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Mechanical Properties Of Bone Due To Sost Expression: Nanoindentation Assessment Of Murine Femurs, Amir Rafie

Master's Theses

In the human genome, the SOST gene codes for a protein sclerostin. Sclerostin is an osteocyte-expressed negative regulator of bone formation. When the SOST gene is not coded, bone formation is reduced in individuals during skeletal maturation. This study utilizes nanoindentation methods to test for the mechanical properties of bones that both express and do not express the SOST gene. 100 transgenic murine femurs were obtained from Lawrence Livermore Labs in the form of 6 and 8 month SOST transgenic mice, 6 and 12 month SOST knockout mice, and wild type control littermates for each of the 4 age groups. …

Parsing Of Natural Language Requirements, Jamie L. Patterson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this thesis was to automate verification of the software requirements for an implantable cardioverter defibrillator with minimal manual rework. The requirements were written in plain English with only loose stylistic constraints. While full automation proved infeasible, many significant advances were made towards solving the problem, including a framework for storing requirements, a program which translates most of the natural language requirements into the framework, and a novel approach to parts of speech analysis.

The Influence Of Hydrogeomorphology, Soil Redox Conditions, And Salinity On The Spatial Zoning Of Saltgrass, Salt Rush, And Cattails In Scotts Creek Marsh, Swanton Pacific Ranch, Ca, Mark D. Gormley

Master's Theses

Scotts Creek Marsh (SCM) is a small coastal wetland ecosystem in Davenport, CA. The vegetation of SCM is dominated by three halophytic zones comprised of saltgrass, salt rush, cattails. The objectives of the study were (i) to investigate the variables that influence the zoning of the three dominant halophyte communities in SCM and (ii) to the test the effectiveness of Indicator of Reduction in Soil (IRIS) tubes to indicate the reduction of S. The study examined the following parameters from April 6 to July 21, 2013: (i) the HGM of Scotts Creek Marsh, (ii) soil oxidation and reduction (redox) conditions, …

Conjugated Linoleic Acids Alter Body Composition Differently According To Physiological Age In Moulard Ducks, Jeff Fesler, Daniel Peterson

Master's Theses

Conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) have been shown to have remarkable yet inconsistent metabolic effects in mice, rats, hamsters, chickens, cattle, and humans. In particular, effects on lipogenesis vary with tissue, physiological state and specie. In this study we tested the hypothesis that CLA would differentially affect ducks of the same genetic background but of differing age. Growing (7 wk) and maintenance (11 wk) Moulard ducks were grouped by age and fed a standard diet supplemented with either 5% soybean oil (control) or 5% CLA isomer mixture. Animals were harvested after 3 weeks or 6 weeks for assessment of body composition …

Determining Parentage And The Effects Of Relatedness On Play Partner Preference In Belding's Ground Squirrels, Jessica Weidenbach

Master's Theses

I investigated 1) multiple paternity in Belding’s ground squirrels (Urocitellus beldingi) and 2) social partner preferences in juvenile U. beldingi. Prior work with blood allozymes demonstrated multiple paternity in U. beldingi litters. I evaluated paternity using microsatellite DNA analysis, which is more accurate than examining blood allozymes. My results indicate that multiple paternity in U. beldingi is more extensive than previously shown, occurring in about 90% of litters with more than one juvenile, and averaging 2.95 fathers in multiply sired litters. I also evaluated the hypothesis that play and other social behavior promotes bonding among juvenile female …

Identifying Chromosome Rearrangements In The Allopolyploid Brassica Napus Using Pyrosequencing, Alexandra R. Barbella

Master's Theses

Allopolyploids form through the hybridization of two or more diploid genomes. A challenge to reproduction in allopolyploids is that pairing can occur between homologous chromosomes or homeologous chromosomes (i.e.different subgenomes.). Crossover between homeologous chromosomes can result in chromosome rearrangements that lower fertility and overall fitness. Rearrangements can alter the dosage of either entire chromosomes or just parts of chromosomes. Understanding the frequency and extent of rearrangements will help to explain the evolution and genome stabilization of agriculturally important allopolyploid species. Pyrosequencing is a useful tool in the study dosage changes in allopolyploids because it allows quantification of the relative contribution …

Secondary Wood Producers’ Attitudes And Opinions Regarding Locally Grown Wood Material, Nathaniel G. Cyrus

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of Marine Snow As A Pathway For Mercury Uptake In The Blue Mussel Mytilus Edulis, Veronica L. Ortiz

Master's Theses

Bioaccumulation of mercury (Hg), especially as methylmercury (CH₃Hg), in the aquatic food web is a continuing public health concern. Extensive research has been conducted regarding the uptake of Hg by various aquatic animals via three main vectors: sediment, bioseston, and water, but virtually no research exists with respect to uptake of CH₃Hgor inorganic mercury (Hg(II)) associated with marine snow. Marine snow composed of various organic and inorganic materials has been studied as an effective vertical transporter of nutrients and metals scavenged from the euphotic zone to the benthos. As various aquatic species utilize marine aggregates as …

The Effects Of Poor Maternal Nutrition On Postnatal Growth And Development Of Lambs, Kristen N. Peck

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Comparative Gene Analysis And Prediction Of Innate Immunity And Apoptosis Machinery In Hydrothermal Vent Tubeworms, Corey M. Bunce

Master's Theses

Siboglinid tubeworms are an emerging model system for symbiosis in extreme conditions. At deep-sea hydrothermal vents in the Pacific Ocean, they harbor a chemoautotrophic symbiont in a specialized organ, the trophosome, where the bacteria carry out primary production via oxidation of reduced sulfur compounds. The trophosome of siboglinid worms is suggested to be tightly regulated, symbiont-responsive, and developmentally homeostatic. The purported mechanism involves a cellular proliferative or apoptotic response to bacterial signals, environmental cues, or nutrition. Though these processes are well understood in more amenable model systems, there has been little work uncovering the tubeworm’s genetic potential for sensing and …

Age- And Experience-Related Distribution Of Parvalbumin-Expressing Gabaergic Interneurons Within The Hippocampus & Surrounding Cortices, Jennifer A. Corriveau

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Can Acartia Spp. Adapt To Climatic Warming? Heritable Within-Population Genetic Variation In Life History Traits, Benjamin L. Cournoyer

Master's Theses

To predict the response of the biota to environmental change requires information on intrapopulation variation in life history traits and the proportion of phenotypic variation attributable to genes, heritability. Yet, knowledge of these parameters in marine populations is very limited. In the present study, I consider phenotypic plasticity and heritability of temperature-dependent, fitness-related life history traits in two coastal copepod species, Acartia tonsa and Acartia hudsonica, from Long Island Sound, a temperate estuary on the east coast of the USA. Acartia hudsonica is a purportedly cold-adapted species and A. tonsa a warm-adapted one. I used a full-sibling, split family design …

The Effects Of Microfluidization And Homogenization On The Composition And Structure Of Liposomal Aggregates From Whey Buttermilk And Commercial Buttermilk, Tracey Mai T. Nguyen

Master's Theses

Milk derived ingredients from the production of cheese and butter can be used as vehicles for nutrients. Buttermilk is a nutritious product of milk that comes from the churning of cream into butter. One of the advantages of buttermilk is that it is enriched in milk fat globule components, such as phospholipids and forms emulsions with fat when treated with high shear. The objective of this work was to explore the effects of shear on regular buttermilk and whey buttermilk in terms of liposomal aggregate size and chemical composition. The effects of microfluidization at 2000 psi and homogenization at 2000 …

Relating Naturalistic Global Positioning System (Gps) Driving Data With Long-Term Safety Performance Of Roadways, James Michael Loy

Master's Theses

This thesis describes a research study relating naturalistic Global Positioning System (GPS) driving data with long-term traffic safety performance for two classes of roadways. These two classes are multilane arterial streets and limited access highways. GPS driving data used for this study was collected from 33 volunteer drivers from July 2012 to March 2013. The GPS devices used were custom GPS data loggers capable of recording speed, position, and other attributes at an average rate of 2.5 hertz.

Linear Referencing in ESRI ArcMAP was performed to assign spatial and other roadway attributes to each GPS data point collected. GPS data …

Smarter Neat Nets, Ryan Swords Dehaven

Master's Theses

This paper discusses a modification to improve usability and functionality of a ge- netic neural net algorithm called NEAT (NeuroEvolution of Augmenting Topolo- gies). The modification aims to accomplish its goal by automatically changing parameters used by the algorithm with little input from a user. The advan- tage of the modification is to reduce the guesswork needed to setup a successful experiment with NEAT that produces a usable Artificial Intelligence (AI). The modified algorithm is tested against the unmodified NEAT with several different setups and the results are discussed. The algorithm shows strengths in some areas but can increase the …

Lincoln: Reformer Or Revolutionary? An Analysis Of Lincoln's Legacy As Compared To The Political Ideals Of The Amerian Revolution, Hayley Elizabeth Patterson

Master's Theses

Despite the fact that his greatest legacies departed from American traditions, Abraham Lincoln coveted the political ideals espoused by the Founding Fathers. As president, Lincoln inherited the unprecedented challenges that resulted from decades of politicians tabling the insoluble problem of slavery. He operated within the realms of constitutionally allocated authority to meet those challenges. Where the Constitution provided no direction, Lincoln developed solutions that more closely resembled the political philosophies of the American Revolution than any of his political opponents' alternative solutions. The unprecedented circumstances he faced not only enabled Lincoln to reconcile the right to freedom as described in …

Finite Element Analysis And Validation Of Hip Joints With The Main Types Of Femoroacetabular Impingement, Kevin Lucas Mitchell

Master's Theses

Current research suggests that femoroacetabular impingement can be a cause of osteoarthritis. Femoroacetabular impingement is a condition that can affect both the femur and the pelvis of an individual. Femoroacetabular impingement can cause damage to the hip joint and its surrounding tissues. The articular cartilage and the labrum are both affected by this condition. A cam impingement is where a bony protrusion develops at the femoral head/neck junction. A pincer impingement is where a bony protrusion develops at the acetabular rim. Often, patients are seen with a combination of both impingements. The main goal of this study was to computationally …

The Development And Use Of A Color Discrimination T-Maze Learning Task In The Zebrafish (Danio Rerio), Elizabeth Ann Lamb

Master's Theses

Zebrafish (Danio rerio) are becoming increasingly utilized in behavioral studies as a model of human learning and memory. The results of a previous study by Colwill, Raymond, Ferreira, and Escudero (2005) indicated that this species is capable of discriminating between colors and learning to respond to an assigned hue at either arm of a T-maze, indicating a learned association between the neutral stimulus and reward. While this original study showed that this task was appropriate for use in this species, we proposed that it had the potential to provide more data on specifics of the learning process with amended methods. …

Why I Killed The Draft Horse: The Golden Bough, Robert Frost, And "Progress", Eugene Charles Mcgregor Boyle Iii

Master's Theses

The absence of criticism on Robert Frost's "The Draft Horse" suggests that it is a challenge to Frost scholarship. This reading views Frost's strange and neglected poem as a return to a monomyth offered by James Frazer's hugely influential The Golden Bough. In "The Draft Horse," Frost reconsiders the concept of ceremonial sacrifice that undergirds Frazer's encyclopedic study of world culture and, by performing ceremony as a kind of modem poesis, Frost complicates the hero/sacrificial object role and critiques the progressive ideology that grounds Frazer's account to fashion a troubling epic for modern America that implicates its national readers …

Characterizing The Persistence Of Sewage Enterococci In Mississippi Coastal Waters, Kimberly Anne-Marie Lewis

Master's Theses

Enterococci are microbiological indicators of marine recreation water quality.
Their reliability as fecal indicators is questioned as they are shown to persist in the environment. Multiple laboratory studies on their persistence have been done but few under natural environmental conditions. The purpose of this study was to investigate how long sewage enterococci and enterococcal DNA persist in beach water and to determine whether there is a difference in the genetic diversity and hardiness of sewage vs. environmental isolates. To study persistence, sewage was diluted with beach water, placed in microcosms, and deployed at a beach site in Longbeach and Pass …

The Oaks: Interpretation And Analysis Of The Support Structures Of A 19th Century Urban Farmstead, Justin Dwayne Beavers

Master's Theses

This thesis documents the results of excavation in 2004 and 2005 of an urban farmstead in Jackson, Mississippi, called The Oaks. This research was conducted in order to find the functions of the various outbuildings at The Oaks. All the artifacts were analyzed at The University of Southern Mississippi and then placed into various models to find any correlations between the buildings at The Oaks and those of other sites like Johnson/Bates in Kentucky.

The kitchen was found to contain various architectural features as well as artifacts that corresponded with the normal findings of an 1800s detached kitchen. The barn …

Madness, Scalawagery, And Reconstruction: Dr. William M. Compton And Civil War Era Politics, Eugene Allan Branstiter

Master's Theses

This thesis seeks to advance scholars' understanding of Civil War era Mississippi through an examination of the often overlooked role former Whigs and scalawags played in the state's postwar politics. Using the Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum and the career of its scalawag superintendent Dr. William M. Compton as lenses, this paper examines Civil War era Mississippi's political, social, and cultural history. In doing so, this thesis seeks to complicate the historical memory of the era—a memory often dominated by images of irreconcilable Redeemer Klansmen and Radical Republicans—by arguing that moderate white Mississippians played a powerful role in rebuilding their society …

Molecular Detection Of Tick-Borne Pathogens Associated With Ixodid Tick Species Infesting Migratory Songbirds And Ruminants, Nabanita Mukherjee

Master's Theses

Ticks are hematophagous arthropods and capable of inoculating various infectious agents to their vertebrate hosts. Ticks attached to birds and ruminants are capable of carrying tick-transmitted microorganisms. In our study, the prevalence of tick-borne pathogens was examined in ticks infesting migratory songbirds and Pakistani ruminants. During spring migration seasons, ticks were removed from northward-migrating songbirds in Louisiana and identified as Amblyomma Jongirostre, Amblyomma nodosum, Amb/yomma ca/caratum, Amblyomma maculatum, and Haemaphysalis species, all are considered as Neotropical ticks. Ticks removed from ruminants were identified as Hya/omma anatolicum, Hyalomma dromedarii, Rhipicephalus microplus, and Rhipicephalus sanguineus. A total of 112 and 72 bacterial …

Spring Landbird Migration Along The Northern Coast Of The Gulf Of Mexico: Multi-Scaled Investigation Of Stopover Ecology Within An Urbanized Landscape, Jill Marie Gautreaux

Master's Theses

Two-thirds of bird species breeding in eastern N. America annually migrate from temperate breeding grounds to tropical wintering locations, engaging in non-stop movement directly across the Gulf of Mexico (GOM). Thus, millions of migrants concentrate in woodlands along the northern Gulf coast during spring and fall passage. These coastal landscapes are some of the most rapidly developing areas in the U.S. with population growth rates five times higher than that of inland areas. Anthropogenic pressures, along with human-created (e.g., oil spills) and natural disturbances (e.g., hurricanes), result in rapid degradation of sensitive coastal ecosystems, creating tension between importance of coastal …

Development Of A Genetic Monitoring Program For Stock Enhancement Of Mississippi Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion Nebulosus), Carly Renee Somerset

Master's Theses

The spotted seatrout is a coastal sciaenid fish that is intensively exploited in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico. A stock enhancement research program was initiated in 2004 to develop methods to culture juveniles and release them in natural habitats to increase recruitment in the fishery. The goal of this study was to initiate a genetic monitoring program for stock enhancement activities. Assays for 15 microsatellite loci were optimized. Simulations indicated that this panel of molecular markers was sufficient to identify recaptured hatchery fish with high confidence assuming genetic data on broodfish spawned to produce released fish were available. Stock structure …

An Insight Into The Microbial Diversity And Expression Of Cysteine Protease Inhibitors (Cystatin) In Rickettsia Parkeri Infected Amblyomma Maculatum, Khemraj Budachetri

Master's Theses

Amblyomma maculatum (Gulf Coast tick) is an emerging tick species of public health significance in United States. It is a competent vector of Rickettsia parkeri, an etiological agent of a human rickettsiosis. In this study, we investigated the spotted fever group of rickettsial diversity in A. maculatum based on rickettsial ompA gene PCR. Our results showed A. maculatum harbors R. parkeri, R. amblyommii, and R. endosymbiont of A. maculatum. While only R. parkeri was detected in female salivary glands which suggest its ability to traffic from midgut to salivary glands via hemocoel. The presence of R. parkeri was further …

The Effects Of Variation In Collagen D-Spacing On Compact Bone Viscoelasticity: A Finite Element Analysis, Miguel A. Mendoza

Master's Theses

The D-spacing that is characteristic of collagen and its structural arrangement was previously thought to be a constant value. Much research is revealing that it is actually a distribution of values in biological tissues. Recent ovine experimentation has also shown that the D-spacing distribution is significantly altered following estrogen depletion. While ewes contain some major biological differences between their human counterparts, they are an economical and robust large animal model for postmenopausal osteoporosis. So, the exploration of the possible implications that D-spacing has on the mechanical properties of the whole bone utilizing animal models and computational methods is warranted. Six …

Net Productivity On Artificial Reefs In The Mississippi Sound Estimated From Settlement Plate Measurements, Viviana Mazzei

Master's Theses

The use of artificial reefs as a coastal management tool has become increasingly popular worldwide. The Mississippi Sound has 67 inshore artificial reefs sites, the main goal of which is to increase the production of economically and recreationally important fish, such as speckled trout, white trout, redfish, and black drum. The success of artificial reefs in meeting this goal depends in part on the quantity of primary and secondary production available on or near the reefs to support a reef-based food web. The objective of this study was to estimate phycoperiphyton net primary production and chlorophyll concentration on four artificial …

Sandcastles In The Sand: Liminality At The Seashore In Carolyn Wells's Marjorie At Seacote, Olivia Jeanne Bushardt

Master's Theses

The American beach at the turn of the twentieth century became a popular site for middle-class families to escape the urban squalor of the cities and play during the summer months. Although relatively unknown today, Carolyn Wells's 1912 novel Marjorie at Seacote depicts how the beach as a liminal space destabilizes the traditional adult and child roles and creates discomfon and ambivalence over these new roles. I first discuss Carolyn Wells and Marjorie at Seacote in terms of historical context and within the framework of girls' series fiction published at the turn of the century. I then explain how the …

Genetic Determinants Of Habitual Physical Activity And Overweight And Obesity, Harold Lee

Master's Theses

We tested 6 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with obesity from genome wide association studies for their association with physical activity (PA). Healthy European-American women (n=265) and men (n=230) (23.5±0.3yr, 24.6±0.2kg•m^-2) were genotyped for MC4R (rs17782313), FTO (rs9939609), TMEM18 (rs6548238), NEGR1 (rs2815752), SH2B1 (rs7498665), and KCTD15 (rs11084753), and completed the Paffenbarger PA Questionnaire. We examined gene interactions by summing the number of obesity effect alleles. RESULTS: Normal weight subjects with MC4R T expended 1981.2±741.7kcal∙wk^-1 less than non-carriers in total PA (p=0.008), 1825.9±650.2 kcal∙wk^-1 less in sports/recreation (p=0.027), and 1231.3±552.7 kcal∙wk^-1 less …