Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Aphis’ Plant Inspection Stations: Protecting American Agriculture From Foreign Pests And Diseases, United States Department Fo Agriculture, Animal And Plant Health Inspection Service

All U.S. Government Documents (Utah Regional Depository)

In today’s global marketplace, the volume of international trade brings increased potential for the introduction of foreign pests, diseases, and noxious weeds that could threaten the safety of American agriculture. The results of such introductions can have a devastating effect on the U.S. food supply, damage our natural resources, and cost hundreds of millions of dollars in eradication and control measures that ultimately result in higher priced agricultural products for the consumer.

Proximity Navigation For Map-Based Interfaces: Generalizing Menu Design For Multiple Dimensions, Brian Scott Malek

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The development of effective multidimensional map-based interfaces is an important area of research in need of design techniques and guidelines. To date, guidelines for multidimensional interfaces have been generalized from text-based interfaces and few experimental studies have been conducted to asses their effectiveness.

Guidelines for design were studied with the goal of extending the current body of knowledge about the usability of these interfaces. Based on design guidelines, multidimensional map-based interfaces with various levels of depth and breath, with and without scent-based components were used to perform simple and compound tasks. The goal of this study was to investigate the …

Dual Constraint Problem Optimization Using A Natural Approach: Genetic Algorithm And Simulated Annealing, James P. Sweeney

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Constraint optimization problems with multiple constraints and a large solution domain are NP hard and span almost all industries in a variety of applications. One such application is the optimization of resource scheduling in a "pay per use" grid environment. Charging for these resources based on demand is often referred to as Utility Computing, where resource providers lease computing power with varying costs based on processing speed. Consumers using this resource have time and cost constraints associated with each job they submit. Determining the optimal way to divide the job among the available resources with regard to the time and …

Characterization Of Stress Ulcer Model In Mice, Abeer Hamed Rubayea Hamed Aldhaheri

Theses

Stress ulcer is a common problem in critically ill patients. Recent statistics indicated that bleeding from stress ulcer is a common cause of death in patients admitted to intensive care units. Little is known about the cellular changes that occur in the gastric mucosa during stress ulcer formation. The aim of this study is to define the changes that occur in the mouse stomach during development of stress ulcer by using different microscopy techniques.

The cold-restraint mouse model of stress ulcer was used in this study. Mice of both sexes were restrained and maintained in a cold (4°C) room for …

Analytical Studies On Some Antiviral Drugs And Their Derivatives Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance And Uv-Vis Spectrophotometry, Habiba Saleh Saif Alawi Jahri Al Yafei

Theses

Cyclodextrin chemistry involves non-covalent molecular interactions between the interacting species. The majority of these interactions are of the host-guest type. In the present work, UV-Vis spectrophotometry and ¹H-NMR studies were used to study the interaction between amantadine hydrochloride, acyclovir and their derivatives with β­cyclodextrin. Additionally, quantification of amantadine hydrochloride and acyclovir by ¹H-NMR spectroscopy were carried out.

This study is based on preparing amantadine hydrochloride and acyclovir derivatives. Anthraquinone-2-carboxylic acid and benzoyl chloride were used as derivatizing agents for amantadine hydrochloride and acyclovir, respectively. Derivatization procedure was based on nucleophilic displacement by an amino group (amantadine or acyclovir) …

Epidemiology Of Hepatitis A In Al Ain: With Emphasis On Age-Related Seroprevalence, Salwa Saeed Al Shamisi

Theses

Hepatitis A (HAV) is common worldwide, but with falling sero-prevalence in residents of developed countries is an indication of improved food and water hygiene. It is well known that the sero-prevalence of hepatitis A are highly correlated with socioeconomic status. The main objective of this study was to have base line data on the age-related sero-prevalence of HAV in Al Ain district and the possible risk factors.

Blood and a questionnaire data were obtained from 280 UAE citizens' outpatients of Tawam Hospital and 333 expatriates' inhabitants of Al Ain city. The expatriate subjects were heterogeneous coming from 24 different countries. …

Slow Flow Between Concentric Cones, O. Hall, C. P. Hills, A. D. Gilbert

Articles

This paper considers the low-Reynolds-number flow of an incompressible fluid contained in the gap between two coaxial cones with coincident apices and bounded by a spherical lid. The two cones and the lid are allowed to rotate independently about their common axis, generating a swirling motion. The swirl induces a secondary, meridional circulation through inertial effects. For specific configurations complex eigenmodes representing an infinite sequence of eddies, analogous to those found in two-dimensional corner flows and some three-dimensional geometries, form a component of this secondary circulation. When the cones rotate these eigenmodes, arising from the geometry, compete with the forced …

Krylov Subspaces From Bilinear Representations Of Nonlinear Systems, Marissa Condon, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

For efficient simulation of state-of-the-art dynamical systems as arise in all aspects of engineering, the development of reduced-order models is of paramount importance. While linear reduction techniques have received considerable study, increasingly nonlinear model reduction is becoming a significant field of interest. From a circuits and systems viewpoint, systems involving micromachined devices or systems involving mixed technologies necessitate the development of reduced-order nonlinear models. From a control systems viewpoint, the design of controllers for nonlinear systems is greatly facilitated by nonlinear model reduction strategies. To this end, the paper proposes two novel model-reduction strategies for nonlinear systems. The first involves …

Water Waves And Integrability, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

The Euler’s equations describe the motion of inviscid fluid. In the case of shallow water, when a perturbative asymtotic expansion of the Euler’s equations is taken (to a certain order of smallness of the scale parameters), relations to certain integrable equations emerge. Some recent results concerning the use of integrable equation in modeling the motion of shallow water waves are reviewed in this contribution.

Generalised Fourier Transform For The Camassa-Holm Hierarchy, Adrian Constantin, Vladimir Gerdjikov, Rossen Ivanov

Articles

The squared eigenfunctions of the spectral problem associated to the Camassa-Holm equation represent a complete basis of functions, which helps to describe the Inverse Scattering Transform for the Camassa-Holm hierarchy as a Generalised Fourier transform. The main result of this work is the derivation of the completeness relation for the squared solutions of the Camassa-Holm spectral problem. We show that all the fundamental properties of the Camassa-Holm equation such as the integrals of motion, the description of the equations of the whole hierarchy and their Hamiltonian structures can be naturally expressed making use of the completeness relation and the recursion …

Torsion-Free Groups And Modules With The Involution Property, Brendan Goldsmith, C. Meehan, S.L. Wallutis

Articles

An Abelian group or module is said to have the involution property if every endomorphism is the sum of two automorphisms, one of which is an involution. We investigate this property for completely decomposable torsion-free Abelian groups and modules over the ring of -adic integers.

Species-Specific Visitation And Removal Of Baits For Delivery Of Pharmaceuticals To Feral Swine, Tyler A. Campbell, David B. Long

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Within the domestic swine industry there is growing trepidation about the role feral swine (Sus scrofa) play in the maintenance and transmission of important swine diseases. Innovative disease management tools for feral swine are needed. We used field trials conducted in southern Texas from February to March 2006 to compare species-specific visitation and removal rates of fish-flavored and vegetable-flavored baits with and without commercially available raccoon (Procyon lotor) repellent (trial 1) and removal rates of baits deployed in a systematic and cluster arrangement (trial 2). During trial 1, 1) cumulative bait removal rates after four nights …

Review Of Infectious Diseases Of Wild Rodents By Dennis Padovan, Robert G. Mclean

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Infectious Diseases of Wild Rodents is a collection of reference material on a wide variety of infectious diseases documented in rodent species throughout the world. Editorially, this was a massive undertaking to provide a comprehensive and systematic coverage of the information on so many rodent species and infectious diseases in one volume. Although the information is not presented in much detail, the breadth of coverage makes this a good reference book for those interested in rodent diseases throughout the world. The information is presented in two different formats: disease information in the first part of the book is arranged by …

Temperature Effects On Soil Dielectric Properties Measured At 50 Mhz, Mark S. Seyfried, Laura E. Grant

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In recent years a number of soil water monitoring instruments have been developed and made commercially available. These instruments generally respond to the complex soil dielectric permittivity and operate at frequencies between 10 and 150 MHz. Although there is some evidence that these instruments are sensitive to temperature change in certain soils, little empirical data exists describing the degree of this sensitivity. We quantifi ed temperature effects on both the real and imaginary components of the complex permittivity for 19 soils collected around the United States using the Hydra Probe soil water sensor, which operates at 50 MHz. We found …

Lagomorph And Rodent Responses To Two Protein Hydrolysates, Julia A. Figueroa, Bruce A. Kimball, Kelly R. Perry

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Various species of rodents and lagomorphs were used in bioassays to determine the effectiveness of protein hydrolysates (specifically hydrolyzed casein and gelatin) as herbivore repellents. Mixed sex groups of captive rabbits, pocket gophers, voles, and mountain beavers were offered hydrolyzed casein or gelatin test diets in single-choice tests following a training period with a hydrolysate-free diet. The effectiveness of either hydrolyzed casein or gelatin was dependent on the species. Hydrolyzed casein was identified as an effective repellent for mountain beavers and pocket gophers as these species showed a strong avoidance of hydrolyzed casein diets. Rabbits demonstrated slightly higher avoidance of …

Chlorophacinone Baiting For Belding’S Ground Squirrels, Craig A. Ramey, George H. Matschke, Richard M. Engeman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

The efficacy of using 0.01% chlorophacinone on steam-rolled oat (SRO) groats applied in CA alfalfa by spot-baiting/hand baiting around burrow entrances (~11.5 g) to control free-ranging Belding's ground squirrels (Spermophilus beldingi) were compared in 6 randomly assigned square treatment units (TUs). Four TUs were given the rodenticide and 2 treated with placebo bait. Each TU was a 0.4 ha square surrounded by a similarly treated 5.5 ha square buffer zone. Baits were applied on May 13 and re-applied, on May 20 and May 22, after 7 days of un-forecasted cool wet weather greatly reduced their above ground activity. Pesticide (EPA …

Dominance And Neophobia In Coyote (Canis Latrans) Breeding Pairs, Alex Edward Mettler, John Anthony Shivik

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Previous research suggests that within social animals, subordinate individuals are less neophobic than dominant individuals. We investigated the effect of social status on neophobic responses using 10 captive coyote breeding pairs. Social status was determined from observations of feeding behavior and agonistic interactions during a series of reference trials. Once dominance was established, we surrounded an experimental area with novel stimuli (ropes adorned with interspersed flags) to create a novel context around a familiar food source. Contrary to hypotheses, dominant coyotes were first to feed, showed more interest toward novel stimuli, and eventually crossed the barrier, which subordinates never did. …

Evaluation Of Two Perch Deterrents For Starlings, Blackbirds, And Pigeons, Thomas W. Seamans, Scott C. Barras, Glen E. Bernhardt

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bird-aircraft collisions are costly and potentially deadly to people and wildlife. From 1990 through 2004, 57,702 bird collisions with aircraft were reported within the USA to the US Federal Aviation Administration. Approximately 82% of the strikes occur below 305 m height about ground level; therefore bird deterrents on airfields that reduce the quality of the birds’ habitat are critical to safe airport operation. One management approach is to reduce perching sites within the airport premises. We tested two anti-perching devices (Birdwire^TM and Birdblox^TM) in an aviary setting. As an ancillary test, we determined which wire in a …

Serologic Evidence Of West Nile Virus Exposure In North American Mesopredators, Kevin T. Bentler, Jeffrey S. Hall, J . Jeffrey Root, Kaci Klenk, Brandon S. Schmit, Bradley F. Blackwell, Paul C. Ramey, Larry Clark

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Sera from 936 mammalian mesopredators (Virginia opossums, gray foxes, striped skunks, hooded skunks, raccoons, a bobcat, and a red fox) were collected during 2003 and 2004 in California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, and Wyoming and screened for flavivirus-specific antibodies by an epitope-blocking enzyme-linked immunosobent assay (blocking ELISA). Serum samples positive for antibodies against flaviviruses were screened for West Nile virus (WNV)– specific antibodies by blocking ELISA and selectively confirmed with plaque-reduction neutralization tests. High prevalence rates were observed in raccoons (45.6%) and striped skunks (62.9%). The high WNV antibody prevalence noted in mesopredators, their peridomestic tendencies, and their overall pervasiveness …

Genetic Tagging Free-Ranging White-Tailed Deer Using Hair Snares, Jerrold L. Belant, Thomas W. Seamans, David Paetkau

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Use of noninvasive DNA-based tissue sampling (e.g., hair, scats) for individual identification in wildlife studies has increased markedly in recent years. Although field techniques for collecting hair samples have been developed for several species, we are unaware of their use with free-ranging ungulates. From December 2004 to August 2005 we evaluated the efficacy of barbed wire for snaring hair samples suitable for genetic analyses from white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) on trails and at baited sites. During initial trials on a semi-captive deer herd in northern Ohio, deer demonstrated avoidance of barbed wire positioned on game trails through four …

Research Strategies Of The National Wildlife Research Center To Control Bovine Tuberculosis In Wildlife In Michigan, Usa, A. R. Berentsen, M. R. Dunbar, R. G. Mclean

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a zoonotic disease caused by Mycobaferium bovis and is transmissible to humans, wildlife, and domestic livestock. In the United Kingdom, the suspected wildlife reservoir of bTB is the badger (Meles meles) (HUTCHINGS and HARRIS, 1997), and in New Zealand, the culprit is the brush-tailed possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) (MORRIS et al., 1994). In northern Michigan, USA, bovine tuberculosis is endemic in white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) . In 1975 a hunter-killed white-tailed deer in Alpena County, Michigan, USA, was tested positive for bTB. Subsequent surveillance by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) …

Research Strategies To Reduce Bovine Tuberculosis Transmission From Wildlife To Cattle, Are R. Brentensen, Mike R. Dunbar, Robert G. Mclean

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a zoonotic disease caused by Mycobaterium bovis, and is transmissible to humans, wildlife and domestic livestock. In the northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) serve as a reservoir for the disease and pose a significant threat to domestic cattle and captive cervids. Scientists at USDA, APHIS, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center have designed a variety of laboratory and field studies aimed at reducing or eliminating bTB infection in cattle by interrupting the transmission of the disease from wildlife reservoirs. These strategies include reducing bTB in deer by delivery of …

Current And Historical Use Of Alpha-Chloralose On Wild Turkeys, David Bergman, Brian F. Wakeling, Timothy B. Veenendaal, John D. Eisemann, Thomas W. Seamans

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Alpha-chloralose (AC) has been used as an anesthetic since 1897 to capture or sedate wildlife, including waterfowl, wood-pigeon (Columba palumbus), and black bear (Ursus americana). The first use of AC in the United States was for the capture of house sparrows (Passer domesticus), red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), and wild turkeys (Meleagris gallopavo) in 1964. Prior to the 1990s, AC was not registered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for use as an immobilizing agent in the United States for wild animals that might be used for human consumption. In …

Leiocephalus Carinatus Armouri (Northern Curlytail Lizard.). Mockingbird Attack; Assertion Displays, Henry T. Smith, Richard M. Engeman

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Leiocephalus carinatus armouri is a well-established exotic species in Florida (Meshaka et al. 2004. The Exotic Amphibians and Reptiles of Florida. Krieger Publishing Co., Malabar, Florida. 155 pp.; Smith and Engeman 2004. Florida Field Nat. 32:107-113; Meshaka et al. 2005. Southeast. Nat. 4521-526). Various avian species are predators of L. c. amouri in Florida including the Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) (Smith et al. 2006. Herpetol. Rev. 37:224). Here we report an attack by a L. c. armouri on a pre-fledgling Northern Mockingbird (Mimus polyglottos) in Florida.