Field studies examined the strategies of mowing, herbicide, fertility, and all combinations on tall ironweed populations, weed biomass, pasture yield, grazing, economics, and forage quality at three Kentucky locations. Mowing was performed in July 2008 and 2009, herbicide applied in August 2008, and fertilizer applied in September 2008 and 2009 at all locations. Weed populations were measured in 2008, 2009, and 2010, and forage and weed biomass collected in May or June of 2009 and 2010. Herbicide treatments reduced weed biomass at all locations, and reduced tall ironweed stems by 64% or greater in 2009 at all locations. Weed biomass did not differ when comparing all treatments with and without mowing or treatments with or without fertilizer. Forage grass biomass produced was greatest with herbicide plus fertilizer and with the combination of mowing plus herbicide plus fertilizer at all locations in both years. Two years of grazing did not reduce weed populations. Grazing did reduce forage grass and clover biomass at one location, and weed biomass at two locations. Two locations had positive economic returns based on herbicide treatment for weed control and forge yield. Herbicide treatments reduced crude protein at one location and in-vitro true digestibility at two locations.

Three experiments were conducted to explore the effect of fescue toxicosis on vasoconstriction and various parameters of the estrous cycle. In the experiment of Chapter 3, a 2x2 crossover experimental design with repeated measures was implemented to test whether the ingestion of endophyte-infected tall fescue seed would alter blood hormone concentrations of prolactin, progesterone, and estradiol, interovulatory intervals, and corpus luteum blood flow. Also, Doppler ultrasonography was used to assess whether palmar artery and palmar vein lumen diameter, area, circumference, and resistivity index could be altered by the ingestion of endophyte-infected tall fescue seed. Ingestion of endophyte-infected tall fescue seed significantly decreased palmar artery resistivity index, area, and circumference, and palmar artery and palmar vein lumen diameter, but did not alter interovulatory intervals, serum concentrations of prolactin, progesterone, estradiol, or corpus luteum blood flow. Experiments 1 and 2 from Chapter 4 profiled the dopaminergic, serotonergic, and α-adrenergic receptor types and subtypes, as expressed within the equine medial palmar artery, medial palmar vein, and uterine artery transcriptomes. Combined results from Chapters 3 & 4 imply that relative quantity of serotonergic receptor subtypes within a vessel may be related to with the severity of that vessel's vasoconstrictive response to endophyte-infected tall fescue.

I investigated how orchid biology, floral morphology, and diversity of surrounding floral and pollinator communities affected reproductive success and hybridization of Cypripedium candidum and C. parviflorum. Floral dimensions, including pollinator exit routes were smallest in C. candidum, largest in C. parviflorum, with hybrids intermediate and overlapping with both. This pattern was mirrored in the number of insect visitors, fruit set, and seed set. Exit route size seemed to restrict potential pollinators to a subset of visiting insects, which is consistent with reports from other rewardless orchids. Overlap among orchid taxa in morphology, pollinators, flowering phenology, and spatial distribution, may affect the frequency and direction of pollen transfer and hybridization. The composition and abundance of co-flowering rewarding plants seems to be important for maintaining pollinators in orchid populations. Comparisons with orchid fruit set indicated that individual co-flowering species may be facilitators or competitors for pollinator attention, affecting orchid reproductive success.

Photocopy of typescript. / Bibliography: leaves 345-351. / Microfiche. / vii, 351 leaves, bound 28 cm

Understanding the nutrient dynamics of pastures is essential to their profitable and sustainable management.  Tall fescue [Schendonorus phoenix (Scop.) Holub.] is the predominant forage species in Virginia pasturelands.  Although tall fescue pasture is common, little research has attempted to document how soil and herbage nutrient concentrations change through time.  This thesis summarizes two studies conducted within the context of a larger grazing systems project near Steele's Tavern, VA.  The objectives were to: (1) examine temporal changes in plant available soil nutrient concentrations in four grazing systems, (2) determine how hay feeding and use of improved forages affected soil and herbage nutrient concentrations (3) examine the relationship between and variability within soil and herbage nutrient concentrations, (4) analyze the seasonal variation in herbage mineral concentration with regard to beef cattle requirements, and (5) create a statistical model to predict variation in herbage mineral concentration across the growing season.  Analysis of plant and soil nutrients through 5 years of grazing produced several important findings.  Soil pH, P, and Ca, Mg, and B declined through five years of grazing.  Higher concentrations of herbage N and K and soil P, K, Fe, Zn, and Cu were measured in hay feeding paddocks.  Herbage nutrient concentrations showed less variability in P and K than did soil test results.  Fertility testing in pastures is important to monitor changing nutrient concentrations, and this study showed that herbage analysis may provide a more stable and accurate assessment of pasture fertility than soil testing.  Pasture herbage, grown without fertilization, contained sufficient concentrations of macronutrients to meet the requirements of dry beef cows through the growing season and to meet the requirements of lactating beef cows in April.  A model was developed using soil moisture and relative humidity that predicted (R2 = 0.75) variation in herbage mineral concentration throughout the growing season.  As described in this thesis, use of modeling to predict nutrient dynamics in pasture could allow for more efficient mineral supplementation strategies that lead to improved profitability, nutrient retention, and livestock health. / Master of Science

The study of the response of tall buildings to wind has become more critical with the increase of super tall buildings in major cities around the world. Outrigger-braced tall building is considered as one of the most popular and efficient tall building design because they are easier to build, save on costs and provide massive lateral stiffness. Most importantly, outrigger-braced structures can strengthen a building without disturbing its aesthetic appearance and this is a significant advantage over other lateral load resisting systems. Therefore this thesis focuses on the optimum design of multi-outriggers in tall buildings, based on the standards set out in the Australian wind code AS/NZS 1170.2. / As taller buildings are built, more outriggers are required. Most of the research to date has included a limited number of outriggers in a building. Some tall buildings require more outriggers especially for those more than 500m building height. Therefore there is a need to develop a design that includes many outriggers (e.g. more than 5). In addition, wind-induced acceleration is not covered in most of the research on outrigger-braced buildings. The adoption of outrigger-braced systems in tall buildings is very common and therefore a discussion of wind-induced acceleration will be included in this thesis. / Most of the current standards allow for the adoption of a triangular load distribution in estimating the wind response of a structure. However, there are only few publications on the utilization of a triangular load distribution to determine the optimum location of a limited number of outriggers. This issue will be addressed in this thesis and will be compared with a uniformly distributed wind load. Further to this, an investigation will be carried out on the factors affecting the efficiency of an outrigger-braced system in terms of the core base bending moment and the total drift reduction. / This thesis principally provides a preliminary guide to assess the performance of outrigger-braced system by estimating the restraining moments at the outrigger locations, core base bending moment, the total building deflection, along-wind and crosswind acceleration of a tall building. While many computer programs can provide accurate results for the above, they are time-consuming to run. For designers working on the preliminary design in the conceptual phase, a quick estimation drawn from a simpler analysis is preferable. Therefore, as an alternative to computer-generated estimations, a methodology for an approximate hand calculation of the wind-induced acceleration in an outrigger-braced structure will be developed.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- McMaster University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 215-222). Also available via World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). "April 2008." Includes bibliographical references (p. 235-244). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. Agr. Sc.) -- Lincoln University, 2008. / Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 285-293). Also available in electronic version. Access restricted to campus users.