Life Sciences Commons^™

Rooting Characteristics And Antioxidant Pigment Responses Of Three Hybrid Bermudagrass [Cynodon Dactylon (L.) Pers. × Cynodon Transvaalensis Burtt- Davy] Cultivars Exposed To Drought, Cory Alan Yurisic

Masters Theses

With recent changes in global climate, water use and its conservation have become important topics of discussion. Turfgrasses for lawns, parks, and other recreational areas are often perceived negatively due to the need for irrigation. The identification of turfgrasses possessing an improved ability to withstand water deficit is an important goal in science to curb irrigation requirements in the landscape. Newly released cultivars of hybrid bermudagrass (C. dactylon L. x. C. transvaalensis Burtt-Davy) have demonstrated improved tolerance to stresses such as cold, traffic, and water deficit; however, drought resistance mechanisms of these new cultivars have been largely uninvestigated. Drought …

Correlation Between Sleep And Lifespan In Drosophila Melanogaster, Courtney H. Fiebelman

Masters Theses

”Sleep has previously been associated with lifespan. Monitoring sleep in any given fly over their lifetime facilitates the ability to predict the lifespan of that given fly. Using this estimate, lifespan can potentially correlate with biological age to identify when health parameters have declined.

To confirm that the prediction algorithm could identify short and long-lived flies, glutathione levels in heads and bodies were compared between two groups. The results showed this to be consistent in the bodies of wild-type Canton S male flies, and showed that glutathione was decreased in the predicted biologically older flies. These data show that glutathione …

Chitosan-Gallic Acid Films As Multifunctional Food Packaging, Stephanie Beth Schreiber

Masters Theses

Chitosan is a good candidate for multifunctional food packaging because of its biocompatibility, biodegradability, antibacterial properties, secondary antioxidant activity, film forming ability, resistance to lipids and because of its structure which is very desirable for grafting various compounds to it. For this research, we took advantage of chitosan’s amino group that has nuceleophilic character at a pH above its pKa, which is 6.3. Gallic acid, a phenolic compound with primary antioxidant properties was grafted to chitosan using 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide and N-hydroxysuccinimide. Grafting was evaluated using FTIR-ATR and ¹H and ¹³CNMR. FTIR showed evidence of grafting on the amino …

The Effects Of Roasting Time And Temperature On The Antioxidant Capacity Of Cocoa Beans From Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Haiti, Indonesia, And Ivory Coast, Whitney Leigh Harrington

Masters Theses

Roasting is an important processing step for developing cocoa flavor, color, and aroma. Cocoa beans contain polyphenolic compounds, which can be desirable antioxidants. Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) values can be used as an indicator of health benefits of antioxidants in foods. ORAC values measure total antioxidant capacity of different foods by measuring antioxidant scavenging activity against peroxyl radical induced by 2,2’-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH). This measurement of total antioxidant capacity gives a complete assessment during which the inhibition time and inhibition degree are measured as the reaction comes to a completion. ORAC values were determined as Trolox Equivalents (TE). …