Mammalian female reproduction requires preovulatory surges of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from neurons in the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus, initiated by elevated estradiol (E₂). Rising E₂ activates a subset ofsexually dimorphic Kisspeptin neurons in the female, located in the anteroventralperiventricular nuclei (AVPV). Conversely, E₂ negative feedback is mediated by...
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role in puberty
Generating kisspeptin cell
lines to investigate their role
in reproduction
Dakota
Mammalian female reproduction requires preovulatory surges of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from neurons in the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus, initiated by elevated estradiol (E₂). Rising E₂ activates a subset ofsexually dimorphic Kisspeptin neurons in the female, located in the anteroventralperiventricular nuclei (AVPV). Conversely, E₂ negative feedback is mediated by...
Ovulation requires preovulatory surges of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from preoptic hypothalamic neurons, initiated by elevated ovarian estradiol (E₂). Rising estradiol activates a subset of sexually dimorphic kisspeptin (Kiss-1) neurons in the female, located in the anteroventral periventricular nuclei (AVPV). Conversely, estradiol negative feedback on GnRH secretion is mediated by a...
Mammalian female reproduction requires preovulatory surges of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) from neurons in the preoptic area (POA) of the hypothalamus, initiated by elevated estradiol (E₂). Rising E₂ activates a subset ofsexually dimorphic Kisspeptin neurons in the female, located in the anteroventralperiventricular nuclei (AVPV). Conversely, E₂ negative feedback is mediated by...
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Steroid-Mediated Initiation of Puberty
DakotaC. Jacobs1, Jadwiga M. Giebultowicz2,and Patrick E
The story of Leo Szilard has not been told in its full complexity. This is especially so of the role imagination played in Szilard’s worldview. Szilard, like many other scientists in the mid-twentieth century, worked on the Manhattan Project. Like these other wartime participants, the work and relationships formed during...
These essays are an attempt to rebuild memories that explore the nature of work and family. They explore how work knocks against the joints of the body and against the joints between family members, and, as time passes, how the next generation inherits the family line of work only to...
Affective reactions to daily stressors are known mechanisms through which daily stressors impact health and well-being (e.g., Charles et al., 2013; Piazza et al., 2013; Sin et al., 2015; Stawski et al., 2019). Therefore, understanding what may promote resilience or vulnerability to such affective reactions is imperative. Theoretical perspectives (Almeida,...
Daily social stressors are important everyday experiences that influence an individual’s daily health and well-being across the lifespan. One pathway through which daily social stressors influence health and well-being is through changes in positive and negative affect. The vast majority of previous research has focused on individual difference characteristics to...
This paper deals with finite abstract Witt rings in the case where
-1 = 1 in the square class group.
The results also apply to Witt rings
of quadratic forms over fields where √-1
is in the field.
The concept
of relative rigidity is studied in finite abstract Witt rings...
Artificial lipid bilayer technologies are effective models for studying cell membrane properties. Droplet bilayers rely on microfluidics and provide advantages over other bilayer methods due to their compatibility with automated development systems that increase yield while minimizing cost. This paper describes the implementation of bilayer technologies using membrane protein channels...
Over the last 60 years, supplemental strength and conditioning for improving sport performance has gone from being nearly non-existent to a cornerstone feature of elite collegiate, amateur, and professional athletics. Concurrent with this profession-related evolution, technologies for monitoring and tracking physical performance have become more prevalent and useful. As an...
Ian Angell, in the New Barbarian Manifesto, said “A ‘brave new world’ is being forced upon unsuspecting societies by advances in information technology.” It would seem then, that technological advances happen automatically and have a life of their own. There is a logic to technological advancements that is outside human...
People involved in a nuclear activity, whether they are developing it, benefiting from it, or opposing it, see inherent connections between various aspects of nuclear science and technology. This thesis investigates three nuclear sites: a university research reactor, a dual-purpose reactor that produced plutonium for the U.S. military and electricity...
The atomic age was enacted by many scientists as a way to realize health and human rights. Human rights were conceived in this context as rights to economic development, science education, and nuclear medicine. The United States Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) acted hand in hand with UN agencies and educators...
Beginning in the late-nineteenth century, several dialogues emerged concerning life on Mars. Some supported the notion of an inhabited Mars, citing recent observations of the planet, while others, pointing to a lack of concrete evidence, denied the validity of such a bold hypothesis. The dialogues within and between different...
The Second World War was not just a military struggle but also a struggle between two different agriculture, food distribution, and nutrition systems in the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany. At the start of the war, both countries understood that food and nutrition would play an important role and carefully...
In 1947, scientists from the University of California departed for a fifteen-month expedition to Africa. Jessie Camp, wife of the head paleontologist Dr. Charles L. Camp, had no official position on the expedition. Yet in performing her traditional domestic duties, she greatly contributed to the overall success of the expedition....
The Hanford Nuclear Reservation drew public ire during the 1980s and 1990s when activist groups forced the declassification of 19,000 documents and discovered proof of accidental and intentional releases of radioactive materials into the environment. These releases had been kept from the public. Although many locals had for decades wondered...
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) is a Knowledge-belief-practice system acquired through intergenerational direct and indirect observations representing past and current understandings of environments and integrates Indigenous value systems. TEK has become a popular topic recently as Indigenous stewarded lands contain more biodiversity and are more adaptable. It is critical for Indigenous...
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Lara Jacobs, Committee Member, representing Michigan State University Office of the
Provost
Evapotranspiration (ET) is the process by which water is transferred from land to the atmosphere. ET is the second most important component of a hydrologic budget and remains difficult to estimate. The primary objective of this project was to determine the limitations of estimating ET from water table elevation fluctuations...
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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF
Jacob K. Kollen for the degree of Master of Science in Water Resources
Nitrogen (N) fertilizer application can promote nitrate leaching below the rooting zone and into groundwater drinking water sources in many agricultural settings. The proper management of N application can minimize non-point source nitrate pollution to groundwater. This study examines the potential for enhanced efficiency fertilizers, specifically urea treated with a...
The coast of Oregon is highly dynamic, with beach and dune morphodynamics constantly evolving in response to physical and ecological forcing at scales ranging from seconds to decades and meters to tens of kilometers. Evaluating spatial and temporal trends in shoreline evolution is paramount in understanding and eventually developing a...
The effect of land uses on neighboring property values is of critical interest to urban planners, developers, and citizens. Property values are in part defined by built structure and lot characteristics, locational attributes (e.g., proximity to amenities and disamenities), and other features such as views from a property. The effects...
Pin and hanger assemblies are a common type of connection used in past engineering practice for steel girder bridges. The connection consists of pins, hanger plates, and girder ends. The connection detail was used widely between 1930 and 1980. The connections are considered fracture critical and nonredundant because connection failure...
An evaluation was made during midsummer 1972 to measure damage by the carpenterworm, Prionoxystus robiniae, and the ash borer, Podosesia syringae, to green ash in windbreaks in North Dakota. Intensity of infestation was determined in four land resource areas and four age classes of windbreaks. Of the 96 windbreaks examined...
A survey to determine distribution and intensity of cankers and associated damage in North Dakota windbreak plantings of Russian-olive and Siberian elm was conducted in 1972. Four hundred and thirty-five (76 percent) of 574 Russian-olive examined had cankers, and 552 (72 percent) of 769 Siberian elm examined had cankers. Cankers...
Two ecologically important lamprey species found in the endorheic Goose Lake Basin face conservation threats; however, relatively little is known about their habitat needs or spatial distribution. Lamprey and their habitat are often found to be patchy; to evaluate these relationships for the lamprey in this basin, I utilized a...
In this dissertation, the process of computational modeling of amorphous oxide materials is studied. Amorphous oxides have random atomic arrangements with no long-range structural order which makes it difficult to study structure-property relationships. Despite the difficulties, amorphous oxides have great uses as semiconductors and dielectrics in thin-film transistors. The ability...
In 1971, about 2,000 acres (Figure 1) of mixed hardwoods were infested by the forest tent caterpillar, Malacosoma disstria Hubner, on the Totten Indian Reservation south of Devil's Lake, North Dakota. An aerial and ground survey of this area was made on June 15, 1972.
Defoliation could not be detected...
Attempts to site nuclear waste storage facilities are highly contentious. Given that nuclear related facilities are the most commonly opposed types of proposed land uses, one might expect to observe strong contentious interactions between proponents and immediate community members. In some cases, what is expected is not necessarily observed; why?...
Salmonids in arid high-elevation streams find themselves at the fringe of their tolerance range. Under the conditions they endure in such environments, long-distance migratory movements among widely dispersed habitats may be an important mechanism for some fish to persist, and even thrive. The Donner und Blitzen (Blitzen) River redband trout...
Due to the advancement of incredibly low power microcontrollers and small form factor integrated circuits, energy harvesting can be considered as an alternative, low power source for remote ocean sensing and measurements. To demonstrate the effectiveness of harvesting thermoelectric energy contained in the temperature differential between ocean surface water and...
Due to increasing populations, food production must increase significantly to be sustainable. The Internet of Things has been shown to have potential in the field of agriculture to make farming practices more efficient. However, for IoT to be properly integrated into agriculture, sensors must be applied within the field and...
This project concerns the design, layout, assembly, debugging, and testing of a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) that autonomously, reliably, and effectively conducts Cyclic Voltammetry (CV) measurements. CV is an electrochemical procedure done to analyze, quantize, and visualize reversible reduction-oxidation reactions, often used in medical devices to monitor the levels of...
The gut microbiome of all mammals is composed of a diverse commune of microorganisms including bacteria, fungi, archaea, protozoa and viruses 1. Studies have shown a symbiotic relationship between the gut microbiome and host physiology, with there being implications in health and disease progression 2. In captive animals, there has...
Over 90 percent of the soy, cotton, and corn sold in the United States are genetically modified crops (GM crops). However, there was a 209 percent growth in USDA certified organic food from 2005-2015, reflecting a growing interest in non-GMO food. The policy debate over GM crops takes place between...
Despite extensive research on the historical and technical aspects of national space policy, little has attempted to understand the links between technological evolution in NASA’s spaceflight program in relation to its administrative, political and economic context. This essay explores these connections in the development and evolution of core systems in...
This work investigates the in-tube condensation of low global warming potential (GWP) zeotropic refrigerant mixtures R448A, R450A, R452A, R454B and R454C. These refrigerants have been proposed for a wide range of commercial heating, ventilation, air-conditioning applications, but their heat and momentum transport phenomenon were not well understood. Thus, in this...
There is an urgent need to lower the concentration of sulfur in diesel fuels. Growing concern over environmental effects caused by burning sulfur-containing diesel has led the world to higher standards in fuel refinement. Because of these lower standards, many techniques have been researched to remove sulfur containing compounds or...
The problem was to determine (1) to what extent the Industrial
Arts Program had expanded in facilities, enrollment and teachers
from 1952 to 1962, (2) to compare the status of the Industrial Arts
Program in 1952 with that in 1962 to determine growth and trends,
and (3) to determine to...
The Demonstration of Ecosystem Management Options (DEMO) study is a large-scale, multi-year, interdisciplinary project examining the effects of various levels and patterns of green-tree retention on multiple forest features. Six retention levels and patterns were examined and replicated across six blocks of predominately Douglas-fir forested land in western Oregon and...
This study examined changes in flour functionality during storage of grain and subsequent aging of flour milled from the grain. Freshly harvested grain was stored for 24 weeks and flour milled from the grain at specified time intervals after harvest (0, 3, 6, 12, and 24 weeks). For each milling...
Federally designated wilderness areas in the United States are uniquely required to provide opportunities for particular types of recreational experiences. According to the Wilderness Act of 1964, the law that governs the management of designated wilderness in the U.S., wilderness areas are to provide “outstanding opportunities for solitude or a...
Gold nanostars are a relative newcomer to the nanoparticle scene, and their unique properties make them very desirable for spectroscopic applications. These nanoparticles, with their sharp tips, create electric field enhancements that interact with light in an advantageous way. This Thesis outlines our in-depth study of gold nanostar synthesis, the...
A method for measuring the (dis)charging dynamics of organic semiconductors with single-electron resolution in multiple environments is developed using optical tweezers. A 1μm silica bead was coated with either a pristine organic semiconductor or an electron donor-acceptor blend, trapped using optical tweezers, and driven with an oscillating electrical driving force....
The world market for sensors is several hundred million dollars growing at an annual rate of 20 percent with accelerometers comprising 19 percent of the market. With an increasing market, a wide range of applications with varying degrees of resolution are in demand. Therefore, there is sufficient motivation for developing...
In Radio Frequency Integrated Circuits (RFIC) or high frequency digital
ICs, there is a demand to probe the internal nodes for testing. The ultra low
capacitance RFIC probe presented in his work is a flexible tool for these
applications. The probe utilizes the coupling between a tungsten needle and the...
With Alzheimer’s disease being the most prominent form of dementia, finding potential treatments for the disease is imperative. This study explored the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen as a potential treatment to normalize the hyperactive N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) within the 5xFAD mice early in the disease pathology before cognitive decline. Female...
This research examined the potential for using peanut husk as a fiber alternative to wood in the production of melamine-formaldehyde (MF) particleboard. MF resin was used to produce panels with one, three, six, nine or 12 percent resin contents. Modulus of Rupture (MOR), Modulus of Elasticity (MOE), Internal Bond (IB)...
I examine the strong co-variability between the surface divergence and vorticity and how it varies with latitude in the Pacific Ocean using surface vector winds from reanalysis and satellite scatterometer observations. This analysis was motivated in part by a significant correlation between divergence and vorticity over the global oceans that...
In the continuing effort to reduce time spent in the product development cycle many industries
have realized the benefits of rapid prototyping. Within a few hours a design engineer can turn a
computer model into an actual three-dimensional object allowing customers, engineers and
marketing agents to evaluate a product early...
In source-detector radiation transport simulations, pulse height distributions are a useful metric in assessing the effectiveness of nuclear instrumentation. In the area of spectroscopy, pulse height distributions are used to identify an unknown source. It is widely believed that pulse height distributions cannot be created using deterministic methods. This quantity...
Fer1L6 is an uncharacterized member of the ferlin family of proteins, a group of large, calcium sensitive proteins with emerging roles in vesicle trafficking and various disease states. The presence of Fer1L6 has been identified within the C2C12 cell line of mouse skeletal muscle. To determine the protein’s subcellular location...
Additive manufacturing has become a promising method for the fabrication of inexpensive, green, flexible sensors and electronics. Printed electronics on low- temperature substrates are very appealing for the flexible hybrid electronics market for their use in disposable and biocompatible electronic applications and in areas like packaging, wearables, and consumer electronics....
The licensing of novel nuclear reactor power plant designs requires extensive research and testing. A significant portion of this work is dedicated to the design and operation of scaled-down testing facilities that emulate various plant conditions. The data gathered from these test facilities is used to compare to predictive models....
This thesis aims to explore the effects of organizational and management principles within the context of a student club – an international Formula Student team. Research on the effects of organizational structuring on student club performance tends to be qualitative in nature. While considering the inherent complexity of the human...
In this dissertation I study evolutionary patterns at genes encoding antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) in frogs. AMPs are short, amphipathic, cationic, secreted proteins that kill bacteria and other pathogens through a non-catalytic mechanism that involves
binding to and disrupting the microbial cell membrane. In many animal taxa, positive selection is much...
This study is believed to be the first of its kind to characterize culturable fungal endophytes from the wood of Populus trichocarpa, and to examine the potential of inducible resistance and secondary chemistry as specific host factors that shape fungal endophytic communities in wood. To do so, more than seventy...
The High Altitude Liquid Engine (HALE) team is developing of a 2000 lbf thrust liquid propellant engine for a flight vehicle capable of breaching the Karman Line (100 km in altitude). As part the development of this flight vehicle, this research focuses on the design and characterization of a novel...
The scientific method applies hypothesis testing to material samples through experimentation, measurement, and data analysis, which produce representations—or features—that describe phenomena of interest. Biomolecular features come in numerous forms such as values, matrices, graphs, three-dimensional structures, trajectories, and molecular surfaces. Researchers have tested thousands of features related to protein molecules...
Within the past decade, the continued-scaling of CMOS processes and improvements in industry mixed-signal integrated-circuit designs have enabled a rapid decrease in the cost, form-factor, and power for point-of-care diagnostics and electrochemical instrumentation. Similarly, advances in low-power RF designs have prompted entire System-on-Modules supporting widely varied Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. The...
Microfluidic devices have enabled lab-on-a-chip (LOC) systems that allow for complex sample analysis and preparation in a compact form factor. One technology that may benefit from a microfluidic approach and further miniaturization is flow cytometry. Flow cytometry is an analysis technique for enumerating and characterizing populations of cells; this is...
Parallel computing on heterogeneous workstation clusters has proved to be a very efficient use of available resources, increasing their overall utilization. However, for it to be a viable alternative to expensive, dedicated parallel machines, a number of key issues need to be resolved. One of the major challenges of heterogeneous...
For the past half century, CMOS process scaling has followed Moore's law, approximately doubling transistor density every 18 months. While locally routed wires have generally scaled with transistor size, longer wires have scaled at a slower rate and in some cases have grown larger as chip size and complexity have...
Meditation research in recent decades has disproportionately focused on the Buddhist derived practice of “mindfulness” meditation while leaving most other Buddhist meditation practices unstudied. The current study seeks to remedy this homogeneity through the adaptation of a novel meditation practice used in Tibetan Buddhism to affect motivation. We explored traditional...
Autonomous robotic agents are on their way to becoming in-home personal assistants, construction assistants, and warehouse workers. The degree of autonomy of such systems is reflected by the manner in which we specify goals to them; the abstraction of low-level commands to high-level goals goes hand-in-hand with increased autonomy. In...
Chlorinated solvents are a class of widespread groundwater contaminants that are toxic, carcinogenic, and difficult to remediate at low concentrations. 1,4-dioxane, a suspected carcinogen, is often a co-contaminant found in mixtures of chlorinated solvent plumes. In-situ bioremediation methods of degrading these chemicals through aerobic cometabolism have shown promise. Permeable Reactive...
Central Oregon's landscape is rich in dry forests prone to frequent wildfires. Climate change studies and improved modeling indicate this region could experience conditions that result in an increase in number and severity of wildfires. With the potential for increased environmental hazards, the nearby communities face potential risks and vulnerabilities...
According to Wang and Repetti (2013), American adults are working more hours per week than in decades past. Additionally, more people in each family must work to support their families (Patten, 2015). This has led to an increase in stress levels due to the strain that is placed on balancing...
Although oceanographers such as Roger Revelle are typically associated with key indicators
of anthropogenic change, he and other scientists at midcentury had very different
scientific priorities and ways of seeing the oceans. How can we join the narrative of the
triumph of mathematical, dynamic oceanography with the environmental narrative? Dynamic...
This paper explores the connection between the agricultural use of neonicotinoid pesticides and the decline of wild bumblebee populations across the United States.
The purpose of this thesis was to understand the relation between the actual performance and the design performance of the manufacturing plane which was designed for the 2016 Design/Build/Fly competition. The actual performance was determined using an Arduino Uno based system with data from an accelerometer, gyroscope and pitot tube....
By 2050 the world population is expected to reach 9 billion. Fears of the impact of such a large population on earth’s environmental systems and finite resources have lead efforts by governmental and non-governmental agencies to assist developing nations in reducing fertility rates to slow population growth by direct medical...
During the interstate expansion of the 1950s, many conventionally reinforced concrete
deck girder bridges were built throughout the country. These now vintage bridges
commonly exhibit diagonal cracking and rate inadequately for shear, thus they are
candidates for shear strengthening to extend their useful life. Near-surface mounted
(NSM) retrofitting is a...
Electroanalytical techniques allow scientists and engineers to characterize bulk solutions as well as interfaces. Potentiostats are commonly used by researchers in a variety of disciplines to analyze the chemistry which occurs at a working electrode surface. Advancements in microelectronics and the proliferation of open-source designs have allowed researchers to construct...
Fast neutron detection is important to the detection of illicit nuclear materials and can help prevent those materials from being used or transported without discovery. Previous research has shown that Heavy Oxide Inorganic Scintillator crystals can be used to detect fast neutrons by capitalizing on their high inelastic scattering cross...
Political Polarization in the United States is at a level higher today than at any point in the past few decades. Possible causes of this rise in polarization have been provided from various sources, including explanations such as mass media and income inequality. Through historical analysis and a wide literature...
Lidar is able to provide height and cover information which can be used to estimate selected forest attributes precisely. However, for users to evaluate whether the additional cost and complication associated with using Lidar merits adoption requires that the protocol to use lidar be thoroughly described and that a basis...
Mutation breeders in the 1960s seemed poised to use atomic energy to speed up mutation rates in plants in order to develop new crop varieties, for the benefit of all people. Although skepticism had slowed this work in the United States, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nurtured the scientific...
Nitrogen (N) fertilizer is a commonly applied silvicultural treatment in intensively managed Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco] plantations. When attempting to maximize average growth responses through fertilization, landowners experience difficulty prioritizing stands for treatment based on the likely magnitude of response and return on the operational investment. Field trials were...
The Sandinistas embarked on a unique and controversial path of democratization between 1979 and 1990 that focused first on expanding human development due to Nicaragua's historical underdevelopment before holding elections. This differs widely from methods advocated still today that emphasize expanding civil and political liberties and holding elections. The purpose...
This thesis presents a decentralized communication planning algorithm for cooperative terrain-based navigation (dec-TBN) with autonomous underwater vehicles. The proposed algorithm uses forward simulation to approximate the value of communicating at each time step. The simulations are used to build a directed acyclic graph that can be searched to provide a...
The AhR is a ligand-activated transcription factor that mediates the potent immunosuppressive effects of TCDD. AhR-dependent changes in gene expression appear to alter the differentiation of CD4+ T cells to induce a population of CD4+CD25+ T regulatory cells (Tregs) that suppress the immune response. Ascertaining if and how the AhR...
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ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF
Jacob Huber for the degree of Baccalaureate of Science in Bioresource Research
Modern science was produced by a Christian society,
and although science has had an effect on Christianity, it
could not itself remain unaffected. In the second half of
the nineteenth century, the subject of evolution was as
much a religious as a scientific issue. The battle line
was drawn and...
INTRODUCTION
On approximately two thirds of the world’s arable land, phosphorus is a plant growth limiting nutrient (Lambers et al., 2013). Agriculture utilizes roughly 80% of the mined phosphate rock as fertilizer, with the remaining 20% being utilized in products such animal feed supplements, food preservatives, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, water...
The issue of global climate change and possible remedies has been debated between national governments since the 1970s. While some countries have adopted aggressive measures to address the issue, others have lagged in their efforts. The United States, as a key player in global climate change conferences, has focused its...
The Walla Walla basin lies in an arid region of Eastern Washington and Oregon. A large portion of the area is devoted to agricultural production, relying on irrigation water diverted from the Walla Walla River and underlying aquifers occurring within Quaternary and Mio-pliocene era gravel deposits, as well as a...
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AN ABSTRACT OF THE THESIS OF
Jacob N. Scherberg for
This thesis examines the nature of evidence in scholarship on peer review in composition studies. I argue that the nature of evidence present in scholarship on peer review over the past three decades is typically anecdotal, theoretical, and based on limited case studies. I argue that peer review research in...
Aerial and ground surveys to detect and evaluate forest insect and disease conditions in North Dakota were made during June 1977 by personnel from the U.S. Forest Service, Forest Insect and Disease Management staff and the Rocky Mountain Forest and Range Experiment Station. A forest tent caterpillar outbreak in the...