Life Sciences Commons^™

Consumer Food Socialization In The School And Home, Ashley Deutsch Cermin

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Consumer socialization literature has focused on individual socialization agents and their isolated effects. However, as John (1999) pointed out, children do not grow up in a social vacuum. Instead, the multitude of agents socializing children find their narratives interacting and their effects continually shaped and co-created. To understand how school-age children learn about food, I interrogate the complexity of socialization in three essays.

In the first essay, I take an ethnographic approach to investigate the interactive effect peers and adults, namely service workers, have on children’s food socialization in a public-school lunchroom. By combining a Loseke’s (2007) layered narrative model …

Elucidating Collagen Degradation Synergy Between Col G And Col H From Hathewaya (Clostridium) Histolytica And Identifying Novel Structural Features In Hpt And Rec Domains From Vars Histidine Kinase In V. Alginolyticus, Perry Caviness

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In this research the mechanisms by which Hathewaya (Clostridia) histolytica collagenases are secreted and work together to degrade collagens are investigated. While H. histolytica collagenases Col G and Col H have similar multi-domain structures the difference in number of and orientation of the domains hint that the two target different regions in collagen. Study small angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) was used to give a low-resolution envelope of full-length Col G and Col H and Col G/Col H non-catalytic domains bound to a collagen-like peptide (mini-collagen). SAXS derived envelopes along with structural information was used to tease out the mechanisms by …

Effects Of Supplementing Crystalline L-Valine And L-Isoleucine And A Novel Threonine Biomass In Reduced Crude Protein Diets Fed To Broilers, Derrell Trevor Lee

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Poultry nutritionists continue to identify methods to lower feed price without compromising broiler growth performance, processing yields, or animal well-being. A common approach is to reduce dietary crude protein (CP), the second most expensive component in a broiler diet. Subsequently, reducing CP will reduce the inclusion levels of intact protein sources (e.g., soybean meal [SBM]), which can be accomplished by supplementing individual amino acids (AA). This methodology not only reduces diet cost, pending if feed-grade AA are more economical, but can contribute to improving broiler health and environmental sustainability. Therefore, two experiments were conducted to evaluate individual feed-grade AA in …

Rice Fortification By Parboiling In Limited-Water Soaking To Alleviate Mineral And Vitamin Deficiency, Annegret Jannasch

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fortification of rice by parboiling is considered a potential alternative to currently available fortification technologies to produce rice with higher mineral and vitamin content significantly contributing to nutrient intake in populations with high prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies. Higher nutrient retention rates and improved sensory characteristics are advantages of fortified parboiled rice compared to fortified rice obtained by currently used fortification technologies including dusting, coating, and extrusion. However, conventional parboiling processes employ excess water that presents an environmental hazard if discarded without treatment. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate a limited-water soaking method for the fortification of rice …

The Conservation And Population Ecology Of The Imperiled Crawfish Frog (Lithobates Areolatus) In Human-Altered Landscapes, Chelsea Shannon Kross

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The Crawfish Frog (Lithobates areolatus) is an imperiled amphibian currently experiencing severe declines across its range. As a species with unique habitat requirements that is threatened by habitat loss, understanding their status across the landscape and how they respond to environmental stressors is key to developing effective conservation strategies that maintain and expand viable populations. We used a combination of observational, experimental, and theoretical approaches to understand the status of Crawfish Frog populations in Northwest Arkansas (NWA), their individual and population-level response to human-induced changes in vegetation surrounding breeding wetlands, and the effects of fire management on larval development within …

Environmental Influences On Tree-Driven Karst Bedrock Physical Weathering, Cole Robert Jimerson

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The role of tree roots as stressors that contribute to physical weathering processes and thus soil generation remains an open question in critical zone science. While evidence suggests roots may be able to damage rock by accessing pre-existing fractures, where they can expand due to water uptake or generate forces on rock in response to wind gusts, these processes have not been investigated in temperate karst regions until now. I monitored forces at the root-rock interface for an American elm and Hackberry tree between September 2019 and May 2020. I used piezoelectric force sensors to determine if differences in species, …

Effect Of The Prospect Of Transport On Captive Tiger Behavior And Fecal Cortisol In Naïve And Experienced Tigers, Callan Lichtenwalter

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

With close to 5,000 captive tigers in the United States, it is vital to ensure that these tigers are receiving adequate welfare whether they are in an accredited facility, or privately owned. The goal of this study was to assess whether captive tigers at a rescue facility with experience being transported outside of the facility would respond differently to the presentation of their transport vehicle than their naïve counterparts who had only been transported within the facility. The behavior of 5 naïve and 7 experienced tigers (n = 12) located at Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge in Eureka Springs, Arkansas was …

Heat And Mass Transfer In Parboiled Rice During Heating With 915 Mhz Microwave Energy And Impacts On Milled Rice Properties, Deandrae L.W. Smith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microwave (MW) heating offers an energy-efficient, fast method to dry high moisture content (MC) parboiled rice to safe storage MC. However, there is limited research that describes the fundamentals of heat and mass transport in rice kernels exposed to MW energy at 915 MHz, the most promising heating frequency for industrialized processing. This information is vital to explain the implications of MW technology on dried rice quality. The overall objective of this study was to develop a microwave heating technology that can sufficiently dry high MC parboiled rough rice kernels in one pass using a 915-MHz industrial microwave system. An …

Genetics Of Physiological Traits Associated With Drought Tolerance In Soybean (Glycine Max), Sumandeep Kaur Bazzer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Soybean (Glycine max L.) is one of the major row crops in the United States, and its production is often limited by drought stress. Physiological traits from exotic germplasm that confer drought tolerance may be useful in improving commercial soybean production. For example, carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) is positively correlated with water use efficiency (WUE), and nitrogen isotope ratio (δ15N) is negatively correlated with N2 fixation; canopy temperature (CT) is an indicator for genetic variation in transpiration and stomatal conductance. Therefore, the objectives of this research were to identify the genomic regions associated with: (1) δ13C and δ15N using a …

A Macroevolutionary View On Extinction In Aves, Chiroptera, And Odonata, Peter Hasik

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A central goal of conservation biology is to identify and understand the factors that lead to extinction. The Earth is currently undergoing a 6th mass extinction event, in large part because of human activity. In the last century, rates of extinction have increased anywhere from 8-100 times the background rate of 2 extinctions per 10,000 species every 100 years. However, there remains a debate over whether certain species are predisposed to a higher extinction risk. In particular, it is not known if the macroevolutionary history of a lineage is a major contributor to the probability of extinction, nor is it …

Effects Of Broccoli And Carrots On Fecal Microrna Expression In Infants: A Short-Term Feeding Study, Kaleigh E. Beane

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Diets, through multiple mechanisms, cause significant impact on human health and disease etiology; proposed modes of action include modulation of non-coding RNAs and influences on the gut microbiome. Specifically, phytochemicals change human miRNA expression thereby impacting gut microbiome and/or increasing host immune functions. Apiaceous and cruciferous vegetables have been linked to decreased chronic inflammation, which is closely related with the host immune system, yet it is not investigated how these two classes of vegetables influence the colonic miRNA profile. In this study, therefore we aimed to determine the effects of short-term feeding of broccoli and carrot to infants on fecal …

Nutritional Strategies For Feeding Broiler Breeders On Hen And Progeny Performance, Antonio Beitia

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Over the last 60 plus years, broiler breeders have been under an incredible amount of genetic pressure. This genetic pressure comes from the continually increasing consumer demand for poultry products. The objective of this dissertation is to understand the effects of different nutritional and management practices on broiler breeder’s performance. The first series of experiments investigate the impact of broilerization on hen and early progeny performance. Broilerization is a process only used by genetic companies. The results from these experiments showed the adverse effects of broilerization on chick quality and hen performance. Follow up trials were performed to determine the …

The Discovery Of Metarhizium Anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin Isolates From Arkansas And Their Pathogenicity To Amblyomma Americanum L., Austin Goldsmith

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The lone star tick Amblyomma americanum L. is the most abundant tick in Arkansas and has been implicated as a vector of many important disease-causing pathogens. Many species of entomopathogenic fungi have been isolated from several species of ticks, with some of these fungi being utilized for tick biocontrol. However, few studies have assessed the pathogenicity of entomopathogenic fungi to A. americanum. The objectives of this study were to: isolate and identify native Arkansas isolates of entomopathogenic fungi from wild A. americanum ticks exposed to soil and to compare the pathogenicity of one isolate (Metarhizium anisopliae (Metchnikoff) Sorokin isolate Savoy …

Determining Cluster Thinning And Storage Effects On Fruit Quality And Marketability Attributes Of Arkansas Table Grapes Grown Under High Tunnel Systems., Virginia Beasley

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Table Grapes (Vitus vinifera) are highly valued horticulture crops world-wide. Often, table grape production in the southern United States is restricted due to climate and pest issues. Viticulture production could be expanded to this region by the use of controlled environment growing systems, such as high tunnels (HT). The objective of this project was to evaluate the effectiveness of HT systems for grape cultivation and compare the effects of different cluster thinning treatments on vines. In this two-year study, the cultivars Faith, Gratitude, Hope, and Jupiter were grown in HT systems and assessed for postharvest qualities at harvest and during …

Nutritional Supplementation And Skeletal Muscle Health In Chronic Diseases, Hexirui Wu

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Prevalence of chronic diseases in the United States keeps increasing in recent years. There are approximately four in ten adults having chronic diseases in America. Chronic diseases include obesity, aging, heart diseases, cancer and many others. This thesis mainly focuses on obesity and aging. Skeletal muscle performance is impaired in obesity and aging conditions. One common reason causing this could be higher fat mass and lower muscle mass. However, there is no study showing what pathways are involved in the imbalance of body composition. Therefore, the first objective of the thesis is to determine gene expression of selected pathways in …

Mapping Quantitative Trait Loci For Peach (Prunus Persica) Resistance To Xanthomonas Arboricola Pv. Pruni (Xap) And Determining The Diversity And Virulence Of A United States Xap Collection, Maxwell Vonkreuzhof

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bacterial spot, caused by the bacterium Xanthomonas arboricola pv. pruni (Xap), is a threat to the peach [Prunus persica (L.) Batsch], Japanese and European plum (P. salicina L. and P. domestica L.), and tart and sweet cherry (P. cerasus L. and P. avium L.) industries. Markers for fruit resistance to bacterial spot have been developed however, markers associated with foliar resistance have yet to be developed. A total of 130 progeny and 13 parents (n=143) were evaluated for foliar and fruit Xap resistance in 2013, 2014, and 2015, and 162 progeny and eight parents (n=170) in 2017 and 2018 as …

Cloning, Expression, Purification And Characterization Of Heparin-Binding Pocket Of Recombinant Fgf1, Quratulayn Ashraf

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Fibroblast growth factors are polypeptide members of the FGF family, which to date comprises of at least 22 members. They belong to a group of growth factors and are involved in a variety of cellular processes including wound healing, angiogenesis, differentiation and development (organogenesis). Amongst FGF members, human acidic FGF-1 and basic FGF-2 are the most characterized. FGF-1 and FGF-2 are known to share more than 80% sequence similarity and have an identical structural fold. However, their biological roles are quite different. FGFs bind to heparin and heparan sulfate ligands through their heparin-binding pockets. The interactions are primarily electrostatic in …

Liver Transcriptomic Analysis After Short- And Long-Term Feeding Of Soy Protein Isolate And Its Ability To Reduce Liver Steatosis In Obese Zucker Rats, Melisa Kozaczek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) the prevalence of obesity in adults in the United States during 2017-2018 was a 42.4%, a high number considering all the risks factors associated with this disorder, such as cardiovascular disease, insulin resistance, diabetes type 2, and fatty liver disease, among others. Fatty liver disease is the accumulation of lipids in the liver that can account for more than 5 to 10% of the liver’s weight. There are two types of fatty liver disease, alcoholic fatty liver disease (AFLD), and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). AFLD is the detrimental accumulation …

Elucidating Basis Of Rice Discoloration And Developing Prevention Strategies, Zeinab Mohammadi Shad

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Economically, discolored rice kernels have less market value, which can seriously impact farm net profit. The reasons for rice discoloration during storage have not been studied extensively and many questions remain. Therefore, the primary goal of this study was to improve understanding of the role and contributions of storage practices on rice quality degradation and discoloration. In this study, three rice cultivars including XL753 (hybrid), Roy J (pureline), and Titan were assessed for changes in quality and microbial kinetics. The rice samples at a high moisture content (MC) of 21% w.b. and a low MC of 16% were stored at …

Investigating The Potential Of Sodium Butyrate To Control Salmonella Enteritidis In Poultry, Anamika Gupta

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is a major poultry associated food borne pathogen that causes enteric illnesses in humans. Despite using various pre-harvest and post-harvest intervention strategies to reduce Salmonellosis, SE infection is still an extensive problem in the poultry industry with increased incidences since SE has developed multiple strategies to adapt in the chicken intestinal tract particularly in the ceca. Therefore, reducing SE in the intestine of chickens would reduce contamination of poultry derived foods and minimize the risk of human infection. Short chain fatty acids such as butyrate are microbial metabolites known to modulate inflammatory response. In this dissertation, the …

Efficacy Of Multivitaim-Mineral Supplementation On Health-Related Quality Of Life And Physical Activity In Young Adults, Sarah Pendergraft

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Micronutrients are essential for both physical and mental health. There is a correlation between poor health and mood and micronutrient deficiencies. Young adults age 18-24 are an at-risk, understudied population likely to benefit from multivitamin mineral supplementation. Multivitamin mineral supplementation is a potential way to bridge gaps in micronutrient levels, thus influencing health-related outcomes. Here, we provide the first attempt at influencing health-related quality of life and physical activity with a multivitamin mineral supplement in young adults. Using a supplement formulated without herbal extracts and caffeine, this double-blind study examined the efficacy of a daily multivitamin mineral supplement for 30 …

Microbiota Characterization Of Poultry Processing Systems And Associated Microbiological Sampling Materials Collected At Commercial Processing Facilities, Jennifer A. Wages

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The poultry industry and associated regulatory bodies use whole bird carcass (WBC) rinsates to evaluate different stages of broiler processing systems for the prevalence of food-borne pathogens, including Salmonella spp. and Campylobacter spp. Within industry and research groups, the same sample collections are enumerated to determine E. coli, Enterobacteriaceae (EB), and Aerobic Plate Count (APC) microorganisms. Analysis of these indicator microorganisms provides numerical data that can be used to demonstrate the effects of specific process control steps where low occurrences of target pathogens hinder the exclusive use of prevalence data. With the utilization of next generation sequencing (NGS), including analysis …

Determination Of Critical Y-Leaf Potassium Concentrations Across Reproductive Growth Stages For Direct-Seeded Delay-Flooded Rice, Chandler Edwin Gruener

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) grain yield can be limited by potassium (K) deficiency on soils low in exchangeable K. Visually diagnosing K deficiency during early reproductive growth is not easily done and the interpretation of traditional tissue analysis is limited to select growth-stages. Our primary focus was to define continuous critical Y-leaf-K concentrations during reproductive growth for the production of maximal grain yield. A secondary objective was to examine Y-leaf sap-K concentration, measured using a handheld device, as a rapid in-field method of monitoring rice plant K nutrition. The Y-leaf is defined as the uppermost fully extended leaf with a …

Lesioning Of The Nucleus Of The Hippocampal Commissure Followed By Food Deprivation Stress In Birds Demonstrates Simultaneous Involvement In Both The Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis And The Hypothalamo-Pituitary-Thyroid Axis, Michael Thomas Kidd Jr.

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is the regulatory system for the neuroendocrine stress response within vertebrates. Within the HPA axis corticotropin releasing hormone (CRH) is a major regulator and driving hormone. A structure named the nucleus of the hippocampal commissure (NHpC) has been found to contain CRH neurons and also these neurons respond to early food deprivation stress significantly prior to the paraventricular nucleus (PVN), the major driving nucleus of the classic neuroendocrine HPA axis. The objective of this study was to perform a knock down of the NHpC via electrolytic lesioning, thus eliminating a significant portion of its population of …

Food Safety Risk In An Indoor Microgreen Cultivation System, Gina Marie Misra

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microgreens are immature sprouts of edible plants, sharing some similarities with sprouted seeds and petite leafy greens. Since they are most often grown in containers in buildings or greenhouses, they present a new area for food safety research at the intersection of the built environment and produce farming. Contamination by human pathogens has been extensively studied in other types of produce typically eaten raw, including sprouted seeds, which have been implicated in numerous outbreaks of salmonellosis over the last several decades. There is a paucity of knowledge about the microgreen sector of the fresh-cut industry; thus, it was determined that …

An Evaluation Of Biopesticide Combinations On Yield Performance And Disease/Arthropod Control Of Strawberries Grown In High Tunnel Plasticulture Production Systems In Arkansas., Karlee B. Pruitt

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This two-year study investigated combinations of biopesticides to determine impacts on strawberry fruit marketable fruit yields, and effectiveness in controlling strawberry pests in a high tunnel production system at the University of Arkansas, Division of Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Two strawberry cultivars Fragaria × ananassa (Duch.), Camino Real and Sweet Sensation were grown in a high tunnel from early-October to mid-May for two consecutive growing seasons, (2017-18 and 2018-19) with six treatment combinations of biopesticides including an untreated (water) control, nutrient spray and selected biological based fungicides and insecticides, arranged into a split-plot randomized block design. …

A Putative Cystathionine Beta-Synthase Homolog Of Mycolicibacterium Smegmatis Is Involved In De Novo Cysteine Biosynthesis, Saroj Kumar Mahato

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mycobacteria include serious pathogens of humans and animals. Mycolicibacterium smegmatis is a non-pathogenic model that is widely used to study core mycobacterial metabolism. This thesis explores mycobacterial pathways of cysteine biosynthesis by generating and study of genetic mutants of M. smegmatis. Published in vitro biochemical studies had revealed three independent routes to cysteine synthesis in mycobacteria involving separate homologs of cysteine synthase, namely CysK1, CysK2, and CysM. However, in vivo data were lacking. The M. smegmatis genome encodes only a CysM homolog and lacks orthologs for CysK1 or CysK2. The gene that codes for CysM is a part of an …

Characterization Of Avidin And Case9 Single Protein Molecules By A Solid-State Nanopore Device, Haopeng Li

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The shape and charge of a protein play significant roles in protein dynamics in the biological system of humans and animals. Characterizing and quantifying the shape and charge of a protein at the single-molecule level remains a challenge. Solid-state nanopores made of silicon nitride (SiNx) have emerged as novel platforms for biosensing such as diagnostics for single-molecule detection and DNA sequencing. SSN detection is based on measuring the variations in ionic conductance as charged biomolecules translocate through nanometer-sized channels driven by an external voltage applied across the membrane. In this paper, we observe the translocation of asymmetric cylindrical structure CRISPR-Cas9 …

Cloning, Protein Expression, And Characterization Of Interleukin 1 Alpha, Musaab Habeeb Ali Al Ameer

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Recombinant DNA technology and the ability to produce recombinant proteins have significantly changed the world of pharmaceutical market. Recombinant DNA technology using E. coli cells has successfully produced many therapeutic proteins. In this study, the designed tag Ark-RUBY-tag facilitates rapid, and reproducible purification of recombinant proteins expressed as inclusion bodies in E. coli cells. Purification of Ark-RUBY-fused recombinant protein(s) can be obtained by using imidazole fractions. Target protein can be easily removed from the Ark-RUBY-tag by enzymatic cleavage. Ark-RUBY-fused recombinant proteins can be quantitatively detected using polyclonal antibodies. Ark-RUBY-tag can be used to purify small peptides. By using Ark-RUBY-tag, purified …

Asymmetric Exchange Rate Pass-Through In Southeast Asian Rice Trade, Taylor Wiseman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Asian countries consume approximately 90% of the world’s rice supply. Between 2007 and 2014, Thailand, Vietnam, and India accounted for 60% of the world’s exports of rice. This paper estimates the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on bilateral trade flows in Southeast Asia. Because most Southeast Asian countries have state trading enterprises or agencies controlling rice trade, this analysis will provide insight as to whether these agencies respond to exchange rate fluctuations in a manner consistent with economic theory. Behavior inconsistent with economic theory could provide evidence of stabilizing domestic prices, market power, or export expansion policies. The analysis focuses …