Digital Commons Network^™

Short-Amplitude High-Frequency Wing Strokes Determine The Aerodynamics Of Honeybee Flight, Douglas L. Altshuler, William B. Dickson, Jason T. Vance, Stephen P. Roberts, Michael H. Dickinson

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Most Insects Are Thought to Fly by Creating a Leading-Edge Vortex that Remains Attached to the Wing as It Translates through a Stroke. in the Species Examined So Far, Stroke Amplitude is Large, and Most of the Aerodynamic Force is Produced Halfway through a Stroke When Translation Velocities Are Highest. Here We Demonstrate that Honeybees Use an Alternative Strategy, Hovering with Relatively Low Stroke Amplitude (≈90°) and High Wingbeat Frequency (≈230 Hz). When Measured on a Dynamically Scaled Robot, the Kinematics of Honeybee Wings Generate Prominent Force Peaks during the Beginning, Middle, and End of Each Stroke, Indicating the Importance …

Muscle Biochemistry And The Ontogeny Of Flight Capacity During Behavioral Development In The Honey Bee, Apis Mellifera, Stephen P. Roberts, Michelle M. Elekonich

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

A Fundamental Issue in Physiology and Behavior is Understanding the Functional and Genetic Mechanisms that Underlie Major Behavioral Shifts in Organisms as They Adopt New Environments or Life History Tactics. Such Transitions Are Common in Nature and Include the Age-Related Switch from Nest/hive Work to Foraging in Social Insects Such as Honeybees (Apis Mellifera). Because of their Experimental Tractability, Recently Sequenced Genome and Well Understood Biology, Honeybees Are an Ideal Model System for Integrating Molecular, Genetic, Physiological and Sociobiological Perspectives to Advance Understanding of Behavioral and Life History Transitions. When Honeybees (Apis Mellifera) Transition from Hive Work to Foraging, their …

Taxol-Stabilized Microtubules Can Position The Cytokinetic Furrow In Mammalian Cells, Katie Shannon, Julie C. Canman, C. Ben Moree, Jennifer S. Tirnauer, Edward D. Salmon

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

How microtubules act to position the plane of cell division during cytokinesis is a topic of much debate. Recently, we showed that a subpopulation of stable microtubules extends past chromosomes and interacts with the cell cortex at the site of furrowing, suggesting that these stabilized microtubules may stimulate contractility. To test the hypothesis that stable microtubules can position furrows, we used taxol to rapidly suppress microtubule dynamics during various stages of mitosis in PtK1 cells. Cells with stabilized prometaphase or metaphase microtubule arrays were able to initiate furrowing when induced into anaphase by inhibition of the spindle checkpoint. In these …

Environmental Hypoxia Influences Hemoglobin Subunit Composition In The Branchiopod Crustacean Triops Longicaudatus, J. A. Guadagnoli, A. M. Braun, S. (Stephen) P. Roberts, C. L. Reiber

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Hemoglobin (Hb) is a Highly Conserved Protein that Provides a Vital Link between Environmental Oxygen and its Use And/or Storage within an Organism. While Ubiquitous among Vertebrates, Hb Occurs Frequently in Invertebrate Phyla as Well. Many Arthropod Species Use the Copper-Binding Pigment Hemocyanin, But Unique in This Phylum Are the Branchiopod Crustaceans, Which Express Hb. Branchiopod Hb Concentration and Structure Are Exquisitely Sensitive to Environmental Oxygen Availability. Hemoglobin Concentration and Oxygen-Binding Affinity Increase with Decreasing Oxygen Tension in Daphnia, Artemia and Triops. the Change in Binding Affinity is Attributed to Differential Hb Subunit Expression in Daphnia and Artemia But Remains …

Evaluation Of Glycine Max Mrna Clusters, Ronald L. Frank, Fikret Erçal

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Background: Clustering the ESTs from a large dataset representing a single species is a convenient starting point for a number of investigations into gene discovery, genome evolution, expression patterns, and alternatively spliced transcripts. Several methods have been developed to accomplish this, the most widely available being UniGene, a public domain collection of gene-oriented clusters for over 45 different species created and maintained by NCBI. The goal is for each cluster to represent a unique gene, but currently it is not known how closely the overall results represent that reality. UniGene's build procedure begins with initial mRNA clusters before joining ESTs. …

Effects Of Flight Behaviour On Body Temperature And Kinematics During Inter-Male Mate Competition In The Solitary Desert Bee Centris Pallida, Stephen P. Roberts

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

Body Temperatures and Kinematics Are Measured for Male Centris Pallida Bees Engaged in a Variety of Flight Behaviors (Hovering, Patrolling, Pursuit) at a Nest Aggregation Site in the Sonoran Desert. the Aim of the Study is to Test for Evidence of Thermoregulatory Variation in Convective Heat Loss and Metabolic Heat Production and to Assess the Mechanisms of Acceleration and Forward Flight in Field Conditions. Patrolling Males Have Slightly (1-3°C) Cooler Body Temperatures Than Hoverers, Despite Similar Wingbeat Frequencies and Larger Body Masses, suggesting that Convective Heat Loss is Likely to Be Greater during Patrolling Flight Than during Hovering. Comparisons of …

Glucose Oxidase (God)-Coupled Amperometric Microsensor With Integrated Electrochemical Actuation System, Jongwon Park, Chang-Soo Kim, Minsu Choi, Shanrui Zhang

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Recent developments for biosensors have been mainly focused on miniaturization and exploratory use of new materials. It should be emphasized that the absence of a novel "in-situ self-calibration/diagnosis technique" that is not connected to an external apparatus is a key obstacle to the realization of a biosensor for continuous use with minimum attendance. In order to address this issue, a novel solid-state glucose oxidase-coupled amperometric biosensor with integrated electrochemical actuation system has been designed and validated. There are two key components of the proposed glucose biosensor: solid-state GOD-coupled thin-lm amperometric sensing element and O₂ depleting/saturating built-in electrochemical actuator. The …

Effec Ts Of Nitric Oxide Inhibitors And Scavengers On Gravitropism In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Kristin Russell, Jennifer Jacobi, Jacob Elmore

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

No abstract provided.

Bioactive Glass Coatings For Adherence To Bone Tissue, Wesley Trueblood

Opportunities for Undergraduate Research Experience Program (OURE)

The purpose of the experiments for this research project was to determine whether certain compositions of borate-based glasses are bioactive and can be used to bond titanium pins to bone. Two different major experiments were done. The first experiment was done to determine the bioactivity of the glass. The second experiment was done to simultaneously determine the bioactivity of the glass and determine whether or not the glass would bind to titanium and bone.

The majority of the research consisted of working with different compositions of borate-based glass, making glass pins, and coating titanium pins with the glass. The making …

A General Recurrent Neural Network Approach To Model Genetic Regulatory Networks, Xiao Hu, Anne M. Maglia, Donald C. Wunsch

Biological Sciences Faculty Research & Creative Works

There is an urgent need for tools to unravel the complex interactions and functionalities of genes. As such, there has been much interest in reverse-engineering genetic regulatory networks from time series gene expression data. We use an artificial neural network to model the dynamics of complicated gene networks and to learn their parameters. The positive and negative regulations of genes are defined by a weight matrix, and different genes are allowed to have different decaying time constants. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the method by recreating the SOS DNA Repair network of Escherichia coli bacterium, previously discovered through experimental data.

Influence Of Oxygen Microenvironment On Microfluidic Glucose Sensor Performance, Chang-Soo Kim, Jongwon Park

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

We propose a novel method to overcome significant problems of baseline drift and sensitivity degradation in amperometric biosensors based on oxidase enzyme reactions. A novel glucose microsensor with a built-in electrochemical oxygen manipulation microsystem is introduced to demonstrate three novel functionalities; one-point in situ self-calibration (zero-point), broadening of dynamic range and increase in sensitivity. The influence of electrochemically generated oxygen microenvironment on the sensor output within a fluidic structure is investigated.

An Efficient Method For Supporting Multiple Types Of Services On Smart Server, Chang-Soo Kim, Yu-Hyeon Bak, Seung-Joe Bae, Jin-Mee Kim, Sang-Min Woo, Seung-Hyup Jeon, Won-Jae Lee, Hag-Young Kim

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Interactive Anatomy Online, Jennifer Leopold, Thomas Hoeft, Anne M. Maglia

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

The scientific community and general public can best take advantage of the benefits of 3D digital reconstructions if they are stored in a Web-accessible, easy-to-access database. We describe MorphologyNet/sup /spl copy// a Web-based digital library of realistic, 3D interactive and customizable images of anatomy currently in development at the University of Missouri-Rolla.

A New Microsensor System For Plant Root Zone Monitoring, Chang-Soo Kim, Sandeep Sathyan, D. M. Porterfield

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The objective of this work is to develop a new microsensor system that can monitor dissolved oxygen and hydration environment at the plant root zone. A miniaturized plant growth system is prepared including the root zone layer, either a porous ceramic tube or porous ceramic wafer on which the plant is grown, and an underlying fluidic channel to deliver nutrients and water to the root zone. We demonstrate the feasibility of using a flexible microsensor array for dissolved oxygen detection, and a four-electrode impedance microelectrode for wetness detection on the surface of a porous tube nutrient delivery system. The unique …