Digital Commons Network^™

Tlr2 And Caspase-1 Signaling Are Critical For Bacterial Containment But Not Clearance During Craniotomy-Associated Biofilm Infection, Amy L. Aldrich, Cortney E. Heim, Wen Shi, Rachel W. Fallet, Bin Duan, Tammy Kielian

Journal Articles: Pathology and Microbiology

BACKGROUND: A craniotomy is required to access the brain for tumor resection or epilepsy treatment, and despite precautionary measures, infectious complications occur at a frequency of 1-3%. Approximately half of craniotomy infections are caused by Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) that forms a biofilm on the bone flap, which is recalcitrant to antibiotics. Our prior work in a mouse model of S. aureus craniotomy infection revealed a critical role for myeloid differentiation factor 88 (MyD88) in bacterial containment and pro-inflammatory mediator production. Since numerous receptors utilize MyD88 as a signaling adaptor, the current study examined the importance of Toll-like receptor 2 …

Rewilding And Domestication: Clarifying Terminology, Catia Correia-Caeiro

Animal Sentience

Baker & Winkler (B&W) describe the state of Asian elephant conservation, raising unique issues, and proposing a direction based on rewilding. The long history and socio-biology of elephants and humans has some parallels with the domestication of dogs (and other species). However, markers of domestication seem absent from elephants. The proper use of terms such as “wild” and “domestic” is crucial in defining the best conservation strategies, and, more important, in attending to the welfare needs of individuals, which can differ between wild and domestic animals. B&W’s target article represents an important starting point for discussion around elephant conservation, but …

The Future Of Space Governance, Melissa (M.J.) Durkee

Scholarship@WashULaw

Fifty years after the first moonwalk, the prospect for a new set of multilateral agreements governing outer space is remote, yet the legal questions raised by activity in space are mounting. With little prospect of new treaties, nations will need to make do with existing treaty law, generate customary rules to govern new applications, or develop forms of sub-legal understanding and cooperation. This special conference issue of the Georgia Journal of International and Comparative Law addresses these questions.

Birds Of A Feather, Tian Geng

Neureuther Book Collection Essay Competition

Undergraduate winner: 2d place, 2020 33nd Annual Carl Neureuther Student Book Collection Competition

Random Sequence Perception Amongst Finance And Accounting Personnel: Can We Measure Illusion Of Control, A Type I Error, Or Illusion Of Chaos, A Type Ii Error?, Keith I. Taylor

Dissertations from the Executive Doctorate in Business Administration Program

The purpose of this dissertation was to determine if finance and accounting personnel could distinguish between random and non-random time-series strings and to determine what types of errors they would make. These individuals averaging 13 years of experience were unable to distinguish non-random patterns from random strings in an assessment composed of statistical process control (SPC) charts. Respondents scored no better than guessing which was also assessed with a series of true-false questions. Neither over-alternation (oscillation) nor under-alternation (trend) strategies were able to predict type I or type II error rates, i.e. illusion of control or illusion of chaos. Latent …

Gut Microbiota Composition Is Correlated To Host Hummingbird Protein Requirements, Ryan C. Stanton , '20

Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards

The gut microbiome shapes and is shaped by a host animal’s physiology. Avian taxa hold physiological characteristics unique from mammals and might inform novel pressures experienced by microbial communities. Further, the symbionts’ relative abundance and their abilities to adapt to available resources are of critical importance to a holobiont’s fitness in rapidly changing climates. Therefore, wild populations of hummingbirds Selasphorus rufus and Calypte anna were studied. The two systems differ in S. rufus’s annual migrations from wintering grounds to their breeding grounds in the Pacific Northwest, whereas C. anna are resident in the latter region. Previous findings have indicated …

Earth Mothers, Soy Boys, And Cool Dudes: Practicing Law While Protecting The Environment, Elizabeth J. Hubertz

Scholarship@WashULaw

As a public-interest environmental lawyer, this author explores gender in the legal profession. Specifically, gender in environmental law. Through a recognition of the gendered dimensions of environmental law, this Article explores the nature-culture binary, the relationship of meat to masculinity, and perceptions of the risks and threats of climate change.

Smart Contracts And The Illusion Of Automated Enforcement, Danielle D'Onfro

Scholarship@WashULaw

This symposium essay explores the barriers to deploying smart contracts in the consumer finance space: the humans themselves, existing consumer protection laws, and the other businesses who have financial contracts with consumers but that cannot deploy smart contracts. These three barriers render perfectly automated enforcement all but impossible. Nevertheless, there may be room for modifiable smart contracts in the consumer financial space although these contracts may be only marginally more efficient than traditional contracts.

Reconstructing Racially Polarized Voting, Travis Crum

Scholarship@WashULaw

Racially polarized voting makes minorities more vulnerable to discriminatory changes in election laws and therefore implicates nearly every voting rights doctrine. In Thornburg v. Gingles, the Supreme Court held that racially polarized voting is a necessary—but not a sufficient—condition for a vote dilution claim under Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. The Court, however, has recently questioned the propriety of recognizing the existence of racially polarized voting. This colorblind approach threatens not only the Gingles factors but also Section 2’s constitutionality.

The Court treats racially polarized voting as a modern phenomenon. But the relevant starting point is the 1860s, …

What Would Mlk Do?: A Civil Rights Model Of “Good Citizenship” In Criminal Procedure, Trevor George Gardner

Scholarship@WashULaw

Good citizenship and eager participation in police investigations would seem to fit hand-in-glove. The good citizen helps to enforce the criminal law, particularly if the physical safety of the citizenry is thought to be at risk. But as Bennett Capers argues in his essay, Criminal Procedure and the Good Citizen, this version of the good citizen—crafted and propagated by our nation’s highest court—falls into direct tension with the activist principles animating the Civil Rights Movement. For instance, Martin Luther King, Jr., insisted that the citizen not suffer from a cultural condition Capers describes as “too much respect for majoritarian …

The Hidden Transactional Wisdom Of Media Discrimination In Pre-Awcpa Copyright, Kevin Emerson Collins

Scholarship@WashULaw

Media neutrality in copyright’s subject matter means that works of authorship are protected against copying, or not, regardless of the tangible medium in which they are fixed. For example, the same features of a sculptural work are protected regardless of whether they are fixed in a statue or a photograph of a statue. Media neutrality in subject matter is a fundamental and largely unquestioned copyright principle with a firm policy basis under copyright’s dominant incentive-to-create theory. Media discrimination in subject matter undermines in arbitrary ways authors’ ability to recoup their creativity costs over the sale of multiple copies.

This Article …

Estate Planning With Shaq And Strom: Teaching Post-Mortem Intimacy Audits, Adrienne D. Davis

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article highlights the importance of using both popular culture references and fictional show characters as mediums for teaching courses on Trusts and Estates. Utilizing post-mortem intimacy audits, specifically through pop culture pedagogical hypotheticals and case studies, Professor Davis highlights the importance of understanding doctrines within Trusts and Estates Law. Focusing on the examples of Shaquille O’Neal and Strom Thurmond, this Article highlights three important lessons for students: the fragility of estate planning, the effects of individual estate planning on groups’ broader wealth and political equality, and the role of private law in distributing legal rights and political equality.

Active Learning And Technology Approaches For Teaching Immunology To Undergraduate Students, Sharon A. Stranford, Judith Owen, Frances Mercer, Roberta R. Pollock

Biology Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Litmag 2019-20, University Of Missouri-St. Louis, Kathryne Johanna Watt

Litmag

Litmag’s goal is to nurture the creativity of the students, staff, and alumni of UMSL by increasing awareness of diverse literary and artistic talent. We aim to provide an inclusive, professional, and high-quality publication free of charge to UMSL and the local community.

Microfinance In Latin America: Poverty Alleviation And The Impact Of Institutional Mimicry, Lindsay Jouben

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Microfinance has become a program of choice in the international development community. The World Bank has promoted microfinance programs under the idea that poverty alleviation can be accomplished by mainly providing credit. [1] As such, these policies are often replicated throughout the developing world. This replication is done through international organizations adopting a standard of best practices for the microfinance field. Best practices consist of a complex set of standard by which all banks must adhere if they receive funding from the World Bank or International Monetary Fund. These best practices, following neoliberal economics, lay out how microfinance should operate …

A Spatially Distributed Investigation Of Stream Water Temperature In A Contemporary Mixed-Land-Use Watershed, Jason P. Horne

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Stream water temperature is an important physical variable that influences many biological and abiotic water quality processes. The land-use/land-cover (LULC) types and corresponding variability in stream water temperature (Tw) processes in contemporary mixed-land-use watersheds necessitate research to advance management and policy decisions. Water temperature was analyzed from 21 gauging sites using a nested-scale experimental watershed study design. Results showed that forested land use was significantly negatively correlated (α = 0.05) with mean and maximum Tw. Agricultural land use was significantly positively correlated (α = 0.05) with maximum Tw except during the spring season. Mixed development and Tw were significantly correlated …

Perceived Effects Of Bush Burning On Agriculture And Wildlife Resources In Ghana, Caitlin A. Wilson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Peace Corps was started in the 1960s by President John F. Kennedy. Ghana was one of the first established host countries that received Peace Corps Volunteers. There are five different sectors that volunteers can work in education, health, agriculture, environment, or community and economic development. Peace Corps service begins with ten weeks of pre-service training before volunteers swear in and are placed in communities throughout the country. Training covers topics such as global Peace Corps policy, health and security concerns, local language, and technical skills. I was placed in a small, rural community in the Northern Region of Ghana. My …

Structural Transformations Of Synaptic Partners During Growth And Competition Of The Giant Nerve Terminal, The Calyx Of Held, In The Medial Nucleus Of The Trapezoid Body In The Developing Postnatal Mouse, Dakota Richard Jackson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Across many parts of the nervous system, initial neural circuit assembly involves stereotyped stages of early axonal proliferation within target territories, selective reinforcement of a subset of inputs and the removal of exuberant or unneeded connections via either activity or experience-dependent mechanisms, in a process referred to as synaptic competition. The mechanisms and associated structural transformations that underlie and define these stages of neurodevelopment have been examined in a variety of brain regions including the peripheral neuromuscular junction, the central climbing fiber innervation of cerebellar Purkinje cells and retinal ganglion cell innervation of the thalamic lateral geniculate nucleus. Each of …

Improving The Biological Control Of Persicaria Perfoliata (Polygonaceae) Using Rhinoncomimus Latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Jaewon Kim

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Persicaria perfoliata (L.) H. Gross (Polygonaceae; Mile-a-minute weed) is a rapid-growing invasive vine introduced from eastern Asia to northeastern United States in the 1930s. This vine has been invaded in disturbed areas and reforestation sites in 15 states in the U.S. and forms dense, monocultural patches that may inhibit natural forest regeneration. To control this weed, a host-specific biocontrol agent, Rhinoncomimus latipes Korotyaev (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) has been released in the P. perfoliata invaded states in the U.S. during the past 15 years. Currently, R. latipes is released by hand to the invaded area where the presence of the weed is …

Genetic And Biochemical Characterization Of Ergot Alkaloid Synthesizing Fungi And Their Symbionts, Matthew Duane Maust

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Ergot alkaloids are fungal tryptophan derived toxins which affect mammalian circulation and neurotransmission. These compounds are biosynthesized by a conserved genetic pathway, known as the ergot alkaloid synthesis (EAS) pathway by fungi belonging to the ascomycete families Trichocomaceae and Clavicipitaceae. Several Ipomoea species and related plants in the morning glory family harbor vertically transmitted symbiotic fungi in the genus Periglandula, also members of Clavicipitaceae, that produce ergot alkaloids. Metabolomic analysis of seeds identified a previously uncharacterized glycoside form of the pharmaceutically important ergot alkaloid, ergonovine. Several species belonging to the fungal genus Metarhizium have recently been shown to have the …

Search Strategies For “A Comprehensive Analysis Of Mutations In Cutaneous Squamous Cell Carcinoma Reveals Novel Genes And Mutations Associated With Patient-Specific Characteristics And Metastasis”, Marissa Lobl, Dillon Clarey, Cynthia M. Schmidt, Christopher Wichman, Ashley Wysong

Search Strategies: Leon S. McGoogan Health Sciences Library

No abstract provided.

The Costume Design Process For The Phantom Tollbooth, Chloe Elizabeth Cappuccilli

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

This thesis will give an account of the costume design process for The Phantom Tollbooth at West Virginia University. Specifically, the responsibilities of the role of Costume Designer, from initial meetings to final production. This document will include research about child psychology that inspired the primary design process, specifically the influence of children’s dreams, and their relationship to toys. This information was utilized to create designs explicitly for children’s theatre audiences. I will present and evaluate the costume designs, including the design evolution until the final production. Detailing the process of costume construction while working with a costume shop. Visual …

The Effects Of Internal Physiology On Polyphenic Horn Development In The Dung Beetle Onthophagus Taurus, Naomi Garrett Williamson

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

An organism’s phenotype can be affected in development by alterations to gene expression based on environmental inputs. Nutrition is one such environmental input and the central regulator of development of large horn or small horn phenotypes in the dung beetle species, Onthophagus taurus. However, little is known about the nature of chemical compounds that are critical to this plastic horn development. To better understand these compounds, we are utilizing an untargeted metabolomic approach as well as a targeted gene approach. Through the metabolomic approach, it was uncovered that environmental conditions tend to have a greater impact on metabolomic composition …

Evaluating Inorganic Feed Phosphate Type And Further Potential Of Phytase Supplementation Using A Commercial Broiler Model, Angela Elsie Lamp

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

Optimizing feed formulation of poultry diets may be achieved by proper utilization of nutrients and feed additives. This will provide a less expensive and nutrient efficient diet to the bird. An experiment was conducted to evaluate early broiler performance, tibia mineralization, and mineral digestibility of broilers fed diets that differed in inorganic feed phosphates (IFP) but that were formulated to be either similar in dietary non-phytate phosphorus (nPP) and calcium to phosphorus ratio (Ca:P), total mineral content, or calculated prececal digestible phosphorus (CPDP). Dicalcium phosphate (DCP), monodicalcium phosphate (MDP), monocalcium phosphate (MCP), and defluorinated phosphate were used in formulations with …

Assessment Of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders, Diego Gomez, Christie Petrenko, Maristela Monteiro, Omar A. Rahman

Books: Munroe-Meyer Institute

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) represent a range of physical, mental, and behavioral disabilities caused by alcohol use during pregnancy, or prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE). FASDs are considered to be one of the leading preventable causes of developmental disability. Despite its high prevalence, FASD is often misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed, making interventions more challenging or delayed. Earlier diagnosis yields greater benefits for affected children, which include a reduction in secondary disabilities such as substance use disorders and learning and cognitive disabilities leading to school failure, and improved life outcomes. Most importantly, diagnosis provides a context for understanding a child’s behavior. When …

Transparency After Carpenter, Hannah Bloch-Wehba

Faculty Scholarship

This brief invited response to Professor Matthew Tokson’s Foulston-Siefkin lecture on the Supreme Court's decision in Carpenter v. United States makes two contributions. First, I highlight the social, political, and economic factors at play in the Carpenter decision. The Carpenter Court recognized, in particular, that digital surveillance implicates the rights of more than just criminal suspects: it poses unique and unappreciated threats to public governance of policing. The decision, I argue, reflects longstanding preoccupations in Fourth Amendment decisions with protecting the “public” — particularly innocent third parties — from intrusive and baseless investigations. In so doing, I situate Professor Tokson’s …

Environmental Contaminants, Parasitism, And Neoplasia In White Perch Morone Americana From Chesapeake Bay, Usa, Mark Arnold Matsche

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

White perch are an abundant demersal fish species in freshwater and oligohaline habitats of the Chesapeake Bay. An avoidance of salinity > 12-15 ppt generally restricts the distribution and movements of fish to within tributaries in the mid to lower Bay, which over time has resulted in the formation of at least three separate stocks in Chesapeake Bay. Sub-populations of white perch that are partially isolated may serve as sentinels of the conditions or stressors in the tributaries in which they reside. Fish are exposed to a variety of environmental contaminants and other anthropogenic stressors that can vary in magnitude based …

Kenyan Media Trends And Predictions, Alex Awiti, Njoki Chege, Hesbon Owilla

Graduate School of Media and Communications

We asked some clever journalists and media practitioners to peer into their crystal balls and tell us what they think the future holds for the Kenyan media.

Our predictions are intended to highlight the views of thought leaders on the key challenges and opportunities in Kenya’s media industry. This report builds upon a deep introspection of 2019 while combining decades of journalistic experience to produce distilled predictions for this year. We interviewed 34 industry leaders who provided us with some forward-looking contributions on their expectations and predictions for Kenya’s media in 2020.

The media industry in Kenya has been struggling …

Importance Of Taxonomic Group, Life Stage And Circumstance Of Rescue Upon Wildlife Rehabilitation In Ontario, Canada, Gillian Kelly, Javier Delbarco-Trillo

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

Wildlife rehabilitation is an increasingly important and global practice, aiming towards advancements in animal welfare and species conservation. Although there are ongoing discussions on the benefits and limitations of wildlife rehabilitation, there is a general agreement on the importance of wildlife rehabilitation on improving the welfare of wild animals and identifying threats to wildlife. Determining which factors lead to a successful outcome of rehabilitation can allow wildlife rehabilitation centres to best focus their resources to benefit animals with the greatest chance of a successful release. In this study, three factors affecting the success of rehabilitation were evaluated: taxonomic group, life …

Changes In The Home Range Sizes Of Terrestrial Vertebrates In Response To Urban Disturbance: A Meta-Analysis, Kate O'Donnell, Javier Delbarco-Trillo

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

The unprecedented growth rate in human population and the increasing movement of people to urban areas is causing a rapid increase in urbanisation globally. Urban environments may restrict or affect the behaviour of many animal species. Importantly, urban populations may change their spatial movement, particularly decreasing their home ranges in response to habitat fragmentation, the presence of landscape barriers and the availability and density of resources. Several species specific studies suggest that urban animals decrease their home ranges compared with their non-urban counterparts; however, it remained unclear whether this pattern is widespread across taxa or is instead restricted to specific …