Digital Commons Network^™

An Expanded Toolkit For Gene Tagging Based On Mimic And Scarless Crispr Tagging In, David Li-Kroeger, Oguz Kanca, Pei-Tseng Lee, Sierra Cowan, Michael T Lee, Manish Jaiswal, Jose Luis Salazar, Yuchun He, Zhongyuan Zuo, Hugo J Bellen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

We generated two new genetic tools to efficiently tag genes in Drosophila. The first, Double Header (DH) utilizes intronic MiMIC/CRIMIC insertions to generate artificial exons for GFP mediated protein trapping or T2A-GAL4 gene trapping in vivo based on Cre recombinase to avoid embryo injections. DH significantly increases integration efficiency compared to previous strategies and faithfully reports the expression pattern of genes and proteins. The second technique targets genes lacking coding introns using a two-step cassette exchange. First, we replace the endogenous gene with an excisable compact dominant marker using CRISPR making a null allele. Second, the insertion is replaced …

Student Engagement Fund Project: Grassland Birds, Nikolas Ballut

Faculty Articles, Papers, and Other Scholarship

This paper is a summary of the work I did under Heather Herakovich for her research project "Grassland bird response to bison and prairie vegetation restoration." A short data analysis of parasitism of the field sparrow by brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) showed that parasitism was lower in the presence of bison than without and distance from hard edges of sites was insignificant to the rate of parasitism.

Self-Relevance Enhances The Benefits Of Attention On Perception, Cn Macrae, A Visokomogilski, M Golubickis, A Sahraie

School of Psychology

Considerable efforts have focused on elucidating the influence that self-relevance exerts on perceptual decision-making. To explore this issue further, the current research explored the extent to which stimulus applicability facilitates the benefits of covert attention on early visual processing. In two experiments, we manipulated the personal-relevance of peripheral cues (i.e., geometric shapes) that preceded the appearance of target stimuli (i.e., Gabors) and asked participants to report the orientation of the stimulus with the highest contrast. The results revealed a significant effect of self-relevance on task performance. First, compared to cues associated with a friend or stranger, self-relevant cues enhanced the …

Native American Use Of Eagle Feathers Under The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, Adair Martin Smith

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Compliance: The Role Of Whistleblowers, Claire Sylvia, Emily Stabile

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Wildlife Underpass Use And Environmental Impact Assessment: A Southern California Case Study, Travis Longcore, Lindsay Almaleh, Brittany Chetty, Kathryn Francis, Robert Freidin, Ching-Sheng Huang, Brooke Pickett, Diane Schreck, Brooke Scruggs, Elise Shulman, Alissa Swauger, Alison Tashnek, Michael Wright, Erin E. Boydston

Cities and the Environment (CATE)

Environmental planners often rely on transportation structures (i.e., underpasses, bridges) to provide connectivity for animals across developed landscapes. Environmental assessments of predicted environmental impacts from proposed developments often rely on literature reviews or other indirect measures to establish the importance of wildlife crossings. Literature-based evaluations of wildlife crossings may not be accurate, and result in under-estimation of impacts or establishment of inappropriate mitigation measures. To investigate the adequacy of literature-based evaluations, we monitored wildlife use of a freeway underpass that had been identified as critically important to wildlife connectivity, and which was evaluated in an environmental review document. Photographs were …

On The Relationship Between Humans And Nature In Leopold's A Sand County Almanac, William Judge Browning

Agora

No abstract provided.

Exploring Barriers, Beliefs, Knowledge, Experiences, And Emotions Related To Yoga Practice Among A Racially And Ethnically Diverse Sample, Denise Simão Marques

Open Access Dissertations

The standard approach to ameliorating mental health difficulties in the United States may not be effective for racial and ethnic minority populations, as these individuals are more likely than non-Latino/a White individuals to prematurely withdraw from mental health services (Chow, Jaffee, & Snowden, 2003; Miranda, Azocar, Organista, Dwyer, & Arean, 2003). Yoga may be a viable intervention to address the large disparity in mental health services provided to these populations, as it is effective in ameliorating mental health difficulties across racial and ethnic populations and can be practiced in the non-medical settings. However, research suggests that racial and ethnic minority …

Role Of Usp24 In Modulation Of Dna Damage Response, Leah E. Nemzow

Open Access Dissertations

Cellular DNA consistently suffers damage from various endogenous and exogenous sources. DNA Damage Response (DDR) serves as an integrated cellular network to sense cellular stress and activate pathways responsible for arresting cell cycle progression, stimulating DNA damage repair, and initiating apoptosis. Efficient DDR protects cells from genomic instability while defective or deficient DDR can allow unrepaired lesions to cause permanent and catastrophic mutations in the genome, which may cause disease conditions such as cancer and can reduce efficacy of genotoxic anti-cancer therapy. Thus, the proper regulation of DDR mechanisms is crucial for organismal health and viability. Ubiquitination has been long …

Gold Nanoparticles Enhanced Diffuse Optical Imaging And Radiation Therapy, Keying Xu

Open Access Dissertations

Cancer is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the United States and worldwide. Commonly used cancer treatment methods include surgery, chemotherapy, and Radiation therapy (RT), the last of which is used in about half of all treatments. Imaging plays an important role in cancer diagnosis and radiation treatment. Gold nanoparticles (GNP) can strongly absorb optical light and x-ray because of the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) effect of the nanoparticles and the high atomic number of the gold. Therefore, it has a great potential to enhance both optical imaging and radiation dose delivery. This dissertation includes: (1) the development …

Neonatal Lactocrine Deficiency Affects The Adult Porcine Endometrial Transcriptome At Pregnancy Day 13, Ashley F. George, Teh-Yuan Ho, Nripesh Prasad, Brittney N. Keel, Jeremy R. Miles, Jeffrey L. Vallet, Frank F. Bartol, Carol A. Bagnell

Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center: Reports

Reproductive performance of female pigs that do not receive sufficient colostrum from birth is permanently impaired. Whether lactocrine deficiency, reflected by low serum immunoglobulin immunocrit (iCrit), affects patterns of endometrial gene expression during the periattachment period of early pregnancy is unknown. Here, objectives were to determine effects of low iCrit at birth on the adult endometrial transcriptome on pregnancy day (PxD) 13. On the first day of postnatal life, gilts were assigned to high or low iCrit groups. Adult high (n = 8) and low (n = 7) iCrit gilts were bred (PxD 0), and humanely slaughtered on PxD 13 …

Johnson Aguilar Study Vampire Bat Adaptation In Ecuador, Ohio University College Of Arts & Sciences

All Forum Articles

No abstract provided.

Luis Jimenez Villa V. Attorney General United States

2018 Decisions

Agency

Trichoderma Polysporum Selectively Inhibits White-Nose Syndrome Fungal Pathogen Pseudogymnoascus Destructans Amidst Soil Microbes, Amanpreet Singh, Erica Lasek-Nesselquist, Vishnu Chatervedi

KIP Articles

Background Pseudogymnoascus destructans (Pd), the causative fungal agent of white-nose syndrome (WNS), has led to the deaths of millions of hibernating bats in the United States of America (USA) and Canada. Efficient strategies are needed to decontaminate Pd from the bat hibernacula to interrupt the disease transmission cycle without affecting the native microbes. Previously, we discovered a novel Trichoderma polysporum (Tp) strain (WPM 39143), which inhibited the growth of Pd in autoclaved soil samples. In the present investigation, we used culture-based approaches to determine Tp-induced killing of native and enriched Pd in the natural soil of two bat hibernacula. We …

Large T1 Contrast Enhancement Using Superparamagnetic Nanoparticles In Ultra-Low Field Mri, Xiaolu Yin, Stephen E. Russek, Gary Zabow, Fan Sun, Jeotikatan Mohapatra, Kathryn E. Keenan, Michael A. Boss, Hao Zeng, J. Ping Liu, Alexandrea Viert, Sy-Hwang Liou, John Moreland

Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience: Faculty Publications

Superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs) are widely investigated and utilized as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast and therapy agents due to their large magnetic moments. Local field inhomogeneities caused by these high magnetic moments are used to generate T₂ contrast in clinical high-field MRI, resulting in signal loss (darker contrast). Here we present strong T1 contrast enhancement (brighter contrast) from SPIONs (diameters from 11 nm to 22 nm) as observed in the ultra-low field (ULF) MRI at 0.13 mT. We have achieved a high longitudinal relaxivity for 18 nm SPION solutions, r1 = 615 s−1 mM−1, which is two …

Disparities In Pulmonary Fibrosis Care In The United States: An Analysis From The Nationwide Inpatient Sample, Adam W. Gaffney, Steffie Woolhander, David Himmelstein, Danny Mccormick

Publications and Research

Background: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a disease with high morbidity and mortality. Care for these patients, including lung transplantation, may provide significant benefits, but is resource-intensive and expensive. Disadvantaged patients with IPF may hence be at risk for receiving inferior care.

Methods: We analyzed data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, a database consisting of all hospitalizations from a 20% sample of US hospitals. We identified adults hospitalized with IPF between 1998 and 2011 using ICD-9 codes. We assessed the effect of insurance coverage and socioeconomic status (SES) on lung transplantation, a treatment that may improve survival. We also examined the …

Creating Herstory: Female Rebellion In Arundhati Roy’S "The God Of Small Things" And "The Ministry Of Utmost Happiness", Priyanka Tewari

Theses and Dissertations

In The God of Small Things and The Ministry of Utmost Happiness novels, the author Arundhati Roy is not only attempting to give feminist weight to the multiplicity of locations in which gender is articulated by recasting her female characters in their quest for selfhood, she is also focusing on women and women-identified characters as agents of history, thereby contributing to an ongoing project of feminist historiography.

Volume 55, Number 50: August 08, 2018, University Of North Dakota

University Letter Archive

No abstract provided.

Suitable Host Fish, Population Structure, And Life-History Characteristics For The State-Listed, Louisiana Pigtoe, Pleurobema Riddellii, Elizabeth Hinkle

Biology Theses

There are 53 extant Unionids in Texas, six of which are petitioned for federal protection under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The Louisiana Pigtoe, Pleurobema riddellii, has recorded distribution in Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. In Texas P. riddellii historically occurs as far west as the San Jacinto and Trinity rivers, eastward to the Neches, Sabine and Red rivers. Its abundance is low, and an understanding of their life-history and reproductive characteristics is imperative for establishing federal protection status. During the larval stage of Unionid mussels’ life cycle, juveniles are obligate parasites of fish. This study sought to determine …

Executive Committee & Cabinet Minutes August 2018, Uno Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

These are the official minutes of the Faculty Senate Executive Council Meetings at the University of Nebraska - Omaha (UNO) for Academic year 2018-2019. Minutes are not posted until officially approved by the Executive Council at the following meeting. Minutes are archived yearly within the UNO Library Archives.

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Biomarkers Of Lipoprotein Metabolism, Inflammation And Glucose Homeostasis In Adults, Catherine Phillips, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert, Ivan Perry

Faculty Publications

Accumulating evidence identifies diet and inflammation as potential mechanisms contributing to cardiometabolic risk. However, inconsistent reports regarding dietary inflammatory potential, biomarkers of cardiometabolic health and metabolic syndrome (MetS) risk exist. Our objective was to examine the relationships between a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ)-derived dietary inflammatory index (DII®), biomarkers of lipoprotein metabolism, inflammation and glucose homeostasis and MetS risk in a cross-sectional sample of 1992 adults. Energy-adjusted DII (E-DII) scores derived from an FFQ were calculated. Lipoprotein particle size and subclass concentrations were measured using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Serum acute-phase reactants, adipocytokines, pro-inflammatory cytokines and white blood cell (WBC) …

Are Killer Bees Good For Coffee? The Contribution Of A Paper's Title And Other Factors To Its Future Citations, Mark J. Costello, Karen H. Beard, Richard B. Primack, Vincent Devictor, Amanda E. Bates

Ecology Center Publications

How can the title of a paper affect its subsequent number of citations? We compared the citation rate of 5941 papers published in the journal Biological Conservation from 1968 to 2012 in relation to: paper length; title length; number of authors; paper age; presence of punctuation (colons, commas or question marks); geographic and taxonomic breadth; the word ‘method’; and the type of manuscript (article, review). The total number of citations increased in more recently published papers and thus we corrected citation rate (average number of citations per year since publication) by publication age. As expected, review papers had, on average, …

School Counselors Meeting High School Students’ Social And Emotional Needs, Lorrie-Anne Monte

Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to understand how school counselors are meeting the social and emotional needs of their ninth through twelfth grade high school students. The Delphi Method was used to create consensus among school counselor experts to identify the most prevalent social and emotional needs of their high school students, as well as the prevention and intervention techniques that school counselors are using to meet those needs. Twenty school counselors who work in high schools that have an American School Counselor Association (ASCA) Recognized ASCA Model Program (RAMP) agreed to participate as experts in this study (Round …

The Transcriptome Of The Bermuda Fireworm Odontosyllis Enopla (Annelida: Syllidae): A Unique Luciferase Gene Family And Putative Epitoky-Related Genes, Mercer R. Brugler, M. Teresa Aguado, Michael Tessler, Mark Siddall

Publications and Research

The Bermuda fireworm Odontosyllis enopla exhibits an extremely tight circalunar circadian behavior that results in an impressive bioluminescent mating swarm, thought to be due to a conventional luciferase-mediated oxidation of a light-emitting luciferin. In addition, the four eyes become hypertrophied and heavily pigmented, and the nephridial system is modified to store and release gametes and associated secretions. In an effort to elucidate transcripts related to bioluminescence, circadian or circalunar periodicity, as well as epitoky-related changes of the eyes and nephridial system, we examined the transcriptomic profile of three female O. enopladuring a bioluminescent swarm in Ferry Reach, Bermuda. …

Removing Dams, Constructing Science: Watershed Restoration Through A Socio-Eco-Technical Systems Lens, Zbigniew Jakub Grabowski

Dissertations and Theses

Ecological conservation and restoration in the anthropocene must struggle with overlapping drivers of biodiversity and cultural loss; ruptures of the ecological environment mirror ruptures of human relationships with nature. And yet technology cannot remove humans from nature; technological and infrastructural reconfigurations of nature create new vulnerabilities and risks for humans and ecosystems alike. How can conservation and restoration science productively grapple with complex infrastructure systems and decision-making processes as biophysical and social drivers of ecosystem change?

Using dam removals in the USA and in the Mid Columbia River region of the Pacific Northwest, this dissertation develops a conceptual framework for …

The Effects Of Biochar And Nitrogen Stabilizers Application On Forage Crop Growth, Greenhouse Gas Emission And Soil Quality, Joseph Elias Rodrigues Mikhael

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Forage systems are important for animal production. Nitrogen fertilization and herbicides use has led to a significant increase in forage production. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of biochar and N-(n-butyl) thiophosphoric triamide + dicyandiamide (NBPT+DCD) application on manure and urea fertilized soil by focusing on nitrogen fertilizer efficiency use, greenhouse gases emissions, microbial community, soil aggregate stability, and organic carbon functional groups. In addition, herbicides effect on greenhouse gases emission was assessed. Biochar and NBPT+DCD increased nitrogen use efficiency of both fertilizers managements and reduced the N₂O emissions following manure fertilization. However, NBPT+DCD was …

Color-Based Optical Camera Communication Using Deep Learning, Nicola Rohrseitz

Defensive Publications Series

When a network is not available or allowed (e.g., air gap), all benefits of digital communication and the Internet disappear. To enable substantial data transmission, techniques are described herein for using Machine Learning to embed data into color images and to read it with camera-equipped devices. In addition to data transmission, this enables new applications such as embedding of content on packaging (instructions or runnable code and configurations directly on devices), physical documents with selective encryption (role-based permission to read parts of a document), protection from digital tracking, prevention of tampering on physical documents, and more.

Advancing Technology For Nasa Science With Small Spacecraft, Michael Seablom, Florence Tan, Charles Norton, And Daniel Moses, Lawrence Kepko

Small Satellite Conference

NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD) is strategically promoting the use of small spacecraft to advance its science portfolio. Related to this effort are an increasing number of targeted investments in instrument- and platform-based technologies, which are critical for achieving successful science missions with small spacecraft. Beginning in 2012, SMD’s technology programs began to accommodate the use of CubeSats for validation of new science instruments. Since that time the Directorate has expanded the use of CubeSats and small satellites not only for validating instruments for future, conventional-class missions but also to enable a new class of focused science missions that fill …

Microsats And Moby Dick: Microsatellite Support To Whale Science And Conservation, Matt Bille, Rachel Dendiu, Kirk Borne, Laurie Baker, Steve Brune, Ian Byrnes, Chris Round

Small Satellite Conference

Scientists who study the 92 species of whales and dolphins (aka cetaceans) know that many populations are endangered. There may be only 12 vaquita porpoises left, and the ~450 North Atlantic Right whales are being decimated by ship collisions and fishing gear. Conservation efforts rely on implanted radio tags and satellite transponders to track cetaceans in 1.3 billion cubic kilometers of ocean. These efforts, however, are handicapped by technology and the limits of available satellite support. Leading cetologists surveyed in Booz Allen Hamilton’s Project WHALES (Whale/Habitat and Location/Environment Smallsats) agreed there are simply not enough tracking assets in space. The …

Book Review: Gender (In)Equality And Gender Politics In Southeastern Europe: A Question Of Justice, Meltem Ince-Yenilmez

Journal of International Women's Studies

Review of Gender (In)equality and Gender Politics in Southeastern Europe: A Question of Justice, edited by Christine Hassenstab & Sabrina P. Ramet. Palgrave Macmillan, 2015.