A Comparative Analysis of Diversity Initiatives: Administrative Policies & Academic Curriculum

The object of my thesis research is to examine the existing diversity initiatives and campus climate of Chapman University and a comparative institution, Loyola Marymount University. The focus area of study will be racial/ethnic diversity within the various levels of the institution, with the primary focus on students and institutional support. The topic by nature is nuanced and complex, with interwoven layers of hierarchy and various scopes of campus climate including but not limited to: academic curriculum, co-curricular programs, availability of human resources in related expertise, and general accessibility of resources pertaining to diversity. The main objective is to examine the availability and accessibility of resources pertaining to diversity to the student body at these two institutions of higher education and utilize the observational and qualitative research to guide future endeavors at Chapman University; to create a sense of urgency to improve our existing diversity initiatives to better reflect the mission statement and values of our community by utilizing the voices of current students and those in our surrounding competitive circle. Using the concepts and sociological theory of critical race theory, racialization of space and place, and diversity in higher education, the various methods of evaluation will bring to fruition the comparative analysis of Chapman and LMU and their existing diversity initiatives and resulting campus climate. By utilizing the real voices of students at both institutions as the basis of sociocultural lived experiences, this research aims to better understand the challenges Chapman faces moving forward to a more inclusive and accepting environment

Genetic and Antigenic Evolution of Influenza A (H3N2) Virus Neuraminidase

There is still much uncertainty about the underlying mechanisms that govern antigenic drift of influenza viruses, and several theories have been proposed. These theories consider hemagglutinin (HA) to be the primary driving force, while the second key surface glycoprotein (neuraminidase, NA) and the other viral proteins have largely been ignored. This thesis focuses on all influenza A (H3N2) virus proteins, with special emphasis on NA, to better understand—and ultimately predict—the complex evolution of A(H3N2) viruses. The genetic evolution, with respect to antigenic change, was analyzed by comparing HA and NA (chapter 2) and by studying the whole-genome (chapter 3). We next optimized the enzyme-linked lectin assay (ELLA) as an NA inhibition (NI) assay for human serology (chapter 5) and rapid antigenic characterization (chapter 6). With the optimized NI ELLA, we analyzed NA from 1968 till the 2010-2011 season and subsequently compared it to HA (chapter 7). Our work clearly shows that there is antigenic evolution for NA, thus warranting the inclusion of NAs representing emerging influenza A strains in vaccines. Increasing knowledge on which mutations cause changes in the phenotype of NA can help to perform more targeted influenza surveillance. It would then be advisable to integrate genetic and antigenic NA data with sequence and antigenic data of HA, epidemiological data, and geographical data during influenza surveillance. This will facilitate consideration of NA content, and improve next generation influenza vaccines

Die operative Korrektur angeborener Brustwanddeformitäten im Erwachsenenalter:Indikationen, Technik, Langzeitergebnisse und Patientenzufriedenheit: Eine retrospektive Analyse des Patientengutes der Klinik für Thorax- Herz- und Gefäßchirurgie Münster im Zeitraum von 1989 -1999

Einleitung: Die Trichter- und Kielbrust ist eine Thoraxdeformität, die eine operative Therapie- meist im Kindesalter- erforderlich machen kann. Die OP-Indikation- u. technik sowie das OP-Alter wird kontrovers diskutiert. Ziele: Diese Studie analysierte retrospektiv 34 erwachsene Patienten, die sich einer operativen Korrektur ihrer Thoraxwanddeformität unterzogen, hinsichtlich Anamnese, Diagnostik, Patientenzufriedenheit und OP- Ergebnis. Ergebnisse: 77% (26 Pat.) beurteilten das OP- Ergebnis mit „sehr gut“ bis „befriedigend“. Insbesondere Patienten mit einem ausgeprägten präoperativen Trichtervolumen beschrieben das OP-Ergebnis mit „sehr gut“. Schlussfolgerung: Diese Studie verdeutlicht, dass eine operative Brustwandkorrektur im Erwachsenenalter bei genauer Indikationsstellung und Diagnostik gerechtfertigt ist

Growth and maturation of Korean chum salmon under changing environmental conditions

Salmon populations in the North Pacific have been subject to major changes in environment and fishing pressure since the early 1980s, including a climate regime shift in 1988-89, the closure of the high-seas fisheries in 1993, and a subsequent climatic event in 1998. In the present work, we evaluate whether any of these three events has triggered changes in the life-history traits of chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) from the Namdae River, on the eastern coast of South Korea, using data collected on females and males from 1984 to 2008. We find that the 1988-89 regime shift had the most pervasive effects on female and male maturation schedules and growth. We also demonstrate sex-specific responses: whereas growth showed similar patterns of variation in both sexes, age and length at maturation behaved differently in males and females. Our findings contribute to growing evidence that abrupt transitions in climatic conditions can trigger detectable changes in life-history traits. They also strengthen the observation that biological records of salmon populations of the North Pacific carry a stronger signal for the effects of the 1988-89 regime shift than for the effects of the subsequent environmental changes

Influence of N₂ partial pressure on the microstructure, hardness, and thermal stability of CrZrSiN nanocomposite coatings

The effects of N₂ partial pressure in the unbalanced magnetron sputtering process on the microstructure, hardness, and thermal stability of the CrZrSiN nanocomposite coating were investigated. AДосліджено вплив парціального тиску N₂ в процесі незбалансованого магнетронного розпилення на мікроструктуру, твердість і термостабільність нанокомпозитного покриття CrZrSiN.Исследовано влияние парциального давления N₂ в процессе несбалансированного магнетронного распыления на микроструктуру, твердость и термостабильность нанокомпозитного покрытия CrZrSiN.This research was supported by a grant from the Advanced Technology Center (ATC) Program funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry& Energy of Korea

Interspecific hybridization and polyploidization as tools in ornamental plant breeding

Interspecific hybridisation and polyploidy are recognized as the most impor-tant sources of evolution and domestication of flowering plants. In ornamental plant breeding these phenomena go hand in hand and can be observed in the breeding his-tory of many ornamental crops (Rosa, Chrysanthemum, Gladiolus, Alstroemeria, Lil-ium, orchids etc). With lily as model crop techniques developed for overcoming pre- and post-fertilisation barriers are reviewed. For overcoming F1-sterility mitotic and meiotic polyploidisation are applied and can result in fertile allopolyploids. The mechanism of viable pollen production of mitotic and meiotic polyploidisation is quite different. Mitotic polyploidisation possess one homologous chromosome set. They undergo normal meiotic division like diploid cells. However, meiotic poly-ploidisation often show irregular chromosome division resulting in two of unreduced chromosome number instead of reduced chromosome number in tetrads. In contrast to mitotic doubling homoeologous recombination can occur. There are two signifi-cant mechanisms, FDR and SDR, for the formation of 2n-gametes. The FDR-gamete increase heterozygosity while SDR-gamete increase homozygosity. Genomic in situ hybridisation (GISH) has been used to discriminate parental chromosomes and to detect homoeologous recombination. Mitotic polyploidisation showed no homoeolo-gous recombinations between the parental genomes whereas in meiotic polyploids it can detected frequently. The use of 2n-gametes is therefore the most promising way for the introgression of desirable characters in the breeding with interspecific hy-brids. Although spontaneous occurring in the domestication of many ornamental crops the systematically detected unreduced gametes proved to be highly efficient tool for introgression of characters

Bose-Einstein condensation with magnetic dipole-dipole forces

Ground-state solutions in a dilute gas interacting via contact and magnetic dipole-dipole forces are investigated. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first example of studies of the Bose-Einstein condensation in a system with realistic long-range interactions. We find that for the magnetic moment of e.g. chromium and a typical value of the scattering length all solutions are stable and only differ in size from condensates without long-range interactions. By lowering the value of the scattering length we find a region of unstable solutions. In the neighborhood of this region the ground state wavefunctions show internal structures not seen before in condensates. Finally, we find an analytic estimate for the characteristic length appearing in these solutions.Comment: final version, 4 pages, 4 figure

Signatures of Electronic Nematic Phase at Isotropic-Nematic Phase Transition

The electronic nematic phase occurs when the point-group symmetry of the lattice structure is broken, due to electron-electron interactions. We study a model for the nematic phase on a square lattice with emphasis on the phase transition between isotropic and nematic phases within mean field theory. We find the transition to be first order, with dramatic changes in the Fermi surface topology accompanying the transition. Furthermore, we study the conductivity tensor and Hall constant as probes of the nematic phase and its transition. The relevance of our findings to Hall resistivity experiments in the high-$T_c$ cuprates is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure