Digital Commons Network^™

Elementary During A Pandemic, Hannah Lonnen

Cardinal COVID Journal: Prose

No abstract provided.

Senior Recital: Emily Gunby, Oboe & English Horn, Emily Gunby, Judith Cole, Rachael Reaves, Emily O'Connor, Cj Markow, Mia Rodriguez

Bailey School of Music Concert Programs

This recital is presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree Bachelor of Music in Music Education. Ms. Gunby studies oboe with Prof. Elizabeth Koch Tiscione.

Differences Make Us Unique! : My Shape Is Sam, Djuna Kotun

Diverse Families Bookshelf Lesson Plans and Activities

No abstract provided.

Multidecadal Analysis Of Beach Loss At The Major Offshore Sea Turtle Nesting Islands In The Northern Arabian Gulf, Rommel H. Maneja, Jeffrey D. Miller, Wenzhao Li, Rejoice Thomas, Hesham El-Askary, Sachi Perera, Ace Vincent B. Flandez, Abdullajid U. Basali, Joselito Francis A. Alcaria, Jinoy Gopalan, Surya Prakash Tiwari, Mubarak Al-Jedani, Perdana K. Prihartato, Ronald A. Loughlan, Ali Qasem, Mohamed A. Qurban, Wail Falath, Daniele Struppa

Mathematics, Physics, and Computer Science Faculty Articles and Research

Undocumented historical losses of sea turtle nesting beaches worldwide could overestimate the successes of conservation measures and misrepresent the actual status of the sea turtle population. In addition, the suitability of many sea turtle nesting sites continues to decline even without in-depth scientific studies of the extent of losses and impacts to the population. In this study, multidecadal changes in the outlines and area of Jana and Karan islands, major sea turtle nesting sites in the Arabian Gulf, were compared using available Kodak aerographic images, USGS EROS Declassified satellite imagery, and ESRI satellite images. A decrease of 5.1% and 1.7% …

Climate-Related Geographical Variation In Performance Traits Across The Invasion Front Of A Widespread Non-Native Insect, Lily M. Thompson, Sean D. Powers, Ashley Appolon, Petra Hafker, Leila Milner, Dylan Parry, Salvatore J. Agosta, Kristine L. Grayson

Biology Faculty Publications

Aim

Invasive species are ideal systems for testing geographical differences in performance traits and measuring evolutionary responses as a species spreads across divergent climates and habitats. The European gypsy moth, Lymantria dispar dispar L. (Lepidoptera: Erebidae), is a generalist forest defoliator introduced to Medford, Massachusetts, USA in 1869. The invasion front extends from Minnesota to North Carolina and the ability of this species to adapt to local climate may contribute to its continuing spread. We evaluated the performance of populations along the climatic gradient of the invasion front to test for a relationship between climate and ecologically important performance traits. …

Microbial Load Of Touch Screen Mobile Phones Used By University Students And Healthcare Staff, Abdelraouf Elmanama

Journal of the Arab American University مجلة الجامعة العربية الامريكية للبحوث

Mobile phones have become an indispensable part of our lives. Though they offer plenty of advantages, they are prolific breeding grounds for infectious pathogens in communities and hospitals. The present study seeks to identify the counts and types of bacteria contaminating touch screen mobile phones (TSMP) used by students of the Islamic University-Gaza (IUG) and healthcare workers (HCWs) at Al-Shifa Hospital. It also tries to investigate the antimicrobial resistance profiles. A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2013 to April 2014. Two hundred and fifty swab samples were collected: 100 IUG female students, 100 IUG male students and 50 from …

Civilian Pepper Spray For Self Defense: Understanding User Perception And Impact Of Design On User Performance, David Strybel, Anil R. Kumar

Faculty Publications

Pepper spray is widely used in the US, and is marketed as an effective self-defense device. While pepper spray can be useful in deterring an attacker, many pepper spray owners do not have any experience using it. There is a dearth of published studies that focus on civilian pepper-spray use, not to mention first time pepper-spray users. A study to analyze pepper-spray designs with first-time users, to see how the design, specifically the safety mechanism, affects response time and overall performance would be helpful. The study was conducted in 2 parts – a survey to understand user perception, and a …

Mummy Cave; North Fork Shoshone River; Park County, Wyoming, Timothy Andrews

Conspectus Borealis

Mummy Cave represents the silence of the Sheepeater Shoshone. Little evidence of human occupation can survive this close to the river. The bank is low and rocky, with a thin deposit of alluvial soil, from the present shoreline to the angle of the ridge, where the ruddy breccia and tuff rise acutely, providing a rockface where the erosive action of the frigid mountain water could lap over eons at the igneous wall to form a shallow overhang. Camp placement in this proximity to a river was likely common, making use of a broad level riverbank to live close to water …

Test-Optional Policies: Implementation Impact On Undergraduate Admissions And Enrollment, Christina Pellegrino

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study examines national colleges and universities that have de-emphasized or eliminated standardized test scores and have implemented test-optional policies for undergraduate admissions. The phrase “standardized test(s)” in this study refers to the ACT and the SAT examinations. The study investigates the test-optional admissions trend and provides a “pre-post" quantitative analysis of test-optional policy effects on the number of admitted students, applications, acceptance rates, and the enrollment of Pell Grant recipients and underrepresented minority groups. The study also includes a qualitative summative analysis pertaining to the institutional framing of test-optional policies. The quasi-experimental research design utilizes difference-in-differences regression of cross-sectional, …

An Exploration Of Linguistic Relativity Theory For Consideration Of Terence Mckenna’S “Stoned Ape Theory” On The Origins Of Consciousness And Language: Implications For Language Pedagogy, Nicole Lopez

Journal of Conscious Evolution

The “linguistic turn” from the early 20^th century created a shift in the ontological underpinnings of various disciplines within the social sciences. Several key figures asserted that much of what we think of as reality is constructed based on a system of social institution that we call language. Language shifted to becoming a fundamental aspect of the ontological realities within a given discipline in the social sciences. Most significant to my understanding of the relationship between language, its origins, and the emergence of higher forms of human consciousness is Terence McKenna’s Stoned Ape Theory. In this article, …

Looking At Environmental Consciousness Through The Lenses Of Morphic Fields And Systems Theory, Johara Bellali

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This paper is an exploration of a space in which questions of self-determination and planetary crises can co-exist. It swims in uncomfortable seas of accepting that environmental consciousness is as innate as our existence, and at the same time not aligned to healthy ecosystems. In this paper, I will first explore environmental consciousness from an ecosystem perspective and present some self-organizing principles of our systems; then I will look into our perceptions, awareness, and sensing of them and finally propose an understanding of how the morphic fields in ecosystems and the creative flow of the life force co-exist in our …

Centaur Mind: A Glimpse Into An Integrative Structure Of Consciousness, Azin Izadifar

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Jean Gebser’s theory of consciousness suggests that we are experiencing a new era in the history of consciousness. Human consciousness moves like a pendulum. The current Integral Structure of Consciousness is not unprecedented, yet we are experiencing it in a multi-layered, deeper, and vaster way. Centaurs are imaginal creatures that first appeared within the Mythical Structure of Consciousness, making a bridge between the unity of the Magical and the duality of Mental structures. In this paper, I view the centaurs through the lenses of mythology and archetypal depth psychology and discuss the critical role of this mythic figure in the …

A Whiteheadian Innervation Of The Soma: A New Vision For The Peripheral Nervous System, David Milliern

Journal of Conscious Evolution

This essay draws attention to two problems in neuroscience’s set of assumptions. These self-defeating assumptions include: 1) the assumption that what the nervous system, especially the brain, does is synthesize experience, while also assuming philosophical realism, and 2) the problem of biological signal transduction. In the latter, neuroscientists and philosophers of biology have left unaddressed the issue that the signal differences between the inside and outside of the organismic boundary are of distinct ontological types; and yet no concern has been expressed regarding how it is possible that an organism’s inner states could reflect the experiential content flowing from outside …

Loss Of Class Iii Phosphoinositide 3-Kinase Vps34 Results In Cone Degeneration, Ammaji Rajala, Feng He, Robert E Anderson, Theodore G Wensel, Raju V S Rajala

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The major pathway for the production of the low-abundance membrane lipid phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate (PI(3)P) synthesis is catalyzed by class III phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) Vps34. The absence of Vps34 was previously found to disrupt autophagy and other membrane-trafficking pathways in some sensory neurons, but the roles of phosphatidylinositol 3-phosphate and Vps34 in cone photoreceptor cells have not previously been explored. We found that the deletion of Vps34 in neighboring rods in mouse retina did not disrupt cone function up to 8 weeks after birth, despite diminished rod function. Immunoblotting and lipid analysis of cones isolated from the cone-dominant retinas of the …

Research On Establishing Webgis Of Grassland Resources For Inner Mongolia, Qing Yuan, Jiating Wang, Dongmei Zhang, Yongping Dong

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

No abstract provided.

The Gut Microbiome And Trimethylamine N-Oxide: Implications For Chronic Disease Risk And Dietary Regulation, Connor W. Nevin

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

The leading causes of death in the United States include many chronic diseases with modifiable risk factors including ischemic heart diseases. Gut microbiota-dependent trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) synthesis has been implicated in cardiovascular disease risk in recent years. New evidence may also implicate TMAO involvement in other chronic diseases including diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease. The role of diet in TMAO synthesis has also been of considerable interest, as certain dietary precursors are known to modulate circulating TMAO. The gut microbiome is indeed susceptible to diet-induced change which may modulate the risk for chronic disease. Plant-based diets are considered by …

Full Issue

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

No abstract provided.

Picking Best Suited Smart Device To Provide Response To A Query, Michael Schäer, Agoston Weisz, Vitaly Gatsko

Defensive Publications Series

Users can issue commands, e.g., spoken commands, to virtual assistants available on various smart devices that have different capabilities. Responses to different types of queries may be best served on specific device types. This disclosure describes techniques to provide responses to a user query, e.g., a spoken query to a virtual assistant, via an automatically selected device from available user devices. Such selection can be based on explicit user preferences or can be based on user-permitted data, as well as be based on the type of query. Implementation of the described techniques can provide an enhanced user experience of interaction …

Miscellany/Méli-Mélo: Editors' Notebook, Melanie Dennis Unrau, Alec Follett, David Huebert, Siobhan Angus

The Goose

Editorial introduction to The Goose Volume 18, Issue 2 (2020).

Faculty Senate Minutes 2020-11-06, The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Bison, November 6, 2020

The Bison Newspapers

No abstract provided.

Genomic Evidence Suggests Further Changes Of Butterfly Names, Jing Zhang, Qian Cong, Jinhui Shen, Pal A. Opler, Nick V. Grishin

The Taxonomic Report of the International Lepidoptera Survey

Further genomic sequencing of butterflies by our research group expanding the coverage of species and specimens from different localities, coupled with genome-scale phylogenetic analysis and complemented by phenotypic considerations, suggests a number of changes to the names of butterflies, mostly those recorded from the United States and Canada. Here, we present evidence to support these changes. The changes are intended to make butterfly classification more internally consistent at the genus, subgenus and species levels. That is, considering all available evidence, we attempt to assign similar taxonomic ranks to the clades of comparable genetic differentiation, which on average is correlated with …

Volume Cxxxix, Number 7, November 6, 2020, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Mutations In Grk2 Cause Jeune Syndrome By Impairing Hedgehog And Canonical Wnt Signaling., Michaela Bosakova, Sara P. Abraham, Alexandru Nita, Eva Hruba, Marcela Buchtova, S Paige Taylor, Ivan Duran, Jorge Martin, Katerina Svozilova, Tomas Barta, Miroslav Varecha, Lukas Balek, Jiri Kohoutek, Tomasz Radaszkiewicz, Ganesh V. Pusapati, Vitezslav Bryja, Eric T. Rush, Isabelle Thiffault, Deborah A. Nickerson, Michael J. Bamshad, University Of Washington Center For Mendelian Genomics, Rajat Rohatgi, Daniel H. Cohn, Deborah Krakow, Pavel Krejci

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Mutations in genes affecting primary cilia cause ciliopathies, a diverse group of disorders often affecting skeletal development. This includes Jeune syndrome or asphyxiating thoracic dystrophy (ATD), an autosomal recessive skeletal disorder. Unraveling the responsible molecular pathology helps illuminate mechanisms responsible for functional primary cilia. We identified two families with ATD caused by loss-of-function mutations in the gene encoding adrenergic receptor kinase 1 (ADRBK1 or GRK2). GRK2 cells from an affected individual homozygous for the p.R158* mutation resulted in loss of GRK2, and disrupted chondrocyte growth and differentiation in the cartilage growth plate. GRK2 null cells displayed normal cilia morphology, yet …

Role Of Libraries By Agricultural Extension Woker In Osun State Nigeria, Sobalaje Adewale Joel A. J

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The role of the library of agricultural extension workers in Osun State, Nigeria is very important. Structural questionnaires were used to collect data from 160 extension workers in the study area, out of which 149 (93.1%) responded and were used for analysis. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the data using frequency, percentage table, and regression analysis to test the relationship between variables. Findings showed that all the respondents were educated beyond the O’ Level. The majority of extension workers do visit the public library to gather the information that is useful for farmers. Furthermore, extension workers have positive attitudes …

Myh3-Associated Distal Arthrogryposis Zebrafish Model Is Normalized With Para-Aminoblebbistatin, Julia Whittle, Lilian Antunes, Mya Harris, Zachary Upshaw, Diane S Sepich, Aaron N Johnson, Mayssa Mokalled, Lilianna Solnica-Krezel, Matthew B Dobbs, Christina A Gurnett

Open Access Publications

Distal arthrogryposis (DA) is group of syndromes characterized by congenital joint contractures. Treatment development is hindered by the lack of vertebrate models. Here, we describe a zebrafish model in which a common MYH3 missense mutation (R672H) was introduced into the orthologous zebrafish gene smyhc1 (slow myosin heavy chain 1) (R673H). We simultaneously created a smyhc1 null allele (smyhc1

Feasting On Words: What University Students Learn When They Study Food Writing And Food Media, Janet K. Keeler

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The use of food in college curriculum is unique in its ability to create lasting impact because of the keen interest millennial and Generation Z students have in what they eat and drink. Studying media with food at its core is an underutilized mechanism to show how food intersects with the lives of all people thus encouraging students to look beyond their own experiences to consider the wider society. A program evaluation of 10 semesters of food writing and food media courses at a Florida public university reveals the ways in which students make deeper connections to culture and current …

The Effects Of Visual Aids In Online Learning, Amaris Leal

McNair Summer Research Program

Research has demonstrated the potential for increased distraction and decreased comprehension for material presented digitally (Gerow et al., 2010). Given the continued shift toward digital content and increase in online-only learning, examining ways to improve comprehension are important. Prior work has shown that visual aids can improve comprehension of material for learners, and thus may be a valuable tool to redress digital comprehension deficits (Bransford & Johnson, 1972; Majidi & Aydinlu, 2016). The present study examined the effect of visual aids in online reading comprehension. A between-subject experimental survey (N = 60) evaluated memory and comprehension in undergraduate students in …

Postfire Breeding Behavior In Couch's Spadefoot Toad (Scaphiopus Couchii) Along The San Pedro River, Arizona, Sidney B. Riddle, Cheyenne J. Herzog, Heather L. Bateman, Mason J. Ryan

Western North American Naturalist

Fire is an important ecosystem process that can impact local amphibian communities and breeding behaviors. Riparian gallery forests of the American Southwest are an important habitat for amphibians that breed in river channels, wetlands, and pools within the floodplain. High-intensity fires are rare in these riparian forests, and there is no information on how amphibians respond to fire in this system. We documented the presence and reproductive attempts of Couch’s spadefoot (Scaphiopus couchii) in the San Pedro River following a high-intensity wildfire in riparian gallery forest. These observations are the first recorded breeding events of Couch’s spadefoot in …

Facilitating Conversations On Difficult Topics In The Classroom: Teachers’ Stories Of Opening Spaces Using Children’S Literature

Occasional Paper Series

For this edition of the Bank Street Occasional Paper Series, we invited educators to share stories from their practice: times when they utilized children’s literature and conversations to address real life; the difficult topics that children experience through the mirror of their own experiences or the windows of their peers, communities, or world.