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The Evangelical Churches In The Gdr And Their Participation In East-West Cooperation, Christa Grengel Aug 2012

The Evangelical Churches In The Gdr And Their Participation In East-West Cooperation, Christa Grengel

Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe

The Evangelical Regional Churches in the GDR had to deal with the problem that they experienced directly living on the borderline between East and West which divided their own country. They understood this situation to be the result of National-Socialism and World War II, confessed to having been partly responsible for it and became convinced, therefore, that they had a unique responsibility for reconciliation and for overcoming this division on the borderline between the great power blocs. Based on the shared notion of “Christianity in Germany” all Evangelical Regional Churches remained parts of a pan-German institution, the “Evangelical Church in …

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Charaterization And Locating Pcb-Contaminated Groundwater Entering A Stream Overlying Faulted And Folded Crystalline Rock, David Hahn Aug 2012

Charaterization And Locating Pcb-Contaminated Groundwater Entering A Stream Overlying Faulted And Folded Crystalline Rock, David Hahn

All Theses

Substantial research focused on Lake Hartwell and a major tributary, Twelvemile Creek, has provided information regarding surface transport, deposition, and biological interactions of PCBs. However, little is understood about the transport of PCBs in groundwater between the contamination site (Sangamo Weston Superfund Site in Pickens, SC) and Town Creek, a tributary to Twelvemile Creek located less than 500 m south of the contamination site. The objectives of this thesis were to 1) locate and measure groundwater influx to Town Creek, 2) determine the concentrations of PCBs in groundwater, 3) identify the colloids present in groundwater and surface water, 4) determine …

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Fuel Dynamics In Southern Pine Beetle-Killed Stands And Their Implication To Fire Behavior, Jennifer Evans Aug 2012

Fuel Dynamics In Southern Pine Beetle-Killed Stands And Their Implication To Fire Behavior, Jennifer Evans

All Theses

The increase in both southern pine beetle (SPB) (Dendroctonus frontalis Zimm) outbreak and wildfire occurrence in recent decades has resulted in a growing concern regarding possible interactions. Few studies have quantified fuel characteristics of SPB-killed stands, and none has studied the dynamics of this fuel complex over time. Moreover, how changes in these fuels affect fire behavior remains unknown. To address this lack of empirical data, field measurements and modeling were combined to study fuel dynamics and potential fire behavior within control and post-outbreak loblolly pine-dominated forest stands across a chronosequence ranging from 0 to 8 years since outbreak. Fuels …

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Considerations For Creating A Believable Creature For The Short Film Li Fe, Matthew Prestridge Aug 2012

Considerations For Creating A Believable Creature For The Short Film Li Fe, Matthew Prestridge

All Theses

This thesis illuminates the specific methods undertaken to achieve of a realistic computer-animated creature that consumes light and dwells in a cave. The animation short, Li Fe, contains seven such creatures whose anatomy required various production techniques to achieve a believable appearance appealing to viewers in a strong way. In most animations all areas of production need to be optimized for fast rendering as well as easily adaptable to change. The modeling, texturing, shading and lighting methods for Li Fe underwent such optimization to achieve a truly believable creature. The look of the creatures was made possible by relying on …

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When The Rangers Came Home: Reconstructing Lives In Fauquier County, Virginia, 1865-1866, Madeleine Forrest Aug 2012

When The Rangers Came Home: Reconstructing Lives In Fauquier County, Virginia, 1865-1866, Madeleine Forrest

All Theses

Fauquier County, Virginia, is an idyllic spot in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. However, it has seen its fair share of heartache and pain. It is better known to history as being an integral part of Mosby's Confederacy, the postage-stamped sized area of land in Northern Virginia. It was there in the foothills of the mountains, that one of the most famous guerilla outfits in the Confederate Army operated under the command of John Singleton Mosby. Mosby's men came from many of the leading families in the county and were used to a world of wealth and privilege. …

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An Electromagnetic Energy Harvester For Powering Consumer Electronics, Xiyuan Liu Aug 2012

An Electromagnetic Energy Harvester For Powering Consumer Electronics, Xiyuan Liu

All Theses

This thesis introduces an electromagnetic vibratory energy harvester to power consumer electronics by generating electricity from the strides taken during walking or jogging. The harvester consists of a magnetic pendulum oscillating between two fixed magnets. The pendulum behaves similar to a rotor in a DC generator, while the fixed magnets, which are poled opposite to the pendulum, provide magnetic restoring forces similar to mechanical springs. When attached to a person's arm, the swinging motion subjects the magnetic pendulum to base excitations. Consequently, the pendulum oscillates near a stator which has three poles of wound copper coils. The motion of the …

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Optimization Of Processing Parameters For As2se3 Glass For Low Loss, High Strength Fibers, Baptiste Giroire Aug 2012

Optimization Of Processing Parameters For As2se3 Glass For Low Loss, High Strength Fibers, Baptiste Giroire

All Theses

Chalcogenide glasses have been widely studied due to their extraordinary transparency in the infrared (IR) region from 0.5 to 20 μm. This transparency combined with excellent thermo-mechanical properties, makes them ideal candidate for infrared optics including IR fiber optic applications. However, such non-oxide glasses generally exhibit low mechanical strength, as compared to their oxide counterpart, which are based on covalently bonded metal-oxygen species. In addition to mechanical robustness, low optical loss (hence low impurity content) is required for most IR optical materials, including the one in this study, amorphous arsenic tri-selenide, As2Se3. In this effort, As2Se3 glass was investigated and …

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Component Mode Synthesis Approach For Quantum Mechanical Electrostatic And Transport Analysis Of Nanoscale Structures And Devices, Zhe Gao Aug 2012

Component Mode Synthesis Approach For Quantum Mechanical Electrostatic And Transport Analysis Of Nanoscale Structures And Devices, Zhe Gao

All Theses

As the dimensions of commonly used semiconductor devices have shrunk into nanometer regime, it is recognized that the influence of quantum effects on their electrostatic and transport properties cannot be ignored. In the past few decades, various computational models and approaches have been developed to analyze these properties in nanostructures and devices. Among these computational models, the Schršdinger-Poisson model has been widely adopted for quantum mechanical electrostatic and transport analysis of nanostructures and devices such as quantum wires, metal-oxide-semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs) and nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS). The numerical results allow for evaluations of the electrical properties such as charge …

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Investigation Of Prototype Roles In Conceptual Design Using Case Study And Protocol Study Methods, Timothy Hess Aug 2012

Investigation Of Prototype Roles In Conceptual Design Using Case Study And Protocol Study Methods, Timothy Hess

All Theses

Prototypes play an important role in the engineering design process. Engineering design textbooks often discourage the use of prototypes early in the design process, citing past research on prototypes in engineering design has focused describing and classifying the prototypes themselves. The gap in this research is the investigation of prototyping processes. While researchers have studied the characteristics of different prototypes and in some cases have tried to tie characteristics to the outcomes of the design process, the actual prototyping activities and the process of building and using the prototypes has not been studied in detail. The work presented in this …

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The Stone People Effect: A Visual Generated In Houdini, Shirley Yu Aug 2012

The Stone People Effect: A Visual Generated In Houdini, Shirley Yu

All Theses

The short film RhizComics, created in collaboration with Jason Helms, explores comics and comic theory. The opening scene showcases a special effect created in Houdini made to illustrate the ideas in RhizComics. The effect involves two characters morphing into stones and tumbling to the ground. This paper documents the production design for the scene and the steps taken to achieve the effect.

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An Exploratory Study Of The Potential Impacts Of Yoga On Self And Community: Creating Mindfulness, Self-Actualization And Social Capital, Lauren Ponder Aug 2012

An Exploratory Study Of The Potential Impacts Of Yoga On Self And Community: Creating Mindfulness, Self-Actualization And Social Capital, Lauren Ponder

All Theses

ABSTRACT
Yoga, literally translated means yoke or connection and is a process by which relationships, respect and transformation can occur. It is believed that mindfulness is a result of the practice of yoga and can be easily understood in its opposite of mindlessness. When change takes place within self, or one's own body and mind, both positive transformation towards more conscious action and mindfulness is hypothesized to be transferred to one's community. Community is self-defining in that it is based on a sense of shared purpose and common goals. Yogis, those who practice yoga, could be responsible for a positive …

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Synthesis, Characterization, Functionalization And Optical Properties Of Silver Nanostructures, Zachary Koontz Aug 2012

Synthesis, Characterization, Functionalization And Optical Properties Of Silver Nanostructures, Zachary Koontz

All Theses

The interaction between light and silver nanoparticles via the excitation of plasmon resonances which are the collective oscillation of the free electron density represents the most efficient interaction between light and matter. This alone makes plasmonic silver nanoparticles of great interest for both fundamental studies as well as practical applications. In this thesis, silver nanoparticles of various shapes and sizes and organized clusters were synthesized and investigated for their optical properties.

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A Set Of Tournaments With Many Hamiltonian Cycles, Hayato Ushijima-Mwesigwa Aug 2012

A Set Of Tournaments With Many Hamiltonian Cycles, Hayato Ushijima-Mwesigwa

All Theses

For a random tournament on $3^n$ vertices, the expected number of Hamiltonian cycles is known to be $(3^n -1)!/2^{3^n}$. Let $T_1$ denote a tournament of three vertices $ {v_1, v_2, v_3}$. Let the orientation be such that there are directed edges from $v_1 $to $v_2$ , from $v_2$ to $v_3$ and from $v_3$ to $ v_1$. Construct a tournament $T_i$ by making three copies of $T_{i-1}$, $T_{i-1}'$, $T_{i-1}''$ and $T_{i-1}'''$. Let each vertex in $T_{i-1}'$ have directed edges to all vertices in $T_{i-1}''$, similarly place directed edges from each vertex in $T_{i-1}''$ to all vertices in $T_{i-1}'''$ and from $T_{i-1}'''$ …

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Socialq&A: A Novel Approach To Notifiying The Correct Users In Question And Answering Systems, Nikhil Vithlani Aug 2012

Socialq&A: A Novel Approach To Notifiying The Correct Users In Question And Answering Systems, Nikhil Vithlani

All Theses

Question and Answering (Q&A) systems are currently in use by a large
number of Internet users. Q&A systems play a vital role in our daily life as
an important platform for information and knowledge sharing. Hence, much
research has been devoted to improving the performance of Q&A systems,
with a focus on improving the quality of answers provided by users, reducing
the wait time for users who ask questions, using a knowledge base to provide
answers via text mining, and directing questions to appropriate users. Due
to the growing popularity of Q&A systems, the number of questions in the
system …

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Inventing Laughter: Comedic Writing Practices And The Limits Of Pedagogical Power, Daniel Liddle Aug 2012

Inventing Laughter: Comedic Writing Practices And The Limits Of Pedagogical Power, Daniel Liddle

All Theses

This thesis conducts an examination of the writing methods used by stand-up comedians using the lens of the rhetorical canon of invention. The study applies the theories of Thomas Rickert, Diane Davis, Ann Berthoff, and Janice Lauer in order to define the relationship between humor and epistemology, and to consider how this comedic-epistemic perspective can inform pedagogical practices in the composition classroom. This study relies mainly on the rhetorical analysis of 'How To' books on writing comedy, the methodologies of schools of comedy, as well as biographies by/about comedians in order to discuss the relationship between comedians and their 'material.' …

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Cytogenetic Biodiversity In The Simulium Johannseni Group (Diptera: Simuliidae), Katherine Gleason Aug 2012

Cytogenetic Biodiversity In The Simulium Johannseni Group (Diptera: Simuliidae), Katherine Gleason

All Theses

Cryptic biodiversity, the presence of suborganismal variation in isomorphic populations of organisms, can have implications for management and conservation. Ecological variation in habitat and host species of populations of the black fly Simulium johannseni suggested the potential for cryptic biodiversity. Polytene chromosomes of larvae belonging to the S. johannseni group of black flies were characterized to discover fixed and polymorphic rearrangements. Larvae of S. johannseni from Wisconsin, South Carolina, and Alabama and of the closely related S. parmatum from South Carolina and Florida were analyzed. Simulium johannseni can be divided into two cytoforms corresponding to geographic location. Cytoform A, found …

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A Mathematical Framework For Volume Modeling And Simulation, Brandon Pelfrey Aug 2012

A Mathematical Framework For Volume Modeling And Simulation, Brandon Pelfrey

All Theses

Rendering, modeling, and simulating processes in spatially-varying media are complex tasks
which typically require tedious mathematical derivations and long development and programming.
In this thesis, a framework is presented which allows for fast and casual exploration of ideas for
volume-based simulation and modeling. Several applications of the framework are shown, including
the simulation of fluid dynamics for computer graphics applications. A procedure for automatically
generating OpenCL code from these is given, along with rudimentary examples.

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Planning For Gentrification: A Geographic Analysis Of Gentrification Susceptibility In The City Of Asheville, N.C., Nakisha Fouch Aug 2012

Planning For Gentrification: A Geographic Analysis Of Gentrification Susceptibility In The City Of Asheville, N.C., Nakisha Fouch

All Theses

The American urban backdrop has seen an ebb and flow of investment and abandonment in the central city. The movement of the population from city to suburb and vice versa is often associated with access to lower rents, but is also driven by consumer demand. As redevelopment occurs in the once declining urban areas, economic development brings in a new middle class and the private and public services necessary to accommodate them. Inevitably, as new people move in current residents may be forced out. Addressing this issue is complicated by understanding what makes a neighborhood or a particular population prone …

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Novel Data As A Source For Assessing Breeding Phenology Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) In South Carolina, David Stone Aug 2012

Novel Data As A Source For Assessing Breeding Phenology Of White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus Virginianus) In South Carolina, David Stone

All Theses

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) breeding phenology varies temporally throughout the species' range and is critical to population management and hunter enjoyment. The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) demographic and reproductive data, collected primarily from 1970-1992, suggest that 81.86% of conceptions in the Coastal Plain occur between 6 October and 16 November. However, current data regarding conception dates are lacking for a variety of reasons including the current absence of check stations and the use of hunter surveys as the primary means of data collection. To more closely examine recent characteristics of the white-tailed deer breeding season phenology, we …

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The Role Of Family Resources In The Determination Of Child Outcomes, Tengzhen Wang Aug 2012

The Role Of Family Resources In The Determination Of Child Outcomes, Tengzhen Wang

All Theses

This thesis studies the role of family resources in the determination of child outcomes, specifically the degree to which family resources affect the child's years of schooling and future income. By analyzing data from the NELS (National Educational Longitudinal Study), it is found that children from families with greater financial resources typically attend school longer and earn more money than children from families with less financial resources. Child personal ability is also found to affect schooling and personal earnings.

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Enzyme Actuated Bioresponsive Hydrogels, Andrew Wilson Aug 2012

Enzyme Actuated Bioresponsive Hydrogels, Andrew Wilson

All Theses

Bioresponsive hydrogels are emerging with technological significance in targeted drug delivery, biosensors and regenerative medicine. Conferred with the ability to respond to specific biologically derived stimuli, the design challenge is in effectively linking the conferred biospecificity with an engineered response tailored to the needs of a particular application. Moreover, the fundamental phenomena governing the response must support an appropriate dynamic range and limit of detection. The design of these systems is inherently complicated due to the high interdependency of the governing phenomena that guide the sensing, transduction, and the actuation response of hydrogels. To investigate the dynamics of these materials, …

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The Role Of Acetyl-Coa Carboxylase In The Survival Of Trypanosoma Brucei During Infection, Ciara Mcknight Aug 2012

The Role Of Acetyl-Coa Carboxylase In The Survival Of Trypanosoma Brucei During Infection, Ciara Mcknight

All Theses

This master's thesis focuses on how disruption of fatty acid metabolism affects both host adaptation and immune evasion in the deadly eukaryotic parasite, Trypanosoma brucei. In Chapter 1, I review the current literature on African trypanosomiasis, fatty acid synthesis, immune evasion, and lipid metabolism. In Chapter 2, I investigate how disruption of the fatty acid synthesis pathway affects the parasite's ability to evade the host immune defenses. When T. brucei acetyl-CoA carboxylase (TbACC) is knocked down by RNA interference (RNAi), fluid phase and receptor mediated endocytosis pathways are greatly affected, suggesting that fatty acid synthesis is necessary for both endocytic …

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Factors Affecting The Production Of Concentrated Blue Cheese Flavorings, Jason Raines Aug 2012

Factors Affecting The Production Of Concentrated Blue Cheese Flavorings, Jason Raines

All Theses

The effects of media type and culture selection on the aroma profile of Blue cheese flavorings produced using submerged culture fermentation were studied. Fermentations were carried out for 16 hours then compared using sensory analysis and GC/MS SPME. The differences between samples were minimal. Samples produced with adjunct media were found to have higher concentrations of methyl ketones and more &ldquo'creamy'&rdquo aroma character than samples produced from standard media. Higher levels of free fatty acids were found in standard media samples. Adjunct cultures appear to enhance the &ldquo'creamy'&rdquo character of Blue cheese flavorings.
Near-critical and supercritical carbon dioxide were used …

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Stabilization Of Extracellular Matrix Components In Bioprosthetic Heart Valves Using Neomycin And Pentagalloyl Glucose Enhanced Crosslinking, Daniel Tripi Aug 2012

Stabilization Of Extracellular Matrix Components In Bioprosthetic Heart Valves Using Neomycin And Pentagalloyl Glucose Enhanced Crosslinking, Daniel Tripi

All Theses

Bioprosthetic heart valves (BHVs) fail within 12-15 years of implantation due to limited durability. This limits their application to elderly population. Younger patients with contraindications for long-term anticoagulant therapy necessary for mechanical heart valves may also receive BHVs. Investigation into improving valve durability can lead to longer implant life, increased quality of life for patients receiving BHVs, and a broadened patient demographic.
Current BHVs are chemically treated with glutaraldehyde (GLUT) to stabilize collagen via chemical crosslinking and to reduce tissue antigenicity. GLUT fails to adequately stabilize elastin and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs), essential extracellular matrix components for valve function and durability. Degradation …

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Continuum Limbed Robots For Locomotion, Alper Mutlu Aug 2012

Continuum Limbed Robots For Locomotion, Alper Mutlu

All Theses

This thesis focuses on continuum robots based on pneumatic muscle technology. We introduce a novel approach to use these muscles as limbs of lightweight legged robots. The flexibility of the continuum legs of these robots offers the potential to perform some duties that are not possible with classical rigid-link robots. Potential applications are as space robots in low gravity, and as cave explorer robots.
The thesis covers the fabrication process of continuum pneumatic muscles and limbs. It also provides some new experimental data on this technology. Afterwards, the designs of two different novel continuum robots - one tripod, one quadruped …

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Development And Characterization Of Shellac-Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose Composite Films With Acid Catalyst, Sana Asrar Aug 2012

Development And Characterization Of Shellac-Hydroxypropyl Methyl Cellulose Composite Films With Acid Catalyst, Sana Asrar

All Theses

The objective of this research was to develop a shellac-hydroproyl methyl cellulose (Sh-HPMC) composite film with enhanced water vapor barrier. Citric acid (CA) was used as an acid catalyst, to promote miscibility between HPMC and shellac. In a preliminary test, three different concentrations of CA (1000:1, 200:1, 100:1) were tested to identify the best Sh:CA ratio. Based on the Water vapor permeability properties and mechanical properties, Sh-CA (1000:1 ratio) had the most enhanced water vapor barrier and the lowest reduction in tensile strength compared to the pure HPMC film (control). In the later part of the research, the effect of …

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Assessment Of Viability Of Probiotic Bacteria In Non Dairy Food Matrices Under Refrigeration Storage, Muthu Dharmasena Aug 2012

Assessment Of Viability Of Probiotic Bacteria In Non Dairy Food Matrices Under Refrigeration Storage, Muthu Dharmasena

All Theses

Functional foods serve nutrients and physiologically active components for a healthy living. In most countries, the products related to having a healthy gut dominate the functional foods market. These products are prebiotics, probiotics and synbiotics. Concerning the health benefits, various probiotics are introduced to food matrices. Though dairy is the ideal food matrix for probiotics, the trend of non-dairy probiotics is growing among consumers.
This study included two research objectives: surveying the commercial probiotic containing products for probiotic level and developing a practical home-made probiotic fermentation process. The first part of this study was mainly based on assessing viability of …

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Trapping And Control Of The Small Hive Beetle, Aethina Tumida, An Invasive Parasite Of Honey Bees, Apis Mellifera, Shannon Peterson Aug 2012

Trapping And Control Of The Small Hive Beetle, Aethina Tumida, An Invasive Parasite Of Honey Bees, Apis Mellifera, Shannon Peterson

All Theses

The small hive beetle, Aethina tumida Murray (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), is one of the most recent honey bee pests of economic importance, especially in the southeastern United States. Various in-hive traps have been developed to attempt to control the populations of this invasive pest within honey bee colonies. The first year of my research focused on comparing the effectiveness of three commercially available traps for removing small hive beetles. Thirty-two colonies were established with 0.9-kg package bees with a queen in four apiaries. Eight colonies were placed in each apiary, each colony randomly receiving one of four treatments: the three-chambered Hood …

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Chromosomal Patterns In Populations Of The Black Fly Simulium Fibrinflatum Twinn (Diptera: Simuliidae), Kyle Parks Aug 2012

Chromosomal Patterns In Populations Of The Black Fly Simulium Fibrinflatum Twinn (Diptera: Simuliidae), Kyle Parks

All Theses

Cryptic species are an important component of biodiversity, although most cryptic species have yet to be discovered. Cytogenetic studies of polytene chromosomes offer a unique level of resolution for detecting cryptic species in the family Simuliidae. Simulium fibrinflatum is a black fly morphospecies that is suspected to contain cryptic species because of its broad geographic range and variable pupal gill structure. Populations of Simulium fibrinflatum from the Saugahatchee River, AL; Anthony Shoals, GA; LaHave River, Nova Scotia; Westfield River, MA; Chauga River, SC; and Enoree River, SC, were sampled and cytogenetically analyzed to test for the presence of cryptic species. …

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Functional Characterization Of A Jacalin-Like Lectin Domain-Containing Protein In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Shane Reighard Aug 2012

Functional Characterization Of A Jacalin-Like Lectin Domain-Containing Protein In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Shane Reighard

All Theses

Jacalin-related lectins (JRLs) are proteins that bind carbohydrates. Functionally, JRLs are thought to be involved in a diverse array of functions including biotic stress defense, intracellular storage, abiotic stress response, and plant development. Recent Arabidopsis thaliana microarray data indicate that a Jacalin-like domain-containing protein (JLL1) exhibits highly root specific expression. Previous transcriptomic and proteomic studies indicate that JLL1 may have a dual role in planta as a biotic stress defense protein and in plant development. In order to better understand the physiological function of JLL1 in Arabidopsis, several different analyses were conducted examining its regulatory sequences, spatial expression, responsiveness to …

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