Digital Commons Network^™

Biomechanics, Brooke A. Slavens, Gerald F. Harris

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Biomechanics is a vast discipline within the field of Biomedical Engineering. It explores the underlying mechanics of how biological and physiological systems move. It encompasses important clinical applications to address questions related to medicine using engineering mechanics principles. Biomechanics includes interdisciplinary concepts from engineers, physicians, therapists, biologists, physicists, and mathematicians. Through their collaborative efforts, biomechanics research is ever changing and expanding, explaining new mechanisms and principles for dynamic human systems. Biomechanics is used to describe how the human body moves, walks, and breathes, in addition to how it responds to injury and rehabilitation. Advanced biomechanical modeling methods, such as inverse …

An Empirical Method For Correcting The Detector Spectral Response In Energy-Resolved Ct, Taly Gilat Schmidt

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

Energy-resolving photon-counting detectors have the potential for improved material decomposition compared to dual-kVp approaches. However, material decomposition accuracy is limited by the nonideal spectral response of the detectors. This work proposes an empirical method for correcting the nonideal spectral response, including spectrum-tailing effects. Unlike previous correction methods which relied on synchrotron measurements, the proposed method can be performed on the scanner. The proposed method estimates a spectral-response matrix by performing x-ray projection measurements through a range of known thicknesses of two or more calibration materials. Once estimated, the spectral-response matrix is incorporated into conventional material decomposition algorithms. A simulation study …

President's Newsletter, Brooks Keel

President's Newsletter

No abstract provided.

February 1, 2012, The Daily Mississippian

Daily Mississippian (all digitized issues)

No abstract provided.

The Social Network Of Software Engineering Research, Subhajit Datta, Nishant Kumar, Santonu Sarkar

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

The social network perspective has served as a useful framework for studying scientific research collaboration in different disciplines. Although collaboration in computer science research has received some attention, software engineering research collaboration has remained unexplored to a large extent. In this paper, we examine the collaboration networks based on co-authorship information of papers from ten software engineering publication venues over the 1976-2010 time period. We compare time variations of certain parameters of these networks with corresponding parameters of collaboration networks from other disciplines. We also explore whether software engineering collaboration networks manifest symptoms of the small-world phenomenon, conform to the …

Faculty Tenure Report, Fall 2012, University Of Northern Iowa. Office Of Institutional Research.

Institutional Effectiveness & Planning Documents

Statistical report showing the number of faculty that are tenured, on the tenure track, or not on the tenure track, broken down by college, department, gender, minority status, and if full or part time.

Iowa Academy Of Science Position Paper On Biodiversity, Iowa Academy Of Science

Position Papers

No abstract provided.

Slow-Growing Gingival Mass, Yeshwant B. Rawal, Denise Mustiful-Martin, Molly S. Rosebush, Kenneth M. Anderson, Harry H. Mincer

School of Dentistry Faculty Research and Publications

Objectives

A 33-year-old woman presented with a slow growing palatal gingival mass. The clinical differential diagnosis included benign tumors and tumor-like lesions, including the pyogenic granuloma, peripheral giant cell granuloma, peripheral ossifying fibroma, giant cell fibroma, peripheral odontogenic tumors, and oral focal mucinosis.

Study design

The lesion was excised and histopathological examination followed by immunohistochemical staining was carried out.

Results

The microscopic findings and the immunohistochemical reactivity was diagnostic for a nerve sheath myxoma.

Executive Function Deficits In Preschool Children With Adhd And Dbd, Kim Schoemaker, Tessa Bunte, Sandra A. Wiebe, Kimberly A. Espy, Maja Deković, Walter Matthys

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: Impairments in executive functions (EF) are consistently associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to a lesser extent, with disruptive behavior disorder (DBD), that is, oppositional defiant disorder or conduct disorder, in school-aged children. Recently, larger numbers of children with these disorders are diagnosed earlier in development, yet knowledge about impairments in clinically diagnosed preschool children and the role of comorbidity is limited. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to examine EF in clinically referred preschool children with a clinical diagnosis of ADHD, DBD and ADHD + DBD.

Method: Participants were 202 children aged 3.5–5.5 years, …

Herbivory Affects Patterns Of Plant Reproductive Effort And Seed Production, Natalie M. West

School of Biological Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Insect herbivory can have a major influence on plant reproduction, and potentially drive selection for strategies that reduce or resist herbivore effects. I used a combination of field experiments and ecological modeling to examine how modifications in the patterns and timing of reproductive investment might ameliorate the consequences of herbivore damage for plant reproduction. I performed experiments to examine how changes in reproductive effort after apical damage and reduction of insect herbivory affected seed production in two thistles native to Nebraska. I then used field data to parameterize a life history model predicting the resource allocation among buds and size …

The Hormonal Characterization And Mapping Of A New Jasmonate Hypersensitive Mutant (Jah2) In Arabidopsis Thaliana, Hsin-Ho Wei

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

Jasmonic acid (JA) is a phytohormone that plays important roles in growth, development, and defense in plants. Although many functions and mechanisms of JA are known, some pathways are still unclear. One of the simplest approaches to understanding JA signal transduction is isolating mutants that respond abnormally to JA. From the defects of such mutants we can determine the regulatory functions of JA. jasmonate hypersensitive 2 (jah2) is a JA hypersensitive mutant. JA normally inhibits the root growth of plants and the jah2 mutant has an even shorter root compared with wild-type Col-0 (wild type) under the same …

Generalized Ellipsometry In-Situ Quantification Of Organic Adsorbate Attachment Within Slanted Columnar Thin Films, Keith B. Rodenhausen Jr., Daniel Schmidt, Tadas Kasputis, Angela K. Pannier, Eva Schubert, Mathias Schubert

Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering: Faculty Publications

We apply generalized ellipsometry, well-known to be sensitive to the optical properties of anisotropic materials, to determine the amount of fibronectin protein that adsorbs onto a Ti slanted columnar thin film from solution. We find that the anisotropic optical properties of the thin film change upon organic adsorption. An optical model for ellipsometry data analysis incorporates an anisotropic Bruggeman effective medium approximation. We find that differences in experimental data from before and after fibronectin adsorption can be solely attributable to the uptake of fibronectin within the slanted columnar thin film. Simultaneous, in-situ generalized ellipsometry and quartz crystal microbalance measurements show …

Biointeraction Analysis Of Immobilized Antibodies And Related Agents By High-Performance Immunoaffinity Chromatography, Erika L. Pfaunmiller, Annette C Moser, David S. Hage

David Hage Publications

A method is described based on high-performance immunoaffinity chromatography for examining the interactions of immobilized antibodies or related binding agents with their targets. It is shown how this method can be used to obtain information on the binding, elution and regeneration kinetics of immobilized binding agents, such as those used with immunoaffinity supports. The theory behind this approach is briefly described and it is demonstrated how both the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of a biointeraction can be determined experimentally through this method. Several applications are used to illustrate this technique, including antibody-antigen interactions and the binding of aptamers with their …

The Role Of The Sutures In Biomechanical Dynamic Simulation Of A Macaque Cranial Finite Element Model: Implications For The Evolution Of Craniofacial Form, Qian Wang, Sarah Wood, Ian R. Grosse, Callum F. Ross, Uriel Zapata, Craig Byron, Barth Wright, David S. Strait

Faculty and Staff Publications

The global biomechanical impact of cranial sutures on the face and cranium during dynamic conditions is not well understood. It is hypothesized that sutures act as energy absorbers protecting skulls subjected to dynamic loads. This hypothesis predicts that sutures have a significant impact on global patterns of strain and cranial structural stiffness when analyzed using dynamic simulations; and that this global impact is influenced by suture material properties. In a finite element model developed from a juvenile Rhesus macaque cranium, five different sets of suture material properties for the zygomaticotemporal sutures were tested. The static and dynamic analyses produced similar …

Structural Organization Of Dna In Chlorella Viruses, Timo Wulfmeyer, Christian Polzer, Gregor Hiepler, Kay Hamacher, Robert Shoeman, David D. Dunigan, James L. Van Etten, Marco Lolicato, Gerhard Thiel, Tobias Meckel

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Chlorella viruses have icosahedral capsids with an internal membrane enclosing their large dsDNA genomes and associated proteins. Their genomes are packaged in the particles with a predicted DNA density of ca. 0.2 bp nm^-3. Occasionally infection of an algal cell by an individual particle fails and the viral DNA is dynamically ejected from the capsid. This shows that the release of the DNA generates a force, which can aid in the transfer of the genome into the host in a successful infection. Imaging of ejected viral DNA indicates that it is intimately associated with proteins in a periodic …

Three Pathogens In Sympatric Populations Of Pumas, Bobcats, And Domestic Cats: Implications For Infectious Disease Transmission, Sarah N. Bevins, Scott Carver, Erin E. Boydston, Lisa M. Lyren, Mat Alldredge, Kenneth A. Logan, Seth P. D. Riley, Robert N. Fisher, T. Winston Vickers, Walter Boyce, Mo Salman, Michael R. Lappin, Kevin R. Crooks, Sue Vandewoude

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Anthropogenic landscape change can lead to increased opportunities for pathogen transmission between domestic and non-domestic animals. Pumas, bobcats, and domestic cats are sympatric in many areas of North America and share many of the same pathogens, some of which are zoonotic. We analyzed bobcat, puma, and feral domestic cat samples collected from targeted geographic areas. We examined exposure to three pathogens that are taxonomically diverse (bacterial, protozoal, viral), that incorporate multiple transmission strategies (vector-borne, environmental exposure/ ingestion, and direct contact), and that vary in species-specificity. Bartonella spp., Feline Immunodeficiency Virus (FIV), and Toxoplasma gondii IgG were detected in all three …

Changing Language, Remaining Pygmy, Serge Bahuchet

Human Biology Open Access Pre-Prints

In this article I am illustrating the linguistic diversity of African Pygmy populations in order to better address their anthropological diversity and history. I am also introducing a new method, based on the analysis of specialized vocabulary, to reconstruct the substratum of some languages they speak. I show that Pygmy identity is not based on their languages, which have often been borrowed from neighboring non-Pygmy farmer communities with whom each Pygmy group is linked. Understanding the nature of this partnership, quite variable in history, is essential to address Pygmy languages, identity and history. Finally, I show that only a multidisciplinary …

Phenotypic Characterization And 16s Rdna Identification Of Culturable Non-Obligate Halophilic Bacterial Communities From A Hypersaline Lake, La Sal Del Rey, In Extreme South Texas (Usa), Kristen Phillips, Frederic Zaidan, Omar R. Elizondo, Kristine L. Lowe

School of Integrative Biological & Chemical Sciences (Formerly Dept. of Biology)

Background

La Sal del Rey ("the King's Salt") is one of several naturally-occurring salt lakes in Hidalgo County, Texas and is part of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. The research objective was to isolate and characterize halophilic microorganisms from La Sal del Rey. Water samples were collected from the lake and a small creek that feeds into the lake. Soil samples were collected from land adjacent to the water sample locations. Sample salinity was determined using a refractometer. Samples were diluted and cultured on a synthetic saline medium to grow halophilic bacteria. The density of halophiles was …

Pathogenesis Of Hepatic Fibrosis Analyzed At The Proteome Level., Saidan Ding, Bicheng Chen

Saudi Medical Journal

Proteomic technologies have provided effective approaches to the analysis of the pathogenesis of hepatic fibrosis. A large number of proteins that have been revealed by this technology play a critical role in various aspects of pathological liver fibrosis. Comprehensive evaluations of these proteins have led to the understanding that the mechanisms of hepatic fibrosis can be stratified into several broad classifications. Here, we describe the mechanisms of action that are defined as being related to 1) oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage, 2) inflammatory response and immune injury, 3) abnormal cell proliferation and apoptosis, 4) abnormal metabolism, 5) abnormal cellular signal …

Nutritional Status And Anthropometric Measurements Of Patients With Multiple Sclerosis., Mendane Saka, Mustafa Saka, Esra Koseler, Sinem Metin, Sule Bilen, Memet Aslanyavrusu, Fikri Ak, Gul Kiziltan

Saudi Medical Journal

OBJECTIVES: To determine the nutritional status and anthropometric measurements of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). METHODS: This research was conducted on 37 (15 men, 22 women) new diagnosed MS patients who applied to Ankara Numune Education and Research Hospital, Ankara Turkey, from June to August 2011. The nutritional status of patients was determined by a 3-day and 24-hour dietary record and a food frequency questionnaire. Body composition was analyzed by bioelectrical impedance analyzer, and body mass index was calculated. The Nutrient Data Base (BEBIS) program was used to evaluate the energy and nutrient intakes of patients and compared with Dietary …

The En Banc Federal Circuit's Written Description Requirement: Time For The Supreme Court To Reverse Again?, Allen K. Yu

Cardozo Law Review

The Federal Circuit in Ariad v. Eli Lilly finally settled en banc the long-running dispute over whether the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. § 112 contains a written description requirement separate from an enablement requirement. According to the Federal Circuit, such a requirement exists and exists to "convey[] to those skilled in the art that the inventor had possession of the claimed subject matter as of the filing date." The problem with the Federal Circuit's written description- "possession" doctrine is twofold. First, it characterizes the quid pro quo role of disclosure beyond its traditional role of placing knowledge in the …

Doctors, Patients, And Pills - A System Popping Under Too Much Physician Discretion? A Law-Policy Prescription To Make Drug Approval More Meaningful In The Delivery Of Health Care, Michael J. Malinowski

Cardozo Law Review

This Article challenges the scope of physician discretion to engage in off-label use of prescription drugs. The discretion to prescribe dimensions beyond the clinical research that puts new drugs on pharmacy shelves has been shaped by two historic influences: a legacy of physician paternalism, solidarity, autonomy, and self-determination that predates the contemporary commercialization of medicine by more than half a century; and regulatory necessity due to the limits of science and the innate crudeness of pharmaceuticals prior to the genomics revolution (drug development and delivery based on genetic expression). Although both factors have changed immensely, the standard for drug approval …

The Bridge Newsletter Spring 2012, Missouri University Of Science And Technology

The Bridge Newsletter

-Light-weight foam could cushion expensive bridge repairs
-New Chancellor
-The house of the future today
-High-tech approach to project management

Characterization Of The Bacterial Gut Fauna Of Phlebotomus Papatasi: Culture Dependent Vs. Culture Independent Techniques, Nada Mohamad El-Ayouty

Theses and Dissertations

NA

Effects Of Temperature And Soil Organic Content On The Growth And Survival Of E. Coli In Sandy Soil, Mariam Maher William Melek

Theses and Dissertations

With the continuous growth of populations and expansions in developing countries, the availability of sufficient water resources is approaching a critical state, especially in arid and semi-arid lands. In Egypt, although the Nile has been sufficient for many centuries now, its dependability for all life applications for the coming decades is in question. By far, agricultural practices consume the greatest portion of fresh water from the Nile. As a result, there is a growing effort dedicated to investigating the use of treated wastewater for irrigation instead of using virgin fresh water as a best-sustainable practice. When it comes to the …

Against Notice Skepticism In Privacy (And Elsewhere), M. Ryan Calo

Notre Dame Law Review

The article explores innovative new ways to deliver privacy notice. According to the California law, a company offering an online service should be linked to a privacy policy due to the fact that consumers compare privacy policies in order to decide what services to use. It informs that the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is responsible for enforcing consumer privacy online and is guided by a set of principles which include notice/awareness, choice/consent and integrity/security.

Bio+Terror: Science, Security, Simulation, Melanie Armstrong

American Studies ETDs

The United States government has spent more than $125 billion since 2001 to prepare the nation for bioterrorism. This dissertation examines the emergence of bioterrorism as a credible threat in the contemporary moment, considering how the preparedness practices of the security state constitute new biopolitical formations. To explore how changing ways of knowing disease and risk are reshaping communities, this multi-sited study investigates the material outcomes of biosecurity in people's lives. It shows how complex histories of disease and terror are remade in the modern age to bring about new spaces and forms of biological citizenship.Through interview, observation and detailed …

Gender Matters In Batterer Intervention Program Settings: Curriculum Topics Are Most Helpful In Fostering Positive Change In Domestic Violence Behavior, Courtney Cameron

Health, Exercise, and Sports Sciences ETDs

Abstract Domestic violence is truly a complex issue in terms of defining it — no single definition can be found, in terms of understanding its causality ,some view it as a gender issue, others perceived it a socio-political issue, many consider it a criminal issue, and others treat it a psycho-social issue, in terms of its impact , its magnitude, effect and impact are far reaching and may last for a life time, in terms of its dynamics, its victims and perpetrators come from all demographic groups, and in terms of the effective intervention, they tend to focus on victimization …

Frequency Specific Deficits In Schizophrenia, Anil Reddy Geeda

Electrical and Computer Engineering ETDs

Coherence estimation is one of the methods for understanding functional connectivity deficits and frequency specific deficits in schizophrenia. Coherence between different lobes of the brain from task related data at different frequency bands was investigated in patients with Schizophrenia (SP) and Healthy Normal Volunteers (HNV). The task was aimed to study the neural mechanisms underlying auditory and visual integration in patients with schizophrenia relative to healthy controls, which requires intact connectivity between the lobes of the brain in order to recombine the sensory information into a complete percept of the external world. Coherence was calculated from the processed magneto-encephalography (MEG) …

Evidence Of Microbial Activity From A Shallow Water Whale Fall (Voghera, Northern Italy), S Danise, B Cavalazzi, S Dominici, Et Al

School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences

The fossil bones, associated carbonate cements and enclosing concretion of a Miocene mysticete from inner shelf deposits (Monte Vallassa Formation, northern Italy) were analyzed for evidence of microbial activity. Optical and scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and stable C and O isotope geochemistry were used for high spatial resolution microfacies and biosedimentological analyses. Whale cancellous bones were filled by different carbonate cements including microcrystalline dolomite, rhombohedral dolomite and sparry calcite. Biofabric and biominerals such as microbial peloids, clotted textures and pyrite framboids were associated with the dolomite cements. Dolomite inside cancellous bones and in the enclosing concretion showed similar isotopic …