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Mineralogical And Geochemical Signatures Of Weathering On Carbonate Rocks And Dynamic Young Land Surfaces In Muğla Polje (Sw Turkey), Ceren Küçükuysal, Murat Gül, Tural Aghayev, Merve Gülcan

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Red soils as the weathering products in Muğla Polje (SW Turkey) show different occurrences either on hard and permeable limestone (terra rossa (TRs)) or within the matrix of transported sediments (alluvium-derived soils (ALs), alluvium-derived soils specifically from clastics (ALsc), paleosol (Pls), and colluvium-derived soils (CLs)). The purpose of this study is to unlock the effect of weathering on hard carbonate rocks and dynamic young land surfaces (alluvium and colluvium) in Muğla Polje for the first time in terms of mineralogical and geochemical compositions. TRs, the soils of more stable environments are clayey while ALs and CLs as being the soils …

Unique Features Of Alarmone Metabolism In Clostridioides Difficile, Asia Poudel, Astha Pokhrel, Adenrele Oludiran, Estevan J. Coronado, Kwincy Alleyne, Marrett M. Gilfus, Raj K. Gurung, Surya B. Adhikari, Erin B. Purcell

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications

The “magic spot” alarmones (pp)pGpp, previously implicated in Clostridioides difficile antibiotic survival, are synthesized by the RelA-SpoT homolog (RSH) of C. difficile (RSH_Cd) and RelQ_Cd. These enzymes are transcriptionally activated by diverse environmental stresses. RSH_Cd has previously been reported to synthesize ppGpp, but in this study, we found that both clostridial enzymes exclusively synthesize pGpp. While direct synthesis of pGpp from a GMP substrate, and (p)ppGpp hydrolysis into pGpp by NUDIX hydrolases, have previously been reported, there is no precedent for a bacterium synthesizing pGpp exclusively. Hydrolysis of the 5′ phosphate or pyrophosphate from GDP …

Regenerative Agriculture Effects On Invertebrate And Bird Communities And Insect-Provided Ecosystem Services, Alex Michels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Conventional agricultural practices can have unintended consequences on the environment and wildlife. Insects and birds are declining at rapid rates around the world, and the current conventional agricultural paradigm is a major driver through habitat loss and the intensification of production. Invertebrates in agroecosystems provide services to both farmers and the rest of society. Regenerative systems may promote the functioning of an agroecosystem by influencing invertebrate abundance, diversity, and ecosystem services and mitigate bird and insect declines through conservation practices that increase soil health, reduce disturbances, and increase biological diversity. Here I address knowledge gaps of the effects of regenerative …

Response Of Soil Biochemical And Physical Properties To Long Term Prairie Cordgrass And Kura Clover Intercropping System, Vaishnavi Varikuti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Prairie cordgrass (Spartina pectinata) (PCG) is a warm-season perennial grass that can be used as a biofuel feedstock and can be grown on marginal lands. Previous studies on intercropping of a perennial legume i.e., kura clover (Trifolium ambiguum) (KC) with PCG can improve soil biochemical properties, increase biomass production, mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while reducing the chemical fertilizer requirement. However, there is a lack of evidence about the effects of PCG production on soil biochemical and physical properties during the cropping season and at deeper soil depths in reference to support plant growth, environmental implications and enhance the soil …

Identification And Dosimetry Of Irradiated Pistachio (Pistacia Vera L.) Using Epr, Elsayed Salama, Ahmed M. Maghrabya, Samy A. Anwar, M. El-Sayed

Basic Science Engineering

In the current study, the EPR signal of both gamma-irradiated shell and kernel of the pistachio is recorded and investigated. The spectrum properties, microwave power dependency of signal intensities, short- and long-term temporal dependencies, and other significant factors are studied. This investigation was done on how varying radiation doses (0–10 kGy) affected the reactions of pistachio shells and kernels. The time dependence of the radiation-induced signal intensity of pistachio showed that the maximum intensity reached about 98.75% and 67% of its original value for shells and kernels, respectively, after the first six hours. These results indicate that EPR is an …

Trace Elements In Nails And Anemia In Children Living Along The Interoceanic Highway, Madre De Dios, Peru / Narrative Competence And Cognitive Mapping As A Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy In The Education Of Emergent Bilinguals, Tia Marks

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Anthropogenic changes in the Peruvian Amazon, including deforestation, highway development, agriculture, and artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM), have increased community concern about potential exposures toxic trace elements (TTE) including arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and lead (Pb). Such exposures can lead to detrimental health effects in children, such as developmental delays and anemia. The overarching goal of my dissertation was to understand exposure to both toxic and essential (manganese (Mn), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn)) trace elements, anemia prevalence, and the associations between hemoglobin (Hb) levels and trace elements. To do this, I leveraged existing data from a …

Spatial Geochemical Changes In Central And East Texas Soils Over Time Resulting From Human Decomposition, Isabela Marisol Overturf

CMC Senior Theses

Human decomposition is studied to aid forensic investigations and better understand the impact of cemeteries on urban resources like soil and groundwater. The purpose of this study was to identify changes in soil geochemistry at and around a human grave to search for lateral nutrient movement and possibly identify new patterns in elemental concentrations that could be used in estimating post-mortem intervals (PMIs). At the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF) at Texas State San Marcos, soil samples were collected from a shallow grave over the course of 54 days to conduct analysis for organic matter content, texture, pH, and bulk …

Comparison Of Volatile Chemical Components Of Cystoseira Crinita Duby By Hydrodistillation(Hd) And Solid-Phase Microextraction (Spme) Methods And Antimicrobialand Scolicidal Activities Of Essential Oil And Extracts, Tayyi̇be Beyza Yücel

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

This study aims to derive an essential oil from Cystoseira crinita Duby, analyze the chemical composition of the essential oil, discover the antimicrobial activities of the oil and the extracts, and investigate the scolicidal activities of the extracts. The volatile organic compounds of Cystoseira crinita Duby were determined by GC/MS-FID using both hydro-distillation (HD) and solid-phase microextraction (SPME) methods. As a result of the essential oil analysis, 97.14% of 17 compounds and 93.13% of 19 compounds were elucidated. The main compounds identified were hexanal (31.802%), n-hexadecanoic acid (12.654%), trans-β-ionone (9.118%), 2E-hexenal (15.955%), heptadecane (15.729%) and tetradecane (13.458%). In addition, hexane, …

Synthesis, Characterization, And Antimicrobial Evaluation Of Polyvinylalcohol-Osthol Composite Films, Ishrat Gowsia, Feroz Mir, Javid Banday

Turkish Journal of Chemistry

Although poly-vinyl alcohol (PVA) has certain mechanical drawbacks such as a weak barrier, it has widely been used in food packaging over the last many years. To increase the suitability of PVA (C₂H₄O)n and render it ideal for food packaging, a diversity of studies have already been carried out. In the below-mentioned script, we, for the first time, report the use of natural product osthol in making a new composite with PVA for enhancing thermal, physicochemical, and antimicrobial properties. The significant aim of the report is the insertion of osthol (C₁₅H₁₆O_{3 …}

Soil Literature Research Project, Kathryn Currey

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

TOPIC OVERVIEW : TOXINS IN SOILS AND HEALTH OF HUMANS

• Soil contamination happens all the time as a result of various causes, that can be purposeful or accidental (Soil Science Society of America, np). Some common examples of ways that soil is contaminated is through mining, waste disposal and oil drilling, (Misachi, John).

• Soil contamination and a large presence of toxins present in soils from across the world has harmed our planet, the animals and the humans on it (Soil Science Society of America, np).

• For this project I am going to discuss toxins due to soil …

Soils Project, Corinne Wolf

Natural Sciences Student Research Presentations

There are several well known impacts of climate change on our planet, such rising sea levels or warming temperatures. However, I wanted to explore a way in which climate change could potentially impact soils.

Finding The Best Predictors For Foot Traffic In Us Seafood Restaurants, Isabel Paige Beaulieu

Honors Theses and Capstones

COVID-19 caused state and nation-wide lockdowns, which altered human foot traffic, especially in restaurants. The seafood sector in particular suffered greatly as there was an increase in illegal fishing, it is made up of perishable goods, it is seasonal in some places, and imports and exports were slowed. Foot traffic data is useful for business owners to have to know how much to order, how many employees to schedule, etc. One issue is that the data is very expensive, hard to get, and not available until months after it is recorded. Our goal is to not only find covariates that …

Electrochemistry Of Bubbles: Developing New Sensors, Promoting Gas Evolution Reactions, And Extraction Of Rare Earth Elements, Ruchiranga R. Ranaweera

Wayne State University Dissertations

This dissertation presents new analytical, electrocatalysis, and separation strategies that utilize bubble behaviors in different electrochemical systems. The first part of this dissertation focuses on the method development for PFAS preconcentration and detection. First, we present the bubble-nucleation-based electrochemical method for the selective and sensitive detection of surfactants. Our method utilizes the high surface activity of surfactant analytes to affect the electrochemical bubble nucleation and then transduces the change in nucleation condition to an electrochemical signal for determining the surfactant concentration. Using this method, we demonstrate the quantitation of perfluorinated surfactants in water, a group of emerging environmental contaminants, with …

Can Environmental Law Solve The "Forever Chemical" Problem?, Mark P. Nevitt, Robert V. Percival

Faculty Articles

Although federal environmental law purports to provide the public with comprehensive protection against chemical risks, the U.S. chemical industry is characterized by self­ regulation. This self-regulation is exemplified by the dangers posed by per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (''PFAS'')­ broad classes of persistent toxic substances that have now entered nearly every American's bloodstream and hundreds of public drinking water systems. Despite data linking exposure to these "forever chemicals" to cancer, infertility, and a host of other public health harms, environmental law has failed to safeguard the American people from PFAS' toxic legacy. How did this occur? And what should be done …

การตอบสนองทางสรีรวิทยาและผลผลิตของข้าวต่อถ่านชีวภาพ ภายใต้สภาวะดินเค็มจากน้ำทะเลรุกล้ำ, นภัสวรรณ สุดรัตน์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อ 1) คัดเลือกพันธุ์ข้าวที่สามารถทนเค็มจากพันธุ์ข้าวที่นิยมปลูกในจังหวัดฉะเชิงเทรา และ 2) ศึกษาผลของถ่านชีวภาพต่อการตอบสนองทางสรีรวิทยาและผลผลิตของข้าวภายใต้สภาวะดินเค็มจากน้ำทะเลรุกล้ำ ดำเนินการวิจัยโดยให้ต้นกล้าข้าวจำนวน 9 พันธุ์ที่มีอายุ 14 วัน ได้รับสารละลายโซเดียมคลอไรด์ที่มีค่าการนำไฟฟ้าเท่ากับ 6 เดซิซีเมนส์ต่อเมตร (50 มิลลิโมลาร์) เป็นเวลา 3 วัน และ 12 เดซิซีเมนส์ต่อเมตร (100 มิลลิโมลาร์) เป็นเวลา 7 วัน ตามลำดับ สังเกตลักษณะอาการที่ปรากฏและให้คะแนนระดับการทนเค็มตามเกณฑ์มาตรฐาน ผลการวิจัยพบว่า ข้าวพันธุ์พิษณุโลก 2 กข31 กข41 กข47 กข49 กข57 กข61 และสุพรรณบุรี 1 จัดเป็นพันธุ์ข้าวที่ค่อนข้างทนเค็ม ส่วนพันธุ์ปทุมธานี 1 เป็นพันธุ์อ่อนแอต่อความเค็ม จากนั้นปลูกข้าวพันธุ์พิษณุโลก 2 ในกระถางที่บรรจุดินเค็มจากน้ำทะเลรุกล้ำที่มีความเค็มเท่ากับ 5.09 เดซิซีเมนส์ต่อเมตร ที่ผสมด้วยอัตราส่วนถ่านชีวภาพจากแกลบต่อน้ำหนักดินร้อยละ 1 3 5 10 20 และ 30 และให้ต้นข้าวได้รับความเค็มจากสารละลายโซเดียมคลอไรด์ที่มีค่าการนำไฟฟ้าเท่ากับ 6 เดซิซีเมนส์ต่อเมตร (50 มิลลิโมลาร์) เป็นระยะเวลา 28 วัน เมื่อต้นข้าวอายุ 14 วัน เพื่อจำลองสถานการณ์การรุกล้ำของน้ำทะเลในระยะกล้า หรือเมื่อต้นข้าวอายุ 78 วัน เพื่อจำลองสถานการณ์การรุกล้ำของน้ำทะเลในระยะสืบพันธุ์ของข้าว ผลการวิจัยพบว่า อัตราส่วนถ่านชีวภาพต่อน้ำหนักดินร้อยละ 30 มีความเหมาะสมที่สุดในการลดผลกระทบจากสภาวะเค็มในระยะกล้าโดยสามารถเพิ่มอัตราการรอดชีวิตและความสูงของต้น ลดการสะสมโซเดียมในต้นและใบธง พร้อมทั้งเพิ่มจำนวนรวงต่อกอ ความยาวรวง จำนวนเมล็ดต่อรวง ร้อยละเมล็ดดี และน้ำหนัก 1000 เมล็ด ในขณะที่อัตราส่วนถ่านชีวภาพต่อน้ำหนักดินร้อยละ 10 มีความเหมาะสมที่สุดในการลดผลกระทบจากสภาวะเค็มในระยะสืบพันธุ์ของข้าวเนื่องจากสามารถเพิ่มจำนวนต้นต่อกอ ลดการสะสมโซเดียมและอัตราส่วนโซเดียมต่อโพแทสเซียมในใบธง พร้อมด้วยการเพิ่มร้อยละเมล็ดดี และน้ำหนัก 1000 เมล็ด ดังนั้น การผสมถ่านชีวภาพจากแกลบลงในดินเค็มด้วยอัตราส่วนที่เหมาะสมจึงเป็นแนวทางการลดผลกระทบจากน้ำทะเลรุกล้ำต่อข้าวทั้งในระยะกล้าและระยะสืบพันธุ์

Evaluating Energy-Based Trait Shifts And Population Level Impacts Of Big Brown Bats (Eptesicus Fuscus) With Long-Term Exposure To Pseudogymnoascus Destructans, Molly C. Simonis

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Disturbances in environment can lead to a wide range of host physiological responses. These responses can either allow hosts to adjust to new conditions in their environment or can reduce their survival, and can subsequently cause host traits to shift. Small mammals are particularly vulnerable to stochastic disturbances, like a pathogen introduction, because of their high energy demands. Studies examining host responses to pathogens often focus on species highly susceptible to infection that typically have high mortality rates, leading to a gap in understanding the responses of less susceptible species. My dissertation evaluates the energy balance of Eptesicus fuscus (big …

The Acute Physiological Response Of Polar Bears To Helicopter Capture, John P. Whiteman, Henry J. Harlow, George M. Durner, Eric V. Regehr, Steven C. Amstrup, Anthony M. Pagano, Merav Ben-David

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Many wildlife species are live captured, sampled, and released; for polar bears (Ursus maritimus) capture often requires chemical immobilization via helicopter darting. Polar bears reduce their activity for approximately 4 days after capture, likely reflecting stress recovery. To better understand this stress, we quantified polar bear activity (via collar‐mounted accelerometers) and body temperature (via loggers in the body core [T_abd] and periphery [T_per]) during 2–6 months of natural behavior, and during helicopter recapture and immobilization. Recapture induced bouts of peak activity higher than those that occurred during natural behavior for 2 of 5 bears, …

The Online Ordering Behaviors Among Participants In The Oklahoma Women, Infants, And Children Program: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Qi Zhang, Kayoung Park, Junzhou Zhang, Chuanyi Tang

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) is a nutrition assistance program in the United States (U.S.). Participants in the program redeem their prescribed food benefits in WIC-authorized grocery stores. Online ordering is an innovative method being pilot-tested in some stores to facilitate WIC participants' food benefit redemption, which has become especially important in the COVID-19 pandemic. The present research aimed to examine the online ordering (OO) behaviors among 726 WIC households who adopted WIC OO in a grocery chain, XYZ (anonymous) store, in Oklahoma (OK). These households represented approximately 5% of WIC households who redeemed …

Biochar: Properties And Potential Benefits For Agricultural Soil In Rwanda, Andromede Uwase

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Physical and chemical soil degradation is becoming a major challenge for agricultural productivity in Rwanda, which is the most important part of the country’s economy. The wide spreading soil degradation in Rwanda is mainly a result of naturally poor soils coupled with unsustainable soil management leading to, for example, accelerated soil erosion, acidification, nutrient loss, compaction, and to decreasing yields. Biochar, as an end product of pyrolysis of biomass in the absence of oxygen, has been proposed as a soil amendment in remediation strategies because of its positive effects on soil productivity relevant parameters such as soil pH, structure, nutrient …

Estimating Groundnut Yield In Smallholder Agriculture Systems Using Planetscope Data, Daniel Kpienbaareh, Kamaldeen Mohammed, Isaac Luginaah, Jinfei Wang, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Esther Lupafya, Laifolo Dakishoni

Faculty Publications - Geography, Geology, and the Environment

Crop yield is related to household food security and community resilience, especially in smallholder agricultural systems. As such, it is crucial to accurately estimate within-season yield in order to provide critical information for farm management and decision making. Therefore, the primary objective of this paper is to assess the most appropriate method, indices, and growth stage for predicting the groundnut yield in smallholder agricultural systems in northern Malawi. We have estimated the yield of groundnut in two smallholder farms using the observed yield and vegetation indices (VIs), which were derived from multitemporal PlanetScope satellite data. Simple linear, multiple linear (MLR), …

A Study Of The Analysis Of Hemp-Derived Oil Products: Development Of A Method For The Analysis Of Phytocannabinoids In Medicinal Products, Erin Johnson

Theses and Dissertations--Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences

Human interactions with cannabis have a history spanning millennia as a source of fiber, food, and medicine. The plant came across Asia, Europe, and Africa with the movements of people and travelers eventually coming to the Americas with European explorers. In colonizing North America, cannabis fiber was key to the production of canvas and ropes for ships. Although fiber was the driver for cannabis production in the United States, medicinal uses were prevalent and propelled the eventual regulations. The Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 mandated accurate labeling on drugs such as cannabis followed by the Marihuana Tax Act …

Decomposition And Macroinvertebrate Shredder Colonization Of Autumnal Shed Sycamore Leaves In Mining-Contaminated Streams, Leslie Marie Hatch

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Leaf decomposition in streams is an important ecological function facilitated by bacteria, fungi, and macroinvertebrates. Metal contamination can decrease leaf decomposition rates and reduce macroinvertebrate abundance and diversity. In the current study, I focused on mining-contamination in well-buffered streams in two different Missouri mining districts with varying extents of mining contamination, Big River and Pierson Creek. I measured decomposition rates of sycamore leaves, and abundance and diversity of macroinvertebrate shredders in leaf pack experiments with a full-factorial design to determine the effects of metal contamination of leaves and stream substrates. Comparisons were made between leaf packs upstream and downstream of …

Metabolomics Reveal Size-Dependent Impacts Of Cerium Oxide Nanoparticles On Grains Of Barley (Hordeum Vulgare L.), Naum Jepkemei Kirwa

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Plants are exposed to emerging contaminants including nanoparticles, due to the novel but wide uses of these materials. However, researchers have shown contradicting effects of CeO₂-NPs on barley grains with focus mostly on concentration effects and not sizes of these CeO₂-NPs. Therefore, this study aimed at comparing the effects of 0nm (control), 8nm, and 40nm (250 mg CeO₂-NPs/kg soil) on the metabolite profile of barley grains. GC-FID and GC-QTOF-MS were used to measure fatty acid contents and metabolomic changes respectively. GC-FID analysis revealed that palmitic acid, oleic acid, linoleic acid, and the total fatty …

Learning From Web Recipe-Image Pairs For Food Recognition: Problem, Baselines And Performance, Bin Zhu, Chong-Wah Ngo, Wing-Kwong Chan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Cross-modal recipe retrieval has recently been explored for food recognition and understanding. Text-rich recipe provides not only visual content information (e.g., ingredients, dish presentation) but also procedure of food preparation (cutting and cooking styles). The paired data is leveraged to train deep models to retrieve recipes for food images. Most recipes on the Web include sample pictures as the references. The paired multimedia data is not noise-free, due to errors such as pairing of images containing partially prepared dishes with recipes. The content of recipes and food images are not always consistent due to free-style writing and preparation of food …

Chapter 14: 2022: North America, Christopher J. Lemieux, Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change

Geography and Environmental Studies Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding And Harnessing The Structural Features That Govern Hmg-Coa Reductase Activity, Edwin Ragwan

Bryn Mawr College Dissertations and Theses

The enzyme 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme-A reductase (HMGR), which catalyzes the reduction of HMG-CoA to mevalonate using two equivalents of the cofactor NAD(P)H, is part of the mevalonate pathway, found in all kingdoms of life. This pathway is at the heart of natural product biosynthesis constituting one of the obligate routes to producing the building blocks for isoprenoids, which represent the largest and most diverse class of natural products. Natural products and its derivatives continue to provide important compounds in the fields of drug development, biomedical engineering, and commercially-driven products. Therefore, HMGR, which performs the rate-limiting step of the mevalonate pathway garners …

Simultaneous Extraction And Colorimetric Detection Of Ions Using Gel Electromembrane, Ali Sahragard

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

A total integrated electrocolorimetric sensing approach consisting of gel-based electromembrane extraction and colorimetric detection in one-step process was developed. This system was designed using colorimetric reagents preadded to the agarose gel for the determination of the following two model analytes: iodide for negative ions and nickel for positive ions. In this system, when a voltage was applied, the analytes were extracted and transferred from the sample solution (donor phase) to the gel (acceptor phase). The analytes then simultaneously reacted with the colorimetric reagents inside the gel, yielding blue and pink colors for iodide and nickel ions, respectively. These colors were …

Distal Urogenital Anatomy In The Male Wood Frog, Lithobates Sylvaticus (Anura: Ranidae), Stanley E. Trauth

Journal of the Arkansas Academy of Science

I investigated the microanatomy of the distal urogenital system of the male Wood Frog (Lithobates sylvaticus) from a small sample (n = 6) collected in northern Arkansas in February 2020. Specifically, my primary objectives were as follows: 1) to focus on the histology of the paired Wolffian (urogenital) ducts caudally from the kidneys to their merging with the urodeum of the cloaca, 2) to reveal the structure of the paired seminal vesicles (sperm storage structures), and 3) to compare epithelial morphologies between the distal urogenital tract and its neighboring distal alimentary tract. This information will promote a clearer …

A Contraction Based Approach To Tensor Isomorphism, Anh Kieu

Honors Theses

Tensor isomorphism is a hard problem in computational complexity theory. Tensor isomorphism arises not just in mathematics, but also in other applied fields like Machine Learning, Cryptography, and Quantum Information Theory (QIT). In this thesis, we develop a new approach to testing (non)-isomorphism of tensors that uses local information from "contractions" of a tensor to detect differences in global structures. Specifically, we use projective geometry and tensor contractions to create a labelling data structure for a given tensor, which can be used to compare and distinguish tensors. This contraction labelling isomorphism test is quite general, and its practical potential remains …

The Secret Life Of Staghorn Ferns: Social Organization And Labor Division In A Eusocial Plant, Isabelle Small

The Synapse: Intercollegiate science magazine

No abstract provided.