Digital Commons Network^™

Genetic Engineering Of Lesquerella With Increased Ricinoleic Acid Content In Seed Oil, Grace Q. Chen, Kumiko Johnson, Tara J. Nazarenus, Grisel Ponciano, Eva Morales, Edgar B. Cahoon

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Seeds of castor (Ricinus communis) are enriched in oil with high levels of the industrially valuable fatty acid ricinoleic acid (18:1OH), but production of this plant is limited because of the cooccurrence of the ricin toxin in its seeds. Lesquerella (Physaria fendleri) is being developed as an alternative industrial oilseed because its seeds accumulate lesquerolic acid (20:1OH), an elongated form of 18:1OH in seed oil which lacks toxins. Synthesis of 20:1OH is through elongation of 18:1OH by a lesquerella elongase, PfKCS18. Oleic acid (18:1) is the substrate for 18:1OH synthesis, but it is also used by fatty acid desaturase 2 …

Uavs For Vegetation Monitoring: Overview And Recent Scientific Contributions, Ana I. De Castro, Yeyin Shi, Joe Mari Maja, Jose M. Peña

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

This paper reviewed a set of twenty-one original and innovative papers included in a special issue on UAVs for vegetation monitoring, which proposed new methods and techniques applied to diverse agricultural and forestry scenarios. Three general categories were considered: (1) sensors and vegetation indices used, (2) technological goals pursued, and (3) agroforestry applications. Some investigations focused on issues related to UAV flight operations, spatial resolution requirements, and computation and data analytics, while others studied the ability of UAVs for characterizing relevant vegetation features (mainly canopy cover and crop height) or for detecting different plant/crop stressors, such as nutrient content/deficiencies, water …

Chlamydastis Meyrick Of Costa Rica: Barcodes, Biology, And Descriptions Of 36 New Species (Lepidoptera: Depressariidae), Eugenie Phillips-Rodríguez, John W. Brown, Winnie Hallwachs, Daniel H. Janzen

Insecta Mundi

We recognize and review 40 species of Chlamydastis Meyrick, 1916 (Lepidoptera: Depressari­idae) from Costa Rica, including four previously described (i.e., C. vividella (Busck, 1914), revived status; C. phytoptera (Busck, 1914); C. orion Busck, 1920; and C. ungulifera (Meyrick, 1929)) and 36 new species: C. abelulatei Phillips and Brown, new species; C. carolinagodoyae Phillips and Brown, new species; C. angelsolisi Phillips and Brown, new species; C. lindapitkinae Phillips and Brown, new species; C. iangauldi Phillips and Brown, new species; C. anniapicadoae Phillips and Brown, new species; C. antonioazofeifai Phillips and Brown, new species; …

Survivorship Of Soybean Aphid Biotypes (Hemiptera: Aphididae) On Winter Hosts, Common And Glossy Buckthorn, Doris M. Lagos-Kutz, Glen L. Hartman

Insecta Mundi

The soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae), is a major pest of soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr., both in Asia where it is native, and in the USA where it is adventive. The rapid spread and establishment of the soybean aphid in the USA since its discovery in 2000 was successful because of extensive soybean production in the Midwest and the wide distribution of common buckthorn, Rhamnus cathartica (L.), its preferred primary winter host. The survivorship of four soybean aphid biotypes on com­mon and glossy buckthorn, Frangula alnus Mill., were compared. Our study showed that nymph oviparae of soybean …

New Adult Host Records For Three Buprestidae (Coleoptera) Rarely Encountered In The United States And Significant Extension Of The Known Geographic Range Of Agrilus Pilosicollis Fisher, Jason A. Hansen, Christine A. Nalepa

Insecta Mundi

New adult host records of Agrilus langei Obenberger, A. pilosicollis Fisher, and Dicerca mutica LeConte (Coleoptera: Buprestidae) are reported. The known geographic range of A. pilosicollis is expanded from the type location in Kansas south to Texas and east to North Carolina. Images with key characters of each of the three species are included.

Among the nearly 800 species of buprestids in North America (north of Mexico) are those known from very few specimens. Distribution and plant host information for such species is understandably limited and, in many cases, completely unknown (Nelson et al. 2008). A knowledge of …

Editorial: Advances In Pollutant Transport In Critical Zone Environments, Huilian Ma, Yusong Li, Chongyang Shen, Constantinos V. Chrysikopoulos, Hyunjung Kim

Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering: Faculty Publications

One major environmental challenge facing humankind is the constantly increasing pollution of water and soil resources on a global scale. The substances that cause such pollution arise primarily from human-made wastes, including agricultural and industrial wastes, household garbage, oil spills, and other toxic materials. The spatiotemporal distribution of these polluting substances in soil and water systems is determined by an interplay of many factors such as physicochemical properties of pollutants, soil grain properties and structure, fluid flow chemistry and velocity, biological activity, and other environmental factors (temperature, precipitation). In this issue, we have collected a series of articles that advance …

Three-Dimensional Shape Analysis Of Peripapillary Retinal Pigment Epithelium-Basement Membrane Layer Based On Oct Radial Images, Junfei Tong, Pengfei Dong, Sachin Kedar, Deepta Ghate, Linxia Gu

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

The peripapillary retinal pigment epithelium-basement membrane (ppRPE/BM) layer angle was recently proposed as a potential index for estimating intracranial pressure noninvasively. However, the ppRPE/BM layer angle, measured from the optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans, varied across the radial directions of the optic disc. This made the ppRPE/BM layer angle difficult to be utilized in its full potential. In this study, we developed a mathematical model to quantify the ppRPE/BM layer angles across radial scans in relation to the ppRPE/BM 3D morphology in terms of its 3D angle and scanning tilt angles. Results showed that the variations of the ppRPE/BM layer …

Setting Empirically Informed Policy Benchmarks For Physical Science Teaching, Elizabeth B. Lewis, Ana Rivero, Lyrica L. Lucas, Aaron Musson, Brandon Helding

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

In the United States, research on beginning science teachers provides little guidance regarding empirical minimum levels of discipline-specific science coursework for sufficient subject matter knowledge to teach science. Accordingly, in this study we analyzed secondary physical science teachers' science coursework for subject matter knowledge (SMK) and resulting misconceptions of chemistry and physics concepts. Findings were compared with state-level science teacher certification policies. Participants had either: (a) completed a master's level teacher preparation program with an undergraduate degree in science, (b) completed an undergraduate teacher preparation program with a minor degree or more in science, or (c) were undergraduate students enrolled …

Component Causes Of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis—Non-Moraxella Organisms In The Epidemiology Of Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis, John Dustin Loy, Kristin A. Clothier, Gabriele Maier

School of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences: Faculty Publications

• Non-Moraxella organisms are associated with infectious bovine keratoconjunctivitis (IBK).

• Mycoplasma bovoculi can cause conjunctivitis and has a potential role in IBK pathogenesis.

• Other Non-Mycoplasma agents can cause disease that resembles IBK but is clinically different.

• Genomics and molecular technology are advancing research in this area.

• Classification and determination of pathogenesis potential of these organisms may be better understood through metagenomics and whole genome sequencing.

Complexity Of Malaria Transmission Dynamics In The Brazilian Atlantic Forest, Ana Maria Ribeiro De Castro Duarte, Licia Natal Fernandes, Fabiana Santos Silva, Igor Lucoves Sicchi, Luis Filipe Mucci, Izilda Curado, Aristides Ferrnandes, Antônio Ralph Medeiros-Sousa, Walter Ceretti-Junior, Mauro Toledo Marrelli, Eduardo Evangelista, Renildo Teixeira, Juliana Laurito Summa, Marcello Schiavo Nardi, Margoth Ramos Garnica, Ana Carolina Loss, Julyana Cerqueira Buery, Crispim Cerutti Jr., M. Andreína Pacheco, Ananias A. Escalante, Maria Anice Mureb Sallum, Gabriel Zorello Laporta

Harold W. Manter Laboratory of Parasitology: Library Materials

Plasmodium malariae and Plasmodium vivax are protozoan parasites that can cause malaria in humans. They are genetically indistinguishable from, respectively, Plasmodium brasilianum and Plasmodium simium, that is, parasites infecting New World non-human primates in South America. In the tropical rainforests of the Brazilian Atlantic coast, it has long been hypothesized that P. brasilianum and P. simium in platyrrhine primates originated from P. malariae and P. vivax in humans. A recent hypothesis proposed the inclusion of Plasmodium falciparum into the transmission dynamics between humans and non-human primates in the Brazilian Atlantic tropical rainforest. Herein, we assess the occurrence of human …

Using An Integrative Machine Learning Approach To Study Microrna Regulation Networks In Pancreatic Cancer Progression, Roland Madadjim

School of Computing: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

With advances in genomic discovery tools, recent biomedical research has produced a massive amount of genomic data on post-transcriptional regulations related to various transcript factors, microRNAs, lncRNAs, epigenetic modifications, and genetic variations. In this direction, the field of gene regulation network inference is created and aims to understand the interactome regulations between these molecules (e.g., gene-gene, miRNA-gene) that take place to build models able to capture behavioral changes in biological systems. A question of interest arises in integrating such molecules to build a network while treating each specie in its uniqueness. Given the dynamic changes of interactome in chaotic systems …

Successful Atac-Seq From Snap-Frozen Equine Tissues, Sichong Peng, Rebecca Bellone, Jessica Lynn Petersen, Theodore S. Kalbfleisch, Carrie J. Finno

Department of Animal Science: Faculty Publications

An assay for transposase-accessible chromatin with high-throughput sequencing (ATAC-seq) has become an increasingly popular method to assess genome-wide chromatin accessibility in isolated nuclei from fresh tissues. However, many biobanks contain only snap-frozen tissue samples. While ATAC-seq has been applied to frozen brain tissues in human, its applicability in a wide variety of tissues in horse remains unclear. The Functional Annotation of Animal Genome (FAANG) project is an international collaboration aimed to provide high quality functional annotation of animal genomes. The equine FAANG initiative has generated a biobank of over 80 tissues from two reference female animals and experiments to begin …

Androgen Receptor, Although Not A Specific Marker For, Is A Novel Target To Suppress Glioma Stem Cells As A Therapeutic Strategy For Glioblastoma, Nan Zhao, Fei Wang, Shaheen Ahmed, Kan Liu, Chi Zhang, Sahara J. Cathcart, Dominick J. Dimaio, Michael Punsoni, Bingjie Guan, Ping Zhou, Shuo Wang, Surinder K. Batra, Tatiana Bronich, Tom K. Hei, Chi Lin, Chi Zhang

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Targeting androgen receptor (AR) has been shown to be promising in treating glioblastoma (GBM) in cell culture and flank implant models but the mechanisms remain unclear. AR antagonists including enzalutamide are available for treating prostate cancer patients in clinic and can pass the blood–brain barrier, thus are potentially good candidates for GBM treatment but have not been tested in GBM orthotopically. Our current studies confirmed that in patients, a majority of GBM tumors overexpress AR in both genders. Enzalutamide inhibited the proliferation of GBM cells both in vitro and in vivo. Although confocal microscopy demonstrated that AR is expressed but …

Detection Of Bovine Inflammatory Cytokines Il-1Β, Il-6, And Tnf-Α With A Multiplex Electrochemiluminescent Assay Platform, Carol G. Chitko-Mckown, Stacy L. Bierman, Larry A. Kuehn, Gary L. Bennett, Keith D. Dedonder, Michael D. Apley, Gregory P. Harhay, Michael L. Clawson, Bradley J. White, Robert L. Larson, Sarah F. Capik, Brian V. Lubbers

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Commercially available bovine-specific assays are limited in number, and multiplex assays for this species are rare. Our objective was to develop a multiplex assay for the bovine inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, and TNFα using the Meso Scale Discovery U-PLEX platform. "Do-It-Yourself" ELISA kits that contained polyclonal antibodies, both unlabeled and biotinylated, and the specific recombinant bovine cytokine standard, were purchased for each of these three cytokines. The biotinylated antibodies were coupled to linkers that bind to specific locations within each well of the U-PLEX plate. Unique linkers were used for each of the cytokines. The unlabeled antibodies were conjugated with …

Characterizing Genetic Regulatory Elements In Ovine Tissues, Kimberly M. Davenport, Alisha T. Massa, Suraj Bhattarai, Stephanie D. Mckay, Michelle R. Mousel, Maria K. Herndon, Stephen N. White, Noelle E. Cockett, Timothy P L Smith, Brenda M. Murdoch

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

The Ovine Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes (FAANG) project, part of the broader livestock species FAANG initiative, aims to identify and characterize gene regulatory elements in domestic sheep. Regulatory element annotation is essential for identifying genetic variants that affect health and production traits in this important agricultural species, as greater than 90% of variants underlying genetic effects are estimated to lie outside of transcribed regions. Histone modifications that distinguish active or repressed chromatin states, CTCF binding, and DNA methylation were used to characterize regulatory elements in liver, spleen, and cerebellum tissues from four yearling sheep. Chromatin immunoprecipitation with sequencing (ChIP-seq) …

Coleoptile Length Comparison Of Three Winter Small Grain Cereals Adapted To The Great Plains, M. Alam, M. Kashif, Amanda Easterly, F. Wang, J. D. Boehm Jr., P. Stephen Baenziger

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Successful crop stand establishment is critical to realize high yield potential, which is dependent on depth of seed placement to access soil moisture. The coleoptile determines sowing depth by its length and ability to emerge from depth. This study was conducted to assess coleoptile length among three sets of three Great Plains winter small grain cereals—wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and triticale (X triticosecale Wittm.)—and to evaluate the effect of the Rht-B1b dwarfing allele on coleoptile length in wheat and triticale. Fifty seeds of each genotype were sown in wet germination paper in two …

Research And Education For Optimizing The Development And Implementation Of An Unmanned Aircraft Program At The Nebraska Department Of Transportation, Wayne Woldt, Jon Starr, Christopher M. U. Neale

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This report describes the development and implementation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Program at the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). The project involved the selection and purchase of appropriate UAS and imaging systems for NDOT, education and training for NDOT personnel with classroom and hands-on operation of UAS with the goal of obtaining proficiency and pilot licenses. In addition, the development of policy for the use of UAS within NDOT was accomplished as well as standard operating procedures (SOP) documentation and the development of example case studies of interest to NDOT using the purchased systems and technology.

Early Detection Of Encroaching Woody Juniperus Virginiana And Its Classification In Multi-Species Forest Using Uas Imagery And Semantic Segmentation Algorithms, Lin Wang, Yuzhen Zhou, Qiao Hu, Zhenghong Tang, Yufeng Ge, Adam Smith, Tala Awada, Yeyin Shi

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Faculty Publications

Woody plant encroachment into grasslands ecosystems causes significantly ecological destruction and economic losses. Effective and efficient management largely benefits from accurate and timely detection of encroaching species at an early development stage. Recent advances in unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) enabled easier access to ultra-high spatial resolution images at a centimeter level, together with the latest machine learning based image segmentation algorithms, making it possible to detect small-sized individuals of target species at early development stage and identify them when mixed with other species. However, few studies have investigated the optimal practical spatial resolution of early encroaching species detection. Hence, we …

Research And Education For Optimizing The Development And Implementation Of An Unmanned Aircraft Program At The Nebraska Department Of Transportation, Wayne Woldt, Jon Starr, C.M.U. Neale

Nebraska Department of Transportation: Research Reports

This report describes the development and implementation of an Unmanned Aircraft System Program at the Nebraska Department of Transportation (NDOT). The project involved the selection and purchase of appropriate UAS and imaging systems for NDOT, education and training for NDOT personnel with classroom and hands-on operation of UAS with the goal of obtaining proficiency and pilot licenses. In addition, the development of policy for the use of UAS within NDOT was accomplished as well as standard operating procedures (SOP) documentation and the development of example case studies of interest to NDOT using the purchased systems and technology.

Multi-Strategy Engineering Greatly Enhances Provitamin A Carotenoid Accumulation And Stability In Arabidopsis Seeds, Tianhu Sun, Qinlong Zhu, Ziqing Wei, Lauren A. Owens, Tara Fish, Hyojin Kim, Theodore W. Thannhauser, Edgar B. Cahoon, Li Li

Department of Biochemistry: Faculty Publications

Staple grains with low levels of provitamin A carotenoids contribute to the global prevalence of vitamin A deficiency and therefore are the main targets for provitamin A biofortification. However, carotenoid stability during both seed maturation and postharvest storage is a serious concern for the full benefits of carotenoid biofortified grains. In this study, we utilized Arabidopsis as a model to establish carotenoid biofortification strategies in seeds. We discovered that manipulation of carotenoid biosynthetic activity by seed-specific expression of Phytoene synthase (PSY) increases both provitamin A and total carotenoid levels but the increased carotenoids are prone to degradation during …

Landscape Genetics Of American Beaver In Coastal Oregon, Clinton W. Epps, Vanessa M. Petro, Tyler G. Creech, Rachel S. Crowhurst, Matthew J. Weldy, Jimmy D. Taylor

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

American beaver (Castor canadensis) have been translocated for population restoration, reduction of human‐wildlife conflict, and enhancement of ecosystem function. Yet few studies have assessed dispersal of beaver, making it difficult to determine at what scale translocations are appropriate. Genetic studies can provide inferences about gene flow, and thus dispersal. We used a landscape genetic approach to evaluate whether landscape features influenced gene flow among beaver in the Coast Range of western Oregon, USA, using samples collected April–September 2014. We collected genetic samples from live‐captured (n=232), road‐killed (n=2) and trapper‐provided (n=58) tissue samples and genotyped them at 10 microsatellite loci. We …

Estimation Of Household Smoke-Exposure Risk Using Demographic And Health Survey (Dhs) Data, Mazbahul G. Ahamad, Fahian Tanin

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

We introduce Stata and R codes to estimate the household smoke-exposure risk (SER) variable using cooking fuel- and cooking place-related information obtained from country-level demographic and health survey (DHS) data. Two categories of cooking fuels (smoke-producing and non-smoke producing fuels) and two categories of cooking places (indoor and outdoor) are used to estimate the household SER. Finally, household SER is classified into four levels of risk: high (cooking indoor using smoke-producing fuels), medium (cooking outdoor using smoke-producing fuels), low (cooking indoor using non-smoke-producing fuels), and very low (cooking outdoor using non-smoke-producing fuels). An example of a household SER calculation using …

Quantitative Trait Loci Controlling Agronomic And Biochemical Traits In Cannabis Sativa, Patrick Woods, Brian J. Campbell, Timothy J. Nicodemus, Edgar B. Cahoon, Jack L. Mullen, John K. Mckay

Center for Plant Science Innovation: Faculty Publications

Understanding the genetic basis of complex traits is a fundamental goal of evolutionary genetics. Yet, the genetics controlling complex traits in many important species such as hemp (Cannabis sativa) remain poorly investigated. Because hemp’s change in legal status with the 2014 and 2018 U.S. Federal Farm Bills, interest in the genetics controlling its numerous agriculturally important traits has steadily increased. To better understand the genetics of agriculturally important traits in hemp, we developed an F2 population by crossing two phenotypically distinct hemp cultivars (Carmagnola and USO31). Using whole-genome sequencing, we mapped quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with variation …

Representativeness Of Eddy-Covariance Flux Footprints For Areas Surrounding Ameriflux Sites, Housen Chu, Xiangzhong Luo, Zutao Ouyang, W. Stephen Chan, Sigrid Dengel, Sébastien C. Biraud, Margaret S. Torn, Stefan Metzger, Jitendra Kumar, M. Altaf Arain, Tim J. Arkebauer, Dennis Baldocchi, Carl Bernacchi, Dave Billesbach, T. Andrew Black, Peter D. Blanken, Gil Bohrer, Rosvel Bracho, Shannon Brown, Nathaniel A. Brunsell, Jiquan Chen, Xingyuan Chen, Kenneth Clark, Ankur R. Desai, Tomer Duman, David Durden, Silvano Fares, Inke Forbrich, John A. Gamon, Christopher M. Gough, Timothy Griffis, Manuel Helbig, David Hollinger, Elyn Humphreys, Hiroki Ikawa, Hiroki Iwata, Yang Ju, John F. Knowles, Sara H. Knox, Hideki Kobayashi

United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service / University of Nebraska-Lincoln: Faculty Publications

Large datasets of greenhouse gas and energy surface-atmosphere fluxes measured with the eddy-covariance technique (e.g., FLUXNET2015, AmeriFlux BASE) are widely used to benchmark models and remote-sensing products. This study addresses one of the major challenges facing model-data integration: To what spatial extent do flux measurements taken at individual eddy-covariance sites reflect model- or satellite-based grid cells? We evaluate flux footprints—the temporally dynamic source areas that contribute to measured fluxes—and the representativeness of these footprints for target areas (e.g., within 250–3000 m radii around flux towers) that are often used in flux-data synthesis and modeling studies. We examine the land-cover composition …

Genome Sequence Of A Virulent African Swine Fever Virus Isolated In 2020 From A Domestic Pig In Northern Vietnam, Quang Lam Truong, Thi Lan Nguyen, Thi Hoa Nguyen, Jishu Shi, Hiep Lai Xuan Vu, Thi Lan Huong Lai, Van Giap Nguyen

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

This study reports the genome sequence of an isolated African swine fever (ASF) virus (VNUA-ASFV-05L1/HaNam) obtained at the fourth passage on pulmonary alveolar macrophages. The virus was isolated during a typical acute ASF outbreak in pigs in a northern province of Vietnam in 2020.

Short Term Safety, Immunogenicity, And Reproductive Effects Of Combined Vaccination With Anti-Gnrh (Gonacon) And Rabies Vaccines In Female Feral Cats, Shiri Novak, Boris Yakobson, Shir Sorek, Liat Morgan, Smadar Tal, Ran Nivy, Roni King, Lauren Jaebker, Douglas C. Eckery, Tal Raz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Overpopulation of free-roaming cats is a major problem leading to negative impacts on animal health and welfare, public nuisance, transmission of zoonotic diseases, and well-documented harm to wildlife. Surgical sterilization had failed to provide a practical solution to free-roaming cats’ overpopulation under field conditions; therefore, efficient and safe non-surgical immunocontraception methods are aspired. Rabies is a deadly virus that may infect people and animals. However, the safety and efficacy of combined vaccination with anti-GnRH and rabies vaccines in feral cats, which often suffer from disrupted health conditions and experienced high stress level, has never been studied. Therefore, our objective was …

Short Term Safety, Immunogenicity, And Reproductive Effects Of Combined Vaccination With Anti-Gnrh (Gonacon) And Rabies Vaccines In Female Feral Cats, Shiri Novak, Boris Yakobson, Shir Sorek, Liat Morgan, Smadar Tal, Ran Nivy, Roni King, Lauren Jaebker, Douglas C. Eckery, Tal Raz

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Overpopulation of free-roaming cats is a major problem leading to negative impacts on animal health and welfare, public nuisance, transmission of zoonotic diseases, and well-documented harm to wildlife. Surgical sterilization had failed to provide a practical solution to free-roaming cats' overpopulation under field conditions; therefore, efficient and safe non-surgical immunocontraception methods are aspired. Rabies is a deadly virus that may infect people and animals. However, the safety and efficacy of combined vaccination with anti-GnRH and rabies vaccines in feral cats, which often suffer from disrupted health conditions and experienced high stress level, has never been studied. Therefore, our objective was …

Exploration Of The Sludge Biodiesel Pathway, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Wastewater sludge is an overlooked source of fat, oil, and grease (FOG) that could be converted into biodiesel. The United States produces about 8 million tons of sludge per year. The disposal cost for this amount of sludge is about 2 billion US dollars. The widespread availability and low cost of sludge compared to other biodiesel raw materials make it an economical choice for a renewable fuel. Using sludge as a raw material can produce 25 to 30 mg per gram of fatty acid methyl ester (FAME); the main component of biodiesel. Sludge biodiesel has the potential of transforming a …

Techniques To Improve The Volume, Texture And Nutritional Quality Of Gluten-Free Bread, Zachary Christman

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This article highlights the use of soy flour to improve the protein and fiber of gluten free bread. Also, the use of an extrusion process on soybean and corn flour blends improves the volume and texture of the bread. A full listing of the ingredients and method for production of higher quality gluten free bread is included.

Multi-Dimensional Drought Assessment In Abbay/Upper Blue Nile Basin: The Importance Of Shared Management And Regional Coordination Efforts For Mitigation, Yared Bayissa, Semu Moges, Assefa Melesse, Tsegaye Tadesse, Anteneh Z. Abiy, Abeyou Worqlul

National Drought Mitigation Center: Faculty Publications

Drought is one of the least understood and complex natural hazards often characterized by a significant decrease in water availability for a prolonged period. It can be manifested in one or more forms as meteorological, agricultural, hydrological, and/or socio-economic drought. The overarching objective of this study is to demonstrate and characterize the different forms of droughts and to assess the multidimensional nature of drought in the Abbay/ Upper Blue Nile River (UBN) basin and its national and regional scale implications. In this study, multiple drought indices derived from in situ and earth observation-based hydro-climatic variables were used. The meteorological drought …