Digital Commons Network^™

Depredations, Margo Steines

Sunday Short Reads

No abstract provided.

Of Mice And Women, Susan Cheever

Sunday Short Reads

No abstract provided.

An Autoencoder And Artificial Neural Network-Based Method To Estimate Parity Status Of Wild Mosquitoes From Mear-Infrared Spectra, Masabho Peter Milali, Samson S. Kiware, Nicodem J. Govella, Fredros Okumu, Naveen K. Bansal, Serdar Bozdag, Jacques D. Charlwood, Marta F. Maia, Sheila B. Ogoma, Floyd E. Dowell, George Corliss, Maggy T. Sikulu-Lord, Richard J. Povinelli

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

After mating, female mosquitoes need animal blood to develop their eggs. In the process of acquiring blood, they may acquire pathogens, which may cause different diseases in humans such as malaria, zika, dengue, and chikungunya. Therefore, knowing the parity status of mosquitoes is useful in control and evaluation of infectious diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, where parous mosquitoes are assumed to be potentially infectious. Ovary dissections, which are currently used to determine the parity status of mosquitoes, are very tedious and limited to few experts. An alternative to ovary dissections is near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), which can estimate the age in days …

Accessing The Functional Capabilities Of The Tick Microbiome Through Metagenomics, Darin Lee Shrewsberry Jr

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The black-legged tick Ixodes scapularis is a common ectoparasite of animals and an obligate blood feeder, attaching to a host animal and taking a blood meal once per life stage (i.e. 3 times during its life). Unfortunately for the tick, blood represents a nutrient poor diet largely consisting of lipids and proteins but notably lacking in essential nutrients such a B vitamins (e.g., biotin, riboflavin, niacin) Other exclusive blood feeders such as the tsetse fly harbor symbiotic bacteria that provision B-complex vitamins to their host. I. scapularis harbors Rickettsia buchneri an endoparasitic bacterium that intriguingly possesses two copies of a …

Recent Advances In Understanding And Management Of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, Vineet Bhandari, Mitali Sahni

School of Medicine Faculty Research

© 2020 Sahni M and Bhandari V. In the current era, the survival of extremely low-birth-weight infants has increased considerably because of new advances in technology; however, these infants often develop chronic dysfunction of the lung, which is called bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). BPD remains an important cause of neonatal mortality and morbidity despite newer and gentler modes of ventilation. BPD results from the exposure of immature lungs to various antenatal and postnatal factors that lead to an impairment in lung development and aberrant growth of lung parenchyma and vasculature. However, we still struggle with a uniform definition for BPD that …

In Vitro Assessment Of Deleterious Impacts Of Organomodified Nanoclays And Their Incinerated Byproducts On Human Cells, Andrew Philip White

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Organomodified nanoclays (ONCs: i.e., smectite clays with different organic coatings), act as nanofillers in applications ranging from automotive, to aerospace, and biomedical implementations. Because of their large utilization, ONC industry is projected to be a U.S. $3.3 billion industry by 2023. However, emerging studies showed that ONCs and ONC-nanocomposites could harbor health risks upon pulmonary exposure and along their life cycle, namely during synthesis, handling, use, manipulation, and disposal. Specifically, the potential for exposure and adverse effects on human health primarily includes release of dry particulate during handling, manipulation, release during use, and release during the end-of-life disposal or recycling …

Trees, Fungi, Insects: How Host Plant Genetics Builds A Community, Sandra Jeanne Simon

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Organisms, such as fungi and insects, can cause millions of acres of agricultural and forest damage, while others provide billions of dollars in ecological services such as education, aesthetic enjoyment, pollination, and gardening. Plant breeding and biotechnology can potentially help establish a balance between the proliferation of detrimental pests and attraction of beneficial insects. Variation in plant physiological and morphological characteristics are extremely important in the ability of host tissues to support many different types of organisms. When that variation is genetically heritable in a plant population, shifts in the underlying genes can have predictable consequences in structuring entire ecosystems. …

The Role Of Genotype In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae Resistance To 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol, Michael C. Ayers

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The chemical 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM) spilled in the Elk River near Charleston, WV in January 2014, impacting the drinking water of 300,000 residents. Initial studies on MCHM following the spill attempted to characterize its toxicological effects in animals, but largely ignored characterization of its effects on cellular pathways and metabolism. In this study, I used this chemical as a novel stressor for the model eukaryote S. cerevisiae to explore the relationship of genotype and stress phenotypes. Initial exploration characterized the stress phenotype of MCHM in yeast through growth assays, cell cycle analysis, and transcriptomic data. MCHM exposure caused cells to arrest …

Targeting The Nt17 Of The Huntingtin Protein Via Natural And Chemical Modifications: Impact On Aggregation And Membrane Interactions, Faezeh Sedighi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Huntington Disease (HD) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder caused by an expanded polyglutamine domain (polyQ) in the first exon of the huntingtin protein (htt-exon1). The major hallmark of HD is the accumulation of aggregates into proteinaceous inclusion bodies. PolyQ expansion in huntingtin promotes self-assembly into a variety of toxic aggregates such as oligomers, fibrils, and amorphous aggregates. The resulting heterogeneous mixture of distinct species makes it difficult to assign a toxic function to specific aggregate structures. In addition, htt interacts with a variety of membranous surfaces. The first 17 amino acids (Nt17) of htt directly flanking the polyQ domain functions …

The Interplay Of Progestins, Matrix Metalloproteinases, And The Aging Brain, Keyana Nicole Porter

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Progestins are synthetic hormones that are designed to mimic the biological actions of progesterone. They, however, possess other pharmacological actions and properties, in addition to their progestational activities. Medroxyprogesterone Acetate (MPA) is a progestin used globally in the hormonal contraceptive, Depo Provera®, by women in their reproductive prime and is a major compound found in hormone therapy (HT) formulations used by menopausal women. MPA is used by approximately 1 in 5 adolescents and adult women in the United States who are sexually active. Globally, nearly 48 million women utilize injectable contraceptives to prevent pregnancy, with most users utilizing MPA as …

Obese Zucker Rats As A Reverse Translational Model Of Human Left Ventricular Hypertrophy, Mackenzie Shelby Newman

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Heart failure is a lifelong disability that for over half of those affected leads to mortality within five years after initial diagnosis. Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is one of the most reliable independent predictors of heart failure. Pathological LVH is irreversible, but early diagnosis is often missed due to its asymptomatic nature. Obese Zucker rats (OZR), which develop obesity due to dysfunctional leptin signaling, naturally exhibit a LVH that mimics the obese human condition. Animal models are necessary because human donor tissue is scarce. The central hypothesis is that genes and proteins that are differentially expressed during development of LVH, …

A Strategy For Increasing The Levels Of Financial Literacy Among African-Americans In The Greenville Neighborhood Of Jersey City, Nj, Troy S. Levy

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Financial illiteracy afflicts many African-American and Black immigrant communities. The realities of residing in urban locales have contributed to the illiteracy and many times have led to a negative legacy of financial stewardship in these same communities. There are external challenges as well as internal challenges that have stifled African-American financial literacy. Not only is a negative corporate legacy of financial stewardship a result, but poverty, higher vulnerability towards financial bullying (housing discrimination, payday loan shops, etc.) among other challenges are directly correlated to the problem. Although poverty is an effect of lower levels of financial literacy in these …

Strategy To Implement And Evaluate A Health And Wellness Program In The Inner-City Of Benton Harbor, Michigan Through The Harbor Of Hope Church, Imasiku Mubita

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

The data from the Berrien County Health Department (2011b) shows that the city of Benton Harbor has unusually high prevalence of obesity, hypertension, and diabetes. In addition, the city is a food desert and residents lack good healthcare coverage which helps to exacerbate these lifestyle diseases among its inner-city residents. Also, the dearth of healthy food intake plus the lack of exercise further hampers the community's health.

Method

A nine-week health-wellness program was opened to the community through the Harbor of Hope church in Benton Harbor. During this program community members had their biometrics screened at the beginning and …

Applying Biblical Principles Towards A Model Of Theological Dialogue At The Hillside O'Malley Church, David Shin

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Based on feedback from members of the Hillside O’Malley Church through personal conversations, theological polarization threatened to paralyze the local church and keep it from fulfilling its mission of ministering to its members and reaching out to the community with the gospel message. The theological polarization stemmed from divergences on the presuppositional, macro-hermeneutical level that are revealed visibly in how members interpret the biblical text.

Method

The methodology that was employed was to derive biblical principles from an exegesis of the book of Acts specifically related to theological reason, which included an understanding of how presuppositions worked in the …

A Strategy To Coach Pastors To Revitalize Declining Churches In The Carolina Conference And Other Seventh-Day Adventist Conferences In The United States, Brad Cauley

Doctor of Ministry Projects

Problem

Many English-speaking Seventh-day Adventist churches are in an attendance decline or plateau in the United States. Specifically, the investigator found that 56% of English-speaking churches within the Carolina Conference of Seventh-day Adventists were in decline when comparing the five-year attendance mean for 2008-2012 and 2013-2017 using annual average attendance data. This discovery was alarming. Simultaneously, however, the population was growing in many of these communities. More intentionality was needed to stem the tide of attendance decline. These churches were in need of revitalization, but many of their pastors lacked the natural temperament and/or support needed for revitalization to occur. …

Sizing Up Categories, Lee Anne Fennell

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

Categories intentionally create discontinuities. By breaking the world up into cognizable chunks, they simplify the information environment. But the signals they provide may be inaccurate or scrambled by strategic behavior. This Article considers how law might approach the problem of optimal categorization, given the role of categories in managing and transmitting information. It proceeds from the observation that high categorization costs can be addressed through two opposite strategies—making classifications more fine-grained (splitting), and making classifications more encompassing (lumping). Although continuizing and other forms of splitting offer intuitive answers to inaccurate classification and gaming along category lines, lumping is sometimes a …

Prediction Of Novel Antibiofilm Peptides From Diverse Habitats Using Machine Learning, Bipasa Bose

Master's Theses

Multidrug resistant bacteria often lead to biofilm formation. Biofilm is a colonizedform of pathogens (fungi, bacteria) attached to surfaces like animal or plant tissues, medical devices like catheters, and artificial heart valves. Biofilm formation prolongs the survival of microorganisms in an adaptive environment, leading to the spread of infection in different organs and causing a high morbidity rate. Given the rise of chronic infection and antibiotic resistance due to biofilm, it is essential to find an alternative solution to control biofilm infections. Antibiofilm peptides can interact with these biofilm-creating pathogens to inhibit growth, virulence, and biofilm formation. We hypothesized that …

Collective Effect Of Landfills And Landscape Composition On Bird–Aircraft Collisions, Morgan B. Pfeiffer, Bradley F. Blackwell, Travis L. Devault

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Ninety-three percent of all reported bird strikes occur below 1,067 m, which based on the typical approach and departure angles of aircraft is within 8–13 km of an airport. Concomitantly, the Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization recommend that any feature that would attract hazardous wildlife to the approach and departure airspace be restricted. Thus, preventing the establishment of wildlife attractants, such as municipal solid waste landfills (MSWLFs) within 8 km or 13 km extents (U.S. and international recommendations, respectively) of airports, has been recommended to mitigate the risk of bird–aircraft collisions (strikes). However, robust evidence linking …

Management Of The Brown-Headed Cowbird: Implications For Endangered Species And Agricultural Damage Mitigation, Brian D. Peer, Barbara E. Kus, Mary J. Whitfield, Linnea S. Hall, Stephen I. Rothstein

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater; cowbird) is unique among North American blackbirds (Icteridae) because it is managed to mitigate the negative effects on endangered songbirds and economic losses in agricultural crops. Cowbird brood parasitism can further affect species that are considered threatened or endangered due to anthropogenic land uses. Historically, cowbirds have often been culled without addressing ultimate causes of songbird population declines. Similar to other North American blackbirds, cowbirds depredate agricultural crops, albeit at a lower rate reported for other blackbird species. Conflicting information exists on the extent of agricultural damage caused by cowbirds and the effectiveness …

Field Guarding As A Crop Protection Method: Preliminary Implications For Improving Field Guarding, Leah J. Findlay, Russell A. Hill

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Negative interactions between crop farmers and wild primates are an issue of significant concern. Despite many crop farmers using field guards as a method of crop protection against foraging primates, there are very few published accounts of how effective this technique is and how it might be improved. To bridge this knowledge gap, we used direct observations from a hide to collect the behaviors of field guards, chacma baboons (Papio ursinus; baboons), and vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus; vervets) foraging in a 1-ha butternut squash (Cucurbita moschata) field for 4 months (May to August) in …

Symmetry's Mandate: Constraining The Politicization Of American Administrative Law, Daniel E. Walters

Michigan Law Review

Recent years have seen the rise of pointed and influential critiques of deference doctrines in administrative law. What many of these critiques have in common is a view that judges, not agencies, should resolve interpretive disputes over the meaning of statutes—disputes the critics take to be purely legal and almost always resolvable using lawyerly tools of statutory construction. In this Article, I take these critiques, and the relatively formalist assumptions behind them, seriously and show that the critics have not acknowledged or advocated the full reform vision implied by their theoretical premises. Specifically, critics have extended their critique of judicial …

Noise, Avian Abundance, And Productivity At Banding Stations Across The Continental United States, Amber M.B. Ng, Michael L. Pontius, Stacy L. Deruiter, Darren S. Proppe

University Faculty Publications and Creative Works

Noise is an increasingly common component of the natural world, due in large part to human activity. Anthropogenic noise negatively impacts abundance, health, and reproduction in many songbird populations. A few studies have reported altered abundance at larger scales. But whether continental trends are being detected at banding stations, which also offer data on productivity and survivorship, is unknown. Further, it is not known whether localized trends correlate with population trends observed at larger scales. We used breeding season data from 1160 constant-effort banding stations (Monitoring Avian Productivity and Survivorship; MAPS) and a spatially explicit noise model to determine whether …

Can Farmers And Bats Co-Exist? Farmer Attitudes, Knowledge, And Experiences With Bats In Belize, Hannah G. Shapiro, Adam S. Willcox, Mallory Tate, Emma V. Willcox

Human–Wildlife Interactions

Bats (Chiroptera) are often viewed negatively by the public. Negative public perceptions of bats may hinder efforts to conserve declining populations. In Belize, the presence of vampire bats (Desmodus rotundus and Diphylla ecaudata) exacerbates the potential for conflicts with humans because of the increased rabies transmission risks. To mitigate these risks, the Belize government provides farmers with assistance to trap and remove vampire bats. In June 2018, we surveyed farmers (n = 44) in and adjacent to the Vaca Forest Reserve in Belize to learn more about their attitudes, knowledge, and experiences with bats. This information may …

Association Of Diet Quality With Fall Risk Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults In A Fall-Prevention Program, Jae Hyun Kim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Falls are a serious threat to older adults' quality of life. Evidence is lacking regarding the influence of diet on fall risk factors. This study aims to assess the relationship between diet, functional measures, and fall risk among older adults participating in a fall-prevention intervention. Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from 192 participants with an average age of 70.9 years was conducted using Chi-square tests, t-test, Wilcoxon test, and nominal logistic analysis. Based on Dietary Screening Tool (DST) scores, 39.5% of participants were classified as nutritionally being “at-risk,” 46.1% were at “possible-risk,” and 14.4% were “not-at-risk.” Fall risk was assessed …

Effect Of Sire Breed On Grass-Based Lamb Production, Camren L. Maierle

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Improvement of lamb performance in low-input operations may prove vital for the sustainability of eastern US sheep production. Maintaining growth while improving carcass conformation using terminal sire crossbreeding systems may increase value in a pasture-based system. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare effects of terminal sire breed on parasitism, growth, marketability of grazing lambs. Suffolk (SU; n = 2) and Texel (TX; n = 2) sires were mated to commercial ewes at the WVU Organic Farm. April-born lambs were managed on pasture as one group until weaning (mid-June), then were separated into 3 replicates per sire breed. …

Complete Anatomy, Sara K. Motsinger

Faculty and Staff Publications

Complete Anatomy is a 3D anatomy platform created by 3D4Medical, which has been developing medical products since 2009. It is a platform used by students, educators, medical professionals, and institutions and has more than one million users for its interactive anatomy models, clinical video animations, and virtual dissection tools.

Hydrogen Peroxide Mediates Artemisinin-Derived C-16 Carba-Dimer-Induced Toxicity Of Human Cancer Cells, Amanda Kalen, Brett Wagner, Ehab Sarsour, Maneesh G. Kumar, Jessica L. Reedy, Garry R. Buettner, Nabin C. Barua, Prabhat Goswami

Faculty and Staff Publications

This study used a nitroaliphatic chemistry approach to synthesize a novel artemisinin-derived carba-dimer (AG-1) and determined its anti-proliferative effects in human normal and cancer cells. AG-1 treatments selectively inhibit proliferation of cancer cells compared to normal human fibroblasts. Compared to artemisinin, AG-1 is more toxic to human breast, prostate, head-neck, pancreas and skin cancer cells; 50% inhibition (IC50) 123 µM in AG-1 vs. 290 µM in artemisinin-treated breast cancer cells. AG-1 treatment decreased (~ 5 folds) cyclin D1 protein expression that correlated with an increase in the percentage of cells in the G1-phase, suggesting a G1 delay. AG-1-induced toxicity was …

Hipgnosis, Ana Zabaleta Martínez

Grado en Diseño Multimedia y Gráfico

La interacción música y diseño gráfico ha sido una constante desde el inicio de la industria musical. En los últimos 80 años, esta industria ha evolucionado tanto a través de los distintos estilos y tendencias musicales, como de las imágenes asociadas con los mismos (diseños de las cubiertas de discos y CD’s, posters, merchandising diverso, y sobre todo en los videos musicales). La imagen ha sido un instrumento que añadía valor al contenido musical ayudando al desarrollo de la comercialización y facilitando su reconocimiento por el público. La industria musical llegó a ser un espacio donde los fotógrafos, diseñadores, ilustradores, …

Xpx, Juan José Hebrero González-Calero

Grado en Diseño Multimedia y Gráfico

La intención del explorador no consiste solo en entrar en los lugares abandonados que se dispone a descubrir, sino que también está el afán de fotografiar todo lo que los ojos van a guardar en nuestra memoria, pero que no podemos mostrar a los demás. Además de imaginarse cómo fue ese lugar cuando aún estaba lleno de vida y frecuentado por las personas. No podemos olvidar que detrás de todo esto, se encuentra una planificación, una correcta preparación del equipo que se necesita llevar según el tipo de exploración y las medidas de seguridad que se han de tener presentes …

Equity In American And Jewish Law, Itzchak E. Kornfeld , Ph.D.

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.