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The Impact Of Leaf Litter Diversity On The Colonization Of Aquatic Insects, Daniel Edwards

Master's Theses

Ephemeral pools provide habitat to a wide diversity of aquatic insects which colonize pools to establish new populations in higher quality habitats. These pools rely on nutrient inputs from the surrounding terrestrial landscape, predominantly through leaf litter. Using mesocosms, we tested for the effect of leaf litter diversity (richness and functional diversity) on the colonization of aquatic insects. Leaf litter influences characteristics of a pool (tannins, water color, and nutrients) which may make them more or less desirable to potential colonizers. I added unique mixtures of leaf litter with different numbers of species (0, 3, 5, 7, and 9) and …

Deadwood Facilitates Increased Predators Resulting In Distinct And Functionally Different Leaf Litter Communities, Nicholas Benedetto

Master's Theses

Community structure and ecosystem function may be driven by the amount and size of habitat or energy within an environment, but these metrics (space and energy) are difficult to separate, especially in systems where habitat is also a source of energy such as detritus (dead organic matter including deadwood). Deadwood can impact forest food webs through the creation of habitat and provision of resources and initial differences in wood characteristics may differentially impact food webs. Bark beetles attack and kill pine trees, inoculating them with bluestain fungi (Ascomycota: Ophiostomataceae). Bluestain fungi may increase termite presence in deadwood, and possibly in …

Nutritional Adequacy Of Dietary Intake Among College Students Who Follow A Vegetarian Diet As Compared To Non-Vegetarian Students, Kayanna L. Pulliman

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Evaluation Of Hydrogeochemical Characteristics Of San Joaquin, Tulare, And Mojave Aquifers, Southern California, Maedeh Hassanvand

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Before making attempts to enhance and manage the quality of water, a thorough understanding of these processes is necessary since the chemical quality of groundwater is impacted by a number of linked processes. This would be more important in arid and semiarid regions like the southern part of California where more rely on groundwater for agriculture and drinking water uses than the other states. As a result, fundamental knowledge of the governing processes of groundwater chemistry is required for effective water resource management. Thus, this study is primarily concerned with three aspects in Mojave, Tulare, and San Joaquin aquifers: The …

Evaluation Of Rice Stink Bug, Oebalus Pugnax (F.), Resistance To Lambda-Cyhalothrin And The Economic Impact On Rice Grain Quality For Multiple Foliar Insecticides, Trevor Bradley Newkirk

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice stink bug, (RSB), Oebalus pugnax (F.), (Fabricius 1775) is the major pest of headed rice, Oryza sativa L. in the southern rice producing states. The evaluation of current insecticides is imperative to efficient and economical RSB management for rice growers. Multiple reports of field failures with lambda-cyhalothrin have been documented since 2019. Lambda-cyhalothrin has been the standard for RSB control for the past two decades. The objective for this research was to determine if RSB is becoming resistant to lambda-cyhalothrin in Arkansas, and the most economical insecticide choice for growers with respect to RSB control and grain quality. RSB …

Evaluation Of Thresholds, Control, And Behavioral Responses Of Tobacco Thrips, Frankliniella Fusca (Hitch), And Tarnished Plant Bugs, Lygus Lineolaris (Beauvoris), In Thryvon Cotton, Adam Young Whitfield

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Tobacco thrips are an important pest in Mid-South cotton production. Thrips are a pest of seedling cotton, feeding on the leaf tissue of plants which can result in stunted growth, delayed fruiting, loss of apical dominance, and possible stand loss. Field studies were conducted in 2021 and 2022 to evaluate Thryvon, a new transgenic trait in cotton that produces the Bt toxin Cry51Aa, for control of tobacco thrips. Thryvon cotton was tested at three locations in Arkansas: Marianna, Tillar, and Keiser. These studies evaluated thrips control on ThryvOn vs non-ThryvOn cotton and the effect of insecticide seed treatments on ThryvOn …

Evaluation Of Bt Cotton Cultivar Efficacy And Economic Impact On Cotton Yield With And Without A Foliar Insecticide Application, Zackary Murray

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Helicoverpa zea is the second most damaging insect pest of cotton in Arkansas. It is becoming more difficult to control in the United States due to recently documented resistant to dual gene cultivars. The objective of this thesis was to develop a better understanding of the efficacy of several Bt cotton technologies and foliar insecticides used to manage H. zea. Experiments examined damage in current commercial non-Bt, dual gene, and three gene cotton cultivars. Other experiments evaluated if H. zea could detect concentrations of chlorantraniliprole and residual of chlorantraniliprole in cotton for an extended period after application. These studies suggest …

Effectiveness Of Telehealth Physical Therapy Compared To In-Person Physical Therapy On Pain And Disability In Patients With Non-Specific Chronic Low Back Pain: A Retrospective Case Series, Leslie Porras, Andres Fernandez, Sebastian Garcia, Troy Belcher

DPT Capstones

Background: Physical therapy is a successful treatment option for non-specific chronic low back pain (NCLBP). Telehealth physical therapy (TPT) is a beneficial treatment option for various musculoskeletal conditions, but its effectiveness in treating NCLBP remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of TPT compared to in-person physical therapy (IPT) on pain and disability in patients with NCLBP.

Methods: Data were extracted from electronic medical records of adults with NCLBP who received care between June 1, 2020 and September 30, 2021. Patients included males or females who were 18 years or older, had NCLBP, and received …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic And A Physical Therapy Program On Students’ Health Outcomes, Kristin Moreno, Caitlyn Ferguson, Vanessa Garcia

DPT Capstones

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic affected many aspects of everyday life including school, fitness regimens, and social interactions. The purpose of this study is to understand how COVID-19 affects the cardiovascular and mental health of Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students as they progress through the program.

Materials and Methods: Data collection occurred in 16 DPT students over a total of 3 visits from 2020 – 2022. Outcome measures included VO2max, Venous Occlusion Plethysmography (VOP), Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) and International Physical Activity Questionnaire (IPAQ). A RM-ANOVA with pairwise comparisons was utilized. Significance was set prior at an α level of …

Aged 539 Graduate Internship Report, Alana Grace Reeder

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

This project report includes documentation required in meeting the quality criteria for secondary-level programs of instruction in agriculture. the documents are concurrently used for the Ag Incentive Grant review process at Livingston High School conducted by staff of the California Department of Education. The supporting documents include information to receive state and local funding and they outline the goals and objectives of the program. This document also provides an overview of operations of the Livingston High School Agriculture Department.

School-Based Study To Assess The Nutritional Status (Bmi Based) Of Adolescents Of Gojra City Of District Toba Tek Singh, Punjab, Pakistan, Shagufta Perveen, Rozina Karmaliani, Rubina Barolia, Rozina Mistry

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Adolescence is the make-or-break stage of life. Major physical, mental, and psychological growth takes place at this age. Adequate and balanced nutrition is a vital requirement to support this phase. Adolescents living in developing and low-income countries are more likely to face nutritional challenges. Poor nutritional status during adolescence is an important determinant of health outcomes.
Objective: To analyze the nutritional status (BMI based) of school-going adolescents in Gojra city, Punjab, Pakistan.
Methods: A school-based cross-sectional survey was carried out covering 635 (6-8 grade) school-going adolescents (boys and girls) from public schools in Gojra city. Data were collected through anthropometric …

Applying The Student-Athlete Success Wheel: Examining The Academic And Social Experiences Of Intercollegiate Student-Athletes, Noah Roerig

Honors Capstone Projects

The present study investigated how different elements of the Student-Athlete Success Wheel play a role in helping intercollegiate athletes at a Midwestern Division I university to be successful in both their roles: student and athlete. Student-athlete participants (n=63) were asked to rate the influence of the 10 ‘spokes’ of the Student-Athlete Success Wheel on their daily lives. Additionally, respondents provided qualitative feedback about the most beneficial aspect of the Student-Athlete Success Wheel and made suggestions on how to improve the student-athlete experience. After analyzing the data, the results indicated that the three elements most valuable to student-athletes were motivation, relationship …

Perspectives Of Dairy Employees At The Beginning Of The Covid-19 Pandemic: A Survey Of Health Risks And Educational Needs, Fernanda Ferreira, Maristela Rovai, Mireille Chahine, Mario E. De Haro-Martí, John Wenz, Joseph Dalton, Noelia Silva-Del-Rio

Dairy Science and Food Science Faculty Publications: 2022 to Present

Our objective was to understand dairy employees' perceptions and educational needs at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. A bilingual (English and Spanish), anonymous survey targeted at dairy employees was circulated nationwide via university and allied industry media outlets. Responses (n = 63) from 11 states were received (May–Sep. 2020). Respondents worked in herds ranging from 50 to 40,000 animals in size. Dairy managers (33%) responded mostly to the English survey (52%), whereas entry-level workers (67%) chose the Spanish format (76%). Survey results highlighted different perspectives, educational needs, and preferred sources of information between English- and Spanish-speaking dairy workers. Overall, …

Impact Of Processing Method On Aqf Functionality In Bakery Items, Dana Edleman, Clifford Hall

Dairy Science and Food Science Faculty Publications: 2022 to Present

Aquafaba (AQF) has the unique ability to foam like egg whites and is a waste product of cooked chickpea that is not currently utilized by the food industry. Thus, the goal of this research was to concentrate the solids by reverse osmosis (cAQF) followed by drying. Dried AQF was prepared by cooking chickpea in excess water. After removal of the chickpea, the liquid AQF was subjected to reverse osmosis followed by freeze, tray, or spray drying. The resulting AQF products were incorporated into standard cake mix and sugar cookie formulas. Hardness, gumminess, and chewiness of cakes made with eggs were …

Investigating The Influence Of Periodontal Disease On The Association Between Complex Multimorbidity And Health: A Cross-Sectional Study, Hussam M. Alqahtani, Siran M. Koroukian, Kurt C. Stange, Nicholas K. Schiltz, Nabil F. Bissada

Faculty Scholarship

Aims and Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether periodontal disease (PD) moderates the association between complex multimorbidity (MM) and fair/poor general health in a US representative sample of older individuals. Materials and Methods: This study identified 937 participants who were at least 60 years of age from the 2013-2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to estimate the association between complex MM (including chronic conditions, functional limitations, and geriatric syndromes) and self-reported fair/poor general health. Subsequently, we specified interactions between complex MM and PD to determine whether PD moderates …

Nutritional Ecology Of The Western Cottonmouth (Agkistrodon Piscivorus Leucostoma), Jason Ortega

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Nutritional ecology aims to understand the factors that shape the diets of animals, how these ingested meals are processed, and how the assimilated nutrients are used to shape an organism’s interactions with its environment. As environmental parameters are altered due to anthropogenic changes, the availability and quality of prey may be altered. The alteration of the nutritional landscape can be devastating to nutritional specialists, yet generalist predators may be able to cope with these changes. The western cottonmouth (Agkistrodon piscivorus leucostoma) is a unique semiaquatic pitviper that can both forage along the land-water interface and in upland habitat when faced …

Effects Of Land Use On Soil Microbial Communities In Tropical Montane Forests Of Malaysian Borneo, Yang Kai Tang

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Land use, such as logging and forest conversion to agriculture, can modify soil physicochemical and biological properties, and affect soil health. To understand how land use change can impact soil properties and canopy structure, we used a land use gradient in Malaysian Borneo consisting of six sites, including old growth forests, mixed forests, and agriculture fields. Specifically, we aimed to answer the following questions: (1) How do soil physicochemical properties vary across land use types? (2) Does bacterial diversity and composition vary across different land use types? (3) Does fungal diversity and composition vary across different land use types? We …

Moving To Digitized Health Care: Why Hipaa Coverage Needs To Be Expanded

Connecticut Law Review

The rapid development of personal technology over the past few years has thrust health care online. Most people have used some form of health tracking apps, nutrition apps, or exercise and fitness apps. The expansion of telehealth services and apps during the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the shift toward online health care. Digitized health care, whether accessed through a mobile app, a web site, or a telehealth service, provides a convenient and efficient means for people to access health care services. But this new access comes with a hidden cost: a risk of unauthorized use of private health information. This Comment …

The Utah Statesman, May 1, 2023, Utah State University

The Utah Statesman

Weekly student newspaper of Utah State University in Logan.

Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cell Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Acute Alcohol-Associated Hepatitis, Annette Bellar, Nicole Welch, Jaividhya Dasarathy, Amy Attaway, Ryan Musich, Avinash Kumar, Jinendiran Sekar, Saurabh Mishra, Yana I. Sandlers, Et. Al

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Background: Patients with acute alcohol-associated hepatitis (AH) have immune dysfunction. Mitochondrial function is critical for immune cell responses and regulates senescence. Clinical translational studies using complementary bioinformatics-experimental validation of mitochondrial responses were performed in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from patients with AH, healthy controls (HC), and heavy drinkers without evidence of liver disease (HD).
Methods: Feature extraction for differentially expressed genes (DEG) in mitochondrial components and telomere regulatory pathways from single-cell RNAseq (scRNAseq) and integrated 'pseudobulk' transcriptomics from PBMC from AH and HC (n = 4 each) were performed. After optimising isolation and processing protocols for functional studies in …

Trading Nonenforcement, Ryan Snyder

Georgia State University Law Review

In recent years, federal agencies have increasingly used nonenforcement as a bargaining chip—promising not to enforce a legal requirement in exchange for a regulated party’s promise to do something else that the law doesn't require. This Article takes an in-depth look at how these nonenforcement trades work, why agencies and regulated parties make them, and the effects they have on social policy. The Article argues that these trades pose serious risks: Agencies often use trading to evade procedural and substantive limits on their power. The trades themselves present fairness problems, both because they tend to reward large, well-connected firms and …

Early Childhood Support Specialist Evaluation Report, Emilie Swenson Msw, Rachel Gallo Mph

Children, Youth, & Families

The Early Childhood Support Specialist (ECSS) at MaineHealth builds relationships with families who have children aged birth to three, a timeframe when infants and toddlers are rapidly developing, learning, and benefiting from family and community connections. The ECSS assesses a family’s strengths and needs to understand how that family can be supported and connected. The ECSS connects families to resources, provides referrals, coaches families on children’s social and emotional development, and generally serves as a point of contact to assist families with social, emotional, and medical needs. Ultimately, the intended outcome of this model is to increase family connections, decrease …

Exploration Of The Relationship Between The Mean Power Spectral Density Of Electrogastrography And Gestational Maturation Of Preterm Infants, Elizabeth Ann Rhodes

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Feeding preterm infants can be a challenge due to gastrointestinal (GI) immaturity which can lead to feeding intolerance, malnutrition, and poor neurodevelopment. Currently there is no non-invasive and quantitative method to determine GI maturity in infants. Electrogastrography (EGG) provides a non-invasive method of measuring gastric myoelectrical activity and has been used on adults to determine gastric abnormalities. EGG was explored as an option for determining GI maturity in preterm infants by quantifying the power spectral density (PSD) of EGG data and its spectral means. The power spectral density and spectral means were calculated during three gastric rhythm (GR) bands (mPSDgr) …

Examining Maternal Health Disparities Through Global Comparison And Stakeholder Perspectives, Madison Mitchel

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Maternal mortality is a pressing global public health problem that disproportionately affects Black women and birthing people. In part one of this mixed- methods study, Black maternal health stakeholders (ages 18+) in North Texas were recruited to complete a 25-item survey to understand their perspectives on community- based approaches to health equity. Survey participants (N=16) reported inadequate financial, human, and social resources for addressing Black maternal health (75%) and that they rarely see local efforts focused on policy, systems, and structural changes (70%). In part two, a systematic document review was performed to identify and analyze national maternal health policies …

Symptom Patterns And Their Association With Influencing Factors In Adults With Long Covid - A Secondary Analysis, Maaham Chaudhry

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Currently available information on the risk factors, manifestation, treatments, and long-term effects of the long COVID is inconclusive, requiring further research to identify timely interventions that may help treat long COVID patients, reduce symptom burden and restore functional abilities. This research aims to analyze symptom patterns and their association with influencing factors in adults with long COVID by examining intercorrelations among symptoms, identifying influencing factors of symptoms, and examining the associations of symptoms with disability and quality of life over time in long COVID patients. The Theory of Unpleasant Symptoms developed by Lenz et al. (1997) is applied as the …

Endophytic Bacteria Isolated From Aeschynomene Indica Plants And Their Role In Nod-Factor Independent Nodule Formation And Nitrogen Fixation, Meaghan Alyssa Rose

Biology Dissertations - Archive

The formation of specialized root organs known as nodules is the most defining characteristic of leguminous plants due to the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen to bioavailable forms enabled by rhizobial endosymbionts. This relationship has played an integral role in the agricultural practice of using such crop plants as biofertilizers to reduce the use of and dependency on synthetic chemical fertilizers. Tropical legumes, such as members of the genus Aeschynomene, are particularly recognized for their ability to form stem nodules through an unknown mechanism independently of the canonical Nod Factor signaling pathway used in standard root nodulation. The works in this …

Effects Of Prebiotics, Probiotics, And Antibiotics On The Human Gut Microbiome, Ai-Vy Dinh

2023 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

The human gut microbiome is a community of microbes that are found in the gastrointestinal tract and serves many purposes to the human host, such as immune system regulation and food digestion. In adults, thousands of bacterial species may develop over time based on changes in diet, environment, and other factors. A dietary category of interest is that of prebiotics and probiotics, both of which are necessary for a healthy microbiome. Prebiotics aid microorganisms by acting as “food,” while probiotics are microorganisms themselves. A dataset was extracted from the National Center for Biotechnology Information that included abundant bacterial genera in …

Contents, Journal Editors

Journal of Food Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Special Issue: Hunger, Nutrition, And Health, Susan Rice

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Everyday millions of Americans face barriers to accessing food, housing, and other supports–––making the impossible decision of whether to put food on the table or cover other essential needs. Food insecurity and diet-related diseases, such as heart disease and diabetes, affect people of all ages and in all communities. It was for this reason that the Biden-Harris Administration hosted the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health in September 2022. As the President said at the Conference, “No child should go to bed hungry. No parent should die of a disease that can be prevented.” It will require all …

Va’S Work To Ensure Veterans’ Food Security, Christine Going

Journal of Food Law & Policy

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is uniquely positioned as the nation’s largest integrated health care system, serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year, to successfully embrace the power of an interdisciplinary team designed to meet the needs of Veterans challenged by food insecurity. In collaboration with the whole of government approach to ending hunger, VA is addressing food and nutrition security. The Food Security Office within the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) was established and has representation from nutrition, social work, and nursing focusing on the causes of food insecurity among Veterans. VA’s Food Security Office and the Nutrition and …