Liu , Huan. / Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 43-45). / Abstracts in English and Chinese. / Abstract --- p.i / 摘要 --- p.iii / Acknowledgement --- p.iv / Table of contents --- p.vi / Chapter Chapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1 --- Gel electrophoresis of proteins --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.1 --- Principles of gel electrophoresis --- p.1 / Chapter 1.1.2 --- Polyacrylamide gel --- p.3 / Chapter 1.1.3 --- Buffer systems --- p.5 / Chapter 1.1.4 --- Capillary electrophoresis --- p.6 / Chapter 1.2 --- Methods to transfer proteins from gel to membrane --- p.7 / Chapter 1.2.1 --- Simple diffusion --- p.8 / Chapter 1.2.2 --- Ultrasound transfer --- p.8 / Chapter 1.2.3 --- Tank transfer --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2.4 --- Semidry transfer --- p.9 / Chapter 1.2.5 --- Transfer efficiency improvements --- p.10 / Chapter 1.3 --- Visualizing immunoblots --- p.11 / Chapter 1.3.1 --- Membrane staining --- p.11 / Chapter 1.3.2 --- Radiometric detection in blotting --- p.12 / Chapter 1.3.3 --- Bioluminescence-enhanced detection --- p.13 / Chapter 1.3.4 --- Chemiluminescence-enhanced detection --- p.14 / Chapter 1.4 --- Miniaturized electrophoresis and blotting methods --- p.15 / Chapter 1.5 --- Objective of the project --- p.18 / Chapter Chapter 2 --- Dip-pen gel electrophoresis in capillaries --- p.20 / Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.20 / Chapter 2.2 --- Experimental section --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Materials and reagents --- p.21 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- PA gel fabrication in capillary --- p.22 / Chapter 2.2.3 --- Setup for electrophoresis in capillary --- p.23 / Chapter 2.3 --- Results and discussion --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- PA gel polymerization quality at tip --- p.24 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Separation efficiency in capillary --- p.25 / Chapter 2.4 --- Conclusions --- p.27 / Chapter Chapter 3 --- Western blotting by dip-pen electrophoresis --- p.28 / Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.28 / Chapter 3.2 --- Experimental section --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2.1 --- Materials and reagents --- p.30 / Chapter 3.2.2 --- Protein sample preparation --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2.3 --- Dip-pen electrophoresis based Western blot --- p.31 / Chapter 3.2.4 --- Detection on membrane --- p.32 / Chapter 3.3 --- Results and discussion --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Separation performance on nitrocellulose membrane --- p.33 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Comparison among different %T PA gel --- p.34 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- SDS-protein complexes capture and immunoblotting --- p.38 / Chapter 3.4 --- Conclusions --- p.39 / Chapter Chapter 4 --- Conclusions --- p.40 / Chapter 4.1 --- Summary --- p.40 / Chapter 4.2 --- Future perspective --- p.41 / References --- p.43

Le champignon microscopique Aspergillus fumigatus provoque un nombre important de maladies graves. Parmi elles, l’aspergillose pulmonaire chronique (APC) et l’aspergillose broncho-pulmonaire allergique (ABPA) affectent 3 et 4,8 millions de personnes dans le monde, respectivement.L’APC est très souvent mortelle si elle n’est pas soignée. Elle se développe très souvent après une tuberculose. C’est donc une maladie des pays émergents, où il n’est souvent pas possible de la diagnostiquer à cause du coût trop important des techniques existantes.L’ABPA est une complication très grave de l’asthme et de la mucoviscidose, qui complique fortement ces maladies. Elle est très difficile à diagnostiquer.Notre travail a donc consisté à développer et évaluer deux tests, un test rapide permettant de poser le diagnostic d’APC sans avoir à utiliser de matériel de laboratoire à destination des pays émergents et un western blot qui permet la confirmation du diagnostic d’ABPA. / Aspergillus fumigatus is a microscopic fungus that can cause numerous diseases. Among them, chronic pulmonary aspergillosis (CPA) and allergic broncho-pulmonary aspergilloses (ABPA) affect 3 and 4.8 million people, respectively.CPA is often fatal if left untreated. It is often a complication of tuberculosis and therefore affect low and middle income countries. However, it is difficult to diagnose it in those countries, as the tests are too expansive.ABPA is a severe complication of asthma and cystic fibrosis, worsening those diseases. It’s very hard to diagnose it.Our work was to develop and evaluate two tests, a rapid test for the diagnosis of CPA that does not require laboratory equipment designed for low and middle income countries and a western blot for confirmation of ABPA diagnosis.

Over the past thirty years, price relativities and technological development have motivated an increase in the area of land allocated to cropping, as opposed to pasture production, throughout the central wheat belt of Western Australia. Nevertheless, reducing the proportion of pasture in these rotations has challenged the future productivity of farming systems in this area. First, the frequent application of selective herbicides for weed control in extended cropping rotations has promoted the development of herbicide resistance in a number of major agricultural weeds. Second, the primary use of annual plants has promoted the development of soil salinisation by allowing a significant proportion of rainfall to recharge saline water tables. The inclusion of perennial pasture phases between extended periods of cropping may mitigate or delay these constraints to production through (a) allowing the use of costeffective forms of non-selective weed control, and (b) through creating a buffer of dry soil that absorbs leakage occurring beneath subsequent crops. This study consequently explores the value of including perennial pasture phases in dryland agricultural systems in the eastern-central wheat belt of Western Australia, accounting for benefits related to herbicide resistance and water table management. A novel computational algorithm for the solution of multiple-phase optimal control problems is developed and used to conduct a conceptual analysis of the value of lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) pasture for managing annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaudin), the primary weed in wheat belt cropping systems. The competitiveness and fecundity of annual ryegrass provide strong economic incentives to maintain a low weed population, irrespective of herbicide-resistance status. Consequently, the ineffectiveness of selective herbicides primarily reduces the profitability of cropping by motivating the adoption of more costly non-selective forms of weed control. The inclusion of lucerne in land-use rotations is only optimal in the presence of severe herbicide resistance given (a) the low efficiency of alternative weed-management practices available during the pasture phase, relative to selective-herbicide application; (b) the significant cost of establishing this perennial pasture; and (c) the high relative profitability of cereal production in the absence of resistance. The value of lucerne, relative to annual pastures, for weed management is explored in greater detail through the use of compressed annealing to optimise a sophisticated simulation model. The profitability of candidate rotations is also manipulated to account for the long-term production losses accruing to the recharge of saline groundwaters that occurs beneath them. Sequences incorporating lucerne are only more profitable than those that include annual pasture at the standard set of parameter values if (a) annual ryegrass is resistant to all selective herbicides, (b) the water table is so shallow (approximately less than 3.5 m deep) that frequent rotation with perennials is required to avert soil salinisation, or (c) sheep production is highly profitable. The value of perennial pasture is sufficient under these circumstances to overcome its high establishment cost. Consistent with intuition, these benefits are reinforced by lower discount rates and higher rates of leakage occurring beneath annual-based systems. Formulation of an effective communication strategy to report these results to producers is justified given the complexity involved in determining the true magnitude of these intertemporal benefits through alternative means, such as field trials.

Logging and forest thinning operations generate large amounts of residues in the form of small trees, branches and foliage that are usually left on the ground to decay or are burned. These resources are readily available, but it is uneconomical to remove them from the forest. The potential utilization of these resources was investigated for western juniper. This species is invading rangeland in the Interior West, altering the ecology of the land, and farmers are being encouraged to remove it. However, limited markets for the wood make removal costly. Developing uses for other parts of the stem could make removal more economically attractive. Western juniper foliage and twigs were steam distilled to obtain essential oils which were tested for their activity against subterranean termites and fungi. Residues from the steam distillation were pretreated with dilute sulfuric acid and digested with enzymes to determine their digestibility. The goal was to determine if an integrated operation involving steam distillation to remove essential oils, followed by enzymatic digestion of extraction residues was feasible. Essential oil recovery from foliage averaged 0.77% wet weight, while yields from twigs were about 0.13% wet weight. Foliage essential oil showed high antifungal and termiticidal activities at the concentrations tested. Total sugar yields from foliage extraction residues (40-55%) were higher than those obtained from branchwood residues (15-25%). The highest yields were obtained at 121°C and 1 hour pretreatment in 1% sulfuric acid. These results show that an integrated operation involving steam distillation of western juniper foliage to remove essential oil and enzymatic digestion of extraction residues is technically feasible. Additional work to determine the optimum distillation and pretreatment conditions for foliage would be needed. / Graduation date: 2012

Garden symphylans (Scutigerella immaculata Newport) are increasingly important pests of below-ground parts of over 100 crops in Oregon. The focus of our work was to improve S. immaculata management through 1) development of a bait sampling method, 2) examination of the susceptibility of selected crops to S. immaculata feeding in the field and laboratory and a reanalysis of previously published results, and 3) investigation of the suitability of selected crops and soil for the development of S. immaculata populations in the field and laboratory. Sample size requirements were developed for the bait and soil sampling methods. Estimating densities of 1 to 20 S. immaculata at fixed precision levels required 1.5 times more sample units for the baiting method than the soil method. Sampling recommendations for the baiting method performed well when validated by resampling a large independent data set. The bait sampling method provides an effective reliable alternative to the standard soil sampling method. In the laboratory, as S. immaculata densities increased, dry weight of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum L.) seedlings were significantly reduced from 85 to 89%, whereas corn (Zea mays L.) and potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) dry weight were not reduced. As S. immaculata densities increased in the field, the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of squash (Cucurbita pepo L.) and broccoli (Brassica oleracea L.) crops sharply decreased, while the NDVI of corn and potato crops was only slightly reduced. In reanalysis of previously published data, the stand counts of crops seeded into S. immaculata infested soil appeared to increase as seed size increased. These findings will be used to help develop action thresholds and sample size requirements, and reduce S. immaculata damage. In the laboratory, S. immaculata population growth was significantly greater on spinach than on tomato, sweet corn, potato, or soil alone, and significantly lower on potato than on spinach, corn, tomato, or soil alone. In the field, greater S. immaculata population decreases were observed in potatoes than in sweet corn or clean fallow. These results provide strong evidence that crop rotation may significantly influence S. immaculata population levels. / Graduation date: 2003

In terms of production forestry, more often than not any species that is not the crop species is considered a competitor as they are using finite growing resources that would otherwise be available to the crop species. With specific regard to Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco) production in the Pacific Northwest, this study evaluated an array of morphological and physiological plant attributes to discern the relative competitive abilities of several common forest species and planted Douglas-fir in western Oregon during the first year of plantation establishment in the presence and absence of vegetation management treatments. The competitive ability of a species refers to the morphological and physiological characteristics associated with resource acquisition and internal allocation; a concept lacking a specific metric for evaluation. A conceptual model of plant resource utilization including proxy metrics for key aboveground plant-environment interactions was used a framework for synthetic assessment of species relative competitive ability. The relative competitive abilities of species were evaluated over a summer growing season with assessments of saturated specific leaf area (SLA[subscript SAT]) and saturated leaf dry matter content (LDMC[subscript SAT]), diurnal and seasonal leaf-level gas exchange (net photosynthesis (P[subscript n]), stomatal conductance (G[subscript s]), and derived instantaneous water-use efficiency (WUE)), midday leaf xylem pressure potential (��[subscript md]), aboveground proportional allocation of biomass into stem, leaf, and reproductive body components, leaf area index (LAI), and morphological development and growth (height, crown radius, and diameter and bud density for Douglas-fir). The study employed a complete randomized block design (RCBD) with four replicates (blocks) and three vegetation management treatment regimes: untreated control (C), site preparation only (SP), and site preparation with a spring and summer release (SP+R). The relative competitive ability of all species was evaluated in the C, whereas only dominant competitor species remained for evaluation in the SP treatment. Vegetation treatment effects were evaluated among remaining competitor species and Douglas-fir in the C and SP treatments, whereas the response of Douglas-fir was assessed across all three vegetation management treatments (C, SP, SP+R). Selected forest competitor species included two woody perennial shrubs, two ferns, one herbaceous dicot, and two herbaceous graminoid species: trailing blackberry (Rubus ursinus Cham. & Schlecht), snowberry (Symphoricarpos albus (L.) Blake), swordfern (Polystichum munitum (Kaulfuss) K. Presl), bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn), woodland groundsel (Senecio sylvaticus L.), California brome (Bromus carinatus Hook. & Arn.), and false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum (Huds.) Beauv). Forest competitor species evaluated in the SP treatment were limited to trailing blackberry, swordfern, woodland groundsel, and California brome. Species relative competitive ability varied dramatically. However, similarities related to herbaceous and woody life forms were observed. Based on both univariate and multivariate response variable analyses, the relative competitive abilities of species examined in the study were ranked as follows: woodland groundsel > false brome > California brome > trailing blackberry = bracken fern > snowberry > swordfern > Douglas-fir. Although vegetation treatments effectively reduced total cover below 20%, a threshold of putative importance, with observed effects on soil moisture content and species performance, species relative competitive ability remained unchanged. Physiological responses were more variable than morphological responses for species performance and expressed greater sensitivity to vegetation treatment. Vegetation treatment effects were most pronounced for Douglas-fir in the SP+R treatment where mean total cover was 6.5%. In the SP+R treatment Douglas-fir exhibited decreased moisture stress coupled with significant increases in both diurnal and seasonal P[subscript n] and G[subscript s] rates and patterns. / Graduation date: 2013

Thesis (M.S.)--Oregon State University, 2003. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 97-103). Also available on the World Wide Web.

Thesis (DTech. degree in Crop Sciences) -- Tshwane University of Technology, 2011. / The genus Psoralea (tribe Psoraleae, family Leguminosae) is indigenous to the Cape Fynbos of South Africa and consists of 50 species that occupy different habitats, ranging from well-drained upland soils to creeks and permanent wetlands. However, little is known about their symbiosis, associated microsymbionts and or adaptation to the nutrient-poor, sandy, acidic soils of the Cape Fynbos. This study is the first to report the presence of calcium oxalate crystals in the outer cortex of P. pinnata and the occurrence of alkali and rare earth elements such as Sr, Rb, Zr and Y in tissue components of N2-fixing nodules (with unknown roles/functions).

From the mid-nineteenth century until 1952, education in Nigeria was largely the responsibility of religious denominations. But in 1952 the control of education passed to Regional Governments who then began to participate on a large-scale in educational matters. The Western Nigeria Government led the way with a Universal Free Primary Education scheme launched in January, 1955. [...]

The purpose of this study was to assess the needs of employees in regard to their Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) according to the program administrators' perspective. Information was collected from 62 program administrators within 54 organizations across Western Canada using a self-administered questionnaire. The 132-item questionnaire included demographic information and ten sections devoted to elicit administrators' perspectives on employees' needs (prevalence of problems, severity of problems, barriers to EAP utilization, program awareness, prevention programs, training and information for supervisors and union representatives, personal problems and the workplace, the role of the EAP in the workplace, the role of the EAP provider in the workplace, and a general overview). Results show that administrators perceive a greater prevalence and severity of problems than EAP utilization. There is also a perceived large EAP support among its participants (i.e., senior management, supervisors, union representatives, employees) as a relevant means to address employees' and their family members' problems. The outcome of the study indicates as well that personal and family members' problems affect employees and the workplace in a very significant way. Administrators believe that the EAP is a very important resource to deal with such problems. Additionally, results point out the important need for providing employees with information and prevention programs that may equip them with particular resources to address their problems before they affect them at work.