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Control Of Agrilus Ruficollis (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) With Insecticides And Identifying Visual Attractants For Use In A Monitoring Trap, Soo-Hoon Kim

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The rednecked cane borer, Agrilus ruficollis (F.), is a pest of cultivated and wild blackberries in the Midwestern and Eastern parts of the United States. Feeding, mating, egg laying and development of A. ruficollis from larvae to adult only occurs on primocane, the first year vegetative growth stage of blackberries, and not on the second year fruiting stage called floricanes that die after fruiting. Damage from this pest is caused by the larva girdling the primocane and tunneling in the pith, causing the formation of a gall. Gall formation on the primocane increases the chance of winter injury and can …

Preliminary Transcriptome Analysis And Homeobox Gene Isonlation For Tomocerus Minor (Entomobryomorpha: Tomoceridae), Alejandro Alaniz

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Collembola, or “springtails,” are small, edaphic arthropods classified as Entognatha; a group traditionally included as part of Hexapoda and sister-group to the true insects. However, some genetic studies suggest that they may instead have derived from a separate crustacean lineage rather than from a proto-Insecta lineage. The unique abdominal structures that develop on the collembolan ventral abdomen appear to be appendicular in origin – atypical to the canonical, appendage-less insect abdomen ground plan. I developed culture and embryo fixation protocols for; and sequenced and analyzed a multi-stage embryo transcriptome for Tomocerus minor (Collembola: Entomobryomorpha). This analysis annotated 14,417 distinct genes, …

A Preventive Maintenance Framework In Dairy Production Operations, Maria F. Vargas

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Dairy operations suffer frequent stops. Product shrinkage is a consequence of downtime, which includes losses of packaging material, scraped finish product and capacity. This work proposes a troubleshooting methodology to identify causes of downtime, estimation of waste cost, and minimization of operation disruptions by applying a combination of a cost function to assess waste, and performance measurements. The drinkable yogurt process is evaluated to find the principal areas for wasted bottles and yogurt. In order to make a decision about which of those sources to address, a General Cost Function is used to estimate waste cost which include measurements that …

Using Individual-Based Modeling To Explore How Environmental And Anthropogenic Factors Impact Piping Plover Breeding Success, Alexander J. Cohen

Open Access Theses

The Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) is an intensively managed shorebird species which breeds in part along the Atlantic Coast. Major threats to Piping Plovers include habitat loss and degradation, predation, human disturbance, and vulnerability to the elements. Common management techniques include predator exclosures and symbolic fencing around nests to deter humans from entering nesting areas. However, Piping Plover productivity is highly variable even with management. Many site- and season-specific factors affect plovers and their interactions with other inhabitants of the beach environment. Variability in magnitude and patterns of human disturbance, plover behavioral tolerance of disturbance, and a variety of beach …

Differences In Brainstem Level Encoding Of Am And Fm Signals In A Rat Model For Dyslexia, Stephen Anthony Chabot

Open Access Theses

Developmental dyslexia is a language learning disorder that affects a significant portion of the population. Many subjects who suffer from dyslexia show auditory processing deficits as children, some of which persist into adulthood, which impair their ability to learn one or more aspects of language. There is evidence that some types of training can correct the auditory processing deficits and bring the subject to a normal reading or speaking proficiency for their age group. One common rodent model for dyslexia is the cortical freeze lesion model. This model induces a lesion in the rat cortex similar to the microgyria present …

New Strategies To Reveal Protein Candidates In Protein-Protein Interactome Study, Meng-Chieh Chen

Open Access Theses

Comprehensive protein-protein interaction network analysis can help reveal protein functions in a system-wide manner. A reliable knowledgebase of interaction networks is not only important for selecting the candidates for drug therapies, but also for evaluating the disease risk. In current interaction databases, 322579 interactions comprised of 56460 proteins have been reported (statistical analysis from APID: Agile Protein Interaction DataAnalyzer; http://bioinfow.dep.usal.es/apid/index.htm). The huge datasets are contributed mainly by yeast -two -hybrid (Y2H) screening and affinity-purification followed by mass spectrometry (AP-MS). High false positive rates and failing to cover certain interaction categories are the limitations of these two methods. Here, we developed …

Principle Of Bio-Inspired Insect Wing Rotational Hinge Design, Fan Fei

Open Access Theses

A principle for designing and fabricating bio-inspired miniature artificial insect flapping wing using flexure rotational hinge design is presented. A systematic approach of selecting rotational hinge stiffness value is proposed. Based on the understanding of flapping wing aerodynamics, a dynamic simulation is constructed using the established quasi-steady model and the wing design. Simulations were performed to gain insight on how different parameters affect the wing rotational response. Based on system resonance a model to predict the optimal rotational hinge stiffness based on given wing parameter and flapping wing kinematic is proposed. By varying different wing parameters, the proposed method is …

Effects Of Hip And Ankle Moments On Running Stability: Simulation Of A Simplified Model, Rubin C. Cholera

Open Access Theses

In human running, the ankle, knee, and hip moments are known to play different roles to influence the dynamics of locomotion. A recent study of hip moments and several hip-based legged robots have revealed that hip actuation can significantly improve the stability of locomotion, whether controlled or uncontrolled. Ankle moments are expected to also significantly affect running stability, but in a different way than hip moments. Here we seek to advance the current theory of dynamic running and associated legged robots by determining how simple open-loop ankle moments could affect running stability. We simulate a dynamical model, and compare it …

Automatic Extraction Of Plots From Geo-Registered Uas Imagery Of Crop Fields With Complex Planting Schemes, Anthony A. Hearst

Open Access Theses

Complex planting schemes are common in experimental crop fields and can make it difficult to extract plots of interest from high-resolution imagery of the fields gathered by Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS). This prevents UAS imagery from being applied in High-Throughput Precision Phenotyping and other areas of agricultural research. If the imagery is accurately geo-registered, then it may be possible to extract plots from the imagery based on their map coordinates. To test this approach, a UAS was used to acquire visual imagery of 5 ha of soybean fields containing 6.0 m2 plots in a complex planting scheme. Sixteen artificial targets …

Quality And Safety Attributes Of Sun-Dried Raisins From Afghanistan, Stacy A. Mccoy

Open Access Theses

Raisins are an important export commodity for Afghanistan, however, Afghan packers are challenged to export to markets seeking high quality products due to limited knowledge regarding their quality and safety. To evaluate this, Afghan raisin samples from pre-, semi-, and post-processed raisins were obtained from a raisin packer in Kabul, Afghanistan. The raisins were analyzed and compared to U.S. standards for processed raisins. The samples tested did not meet U.S. import standards for embedded sand, but the process used to clean the raisins is suitable to maintain food safety standards.

Previous Afghan raisin shipments have been rejected from the U.S. …

Analyzing The Importance Of Diversifying Beyond Tobacco For Small-Scale Farmers In Malawi, Mphatso Charity Mbulukwa

Open Access Theses

This thesis analyses potential agricultural alternatives to production and marketing of tobacco in Malawi. I study existing patterns of crop and income diversification and factors that limit crop diversification. I also provide an analysis of the current profitability of different important cash crop alternatives that are commonly grown among smallholder farmers and compare their profitability to that of tobacco.

Following a review and synthesis of available literature on alternatives to tobacco, analysis is presented that relies upon data collected in 2009 from 380 households in Kasungu and Machinga districts of Malawi. Simpsons Index of diversification was used to measure the …

Defining Management Strategies To Maximize Net Soil Carbon And Nitrogen Retention In Turfgrass Systems, Quincy D. Law

Open Access Theses

Soil carbon (C) sequestration has been proposed as a method to reduce atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2 ). Managed turf areas are both a source and a sink for greenhouse gases (GHGs) including CO 2 , methane (CH4 ), and nitrous oxide (N2 O), among others. Management practices, including turfgrass selection and mowing, influence the amount of C and N stored in the soil, as well as the direct and indirect GHG emissions. Thus, the objective of this research was to determine how turfgrass selection (both species and cultivar) and mowing practices (such as frequency and grass clipping management) influence the …

The Decline Of Cisco Coregonus Artedi At Its Southern Range Extent: Stock Biology And Management Implications, Andrew E. Honsey

Open Access Theses

The cisco Coregonus artedi is distributed throughout northern North America and is relegated to coldwater, oligotrophic systems. Populations of cisco located at the species' southern range extent, including northern Indiana and southern Michigan, have drastically declined over the past century, seemingly due to a combination of climate warming and exacerbation of hypolimnetic hypoxic conditions via intensive land-use and resulting increases in nutrient loading. Apart from their decline, information on southern ciscoes is lacking, including basic stock demography and genetic variability. Such information may shed light on the likely sustainability (or lack thereof) of remaining populations. The first portion of this …

Management Of Bacterial Wilt On Muskmelon Using Actigard, Fawzia Mumtaz

Open Access Theses

Bacterial wilt of muskmelon caused by Erwinia trachephila (E.F. Smith), is one of the most important diseases of cucurbits, particularly muskmelon, in the world. This pathogen is transmitted by the striped cucumber beetle,Accalyma vittatum (F.), and causes serious economic losses in fruit yield and quality. Control of this disease is usually accomplished by applying insecticides to kill the beetles before disease transmission occurs. The goal of this study was to reduce the bacterial wilt incidence or beetle feeding on muskmelon using an alternative control method, the plant activator acibenzolar-S-methyl (Actigard) ® . The potential for using acibenzolar-S-methyl as a …

Suitability Of Blue Ash (Fraxinus Quadrangulata) And Green Ash (F. Pennsylvanica) To Emerald Ash Borer (Agrilus Planipennis) And Its Larval Parasitoid Tetrastichus Planipennisi., Donnie "L. " Peterson

Open Access Theses

Emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis ) is a primary pest that has killed tens of millions of North American ash (Fraxinus spp.) trees. The larval parasitoid Tetrastichus planipennisi was introduced from China as part of a classical biological control program for long-term EAB management. The high mortality rates of ash trees greatly reduce the number of EAB hosts and may make it difficult for parasitoids to persist. However, blue ash ( F. quadrangulata ) is relatively resistant and appears to be able to survive EAB infestation. If natural enemies can attack EAB in infested blue ash they …

Creating Initial Digital Soil Properties Map Of Afghanistan, Shams R. Rahmani

Open Access Theses

Afghanistan is a country with a population of more than 31 million people and is located in south central Asia. The total arable land in the country is 12%, 5% is irrigated and the remaining 7% is rainfed. Due to the lack of available soil information, poor farming practices and land management planning severely affect the yield of agriculture products. In order to ensure sustainable agriculture and prevent land degradation problems, understanding spatial variability of soil is crucial. The overall objective of this research study was to use digital soil mapping techniques to identify the soil resources and generate a …

Effect Of Post-Anthesis Fungicide Applications To Manage Fusarium Head Blight In Winter Wheat, Anna Noversoke

Open Access Theses

Fusarium head blight (FHB) of wheat, caused by the fungus Fusarium graminearum, is currently considered one of the most economically important diseases on wheat in the North Central United States. The fungus causes light-weight "tombstone" grains to form and produces the mycotoxin deoxynivalenol (DON), reducing the yield and quality of the grain. Currently, farmers rely heavily on the sterol demethylase Inhibitor (DMI) triazole fungicide Prosaro (Bayer CropScience) to protect their crop from this disease. The optimal fungicide application timing is traditionally believed to be early anthesis - Feekes Growth Stage (FGS) 10.5.1. However, environmental conditions and uneven flowering across a …

Review Of The Pathogenesis And Treatment Of Acute Spinal Cord Injury And Investigation Into The Use Of Urine 3-Hpma As A Novel Biomarker Of Secondary Injury After Acute Spinal Cord Injury In The Dog, Andrea Sangster

Open Access Theses

Acute spinal cord injury (ASCI) has two pathophysiological stages of injury: the primary injury and the secondary injury cascade. Primary injury includes the initial or mechanical insult to the spinal cord. Secondary injury is a cascade of biochemical events that propagates damage of adjacent, healthy tissue increasing the overall volume of spinal cord tissue that is affected. Acrolein is a toxic byproduct of lipid peroxidation produced during secondary injury. A metabolite of acrolein-glutathione adduct found in urine, 3-HPMA, has recently been shown to increase after spinal cord injury in a rat model. The aim of our study was to apply …

Invasive Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys Moltrix) Protein Hydrolysates And Their Efficacy In Increasing Seedling Vigor And Reducing Seed Borne Pathogen Growth, Shanleigh Pauline Thomson

Open Access Theses

Silver carp are an invasive fish species introduced into the United States within the last forty years. Unable to be effectively eradicated or commercialized as a source of food, other methods must be developed to control and/or use these fish. Fish protein hydrolysates (FPH) are products derived from the proteins inherent within fish. Development of FPH from Silver carp for a variety of uses could aid in controlling their expanding population and provide organic produces with a seed treatment option which is not available to them currently.

In the first study, FPH were used as a seed vigor treatment for …

The Effects Of Heat Stress On Immunity In Laying Hens And Dairy Cattle, Rebecca Ann Strong

Open Access Theses

With the increase in global climate change and the population growth driving the high demand for additional food production, heat stress (HS) is a major concern in the livestock industry across all species. Animals experience HS when exposed to high environmental temperatures outside their thermal neutral zone. The level of the effects can vary due to the length and intensity of HS to which the animal is exposed to. In experiment one, laying hens with access to cooled perches during HS had a lower heterophil to lymphocyte ratio compared to the control hens after 4 h of acute heat stress, …

Liquid Swine Manure Application Timing And Instincttm Impacts On Net Soil Nitrogen Mineralization And Corn Yield, Min Xu

Open Access Theses

Nitrogen (N) is one of the most expensive variable input costs for corn production. Optimized manure management is essential to ensure maximum crop N utilization and to reduce the risk of N loss. A field study was conducted in central Indiana from 2011-2013 to assess liquid swine ( Sus scrofa L.) manure N availability when applied at different times or co-applied with InstinctTM , a microencapsulated form of nitrapyrin. Soil inorganic N contents, soil N mineralization, corn yield, grain N content, whole plant N concentrations of corn at the V6 growth stage, and ear leaf N concentrations of corn at …

Assessing Positional Accuracy And Correcting Point Data For Digital Soil Mapping At Varying Scales, Minerva J. Dorantes

Open Access Theses

Accuracy, timeliness, and the effect of scale of soil maps are rarely assessed. The recent increase in the use of GIS technologies and modelling software in natural resources and land management, has increased the demand for soil information at a finer resolution worldwide. Most of the world's developing countries rely on soils information at a scale that is too coarse for practical planning, and have obstacles impeding collection of new data, such as civil war and a lack of collection resources. The United States has an exhaustive collection of soils data at a fine scale. However, its location information is …

Vegetation And Soil Characteristics Of Pine Plantations And Naturally Regenerated Hardwood Forests On The Hoosier National Forest, Patrick James Duffy

Open Access Theses

During the 1930s there was widespread erosion on farmland and subsequent land abandonment. As a result, Pinus strobus L. (white pine), P. resinosa Aiton (red pine), and P. echinata Mill. (shortleaf pine) were planted in the Midwest to prevent erosion and rehabilitate sites. These species were selected due to their wide availability at the time. Currently, it is the goal of the U.S. Forest Service to provide a more natural and sustainable landscape, in part by removing these non-native Pinus stands and by replacing them with native hardwood species. The ultimate success of hardwood restoration depends, in part, on the …

Using Energy-Efficient Technologies To Produce Bedding Plants And Microgreens In Protected And Controlled Environments, Joshua R. Gerovac

Open Access Theses

Gerovac, Joshua R. M.S., Purdue University, December 2014. Using Energy-Efficient Technologies to Produce Bedding Plants and Microgreens in Protected and Controlled Environments. Major Professor: Roberto G. Lopez. Production of bedding plants in commercial greenhouses (GHs) located in northern latitudes begins in late winter and continues through late spring when low outdoor temperatures generally necessitate active heating to maintain temperatures suitable for growth and development. Meanwhile, year-round production of microgreens using multi-layer systems requires sole-source (SS) photosynthetic lighting for production. Energy used to provide active heating in commercial GHs or SS lighting in multi-layer systems is second only to labor as …

Potential Impact Of Neonicotinoid Insecticides On Honey Bees (Apis Mellifera) In Muskmelon Production, Kira L. Nixon

Open Access Theses

Honey bees (Apis mellifera ) provide pollination services to many agricultural crops, including cucurbits. Neonicotinoids are commonly applied to cucurbits where honey bee colonies are often rented for sufficient pollination and proper fruit set. The goals of this study were to determine the potential impact of neonicotinoid residues on honey bees in muskmelon production and to determine the extent and duration of striped cucumber beetle control among treatments. The neonicotinoids evaluated were imidacloprid and its metabolites imidacloprid olefin and 5-hydroxyimidacloprid, thiamethoxam and its metabolite clothianidin, and acetamiprid. Thiamethoxam applied as a FarMore ® seed treatment resulted in a highest …

Effects Of Biomass Harvest On Eastern Red-Backed Salamanders, Patrick J. Ruhl

Open Access Theses

In a typical forest harvest, the volume of coarse woody debris (CWD) increases from nonmerchantable material (i.e., tree-tops, limbs, and small-diameter trees) left on the forest floor. Biomass harvesting removes much of this material for bioenergy production. When removed, ecosystem services associated with CWD, such as seedbed substrate, nutrient cycling, and essential wildlife habitat, is reduced. Woodland salamanders have strict microhabitat and soil moisture requirements that make them especially sensitive to timber harvest practices, particularly those that remove CWD, a primary habitat for the group.

I monitored the abundance of Eastern red-backed salamanders ( Plethodon cinereus ) in response to …

Growth Of Post-Weaned Grazing Dairy Heifers When Evaluating The Effects Of Providing Shade Or Parasite Control, Mohammad W. Sahar

Open Access Theses

Reduced heat stress and lower gastrointestinal parasite loads can increase growth rate in heifers, potentially reducing the age at first breeding and lowering the costs associated with raising replacement dairy heifers. Providing shade is a recommended practice for reducing heat stress of grazing animals and is considered important for their wellbeing and productivity. However, limited information is available on the growth performance of young grazing dairy heifers when they are provided shade. Likewise, numerous products exist to prevent gastrointestinal parasites in animals. The development of new anthelmintic products, such as LongRange® (eprinomectin), increase the need for research to help understand …

Expression And Functional Characterization Of Mtp Genes From Arabidopsis Thaliana In Saccharomyces Cerevisiae, Yessica E. Cerino

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

In this study the functional characterization and overexpression of Metal Tolerance Protein (MTP) cDNA were evaluated using a transgenic yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) model system as a preliminary means for the characterization of metal tolerance conferred by putative Group III MTP genes from Arabidopsis thaliana. Metal disc assays for nickel, zinc, cobalt and cadmium treatments were performed to measure the tolerance imparted to yeast by the MTP cDNAs. Statistical analysis from zinc and cadmium assays showed AtMTP1 imparted the highest zinc tolerance in yeast, while AtMTPB1 imparted the highest cadmium and cobalt tolerance. However, AtMTPA2 and AtMTPB produced a decrease in …

Management Of Silverleaf Whitefly, Bemisia Argentifolii Bellows And Perring (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), Using Non-Crop Companion Plants In Organically-Managed Cantaloupe Systems In South Texas, Ruth Renee Colyer

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

Field trials in three separate phases of research were carried out from March, 2010, to August, 2012, to determine the effects of inter-cropping cantaloupe (Cucumis melo var. inodorus) with select non-crop companion plants in an effort to develop organic production strategies for melons in South Texas without the use of pesticides. A research program was designed and initiated to assess the effects of the companion plants and their ability to: 1) attract insect pollinators, and 2) repel or suppress pest species without affecting beneficial natural enemy complexes. The hypotheses were: 1) that organically-managed cantaloupe systems grown with non-crop companion plants …

Cut-Off Values For Gait Variables To Detect Forelimb Lameness In Individual Dogs, Jennifer G. Carr

Open Access Theses

The objective of this study was to characterize kinetic and kinematic variables in dogs with forelimb lameness and determine lameness cutoff values of gait variables using ROC analysis with observational gait analysis (OGA) as reference. Twenty client-owned dogs with unilateral lameness were included. Dogs underwent orthopedic exam, including OGA, and instrumented gait analysis (IGA; kinetic and kinematic analysis). Kinetic variables with the highest accuracy were PVF and %WD with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.73 and 0.92, respectively. Optimal cutoff value for PVF and %WD were ≤ 10.6 (sensitivity 70% and specificity 75%) and ≤ 29.7 (sensitivity 90% …