Digital Commons Network^™

The Feasibility Of Use Of Caecal And Diverticular Coloration In Field Determination Of Grasshopper Diet, Michael Tyrkus

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Excerpt: Many studies have been undertaken in the past on the food selection, food preferences, and economic damage of various grasshoppers and their allies. Among the more salient of these researches are those of Anderson (1961, 1964); Ball (1 936); Bindra (1958); Boldyrev (1928); Blackith and Blackith (1966); Brues (1946); Chapman (1957); Dibble (1940); Gangwere (1959, 1960, 1961, 1965, 1965a, 1966, 1966a, 1967);Husain etal. (1946); Isely (1938, 1946); Isely and Alexander (1949); Joyce (1952); Mulkern and Anderson (1959); Mulkern, Anderson, and Brusven (1962); Mulkern et al. (1969); Pfadt (1949); Riley (1878); Roonwal (1953); Savin (1927); Weiss (1924); and Williams (1954). …

The Wasps. Howard E. Evans And Mary Jane West Eberhard, With Drawings By Sarah Landry. Ann Arbor: The University Of Michigan Press, 1970. Vi, 265 Pp. Paper, $3.45., Robert W. Matthews

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Excerpt: This pocket-sized book is indeed a high point in recent entomological literature. Concisely written, and including a remarkable amount of new or recently published information, The Wasps is essentially a comparative natural history of these fascinating animals. Only the "higher" or aculeate wasps are covered, a fact not clear from the title. After a brief survey of the Hymenoptera, five chapters follow: two on solitary species, two on social wasps, and a fascinating final chapter treating the diverse and often intricate biotic relationships of wasps. The book is generously illustrated, with 122 figures about equally divided between ph~tographs and …

Biology And Ecology Of Melanoplus Borealis (Orthoptera: Acrididae) In Fairbanks, Alaska With Special Reference To Feeding Habits, Tohko Kaufmann

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Overwintered Melanoplus borealis (subspecies, borealis Fieber) eggs hatched within 10-15 days in mid-June. The nymphs molted 5 times and became adults in about 45 days in nature. In both sexes, sexual maturity was attained about 3 weeks after emergence and oviposition started 8-10 days after sexual maturity.

M. borealis is primarily a forb feeder as its mandibular morphology indicates but it also developed and reproduced exclusively on Gramineae in the laboratory.

In the Fairbanks area, Alaska, these grasshoppers were found in sunny open fields where vegetation was short and sparse enough to allow sunrays to penetrate to the ground surface. …

Studies On The Feculae Of Selected Michigan Acrididae (Orthoptera), Michael Tyrkus, S.K. Gangwere

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Feculae have been used for some years in the study of insect food-habits and biology. Among the past authors who have used them are Frost (1928), Hodson and Brooks (1956), and Morris (1942), who discussed the use of feculae and frass in the identification of insect species in general; Boldyrev (1928), who figured the feculae of the bradyporine katydid Bradyporus multituberculatus; Brown (1937), who described in detail fecular microstructure in the spine-breasted grasshopper Melanoplus bivittatus; Weiss and Boyd (1 950. 1 952), who figured the feculae of representatives of selected insect orders; Gangwere (1 962). who described the …

North American Species Of The Genus Hydrochoreutes (Acarina: Pionidae), David R. Cook

The Great Lakes Entomologist

Excerpt: Members of the water mite genus Hydrochoreutes have a Holarctic distribution. They are found in lakes, ponds, and sluggish streams, but usually only in small numbers and therefore long series of specimens are difficult to obtain. Two species, ungulatus (Koch) and krameri Piersig, have a widespread range in Europe and Siberia and the latter species is also known from Algeria. Marshall (1937) reported ungulatus from Maine, Michigan, Wisconsin and California. However, the present author has seen no specimens from North America which can be assigned to the latter species and the illustrations in Marshall's paper are definitely not those …

The Beta Transmuted Pareto Distribution: Theory And Applications, Sher B. Chhetri, Hongwei Long, Gokarna Aryal

Journal of Statistics Applications & Probability

In this paper a composite generalizer of the Pareto distribution is proposed and studied. The genesis of the beta distribution and transmuted map is used to develop the so-called beta transmuted Pareto (BTP) distribution. Several mathematical properties including moments, mean deviation, probability weighted moments, residual life, distribution of order statistics and the reliability analysis are discussed. The method of maximum likelihood is proposed to estimate the parameters of the distribution. We illustrate the usefulness of the proposed distribution by presenting its application to model real-life data sets.

Confidence Limits For Progressive Censored Burr Type-Xii Data Under Constant-Partially Alt, Gyan Prakash

Journal of Statistics Applications & Probability

In product life testing experiments, accelerated life testing is widely used since it provides significant reduction in time and cost of experiment. A constant-partially accelerated life test based on progressively censored Burr Type-XII data is considered in the present article. Approximate confidence intervals based on the normal approximation to the asymptotic distribution of Maximum Likelihood Equation, Bootstrap Confidence Interval, and One-Sample Bayes prediction bound lengths are obtained. The analysis of the present discussion has carried out by a real life example.

Qspr Analysis Of Certain Degree Based Topological Indices, Sunilkumar Hosamani, Deepa Perigidad, Shruti Jamagoud, Yallavva Maled, Sharada Gavade

Journal of Statistics Applications & Probability

In QSAR/QSPR study, topological indices are utilized to guess the bioactivity of chemical compounds. In this paper, we study the QSPR analysis of ten degree-based topological indices. Our study reveals some important results which help us to characterize the useful topological indices based on their predicting power.

A New Generalized Burr Family Of Distributions For The Lifetime Data, M. Arslan Nasir, M. H. Tahir, Farrukh Jamal, Gamze Ozel

Journal of Statistics Applications & Probability

We propose a new family of distributions called the generalized Burr-G (GBG) family of distributions motivated mainly for lifetime phenomenon. Some mathematical properties of the new family are obtained such as quantile function, linear representation of the family density, moments and incomplete moments, moment generating function, mean deviations, stochastic ordering, stressstrength reliability parameter and order statistics. The model parameters are estimated by the method of maximum likelihood for complete and censored samples. Four special models are discussed and the properties of one special model, the generalized Burruniform (GBU), are obtained. A simulation study is carried out to check the performance …

Targeting Nedd8 Conjugation For Therapeutic Gain In Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, Shuhua Zheng

Open Access Dissertations

Development of resistance and relapse remains a major challenge for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) treatment. Results from our lab and others showed that ALL cells are specifically vulnerable towards disturbance of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) protein homeostasis, which will cause proteotoxic ER stress/unfolded protein response (UPR). The typical ER stress inducer bortezomib (VELCADE) has been approved as a front-line treatment for multiple myeloma. Clinical trials of bortezomib in combination with other therapeutic agents demonstrated its potent anti-leukemic efficacy in relapsed/refractory pediatric ALL patients. Bortezomib functions by inhibiting the proteasome in the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) to impede protein turnover in cancer cells, …

Democracy Abroad, Lynching At Home, Racial Violence In Florida, Carol Walker Jordan

The Southeastern Librarian

Democracy Abroad, Lynching at Home, Racial Violence in Florida. Tameka Bradley Hobbs, Gainesville: The University Press of Florida, 2015. 978-0-8130-6104-7 (hardcover) $74.95; 978-0-8130-6239-6 (pbk.) $24.95. 288 p.

The European Politics Of Animal Experimentation: From Victorian Britain To ‘Stop Vivisection’, Pierre-Luc Germain, Luca Chiapperino, Giuseppe Testa

Attitudes Toward Animal Research Collection

This paper identifies a common political struggle behind debates on the validity and permissibility of animal experimentation, through an analysis of two recent European case studies: the Italian implementation of the European Directive 2010/63/EC regulating the use of animals in science, and the recent European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) 'Stop Vivisection'. Drawing from a historical parallel with Victorian antivivisectionism, we highlight important threads in our case studies that mark the often neglected specificities of debates on animal experimentation. From the representation of the sadistic scientist in the XIX century, to his/her claimed capture by vested interests and evasion of public …

Effect Assessment Of Tio2 Nanoparticles Exposure On Medicago By Monitoring Morphophysiology, Charles Towey

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

In recent years titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO₂NPs) have been ingredients in everything from paints to cosmetics, and even in some kinds of food. This growth in use has resulted in a substantial increase in the amount of titanium released into the environment, which could have detrimental effects on nearby plant and animal life. Currently, the number of studies conducted on the effects of TiO₂NPs is quite small, especially when it comes to edible crops. Because of this lack of research data, this study has been designed to assess the effect of TiO₂ NPs exposure on …

Quaternary Interactions And Supercoiling Modulate The Cooperative Dna Binding Of Agt, Manana Melikishvili, Michael G. Fried

Center for Structural Biology Faculty Publications

Human O⁶-alkylguanine-DNA alkyltransferase (AGT) repairs mutagenic O⁶-alkylguanine and O⁴-alkylthymine adducts in single-stranded and duplex DNAs. The search for these lesions, through a vast excess of competing, unmodified genomic DNA, is a mechanistic challenge that may limit the repair rate in vivo. Here, we examine influences of DNA secondary structure and twist on protein–protein interactions in cooperative AGT complexes formed on lesion-free DNAs that model the unmodified parts of the genome. We used a new approach to resolve nearest neighbor (nn) and long-range (lr) components from the ensemble-average cooperativity, ω_ave. We found …

Study Of A Gp5-Mosaic T-Cell Vaccine In Protection Of Swine Against Heterologous Prrsv Strains, Junru Cui

Doctoral Dissertations

Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS) causes significant economic losses due to reproductive failure and respiratory disease. The high genetic and antigenic diversity of PRRSV makes the control of this disease very challenging. Current vaccines cannot provide adequate protection to the circulating PRRSV strains; therefore, vaccines can confer cross-protection are in urgent demand. Two T-cell mosaic vaccines were designed based on 748 GP5 sequences using the Mosaic T-Cell Vaccine Tool Suite from the Los Alamos National Laboratory. These mosaic sequences were then used to construct DNA vaccines. Significantly higher levels of interferon-γ mRNA and virus-specific antibodies, rapid virus clearance in …

Identifying Exercise Barriers For Nurses Working In Sedentary Work Roles, Carol M. Patton

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

More and more nurses and nurse educators are working in sedentary work roles that require them to be sedentary for long periods of time. Typically nurses working in sedentary roles know intellectually they need to engage in physical activity to stay healthy; however, there are many barriers and challenges preventing nurses working in sedentary roles to engage in adequate physical activity. Contemporary literature indicates there are numerous physiological impacts on the health status and outcomes for nurses completing fewer than 5000 steps per day. Nurses completing fewer than 5000 steps per day are considered to have a sedentary work role. …

Mri Outcomes Of Emotional Regulation: A Feasibility Study, Brenda Marshall

International Nursing Research Congress (INRC)

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate neuronal responses to emotional regulation in healthy adults when exposed to static faces and changing contexts. Emotional regulation is the array of automatic and controlled strategies that either attaches meaning to, or directs attention away from, an event. This project investigated, through the use of a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI), the impact of stories on visual cues, and brain activity in the areas of the brain devoted to memory and thoughtful consideration. The hypothesis was that the changing of the context, despite the attachment of those stories to the same …

Degradation Of Cyclic Ethers By Microorganisms Isolated From Contaminated Groundwater, Rowan Thompson

Theses

Groundwater contamination is an extremely important topic in environmental science. Ex-situ removal of contaminants is costly and largely ineffective on contaminants that have high vapor pressures and readily mix with water. Bioremediation or bio-augmentation are attractive alternative ways to remediate a site, as they may require less work and be more cost-effective.

Groundwater samples from a superfund site contaminated with chlorinated compounds and other volatile organic compounds. Samples were enriched to select for organisms capable of degrading cyclic ethers, specifically tetrahydrofuran and 1,4-dioxane. The isolates were tested for their degradation capacity and to determine if they were impacted by the …

Chemical Tools For Delivery Of Carbon Monoxide, Lisa Berreau

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Magnetic Nanostructure Application In Sers Detection Of Melatonin And Resonance Raman Characterization Of Binding Of Catechol Moieties With Antibiotic, Siqi Sun

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Raman spectroscopy provides characteristic peaks of the target molecules that can be observed with appropriate laser, spectrometer and detector. These characteristic peaks can reveal ‘fingerprint’ information of a molecule even in a myriad of cases and combinations. It makes Raman spectroscopy a highly sensitive and selective analytical technique. Raman spectroscopy has a variety of chemical, environmental and biological applications. In this dissertation, modified Raman method are applied in life sciences and pharmaceutical studies.

The major challenge against development of Raman spectroscopy is how to improve the intensity of Raman signal. Surface Enhance Raman Scattering (SERS) and resonance Raman(RR) are utilized …

Viruses In Marine Animals: Discovery, Detection, And Characterizarion, Elizabeth Fahsbender

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diseases in marine animals are emerging at an increasing rate. Disease forecasting enabled by virus surveillance presents a proactive solution for managing emerging diseases. Broad viral surveys aid in disease forecasting by providing baseline data on viral diversity associated with various hosts, including many that are not associated with disease. However, these viruses can become pathogens due to expansion in host or geographic range, as well as when changing conditions shift the balance between commensal viruses and the host immune system. Therefore, it is extremely valuable to identify and characterize viruses present in many different hosts in a variety of …

Essays On Crowdfunding: Exploring The Funding And Post-Funding Phases And Outcomes, Onochie Fan-Osuala

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the recent years, crowdfunding (a phenomenon where individuals collectively contribute money to back different goals and projects through the internet) has been gaining a lot of attention especially for its socio-economic impact. This dissertation explores this phenomenon in three distinct but related essays. The first essay explores the nature and dynamics of backers’ contributions and uses the insights generated to develop a forecasting model that can predict crowdfunding campaign outcomes. The second essay investigates how creators’ crowdfunding campaign design decisions impact their funding and post-funding outcomes. Interestingly, the essay highlights that certain crowdfunding campaign design decisions have differential effects …

Distribution Of Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers Among Demographic Categories, Giorvanni Merilis

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are flame retardants widely used within the United States in various products such as plastics, electronics, textiles and furniture. With an increase in production and usage, PBDEs have recently emerged as a contaminant of concern. Due to their chemical structure, PBDEs have the propensity to bioaccumulate in mammals. In fact, elevated PBDE concentrations have been recorded in human breast milk. Due to the potential widespread exposure to PBDEs, this study investigates human blood concentrations of PBDEs generated through the 2003-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Through the use of statistical modeling, a comparison of mean …

The Effects Of Maternal Folate On Fetal Brain And Body Size Among Smoking Mothers, Korede K. Adegoke

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The adverse effects of maternal smoking on infant mortality and morbidity has been well documented in the literature. Maternal tobacco use is causally associated with fetal growth restriction and correlates negatively with folate intake and metabolism. Studies have examined the association between smoking and folate levels during pregnancy, but very few have assessed this relationship using objective and accurate measures of both variables. Furthermore, despite evidence of a causal association between smoking in pregnancy and intrauterine growth restriction, and a plausible relationship between tobacco use and low maternal folate which is required for optimal fetal growth, no experimental study has …

Regulation Of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinase By Histone Deacetylase 6, Jheng-Yu Wu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1/2 (ERK1/2) are important kinases regulating cell proliferation and cell migration, and have been established as therapeutic targets for cancer treatment. Previously, we found that ERK1 phosphorylates histone deacetylase 6 (HDAC6) to regulate its enzymatic activity. However, whether HDAC6 reciprocally modulates ERK1 activity is unknown. Here, we have discovered that ERK1/2 are acetylated proteins and shown that HDAC6 manipulates ERK1’s kinase activity via deacetylation. We demonstrated that both ERK1 and ERK2 interact with HDAC6 physically. We showed that the acetylation level of GST-ERK1/2 increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner upon treatment with a pan-HDAC inhibitor, Trichostatin …

Ambient Benzene And Pm2.5 Exposure During Pregnancy: Examining The Impact Of Exposure Assessment Decisions On Associations Between Birth Defects And Air Pollution, Jean Paul Tanner

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In the United States, approximately 3% of infants are diagnosed with a major birth defect each year. Whereas prevention efforts have led to decreases in some birth defects, the cause of approximately 70% of birth defects remains unknown. More recently, there has been increasing concern regarding exposures to environmental agents, such as air pollution during pregnancy, and the risk of birth defects. Over the past decade, there has been an increase in research studies examining the association between air pollution and birth defects. The results have been inconsistent, with some studies reporting that higher levels of exposure from the same …

Mutual Regulation Between Polo-Like Kinase 3 And Siah2 E3 Ubiquitin Ligase Defines A Regulatory Network That Fine-Tunes The Cellular Response To Hypoxia And Nickel, Cen Li, Soyoung Park, Xiaowen Zhang, Wei Dai, Dazhong Xu

NYMC Faculty Publications

Elevated cellular response to hypoxia, which contributes to cell transformation and tumor progression, is a prominent feature of malignant cells in solid tumors. Polo-like kinase 3 (Plk3) is a serine/threonine protein kinase known to inhibit the cellular response to hypoxia and tumorigenesis. Nickel compounds are well-established human carcinogens that induce tumorigenesis partly through their hypoxia-mimicking effects. Despite previous research efforts, the role of Plk3 in the hypoxic response induced by hypoxia or nickel is not completely understood. Here, we show that NiCl

Osteopontin Plays A Pivotal Role In In Increasing Severity Of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection, Viviana Sampayo-Escobar

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The molecular mechanisms underlying susceptibility to severe respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection remain poorly understood. Herein, we report on the role of osteopontin (OPN) in regulation of RSV infection in human epithelial cells and how interleukin-1 beta (IL-1β), a cytokine secreted soon after RSV infection, when persistently expressed can induce OPN expression leading to increased viral infection. We first compared OPN expression in two human epithelial cell lines: HEK-293 and HEp-2. In contrast to HEp-2, HEK-293 expresses low levels of pro-caspase-1 resulting in decreased IL-1β expression in response to RSV infection. We found a correlation between low IL-1β levels and …

Clearing Muddied Waters: Capture Of Environmental Dna From Turbid Waters, Kelly E. Williams, Kathryn P. Huyvaert, Antoinette J. Piaggio

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Understanding the differences in efficiencies of various methods to concentrate, extract, and amplify environmental DNA (eDNA) is vital for best performance of eDNA detection. Aquatic systems vary in characteristics such as turbidity, eDNA concentration, and inhibitor load, thus affecting eDNA capture efficiency. Application of eDNA techniques to the detection of terrestrial invasive or endangered species may require sampling at intermittent water sources that are used for drinking and cooling; these water bodies may often be stagnant and turbid. We present our best practices technique for the detection of wild pig eDNA in water samples, a protocol that will have wide …

Genetic Structure Across A Contact Zone Between Xerospermophilus Ground Squirrels In Southern California, Philip Leitner, Jennifer Rippert, Majorie D. Matocq

Western North American Naturalist

The Mohave ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus mohavensis) is endemic to the western Mojave Desert of California and is state-listed as Threatened. This species is of conservation concern because of the potential for large-scale renewable energy development within its range. Recent evidence suggests that this threatened species may at least occasionally hybridize with the closely related round-tailed ground squirrel (Xerospermophilus tereticaudus) where the species come into contact. As a result, there is great interest in the distribution of the Mohave ground squirrel, especially where it may come in contact with the round-tailed ground squirrel. One of the least …