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Comparison Of Retaining Replacement Heifers In A Straight-Bred Angus System Versus Purchasing Crossbred Replacement Heifers To Be Bred To A Terminal Sire, Grady D. Ruble Jan 2018

Comparison Of Retaining Replacement Heifers In A Straight-Bred Angus System Versus Purchasing Crossbred Replacement Heifers To Be Bred To A Terminal Sire, Grady D. Ruble

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Two evaluations were conducted to evaluate the biological and economic production efficiency of retaining replacement females in a straight-bred Angus herd (HR) as opposed to purchasing crossbred replacements for a terminal sire production system (PR) where maximum maternal and individual heterosis is achieved. The first study was a comparison of the HR system versus PR system. It was modeled after a 100 hd, straightbred Angus cowherd that raises their own replacement females. The (NASEM, 2016) model was used to determine the required metabolizable energy (ME)/animal for each stage of production. Stages were broken into segments including weaning – d 28, …


Diversity Of Free – Living Nitrogen – Fixing Bacteria In Soil Of Sioux Prairie Of South Dakota, Nabilah Ali Alshibli Jan 2018

Diversity Of Free – Living Nitrogen – Fixing Bacteria In Soil Of Sioux Prairie Of South Dakota, Nabilah Ali Alshibli

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There are only two natural ways by which molecular nitrogen can be available to support life, either by free-living or by symbiotic nitrogen fixing bacteria. The best studied diazotrophs form symbiotic associations with plants, primarily legumes and certain tree species, but little is known about how non-leguminous plants such as grasses obtain nitrogen in their environment. Natural prairies have few legumes, thus have less symbiotic nitrogen fixer interaction. This indicates presence of free-living nitrogen (FLN) fixation activity towards the balance of the N cycle. The objective of this study was to characterize the culturable diversity of free-living diazotrophs in native …


Can Solvent-Or Mechanically-Extracted Carinata Meal Be Used As An Effective Source Of Supplemental Protein To Cows Fed Poor Quality Forages?, Emily Jacklyn Rosenthal Jan 2018

Can Solvent-Or Mechanically-Extracted Carinata Meal Be Used As An Effective Source Of Supplemental Protein To Cows Fed Poor Quality Forages?, Emily Jacklyn Rosenthal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Brassica carinata is an oilseed crop that requires a relatively short growing season and produces high crop yields. It is a great source for aviation biofuel, however it produces a large amount of waste that may be used as a protein supplement for cattle. We tested the effects of solvent- or mechanically-extracted carinata meal as a protein supplement to ad libitum ground or long-stem corn residue (i.e., corn plant left over from grain harvest) had on cow performance and digestibility. Fifty-six non-pregnant cows in 8 pens had ad libitum access to either long-stem or ground corn residue in addition to …


Strategies To Improve Calf Performance: Improving Water Quality, Feeding Microbially-Enhanced Soy Protein, And Supplementing Condensed Whey Solubles, Nirosh Dias Senevirathne Jan 2018

Strategies To Improve Calf Performance: Improving Water Quality, Feeding Microbially-Enhanced Soy Protein, And Supplementing Condensed Whey Solubles, Nirosh Dias Senevirathne

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Six experiments were conducted for this dissertation research to evaluate strategies to improve growth performance and health of calves. Growth performance, nutrient utilization, and health effects were evaluated when calves were offered water treated with reverse osmosis system (RW), fed starter pellets supplemented with microbially-enhanced soy protein (MSP) or supplemented condensed whey solubles (CWS). The first two experiments were conducted to determine drinking preference, growth performance, and health of dairy calves offered RW or by a municipal water treatment plant (MW), compared with local untreated well water (WW). First a sequential elimination study was conducted to observed drinking preference of …


The Contributions Of Fc Gamma Receptors And Macropinocytosis To The Internalization, Sorting And Clearance Of Antibody Coated Nanovesicles In Macrophages, George Opoku-Kusi Jr. Jan 2018

The Contributions Of Fc Gamma Receptors And Macropinocytosis To The Internalization, Sorting And Clearance Of Antibody Coated Nanovesicles In Macrophages, George Opoku-Kusi Jr.

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Macrophages are tissue-resident phagocytes that play critical roles in immune response and tissue homeostasis. They have a tremendous capacity to internalize objects of various sizes ranging from nanoscale viral particles to micron sized bacteria and tumor cells. This phenomenon, termed phagocytosis for the uptake of large particles, or endocytosis for the uptake of small particles, is integral to the immune response in multicellular organisms. Macrophages express FcγRs, which are tyrosine kinase receptors that bind IgG on an opsonized target. Binding of IgG Fc domain to the extracellular domain of an FcγR triggers signaling cascades that coordinate internalization of the opsonized …


Genetic Component Effects Of Two Loci On Seed Dormancy, Awn, Low-Temperature Germination, Plant Height, And Flowering Time In Rice (Oryza Sativa L.), Ugur Korkmaz Jan 2018

Genetic Component Effects Of Two Loci On Seed Dormancy, Awn, Low-Temperature Germination, Plant Height, And Flowering Time In Rice (Oryza Sativa L.), Ugur Korkmaz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Seed dormancy (SD) is an adaptive trait of both ecological and agricultural importance. Cereal crops have been selected for reduced SD to promote germination, which also caused the pre-harvest sprouting (PHS) problem in crop production. The previous research identified a set of quantitative trait loci (QTL) for SD, including qSD1- 2 and qSD8, in the conspecific weedy and cultivated rice (Oryza sativa). qSD1-2 carries a dormancy-enhancing allele from the cultivated rice and has a pleiotropic effect on plant height. qSD8 carries a dormancy-enhancing allele from the weedy rice and tightly links to qAL8 for awn length. The …


Gtpase-Activating Protein-Binding Protein 1 Plays An Antiviral Role In Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (Pedv) Replication, Kabita Pandey Jan 2018

Gtpase-Activating Protein-Binding Protein 1 Plays An Antiviral Role In Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (Pedv) Replication, Kabita Pandey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) is a non-segmented virus which uses one-stranded, positive-sense RNA as genetic material. PEDV falls under Coronaviridae family and extensive diarrhea and dehydration in nursing piglets are the major clinical signs. This emerging disease leads to huge economic loss in the pig farming. Very less studies are done towards the role of innate immunity in PEDV infection. The formation of Stress granules (SGs) are seen when cells are introduced to different stressful conditions, which also includes viral infections. SGs are formed when one of the four kinases: doublestranded RNA (dsRNA)-dependent protein kinase (PKR), PKR-like endoplasmic reticulum …


Synthesis, Characterization And Molecular Dynamic Simulations Of Aqueous Choline Chloride Deep Eutectic Solvents, Sampson Asare Jan 2018

Synthesis, Characterization And Molecular Dynamic Simulations Of Aqueous Choline Chloride Deep Eutectic Solvents, Sampson Asare

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Various forms of deep eutectic solvents have been synthesized with advantages of 100% atom economy, low vapor pressure, ease of preparation, cost efficiency, low toxicity, and tunability. Though several DESs have been synthesized and characterized, including binary and ternary solvents, none of the binary DESs have been formulated with water as the sole hydrogen bond donor(HBD). This is due to a couple of opinions. First, water is disruptive to the eutectic bond in tertiary DES. Secondly, the ubiquity and concentration of water even in natural systems have led to the assertion that a solution rather than a eutectic solvent will …


Exploiting The Genetic Diversity Of Wild Ancestors And Relatives Of Wheat For Its Improvement, Jagdeep Singh Sidhu Jan 2018

Exploiting The Genetic Diversity Of Wild Ancestors And Relatives Of Wheat For Its Improvement, Jagdeep Singh Sidhu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Wheat is the third most staple food worldwide but current 1% annual improvement in the wheat production is insufficient to meet the growing demands in future. The narrow genetic base of wheat limits continuous improvement in wheat productivity and tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses under changing climate. Wild ancestors and relatives of wheat hold a potential in widening the genetic pool of wheat and enhance its resilience to biotic and abiotic stresses. This study was focused towards characterizing the genetic diversity in wild relatives of wheat for disease resistance and efficient association with diazotrophs. In the first study, we …


Lcd 3d Printing Of A Photocurable Elastomer For Tissue Engineering, Beatriz Luiza De Souza Jan 2018

Lcd 3d Printing Of A Photocurable Elastomer For Tissue Engineering, Beatriz Luiza De Souza

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Three-dimensional scaffolding is an emerging research area in biomedical and tissue engineering. Scaffolds provide the possibility of growing tissues in a controlled environment, with desired characteristics and properties towards a specific application. A new method to 3D print biodegradable and biocompatible material called Polyglycerol Sebacate Acrylate (PGSA) is demonstrated. PGSA is essentially an acrylated form of PGS using photoinitiator to become a photocurable resin suitable for liquid crystal display (LCD) 3D printing. PGSA was selected because its rheological and crosslinking behavior (and hence its mechanical properties) can be controlled by changes in curing time, temperature, and pressure. This material has …


Study Of Anti-Proliferative Activity Of Cucurbitacins Inspired Estrone Analogs On Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Sara Elgazwi Jan 2018

Study Of Anti-Proliferative Activity Of Cucurbitacins Inspired Estrone Analogs On Hepatocellular Carcinoma, Sara Elgazwi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is considered the third leading cause of death from cancer. Overall survival rate is significantly low, due to the emerging resistance to chemotherapeutic agents and lack of selectivity. Recent studies have demonstrated that epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) is a promising molecular target for cancer therapy, especially HCC. Current studies showed that cucurbitacins are potent anticancer compounds which target EGFR. This prompted us to investigate the antiproliferative activity of novel cucurbitacins inspired estrone analogs (CIEA) against sensitive and resistant HepG2 cell lines. Anti-proliferation activity of 20 CIEA analogs were examined against HepG2 using MTT assay and showed …


Evaluation Of Dietary Phytochemicals As Rumen Modifiers In Lactating Dairy Cows, Sonia Rodriguez Jimenez Jan 2018

Evaluation Of Dietary Phytochemicals As Rumen Modifiers In Lactating Dairy Cows, Sonia Rodriguez Jimenez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Phytochemicals such as tannins included in dairy cow nutritional programs, as a natural feed additive, promise to improve rumen bypass protein and consequently reduce the feeding cost by decreasing the amount of CP needed in the ration. Additionally, if tannins are fed along with high quality protein sources, this could improve the AA profile reaching the small intestine and potentially improving health and performance of dairy cows. The black pepper, specifically its alkaloid piperine, is a nontoxic, natural dietary compound with a broad range of physiological activity. Lactating dairy cows ingesting these phytochemicals (tannin extracts and black pepper) will potentially …


Impact Of Individual Differences On Faking Behavior, Norah Beverly Kerubo Orina Jan 2018

Impact Of Individual Differences On Faking Behavior, Norah Beverly Kerubo Orina

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Despite the widespread use of personality tests over the past decades for personnel selection, personality tests are known to be fakable by applicants. Professionals often design interventions during the selection process to reduce applicant faking. The current research examined the impact of individual differences faking behavior that are known to be associated with faking behavior in applicants. They included integrity, selfcontrol, self-monitoring, narcissism, impulsivity and external locus of control. This research tested hypotheses that applicants would fake differently on the various individual difference variables and whether the relationship between faking behavior and individual differences would be consistent across sex and …


Efficiency Of Utilizing Standardized Ileal Digestible Lys And Thr For Whole Body Protein Retention In Pregnant Gilts During Early, Mid And Late Gestation, Ron Aldwin Sapin Navales Jan 2018

Efficiency Of Utilizing Standardized Ileal Digestible Lys And Thr For Whole Body Protein Retention In Pregnant Gilts During Early, Mid And Late Gestation, Ron Aldwin Sapin Navales

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In pregnant pigs, amino acid (AA) requirements represent the sum of those required for maintenance functions, protein retention and efficiency of utilizing AA intake for the aforementioned body processes. The NRC (2012) model assumed AA efficiency is constant across period of gestation; however this is not reflective of the changes in metabolic demand during gestation. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to evaluate the efficiency of utilizing SID Lys and Thr for whole body protein retention (kSIDLys and kSIDThr) in pregnant gilts during early, mid and late gestation. Three 12 d N-balance studies were conducted to represent different periods of gestation. …


Application Of Genomic Approaches To Improve Yield And Bacterial Leaf Streak Resistance In Winter Wheat, Sai Mukund Ramakrishnan Jan 2018

Application Of Genomic Approaches To Improve Yield And Bacterial Leaf Streak Resistance In Winter Wheat, Sai Mukund Ramakrishnan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Global wheat production is threatened by the change in climate thus leading lead to the increase in the biotic and abiotic stresses. We need to increase wheat productivity at a faster pace and manage these challenges to meet the growing demand. Development of cultivars with durable disease resistance and enhancing the rate of genetic gain in wheat are the major goals in wheat breeding programs. Bacterial Leaf Streak (BLS) is one of the most threatening bacterial diseases to wheat in the US Northern Great Plains. Unlike fungal diseases, bacterial diseases cannot be effectively managed using chemicals and thus developing disease …


Optimization Of Microfluidic Particle Separator Geometry Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Joseph Petersen Jan 2018

Optimization Of Microfluidic Particle Separator Geometry Using Computational Fluid Dynamics, Joseph Petersen

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational fluid dynamics software was used to simulate the motion of circulating tumor cells in a variety of microfluidic cell isolation devices. Design of several novel microfluidic cell isolation devices was aided by viewing streamlines of fluid in devices in simulation. Devices that performed best in simulation used 5-micrometer wide guiding channels to guide cells to the capture location in the device. While these devices performed better than other devices in simulation and captured all particles regardless of position along inlet, experimental results differ from simulation.


Modeling The In-State Geographic Market Changes Of South Dakota Public University Enrollments, 2006 To 2015, John Green Jan 2018

Modeling The In-State Geographic Market Changes Of South Dakota Public University Enrollments, 2006 To 2015, John Green

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The spatial nature of how high school students choose a college has become an integral part of the recruitment process at universities across the country. In South Dakota, the impact of distance on enrollment at state operated institutions influences the geographic footprint of each university. Between 2006 and 2015, the nature of those enrollment numbers and geographic footprints changed within the state, creating enrollment stagnation or decline at state run institutions. This research paper addresses the geographic nature of those enrollment declines, models the college enrollment decision of students in the state, and applies those findings towards potential enrollment projections. …


Satellite Remote Sensing Of Woody And Herbaceous Leaf Area For Improved Understanding Of Forage Resources And Fire In Africa, Milkah Njoki Kahiu Jan 2018

Satellite Remote Sensing Of Woody And Herbaceous Leaf Area For Improved Understanding Of Forage Resources And Fire In Africa, Milkah Njoki Kahiu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) tree-grass systems commonly referred to as savannas dominating drylands, play a critical role in social, cultural, economic and environmental systems. These coupled natural-human systems support millions of people through pastoralism, are important global biodiversity hotspots and play a critical role in global biogeochemical cycles. Despite the importance of SSA savannas, they have been marginalized for years as most governments neglect dryland resources in favor of agricultural research and development assistance. Hence, lack of spatially and temporally accurate information on the status and trends in savanna resources has led to poor planning and management. This scenario calls …


A Comprehensive Analysis Of Aromatic-Proton Mediated Hydrogen Bonds, Mona S. Alshamrani Jan 2018

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Aromatic-Proton Mediated Hydrogen Bonds, Mona S. Alshamrani

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Hydrogen bonds play critical role in folding, structure and recognition of biological macromolecules (e.g., proteins, RNA, DNA). In addition to classical hydrogen bonds (e.g., ─OH---O=, ─OH---O─, ─NH---O─ etc.), structural analysis of protein and nucleic acids, almost a decade ago, showed that hydrogen bonds (e.g., CH---O) with hydrogen atoms on aliphatic carbon atoms (hereafter, aliphatic-protons) also play very important role in the structure and function of biomolecules. Even though, protons of aromatic ring systems (hereafter, aromatic-protons) are more polar than the aliphatic-protons, systematic analysis of hydrogen bonds of aromatic-protons have not been carried out. Therefore, I carried out a systematic analysis …


Food Availability, Including Traditional Foods, In Grocery And Convenience Stores In 6 High Obese Counties In South Dakota, Including Native American Reservations, Francesca Willard Jan 2018

Food Availability, Including Traditional Foods, In Grocery And Convenience Stores In 6 High Obese Counties In South Dakota, Including Native American Reservations, Francesca Willard

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Native American populations are disproportionately affected by obesity and its associated chronic diseases. Rural areas are also disproportionately affected by obesity and face significant challenges related to their food environment, food security, and food availability. The combination of these barriers make it challenging for rural, NA reservations to combat these health disparities and have opportunities to make healthy food choices. The lack of access to healthy and traditional foods in these areas is of great concern. The purpose of this study is to determine the food availability, including traditional foods, in grocery and convenience stores in six high obese counties …


Universal Swine Influenza Antigen And Vaccine, Zhao Wang Jan 2018

Universal Swine Influenza Antigen And Vaccine, Zhao Wang

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Swine influenza A viruses pose a serious concern for global health and worldwide swine industry considering their evasion from vaccine-induced immune responses. Formulation of effective influenza vaccines can be complicated by both antigenic shift to a different subtype of hemagglutinin (HAs) and antigenic drift within a particular HA subtype. To address these concerns, we employed a systematic approach to determine the antigenic determinants of swine influenza A viruses by focusing on H1 and H3 subtypes. In parallel, we used a cross-disciplinary approach including structural biology and modeling, virology, and immunology to identify swine influenza A virus-derived HA fusion intermediates broadly …


Characterization Of Anthocyanins In Aronia, Theodore Mohr Jan 2018

Characterization Of Anthocyanins In Aronia, Theodore Mohr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Anthocyanins function as antioxidants and offer numerous other health benefits, such as anti-atherogenic and anti-inflammation protection, and may aid in the prevention of degenerative diseases. Aronia berries, uniquely high in anthocyanins, have a great potential in improving human wellness. The objectives of this study were: (1) to develop a rapid and reproducible analytical method for estimating the anthocyanin amount in Aronia berries; and (2) to determine the effect of growing conditions on anthocyanin concentration. A standard curve method was established based on anthocyanin absorbance in the visible range. The results reveal that the developed protocol could yield rapid and reproducible …


Topology Optimization Of Lightweight Structural Composites Inspired By Cuttlefish Bone, Varun Kumar Gadipudi Jan 2018

Topology Optimization Of Lightweight Structural Composites Inspired By Cuttlefish Bone, Varun Kumar Gadipudi

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Lightweight material structure is a crucial subject in product design. The lightweight material has high strength to weight proportion which turns into an immense fascination and a territory of investigation for the researchers as its application is wide and expanding consistently. Lightweight composite material design is accomplished by choice of the cellular structure and its optimization. Cellular structure is utilized as it has wide multifunctional properties with lightweight characteristics. Unless it has been topologically optimized, each part in a assembly most likely weighs more than it needs to. Additional weight implies abundance materials are being utilized, loads on moving parts …


Bio-Mimetic Design With 3d Printable Composites, Ramya Mitra Patnam Damodaram Jan 2018

Bio-Mimetic Design With 3d Printable Composites, Ramya Mitra Patnam Damodaram

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Weight and stiffness are key factors in the advancement of materials and parts for use in numerous industries. Lightweight cellular structures are broadly utilized for this reason. However, these structures must satisfy several key constraints: they should be light yet structurally safe, sustainable in different loading conditions, resource efficient and easy to maintain. Bio-inspired materials/structures which results in desirable material features are a significant inspiration for engineered cellular structures. Cellular structures can be designed to have multifunctional properties along with lightweight characteristics. Currently, these structures with high strength to weight ratio are widely applied in many fields such as automotive, …


Enhancing The Nutritive Value Of Corn Ddgs For Pigs, Casey Zangaro Jan 2018

Enhancing The Nutritive Value Of Corn Ddgs For Pigs, Casey Zangaro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Corn dried distillers’ grains with solubles (DDGS) can be a good alternative feedstuff to the traditional corn soybean meal diets since it has high fat and protein content. However, it has a high fiber content, which is not well digested by pigs and can reduce nutrient utilization by encapsulation. The nutritive value of fibrous feedstuffs like DDGS can be improved by supplementation with fiber-degrading enzymes. However, fiber-degrading enzymes have not been effective in improving digestibility of DDGS. The overall goal of this thesis research to was to unravel why pigs poorly digest DDGS and to develop strategies that can increase …


Serological Evidence For The Co-Circulation Of Two Lineages Of Influenza D Virus In Equine Populations Of The Midwest United States, Hunter Theodore Nedland Jan 2018

Serological Evidence For The Co-Circulation Of Two Lineages Of Influenza D Virus In Equine Populations Of The Midwest United States, Hunter Theodore Nedland

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Influenza D virus (IDV) is a newly described lineage of the Orthomyxoviridae virus family that was first isolated from diseased swine in 2011 and has subsequently been detected in cattle around the world in 2014. In addition, serological evidence for IDV infection in humans has been recently established. Despite all the progress, the full range of susceptible hosts for this novel virus has yet to be determined, but includes swine, bovine, small ruminants and human. This study was designed to determine if equine is a possible host to this newly emerging influenza virus. 364 equine serum samples were collected in …


A Pcr/Sequencing Technique To Identify Species And Genotypes Of Haemonchus From Mixed Trichostrongyle Egg Dna Recovered From Livestock Fecal Samples, Pratiksha Khanal Jan 2018

A Pcr/Sequencing Technique To Identify Species And Genotypes Of Haemonchus From Mixed Trichostrongyle Egg Dna Recovered From Livestock Fecal Samples, Pratiksha Khanal

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Six primer pairs, each with a pair of genus-specific and universal second internal transcribed spacer (ITS2) primers were evaluated to amplify and sequence the ITS2 region of nuclear ribosomal DNA to identify the species and genotypes of Haemonchus from livestock fecal samples containing mixtures of trichostrongyle nematode eggs. Based upon the use of universal ITS2 primers on Haemonchus adults, the ITS2 region has been shown to contain three fixed single-nucleotide differences between H. placei and H. contortus. It is clinically useful to identify the species and genotypes of Haemonchus infecting livestock, but it has not been possible in fecal …


Evaluation Of Carinata Meal In Dairy Heifer Feeding Programs, Karla Rodriguez-Hernandez Jan 2018

Evaluation Of Carinata Meal In Dairy Heifer Feeding Programs, Karla Rodriguez-Hernandez

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The main purpose of this body of research was to evaluate carinata meal as a feedstuff for dairy heifers and lay the foundations for its future evaluation in lactating dairy cow diets. This research focused on evaluating the taste preference of carinata meal compared with other oilseeds meals and distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS). Despite containing glucosinolates, carinata meal was preferred similarly to canola meal, had greater preference compared to camelina meal, and less preference compared to the other meals. Next, we used a limit-feeding strategy in two different feeding studies, to determine the effect of feeding carinata meal …


Evaluation Of Methods Used To Improve Grasslands As Ring-Necked Pheasant (Phasianus Colchicus) Brood Habitat, Mandy Orth Jan 2018

Evaluation Of Methods Used To Improve Grasslands As Ring-Necked Pheasant (Phasianus Colchicus) Brood Habitat, Mandy Orth

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Management practices designed for upland game species often focus on nest survival and hen winter survival due to the importance of these life history stages on population vital rates. However, chick survival is an important component of gallinaceous bird population dynamics, but it is poorly understood and often tends to be overlooked. Ideal brood habitat not only provides open understory for easy movement and canopy cover for protection, but also provides an abundance of arthropod foods for chicks. It has been hypothesized that restricted movement of chicks through thick vegetation in unmanaged grasslands results in lower brood survival rates. Research …


Synthetic Biology For Heterotrophic Production Of High-Value Chemicals, Matthew Mckillop Jan 2018

Synthetic Biology For Heterotrophic Production Of High-Value Chemicals, Matthew Mckillop

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In addition to the best feedstock sugarcane, industrial beets are of great potential to become another ideal feedstock for production of advanced biofuels and high-value chemicals. Beets produce readily-fermentable sugars (especially sucrose), eliminating the cost for starch hydrolysis required for corn-based biofuel production. However, the whole beet has very high-water content (75% water), which is a big challenge for transportation and storage. Additionally, the energy-intensive process to make table sugar (sucrose) using beet juice is unnecessary for biofuel/biochemical production. To overcome this challenge, this study aims to address alternative ways to produce highly demanded bio-products directly from the raw beet …