MINDS@UW Oshkosh

Effect of pH on cadmium toxicity and associated gene expression in Escherichia Coli

Effect of pH on cadmium toxicity and associated gene expression in Escherichia Coli Worden, Craig R. Metals can exert toxic effects on microorganisms. It has been widely reported that lowering environmental pH reduces cadmium toxicity in bacteria. Understanding mechanisms by which pH mediates cadmium toxicity would be useful for minimizing cadmium toxicity in the environment and for gaining insight into the interactions between organic and inorganic components of life. We confirmed that cadmium was less toxic to Escherichia coli at pH 5 than at pH 7 in M9 minimal salts medium through growth curve analysis. To investigate cellular mechanisms by which lowering pH decreases cadmium toxicity, we used DNA microarrays to characterize global gene expression patterns in E. coli in response to cadmium exposure at moderately acidic (5) and neutral (7) values of pH. Increased expression of several stress response genes including hdeA, otsA, and yjbJ at pH 5 after only 5 minutes was observed and suggests that acidic pH more rapidly induces genes that confer cadmium resistance. Genes involved in transport were more highly expressed at pH 5 than at pH 7 in the presence of cadmium. Of the genes that showed an interaction between pH and cadmium effects, 46% encoded hypothetical proteins. Geochemical modeling software predicted that concentrations of both monovalent hydroxylated cadmium (CdOH+), previously implicated in the effect of pH on cadmium toxicity, and cadmium hydroxide chloride (CdOHCl) increased with pH; however, concentrations of both cadmium species were at least two orders of magnitude lower than concentrations of divalent ionic cadmium (Cd2+). Our data both demonstrate that transcriptional responses of E. coli to cadmium are affected by pH as well as provide insight into mechanisms by which pH mediates cadmium toxicity.

Seeking solace: confessional poetry as therapy

Seeking solace: confessional poetry as therapy Klanderman, Krista L.

Neospora caninum exposure in Wisconsin wildlife

Neospora caninum exposure in Wisconsin wildlife Anderson, Todd C. ABSTRACT NEOSPORA CANINUM EXPOSURE IN WISCONSIN WILDLIFE By Todd C. Anderson The parasitic protozoan Neospora caninum is a major cause of abortion in cattle worldwide. Transmission occurs by fecal-oral contamination from infected dog feces or by congenital route in infected cattle. Wolves, coyotes, cattle, and deer have been implicated in transmission, but the host range of the parasite is still poorly defined. Many studies have demonstrated seroprevalence within a single mammalian species in an area, but few have examined the interaction of different potential host species in the same geographical area. To further define the host range of the parasite and to characterize the sylvatic wildlife transmission cycle, we determined seroprevalence and molecular prevalence of N. caninum in several central Wisconsin wildlife species. Western blot analysis was used to demonstrate the presence of circulating antibodies against N. caninum. Seroprevalence in wildlife species varied from 19.0% in white-tailed deer, 14.7% in coyotes, 11.1% in foxes to 0% in raccoons and opossums. PCR specific for the Nc5 locus of N. caninum was performed on brain tissue of 54 raccoons and 53 opossums, however no positive samples were found. Fecal analysis was then performed in an effort to find N. caninum and to characterize the intestinal parasite loads of wildlife species. Although the fecal analysis revealed no active shedding of N. caninum oocysts, several other parasite species were found in the samples. This study suggests that parasite life cycle is occurring in Wisconsin between coyote and deer.

Analysis of how students learn patient advocacy.

Analysis of how students learn patient advocacy. Dehnke, Lori ABSTRACT ANALYSIS OF HOW STUDENTS LEARN PATIENT ADVOCACY By Lori Dehnke A descriptive research design was used to explore how students learn the patient advocacy role in the bachelor of science in nursing (BSN) program at a public college of nursing (CON) in the Midwest. Previous research primarily had focused on defining patient advocacy. The next step is to explore how student nurses learn patient advocacy roles, since nurses are in a pivotal position to provide information and support for patients in the fast-paced health care setting. With Institutional Review Board (IRB) and CON approval, questionnaires were provided to all last-semester BSN senior nursing students to explore student thoughts and methods of how they have learned the patient advocacy role throughout their school career. Areas of focus for the study included: (a) students? definitions of patient advocacy; (b) first experiences with advocacy in nursing; and (c) patient advocacy learning experiences in lecture, clinical lab, clinical areas and their personal lives. Data analysis created an awareness of some ways in which students learn the advocacy role. Themes from student definitions of patient advocacy were: (a) standing up for patient rights and wishes, (b) nursing as a voice, and (c) patients? best interests. Students identified areas of direct nursing care that assisted learning patient advocacy: (a) clinical rotations, (b) working as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) at a hospital or nursing home, and (c) in their personal lives as family or they themselves had exposure and experience in the health care setting. Indirect patient care experiences students identified were: (a) lecture, (b) class discussion in lecture and through case study analysis, (c) skills learning lab, and (d) discussion in clinical with students/instructors.

Are plant beds in streams hot spots of macroinvertebrate diversity, abundance and biomass?

Are plant beds in streams hot spots of macroinvertebrate diversity, abundance and biomass? Shupryt, Michael P. ARE PLANT BEDS IN STREAMS HOT SPOTS OF MACROINVERTEBRATE DIVERSITY, ABUNDANCE AND BIOMASS? By Michael P. Shupryt Macroinvertebrates are known to exhibit habitat preferences for macrophytes in lakes and large rivers where macrophyte beds are abundant. It is less understood if these preferences will hold true in low order streams where macrophyte beds are less abundant and sporadic. I examined the ability of small sporadic macrophyte beds to be hot spots of macroinvertebrate diversity, abundance and biomass in a Central Wisconsin sand plain stream. I sampled eight discrete macrophyte beds and 4 sand\gravel patches monthly from March through October 2007. Overall mean invertebrate diversity (Shannon-Weiner Index), abundance and biomass in the macrophyte beds was significantly greater than in sand\gravel patches (paired t-test p < 0.05). Mean invertebrate diversity in the macrophyte beds had a non-significant time (Repeated Measures ANOVA p=0.057) and a significant bed effect (p<0.05). Although there was a significant difference in mean diversity the difference was small and not a likely indication of a biodiversity hot spot. Mean invertebrate abundance and biomass had significant time (p<0.001) and bed effects (p<0.01). I scaled the results of the summer invertebrate abundance and biomass results using a substrate survey in a 400m stream reach. Although sand\gravel outnumbered macrophytes as a habitat nearly 3:1 they contributed equally to macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass and the whole reach level. I concluded that macrophyte beds were hot spots of macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass. These results show that even when macrophyte beds are isolated and sporadic in small streams they may be major contributors to invertebrate biomass and production at the whole stream level.

"Moral Law Within": The Morality of the Enslaved in Three American Novels

"Moral Law Within": The Morality of the Enslaved in Three American Novels Loomis, Jennifer L. Scholarly work on slave literature has often focused on the immorality of white slaveholders, but slavery presented its most profound challenge, perhaps, to those who were actually enslaved. As a step toward recognizing the complicated human relationships created by the institution of slavery and acknowledging the full, complex humanity of the enslaved, this thesis examines the ethical dilemmas facing slaves as represented in Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852), Octavia E. Butler's Kindred (1979), and James McEachin's Tell Me a Tale: A Novel of the Old South (1996). These novels cover the spectrum of possible ethical responses to enslavement, ranging from refusing to harm a master to killing whites in retaliation for the abuses of slavery. Because authors often address their own ethical concerns through the plight of their slave characters in complex and interesting ways, the study of both nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature dealing with slavery allows readers and critics to explore how writers represent fictional slaves in ways that engage not just the morality of slaveholding but also other ethical concerns of their societies. Writing immediately after the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law, Stowe creates Uncle Tom as a moral model for her white middle-class readers. Writing in response to the Black Power Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, Butler avers that misrepresentations of the past distort the realities of slavery and the ethical courage that it took to survive enslavement. McEachin, responding to the court cases involving Rodney King and O. J. Simpson in the 1990s, challenges readers to consider the ethical implications of storytelling and asserts that before the United States can overcome its racial divisions, Americans must learn to tell the truth about their past. Thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts -- English.

The Historical Jesus and the Slave of the Centurion: How the Themes of Slavery, Sexuality, and Military Service Intersect in Matthew 8:5-13.

The Historical Jesus and the Slave of the Centurion: How the Themes of Slavery, Sexuality, and Military Service Intersect in Matthew 8:5-13. Koepnick, Erik When the identity of the slave in the Gospel narrative of “The Healing of the Centurion’s Slave” is studied through historical-critical research, the written and earlier oral traditions of the story indicate that the miraculous act is true to the historical Jesus. Also, by exploring the slave’s identity as a slave, same-sex love interest, and military recruit—and the 1st century C.E. implications thereof—the author concludes that the historical Jesus understood the sexual relationship between the centurion and his slave, and healed the latter based on the faith of the former. Jesus never spoke negatively about homosexuality and never offered sociological or theological discourse pertaining thereto. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008 pp. 82-92

A Contradictory Constitution: Forgotten Hypocrisies in the Blueprint of Democracy

A Contradictory Constitution: Forgotten Hypocrisies in the Blueprint of Democracy Knitt, Joseph The following essay investigates the contradictions of the modern concepts linked to the U.S. Constitution and the actual ideologies of those who wrote it. While it may be viewed as a beacon of modern democracy today, it contains several contradictory and outright racist portions pertaining to Blacks. Although those contradictions and racist laws have been rectified, it is important that we remember they are still in there. If we cannot learn from the mistakes of those before us, we will more than likely make those same mistakes again. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008, pp. 26-33.

Effects of Music and Choice Listening on Arousal Changes.

Effects of Music and Choice Listening on Arousal Changes. Miller, Katie Brazeau, Christina Fuiten, Melissa Woelfel, Jessica This study based its method on Pitzen and Rauscher’s 1998 study, testing 60 participants between classical stimulative, sedative, or no music conditions and choice or no choice exposure conditions. We calculated results using two 2 X 3 design (Condition X Music) completely randomized factorial analyses of variance for mean difference of heart-rate (HR) before and after the exposure condition and for state anxiety, a short-term form of anxiety. Findings indicated that mean HR difference increased in the no choice condition compared to the choice. Participants scored significantly higher state anxiety for choice-stimulative as compared to the no choice-stimulative condition. Additionally, participants in the no choice-no music condition showed significantly higher state anxiety compared to those in the no choice-stimulative condition. For future research, experimenters may include the skin conductive measure galvanic skin response (GSR) as a second dependent variable. Finally, participants could wait 5 to 10 min in order to acclimate to the testing environment. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008 pp. 73-81

Use of Screen Real Estate on University Home Pages.

Use of Screen Real Estate on University Home Pages. Zinoviev, Alexander In this project, the home pages of the 11 comprehensive universities in the University of Wisconsin System were analyzed and compared according to categories suggested by Jakob Nielsen. This research clearly defines eight categories of screen real estate and then uses them to compare home pages of each university. Results show that the universities do not use space efficiently and that they vary according to how they use their Web sites for such things as promoting themselves or providing content of interest. Design suggestions are offered for improving the allocation of screen real estate on university home pages: use design that takes advantage of the entire screen; allocate more space to content of interest and navigation; and limit use of self promotion content and filler. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008 pp. 64-72

Robert Venturi and His Contributions to Postmodern Architecture.

Robert Venturi and His Contributions to Postmodern Architecture. Kahl, Douglas This paper examines the major contributions of architect Robert Venturi to the field of Postmodern architecture during the 1970s. Many of Venturi’s buildings were small in stature, designed for a specific location and site, and only large when necessary. Designing for a specific site was not traditionally done during the first half of the 20th century. The Modern movement was a stark, plain, and disengaging form of architecture from which Venturi took enormous strides to distance himself. Venturi’s interpretations of what Postmodernism should be included intense historical symbolism from the particular region in which he intended to build. For him, a schoolhouse being designed for the state of Georgia ought to be different from a school being designed for Washington state. The cultural history that a community’s citizens share varies intensely from city to city, a realization that Venturi worked to address through Postmodernism. Eventually fed up with the generic feel Modernism projected, Venturi took the quote “Less is more” from Mies van der Rohe, a staunch Modernist architect, and mockingly declared that “Less is a bore.” Venturi’s brand of Postmodern architecture was anything but boring. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008 pp. 55-63

Prolonging the War for a Permanent Peace: Wisconsin Soldiers and the 1864 Election.

Prolonging the War for a Permanent Peace: Wisconsin Soldiers and the 1864 Election. Karel, Scott The main focus of this essay was to find out what the motivations were for Civil War soldiers from Wisconsin in their choice for president in the 1864 election. The decision was a difficult one: they could either stay with the incumbent president or choose George McClellan, the former commander of the Army of the Potomac. McClellan was well-liked by the majority of his men, and through the summer of 1864 it appeared as though the Lincoln administration was not managing the war efficiently. An examination of the soldiers’ journals and personal letters indicates that, although many men questioned Lincoln’s capability to lead the Union to victory, the soldiers were forced to vote against McClellan after the Democratic Convention adopted a party platform that endorsed peace with the South at any cost. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008 pp. 44-54

Failed Sisterhood: Expectations and Betrayal Between the Women of the Antebellum South

Failed Sisterhood: Expectations and Betrayal Between the Women of the Antebellum South Filidoro, Erica Mistresses and slave women in the antebellum South lived and often suffered together under an oppressive patriarchy. They all endured a kind of enslavement in a system that reduced all women to the property of White men in some way. Previous historians have argued that this kindled gender solidarity between White and Black women. Others have argued that issues of race, class, privilege, and jealousy prevented the formation of any sense of sisterhood between the two groups of women. However, the issue is more complex than simply discovering whether there was or was not gender solidarity. Although antebellum women did not achieve any real unity, mistress journals and slave narratives reveal that on rare but important occasions they acknowledged the possibility of sisterhood and responded with guilt, betrayal, or anger at their failure to achieve it. These subtler nuances reveal a complicated relationship between mistress and bondswoman under slavery that transcended easy definitions according to race, privilege, or gender. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008, pp. 34-43.

Does an Inverted Yield Curve Predict Recessions?

Does an Inverted Yield Curve Predict Recessions? DeRosier, Ryan This paper examines the factors that determine the rate of growth of Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. economy for the years 1976-2006, with an emphasis on the role of the yield curve in predicting economic growth. Using multiple regression analyses, I examined the impact of a number of independent variables, including year, year-squared, the money supply, the unemployment rate, the lag distribution of unemployment, the inflation rate, the lag distribution of the inflation rate, the current account balance, the lag distribution of the current account, and the yield curve. I found that an inverted yield curve raises the probability of a recession in the next period; this relationship is statistically significant. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008, pp. 8-15.

Gender and GDP Contributions: The Effects of Culture

Gender and GDP Contributions: The Effects of Culture Graham, Elizabeth This paper uses Ordinary Least Squares regressions to examine the cultural, demographic, and geographical sources of differences in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) contributions of women. These cultural variables include religion, level of female education, fertility, political representation, and the mean age of marriage. The results show that culture has considerable explanatory power for female labor force participation rates, the gender wage gap, and women’s contributions to GDP. Surprisingly, fertility rates were not found to have any impact on women’s contributions to GDP. Oshkosh Scholar, Volume 3, 2008 pp. 16-25.