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The need for new antibiotics has been highlighted recently with the increasing pace of emergence of drug resistant pathogens (MRSA, XDR-TB, etc.). Modification of existing antibiotics with the additions of side chains or other chemical groups and genomics based drug targeting have been the preferred method of drug development at the corporate level in recent years. These approaches have yielded few viable antibiotics and natural products are once again becoming an area of interest for drug discovery. We examined the antimicrobial "Red Soils" of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan that have historically been used to prevent infection and cure rashes by the native peoples. Antimicrobial producing bacteria were present in these soils and found to be the reason for their antibiotic activity. After isolation, these bacteria were found to excrete their antimicrobials into the liquid culture media which we could then attempt to isolate for further study. Adsorbent resins were employed to capture the antimicrobial compounds and then elute them in a more concentrated solution. As part of a drug discovery program, we sought a way to quickly characterize other soils for potential antibiotic producing bacteria. The community level physiologic profile was examined to determine if this approach would allow for a rapid categorizing of soils based on their probability of containing antimicrobial producing microorganisms. This method proved to have a high level of variability that could not be overcome even after mixing using a commercial blender. The role of these antimicrobial producing bacteria within their natural microbial community has largely been confined to microbe-plant interactions. The role of antimicrobial-producing microorganisms in driving the diversity of their community has not been a focus of considerable study. The potential of an antimicrobial-producing bacterium to act as a driver of diversity was examined using an artificial microbial community based in a sand microcosm. The changes in the microbial assemblage indicate that antimicrobial-producing bacteria may act in an allelopathic manner rather than in a predatory role. / Ph. D.

Detta arbete undersöker om existerande Multi-siteapplikationer i CMS-systemet WordPress kan uppnå bättre prestanda genom att övergå från WordPress till det nya CMS-systemet Keystone JS genom en datamigration. Denna migrationsprocess utvärderas med ett vetenskapligt experiment, för att undersöka om migrationsprocessen i sig eventuellt kan medföra prestandaproblem, men också kring när en migration är relevant och i slutändan värd att genomföra. Experimentet mäter svarstider för olika databasoperationer av den originella WordPress-applikationen samt den migrerade Keystone JS-applikationen. Resultatet av mätningen visade att den migrerade applikationen kan uppnå upp till 59% förbättrade svarstider för subdomänrendering, vilket bekräftar att Multi-siteapplikationer kan gynnas av en migration till Keystone JS. Migrationsprocessen ansågs heller inte ha någon individuell negativ prestandapåverkan.

In the lead up to the 2011 official U.S. State Department decision on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline--running from the Alberta, Canada Tar Sands to the Gulf of Mexico--the Department held nine public meetings in Fall 2011 in the six U.S. states through which the proposed Keystone XL pipeline project would pass (the Department rejected the proposal; however, a new proposal is under consideration as of this writing). The transcripts of these public meetings are publicly accessible. Understanding the pipeline as a project of trans-national trade and the global circulation of petrochemicals--including global emissions of carbon dioxide--this paper hones in on one region within one U.S. state: the Nebraskan Sandhills, a cattle ranching region of grass-stabilized sand dunes and inter-dunal valleys stretching 20,000-square miles across the north-central part of the state, under which rests a vast hydrological network, including the largest freshwater aquifer in the world - the Ogallala Aquifer. This essay argues that we can read the Public Comments as a form of poetic expression, paying attention to the ways the State Department transcription process formatted the oral testimonies into an "official" and sanctioned public document -- instituting line-breaks and other syntactical procedures. Using the tools of literary-critical analysis, this paper makes a case that we can read the Comments as a form of documentary poetry - in the tradition of such American modernist poets as Charles Reznikoff, Muriel Rukeyser, and George Oppen - that explore ecological questions while experimenting with lyric structures. The Comments reveal competing environmental stakeholders' stances - on such topics as Prairie systems ecology and the neoliberal economics of private-public capital markets. In doing so, they subsequently express citizens' various understandings of themselves in relation to landscape, ecology, technology, and geo-politics.

Determining the molecular basis of heritable variation in complex, quantitative ecologically important traits will provide insight into the proximate mechanisms driving phenotypic and ecological variation, and the molecular evolutionary history of these traits. Furthermore, if the study organism is a “keystone species” whose presence or absence shapes ecological communities, then we extend our understanding of the effects of molecular variation to the level of communities. I examined the molecular basis of variation in 32 ecologically important traits in the freshwater pond keystone species Daphnia pulex, and identified thousands of candidate genes for which variation may affect not just Daphnia phenotypes, but the structure of communities. I extended the basic results to address two questions: what genes are associated with the offspring size-number trade-off in Daphnia; and can we identify candidate “keystone gene networks” for which variation may have a particularly strong influence on eco-evolutionary dynamics of limnetic communities? I found that different genes, with different biological functions, are associated with the trade-off in subsequent broods, and propose a model linking evolutionary frameworks to molecular biological functions. Next I found that quantitative genetic variation in keystone traits appears to co-vary with the selection regimes to which Daphnia is subject, and identified two candidate gene networks that may underpin this genetic variation. Not only do these results provide a host of molecular hypotheses to be tested as Daphnia matures as a model genomic organism, but they also suggest models that link molecular research with broader themes in ecology, evolution, and behavior. / text

本研究旨在調查新北市國民小學閱讀推廣現況，並探討新北市閱讀績優學校閱讀推廣的關鍵因素。透過問卷調查各校閱讀推廣的現況以及閱讀推廣的困境，並對市內九所閱讀磐石學校閱讀推廣負人進行訪談，探討閱讀績優學校閱讀推廣成功的因素。 調查結果顯示，新北市國民小學閱讀推廣現況在市政府的政策支援、學校及家長的重視下，校方多能制訂計畫進行校園閱讀推廣，且閱讀資源面上獲取的管道多元，除了政府提撥的經費外，與民間團體、社區的合作更加密切，然而資源M型化分配是一隱憂。在執行面上重視人力專業化與教師自我增能的需求，但閱讀推廣負責人身兼數職工作繁重的問題有待解決。在推廣困境上，城市區域小學在於凝聚教師共識與推廣時間不足，平地鄉鎮小學在於閱讀的基礎環境改善，偏遠地區小學則在於學生閱讀動機與閱讀氣氛的營造，各有不同的挑戰。 在閱讀磐石學校推廣關鍵因素方面，校長的理念與作法極為關鍵，除了組織團隊、凝聚親師共識，積極引進產官學界資源外，更將閱讀融入校本課程、致力閱讀教學的連貫化與系統化。而為了因應閱讀研究的脈動亦重視人員素質的提升，然而成員流動的問題卻造成閱讀推廣的隱憂。 根據研究結果建議，在教育相關單位方面，培訓校長成為校園閱讀推手，提高圖書館層級與編制，全面設置閱讀推動教師，廣辦研習擴大參與對象範圍，在資源上成立區域聯盟，平衡分配差距；在學校方面，應審慎擬定閱讀推廣計畫建立回饋修正機制，凝聚親師推廣共識、提升人力素質，精緻化閱讀推廣內容，多元評估閱讀成效，更要融入校本課程達成閱讀推廣系統化的目標。 / The purpose of this research is to investigate New Taipei City Elementary school reading promotion, and to explore the success factors for Reading Keystone Schools in New Taipei City. The study is via the surveys to understand the process and the difficulties of reading promotion in practice, interviewing the persons in charge of reading promotion from the nine Reading Keystone Schools to explore success factors. The results indicated that based on supports from government and value of parents, elementary schools in New Taipei City are very involved in reading promotion and receive lots of information, cooperating with NGO and community besides funds.however M type of resource allocation is a worry. Regarding execution, professional development and teacher self-empowerment are emphasized; however, different regions school have unique problems of reading promotion. Regarding success factors, principals play an important role in teamwork, consensus, school-based reading curriculum, acquiring resources, and elevating reading teaching system. In addition, a high turnover of staff leads to a difficult situation. According to research conclusion, several suggestions were proposed. For educational administrative institutions, it is suggested to train principals to be a facilitator, to elevate organization of library, and to launch workshop. For school administrators, it is suggested to plan reading program, content and feedback system, and to promote the cooperation between teachers and parents, including multiple evaluation and school-based curriculum.

The modifications animals make to their environments can be critical to species diversity. Red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus) create large piles of conifer cone debris (middens) and are hypothesized to function as a keystone species due to positive associations between middens and other vertebrate species. We assessed vegetation and landscape structure at middens with a resident red squirrel for varying consistencies over the prior 5 years and surveyed mammals and birds at the community and population level. After accounting for vegetation and landscape characteristics, red squirrel-created resources positively influenced species richness of medium and large mammals and ground foraging birds, abundance of deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus) and ground foraging birds, and activity of cliff chipmunks (Tamias dorsalis). Increased knowledge of the interaction strength of the red squirrel with its environment may be used to inform decisions in forest management and restoration and offer insight on the conservation value of larderhoarding mammals.

Removing just one species from an ecosystem can have radical results. Tony Sinclair's grand-scale biodviersity knockout experiment sets out to determine why.

TransCanada Corporation has proposed the Keystone XL pipeline project to transfer crude bitumen from the oil sand fields in northern Alberta, Canada, to oil refineries located in the southern part of the United States. This project has created controversy at the national level in the US and Canada and at the international level. The existence of various stakeholders with differing wants and needs has embroiled the Keystone XL in a complicated strategic dispute. This dispute was initially ignited by the potential project’s negative environmental impacts. However, economic and political issues have also played a critical role in further complicating the decision process. The objective of this study is to design a strategic decision-making system for use in assessing the Keystone XL conflict with standard and perceptual graph model methods. Standard graph model analysis consists of various steps. After identifying the decision makers (DMs) subjectively, their options and preferences are determined. Then, possible scenarios or combinations of options for these DMs are evaluated. In the next step, based on rules called solution concepts, a standard stability analysis is conducted. The perceptual graph model technique, on the other hand, considers the emotions and perceptions of DMs in a conflict to assess the existing dynamics among them. Although this technique takes its basic structure from the standard graph model technique, it presents unique insights into each DM’s perspectives toward the conflict and other DMs. This technique has been used in this study to understand how the awareness of one DM regarding other DMs’ perceptions can change reactions and strategies under different conditions regarding the Keystone XL conflict.

abstract: The highly-social plateau pika (Lagomorpha: Ochotona curzoniae) excavates vast burrow complexes in alpine meadows on the Tibetan Plateau. Colonies of over 300 individuals/ha have been reported. As an ecosystem engineer, their burrowing may positively impact ecosystem health by increasing plant species diversity, enhancing soil mixing, and boosting water infiltration. However, pikas are commonly regarded as pests, and are heavily poisoned throughout their range. The underlying assumption of eradication programs is that eliminating pikas will improve rangeland quality and decrease soil erosion. This dissertation explores the link between plateau pikas and the alpine meadow ecosystem in Qinghai Province, PRC. This research uses both comparative field studies and theoretical modeling to clarify the role of pika disturbance. Specifically, these studies quantify the impact of pikas on nutrient cycling (via nutrient concentrations of vegetation and soil), hydrology (via water infiltration), local landscape properties (via spatial pattern description), and vascular plant communities (via species richness and composition). The competitive relationship between livestock and pikas is examined with a mathematical model. Results of this research indicate that pika colonies have both local and community level effects on water infiltration and plant species richness. A major contribution of pika disturbance is increased spatial heterogeneity, which likely underlies differences in the plant community. These findings suggest that the positive impact of plateau pikas on rangeland resources has been undervalued. In concurrence with other studies, this work concludes that plateau pikas provide valuable ecosystem services on the Tibetan Plateau. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Biology 2010