Digital Commons Network^™

Ecology Of Pilgrimage: Building Socio-Ecological Community On The Way, Peggy L. Eppig

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

A developed sense of interdependence with the socio-ecological landscapes of pilgrimage can serve as a path for accepting and reducing the impact we have in our sacred travels. Developing ecological habits of mind allows the pilgrim to draw deeper meanings from and thus greater affinity with the natural world. Raising awareness of environmental issues and appreciating the interaction of humans and the natural world helps modern pilgrims play an important role in conservation and restoration of pilgrimage landscapes.

What Is Pilgrimage? A Report Of The Panel At The 2017 Symposium On Pilgrimage Studies, William & Mary, October 7, 2017, Robert C. Nickerson, George D. Greenia, Ian S. Mcintosh, E. Moore Quinn

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

No abstract provided.

A Metric For Evaluating The Ability Of The Rzwqm Model To Project The Impact Of Climate Change, Robert Anex, Lei Gu, Matthew Helmers

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Making projections with models is always difficult and climate change poses a particularly challenging problem for biophysical models which tend to be over-parameterized and have poor predictive power when extrapolations are beyond the range of the calibration. It is common practice to assume that if a calibrated model replicates observations reasonably well, predictions under other conditions will also be reasonably good. Unfortunately, this assumption is not always correct, as we show for prediction of nitrate loss from a tile-drained, corn-soybean experiment in Northern Iowa.

The RZWQM is a biophysical process model that simulates plant growth and movement of water and …

Developing An Empirical Model For Evaluating Nutrient Removal Effectiveness At Wastewater Treatment Facilities, Brock Hodgson, Sybil Sharvelle

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Many states are considering or have recently adopted nutrient regulations requiring wastewater treatment facilities (WWTFs) to improve existing treatment operations. Therefore, it is important for WWTF to be able to identify and evaluate factors that limit the effectiveness of nutrient removal efficiency. This is traditionally done using complex biological and chemical models of WWTF operations and requires a significant amount of data input, modeling experience, and time.

The purpose of this research is to provide a more effective way of evaluating factors that limit nutrient removal effectiveness. To accomplish this, an empirical model was developed to generalize the nutrient removal …

Models And Modeling In The Environmental Sciences: Between Epistemology And Practice, Carlo Gualtieri, Dragutin T. Mihailović Prof., Darko Kapor Prof., Siniša Crvenković Prof., Ilija Arsenić Dr.

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Designing the models and their use in computer simulation in the environmental sciences inherently involves many epistemological questions. Although practical considerations often overruled the problems of epistemology sometimes it is necessary to make basic epistemological choices, especially in modeling. In sciences and accordingly in environmental ones for many reasons modelers ignore non-linearity of phenomena and processes. If we decide to linearize “the object of modeling” then we use linear equations where the variables and their derivatives must always appear as a simple first power. The theory for solving linear equations is rather well developed one because linear equations are simple …

Fetal Programming: How Intrauterine Environmental Factors Influence Health And Disease, Devan Craig

JCCC Honors Journal

How Intrauterine Environmental Factors Influence Health and Disease

Once thought of as inconsequential, the prenatal period has recently acquired some awareness as being a sensitive time during which environmental factors can modulate gene expression as well as regulate fetal growth and development. The prenatal period encompasses the genesis of an embryo, the intricate process of fetal maturation, concludes with the birth of the infant, and is marked by the profound influence it exerts on long-term health trajectories. The notion that intrauterine environmental factors can reset physiological parameters “and the resetting can endure into adulthood and even affect the following generation” …

The Lifelong Impact Of The Neonatal Microbiome, Cassandra Seib

JCCC Honors Journal

Nurses have a critical role in patient health outcomes. Beyond providing essential care, nurses are responsible for educating patients so they are able to make well-informed decisions to achieve optimal health. Throughout our training, we are consistently reminded of the importance of patient education. When a diagnosis is made, nurses are responsible for teaching the patient how to respond in order to best manage their condition. While this will always be a vital component of nursing, another approach to patient education is preventing disease. Research has proven that the human microbiome is essential to health and disease prevention, yet its …

Investigation On The Effect Of Pasteurisation On The Bacteria Contamination Of Eggs, Alya Sufiyah Bte Mohamed Subhan

The International Student Science Fair 2018

This project is a research on bacteria contamination on pasteurised and non-pasteurised eggs. In Singapore, there has been an increase in salmonella cases since 2016. Recently in the US, more than 206 million eggs in supermarkets and grocery chains had to be recalled. This project will explain about the different in bacterial colonies found on seemingly similar eggs.

Hybrid Service Simulation Model For Circular Economy Implementation, Edna Guevara-Rivera, Roberto Osorno-Hinojosa, Victor Hugo Zaldívar-Carrillo

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Circular economy (CE) aims to redefine products and services to design waste out by using renewable energy sources. In Europe and the United States, many industries have implemented circular economy in one or more of its product cycles. However, in the literature, there are no reported cases from Mexico. In this article, we review service-dominant (S-D) logic and ecosystem services (ES) to define the value cocreation between the elements in a CE cycle. On the other hand, we propose to model each one of those elements, their interactions and behaviors using Agent-based Modelling (ABM) and System Dynamics (SD) aiming at …

Unified Plant Growth Model (Upgm). 1. Background, Objectives, And Vision, Gregory S. Mcmaster, Debora A. Edmunds, Roger D. Marquez, Fred A. Fox, Larry E. Wagner, John Tatarko, Nathan Lighthart, Holm Kipka, Robert H. Erskine, Timothy R. Green, James C. Ascough Ii

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Since the development of the Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) model in 1988, the EPIC-based plant growth code has been incorporated and modified into many agro-ecosystem models. The goals of the Unified Plant Growth Model (UPGM) project are: 1) integrating into one platform the enhancements from the multiple EPIC-based plant growth models, 2) further enhance the integrated UPGM model, and 3) develop a component that can be more easily linked into other agroecosystem models such as the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) and Agricultural Ecosystem Services Model (AgES). This talk discusses Objectives 1 and 2; Objective 3 is covered in …

Water Quality Trading: A Framework For Incorporating Modeling Uncertainties Into Quantification Of Trading Ratios, Ali Tasdighi Dr., Marzieh Motallebi, Mazdak Arabi, Daren Harmel, Daniel Line

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

Quantifying the water quality benefits of conservation practices (BMPs) is prone to different types of uncertainties, a big portion of which stem from application of models. These uncertainties result in biased decisions when developing water quality trading programs. While trading ratios are currently applied mainly to account for the natural variability of nonpoint sources, they are rather applied as random safety factors without considering estimates of modeling uncertainties. A Bayesian total uncertainty analysis framework is presented to assess the model estimates of the effectiveness of BMPs in reducing nonpoint source pollution. The framework entails a two-stage procedure. First, various sources …

An Application Software Analytics Toolkit For Facilitating The Understanding, Componentization, And Refactoring Of Large-Scale Scientific Models, Dali Wang, Fengguang Song, Weijian Zheng,

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The complexity of large scientific models developed for certain machine architectures and application requirements has become a real barrier that impedes continuous software development. In this study, we use experience from several practices, including open-source software engineering, software dependency understanding, compiler technologies, analytical performance modeling, micro-benchmarks, and functional unit testing, to design software toolkits to enhance software productivity and performance. Our software tools collect the information on scientific codes and extract the common features of these codes. In this paper, we focus on the front-end of our system (Software X-ray Scanner): a metric information collection system for better understanding of …

Unified Plant Growth Model (Upgm). 2. Component Development And Integration With Agroecosystem Models, Fred A. Fox, Roger D. Marquez, Larry E. Wagner, Gregory S. Mcmaster, Debora A. Edmunds, John Tatarko

International Congress on Environmental Modelling and Software

The goals of the Unified Plant Growth Model (UPGM) project are: 1) integrating into one platform the enhancements from the multiple EPIC-based plant growth models, 2) further enhance the integrated UPGM model, and 3) develop a component that can be more easily linked into other agroecosystem models such as the Wind Erosion Prediction System (WEPS) and Agricultural Ecosystem Services Model (AgES). Objectives 1 and 2 are presented in part one, and this talk discusses the development of a prototype for Objective 3.

The overall design of the integrated UPGM component is presented, focusing on the need to adequately represent the …

Intraspesific Diversity Of Diploid And Tetraploid Spesific Of Cotton On Salt Tolerance, M. M. Rejapova, I. D. Kurbanbaev, B. X. Chiniqulov, Z.B.Alloberganova

Central Asian Problems of Modern Science and Education

Article consist cotton growth, nutrition absorption and yield were improved by adding appropriate amounts of K and Na. It was thus established that the samples studied showed different resistance to salinity. Samples of the cotton germplasm collection proved to be highly resistant to salinization

06-25-2018 Swosu Biology Students And Tri-Beta Chapter Earn Awards At National Convention, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

THE BARK ARCHIVE 2018

Southwestern Oklahoma State University biology students in Weatherford recently won awards at the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society National Convention in Monterey (CA).

African Savanna Vegetation Model, Christoffer Axelsson

Graduate Student Datasets and Models

The project aimed at creating a model that can simulate the effect of environmental factors on trees and grasses in an African savanna landscape. It enables simulating the growth of woody and herbaceous vegetation in an African savanna landscape, where the user can define the environmental conditions. Input to the model includes:

• Monthly precipitation
• Fire regime
• Grazing pressure
• Soil type
• Slope
• Attributes of the woody species, such as maximum crown size and sensitivity to light conditions, drought, and fire.

Elucidating The Role Of The Transcriptional Co-Activator Camta1 In Cardiac Development, Nate Batey, Zach Frederich, Morgan Fronk, Nate Jenkins, Jonathon Hill

Journal of Undergraduate Research

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect in the United States, causing more first-year infant deaths than any other birth defect (1). While the causes of CHD are varied, genetic defects are known to play a significant role. Identifying and studying genes involved in embryonic heart development can enhance understanding of the genetic factors in CHDs. The camta1 gene is a promising candidate due to its transient expression in heart morphogenesis and its relationship to camta2 , the only other member of its family in vertebrates and a known player in adult heart failure (2,3).

Snf1 Cooperates With The Cwi Mapk Pathway To Mediate The Degradation Of Med13 Following Oxidative Stress, Stephen D Willis, David C Stieg, Kai Li Ong, Ravina Shah, Alexandra K. Strich, Julianne H Grose, Katrina F Cooper

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Eukaryotic cells, when faced with unfavorable environmental conditions, mount either pro-survival or pro-death programs. The conserved cyclin C-Cdk8 kinase plays a key role in this decision. Both are members of the Cdk8 kinase module that, along with Med12 and Med13, associate with the core Mediator complex of RNA polymerase II. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, oxidative stress triggers Med13 destruction, which releases cyclin C into the cytoplasm to promote mitochondrial fission and programmed cell death. The SCFGrr1 ubiquitin ligase mediates Med13 degradation dependent on the cell wall integrity pathway, MAPK Slt2. Here we show that the AMP kinase Snf1 activates a second …

Sugar Bush Foundation Continues Its Support Of Four Projects, Seeds Three More Projects (June 25, 2018), University Communications And Marketing

OHIO News Articles Archive

No abstract provided.

Landscape Structure And Ecology Influence The Spread Of A Bat Fungal Disease, Thomas M. Lilley, Jani Anttila, Lasse Ruokolainen

KIP Articles

1. White‐nose syndrome (WNS), affecting multiple North American bat species during the hibernation period, is a highly pathogenic disease caused by the psychrophilic fungus Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd). Because the fungal pathogen persists in the hibernation site environment independently of the hosts, previous theory on spatial disease dynamics cannot predict WNS epidemics. However, the ability to understand factors contributing to the spread of white‐nose syndrome (WNS) in North America is crucial to the management of infected and susceptible bat populations as well as the conservation of threatened and endangered bat species. 2. Utilizing recent theory on environmental opportunistic pathogens, we modelled …

Correlation Between Rheumatoid Factor And Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule-1 Levels In Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Without Metabolic Syndrome, Reza Yogaswara, Rudy Hidayat, Muhadi Muhadi, Ikhwan Rinaldi

Jurnal Penyakit Dalam Indonesia

No abstract provided.

Southeast Florida Large (>2 Meter) Diseased Coral Colony Intervention Summary Report, Brian K. Walker, Alysha Brunelle

Marine & Environmental Sciences Faculty Reports

No abstract provided.

Recognizing And Overcoming The Myths Of Modernity, Renata Leitao

DRS Biennial Conference Series

This paper aims to contribute to the debate around the cultural dimension of the transitions by shedding a light on myths at the core of the modern civilizational project. The term myths is used to talk about stories that embody the values of the modern project, which became a certainty in people’s minds. Transitioning to a sustainable civilization entails that we create and adopt new storylines. In order to do so, designers must be story-listeners and recognize the myths that are hindering the transformation of our ways of life. The modern world is, arguably, a world with only one storyline …

2018-June-25-New Graduate Studies Dean, University Marketing And Communications, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Body Temperature And General Anesthetics On Intraocular Pressure In Rats, Aditi Pillai

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Ocular hypertension has been identified as the fundamental risk factor in glaucoma which is the leading cause for irreversible blindness in the world. Understanding the different factors that affect IOP is of utmost importance in clinical management as IOP is considered as the fundamental factor in assessing the efficiency of glaucoma medications. Several studies have attempted to assess factors that could affect IOP including age, body position, blood pressure, anesthetics commonly used during eye operations, etc. However, in most of these studies IOP is measured under anesthesia using rodent models and these anesthetics could affect the IOP measurements directly or …

Variation In Airborne Pollen Concentrations Among Five Monitoring Locations In A Desert Urban Environment, Tanviben Y. Patel, Mark P. Buttner, David Rivas, Chad L. Cross, Dennis A. Bazylinski, Joram S. Seggev

Environmental & Global Health Faculty Research

The urbanization of the Las Vegas Valley has transformed this part of the Mohave Desert into a green oasis by introducing many non-native plant species, some of which are allergenic. Typically, one monitoring station is established per city to obtain pollen counts for an entire metropolitan area. However, variations in pollen concentrations could occur among different microenvironments. The objective of this study is to measure and compare pollen concentrations in five locations in Las Vegas to determine if there are significant differences between microenvironments within the city. Air samples were collected from five sites across the Las Vegas Valley over …

Weighting Function Effects In A Direct Regularization Method For Image-Guided Near-Infrared Spectral Tomography Of Breast Cancer., Jinchao Feng, Shudong Jiang, Brian W. Pogue, Keith Paulsen

Dartmouth Scholarship

Structural image-guided near-infrared spectral tomography (NIRST) has been developed as a way to use diffuse NIR spectroscopy within the context of image-guided quantification of tissue spectral features. A direct regularization imaging (DRI) method for NIRST has the value of not requiring any image segmentation. Here, we present a comprehensive investigational study to analyze the impact of the weighting function implied when weighting the recovery of optical coefficients in DRI based NIRST. This was done using simulations, phantom and clinical patient exam data. Simulations where the true object is known indicate that changes to this weighting function can vary the contrast …

Msab And Cody Interact To Regulate Staphylococcus Aureus Capsule In A Nutrient-Dependent Manner, Justin Batte, Gyan S. Sahukhal, Mohamed O. Elasri

Faculty Publications

Staphylococcus aureus has a complex regulatory network for controlling the production of capsule polysaccharide. In S. aureus, capsule production is controlled by several regulators in response to various environmental stimuli. Previously, we described MsaB as a new regulator that specifically binds to the cap promoter in a growth-phase or nutrient-dependent manner. In addition to MsaB, several other regulators have also been shown to bind the same region. In this study, we examined the interactions between MsaB and other nutrient-sensing regulators (CodY and CcpE) with respect to binding to the cap promoter in a nutrient-dependent manner. We observed that msaABCR …

Effects Of Fullerenes On A Freshwater Benthic Community: Toxicity And Implications For Ecological Functions And Services, Sarah Ponte Cabral

Theses

Production of engineered carbon-based nanomaterials (CNM) is rising, with increased risk of release to the environment during production, transportation, use, and disposal. This trend highlights a need to understand potential impacts of CNM on the natural environment. Fullerenes (n-C60) are insoluble in water, and form aggregates that settle quickly, suggesting higher relative vulnerability of aquatic benthic ecosystems. This study aimed to determine eco-toxicity of fullerene and its functionalized derivatives on functionally representative benthic organisms, and evaluate how the potential lethal and sub-lethal effects of fullerene on these organisms indirectly impact benthic ecosystem function, including decomposition, primary productivity and nutrient cycling. …

Compensation For Inertial And Gravity Effects In A Moving Force Platform, Sandra K. Hnat, Ben J.H. Van Basten, Antonie J. Van Den Bogert

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Force plates for human movement analysis provide accurate measurements when mounted rigidly on an inertial reference frame. Large measurement errors occur, however, when the force plate is accelerated, or tilted relative to gravity. This prohibits the use of force plates in human perturbation studies with controlled surface movements, or in conditions where the foundation is moving or not sufficiently rigid. Here we present a linear model to predict the inertial and gravitational artifacts using accelerometer signals. The model is first calibrated with data collected from random movements of the unloaded system and then used to compensate for the errors in …