Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 31, 2013, Matthew Rosencrans

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 31, 2013 (12/31/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 24, 2013, Matthew Rosencrans

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 24, 2013 (12/24/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Table Of Contents, Michele Harmon

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Dose Dependent Effects Of Caffeine On Cognitive Performance And Neuronal Activation, Stephan Albrecht, Helen Morris, Michelle Vieyra

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

Many students assume that the more caffeine you drink, the better your cognitive performance. Over-consumption of caffeine has many negative effects, so if there are no dose related cognitive benefits to large amounts of caffeine, then college students should limit their intake. This study looked at whether ingesting a medium dose (200 mg) versus a lower dose (100 mg) of caffeine improved short term memory as measured by Flanker and n-back tests, compared to a control group. In addition, we looked at whether larger doses of caffeine produced a difference in neuronal activation during these tests as measured by functional …

Fourier Analysis Of Phase Resetting Curves Of Neural Oscillators, Robert A. Raidt, Sorinel A. Oprisan

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

We investigated the impact of changes in biologically relevant control parameters, such as the shape of an external perturbation or the conductance values of an individual model neuron, on the shape of the phase resetting curve (PRC) of that neuron. For that purpose, PRCs were generated for groups of Morris-Lecar (ML) model neurons with different conductance values but similar firing periods (within 0.005ms) using external rectangular, triangular, or trapezoidal perturbations of varying areas. These PRCs were numerically described and analyzed as a series of coefficient values using a Fourier Discrete Sine Transform (DST). We found that changes in the shape …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 17, 2013, Mark D. Svoboda

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 17, 2013 (12/17/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Base Excision Repair Of Oxidative Dna Damage Coupled With Removal Of A Cag Repeat Hairpin Attenuates Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion, Meng Xu, Yanhao Lai, Justin Torner, Yanbin Zhang, Zunzhen Zhang, Yuan Liu

Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry

Trinucleotide repeat (TNR) expansion is responsible for numerous human neurodegenerative diseases. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Recent studies have shown that DNA base excision repair (BER) can mediate TNR expansion and deletion by removing base lesions in different locations of a TNR tract, indicating that BER can promote or prevent TNR expansion in a damage location–dependent manner. In this study, we provide the first evidence that the repair of a DNA base lesion located in the loop region of a CAG repeat hairpin can remove the hairpin, attenuating repeat expansion. We found that an 8-oxoguanine located in the loop …

Soil Development And Vegetation Response To Removal Of A Small Dam, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, Stephanie Kay Rohdy

Dissertations and Theses

Dam removal is increasing as dams age, yet little is understood about the pedogenic response to dam removal. This study reports on the edaphic changes of reservoir sediments and vegetation cover one year following removal of a small earthen dam in Northern California. In August 2012, I sampled surface sediments from the former Dream Lake reservoir in Lassen Volcanic National Park, and compared their physical and chemical properties with soil samples from two reference sites. I also estimated percent cover of vegetation in the former reservoir and reference sites. My results show that the reservoir was under reduced conditions, as …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Application Of High Surface Area, Mesoporous, Stabilized Anatase Tio2 Catalyst Supports, Rebecca Elizabeth Olsen

Theses and Dissertations

Nanomaterials have attracted substantial attention in the area of catalysis due to the unique properties they exhibit such as high surface areas, intricate pore networks and unique morphologies. TiO2 has attracted attention as a catalyst since the discovery of its high photocatalytic activity by Fuishima and Honda in 1972. Given its high thermal stability, low cost, low environmental impact, and versatility, TiO2 is a widely used commercial catalyst and catalyst support. TiO2 is used in many applications such as photocatalysis is also an excellent support material for noble metals in a number of oxidative synthesis and pollution-control reactions. Though TiO2 …

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia, Monitoring And Tagging Studies, 2010-2014 Progress Report, 1 September 2012 - 31 August 2013, Philip W. Sadler, Matthew W. Smith, John M. Hoenig, Shelley E. Sullivan, Robert E. Harris, Lydia M. Goins

Reports

This report presents the results of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) tagging and monitoring activities in Virginia during the period 1 September 2012 through 31 August 2013. It includes an assessment of the biological characteristics of striped bass taken from the 2013 spring spawning run, estimates of annual survival and fishing mortality based on annual spring tagging, and the results of the study that documents the prevalence of mycobacterial infections of striped bass in Chesapeake Bay. The information contained in this report is required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and is used to implement a coordinated management plan for …

Robinson Point, Belize: An Important Foraging Ground For Endangered Sea Turtles In The Western Caribbean Sea, Linda Searle

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Anecdotal reports, flipper tag returns, satellite migration paths, and above-water and net surveys have identified an important foraging area for sea turtles in the Robinson Point area, 12 kilometers southwest of Belize City. Visual observations confirmed that sea turtles were actively foraging at Robinson Point. Sixteen 30 minute visual observations from stationary and drifting boats made 132 sea turtle sightings from October 2007 through January 2008, with a maximum of 40 sightings made in one survey. In-water capture methodology tested the traditional turtle net, which captured 14 turtles in 63 sets for a success rate of only 22%. There were …

Nonlinear Spectroscopic Investigation Of Adsorption To C-18 Model Stationary Phase, Anthony D. Peterson

Theses and Dissertations

Reversed-phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) is a commonly used separation technique in chemistry. Nevertheless, the mechanistic interactions at the molecular level among the eluent, analyte, and the stationary phase are not fully understood. Because of this limited understanding, optimization of the separation must be done experimentally. Learning more about molecular interactions should aid in improving separations. We are currently using second-harmonic generation (SHG) spectroscopy to investigate how analytes adsorb to the surface. SHG is a spectroscopic technique that produces signal only at places of non-isotropic symmetry; this typically occurs at surfaces. SHG can be used to produce surface isotherms of test …

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 10, 2013, Michael J. Brewer

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 10, 2013 (12/10/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Environmental And Socio-Economic Considerations For Aquaculture In Jervis Bay, Nsw, Alyssa Joyce, Ana M. Rubio, Pia C. Winberg

Dr Pia C Winberg

No abstract provided.

Shifting Environmental Controls On Ch4 Fluxes In A Sub-Boreal Peatland, Thomas G. Pypker, P. A. Moore, John A. Hribljan, Rodney Chimner

Michigan Tech Publications

We monitored CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes using eddy covariance from 19 May to 27 September 2011 in a poor fen located in northern Michigan. The objectives of this paper are to: (1) quantify the flux of CH₄ from a sub-boreal peatland, and (2) determine which abiotic and biotic factors were the most correlated to the flux of CH₄ over the measurement period. Net daily CH₄ fluxes increased from 70 mg CH₄ m⁻² d⁻¹ to 220 mg CH₄ m⁻² d⁻¹ from mid May to mid July. After July, CH_{4 …}

U.S. Drought Monitor, December 3, 2013, Michael J. Brewer

United States Agricultural Commodities in Drought Archive

Drought map of U.S. for December 3, 2013 (12/3/13) plus: U.S. crop areas experiencing drought (map), Approximate percentage of crop located in drought, by state (bar graph), Percent of crop area located in drought, past 52 weeks (line graph) for: Corn, Soybeans, Hay, Cattle, Winter wheat.

Formation And Analysis Of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles And Zinc Oxide Hexagonal Prisms And Optical Analysis Of Cadmium Selenide Nanoparticles, Jared M. Hancock

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation, methods to synthesize ZnO are reported. First, zinc oxide nanoparticles were synthesized with small amounts of transition metal ions to create materials called dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS). We employed a low temperature sol-gel method that produces ZnO nanoparticles of reproducible size and incorporates cobalt, nickel, and manganese ions into the nanoparticles. Conditions were controlled such that a range of amounts of Co, Ni, and Mn were incorporated. The incorporation was tracked by color changes in the white ZnO powder to blue for Co, green for Ni and yellow for Mn. XRD measurements showed the nanoparticles were on …

Multi-Scale Computational Enzymology: Enhancing Our Understanding Of Enzymatic Catalysis, Rami Gherib, Hisham Mohammed Mohammed Dokainish, James Gauld

Chemistry and Biochemistry Publications

Elucidating the origin of enzymatic catalysis stands as one the great challenges of contemporary biochemistry and biophysics. The recent emergence of computational enzymology has enhanced our atomistic-level description of biocatalysis as well the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of their mechanisms. There exists a diversity of computational methods allowing the investigation of specific enzymatic properties. Small or large density functional theory models allow the comparison of a plethora of mechanistic reactive species and divergent catalytic pathways. Molecular docking can model different substrate conformations embedded within enzyme active sites and determine those with optimal binding affinities. Molecular dynamics simulations provide insights into …

A Population Model For Walleye In Nebraska Irrigation Reservoirs, Robert A. Kill

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Understanding how and why fish population size changes between years is a central theme in fisheries ecology. Fishery agencies have limited time and financial resources, thus there is a need for a quantitative way to direct the limited time and financial resources so agencies can manage fisheries more efficiently. I developed a tool for fishery managers that synthesizes common population indices and evaluated the relative importance of those indices given varying uncertainty in age-0 walleye Sander vitreus survival. Under most circumstances, I determined that resources are best utilized in reducing age-0 survival uncertainty when understanding walleye population growth. I applied …

Determining Scaphirhynchus Sturgeon Population Demographics And Dynamics: Implications For Range-Wide Management, Recovery, And Conservation, Martin J. Hamel

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Sturgeons (Acipenseridae) have experienced world-wide declines as a result of anthropogenic effects such as over-harvest, habitat degradation, altered flow regimes, and pollution. Nearly all European and Asian sturgeon species have experienced population declines and have subsequently been classified as either threatened or endangered. North American sturgeons have experienced a similar plight in that all eight native sturgeon species are listed as endangered, threatened, or of special concern. Direct linkages between North American sturgeon declines and anthropogenic effects are difficult to assess due to scale considerations, fluctuating environmental conditions, difficulty in capture, and the interaction of all these effects. To recover, …

Common Core 4th Grade Environmental Science Lesson Plans For California Teachers, Gillian Schoenfeld

Natural Resources Management and Environmental Sciences

This project and its analyses were conducted to assist California fourth grade elementary school teachers in adjusting to teaching Common Core standards and science curriculum in their classrooms. The project included the creation of lesson plans, which could be utilized throughout the state of California.

As the Common Core standards, California’s Next Generation Science Standards for K- 12, were just proposed in June of 2013, these lesson plans would help teachers update their lessons and provide them materials and concepts of how to do so. These lessons provide higher-order thinking for students, which is the whole concept of the new …

Minerva 2013, The Honors College

Minerva

This issue of Minerva includes an article on the opening of Charlie's Terrace in honor of former Honors Dean, Charlie Slavin; a discussion on community engagement in the Honors curriculum and community; an article on the student recipients of the Rezendes Travel Scholarship; and several articles catching up with Honors alumni.

Development And Application Of A Gis-Based Long Island Sound Eelgrass Habitat Suitability Index Model, Jamie M.P. Vaudrey, Justin Eddings, Christopher Pickerell, Lorne Brousseau, Charles Yarish

Department of Marine Sciences

The primary objectives of the Eelgrass Habitat Suitability Index Model (EHSI Model) are to assist in the evaluation of sites being considered for eelgrass restoration efforts in the Long Island Sound (LIS) area and to identify areas where water quality issues reduce or eliminate the potential for natural eelgrass colonization. To achieve this goal, geospatial processing of data available from the Long Island Sound area was conducted using ArcGIS v10.0 including the 3D Analyst and Spatial Analyst extensions. The result is a series of maps presented in this report and a GIS-based model available for users to interact with the …

Identification Of Disufide Bond Formation Between Mitoneet And Glutamate Dehydrogenase 1, Morgan E. Roberts, Jacquelyn P. Crail, Megan M. Laffoon, William G. Fernandez, Michael A. Menze, Mary E. Konkle

Michael Menze

MitoNEET is a protein that was identified as a drug target for diabetes, but its cellular function as well as its role in diabetes remains elusive. Protein pull-down experiments identified glutamate dehydrogenase 1 (GDH1) as a potential binding partner. GDH1 is a key metabolic enzyme with emerging roles in insulin regulation. MitoNEET forms a covalent complex with GDH1 through disulfide bond formation and acts as an activator. Proteomic analysis identified the specific cysteine residues that participate in the disulfide bond. This is the first report that effectively links mitoNEET to activation of the insulin regulator GDH1.

Transcending Microbial Source Tracking Techniques Across Geographic Borders: An Examination Of Human And Animal Microbiomes And The Integration Of Molecular Approaches In Pathogen Surveillance In Brazil And The United States, Amber Mae Koskey

Theses and Dissertations

Waterborne illnesses, attributed to the ingestion or contact with contaminated water, present a significant global health concern. Surface water sources can be impacted by wide array of pollution inputs, but fecal pollution generates the most significant and acute threat to human health. Therefore, the detection of fecal bacteria in surface water sources remains an important public health objective. Current surface water monitoring employs the use of fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) including E. coli and enterococci as proxies for pathogenic organisms carried in fecal pollution. These traditional indicators, detected by culture-based microbiological methods, do not discriminate fecal sources from another. New …

Research: South Dakota State University, Winter 2013, Christie Delfanian, Matt Landwehr

Research: South Dakota State University

CONTENTS:

South Dakota expertise integral part of Landsat [Page] 1
West Nile: Researchers help public health officials combat West Nile virus [page] 2
Health care: arteries, corticosteroids, concussions, and preemies [Page] 4
Oilseeds [Page] 6
Undergraduate Research [Page] 8
Organ donation key to helping Native Americans on dialysis [Page] 10
Researchers meet challenge of increased competition: 2012 measurements [Page] 11

The North American Carbon Program Multi-Scale Synthesis And Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project – Part 1: Overview And Experimental Design, D. N. Huntzinger, C. Schwalm, A, M, Michalak, K. Schaefer, A. W. King, Y. Wei, A. Jacobson, S. Liu, R. B. Cook, W. M. Post, G. Berthier, D Hayes, M. Huang, A. Ito, H. Lei, Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu, J. Mao, C. H. Peng, S. Peng, B. Poulter, D. Ricciuto, X. Shi, Hanqin Tian, W. Wang, N. Zeng, F. Zhao, Q. Zhu

Chaoqun (Crystal) Lu

Terrestrial biosphere models (TBMs) have become an integral tool for extrapolating local observations and understanding of land–atmosphere carbon exchange to larger regions. The North American Carbon Program (NACP) Multi-scale synthesis and Terrestrial Model Intercomparison Project (MsTMIP) is a formal model intercomparison and evaluation effort focused on improving the diagnosis and attribution of carbon exchange at regional and global scales. MsTMIP builds upon current and past synthesis activities, and has a unique framework designed to isolate, interpret, and inform understanding of how model structural differences impact estimates of carbon uptake and release. Here we provide an overview of the MsTMIP effort …

The Two-Phase Arterial Blood Flow With Or Without A Catheter And In The Presence Of A Single Or Multi Stenosis, Ani E. Garcia, Daniel N. Riahi

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

We consider the problem of blood flow in an artery with or without a catheter and in the presence of single or multi stenosis whose shape is based on the available experimental data for the stenosis in a human’s artery. The presence of stenosis in the artery, which locally narrows portion of the artery, can be a result of fatty materials such as cholesterol in the blood. The use of catheter is important as a standard tool for diagnosis and treatment in patience whose blood flow passage in the artery is affected adversely by the presence of the stenosis within …

Numerical Solution Of Fuzzy Arbitrary Order Predator-Prey Equations, Smita Tapaswini, S. Chakraverty

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

This paper seeks to investigate the numerical solution of fuzzy arbitrary order predator-prey equations using the Homotopy Perturbation Method (HPM). Fuzziness in the initial conditions is taken to mean convex normalised fuzzy sets viz. triangular fuzzy number. Comparisons are made between crisp solution given by others and fuzzy solution in special cases. The results obtained are depicted in plots and tables to demonstrate the efficacy and powerfulness of the methodology.

Spread Of Malicious Objects In Computer Network: A Fuzzy Approach, Bimal K. Mishra, Apeksha Prajapati

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

We propose an e-epidemic fuzzy SEIQRS (Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Quarantine- Recovered-Susceptible) model for the transmission of malicious codes in a computer network. We have simulated the result for various parameters and analyzed the stability of the model. The efficiency of antivirus software and crashing of the nodes due to attack of malicious code is analyzed. Furthermore, initial simulation results illustrate the behavior of different classes for minimizing the infection in a computer network. It also reflects the positive impact of anti-virus software on malicious code propagation in a computer network. The basic reproduction number R0 f and its formulation is also discussed.