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Theses and Dissertations

2016

Articles 61 - 66 of 66

Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Effects Of Musical Intervals From Consonant To Dissonant On The Neural Activity Of Earthworms, Charley L. Weaver Jan 2016

The Effects Of Musical Intervals From Consonant To Dissonant On The Neural Activity Of Earthworms, Charley L. Weaver

Theses and Dissertations

Music is generated through vibrations of a medium creating what is perceived as tone. Two frequencies played simultaneously create intervals, and those ratios of frequencies determine what is consonant and dissonant. Studies have shown a greater neural response in human participants to consonant intervals (Bidelman and Heinz 2011, Bidelman and Krishnan 2009). In this study, the ventral nerve cord of Lumbricus terrestris was exposed to six dichotic intervals in the form of vibrations through a bass actuator. Nerve activity was recorded for amplitude (mV), duration (ms), and maximum depolarization (mV) of the action potential. There was no significant difference in …

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Screening For Pathogenic Escherichia Coli In The Chattahoochee River, Columbus, Georgia, Micah A. Staples Jan 2016

Screening For Pathogenic Escherichia Coli In The Chattahoochee River, Columbus, Georgia, Micah A. Staples

Theses and Dissertations

Escherichia coli testing is frequently used to indicate the possible presence of harmful pathogens, but E. coli itself can be pathogenic. Serotype 0157:H7, enterohemorrhagic E. coli, is likely the most medically important pathogenic strain of E. coli in the United States. In this study, we surveyed for 0157:H7 and three strains of another pathogenic subtype: enterotoxigenic E. coli. We isolated E. coli colonies from samples taken from the Chattahoochee River in Columbus, Georgia at two different locations, above and below wastewater outputs. We used PCR to test for the individual subtypes and then used a nested PCR protocol for the …

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Evaluating The Evolutionary And Genetic Relationships Of The Andean Orchids Of Northwestern Ecuador, Kylie Bucalo Jan 2016

Evaluating The Evolutionary And Genetic Relationships Of The Andean Orchids Of Northwestern Ecuador, Kylie Bucalo

Theses and Dissertations

DNA barcoding is a molecular based technique used to separate and identify individual species. Here we establish a DNA Barcode library for the orchid flora of an Andean cloud forest in Northwestern Ecuador. The library contains 135 matK and 136 rbcL DNA Barcodes representing over 33 Orchidaceae genera. Sequence analysis shows percent species resolution was higher for matK (98.8%) than rbcL (70.24%), with a large portion of the unresolved species for the rbcL loci coming from taxonomically complex genera in the subtribe Pleurothallidinae. Neighbor Joining (NJ) trees revealed that the orchid flora of Siempre Verde is divided taxonomically into two …

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The Loss Of Methanol Utilization In Methylobacteria, Justin T. Skariah Jan 2016

The Loss Of Methanol Utilization In Methylobacteria, Justin T. Skariah

Theses and Dissertations

Methylobacteria primary uses Cl substrates as a carbon and energy source. This experiment was performed to see if Methylobacteria would lose the ability to use Cl compound methanol after prolonged exposure to multi-carbon substrates. To determine this, the bacteria was grown on MR2A3 (multi-carbon substrates) and MOM (single-carbon substrates) for multiple generations and tested for loss of function on a series of generations. These tests include streaking plates of MOM and R2A with bacteria from MR2A3 then getting a bacterial colony count and also toothpick transfers of the colonies to verify findings. After 20 generations there were no significant decrease …

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Functional Significance Of Mtdna Cytosine Modification Tested By Genome Editing, Jason M. Robinson Jan 2016

Functional Significance Of Mtdna Cytosine Modification Tested By Genome Editing, Jason M. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

The field of epigenetics is gaining popularity and speed, due in part to its capability to answer lingering questions about the root cause of certain diseases. Epigenetics plays a crucial role in regulation of the cell and cell survival, particularly by cytosine methylation. It remains controversial if DNMT’s which facilitate methylation are present in mammalian mitochondria and what the functional significance they may have on modification of mitochondrial DNA. CRISPR-Cas9 technology enabled genome editing to remove the MTS (mitochondrial targeting sequence) from DNMT1 of HCT116 cells, purposefully minimizing effects on nuclear cytosine methylation, while exclusively impacting mitochondrial modification. Removal of …

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Plant Functional Trait And Hyperspectral Reflectance Responses To Comp B Exposure: Efficacy Of Plants As Landmine Detectors, Paul V. Manley Ii Jan 2016

Plant Functional Trait And Hyperspectral Reflectance Responses To Comp B Exposure: Efficacy Of Plants As Landmine Detectors, Paul V. Manley Ii

Theses and Dissertations

At least 110 million landmines have been planted since the 1970s in about 70 nations, many of which remain in place today. Some risk of detection may be mitigated using currently available remote sensing techniques when vegetation is present. My study focused on using plants as phytosensors to detect buried explosives. I exposed three species representing different functional types (Cyperus esculentus (sedge), Ulmus alata (tree), Vitis labrusca (vine)) to 500 mg kg-1 of Composition B (Comp B; 60/40 mixture of hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) and 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT)), a commonly used explosive mixture, and measured functional traits and reflectance over …

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