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OOMYCETE POTATO PATHOGENS: CHARACTERIZATION, DIAGNOSTICS, AND DISEASE MANAGEMENT
No full textOomycete pathogens such as Phytophthora infestans, P. erythroseptica, and Pythium ultimum infect potato in the field and storage, causing significant yield and storage losses. These oomycete pathogens are major constraints to profitable potato production. Late blight caused by Phytophthora infestans is a severe problem in most major potato production countries. Breeding for late blight resistance would be the best way to control late blight in developing countries due to the reduced exposure to fungicides, less residues in food, land, and water, and reduced cost of fungicides. The Feed the Future Biotechnology Potato Partnership (FtFBPP) was formed in 2015 as a 5-year, multi-institutional cooperative agreement with USAID to introduce bioengineered 3 R-gene potato cultivars into Bangladesh and Indonesia. Before releasing the bio-engineered potato cultivars, we need to know the P. infestans populations in Bangladesh and Indonesia. So, to determine the genotypes present in these countries, 160 samples from Bangladesh and 146 samples from Indonesia were collected and characterized based on one-step multiplex microsatellite markers, mating type, mitochondrial haplotype, and metalaxyl-M sensitivity test. Microsatellite analysis revealed that EU_13_A2 (metalaxyl-M resistant genotype) caused late blight outbreaks in Bangladesh and EU_2_A1 (metalaxyl-M sensitive genotype) in Indonesia. We also found a large sub-clonal variation of EU_13_A2 in Bangladesh and other unique genotypes in Indonesia. These findings will serve as a baseline to inform the development of integrated strategies to extend the efficacy and durability of the USAID FtFBPP 3 R-gene potato cultivars developed for release in Bangladesh and Indonesia.Late blight can destroy potato fields in a few days under conducive environmental conditions if proper control measures are not applied. Early detection of P. infestans and the identification of genotypes can ensure the timely implementation of an optimum disease management strategy. Recently, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assays have become more widely used for the rapid on-site detection of P. infestans. We developed a new LAMP assay using the ypt1 gene. Our LAMP assay was tested for sensitivity, specificity, and detection limit and compared with other previously developed assays. Our LAMP assay was superior in sensitivity and specificity over other LAMP assays, since it did not cross-react with species closely related to P. infestans, except for P. andina and P. ipomoeae. Phytophthora ipomoeae was easy to distinguish because it amplified very late in the reaction. The lower limit of detection (LOD) of our LAMP assay was determined to be 1 pg/µL (LAMP run for 25 min) for pure culture. Our LAMP assay can be used in the field to detect P. infestans so that growers can use proper control measures to reduce the loss caused by this pathogen. Potatoes are kept in storage for a few weeks to several months after harvest based on the intention of use or market availability. Potato tubers contaminated or infected in the field during the growing season or at harvest are vulnerable to many storage rot diseases such as Pythium leak and pink rot. Due to limited chemical control measures, the quality and health of tuber are compromised in storage, causing significant economic loss. Much research has been focused on different cultural and epidemiological factors of the storage diseases of potatoes. The disease severity in tubers infected with Pythium ultimum was reported to be higher at high storage temperatures. A systematic study was conducted to determine the level of disease severity at four pre-storage temperatures (15°C, 20°C, 25°C, and 30°C), and two storage temperatures, 8.8°C, and 12.8°C, to emulate the conditions in commercial storage and temperatures at harvest and prior to storage. In our findings, the tubers incubated at 15°C and stored at 8.8°C had the lowest disease severity and incidence followed by those incubated at 20°C prior to storage. Similarly, disease severity and incidence were lower in tubers incubated at 15°C and stored at 12.8°C. In artificial inoculation experiments, tubers showed symptoms much earlier than the naturally infected tubers. However, the trend of disease development over time was similar. Another study found that Pythium inoculum as low as one spore was enough to initiate disease. In summary, a temperature higher than 20°C during harvest and storage temperatures of 12.8°C, high inoculum density in the field, wounding, and bruising lead to high disease severity in the storage. Seven commercially available in-season foliar fungicides were evaluated for control of Pythium leak and pink rot in storage. Potato tubers harvested and stored at 12.8°C for two to three months were challenge-inoculated and stored at 18°C for 30 days. The volume covered by the Pythium leak or pink rot symptoms was recorded for disease severity in percentage. None of the fungicides tested significantly reduced the Pythium leak in storage in all three years except in 2018 (field 113). Both rates of phosphorous acid significantly reduced the Pythium leak in storage. In pink rot trials, both rates of phosphorous acid, cyazofamid, fluazinam, oxathiapiprolin, and mefenoxam significantly reduced the pink rot in storage. Therefore, the findings of this study can be added to an integrated disease management strategy to reduce the loss in storage.doctoral, Ph.D., Plant Sciences -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
GUIDED INQUIRY FOR IMPROVING SOLIDWORKS CERTIFICATION EXAM SCORES AND APPLYING SURFACING TECHNIQUES TO SIMPLIFY THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING PROCESS OF FUSEES
No full textSince 2013, the University of Idaho has used SOLIDWORKS certification exams, proctored by Dassault Systèmes, to help gauge the quality of the university’s CAD curriculum. The course Solid Modeling, Simulation and Manufacturing Capstone prepares students to take seven SOLIDWORKS certification exams. This paper analyzes 140 Certified SOLIDWORKS Advanced Professional Surfacing exams taken by 100 University of Idaho students from Fall 2017 to Fall 2021 and 37 Certified SOLIDWORKS Expert exams taken by University of Idaho students from Fall 2019 to Fall 2021. The preparatory material from both exams was changed during the spring of 2020. The new preparatory material was designed around guided inquiry questions associated with models of challenging CAD parts to augment the previous tutorials. Impact of this new pedagogy was tracked in exams during the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 semesters. Exam pass rates dramatically increased as did points acquired per minute during for those taking the surfacing and Expert exam. During the Spring 2021 and Fall 2021 semesters the ratio of guided inquiry to tutorial work increased progressively throughout the course, giving students greater and greater self-confidence as well as self-reliant in their CAD development. In retrospect, the previous use of only tutorials was associated with an implicit ceiling in CAD competency.This thesis also explores how the techniques taught in the surfacing and expert sections of the Solid Modeling, Simulation, and Manufacturing Capstone course can be applied to the research and design of mechanical clocks. Specific attention was given to a mechanism called a fusee which normalizes the torque curve of a spiral spring to ensure that the clock keeps time correctly. Techniques from the surfacing and expert section of the Solid Modeling, Simulation, and Manufacturing Capstone course were used to develop a fusee design tool. A system was developed that allows the users to input variables into Microsoft Excel, then using TK Solver, Excel, and SOLIDWORKS the tool automatically generates a SOLIDWORKS model of a fusee and G-code for a Hass CNC lathe to manufacture the threads of a fusee for a specific spiral spring and torque output requirements. Fusee parts created using the methods in this thesis produced consistent thread depth and pitch +/- .002” for each revolution. These features help prevent the wire from slipping out of position and promote constant torque output. This innovation significantly reduces the role of trial and error in obtaining an acceptable fusee, especially for hobby clockmakers.masters, M.S., Mechanical Engineering -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF WORLDWIDE BIOCONTROL PROJECT SUCCESS AND STUDY OF SPECIALIZED SOIL TYPES EFFECTS ON BIOCONTROL AGENT HOST SPECIFICITY
No full textClassical biological control of weeds is an important tool for weed management practiced around the world. However, it is not always successful. Examining historical records of biocontrol efforts would be an alternative approach to understand biocontrol agent and target weed traits correlations with success. The second chapter of this thesis is a review examining life history traits of biocontrol agent and target weed life history traits associated with biocontrol establishment and impact using the 5th edition of ‘Biological Control of Weeds: A World Catalogue of Agents and their Target Weeds’ and other reports of biological control agents and target weed traits. This analysis showed that both biocontrol agent and target weed life history traits influenced the success of biological control programs, with the traits of agents more important than those of the weed. The analysis is intended to inform biological control practitioners of the importance agent and weed life history traits for establishment and successful control of weeds. Chapter 2 also revealed that biocontrol candidate agents are typically exposed to test plant species grown in nutrient-rich homogenous soil, but this could influence the susceptibility of herbivory that are adapted to special soil types, for example nutrient-poor metal-rich serpentine soil. Therefore, in the third chapter of this thesis, I tested these hypotheses in our system, the invasive weed, Lepidium draba L. (Brassicaeae), several nontarget species related to this weed and a biological control candidate, the stem and petiole gall-forming weevil Ceutorhynchus cardariae Korotyeav (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Results showed that native serpentine soil influenced C. cardariae herbivory. Our data show that native species confamilial with the target restricted to specialized soil types may be at less risk of herbivore attack than predicted based on tests conducted in horticultural soil.masters, M.S., Entomology, Plant Path & Nematology -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
Outcome-Based Management and federal rangeland administration: Reframing adaptive management on a complex institutional landscape
No full textU.S. Western rangelands are inherently dynamic systems where policies are in tension with issues of scale and uncertainty. It is difficult for federal rangeland managers to nimbly respond to real-time conditions, interannual variability, or events such as wildfire. Management challenges such as these span multiple spatial, temporal, and political scales and cannot be overcome by command-and-control approaches. Beginning in 2017, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has sought to integrate greater flexibility into federal rangeland management through a series of initiatives that I collectively term ��outcome-based rangeland management” (OBM) in this dissertation. In contrast to traditionally prescriptive approaches to rangeland administration, OBM was envisioned to offer a collaborative means for BLM staff and livestock grazing permittees to adaptively respond to place-specific challenges by (1) identifying desired social, economic, and ecological outcomes for grazing allotments, and (2) adaptively managing to achieve desired outcomes.OBM is an attempt to address the persistent difficulty of crafting governance rules for sustainable resource management while also providing avenues for experimentation, learning, and adaptation to occur. This dissertation considers this theme by examining OBM implementation on Idaho’s BLM rangelands and asks: Within a federal policy context, what institutional arrangements can accommodate flexible, adaptive rangeland management approaches? The first article uses comparative case studies of BLM field areas to elucidate how informal and formal institutions interact and create (or eliminate) arenas of discretion for actors to implement outcome-based approaches to address wildfire risk on Idaho’s BLM rangelands. The next article uses a co-management framework to examine actors and processes engaged when OBM was first envisioned and offers a perspective on the institutional work necessary if principles of OBM are to be legitimated and, eventually, institutionalized. The final article is conceptual and builds on the two empirical studies by bringing to the fore the scale at which outcome-based processes and adaptive management, more generally, must occur. By focusing on the desired outcome of long-term ecosystem resilience to fire, I propose social and biophysical variables to define the scales for effective outcome-based thinking, planning, and management. This dissertation has implications for public managers seeking to clarify the boundaries of administrative discretion within the realm of adaptive management. Through an in-depth look at the intersection of institutions and local context, this dissertation explicates the roles of actors and processes working at multiple scales to maintain or modify the institutional landscape to support administrative approaches that better reflect local conditions.doctoral, Ph.D., Natural Resources -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
A MIND, A MAN, A MYSTERY: The Complex Life of David Shelton Cochran
No full textAbstractThis is a life-story of David Shelton Cochran, who is also my father. This ethnography is an attempt to use my father’s own voice gathered over the course of his 90 years of life in a way that shares his perspective through his more personal memories and information gathered from various other sources. He began an ambitious biographical writing project about a decade ago, when he was still a youthful octogenarian, but has long since set it aside, incomplete, and unfinished. He is now hoping that this work here will create the fuller and richer life history of both his personal and professional life beyond those documented by mostly technology writers and electrical engineering enthusiasts. I have built a bridge between ethnographic narrative and history by conducting interviews of my father while researching the well documented historical context of his career achievements. Using my father’s personal documents as a take-off point, I focus my interview questions on those areas that he had at one time begun to recollect and write down but needed to be expanded and more fully developed. I spent many hours both in person and virtually to assist him with his autobiographical work, helping him to accomplish his dream of leaving a legacy for his family beyond just his professional achievements. What we accomplished together here is to illuminate his unique string of pearls of a life actively, voraciously, and fully lived. In the process of interviewing my father, it transformed us both in a way that was enriching as it was delightful. This work is a gift to both my father as my subject and myself as the interviewer; for what is a life that bears rich fruits if not one of compassionate and generous reciprocity.masters, M.A., Letters Arts & Social Sciences -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-1
Oil and gas reclamation on US public lands: improving the process with land potential concepts
No full textThere is an increasing worldwide concern for the current and long-term environmental impacts of oil and gas development such as severe habitat fragmentation, disruption of plant-water relationships, increased soil toxicity, and altered hydrology of landscapes. One of the primary areas of concern has been on public lands where the government is under a multiple use mandate to manage for all the ecosystem services a site has to offer. There are no standardized quantitative benchmarks or monitoring methods for measuring long-term oil and gas reclamation effectiveness on public lands in the U.S. The methods and standards that do exist vary widely by location, are usually qualitative, and are often subjective to an individual reclamation manager’s opinion. This situation makes it difficult for the private industry to meet reclamation goals over large landscapes and across multiple regulatory entitiesIn this dissertation, we evaluated the utility of using land potential in reclamation evaluations by 1) reviewing the current status of oil and gas reclamation on US public land 2) defining land potential in the context of oil and gas reclamation, 3) conducting a time series analysis of reclaimed well pads before and after development, and 4) analyzing field data for reclaimed well pads of different times since reclamation completion (i.e., reclamation age), based on plant and soil traits found to be sensitive to oil and gas development. In the time series analysis, differences in reclamation management had a high impact on reclamation outcomes making it difficult to discern typical plant community structural changes at different reclamation ages. On the ground, we found that differences between reclamation ages was greatest between 5 years and 15 years with 15 years appearing to experience the full effects of reclamation such as having a higher amount of native perennial grasses and decreased soil electrical conductivity. Additionally, we were able to evaluate for altered land potential based on a group of indicators not by an individual indicator. Overall, we recommend that a group of indicators should be evaluated with quantitative data, preferably with data collected more than once before the final reclamation evaluation, and that a standardized set of methods should be used to improve the consistency and transparency of reclamation evaluation on US public land. By doing so, communication and collaboration between the federal government and private industry may improve to help alleviate the widespread loss of ecosystem services to oil and gas development on US public lands.doctoral, Ph.D., Forest, Rangeland & Fire Sci -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
Evaluating a Novel Oral Vaccine Particle for use in Disease Prevention in Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and Development of Important Tools for the Study of Immunity in Sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria)
No full textVaccination is an important tool in preventing diseases in animals and humans. As the aquaculture industry has grown, so too has the demand for efficacious and efficient vaccination strategies. Vaccines in aquaculture are mainly administered by injection or immersion, with relatively few exceptions for orally administered vaccines against enteric pathogens. Oral vaccines encounter several problems associated with their delivery but most important may be the degradation during intestinal travel. A novel alginate-based oral vaccine delivery platform was developed by researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) that is designed to protect vaccine antigens during gastrointestinal travel. In cooperation with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and OSU, this project evaluated the ability of this oral vaccine platform to induce a specific immune response and provide protection against Aeromonas salmonicida, the causative agent of furunculosis, when fed to rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). The immune response and efficacy of a simple formalin killed A. salmonicida vaccine was tested by using comparing routes of immunization in rainbow trout: intraperitoneal injection, immersion, anal intubation, and the experimental oral vaccine particle. Fish were given a booster dose of vaccine using the same protocols 2 weeks after the initial dose. Rainbow trout were then challenged with the virulent A. salmonicida strain that was used for vaccine development. Results show that intraperitoneal injection induced the highest level of specific antibodies out of all treatments, and protection was significantly higher than other vaccination routes only after Freund’s adjuvant was included with injections. Immersion and anal intubation treatments produced similar levels of both specific antibodies and protection against pathogen challenge. The novel oral vaccine particle successfully stimulated antibody production and provided significant short term protection, but insignificant long term protection during a pathogen challenge. Interestingly, fish fed the novel alginate particle without vaccine showed reduced disease related mortality, indicating a potential adjuvant effect of the particle formulation itself. Beyond the vaccine study in rainbow trout, parallel studies in sablefish (Anoplopoma fimbria) at OSU and NOAA were underway. To assist in evaluation of an immune response in this species, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) specific to sablefish Immunoglobulin M (IgM) was also developed as a tool to measure the immune response when vaccinated with similar alginate particle vaccines. This mAb , known as UI-25A, was created using mice and recognizes the conserved heavy chain of sablefish IgM. UI-25A is highly specific to sablefish IgM and lacks any reactivity to blood antigens of rainbow trout, Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), or burbot (Lota lota) as well as antigens found in lysed preparations of A. salmonicida. Using UI-25A, an enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed to measure specific antibodies in plasma of vaccinated sablefish. This ELISA was successful at differentiating between vaccinated and unvaccinated sablefish based on the level of antibody titers from each group. UI-25A was further characterized and used to visualize immunogenic antigens in western blot analysis for both whole cell protein profiles and isolated lipopolysaccharide of A. salmonicida. Further, immunofluorescent staining of head kidney tissue imprints showed that UI-25A could detect membrane bound IgM on the surface of B-cells. These applications of the UI-25A mAb demonstrate its broad applicability to aid research into sablefish immunology.masters, M.S., Fish & Wildlife Sciences -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
Landscape Lessons: co-designing a relational approach for learning in complex social-ecological systems dynamics
No full textThis dissertation is a multidisciplinary inquiry into the role of environmental education in complex social-ecological system dynamics. The work is a timely application of relational world views within natural resource management and environmental education. A pragmatic approach of relational pedagogy (land and place) is engaged to understand how environmental education connects to complex SES relationships. Critical Indigenous Research Methodologies and Conservation Social Science techniques resulted in the two-part study “Landscape Lessons” in collaboration with a class of 4th graders in Lapwai. Participants engaged in a process of co-design of a curriculum that followed student interest and leveraged a learning environment focused on developing people-nature relationships. Arts-based and conversational methods created meaningful data on how participants related to land during field explorations in a nearby nature area. Participants demonstrated sensory observation and exploration during the field days. The relational pedagogy of land resulted in participants about observation and surprise, safety and danger, authority and autonomy, and social-cultural dynamics. The conclusion of this work is an approach to EE that works with a complex SES research framework and an application of land education pedagogy to address the power dynamics of knowledge creation in environmental education. doctoral, Ph.D., Natural Resources -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
Forms of Meditation and Discovery
No full textAbstract When I find broken things, I mend them. When I come across a tool that has been left behind, I try to give it new use. As husband, father, and brother, I appreciate opportunities to celebrate, in my own quiet way, the honest efforts we make to build and connect with those around us. As a woodworker, I am an object-maker, an object-fixer, and object-refiner. As an artist, I excavate hidden beauty and find potential in the material I’m most drawn. My practice is one of creation as well as healing using a medium that shares our fragilities and strengths.By responding to woods’ qualities of growth, adaption, and decay, as I carve away layers, I am often humbled by its infinite aesthetic offerings. Working with it, settles inner curiosities and gives my thoughts physical bearing. In this way I can confront and better understand the lived experiences that inspire me.masters, M.A., Art and Architecture -- University of Idaho - College of Graduate Studies, 2022-0
Mary Clearman Blew
No full textIntroduction written by Joy Passanante about former U of I Creative Writing professor and award-winning author, Mary Clearman Blew, for an author reading at the Kenworthy Peforming Arts Centre on November 15, 2022