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Biology Department Newsletter, No.2, Sacred Heart University

Biology Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Ramphotyphlops Braminus (Brahminy Blindsnake): Predation, Louis A. Somma

Papers in Herpetology

Ramphotyphlops braminus currently has the most widespread, near worldwide, nonindigenous distribution of any snake. In Florida, USA, R. braminus is rapidly expanding its distribution.

The stomach contents of a necropsied Dasypus novemcinctus (nine-banded armadillo) found on the premises of the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in Gaisesville in March 2011 included an intact adult R. braminus. Dasypus novemcinctus is nonindigenous in Florida. It has a primarily insectivorous diet but occasionally preys upon small vertebrates, including reptiles. This is the first record of R. braminus in the diet of D. novemcinctus.

Quorum Sensing Activity In Ophiostoma Ulmi: Effects Of Fusel Oils And Branched Chain Amino Acids On Yeast-Mycelial Dimorphism, A. Berrocal, J. Navarrete, C. Oviedo, K. W. Nickerson

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Aims: For Ophiostoma (Ceratocystis) ulmi, the ability to undergo morphological change is a crucial factor for its virulence. To gain an understanding of quorum- sensing activity in O. ulmi as it relates to yeast-mycelium dimorphism control, this study examines the effects of branched-chain amino acids as well as their fusel alcohols and fusel acids as quorum sensing molecules.

Methods and Results: In a defined medium containing glucose, proline and salts, O. ulmi grew as yeasts when the culture was inoculated with a high density of spores (2-10⁷ CFU ml^-1) and as mycelia when inoculated …

Impact Of Crop And Residue Management On The Physical And Chemical Stabilization Of Soil Organic Matter At Farm Level, Ana B. Wingeyer

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This dissertation explores changes over time in soil organic matter (SOM) stabilization of two irrigated production fields: a continuous maize sequence that was converted from no-till to conservation deep tillage (Site 1), and a no-till maize-soybean rotation (Site 2). An integrated approach using humic acid extractions and density-based physical fractionation of SOM within aggregate size classes was developed to evaluate the changes in SOM stabilization (physical protection, organo-mineral associations and humification). At Site 1, loss of SOM in the surface layer was compensated for by increased SOM in deeper soil layers with no net change in C stocks. Whole field …

Seasonal Transport Of Suspended Solids And Nutrients Between Bear River And Bear Lake, Cody M. Allen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

I measured inflows and outflows of nutrients and suspended solid through the wetland complex, known as Dingle Marsh, at the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge between October 2007 and September 2008. My analysis of changes throughout the year will help Dingle Marsh managers adjust the timing and volume of water movement between Bear River and Bear Lake to meet defined refuge goals, such as improving bird or other animal habitat. These results could also be used to protect Bear Lake’s water quality.

Automated samplers took readings of dissolved oxygen, turbidity, pH and water temperature every 30 minutes. These values were …

Zap1 Control Of Cell-Cell Signaling In Candida Albicans Biofilms, Shantanu Ganguly, Andrew C. Bishop, Wenjie Xu, Suman Ghosh, Kenneth W. Nickerson, Frederick Lanni, Jana Patton-Vogt, Aaron P. Mitchell

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Biofilms of Candida albicans include both yeast cells and hyphae. Prior studies indicated that a zap1/ mutant, defective in zinc regulator Zap1, has increased accumulation of yeast cells in biofilms. This altered yeast-hypha balance may arise from internal regulatory alterations or from an effect on the production of diffusible quorum-sensing (QS) molecules. Here, we develop biosensor reporter strains that express yeastspecific YWP1-RFP or hypha-specific HWP1-RFP, along with a constitutive TDH3-GFP normalization standard. Seeding these biosensor strains into biofilms allows a biological activity assay of the surrounding biofilm milieu. A zap1/ biofilm induces the yeast-specific YWP1-RFP reporter in a wild-type …

The Health Status, Concerns, And Reform In Uruguay With An Emphasis On Health Promotion Programs Geared Towards The Care And Development Of The Country's Children And Adolescents, Melissa Raquel Ramírez

Honors Scholar Theses

This study was conducted in Montevideo, Uruguay, where I examined the actions that the country and society as a whole, its various communities, the Uruguayan government, and the people take in order to prevent disease and promote a healthy society. An ethnographic experiential and evidence-based approach, including personal experience, interviews, and official government documents, was used to fully describe the way the system operates. Due to Uruguay's demographic characteristics, particular attention was paid to children and adolescents. For this thesis, Uruguay is described in terms of its history, physical and mental health issues, society's shared health concerns, and its vulnerable …

What Makes An Animal Choose A Forage, Elizabeth A. Burritt, Frederick D. Provenza

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Understanding And Using Livestock Behavior, Elizabeth A. Burritt

Wildland Resources Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Alternative Range Management Systems On Grasslands In The Central Platte River Valley, Nebraska, Luis E. Ramirez

School of Natural Resources: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Land management strategies can directly and indirectly affect plant assemblages and their behavior. Little research has been performed in south central Nebraska to quantify the effect of fire and grazing interactions on species composition, vegetation structure, forage quality, and potential cost associated with land management.

I evaluate the effect of season-long continuous, patch-burning, and rotational grazing approaches on vegetation and ranching costs to determine their value as conservation tools. This study includes data collected between 2007 and 2009 from grasslands in south central Nebraska. I found that land management influence plant assemblages by shifting communities when grazing and/or fire are …

Finding A Link Between The Hormones Of The Somatotropic Axis And Growth Rate Of Juvenile Steller Sea Lions, Katherine Denise Hebert

Honors Scholar Theses

The decline of the Western population (144 degrees west longitude) of Steller sea lions is hypothesized to be the result of impaired nutritional status and decline of growth rate, especially in juveniles and subsequent natality. Because changes in components of the somatotropic axis can be predictive of nutritional status and growth rate in this species, 2 groups of free-ranging juvenile Steller sea lions were captured in Prince William Sound, AK. Group 1 (n = 30) was initially captured at 5 mo and recaptured at 10 mo of age, whereas group 2 (n = 9) was captured at 7 and 8 …

When Disaster Strikes: A Proposed Model For Child Life Programming In Disaster Relief Settings, Caralyn Perlee

Graduate Student Independent Studies

In the aftermath of a major natural disaster, few are equipped to respond effectively to the unique emotional and psychological needs to children. Child life specialists are specifically trained to help children effectively cope with traumatic situations, though very few child life specialists have engaged in disaster-related work. There exists the need for a medium through which child life specialists can become involved and offer their crucial and unique services. This project offers a rationale for why this medium is necessary and proposes a model for the integration of child life into the pre-existing Red Cross disaster relief model.

Creating An Environmental Placed Based Education At Norris Elementary, Ben Kittrell

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

This study is focused on creating a place based education program. Place based education programs provide many benefits at the personal level with the students (PBEEC). The study was completed at Norris Elementary School where the students have access to the “Norris Forest” which is a planted forest with a walk way through the trees. Some of the trees are labeled for the students to identify and others are not. A graph of the unlabelled trees has been included for the students or the teachers to use.

This project incorporates activities that will engage the students in order to teach …

Designing A School Garden Space That Emphasizes Children's Wants And Uses Permaculture Design Methods, Mikhaela Mullins

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

A case study was organized at Saratoga Elementary school in Lincoln, Nebraska to obtain data on what children desire in a garden space. To collect this data a school garden space was constructed and an after school garden club was implemented. Students who participated in the after school garden club partook in the study by drawing their ideal garden. Elements that the subjects drew were identified and categorized into ‘highly desired’ and ‘somewhat desired’.

These elements were then incorporated into a proposed garden design plan for Saratoga. The proposal plan uses Permaculture design methods to emphasize sustainability.

Pathogen Induced Hypersensitive Response And Systemic Acquired Resistance In The Moss Amblystegium Serpens, Collin Elliot Bowman

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

The moss Amblystegium serpens and the pathogenic fungus Pythium irregulare were used to study plant-pathogen interactions in a non-vascular plant. The major findings in this report include that P. irregulare does infect A. serpens but entire moss death was not noted, 25°C is the optimum temperature for P. irregulare appressoria formation, most appressoria were found on A. serpens leaves, and the SAR response within A. serpens seems to be reducing the number of P. irregulare penetrated moss cells. Future research on the pathogen defense mechanisms of A. serpens is important and promising. When we elucidate these complex chemical processes in …

Rising Seas, Stormy Skies, Margaret (Peg) A. Van_Patten Ms.

Wrack Lines

Rising seas and more intense storms will affect Connecticut and Long Island Sound if climate change continues at present rates.

Biology Department Newsletter, No.1, Sacred Heart University

Biology Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Dur3 Is The Major Urea Transporter In Candida Albicans And Is Co-Regulated With The Urea Amidolyase Dur1,2, Dhammika H. M. L. P Navarathna, Aditi Das, Joachim Morschhauser, Kenneth W. Nickerson, David D. Roberts

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

Hemiascomycetes, including the pathogen Candida albicans, acquire nitrogen from urea using the urea amidolyase Dur1,2, whereas all other higher fungi use primarily the nickel-containing urease. Urea metabolism via Dur1,2 is important for resistance to innate host immunity in C. albicans infections. To further characterize urea metabolism in C. albicans we examined the function of seven putative urea transporters. Gene disruption established that Dur3, encoded by orf 19.781, is the predominant transporter. [¹⁴C]Urea uptake was energy-dependent and decreased approximately sevenfold in a dur3D mutant. DUR1,2 and DUR3 expression was strongly induced by urea, whereas the other putative transporter genes …

Cinq Essais Sur Le Développement Durable, Sophie Oliver

World Languages and Cultures

My senior project is a combination of my major of Modern Languages and Literature and my minor in Sustainable Environments. I have tried to combine everything I learned in the following essays which explain different elements of the sustainable movement in the world. Currently there is a big push towards environmentalism which was started by a global desire to repair the damage done to our planet Earth. My goal is to explain some of the situations addressed by the sustainable movement and to propose some solutions based on what I’ve learned in my five years at Cal Poly. During my …

Geological And Ichthyological Investigations Into Palaeodrainage Hypothesis For The Tennessee River, Andrea Karen Persons

Dissertations

The course of the ancestral Tennessee River has been debated in both the geological and biological literature for over 100 years. Several of the proposed courses for the ancestral Tennessee place its course across the state of Mississippi. Geochemical analysis of sedimentary rocks in the Pascagoula River basin supports these hypotheses suggesting that the rocks in the Pascagoula basin were derived from the Highland Rim of Tennessee and northern Alabama, while geochemical analysis of rocks from the Pearl River basin point to deposition from a mixture of sources including the ancestral Mississippi River and perhaps the ancestral Tennessee. To delve …

Global Stability Of Worms In Computer Network, Bimal Kumar Mishra, Aditya Kumar Singh

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

An attempt has been made to show the impact of non-linearity of the worms through SIRS (susceptible – infectious – recovered - susceptible) and SEIRS (susceptible – exposed – infectious – recovered - susceptible) e-epidemic models in computer network. A very general form of non-linear incidence rate has been considered satisfying the worm propagating behavior in computer network. The concavity conditions with a non-linear incidence rate and under the constant population size assumption are shown to be stable. Such systems have either a unique and stable endemic equilibrium state or no endemic equilibrium state at all; in the latter case, …

The Use Of Horticulture And Gardening As A Special Education Tool At The High School Level, Krysta Marie Johnson

Horticulture and Crop Science

THIS REPORT CONTAINS PLANNING METHODS AND INSTALLATION PROCEDURE FOR A RAISED VEGETABLE GARDEN FOR WILSONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, IN WILSONVILLE, OREGON. THE PRIMARY PURPOSE OF THE GARDEN WAS TO USE IT AS A LEARNING TOOL FOR THE SPECIAL EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AT WILSONVILLE HIGH SCHOOL. UPON DOING MORE RESEARCH IT BECAME EVIDENT THAT THE GARDEN CAN ALSO BE USED AS A HEALING TOOL FOR STUDENTS WHO SUFFER FROM ATTENTION DISORDERS AND WHO HAVE EMOTIONAL AND LEARNING DISABILITIES. THE STUDENTS HAVE BECOME INVESTED IN THE GARDEN PROJECT AND LOOK FORWARD TO DOING MORE PROJECTS WITH THEIR CLASS.

Soccer Penalty Kick Pre-Impact Cues Of Male Right-Footed High School Soccer Players, Jason Ryan Jones

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to use direct observation methods to collect evidence of pre-impact cues in a soccer penalty kick and to analyze their predictive powers in determining shot direction. The five pre-impact cues were position of the approachru n, alignmento f the hips,leano ftrunk, placemenot f non-kickingf oot, and actiono f the non-kickings idea rm.V ideo wasc ollecteda ndt hena nalyzedu singa Dartfishrn tagging panel. There were a total of fifty male high school right-footed participants.C oachesfr om areah igh schools occert eamsp rovidedt heir top penaltyk ick takerst o participatein the study.V ideo wasc ollectedo n …

Preeclampsia, Autoimmunity And The At1 Receptor, Roxanna A. Irani

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Preeclampsia (PE) is a disease of late pregnancy characterized by maternal hypertension and proteinuria. It is associated with preterm delivery and significant perinatal morbidity and mortality. Despite affecting ~7% of first pregnancies, there is no effective screening method to identify women at risk, nor is there a definitive treatment other than delivery of the baby and placenta. Though the pathogenesis of PE remains unclear, an imbalance in the renin-angiotensin and immune systems are thought to be major contributors. Bridging these two concepts, it has recently been shown that women with PE harbor specific autoantibodies: the angiotensin II type 1 receptor …

Minimum Riparian Buffer Width For Maintaining Water Quality And Habitat Along Stevens Creek, Sammi Bray

Department of Environmental Studies: Undergraduate Student Theses

ABSTRACT Riparian buffer zones are important sites of biodiversity, sediment trapping, pollutant removal, and hydrologic regulation that have significant implications for both people and wildlife. Urbanization’s influence on and need for adequate water quality increases the need for careful planning in regards to riparian areas. Wildlife are key components in the ecosystem functions of riparian zones and require consideration in peri-urban planning as well. This study reviews relevant literature to determine the recommended minimum riparian buffer width for maintaining water quality and habitat along Stevens Creek in Lincoln, Nebraska. Only sources that listed a specific purpose related to water quality …

Gey 4360 Mental Health Assessment Of Older Adults, Lisa Brown

Service-Learning Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Library Anxiety Of Law Students: A Study Utilizing The Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale, Stacey L. Bowers

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to determine whether law students experienced library anxiety and, if so, which components contributed to that anxiety. The Multidimensional Library Anxiety Scale (mlas) developed by Dr. Doris Van Kampen was used to assess library anxiety levels of law students. The mlas is a 53 question Likert scale instrument that measures the construct of library anxiety. Participants in the study were law students enrolled in a private midwestern university during the 2009-2010 academic year who completed the survey instrument. Law students are a unique graduate school population who undergo an extremely rigorous and competitive course …

The Vascular Flora Of Greater San Quintín, Baja California, Mexico, Sula E. Vanderplank

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The plants of San Quintín (Baja California, Mexico) were documented through intensive fieldwork and the collection of herbarium specimens to create a checklist of species. This region is home to a diverse flora with high levels of local endemism and many rare plants. The flora documented in this study was compared to historical records from the region and shows the impact of agriculture and urbanization on the plants, including several extirpated species. A study of the perennial vegetation using a 1 km grid provides species distribution data for 140 native species, which were assessed to highlight areas of significant species …

Rna Interference As A Method For Target-Site Screening In The Western Corn Rootworm, Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera, Analiza P. Alves, Marce D. Lorenzen, Richard W. Beeman, John E. Foster, Blair D. Siegfried

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

To test the efficacy of RNA interference (RNAi) as a method for target-site screening in Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) larvae, genes were identified and tested for which clear RNAi phenotypes had been identified in the Coleopteran model, Tribolium castaneum. Here the cloning of the D. v. vergifera orthologs of laccase 2 (DvvLac2) and chitin synthase 2 (DvvCHS2) is reported. Injection of DvvLac2-specific doublestranded RNA resulted in prevention of post-molt cuticular tanning, while injection of DvvCHS2- specific dsRNA reduced chitin levels in midguts. Silencing of both DvvLac2 and DvvCHS2 was confirmed by RT-PCR and quantitative RT-PCR. As in T. …

Diversity Of Boletaceae In Peninsular Malaysia., Chan Hong Twu

Student Works (2010-2019)

The Boletaceae (Basidiomycetes) s.l. is a large family of putrescent mushrooms with pores. Members of this well-recognized family form one of the largest, critical fungal components of obligate, symbiotic mycorrhizal communities throughout the temperate and tropical forest ecosystems of the world. They are intimately involved with basic ecosystem processes such as nutrient cycling, nutrient uptake, and decomposition of organic matter. Favourable temperature and humidity conditions in Asian tropical forest support a wide diversity of boletes. However, the seasonality of fruiting, short-lived and often solitary fruiting bodies are major problems encountered when documenting their diversity in tropical forests. The diversity of …