Digital Commons Network^™

Stratified-Drift Aquifers In New Hampshire With Potential To Serve As Future, Large Public Water-Supplies: Status, Circa 2000; Projected Losses, Circa 2025; And Data Accuracy, John Alexander Lough

Doctoral Dissertations

Given the growing national water crisis, this research quantified and refined the states of stratified-drift aquifers with potential to yield 75+ gpm (OSDA75) and 150+ gpm (OSDA150) in New Hampshire for 2000 and 2025. Surface waters, cultural features and groundwater hazards from 13 federal/state datasets were buffered according to desired well yields, and then overlain within a geographic information system onto stratified-drift aquifer (OSDA) layer. Non-buffered, highly-transmissive polygons defined the aquifer areas remaining available with potential to meet 75+gpm or 150+ gpm well yields (RSDA75 or RSDA150). Aquifer losses for 2025 were modeled by principal-components regression as function of aquifer …

Negotiating For Nature: Conservation Diplomacy And The Convention On Nature Protection And Wildlife Preservation In The Western Hemisphere, 1929--1976, Keri Lewis

Doctoral Dissertations

In 1941, as the United States entered the Second World War, leaders from twenty American nations signed into effect a broad-based treaty for the protection of migratory wildlife at the Convention on Nature Protection and Wild Life Preservation in the Western Hemisphere. This dissertation examines the unique set of questions, problems, and concerns framers of the Convention dealt with in the development of a conservation program to ensure the protection of migratory wildlife as it crossed political borders. Although it provided no solid system of enforcement, the provisions of the Convention opened the door for new, more specific conservation treaties …

Understanding Polyamine Metabolism Through Transgenic Manipulation In Poplar Suspension Cultures, Sridev Mohapatra

Doctoral Dissertations

Polyamines are low molecular weight aliphatic amines that are obligatory requirements for cell survival and growth. The commonly occurring polyamines in plants are putrescine, spermidine, and spermine. Suspension cultures of poplar (Populus nigra x maximowiczii), transformed with a mouse ornithine decarboxylase gene (under the control of a 2X 35S CaMV promoter) were used to study the impact of up-regulation of putrescine biosynthesis (and consequent enhanced catabolism) on several aspects of cellular metabolism. The transgenic cells were compared with a control cell line that was transformed with the beta-glucuronidase (GUS) gene.

It was observed that enhanced putrescine metabolism resulted in: (i) …

Evaluation Of In Vitro Methods To Estimate Digestibility Of Amino Acids In The Rumen Undegraded Protein Fraction Of Feedstuffs, Sarah Boucher

Doctoral Dissertations

Soybean meal, SoyPlusRTM, dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS), and fish meal samples were used in the evaluation of the modified three-step, the immobilized digestive enzyme assay ( IDEA), the guanidination, and the furosine in vitro procedures to estimate intestinal digestibility of amino acids in rumen undegraded protein ( RUP-AA). Identifying an in vitro method to estimate RUP-AA digestibility will allow for routine analysis of feeds for this parameter, which can lead to more accurate formulation of dairy rations. To determine the adequacy of these procedures, in vivo RUP-AA digestibility estimates were obtained using the precision-fed cecectomized rooster assay. Rumen …

Evaluation Of An Enhanced Magneto-Chemical Process For The Removal Of Pathogens In Wastewater, Christine N. Wright

Doctoral Dissertations

New wastewater treatment technologies are a necessity as a result of increasingly stringent discharge standards, particularly concerning viruses. The traditional approach to wastewater treatment consists of biological treatment, such as trickling filters, biofilms, and activated sludge. Although these biological processes have been an adequate means of wastewater treatment, they are intrinsically limited by their biological nature. A magneto-chemical process, known as CoMag(TM), has been developed to improve coagulation and solids separation and expand upon conventional wastewater treatment techniques.

The research objective of this project was to develop and evaluate a bench-scale model of the CoMag(TM) process for the removal of …

The Activation Of Stereotypical Knowledge, Karla A. Lassonde

Doctoral Dissertations

The effects of stereotypical knowledge on behaviors and beliefs have been widely examined in psychology. Early work examined the conscious, explicit expression of stereotypes. However, it has become increasingly difficult to use explicit tasks to measure stereotypical beliefs because participants often censor their beliefs so that their responses appear socially desirable. Implicit measures that indirectly measure stereotypical knowledge have recently been used as an alternative.

The goal of the experiments presented in this dissertation was to assess the presence of stereotypical knowledge through an implicit measure of reading comprehension that does not reflect social desirability. Across several experiments, participants read …

A Fundamental Analysis Of Means Of Producing And Storing Energy, Michael S. Briggs

Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to examine some of the most promising non-fossil means for producing electricity and storing energy for transportation, to provide a thorough and (hopefully) unbiased assessment of which hold the most promise, and therefore warrant further research focus. Additionally, recommendations are made for potential means for improving proposed or existing technologies, in particular the technology of a new subcritical reactor design using an electronuclear driver and thermal transmutation of transuranic actinides.

The high energy density of liquid hydrocarbon fuels is ideal for transportation applications, but our ability to sustainably produce such fuels (i.e. biofuels) is …

Systematics And Taxonomy Of Polyclad Flatworms With A Special Emphasis On The Morphology Of The Nervous System, Sigmer Y. Quiroga

Doctoral Dissertations

In a first survey of the Colombian polyclad fauna, a total of 25 species were collected from the rocky littoral of the Tayrona National Park, Santa Marta, Colombia and deposited at the Museo de Historia Natural Marina del INVEMAR. Six species represented first records for Caribbean region. Furthermore, a new combination Phrikoceros mopsus nov. comb, was proposed, and a possible new species of Pleioplana Faubel, 1983 was found. In addition, a new polyclad family Anocellidae was erected and four deep-sea species were described; two species from the North Pacific Ocean, Anocellidus profundus gen. nov. sp. nov. and Oligocladus voightae sp. …

Biomonitoring Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers In Lactating Women, Rebecca L. Dunn

Doctoral Dissertations

Breast milk is a valuable biological specimen for biomonitoring lipid-soluble polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). The goal of this project was to determine the levels of PBDEs in breast milk of lactating women from the Seacoast region of New Hampshire and to examine potential relationships between PBDE levels in breast milk and stage of lactation, maternal characteristics, living environment and dietary intake. Forty women, ages 22 to 40, provided up to three breast milk samples at the end of their first, second and third month of breastfeeding for evaluation of day-to-day and month-to-month variation in PBDE levels. Participants were asked to …

Comparative Embryology And Muscle Development Of Polyclad Flatworms (Platyhelminthes: Rhabditophora), Diana Marcela Bolanos

Doctoral Dissertations

Polyclads belong to the phylum Platyhelminthes, lineage Rhabdotophora, are simple Bilateria, and represent an interesting and useful group for research in developmental biology. Although polyclads, together with catenulids and macrostomids, have been argued to be most closely related to the ancestral flatworm and hold the key to understand the relationship between development and evolution, knowledge of their embryonic development is still scarce and most of the work on spiralian development has focused on mollusks and annelids. In view of polyclad embryonic significance, a comparative study of their embryonic development including several species of direct and indirect developers was performed.

Developing …

Biologically Inspired Composite Image Sensor For Deep Field Target Tracking, Pavlo Melnyk

Doctoral Dissertations

The use of nonuniform image sensors in mobile based computer vision applications can be an effective solution when computational burden is problematic. Nonuniform image sensors are still in their infancy and as such have not been fully investigated for their unique qualities nor have they been extensively applied in practice. In this dissertation a system has been developed that can perform vision tasks in both the far field and the near field. In order to accomplish this, a new and novel image sensor system has been developed. Inspired by the biological aspects of the visual systems found in both falcons …

Identification And Characterization Of Protein Phosphatase 2a Mutants In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Enhua Wang

Doctoral Dissertations

Reversible protein phosphorylation is a highly regulated process that affects almost all cellular activities. Phosphorylation involves two groups of enzymes: protein kinases and protein phosphatases. Considering the central role of these enzymes in cells, elucidating their function is extremely important. My research focuses on protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) C subunits. PP2A is one of the most abundant types of serine/threonine phosphatases in all eukaryotic cells. Compared with animals, PP2A function is not well known in plants. Early studies using protein phosphatase inhibitors are not useful to demonstrate the function of individual PP2A subunits. A reverse genetic approach can be helpful …

Survival Strategies Of Eelgrass In Reduced Light, Caroline A. Ochieng

Doctoral Dissertations

Light reduction due to anthropogenic impacts is the most widespread cause of worldwide decline of eelgrass, an ecologically important marine angiosperm whose role in supporting overall coastal ecosystem productivity has been widely recognized. Understanding eelgrass plant and meadow responses to light reduction has therefore received significant research interest over the last 30 years, while managers have sought tools to identify critical thresholds for light availability and predict impacts of human-induced disturbances in order to prevent further eelgrass loss. In the present thesis, a review of some of the literature on light reduction and its effects on eelgrass (i) summarized the …

The Development Of A Modular Integrated Recirculating Aquaculture System Using Porphyra (Nori) For The Bioremediation Of Marine Finfish Effluent, Jennifer Pauline Day

Doctoral Dissertations

It is crucial for the development of the fish aquaculture industry to be managed in a way that provides a reliable, long term source of products without negatively impacting the environment. The simplest form of integrated multi-tropic aquaculture (IMTA) uses a fed component (e.g. finfish) and an extractive component (e.g. seaweed) to remove the inorganic metabolites from finfish aquaculture effluent. In IMTA systems metabolic wastes become nutrients for the other cultured organisms and are incorporated into potentially valuable biomass. A demonstration-scale Modular Integrated Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (MIRAS) was constructed in a greenhouse adjacent to Great Bay Aquaculture, LLC (GBA), Newington, …

The Social Production Of Community Garden Space: Case Studies Of Boston, Massachusetts And Havana, Cuba, Charles A. French

Doctoral Dissertations

This research incorporates 'production of space' theory to explore how individual and societal characteristics influence community gardening practices and outcomes for individuals and neighborhoods in Havana, Cuba and Boston, Massachusetts. Methods used for this research include demographic analysis, interviews, surveys, field mapping, photo documentation and direct observation. The hope is that this research will bring to light certain policies and actions that will help ensure access to community garden space by diverse individuals. The following describes the main findings of this research.

In Boston, some neighborhoods experiencing rapidly escalating rents are also experiencing an outmigration of ethnic minorities, particularly Hispanic-Latinos …

Conserving Dolphins And Fishermen: Combining Science And Local Knowledge To Reduce Cetacean Bycatch, Erika A. Zollett

Doctoral Dissertations

Bycatch is the portion of catch that is neither targeted nor retained by fishermen. It threatens the survival of many marine mammal populations globally, and it occurs in nearly every fishing gear type. Despite its widespread occurrence, observations of bycatch are rare, and scientific data on marine mammal bycatch are limited. Difficulties result in developing models that accurately depict the interactions. This study focuses on developing methodology to combine disparate data sources, specifically data from fishery observer programs and interviews of fishermen, to better understand these interactions and to identify effective mitigation measures. As a case study, this research investigates …

The Fallacy Of Endless Growth: Exposing Capitalism's Insustainability, William S. Strauss

Doctoral Dissertations

What if we were to have 100 years of no growth? What if conditions were such that there is no future scenario under which growth will ever occur again? We might characterize this as impossible, as a vision that violates the outcome that we as innovative people must realize.

In the document that follows I will show you our world as it must be sometime in the future. I will describe a world in which the real growth of the world economy is zero and remains zero. I will tell a story of a world that is so different from …

To The Age Of Social Revolution: As Papal Rejoinder, ‘The Apocalypse Is Not Now’, William J. Wagner

Scholarly Articles

This article concludes ultimately that, as he revivifies political Augustinianism, the Holy Father makes two original contributions. He draws on ideas foreign to Augustine, but familiar, respectively, within ancient and modern idealist political philosophy, to secure a basis for endorsing the agenda of the Activist State Augustine would have been compelled to reject. He adopts, as well, the modern construct of Constitutionalism, also unknown to Augustine, to fashion what, ultimately, is not so much a political or moral philosophy, but a philosophy of law devised to animate a particular vision of Church-State relations. In its concluding section, the article calls …

Microbiology, Steelman Library, B Mcconchie Dr.

Syllabus Repository

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of Religious Learning, Marc O. Degirolami

Scholarly Articles

The problem of religious learning is that religion-including the teaching about religion-must be separated from liberal public education, but that the two cannot be entirely separated if the aims of liberal public education are to be realized. It is a problem that has gone largely unexamined by courts, constitutional scholars, and other legal theorists. Though the U.S. Supreme Court has offered a few terse statements about the permissibility of teaching about religion in its Establishment Clause jurisprudence, and scholars frequently urge policies for or against such controversial subjects as Intelligent Design or graduation prayers, insuffi- cient attention has been paid …

Gsbs News, Winter 2008, Graduate School Of Biomedical Sciences, University Of Texas Health Science Center At Houston/M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

GSBS News

No abstract provided.

Outside The Box: Expanding The Scope Of Animal Law, William R. Cook

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Building Our Future, Joyce Tischler

Animal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Statute Of Anne-Imals: Should Copyright Protect Sentient Non-Human Creators?, Dane E. Johnson

Animal Law Review

This article explores questions of whether copyright protection can and should extend to works created by captive animals such as gorillas, chimpanzees, and elephants. Commentators have considered similar questions in the artificial intelligence context and generally rejected the notion that computers can create works sufficiently free of human involvement to merit copyright protection. As our understanding of animal intelligence increases, however, the case for reconsideration of copyright’s constitutional and statutory boundaries becomes stronger. This article examines those boundaries and offers a proposal for granting limited copyrights to animals under a theory along the lines of David Favre’s equitable self-ownership concept.

The Japanese Dolphin Hunts: In Quest Of International Legal Protection For Small Cetaceans, Rachelle Adam

Animal Law Review

This article sets out to explore the international legal status of those dolphins targeted by the Japanese drive hunts. It is estimated that over two thousand five hundred small cetaceans—dolphins, porpoises and small whales—will be killed as a result, out of a total of over twenty thousand killed annually in Japan by direct catch. It is argued that since we have literally pushed them to the brink of extinction, we have an ethical duty towards dolphins, to stop the cruelty perpetrated against them by man and to ensure the survival of their species. And our ethical duty towards them should …

See Spot Eat, See Spot Die: The Pet Food Recall Of 2007, Kate Paulman

Animal Law Review

When dogs and cats across the country fell inexplicably ill in March of 2007, their human companions became sick with worry. Veterinarians eventually determined contaminated pet food was the source of these illnesses. Melamine, an industrial chemical used in cookware, furniture, and industrial fertilizers, contaminated wheat gluten manufactured in China and utilized in many pet food brands in the United States and Canada. This contamination led to a recall of more than 200 brands of pet food - the largest in American history. This comment explores the reasons behind the contamination and the ensuing recall. The author identifies inadequate domestic …

History Of The Department Of Microbiology And Immunology, University Of North Dakota

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.

Management Department History, John J. Vitton

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.

History Of The Department Of Biochemistry And Molecular Biology, Gene A. Homandberg

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.

A History Of The Biology Department, Omer R. Larson

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.