Digital Commons Network^™

Intraspecific Variation In The Recruitment Dynamics Of A Transgressing Avicennia Germinans Population, Shannon Victoria Grogan

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Survival and establishment of mangrove propagules at higher tidal elevations beyond the landward margin of their distribution is a requirement for the continued existence of mangrove populations in response to rising sea-level. Despite the growing body of literature that discusses mangrove recruitment patterns, few studies have empirically examined establishment and post-establishment growth success of propagules at the higher intertidal positions into witch mangrove populations are migrating. Using an experimental field approach, this study compares establishment and post-establishment growth success of propagules at three positions across a tidal elevation gradient within a landward-transgressing mangrove population of SW Florida (USA). I observed …

Human Subject Protections: Institutional Biosafety Committee Ri 701

Research & Economic Development Policies

Under the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic DNA Molecules (NIH Guidelines), each institution conducting or sponsoring recombinant or synthetic nucleic acid research covered by these Guidelines is responsible for ensuring that the research is carried out in full conformity with the provisions of the Guidelines.

The Role Of Fathers In Behavioral Parent Training: An Exploration Of Parent-Related Factors In Parent And Child Treatment Outcomes, Brittany L. Jordan-Arthur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite a well-documented need for parent training in the treatment and prevention of child behavior problems, as well as the well-documented benefit of including fathers in preventative and treatment interventions, surprisingly little clinical intervention research examines the role of fathers in such trainings. This research examined the role of father involvement in behavioral parent training by examining parent-related characteristics in relation to treatment outcomes for both mothers and fathers, examining differences between mothers and fathers, and examining the additive benefit of including fathers in treatment across two studies. Both studies utilized archival data obtained from a university- and community-based parent …

Migration Resistance Of Esophageal Stents: The Role Of Stent Design, Hozhabr Mozafari, Pengfei Dong, Shijia Zhao, Yonghua Bi, Xinwei Han, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Objective: Stenting is one of the major treatments for malignant esophageal cancer. However, stent migration compromises clinical outcomes. A flared end design of the stent diminishes its migration. The goal of this work is to quantitatively characterize stent migration to develop new strategies for better clinical outcomes.

Methods: An esophageal stent with flared ends and a straight counterpart were virtually deployed in an esophagus with asymmetric stricture using the finite element method. The resulted esophagus shape, wall stress, and migration resistance force of the stent were quantified and compared.

Results: The lumen gain for both the flared stent and the …

Recent Progress For Fe-N-C Electrocatalysts In Alkaline Fuel Cells, Xin Deng, Heng-Quan Chen, Ye Hu, Qing-Gang He

Journal of Electrochemistry

Fuel cells are highly recommended nowadays due to their intrinsic advantages such as high energy conversion efficiency, nearly no pollution, and convenient operation. With the development of anion exchange membrane, alkaline fuel cells have gone through a renaissance thanks to their superiorities such as faster reaction kinetics, wider choices for both fuels and electrocatalysts. It is essential to find an appropriate electrocatalyst for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) to improve the performance of alkaline fuel cells. Further commercialization of the widely used Pt-based materials has suffered from disadvantages such as scarcity and high cost. As alternatives to largely investigated Pt-based materials, …

Carbon Composite Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Based Electrochemical Sensor For Hydrogen Peroxide Detection, Si-Yu Zhang, Hui-Juan Wang, Shu-Fang Li, Jian-Ying Qu

Journal of Electrochemistry

In this work, a novel hydrogen peroxide electrochemical sensor was constructed with ferroferric oxide (Fe₃O₄) magnetic nanoparticles, which demonstrated good electrocatalytic activity for hydrogen peroxide. There existed a good linear relationship between the concentration of hydrogen peroxide and the oxidation peak current in the range of 1.00 × 10^-6 ~ 1.00 × 10^-3 mol·L^-1 (R = 0.9980) with the detection limit of 6.60 × 10-7 mol·L^-1. The sensor exhibited good anti-interference ability, high reproducibility and stability.

A Randomized Clinical Trial Comparing Outcomes Of Open-Versus Closed-Surgical Exposure Of Palatally Impacted Maxillary Canines: A Pilot Study, Suha Alghamdi

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Patients’ Satisfaction With Existing Dry Mouth Therapies And Willingness To Pay For An Artificial Salivary Gland, Akanksha Srivastava

Master's Theses

Objectives: 1) To evaluate the effect of xerostomia and satisfaction with xerostomia therapies on patients’ oral health related quality of life (OHQoL); 2) To evaluate patients’ willingness-to-adopt and willingness-to-pay for an artificial implantable salivary gland.

Methods: A survey was conducted to obtain patients’ satisfaction with current xerostomia management strategies, effect of Xerostomia on their oral and general health, willingness to adopt an artificial salivary gland pump, and willingness-to-pay for the implantable device.

Results: A total of 107 individuals responded through either a paper-based questionnaire or online survey. Individuals with Sjögren’s syndrome and Radiation-related xerostomia had significantly poorer OHQoL compared …

Forest Drought Resistance Distinguished By Canopy Height, Wei Fang, Peipei Xu, Tao Zhou, George Hendrey, Xiang Zhao

Publications and Research

How are the survival and growth of trees under severe drought affected by their size? While some studies have shown that large trees are more vulnerable to drought than smaller trees, others found that small trees are the more vulnerable. We explored the potential relationships between canopy height and forest responses to drought indicated by tree mortality, tree ring width index (RWI), and normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) in the southwestern United States (SWUS) in 2002. In that year many trees had zero tree ring growth due to mortality and dieback, presumably related to drought-stress. With RWI data from a …

Demonstration Of The Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd) Process In Carbonate Rocks., Alok Jiteshkumar Shah

LSU Master's Theses

The Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage (GAGD) process was developed and patented by Dr. Rao at LSU in the early 2000s. The process involves the use of several existing or new vertical injection wells to inject gas and use the natural segregation of reservoir fluids from the density difference and the gravitational forces to displace the trapped oil and mobilize the oil downwards to be produced by a horizontal producing well. The GAGD process can be implemented as a secondary or tertiary oil recovery method. Several physical model experiments have been conducted to demonstrate the effectiveness of the GAGD process for …

Healthcare Utilization & Health Behaviors Among Older Adults: The Role Of Insurance, Jennifer Rose Geiger

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

As the population of older adults in the U.S. continues its exponential growth, so too will the need for high-quality health and preventive services. Despite the widely acknowledged need for proactive solutions to the coming public health challenges for this rapidly expanding age cohort, healthcare providers and social work practitioners continue to lack the proper education training to serve the needs of older adults. Furthermore, these allied health professionals also frequently engage in ageist behaviors across care settings that also often employ institutionally ageist policies and procedures. As a result, older adults may be particularly at risk of negative health …

Developing An Integrated Model For Food-Energy-Water Nexus In The Pacific Northwest, Usa, Seyed Mohammad Hossien Tabatabaie, Ganti Murthy

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

With growing populations and the changing climate, the importance of food, energy, and water (FEW) security has become a global issue. The competition for natural resources has caused the recognition of FEW nexus concept in which the interdependency between FEW sectors is taken into account for the effective management of resources with an enhanced understanding of underlying dynamics. In this context, developing an integrated model supported by a comprehensive quantitative framework is necessary. Although there are numerous studies on FEW nexus, limited research has been done on developing mathematical equations to model the FEW nexus. The goal of this study …

Moving From Eco-Forecasts To Eco-Projections, Brian W. Miller, Jeffrey T. Morisette, Gregor W. Schuurman, Jamie K. Reaser

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Ecological models can provide estimates of future conditions that are useful for decision-making, including long-term planning and resource prioritization. However, these models often rely on assumptions about ecological relationships and trajectories, forcings (e.g., biophysical conditions), and management approaches that may not be explicitly considered. To make assumptions more transparent, disciplines such as economics, demographics, climatology, and national intelligence make a fairly clear and consistent distinction between “forecasts” and “projections”. Forecasts are typically more near-term and rely on extending existing relationships and trends to estimate the most likely future conditions; whereas projections evaluate conditions under multiple scenarios that are based on …

Creation Of A Data Model To Retrieve Constrained Watershed Boundaries., Scott Haag, Ali Shokoufandeh, Austin Gentry

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

When using flow direction grids to describe impacts to streams and watershed pour points two spatial scales of interest are commonly applied, the entire watershed and the local stream catchment. In this presentation we describe an alternative approach referred to as the constrained watershed boundary. Specifically, we define a constrained watershed as a polygon containing all the flow direction grid cells with a surface flow distance less than a prescribed threshold. The proposed algorithm builds upon the HSM algorithm, as described by Haag and Shokoufandeh 2017, and augments the data structure with a flow distance grid calculated directly from the …

An Interoperable Workflow-Based Framework For The Automation Of Building Intelligent Process Control Systems, Josep Pascual Pañach, Miquel Àngel Cugueró Escofet, Miquel Sànchez Marrè, Pere Aguiló Martos

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

One of the major problems to design and implement a control/supervision system for a process lies in the need to establish an ad-hoc system for each process installation. On the other side, an open challenge related to the deployment of Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSSs) is the interoperability of the different methods used, in order to allow interaction and reuse of different data mining methods and the use of methods based on a model or an expert. Thus, this paper proposes the use of visual workflows, to enable the automation of the design task and the implementation of Intelligent Process …

Microservices For The Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (Svap), Jack R. Carlson, Casey Sheley, Rumpal Sidhu, Shaun Case, Olaf David

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The Stream Visual Assessment Protocol (SVAP) provides an initial assessment of the overall condition of wade-able streams, their riparian zones, and instream habitats. Field conservationists use the tool when providing technical assistance to land owners to improve stream conditions, sustainable use, and value of their property. SVAP does not require extensive training in biology, geomorphology, or hydrology, and represents a first step towards more detailed analysis and recommendations as needed. The protocol was developed in 1999 by the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) Aquatic Assessment Workgroup, following two years of field study and validation involving 182 stream reaches in …

Integrating Socio-Environmental Models: Vegetation, Agriculture, And Landform Dynamics, Miguel Acevedo, William Boyd, Hessam Sarjoughian, Isaac Ullah, Michael Barton

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

How did landscapes evolve as agriculture emerged thousands of year ago? How do we ensure sustainable food production and still maintain environmental quality? Integrated socio-environmental models help provide answers to these two seemingly distant, yet related questions. For practical purposes, in this paper we use the terms socio-ecological and socio-environmental systems, with acronym SES as synonyms. The Mediterranean Landscape Dynamics (MedLand) project aims to develop experimental SES models made possible by recent advances in computation while exercising interdisciplinary collaboration. In this paper, we exemplify one aspect of this integration by discussing the development of a vegetation model, which at the …

Open Models For Dammed Rivers: A New England Case Study For Balancing Social-Ecological Sustainability Of Riverine Ecosystem Services, Sam Roy, Emi Uchida, Simone Souza, Ben Blachly, Emma Fox, Kevin Gardner, Arthur Gold, Jessica Jansujwicz, Sharon Klein, Bridie Mcgreavy, Weiwei Mo, Sean Smith, Emily Vogler, Karen Wilson, Joseph Zydlewski, David Hart

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Dam removal is a cornerstone of environmental restoration practice in the United States. One positive outcome of dam removal is restored access to historic habitat for sea-run fish, providing a crucial gain in ecosystem resilience. But dams also provide stakeholders with valuable ecosystem services, such as municipal water storage, recreational use of lakes and rivers, property values, hydroelectricity generation, landscape nutrient and sediment flux, cultural attachments to dams, and many other river-based ecosystem services. Uncertain socio-ecological and economic outcomes can arise without carefully considering the basin scale trade-offs of dam removal.

Using a combined modeling approach at watershed scales, we …

How Many Cats (Or “Cat-Equivalents”) Does It Take To Cause An Extinction? And How Simple Can You Make A Model Before It Becomes Useless?, Kate O'Brien, Michaela Plein, Matthew Holden, Nigel Bean, Christopher Baker, Eve Mcdonald-Madden

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Managers make decisions on how to protect and restore environmental systems, along with associated ecosystem services. Ideally, these decisions are made with the support of predictive models, built on a sound understanding of how the system works, validated with data and accompanied by credible estimates of uncertainty. However, in many cases data are scarce or non-existent, understanding of key processes is limited, and disturbances such as land-use change or invasive species may be fundamentally altering the way the system functions. If there are insufficient data available for meaningful parameterization or validation, and no prospect of more data becoming available, how …

Integrated Modelling Approach To Assess Woody Biomass Supply, Demand And Environmental Impacts Of Forest Management In The Eu, Sarah Mubareka, Giorgio Vacchiano, Roberto Pilli, Maarten Hilferink, Giulia Fiorese, Ragnar Jonsson, Pablo Ruiz Castello, Wouter Nijs, Valerio Avitabile, Jasper Van Vliet, Andrea Camia

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Forests are at the intersection of European policies on climate, energy and environmental protection and will contribute significantly to the shift of the European economy towards a greater and more sustainable use of renewable resources. Knowledge of the current and future provision and use of woody biomass is necessary to support multiple policies, provide insight into how forest ecosystems and their services will respond to increasing material and energy demand, climate change, and land use competition. The main data source for forest biomass data in the European Union are National Forest Inventories (NFIs). These are carried out based on country-specific …

Eliciting Stakeholder Representations Of A Marine Socio-Ecosystem: Participatory Modelling Of Shellfish Aquaculture In The Normand-Breton Gulf, France, Sophie Gourguet, Léa Monnier, Jeffrey M. Dambacher, Martin P. Marzloff, Cédric Bacher, Pierre Boudry, Philippe Cugier, Nicolas Desroy, Aline Gangnery, Sophie Girard, Patrick Le Mao, Jose A. Pérez, Olivier Thébaud

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

In data-poor situations, qualitative modelling (Puccia and Levins’ “loop analysis”) combined with participatory involvement of stakeholders is well suited to holistically represent the complexity of socio-ecosystems and to assess system stability and its responses to long-term perturbations. This paper presents the results of a qualitative modelling project that involved an interdisciplinary team across natural sciences, social sciences, and modelling. The project focused on analysing the sustainability of a socio-ecosystem with an intense activity of shellfish aquaculture in the Normand-Breton gulf, France. Our primary objective was to involve stakeholders into the participatory development of qualitative models describing the structure and functioning …

An Overview Of Rainfall-Runoff Model Types, Jan Sitterson, Chris Knightes, Rajbir Parmar, Kurt Wolfe, Brian Avant, Muluken Muche

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

This paper aims to inform the audience of the strengths and weaknesses of various rainfall-runoff models. Runoff plays an important role in the hydrological cycle by returning excess precipitation to the oceans and controlling how much water flows into water systems. Water resource managers use runoff data from models to help understand, control, and monitor the quality and quantity of water resources. Access to runoff data can be time consuming and restrictive. The goal of the USEPA’s Hydrologic Micro Service (HMS) project is to develop a collection of interoperable water quantity and quality modeling components that leverage existing internet-based data …

Effects Of Water Conservation And Reduced Imports On Urban Landscapes In Los Angeles, Erik Porse

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Los Angeles faces a future of reduced imported water availability. As a result, many local agencies are promoting water conservation, enhancing local water supply sources, and funding “cash for grass” programs. Such residential water conservation efforts could have long-term effects on the existing urban tree canopy, while choices for resulting landscapes after replacing lawns can vary widely. Using a model of integrated water management (Artes) that simulates water supplies, conservation, and local reliance opportunities across hundreds of water agencies, we assessed how maximizing local water supply could affect water demand expectations. Results demonstrate that indoor water demands (residential, commercial, and …

The Effect Of Kalanchoe Pinnata In Astrocitome Metastasis, Jorge Rosa

The International Student Science Fair 2018

Astrocytomas, from cell line 1321N1,are cancerous astrocytes. These are a type of glial cell in the brain which is responsible for maintaining synaptic contact and the signaling capacities among neurons. They also represent a fundamental element in controlling blood flow and defining brain micro structure. Due to the fact that this variant is cancerous, a condition commonly described as an abnormal cell cycle and uncontrolled reproduction of cells, they have the ability to metastasize.

In the metastatic process of cancer cells the initial phase is know as tumor invasion. This stage consists mainly of the cells migrating away from the …

Computational Insights Into The Structures, Mechanisms, And Chemical Properties Of Metal Complexes, Enzymes, And Bio-Molecules, Thomas J. Paul

Open Access Dissertations

In this thesis, we have focus on the following three projects: (1) the inhibition of amyloid beta aggregation, (2) structural and mechanical properties of amyloid peptides, and (3) complex biological systems of molecular recognition pertaining to hydrolysis. In the first project, we have looked at the inhibition of early and late forms of Aß peptides using heparin derived disaccharides, small molecules, and a Rhenium centered photoluminescence probe. We have determined and characterized the most relevant binding sites of these complexes to both the monomeric and fibrillar forms of the Aß peptide. Currently, the aggregation of biomolecules has been implicated in …

Paracrine Signaling In The Pancreatic Islet: Mechanisms For Macrophage Maintenance Of Tissue Homeostasis, Jonathan Weitz

Open Access Dissertations

Dysfunction or death of the islet’s endocrine cells leads to diabetes, a devastating disease affecting millions worldwide. Islet hormones secreted from endocrine cells are responsible for maintenance of blood glucose levels. However, hormone secretion from beta cells also involves the co-release of pro-inflammatory molecules such as ATP and serotonin. Thus, as a by-product of hormone secretion, islet endocrine cells may activate and interact with the local population of immune cells. The immune system mediates inflammatory responses, but in many tissues, immune cells also provide a homeostatic function. Resident macrophages in the liver (Kupffer Cells), and brain (microglia), for instance, fulfill …

Blocking Nmdar Disrupts Spike Timing And Decouples Monkey Prefrontal Circuits: Implications For Activity-Dependent Disconnection In Schizophrenia, Jennifer L. Zick, Rachael K. Blackman, David A. Crowe, Bagrat Amirikian, Adele L. Denicola, Theoden I. Netoff, Matthew V. Chafee

Faculty Authored Articles

We employed multi-electrode array recording to evaluate the influence of NMDA receptors (NMDAR) on spike-timing dynamics in prefrontal networks of monkeys as they performed a cognitive control task measuring specific deficits in schizophrenia. Systemic, periodic administration of an NMDAR antagonist (phencyclidine) reduced the prevalence and strength of synchronous (0-lag) spike correlation in simultaneously recorded neuron pairs. We employed transfer entropy analysis to measure effective connectivity between prefrontal neurons at lags consistent with monosynaptic interactions and found that effective connectivity was persistently reduced following exposure to the NMDAR antagonist. These results suggest that a disruption of spike timing and effective connectivity …

Inventory Of Oceanic Fauna Data Including Species, Weight, And Measurements From R/V Point Sur (Cruise Dp05) In The Gulf Of Mexico From 2017-05-01 To 2017-05-11, April Cook, Tracey Sutton

DEEPEND Datasets

This dataset includes an inventory of Gulf of Mexico oceanic fauna data including species, weight, and measurements collected from R/V Point Sur (Cruise DP05) from 2017-05-01 to 2017-05-11. The main gear type used was a 10-m2 Multiple Opening Closing Net and Environmental Sensing System (MOCNESS). The MOCNESS was fitted with 6 nets which were opened according to the following depth scheme: net 0 from the surface to 1500m, net 1 from 1500-1200m, net 2 from 200-1000m, net 3 from 1000-600m, net 4 from 600-200m, and net 5 from 200m to the surface. Two trawls were conducted at each station sampled …

Contingency, Evolution, And The Nature Of History, William Carrigan

Open Educational Resources

This module explores the nature of history. Popular perceptions of history rely upon two flawed ideas. First, employing a naive interpretation of the theory of evolution, many believe that history is a slow march of progress toward more complex species and, after the development of humans, more complex human societies. Second, another prevalent attitude is that the history of life contains patterns that repeat and can be predicted if studied. Instead, this module emphasizes the role of luck and contingency in the history of life both before and after the arrival of homo sapiens. Beginning with an exploration of why …

Volume 55, Number 45: June 27, 2018, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.