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Urban Heat and Existing Policy in Small and Medium Sized Cities in South Asia: How Land Use Land Cover Change is Affecting the Heat Island Effect?
No full textRapid urbanization impacts the urban environment in many ways. Urban heat Island is one of the most important impacts created by concrete surfaces and anthropogenic activities, leading to a rural-urban temperature difference. Climate change, coupled with these land use changes, makes people vulnerable to heat in cities. South Asia, home to 7 million urban dwellers, faces extreme heatwaves which increase significantly in both intensity and frequency. This study investigates Land Use Land Cover (LULC) change in nine cities across five South Asian countries over 20 years, from 2003 to 2023, and examines the correlation between Land Surface Temperature (LST) and land types—urban, vegetation, and water. The Random Forest Machine Learning model on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform is used for LULC classification, with 70-120 training points for each land type for the years 2003 and 2023. The study finds that built-up areas increased in all the cities over 20 years, while vegetation, water, and other land types decreased, except in Ahmedabad, where greenery increased due to planned vegetation. The overall accuracy of the LULC change detection was high (>96%) and the validation accuracy was moderate, supporting the reliability of the LULC change detection results. The study also found that the mean annual LST has increased in all nine cities, with an average increase of 3.2°C. The Pearson R correlation analysis shows that built-up areas have the highest influence on LST in all cities. Vegetation has a medium influence in most cities, and water has little or no influence due to the limited presence of vegetation and water. This study also investigated the contents of HAPs in Ahmedabad and Bhubaneswar and compared them with the international framework suggested by UNDRR. Policy recommendations suggest risk and vulnerability assessments and long-term land use planning to reduce heat vulnerability. Additionally, a GIS-based Heat Vulnerability Index (HVI) is constructed for the Chattogram City Corporation to show the spatial disparity of vulnerable populations - identifying 5 highly vulnerable, 14 moderately vulnerable, and 21 low vulnerable wards
Effect of Broiler Litter Stockpiling Methods on Nutrient Transformations and Ammonia and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
No full textThe United States (US) is the largest producer and supplier of poultry products worldwide and produces 9.16 billion broilers annually. In the US, 41% of the broiler industry is located in the southeastern region, accounting for 20% of the broiler production. Annually, the US broiler industry produces 13-26 million metric tons of broiler litter (BL). Broiler litter serves as a popular row crop soil amendment as it is an excellent source of macro and micronutrients required for crop growth. A rising concern regarding the rapid expansion in the broiler industry is litter management and disposal. Broiler litter cleaned out from poultry houses is usually stored for a certain period of time before field application. Stockpiling of BL during the storage results in ammonia (NH3) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) such as nitrous oxide (N2O), carbon dioxide (CO2), and methane (CH4), which contribute to global warming and climate change. Additionally, improper storage practices can result in nutrient losses, which can deteriorate the quality of BL and also develop nutrient hotspots at the storage site. To effectively manage the generated BL and reduce the agronomic and environmental implications, it is important to understand the impact of storage conditions on the NH3, GHG emissions as well as nutrient transformations in BL. So, the objectives of this study were 1) To determine the macro and micronutrient losses from BL piles as well as to evaluate the associated changes in nutrient concentrations in the soil profile at storage site under three storage conditions (Tarp covered BL pile (treatment -T), Uncovered BL pile (treatment -U), soil covered BL pile (treatment -S)). 2) To quantify the NH3 and GHG emissions from the BL under three different storage conditions (Tarp-covered BL pile (treatment -T), Uncovered BL pile (treatment -U), soil-covered BL pile (treatment -S)). The study was conducted at E.V smith Research Station in Shorter, Alabama from September 2023- August 2024. Broiler 3 litter piles of 1.8m in height and 3.6m in width were constructed and replicated thrice. Treatments were allocated in a randomized complete block design. Nutrient concentrations were tracked for a period of 12 months from September 2023 - August 2024. Broiler litter samples were collected using a multipoint sampling approach and analyzed according to the standard methods of manure analysis. Changes in the soil profile nutrient status were tracked by collecting duplicate soil cores of 105cm deep from the base of each pile before and after the storage period. Gas concentrations were tracked for a period of 126 days (September 2023 – January 2024). Ammonia and GHG concentrations were measured simultaneously from two positions of the pile using a photoacoustic gas analyzer (INNOVA 1512). On each sampling day, gas measurements were recorded at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25-minute intervals. Additionally, moisture and temperature sensors were installed in the BL to track changes in moisture and temperature inside the BL piles, and a weather station to record the rainfall and ambient air temperature at the study site. Results showed that treatment - T showed lowest nutrient losses compared to treatments -U and -S. Over the 12 months of storage, treatment -T lost 36% TN, 23%TP, 17% TK, 17%TCa, 36% TMg, 29%TS, 10%TCu, 13%TZn. Whereas treatment -U lost 66% TN, 45% TP, 54% TK, 28%TCa, 44%TMg, 46%TS, 34%TCu, 42%TZn of initial concentration and treatment -S lost 59%TN, 41%TP, 40%TK, 33%TCa, 47%TMg, 45%TS, 38%TCu, 46%TZn of initial concentration. The results for nutrient changes in soil profile at storage site showed there was a significant increase in the soil nutrient concentrations (pH, TN, TC, Mehlich -1 (M1-P, M1-K, M1-Ca and M1-Mg)) after storage with the soil profile under treatment -U and -S showed increased concentrations into greater soil profile depth. After 12 months of storage treatment -U resulted in 3.4-9.2 fold increase in soil TN (60cm), 15 fold increase in soil M1-P (45cm), 1.4 -1.8 fold increase in soil M1-K (45cm), 1.3-1.5 fold increase in soil M1-Ca (45cm) and 1.7-1.2 fold increase in soil M1-Mg (45cm). Similarly, 4 treatment -S showed 3.6-7.3 fold increase in soil TN (60cm), 11.2 fold increase in soil M1-P (45cm), 1.6 fold increase in soil M1-K (45cm), 1.4-1.6 fold increase in soil M1-Ca (30cm) and 1.6-2.1 fold increase in soil M1-Mg (30cm) after 12 months of BL storage. Whereas for treatment -T the changes were not observed beyond 15 cm for all the soil nutrients. The results for impact of storage conditions on NH3 and GHG emissions showed that treatment-T significantly reduced the NH3 and GHG emissions over 126 days of the storage period compared to treatment-U and -S. During the 126-day storage period, treatment-T reduced NH3-N emissions by 38%, N2O-N emissions by 54%, CO2-C emissions by 28%, and CH4-C emissions by 19% compared to control (treatment-U). On the contrary, treatment-S promoted NH3-N emissions by 13%, N2O-N emissions by 17%, CO2-C emissions by 123%, and CH4-C emissions by 9% compared to control (treatment U). Overall, the Global warming potential for the three treatments was ranked as follows: S > U >T. Considering the agronomic and environmental implications, treatment-T was suggested as the best storage technique to mitigate the NH3 and GHG emissions and to preserve the nutrient quality of BL
Essays on Forest Economics: Carbon Markets and Policy Analyses
No full textThis research examines how carbon markets, specifically Compliance Carbon Markets (CCMs) and Voluntary Carbon Markets (VCMs), can serve as an additional source of revenue for forest landowners and as policy tools to support green innovation and emissions reduction in response to global climate change efforts. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) approach, the first chapter reviews the literature on forest carbon markets from 2005 to 2024, analyzing trends, challenges, and future directions through a systematic review and bibliometric analysis of publications from Scopus and Web of Science databases. The study highlights that those countries with strong economies and environmental focus lead in research, with key journals such as Energy Policy, Forest Policy and Economics and Carbon Management contributing significantly. Trending topics include carbon, forestry, climate change, carbon sequestration, commerce, carbon emissions, and forest management, while the study also identifies and examines some misconceptions within the forest carbon markets literature and highlights the challenges and opportunities for expanding the forest carbon market in the future.
The second chapter examines how forest landowners in the U.S. South can trade carbon credits and how rising carbon prices could encourage shifts from marginal agricultural land to forest land. By comparing forest land rent (FLR) and agricultural land rent (ALR) under different carbon price scenarios, the chapter finds that pine plantations become more profitable than agriculture on marginal land showing that 6.5, 6.5, and 6.6 million hectares of marginal agricultural land in the U.S. South can transition to forest land from loblolly, shortleaf, and slash plantations, respectively, at $6.53 /tCO2e, while hardwood plantations require higher prices and show more limited potential.
The third chapter assesses the impact of California's cap-and-trade program (CATP) on green innovation using environmental patents as a proxy. Using a Difference-in-Differences approach (DID) with county-level data (2000 to 2022) from California and neighboring states, the study finds that CATP significantly boosts green innovation, especially in eastern, densely populated counties and those at the California-Nevada border. State and city-level analyses confirm these results, and various robustness checks support the reliability of the findings.
The final chapter evaluates the effects of CATP on emissions, economic growth, air quality, and health outcomes. Using a difference-in-differences method with 2010–2019 county-level data, we find that CATP reduced per capita total direct and CO₂ emissions while boosting GDP and employment in California’s border counties. State-level synthetic control analysis (1960–2019) shows significant emission reductions only in the transportation sector. Health co-benefits include fewer respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations and deaths, despite modest air quality improvements. A few robustness checks including parallel trend, placebo test and heterogeneity tests validate these findings
Exploring Advisor-Advisee Relationship Among International and Domestic Doctoral Students
Full text linkThis study explored the advisor-advisee relationship among doctoral students in the United States, focusing on comparing the experiences of international and domestic doctoral students. The quality of the advisor-advisee relationship has been shown to significantly influence doctoral students’ academic success, research productivity, satisfaction, and overall well-being. While a growing body of research has examined graduate advising dynamics, few studies have directly compared the experiences of international and domestic doctoral students. This study aimed to fill that gap using Social Exchange Theory (SET) as the guiding theoretical framework.
This study adopted a multi-phase research design, combining quantitative survey analysis with thematic examination of open-ended responses to explore the measurable dimensions and personal experiences of doctoral advising. Quantitative data were collected from 87 participants (41 international and 46 domestic doctoral students) through an online survey comprising the Advisory Working Alliance Inventory (AWAI) and a satisfaction scale. The survey used in this study assessed four core constructs: satisfaction, rapport, apprenticeship, and identification-individuation. A one-way MANOVA compared international and domestic doctoral students on four subscales. The multivariate test was significant (Pillai’s Trace = 0.141, F(4, 82) = 3.38, p = 0.013, partial η² = 0.14). Follow-up analyses showed domestic students reported moderately higher rapport (d = 0.63) and identification-individuation (d = 0.52), while no group differences emerged for apprenticeship or overall satisfaction.
Qualitative data were collected through open-ended questions designed to capture students’ personal experiences and expectations in advising. Thematic analysis revealed four key themes: 1) academic and professional support; 2) emotional and psychological challenges in advising; 3) alignment and compatibility; 4) structural challenges. Guided by SET, this study highlighted how doctoral students weighed the academic, emotional, and structural dimensions of their advising relationships regarding perceived costs and benefits.
These findings underscore the need for faculty to adopt culturally responsive advising practices and for institutions to address structural challenges like a shortage of faculty advisors and support resources. By attending to relational and institutional factors, universities can better support diverse doctoral students and foster more efficient advising environments.
Data-Driven Neuromechanical Modeling, Estimation, and Control for Hand-Assistive Robotic Interfaces
No full textMechanical interactions at the hand affect its entire neuromuscular circuit - from hand kinematics and peripheral nervous activation, to motor and somatosensory cortex activation, to cognition and decision making. Neuromechanics is the approach of understanding mechanical interactions as the biproduct of these subsystems. An important domain of neuromechanical analysis is the development of hand-assistive robotics, a diverse range of technologies that facilitate neuromuscular rehabilitation for individuals with motor impairments, sensory feedback to accelerate skill acquisition, and assistance to support functional movement and strength. Hand assistive devices are typically designed for locally stationary neuromechanical states such as kinematics and muscle activation, providing maximally effective interactions only under fixed experimental conditions. In practice, neuromechanical states like fatigue and motor learning impose nonstationary transition dynamics that can impede interaction objectives and reduce performance quality. This thesis introduces a suite of computational neuromechanics tools comprising the NeuroSiGHT, NeuroMERGE, and NeuroGAIN algorithms. NeuroSiGHT integrates neuromuscular theory and topological data analysis to construct a robust partially observable Markov decision process model of stationary and nonstationary neuromechanical states from surface electromyography. NeuroMERGE refines these insights by introducing an active exploration strategy for assistive robots to estimate neuromechanical state transition dynamics unsupervised through controlled perturbations. NeuroGAIN extends this by employing generative architectures to forecast state transition dynamics and optimally evolve estimation and control strategies. To explicate its utility, the suite is validated in simulation and human participant experiments aiming at improving motor performance. The significant take-away of this thesis is reduction of neuromuscular fatigue and effort, and enhanced hand motor-cognitive efficiency in hand motor skill acquisition and performance. The neuromechanical suite enables practical neuromuscular interaction control at the hand
From Barbs to Blooms: Dispersal, Development, and Transcriptomics in Bidens
Full text linkThe Asteraceae is the largest family of flowering plants, constituting ~10% of total angiosperm diversity. The family is characterized by its conserved inflorescence architecture, the capitulum. Despite the family’s global ubiquity, the developmental genetics of the capitulum is poorly understood. The inflorescence is characterized by reduced flowers (florets) arranged on a singular, expanded receptacle, collectively mimicking and functioning as a solitary flower. Here, I address the evolution and development of novel traits, such as pappus, in the capitulum by leveraging the heterozygosity of Bidens cv. “Compact Yellow” and its offspring. I use a forward genetics approach to identify phenotype segregation in florets, patterns of variance, and causative gene candidates in a mapping population produced via self-fertilization of Compact Yellow. Discrete stages of inflorescence and floral organ development are described through microscopy and RNA-Seq data, providing insight on the dynamics of well-known floral regulators functioning in our system
Biology and Chemical Control Strategies for Managing Knotroot Foxtail [Setaria parviflora (Poir.)] in Forage Systems
Full text linkKnotroot foxtail is a perennial grass weed that reproduces by both seeds and rhizomes, making management difficult, as new shoots can emerge from underground rhizomes. There is a knowledge gap that exists on the time it takes knotroot foxtail to develop a rhizome following seedling emergence. Additionally, its close resemblance to yellow foxtail complicates identification and hinders effective management. A greenhouse and field study were conducted to investigate the developmental stages of knotroot foxtail from seed to rhizome and to distinguish it morphologically from yellow foxtail. Results showed that 50% of the knotroot foxtail population emerged by 8 days after sowing, while 95% of the population emerged by 14 days. These emerged seedlings transitioned into rhizome formation between 7 and 13 weeks after planting. At the Beef Unit, 50% of the knotroot foxtail population developed rhizomes at plant heights of 12.7–24.1 cm and the 1–2 leaf stage, while at the Turf Unit, the populations had formed at 40.6–52.6 cm and the 3–5 leaf stage. The average rhizome-root biomass when rhizome formation occurred among 95% of the knotroot foxtail plant population was 37.52 - 92.19 g. Time to seedhead formation among the knotroot foxtail population occurred between 59.8 and 66.8 days after planting.
For the morphological differentiation study between knotroot and yellow foxtail, Principal Component Analysis (PCA) identified quantitative traits such as first true leaf width, spikelet width, spikelet length, internode length, as distinguishing features between knotroot foxtail and yellow foxtail. In addition, qualitative traits including leaf margin roughness, leaf color, and seed size also differed between the two species. However, a single morphological trait alone might not suffice for identification as there might be need to combine these traits for effective identification especially when plants are young.
Hexazinone and quinclorac are two herbicide active ingredients shown to have efficacy on controlling knotroot foxtail, but their performance is influenced by soil moisture and rainfall activation. Understanding how soon rainfall is needed after herbicide application of these herbicides is essential for maximizing control and to manage for desirable forage species such as bermudagrass, bahiagrass, and tall fescue. Greenhouse studies in 2023 and 2024 at Auburn University evaluated knotroot foxtail response of knotroot foxtail to these herbicides under varied rainfall timings. Knotroot foxtail rhizomes were transplanted into pots and allowed to grow until foliage reached an average height of 28cm before being treated with 0.42 kg ae ha-1 quinclorac and 0.85 kg ai ha-1 hexazinone. Simulated rainfall of 0.63 cm (0.25 inches) was applied at 0, 3, 6, 9, 12, and 15 days after herbicide treatment (DAT). Hexazinone consistently reduced rhizome dry weight more than quinclorac across both years. In 2023, rhizome weight was 1.88 g in hexazinone-treated plants compared to 3.24 g with quinclorac. In 2024, knotroot foxtail treated with hexazinone had lower rhizome dry weight (1.02 g), followed by quinclorac at 2.09 g, while the non-treated control had the highest rhizome dry weight (3.58 g).
Similarly, across both years, hexazinone consistently caused higher knotroot foxtail control compared to quinclorac, with control levels of 93% and 82% at 51 days after rainfall treatment (DART) in 2023, and 94% and 79% at 51 DART in 2024, respectively. At 51 days after rainfall treatment (DART), knotroot foxtail plants treated with quinclorac exhibited control levels ranging from 87% to 77% when rainfall occurred within 0–9 days after application. However, control declined to between 67% and 62% when rainfall was delayed until 12–15 days after treatment. Early rainfall (0–6 days) ensured optimal herbicide efficacy, while late rainfall (12–15 days) reduced their effectiveness. This study provides insight into the biology of knotroot and yellow foxtail and highlights how to optimize the efficacy of the limited herbicide options available for knotroot foxtail control in pastures and hayfields
Soil Hydrological Studies for Water Resource Conservation and Management in the Virgin Islands
Full text linkThe Virgin Islands face water scarcity due to their small size, topography, and the prevailing climate of the northeastern Caribbean region. At the same time, demands placed on water resources are high, from tourism, population growth, and a stated desire to expand agricultural production. With limited land and freshwater resources, it is imperative that managers have scientific information for decision-making, but soil hydrology in the Virgin Islands has been poorly described. Soil hydrology, the application of soil physics to the fluxes of water through soil, can provide insight into various areas of need: the management of soil water in agriculture, mechanistic understanding of surface runoff and island water budgets, and soil erosion by water. Soil hydrological studies in the Virgin Islands can, therefore, help address the need for water resource conservation and data-driven management at various scales.
This dissertation is composed of three studies of soil hydrological questions. The uniting theme across all three is an attempt, with limited existing datasets, to better describe relevant soil hydrological questions that will ultimately improve water conservation methods in the Virgin Islands. After a literature review of the broad topic of Virgin Islands water resources, we first examine the soil hydrological implications and water balance of agricultural mulch covers in the production of a plantain crop at the plot scale. In the second study, we examine runoff generation mechanisms at the watershed scale and consider the implications of runoff coefficients and connectivity in a Virgin Islands watershed. In the third study, we describe the remaining challenges in parameterizing an erosion prediction model at the watershed scale in the Virgin Islands and Caribbean region
Edge-regular graphs and uniform shared neighborhood structures
Full text linkThe definition of edge-regularity in graphs is a relaxation of the definition of strong regularity, so strongly regular graphs are edge-regular and, not surprisingly, the family of edge-regular graphs is much larger and more diverse than that of the strongly regular. A shared neighborhood structure (SNS) in a graph is a subgraph induced by the intersection of the open neighbor sets of two adjacent vertices. If a SNS is the same for all adjacent vertices in an edge-regular graph, call the SNS a uniform shared neighborhood structure (USNS). USNS-forbidden graphs (graphs which cannot be a USNS of an edge-regular graph) and USNS in graph products of edge-regular graphs are examined. Additionally, a few methods of constructing new graphs from old are of use. One of these is the unary ``graph shadow'' operation. Here, this operation is generalized, and then generalized again, and conditions are given under which application of the new operations to edge-regular graphs result in edge-regular graphs. Also, some attention to strongly regular graphs is given
Role of CXCL7 in obesity and metabolic disease
No full textObesity is a multifactorial disease marked by chronic low-grade inflammation and profound metabolic disturbances that heighten the risk for insulin resistance, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. A growing body of literature has implicated immune-inflammatory responses as central mediators of obesity-associated metabolic dysfunction. However, the complexity of adipose tissue remodeling, immune cell infiltration, and chemokine signaling remains poorly defined. This dissertation encompasses two interconnected projects aimed at elucidating molecular mechanisms driving obesity-related inflammation and insulin resistance, with a focus on optimizing in vitro adipocyte models and dissecting the role of the platelet- derived chemokine CXCL7 in adipose tissue physiology.
Project One: Optimization of an In vitro Model of Inflammation and Insulin Resistance in Adipocytes The first phase of this work focused on developing a reproducible in vitro model of adipocyte inflammation using differentiated 3T3-L1 cells exposed to tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and hypoxia. Recognizing the limitations of prolonged cytokine exposure, we optimized the model by shortening TNF-α treatment duration to 12 hours-reducing cell death while preserving pro-inflammatory signaling and insulin resistance features. Glucose uptake assays, RT-qPCR, and ELISA demonstrated that the 12-hour TNF-α/hypoxia protocol sufficiently induced inflammatory gene expression and suppressed insulin-responsive markers such as Glut4 and Adipoq. Moreover, conditioned media collected from these cultures contained elevated levels of secreted inflammatory chemokines, validating the model's potential for future co- culture studies. This refined model provides a robust platform for investigating paracrine signaling between inflamed adipocytes and other cells type and sets the stage for mechanistic studies into adipose tissue crosstalk.
Project Two: Investigating the Role of CXCL7 in Obesity and Metabolic Disease To interrogate the physiological role of CXCL7, we utilized genetically modified mice in a C57BL/6N background: wild-type (WT), CXCL7 knockout (KO), and KO mice rescued with a human CXCL7 transgene (KO+TG). Both male and female mice were fed either a standard chow diet or a Western diet (WD) for 12 weeks. Our comprehensive phenotyping approach included body weight tracking, metabolic cage assessments, glucose tolerance testing, tissue collection, and transcriptomic profiling of inguinal white adipose tissue (iWAT) and liver. In male KO mice, Western diet feeding led to pronounced increases in body weight, adiposity, and tissue mass across several depots, indicating heightened susceptibility to diet-induced obesity. In contrast, KO+TG males expressing human CXCL7 exhibited partial protection from these effects. Female mice also exhibited a CXCL7-dependent pattern, though the magnitude of difference between genotypes was less striking than in males. Linear regression modeling confirmed that iWAT was the most genotype-sensitive depot in both sexes, making it a sentinel issue for CXCL7-dependent regulation of adiposity. Histological analysis revealed hypertrophic adipocytes in WD-fed KO mice and a reversal of this phenotype in KO+TG animals. RNA sequencing of iWAT indicated that KO mice had suppressed immune gene expression and upregulated oxidative phosphorylation and mitochondrial function pathways, whereas CXCL7 expression in KO+TG mice reprogrammed the transcriptome toward inflammatory and immune-enriched signaling, including cytokine signaling, NF-κB activation, and MHC class II antigen presentation. These transcriptional changes were accompanied by increased immune cell infiltration, as confirmed by computational deconvolution of bulk RNA-seq data. Notably, neutrophils—known early responders in inflammation remained enriched in KO+TG iWAT under chronic WD exposure, suggesting prolonged CXCL7-dependent immune activation. Importantly, we also assessed the liver, a central metabolic organ heavily impacted by obesity. Liver transcriptomic analysis revealed that WD feeding induced strong inflammatory and metabolic remodeling in all genotypes, but CXCL7 expression uniquely amplified platelet activation and immune signaling pathways in KO+TG mice. KEGG enrichment analyses indicated that genes associated with platelet activation, cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, and leukocyte recruitment were significantly upregulated in the livers of KO+TG_WD mice compared to both KO and WT counterparts. GSEA confirmed a marked enrichment of platelet activation pathways, implicating CXCL7 as a systemic regulator beyond adipose tissue. Furthermore, Western diet feeding consistently upregulated circulating CXCL7 and the platelet- derived form. The elevated expression of platelet-related genes and inflammatory chemokines supports a model in which CXCL7 serves as a key mediator linking platelet activation to chronic inflammation in obesity. Conclusions Together, these two projects provide compelling evidence that CXCL7 plays a role in adipose biology and systemic inflammation. Our in vitro model establishes a platform for studying adipocyte-inflammation and other cells interaction, while our in vivo studies demonstrate that CXCL7 promotes pro-inflammatory remodeling of adipose and hepatic tissues, especially under dietary stress. Notably, reconstitution of human CXCL7 in KO mice partially restored wild-type-like metabolic phenotypes while also revealing unique inflammatory responses distinct from the murine gene. This dissertation highlights CXCL7 as a diet-inducible chemokine that shapes adipose tissue remodeling, immune infiltration, and metabolic outcomes in a sex- and depot-specific manner. Future work will focus on dissecting the CXCL7-CXCR2 signaling axis and exploring its therapeutic potential in metabolic diseases marked by immune dysregulation, including obesity, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysfunction fatty liver disease (MAFLD)