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A Study On The Hormonal Regulation And Novel Role Of Na+ Leak Channel, Non-Selective (Nalcn) In Human Myometrial Smooth Muscle Cells, Chinwendu Amazu

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

During pregnancy, the uterus transitions from a quiescent state to an excitable, highly contractile state to deliver the fetus. Two important contributors essential for this transition are progesterone (P4) and estrogen (E2), which promote quiescence or contraction, respectively, by acting on the myometrial smooth muscle cells (MSMCs). While these hormones regulate uterine contractions, it is unclear how they affect electrical activity of MSMCs, which underlies uterine contractile activity. Our lab recently identified Na+ leak channel, non-selective (NALCN) as a component of the leak current in human MSMCs and showed that mice lacking NALCN in the uterus have dysfunctional labor. In …

Mass Spectrometry-Based Protein Footprinting: High-Throughput Maldi Platform And Large Protein Complexes Of Baf, Ruidong Jiang

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Human’s advances in understanding biological processes rely heavily on the breakthroughs in biophysical tools. Mass spectrometry (MS)-based protein footprinting, which interrogates protein structures by measuring protein solvent assessable surface area (SASA), has grown rapidly in the last decade, successful in providing valuable data for numerous protein systems. This thesis focuses mainly on this technology.We set out to push the boundary of MS-based protein footprinting further into the new areas, preparing it for potential future applications including large-scale experiments that require high-throughput analysis the structure of large, complicated protein complexes. This thesis devotes five chapters to the method development of MS-based …

Deconvolving Genomic Regulatory Heterogeneity With Self-Reporting Transposons, Arnav Moudgil

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

A cell’s identity is a function of the genes expressed in that cell, which are in turn regulated by transcription factors. Over the last decade, single-cell RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) has emerged as a powerful class of techniques to characterize cellular diversity in heterogeneous tissues. These methods barcode transcripts by their cell-of-origin and assign them to specific genes. The resulting high-dimensional data are further processed to reveal clusters of cells sharing transcriptional states. Annotating these clusters, based on either known or discovered marker genes, offers a glimpse into the dynamic composition of an organ or biological process. While single-cell RNA-seq excels …

Cancer Epigenome Reprogramming, Jennifer Ann Karlow

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The identification of recurrent genetic mutations in cancer and their functionalcharacterization has provided a strong foundation for our understanding of tumorigenesis. The more recent observation of recurrent and specific epigenetic changes also present in cancer has widened this view, now establishing cancer as a disease of both genetic and epigenetic misregulation. Enhancers, genomic regions primarily responsible for tissue-specific gene expression, have been shown to be frequent targets of both genetic and epigenetic abnormalities. The observation that DNA methylation within regulatory regions has traditionally correlated with reduced gene expression, coupled with the known role of enhancers in regulating tissuespecific gene expression, …

Plasmonically-Enhanced Dna-Rna Hybrid-Based Bioassay For Amplification-Free Quantification Of Sars-Cov-2, Yuxiong Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COIVD-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), is a highly infectious respiratory illness. Within just a few months, it spread around the whole world and became a global pandemic. Real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) works as a gold standard method diagnosing COVID-19 with high sensitivity and specificity. But due to the programs of RT-PCR, it usually takes more than 24 hours to get the results while specialized devices are also required. False-negative results can happen as well using RT-PCR which increase the risk of spreading coronavirus. To promote quicker detection of COVID-19, …

On The Challenges And Rewards Of Analyzing Molecular Dynamics At The Terabyte And Millisecond Scale, Justin Roy Porter

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Molecular Dynamics (MD) and Markov state models (MSMs) are powerful tools for estimating and concisely representing the conformational ensemble accessible to biological macromolecules, particularly proteins. Conformational ensembles are of special importance biological function, both in health and disease, because biology derives from molecules’ entire conformational distribution rather than any single structure. Consequently, MD is poised to become a powerful tool for personalized medicine and for the study of molecular sequence-function relationships generally. However, because of their hyperdimensionality and size, just generating MD datasets and Markov state models (MSMs) that represent biologically relevant molecules is a substantive technical challenge. Then, even …

Regulation Of Metabolic Stress By The Snhg3 Locus, Arthur Curtis Sletten

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Dyslipidemia and lipotoxicity are pathologic signatures of the metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes. Excess lipid causes cell dysfunction and induces cell death through pleiotropic mechanisms that link to oxidative stress. However, pathways that regulate the response to metabolic stress are not fully understood. To identify novel genes involved in metabolic stress, our group performed an unbiased forward genetic screen for lipotoxicity resistance. My studies focused on characterizing one of the mutant cell lines isolated from this screen, in which promoter trap mutagenesis disrupted one allele of the small nucleolar RNA hosting gene 3 (Snhg3). I demonstrate that diminished expression …

Material Difficulty And Individual Difference Factors Moderate The Eyewitness Confidence-Accuracy Relationship, Wenbo Lin

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Recent studies have shown that eyewitness confidence is positively associated with high identification (ID) accuracy, but some eyewitness researchers have expressed concerns regarding the reliability of this confidence-accuracy relationship in applied settings (e.g., are there circumstances or moderator variables that make this relationship less reliable?). For the present study, we considered two types of moderator variables: material difficulty (i.e., the difficulty level associated with different sets of eyewitness stimuli) and individual difference factors such as face recognition ability. Experiment 1 examined whether these moderator variables significantly impair the confidence-accuracy relationship and Experiment 2 examined whether these same moderator variables equally …

Defining The Epigenetic And Transcriptional Regulatory Mechanisms By Which Hrsv Ns1 Alters Host Transcriptional Response, Nina Rose Beri

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Amazon Reviews Using Sentiment Analysis, Ammar Rashed Hamdallah

Theses

The intense competition to attract and maintain customers online is compelling businesses to implement novel strategies to enhance the customer experiences. It is becoming necessary for companies to examine customer reviews on online platforms such as Amazon to understand better how customers rate their products and services. The purpose of this study is to investigate how companies can conduct sentiment analysis based on Amazon reviews to gain more insights into customer experiences. The dataset selected for this capstone consists of customer reviews and ratings from consumer reviews of Amazon products. Amazon product reviews enable a business to gain insights on …

Quantum Field Theories, Topological Materials, And Topological Quantum Computing, Muhammad Ilyas

Dissertations and Theses

A quantum computer can perform exponentially faster than its classical counterpart. It works on the principle of superposition. But due to the decoherence effect, the superposition of a quantum state gets destroyed by the interaction with the environment. It is a real challenge to completely isolate a quantum system to make it free of decoherence. This problem can be circumvented by the use of topological quantum phases of matter. These phases have quasiparticles excitations called anyons. The anyons are charge-flux composites and show exotic fractional statistics. When the order of exchange matters, then the anyons are called non-Abelian anyons. Majorana …

Working Paper No. 57, The Plight Of The Indigenous In British North America, Maria Nicolas-Reyes

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry seeks to establish that the Indigenous population of North America experienced a tragic fate as a result of British colonization and American dominance. Upon the arrival of the English colonists, infectious diseases spread rapidly, disrupting Native American’s way of life and also decimating their populations. This inquiry examines two geographic areas—Virginia’s Eastern Shore and the Midcontinent—in order to demonstrate how these diseases affected Native Americans differently. Aside from the negative effects of the introduction of new infectious diseases, Indigenous peoples endured genocide perpetrated by English settlers as a means to gain greater control of their lands. Lastly, Indigenous …

Virology: Mutagenizing The Proteolytic Cleavage Site In The Major Capsid Protein In Ssv1, Thejanee Liyanaarachchi

University Honors Theses

SSV1, spindle-shaped virus 1, is an archaeal virus with a unique shape that belongs to the family of fuselloviruses and infects hyperthermophilic archaea that thrive at 80°C and pH 3. SSV1 has two capsid proteins, VP1 and VP3, that presumably produce the lemon-shaped virion structure characteristic of fuselloviruses. The VP1 amino acid sequence is highly conserved among SSVs. Here, we investigate the importance of the proteolytic cleavage site in position E66 in VP1 by changing its glutamic acid to the other 19 amino acids. We have developed a new protocol for creating SSV1 mutants through HiFi Assembly (NEB) to increase …

An Investigation Into The Relationship Between Obstetric Racism And Postpartum Depression In Black Women, Miguel A. Claxton Iii

University Honors Theses

Postpartum depression is the most common postpartum mood disorder, with 13% of new mothers reporting symptoms within the first year. Adverse birth outcomes, such as low birth weight and preterm birth co-index with the development of postpartum depression. This correlation is particularly alarming considering that Black women have about a 60% higher rate of preterm birth and an 88% higher rate of low birth weight infants than Caucasian women. By utilizing theories of stratified reproduction, necropolitics, and obstetric racism, this paper aims to situate postpartum depression in Black women as a psychological response to systems of medicolegal control and domination. …

A Rapid Screening Method For Ecological Risks Posed By Different Land Use Intensities: Case Study Of Marikina City’S River System, Maria Aileen Leah Guzman, Charlotte Kendra Gotangco Gonzales, Rene Juna Claveria, Philippe Joshua Evardo, Jean Jardeleza Mijares

Journal of Management for Global Sustainability

Land use plays an important role in environmental and sustainability research because of its potential contribution to ecosystem protection or degradation. However, most risk maps used in comprehensive land use planning only identify areas at risk, for example, to various geophysical or climate- and weather-related hazards. It would also be useful to identify land areas that pose a risk to ecological systems. In this study, a simplified method adapted from the source-habitat approach and the relative risk model was used to explore the potential ecological risk of exposure to water pollutants posed by land uses on the river system in …

A Study On Impact Of Library Resource Utilisation And Ict Literacy On Earning Of The Post-Graduate Students Of Assam, India, Arnob Paul, Masuma Ahmed

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Information and communication technology, or ICT, is a broad term for information technology that emphasises the importance of unified communications and telecommunications integration, as well as intelligent building management systems and audio-visual systems in modern information technology. ICT refers to all technical tools that are used to manage data and facilitate communication. It consists of computer and network hardware, as well as software and required applications. With the increasing demand for information and communication technology literacy among the young students, it is important to know the impact of ICT literacy on the level of part time income of the students. …

Modeling Iterative Reconstruction And Displacement Field In The Large Scale Structure, Atsuhisa Ota, Hee Jong Seo, Shun Saito, Florian Beutler

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

The next generation of galaxy surveys like the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and Euclid will provide datasets orders of magnitude larger than anything available to date. Our ability to model nonlinear effects in late time matter perturbations will be a key to unlock the full potential of these datasets, and the area of initial condition reconstruction is attracting growing attention. Iterative reconstruction developed by Marcel Schmittfull et al. [Phys. Rev. D 96, 023505 (2017)PRVDAQ2470-001010.1103/PhysRevD.96.023505] is a technique designed to reconstruct the displacement field from the observed galaxy distribution. The nonlinear displacement field and initial linear density field are highly correlated. …

The Impact Of The Rare Disease And Orphan Drug Act In Taiwan, Ning-Chun Hsiang, Weng-Foung Huang, Churn-Shiouh Gau, Teng-Wen Tsai, Lin-Chau Chang

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

The Rare Disease and Orphan Drug Act (the Act) was enacted in 2000 in Taiwan for the facilitation of the research, development, and accessibility of orphan drugs and special nutritional foods; for the prevention and early diagnosis of rare diseases; and for providing intensive care for patients with rare diseases. The aim was to investigate the impact of the Act on the availability and use of orphan drugs in Taiwan in the hope of identifying the remaining challenges and possible solutions to assist future policy making, which may be applicable in other countries as well. The information and statistics for …

Horses, Alison Stine

Exile

No abstract provided.

Contributors' Notes

Exile

No abstract provided.

Gaze, Number 10, Volume 1

Gaze, 1979-1990

Co-Editors: Allen Cook, John Stilwell. Staff Writers: Carole Taylor, Bob Dumais, Vincent Astor, Becky Caperton, John House. Typesetting and Layout: Allen Cook, Bob Dumais, Cecil McLeod, John Stilwell. Circulation: Cecil McLeod, John Stilwell, Bob Dumais. Advertising Manager: Bob Dumais.

Special thanks to Rhodes College and the Paul Barret Jr. Library for providing initial scanning of this collection.

Hyperspectral Imaging And Data Analytics For Civil Infrastructure Inspection, Genda Chen

INSPIRE Archived Webinars

In this 50-minute lecture, the fundamental concept of hyperspectral imaging is reviewed. Each hyperspectral image represents a narrow, contiguous wavelength range of an electromagnetic spectrum, which could be indicative of a chemical substance. All the images in the spectral range of a hyperspectral camera are combined to form a three-dimensional hyperspectral data cube with two spatial dimensions and one spectral dimension. A hyperspectral cube can be sampled in four ways: spatial scanning, spectral scanning, snapshot imaging, and spatio-spectral scanning. This presentation will be focused on spatial scanning from a line-scan camera. The feasibility of horizontal imaging from a synchronized hyperspectral …

History News, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

The Annual Meeting, Florida Historical Confederation, Society of Florida Archivists, Announcements and Activities, Obituary

Florida Manuscript Acquisitions And Accessions, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

The following are recent manuscript acquisitions and accessions as reported by Florida universities, colleges, public libraries, and other institutions. Those interested in using particular collections should correspond with the library or archives in question.

Florida's First Women Candidates, Allen Morris

Florida Historical Quarterly

The nineteenth amendment, the women’s suffrage amendment, having been ratified by the requisite thirty-eight states, was declared a part of the United States Constitution on August 26, 1920. Tennessee cast the deciding vote. The amendment had been first proposed by Congress on June 5, 1915. Florida was not among the thirty-eight states. Ratification did not come in this state until 1969, and then only as a symbolic recognition of the fiftieth anniversary of the Florida League of Women Voters. Florida’s women unsuccessfully had urged their legislators since the 1890s to adopt woman’s suffrage. In 1917 the right to vote in …

Book Reviews, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

FLORIDA AND THE AMERICAN MOTION PICTURE INDUSTRY 1898-1980, by Richard Alan Nelson, reviewed by Edward D. C. Campbell, Jr.; SPANISH COLONIAL FRONTIER RESEARCH, compiled and edited by Henry F. Dobyns, reviewed by John W. Griffin; HOMEWARD BOUND, A HISTORY OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS TO 1850, by Sandra Riley, BAHAMIAN LOYALISTS AND THEIR SLAVES, by Gail Saunders, reviewed by Daniel L. Schafer; SLAVERY AND FREEDOM IN THE AGE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, edited by Ira Berlin and Ronald Hoffman, reviewed by George C. Rogers, Jr.; BLACK LIBERATION ON CUMBERLAND ISLAND IN 1815, by Mary R. Bullard, reviewed by Kenneth Coleman; THE …

Master James Cook And Gulf Coast Cartography, Robert R. Rea

Florida Historical Quarterly

The acquisition by Great Britain of Florida and cis-Mississippi Louisiana in 1763 brought with it both the need and the opportunity for a significant expansion of cartographic knowledge of the shores of the newly-created colonies of East and West Florida. Spanish and French charts of the northern coast of the Gulf of Mexico were rather more artistic than scientific; indeed, the tools for exact surveying had yet to be developed when the Union Jack was raised at St. Augustine, Pensacola, and Mobile. Fishermen from Havana and the occasional merchant engaged in the coasting trade might know the safe anchorages and …

Book Reviews, Florida Historical Society

Florida Historical Quarterly

TAMPA: THE TREASURE CITY, by Gary R. Mormino and Anthony P. Pizzo, reviewed by Janet Snyder Matthews; MIZNER’S FLORIDA, AMERICAN RESORT ARCHITECTURE, by Donald W. Curl, reviewed by Ivan A. Rodriguez; STETSON UNIVERSITY: THE FIRST 100 YEARS, by Gilbert L. Lycan, reviewed by Charlton W. Tebeau; THEIR NUMBER BECOME THINNED, by Henry F. Dobyns, reviewed by Kathleen A. Deagan; CATHOLICS IN THE OLD SOUTH, edited by Randall M. Miller and Jon L. Wakelyn, reviewed by Michael V. Gannon; JOHN BELL HOOD AND THE WAR FOR SOUTHERN INDEPENDENCE, by Richard M. McMurry, reviewed by K. Jack Bauer; THE SOUTH RETURNS TO …

Cracker-Spanish Florida Style, James A. Lewis

Florida Historical Quarterly

Over the years the regional diversity of the United States has coined scores of colorful words to describe groups of people perceived to have something in common. On occasion, these words, often pejorative in connotation, have worked their way into other languages, a classic example being the term Yankee. One of the more expressive regional terms to find its way into a foreign language has been the word cracker, defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as a “contemptuous name in [the] Southern States of N. America [applied] to the ‘poor whites’: Whence familiarly, to the native whites of Georgia and …

Francis's Metallic Lifeboats And The Third Seminole War, George E. Buker

Florida Historical Quarterly

Because Joseph Francis was a good, persistent salesman and General Thomas S. Jesup was knowledgeable about Florida and its Seminole Indians, the United States Army became interested in metallic lifeboats. By December 20, 1855, when Chief Billy Bowlegs’s warriors attacked Lieutenant George Hartsuff’s men in the Big Cypress Swamp, some of Francis’s metallic lifeboats already were in Florida waters. Thus, during the Third Seminole War, the army, for the first time, used metal boats in combat operations.