Digital Commons Network^™

Industrial Hemp As A Resource For Birds In Agroecosystems: Human-Wildlife Conflict Or Conservation Opportunity?, Emily A. Kotten, Iona Hennessy, Bryan M. Kluever, Bradley F. Blackwell, Lee A. Humberg, Page E. Klug

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Industrial hemp (Cannabis sativa L.; hemp) is an emerging crop in the United States with little known about bird use or the potential for birds to become an agricultural pest. We identified birds associated with hemp fields, using repeated visits to oilseed plots in North Dakota, USA (n = 6) and cannabinoid (CBD) plots in Florida, USA (n = 4) from August to November 2020. We did not control for plot area or density; our observations were descriptive only. We observed 10 species in hemp, 12 species flying over hemp, and 11 species both foraging in and …

A Qualitative Comparison Of Parent And Childcare Provider Perceptions Of Communication And Family Engagement In Children's Healthy Eating And Physical Activity, Danae Dinkel, Maggie Rasmussen, John P. Rech, Kailey Snyder, Dipti Dev

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Background: Parents and childcare providers play a substantial role in the development of health behaviors among the children they care for. In order to ensure the optimal growth and development of children, communication and family engagement in childcare is critical. Previous studies examining parent or provider perceptions about healthy eating or physical activity have explored these concepts individually and/or have only included only parents or providers. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare childcare provider and parent perceptions of communication regarding healthy eating and physical activity as well as use of best practice strategies on family engagement for …

Promising Findings That The Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators’ Program (Chime) Strengthens Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotional Resources: An Iterative Study, Holly Hatton-Bowers, Caron Clark, Gilbert R. Parra, Jessica L. Calvi, Michael Yellow Bird, Pearl Avari, Jaclynn Foged, John Smith

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Findings suggest that an eight-week mindfulness compassion-based program, Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators (CHIME), is a feasible professional development intervention for early childhood (EC) teachers to support their emotion regulation and psychological and workplace well-being. We offer preliminary evidence that learning about mindfulness, self-compassion, and social-emotional learning supports EC teachers in strengthening their knowledge and application of practices to be more mindful and less emotionally reactive and emotionally exhausted at work. In analyzing both EC teacher feedback and survey data from two pilot studies, there was promising evidence that participating in CHIME enhanced awareness of emotions and the development of …

The Development Of Social Competence In Children With Disabilities, Soo-Young Hong, Elizabeth A. Steed, Lori E. Meyer, İbrahim H. Acar

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

Children with disabilities experience unique challenges in developing social skills critical to achieve their social goals. Although there are individual differences, children with delays and disabilities may struggle to communicate with others, understand gestures, and take other people’s viewpoints. These differences may prevent children with disabilities from initiating and sustaining social interactions and, in turn, from developing high levels of social competence (Hebbeler & Spiker, 2016).

To support social development of children with disabilities, it is important to promote positive relationships within the family system as well as the teaching of social skills in inclusive early learning environments (Mahoney et …

Rural Parent's Experiences Of Stress And Resilience During The Covid-19 Pandemic And School Closure, Emily Wilson, Jungwon Eum, Yuenjung Joo, Martinique A. Sealy, Jentry Stoneman Barrett, Gwen C. Nugent, Joan M. Carraher, Angela G. Hinrichs

Department of Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has generated social and economic disruptions, resulting in cascading effects on the health and well- being of global citizens. However, little research has focused on how COVID-19 has affected rural regions, despite rurality being a critical factor for understanding community impact and response to the pandemic. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the experiences of rural Nebraskan parents with young children during the COVID-19 pandemic and school shutdown, and the strategies they used to support their families during that time. We conducted individual and group interviews with 22 white, non-Hispanic mothers living in rural …

Future States Of The Research Library, Claire Stewart

University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries: Faculty Publications

What can be said about the year 2021 that hasn’t already been said? Challenging, unprecedented, extraordinary in almost every way, 2021 even surpassed the previous annus horribilis, 2020. Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic continued to ripple humanity-wide, ceaselessly rebounding off, and cruelly amplifying, almost every kind of inequity and social challenge. A long overdue reckoning with the legacies of racism in the United States did not materialize in any truly transformative way, political discord worsened, and anti-science voices grew to dominate what should have been rational conversations about a coherent and collective response to a profound global health threat. It …

The Effects Of Received Grandmothers’ Affection On Adult Grandchildren’S Health Behaviors Using Affection Exchange Theory, Leslie Ramos Salzar, Priyanka Khandelwal, Yvette Castillo

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Background: Affection exchange theory (AET) explains the value of received affection for overall wellbeing in family relationships. However, this study extends prior work by investigating AET in grandmother-grandchild relationships and grandchildren’s individual well-being. This study seeks to understand the relationships between adult grandchildren’s received grandmother affection and health-related behaviors such as diet, exercise, substance abuse, and sleep.

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 229 university student participants. Multiple regression analyses were performed to analyze received grandmother affection and grandchildren’s health behaviors.

Results: Using cross-sectional survey methods, it was found that grandchildren’s reports of received memories and humor, and celebratory affection influenced …

Circling The Drain: The Extinction Crisis And The Future Of Humanity, Rodolfo Dirzo, Gerardo Ceballos, Paul R. Ehrlich

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Humanity has triggered the sixth mass extinction episode since the beginning of the Phanerozoic. The complexity of this extinction crisis is centered on the intersection of two complex adaptive systems: human culture and ecosystem functioning, although the significance of this intersection is not properly appreciated. Human beings are part of biodiversity and elements in a global ecosystem. Civilization, and perhaps even the fate of our species, is utterly dependent on that ecosystem’s proper functioning, which society is increasingly degrading. The crisis seems rooted in three factors. First, relatively few people globally are aware of its existence. Second, most people who …

High Throughput Analysis Of Leaf Chlorophyll Content In Sorghum Using Rgb, Hyperspectral, And Fluorescence Imaging And Sensor Fusion, Huichun Zhang, Yufeng Ge, Xinyan Xie, Abbas Atefi, Nuwan Wijewardane,, Suresh Thapa

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

Leaf chlorophyll content plays an important role in indicating plant stresses and nutrient status. Traditional approaches for the quantification of chlorophyll content mainly include acetone ethanol extraction, spectrophotometry and high-performance liquid chromatography. Such destructive methods based on laboratory procedures are time consuming, expensive, and not suitable for high-throughput analysis. High throughput imaging techniques are now widely used for non-destructive analysis of plant phenotypic traits. In this study three imaging modules (RGB, hyperspectral, and fluorescence imaging) were, separately and in combination, used to estimate chlorophyll content of sorghum plants in a greenhouse environment. Color features, spectral indices, and chlorophyll fluorescence intensity …

Recent Advances Toward Transparent Methane Emissions Monitoring: A Review, Broghan M. Erland, Andrew K. Thorpe, John Gamon

Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences: Faculty Publications

Given that anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions must be immediately reduced to avoid drastic increases in global temperature, methane emissions have been placed center stage in the fight against climate change. Methane has a significantly larger warming potential than carbon dioxide. A large percentage of methane emissions are in the form of industry emissions, some of which can now be readily identified and mitigated. This review considers recent advances in methane detection that allow accurate and transparent monitoring, which are needed for reducing uncertainty in source attribution and evaluating progress in emissions reductions. A particular focus is on complementary methods …

Serum Protein Signatures Using Aptamer-Based Proteomics For Minimal Change Disease And Membranous Nephropathy, Daniel A. Muruve, Hanna Debiec, Simon T. Dillon, Xuesong Gu, Emmanuelle Plaisier, Handan Can, Hasan H. Otu, Towia A. Libermann, Pierre Ronco

Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering: Faculty Publications

Introduction: Minimal change disease (MCD) and membranous nephropathy (MN) are glomerular diseases (glomerulonephritis [GN]) that present with the nephrotic syndrome. Although circulating PLA2R antibodies have been validated as a biomarker for MN, the diagnosis of MCD and PLA2R-negative MN still relies on the results of kidney biopsy or empirical corticosteroids in children. We aimed to identify serum protein biomarker signatures associated with MCD and MN pathogenesis using aptamer-based proteomics.

Methods: Quantitative SOMAscan proteomics was applied to the serum of adult patients with MCD (n = 15) and MN(n = 37) and healthy controls (n = …

Reduced Susceptibility Of Western Corn Rootworm (Diabrotica Virgifera Virgifera Leconte) Populations To Cry34/35ab1‑Expressing Maize In Northeast Nebraska, Jordan D. Reinders, Lance J. Meinke

Department of Entomology: Faculty Publications

The western corn rootworm (WCR; Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte) is a significant pest of maize (Zea mays L.) across the United States Corn Belt. Transgenic maize hybrids expressing insecticidal proteins derived from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) have been used to manage WCR since 2003. Widespread resistance to Cry3Bb1 (and associated cross-resistance to mCry3A and eCry3.1Ab) has placed increased selection pressure on Cry34/35Ab1 in single-protein and pyramided transgenic maize hybrids. Data on the susceptibility of Nebraska WCR populations to Cry34/35Ab1 has not been published since 2015 and plant-based bioassays conducted in 2017–2018 confirmed resistance to Cry3Bb1 + Cry34/35Ab1 maize, suggesting resistance …

Production Of Bovine Colostrum For Human Consumption To Improve Health, Merve Kaplan, Ayşenur Arslan, Hatice Duman, Melda Karyelioğlu, Barış Baydemir, Bilgetekin Burak Günar, Merve Alkan, Ayşe Bayraktar, Halil İbrahim Tosun, Melih Ertürk, Günay Eskici, Rebbeca M. Duar, Bethany M. Henrick, Steven A. Frese, Sercan Karav

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Colostrum contains all essential nutrients for the neonate during the first days of life, with impacts that continue far beyond these first days. Bovine colostrum has been used for human consumption due to the high concentrations of bioactive proteins, vitamins, minerals, growth factors, as well as free and conjugated oligosaccharides. Processes involved in the preparation of bovine colostrum for human consumption play a pivotal role in preserving and maintaining the activity of the bioactive molecules. As bovine colostrum is a multifunctional food that offers a myriad of benefits for human health, assessing the main processes used in preparing it with …

The Agricultural Genome To Phenome Initiative (Ag2pi): Creating A Shared Vision Across Crop And Livestock Research Communities, Christopher Tuggle, Jennifer Clarke, Jack C. M. Dekkers, David Ertl, Carolyn J. Lawrence-Dill, Eric Lyons, Brenda M. Murdoch, Nicole M. Scott, Patrick S. Schnable

Department of Food Science and Technology: Faculty Publications

Predicting phenotype from genotype is a central challenge in biology. By understanding genomic information to predict and improve traits, scientists can address the challenges and opportunities of achieving sustainable genetic improvement of complex, economically important traits in agriculturally relevant species. Converting the enormous, recent technical advances in all areas of genomics and phenomics into sustained and ecologically responsible improvements in food and fuel production is complex. It will require engaging agricultural genome to phenome (G2P) experts, drawing from a broad community, including crop and livestock scientists and essential integrative disciplines (e.g., engineers, economists, data and social scientists). To achieve this …

Adverse Childhood Experiences Exacerbate The Association Between Day-To-Day Discrimination And Mental Health Symptomatology In Undergraduate Students, Emily C. Helminen, Jillian R. Scheer, Katie Edwards, Joshua C. Felver

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Background: Background: Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and day-to-day discrimination (hereafter, “discrimination”) both contribute to mental health symptomatology in young adulthood, but how these constructs interact and whether they are associated with mental health remains unclear. This study evaluated whether the relation between discrimination in young adulthood and mental health symptomatology varied as a function of ACEs exposure.

Methods: Undergraduates (n = 251) completed self-report measures related to ACEs, discrimination, and mental health symptomatology (i.e., depression, anxiety, somatization, and psychological distress). Linear and logistic regression models were implemented to test for potential exacerbation effects of ACEs on the relation between …

Youth Perceptions Of Prevention Norms And Peer Violence Perpetration And Victimization: A Prospective Analysis, Emily A. Waterman, Victoria L. Banyard, Katie Edwards, Victoria Mauer

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of the current study is to prospectively examine the extent to which social norms perceptions regarding commitment to ending sexual violence are associated with subsequent peer victimization and perpetration experiences. Two types of social norms perceptions were examined: 1) peer norms (perceptions of norms among other students in their city), and 2) adult norms (perceptions of norms among adults in their city). Participants were 1,259 middle and high school youth from a single school district (three high schools and five middle schools) who completed online surveys at two‐time points, 6 months apart. Adolescents for whom perceptions of peer …

Improving Social Norms And Actions To Prevent Sexual And Intimate Partner Violence: A Pilot Study Of The Impact Of Green Dot Community On Youth, Victoria L. Banyard, Katie M. Edwards, Andrew J. Rizzo, Emily F. Rothman, Patricia Greenberg, Megan C. Kearns

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Sexual violence (SV) and intimate partner violence (IPV), which often cooccur with bullying, are serious public health issues underscoring the need for primary prevention. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of a community-building SV and IPV prevention program, Green Dot Community, on adolescents’ perceptions of community social norms and their propensity to intervene as helpful actionists using two independent data sources. Green Dot Community takes place in towns and aims to influence all town members to prevent SV and IPV by addressing protective factors (i.e., collective efficacy, positive prevention social norms, and bystander helping, or actionism). …

“Breaking Free”: A Grounded Theory Study Of Atheist Women In The United States, Dena Abbott, Elyxcus Anaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

Using a critical, grounded theory approach, we interviewed 31 atheist-identified women to ascertain the ways in which women develop and navigate an atheist identity and how their experience is influenced by patriarchal, hegemonic Christianity in the United States using a concealable stigmatized identity framework. Qualitative analysis resulted in six core categories: (1) Embracing Atheism as Liberation, (2) Escaping Christian Patriarchy, Challenging Atheist Patriarchy, (3) Low Identity Salience Provides Protection from Anti-Atheist Discrimination, (4) Expectations to Conform to Christian Norms, (5) Disclosure Requires Thoughtfulness and Purpose, and (6) Connecting with Other Atheists is Valuable and Elusive. Although atheist women experienced sexism …

Hidden In Plain Sight: Working Class And Low-Income Atheists, Dena M. Abbott, Debra Mollen, Jessica A. Boyles, Elyxcus J. Anaya

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The current study sought to qualitatively examine the role of social class in the development of atheist identity, the experience of atheism-related minority stress, and relationships between atheists. Using a critical phenomenological design, we captured the experiences of 15 working-class and the low-income U.S. American atheists and identified five themes: Early Doubts and Establishment of Atheist Values; Diverse Experiences of Antiatheist and Class-Based Stigma; Expecting Indifference, Exercising Caution; Strategies of Concealment and Disclosure; and Atheism as an Individual, Rather Than Collective, Experience. Results suggested working-class and low-income atheists engaged in strategic outness to manage risk, and their atheist identities developed …

Determinants Of Virus Variation, Evolution, And Host Adaptation, Katherine Latourrette, Hernan Garcia-Ruiz

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Virus evolution is the change in the genetic structure of a viral population over time and results in the emergence of new viral variants, strains, and species with novel biological properties, including adaptation to new hosts. There are host, vector, environmental, and viral factors that contribute to virus evolution. To achieve or fine tune compatibility and successfully establish infection, viruses adapt to a particular host species or to a group of species. However, some viruses are better able to adapt to diverse hosts, vectors, and environments. Viruses generate genetic diversity through mutation, reassortment, and recombination. Plant viruses are exposed to …

Immunogenicity And Protective Efficacy Of A Recombinant Pichinde Viral-Vectored Vaccine Expressing Influenza Virus Hemagglutinin Antigen In Pigs, Sushmita Kumari, Jayeshbhai Chaudhari, Qinfeng Huang, Phillip Gauger, Marcelo Nunes De Almeida, Yuying Liang, Hinh Ly, Hiep Vu

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Influenza A virus of swine (IAV-S) is an economically important swine pathogen. The IAV-S hemagglutinin (HA) surface protein is the main target for vaccine development. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of using the recombinant tri-segmented Pichinde virus (rPICV) as a viral vector to deliver HA antigen to protect pigs against IAV-S challenge. Four groups of weaned pigs (T01–T04) were included in the study. T01 was injected with PBS to serve as a non-vaccinated control. T02 was inoculated with rPICV expressing green fluorescence protein (rPICV-GFP). T03 was vaccinated with rPICV expressing the HA antigen of the IAV-S H3N2 strain …

Malaria Resilience In South America: Epidemiology, Vector Biology, And Immunology Insights From The Amazonian International Center Of Excellence In Malaria Research Network In Peru And Brazil, Kathrine Torres, Marcelo U. Ferreira, Marcia C. Castro, Ananias A. Escalante, Jan E. Conn, Elizabeth Villasis, Maisa Da Silva Araujo, Gregorio Almeida, Priscila T. Rodrigues, Rodrigo M. Corder, Anderson R.J. Fernandes, Priscila R. Calil, Winni A. Ladeia, Stefano S. Garcia-Castillo, Joaquin Gomez, Lis Ribeiro Do Valle Antonelli, Ricardo T. Gazzinelli, Douglas T. Golenbock, Alejandro Llanos-Cuentas, Dionicia Gamboa, Joseph M. Vinetz

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

The 1990s saw the rapid reemergence of malaria in Amazonia, where it remains an important public health priority in South America. The Amazonian International Center of Excellence in Malaria Research (ICEMR) was designed to take a multidisciplinary approach toward identifying novel malaria control and elimination strategies. Based on geographically and epidemiologically distinct sites in the Northeastern Peruvian and Western Brazilian Amazon regions, synergistic projects integrate malaria epidemiology, vector biology, and immunology. The Amazonian ICEMR’s overarching goal is to understand how human behavior and other sociodemographic features of human reservoirs of transmission— predominantly asymptomatically parasitemic people—interact with the major Amazonian malaria …

Merit Versus Maleness: How Strategic Positioning Can Mitigate External Gender Bias, Rachel Mui, Owen Parker, Varkey K. Titus Jr.

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

Despite the proactive efforts of many firms to combat gender bias within their organizations, societal prejudices still disadvantage women leaders and the firms who employ them. This external gender bias shapes outside stakeholder evaluations of women leaders’ efforts in various ways, and firms need strategies to cope with this external gender bias. We examine the conditions that might alleviate this burden of external bias and what women leaders and top executives can do to leverage these conditions—from a strategic positioning perspective—that will effectively allow female leaders to differentiate their work. To do this, we synthesize and build upon evidence that …

Using Political Psychology To Understand Populism, Intellectual Virtues, And Democratic Backsliding, Ingrid J. Haas

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Political scientists have argued that populism is an ideology that can occur on both the left and right, whereby people begin to see politics as a battle between the people and a powerful elite that fails to represent the people’s interest and are attracted to political candidates who vow to fight corruption. In this chapter, I examine how research in political psychology may help to explain the motivations underlying citizens’ attraction to populist ideologies and political candidates. I argue that the same cognitive processes driving people toward populism are those that undermine the intellectual virtues, which in turn, decreases support …

The Evolution Of Quantitative Sensitivity, Margaret A H Bryer, Sarah E. Koopman, Jessica F. Cantlon, Steven T. Piantadosi, Evan L. Maclean, Joseph M. Baker, Michael J. Beran, Sarah M. Jones, Kerry E. Jordan, Salif Mahamane, Andreas Nieder, Bonnie M. Perdue, Friederike Range, Jeffrey R. Stevens, Masaki Tomonaga, Dorottya Ujfalussy, Jennifer Vonk

Jeffrey Stevens Publications

The ability to represent approximate quantities appears to be phylogenetically widespread, but the selective pressures and proximate mechanisms favouring this ability remain unknown. We analysed quantity discrimination data from 672 subjects across 33 bird and mammal species, using a novel Bayesian model that combined phylogenetic regression with a model of number psychophysics and random effect components. This allowed us to combine data from 49 studies and calculate the Weber fraction (a measure of quantity representation precision) for each species. We then examined which cognitive, socioecological and biological factors were related to variance in Weber fraction. We found contributions of phylogeny …

Evaluation Of Ivermectin Antiviral Activity Against Avian Infectious Bronchitis Virus Using A Chicken Embryo Model, Donald L. Reynolds, E. Barry Simpson

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Ivermectin is widely used in both animals and humans as an FDA-approved parasiticide. Ivermectin has also been reported to have antiviral activity against several viruses including coronaviruses. There are reports that indicate ivermectin may have some role in diminishing the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, but the evidence is inconclusive. The objective of this study was to determine if ivermectin was efficacious in inhibiting avian infectious bronchitis virus (IBV, a coronavirus) replication in chicken embryos. Briefly, our approach was to use the Massachusetts vaccine strain of IBV in combination with various doses of ivermectin and then inoculate these preparations into chicken …

Structural Variant-Based Pangenome Construction Has Low Sensitivity To Variability Of Haplotype-Resolved Bovine Assemblies, Alexander S. Leonard, Danang Crysnanto, Zih-Hua Fang, Michael P. Heaton, Brian L. Vander Ley, Carolina Herrera, Heinrich Bollwein, Derek M. Bickhart, Benjamin D. Rosen, Hubert Pausch

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Advantages of pangenomes over linear reference assemblies for genome research have recently been established. However, potential effects of sequence platform and assembly approach, or of combining assemblies created by different approaches, on pangenome construction have not been investigated. Here we generate haplotype-resolved assemblies from the offspring of three bovine trios representing increasing levels of heterozygosity that each demonstrate a substantial improvement in contiguity, completeness, and accuracy over the current Bos taurus reference genome. Diploid coverage as low as 20x for HiFi or 60x for ONT is sufficient to produce two haplotype-resolved assemblies meeting standards set by the Vertebrate Genomes Project. …

Does Swab Type Matter? Comparing Methods For Mannheimia Haemolytica Recovery And Upper Respiratory Microbiome Characterization In Feedlot Cattle, William B. Crosby, Lee Pinnell, John T. Richeson, Cory Wolfe, Jake Castle, John Dustin Loy, Sheryl P. Gow, Keun Seok Seo, Sarah F. Capik, Amelia R. Woolums, Paul S. Morley

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background: Bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is caused by interactions among host, environment, and pathogens. One standard method for antemortem pathogen identification in cattle with BRD is deep-guarded nasopharyngeal swabbing, which is challenging, costly, and waste generating. The objective was to compare the ability to recover Mannheimia haemolytica and compare microbial community structure using 29.5 inch (74.9 cm) deep-guarded nasopharyngeal swabs, 16 inch (40.6 cm) unguarded proctology swabs, or 6 inch (15.2 cm) unguarded nasal swabs when characterized using culture, real time-qPCR, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Samples for aerobic culture, qPCR, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing were collected from the …

Rna Nanovaccine Protects Against White Spot Syndrome Virus In Shrimp, Yashdeep Phanse, Supraja Puttamreddy, Duan Loy, Julia Vela Ramirez, Kathleen A. Ross, Ignacio Alvarez-Castro, Mark Mogler, Scott Broderick, Krishna Rajan, Balaji Narasimhan, Lyric C. Bartholomay

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

In the last 15 years, crustacean fisheries have experienced billions of dollars in economic losses, primarily due to viral diseases caused by such pathogens as white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) in the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei and Asian tiger shrimp Penaeus monodon. To date, no effective measures are available to prevent or control disease outbreaks in these animals, despite their economic importance. Recently, double-stranded RNA-based vaccines have been shown to provide specific and robust protection against WSSV infection in cultured shrimp. However, the limited stability of double-stranded RNA is the most significant hurdle for the field application of these …

Pilot-Scale Spinning And Sucrose-Tetra-Aldehydes-Crosslinking Of Feather-Derived Protein Fibers With Improved Mechanical Properties And Water Resistance, Bingnan Mu, Faqrul Hassan, Qianmei Wu, Yiqi Yang

Department of Textiles, Merchandising and Fashion Design: Faculty Publications

Pliable and water-resistant protein fibers from feathers were developed via continuous one-step spinning and crosslinking using sucrose-tetra-aldehydes. Though flexible protein fibers from feathers were developed, poor wet stability and low tenacity still limit the large and high-end applications of feather-derived fibers. Despite that saccharide aldehydes are considered as an efficient and sustainable crosslinker, substantial concerns such as generation of formaldehyde, high consumption of modifiers, loss of mechanical properties, yellowing, and decline in dyeability of fibers, exist after crosslinking. In this work, we controlled structures of crosslinkers and incorporated disaccharide-tetra-aldehydes into a continuous wet-spinning line. No formaldehyde was generated in the …