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The Role Of Chemical Cues In Host Susceptibility To Fish-Parasitic Gnathiid Isopods., Clayton M. Vondriska

Student Theses and Dissertations

Parasitism is one of the most common lifestyle strategies. Ectoparasites must navigate complex environments to find their host and many rely heavily on chemical cues to do so. Gnathiid isopods are common parasites that use chemical cues to find their marine fish hosts. While gnathiids are considered host-generalists, hosts vary in their susceptibility to infestation. However, the mechanisms that mediate differential susceptibility are unknown. Here I used field and laboratory experiments to investigate if the chemo-attractiveness of hosts explains differences in susceptibility of Caribbean reef fishes to infestation by a common Caribbean gnathiid isopod, Gnathia marleyi. While G. marleyi can …

Grs 2022 Program Booklet, Mary W. Mcconnell

Graduate Student Research Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Ethical Justification Of Research In Pediatric Healthcare With An Emphasis On The Covid-19 Vaccine, Brianne Helfrich

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Pediatric research in medicine is a widely debated topic on ethical and moral principles. In this paper, the reasoning behind the importance of general medical research will be explored. The risks and benefits associated with medical research will be discussed, as these are topics that can persuade an individual into participating. The first section of this paper will also emphasize the importance of the COVID-19 research and ethical conflicts associated with it. Being in a global pandemic, this research has provided society with many benefits regarding diagnosis of disease, vaccines, and treatments. Exploring the COVID-19 research will provide readers with …

Gene Editing For Psychological Conditions: The Potential To Reduce Suffering Through Therapeutic Interventions, Gabriella Agostaro

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Genetic sequencing has introduced scientists to the critical role that genes contribute to human function. As discoveries have been produced, revolutionary techniques have emerged to tackle issues associated with genetically linked conditions.

Targeted treatment methods are utilized for therapeutic interventions in patients suffering from cancer due to genetic markers discovered in the human body. With the aid of these genetic markers, clinicians can recognize genes that increase a patient's likelihood of developing cancer and, more precisely target cancer treatment regimens. While we can now determine genetic links for many physical diseases, it is essential to explore the relevance of gene …

Ethical Ramifications Of Xenotransplantation Research And Justification For Potentially Deadly Study Participation, Scott Dyer

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Recent leaps in medical technology now allow humans to utilize organs of animals, specifically pigs, in xenotransplantation procedures. As this science advances, ethical quandaries that must be grappled with will arise while additional clinical trials must be done. Due to the infancy of this technology, science must be cautious in how it moves forward. However, I also argue that anyone, as long as they are of sound mind and deemed to be of proper decision-making capacity, can justifiably participate in any research they want, no matter how deadly the potential consequences. A participant in such research may be getting much …

Clinical Evaluation Of An Auto-Segmentation Tool For Spine Sbrt Treatment, Yingxuan Chen, Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, Yan Yu, Wenyin Shi, Haisong Lui

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Spine SBRT target delineation is time-consuming due to the complex bone structure. Recently, Elements SmartBrush Spine (ESS) was developed by Brainlab to automatically generate a clinical target volume (CTV) based on gross tumor volume (GTV). The aim of this project is to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of ESS auto-segmentation.

Methods: Twenty spine SBRT patients with 21 target sites treated at our institution were used for this retrospective comparison study. Planning CT/MRI images and physician-drawn GTVs were inputs for ESS. ESS can automatically segment the vertebra, split the vertebra into 6 sectors, and generate a CTV based on the …

Connection Magazine, Spring 2022, Cristina Hatem

Newsletters from University Library - Library Connection

No abstract provided.

Down Syndrome-Associated Arthritis (Da): Diagnostic And Management Challenges., Jordan T. Jones, Jacqueline Kitchen, Nasreen Talib

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

Down syndrome (DS) is one of the most common birth defects in the United States, the most common genomic disorder of intellectual disability, and results from trisomy 21. This chromosome disorder causes an extensive, heterogenous phenotype that results in a broad presentation of symptoms that includes atlantoaxial instability, congenital heart defects, muscle hypotonia, hypothyroidism, hematologic disorders, recurrent infections, and autoimmune diseases. The autoimmune diseases are caused by immune system dysregulation that results in increased pro-inflammatory cytokines, along with other innate and adaptive immune system dysregulation. This is the likely cause of the increased risk of inflammatory arthritis or Down syndrome-associated …

An Evaluation Of Tractors Tested At The Nebraska Tractor Test Lab And The Effect Of Epa Emission Standards Based Upon Average Pto Horsepower And Fuel Efficiency, Dalton Erickson

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Newly released tractor models are tested to ensure they meet advertising claims. This thesis utilizes tractor test data to analyze performance trends in tractors based upon their power take off (PTO) horsepower and fuel efficiency and it evaluates how the average fuel efficiency of tractors was affected by the introduction of emission standards by the United States Environmental Protection Agencies. In conclusion, tractors have shown continuous improvement and growth in both fuel efficiency and PTO horsepower, and emission standards have had a small, positive effect on tractors’ average fuel efficiency.

Livestock Performance In Response To High Intensity Rotational Grazing System, Austin Kennedy

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The production of livestock is composed of a variety of factors all effecting the outcome. For grazing livestock, a key factor in production is the grazing management system. Two of the most common grazing management systems are continuous grazing and rotational grazing. There has been evidence found proving benefits of rotational grazing in regard to vegetation productivity, and prevention and restoration of degraded rangeland. However, there is a lack of clear evidence on the relationship between grazing system and production metrics of livestock. Understanding this relationship can provide the necessary information for livestock producers in order to increase their production …

Split Classification Model For Complex Clustered Data, Katherine Gerot

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Classification in high-dimensional data has generated tremendous interest in a multitude of fields. Data in higher dimensions often tend to reside in non-Euclidean metric space. This prevents Euclidean-based classification methodologies, such as regression, from reliably modeling the data. Many proposed models rely on computationally-complex embedding to convert the data to a more usable format. Others, namely the Support Vector Machine, rely on kernel manipulation to implicitly describe the "feature space" to arrive at a non-linear decision boundary. The proposed methodology in this paper seeks to classify complex data in a relatively computationally-simple and explainable manner.

The Daily Gamecock, In Bloom, March 2022, University Of South Carolina, Office Of Student Media

March

No abstract provided.

Clinical Evaluation Of An Auto-Segmentation Tool For Spine Sbrt Treatment., Yingxuan Chen, Yevgeniy Vinogradskiy, Yan Yu, Wenyin Shi, Haisong Liu

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Purpose: Spine SBRT target delineation is time-consuming due to the complex bone structure. Recently, Elements SmartBrush Spine (ESS) was developed by Brainlab to automatically generate a clinical target volume (CTV) based on gross tumor volume (GTV). The aim of this project is to evaluate the accuracy and efficiency of ESS auto-segmentation.

Methods: Twenty spine SBRT patients with 21 target sites treated at our institution were used for this retrospective comparison study. Planning CT/MRI images and physician-drawn GTVs were inputs for ESS. ESS can automatically segment the vertebra, split the vertebra into 6 sectors, and generate a CTV based on the …

Examining The Relationship Between Therapists’ Attachment-Related Characteristics And The Process And Outcome Of Psychotherapy, Char M. Houben

Dissertations

Although psychotherapy researchers have gleaned greater understanding about how client attachment classifications influence the outcome of psychotherapy, relatively few studies have investigated therapists’ effects and have yielded inconclusive results (Steel et al., 2018). In the current study, we investigated how therapist attachment affects changes in the working alliance and client psychological distress over a course of psychotherapy treatment. We evaluated attachment in a sample of 23 therapist trainees from a university-based training clinic in the U.S. with the recently validated, transcript-based Therapist Attunement Scales (TASc; Talia & Muzi, 2017), which measures attunement by moment-to-moment discursive markers from a single psychotherapy …

Divergent Water Requirements Partition Exposure Risk To Parasites In Wild Equids, Kaia J. Tombak, Laurel A. Easterling, Lindsay Martinez, Monica S. Seng, Liana F. Wait, Daniel I. Rubenstein

Publications and Research

For grazing herbivores, dung density in feeding areas is an important determinant of exposure risk to fecal- orally transmitted parasites. When host species share the same parasite species, a nonrandom distribution of their cumulative dung density and/or nonrandom ranging and feeding behavior may skew exposure risk and the relative selection pressure parasites impose on each host. The arid-adapted Grevy's zebra ( Equus grevyi ) can range more widely than the water-dependent plains zebra ( Equus quagga ), with which it shares the same species of gastrointestinal nematodes. We studied how the spatial distribution of zebra dung relates to ranging and …

Role Reversal: Can Dad Stay Home While Mom Goes To Work? An Analysis Of Maternity And Parental Leave In The United Kingdom And European Union Through Principles And Treaties Of International Human Rights Law, Bridget Rose

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Arginine Metabolism And Sensing In Mouse Models Of Alzheimer’S Disease, Chao Ma

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) remains the most common neurodegenerative disease in the central nervous system (CNS), with amyloidosis and tauopathy as their two main hallmarks. Typical AD pathologies include cerebral plaques deposited by amyloid-β, neurofibrillary tangles aggregated by tau, and neuroinflammation caused by activated brain myeloid cells. A critical theme is centered on impaired brain metabolism. Emerging evidence showed that impaired arginine metabolism was a novel biomarker pathway for AD. The manipulation of arginine metabolism by a critical enzyme arginase 1 (ARG1) in neurons indicated therapeutic benefits in alleviating tau pathology. Balanced cellular proteostasis was governed by the mechanistic target of …

Source Of Off-Type Frequencies In Winter Wheat Varieties, Michaela Benes

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

The enzyme polyphenol oxidase (PPO) is undesirable in most wheat products due to the discoloration it causes. Purifying wheat varieties through selective breeding is the best way at getting rid of PPO in a variety. The variety NW15443 was planted in both a field in McCook, NE, and in a greenhouse in Lincoln, NE. Individual heads were snapped from the field and the greenhouse seed was harvested in bulk. After completing a PPO test of the seed, it was determined that the percentages of off-type frequencies from the field seed and the greenhouse seed were 11% and 3.6%, respectively. Using …

Revisiting The Dual Pathway Hypothesis Of Chorismate Production In Plants, Joseph H. Lynch

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

The shikimate pathway, the seven enzymatic steps that synthesize chorismate from phosphoenolpyruvate and erythrose 4-phosphate, produces the last common precursor of the three aromatic amino acids. It is firmly established that all seven enzymes are present in plastids, and it is generally accepted that this organelle is likely the sole location for production of chorismate in plants. However, recently a growing body of evidence has provided support for a previous proposal that at least portions of the pathway are duplicated in the cytosol, referred to as the Dual Pathway Hypothesis. Here I revisit this obscure hypothesis by reviewing the findings …

The Impact Of Teacher And Student Racial And Ethnic Matching On Student Outcomes: A Quantitative Study, Daryl Minus-Vincent

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This study aimed to investigate the predictive relationship of teacher race on student outcomes in New Jersey public schools, as measured by the New Jersey Student Learning Assessment (NJSLA), chronic absenteeism, and graduation rates. Specifically, the relationship between teacher and student race matching with Black students, the schoolwide population of students, and a subset of urban schools was examined. The study investigated the potential of race matching to address the problem of racial and ethnic student achievement gaps. Studies indicate that pairing students with teachers with whom they share the same race and ethnicity can lead to increased cultural understanding …

The Development And Validation Of A Universal Enjoyment Measure: The Enjoy Scale, Joseph Keebler, Tianxin Zhang, Barbara Chaparro, Christina M. Frederick, Shayn S. Davidson, James Szalma

Publications

For decades, the concept of enjoyment has been used to measure the psychological benefits of activities and has been shown to determine future behavior toward activities and objects of interest. However, there has been little consensus on the definition and dimensionality of enjoyment. This study introduced a new measure of enjoyment with scale development and validation reported. CFA and EFA findings from 1466 participants across 739 different activities were reported. The instrument developed measured enjoyment across activities, with demonstrated content validity, internal consistency, discriminant and convergent validity. The final 25-item version of the ENJOY scale is composed of 5 factors: …

Intouch March 14, 2022, New York Medical College

InTouch

• Fifth Annual Days of Giving Set for March 29 and 30
• CDM Hosts Specialized CONTOMS Training for Tactical Medical Response
• Chancellor Halperin Shares His Thoughts on A Teaching Moment for Higher Education
• From Madrid to Valhalla to Paris, Christopher J. Pappas, M.S. ’06, Ph.D. ’11, Has a Global Perspective on Teaching and Research
• Student Clubs Host “Stand With Ukraine” Humanitarian Drive

Evaluation Of Hydrodynamic Effects Of Waterway Restoration On An Estuarine Ecosystem, Megan Kramer

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Estuaries are hydrodynamically complex for they are influenced by tidal forces, freshwater flows, salinity variations, and often intricate coastal land morphology. Furthermore, many estuaries are subject to constant anthropogenic stresses due to dense coastal populations, which are expected to be exacerbated by changing climate trends. The 1,800 home residential Manchester Waterway (MW) community located in Charlotte Harbor (along the Gulf of Mexico in Southwest Florida), is interested in improving boat access by restoring a previous connection between the local waterway and the harbor, separated by a barrier peninsula. The proposed connections aim to reduce boat traffic and travel time through …

Investigations Into The Improvement Of Angelman Syndrome Therapeutics, Austin W. Nenninger

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Angelman syndrome (AS) is a rare genetic neurodevelopmental disease caused by interruption of the function of the ubiquitin ligase UBE3A gene. Patients experience an early life onset of symptoms which include pronounced intellectual disability, drastic speech impairmentor inability to speak, severe movement disorders, seizures, aggression, disruptive sleep impairment, and unusual personality traits. Estimates of prevalence show that approximately 1:15000 births are affected.

The disease is severe, and the burden can be devastating to the patients and the caregivers that they require for the duration of their relatively normal lifespan. Current treatments for the disease are lacking. Many are expensive and …

Subaerial Volcanism Is A Potentially Major Contributor To Oceanic Iron And Manganese Cycles, Jack Longman, Martin R. Palmer, Thomas M. Gernon, Hayley R. Manners, Morgan T. Jones

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

Surface ocean availability of the micronutrients iron and manganese influences primary productivity and carbon cycling in the ocean. Volcanic ash is rich in iron and manganese, but the global supply of these nutrients to the oceans via ash deposition is poorly constrained. Here, we use marine sediment-hosted ash composition data from ten volcanic regions, and subaerial volcanic eruption volumes, to estimate global ash-driven nutrient fluxes. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate average fluxes of dissolved Iron and Manganese from volcanic sources to be between 50 and 500 (median 180) and 0.6 and 3.2 (median 1.3) Gmol yr−1, respectively. Much of …

Reflections On Contemporary Challenges And Possibilities For Democracy And Education, Michael W. Apple, Gert Biesta, Henry A. Giroux, Amanda Heffernan, Peter Mclaren, Stewart Riddle, Anna Yeatman

Education Faculty Articles and Research

This paper is one of two which bring together leading educational researchers to consider some of the key challenges facing democracy and education during the twenty-first century, including rising social and economic inequality, political instability, and the existential threats of global pandemics and climate change. In this paper, key educational scholar–activists respond to the challenges and possibilities for democracy and education, with consideration of the importance of reimagining education as being for democracy. The questions asked in this paper have particular salience for educational leaders, who must be at the centre of any commitment to democratic education.

Health Risk From Toxic Metals In Wild Rice Grown In Copper Mining-Impacted Sediments, Rohan Deep Sarkar, Zhiming Zhang, Manas Warke, Rupali Datta

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Northern wild rice is of great dietary and cultural importance to the Native American population in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Millions of tons of mine tailings were discharged into Lake Superior and other inland lakes during the copper mining boom in the early 20th century in this area. This includes L’Anse Bay, located within the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) reservation. Since wild rice restoration is being encouraged by the KBIC, we investigated the distribution of toxic metals in sediments, water, and wild rice and their potential impact on human health from two locations. Sand Point sloughs on L’Anse …

Scaling Of Maneuvering Performance In Baleen Whales: Larger Whales Outperform Expectations, Paolo S. Segre, William T. Gough, Edward A. Roualdes, David E. Cade, Max F. Czapanskiy, James Fahlbusch, Shirel R. Kahane-Rapport, William K. Oestreich, Lars Bejder, K.C. Bierlich, Julia A. Burrows, John Calambokidis, Ellen M. Chenoweth, Jacopo Di Clemente, John W. Durban, Holly Fearnbach, Frank E. Fish, Ari S. Friedlaender, Peter Hegelund, David W. Johnston, Douglas P. Nowacek, Machiel G. Oudejans, Gwenith S. Penry, Jean Potvin, Malene Simon, Andrew Stanworth, Janice M. Straley, Andrew Szabo, Simone K. Videsen, Fleur Visser

Faculty, Staff, and Students

Despite their enormous size, whales make their living as voracious predators. To catch their much smaller, more maneuverable prey, they have developed several unique locomotor strategies that require high energetic input, high mechanical power output and a surprising degree of agility. To better understand how body size affects maneuverability at the largest scale, we used bio-logging data, aerial photogrammetry and a high-throughput approach to quantify the maneuvering performance of seven species of free-swimming baleen whale. We found that as body size increases, absolute maneuvering performance decreases: larger whales use lower accelerations and perform slower pitch-changes, rolls and turns than smaller …

Whales In The Carbon Cycle: Can Recovery Remove Carbon Dioxide?, Heidi C. Pearson, Matthew S. Savoca, Daniel P. Costa, Michael W. Lomas, Renato Molita, Andrew J. Pershing, Craig R. Smith, Juan Carlos Villaseñor-Derbez, Stephen R. Wing, Joe Roman

Faculty, Staff, and Students

The great whales (baleen and sperm whales), through their massive size and wide distribution, influence ecosystem and carbon dynamics. Whales directly store carbon in their biomass and contribute to carbon export through sinking carcasses. Whale excreta may stimulate phytoplankton growth and capture atmospheric CO2; such indirect pathways represent the greatest potential for whale-carbon sequestration but are poorly understood. We quantify the carbon values of whales while recognizing the numerous ecosystem, cultural, and moral motivations to protect them. We also propose a framework to quantify the economic value of whale carbon as populations change over time. Finally, we suggest research to …

Jak Osiągać Cele W Zakresie Redukcji Emisji, Zapewniając Jednocześnie Równe Warunki Konkurencji?, Piotr P. Dziubak

internetowy Kwartalnik Antymonopolowy i Regulacyjny (internet Quarterly on Antitrust and Regulation)

Artykuł nawiązuje do Europejskiego Zielonego Ładu (European Green Deal), inicjatywy Komisji Europejskiej, której celem jest uczynienie Europy pierwszy kontynentem neutralnym dla klimatu do 2050 roku. Artykuł przedstawia rolę transformacji energetycznej lotnictwa w przyczynieniu się do realizacji tej inicjatywy, w szczególności poprzez ocenę projektu rozporządzenia Parlamentu Europejskiego i Rady w sprawie zapewnienia równych warunków działania dla zrównoważonego transportu lotniczego oraz innych elementów pakietu „Gotowi na 55”, które mają bezpośredni lub pośredni wpływ na ten sektor gospodarki. Projektowane regulacje dotyczące dekarbonizacji lotnictwa wprowadzają napięcia wewnątrz sektora zarówno w Unii Europejskiej, jak i na styku z innymi rynkami geograficznymi oraz innymi sektorami. Wnioskami …