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Presumed Consent And Priority Allocation Systems For Organ Donation Legislation In The United States: Making The Moral Case, Ann K. Shapiro, Peter A. Depergola Ii

Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies Faculty Publications

In recent decades, developed nations, such as the United States, have seen the gap between the demand and the supply of transplantable organs widen, despite national campaigns intended to promote donor registration. This organ shortage crisis has deprived thousands of a basic quality of life and has caused a substantial increase in the cost of alternative medical care such as dialysis. In an attempt to address the shortage, some countries have instituted explicit “opt-out” and “priority allocation” policies that operate under the principle of presumed consent and offer higher priority on transplantation lists to registered donors. This paper seeks to …

The Cyst Nematode Heterodera Latipons Franklin, 1969 (Nemata: Heteroderidae): Hatching Behavior And Development On Wheat In Arid And Semiarid Regions In Turkey, Mustafa İmren

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The cyst nematode Heterodera latipons Franklin, 1969 (Nemata: Heteroderidae) is an economically important sedentary plant-parasitic nematode which limits the production of cereal crops around the world. It is an important pest on wheat and can be found globally in different growing areas, especially in the Mediterranean region. Developing an understanding of its physiological behavior (senescence, quiescence, and cryptobiosis), development [second-stage juveniles (J2) and immature and mature females], and population dynamics under field conditions is needed to create an appropriate control strategy. The experiments were conducted at Karaisalı, a semiarid region in Adana Province, and at Derik, an arid region in …

Elevated In-Soil Co2 Affects Physiology And Growth Of Pinus Densiflora And Quercus Variabilis Seedlings Under An Artificial Co2 Release Experiment, Hyunjun Kim, Seung Hyun Han, Seongjun Kim, Hanna Chang, Yowhan Son

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

It is important to understand how woody species are affected by elevated in-soil CO2 for carbon capture and storage (CCS). A study was conducted to analyze the effects of artificially released in-soil CO2 on the physiology and growth of 4-year-old Pinus densiflora and 3-year-old Quercus variabilis seedlings. Approximately 7.9 kg CO2 plot-1 d-1 was released at a depth of 0.5 m over the period from 20 June to 20 July 2017. For both species, chlorophyll fluorescence and content, photosynthetic rate, and leaf size significantly decreased after the CO2 release. However, stomatal behavior varied between these species under the elevated in-soil …

Chemical Composition And Antimicrobial And Antioxidant Activity Of Helichrysum Italicum (Roth) G.Don Subspecies Essential Oils, Silviya Mollova, Hafize Fidan, Daniela Antonova, Dimitar Bozhilov, Stanko Stanev, Iliana Kostova, Albena Stoyanova

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The chemical composition and the antimicrobial and antioxidant activity of essential oils from two Helichrysum italicum (Roth) G.Don subspecies grown in Bulgaria were investigated. As a result, 95 compounds with concentrations above 0.05% were detected by GC/MS and 46 of them, mainly mono- and sesquiterpenes, representing 79.81% and 85.51% of the total content of the samples, were identified. The main constituents of the essential oil from Helichrysum italicum subsp. microphyllum (plant origin from Bosnia) were monoterpene α-pinene (20.84%) and sesquiterpene γ-curcumene (16.53%), followed by β-selinene (5.59%), ar-curcumene (4.39%), trans-caryophyllene (4.35%), β-diketone italidione I (4.32%), α-selinene (4.28%), and neryl acetate (3.81%). …

Changes Of Some Horticultural Characteristics In Jujube (Ziziphus Jujube Mill.) Fruit At Different Ripening Stages, Hakan Keles

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

In this study, changes in some horticultural characteristics of jujube fruits at two ripening stages were investigated. The ripening stages were determined by reference degree (%) of the red zone on the surface of the fruit: white ripening stage (WR), 5-15%; red ripening stage (RR), 95-100%. Fruit weight, length, width, color, and firmness were examined as morphological characteristics; phenolics, organic acids, fatty acids, and sugars were evaluated as biochemical characteristics. Fruit weight was 22.63 g in the WR stage and 28.42 g in the RR stage. The dominant phenolic acid was p-hydroxybenzoic acid in both ripening stages (623 mg 100 …

Plin-Amir, A Pre-Microrna-Based Technology For Controlling Herbivorous Insect Pests, Julia Bally, Elane Fishilevich, Rachel L. Doran, Karen Lee, Samanta Bolzan De Campos, Marcelo A. German, Kenneth E. Narva, Peter M. Waterhouse

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The cotton bollworm, Helicoverpa armigera, is a major insect pest for a wide range of agricultural crops. It causes significant yield loss through feeding damage and by increasing the crop’s vulnerability to bacterial and fungal infections. Although expression of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins in transgenic crops has been very successful in protecting against insect pests, including H. armigera, field-evolved resistance has occurred in multiple species. To manage resistant populations, new protection strategies must be continuously developed. Trans-kingdom RNA interference (TK-RNAi) is a promising method for controlling herbivorous pests. TK-RNAi is based on delivering dsRNA or hairpin RNA containing essential insect …

Parasitism Of Adult Pentatomidae By Tachinidae In Soybean In The North Central Region Of The United Statespheylan, Pheylan A. Anderson, Daniela T. Pezzini, Nádia M. Bueno, Christina D. Difonzo, Deborah L. Deborah, Thomas E. Hunt, Janet J. Knodel, Christian H. Krupke, Brian P. Mccornack, Christopher R. Philips, Adam J. Varenhorst, Robert J. Wright, Robert L. Koch

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) are agricultural pests of increasing significance in the North Central Region of the United States, posing a threat to major crops such as soybean. Biological control can reduce the need for insecticides to manage these pests, but the parasitism of stink bugs byTachinidae (Diptera) is poorly characterized in this region. The objective of this study was to evaluate the rate of parasitism of stink bugs by tachinids over 2 yr from nine states across the North Central Region. Parasitism was assessed by quantifying tachinid eggs on the integument of stink bug adults. Parasitism rates (i.e., percent …

Aphid-Responsive Defense Networks In Hybrid Switchgrass, Kyle G. Koch, Nathan A. Palmer, Teresa Donze-Reiner, Erin D. Scully, Javier Seravalli, Keenan Amundsen, Paul Twigg, Joe Louis, Jeffrey D. Bradshaw, Tiffany Marie Heng-Moss, Gautam Sarath

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Aphid herbivory elicits plant defense-related networks that are influenced by host genetics. Plants of the upland switchgrass (Panicum virgatum) cultivar Summer can be a suitable host for greenbug aphids (Schizaphis graminum; GB), and yellow sugarcane aphids (Sipha flava, YSA), whereas the lowland cultivar Kanlow exhibited multi-species resistance that curtails aphid reproduction. However, stabilized hybrids of Summer (♀) x Kanlow (♂) (SxK) with improved agronomics can be damaged by both aphids. Here, hormone and metabolite analyses, coupled with RNA-Seq analysis of plant transcriptomes, were utilized to delineate defense networks induced by aphid feeding in SxK switchgrass and pinpoint plant transcription factors …

Forage And Habitat For Pollinators In The Northern Great Plains—Implications For U.S. Department Of Agriculture Conservation Programs, Clint R.V. Otto, Autumn Smart, Robert S. Cornman, Michael Simanonok, Deborah D. Iwanowicz

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Managed and wild pollinators are critical components of agricultural and natural systems. Despite the well-known value of insect pollinators to U.S. agriculture, Apis mellifera (Linnaeus, 1758; honey bees) and wild bees currently face numerous stressors that have resulted in declining health. These declines have engendered support for pollinatorconservation efforts across all levels of government, private businesses, and nongovernmental organizations. In 2014, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the U.S. Geological Survey initiated an interagency agreement to evaluate honey bee forage across multiple States in the northern Great Plains and upper Midwest. The long-term goal of this study was to …

Family Law—States Should Create A Heightened Standard Of Review For Contracts That Determine The Disposition Of Frozen Embryos In Contested Divorce Cases, Stacie L. Provencher

Western New England Law Review

While in vitro fertilization (“IVF”) presents an opportunity to become parents for a couple facing infertility or experiencing medical issues that may ultimately result in infertility, it also presents the possibility for a legal dispute should the couple separate in the future. The contracts that the parties enter into with the fertility clinic, and with each other, at the beginning of the IVF process are long, complicated documents that are often not well explained nor well understood. Because the parties do not necessarily understand the rights that they are each giving up under these contracts or contemplate how forfeiting these …

The Intellectual Property Of Vaccines: Takeaways From Recent Infectious Disease Outbreaks, Ana Santos Rutschman

All Faculty Scholarship

This Essay examines the ways in which intellectual property regimes influence incentives for the development of new vaccines for infectious diseases. Charting the tension between market forces and public health imperatives, the Essay considers an emerging solution to the long-standing problem of insufficient incentives for vaccine research and development: the rise of public-private partnerships in the health space. The Essay provides a short case study on CEPI, a large-scale public-private partnership dedicated exclusively to funding research on vaccines for infectious diseases. In exploring how the interaction between intellectual property rules and practices affect vaccine innovation, the Essay offers illustrations from …

Making Sense Of Public Scientific Controversy: A Case Study Examining Science Communication And Public Engagement Surrounding Genetically Modified Mosquitoes In The Florida Keys, Cynthia Taylor

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation presents a discursive case study of a recent public scientific controversy surrounding proposed field trials of Oxitec’s genetically modified (GM) mosquitoes in the Florida Keys. Despite endorsements by the Florida Keys Mosquito Control District, starting in 2011, and the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2016, field trial releases in the region have been stalled by intense public opposition. The research presented here attempts to better understand the nature of this controversy through a close examination of science communication and public engagement efforts. Avoiding the assumption that resistance to scientific and technological interventions is reducible to a …

Coastal New England Septic System Drainfields: Groundwater Table And Greenhouse Gas Cycling Dynamics, Alissa H. Cox

Open Access Dissertations

Septic systems, or onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS), are a common means of treating wastewater across the world in areas where centralized wastewater treatment is not a feasible option. In the US, one in five households are served by septic systems, with a quarter to over half of New England households relying on this technology to treat wastewater. A well-functioning septic system protects public health by reducing pathogen loading to ground and surface waters, and attenuating nutrients and pollutants found in wastewater before it is recharged to local groundwater. However, not all wastewater constituents are removed during these processes, and …

Investigating The Role Of Vascular Activation In Alzheimer’S Disease-Related Neuroinflammation, Jaclyn M. Iannucci

Open Access Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, affecting 5.8 million people in the United States alone. Currently, there are no disease-modifying treatments for AD, and the cause of the disease is unclear. With the increasing number of cases and the lack of treatment options, AD is a growing public health crisis. As such, there is a push for investigation of novel pathological mediators to inform new therapeutic approaches.

Cardiovascular disease and associated cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) are linked to a significantly increased risk for developing AD, but the mechanisms whereby these risk factors contribute to the pathological …

Cluster Profiles Of The Drinking Motives In A Sample Of Firefighters And Emts, Joshua A. Muniz

Open Access Dissertations

Despite the extensive literature that exists on alcohol use, misuse, and drinking to cope, a drinking culture remains prevalent in occupations that experience high volumes of induced occupational stress and exposure to trauma. To our knowledge, patterns of alcohol use motives have never been characterized in a firefighter/emergency medical technician (FF/EMT) sample, nor have they been evaluated in the context of other relevant factors. The current study investigated the Drinking Motives Questionnaire-revised (DMQ-r) within a sample of FF/EMT who reported that they currently drink alcohol (N=183). This study sought to confirm the factor structure of the DMQ-r, identify empirically derived …

Active Learning For Auditory Hierarchy, William Coleman, Sarah Jane Delany, Charlie Cullen, Ming Yan

Conference papers

Much audio content today is rendered as a static stereo mix: fundamentally a fixed single entity. Object-based audio envisages the delivery of sound content using a collection of individual sound ‘objects’ controlled by accompanying metadata. This offers potential for audio to be delivered in a dynamic manner providing enhanced audio for consumers. One example of such treatment is the concept of applying varying levels of data compression to sound objects thereby reducing the volume of data to be transmitted in limited bandwidth situations. This application motivates the ability to accurately classify objects in terms of their ‘hierarchy’. That is, whether …

2019-2020 Faculty Senate Annual Report, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

The primary file includes the 2019-2020 Committee on Academic Responsibility Annual Report. Additional annual reports are attached.

The Effects Of Handedness On Personal Preferences, Ryan Mcallen

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Lateralization of cerebral function divides the cognitions of the brain between two hemispheres, resulting in differences in thought processing between people based potentially on lateralization. Recent research suggests that these differences in lateralization may render some people more likely to hold certain preferences, attitudes, and beliefs about the world. Individual differences in lateralization can be evaluated with simple inventories measuring handedness. With this in mind, the following study attempted to determine if differences in handedness could be associated with differences in personal preferences, particularly in regards to types of food and forms of entertainment. It evaluated participants by using the …

Cloning And Expression Of The Green Fluorescent Protein (Gvfp) From The Clinging Jellyfish (Gonionemus Vertens) Using Rna-Seq, Vasilios A. Orologas

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

We have discovered a novel GFP in the clinging jellyfish (Gonionemus vertens), a protein we have named GvFP (Gonionemus vertens Fluorescent Protein). This protein is responsible for the bright green fluorescence seen in the rhopalia along the margin of the bell, the gonads associated with the radial canals, and the manubrium when illuminated with blue light (470 nm). GvFP was first identified by Nextgen sequencing (RNA-Seq) of libraries made from mRNA of mature medusa collected from a salt pond on Martha’s Vineyard, MA. The full-length GvFP gene is 690 bp, encoding a protein of 230 AA (25.95 kDa; pI = …

A School-Based Group Intervention For Immigrant Adolescents : Addressing Acculturative Stress And Facilitating Ethnic Identity Development, School Connectedness, And Related Psychosocial Outcomes, Mark W. Kiang

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Immigrant adolescents account for an ever-increasing portion of middle school and high school populations. In addition to experiencing stress related to typical adolescent development, immigrant adolescents are exposed to immigration-related and acculturative stress, which can lead to compromised mental health (Takeuchi, Alegria, Jackson, & Williams, 2007). Unfortunately, immigrants as a group tend to underutilize mental health services due to a number of cultural and economic factors (Saechao et al., 2012). Schools offer an ideal setting for services that address immigrant student stress (Gonzalez, Eades, & Supple, 2014). Ethnic identity and school connectedness are two constructs that have been linked to …

A Comparative Study Of Drug Affinities Determined By Thermofluor And Kinetic Analysis, Oruba Shatnawi

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Determining the binding affinity and potency in vitro is one of the significant steps that can give a clue for a new candidate drug during the drug discovery process. Thermofluor is a method used in measuring binding affinity (Kd) of protein-ligands interaction through determining the change in thermal denaturation temperature of protein using real time PCR (RT-PCR). Kinetic analysis assay is used to screen a library of compounds to calculate their potencies (IC50) and inhibition constants (Ki) and it can be performed by spectrophotometer technique. In this study, we used bovine carbonic anhydrase II (BCA II) enzyme, and four of …

Ride Of The Waelcyrges : Combating Notions Of Feminine Passivity And Monstrous Deviance In Anglo-Saxon Literature, Shaina Marie Strang-Wolf Tullo

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This paper endeavors to trace the Anglo-Saxon literary figure of the waelcyrge through all twelve references to her throughout the Anglo-Saxon corpus, and culminates in an application of the waelcyrge trope to two problematic heroines in Beowulf, Modthryth and Hygd. Given the critical history associated with the waelcyrge, this paper attempts to write against the dominant assumption in Anglo-Saxon scholarship that the waelcyrge is a derivative of the Norse valkyrie. Instead, this paper is predicated on the notion that the waelcyrge represents uniquely Anglo-Saxon values that volley between the cultural shift that occurs in the mid-ninth century through the emergence …

Euripides : Suppliant To The Divine Feminine, Liz Amato

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The Euripidean tragedies Hippolytus, The Bacchae and The Medea present us with female characters who have sacred and profound interactions with the gods. These women have powerful ritualistic abilities that move the tragic action. Similarly, Euripides' versions of Hecuba and Electra present us with dynamic: female characters who derive their agency from the religio-judicial need for cosmic atonement. It is up to these heroines to uphold the sacred laws decreed by the gods. Why does Euripides empower these females with such direct means of divination? Arguably, Euripides felt it necessary to use these deistic feminine connections to destroy the titular …

Making Meaning : Death, Dignity, And Dasein In Kazuo Ishiguro’S Never Let Me Go, Angel Katrina Tuohy

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This thesis explores Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005 novel Never Let Me Go, with a focus on the way the novel considers large questions concerning the “meaning” of human life and the nature of “human condition” as Ishiguro calls it in interviews discussing his novel, using language and terminology provided by phenomenologist and philosopher Martin Heidegger in his seminal work Being and Time. This thesis builds on these questions to consider the complex ways that the concept of “dignity” as shown through the experiences of clones who have socially predetermined lifespans complicates issues surrounding the inevitability of death, the uncanniness of …

Institutional Racism And The Transformative Practices Of Black Women Educators In New York City Alternative Education, Gail M. Perry-Ryder

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

How does a teaching practice meet structural violence and oppression? And, how do teachers navigate systems they wish to change, in which they are also participating? This study is a qualitative investigation of institutional racism and power in U.S. alternative educational settings, and the knowledge and experiences of six Black women educators working to counteract the problem from the inside. There is a vast literature on preparing teachers for diverse classrooms; however, it has not adequately represented teachers who deploy transformative practices to directly challenge institutional racism in nontraditional educational settings, nor has it addressed the costs associated with doing …

Environmental And Trophic Factors That Influence The Prevalence Of Gonionemus Vertens In The Northeastern United States, Matthew Rigby

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Gonionemus vertens, often referred to as the clinging jellyfish, is an invasive hydrozoan first documented in 2016 in New Jersey. Populations of the adult medusa stage bloom in May and continue to persist through the middle of July, during which time it is of particular concern from a public health standpoint. G. vertens 'clings' to sea grasses and other submerged aquatic vegetation in shallow coastal waters, which are highly utilized for recreational activities, and its sting is highly toxic, which can hospitalize victims for days with both physical and psychiatric symptoms. Encounters with highly toxic G. vertens are, unfortunately, becoming …

A Salty Compromise: The Behavioral Response Of Red-Backed Salamanders (Plethodon Cinereus) To Different Concentrations Of Nacl, A Prevalent Road Deicer, Randolph Viola

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Many amphibians are bound to a nearby freshwater source such as lakes and vernal pools. Often times, this is because they are fully aquatic; if they are partially terrestrial, they still need freshwater bodies to lay their eggs in a suitable environment. With the constant use of road salt as a deicer during snowing periods, the subsequent runoff has negatively altered nearby soil and water sources. Amphibians, with their permeable skin, are at great risk of desiccation if exposed to a hyperosmotic environment caused by this application. However, some plethodontid salamanders deviate from this restrictive norm by living as dedicated …

Heterogeneous Multi-Layered Network Model For Omics Data Integration And Analysis, Bohyun Lee, Shuo Zhang, Aleksandar Poleksic, Lei Xie

Faculty Work

Advances in next-generation sequencing and high-throughput techniques have enabled the generation of vast amounts of diverse omics data. These big data provide an unprecedented opportunity in biology, but impose great challenges in data integration, data mining, and knowledge discovery due to the complexity, heterogeneity, dynamics, uncertainty, and high-dimensionality inherited in the omics data. Network has been widely used to represent relations between entities in biological system, such as protein-protein interaction, gene regulation, and brain connectivity (i.e. network construction) as well as to infer novel relations given a reconstructed network (aka link prediction). Particularly, heterogeneous multi-layered network (HMLN) has proven successful …

Ethanol Induced Neurotoxicity Through Dysregulation Of Ampk In A Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Model, Jessica Gebhardt

Theses and Dissertations--Medical Sciences

Ethanol consumption during pregnancy is rising in the U.S., including the rate of binge drinking. It is reported around 1 in 27 women engage in binge drinking activities while pregnant. The third trimester is a sensitive period of neuronal growth in which ethanol induced neurotoxicity can cause many harmful effects including Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. It has been shown that ethanol decreases the activity of AMPK through increasing lipid peroxidation, both of which are correlated to neurotoxicity. AICAR is a synthetic analog of AMP which significantly increases AMPK activity and may have beneficial effects in an organotypic hippocampal model of …

Classifying Relations Using Recurrent Neural Network With Ontological-Concept Embedding, Mario J. Lorenzo

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Relation extraction and classification represents a fundamental and challenging aspect of Natural Language Processing (NLP) research which depends on other tasks such as entity detection and word sense disambiguation. Traditional relation extraction methods based on pattern-matching using regular expressions grammars and lexico-syntactic pattern rules suffer from several drawbacks including the labor involved in handcrafting and maintaining large number of rules that are difficult to reuse. Current research has focused on using Neural Networks to help improve the accuracy of relation extraction tasks using a specific type of Recurrent Neural Network (RNN). A promising approach for relation classification uses an RNN …