1,335 research outputs found
Connecticut's raise-the-age legislation (2007--present) / by Michelle Kirby, senior legislative attorney
No full text1 online resource (4 pages)"February 26, 2021."Summarizes legislation from 2007 to present to raise the age of juvenile court jurisdiction in Connecticu
Connecticut law on background checks for child care employees / by Michelle Kirby, senior legislative attorney
No full textonline resource (4 pages)"July 12, 2021."Summarizes Connecticut law on background checks for child care employee
Questions for Judicial Review Council nominees / by Michelle Kirby, senior legislative attorney
No full text1 online resource (2 pages)"February 18, 2021.
Laws permitting vacating convictions for human trafficking victims / by Michelle Kirby, senior legislative attorney
No full text1 online resource (10 pages)"January 26, 2021."Summarizes state laws that provide vacatur relief to human trafficking victims convicted of crimes committed as a result of their exploitation as trafficking victim
Sexual offender registration requirements and housing restrictions / by Michelle Kirby, senior legislative attorney
No full text1 online resource (4 pages)"December 11, 2020."Discusses Connecticut's registration requirements and housing restrictions for sexual offenders. Also discusses whether law enforcement is required to inform residents when a sexual offender returns to the communit
175 - Michelle Nichole Mann
No full textPolymers used in environmental and biomedical applications (e.g., filtration membranes and wound dressings) have surface properties that limit their biocompatibility and performance in biological settings. Such limitations arise from material hydrophobicity and propensity for bacterial attachment, leading to infection and device failure. Here, plasma processing is used to deposit films derived from essential-oil derived compounds. Surface characterization and performance testing reveals deposited films are anti-fouling and have controllable surface properties. As the use of polymers is widespread in biomedical devices and water treatment, such tunability allows for development of advanced naturally-derived antibacterial coatings, potentially improving medical outcomes and water quality.CSU Ventures Drivers of Innovation - Platinum award
Genetic influences on level and stability of self-esteem
No full textWe attempted to clarify the relation between self-esteem level (high vs. low) and perceived self-esteem stability (within-person variability) by using a behavioral genetics approach. We tested whether the same or independent genetic and environmental influences impact on level and stability. Adolescent twin siblings (n = 183 pairs) completed level and stability scales at two time points. Heritability for both was substantial. The remaining variance in each was attributable to non-shared environmental influences. Shared environmental influences were not significant. Level and stability of self-esteem shared common antecedents via genetic and non-shared environmental influences. Nonetheless, stability was influenced by substantial unique genetic and non-shared environmental influences. The results validate the notion that level and stability are partially autonomous components of self-esteem
Participation of Rab5, an early endosome protein, in hepatitis C virus RNA replication machinery
No full textLike most positive-strand RNA viruses, hepatitis C virus (HCV) is believed to replicate its genome on the surface of rearranged membranes. We have shown previously that HCV NS4AB, but not the product NS4B, inhibits endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-to-Golgi protein traffic (K. V. Konan, T. H. Giddings, Jr., M. Ikeda, K. Li, S. M. Lemon, and K. Kirkegaard, J. Virol. 77:7843-7855). However, both NS4AB and NS4B can induce "membranous web" formation, first reported by Egger et al. (D. B Egger, R. Gosert, L. Bianchi, H. E. Blum, D. Moradpour, and K. Bienz, J. Virol. 76:5974-5984), which is also observed in HCV-infected cells (Y. Rouille, F. Helle, D. Delgrange, P. Roingeard, C. Voisset, E. Blanchard, S. Belouzard, J. McKeating, A. H. Patel, G. Maertens, T. Wakita, C. Wychowski, and J. Dubuisson, J. Virol. 80:2832-2841) and cells that bear a subgenomic NS5A-green fluorescent protein (GFP) replicon (D. Moradpour, M. J. Evans, R. Gosert, Z. Yuan, H. E. Blum, S. P. Goff, B. D. Lindenbach, and C. M. Rice, J. Virol. 78:7400-7409). To determine the intracellular origin of the web, we examined NS4B colocalization with endogenous cellular markers in the context of the full-length or subgenomic replicon. We found that, in addition to ER markers, early endosome (EE) proteins, including Rab5, were associated with web-inducing protein NS4B. Furthermore, an immunoisolated fraction containing NS4B was found to contain both ER and EE proteins. Using fluorescence microscopy, we showed that wild-type and constitutively active Rab5 proteins were associated with NS4B. Interestingly, expression of dominant-negative Rab5 resulted in significant loss of GFP fluorescence in NS5A-GFP replicon cells. We also found that a small reduction in Rab5 protein expression decreased HCV RNA synthesis significantly. Furthermore, transfection of labeled Rab5 small interfering RNAs into NS5A-GFP replicon cells resulted in a significant decrease in GFP fluorescence. Finally, Rab5 protein was found to coimmunoprecipitate with HCV NS4B. These studies suggest that EE proteins, including Rab5, may play a role in HCV genome replication or web formation
Statute of limitations to prosecute a mandated reporter's failure to report child abuse or neglect / by Michelle Kirby, senior legislative attorney
No full text1 online resource (7 pages)"January 25, 2021."Summarizes the statute of limitations for prosecuting a mandated reporter who fails to report child abuse or neglect and the penalty associated with the offense in the different state
Transitions in Stone-Flaking Technology in South Sulawesi, Indonesia
No full textSulawesi is an archaeologically important region in the Wallacea zone of Island Southeast Asia, as it lies on one of the proposed migration routes for human dispersals into New Guinea and Australia. Such a route would have required water crossings, as the island has always remained geographically isolated, yet ancient artefacts show that at least two hominin species reached Sulawesi during the Pleistocene era. By the Late Pleistocene, humans were painting what is now some of the oldest securely-dated parietal rock art in the world, in the limestone karst region of Maros and Pangkep in South Sulawesi. This region offers an excellent opportunity for investigating the prehistory of the island, as many of the numerous cave sites found here hold rich archaeological assemblages. However, phases of depositional deflation and erosion mean that interpreting the deposits is rarely straightforward. The majority of these cave sites are dominated by distinctive Mid-Holocene assemblages from what has been dubbed the ‘Toalean’ era. The Toalean range appears to have been constricted to southern South Sulawesi, but the origins of this this technoculture are ambiguous due to stratigraphic disturbances.
Stone artefacts serve as a means for investigating the links between these significant periods of South Sulawesi’s prehistory as lithics are, as philosopher Henry David Thoreau poetically put in his journal “fossil thoughts… forever reminding me of the mind that shaped them”. Throughout the history of archaeology, researchers have attempted to use lithic artefacts as cultural markers, linking technological changes to the evolution of the human mind, as reflections of environmental pressures, as markers of community boundaries, or as indicators for the levels of regional contact. While stone artefacts are constrained by immediate conditions, including resource pressures, functional demands, and the cognitive capabilities of the various hominin species that produced them, within these restraints there is also room for diversity and at an assemblage-level this is shaped by culture. This thesis follows an approach built on the works of Moore, Tostevin, Davidson, and others, and reconstructs the processes of flake-removals while attempting to avoid laden assumptions about intent and function.
In this thesis I explore the early lithic technologies of southern South Sulawesi as a proxy for cultural transmission through contact or ancestry. This thesis discusses the previous work that has been done in the region to date, and reports on three new excavations – a chert quarry site and two Toalean cave sites. Using data gathered from the lithic assemblage at one of these cave excavations, Leang Pajae, as well as observations gathered from across the region, I investigate and describe the Toalean technology in-depth. I also apply the same approach to the large lithic assemblage of the late Pleistocene cave site of Leang Bulu Bettue and the earliest hominin site of Talepu, collaborating with experts in the field to provide the first detailed systematic description of South Sulawesi’s Pleistocene technologies. This is presented as a thesis-by-publication through five publications, four of which have been published and one of which is ready to submit, as well as six surrounding chapters that provide the background, methodology, excavation context, and the unpublished comparison of the Late Pleistocene and Mid-Holocene stone artefact technologies.
This thesis builds a description of the technologies that spans nearly 200,000 years. Using integrated quantitative and qualitative approaches, this thesis also assesses the technological changes that occur, from the earliest artefacts in South Sulawesi – made by an unknown pre-modern hominin species – to the artefacts of the Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens period that are associated with the production of portable art, ornamentation, and cave paintings, and finally into the ubiquitous yet enigmatic Mid-Holocene Toalean assemblages.
In this thesis I show that the first technological shift was quite dramatic, with the oldest artefacts in Sulawesi being relatively large pieces that were produced on-site through low-effort reduction, and made on immediately available materials. In contrast, the early modern human assemblages are more complex, and imported materials were used to make statistically smaller and more diverse artefacts, some of which require multiple steps and pre-planning to produce. Deeper-layer artefacts recovered from both Leang Bulu Bettue and the neighbouring Pleistocene site of Leang Burung 2 reflect the same low-effort reduction of local materials observed at the Mid-Pleistocene Talepu assemblage; however the context of these ‘Lower Industry’ cave assemblages is still somewhat ambiguous.
The transition to the Toalean phase is also distinct, but technologically less dramatic. It has been known for some time that the Toalean period is marked by the introduction of new lithic types in the form of stone and bone points and backed microliths. The research in this thesis has found that the change is more extensive than previously thought, as it also includes the addition of other new technologies not previously recognised, new reduction strategies, changing patterns in the distribution of flaking activities, but also the loss of certain complex reduction trajectories. A small amount of least-effort reduction of local materials – usually limestone – continued across all periods and into the Toalean, perhaps reflecting a convergence upon a convenient practice.
This thesis concludes by discussing the implications of the technological changes and continuity. Large gaps in the archaeological record continue to pose a challenge to researching the transitional periods. However, from the data available, there is little reliable evidence for cultural contact between the first hominins and the early H. sapiens arrivals. There is much stronger evidence for continuity between the Late Pleistocene people and the Mid-Holocene Toaleans, and at this stage it is most parsimonious to suggest that the new Toalean stone artefact types and techniques are local innovations.Thesis (PhD Doctorate)Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)School of Environment and ScScience, Environment, Engineering and TechnologyFull Tex
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