Digital Commons Network^™

Diet Of Juvenile Alabama Shad (Alosa Alabamae) In Two Northern Gulf Of Mexico Drainages, Paul F. Mickle, Jacob F. Schaefer, Donald A. Yee, Susan B. Adams

Faculty Publications

Understanding food-web ecology is valuable to conservation by linking interactions of multiple species together and illustrating the functionality of trophic exchange. Alosa alabamae (Alabama Shad), an anadromous species, reproduces in northern Gulf of Mexico drainages from February through May, and for this study, the Pascagoula and Apalachicola rivers were chosen to sample juvenile Alabama Shad. The age-0 fish mature within these rivers and have the potential to impact the food web of the systems in which maturation occurs. The focus was to determine if diet changes as Alabama Shad mature, and to identify diet differences between drainages. Diets of Alabama …

Using The Globe Program To Educate Students On The Interdependence Of Professional Development?, Sherry S. Herron, Jennifer L. Robertson

Faculty Publications

We present how we have used GLOBE protocols and programs in a college undergraduate English course for science and non-science majors, “Writing in the Sciences”, and in a graduate-level field course for in-service teachers. Collecting land cover data and determining biomass in conjunction with a series of writing assignments allowed the English students to connect their work to research done in ecosystems throughout the world, and to specific environmental concerns such as carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and the impact of controlled burning on ecosystems. Teachers demonstrated increased knowledge of ecology, natural histories of various organisms, and awareness of environmental resources. A …

An Oer Coup: College Teacher And Student Perceptions Of Open Educational Resources, John Hilton Iii, Tj Bliss, T. Jared Robinson, David A. Wiley

Faculty Publications

Despite increased development and dissemination, there has been very little empirical research on Open Educational Resources (OER). Teachers and students involved in a large-scale OER initiative at eight community colleges across the United States were given a detailed questionnaire aimed at uncovering their perceptions of the cost, outcomes, uses and perceptions of quality of the OER used in their courses. Teachers and students alike reported significant cost savings and various pedagogical and learning impacts due to the implementation of OER in the classroom. In addition, most students and teachers perceived their OER to be at least equal in quality to …

A History Of The Seventh-Day Adventist Periodical Index, Part 3: Still A Work In Progress, Daniel Drazen

Faculty Publications

The first two parts of the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Periodical Index1 are what they claim to be. They’re histories, written with scholarship, objectivity and distance. I can claim none of this for my contribution to the history of the Index for one simple reason: I still work here. What this paper represents is a memoir rather than a history. It is about what I’ve been doing for a living for 20 years, longer than any of my predecessors. Whatever scholarship I practice will involve me racking my brain for memories as the primary source, rather than relying on …

A Stake In The Sand: Origin Exhibit Opens At Southern Adventist University, Gerald A. Klingbeil

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Hispanic Mortality Paradox: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of The Longitudinal Literature, J. Ruiz, P. Steffen, Timothy B. Smith

Faculty Publications

Objectives: The current objective was to compare Hispanic mortality rates to those of other racial/ethnic groups in order to investigate the possibility of a Hispanic mortality advantage.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the published longitudinal literature reporting Hispanic individuals’ mortality of any cause compared with that of any other racial/ethnic group.

Results: Across 58 studies (4,615,747 participants), the random effects weighted average effect size was OR = 0.825 (P < .001, 95% CI = 0.75 to 0.91), corresponding to a 17.5% lower risk of mortality among Hispanic populations compared to other racial groups. The difference in mortality risk tended to be greater among older populations and varied as a function of pre-existing health condition, with effects apparent for initially healthy samples and for those with cardiovascular diseases. The results also differed by racial group comparison: Hispanics had lower overall risk for mortality than non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks, but overall higher risk for mortality than Asian Americans.

Conclusions: These findings provide evidence of a small Hispanic mortality advantage, with implications for conceptualizing and addressing racial/ethnic health disparities.

Effects Of Biogents Sentinel Trap Field Placement On Capture Rates Of Adult Asian Tiger Mosquitoes, Aedes Albopictus, Taryn N. Crepeau, Sean P. Healy, Kristen Bartlett-Healy, Isik Unlu, Ary Farajollahi, Dina M. Fonseca

Faculty Publications

The Biogents® Sentinel (BGS) trap is the standard tool to monitor adult Aedes (Stegomyia) albopictus (Skuse) (Diptera: Culicidae), the Asian tiger mosquito. BGS traps are commonly placed in residential properties during surveillance operations, but locations within properties may have significant differences in ambient light, temperature, and humidity (e.g. between a sunlit lawn and shady underbrush). We examined the effect of BGS trap placement on Ae. albopictus capture rates in three residential properties in Monmouth County, New Jersey, USA. In each property we visually selected locations as shade, partial shade, and sun. Traps in "partial shade" locations were under vegetation and …

Transforming Synthetic Biology With Cell-Free Systems, Arnaz Ranji, Jeffrey C. Wu, Bradley Charles Bundy, Michael C. Jewett

Faculty Publications

Cell-free synthetic biology offers an unprecedented level of control and freedom of design for understanding, harnessing, and expanding the capabilities of natural biological systems. Inspired by advances in synthetic biology projects in vivo, recent years have witnessed the emergence of cell-free systems not only as a testing ground for our ability to engineer and analyze biology, but also as technologies capable of efficient and scalable synthesis of complex biological products. Dominant efforts in the field include: programmable nucleic acid circuits; nanomachines; cell-free protein synthesis; cell-free metabolic engineering; and minimal cells. The goals are understanding why nature’s designs work the way …

Expansion Of Breast Cancer Stem Cells With Fibrous Scaffolds, Sheng Feng, Pang-Kuo Lo, Shou Liu, Xinfeng Liu, Hexin Chen, Qian Wang

Faculty Publications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are hypothesized as tumor-initiating cells within tumors and main contributors of tumor growth, metastasis and recurrence. Mammary cancer cells, MCF-7 cells, were cultured on 3D polycaprolactone (PCL) fibrous scaffolds, showing an increased proportion of CSCs. The expression of stem cell markers, including OCT3/4 and SOX2, and breast CSC-specific markers, SOX4 and CD49f, was significantly upregulated, and the mammosphere-forming capability in cells cultured on PCL fibrous scaffolds increased. The fibrous scaffolds also induced the elongation of MCF-7 cells and extended cell proliferation. The increase of CSC properties after being cultured on fibrous scaffolds was further confirmed with …

Sugar Promotes Vegetative Phase Change In Arabidopsis Thaliana By Repressing The Expression Of Mir156a And Mir156c, Li Yang, Mingli Xu, Yeonjong Koo, Jia He, R. Scott Poethig

Faculty Publications

Nutrients shape the growth, maturation, and aging of plants and animals. In plants, the juvenile to adult transition (vegetative phase change) is initiated by a decrease in miR156. In Arabidopsis, we found that exogenous sugar decreased the abundance of miR156, whereas reduced photosynthesis increased the level of this miRNA. This effect was correlated with a change in the timing of vegetative phase change, and was primarily attributable to a change in the expression of two genes, MIR156A and MIR156C, which were found to play dominant roles in this transition. The glucose-induced repression of miR156 was dependent on the …

Smoking Abstinence-Related Expectancies Among American Indians, African Americans, And Women: Potential Mechanisms Of Disparities In Cigarette Use, P. S. Hendricks, J. L. Westmaas, Van M. Ta Park, C. B. Thorne, S. B. Wood, M. R. Baker, M. R. Lawler, M. Webb Hooper, K. L. Delucchi, S. M. Hall

Faculty Publications

Research has documented tobacco-related health disparities by race and gender. Prior research, however, has not examined expectancies about the smoking cessation process (i.e., abstinence-related expectancies) as potential contributors to tobacco-related disparities in special populations. This cross-sectional study compared abstinence-related expectancies between American Indian (n = 87), African American (n = 151), and White (n = 185) smokers, and between women (n = 231) and men (n = 270) smokers. Abstinence-related expectancies also were examined as mediators of race and gender relationships with motivation to quit and abstinence self efficacy. Results indicated that American Indians and African Americans were less likely …

Stepfamily Functioning And Closeness: Children's Views On Second Marriages And Stepfather Relationships, Todd M. Jensen, Kevin Shafer

Faculty Publications

Current research on stepfamily well-being often overlooks the perspective of children, and deals primarily with factors as reported by the adults involved. The authors examine a number of family role characteristics, parental subsystem characteristics, and resources that might influence how children perceive the quality of their stepfamily relationships. A sample of 1,088 children in households with a mother and stepfather, ages 10 to 16 years, in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, 1979 cohort—Children and Young Adult Sample, is used for the analyses. Results indicate that open communication between children and their mothers, low amounts of arguing between mothers and …

Corpse Management In Social Insects, Qian Sun, Xuguo Zhou

Faculty Publications

Undertaking behavior is an essential adaptation to social life that is critical for colony hygiene in enclosed nests. Social insects dispose of dead individuals in various fashions to prevent further contact between corpses and living members in a colony. Focusing on three groups of eusocial insects (bees, ants, and termites) in two phylogenetically distant orders (Hymenoptera and Isoptera), we review mechanisms of death recognition, convergent and divergent behavioral re-sponses toward dead individuals, and undertaking task allocation from the perspective of division of labor. Distinctly different solutions (e.g., corpse removal, burial and cannibalism) have evolved, independently, in the holometabolous hymenopterans and …

Snp Discovery And Chromosome Anchoring Provide The First Physically-Anchored Hexaploid Oat Map And Reveal Synteny With Model Species, Rebekah E. Oliver, Nicholas A. Tinker, Gerard R. Lazo, Shiaoman Chao, Eric N. Jellen, Martin L. Carson, Howard W. Rines, Donald E. Obert, Joseph D. Lutz, Irene Shackelford, Abraham B. Korol, Charlene P. Wight, Kyle M. Gardner, Jiro Hattori, Aaron D. Beattie, Åsmund Bjørnstad, J. Michael Bonman, Jean Luc Jannink, Mark E. Sorrells, Gina L. Brown-Guedira, Jennifer W. Mitchell Fetch, Stephen A. Harrison, Catherine J. Howarth, Amir Ibrahim, Frederic L. Kolb, Michael S. Mcmullen, J. Paul Murphy, Herbert W. Ohm, Brian G. Rossnagel, Weikai Yan, Kelci J. Miclaus, Jordan Hiller, Peter J. Maughan

Faculty Publications

A physically anchored consensus map is foundational to modern genomics research; however, construction of such a map in oat (Avena sativa L., 2n = 6x = 42) has been hindered by the size and complexity of the genome, the scarcity of robust molecular markers, and the lack of aneuploid stocks. Resources developed in this study include a modified SNP discovery method for complex genomes, a diverse set of oat SNP markers, and a novel chromosome-deficient SNP anchoring strategy. These resources were applied to build the first complete, physically-anchored consensus map of hexaploid oat. Approximately 11,000 high-confidence in silico SNPs were …

A Social History Of Technology In Libraries, Richard Hacken

Faculty Publications

For the International Conference on Information Systems and Technologies in Tangier, Morocco, on March 22, 2013, I presented a social history of technology in libraries over the past 30 years. In addition I speculated what the future may bring socially and technologically, obviously from my perspective as a librarian.

H3k4 Methyltransferase Set1 Is Involved In Maintenance Of Ergosterol Homeostasis And Resistance To Brefeldin A, Paul F. South, Kayla M. Harmeyer, Nina D. Serratore, Scott D. Briggs

Faculty Publications

Set1 is a conserved histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4) methyltransferase that exists as a multisubunit complex. Although H3K4 methylation is located on many actively transcribed genes, few studies have established a direct connection showing that loss of Set1 and H3K4 methylation results in a phenotype caused by disruption of gene expression. In this study, we determined that cells lacking Set1 or Set1 complex members that disrupt H3K4 methylation have a growth defect when grown in the presence of the antifungal drug Brefeldin A (BFA), indicating that H3K4 methylation is needed for BFA resistance. To determine the role of Set1 in …

Appendix 5: Selected Worldwide Expatriate Killings And Attempted Killings, 1978-2011, Brian Champion, Lee Crowther

Faculty Publications

Appendix 5 documents thirty-eight attempts (successful or otherwise) on fifty expatriates for which some allegation was made that the target's own state, at an official or quasi-official level, was responsible.

Iron Binding Activity Is Essential For The Function Of Isca In Iron-Sulphur Cluster Biogenesis, Aaron P. Landry, Zishuo Cheng, Huangen Ding

Faculty Publications

Iron-sulphur cluster biogenesis requires coordinated delivery of iron and sulphur to scaffold proteins, followed by transfer of the assembled clusters from scaffold proteins to target proteins. This complex process is accomplished by a group of dedicated iron-sulphur cluster assembly proteins that are conserved from bacteria to humans. While sulphur in iron-sulphur clusters is provided by l-cysteine via cysteine desulfurase, the iron donor(s) for iron-sulphur cluster assembly remains largely elusive. Here we report that among the primary iron-sulphur cluster assembly proteins, IscA has a unique and strong binding activity for mononuclear iron in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, the ferric iron …

Long Prereproductive Selection And Divergence By Depth In A Caribbean Candelabrum Coral, Carlos Prada, Michael E. Hellberg

Faculty Publications

Long-lived corals, the foundation of modern reefs, often follow ecological gradients, so that populations or sister species segregate by habitat. Adaptive divergence maintains sympatric congeners after secondary contact or may even generate species by natural selection in the face of gene flow. Such ecological divergence, initially between alternative phenotypes within populations, may be aided by immigrant inviability, especially when a long period separates larval dispersal and the onset of reproduction, during which selection can sort lineages to match different habitats. Here, we evaluate the strength of one ecological factor (depth) to isolate populations by comparing the genes and morphologies of …

A Software Tool For The Design Of Critical Robot Missions With Performance Guarantees, Damian M. Lyons, Ronald C. Arkin, Paramesh Nirmal, Shu Jiang, Tsung-Ming Liu

Faculty Publications

Deploying a robot as part of a counter-weapons of mass destruction mission demands that the robotic software operates with high assurance. A unique feature of robotic software development is the need to perform predictably in a physical environment that may only be poorly characterized in advance. In this paper, we present an approach to building high assurance software for robot missions carried out in uncertain environments. The software development framework and the verification algorithm, VIPARS, are described in detail. Results are presented for missions including motion and sensing uncertainty, interaction with obstacles, and the use of sensors to guide behavior.

Optical Dissection Of Odor Information Processing In Vivo Using Gcamps Expressed In Specified Cell Types Of The Olfactory Bulb., Wachowiak M, Economo Mn, Díaz-Quesada M, Brunert D, Wesson Dw, White Ja, Rothermel M

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Non-Market Values In Family Businesses, Benjamin Means

Faculty Publications

Despite the economic importance of family businesses, legal scholarship has often overlooked their distinctive character. Instead, scholars focus on the chosen form of business organization — partnership, corporation, LLC — and assume that the participants are economically rational actors who seek to maximize their individual preferences. This Article contends that family businesses are an extension of family relationships and that non-market values affect their goals and governance choices.

Just as family law scholars have shown that contract principles can be applied to regulate intimate relationships, corporate law scholars should recognize that the intimacy of family life often substitutes for arms-length …

Snapshot Of The Equilibrium Dynamics Of A Drug Bound To Hiv-1 Reverse Transcriptase, Daniel G. Kuroda, Joseph D. Bauman, J. Reddy Challa, Disha Patel, Thomas Troxler, Kalyan Das, Eddy Arnold, Robin M. Hochstrasser

Faculty Publications

The anti-AIDS drug rilpivirine undergoes conformational changes to bind HIV-1 reverse transcriptase (RT), which is an essential enzyme for the replication of HIV. These changes allow it to retain potency against mutations that otherwise would render the enzyme resistant. Here we report that water molecules play an essential role in this binding process. Femtosecond experiments and theory expose the molecular level dynamics of rilpivirine bound to HIV-1 RT. Two nitrile substituents, one on each arm of the drug, are used as vibrational probes of the structural dynamics within the binding pocket. Two-dimensional vibrational echo spectroscopy reveals that one nitrile group …

Vitronectin Inhibits Efferocytosis Through Interactions With Apoptotic Cells As Well As With Macrophages, Hong Beom Bae, Jean Marc Tadie, Shaoning Jiang, Dae Won Park, Celeste P. Bell, Lawrence C. Thompson, Cynthia B. Peterson, Victor J. Thannickal, Edward Abraham, Jaroslaw W. Zmijewski

Faculty Publications

Effective removal of apoptotic cells, particularly apoptotic neutrophils, is essential for the successful resolution of acute inflammatory conditions. In these experiments, we found that whereas interaction between vitronectin and integrins diminished the ability of macrophages to ingest apoptotic cells, interaction between vitronectin with urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) on the surface of apoptotic cells also had equally important inhibitory effects on efferocytosis. Preincubation of vitronectin with plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 eliminated its ability to inhibit phagocytosis of apoptotic cells. Similarly, incubation of apoptotic cells with soluble uPAR or Abs to uPAR significantly diminished efferocytosis. In the setting of LPSinduced ALI, enhanced …

The Transcriptional Regulator Tamr From Streptomyces Coelicolor Controls A Key Step In Central Metabolism During Oxidative Stress, Hao Huang, Anne Grove

Faculty Publications

Summary: Multiple antibiotic resistance regulator (MarR) family transcriptional regulators usually regulate gene activity by responding to specific ligands. Here we show that TamR (trans-aconitate methyltransferase regulator), a MarR homologue from Streptomyces coelicolor, functions in oxidative stress responses to regulate a key step in central metabolism. The gene encoding TamR is oriented divergently from the tam gene, which encodes trans-aconitate methyltransferase. Trans-aconitate methyltransferase methylates trans-aconitate, which is formed when cis-aconitate is released during aconitase-mediated isomerization of citrate to isocitrate; trans-aconitate, but not its methyl ester, is a potent inhibitor of aconitase. We show that TamR binds with high affinity to the …

Evidence Of Establishment Of Bagous Hydrillae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), A Biological Control Agent Of Hydrilla Verticillata (Hydrocharitales: Hydrocharitaceae) In North America?, Ted D. Center, Katherine Parys, Mike Grodowitz, Gregory S. Wheeler, F. Allen Dray, Charles W. O'Brien, Seth Johnson, Al Cofrancesco

Faculty Publications

The semi-aquatic weevil Bagous hydrillae was released during 1991-1996 at 19 sites in 4 states in attempts to control the aquatic weed hydrilla, Hydrilla verticillata. Fourteen of the sites were in Florida, 2 each in Texas and Georgia and one site in Alabama. Over 320,000 adult weevils were included in these releases. Despite the fact that a few adults were recovered as late as 4.5 yr post-release, presence of permanent, self-perpetuating populations was never confirmed. Then, during 2009 adult B. hydrillae were collected in southern Louisiana, at least 580 km from the nearest release site and 13 yr after attempts …

Biological Control Of Common Salvinia (Salvinia Minima) In Louisiana Using Cyrtobagous Salviniae (Coleoptera: Curculionidae), Katherine A. Parys, Seth J. Johnson

Faculty Publications

Common salvinia, Salvinia minima Baker, is an aquatic invasive fern that obstructs waterways and impacts water quality throughout the southeastern United States. In an effort to establish populations for classical biological control of this weed, the weevil, Cyrtobagous salviniae Calder and Sands, was released at multiple sites across Louisiana. Many of the release sites were lost due to a variety of ecological and anthropological disturbances. In 2008, C. salviniae was found to have successfully overwintered on S. minima in Gramercy, Louisiana. Attack by Cyrtobagous salviniae significantly increased the number of damaged terminal buds and decreased the fresh weight biomass of …

Three-Dimensional Engineered Matrix To Study Cancer Stem Cells And Tumorsphere Formation: Effect Of Matrix Modulus, Xiaoming Yang, Samaneh Kamali Sarvestani, Seyedsina Moeinzadeh, Xuezhong He, Esmaiel Jabbari

Faculty Publications

Maintenance of cancer stem cells (CSCs) is regulated by the tumor microenvironment. Synthetic hydrogels provide the flexibility to design three-dimensional (3D) matrices to isolate and study individual factors in the tumor microenvironment. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of matrix modulus on tumorsphere formation by breast cancer cells and maintenance of CSCs in an inert microenvironment without the interference of other factors. In that regard, 4T1 mouse breast cancer cells were encapsulated in inert polyethylene glycol diacrylate hydrogels and the effect of matrix modulus on tumorsphere formation and expression of CSC markers was investigated. The gel …

Mapping Long-Term Spatial Trends Of The Taimyr Wild Reindeer Population, Andrey N. Petrov, Anna V. Pestereva, Leonid A. Kolpashchikov, Vladimir V. Mikhailov

Faculty Publications

This report presents preliminary results of mapping and analyzing wild reindeer spatial dynamics in Taimyr, Russia. We collected, spatially referenced, and systematized comprehensive aerial and land survey information spanning from 1969 to 2003, which is the most complete long-term data available about a wild reindeer herd in Eurasia. The report introduces some of the mapping products and presents a summary of our observations on spatiotemporal changes in reindeer distribution and migration. Using these data and new digital products in the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) environment, we were able to observe the long-term shift of the Taimyr Reindeer Herd's summer, winter, …

Oxidized Amino Acid Residues In The Vicinity Of QA And PheoD1 Of The Photosystem Ii Reaction Center: Putative Generation Sites Of Reducing-Side Reactive Oxygen Species, Laurie K. Frankel, Larry Sallans, Patrick A. Limbach, Terry M. Bricker

Faculty Publications

Under a variety of stress conditions, Photosystem II produces reactive oxygen species on both the reducing and oxidizing sides of the photosystem. A number of different sites including the Mn4O5Ca cluster, P680, PheoD1, QA, QB and cytochrome b559 have been hypothesized to produce reactive oxygen species in the photosystem. In this communication using Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry we have identified several residues on the D1 and D2 proteins from spinach which are oxidatively modified and in close proximity to QA (D1 residues 239F, 241Q, 242E and the D2 residues 238P, 239T, 242E and 247M) and PheoD1 (D1 residues …