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Molecular Evolution And Functional Diversification Of Replication Protein A1 In Plants, Behailu B. Aklilu, Kevin M. Culligan

New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station Publications

Replication protein A (RPA) is a heterotrimeric, single-stranded DNA binding complex required for eukaryotic DNA replication, repair, and recombination. RPA is composed of three subunits, RPA1, RPA2, and RPA3. In contrast to single RPA subunit genes generally found in animals and yeast, plants encode multiple paralogs of RPA subunits, suggesting subfunctionalization. Genetic analysis demonstrates that five Arabidopsis thaliana RPA1 paralogs (RPA1A to RPA1E) have unique and overlapping functions in DNA replication, repair, and meiosis. We hypothesize here that RPA1 subfunctionalities will be reflected in major structural and sequence differences among the paralogs. To address this, we analyzed amino acid and …

The Red Dawn Of Geoengineering: First Step Toward An Effective Governance For Stratospheric Injections, Edward J. Larson

Duke Law & Technology Review

A landmark report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) issued in 2015 is the latest in a series of scientific studies to assess the feasibility of geoengineering with stratospheric aerosols to offset anthropogenic global warming and to conclude that they offer a possibly viable supplement or back-up alternative to reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The known past effect of major explosive volcanic eruptions temporarily moderating average worldwide temperatures provides evidence in support of this once taboo form of climate intervention. In the most extensive study to date, an elite NAS committee now suggests that such processes for adjusting global temperature, …

Creation Of An Eight-Member Plasmid Library For Promoter Swapping To Control Chromosomal Gene Expression In E. Coli, Matt Phillips, Dr. William Mccleary

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The ability to control gene expression in bacteria has been essential in solving problems in many fields, including medicine and environmental protection. Recent advances in genomic and metabolic modeling tools have led to the development of a new technique called promoter swapping which enables researchers to “swap” any native gene promoter with one that has been specifically engineered. Promoter swapping uses viral recombination proteins to swap DNA in the chromosome rather than in plasmids, allowing for constant and permanent expression levels. Our goal was to create eight template plasmids with promoters of increasing strengths to be used in promoter swapping. …

Microbial Pretreatment Of Waste For Anaerobic Digestion, Braden Myers, Jaron Hansen

Journal of Undergraduate Research

The aim of this research was to demonstrate Caldicellulosiruptor bescii is a feasible microbial pretreatment of lignocellulose for enhanced production of biogas when coupled with secondary anaerobic digestion. Before anaerobic digestion of waste can reach its maximum energy production potential, economically sound methods for pretreatments that allow increased digestion of waste materials must be developed. Many types of waste cannot be broken down sufficiently by anaerobic digestion alone. Overcoming this hurdle through successful feedstock pretreatment would unlock a vast potential supply of renewable energy feedstock materials.

Informal Water Education And Public Outreach, Natalie J. Carroll

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

No abstract provided.

Using Social Indicators To Evaluate The Effectiveness Of Outreach In Two Indiana Watersheds, Rebecca Busse, Jessica D. Ulrich-Schad, Lyn Crighton, Sara Peel, Ken Genskow, Linda Stalker Prokopy

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

Nonpoint source pollution is recognized as one of the greatest threats to water quality in the United States. Outreach is one tool that can be used to help increase public awareness and motivate action towards addressing water issues. In order to create effective outreach, we must understand public perceptions of water quality, perceived barriers to implementing environmental solutions, and what types of outreach best connect with target audiences. In 2010, social indicator surveys were distributed in two watersheds in Indiana to gather baseline data on urban and agricultural residents' attitudes towards and usage of water quality conservation practices. Local watershed …

Developing Great Lakes Literacy And Stewardship Through A Nonformal Science Education Camp, Shari L. Dann, Brandon Schroeder

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

Informal science education has received great attention nationally in recent years, however little has been included in the research or policy literature regarding camps as contexts for informal learning. This article first describes how a Great Lakes water resource education camp is based upon professional definitions of informal, nonformal and formal education. Next, we describe specific details of our long-running Michigan 4-H Great Lakes and Natural Resources Camp designed to foster teen leadership and watershed stewardship. The Camp utilizes research-based best practices in nonformal science education, Place Based Education, Great Lakes Literacy education, and environmental education, as we demonstrate through …

Lawn To Lake: Lessons Learned From A Collaborative Natural Lawn Care Program, Margaret Schneemann

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant (IISG) led a multi-state, collaborative natural lawn care outreach program promoting sustainable lawn care practices at the community and household level. The programmatic goal was to improve Lake Michigan basin ecosystem health by reducing pesticide, synthetic fertilizer, and irrigation water use and runoff within the watershed through changing the practices of those responsible for the creation and upkeep of lawns. Targeted audiences were educated about the relationship between Great Lakes Basin watershed health and lawn care practices as well as trained in natural, low-input lawn care methods. The program aimed at achieving efficiency by leveraging collaborating partner …

Developing Capacity For Local Watershed Management: Essential Leadership Skills And Training Approaches, Lois Wolfson, Ann Lewandowski, Joe Bonnell, Jane Frankenberger, Faye Sleeper, Jo Latimore

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

Management of water resources at a watershed scale often occurs at the local level and relies on the effectiveness of local staff and leaders. Four land-grant universities in Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio are delivering training programs that build the capacity of local water resource professionals. Based on experience from these programs, a survey on watershed management core competencies, and two surveys of information and training needs for watershed groups, we examined what core proficiencies are needed by watershed group leaders, how existing programs have approached professional training, and effective methods for delivering the training. Results indicated that successful watershed …

Consequences Of Secondary Calibrations On Divergence Time Estimates, John J. Schenk

Biology: Faculty Publications

Secondary calibrations (calibrations based on the results of previous molecular dating studies) are commonly applied in divergence time analyses in groups that lack fossil data; however, the consequences of applying secondary calibrations in a relaxed-clock approach are not fully understood. I tested whether applying the posterior estimate from a primary study as a prior distribution in a secondary study results in consistent age and uncertainty estimates. I compared age estimates from simulations with 100 randomly replicated secondary trees. On average, the 95% credible intervals of node ages for secondary estimates were significantly younger and narrower than primary estimates. The primary …

Volume Cxxxiii, Number 12, January 29, 2016, Lawrence University

The Lawrentian

No abstract provided.

Lianas Suppress Seedling Growth And Survival Of 14 Tree Species In A Panamanian Tropical Forest, Laura Martinez Izquierdo, Maria M. Garcia, Jennifer S. Powers, Stefan A. Schnitzer

Biological Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Lianas are a common plant growth form in tropical forests, where they compete intensely with trees, decreasing tree recruitment, growth, and survival. If the detrimental effects of lianas vary significantly with tree species identity, as is often assumed, then lianas may influence tree species diversity and community composition. Furthermore, recent studies have shown that liana abundance and biomass are increasing relative to trees in neotropical forests, which will likely magnify the detrimental effects of lianas and may ultimately alter tree species diversity, relative abundances, and community composition. Few studies, however, have tested the responses of multiple tree species to the …

Computational Ego Level: Large Data And New Methods Illuminate The Construct Of Ego Development, Rachel E. Pauletti, Daniel C. Lopez, Kevin Lanning

Faculty and Staff Publications & Presentations

No abstract provided.

Diversity Of Cultured Bacteria From The Perennial Ice Block Of Scarisoara Ice Cave, Romania, Corina Iţcuş, Mădălina-Denisa Pascu, Traian Brad, Aurel Perşoiu, Cristina Purcarea

International Journal of Speleology

Cave ice ecosystems represent a poorly investigated glacial environment. Diversity of cave ice bacteria and their distribution in perennial ice deposits of this underground glacial habitat could constitute a proxy for microbial response to climatic and environmental changes. Scarisoara Ice Cave (Romania) hosts one of the oldest and largest cave ice blocks worldwide. Here we report on cultured microbial diversity of recent, 400, and 900 years-old perennial ice from this cave, representing the first characterization of a chronological distribution of cave-ice bacteria. Total cell density measured by SYBR Green I epifluorescence microscopy varied in the 2.4 x 10⁴ – …

Alternative Splicing Of Drosophila Nmnat: A Neuronal Self-Protection Mechanism, Kai Ruan

Open Access Dissertations

Neurodegenerative diseases triggered by a variety of genetic, epigenetic, and environmental factors are increasingly prevalent worldwide. Maintaining neuronal homeostasis is a prerequisite for proper neurological activity. However, details of mechanisms of neuronal maintenance are largely unknown, and in particular it is unclear whether and how healthy neurons regulate their self-protective activities. Previous work in our laboratory and others has found housekeeping NAD synthetic enzyme NMNAT proteins to be among the most effective and versatile neuroprotective factors in Drosophila and mammals. It has been shown that a stem-loop secondary RNA structure within the Drosophila Nmnat (DmNmnat) intron can modulate its alternative …

Cpt-Cgmp Is A New Ligand Of Epithelial Sodium Channels, Hong Long Ji, Hong Guang Nie, Yongchang Chang, Qizhou Lian, Shan Lu Liu

Translational Neuroscience

Epithelial sodium channels (ENaC) are localized at the apical membrane of the epithelium, and are responsible for salt and fluid reabsorption. Renal ENaC takes up salt, thereby controlling salt content in serum. Loss-of-function ENaC mutations lead to low blood pressure due to salt-wasting, while gain-of-function mutations cause impaired sodium excretion and subsequent hypertension as well as hypokalemia. ENaC activity is regulated by intracellular and extracellular signals, including hormones, neurotransmitters, protein kinases, and small compounds. Cyclic nucleotides are broadly involved in stimulating protein kinase A and protein kinase G signaling pathways, and, surprisingly, also appear to have a role in regulating …

The Setonian, January 28, 2016, Seton Hall University

2016

No abstract provided.

Variable Van Der Waals Radii Derived From A Hybrid Gaussian Charge Distribution Model For Continuum-Solvent Electrostatic Calculations, Renlong Ye, Xuemei Nie, Chung Wong, Xuedong Gong, Yan Wang, Thomas Heine, Baojing Zhou

Chemistry & Biochemistry Faculty Works

We introduce a hybrid Gaussian charge distribution model (HGM) that partitions the molecular electron density into overlapping spherical atomic domains. The semi-empirical HGM consists of atom-centered spherical Gaussian functions and discrete point charges, which are optimized to reproduce the electrostatic potential on the molecular surface as well as the number of electrons in atom-centered and certain off-atom-centered spherical regions as closely as possible. In contrast, our previous Gaussian charge distribution model [J. Chem. Phys. 129, 014509 (2008)] contained only spherical Gaussian functions and was not required to reproduce the number of electrons in off-atom-centered regions. Variable van der Waals (vdW) …

January 28, 2016, James Madison University

The Breeze, 2010-2019

The Breeze is the student newspaper of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Virginia.

The Steps To Medical School An Application Workshop Series, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Western News, Jan. 28, 2016, Western Michigan University

Western News (1972-2018)

Story highlights: Researcher garners $800,000 NSF grant; WMU, WMU Cooley ink new pacts and start law classes; Revised strategic plan draft released for public comment; On Campus with Jenaba Duymovic Waggy.

Otter Realm, January 28, 2016, California State University, Monterey Bay

The Otter Realm

"Fore!" - pros & celebs meet for the annual fundraiser -- CSUMB receives largest donation in history -- Welcome to the 2015 - 16 academic year, from President Ochoa -- AS President Emma Richardson: A letter from Associated Students -- YOCO (you only college once): Make the most out of your years on the Monterey Peninsula -- CSUMB Resources -- Spring 2016 Calendar -- Student veterans club seeks connections -- Zipcars to CSUMB are Imminent -- Where in the World -- What You Otter Be Doing -- Get a bird's eye view of Marina -- Segregated voting in Marina: East …

Are We Overestimating The Niche? Removing Marginal Localities Helps Ecological Niche Models Detect Environmental Barriers, Mariano Soley-Guardia, Eliécer E. Gutiérrez, Darla M. Thomas, José Ochoa-G, Marisol Aguilera, Robert P. Anderson

Publications and Research

Correlative ecological niche models (ENMs) estimate species niches using occurrence records and environmental data. These tools are valuable to the field of biogeography, where they are commonly used to infer potential connectivity among populations. However, a recent study showed that when locally relevant environmental data are not available, records from patches of suitable habitat protruding into otherwise unsuitable regions (e.g., gallery forests within dry areas) can lead to overestimations of species niches and their potential distributions. Here, we test whether this issue obfuscates detection of an obvious environmental barrier existing in northern Venezuela – that of the hot and xeric …

The Tiger Vol. 110 Issue 6 2016-01-28, Clemson University

Tiger Newspapers 2016

No abstract provided.

The Missouri Miner, January 28, 2016

The Missouri Miner Newspaper

No abstract provided.

Author Rights, Sue Ann Gardner, Paul Royster

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

Page 2 – Copyright Basics and Author Rights True/False Quiz

Page 3 – Copyright Basics and Author Rights True/False Quiz Answer Key

Page 4 – Copyright Nebraska Intellectual Freedom Handbook

Page 8 – PowerPoint Slides for presentation titled, “Authors’ Rights and Publishers’ Wishes”

2016 Darwin Day Commemorates Charles Darwin's Birthday, Showcases Scientific Research, Staff

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Human Igg1 Antibodies Suppress Angiogenesis In A Target-Independent Manner, Sasha Bogdanovich, Younghee Kim, Takeshi Mizutani, Reo Yasuma, Laura Tudisco, Valeria Cicatiello, Ana Bastos-Carvalho, Nagaraj Kerur, Yoshio Hirano, Judit Z. Baffi, Valeria Tarallo, Shengjian Li, Tetsuhiro Yasuma, Parthasarathy Arpitha, Benjamin James Fowler, Charles B. Wright, Ivana Apicella, Adelaide Greco, Arturo Brunetti, Menotti Ruvo, Annamaria Sandomenico, Miho Nozaki, Ryo Ijima, Hiroki Kaneko, Yuichiro Ogura, Hiroko Terasaki, Balamurali K. Ambati, Jeanette H. W. Leusen, Wallace Y. Langdon, Michael R. Clark, Bradley D. Gelfand, Jayakrishna Ambati

Ophthalmology and Visual Science Faculty Publications

Aberrant angiogenesis is implicated in diseases affecting nearly 10% of the world’s population. The most widely used anti-angiogenic drug is bevacizumab, a humanized IgG1 monoclonal antibody that targets human VEGFA. Although bevacizumab does not recognize mouse Vegfa, it inhibits angiogenesis in mice. Here we show bevacizumab suppressed angiogenesis in three mouse models not via Vegfa blockade but rather Fc-mediated signaling through FcγRI (CD64) and c-Cbl, impairing macrophage migration. Other approved humanized or human IgG1 antibodies without mouse targets (adalimumab, alemtuzumab, ofatumumab, omalizumab, palivizumab and tocilizumab), mouse IgG2a, and overexpression of human IgG1-Fc or mouse IgG2a-Fc, also inhibited angiogenesis in wild-type …

Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?, Calvin Institute Of Christian Worship, Jeff Barker, C.J. Kingdom-Grier

Symposium on Worship Archive

The Northwestern College touring drama ensemble along with C.J Kingdom-Grier will help us remember the story of the arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. This service is a verbatim presentation of Isaiah 53 and Luke 22–24.

Islands Within An Almost Island: History, Myth, And Aislamiento In Baja California, Mexico, Ryan B. Anderson

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the persistent histories and lasting effects of the Baja California peninsula's status as an "almost island." The peninsula is almost an island in so many ways. Its reputation as an island-like entity has also ben strengthened by a longstanding myth that it was, in fact, an actual island. In many senses it was an island - isolated, remote, difficult to envision, understand, and control. Geography and climate played a vital role in all of this, but so, too, did human imagination. The author uses the concept of shima, along with discussions about the dual meanings of the …