Digital Commons Network^™

Introgression Mapping In The Grasses, I. P. King, J. King, I. P. Armstead, J. A. Harper, L. A. Roberts, H. Thomas, H. J. Ougham, R. N. Jones, A. Thomas, B. J. Moore, L. Huang, I. S. Donnison

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. Lolium perenne/Festuca pratensis hybrids and their derivatives provide an ideal system for intergeneric introgression.
2. The Lolium perenne/Festuca pratensis system is being exploited to elucidate genome organisation in the grasses, determination of the genetic control of target traits and the isolation of markers for MAS in breeding programmes.
3. The potential of the system as an aid to contig the Lolium and Festuca genomes and for gene isolation is discussed.

Application Of Molecular Technologies In Forage Plant Breeding, K. F. Smith, J. W. Forster, M. P. Dobrowolski, N. O. I. Cogan, N. R. Bannan, E. Van Zijll De Jong, M Emmerling, G. C. Spangenberg

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. A range of molecular breeding technologies have been developed for forage plant species including both transgenic and non-transgenic methodologies.
2. The application of these technologies has the potential to greatly increase the range of genetic variation that is available for incorporation into breeding programs and subsequent delivery to producers in the form of improved germplasm.
3. Further developments in detailing the phenotypic effect of genes and alleles both through research in target species and through inference from results from model species will further refine the delivery of new forage cultivars.

A Computational Pipeline For The Development Of Comparative Anchor Tagged Sequence (Cats) Markers, J. Schauser, J. Fredslund, L. Heegaard Madsen, Niels Sandal, Jens Stougaard

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points:

1. Molecular markers that allow the transfer of map information from one species to another are vital in comparative genetics.
2. To identify potential anchor marker sequences more efficiently, we have established a bioinformatic pipeline that combines multi-species EST- and genome- sequence data.
3. Taking advantage of information from a few related species, comparative EST sequence analysis identifies evolutionary conserved sequences in less well-characterised species in the same family.
4. Alignment of evolutionary conserved EST sequences with corresponding genomic sequences defines sets of PCR primer sites flanking introns.
5. Markers identified by this procedure will be readily transferable to other species since they …

Application Of Molecular Markers In Genetic Resources Management Of Perennial Ryegrass, R. Van Treuren

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Key points

1. Molecular markers are effective tools to support traditional approaches in plant genetic resources management.
2. Genetic diversity assessed for perennial ryegrass by AFLP analysis revealed differentiation of populations occurring in traditional Dutch grasslands from commercial varieties, but not from populations occurring in Dutch nature reserves.
3. No specific conservation measures were recommended to maintain the genetic diversity of perennial ryegrass occurring in traditional Dutch grasslands.
4. Pollination rates estimated by microsatellite analysis for a rejuvenated population of a perennial ryegrass genebank accession were very well described by an inverse quadratic function of inter-plant distance between potential mating pairs, while recorded flowering …

Leaves Of High Yielding Perennial Ryegrass Contain Less Aggregated Rubisco Than S23, A. Kingston-Smith, P. W. Wilkins

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Breeding diploid perennial ryegrass for improved dry matter yield under nitrogen-limiting conditions has reduced the nitrogen (N) concentration of the herbage (Wilkins et al., 2003). Reduced N concentration in the ruminant diet is one potential way to reduce losses of N to the environment by reducing the amount of N that animals excrete. The underlying physiological basis of this increased N-use efficiency in ryegrass was investigated.

Variability In Quantity And Composition Of Water Soluble Carbohydrates Among Irish Accessions And European Varieties Of Perennial Ryegrass, S. Mcgrath, S. Barth, A. Frohlich, M. Francioso, S. A. Lamorte, T. R. Hodkinson

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The objective of this study was to identify perennial ryegrass accessions displaying high fructose and glucose contents and an improved ratio between fructose and glucose fractions across different time points throughout the year. Fructose and glucose are the main constituents of the water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) fraction in perennial ryegrass. For animal nutrition the amount of WSC is crucial as it is the primary energy source available to metabolise the intake of plant protein. The ratio between fructose and glucose fractions is important since fructosan chains, which are an excellent energy source for ruminants, are built from fructose. Furthermore the …

Introgression Breeding For Improvement Of Winter Hardiness In Lolium /Festuca Complex Using Androgenenesis, T. Yamada, Y. D. Guo, Y. Mizukami

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Intergeneric hybrids between closely related Lolium and Festuca species are used to broaden the gene pool and provide plant breeders with options to combine complementary traits to develop robust but high quality grass varieties. Androgenesis was found to be an effective procedure for selecting Lolium-Festuca genotypes comprising gene combinations rarely or never recovered by conventional backcross breeding programs. Here we describe the optimisation of androgenesis in Lolium perenne x Festuca pratensis. The male fertility and freezing tolerance of the Festulolium microspore-derived progenies were analysed and these progenies were also analysed by using genomic in situ hybridisation (GISH). The object …

A New Napier Grass Stunting Disease In Kenya Associated With Phytoplasma, A. B. Orodho, S. I. Ajanga, P. Jones, P. O. Mudavadi

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schum) is a cultivated elephant grass native to Eastern and Central Africa forming the major livestock feed on East African smallholder dairy farms (Valk, 1990) as it is suitable for cut and carry zero-grazing management systems. Although several plant pathogens have been described historically they were seldom severe. However, in the 1970s there was an outbreak of snow mould fungal disease caused by Beniowskia spheroidea that attacked most varieties of napier grass. A napier grass variety (clone 13) was bred which is resistant to the disease. In the 1990s two major outbreaks of napier grass …

Studies Of Seed Characteristics Of Ecotypes Of Lucerne, Bromus And Agropyron In Response To Fusarium Oxysporum And F. Solani, M. A. Alizadeh

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Vigorous seeds and seedlings are more resistant to pathogens than non-vigorous seeds and seedlings (Kim, 1994). Therefore, it is necessary to assess seed and seedling performance in response to seed borne fungi.

Genetic Analysis Of The Interaction Between The Host Perennial Ryegrass And The Crown Rust Pathogen (Puccinia Coronata F.Sp. Lolii), P. M. Dracatos, J. L. Dumsday, R. S. Olle, N. O. I. Cogan, M. P. Dobrowolski, K. F. Smith, J. W. Forster

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Crown rust (Puccinia coronata f.sp lolii) is the most important fungal pathogen of perennial ryegrass (L.perenne L.). The physiological effects associated with infection include reduction of water soluble carbohydrate (WSC) reserves, causing decreased dry matter yield, digestibility and palatability for herbivores reared for meat, milk and wool production. Phenotypic variability of rust-infection in perennial ryegrass is likely to be due to environmental effects, as well as the interaction of defence and resistance genes in the grass and virulence genes in the pathogen. Classical and molecular genetic marker-based studies have previously detected both qualitative and quantitative resistance, due respectively …

Molecular Characterisation Of Bacterial Wilt Resistance In Lolium Multiflorum Lam., B. Studer, B. Boller, F. Windmer, U. K. Posselt, E. Bauer, R. Kölliker

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.), a forage grass of prime importance throughout the world, is adversely affected by the pathogen Xanthomonas translucens pv graminis. Breeding for resistant cultivars is the only practicable means of disease control. However, the inheritance of bacterial wilt resistance is largely unknown. The aim of our research is to elucidate genetic control of bacterial wilt resistance using molecular technologies such as genetic linkage mapping and the analysis of quantitative trait loci (QTL).

Ear Emergence Of Different Grass Species Under Finnish Growing Conditions, M. Niskanen, O. Niemeläinen, L. Jauhiainen

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Timothy is the most commonly cultivated grass species in Finland. Swards cultivated for silage of hay are of pure timothy or timothy is the dominant species of the mixture. Successful timing of harvesting of the primary growth is very critical in Northern latitudes where the stand develops very rapidly at daylengths of above 18 hours with a daily mean temperature close to 20 °C. The primary growth has to be harvested within a very short period to obtain a yield of high and uniform quality. Short harvesting periods require high capacity harvest machinery which lead to high costs. If it …

The Effect Of Harvest Management On Forage Production And Self-Reseeding Potential Of Italian Ryegrass (Lolium Multiflorum L.), P. W. Bartholomew, R. D. Williams

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.) (IRG) can be managed to produce a seed output sufficient for effective re-establishment, without compromising forage yield, it may provide an alternative to perennial cool-season grasses in the Southern Great Plains of the U.S.A. The reduction in cost of replanting and avoidance of cultivation offered by a self-seeding crop may be particularly useful in low-input production systems. We examined the effect of dates of initial harvest in spring and of partial harvests on forage yield, seed output and re-establishment of Italian ryegrass.

The Influence Of Fertiliser Application To Strip-Sown Grasslands On Herbage Production And Quality, A. Kohoutek, P. Komárek, V. Odstrčilová, P. Nerušil

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

To increase the productivity of dairy cattle in the Czech Republic requires an improvement in herbage quality and an increase in the net energy of herbage. The decrease in cattle numbers by 50 % and the expansion of the grassland area both result in a surplus of feedstuffs of low quality. Introduction of strip-seeding of legumes and grasses into grasslands in interaction with fertilisation provides a possible solution to this problem.

Constraints On Dairy Cattle Production From Locally Available Forages In Bangladesh, M. A. S. Khan

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

The productivity of milk producing animals in Bangladesh is low because of low individual yield and poor fertility. The reasons for the low productivity are complex but, in order of priority, appear to be (a) the imbalanced nature of the nutrients that arise from the digestion of the forage resources, (b) the incidence of disease/parasitism, and (c) the often harsh climatic circumstances. Thus, the purpose of this study was to find out the practical constraints on dairy cattle production from locally available forages under small holding village conditions of Bangladesh.

Pasture Management In Deer Farms In Mauritius, P. Grimaud, P. Thomas, J. Sauzier

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

Rusa deer (Cervus timorensis russa) were introduced into Mauritius in 1639, and with a population of 65,000 deer now provide the first source of red meat in the island. From June to September, the hunting period, extensive ranches ensure the venison market, while intensive farms provide it for the rest of the year. A pasture survey was carried out over 3 years to advise deer farmers on their sward management.

Differentiating Leadership Styles And Behaviors Of Teacher-Leaders, Joshua Desantis, Stacey N. Dammann, Anastasia Clayton

Journal of Organizational & Educational Leadership

The rapidly changing landscape of education necessitates that schools build the capacity to swiftly pivot to new modalities, curriculum, and operations models. Much of the onus for positively responding to these changes falls to teacher-leaders. In many schools, teacher leaders are untrained and designated by virtue of their seniority. The authors posit that differences exist in the leadership styles and behaviors of professional educators depending on their role, status, and professional learning journey. Findings from the present study affirm the existence of some of these differences and, thus, could inform future efforts to designate and train teachers for leadership roles …

A Thematic Analysis Of Shared Experiences Of Essential Health And Support Personnel In The Covid-19 Pandemic., Linda Carman Copel, Suzanne C. Smeltzer, Christine D. Byrne, Mu-Hsun Chen, Donna S. Havens, Peter Kaufmann, Heather Brom, Jennifer Dean Durning, Linda Maldonado, Patricia K. Bradley, Janell Mensinger, Jennifer Yost

Faculty Articles

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Studies have shown that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken a toll on individuals who interact with patients with SARS-CoV-2 but focused largely on clinicians in acute care settings. This qualitative descriptive study aimed to understand the experiences and well-being of essential workers across settings during the pandemic.

BACKGROUND: Multiple studies of the well-being of individuals who have cared for patients during the pandemic have included interviews of clinicians from acute care settings and revealed high levels of stress. However, other essential workers have not been included in most of those studies, yet they may also experience stress. …

Impacts Of Cutting-Edge Artificial Intelligence On Economic Research Paradigm, Yongmiao Hong, Shouyang Wang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

No abstract provided.

Mountain Protection And Mountain Development In China: Review And Prospect, Anbang Wen, Qing Tang, Chaojun Ouyang, Bo Zhu, Yukuan Wang, Ainong Li, Shuai Li, Wanze Zhu, Lijun Liu

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

China is a large mountainous country in the world, where the mountainous area is about two-thirds of the land area. In the past ten years, the coverage rate of mountain forest and grass vegetation has increased by 8.2%, the average value of mountain green coverage index has reached 82.1%, and vegetation coverage has reached the highest value since the founding of the People's Republic of China; The area of water and soil erosion has decreased by 275 000 square kilometers, and the annual soil erosion in mountainous areas has decreased by 27%. At present, the backbone system of mountain ecological …

Analysis Of Germany’S Experience On Development Of Biosphere Reserves And Suggestions To China, Yijie Xian, Ning Liu, Na Qiao, Qiang Fang, Qunli Han, Ding Wang

Bulletin of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese Version)

Germany has integrated biosphere reserves into the national strategy of sustainable development, and has built an outstanding biosphere reserve system nationwide, which has played a key role in maintaining the stability of ecosystem, exploring sustainable use of natural resources, innovating social development models, prospering local economies and providing an important platform to carry out comprehensive research on human and nature relationship. The experience of Germany includes:long and solid accumulation in the development of protected areas; deep understanding from authorities and the folk of the concept of Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB) and the value of biosphere reserves, and more …

To Ask Or Not To Ask? Dynamic Systems Perspective On Help Seeking In An Introductory Statistics Classroom, Bradley W. Bergey

Publications and Research

Student-generated questions are an important mechanism for learning and self-regulation, yet their scarcity in classroom discourse points to a need to understand how students decide to ask or withhold their questions. This study examined how 12 graduate students in an introductory statistics course made decisions about asking questions during whole group instruction. Help seeking decisions were framed as arising from a dynamic system of a student’s situated role identity as a class participant. Qualitative analysis of post-class interviews illustrated the highly contextual, dynamic nature of students’ decisions to ask or withhold questions. Analyses revealed an array of microdecisions that involved …

A Longitudinal Study Of The Effect Of Individual And Socio-Cultural Factors On Students’ Creativity, Hye-Sook Park, Seokmin Kang, Sungyeun Kim

Teaching and Learning Faculty Publications

This longitudinal study investigated how characteristics of individual and social relationships affect Korean students’ creativity development. Fifth graders (male: 3,623, female: 3,701) from 242 schools in Korea were followed annually from their 5th to 9th grades (indicating from the 5th elementary school grade to the 3rd middle school grade in the Korean school system). Exploratory factor analysis, internal consistency reliability (coefficient alpha), confirmatory factor analysis, and two-level growth model methods were performed. We investigated all nine constructs and their related items by checking metric and scalar invariance assumptions. When the measurement invariance assumptions were satisfied, we used the mean of …

Port-Of-Entry Simulation Model For Potential Wait Time Reduction And Air Quality Improvement: A Case Study At The Gateway International Bridge In Brownsville, Texas, Usa, Benjamin Stewart, Hiram Moya, Amit U. Raysoni, Esmeralda Mendez, Matthew Vechione

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The mathematical study known as queueing theory has recently become a major point of interest for many government agencies and private companies for increasing efficiency. One such application is vehicle queueing at an international port-of-entry (POE). When queueing, fumes from idling vehicles negatively affect the overall health and well-being of the community, especially the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents that work at the POEs. As such, there is a need to analyze and optimize the border crossing queuing operations to minimize wait times and number of vehicles in the queue and, thus, reduce the vehicle emissions. For this …

The Quantitative Microanalysis Explorer: Introducing Web-Based Visualization For Optical, Electron, And Quantitative X-Ray Maps For Studying Lunar Samples, Angelina Minocha

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

Modern sample imaging techniques produce data in the form of large mosaics, wherein every pixel contains valuable mineralogical information. These heavy data files are challenging for most computers to load and process, furthermore access to lunar and other extraterrestrial samples is limited. We developed the QME Tool to display optical, electron, and quantitative x-ray maps in conjunction with one another to overcome these challenges and advance mineralogy data presentation and analysis. The images and quantitative data was collected using specialized techniques, followed by an extensive image co-registration process. The interface was developed using OpenSeadragon, “An open-source, web-based viewer for high-resolution …

Motivators And Preferences Of Route Diversion During Roadway Incidents, Grace Cole

LSU Master's Theses

When confronted with congestion and delay, drivers often divert their route. Depending on factors like purpose, urgency, destination, route alternatives, type of disruption, and mode options, common diversionary options can range from changing departure time, route, and mode to canceling a trip altogether. One of the foundational building blocks of travel forecasting is traffic assignment, which is used to distribute trips over a network using complex algorithms to aggregately represent the desire of drivers to minimize travel time.

While these assignment models are backed by decades of research and observational experience, they are also limited by the fact that they …

The Geometry And Topology Of Landslides, Kamal Rana

Theses

Landslides are often catastrophic, causing loss of life and destruction of property and infrastructure. Landslide susceptibility and hazard modeling help mitigate these losses by finding regions prone to landslides and providing probabilistic forecasting of landslide occurrence in a region. However, these landslide susceptibility and hazard models' efficacy depends on the quality of existing databases that often lack crucial information, like the underlying trigger and failure mechanism of a landslide. In this Ph.D. project, we developed methods to identify landslide triggering and failure mechanism information using their geometric and topological properties. For identifying landslide trigger information, we developed three different methods …

Pyrrolopyrrole-Based Materials For High-Contrast Electrochromics, Allison Marie Hawks

Master of Science in Chemical Sciences Theses

Understanding structure-property relationships of underutilized p-conjugated chromophores is an important task for the continued discovery of materials that will find utility in organic electronic applications. Dihydropyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrroles (DHPPs) are synthetically simple and highly tailorable chromophores that can be decorated with diverse functionalities that readily manipulate optoelectronic properties useful for a variety of applications. However, a thorough understanding of how these functionalities influence properties of DHPPs that will be useful in applications such as electrochromism is unknown. Motivated to exploit the synthetic simplicity and tailorability of DHPPs, a family of DHPP chromophores was synthesized to probe how functionality and connectivity …

Port-Of-Entry Simulation Model For Potential Wait Time Reduction And Air Quality Improvement: A Case Study At The Gateway International Bridge In Brownsville, Texas, Usa, Benjamin Stewart, Hiram Moya, Amit U. Raysoni, Esmeralda Mendez, Matthew Vechione

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

The mathematical study known as queueing theory has recently become a major point of interest for many government agencies and private companies for increasing efficiency. One such application is vehicle queueing at an international port-of-entry (POE). When queueing, fumes from idling vehicles negatively affect the overall health and well-being of the community, especially the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents that work at the POEs. As such, there is a need to analyze and optimize the border crossing queuing operations to minimize wait times and number of vehicles in the queue and, thus, reduce the vehicle emissions. For this …

Protecting Iot Devices From Botnet Threats: A Federated Machine Learning Solution, Ahmed A. Metwaly, Ibrahim Elhenawy

Sustainable Machine Intelligence Journal

The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has brought unprecedented convenience to our lives, but it has also opened the door to new security challenges. One of the most pressing threats in the IoT landscape is the proliferation of BotNets, which can compromise and control a multitude of devices for malicious purposes. In this paper, we propose a novel approach to address this issue: a Federated Machine Learning Solution for BotNet detection in IoT environments. Our method leverages the collective intelligence of distributed IoT devices while respecting privacy constraints, ensuring that sensitive data never leaves the device. We present …