Digital Commons Network^™

Interrelationships Between Carbohydrate Fractions, Starch Degradability, And Unsaturated Fatty Acids In The Rumen And The Effects On Milk Fat Depressing Conditions, Louisa E. Koch

All Dissertations

Diet-induced milk fat depression is a multifactorial disorder characterized by sustained reduction in milk fat. Feeding high amounts of starch and unsaturated fatty acids have been shown to reduce milk fat yield and concentration, and alter ruminal biohydrogenation. In addition, starch with high rates of degradability may lead to a decrease in ruminal pH and an increase in the outflow of ruminal biohydrogenation intermediates. It is possible that starch sources of high degradability could still be utilized in diets for the recovery of milk fat depression, provided the unsaturated fat level is reduced. Replacing a portion of the starch, especially …

Fabrication Of Human Serum Albumin Film For Enhanced Hemocompatibility And Mitigation Of Intimal Hyperplasia Under Physiologically Relevant Flow Shear Conditions, Astha Khanna

All Dissertations

Current endovascular stents and synthetic vascular grafts have poor clinical outcomes in small diameter applications due to high incidence of thrombogenicity and intimal hyperplasia. To address this, we have developed an albumin film for mitigation of the complications of platelet adhesion and smooth muscle cell hyperplasia and hypertrophy. A human serum albumin (HSA) film is fabricated on an anchoring layer of poly (glycidyl methacrylate) on surfaces of metallic and polymeric substrates. The PGMA and HSA layers are characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy and contact angle analysis. We have confirmed the thromboresistance of albumin film …

Microwave Photonics For Distributed Sensing, Liwei Hua

All Dissertations

In the past few years, microwave-photonics technologies have been investigated for optical fiber sensing. By introducing microwave modulation into the optical system, the optical detection is synchronized with the microwave modulation frequency. As a result, the system has a high SNR and thus an improved detection limit. In addition, the phase of the microwave-modulated light can be obtained and Fourier transformed to find the time-of-arrival information for distributed sensing. Recently, an incoherent optical-carrier-based microwave interferometry (OCMI) technique has been demonstrated for fully distributed sensing with high spatial resolution and large measurement range. Since the modal interference has little influence on …

Putting Your Best Face Forward: The Influence Of Facial Cosmetics On Structured Employment Interview Ratings, Skye K. Gillispie

All Dissertations

Employment interviews are ubiquitous in modern selection systems. Although interviews are extremely common, there is evidence that interview ratings are subject to rating errors and biases. For example, previous research has found that higher physical attractiveness of the candidate is linked to increased interview ratings. Physical attractiveness is largely considered to be a fixed characteristic that cannot be controlled, however this may not be entirely true as research has consistently linked women's use of facial cosmetics to increased ratings of physical attractiveness. An experimental three (no cosmetics, low cosmetics, high cosmetics) by three (low performance, intermediate performance, high performance) design …

The Formation And Control Of Selected Unregulated Disinfection By-Products (Dbps) In Water Treatment, Mahmut Selim Ersan

All Dissertations

Disinfection is a process where a significant percentage of pathogenic microorganisms are killed or controlled. However, an unintended consequence is the formation of disinfection by-products (DBPs) as a result of reaction between different precursors and oxidants. Due to their various health effects, the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has been imposing increasingly stringent regulations for DBPs under the Disinfectants/DBP Rule (D/DBPR). Although water utilities have been changing their use of disinfectants (e.g., chloramine, chlorine dioxide, and ozone) to reduce the formation of regulated THMs (trihalomethanes) and HAAs (haloacetic acids), these practices may also cause the formation of unregulated DBPs (more …

A Comprehensive Model And Modulation Of Cellular Signaling Involved In Early Mammary Development And Aggressive Cancer Using A Novel Recombinant Protein Of The G3 Domain Of Laminin-5, Kathryn Adrian Elliott

All Dissertations

The mammary gland is a unique and specialized epidermal organ; mammary organogenesis begins in the embryo but is not fully complete until puberty. As such, formation of the mammary gland depends on temporally and spatially regulated developmental steps that require coordination of multiple biological and cell signaling processes; many of which have parallels with cancer development. Research describing the events that occur between birth and puberty is lacking and little is known about human breast development of youth. Since mammary gland development requires a coordinated balance between cell growth, proliferation, and apoptosis, it is critical to understand which signaling pathways …

Trace Plutonium Geochemistry In Hydrogeological Systems Containing Natural Organic Matter, Nathan Alec Conroy

All Dissertations

Plutonium (Pu) mobility through the subsurface is dependent on the chemical composition of the source-term and biogeochemical conditions that impact its speciation. Regardless of future decision making, existing stockpiles of Pu need to be isolated from the biosphere. Therefore, understanding the speciation of trace Pu is essential for assessing and mitigating any risk of Pu transport from the source-term to a human or environmental receptor. After a brief introduction (Chapter One) and statement of research objectives (Chapter Two), this dissertation investigated Pu speciation under saturated conditions and in the presence of natural organic matter (NOM) and pure synthesized mineral phases. …

Naturally Derived Anti-Inflammatory And Antibacterial Coatings For Surgical Implants, Dmitry Gil

All Dissertations

The evolution of surgical approaches and procedures over the past century is remarkable. The brutality and risks associated with operations has substantially decreased, whereas the procedures themselves became safe and efficient. Nevertheless, none of the surgical procedures is completely safe, reliable and painless, which often leads to the patients experiencing post-operative discomforts. These discomforts are usually resolved within several days after the operation, and do not require any additional prophylaxes or treatments. However, in some cases, surgeries are followed by post-operative complications that cannot be resolved without additional medical attention. Shock, hemorrhage, deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary complications, urinary retention, reaction …

In Vitro Diabetic-Hypertensive Cellular-Response Evaluation Model For In-Stent Restenosis, Varun Chawla

All Dissertations

Drug-eluting stents have revolutionized the field of interventional cardiology and with the advent of their second-generation, percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents is the clinically preferred method. These stents have shown remarkable performance in reducing neointimal hyperplasia and thus, clinical manifestation of restenosis. Despite significant technological advances in DES, high-risk patient populations are still affected by in-stent restenosis. Diabetes and hypertension are the two most common patient-specific complications that result in the development of restenosis even in DES era. Currently, percutaneous interventional approaches are not designed specifically to address the pathophysiological progression of restenosis in diabetic and hypertensive patients and …

Whole Body Irradiation And Degradation Of Structural And Functional Properties Of Mouse Bone: X-Rays, Protons, And Heavy Ions, Laura Christine Bowman

All Dissertations

Bone loss has been identified as a characteristic response to radiation exposure in both clinical and space settings. One of the known long-term consequences of radiation treatment for cancer is increased risk of fracture due to declined bone health. Astronauts are also at risk, although the sources and total doses are much different than that of radiotherapy patients. The development of radiation protection countermeasures for long-term space missions requires a thorough understanding of the radiation's biological effects and the mechanisms behind them. The main objective of these studies is to further our understanding of the effect spaceflight relevant radiation has …

Biology And Behavior Of The Asian Needle Ant, Brachyponera Chinensis , Hamilton Ross Allen

All Dissertations

Ants are among the most successful invasive organisms in the world. To curb the spread of invasive ants in non-native environments, their ecological, biological, and behavioral characteristics must be identified. The Asian needle ant, Brachyponera (= Pachycondyla ) chinensis (Emery) is an emerging invasive pest in urban areas and forests in the southeastern United States. However, general basic biological information on B. chinensis and subsequent management options are deficient. This work contributes to the standing biological information on B. chinensis by examining the seasonal life cycle, social nesting habits, and transport behaviors of B. chinensis colonies. To determine the seasonal …

The Evolutionary Diversity Of Uracil Dna Glycosylase Superfamily, Jing Li

All Dissertations

Uracil DNA glycosylase (UDG) is a crucial member in the base excision (BER) pathway that is able to specially recognize and cleave the deaminated DNA bases, including uracil (U), hypoxanthine (inosine, I), xanthine (X) and oxanine (O). Currently, based on the sequence similarity of 3 functional motifs, the UDG superfamily is divided into 6 families. Each family has evolved distinct substrate specificity and properties. In this thesis, I broadened the UDG superfamily by characterization of three new groups of enzymes. In chapter 2, we identified a new subgroup of enzyme in family 3 SMUG1 from Listeria Innocua. This newly found …

Silent Sentence Completion Shows Superiority Localizing Wernicke's Area And Activation Patterns Of Distinct Language Paradigms Correlate With Genomics: Prospective Study., Kamel El Salek, Islam S. Hassan, Aikaterini Kotrotsou, Srishti Abrol, Scott H. Faro, Feroze B. Mohamed, Pascal O. Zinn, Wei Wei, Nan Li, Ashok J. Kumar, Jeffrey S. Weinberg, Jeffrey S. Wefel, Shelli R. Kesler, Ho-Ling Anthony Liu, Ping Hou, R. Jason Stafford, Sujit Prabhu, Raymond Sawaya, Rivka R. Colen

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

Preoperative mapping of language areas using fMRI greatly depends on the paradigms used, as different tasks harness distinct capabilities to activate speech processing areas. In this study, we compared the ability of 3 covert speech paradigms: Silent Sentence Completion (SSC), category naming (CAT) and verbal fluency (FAS), in localizing the Wernicke's area and studied the association between genomic markers and functional activation. Fifteen right-handed healthy volunteers and 35 mixed-handed patients were included. We focused on the anatomical areas of posterosuperior, middle temporal and angular gyri corresponding to Wernicke's area. Activity was deemed significant in a region of interest if P < 0.05. Association between fMRI activation and genomic mutation status was obtained. Results demonstrated SSC's superiority at localizing Wernicke's area. SSC demonstrated functional activity in 100% of cancer patients and healthy volunteers; which was significantly higher than those for FAS and CAT. Patients with 1p/19q non-co-deleted had higher extent of activation on SSC (P < 0.02). Those with IDH-1 wild-type were more likely to show no activity on CAT (P < 0.05). SSC is a robust paradigm for localizing Wernicke's area, making it an important clinical tool for function-preserving surgeries. We also found a correlation between tumor genomics and functional activation, which deserves more comprehensive study.

Understanding Intracellular Redox Regulation In Methanogens: Characterization Of The Components And Targets Of The Nadph-Dependent Thioredoxin System From Methanosarcina Acetivorans, Addison Clark Mccarver

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

All cells have a reduced intracellular environment. In the presence of oxygen, the non-specific oxidation of intracellular components leads to the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) within cells leading to oxidative stress. During oxidative stress labile cofactors (e.g. Fe-S clusters) are lost and deleterious disulfide bonds are formed within proteins. Intracellular redox maintenance systems are used to direct reducing equivalents towards the repair of oxidatively-damaged proteins. The thioredoxin system is the ubiquitous intracellular redox system, found in virtually all species. The canonical thioredoxin system is comprised of a NADPH-dependent thioredoxin reductase (TrxR) that functions to reduced thioredoxin (Trx). Although …

Our Land Is Not Just Soil: Knowing, Feeling, And Doing Environmental Activism In The Arkansas Ozarks, Ramey Arlen Moore

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Ozarks is a holey place, an ancient plateau formed from ancient rocks and the sediment of millions of years of living things. The Ozarks is also, from another perspective a place made from a mesh of overlapping lines, lines of migration, lines of living things, lines of water movement over and through the land. This dissertation engages with the practice of conservation and environmentalism as it is performed and lived by Ozarkers and Arkansawyers, natives and transplants. Based on more than a year of ethnographic fieldwork conducted with the Buffalo River Watershed Alliance, Save the Ozarks, Arkansas Master Naturalists, …

Cellular Mechanisms Of Ionoregulation In The Gill Of Japanese Medaka And Rainbow Trout, Rebecca Jo Bollinger

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Euryhaline fishes are capable of adapting to a wide range of salinities such as freshwater, brackish water or seawater. Through the combined effort of the gill, kidney and intestine, they are able to osmoregulate to maintain a constant internal hydromineral balance. As the gill is in direct contact with the external environment, it is continuously working to maintain ion and acid/base balance, gas exchange and eliminate nitrogenous waste. Fish in freshwater are subjected to osmotic water gain and diffusional ion loss across the gill and experience the opposite in seawater. Therefore, the gill exhibits extreme plasticity when experiencing a change …

Population Dynamics Of Ouachita Dusky Salamanders (Desmognathus Brimleyorum) In A Managed Forest Landscape, Kelly Marie Halloran

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With anthropogenic alteration of landscapes increasing world-wide, managed forests are increasingly important as providers of ecosystem services including habitat for numerous wildlife species. It is crucial to maintain a balance between timber production and conservation of biodiversity on managed landscapes. Salamander populations can play key roles in the function and diversity of temperate forest ecosystems. Several studies have reported negative effects of forestry on terrestrial plethodontid salamanders, but less research has focused on stream-dwelling species, evaluated mechanisms driving observed shifts in abundance, or described the dynamics of populations residing in managed forests. Using a Before-After-Control-Impact design, we examined the effects …

Methodologies For Solving Integrated Transportation And Scheduling Problems, Fereydoun Adbesh

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research proposes novel solution techniques to optimize two real-world problems in the area of scheduling and transportation. We first consider a model for optimizing the operations of dredges. In this problem, scheduling and assignment decisions are integrated across a finite planning horizon. Additional constraints and problem elements explicitly considered include, but are not limited, to environmental work window restrictions, budget limitations, dredge operation rates and schedule-dependent dredge availability. Our approach makes use of Constraint Programming (CP) to obtain quality and robust solutions within an amount of time small enough to be useful to practitioners. The expanded feature set of …

Small Rna-Dependent Gene Silencing In The Green Alga Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii: Functions And Mechanisms, Eun Jeong Kim

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Small RNAs (sRNAs), ~20-30 nucleotides in length, are non-coding RNAs that play essential roles in the regulation of gene expression in eukaryotes. They lead to inactivation of cognate sequences at the post-transcriptional level via a variety of mechanisms involved in translation inhibition and/or RNA degradation.

In the Chlorophyta Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, however, the molecular machinery responsible for sRNA-mediated translational repression remains unclear. To address the mechanisms of translation inhibition by sRNA, we have isolated an RNAi defective mutant (Mut26), which contains a deletion of the gene encoding the homolog of CCR4 in Chlamydomonas. We investigated the expression …

Resource Allocation For Acorn Production: A Comparison Across Species Pairs Of Oaks With Contrasting Acorn Production Patterns And Water Use Strategies, Kyle A. Funk

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Mast seeding, or masting, is a phenomenon where inter-annual seed production by individuals is synchronized across a population of plants. Masting is hypothesized to confer a selective advantage to plants by increasing rates of pollination or by decreasing rates of seed predation. Masting can also play a crucial role in ecosystem functioning as fluctuations in annual seed crops correspond with fluctuations in seed predator populations, which in turn have consequences that ripple throughout food webs. The mechanism(s) that causes masting is unresolved, but the high variability in seed production of masting plants is hypothesized to be caused, in part, by …

Whole Genome Sequencing In Psychiatric Disorders: The Wgspd Consortium, Stephan J. Sanders, Benjamin M. Neale, Hailiang Huang, Donna M. Werling, Joon-Yong An, Shan Dong, Goncalo Abecasis, P. Alexander Arguello, John Blangero, Michael Boehnke

School of Medicine Publications

As technology advances, whole genome sequencing (WGS) is likely to supersede other genotyping technologies. The rate of this change depends on its relative cost and utility. Variants identified uniquely through WGS may reveal novel biological pathways underlying complex disorders and provide high-resolution insight into when, where, and in which cell type these pathways are affected. Alternatively, cheaper and less computationally intensive approaches may yield equivalent insights. Understanding the role of rare variants in the noncoding gene-regulating genome, through pilot WGS projects, will be critical to determine which of these two extremes best represents reality. With large cohorts, well-defined risk loci, …

Trak2, A Novel Regulator Of Abca1 Expression, Cholesterol Efflux And Hdl Biogenesis, Nicole J. Lake, Rachael L. Taylor, Hugh Trahair, K. N. Harikrishnan, Joanne E. Curran, Marcio Almeida, Hemant Kulkarni, Matthew P. Johnson, Thomas D. Dyer, Michael Mahaney, Harald H. H. Goring, John Blangero

School of Medicine Publications

Aims: The recent failures of HDL-raising therapies have underscored our incomplete understanding of HDL biology. Therefore there is an urgent need to comprehensively investigate HDL metabolism to enable the development of effective HDL-centric therapies. To identify novel regulators of HDL metabolism, we performed a joint analysis of human genetic, transcriptomic, and plasma HDL-cholesterol (HDL-C) concentration data and identified a novel association between trafficking protein, kinesin binding 2 (TRAK2) and HDL-C concentration. Here we characterize the molecular basis of the novel association between TRAK2 and HDL-cholesterol concentration.

Methods and results: Analysis of lymphocyte transcriptomic data together with plasma HDL from the …

An Innovative Strategy To Promote Dual Md/Phd Degree, Chen-Huan Chen, Yueh-Hsin Ping, Jen-Tsan Chi, Tzyh-Chang Hwang, Terry B. J. Kuo, Shie-Liang Edmond Hsieh, Shuu-Jiun Wang

Journal of Medical Education

文章暫無收錄摘要

Notes: Range Extension Of The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis Virginiana) In North Dakota, Lisa L. Walsh, Robert Seabloom, Cody W. Thompson

The Prairie Naturalist

The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is broadly distributed across North America from Costa Rica in the south to southern Ontario in the north and from the southern Great Plains in the west to the eastern United States. The Virginia opossum also was introduced multiple times to thePacific Coast beginning in the late 1800s and has established populations in that region. This species is a habitat generalist known to frequent wetland and hardwood habitats but also can be found in grasslands, along forest edges, and in agricultural and suburban settings throughout its range. However, the Virginia opossum is adapted …

The Prairie Naturalist: The Journal Of The Great Plains Natural Science Society

The Prairie Naturalist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

45 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

48 Avian Diversity, Abundance, and Nest Success among Managed Prairies and Agricultural Plots in Oklahoma and Texas Phillip J. Leonard, Douglas R. Wood, and Wayne E. Meyer

57 Severe Drought Impacts Female Pheasant Physiology in Southwest Nebraska Jessica A. Laskowski, Gwen C. Bachman, and Joseph J. Fontaine

66 Field Discrimination of Prairie Deer Mice and White-footed Mice using Morphological Characteristics Jacob L. Berl, Kelton M. Verble, Elizabeth A. Flaherty, and Robert K. Swihart

NOTES

72 Range Extension of the Virgina Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in North Dakota Lisa L. Walsh

76 Prairie Falcon …

Book Reviews: Raptors Of Mexico And Central America. William S. Clark And N. John Schmitt., Jack Jack Eitniear

The Prairie Naturalist

Whether a raptor is cryptically perched in the shadows or is viewed only as a silhouette soaring in the clouds below the glaring midday sun, raptor identification can be challenging. If you are observing raptors in the North Temperate Zone, several guides (e.g., Clark and Wheeler 2001 Dunne et al.2012) will aid you with such identifications, but few resources exist for visitors south of this zone. So, if you are interested in identifying the 69 species of diurnal raptors found in Mexico and Central America, the recently released Raptors of Mexico and Central America by William S. Clark and N. …

The Great Plains Natural Science Society

The Prairie Naturalist

The Great Plains Natural Science Society, formerly the North Dakota Natural Science Society, was founded in 1967 and seeks to promote interest in and understanding of natural history in the Great Plains, to encourage the conservation of natural resources, and to provide communication among individuals, institutions, and organizations of like interests. The GPNSS actively promotes the study of natural history of the Great Plains region, including geology, plants, birds, mammals, fish, insects, and other forms of life. Together with local, state, and national conservation organizations, the GPNSS fosters natural resource conservation and preservation of outstanding natural areas. The GPNSS publishes …

Prairie Falcon Depredation Attempts On A Greater Prairie-Chicken Lek In South-Central Nebraska, Andrew J. Caven, Joshua D. Wiese, William R. Wallauer

The Prairie Naturalist

Little information exists concerning Prairie falcons’ (Falco mexicanus; PRFA) seasonal movements, habitat use, and diet outside of the breeding season; this is especially true in the eastern portion of its wintering and migratory range (Steenhof 1998, Sharpe et al. 2001, Steenhof et al. 2005). Prairie falcons prey on ground squirrels (Spermophilus spp.), prairie dogs (Cynomys spp.), wood rats (Neotoma spp.), and other rodents during the breeding season (Bond 1936, 1942, MacLaren et al. 1988, Steenhof 1998, Steenhof et al. 1999, Johnsgard 2013). They utilize avian prey regionally as well, including western meadowlarks (Sturnella neglecta …

Probability Models And Compounding, David L. Farnsworth, James E. Marengo

Articles

We present the case that the ideas contained in a particular sequence of formulas are important in probability and statistics. The synthesis offered by the concepts in the sequence can be very valuable. Facility with this sequence and its underpinnings should be in the skill set of anyone who uses or studies probability or statistics. For illustrative purposes, we give applications to mixture distributions and Bayesian analyses.

December 2017 Commencement Program, Bowling Green State University

Commencement Programs

No abstract provided.