Digital Commons Network^™

Adeno-Associated Virus 8 Delivers An Immunomodulatory Peptide To Mouse Liver More Efficiently Than To Rat Liver, Yuqing Wang, Ayrea Hurley, Marco De Giorgi, Mark R Tanner, Rong-Chi Hu, Michael W Pennington, William R Lagor, Christine Beeton

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Targeting the Kv1.3 potassium channel has proven effective in reducing obesity and the severity of animal models of autoimmune disease. Stichodactyla toxin (ShK), isolated from the sea anemone Stichodactyla helianthus, is a potent blocker of Kv1.3. Several of its analogs are some of the most potent and selective blockers of this channel. However, like most biologics, ShK and its analogs require injections for their delivery, and repeated injections reduce patient compliance during the treatment of chronic diseases. We hypothesized that inducing the expression of an ShK analog by hepatocytes would remove the requirement for frequent injections and lead to a …

Combating Hypertension Beyond Genome-Wide Association Studies: Microbiome And Artificial Intelligence As Opportunities For Precision Medicine, Sachin Aryal, Ishan Manandhar, Xue Mei, Beng S Yeoh, Ramakumar Tummala, Piu Saha, Islam Osman, Jasenka Zubcevic, David J Durgan, Matam Vijay-Kumar, Bina Joe

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The single largest contributor to human mortality is cardiovascular disease, the top risk factor for which is hypertension (HTN). The last two decades have placed much emphasis on the identification of genetic factors contributing to HTN. As a result, over 1,500 genetic alleles have been associated with human HTN. Mapping studies using genetic models of HTN have yielded hundreds of blood pressure (BP) loci but their individual effects on BP are minor, which limits opportunities to target them in the clinic. The value of collecting genome-wide association data is evident in ongoing research, which is beginning to utilize these data …

Friction-In-Design Regulation As 21st Century Time, Place, And Manner Restriction, Brett Frischmann, Susan Benesch

Faculty Publications

Digital networked society needs friction-in-design regulation that targets the digital architectures, supposedly smart (data-driven, algorithmic) systems, and interfaces that shape human interactions, behavior, and will (beliefs, preferences, values, intentions). The relentless push to eliminate friction for the sake of efficiency has hidden social costs that affect basic human capabilities and society. A general course correction is needed.

Friction in the digital networked environment can come in many forms. It can be as simple as a time delay prior to publishing a social media post, a notice that provides salient information coupled with a nudge toward actual deliberation, or a query …

Open-Source, Highly Efficient, Post-Acquisition Synchronization For 4d Dual-Contrast Imaging Of The Mouse Embryonic Heart Over Development With Optical Coherence Tomography, Andre C Faubert, Irina V Larina, Shang Wang

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Dynamic imaging of the beating embryonic heart in 3D is critical for understanding cardiac development and defects. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) plays an important role in embryonic heart imaging with its unique imaging scale and label-free contrasts. In particular, 4D (3D + time) OCT imaging enabled biomechanical analysis of the developing heart in various animal models. While ultrafast OCT systems allow for direct volumetric imaging of the beating heart, the imaging speed remains limited, leading to an image quality inferior to that produced by post-acquisition synchronization. As OCT systems become increasingly available to a wide range of biomedical researchers, a …

Differential Expression Of Programmed Death 1 (Pd-1) On Various Immune Cells And Its Role In Human Leprosy, Mohammad Tarique, Huma Naz, Mohd Suhail, Ali Turan, Chaman Saini, Naoshad Muhammad, Hari Shankar, Torki A Zughaibi, Tabish H Khan, Neena Khanna, Alpana Sharma

2020-Current year OA Pubs

Leprosy is a chronic bacterial disease caused by

Seventy-Five Years Of Service: An Overview Of The College Of American Pathologists' Proficiency Testing Program In Histocompatibility And Identity Testing, H Cliff Sullivan, Manish J Gandhi, Sujata Gaitonde, Ramya Narasimhan, Ketevan Gendzekhadze, Soumya Pandey, Rhonda K Roby, George C Maha, Harmeet Kaur, Jennifer J Schiller, Julie Mcdowell, Maria Smith, Chang Liu, Gerald P Morris

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The Histocompatibility and Identity Testing Committee offers an overview of the College of American Pathologists' (CAP) Proficiency Testing (PT) program, commemorating its significant 75th anniversary in 2024. The CAP PT program has undergone significant growth and evolution over the years, ultimately achieving Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approval. In 1979, CAP's partnership with the American Association for Clinical Histocompatibility Testing marked a pivotal moment, leading to the creation of the first proficiency testing survey in 1980. This laid the foundation for various PT programs managed by the CAP Histocompatibility and Identity Testing Committee, including HLA antibody testing, HLA molecular …

Cerebral Microdialysis And Glucopenia In Traumatic Brain Injury: A Review, Himanshu Sharma, John P Mcginnis, Katherine E Kabotyanski, Shankar P Gopinath, Jerry C Goodman, Claudia Robertson, Jovany Cruz Navarro

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Traditionally, intracranial pressure (ICP) and partial brain tissue oxygenation (PbtO2) have been the primary invasive intracranial measurements used to guide management in patients with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). After injury however, the brain develops an increased metabolic demand which may require an increment in the oxidative metabolism of glucose. Simultaneously, metabolic, and electrical dysfunction can lead to an inability to meet these demands, even in the absence of ischemia or increased intracranial pressure. Cerebral microdialysis provides the ability to accurately measure local concentrations of various solutes including lactate, pyruvate, glycerol and glucose. Experimental and clinical data demonstrate that such …

Engineered Cd4 T Cells Expressing A Membrane Anchored Viral Inhibitor Restrict Hiv-1 Through Cis And Trans Mechanisms, Weiming Wang, Khanghy Truong, Chaobaihui Ye, Suman Sharma, Huan He, Lihong Liu, Michael Wen, Anisha Misra, Paul Zhou, Jason T Kimata

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

HIV-1 infection of target cells can occur through either cell-free virions or cell-cell transmission in a virological synapse, with the latter mechanism of infection reported to be 100- to 1,000-fold more efficient. Neutralizing antibodies and entry inhibitors effectively block cell-free HIV-1, but with few exceptions, they display much less inhibitory activity against cell-mediated HIV-1 transmission. Previously, we showed that engineering HIV-1 target cells by genetically linking single-chain variable fragments (scFvs) of antibodies to glycosyl phosphatidylinositol (GPI) potently blocks infection by cell-free virions and cell-mediated infection by immature dendritic cell (iDC)-captured HIV-1. Expression of scFvs on CD4

Future Directions In Psychiatric Neurosurgery: Proceedings Of The 2022 American Society For Stereotactic And Functional Neurosurgery Meeting On Surgical Neuromodulation For Psychiatric Disorders, Frederick L Hitti, Alik S Widge, Patricio Riva-Posse, Donald A Malone, Michael S Okun, Maryam M Shanechi, Kelly D Foote, Sarah H Lisanby, Elizabeth Ankudowich, Srinivas Chivukula, Edward F Chang, Aysegul Gunduz, Clement Hamani, Ashley Feinsinger, Cynthia S Kubu, Winston Chiong, Jennifer A Chandler, Rafael Carbunaru, Binith Cheeran, Robert S Raike, Rachel A Davis, Casey H Halpern, Nora Vanegas-Arroyave, Dejan Markovic, Sarah K Bick, Cameron C Mcintyre, R Mark Richardson, Darin D Dougherty, Brian H Kopell, Jennifer A Sweet, Wayne K Goodman, Sameer A Sheth, Nader Pouratian

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

OBJECTIVE: Despite advances in the treatment of psychiatric diseases, currently available therapies do not provide sufficient and durable relief for as many as 30-40% of patients. Neuromodulation, including deep brain stimulation (DBS), has emerged as a potential therapy for persistent disabling disease, however it has not yet gained widespread adoption. In 2016, the American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery (ASSFN) convened a meeting with leaders in the field to discuss a roadmap for the path forward. A follow-up meeting in 2022 aimed to review the current state of the field and to identify critical barriers and milestones for progress. …

Postsurgical Morbidity And Mortality Favorably Informs Deep Brain Stimulation For New Indications Including Schizophrenia And Schizoaffective Disorder, Judith M Gault, Patrick Hosokawa, Daniel Kramer, Elyn R Saks, Paul S Appelbaum, John A Thompson, Ann Olincy, Nicola Cascella, Akira Sawa, Wayne Goodman, Nidal Moukaddam, Sameer A Sheth, William S Anderson, Rachel A Davis

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) shows promise for new indications like treatment-refractory schizophrenia in early clinical trials. In the first DBS clinical trial for treatment refractory schizophrenia, despite promising results in treating psychosis, one of the eight subjects experienced both a symptomatic hemorrhage and an infection requiring device removal. Now, ethical concerns about higher surgical risk in schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder (SZ/SAD) are impacting clinical trial progress. However, insufficient cases preclude conclusions regarding DBS risk in SZ/SAD. Therefore, we directly compare adverse surgical outcomes for all surgical procedures between SZ/SAD and Parkinson's disease (PD) cases to infer relative surgical risk relevant to …

Patient Experiences With Thyroid Nodules: A Qualitative Interview Survey, Matthew R Naunheim, Manuela Von Sneidern, Molly N Huston, Okenwa C Okose, Amr H Abdelhamid Ahmed, Gregory W Randolph, Mark G Shrime

2020-Current year OA Pubs

OBJECTIVE: To qualitatively explore the broad set of preferences and attitudes patients have about thyroid nodules, which influence the decision-making process.

STUDY DESIGN: A descriptive survey design was administered as interviews.

SETTING: Outpatient thyroid surgery clinic.

METHODS: Semistructured interviews were conducted with 20 patients presenting for initial evaluation of thyroid nodules at a surgeon's office. Probative, open-ended questions were posed regarding diagnosis, treatment, risk attitudes, and the decision-making process. Thematic analysis was used to develop code-transcribed interviews, and an iterative refinement resulted in underlying themes.

RESULTS: During the diagnostic process, patients integrated emotional responses (fear, anxiety, and shock) with rationale …

A Novel Interaction Between Extracellular Vimentin And Fibrinogen In Fibrin Formation, Marina Martinez-Vargas, Adrian Cebula, Lisa S Brubaker, Nitin Seshadri, Fong W Lam, Michele Loor, Todd K Rosengart, Andrew Yee, Rolando E Rumbaut, Miguel A Cruz

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: Thrombosis is frequently manifested in critically ill patients with systemic inflammation, including sepsis and COVID-19. The coagulopathy in systemic inflammation is often associated with increased levels of fibrinogen and D-dimer. Because elevated levels of vimentin have been detected in sepsis, we sought to investigate the relationship between vimentin and the increased fibrin formation potential observed in these patients.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This hypothesis was examined by using recombinant human vimentin, anti-vimentin antibodies, plasma derived from healthy and critically ill patients, confocal microscopy, co-immunoprecipitation assays, and size exclusion chromatography.

RESULTS: The level of vimentin in plasma derived from critically ill …

Neprilysin Inhibitors In Heart Failure: The Science, Mechanism Of Action, Clinical Studies, And Unanswered Questions, Biykem Bozkurt, Ajith P Nair, Arunima Misra, Claire Z Scott, Jamal H Mahar, Savitri Fedson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

This article provides a contemporary review and a new perspective on the role of neprilysin inhibition in heart failure (HF) in the context of recent clinical trials and addresses potential mechanisms and unanswered questions in certain HF patient populations. Neprilysin is an endopeptidase that cleaves a variety of peptides such as natriuretic peptides, bradykinin, adrenomedullin, substance P, angiotensin I and II, and endothelin. It has a broad role in cardiovascular, renal, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, endocrine, and neurologic functions. The combined angiotensin receptor and neprilysin inhibitor (ARNi) has been developed with an intent to increase vasodilatory natriuretic peptides and prevent counterregulatory activation …

Impact Of Gastrointestinal Polymerase Chain Reaction Panels On Antibiotic Utilization In Hospitalized Adult Patients, Gillean A Kelly, Roumen Iordanov, Alex Franklin, Amna Ahmed, Krithika Srinivasan, Jesica Hayon, Todd Lasco, Rosie Amini, Sabra Shay, Prathit A Kulkarni, Mayar Al Mohajer

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Multiplex stool polymerase chain reaction (PCR) panels offer rapid comprehensive testing for patients with infectious diarrhea. We compared antibiotic utilization among hospitalized patients with suspected infectious diarrhea who underwent diagnostic testing with either a stool culture or stool PCR panel. No significant differences in antibiotic utilization were identified.

Mortality Difference From Klebsiella Aerogenes Vs Enterobacter Cloacae Bloodstream Infections, Andrew Chou, Richard Sucgang, Richard J Hamill, Lynn Zechiedrich, Barbara W Trautner

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Members of the order Enterobacterales, including Escherichia coli , Klebsiella species and Enterobacter species, are important pathogens in healthcare-associated infections. Higher mortality has been reported from infections due to Klebsiella pneumoniae than from E. coli , but prior studies comparing Enterobacter aerogenes (recently renamed Klebsiella aerogenes ) bacteraemia and Enterobacter cloacae complex bacteraemia have yielded conflicting results regarding whether clinical outcomes differ. We found bacteraemia with K. aerogenes was independently associated with greater risk of 30-day mortality than bacteraemia with Enterobacter cloacae complex.

Squamous Cell Carcinoma With Unusual Benign-Appearing Cystic Features On Histology, Usman Asad, Suzanne Alkul, Ikue Shimizu, Jennifer Ranario

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is a malignancy that arises from keratinocytes of the epidermis. Cystic variants of several types of cutaneous neoplasms have been rarely described in the literature. We report a case of biopsy-proven, well-differentiated invasive SCC treated with Mohs surgery. On frozen sections, the pathology slides showed benign-appearing cystic structures in the margins that persisted after it had appeared that the original malignancy had been cleared. After taking another Mohs stage due to clinical suspicion, additional SCC was found and was subsequently cleared after two more Mohs stages. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first …

Development Of A Peripheral Blood Transcriptomic Gene Signature To Predict Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia, Alvaro Moreira, Miriam Tovar, Alisha M Smith, Grace C Lee, Justin A Meunier, Zoya Cheema, Axel Moreira, Caitlyn Winter, Shamimunisa B Mustafa, Steven Seidner, Tina Findley, Joe G N Garcia, Bernard Thébaud, Przemko Kwinta, Sunil K Ahuja

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) is the most common lung disease of extreme prematurity, yet mechanisms that associate with or identify neonates with increased susceptibility for BPD are largely unknown. Combining artificial intelligence with gene expression data is a novel approach that may assist in better understanding mechanisms underpinning chronic lung disease and in stratifying patients at greater risk for BPD. The objective of this study is to develop an early peripheral blood transcriptomic signature that can predict preterm neonates at risk for developing BPD. Secondary analysis of whole blood microarray data from 97 very low birth weight neonates on day of …

Enabling Human Space Exploration Missions Through Progressively Earth Independent Medical Operations (Eimo), Dana R Levin, Jon Steller, Arian Anderson, Jay Lemery, Benjamin Easter, David C Hilmers, Kris R Lehnhardt

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Goal: Current Space Medicine operations depend on terrestrial support to manage medical events. As astronauts travel to destinations such as the Moon, Mars, and beyond, distance will substantially limit this support and require increasing medical autonomy from the crew. This paper defines Earth Independent Medical Operations (EIMO) and identifies key elements of a conceptual EIMO system. Methods: The NASA Human Research Program Exploration Medical Capability Element held a 2-day conference at Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX with NASA experts representing all aspects of Space Medicine. Results: EIMO will be a process enabling progressively resilient deep space exploration systems and …

Transformations Between Rotational And Translational Invariants Formulated In Reciprocal Spaces, Philip R Baldwin

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Correlation functions play an important role in the theoretical underpinnings of many disparate areas of the physical sciences: in particular, scattering theory. More recently, they have become useful in the classification of objects in areas such as computer vision and our area of cryoEM. Our primary classification scheme in the cryoEM image processing system, EMAN2, is now based on third order invariants formulated in Fourier space. This allows a factor of 8 speed up in the two classification procedures inherent in our software pipeline, because it allows for classification without the need for computationally costly alignment procedures. In this work, …

Nourishing The Brain On Deep Space Missions: Nutritional Psychiatry In Promoting Resilience, Nihar N Pathare, Flavia Fayet-Moore, Jennifer A Fogarty, Felice N Jacka, Philip Strandwitz, Gary E Strangman, Dorit B Donoviel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The grueling psychological demands of a journey into deep space coupled with ever-increasing distances away from home pose a unique problem: how can we best take advantage of the benefits of fresh foods in a place that has none? Here, we consider the biggest challenges associated with our current spaceflight food system, highlight the importance of supporting optimal brain health on missions into deep space, and discuss evidence about food components that impact brain health. We propose a future food system that leverages the gut microbiota that can be individually tailored to best support the brain and mental health of …

Weight Strategy In Older Adults With Obesity: Calorie Restriction Or Not?, Georgia Colleluori, Dennis T Villareal

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Along with the marked increase in the population of older adults with obesity is the need for effective strategies to treat aging- and obesity-related complications. This review highlights recent progress in obesity management in older adults.

RECENT FINDINGS: Although calorie restriction is needed to significantly reduce fat mass, an exercise protocol is crucial to ameliorate functional outcomes. The addition of a resistance exercise protocol improves the response of muscle protein synthesis to anabolic stimuli, preventing the calorie restriction-induced reduction in muscle and bone mass. The addition of an aerobic exercise protocol improves cardiorespiratory fitness and cognitive function. …

A Multicenter Study To Evaluate Pain Characteristics In Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Mercedes Rodriguez Celin, Karen M Kruger, Angela Caudill, Chaya N Murali, Sandesh C S Nagamani, Peter A Smith, Gerald F Harris

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The objective was to describe pain characteristics and treatments used in individuals with varying severity of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) and investigate pain-associated variables. This work was derived from a multicenter, longitudinal, observational, natural history study of OI conducted at 12 clinical sites of the NIH Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network's Brittle Bone Disorders Consortium. Children and adults with a clinical, biochemical, or molecular diagnosis of OI were enrolled in the study. We did a cross-sectional analysis of chronic pain prevalence, characteristics, and treatments used for pain relief and longitudinal analysis to find the predictors of chronic pain. We included 861 …

Intermel: An International Biorepository And Clinical Database To Uncover Predictors Of Survival In Early-Stage Melanoma, Irene Orlow, Keimya D Sadeghi, Sharon N Edmiston, Jessica M Kenney, Cecilia Lezcano, James S Wilmott, Anne E Cust, Richard A Scolyer, Graham J Mann, Tim K Lee, Hazel Burke, Valerie Jakrot, Ping Shang, Peter M Ferguson, Tawny W Boyce, Jennifer S Ko, Peter Ngo, Pauline Funchain, Judy R Rees, Kelli O'Connell, Honglin Hao, Eloise Parrish, Kathleen Conway, Paul B Googe, David W Ollila, Stergios J Moschos, Eva Hernando, Douglas Hanniford, Diana Argibay, Christopher I Amos, Jeffrey E Lee, Iman Osman, Li Luo, Pei-Fen Kuan, Arshi Aurora, Bonnie E Gould Rothberg, Marcus W Bosenberg, Meg R Gerstenblith, Cheryl Thompson, Paul N Bogner, Ivan P Gorlov, Sheri L Holmen, Elise K Brunsgaard, Yvonne M Saenger, Ronglai Shen, Venkatraman Seshan, Eduardo Nagore, Marc S Ernstoff, Klaus J Busam, Colin B Begg, Nancy E Thomas, Marianne Berwick, Intermel Consortium

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

INTRODUCTION: We are conducting a multicenter study to identify classifiers predictive of disease-specific survival in patients with primary melanomas. Here we delineate the unique aspects, challenges, and best practices for optimizing a study of generally small-sized pigmented tumor samples including primary melanomas of at least 1.05mm from AJTCC TNM stage IIA-IIID patients. We also evaluated tissue-derived predictors of extracted nucleic acids' quality and success in downstream testing. This ongoing study will target 1,000 melanomas within the international InterMEL consortium.

METHODS: Following a pre-established protocol, participating centers ship formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissue sections to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center for …

Milder Loss Of Insulin-Containing Islets In Individuals With Type 1 Diabetes And Type 2 Diabetes-Associated Tcf7l2 Genetic Variants, Maria J Redondo, Sarah J Richardson, Daniel Perry, Charles G Minard, Alice L J Carr, Todd Brusko, Irina Kusmartseva, Alberto Pugliese, Mark A Atkinson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

AIMS/HYPOTHESIS: TCF7L2 variants are the strongest genetic risk factor for type 2 diabetes. In individuals with type 1 diabetes, these variants are associated with a higher C-peptide AUC, a lower glucose AUC during an OGTT, single autoantibody positivity near diagnosis, particularly in individuals older than 12 years of age, and a lower frequency of type 1 diabetes-associated HLA genotypes. Based on initial observations from clinical cohorts, we tested the hypothesis that type 2 diabetes-predisposing TCF7L2 genetic variants are associated with a higher percentage of residual insulin-containing cells (ICI%) in pancreases of donors with type 1 diabetes, by examining genomic data …

Tanshinone Iia Inhibits Cell Viability And Promotes Puma-Mediated Apoptosis Of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Shuangze Han, Xinfang Yu, Ruirui Wang, Xiaocong Wang, Lulu Liu, Qing Zhao, Rongbo Xie, Ming Li, Zhong Su Zhou

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Apoptosis alteration is responsible for tumorigenesis and tumor resistance to therapies. The natural product Tanshinone IIA (Tan IIA) exhibits potent inhibitory effects against various tumors. However, the effect of Tan IIA on apoptosis and its underlying mechanism remains elusive in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Here, we demonstrated that Tan IIA dose-dependently suppressed cell viability and colony formation in CAL27, SCC4, and SCC25 cells. Moreover, Tan IIA inhibited Akt activation from inducing Foxo3a dephosphorylation and PUMA-mediated apoptosis. PUMA or Foxo3a knockdown compromised the inhibitory effect of Tan IIA on OSCC cells. Tan IIA administration inhibited CAL27-deprived xenograft tumor growth and …

Remote Sensing Approach For Terramechanics Applications Utilizing Machine And Deep Learning, Jordan J. Ewing

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Terrain traversability is critical for developing Go/No Go maps, significantly impacting a mission's success. To predict the mobility of a vehicle over a terrain, one must understand the soil characteristics. In situ measurements performed by soldiers in the field are the current method of collecting this information, which is time-consuming, are only point measurements, and can put soldiers in harm's way. Therefore, this study investigates using remote sensing as an alternative approach to characterize terrain properties.

This approach will explore the relationships between electromagnetic radiation and soil types with varying properties. Optical, thermal, and hyperspectral sensors will be used to …

Near-Surface Soil Nitrogen And Vegetation Response To Invasive Emerald Ash Borer In Forested Black Ash Wetlands Of The Western Upper Peninsula, Michigan, Usa, Daniel A. Beyer

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

Invasive emerald ash borer (EAB) (Agrilus planipennis Fairmaire) poses an imminent threat to the structure and function of North American hardwood forests, particularly black ash (Fraxinus nigra Marshall), and alters the hydrologic and ecological services of their wetlands. Black ash trees regularly grow in seasonally saturated soils and are responsible for hydrologic regulation and nutrient cycling. In this study, a gradient of black ash wetlands impacted by EAB were monitored to assess vegetation changes and near-surface soil nitrogen availability. Vegetation community changes were intertwined with nitrogen cycle disturbances following EAB infestation. As black ash died and fell to …

Structural Analysis And Interpretation Of Deformation Along The Keweenaw Fault System From Lake Linden To Mohawk, Michigan, Nolan G. Gamet

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

The Keweenaw fault is likely the most significant and most studied fault associated with the Midcontinent Rift System. The fault roughly bisects the Keweenaw Peninsula and places Portage Lake Volcanics (~1.1 Ga) over much younger Jacobsville Sandstone (~1.0 Ga). Published bedrock geology maps with cross sections from the 1950s show the fault as a single continuous trace that is locally associated with smaller cross faults and splays. The accompanying cross-sections show hanging-wall volcanic strata having a well-defined, listric geometry with dip decreasing away from the fault to the northwest.

This M.S. thesis presents a structural analysis and interpretation of the …

Dynamic Mode Decomposition Approach For Estimating The Shape Of A Cable, Yash Manik Chavan

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

This study investigates the dynamic behavior of a flexible cable with heterogeneous stiffness using a data-driven approach. The study aims to develop accurate models describing intricate structures with rigid or flexible components. To achieve this, reflective markers were attached to the cable at equal spacing, and the motion was manually excited and captured using an 8-camera setup and OptiTrack's Motive software.

The cable displacement data at the marker locations were used as initial conditions for various Dynamic Mode Decomposition (DMD) models. The performance of the data- driven cable model is compared against the performance of the DMD modeling approach, fitting …

Moose (Alces Alces) Herbivory Is The Main Driver Of Spatial And Temporal Variation In The Nitrogen And Carbon Content Of Balsam Fir Foliage, Jasmine Fairbanks Terry-Shindelman

Dissertations, Master's Theses and Master's Reports

To adequately manage forested ecosystems in the face of climate change, there is an urgent need to study how tree growth and biochemistry vary in response to changes in weather and levels of herbivory across different landscape types. However, few studies have assessed how both free-ranging herbivore populations and weather influence the foliar chemistry of boreal tree species over relatively large temporal and spatial scales. In this study, I assessed the extent to which the nitrogen (N) content and the carbon-to- nitrogen (C/N) ratio in the foliage of Balsam fir (Abies balsamea), a key boreal forest species, was …