Digital Commons Network^™

Does Becoming A Vegetarian Or Vegan Affect Your Love Life?, Harold Herzog

Herzog - Dietary Issues

For individuals who convert to vegetarianism or veganism, there is commonly an effect on who is in one's social network and in the dietary preferences of one's romantic partner. A study of this issue found that among Polish vegetarians and vegans, their romantic partners were twelve more likely not to consume meat.

Characteristics Of The Tapanuli Orangutan Habitat In The Conflict Area Of Batang Toru Landscape, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Wanda Kuswanda, R. Hamdani Harahap, Hadi S. Alikodra, Robert Sibarani

Forest and Society

Forest fragmentation has resulted in decreased wildlife habitat, which has triggered conflicts with humans due to the use of the same plants. This has been particularly contentious with the tapanuli orangutan. Research of the tapanuli orangutan (Pongo tapanuliensis) habitat is very limited. The aims of this research is to examine the latest habitat conditions, such as land cover, composition of vegetation, feed plant, and habitat carrying capacity to provide recommendations for habitat management in developing a mitigation policy of the human-tapanuli orangutan conflict. The research location is focused on the area of human-orangutan conflict in the Batang Toru …

Forest - Related Culture And Contribution To Sustainable Development In The Northern Mountain Region In Vietnam, Thi Tan Huong Ngo, Thi Phuong Mai Nguyen, Thi Huong Duong, Thi Hue Ly

Forest and Society

The culture of communities living near/in forests indelibly interacts with forest ecosystems, both shaping and adapting to the natural environment. Forest-related cultural dimensions also provide benefits for local economies and social welfare. This study analyses the relationship between local culture and forests of the Tay and the Dao minorities and their contribution to sustainable development in Vo Nhai, a mountainous district in northern Vietnam. The study uses methods of a literature review, participant observation and qualitative interviews with local people. The strong embedded culture with forests that developed over many generations of Tay and Dao people was expressed through their …

Creating Visual Metaphors By Taking Tarot Out Of Context, Dani Pendergast

Theses - ALL

This thesis paper aims to describe how using tarot aspects outside of the tarot context can spark visual metaphors in illustration. Tarot, while famously known for as a tool of determining one's fate, is also a source of the many intricacies of the human experience. The 22 Major Arcana cards' meanings were analyzed, and key phrases from those cards were used as prompts to illustrate. The intention was that the key phrases from the tarot cards could help initiate creative thought and ideas for developing illustrations. The thesis starts with an introduction to common struggles that illustrators have with coming …

Genetic Determinants Of Increased Outcrossing In Caenorhabditis Elegans Following Dauer Diapause, Rose Al-Saadi

Theses - ALL

Mating strategies, whether sexual or asexual, confer unique costs and benefits to populations and species that facilitate evolutionary processes. In wild isolates of Caenorhabditis elegans, mating strategies are dependent on developmental history. Outcrossing levels significantly increase when both hermaphrodites and males have transiently passed through the stress-resistant dauer diapause stage (postdauers). However, the molecular mechanisms of how life history can alter mating strategies have not been systematically explored. Mating behaviors of C. elegans can be attributed, in part, to sex-specific responses to ascaroside pheromone components. For example, high concentrations of the pheromone ascr#3 results in a strong avoidance response in …

Modulation Of Immune Checkpoints By Chemotherapy In Human Colorectal Liver Metastases., Neda Jabbari, Heidi L Kenerson, Christopher Lausted, Xiaowei Yan, Changting Meng, Kevin M Sullivan, Priyanka Baloni, Dani E Bergey, Venu G Pillarisetty, Leroy Hood, Raymond S Yeung, Qiang Tian

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of cancer-related death, and incidence is rising in younger populations (younger than 50 years). Current chemotherapies can achieve response rates above 50%, but immunotherapies have limited value for patients with microsatellite-stable (MSS) cancers. The present study investigates the impact of chemotherapy on the tumor immune microenvironment. We treat human liver metastases slices with 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) plus either irinotecan or oxaliplatin, then perform single-cell transcriptome analyses. Results from eight cases reveal two cellular subtypes with divergent responses to chemotherapy. Susceptible tumors are characterized by a stemness signature, an activated interferon pathway, and suppression …

Development And Preliminary Clinical Activity Of Pd-1-Guided Ctla-4 Blocking Bispecific Dart Molecule., Alexey Berezhnoy, Bradley J Sumrow, Kurt Stahl, Kalpana Shah, Daorong Liu, Jonathan Li, Su-Shin Hao, Anushka De Costa, Sanjeev Kaul, Johanna Bendell, Gregory M Cote, Jason J Luke, Rachel E Sanborn, Manish R Sharma, Francine Chen, Hua Li, Gundo Diedrich, Ezio Bonvini, Paul A Moore

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Combination immunotherapy with antibodies directed against PD-1 and CTLA-4 shows improved clinical benefit across cancer indications compared to single agents, albeit with increased toxicity. Leveraging the observation that PD-1 and CTLA-4 are co-expressed by tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, an investigational PD-1 x CTLA-4 bispecific DART molecule, MGD019, is engineered to maximize checkpoint blockade in the tumor microenvironment via enhanced CTLA-4 blockade in a PD-1-binding-dependent manner.

Road Development And Indigenous Hunting In Tanah Papua: Connecting The Facts For Future Wildlife Conservation Agendas, Freddy Pattiselanno, Andrew Krockenberger

Forest and Society

Road development is increasing worldwide. Generally, examples of road building in tropical countries demonstrate that road access can assist the fight against rural poverty, but such developments are also linked to deforestation, pollution, invasions of exotic species, and environmental degradation. For Papua and West Papua provinces (Tanah Papua) in Indonesia, the development of the provincial road network is intended to improve the rural economy, aiming to alleviate poverty within isolated rural areas. However, road development can pose particularly challenging problems to rural and Indigenous communities. Poorly planned roads can be devastating when they provide easy access to illegal hunting that …

In Search Of A Stimulating Visual Dance Art Medium: Overlapping Realities In Live And Screen Dance, Yael Levitin Saban

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis paper captures research into historical examples of artistic performance pioneers who integrated multiple layers of imagery into complex dialogue and describes how this research inspired and influenced the creation of an original 17-minute video work, “Overlay.”. My interest throughout my MFA Thesis Project has been to understand the effect of fusing or layering multiple movement-based art forms, the application and integration of modern technology to established traditional stage performance, and the creation of engaging new art form.

Neuromodulation By Endogenous Interlukin-1Β In Hippocampus Of The Murine Brain: Regulation Of Neuronal Excitation, Spandita Seouli Dutta

Dissertations - ALL

The pro-inflammatory cytokine, Interleukin-1β (IL-1β), is well known for its ability to initiate and propagate inflammatory responses at sites of infection and tissue injury. Paradoxically at odds with this classic view, it is now clear that IL-1β signaling modulates a number of physiological functions in the central nervous system. In this regard, IL-1β is involved in sleep and body fluid regulation in the basal forebrain and hypothalamus, respectively, and plasticity changes that underlie cognition in the hippocampus. Evidence from a previous study in my laboratory further suggests that IL-1β regulates the innate seizure threshold, which arguably is a reflection of …

Wrinkling Patterns On Curved Surface With Gradient Curvature Under Compression, Xiaoxiao Zhang

Dissertations - ALL

This work focuses on understanding the wrinkling patterns on a curved surface, i.e., tori and cones, with varying curvatures and global deformation. By tuning the geometry confine-ment and material properties, we can control the surface morphologies in these systems which can potentially be applied to wide applications in bio-inspired devices, microfluidic, and optical.

First, we investigate the wrinkles on a tri-layer torus consisting of an expanding thin outer layer, an intermediate soft layer, and an inner core with a tunable shear modulus. This study is inspired by pattern formations and evolutions in developmental biology, such as follicle pattern formation during …

High-Resolution Sampling Of A Broad Marine Life Size Spectrum Reveals Differing Size- And Composition-Based Associations With Physical Oceanographic Structure, Adam T. Greer, John C. Lehrter, Benjamin M. Binder, Aditya R. Nayak, Ranjoy Barua, Ana E. Rice, Jonathan H. Cohen, Malcolm N. Mcfarland, Alexis Hagemeyer, Nicole D. Stockley, Kevin M. Boswell, Igor Shulman, Sergio Derada, Bradley Penta

Faculty Publications

Observing multiple size classes of organisms, along with oceanographic properties and water mass origins, can improve our understanding of the drivers of aggregations, yet acquiring these measurements remains a fundamental challenge in biological oceanography. By deploying multiple biological sampling systems, from conventional bottle and net sampling to in situ imaging and acoustics, we describe the spatial patterns of different size classes of marine organisms (several microns to ∼10 cm) in relation to local and regional (m to km) physical oceanographic conditions on the Delaware continental shelf. The imaging and acoustic systems deployed included (in ascending order of target organism size) …

Soil Seed Banks Of Tree Species From Natural Forests, Restoration Sites, And Abandoned Areas In Chiang Mai, Thailand, Patsavipich Rungrojtrakool, Pimonrat Tiansawat, Arunothai Jampeetong, Dia Panitnard Shannon, Sutthathorn Chairuangsri

Forest and Society

Soil seed banks have been used for investigation of natural regeneration of forests. In this study, we compared seed density and species composition of soil seed banks of trees among natural forests, restored forests of different ages, and abandoned agricultural land. The soil seed banks were collected from a natural forest (NF), 12-year-old and 17-year-old restoration sites (RF12y and RF17y), and 17-year-old abandoned site (AA) at Ban Mae Sa Mai, Chiang Mai, Thailand. A seedling emergence technique was used to assess seed density and species of emerged seedlings was identified. We found 5-8 tree species at each site. Seed densities …

Dietary Intake Of A Sample Of Stunted Egyptian Preschool Children, Amina S. Soliman, Hoda A. Abdel Salam, Saher A. Khairy, Salwa M. Saleh

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background Growth retardation is highly prevalent among children. Infections and inadequate food intake are well-established causes of growth retardation. Nutrition plays a key role in the control of linear growth. Objective The aim was to assess dietary intake of stunted Egyptian preschool children. Participants and methods The study was designed as a case–control study that included 100 Egyptian children aged 2 to less than 6 years old with delayed linear growth, proportionate stunting, who were randomly selected from the stunted outpatient clinic of National Nutrition Institute. Their results were compared with age-matching and sex-matching controls. All participants were subjected to …

Assessment Of The Nutritional Status Of Malnourished School-Age Egyptian Children, Hoda A. Abed-El Salam, Sally R. Eid, Salwa M. Saleh

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Background The nutritional status of school-age children is a primary determinant of children's health, as it influences their physical and mental development. The aim of this study was to assess the nutritional status and dietary intake of macronutrients and micronutrients in a sample of malnourished school-age children (5–12 years) in Egypt. Patients and methods This was a cross-sectional study that included school-age children (5–12 years) recruited from the outpatient clinic of the National Nutrition Institute, Cairo, Egypt. Participants sampling was performed during the period from June to August 2019. In this study, 85 children of both sexes were enr?olled. Results …

The Er Stress/Upr Axis In Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease And Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis., Mahmoud Aghaei, Sanaz Dastghaib, Sajjad Aftabi, Mohamad-Reza Aghanoori, Javad Alizadeh, Pooneh Mokarram, Parvaneh Mehrbod, Milad Ashrafizadeh, Ali Zarrabi, Kielan Darcy Mcalinden, Mathew Suji Eapen, Sukhwinder Singh Sohal, Pawan Sharma, Amir A Zeki, Saeid Ghavami

Center for Translational Medicine Faculty Papers

Cellular protein homeostasis in the lungs is constantly disrupted by recurrent exposure to various external and internal stressors, which may cause considerable protein secretion pressure on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), resulting in the survival and differentiation of these cell types to meet the increased functional demands. Cells are able to induce a highly conserved adaptive mechanism, known as the unfolded protein response (UPR), to manage such stresses. UPR dysregulation and ER stress are involved in numerous human illnesses, such as metabolic syndrome, fibrotic diseases, and neurodegeneration, and cancer. Therefore, effective and specific compounds targeting the UPR pathway are being considered …

Effect Of Thyme (Thymus Vulgaris L.) Essential Oil On The Quality Parameters Of Stirred Yoghurt, Emad A. H. Guirguis, Mary G. B. Meleka

Journal of Medicine in Scientific Research

Aim Stirred yoghurt was supplemented with thyme essential oil in an attempt to enhance its quality. Materials and methods Thyme (Thymus vulgaris L.) essential oil concentrations (0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 μl/ml) were added to the prepared stirred yoghurt and then examined for microbiological count and mycotoxin quality during storage intervals following the Egyptian standards. Results Samples contained ≥ 6 μl/ml oil showed significant increase (p<0.05) of total viable bacterial count and lactic acid bacteria, whereas mold and yeast count was decreased. Pathogenic bacteria including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella spp., Escherichia coli, and coliform group were not detected in any of the samples, which complied with the standards. Moreover, …

Arp2/3-Independent Wave/Scar Pathway And Class Xi Myosin Control Sperm Nuclear Migration In Flowering Plants, Mohammad F. Ali, Umma Fatema, Xiongbo Peng, Samuel W. Hacker, Daisuke Maruyama, Meng-Xiang Sun, Tomokazu Kawashima

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

After eukaryotic fertilization, gamete nuclei migrate to fuse parental genomes in order to initiate development of the next generation. In most animals, microtubules control female and male pronuclear migration in the zygote. Flowering plants, on the other hand, have evolved actin filament (F-actin)-based sperm nuclear migration systems for karyogamy. Flowering plants have also evolved a unique double-fertilization process: two female gametophytic cells, the egg and central cells, are each fertilized by a sperm cell. The molecular and cellular mechanisms of how flowering plants utilize and control F-actin for double-fertilization events are largely unknown. Using confocal microscopy live-cell imaging with a …

Fruiting Body Form, Not Nutritional Mode, Is The Major Driver Of Diversification In Mushroom-Forming Fungi, Marisol Sánchez-García, Martin Ryberg, Faheema Kalsoom Khan, Torda Varga, László G. Nagy, David S. Hibbett

Biology

With ∼36,000 described species, Agaricomycetes are among the most successful groups of Fungi. Agaricomycetes display great diversity in fruiting body forms and nutritional modes. Most have pileate-stipitate fruiting bodies (with a cap and stalk), but the group also contains crust-like resupinate fungi, polypores, coral fungi, and gasteroid forms (e.g., puffballs and stinkhorns). Some Agaricomycetes enter into ectomycorrhizal symbioses with plants, while others are decayers (saprotrophs) or pathogens. We constructed a megaphylogeny of 8,400 species and used it to test the following five hypotheses regarding the evolution of morphological and ecological traits in Agaricomycetes and their impact on diversification: 1) resupinate …

Mindful Inquiry - A Deweyan Assessment Of Mindfulness And Education, David John Wolken

Dissertations - ALL

Mindfulness-based interventions are becoming an increasingly popular means for helpingstudents deal with the multidimensional challenges they face in contemporary educational settings. While potentially helpful, an uncritical employment of mindfulness in education can paradoxically function to reify the very neoliberal social conditions leading to the need for mindfulness in the first place. I assess this trend in educational theory and practice through John Dewey’s pragmatic philosophy. I show that the potential for both mindfulness and Dewey’s theory of mind and inquiry to support critical, sustainable social change is truncated by an uncritical retaining of the modern paradigm of mind that defines …

Multimodality In The Art & Media Arts Classroom: A Qualitative Study Of Multimodal Literacies As They Appear In Art & Media Educator Classroom Curriculum And Practice, Kathleen M. Maniaci

Dissertations - ALL

As a visual arts educator, I understand the unique opportunities students have to learn by making, inventing, and creating, to communicate their ideas. The work of the New London Group (2000), the more recent National Core Arts Standards and the National Core Media Arts Standards (2014) and the New York Arts & Media Arts Standards (2017) have significantly influenced this study by reinforcing both the necessity and potential to both art and media arts teaching practices in developing greater applications for multimodal literacy theory, defined by the National Council of the Teachers of English as “Integration of multiple modes of …

Lidar Object Detection Utilizing Existing Cnns For Smart Cities, Vinay Ponnaganti

Master's Projects

As governments and private companies alike race to achieve the vision of a smart city — where artificial intelligence (AI) technology is used to enable self-driving cars, cashier-less shopping experiences and connected home devices from thermostats to robot vacuum cleaners — advancements are being made in both software and hardware to enable increasingly real-time, accurate inference at the edge. One hardware solution adopted for this purpose is the LiDAR sensor, which utilizes infrared lasers to accurately detect and map its surroundings in 3D. On the software side, developers have turned to artificial neural networks to make predictions and recommendations with …

The Compressive And Flexural Strength Of Concrete Containing Recycled Waste Plastic, Isaiah Akinkunmi

Master of Science in Civil Engineering Theses

Annually, tons of plastic wastes end up in landfills and the oceans through indiscriminate dumping, constituting a major source of pollution to the environment and threat to human health and marine lives. It therefore necessitates an innovative strategy to help mitigate the environmental hazards caused by this pollution. A feasible eco-friendly strategy is by using granulated plastics, fibers or regrinds in concreting. This research explored the feasibility of this strategy by testing the compressive and flexural strengths of hardened concrete specimens containing varying percent of plastic aggregates used as partial replacement for fine aggregates. The compressive strength of specimens of …

Impacts Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Ginger Production: Supply Chains, Labor, And Food Security In Northeast Thailand, Pakhuan Wannaprasert, Sukanlaya Choenkwan

Forest and Society

This paper evaluates the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on ginger production and ginger farmer livelihoods in Loei province where ginger is an important commercial crop. The analysis also pays particular attention to the lockdown period (March – June 2020). Data for this study were obtained from several sources, including information from government records, onsite observation, and semi-structured interviews. Field research was conducted in August 2020 for 10 days in a village in Plaba sub-district. Data was obtained using an interview guide with 55 ginger farmers who have been growing ginger for at least 3 years. The results show that …

Combination Of Bonding, Bridging And Linking Social Capital In A Livelihood System: Nomadic Duck Herders Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic In South Sulawesi, Indonesia, Darmawan Salman, Kasmiyati Kasim, Asmita Ahmad, Nurhady Sirimorok

Forest and Society

Livelihood systems of nomadic duck herders make a unique study subject due to the livelihood assets, strategies, and outcomes they manage, which involve interactions with various actors that keep moving around. Social capital the duck herders build in their interaction with other actors, namely rice farmers, play an important role to face different vulnerability context, including those brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aims to characterize components of bonding, bridging and linking social capital in the context of relationships between duck herders and other actors, and seeks to find the essential role of the combination of the three types …

Clip And Massively Parallel Functional Analysis Of Celf6 Reveal A Role In Destabilizing Synaptic Gene Mrnas Through Interaction With 3' Utr Elements, Michael A Rieger, Dana M King, Haley Crosby, Yating Liu, Barak A Cohen, Joseph D Dougherty

Open Access Publications

CELF6 is a CELF-RNA-binding protein, and thus part of a protein family with roles in human disease; however, its mRNA targets in the brain are largely unknown. Using cross-linking immunoprecipitation and sequencing (CLIP-seq), we define its CNS targets, which are enriched for 3' UTRs in synaptic protein-coding genes. Using a massively parallel reporter assay framework, we test the consequence of CELF6 expression on target sequences, with and without mutating putative binding motifs. Where CELF6 exerts an effect on sequences, it is largely to decrease RNA abundance, which is reversed by mutating UGU-rich motifs. This is also the case for CELF3-5, …

#Metoo: Networked Celebrity Advocacy As Capital Performance, Li Chen

Dissertations - ALL

Celebrity advocacy scholars have studied how social movements utilize celebrity appeal to attract media and public attention for decades. Some researchers have found that celebrity advocacy failed to achieve exceptional performance in the legacy media age. Moreover, only a very few top-class celebrities have successfully attracted legacy media attention regarding advocating social causes. This dissertation introduces the concept of networked celebrity advocacy to illustrate a new route on networked social media. Employing theories of capital and the framework of social network analysis, I test networked celebrity advocacy in the case of the #MeToo movement on Twitter. This dissertation analyzes the …

Cardiac Organoid Technology And Computational Processing Of Cardiac Physiology For Advanced Drug Screening Applications, Plansky Hoang

Dissertations - ALL

Stem cell technology has gained considerable recognition since its inception to advance disease modeling and drug screening. This is especially true for tissues that are difficult to study due to tissue sensitivity and limited regenerative capacity, such as the heart. Previous work in stem cell-derived cardiac tissue has exploited how we can engineer biologically functional heart tissue by providing the appropriate external stimuli to facilitate tissue development. The goal of this dissertation is to explore the potentials of stem cell cardiac organoid models to recapitulate heart development and implement analytical computational tools to study cardiac physiology. These new tools were …

Defining Inclusionary Practices In Catholic Schools, Sean J. Smith, G Cheatham, Jennifer M. Amilivia

Journal of Catholic Education

The purpose of this article is to provide Catholic educators, administrators, families, and broader parish communities an understanding of critical elements required to effectively include all students, particularly those with disabilities, in Catholic schools. With an understanding that Catholic schools enroll and will continue to add not only students with disabilities, but also other students who may struggle with learning in some manner, the Catholic school community needs to keep abreast of effective practices that facilitate meaningful inclusion. This is especially relevant for those Catholic families who desire a Catholic education for their children with disabilities, as well as their …

Octadecyl Chain-Bearing Pegylated Poly(Propyleneimine)-Based Dendrimersomes : Physicochemical Studies, Redox-Responsiveness, Dna Condensation, Cytotoxicity And Gene Delivery To Cancer Cells, Partha Laskar, Sukrut Somani, Margaret Mullin, Rothwelle J. Tate, Monika Warzecha, Deborah Bowering, Patricia Keating, Craig Irving, Hing Y. Leung, Christine Dufès

School of Medicine Publications

Stimuli-responsive nanocarriers have become increasingly important for nucleic acid and drug delivery in cancer therapy. Here, we report the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of disulphide-linked, octadecyl (C18 alkyl) chain-bearing PEGylated generation 3-diaminobutyric polypropylenimine dendrimer-based vesicles (or dendrimersomes) for gene delivery. The lipid-bearing PEGylated dendrimer was successfully synthesized through in situ two-step reaction. It was able to spontaneously self-assemble into stable, cationic, nanosized vesicles, with low critical aggregation concentration value, and also showed redox-responsiveness in presence of a glutathione concentration similar to that of the cytosolic reducing environment. In addition, it was able to condense more than 70% of DNA at …