Digital Commons Network^™

Development Of Novel Organocatalytic Cascade Reactions And Application In Organic Systheses, Xixi Song

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

The development of new catalytic reactions, particularly synthetically efficient cascade processes for the facile preparation of important molecular architectures, which otherwise are difficult to access via traditional methods, is of considerable significance. Toward this end, my Ph.D. work focuses on developing new organocatalytic reactions and their applications in organic syntheses. A novel direct organocatalytic stereoselective α-arylation methodology has been discovered. The cross-coupling-like products are assembled using simple enals and various brominated aromatic systems, such as p-bromophenols, bromonaphthols and 3-bromoindoles. The products have been applied in the concise photo-syntheses of [α]-annulated carbazoles. Moreover, an unexpected reaction has been identified with aliphatic …

Short-Term Forest Management Effects On A Long-Lived Ectotherm, Andrea F. Currylow, Brian J. Macgowan, Rod N. Williams

Department of Forestry & Natural Resources Faculty Publications

Timber harvesting has been shown to have both positive and negative effects on forest dwelling species. We examined the immediate effects of timber harvests (clearcuts and group selection openings) on ectotherm behavior, using the eastern box turtle as a model. We monitored the movement and thermal ecology of 50 adult box turtles using radiotelemetry from May–October for two years prior to, and two years following scheduled timber harvests in the Central Hardwoods Region of the U.S. Annual home ranges (7.45 ha, 100% MCP) did not differ in any year or in response to timber harvests, but were 33% larger than …

Inciting Curiosity And Creating Meaning: Teaching Information Evaluation Through The Lens Of ‘Bad Science’, Catherine Fraser Riehle

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Ability to evaluate information is a critical component of information literacy. This article provides strategies for engaging students in learning about information evaluation in the contexts of the scientific publication cycle and communication in the digital age. Also included are recent findings regarding undergraduate student research behavior and ideas for integrating constructivist learning theory in order to develop effective learning activities that encourage curiosity and critical thinking.

Cotton/Soybean Insect Newsletter, July 6, 2012, Jeremy K. Greene

Clemson University Cotton/Soybean Insect Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Leading For Change: Measuring The Characteristics Of K-12 Principals In New Mexico, S. Michael Weinberg

Teacher Education, Educational Leadership & Policy ETDs

Research has established an indirect influence between school principals and student achievement on standardized tests. This paper considers how to measure the relationships between teacher and principal perceptions of four dimensions of principal leadership in New Mexicos K-12 schools—setting a shared vision, developing a culture of learning, managing resources, and collaborating with the community—and student scaled score growth over four years on New Mexico's standards-based assessments. Using two valid, reliable survey instruments, data was electronically collected from 437 teachers and 41 principals; aggregate reading and math scaled scores were also collected for all students in these 41 schools. Based on …

Dynamics And Distribution Of Immunoglobolin E Receptors : A Dialog Between Experiment And Theory, Kathrin Spendier

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

This dissertation explores the dynamics and distribution of immunoglobulin E receptors (FceRI) on mast cells by drawing on the techniques of experimental and theoretical physics. The motivation for these investigations is provided by a considerable interest in the transmembrane signaling mechanisms of immunoreceptors, especially when triggered with membrane-bound ligands. Experimental investigations quantify the spatiotemporal dynamics of the redistribution of FceRI due to membrane-bound monovalent ligands, using total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy and single-particle tracking. When mast cells contact such substrates, receptor clusters form at cell-substrate contact points. The initial rate of accumulation of receptors into these contact points or cell …

Carrying Biomath Education In A Leaky Bucket, James A. Powell, Brynja R. Kohler, James W. Haefner, Janice Bodily

Mathematics and Statistics Faculty Publications

In this paper, we describe a project-based mathematical lab implemented in our Applied Mathematics in Biology course. The Leaky Bucket Lab allows students to parameterize and test Torricelli’s law and develop and compare their own alternative models to describe the dynamics of water draining from perforated containers. In the context of this lab students build facility in a variety of applied biomathematical tools and gain confidence in applying these tools in data-driven environments. We survey analytic approaches developed by students to illustrate the creativity this encourages as well as prepare other instructors to scaffold the student learning experience. Pedagogical results …

Sediment Transport And Distribution Over Continental Shelves: A Glimpse At Two Different River-Influenced Systems, The Cariaco Basin And The Amazon Shelf., Laura Lorenzoni

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this dissertation was to understand lithogenic suspended sediment transport mechanisms and distribution in two river-influenced margins: The Cariaco Basin, Venezuela, and the Amazon Shelf, Brazil. Lithogenic sediment input in the Cariaco Basin is controlled by small mountainous rivers (SMR), while in the Amazon Shelf it is dominated by the Amazon River, the largest river in the world in terms of freshwater discharge (~20% of global riverine discharge). Optical transmissometer measurements were coupled with particulate organic matter (POM) observations to understand changes in the geochemical composition of suspended sediment and spatial/temporal distributions over the two regions of interest. …

Cyanoexpress: A Web Database For Exploration And Visualisation Of The Integrated Transcriptome Of Cyanobacterium Synechocystis Sp. Pcc6803, Ma Hernandez-Prieto

School of Biomedical Sciences

UNLABELLED: Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 is one of the best studied cyanobacteria and an important model organism for our understanding of photosynthesis. The early availability of its complete genome sequence initiated numerous transcriptome studies, which have generated a wealth of expression data. Analysis of the accumulated data can be a powerful tool to study transcription in a comprehensive manner and to reveal underlying regulatory mechanisms, as well as to annotate genes whose functions are yet unknown. However, use of divergent microarray platforms, as well as distributed data storage make meta-analyses of Synechocystis expression data highly challenging, especially for researchers with limited …

Gsu View, 2012-07-05, Office Of Marketing And Communications

GSU View

Newsletter published by Governors State University 2007-current.

Shellfish Tissue Monitoring In Piscataqua Region Estuaries 2010 And 2011, New Hampshire Department Of Environmental Services, Matthew A. Wood, Philip R. Trowbridge

PREP Reports & Publications

The goal of this project was to provide data for two PREP indicators of estuarine condition: TOX1 and TOX3. These two indicators report on “Shellfish tissue concentrations relative to FDA standards” and “Trends in shellfish tissue contaminant concentrations”, respectively. Both of these indicators depend on data from the Gulfwatch Program. In particular, TOX3 requires annual data at benchmark sites to assess trends. In 2010 and 2011, PREP supported the collection and analysis of tissue samples from benchmark mussel sites in Hampton-Seabrook Harbor and Dover Point.

Fluvial Processes, Beaver Activity, And Climate In The Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem And Rock Type Control On Hillslope Morphology And Soil Development In The Sandia Mountains, New Mexico, Lyman Persico

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This dissertation follows the hybrid format as defined by the University of New Mexico's Office of Graduate Studies. The three chapters were written as manuscripts to be submitted to different peer-reviewed journals. Chapter 1 is submitted to the journal Earth Surface Processes and Landforms. Chapter 2 will be submitted to the journal Climatic Change soon after this dissertation is published. Chapter 3 is already published in the journal Quaternary Research (November, 2011). Chapter 1 explores differences between historical and natural variability in fluvial systems in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. I used beaver-pond and other fluvial deposits as proxy records of …

More “Dinosaur” And “Pterosaur” Rock Art That Isn’T, Philip J. Senter

Biological Science Faculty Working Papers

To support claims of the coexistence of humans with dinosaurs and pterosaurs, young-earth creationist authors have identified several pieces of ancient rock art as depictions of dinosaurs or pterosaurs. Here, nine such claims are investigated. An alleged pterosaur painting in Black Dragon Canyon, Utah, is actually not a single painting. Its “head” and “neck” are a painting of a person with outstretched arms. Its torso and limbs are those of a painting of a second person with outstretched arms, whose body continues into the “pterosaur’s” “wing.” The other “wing” is a painting of a horned serpent. The three paintings only …

The Freedom Of The Good: A Study Of Plato's Ethical Conception Of Freedom, Siobhán Mcloughlin

Philosophy ETDs

My dissertation argues that Plato has a concept of individual metaphysical freedom, making him a key figure in the emergence of the free will debate in the history of Western philosophy. A philosophy of freedom can be seen throughout his works, particularly in the Republic, the Laws, and the Phaedrus. I show that underlying Platonic moral psychology is the notion that an individual is free if her reasoning element rules her soul in line with the Good. This makes Platonic freedom a thoroughly ethical concept. In my first chapter, I examine Platos critique of three competing notions of freedom drawn …

Circle Hooks In Commercial, Recreational, And Artisanal Fisheries: Research Status And Needs For Improved Conservation And Management, Joseph E. Serafy, Steven J. Cooke, Guillermo A. Diaz, John E. Graves, Martin Hall, Mahmood S. Shivji, Yonat Swimmer

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles

The intent of convening the International Symposium on Circle Hooks in Research, Management, and Conservation was to yield a contemporary, science-based assessment of the management and conservation utility of circle hooks in commercial, recreational, and artisanal fisheries around the globe. The symposium objective was to provide a forum for individuals, organizations, and agencies to share relevant research results and perspectives. Based on the presentations, an examination of the literature, and the collective experience and knowledge of the authors, we provide a brief overview of the current status of circle hook research along with a list of research needs, with a …

I Felt Like The Enemy And The Savior All At Once': English Teacher Identity In A Methods Course Wiki, Michelle Jewett

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study explores the identity constructions of two cohorts of preservice teachers enrolled in English methods courses during a semester of field experience. This research employs a qualitative methodology and documents the nature of participants responses posted to online wiki forum. Data sources include archived electronic interactions and course assignments such as reflective journals. Constant-comparative method as described by Creswell (2007), content analysis as described by Marshall & Rossman (2006), and Gee's (2003) notion of affinity identity are used to examine the discourses and ideologies of methods students as they construct notions of English teacher identity. Study findings indicate a …

Plant Establishment And Soil Microenvironments In Utah Juniper Masticated Woodlands, Kert R. Young

Theses and Dissertations

Juniper (Juniperus spp.) encroachment into sagebrush (Artemisia spp.) and bunchgrass communities has reduced understory plant cover and allowed juniper trees to dominate millions of hectares of semiarid rangelands. Trees are mechanically masticated or shredded to decrease wildfire potential and increase desirable understory plant cover. When trees are masticated after a major increase in tree population density and associated decrease in perennial understory cover, there is a risk that invasive annual grasses will dominate because they are highly responsive to the increased resource availability that commonly follows removal of the main resource user. To determine if tree mastication increases …

Septin Ring Size Scaling And Dynamics Require The Coiled-Coil Region Of Shs1p, Rebecca A. Meseroll, Louisa Howard, Amy S. Gladfelter

Dartmouth Scholarship

Septins are conserved GTP-binding proteins that assemble into heteromeric complexes that form filaments and higher-order structures in cells. What directs filament assembly, determines the size of higher-order septin structures, and governs septin dynamics is still not well understood. We previously identified two kinases essential for septin ring assembly in the filamentous fungus Ashbya gossypii and demonstrate here that the septin Shs1p is multiphosphorylated at the C-terminus of the protein near the predicted coiled-coil domain. Expression of the nonphosphorylatable allele shs1-9A does not mimic the loss of the kinase nor does complete truncation of the Shs1p C-terminus. Surprisingly, however, loss …

The Optimal Calibration Hypothesis: How Life History Modulates The Brain's Social Pain Network, David S. Chester, Richard S. Pond Jr., Stephanie B. Richman, C. Nathan Dewall

Psychology Faculty Publications

A growing body of work demonstrates that the brain responds similarly to physical and social injury. Both experiences are associated with activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and anterior insula. This dual functionality of the dACC and anterior insula underscores the evolutionary importance of maintaining interpersonal bonds. Despite the weight that evolution has placed on social injury, the pain response to social rejection varies substantially across individuals. For example, work from our lab demonstrated that the brain's social pain response is moderated by attachment style: anxious-attachment was associated with greater intensity and avoidant-attachment was associated with less intensity …

Hippocampal Ca1 Transcriptional Profile Of Sleep Deprivation: Relation To Aging And Stress, Nada M. Porter, Julia H. Bohannon, Meredith Curran-Rauhut, Heather M. Buechel, Amy L.S. Dowling, Lawrence D. Brewer, Jelena Popovic, Veronique Thibault, Susan D. Kraner, Kuey-Chu Chen, Eric M. Blalock

Pharmacology and Nutritional Sciences Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Many aging changes seem similar to those elicited by sleep-deprivation and psychosocial stress. Further, sleep architecture changes with age suggest an age-related loss of sleep. Here, we hypothesized that sleep deprivation in young subjects would elicit both stress and aging-like transcriptional responses.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: F344 rats were divided into control and sleep deprivation groups. Body weight, adrenal weight, corticosterone level and hippocampal CA1 transcriptional profiles were measured. A second group of animals was exposed to novel environment stress (NES), and their hippocampal transcriptional profiles measured. A third cohort exposed to control or SD was used to validate transcriptional results …

Adolescent Perceptions And Beliefs Of Proactive-Reactive Aggression Explored Through The Social Information Processing Model Of Aggression., John Salaz

Individual, Family, and Community Education ETDs

Human aggression is a frequently studied aspect of human behavior. Although great strides have been made not one single theory can fully explain the complexity of aggression. The Social Information Processing model of aggression (Crick and Dodge, 1994) has served as a useful tool to examine differences amongst individuals. This model considers mechanisms through which every individual processes social information, ultimately leading towards behavior. This study examined adolescent aggression through the Social Information Processing model. Participants consisted of 149 male and female students from a large urban school district in southwestern United States. Each participant was assessed with measures of …

The Complex Journey Of Biracial (Korean Plus Other Racial/Ethnic Backgrounds) Youth In The Southwest, Kwang-Jong Park

Language, Literacy, and Sociocultural Studies ETDs

This study explores how biracial (Korean plus another racial/ethnic background) youth come to understand their ethnic sense of self in a southwestern state with low ethnolinguistic vitality of Korean language. The qualitative study using individual interviews and focus interviews captures dynamic and complex aspects of identity development in relation to social actors, social contexts and self. Vygotskys concepts of Perezhivanie and Social Situations of Development describe the ways in which biracial youth perceive, experience, and reflect on identity-related events. Furthermore, this study investigates the role of language in the identity development of biracial youth. The present study sheds light on …

Identification Of Human Heart Rna Responsible For Rescuing Mutant Axolotl Hearts, William Lian

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

A Proposed Palladium-Catalyzed Cycle For The Epoxidation Of Alkenes, Marie Vernell Parkes

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Epoxides are an important chemical functional group, used in a wide variety of processes, from the small-scale production of pharmaceuticals to the large-scale production of propylene oxide. Current methods for production of epoxides require costly multi-step syntheses that use toxic or explosive reagents, result in low yields, and produce co-products that must be removed and often disposed. The development of an atom-efficient general method, preferably catalytic, for converting alkenes to epoxides using safe, cheap, and readily available molecular oxygen as the stoichiometric oxidant would be a great advance in both industrial and academic chemistry. Presented here is a proposed catalytic …

Monitoring And Anomaly Detection In Solar Thermal Systems Using Adaptive Resonance Theory Neural Networks, Hongbo He

Mechanical Engineering ETDs

SHW systems are generally expected to last for at least 20 years with little or no maintenance. However, in many cases failures occur far sooner due to a variety of problems, many of which are undetected or detected long after the system has failed because the backup heater silently assumes the heating load. Some of the failures may cause the system to run inefficiently or even damage other system components, such as when a system loses fluid in the solar loop and the pump runs dry, eventually destroying itself. In recent years there has been an increasing demand for SHW …

Measuring Acequia Functionality : Developing A Tool For Assessing New Mexico's Community-Based Irrigation Systems, Marcos A. Roybal

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The semi-arid environment of the American Southwest has necessitated creative strategies for the use and management of water resources. In New Mexico and southern Colorado, one such strategy is the acequia irrigation system, which serves the dual purpose of delivering water and shaping community. This professional project provides a synthesis of existing knowledge with respect to acequias, and develops a tool, the Acequia Functionality Assessment, for evaluation of factors that contribute to the operation of acequias. It begins by summarizing the origin, development and use of acequias, and highlights the communal nature of their operation. Second, it briefly describes resilience …

Adaptive Management For The Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program : Analysis And Issues, Ralph Monfort

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Adaptive management is a science-based methodology designed to deal with uncertainties in environmental applications using an iterative approach, sometimes called learning by doing. The Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program (MRGESCP), consisting of sixteen federal, state, and local signatory organizations, adopted adaptive management in 2010 to aid in their charter 'to prevent extinction and promote recovery of [Endangered Species Act] listed species [the Rio Grande silvery minnow and the southwestern willow flycatcher] while allowing existing water uses and development of future water uses to continue in accordance with applicable federal and state laws' (Kelly & McKean, 2011, p. 4). …

Benefits And Costs Of Diverting 0.2 Mgd Influent From Los Alamos County Wastewater System To Los Alamos National Laboratory Sanitary Wastewater System., Claire Kerven

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

The Sanitary Waste System (SWS) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is an extended-air, activated sludge wastewater treatment facility that is designed to treat 0.6 million gallons per day (MGD). However, the facility rarely receives more than 0.3 MGD and occasionally less than 0.1 MGD. Lack of sufficient flow and organic concentration into SWS, particularly on weekends and holidays, results in an inconsistent and often very low biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). Shortage of organic material leads to routine operation weaknesses and leaves SWS vulnerable to significant problems resulting from small amounts of toxic influents. The addition of residential influent from …

Channel Rehabilitation To Increase Aquatic Habitat And Reestablish Floodplain Connectivity On The Upper Gila River, Eric Scherff

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Stream restoration is an opportunity to recover a substantial amount of lost ecosystem structure and function. This may be particularly beneficial for perennial streams in semi-arid regions because of the striking differences in productivity and biodiversity between the riparian corridor and surrounding uplands. We develop a plan to restore floodplain connectivity along a channelized reach of the unregulated Upper Gila River in southwestern New Mexico, and evaluate its potential to provide additional aquatic habitat. To identify the extent of historical channelization, primary and secondary documents are examined. Signs of current geomorphic processes are also considered to formulate a restoration design. …

Estimating Phreatophyte Evapotranspiration From Diel Groundwater Fluctuations In The Middle Rio Grande Bosque, Christian Gunning

Water Resources Professional Project Reports

Throughout the Southwest, non-native phreatophytes such as saltcedar have rapidly replaced native cottonwoods along river corridors. The USDA Forest Service (USFS)Fuels Reduction Study (FRS) is an effort to quantify the effects of the removal of non-native riparian vegetation on multiple parameters of riparian ecology, including groundwater variation over time. Here, 8 years of measurements from 12 wells at 5 research sites in the Middle Rio Grande riparian corridor (bosque) of Albuquerque area are considered. Of these research sites, 4 were cleared of non-native vegetation, 2 experienced wild fires, and 1 was a control. This professional project quantified the connection between …