Thesis (M.A.)--West Virginia University, 2001. / Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains vii, 95 p. : ill., maps (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 93-95).

This dissertation presents three essays on asset pricing and econometrics. The first chapter identifies rare events and long-run risks simultaneously from a rich data set (the Barro-Ursua macroeconomic data set) and evaluates their contributions to asset pricing in a unified framework. The proposed model of rare events and long-run risks is estimated using a Bayesian Markov-chain Monte-Carlo method, and the estimates for the disaster process are closer to the data than those in the previous studies. Major evaluation results in asset pricing include: (1) for the unleveraged annual equity premium, the predicted values are 4.8%, 4.2%, and 1.0%, respectively; (2) for the Sharpe ratio, the values are 0.72, 0.66, and 0.15, respectively. / Economics

DNA nucleases are essential for various biological functions such as replication, recombination, and repair. Restriction endonucleases (REs) are excellent model system for the investigation of DNA recognition and specificity. SgrAI is a type IIF RE that cuts an 8 base pair primary sequence. In addition to its primary cleavage activity it also cleaves secondary sequences, but only appreciably in the presence of the primary sequence. The longer flanking DNA exhibits much greater activated DNA cleavage by SgrAI (>1000 fold activation by secondary site). Interestingly, the asymmetric cleavage seen in one of the two types of secondary site DNA is lost upon activation of SgrAI, suggesting a loss of communication between DNA recognition and activity upon specificity expansion. The structure of SgrAI bound to 22-1HT supports the cryoelectron microscopy structure of activated, oligomeric SgrAI highlighting the significance of the contacts made by the flanking DNA and the role played by N-terminal domain contacts in forming the run-on oligomer. The biological study suggests that the run-on oligomer formation sequesters the host DNA from being cleaved by the activated SgrAI complex. The DNA sequence binding, cleavage preference, and the structure of K96A SgrAI were determined. Unexpectedly, this mutation did not alter the structure of the enzyme, nor did it result in an enzyme lacking sequence preference at the 7ᵗʰ position. Instead, the largest effect of the mutation appears to be in making the enzyme more specific such that it fails to cleave either type of secondary site. It may be that the K96 side chain is required to distort the non YG sequences (specifically GG and TC) of secondary site DNA for proper positioning in the enzyme active site upon activation and specificity expansion. The crystal structure of Mk0566, XPG homologue from M. kandleri, was solved to 2.48 Å resolution and was found to be very similar to that of human FEN-1 and to other archaeal FEN-1/XPG homologues. These results suggest that the main biological role of Mk0566 is in DNA replication; however, they do not preclude involvement in a modified form of nucleotide excision repair.

No description available.

Production, egg quality, behaviour, and physical condition were compared from Wk 20 to Wk 50 among three beak- trimmed commercial laying strains, Lohmann White (LW), H & N White (HN), Lohmann Brown (LB), and a non-commercial Cross between Rhode Island Red (male) and Barred Plymouth Rock (female) in conventional cages and in floor pens. All chicks were reared in their respective environments, and 450 and 432 pullets were housed at 18 and 7 weeks of age in cages and floor pens respectively. Hens in cages were provided with 688 cm2/bird and those in pens with over 6,000 cm2/bird, both of which are more than provided by commercial standards. Body weights and eggshell weights were higher for birds in floor pens than those in cages, and although they increased with age, body weight of hens in cages decreased at Wk 50. White-egg layers (LW, HN) used perches and nest boxes more than Brown-egg layers (LB, Cross). During the laying period, mortality was higher for all strains in cages and during the rearing period mortality was higher in floor pens for LB hens but not other strains. No aggressive behaviours were found, but the frequency of gentle feather pecking and pecking at the enclosure was higher in cages than in floor pens. Feather condition deteriorated over time in cages mainly because of contact with the cage wires whereas in floor pens, feather condition of birds at Wk 20 was not different from that at Wk 50. The frequency of keel bone deformities was higher for White-egg layers than for Brown-egg layers in cages and was higher for Cross hens than other strains in floor pens. Claws were longer in cages than in the floor pens. Foot condition was worse in floor pens than in cages. The welfare indicators used in this study showed that cages restricted the hens' behaviour compared to floor pens and resulted in higher laying period mortality, reduced body weight and deteriorated feather condition than floor pens. Both systems had advantages and disadvantages in regard to the hens’ health and welfare. The use of environmental complexities was strain specific in floor pens. The environment by genotype interactions suggests that the strain should be considered when considering alternative housing systems.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Baigiamojo bakalaurinio darbo tema – Šiaulių miesto lietaus nuotekų kokybės tyrimas. Darbo tikslas – įvertinti paviršinių lietaus nuotekų tinklų būklę ir nuotekų kokybę Šiaulių mieste. Darbe apžvelgta esama lietaus nuotekų tinklų būklė, lietaus nuotekų kokybės rodikliai, aptartos lietaus nuotekų tvarkymo sistemos tobulinimo galimybės. Išmatuota lietaus nuotekų elektrinis laidumas, pH, ištirpusio deguonies koncentracija, skendinčių medžiagų koncentracija. Elektrinis laidumas kito 759-985 µS/cm ribose. Ištirpusio deguonies koncentracija kito nuo 1,5 iki 5,6 mg/l. Skendinčių medžiagų koncentracija visuose mėginiuose viršijo normą. Lietaus pradžioje ir praėjus vienai valandai nuo lietaus pradžios, skendinčių medžiagų kiekis sumažėjo, o kiti rodikliai nekito. Daugumoje lietaus vandens išleidimo į atvirus vandens telkinius taškų taršos rodikliai nėra kontroliuojami. Vandens nutekėjimo kanalams ir vamzdynams reikalinga geresnė priežiūra. Prieš išleidžiant lietaus nuotekas į vandens telkinius jas būtina valyti. Darbe aptariamas augalų panaudojimo galimybės valant lietaus nuotekas surinkimo baseinuose, gyvenamųjų mikrorajonų nuosavų namų savininkams savo sklypuose siūloma įsirengti lietaus nuotekų infiltravimo sistemas. / The topic of the final work of BSc Diploma is "the research of the quality in rain run-off in Siauliai". The aim of this work is to estimate the condition and the quality of the surface of rain run-off systems in the city of Siauliai. This work also includes the surveys of quality rates of the rain run-off system and opportunities of improving it. Moreover there are some observations of electrical conductivity (pH), concentration of melted oxygen and other substances existing in the run-off. The surveys showed that an electrical conductivity varied between 759 and 985 µS/cm and the concentration of melted oxygen varied between 1.5 to 5.6 mg/l. The results indicated that the concentration was above the mark in all the specimens. In the beginning of raining and one hour after the amount of the substances got lower, but the other indicators haven't changed. Majority of pollution rate is not being controlled during the rain run-off deflation to the bigger water (sea, river or lake). So the higher tendency for the water run-off channels and the manifold is necessary and before a discharge of run-off to the waters it essentially has to be cleaned. Furthermore this work contemplate the possibility to use vegetation for cleaning the run-off in reservoirs. So it is suggested for the owners of the houses and catchment areas to equip the rain run-off infiltration system.

The field of molecular fecal source tracking in the water environment has developed rapidly since the first PCR assays for general and host-­‐specific Bacteroides 16s rRNA markers were published. Numerous host-­‐specific molecular markers and PCR assays have been developed, adding greater specificity, sensitivity and quantitative methods to the array of options. The public demand for readying methods for transfer to the commercial lab, so that they may be used to generate data for public utilities, citizen action groups and regulatory agencies, has fueled the development of an entire new research community. These methods, however plentiful, have not found community agreement and there is no consensus concerning the appropriate implementation of molecular fecal source tracking in the field. Some issues plaguing the implementation include imperfect marker specificity, environmental variability, DNA extraction variability, PCR inhibition and high cost of molecular analysis. This thesis presents an approach for locating hot spots of human fecal pollution in an urban watershed by using published methodologies for the collection of molecular fecal source tracking data along with a tiered watershed screening tool for cost reduction and two data normalization techniques which ameliorate several known sources of error and strengthen the efficacy of watershed application.