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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Analysis Of Metabolites And Therapeutics For Toxic Inhaled Agent Exposure, Abigail Bemah Donkor Jan 2021

Analysis Of Metabolites And Therapeutics For Toxic Inhaled Agent Exposure, Abigail Bemah Donkor

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The inhalation of toxic inhaled agents (TIAs) such as methyl isocyanate and cyanide can compromise an individual’s general health due to their extremely toxic nature. Nonetheless, these gases are used extensively in the electronics, chemical, welding, electroplating industries, etc., increasing the risk of exposure to both civilians and industrial workers. It is therefore very crucial to develop analytical methods for TIA metabolites and therapeutic agents. Methyl isocyanate (MIC), an intermediate in the synthesis of carbamate pesticides is a toxic industrial chemical that causes irritation and damage to the eyes, respiratory tracts, and skin. Due to its reactivity with proteins, protein …


Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Sympatric Bobcats (Lynx Rufus) And Coyotes (Canis Latrans) In An Agricultural Landscape, Marlin M. Dart Jan 2021

Spatial And Temporal Patterns Of Sympatric Bobcats (Lynx Rufus) And Coyotes (Canis Latrans) In An Agricultural Landscape, Marlin M. Dart

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bobcat (Lynx rufus) populations experienced declines in the Midwest during the 20th century due to land conversion for agriculture and over exploitation and were practically nonexistent in areas by the 1970-80s. Populations have been recovering following changes in land-use practices and habitat improvement. Eastern South Dakota was closed to bobcat harvest in 1977 but reopened in 2012 to select counties. Bobcats are elusive, have large home ranges, and occur at low densities, making monitoring their populations difficult. Camera trapping is an effective tool for monitoring elusive carnivores but can be burdened by low detection rates. Researchers often employ …


Pheasant Ecology In An Agricultural Landscape Of South Dakota, Sprih Harsh Jan 2021

Pheasant Ecology In An Agricultural Landscape Of South Dakota, Sprih Harsh

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Habitat loss and fragmentation are the greatest threats to wildlife conservation. Grasslands are among the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. The large-scale conversion of North American grasslands to cultivation has been strongly associated with declines of grassland bird populations. The ring-necked pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) is a common grassland bird which is negatively impacted by the conversion of grassland to cropland. Though pheasants are non-native to South Dakota, they have become naturalized in most of the state. However, with increases in agricultural intensification in South Dakota, indices of pheasant abundance from brood route surveys suggest that pheasant populations have declined to historically …


Comparison Of Software Packages For Detecting Differentially Expressed Genes From Single-Sample Rna-Seq Data, Rong Zhou Jan 2021

Comparison Of Software Packages For Detecting Differentially Expressed Genes From Single-Sample Rna-Seq Data, Rong Zhou

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) has rapidly become the tool in many genome-wide transcriptomic studies. It provides a way to understand the RNA environment of cells in different physiological or pathological states to determine how cells respond to these changes. RNA-seq provides quantitative information about the abundance of different RNA species present in a given sample. If the difference or change observed in the read counts or expression level between two experimental conditions is statistically significant, the gene is declared as differentially expressed. A large number of methods for detecting differentially expressed genes (DEGs) with RNA-seq have been developed, such as the methods …


An Evaluation Of The Bighorn Sheep Population In Badlands National Park, Austin J. Wieseler Jan 2021

An Evaluation Of The Bighorn Sheep Population In Badlands National Park, Austin J. Wieseler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Within the last century, bighorn sheep (Ovis canadensis) in the badlands ecosystem of western South Dakota have been subjected to complete extirpation, reintroduction, disease die-offs, genetic bottlenecking, and population augmentation. Subsequently, the population in Badlands National Park (BNP) appears to have recovered, but it was unknown to what degree past events had influenced the population. From 2017-2019, we conducted research on 5 subherds within 2 management units in BNP to 1) survey for the presence of respiratory pathogens and estimate the prevalence of other potentially infectious diseases; 2) assess adult and lamb survival and cause-specific mortality; 3) estimate population size …


Evaluating Canola Genotypes For Growth And Yield Under Different Environmental Conditions In South Dakota, Unius Arinaitwe Jan 2021

Evaluating Canola Genotypes For Growth And Yield Under Different Environmental Conditions In South Dakota, Unius Arinaitwe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Canola (Brassica napus L) and carinata (Brassica carinata A. Braun) are potential oilseed crops for diversifying cropping systems and expanding into marginal lands impacted by saline and sodic soils in South Dakota (SD). However, genotypes that are high yielding, with high agronomic adaptability and stability over diverse environments, and salt tolerant have not been selected. One field experiment was conducted at two environments (Brookings - eastern SD and Pierre - western SD) from 2019 to 2020 to evaluate genotypes for growth and yield stability. Three greenhouse experiments were conducted to evaluate genotypes for salt tolerance in …


Exploring The Determinants Of Aspects Of Rotational Grazing In The U.S. Great Plains, Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury Jan 2021

Exploring The Determinants Of Aspects Of Rotational Grazing In The U.S. Great Plains, Iftekhar Uddin Ahmed Chowdhury

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Pasture and rangeland make up about 45 percent of the agricultural land in the U.S. Great Plains and one of the most common form of mismanagement of this pasture is overgrazing. Which results in many detrimental effects on environment. Many practitioners endorsed Rotational grazing (RG) as an improved grazing management practice over season-long continuous grazing. The overall goal of the current study is to assess the certain aspects of using RG in the U.S. Great Plains. Using mail survey data of the of 874 beef cattle producers of North Dakota, South Dakota, and Texas, the study found that neighborhood practice, …


Effects Of Harvest Regulations And Post-Release Hooking Mortality On Walleye Populations In South Dakota, Cade Lyon Jan 2021

Effects Of Harvest Regulations And Post-Release Hooking Mortality On Walleye Populations In South Dakota, Cade Lyon

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Harvest regulations are commonly implemented to manipulate fisheries stocks. By regulating the size and number of fish that are harvested by anglers, managers are able to meet the goals and needs of regions. However, these management actions come with the potential for negative consequences. Overexploitation due to less restrictive harvest regulations can cause collapses in fisheries populations. In addition, indirect consequences such as hooking mortality brought on by length-based regulations can also be detrimental to populations. In this study, I investigated the effects of various harvest regulations on Walleye populations in three western South Dakota irrigation reservoirs: Angostura, Belle Fourche, …


Revegetating Salt-Impacted Soils In The Northern Great Plains, Abigail P. Blanchard Jan 2021

Revegetating Salt-Impacted Soils In The Northern Great Plains, Abigail P. Blanchard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In the northern Great Plains (NGP), an estimated 10.6 million hectares of land are affected by naturally occurring salt-impacted soil. Naturally occurring salt impaction results when rainfall causes salts in parent material to move upward through the soil profile and remain in the root zone causing osmotic and ionic stress, negatively affecting seed imbibition, germination, and plant growth. Common methods to remediate saltimpacted soils were developed in the irrigated soils of the Southwestern U.S., are ineffective in the non-irrigated soils of the NGP, and can exacerbate the problem. Therefore, new methods to remediate salt-impacted soil in the NGP are needed. …


The Effects Of Saline Soil On Microbiome And The Isolation Of Root-Associated Microbes To Relieve Salinity Stress, Duncan Jakubowski Jan 2021

The Effects Of Saline Soil On Microbiome And The Isolation Of Root-Associated Microbes To Relieve Salinity Stress, Duncan Jakubowski

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Increasing levels of salinity in once-viable lands for crop production is a serious and growing problem in the Northern Great Plains. The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of saline soil on the microbial composition of plant roots and bulk soil, to measure metabolic changes in plant roots from saline soil, to determine the viability of root-associated microbes as inoculants to increase stress tolerance in plants, as well as determine the impact of saline soil on nitrogen cycling genes linked to greenhouse gas production. This study hypothesizes that high soil salinity levels have a significant impact on …


Effects Of Predator Management And Parasitism On Over-Water Nesting Diving Duck Production In Southwestern Manitoba, Trenton E. Rohrer Jan 2021

Effects Of Predator Management And Parasitism On Over-Water Nesting Diving Duck Production In Southwestern Manitoba, Trenton E. Rohrer

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Nest survival of upland nesting waterfowl (e.g., mallard [Anas platyrhynchos], blue-winged teal [Anas discors]) has been studied extensively in the Prairie Pothole Region (PPR) of North America. Conversely, over-water nesting diving ducks’ nest survival is poorly understood, likely because over-water nests are more challenging to find, may be less concentrated, and searching for these nests is physically demanding. Nest depredation is considered a leading cause of duck nest failure and is considered a limiting factor on upland nesting waterfowl production in the PPR. Similar factors limiting upland nesting duck production may limit over-water nesting duck productivity, but studies of this …


Therapeutic Immunoglobulin G Surface Mobility Promotes Antibody-Dependent Cellular Phagocytosis By Arp2/3 And Syk Mediated Rearrangement Of Fcγ Receptors, Seongwan Jo Jan 2021

Therapeutic Immunoglobulin G Surface Mobility Promotes Antibody-Dependent Cellular Phagocytosis By Arp2/3 And Syk Mediated Rearrangement Of Fcγ Receptors, Seongwan Jo

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Therapeutic antibodies are rapidly growing class of drugs for treating cancers and immunological disorders by targeting specific antigens or blocking certain pathway to inhibit the tumor growth. In cancer immunotherapy, it was found that Fcγ receptor (FcγR) in immune cells play an important role in antibody dependent cell toxicity against tumor cells. Therefore, understanding FcγR activation mechanism, which requires ligation with immunoglobulin (IgG), is crucial to enhance potency of therapeutic antibodies. One crucial immune responses triggered upon FcγR ligation with IgG is phagocytosis which indicates clearing targets by engulfment. It is known that FcγRs form microclusters which gets rearranged during …


Assaying Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens Isolates 1ba And 1d3 For Biosurfactant Production And Utilization Of Petroleum Hydrocarbons And Phenolic Acids, Pavan Kulkarni Jan 2021

Assaying Bacillus Amyloliquefaciens Isolates 1ba And 1d3 For Biosurfactant Production And Utilization Of Petroleum Hydrocarbons And Phenolic Acids, Pavan Kulkarni

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Several Bacillus amyloliquefaciens isolates obtained from wheat residue have been studied as biological agents to control wheat diseases. Notable traits of isolates 1BA and 1D3 include growth with high salt (10% NaCl), at temperatures up to 50°C and over a wide pH range. BIOLOG Gen III plates were used to study and further characterize Bacillus amyloliquefaciens 1BA and 1D3. Both isolates showed tolerance to high salt concentration supporting previous studies. They also grew in the presence of lithium chloride, potassium tellurite, and sodium bromate. Both isolates grew at pH 5, with almost identical carbon source utilization fingerprints. However, D-serine, quinic …