Carnivorous plants inhabit nutrient-poor environments and supplement nutrient acquisition by capturing and digesting insect prey. Carnivorous adaptations have been hypothesized to be beneficial only in environments with high water and light availability. We hypothesized that plant morphology would change in response to resource availability, exhibiting traits that increase carnivory when light is abundant and exhibiting traits that increase photosynthesis when light is limited. In a field manipulation in Leon County, Texas, we examined the effects of feeding, shading, and their interaction on the morphology of the pitcher plant, Sarracenia alata. We employed a two-factor, cross-classified design, with shading (two levels, shaded and unshaded) and prey capture (two levels, fed and unfed) as factors. Eighty plants were haphazardly assigned to one of four treatments: (1) unshaded and fed (control); (2) shaded and fed; (3) unshaded and unfed; and (4) shaded and unfed. When light availability was reduced, plants produced pitchers that had smaller diameters, which is reflective of a photosynthetic morphology. Unfed plants exhibited reduced growth (produced fewer pitchers and had lower sum of pitcher heights). There was a significant interaction effect on estimated seasonal aboveground biomass: shading had no effect on the mass of unfed plants, but shading reduced the mass of fed plants. As the season progressed, competing vegetation reduced light availability to all pitchers. Plants in all treatments began to produce pitchers that were blade-like with a small, non-functional opening and a widened keel. This morphology would maximize light capture at the expense of prey capture. This experiment provides support for a theoretical model that suggests that carnivorous traits are only beneficial under conditions of high light availability. It also emphasizes the importance of periodic burns of carnivorous plant bogs to remove vegetation, thereby reducing light competition.

Micellization is a phenomenon of central importance in surfactant solutions. Here, we demonstrate that the diffusion-based spreading of the free boundary between a micellar aqueous solution and pure water yields a one-dimensional spatial profile of surfactant concentration that can be used to identify the critical micelle concentration, here denoted as C*. This can be achieved because dilution of micelles into water leads to their dissociation at a well-defined position along the concentration profile and an abrupt increase in diffusion coefficient. Rayleigh interferometry was successfully employed to determine C* values for three well-known surfactants in water at 25 ºC: Triton X-100 (TX-100), Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate (SDS), and Polyoxyethylene(4)Lauryl Ether (Brij-30). The dependence of C* on salt concentration was also characterized for TX-100 in the presence of Na2SO4, NaCl, and NaSCN. Accurate values of C* can be directly identified by visual inspection of the corresponding concentration-gradient profiles. To apply the method of least squares to experimental concentration profiles, a mathematical expression was derived from Fick’s law and the pseudo-phase separation model of micellization with the inclusion of appropriate modifications. While Rayleigh interferometry was employed in our experiments, this approach can be extended to any experimental technique that yields one-dimensional profiles of surfactant concentration. Moreover, diffusion-driven surfactant disaggregation is precise, non-invasive, requires single-sample preparation, and applies to both non-ionic and ionic surfactants. Thus, this work provides the foundation of diffusion-driven dilution methods, thereby representing a valuable addition to existing techniques for the determination of C*.

Oxidative stress is a result of an imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) and the availability/activity of antioxidants. The catalase family of enzymes mitigate the risk from ROS by facilitating the disproportionation of hydrogen peroxide into molecular oxygen and water. Manganese containing catalase (MnCAT) consists of a binuclear manganese core bridged by carboxylate and single-atom ligands, likely water or hydroxide. In this work, hydrogen peroxide disproportionation using complexes of manganese with cyclen and pyclen were investigated due to the spectroscopic similarities of the latter with the native MnCAT enzyme. Potentiometric titrations were used to construct speciation curves to identify what complex compositions were present at different pH values. Based on these results, the complexes were made in situ by mixing stock solutions of ligand, buffer, and metal. The hydrogen peroxide disproportionation reaction was carried out in a sealed cell and PO2 measured using a microsensor (Unisense). When hydrogen peroxide was injected into the cell, disproportionation activity of the complexes was evident by (1) appearance of bubbles in solution, and (2) noticeable increase in PO2 as measured by the sensor. Spectroscopic investigation before, during, and after the reaction was used to follow changes in the UV-visible absorption of the complexes to collect information about the structure of the initial catalyst and any possible intermediate. Both, pyclen and cyclen were determined to form a dimeric structure under the reaction conditions used.

The aptamer domain of a naturally occurring glycine riboswitches was randomized to generate a library containing billions of different variants. The dual genetic selection of this library was performed for sarcosine, a prostate cancer marker, and successfully led to the identification of sarcosine-specific synthetic riboswitches. When a chloramphenicol-resistance gene was expressed under control of these riboswitches, E. coli cells showed chloramphenicol resistance only in the presence of sarcosine. For a colorimetric assay, the sarcosine riboswitch gene was inserted upstream of the lacZ gene. When tested with various concentrations of sarcosine, the enzymatic activity of LacZ was proportional to the amount of sarcosine, clearly indicating the sarcosine-dependent gene regulation by the sarcosine riboswitch.

Triazines appear in pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals, and as building blocks for polymers used in materials science and medicine. Predicting the structure and dynamics in water as a function of pH requires reliable simulations of the pKa values for different sites for protonation. We present the initial DFT methods and continuum solvent for pKa of amines, ring nitrogens, and 2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine (melamine) derivatives. These M06-2X/6-311++G(2d,2p) calculations in SMD continuum solvent provide consistent accuracy for tested systems, use for future studies of more complex structures.

Owing to the increasing importance of manganese(II) complexes in the field of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), large efforts have been devoted to find an appropriate ligand for Mn(II) ion encapsulation by providing balance between the seemingly contradictory requirements (i.e., thermodynamic stability and kinetic inertness vs low ligand denticity enabling water molecule(s) to be coordinated in its metal center). Among these ligands, a large number of pyridine or pyridol based open-chain and macrocyclic chelators have been investigated so far. As a next step in the development of these chelators, 15-pyN3O2Ph and its transition metal complexes were synthesized and characterized using established methods. The 15-pyN3O2Ph ligand incorporates both pyridine and ortho-phenylene units to decrease ligand flexibility. The thermodynamic properties, protonation and stability constants, were determined using pH-potentiometry; the solid-state structures of two protonation states of the free ligand and its manganese complex were obtained by single crystal X-ray diffractometry. The results show a seven-coordinate metal center with two water molecules in the first coordination sphere. The longitudinal relaxivity of [Mn(15-pyN3O2Ph)]2+ was found to be 5.16 mM−1 s−1 at 0.49 T (298 K). Furthermore, the r2p value of 11.72 mM−1 s−1 (0.49 T), which is doubled at 1.41 T field, suggests that design of this Mn(II) complex does achieve some characteristics required for contrast imaging. In addition, 17O NMR measurements were performed in order to access the microscopic parameters governing this key feature (e.g., water exchange rate). Finally, manganese complexes of ligands with analogous polyaza macrocyclic scaffold have been investigated as low molecular weight Mn(CAT) mimics. Here, we report the H2O2 disproportionation study of [Mn(15-pyN3O2Ph)]2+ to demonstrate the versatility of this platform as well.

Fmoc-protected and propargyl-containing thymine and Cbz-protected cytosine monomers were synthesized for possible use in the pre- or post-functionalization of PNA oligomers via click chemistry. The monomers should be suitable for incorporation in normal automated solid phase PNA synthesis. The synthesis is suitable for the preparation of gram-quantities of monomers and uses reductive amination as the key step.

Do edge effects influence wildlife distributions in a small game reserve in South Africa?
Lyall A. Blanché*1 and Victoria J. Bennett1
1Department of Environmental Science, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, TX 76129 USA
Physical boundaries in the landscape can influence the abundance and distribution of species through edges effects, which are characterized as a behavioral response to features or boundaries, creating an area of avoidance known as edge habitat. The implication is a reduction in the amount of available habitat for an individual and/or its population. Studies have shown that anthropogenic features, such as roads and fences, can cause edge effects. Thus, should we be considering the consequences of anthropogenic edge effects when managing wildlife populations in game reserves? To address this, we used Global Positioning System point locations collected from 2004-2020 on cheetah, elephant, leopard, and lion in Amakhala Game Reserve, a 66 km2 fenced reserve in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This reserve is bordered by a national highway and bisected by a public road. We used regression analysis to determine any relationship between the proportion of locations within 5 m increments and 1) the national highway, 2) public road, 3) boundary fence, 4) a river on the reserve, and 5) control sections of the reserve. Our analysis revealed a significant positive correlation between elephant locations and distance from the national highway, with elephants avoiding a 600 m wide section of the reserve next to the highway. Our study highlights the importance of identifying potential edge effects to better inform the management of small reserves.

Globally, floods are the most common natural disasters, imposing stress on communities through infrastructure damage, financial costs, public health, and environmental damage. Serving as a major threat to the city of Houston, Texas (TX), this metropolitan area has an extensive flooding history. This project aims to develop a flood risk map for the White Oak Bayou Watershed, found in the North-East region of Houston. Using existing literature, the flood risk susceptibility for this study is based on seven factors: elevation, slope, flow accumulation, hydrologic classifications of soil, land use, rainfall, and distance to river networks. Using methods from existing literature, each individual factor was classified into 5 risk levels, based on their characteristics that make an area more prone to flooding. By using the weighted overlay analysis tool, the individual factors were weighted based on their contribution to overall flooding. The results show majority of the watershed is classified as medium risk, including areas of high and low flooding vulnerability. The high risk areas surround the river networks and increase risk towards the watershed’s discharge point, located in close proximity to the downtown area of Houston.

Urbanization imposes threats to the quantity and quality of stormwater, driving communities to identify water management strategies that aid in sustainable development. As demand for urbanization increases, green infrastructure (GI) practices can be implemented as mitigation strategies, allowing for sustainable growth in communities with limited harm to water resources. This project will model the Village Creek (VC) watershed, a semi-urban watershed in north-central Texas, using the Soil Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) to estimate the effects of GI on water quantity and quality. Topographic, land cover, and soil data along with historical water quality and climate data drove the model, then GI designs influenced the transport of streamflow, bacteria, sediments, and nutrients. We expect the results to quantify changes in water quantity and quality from GI implementation and highlight the effectiveness of GI for the watershed. This research provides VCLA watershed managers and stakeholders information on environmentally sound and sustainable watershed protection planning.

The Louisiana coast is prone to power tropical storm systems, known as hurricanes, which commonly cause significant damage to the environment and financial infrastructure in coastal states, such as Louisiana. Using landsat data acquired from the USGS, determining land cover degradation from seasonal low-pressure storms that span different decades can be made possible. This GIS-based study also takes into account elevation models (DEMs) to provide an accurate portrayal of how coastal vegetation influences the impact of these storms, as well as how storm intensity influences the morphology of coastlines.

Hawaii’s most active volcano, Kilauea, poses many threats to the surrounding infrastructure of the Big Island. Surface deformation from eruptions and underground magma tunnels have produced a growing lava lake within the Eastern Rift Zone, located on the Southeast tip of the island, since 2018. Using remote sensing techniques and GIS, I will use recent data collected from Kilauea’s eruptions and Halema’uma’u lava lake to create a volcanic hazards map of the region. A volcanic hazards map gives us insight to where the safest place are to inhabit on the surface of the island.

There are many major geologic units that outcrop in various regions of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. A major unit that will be discussed in the current study is the Eagleford Shale. Previous studies have generated geologic maps that illustrate where this unit crops-out within the study region. The goal of this study is to create a modern geologic hazard zonation map of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex focusing on areas where the Eagleford crops-out. On this map, I will include the spatial distribution of discovered Eagleford outcrop locations and will integrate photographs that illustrate the stratigraphy of this formations using GIS.
Subsequently, I will use the map to calculate the area of all Eagleford surficial deposits within the study region. This shale is a mudrock that is primarily made up of soft-sediments and clays and can pose a geological hazard where it reaches the surface due to shrinking and swelling. This can cause major foundation issues to infrastructure that is built on this unit. Therefore, this map can be used for the purpose of taking precautionary measures when planning the construction of new buildings and road networks within the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex.

The Lower Cenomanian Maness Shale is an argillaceous mudrock that occurs between the Buda Limestone and Woodbine Sandstone in the East Texas Field, and was originally placed within the Washita Group based on its biostratigraphy. It regionally extends throughout the East Texas Basin in tandem with the overlying Woodbine Group and displays considerable thickness and facies variations. The Maness interval is significant because previous studies indicate that it may be a hydrocarbon source rock.
Although this mudrock has been studied for several decades, the sediment source of the Maness remains in question. Prior studies have indicated that the sediment comprising the Maness could have come from multiple sources, one of them being the southern side of the Sabine Uplift. In the current study, I will correlate well logs through the south side of the Sabine Uplift from Polk and Tyler counties through Rusk county. I will then generate an isopach map of the study area and will compare thickness trends to those shown on the composite isopach map constructed by English (2020). Lastly, I will examine a core from Tyler or Polk counties that could potentially reveal clastic sandstones occurring within the Maness. The findings will be used to test my hypothesis that the Maness Shale is sourced from the southern portion of the Sabine Uplift.

Hardness, defined as resistance to surface deformation, is an intrinsic property of all materials including sedimentary rocks. The variables responsible for a sedimentary rock’s hardness are not completely understood. By understanding which variables control hardness, we may gain a better understanding of related rock strength. Rock strength, defined as a rock’s resistance to plastic deformation under loading, is an important parameter for many industries such as mining, civil engineering, and hydrocarbon exploration.
Numerous tests such as triaxial tests or uniaxial tests are used to quantify rock strength, but are often expensive, time consuming, or require substantial investment in laboratory setup. To circumvent these issues, other devices have been employed to determine rock strength. For example, the Proceq Equotip Bambino micro-rebound hammer (Bambino) has been used for decades to test the hardness of materials such as concrete, steel, and ceramics. These hardness values have been used to determine material strength. Selected studies on rocks empirically correlate between Bambino-derived hardness value (called Leeb hardness) and uniaxial compressive strength (UCS). However, significant scatter in the data suggest that certain intrinsic (e.g., density, bulk mineralogy, etc.) or extrinsic factors (e.g., sample volume, surface the sample rests on) need to be considered for a better correlation.
In this study, I examined the relations between Leeb hardness and UCS values, while examining lithologic variations and other properties such as bulk mineralogy, water loss, volume, density, and effective porosity. I found that bulk mineralogy, density, effective porosity, and water content correlated with a sample’s mechanical hardness. Also, a sample’s UCS is related to its density, effective porosity, and mechanical hardness. Ultimately, these data validated previous studies and shed new insight on the controlling properties of a rock’s hardness and strength.

The Kittanning coal seams run underneath West Virginia, southeast Ohio, and southwestern Pennsylvania. It is part of a sequence that underlies the Freeport and Pittsburgh coals. All three seams are of Pennsylvanian Age. Of the seams in the Northern Appalachian Basin, the Kittanning has the among the largest extents. For that reason, it will most likely be the greatest influencer on population patterns. Since the early 1800s, the people of the region mined and used coal to produce their energy. As such, it is the goal of this research is to determine the spatial relationship between the economic coal sources and population centers.

Landslides may be caused naturally or triggered by human activities and have enormous societal and economic impacts. Detecting and mapping landslides through the generation of landslide susceptibility maps (LSM) and understanding the factors that trigger these processes will be helpful in land use planning and risk assessments. Moreover, it will also assist landslide mitigation efforts by controlling anthropogenic-led processes that induce landslides. This study deals with the analysis to identify slow-moving landslides in Travis County, Texas. It combines geographic information systems(GIS) and remote sensing datasets and techniques to generate an LSM of the study area and identify ground displacements. Remote sensing data provide key information about the topography and land uses, combined with controlling factors for a landslide occurrence such as slope, geology/soil and geological structures, and vegetation/land uses to perform an empirical approximation to map and assess landslide susceptibility. Once the susceptible areas are identified, analysis for ground displacement is applied using a Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometric (InSAR) technique referred to as the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS) and field-based multitemporal Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS measurements.

The Ouachita Trough is a basin that formed along a passive margin on the southern border of Laurentia caused by the Precambrian–Cambrian rifting of Rodinia and the opening of the Iapetus Ocean. The collision of Laurentia and Gondwana and the closing of the Iapetus Ocean thrust sediments from the Ouachita Trough onto the southern portion of the North American craton to form the Ouachita Mountains. The Ouachita Trough transitioned from a sediment-starved basin into an area of rapid sediment accumulation during the Mississippian. The Stanley Group, of interest in this study, was deposited prior to the collision of the encroaching Gondwana continent to the south. Although there have been many previous studies aiming to determine the provenance history of the Stanley Group, the results are inconclusive. In this study, nine samples from turbidite deposits of the Stanley Group were processed using both U-Pb age dating and core rim analysis. Laurentia and Gondwana have similar aged terranes that are difficult to differentiate. Using core rim analysis allowed us to date both the age of the core and rim of individual zircon grains. We were then able to correlate zircon grains of similar ages to their sources. By analyzing a large area of the Ouachita Mountains, this study shows that the Stanley Group consists of sediments sourced from both Laurentia and Gondwana terranes to the south.

The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is characterized by the differential heating of densely populated urban areas in comparison to surrounding areas. Increased temperatures caused by buildings and other man-made infrastructure have a wide range of human and ecological impacts. One emerging methodology to combat UHI effects is the implementation of urban green spaces and trees. Trees can provide two main functions that aid in cooling; shade from the sun provided by the canopy and cooling through the process of evapotranspiration. This project aims to identify which species of tree best suits the ecoregion of Fort Worth, how much feasible green space Fort Worth can provide, and project the cooling the green spaces could provide if they are planted with trees.

The use of Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) to analyze the deformation of the Earth's surface has become an increasingly important tool for monitoring earthquakes, volcanic activity, landslides, and land subsidence. This process works by calculating the phase differences of radar signals reflected from the Earth's surface over a period of time. If the land has uplifted or subsided, the phase of the two radar signals will interfere. The image this phase difference produces is known as an interferogram, which shows the ground-surface displacement of the target area across the two time periods. This technique has been used extensively to survey Mexico City, which has been an area of concern since the beginning of the 20th century due to its dramatic rate of ground subsidence.

Nanomaterials are the new technologies reforming industrial activities. They are used to improve energy efficiency and storage, to cheaply store and process information in every internet server and personal computer, to facilitate bio-imaging and drug delivery, and in environmental remediation. These materials’ nanometric dimension, 1/100000 the width of a human hair, allows them to have novel characteristics such as strength, electrical resistivity, and conductivity, and optical absorption compared to the same materials in bigger sizes. Due to their widespread and incorporation into consumer products, it is important to understand their interactions with other elements in the environment. I used flow experiments, to understand the effects of the core and terminal groups chemistries of 3 sets of nanomaterials on their interaction with ferrihydrite, a very common and reactive mineral in the environment. The nanomaterials used in this study, namely Graphene Quantum Dot (GQD), PAMAM G4-OH, and PAMAM G3.5-COOH, have comparable sizes, 6nm, 4.5 nm, and 3.5 nm, respectively. When the experiments were conducted under acidic and circumneutral pH, the quantities of GQD and PAMAM G4-OH sorbed were equivalent and less than the quantity of PAMAM G3.5-COOH sorbed. In my presentation, I will go over the quantities and kinetics results from the interactions of the 3 sets of nanomaterials onto ferrihydrite over environmentally significant pH values (range 3-10).

Land surface temperature is a major factor used in the assessment and understanding of several processes including global climate, hydrological, geo-/biophysical, urban land use/land cover (Avdan and Jovanovska, 2016). Since the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957 there have been about 8,900 satellites from more than 40 countries launched in space that have opened possibilities to understand the earth using remote sensing. Specifically, LANDSAT 8’s thermal infrared sensor Band 10 data has been successfully used to map land surface temperature. The specific algorithm used to derive land surface temperature from LANDSAT 8’s thermal infrared sensor Band 10 showed standard deviations of 2.4°C and 2.7°C on the first trial and second trial respectively (Avdan and Jovanovska, 2016). In my project, I used land surface temperature in addition to secondary data (geologic features, volcanoes, faults, change in cities' extents) to locate and deduce the potential geothermal plays in Rwanda. I also compared the potential geothermal plays obtained using remote sensing to those obtained using ground measurements to assess how accurate remote sensing tools are in determining geothermal plays.

Mount Rainier is a stratovolcano within the Cascade Arc situated southeast of the cities of Seattle and Tacoma. This region of Washington has undergone substantial population growth while being situated in the shadow of a large stratovolcano. Historically lahar flows, volcanoclastic debris flows, from the volcano have reached as far as Tacoma and could still pose a risk to Seattle and other smaller communities. Seismicity and annual precipitation are large contributors into predicting an eruption event as well as eruption severity. Using ArcGIS Pro and implementing various types of data including historic lahar deposit extent, population growth, seismic activity, and other contributions that can peer into a future volcanic eruption, it can be possible to assess the volcanic hazard Mount Rainier poses on nearby communities.

Treatment of complex conditions, such as cancer, has been substantially advanced by a field of molecular therapeutics. However, many of these therapies are limited by the dose toxicity and lack the predictive power of tomography-guided approaches. Nanomaterial platforms can address these drawbacks, safely delivering therapeutics, concomitantly imaging their delivery pathways, and presenting sites for targeting agent attachment. Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) possess physical properties that are critical for biomedical applications, including small size (3-5 nm), high quantum yield, low cytotoxicity, and pH-dependent fluorescence emission. Thus, our work utilizes nitrogen-doped GQDs as a basis for targeted image-guided cancer therapy. GQDs serve as an emissive platform for covalent attachment of a targeting agent (hyaluronic acid (HA) targeted to the CD44 receptors on several cancer cell types) and oxidative stress-based cancer therapeutic (ferrocene (Fc)). The synthesized multifunctional formulation is characterized and its efficacy evaluated in vitro. Elemental mapping indicates that the purified from reactants synthetic product has an average iron content of 0.64 atomic percent, suggesting the successful attachment of the therapeutic, while FFT analysis of TEM images confirms the crystalline structure of the GQDs. Although GQDs alone yield no cytotoxicity as quantified via the MTT assay up to the maximum imaging concentrations of 1 mg/mL, the Fc-HA-GQD formulation exhibits a higher cytotoxic response in the cancer cells (HeLa) targeted by the HA as opposed to healthy ones (HEK-293) that do not overexpress CD44, suggesting cancer-selective targeted treatment. As Fc induces oxidative stress that is less mitigated in cancer cells, we expect it to also contribute to the observed cancer-selective treatment response. As a result, we propose Fc-HA-GQD formulation as a multifunctional targeted delivery, imaging, and cancer-specific treatment agent further to be studied in vivo.

Fluorescence has proved itself to be a useful tool in a wide variety of fields, ranging from environmental sensing to biomedical diagnostics. In this study, we propose to utilize a fluorescence-based technique called Surface Plasmon Coupled Emission (SPCE) to monitor molecular binding and to detect low concentrations of physiological markers (e.g. biomarkers present in the human body as a result of a disease). SPCE is characterized by directional emission that allows for a superior sensitivity and selectivity for detection. The development of an SPCE-based detection platform will allow for simple, fast and sensitive detection in a compact configuration that can be relatively easily implemented in the field or in primary care offices. Surface plasmon induced fluorescence at the interface of a thin metal layer (e.g. 50 nm of silver or gold) and a dielectric (e.g. glass) allows for highly enhanced excitation of fluorophores deposited on top of the metal film and very efficient detection due to the directional nature of this emission. As a result, we expect highly improved detection sensitivity compared to other fluorescence detection methods or other surface detection methods such as surface plasmon attenuated reflection (SPR).