Methane (CH4) is a prominent greenhouse gas that contributes to the negative impacts of global warming and climate change, whose emissions have more than doubled since the Industrial Revolution primarily due to anthropogenic sources. The main pathways in which methane moves through the environment are methanogenesis and methanotrophy. Methane is primarily generated by acetoclastic methanogenesis in wetlands while it can be oxidized both aerobically and anaerobically. Wetlands are important methane emission sources at 177 - 284 Tg CH4 year-1. The Tres Rios Wetland (TRW) is a constructed facility to complete nutrient removal of treated municipal wastewater, and has shown low emissions of methane. Whether such low emissions could be achieved through active anaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) is not known, and the main objective of this work is to evaluate the rates of AOM in TRW. In this study an isotopic method and a mass balance method were utilized to determine the rate of AOM from top sediments found at Tres Rios at various locations and in two sets of sampling. The results showed that evidence of AOM occurred in the sediments of both sampling events conducted. The first sampling set showed evidence of AOM at all locations along a transect, showing that oxidation of methane is indeed occurring in Tres Rios sediments. Evidence from both methodologies suggested that high methanogenesis rates occurred at the outside location closest to the water. The second sampling set showed that the highest rate of AOM occurred at the outlet location, with the lowest rate occurring in the middle location. DNA extractions and PCR images resulted in a poor DNA yield, and inability to extract DNA. It was determined that the isotopic approach was less accurate than the mass balance approach due to unexpected delta CH4 values. It was determined that dilutions of CH4 ppm lead to less accurate isotopic measurements needed to estimate AOM rates using a 13C pulse technique. Literature review suggests that factors including water presence, temperature, redox potential, and plant presence can be influential in the oxidation of methane. This AOM assay can be beneficial in better understanding how methane cycles at Tres Rios, and can provide opportunities for future research in determining which factors influence the oxidation of methane in different locations throughout wetlands.

Background: Recent studies have shown a decline in birth rates in large metropolitan areas (after accounting for population), which can be possibly explained by barriers to reproduction associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns. Objective: This study’s objective was to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdowns on the fertility rates of women in reproductive ages living in Greater Phoenix. Methods: The total number of inpatient births and people in both Maricopa and Pinal Counties during pre-COVID-19 years (2017-2019) were compared with those during the COVID-19 years (2021) among women in reproductive ages (15-49 years). To make age-specific comparisons, women in reproductive years were divided into eight distinct age group categories (15-17, 18-20, and then five year age group categories to age 49) from which age-specific, general, and total fertility rates were calculated. Results: Using a two-sample z-test for difference in proportions, findings revealed that the general fertility rate in Greater Phoenix had significantly declined from 48 to 46 per 1,000 population from the pre-COVID-19 period to COVID-19 period (P<0.001). Two sample z-tests were also used to compare age-specific fertility rates, which revealed a significant decline in the fertility rate in women ages 15-17 (from 8.0/1000 to 5.0/1000) (P<0.001), 18-20 (from 43.0/1000 to 35.0/1000) (P<0.001), and 21-24 (from 79.0/1000 to 68.0/1000) (P<0.001) from the pre-COVID-19 period to COVID-19 period, while no significant change was observed in the fertility rate in women ages 25-49. Conclusions: The observed general fertility decline in Greater Phoenix as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic poses significant implications for further research on barriers to reproduction brought upon by the COVID-19 pandemic and related lockdown measures. Another direction for further research involves possibly continuing this study to include years 2022 and 2023 in the COVID-19 period, as well as calculating age-specific fertility rates by race.

When one pursues a Bachelor's degree they are generally under the impression that the degree they are after will provide them with the necessary skills and knowledge to enter their career at entry-level. This is not the case for all students in every degree program. Many times Bachelor's degree holders find it difficult to enter the field. The goal of this paper is to identify gaps or discrepancies between Arizona State University's (ASU’s) Applied Computing (ACO) - Cybersecurity program's learning objectives and industry requirements for entry-level positions in the cybersecurity industry. The data used in this textual analysis were gathered from several popular employment websites and ACO course syllabi. Using this relatively small data pool several gaps were identified between the cybersecurity industry; the private and public sectors job listing requirements; and ASU's ACO course objectives. By analyzing the gaps found in the data, I have been able to provide many suggestions for ASU and some for the cybersecurity industry to implement to better prepare ACO students for entry-level cybersecurity industry positions.