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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

Metabolic Modeling Of Cystic Fibrosis Airway Microbiota From Patient Samples, Arsh Vyas Oct 2021

Metabolic Modeling Of Cystic Fibrosis Airway Microbiota From Patient Samples, Arsh Vyas

Masters Theses

Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetic disorder, found with higher prevalence in the Caucasian population, affecting > 30,000 individuals in the United States and > 70,000 worldwide. Due to the astoundingly high rate of mortality among CF patients being attributed to respiratory failure brought on by chronic bacterial infections and subsequent airway inflammation, there has been a lot of focus on systematically analyzing CF lung airway communities. While it is observed traditionally that Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the most threatening and persistent CF colonizer due to high antibiotic resistance, recent studies have elicited the roles of other pathogens and it has been widely …


An Integrative, Cost-Benefit Analysis On Animal Perturbations: Autotomy And Life-History Related Weight Gain, Chi-Yun Kuo Nov 2015

An Integrative, Cost-Benefit Analysis On Animal Perturbations: Autotomy And Life-History Related Weight Gain, Chi-Yun Kuo

Doctoral Dissertations

The variation in behavioral traits and the adaptive significance behind such variation has been a classic question in behavioral ecology. Traits that enhance while simultaneously impose high fitness costs are particularly suitable for addressing this fundamental question, as their expressions are likely under strong selection. In this dissertation, I investigate the variation in a costly antipredator behavior and the underlying cost-benefit mechanisms. The trait of interest is the voluntary shedding of the tail, or tail autotomy, in lizards. Tail autotomy allows lizards to survive close-range encounters with predators but also has severe fitness consequences, including increased energetic demand for regeneration …


Physiological Models Of Geobacter Sulfurreducens And Desulfobacter Postgatei To Understand Uranium Remediation In Subsurface Systems, Roberto Orellana Nov 2014

Physiological Models Of Geobacter Sulfurreducens And Desulfobacter Postgatei To Understand Uranium Remediation In Subsurface Systems, Roberto Orellana

Doctoral Dissertations

Geobacter species are often the predominant Fe(III)-reducing microorganisms in many sedimentary environments due to their capacity for extracellular electron transfer. This exceptional physiological capability allows them to couple acetate oxidation to uranium (U(VI)) reduction, that is one of the most significant interactions between radionuclides and microorganisms that naturally takes place in uranium-contaminated environments. Although this process has been proposed as a promising strategy for the in situ bioremediation of uranium-contaminated groundwater, little is known about the molecular mechanisms involved in U(VI) reduction and the interaction between Geobacter and other microbial species. In the first two research chapters, this dissertation aim …


Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Land Use Impacts On Water Quality In Watershed Systems, Olga Tsvetkova Jan 2007

Spatial And Temporal Dynamics Of Land Use Impacts On Water Quality In Watershed Systems, Olga Tsvetkova

Masters Theses 1911 - February 2014

ABSTRACT SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL DYNAMICS OF LAND USE IMPACTS ON WATER QUALITY IN WATERSHED SYSTEMS SEPTEMBER 2007 OLGA TSVETKOVA, B.S., NOVGOROD STATE UNIVERSITY, RUSSIA M.S., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Timothy O. Randhir Predicting land use change and assessing watershed tradeoffs between the watershed system components through system simulation helps to determine future nutrient and sediment load reductions needed to obtain a particular water quality standard. This also helps to examine the tradeoffs among nutrient and sediment load reductions that achieve the same water quality objective. Tradeoff assessment is a useful tool to meet agricultural and urban needs …