, may offer advantages over traditional β-blockers.

Objective: It has been demonstrated that peptides mimicking the C-terminus of the Gα_s subunit block downstream signaling of GPCRs. The study’s objective is to determine if a pepducin derived from the C-terminus of the Gα_s subunit of the β2AR could block G_s signaling but maintain arrestin-recruitment, thereby producing a …

Stock Market Prediction Analysis By Incorporating Social And News Opinion And Sentiment, Zhaoxia Wang, Seng-Beng Ho, Zhiping Lin

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The price of the stocks is an important indicator for a company and many factors can affect their values. Different events may affect public sentiments and emotions differently, which may have an effect on the trend of stock market prices. Because of dependency on various factors, the stock prices are not static, but are instead dynamic, highly noisy and nonlinear time series data. Due to its great learning capability for solving the nonlinear time series prediction problems, machine learning has been applied to this research area. Learning-based methods for stock price prediction are very popular and a lot of enhanced …

Geospatial Modeling Of Land Cover Change In The Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion Of South America; One Of Most Biodiverse And Rainy Areas In The World, José Camilo Fagua, R. Douglas Ramsey

Ecology Center Publications

The tropical rain forests of northwest South America fall within the Chocó-Darien Global Ecoregion (CGE). The CGE is one of 25 global biodiversity hotspots prioritized for conservation due to its high biodiversity and endemism as well as threats due to deforestation. The analysis of land-use and land-cover (LULC) change within the CGE using remotely sensed imagery is challenging because this area is considered to be one of the rainiest places on the planet (hence high frequency of cloud cover). Furthermore, the availability of high-resolution remotely sensed data is low for developing countries before 2015. Using the Random Forest ensemble learning …

Oxygen Consumption And Sulfate Reduction In Vegetated Coastal Habitats: Effects Of Physical Disturbance, Kasper Elgetti Brodersen, Stacey M. Trevathan-Tackett, Daniel A. Nielsen, Rod M. Connolly, Catherine E. Lovelock, Trisha B. Atwood, Peter I. Macreadie

Ecology Center Publications

Vegetated coastal habitats (VCHs), such as mangrove forests, salt marshes and seagrass meadows, have the ability to capture and store carbon in the sediment for millennia, and thus have high potential for mitigating global carbon emissions. Carbon sequestration and storage is inherently linked to the geochemical conditions created by a variety of microbial metabolisms, where physical disturbance of sediments may expose previously anoxic sediment layers to oxygen (O2), which could turn them into carbon sources instead of carbon sinks. Here, we used O2, hydrogen sulphide (H2S) and pH microsensors to determine how biogeochemical conditions, and thus aerobic and anaerobic metabolic …

The Impact Of An Electrical Mini-Grid On The Development Of A Rural Community In Kenya, Abubakr Bahaj, Luke Blunden, Christopher Kanani, Patrick James, Issac Kiva, Zoe Matthews, Heather Price, Hildah Essendi, Jane Ealkingham, Gerard George

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Electrical mini-grids can provide electrification to rural communities far from the national network. However the benefits of such schemes are disputed. We observed changes in two matched trading-centres in Makueni County, Kenya, neither of which were initially electrified. During the study a solar photovoltaic mini-grid scheme (13.5 kWp) was constructed in one of the trading-centres. After electrification there were relative increases in the number of businesses and business income. Comparing the households in the areas around the trading centres, perceived wealth increased more around the electrified trading centre. Qualitative interviews indicated improvements in service provision by the local school and …

Proton-Coupled Reduction Of An Iron Nitrosyl Porphyrin In The Protic Ionic Liquid Nanodomain, Abderrahman Atifi, Piotr J. Mak, Michael D. Ryan

Chemistry Faculty Research and Publications

The one-electron reduction of many molecules becomes much more favorable if combined with proton transfers or strong hydrogen bonding. Protic room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), which can form nanodomains in solutions with molecular solvents (MS), can provide an efficient avenue for this process. In this work, we report on the voltammetry, UV/visible and resonance Raman spectroelectrochemistryof Fe(TPP)(NO) in the presence of aprotic/protic ammonium-based ionic liquids. While aprotic RTILs did shift the reduction to more positive potentials, similar shifts could be observed at much lower concentrations of diethylmethylammonium triflate (HAmOTf, a protic ionic liquid). Deconvolution of the rotating ring-disk electrode (RRDE) …

Knowledge Commons In Ancient Greece, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

This paper reviews a variety of published sources by specialists in ancient history and philosophy written for students of philanthropy, nonprofit organizations, commons and other, related social sciences. It discusses Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, and other philosophical schools as real historically significant organizations, not merely ideas or symbols. It was expanded from one section of Chapter 3 of the author's book, The Commons: New Perspectives on Nonprofit Organizations, Voluntary Action and Philanthropy (1992).

Phase 1 Dose-Escalation Study Of Momelotinib, A Janus Kinase 1/2 Inhibitor, Combined With Gemcitabine And Nab-Paclitaxel In Patients With Previously Untreated Metastatic Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma., Kimmie Ng, Andrew Hendifar, Alexander Starodub Md, Jorge Chaves, Yingsi Yang, Brian Koh, David Barbie, William C Hahn, Charles S Fuchs

PCI Publications and Projects

Purpose Preclinical evidence suggests the importance of Janus activating kinase (JAK) and TANK-binding kinase 1 (TBK1) in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). We evaluated the safety and efficacy of momelotinib (MMB), a JAK1/2 inhibitor with additional activity against TBK1, plus albumin-bound paclitaxel + gemcitabine (nab-P + G), in patients with previously untreated metastatic PDAC. Experimental Design Patients were enrolled into five cohorts of increasing doses of MMB between 100 and 200 mg administered once or twice daily in combination with nab-P + G in 28-day cycles to determine maximum tolerated dose (MTD). Safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics were assessed for all …

Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (Pod) Of The Flow Dynamics For A Viscoelastic Fluid In A Four-Roll Mill Geometry At The Stokes Limit, Paloma Gutierrez-Castillo, Becca Thomases

Mathematics Sciences: Faculty Publications

Numerical simulations of viscoelastic fluids in the Stokes limit with a four-roll mill background force were performed at a range of Weissenberg number (non-dimensional relaxation time). For small Weissenberg number the flow is steady and symmetric but upon increasing the Weissenberg number (corresponding to increased elasticity or flow memory time), the flow becomes unstable leading to a variety of temporal evolutions to different periodic and aperiodic solutions. These dynamics were analyzed using a Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (POD) that extracted elastic modes in terms of their contribution to the energy of the system. The temporal behavior of the system, captured by …

Copper Excess Detoxification Is Mediated By A Coordinated And Complementary Induction Of Glutathione, Phytochelatins And Metallothioneins In The Green Seaweed Ulva Compressa, Mt Brown

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

In order to analyze the involvement of intracellular thiol-chelators in the accumulation and detoxification of copper, the marine alga Ulva compressa was cultivated with increasing concentrations of copper such as 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10 µM for up to 12 d, and the amount of intracellular copper, glutathione (GSH), phytochelatins (PCs) and transcripts encoding three metallothioneins (MTs) were determined. Over this exposure period and concentration range there was a linear correlation between intracellular copper and the copper concentration in the culture medium. Increases in GSH concentrations occurred mainly between days 1 and 3 and at lower concentrations of copper (2.5 …