Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Elucidating The Binding Characteristics Of Lrp1 In Factor Viii Blood Coagulation, Nicole Topor-Madry

WWU Graduate School Collection

Abstract

Factor VIII and von Willebrand factor (vWF) are essential for blood coagulation. FVIII, a large glycoprotein with 2332 amino acids, is crucial in the intrinsic pathway of coagulation. After secretion, FVIII circulates in the bloodstream at approximately one nanomolar concentration, bound to vWF, which protects it from rapid clearance. In response to vascular injury, FVIII is proteolytically activated, dissociates from vWF, and binds to activated platelet surfaces and activated Factor IX, dramatically accelerating the rate of blood clot formation. Hemophilia A, affecting 1 in 5000 males, results from functional FVIII deficiency. Standard treatment involves prophylactic FVIII injections but has …

Environmental Impact Assessment Of The Horseshoe Bend Trail Reconstruction, Ian Caldwell, Kathleen Castleberry, Julia Grams, Sascha Knight, Emily Panteleeff

College of the Environment Graduate and Undergraduate Publications

This is an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on the proposed action of constructing a new section of the Horseshoe Bend Trail along the State Route 542 corridor to Mt. Baker in Whatcom County, Washington. The construction of a new section of trail will renew access to the popular trail, which was washed out in 2021. Impacts to elements of the natural and built environment are examined, with emphasis on riparian and water quality impacts. The proposed action, alternative action, and no action are all considered, along with positives, negatives, and no impacts of each.

Assisted Regeneration Of Threatened Whitebark Pine After Wildfires In North Cascades National Park, Dylan Braund, Clara Magsarili, Ben Molenhouse, Bridget Miller, Zalan Szanyi

College of the Environment Graduate and Undergraduate Publications

This assessment evaluates the environmental effects of seeding whitebark pine seed caches in two burn sites located within the North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA) in Washington State. The goal of these efforts would be to reestablish stands of whitebark pines lost to wildfire.

Environmental Impact Assessment Of Mcglinn-Goat Island Jetty, Sydney Freeman, Sarah Granard, Joey Lane, Ava O’Neill, Malia Thatcher

College of the Environment Graduate and Undergraduate Publications

This environmental impact assessment examines the potential effects of two major fish restoration actions regarding the McGlinn-Goat Island Jetty and the no-action alternative. The goals of these actions are to improve fish passage to/from the N. Fork Skagit River and the Swinomish Channel, important migratory habitat for many salmonid species. This report also investigates potential sedimentation issues arising from alterations to the jetty infrastructure and the potentially deleterious effect of such alterations on maintenance of the Swinomish Channel as a navigable marine passage. This report focuses on analyzing the effects on earth, plants and animals, water, and Transportation. This assessment …

Environmental Impact Assessment Of The Abc Recycling Metal Shredder, Amanda Hogue, Ellysen Mcfarland, Julian Medina-Schroeder, Nico Fotes, Anna Newberry

College of the Environment Graduate and Undergraduate Publications

The purpose of this Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is to determine the likely effects of ABC Recycling’s proposed metal shredder facility on the natural and built environment. This assessment summarizes negative and positive effects associated with both the proposed and alternative actions. Where appropriate, this assessment provides additional mitigation measures that could be applied to either the proposed or alternative actions. The impacts of ABC Recycling’s proposed action to build a metal shredder facility were investigated with emphasis on the adverse effects on air and water quality, soil and geological conditions, plant and animal habitat, energy and natural resources, and …

Environmental Impact Assessment For Reforestation Of Douglas Fir After The 2023 Sourdough Mountain Fire, Samantha Burgh, Brandon Lankford, Spencer Natario, Mikaela Silva, Maggie Strecker

College of the Environment Graduate and Undergraduate Publications

This Environmental Impact Assessment was conducted on account of the extensive damage to site conditions at Sourdough Mountain. The proposed areas of action would focus on National Park lands, within the parameters of Sourdough, that withstood severe, extensive degradation as a result of a wildfire outbreak in Summer of 2023. Deforestation throughout the Skagit basin, with particular focus surrounding Sourdough Mountain, was investigated in relation to critical assessments and analyses of natural and built environmental factors throughout the mountain.

Transition State Kinetics Through Kramers’ Rate For Variationally Enhanced Sampling., David Cummins

WWU Graduate School Collection

Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations use Newtonian mechanics applied at finite time steps to numerically propagate the time-trajectory of a dynamical system. However, many biochemical processes such as catalysis, ion channel gating, substrate binding, and protein folding evolve over time scales which are orders of magnitudes greater than those afforded by MD and the computational power available today. The development of methods that reduce the computational cost of sampling such rare events help to provide a dynamic insight into these processes. This thesis explores the application of a recently developed enhanced sampling method, Variationally Enhanced Sampling (VES), for calculating kinetic rate …

The Biophysical Resilience Capacity Of The Salish Sea’S Tidal Wetlands To Sea Level Rise, Kenna Kuhn

WWU Graduate School Collection

Tidal wetlands offer significant ecosystem services, cultural identity, and economic opportunities, but the impact that projected SLR will have on tidal wetlands in the Salish Sea is not known. In this thesis, I examine the exposure, watershed-scale biophysical resilience capacity, and jurisdictional variation in resilience capacity of the Salish Sea’s tidal wetlands to SLR. I quantify exposure, resilience, and jurisdictional variation using existing spatial data and analysis techniques. I employ a framework for biophysical resilience capacity developed by NOAA and NERRA. This study’s results indicate that there is substantial variation in wetlands area by watershed, from 0 km² to …

Legacy And Emerging Contaminants Of Concern In Edible Seaweeds Of The Salish Sea, Holly L. Suther

WWU Graduate School Collection

Seaweed are cultivated and harvested around the world for many uses including food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and fuel. Seaweed aquaculture has been on the rise globally, and interest has been expressed in the United States in furthering the development of the industry. Because seaweed can absorb contaminants into their tissues, an understanding of the risks to consumers is important for informing those consumers and maintaining public support for the industry. Seven species of seaweed that are either wild-harvested or of interest to aquaculture were collected from the Washington State Salish Sea and analyzed for differences in contaminants by season, site, algal …

Enhancing The Federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment And Restoration Process Through Bayesian Networks: A Case-Study On The Little Mississinewa River, Indiana, April D. Reed

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment and Restoration (NRDAR) program gives Tribes and certain government agencies the authority to assess injury to natural resources and to pursue and implement compensatory action for any resources lost or injured due to unlawful releases of chemicals into the environment. This study was centered around the development of a Bayesian network (BN) decision support tool tailored to the needs of NRDAR practitioners. The goal was to design a probabilistic BN tool that could lend quantitative insight into natural resource injury. A case study was used to develop and demonstrate the tool’s functionality and propriety …

The Origin Of Float Rocks On The Western Fan Front In Jezero Crater, Mars, Bavani S. Kathir

WWU Graduate School Collection

Examining loose pieces of rock separated from outcrops, or “float” rocks, at Jezero crater, Mars, and comparing them to in-place outcrops can provide key insights into the crater’s erosional history, the units in the Jezero watershed that the Perseverance rover cannot visit in-situ, and the geologic context for any future returned samples. Here, we used multispectral observations from the Mastcam-Z instrument on the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover to investigate the lithology and origin of float rocks found on the western Jezero fan front (sols 415-707). We identified four textural classes of float rocks (conglomerates, layered, massive, and light-toned). We …

Life Cycle Assessment Of A Hemp-Based Thermal Insulation Panel, Kara Davis

WWU Graduate School Collection

Buildings have a monumental impact on the environment and the economy and account for about 40% of energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and materials entering the economy. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a tool for quantitatively evaluating the environmental impacts of a product throughout its life span commonly applied in the building and construction sector. While past efforts have focused on reducing operational energy and carbon, attention has shifted towards embodied energy and carbon as buildings become more energy efficient. This graduate thesis applies the LCA framework and investigates the life cycle environmental impacts of a hemp-based thermal insulation panel …

Revealing Binding And Unbinding Pathways Of Small Molecules And Peptides To Enzymes With Enhanced Sampling Methods, Kayla Ariana Croney

WWU Graduate School Collection

In vitro experiments are critical to understanding the biochemistry of molecular systems but it can be a challenge to obtain atomistic resolution. Computational chemistry gives insight to these results with molecular dynamics (MD) simulations using Newton’s equations of motion to analyze the motion of atoms and molecules. However, due to insufficient sampling and long-lived metastable states separated by high energy intermediates, enhanced sampling methods must be applied. Metadynamics (MetaD) enhances the exploration of MD by adding time-dependent bias. Here, we applied MetaD to two enzymes to study their substrate binding/unbinding pathways with their respective substrates. Yeast cytosine deaminase (yCD) deaminates …

Synthesis And Dft Investigations Of Silver Nanocubes Coated With Gold Layers For Enhanced Stability, Ayomide Daniel Oluwafemi

WWU Graduate School Collection

Silver nanocubes (Ag nanocubes) are one of the most important nanostructures, due to their plasmonic capabilities. However, their susceptibility to oxidation upon exposure leads to rounding of their edges or sharp corners, compromising quality and stability. A feasible option to address this issue is to deposit a second metal, such as gold (Au), which is resistant to oxidation, onto the Ag nanocubes. Regrettably, manipulating the synthetic parameters that shape Au coated Ag nanocubes is difficult. The galvanic replacement reaction between Au and Ag can erode, hollow, and disintegrate the Ag nanocubes. We explore several synthetic pathways to achieve well-controlled shaped …

Using Olivine-Hosted Melt Inclusions To Better Understand The Transcrustal Architecture Beneath Mount Baker (Koma Kulshan), North Cascades, Washington, Amanda Florea

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Schriebers Meadow cinder cone is located on the southern flank of Mount Baker and produced the Sulphur Creek lava flows and SC tephra deposits ~9.8 ka. Mount Baker, a Cascade volcano, is located ~50 km east of Bellingham, Washington. Previous work on the Sulphur Creek lava flows show that the eruption comprised two primary bulk rock compositions, ranging from basalt at the toe to basaltic andesite closer to the vent. However, little is known about the relative composition and eruption timing of the SC tephra from the same vent. In this thesis, I quantify compositional variations through the explosive …

Post Polymerization Modification And Preparation Of Dynamic Polymer Networks Via Guanylation Of Aryl Carbodiimides, Conner J. Klingler

WWU Graduate School Collection

Styrenic carbodiimide (CDI) polymers have shown an interesting ability to form reversible polymer networks, known as covalent adaptable networks (CANs), through an uncatalyzed reaction with multifunctional amines. CANs have been a topic of interest in polymer chemistry due to their ability to be reprocessed, which is not found in classic thermoset polymer networks. However, not much is known about the capabilities of the nucleophilic addition of amines to aryl CDI repeat unit structures that goes into making these networks due to the understudied reactions involved. This thesis aims to develop a better understanding of the chemistry involved through various post …

Biodiversity Of Snow Algae In The North Cascades: Comparing Distinct Microhabitats At Mount Watson., Chloe Beck

WWU Graduate School Collection

Snow algae, commonly known as pink snow, bloom in high alpine environments globally. Snow algae blooms are on every continent, but the biodiversity within them is under studied. The snow habitat is suitable for algae growth in the spring and summer months when liquid water is available in snowpacks. Diverse terrain in alpine systems can create unique and variable snow habitats as snow melts through the growing season. This study describes the biodiversity of blooms from a site, Mt. Watson, in the North Cascade Mountain Range. The measures of biodiversity assessed include species richness, alpha diversity, beta diversity, and genetic …

An Assessment Of Historical And Future Bluff Recession In Puget Sound, Wa, Callie Little

WWU Graduate School Collection

Sea level rise in the coming century is projected to cause substantial changes along the world’s coastlines and adverse effects to communities and environments. Among these changes, questions about the extent, rate, and uncertainty of coastal bluff retreat relative to historical observations and in response to sea level rise are critical to evaluate. Coastal bluffs comprise ~43% of the shoreline across Puget Sound in the Salish Sea and their recession is a growing concern to human safety, property, infrastructure, and diverse ecosystem services for culturally and commercially important fisheries. This project assesses bluff erosion using field observations, structure from motion …

Reconstructing Vegetation Cover During The Retreat Of The Puget Lobe Of The Cordilleran Ice Sheet Using Organic Matter From Marine Sediment Cores, Emily Mcquarrie

WWU Graduate School Collection

The dynamics of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet (CIS) over the last glacial period are complex, with several instances of ice retreat and readvance before the final retreat. This study demonstrates that in western Washington, marine sediment cores can be used to reconstruct continental ice cover. Here, I present a reconstruction of terrestrial landscape evolution within the Puget Sound during the last deglaciation, using geochemical analyses of organic matter from marine sediment cores. I measured the carbon isotope composition in bulk organic matter (d¹³C_org) and concentrations of leaf wax biomarkers (n-alkanes and fatty acid methyl …

Examining The Nexus Between Scientific Literacy And Identity In General Chemistry, Tiffany Chamberlain

WWU Graduate School Collection

Scientific literacy is a crucial goal of science education. All citizens need scientific understanding to make rational and informed decisions, and to feel confident in making such decisions. Many students harbor doubts about belonging in science and their identities as science persons. As such, science educators are tasked with helping students develop these skills as they engage in various courses. College instructors incorporate scientific literacy skills as part of their courses in which students are encouraged to develop a science person identity (i.e. science identity) through science identity work. Therefore, learning can be seen as a process of identity …

Deglacial And Holocene Environmental Change Recorded In Lake Sediments From The Snowy Mountains, Kosciuszko National Park, Southeastern Australia, Emma J. Mickelson

WWU Graduate School Collection

The sediment record from Lake Albina, the Snowy Mountains, southeastern Australia suggests significant environmental change mostly reflecting shifts in climate from the LGM through the Holocene. Immediately following deglaciation, approximately 19.4 thousand cal ky BP, Lake Albina experienced cold and/or dry conditions with minimal vegetation in the catchment. Cooler conditions persisted with a slight increase in moisture throughout the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR; 14.7-13 cal ky BP) aligning closest with a strengthening of the Atlantic Meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) and a northward shift of the South Westerly Winds (SWW). Between 12.9-9.7 cal ky BP, Lake Albina recorded a climate reversal …

High Resolution Seafloor Structure Of The Gofar Oceanic Transform Fault, Paige Koenig

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Gofar oceanic transform fault (OTF) accommodates 12.5 cm/year of plate boundary motion through large earthquakes, microseismic swarms, and aseismic slip in distinct regions of the fault along strike. Local and teleseismic observations show that well- coupled segments of the fault tend to fail via M~6 earthquakes roughly every 5 years. These fully-coupled segments are bound by barrier zones, up to ~10 km-wide, that do not generate large-magnitude earthquakes, but instead host microseismic swarms, accompanied by aseismic slip (Shi et al., 2021). Geophysical modeling and observations provide evidence that hydrothermal fluid circulation and fault damage may influence slip behavior segmentation. …

Velocity Structure Of The Queen Charlotte Fault Across The 2013 Mw 7.5 Craig Earthquake Region, Lazaro Valentin Garza

WWU Graduate School Collection

Offshore southeastern Alaska and western Canada, the Queen Charlotte Fault (QCF) separates the Pacific (PA) and North American (NA) plates. Here the plate boundary experiences ~55 mm/yr of dextral slip accompanied by increasing fault obliquity from north to south. Among the historical M>7 earthquakes that have occurred on the QCF, two recent earthquake ruptures in 2012 and 2013 highlight the potential for seismic and tsunami hazard along the margin. Earthquake observations and geophysical imaging following the 2013 Mw7.5 Craig earthquake provided new insight into QCF crustal architecture, but also created new questions about how earthquake rupture dynamics are related …

Estuarine Wetland Restoration Impacts On Carbon Sequestration In The Oldest Projects Along The West Coast, Jenna Schroeder

WWU Graduate School Collection

Mitigating carbon dioxide’s impact on our climate has become an important area of study. One such mitigation technique includes enhancing and protecting the earth’s natural carbon sinks. Estuarine wetlands, though occupying a small fraction of the Earth’s surface, are recognized for their significant carbon storage capacity. This thesis investigates the long-term impacts of estuarine wetland restoration on carbon sequestration by comparing mature restoration sites (20+ years post-restoration) with natural reference sites along California, Oregon, and Washington coasts. This study included 12 estuarine wetlands that each contained at least one reference site and one restoration site. Carbon sequestration rates were determined …

Regio- And Diastereoselective Samarium-Mediated Allylic Sulfone Reductions, Cody Schwans

WWU Graduate School Collection

A series of allylic sulfones were synthesized containing a stereodirecting group and chelating element and subjected to samarium diiodide reductions in the presence of a proton donor. The resulting products could be obtained with high regioselectivity (no less than 95:5) and high diastereoselectivity (>10:1) that correlated with the size of the stereodirecting group. A mechanism is proposed that includes loss of the sulfone and formation of a chelated organosamarium intermediate followed by intramolecular protonation by a samarium-bound proton source. In this way, both the regioselectivity and absolute stereochemistry of the resulting products are explained.

U-Pb Zircon Geochronology And Structure Of Regional Blueschist Units In The Easton Metamorphic Suite, Northwest Cascades, Wa, Katherine Lang

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Easton metamorphic suite of the Northwest Cascades Thrust System (NWCS) is a well-preserved subduction accretion complex in Washington State. The regional blueschist units of the Easton metamorphic suite include the Mt. Josephine semi-schist, Darrington Phyllite, and Shuksan greenschist/blueschist and all are interpreted to have accreted after the onset of Jurassic subduction beneath North America. This study uses zircon U-Pb geochronology, structure, and field observations to test the regional correlations between units in the Easton metamorphic suite and address models for the timing of subduction accretion along the North American margin in the Late Jurassic – Early Cretaceous. The results …

Biomarker Study Of Bellingham Bay : Identifying How Urbanization Has Affected Carbon Storage And Eelgrass, Jess Shulman

WWU Graduate School Collection

Understanding sediment sources and fluxes throughout coastal zones is essential to evaluate shoreline stability, ecosystem health, and the potential for carbon storage. In Bellingham Bay, WA, like many developed coastal settings, urban areas have replaced forested cover and altered sediment fluxes, yet little is known of their offshore impacts. I analyzed n-alkanes, found in plant leaf waxes preserved in marine sediments of Bellingham Bay to characterize sediment sources and reconstruct changes in the relative contributions of eelgrass beds to sedimentary organic matter since pre-industrial times using a linear mixing model. Eight 2-meter-long cores were analyzed in order to determine how …

Tuned Gold Layer Growth Onto Plasmonic Sensing Silver Nanocubes Via Synthetic Control Of Reduction Potentials., Nicolas Hall

WWU Graduate School Collection

Metallic nanoparticles (mNPs) are commonly employed as sensors and detection tools due to their unique plasmonic properties. Silver NPs exhibit these properties in heightened capacity in comparison to other metals. However, Ag NPs are susceptible to oxidation, degradation over time and are biotoxic. These issues are commonly addressed by creating Ag-alloy NPs or by adding additional layers to Ag NPs. This work improves upon these methods by focusing on the growth of an Au layer onto Ag nanocubes (AgNCs), resulting in a layered Au-Ag NC (Au@AgNC). The resulting morphology of these Au@AgNCs are dependent on the synthetic pathway taken and …

Visual Characteristics Of Walleye Pollock And Chinook Salmon: Modeling Theoretical Visual Space And Target Contrast Of Trawling Materials In The Bering Sea, Rebecca Haehn

WWU Graduate School Collection

Walleye pollock (Gadus chalcogrammus) and Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are economic and cultural resources in Alaska. Chinook salmon bycatch is a large concern within the pollock fishery. Current strategies to reduce salmon bycatch include modifying trawl gear by implementing artificial light near or on escapement panels to increase salmon escapement. The visual characteristics of pollock and Chinook salmon were investigated to understand the perception of trawl gear. The visual pigments of each species were measured using microspectrophotometry (MSP). Pollock were dichromats with spectral sensitivity ranging from 449nm–518 nm and Chinook salmon were trichromats with sensitivity ranging …

Impact Of Riverbank Lupine (Lupinus Rivularis) On Grand Fir (Abies Grandis) Ectomycorrhizal Symbioses, Andrew Labay

WWU Graduate School Collection

Lupine (Lupinus rivularis) is used in the revegetation of coarse sediments surrounding the Elwha basin in Washington State due to its ability to improve soil conditions. Previous research illustrated that seeding lupine with conifers increased growth and foliar nitrogen, however, decreased ectomycorrhizal (ECM) root colonization, an important symbiosis for conifers used in restoration. We hypothesized the observed decrease in ECM may be due to lupine increasing soil nitrogen, negating the need for a fungal symbiont. To investigate this, we explored the interaction between lupine and ECM colonization of grand fir (Abies grandis) in both a field …