Conservation efforts start with understanding the life cycle and interactions of species. For example, orchid conservation requires understanding pollinators as well as mycorrhizal fungi because these are mutualisms orchids require. For instance, all orchids require assistance from orchid mycorrhizal fungi (OMF) to germinate and some orchid species continue to be...
Proper size control of organs and tissues is critical to their function, and it is necessary for the millions of precisely sized tubes that make up those organs— for example, excessive cell growth can lead to devastating diseases such as Polycystic Kidney Disease. The regulation of tube growth is therefore...
“Repurposing Queens: Excavating a Black Feminist Eco-ethic in a Time of Ecological Peril,” articulates how Black feminist theories of race, gender, and science critique both conservative and liberal trends in environmentalism and environmental studies. The project is transnational in scope in that it analyzes figures/objects from the United States and...
The mammalian oocyte undergoes large fluctuations in zinc content as it matures from a prophase I arrested oocyte to a metaphase II egg and finally is fertilized to become a zygote. These changes in total zinc content are necessary for proper progression, as disruption to egg’s ability to acquire and...
This dissertation focuses on subgroup identification in longitudinal studies. There are two different but related topics. In chapter two and chapter three, several longitudinal based methods for subgroup identification with enhanced treatment effect are proposed to correct the deficiency in measuring treatment effect by simply using a summary statistic. In...
Bioresponsive imaging probes act as beacons to allow detection, tracking, and study of otherwise invisible actors in biological systems. Understanding how these underlying systems function in their native context is essential to identifying dysfunction and generating effective remedies. Magnetic Resonance techniques are particularly interesting for this application because of the...
The presence of subjective cognitive decline (SCD) among cognitively normal-for-age older adults is increasingly hypothesized to represent a preclinical stage in the development of Alzheimer’s dementia (Jessen et al., 2014). This project aimed to characterize this construct with regard to its cognitive, motor, emotional, and functional features. The first study...
The term Connected Vehicle (CV) is broadly used to identify any ‘smart vehicle’ with wireless connectivity to the roadside infrastructure and other vehicles. CVs with automation capabilities are called connected automated vehicles (CAVs). With real-time communication and data transmission capability, CAVs have the potential to improve the transportation system’s traffic...
The embryonic neural crest is a unique vertebrate stem cell population that has the ability to retain its stem attributes while neighboring cells in the embryo undergo lineage restriction. These cells possess multi-germ layer developmental potential and can give rise to a diverse array of derivatives such as components of...
Introduction: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a disorder of gut-brain interaction associated with reduced quality of life, increased rates of depression and anxiety, and high economic burden to society and the individual. Current behavioral interventions, which target well-known symptom exacerbating factors such as catastrophizing and gastrointestinal- specific anxiety, have demonstrated...