Digital Commons Network^™

Editorial: Proceedings Of The 21st Biennial Southern Silvicultural Research Conference, John L. Willis, Thomas J. Dean

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Revisiting Forest Certification In Sri Lanka: The Forest Management And Export Wood-Based Manufacturing Sector Perspectives, Priyan Perera, Rajitha Lakshan Rupasinghe, Devin Weerasekera, Richard Vlosky, Rangika Bandara

Faculty Publications

There are discussions and debates surrounding forest certification in developing coun-tries. In this study, we surveyed 50 forest-based companies in Sri Lanka (43 wood-based manufacturers and 7 plantation companies) to ascertain their participation in forest certification, current and future forest certification trends, as well as their satisfaction with the performance of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification in its economic, environmental, and social aspects, using an importance–performance analysis (IPA). Study results indicate that certified companies typically focus on exports and supplying raw materials for value-added exporters. The customer demand/signaling mechanism appears to be the primary driver of FSC certification in Sri …

Is Catalase An Effective Additive To Alleviate Oxidative Stress During Cryopreservation Of Zebrafish Sperm At The Repository Level?, Huiping Yang, E. Hu, Jennifer L. Matthews, Zoltan M. Varga, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

The goal of this study was to investigate whether supplementation of cryoprotective medium with catalase (CAT), an antioxidation enzyme, is efficient for zebrafish sperm cryopreservation from the viewpoint of high-throughput genetic repository operations. Three cryoprotectants (10%, v/v), dimethylacetamide (DMA), dimethylformamide (DMF), and methanol were used. The objectives were to evaluate the effects of CAT on sperm motility, plasma membrane integrity, and concentration for: 1) fresh sperm at equilibration up to 60 min; 2) post-thaw sperm after cooling at 10, 20, and 40 °C/min), and 3) post-thaw fertilization and embryo survival rates. Catalase addition did not improve sperm motility, regardless of …

Biomass Slurry Fracture Injection As A Potential Low-Cost Negative Emissions Technology, Brian F. Snyder

Faculty Publications

Negative emissions technologies (NETs) are systems which remove carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere and sequester it in permanent storage and they are required to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. However, all NETs are limited by biological, physical and economic factors. Here, we model the life cycle emissions, geospatial potential, technoeconomic feasibility of a new NET based on slurry fracture injection, a technique which has been used for decades in the oil and gas industry to dispose of wastes. In the proposed system, called biomass slurry fracture injection (BSFI), biogeneic wastes are injected into fractures created in permeable …

Preemption & Gender & Racial (In)Equity: Why State Tort Law Is Needed In The Cosmetic Context, Marie C. Boyd

Faculty Publications

Much of the legal scholarship on the preemption of state tort law in the food and drug context and beyond has focused on issues of federalism. While the literature has considered the relationship between state tort law and the regulatory system, it has not generally explored the impact the federal preemption of state tort law may have on women and people of color. Similarly, while the literature has grappled with gender and racial justice issues in the tort system, including in the context of tort reform, it has largely not examined the gender and racial equity issues raised by federal …

Search Full Text Options Here 3 Of 3 Heat-Mitigated Design And Lorentz Force-Based Steering Of An Mri-Driven Microcatheter Toward Minimally Invasive Surgery, Martin Francis Phelan Iii, Mehmet Efe Tiryaki, Jelena Lazovic, Hunter Gilbert, Metin Sitti

Faculty Publications

Catheters integrated with microcoils for electromagnetic steering under the high, uniform magnetic field within magnetic resonance (MR) scanners (3-7 Tesla) have enabled an alternative approach for active catheter operations. Achieving larger ranges of tip motion for Lorentz force-based steering have previously been dependent on using high power coupled with active cooling, bulkier catheter designs, or introducing additional microcoil sets along the catheter. This work proposes an alternative approach using a heat-mitigated design and actuation strategy for a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-driven microcatheter. A quad-configuration microcoil (QCM) design is introduced, allowing miniaturization of existing MRI-driven, Lorentz force-based catheters down to 1-mm …

Exploring Pre-Service Teachers’ Perspectives: Gender And Gender Representation Across Human Protagonists In Picture Books, Taraneh Matloob Haghanikar, Shan Jiang, Sara Tomek, Lisa M. Hooper

Faculty Publications

Gender is ever present in education preparation, school materials, curriculum, and school systems. To improve our knowledge about different facets of gender and the extent to which the depiction of gender has changed over time in picture books, there is a need to dig beneath the surface of questions about gender representation in picture books. Given that in-service teachers have proximity to approximately 75 million K-12 students, how in-service teachers think about gender, gender representation, and their own experiences with gender socialization have important implications on how K-12 students think, act, and feel about gender. In this study, we focused …

Stent Retriever Versus Direct Aspiration Thrombectomy For Acute Large Vessel Occlusion: A Meta-Analysis Including 17,556 Patients, From Mr Clean To Present, Eric R. Smith, Jacob A. Bethel, Timothy B. Smith, Grant Holden, Furkan Torlak, Matthew Grimsbo, Ali Seifi, Justin R. Mascitelli

Faculty Publications

Objective

Stent retriever (SR) and direct aspiration (DA) mechanical thrombectomy (MT) improve clinical outcomes for stroke secondary to large vessel occlusion. The purpose is to perform an updated meta-analysis comparing the two techniques.

Methods

PubMed database was searched for studies between January 1, 2015, and July 5th, 2021 with mechanical thrombectomy to treat acute ischemic stroke.

Results

We identified 136 studies including 17,556 patients, with 11,258 (64.1%) patients treated by SR or a combined approach and 6298 (35.9%) patients with DA. The DA group had less posterior cerebral artery strokes, was significantly older, and had lower National Institutes …

The Small Rna Universe Of Capitella Teleta, Sweta Khanal, Beatriz Schueng Zancanela, Jacob Oche Peter, Alex Sutton Flynt

Faculty Publications

RNAi is an evolutionarily fluid mechanism with dramatically different activities across animal phyla. One major group where there has been little investigation is annelid worms. Here, the small RNAs of the polychaete developmental model Capitella teleta are profiled across development. As is seen with nearly all animals, nearly 200 microRNAs were found with 58 high-confidence novel species. Greater miRNA diversity was associated with later stages consistent with differentiation of tissues. Outside miRNA, a distinct composition of other small RNA pathways was found. Unlike many invertebrates, an endogenous siRNA pathway was not observed, indicating pathway loss relative to basal planarians. No …

Offshore Spreading Of A Supercritical Plume Under Upwelling Wind Forcing: A Case Study Of The Winyah Bay Outflow, Alexander E. Yankovsky, Douglas Cahl, George Voulgaris

Faculty Publications

In this study, we present observations of the Winyah Bay (WB) plume (SC, United States) formed by high freshwater discharge and a moderate upwelling-favorable wind acting continuously for ∼1.5 days prior to the shipboard survey. If a similar wind forcing persists over a longer period, the plume turns upstream (against its natural propagation) and curves offshore forming a “filament” with minimal transverse spreading, as seen in numerous satellite images. The observed plume comprises a train of tidal sub-plumes undergoing rotational adjustment and being transported offshore by Ekman dynamics. The WB outflow is supercritical in terms of the interior Froude number. …

Dominance Of Diffusive Methane Emissions From Lowland Headwater Streams Promotes Oxidation And Isotopic Enrichment, Andrew L. Robison, Wilfred M. Wollheim, Clarice R. Perryman, Annie R. Cotter, Jessica E. Mackay, Ruth K. Varner, Paige Clarizia, Jessica G. Ernakovich

Faculty Publications

Inland waters are the largest natural source of methane (CH4) to the atmosphere, yet the contribution from small streams to this flux is not clearly defined. To fully understand CH4 emissions from streams and rivers, we must consider the relative importance of CH4 emission pathways, the prominence of microbially-mediated production and oxidation of CH4, and the isotopic signature of emitted CH4. Here, we construct a complete CH4 emission budgets for four lowland headwater streams by quantifying diffusive CH4 emissions and comparing them to previously published rates of ebullitive emissions. We also examine the isotopic composition of CH4 along with the …

Diversity And Distribution Patterns Of Endemic Medicinal And Aromatic Plants Of Iran: Implications For Conservation And Habitat Management, Mohammad Bagher Hassanpouraghdam, Hamideh Ghorbani, Marzieh Esmaeilpour, Mac H. Alford, Maciej Strzemski, Slawomir Dresler

Faculty Publications

Iran, with its unique climatic and topographic conditions, is home to about 8200 species of vascular plants. Approximately 2300 of the 8200 species are popularly characterized as medicinal or aromatic. Here, we compile information about the endemic medicinal and aromatic plants (MAPs) of Iran and map their distributions. Our survey found 180 endemic species of MAPs, belonging to 10 families and 30 genera. The majority of species are found in Lamiaceae, Fabaceae, and Apiaceae, with 86, 30, and 18 species, respectively. Approximately 70% of these plants have been recorded in the 10 provinces of Esfahan, Kerman, Fars, Tehran, Chaharmahal va …

Él Code-Switches More Than Tú Y Yo: New Data For The Subject Pronoun-Verb Switch Constraint, Kate Bellamy, Hans Stadthagen-Gonzalez, M. Carmen Parafita Couto

Faculty Publications

In early studies, code-switches between a subject pronoun and a finite verb were considered highly dispreferred or even impossible. However, naturalistic data from several language pairs has since highlighted that such switches are possible, although their grammaticality is constrained by the typology of the pronouns involved. In this study, we test the switching constraints postulated for subject pronouns-verbs among P’urhepecha-Spanish bilinguals (n = 12) from Michoacán, western Mexico. Using a two-alternative forced-choice acceptability judgement task (2AFC), we found that, contrary to expectations, switches between a third person singular pronoun and a verb were considered the most acceptable, followed by …

Investigation Of Innovation In Wine Industry Via Meta-Analysis, Ali Dogru, Joseph Peyrefitte

Faculty Publications

This study provides a systematic review of 76 relevant wine business studies published in the last 30 years. Our meta-analysis investigates six commonly used variables to explain wine innovation: absorptive capacity, technology adoption, sustainable practices, export orientation, firm size, and firm age. We also investigate the association between innovation and financial performance, using the reported effect sizes in the literature. Our meta-analysis reveals that absorptive capacity, technology adoption, sustainable practices, export orientation, and firm size positively correlate with innovation efforts, and innovation is positively associated with financial performance. However, we find no correlation between firm age and innovation. In addition …

Reply To Comment: Controls On Turnover Of Marine Dissolved Organic Matter-Testing The Null Hypothesis Of Purely Concentration-Driven Uptake, Yuan Shen, Ronald Benner

Faculty Publications

Our recent bioassay experiments indicate that molecular properties are a primary control on the microbial utilization of dissolved organic matter in the ocean. This finding is questioned by Lennartz and Dittmar who modeled our experiments and concluded that our observations could be largely explained by concentration-driven uptake independent from molecular properties. We suggest the authors' models are deficient for establishing the relative roles of molecular properties and concentration-driven uptake. Our conclusion is consistent with earlier and recent experimental results and biogeochemical observations, supporting a unified theory with molecular properties as a more prominent control than concentration-driven uptake on marine organic …

Transcriptional Coactivators: Driving Force Of Plant Immunity, Muhammad Saad Shoaib Khan, Faisal Islam, Huan Chen, Ming Chang, Daowen Wang, Fengquan Liu, Zhengqing Fu, Jian Chen

Faculty Publications

Salicylic acid (SA) is a plant defense signal that mediates local and systemic immune responses against pathogen invasion. However, the underlying mechanism of SA-mediated defense is very complex due to the involvement of various positive and negative regulators to fine-tune its signaling in diverse pathosystems. Upon pathogen infections, elevated level of SA promotes massive transcriptional reprogramming in which Non-expresser of PR genes 1 (NPR1) acts as a central hub and transcriptional coactivator in defense responses. Recent findings show that Enhanced Disease Susceptibility 1 (EDS1) also functions as a transcriptional coactivator and stimulates the expression of PR1 in the presence of …

Reassessing The Role Of Anthropogenic Climate Change In The Extinction Of Silphium, Paul Pollaro, Paul Robertson

Faculty Publications

The famed ancient herb, known to the Romans as silphium (Greeksilphion), is widely regarded as the first recorded instance of human-induced species extinction. Modern scholars have largely credited direct exploitation (e.g., over-harvesting; over-grazing) as the primary cause of silphium's extinction, due to an overwhelming demand for the plant in ancient times. Recent research has revealed strict cold-stratification requirements for the germination of silphium's closest living relatives, revealing the likelihood that silphium shared these same germination requirements. Documented environmental changes in ancient Cyrenaica (e.g., widespread deforestation; cropland expansion) likely resulted in accelerated rates of desertification throughout the region as well as …

Future Of Winter In Northeastern North America: Climate Indicators Portray Warming And Snow Loss That Will Impact Ecosystems And Communities, Elizabeth Burakowski, Alix Contosta, Danielle Grogan, Sarah Nelson, Sarah Garlick, Nora Casson

Faculty Publications

Winters in northeastern North America have warmed faster than summers, with impacts on ecosystems and society. Global climate models (GCMs) indicate that winters will continue to warm and lose snow in the future, but uncertainty remains regarding the magnitude of warming. Here, we project future trends in winter indicators under lower and higher climate-warming scenarios based on emission levels across northeastern North America at a fine spatial scale (1/16°) relevant to climate-related decision making. Under both climate scenarios, winters continue to warm with coincident increases in days above freezing, decreases in days with snow cover, and fewer nights below freezing. …

Surface Acoustic Wave (Saw) Sensors: Physics, Materials, And Applications, Debdyuti Mandal, Sourav Banerjee

Faculty Publications

Surface acoustic waves (SAWs) are the guided waves that propagate along the top surface of a material with wave vectors orthogonal to the normal direction to the surface. Based on these waves, SAW sensors are conceptualized by employing piezoelectric crystals where the guided elastodynamic waves are generated through an electromechanical coupling. Electromechanical coupling in both active and passive modes is achieved by integrating interdigitated electrode transducers (IDT) with the piezoelectric crystals. Innovative meta-designs of the periodic IDTs define the functionality and application of SAW sensors. This review article presents the physics of guided surface acoustic waves and the piezoelectric materials …

An Exploratory Study On The Microbiome Of Northern And Southern Populations Of Ixodes Scapularis Ticks Predicts Changes And Unique Bacterial Interactions, Deepak Kumar, Latoyia P. Downs, Abdulsalam Adegoke, Erika Machtinger, Kelly Oggenfuss, Richard S. Ostfeld, Monica Embers, Shahid Karim

Faculty Publications

The black-legged tick (Ixodes scapularis) is the primary vector of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme disease in North America. However, the prevalence of Lyme borreliosis is clustered around the Northern States of the United States of America. This study utilized a metagenomic sequencing approach to compare the microbial communities residing within Ix. scapularis populations from northern and southern geographic locations in the USA. Using a SparCC network construction model, we performed potential interactions between members of the microbial communities from Borrelia burgdorferi–infected tissues of unfed and blood-fed ticks. A significant difference in bacterial composition …

Development Of Advanced Machine Learning Models For Analysis Of Plutonium Surrogate Optical Emission Spectra, Ashwin P. Rao, Phillip R. Jenkins, John D. Auxier Ii, Michael B. Shattan, Anil K. Patnaik

Faculty Publications

This work investigates and applies machine learning paradigms seldom seen in analytical spectroscopy for quantification of gallium in cerium matrices via processing of laser-plasma spectra. Ensemble regressions, support vector machine regressions, Gaussian kernel regressions, and artificial neural network techniques are trained and tested on cerium-gallium pellet spectra. A thorough hyperparameter optimization experiment is conducted initially to determine the best design features for each model. The optimized models are evaluated for sensitivity and precision using the limit of detection (LoD) and root mean-squared error of prediction (RMSEP) metrics, respectively. Gaussian kernel regression yields the superlative predictive model with an RMSEP of …

Microplastics Through The Lens Of Colloid Science, Ahmed Al Harraq, Bhuvnesh Bharti

Faculty Publications

Microplastics are sub-millimeter-sized fragments of plastics and a relatively new class of pollutant increasingly found in the environment. Due to their size and surface area to volume ratio, the physicochemical characteristics of microplastics can diverge from those of their macroscopic counterparts. This is partly why it is challenging to understand their origin, analyze their behavior, and predict their fates in the environment compared to large pollutants. We believe that adopting a view of microplastics as a colloid provides a holistic framework that connects their physical properties and surface chemistries with observations of their dynamics in the environment. In particular, we …

Crop Rotational Complexity Affects Plant-Soil Nitrogen Cycling During Water Deficit, Timothy M. Bowles, Andrea Jilling, Karen Moran-Rivera, Jorg Schnecker, A. Stuart Grandy

Faculty Publications

One of the biggest environmental challenges facing agriculture is how to both supply and retain nitrogen (N), especially as precipitation becomes more variable with climate change. We used a greenhouse experiment to assess how contrasting histories of crop rotational complexity affect plant-soil-microbe interactions that govern N processes, including during water stress. With higher levels of carbon and N cycling hydrolytic enzymes, higher mineral-associated organic matter N concentrations, and an altered microbial community, soils from the most complex rotation enabled 80% more corn N uptake under two moisture regimes, compared to soil from monoculture corn. Higher levels of plant N likely …

Detoxification Of Copper And Chromium Via Dark Hydrogen Fermentation Of Potato Waste By Clostridium Butyricum Strain 92, Vira Hovorukha, Olesia Havryliuk, Galina Gladka, Antonina Kalinichenko, Monika Sporek, Jan Stebila, Dmitri Mavrodi, Ruslan Mariychuk, Oleksandr Tashyrev

Faculty Publications

The accumulation of various types of waste containing both organic and inorganic metal-containing compounds is extremely hazardous for living organisms. The possibility of polymer degradation, biohydrogen synthesis, and metal detoxification via the dark fermentation of model potato waste was investigated. For this purpose, the strict anaerobic strain was isolated and identified as Clostridium butyricum. The high efficiency of dark hydrogen fermentation of potatoes with yield of hydrogen in 85.8 ± 15.3 L kg⁻¹ VS_potato was observed. The copperand chromium salts solutions were added to the culture fluid to obtain the concentrations of 50, 100, and 200 mg …

Scanner: A Web Platform For Annotation, Visualization And Sharing Of Single Cell Rna-Seq Data, Guoshuai Cai, Xuanxuan Yu, Choonhan Youn, Jun Zhou, Feifei Xiao

Faculty Publications

In recent years, efficient scRNA-seq methods have been developed, enabling the transcriptome profiling of single cells massively in parallel. Meanwhile, its high dimensionality and complexity bring challenges to the data analysis and require extensive collaborations between biologists and bioinformaticians and/or biostatisticians. The communication between these two units demands a platform for easy data sharing and exploration. Here we developed Single-Cell Transcriptomics Annotated Viewer (SCANNER), as a public web resource for the scientific community, for sharing and analyzing scRNA-seq data in a collaborative manner. It is easy-to-use without requiring special software or extensive coding skills. Moreover, it equipped a real-time database …

Reef Sediments Can Act As A Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease Vector, Michael S. Studivan, Ashley M. Rossin, Ewelina Rubin, Nash Soderberg, Daniel M. Holstein, Ian C. Enochs

Faculty Publications

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) was first observed in 2014 near Virginia Key in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Field sampling, lab experiments, and modeling approaches have suggested that reef sediments may play a role in SCTLD transmission, though a positive link has not been tested experimentally. We conducted an ex situ transmission assay using a statistically-independent disease apparatus to test whether reef sediments can transmit SCTLD in the absence of direct contact between diseased and healthy coral tissue. We evaluated two methods of sediment inoculation: batch inoculation of sediments collected from southeast Florida using whole colonies of diseased Montastraea cavernosa, …

Long-Term Suppression Of Hardwood Regeneration By Chinese Privet (Ligustrum Sinense), Taylor N. Turner, Thomas J. Dean, Jeff S. Kuehny

Faculty Publications

Native hardwood regeneration in the southeast United States is hindered by repeat disturbance events and the presence of invasive species. Our study aimed to determine the ability of native species in an unmanaged urban forest fragment to persist following high winds from hurricane Gustav in 2008 and subsequent salvage logging. In 2009, researchers estimated the density and composition of the regeneration and overstory trees as well as percent crown cover of invasive Chinese privet. Percent Chinese privet cover was visibly high, leading them to believe it may be inhibiting native hardwood establishment. Ten years later in 2019, we returned to …

Improved Chromosome-Level Genome Assembly Of The Glanville Fritillary Butterfly (Melitaea Cinxia) Integrating Pacific Biosciences Long Reads And A High-Density Linkage Map, Olli-Pekka Smolander, Daniel Blande, Virpi Ahola, Pasi Rastas, Jaakko Tanskanen, Juhana Kammonen, Vicencio Oostra, Lorenzo Pellegrini, Suvi Ikonen, Tad Dallas, Michelle F. Dileo, Anne Duplouy, Iihan Cem Duru, Pauliina Halimaa, Aapo Kahilainen, Suyog S. Kuwar, Sirpa O. Kärenlampi, Elvira Lafuente, Shiqi Luo, Jenny Makkonen, Abhilash Nair, Narua De La Paz Celorio-Mancera, Ville Pennanen, Annukka Ruokolainen, Tarja Sundell, Arja I. Tervahauta, Victoria Twort, Erik Van Bergen, Janina Österman-Udd, Lars Paulin, Mikko J. Frilander, Petri Auvinen, Marjo Saastamoinen

Faculty Publications

Background

The Glanville fritillary (Melitaea cinxia) butterfly is a model system for metapopulation dynamics research in fragmented landscapes. Here, we provide a chromosome-level assembly of the butterfly's genome produced from Pacific Biosciences sequencing of a pool of males, combined with a linkage map from population crosses.

Results

The final assembly size of 484 Mb is an increase of 94 Mb on the previously published genome. Estimation of the completeness of the genome with BUSCO indicates that the genome contains 92–94% of the BUSCO genes in complete and single copies. We predicted 14,810 genes using the MAKER pipeline and …

Role Of International Research Experiences In The Development Of Women Of Color In Chemistry, R D. Davis, L Winfield, D Spivak, Z S. Wilson-Kennedy, R D. Davis

Faculty Publications

As undergraduate students cultivate their scientific knowledge and abilities, several high-impact educational practices such as undergraduate research and global experiences have proven exponentially beneficial for their development and success. Current literature on underrepresented racial and ethnic minorities has focused primarily on the impact of undergraduate research on this subpopulation. However, fewer studies have explored the impact of global research experiences and women of color in international research experiences. Grounded in the theoretical frameworks of Social Cognitive Career Theory, Intersectionality, and Community Cultural Wealth, this present study explored the impact of international undergraduate research experiences on women of color from groups …

Current Methods And Future Directions In Avian Diet Analysis, Brandon D. Hoenig, Allison M. Snider, Anna M. Forsman, Keith A. Hobson, Steven C. Latta, Eliot T. Miller, Michael J. Polito, Luke L. Powell, Samantha L. Rogers, Thomas W. Sherry, David P.L. Toews, Andreanna J. Welch, Sabrina S. Taylor, Brady A. Porter

Faculty Publications

Identifying the composition of avian diets is a critical step in characterizing the roles of birds within ecosystems. However, because birds are a diverse taxonomic group with equally diverse dietary habits, gaining an accurate and thorough understanding of avian diet can be difficult. In addition to overcoming the inherent difficulties of studying birds, the field is advancing rapidly, and researchers are challenged with a myriad of methods to study avian diet, a task that has only become more difficult with the introduction of laboratory techniques to dietary studies. Because methodology drives inference, it is important that researchers are aware of …