Digital Commons Network^™

A Machine Learning Algorithm For Identifying And Tracking Bacteria In Three Dimensions Using Digital Holographic Microscopy, Manuel Bedrossian, Marwan El-Kholy, Daniel Neamati, Jay Nadeau

Physics Faculty Publications and Presentations

Digital Holographic Microscopy (DHM) is an emerging technique for three-dimensional imaging of microorganisms due to its high throughput and large depth of field relative to traditional microscopy techniques. While it has shown substantial success for use with eukaryotes, it has proven challenging for bacterial imaging because of low contrast and sources of noise intrinsic to the method (e.g. laser speckle). This paper describes a custom written MATLAB routine using machine-learning algorithms to obtain three-dimensional trajectories of live, lab-grown bacteria as they move within an essentially unrestrained environment with more than 90% precision. A fully annotated version of the software used …

Self-Assembly Of Emissive Supramolecular Rosettes With Increasing Complexity Using Multitopic Terpyridine Ligands, Guang-Qiang Yin, Heng Wang, Xu-Qing Wang, Bo Song, Li-Jun Chen, Lei Wang, Xin-Qi Hao

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Coordination-driven self-assembly has emerged as a powerful bottom-up approach to construct various supramolecular architectures with increasing complexity and functionality. Tetraphenylethylene (TPE) has been incorporated into metallo-supramolecules to build luminescent materials based on aggregation-induced emission. We herein report three generations of ligands with full conjugation of TPE with 2,2′:6′,2″-terpyridine (TPY) to construct emissive materials. Due to the bulky size of TPY substituents, the intramolecular rotations of ligands are partially restricted even in dilute solution, thus leading to emission in both solution and aggregation states. Furthermore, TPE-TPY ligands are assembled with Cd(II) to introduce additional restriction of intramolecular rotation and immobilize fluorophores …

Direct Evidence For The Origin Of Bis‐Gold Intermediates: Probing Gold Catalysis With Mass Spectrometry, Mei Lu, Yijin Su, Pengyi Zhao, Xiaohan Ye, Yi Cai, Xiaodong Shi, Eric Masson, Fengyao Li, J. L. Campbell, Hao Chen

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Gold‐catalyzed alkyne hydration was studied by using in situ reacting mass spectrometry (MS) technology. By monitoring the reaction process in solution under different conditions (regular and very diluted catalyst concentrations, different pH values) and examining the reaction occurrence in the early reaction stage (1–2 ms after mixing) with MS, we collected a series of experimental evidence to support that the bis‐gold complex is a potential key reaction intermediate. Furthermore, both experimental and computational studies confirmed that the σ,π‐bis‐gold complexes are not active intermediates toward nucleophilic addition. Instead, formation of geminally diaurated complex C is crucial for this catalytic process.

Anemia, Red Blood Cell Transfusions, And Necrotizing Enterocolitis, Akhil Maheshwari, Ravi Patel, Robert D. Christensen

Community and Family Health Faculty Publications

In the past 15 years, multiple clinical studies have identified a temporal association between red blood cell (RBC) transfusions and necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC). With some variability, most of these studies indicate that up to one-third of all cases of NEC involving very low-birth weight infants may occur within 24–48 h after receiving a RBC transfusion. There is also evidence that the risk of such transfusion-associated NEC may be higher in infants transfused with the greatest severity of anemia. In this article, we summarize the clinical evidence pertaining to these issues; specifically, the contribution of RBC transfusions, and the contribution of …

Zero‐Inflated Multiscale Models For Aggregated Small Area Health Data, Mehreteab Aregay, Andrew B. Lawson, Christel Faes, Russell S. Kirby, Rachel Carroll, Kevin Watjou

Community and Family Health Faculty Publications

It is our primary focus to study the spatial distribution of disease incidence at different geographical levels. Often, spatial data are available in the form of aggregation at multiple scale levels such as census tract, county, and state. When data are aggregated from a fine (e.g., county) to a coarse (e.g., state) geographical level, there will be loss of information. The problem is more challenging when excessive zeros are available at the fine level. After data aggregation, the excessive zeros at the fine level will be reduced at the coarse level. If we ignore the zero inflation and the aggregation …

Treated Hypothyroidism Is Associated With Cerebrovascular Disease But Not Alzheimer's Disease Pathology In Older Adults, Willa D. Brenowitz, Fang Han, Walter A. Kukull, Peter T. Nelson

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

Thyroid hormone (TH) disease is common among older adults and is associated with cognitive impairment. However, pathologic correlates are not well understood. We studied pathologic and clinical factors associated with hypothyroidism, the most common form of TH disease, in research subjects seen annually for clinical evaluations at U.S. Alzheimer’s Disease Centers. Thyroid disease and treatment status were assessed during clinician interviews. Among autopsied subjects, there were 555 participants with treated hypothyroidism and 2,146 with no known thyroid disease; hypothyroidism was associated with severe atherosclerosis (OR=1.35 95% CI: 1.02, 1.79) but not Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathologies (amyloid plaques or neurofibrillary tangles). …

The Absence Of Dhhc3 Affects Primary And Latent Herpes Simplex Virus 1 Infection, Shaohui Wang, Kevin R. Mott, Marianne Cilluffo, Casey L. Kilpatrick, Shoko Murakami, Alexander V. Ljubimov, Konstantin G. Kousoulas, Sita Awasthi, Bernhard Luscher, Homayon Ghiasi

Faculty Publications

© 2018 American Society for Microbiology. UL20, an essential herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) protein, is involved in cytoplasmic envelopment of virions and virus egress. We reported recently that UL20 can bind to a host protein encoded by the zinc finger DHHC-type containing 3 (ZDHHC3) gene (also known as Golgi-specific DHHC zinc finger protein [GODZ]). Here, we show for the first time that HSV-1 replication is compromised in murine embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) isolated from GODZ-/- mice. The absence of GODZ resulted in blocking palmitoylation of UL20 and altered localization and expression of UL20 and glycoprotein K (gK); the expression of …

Ecological Drivers Of Song Evolution In Birds: Disentangling The Effects Of Habitat And Morphology, Elizabeth Perrault Derryberry, Nathalie Seddon, Graham Earnest Derryberry, Santiago Claramunt, Glenn Fairbanks Seeholzer, Robb Thomas Brumfield, Joseph Andrew Tobias

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Environmental differences influence the evolutionary divergence of mating signals through selection acting either directly on signal transmission (“sensory drive”) or because morphological adaptation to different foraging niches causes divergence in “magic traits” associated with signal production, thus indirectly driving signal evolution. Sensory drive and magic traits both contribute to variation in signal structure, yet we have limited understanding of the relative role of these direct and indirect processes during signal evolution. Using phylogenetic analyses across 276 species of ovenbirds (Aves: Furnariidae), we compared the extent to …

Do Alpha Males Deliver Alpha? Facial Structure And Hedge Funds, Yan Lu, Melvyn Teo

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Facial structure as encapsulated by facial width-to-height ratio (fWHR) maps onto masculine behaviors in males and may positively relate to testosterone. We find that high-fWHR hedge fund managers underperform low-fWHR hedge fund managers by 5.83% per year after adjusting for risk. Moreover, funds operated by high-fWHR managers exhibit higher operational risk, suffer from a greater asset-liability mismatch, and are more likely to fail. We trace the underperformance to high-fWHR managers’ preference for lottery-like stocks and reluctance to sell loser stocks. The results are robust to adjustments for sample selection, marital status, sensation seeking, and manager race, and suggest that investors …

Loex 2018 Conference Report: Houston, Tx, Lauren Dodd, Kerry Madole

LOEX Quarterly

No abstract provided.

Marriage, Labor Supply And The Dynamics Of The Social Safety Net, Hamish Low, Costas Meghir, Luigi Pistaferri, Alessandra Voena

Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers

The 1996 PRWORA reform introduced time limits on the receipt of welfare in the United States. We use variation by state and across demographic groups to provide reduced form evidence showing that such limits led to a fall in welfare claims (partly due to \banking” benefits for future use), a rise in employment, and a decline in divorce rates. We then specify and estimate a life-cycle model of marriage, labor supply and divorce under limited commitment to better understand the mechanisms behind these behavioral responses, carry out counterfactual analysis with longer run impacts and evaluate the welfare effects of the …

Crime, Punishment, And Causation: The Effect Of Etiological Information On The Perception Of Moral Agency, Paul J. Litton, Philip Robbins

Faculty Publications

Moral judgments about a situation are profoundly shaped by the perception of individuals in that situation as either moral agents or moral patients (Gray & Wegner, 2009; Gray, Young, & Waytz, 2012), Specifically, the more we see someone as a moral agent, the less we see them as a moral patient, and vice versa. As a result, casting the perpetrator of a transgression as a victim tends to have the effect of making them seem less blameworthy (Gray & Wegner, 201 1). Based on this theoretical framework, we predicted that criminal offenders with a mental disorder that predisposes them to …

Gardner-Webb University’S Life Of The Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference Set For March 3, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Gardner-Webb University will host the Life Of The Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference (LOTS-MC), an annual showcase of students’ undergraduate and graduate research on Saturday, March 3, in Tucker Student Center. This year marks the 21st anniversary of LOTS, which was established in 1997 by Dr. Les Brown, GWU professor emeritus in biology. “The Life Of The Scholar Multidisciplinary Conference is often a student’s first exposure to the kind of professional presentations they may be required to prepare and deliver in their future careers,” said Dr. June Hobbs, a LOTS-MC steering committee member and director of GWU Undergraduate Research.

“I Was Relieved To Know That My Baby Was Safe”: Women’S Attitudes And Perceptions On Using A New Electronic Fetal Heart Rate Monitor During Labor In Tanzania, Sara Rivenes Lafontan, Johanne Sundby, Hege L. Ersdal, Muzdalifat Abeid, Hussein L. Kidanto, Columba Mbekenga

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

To increase labor monitoring and prevent neonatal morbidity and mortality, a new wireless, strap-on electronic fetal heart rate monitor called Moyo was introduced in Tanzania in 2016. As part of the ongoing evaluation of the introduction of the monitor, the aim of this study was to explore the attitudes and perceptions of women who had worn the monitor continuously during their most recent delivery and perceptions about how it affected care. This knowledge is important to identify barriers towards adaptation in order to introduce new technology more effectively. We carried out 20 semi-structured individual interviews post-labor at two hospitals in …

Contemporary Art Education Approach To Children's Art-Making, Caitlin M. Sengbusch

Art Education Projects

This qualitative participatory action research study focuses on how elementary students communicate in their art-making and how I as an educator encourage their authentic voices to come out, not only verbally but reflected in their art-making. The purpose of this study is to understand the themes/interest’s elementary students find important, the expression of their lived experiences in their art-making, and the pedagogical approaches that support children in their art-making process.

My research includes documentation of my process in creating an elementary art curriculum with collaboration from my student participants, in an attempt to create a curriculum with my students at …

Peptide Ligands For Targeting The Extracellular Domain Of Egfr: Comparison Between Linear And Cyclic Peptides, Tyrslai M. Williams, Rushikesh Sable, Sitanshu Singh, Maria Graca H. Vicente, Seetharama D. Jois

Faculty Publications

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common solid internal malignancy among cancers. Early detection of cancer is key to increasing the survival rate of colorectal cancer patients. Overexpression of the EGFR protein is associated with CRC. We have designed a series of peptides that are highly specific for the extracellular domain of EGFR, based on our earlier studies on linear peptides. The previously reported linear peptide LARLLT, known to bind to EGFR, was modified with the goals of increasing its stability and its specificity toward EGFR. Peptide modifications, including D-amino acid substitution, …

Hidden Endemism, Deep Polyphyly, And Repeated Dispersal Across The Isthmus Of Tehuantepec: Diversification Of The White-Collared Seedeater Complex (Thraupidae: Sporophila Torqueola), Nicholas A. Mason, Arturo Olvera-Vital, Irby J. Lovette, Adolfo G. Navarro-Sigüenza

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Phenotypic and genetic variation are present in all species, but lineages differ in how variation is partitioned among populations. Examining phenotypic clustering and genetic structure within a phylogeographic framework can clarify which biological processes have contributed to extant biodiversity in a given lineage. Here, we investigate genetic and phenotypic variation among populations and subspecies within a Neotropical songbird complex, the White-collared Seedeater (Sporophila torqueola) of Central America and Mexico. We combine measurements of morphology and plumage patterning with thousands of nuclear loci derived from ultraconserved elements …

Optimal Data Partitioning, Multispecies Coalescent And Bayesian Concordance Analyses Resolve Early Divergences Of The Grape Family (Vitaceae), Limin Lu, Cymon J. Cox, Sarah Mathews, Wei Wang, Jun Wen, Zhiduan Chen

Faculty Publications

© The Willi Hennig Society 2017 Evolutionary rate heterogeneity and rapid radiations are common phenomena in organismal evolution and represent major challenges for reconstructing deep-level phylogenies. Here we detected substantial conflicts in and among data sets as well as uncertainty concerning relationships among lineages of Vitaceae from individual gene trees, supernetworks and tree certainty values. Congruent deep-level relationships of Vitaceae were retrieved by comprehensive comparisons of results from optimal partitioning analyses, multispecies coalescent approaches and the Bayesian concordance method. We found that partitioning schemes selected by PartitionFinder were preferred over those by gene or by codon position, and the unpartitioned …

Cambial Phenology Informs Tree-Ring Analysis Of Fire Seasonality In Coastal Plain Pine Savannas, Monica T. Rother, Jean M. Huffman, Grant L. Harley, William J. Platt, Neil Jones, Kevin M. Robertson, Steve L. Orzell

Faculty Publications

© 2018, The Author(s). Understanding of historical fire seasonality should facilitate development of concepts regarding fire as an ecological and evolutionary process. In tree-ring based fire-history studies, the seasonality of fire scars can be classified based on the position of the fire scar within or between growth rings. Cambial phenology studies are needed to precisely relate a fire-scar position to months within a year because the timing of dormancy, earlywood production, and latewood production varies by species and location. We examined cambial phenology patterns of longleaf pine (Pinus palustris Mill.), slash pine (P. elliottii Engelm.), and South Florida slash pine …

Aromatic Interactions At The Ligand–Protein Interface: Implications For The Development Of Docking Scoring Functions, Michal Brylinski

Faculty Publications

© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S The ability to design and fine-tune non-covalent interactions between organic ligands and proteins is indispensable to rational drug development. Aromatic stacking has long been recognized as one of the key constituents of ligand–protein interfaces. In this communication, we employ a two-parameter geometric model to conduct a large-scale statistical analysis of aromatic contacts in the experimental and computer-generated structures of ligand–protein complexes, considering various combinations of aromatic amino acid residues and ligand rings. The geometry of interfacial π–π stacking in crystal structures accords with experimental and theoretical data collected for simple systems, such as …

Reference Quality Genome Assemblies Of Three Parastagonospora Nodorum Isolates Differing In Virulence On Wheat, Jonathan K. Richards, Nathan A. Wyatt, Zhaohui Liu, Justin D. Faris, Timothy L. Friesen

Faculty Publications

Parastagonospora nodorum, the causal agent of Septoria nodorum blotch in wheat, has emerged as a model necrotrophic fungal organism for the study of host-microbe interactions. To date, three necrotrophic effectors have been identified and characterized from this pathogen, including SnToxA, SnTox1, and SnTox3. Necrotrophic effector identification was greatly aided by the development of a draft genome of Australian isolate SN15 via Sanger sequencing, yet it remained largely fragmented. This research presents the development of nearly finished genomes of P. nodorum isolates Sn4, Sn2000, and Sn79-1087 using long-read sequencing technology. RNAseq analysis of isolate Sn4, consisting of eight time points covering …

Insect Effects On Ecosystem Services—Introduction, T. D. Schowalter, J. A. Noriega, T. Tscharntke

Faculty Publications

Natural ecosystems provide a variety of services on which humans, and other organisms, depend for survival and well-being. These ecosystem services can be categorized as provisioning (production of food, fiber, water and other resources), cultural (non-material benefits, such as recreation, spiritual and other aesthetic values), supporting (primary production, pollination, decomposition and soil formation necessary for resource production) and regulating (biological control and other feedback mechanisms that maintain relatively consistent delivery of services). Ecosystems also have been viewed as producing “disservices” such as pests, litter, biological hazards such as diseases, animal attacks, allergenic and poisonous organisms, and geophysical hazards such as …

Recently Integrated Alu Insertions In The Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri) Lineage And Application For Population Analyses, Mark Batzer, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Michael W. Denham, Charles D. Loupe

Faculty Publications

Background: The evolution of Alu elements has been ongoing in primate lineages and Alu insertion polymorphisms are widely used in phylogenetic and population genetics studies. Alu subfamilies in the squirrel monkey (Saimiri), a New World Monkey (NWM), were recently reported. Squirrel monkeys are commonly used in biomedical research and often require species identification. The purpose of this study was two-fold: 1) Perform locus-specific PCR analyses on recently integrated Alu insertions in Saimiri to determine their amplification dynamics, and 2) Identify a subset of Alu insertion polymorphisms with species informative allele frequency distributions between the Saimiri sciureus and Saimiri boliviensis groups. …

An Ancient Estuarine-Circulation Nutrient Trap: The Late Pennsylvanian Midcontinent Sea Of North America, Thomas J. Algeo, Achim D. Herrmann

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Geological Society of America. The Late Pennsylvanian Midcontinent Sea (LPMS) of North America, which existed during glacioeustatic highstands of the late Paleozoic ice age, was an immense ( > 1 × 106 km2) cratonic interior sea exhibiting large-scale estuarine circulation, with a low-salinity surface plume overlying a high-salinity, anoxic, deep water mass. As in river estuaries, these conditions resulted in trapping and recycling of nutrients and organic-reactive elements (e.g., trace metals such as Mo, U, and Zn) in the subpycnoclinal water mass, leading to total organic carbon (TOC) to 40% and peak trace metal enrichment factors (EFs) of 540 …

A Strategy For Sperm Cryopreservation Of Atlantic Salmon, Salmo Salar, For Remote Commercial-Scale High-Throughput Processing, Huiping Yang, E. Hu, John T. Buchanan, Terrence R. Tiersch

Faculty Publications

Sperm cryopreservation is an essential tool for long-term storage of genetic resources for aquaculture fishes. The goal of this study was to develop an efficient and streamlined protocol for high-throughput processing for sperm cryopreservation in Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar. The objectives were to evaluate: (1) osmolality of blood serum for determining extender osmolality, (2) effects of extenders for fresh sperm dilution and refrigerated storage, (3) effects of methanol and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) on fresh sperm motility, and (4) motility and fertility after thawing. In this study, sperm samples were collected at a hatchery site in Canada and shipped to a …

Spatial Rice Yield Estimation Based On Modis And Sentinel-1 Sar Data And Oryza Crop Growth Model, Tri D. Setiyono, Emma D. Quicho, Luca Gatti, Manuel Campos-Taberner, Lorenzo Busetto, Francesco Collivignarelli, Francisco Javier García-Haro, Mirco Boschetti, Nasreen Islam Khan, Francesco Holecz

Faculty Publications

Crop insurance is a viable solution to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers to risks from pest and disease outbreaks, extreme weather events, and market shocks that threaten their household food and income security. In developing and emerging countries, the implementation of area yield-based insurance, the form of crop insurance preferred by clients and industry, is constrained by the limited availability of detailed historical yield records. Remote-sensing technology can help to fill this gap by providing an unbiased and replicable source of the needed data. This study is dedicated to demonstrating and validating the methodology of remote sensing and crop …

A Three Year Study Of Metal Levels In Skin Biopsies Of Whales In The Gulf Of Mexico After The Deepwater Horizon Oil Crisis, John Pierce Wise, James T.F. Wise, Catherine F. Wise, Sandra S. Wise, Christy Gianios, Hong Xie, Ron Walter, Mikki Boswell, Cairong Zhu, Tongzhang Zheng, Christopher Perkins, John Pierce Wise

Faculty Publications

In response to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon and the massive release of oil that followed, we conducted three annual research voyages to investigate how the oil spill would impact the marine offshore environment. Most investigations into the ecological and toxicological impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil crisis have mainly focused on the fate of the oil and dispersants, but few have considered the release of metals into the environment. From studies of previous oil spills, other marine oil industries, and analyses of oil compositions, it is evident that metals are frequently encountered. Several metals have been reported in …

Subjectivity In Failure Mode Effects Analysis (Fmea) Severity Classification Within A Reliability Centered Maintenance (Rcm) Context, Marc Banghart, Kari Babski-Reeves, Linkan Bian, Lesley Strawderman

International Journal of Aviation, Aeronautics, and Aerospace

This research paper investigated subjectivity in the severity rating of failure modes within a risk analysis process. Although several risk analysis processes can be utilized, the study considered the application of Failure Modes Effects Analysis (FMEA) or Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) due to its common use within the Aerospace Industry. The study investigated both differences in severity selection given varying amounts of experience as well as any association between severity selection and the provided input information. The main goal of the research was to investigate the impact of data quality on severity selection and to identify factors …

Points Of Pride, February 2018, University Of South Florida St. Petersburg. Academic Affairs Office

Points of Pride, Scene & Herd, and E-News

The February 2018 issue of the newsletter, Points of Pride, with academic affairs news and accomplishments sent to faculty at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg.

Novel Fluconazole Derivatives With Promising Antifungal Activity, Nishad Thamban Chandrika, Sanjib K. Shrestha, Huy X. Ngo, Kaitlind C. Howard, Sylvie Garneau-Tsodikova

Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

The fungistatic nature and toxicity concern associated with the azole drugs currently on the market have resulted in an increased demand for new azole antifungal agents for which these problematic characteristics do not exist. The extensive use of azoles has resulted in fungal strains capable of resisting the action of these drugs. Herein, we report the synthesis and antifungal activities of novel fluconazole (FLC) analogues with alkyl-, aryl-, cycloalkyl-, and dialkyl-amino substituents. We evaluated their antifungal activity by MIC determination and time-kill assay as well as their safety profile by hemolytic activity against murine erythrocytes as well as cytotoxicity against …