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Plaster Creek Floodplain And Adjacent Ravines Near Stanaback Park: Botanical Inventory Highlights And Management Considerations, David Warners, Garrett Crow, Haley Weesies

Faculty and Professional Research

In the summer of 2021, the research team visited this area of ravines and floodplain a total of twenty-one times to conduct our field research. During the visits, they carefully walked throughout different sections of the study site, identifying each vascular plant species they saw growing there and observing how the flora developed throughout the season. In addition to keeping detailed field notes, they documented permanent records of the findings of our inventory by collecting voucher specimens that have been deposited in the Calvin University Herbarium. Additionally, they sent duplicate specimens to the Michigan State University Herbarium and/or University of …

Botanical Inventory Highlights And Management Considerations For Covenant Park, David Warners, Garrett Crow, Haley Weesies

Faculty and Professional Research

In the spring and summer of 2021, Calvin University students and faculty conducted a botanical inventory and assessment of the natural areas in Covenant Park, located at 3724 Shaffer Avenue SE, Kentwood, MI 49512. Given that the property was recently acquired by the City of Kentwood Parks & Recreation, the purpose of this inventory is to inform Kentwood Parks and Recreation staff about the site’s floristic quality, diversity, and ecological significance. The specific objectives of this study are to 1) provide a comprehensive inventory of the species of plants occurring on the property, 2) identify particular areas that would benefit …

Deep-Learning-Based Spraying Area Recognition System Forunmanned-Aerial-Vehicle-Based Sprayers, Shahbaz Khan, Muhammad Tufail, Muhammad Tahir Khan, Zubair Ahmed Khan, Shahzad Anwer

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based spraying system employing machine learning techniques is a recent advancement in precision agriculture for precise spraying, promoting saving chemicals (pesticide/herbicide), and enhancing their effectiveness. This study aims to develop an efficient deep learning system for UAV-based sprayers, which has the capability to accurately recognize spraying areas. A deep learning system is proposed and developed incorporating a faster region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) for the imagery collected. In order to develop a classifier for identifying spraying areas from nonspraying areas, four different agriculture croplands and orchards were considered. All the experiments were performed in agriculture fields through …

A Two-Stage Hair Region Localization Method For Guided Laser Hair Removal, Murat Avşar, İmam Şami̇l Yeti̇k

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Removal of hair using laser is a widely used method, where our goal is to permanently remove hair by using laser to cause heat in order to thermally damage the hair follicle. However, currently available laser hair removal systems affect the outer skin layers besides hair follicles. This is a disadvantage of classical methods with major health risks. We propose a method to overcome these health risks by guiding the laser beam only to automatically localized hair regions. This study aims to develop an automated feature-based hair region localization method as an integral part of the proposed hair removal system …

Bacterial Viruses Subcommittee And Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee Of The Ictv: Update Of Taxonomy Changes In 2021, Mart Krupovic, Dann Turner, Vera Morozova, Mike L. Dyall-Smith, Hanna M. Oksanen, Rob Edwards, Bas E. Dutilh, Kenneth M. Stedman, Multiple Additional Authors

Biology Faculty Publications and Presentations

In this article, we – the Bacterial Viruses Subcommittee and the Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) – summarise the results of our activities for the period March 2020 – March 2021. We report the division of the former Bacterial and Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee in two separate Subcommittees, welcome new members, a new Subcommittee Chair and Vice Chair, and give an overview of the new taxa that were proposed in 2020, approved by the Executive Committee and ratifed by vote in 2021. In particular, a new realm, three orders, 15 families, 31 subfamilies, 734 …

Clpxp Degradation System In Escherichia Coli, A Study Of Its Energy Sources And Its Applications In Managing The Expression Levels Of Targeted Membrane And Soluble Proteins, Thilini Abeywansha

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

ClpXP is an Escherichia coli protease that carries out energy-dependent intracellular proteolysis. In recent years, this system has been widely studied due to its importance as protein regulatory machinery and a virulence factor. Protein substrates of ClpXP contain degrons with a specific protein sequence. SsrA tag is one of the five degrons known to designate proteins for ClpXP degradation. SsrA is an 11 amino acid peptide added to the C-terminus of nascent polypeptide chains translated from aberrant messenger RNAs lacking stop codons via a process called trans-translation.

ClpXP was known to targets only cytosolic proteins with degrons until recently, …

Rational Design Of Small Molecule Disruptors Of Protein-Protein Interactions: Pd-1/Pd-L1; C-Myc, Arid4b, Samuel Ofori

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Protein-protein interactions (PPIs) are vital to many biological processes, including gene expression, and immune reactions to pathogens. There are approximately 650,000 PPIs in humans with pertinent physiological functions. Aberrant expression of PPIs lead to improper function and contribute to a plethora of disease conditions including cancer. Thus, PPIs represent an enormous target space for drug discovery and chemical probes. Direct targeting of clinically relevant PPIs with small molecules remains an unmet medical need. Development of small-molecule inhibitors of PPIs is a challenging enterprise and in most cases considered undruggable due to large protein surfaces, lack of deep binding pockets and …

Investigation Of Multidrug Efflux Transporter Acrb In Escherichia Coli: Assembly, Degradation And Dynamics, Prasangi Irosha Rajapaksha

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

The Resistant Nodulation Division (RND) super family member, tripartite AcrA-AcrB-TolC efflux pump, is a major contributor in conferring multidrug-resistance in Escherichia coli. The structure of the pump complex, and drug translocation by functional rotation mechanism have been widely studied. Despite of all these data, the dynamics of the assembly process of the pump and AcrB during functional rotation in the process of drug efflux remains poorly understood. My thesis focuses on understanding the pump assembly process, dynamics of AcrB in functional rotation mechanism, and also investigate the mechanism of degradation of AcrB facilitated by a C-terminal ssrA tag.

In the …

Probing The Assembly, Functional Relevance, And Dynamics Of Acra In Multi Drug Efflux In Escherichia Coli, Isoiza Ojo

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Efflux pumps and low permeability of the outer membrane of gram-negative bacteria are major culprits in drug resistance. The most studied of these multidrug efflux pumps is the AcrAB-TolC, a complex of three proteins, the inner membrane transporter AcrB, the periplasmic adaptor AcrA and outer membrane factor TolC. This pump exports a wide range of molecules such as dyes, detergents, and antibiotics out of the bacteria system into the external environment. AcrB and TolC exist as obligate trimers, but the structure of AcrA during the assembly process is not well defined. My research aims to explore the functional and structural …

Design, Synthesis, And Anticancer Properties Of Ru(Ii) Complexes With Organometallic, “Expanded” Bipyridine, And O,O’-Chelating Ligands, Raphael Ryan

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Cancer is a worldwide public health crisis that requires new and improved drugs to be developed to extend survival rates and improve quality of life for the patient. Platinum-based drugs are used in approximately 50% of cancer treatment regimens. These drugs are highly effective in many kinds of cancer; however, cancers can develop platinum resistance and these drugs have troubling side effects that reduced their use and efficacy. To overcome these disadvantages, many other metals have been studied for their anticancer properties. Notably, the anticancer properties of ruthenium-based agents have drawn considerable attention with multiple ruthenium complexes entering clinical trials. …

Synthesis Of Dual Small Molecule Hybrids To Probe The Synergy Between Dna Repair Enzymes And Ido1, Nathaniel George

Theses and Dissertations--Chemistry

Indoleamine 2 3-dioxygenase (IDO) has recently been highlighted as a promising target for small molecule based immunotherapy. IDO is often coopted by various cancer cells to promote an immune-suppressive environment around tumors. DNA damage repair (DDR) enzymes have recently been targeted for inhibition to promote genetic instability and bolster immune recognition. DDR enzymes such as PARP and POLγ are common inhibition targets due to their direct effects on cellular function. In the process of designing conjugate inhibitors of IDO and DDR enzymes, novel synthetic methodology was developed for the mild deprotection of N-Tert-butyloxycarbonyl (N-BOC) group from various amines. Conjugate …

Identification Of Compounds Causing Cellular Autofluorescence In Touch Samples, Elora C. Wall

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

As DNA analysis has advanced and produced tests with higher sensitivities, attention has turned toward obtaining DNA profiles from cells left with fingermarks. Recent studies have reported that cells deposited within fingermarks can exhibit differences in autofluorescence emission in the ‘red’ region of the visible spectrum (e.g., between 650-670 nm), which can be used to differentiate contributor cell population and separate them before DNA profiles. Interestingly, this emission was not consistent to the individual day-to-day and likely not a genetically-controlled attribute of the contributor. Instead, this emission signature results from extended exposure of the skin to certain materials such as …

Trends In Observed And Simulated Radar Reflectivity For The 21st Century, Christopher Michael Battisto

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The effects of climate change may influence the prevalence of regional atmospheric conditions supportive of hazardous convective weather (HCW). As a result, the possibility of an increase in the frequency, strength, and/or variability of thunderstorms and their high-impact hazards—including tornadoes, damaging winds, hail, and flash flood-producing downpours—has garnered much scientific and public interest. Radar reflectivity, which remotely assesses precipitation intensity, may be used to detect, track, catalog, and appraise HCW and their parent storms over broad spatiotemporal scales. Reflectivity may also be simulated with regional climate models, and recent, but limited, efforts using these simulation output have identified the potential …

Differential Mechanisms Linking Early Childhood Violence Exposure And Social/Environmental Deprivation To Adolescent Conduct Problems: Exploration Of A Gene-By-Environment Interaction, Samantha R. Awada

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The dimensional model of adversity and psychopathology (DMAP) posits dimensions of childhood adversity (i.e., deprivation, violence exposure) differentially predict child neurobiological outcomes and behavioral correlates of these neurobiological outcomes. Both deprivation and violence exposure are associated with higher child conduct problems. Genetic and environmental vulnerability factors often interact to increase or decrease risk for developing adolescent conduct problems. One gene of particular interest is COMT, which is implicated in the dopaminergic system. The present study explored whether dimensions of childhood adversity during the child’s first five years of life interacted with COMT genotype to differentially confer cognitive (i.e., executive dysfunction) …

Investigation Of Spontaneously Patterned Nanoporous Organosilicate Thin Film Channels For Liquid Chromatography Applications., Ashwin Sanjay Bhaskaran

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Microscale devices are attractive options for the advancement of biomedical engineering and life science. They have huge potential in the pharmaceutical and biomedical fields provided the critical factors such as device size, product purity and efficiency are not a hindrance. In most cases, traditional microelectronics fabrication processes are quite costly and complicated. By improving on them, their application in fields such as chemical sensing, detection and analysis is possible. By implementing this on a chip, we can reduce the cost and improve portability. This thesis focuses on the investigation of a novel class of spontaneously patterned nanoporous organosilicate nanoparticle-based films …

Dominance Or Leverage? An Analysis Of Female Power In Captive Varecia, Jessie E. Birckelbaw

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Lemurs are unusual in that, unlike in most other primates, females have more power than males. This is evident by females receiving priority access to foods and preferred spaces, and frequent grooming. Rebecca Lewis provided a framework to analyze the basis of female power that distinguishes between true dominance and leverage. Dominance is defined as the physical ability to overpower an individual, whereas leverage is the ability to influence others based on intangible resources, such as social currency like grooming or the potential for mating. This study aimed to investigate female power in the critically endangered ruffed lemurs (genus Varecia). …

Cultivating A Stem Investigation: Reading And Task Expectations For Introductory Biology Courses, Tina M. Ballard

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

College completion is an important discussion in today’s world with only about 30% of community college students completing their degrees within three years of starting their programs. Especially in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields, students are changing their majors or not completing their degrees for a variety of reasons. Previous research has established that there are high attrition and failure rates for introductory biology courses which may be causing some students to change their majors or not complete their degrees. This multicase study investigated the reading and task demands for introductory biology courses designed for STEM majors …

A Quantitative Study Of Community College Student Re-Enrollment Choices And Outcomes After A D/F/W In An Online Class, Patricia Lee Clark

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This quantitative study investigated community college student reenrollment choices, course-taking patterns, and course outcomes after a D/F/W in an online class. The sample included freshmen students with fewer than 30 credit hours, enrolled in a fully online or fully face-to-face (F2F) section of a gateway general education course. Individual-level institutional data were collected for five semesters. Reenrollment was defined as enrolling in the same course with two semesters of the D/F/W grade, and a successful 2nd Attempt was defined as received a final grade of “C or Better.” Preliminary descriptive statistics and course modality pattern analyses were conducted to profile …

Their Lessons: Inspiring Stories Of Ten Retired African American Volunteers Serving The Augusta, Georgia, Community, Gwendolyn Bentley Clayborne

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

African Americans found ways to respond to the needs of their communities as volunteers when they were denied many services available to Whites citizens. Opportunities to volunteer were provided both formally and informally through churches, sororities, fraternities and other organizations. Many families would not have been able to afford care for their children and/or elderly family members had it not been for other members of their family and friends volunteering to provide the needed services. Growing up in the early fifties, before starting to school, my first caregiver was Mr. Allen, an elderly man. His wife, who worked from home …

Diatoms And Their Response To Tectonic Gateway Changes: Case Studies From Southern Hemisphere Sites, Jason James Coenen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation covers three major transitions in Earth's climate system throughout theCenozoic (the past 65 million years of Earth's history). The progressive breakup of the super continent Pangea and the ultimate change in ocean circulation (and redistribution of heat) as a result of tectonic events dating back to the Mesozoic, primed Earth's climate system for cooling and ultimately bipolar glaciation. Climate transitions in three distinct environments were studied using absolute diatom abundance, diatom assemblages, and geochemical tracers of diatoms (i.e., biogenic silica weight%). Two geographic regions are the focus of this dissertation work. Region one is the Ross Embayment of …

Bidirectional Associations Between Parenting Practices And Child Conduct Problems: The Moderating Role Of Callous-Unemotional Behavior, Elizabeth R. Corning

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A growing body of research has evidenced bidirectional associations between parenting practices and the development of conduct problems in children. However, studies examining the effect of child callous-unemotional (CU) behavior in the context of these reciprocal associations have produced mixed findings. This study used data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study (N= 4,898) to investigate bidirectional associations between parenting practices (i.e., positive and harsh) and child conduct problems across ages 3, 5, and 9 and determine if these associations are moderated by child CU behavior. Cross-lagged panel analyses revealed that higher positive parenting at age 5 was associated …

Application Of Data And Geospatial Analysis In Energy And Health Systems, Ali Faghani

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Having sustainable energy and health systems are the main factors in the vision plan of every country. Both of these systems are correlated with a variety of frameworks, including social, physical, technological, political, and economic factors. Therefore, different types of analytics methods can be implemented to develop the required assessments for those who make plans since understanding the effect of such factors individually, also their interactions, and the overall effect is crucial. With this regard, applications of data analysis and geospatial techniques in both energy, and health systems have recently gained attention. The proposed research here deployed advanced data analytics …

The Balance Of Online Learning: A Qualitative Case Study Exploring Online Students’ Decision Making And Experiences, Jessica Ashley Hill-Jones

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Online learning is an evolving and growing aspect of higher education. Past research highlights the benefits of online learning, such as the flexibility and increased access it provides to students, as well as its drawbacks such as isolation, time management, and teacher presence. As the number of students who are pursuing their degrees online continues to increase, more research is needed to holistically understand the experiences of online learners.

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore what influences students’ decisions to pursue an online degree and their experiences once in the online program. Data was collected via …

Characterization Of Potential Anti-Infective Agents By Targeting Burkholderia Pseudomallei And Escherichia Coli Ispf, Dakota Lane Grote

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

With the likelihood of contracting an antibiotic resistant infection increasing, the need for novel anti-infective agents is critical. The development of novel anti-infective agents benefits from the identification of new target pathways necessary for the survival of the pathogen. One such target is the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway, responsible for the synthesis of the isoprenoid precursors isopentyl pyrophosphate (IPP) and dimethylallyl pyrophosphate (DMAPP) in bacteria and other pathogenic organisms. The MEP pathway is an attractive target because it is specific to a wide range of pathogenic organisms, while humans have a separate pathway, the mevalonate (MVA) pathway, for the biosynthesis …

Fly On The Wall: Comparing Arthropod Communities Between Islands With And Without House Mice (Mus Musculus), Wieteke A. Holthuijzen

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Invertebrates are key to island ecosystems but impacts from invasive mammalian predators are not well documented or understood. Given this knowledge gap, we studied terrestrial arthropod communities in the presence of a common invasive rodent (house mice, Mus musculus) on a subtropical atoll—Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge (MANWR). Here, invasive mice recently began to attack and depredate nesting seabirds, prompting a mouse eradication. Although eradication planning efforts are underway, uncertainty remains regarding the ecosystem’s response to mouse removal. As part of a pre-eradication investigation, we conducted a baseline survey of MANWR’s arthropod community structure and diversity, comparing islands with and …

Traffic Fatality Rate Prediction Based On Deep Neural Network And Bayesian Neural Network, Yiqun Hu

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

There have been numerous studies on traffic accidents and their fatality rate. For this challenging machine learning regression problem, Neural Networks (NNs) have produced state-of-the-art data. Despite their success, they are often used in a fre- quentist scheme, which means they cannot account for uncertainty in their forecasts. BNNs are comprised of a Probabilistic Model and a Neural Network. The aim of such a design is to bring together the benefits of Neural Networks and stochastic modeling. Neural networks have the ability to approximate continuous functions uni- versally. Statistical models allow for the direct definition of a model with known …

Herlands: Imperial Feminisms From Charlotte Perkins Gilman To Wonder Woman, Anna Jankovsky

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

The society of women is a trope of feminist utopian fiction in which a group of women live together in harmony without the influence of men to disrupt their society. This trope functions on five criteria: 1) The society must be able to defend itself and replenish itself without the assistance of men. 2) It must be fully isolated and nearly impenetrable from the outside world 3) It must have a utopic order of society untroubled by ambition. 4) It must be infiltrated and challenged by a man during the course of the story. 5) It must grapple with the …

Coaxially Electrospun Fibrous Polymer Scaffolds For Tissue Regeneration And Drug Delivery, Matthew Michael Kleszynski

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

A biomaterial is a substance that is specifically engineered to take on a role within the body, either alone or in conjunction with other materials, with the purpose of influencing the body. Using Polymers as a biomaterial is an exciting field of study that has the potential to further our abilities to help those in need. Creating composite nanofibrous scaffolds composed of hydrophobic and hydrophilic polymers may outperform structures made of a single polymer in both in vitro and in vivo environments. Hydrophilicity governs the behavior of polymers in the body and has influence over the mechanical properties of the …

Testing A Global Standard For Quantifying Species Recovery And Assessing Conservation Impact, Molly K. Grace, John Carroll, 201 Other Scholars

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

Recognizing the imperative to evaluate species recovery and conservation impact, in 2012 the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) called for development of a “Green List of Species” (now the IUCN Green Status of Species). A draft Green Status framework for assessing species’ progress toward recovery, published in 2018, proposed 2 separate but interlinked components: a standardized method (i.e., measurement against benchmarks of species’ viability, functionality, and preimpact distribution) to determine current species recovery status (herein species recovery score) and application of that method to estimate past and potential future impacts of conservation based on 4 metrics ( …

Equality Of Autonomy? Physician Aid In Dying And Supported Decision Making, Megan S. Wright

Faculty Scholarship

The legalization of physician aid in dying (“PAID”) has been spreading across the United States and is currently legal in ten jurisdictions. Meant to respect autonomy at the end of life, PAID legislation is modeled after the Oregon Death with Dignity Act, which permits only terminally ill adults with contemporaneous decisional capacity to choose to hasten death with PAID. Right-to-die advocates and legal scholars have critiqued the strict eligibility requirements, which although meant to function as safeguards against mistakes and abuse, can be autonomy thwarting. Advocates and scholars have thus proposed using advance directives for PAID to expand access to …