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Photochemistry Of Rna, Rna Monomers, And Plausible Prebiotic Precursors, Sean J. Hoehn, Naishka E. Caldero-Rodríguez, Carlos E. Crespo-Hernández

Faculty Scholarship

Sunlight is the primary source of energy to promote change on Earth. In this context, ultraviolet radiation can be thought as a catalyst of chemical change to refine chemical feedstocks and facilitate their transformations into the building blocks of life. To establish reasonable environmental constraints for the chemical origins of life, it is central to understand how the photochemical reactivity or photochemical resistance of prebiotic molecules might have supported the formation of the RNA monomers on the Earth's surface and particularly in aqueous solution. In this chapter, the photochemistry of the RNA monomers and several conceivably important prebiotic precursors are …

326 Starr Llc V. Martinez

All Decisions

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Medical Blog Reading And Information Presentation On Readers' Preventative Health Intentions: Mixed Methods, Multistudy Investigation, Kimberly A. Taylor Dnp, Rn, Nea-Bc, Cnor, William F. Humphrey

Publications

Background:

Medical blogs have become valuable information sources for patients and caregivers. Most research has focused on patients’ creation of blogs as therapy. But we know less about how these blogs affect their readers and what format of information influences readers to take preventative health actions.

Objective:

This study aimed to identify how reading patient medical blogs influences readers’ perceived health risk and their intentions to engage in preventative health actions. Further, we aimed to examine the format of the medical blog and the reader’s response.

Methods:

We surveyed 99 university participants and a general-population, online panel of 167 participants. …

Intralocus Sexual Conflict Over Optimal Nutrient Intake And The Evolution Of Sex Differences In Life Span And Reproduction, Michael Hawkes, Sarah M. Lane, Scott K. Sakaluk, John Hunt, Clarissa M. House, Kim Jensen, James Rapkin

Faculty Publications – Biological Sciences

1. Despite widespread variation in life span across species, three clear patterns exist: sex differences in life span are ubiquitous, life span is commonly traded against reproduction, and nutrition has a major influence on these traits and how they trade-off. One process that potentially unites these patterns is intralocus sexual conflict over the optimal intake of nutrients for life span and reproduction. If nutrient intake has sex-specific effects on life span and reproduction but nutrient choice is genetically linked across the sexes, intralocus sexual conflict will occur and may prevent one or both sexes from feeding to their nutritional optima.
2. Here …

Platelet Micrornas Inhibit Primary Tumor Growth Via Broad Modulation Of Tumor Cell Mrna Expression In Ectopic Pancreatic Cancer In Mice, Jeremy G.T. Wurtzel, Sophia Lazar, Sonali Sikder, Kathy Q Cai, Igor Astsaturov, Andrew S Weyrich, Jesse W Rowley, Lawrence E. Goldfinger

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

We investigated the contributions of platelet microRNAs (miRNAs) to the rate of growth and regulation of gene expression in primary ectopic tumors using mouse models. We previously identified an inhibitory role for platelets in solid tumor growth, mediated by tumor infiltration of platelet microvesicles (microparticles) which are enriched in platelet-derived miRNAs. To investigate the specific roles of platelet miRNAs in tumor growth models, we implanted pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma cells as a bolus into mice with megakaryocyte-/platelet-specific depletion of mature miRNAs. We observed an ~50% increase in the rate of growth of ectopic primary tumors in these mice compared to controls …

Investigating The Behavioral And Social Context Of Sound In The Surface Foraging Strategies Of Humpback Whales (Megaptera Novaeangliae), Sarah Weiss

Theses - ALL

Humpback whales are known for the plastic and variable nature of their acoustic communication, social interactions, and foraging behaviors. Distinct foraging strategies are used to capture different prey types at the surface and on the seafloor. Sounds produced during foraging are thought to facilitate intraspecific social communication. Previous studies have identified specific sound types produced by humpbacks associated exclusively with benthic foraging strategies, suggesting functions related to foraging behavior. In this study, we use suction cup acoustic tags (DTAGs) deployed on humpbacks in the western North Atlantic from 2006-2009 to investigate the social sound production associated with surface foraging ecology, …

Exploring The Therapeutic Effect Of Children's Picture Books, Yunfan Chen

Theses - ALL

This thesis discusses the phenomenon of left-behind children in China amid the country's urbanization, revealing the psychological state of these children in the countryside.

In this thesis, some psychological research sources have proven how picture books relieve children's emotions and attain therapeutic effects on children's psychology. Then, this thesis analyzes two examples of children's books depicting how picture books help children to manage their negative feelings and having a therapeutic effect on the child.

This thesis claims that bibliotherapy through children's independent reading of books can effectively alleviate left-behind children's negative emotions.

Sexual Dysfunction In Schizophrenia: A Narrative Review Of The Mechanisms And Clinical Considerations, Amber N. Edinoff, Catherine A. Nix, Juliana M. Fort, Jeanna Kimble, Ryan Guedry, George Thomas, Elyse M. Cornett, Adam Kaye, Alan D. Kaye

Pacific Faculty Work

Psychiatric disorders, in general, have a high prevalence of sexual problems, whether from the psychopathology of the disorder itself, pre-existing or co-morbid sexual disorder or from side effects of the treatment for mental disorders. Many patients report an already existing sexual dysfunction at the onset of diagnosis. The risk association for developing sexual dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia includes antipsychotic use and resulting hyperprolactinemia, age, gender, and disease severity. Medication side effects lead to nonadherence, and relapses lead to structural changes in the brain, treatment resistance, and worsening of symptoms. Findings in certain studies propose serum prolactin and thyroid-stimulating hormone …

Quantitative Polarized Light Imaging Of Histologically Stained Rat Humerus Cartilage, Gustavo De Paiva

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

The objective of my independent study was to understand how the collagen strength and alignment look across healthy and injured elbow samples.

Fine Scales, Broad Consequences: Drivers And Effects Of Microclimatic Variation In Great Smoky Mountains National Park, Jordan Rebecca Stark

Theses - ALL

Climate is highly variable at scales that are not captured by most weather and climate models due to local effects of topography and living systems. This variation in microclimate has been noted for many decades but has been difficult to incorporate into quantitative understanding of ecological systems and processes due to the large amount of data and complex models required to adequately describe fine-scale patterns across complex landscapes. In recent years, models of thermal microclimate variation have been developed using low-cost temperature sensors, but few of these models have been used to predict the effects of microclimatic variation on ecological …

Analysis Of Global Published Literature On Library And Information Science: An Empirical Study Through Big Data Approach (1920-2020), Subhajit Panda, Dr. Atasi Sinhababu, Prof. Rupak Chakravarty

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the extent of LIS (Library and Information Science) literature referring to and being referred by patents in the form of scholarly citations they attribute and/or receive. The analysis of the present study was done based on a total data-set of 237820 research publications of the LIS discipline ranging from April 1920 to April 2020 (100 years) as mined from the LENS database. LIS research corpus received 22.75 scholarly citations and 6.87 patent citations per paper while utilizing and citing 18667 patents and thus establishing the correlation between the citing-cited link in the …

Caregiver Participation Engagement In Child Mental Health Prevention Programs: A Systematic Review, Rachel Haine‑Schlagel, Kelsey S. Dickson, Teresa Lind, Joanna J. Kim, Gina C. May, Natalia Escobar Walsh, Vanja Lazarevic, Brent R. Crandal, May Yeh

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Prevention programs are a key method to reduce the prevalence and impact of mental health disorders in childhood and adolescence. Caregiver participation engagement (CPE), which includes caregiver participation in sessions as well as follow-through with homework plans, is theorized to be an important component in the effectiveness of these programs. This systematic review aims to (1) describe the terms used to operationalize CPE and the measurement of CPE in prevention programs, (2) identify factors associated with CPE, (3) examine associations between CPE and outcomes, and (4) explore the effects of strategies used to enhance CPE. Thirty-nine articles representing 27 unique …

Industry Leaders On The Fame Center Advisory Board Discuss Legal Careers In Creative Industries, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo News 2021

Cardozo’s Fashion, Arts, Media & Entertainment (FAME) Law Center provides unprecedented training and development opportunities for students through unique access to companies and professionals in businesses driven by the creative process. FAME trains lawyers who understand all aspects of these multibillion-dollar global industries, including brand protection, licensing and business formation. Director Barbara Kolsun is a Cardozo alumna herself and a leading fashion attorney who served as general counsel for Kate Spade, Stuart Weitzman and 7 for All Mankind.

Developing Novel Molecular Detection Techniques For Hemlock Woolly Adelgid (Adelges Tsugae), Meg Sanders

Masters Theses

Hemlock forests in eastern North America face a deadly threat: the invasive insect, hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA), Adelges tsugae. Early detection of this pest remains a key focus for management groups to ensure rapid response to control and stop the spread of HWA. In Chapter II, our goals were to develop an affordable, easy-to-use trap that is compatible with airborne eDNA sampling techniques and assess its efficiency as a monitoring tool for HWA. We tested three potential trap designs (i.e., passive trap, funnel trap, and motorized trap) against a standard sticky trap. Our passive, funnel, and motorized traps estimated …

Instructional Scaffolding In Internships: Supporting Future Professionals In Family Science, Katy Gregg, Meghan K. Dove, Nikki Digregorio

Human Ecology: Faculty Publications

Internships are known for being a valuable, albeit time consuming, opportunity for students, supervisors, and faculty in many fields. As undergraduate programs consider their current and future internship programs, we suggest the processes an intern takes to secure and complete an internship are key to furthering their learning and increasing their career marketability. In this article, we use scaffolding and self-efficacy theories as the foundation to developing an intentional internship program in the family science field. We share the steps faculty take to prepare students for the internship, use graduated guidance to support student learning, and to assess learning during …

The Lived Experience Of Lebanese Oncology Patients Receiving Palliative Care, Myrna A. A. Doumit

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to uncover the lived experience of Lebanese oncology patients receiving palliative care. The study design was based on the Utrecht School of phenomenology based on the Dutch school of phenomenology. This study followed purposeful sampling in which ten participants six women and four men with a mean age of 54.4 years were selected. The proposed research was approved by the Institutional Review Boards at the American University of Beirut and Duquesne University. In-depth semi-structured interviews along with observation-field notes were used as the source for data collection. Data were analyzed using the hermeneutic phenomenological …

Democrats Sour On Sununu As Nh Governor's Approval Continues To Decline 12/22/2021, Unh Survey Center

All UNH Survey Center Polls

After enjoying widespread popularity throughout much of his tenure as governor, only a slim majority currently approve of Governor Chris Sununu's job performance. Much of this decline is due to a sizeable drop in support among Democrats. With Sununu having chosen not to run for the U.S. Senate in 2022, several individuals have been mentioned as candidates for the Republican nomination, but many are not well-known or well-liked in the state. A record low believe the state is headed in the right direction.

Understanding Engendered Trust: Facilitating School-Nurse Trustworthiness Behaviors, Anne H. J. Summach

Theses

School nurses are involved in a complex framework of interactions with students, other professionals, parents and administrators. Trust between nurse and student is critical for interaction effectiveness. Little extant research examines trust in this setting, or interactions between students and nurses. The goal of this study was to understand through phenomenology the process of engendering trust in school nurse—high school student interactions. The qualitative approach explored school nurse perceptions of experiences interacting with students, yielding insights into nurse and setting based factors contributing to the development of trust. Subthemes within these included key behaviours and attributes enhancing trust engenderment in …

Realistic Additions To Matlab Simulation Of Active Particles In An Acoustic Field, Emily Ma

Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Independent Study

Acoustic microfluidics provides a contact-free method of manipulating active particles; however, versatile and quick performance quantification of these methods is needed to further apply acoustofluidic techniques in broader settings. Motile Chlamydomonas reinhardtii algae cells continuously swim and redistribute as they are subject to an acoustic field. For performance quantification, this eliminates the tedious procedure of resetting the experiment after each trial, which is necessary when using passive particles as probes. Thus, this method of calibration using active particles is more efficient than using passive particles. Utilizing an accurate simulation of physical active particle experiments is helpful in quickly predicting how …

Control Flow Integrity For Real-Time Embedded Systems, Yuqian Huo

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Devices built on embedded systems are widely used in our daily lives. Nowadays, firmware typically uses C and C++ for efficiency and durability. However, those languages are unsafe which can lead to many software and system security issues. Attackers can easily corrupt a system by issuing various memory corruption attacks on a vulnerable program. Control-flow integrity is one of the most prevalent mechanisms used to protect against memory corruption. Most research papers and prototypes focus on using CFI on high-performance chips such as Intel and ARM Cortex-A. However, many embedded systems targeting time critical services are built on resource constrained …

Protecting The University As A Physical Place In The Age Of Postdigitization, Ryan M. Allen, Peter Mclaren

Education Faculty Articles and Research

Covid-19 forced higher education sectors across the world to digitize the entire university experience online. There are now calls for universities to continue chasing continued and further digitization, often from for-profit businesses and those in Silicon Valley who have been promising to disrupt the sector for decades. We argue that the pandemic has illustrated how crucial universities are to their local communities, and efforts should be made to emphasize their physical place and space. The destruction of American cities in favor of auto-centric suburbs provides a parallel for the possible future of higher education. The Cult of Efficiency mindset and …

Responses To Environmental Change, Lisa Reyes Mason, Susan P. Kemp, Lawrence A. Palinkas, Amy Krings

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Communities worldwide are facing environmental crises such as air pollution, water shortages, climate change, and other forms of environmental change and degradation. While technical solutions for environmental change are essential, so too are solutions that consider social acceptability, value cultural relevance, and prioritize equity and social justice. Social work has a critical and urgent role in creating and implementing macrolevel social responses to environmental change. The key concepts of environmental change, environmental and ecological justice, social vulnerability, and social responses are discussed. A description of the roles and skills unique to macro social workers for this effort is given, followed …

Ending Christian Hegemony: Jean-Luc Nancy And The Ends Of Eurocentric Thought, Colby Dickinson

Theology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay addresses Jean-Luc Nancy’s “deconstruction of Christianity” and how what Christianity proclaims through enacting a deconstruction of itself brings an end to the western, hegemonic hold that Christian imperialism has perpetuated for centuries. Nancy, for his part, takes up the name of Christianity insofar as it is a religious phenomenon that signals a trajectory of thought in the West that must be discerned as providing an “exit from religion and of the expansion of the atheist world.” Since deconstructing the dominant narratives of the West means deconstructing the myth of a sovereign, autonomous deity whose reign, Nancy declares, has …

First-Generation College Student Baccalaureate Attainment: Investigation Of A Psychological Model Of College Student Retention, Timothy Wasserman

Dissertations - ALL

This dissertation examined predictors of retention and graduation for first-generation (FG), first-year students at a selective, private, residential university in the northeastern United States. The theoretical framework was Bean and Eaton's (2000, 2001/2002) Psychological Model of College Student Retention. The purpose of the study was to test the Bean and Eaton model and ascertain how students' entry characteristics, experiences, psychological outcomes, attitudes, and intent to return impacted retention and graduation outcomes. Previous research shows that FG students face challenges in persisting (Cataldi et al., 2018; Choy, 2001; Ishitani, 2016); yet it is through graduating from a prestigious four-year institution that …

First Measurement Of B(Ξc0 → Π−Λ+C ), Michael Kent Wilkinson

Dissertations - ALL

The first measurement of the branching fraction of the Ξc0 baryon in its decay to π− and Λ+c hadrons, B(Ξc0 → π−Λ+c ), is presented. This measurement was conducted with the LHCb detector, located on the Large Hadron Collider, using 13 TeV proton-proton collisions. There have been a number of theoretical predictions for the size of this branching fraction, spanning more than an order of magnitude; this large difference is primarily due to differing assumptions about the internal interactions contributing to the decay. The branching fraction measured here provides the first experimental evidence for the nature of these interactions; it …

A Solid-State Phase Camera For Advanced Gravitational Wave Detectors, Erik Muniz

Dissertations - ALL

I present a novel way of wavefront sensing using a commercially available, continuouswavetime-of- ight camera with QVGA-resolution. This CMOS phase camera is capable of sensing externally modulated light sources with frequencies up to 100 MHz. The high-spatial-resolution of the sensor, combined with our integrated control electronics, allows the camera to image power modulation index as low as -62 dBc/second/pixel. The phase camera is applicable to problems where alignment and mode-mismatch sensing is needed and suited for diagnostic and control applications in gravitationalwave detectors. Specically, I explore the use of the phase camera in sensing the beat signals due to thermal …

Observation Of Ω Contribution In The C1(3872) → Π+Π−J/Ψ Decays, Baasansuren Batsukh

Dissertations - ALL

Resonant structure in the dipion mass spectrum produced via \decay{\Bu}{\X\Kp}, \decay{\X}{\jpsi \pip \pim}, with \decay{\jpsi}{\mu^+\mu^-} is analyzed using Run 1 and Run 2 data samples from the LHCb experiment. The spectrum is dominated by $\rhoz\to\pi^+\pi^-$, but cannot be described by this contribution alone. A significant $\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-$ contribution, interfering with $\rhoz$, is observed for the first time. This is a more significant observation ($>7.1\sigma$) of $\X\to\omega\jpsi$ decays, than previously achieved with $\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0$ decays. The relative contribution of $\omega$ to the total $\X\to\pi^+\pi^-\jpsi$ rate is at the level expected from the measured $\X\to(\omega\to\pi^+\pi^-\pi^0)\jpsi$ rate, if the interference between the $\rho^0$ and …

Aging Study Of Silver-Exchanged Mordenite And Silver-Functionalized Silica Aerogel In Dry Air, Humid Air, No And No2, Seungrag Choi

Dissertations - ALL

Iodine-129 (129I) is one of the volatile radioactive species in the off-gas streams generated from the spent nuclear fuel reprocessing system, and it is essential to remove 129I vapor because 129I has a long half-life (1.6 x 107 years) and can be fatal to the human body if released to the environment. Radioactive iodine vapor can be effectively captured by silver containing adsorbents such as silver exchanged mordenite (Ag0Z) and silver functionalized silica aerogel (Ag0-aerogel) used in this study. However, the aging impact of off-gas streams on the adsorbents is one of major issues in the removal of radioactive iodine …

The Effects Of Cannabidiol And Analgesic Expectancies On Experimental Pain Reactivity In Healthy Adults: A Balanced Placebo Design Trial, Martin De Vita

Dissertations - ALL

Experimental pain trials have been unable to determine whether cannabinoid analgesia is attributable to intoxication, analgesic expectancies, and/or pharmacological action. One approach to resolving this issue involves testing the effects of analgesic expectancies and cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive cannabinoid, on human pain reactivity using a balanced placebo design. Despite its frequent use for pain relief, no experimental research has tested the analgesic effects of CBD in humans. Using a within-subjects 2 x 2 balanced placebo factorial design, we experimentally tested the effects of CBD and expectancies for receiving CBD on pain reactivity (i.e., pain threshold, tolerance, intensity, unpleasantness, conditioned pain …

Utilizing Parity Violating Electron Scattering As A Probe To Measure The Neutron Radius Of 208-Pb, David Eric King

Dissertations - ALL

The Lead Radius Experiment 2 (PREX-II) and Calcium Radius Experiment (CREX) carried out in Hall A of the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility were designed to measure the neutron skins of 208-Pb and 48-Ca nuclei by measuring the parity-violating asymmetry APV of the elastic scattering of polarized electrons on 208-Pb and 48-Ca targets. In order to achieve a precision measurement of the neutron skins of 208-Pb and 48-Ca it is imperative to maintain precise control over many experimental parameters–one of which is a precision measurement of the electron beam polarization (which is the largest contributor to experimental error making control …