Digital Commons Network^™

Resting Stages And The Population Dynamics Of Harmful Algae, Wilber Ventura

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Friends Of The Library Mcnair Scholarship Awards, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Mentor Profile, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Acknowledgements, The Mcnair Team

McNair Scholars Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Spatio-Temporal Modeling Of Arthropod-Borne Zoonotic Diseases: A Proposed Methodology To Enhance Macro-Scale Analyses, Stephen Jones

All Dissertations

Zoonotic diseases are infectious diseases that can be transmitted from or through animals to humans, and arthropods often act as vectors for transmission. Emerging infectious diseases have been increasing both in prevalence and geographic range at alarming rates the last 30 years, and the majority of these diseases are zoonotic in nature. Many zoonotic diseases are considered notifiable by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). However, though state regulations or contractual obligations may require the reporting of certain diseases, significant underreporting is known to exist. Because of the rich volume of information captured in health insurance plan databases, …

Efficacy Of Genetically Modified Bt Toxins Against Insects With Different Genetic Mechanisms Of Resistance, Bruce E. Tabashnik, Fangneng P. Huang, Mukti N. Ghimire, B. Rogers Leonard, Blair D. Siegfried, Murugesan Rangasamy, Yajun Yang, Yidong Wu, Linda J. Gahan, David G. Heckel, Alejandro Bravo, Mario Soberón

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

Transgenic crops that produce Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins are grown widely for pest control, but insect adaptation can reduce their efficacy. The genetically modified Bt toxins Cry1AbMod and Cry1AcMod were designed to counter insect resistance to native Bt toxins Cry1Ab and Cry1Ac. Previous results suggested that the modified toxins would be effective only if resistance was linked with mutations in genes encoding toxin-binding cadherin proteins. Here we report evidence from five major crop pests refuting this hypothesis. Relative to native toxins, the potency of modified toxins was > 350-fold higher against resistant strains of Plutella xylostella and Ostrinia nubilalis …

Review Of Teaching Children Science: Hands-On Nature Study In North America, 1890-1930 By Sally Kohlstedt, Meena M. Balgopal

The Prairie Naturalist

Many scientists and educators agree that the goal of science education is to prepare students "to know, use and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world," as cited in the National Research Council publication, Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8 (DuschI et al. 2007). Yet, many science instructors of K-12 and post-secondary students often rely on teacher-telling modes of pedagogy and neglect to engage their students in natural inquiry and scientific study that model the research methods used by scientists. As a result, many young people are not aware of how scientists make discoveries about …

Genetic Structure Of Grass Carp Populations In The Missouri And Mississippi River Basins, Usa, Bobbi M. Adams, Katie N. Bertrand, Michael L. Brown, Donald Auger

The Prairie Naturalist

We provided an early characterization of the genetic structure of the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) population as it expands its distribution in both the Missouri and Mississippi River basins. Further, we provided initial comparisons of allelic richness at 17 polymorphic microsatellite markers between 56 grass carp from the USA, and six from the Yangtze River in China. The number of alleles per locus ranged from two to eight and size ranges of alleles for fish collected from the invaded and native ranges were similar (P ≤ 0.001; 107–226 bp) to those previously reported in the literature. Distance-based clustering …

Massasauga Repatriation On A Restored Wet Prairie, Francis E. Durbian, Brian N. Lomas, Jeff Briggler, Paul Mckenzie, Tom Nagel

The Prairie Naturalist

The massasauga (Sistrurus catenatus) is a small rattlesnake that occurs from Texas to New York (Schmidt and Davis 1941, Conant and Collins 1991, Szymanski 1998). In Missouri, the Eastern massasauga rattlesnake (EMR; S. c. catenatus), a subspecies of the massasauga, occurs north and east of the Missouri River, is a former candidate for listing under the United States Endangered Species Act (Code of Federal Regulations 64 FR 57534; Szymanski 1998), and is listed as a state endangered species (Missouri Natural Heritage Program 2011). Missouri currently harbors five extant EMR populations (Johnson 2000, Durbian et al., unpublished report, …

Book Review Of Encyclopedia Of Biological Invasions, Edited By Daniel Simberloff And Marcel Rejmanek, Qinfeng Guo

The Prairie Naturalist

Book review of Encyclopedia of Biological Invasions, edited by Daniel Simberloff and Marcel Rejmanek.

Species introductions and consequent biotic invasions and homogenization are major components of global change that are drawing increasing concern and various levels of actions and reactions around the world. Invasion ecology has advanced rapidly during the last few decades, and the discipline is now increasingly integrated with the social and economic sciences. A better understanding of the invasion process and its effects is thus clearly needed. For basic research, invasion biology offers fascinating and sometimes unique opportunities for testing certain ecological or evolutionary theories and …

Notes On The Distribution Of Eastern Woodrats And Hispid Cotton Rats In South-Central Nebraska, Heather D. Wills, Keith Geluso, Eric J. Smits, Joseph T. Springer, Wesley E. Newton

The Prairie Naturalist

The eastern woodrat (Neotoma floridana) and hispid cotton rat (Sigmodon hispidus) reach distributional limits in southern Nebraska (Jones 1964, Farney 1975). In the last half-century, both species have expanded their distributional ranges in the region (Kugler and Geluso 2009, Wright et al. 2010). Herein, we report new localities of occurrence for both species that extend known distributional boundaries in south-central Nebraska beyond those reported by Kugler and Geluso (2009) and Wright et al. (2010).

Associated with other studies, we captured small mammals in Sherman live-traps in south-central Nebraska. Voucher specimens were deposited in collections at the …

Comparison Of Fish Communities In Recently Constructed Side-Channel Chutes With The Main Stem Missouri River, Kasey Whiteman, Vincent H. Travnichek, Darrick L. Garner, Brandon Eder, Kirk Steffensen

The Prairie Naturalist

Two United States Army Corp of Engineers- (USACE) funded projects were conducted from 2006 to 2008 along the Missouri River to monitor fish communities in recently constructed side-channel chutes and to monitor pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and the associated fish assemblage in the main stem Missouri River. Data from both monitoring projects were compared to evaluate fish assemblages among four mitigated habitats (e.g., constructed side-channel chutes) and the main-stem Missouri River. Chutes had a greater overall number of species (n = 59) and higher species richness (Margalef’s index = 5.81), but richness was not different (F1, 4 = …

Patterns Of Age-0 Gizzard Shad Abundance And Food Habits In A Nebraska Irrigation Reservoir, Christopher L. Sullivan, Casey W. Schoenebeck, Keith D. Koupal, W. Wyatt Hoback, Brian C. Peterson

The Prairie Naturalist

Gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum) are prolific spawners that can influence reservoir communities. Larval gizzard shad may compete with larval recreational fish for zooplankton resources. Therefore, it is necessary to determine larval gizzard shad dynamics and food habits to better understand their potential for competition with larval recreational fish. Our study examined age-0 gizzard shad abundance in Harlan County Reservoir during late spring/summer from 2002–2010 and food habits and prey electivity of age-0 gizzard shad during late spring/summer 2008 and 2009. The annual peak age-0 gizzard shad density 3 from 2002–2010 ranged from 50 to 380/100 m , which …

Northern Harrier Hatches Mallard Nest, Jeffery W. Stackhouse, Benjamin A. Geaumont

The Prairie Naturalist

The northern harrier (Circus cyaneus) is a widespread raptor commonly found nesting throughout the Northern Great Plains. Northern harriers forage primarily on small mammals and passerines with the males providing the majority of prey to nestlings until 14–28 days of age (Redpath et al. 2006, Vukovich and Ritchison 2006). Although the genus Circus is known to predate eggs from nest of many nesting birds (Hiraldo et al. 1975, Donaszar et al. 1996, Opermanis et al. 2000), few have been recorded commandeering nests of different species (Laine 1928, Fleskes 1992). In June 2010, we observed a northern harrier that …

Late Seasonal Captures Of The Plains Pocket Mouse (Perognathus Flavescens) In Iowa, Hans W. Otto, Jeremy A. White

The Prairie Naturalist

The plains pocket mouse, Perognathus flavescens, is a nocturnal granivore that inhabits friable soils in sparsely vegetated areas (Monk and Jones 1996). In the United States, the distribution of the plains pocket mouse extends from Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas through the Great Plains to North Dakota and Minnesota (Hall 1981). This species reaches its easternmost limits in Iowa, where it has been documented from a limited number of grassland sites in eastern, central, and western parts of the state (Bowles 1975, Wilson et al. 1996). Due to loss of grassland habitat, the plains pocket mouse is currently listed …

Ckmeans.1d.Dp: Optimal K-Means Clustering In One Dimension By Dynamic Programming, Haizhou Wang, Mingzhou Song

The R Journal

The heuristic k-means algorithm, widely used for cluster analysis, does not guarantee optimality. We developed a dynamic programming algorithm for optimal one-dimensional clustering. The algorithm is implemented as an R package called Ckmeans.1d.dp. We demonstrate its ad vantage in optimality and runtime over the standard iterative k-means algorithm.

Grapher: A Multiplatform Gui For Drawing Customizable Graphs In R, Maxime Hervé

The R Journal

This article presents GrapheR, a Graphical User Interface allowing the user to draw customizable and high-quality graphs without knowing any R commands. Six kinds of graph are available: histograms, box-and-whisker plots, bar plots, pie charts, curves and scatter plots. The complete process is described with the examples of a bar plot and a scatter plot illustrating the legendary puzzle of African and European swallows’ migrations.

Effects Of Nitrogen Deposition And Empirical Nitrogen Critical Loads For Ecoregions Of The United States, Linda H. Pardo, Mark E. Fenn, Christine L. Goodale, Linda H. Geiser, Charles T. Driscoll, Edith B. Allen, Jill S. Baron, Roland Bobbink, William D. Bowman, Christopher M. Clark, Bridget Emmett, Frank S. Gilliam, Tara L. Greaver, Sharon J. Hall, Erik A. Lilleskov, Lingli Liu, Jason A. Lynch, Knute J. Nadelhoffer, Steven S. Perakis, Molly J. Robin-Abbott, John L. Stoddard, Kathleen C. Weathers, Robin L. Dennis

Biological Sciences Faculty Research

Human activity in the last century has led to a significant increase in nitrogen (N) emissions and atmospheric deposition. This N deposition has reached a level that has caused or is likely to cause alterations to the structure and function of many ecosystems across the United States. One approach for quantifying the deposition of pollution that would be harmful to ecosystems is the determination of critical loads. A critical load is defined as the input of a pollutant below which no detrimental ecological effects occur over the long-term according to present knowledge. The objectives of this project were to synthesize …

Synthesis, Characterization And Luminescence Studies Of Lanthanide-2,5-Thiophenedicarboxyalate Frameworks, Quddus Amin Nizami

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Four novel three-dimensional lanthanide-thiophenedicarboxylate hybrid compounds, Tb4(C44S6O37) [Tb4(2,5-TDC) [1]; TDC= thiophenedicarboxylate]; space group P-1, a=12.8068(9) ? , b=14.5574(10) ? , c= 19.1276(12) ? , α= 106.660(2)̊, β= 105.621(2)̊, γ= 93.691(2)̊, V= 3251.21(4) ? 3 , Dy4(C46H43O32S6) [Dy4(2,5-TDC) [2]], space group P-1, a= 12.807(8) ? , b= 14.6904(9) ? , c= 19.0866(11) ? , , α= 107.101(1)̊, β= 105.534(1)̊, γ= 93.529(2)̊, V= 3266.9(3) ? 3, Nd2(C21O16S4) [Nd2 (2,5-TDC) [3]], space group C2/c, a=24.037(2) ? , b=10.0649(8) ? , c=17.963(3) ? , β=128.656(2)̊, γ= 90̊, V=3393.8(7) ? 3 and Er2(C45O32S6) [Er2 (2,5-TDC) [4]], space group Pbam, a=20.9870(15) ? , b=17.1420(12) ? , …

Investigation Of Materials Surface Chemistry On Osteoblast Proliferation, Migration And Differentiation, Xia Lu

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Osteoporosis, a bone disease caused by the decreased mass and impaired structure of bone, is becoming an increasing threat to the health of the elderly population. To treat and prevent this kind of suffering, understanding of the bone formation and regeneration is of significant importance, during which bone cell-biomaterial interaction plays a critical role, especially osteoblasts. In this work, we report an in situ investigation of osteoblast proliferation, migration and differentiation on a series of substrates with variable surface chemistry as a result of coating fabrication. Primary investigation indicated that cells migrated faster on sulfonated polystyrene (SPS)-coated MirrIR slides than …

The Effects Of Dietary Immunostimulation On Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) Immune Response To Sea Lice (Lepeophtheirus Salmonis) Infection, Sarah Ellen Friend

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

The ectoparasitic copepod, Lepeophtheius salmonis, is considered to be the most economically damaging parasite in commercial Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) culture, causing serious disease outbreaks which cost the industry nearly half a billion dollars annually. While other salmonid species show some resistance to this parasite, Atlantic salmon have previously shown very little in the way of inflammatory response to sea lice infection. The objective of this study was to enhance the immune response of Atlantic salmon to sea lice infection through the administration of in-feed immunostimulants. The efficacy of dietary additives to stimulate the immune response of Atlantic salmon against …

Enhanced Cholesterol Accessibility For Pfo Interaction In Membranes Containing Pope And Pops Phospholipids., Caroline Lee

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

Cholesterol biosynthesis regulation via the SREBP (sterol regulatory element binding protein) pathway has previously been elucidated to exhibit a switch-like response in the ER at ~ 5 mol% cholesterol. It has been proposed that this threshold value is mainly due to the control of the concentration at which cholesterol becomes accessible by the phospholipid composition of the ER membrane. We have conducted experiments to investigate this hypothesis. Perfringolysin O (PFO) was applied as a sterol sensor that binds membranes and oligomerizes upon cholesterol exposure in artificial membranes. Using this system, we detected a progressive enhancement of cholesterol accessibility as more …

Phylogenomic Analysis Of Sex-Dependent Gene Expression In The Drosophila Genus To Assess Alternative Models Of Evolution In Relation To Sex, Nicole Maurine Lashbrook

Stony Brook Theses and Dissertations Collection, 2006-2020 (closed to submissions)

When Charles Darwin formulated his theory of sexual selection in The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex, sex differences were understood largely in terms of morphology, physiology and behavior. Recent genomic studies have demonstrated that sex differences are apparent at the molecular level. In the Drosophila study system, `faster-male' evolution is widespread, as is indicated by enhanced rates of amino acid substitution for male-biased as compared to nonsex- and female-biased genes. While the role of intrasexual male competition has been highlighted in the interpretation of these observations, the alternative hypothesis that historical sex differences may account for …

Gendered Arrests Or Gendered Sentencing: Explaining The Narrowing Of The Gender Gap In Imprisonment Over Time: 1970–2008, Mark G. Harmon, Robert M. O'Brien

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Since 1970 the percentage of women incarcerated in U.S. prisons has risen from nearly 3 percent to almost 7 percent—more than doubling in less than 40 years. This article examines explanations for this phenomenon—concentrating on two: Changes in the relative rates of arrest for females and males and sentencing reforms that were instituted during this period. The authors examine trends in female to male imprisonment rates from 1970 to 2008 across all fifty states using panel analysis. The only robust relationship they find is between the ratio of female to male incarceration rates and the ratio of female to male …

Defining Conservation Priorities For Freshwater Fishes According To Taxonomic, Functional, And Phylogenetic Diversity, Angela L. Strecker, Julian D. Olden, Joanna B. Whittier, Craig Patrick Paukert

Environmental Science and Management Faculty Publications and Presentations

To date, the predominant use of systematic conservation planning has been to evaluate and conserve areas of high terrestrial biodiversity. Although studies in freshwater ecosystems have received recent attention, research has rarely considered the potential trade-offs between protecting different dimensions of biodiversity and the ecological processes that maintain diversity. We provide the first systematic prioritization for freshwaters (focusing on the highly threatened and globally distinct fish fauna of the Lower Colorado River Basin, USA) simultaneously considering scenarios of: taxonomic, functional, and phylogenetic diversity; contemporary threats to biodiversity (including interactions with nonnative species); and future climate change and human population growth. …

The Missouri Miner, December 1, 2011

The Missouri Miner Newspaper

No abstract provided.

Daily Eastern News: December 01, 2011, Eastern Illinois University

December

No abstract provided.

Complex Dynamics Of Discrete Seis Models With Simple Demography, Hui Cao, Yicang Zhou, Baojun Song

Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

We investigate bifurcations and dynamical behaviors of discrete SEIS models with exogenous reinfections and a variety of treatment strategies. Bifurcations identified from the models include period doubling, backward, forward-backward, and multiple backward bifurcations. Multiple attractors, such as bistability and tristability, are observed. We also estimate the ultimate boundary of the infected regardless of initial status. Our rigorously mathematical analysis together with numerical simulations show that epidemiological factors alone can generate complex dynamics, though demographic factors only support simple equilibrium dynamics. Our model analysis supports and urges to treat a fixed percentage of exposed individuals.

Tracking Costs Of Alternatively Fueled Buses In Florida, Cutr

Research Reports

No abstract provided.

Chemical Modification On Gold Slides To Gain Better Control Of Patterning Techniques, Ragini Vuppalapati

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Nanolithography is a rapidly evolving field that requires new combinations of techniques to improve patterning and to assist in fabricating electromechanical devices. An increasing number of applications require surfaces with defined regions of different chemical functionality. In our previous project optimum conditions for lithographic patterning were determined and potential blockers were identified to reduce force on the tip.

This work is focused on identifying good chemical modifications that will allow better control of basic patterning and to investigate the minimum force of patterning required while using each chemical system. The primary aim is to gain better control of basic pattern …