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A Phylogeny Of The Snappers (Lutjanidae; Percoidei) Inferred From Cytochrome B Sequence Data, Matthew R. Semcheski

Biological Sciences Theses & Dissertations

The Lutjanidae are economically and ecologically important fishes commonly known as snappers. A morphological study of Lutjanidae concluded that it contained four subfamilies and that together with the family Caesionidae, form the superfamily Lutjanoidea. Although this view was supported elsewhere in the literature, it was later contradicted, treating the caesionids as members of the Lutjanidae. In order to infer a phylogeny of genera within Lutjanidae, the complete cytochrome b gene (1140bp) of 21 lutjanid taxa was sequenced and analyzed along with 19 lutjanid, caesionid, and outgroup sequences obtained from GenBank. Data were analyzed for base composition stationarity and saturation. Phylogenetic …

Microtextures Of Cyanobacterial Mats In Siliciclastic Sedimentary Environments (Modern & Ancient): Applications To The Search For Life On Mars, Dina M. Bower

OES Theses and Dissertations

The current Mars Exploration Rover Program (MER) is one of NASA's most successful missions. The aim of the MER is to explore for possible life on the surface of Mars. My thesis developed new methods of how to detect and to identify microbial mats in siliciclastic sediments (modern and ancient), and to make recommendations on the applicability of MISS as biosignatures. Predominantly, I employed instrumentation portable by future rovers. To search for life on other planets, we need to have information on how this life might look. Most astrobiological studies therefore focus on Earthly analogues of life and its habitats. …

Biology-Inspired Approach For Communal Behavior In Massively Deployed Sensor Networks, Kennie H. Jones

Computer Science Theses & Dissertations

Research in wireless sensor networks has accelerated rapidly in recent years. The promise of ubiquitous control of the physical environment opens the way for new applications that will redefine the way we live and work. Due to the small size and low cost of sensor devices, visionaries promise smart systems enabled by deployment of massive numbers of sensors working in concert. To date, most of the research effort has concentrated on forming ad hoc networks under centralized control, which is not scalable to massive deployments. This thesis proposes an alternative approach based on models inspired by biological systems and reports …

Mobile Interaction Design: Integrating Individual And Organizational Perspectives, Peter Tarasewich, Jun Gong, Fiona Fui-Hoon Nah, David Dewester

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While mobile computing provides organizations with many information systems implementation alternatives, it is often difficult to predict the potential benefits, limitations, and problems with mobile applications. Given the inherent portability of mobile devices, many design and use issues can arise which do not exist with desktop systems. While many existing rules of thumb for design of stationary systems apply to mobile systems, many new ones emerge. Issues such as the security and privacy of information take on new dimensions, and potential conflicts can develop when a single mobile device serves both personal and business needs. This paper identifies potential issues …

Rethinking Tax Nexus And Apportionment: Voice, Exit, And The Dormant Commerce Clause, Edward A. Zelinsky

Articles

The dormant Commerce Clause concept of tax nexus is best understood as a rough, but serviceable, proxy for the taxpayer's standing in the political process. This perspective leads me to defend Quill Corporation v. North Dakota and the much maligned physical presence test for tax nexus. As a matter of legislative policy, the critics of this test may be correct. However, as a matter of constitutional law, the courts should adhere to an expanded physical presence standard as Congress crafts for the long term broader nexus rules based on economic presence. Taxation is an inherently and irreducibly political matter. An …

Pge2 Receptor Subsets Mediate Hcg Regulation Of The Plasminogen Activator/Plasmin System In Primate Periovulatory Follicles, Nune Markosyan

Theses and Dissertations in Biomedical Sciences

Elevated follicular prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels are necessary for follicle rupture during ovulation. As the degradation of the follicle wall requires proteolysis, it was hypothesized that regulation of proteolysis by gonadotropins is PGE2 mediated.

There are four PGE2 receptors: EP1, EP2, EP3 and EP4. To determine which PGE2 receptors are present in monkey periovulatory follicles, granulosa cells and whole ovaries were collected 0, 12, 24, and 36 hours after administration of an ovulatory dose of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), or 36 hours after hCG from monkeys that received the prostaglandin (PG) synthesis inhibitor celecoxib. All EP receptor mRNAs were present …

Flow Field Analysis In An Expanding Healthy And Emphysematous Alveolar Model Using Particle Image Velocimetry, Jessica Oakes

Theses

Particle deposition in the acinus region of the lung is a significant area of interest, because particles can potentially travel into the bloodstream through the capillaries in the lung. Drugs, in the form of aerosols, small particulates in a volume of air, may be delivered through the respiratory system. Also, toxic, airborne, particles could enter the body through the pulmonary capillaries in the acinus region of the lung. In order to accurately predict particle deposition, the aspects that influence deposition needs to be understood. Many physiological features may influence flow and particle deposition in the lung; the geometry of the …

Review Of Frontiers Of Justice: Disability, Nationality, Species Membership By Martha Nussbaum, Margaret Urban Walker

Philosophy Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Thoughts About Spiritual Fatigue: Sustaining Our Energy By Staying Centered, Wayne D. Brazil

Journal of Dispute Resolution

Spiritual fatigue can afflict seasoned mediators and judges who have hosted many settlement conferences.' It can sap the energy we need to do our work well. It can reduce our patience, shorten our anger fuses, and impair our ability to listen to and to connect with the people we are trying to help. Worse, it can lead us into procedural or ethical temptation-inviting us to cut comers and compromise values we hold dear. If it persists too long, it can drive us away from this field. Thus, for those of us who experience it, spiritual fatigue can pose a serious …

X Is A Journey: Embodied Simulation In Metaphor Interpretation, L. David Ritchie

Communication Faculty Publications and Presentations

This essay compares simulation-based accounts of metaphor processing recently proposed by Gibbs (2006a) and Ritchie (2006), using examples of metaphors based on the metaphor vehicle "journey" from four different texts. From analysis of these different examples, it is concluded that simulation may come into play at different levels, depending on the metaphor and the context in which it is used. Further, it is suggested that the imaginative simulation of the object or action named by a metaphor vehicle, proposed by Gibbs, incorporates a partial subset of detail-level perceptual simulators. This leads to the proposal that the two models describe cognitive …

Methane And Nitrous Oxide Emissions From Subtropical Rice Agriculture In China, M. A. K. Khalil, Martha J. Shearer, R. A. Rasmussen, Li Xu, Jin-Luan Liu

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

Emissions of methane and nitrous oxide, two significant greenhouse gases, were measured from rice fields at Qingyuan in Guangdong Province, China. The region has a subtropical climate which allows two crops of rice to be grown every year. The prevailing agricultural practices create a complex interaction between factors known to have a major effect on methane and nitrous oxide emissions from rice fields, namely, intermittent flooding and use of organic fertilizers. In this region, the farmers depend on nitrogen fertilizers and, at least in recent years, have only intermittently flooded their fields during the growing seasons. These factors tend to …

Eutrophication Trend Of Lakes In The Tampa Bay Watershed And The Role Of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation In Buffering Lake Water Phosphorus Concentration, Max Jacobo Moreno Madriñan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Twentieth century human settlement within the Tampa Bay watershed was linked to a dramatic mid-century decline in bay water quality and loss of seagrass acreage. Decades of direct and indirect nutrient discharges to the bay from phosphorus mining, fertilizer manufacturing, and wastewater treatment, as examples, impaired the estuary. In the past twenty years, regional stakeholders have worked to improve the bay water quality by reducing point and non-point source nutrient loading to the bay.

Lakes within the Tampa Bay watershed may play an important role in attenuating the flow of nutrients into the bay. This study hypothesized that between 1990 …

Your Own Actions Influence How You Perceive Other People: A Misattribution Of Action Appraisals, Sp Tipper, P Bach

School of Psychology

The attribution of personal traits to other persons depends on the actions the observer performs at the same time (Bach & Tipper, 2007). Here, we show that the effect reflects a misattribution of appraisals of the observers' own actions to the actions of others. We exploited spatial compatibility effects to manipulate how fluently-how fast and how accurately-participants identified two individuals performing sporty or academic actions. The traits attributed to each person in a subsequent rating task depended on the fluency of participants' responses in a specific manner. An individual more fluently identified while performing the academic action appeared more academic …

Annual Report Of The University, 2007-2008, Volumes 1-6, University Of New Mexico

UNM Annual Reports

Project Summary and Goals Historically, affirmative action policies have evolved from initial programs aimed at providing equal educational opportunities to all students, to the legitimacy of programs that are aimed at achieving diversity in higher education. In June 2003, a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on affirmative action pushed higher education across the threshold toward creating a new paradigm for diversity in the 21 51 century. The court clearly stale that affirmative action is still viable but that our institutions must reconsider our traditional concepts for building diversity in the next few decades. This shift in historical context of diversity in …

Annual Financial Report Supporting Schedules, 2007-2008, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Annual Financial Report

No abstract provided.

Evolution Of Metal(Loid) Binding Sites In Transcriptional Regulators, Efrén Ordóñez, Saravanamuthu Thiyagarajan, Jeremy D. Cook, Timothy L. Stemmler, José A. Gil., Luís M. Mateos, Barry P. Rosen

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

Expression of the genes for resistance to heavy metals and metalloids is transcriptionally regulated by the toxic ions themselves. Members of the ArsR/SmtB family of small metalloregulatory proteins respond to transition metals, heavy metals and metalloids, including As(III), Sb(III), Cd(II), Pb(II), Zn(II), Co(II) and Ni(II). These homodimeric repressors bind to DNA in absence of inducing metal(loid) ion and dissociate from the DNA when inducer is bound. The regulatory sites are often three- or four-coordinate metal binding sites composed of cysteine thiolates. Surprisingly, in two different As(III)-responsive regulators, the metalloid binding sites were in different locations in the repressor, and the …

Annual Report, 2007-2008, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Office Of The Vice Provost For Research, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Graduate School And International Education

Graduate School and International Education Annual Report

No abstract provided.

Thanks For The Maps And Reports. What Do We Do With Them?, Joyce El Kouarti

PREP Reports & Publications

The goal of this project was to assist local communities in establishing specific local priorities for land protection. MMRG staff conducted a total 32 meetings with conservation commissions, organized three regional workshops, created three sets of maps, conducted three field events, gave three presentations at lake association meetings, created six display booths and issued 12 press releases.

Slow Food Lessons In The Fast Food Midwest, Heather Mcilvaine-Newsad, Christopher D. Merrett, William Maakestad, Patrick Mclaughlin

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

During the latter half of the twentieth century, the American food system was transformed by a technological revolution in American agriculture. While these changes provided benefits such as lower-cost food, it also generated concerns that the unconditional embrace of technology would harm rural communities and the environment. Additional concerns were raised about food quality and food safety. Through a case study of a rural Midwestern farming community, this paper examines how direct consumer to producer marketing strategies such as community supported agriculture (CSA) and the public’s current fascination with the heritage of farming may offer a subset of producers and …

Alternative And Conventional Agricultural Representations In The United States: Results From Two National Mail Surveys, 1992 And 2001, Gregory Fulkerson

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This article examines the ways in which perceptions of agriculture are represented by the American public. Presented here are descriptive and exploratory findings from two national mail surveys that asked Americans about their views of agriculture, food, and the environment. I focus specifically on views related to the structure of agriculture as well as those related to the use of technology in food production. The goals of this study are to identify which sociodemographic segments of the American public favor alternative over conventional attitudes and to determine how this has changed over time. Overall, support for both alternative structure and …

Produce Sections, Town Squares, And Farm Stands: Comparing Local Food Systems In Community Context, Stephen Gasteyer, Sarah A. Hultine, Leslie R. Cooperband, M. Patrick Curry

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

A growing literature has grappled with the emergence of local food systems as an alternative to the conventional agricultural model and assumes that the development of local food system venues, such as farmers’ markets, are positive community-building initiatives. Too often left out of this discourse are empirical assessments of the community characteristics that lend themselves to the success of farmers’ markets or similar initiatives. Further, when farmers’ markets are not significantly patronized by community members, does this necessarily mean that people do not value local produce? This article uses the results from surveys of farmers’ market consumers and case studies …

Sustainable Agriculture And The Social Sciences: Getting Beyond Best Management Practices And Into Food Systems, Jeffrey L. Jordan, Douglas H. Constance

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

This paper introduces the special issue of Southern Rural Sociology and lays the groundwork for the rest of the papers. The genesis of this special issue flows from the efforts of the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (S-SARE) program to bring more social science research into its portfolio of projects. Our concern is that by providing best management practices (Band-Aids) to a fundamentally unsustainable agricultural system, the sustainable agriculture movement (and SARE’s granting program) favors the environmental component at the expense of economic and social “legs” of the sustainable stool. While focusing on the history and work of …

The Role Of Southern Sare Projects In Enhancing The Quality Of Life In Rural Communities In The South, Keiko Tanaka, Victoria Mundy Bhavsar

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

As an institutional mechanism, funding agencies play a key role in actualizing perspectives about sustainable agriculture by funding research, education, and outreach activities. This paper examines trends in sustainable agriculture research and education projects funded by the Southern SARE program in the last 15 years. First, it analyzes key trends in the research foci of 174 projects, which demonstrate two main threads of thought and research in sustainability: one oriented toward addressing production issues and the other toward community issues. The paper then examines projects that use “quality-of-life measures” to guide their research processes and discusses common challenges that these …

Barriers To Entry Into The Specialty Red Meat Sector: The Role Of Food Safety Regulation, Michelle R. Worosz, Andrew J. Knight, Craig K. Harris, David S. Conner

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Historically, the rules governing red meat food safety in the U.S. were driven as much by global trade and industry rationalization as by food safety. Contemporary and historical documents, statutes, and regulations; a survey of producer and farmers’ market representatives; and key informant interviews show that these rules, and their implementation, have affected the current development of niche marketing opportunities. Three significant issues arise from this research: a) the elimination of the state meat inspections limits producer access to slaughter; b) the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) rule limits producer access to processing; and c) uncertainty at the …

Research News: 2008, No. 2, University Of Mississippi. School Of Pharmacy

Research News: Grants and Publications (2000-2014)

Grants, publications, technology transfer, special announcements

Faculty Publications & Presentations, 2007-2008, University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville

Faculty Publications and Presentations

No abstract provided.

Annual Report Of Extramural Funding 2007-2008, Grants Development Office

Grants Development Office Reports

This annual report covers the period from July 1, 2007 to June 30, 2008.

Conventionalization, Bifurcation, And Quality Of Life: Certified And Non-Certified Organic Farmers In Texas, Douglas H. Constance, Jin Young Choi, Holly Lyke-Ho-Gland

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Organic agriculture has been advanced as a production system that improves environmental quality and supports rural community development. Recent developments in organics have called into question both assertions. Researchers have argued that the advent of national-level organic standards has contributed to the conventionalization and bifurcation of organics. Conventionalization refers to the process by which organic agriculture increasingly takes on the characteristics of mainstream industrial agriculture. Bifurcation refers to the process by which the organic agriculture adopts a dual-structure of smaller, lifestyle-oriented producers and larger, industrial-scale producers. This research examines the conventionalization and bifurcation theses through a comparison of certified organic …

Expanding The Marketing Opportunities And Sustainable Production Potential For Minority And Limited-Resource Agricultural Producers In Louisiana And Mississippi, Anna M. Kleiner, John J. Green

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

The expansion of sustainable agriculture requires the development of alternative production techniques and marketing strategies. Unfortunately, just as with the dominant agrifood system, minority and limited resource producers are often not incorporated into planning processes. As an attempt to forge an alternative framework, this paper provides findings and recommendations from an exploratory planning project funded by the Southern Region Sustainable Agriculture and Education (SARE) program designed to bring together traditionally-underserved producers, their membership organizations, regional nonprofit organizations and universities, and a variety of customer interests. Participants worked collaboratively to identify opportunities and challenges associated with expanding access to diverse agricultural …

Conservation Use And Quality Of Life In A Rural Community: An Extension Of Goldschmidt's Findings, Jason Shaw Parker, Richard H. Moore

Journal of Rural Social Sciences

Agricultural conservation offers environmental benefits to farm families and others in the community as well as those living downstream. Studies of farmer conservation behavior have concluded that Best Management Practice adoption is not explained by innovation-diffusion, rational choice and farm structure models alone. As suggested by findings from the Sugar Creek Watershed, additional factors contribute to a land owner’s motivation for implementing conservation practices that go beyond economic or self-interested behavior; these motivations extend conservation behavior to social acts of stewardship where adoption takes place more often on medium-sized family farms. In this paper, Goldschmidt’s findings relating farm size and …