Digital Commons Network^™

Special Issue "Local- To Global-Scale Environmental Issues", Leslie A. Duram

Publications

Geography is inextricably linked to sustainability. From local communities to national citizens to global agreements, there is a complex interplay between natural and social processes. In unison, these interacting forces determine our future sustainability. Addressing global issues of climate change, biodiversity loss, ocean pollution, or systemic environmental injustice feels overwhelming, so people frequently decide to take local actions to promote sustainability. Indeed, these individual or community activities, when multiplied across the globe, are often the most feasible way to affect change, particularly when national or international politics halt progress toward sustainability. This Special Issue explores the complex interplay between sustainability …

On The Roles Of Intrinsically Disordered Proteins And Regions In Cell Communication And Signaling, Sarah E. Bondos, A. Keith Dunker, Vladimir N. Uversky

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

For proteins, the sequence → structure → function paradigm applies primarily to enzymes, transmembrane proteins, and signaling domains. This paradigm is not universal, but rather, in addition to structured proteins, intrinsically disordered proteins and regions (IDPs and IDRs) also carry out crucial biological functions. For these proteins, the sequence → IDP/IDR ensemble → function paradigm applies primarily to signaling and regulatory proteins and regions. Often, in order to carry out function, IDPs or IDRs cooperatively interact, either intra- or inter-molecularly, with structured proteins or other IDPs or intermolecularly with nucleic acids. In this IDP/IDR thematic collection published in Cell Communication …

Protein Intrinsic Disorder And Evolvability Of Mers-Cov, Vladimir N. Uversky, Elrashdy M. Redwan, Abdullah A. Aljadawi

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Evolutionary Signatures Governing The Codon Usage Bias In Coronaviruses And Their Implications For Viruses Infecting Various Bat Species, Naveen Kumar, Rahul Kaushik, Chandana Tennakoon, Vladimir N. Uversky, Anamika Mishra, Richa Sood, Pratiksha Srivastava, Meghna Tripathi, Kam Y. J. Zhang, Sandeep Bhatia

Molecular Medicine Faculty Publications

Many viruses that cause serious diseases in humans and animals, including the betacoronaviruses (beta-CoVs), such as SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV, and the recently identified SARS-CoV-2, have natural reservoirs in bats. Because these viruses rely entirely on the host cellular machinery for survival, their evolution is likely to be guided by the link between the codon usage of the virus and that of its host. As a result, specific cellular microenvironments of the diverse hosts and/or host tissues imprint peculiar molecular signatures in virus genomes. Our study is aimed at deciphering some of these signatures. Using a variety of genetic methods we demonstrated …

Discovery Of Genetic Pleiotropy For Obesity And Inflammation And Mediation In Identified Variants Through Obesity-Related Pathways, Yiqian Wenren

Public Health Theses

Genetic data suggest that obesity and inflammation shared a portion of their genetic architectures. Meanwhile, epidemiologic data suggest a causal link between obesity and inflammation. Therefore, we hypothesized that there are variants in the human genome that display pleiotropy for obesity and inflammation and that the effects of at least some of those variants could be mediated by obesity-related pathways. To test these hypotheses, we conducted univariate genome-wide association analyses of obesity-related traits (BMI and WHRadjBMI) and inflammation (CRP) in the UK Biobank (n= 291,396 Caucasian subjects), searched for overlapping signals, fine-mapped the regions to identify putative causal SNPs, and …

Exploring The Connection Between The Spontaneous Regression Seen In Neuroblastomas, Hypertumors, And Reactive Oxygen Species, Shahad Musa, Manitha Mulpuru

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Peto’s Paradox is defined as the lack of correlation between larger animals and cancer risk. Under the assumption that all cells have equal risk of becoming cancerous, larger animals should have greater rates of cancer. However, the inverse is true. Determining the cause of this variation may allow a supplemental approach to cancer treatment. A combination of two reasons may account for this correlation including hypertumors and metabolism. Hypertumors, or cheater cells, are hypothesized to suppress cancer growth through spontaneous autophagic degradation and overexpression of the RAS g-protein. Both of these characteristics are exhibited in Neuroblastomas. An anticancer drug used …

America's Best Idea: Settler Colonialism And Recognition In The United States National Park Service Website, Madison Gates

Scripps Senior Theses

By examining closely how the National Park Service misrepresents their history and current relationships with Indigenous communities I work to demonstrate the depths of this misrepresentation and the impacts it has on various Indigenous communities and nations. In the first chapter, I explain how the history of national parks is founded on fundamentally opposed conceptions of land between Indigenous people and settlers and how this difference was used as justification for settler violence. In chapter two I explore the ways in which the National Park Service uses cultural collaboration to further tourist experience at the expense of respecting and properly …

Culture Connect: Diversity Resource Toolkit, Anna Potter, Abby Nurvic, Danika Bosch-Greer, Delaney Slade, Erin Landis, Mollie Lemm, Kelsey Noble

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Culture Connect: Diversity Resource Toolkit

Globally, refugees are displaced at high rates and must integrate into a society where they are an ethnic minority. Since 2016, the International Rescue Committee has resettled over 300 refugees in Missoula; about 20% of which are school-aged children. Therefore, it is important that schools facilitate refugee inclusivity and intercultural competence within student peer groups. To aid in solving this global problem, we developed a project using the three steps of Human-Centered Design that aimed to enhance teacher competence, knowledge and increase the access to resources needed to address this global problem in the classroom …

Ethnobotany Interpretive Signs At The Fort Missoula Native Plant Garden, Magalloway E. Gammons

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

This is a series of 11 ethnobotany interpretive signs for the Fort Missoula Native Plant Garden. The signs contain the name, identification information, Salish ethnobotanical uses, and an illustration of each plant. Names are listed in Latin, Salish, and common English. Featured plants: Ribes aureum, Prunus virginiana, Sambucus cerulea, Lewisia rediviva, Pinus ponderosa, Populus trichocarpa, Cornus sericea, Juniperus scopulorum, Mahonia repens, and Amelanchier alnifolia.

El Argumento Para Una Tercera Opción De Género Neutro En La Lengua Española (The Argument For A Third Gender-Neutral Option In The Spanish Language), Fiona Siobhan Bean

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

All nouns, determiners, and many adjectives in the Spanish language are grammatically designated as either masculine or feminine, and the default is always the masculine form. For example, “the tall boy” in Spanish is “el chico alto”, “the tall girl” is “la chica alta”, and if there is a group of tall children the plural form is the masculine “los chicos altos” even if there are females in the group. This binary gender division and masculine default can cause harm, however, when used in reference to women and non-binary people. This paper explores the recent movement to include a third …

An Exploration Of Ethnobotanically Significant Plants To The Native American Tribes Of Montana, Margaret Magee

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Ethnobotany is the study of the human uses of plants; for the Native Tribes of Montana these uses refer to everything from food, to ceremony, to medicine and everything in between. As a collaboration with the Payne Family Native American Center Ethnobotanical gardens, I conducted research on the various plants and their uses that are of particular significance to the 11 Tribes and 7 reservations across the state of MT. I collected information from first-hand experience working as an intern at the ethnobotanical garden, through discussions lead by Native ethnobotanists, and through extensive exploration of literature and plant identification manuals. …

The Elevator, Emma E. Mcmullen

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

A Study And Application Of Nature And Empathy Based Environmental Education, Lia Volpa

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

As climate change persists and new generations are inducted into positions responsible for adaptation, it is vital that children are educated about the environment in a way that will create long-lasting motivation to address these environmental issues. This paper analyzes the methods most effective in environmental education, answering the question: what components of elementary-level education inspire children to be stewards of the earth rather than invoke fear for the future? To answer this question a series of literature was reviewed through which three themes emerged as important components of environmental education: age, exposure to nature, and cultivation of empathy. Developmental …

Religion, But Not Parents, Predict Children's Tendency To Anthropomorphize, Sarah R. Carbis

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Anthropomorphism, or the attribution of human characteristics and behaviors to non- human entities, is not a new concept in psychology research, but is becoming increasingly more popular. This is likely to do with the emergence of artificial intelligence and other technologies in our society. Anthropomorphism is something that is encountered on a regular basis, and much research has been done looking at various aspects of this concept. Current research has investigated parental language and its relation to children’s anthropomorphism, anthropomorphism in relation to culture, how it intersects with development, among others. However, there are gaps in the research of anthropomorphism, …

The Effect Of Object Similarity And Alignment Of Examples On Children's Learning And Transfer From Picture Books, Gabrielle Strouse, Patricia Ganea

School of Education Faculty Publications

Story picture books with examples can be used to teach young children science concepts. Learners can abstract relational information by comparing the analogical examples in the books, leading to a more abstract, transferrable understanding of the concept. The purpose of this study was to determine whether manipulating the content or arrangement of the examples included in a picture book would support children’s generalization and transfer of a relational concept, color camouflage. Eighty-one 3-year-olds and 80 4-year-olds were read one of 4 books at 2 visits, spaced approximately 1 week apart. Examples were manipulated in a 2 (high/low object similarity) by …

Value Added: Digital Modeling Of Dialogic Questioning Promotes Positive Parenting During Shared Reading, Zachary D. Stuckelman, Gabrielle Strouse, Georgene L. Troseth

School of Education Faculty Publications

American parents describe bonding with their child as a primary reason for engaging in shared picture book reading. One prominent reading intervention (dialogic reading) reliably increases language outcomes, but until recently, has not been evaluated for how well it promotes warm parent-child interactions. In this study, a digital application designed to promote parent-child conversation by modeling dialogic questioning also increased mutuality, positivity, and on-task behaviors. Three- and four-year-old American children (n = 73) and their parents were randomly assigned to read 10 times at home either: 1) an eBook with a character who modeled dialogic questioning (experimental); 2) a version …

Esica: Securing—Not Compelling—Speech On The “Vast Democratic Forums” Of The Internet, Philip Primeau

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Redefiniendo La Protesta Indígena En Los Andes: Representaciones En (Y A Través De) La Literatura Y Los Medios Audiovisuales, Adriana Milena Rojas Castro

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The following thesis is a study of the Andean Region and the representation of Indigenous protest movements in novels and audiovisual productions from the twentieth century. Mainly, I focus on Indigenista novels (Raza de Bronce, El Mundo es Ancho y Ajeno, Huasipungo, and José Tombé), Oralitura (Oral literature traditions) from Indigenous authors like Fredy Chikangana and Elvira Espejo, and audiovisual productions from white/mestizos with collaboration and guide of Indigenous communities. This thesis discusses how audiovisual productions from white mestizos reinforce stereotypes about Indigenous protest movements established in Indigenista novels. In contrast, decolonization and redefinition of Indigenous protest movements occur in …

Assessing And Forecasting Chlorophyll Abundances In Minnesota Lake Using Remote Sensing And Statistical Approaches, Ben Von Korff

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

Harmful algae blooms (HABs) can negatively impact water quality, lake aesthetics, and can harm human and animal health. However, monitoring for HABs is rare in Minnesota. Detecting blooms which can vary spatially and may only be present briefly is challenging, so expanding monitoring in Minnesota would require the use of new and cost efficient technologies. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were used for bloom mapping using RGB and near-infrared imagery. Real time monitoring was conducted in Bass Lake, in Faribault County, MN using trail cameras. Time series forecasting was conducted with high frequency chlorophyll-a data from a water quality sonde. Normalized …

Comparative Characteristics Of The Amino Acid Composition In Amaranth Accessions From The Vir Collection, Diana Sokolova, Tatyana Shelenga, Olga Zvereva, Alla Solovieva

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

The development of products that fully meet the criteria for a healthy diet is one of the main trends in nutrition quality improvement worldwide. Amaranth, a leader in protein quality, has significant potential. A comparative study of the protein complex in leaf biomass has been conducted for the first time for Amaranthus spp. grown for various uses. The aim of the study was to analyze the characteristics of the amino acid composition and identify the relationships among its components in the amaranth leaf biomass. For this purpose, gas-liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry was employed. Based on the data of …

Phosphorus Sorption By Gyttja And Its Effect On The Ph Value And Phosphorus In Acidic Soils, Kadir Saltali, Ahmet Nedi̇rli̇

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Tea and hazelnut cultivated soils are mainly distributed in Black Sea region of Turkey. Low pH value is a primary problem for those soils; therefore, farmers apply lime once every 3-4 years to raise the pH value of soil. Gyttja is highly rich in organic matter (40.59%) and lime (45.67%), and it is a low cost and considerably abundant in Afşin-Elbistan Coal Basin (estimated reserve is around 4.8 billion tons). The aim of this study was to determine the phosphorus (P) sorption characteristics of gyttja, and its efficiency on P availability and soil's pH value. Optimum P sorption conditions (pH, …

Reforming Cotton Genes: From Elucidation Of Dna Structure To Genome Editing, Muhammad Salman Mubarik, Sajid Majeed, Sultan Habibullah Khan, Xiongming Du, James E. Frelichowski, Lori Hinze, Muhammad Tehseen Azhar

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Cotton is an essential fiber producing crop in the world. It also supports additional industries by providing high quality oil and protein in the form of cottonseed cake. Currently, there is an urgent need to increase lint yield, fiber quality, and resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses due to rising pressure from a global population and possible supply shortages from the effects of erratic climate changes. Classic plant breeding and transgenic strategies need more genetic breakthroughs to support the increasing pressure for fiber quantity and quality. A potential for rapid increases in crop improvement is in various state-of-the-art gene editing …

Curing The First Amendment Scrutiny Muddle Through A Breyer-Based Blend Up? Toward A Less Categorical, More Values-Oriented Approach For Selecting Standards Of Judicial Review, Clay Calvert

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article argues that the United States Supreme Court should significantly alter its current categorical approach for discerning standards of judicial review in free-speech cases. The present system should become nondeterminative and be augmented with a modified version of Justice Stephen Breyer’s long-preferred proportionality framework. Specifically, the Article’s proposed tack fuses facets of today’s policy, which largely pivots on distinguishing content-based laws from content-neutral laws and letting that categorization determine scrutiny, with a more nuanced, values-and-interests methodology. A values-and-interests formula would allow the Court to climb up or down the traditional ladder of scrutiny rungs – strict, intermediate or rational …

High Plains Wheat Mosaic Virus: An Enigmatic Disease Of Wheat And Corn Causing The High Plains Disease, Satyanarayana Tatineni, Gary Hein

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Brief history: In 1993, severe mosaic and necrosis symptoms were observed on corn (maize) and wheat from several Great Plains states of the USA. Based on the geographical location of infections, the disease was named High Plains disease and the causal agent was tentatively named High Plains virus. Subsequently, researchers renamed this virus as maize red stripe virus and wheat mosaic virus to represent the host and symptom phenotype of the virus. After sequencing the genome of the pathogen, the causal agent of High Plains disease was officially named as High Plains wheat mosaic virus. Hence, High Plains virus, …

Stress Conditioning To Hypercapnic Seawater In The Pacific Geoduck Panopea Generosa, Samuel J. Gurr

Open Access Dissertations

Expansion and enhancement of sustainable shellfish production is necessary to prevent overexploitation of wild stock and satisfy international trade, but hatchery rearing poses a critical production bottleneck due partially to environmental stressors such as ocean acidification. Given that stress conditions exacerbated by anthropogenic activity are projected to intensify in the near-future, long-lived molluscs, such as Pacific geoduck Panopea generosa (known lifespan up to 168 years), may rely on intragenerational acclimation to buffer against rapid environmental change. While acute stressors can be detrimental, environmental stress conditioning can improve performance. For example, moderate oxidative stress (i.e. temperature, irradiance, and dietary restriction) shows …

Self-Adjuvanted Virus-Like Particle For Safe And Highly Immunogenic Vaccination, Yiwen Zhao

Open Access Dissertations

Vaccination is one of the most outstanding inventions in medical history and has made significant contributions to prevent various types of infectious diseases. Once highly fatal disease, smallpox, was eradicated in 1980 after decades of vaccination effort. Mounting evidence also supports vaccination as the most effective way to control the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

Different types of vaccines have been developed from the early inactivated and live-attenuated vaccines to recent subunit vaccines, and to recent emerging nucleic acid-based vaccines that vary in vaccine immunogenicity and safety. Subunit vaccines are attractive vaccine types due to its good safety profiles, flexible design, …

Dietary Fermentable Carbohydrate (Fc) Consumption And Associations With Diet Quality And Health Parameters, Ajita Jadhav

Open Access Dissertations

Excessive body fat and related dysmetabolic complications concern both emerging and developed countries. An important environmental cause of these conditions is the altered composition of gut microbiota, which is influenced by the host diet. A number of clinical trials target gut microbiome composition or functions with fermentable carbohydrates (FCs) to promote a healthier profile. Total dietary fiber, which includes both FC and non-fermentable carbohydrates, is considered a promising tool for the prevention of chronic diseases. This has led to significant changes in food and health recommendation with an increase in dietary fiber intake advised. However, reference to other FCs such …

Covid-19, Courts, And The 'Realities Of Prison Administration.' Part Ii: The Realities Of Litigation, Chad Flanders

All Faculty Scholarship

Lawsuits challenging prisons and jails for not doing enough to stop the spread of COVID-19 among inmates have faced mixed results in the courts: wins at the district court level are almost always followed by losses (in the form of stays of any orders to improve conditions) at the appeals court level or at the Supreme Court. This short article tries to explain why this is happening, and makes three comparisons between how district courts and appeals courts have analyzed these lawsuits. First, district courts and appeals courts tend to emphasize different facts in their decisions. District courts focus more …

Releasement And Seduction: Heidegger And Baudrillard On The Preservation Of Illusion In The Epoch Of Obscenity, Marc Oliver D. Pasco

Philosophy Department Faculty Publications

This work interfaces the philosophies of Jean Baudrillard and Martin Heidegger. It hopes to contribute to both Heideggerian and Baudrillardian scholarship by employing Baudrillardian ideas in more effectively describing the historical happening of the so-called withdrawal of Being from man, which preoccupied much of Heidegger’s body of work. The work argues that by re-visiting an earlier idea of Baudrillard, which he termed as seduction, one finds a possible way of navigating the obscenity of the current epoch of Being. Akin to Heidegger’s idea of Gelassenheit or releasement, Baudrillard’s concept of seduction invites one to allow the real to once again …

Mastery Behavior And Brain Injury In Infancy, Kiyana S. Dunston

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

This study aims to determine the combined effect of degree of brain injury and age on mastery behavior among infants. Specifically, it investigates whether degree of brain injury in infancy can predict later competence, or mastery motivation behavior at both 7 and 10 months of age. In this context, mastery motivation is defined as “persistence” or the percent of time spent engaging in persistent behavior. To test the hypothesis that there would be a significant interaction between age and brain injury on mastery scores, participants engaged in 12-15-minute toy play sessions at 7- and 10-months-old. Data was analyzed using a …