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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Development Of An Autonomous Aerial Toolset For Agricultural Applications, Terrance Life Oct 2019

Development Of An Autonomous Aerial Toolset For Agricultural Applications, Terrance Life

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

According to the United Nations, the world population is expected to grow from its current 7 billion to 9.7 billion by the year 2050. During this time, global food demand is also expected to increase by between 59% and 98% due to the population increase, accompanied by an increasing demand for protein due to a rising standard of living throughout developing countries. [1] Meeting this increase in required food production using present agricultural practices would necessitate a similar increase in farmland; a resource which does not exist in abundance. Therefore, in order to meet growing food demands, new methods will …


Analysis Of Permaculture’S Water Conservation And Crop Supporting Abilities, Hannah Chaney May 2019

Analysis Of Permaculture’S Water Conservation And Crop Supporting Abilities, Hannah Chaney

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In the Middle East, virtually all agriculturally viable land is under high threat of desertification due to poor land and resource management and climate change. Mulching using straw flakes (straw mulch permaculture) is a method commonly used in successful dry land permaculture projects in the Middle East. We proposed that straw mulch permaculture would increase the amount of soil moisture during dry periods and that this method would not impact the growth and survival of the crop. In order to test this hypothesis, we took soil samples from plots with and without straw mulch permaculture in Bowling Green, KY and …


Developing Tale Proteins As A Biosensor For Detecting Pathogen Specific Double-Stranded Dna, Kathrine Gaiko Apr 2019

Developing Tale Proteins As A Biosensor For Detecting Pathogen Specific Double-Stranded Dna, Kathrine Gaiko

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Transcription activator-like effector (TALE) proteins are important for DNA binding. They bind to specific nucleotide sequences by the use of two residues in each repeat allowing them to target specific DNA sequences. Their modular structure makes TALEs advantageous over other DNA binding proteins such as zinc finger proteins. Zinc finger proteins (ZFP) use a finger like projection to bind 3-4 subsequence base pairs while TALE proteins use two amino acid residues in each repeat to bind one nucleotide. ZFP can use SEER-Lac system for colorimetric detection, while TALE proteins can use fluorescence labeling with Alexa for detection of binding to …


The Effects Of Organic And Inorganic Nanoparticles On Bacterial Deactivation, Lauren Cooper Apr 2019

The Effects Of Organic And Inorganic Nanoparticles On Bacterial Deactivation, Lauren Cooper

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Antibacterial resistance is one of the greatest problems in modern medicine, as healthcare professionals are experiencing more and more difficulty in providing effective care. As such, alternative methods of treatment are needed in order to overcome this issue. One recently proposed method of alternative treatment is photodynamic therapy. Photodynamic therapy is a light-based method of treatment that utilizes (1) a photosensitizing agent, (2) light, (3) produced oxygen species. When the photosensitizing agent is injected into an infected region of interest and then irradiated with a certain wavelength of light, the agent is photoactivated and begins to produce harmful forms of …