Life Sciences Commons^™

The Effects Of Stocking Density, Amount Of Substrate, Frequency Of Feeding, And Waste Removal On Nursery Production And The Effects Of Substrate Height On Pond Production Of Freshwater Prawn Macrobrachium Rosenbergii, Alison Aria Ashby

Masters Theses

Production of freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in temperate regions has gradually increased over the past decade due to advances in research. However, production is limited to one seasonal crop in these regions, increasing the need to intensify production. A nursery phase has been implemented to produce larger juveniles to stock into production ponds.

Three nursery experiments (A, B, C) were performed to evaluate the effects of stocking density, amount of added substrate, feeding frequency, and waste removal on the survival and growth of juvenile prawn. Experiment A involved two concurrent studies. Prawn averaging 0.01 g were stocked at …

Utilization Of Organic Co-Solvents To Enhance Bacterial Conversion Of Poorly Water-Soluble Compounds, Miguel Rodríguez Jr.

Masters Theses

Mass transfer of a poorly water-soluble gas in fermentations can reduce the performance of bioreactors. In aerobic fermentations, oxygen often becomes a limiting factor. In the biodegradation of volatile organic contaminants, their poor water solubilities often regulate the process. In fermentations of synthesis gas to fuels and chemicals, the issue of mass transfer is apparent. Since the mass transfer rate of the gaseous substrate to the aqueous phase is often the rate-limiting step in the bacterial conversion, many different reactor configurations have been suggested. An alternative approach could be to incorporate a co-solvent, which has properties that will increase the …

Involvement Of Transit Peptide Aromatic Residues In Precursor Interaction(S) With The Chloroplast Import Apparatus, Huixia Zhang

Masters Theses

The import of nuclear-encoded preproteins into chloroplast is mediated by the transit peptide located in the N-terminus of the preproteins. A semi-conserved FGLK motif is identified in most of the transit peptides bioinformatically, despite the lack of homology in the primary sequence. To investigate the role of phenylalanines in the FGLK motifs of SStp in the interaction with outer envelope import apparatus, mutations were made on the two motifs found in prSSU from tobacco: F26TGLK and F35PVSRK. These mutations include F→W, F→S, and F→A in both of the motifs. The WT precursor (prSSU), 6 single prSSU mutants, 9 double prSSU …

Fine-Scale Habitat Use Related To Crop Depredation By Female White-Tailed Deer In An Agricultural Landscape, Kent Allen Adams

Masters Theses

The white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) is the most popular game animal in the United States but is also responsible for a large amount of damage to agricultural crops. Understanding how deer use agricultural landscapes on a small scale will facilitate management. Global Positioning System (GPS) telemetry collars were attached to 16 female white-tailed deer at Chesapeake Farms, Kent County, Maryland, during 2 summer growing seasons (10 in 2001 and 6 in 2002). Twelve collars collected usable data and collar success averaged 90 and 86 percent in 2001 and 2002, respectively. Mean adaptive kernel home-range sizes (25.22 ha in …

Current Assessment And Future Prediction Of Forest Cover Change In Cumberland And Morgan Counties, Tennessee: A Modeling Technique, Jeffery David Strickland

Masters Theses

Determining the relationship between human disturbance of the environment and natural forest change is critical for sound natural resource planning. Improved land cover modeling techniques that incorporate geographic information systems and statistical models are needed to assist in this analysis. Continued forest fragmentation due to increasing population and urbanization has created a growing interest in forest protection for the Cumberland Plateau of Tennessee. Specifically, Cumberland and Morgan Counties have seen unprecedented population growth over the last two decades, resulting in fragmentation of forestland. This study developed a model to determine the probability of exurbia development and its resulting forest fragmentation. …

Initial Effects Of Silvicultural Treatments On Food Availability And Vegetation Structure For Wild Turkeys, Ryan G. Basinger

Masters Theses

The eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris) is an important game species in the mid-South region. Many non-industrial private landowners along with state and federal agencies actively manage property to enhance habitat for wild turkeys. In the past, diameter-limit cutting has been commonly used to harvest hardwood timber on public and private land in this region. Unfortunately, diameter-limit harvests typically “high-grade” stands, leaving low quality stems and altering forest composition in favor of less desirable species, such as red maple (Acer rubrum), sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua), winged elm (Ulmus alata), and yellow poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera). While the most biologically sound method …

Forest Certification: From The Perspectives Of Fsc Certified Land Managers In North America, Angela Hartsfield

Masters Theses

Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification emerged nearly a decade ago from the realms of environmental non-governmental organizations, which sought greater environmental and social accountability from the forestry sector. Since its birth, FSC forest certification has had significant impacts on land managers who have adopted FSC forest management certification for their organizations. Given limited information on impacts of certification, and in order to better understand and assess the implications of FSC forest certification on land managers and on land management; I employ a mail survey, sent to all FSC certified land managers in North America. The results of this survey are …

Role Of Ionic Interactions In The Catalytic Mechanism Of R67 Dihydrofolate Reductase, Stephanie Nicole Hicks

Masters Theses

The goal of this research is to investigate the role of K32 and K33 in the catalytic mechanism of R67 dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR). K32 is located in the active site pore and is the only charged residue in the active site while K33 is located on the surface of R67 DHFR. Both of the ligands for R67 DHFR, NADPH and dihydrofolate (DHF), have negative charges capable of forming ionic interactions with symmetry related K32 residues. NMR, DELPHI, and docking studies predict that K32 is involved in ionic interactions with the 2’phosphate of NADPH. Docking studies also predict that K32 participates …

A Management Plan For The Imported Fire Ant (Ifa) Migration Into Gateway Communities In East Tennessee, Elizabeth Ann Long

Masters Theses

This thesis outlines a management plan for Gateway communities to use as a preparedness guide dealing with the establishment of the hybrid species of the Imported Fire Ant (IFA). The red species of IFA, Solenopsis invicta Buren, and the black species of IFA, Solenopsis richteri Forel, are located in southern Tennessee, but it appears that it is the hybrid species of their crossbreeding that is migrating into east Tennessee. The two species of IFA and their hybrid are moving north, both by natural migration and by being brought into the east Tennessee area on landscape plant materials and by the …

“Effect Of Labeling On Consumer Perception Of Commercial And Laboratory-Produced Vanilla Ice Creams, April Rae Parker

Masters Theses

Ice cream, produced in millions of gallons, has been a favorite comfort food to many people since its development centuries ago. Vanilla ice cream has long been a staple in the ice cream industry with its production and consumption being the highest when compared to other flavors. Since many consumers want more “natural” foods, the objective of this study was to study the effect of labeling the type of vanilla flavoring on consumer perception of commercial ice cream and laboratory-produced vanilla ice cream. Four commercial vanilla ice creams, one containing natural vanilla, one with artificial, and two containing both, were …

Inventory And Analysis Of Plankton In Green River Within Mammoth Cave National Park, Justin H. Laughlin

Masters Theses

National Park Service biological staff are charged with preserving and protecting all creatures within a park’s boundaries. It is only a matter of time before exotic zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) invade all eastern waterways including Green River within Mammoth Cave National Park, Kentucky. The National Park Service, in cooperation with University of Tennessee, initiated this inventory of plankton within Mammoth Cave National Park to establish baseline data prior to zebra mussel invasion. During this two year study (2000-2002), 180 plankton samples were collected at three sampling sites which encompassed all major riverine habitat types within the three flow zones (free-flow, …

Soybean Hull Supplementation To Pasture-Based Beef Cattle Finishing Diets, Rebon Brent Pugh

Masters Theses

In the midsouthern United States, forages exist as the major nutrient source for grazing beef cattle. A large forage base allows this region to produce and market many feeder calves to backgrounding and feedlot operations. The utilization of forage resources stands as a high priority to cattle producers. Supplementation of highly digestible fiber feedstuffs can be used to enhance animal performance, to take advantage of forage resources, and to extend forages by increasing stocking rates or increasing hay production. The development of forage based beef cattle finishing systems may be supported by high-fiber energy supplementation strategies. The availability of feeder …

Probing And Three-Point Bend Methods Compared To Sensory Scales As Measurements For Cookie Texture, Aaron Lee Woody

Masters Theses

Cookies, an important product of the food industry, have distinctive textural attributes that affect consumer perception of quality. Reliable methods of texture evaluation of cookies are important to monitor the manufacture of consistent, consumer acceptable products. Instrumental methods for textural evaluation that correlate with sensory values can help with the speed, cost, and ease of evaluating during processing. A study was conducted to evaluate differences and similarities between two instrumental methods and sensory evaluation of texture evaluation for seven commercially available varieties of cookies (two shortbread, pecan shortbread, a soft and hard sugar cookie, and a soft and hard oatmeal …

Expression Of Luxi In Bacillus Thuringiensis For The Development Of A Bacteriophage-Based Bioreporter System For The Detection Of Anthrax, Amy Tomaszewski

Masters Theses

In light of the recent anthrax attacks of 2001in the United States, the need for a rapid, sensitive, and real-time surveillance system for detecting pathogenic bacteria has become readily apparent. A proof-of-principle study involving development of a bacteriophage-based bioreporter system for the detection of Bacillus anthracis spores has been initiated in the surrogate strain Bacillus thuringiensis 4Q7. The final goal of the project is to develop an engineered bacteriophage with the luxI gene from Vibrio fischeri, which upon infection of the target organism, would produce the signal molecule, N-(3-oxohexanoyl)-L-homoserine lactone (OHHL), capable of inducing bioluminescence in a neighboring …

Influence Of Chelators On The Antimicrobial Activity Of Lysozyme Against Escherichia Coli O157:H7., Jeffrey Smith Boland

Masters Theses

The objectives of these studies were to determine the influence of chelator combinations on the effectiveness of the food antimicrobial lysozyme against the foodborne pathogenic bacterium, Escherichia coli O157:H7. By itself, lysozyme has little or no activity against Gram-negative bacteria, however, in the presence of chelating agents, the antimicrobial spectrum of lysozyme can be increased to include Gramnegative bacteria such as E. coli O157:H7. Experiments were three-fold. The first series of experiments examined the effects of lysozyme and three chelating agents (ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid (EDTA), disodium pyrophosphate (DSPP), and pentasodium tripolyphosphate (PSTPP)) on growth inhibition of E. coli O157:H7. The …

The Use Of Green Fluorescent Protein For Transgene Monitoring And Detection Of Pollen Distribution And Gene Flow Patterns Under Field Conditions., Laura C. Hudson

Masters Theses

There have been many recent and new possibilities for crop improvement since the development of techniques, which allow for the transfer of novel genes into host plant genomes. Fitness enhancing genes that confer disease, drought, and herbicide resistance to important food crops such as corn (Zea mays L.), soybean (Glycine max L.), canola (Brassica napus L.), and rice (Oryza sativa L.) will be invaluable tools to feed the exponentially growing human population world wide.

This widespread use of transgenic crops has increased the risk of transgene escape into the environment. …

Cellular Function Prediction For Hypothetical Proteins Using High-Throughput Data, Trupti Subhash Joshi

Masters Theses

We have developed an integrated probabilistic prediction method, which combines the information from protein-protein interactions, protein complexes, microarray gene-expression profiles and functional annotations for known proteins. Our approach differs from the other approaches to use high-throughput data in a variety of ways. First, we utilize the GO biological process functional annotation in comparison to the MIPS classification followed by others. Second, we incorporate information from multiple sources of high-throughput data, including genetic interactions, to develop a better model for function prediction. By incorporating information from the multiple sources of high-throughput data, we identify the parameters important for protein function prediction. …

Effects Of 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 On Adipocyte Differentiation, Kimberly Causey

Masters Theses

Several recent reports from this laboratory demonstrate a regulatory role for intracellular Ca²⁺([Ca²⁺]_i) in modulating lipid metabolism in both human and murine adipocytes, with increased [Ca²⁺]_i coordinately stimulating lipogenesis and inhibiting lipolysis, thereby expanding lipid mass. Further, we have recently demonstrated that

1,25-dihydroxyvitamin-D3 [1,25-(0H)2-D₃] stimulates adipocyte membrane vitamin D receptor (m VDR)-mediated rapid Ca²⁺ influx into adipocytes, resulting in the stimulation of lipogenesis and inhibition of lipolysis. However, increasing [Ca²⁺]_i in the early stages of differentiation inhibits human adipocyte differentiation, whereas increasing [Ca²⁺] …

The Effect Of Ultimate Ph On The Shelflife And Safety Of Fresh Pork Loins, Brandy Lynn Knox

Masters Theses

Ultimate pH (the pH of meat 24 hr post-mortem) is one of the most important contributors to defects and reduced sensory and microbial shelflife of pork. The objectives of this study were to determine: (1) the effect of ultimate pH (pHu) of pork loin on its shelflife at the wholesale and retail level and (2) its influence on the growth of Salmonella Typhimurium DT104 in ground pork. Thirty-six pork loins (pH range = 5.56- 6.57) were collected at a commercial slaughter facility 24 hr post-slaughter. All pigs were from the same genetic line. Aerobic (APC), psychrotrophic (PPC), Enterobacteriaceae (EC) and …

Effect Of Gaseous Ozone On Antioxidant Content And Color Of Sliced Tomatoes, Sarah Malone

Masters Theses

Sliced tomatoes are used frequently in restaurants and fast-food establishments. Their limited shelf-life has caused scientists to study treatments to prolong their useful life. Previously, treatments for shelf-life extension have included mild heat treatment and modified atmosphere packaging. Although gaseous ozone has been shown to reduce spoilage microorganisms on produce, limited research has been performed regarding the oxidation potential of ozone on antioxidant compounds. Our objective was to evaluate the effect of gaseous ozone on lycopene and ascorbic acid in sliced tomatoes, as well as its effect on tomato color. Two tomatoes of uniform size and color (USDA Stage 5) …

Physical And Chemical Treatments For Control Of Salmonella On Cantaloupe Rinds, Vivian Ann Rash

Masters Theses

This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of various sanitizing treatments applied to cantaloupe rinds on survival of Salmonella. A five-strain cocktail of nalidixic acid resistant Salmonella was inoculated (~ 6 log cfu/cm²) onto the rinds of whole cantaloupes, which were then treated with tap water (control), chlorine dioxide solution (100 and 200 ppm for 30, 60 and 90 sec), peroxyacetic acid solution (40 and 80 ppm for 45, 90 and 150 sec), dimethyl dicarbonate solution (1000, 5000, and 10,000 ppm for 3 min), ozonated water (~1.66 ppm for 1, 2, 3, and 4 hours), steam …

Validation Of Multicultural Nutrition Counseling Competencies For Registered Dietitians, Reena Oza

Masters Theses

Objective: To validate the multicultural nutrition counseling competencies for entry-level dietitians in the next 10 years.

Design: An expert panel was asked to review the original 46 competencies and make appropriate changes. Their responses were compiled and incorporated into a survey. The survey was administered by mail and consisted of 56 competency items that subjects rated on a Likert scale of 1 to 7 (1=Somewhat essential to 7=Absolutely essential). Following the mail survey a post card reminder was sent followed by a follow-up survey to non-respondents, another post card reminder, and a final survey to a random sample of the …

Habitat Comparisons And Geographic Distribution Of La Crosse Encephalitis In Eastern Tennessee Utilizing Geographic Information Systems, Howard Joe Morton

Masters Theses

In eastern Tennessee there was a total of 17 cases of a La Crosse (LAC) encephalitis viral infection reported to the East Tennessee Department of Health in 2000. During that same time, 25 cases of other Central Nervous System Infection (CNSI) that were not La Crosse were also reported. Out of those 42 cases 11 were chosen to be revisited (6 Control and 5 LAC) and the nearby wooded habitats were surveyed. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) was utilized to plot each case location on various maps.

The sites were all in eastern Tennessee, in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge geographical …

Macroinfaunal Community Composition And Biomass, And Bacterial And Viral Abundances From The Gulf Of Alaska To The Canadian Archipelago: A Biodiversity Study, Arianne Lynn Balsom

Masters Theses

Hydrographic, sediment, and biological (chlorophyll a, bacteria, viruses, and macroinfauna) samples were collected on a several thousand mile long transect spanning from the Gulf of Alaska, through the Bering and Chukchi Seas, the Beaufort Sea, and into the Canadian Archipelago/Northwest Passage in the summer of 2000.

Water column hydrographic parameters (temperature, salinity, and chlorophyll a), water column bacterial and viral abundances and distributions, as well as benthic measurements of sediment bacterial and viral abundances and distribution, sediment grain size, and sediment organic carbon and organic nitrogen content were measured. In addition, macroinfaunal community composition and diversity were examined. …

An Analysis Of Consumer’S Willingness To Pay For Environmental Certified Hardwood Products, Meng Li

Masters Theses

This study examines Tennessee and Pennsylvania consumers’ market participation for environmentally certified hardwood products (oak table, oak shelving board, oak chair), obtains potential premiums paid for selected hardwood products, determines the effects of scope of certification and demographics on premium amounts, and builds profiles of consumers who are willingness to pay the premium for certified hardwood products.

A pretest survey taken in Tennessee was used to construct premium ranges for the main field survey. Analysis of the main field survey conducted in rural and urban areas of Tennessee and Pennsylvania is based on the results of the logistic model, descriptive …