Digital Commons Network^™

Applications Of Trace-Element And Stable-Isotope Geochemistry To Wildlife Issues, Yellowstone National Park And Vicinity, Maurice A. Chaffee, Wayne C. Shanks Iii, Robert O. Rye, Charles C. Shwartz, Monique G. Adams, Robert R. Carlson, James G. Crock, Pamela A. Gemery-Hill, Kerry A. Gunther, Cynthia L. Kester, Harley D. King, Shannon R. Podruzny

United States Geological Survey: Publications

Reconnaissance investigations have been conducted to identify how geochemical techniques can be applied to biological studies to assist wildlife management in and near Yellowstone National Park (the Park). Many elements (for example, As, B, Be, Ce, Cl, Cs, F, Hg, K, Li, Mo, Rb, S, Sb, Si, and W) are commonly enriched in (1) thermal waters in the Yellowstone area, (2) rocks altered by these waters, (3) sinter and travertine deposits, and (4) soils and stream sediments derived from these rocks. Some of these elements, such as As, F, Hg, and Mo, may be toxic to wildlife and could be …

Anti-Infective Agents From The Terrestrial Plants Zanthoxylum Monophyllum (Lam.) P. Wilson And Sorocea Muriculata Miq. Against Pathogenic Fungi, Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus And Plasmodium Falciparum, Raquel Rodr├¡Guez Guzm├Ín

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Drive-By Netting: A Technique For Capturing Grebes And Other Diving Waterfowl, Joe A. Caudell, Michael R. Conover

Human–Wildlife Interactions

We describe a new method (drive-by netting) for capturing grebes (Podiceps spp.) and other birds that dive under water to escape capture. We used a floating gill net to capture 203 eared grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) in 20 days in 1999 on the Great Salt Lake (GSL), 652 eared grebes in 41 days on the GSL in 2000, and 409 grebes in 20 days in 2001. Other species captured during the 2000 and 2001 fi eld seasons included 1 western grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis), 9 ruddy ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), and 1 Canada goose (Branta …

Childhood Among The Etruscans: Mortuary Programs At Tarquinia As Indicators Of The Transition To Adult Status, Marshall Joseph Becker

Anthropology & Sociology Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Medicine@Yale March/April 2007 Volume 3, Issue 2, Yale School Of Medicine Office Of Communications

Medicine@Yale - development newsletter

Medicine@Yale : advancing biomedical science, education and health care was a print and online newsletter which published news about academics, research and philanthropy for alumni, donors, faculty, students and the general public. It was initially published 6 times a year and then changed to a quarterly schedule. The first issue came out June/Jul. 2005. The final issue was published in May/June 2022, vol. 17, issue 1. Published by Yale School of Medicine, Office of Communications.

Fisheries Ecology Abstracts

Gulf and Caribbean Research

Abstracts of presentations from the Large Pelagic Fishes Symposium in Belize City, Belize during November 2006.

Drift Tube Ion Mobility Measurements For Thermochemistry, Kinetics And Polymerization Of Cluster Ions, Ridha Ben Mohsen Mabrouki

Theses and Dissertations

In this work, the Drift Tube Ion Mobility technique is used to study the hydrophobic hydration and solvation of organic ions and measure the thermochemistry and kinetics of ion-molecule reactions. Furthermore, an exploratory study of the intracluster polymerization of isoprene will be presented and discussed. The ion hydration study is focused on the C3H3+ cation1 and Pyridine▪+ radical cation.2 The chemistry of the cyclic C3H3+ cation1 has received considerable attention and continues to be an active area of research.3-7 The binding energies of the first 5 H2O molecules to c-C3H3+ were determined by equilibrium measurements. The measured binding energies of …

The Influence Of Adenoviral Infection And The Group Via Calcium-Independent Phospholipase A2 On Hepatic Lipid Metabolism, William Palmer Wilkins Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Sterol regulatory element-binding proteins (SREBP) are transcription factors that regulate genes involved in lipid metabolism especially in the liver. Therefore, hepatic SREBP is significant regulator of systemic lipid metabolism. Evidence demonstrates that insulin and dietary unsaturated fatty acid (UFA) regulate SREBP1 expression and subsequent SREBP1-mediated gene transcription, events that in many instances result in modulation of systemic fatty acid and triglyceride (TG) homeostasis. A series of investigations was designed to uncover novel regulators of SREBP1. Dietary and exogenous addition of UFA has been shown to regulate SREBP function yet, an endogenous source of UFA capable of modulating SREBP remains elusive. …

Deficits In Social Skills And Feeding Behaviors Associated With Adults Diagnosed With Autistic Disorder Living In An Institutionalized Setting, Cindy Terlonge Graham

LSU Master's Theses

Autistic disorder, a syndrome beginning in infancy and persisting into adulthood, has captured the attention of researchers and clinicians alike. Although this disorder has been studied since the mid-1940s, there is a lack of literature addressing certain adaptive skills in adults with autism. The aim of this study was to examine the differences in social and feeding skills between individuals with and without autistic disorder. Given the importance of acquiring these skills to facilitate proper adjustment and decrease potential health risks, better understanding of these behaviors in persons with autism is warranted. Participants comprised three separate groups: an autism group, …

Juvenile Crawfish (Procambarus Clarkii) Lc50 Mortality From South Louisiana Crude, Peanut And Mineral Oil, Okey Umejuru

LSU Master's Theses

Nearly every continent has species of crawfish that inhabit wetlands or are near coastal areas where petroleum and other oils are produced, transported, and accidentally released. Most crawfish cannot tolerate polluted water. Thus, they could serve as biomonitors of fossil fuel, biofuel, and other oil releases and assess potential negative impacts such oils have on wetland and coastal ecosystems. The objectives of this study were to estimate the acute toxicity of three oils to juvenile crawfish and determine if toxicity was due to poisoning or interference with oxygen transfer across the gills. Juvenile crawfish (Procambarus clarkii) were tested for acute …

Fabrication Of Perforated Polymer Membranes Using Imprinting Technology, Anish Roychowdhury

LSU Master's Theses

The goal of the present study was to fabricate perforated membrane structures in polymers with the pore diameter ranging from 10 ìm down to the sub ìm scale. The perforated membrane structure plays an important role in many biological systems. Thus the ability to reproduce such architecture will help with the study of biological systems by mimicking biological cell membrane-like structures and open new vistas in the study of transport behavior in cell biology and the separation of biological vesicles. Such structures also have potential uses as components in polymer optics and modular micro/nanofluidic devices. Use of polymer substrates is …

Reverse-Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography Analyses Of Grape (Vitis Vinifera) Seed Extracts For The Presence And Activity Of The Proanthocyanidin Condensing Enzyme, Nagib M. Ward

All NMU Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

De Novo Asymmetric Syntheses Of Unnatural Manno-Trisaccharides, Homo-Adenosine, Digitoxin And Landomycin A., Maoquan Zhou

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

De novo asymmetric synthesis is a strategy that uses asymmetric catalysis to construct chiral molecules from achiral starting materials. De novo approach to carbohydrate builds saccharides from commercially available achiral starting material which will enable the medicinal chemist to install a much broader range of carbohydrates on natural products and in a SAR-amenable fashion. The palladium-catalyzed glycosylation reaction stereoselectively converts 2-substituted 6-tert-butoxycarboxy-2H-pyran-3(6H)-ones into 2-substituted 6-alkoxy-2H-pyran-3(6H)-ones. By using this reaction, a divergent library of the natural and unnatural 1,4-manno-trisaccharides as well as branched 1,4- and 1,6-linked trisacchardes were synthesized. The 1,4-α-manno-disaccharides were achieved in eight total steps starting from achiral acylfuran. …

De Novo Asymmetric Synthesis Of Mannopeptimycin-E, Novobiocin And Methymycin Analogues, Sanjeeva Rao Guppi

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The carbohydrate portion of the natural products plays a crucial role in biology, such as target binding, solubility, tissue targeting, and membrane transportation. The O'Doherty group use a de novo methodology to build the desired functionality and stereochemistry within each sugar, in contrast to the traditional approach using known sugar isomers as starting materials. Recently, we have developed a practical and highly diastereoselective palladium catalyzed glycosylation reaction to control the stereochemistry at the anomeric center. Continuing, our investigations on the utility of this strategy, we turned our attention to the syntheses of the bioactive carbohydrate-based natural product analogues. The targets …

Drive-By Netting: A Technique For Capturing Grebes And Other Diving Waterfowl, Joe N. Caudell, Michael R. Conover

Human–Wildlife Interactions

We describe a new method (drive-by netting) for capturing grebes (Podiceps spp.) and other birds that dive under water to escape capture. We used a floating gill net to capture 203 eared grebes (Podiceps nigricollis) in 20 days in 1999 on the Great Salt Lake (GSL), 652 eared grebes in 41 days on the GSL in 2000, and 409 grebes in 20 days in 2001. Other species captured during the 2000 and 2001 fi eld seasons included 1 western grebe (Aechmophorus occidentalis), 9 ruddy ducks (Oxyura jamaicensis), and 1 Canada goose (Branta …

I Complexation Of Iron(Ii), Cobalt(Ii), Nickel(Ii) And Copper(Ii) By Hexadentate Tripodal Aminopyridyl Chelators Ii Binding Preferences For Zinc(Ii) Relative To Nickel(Ii) And Copper(Ii) In Novel Tetradentate Aminopyridyl Chelators, Matthew Lloyd Childers

Master's Theses and Capstones

Chapter I. Effects of pyridyl-ring alkylation on complexation of Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II) and Cu(II) by chelators based on cis,cis -1,3,5-triaminocyclohexane (tach) have been studied. The chelators studied are derivatives of tachpyr, where the ring substituents are 3-Me, 4-Me, 5-Me, 6-Me or 6-MeO (tach-x-Rpyr). Divalent complexes were synthesized for most combinations of the 4 metals and 5 chelators. Their bonding and structure were analyzed by UV/Vis/NIR spectroscopy, magnetic moment determination and single crystal X-ray crystallography. Steric repulsions between the 6-substituents result in substantially weakened metal-ligand interaction. Effects of these repulsions include bond angle and length distortions, decrease of coordination number to …

Design Synthesis And Evaluation Of Diterpenones As Potent Chemopreventive Agents For Aflatoxin B1 Induced Carcinogenesis In Human Liver Cells, Miguel Angel Zuniga

Theses and Dissertations

DESIGN, SYNTHESIS, AND EVALUATION OF DITERPENONES AS POTENT CHEMOPREVENTIVE AGENTS FOR AFB1 INDUCED CARCINOGENISIS IN HUMAN LIVER CELLS By Miguel A. Zuniga, Ph.D. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Virginia Commonwealth University. Major Director: Qibing Zhou, Ph.D Assistant Professor Department of Chemistry Terpene quinone methides (TPQMs) have been isolated from a variety of plants and show broad activities against bacteria, fungi, and cancerous cell lines. The biological activity has been attributed to the reactive electrophilic QM moiety, this structural feature has long been recognized as an intermediate in organic …

Bridge Damage Detection Using An Intelligent Engineering System, Dionysios N. Danilatos

Masters Theses

"This thesis concerns the design of an algorithm that is capable to detect structural damage in civil infrastructure bridges. The algorithm, which will be dubbed Damage Diagnostics System throughout the thesis, is the software component of a broader Bridge Health Monitoring System. This broader system integrates software and hardware,such as sensors and data acquisition components...The rationale for the Structural Damage Diagnosis is based on the principle of the structural vibration testing. The Health Monitoring System captures the vibration signals, as the bridge responds to excitation from various sources. The purpose of the Diagnostic System is to extract information from the …

Synthesis And Properties Of Isoporphyrins And Related Derivatives For Application In Photodynamic Therapy, Sandra Celinah Mwakwari

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Isoporphyrins are tautomers of porphyrins with an interrupted macrocyclic conjugation owing to the presence of a sp3 hybridized meso-carbon. Due to their absorption at long wavelengths (~800nm), isoporphyrins are potential candidates as photosensitizers in photodynamic therapy (PDT), a ternary modality of cancer treatment. They are also of biological interest due to their unique redox properties among porphyrin derivatives and could be a new class of near-IR dyes. Isoporphyrins are known to be unstable with respect to transformation back to the fully conjugated porphyrin chromophore except when the meso-carbon is geminally substituted and for this reason a detailed study of this …

Floral Traits, Pollinator Behavior, And Plant Reproduction: Tests Of Natural And Sexual Selection In The Hummingbird-Pollinated Herb Chrysothemis Friedrichsthaliana, Jane Elizabeth Carlson

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Pollinators may promote floral evolution by selectively visiting preferred floral phenotypes. Herbivores may also influence the evolution of floral traits, by reducing the fitness of poorly-defended plants, such as those without protective sepals. In this dissertation, I investigate the reproductive and evolutionary consequences of floral visitors for two floral traits of the Neotropical herb Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana (Gesneriaceae). I focus on the trait male-biased nectar production, which results from coincident temporal shifts in nectar production rates and sexual function within flowers. First, I review theory relevant to male- and female-biased nectar production, and I generate hypotheses to explain its evolution in …

The Spectral And Photophysical Characterization Of Water Solubilizing Metal Phthalocyanines For Highly Sensitive Detection In Biological Studies, Vera Tamisha Verdree

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Efforts to improve the technology for DNA analyses stimulated the work presented here to develop a series of fluorescent probes that would aid in the increased multiplexing capabilities allowing the ability to detect multiple targets in a single measurement. Typically, spectral discrimination has been used to identify each DNA fragment in sequencing or diagnostic applications by means of unique emission properties from several labeling dyes. This has been accomplished with labels that fluoresce in the visible region. The limitations with these dyes is the broad emission profile making discrimination difficult, high intrinsic biological fluorescence and structural differences of the dyes …

Kinetic Studies Of The Hydrolysis Reactions Of Ruthenium (Iii) Complexes Him Trans-[Rucl₄(Im)₂] And Hind Trans-[Rucl₄(Ind)₂] By Uv-Visible Spectrophotometry, Pramod K. Nangunuri

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The ruthenium complexes have gained importance in cancer research in recent times, as several cancers have developed resistance towards platinum compounds. Platinum compounds have severe adverse effects that limited their use towards a wide range of tumors.

Ruthenium complexes are considered as pro-drugs, as they transform into antitumor active species in the body by hydrolysis, redox reactions, and reactions with biologically occurring nucleophiles. My project involved the synthesis of two ruthenium complexes with different ligands and the study of the hydrolysis reactions under different pH at room temperature using UV-visible spectrophotometry.

These studies will enable us to understand how structural …

Syntheseses [Sic] And Evaluation Of Porphyrin Derivatives For Applications In Medicine And In Material Science, Erhong Hao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chapter 1 presents a concise introduction to porphyrins, especially on the synthesis of meso-tetraphenylporphyrins, which were synthesized during the course of my research and were used for further purposes in the following chapters. Chapter 2 describes the synthesis of a series of cobaltacarborane-porphyrin conjugates for the boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) of tumors. Using an efficient and high yield ring-opening reaction, N-substituted porphyrins were also synthesized. The spectroscopic and structural properties of these compounds are presented. These high percentage boron and amphiphilic compounds are promising boron delivery agents for BNCT (prelimary cellular studies using some of these compounds have been …

Synthesis And Functionalizations Of Tetrapyrrole Derivatives, Lijuan Jiao

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Chapter 1 of this Dissertation presents a brief overview of the history of tetrapyrrole derivatives and of their fundamental properties. Overviews of porphyrins, benzoporphyrins, chlorins and porphycenes are presented. Work presented in Chapter 2 through Chapter 4 mainly focuses on the syntheses and functionalization of chromophore-extended porphyrin derivatives. Several new synthetic routes for the syntheses and functionalizations of extended porphyrins either at the β-position or at the meso-position of porphyrin are developed. From these improved synthetic routes, the regio-selective syntheses of porphyrin derivatives are described. Chapter 2 mainly focuses on the syntheses of β,β'-fused methylenepropanoporphyrins and related porphyrin dimers. Chapter …

Light Environment And Seasonal Dynamics Of Microalgae In The Annual Sea Ice At Terra Nova Bay, Ross Sea, Antarctica, L. Lazzara, I. Nardello, C. Ermanni, O. Mangoni, V. Saggiomo

OES Faculty Publications

We investigated the physical conditions of the Spring pack ice environment at Terra Nova Bay to understand their influence on the structure and physiology of sympagic microalgae. Bio-optical methods were used to study the availability and spectral quality of solar radiation, both inside and underneath the ice cover. Pack ice thickness was around 2.5 m, with a temperature between -2 and -7°C. On average, only 1.4% of surface PAR penetrated to the bottom ice and less than 0.6% below platelet ice level. Surface UV-B radiation under the bottom ice was 0.2-0.4%. Biomass concentrations up to 2400 mg Chl a m- …

Analysis Of E2f1 Target Genes Involved In Cell Cycle And Apoptosis, Scott N. Freeman

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

One of the main results of Rb-E2F pathway disruption is deregulation of the E2F family of transcription factors, which can lead to inappropriate proliferation, oncogenic transformation, or the induction of apoptosis. Given the potential negative biological effects associated with deregulated E2F activity, it is of great importance to study E2F targets that mediate these effects. In Part I of this manuscript, we identify the RhoBTB2 putative tumor suppressor gene as a direct physiological target of the E2F1 transcription factor. We find that RhoBTB2 is highly upregulated during mitosis due in part to E2F1, and that overexpression of RhoBTB2 increases the …

Whole Genome Duplications And Contracted Breakpoint Graphs, Max A. Alekseyev, Pavel A. Pevzner

Faculty Publications

The genome halving problem, motivated by the whole genome duplication events in molecular evolution, was solved by El-Mabrouk and Sankoff in the pioneering paper [SIAM J. Comput., 32 (2003), pp. 754–792]. The El-Mabrouk–Sankoff algorithm is rather complex, inspiring a quest for a simpler solution. An alternative approach to the genome halving problem based on the notion of the contracted breakpoint graph was recently proposed in [M. A. Alekseyev and P. A. Pevzner, IEEE/ACM Trans. Comput. Biol. Bioinformatics, 4 (2007), pp. 98–107]. This new technique reveals that while the El-Mabrouk–Sankoff result is correct in most cases, it does not hold in …

Salt And Ph Tunable Resist Patterns On Polyelectrolyte Multilayers, Christina Chan, Ilsoon Lee, Srivatsan Kidambi

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

A method for selectively removing a resist material from the polycationic surface of a polyelectrolyte multilayer (PEM) ?lm, Without disturbing adhering interactions between the cationic ?lm surface and bound biomaterials such as cells, proteins, and nucleic acids. The resist material is one that that inhibits or prevents the further deposition of cells or other biomaterial; it thus masks the cationic surface from application of biomaterials. In one embodiment the resist material is a carboxy functional oxyalkylene oligomer. It is removed by exposing the ?lm containing the bound biomaterial and the bound resist material to a pH below 4.5, and/or to …

Cell Adhesion On Polyelectrolyte Multilayer Coated Polydimethylsiloxane Surfaces With Varying Topographies, Srivatsan Kidambi, Natasha Udpa, Stacey A. Schroeder, Robert Findlan, Ilsoon Lee, Christina Chan

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

This article demonstrates that the micro-topography of the surface with respect to the pattern size and pitch influences cell adhesion and proliferation. Extensive research has shown the dependence of cell proliferation on substrate chemistry, but the influence of substrate topography on cell attachment has only recently been appreciated. To evaluate the effect of substrate physical properties (i.e., periodic microstructures) on cell attachment and morphology, we compared the response of several cell types (fibroblasts, HeLa, and primary hepatocytes) cultured on various polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) patterns. PDMS has been used as an artificial construct to mimic biological structures. Although PDMS is widely used …

Adhesion-Delamination Mechanics Of Linear And Axisymmetric Film At Film-Substrate Interface, Ming-Fung Wong

Masters Theses

"This thesis is to characterize the thin membrane adhesion-delamination phenomena which occur in biological cells and micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) operation. The delamination of a thin film adhered to a rigid substrate is subjected to the coupling effects of tensile residual stress and interfacial adhesion energy. The adhesion-delamination mechanics is derived using the classical linear elasticity and thermodynamics energy balance. The membrane deformation is here dominated by a mixed plate-bending and membrane-stretching, while the concomitant stress is neglected. An 1-dimensional model is first investigated where a pre-stressed rectangular film clamped at both ends delaminates from a rigid punch of the same …