Digital Commons Network^™

Investigation Of Nuclear And Cytoplasmic Functions Of The Dlipin Protein Of Drosophila Melanogaster, Qiuyu Chen

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Lipin family proteins are highly conserved proteins present in species ranging from mammals to yeast. Lipin 1, the first Lipin gene identified in fatty liver dystrophy (fld) mutant mice, encodes the bifunctional protein Lipin 1, which can serve as an Mg2+-dependent phosphatidic acid phosphatase (PAP) and transcriptional co-regulator. dLipin, the single Lipin ortholog of Drosophila melanogaster, is required in triglyceride synthesis and fat body development. To study the transcriptional co-regulator activity of dLipin, nuclear receptors were screened to find receptors that interact with dLipin. The genetic interaction data indicated that Drosophila hepatic nuclear receptor 4 (HNF4) was a promising candidate …

Consumer Acceptance And Willingness To Pay For Genetically Modified Rice In China: A Double Bounded Dichotomous Choic Contingent Valuation Survey Calibrated By Cheap Talk, Jing Jin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Considering population growth, limitations on land and water resources, and contamination to the ecosystem due to agricultural activities, current rice production in China is facing pressure to fulfill national demand. Self-sufficiency of rice has been a long-held political objective of the Chinese government and it is national goal to maintain the equilibrium between the national production and consumption or even achieve a supply surplus in rice. With the developing bio-technology of genetic modification (GM), scientists believe that using genetically modified cultivars may ease the pressure mentioned above. However, both the government and the people are very cautious about large-scale cultivation …

The Effects Of Book Format On Parent-Child Interaction During Joint Book Reading, Jennifer Lynn Bowman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Technology is a part of our society and is ever changing. Therefore, it is important to examine the effects that such innovations have on parent-child interactions, especially those that have been shown to promote children's early literacy learning and future school success. This study was conducted in the context of a larger project, The Family Reading Project, which investigated parent-child engagement in joint reading activities using mobile devices. This research compared parent and child behaviors when reading traditional books versus reading e-books to determine if book format had any effect on parent-child interaction. The results of this study were that …

Identification And The Significance Of Selective Proteins In Bile And Plasma Of Normal And Health-Compromised Chickens, Balamurugan Packialakshmi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

During the last 50 years, animal breeding programs in commercial poultry have made significant progress in the bodyweight gain of broilers but led to several metabolic and skeletal disorders. Lameness associated with proximal femur known as femoral head separation (FHS) or femoral head necrosis (FHN) is one of the major metabolic disorders in poultry industry. In order to select for healthy chickens, markers that can distinguish between healthy and affected birds are required. Biomarkers from blood represent an ideal and rich source of markers which can be obtained using minimally invasive methods. The biomarkers were explored in an experimental model …

Designing Magnetically Responsive Ultrafiltration Membranes, Robert William Dong

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ultrafiltration (UF) membranes developed out of a need for protein separation processes. Currently, they are used in a variety of industries ranging from food manufacturing to pharmaceuticals for two main purposes: concentration, separation, and buffer exchange. UF membrane processes in product streams undergo frequent use and like all membrane processes experience a gradual decline in performance due to fouling phenomena both irreversible and reversible. Ultimately, performance declines to a point where the UF membrane needs to be replaced. Frequent replacement of UF membranes is detrimental to major industries that require high product throughput using UF processes. Thus, it is important …

Antibacterial Activity Of Commercially Available Plant Extracts On Selected Campylobacter Jejuni Strains, Divya Oppath Sivasankaran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Campylobacter jejuni is recognized as a leading cause of foodborne illness worldwide with approximately 850,000 cases per year in the United Sates. A total of 18 species of Campylobacter have been identified worldwide to date. Foodborne transmission of C. jejuni is mainly through the consumption of unpasteurized milk, contaminated poultry meat and water. C. jejuni can survive in very diverse environments under stressful conditions in human and animals which is different from the specific conditions and media required in laboratory experiments. There has been increased research in recent years to identify naturally occurring antibacterial agents to control and eliminate C. …

Study Of Parallel Programming Models On Computer Clusters With Accelerators, Chenggang Lai

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In order to reach exascale computing capability, accelerators have become a crucial part in developing supercomputers. This work examines the potential of two latest acceleration technologies, Intel Many Integrated Core (MIC) Architecture and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). This thesis applies three benchmarks under 3 different configurations, MPI+CPU, MPI+GPU, and MPI+MIC. The benchmarks include intensely communicating application, loosely communicating application, and embarrassingly parallel application. This thesis also carries out a detailed study on the scalability and performance of MIC processors under two programming models, i.e., offload model and native model, on the Beacon computer cluster.

According to different benchmarks, the results …

Short-Term Effects Of Poultry Litter Or Woodchip Biochar Amendment In A Temperate Zone Agronomic System, Katy Elizabeth Brantley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Biochar, a charcoal product produced by the anaerobic thermal decomposition of biomass, can provide agronomic benefits when soil applied. However, research is lacking in temperate region soils investigating specific biochar products and their effects on agronomically important crops. A greenhouse study utilizing poultry litter biochar and a field study utilizing pine woodchip biochar were conducted to observe the effects of biochar application to Northwest Arkansas soils on corn growth and nutrient availability. A third experiment investigated poultry litter and pine woodchip biochar influences on soil water retention. In all three experiments, biochar was applied at three rates (0, 5, and …

Carbon Dioxide Emissions From Switchgrass And Cottonwood Grown As Bioenergy Crops In The Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, Michele Lea Helton

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Marginal land of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley (LMAV) has the potential to be utilized for the production of bioenergy feedstocks. Soil respiration is the gaseous emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from microbes and plant roots in the soil, and these emissions play an important role in the global cycling of carbon. Soil respiration can act as a positive feedback affecting climate change, and has been shown to vary depending on soil moisture, temperature, and vegetation. The objectives of this study where to evaluate the effects of land use [switchgrass (Panicum virgatum), cottonwood (Populus deltoides …

Alkaline Hydrolyzable-Nitrogen, Seeding Date, And Clay-Fixed Ammonium As Potential Indicators Of Rice Response To Nitrogen Fertilization In Arkansas, Anthony Michael Fulford

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Several potential indicators of rice (Oryza sativa L.) response to nitrogen (N) fertilization include the soils alkaline hydrolyzableN (AHN) concentration, seeding date, and the soils clayfixed NH₄N content. Three studies were conducted to: (1) correlate AHN, determined using Illinois Soil Nitrogen Test (ISNT) or Nitrogen Soil Test for Rice (NSTaR), to plant parameters of interest and develop a fertilizer N rate calibration curve capable of predicting the 95% relative grain yield (RGY) fertilizer N rate for rice grown on clayey soils; (2) evaluate the influence of seeding date and N fertilization on rice plant growth and grain …

The Response Of Cotton (Gossypium Hirsutum L.) To Slow Release Foliar Fertilization And The Effect Of Environment On Absorption, James Matthews Burke

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In cotton production, nitrogen (N) is the most limiting nutrient and the demand is substantial. Foliar-N fertilization is regarded as an effective and environmentally sound method of supplying cotton with N during times of deficiency and high demand. In response to the potential benefits of the foliar-N fertilization of cotton, a myriad of foliar-N based fertilizers have been created; each with their own individual chemical technology and constitution. Experiments were performed with the objectives of examining the effects of the slow-release foliar-N fertilizer, Nitamin® (1) on the growth and development of field-grown cotton, (2) on uptake under various environmental conditions, …

Development And Characterization Of An Autologous Whole Cell Breast Cancer Vaccine, Samantha Leigh Kurtz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Approximately 40,000 women will die from breast cancer in the United States in 2014. About 90% of these deaths will be due to metastases, rather than the primary tumor and majority of metastases are due to the recurrence and progression of non-metastatic disease. Current adjuvant treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiation, have severe side effects and may result in overtreatment and drug resistance.

Since greater than 90% of patients are diagnosed between stages I-III and have minimal residual disease after treatment, there is an opportunity to treat patients with an autologous breast cancer vaccine. Autologous vaccines under development have a …

Development Of A Novel Device For The Perfusion Driven Decellularization Of Skeletal Muscle, Benjamin Kasukonis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Decellularization of skeletal muscle is a process that removes cellular components of skeletal muscle tissue while leaving behind the intact extracellular matrix (ECM). Skeletal muscle ECM is currently being studied as a biologic scaffold for repairing volumetric muscle loss (VML) because the removal of cells greatly reduces the antigenicity of the donor tissue. Decellularization usually relies on passive diffusion of detergents, surfactants and/or osmotic solutions to strip cells from the ECM. However, passive diffusion alone is usually not sufficient for complete removal of cells from the interior of large pieces of skeletal muscle using detergents, such as sodium dodecyl sulfate …

Trashed: The Myth Of The Southern Poor White, April Elizabeth Thompson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The fact of class has been a powerful tool in the process of identity formation, particularly in the American South, which has been viewed as a region apart from the national imaginary. To counter this exclusion, Southerners have often relied on stereotypes. One of the most prevalent and tragic of these is the stereotype of poor white trash, a construction that has been utilized to insist upon elite white Southerners' exceptionalism and innocence and to assert their rightful place in American historiography. While it is difficult to calculate their level of success, as perceptions of the region have varied through …

Functional Characterization Of The Arginine Vasotocin 4 Receptor (Vt4r) In Sensory Circumventricular Organs Of The Chicken Gallus Gallus, Nguiessan Alphonse Aman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Past studies have shown that the avian vasotocin 4 receptor (VT4R), homologous to the mammalian arginine vasopressin receptor 1a (V1aR/AVPR1A) is involved in immobilization stress. It was not known, however, whether the receptor is also associated with osmotic stress, and if so, what brain regions may be involved. Four treatment groups of chicks were used for the study. One group was subjected to 1h immobilization stress and two groups were administered intraperitoneal injection of 3 M NaCl or 0.15 M NaCl. One additional group served as controls. After 1 h, blood samples were taken for the determination of plasma levels …

Evaluation Of Porcine Ipec-J2 Cell Line Growth Rate And Immune Response To E. Coli (0111:B4) Lps, Xiaofan Wang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The objective of this study was to evaluate the intestinal porcine epithelial cell-jejunum 2 (IPEC-J2) cell line as a model to study the innate immune function of live pigs. Growth rates of IPEC-J2 cells in T-75 flasks and 96-well plates were evaluated using a hemocytometer and spectrophotometer for cell quantity measurements to determine growth rate and doubling time. Growth rates of IPEC-J2 cells in T-75 flasks and 96-well plates were 0.4016 and 0.2851 times of doubling/day respectively with a doubling time of 1.73 d and 2.43 d, respectively. Confluent IPEC-J2 monolayers were tested at five time intervals (0, 1, 2, …

Evaluation Of Betaine And Methionine Replacement For Improving Performance And Meat Quality For Broilers Reared Under Higher Temperature Conditions, Malea Graham Frank

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

4,096 broiler chicks were randomly allocated to 128 floor pens (32 birds/pen). 2,048 day-old male broilers were placed in the east end of a barn, and the following week 2,048 day-old male broilers were placed in the west end. At each placement day, half of the chicks were Cobb 500 and half were Ross 708, and each pen contained only one breed source. East end birds received coccidiostat in the feed, west end received coccidial vaccine, and each end was under separate environmental control. Eight diets contained two levels of coccidiostat (0, 1 lb./ton), methionine (deficient, adequate), and betaine (0, …

A Wellness Profile Of Student-Veterans At 4-Year Higher Education Institutions: The Role Of Gender, Combat Tours, And Deployment, William Monroe Heath

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Afghanistan and Iraq war student-veterans have increased in population on college campuses in the United States (U.S.) as a result of using the Post 9/11 GI Bill. Healthy Campus 2020 (American College Health Association, 2012) highlighted the importance of college student wellbeing, health promotion and disease prevention, while the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs has called for an approach to services that is strength based (United States Department of Veteran Affairs, 2008). To date, however, wellness studies conducted on Iraq and Afghanistan student-veterans using an evidenced-based model of holistic wellness have not been conducted. This study was designed to address …

Potential For Optical Sensor-Based Nitrogen Fertilization In Grain Sorghum (Sorghum Bicolor L. Moench) In Arkansas, Kamil H. Rosales Rodriguez

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ground-based active-optical (GBAO) crop sensors have become an effective tool to improve nitrogen (N) use efficiency and to predict yield early in the growing season, particularly for grass crops. Commercially available canopy sensors calculate the normalized difference vegetative index (NDVI) by emitting light in the red and near infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum. The NDVI is used to evaluate vigor status and to estimate yield potential. However, few studies have been conducted to compare the performance of commercially available sensors. Therefore, a study was conducted using the most common crop canopy sensors: i) N-Tech's GreenSeeker^TM (GS), ii) Holland …

European Consumers' Attitudes Towards Cisgenic Rice, Anne-Cécile Delwaide

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The enhancement of existing plant breeding techniques, such as cisgenesis, allows plant breeders to enhance an existing cultivar quicker and with little to no genetic drag. Cisgenesis is the genetic modification of a recipient plant with natural gene(s) from a sexually compatible plant. Unlike transgenesis, which is the genetic modification of a recipient plant with gene(s) from any non‐plant organism, or from a donor plant that is sexually incompatible with the recipient plant, the results of cisgenesis could occur naturally over time. Currently, both cisgenic and transgenic products are classified as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and are labeled as such …

Switchgrass Cultivar, Harvest Frequency, Fertilizer Source, And Irrigation Effects On Near-Surface Soil Properties In West-Central Arkansas, Alayna A. Jacobs

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) has been identified as a model bioenergy feedstock crop and is expected to become an important feedstock for future renewable fuel generation. Agronomic management combinations that maximize monoculture switchgrass yield are generally well understood; however, little is known about corresponding effects of differing switchgrass management combinations on near-surface soil properties. The objective of this research was to determine the residual near-surface soil property effects of three years (2008 to 2011) of consistent management combinations to maximize switchgrass biomass production, including cultivar (‘Alamo’ and ‘Cave-in-Rock’), harvest frequency (1-cut and 2-cut systems per year), fertilizer source (poultry …

Use Of Remote Imagery And Object-Based Image Methods To Count Plants In An Open-Field Container Nursery, Josue Nahun Leiva

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In general, the nursery industry lacks an automated inventory control system. Object-based image analysis (OBIA) software and aerial images could be used to count plants in nurseries. The objectives of this research were: 1) to evaluate the effect of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight altitude and plant canopy separation of container-grown plants on count accuracy using aerial images and 2) to evaluate the effect of plant canopy shape, presence of flowers, and plant status (living and dead) on counting accuracy of container-grown plants using remote sensing images. Images were analyzed using Feature Analyst® (FA) and an algorithm trained using …

Screening Diverse Soybean Germplasm For Water-Logging Tolerance, John Franklin Carlin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Water-logging can be detrimental to soybean growth and development; effects range from chlorosis and stunting to yield loss and plant death. Soybean response to, and the effects of, water-logging are dependent on the growth-stage of the plant at the initiation of water-logging. The objectives of this study were to screen a diverse soybean germplasm collection for water-logging tolerance (WLT) at both the V5 and R1 growth stage and to develop a method to screen soybean for WLT in greenhouse. One hundred thirty five genotypes consisting of historical genotypes, PIs, drought and WLT tolerant breeding lines were screened for WLT in …

Winter Field Pea As A Leguminous Cover Crop In Corn Production, Matthew Carroll Marsh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Leguminous cover crops, which fix nitrogen (N) from the atmosphere and add to the N content of the soil, have the potential to replace or partially replace commercial nitrogen fertilizers. In this experiment, field pea (Pisum arvense) was used as the leguminous cover crop in a conventional tilled corn (Zea mays) production system. In a 2-yr experiment (2008 and 2009), conducted at two locations in Arkansas, field pea was planted on half the field in the fall and allowed to grow until late April to early May. Field pea biomass was recorded, N content of biomass determined and then the …

Integration Of Herbicide Programs With Cultural And Mechanical Practices For Managing Glyphosate-Resistant Palmer Amaranth (Amaranthus Palmeri) In Soybean (Glycine Max), Holden Bell

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Herbicide-resistant Palmer amaranth is the most troublesome weed in Arkansas row crops, causing producers to rely heavily on multiple mechanisms of action to reduce selection pressure for further evolution of herbicide resistance and to successfully produce a profitable crop. It is critical for the sustainability of weed management not only to adequately control this weed but also to reduce the soil seedbank using both non-chemical and chemical practices. Studies were conducted to determine the effect of soybean row spacing, seeding rate, and herbicide program on Palmer amaranth emergence, survival, and seed production in soybean, the effect of drill-seeded soybean population …

Incarcerating Exceptional Pupils: Is There A School-To-Prison Pipeline In Eastern Oklahoma?, Brett Alan Fitzgerald

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The school-to-prison pipeline metaphor represents an educational environment that allows public schools to push many at-risk children out of school and into the juvenile justice system or even worse, the adult criminal justice system (Wald and Losen, 2003; Lynn, 2010; Tuzzolo and Hewitt, 2006). The purpose of this study is to examine whether a school-to-prison pipeline exists in eastern Oklahoma, and if so, to better understand the characteristics of the public schools that may be contributing to it. The school-to-prison pipeline metaphor guided three research questions regarding whether certain public schools in eastern Oklahoma referred greater percentages of their students, …

Monsters In Common: Identity And Community In Postapocalyptic Science Fiction After 9/11, Jeremy J. Burns

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the aftermath 11 September, 2001, postapocalyptic science fiction has offered a way to make sense of the events of that day, as well as the years of social, cultural and political upheaval that have followed. In many ways, 9/11 began immediately to take on apocalyptic significance in the American national narrative, seemingly marking the end of one period and the beginning of another, entirely different one. To think of 9/11 as a kind of apocalyptic break with the past, however, does not tell the whole story. Moreover, such thinking denies key historical linkages between the American response to 9/11 …

Assessing Net Returns To Blueberry Production Using A Decision Support Tool, Sokha Sok

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to develop and assess the profitability of four highbush blueberry farming systems in the south: organic field production, conventional field production, organic high tunnel production and conventional high tunnel production. Four baseline budget scenarios, one for each system, are developed for a 15 year production period. The results suggest that under expected production and price conditions for Northwest Arkansas, while all four production systems generated positive present value of net returns, the conventional field production produced the highest present value of net returns across the 15 years. The breakeven years of production were 7 …

Investigation Of The Flow And Fate Of Nitrate In Epikarst At The Savoy Experimental Watershed, Northwest Arkansas, Jozef Laincz

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many karst aquifers are at high risk of nitrate contamination due to a combination of vulnerable geology characterized by thin soils and conduit flow, and excess inputs of nutrients from animal feeding operations. One zone that is present in many karst regions and could play an important role in nitrate attenuation due to properties such as increased residence time and matrix-water contact is the upper, weathered portion of karst, the epikarst. However, the understanding of this role is lacking, and the objective of this dissertation was to elucidate it. The fate of nitrate in the epikarst was traced along a …

Self-Assembly Of Gold Nanosphere Dimers By Inertial Force, George Andrew Christopher Sakhel

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The morphology and composition of a nanoparticle (NP) play a critical role in determining the NP's properties and function. To date, researchers have created a myriad of NPs of different shapes, sizes, and compositions with interesting attributes and applications ushering a revolution in medicine, electronics, microscopy, and microfluidics.

In this study, gold (Au) nanosphere dimers (NSDs) have been synthesized through a novel self-assembly method. These particles were created from Au NPs mono-dispersed in aqueous solution via a process of centrifugation and capping agent replacement. Au NSDs consist of two Au NPs combined together with minimal gaps between them. Optical spectral …