The Use of Literature to Combat Bullying

Bullying is a pervasive phenomenon. This study examined what teachers think encourages bullying among young people, and what effects teachers believe reader response strategies would have on their students. The study found teachers implementing reader response strategies in discussing literature were able to influence behavior in students and reduce bullying.

An incident at sea: The historic combat between U.S. Navy Blimp K-74 and U-Boat 134

This thesis studies the historic encounter between United States Navy airship K-74 and Nazi submarine U-134 in World War II. The Battle of the Atlantic is examined through case study of this one U-boat and its voyage. In all things except her fight with the American blimp, the patrol was perfectly typical. Looked at from start to finish, both her reports and the reports of the Allies encountered, many realities of the war can be studied. U-134 sailed to attack shipping between Florida and Cuba. She was challenged by the attack of United States Navy airship K-74 over the Florida Straits. It is the only documented instance of battle between two such combatants in history. That merits attention. Thesis finding disprove historian William Eliot Morison’s contention that the K-74 airship bombs were not dropped and did not damage the U-boat. Study of this U-boat and its antagonist broadens our understanding of the Battle of the Atlantic. It is a contribution to our knowledge of military, naval, aviation, and local history.

Screening for AmpR-Specific Inhibitors to Combat P. aeruginosa Infections

Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a Gram-negative bacterium, an opportunistic pathogen that infects individuals suffering from reduced immunity or damaged tissue. The treatment of these infections has become a major problem due to its increasing antibiotic resistance. Many multi-drug resistant isolates of P. aeruginosa can thwart most antibiotic classes including ?- lactams, fluoroquinolones, and aminoglycosides. Its ability to combat ?-lactams is in part due to expression of AmpC, a major chromosomally encoded ?-lactamase. The expression of ampC is positively regulated by AmpR. Besides antibiotic resistance, AmpR is an important regulator of various factors that are required for establishing acute and chronic infections. Loss of ampR makes P. aeruginosa susceptible to ?-lactams and less virulent than the wild type. We hypothesize that AmpR is a potential therapeutic target. In the absence of new drugs in the pipeline, the aim of this study is to find an AmpR-specific inhibitor to assist and improve the use of currently available ?- lactam treatment. A small-molecule library from Torrey Pines Institute will be used in this study. Two reporter systems, lux and lacZ, fused to a PampC promotor will be used to assess AmpR activity. Positive hits will be those that inhibit 50% PampC activity in the presence of sub inhibitory concentration of imipenem, a ?- lactam. The top positive hits will be screened for their ability to cause human cell-cytotoxicity. The non-cytotoxic hits will be assessed for their ability to affect P. aeruginosa virulence and antibiotic resistance using various in vitro assays. Determination of potential AmpR inhibitors will prove to be useful in fighting off infections and may save countless patients suffering from these infections.