Typescript. / Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1973. / Bibliography: leaves 78-83. / viii, 83 l illus., tables

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Basel, 1895?.

Bioluminescence is a trait observed among different genera and families of bacteria. In this study part of the luxA gene was characterized from the new MS isolates and compared to luxA of other bacteria. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to amplify a fragment of the luxA gene of strain MS32 and Vibrio harveyi. These fragments were used as probes in hybridization experiments with luminous and nonluminous bacteria. The results from these experiments suggest that some nonluminous species may possess lux like regions in their chromosomal DNA and that luxA probes can demonstrate species identity. The MS32 luxA fragment was also sequenced and used in a phylogenetic analysis to identify the taxonomic affinities of MS strains. It was found that MS1 and MS32 were closely related, however, Shewanella hanedai was not. Thus there was a concordance between the phenotypic and genotypic approaches, which will help in establishing a consistent taxonomic affinity between these bacteria.

No description available.

Leiognathid fish (Perciformes: Leiognathidae) contain 17 species in Taiwan in three genera: Gaza, Leiognathus, and Secutor. Leiognathid fish form mutualistic bio- luminescent symbiosis with the luminous bacteria Photobacterium leiognathi and have developed a specialized light organ to harbor bacteria and other structures to control light emission. The ecological dependence of leiognathid fish to its symbiont for light production and the specialized adaptations suggest that there co-evolution might have taken place. A single symbiont species were thought to be harbored in the light organ of leiognathid fishes. However, different oxygen rates, light production, and cell morphology have been observed in bacteria culturing during previous studies. To investigate the co-evolutionary interaction between P. leiognathi and leiognathid species, I examined the 2-DE patterns of the outer membrane protein (OMP) of symbiotic bacteria from specimens of five leiognathid species; OMPs have been proposed to be essential in symbiotic interaction. The 2-DE results of the P. leiognathi OMP pattern from five leiognathid species displayed intra-specific similarity, when inter-specific differences also exist. Intra-specific consistence revealed five proteins that are essential in the symbiotic interaction. Spot differences between various leiognathid species have shown that closely related species have significant protein spots which may have effect on speciation. In Secutor ruconius absence of the protein responsible for motility might result the difficulty on bacteria culturing. Intra-specific similarity excludes the possible of individual differentiation, and the inter-specific differences of bacterial OMP suggested that P. leiognathi in various leiognathid species might have developed various OMPs to adapt to different host species.

The requirement of marine bacteria for seawater in the medium for growth has been observed to reflect their need for the inorganic ions in seawater for their growth and metabolism. Of these inorganic ions, the marine bacteria so far examined in contrast to most terrestrial bacterial species have been found to possess a specific requirement for Na+ for growth. The Na+ requirement for growth has been found to reflect a requirement for the transport of nutrients in marine bacterial cells. This and other information regarding the characteristics of marine bacteria have come from the studies of only a few representatives of a very small fraction of the bacterial population in the sea, and one may well ask how far these observations made with a few species are true for marine bacteria as a group of organisms? In this thesis observations made on non-luminous marine bacteria have been extended to include some representative luminous marine bacteria. In the course of these studies some similarities and differences in the nutrition and metabolism of the two groups of organisms have been noted.

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / There have been a number of attempts to measure the expansion rate of the Universe using age-dating of Luminous Red Galaxies (LRGs). Assuming that stars in LRGs form at the same time, age-dating of two populations of LRGs at different redshifts can provide an estimate of the time different associated with the corresponding redshift interval (dz/dt). This gives a direct estimate of the Hubble parameter H (z) at the average redshift of the two populations. In this thesis, we explore the validity of this method by using two different sets of data. Firstly, we select a homogeneous sample of passively evolving galaxies over 0.10 < z < 0.40 from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven (SDSS-DR7) catalogue by applying a refined criteria, which is based on absolute magnitude. Secondly, we carry out series of observations on the Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) to obtain spectra of LRGs at two narrow redshift ranges z ' 0.40 and z ' 0.55 in order to calculate the Hubble parameter H(z) at z ' 0.47. We utilise two distinct methods of age-dating including the use of absorption Lick index lines and full spectral fitting on high signal-to-noise galaxy spectra from our sample. By establishing the age-redshift relation of the quiescent, passively evolving galaxies from SDSS, we obtain three improved new observational H(z) data points which are H(z) = 76.8 5.3 km s􀀀1Mpc􀀀1 at z ' 0.28, H(z) = 78.5 6.8 km s􀀀1Mpc􀀀1 at z ' 0.30 and H(z) = 86.3 7.6 km s􀀀1Mpc􀀀1 at z ' 0.32 respectively. We also find another H(z) value of 105 39 km s􀀀1Mpc􀀀1 at z ' 0.47 when age-dating LRGs observed with SALT. Combining all 4 data points with another 25 data points in the literature, we place better constraints on cosmological models and find the matter density parameter to be constrained by m = 0:32+0:05 􀀀0:06 and the Hubble constant to be H0 =68.5 2.4. These results are very consistent with other studies. Through this work, we are able to demonstrate that the cosmic chronometers approach can potentially be used to explore the evolution of the Universe.

No description available.

This thesis investigates the gas content and star formation in a sample of 12 luminous and 4 ultra-luminous infrared galaxies (U/LIRGs). The primary aim is to analyze the relationship between those two properties to illuminate the physics driving star formation in these extreme environments. This is done through archival band 3 (84-116 GHz) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) data. The tracers applied in this work are free-free radio continuum emission at 110 GHz for star formation rate surface density, CO (J=1-0) for bulk molecular gas surface density, and CN (N=1-0) for dense molecular gas surface density. Radio continuum images for each galaxy were created using Common Astronomy Software Applications (CASA) software package with the PHANGS-ALMA pipeline. Peaks in star formation efficiency for both bulk and dense gas align well with each other and with peaks in radio continuum emission. The galaxy NGC 3256 is highlighted as the main exception, where the locations of the peaks differ. The gas content displays a continuous distribution from spiral to U/LIRG data for both bulk and dense molecular gas surface density, and the dense gas fraction is significantly higher in the U/LIRGs. A Kennicutt-Schmidt (KS) plot reveals a fairly shallow slope, nearly the same as what is seen in spirals, and a dense gas KS relation appears to have a tighter correlation than the bulk gas. This work finds gas depletion times as short as 10-100 Myr, compared to 0.3-3 Gyr for spiral data. This thesis also discusses potential sources of error such as using a single pair of conversion factors from molecular line intensities to gas surface density or contamination from an active galactic nucleus. These results from a substantial sample of 16 extreme galaxies offer valuable insights into the mechanisms driving star formation and potential for future research. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Sprites, halos, and elves are members of a family of short-lived, luminous phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), which occur in the middle atmosphere. Sprites are vertical glows occurring at altitudes typically ranging from ~40 to 90 km. In video imagery they exhibit a red color at their top, with blue tendril-like structure at low altitudes. Elves are disk-like glows that occur at the base of the ionosphere, with diameters of ~100-300 km, and have very short lifetimes (~2-3 ms). Halos are diffuse glows that occur at low altitudes, have diameters <100 >km, and have a duration that may last up to 10s of ms. A majority of the studies of TLEs have taken place over the Midwestern U.S. where they were first discovered. This area produces large thunderstorms, which in turn generate large lightning discharges that have been associated with the formation of TLEs. Studies have used the low frequency radiation that initiates with these strokes to study characteristics of these events. This low frequency radiation has been used to determine where large numbers of TLEs may occur. Extreme southern Brazil is a region of the globe believed to have many TLEs, but few studies on these phenomena. Two collaborative campaigns involving Utah State University proceeded in 2002- 2003, and in 2006. Multiple TLE images were made, proving this is, indeed, a region of the globe where these types of events are prominent. In particular, one storm in February 2003 produced over 440 TLEs imaged by USU video cameras. Of these events, over 100 of them had associated halos. Statistical studies for halos previously had been performed in the U.S., but never abroad. Also, several events from the February storm have been associated with negative cloud to ground lightning, a surprising occurrence, as to date, less than a handful of such events have ever been witnessed or published. In analyzing the TLEs from this campaign, we have shown the halos are similar to those seen in the U.S., even though the storms may be somewhat different. Also, detailed analyses of the negative events show both temporal and spatial morphology heretofore never reported on.