The size, shape, and stability of a species’ dietary niche can both influence and reflect a variety of biological patterns, including species interactions, extinction risk, and ecosystem function. This is particularly apparent when dietary changes manifest at ecosystem and clade scales to profoundly affect macroecological and macroevolutionary trajectories. However, many...
If P is an integer polynomial denote the degree of P by ∂(P) and let H(P) be the maximum of the absolute value of the coefficients of P. Define Λ(P)=2[superscript ∂(P)]H(P) and for a fixed prime p let C[subscript p] denote the completion of the algebraic closure of the p-adic...
Animal weapons are thought to have evolved to compete for reproductive opportunities within a species. Across the diverse weapon-bearing taxa, several evolutionary trends have emerged: (1) increasing complexity and relative size across ontogeny, (2) sexual dimorphism, and (3) higher levels of random deviations from symmetry (i.e., fluctuating asymmetry) than non-weaponized...
The immune system is a complex network of cellular processes working in harmony to guard us against pathogenic attack. Of utmost importance is the ability of the immune system to discriminate between “self” and “non-self” and diseased versus healthy. Recognition of antigens complexed to major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules is...
While the role of ubiquitin in protein degradation is well established, the role of other ubiquitin-like proteins (UBLs) in protein degradation is less clear. Neural precursor cell expressed developmentally down-regulated protein 8 (NEDD8) is the UBL with the highest level of amino acid identity when compared to ubiquitin. Here we...
Aggregation and species association of 9 species of phytophagous and
predaceous mites were studied for 6 yr in an orchard with 100, 2 m tall 'Red
Delicious' apple trees. To quantify aggregation, a method was developed that is
powerful, and easily interpreted. It relates the proportion of habitat occupied to...
The purpose was to gain information about the determinants of student behavior with respect to laboratory (lab) and non-laboratory (non-lab) science learning activities. Fishbein and Ajzen's (1975) theory of reasoned action was used to investigate students' salient beliefs, correlations between determinants of intention, and the relative weights of determinants of...
Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) techniques are additive manufacturing (AM) technologies with paradigm-shifting potential for the production industry. However, before they can become viable production solutions for quality critical industries, issues with process consistency and repeatability need to be addressed. There is a need for in-situ sensing systems that characterize process...
This thesis describes the development of a rare earth element (REE) proxy for paleoceanographic studies of climate change. This work was done in three stages with the goal: (1) To develop a cleaning method that overcomes the problems of REE readsorption; (2) To measure pore water REEs for evaluation of...