STRATA
STRATA, the STudent Research, Academic, and Talent Archive, is a collection of selected Fort Lewis College student work, including undergraduate research, senior seminar papers, published works, conference presentations, and other creative and artistic projects. Search by name, subject, title, or academic department.
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- Studying the Role of RNA Secondary Structure in Human T-Cell Leukemia/Lymphotropic Virus Type 1 (HTLV-1) Gag-Pro -1 Programmed Frameshift Site
- Viral infections in humans lead to various diseases, and the viral replication mechanism needs to be understood to develop therapeutics that can target a step in replication to stop the virus. Human T-cell Leukemia/Lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) is a retrovirus that can cause cancer and translation of all the necessary viral proteins occurs through two -1 programmed ribosomal frameshifts. The slippery sequences that cause frameshifting to occur have been identified and specific RNA secondary structures have been predicted to correlate to its frameshifting efficiency. Therefore, therapeutics can be developed targeting the stability of the RNA secondary structures and these may decrease the virus' ability to replicate. Preliminary data suggests that the first -1 programmed ribosomal frameshift site (gag-pro) has a stem-loop structure, while the second frameshift site (pro-pol) forms a pseudoknot structure. The study being conducted predicts that the thermodynamic stability of the stem-loop structure will be critical to frameshift stimulation. Several variant frameshift sites were designed to investigate this hypothesis. At this time, these constructs have not been successfully clone. This poster presents an overview of the experiments that were conducted in our attempts to complete this study. The information gained from our future experiments will contribute knowledge to the field of retroviral frameshifting, which may lead to the development of targeted antivirals.
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- Sunflowers
- Artwork from the Fall 2010 - Winter 2011 issue of Images.
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- Sunset Durango
- Photograph from Fall 2010 - Winter 2011 issue of Images.
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- Sunset at the Beach
- Photograph by Sasha Kramer from the Fall 2013 - Winter 2014 issue of Images
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- Supernovae Classification by the Observation of Light Curves
- A supernova explosion will exhibit a light curve distinct to each type after it fades away from peak irradiance. Supernovae are thus categorized by observable characteristics, namely, their light curves and spectrum. By carefully observing a supernova's light curve over a period of about two months, the type can be deduced. Using the Fort Lewis observatory, I attempted to formulate light curves for a few recently observable supernovae to see if the types could be gathered.
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- Sustainable Biodigester - Cook Stove - Fertilizer System to Promote Community Well-Being for Indigenous People of Ecuador
- The acquisition and use of biomass fuels for heating and cooking presents a ubiquitous problem for the majority of people on three continents. Inefficient cooking and heating practices (wood burns at 5-8% efficiency and cow dung at 3-5%) not only pollute the home but deplete biomass resources and require increasing amounts of time and energy for fuel acquisition. These factors challenge the sustainability of local and global environments as well as the health and economic prosperity of vast numbers of people in the developing world. In response to these issues, Fort Lewis College students and faculty received a phase I, EPA P3 grant which was used to design and build two biogas digester prototypes. Working with faculty, students also designed a low cost cook stove capable of burning the biogas produced, and evaluated biogas slurry application as an appropriate and effective soil fertility amendment. Phase I prototype digesters demonstrated the feasibility of biogas generation, using simple materials such as trash cans, oil drums, and polyethylene bags. A full scale digester, based on prototype biogas production volumes, would range from 5000 to 9000 liters, depending on the design implemented (fixed drum or polybag). This digester volume is projected to meet the cooking needs of a typical Ecuadorian family of six, 2m3 gas /day. In addition to producing methane gas for cooking and heating, the system produces significant quantities of bio-digested manure. The bio-digested manure was applied as a fertilizer to potatoes and a newly established grass pasture mixture. Potato shoot dry weight at harvest was 132% and 131% of control dry weight for low and high applications of bio-digested manure, respectively. There was a 51% difference and 80% difference in dry weight yield from control between low and high applications of bio-digested manure for pasture grasses. Biogas utilization for cooking, and for the production of anaerobically digested manure is a unique and realizable opportunity for a vast number of people and communities in both the developing and developed world. Positive impacts are possible in terms of quality of life (reduced time for fuel collection, reduced fuel costs, and improved sanitation, increased crop yields), improved health (reduced indoor smoke from clean burning biogas), economic savings and/or earnings (eliminates need for purchasing traditional fertilizers and creates an opportunity to sell excess manure generated by digesters), and environmental responsibility (utilizes renewable resource and enhances soil fertility).
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- Sustainable House for Engagement and Discovery (Shed)
- Ian Hensler, Cassie Seaney, Matt Kleinert, Sam Emerson, Noah Garcia, Michael Bixenmann, Kody Salcido The Sustainable House for Engagement and Discovery (SHED) project constructed a new garden storage building (gardenhouse), as well as researched and detailed a new suitable geodesic dome greenhouse for the Fort Lewis College Environmental Center (EC). These new campus structures and site layout address on-campus food production, composting, and EC operations associated with the center's campus garden, orchard, and sustainability initiatives. Current EC facilities at the on-campus garden site are limited in terms of size (for both food production and tool storage), control (inadequate thermal regulation in greenhouse, lack of weather protection for woodchips used in campus composting operations, and rodent infestation of all facilities), and utility (accommodation of woodchip deliveries, compost maturation, and curing of vegetables). All issues are addressed through the new structures and site design. This project went through an extensive design iterations in which the SHED team coordinated with the FLC Physical Plant Services (PPS) and EC in order to determine the site, materials, and layout of the structure. A professional structural engineer assisted in the analysis of the structure's integrity, while a licensed architect helped the SHED team to ensure the building would meet all applicable codes. These include building standards from ASTM, ACI, ASCE, AWPA, and IBC as well as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fort Lewis' architectural standards also had to be met by the design. This design phase ultimately created a schematic design package detailing the building as well as its materials which was used to receive a construction permit after its code compliance had been reviewed. Construction began in March 2016, and is still ongoing.
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- Sustainable Urban Building: Technologies of Today and the Possibilities of Tomorrow
- With the rapid growth of today's population, it is progressively becoming more difficult to find a suitable place for everyone to live. In the past the majority of the world's population lived in rural areas dependent on agriculture and subsistence. Over the past 100 years, however, there has been a steady migration of the world's population from rural areas to urban cities. According to the Population Reference Bureau, it is expected that 70 percent of the world population will be urban by 2050. With unprecedented urban growth and the overwhelming pressure the growing population is putting on the environment, it is necessary to start revamping existing buildings and planning large scale sustainable urban development. This paper will examine current sustainable building technologies along with future possibilities to illustrate that sustainable cities for the growing population are necessary and economically practical. There is no question that energy efficiency in existing buildings and new buildings is one of the lowest-cost ways to save immense amounts of energy. Buildings account for about 40 percent of our energy consumption, and existing buildings will be the primary infrastructure for many years to come. So these building are the prime place to be looking for energy savings. Cost-effective energy-reduction strategies could yield anywhere between 25 and 50 percent (Zakaria, 2008). Energy consumption is a big issue, but it is only one small piece of sustainable building pie. Sustainable building takes into account every aspect of a building before construction even starts, form the environment around it, to what direction it faces. Currently, the leading force of sustainable building is the LEED certification program run by the U.S. Green Building Council. Beyond LEED there are many innovative projects that are currently underway or proposed for the near future. Such projects include urban "Sky Farming," homes that can be grown from trees native to the local ecosystem, super efficient stackable block homes, and much more.
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- Syd in Space
- Short story by Fleet Griffin, published in the Fall 2013-Winter 2014 issue of Images.
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- Synthesis and Characterization of Chromium (Iii) Complexes of Cis-P-P'-Diphenyl-1,4-Diphospha-Cyclohexane for Linear Alpha Olefin Catalysis
- We wish to report the formation of two metal chloride complexes involving chromium(III) metal centers with the novel cis-P,P'-diphenyl-1,4-diphospha-cyclohexane (dpdpc) ligand. The synthesis and characterization of [Cr(dpdpc)Cl2(μ-Cl)]2 and Cr(dpdpc)Cl3(THF) will be reported. The use of these compounds for linear alpha olefin catalysis will be discussed.
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- Synthesis and Characterization of Cobalt(III) Complexes with Nitrogen-Containing Heterocyclic Ligands as Possible Anti-Cancer Pro-Drugs
- Research into better cancer treatments has been a progressively growing field. Metal containing coordination compounds offer unique chemistry that could prove useful. A ruthenium(III) compound with two indazole and four chlorine ligands, KP1019, is currently in phase III clinical trials as a pro-drug for the treatment of cancer. Our research delved into creating similar compounds to KP1019 but with cobalt centers instead of ruthenium, and with various nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ligands. Starting with cobalt(II) chloride and ligands including: imidazole, pyrimidine, indazole, pyridine, pyrazole, L-histidine or L-tryptophan, we attempted to oxidized the metal center and attach the desired ligands. Each ligand presented its own unique aspects and binding properties. A 4:1 metal to ligand ratio was most commonly used, however this ratio was altered based on the denticity of the specific ligand and our desired binding sites.
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- Synthesis and Characterization of P,P'-1,4-Diphospha-Cyclohexane Derivatives and Their Metal Coordination Reactions
- The previously reported P,P'-diphenyl-1,4-diphospha-cyclohexane (dpdpc) ligand has been used to form novel metal complexes with extremely small bite angles for a bidentate phosphine ligand. Currently the only derivative of this ligand reported in the literature contains phenyl substituents at the phosphorus atoms. Herein we report the synthesis of a new derivative of this ligand, P,P'-1,4-diphospha-cyclohexane (dpc) through reaction of bis-(phospido)ethane with 1,2-dicholroethane. Reactions of dpc with BuLi and alkyl-halides to form dpc derivatives with other substituents at the phosphorus atoms will be reported. Preliminary metal coordination studies with these novel ligands will also be reported.