Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Structural Characterization Of A Human/Porcine Chimeric Fviii Construct And An Improved Human Factor Viii Model And Progress Towards Determination Of The Fviii C1 Domain In Complex With Inhibitory Antibodies, Ian Smith

WWU Graduate School Collection

Blood coagulation factor VIII (FVIII) is a non-enzymatic protein cofactor, which plays a crucial role in the formation of a stable blood clot. Absence or deficiency of FVIII results in the blood disorder hemophilia A, with symptoms including internal hemorrhaging and the inability to stop bleeding from open wounds. Treatment of hemophilia A relies on replacement of FVIII with blood, plasma, or protein concentrate infusions. Unfortunately, approximately 30% of patients receiving replacement FVIII generate pathologic anti-FVIII inhibitory antibodies, which both reduce the effectiveness of the FVIII therapeutic and increase the severity of hemophilia A symptoms.

This thesis reports the determination …

The Associations Of Epiphytic Macroinvertebrates And Aquatic Macrophytes In Canyon Lake, Wa, Jesse T. (Jesse Tyler) Klinger

WWU Graduate School Collection

Macroinvertebrate abundances on six dominant macrophytes taxa were compared in Canyon Lake, Washington to determine whether there were patterns of association with macrophyte type or among assemblages of macroinvertebrates. Macrophytes and associated epiphytic macroinvertebrates were collected during August 2016. The dominant macrophyte distribution and lakes bathymetry were mapped in July 2016. The dominant macrophytes included Equisetum fluviatile, Fontinalis antipyretica, Potamogeton natans, Potamogeton epihydrus, Ranunculus aquatilis, and Vallisneria americana. Other non-dominant macrophytes included: Sparganium angustifolium, Sphagnum mosses, Nuphar polysepala, Characeae (stonewort), Isoetes (quillwort) and Potamogeton pusillus. Macroinvertebrate taxa were identified to the …

Interactive Effects Of Ocean Acidification And Ocean Warming On Pacific Herring (Clupea Pallasi) Early Life Stages, Cristina Villalobos

WWU Graduate School Collection

The synergy of ocean acidification and ocean warming may lead to negative effects in marine organism responses that would be absent under single stressors. While adult fish are effective acid-base regulators, early life stages may be more susceptible to environmental stressors. Pacific herring are ecologically and economically important forage fish native to the U.S. Pacific Northwest (PNW), and several herring populations in the PNW have experienced reductions in stock abundance. Studies to date have focused on Atlantic herring, and little is known about the response of Pacific herring to ocean acidification and warming. Therefore, this study focused on the combined …

A Search For Blue Carbon In Central Salish Sea Eelgrass Meadows, Mira D. (Mira Diana) Lutz

WWU Graduate School Collection

This study quantified eelgrass (Zostera marina) sediment organic carbon and carbon sequestration rates in Skagit County,Wa, in sites likely to support organic content and sediment accretion, the key components for carbon sequestration. These data may inform eelgrass-specific projects aimed at mitigating climate change through the protection and restoration of “blue carbon” ecosystems. Blue carbon is the carbon stored or emitted by coastal wetlands, which have the capacity to sequester more organic carbon (OC) than equivalent areas of mature forest. This study follows recent research from a single site within Padilla Bay, Wa. (Padilla transect), reporting OC stock approximately three times …

The Benefits Of A Therapeutic Nature Education Intervention For Children With Adhd, Madeline Dineen

WWU Graduate School Collection

ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) diagnoses have been on the rise in children in the United States for the last twenty years due to multiple possible reasons (NIMH, 2016). Recent work on the subject, however, notes a positive correlation between exposure of children to experience-based nature therapy and the reduction of ADHD symptoms (Taylor & Kuo 2011). I hypothesized that implementing an intervention that is in an outdoor nature environment, that is experience-based and contains a learning objective would be correlated with a reduction of ADHD behaviors in elementary aged children. This study is a probe into the possibility of …

Surface Plasmon Resonance Biosensors Based On High-Index Dielectric Metal-Insulator-Metal Structures, Sarah Clark

WWU Graduate School Collection

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) is the phenomenon in which an incident electromagnetic wave couples to charge density oscillations on a metal surface.The resulting excitation, known as a surface plasmon polariton (SPP), will propagate along the metal-dielectric interface. SPR biosensors monitor protein binding interactions in real time, which lead to changes in the refractive index, thereby altering the SPP excitation conditions. Recently, we have designed a structure that supports guided-wave plasmon polariton modes (GW-PPMs), a novel type of plasmonic excitation that demonstrates increased propagation lengths compared to those of traditional SPPs in certain regions of phase space. Because it has been …

The Effects Of Forecasted Climate Change On Mass Wasting Susceptibility In The Nooksack River Basin, Kevin Knapp

WWU Graduate School Collection

The Nooksack River in Whatcom County, Washington­ is an essential fresh water resource for industry, agriculture, municipalities and serves as vital fish habitat. Like many mountainous watersheds in the western Cascades, the Nooksack Basin is susceptible to shallow mass wasting and debris flows because of its steep slopes, young glaciated terrain, and storms with high intensity precipitation. Understanding how projected reductions in snowpack and increased winter rainfall will affect mass-wasting susceptibility in the Nooksack basin is important, because sediment produced mass wasting will jeopardize valuable aquatic and fish habitat, increase flooding risk in the Nooksack River, and affect estuarine and …