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Online Decoding Of Rat Self-Paced Locomotion Speed From Eeg Using Recurrent Neural Networks, Alejandro De Miguel, Nelson Totah, Uri Maoz

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Objective. Accurate and reliable neural decoding of locomotion holds promise for advancing clinical applications such as rehabilitation and prosthetic control, as well as for understanding neural correlates of action. Recent studies have demonstrated successful decoding of locomotion kinematics across species in motorized treadmill settings. However, efforts to decode locomotion speed directly and continuously in more natural contexts—where pace is self-selected rather than externally imposed—are scarce, and those that exist generally achieve only modest accuracy and require intracranial implants. Here, we aim to decode self-paced locomotion speed non-invasively and continuously using cortex-wide electroencephalography (EEG) recordings from rats. Approach. We introduce an …

The Protective Potential Of Intestinal Bifidobacterium-Derived Extracellular Vesicles With Unique Lipid Composition Against Blue Light-Induced Damage In Retinal Cells, Wei-Hsuan Hsu, Pin-Hsuan Su, Hao-Yuan Chien, Tzu-Ming Pan, Bao-Hong Lee

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Bifidobacterium longum is a probiotic that resides in the intestine, and extracellular vesicles (EVs) released by microorganisms have garnered attention in recent years for their role in regulating host health. This study found that triacylglycerol, cholesteryl esters, and free fatty acid (18:0 and 16:0) are primarily composed of lipids in B. longum-derived EVs by lipidomics assay. Such lipid composition facilitates the entry of EVs into ARPE-19 cells and protects the cells from oxidative death induced by blue light exposure. Transcriptomic analysis revealed that treatment with B. longum-derived EVs can regulate phosphoinositide 3-kinase and mTOR, thereby enhancing the survival …

Applications Of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy In Pediatric Clinical Metabolomics: From Research To Future Perspectives, Chieh-Ni Kuo, Meng-Han Chiang, Hsien-Ju Lee, Yu-Ying Yu, Eric Yi-Liang Shen, Chih-Yung Chiu

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Metabolomics studies small-molecule metabolites to provide insights into health and disease, supporting early diagnosis and personalized medicine. Advances in mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) have expanded its use in metabolic, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. In pediatrics, high-resolution NMR metabolomics has been instrumental in identifying age-related metabolic changes during early childhood and their associations with growth, nutrition, and disease risk. However, a comprehensive review of its clinical applications and future potential remains limited. This review highlights how utilizing specific NMR pulse sequences, such as CPMG and NOESY, allows for precise and non-destructive metabolic profiling of diverse biofluids, supported by …

The Evolution Of Desi-Msi: A Comprehensive Look At Preprocessing And Quantification Strategies For Metabolomics, Cheng-Hung Yang, Hung-Yao Ho, Chen-Yu Chang, Mei-Ling Cheng

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) has become an indispensable tool in metabolomics for visualizing the spatial distribution of biomolecules within tissues. Due to its direct, ambient analysis capability, desorption electrospray ionization (DESI-MSI) has evolved from a rapid screening tool into a precise and reliable quantitative platform. We delve into its technical principles and particularly review the criticality of sample preprocessing, highlighting the paradigm shift from a "no-preprocessing" approach to one of "optimized preprocessing." The paper details how factors like sample preservation, choice of embedding agents, washing, drying, and on-tissue chemical derivatization all impact data quality. We also discuss how the addition …

Metabolomics Of Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (Pfas) Exposure: Advances In Lc-Ms Technology And Applications, Yu-Meng Wang, Pei-Chen Lin, Yu-Da Zheng, Pin-Shiuan Wu, Kuo-Tai Hua, Sung-Fang Chen

Journal of Food and Drug Analysis

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic chemicals known for their high stability and bioaccumulation potential, leading to their widespread presence in the environment and human tissues. Exposure to PFAS has been associated with significant health concerns, including neurotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and metabolic disturbances. Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) based metabolomics has emerged as a powerful and central tool for PFAS research, enabling the comprehensive analysis of metabolic changes induced by exposure. This review provides a critical summary of the applications of LC-MS metabolomics in both clinical studies and various experimental models, including in vivo models (mice) and in …

Prediction Of Fermentation Parameters During Solid-State Fermentation Of Lemongrass Feedstuffs Using Nirs Combined With Spectral Correction Techniques, Alis Syarmalis, Agus Arip Munawar, Indra Wahyudi, Zulfikar Amir, Samadi Samadi

Jurnal Ilmu Ternak Universitas Padjadjaran

Lignocellulosic residues such as lemongrass (Cymbopogon nardus L.) waste have strong potential to be reused as livestock feed, helping improve sustainability and reduce environmental waste. However, their high lignin and crude fiber contents limit digestibility, making pretreatment necessary. One effective approach is solid-state fermentation (SSF) using white-rot fungi to enhance nutritional quality. During SSF, pH and moisture content are key indicators of process performance, but conventional measurement methods are slow and inefficient for real-time monitoring. In this study, near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) combined with partial least squares regression (PLSR) was evaluated as a rapid and non-destructive method to predict pH and …

Developmental Stability Of Task-Rest Neural Efficiency In Youth Using A Threat And Cognitive Control Task, Parmis Khosravi, Julia O. Linke, Anjali D. Poe, Chase Antonacci, Reut Naim, Elise M. Cardinale, Katharina Kircanski, Anderson M. Winkler, Nathan A. Fox, Daniel Samuel Pine, Simona P. Haller

School of Medicine Publications

Behaviors arise from coordinated neural activity across diverse spatial and temporal scales. Prior work has linked better task performance and cognitive functioning to patterns of global network connectivity requiring minimal reconfiguration when switching between task demands. This metric indexing similarity in functional connectivity across task and rest has been termed “neural efficiency.” Here we assess stability of neural efficiency over approximately 3 years in adolescence, specificity across two task-rest combinations and associations with anxiety. At approximately age 16 and/or 19, 95 participants completed a resting state scan alongside a cognitive control and/or threat task. Neural efficiency was quantified as partial …

Utilization Of Egyptian Flax For Industrial Applications: Sustainable Composite Tubes From Egyptian Flax Cord, Rania El Deeb, Alaa Arafa Badr, Shaimaa Youssef El-Tarfawy, Ahmed H. Hassanin, Ashraf Elnahrawy, Abdelhamid R. Aboalasaad

Mansoura Engineering Journal

The growing demand for eco-friendly products has increased interest in natural fibers such as flax for composite materials, yet high costs limit industrial adoption. This research aims to utilize less expensive Egyptian flax secondary fibers and multifunctional characterization of locally produced flax cords to develop high-performance composite tubes via filament winding. An additional objective is to treat these fibers for technical applications, offering a sustainable alternative to synthetic materials.

Egyptian flax cords were processed using a filament winding technique to fabricate composite tubes. The study investigated the effects of varying the number of layers (e.g., 80/14 and 40/14/40 configurations), the …

Field Trials Report 2025: Wa Farming Systems Project (Daw2204-003rtx), Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Farm Systems and Economics research reports

In 2025 the Western Australian Farming Systems Project continued its program of field trials, from Northampton in the north to Wittenoom Hills in the south, to address our project outputs; investigate diversity within farming systems, evaluate changes in sowing opportunities, identify profitable low greenhouse gas emission options and monitor crown rot following diverse crop sequences.

A Comparative Study Of Aging And Cortical Folding In Chimpanzees And Olive Baboons, William D. Hopkins, Angela M. Achorn, Michele M. Mulholland, Elizabeth R. Magden, Steven J. Schapiro, Courtney L, Fults, Jean‐Francois Mangin, Adrien Meguerditchian

Anthropology Faculty Publications

In light of the evidence that nonhuman primates naturally develop Alzheimer's disease neuropathologies, there is a renewed interest in research on the comparative biology of aging, including neurological changes across the age groups in species with diverse lifespans. In this paper, we examined age‐related differences in two measures of cortical folding, mean depth and fold opening, in a sample of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and olive baboons (Papio anubis). We found significant species differences in the slope and pattern of age‐related changes in cortical folding. As predicted, chimpanzees showed negative linear associations between age and mean depth and …

Rethinking Preoperative Mrsa/Mssa Screening Through Molecular Triage, Rob E. Carpenter, Greg Whitlock

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background: Preoperative screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) is intended to identify patients at increased risk of surgical site infection and guide decolonization and perioperative antimicrobial prophylaxis. However, many molecular assays reduce this decision to a binary positive/ negative result, potentially obscuring clinically important distinctions in organism identity, methicillin resistance attribution, and mupirocin resistance risk. Methods: This structured narrative review organized direct perioperative evidence and indirect mechanistic, implementation, and economic evidence around one question: how MRSA/MSSA screening can move from organism detection to actionable molecular triage. Results: Useful preoperative reporting depends on assigning resistance markers …

Uti, Delirium, And Dementia: A Conceptual Bioinformatics Framework For Clinical Attribution, Rob E. Carpenter, Andrew Krouse

Human Resource Development Faculty Publications and Presentations

Urinary tract infection (UTI) is frequently invoked to explain delirium, confusion, and functional decline in persons with dementia. Yet urine positivity in this population often reflects asymptomatic bacteriuria, colonization, chronic pyuria, contamination, or sampling noise rather than clinically attributable infection. For biomedical informatics and computational diagnostics readers, this narrative review contributes an integrative conceptual bioinformatics framework for probabilistic clinical attribution of suspected UTI in dementia under uncertainty. We formalizes the attribution problem by distinguishing organism detection from a clinically plausible infection-related contribution to neurocognitive decline. The framework integrates clinical, laboratory, biological, and longitudinal data to clarify whether urinary findings are …

Needs Assessment For Evaluation Competencies Among Extension And Outreach Professionals, Mariah K. Awan, Hui-Hui Wang, Rama Radhakrishna

Journal of Human Sciences and Extension

We conducted an extensive literature review to develop an assessment tool with both quantitative and qualitative items that can be used to conduct a statewide needs assessment of professional development needs in program evaluation for Extension educators and similar non-profit organizations. This tool can be used to identify priority topics for evaluating professional development trainings and materials. It can be easily distributed via Qualtrics. The results of the literature review and the needs assessment survey instrument are shared.

Nebraska And The Midwest Agtech Ecosystem: Benchmarking Innovation Investment And Translation Gaps, Ankit Chandra, Ishani Lal, Brennan Costello

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Presentations and White Papers

Agricultural innovation is central to the sustainable transformation of food systems, yet the capital that finances it is unevenly distributed relative to where food is produced. This paper develops a diagnostic framework for measuring this mismatch and applies it across the U.S. Midwest from 2021 to 2025, with particular emphasis on Nebraska's structural position within this landscape. Drawing on venture capital deal-flow data, 17 stakeholder interviews, and a novel strength-weakness-opportunity-gap (SWOG) ecosystem mapping methodology, we document $736 million in tracked Midwest AgTech funding across eight states (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, North Dakota, and South Dakota). We introduce three …

Unwilling Consent Or Ravishment? Sexual Violence In Late Seventeenth-Century London, Susan Hernandez

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Common Cybersecurity Attack Types And Zeek-Based Detection Strategies In Iot Networks, Christofer Piedra, Alain Edwards

Florida Atlantic Undergraduate Research Journal

As cybersecurity threats increase in scale and complexity, the ability to distinguish hostile traffic from benign network activity is essential. This research examines five prevalent cyberattack categories that impact IoT environments and outlines detection strategies utilizing the open-source Intrusion Detection System (IDS) Zeek. This study provides practical detection methods designed for scalable, real-time environments by classifying five commonly encountered attacks, namely: Reconnaissance, Denial of Service (DoS) and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS), Brute Force, Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) and Spoofing, and Botnet and Malware Behavior. For each attack, we analyze the prevalence, operational impact, and associated indicators. We also present Zeekbased pseudocode …

Seasonality Of Bovine Respiratory Disease Incidence, Nasal Temperatures, And The Nasal Microbiome In Receiving Beef Cattle: Understanding The Risk Of The Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex, Robin Ashley Cheek

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) has persistently been the leading cause of morbidity of beef cattle in the United States. Season has been directly associated with respiratory disease incidence and is likely a proxy for weather conditions, which vary by geographical location. The nose is one of the first points of contact between the outside environment and inside the body. The nasal microbiome and its relationship with BRD have been heavily studied within beef cattle, but there are not yet any studies to determine if the environment within the nasal cavity has a role to play in this mechanism. This dissertation …

Evaluation Of Metabolizable Energy And Phosphorus Availability In Conventional And Fractionated Dry-Grind Corn Co-Products For Poultry, Luke Parisi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to determine the availability of energy and phosphorous (P) in dry-grind corn co-products in chickens was assessed. In the first objective, the determination of energy availability, both a precision-fed rooster assay and an ad libitum fed broiler chicken assay were used in order to elucidate energy availability in corn co-products. There were 8 samples of corn fermented protein (CFP) and 2 samples of conventional distillers dried grains with solubles (CDDGS) evaluated for metabolizable energy (ME). The CFP contained a mean CP and crude fat of 55 and 3.7% (DM basis), respectively, compared with 30 …

Evaluating Variety- And Market-Class-Specific Effects Of Dietary Pulses On Human Health, Jiayu Tang

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

While pulses are globally recognized for their high levels of dietary fibers, protein, and polyphenols, research often focuses on characterizing the physiological effects of a single variety. This approach overlooks the substantial genetic and compositional diversity that exists across pulse varieties and individual market classes, which can differ extensively in nutrient content and structure. These compositional differences have the potential to produce distinct physiological and microbial responses in humans, yet variety- and market-class-specific effects remain poorly characterized.

This thesis uses two complementary research methodologies to investigate the health-relevant effects of different pulse varieties and market classes, providing foundational knowledge to …

Evaluating Relationships Between Immunometabolism And Excess Adiposity Using Anthropometric And Body Composition Measurements, Corina Grimaldo

Department of Food Science and Technology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Metabolic dysfunction is a key contributor to the development of chronic disease and is associated with excessive adiposity. Though body mass index (BMI) is a common screening tool used to identify possible metabolic dysfunction, it does not consider fat distribution. Other tools are needed to assess body composition and determine fat distribution. In recent studies, it has been suggested that alterations in metabolic processes may occur prior to a clinical diagnosis, and the combination of body composition and blood-based markers can help identify those early changes. The overall objective of this study is to identify low-cost indicators of metabolic dysregulation …

Loss Of Palmitoylation Impacts The Interaction Between The Organic Anion Transporting Polypeptide (Oatp) 1b1 And Oatp1b3., Cecilia E. Villanueva, Whitney M. Nolte, Priscilla Flores-Ascencio, Bruno Hagenbuch

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

The organic anion transporting polypeptide (OATP) 1B1 and OATP1B3 are hepatic transporters that mediate the uptake of numerous therapeutics like antibiotics and statins. Various post-translational modifications, eg, phosphorylation and glycosylation, have been shown to impact OATP1B1 and OATP1B3 function and localization. S-palmitoylation (also known as S-acylation or palmitoylation) is a reversible post-translational modification that adds palmitic acid (C16:0) to cysteine residues and can influence a protein's function, localization, and protein-protein interactions. In this study, we investigated and characterized palmitoylation in OATP1B1 and OATP1B3. Using site-directed mutagenesis and acyl-resin-assisted capture assays, residue Cys24 was identified as the palmitoylation site for both …

Has Plant Domestication Compromised Plant Defensive Chemistry? Aphid Induced Stress In Tomatoes, Nhi Do, Satinderpal Kaur, Minxing Zhu, Esther N. Ngumbi

MICRO-CCS student projects

Tomato plants have natural defensive mechanisms.

Direct: Phenolics are secondary metabolites that can protect the plant by intoxicating the herbivores and/or producing strong repulsive odors.

Indirect: VOCs, Volatile Organic Chemicals, are gas phase signals that attract the predators of the attacking herbivore to the plant.

Domestication of plants may chemically alter these defenses by prioritizing fruit production over defensive traits.

We hypothesize that wild/ancient tomato plants would have a greater quantity of volatiles and increased concentration of leaf total phenolics compared to cultivated tomatoes during aphid herbivory.

The Gravity Of The Ukraine War: Measuring Conflict Impacts On European Grain Trade, Stefan Bonchis

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the heterogeneous structural disruptions caused by the war in Ukraine on the European Union’s agricultural trade architecture, focusing on three critical commodities: wheat, maize, and sunflower seeds. Employing a structural gravity model framework across all 27 EU Member States, the study evaluates two conflict episodes, the 2014 Crimea annexation and the 2022 full-scale invasion, to identify the net beneficiaries and heavily impacted nations within the EU agricultural trade network. The empirical strategy utilizes a dual-test design to capture the full scope of the disruption. Test A (Ukraine towards the EU trade) reveals a distinct geographic logic in …

Acute Intermittent Hypoxia And Acute Intermittent Hypercapnic Hypoxia Elicit Cortico-Diaphragmatic Plasticity In People With Chronic Spinal Cord Injury, Alysha Bogard, Michela Mir, Tommy Sutor, Jessica Dunn, Kathryn Cavka, Arian Vistamehr, Hannah Snyder, Joseph Welch, Jayakrishnan Nair, Gina Brunetti, Gordon Mitchell, Emily Fox

Department of Physical Therapy Faculty Papers

Respiratory impairment is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after spinal cord injury (SCI), highlighting the need for interventions that improve breathing function. In people with SCI, acute intermittent hypoxia (AIH) elicits respiratory motor plasticity and improves inspiratory function. However, in uninjured people facilitation of corticospinal diaphragm motor evoked potential (MEP) amplitude occurs only when AIH is combined with mild hypercapnia (acute intermittent hypercapnic hypoxia; AIHH). It remains unclear whether AIHH similarly enhances diaphragm corticospinal excitability after SCI. We tested the hypothesis that AIHH increases diaphragm MEP amplitude and reduces MEP onset latency in individuals with chronic SCI, whereas …

Exploring Primary Care Providers’ Compassionate Care And Their Evidence-Based Practice With Death, Grief, And Loss: Patient Experience And Perspective, Kathryn Krzykala

Dissertations

Research on primary care providers’ (PCPs) education regarding Death, Grief, and Loss (DGL) remains limited. Specifically, data is lacking regarding patients' perceptions and opinions on what they need and expect from their PCPs regarding grief and loss. This exploratory mixed-method study comprised 146 participants who had experienced death and non-death loss. It examined participants' perceptions of 1) PCP compassion, 2) PCP utilization of evidence-based grief and loss practices, 3) their own level of comfort discussing DGL with their PCPs during medical visits, and 4) their personal grief and loss experiences. The findings revealed that PCPs' grief-informed evidence-based treatment, as reflected …

Personalizable Metabolic Models To Enable Immune Characterization And Drug Discovery, Joshua Loecker

Department of Biochemistry: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Cellular metabolism is reshaped by disease and physiological state, and genome-scale metabolic networks (GSMNs) offer a systematic way to interrogate this biology and identify therapeutic targets. Building a GSMN from expression data, however, requires a sequence of stages including read processing, normalization and gene-activity classification, multi-omic integration, model reconstruction, simulation, and biological interpretation. These are typically handled by disconnected tools spanning multiple programming languages, file formats, and databases. The resulting reliance on heterogeneous interfaces and manual steps threatens reproducibility. This work develops an ecosystem of computational tools that carry an analysis from raw sequencing reads to mechanistic biological interpretation. First, …

Identification Of Conditionally Essential Genes Required For Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium Adaptation To The Chicken Cecal Extract Through Ex Vivo Modeling And Transposon Insertion Sequencing, Deborah Bukola Olubanjo

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) remains a major foodborne pathogen associated with chicken, where it can persist in the intestinal tract without overt disease and contribute to zoonotic transmission. The chicken cecum represents a complex ecological niche shaped by microbial competition, host-derived substrates, short-chain fatty acids, oxygen limitation, extracellular components, and diverse metabolic gradients. Although transposon insertion sequencing (Tn-seq) has been widely used to define bacterial fitness determinants, limited work has examined genome-wide adaptation of S. Typhimurium in chicken ceca-derived ex vivo systems that preserve key features of the avian cecal environment. This dissertation investigated conditionally essential genes required …

Corn Yield And Tissue-Potassium Response To Potassium Fertilization, Wyatt A. Rongey

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Potassium (K) deficiency is an increasingly important yield-limiting factor for irrigated corn (Zea mays L.) in Arkansas, where below optimum soil-test K (STK) acreage is increasing and visible K deficiencies or hidden K hunger threaten yield and profitability. Improving K management for modern, high-yielding hybrids require refining soil-test-based fertilizer recommendations and defining growth-stage-specific tissue-K sufficiency ranges that diagnose deficiency before irrecoverable yield loss occurs. This research aimed to i) quantify corn grain yield and yield component responses to K fertilization across a wide range of STK levels; ii) determine the frequency and magnitude of agronomically and economically meaningful yield responses …

Alternative Methods To Improve Livestock Performance While Grazing Low-Quality Forages., Ivan Raynard Thomas Jr

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Stocker cattle producers in the southeastern part of the U.S. heavily depend on traditional forages such as bermudagrass [Cynodon dactylon] pastures during the warm season for grazing. Summer annual forages offer stocker cattle operations a valuable alternative source of forage. These forages have high yield potential and can help extend the grazing season. This is particularly beneficial during the summer months when traditional forage sources may be limited. Warm-season annual grasses may experience a decrease in crude protein concentrations during late summer and early fall. As a result, it may be necessary to find alternative sources of crude protein or …

Evaluation Of A High Protein Low Oligosaccharide Soybean Meal In Poultry Production, Kasey Matusik

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of feeding a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal to optimize poultry nutrition by the effects of feeding the soybean meal to roosters, broiler chickens, and turkeys. Two research objectives were evaluated to determine whether high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal would have increased nutritional value. The first objective assessed the metabolizable energy (ME) content of a high protein, low oligosaccharide soybean meal compared to a conventional soybean meal. Using roosters, broiler chickens, and turkey poults, three bioassays were conducted to evaluate the ME of the soybean meal. Results demonstrated …