Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationDoes strain induce changes in the electrical properties of the heart? Does strain affect the microstructure of cardiac myocytes? Others have considered these questions, but have been limited in their findings. I addressed the first question by measuring conduction velocity in papillary muscles in rest conditions and during applied strain. I also applied streptomycin, a nonselective stretch ion channel blocker, in the above conditions. In control, conduction velocity increased with strain before conduction block occurred. When streptomycin was applied conduction velocity peaked at a higher strain, but conduction block remained unchanged. Changes in electrical properties of papillary muscle allowed for changes in conduction velocity. Although streptomycin did not alter the strain at which conduction block occurred, it did shift the peak conduction velocity to a higher strain. The second question was addressed by imaging isolated cardiac ventricular myocytes in varying degrees of contraction and strain using confocal microscopy. The length of transverse tubules (t-tubules), along with cross-section ellipticity, and orientation in myocytes were analyzed for cells in 16% contraction, rest, and 16% strain. Cells in contraction showed an increase in length of t-tubules with less elliptical cross-sections compared to cells in rest. Strained cells showed a decrease in length of t-tubules with less elliptical cross-sections than cells at rest. The orientation of t-tubule cross-sections changed in a similar manner when comparing contracted and strained cells with cells at rest. The transfer of strain to the t-tubule system supports the hypothesis that the motion of t-tubules during contraction and stretch may constitute a mechanism for pumping extracellular fluid

Numana: Saving the Starving

Numana’s history is presented, followed by the idea for Numana Gardens – a partnership with the city that grows food to feed children and the elderly

Designing Fiction-Based Close Reading Experiences For The High School English Language Arts Classroom

The Common Core State Standards are forcing educational professional to develop high-level literacy skills and habits in a student population that is indisputable diverse and generally ill prepared for the demands of the secondary classroom. The practice of close reading is a means of literacy instruction that continually pushes students back into the text to answer text-dependent questions of varying, yet higher, levels of thinking. A variety of lesson plans and text-dependent questions were generated for three pivotal novels to demonstrate close reading as a means of achieving CCSS-level reading and thinking in the general secondary ELA classroom

A study of school and outside school activities of junior and senior students of the East High School, Rockford, Illinois

Not available.Donald G. McNaryNot ListedNot ListedMaster of ScienceDepartment Not ListedCunningham Memorial Library, Terre Haute, Indiana State University.isua-thesis-1950-mcnaryMastersTitle from document title page. Document formatted into pages: contains 130p. : . ill. Includes appendix and bibliography

Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationGuided ion beam tandem mass spectrometry (GIBMS) is used to probe the kinetic energy dependences of protonated hydrazine colliding with Xe, proton-bound hydrazine and unsymmetrical 1,1-Dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) clusters and protonated hydrazine and UDMH clustered with water colliding with Ar. The resulting cross sections are analyzed using a statistical model after accounting for internal and kinetic energy distributions, multiple collisions, and kinetic shifts to obtain 0 K bond dissociation energies (BDEs) for the threshold collision induced dissociation (TCID). The dominant dissociation pathways for protonated hydrazine (N2H5+) and its perdeuterated variant (N2D5+) were the observed endothermic non-adiabatic homolytic and heterolytic N-N bond cleavages forming NH 3+(2A2'') + NH2(2A1) and NH2+( 1A1) + NH3(1A 1), respectively. For the proton-bound clusters, the primary dissociation pathways for (N2H4)nH+ where n = (2-4) and (UDMH)2H+ consists of a loss of hydrazine or UMDH unit, followed by the sequential loss an additional hydrazine at higher energies for n > 2. As to be expected, a similar trend is observed for the primary dissociation pathways for (N2H4)H +(H2O)n where n = ( 2 and 3) and (UDMH)H+(H2O) where the losses of a water unit are followed by the sequential loss of a water unit for n ≥ 2. A larger GIBMS is used to probe the association reactions below 1 eV, of Fen+ + CO where n = 4-17. All clusters where n ≥ 4 form the FenCO+ association complex; the resulting cross sections are analyzed using a statistical model after accounting for internal and kinetic energy distributions, multiple collisions, and kinetic shifts to obtain 0 K binding energies for CO binding to iron cluster cations. The probability of this reaction increases with cluster size until the absolute cross sections equal the collision limit for n > 10, with those for n = 12 and 14 exceeding the collision limit. For the largest clusters, the binding energies approach that of an extended Fe(111) surface, whereas the prominent higher energy feature correlates to binding energies for dissociatively chemisorbed C and O on an iron surface

A Study of the Administrative Agent\u27s Role of the Regional Superintendent of Schools in Illinois

This work contains a study of the administrative agent\u27s role of the Regional Superintendent of Schools in Illinois. The fifty-seven Educational Service Regions (E.S.R.s) in Illinois were surveyed to determine the number of superintendents acting as an administrative agent for a program, the educational experience possessed by each superintendent, the types of services being offered, the total number of dollars that become the responsibility of the administrative agent, the total number of jobs created, the governance structure, and the benefits and detriments of the role as reported by the superintendents. The data gathered by the survey was tabulated and analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of totals, frequencies, percentages, and means. The results and conclusions of this study indicate the importance of the administrative agent\u27s role and lead to the recommendations to expand and publicize the arrangements. In addition, the need to insure stable funding in order to maintain adequate staff is recommended. Fifty-three of the fifty-seven superintendents responded to the survey

ADD66, A GENE REQUIRED FOR THE ENDOPLASMIC RETICULUM ASSOCIATED DEGRADATION (ERAD) OF ALPHA-1-ANTITRYPSIN-Z IN YEAST, FACILITATES PROTEASOME ACTIVITY AND ASSEMBLY

Antitrypsin Deficiency is a primary cause of juvenile liver disease and arises from expression of the "Z" variant of the alpha-1 protease inhibitor (A1Pi). Whereas A1Pi is secreted from the liver, A1PiZ is retro-translocated from the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and degraded by the proteasome, an event that may offset liver damage. To better define the mechanism of A1PiZ degradation, a yeast expression system was developed and a gene, ADD66, was identified that facilitates A1PiZ turn-over. I report here that ADD66 encodes an ~30 kDa soluble, cytosolic protein and that the chymotrypsin-like activity of the proteasome is reduced in add66Ä mutants. This reduction in activity may arise from the accumulation of 20S proteasome assembly intermediates or from qualitative differences in assembled proteasomes. Add66p also appears to be a proteasome substrate. Consistent with its role in ER associated degradation (ERAD), synthetic interactions are observed between the genes encoding Add66p and Ire1p, a transducer of the unfolded protein response, and yeast deleted for both ADD66 and/or IRE1 accumulate polyubiquitinated proteins. These data identify Add66p as a proteasome assembly chaperone (PAC) and provide the first link between PAC activity and ERAD

High-efficiency, 200 watt, 12-gigahertz traveling wave tube

Design and performance of a highly efficient experimental 200-watt traveling wave tube for space communications are described. The tube uses a coupled cavity slow wave structure with periodic permanent magnet focusing. A two-step velocity taper is incorporated in the slow wave structure for velocity resynchronization with the modulated beam. The spent beam is reconditioned in a refocusing section before it is collected in a novel multistage depressed collector. The collector is radiation cooled and heat insulated from the tube body. At saturation the tube provides peak output power of 240 watts with a 35-db gain and an overall maximum efficiency of 56 percent