Digital Commons Network^™

Disrupting Negative Representations Of Queerness In Genre Cinema, Mark Gambino

Postgraduate

The stigmatisation of queer identities is a constant in cinematic history, especially so in horrorgenre movies. A transgressive and confronting medium, horror cinema presents numerous opportunities to align queer identities with cultural symbols of degeneracy; perpetuating associations that contribute to negative cultural attitudes towards queerness. While public discourse on such topics has advanced to entertain ideas of equity and authenticity in these representations, negative values and attitudes are yet evident in contemporary cultural texts. Therein lay an opportunity to examine how these attitudes and values are perpetuated through history by deconstructing how societal attitudes inform the creation of a text …

2024 School Of Law Commencement Information And Photographs, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Commencement (1996- )

No abstract provided.

Manifesting The End Of Amerikkkan Theatre: Black Theatre’S Healing Power To Eradicate Anti-Blackness, R'Myni Watson

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the potential of Black Theatre as a catalyst for healing anti-Blackness within American theatre. Acknowledging the limitations of systemic change, this study advocates for incremental shifts within communities to combat ingrained racial biases through narrative change and theatrical exploration. Grounded in the theory of Black Theatre's energy force, Nommo, the study proposes the framework of Acknowledge, Dismantle, Re-Educate to address and eradicate anti-Blackness. Through directing the production of Blood at the Root, incorporating Black Theatre methodologies atop eurocentric foundations, this research documents the healing experienced by participants and audiences. Key findings reveal increased community engagement, support, awareness, …

Response Of Fish Assemblages To Increased Connectivity And Habitat Restoration In Bayou St. John, A Degraded Waterway In New Orleans, La, Alia Jones

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

Bayou St. John is a degraded waterway located within the City of New Orleans. The Bayou, which is disconnected from Lake Pontchartrain by floodgates, has undergone restoration efforts to improve connectivity through frequent floodgate openings and marsh habitat restoration outside of the floodgates. To assess possible responses of local fish assemblages to these restoration efforts, I analyzed long-term fish assemblage data from three sites located inside of the floodgates and one site located at the restored marsh outside of the floodgates. Two sites inside of the floodgates experienced significant changes in assemblages between the pre-opening period (2006-2012) and post-opening period …

The Pawn System: How Procedurally Adaptive Webbed Narratives Create Stories, Steven T. Bordelon

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This thesis describes the design, implementation, and testing of a novel procedural narrative system called the Procedurally Adaptive Webbed Narrative (PAWN) system. PAWN procedurally generates characters and, responding to choices made by the player, produces more responsive characters and relationships involving the player and these narrative agents. Initially, this thesis discusses other interactive narrative types that exist, such as emergent or event-driven narratives, along with their strengths and weaknesses. It then examines each aspect of PAWN, starting with initial actor generation, then moving to the capturing of game events and translating them into logical objects called Occurrences. These Occurrences are …

Tabernanthalog And Ibogainalog Inhibit The Α7 And Α9Α10 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptors Via Different Mechanisms And With Higher Potency Than The Gabaa Receptor And Cav2.2 Channel, Han-Shen Tae, Marcelo O Ortells, Arsalan Yousuf, Sophia Q Xu, Gustav Akk, David J Adams, Hugo R Arias

2020-Current year OA Pubs

In this study, we have investigated the pharmacological activity and structural interaction of two novel psychoplastogens, tabernanthalog (TBG) and ibogainalog (IBG) at heterologously-expressed rat (r) and human (h) nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), the rα1β2γ2L γ-aminobutyric acid type A receptor (GABA

The Employment Of Resuscitative Endovascular Balloon Occlusion Of The Aorta In Deployed Settings, Branson D. Taheri, Andrew D. Fisher, Ian F. Eisenhauer, Michael D. April, Julie A. Rizzo, Sundeep S. Guliani, Kathleen M. Flarity, Michael Cripps, Vikhyat S. Bebarta, Max V. Wohlauer, Steven G. Schauer

Faculty Publications

Excerpt: We identified 17 cases of REBOA placed in combat settings from 2017 to 2019. The majority of these were placed in the operating room (76%) and in civilian patients (70%).

Mapping Brain Function In Adults And Young Children During Naturalistic Viewing With High-Density Diffuse Optical Tomography, Kalyan Tripathy, Morgan Fogarty, Alexandra M Svoboda, Mariel L Schroeder, Sean M Rafferty, Edward J Richter, Christopher Tracy, Patricia K Mansfield, Madison Booth, Andrew K Fishell, Arefeh Sherafati, Zachary E Markow, Muriah D Wheelock, Ana María Arbeláez, Bradley L Schlaggar, Christopher D Smyser, Adam T Eggebrecht, Joseph P Culver

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Human studies of early brain development have been limited by extant neuroimaging methods. MRI scanners present logistical challenges for imaging young children, while alternative modalities like functional near-infrared spectroscopy have traditionally been limited by image quality due to sparse sampling. In addition, conventional tasks for brain mapping elicit low task engagement, high head motion, and considerable participant attrition in pediatric populations. As a result, typical and atypical developmental trajectories of processes such as language acquisition remain understudied during sensitive periods over the first years of life. We evaluate high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) imaging combined with movie stimuli for high …

Selenate-Mediated Impacts On Mercury Methylation By Pseudodesulfovibrio Mercurii With Dissolved And Nanoparticulate Mercuric Nitrate, Md Sayeduzzaman Sarker

Theses

Inorganic mercury (Hg) is converted to potential neurotoxic methylmercury (MeHg) by a natural process called Hg methylation. MeHg can be biomagnified in the food chain, thus the consumption of Hg-contaminated fish contributes to harmful human health issues. Selenium (Se) inhibits the Hg bioavailability to the methylating bacteria by forming mercuric selenide (HgSe). Pseudodesulfovibrio mercurii, a type of sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) cultures were grown in anaerobic environments using an estuarine sulfate lactate growth medium to evaluate the effects of Hg concentrations, bacterial growth phase, and sodium selenate in the Hg methylation process. Bacterial cultures contained two types of mercuric (II) nitrate, …

“I Want To Say The Right Thing”: Developing Translingual Literacy Practices Through Early Care Educator And University Researcher Partnerships, Angie Zapata, Mary Adu-Gyamfi, Adrianna González Ybarra

Bilingual and Literacy Studies Faculty Publications

An early care educator (ECE) and university collaborative model of teacher learning offers a distinct departure from common top-down models of professional development. Implementing a Social Design-Based Experiment, ECE and university partners collaborate to explore translingual picturebooks to address curricular inequities in their school settings. Featuring the experience of one white, middle-class ECE (Tamara) in a Midwest rural suburban school, we identify three critical components of this ECE and university researcher collaborative inquiry model: role of ECE as mentors and supporters, picturebooks as tools, and role of university partners as facilitators. Tamara’s experience highlights the critical components of the model, …

Effects Of Identity And Competency-Based Rejection And Acceptance On Online Versus Face To Face Reaffiliation Preferences In Adults, August Namuth

Master's Theses

Humans are social animals, resulting in notable sensitivity to experiences of acceptance and rejection. This study extends existing research by considering whether rejection or acceptance based on identity uniquely influences reaffiliation interests. Participants recalled either an inclusionary or exclusionary experience (or a control state), which would have been based on their competency or identity. Following this experience, they indicated their interest in participating in virtual and in-person social activities. I hypothesized that identity-based rejection would foster an interest in reaffiliation through online activities due to the greater availability to join likeminded groups online compared to in person. Conversely, I hypothesized …

Disruption Of Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid Biosynthesis Drives Sting-Dependent Acute Myeloid Leukemia Cell Maturation And Death, Joice Kanefsky, Mary Basse, Judith Sokei, Orsola Di Martino, Liana Valin, Jeffrey A Magee, Francesca Ferraro, Stephen M Sykes, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The role of polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) biosynthesis in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains largely undefined. A comparative expression analysis of 35 genes encoding fatty acid biosynthesis enzymes showed that fatty acid desaturase 1 (FADS1) was highly expressed across multiple AML subtypes relative to healthy controls and that elevated FADS1 expression correlates with worse overall AML patient survival. Functionally, shRNA-mediated inhibition of FADS1 reduced AML cell growth in vitro and significantly delayed leukemia onset in an AML mouse model. AML cell lines depleted of FADS1 arrested in the G1/S-phase of the cell cycle, acquired characteristics of myeloid maturation and subsequently …

Modulation Of Host Immunity By Sensory Neurons, Telma Saraiva-Santos, Tiago H Zaninelli, Felipe A Pinho-Ribeiro

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Recent studies have uncovered a new role for sensory neurons in influencing mammalian host immunity, challenging conventional notions of the nervous and immune systems as separate entities. In this review we delve into this groundbreaking paradigm of neuroimmunology and discuss recent scientific evidence for the impact of sensory neurons on host responses against a wide range of pathogens and diseases, encompassing microbial infections and cancers. These valuable insights enhance our understanding of the interactions between the nervous and immune systems, and also pave the way for developing candidate innovative therapeutic interventions in immune-mediated diseases highlighting the importance of this interdisciplinary …

Complement Regulation In The Eye: Implications For Age-Related Macular Degeneration, Georgia A. Wilke, Rajendra S. Apte

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Careful regulation of the complement system is critical for enabling complement proteins to titrate immune defense while also preventing collateral tissue damage from poorly controlled inflammation. In the eye, this balance between complement activity and inhibition is crucial, as a low level of basal complement activity is necessary to support ocular immune privilege, a prerequisite for maintaining vision. Dysregulated complement activation contributes to parainflammation, a low level of inflammation triggered by cellular damage that functions to reestablish homeostasis, or outright inflammation that disrupts the visual axis. Complement dysregulation has been implicated in many ocular diseases, including glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and …

Astrocytes As A Mechanism For Contextually-Guided Network Dynamics And Function, Lulu Gong, Fabio Pasqualetti, Thomas Papouin, Shinung Ching

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Astrocytes are a ubiquitous and enigmatic type of non-neuronal cell and are found in the brain of all vertebrates. While traditionally viewed as being supportive of neurons, it is increasingly recognized that astrocytes play a more direct and active role in brain function and neural computation. On account of their sensitivity to a host of physiological covariates and ability to modulate neuronal activity and connectivity on slower time scales, astrocytes may be particularly well poised to modulate the dynamics of neural circuits in functionally salient ways. In the current paper, we seek to capture these features via actionable abstractions within …

Multi-Scale Cortical Bone Traits Vary In Females And Males From Two Mouse Models Of Genetic Diversity, Nicole Migotsky, Surabhi Kumar, John T Shuster, Jennifer C Coulombe, Bhavya Senwar, Adrian A Gestos, Charles R Farber, Virginia L Ferguson, Matthew J Silva

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Understanding the genetic basis of cortical bone traits can allow for the discovery of novel genes or biological pathways regulating bone health. Mice are the most widely used mammalian model for skeletal biology and allow for the quantification of traits that cannot easily be evaluated in humans, such as osteocyte lacunar morphology. The goal of our study was to investigate the effect of genetic diversity on multi-scale cortical bone traits of 3 long bones in skeletally-mature mice. We measured bone morphology, mechanical properties, material properties, lacunar morphology, and mineral composition of mouse bones from 2 populations of genetic diversity. Additionally, …

Computationally Restoring The Potency Of A Clinical Antibody Against Omicron, Thomas A Desautels, Suzanne M Scheaffer, Bradley Whitener, James B Case, Larissa B Thackray, Michael S Diamond, Et Al.

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored the promise of monoclonal antibody-based prophylactic and therapeutic drugs

Ꮝꮘꮝꮩꮝꮣꭲ Ꭴᏸꭷꭲ Ꮢꭹ Ꭲꮎꭸ Ꭱꭿ: Reclamation Stories Of Indigenous Graduate Students At A Native American Serving Nontribal Institution, Sky B. Wildcat

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The experiences of Indigenous graduate students in higher education are underrecognized in research and scholarship. Similarly, the experiences of Indigenous students, undergraduate or graduate, within Native American Serving NonTribal Institutions (NASNTIs) are largely excluded from research and scholarship. Although NASNTI designation is only dependent on the Indigenous undergraduate student population at an institution, the stories shared through this research signify the importance of considering Indigenous graduate students experiences at a NASNTI. The conceptual framework consisted of four core foundations as outlined by Kovach (2021), including ᎦᏚᏩ (ga-du-wa) knowledge, relational accountability, the Indigenous community of the NASNTI, and the situating of …

Vegetation Management During Establishment Of Native Grasses And Forb Plantings On Roadsides And Prairie Restoration, Rachel Woody-Pumford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

North American prairies have been shrinking due to agricultural production, overgrazing, development of cities and towns, and climate change. However, integrated roadside vegetation management (IRVM) creates the opportunity to reestablish prairies along roadsides through planting native grasses and forbs. Utilizing postememergence (POST) herbicides registered for use along rights-of-way has the potential to remove invasive species and create space for newly establishing native grass and forb species. The use of clopyralid, florpyrauxifen-benzyl, metsulfuron, and quinclorac were found to be safe for use in plantings containing big bluestem (Andropogon gerardii Vitman) and butterfly milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa L.). However, florpyrauxifen-benzyl injured and stunted …

The Best Children's Books Of The Year [2024 Edition], Bank Street College Of Education. Children's Book Committee.

The Center for Children's Literature

Includes more than 600 titles chosen by the Children’s Book Committee as the best of the best published in 2023. In choosing books for the annual list, committee members consider literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers. Other criteria include credibility of characterization and plot, authenticity of time and place, age suitability, positive treatment of ethnic and religious differences, and the absence of stereotypes.

Tech Startups ‘Propel-Ed’ At University Of Dayton Win $200,000 State Grants, University Of Dayton

News Releases

Tech startups boosted by a program to support entrepreneurs building a new business based on technology developed at the University of Dayton each received $200,000 awards from the State of Ohio Technology Validation Startup Fund.

The Effects Of Using Machine Translators On The Performance Of Second Language Learners, Kasey Myer

University Honors College

With the rise of technology has also come the development of various online language translators and artificial intelligence that are often utilized by individuals learning a second language. However, there is a wide range of quality between the different machine translation tools, and many people tend to be under the impression that it is inferior to the quality of interpretations provided by human translators. This paper considers the positives and negatives of machine translation as a tool for second language learning. Variations between the input and output languages on a grammatical and cultural level are analyzed. Machine translation is compared …

The Marketplace Of Ideas Quenched: Examination Of Christological Conflicts, And Their Outcomes, In The Early Christian Church, Brent Monnett

University Honors College

The first four centuries of church history were largely dominated by a diverse mix of philosophical arguments, theological debates, and seemingly intractable conflicts over the nature of Christ and his person. The paper presented here will endeavor to examine these through multiple lenses of understanding, historical, political, geographical, and theological. Perhaps the most defining conflicts of this period of upheaval were the gnostic controversy of the 2nd century, followed by the Arian controversy of the 4th century A.D (Pagels, 1974, & Haas, 1993). The theological kerfuffle's over Christ and his humanity considered against his deity were every bit as sociopolitical …

Keratin-Based Film: Waste To Bioplastic, Emma Bond

University Honors College

The solution to plastic lies in alternative materials, like bioplastics. One such possibility is keratin-based films. They are made from sources that are already deemed to be waste and that all regions of the world are abundant in. Manufacturing values a one-size-fits-all solution and keratin being plentiful worldwide fulfills that set standard. The films’ properties, which are important to the basic needs of a package, vary with different additives and the type of keratin used. α-keratin and β-keratin have different strengths and are found in nature in different sources. The resource focused on was chicken feathers, which produce more β-keratin …

The Blindness Of Whiteness: A Theological Reckoning With The White Church And Slavery In Central Kentucky, Alisa May Johnson

Theology Projects & Theses

In 1850 few families in Kentucky owned slaves and none owned more than 300 enslaved people. Even so, the state was determined to maintain the practice because its economy was largely dependent on slave trading.

White Kentuckians regardless of faith had inherited thousands of years of proslavery thought. This thought can be traced from the Greek philosopher Aristotle, with his teaching about natural rulers and natural slaves, up through the seventeenth century when supremacy came to mean “white people.” Bible verses were studied in detail to prove that Scripture supported American Black chattel slavery. All sides of the Christian faith …

Sound Marks, Deborah R. Gerhardt, Jon J. Lee

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

A lion roars just before a film rolls. A doughboy giggles. A giant green man laughs a hearty, “Ho, Ho, Ho.” These iconic sounds are all federally registered as trademarks. They identify specific brands and distinguish their products and services from the competition. Human brains treat sounds like these as categorization tools and cognitive shortcuts--ideal trademark symbols. But what about the sounds your favorite toys or electronic devices make? Or those made by a fictional character in the latest blockbuster? This Article tackles these issues and others. We push back against the widely-held belief that all unconventional trademarks--product designs, colors, …

Police-Made Law, Brenner M. Fissell

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

This Article presents evidence that police are writing laws that they enforce. This newly discovered phenomenon compounds the existing understanding of police “making” law through the exercise of discretion. They make law in a far more direct way, functioning as quasi-legislators at the local level-- identifying a social problem, drafting an offense to address it, and directly proposing their offense for enactment. The conduct targeted, and the reasons for doing so, are diverse. For example, in one city a police chief successfully criminalized public intoxication so that intoxicated people would go to jails instead of hospitals; in another, a chief …

The Mississippi River Basin Compact: A New Governance Structure To Save The Mississippi River, John Stack

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

The Mississippi River is one of the most significant and yet one of the most imperiled water bodies in the United States. It faces a myriad of problems, from rampant pollution, widespread flooding, wildlife habitat loss, and considerable droughts. Indeed, this is a critical time for the Mississippi River. Fall of 2023 saw River levels drop to extreme lows, with commercial barges grounded and cities deploying emergency measures to protect their municipal water intakes from saltwater intrusion. Meanwhile, polluted Mississippi River water created a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico spanning hundreds of square miles, just as it has …

Trauma-Informed Servant Leadership Training, Kathleen Raddatz

Instructional Design Capstones Collection

Due to the high rate of employee burnout and toxic workplace environments, organizations and managers are looking toward better leadership approaches to retain employees and promote engagement in the workplace. This training course was developed through surveys and scholarly research to train managers in a Trauma-Informed Servant Leadership approach to create psychologically safe work environments. Psychologically safe work environments have lower turnover rates, greater creativity and engagement, and higher employee satisfaction. The Trauma-Informed Servant Leadership approach reduces institutional betrayal and promotes psychological safety by adopting a transparent, results-driven framework. The training gives leaders a basic understanding of trauma, its impact …

Analysis Of Social Behavior Of The African Great Apes During Feeding And Non-Feeding Contexts, Jessica Hale

Master's Theses

The three African great apes, bonobos, chimpanzees and gorillas, despite similar habitats, differ considerably in their sociality and feeding ecology. There have been many studies that have investigated the feeding ecology and social behaviors of these species, but there is extremely limited literature available on how feeding ecology may have affected ape social evolution. Chimpanzees are frugivorous, which forces them into close proximity when foraging given the clumped nature of this resource. Bonobos and gorillas, however, are fallback food consumers, which allow them to spread out as they forage. This thesis project aims to test the hypothesis that differences in …