Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Assessment Of Vegetation Response To Wildfire At Bandelier National Monument, New Mexico: Case Study Of The Las Conchas Fire, Gladys Valentin-Gonzalez

Geography ETDs

In the past couple of decades, there has been an increase in the occurrence of wildfire events in the United States. The U.S. Forest Service estimates that over 73,000 wildfires on average occur annually in the U.S., burning about 7.3 million acres of land. Bandelier National Monument, in northern New Mexico, has been affected by several wildfires in the past 40 years, one of the most recent being the Las Conchas Fire in 2011, which burned over 60,700 hectaresin Bandelier National Monument and Valles Caldera National Preserve. This research explores a remote-sensing based assessment of vegetation response to and recovery …

Unseen Science: Modern Discoveries Too Far Away Or Tiny For Human Eyes, Lucy Huang

Capstones

As science has progressed, scientists have realized that evidence goes beyond the realms of physical sight. Whether it is too small or difficult to find, scientists have developed different ways to get around this problem. We see this in cancer genomics and in extrasolar planetary research. Scientists use what they know and what they measure to validate their work.

https://lucy-huang-9tge.squarespace.com/

Of Rats And Men, Thomas S. Walsh

Capstones

This capstone is a data-driven investigation into New York City's rat problem. By using publicly available government data to map rat activity in NYC, I identified several socio-economic variables that correlate with rat populations at the community district, borough, and city-scale. I used these findings (mainly that rat problems are linked to lower incomes) as the basis of an investigation, which includes interviews with residents, experts, and city officials. Prof. Bobby Corrigan, urban rodentologist and formerly with the NYC Department of Health criticizes the city's efforts for the first time on the record.

https://thomasseiyawalsh.wixsite.com/ratstone

Seasonal Resource Selection And Habitat Treatment Use By A Fringe Population Of Greater Sage-Grouse, Rhett Boswell

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Movement and habitat selection by Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus uropasianus) is of great interest to wildlife managers tasked with applying conservation measures for this iconic western species. Current technology has created small and lightweight GPS (Global Positioning Systems) transmitters that can be attached to sage-grouse. Using GIS software and statistical programs such as Program R, land managers can analyze GPS location data to assess how sage-grouse are geospatially interacting with their habitats. Within the Panguitch Sage-Grouse Management Area (SGMA) thousands of acres of land have been restored or manipulated to enhance sage-grouse habitat; this usually involves removal of pinyon pine …

Accurate Determination And Application Of Local Strain For Studying Tissues With Gradients In Mechanical Properties, John Boyle

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

Determination of the mechanical behavior of materials requires an understanding of deformation during loading. While this is traditionally accomplished in engineering by examining a force displacement curve for a whole sample, these techniques implicitly ignore local geometric complexities and local material inhomogeneities commonly found in biologic tissues. Techniques such as normalized cross correlation have been classically applied to address this issue and resolve deformation at the local level; however, these techniques have proven unreliable when deformations become large, if the sample undergoes a rotation, and/or if strain fields become incompatible (e.g. at or near failure).

Presented here is a toolbox …

Multiscale Imaging Of The Mouse Cortex Using Two-Photon Microscopy And Wide-Field Illumination, Jonathan Richard Bumstead

McKelvey School of Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The mouse brain can be studied over vast spatial scales ranging from microscopic imaging of single neurons to macroscopic measurements of hemodynamics acquired over the majority of the mouse cortex. However, most neuroimaging modalities are limited by a fundamental trade-off between the spatial resolution and the field-of-view (FOV) over which the brain can be imaged, making it difficult to fully understand the functional and structural architecture of the healthy mouse brain and its disruption in disease. My dissertation has focused on developing multiscale optical systems capable of imaging the mouse brain at both microscopic and mesoscopic spatial scales, specifically addressing …

Knowledge Driven Approaches And Machine Learning Improve The Identification Of Clinically Relevant Somatic Mutations In Cancer Genomics, Benjamin John Ainscough

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For cancer genomics to fully expand its utility from research discovery to clinical adoption, somatic variant detection pipelines must be optimized and standardized to ensure identification of clinically relevant mutations and to reduce laborious and error-prone post-processing steps. To address the need for improved catalogues of clinically and biologically important somatic mutations, we developed DoCM, a Database of Curated Mutations in Cancer (http://docm.info), as described in Chapter 2. DoCM is an open source, openly licensed resource to enable the cancer research community to aggregate, store and track biologically and clinically important cancer variants. DoCM is currently comprised of 1,364 variants …

Forecasting The Spread And Invasive Potential Of Apple Snails (Pomacea Spp.) In Florida, Stephanie A. Reilly

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Forecasting the potential range of invasive species is a critical component for risk assessment, monitoring, and management. However, many of these invasive species are not yet at equilibrium which can be problematic for many modelling approaches. Using the climate matching method, MaxEnt, a series of species distribution models (SDMs) and risk analysis maps were created for select apple snail species in Florida: Pomacea canaliculata, P. diffusa, and P. maculata. Apple snails, freshwater gastropods in the family Ampullariidae, are native to South America and were introduced to the United States via the pet trade approximately 40 years ago. …

Prep-Hplc Method Development To Isolate Potentially-Carcinogenic, Arginine-Based Heterocyclic Amines, Victoria S. Kim

Honors Theses

Heterocyclic amines (HCAs) are carcinogenic molecules generated from the reaction of creatin(in)e and amino acids at high cooking temperatures in meat. Previous research has shown that replacing creatine with arginine leads to new, uncharacterized HCA molecules. This research entails implementing and optimizing the preparative HPLC analysis of extracts from multiple burnings of arginine with phenylalanine. Isolated fractions from the prep-HPLC analysis were further analyzed using the Ames test to identify mutagenic compounds. Prep-HPLC provides quality control to the burning process along with isolation of larger quantities of materials for further characterization and molecular structure identification.

Pros And Cons Of Marine Zoological Parks According To Marine Conservationists, Kayla L. Patama

HCNSO Student Capstones

Throughout history zoos and aquariums have satisfied a number of different, albeit to some, conflicting roles (Ballantyne, Packer, Hughes, & Dierking, 2007). In recent years, zoos and aquariums have shifted their focus on taking a proactive role in wildlife conservation and promoting conservation learning among their visitors. The present capstone addresses the justifications that marine conservationists see in marine zoological parks and how they believe parks can become more relevant and valuable in the future. A 65 question survey (Appendix I) was distributed to marine science professionals online through personal contact between June and September 2017 questioning participant’s personal opinions …

Design And Synthesis Of Analogs Of Myo-Inositol, Serine, And Cysteine To Enable Chemical Biology Studies, Tanei J. Ricks

Doctoral Dissertations

Phosphorylated myo-inositol compounds including inositol phosphates (InsPs) as well as the phosphatidylinositol polyphosphate lipids (PIP_ns) are critical biomolecules that regulate many of the most important biological processes and pathways. They are aberrant in many disease states due to their regulatory function. The same is true of the phospholipid phosphatidylserine (PS) which can serve as a marker to begin apoptosis. However, the full scope of activities of these structures is not clear, particularly since techniques that enable global detection and analysis of the production of these compounds spatially and temporally are lacking. With all of these obstacles in …

Soil-Grapevine Interactions: Insight From Verdicchio In The Marche Wine Region, Italy, Megan Luna Barlow

Theses and Dissertations

Verdicchio is a white grape varietal notably grown in the Marche wine region of east-central Italy within two Denominazione Origine Controllata (DOCs); Castelli di Jesi and Matelica, located less than 50 km apart. Jesi lies in the Apennine foothills near the coast of the Adriatic Sea and produces a smooth wine noted with apple-pear undertones and crisp, clean acidity. Conversely, Matelica is located in a synclinal valley of a fold-and-thrust belt and produces stronger wine with penetrating floral aromas and bold acidity. While macro-climatic variations do exist between DOCs, this research focuses on geological variations, specifically variations in soil composition, …

Emerging Infectious Disease And The Imperiled Relict Leopard Frog, Anthony Wayne Waddle

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The disease chytridiomycosis, caused by the aquatic fungal pathogen Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), has emerged as a major contributing factor for worldwide amphibian declines. Although relatively recently described, the impacts from the disease this pathogen causes have been definitively tied to amphibian declines, including some that occurred decades ago. In some cases, declines of individual species occurred with little documentation and are thus poorly understood. The relict leopard frog (Rana onca = Lithobates onca) has experienced such a decline and by the latter part of the 20th century only occurred in two general areas in southern Nevada. Recent research has found …

Study Of Self-Similarity In Brain Data, Jennifer Holst

Student Theses

In the area of computer science, past research has found that the concept of self-similarity is present in local and Internet-based network traffic. This study considers the possibility that data traveling through the neuronal network in the human brain is also self-similar. By analyzing publicly available raw EEG data and estimating its Hurst parameter, we find indications that brain data traffic may in fact be self-similar.

Fungi Of Forests: Examining The Diversity Of Root-Associated Fungi And Their Responses To Acid Deposition, Donald Jay Nelsen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Global importance of forests is difficult to overestimate, given their role in oxygen production, ecological roles in nutrient cycling and supporting numerous living species, and economic value for industry and as recreational zones. Fitness of the forest-forming trees strongly depends on microbial communities associated with tree roots. In particular, fungi impact tree fitness: mycorrhizal species provide water and nutrients for the trees in exchange for C, endophytic fungi play key roles in host defense against pathogenic organisms, and saprotrophic fungi decompose dead organic matter and facilitate nutrient cycling. In addition, pathogenic fungal species strongly affect forest fitness. Despite their importance, …

Population Dynamics Of Ouachita Dusky Salamanders (Desmognathus Brimleyorum) In A Managed Forest Landscape, Kelly Marie Halloran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With anthropogenic alteration of landscapes increasing world-wide, managed forests are increasingly important as providers of ecosystem services including habitat for numerous wildlife species. It is crucial to maintain a balance between timber production and conservation of biodiversity on managed landscapes. Salamander populations can play key roles in the function and diversity of temperate forest ecosystems. Several studies have reported negative effects of forestry on terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, but less research has focused on stream-dwelling species, evaluated mechanisms driving observed shifts in abundance, or described the dynamics of populations residing in managed forests. Using a Before-After-Control-Impact design, we examined the effects …

Agronomic Management Practice Effects On Particulate Organic Matter And Infiltration In A Wheat-Soybean, Double-Crop System In Eastern Arkansas, Johan Desrochers

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Improving the understanding of conventional and alternative management practices and their interactions on aggregate-derived particulate organic matter (POM) fractions and soil hydraulic properties, particularly infiltration, is instrumental to soil and groundwater management and long-term sustainability in the Lower Mississippi River Delta (LMRD) region of eastern Arkansas. The objective of this long-term wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.), double-crop (WSDC) field study in a silt-loam soil (Glossaquic Fraglossudalf) in the LMRD region of eastern Arkansas was to evaluate the effects of conventional and alternative management practices, including wheat-residue level, residue burning, tillage and irrigation, on i) POM fractions and …

Non-Methane Hydrocarbon Source Apportionment And Btex Risk Assessment Of Winter 2015 In Roosevelt, Utah, Jerimiah Lamb

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Non-Methane Hydrocarbons (NMHC) monitored in Roosevelt Utah including Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (collectively known as BTEX) are associated with deleterious effects including cancer. This study was designed to assess the origin and effect of the toxicants and addressed two points: 1) Source identification using the USEPA’s Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) and NOAA’s Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and 2) A human health risk assessment based on ambient concentrations of BTEX collected at the Roosevelt site. Model fit indicated that the primary contributor to total NMHCs was local oil and gas operations and was supported by previous …

A Comparative Life Cycle Assessment Of Nutritionally Equivalent Meals With And Without Pork, Kelli Young

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The following report details a life cycle assessment of several dietary and meal scenarios with and without pork. The goal of the LCA was to identify the impacts of greenhouse gas emissions, water use, and land use of pork containing and porkless diets and meal plans in a field-to-fork analysis. The dietary and meal plan scenarios are iso-caloric meaning they contain the same number of calories. The first set of diets is based on a USDA consumption pattern, 2000 kcal per day. This diet was used to create three other dietary scenarios with and without pork. The USDA recommended food …

Water Chemistry Dynamics In Four Vernal Pools In Maine, Usa, Lydia H. Kifner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Vernal pools are small seasonal wetlands that are a common landscape feature that contribute to biodiversity in northeastern North American forests. However, even basic information about their biogeochemical functions, such as carbon cycling, is limited. Dissolved gas concentrations (CH₄, CO₂) and other water chemistry parameters were monitored weekly at the bottom and surface of four vernal pools in central and eastern Maine, USA, from April to August 2016. The vernal pools were supersaturated with respect to CH₄ and CO₂ at all sampling dates and locations. Concentrations of dissolved CH₄ and CO₂ ranged …

Habitat Ecology, Trophic Interactions, And Distribution Of Endangered Himalayan Musk Deer In The Nepal Himalaya, Kapil Kishor Khadka

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation seeks to explore and assess the habitat selection, trophic interactions and distribution of Himalayan musk deer. Chapter one deals with seasonal diet analysis of musk deer along with the overlap in consumption with livestock during summer. Microhistological technique was employed to assess dietary consumption. Results showed that Abies spectabilis, Pinus wallichiana, and Berberis species constituted the major portion of musk deer’s diet. Dietary breadth measured by the Shannon index was found higher in winter compared to summer. Although musk deer and livestock shared a considerable number of plant species in their diets, the consumption however was significantly different …

Combined Effects Of Dissolved Oxygen And Temperature On Aerobic Respiration And Respiratory Recovery Responses Of The Spioniform Polychaete, Streblospio Gynobranchiata, In Relation To Body Size, Alyssa Bennett

Master's Theses

Elevated surface temperatures exacerbate the threat of hypoxia within coastal ecosystems. These two primary stressors likely interact as they elicit opposing physiological responses from marine organisms. Metabolic depression is typically associated with hypoxia, while metabolic rates increase with temperature. Moreover, physiological effects of combined stressors may not be additive. In light of increasing pressures from hypoxia, elevated ocean temperatures, and other stressors within coastal regions, studies need to examine effects of multiple stressors on physiology of coastal organisms.

Mass-specific aerobic respiration (V_O2) was characterized as a proxy for metabolic cost of Streblospio gynobranchiata, at combined levels of …

Development And Characterization Of Rice Genotypes For Water Use Efficiency And Drought Resistance, Anuj Kumar

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice, the second largest staple food crop, uses 30% of global fresh water to complete its life cycle worldwide. Water deficits worldwide have become a serious problem affecting rice growth and ultimately grain yield. To solve the water problem globally, improvement of water use efficiency (WUE) and other drought resistance (DR) traits in rice genotypes would be a useful strategy using advanced genomics tools. In this study, our objectives were to 1) analyze phenotypes of the USDA rice mini-core collection (URMC) for WUE and DR related traits, 2) correlate drought response phenes for physiological traits and grain yield in the …

Variation In Coral Recruitment And Juvenile Distribution Along The Southeast Florida Reef Tract, Leah M. Harper

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Coral recruitment in Southeast Florida is being outpaced by mortality, resulting in population declines in many species. Identifying the coral species most likely to recruit and survive on Southeast Florida reefs and evaluating spatial variation in recruitment and survivorship is crucial for managing decreasing coral populations. This study focuses on 12 sites in Broward and Miami-Dade counties that have served as long-term stations for monitoring adult coral cover and demographics. At each site, thirty-two 225cm² grooved terracotta settlement tiles were attached to the substrate in winter of 2015 and retrieved in winter of 2016 to evaluate scleractinian and octocoral …

Effects Of Ocean Warming And Acidification On Fertilization Success And Early Larval Development In The Green Sea Urchin, Lytechinus Variegatus, Brittney L. Lenz

HCNSO Student Theses and Dissertations

Climate change is predicted to affect the larval stages of many marine organisms. Ocean warming can reduce larval survival and hasten larval development, whereas ocean acidification can delay larval development. Ocean acidification is especially concerning for marine organisms that develop and grow calcified shells or skeletons in an environment undersaturated with calcium carbonate minerals. This study assessed the effects of ocean warming and acidification on the fertilization and larval development of the green sea urchin, Lytechinus variegatus, a tropical species common in Florida and the Caribbean. After spawning, gametes were fertilized and embryos/larvae were reared at: 1) 28°C and …

A Risk-Based Method For Estimating The Carbon Sequestration Budget For A Mixed Hardwood Forest, Erin Cooper

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) levels in the atmosphere have risen from approximately 310 ppm in the 1950’s to over 400 ppm as of 2015. This rise in CO₂ has likely resulted in the observed warming trend of the earth’s atmosphere in the same time frame, causing significant concern in the scientific community. Several mitigation strategies have arisen to combat the upward trend of CO₂ emissions in recent decades, among them being carbon sequestration- the process of capturing CO₂ from the atmosphere and holding it for an extended period of time. This study used the U.S. Forest …

Capacity Of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Targeting Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells To Eliminate Follicular Dendritic Cells Bearing Human Immunodeficiency Virus Immune Complexes, Matthew T. Ollerton

Theses and Dissertations

An important obstacle to a functional cure for HIV/AIDS is the persistence of viral reservoirs found throughout the body in various cells and tissues. Reservoirs can be latently infected cells, or in the case of follicular dendritic cells (FDC), non-infected cells that trap infectious virus on their surface through immune complexes (HIV-IC). Although several strategies have been employed to target and eliminate viral reservoirs, they are short-lived and ineffective. In an attempt to provide a long-term approach, chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells were designed to eliminate native HIV on FDCs. Although effective at eliminating HIV-infected cells, and halting spreading …

Functional Data Analysis Methods For Predicting Disease Status., Sarah Kendrick

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is used to determine thermally-induced conformational changes of biomolecules within a blood plasma sample. Recent research has indicated that DSC curves (or thermograms) may have different characteristics based on disease status and, thus, may be useful as a monitoring and diagnostic tool for some diseases. Since thermograms are curves measured over a range of temperature values, they are often considered as functional data. In this dissertation we propose and apply functional data analysis (FDA) techniques to analyze DSC data from the Lupus Family Registry and Repository (LFRR). The aim is to develop FDA methods to …

Nonspreading Solutions In Integro-Difference Models With Allee And Overcompensation Effects., Garrett Luther Otto

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous work in Integro-Difference models have generally considered Allee effects and over-compensation separately, and have either focused on bounded domain problems or asymptotic spreading results. Some recent results by Sullivan et al. (2017 PNAS 114(19), 5053-5058) combining Allee and over-compensation in an Integro-Difference framework have shown chaotic fluctuating spreading speeds. In this thesis, using a tractable parameterized growth function, we analytically demonstrate that when Allee and over-compensation are present solutions which persist but essentially remain in a compact domain exist. We investigate the stability of these solutions numerically. We also numerically demonstrate the existence of such solutions for more general …

Ecological And Oceanographic Influences On Leatherback Turtle Behavior And Scyphozoan Jellyfish Distributions In The Gulf Of Mexico, Katrina Aleksa

Dissertations

Leatherback turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are a wide-ranging, oceanic species that feed exclusively on gelatinous zooplankton. Leatherback have been spotted in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) for several decades and consistently had a high level of interactions with longline fisheries. However, no quantitative studies have been performed to address the spatiotemporal distribution of these turtles in the GoM. This research determines 1) leatherback movements and high-use areas in the GoM, 2) their association with oceanographic features, 3) the distribution and density of two abundant medusae in the northern GoM and any association with biophysical parameters, and 4) the body …