Digital Commons Network^™

A Woman's Guide To Men, Sharon Zimmer

Manuscripts

No abstract provided.

Back Matter

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Development Of Electron Microscopy Analysis And Simulation Tools For Nanohub, Mingxuan Lu

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Functionalization Of Single-Wall Carbon Nanotubes For Their Use In Biological Applications, Nina A. Bragg

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

No abstract provided.

Ancient Mayan “Deformity”: Cultural Accommodation Of Congenital Physical Anomaly In Mesoamerican Prehistory, Michael H. Lockman

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Research investigates ancient Mayan sociopolitical practices regarding individuals with congenital physical anomalies, including dwarfism, acromegaly, clubfoot, and polydactyly. Research endeavors to determine if social marginalization of individuals with such traits is a human universal and to explore the potential existence of more amicable alternative paradigms. Analysis of pathology, as identified via clinical diagnostic criterion from modern medical literature, determined that the pre-Columbian Maya represent a model by which social mobility was facilitated, or at the very least not hindered, by physical variation: elites appear to have acquired and maintained status by means of their atypical physical traits. Subsequent cross-cultural ethnohistoric …

Designing A Community-Based Water Harvesting System: Understanding Water Use In Endallah, Tanzania, Marisa Henry, Grace Baldwin, Garrett Quathamer

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

The World Health Organization (WHO) states it is a human right to have access to sufficient, safe water within one kilometer of the home (WHO, 2015b). However, 1.6 billion people experience economic water shortage and struggle to secure water for personal and domestic use (UN-Water & FAO, 2007). In the village of Endallah, Tanzania, seasonal rainfalls, high rates of evaporation, and inadequate water harvesting infrastructure leave many of the approximately 900 households facing economic water shortage. Around 90% of villagers depend on rainfed subsistence farming; however, annual crop yields are not consistent due to sporadic rainfall. The purpose of this …

The Future Of Food: Identifying Genetic Mechanisms Affecting Sorghum Protein Digestibility, Hailey Edmondson, Michael Busche

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

The demand to produce high-yielding crops grows exponentially with the ever-expanding world population, and with this comes the obligation to examine the actual impact that these crops will have in areas with the most need. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, cannot support many of the otherwise staple agricultural crops due to climatic limitations. Sorghum, a heat-tolerant and drought-hearty grain source, is used as a primary cereal crop in regions of sub- Saharan Africa. However, sorghum grain is known to have a significantly lower protein digestibility rate compared to other common cereal grains. Cooked sorghum, in particular, has decreased levels of protein …

Reducing Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease: Exploring The Effects Of Quercetin On The Contractile Force Of Vascular Smooth Muscle, Puja Banerjee

The Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research

Calcium plays an important role in regulating the contraction of smooth muscles. Membrane potential of the smooth muscles regulates the smooth muscle contractility through variation in Ca²⁺ influx with the assistance of the voltage-operated Ca²⁺ channel. Using the porcine pulmonary arteries (PPA) as the model system, the effect of the antioxidant quercetin on the regulation of pulmonary arteries was investigated in the presence and absence of calcium. It was hypothesized that quercetin reduces the contractile force in PPA by limiting Ca²⁺ release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) without imposing any effect on the voltage-operated channel (VOC). However, …

Multiplying Mars Lander Opportunities With Marsdrop Microlanders, Robert L. Staehle, Sara Spangelo, Marc S. Lane, Kim M. Aaron, Rohit Bhartia, Justin S. Boland, Lance E. Christensen, Siamak Forouhar, Manuel De La Torre Juarez, Nikolas Trawny, Chris R. Webster, Matthew A. Eby, Rebecca M. E. Williams, David A. Paige

Small Satellite Conference

From canyons to glaciers, from geology to astrobiology, the amount of exciting surface science awaiting us at Mars greatly outstrips available mission opportunities. Based on the thrice-flown Aerospace Corporation Earth Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR), we present a method for accurate landing of small instrument payloads on Mars, utilizing excess cruise-stage mass on larger missions. One to a few such microlanders might add 1-5% to the cost of a primary mission with inconsequential risk. Using the REBR and JPL Deep Space 2 starting points for a passively stable entry vehicle provides a low mass and low ballistic coefficient, enabling subsonic deployment …

Large-Scale And High-Resolution 3-D Cave Mapping By Terrestrial Laser Scanning: A Case Study Of The Domica Cave, Slovakia, Michal Gallay, Ján Kaňuk, Zdenko Hochmuth, John D. Meneely, Jaroslav Hofierka, Vladimír Sedlák

International Journal of Speleology

Mapping and modelling the complicated geometry of caves is a challenging task that has traditionally been undertaken by tacheometric surveying methods. These methods are excellent for capturing the general shape of a cave system but they are not suitable for high-speed, high-resolution mapping of complex surfaces found in this environment. Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technologies can acquire millions of points represented by 3-D coordinates, at very high spatial densities on complex multifaceted surfaces within minutes. In the last few years, advances in measurement speed, reduction in size / cost and increased portability of this technology has revolutionised the collection of …

Quantitative Trait Loci Underlying Seed Sugars Content In “Md96-5722” By “Spencer” Recombinant Inbred Line Population Of Soybean, Masum Akond, David A. Lightfoot, My Abdelmajid Kassem, Khalid Meksem, Shiming Liu, Stella K. Kantartzi, Nacer Bellaloui

Articles

Sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose are important soluble sugars in soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seeds. Seed sucrose is a desirable trait for taste and flavor. Raffinose and stachyose are undesirable in diets of monogastric animals, acting as anti-nutritional factors that cause flatulence and abdominal discomfort. Therefore, reducing raffinose and stachyose biosynthesis is considered as a key quality trait goal in soy food and feed industries. The objective of this study was to identify genomic regions containing quantitative trait loci (QTL) controlling sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose in a set of 92 F5:7 recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from a cross between …

Identification And Characterization Of A Bovine Sperm Acrosomal Matrix Protein And Its Mechanism Of Interaction With Acrosomal Hydrolases, Subir K. Nagdas, Linda Smith, Allen Mcnamara, Luisa Hernandez-Encarnacion, Ilza Medina-Ortiz

College of Health, Science, and Technology

Fertilization, the union of male and female gametes to create offspring, is an intricate biological process dependent upon several biochemical and physiological events. Our understanding of the functions of protein constituents of the outer acrosomal membrane-associated matrix complex (OMC) is limited. A highly purified OMC fraction isolated from bovine cauda sperm heads comprised 54, 50, 45, and 38–19 kDa polypeptides. The objective of this study is to identify and characterize the 45 kDa (OMC45) polypeptide, to define its role in binding acrosomal hydrolases, and to examine the fate of OMC45 polypeptide during the acrosome reaction. We isolated OMC45 polypeptide from …

Costa Rica Gets National Health Policy Moving, Aiming To Strengthen Other Development Areas, George Rodrã­Guez

NotiCen

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Role Of Mkk7 In Excitotoxicity And Cerebral Ischemia: A Novel Pharmacological Strategy Against Brain Injury, A Vercelli, S Biggi, A Sclip, I E. Repetto, S Cimini, F Falleroni, S Tomasi, R Monti, N Tonna, F Morelli, V Grande, M Stravalaci, E Biasini, O Marin, F Bianco, D Di Marino, T Borsello

Publications and Research

Excitotoxicity following cerebral ischemia elicits a molecular cascade, which leads to neuronal death. c-Jun-N-terminal kinase (JNK) has a key role in excitotoxic cell death. We have previously shown that JNK inhibition by a specific cell-permeable peptide significantly reduces infarct size and neuronal death in an in vivo model of cerebral ischemia. However, systemic inhibition of JNK may have detrimental side effects, owing to blockade of its physiological function. Here we designed a new inhibitor peptide (growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible 45β (GADD45β-I)) targeting mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 7 (MKK7), an upstream activator of JNK, which exclusively mediates JNK's pathological activation. …

Childhood Feeding Practices In African Americans, Nicole Somogy

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the feeding practices of minority children specifically looking at African Americans from birth to 11 years old to see if there are any red flags so that professionals can be alerted for a concern with obesity. Previous research conducted on feeding styles and patterns of adults have shown some clues as how a parent plays a key role in the etiology of childhood obesity (Chaidez & Kaiser, 2011). One strategy that is used when looking at obesity is to look at physical activity as well as parenting styles which includes authoritative, authoritarian, …

Visible Light Responsive Systems Based On Metastable-State Photoacids, Yi Liao

Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Faculty Publications

Proton transfer is one of the most fundamental processes in nature. Metastable-state photoacids can reversibly generate a large proton concentration under visible light with moderate intensity. which provides a general approach to control various proton transfer processes. Several applications of mPAHs have been demonstrated recently including control of acid-catalyzed reactions, volume-change of hydrogels, polymer conductivity, bacteria killing, odorant release, and color change of materials. They have also been utilized to control supramolecular assemblies, molecular switches, microbial fuel cells and cationic sensors. In this talk, the mechanism, structure design, and applications of metastable-state photoacids are introduced. Recent development of different types …

High-Throughput Screening Of Patient-Derived Cultures Reveals Potential For Precision Medicine In Glioblastoma, Christine E. Quartararo, Eduard Reznik, Ana C. De Carvalho, Tom Mikkelsen, Brent R. Stockwell

Neurosurgery Articles

Identifying drugs for the treatment of glioblastoma (GBM), a rapidly fatal disease, has been challenging. Most screening efforts have been conducted with immortalized cell lines grown with fetal bovine serum, which have little relevance to the genomic features found in GBM patients. Patient-derived neurosphere cultures, while being more physiologically relevant, are difficult to screen and therefore are only used to test a few drug candidates after initial screening efforts. Laminin has been used to generate two-dimensional cell lines from patient tumors, preserving the genomic signature and alleviating some screening hurdles. We present here the first side-by-side comparison of inhibitor sensitivity …

Complex Social Skills: Tools For Assessment And Progress Monitoring, Samantha Gail Jung

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed in this progect was, how do I measure and evaluate the learning of complex social skills, in multiple environments, for students with autism and developmental disabilities? It documents the educator’s research into autism, social skills, and evidence based learning strategies. The educator used the research to develop a plan to create a versatile tool to assess students needs related to complex social skills. Tools that can be used with a wide variety of students and gather data in multiple environments.

A Queer Liberation Movement? A Qualitative Content Analysis Of Queer Liberation Organizations, Investigating Whether They Are Building A Separate Social Movement, Joseph Nicholas Defilippis

Dissertations and Theses

In the last forty years, U.S. national and statewide LGBT organizations, in pursuit of "equality" through a limited and focused agenda, have made remarkably swift progress moving that agenda forward. However, their agenda has been frequently criticized as prioritizing the interests of White, middle-class gay men and lesbians and ignoring the needs of other LGBT people. In their shadows have emerged numerous grassroots organizations led by queer people of color, transgender people, and low-income LGBT people. These "queer liberation" groups have often been viewed as the left wing of the GRM, but have not been extensively studied. My research investigated …

Applications Of Green Chemistry In Asymmetric Transfer Hydrogenation And Chiral Separations, Ruoqiu Wu

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Green chemistry has been applied to all aspects of the life cycle of chemically related products, including design, usage, manufacturing, analysis, and disposal. In this thesis, I focus on the green chemistry applications in organic synthesis and analytical chemistry. More specifically, allylic and chiral alcohols are abundant in natural sources such as in essential oils, and widely utilized as starting materials. They are also major components in food, fragrance, biocides and the pharmaceutical compounds. In this thesis, I report the first Ru-catalysed asymmetric transfer hydrogenation (ATH) of prochiral allylic alcohols. This reaction provides chiral secondary alcohols in excellent enantioselectivities and …

Deep Sequencing Of The Mexican Avocado Transcriptome, An Ancient Angiosperm With A High Content Of Fatty Acids, Enrique Ibarra-Laclette, Alfonso Méndez-Bravo, Claudia Anahí Pérez-Torres, Victor A. Albert, Keithanne Mockaitis, Aruna Kilaru, Rodolfo López-Gómez, Jacob Israel Cervantes-Luevano, Luis Herrera-Estrella

ETSU Faculty Works

Background: Avocado (Persea americana) is an economically important tropical fruit considered to be a good source of fatty acids. Despite its importance, the molecular and cellular characterization of biochemical and developmental processes in avocado is limited due to the lack of transcriptome and genomic information.

Results: The transcriptomes of seeds, roots, stems, leaves, aerial buds and flowers were determined using different sequencing platforms. Additionally, the transcriptomes of three different stages of fruit ripening (pre-climacteric, climacteric and post-climacteric) were also analyzed. The analysis of the RNAseqatlas presented here reveals strong differences in gene expression patterns between different organs, …

Scitech News- 69(3)-2015

Sci-Tech News

Columns and Reports

From the Editor 4

SciTech News Call for Articles 4

Division News

Science-Technology Division 5

Conference Reports

S. Kirk Cabeen Travel Stipend Award recipient 15

Diane K. Foster International Student Travel Award recipient 16

Call for Survey Participation, Science Technology Division (DST) Strategic Plan Revision 17

Chemistry Division 18

Conference Reports

Marion E. Sparks Award recipient 23

Chemistry Division member report 24

Engineering Division 26

Engineering Division Awards Report 33

Conference Reports IEEE Continuing Education Stipend recipient 35

Bonnie Hilditch Award recipient 36

The Conference Experience as a Candidate by Dee Magnoni 38

Aerospace Section of the …

Fabrication Of Cellulose Fine Fiber Based Membranes Embedded With Silver Nanoparticles Via Forcespinning, Fenghua Xu, Baicheng Weng, Luis A. Materon, Anxiu Kuang, Jorge A. Trujillo, Karen Lozano

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

This study presents the successful development of cellulose fiber based membranes embedded with silver nanoparticles. These fine fiber membranes were developed utilizing the Forcespinning (FS) technique followed by alkaline hydrolysis treatment. The fiber morphology, homogeneity and yield were optimized by varying spinning parameters such as polymer concentration and angular velocity of the spinnerets. The structure, thermal and mechanical properties, and water absorption capability of the developed membranes were investigated. The cellulose acetate (CA) present in the membrane was converted to cellulose in the presence of embedded silver nanoparticles by alkaline hydrolysis. The silver nanoparticles embedded cellulose membrane exhibits outstanding water …

Optimization Of Blalock-Taussig Shunt And Anastomotic Geometry For Vascular Access Fistula Using A Genetic Algorithm, Guangyu Bao

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Blalock-Taussig (BT) shunts are used for defects that affect the flow of blood from the right ventricle, through the pulmonary artery, and to the lungs. Arteriovenous (AV) fistula is one type of vascular access which is a surgically created vein used to remove and return blood during hemodialysis. Plastic grafts used in the above two reconstructions may result in areas of non-physiologic flow in the grafts leading to risk of stenosis (blocked area) and thrombosis, which is the single major cause for access morbidity. The focus of this thesis is to study BT shunts and anastomoses models using Computational Fluid …

X-Ray Structure Of A Mammalian Stearoyl-Coa Desaturase, Yonghong Bai, Jason G. Mccoy, Elena J. Levin, Pablo Sobrado, Kanagalaghatta R. Rajashankar, Brian G. Fox, Ming Zhou

Chemistry Faculty Research & Creative Works

Stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) is conserved in all eukaryotes and introduces the first double bond into saturated fatty acyl-CoAs. Because the monounsaturated products of SCD are key precursors of membrane phospholipids, cholesterol esters and triglycerides, SCD is pivotal in fatty acid metabolism. Humans have two SCD homologues (SCD1 and SCD5), while mice have four (SCD1-SCD4). SCD1-deficient mice do not become obese or diabetic when fed a high-fat diet because of improved lipid metabolic profiles and insulin sensitivity^5,6. Thus, SCD1 is a pharmacological target in the treatment of obesity, diabetes and other metabolic diseases⁷. SCD1 is an integral …

Presenting Evolution In Public Schools; Is It Indisputable?, Paul Andrew Erdman

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The research question addressed is, how do 10 public school teachers present the theory of evolution? The motivation of this capstone was my experience with teachers presenting evolution (all life having evolved from a simple single celled organism) to students as indisputable, and the seemingly lack of discussion about any problems with the theory or unanswered questions. A key influence was an older sibling, a mechanical engineer, who often provides scientific answers for me and provided many resources that challenge the so-called indisputability and possibilities of evolution. This study interviewed 10 public school teachers to identify how they present the …

Achievement In Mathematics And Self-Concept Among Gifted Female High School Seniors, Leah M. Battin

School of Education and Leadership Student Capstone Theses and Dissertations

The author sought to explore the research question, What is the relationship between mathematics achievement and self-concept of gifted female high school seniors? Review of the literature included discussions of definitions and stereotypes of giftedness, gender differences in math/STEM attitudes and achievement, malleable versus fixed intelligence and ability in math, self-concept, and stereotype threat. The author worked with gifted female high school students at a summer camp for gifted students in South Dakota. Participants were recruited from the group of young women who had finished the camp in 2014. Of 20 young women contacted, five returned letters of consent. A …

Initial Results Of The First Nsf-Funded Research Experience For Undergraduates On Small Satellite Software, Jeremy Straub, Ronald Marsh, David Whalen

Small Satellite Conference

This paper presents preliminary results from the first year of the first National Science Foundation (NSF) funded research experience for undergraduates (REU) with a focus on small satellite software. It begins with a discussion of prior work on the development of an open-hardware, open-source software CubeSat, the OpenOrbiter project and the Open Prototype for Educational NanoSats design, and how this served as foundational work for the REU. A brief discussion of the evaluation techniques used in this program is presented as are the results (which serve as a point of reference for which to compare those from the REU). Next, …

Deadly Girls' Voices, Suspense, And The "Aesthetics Of Fear" In Joyce Carol Oates's "The Banshee" And "Doll: A Romance Of The Mississippi", Pascale Antolin

Bearing Witness: Joyce Carol Oates Studies

Abstract: this article focuses on deadly girls’ voices in "The Banshee" and "Doll: A Romance of the Mississippi," two short stories taken from Joyce Carol Oates’s collection The Female of the Species, subtitled Tales of Mystery and Suspense. It shows that children are used as leading and focal characters not only to increase suspense but also to manipulate the readers’ traditional sets of ethical, semantic and literary references. Oates resorts to her favourite “aesthetics of fear” for it is a powerful means of putting horror and abjection at a distance, and it is associated with the question of meaning—"meaning is …

Articulating Refug-Endity In Vietnamerica And The Diasporas 1975-2015: From Ethnic Autonomy To Global Visibility, Trangdai Glassey-Tranguyen

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

Since the culmination of the Vietnam War on April 30^th, 1975, waves of Vietnamese evacuees, refugees, and immigrants arrived in the United States and created a new home across the country. Orange County, California, is home to the largest concentration of Vietnamese Americans since 1975 in the U.S., and has notoriously been known as the “Vietnamese refugee capitol” in the diasporas. I argue that there has been an organic, thriving – albeit very under-studied – body of Vietnamese-language literature and media in Orange County and VietnAmerica since 1975, which provides a fertile ground for the articulation of what …