Digital Commons Network^™

Microbiomes And Disease Suppressiveness Of Soils From Managed And Abandoned Orchards In New Hampshire, Madeleine Hassett

Master's Theses and Capstones

The soil microbiome is an essential component of ecosystem productivity. In agricultural systems, the soil microbiome significantly impacts plant health and the subsequent yield and productivity of those systems. Due to increasing demands on the food supply and the many challenges posed by climate change, soil fertility loss, and plant pathogens, modern agricultural systems often employ the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides that can have detrimental effects on human health and the environment. These chemicals also significantly affect soil microbiomes, and although the extent of these effects are still unknown, changes in diversity or functionality of plant associated microbiomes …

Seasonal Feeding And Movement Responses Of Resident Sculpin In The Canadian Arctic, Nathan Thomas Hermann

Master's Theses and Capstones

Environments change across space and time, requiring organisms to adapt behaviorally and/or physiologically. In the Arctic, where productivity varies greatly among seasons, many marine species exploit a resource pulse associated with annual ice melt. Melting sea-ice releases zooplankton on and within the ice into open water causing many consumers to migrate with the receding ice; however, resident species may too rely on the ephemeral prey source. Fourhorn Sculpin (Myoxocephalus quadricornis) and Slimy Sculpin (Cottus cognatus) are residents of Tremblay Sound, Nunavut Canada which is known as a seasonally productive system in the Arctic. I characterized the seasonal behavior of sculpin …

Efficacy Of Snap Education And Associations Between Diet Quality And Chronic Disease Risk In Bhutanese Refugees, Dustin Moore

Master's Theses and Capstones

OBJECTIVES: To quantify the longitudinal effects of a direct SNAP-Ed intervention on diet, systemic inflammation, and gut microbiota among adult Bhutanese refugees. To measure the cross-sectional associations between dietary quality, inflammation, and gut microbial producers of short chain fatty acids (SCFA).METHODS: A convenience sample of 54 Bhutanese refugee adults (mean age=47 ± 2 years, 83% female) residing in New Hampshire was block randomized into the SNAP-Ed or control group. The SNAP-Ed intervention consisted of six one-hour nutrition lessons taught by a bi-cultural community health worker in the participants’ homes. Three 24-hour recalls were used to assess dietary intake at baseline …

Quantification Of Marine Acoustic Environments, Dylan Charles Wilford

Master's Theses and Capstones

The soundscape is an acoustic environment made up of all sounds arriving at a receiver. A methodology for the analysis of soundscapes was developed in an attempt to facilitate efficient and accurate soundscape comparisons across time and space. The methodology included generating and combining results from a collection of traditional soundscape metrics, statistical measures, and acoustic indices that were selected to quantify several salient properties of marine soundscapes: amplitude, impulsiveness, periodicity, and uniformity. The metrics were calculated using approximately 30 hours using semi-continuous passive acoustic data gathered in seven unique acoustic environments. The calculated values for each candidate metric were …

Short & Long-Term Restoration Dynamics Of Created Freshwater And Estuarine Wetlands, James Grant Mckown

Master's Theses and Capstones

The restoration of tidal and freshwater wetlands either through compensatory mitigationor voluntary efforts have become a major strategy to conserve remaining wetland resources after historic losses and in the face of current unprecedented threats. Prior efforts of wetland restoration have often fallen short of expectations due to the reliance of a compliance success framework, which requires short monitoring timeframes, misapplies successional theories, and defines success of projects into a yes or no dichotomy. Decades of advancement in restoration ecology theory and its application to wetland ecology and botany have led to the development of a functional success framework to improve …

Impact Of National And Municipal Environmental Standards On The Development Of Effective Solid Waste Management Systems In Jeddah, Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia, Raed Bin Sadan

Dissertations & Theses

The following research paper analyzes the impact of national and municipal environmental standards on the development of effective Solid waste management systems in Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The research is essential in ensuring that there are notable positive changes in the disposal of solid waste by both the local government and the national government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The following paper follows a strategic plan and procedure in ensuring achievement of the goal and purpose of the research. The approach used in this paper is a comparison of the current local system and a proposed improvement of …

Induced Polarization Effects In Airborne Transient Electromagnetic Data Collected In The Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Denys Grombacher, Esben Auken, Nikolaj Foged, Thue Bording, Neil Foley, Peter T. Doran, Jill Mikucki, Hilary A. Dugan, Ricardo Garza-Giron, Krista Myers, Ross A. Virginia, Slawek Tulaczyk

Faculty Publications

Airborne electromagnetics (EM) is a geophysical tool well suited to mapping glacial and hydrogeological structures in polar environments. This non-invasive method offers significant spatial coverage without requiring access to the ground surface, enabling the mapping of geological units to hundreds of metres depth over highly varied terrain. This method shows great potential for large-scale surveys in polar environments, as common targets such as permafrost, ice and brine-rich groundwater systems in these settings can be easily differentiated because of their significant contrasts in electrical properties. This potential was highlighted in a 2011 airborne EM survey in the McMurdo Dry Valleys that …

September 2021 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Multilevel Modeling Of Interval-Contingent Data In Neuropsychology Research Using The Imertest Package In R, Richard S. Pond Jr., Matison W. Mccool, Brian A. Bulla

Faculty Publications

Intensive longitudinal research designs are becoming more common in the field of neuropsychology. They are a powerful approach to studying development and change in naturally occurring phenomena. However, to fully capitalize on the wealth of data yielded by these designs, researchers have to understand the nature of multilevel data structures. The purpose of the present article is to describe some of the basic concepts and techniques involved in modeling multilevel data structures. In addition, this article serves as a step-by-step tutorial to demonstrate how neuropsychologists can implement basic multilevel modeling techniques with real data and the R package, lmerTest. R …

Tick Salivary Gland Extract Induces Alpha-Gal Syndrome In Alpha-Gal Deficient Mice, Shailesh K. Choudhary, Shahid Karim, Onyinye I. Iweala, Shivangi Choudhary, Gary Crispell, Surendra Raj Sharma, Claire T. Addison, Mike Kulis, Brian H. Herrin, Susan E. Little, Scott P. Commins

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Alpha-gal syndrome (AGS) is characterized by delayed hypersensitivity to non-primate mammalian meat in people having specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) to the oligosaccharide galactose-alpha-1,3-galactose. AGS has been linked to tick bites from Amblyomma americanum (Aa) in the U.S. A small animal model of meat allergy is needed to study the mechanism of alpha-gal sensitization, the effector phase leading to delayed allergic responses and potential therapeutics to treat AGS.

Methods: Eight- to ten-weeks old mice with a targeted inactivation of alpha-1,3-galactosyltransferase (AGKO) were injected intradermally with 50 μg of Aa tick salivary gland extract (TSGE) on days …

Arkansas Wheat Performance Tests 2020-2021, J. F. Carlin, R. D. Bond, D. E. Moon, R. B. Morgan

Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Research Series

Wheat variety performance tests are conducted each year in Ark- ansas by the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, Department of Crop, Soil, and Environmental Sciences. The tests provide informa- tion to companies developing varieties and marketing seed within the state and aid the Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in formulating variety recommendations for small-grain producers. The tests are conducted at the Northeast Research and Extension Center at Keiser, the Vegetable Substation near Kibler, the Lon Mann Cotton Research Station near Marianna, the Jackson County Extension Center near Newport, the Pine Tree Research Station near Colt, …

Faculty Research Profile: Dr. Vincent F. Chevrier, Lutishoor Salisbury, Jeremy Smith, Yang Tian

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This poster was compiled to commemorate the promotion of Dr. Dr. Vincent F. Chevrier to Associate Research Professor in the Department of the Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arkansas, July 2020. It provides a summary of his research achievements and scholarly impact.

Validation Of A Single Channel Eeg For The Athlete: A Machine Learning Protocol To Accurately Detect Sleep Stages, Kayla Thompson, Kamil Celoch, Frankie Pizzo, Ana I. Fins, Jaime Tartar

Journal for Sports Neuroscience

There is a large and growing movement towards the use of wearable technologies for sleep assessment. This trend is largely due to the desire for comfortable, burden free, and inexpensive technology. In tandem, given the competitive nature of professional athletes enduring high training load, sleep is often jeopardized which can result in adverse outcomes. Wearable devices hold the promise of increasing the ease of monitoring sleep in athletes which can inform health and recovery status, as well as aid performance optimization. However, wearable devices typically lack sufficient validity to assess sleep – and especially sleep stages. To address this concern, …

College Course Materials, Affordability Initiatives Across Tennessee, Tennessee. Comptroller Of The Treasury.

Office of Research and Education Accountability

No abstract provided.

Office Of Research, Economic Engagement And Outreach Update, September 22, 2021, Office Of Research, Economic Engagement And Outreach

Office of Research, Economic Engagement and Outreach

No abstract provided.

Verification And Validation Of Radiation Protection Factors From Monte Carlo Simulations, William J. Erwin

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation describes the verification and validation of methods for producing radiation protection factors (RPFs) using experiments and Monte Carlo N-Particle 6 (MCNP6) simulations. RPF validation of a steel enclosure using a plutonium-beryllium source produced a validated RPF with statistically significant agreement between neutron MCNP6 models and experiments and a gamma protection factor (GPF) with statistically significant agreement to the measured GPF. Efforts to validate more complex enclosures using the Fast Burst Reactor (FBR) yielded the first-ever direct measurements of this reactor’s prompt gamma emission spectrum and revealed irreconcilable differences between the FBR facility-provided source spectrum and spectrometer measurements, resulting …

Multiprong Control Of Glioblastoma Multiforme Invasiveness: Blockade Of Pro-Inflammatory Signaling, Anti-Angiogenesis, And Homeostasis Restoration, Nicolas G. Bazan, Madigan M. Reid, Valerie A.Cruz Flores, Juan E. Gallo, William Lewis, Ludmila Belayev

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most invasive type of glial tumor with poor overall survival, despite advances in surgical resection, chemotherapy, and radiation. One of the main challenges in treating GBM is related to the tumor’s location, complex and heterogeneous biology, and high invasiveness. To meet the demand for oxygen and nutrients, growing tumors induce new blood vessels growth. Antibodies directed against vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which promotes angiogenesis, have been developed to limit tumor growth. Bevacizumab (Avastin), an anti-VEGF monoclonal antibody, is the first approved angiogenesis inhibitor with therapeutic promise. However, it has limited efficacy, likely due to …

Inactivation Mode Of Sodium Channels Defines The Different Maximal Firing Rates Of Conventional Versus Atypical Midbrain Dopamine Neurons, Christopher J. Knowlton, Tabea Ines Ziouziou, Niklas Hammer, Jochen Roeper, Carmen C. Canavier

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Two subpopulations of midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons are known to have different dynamic firing ranges in vitro that correspond to distinct projection targets: the originally identified conventional DA neurons project to the dorsal striatum and the lateral shell of the nucleus accumbens, whereas an atypical DA population with higher maximum firing frequencies projects to prefrontal regions and other limbic regions including the medial shell of nucleus accumbens. Using a computational model, we show that previously identified differences in biophysical properties do not fully account for the larger dynamic range of the atypical population and predict that the major difference is …

Dha But Not Epa Induces The Trans-Differentiation Of C2c12 Cells Into White-Like Adipocytes Phenotype, Saeed Jebor Ghnaimawi, Lisa Rebello, Jamie Baum, Yan Huang

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Muscle derived stem cells (MDSCs) and myoblast play an important role in myotube regeneration when muscle tissue is injured. However, these cells can be induced to differentiate into adipocytes once exposed to PPARγ activator like EPA and DHA that are highly suggested during pregnancy. The objective of this study aims at determining the identity of trans-differentiated cells by exploring the effect of EPA and DHA on C2C12 undergoing differentiation into brown and white adipocytes. DHA but not EPA committed C2C12 cells reprograming into white like adipocyte phenotype. Also, DHA promoted the expression of lipolysis regulating genes but had no effect …

Genetic Diversity And Population Structure Of Sugarcane (Saccharum Officinarum L.) Collected From Seven Philippine Regions For Use As Breeding Stocks For Crop Improvement, Jan Leandro Acedera, Jhun Laurence Rasco, Jemimah Banganan, Antonio Lalusin

The Philippine Agricultural Scientist

Selection of parents for hybridization relies on the information on their genetic relationship and diversity which are essential in any breeding program. This study aimed to estimate the extent of genetic diversity and population structure of 76 sugarcane accessions from seven regions in the Philippines using 57 morphological characters and 50 microsatellite markers. The sugarcane collections exhibited moderate to high diversity with mean of H’ = 0.72 for qualitative and H’ = 0.75 for quantitative morphological characters, respectively. This is corroborated by the analysis of variance (ANOVA) of agronomic parameters, except for stalk length. Unweighted Pair Group Method with Arithmetic …

Montanan, Fall 2021, University Of Montana--Missoula

Montanan Magazine, 1969-2024

This is the magazine of the University of Montana with news about the University for UM alumni as well as current faculty, students, staff, and administrators. This is volume 38.

Nrsm 265.01: Elements Of Ecological Restoration, Diana L. Six, Lisa A. Edy

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Nrsm 428.01: Climate Policy, Brian C. Chaffin

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Nrsm 500.01: Conservation Social Science Methods, Michael Patterson

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Wild 170.00: Fish And Wildlife Interest Group, Erim Gomez

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Antimicrobial Resistance: A Challenge Awaiting The Post-Covid-19 Era, Tekle Airgecho Lobie, Aklilu Abrham Roba, James Alexander Booth, Knut Ivan Kristiansen, Abraham Aseffa, Kirsten Skarstad, Magnar Bjørås

Research on Antimicrobial Resistance

Microbe exposure to pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical agents plays a role in the development of antibiotic resistance. The risks and consequences associated with extensive disinfectant use during the COVID-19 pandemic remain unclear. Some disinfectants, like sanitizers, contain genotoxic chemicals that damage microbial DNA, like phenol and hydrogen peroxide. This damage activates error-prone DNA repair enzymes, which can lead to mutations that induce antimicrobial resistance. Public health priority programs that have faced drug-resistance challenges associated with diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV, and malaria, have given less attention to risks attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. Pathogen-specific programs, like the directly observed treatment strategy …

Role Of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter-2 Inhibitors In Readmissions For Congestive Heart Failure, Joseph Keryakos, Robert Kranz, Rachel Propst, Jena Rathert, Kelli Semerad

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Background: Patients with type II diabetes are at major risk for cardiovascular disease. Sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 inhibitors (SGLT-2 inhibitors) have demonstrated benefit for these patients. The purpose of this study is to determine whether SGLT-2 inhibitors significantly reduce heart failure readmission rates and improve outcomes in patients with congestive heart failure (CHF).

Methods: Patient data was pulled on CHF patients with an active prescription for an SGLT-2 inhibitor, and it was analyzed using Fischer’s Exact tests and two-tailed t-tests. The primary outcome was a 6-month hospital readmission rate due to CHF while taking SGLT-2 inhibitors. Secondary outcomes included 6-month …

Investigating Rurality As A Risk Factor For State And Trait Hopelessness In Hospitalized Patients With Ischemic Heart Disease, Deb Bomgaars, Gwenneth A. Jensen, Lynn L. White, Kristin M. Vande Griend, Angela Kroeze Visser, Madison P. Goodyke, Anna Luong, Nathan L. Tintle, Susan L. Dunn

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

Background

Rurality and hopelessness are each associated with increased mortality in adults with ischemic heart disease (IHD), yet there is no known research examining rurality as a risk factor for hopelessness in patients with IHD. This study evaluated rurality as a risk factor for state and trait hopelessness in adults hospitalized with IHD in samples drawn from the Great Lakes and Great Plains regions of the United States.

Methods and Results

A descriptive cross‐sectional design was used. Data were collected from 628 patients hospitalized for IHD in the Great Lakes (n=516) and Great Plains (n=112). Rural–Urban Commuting Area codes were …

Why Disability Studies In Criminal Law And Procedure?, Jamelia N. Morgan

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

Current Status Of Non-Disease Modifying Gene Therapy In Parkinson’S Disease, Muhammad Shariq Shaikh, Syed Ahsan Ali, Dureshahwar Kanwar

Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences (PJNS)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a chronic progressive neurological disorder characterized by bradykinesia, tremor, muscular rigidity, and postural instability. The world-wide prevalence is expected to rise further with increasing mean age. Theoretically, if all desired elements required for dopamine synthesis are functionally available, need for exogenous L-DOPA administration can be eliminated or markedly reduced. However, lack of effective long-term treatment has led to extensive gene therapy research focusing both on disease modifying as well as non-disease modifying aspects. Since genetic lesions are found in both familial as well as sporadic PD cases, the principle of introducing a normal gene to cure …