Interfacing The Liquid Sampling- Atmospheric Pressure Glow Discharge Ion Source With Orbitrap Mass Spectrometers For High Accuracy High Precision Isotope Ratio Measurements Of Uranium, Edward Dexter Hoegg

All Dissertations

The integration of the liquid sampling – atmospheric pressure glow discharge (LS-APGD) with Orbitrap mass spectrometers has led to a potential paradigm shift in the field of high certainty isotope ratio measurements. Since the dawn of the atomic age, mass spectrometry has played a critical role in performing isotope ratio measurements of uranium (U), plutonium (Pu) and other radionuclides. Traditionally, these measurements have been made using thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) instruments and, more recently, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) instruments. While the ability of these instruments to perform isotope ratio measurements with a high degree of certainty has …

Computational Approaches To Understanding Structure-Function Relationships At The Intersection Of Cellular Organization, Mechanics, And Electrophysiology, Tyler George Harvey

All Dissertations

The heart is a complex mechanical and electrical environment and small changes at the cellular and subcellular scale can have profound impacts at the tissue, organ, and organ system levels. The goal of this research is to better understand structure-function relationships at these cellular and subcellular levels of the cardiac environment. This improved understanding may prove increasingly important as medicine begins shifting toward engineered replacement tissues and organs. Specifically, we work towards this goal by presenting a framework to automatically create finite element models of cells based on optical images. This framework can be customized to model the effects of …

Surface Functionalized Organic/Inorganic Colloids: Imaging And Spectroscopy With X-Ray And Optical Excitation, Mary Burdette

All Dissertations

Nanoparticles continue to be studied for their properties as carriers for small molecules, such as bio-imaging agents, biologically relevant targeting ligands, and therapeutic drugs as tethering these small molecules to a larger particle provides stability to the molecule and lessens the probability that the system is cleared prematurely from the body. However, the body suffers from intense auto-fluorescence, so one way to improve imaging agents to combat the auto-fluorescence issue is to create a system that is fluorescence activatable; the activation must occur when the system is only in the intended environment. Additionally, intense light scattering occurs at the blue …

The Effects Of Various Retort Motions On The Rate Of Heat Penetration Of A Food Simulant In Pouches, Mollye Macnaughton

All Dissertations

Processing foods in a retort is a reliable and established method of creating sterile and shelf stable products. The formula of the product and the package size dictates the processing time. Rotary retorts were invented to agitate cans to reduce the processing times and create uniform heating within the can. Recently, horizontal reciprocating agitation has become a feature of retorts referred to as Gentle Motion® and Shaka®. Oscillating agitation is an even newer possible retort motion. This research experiment was designed to (1) determine the effects of oscillating continuously and oscillating-dwell time on the rate of heat penetration in a …

Understanding The Interactions Of Anions With Lewis Acids And Π-Acids To Develop Efficient Ion-Pair Receptors, Krishnendu Maity

All Dissertations

Anions play vital roles in many industrial, environmental, chemical, and biological processes. Due to their adverse effects on our health and ecosystem, precise regulation of toxic anions and ion-pairs are of prime importance. A majority of anion receptors rely on subtle supramolecular forces like electrostatic interactions and hydrogen bonding to bind anions, and the main source of selectivity comes from the shape and size complementarity of the receptors and guest anions. In aprotic solvents, interactions of anions with π-acidic receptors such as naphthalenediimides (NDIs) and perylenediimides (PDIs), and Lewis acids, such as silver ion, depend on their electron donating ability, …

Magnolia: Impact Of Interspecific Hybridization On Genetic Variation And Ongoing Breeding Initiatives, James Kevin Parris

All Dissertations

The genus Magnolia comprises over 250 species naturally occurring in Eastern North America, Central America, South America, islands of the Gulf of Mexico, and Eastern Asia. A long history of cultivation and breeding going back to the early nineteenth century reveals a common trend of reproductive compatibility throughout this group of basal angiosperms. Interspecific hybridization has led to plethora of ornamental cultivars that have proven adaptable to natural and cultivated habitats beyond the range of each species. Understanding of taxonomic relationships between species has evolved as observations of morphological characteristics and genetic analyses have been more thoroughly investigated. The objectives …

Investigating The Use Of Streaming And Robotic Dielectrophoresis To Enable Continuous Cell Sorting And Automatic Cell Transfer In Sample Preparation, Rucha Natu

All Dissertations

The sorting of targeted cells or particles from a sample is a crucial step in the sample preparation process used in medical diagnosis, environmental monitoring, bio-analysis and personalized medicine. Current cell sorting techniques can be broadly classified as label based or label-free. Label-based techniques mostly rely on fluorophores or magnetic nanoparticles functionalized to bind with targeted cells. Although highly specific, this approach can be expensive and suffers from limitations in the availability of suitable markers. Label-free techniques exploit properties inherent to the cell, such as density and size, to simplify the sorting protocol and reduce cost by eliminating the need …

High-Throughput Polygenic Biomarker Discovery Using Condition-Specific Gene Coexpression Networks, William Louis Poehlman

All Dissertations

Biomarkers can be described as molecular signatures that are associated with a trait or disease. RNA expression data facilitates discovery of biomarkers underlying complex phenotypes because it can capture dynamic biochemical processes that are regulated in tissue-specific and time-specific manners. Gene Coexpression Network (GCN) analysis is a method that utilizes RNA expression data to identify binary gene relationships across experimental conditions. Using a novel GCN construction algorithm, Knowledge Independent Network Construction (KINC), I provide evidence for novel polygenic biomarkers in both plant and animal use cases.

Kidney cancer is comprised of several distinct subtypes that demonstrate unique histological and molecular …

Subventricular Zone Neural Stem Cells Release Extracellular Vesicles During Early Postnatal Neurogenesis, Mary C. Morton

All Dissertations

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanometer sized particles released from all cells. EVs are found in all biological fluids, including cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood. EVs modulate intercellular communication through the transfer of nucleic acids and proteins from donor to recipient cells. During early postnatal neurogenesis, subventricular zone (SVZ) neural stem cells (NSCs) asymmetrically divide to give rise to neuroblasts that migrate along the rostral migratory stream (RMS) and populate the olfactory bulb (OB). Other, non-neuronal cells populate the SVZ, such as microglia and endothelial cells. Microglia have been shown to regulate SVZ NSCs, but it remains unclear if this communication …

Development Of A Biomimetic, Collagen-Based Scaffold For The Repair And Regeneration Of The Annulus Fibrosus, Ryan Borem

All Dissertations

Annually, over 5.7 million Americans are diagnosed with two IVD-associated pathologies: IVD herniation (IVDH- a mechanical disruption of the concentric fibrous layers of the annulus fibrosus (AF)) and/or degeneration (IVDD- a multifactorial process which initiates within the inner gelatinous core (NP), and results in a biochemical degradation of NP tissue), with over 2.7 million requiring surgical interventions. Although both underlying pathologies are different, quite often they both lead to a decrease in IVD height, impaired mechanical function, and increased pain and disability. These pain symptoms affect approximately 80% of the adult population during their lifetime with estimated expenditures exceeding $85.9 …

Taxonomic, Genetic And Functional Diversity Of Symbionts Associated With The Coastal Bivalve Family Lucinidae, Jean S. Lim

All Dissertations

Extant bivalve members from the family Lucinidae harbor chemosynthetic gammaproteobacterial gill endosymbionts capable of thioautotrophy. These endosymbionts are environmentally acquired and belong to a paraphyletic group distantly related to other marine chemosymbionts. In coastal habitats, lucinid chemosymbionts participate in facilitative interactions with their hosts and surrounding seagrass habitat that results in symbiotic sulfide detoxification, oxygen release from seagrass roots, carbon fixation, and/or symbiotic nitrogen fixation. Currently, the structural and functional complexity of whole lucinid gill microbiomes, as well as their interactions with lucinid bivalves and their surrounding environment, have not been comprehensively characterized. This dissertation focuses on the taxonomic, genetic, …

Phylogenetic, Genomic And Morphological Investigations Of Three Lance Nematode Species (Hoplolaimus Spp.), Xinyuan Ma

All Dissertations

Lance nematodes (Hoplolaimus spp.) are migratory ecto-endo plant-parasitic. They have been found from a wide range of the world that feed on the roots of a diversity of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, and have caused a great agricultural damage. Since more taxonomic knowledge and molecular references are demanded for the lance nematode phylogeny and population study, four chapters of lance nematode researches on three species were presented here: (1) A new species, Hoplolaimus smokyensis n. sp., was discovered from a mixed forest sample of maple (Acer sp.), hemlock (Tsuga sp.) and silverbell (Halesia carolina) from …

Surface Functionalized Gold Nanoparticle Applications In Catalysis And Lipid-Nanoparticle Assemblies, Saptarshi Chakraborty

All Dissertations

The general objectives of my dissertation are to devise strategies to impart unique functionality to gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) through surface modification and utilizing such surface-functionalized AuNP systems to 1) facilitate colloidal catalyst recovery and reuse while maintaining activity and 2) measure the interactions of engineered AuNPs with biological membranes as related to stimuli-responsive liposomal therapeutics.

AuNP surface functionalization is an essential step in the synthesis, stability and functionality-specific applications of AuNPs. Due to the ability to control AuNP shape, size and surface properties, AuNP applications have seen an exponential growth in various sectors that include catalysis, biomedicine, drug-delivery, sensing, imaging, …

Research Exemplars From An Interdisciplinary Healthcare Genetics Program, Rebecca Leigh Myers

All Dissertations

The first chapter of this dissertation provides an overview of the interdisciplinary Healthcare Genetics model, the framework for the studies described in Chapters Two, Three and Four. The model is comprised of five core constructs: Research, Environment, Clinical Practice, Ethical/Legal/Social Implications (ELSI) and Education. Each construct is defined. Chapter One also presents a brief overview of subsequent chapters.

Chapter Two details a biophysical approach to the phenotypic classification of mutations in the 7-dehydroxycholesterol reductase (DHCR7) gene, involved in Smith-Lemli-Opitz syndrome. This study utilized computer modeling to determine the biophysical effects of each mutation on structure and function of the DHCR7 …

Fabrication And Mechanical Properties Of Micro-Architectured 3d Scaffolds, Pooya Niksiar

All Dissertations

Freeze casting is a physical process for the fabrication of porous anisotropic materials. In this method, an aqueous slurry of ceramic particles is frozen directionally, creating lamellar columns of ice that push particles between the growing crystals. Then, the frozen material is lyophilized to remove the ice and sintered to densify the ceramic. Scaffolds made by freeze casting often have significant strength in the solidification direction, while they lack sufficient strength in the transverse direction. To enhance strength in the transverse direction, magnetite particles are added to a slurry of paramagnetic particles, and an external magnetic field is applied during …

Chemically Active Rheological Modifiers For The Improved Clinical Use Of Cyanoacrylates, Kyle Joseph Garcia

All Dissertations

Over 100 million surgical incisions, 50 million traumatic wounds, and 20 million minor lacerations from cuts and grazes are treated globally each year. One study determined that globally internal and external wounds occur for 40% and 37% of cases respectively for a total of 111 million patients that were treated for wounds. The remaining 23% of patients were treated for minor lacerations and trauma in the emergency room. These wounds require immediate medical attention including pressure application, sutures, clips, tissue cautery, and/or topical hemostatic agents to cease hemorrhage or the exit of other bodily fluids. With blood flow ceased, wound …

Comprehensive Sequencing With Surface Tagmentation Based Technology, Kuan Feng

Biomedical Sciences ETDs

Next-generation sequencing technologies (NGS) have undergone extensive improvements since the invention of the 454 sequencing system in 2005. With tremendous progress in throughput, speed and a dramatic reduction in per-base cost, DNA sequencing is widely used in basic science as well as translational research. However, it is still a challenge to acquire a complete human genome. The long-range information is often missing due to the short length of NGS reads, which leaves many gaps in between scaffolds rather than an entire piece for each chromosome. Moreover, without the long-range information, haplotype-resolved genome sequencing and structural variant detection can be difficult, …

Establishing Benchmark Criteria For Single Chromosome Bacterial Genome Assembly, Timothy J. Krause

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

Adequate recommendations for the amount and types of sequencing data necessary to optimize the recovery of single chromosomes from bacterial sequencing projects do not exist. Broad estimates for coverage depths needed to recover complete bacterial genomes are present in the literature, but required sequencing depths across bacterial and archaeal phylogenies needed for high-quality assembly are not known. Additionally, correlations between genomic complexity and expected quality of assembly have not been properly defined. Furthermore, the capabilities of multiplexing (sequencing more than one sample simultaneously on one flow cell) with long-read sequencing platforms in order to recover complete bacterial chromosomes are poorly …

Systems To Attract And Feed Pollinators In Warm-Season Lawns, Michelle Wisdom

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pollinating insects are responsible for the production of many agricultural crops and they require floral resources to fulfill their life-cycle. Ideally, pollinating insects will encounter a diversity of floral resources across their entire season of activity, and those floral resources can include both herbaceous and woody plant species. Managed turfgrass areas have been identified as potential locations for creating pollinator-friendly habitats. In the transition zone, where both warm- and cool-season turfgrass species are present, the persistence of herbaceous plants in warm-season turfgrasses such as bermudagrass (Cynodon spp.) and buffalograss (Buchloe dactyloides), may be affected not only by the competitive nature …

Multi-Label Classification Using Higher-Order Label Clusters, Dilanga Lakshitha Bandara Abeyrathna Galapita Mudiyanselage

Student Work

Multi-label classification (MLC) is one of the major classification approaches in the context of data mining where each instance in the dataset is annotated with a set of labels. The nature of multiple labels associated with one instance often demands higher computational power compared to conventional single-label classification tasks. A multi-label classification is often simplified by decomposing the task into single-label classification which ignores correlations among labels. Incorporating label correlations into classification task can be hard since correlations may be missing, or may exist among a pair or a large subset of labels. In this study, a novel MLC approach …

Review: North American Ducks, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide. Frank S. Todd., Kevin M. Ringelman

The Prairie Naturalist

The North American Duck, Geese & Swans: Identification Guide, released in 2018, is the culmination of a lifetime of waterfowl photography by the late Frank Todd. Indeed, this book stands apart from other identification guides as being entirely photo-driven, with minimal introductory material, notations of field marks, or descriptions of the various waterfowl species. It is small enough to be carried in the field (6.5” × 9” × 0.5”), but most readers will find it less useful than a standard bird identification book (Sibley 2014), even for waterfowl. As the title suggests, the Todd guide focuses on North American species, …

Preparing An Effective Poster Presentation, Christopher N. Jacques

The Prairie Naturalist

Greetings GPNSS members! By the time you read this editorial, many of have been experiencing the fury unleashed by ‘Old Man Winter’ and may find yourself counting the days until warmer spring temperatures return once again to the Great Plains. Until then, just a couple more months of bitter cold temperatures, strong winds, and blowing and drifting snow. But not to worry, winter also provides the cold weather enthusiasts among us a chance to enjoy a range of outdoor recreational opportunities, a chance to reflect on the previous year in review, exciting professional and personal opportunities ushered in by the …

Comparison Of Northern Flying And Red Squirrel Phylogenies With Focus On The Insular United States, Alyssa M. Kiesow, Hugh B. Britten

The Prairie Naturalist

Northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus) and red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) populations are endemic to northern North America, including the Black Hills. The Black Hills populations are considered disjunct from other populations within their range. We examined insular populations to determine whether arboreal squirrels in the Black Hills each represent a unique population. We trapped and collected ear samples from northern flying and red squirrels in the Black Hills and in areas of Montana, Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Minnesota, and Wisconsin to infer population phylogenies with special consideration of the Black Hills population. Microsatellite loci and two mtDNA sequences were used for …

Notes: Two-Headed White-Tailed Deer Fetus, William F. Jensen, Daniel M. Grove, Ryan J. Herigstad, William J. Haase

The Prairie Naturalist

On 6 April 2018 a female white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus dakotensis) was hit and killed by a vehicle along HWY 1806 in rural Morton County, North Dakota, USA (N46o 38.617; W100o 42.901). Based upon dental eruption and wear (Severinghaus 1949), the female was estimated to be a >4.5 years-of-age. A male fetus with parapagus diprosopus (i.e., shared face) apparently was expelled from the adult female, and a domestic canine (Canis lupus familiaris) carried the fetus to a private residence. The resident contacted the North Dakota Game and Fish Department (NDGFD) to turn in the fetus. On 10 April 2018, NDGFD …

Metabolic Gas Emissions From Prairie Soil Containing Foraging Termites, Charles E. Konemann, B.M. Kard, Tom A. Royer, Mark E. Payton

The Prairie Naturalist

Differences in subterranean termite metabolic gas emissions are readily observed in laboratory experiments. However, in natural field ecosystems a primary difficulty in measuring subterranean termite gases is non-homogeneous distribution of foraging termites in soil. Our field experiment was designed to aggregate foragers of the 'eastern subterranean termite', Reticulitermes flavipes Kollar (EST), in one of four flux chamber configurations placed on a tallgrass prairie throughout 2014 and 2015. We used differently configured flux chambers to measure metabolic gas emissions from soil with or without foraging termites on The Joseph H. Williams Tallgrass Prairie Preserve (TGPP) in north-central Oklahoma. Foraging termitesaggregated in …

The Prairie Naturalist: The Journal Of The Great Plains Natural Science Society Volume 50 No. 2

The Prairie Naturalist

TABLE OF CONTENTS

43 EDITOR’S NOTE

RESEARCH ARTICLES

46 Metabolic Gas Emissions from Prairie Soil Containing Foraging Termites Charles E. Konemann, B. M. Kard, Tom A. Royer, and Mark. E. Payton

59 Comparison of northern flying and red squirrel phylogenies with focus on the insular United States Alyssa M. Kiesow, and Hugh B. Britten

NOTES

70 Two-Headed White-Tailed Deer Fetus

72 Red-Bellied Snake (Storeria occipitomacilata) Copulation in South Dakota

74 New Breeding Record and Location for Wilson's Phalarope (Phalaropus tricolor) in the Nebraska Great Plains, USA

BOOK REVIEWS

76 Sedges and Rushes of Minnesota: The Complete Guide to Species Identification. …

Does The Use Of Bell Ringers As Formative Assessments Affect Student Retention Of Knowledge In A Third Grade Science Classroom?, Cari Herbst

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This research study explored if the use of daily bell ringers used as formative assessments increased student achievement in science. The study analyzed the effect daily bell ringers had on student summative assessment scores in a third grade science classroom. Data collection included summative assessments from a control group taught without daily bell ringers and the test group taught with daily bell ringers. The data and analysis showed there was an increase in the average class scores and amount of student’s proficient with the implementation of daily bell ringers.

This research study explored if the use of daily bell ringers …

Kagan Strategies In The Preschool Classroom And Their Effectiveness With Engagement And Academic Response, Megan Smith

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research was to determine the impact of Kagan cooperative learning practices on academic growth in a preschool classroom. Participants were four and five year olds in a half-day preschool program in an urban setting. Students were a mix of household incomes as well as students who are English language learners. Quantitative data was collected using the Get Set for School assessment. Data was collected after ten small group sessions for 50 sessions. For each group of sessions, a different Kagan engagement strategy was utilized and the Get Set for School assessment was given to track …

Looking Beyond The Obvious: Power, Epistemic Culture And Student Migration In The Knowledge-Based Economy, Yasmin Y. Ortiga

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The emergence of the knowledge-based economy revived the brain drain debate of the1970s, calling for the recruitment of scientists and researchers in the interest of national development.International students find themselves in the middle of this debate, as developing countries struggle toaddress the growing number of those choosing not to return home after graduation. While mostresearchers explain student migration in terms of economic opportunity and incentives, this articleargues that this approach ignores the epistemic culture of graduate training and the differential powerof academic institutions in developed and developing nations. Based on a sample of Filipino PhDstudents in science, technology, engineering or …

Halted Innovation: The Expansion Of Federal Jurisdiction Over Medicine And The Human Body, Myrisha S. Lewis

Faculty Publications

Modern medical innovations are blurring the line between medical practice and medical devices and drugs. Historically, many techniques have been developed in medicine, without any interference from the federal government, as medical practice is (and has historically been) an area of state jurisdiction. Over the past two decades, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been exerting jurisdiction over the human body and the practice of medicine by targeting new medical techniques for oversight and subjecting the continued use of those treatments to onerous and legally questionable regulatory requirements that hinder the use of those treatments in practice. …