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Exploring Our Past: Histories of St. Mary\u27s School of Law
No full textThis is a placeholder for this future deposit
This website aims to collect and share resources related to the school’s history and includes biographies of significant alumni and faculty who have contributed to the school’s longevity and success. The site also includes an interactive timeline that chronicles the triumphs and tribulations of this historic institution.https://commons.stmarytx.edu/lawschoolphproject/1000/thumbnail.jp
Pecan Grove Review Volume 22
No full textCreative writings by students, faculty, and staff of the St. Mary\u27s University community.https://commons.stmarytx.edu/pgr/1022/thumbnail.jp
Optimized Protein Purification of the Mutant 273 CARDS Toxin from Mycoplasma pneumoniae
Get PDFMycoplasma pneumoniae is an atypical bacterium that is known to cause respiratory distress and can lead to respiratory illnesses such as community-acquired pneumonia, pharyngitis, and tracheobronchitis. M.pneumoniae produces an ADPribosylation and vacuolating toxin called Community Acquired Respiratory Distress Syndrome (CARDS) toxin. Alone, the CARDS toxin is capable of reproducing many of the signs of an M.pneumoniae infection. The CARDS toxin often causes what is commonly referred to as “walking pneumonia”, a term used to characterize the mild symptoms associated with the infection. Patients with “walking pneumonia” can manage the condition without hospitalization, and often can continue with their normal day-to-day life. The full-length CARDS toxin, which is composed of Domains 1, 2, and 3, includes the amino acids 1 through 591. Domains 2 and 3 include amino acids 269 through 591. When the CARDS toxin reaches the endoplasmic reticulum, domain 1, the mART domain, separates from domains 2 and 3. The mART domain takes part in ADP-ribosylation, which contributes to the pathogenic effects of M. pneumoniae. Currently, researchers are investigating the functions of domains 2 and 3 after their separation from domain 1. To develop a better understanding of domains 2 and 3, it is imperative to purify the portion of the protein responsible for these domains. The mutant CARDS toxin, which includes domains 2 and 3, consists of amino acids 273 through 591. The 273 mutant CARDS toxin, which contains more basic amino acids, has a higher isoelectric point than the full-length CARDS, which contains more acidic amino acids. Understanding that the mutant CARDS toxin has a higher isoelectric point than the full-length toxin, aided in the pH selection for purification. Proteins typically have the least solubility near their isoelectric point. Therefore, during protein purification, selecting a pH higher than the protein’s isoelectric point can minimize protein precipitation, and can improve the purity and yield. The objective of this project was to optimize the protein purification of the mutant CARDS toxin by modifying the current protein purification protocol, particularly concerning the pH of the elution and binding buffers. To familiarize ourselves with protein purification, we began by purifying the full-length CARDS toxin on the AKTA Start HPLC equipped with a HisTrap. We then used column chromatography to determine the optimal pH for the mutant CARDS toxin. After evaluating which pH resulted in the highest protein concentration, we used the AKTA with the corresponding binding buffer and elution buffer for optimal purification. Through column chromatography, we determined, via Coomassie SDS-PAGE gel, that pH 11 elution buffer and binding buffer provided the highest yield of the 273 CARDS protein.https://commons.stmarytx.edu/rscpos24/1033/thumbnail.jp
Mitigating Supply Chain Disruptions with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based Risk Management
Get PDFSupply chain disruptions are unforeseen events that hinder smooth flow of goods, services, and information within the supply chain network. Examples of supply chain disruptions includes shortages from sought-after items like essential health products in 2020, natural disasters, and geopolitical conflicts that can lead to transportation delays, quality control issues, unexpected demand fluctuations, and impacting overall business performance (McKendrick, 2023). Effective management of supply chain disruptions include proactive risk assessments and quick response strategies to mitigate impact to ensure operation continuation. Traditional risk management approaches reduce disruptions by maintaining service levels while minimizing inventory and predicting future demand for effective resource allocation (McKendrick, 2023). Artificial intelligence (AI) improves supply chain by optimizing warehousing and inventory management through automating packing processes, optimizing warehouse layouts, and expediting order fulfillment while reducing storage requirements. Moreover, AI can leverage real-time data to propose alternative sourcing strategies and optimize delivery routes, enhancing efficiency across the supply chain (Remko 2023). Future advancements in AI may include predictive quality control systems and AI-powered Negotiations and Sourcing tools. This risk management solution would use supplier data and market trends to automate negotiation processes to secure materials at competitive prices (Bughin, et al., 2017). These advancements could simplify procurement practices and lead to substantial cost savings. This study aims to explore how AI-driven risk management solutions, particularly AI-powered Negotiations and Sourcing, effectively mitigate supply chain disruptionshttps://commons.stmarytx.edu/rscpos24/1037/thumbnail.jp
Beneath the Surface: Exploring the Power of Aquatic Rewilding in Europe
Get PDFThis relatively new concept has been used mainly in various European projects that in words of the European Rewilding project, the leading organization in rewilding, is helping preserve Europe biodiversity richness and enhance benefits that nature provides to humans (Rewilding Europe, n.d.). This rewilding method is also applied in the aquatic ecosystem, which is often called marine rewilding or freshwater rewilding, and it can be applied to any freshwater, brackish, or saltwater. Therefore, for the purpose of uniting them we will call it aquatic rewilding.
There are many aquatic restoration projects and research compared to aquatic rewilding projects and organizations that focus on generating a rewilding impact. Even so, thanks to the recent boom interest in land rewilding, many initiatives all over the world have some part of aquatic rewilding or are focused on it entirely. The leading continent in rewilding projects is Europe and so it is in aquatic rewilding. Therefore, I will explore the three following European rewilding projects and use them us case studies:
• First the organization “Sea wilding”, that is rewilding Loch Craignish, Argyll and Loch Broom, Wester Ross, mainly using oysters and seagrass (Seawilding | Native Oyster Reintroduction, Loch Craignish, Scotland, n.d.).
• Second, the ”Sussex Kelp Recovery Project” is recovering the kelp forest of the Sussex coastline, England (Rewilding the Sussex seabed, n.d.).
• Third, the Rewilding Europe project, ”Oder Delta”, that aims to restore freshwater and coastal ecosystem in the Oder Delta in Germany and Poland (Oder Delta, n.d.)(Fig 3.). Were this projects beneficial for the region? we hypothesize that these projects were beneficial for the region as they likely enhanced the ecosystemhttps://commons.stmarytx.edu/rscpos24/1027/thumbnail.jp
Aspen Leading Edge Podcast Episode 111: Addiction and Marijuana Law with Alex Kreit
No full textAlex Kreit, Director of the Center of Addiction Law & Policy and Professor at Northern Kentucky University, discusses the changes in marijuana law and what they might mean in banking law. He also shares the new updates in the second edition of his casebook, Criminal Law in Focus, including the criminalization of homelessness, drug possession, and mass incarceration.https://commons.stmarytx.edu/edge/1080/thumbnail.jp
The Need for a New Sexual Assault Charge in the Texas Penal Code for Victims of Intimate Partner Sexual Assault
No full textSt. Mary\u27s School of Law Graduation, 2018
No full texthttps://commons.stmarytx.edu/grad2018/1002/thumbnail.jp
St. Mary\u27s School of Law Graduation, 2018
No full texthttps://commons.stmarytx.edu/grad2018/1008/thumbnail.jp