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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Agricultural Intensification Can Preserve The Brazilian Cerrado: Applying Lessons From Mato Grosso And Goia's To Brazil’S Last Agricultural Frontier, Stephanie A. Spera Aug 2017

Agricultural Intensification Can Preserve The Brazilian Cerrado: Applying Lessons From Mato Grosso And Goia's To Brazil’S Last Agricultural Frontier, Stephanie A. Spera

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

Food security and climate change are two pressing issues shaping the future of tropical land use. Brazil, home to abundant land that is rich in carbon, water, and biodiversity and often cleared for agropastoral and renewable energy purposes, is the ideal location for studying socioeconomic and environmental trade-offs of land use dynamics. Here, I use recent (2000–2016) land-use land-cover change dynamics in the established agricultural states of Mato Grosso and Goia's to demonstrate how incentivizing intensive agricultural practices and improving degraded pastures may be a means by which Brazil can increase agricultural production while conserving the remainder of the Cerrado. …


Precipitation Drivers Of Cropping Frequency In The Brazilian Cerrado: Evidence And Implications For Decision-Making, Keith R. Spangler, Amanda H. Lynch, Stephanie A. Spera Apr 2017

Precipitation Drivers Of Cropping Frequency In The Brazilian Cerrado: Evidence And Implications For Decision-Making, Keith R. Spangler, Amanda H. Lynch, Stephanie A. Spera

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

The Amazon basin has been subjected to unprecedented rates of land-use change over the past several decades, primarily as a result of the expansion of agriculture. Enhanced rain forest conservation efforts toward the end of the twentieth century slowed deforestation of the Amazon but, in turn, increased demand for land repurposing in the adjacent Cerrado (savanna) region, where conservation regulations are less strict. To maintain or increase yields while minimizing the need for additional land, agricultural producers adopted a form of intensification in which two rain-fed crops are planted within a single growing season (double cropping). Using 10 years (August …


The Relationship Between Tropical Cyclone Activity, Nutrient Loading, And Algal Blooms Over The Great Barrier Reef, Chelsea L. Parker, Amanda H. Lynch, Stephanie A. Spera, Keith R. Spangler Feb 2017

The Relationship Between Tropical Cyclone Activity, Nutrient Loading, And Algal Blooms Over The Great Barrier Reef, Chelsea L. Parker, Amanda H. Lynch, Stephanie A. Spera, Keith R. Spangler

Geography and the Environment Faculty Publications

The Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem, is subject to many environmental stressors. This study utilizes remotely sensed Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) chlorophyll a concentration data to explore statistically significant relationships between local-scale tropical cyclone disturbance and relative water quality between 2004–2014. The study reveals that tropical cyclone activity reduces water quality at 8- and 16-day time lags. Relationships suggest that at early stages (during and just after cyclone activity) algal response is induced primarily through wind-driven sediment re-suspension. However, wind speed in isolation only increases minimum levels of chlorophyll a, rather than mean or …


Investigating Medicinally Important Portein-Protein And Protein-Ligand Interactions : A Computational Approach, Cooper Ashley Taylor Jan 2017

Investigating Medicinally Important Portein-Protein And Protein-Ligand Interactions : A Computational Approach, Cooper Ashley Taylor

Honors Theses

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and computational chemistry allow for an atomistic understanding of protein-protein and protein-ligand binding motifs. Through the use of MD, medicinally relevant complexes can be examined in detail unattainable by experimental methods. Within this work, systems pertinent to both Alzheimer’s Disease and HIV-1 are probed and thoroughly sampled to help elucidate potential therapeutic pathways. We used molecular dynamics and free energy estimations to gauge the affinity for the binary and ternary complexes of KLC1, APP and JIP1, three proteins all believed to be involved in the propagation of Alzheimer’s Disease. Two areas of thought exist suggesting that …