Life Sciences Commons^™

What We Have Learned About Experience, Time Pressure, And Difficult Tradeoffs From Experiments With Firefighters In Virtual Reality, Nir Keren

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

In general, attendees will learn that experience does not guarantee faster and more accurate decisions. Furthermore, experienced firefighters demonstrated higher level of threat‐related stress than inexperienced firefighters.

Evaluating Program Outcomes Via Decision Making Simulations, Steven A. Freeman, Nir Keren

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

Decision making-based methodology was proposed for evaluating program outcomes. The methodology was tested to measure the effect of safety enhancing curriculum on Safety Awareness, one of the 15 competencies ABE is using in program outcome evaluations. The results indicated a significant increase in safety awareness and shift in cognitive processes following implementation of the curriculum. Since ABE measures competencies via supervisory evaluation of graduates, the authors examine the opportunity of developing a longitudinal study for measuring the magnitude of impact of curriculum on outcomes at the workplace.

Student Professional Development: Competency-Based Learning And Assessment, Jacqulyn A. Baughman, Thomas J. Brumm

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will understand the need for student professional development, as well as, the role that competencies and the 360-degree feedback assessment process play. Additionally, a foundational framework for further research studies in competency-based learning and assessment will be presented.

Holistic Student Professional Development In A Lean Manufacturing Course, Jacqulyn A. Baughman, Thomas J. Brumm

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will understand the need for a “holistic” student professional development approach using competency-assessment and backwards design. Specifically, the course design and approach can help provide U.S. manufacturers with the employees they need in order to implement and sustain a lean manufacturing structure vital for competitiveness.

Measurement Of Quality-Based Risks In The Bulk Material Supply Chain, Gretchen A. Mosher

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will learn about the process used to identify, quantify, and evaluation quality risks in the bulk material supply chain. Use of the process map will be discussed from a quality management perspective. Implications for industrial practice will be shared.

Factors Considered In The Development Of Curricular Content In Engineering Technology For Diverse Audiences, Gretchen A. Mosher, Chad M. Laux

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Presentations, Posters and Proceedings

The audience will learn about the curricular needs of process-based supply chain professionals and how engineering technology is poised to meet these needs. The development of core learning competencies and delivery options will also be shared.

From Not So Simple A Beginning: The Voyage Of The Beagle To The Voyage Of The Endeavour Retracing The Steps Of Charles Darwin In The Galapagos Islands, Kathleen Carroll

Honors College

This is a natural history exploration of the behavior and distinct features of common vertebrates of the Galápagos Islands. Covering more than 26 species, this journey of observation begins with an in-depth look at Charles Darwin's field notes, and moves through history to examine how the knowledge about these species has changed. It is finalized with my personal experiences after a ten day journey exploring the islands with the crew of the National Geographic vessel, the Endeavour. My understanding of the species is solidified through my notes, sketches, films and photographs.

While journeying through the islands I carried a ...

Evolutionary And Molecular Analysis Of Conserved Vertebrate Immunity To Fungi, Erin Carter

Honors College

The innate immune system is highly conserved amongst all multicellular organisms. Yet a constant battle exists between host cells and pathogens due to the rapid evolution of immune system components. Functional genomics and in silico methods can be employed to elucidate the evolutionary patterns of vertebrate immunity to pathogenic fungi such as Candida albicans, an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause lethal candidiasis in the immunocompromised. Mammals such as humans and mice possess conserved C-type lectin receptors that recognize the C. albicans cell wall. However, these receptors have not been identified in fish. Here I describe how we identified potential ...

Diet And Prey Availability Of Sturgeons In The Penobscot River, Maine, Matthew Dzaugis

Honors College

Although vital to the protection and conservation of species listed under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, critical habitat of shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon in the Penobscot River, Maine have not yet been described. Critical habitat includes food availability as well as the physical characteristics of foraging habitat. To characterize seasonal availability of benthic prey, a ponar grab was used to collect over 125 benthic samples between 21 May and 8 October 2012. Samples were stratified throughout the river and broadly categorized by sediment type. All organisms within samples were identified to the family level. To characterize diet, stomach ...

Unmasking Candidiasis: A Mechanistic Model For Innate Immune-Fungal Cell Wall Dynamics, Erica Hidu

Honors College

Candida albicans is an opportunistic fungal pathogen that can cause a potentially lethal systemic infection in immunocompromised patients. Increasing drug resistance of Candida species to anti-fungal treatments makes the study of this pathogen ever more important. Study of the C. albicans cell wall provides insight into its importance in pathogenesis, immune recognition, and anti-fungal action. It has been shown that β- glucan, a masked component of the fungal cell wall and ligand for the immune receptor Dectin-1, becomes available for immune recognition in the mouse model of systemic candidiasis. To develop a mechanistic model to explain this unmasking, we investigated ...

A Study Of Cooking And Varietal Effects On Potato In Vitro Bile Acid Binding Capacity, Emily Hinkle

Honors College

Potatoes have received negative press about being unhealthy due to having high starch content, but these vegetables contain many healthful components. Many compounds in food, such as soluble dietary fiber, help reduce serum cholesterol levels by binding to bile acids in the digestive tract and causing the body to draw from serum cholesterol to create new bile acids. Potatoes were prepared three different ways (raw, steamed, steamed then cooled) and different varieties of potatoes were used, each with different chemical compositions (King Harry, Elba, Yukon Gold and All-Blue). The potatoes were subjected to an in vitro digestion to simulate the ...

Investigation Of The Mechanism Underlying Arsenic Disruption Of Mast Cell Degranulation, Alejandro Velez

Honors College

Exposure to arsenic (As) is a global health concern, according to the World Health Organization and Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Prolonged exposure to this naturally occurring chemical has been linked to hyperkeratosis, type II diabetes, developmental abnormalities, and cancer. Some of the adverse health effects of As may be linked to its ability to alter cellular signal transduction. Recently, published work from the Gosse laboratory has shown that inorganic arsenite inhibits the signaling cascade leading to mast cell degranulation, a vital immune function, through an as-yet unknown mechanism.
Further work in the Gosse lab has suggested that ...

Attitude Of Tennessee Farmers Toward Credit, University Of Tennessee Agricultural Experiment Station, James G. Snell, Robert J. Hopkins, Ralph Barnett

Bulletins

No abstract provided.

Micronutrient Supplementation In Pediatric Inflammatory Bowel Disease: Examining Predictors And Outcomes Of Supplement Adherence, Kaila A. Stephens '13

Senior Theses

Objective: To summarize rates of supplement adherence in youth with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to identify predictors and outcomes of supplement adherence.

Methods: 49 adolescents (ages 11-18) participated. Youth completed six monthly assessments of adherence and supplement knowledge. Youth and parents completed questionnaires. Medical record reviews provided medical and laboratory data.

Results: Mean supplement adherence rates ranged from 32% to 44%. Predictors of supplement adherence included higher knowledge (for multivitamin, iron, and calcium adherence) higher family involvement (for iron and calcium adherence), and greater inflammation (via a hematological index) for multivitamin adherence. Few relationships between supplement adherence and inflammation ...

An Automatic Framework For Embryonic Localization Using Edges In A Scale Space, Zachary Bessinger

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Localization of Drosophila embryos in images is a fundamental step in an automatic computational system for the exploration of gene-gene interaction on Drosophila. Contour extraction of embryonic images is challenging due to many variations in embryonic images. In the thesis work, we develop a localization framework based on the analysis of connected components of edge pixels in a scale space. We propose criteria to select optimal scales for embryonic localization. Furthermore, we propose a scale mapping strategy to compress the range of a scale space in order to improve the efficiency of the localization framework. The effectiveness of the proposed ...

Targeting Perennial Vegetation In Agricultural Landscapes For Enhancing Ecosystem Services, Heidi Asbjornsen, V. Hernandez-Santana, Matthew Z. Liebman, J. Bayala, J. Chen, Matthew J. Helmers, C. K. Ong

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications and Papers

Over the past century, agricultural landscapes worldwide have increasingly been managed for the primary purpose of producing food, while other diverse ecosystem services potentially available from these landscapes have often been undervalued and diminished. The incorporation of relatively small amounts of perennial vegetation in strategic locations within agricultural landscapes dominated by annual crops—or perennialization—creates an opportunity for enhancing the provision of a wide range of goods and services to society, such as water purification, hydrologic regulation, pollination services, control of pest and pathogen populations, diverse food and fuel products, and greater resilience to climate change and extreme disturbances ...

Using Biodiversity To Link Agricultural Productivity With Environmental Quality: Results From Three Field Experiments In Iowa, Matthew Z. Liebman, Matthew J. Helmers, Lisa A. Schulte-Moore, Craig A. Chase

Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering Publications and Papers

Agriculture in the US Corn Belt is under increasing pressure to produce greater quantities of food, feed and fuel, while better protecting environmental quality. Key environmental problems in this region include water contamination by nutrients and herbicides emitted from cropland, a lack of non-agricultural habitat to support diverse communities of native plants and animals, and a high level of dependence on petrochemical energy in the dominant cropping systems. In addition, projected changes in climate for this region, which include increases in the proportion of precipitation coming from extreme events could make soil and water conservation in existing cropping systems more ...

Genomic Reconstruction Of Transcriptional Regulatory Networks In Lactic Acid Bacteria, Dmitri A. Ravcheev, Aaron A. Best, Natalia V. Sernova, Marat D. Kazanov, Pavel S. Novichkov, Dmitri A. Rodionov

Faculty Publications

Background

Genome scale annotation of regulatory interactions and reconstruction of regulatory networks are the crucial problems in bacterial genomics. The Lactobacillales order of bacteria collates various microorganisms having a large economic impact, including both human and animal pathogens and strains used in the food industry. Nonetheless, no systematic genome-wide analysis of transcriptional regulation has been previously made for this taxonomic group.

Results

A comparative genomics approach was used for reconstruction of transcriptional regulatory networks in 30 selected genomes of lactic acid bacteria. The inferred networks comprise regulons for 102 orthologous transcription factors (TFs), including 47 novel regulons for previously uncharacterized ...

Protein Interactions In Mrna Methylation Complexes, Yazan Ali Alqara

Senior Honors Theses

Experiments were performed to test sequence and structural specific interactions of proteins with a conserved RNA modification enzyme, which is known as Ime4 in yeast and Mettl3 in mammals. Ime4 methylates N6-adenosine bases on mRNA molecules. The goal of this project is to gain direct insights into how novel proteins interact with Ime4 to form the methyltranferase (MTase) complex and to identify proteins that are essential for Ime4 activity. It has been recognized that there are two proteins that interact within the Ime4 complex, which are known as Mum2 (a cytoplasmic protein essential for meiotic DNA replication within yeast) and ...

The Role Of Minimization And Facilitation Of Learner Involvement During Acquisition In The Learning Of A Motor Task, Elizabeth A. Sanli

Open Access Dissertations and Theses

When learning a new motor skill, how we choose to go about the learning process can influence how quickly and how well we learn the task. In particular, the role of learner involvement during the acquisition period can be manipulated through how practice is scheduled. Two separate sets of literature (progression of task difficulty and self-controlled practice) which discuss learner involvement during acquisition were reviewed. The motivation behind this thesis is to examine the effects of progressive and self-controlled practice on measures of retention, transfer and dual-task performance as well as to attempt to determine the underlying factors responsible for ...