West Nile Virus (WNV), a vector-borne disease continues to be a serious threat to public health in the United States, particularly in the Southwest region. While all the states in the U.S. experienced a decreasing trend of WNV disease in 2010, the state of Arizona experienced a sharp increase from...
Symbiosis is the close and protracted interaction between organisms. The molecular interactions that occur during symbiosis are complex with multiple barriers that must be overcome. Many Gram-negative, host-associated bacteria use a type III secretion system to mediate associations with their eukaryotic hosts. This secretion system is a specialized apparatus for...
This thesis studies connections between disorder type in tree polymers and the branching random walk and presents an application to swarm site-selection. Chapter two extends results on tree polymers in the infinite volume limit to critical strong disorder. Almost sure (a.s.) convergence in the infinite volume limit is obtained for...
Most data are associated with a place, and many are also associated with a moment in time, a time interval, or another linked temporal component. Spatiotemporal data (i.e., data with elements of both space and time) can be used to assess movement or change over time in a particular location,...
Vitamin E was first described in 1922 as an unknown factor required for impregnated rats to carry their offspring to term. In fact, when vitamin E was chemically characterized it was given the name "tocopherol" derived from the Greek: tokos = childbirth; phero = to bear; and –ol, indicating an...
School counselors have potential to make significant gains in closing the achievement gap for all students as advocated for by the American School Counseling Association. School counseling is moving away from the no-model model of services delivery that places counselors at the whim of principals, parents and teachers who traditionally...
Skin is the largest organ in the body that protects the organism from environmental, chemical and physical traumas of each passing day. The protective skin epidermal permeability barrier (EPB) is formed within the exterior layers of the epidermis, which are regularly sloughed off and repopulated by movement of inner cells....
Schools are increasingly expected to prevent and decrease violence, substance use, and other problem behaviors linked to academics and prepare students to be contributing members of society. One approach with proven success in promoting positive outcomes related to a broad range of student behaviors and personal characteristics is social-emotional learning,...
Vibrio parahaemolyticus is a Gram-negative, halophilic, human pathogenic bacterium ubiquitous in the marine environment. Like many Vibrio species, V. parahaemolyticus commonly associates with shellfish, particularly oysters. Ingestion of a raw or under cooked oysters contaminated with V. parahaemolyticus can cause gastroenteritis, which is typically self-limiting and rarely causes death. Globally,...