Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Spatial And Temporal Distribution Of Microplastics Within The Sediment Of Plymouth Sound, Keira N. Lintin

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The pollution of microplastics in the marine environment is a growing issue that impacts us globally. These invasive particles have been discovered in all regions of the world, including human body tissue. It is well understood that microplastics settle within seafloor sediment and hotspots are found close to human activity. However, the way microplastics are distributed both spatially and temporally in urban marine environments, and why this might be, is little known. Using the ‘primary analytical process’, a study was conducted in Plymouth Sound, United Kingdom, to assess how microplastics were distributed within the sediment here. General sediment samples and …

Bat Activity And Diversity In Plymouth’S Green Spaces: Implications For Future Conservation And Management, Ellie Hawcutt

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Urbanisation and human population growth is a threat to biodiversity at a global scale. Bats in urban green areas are becoming increasingly acknowledged within the literature as we begin to understand their importance as useful bioindicators. Bat activity and diversity was examined through passive acoustic monitoring of four sites in Plymouth (UK) during October 2022 (Central Park, Ham Wood, Radford Lake, Saltram Park). This was completed to compare sites with differing percentages of habitats, and make implications for the future management of urban green spaces to benefit bats. Basic habitat surveys of each site were undertaken, estimating the percentage of …

Testing The Potential Use Of Uk Wetland Plant Species In Paludiculture Using Examples From The Somerset Levels, Olivia Bentley

The Plymouth Student Scientist

The trade-off between economic benefits and environmental sustainability results in the unsustainable use of wetlands through conversion to agricultural land. As a result, causing peat degradation, reducing the ecosystem’s capacity to provide ecosystem services. Paludiculture, the concept of cultivating wetland plant species in rewetted conditions that can be converted and utilised commercially, presents an opportunity to harmonise economic stability and environmental protection. However, most research into paludiculture has been conducted in continental Europe; there is a knowledge gap regarding paludiculture in the UK. In this research, seven UK wetland plant species were harvested from the Somerset Levels, a low-lying wetland …

Diversity, Abundance, And Distribution Of Ground Invertebrates In Lower Sharpham Farm, Valeria Zavala Quiroga

The Plymouth Student Scientist

Invertebrates constitute the largest group of animals on Earth and represent the bulk of biodiversity. They are responsible for numerous essential ecosystems services and are at the centre of many terrestrial food webs. Due to habitat loss from land use change and conversion to intensive agriculture, they are experiencing a substantial decline in biodiversity, hence conservation approaches such as rewilding have been sought. There are limited studies of invertebrate biodiversity in rewilding projects, therefore the aim of this study is to investigate the diversity and abundance of ground invertebrates at Lower Sharpham Farm and the influences of vegetation structure in …

Winning The Imitation Game: Setting Safety Expectations For Automated Vehicles, William H. Widen, Philip Koopman

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Safety And Efficacy Of Ixoberogene Soroparvovec In Neovascular Age-Related Macular Degeneration In The United States (Optic): A Prospective, Two-Year, Multicentre Phase 1 Study, Arshad M. Khanani, David S. Boyer, Charles C. Wykoff, Carl D. Regillo, Brandon G. Busbee, Dante Pieramici, Carl J. Danzig, Brian C. Joondeph, James C. Major, Adam Turpcu, Szilárd Kiss

Wills Eye Hospital Papers

Background

Gene therapy, successfully used in rare, monogenetic disorders, may prove to be a durable management approach for common, polygenetic conditions, including neovascular age-related macular degeneration (nAMD). Repeated injections, oftentimes monthly, and possibly for decades, of vascular endothelial growth factor antagonists (anti-VEGF), is the standard for nAMD. We hypothesised that an in-office, intravitreal administration of ixoberogene soroparvovec (ixo-vec, formerly ADVM-022), a single-dose gene therapy encoding for the proven anti-VEGF protein, aflibercept, would transform retinal cells to continually produce aflibercept to minimise treatment burden in nAMD.

Methods

In this two-year, open-label, prospective, multicentre phase 1 study, patients with nAMD responding to …

Photomechanical Properties Of Azobenzene Doped Lcn Films For Surface Healing Applications, Daniel Luis Mojica

Theses

Azobenzene doped liquid crystal network (LCN) polymers are being well studied for their potential in many applications such as light activated organic actuators, memory materials, and as surfaces capable of complex topographical texture changes. A novel application is explored with azobenzene doped LCN materials being used as a self-healing protective polymer layer capable of healing surface compression damage which alters its original topography. Preliminary studies showed that LCN materials are very capable of healing indentations caused by compression damage. This work delves into understanding how this material can be altered in the manufacturing process to improve its surface healing capabilities. …

Who’S Suing You?, David Mcgowan

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Artificial Intelligence And The Administrative State: Regulating The Government Use Of Decision-Making Technology, Gordon Unzen

Minnesota Journal of Law, Science & Technology

No abstract provided.

Autocrine Igf-Ii-Associated Cancers: From A Rare Paraneoplastic Event To A Hallmark In Malignancy, Pierluigi Scalia, Ignazio R. Marino, Salvatore Asero, Giuseppe Pandini, Adda Grimberg, Wafik S. El-Deiry, Stephen J. Williams

Department of Surgery Faculty Papers

The paraneoplastic syndrome referred in the literature as non-islet-cell tumor hypoglycemia (NICTH) and extra-pancreatic tumor hypoglycemia (EPTH) was first reported almost a century ago, and the role of cancer-secreted IGF-II in causing this blood glucose-lowering condition has been widely established. The landscape emerging in the last few decades, based on molecular and cellular findings, supports a broader role for IGF-II in cancer biology beyond its involvement in the paraneoplastic syndrome. In particular, a few key findings are constantly observed during tumorigenesis, (a) a relative and absolute increase in fetal insulin receptor isoform (IR^A) content, with (b) an increase …

Culturally Responsive-Sustaining Computational Thinking: Enactment In Elementary Classrooms, Victoria Macann, Aman Yadav

Journal of Computer Science Integration

Technology has increasingly permeated many aspects of everyday life and this evolution raises the need for individuals to understand how the digital world works and what opportunities and risks it brings (Nouri, Zhang, Mannila & Norén, 2019). For this to be an experience for everyone, we need to rethink how we integrate computational thinking (CT) and provide teachers with tools to center their students’ identities, experiences, and cultures in the classroom. In this paper, we present two case studies of primary (elementary) teachers from a full primary (student ages 5–13) semi-rural school in the North Island of New Zealand that …

Para-Infectious Brain Injury In Covid-19 Persists At Follow-Up Despite Attenuated Cytokine And Autoantibody Responses, Benedict D Michael, Cordelia Dunai, Edward J Needham, Kukatharmini Tharmaratnam, Robyn Williams, Yun Huang, Sarah A Boardman, Jordan J Clark, Parul Sharma, Krishanthi Subramaniam, Greta K Wood, Ceryce Collie, Richard Digby, Alexander Ren, Emma Norton, Maya Leibowitz, Soraya Ebrahimi, Andrew Fower, Hannah Fox, Esteban Tato, Mark A Ellul, Geraint Sunderland, Marie Held, Claire Hetherington, Franklyn N Egbe, Alish Palmos, Kathy Stirrups, Alexander Grundmann, Anne-Cecile Chiollaz, Jean-Charles Sanchez, James P Stewart, Michael Griffiths, Tom Solomon, Gerome Breen, Alasdair J Coles, Nathalie Kingston, John R Bradley, Patrick F Chinnery, Jonathan Cavanagh, Sarosh R Irani, Angela Vincent, J Kenneth Baillie, Peter J Openshaw, Malcolm G Semple, Covid-Cns Consortium, Isaric4c Investigators, Leonie S Taams, David K Menon

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

To understand neurological complications of COVID-19 better both acutely and for recovery, we measured markers of brain injury, inflammatory mediators, and autoantibodies in 203 hospitalised participants; 111 with acute sera (1-11 days post-admission) and 92 convalescent sera (56 with COVID-19-associated neurological diagnoses). Here we show that compared to 60 uninfected controls, tTau, GFAP, NfL, and UCH-L1 are increased with COVID-19 infection at acute timepoints and NfL and GFAP are significantly higher in participants with neurological complications. Inflammatory mediators (IL-6, IL-12p40, HGF, M-CSF, CCL2, and IL-1RA) are associated with both altered consciousness and markers of brain injury. Autoantibodies are more common …

Evaluating The Impact Of Source-Specific Order Sets For Sepsis On Empiric Antibiotic Selection In The Emergency Department, Lourdes Menendez Alvarado, Alice Landayan, Jason Morell, Anthony Wasielewski, Zhenwei Zhang, Richard Levine, Timothy Gauthier

All Publications

This retrospective cohort study found that implementing source-specific antibiotic order sets for sepsis in the emergency department increased appropriate empiric antibiotic selection from 51% to 74% (P = .01).

Matter Of 101 E. 16th St. Realty Llc V. New York State Div. Of Hous. & Community Renewal

All Decisions

For a Judgment Pursuant to CPLR article 78.

Enhancing Diversity And Inclusion In Computer Science Undergraduate Programs: The Role Of Admissions, Ouldooz Baghban Karimi, Giulia Toti, Mirela Gutica, Rebecca Robinson, Lisa Zhang, James Paterson, Peggy Lindner, Michael O'Dea

Engineering Management and Systems Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Despite continued efforts to further the participation of women in Computer Science (CS), progress has been limited during the past decades. Recent efforts have been focused on recruitment and retention, with a notable gap in exploring the impact of admissions processes on diversity and inclusion. Through an extensive literature review, contextual analysis of public admissions data from 40 universities across four regions around the world, and qualitative and quantitative analysis on surveys and interviews, we explored the role of admissions in enhancing diversity and inclusion in CS undergraduate programs. Our findings highlight the role of financials, the possible positive effects …

Divergent Self-Assembly Of Block Heterochiral Stereoisomer Arrays, Conor Louis O'Neill

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

The autonomous organization of parts into ordered architectures, or biomolecular self-assembly, is an elementary natural process that defines and guides the construction and function of living organisms. This phenomenon has emerged as a potent tool for the creation of novel biomaterials, with peptide-based instances benefitting from intrinsic modularity, ease of de novo design and synthesis, biocompatibility, and chemical versatility. These properties enable methodical modifications that generate suprastructures with a wide variety of morphologies and functionalities, supporting a broad range of biomedical applications. Further, the chiral nature of amino acids permits synthesis of either left- or right-handed peptides; in recent years, …

Investigation Of The Deubiquitinating Enzyme Usp7 In The Brain, Hao Chen

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

The development of the nervous system relies on precise control of protein ubiquitination and degradation. Consequently, imbalance in the ubiquitin signaling network is believed to have significant implications for neurological disorders. Recent research has not only detailed the various functions of different ubiquitin ligases in neural development, but has also disclosed the role of deubiquitinating enzyme as an additional regulatory dimension in the ubiquitin signaling network. Specifically, deletion or mutation of the deubiquitinating enzyme USP7 causes the Hao-Fountain syndrome, characterized by developmental delay, intellectual disability, autism, and aggressive behavior. Although USP7 has been studied in proliferating cells in the context …

Decentralized Computing For Reliable Home Automation, Rahav Dor

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Smart homes are distributed systems that should provide reliable home automation services. Distributed controllers have been used to improve the reliability of smart homes. However, despite the redundancy in controllers, the reliability of smart homes is hindered by the unreliable network infrastructure comprising home Wi-Fi and low-power wireless networks. As a result, smart homes cannot be trusted with much more than casual automation to date. This dissertation identifies the limitations of traditional fault-tolerant approaches that require inter-controller coordination over an unreliable network infrastructure. A new class of decentralized control paradigm named Banyan, with fully autonomous controllers, is introduced by this …

Desmoglein-2 As A Cancer Modulator: Friend Or Foe?, Kay Myo Min, Charlie Ffrench, Barbara Mcclure, Michael Ortiz, Emma Dorward, Michael Samuel, Lisa Ebert, Mỹ Mahoney, Claudine Bonder

Department of Pharmacology, Physiology, and Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

Desmoglein-2 (DSG2) is a calcium-binding single pass transmembrane glycoprotein and a member of the large cadherin family. Until recently, DSG2 was thought to only function as a cell adhesion protein embedded within desmosome junctions designed to enable cells to better tolerate mechanical stress. However, additional roles for DSG2 outside of desmosomes are continuing to emerge, particularly in cancer. Herein, we review the current literature on DSG2 in cancer and detail its impact on biological functions such as cell adhesion, proliferation, migration, invasion, intracellular signaling, extracellular vesicle release and vasculogenic mimicry. An increased understanding of the diverse repertoire of the biological …

The Magmatic Origin Of The Columbia River Gorge, Usa, Nathaniel Klema, Leif Karlstrom, Charles Cannon, Chengxin Jiang, Jim O'Connor, Ray E. Wells, Brandon Schmandt

Geology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Along subduction zones, high-relief topography is associated with sustained volcanism parallel to the plate margin. However, the relationship between magmatism and mountain building in arcs is poorly understood. Here, we study patterns of surface deformation and correlated fluvial knickpoints in the Columbia River Gorge to link long-term magmatism to the uplift and ensuing topographic development of the Cascade Range. An upwarped paleochannel exposed in the walls of the Gorge constrains unsteady deep magma flux, the ratio of intrusive to extrusive magmatic contributions to topography, and the impact of magmatism on Columbia River incision since 3.5 million years ago. Geophysical data …

How To Peer Review A Neurology Education Manuscript, Daniel G Di Luca, Steven M Lazar, Preeta Gupta, Marie Charmaine S Lukban, Cole Crowson, Dara V F Albert, Jeremy J Moeller, Andres Fernandez, Andrew M Southerland, Zachary London

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Peer review is an essential process in scientific research, ensuring the comprehensiveness, accuracy, and suitability of manuscripts for publication. Neurology education research differs from biomedical clinical research in several ways. These differences encompass specific paradigms, the use of theoretical frameworks, and different methodological approaches. Despite the high number of studies and journal publications on neurology education, there is a dearth of resources and guidance on how to perform a formal review on this specific literature. This article aims to review the distinctive features of neurology education from clinical research while proposing an organizational framework and model for performing peer reviews …

Social Engineering Cyber Threats, Young B. Choi, Josh Rubin

Journal of Global Awareness

The article explores the pervasive threat of social engineering in cybersecurity, emphasizing its success in infiltrating information systems by manipulating individuals rather than employing traditional hacking methods. The author underscores the vulnerability arising from human trust, as individuals, especially those lacking technology education, tend to be targets. While cryptography offers partial security, social engineering complicates overall system security. Mitigation strategies include educating employees on threats, risks, and security policies, coupled with enforcing penalties for noncompliance. Additionally, employing two-factor authentication and physical token-based access adds layers of protection. The article delves into semantic attacks, classifying various exploitation methods and emphasizing the …

The Coming Transformative Impact Of Large Language Models And Artificial Intelligence On Global Business And Education, Eva K. Jermakowicz

Journal of Global Awareness

Rapid advances in the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLM) as a basis for Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, and their sudden wide accessibility, have garnered significant attention recently. These technologies (e.g., ChatGPT, BARD), which have the ability to predict and generate human language, have led to excitement and concerns regarding their use in various industries. This paper explores the history of LLM, examines their applications in business and education, and delves into the critical ethical concerns and challenges of these emerging technologies to ensure that their uses are not only effective, but also responsible and equitable.

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Anglo-Saxons And The Irish Sea, Ryan Patrick Crisp

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Recently, Peter Brown described the Irish Sea in the early Middle Ages as "a Celtic 'Mediterranean of the north."' That assessment may be more than this small sea can measure up to, but sufficient evidence concludes that there was substantial naval activity in this area during the early Middle Ages. Interestingly, the Anglo-Saxons, though they had access to the Irish Sea, never ventured forth upon these waters in great numbers. This fact makes their few voyages upon this Celtic lake worth examining.

The Voice Of Inexperience, Erika Rummel

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Erasmus had a great deal to say about marriage. He wrote a eulogy on marriage, a handbook of marriage, and half a dozen dialogues dealing with courtship and marriage. Altogether we have a thousand printed pages of good advice, a remarkable fact when you consider chat the man who dispensed all this good advice about marriage remained unmarried himself.

Full Issue

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

No abstract provided.

Edvard Benes And His Policy To Expel Czechoslovakian Germans, Travis Mueller

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

At the end of World War II, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and the Czechoslovak Republic expelled fifteen million Germans from their homelands in Eastern and Central Europe. During the eviction to the occupied zones of Germany, two million Germans perished.1 Often brutally mistreated, these Germans suffered the wrath of a great European backlash against the Nazis. Nowhere was the expulsion more brutal than in the Czechoslovak Republic. The two nations' shared border and intertwined history made the expulsion of over three million Germans mainly from the Sudetenland-particularly severe.

Postmodern Philosophy And Its Influence On Modern Museum Theory And Development, Mauri Liljenquist

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

History legitimizes its role in society through the benefits it provides for the public. The idea of history in the ivory tower, while it appeals to some historians and scholars, can never be sufficient to justify the field. Instead it is what emerges from the ivory tower and how that product influences and affects the outside world that determines the value of historical endeavors. The dissemination of history to the public is one of the most significant aspects of the profession. Accuracy and integrity in research and writing are the primary responsibilities of the historian. Following these, the next most …

Perpetuated Inferiority, Kristine Ashton

The Thetean: A Student Journal for Scholarly Historical Writing

Nineteenth-century schools taught more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. They were expected to convey patriotism and civic responsibility and to mold moral character. While publishers designed textbooks to teach children to spell and to read, they also inculcated the books with social values through word choice and lesson plans. The printers, journalists, teachers, and ministers who wrote the schoolbooks selectively filled their pages with political, economic, social, and moral concepts that shaped children's views of their nation's past and their position within the present society.