The potato tuberworm, Phthorimaea operculella, is a pest of many solanaceous crops, including potatoes. Commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions throughout the world, potato tuberworm (PTW) is one of the most important constraints to potato production worldwide. Larvae of this species mine leaves, stems, and petioles and excavate tunnels...
The direct major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I antigen presentation pathway ensures intracellular peptides are displayed at the cellular surface for recognition of infected or transformed cells by CD8⁺ cytotoxic T lymphocytes. Chlamydia spp. are obligate intracellular bacteria and, as such, should be targeted by CD8⁺ T cells. It is...
School is a hostile environment for many LGBTQ youth. Teachers participate, consciously or unconsciously, in perpetuating oppressive heteronormative expectations in the classroom both through the overt and covert curriculum. Yet, pre-service teachers are under-trained about questions related to gender and sexuality during their teacher preparation. This qualitative study explores the...
The development and some applications of holographic optical tweezers (HOT) are presented. Our HOT system uses a spatial light modulator (SLM) to control the location and properties of the optical trap. We have developed a method for optimizing the diffraction efficiency of a SLM that can be applied in situ...
One of the biggest hurdles for a juvenile salmonid (Oncorhynchus mykiss) is migrating downstream from freshwater spawning grounds to the ocean. Juveniles from wild broodstock were reared from the South Santiam River for more than 1 year at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center (OHRC) in Alsea, OR. The fish were...
Marine recreational fishing (MRF) is a leisure activity and a cultural ecosystem service that, beyond the welfare obtained by its practitioners, has an interesting potential to boost maritime economies. However, it does not represent a formal sector on the national accounts and, in Europe, it lacks a systematic and common...
This thesis is separated into three distinct projects. First, synthetic studies towards the furanosteroid viridin shown in part I. Second, synthetic studies towards the diperene obtusanal shown in part II. Third, the analysis, characterization, and synthesis of coronene derivatives towards their application in organic batteries shown in part III. Significant...
Mandelalide A has attracted considerable interest from the synthetic community due to its intriguing structure and important cytotoxic activity. Madeirolide A, a structurally related macrolide, shows promising antifungal activity but no appreciable anticancer activity. This dissertation describes synthetic studies toward mandelalide A, madeirolide A and their hybrid structures.
Part I...
A series of compounds, 7-8 and 20-25, were tested as competitive inhibitors of 2,5-dihydroxyacetanilide epoxidase I (DHAE I) and DHAE II. A Hammett plot was constructed for each enzyme to determine the effect of electron density on inhibition. DHAE I gave a linear, highly correlated plot (r²=0.91) that signifies the...
The increased severity of Clostridium difficile infection is primarily attributed to the appearance of an epidemic strain characterized as PCR ribotype 027. The only report that identified epidemic C. difficile ribotype 027 in an American country outside of North America comes from Costa Rica, raising the possibility that strains 027...