Digital Commons Network^™

Evaluation Of Irisin, Retinol-Binding Protein 4, And Leptin Serum Levels As Biomarkers Of Macrovascular Complications Involvement In Saudi Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. A Case-Control Study, Ehdaa Y. Ali, Gehan A. Hegazy, Enayat M. Hashem

Saudi Medical Journal

Objectives: To evaluate adipokine serum values of irisin, retinol-binding protein 4, and leptin in Saudi cases with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) for providing markers of T2DM macrovascular complications. Methods: This case-control research was carried out at Erfan Hospital, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The study included 138 subjects, classified into 3 groups: 46 T2DM patients with macrovascular complications, 46 T2DM without macrovascular complications, and 46 controls. Participants evaluated clinically and some biochemical parameters were measured. Results: Diabetic with and without macrovascular complications showed elevation of retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) and leptin; decreased irisin serum levels versus controls. Serum irisin was lower …

Love Of Place: Toward A Critical Pacific Studies Pedagogy, Emalani Case

Pacific Studies

Growing up in Hawaiʻi, I was raised with aloha ʻāina. Loosely defined as “love of place,” aloha ʻāina is a way of being in and with the world. It is built on relationship and stewardship. In this article, I will use aloha ʻāina to reflect on my role as a Pacific studies teacher and on what responsibilities educators may have to confront our common challenge and most dire threat: the destruction of the natural environment. I will articulate “love of place” to a critical Pacific studies pedagogy, one that addresses environmental issues, contributes to the well-being of the Pacific (people, …

Vol. 43 No. 2 (2020): Pacific Studies Full Issue, The Jonathan Nāpela Center For Hawaiian And Pacific Islands Studies

Pacific Studies

Pacific Studies is published two times a year by The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies, Brigham Young University Hawai‘i #1979, 55–220 Kulanui Street, Lāʻie, Hawai‘i 96762, but responsibility for opinions expressed in the articles rests with the authors alone. Subscription rate is US$40.00 yearly, payable to The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies. The Jonathan Nāpela Center for Hawaiian and Pacific Studies (formerly The Pacific Institute) is an organization funded by Brigham Young University Hawai‘i. The Center assists the University in meeting its cultural and educational goals by undertaking a program of teaching, research, and …

Herding History: Law And The Transformation Of Collective Subjectivities In The Dairyspheres Of Ukraine, Monica Eppinger

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In response to the limitations of socialism and capitalism in meeting basic needs, this article explores the alternative version of modernity offered in post-Soviet Ukraine and its agriculture. Tracing a century of fundamental transformations through the story of milk, it finds a history that troubles universalized framings of indigeneity and colonialism. This article argues that under socialism milk became a product of collectivized effort and a reservoir of household resilience; and then, with post-Soviet disintegration of some forms of collective life and emergence of others, that milk has come to delineate spheres of both collective action and individual striving. This …

Specialized Police Units: Nypd Anti-Crime And The Effect Of Body-Worn Cameras, Rudolph B. Hall Jr.

Education Doctoral

The use of body-worn cameras (BWC) by law enforcement organizations has continued to expand across the United States. The ability for BWC to bring about transparency, trust, and accountability between police and citizens has been touted as one of the significant benefits of BWC deployment. The assignment of BWC to uniformed officers has been a topic of multiple empirical studies. However, there has been a paucity of research directly focused on officers assigned to specialized plain-clothes enforcement, also known as anti-crime teams. These officers carry out a unique mission and purpose compared to their uniformed colleagues. The author utilized a …

Supervision And Evaluation Practices That Impact Teacher Learning: A Case Study Of Rural Teachers’ Perspectives, Jennifer L. Sinsebox

Education Doctoral

The purpose of this qualitative descriptive case study was to gain an in-depth understanding of what factors of the teacher supervision and evaluation process in a small, rural school district impacted the extent to which teachers learned and improved instructional practices. The case study explored if teachers in a small, rural school district experienced formative supervision practices that helped them learn or improve their teaching practices. Three implications emerged from the study. First, authentic leadership promotes teacher growth. Second, authentic leadership ensures empowered postconferences, and third, authentic leadership participates in walkthroughs to provide teachers with feedback. This study provides recommendations …

Library Perspectives, Issues 62/63, Spring/Fall 2020, Friends Of The Oberlin College Libraries

Library Perspectives Newsletter

This combined issue includes items about the commemoration of the centennial of women’s suffrage, the Friends annual meeting in November 2019, a farewell to Alexia Hudson-Ward, and much more.

The Response Of Lianas To 20 Yr Of Nutrient Addition In A Panamanian Forest, Stefan A. Schnitzer, Sergio Estrada Villegas, S. Joseph Wright

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Over the past two decades, liana density and basal area have been increasing in many tropical forests, which has profound consequences for forest diversity and functioning. One hypothesis to explain increasing lianas is elevated nutrient deposition in tropical forests resulting from fossil fuels, agricultural fertilizer, and biomass burning. We tested this hypothesis by surveying all lianas ≥1 cm in diameter (n = 3,967) in 32 plots in a fully factorial nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) addition experiment in a mature tropical forest in central Panama. We conducted the nutrient-addition experiment from 1998 until present and we first …

Can A Personal Passion For The Environment Create A Shift In The Event Industry?, Emily Latshaw

Honors College Theses

Global warming and its detrimental effects are evident in all aspects of life. Event companies, a serious offender in this, have begun implementing sustainable practices into their events. Previous literature has extensively studied the effects of events on the environment, as well as potential mitigations and ways to lessen said effects. While past scholarship focused on the events, there has been minimal research done on the event managers. There is reason to believe that some event planners, who have an innate desire to be sustainable, can help the event industry become more environmentally-focused. The purpose of this study is to …

A Two-Clone Approach To Study Signaling Interactions Among Neuronal Cells In A Pre-Clinical Alzheimer’S Disease Model, Catherine J. Yeates, Ankita Sarkar, Prajakta Deshpande, Madhuri Kango-Singh, Amit Singh

Biology Faculty Publications

To understand the progression of Alzheimer's disease, studies often rely on ectopic expression of amyloid-beta 42 (Aβ42) throughout an entire tissue. Uniform ectopic expression of Aβ42 may obscure cell-cell interactions that contribute to the progression of the disease. We developed a two-clone system to study the signaling cross talk between GFP-labeled clones of Aβ42-expressing neurons and wild-type neurons simultaneously generated from the same progenitor cell by a single recombination event. Surprisingly, wild-type clones are reduced in size as compared with Aβ42-producing clones. We found that wild-type cells are eliminated by the induction of cell death. Furthermore, aberrant activation of c-Jun-N-terminal …

Vol 65 #6, Melanie Argo

MPLA Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Serum Midkine, Estimated Glomerular Filtration Rate And Chronic Kidney Disease-Related Events In Elderly Women: Perth Longitudinal Study Of Aging Women, Jeffrey Wang, Joshua R. Lewis, Elizabeth Byrnes, Germaine Wong, Warren D. Raymond, Kun Zhu, Graham R. Robertson, Wai H. Lim, Qi Cao, Richard L. Prince, Vincent W. Lee

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020, The Author(s). Midkine (MDK), a heparin-binding growth factor cytokine, is involved in the pathogenesis of kidney diseases by augmenting leukocyte trafficking and activation. Animal models and small case control studies have implicated MDK as a pathological biomarker in chronic kidney diseases (CKD), however this is yet to be confirmed in prospective human studies. In a prospective study of 499 elderly, predominantly Caucasian women aged over 70 years the association between serum MDK collected in 1998, and renal function change and the risk of CKD-related hospitalisations and deaths at 5 and 14.5 years, respectively, was examined. Baseline serum MDK …

Comparing Corporeal Lineups To Photo Arrays, Andrew J. Costello, Blair Hoplight, Maria Lombardo

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

An eyewitness identification study of a simulated theft of a laptop in a lecture hall was conducted in a northeastern university. After five days, 148 subjects attempted to identify the suspect from either a lineup or a photo array. Corporal lineups and video lineups were conducted in addition to traditional static photo arrays and a new “dynamic photo array” consisting of the use of front, left profile, and right profile images presented in an animated sequence within the standard six-pack photo array. No significant differences between correct identification, misidentification, and non-selection were found between any of the identification methods used. …

Plasma Resuscitation Attenuates Intestinal Barrier Disturbance Following Hemorrhagic Shock., Jessica E. Schucht

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Background: Intestinal ischemia-reperfusion injury (IIRI) following resuscitated hemorrhagic shock (HS/RES) leads to endothelial damage, microcirculatory dysfunction and intestinal barrier breakdown, increasing intestinal permeability. This pathologic process contributes pathophysiology of multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) in some trauma patients. Although vascular smooth muscle machinery remains intact, microvascular vasoconstriction occurs secondary to endothelial cell damage, resulting in further ischemia and organ injury. Used separately, resuscitation with Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) or Direct Peritoneal Resuscitation (DPR) improves the intestinal microcirculation and alleviates organ injury. Further examination of these effects individually or combined could aid in the resuscitation of hemorrhagic shock. Methods: Sprague Dawley …

Investigating The Disorder And Compaction Of Designed Minielastin Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance., Ma Faye Charmagne Aquino Carvajal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Minielastins are elastin-based proteins with alternating hydrophobic and cross-link modules similar to tropoelastin. Tropoelastin is the ~70 kDa soluble monomeric precursor of elastin. The extracellular matrix protein, elastin provides elasticity to tissues and organs such as lungs, arteries and ligaments. The elastic properties of natural elastin are believed to be entropic in origin. In vivo, the elastin matrix is approximately 50% water by weight. Without water, elastin is brittle and hard. Minielastins, like tropoelastin, undergo a liquid-liquid phase transition upon an increase in temperature. Factors such as hydrophobicity, chain length and concentration affect the coacervation temperature, T_c. The …

Undergraduate Students Use Moral Reasoning And Belief In Genetic Determinism In Response To A Crispr/Cas9 Socioscientific Issue., Katie M. Seiter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores how students reason about genetic engineering socioscientific issues (SSIs) related to a recently developed, powerful genome editing technology called CRISPR/Cas9. It is divided into three chapters. Chapter One describes an exploratory study that characterized students’ moral reasoning using a sociocultural theoretical framework. I used content analysis and logistic regression to investigate how academic and social factors influenced moral reasoning. Students generally opposed the use of CRISPR/Cas9 technology for non-medical enhancements, and the moral considerations used were influenced by genetics knowledge level and demographic variables such as gender and socio-economic status. Further investigation of moral perspectives for students …

Impacts Of Environmental And Hydrologic Factors On Urban Stream Water Quality., Jason Patrik Ingram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Urban streams can be impacted by a multitude of hydrologic and environmental factors, making maintaining these water sources difficult. Urbanization can exacerbate these impacts creating new challenges in preserving suitable urban stream water quality. Urbanization is the development of city landscape and suburban living within an otherwise natural region. For this environmental impact study, the effects of city development on urban stream water quality was monitored for Mill Creek in Louisville, Kentucky. To study the effects of urbanization on Mill Creek, this project was completed utilizing the BACI method for comparing impacts. The results of the water quality monitoring were …

Computational Behavioral Analytics: Estimating Psychological Traits In Foreign Languages., Kristopher Wayne Reese

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The rise of technology proliferating into the workplace has increased the threat of loss of intellectual property, classified, and proprietary information for companies, governments, and academics. This can cause economic damage to the creators of new IP, companies, and whole economies. This technology proliferation has also assisted terror groups and lone wolf actors in pushing their message to a larger audience or finding similar tribal groups that share common, sometimes flawed, beliefs across various social media platforms. These types of challenges have created numerous studies in psycholinguistics, as well as commercial tools, that look to assist in identifying potential threats …

Automatic Target Recognition With Convolutional Neural Networks., Nada Baili

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Automatic Target Recognition (ATR) characterizes the ability for an algorithm or device to identify targets or other objects based on data obtained from sensors, being commonly thermal. ATR is an important technology for both civilian and military computer vision applications. However, the current level of performance that is available is largely deficient compared to the requirements. This is mainly due to the difficulty of acquiring targets in realistic environments, and also to limitations of the distribution of classified data to the academic community for research purposes. This thesis proposes to solve the ATR task using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN). We …

Designing Water Conservation Landscapes Using Local Water Audit Data, Logan Oates

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

In 2016, Eagle Mountain City (EMC) entered into a collaborative agreement with Utah State University Extension to complete several water conservation projects. These projects include Water Checks, landscape water conservation publications, educational programs, and a water-wise landscape design for Eagle Mountain City Hall and a nearby roundabout.

The Water Check program is sponsored by Utah State University’s (USU) Center for Water Efficient Landscaping (CWEL) and offers residential water efficiency checks to EMC residents. Data collected from the Water Check program includes lot size, square feet (sf) of turfgrass, sprinkler types, sprinkler efficiency, and existing watering schedules.

This thesis examines the …

Seasonal Patterns In Stable Isotope And Fatty Acid Profiles Of Southern Stingrays (Hypanus Americana) At Stingray City Sandbar, Grand Cayman, Lisa A. Hoopes, Tonya M. Clauss, Nicole E. Browning, Alexa J. Delaune, Bradley M. Wetherbee, Mahmood Shivji, Jessica C. Harvey, Guy C.M. Harvey

Biology Faculty Articles

Ecotourism opportunities in the marine environment often rely heavily on provisioning to ensure the viewing of cryptic species by the public. However, intentional feeding of wildlife can impact numerous aspects of an animals’ behavior and ecology. Southern stingrays (Hypanus americana) provisioned at Stingray City Sandbar (SCS) in Grand Cayman have altered diel activity patterns and decreased measures of health. This study looked at seasonal changes in stable isotope (SI) and fatty acid (FA) profiles of provisioned stingrays at SCS. Plasma δ15N was higher in male stingrays (11.86 ± 1.71‰) compared to females (10.70 ± 1.71‰). Lower values for δ15N in …

A Mathematical Model Of Avian Influenza For Poultry Farm And Its Stability Analysis, Abdul Malek, Ashabul Hoque

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This paper aims to estimate the basic reproduction number for Avian Influenza outbreak in local and global poultry industries. In this concern, we apply the SEIAVR compartmental model which is developed based on the well-known SEIR model. The SEIAVR model provides the mathematical formulations of the basic reproduction number, final size relationship and a relationship between these two phenomena. The developed model Equations are solved numerically with the help of Range-Kutta method and the values of initial parameters are taken from the several literatures and reports. The calculated result of basic reproduction number shows that it is locally and globally …

Functional Compartmentalization Of Mlck In Fetal Arteries, Dane William Sorensen

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

Changes in vascular structure and reactivity are amongst the most important that occur during the transition from fetal to newborn life, and are guided by the principle of ensuring adequate coupling of blood flow to metabolism. A clinical consequence of maladaptive fetal vascular adaptation to hypoxia is an increased probability for loss of cerebral autoregulation, increased risk for neonatal encephalopathy, and hypoxicischemic cerebral injury. MLCK is a very specific calcium-calmodulin dependent enzyme, with its only known substrate being MLC20, and is essential for the ability of VSMCs within resistance arteries to appropriately contract or relax in response to changes in …

Disruption Of Dna Polymerase Zeta Promotes An Innate Immune Response, Sara Martin

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

DNA polymerase ζ (pol ζ) is a specialized polymerase that protects cells from the consequences of DNA damage and stress. Without pol ζ function mammalian cells and yeast are exquisitely sensitive to genotoxic stresses including ultraviolet irradiation and platinum compounds such as the chemotherapeutic agent cisplatin. This elevated sensitivity arises from the central role of pol ζ in lesion bypass. Pol ζ is also required to protect cells from endogenous genomic damage or stress. In primary mammalian cells, the function of pol ζ is required for genome protection and normal proliferation. Immortalized Rev3lknockout (KO) MEFs are under considerable constitutive …

Calcium Dyshomeostasis In Neurodegeneration, Nicholas Emanuel Karagas

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Neurodegenerative diseases, despite constituting a major and growing cause of mortality globally, have few effective treatments. In order to develop novel therapeutics to combat neurodegeneration, a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases is needed. Neurons rely on Ca²⁺ to mediate many of their unique functions, and aberrant Ca²⁺ signaling has been broadly implicated in neurodegeneration. The goal of this dissertation is to delineate specific examples of Ca²⁺ dyshomeostasis that I have uncovered in Drosophila models of neurodegeneration.

I first define the role a neurodegeneration-associated mutation plays in perturbing presynaptic [Ca²⁺], which is …

Inducible Epithelial Resistance Against Acute Viral Pneumonia And Chronic Asthma, Shradha Wali

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Viral pneumonia remains a global health threat despite worldwide vaccination and therapeutic programs. The influenza pandemic of 1918 and SARS-CoV2 pandemic of 2019-2020 are cautionary reminders demanding the need for novel treatment strategies. Moreover, in addition to causing acute disease, respiratory virus infections are often complicated by chronic lung pathologies, such as asthma induction, progression, and exacerbation. We have reported that mice treated with a combination of inhaled Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2/6 and TLR 9 agonists (Pam2-ODN) to stimulate innate immunity are broadly protected against respiratory pathogens, but the mechanisms underlying this protection remain incompletely elucidated. Here, we show in …

Effect Of Marketing Through Value Added And Video Sales On Feeder Cattle Prices, Amanda Trotter

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Feeder cattle marketing opportunities for producers in Missouri continue to expand. Missouri ranks within the top ten U.S. States in beef cow inventory and is a major feeder calf exporter. Selecting the appropriate marketing opportunity can have a dramatic impact on the income of the cattle producer. Feeder cattle marketing opportunities include value-added program sales, video auctions, as well as the traditional live cattle auction. A long-term study comparing these marketing opportunities in a single livestock market in Missouri has not been conducted. The objective of this study is to analyze cattle characteristics that can influence market price in feeder …

Child-Directed Learning In Varying Contexts: An Examination Of Preschools In The Philippines, Teri J. Pardue

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

While it has long been recognized that child-directed learning is a central feature of effective early childhood education, the impact of culture on its implementation is only recently gaining attention. In Asian contexts specifically, previous studies have documented challenges in implementing child-directed learning styles. This study applies holistic analysis to a collective case study of six Filipino preschools, documenting and analyzing their pursuit and implementation of child-directed learning. The study uncovers significant discrepancies among Filipino preschool directors and teachers regarding the meaning of “child-directed” and “play-based” learning, and it identifies apparent cultural barriers to implementing child-directed learning more effectively. The …

Fish And Macroinvertebrate Response To Restoration And Conservation Efforts, Madison C. Cogar

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Fish and macroinvertebrate response to restoration and conservation efforts varies in regards to the size and structure of the system (e.g. headwater streams in WV versus large rivers such as the Mississippi River). This project reviews fish and macroinvertebrate rebound in treated acid mine drainage (AMD) streams in WV as well as macroinvertebrate drift patterns in the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. AMD is a product of a chemical reaction resulting in an acidic water outflow from mining sites, which may harm aquatic life. As a response, passive AMD treatment systems have been installed. I tested the effectiveness of remediation by …

Spatial Use By Mammals Within Two State Parks In The Ozarks National Scenic Riverways, Benjamin Aaron Smith

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

A mammalian species inventory with comparisons between sampled sites was conducted via multiple methodologies to document presence of mammals at two Missouri state parks within the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Camera traps, small mammal traps, acoustic detectors, and mist nets were used to detect species at the parks, and species similarity indices and occupancy analyses were used to discern use of space. A mammalian inventory was compiled for each area of inquiry. Greater diversity was found at the park with more variable habitat types. Bat activity was more in the park with a known hibernaculum, though species specific activity differed …