Coral reef ecosystems continue to be significantly altered by disease epizootics, but why some host populations remain resistant while others succumb to outbreaks remains unknown. Research across diverse animal and plant host systems has revealed that disease severity is strongly influenced by host genetics and by environmental influences on both...
Finding trees and crops that are resistant to pathogens is key in preparing for current and future disease threats. In this dissertation, we analyzed the potential of using hyperspectral imaging (HSI) to find infection while identifying issues and strategies addressing differences over time, in spatial resolution, the application of machine...
Fundamental objectives in the field of conservation biology involve understanding the processes that influence small and declining populations and applying that knowledge to develop appropriate monitoring strategies and targeted management and conservation actions. Critical first steps in determining the relative role of factors that drive population declines involves estimation of...
The variability of coastal carbonate chemistry continues to provide significant hurdles for understanding interactions between anthropogenic and natural CO2 cycling and resultant effects on coastal acidification dynamics. Attribution of the anthropogenic component is vital for identifying the impacts of increasing atmospheric carbon on coastal habitats such as coral reefs, upwelling...
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are a group of environmental contaminants consisting of fused benzene rings. Parent-PAHs, methylated-PAHs (MPAHs), and PAHs with molecular weight of 302 a.m.u (MW302-PAHs) are considered as unsubstituted-PAHs. These unsubstituted-PAHs undergo transformation reactions resulting in the formation of PAH-transformation products (PAH-TPs), or substituted-PAHs, including nitrated-, oxygenated-, and...
Rainfall scarcity and variability present serious challenges to water security for many rural communities throughout the world's drylands. Sand dams--weirs built across ephemeral or seasonal rivers--provide an appropriate water harvesting and storage option for many regions. The structures quickly fill with sediment during rainy season flow events and store water...
Sulforaphane is an isothiocyanate derived from cruciferous vegetables and has been under investigation as a cancer chemopreventive agent for over two decades. The compound is well tolerated and has been shown to slow cancer progression in several different pre-clinical models of carcinogenesis, such as of the lung, breast and colon....
As a young adult, I have been able to witness first hand just how drastically social media is changing our culture and the way that we look at things. As social media continues to become more vastly used by its members who are in many different phases of life and...
Organic compounds which contain one or more nitrogen atoms are especially important as they are disproportionately represented among biologically active molecules. As a result, significant effort has been focused on the development of methods for the synthesis of nitrogenous molecules. We identified the aminal as an under-explored functional group. Despite...
Optimization of comminuting and heating conditions for surimi gel preparation obtained from three fish species: Alaska pollock (AP) (Theragra chalcogramma), Pacific whiting (PW) (Merluccius productus), and threadfin bream (TB) (Nemipterus spp.) was the focus of this study. Three parameters during comminution were separately evaluated: chopping time, chopping temperature, and salting...