Digital Commons Network^™

The Role Of Carbonate Minerals In Arsenic Mobility In A Shallow Aquifer Influenced By A Seasonally Fluctuating Groundwater Table, Jeremy Jensen

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Arsenic (As) is a poison historically used to great effect before modern detection methods rendered it obsolete. However, the largest mass poisoning in human history occurred due to groundwater in the Bengal Basin contaminated by natural sources of As. Since that time, research has determined that As is found in groundwater worldwide. This includes aquifers located in basin-filled valleys of the western United States. One of these valleys is the Cache Valley Basin located in Northern Utah. This semi-arid region contains carbonate-rich soils and is heavily influenced by snowmelt and seasonal runoff. Previous studies have found that 15% of private …

Transient Thermal Modeling Of Bioprocessing Equipment, Cody M. Cummings

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bioprocessing is leveraging cells to produce high value, lifesaving products. Precise environmental control is needed to maintain integrity of the bioprocessing production process. Temperature control requires both appropriate equipment choice and correct control parameter selection. To aid in the equipment selection process, enable better understanding of equipment capacity, and enable optimization of control parameters, a transient thermal model of both heat transfer characteristics and control systems was created in silico.

Information Technology Services Fy2020 - Winona State University, Minnesota, Information Technology Services-Winona State University

Information Technology Services Annual Reports

Information Technology Services (ITS) provides the technology-based foundation to support and empower the Winona State University (WSU) community to meet and exceed their educational and business needs. This is the ITS report for the fiscal year 2020 (July 1, 2019-June 30, 2020).

Unmuddying The Waters: Evaluating The Legal Basis Of The Human Right To Water Under Treaty Law, Customary International Law, And The General Principles Of Law, Ndjodi Ndeunyema

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article evaluates the existence of a freestanding, general human right to water under each of the three principal sources of international law: treaty, customary international law, and the general principles of law. To date, the right to water has been derived from treaty law, most prominently as part of the right to an adequate standard of living in article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (as implied by General Comment 15 to the ICESCR). The potential importance of a non-treaty based right to water––as a matter of customary international law or a general principle …

Angry Women And Empathic Men: How Individuals "Do Gender" In A Criminal Justice Context Through Conformity Or Resistance To Gendered Feeling Rules, Shannon Dodd

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Studies on gender differences in public punitiveness show that women generally hold less punitive attitudes toward offenders than men. The reverse is true, however, when it comes to ‘back-end’ criminal justice processes, like parole, that involve the early release of prisoners. With evidence to suggest that differing emotional responses may help to explain gender gaps like these, this study draws on the concepts of gendered feeling rules and emotion management, together with the notion of gender as a performance, to explore how men and women enact their gendered identity through emotion in a criminal justice context. The findings highlight the …

Regulation Of Protein Breakdown In Skeletal Muscle, William Bradley Nelson

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Protein degradation, atrophy, skeletal muscle

Using X-Ray Vision To Understand How Things Break: Lensless X-Ray Imaging Of Materials In Extreme Conditions, Richard Sandberg

BYU Research Development Office Research Networking Conference

Microscopy, nanotechnology, optics, inverse problems, applied math, materials science, computer science, data science, x-ray imaging and diffraction

The Influence Of Childhood Trauma And Ptsd Symptoms On Attention And Adhd Symptoms In Adulthood: An Eeg Study, Kylie M. Jupp

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The influence of childhood trauma on clinical and cognitive functioning, specifically attention, has a large research base. However, the majority of studies have examined response inhibition to measure attention, and very few studies have evaluated how childhood trauma influences attentional control behavior and brain activity. Additionally, I aimed to integrate the use of the Allostatic Load Theory (ALT) to examine the outcome of negative attentional outcomes through the input of traumatic stressors. I addressed the above limitation and incorporated the ALT by investigating the influence of childhood trauma, community violence, and PTSD symptoms on attention performance and brain activity …

Context-Dependent Action Of Scc4 Reinforces Control Of The Type Iii Secretion System, Leiqiong Gao, Yanguang Cong, Gregory V. Plano, Xiancai Rao, Lyndsey N. Gisclair, Sara Schesser Bartra, Megan A. Macnaughtan, Li Shena

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved. Chlamydia trachomatis Scc4 (formerly CT663) engages the transcription machinery and the pathogenic type III secretion system (T3SS). Both machines are required for Chlamydia infection. These requirements and the limited ability for genetic manipulation in Chlamydia have hampered dissection of Scc4's contributions. Here, by developing bacterial systems that permit the controlled expression and stable maintenance of Scc4, we assess Scc4's effects on chlamydial growth phenotype, secretion, and the patterns of T3SS gene expression. Expressing Scc4 in Escherichia coli lacking a T3SS injectisome causes a growth defect. This deficiency is rescued by …

Comparative Transcriptomics Of Rice Genotypes With Contrasting Responses To Nitrogen Stress Reveals Genes Influencing Nitrogen Uptake Through The Regulation Of Root Architecture, Prasanta K. Subudhi, Richard S. Garcia, Sapphire Coronejo, Ronald Tapia

Faculty Publications

The indiscriminate use of nitrogenous fertilizers continues unabated for commercial crop production, resulting in air and water pollution. The development of rice varieties with enhanced nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) will require a thorough understanding of the molecular basis of a plant's response to low nitrogen (N) availability. The global expression profiles of root tissues collected from low and high N treatments at different time points in two rice genotypes, Pokkali and Bengal, with contrasting responses to N stress and contrasting root architectures were examined. Overall, the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in Pokkali (indica) was higher than in Bengal …

Impacts Of Forest Fire On Stream Sediment : A Chemical Analysis Of The 16 Mile Fire In Delaware State Forest, Pennsylvania, Usa, Bernadette Rosario Calderon

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Wildfires, which will occur naturally or be produced from anthropogenic activities, are known to have significant impacts in most terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems such as streams. Following a wildfire, burning of soil and vegetation to ash can potentially lead to the input of contaminants such as trace elements into nearby aquatic streams. For this study, stream sediments were examined from the 16-Mile Fire that occurred in April 2016 at the Delaware State Forest, Pennsylvania, USA to determine major and trace elements present. While major and trace elements have been previously examined in soil from the 16-Mile Wildfire, stream sediments have …

Crease: Synchronous Gait By Minimizing Actuation Through Folded Geometry, Olga Mesa, Saurabh Mhatre, Dan Aukes

Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation Faculty Publications

The Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution promises the integration and synergy of disciplines to arrive at meaningful and comprehensive solutions. As computation and fabrication methods become pervasive, they present platforms for communication. Value exists in diverse disciplines bringing their approach to a common conversation, proposing demands, and potentials in response to entrenched challenges. Robotics has expanded recently as computational analysis, and digital fabrication methods are more accurate and reliable. Advances in functional microelectromechanical components have resulted in the design of new robots presenting alternatives to traditional ambulatory robots. However, most examples are the result of intense computational analysis necessitating …

Lower Rates Of Heart Failure And All-Cause Hospitalizations During Pulmonary Artery Pressure-Guided Therapy For Ambulatory Heart Failure: One-Year Outcomes From The Cardiomems Post-Approval Study., David M Shavelle, Akshay S Desai, William T Abraham, Robert C Bourge, Nirav Raval, Lisa D Rathman, J Thomas Heywood, Rita A Jermyn, Jamie Pelzel, Orvar T Jonsson, Maria Rosa Costanzo, John D Henderson, Marie-Elena Brett, Philip B Adamson, Lynne W Stevenson, Cardiomems Post-Approval Study Investigators, Jacob Abraham (Cardiomems Post-Approval Study Investigator)

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Ambulatory hemodynamic monitoring with an implantable pulmonary artery (PA) sensor is approved for patients with New York Heart Association Class III heart failure (HF) and a prior HF hospitalization (HFH) within 12 months. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of PA pressure-guided therapy in routine clinical practice with special focus on subgroups defined by sex, race, and ejection fraction.

METHODS: This multi-center, prospective, open-label, observational, single-arm trial of 1200 patients across 104 centers within the United States with New York Heart Association class III HF and a prior HFH within 12 months evaluated …

Novosorbtm Biodegradable Temporizing Matrix (Btm) In The Complex Wound: A Retrospective Three-Year Review, Lydia Bothwell, Sigrid A. Blome-Eberwein Md

Research Scholars Poster Presentation

No abstract provided.

Overlapping But Distinct Sequences Play Roles In The Insulator And Promoter Activities Of The Drosophila Beaf-Dependent Scs⇔ Insulator, Mukesh Maharjan, J. Keller Mckowen, Craig M. Hart

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 by the Genetics Society of America. Chromatin domain insulators are thought to help partition the genome into genetic units called topologically associating domains (TADs). In Drosophila, TADs are often separated by inter-TAD regions containing active housekeeping genes and associated insulator binding proteins. This raises the question of whether insulator binding proteins are involved primarily in chromosomal TAD architecture or gene activation, or if these two activities are linked. The Boundary Element-Associated Factor of 32 kDa (BEAF-32, or BEAF for short) is usually found in inter-TADs. BEAF was discovered based on binding to the scs’ insulator, and is …

What Determines Parasite Species Richness Across Host Species?, Tad Dallas, Lauren A. Holian, Grant Foster

Faculty Publications

© 2020 British Ecological Society In Focus: Dáttilo, W., Barrozo-Chávez, N., Lira-Noriega, A., Guevara, R., Villalobos, F., Santiago-Alarcon, D., Neves, F. S., Izzo, T., & Ribeiro, S. P. (2020). Species-level drivers of mammalian ectoparasite faunas. Journal of Animal Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.13216. The question of what drives the number of parasite species able to infect a given host species is still a largely open question, despite decades of research. Dáttilo and colleagues examine the potential drivers of ectoparasite species across a large set of host species to explore the taxonomic and trait drivers of host-parasite interactions. Here, we contextualize their findings, explore …

Tepr Encoding A Bacterial Enhancer-Binding Protein Orchestrates The Virulence And Interspecies Competition Of Burkholderia Glumae Through Qsmr And A Type Vi Secretion System, Jingyu Peng, Tiago Lelis, Ruoxi Chen, Inderjit Barphagha, Surendra Osti, Jong Hyun Ham

Faculty Publications

The pathogenesis of the rice pathogenic bacterium Burkholderia glumae is under the tight regulation of the tofI/tofR quorum-sensing (QS) system. tepR, encoding a group I bacterial enhancer-binding protein, negatively regulates the production of toxoflavin, the phytotoxin acting as a major virulence factor in B. glumae. In this study, through a transcriptomic analysis, we identified the genes that were modulated by tepR and/or the tofI/tofR QS system. More than half of the differentially expressed genes, including the genes for the biosynthesis and transport of toxoflavin, were significantly more highly expressed in the ΔtepR mutant but less expressed in the ΔtofI-tofR (tofI/tofR …

Increase In Absolute Leaf Water Content Tends To Keep Pace With That Of Leaf Dry Mass—Evidence From Bamboo Plants, Weiwei Huang, Gadi V.P. Reddy, Yueyi Li, Jørgen Bo Larsen, Peijian Shi

Faculty Publications

Leaves, as the most important photosynthetic organ of plants, are intimately associated with plant function and adaptation to environmental changes. The scaling relationship of the leaf dry mass (or the fresh mass) vs. leaf surface area has been referred to as “diminishing returns”, suggesting that the leaf area fails to increase in proportion to leaf dry mass (or fresh mass). However, previous studies used materials across different families, and there is lack of studies testing whether leaf fresh mass is proportional to the leaf dry mass for the species in the same family, and examining the influence of the scaling …

Effect Of Precipitation And Temperature On Larval Survival Of Cephus Cinctus (Hymenoptera: Cephidae) In Barley Cultivars, Buddhi B. Achhami, Gadi V.P. Reddy, Jamie D. Sherman, Robert K.D. Peterson, David K. Weaver

Faculty Publications

Host plant traits strongly affect survivorship of insect herbivores, and host suitability is especially important for the wheat stem sawfly, Cephus cinctus Norton, which spends its entire egg, larval, and pupal periods in a single stem. Measuring larval survival inside stems from egg hatch through diapause-mediated dormancy is a potential measure of population size for the next year but is also useful in assessing effects of growing season precipitation and temperature. Larval growth is synchronized with host plant growth, and the larva cannot switch hosts. Thus, incorporating plant physiological time, as growing degree days (GDD), may yield a better prediction …

Cellulose Nanofibers From Rapidly Microwave-Delignified Energy Cane Bagasse And Their Application In Drilling Fluids As Rheology And Filtration Modifiers, Chaozheng Liu, Meichun Li, Changtong Mei, Weimin Chen, Jingquan Han, Yiying Yue, Suxia Ren, Alfred D. French, Giovanna M. Aita, Gillian Eggleston, Qinglin Wu

Faculty Publications

Energy cane bagasse (ECB) is the major residue after the cane is milled to extract juice for sugar, biochemical, and/or biofuel production. The sustainable conversion of ECB into high value-added products can help reduce agricultural waste, and enhance utilization of bioresources. In the present work, we demonstrate that ECB can be converted into cellulose nanofibers (CNFs) that can serve as high value-added additives in bentonite water-based fluids (BT-WDFs). Particularly, cellulose fibers (CFs) were rapidly isolated from ECB by microwave-assisted NaOH / NaClO2 treatments. CFs treated with the higher NaOH concentration and microwave irradiation lost more lignin (96.2 % delignification) and …

Effects Of Irrigation Discharge On Salinity Of A Large Freshwater Lake: A Case Study In Chagan Lake, Northeast China, Xuemei Liu, Guangxin Zhang, Jingjie Zhang, Y. Jun Xu, Yao Wu, Yanfeng Wu, Guangzhi Sun, Yueqing Chen, Hongbo Ma

Faculty Publications

The salinization of freshwater lakes by agricultural activities poses a threat to many lake ecosystems around the world. Quantitative, medium-to long-term studies are needed to understand how some common agricultural practices, such as the discharge of crop irrigation in the vicinities of large lakes, may affect lake salinization. In this study, hydrological, hydrodynamics, water quality and meteorological datasets were used to analyze the long-term spatial-temporal variations of water salinities of a major lake, the Chagan Lake, in Northeast China. An integrated hydrodynamics-salinity model was used to simulate lake water salinity changes taking place at different times and locations, including (i) …

3-D Printed Customizable Vitrification Devices For Preservation Of Genetic Resources Of Aquatic Species, Connor J. Tiersch, Yue Liu, Terrence R. Tiersch, William T. Monroe

Faculty Publications

Sperm vitrification as an alternative approach to conventional cryopreservation (equilibrium freezing) allows quick and low-cost sample preservation and is suitable for small-bodied aquatic species with miniscule testis, fieldwork at remote locations, and small-scale freezing for research purposes. The goal of this present study was to develop operational prototypes of 3-dimensional (3-D) printed vitrification devices with innovative components that can provide comprehensive functionalities for practical repository development for aquatic species. The design featured an elongated loop to suspend a thin film of sperm sample in cryoprotectant, a retractable sleeve to protect the vitrified samples and allow permanent labeling, a handle to …

Adaptive Fat Oxidation Is Coupled With Increased Lipid Storage In Adipose Tissue Of Female Mice Fed High Dietary Fat And Sucrose, Scott Fuller, Yongmei Yu, Timothy D. Allerton, Tamra Mendoza, David M. Ribnicky, Z. Elizabeth Floyd

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Western diets high in fat and sucrose are associated with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Although the prevalence of MetS in women is comparable to that in men, metabolic adaptations in females to Western diet have not been reported in preclinical studies. This study investigates the effects of Western diet on risk factors for MetS in female mice. Based on our earlier studies in male mice, we hypothesized that dietary supplementation with extracts of Artemisia dracunculus L. (PMI5011) and Momordica charantia (bitter melon) could affect MetS risk factors in females. Eight-week-old female mice were fed a 10% kcal fat, 17% kcal sucrose …

Birds In Fragmented Amazonian Rainforest: Lessons From 40 Years At The Biological Dynamics Of Forest Fragments Project, Philip C. Stouffer

Faculty Publications

For decades, ecologists have studied fundamental questions of how Amazonian biodiversity is maintained, and whether that diversity can persist following deforestation. The long history of avian research at the Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, near Manaus, Brazil, has helped advance this understanding in the context of a broader research program focused on rainforest fragments embedded in a dynamic matrix. By sampling birds beginning before fragments were isolated, in the late 1970s, and continuing the protocol to the present, our work has revealed community dynamics driven not just by area and isolation, but also by larger landscape patterns, particularly second …

Temporal And Concentration Effects Of Methanol On Cryopreservation Of Zebrafish (Danio Rerio) Sperm, Huiping Yang, E. Hu, Terrence Tiersch, Carrie Carmichael, Jen Matthews, Zoltan M. Varga

Faculty Publications

We evaluated the cryoprotective effects of methanol on zebrafish sperm at different concentrations, exposure times, and stages during cryopreservation. Samples were collected by crushing of dissected testes or abdominal stripping. After exposure to 0%, 2%, 5%, 8%, and 10% methanol for 0-11 min, fresh sperm (1 × 106 cells/mL) did not show changes in plasma membrane integrity (measured by flow cytometer), but cell size changes (light scatter) were observed after exposure to 8% or 10%. After exposure for 0-60 min, fresh sperm (1 × 108 cells/mL) did not show significant changes in survival or membrane integrity. Sperm cryopreserved in 5%, …

Bark Water Vapour Conductance Is Associated With Drought Performance In Tropical Trees, Brett T. Wolfe

Faculty Publications

Bark water vapour conductance (g bark) is a rarely considered functional trait. However, for the few tree species measured to date, it appears high enough to create stem water deficits associated with mortality during droughts, when access to water is limited. I tested whether g bark correlates with stem water deficit during drought conditions in two datasets of tropical trees: One of saplings in forest understories during an annual dry season and one of potted saplings in a shadehouse during extreme drought conditions. Among all 14 populations of eight species measured, g bark varied more than 10-fold (0.86-12.98 mmol m-2 …

Exercise-Induced Increases In Insulin Sensitivity After Bariatric Surgery Are Mediated By Muscle Extracellular Matrix Remodeling, Wagner S. Dantas, Hamilton Roschel, Igor H. Murai, Saulo Gil, Gangarao Davuluri, Christopher L. Axelrod, Sujoy Ghosh, Susan S. Newman, Hui Zhang, Samuel K. Shinjo, Willian Das Neves, Carlos Merege-Filho, Walcy R. Teodoro, Vera L. Capelozzi, Rosa Maria Pereira, Fabiana B. Benatti, Ana L. De Sá-Pinto, Roberto De Cleva, Marco A. Santo, John P. Kirwan, Bruno Gualano

Division of Basic Science Faculty Publications

Exercise seems to enhance the beneficial effect of bariatric (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass [RYGB]) surgery on insulin resistance. We hypothesized that skeletal muscle extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling may underlie these benefits. Women were randomized to either a combined aerobic and resistance exercise training program following RYGB (RYGB + ET) or standard of care (RYGB). Insulin sensitivity was assessed by oral glucose tolerance test. Muscle biopsy specimens were obtained at baseline and 3 and 9 months after surgery and subjected to compre-hensive phenotyping, transcriptome profiling, molecular pathway identification, and validation in vitro. Exercise training improved insulin sensitivity beyond surgery alone (e.g., Matsuda …

The Effects Of Alcohol Consumption On Cardiometabolic Health Outcomes Following Weight Loss In Premenopausal Women With Obesity: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial, John W. Apolzan, Robbie A. Beyl, Corby K. Martin, Frank L. Greenway, Ursula White

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Alcohol (i.e., ethanol) is consumed regularly by much of the adult population; yet, the health effects associated with its use are not well-characterized. Clinical interventions to investigate the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on metabolic outcomes, including adiposity and cardiovascular risk factors, are limited and have yielded conflicting data. In addition, no study has reported the effects of routine alcohol intake during weight loss in a controlled feeding trial. We present the first randomized controlled pilot trial to investigate the effects of moderate alcohol consumption on metabolic outcomes during weight loss in women with obesity. Both groups consumed 30% energy …

Changes In Body Weight, Adherence, And Appetite During 2 Years Of Calorie Restriction: The Calerie 2 Randomized Clinical Trial, James L. Dorling, Sai Krupa Das, Susan B. Racette, John W. Apolzan, Dachuan Zhang, Carl F. Pieper, Corby K. Martin

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Background/objectives: The Comprehensive Assessment of Long-term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy Phase 2 (CALERIE) study showed that individuals who are nonobese were able to undergo significant calorie restriction (CR), yet the time course changes in adherence, weight, and appetite are unknown. This analysis aimed to investigate the time course changes in adherence, body weight, and appetite during the CALERIE study. Subjects/methods: Overall, 143 participants (body mass index: 21.9–28.0 kg/m2) were randomized to a CR group that aimed to achieve 25% CR for 2 years. Throughout the intervention, body weight was measured, and appetite was assessed through visual analogue scales. …

Do Menopausal Status And Apoe4 Genotype Alter The Long-Term Effects Of Intensive Lifestyle Intervention On Cognitive Function In Women With Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus?, Hussein N. Yassine, Andrea Anderson, Roberta Brinton, Owen Carmichael, Mark A. Espeland, Siobhan Hoscheidt, Christina E. Hugenschmidt, Jeffrey N. Keller, Anne Peters, Xavier Pi-Sunyer

Clinical Research Faculty Publications

In the Look AHEAD trial, randomization to Intensive Lifestyle Intervention (ILI) or Diabetes Support and Education (DSE) did not result in differences in cognitive outcomes. However, menopause and APOE genotype are factors that affect the response to this intervention. The effect of this intervention on a single cognitive assessment was examined in 3 groups of women: premenopausal or < 5 years postmenopausal (N = 594), within 5–10 years (n = 388), and ≥10 years postmenopausal (n = 963), and as a function of continuous years since menopause. The late postmenopausal group in the ILI had worse composite z-scores compared to those in the DSE, whereas the younger premenopausal or early postmenopausal women in the ILI had better composite z-scores than the DSE. A significant interaction between years since menopause and intervention arm, but not baseline age, was observed on executive function domains. ILI appeared only to benefit cognitive function among non-APOE4 carriers during premenopause or early postmenopause. These findings emphasize the importance of assessing menopause and APOE status to understand how weight loss impacts cognition.