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Response-To-Failure Analysis Of Global Food System Initiatives: A Resilience Perspective, Prince Agyemang, Ebenezer Miezah Kwofie

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

International food system initiatives have led the efforts to combat the threats to global food security resulting from the failure of the current food systems. This study set out to investigate and assess the contributions of global food system initiatives in tackling the food system challenges. In assessing the food system initiatives, we develop a three-step methodology for Food System Initiative (FSI) selection and then conduct a qualitative evaluation using relevant indicators based on food system failure narratives. Furthermore, the authors synthesize present literature in the context of the extent to which coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has compounded food …

Faculty Research Profile: Paul Adams, Lutishoor Salisbury, Yang Tian, Jeremy Smith

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This poster was compiled to commemorate the promotion of Dr. Paul Adams to full professor in the Department of the Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arkansas in July 2021. It provides a summary of his research achievements and scholarly impact.

Faculty Research Profile: Colin Heyes, Lutishoor Salisbury, Yang Tian, Jeremy Smith

University Libraries Faculty Publications and Presentations

This poster was compiled to commemorate the promotion of Dr Colin Heyes to full professor in the Department of the Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Arkansas in July 2021. It provides a summary of his research achievements and scholarly impact.

Genome-Wide Association Study And Genomic Prediction For Soybean Cyst Nematode Resistance In Usda Common Bean (Phaseolus Vulgaris) Core Collection, Ainong Shi, Paul Gepts, Qijian Song, Haizheng Xiong, Thomas E. Michaels, Senyu Chen

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Soybean cyst nematode (SCN, Heterodera glycines) has become the major yield-limiting biological factor in soybean production. Common bean is also a good host of SCN, and its production is challenged by this emerging pest in many regions such as the upper Midwest USA. The use of host genetic resistance has been the most effective and environmentally friendly method to manage SCN. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the SCN resistance in the USDA common bean core collection and conduct a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers with SCN resistance. A total of 315 …

Redox Responses Of Arabidopsis Thaliana To The Green Peach Aphid, Myzus Persicae, Junhuan Xu, Carmen S. Padilla, Jiamei Li, Janithri Savindya Wickramanayake, Hillary D. Fischer, Fiona Goggin

Entomology and Plant Pathology Faculty Publications and Presentations

The green peach aphid (Myzus persicae) is a phloem-feeding insect that causes economic damage on a wide array of crops. Using a luminol-based assay, a superoxide-responsive reporter gene (Zat12::luciferase), and a probe specific to hydrogen peroxide (HyPer), we demonstrated that this aphid induces accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in Arabidopsis thaliana. Similar to the apoplastic oxidative burst induced by pathogens, this response to aphids was rapid and transient, with two peaks occurring within 1 and 4 hr after infestation. Aphid infestation also induced an oxidative response in the cytosol and peroxisomes, as measured using …

In Vitro Fecal Fermentation Patterns Of Arabinoxylan From Rice Bran On Fecal Microbiota From Normal-Weight And Overweight/Obese Subjects, Inah Gu, Wing Shun Lam, Daya Marasini, Cindi Brownmiller, Brett J. Savary, Jung Ae Lee, Franck Carbonero, Sun-Ok Lee

Food Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

Arabinoxylan (AX) is a structural polysaccharide found in wheat, rice and other cereal grains. Diets high in AX-containing fiber may promote gut health in obesity through prebiotic function. Thus, the impact of soluble AX isolated from rice bran fiber on human gut microbiota phylogenetic composition and short-chain fatty acid (SCFA) production patterns from normal-weight and overweight/obese subjects was investigated through in vitro fecal fermentation. Results showed that rice bran arabinoxylan modified the microbiota in fecal samples from both weight classes compared to control, significantly increasing Collinsella, Blautia and Bifidobacterium, and decreasing Sutterella, Bilophila and Parabacteroides. Rice …

The Importance Of Pre- And Postcopulatory Sexual Selection Promoting Adaptation To Increasing Temperatures, Miguel Gomez-Llano, Eve Scott, Erik I. Svensson

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Global temperatures are increasing rapidly affecting species globally. Understanding if and how different species can adapt fast enough to keep up with increasing temperatures is of vital importance. One mechanism that can accelerate adaptation and promote evolutionary rescue is sexual selection. Two different mechanisms by which sexual selection can facilitate adaptation are pre- and postcopulatory sexual selection. However, the relative effects of these different forms of sexual selection in promoting adaptation are unknown. Here, we present the results from an experimental study in which we exposed fruit flies Drosophila melanogaster to either no mate choice or 1 of 2 different …

Ruvb-Like Protein 2 Interacts With The Ns1 Protein Of Influenza A Virus And Affects Apoptosis That Is Counterbalanced By Type I Interferons, Yimeng Wang, Jianhong Zhou, Samuel G. Mackintosh, Yuchun Du

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

The NS1 protein of influenza A virus (IAV) plays important roles in viral pathogenesis and host immune response. Through a proteomic approach, we have identified RuvB-like proteins 1 and 2 (RuvBL1 and RuvBL2) as interacting partners of the NS1 protein of IAVs. Infection of human lung A549 cells with A/PR/8/34 (PR8) virus resulted in reductions in the protein levels of RuvBL2 but not RuvBL1. Further studies with RuvBL2 demonstrated that the NS1-RuvBL2 interaction is RNA-independent, and RuvBL2 binds the RNA-binding domain of the NS1. Infection of interferon (IFN)-deficient Vero cells with wild-type or delNS1 PR8 virus reduced RuvBL2 protein levels …

Genome-Wide Screening Of Oxidizing Agent Resistance Genes In Escherichia Coli, Hao Chen, Jessica Wilson, Carson Ercanbrack, Hannah Smith, Qinglei Gan, Chenguang Fan

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The use of oxidizing agents is one of the most favorable approaches to kill bacteria in daily life. However, bacteria have been evolving to survive in the presence of different oxidizing agents. In this study, we aimed to obtain a comprehensive list of genes whose expression can make Escherichia coli cells resistant to different oxidizing agents. For this purpose, we utilized the ASKA library and performed a genome-wide screening of ~4200 E. coli genes. Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and hypochlorite (HOCl) were tested as representative oxidizing agents in this study. To further validate our screening results, we …

A Meta-Analysis Of The Protein Components In Rattlesnake Venom, Anant Deshwal, Phuc Phan, Jyotishka Datta, Ragupathy Kannan, Suresh Kumar Thallapuranam

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Publications and Presentations

The specificity and potency of venom components give them a unique advantage in developing various pharmaceutical drugs. Though venom is a cocktail of proteins, rarely are the synergy and association between various venom components studied. Understanding the relationship between various components of venom is critical in medical research. Using meta-analysis, we observed underlying patterns and associations in the appearance of the toxin families. For Crotalus, Dis has the most associations with the following toxins: PDE; BPP; CRL; CRiSP; LAAO; SVMP P-I and LAAO; SVMP P-III and LAAO. In Sistrurus venom, CTL and NGF have the most associations. These associations …

Micro-Expressions Of Fear During The 2016 Presidential Campaign Trail: Their Influence On Trait Perceptions Of Donald Trump, Patrick A. Stewart, Elena Svetieva

Political Science Faculty Publications and Presentations

The 2016 United States presidential election was exceptional for many reasons; most notably the extreme division between supporters of Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. In an election that turned more upon the character traits of the candidates than their policy positions, there is reason to believe that the non-verbal performances of the candidates influenced attitudes toward the candidates. Two studies, before Election Day, experimentally tested the influence of Trump’s micro-expressions of fear during his Republican National Convention nomination acceptance speech on how viewers evaluated his key leadership traits of competence and trustworthiness. Results from Study 1, conducted 3 weeks prior …

High Resolution Mapping And Candidate Gene Identification Of Downy Mildew Race 16 Resistance In Spinach, Gehendra Bhattarai, Wei Yang, Ainong Shi, Chunda Feng, Braham Dhillon, James C. Correll, Beiquan Mou

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Downy mildew, the most devastating disease of spinach (Spinacia oleracea L.), is caused by the oomycete Peronospora effusa [=P. farinosa f. sp. spinaciae]. The P. effusa shows race specificities to the resistant host and comprises 19 reported races and many novel isolates. Sixteen new P. effusa races were identified during the past three decades, and the new pathogen races are continually overcoming the genetic resistances used in commercial cultivars. A spinach breeding population derived from the cross between cultivars Whale and Lazio was inoculated with P. effusa race 16 in an environment-controlled facility; disease response was …

Quantifying Mitochondrial Dynamics In Patient Fibroblasts With Multiple Developmental Defects And Mitochondrial Disorders, Ajibola B. Bakare, Julienne Daniel, Joshua Stabach, Anapaula Rojas, Austin Bell, Brooke Henry, Shilpa Iyer

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mitochondria are dynamic organelles that undergo rounds of fission and fusion and exhibit a wide range of morphologies that contribute to the regulation of different signaling pathways and various cellular functions. It is important to understand the differences between mitochondrial structure in health and disease so that therapies can be developed to maintain the homeostatic balance of mitochondrial dynamics. Mitochondrial disorders are multisystemic and characterized by complex and variable clinical pathologies. The dynamics of mitochondria in mitochondrial disorders is thus worthy of investigation. Therefore, in this study, we performed a comprehensive analysis of mitochondrial dynamics in ten patient-derived fibroblasts containing …

Using Network-Based Machine Learning To Predict Transcription Factors Involved In Drought Resistance, Chirag Gupta, Venkategowda Ramegowda, Supratim Basu, Andy Pereira

Crop, Soil and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Gene regulatory networks underpin stress response pathways in plants. However, parsing these networks to prioritize key genes underlying a particular trait is challenging. Here, we have built the Gene Regulation and Association Network (GRAiN) of rice (Oryza sativa). GRAiN is an interactive query-based web-platform that allows users to study functional relationships between transcription factors (TFs) and genetic modules underlying abiotic-stress responses. We built GRAiN by applying a combination of different network inference algorithms to publicly available gene expression data. We propose a supervised machine learning framework that complements GRAiN in prioritizing genes that regulate stress signal transduction and …

High Performance Mixed-Matrix Electrospun Membranes For Ammonium Removal From Wastewaters, Shu-Ting Chen, Sumith Ranil Wickramasinghe, Xianghong Qian

Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Mixed-matrix electrospun membranes were developed to investigate ammonium removal from low ammonium concentration wastewaters for the first time. Particles derived from the inexpensive zeolite 13X were successfully incorporated into polyethersulfone (PES) matrices. The fabricated mixed-matrix electrospun membranes demonstrate high ammonium removal capacity reaching over 55 mg/g_zeolite, more than 2.5 times higher than the previously fabricated mixed-matrix membranes via non-solvent induced phase inversion. Moreover, the membranes fabricated exhibit high permeability and ease of regeneration. Over 90% of total ammonium nitrogen (TAN) can be removed from low TAN wastewaters such as aquaculture wastewaters. In addition to zeolite 13X, other zeolite …

Label-Free Multiphoton Microscopy For The Detection And Monitoring Of Calcific Aortic Valve Disease, Ishita Tandon, Kyle P. Quinn, Kartik Balachandran

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD) is the most common valvular heart disease. CAVD results in a considerable socio-economic burden, especially considering the aging population in Europe and North America. The only treatment standard is surgical valve replacement as early diagnostic, mitigation, and drug strategies remain underdeveloped. Novel diagnostic techniques and biomarkers for early detection and monitoring of CAVD progression are thus a pressing need. Additionally, non-destructive tools are required for longitudinal in vitro and in vivo assessment of CAVD initiation and progression that can be translated into clinical practice in the future. Multiphoton microscopy (MPM) facilitates label-free and non-destructive imaging …

An In Vitro Model Of Tumor Heterogeneity Resolves Genetic, Epigenetic, And Stochastic Sources Of Cell State Variability, Corey A. Hayford, Darren R. Tyson, C. Jack Robbins Iii, Peter L. Frick, Vito Quaranta, Leonard Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Tumor heterogeneity is a primary cause of treatment failure and acquired resistance in cancer patients. Even in cancers driven by a single mutated oncogene, variability in response to targeted therapies is well known. The existence of additional genomic alterations among tumor cells can only partially explain this variability. As such, nongenetic factors are increasingly seen as critical contributors to tumor relapse and acquired resistance in cancer. Here, we show that both genetic and nongenetic factors contribute to targeted drug response variability in an experimental model of tumor heterogeneity. We observe significant variability to epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition among …

Female Mice May Have Exacerbated Catabolic Signalling Response Compared To Male Mice During Development And Progression Of Disuse Atrophy, Megan E. Rosa-Caldwell, Seongkyun Lim, Wesley A. Haynie, Jacob L. Brown, John William Deaver, Francielly Morena Da Silva, Lisa T. Jansen, David E. Lee, Michael P. Wiggs, Tyrone A. Washington, Nicholas P. Greene

Health, Human Performance and Recreation Faculty Publications and Presentations

Background

Muscle atrophy is a common pathology associated with disuse, such as prolonged bed rest or spaceflight, and is associated with detrimental health outcomes. There is emerging evidence that disuse atrophy may differentially affect males and females. Cellular mechanisms contributing to the development and progression of disuse remain elusive, particularly protein turnover cascades. The purpose of this study was to investigate the initial development and progression of disuse muscle atrophy in male and female mice using the well-established model of hindlimb unloading (HU).

Methods

One hundred C57BL/6J mice (50 male and 50 female) were hindlimb suspended for 0 (control), 24, …

Vaccine Forum Syllabus, Lynda Coon

Vaccine Course

This forum zooms in on the race to develop a vaccine for the COVID-19 Coronavirus through a diversity of academic and professional disciplines: medicine, medical history, sociology, statistics, social media studies, public health, immunology, political science, industrial engineering, supply chain management, and chemical engineering. In so doing, the forum’s instructors situate the COVID-19 vaccine within a broader narrative of the science of immunization, the history of vaccines, the social and economic inequalities produced by deploying a vaccine, and the challenges presented to the global supply chain.

Ecology Of Succession, Allison Flory

Diamond Line Undergraduate Literary Magazine

Allison Flory is an undergraduate English Creative Writing major from Dallas, Texas. She falls somewhere between an everlasting junior year and qualifying to be considered a senior, and usually just laughs when someone asks what year she’s in. When she’s not writing, or pretending to be attempting to write, she’s usually on the hunt for a new show to completely obsess over. Seriously, suggestions welcome.

Business Analysis Of Flexpacer: The Viability And Profitability Of Rechargeable Pacemakers, Bailey Arnold

Information Systems Undergraduate Honors Theses

Heart disease being as prominent as it is in the United States enables medical technology manufacturers to create lucrative businesses and products for cardiothoracic and cardiovascular physicians and patients. As a proposed rechargeable pacemaker (PM) that uses piezoelectric energy harvesting technology, FlexPacer has the chance to eliminate the need for battery replacement surgeries. This paper aims to outline the current issues in PM products and technology, identify the potential risks and benefits of FlexPacer, and discuss FlexPacer’s potential for profitability.

Trunctrimmer: A First Step Towards Automating Standard Bioinformatic Analysis, Z. Gunner Lawless, Dana Dittoe, Dale R. Thompson, Steven C. Ricke

Computer Science and Computer Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Bioinformatic analysis is a time-consuming process for labs performing research on various microbiomes. Researchers use tools like Qiime2 to help standardize the bioinformatic analysis methods, but even large, extensible platforms like Qiime2 have drawbacks due to the attention required by researchers. In this project, we propose to automate additional standard lab bioinformatic procedures by eliminating the existing manual process of determining the trim and truncate locations for paired end 2 sequences. We introduce a new Qiime2 plugin called TruncTrimmer to automate the process that usually requires the researcher to make a decision on where to trim and truncate manually after …

Expanding Image Datasets For Deep Learning By Evaluating Independence Through Coefficient Correlation And Mean-Squared Error, Ayman Yousef

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

With deep learning being leveraged more regularly in the field of image classification, particularly in medical imaging, network optimizations have become a field in and of itself. With open source, comprehensive medical image datasets few and far, computational dataset expansion has become a useful tool for researchers without the ability to further manually collect data. However, with the rich amount of data that imaging modalities like multi-photon microscopy collect at a time, there is potential to expand datasets through proper utilization of this data that often time goes unused. Previous deep learning studies have shown that improper expansion can conflate …

Effects Of A Low Crude Protein Diet With And Without Spirulina Platensis Inclusion On The Concentrations And Proportions Of Circulating Immune Cells In Broilers, Heather Glenn

Poultry Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Immune system health is an important aspect of broiler production, especially with the reduction of the use of antibiotics. Nutritional aspects, like crude protein percentage, and natural alternatives to antibiotics are being investigated to see the effect they have on immunity. Spirulina is an alternative proteinaceous ingredient that producers are looking into, not only due to its high nutritional value, but also its immune boosting properties. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of a low crude protein diet (LCP) and a Spirulina-supplemented low crude protein (LCP-SP) diet on broiler blood cell measurements, including, concentrations and proportions …

Evaluation Of Weight Gain, Feed Intake, Feed Conversion And Oocyst Shedding Of Eimeria Maxima And Eimeria Acervulina In Broiler Chickens, Lauren Laverty

Poultry Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the day and the time of sample collection of an

experimental challenge with Eimeria maxima (EM) and Eimeria acervulina (EA) in broiler chickens. One day old male Cobb-Vantress broiler chickens were randomly allocated to one of three groups with ten replicates (n=8 chickens/replicate). Chickens were placed in battery cages with a controlled age-appropriate environment: Group 1) Negative control (no challenge or treatment); 2) Challenge control (Eimeria challenge only); 3) Challenge + Salinomycin. Challenged chickens were orally gavaged with the mixed culture of EM/EA (10,000 sporulated EM containing 4% wild-type EA) …

Guide Rnas Preparation For In-Vitro Crispr-Cas9 Complex Delivery Targeting Genes That Affect Wound Healing., Prashant Khatiwada

Biomedical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

CRISPR-Cas9 technology has widely been used as a viable genome engineering platform to make site-specific insertion, deletion, and breaks. The nuclease dead version of Cas9 or dCas9 can be used for the activation and repression of target gene sites using specific activation or repression domains. In this study, CRISPR guide RNAs were designed for a CRISPR inhibition approach to repress the transcriptional activity of the target genes. An expression plasmid vector composed of a U6 promoter sequence, BbsI restriction sites, and a chimeric gRNA sequence was digested, and the phosphorylated forward and reverse gRNAs were ligated with the plasmid vector. …

The Influence Of Action Video Gaming Experience On The Perception Of Emotional Faces And Emotional Word Meaning, Yuening Yan, Yi Li, Xinyu Lou, Senqi Li, Yutong Yao, Diankun Gong, Weiyi Ma, Guojian Yan

General Human Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Action video gaming (AVG) experience has been found related to sensorimotor and attentional development. However, the influence of AVG experience on the development of emotional perception skills is still unclear. Using behavioral and ERP measures, this study examined the relationship between AVG experience and the ability to decode emotional faces and emotional word meanings. AVG experts and amateurs completed an emotional word-face Stroop task prior to (the pregaming phase) and after (the postgaming phase) a 1 h AVG session. Within-group comparisons showed that after the 1 h AVG session, a more negative N400 was observed in both groups of participants, …

Understanding Trauma To Create Effective Trauma Informed Schools, Lauren Murphy

Curriculum and Instruction Undergraduate Honors Theses

Exposure to early trauma can negatively affect a child's learning, behavior, and social emotional well being. Trauma in children can change executive functions in the brain and other neurobiological developmental changes can alter their success rate academically and socially. With the changes in the brain, it can have prolonged effects such as diminishing of brain nerve cells, hormone levels, immune systems, and epigenetic changes. Without proper interventions, these changes can lead to a higher risk of developing health conditions and mental illnesses. Through research presented in the article, is it vital for early interventions to prevent the furthering effects of …

Weather Permitting, Acadia Kandora

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Weather Permitting is an exhibition of objects and printed matter, primarily in the form of publicationsthat examine my relationship to nature and the idea of nature as both sanctuary and armor. At a young age, my parents would take my on a hike every Sunday instead of going to church. The hikes acted as a weekly pilgrimage deep into the woods and a ritual instilling the idea of nature being a place of spiritual refuge and retreat. A sanctuary - of course, weather permitting.

As I grew up and experienced hardship, my first instinct has always been to go hide …

Comparison Of The Resistance Of Belitic Calcium Sulfoaluminate Cement And Portland Cement To Sulfate Attack And Sulfuric Acid, Rilye Dillard

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Microbially induced corrosion (MIC) is a fairly common concrete deterioration mechanism with many negative effects. MIC is a complex chemical and biological process that occurs in sewage systems and is nearly impossible to replicate in a laboratory setting. For this study, sulfate and sulfuric acid attack on concrete were studied to mimic two stages of the MIC process. The ASTM C1012, Standard Test Method for Length Change of Hydraulic-Cement Mortars Exposed to a Sulfate Solution and a modified ASTM C1012 accelerated method were used to compare the sulfate resistance of belitic calcium sulfoaluminate (BCSA) cement, portland cement (PC), and PC-fly …