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Desulfurization Of Thiourea Into Guanidines And Benzoxazoles Using Electrochemical Oxidation Processes, Thao Huynh Nguyen Thanh

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

2-Aminobenzoxazoles and guanidines are important building block for therapeutic agents. The general synthetic strategies of 2-aminobenzoxazoles and guanidines from thioureas rely on the use of excess or stoichiometric amount of oxidizing agents, multiple-step route, and harsh reaction conditions. Hence, in this research, the synthesis of 2-aminobenzoxazole and guanidines will be developed under mild electrochemical oxidation processes using sodium iodide. Based on optimization study, we were able to synthesize 29 examples of 2-aminobenzoxazoles in good to high yields from 2-aminophenols and isothiocyanates in one pot under electro-cyclization using NaI/NaCl in catalytic amount. Moreover, 20 examples of guanidines were prepared in good …

Experience Of Community Violence Exposure Among Adolescents In Makassar, Indonesia, Andi Nurdini Yuridna Yudha

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Violence has been recognized as a global public health issue. The consequences go beyond one's health and socioeconomic well-being; it is a serious violation of human rights and security. Growing up in the midst of societal violence have proven to have impacts to adolescents social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. This study examines the association among sociodemographic, perception of aggressive behavior, perception of problem behavior, and history of drug abuse, towards the experience of community violence exposure (SEVC) among adolescents in Makassar Indonesia. Cross-sectional study were used to measure experience using online questionnaire, and Self-report of SEVC. The results out …

Effects Of Textured Mat On Lower Limb Muscle Activities And Body Sway In Individuals With Chronic Ankle Instability, Nanthiphak Konphet

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

A textured mat with flexible nubs is a novel type of unstable surface offering more texture variety than a conventional unstable surface. A textured mat may be utilized to improve balance and muscular activation in individuals with chronic ankle instability (CAI). The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of a textured mat versus a regular foam surface and a firm surface on lower limb muscle activity and postural control in individuals with CAI. This repeated measurements within subject study recruited 28 participants with CAI. A triaxial accelerometer and electromyograph were used to monitor the 10 muscles of …

Diagnostic Accuracy Of The Timed Up-And-Go Test With Different Types Of Cognitive Tasks For Mild Cognitive Impairment In Older Adults, Kanyakon Chanabangkaew

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The Timed Up-and-Go test (TUG) test with cognitive tasks was a motor and cognitive dual-task approach used to evaluate the level of cognitive ability in older adults. Moreover, the different types of cognitive tasks challenge different aspects of cognition and impact performance differently. To our knowledge, the accuracy of the TUG test with different types of cognitive tasks still lacks information regarding which cognitive tasks and test outcomes are optimal to use. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the accuracy of the TUG test with different types of cognitive tasks to detect older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). …

Effects Of Home-Based Exercise Using Balance Disc With Smartphone Inclinometer Application Feedback On Sitting Balance And Activity Of Daily Living In Individual With Stroke, Pantawit Aphiphaksakul

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Background: Sitting ability is critical for daily activities in individuals who have experienced a stroke. A combination of seated balance training on an unstable surface and real-time visual feedback via a simple mobile inclinometer application may improve trunk control in stroke survivors. Objective: This randomized controlled trial aimed to determine the effects of home-based exercise utilizing a balance disc with input from a smartphone inclinometer application on sitting balance and activities of daily living in stroke survivors. Methods: This trial enrolled 32 stroke survivors aged 30 to 75 years. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two groups: intervention or …

Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Analysis Of Thin-Smear-Contamination On Hdd Read-Write Head, Charin Seesomdee

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) is one of the most powerful analytical techniques for the identification of molecules in microelectronics industry for failure analysis protocol. In this work, a dry-processed gold nanoclusters were prepared by magnetron sputtering deposition to promote the enhancement of the Raman signal for the best intensity gain from selected common polymers found in hard disk drive as surface contamination. The optimized sputtering conditions was applied for SERS on polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polypropylene (PP), and high-density polyethylene (HDPE). The Raman spectrum showed the average Raman signal intensity gain at about 114%, 78%, 254%, and 226% respectively. …

การจัดสมดุลสายการประกอบผลิตภัณฑ์ผสมแบบขนานหลายวัตถุประสงค์ที่ทำงานโดยคนงานและหุ่นยนต์, สุพิชชา งามพานิช

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

ในงานวิจัยนี้ได้เสนอวิธีแก้ปัญหาของการจัดสมดุลสายการประกอบผลิตภัณฑ์ผสมลักษณะขนาน ที่มีการดำเดินงานการประกอบผลิตภัณฑ์โดยหุ่นยนต์, คนงาน และคนงานผู้พิการ สำหรับสายการประกอบแบบขนาน เป็นระบบการประกอบที่ประกอบด้วยสายการประกอบเส้นตรงตั้งแต่ 2 สายการประกอบขึ้นไป ถูกนำมาจัดเรียงในแนวขนานกัน มีข้อดีคือ ทำให้สามารถลดรอบเวลาของสายการประกอบลงได้ โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่งในกรณีที่เวลาดำเนินงานของบางขั้นงานมีค่าสูงกว่ารอบเวลาที่ต้องการของสายการประกอบ ในงานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์ในการแก้ปัญหาของจัดสมดุลสายการประกอบ 5 วัตถุประสงค์ ได้แก่ 1) ประสิทธิภาพของสายการประกอบมากที่สุด 2) ปริมาณการปล่อยฝุ่น PM2.5 จากหุ่นยนต์เฉลี่ยมีค่าน้อยที่สุด 3) ความแตกต่างของภาระงานเฉลี่ยระหว่างสถานีงานน้อยที่สุด 4) ค่าความแปรปรวนจากการใช้พลังงานของพนักงานน้อยที่สุด 5) มูลค่าภาษีที่สามารถประหยัดได้จากการจ้างงานคนพิการมากที่สุด ซึ่งถือเป็นปัญหาแบบเอ็นพีแบบยาก (NP-hard) ทำให้เป็นไปได้ยากที่จะได้คำตอบที่ดีที่สุด (Optimal Solution) ในระยะเวลาที่จำกัด ดังนั้นจึงจะประยุกต์ใช้อัลกอริทึมวิธีการเชิงวิวัฒนาการแบบมากวัตถุประสงค์ ที่ถูกจัดว่าเป็นเมตาฮิวริสติก (Metaheuristic) ในการแก้ปัญหา, พัฒนาคำตอบ และค้นหาค่าที่ดีที่สุดพร้อมๆกันไปของแต่ละวัตถุประสงค์ โดยอัลกอริทึมที่จะศึกษาและทำการเปรียบเทียบประสิทธิภาพในการแก้ปัญหาของงานวิจัยนี้คือ วิธีการเชิงวิวัฒนาการแบบหลายวัตถุประสงค์โดยยึดหลักการจำแนก (MOEA/D) และ วิธีเชิงพันธุกรรมแบบการจัดลำดับที่ไม่ถูกครอบงำ III (NSGA-III) จากผลการเปรีบยเทียบตัวชี้วัดสมรรถนะของงานวิจัยแสดงให้เห็นว่า NSGA-III มีสมรรถนะที่ดีเหนือกว่า MOEA/D ในเกือบทุกโจทย์ปัญหา

Efficacy Of Topical Cbd Application In Dogs Undergoing Medial Patellar Luxation Surgery., Natnicha Pansin

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

In this study, the post-operative pain and inflammation management after undergoing medial patellar luxation surgery in dogs by the use of CBD ointment and topical NSIADs were compared. The data was collected from the surgery during November 2021 to April 2022, including 10 Pomeranians and 4 Chihuahuas, which were medial patellar luxation (MPL) grade 3. The samples were divided into 3 groups, inclusive of control group and treatment groups that were samples receiving CBD ointment and topical NSAIDs. The clinical evaluations were collected for 2 weeks, which consisted of clinical wound healing evaluation, lameness score, weight bearing score, pain score, …

Development Of A Bacterial Consortium For The Degradation Of Pla Plastic At Ambient Temperature And In Conventional Composting, Avnish Mistry

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Polylactic acid (PLA), a bio-thermoplastic, is widely commercialized to replace synthetic plastics. However, PLA degradability is uncertain at ambient temperature, while industrial composting often requires high temperature and moisture. Therefore, this study aims to develop a bacterial consortium that can biodegrade PLA films with high molecular weight, at an ambient temperature of 30°C and in conventional composting. Polymeric waste were enriched with PLA, which increased the relative abundances of Proteobacteria, Bacteroidia and Actinobacteria. An inverted pyramid strategy was used to screen for the best PLA-degraders from twenty-seven bacterial strains isolated from the enriched samples. Nocardioides zeae EA12, Stenotrophomonas pavanii EA33, …

Plasmodium Bubalis; The Development Of An Effective Detection Method, The Course Of Infection, Co-Infection, Multi-Gene Phylogeny, And The Potential Vector, Yudhi Ratna Nugraheni

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Ungulate malaria parasites, such as the species that infects farmed dairy buffaloes (Plasmodium bubalis), have received little attention, with only a few reports in other livestock animals. Therefore, a comprehensive understanding of the parasites, hosts, and mosquito vectors for their biology and molecular evolution remains inadequate. This study aimed to investigate the natural infection of P. bubalis and its suspected vector, develop an effective detection method, and analyze the genome of P. bubalis and related genera. A total of 177 buffaloes’ blood samples were collected from 2019 to 2021 to evaluate the malaria infection status. Mosquitoes were also collected (1,652 …

Ligo Detector Characterization In The Second And Third Observing Runs, D. Davis, J. S. Areeda, B. K. Berger, R. Bruntz, A. Effler, R. C. Essick, R. P. Fisher, B. Martinez, Karla E. Ramirez, P. Godwin

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

The characterization of the Advanced LIGO detectors in the second and third observing runs has increased the sensitivity of the instruments, allowing for a higher number of detectable gravitational-wave signals, and provided confirmation of all observed gravitational-wave events. In this work, we present the methods used to characterize the LIGO detectors and curate the publicly available datasets, including the LIGO strain data and data quality products. We describe the essential role of these datasets in LIGO–Virgo Collaboration analyses of gravitational-waves from both transient and persistent sources and include details on the provenance of these datasets in order to support analyses …

Open Data From The First And Second Observing Runs Of Advanced Ligo And Advanced Virgo, Rich Abbott, Thomas D. Abbott, Amit Aich, Guldauren Bissenbayeva, Teviet Creighton, Mario C. Diaz, Malik Rakhmanov, Karla E. Ramirez, Palash K. Roy, Wenhui Wang, Adam Zadrozny

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo are monitoring the sky and collecting gravitational-wave strain data with sufficient sensitivity to detect signals routinely. In this paper we describe the data recorded by these instruments during their first and second observing runs. The main data products are gravitational-wave strain time series sampled at 16384 Hz. The datasets that include this strain measurement can be freely accessed through the Gravitational Wave Open Science Center at http://gw-openscience.org, together with data-quality information essential for the analysis of LIGO and Virgo data, documentation, tutorials, and supporting software.

Search For Continuous Gravitational-Wave Signals In Pulsar Timing Residuals: A New Scalable Approach With Diffusive Nested Sampling, Yu-Yang Songsheng, Yi-Qian Qian, Yan-Rong Li, Pu Du, Jie-Wen Chen, Yan Wang, Soumya Mohanty, Jian-Min Wang

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Detecting continuous nanohertz gravitational waves (GWs) generated by individual close binaries of supermassive black holes (CB-SMBHs) is one of the primary objectives of pulsar timing arrays (PTAs). The detection sensitivity is slated to increase significantly as the number of well-timed millisecond pulsars will increase by more than an order of magnitude with the advent of next-generation radio telescopes. Currently, the Bayesian analysis pipeline using parallel tempering Markov Chain Monte Carlo has been applied in multiple studies for CB-SMBH searches, but it may be challenged by the high dimensionality of the parameter space for future large-scale PTAs. One solution is to …

"No Nos Importaba A Nadie”: Navegando En La Búsqueda Del Éxito Académico En Oaxaca, México, Mneesha Gellman

Emerson Authors, Researchers, & Creators

N/A

The Nanograv 12.5 Yr Data Set: Wideband Timing Of 47 Millisecond Pulsars, Md F. Alam, Zaven Arzoumanian, Paul T. Baker, Harsha Blumer, Keith E. Bohler, Keeisi Caballero, Richard S. Camuccio, Yhamil Garcia, Jing Luo

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a new analysis of the profile data from the 47 millisecond pulsars comprising the 12.5 yr data set of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves, which is presented in a parallel paper (Alam et al., hereafter NG12.5). Our reprocessing is performed using “wideband” timing methods, which use frequency-dependent template profiles, simultaneous time-of-arrival (TOA) and dispersion measure (DM) measurements from broadband observations, and novel analysis techniques. In particular, the wideband DM measurements are used to constrain the DM portion of the timing model. We compare the ensemble timing results to those in NG12.5 by examining the …

Distribution, Bars, And Arcade Stars: Joe Anthony’S Entrepreneurial Expansion In Houston’S Gay Media Industries, Finley Freibert

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

This article develops the concept of "gay useful media" to explore a case study of gay entrepreneurship in Houston, Texas, of the 1970s. A father and son developed a gay media empire in the city, which spanned bars, bookstores, distribution, and vending. One of the pair's key establishments was Houston's legendary gay bar Mary's at 1022 Westheimer (also known as Mary's Lounge, Mary's, Naturally, and Mary's…Naturally).

“With Facebook, You Have A Voice:” Neoliberalism And Activism In Mark Zuckerberg’S Georgetown Address, Calvin Coker, Ryan Corso-Gonzales

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

In October of 2019, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg streamed a speech from Georgetown University defending the company’s practice of not regulating or rejecting blatantly false political advertisements placed on their site. The speech, part of his “transparency tour” to allay concerns about the growing social power and stunning irresponsibility of Facebook, presents a troubling articulation of “voice” along neoliberal lines that atomizes the individual, separates activism from communities, and conflates activity on Facebook with free expression. In this essay, we use rhetorical scholarship on voice to illuminate how Zuckerberg’s speech both relies on and retrenches neoliberal rationality to flatten difference …

Rework The Network: Implementing Virtual Outreach Methods In The Covid Era, Alexandra Howard

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic forced academic libraries to be innovative and efficient in shifting to support online learning. While there has been much discussion of online teaching resources and tools among librarians and educators, there has been less of a focus on online outreach and virtual networking. This article presents a case study describing how a new liaison librarian used virtual outreach to build relationships in her liaison subject area, leading to opportunities for research assistance and instruction despite the challenges of starting as a new librarian in the midst of a global pandemic.

Epigenetic Mechanisms Underlying Hiv-Infection Induced Susceptibility Of Cd4+ T Cells To Enhanced Activation-Induced Fasl Expression And Cell Death., Smita Ghare, Paula M. Chilton, Aakarsha V. Rao, Swati Joshi-Barve, Paula Peyrani, Andrea Reyes-Vega, Craig J. Mcclain, Kendall Bryant, Robert L. Cook, Mathew Freiberg, Shirish Barve

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Background:

Chronic immune activation and CD4⁺ T cell depletion are significant pathogenic features of HIV infection. Expression of Fas ligand (FasL), a key mediator of activation-induced cell death in T cells, is elevated in people living with HIV-1 infection (PLWH). However, the epigenetic mechanisms underlying the enhanced induction of FasL expression in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in PLWH are not completely elucidated. Hence, the current work examined the effect of HIV infection on FasL promoter-associated histone modifications and transcriptional regulation in CD4⁺ T lymphocytes in PLWH.

Method:

Flow cytometric analysis was performed to examine the Fas-FasL expression on …

Decentering From Distress In The Moment: A Brief Randomized Control Trial, Sheila Hanson

Theses and Dissertations

The utility of mindfulness techniques to regulate emotions and enhance distress tolerance is an area of expanding research interest. Decentering, a mindfulness mechanism believed to exert therapeutic influence, is the realization that thoughts, feelings, and reactions are transitory patterns of mental activity. Existing research indicates that decentering may occur through brief mindfulness interventions. Most studies concerning brief mindfulness induce a state of mindfulness prior to a task to examine its influence on dependent variables, such as cognitive or emotional outcomes after mindfulness. This study is novel and fills a gap in the literature regarding the utility of inducing state mindfulness …

Spatial Transferability Of Expert Opinion Models For American Beaver Habitat, Isidro Barela, Leslie M. Burger, Guiming Wang, Kristine O. Evans, Qingmin Meng, Jimmy D. Taylor

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Species distribution models and habitat suitability models (HSMs) have become a popular tool in the conservation of biodiversity. However, the ability to predict species spatial distributions at sites beyond the data source sites (i.e., spatial transferability) is critical for the applications of HSMs in the management and conservation of rare or endangered species. The main objective of our study was to assess the predictive performance and spatial transferability of expert opinion models (EOMs). To build EOMs, we identified through extensive literature reviews 17 key landscape variables to characterize habitat use by American beaver (Castor canadensis). We developed 31 pairwise opinion …

Evidence For Continental-Scale Dispersal Of Antimicrobial Resistant Bacteria By Landfill-Foraging Gulls, Christina A. Ahlstrom, Mariëlle L. Van Toor, Hanna Woksepp, Jeffrey C. Chandler, John A. Reed, Andrew B. Reeves, Jonas Waldenström, Alan B. Franklin, David C. Douglas, Jonas Bonnedahl, Andrew M. Ramey

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anthropogenic inputs into the environment may serve as sources of antimicrobial resistant bacteria and alter the ecology and population dynamics of synanthropic wild animals by providing supplemental forage. In this study, we used a combination of phenotypic and genomic approaches to characterize antimicrobial resistant indicator bacteria, animal telemetry to describe host movement patterns, and a novel modeling approach to combine information fromthese diverse data streams to investigate the acquisition and long-distance dispersal of antimicrobial resistant bacteria by landfill-foraging gulls. Our results provide evidence that gulls acquire antimicrobial resistant bacteria from anthropogenic sources, which they may subsequently disperse across and between …

Evaluating Potential Effects Of Solar Power Facilities On Wildlife From An Animal Behavior Perspective, Rachel Y. Chock, Barbara Clucas, Elizabeth K. Peterson, Bradley Blackwell, Daniel T. Blumstein, Kathleen Church, Esteban Fernández-Juricic, Gabriel Francescoli, Alison L. Greggor, Paul Kemp, Gabriela M. Pinho, Peter M. Sanzenbacher, Bruce A. Schulte, Pauline Toni

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Solar power is a renewable energy source with great potential to help meet increasing global energy demands and reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. However, research is scarce on how solar facilities affect wildlife. With input from professionals in ecology, conservation, and energy, we conducted a research-prioritization process and identified key questions needed to better understand impacts of solar facilities on wildlife. We focused on animal behavior, which can be used to identify population responses before mortality or other fitness consequences are documented. Behavioral studies can also offer approaches to understand the mechanisms leading to negative interactions (e.g., collision, singeing, …

Multi-Level Movement Response Of Invasive Wild Pigs (Sus Scrofa) To Removal, Guillaume Bastille-Rousseau, Peter E. Schlichting, David A. Keiter, Joshua B. Smith, John C. Kilgo, George Wittemyer, Kurt C. Vercauteren, James C. Beasley, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

BACKGROUND: Lethal removal of invasive species, such as wild pigs (Sus scrofa), is often the most efficient approach for reducing their negative impacts. Wild pigs are one of the most widespread and destructive invasive mammals in the USA. Lethal management techniques are a key approach for wild pigs and can alter wild pig spatial behavior, but it is unclear how wild pigs respond to the most common removal technique, trapping.We investigated the spatial behavior of wild pigs following intensive removal of conspecifics via trapping at three sites within the Savannah River Site, SC, USA. We evaluated changes in …

Food Habits Of Wintering Double-Crested Cormorants In The Mississippi Delta, Terrel W. Christie, Brian S. Dorr, J. Brian Davis, Luke A. Roy, Carole R. Engle, Katie Hanson-Dorr, Anita M. Kelly

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Given its ubiquity, it is not surprising that agriculture, including fin fish aquaculture, contributes to food webs worldwide and is used by numerous wildlife for foraging and meeting other needs. Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) impact United States commercial aquaculture and are considered the primary avian predator in catfish (Ictalurus spp.) aquaculture facilities in the Mississippi Delta. Recent changes in aquaculture practices, regulatory policies, and decreased overall hectares in production prompted this study that assessed cormorant consumption of catfish in relation to their night roosts through surveys and diet analysis. Cormorants were collected from night roosts from October …

Principal Economic Effects Of Cormorant Predation On Catfish Farms, Carole R. Engle, Terrel W. Christie, Brian S. Dorr, Ganesh Kumar, Luke A. Roy, Anita M. Kelly

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Substantial economic losses of farmed catfish to fish-eating birds such as the double-crested cormorant, Phalacrocorax auritus, continue to be reported on U.S. catfish farms. An economic analysis was conducted of the on-farm effects of both the increased expenditures to scare fish-eating birds from catfish farms and of the value of the catfish that were consumed by cormorants. A survey was conducted of U.S. catfish farmers in the Delta region of Mississippi and Arkansas, to obtain farm-level data on expenditures to scare birds. Estimations of the lost revenue from catfish consumed by cormorants were developed from a concurrent study on …

Environmental Correlates Of Genetic Variation In The Invasive European Starling In North America, Natalie R. Hofmeister, Scott J. Werner, Irby J. Lovette

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Populations of invasive species that colonize and spread in novel environments may differentiate both through demographic processes and local selection. European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) were introduced to New York in 1890 and subsequently spread throughout North America, becoming one of the most widespread and numerous bird species on the continent. Genome-wide comparisons across starling individuals and populations can identify demographic and/or selective factors that facilitated this rapid and successful expansion. We investigated patterns of genomic diversity and differentiation using reduced-representation genome sequencing of 17 winter-season sampling sites. Consistent with this species' high dispersal rate and rapid expansion history, …

Continental-Scale Dynamics Of Avian Influenza In U.S. Waterfowl Are Driven By Demography, Migration, And Temperature, Erin E. Gorsich, Colleen T. Webb, Andrew A. Merton, Jennifer A. Hoeting, Ryan S. Miller, Matthew Farnsworth, Seth R. Swafford, Thomas J. Deliberto, Kerri Pedersen, Alan B. Franklin, Robert G. Mclean, Kenneth R. Wilson, Paul Doherty

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Emerging diseases of wildlife origin are increasingly spilling over into humans and domestic animals. Surveillance and risk assessments for transmission between these populations are informed by a mechanistic understanding of the pathogens in wildlife reservoirs. For avian influenza viruses (AIV), much observational and experimental work in wildlife has been conducted at local scales, yet fully understanding their spread and distribution requires assessing the mechanisms acting at both local, (e.g., intrinsic epidemic dynamics), and continental scales, (e.g., long-distance migration). Here, we combined a large, continental-scale data set on low pathogenic, Type A AIV in the United States with a novel network-based …

Embracing Dynamic Models For Gene Drive Management, Andrew J. Golnar, Emily W. Ruell, Alun L. Lloyd, Kim M. Pepin

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Robust methods of predicting how gene drive systems will interact with ecosystems is essential for safe deployment of gene drive technology. We describe how quantitative tools can reduce risk uncertainty, streamline empirical research, guide risk management, and promote cross-sector collaboration throughout the process of gene drive technology development and implementation.

Gene drive technologies, although diverse in design and mode of action, are molecular architectures that promote the transmission of genetic information between generations. In theory, the release of one gene-drive-modified organism (GDMO) has the potential to irreversibly alter species, ecosystems, and environmental processes at a global scale (although in practice …

Temporal And Spatial Blood Feeding Patterns Of Urban Mosquitoes In The San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico, Matthew W. Hopken, Limarie J. Reyes-Torres, Nicole Scavo, Antoinette J. Piaggio, Zaid Abdo, Daniel Taylor, James Pierce, Donald A. Yee

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Simple Summary: Understanding the biodiversity of urban ecosystems is critical for management of invasive and pest species, conserving native species, and disease control. Mosquitoes (Culicidae) are ubiquitous and abundant in urban ecosystems, and rely on blood meals taken from vertebrates. We used DNA from freshly blood-fed mosquitoes to characterize the diversity of vertebrate host species in the San Juan Metropolitan Area, Puerto Rico. We collected two mosquito species that fed on a variety of vertebrates. Culex quinquefasciatus fed on 17 avian taxa (81.2% of blood meals), seven mammalian taxa (17.9%), and one reptilian taxon (0.85%). Aedes aegypti blood meals were …