Digital Commons Network^™

Mother Is How I Got Down Pat, Kyrae Dawaun

Theses and Dissertations

This essay gathers concepts of matriarchal studies, theatre and hospitality in thinking beyond the contemporary venue of painting. Recognizing the limits of fine arts, as it is today, a product of a patriarchal, capitalistic societal structure, in its service to an inclusive, public sphere, my work is insistent on the value of installation. Accessibility to space (the art space), language, and the right to politics are goals inspiring the evolved features in my studio practice. The use of word is central in my study of our human behaviors as they can be best modeled according to the appreciation of mother(ing). …

Detection Of Biomolecules Via Ocp Measurements Using Npg Electrodes, Borkat Ullah

Theses and Dissertations

In sensing application nanoporous gold (NPG) has attracted much attention. NPG is prepared by dealloying Au:Ag alloys. Characterization was done using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and cyclic voltammetry (CV). In this work, the open circuit potential (OCP) of ferricyanide, cysteine, uric acid, and ascorbic acid was measured in phosphate buffer solution (PBS) and biofouling solution containing bovine serum albumin (BSA) at pH 7.4. OCP measurement has been hindered due to biofouling and surface passivation on the metal electrodes. By the use of the NPG electrodes, electrochemical activity can be maintained. From the OCP measurement of cysteine, …

Port To World, Samuel M. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Among those that are ill for long periods, there is often a mistrust created not only in one’s own body but in the institution that promises a cure to the malady. Often this stems naturally from the dogma of the institution paired with one’s desire for wellness, for the institution's goals are many besides the overall health of the patient. Even when a patient is cured of an ailment, this is often just the first step in the actual healing process. The body can quickly change, and the mind takes time to catch up with the body's condition. My work …

Paul By Paul By Paul, Paul Finch

Theses and Dissertations

In 2020 flamboyant fashion is associated with queer performativity. Psychologist Alan Downs and queer theorist madison moore understand this to be a response to a culture that is hostile to sexual behaviour and gender expression that falls outside a rigid binary. I study the history of flamboyant aesthetics and camp sensibilities from an intersectional perspective, and locate designers and artists who have produced clothes in ways that materialize the political implications of fashion. As a studio-based artist, I employ traditional sewing techniques, digital technologies, and performance to create clothes and new media works that demonstrate a circular understanding of time, …

The Heat Is On: Comparison Of Thermoregulatory Behavior In Parasitised Versus Unparasitized Caterpillars Of The Tobacco Hornworm, Manduca Sexta (L.) [Lepidoptera: Sphingidae], Jessica M. Johnston

Theses and Dissertations

Insect thermoregulatory research has demonstrated evidence of variation occurring within and among species with respect to infection, pathogens, and parasitism, but few studies have examined differences in thermoregulatory behavior in a host-parasite system with a coevolved symbiotic virus. I investigated the role of parasitism by Cotesia congregata (Say) (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) on the thermoregulatory behavior of Manduca sexta (L.) (Lepidoptera: Sphingidae) using an experimental design in a thermal gradient chamber and a complementary observational field study on wild M. sexta collected from tobacco farms. Parasitism and larval age were not found to have a significant effect on the preferred body temperature …

See As One, Min Haeng Kang

Theses and Dissertations

Everything that exists in the world is made from “nature.” Humans who initially coexisted with nature began to distinguish themselves from what is human and what is not. Unlike past systems that used to reuse all materials, Society so far has focused on maximizing economic profits along with advancing technology. As a result, the nature of the earth is being irrevocably destroyed, and I think the basis for this lies in the distinctions made between the human and the non-human.

I am always seeking to be in a state where I do not have an atman, like the Buddhist concept …

Novel Strategies To Overcome Carboplatin Resistance In Triple Negative Breast Cancer Using Patient Derived Xenografts, Mohammad A. Al Zubi

Theses and Dissertations

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients have a poor prognosis and rely on chemotherapeutic treatment as standard of care. Often, they develop chemotherapy resistance, which leaves them without more therapeutic options, like targeted therapy. New models have been developed to test targeted inhibitors in human tumors, and they are known as patient-derived xenografts (PDX). These tumors are obtained from patients, then established and maintained in mice where they areused for tumor studies. In this work, we characterized 14 PDXs for their primary tumor growth rate and investigated metastatic propensity using spontaneous and experiment metastasis models. We utilized RNA-sequencing to characterize contributions …

Analysis Of Stigmatic Content In State Mental Health Legislative Proposals, David L. Conley

Theses and Dissertations

Despite the proven effectiveness of mental health interventions, services remain limited across the country. Social workers have repeatedly advocated for increased funding, but mental healthcare gaps persist. Disparities could be addressed through the policy process, but critical proposals often do not pass. One of the biggest barriers is the concept of stigma, which could extend into legislatures and influence mental health-related policy outcomes as a form of structural stigma. Factors that influence legislator voting behavior are found in the literature, but studies have not explicitly focused on structural stigma or mental health-specific policy outcomes. Thus, the present study aimed to …

The Role Of Interleukin-18 In Myocardial Ischemia/Reperfusion, Yogesh Dhakal

Theses and Dissertations

Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) is one of the leading causes of morbidity for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in the western world. While mortality rates for AMI has reduced in the last 20 years due to advancements in clinical interventions, patients who have an AMI are significantly more likely to develop heart failure (HF) in the following years. Reperfusion of the ischemic tissue is a necessary procedure to restore blood delivery to cardiomyocytes, minimize myocardial dysfunction, and reduce infarct size. Still, the step of reperfusion itself induces myocardial damage in a phenomenon known as reperfusion injury. Considering that the degree of myocardial …

Can School Be A Source Of Trauma? Assessing Academic Traumatic Stress As A Mechanism Underlying The Health Outcomes Of Black Undergraduate Students, Ebony A. Lambert

Theses and Dissertations

Research examining Black students’ school experiences demonstrates that exposure to oppressive power dynamics in schools may lead to adverse physiological and psychological consequences. Recent conceptualizations in public discourse further posit that traumatic educational experiences, operationalized here as academic trauma or the cumulative toll of adverse and oppressive experiences in academic settings, may influence Black students’ wellbeing even after they have graduated. However, academic trauma has yet to be investigated empirically, and the health contributions of such educational harm remain unstudied. Moreover, little is known about how culturally-relevant personal characteristics (e.g., emotion regulation strategies) influence Black students’ reactivity to academic trauma. …

Taxa Specific Responses To Flooding Shape Patterns Of Abundance In A River Rock Pool Metacommunity, Charles R. Stunkle

Theses and Dissertations

Connectivity and habitat area are important landscape characteristics that drive patterns of abundance and diversity across scales. However, responses to connectivity and patch size are dependent on species traits. Riverine landscapes are highly dynamic both spatially and temporally with hydrologic connectivity being a major driver of abundance and diversity. Here we modeled densities of the Virginia river snail and skimmer dragonfly nymphys, two taxa with differences in their dispersal abilities and life histories, as a function of flooding, patch area, and season in over 300 riverine rock pools. We found key differences in how each taxon responded to these predictors …

Anti-Tumor Functions Of Sphingosine Kinase 1 And Sphingosine Kinase 2 In Breast Cancer Development, Melissa A. Maczis

Theses and Dissertations

Bioactive sphingolipid metabolite sphingosine-1‐phosphate (S1P) circulating levels have been implicated in breast cancer (BC) progression. BCs usually respond to 17β-Estradiol (E2) through canonical receptor ERα66 for genomic effects, however, E2 also triggers rapid, non-genomic responses. E2 has been shown to activate sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1), increasing S1P for S1P receptors signaling important for BC. The E2 receptor activating SphK1 has not been identified. We demonstrate triple negative BC cells, expressing only novel ERα splice variant ERα36, E2-induced SphK1 activation for S1P secretion. Tamoxifen, first-line BC endocrine therapy, an ERα66 antagonist but ERα36 agonist, activates SphK1 and increases S1P secretion in …

Focal Augmentation Of Somatostatin Interneuron Function And Subsequent Circuit Effects In Developmentally Malformed, Epileptogenic Cortex, Nicole Ekanem

Theses and Dissertations

Drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE) is a common clinical sequela of developmental cortical malformations such as polymicrogyria. Unfortunately, much remains unknown about the aberrant GABA-mediated circuit alterations that underlie DRE's onset and persistence in this context. To address this knowledge gap, we utilized the transcranial freeze lesion model in optogenetic mice lines (Somatostatin (SST)-Cre or Parvalbumin (PV)-Cre x floxed channelrhodopsin-2) to dissect features of the SST, PV, and pyramidal neuron microcircuit that are potentially associated with DRE. Investigations took place within developmental microgyria’s known pathological substrate, the adjoined and epileptogenic paramicrogyral region (PMR). As well, microcircuit relationships within the previously unexplored range …

Solid Phase Extraction And High-Precision Mass Spectrometry Analysis Methods For Crassostrea Virginica Metabolome, Alyssa Darling

Theses and Dissertations

Metabolomics is the rapidly-growing field which focuses on the endpoints of biological processes, and has the capability to provide a snapshot of an organisms’ interaction with their environment on a molecular scale. The objective of the experiment herein was to develop a standard metabolic extraction technique coupled with ultrahigh-precision analytical tools to build a global metabolic pathway of the keystone species Crassostrea virginica. To achieve this, C. virginica whole-body samples were extracted using acetonitrile and methanol, then split into a dehydrated group and a diluted group. Following reversed-phase solid phase extraction (RP-SPE) of both groups, metabolites were identified using …

Spag17 Is Important For Protein Trafficking In Mammalian Spermiogenesis, Virali Bhagat

Theses and Dissertations

Spermiogenesis is the process through which undifferentiated germ cells develop into mature spermatozoa. While spermiogenesis is a very well-regulated process, the protein-protein interactions regulating it remain poorly understood. A knockout (KO) mouse for the ciliary protein SPAG17 was generated by our lab. Loss of SPAG17 has been shown to disrupt the transport of proteins important for acrosome biogenesis and manchette functions. With this information, we hypothesized that SPAG17 plays an essential role in protein trafficking during mammalian spermiogenesis. To further investigate this, immunofluorescence (IF) studies were performed in germ cells collected from both WT and SPAG17 KO mice to visualize …

Prediction Of The Vaginal Microbiome Using Urine Samples, Christopher R. Diachok

Theses and Dissertations

The vaginal microbiome is associated with women’s health, including but not limited to the pathogenesis of bacterial vaginosis, adverse pregnancy outcomes including preterm birth and sexually transmitted infections. However, there has been very limited research on the urinary microbiome and its relationship to the vaginal microbiome. We sought to predict the vaginal microbiome profile using clean catch urine samples from the same person. Here, paired vaginal and urine samples were collected and sequenced by 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing. Alpha and beta diversity analysis showed that there was no significant difference between the paired vaginal and urine microbiomes. In fact, a …

Anticholinergic Burden And Risk Of Cognitive Impairment In Older Adults, Syeda Hashimi

Theses and Dissertations

Studies reveal that 10-27% of older adults chronically use anticholinergic medications. Increased cumulative anticholinergic burden scores are associated with increased risks of dementia. The mechanisms by which anticholinergic drugs negatively impact cognition remain elusive. However, researchers speculate that the drug’s impairment of cholinergic neurons promotes neuroinflammation.

We hypothesize that drugs with anticholinergic properties will induce inflammation in the brain. MCP1 and IL 6 are chemokines that contribute to neuroinflammation. We investigated the influence of diphenhydramine (Benadryl) on the production of MCP1 and IL-6 in Normal Human Astrocytes and Paroxetine on the production of MCP1 in Normal Human Astrocytes and Normal …

Beyond The Belloni Decision: Sohappy V.Smith And The Modern Era Of Tribal Treaty Rights, Monte Mills

Faculty Law Review Articles

Indian tribes and their members are leading a revived political, legal, and social movement to protect the nation’s natural resources. In doing so, tribes and their allies employ many effective strategies but core to the movement are the historic promises made to tribes by the United States through treaties. Tribes are asserting treaty protected rights, which the United States Constitution upholds as the supreme law of the land, to defend the resources on which they and their ancestors have relied for generations. Those claims have resulted in significant legal victories, igniting a broader movement in favor of tribal sovereignty and …

A Revised Diet Matrix To Improve The Parameterization Of A West Florida Shelf Ecopath Model For Understanding Harmful Algal Bloom Impacts, Holly A. Perryman, Joseph H. Tarnecki, Arnaud Grüss, Elizabeth A. Babcock, Skyler R. Sagarese, Cameron H. Ainsworth, Alisha M. Gray Dileone

Marine Science Faculty Publications

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) are a growing concern in the West Florida Shelf (WFS) region. An Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) model of the WFS explicitly simulating HABs was previously developed to illuminate the potential impacts of blooms of the dinoflagellate Karenia brevis (colloquially referred to as “red tides”) on the WFS ecosystem. However, the diet matrix of the Ecopath component of this EwE model (referred to as “WFS-HAB Ecopath”) was based largely on sparse, cursory information and not on local survey data. Here, we revise the diet matrix of the WFS-HAB Ecopath model using predictions of a robust statistical model …

A Synthesis Of Deep Benthic Faunal Impacts And Resilience Following The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Patrick T. Schwing, Paul A. Montagna, Samantha B. Joye, Claire B. Paris, Erik E. Cordes, Craig R. Mcclain, Joshua P. Kilborn, Steven A. Murawski

Marine Science Faculty Publications

The Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill significantly impacted the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM) deep benthos (>125 m water depth) at different spatial scales and across all community size and taxa groups including microbes, foraminifera, meiofauna, macrofauna, megafauna, corals, and demersal fishes. The resilience across these communities was heterogeneous, with some requiring years if not decades to fully recover. To synthesize ecosystem impacts and recovery following DWH, the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GOMRI) Core 3 synthesis group subdivided the nGoM into four ecotypes: coastal, continental shelf, open-ocean, and deep benthic. Here we present a synopsis of the deep …

การพัฒนาวิธี Real-Time Quantitative Rt-Pcrสำหรับตรวจหาลีดเดอร์อาร์เอ็นเอซับจีโนมิกของเชื้อไวรัส Sars-Cov-2, สินินาถ เพชราช

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

โรคอุบัติใหม่ไวรัสโคโรนา 2019 (COVID-19) เกิดจากการติดเชื้อ Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) โรคนี้ติดต่อกันได้ง่ายจากคนสู่คน ทำให้ไวรัสแพร่ระบาดอย่างต่อเนื่องไปทั่วโลก การตรวจติดตามและการประเมินไวรัสที่ปลดปล่อยเชื้อ (viral shedding) เป็นระยะเวลานานหลายสัปดาห์ จึงมีความสำคัญต่อการป้องกันและควบคุมการแพร่กระจายของเชื้อ ซึ่งเป็นอุปสรรคต่อการบริหารจัดการทางการแพทย์ รวมถึงมีค่าใช้จ่ายในการรักษาสูง ดังนั้นการตรวจพบ SARS-CoV-2 subgenomic RNA leader (sgRNA) เป็นตัวบ่งบอกสถานะของไวรัสในระยะ active มีความสามารถเพิ่มจำนวนได้ ในงานวิจัยนี้ได้ตรวจติดตามระยะเวลาการปลดปล่อย SARS-CoV-2 sgRNA leader และ genomic RNA (gRNA) จากตัวอย่างระบบทางเดินหายใจ 111 ตัวอย่าง (ของผู้ป่วย COVID-19 จำนวน 10 ราย) ด้วยวิธี real-time quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) ผลการทดลองพบว่า E-sgRNA leader สามารถตรวจพบได้นานถึง 15 วัน และตรวจพบในตัวอย่างที่มีปริมาณไวรัส (viral load) มากกว่า 100,000 copies/ml (≥1E+05 virus E gene copies/ml) ในขณะที่ gRNA ยังตรวจพบได้นานถึง 24 วัน นอกจากนี้ยังค้นพบว่ามีผู้ป่วย COVID-19 จำนวน 2 ใน 10 ราย ที่ E-sgRNA leader ปรากฏตัวอีกครั้งหลังจากที่ตรวจไม่พบแล้วเป็นเวลา 2 วัน ถึง 8 วัน ด้วยเหตุนี้เพื่อความปลอดภัย จึงแนะนำให้ผู้ป่วยกักตัวหรือแยกตัวอย่างน้อย 14 วันหลังจากได้รับอนุญาตให้กลับบ้าน ดังนั้นการประเมิน E-sgRNA leader เป็นประโยชน์ต่อการวางแผนการรักษาผู้ป่วยโรคติดเชื้อไวรัส COVID-19

Front Matter

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

The Synapse 23

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.

Demonstration Of Reciprocal Diurnal Variation In Human Serum T3 And Rt3 Concentration Demonstrated By Mass Spectrometric Analysis And Establishment Of Thyroid Hormone Reference Intervals., Qian Sun, Lívia Avallone, Brian Stolze, Katherine A Araque, Yesim Özarda, Jacqueline Jonklaas, Toral Parikh, Kerry Welsh, Likhona Masika, Steven J Soldin

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Background: There has been a wide range of reference intervals proposed in previous literature for thyroid hormones due to large between-assay variability of immunoassays, as well as lack of correction for collection time. We provided the diurnal reference intervals for five thyroid hormones, namely total thyroxine (TT4), total triiodothyronine (TT3), free thyroxine (FT4), free triiodothyronine (FT3), and reverse T3 (rT3), measured in serum samples of healthy participants using a liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method.

Methods: Couplet serum samples (a.m. and p.m.) were collected from 110 healthy females and 49 healthy males. Healthy volunteers were recruited from four participating centers …

Copley Library Annual Report 2019-2020, Helen K. And James S. Copley Library, University Of San Diego

Copley Library Annual Reports

Message from the Dean; Students go to the library; The Collection, Access, and Discovery Department Succeeds when Students Do; Roy and Marian Holleman Copley Library Student Assistant Scholarship Winners; Access and Outreach Services and Student Success; Access Services Staff Contributes to Student Success; Copley Library and Undergraduate Student Success; Social Media and Student Success; Student Employees Boost Copley's Social Media; Embedded Education Librarian SOLES and Graduate Student Success; Embedded Nursing Librarian Hahn School of Nursing and Graduate Student Success; Copley Library Renovation Photos; Behind the Scenes in Digitization; Digital Initiatives and Student Success; Hidden Collections: Archives, Special Collections, Digital Initiatives …

The Nagoya Protocol And The Legal Structure Of Global Biogenomic Research, Sam F. Halabi, Michelle Rourke, Gian Luca Burci, Rebecca Katz

Faculty Publications

As life sciences technologies have advanced, so too has the potential for these international collaborations to lead to breakthrough medicines, enhance food security, and protect ecological systems. The linchpin of this progress is the development of high throughput genetic sequencing technologies. Researchers are now able to generate and compare large stretches of DNA - 1 million bases or more - from different sources quickly and inexpensively. Such comparisons can yield massive amounts of information about the role of inheritance in susceptibility to infection and illness as well as responses to environmental influences. In addition, the ability to sequence genomes more …

Early Access To Unapproved Medicines In The United States And France, Erika Lietzan

Faculty Publications

In 2018, President Trump signed a federal "right to try" law, claiming that it would give desperately ill patients earlier access to unapproved medicines, by allowing the patient, doctor, and drug company to arrange for access without federal oversight. Critics of the law argued that it would not meaningfully increase access to experimental medicines, because federal oversight was not the obstacle in the first place. And they were correct. U.S. law already permitted companies to provide terminally ill patients with early access to unapproved medicines. The problem was instead that companies did not take advantage of this option. This Article …

Use Of Multiple Stream Temperature Logger Models Can Alter Conclusions, Robin M. Rotman, Joanna B. Whittier, Jacob T. Westhoff, Craig P. Paukert

Faculty Publications

Remote temperature loggers are often used to measure water temperatures for ecological studies and by regulatory agencies to determine whether water quality standards are being maintained. Equipment specifications are often given a cursory review in the methods; however, the effect of temperature logger model is rarely addressed in the discussion. In a laboratory environment, we compared measurements from three models of temperature loggers at 5 to 40 °C to better understand the utility of these devices. Mean water temperatures recorded by logger models differed statistically even for those with similar accuracy specifications, but were still within manufacturer accuracy specifications. Maximum …

Fall 2020, Southwestern Oklahoma State University Office Of Institutional Advancement And Alumni

Echoes from the Hill

As this issue of Echoes From The Hill reaches you our institution faces a challenge unlike any other in our nearly 120 years of history: the novel corona virus (COVID-19). This global pandemic has necessitated dramatic shifts in how we offer instruction, how we connect to our stakeholders, and how we steward taxpayer and donor resources. One thing that has not changed, however, is our commitment to pursuing excellence in meeting our mission of providing a quality, affordable higher education to all.

Phenotypic Divergence In Two Sibling Species Of Shorebird: Common Snipe And Wilson’S Snipe (Charadriiformes: Scolopacidae), Tiago M. Rodrigues, Edward H. Miller, Sergei V. Drovetski, Robert M. Zink, Jon Fjeldså, David Gonçalves

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Natural and social selection are among the main shapers of biological diversity but their relative importance in divergence remains understudied. Additionally, although neutral evolutionary processes may promote phenotypic divergence, their potential contribution in speciation is often overlooked in studies of comparative morphology. In this study, we investigated phenotypic differentiation in two allopatric shorebirds: the Palaearctic Common Snipe Gallinago gallinago and the Nearctic Wilson’s Snipe Gallinago delicata. Specimens of Common Snipe (n = 355 skins, n = 163 skeletons) and Wilson’s Snipe (n = 403 skins, n = 141 skeletons) in natural history collections were examined to quantify differences in skeletal …