Digital Commons Network^™

Sources Of Error When Measuring Achilles Tendon Mechanics During Running Activities, Giorgos Krikelis, Matthew Pain, Laura-Anne Furlong

ISBS Proceedings Archive

Accurate measurements of tendon mechanics are necessary for biomechanists when trying to identify injury risk factors, optimise athletic performance and develop musculoskeletal models. Measuring Achilles tendon (AT) mechanics dynamically is now possible by combining motion capture and ultrasound (US). The aim of this study was to quantify sources of error when measuring AT length using motion capture and US, and establish their effect on calculated strain values. Errors in AT insertion tracking and data synchronisation caused differences in AT length and moment arm of 5.3 ± 1.1 mm and 11.2 ± 0.9 mm, respectively; this decreased calculated AT peak strain …

Mechanism Of Single-Stranded Dna Activation Of Recombinase Intein Splicing, Christopher W. Lennon, Matthew J. Stanger, Marlene Belfort

Faculty & Staff Research and Creative Activity

Inteins, or intervening proteins, are mobile genetic elements translated within host polypeptides and removed through protein splicing. This self-catalyzed process breaks two peptide bonds and rejoins the flanking sequences, called N- and C-exteins, with the intein scarlessly escaping the host protein. As these elements have traditionally been viewed as purely selfish genetic elements, recent work has demonstrated that the conditional protein splicing (CPS) of several naturally occurring inteins can be regulated by a variety of environmental cues relevant to the survival of the host organism or crucial to the invading protein function. The RadA recombinase from the archaeon Pyrococcus horikoshii …

Interpreting The Ursinus Food Forest: Visualizing, Designing, And Realizing Signage At The Whittaker Environmental Research Station (Wers), Sarah Becker

Environment and Sustainability Summer Fellows

In the fall Ursinus will begin planting the initial species of its food forest on two acres at the Whittaker Environmental Research Station (WERS), an agricultural field currently characterized by livestock forage species, just off campus. By increasing biodiversity at the site and implementing a design that mimics the structure of a healthy forest ecosystem, this food forest intends to improve the wider ecosystem’s health and resilience, while also providing the local community with a source of harvestable food and craft materials. As the system matures and becomes available to the public, interpretive materials will become imperative to ensuring visitors …

Computational Processing And Quality Control Of Hi-C, Capture Hi-C And Capture-C Data., Peter Hansen, Michael Gargano, Jochen Hecht, Jonas Ibn-Salem, Guy Karlebach, Johannes T Roehr, Peter N Robinson

Faculty Research 2019

Hi-C, capture Hi-C (CHC) and Capture-C have contributed greatly to our present understanding of the three-dimensional organization of genomes in the context of transcriptional regulation by characterizing the roles of topological associated domains, enhancer promoter loops and other three-dimensional genomic interactions. The analysis is based on counts of chimeric read pairs that map to interacting regions of the genome. However, the processing and quality control presents a number of unique challenges. We review here the experimental and computational foundations and explain how the characteristics of restriction digests, sonication fragments and read pairs can be exploited to distinguish technical artefacts from …

Cardioprotective Effects Of Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor Immunomodulator Fty720 In A Clinically Relevant Model Of Cardioplegic Arrest And Cardiopulmonary Bypass, Naseer Ahmed, Adeela Mehmood, Daniele Linardi, Soban Sadiq Sadiq, Maddalena Tessari, Sultan Ayoub Meo, Rehana Rehman, Waseem M. Hajjar, Nazeer Muhammad, Mohammad Iqbal, Anwar Gilani, Giuseppe Faggian, Alessio Rungatscher

Department of Biological & Biomedical Sciences

Objective: FTY720, an immunomodulator derived from sphingosine-1-phosphate, has recently demonstrated its immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, anti-apoptotic and anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, FTY720 might be a key pharmacological target for preconditioning. In this preclinical model, we have investigated the effects of FTY720 on myocardium during reperfusion in an experimental model of cardioplegic arrest (CPA) and cardiopulmonary bypass.
Methods: 30 Sprague-Dawley rats (300-350 g) were randomized into two groups: Group-A, treated with FTY720 1 mg/kg via intravenous cannulation, and Group-B, as control. After 15 min of treatment, rats underwent CPA for 30 min followed by initiation of extracorporeal life support for 2 h. Support …

6 Faculty Offer High Praise For Ctl's New Certificate Program, Matt Windsor

Browse All News

No abstract provided.

Linking Late Paleoindian Stone Tool Technologies And Populations In North, Central And South America, Keith M. Prufer, Asia V. Alsgaard, Mark Robinson

KIP Articles

From the perspective of Central and South America, the peopling of the New World was a complex process lasting thousands of years and involving multiple waves of Pleistocene and early Holocene period immigrants entering into the neotropics. These Paleoindian colonists initially brought with them technologies developed for adaptation to environments and resources found in North America. As the ice age ended across the New World people adapted more generalized stone tools to exploit changing environments and resources. In the neotropics these changes would have been pronounced as patchy forests and grasslands gave way to broadleaf tropical forests. We document a …

Sensor Data Collection And Performance Evaluation Using A Tk1 Board, Saurabh Pahune

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Monitoring applications are abundant in todaýђةs world. Our goal is to monitor an individualand his neighborhood using wearable sensors. The system is smart in the sense it can process the captured data in near real-time and communicate-opportunistically with other such systems as well as smart phones and computers. we develop the hardware platform using existing components to support such functionalities. The Nvidia Jetson TEGRA-KEPLER (TK) board is used as the processor as it is one of the most powerful processors for embedded applications with the flexibility to connect to a plethora of sensors. Data transfer for communication is facilitated via …

Appalachian Scholars Alumni Reflect On Ohio Journey, Program’S Impact (July 18, 2019), University Communications And Marketing

OHIO News Articles Archive

No abstract provided.

A Multi-Sensor Phenotyping System: Applications On Wheat Height Estimation And Soybean Trait Early Prediction, Wenan Yuan

Department of Agricultural and Biological Systems Engineering: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Phenotyping is an essential aspect for plant breeding research since it is the foundation of the plant selection process. Traditional plant phenotyping methods such as measuring and recording plant traits manually can be inefficient, laborious and prone to error. With the help of modern sensing technologies, high-throughput field phenotyping is becoming popular recently due to its ability of sensing various crop traits non-destructively with high efficiency. A multi-sensor phenotyping system equipped with red-green-blue (RGB) cameras, radiometers, ultrasonic sensors, spectrometers, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a pyranometer, a temperature and relative humidity probe and a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) …

Using Instream Stationary Antennas To Monitor The Movements Of Warm Water Fishes In A Reach Of Stream Bisected By A Culvert, William Commins

Master of Science in Integrative Biology Theses

In this study I investigated the differences in the non-migratory movement patterns of six fish species in a 280m reach of stream bisected by a culvert (impeded), and a 300m reach of stream with no movement barriers (unimpeded). This study took place between July 1, 2018 and November 14, 2018 in Raccoon Creek, Paulding County, Georgia. I used 12mm passive integrated transponder tags and four instream stationary antennas to monitor the movements 429 fishes. The antennas redetected 262 of the 429 individuals (61.1%), and 48% of fishes were redetected more than 10 times. The proportion of tagged individuals detected by …

An Efficient Framework For The Stochastic Verification Of Computation And Communication Systems Using Emerging Technologies, Zhen Zhang

Funded Research Records

No abstract provided.

Pre-Service Teachers: Reflections On Observed Practice, Carolyn Casale, Adrainne Thomas

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

Reflective practice serves as a powerful pedagogical strategy for teachers—especially those in low-resource, rural areas. This qualitative case study looked at secondary education pre-service teachers in their first education course. Analysis of focus observation essays data indicated that pre-service teachers were incorporating reflective practice in their field observations, but were not addressing issues of diversity – specifically race and socio-economic status. This study is significant for understanding how pre-service teachers engage in reflective practices with respect to diversity.

Overexpression Of Pear (Pyrus Pyrifolia) Cad2 In Tomato Affects Lignin Content, Mingtong Li, Chenxia Cheng, Xinfu Zhang, Suping Zhou, Lixia Li, Shaolan Yang

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

PpCAD2 was originally isolated from the ‘Wangkumbae’ pear (Pyrus pyrifolia Nakai), and it encodes for cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase (CAD), which is a key enzyme in the lignin biosynthesis pathway. In order to verify the function of PpCAD2, transgenic tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) ‘Micro-Tom’ plants were generated using over-expression constructs via the agrobacterium-mediated transformation method. The results showed that the PpCAD2 over-expression transgenic tomato plant had a strong growth vigor. Furthermore, these PpCAD2 over-expression transgenic tomato plants contained a higher lignin content and CAD enzymatic activity in the stem, leaf and fruit pericarp tissues, and formed a greater number of vessel elements …

The Statistics Of Directed Evolution: From Library Generation To High Throughput Screens, Keith Tyo

Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XXI

Directed evolution has been recognized as a powerful approach to creating enzymes and cells with desirable properties, such as growth on a new substrate, thermotolerance, or even novel reaction mechanisms. The directed evolution approach is to generate diversity through genetic mutations and screen the diversity for mutants that have improved properties compared to the parent. This diversification and screening can be repeated to generate mutants with superior properties.

While the concept is straightforward, the devil is in the details. How should I create diversity (error prone PCR, mutagenic primers, transposons…)? How much diversity do I need (10³, 10 …

Turtles, Trash, And Mangrove Trees, Taylor University

2018 Website News Stories

No abstract provided.

K-Fit: Parameterizing Kinetic Models Of Metabolism Using Multiple Fluxomic Datasets, Costa Maranas

Biochemical and Molecular Engineering XXI

Kinetic models predict the metabolic flows by directly linking metabolite concentrations and enzyme levels to reaction fluxes. Robust parameterization of organism-level kinetic models that faithfully reproduce the effect of different genetic or environmental perturbations remains an open challenge due to the intractability of existing algorithms. This paper introduces K-FIT, an accelerated kinetic parameterization workflow that leverages a novel decomposition approach to identify steady-state fluxes in response to genetic perturbations followed by a gradient-based update of kinetic parameters until predictions simultaneously agree with the fluxomic data in all perturbed metabolic networks. The applicability of K-FIT to large-scale models is demonstrated by …

We Are...Marshall, July 17, 2019, Office Of Marshall University Communications

We Are ... Marshall: the Newsletter for Marshall University 1999-2023

No abstract provided.

Observations Of Shear Stress Effects On Staphylococcus Aureus Biofilm Formation, Erica Sherman, Kenneth W. Bayles, Derek Moormeir, Jennifer Endres, Timothy Wei

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering: Faculty Publications

Staphylococcus aureus bacteria form biofilms and distinctive microcolony or “tower” structures that facilitate their ability to tolerate antibiotic treatment and to spread within the human body. The formation of microcolonies, which break off, get carried downstream, and serve to initiate biofilms in other parts of the body, is of particular interest here. It is known that flow conditions play a role in the development, dispersion, and propagation of biofilms in general. The influence of flow on microcolony formation and, ultimately, what factors lead to microcolony development are, however, not well understood. The hypothesis being examined is that microcolony structures form …

Educational Policies Committee Program Proposal, College Of Science, July 17 , 2019 - Climate Adaptation Science, Utah State University

Educational Policies Committee

Utah State University requests approval to restructure Climate Adaptation Science (CAS) effective Fall 2019.

Basal Diet Determined Long-Term Composition Of The Gut Microbiome And Mouse Phenotype To A Greater Extent Than Fecal Microbiome Transfer From Lean Or Obese Human Donors, Daphne Michelle Rodriguez Jimenez, Abby D. Benninghoff, Niklas D.J. Aardema, Sumira Phatak, Korry J. Hintze

Animal, Dairy, and Veterinary Science Faculty Publications

The Western dietary pattern can alter the gut microbiome and cause obesity and metabolic disorders. To examine the interactions between diet, the microbiome, and obesity, we transplanted gut microbiota from lean or obese human donors into mice fed one of three diets for 22 weeks: (1) a control AIN93G diet; (2) the total Western diet (TWD), which mimics the American diet; or (3) a 45% high-fat diet-induced obesity (DIO) diet. We hypothesized that a fecal microbiome transfer (FMT) from obese donors would lead to an obese phenotype and aberrant glucose metabolism in recipient mice that would be exacerbated by consumption …

Cc Chemokine Ccl1 Receptor Ccr8 Mediates Conversion Of Mesenchymal Stem Cells To Embryoid Bodies Expressing Foxp3+Ccr8+ Regulatory T Cells, Nasreen Haque, Tuteja Akaash, Niloufar Haque

Publications and Research

Embryoid bodies (EBs) are three dimensional aggregates of pluripotent stem cells primarily used to investigate morphogenesis and cell toxicity, are also attractive tools in regenerative medicine. While embryonic stem cells (ESCs) and induced pluripotent cells (IPSCs) have been shown to form EBs in mouse, primate and humans, EB formation have not been previously demonstrated in mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs). Here we show that rat MSCs form EBs; which express regulatory T cell (Treg) marker Foxp3 and CC chemokine CCL1 receptor CCR8. We show a novel method for formation of EBs from MSCs under stress and demonstrate that the induction of …

Unsettling Indian Health Services: Secularism, Modern Medicine, & The Reproduction Of The U.S. Settler State Through The 1954 Transfer Act, Jillian Elizabeth Grisel

American Studies ETDs

This thesis takes up the role of secularism in modern medicine as a political doctrine that works in service of settler colonialism. I argue the Declaration of Human Rights and the World Health Organization (WHO) globally institutionalized secular ideologies in the post-World War II environment. This thesis links how this global reordering came to inform U.S. health policy by examining how government officials and medical experts drew from the WHO and framed infectious diseases as a security issue to impose a biomedical order in Indian country. By contextualizing modern medicine within a settler political economy and secular political doctrine, I …

First Prize (And 500 Euros!) For Undergrad Researcher Saakshi Thukral, Jeff Hansen

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No abstract provided.

Morris Named Recipient Of Simons Foundation Research Grant, Staff

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No abstract provided.

Keeping Humans In The Loop: Pooling Knowledge Through Artificial Swarm Intelligence To Improve Business Decision Making, Lynn E. Metcalf, David A. Askay, Louis B. Rosenberg

Industrial Technology and Packaging

This article explores how a collaboration technology called Artificial Swarm Intelligence (ASI) addresses the limitations associated with group decision making, amplifies the intelligence of human groups, and facilitates better business decisions. It demonstrates of how ASI has been used by businesses to harness the diverse perspectives that individual participants bring to groups and to facilitate convergence upon decisions. It advances the understanding of how artificial intelligence (AI) can be used to enhance, rather than replace, teams as they collaborate to make business decisions.

Taxonomic Features And Comparison Of The Gut Microbiome From Two Edible Fungus-Farming Termites (Macrotermes Falciger, M. Natalensis) Harvested In The Vhembe District Of Limpopo, South Africa, Stephanie L. Schnorr, Courney A. Hofman, Shandukani R. Netschifhefhe, Frances D. Duncan, Tanvi P. Honap, Julie Lesnik, Cecil M. Lewis

Anthropology Faculty Research

Background Termites are an important food resource for many human populations around the world, and are a good supply of nutrients. The fungus-farming ‘higher’ termite members of Macrotermitinae are also consumed by modern great apes and are implicated as critical dietary resources for early hominins. While the chemical nutritional composition of edible termites is well known, their microbiomes are unexplored in the context of human health. Here we sequenced the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene of gut microbiota extracted from the whole intestinal tract of two Macrotermes sp. soldiers collected from the Limpopo region of South Africa. Results …

A New Approach To Information Extraction In User-Centric E-Recruitment Systems, Malik Nabeel Ahmed Awan, Sharifullah Khan, Khalid Latif, Asad Masood Khattak

All Works

In modern society, people are heavily reliant on information available online through various channels, such as websites, social media, and web portals. Examples include searching for product prices, news, weather, and jobs. This paper focuses on an area of information extraction in e-recruitment, or job searching, which is increasingly used by a large population of users in across the world. Given the enormous volume of information related to job descriptions and users’ profiles, it is complicated to appropriately match a user’s profile with a job description, and vice versa. Existing information extraction techniques are unable to extract contextual entities. Thus, …

Excitable Interplay Between Lasing Quantum Dot States, Michael Dillane, I. Dubinkin, N. Fedorov, T. Erneux, David Goulding, B. Kelleher, E.A. Viktorov

Cappa Publications

The optically injected semiconductor laser system has proven to be an excellent source of experimental nonlinear dynamics, particularly regarding the generation of excitable pulses. Typically for low-injection strengths, these pulses are the result of a small above-threshold perturbation of a stable steady state, the underlying physics is well described by the Adler phase equation, and each laser intensity pulse is accompanied by a 2π phase rotation. In this article, we show how, with a dual-state quantum dot laser, a variation of type I excitability is possible that cannot be described by the Adler model. The laser is operated so that …

Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, William A. Arigiroff, Donald R. Zak, Rima A. Upchurch, Sydney O. Salley, A. Stuart Grandy

Faculty Publications

Fine root litter is a primary source of soil organic matter (SOM), which is a globally important pool of C that is responsive to climate change. We previously established that ~20 years of experimental nitrogen (N) deposition has slowed fine root decay and increased the storage of soil carbon (C; +18%) across a widespread northern hardwood forest ecosystem. However, the microbial mechanisms that have directly slowed fine root decay are unknown. Here, we show that experimental N deposition has decreased the relative abundance of Agaricales fungi (−31%) and increased that of partially ligninolytic Actinobacteria (+24%) on decaying fine roots. Moreover, …