Digital Commons Network^™

Contribution Of Matrix Metalloproteinase-2 And Matrix Metalloproteinase-9 To Upper Tract Urothelial Cancer Risk In Taiwan, Bo-Ren Wang, Hung-Huan Ma, Chao-Hsiang Chang, Cheng-Hsi Liao, Wen-Shin Chang, Mei-Chin Mong, Ya-Chen Yang, Jian Gu, Da-Tian Bau, Chia-Wen Tsai

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and -9, which degrade type IV collagen, are linked to cancer invasion and metastasis. Gene polymorphisms in MMP-2 and MMP-9 can influence their function, impacting cancer development and progression. This study analyzed the association between polymorphisms MMP-2 rs243865 (C-1306T), rs2285053 (C-735T), and MMP-9 rs3918242 (C-1562T) with serum concentrations of these enzymes in upper tract urothelial cancer (UTUC) patients. We conducted a case-control study with 218 UTUC patients and 580 healthy individuals in Taiwan. Genotyping was performed using PCR/RFLP on DNA from blood samples, and MMP-2 and MMP-9 serum levels and mRNA expressions in 30 UTUC patients were …

Lenses: Personhood, Love, And Identity, Erica Stonestreet

Philosophy Faculty Publications

An introduction to the themes of my Substack Humaning is Hard, But Philosophy Can Help. I figure it might be a good idea to give you a basic sense of what I think about the things I think most about, because I’m sure these themes will be laced through a lot of what I write in the coming weeks. (When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Or, a better metaphor: when you wear colored glasses, everything takes on their hue.) My lenses have to do with ethical themes that orbit around a relational conception of …

Veterans Justice Outreach Program, Risk Of Recidivism, And Justice-Involved Veterans, Melody C. Weathers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

To date, no study has examined whether the Veterans Justice Outreach (VJO) program influences recidivism once a justice-involved veteran (JIV) completes the program. Nor has a study examined the diagnoses and comorbidities between a JIV’s propensity for recidivism following separation from the VJO. One of the VJO program’s goals has been to end JIVs' contact with the criminal justice system. This study utilized a generic qualitative design that aimed to explore JIVs who received treatment from the VJO and whether there was an effect on their risk of recidivism. Additional elements for exploration included posttraumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain disorder, …

Natural Hazards Triggering Technological Disasters: Source Identification, Vulnerability, And Evaluation Of Emergency Preparedness In A Southern California City, Lisa Peumsang

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Natural hazards triggering technological disasters (natech) events exist around the world and affect people, infrastructure, the economy, and environment but are not often considered for local hazard mitigation and emergency preparedness plans. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to identify (a) the natech event vulnerability of the target city, which is in the western United States, and potential sources for these events and (b) the extent to which the city’s hazard mitigation and emergency operations plans addressed natech events. The vulnerability assessment was performed through the lens of network risk theory and involved secondary data analysis of publicly …

Soaked In Alcohol: Beyond The Female Archetype As Reflected In Djuna Barnes, Dorothy Parker, And Zelda Fitzgerald, Chondell C. Villines

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study surveys the use and abuse of alcohol within the literature of Modernist female authors of the Jazz Age, 1920 – 1930. An examination of the works of Djuna Barnes, Dorothy Parker, and Zelda Fitzgerald is conducted to understand their treatment of alcohol consumption by women and how this treatment is more complex than their male counterparts. This dissertation focuses on each author’s use of alcohol in developing their fictional female characters and how, when, and why they drink. These questions directly relate to the use and abuse of alcohol to assuage trauma, or as a reaction to trauma. …

Gerston, Larry N., San Jose State University

Emeritus and Retired Faculty Biographies

Ph.D., Political Science, University of California, Davis, 1975

M.A., Political Science, University of California, Davis, 1970

A.B., Political Science and Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, 1969

An Examination Of The Impact Of Court-Appointed Fines And Fees: How Governmental Reliance On These Expenses Is Harming Vulnerable Communities, Rachel Elizabeth Couche

Dissertations and Theses

Fines and fees are commonplace in the United States criminal justice system as a form of punishment for both minor and severe offenses. While substantial research has demonstrated that these financial consequences disproportionately affect certain communities, studies that depict a narrative of these impacts are vastly underrepresented in the field. This project expands upon past literature by delving into the effects of these practices on individuals and their families. The current study outlines the findings from a content analysis of twelve semi-structured interviews on the impacts of fines and fees in Oregon. The findings create a deeper understanding of how …

National Identity Constructions In United States Foreign Policy Approaches To International Conflict, Frederick W. Tillman Ii

Dissertations

This study observes the role of national identity as a tool of the presidents of the United States in framing foreign policy approaches. Examining application for such phenomena reveals the puzzle of how strategic vs subjective decision-makers are when articulating policy addressing international conflicts. The interplay between the two aspects brings together the multiple traditions of national identity and the Wittkopf-Holsti-Rosenau approach model. Occurring over a longitudinal design, this study cuts across four administrations as they address events during the War in Afghanistan and the conflict regarding Taiwan. By coding and analyzing the statements from Presidents George W. Bush, Barack …

Why Medicine Needs The Humanities: An Argument For Arguments, Suraj R. Nyalakonda, Md

The Medicine Forum

As medicine plunges deeper into the 21st century, there appear to be three forces coming together that hold both promise and peril as technology’s march of progress continues unabated through the healing profession.

A Curious Case Of Ards, Normonique Dyer, Do

The Medicine Forum

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a well-known description of progressive respiratory decline. ARDS can be suspected in patients that meet the following criteria: (1) progressive dyspnea with onset within 1 week of a suspected clinical insult, (2) reduction in arterial oxygen saturation, and (3) bilateral alveolar infiltrates not due to a primary cardiogenic process.¹ The management of ARDS is largely unchanged regardless of the etiology and thus will not be within the scope of discussion for this report. However, the etiology of ARDS is of significance given that the cause of a patient’s respiratory failure has prognostic implications. …

Nodular Al Amyloidosis — An Unusual Etiology Of A Solitary Pulmonary Nodule, Benjamin B. Claxton, Md, Mph, Shruti Nanivadekar, Md, Stacey Gargano, Md, Prarthna C. Kulandaisamy, Md

The Medicine Forum

Solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) are defined as single intraparenchymal opacities less than 3 centimeters. The differential diagnosis of the SPN is broad. AL amyloidosis is a protein conformational disease which occurs when certain monoclonal light chains develop an unstable tertiary structure with resultant polymerization of insoluble amyloid fibrils that deposit in the extracellular space of sundry tissues. In the lung, diffuse interstitial amyloid deposition is the most common form of the disease.

A Flicker Of Light In The Midst Of Darkness: The Mississippi Supreme Court, African Americans, And Criminal Justice In The Progressive Era (1890-1920), William M. Vines

Journal of Mississippi History

No abstract provided.

The Geography Of Coins: Culture, Politics, And Power Depicted On Money, Cory Frewing

The Geographical Bulletin

Coins have a language of their own, and governments speak it fluently. This paper discusses the role that coins play in State iconography. As such, coinage can be utilized for pursuing nationalistic ambitions and other centripetal forces that strengthen a State. Likewise, coins can also act as preservers and conveyers of national culture. Religion, language, values, and history have all been prominent subjects on coins from around the world since the Classical Era. Aside from imagery, coins are also products of spatial association, owing their current preponderance to many forms of cultural diffusion. This paper first describes contemporary, circulating world …

Volume 61-1 Complete Issue, Casey D. Allen

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 61-1 Complete Issue

Nebraska’S Medicaid Expansion: An Interesting Rural-Urban Divide, H. Jason Combs, Paul R. Burger

The Geographical Bulletin

Initially established in 1965, Medicaid was expanded in 2010 to include the working poor. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2012, however, ruled that the provision of the Affordable Care Act requiring states to expand Medicaid was unconstitutional. This made it a state option whether or not to expand Medicaid. In Nebraska, the approved expansion is projected to cover approximately 90,000 Nebraskans who are 19 to 64 years of age with annual incomes 138 percent of federal poverty level. In conjunction with current Medicaid expenses, expansion is expected to make the program the second largest general fund appropriation in the state. …

Rice Growing Environment Of The Ibagué Belt, Colombia: An Ecological Study At The Geotope Scale, Alexander Martínez Rivillas, William Barragán Zaque

The Geographical Bulletin

Based on the biophysical and socioecological primary information collected and analyzed by the authors in two geotopes of the rice growing area of the Ibague region (Colombia, south America), an ecological study of the rice landscape is offered by means of using the GTP method (Geosystem, Territory, and Landscape) of Bertrand. We aspire to obtain an integrated vision of this environment on the scale of geotopos. It is shown that these spatial units can support a study of an “environmental landscape” inspired by Bertrand’s epistemology. T he research applies the principles of the GTP, traditionally conceived for the study of …

Learning Regional Geography Behind The Iron Curtain, Jeffrey D. Hamerlinck

The Geographical Bulletin

This essay recounts the author’s 1987 Cold War-era adventure in the Soviet Union as a young geography student participating in Dr. William Dando’s instructor-led Soviet regional geography course at the University of North Dakota. Focused on historical military geography, the trip included visits to Moscow and Leningrad as well as the port of Murmansk above the Arctic Circle on the Kola Peninsula. The trip’s influence on the author’s career as well as his own field course teaching are discussed.

Legislative Highlights - Summer 1953, Roland Gonzalez, Arnold Nimtzowitz

Florida Law Review

Discusses the statutes that were enacted during the recent legislative session in 1953.

Activity Scheduling System Using Higher Priority Algorithms And Critical Time Activity Scheduling, Algorithm, Critical Time, Efficiency, And Productivity, Badamasi Fatima Maina, Timothy Moses, Bamanga Mahmud Ahmad

Al-Bahir

The purpose of this project is to implement an Activity Scheduling System in a university setting, specifically focusing on the Federal University, Lafia. The system will utilise higher priority algorithms and critical time to optimise scheduling. The system's objective is to mechanise the process of scheduling activities, minimise conflicts in scheduling, and enhance the efficiency of the activity scheduling system. The suggested system utilizes priority-based algorithms to schedule activities based on the hierarchical order of university officials, including the Vice-Chancellor, Registrar, Bursar, Librarian, Directors, Deans, and Department Heads. The study methodology entails doing a comprehensive literature review on Activity scheduling, …

Partially Identified Heteroskedastic Svars, Emanuele Bacchiocchi, Andrea Bastianin, Toru Kitagawa, Elisabetta Mirto

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

This paper presents new results on the identification of heteroskedastic structural vector autoregressive (HSVAR) models. Point identification of HSVAR models fails when some shifts in the variances of the structural shocks are suspected to be statistically indistinguishable from each other. This paper presents a new strategy that allows researchers to continue using HSVAR models in this empirically relevant case. We show that a combination of heteroskedasticity and zero restrictions can recover point identification in HSVAR models even in the absence of heterogeneous variance shifts. We derive the identified sets for impulse responses and show how to compute them. We perform …

Experimental Study On The Mechanics And Deformation Failure Characteristics Of Multi-Source Coal-Based Solid Waste Cemented Backfill, Yang Ke, Zhang Jiqiang, He Xiang, Wei Zhen, Zhao Xinyuan

Coal Geology & Exploration

[Objective] In order to study the mechanical properties and deformation failure laws of multi-source coal-based solid waste cemented backfill (CBSWCB), the uniaxial compression, acoustic emission response and microstructure test experiments were carried out with 5 types of typical coal-based waste. [Methods] The factors influencing the uniaxial compressive strength of CBSWCB, as well as their interaction, were analyzed, and a four-dimensional spatial visualization model of the factors influencing the compressive strength based on their interactions was established. Besides, the mechanical evolution characteristics and macroscopic deformation failure laws under uniaxial compression conditions were elaborated by referring to the acoustic emission and microstructure …

Picture Yourself Here: Sources For Exhibits And Programs, John H. Barnett

Faculty and Staff Publications

This document lists sources for free to no-cost exhibits and programs that have been carried out by personnel at the library at the University of South Carolina Upstate. The document accompanies the presentation, "Picture Yourself Here: Using Exhibits and Programs to Attract and Interact with the Campus Community."

Oracio Sanchez,Jr. V. Ulli Klemm

2024 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

James Glover V. Scott Fidaannd

2024 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Smith & Wesson Brands Inc V. Attorney General New Jersey

2024 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey

Antonio White V. Superintendent Rockview Sci

2024 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Friedrich Lu V. Jane Young

2024 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Optimized Cytogenetic Risk-Group Stratification Of Kmt2a-Rearranged Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia., Romy E. Van Weelderen, Christine J. Harrison, Kim Klein, Yilin Jiang, Jonas Abrahamsson, Todd Alonzo, Richard Aplenc, Nira Arad-Cohen, Emmanuelle Bart-Delabesse, Barbara Buldini, Barbara De Moerloose, Michael N. Dworzak, Sarah Elitzur, José M. Fernández Navarro, Alan S. Gamis, Robert B. Gerbing, Bianca F. Goemans, Hester A. De Groot-Kruseman, Erin M. Guest, Shau-Yin Ha, Henrik Hasle, Charikleia Kelaidi, Hélène Lapillonne, Guy Leverger, Franco Locatelli, Takako Miyamura, Ulrika Norén-Nyström, Sophia Polychronopoulou, Mareike Rasche, Jeffrey E. Rubnitz, Jan Stary, Anne Tierens, Daisuke Tomizawa, C Michel Zwaan, Gertjan J L Kaspers

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

A comprehensive international consensus on the cytogenetic risk-group stratification of KMT2A-rearranged (KMT2A-r) pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is lacking. This retrospective (2005-2016) International Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group study on 1256 children with KMT2A-r AML aims to validate the prognostic value of established recurring KMT2A fusions and additional cytogenetic aberrations (ACAs) and to define additional, recurring KMT2A fusions and ACAs, evaluating their prognostic relevance. Compared with our previous study, 3 additional, recurring KMT2A-r groups were defined: Xq24/KMT2A::SEPT6, 1p32/KMT2A::EPS15, and 17q12/t(11;17)(q23;q12). Across 13 KMT2A-r groups, 5-year event-free survival probabilities varied significantly (21.8%-76.2%; P < .01). ACAs occurred in 46.8% of 1200 patients with complete karyotypes, correlating with inferior overall survival (56.8% vs 67.9%; P < .01). Multivariable analyses confirmed independent associations of 4q21/KMT2A::AFF1, 6q27/KMT2A::AFDN, 10p12/KMT2A::MLLT10, 10p11.2/KMT2A::ABI1, and 19p13.3/KMT2A::MLLT1 with adverse outcomes, but not those of 1q21/KMT2A::MLLT11 and trisomy 19 with favorable and adverse outcomes, respectively. Newly identified ACAs with independent adverse prognoses were monosomy 10, trisomies 1, 6, 16, and X, add(12p), and del(9q). Among patients with 9p22/KMT2A::MLLT3, the independent association of French-American-British-type M5 with favorable outcomes was confirmed, and those of trisomy 6 and measurable residual disease at end of induction with adverse outcomes were identified. We provide evidence to incorporate 5 adverse-risk KMT2A fusions into the cytogenetic risk-group stratification of KMT2A-r pediatric AML, to revise the favorable-risk classification of 1q21/KMT2A::MLLT11 to intermediate risk, and to refine the risk-stratification of 9p22/KMT2A::MLLT3 AML. Future studies should validate the associations between the newly identified ACAs and outcomes and unravel the underlying biological pathogenesis of KMT2A fusions and ACAs.

Discerning The Missional Implications Of Context: A Demographic Study Of Great Falls For The Great Falls Church Of Christ, Matthew C. Burleson

DMin Project Theses

The purpose of this Lipscomb University June 2024 Doctor of Minstry project thesis was to discern the missional implications of GFCC’s (Great Falls Church of Christ) context. Three components comprised the larger purpose. First, the purpose was to survey the mission of God in Scripture with a team made up of members from GFCC. This survey would facilitate the missional aspect of discerning the missional implications. Second, the purpose was to acquaint this team with practices and principles of spiritual discernment. Acquainting the team with these practices would facilitate the discerning aspect of discerning the missional implications. Third, the purpose …

Design, Fabrication, And Characterization Of Multifunctional Cellular Structures For Enhanced Impact Energy Mitigation Performance, Kazi Zahir Uddin

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the relationship between the structural design of cellular solids and their macroscopic behavior and focuses on the customization of properties through advanced fabrication techniques. The concepts of density gradation and their integration in both non-ordered and ordered cellular structures have been proposed. The investigation focuses on the development of functionally graded foam materials (FGFMs) and mechanical metamaterials to obtain tunable mechanical performance. One significant focus is the fabrication of density-graded foam stacks with various interface adhesives. From the insights gained from the study of interfaces in density-graded foams, certain design and fabrication principles are applied to enhance …