Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of A Robust Treatment Delivery Framework For Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy (Sbrt) Of Synchronous Multiple Lung Lesions, Lana Catherine Critchfield

Theses and Dissertations--Radiation Medicine

Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) of lung tumors uses high doses of radiation to deliver high biological effective doses (BED) in very few fractions (1-5). With the use of highly conformal fields to cover the tumor without depositing large doses to non-cancerous structures, this technique has proven time and again to be successful at achieving high local control. However, frequently patients receiving SBRT are elderly with multiple medical comorbidities who may not tolerate long treatment times. Furthermore, many patients present with oligometastatic or multiple primary lung tumors. The success of SBRT on oligometastatic lung disease relies on physician experience with …

Loss For Words: An Investigation Of The English Nature Vocabulary, Margaret C. Luthin

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This research assesses the state of English nature vocabulary in Montana, defined here as words and terms relating to local species, weather, and topography. Studies have shown declining nature knowledge among English speakers as well as a marked decrease in the usage of nature words in English popular culture throughout the 20th century, and while research across disciplines points to a growing disconnect between humans and their environment, researchers have yet to investigate the role of vocabulary and language attrition in humans’ changing experience of nature. This study develops a new survey instrument to gather vocabulary data from Montanans, aiming …

The Law And Policy Of Child Maltreatment, Frank Vandervort

Book Chapters

Each year in the United States some four million children are reported to child protective services and hundreds of thousands of children are confirmed victims of maltreatment. This chapter provides a brief overview of the civil and criminal law’s response to child abuse and neglect. It summarizes the major federal statutes that provide funding to the states to support both civil and criminal law responses to maltreatment. It discusses the division of responsible for responding to child maltreatment between the federal and state governments (federalism). It also provides a summary of the constitutional framework for handling both civil and criminal …

'Of Sound Mind And Body': A Call For Universal Drug Screening For All Newborns, Frank Vandervort, Vincent J. Palusci

Book Chapters

Substance abuse is a major medical and social problem. Estimates suggest that each year some 15 percent of the 4 million babies born in the United States are exposed to drugs or alcohol. Research demonstrates that exposure to these substances is harmful to the children in both the short term and across their developmental trajectory. This chapter summarizes the harms that might result from such prenatal exposure and considers the ways that both federal and state law respond to this. The chapter argues for universal drug testing of newborns in an effort to ascertain whether they have been prenatally exposed …

Interview With Deborah Winslow Of The National Science Foundation, Jerome W. Crowder, Mike Fortun, Rachel Besara, Lindsay Poirier

Statistical and Data Sciences: Faculty Books

Chapter Abstract:

In this chapter the editors interview Dr. Deborah Winslow about her work at the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the evolution of data management plans (DMPs) in Anthropology and the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences (SBE). She outlines what the NSF expects to see in a DMP and what not to include. The conversation moves into how anthropologists collaborate with “adjacent disciplines” and how the ideas and terms for data, and the expectations of data change. She emphasizes thinking about the kind of data you will collect and what you plan to do with those data later, in …

Convergent Synthesis Of Anaephene B, Mason A. Baber

Honors Program Theses

As strains of bacteria continuously evolve and become resistant to modern antibiotics, there exists a need for the development of new treatments to combat bacterial infection. Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) is known to develop such resistance and remains a leading cause of invasive infections and biofilm formation on prosthetic medical devices. In 2018, Brumley and Spencer et al. isolated anaephenes A–C, natural products from a marine bacterium. Anaephene B was of particular interest as it was the only member of the series to demonstrate moderate antibacterial activity against S. aureus (MIC = 6.1 μg/mL). Because of the potential clinical utility …

Immunotherapy: Therapy Vs. Enhancement, Mariah Daly

Honors Program Theses

The battle against cancer is a long-standing struggle that has resulted in new information and the development of novel medical technologies. Current research aims to figure out a way to reprogram cells and bodily mechanisms to eliminate those cells that are cancerous without destroying healthy cells in the process. Methods which use the body’s own mechanisms, such as immunotherapy, have shown and continue to show potential for specifically targeting cancer cells. Adoptive T cell therapy is one form of immunotherapy that has gained significant attention and focus in the field. Therapies improve conditions up to the normal state of being, …

Free To Bleed Or Free To Buy? The Postfeminist Transformation Of Menstruation, Kenzie Helmick

Honors Program Theses

From innovative new products to cheeky advertisements to period politics, menstruation appears to be having its moment. This thesis serves to offer some skepticism towards the changing cultural attitudes towards periods, categorizing many of these recent developments as a consequence of a postfeminist cooptation. To support this process, this thesis first identifies menstruation as a political issue with implications for both gender politics and anti-capitalist efforts, identifying the stakes at play with this paradigm shift. Then, it deconstructs the consequences of the changing corporate narratives and advertisements and of the most recent mainstream political engagement with menstruation, the menstrual equity …

The Physical Interactions Of Klp-4 & The Effects Of Microtubule Acetylation, Lindsey Wright

Honors Program Theses

Our nervous system propagates signals by releasing neurotransmitters into the synaptic cleft between two adjacent neurons. The transport and delivery of such neurotransmitters within the neuron is reliant on microtubule structure and motor proteins present. The direction of motor protein transport is dictated by the inherent polarity of microtubules. Kinesin-3 motor proteins, such as KLP-4 found in Caenorhabditis elegans, use this polarity to travel in an anterograde direction towards neurotransmitter exocytosis sites. Thus, KLP-4 is associated with the maintenance of neuron functionality. The klp-4 (ok3537) allele results in a large, in frame deletion within the cargo-binding domain of the motor …

Ethics Of The Advance Euthanasia Directive: Death Within Dementia, Isabella Braga

Honors Program Theses

By the year 2050, over 131.5 million people worldwide will have dementia. While many dementia patients seek euthanasia as a means of maintaining dignity and autonomy, they are in a difficult position: because physician-assisted euthanasia is administered by a medical professional, in current medical practice, the dementia patient must be euthanized while she is of sound mind. She thus sacrifices years of fulfilled, compos mentis living. With an advance euthanasia directive, the patient can designate a brightline of dementia past which she would like to be euthanized. She would be able to live out her compos mentis years, and have …

Turning The Tides - An Examination Of The Red Tide Epidemic In Florida, Dahlia Lilleslåtten

Honors Program Theses

Southwest Florida’s red tides are characterized by patches of maroon-colored water, respiratory irritants, and elevated levels of marine mortalities. While a natural phenomenon, red tide has a devastating impact on aquatic ecosystems that become overwhelmed with dense aggregations of unicellular organisms and the subsequent brevetoxins that are released into the air. ​This paper reviews recent research on the Gulf Coast’s red tide epidemic in an attempt to fully understand the cause of the heightened intensity, frequency, and duration of algal blooms. It goes on to highlight the Sanibel and Captiva Islands’ rich history in conservation, and how this foundation of …

Functional Neuroimaging In Psychiatry-Aiding In Diagnosis And Guiding Treatment. What The American Psychiatric Association Does Not Know., Theodore A Henderson, Muriel J Van Lierop, Mary Mclean, John Michael Uszler, John F Thornton, Yin-Hui Siow, Dan G Pavel, Joe Cardaci, Phil Cohen

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

While early efforts in psychiatry were focused on uncovering the neurobiological basis of psychiatric symptoms, they made little progress due to limited ability to observe the living brain. Today, we know a great deal about the workings of the brain; yet, none of this neurobiological awareness has translated into the practice of psychiatry. The categorical system which dominates psychiatric diagnosis and thinking fails to match up to the real world of genetics, sophisticated psychological testing, and neuroimaging. Nevertheless, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) recently published a position paper stating that neuroimaging provided no benefit to the diagnosis and treatment of …

Analysis Of Major National Academic Papers In The Field Of Gene Editing In 2004-2018, Yan-Ning Zheng, Jing-Song Sun, Fang Yuan

Journal of Scientific Information Research

With the SCIE database in the core collection of Web of Science as the data source，TDA，SPSS， VOSviewer，UCINET and other tools，combined with bibliometric analysis，visual analysis，social network analysis and other methods，this paper studied the academic papers of 20 major countries in the field of gene editing from 2004 to 2018 in three dimensions: total，citation and topic.The results show that the research on gene editing has entered a rapid phase，and different countries have different performance in different dimensions.The United States has the largest number of academic papers，and China has the fastest growth rate.China and the United States are the top two countries in …

The Future Of Family Law Education, Barbara Glesner Fines

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Bias: An Annotated Bibliography, Allen K. Rostron

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Future Of Family Law: An Annotated Bibliography, Allen K. Rostron

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Ile126his And Lys129his Surface Mutations Aid In Purification Of Haemophilus Influenzae Carbonic Anhydrase Through Increased Metal Ion Affinity, Timothy Rigdon, Kathleen Cornely

Chemistry & Biochemistry Student Scholarship

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) is an enzyme that plays a major role in the survival of many bacterial, chiefly Haemophilus influenzae. Because of its crucial role in bacteria, recent research has turned to CA as a possible target for drug development to kill bacteria and possibly cure different bacterial diseases. While research has focused on this drug target, the isolation and purification of specific types of CA has remained a major obstacle for further research. The current method of immobilized metal affinity chromatography (IMAC) with a Ni-NTA column is used widely for CA purification; however, the H. influenzae carbonic anhydrase …

Angiogenin Mrna Expression Levels In Prostate Cancer Tissue, Bowen Yao, Megumi Shigematsu, Phd, Kamlesh Ganesh Pawar, Phd, Venetia Pliatsika, Ms, Yohei Kirino, Phd

Phase 1

Introduction: Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in men and second leading cause of cancer deaths. Studies have shown that tRNA fragments are upregulated in prostate cancers and play important roles in carcinogenesis. This project looks at how tRNA cleaving enzyme angiogenin expression is regulated in prostate cancer tissues.

Methods: Clinical data and mRNA expression levels of selected tRNA cleaving enzymes were extracted from the TCGA website. mRNAs were sequenced using IlluminaGA_RNASeqV2 at University of North Carolina.

Results: 546 samples from 494 patients, with normal tissue from 53 patients were collected. ANG mRNA levels were lower in patients …

Over-Privileged And Under-Challenged: Leadership Programming To Challenge Collegiate Hegemonic Masculinity, Kaitlin Mcintyre

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Student affairs and higher education scholars have recently identified several problematic trends regarding the engagement, retention, performance, and behavior of college men across campuses. Concerns for college men’s lack of engagement worsen regarding leadership development, as not only do college men participate in leadership programming at very low rates, but they also have alarmingly low capacities for socially responsible leadership. This indicates that the scarce leadership programming college men are participating in is ineffective and underwhelming as an educative tool. In this thesis, I urge student affairs practitioners to provide college men with opportunities for leadership development that both challenge …

Unmasking Western Science: Challenging The Army Corps Of Engineer's Rejection Of The Isle De Jean Charles Tribal Envrironmental Knowledge Under Apa Arbitrary And Capricious Review, Charquia Wright

Scholarly Publications

The law masks as natural what is chosen; it obscures the consequences of social selection as inevitable. The result is that the distortions in social relations are immunized from truly effective intervention, because the existing inequities are obscured and rendered nearly invisible. The existing state of affairs is considered neutral and fair, however unequal and unjust it is in substance.

Analysis Of Bacterial Dna And Water Quality: Surface Water Sampling At Gardner-Webb University, Celsea Reeder

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Part 1 of this experiment was to explore the bacterial types within the surface water on the campus of Gardner-Webb University, located in Boiling Springs, NC. Two water samples were collected from four locations on campus, including the boiling spring, Lake Hollifield, and an adjacent creek. Using the Zymo Research “Quick-DNA^™ Fungal/Bacterial Miniprep Kit,” the bacterial DNA within these samples was isolated and sent to Psomagen, Inc. for analysis. The resulting DNA sequences were analyzed through BLAST, and subsequently interpreted. For the second part of this experiment, one surface water sample was taken from the boiling spring, and another …

The Positive And Negative Effects Of Photography On Wildlife, Joy Smith

Undergraduate Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Fp-20-14 Fatherhood In The U.S.: The Decoupling Of Marriage And Childbearing, Lisa Carlson

National Center for Family and Marriage Research Family Profiles

No abstract provided.

Milestone@Um, Volume 8, Number 3, 2020, Institute Of Research Management & Monitoring University Of Malaya

Archival Material (2020s)

No abstract provided.

Milestone@Um, Volume 8, Number 4, 2020, Institute Of Research Management & Monitoring University Of Malaya

Archival Material (2020s)

No abstract provided.

Pulse@Um, Issue 2, 2020, Faculty Of Medicine University Of Malaya

Archival Material (2020s)

No abstract provided.

Pulse@Um, Issue 3, 2020, Faculty Of Medicine University Of Malaya

Archival Material (2020s)

No abstract provided.

University Of Malaya Research Bulletin, Volume 20, Number 1, 2020, Institute Of Research Management & Monitoring University Of Malaya

Archival Material (2020s)

No abstract provided.

Equipping Early Childhood Educators To Manage "Behaviors That Challenge" In The Early Childhood Years, Shanna Scott

Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects

This scholarly project pursues the development, implementation, and evaluation of techniques to help improve the health and well-being of children ages 1-5, who have difficulties with challenging behaviors, to effectively manage stress and boost resilience through the incorporation of music and educational techniques of the early childhood educator.

This paper will discuss the positive or negative outcomes on external factors affecting child health, such as economic, judicial, societal, cultural, cognitive development, parental separation, and mental health concerns of all members of the family. It will also discuss the positive effects educational strategies and music can have on young children experiencing …

A Framework Of Multi-Dimensional And Multi-Scale Modeling With Applications, Zilong Li

Doctoral Dissertations

In this dissertation, a framework for multi-dimensional and multi-scale modeling is proposed. The essential idea is based on oriented space curves, which can be represented as a 3D slender object or 1D step parameters. SMILES and Masks provide functionalities that extend slender objects into branched and other objects. We treat the conversion between 1D, 2D, 3D, and 4D representations as data unification. A mathematical analysis of different methods applied to helices (a special type of space curves) is also provided. Computational implementation utilizes Model-ViewController design principles to integrate data unification with graphical visualizations to create a dashboard. Applications of multi-dimensional …