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Limited Genetic Variability In Native Buckwheats (Eriogonum: Polygonaceae) On San Clemente Island, Lynn Riley, Mitchell E. Mcglaughlin, Kaius Helenurm

Western North American Naturalist

California Channel Island buckwheats are important components of scrub communities on the Channel Islands. A long history of overgrazing by introduced herbivores on San Clemente Island has contributed to scrub vegetation loss and population declines in 2 endemic island taxa, Eriogonum giganteum var. formosum and E. grande var. grande. Since herbivore removal, Eriogonum species, which are early colonizers of disturbed habitats, have been increasing across the island. These increases are thought to facilitate further recovery of the native flora because the shrubs act as nurse plants and improve the soil profile for other native species.

We genotyped individuals from both …

Revised And Updated Vascular Plant Checklists For The Baja California Northern Pacific Islands, Sula Vanderplank, Jon Rebman, Exequiel Ezcurra

Western North American Naturalist

In the last 3 years, significant advances have occurred in our knowledge of the flora of the northern Baja California Pacific Islands. The availability of herbarium specimen data has been significantly increased, and 2 expeditions were undertaken to 7 of the 8 islands in 2015 and 2016. These events have resulted in a wealth of new plant records from the islands, which are here reported with updated taxonomy for the archipelago. The results include 586 vascular plant taxa on the Baja California Northern Pacific Islands; 118 taxa were new, and 54 previously reported taxa were vouchered. The checklists include the …

The Inexplicable Logic Of My Life, Emma Patton

Children's Book and Media Review

What’s more important: nature or nurture? Sal is trying to figure out the answer to that question in his own life. He doesn’t know who his biological father is, and he barely remembers his mother. All his life, Sal has tried to be like his adoptive father, but he feels himself turning into someone he doesn’t recognize. Tragedy strikes in Sal's personal life, as well as in the lives of his friends and family, and the changes happening within him that distance himself from the person he thought he was become even more pronounced. Senior year of high school is …

George, Amanda Bishop

Children's Book and Media Review

George is the story of a young girl who, biologically, was born male. Everyone sees George as if she were a boy, but George knows that inside she is female. George sees her opportunity to let the world know who she really is inside when the school play is announced. She desperately wants to be cast as Charlotte in the upcoming school play, but her teachers and fellow classmates don’t think that a boy should play Charlotte. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George devises a plan to show everyone that she can make a great Charlotte. She …

Far From The Tree, Emma Patton

Children's Book and Media Review

Grace, Maya, and Joaquin are three teenagers living independent lives. But when events in Grace’s life prompt her to start looking for her birth mother and possible birth siblings, she finds Maya and then Joaquin and breaks the news that the three of them have the same biological mother. Though the three siblings came this far in their life without knowing one another, they soon create strong family bonds and re-discover what it means to be a sister or a brother. The three are in a unique position: they will always be biologically related, but they have the opportunity to …

The Way To Game The Walk Of Shame, Meagan Andrus

Children's Book and Media Review

Taylor Simmons' reputation is officially ruined. She was seen leaving a party with none other than Evan McKinley, resident playboy at their high school. When she wakes up in his bedroom the next morning, neither of them can remember what actually happened that night. Rumors abound, and Taylor has to come up with a plan, and fast, before her chances at valedictorian and a full-ride to Columbia are jeopardized. She coerces Evan into signing a contract stating that they will fake a relationship so that their leaving the party together makes sense and is not scandalous. Evan is at first …

Science Comics: Sharks: Nature's Perfect Hunter, Olivia Hales

Children's Book and Media Review

Science Comics: Sharks: Nature’s Perfect Hunter is a brief yet in depth exploration of sharks with topics ranging from shark biology to behavior, evolution to biodiversity, and even folklore. The facts are woven into a story featuring a marine biologist. Sharks are helpfully compared and contrasted to each other, animals, and humans, emphasizing their stunning diversity and unique adaptations. Scientific explanations of how a shark’s body works are illustrated in great detail.

Science Comics: Dogs: From Predator To Protector, Mavanee Farnsworth

Children's Book and Media Review

Rudy, a four-legged friend who loves humans and balls, is taken to the park with his owner. While at the park, Rudy explains about the species of dogs, and then jumps back into time (25,000 BC to be exact). During this time wolves were the closest animal to a dogs, but they weren’t the best human companion because wolves aren’t naturally tame. Through evolution, changes in wolves’ traits resulted in the dog that man loves today. Each dog has many different qualities and characteristics that make that dog unique to specific environments and tasks. Through this journey, one will come …

And She Was, Meagan Andrus

Children's Book and Media Review

Eighteen-year-old Dara has just graduated high school and wants her mother’s support for her to go pro in the tennis world. While searching for some legal documents, Dara discovers a major secret: her mother is actually her biological father, and transitioned when Dara was very young. Without waiting for a bigger explanation, Dara leaves to find some answers about her extended family. Along the way, her mother writes her e-mails to explain what she went through growing up and why she did what she did. Dara is at first happy with her new extended family but later realizes that large …

A Blackthorn Key Adventure: The Assassin's Curse, Tessa Mcmillan

Children's Book and Media Review

King Charles II invites Christopher and Tom to a party, where Christopher stumbles upon a poisoned guest and is attacked by an assassin. Acting quickly, Christopher and Tom save Charles and the king’s sister, Minette. Charles asks Christopher, Tom, and Sally to join Minette’s entourage to Paris so they can stop the assassins. Once in Paris, the three friends learn the origin of the curse on the French royal line. Christopher realizes the curse is being resurrected by a group of servants and nobles who want the Templar treasure for themselves. The mastermind servant over the assassination attempts flees, but …

Infandous, Meagan Andrus

Children's Book and Media Review

Sephora Golding lives in Venice Beach with her mother, Rebecca, whom Seph has always imagined as a mermaid: wildly beautiful and captivating, like the ocean. Seph is nothing like her, instead preferring to wear baggy jeans and make unique art out of items found on the beach where she lives. Her summer at first seems to be relatively boring, but she spends one night with a mysterious but gorgeous older surfer. Throughout the meandering storyline, Seph hints at a dark secret, though it is not until later that she reveals what has been hidden in plain sight for the reader …

Biogeographic Patterns Among Seed-Bearing And Spore-Bearing Plants Across The California Channel Islands, Benjamin E. Carter, C. Matt Guilliams

Western North American Naturalist

Spore-bearing and seed-bearing plants differ in their ability to colonize islands from mainland sources. To assess the importance of these differences, we investigated patterns of species richness and species composition for the native bryophyte, fern, and seed plant floras of the California Channel Islands. Native richness was regressed against island area, maximum elevation, distance to mainland, distance to nearest propagule source along prevailing wind trajectories, and latitude for the 3 plant groups. Ordinations, Mantel tests, randomization tests, and an analysis partitioning beta diversity into turnover and nestedness components were used to identify similarities and differences in species composition across the …

Assessment Of Topsoil Salvage And Seed Augmentation In The Restoration Of Coastal Sage Scrub On Santa Catalina Island, California, Peter J. Dixon

Western North American Naturalist

The Catalina Island Conservancy manages over 22,000 acres of coastal (California) sage scrub (CSS) habitat off the coast of Southern California, including much of the infrastructure, roads, and recreation associated with habitat disturbance. Restoration trials were initiated to establish best management practices for roadside and disturbed site revegetation under local site conditions. Site treatments compared excavated native subsoil and surface soil (±20 cm) reapplication practices with and without seed augmentation. Evaluation of native and nonnative germinants indicated that salvaged surface soil alone may not be sufficient to restore native cover. Seeding improved native cover and reduced establishment of nonnative species …

Frost450, A Novel Microtubule Targeting Agent: Resistance And Cross-Resistance In An Ovarian Cancer Cell Line, Jonathan Chancellor Fox

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Drug resistance remains problematic for chemotherapy treatments. As primary treatment strategies tend to lose potency against cancer, there is a need for treatment options that overcome drug resistance mechanisms. FROST450, a novel microtubule destabilizing agent, has proven anticancer effects that overcome taxane and multidrug resistance. However, to better understand the clinical potential of FROST450, in this study we examine the mechanisms and implications of acquired FROST450 resistance in an A2780 ovarian cancer cell line. Results indicate FROST450 resistance is associated with increased mitochondrial respiration and with changes in gene sequence or expression level of proteins associated with microtubules, and that …

Wall Shear Stress In Simplified And Scanned Avian Respiratory Airways, Michael Sterling Farnsworth

Theses and Dissertations

Birds uniquely produce sound through a vocal organ known as a syrinx. The presence of wall shear stress acting on the airway cells of any organism will affect how airway cells develop and multiply. Unique features of avian airway geometry and breathing pattern might have contributed to the development of the syrinx. This thesis examines wall shear stress in the trachea and first bronchi of avian geometries using computational fluid dynamics. The computational fluid dynamic simulations underwent grid- and time-independence studies and were validated using particle image velocimetry. Parameters such as bird size, bronchial branching angle, and breathing waveform were …

Effects Of And Influences On Microbial Populations Of Missouri Maize Fields, Madsen Paul Sullivan

Theses and Dissertations

The role of individual soil microorganisms changes over the course of a plant's life - microorganisms that have no discernable role at one developmental stage may affect the plant later in its growth. Traditional analysis of the soil microbiome, which has focused principally on the relative abundances (RA) of individual organisms, may be incomplete, as underlying differences in population size cannot be addressed. We conducted a metagenomic analysis of soil microorganisms from various maize (Zea mays L.) fields at two depths, accompanied by crop yield components, to provide insight into influences of edaphic microbes on maize productivity under commercial maize …

Gut Microbiota Regulates The Interplay Between Diet And Genetics To Influence Insulin Resistance, Jeralyn Jones Franson

Theses and Dissertations

Insulin resistance and obesity are major public health concerns. The impact of diet and genetics on insulin resistance and obesity is well accepted. Additionally, the gut microbiota has been shown to influence obesity and metabolic disorders. However, much remains to be understood about the role of gut microbiota in the development of insulin resistance and obesity. We utilized a mouse model lacking PAS kinase, a protein involved in cellular metabolism, in order to better understand the relationship between diet, genetics and the gut microbiota. Previous research has shown that mice lacking PAS kinase were protected from the effects of a …

Engineering Cell-Free Biosystems For On-Site Production And Rapid Design Of Next-Generation Therapeutics, Kristen Michelle Wilding

Theses and Dissertations

While protein therapeutics are indispensable in the treatment of a variety of diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and diabetes, key limitations including short half-lives, high immunogenicity, protein instability, and centralized production complicate long-term use and on-demand production. Site-specific polymer conjugation provides a method for mitigating these challenges while minimizing negative impacts on protein activity. However, the location-dependent effects of polymer conjugation are not well understood. Cell-free protein synthesis provides direct access to the synthesis environment and rapid synthesis times, enabling rapid evaluation of multiple conjugation sites on a target protein. Here, work is presented towards developing cell-free protein synthesis as …

Microbial And Environmental Drivers Of Soil Respiration Differ Along Montane To Urban Transitions, Kerri Ann Russell

Theses and Dissertations

In natural ecosystems, like deciduous and coniferous forests, soil CO2 flux or soil respiration is highly variable and influenced by multiple factors including temperature, precipitation, dissolved soil organic carbon (DOC), dissolved organic matter (DOM), and bacterial and fungal biomass and diversity. However, as the human population continues to grow rapidly, so too do urbanized landscapes with unknown consequences to soil respiration. To determine the extent urbanization influences seasonal shifts in microorganisms and environmental drivers alter soil respiration, we evaluated bacterial and fungal communities, soil physiochemical characteristics, and respiration in forested and urbanizing ecosystems in three watersheds across northern Utah, USA. …

Repopulation And Stimulation Of Porcine Cardiac Extracellular Matrix To Create Engineered Heart Patches, Silvia Juliana Moncada Diaz

Theses and Dissertations

Heart failure is the main cause of death for both men and women in the United States. The only proven treatment for patients with heart failure is heart transplantation. The goal of this research is to create patches of tissue that could mimic the function of the native heart to repair the damaged portions of the heart. In this study, whole porcine hearts were decellularized to create a 3D construct that was recellularized with cardiomyocytes (CM) differentiated from human induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells. At day 4 of differentiation, IPS-derived CMs were implanted onto cardiac extracellular matrix (cECM) and ten …

Characterization Of Pyrolysis Products From Fast Pyrolysis Of Live And Dead Vegetation, Mohammad Saeed Safdari

Theses and Dissertations

Wildland fire, which includes both planned (prescribed fire) and unplanned (wildfire) fires, is an important component of many ecosystems. Prescribed burning (controlled burning) is used as an effective tool in managing a variety of ecosystems in the United States to reduce accumulation of hazardous fuels, manage wildlife habitats, mimic natural fire occurrence, manage traditional native foods, and provide other ecological and societal benefits. During wildland fires, both live and dead (biomass) plants undergo a two-step thermal degradation process (pyrolysis and combustion) when exposed to high temperatures. Pyrolysis is the thermal decomposition of organic material, which does not require the presence …

Biogeography And Natural History Of Tiger Moths And Spongillaflies Of Intermountain North America With Experimental Studies Of Host Preference In The Lichen-Feeder Cisthene Angelus (Insecta: Lepdioptera: Erebidae: Arctiinae And Neuroptera: Sisyridae), Makani Layne Fisher

Theses and Dissertations

The Intermountain West is comprised of impressive land formations, numerous ecoregions, and a unique biota. The area has many flora and fauna that have been investigated, but the region is generally considered undersampled when it comes to insects. However, I propose the matter to be a lack of shared experience in identifying key insect species and the underutilization of professional and personal collections. These impediments are highlighted by two insect groups in the Intermountain West: spongillaflies and tiger moths.Spongillaflies can be difficult to recognize for the general entomologist and have rarely been recorded in the Intermountain West. My colleagues and …

The Design, Construction, And Thermal Diffusivity Measurements Of The Fluorescent Scanning Thermal Microscope (Fstm), Samuel Hunter Hayden

Theses and Dissertations

Over the life of nuclear fuel, inhomogeneous structures develop, negatively impacting thermal properties. New fuels are under development, but require more accurate knowledge of how the properties change to model performance and determine safe operational conditions. Measurement systems capable of small–scale, pointwise thermal property measurements and low cost are necessary to measure these properties and integrate into hot cells where electronics are likely to fail during fuel investigation. This project develops a cheaper, smaller, and easily replaceable Fluorescent Scanning Thermal Microscope (FSTM) using the blue laser and focusing circuitry from an Xbox HD-DVD player. The FSTM also incorporates novel fluorescent …

The Antimicrobial Properties Of Honey And Their Effect On Pathogenic Bacteria, Shreena Himanshu Mody

Theses and Dissertations

Honey has been used to heal wounds since ancient times. There are many references in ancient literature that cite honey for its medicinal uses. It is used as an alternative agent to cure infections of wounds, burns, ulcers etc. Researchers have shown some of the antimicrobial properties of honey when used as an ointment. When applied to an affected area, it helps to promote the growth of healthy tissue. One of the factors on which the quality of the honey depends, is its geographical origin. Based on the location, honey types can vary as much as 100-fold from each other …

Toward Real-Time Flip Fluid Simulation Through Machine Learning Approximations, Javid Kennon Pack

Theses and Dissertations

Fluids in computer generated imagery can add an impressive amount of realism to a scene, but are particularly time-consuming to simulate. In an attempt to run fluid simulations in real-time, recent efforts have attempted to simulate fluids by using machine learning techniques to approximate the movement of fluids. We explore utilizing machine learning to simulate fluids while also integrating the Fluid-Implicit-Particle (FLIP) simulation method into machine learning fluid simulation approaches.

Innate Immune Cell Phenotypes Are Dictated By Distinct Epigenetic Reprogramming, Kevin Douglas Adams

Theses and Dissertations

The innate immune system is the first line of host defense against external exposures. During these initial encounters, antigen presenting cells - specifically monocytes and macrophages - modulate further inflammatory responses. Macrophages exist along a spectrum of phenotypic programs; on the inflammatory M1 end they enhance immune activity while on the anti-inflammatory M2 end they suppress further immune activation. Furthermore, within M2 macrophages there exist many subpopulations, namely M2a and M2d, each with specific roles during infection or exposure. We sought to compare the epigenetic profiles of these subpopulations of macrophages to determine key regulatory gene networks and factors that …

Pore Pressure Generation And Shear Modulus Degradation During Laminar Shear Box Testing With Prefabricated Vertical Drains, Landon Scott Kinney

Theses and Dissertations

Liquefaction is a costly phenomenon where soil shear modulus degrades as the generation of excess pore pressures begins. One of the methods to mitigate liquefaction, is the use of prefabricated vertical drains. Prefabricated vertical drains provide a drainage path to effectively mitigate the generation of pore pressures and aid in shear modulus recovery. The aims of this study were to define shear modulus degradation vs. shear strain as a function of excess pore pressure ratio; define the effects of prefabricated vertical drains on the behavior of pore pressure generation vs. shear strain; and to define volumetric strain as a function …

Bobcat Abundance And Habitat Selection On The Utah Test And Training Range, Kyle David Muncey

Theses and Dissertations

Remote cameras have become a popular tool for monitoring wildlife. We used remote cameras to estimate bobcat (Lynx rufus) population abundance on the Utah Test and Training Range during two sample periods between 2015 and 2017. We used two statistical methods, closed capture mark-recapture (CMR) and mark-resight Poisson log-normal (PNE), to estimate bobcat abundance within the study area. We used the maximum mean distance moved method (MMDM) to calculate the effective sample area for estimating density. Additionally, we captured bobcats and estimated home range using minimum convex polygon (MCP) and kernel density estimation (KDE) methods. Bobcat abundance on the UTTR …

Galleria Mellonella As An Alternate Infection Model For Burkholderia Species And A Comparison Of Suspension And Surface Test Methods For Evaluating Sporicidal Efficacy, Joseph D. Thiriot

Theses and Dissertations

Melioidosis is a neglected tropical disease that continues unabated in many countries, particularly in Southeast Asia. There is no vaccine and antimicrobial treatment is expensive and complicated. Virulence models are important tools used to investigate genes involved in pathogenesis. Galleria mellonella is the larvae of the wax worm moth that has been used to model various infections. Based on previous studies, we attempted to establish an infection model using Burkholderia pseudomallei and Burkholderia thailandensis, a related species which is avirulent in humans. Injections of various forms of these species (fresh and frozen) were used to develop Kaplan-Meier plots. We …

Endocytosis As An Additional Mechanism Of Glucose Transport To The Hexose Transporter In Trypanosoma Brucei, Jongsu Choi

Theses and Dissertations

Trypanosoma brucei is an extracellular kineotoplastid parasite that causes human African trypanosomiasis (HAT), also known as sleeping sickness. As trypanosomes undergo vector to host transition, heavy transcriptional adaptation such as metabolic shift to glycolysis and upregulated endocytosis occurs. Specifically, glycolysis in the infectious stage becomes the sole source of energy production; thus, the glucose transport mechanism in T. brucei provides one of the most promising therapeutic targets for development of new drugs to treat HAT. Despite an established trypanosome hexose transporter (THT) model for glucose transport across the plasma membrane, there remains gaps in the detailed mechanism of glucose transport …