Biology Commons^™

The Role Of Trees In Reducing The Urban Heat Island Effect On The New Jersey Institute Of Technology Campus, Newark, Nj, Dahlia Mansour

Theses

Every year, an estimated 12.3 million tons of glass are generated in the United States. Of all glass generated, only 3.1 million tons are recycled. Despite the near endless recyclability of glass waste, recycling rates in the United States remain low. This is primarily due to the lack of color separation and presence of non-recyclable materials associated with single-stream curbside collection used in many municipalities throughout the country. These factors make recycled glass unusable for many glass bottle manufacturers, causing the majority of glass placed in a recycling bin to eventually be landfilled. The purpose of this research is to …

The Evaluation Of Carbon Benefits Produced By Urban Street Trees, Hanyu Wang

Theses

Urban tree service and urban forestry are important fields that focus on the care and management of trees in urban areas. Urban trees provide numerous benefits around all aspect, including carbon storage, improving air and water qualities. Carbon storage refers to the process of removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and storing it in various reservoirs, and in this case, in trees and forests.

i-Tree is a suite of software tools developed by the United States Forest Service that provides a range of resources for assessing and managing forests. i-Tree Eco is one of the more used tools from …

The Role Of Irak-1 Transcripts In Sepsis, Adithya Subramanian Sahasranamam

Theses

Sepsis is a complex, life-threatening syndrome that can lead to systemic organ failure and dysfunction. Its high morbidity and mortality rates makes it a critical global health issue. The primary factors at play during sepsis are abnormal inflammation and a lack of oxygen supply to the tissues and muscles. The toll-like receptors play a crucial role in eliciting innate immune in response to infection, primarily through the interleukin-1 receptor-associated kinase (IRAK) pathways. Disturbances in the homeostasis of IRAK signaling cascades can lead to immune dysfunction. n this paper, we review the molecular mechanisms of IRAK-1, an important mediator of TLR-induced …

Improving Methods To Estimate Time Of Death From Body Temperature, Carly Berdan

Theses

By protocol, ambient and body temperatures are collected at every investigated death scene. These data has been used since 1839 to estimate the time of death, a crucial factor when it comes to cases of unnatural deaths and homicides. The Glaister Equation and Henssge's nomogram, commonly used to calculate estimated time of death, are inconsistent and often do not agree with each other. Therefore, my objective was to evaluate and improve them.

I collected data in the field and consistently measured temperature data. Furthermore, I was granted access to a database of every death in New Jersey and published data. …

Using A Bio-Inspired Model To Understand The Evolution Of The Remora Adhesive Disk, Kaelyn Mykel Gamel

Theses

Manmade adhesives often fail on wet, compliant surfaces, which can result in poor performance when attaching sensors in medical, defense, and research situations. However, a number of fishes have evolved adhesive discs that allow adhesion to surfaces under challenging wetted conditions. A remarkable evolutionary advancement is found in the family of echenidae, colloquially known as the remora. In particular, the remora fishes have the ability to attach to wet, compliant bodies under high shear conditions for extended periods of time. This research addresses the lack of underwater adhesives by using remora adhesion as a bioinspired model. Evolution has taken …

Otolith Morphologies In The Genus Sinocyclocheilus, Iqra Iqbal

Theses

Sinocyclocheilus is a genus of Cyprinid fish found in southern China. This genus contains 68 species of which 40 species have adaptations for life in cave habitats. A common adaptation seen in fish that live in caves with no light is the loss of vision. Such cavefish must therefore rely on other sensory modalities to capture prey, communicate between conspecifics, and potentially avoid predators. Previous studies have identified sensory adaptations in cavefish, including the increase in size and number of mechanoreceptors. Sinocyclocheilus are hearing specialists, and it is possible that cave species of this genus have increased reliance on hearing …

Changes In Morphology During The Development Of The Horn And Hump Of The Chinese Cavefish Sinocyclocheillus Furcodorsalis, Michelle Pluviose

Theses

The genus Sinocyclocheilus endemic to southern China and contains many cavefish species. There are approximately sixty species, of which roughly forty are cave-adapted. Cave Sinocyclocheilus are characterized not only by lack of pigmentation and eyes depending on the species, but also by a unique prominent horn on the top of the skull and dorsal hump rostral under the dorsal fin. The horn and the hump are generally considered troglomorphic characteristics, although their functions are still elusive. Here, the development of these distinctive structures in the species, S. furcodorsalis, was examined by using micro CT scans. The horn of the …

Multisensory Integration In Weakly Electric Fish, Andrea Roeser

Theses

Animals integrate information from across sensory systems, such as vision and hearing, to improve perception. To understand how neural circuits in the central nervous system integrate information from different senses, the responses of midbrain neurons to two categories of electrosensory stimuli in Eigenmannia virescens were studied. The first category of stimulus is electrical signals with frequencies below 50 Hz that are encoded in the activity of ampullary receptors. The second category is amplitude modulations of the electric organ discharge, which are encoded by p-type tuberous receptors. Six multisensory neurons were found that responded to both categories of stimuli. However, when …

Moths Fight Back: Arms Race In The Cloud Forest, Diana Pamela Rivera

Theses

Moths and bats engage in a coevolutionary arm race, where the same signals bats use to find moths are being used by moths to avoid bats. Moths evolve not only behavioral but acoustic responses to avoid predation by bats. This research examines one small component of a complex, multispecies arm race between moths and bats. In this study we found that the moth Amastus hyalina displayed both flight and acoustic responses to ultrasonic stimuli.

In tethered flight the tiger moth Amastus hyalina (Arctiinae) exhibits a complex array of reactions to ultrasonic tones that includes changes in flight and production of …

The Role Of Electronsensory Signals On The Locomotor Performance Of The Weakly Electric Fish Apteronotus Albifrons, Oswaldo Gil-Guevara

Theses

Animal locomotion performance responds to different ecological factors that shape relevant aspects of behavior. Conspecific signals is one of these factors and operates in a wide range of contexts. In schooling fish, coordinated movement is based on visual or mechanical cues and signals. In contrast, most gymnotiforms and mormyriforms are nocturnal or live in dark waters and use electric signals for social communication. However, the effect of conspecific electric signals on locomotion and group movement is largely unknown.

Apteronotus albifrons is a well-known model in neuroethological studies of signal processing and locomotion control that relies mostly on visual inputs but …

Formation Of Branching Angles At Bifurcations Of Ant Trail Networks, Subash Kusum Ray

Theses

Ants form dendritic trail networks around the nest to search for and exploit food sources located at the periphery of the network. Studies found these trail networks to be very efficient for the ants in terms of time and energy, which later was found stored in the bifurcation angle (θ) of the branches of these trail networks. It has been observed, that bifurcations are symmetrical when moving from the nest to the food source, while are asymmetrical when moving back towards the nest. The mean bifurcation angles have been found to be 50° - 80° for networks radiating out from …

Translation And Transcription Are Required For Endogenous Bursting After Long Term Removal Of Neuromodulators, Stefanie Eisenbach

Theses

Motor pattern-generating networks depend on neuromodulatory inputs to regulate the network activity. The pyloric network of the Cancer borealis stomatogastric ganglion (STG), a rhythmic motor pattern-generating network, requires modulatory inputs to generate this activity. When neuromodulatory inputs are removed, the pyloric network falls silent. However, patterned pyloric activity recovers spontaneously in about 24 hours in organ culture. To determine if synthesis of new proteins are involved in the recovery of pyloric activity after prolonged elimination of neuromodulators, translation inhibitors are tested on the recovery process of pyloric activity in C. borealis. In vitro experiments are conducted; the STG is …

Deer Impact And Plant Resistance Traits, Xueyang Fan

Theses

White-tail deer (Odocoileus virginianus), a generalist herbivore, are widely considered to influence ecological communities, ecosystems and human wellbeing by foraging preferentially on certain plant species. Previous research has shown that high deer density can change the relative abundance of tree species in forest communities. Furthermore, some evidence shows that resistance traits of plants can influence plant photosynthetic ability which is an important factor in an ecosystem. The purpose of this experiment is to test whether plant resistance traits can change within species when they are exposed to high levels of deer herbivores. The experiment, established in 1979, enclosed …

The Functional Effects Of Barium And Hypoxia On The In Vitro Respiratory Activity, Gaofeng Xu

Theses

The hypoxic respiratory response in mammals consists of a transit increase in the respiratory frequency (augmentation phase) followed by a decrease in frequency (depression phase). To understand how the central respiratory system contributes to this response, the in vitro transverse brainstem slice model is used, which contains the pre-Bötzinger Complex, which is responsible for respiratory rhythm generation. The in vitro experiments performed for this thesis provide evidence that external barium exposure alters respiratory activity and significantly increases (P<0.00 1) the voltage of tonic activity under control oxygen conditions (95% FO2). During severe hypoxia (0% FO2), respiratory tonic activity is significantly elevatedduring the depression phase (from 0.55 to 0.95, n=6, P<0.001) by external barium, presumablydue to the closing of K+ channels and a reduction in K+ conductance.

The Effects Of Theophylline On The In Vitro Respiratory Response To Hypoxia, Ke Geng

Theses

The isolated transverse brainstem slice preparation of neonatal mice is employed to investigate the function of theophylline, a competitive nonselective phophodiesterase inhibitor and adenosine receptor antagonist, on the hypoxic ventilatory response. Brainstem slices are isolated from neonatal mice (4-8 days old) and superfused with artificial cerebrospinal fluid (aCSF), equilibrated with a hyperoxic gas mixture (95% O₂, 5% CO₂) as a control, and anoxic mixture (0% O₂, 5% CO₂, 95% N₂) to create severe hypoxia at the tissue level. Using suction electrodes, extracellular population activities of respiratory neurons is recorded from …

Mutational Studies In The Dntp Binding Pocket Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Reverse Transcriptase, Smita Shukla

Theses

It was earlier postulated that Gln 91 of HIV-1 RT stabilizes the side chain of Tyr 183 via hydrogen bonding interaction between 0(H) of Y1 83 and CO of Q91 (Harris et al., BIOCHEMISTRY 37: 9630, 1998). In an attempt to understand the function of Gln 91 in the catalytic mechanism, mutants of this residue (Gln91 - -> Ala and Gln91 - ->Asn) were generated and subjected to an in-depth analysis. The efficiency of reverse transcription of natural U5-PBS HIV-1 RNA template was severely impaired by both conservative and non-conservative substitutions from Gln—>Asn and Gln—> Ala, a result …