Digital Commons Network^™

Natural History And Development Of Melittobia Acasta On Megachile Rotunda , Alan R. Anderson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Alfalfa is one of the most economically important crops in North America. To produce alfalfa seed, a pollinator must release plant reproductive organs by applying pressure to keel petals. The alfalfa leafcutting bee, Megachile rotundata, is the primary commercial pollinator of alfalfa. U.S. bee managers struggle to maintain populations due to many mortality factors. One cause is attack from parasitoid wasps such as Melittobia acasta. Females can lay hundreds of eggs and have multiple generations, which can decimate bee stocks. Chapter Two investigates the life cycle and base temperature that allows development of M. acasta on bee hosts. …

Maternal Effects And Management Of Alfalfa Leafcutting Bees, Makenna May Johnson

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Most bees are solitary and important contributors to pollination of a variety of crops. Solitary bees do not live in colonies. Instead, females work individually to construct nests and provision nutrients for each offspring. However, solitary bees can be difficult to manage, especially on a large scale like honey bees, because of differences in how species provision for their offspring and construct nests. Variations in the timing of offspring development to adulthood even within species makes commercial management difficult. Variations in reproductive strategy, like how many offspring to make, how much provision to give each, and when to make them …

Engineering Of Ideal Systems For The Study And Direction Of Stem Cell Asymmetrical Division And Fate Determination, Martina Zamponi

Biomedical Engineering Theses & Dissertations

The cellular microenvironment varies significantly across tissues, and it is constituted by both resident cells and the macromolecules they are exposed to. Cues that the cells receive from the microenvironment, as well as the signaling transmitted to it, affect their physiology and behavior. This notion is valid in the context of stem cells, which are susceptible to biochemical and biomechanical signaling exchanged with the microenvironment, and which plays a fundamental role in establishing fate determination and cell differentiation events. The definition of the molecular mechanisms that drive stem cell asymmetrical division, and how these are modulated by microenvironmental signaling, is …

Sex-Specific Phenotypes In The Aging Mouse Heart And Consequences For Chronic Fibrosis, Aude Angelini, Jesus Ortiz-Urbina, Joann Trial, Anilkumar K Reddy, Anna Malovannaya, Antrix Jain, Mark L Entman, George E Taffet, Katarzyna A Cieslik

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The incidence of diastolic dysfunction increases with age in both humans and mice. This is characterized by increased passive stiffness and slower relaxation of the left ventricle. The stiffness arises at least partially from progressively increased interstitial collagen deposition because of highly secretory fibroblasts. In the past, we demonstrated that AMPK activation via the drug 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide riboside (AICAR) in middle-aged mice reduced adverse remodeling after myocardial infarction. Therefore, as an attempt to normalize the fibroblast phenotype, we used 21-mo-old male and female mice and treated them with AICAR (0.166 mg/g body wt) where each mouse was followed in a functional …

Integrated Multi-Omic Characterization Of Congenital Heart Disease, Matthew C Hill, Zachary A Kadow, Hali Long, Yuka Morikawa, Thomas J Martin, Emma J Birks, Kenneth S Campbell, Jeanne Nerbonne, Kory Lavine, Lalita Wadhwa, Jun Wang, Diwakar Turaga, Iki Adachi, James F Martin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The heart, the first organ to develop in the embryo, undergoes complex morphogenesis that when defective results in congenital heart disease (CHD). With current therapies, more than 90% of patients with CHD survive into adulthood, but many suffer premature death from heart failure and non-cardiac causes1. Here, to gain insight into this disease progression, we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing on 157,273 nuclei from control hearts and hearts from patients with CHD, including those with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) and tetralogy of Fallot, two common forms of cyanotic CHD lesions, as well as dilated and hypertrophic cardiomyopathies. We …

Comparison Of Plant Richness And Density In Crp-42 Fields Between 2018 And 2022, Liz Wilgenbusch, Ai Wen Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Recently, the number of pollinators have decreased dramatically throughout the United States. Pollinators play an important role in food production with around ⅓ of the world’s food crops being dependent on pollinators. Providing a high-forage habitat for pollinators is a proposed solution to combat their decline. In the upper Midwest United States, the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) helps protect pollinator habitats by providing farmers with annual payments to retire their old farmland. The purpose of this study was to compare plant density and richness in CRP fields between year 3 and year 7 post planting to find trends in the …

Developing Methods To Assess The Role Of Lumbricus Terrestris On Seed Predation In Prairie Restoration [Poster], Jacey Meier, Laura L. Jackson Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Much of Iowa and the midwest used to be covered in tallgrass prairie– now only a small percentage of it remains. Many prairie restoration efforts to revitalize prairie lands are in place, but native prairie seed prices are extremely high. In addition, seedling establishment rates of native prairie seed are low. There are many events that can occur to prevent a seed from germinating into a seedling. One of those events is seed predation (or granivory). Seed predation is when seeds are used as a primary food source for animals. Granivores that commonly come to most minds include mice, squirrels, …

Assessing Methods For Enhancing Monarch Habitat In Re-Enrolling Crp Sites, Eva Van De Mortel, Tristan Murphy, Laura L. Jackson Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Over the last 30 years, monarch butterflies and their habitats have been in dramatic decline. Land enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) is one of the greatest resources available to increase monarch population as it has the largest amount of space available for monarch habitat. However, some fields have lost the nectar plants and milkweeds necessary for monarch habitat. This study, asked how to best suppress vegetation in re-enrolling CRP land so that overseeded forbs have a better chance of survival? Vegetation surveys from 6 different sites in northeastern Iowa and results from 2021 to 2022 were compared. We …

Curating A Global Collection Of Grapsoid Crabs For The American Natural History Museum, Nyc, Taylor Pruisman, Amber Finke, Carl Thurman Ph.D.

Summer Undergraduate Research Program (SURP) Symposium

Curation is a powerful tool when accessing information about specialized collections. Many researchers that use specimens borrowed from other institutions often find the supporting information insufficient. Over the last two years, a large collection of preserved grapsoid crabs was received from Frank H. Barnwell, Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.The collection of land crabs has undergone an extensive curation process done by University of Northern Iowa undergraduates. The curation process included identifying species, locating pin points, counting of sexes, rehousing and producing new labels. The specimens were sorted by their species, counted by gender, and their collection locations …

Arsr Family Regulator Msmeg_6762 Mediates The Programmed Cell Death By Regulating The Expression Of Hnh Nuclease In Mycobacteria, Xiangke Duan, Xue Huang, Junqi Xu, Xue Li, Jingjing Niu, Xiaoli Du, Xiaoyu Wang, Jiang Li, Michael Kelly, Jiaohan Guo, Ke Zhang, Yu Huang, Biao Kan, Jianping Xie

Biology Student Work

Programmed cell death (PCD) is the result of an intracellular program and is accomplished by a regulated process in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisms. Here, we report a programed cell death process in Mycobacterium smegmatis, an Actinobacteria species which involves a transcription factor and a DNase of the HNH family. We found that over-expression of an ArsR family member of the transcription factor, MSMEG_6762, leads to cell death. Transcriptome analysis revealed an increase in the genes’ transcripts involved in DNA repair and homologous recombination, and in three members of HNH family DNases. Knockout of one of the DNase genes, MSMEG_1275, …

Connecting Above- And Belowground Effects Of Climate Warming On Bumble Bee Health, Francis Mullan

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

Climate warming has been identified as one of the primary factors causing worldwide pollinator declines. One of the most at-risk groups of pollinators is bumble bees (Bombus spp.). Bumble bees are common, widespread, and key pollinators of a wide range of crops and wild plants. Although studies have examined the thermal physiological traits of individual bumble bees to understand how they may be impacted by climate warming, little to no studies have examined how climate warming may impact whole bumble bee colonies both in their ability to thermoregulate their nest for their brood or in their ability to forage …

Exploring New Methods For Quantifying Soil Reduction, Redox Potential, And Iron Reducing Bacteria Using The Iris Method In Wetland Soils., Jessica Everett

Biology Theses

The presence of hydric soils is one of the key factors used to identify and delineate wetlands as specified by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The Indicator of Reduction in Soil (IRIS) Method, accepted by the National Technical Committee for Hydric Soils (NTCHS) can indicate iron reduction in soil which can identify hydric soil for wetland delineation efforts. This thesis was conducted to see if the IRIS method had potential for other uses such as quantifying relative measurements of iron reducing bacteria and to see if a colorimetric scale could be curated to bring less subjection to …

Protein Shape Sampled By Ion Mobility Mass Spectrometry Consistently Improves Protein Structure Prediction, Micah T. Donor, Sm Bargeen Alam Turzo, Justin T. Seffernick, Amber D. Rolland, Stein Heinze, James S. Prell, Vicki H. Wysocki, Steffen Lindert

Faculty Publications - Department of Biological & Molecular Science

Ion mobility (IM) mass spectrometry provides structural information about protein shape and size in the form of an orientationally-averaged collision cross-section (CCSIM). While IM data have been used with various computational methods, they have not yet been utilized to predict monomeric protein structure from sequence. Here, we show that IM data can significantly improve protein structure determination using the modelling suite Rosetta. We develop the Rosetta Projection Approximation using Rough Circular Shapes (PARCS) algorithm that allows for fast and accurate prediction of CCSIM from structure. Following successful testing of the PARCS algorithm, we use an integrative modelling approach to utilize …

Stabilization By Adaptive Feedback Control For Positive Difference Equations With Applications In Pest Management, J. Edholm, C. Guiver, Richard Rebarber, Brigitte Tenhumberg, S. Townley

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

An adaptive feedback control scheme is proposed for stabilizing a class of forced nonlinear positive difference equations. The adaptive scheme is based on so-called high-gain adaptive controllers and contains substantial robustness with respect to model uncertainty as well as with respect to persistent forcing signals, including measurement errors. Our results take advantage of the underlying positive systems structure and ideas from input-to-state stability from nonlinear control theory. Our motivating application is to pest or weed control, and in this context the present work substantially strengthens previous work by the authors. The theory is illustrated with examples.

Long-Distance Vocalizations Of Spotted Hyenas Contain Individual, But Not Group, Signatures, Kenna D.S. Lehmann, Frants H. Jensen, Andrew Gersick, Ariana Strandburg-Peshkin, Kay E. Holekamp

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

In animal societies, identity signals are common, mediate interactions within groups, and allow individuals to discriminate group-mates from out-group competitors. However, individual recognition becomes increasingly challenging as group size increases and as signals must be transmitted over greater distances. Group vocal signatures may evolve when successful in-group/out-group distinctions are at the crux of fitness-relevant decisions, but group signatures alone are insufficient when differentiated within-group relationships are important for decision-making. Spotted hyenas are social carnivores that live in stable clans of less than 125 individuals composed of multiple unrelated matrilines. Clan members cooperate to defend resources and communal territories from neighbouring …

Designing Harvesting And Hauling Cost Models For Energy Cane Production For Biorefineries, Prabodh Illukpitiya, Firuz Yuldashev, Kabirat Nasiru

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

The harvesting and hauling operations of bioenergy feedstock is an important area in biofuel production. Production costs can be minimized by maintaining optimal machinery units for these operations. The objective of this study is to design an optimal harvesting unit for bioenergy refinery and estimate harvesting and hauling costs of energy cane. A biorefinery with the annual capacity of processing twenty-five million imp. gallons of ethanol were considered. Given the efficiency of harvesting, a two-row soldier system was considered. Considering the year-round supply of energy cane to the refinery, the optimal machinery unit was designed, and the combined operation costs …

Effect Of High- Vs Low-Dose Tranexamic Acid Infusion On Need For Red Blood Cell Transfusion And Adverse Events In Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery: The Optimal Randomized Clinical Trial, Jia Shi, Chenghui Zhou, Wei Pan, Hansong Sun, Sheng Liu, Wei Feng, Weijian Wang, Zhaoyun Cheng, Yang Wang, Zhe Zheng, Optimal Study Group

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

IMPORTANCE: Tranexamic acid is recommended for reducing blood loss and transfusion in cardiac surgery. However, it remains unknown whether a high dose of tranexamic acid provides better blood-sparing effect than a low dose without increasing the risk of thrombotic complications or seizures in cardiac surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy and adverse events of high-dose vs low-dose tranexamic acid in patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Multicenter, double-blind, randomized clinical trial among adult patients undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. The study enrolled 3079 patients at 4 hospitals in China from December 26, 2018, to …

Holarctic Species In The Pluteus Romellii Clade Five New Species Described And Old Names Reassessed, Hana Ševčíková, Ekaterina Malysheva, Giuliano Ferisin, Francesco Dovana, Egon Horak, Jacob Kalichman, Oğuzhan Kaygusuz, Renée Lebeuf, Guillermo Muñoz González, Andrew M Minnis, Stephen D Russell, Michal Sochor, Bálint Dima, Vladimír Antonín, Alfredo Justo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We studied the taxonomy of Pluteus romellii, and morphologically similar Holarctic species in the/romellii clade of section Celluloderma, using morphological and molecular data (nrITS, TEF1-α). Pluteus romellii is lectotypified and epitypified and accepted as an exclusively Eurasian species. Pluteus lutescens and P. pallescens are considered synonyms of P. romellii. Pluteus fulvibadius is accepted as a related, but separate, North American species. Five species in the/romellii clade are described as new to science: two from North America (P. austrofulvus and P. parvisporus), one from Asia (P. parvicarpus), one from Europe (P. siccus …

Bbt Acoustic Alternative Top Bracing Cadd Data Set-Norev-2022jun28, Bill Hemphill

STEM Guitar Project’s BBT Acoustic Kit

This electronic document file set consists of an overview presentation (PDF-formatted) file and companion video (MP4) and CADD files (DWG & DXF) for laser cutting the ETSU-developed alternate top bracing designs and marking templates for the STEM Guitar Project’s BBT (OM-sized) standard acoustic guitar kit. The three (3) alternative BBT top bracing designs in this release are
(a) a one-piece base for the standard kit's (Martin-style) bracing,
(b) 277 Ladder-style bracing, and
(c) an X-braced fan-style bracing similar to traditional European or so-called 'classical' acoustic guitars.

The CADD data set for each of the three (3) top bracing designs includes …

Mir-489 Confines Uncontrolled Estrogen Signaling Through A Negative Feedback Mechanism And Regulates Tamoxifen Resistance In Breast Cancer, Mithil Soni, Ozge Saatci, Gourab Gupta, Yogin Patel, Manikanda Raja Keerthi Raja, Jie Li, Xinfeng Liu, Peisheng Xu Ph.D., Hongjun Wang, Daping Fan, Ozgur Sahin, Hexin Chen

Faculty Publications

Approximately 75% of diagnosed breast cancer tumors are estrogen-receptor-positive tumors and are associated with a better prognosis due to response to hormonal therapies. However, around 40% of patients relapse after hormonal therapies. Genomic analysis of gene expression profiles in primary breast cancers and tamoxifen-resistant cell lines suggested the potential role of miR-489 in the regulation of estrogen signaling and development of tamoxifen resistance. Our in vitro analysis showed that loss of miR-489 expression promoted tamoxifen resistance, while overexpression of miR-489 in tamoxifen-resistant cells restored tamoxifen sensitivity. Mechanistically, we found that miR-489 is an estrogen-regulated miRNA that negatively regulates estrogen receptor …

Orthotrichum Lyellii As An Active Moss Biomonitor: Examining The Interplay Between Ambient Pm10, Bulk Deposition And Heavy Metals In An Urban Environment, Scott Bradley Kiel

Dissertations and Theses

The importance of monitoring and preventing pollution in the environment is a globally recognized issue. Of the criteria pollutants outlined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, particulate matter is among these least understood in relation to toxicity and most wide-spread. Many governments have employed continuous air quality monitoring networks to track ambient levels of particulate matter, but are often too widespread to capture the heterogeneity of the urban environment, especially for heavy metal deposition. In Portland, OR, the epiphytic moss Orthotrichum lyellii was successfully used as a low-cost passive biomonitor to increase the spatial resolution of pollution around the …

Mtorc1 And Mtorc2 Complexes Regulate The Untargeted Metabolomics And Amino Acid Metabolites Profile Through Mitochondrial Bioenergetic Functions In Pancreatic Beta Cells, Ghada A. Soliman, Rinat Abzalimov, Ye He

Advanced Science Research Center

Background: Pancreatic beta cells regulate bioenergetics efficiency and secret insulin in response to glucose and nutrient availability. The mechanistic Target of Rapamycin (mTOR) network orchestrates pancreatic progenitor cell growth and metabolism by nucleating two complexes, mTORC1 and mTORC2. Objective: To determine the impact of mTORC1/mTORC2 inhibition on amino acid metabolism in mouse pancreatic beta cells (Beta-TC-6 cells, ATCC-CRL-11506) using high-resolution metabolomics (HRM) and live-mitochondrial functions. Methods: Pancreatic beta TC-6 cells were incubated for 24 h with either: RapaLink-1 (RL); Torin-2 (T); rapamycin (R); metformin (M); a combination of RapaLink-1 and metformin (RLM); Torin-2 and metformin (TM); compared to the control. …

Identification Of Fire-Retardant Chemical Treatments Via Instrumental Analysis, Caitlin Dillon

Discovery Day - Prescott

Fiber trace evidence is one of the most common forms of evidence found at a crime scene; these evidentiary items often have unique flame retardant chemical compositions or volatile chemical signatures. The retardant compounds can be used as an additional piece of evidence to trace a fiber from a victim to a source sample. This analytical comparison will require the use of specialized equipment available at the Prescott campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. This equipment and instrumentation includes scanning electron microscopy with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM/EDS), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy (GC/MS), using both liquid and volatile …

Monitoring Environmental Trends In Levels Of Influenza Virus And Sars-Cov-2 In Prescott, Az, Jade Blackert, Daniella Cowles

Discovery Day - Prescott

Every year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and state health agencies collect surveillance data for cases of influenza. During the flu season of 2019, SARSCoV- 2, which causes the symptoms known as COVID-19, caused a global pandemic. In turn, the surveillance and testing data showed a dramatic drop in influenza case numbers compared to previous years. Influenza is one of the deadliest viruses in human history, so it seems unlikely that this drastic change would occur due to the emergence of a similar virus. This research is designed to show that the prevalence of influenza in the community …

Blood Chemistry And Biliverdin Differ According To Reproduction And Tourism In A Free-Living Lizard, Susannah French

Browse all Datasets

Changes in the physiological health of species are an essential indicator of changing conditions and environmental challenges. Reponses to environmental challenges can often induce stress, influence physiology, and change metabolism in organisms. Here we tested blood chemistry parameters indicative of stress and metabolic activity using an i-STAT point-of-care blood analyzer in seven populations of free-ranging rock iguanas exposed to varying levels of tourism and supplemental feeding. We found significant differences in blood chemistry (glucose, oxygen, carbon dioxide, hematocrit, hemoglobin, calcium, potassium, and biliverdin levels) among populations exposed to varying levels of tourism, and also some variation between sexes and reproductive …

The Link Between Intracellular Calcium Signaling And The Nitric Oxide-Dependent Release Of Chloride In Retinal Amacrine Cells, Li Zhong

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Regulation of cytosolic Cl^- is an important determinant in synaptic function. Our lab has discovered that cytosolic Cl^- is regulated not only by transport across the plasma membrane but that Cl^- can also be released from internal Cl^- stores (Hoffpauir et al., 2006) in amacrine cells (ACs). Nitric oxide (NO) is a small molecule neurotransmitter that has been demonstrated to be involved in cytosolic Ca²⁺ elevations and Cl^- regulation via activation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane regulator (CFTR) (Krishnan et al., 2017). Here, I test the hypothesis that intracellular Ca²⁺ signaling mediates the …

Data From: Complex Tourism And Season Interactions Contribute To Disparate Physiologies In An Endangered Rock Iguana, Susannah French

Browse all Datasets

To promote survival and fitness, organisms use a suite of physiological systems to respond to both predictable and unpredictable changes in the environment. These physiological responses are also influenced by changes in life history state. The continued activation of physiological systems stemming from persistent environmental perturbations enable animals to cope with these challenges but may over time lead to significant effects on the health of wildlife. In the present study, we tested how varying environmental perturbations driven by tourism and associated supplemental feeding affects the energetics, corticosterone and immunity of six discrete populations of the northern Bahamian rock iguana (Cyclura …

Genetic Protocols For Dna Extraction From White-Tailed Deer Cast Antlers To Confirm Individuality, Zach Carter, Brian C. Peterson, Casey W. Schoenebeck, Kimberly A. Carlson

Transactions of the Nebraska Academy of Sciences and Affiliated Societies

White-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) are the most sought-after deer species in America. The antlers of mammals, such as deer, are one of the fastest regenerative tissues in the world and are grown and naturally cast every year. Research on cast antlers have been used for a variety of purposes including population comparisons and impacts of deer health due to climatic stressors. When investigating cast antlers, it is important to confirm individuality of match sets in addition to antlers of the same individual between years. Therefore, individuality must be confirmed genetically, and protocols must be developed and established to …

Genetic And Environmental Variation Impact Transferability Of Polygenic Risk Scores, Daniel S. Araújo, Heather E. Wheeler

Biology: Faculty Publications and Other Works

Even when polygenic risk scores (PRSs) are trained in African ancestral populations, Kamiza and colleagues showed that genetic and environmental variation within sub-Saharan African populations impacts prediction performance, highlighting the challenges of clinical implementation of PRSs for risk assessment.

Using Scratch Wound Assay To Study The Effect Of Soil Arsenic On Human Keratinocyte Cell Migration Due To Contact Exposure, Manas Warke, Laura De March, Srinivas Kannan, Madeline English, Rohan Sarkar, Rupali Datta, Smitha Rao

Michigan Tech Research Data

The scratch wound assay was performed on Human immortalized keratinocytes (HaCaT) cells to observe the effect on cell migration due to contact exposure to arsenic-contaminated Immokalee soil. The cell migration was observed through a microscope for 72 h. HaCaT cells were seeded in 48-well plate. On day 3, treatment media was added (n=8). The cells were treated with four concentrations of soil As (45, 225, 450, and 900 mg/kg) and two controls - Negative control (NC; Pure media) and control (C; 0 mg/kg soil As) for 72 h. A scratch was made using a pipette tip. The wound healing was …