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Bio-Ecological Studies Of Amaranth's Lepidopteran Defoliators And Development Of Ipm Technologies For Their Management, Komi Agbodzavu Mawufe

All PhD Dissertations

One of the most important and largely consumed African Indigenous Vegetables (AIV) is amaranth. It is known to have a high nutritional value, agronomical assets and economic attributes. Amaranth production is however constrained by numerous biotic factors such as insect pests, occurring as a complex of species among which lepidopteran defoliators are found to be the most destructive. Investigations on their bio-ecological and control options were conducted. Field experiments were conducted from September 2015 to June 2017 in two agro-ecology zones (mid and high altitudes) in Kenya using two species of amaranth (Amaranthus dubius L. and Amaranthus cruentus L.). Results …

Bio-Ecological Studies Of Tuta Absoluta In Sudan, Idriss Ge Idriss

All PhD Dissertations

Production of tomato crops in Sudan is threatened by the invasion of Tuta absoluta (Meyrick). This pest develops and disperses rapidly and it is also known to develop resistance to insecticides. Knowledge of its bio-ecology and genetic diversity in its newly invaded areas can be used to develop sustainable and effective IPM strategies. Results of field surveys conducted in the major tomato producing States of Sudan showed that the highest abundance of T. absoluta occurs in winter and early summer seasons (December-April). However, its population densities declined in the late summer season and remained very low during the fall season …

Assessment Of The Diversity And Roles Of Bacterial Symbionts In Fruit Fly Development And Response To Biological Control, Joseph Gichui

All PhD Dissertations

Tephritid fruit flies are among the most destructive pest species of fruits and vegetables in many regions of the world. Apart from high losses in yield, tephritid fruit fly pests pose great socioeconomic and ecological challenges as well as demand effective measures to curb infestation which can be costly. Among currently used management options are the use of chemical insecticides, behavioral, genetic, cultural and biological approaches. However, no single method or combination of control strategies as used in integrated pest management programmes may be infallible to various constraints. It is therefore necessary to broaden the scope of plausible methods of …

Diversity And Shifts Of The Bacterial Community Associated With Baikal Sponge Mass Mortalities, Sergei Belikov, Natalia Belkova, Tatiana Butina, Lubov Chernogor, Alexandra Martynova-Van Kley, Armen Nalian, Colin Rorex, Igor Khanaev, Olga Maikova, Sergey Feranchuk

Faculty Publications

The disease of freshwater sponges was first discovered in 2011, when pink samples were found in the Central Basin of Lake Baikal. Subsequently, the visible signs of the disease have changed, and now sponges appear with various symptoms of damage to the body, such as discoloration, tissue necrosis, the formation of brown patches and dirty-purple biofilms on some branches. These signs of the disease are accompanied by the mass death of sponges. We identified differences in microbiomes by sequencing 16S rRNA genes and found changes in the consortium of microorganisms of freshwater Baikal sponges. We found that the observed imbalance …

Structural And Functional Determinants Of Rodent And Human Surfactant Protein A: A Synthesis Of Binding And Computational Data, Armen Nalian, Todd M. Umstead, Ching-Hui Yang, Patricia Silveyra, Neal J. Thomas, Joanna Floros, Francis X. Mccormack, Zissis C. Chroneos

Faculty Publications

Surfactant protein A (SP-A) provides surfactant stability, first line host defense, and lung homeostasis by binding surfactant phospholipids, pathogens, alveolar macrophages (AMs), and epithelial cells. Non-primates express one SP-A protein whereas humans express two: SP-A1 and SP-A2 with core intra- and inter-species differences in the collagen-like domain. Here, we used macrophages and solid phase binding assays to discern structural correlates of rat (r) and human (h) SP-A function. Binding assays using recombinant rSP-A expressed in insect cells showed that lack of proline hydroxylation, truncations of amino-terminal oligomerization domains, and site-directed serine (S) or alanine (A) mutagenesis of cysteine 6 (C6S), …

Arachidin-1 And Arachidin-3 Modulation Of Rotavirus-Infected Ma104 Cells, Caleb M. Witcher, Rebekah Napier-Jameson, Hannah N. Lockwood, Macie N. Mattila, Stormey B. Wisdom, Luanna L. Saade Ferreira, Josephine Taylor, Beatrice Clack, Fabricio Medina-Bolivar, Judith M. Ball, Rebecca D. Parr

Faculty Publications

Rotavirus (RV) causes severe life-threatening diarrhea in young children and immunocompromised individuals. There are several licensed attenuated vaccines for young children, but there are no vaccines or antiviral therapeutics for immunocompromised patients of any age. Previously, our laboratory demonstrated that arachidin 1 (A1) and arachidin 3 (A3) decreases the number of infectious simian RV particles and RV non-structural protein 4 (NSP4) in a human intestinal cell line which suggests effects on RV replication. This study examined the effects of the arachidins on the human RV (Wa)-infected African green monkey kidney cell line, MA104. The addition of either A1 or A3 …

Inhibition Of Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Biofilm Formation With Surface Modified Polymeric Nanoparticles, Tyler R. Flockton, Logan Schnorbus, Agustin Araujo, Jill Adams, Maryjane Hammel, Lark Perez

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

The gram-negative bacterial pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa represents a prominent clinical concern. Due to the observed high levels of antibiotic resistance, copious biofilm formation, and wide array of virulence factors produced by these bacteria, new treatment technologies are required. Here, we present the development of a series of P. aeruginosa LecA-targeted polymeric nanoparticles and demonstrate the anti-adhesion and biofilm inhibitory properties of these constructs.

Ending "Solitary Confinement" Of Youth In California, Sue Burrell, Ji Seon Song

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Recurring Cardinal Sins: How The Holy See And Canon Law Have Perpetuated Child Sexual Abuse By Clergy Members, Gabriela Hidalgo

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Review: I Am Jane Doe, Gabriela Hidalgo

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Water Management Policy In Saudi Arabia Using A Bilevel, Multi-Objective, Multi-Follower Programming Approach, Jawad Alhashim

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Over the past five decades, the Saudi government has adopted many agricultural policies aimed to: achieve self-sufficiency of food, increase the participation of the agricultural sector in the economy, and reduce the consumption of irrigation water. Due to conflicts among government objectives and the incompatibility of farmers' objectives with those of some agricultural policies, the government has not been able to fully achieve its objectives.

To accomplish its goals the government, or decision maker needs to understand the farmer, or follower, reaction when s/he adopts a new decision. The dissertation aims to build a model that achieves government goals of …

Special Problems In Agricultural Economics, Alexander Ogden Swartz

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

According to the USDA Economic Research service, farm-level prices are on the decline. This decline in prices particularly hurts smaller scale operators with many needing to rely on off-farm income in order to ensure they remain in operation. This thesis studies two problems of key interest to the Southeast region and the State of Kentucky by investigating dairy management practices and the environmental benefits of hemp production. As dairy prices have been on the decline and dairy co-ops have tightened their restrictions on somatic cell count (SCC) levels, dairy farmers and farm managers must decide the best course of action …

Two Essays On Input Substitution And Optimal Decision Making In Crop And Livestock Production Systems, John T. Allison Jr.

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

The thesis presented consists of two essays that analyze input substitution and decision making in crop and livestock production systems. The first essay consists of a whole-farm analysis that sought to optimize feed mixes and enterprise combinations for an organic dairy operation in the Southeastern United States. This was accomplished through mathematical programming where whole-farm net returns were maximized, and total feed costs were minimized simultaneously for four milk production level cases. Additionally, the sensitivity of the system and break-even milk price were explored. Results suggest substitutability in ration components where an increase in supplemental feeds is justified by additional …

Embl2checklists: A Python Package To Facilitate The User-Friendly Submission Of Plant And Fungal Dna Barcoding Sequences To Ena, Michael Gruenstaeudl, Yannick Hartmaring

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

Background The submission of DNA sequences to public sequence databases is an essential, but insufficiently automated step in the process of generating and disseminating novel DNA sequence data. Despite the centrality of database submissions to biological research, the range of available software tools that facilitate the preparation of sequence data for database submissions is low, especially for sequences generated via plant and fungal DNA barcoding. Current submission procedures can be complex and prohibitively time expensive for any but a small number of input sequences. A user-friendly software tool is needed that streamlines the file preparation for database submissions of DNA …

Seveneves: A Moral Approach To Speculative Science-Fiction Literature, Bailee Morgan

Merge

No abstract provided.

“Belle Reve? Lost, Is It? No!:” The Disillusioned Home In Tennessee Williams’ Early Plays, Rayben Lee

Merge

No abstract provided.

John The Theologian: Towards Integrating Law And Religion, Gordon Butler

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

Every dean leaves an impact on the law school they serve and its faculty. St. Thomas Law Dean Makdisi supported and encouraged Professor Siegfried Wiessner's effort in creating an LL.M. program in Intercultural Human Rights. While others will laud his many accomplishments as dean in the J.D. program, his impact on the religious heritage and Catholic mission of St. Thomas Law was greatest in the LL.M. program.

In Vitro Uptake And Biodistribution Of Silver Nanoparticles In Vero 76 Cells, Miriam A. Crane

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The number of consumer products containing nanomaterials over the last eight years has increased over two-fold. Silver is one of the most commonly used materials in consumer goods nanoparticle fabrication.1 Thus, the uptake and biodistribution of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) within mammalian cells can provide insight into their possible toxicological effects. In this study, starch-capped AgNPs of an average diameter of 9 ± 5 nm were synthesized via a bottom-up method, and characterized by Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), inductively couple plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES), and absorption spectroscopy. Vero 76 cells were incubated with 0.0, 0.1, 1.0, and 3.0 …

The Homeward Bound-Ness Of Crimean Tatars: A Clash Of National Identity, The State, And The Crimean Peninsula, Nicholas Daniel Higgins

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

State repressions of minority groups threaten human rights, undermining their development and survival. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, countless minority groups found themselves living in a new country as a result of annexation, redefined territorial boundaries and migration, with some suffering repression from the states in which they now resided. This thesis examines the interactions and conditions necessary for such repressions from the state to take place with the central research question: why and how might a state, having just acquired an ethnic or minority group, repress the said group following its acquisition. Through the combination of Benedict …

2018 Kentucky River Watershed Watch: Annual Report, Malissa Mcalister

Kentucky River Watershed Watch

No abstract provided.

Perfluoroalkyl Substances Exposure And Cancer In Nhanes 2011-2016 U.S. Population, Michael Crowder

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Background: Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are persistent synthetic compounds that may have associated health risks.

Purpose: To explore the association between four common detectable serum PFASs perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctyl sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS), and perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA) and cancer risk in United States (U.S.) adults.

Methods: Data from 4,497 participants from the 2011–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) were analyzed. Gender stratified adjusted logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine association between serum PFASs tertiles and risk of cancer.

Results: Median (IQR) PFASs were significantly higher in men compared to women, and among individual with …

Dichlorophenol Exposure And Chronic Kidney Disease, Karla James

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Purpose: To explore the relationship between the common pesticides, 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and 2,5-dichlorophenol (2,5-DCP) with serum creatinine as a biomarker of kidney function. Methods: National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013 to 2014 data (N = 2,063, 47% male and 53% female) was used to statistically analyze the relationship between either of two common pesticides 2,4-DCP or 2,5-DCP and serum creatinine levels. Gender stratified analysis was completed using multivariate adjusted linear regression. Variables adjusted were age, ethnicity and annual household income. Results: In both males and females exposure to 2,4-DCP did not elevate serum creatinine and regression results …

Knowledge-Enabled Entity Extraction, Hussein S. Al-Olimat

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Information Extraction (IE) techniques are developed to extract entities, relationships, and other detailed information from unstructured text. The majority of the methods in the literature focus on designing supervised machine learning techniques, which are not very practical due to the high cost of obtaining annotations and the difficulty in creating high quality (in terms of reliability and coverage) gold standard. Therefore, semi-supervised and distantly-supervised techniques are getting more traction lately to overcome some of the challenges, such as bootstrapping the learning quickly. This dissertation focuses on information extraction, and in particular entities, i.e., Named Entity Recognition (NER), from multiple domains, …

Forage News [2019-01], Department Of Plant And Soil Sciences, University Of Kentucky

Forage News

• Get NAFA's 2019 Alfalfa Variety Ratings
• Evaluation of the Efficacy of Various Herbicides for the Control of Broadleaf and Buckhorn Plantain in Alfalfa
• Save Hay by Reducing Feeding Waste
• Don't Miss "The Dollars and Sense of Grazing", Forages at KCA, January 18th in Owensboro
• Taking Stock
• Winter Meeting Rundown

The European “Right To Be Forgotten”: A Solution To The Nonconsensual Pornography Problem In The United States?, Allie Piacenti

International Program Papers

No abstract provided.

Interaction Of Seed Dispersal And Environmental Filtering Affects Woody Encroachment Patterns In Coastal Grassland, Natasha N. Woods, Benjamin L. Dows, Evan B. Goldstein, Laura J. Moore, Donald R. Young, Julie C. Zinnert

Biology Publications

Encroachment of woody plants into grasslands has occurred worldwide and includes coastal ecosystems. This conversion process is mediated by seed dispersal patterns, environmental filtering, and biotic interactions. As spatiotemporally heterogeneous, harsh environments, barrier islands present a unique set of challenges for dispersal and establishment. Environmental conditions act as filters on dispersed seeds, thereby influencing encroachment and distribution patterns. Seldom have patterns of propagule dispersal been considered in the context of woody encroachment. We quantified dispersal and post‐dispersal processes of an encroaching woody population of Morella cerifera relative to directional rate of encroachment and observed distribution patterns on an Atlantic coastal …

A Metrics-Based Assessment Of Scotland's Science Landscape (2007-2016), Başak Candemir Phd, Eleonora Palmaro

Public Reports

Elsevier was commissioned by the Scottish Science Advisory Council (SSAC), to undertake a bibliometric-based assessment of the performance of Scotland’s scientific research base to provide ministers, officials and interested stakeholders with an objective overview. Similar analysis has been conducted for the UK, Scotland and Wales separately, in the past. Of course, publication outputs relate to only one of the many facets of the research system, but they do at least give an indication of the publication performance relative to other countries.

The report tracks the performance of Scotland’s scientific research base over a ten-year period (2007-2016), analysing a number of …

Standardizing The Law On Working Animals, Mallie A. Myers

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Reduced File Size: Quick And Easy Guide To Common Butterflies: An Introduction To The 25 Most Commonly Encountered Butterflies In The Midwest, Paul Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

If you are new to butterfly watching, this is the book for you! It covers 25 of the most commonly encountered butterflies in the Midwestern U.S. Learning these common species will give you a great start in your discovery of the more than 100 butterfly species in our region, many of which look very similar to those included in this guide.

Quick And Easy Guide To Common Butterflies: An Introduction To The 25 Most Commonly Encountered Butterflies In The Midwest, Paul Switzer

Faculty Research & Creative Activity

If you are new to butterfly watching, this is the book for you! It covers 25 of the most commonly encountered butterflies in the Midwestern U.S. Learning these common species will give you a great start in your discovery of the more than 100 butterfly species in our region, many of which look very similar to those included in this guide.