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Leukemia Inhibitory Factor Modulates The Peripheral Immune Response In A Rat Model Of Emergent Large Vessel Occlusion, Stephanie M. Davis, Lisa A. Collier, Edric D. Winford, Christopher C. Leonardo, Craig T. Ajmo Jr., Elspeth A. Foran, Timothy J. Kopper, John C. Gensel, Keith R. Pennypacker

Neurology Faculty Publications

Background: The migration of peripheral immune cells and splenocytes to the ischemic brain is one of the major causes of delayed neuroinflammation after permanent large vessel stroke. Other groups have demonstrated that leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), a cytokine that promotes neural cell survival through upregulation of antioxidant enzymes, promotes an anti-inflammatory phenotype in several types of immune cells. The goal of this study was to determine whether LIF treatment modulates the peripheral immune response after stroke.

Methods: Young male (3 month) Sprague-Dawley rats underwent sham surgery or permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Animals were administered LIF (125 μg/kg) or …

Photocatalytic Activity: Experimental Features To Report In Heterogeneous Photocatalysis, Md. Ariful Hoque, Marcelo I. Guzman

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Heterogeneous photocatalysis is a prominent area of research with major applications in solar energy conversion, air pollution mitigation, and removal of contaminants from water. A large number of scientific papers related to the photocatalysis field and its environmental applications are published in different journals specializing in materials and nanomaterials. However, many problems exist in the conception of papers by authors unfamiliar with standard characterization methods of photocatalysts as well as with the procedures needed to determine photocatalytic activities based on the determination of “apparent quantum efficiencies” within a wavelength interval or “apparent quantum yields” in the case of using monochromatic …

Highly Thiolated Poly (Beta-Amino Ester) Nanoparticles For Acute Redox Applications, Andrew L. Lakes, David A. Puleo, J. Zach Hilt, Thomas D. Dziubla

Chemical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications

Disulfides are used extensively in reversible cross-linking because of the ease of reduction into click-reactive thiols. However, the free-radical scavenging properties upon reduction are often under-considered. The free thiols produced upon reduction of this disulfide material mimic the cellular reducing chemistry (glutathione) that serves as a buffer against acute oxidative stress. A nanoparticle formulation producing biologically relevant concentrations of thiols may not only provide ample chemical conjugation sites, but potentially be useful against severe acute oxidative stress exposure, such as in targeted radioprotection. In this work, we describe the synthesis and characterization of highly thiolated poly (β-amino ester) (PBAE) nanoparticles …

Blurring Institutional Boundaries: Judges' Perceptions Of Threats To Judicial Independence, Alyx Mark, Michael A. Zilis

Political Science Faculty Publications

The legislature wields multiple tools to limit judicial power, but scholars have little information about how judges interpret variant threats and which they find most concerning. To provide insight, we conduct original interviews regarding legislative threats to courts with over two dozen sitting federal judges, representing all tiers of the federal judiciary. We find that judges have a nuanced understanding of threats and tend to identify components of legislative proposals that threaten formal institutional powers as more concerning than those challenging policy set by judges. This distinction has broad implications for our understanding of judicial behavior at the federal level.

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Power Utility Tests For Multi-Mw High Energy Batteries, Oluwaseun M. Akeyo, Huangjie Gong, Vandana Rallabandi, Nicholas Jewell, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

This paper reviews the procedures, layouts and metrics described in the new test manual issued by the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), in order to determine the performance and functionality of a utility scale battery energy storage system (BESS). In this approach, the large battery unit is connected to the dc-link of a bidirectional power conversion system (PCS), which may be interfaced with either the utility grid or a load bank for the purpose of estimating the BESS operation and performance characteristics, some of which includes; available charge/discharge energy at rated power, continuous charge/discharge duration, battery ramp rate, and ac …

Simulation Studies For A Multi-Mw Hybrid Wind-Solar Pv System For Desalination Plants, Vandana Rallabandi, Nasser Alawhali, Oluwaseun M. Akeyo, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

This paper presents a power system configuration and control schemes for a Multi-MW wind-solar hybrid system, which includes multiple wind turbines and solar panels to support a desalination plant. The wind and solar systems are sized such that the desalination plant obtains, as far as possible, its power from the renewable sources, to minimize the dependence on the utility grid. Each section of the wind turbine system includes a variable speed permanent magnet synchronous generator connected to the grid via a back-to-back voltage source converter. The rectifier operates the wind system at the maximum power point, and the inverter provides …

Real Time Operation Of Smart Homes With Pv And Battery Systems Under Variable Electricity Rate Schedules And Transactive Power Flow, Huangjie Gong, Oluwaseun M. Akeyo, Vandana Rallabandi, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

According to some utility schedules, the electricity rate is variable such that homes may be encouraged to buy and store power in a battery when it is inexpensive, and self-consume or sell to the grid during other times. Power arbitrage through a battery energy storage (BES), can help maintain consumer comfort and minimize residential electricity bills. This paper reports the calculated daily energy costs incurred by different types of homes for a given utility electricity rate schedule. The homes exchange power among each other behind a section of the distribution network. A free market system is formed and the electricity …

Monuments Of Folly: How Local Governments Can Challenge Confederate "Statue Statutes", Zachary A. Bray

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Monuments to the Confederacy and former Confederate figures have been prominently displayed in parks, courthouse squares, and other public spaces of many American towns and cities for many years. Their history is inextricably linked with patterns of institutionalized racism, including but not limited to the rise of Jim Crow and resistance to the integration of public schools. In recent years, the continued display of these monuments has given rise to intense controversy and outbreaks of violence. In response, some local governments have sought to remove or modify Confederate monuments in public spaces, but in several states, local governments face statutory …

Membrane Associated Collagen Xiii Promotes Cancer Metastasis And Enhances Anoikis Resistance, Hui Zhang, Tricia Fredericks, Gaofeng Xiong, Yifei Qi, Piotr G. Rychahou, Jia-Da Li, Taina Pihlajaniemi, Wei Xu, Ren Xu

Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications

Background: Increased collagen expression and deposition are associated with cancer progression and poor prognosis in breast cancer patients. However, function and regulation of membrane-associated collagen in breast cancer have not been determined. Collagen XIII is a type II transmembrane protein within the collagen superfamily. Experiments in tissue culture and knockout mouse models show that collagen XIII is involved in cell adhesion and differentiation of certain cell types. In the present study, we determined roles of collagen XIII in breast cancer progression and metastasis.

Methods: We analyzed the association of collagen XIII expression with breast cancer development and metastasis using published …

Leaving The Devil You Know: Crime Victimization, Us Deterrence Policy, And The Emigration Decision In Central America, Jonathan T. Hiskey, Abby Córdova, Mary Fran Malone, Diana M. Orcés

Political Science Faculty Publications

Following a sharp increase in the number of border arrivals from the violence-torn countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras in the spring and summer of 2014, the United States quickly implemented a strategy designed to prevent such surges by enhancing its detention and deportation efforts. In this article, we examine the emigration decision for citizens living in the high-crime contexts of northern Central America. First, through analysis of survey data across Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, we explore the role crime victimization plays in leading residents of these countries to consider emigration. Next, using survey data collected across twelve …

Continuum And Spectral Line Radiation From A Random Clumpy Medium, John E. Conway, Moshe Elitzur, Rodrigo Para

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present a formalism for continuum and line emission from random clumpy media together with its application to problems of current interest, including CO spectral lines from ensembles of clouds and radio emission from H ii regions, supernovae, and star-forming regions. For line emission, we find that the effects of clump opacity on observed line ratios can be indistinguishable from variations of intrinsic line strengths, adding to the difficulties in determining abundances from line observations. Our formalism is applicable to arbitrary distributions of cloud properties, provided the cloud volume filling factor is small; numerical simulations show it to hold up …

Noncontact Speckle Contrast Diffuse Correlation Tomography Of Blood Flow Distributions In Tissues With Arbitrary Geometries, Siavash Mazdeyasna, Chong Huang, Mingjun Zhao, Nneamaka B. Agochukwu, Ahmed A. Bahrani, Lesley Wong, Guoqiang Yu

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Publications

A noncontact electron multiplying charge-coupled-device (EMCCD)-based speckle contrast diffuse correlation tomography (scDCT) technology has been recently developed in our laboratory, allowing for noninvasive three-dimensional measurement of tissue blood flow distributions. One major remaining constraint in the scDCT is the assumption of a semi-infinite tissue volume with a flat surface, which affects the image reconstruction accuracy for tissues with irregular geometries. An advanced photometric stereo technique (PST) was integrated into the scDCT system to obtain the surface geometry in real time for image reconstruction. Computer simulations demonstrated that a priori knowledge of tissue surface geometry is crucial for precisely reconstructing the …

Astrocyte Activation And The Calcineurin/Nfat Pathway In Cerebrovascular Disease, Susan D. Kraner, Christopher M. Norris

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Calcineurin (CN) is a Ca²⁺/calmodulin-dependent protein phosphatase with high abundance in nervous tissue. Though enriched in neurons, CN can become strongly induced in subsets of activated astrocytes under different pathological conditions where it interacts extensively with the nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFATs). Recent work has shown that regions of small vessel damage are associated with the upregulation of a proteolized, highly active form of CN in nearby astrocytes, suggesting a link between the CN/NFAT pathway and chronic cerebrovascular disease. In this Mini Review article, we discuss CN/NFAT signaling properties in the context of vascular disease and …

Isolation Of Cerebral Capillaries From Fresh Human Brain Tissue, Anika M. S. Hartz, Julia A. Schulz, Brent S. Sokola, Stephanie E. Edelmann, Andrew N. Shen, Ralf G. Rempe, Yu Zhong, Nader El Seblani, Bjoern Bauer

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Understanding blood-brain barrier function under physiological and pathophysiological conditions is critical for the development of new therapeutic strategies that hold the promise to enhance brain drug delivery, improve brain protection, and treat brain disorders. However, studying the human blood-brain barrier function is challenging. Thus, there is a critical need for appropriate models. In this regard, brain capillaries isolated from human brain tissue represent a unique tool to study barrier function as close to the human in vivo situation as possible. Here, we describe an optimized protocol to isolate capillaries from human brain tissue at a high yield and with consistent …

Alterations In Platelet Secretion Differentially Affect Thrombosis And Hemostasis, Smita Joshi, Meenakshi Banerjee, Jinchao Zhang, Akhil Kesaraju, Irina D. Pokrovskaya, Brian Storrie, Sidney W. Whiteheart

Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry Faculty Publications

We genetically manipulated the major platelet vesicle-associated membrane proteins (VAMP2, VAMP3, and VAMP8) to create mice with varying degrees of disrupted platelet secretion. As previously shown, loss of VAMP8 reduced granule secretion, and this defect was exacerbated by further deletion of VAMP2 and VAMP3. VAMP2^Δ3^Δ8^−/− platelets also had reduced VAMP7. Loss of VAMP2 and VAMP3 (VAMP2^Δ3^Δ) had a minimal impact on secretion when VAMP7 and VAMP8 were present. Integrin αIIbβ3 activation and aggregation were not affected, although spreading was reduced in VAMP2^Δ3^Δ8^−/− platelets. Using these mice …

New Market Opportunities And Consumer Heterogeneity In The U.S. Organic Food Market, Gwanseon Kim, Jun Ho Seok, Tyler B. Mark

Agricultural Economics Faculty Publications

This paper investigates what factors and characteristics of organic consumers affect annual organic food expenditure by using Nielsen’s consumer panel dataset from 2010 to 2014. To be specific, this paper explores new marketing opportunities by investigating organic consumer heterogeneity in different household income levels by utilizing the multilevel model. Findings in this study will contribute to the previous and existing literature in three-folds. First, we find that the organic consumers are more heterogeneous in the high-level of income groups (approximately above $60,000), as well as the low-income households between $35,000 and $45,000. This finding demonstrates that the income levels above …

Exploring The Efficiency And Cost Limits Of Fractional Hp Axial Flux Pm Machine Designs, Narges Taran, Vandana Rallabandi, Greg Heins, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Optimizing the design of electric machines is a vital step in ensuring the economical use of active materials. The three-dimensional flux paths in axial flux PM (AFPM) machines necessitate the use of computationally expensive 3D electromagnetic analysis. Furthermore, a large number of design evaluations is required to find the optimum, causing the total computation time to be excessively long. In view of this, a two-level surrogate assisted algorithm capable of handling such expensive optimization problems is introduced, which substantially reduces the number of FEA evaluations. The proposed algorithm is employed to optimally design an AFPM machine within a specified envelope, …

Net Zero Energy Houses With Dispatchable Solar Pv Power Supported By Electric Water Heater And Battery Energy Storage, Huangjie Gong, Vandana Rallabandi, Dan M. Ionel, Donald G. Colliver, Shaun Duerr, Cristinel Ababei

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Over a year, net zero energy (NZE) houses produce and feed zero net metered electrical energy to the grid. Technical challenges, notably the `duck curve' arise due to the fact that peak solar generation and load demand are seldom coincident. Common approaches to mitigate this limitation include the curtailment of solar power, and the use of storage. Surplus solar energy may be stored in a battery, which can subsequently be discharged to supply the home electricity needs when demand is in excess. In addition to batteries, less expensive electric water heaters, which are ubiquitous, can be modified as energy storage …

Hacking Code/Space: Confounding The Code Of Global Capitalism, Matthew Zook, Mark Graham

Geography Faculty Publications

Information-technologies are essential for global capitalism to function at speed across scale, space and complexity. The importance of software and algorithms in the governance of these systems is reflected in the attention of scholars to the ways digital code and materiality (re)combine to create hybrid digital/material spaces of economic activity, movement and everyday life. This paper extends this work in two key ways: first by emphasising the relational aspect of these code/spaces, and second by showing how the digital algorithms of code/spaces are hackable rather than hegemonic. Using the case study of frequent flyer programmes we demonstrate how networked knowledge-sharing …

Torque Production Capability Of Axial Flux Machines With Single And Double Rotor Configurations, Narges Taran, Greg Heins, Vandana Rallabandi, Dean Patterson, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Axial flux PM (AFPM) machines are used particularly in applications requiring a compact structure. Their disc shape topology and axial air-gap have lead to a variety of configurations including two popular ones: the yokeless and segmented armature (YASA), and the single-stator single-rotor or single sided machine. In this study, a comprehensive comparative analysis of these configurations is conducted at different magnetic and electric loadings. It is found that at lower loadings, typically employed for air-cooled machines, the torque/ampere characteristics of the YASA machine are almost identical to those of a single sided machine constructed with half the magnet volume. On …

Transistor-Clamped Multilevel H-Bridge Inverter In Si And Sic Hybrid Configuration For High-Efficiency Photovoltaic Applications, Yibin Zhang, Jiangbiao He, Sanjeevikumar Padmanaban, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Using wide bandgap (WBG) devices has been a promising solution to improve the efficiency of power inverters for photovoltaic (PV) applications. However, for multilevel inverters, using WBG devices to improve the inverter efficiency can increase the system cost dramatically due to the high price of WBG devices in the present market as well as the large number of power devices typically required in multilevel inverter topologies. In this paper, a five-level transistor clamped H-bridge (TCHB) inverter will be further investigated. This inverter requires much lower number of semiconductor switches and fewer isolated dc sources than the conventional cascaded H-bridge inverter. …

Improving The Capacity Factor And Stability Of Multi-Mw Grid Connected Pv Systems With Results From A 1mw/2mwh Battery Demonstrator, Oluwaseun M. Akeyo, Vandana Rallabandi, Nicholas Jewell, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Conventional PV systems integrated with a battery connect the array and the energy storage unit to a dc-link through individual dc-dc converters for maximum power point tracking (MPPT) and battery charge control. This paper proposes a new system configuration, which connects the PV array and battery unit to the dc-link of the system inverter via a single dc-dc converter capable of simultaneously operating as a charge controller and MPPT device. This dc-dc converter is controlled such that it charges/discharges the battery with the amount of power required to maintain the PV array at its MPPT reference voltage. The proposed system …

Advertising Is Obsolete -- Here's Why It's Time To End It, Ramsi Woodcock

Law Faculty Popular Media

Since it first became clear that Russian agents spent thousands of dollars a month on political advertising on social media in the runup to the 2016 presidential election, Americans have been asking how the powerful advertising infrastructure run by Google and Facebook could have been thrown open to foreign agents.

But fewer have stopped to ask whether there is a good reason for this infrastructure to exist at all. Why, exactly, is it a good thing for Facebook and Google to be selling advertising to anyone, let alone Russian agents?

The obvious answer seems to be so that legitimate advertisers, …

Bioinformatic Analysis Of Endogenous And Exogenous Small Rnas On Lipoproteins, Ryan M. Allen, Shilin Zhao, Marisol A. Ramirez Solano, Wanying Zhu, Danielle L. Michell, Yuhuan Wang, Yu Shyr, Praveen Sethupathy, Macrae F. Linton, Gregory A. Graf, Quanhu Sheng, Kasey C. Vickers

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

To comprehensively study extracellular small RNAs (sRNA) by sequencing (sRNA-seq), we developed a novel pipeline to overcome current limitations in analysis entitled, “Tools for Integrative Genome analysis of Extracellular sRNAs (TIGER)”. To demonstrate the power of this tool, sRNA-seq was performed on mouse lipoproteins, bile, urine and livers. A key advance for the TIGER pipeline is the ability to analyse both host and non-host sRNAs at genomic, parent RNA and individual fragment levels. TIGER was able to identify approximately 60% of sRNAs on lipoproteins and >85% of sRNAs in liver, bile and urine, a significant advance compared to existing software. …

Managing Herbicide Resistance: Listening To The Perspectives Of Practitioners. Procedures For Conducting Listening Sessions And An Evaluation Of The Process, Jill Schroeder, Michael Barrett, David R. Shaw, Amy B. Asmus, Harold Coble, David Ervin, Raymond A. Jussaume Jr., Micheal D. K. Owen, Ian Burke, Cody F. Creech, A. Stanley Culpepper, William S. Curran, Darrin M. Dodds, Todd A. Gaines, Jeffrey L. Gunsolus, Bradley D. Hanson, Prashant Jha, Annie E. Klodd, Andrew R. Kniss, Ramon G. Leon, Sandra Mcdonald, Don W. Morishita, Brian J. Schutte, Christy L. Sprague, Phillip W. Stahlman, Larry E. Steckel, Mark J. Vangessel

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

Seven half-day regional listening sessions were held between December 2016 and April 2017 with groups of diverse stakeholders on the issues and potential solutions for herbicide-resistance management. The objective of the listening sessions was to connect with stakeholders and hear their challenges and recommendations for addressing herbicide resistance. The coordinating team hired Strategic Conservation Solutions, LLC, to facilitate all the sessions. They and the coordinating team used in-person meetings, teleconferences, and email to communicate and coordinate the activities leading up to each regional listening session. The agenda was the same across all sessions and included small-group discussions followed by reporting …

Plant And Microbial Responses To Repeated Cu(Oh)2 Nanopesticide Exposures Under Different Fertilization Levels In An Agro-Ecosystem, Marie Simonin, Benjamin P. Colman, Weiyi Tang, Jonathan D. Judy, Steven M. Anderson, Christina M. Bergemann, Jennifer D. Rocca, Jason M. Unrine, Nicolas Cassar, Emily S. Bernhardt

Plant and Soil Sciences Faculty Publications

The environmental fate and potential impacts of nanopesticides on agroecosystems under realistic agricultural conditions are poorly understood. As a result, the benefits and risks of these novel formulations compared to the conventional products are currently unclear. Here, we examined the effects of repeated realistic exposures of the Cu(OH)₂ nanopesticide, Kocide 3000, on simulated agricultural pastureland in an outdoor mesocosm experiment over 1 year. The Kocide applications were performed alongside three different mineral fertilization levels (Ambient, Low, and High) to assess the environmental impacts of this nanopesticide under low-input or conventional farming scenarios. The effects of Kocide over time were …

Documentales Sobre El 15-M: Una Modalidad Plural Para Una Revolución Plural, Carmen Moreno-Nuño

Hispanic Studies Faculty Publications

La deficiente cobertura informativa que los medios llevaron a cabo sobre el 15-M en 2011, además de otorgar a los documentales producidos sobre el tema la capacidad de intervenir en el imaginario social, desveló la dificultad de representar esta movilización. En este artículo se analizan los documentales #Indignados. Del 15M al 20N, 15M: “Excelente, Revulsivo, Importante”, #Acampadasol: historia de una ciudad, Falsos horizontes y Libre te quiero para mostrar cómo la variedad de modos documentales —usando el esquema conceptual de Bill Nichols— usados por los cineastas revela que el 15-M es un fenómeno difícilmente encasillable dentro de …

Sustainable Stewardship: A Collaborative Model For Engaged Oral History Pedagogy, Community Partnership, And Archival Growth, Janice W. Fernheimer, Douglas A. Boyd, Beth L. Goldstein, Sarah Dorpinghaus

Library Faculty and Staff Publications

Our University of Kentucky team of professors, archivists, and oral historians have collaborated since 2013 to develop pedagogy that enables students to encounter and engage oral history, archival materials, and local community in meaningful ways. Through the impetus of the Jewish Kentucky Oral History Project and several semesters of collaboration and iterative syllabus design, we developed “sustainable stewardship” as a replicable model for course and project design to engage undergraduates in original knowledge production while simultaneously fostering archival access and growth. In this article we trace the evolving pedagogical conversations inspired by the classroom introduction of OHMS (Oral History Metadata …

Coreless And Conventional Axial Flux Permanent Magnet Motors For Solar Cars, Narges Taran, Vandana Rallabandi, Greg Heins, Dan M. Ionel

Power and Energy Institute of Kentucky Faculty Publications

Axial flux permanent magnet (AFPM) motors are suitable options for solar-powered vehicles due to their compact structure and high torque density. Furthermore, certain types of AFPM machines may be configured without stator cores, which eliminates associated losses and cogging torque and simplifies the manufacturing and assembly. This paper examines two machine designs for use in the solar-powered vehicle of the challenger class-a single rotor, single stator conventional AFPM machine, and a coreless AFPM machine with multiple stator and rotor disks. The response surface methodology (RSM) is utilized for the systematic comparison of the conventional and coreless topologies and to select …