This diploma thesis is concerned about the PCR-RFLP method for identification of yeasts genus Saccharomyces from leaves, grapes and must of white wine. The thesis describes an obtaining of pure cultures of yeasts, isolation DNA and amplification of specific segments of DNA using PCR method. Splitting of this segments by restriction endonukleases and a detection of final fragments by zone electrophoresis are mentioned too. Length of fragments and numbers of restriction fragments, which are characteristic of every species, enable a determination of microorganisms and their inclusion into the system. The basic informations on yeasts and molecular methods for their identification are named in the theoretical part of the thesis. The main part of the thesis deals with the processing of grapes of grape-wine and the manufacturing of white wine.

This thesis deals with the identification of wine yeasts isolated from the grape must using PCR-RFLP method. The yeasts were isolated from Pinot Noir grape variety must. Grapes were grown and produced in accordance with the requirements placed on organic and integrated farming. Samples were processed in the laboratory, where pure cultures of individual yeast were obtained. A commercial kit was used for yeast DNA isolation. Obtained DNA was used for further analysis. Using the polymerase chain reaction and the primers ITS1 and ITS4 a specific segment of 5.8S rDNA-ITS region was amplified. The PCR products were then detected by electrophoresis in an agarose gel, and after a subsequent purification, three restriction enzymes: HaeIII, HinfI and HhaI were subjected to restriction analysis. The DNA was digested to fragments specific for yeast species and they were detected by agarose electrophoresis. Similarity of these isolates was compared using BioNumerics program and the result is dendrogram of genetic similarity of isolated yeast. The basic chemical analysis of samples must was also performed.

The aim of this work was to isolate the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast from the surface of wine grapes of the Malverina and Sauvignon varieties. Isolated yeasts were identified by the PCR-RFLP method. 5,8S ITS rDNA was amplified using PCR and restricition endonucleases HaeIII, HhaI, HinfI and TaqI were used for the restriction analysis which followed. The results were processed by UPGMA cluster analysis using the BioNumerics programme. The dominant genus on the surface of the Malverina variety grapes was Brettanomyces/Dekkera, while on the surface of the Sauvignon grapes we found mainly yeasts of the Pichia genus. The Saccharomyces cerevisiae species was not isolated from any of the two grape varieties.

The presented thesis is dedicated to particle identification in COMPASS RICH-1 experiment which is located in European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). For particle identification Cherenkov radiation is used, which is described in the thesis together with detection principles. Current aim in detector upgrade is replacing a part of Multi Wire Proportional Chambers (MWPC) in peripheral regions of the detection surface by a suitable photon detector so as to guarantee one-photon detection. For this purpose the hybrid photon detector based on THGEM and MicroMegas technologies was developed. The hybrid detector test results are presented in the thesis.

The avocado mesocarp contains up to 60-70% oil by dry weight where triacylglycerol (TAG) is the major constituent. There is significant human nutritional demand for vegetable oil, but its use in production of renewable biomaterials and fuels has intensified the need to further increase oil production. In plants, the final and committed step in TAG biosynthesis is catalyzed by diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGAT) and/or a phospholipid: diacylglycerol acyltransferases (PDAT). Both DGAT and PDAT contribute to TAG biosynthesis in an independent or overlapping manner, depending on the species. However, preferred pathway for TAG biosynthesis is not well studied in nonseed tissues such as mesocarp. Based on the transcriptome data of Persea americana it is hypothesized that both DGAT and PDAT are likely to catalyze the conversion of diacylglycerol to TAG. In this study, putative DGAT1 was identified and comprehensive in silico analyses were conducted to determine the respective start codons, full-length coding sequences, transmembrane domains, predicted protein structures and phylogenetic relationships with other known DGAT1s. These data reveal that the putative DGAT1 of a basal angiosperm species retain features that are conserved not only among angiosperms but also other eukaryotes. For further functional analysis, the avocado DGAT1 was expressed in H1246, a TAG-deficient yeast strain and lipotoxicity rescue assays, TLC analysis, Nile Red staining were conducted. The complementation of this yeast strain confirmed enzyme activity and supported the possible role of avocado DGAT1 in TAG biosynthesis. Finally, substrate specificity of DGAT was determined by incubating microsomes with different radiolabeled substances and found that avocado DGAT1 has a preference toward oleic acid (18:1) compared to palmitic acid (16:0) while it is converting diacylglycerol (DAG) to triacylglycerol. In summary, we characterized functional DGAT1 in a basal angiosperm species, which may be metabolically engineered into crop species to produce TAG enriched in oleic acid.

There has been much recent research on the control of complex sound fields in enclosed vibrating structures via active control techniques. Active Structural Acoustic Control (ASAC) has shown much promise for reducing interior cabin noise in aircraft by applying control forces directly to the fuselage structure. Optimal positioning of force actuators for ASAC presents a challenging problem however, because a detailed knowledge of the structural-acoustic coupling in the fuselage is required. This work is concerned with the development of a novel experimental technique for examining the forced harmonic vibrations of an aircraft fuselage and isolating the acoustically well-coupled motions that cause significant interior noise. The developed system identification technique is itself based upon an active control system, which is used to approximate the disturbance noise field in the cabin and apply an inverse excitation to the fuselage structure. The resulting shell vibrations are recorded and used to optimally locate piezoelectric (PZT) actuators on the fuselage for ASAC testing. Experiments for this project made use of a Cessna Citation III aircraft fuselage test rig. Tests were performed at three harmonic disturbance frequencies, including an acoustic resonance, an off-resonance, and a structural resonance case. In all cases, the new system identification technique successfully isolated a simplified, low-magnitude vibration pattern from the total structural response caused by a force disturbance applied at the fuselage's rear engine mount. These measured well-coupled vibration components were used for positioning candidate piezoelectric actuators on the fuselage shell. A genetic algorithm search provided an optimal subset of actuators for use in an ASAC system. ASAC tests confirmed the importance of actuator location, as the optimal sets outperformed alternate groupings in all test cases. In addition, significant global control was achieved, with sound level reductions observed throughout the passenger cabin with virtually no control spillover. / Master of Science

The use of the nomination stage as the first step in the identification process is pervasive across the field of gifted education. In many cases, nominations are used to limit the number of students who will need to be evaluated using costly and time-consuming assessments for the purpose of gifted program identification and placement. This study evaluated the effect of the nomination stage on the overall efficacy of a gifted identification system. Results showed that in nearly all conditions, identification systems that require a nomination before testing result in a large proportion of gifted students being missed. Under commonly implemented conditions, the nomination stage can cause the false negative rate to easily exceed 60%. Changes to identification practices are urgently needed in order to ensure that larger numbers of gifted students receive appropriate educational placement and to maintain the integrity of gifted education services.

Card and Giuliano’s National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) working paper on universal screening is discussed. This commentary provides a brief summary and critique of the article, proposes an explanation of the results in light of the author’s research on the role of nominations or screening tests in the gifted identification process, and discusses the methodological implications of this work for the field.

As biomedical research and advances in biotechnology generate expansive datasets, the need to process this data into information has grown simultaneously. Specifically, recognizing and extracting these “key” phrases comprising the named entities from this information databank promises a plethora of applications for scientists. The ability to construct interaction maps,identify proteins as drug targets are two important applications. Since we have the choice of defining what is “useful”, we can potentially utilize text mining for our purpose. In a novel attempt to beat the challenge, we have put information theory and text compression through this task. Prediction by partial matching is an adaptive text encoding scheme that blends together a set of finite context Markov models to predict the probability of the next token in a given symbol stream. We observe, named entities such as gene names, protein names, gene functions, protein-protein interactions – all follow symbol statistics uniquely different from normal scientific text. By using well defined training sets that allow us to selectively differentiate between named entities and the rest of the symbols; we were able to extract them with a good accuracy. We have implemented our tests, using the Text Mining Toolkit, on identification of gene functions and protein-protein interactions with f-scores (based on precision & recall) of 0.9737 and 0.6865 respectively. With our results, we foresee the application of such an approach in automated information retrieval in the realm of biology.

Within the presiding 2021-2022 school year, approximately fifty-five percent of Western Carolina University’s undergraduate population self-identifies as a first-generation student. Subsequently, a student qualifies as being first-generational when their parent(s) and/or guardian (s) does not complete a four-year college or university degree, resulting in a disproportionate measurement of confidence, adaptability, anxiety, and financial instability with respect to their newfound independence. Accordingly, the following study examines the elements that contribute to the vulnerability of first-generation students housed on college campuses. Evidence has been collected through a combination of formal and informal surveys and interviews with individuals who identify as first generational, as well as residing Emergency Management professionals. Upon analysis, a constructed proposal has been established for Disaster Management educators and students of Western Carolina University’s populace to which the institution’s Emergency and Disaster Management Department will further fabricate and promote.