Digital Commons Network^™

An Enhanced Online Piled Fuels Biomass Calculator, Clinton S. Wright, Paige C. Eagle

Joint Fire Science Program Research Project Reports

A web-programming project was undertaken to allow users of the online Hand-piled Fuels Biomass Calculator to also estimate the volume, biomass and potential emissions of mechanically piled fuels. Machine pile calculations encoded in the decision support software CONSUME 3.0 were added to the online Calculator to achieve this objective. In addition, the ability to batch process piled fuels data was added to the online Calculator to ease data input for large analysis projects. A stand-alone version of the Calculator was developed for users without access to the Internet. As it is executed within a standard web browser (e.g., Microsoft Internet …

First Report Of Field Populations Of Two Potential Aphid Pests Of The Bioenergy Crop Miscanthus × Giganteus, Jeffrey Bradshaw, Jarrad R. Prasifka, Kevin L. Steffey, Michael E. Gray

Panhandle Research and Extension Center

Sipha flava (Forbes) (yellow sugarcane aphid) and Rhopalosiphum maidis (Fitch) (corn leaf aphid) (Hemiptera: Homoptera: Aphididae) are common aphids occurring throughout North America on many host plants, most of which are grasses (Blackman & Eastop 2006). Both aphids are pests of several important food crops, e.g., Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench (sorghum), Saccharum officinarum L. (sugarcane), Triticum spp. (wheat), and Zea mays L. (corn) (Blackman & Eastop 2000). Additionally, both aphids are vectors of potyviruses and R. maidis is a vector of luteoviruses in these crops. Until now, to our knowledge, no natural infestations of these aphids have been reported on …

Effects Of Maternal Nutrition On Conceptus Growth And Offspring Performance: Implications For Beef Cattle Production, Richard N. Funston, David M. Larson, K. A. Vonnahme

West Central Research and Extension Center, North Platte

Developmental programming is the concept that a maternal stimulus or insult at a critical period in fetal development has long-term effects on the offspring. Historically, considerable effort has been made to understand how nutrition influences health and productivity during the postnatal period. Whereas maternal nutrition during pregnancy plays an essential role in proper fetal and placental development, less is known about how maternal nutrition affects the health and productivity of the offspring. Conceptus growth is sensitive to direct and indirect effects of maternal dietary intake. Even from the earliest stages of embryonic life, when nutrient requirements for conceptus growth are …

Case Study: Feed Intake And Performance Of Heifers Sired By High- Or Low-Residual Feed Intake Angus Bulls, J. Minick Bormann, D. W. Moser, T. T. Marston

Haskell Agricultural Laboratory (Northeast Research and Extension Center)

The objective of this project was to investigate the effects of selecting sires for residual feed intake (RFI) on the performance of their daughters. Bulls with low or high estimated breeding values (EBV) for RFI were selected from the Angus Society of Australia sire summary and mated to Angus cross commercial cows at the Kansas State University Cow-Calf Unit in 2005 and 2006. The average EBV of low- and high-RFI bulls were −0.55 and 0.27 kg DM, respectively. Heifers born in 2006 were tested for feed intake in 2 groups (n = 24, n = 26), and heifers born in …

Nebline, January 2010

NEBLINE Newsletter Archive from Nebraska Extension in Lancaster County

Feature: Tips for Positive Interactions with Tweens

Farm Views

Horticulture

Food & Fitness

Home & Family Living

Environmental Focus

Urban Agriculture

4-H & Youth

Community Focus

Extension Calendar

Nutrition Education Program

Family and Community Education (FCE) Clubs

and other extension news and events

Annual Report Special Pullout Section

Methods For Assessing Fish Populations, Kevin L. Pope, Steve E. Lochmann, Michael K. Young

Nebraska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit: Staff Publications

Fisheries managers are likely to assess fish populations at some point during the fisheries management process. Managers that follow the fisheries management process (see Chapter 5) might find their knowledge base insufficient during the steps of problem identification or management action and must assess a population before appropriate actions can be taken. Managers will implement some type of assessment during the evaluation step as a means of measuring progress relative to objectives. Choosing how to assess a population is an important decision because managers strive to maximize their knowledge of a population while minimizing the time and money expended to …

Long-Term Recovery Patterns Of Arctic Tundra After Winter Seismic Exploration, Janet C. Jorgenson, Jay M. Ver Hoef, M. T. Jorgenson

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

In response to the increasing global demand for energy, oil exploration and development are expanding into frontier areas of the Arctic, where slow-growing tundra vegetation and the underlying permafrost soils are very sensitive to disturbance. The creation of vehicle trails on the tundra from seismic exploration for oil has accelerated in the past decade, and the cumulative impact represents a geographic footprint that covers a greater extent of Alaska’s North Slope tundra than all other direct human impacts combined. Seismic exploration for oil and gas was conducted on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska, USA, in …

An Overview Of The Spread, Distribution, And Ecological Impacts Of The Quagga Mussel, Dreissena Rostriformis Bugensis, With Possible Implications To The Colorado River System, Thomas F. Nalepa

United States Department of Commerce: Staff Publications

The quagga mussel (Dreissena rostriformis bugensis) was first found in the Great Lakes in 1989 and has since spread to all five lakes. Although its spread through the system was slower than that of the zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha), once established, it replaced zebra mussels in nearshore regions and is colonizing deep regions where zebra mussels were never found. Outside the Great Lakes Basin, quagga mussels do not appear to be increasing to any extent in the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, even after being present in these rivers for over a decade. In contrast, numbers in …

Wpa News 86 (2010/2011), World Pheasant Association

Galliformes Specialist Group and Affiliated Societies: Newsletters

WPA News (Winter 2010/2011), number 86

Published by the World Pheasant Association

Chapter 2- Global Perspectives On Water For Food, Prem S. Paul, Monica Norby, Gillian Klucas, Ashley Washburn, Elizabeth Banset, Vicki Miller

Office of Research and Economic Development: Publications

The water crisis will play a major role in the future of global poverty, yet little awareness of this critical issue exists and few discussions are taking place about securing water for food, Jeff Raikes said. In a call to action, Raikes advocated an integrated and interdisciplinary approach, one that pulls on all levers to solve the pending crisis.

The Crisis
Already about 75 to 80 percent of human water consumption is used to grow food, Raikes said. The projected doubling in food demand, coupled with climate change’s impact on geographic availability of water, will significantly increase the demand for …

School Of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences: 2010 Annual Report

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Information and History

On September 4, 2009, The Department of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences was renamed the School of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. The School is informally organized into six functional areas: • Undergraduate Teaching • Research and Graduate Studies • Extension • Veterinary Diagnostic Center (VDC) • Great Plains Veterinary Educational Center (GPVEC) • Professional Program in Veterinary Medicine (PPVM) While teaching and research activities bridge the entire faculty, subsets of the faculty are primarily involved with one area, i.e., the undergraduate program, the research and graduate program, the veterinary medical students clinical teaching at the GPVEC, the pre-clinical teaching …

Uses Of Youth Risk Behavior Survey And School Health Profiles Data: Applications For Improving Adolescent And School Health, Kathryn Foti, Alexandra Balaji, Shari Shanklin

United States Public Health Resources

BACKGROUND: To monitor priority health risk behaviors and school health policies and practices, respectively, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) and the School Health Profiles (Profiles). CDC is often asked about the use and application of these survey data to improve adolescent and school health. The purpose of this article is to describe the importance and potential impact of Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) and Profiles data based on examples from participating sites.

METHODS: The authors spoke with representatives from 25 state and 8 local agencies funded by …

Starch-Entrapped Microspheres Show A Beneficial Fermentation Profile And Decrease In Potentially Harmful Bacteria During In Vitro Fermentation In Faecal Microbiota Obtained From Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Devin J. Rose, Koen Venema, Ali Keshavarzian, Bruce R. Hamaker

Devin Rose Publications

The purpose of this research was to test the hypothesis that starch-entrapped microspheres would produce favourable fermentation profiles and microbial shifts during in vitro fermentation with the faecal microbiota from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). In vitro fermentation was carried out using a validated, dynamic, computer-controlled model of the human colon (Toegepast Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzoek gastrointestinal model-2) after inoculation with pooled faeces from healthy individuals, patients with inactive IBD (Crohn’s disease (CD)) or patients with active IBD (ulcerative colitis (UC)). Starch-entrapped microspheres fermented more slowly and produced more butyrate than fructooligosaccharides (FOS) when fermented with the faecal microbiota from patients …

Short Communication: Detection Of Yeast Dna In Omasal Digesta Of Dairy Cows Consuming Dried Distillers Grains And Solubles, E. Castillo-Lopez, Paul J. Kononoff, Jess L. Miner

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Purine analysis is widely used to estimate microbial crude protein (MCP) flow, and the method assumes that all purines contained in feed are degraded in the rumen and that purines detected are of microbial origin. The objectives of our experiment were (1) to determine if DNA from yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) contained in dried distillers grains and solubles (DDGS) escapes degradation in the rumen and (2) to estimate the proportion of yeast DNA compared with total bacterial DNA in omasal samples. Two ruminally fistulated Holstein dairy cows averaging 649 kg (SD = 42.0) and 126 d in milk (SD …

Feed Intake Of Sheep As Affected By Body Weight, Breed, Sex, And Feed Composition, R. M. Lewis, G. C. Emmans

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

The hypotheses tested were that genetic size-scaling for mature BW (A, kg) would reduce variation in intake between kinds of sheep and that quadratic polynomials on u = BW/A with zero intercept would provide good descriptions of the relationship between scaled intake (SI, g/A0.73 d) and degree of maturity in BW (u) across feeds of differing quality. Both sexes of Suffolk sheep from 2 experimental lines (n = 225) and from 3 breed types (Suffolk, Scottish Blackface, and their cross; n = 149) were recorded weekly for ad libitum feed intake and BW; recording of intake was from weaning through, …

Oral Inoculation With Salmonella Enterica Serovar Typhimurium Or Choleraesuis Promotes Divergent Responses In The Somatotropic Growth Axis Of Swine, B. L. Davis, J. N. Fraser, Thomas E. Burkey, K. A. Skjolaas, S. S. Dritz, B. J. Johnson, J. E. Minton

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

Enteric disease and immune challenge are processes that have detrimental effects on the growth performance of young swine. The current study tested the hypothesis that salmonella-induced enteric disease would perturb the endocrine growth axis in a serovar-dependent fashion. Specifically, we evaluated the effects of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (Typhimurium) and serovar Choleraesuis (Choleraesuis) on critical regulatory components of growth in young swine. Weaned pigs were housed 2 per pen with ad libitum access to feed and water in a 14-d experiment. Pigs were then repeatedly fed 108 cfu of either Choleraesuis or Typhimurium in dough balls, with control pigs receiving …

Agricultural Biotechnology: The U.S.-Eu Dispute, Charles E. Hanrahan

Congressional Research Service Reports

In May 2003, the United States, Canada, and Argentina initiated a dispute with the European Union concerning the EU’s de facto moratorium on biotechnology product approvals, in place since 1998. Although the EU effectively lifted the moratorium in May 2004 by approving a genetically engineered (GE) corn variety (MON810), the three complainants pursued the case, in part because a number of EU member states continue to block already approved biotech products. Industry estimates are that the moratorium costs U.S. corn growers some $300 million in exports to the EU annually. Corn gluten exports from the United States to the EU …

Analysis Of Metabolomic Pca Data Using Tree Diagrams, Mark T. Werth, Steven M. Halouska, Matthew D. Shortridge, Bo Zhang, Robert Powers

Robert Powers Publications

Large amounts of data from high throughput metabolomic experiments are commonly visualized using a principal component analysis (PCA) 2D scores plot. The question of the similarity or difference between multiple metabolic states then becomes a question of the degree of overlap between their respective data point clusters in PC scores space. A qualitative visual inspection of the clustering pattern in PCA score plots is a common protocol. This report describes the application of tree diagrams and bootstrapping techniques for an improved quantitative analysis of metabolic PCA data clustering. Our PCAtoTree program creates a distance matrix with 100 bootstrap steps that …

Combined Therapy Of Dietary Fish Oil And Stearoyl-Coa Desaturase 1 Inhibition Prevents The Metabolic Syndrome And Atherosclerosis, J. Mark Brown, Soonkyu Chung, Janet K. Sawyer, Chiara Degirolamo, Heather M. Alger, Tam M. Nguyen, Xuewei Zhu, My-Ngan Duong, Amanda L. Brown, Caleb Lord, Ramesh Shah, Matthew A. Davis, Kathryn Kelley, Martha D. Wilson, Jennifer Madenspacher, Michael B. Fessler, John S. Parks, Lawrence L. Rudel

Department of Nutrition and Health Sciences: Faculty Publications

Background—Stearoyl-CoA desaturase 1 (SCD1) is a critical regulator of energy metabolism and inflammation. We have previously reported that inhibition of SCD1 in hyperlipidemic mice fed a saturated fatty acid (SFA)-enriched diet prevented development of the metabolic syndrome, yet surprisingly promoted severe atherosclerosis. In this study we tested whether dietary fish oil supplementation could prevent the accelerated atherosclerosis caused by SCD1 inhibition.

Methods and Results—LDLr^-/-, ApoB^100/100 mice were fed diets enriched in saturated fat or fish oil in conjunction with antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) treatment to inhibit SCD1. As previously reported, in SFA-fed mice, SCD1 inhibition dramatically protected against …

Environmentally Sensitive Life-Cycle Traits Have Low Elasticity: Implications For Theory And Practice, Valery E. Forbes, Mette Olsen, Annemette Palmqvist, Peter Calow

Valery Forbes Publications

The relationships between population growth rate and the life-cycle traits contributing to it are nonlinear and variable. This has made it difficult for ecologists to consistently predict changes in population dynamics from observations on changes in life-cycle traits. We show that traits having a high sensitivity to chemical toxicants tend to have a low elasticity, meaning that changes in them have a relatively low impact on population growth rate, compared to other life-cycle traits. This makes evolutionary sense in that there should be selection against variability in population growth rate. In particular, we found that fecundity was generally more sensitive …

Bioassays Of Compounds With Potential Juvenoid Activity On Drosophila Melanogaster: Juvenile Hormone Iii, Bisepoxide Juvenile Hormone Iii, And Methyl Farnesoates, Lawrence G. Harshman, Ki-Duck Song, Josephina Casas, A. Schuurmans, Eichii Kuwano, Stephen D. Kachman, Lynn M. Riddiford, Bruce D. Hammock

Lawrence G. Harshman Publications

Metabolites of the 6,7,10,11 bisepoxide juvenile hormone III (JHB₃), and other potential juvenoids, were tested for juvenile hormone activity using early instar or early stage pupae of Drosophila mela-nogaster. Importantly, methyl farnesoates were tested as they might have JH-like activity on Dipteran juveniles. Larvae were exposed to compounds in medium, or the compounds were applied to white puparia. In the assays employed in the present study, there was no indication for JH activity associ-ated with the metabolites of JHB₃. The activity of methyl farnesoate (MF) was higher than that of JH III and far greater …

Multimodal Courtship Efficacy Of Schizocosa Retrorsa Wolf Spiders: Implications Of An Additional Signal Modality, Aaron S. Rundus, Roger D. Santer, Eileen Hebets

Eileen Hebets Publications

Here, we simultaneously examine both content and efficacy-based sources of selection on the visual and seismic multimodal courtship display of the wolf spider Schizocosa retrorsa. Immature field-collected S. retrorsa were reared in the laboratory on either high-quantity diet (HD) or low-quantity diet (LD) treatments. On maturation, females of each diet treatment were run in simultaneous mate choice trials with both a HD and an LD male (content-based selection). Simultaneous mate choice trials were conducted across different signaling environments (efficacy-based selection) in a fully crossed 2 × 2 design with visual treatments of light/dark (visual signal present/absent) and seismic treatments …

In Vitro Stable Isotope Labeling For Discovery Of Novel Metabolites By Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry: Confirmation Of Γ-Tocopherol Metabolism In Human A549 Cell, Wen-Chu Yang, Fred E. Regnier, Qing Jiang, Jiri Adamec

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

A general approach for discovering novel catabolic metabolites from a parent biocompound was developed and validated on metabolism of γ-tocopherol in human A549 cell. Method is based on LC-MS analysis of in vitro stable isotope labeled metabolites and assumes that a parent compound and its metabolites share a common functional group that can be derivatized by well-documented reagents. In this method, two equal aliquots of extracted metabolites are separately derivatized with isotope-coded (heavy) and non-isotope-coded (light) form of derivatizing reagent, mixed at 1:1 ratio and analyzed using LC-MS. The metabolites with common functional group are then easily recognized by determination …

Identification And Characterization Of Small Compound Inhibitors Of Human Fatp2, Angel Sandoval, Aalap Chokshi, Elliot D. Jesch, Paul N. Black, Concetta C. Dirusso

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Fatty acid transport proteins (FATPs) are bifunctional proteins, which transport long chain fatty acids into cells and activate very long chain fatty acids by esterification with coenzyme A. In an effort to understand the linkage between cellular fatty acid transport and the pathology associated with excessive accumulation of exogenous fatty acids, we targeted FATP-mediated fatty acid transport in a high throughput screen of more than 100,000 small diverse chemical compounds in yeast expressing human FATP2 (hsFATP2). Compounds were selected for their ability to depress the transport of the fluorescent long chain fatty acid analogue, C₁-BODIPY-C₁₂. Among …

Quantitative Nuclear Proteomics Identifies Mtor Regulation Of Dna Damage Response, Sricharan Bandhakavi, Young-Mi Kim, Seung-Hyun Ro, Hongwei Xie, Getiria Onsongo, Chang-Bong Jun, Do-Hyung Kim, Timothy J. Griffin

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Cellular nutritional and energy status regulates a wide range of nuclear processes important for cell growth, survival, and metabolic homeostasis. Mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) plays a key role in the cellular responses to nutrients. However, the nuclear processes governed by mTOR have not been clearly defined. Using isobaric peptide tagging coupled with linear ion trap mass spectrometry, we performed quantitative proteomics analysis to identify nuclear processes in human cells under control of mTOR. Within 3 h of inhibiting mTOR with rapamycin in HeLa cells, we observed downregulation of nuclear abundance of many proteins involved in translation and RNA modification. …

Modeling Changes In Biomass Composition During Microwave-Based Alkali Pretreatment Of Switchgrass, Deepak R. Keshwani, Jay J. Cheng

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This study used two different approaches to model changes in biomass composition during microwave-based pretreatment of switchgrass: kinetic modeling using a time-dependent rate coefficient, and a Mamdani-type fuzzy inference system. In both modeling approaches, the dielectric loss tangent of the alkali reagent and pretreatment time were used as predictors for changes in amounts of lignin, cellulose, and xylan during the pretreatment. Training and testing data sets for development and validation of the models were obtained from pretreatment experiments conducted using 1–3% w/v NaOH (sodium hydroxide) and pretreatment times ranging from 5 to 20 minutes. The kinetic modeling approach for lignin …

Microwave-Based Alkali Pretreatment Of Switchgrass And Coastal Bermudagrass For Bioethanol Production, Deepak R. Keshwani, Jay J. Cheng

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Switchgrass and coastal bermudagrass are promising lignocellulosic feedstocks for bioethanol production. However, pretreatment of lignocelluloses is required to improve production of fermentable sugars from enzymatic hydrolysis. Microwave-based alkali pretreatment of switchgrass and coastal bermudagrass was investigated in this study. Pretreatments were carried out by immersing the biomass in dilute alkali reagents and exposing the slurry to microwave radiation at 250 W for residence times ranging from 5 to 20 minutes. Simons’ stain method was used to quantify changes in biomass porosity as a result of the pretreatment. Pretreatments were evaluated based on yields of total reducing sugars, glucose, and xylose. …

Improving The Value Of Standard Toxicity Test Data In Reach, Magnus Breitholtz, Elin Lundström, Ulrika Dahl, Valery E. Forbes

Valery Forbes Publications

Worldwide, environmental risk assessment strategies are based on the assumption that measuring direct effects of single substances, using a few single species tests, in combination with safety factors correcting for extrapolation inconsistencies, can be used to protect higher levels of biological organization, such as populations and even ecosystems. At the same time, we are currently facing a range of pollution problems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series 2005), of which some could at least indirectly be linked to the fact that this assumption may not be fully valid. Consequently, there is an ongoing scientific debate on whether current chemical control protocols are …

Evolutionary Aspects Of Urea Utilization By Fungi, Dhammika H. M. L. P Navarathna, Steven D. Harris, David D. Roberts, Kenneth W. Nickerson

Kenneth Nickerson Papers

The higher fungi exhibit a dichotomy with regard to urea utilization. The hemiascomycetes use urea amidolyase (DUR1,2), whereas all other higher fungi use the nickel-containing urease. Urea amidolyase is an energy-dependent biotincontaining enzyme. It likely arose before the Euascomycete/Hemiascomycete divergence c. 350 million years ago by insertion of an unknown gene into one copy of a duplicated methylcrotonyl CoA carboxylase (MccA). The dichotomy between urease and urea amidolyase coincides precisely with that for the Ni/Co transporter (Nic1p), which is present in the higher fungi that use urease and is absent in those that do not. We suggest that …

A Call For A New Geoscience Education Research Agenda, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Dale R. Baker

Department of Teaching, Learning, and Teacher Education: Faculty Publications

A lack of qualified teachers and low enrollment in the geosciences exist at both secondary and tertiary levels in the United States. Consequently, it is unlikely that students will be able to achieve scientific literacy without an increase in both of these populations. To address these problems, we pose research questions, highlight sociocultural theories, and provide examples of other science education research as possible avenues by which to explore these related problems. We argue that such research studies are necessary to inform science education policy and advance national scientific literacy.