Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-100).

Thesis (M.A.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-100).

5 pp. / This publication covers the basics of container gardening in the hot, dry desert. Selecting an appropriate container, planting medium, and plant types for production are discussed.

Previous studies of selective reabsorption in insect excretory system have concentrated almost exclusively on the rectum, while the role of the ileum has been assumed to be minor. The properties and control of solute and fluid transport in two segments of the hindgut, the ileum and rectum, from the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria) have been studied and compared in vitro using everted sac and flat sheet preparations. Everted sacs of locust ileum transported fluid from the lumen side to hemocoel side over a 5 h period at near constant rates of 3.0 to 3.5 μL-h⁻¹-ileum⁻¹ and tissue volume did not change. Inhibition by azide indicated metabolic dependence of fluid transport. Fluid absorption occurred against osmotic concentration differences of up to 600 mosmol. Fluid transport was stimulated by cAMP, both nervous and glandular lobes of corpus cardiacum (CC), and fifth ventral ganglia (VG) in a dose-dependent manner. All stimulants caused ilea to absorb against larger osmotic concentration differences than unstimulated sacs. The ileal absorbate remained hyperosmotic to the luminal saline under all conditions and stimulants increased absorbate osmolality. Unstimulated fluid transport was supported at 50% of control levels by any one of Na+, K+, or CI⁻. Stimulation of fluid transport by CC or VG was dependent on CI⁻ and maximal stimulation occurred when the Na+:K+ ratio was 1:1. Cyclic AMP, CC and VG all stimulated Na+,K+ and CI⁻ absorption across everted ileal sacs. This is the first direct demonstration that Na+ reabsorption is controlled in insect excretory systems. Stimulation resulted in a decrease in absorbate HCO₃⁻ levels and pH concurrently with an increase in absorbate CI⁻ levels. Stimulation of fluid transport was associated with a 3-fold increase in transepithelial potential (hemocoel negative) suggesting stimulation of electrogenic anion (CI⁻) movement to the hemocoel. Net Na+ absorption occurs largely by electroneutral active transport. NH₄+/Na+ exchange may account for one-third of stimulated net Na+ flux. Extracts from both CC and VG stimulated fluid, K+, and CI⁻ transport across everted rectal sacs, but only a small stimulation of Na+ flux was observed which was an order of magnitude less than that observed for stimulated ilea (0.4 versus 5.1 μequiv-h⁻¹ -cm⁻²). Unlike the rectum, the ileum did not transport proline transepithelially and ileal fluid transport was not stimulated by increasing concentrations of proline in the bathing saline. Rectal fluid transport was stimulated 50% by increasing external proline concentration from 1 to 80 mM. Stimulation of rectal fluid transport by proline also occurred in the absence of Na+, K+, and CI⁻ and occurred against larger osmotic concentration differences. These results are consistent with previous reports of a high capacity transport system for proline in locust rectum. The presence of anion-stimulated ATPase and Na+,K+-ATPase in locust hindgut was also investigated. Anion-stimulated ATPase activities were observed in microsomal fractions of both rectum and ileum. Microsomal fractions from both tissues had enriched specific activities of several plasma membrane marker enzymes and decreased activities of two mitochondrial markers as compared to homogenate enzyme activities. Na+,K+-ATPase activity was 20-fold higher in the rectum than in the ileum, associated with the greater development of the basolateral membrane in the rectum. Overall the results suggest that ion and fluid reabsorption in the locust ileum is much more important in the excretory process than previously supposed. Moreover, this reabsorption was shown to be under neuroendocrine control. / Science, Faculty of / Zoology, Department of / Graduate

No description available.

"The purpose of this study is A) to identify the criteria for establishing permanent off-campus facility for existing centers. B) To identify the number of students from College of the Desert (COD) who are planning to continue their education at the California State University, Coachella Valley Campus (CVC.) C) To determine whether a permanent CSU Campus in Coachella Valley will motivate students from College of the Desert (COD) to get their bachelor's degree locally. D) To identify the degree programs in which COD students are most interested-in. E) To determine whether ethnicity (Hispanic students are the target group) plays a role in the students' choice of degree program. For purpose of this study literature pertaining to development of California State University, San Bernardino, and development of CSU off-campus centers was reviewed. Two hundred and thirty one students attending the spring 1999 semester at College of the Desert provided the data for this study."

abstract: The Desert Southwest has no shortage of representations in literature, art, and film. Its aesthetics—open horizons, strange landscapes, and vast wilderness—inform and saturate the early Western films of John Ford, the paintings of Georgia O’Keeffe, Edward Abbey’s Desert Solitaire, and continue in today’s popular imaginations. My work acknowledges such contributions and then it challenges them: why are those names more widely associated with the Southwest than Luis Alberto Urrea, Alicia Gaspar de Alba, or Pat Mora? The project intersects the environmental humanities, critical theory, and cultural studies with the Desert Southwest. It explores the fullness of desert places with regard to cultures, borders, and languages, as well as nonhuman forces and intensities like heat, light, and distance. Dispelling the dominant notion of desert as void or wasteland, it sets a stage to suit the polyvocality of desert place. My work is interdisciplinary because the desert demands it. It begins with Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian in order to reorient readers towards the rupture of the US War With Mexico which helped set the national and cultural borders in effect today. I then explore Denis Villeneuve’s film Sicario to emphasize the correlation between political hierarchy and verticality; those who can experience the desert from above are exempt from the conditions below, where Urrea’s The Devil’s Highway and Gaspar de Alba’s Desert Blood take place. The novels expose the immanence and violence of being on the ground in the desert and at the lower end of said hierarchies. Analyzing Yuri Herrera’s Signs Preceding the End of the World and Mora’s Encantado enables what I term a desert hauntology to produce a desert full of memory, myth, ancestors, and enchantment. Finally, the project puts visual artists James Turrell and Rafa Esparza in conversation to discover a desert phenomenology. The result is an instigation of how far is too far when decentering the human, and what role does place-based art play in creating and empowering community. John Ford was from Maine. Georgia O’Keeffe, from Wisconsin. Edward Abbey, Pennsylvania. As someone born and raised in the Desert Southwest, I’ve written the project I have yet to encounter. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation English 2020

Les météorites sont parmi les sources d’information les plus importantes sur la structure et l’évolution du système solaire. Cette thèse présente une étude des météorites d’Iran, en particulier celles retrouvées dans le désert de Lut et leur comparaisons avec celles des autres déserts chauds du monde. Les météorites de Lut sont étudiées en détail en vu de comprendre le potentiel de ce désert dans l’accommodation et la classification des météorites, les âges terrestres, la météorisation, distribution spatiale et ‘pairing’. Nous démontrons la présence de deux champs de strewnfields de météorites et mettons en évidence les conditions favorables à la conservation, accumulation et collection des météorites. Nos données révèlent les différences entre les effets chimiques et minéralogiques de le météorisation (l’altération) sur les météorites en provenance de différents déserts. Parmi les centaines de météorites classifiées des déserts chauds, nous présentons notre étude détaillée sur un chondrite non-classifié (El Médano 301). Cette météorite, pourrait représenter un nouveau sous-groupe des chondrites ordinaire (OCs) avec une composition chimique moins réduite par rapport aux OCs standards. Famenin et Moshampa, deux météorites tombées en été 2015 dans le nord-ouest d’Iran, sont également étudiées en détail. Famenin est un chondrite ordinaire de type 3 qui présente des charactéristiques intermédiaires entre les chondrites H et L. Enfin, nous présentons les résultats de notre étude sur la météorite de Moshampa qui est une chondrite brecciated de type LL5. / Meteorites are amongst the most important sources of information about the structure, formation, and evolution of the solar system. This thesis reports studies on the meteorites from Iran, in particular the Lut desert and their comparison with the meteorites from other hot deserts. Lut desert meteorites are studied in detail to understand the potential of this desert for hosting meteorites, meteorite classification, terrestrial ages, terrestrial weathering, spatial distribution and pairing. We shows the presence of two main meteorite strewnfields and evidence suitable conditions for preservation, accumulation and finding of meteorites. Meteorites from different hot deserts are studied in order to document meteorite abundances, classification, and their terrestrial alteration. Our data reveal differences between the chemical and mineralogical effects of terrestrial weathering on meteorites from different deserts. Among the hundreds of classified hot desert meteorites, we present a detailed study on an ungrouped chondrite (El Médano 301). This meteorite might be representative of a new grouplet of ordinary chondrites (OCs) showing more reduced compositions than standard OCs. Famenin and Moshampa, two meteorites fallen during summer 2015 in NW Iran, are studied in detail. Famenin is a type 3 ordinary chondrite showing characteristics intermediate between H and L chondrites. Together with similar intermediate meteorites, we suggest the existence of a separate ordinary chondrite grouplet for which a different designation (H^L) is proposed. Classification results of Moshampa brecciated LL5 chondrite are reported.

Deserts are interesting places due to the large number of plants and animals that live there. Nocturnal wasps are extremely abundant in deserts, but they are difficult to identify and their life cycles are not well known especially the families of Chyphotidae, Tiphiidae (Brachycistidinae), and Mutillidae (velvet ants). In this dissertation, I determine how to correctly identify a particularly difficult group of species that all have black heads from the family Chyphotidae. This is important because these species make up a large proportion of specimens collected. Also, I expanded our knowledge on the distribution of the species of these three families of wasps by conducting a trap-transect study in Joshua Tree National Park catching 22 species of Brachyscistidinae based on the collection of 13,960 specimens, 11 species of Chyphotes based on the collection of 1,513 specimens and 35 species of velvet ants based on 8,447 specimens. From this study, three new species of velvet ants are described: Odontophotopsis dalyi Sadler and Pitts, sp. nov., O. odontoloxia Sadler and Pitts, sp. nov., and Photomorphus schoenwerthi Sadler and Pitts, sp. nov. Lastly, I used new molecular methods to determine relationships of the species of Brachyscistis, Chyphotes, and Odontophotopsis. These relationships suggest that the species are young, which is contradictory to evidence based on birds and mammals. These relationships also support dates for the inundation of southern California by the Boues Sea Embayment and confirm a hypothesized Baja Inner Peninsular Seaway.

Focusing on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railway from Grand Junction, Colorado to Green River, Utah, this study examines the working circumstances of nineteenth-century railroad laborers, the ecological limitations of the isolating desert where they worked, and their relations with railroad management and local communities. It begins by investigating the experiences of the railroad surveyors and construction laborers. The study then examines the experiences of workers' response to labor organization in the communities of Green River, Utah and Grand Junction, Colorado. The study identifies ecological changes spawned by the railroad and addresses issues of worker autonomy and labor organization in the American West in the late nineteenth century.