Life Sciences Commons^™

Wrack Lines Volume 24, Number 1, Spring/Summer 2024, Gract Cajski, Paul Choiniere, Maggie Cozens, Owen Placido, Judy Benson

Wrack Lines

"Natural Effects: Tales of Our Dynamic Environment" is the theme of this issue, with articles about a research project using GoPro cameras on oyster cages; the exploding population of black sea bass in Long Island Sound; three research projects in Connecticut salt marshes; a children's book illustrator and author and her book about kelp farming; and a living shoreline project in Old Saybrook, CT.

Mean Flow And Dispersion In The Western Mediterranean Sea From Drifter Observations, Helga Huntley, James Turbett, A.D. Kirwan, Jr., Pierre-Marie Poulain

College of Science & Mathematics Departmental Research

Currents in the ocean distribute water masses and everything floating in them. To understand how fast the water (and its flotsam) travels and how effectively it mixes, we need to study the flow statistics. There are two types of measurements of ocean currents: Eulerian measurements that look at how the ocean velocities change at a stationary point on the Earth; and Lagrangian measurements that follow a water mass. Dispersion and mixing is generally best captured by Lagrangian measurements. At the submesoscale (~10-1 – 10 km), the observational tool of choice are drifters, or floating buoys, tethered to a drogue that …

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 65 Number 1, Spring 2024, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

14 - A CAMPUS ON THE RISE Six new buildings on campus aren’t the only changes brought by a successful $1 billion fundraising campaign. Lauren Loftus & Leslie Griffy

20 - HUMAN AT HEART How Santa Clara University is distinguishing itself as a leader in human-focused health care innovation. Lauren Loftus

26 - SHEPHERDING INNOVATION How wonder, and God, can make us better scientists. Brother Guy Consolmagno, S.J.

30 - THE CO-OP Santa Clara University has long been a bastion of interdisciplinary learning. A new fund is taking cross-collaboration to new heights. SCM Staff

34 - MAKE AI THE BEST …

2024- The Twenty-Eighth Annual Symposium Of Student Scholars

Symposium of Student Scholars Program Books

The full program book from the 28th Annual Symposium of Student Scholars, held on April 17-19, 2024. Includes abstracts from the presentations and posters.

Impacts Of Altitude On Plant Green Leaf, Fresh Litter, And Soil Stoichiometry In Subtropical Forests, Dehuang Zhu, Yan Zhou, Suhong Peng, Weiping Hua, Bin Luo, Dafeng Hui

Biology Faculty Research

BackgroundEcological stoichiometric characteristics of carbon (C), nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K) serve as crucial indicators of nutrient cycling and limitation in terrestrial ecosystems. However, our current understanding of stoichiometric characteristics in subtropical forests and their response to different climate conditions is still limited.MethodsWe selected six altitudes ranging from 700 m to 1,200 m to simulate different climate conditions of an evergreen broadleaf forest in Wuyi Mountain, Fujian Province, China. We investigated C, N, P, and K stoichiometry and homeostasis in the green leaves, newly senesced leaf litter (fresh litter), and soil of this forest.ResultsLeaf P and K levels …

The Casnr L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter: Learning Innovation Network For K-12 Schools, Volume 3, Edition 4, April 2024, Bailey Feit, Tammy Mittelstet

CASNR L.I.N.K.S. Newsletter

The purpose of this L.I.N.K.S. newsletter is to provide a monthly update of opportunities and resources for K-12 schools to connect with the University of Nebraska's CASNR Food, Energy, Water, and Societal Systems (FEWS²) programs and partners.

Included in this edition:

K-12 curriculum and resources

Join us at Youth Energy Leadership Camp, July 22-26, 2024

Summer Discovery Day camp, Morrill Hall, June 3-August 2

Explore Food Science summer camps 2024

Save the date: Haskell Ag Lab family field day, August 7, 2024

Other upcoming events

Educator workshops

Compact Teacher Summit-Haskell Ag Lab, Wheat variety field day-High Plains Lab, NAYI conference-East …

Investigation Of The Growth Of Listeria In Plant-Based Beverages, Klaudia Bartula, Sambou Biagui, Máire Begley, Michael Callanan

Department of Biological Sciences Publications

The objective of the present study was to evaluate whether the content of sugar, protein, fat, or fibre in commercially available and specially formulated plant-based beverages (oat, soya and pea) influences the growth rates of Listeria. Beverages were inoculated with a strain cocktail of Listeria (approximately 1 × 103 CFU/mL), and the data demonstrated that Listeria could proliferate in all tested beverages. Moreover, varying concentrations of naturally occurring or added sugar (0–3.3%), protein (3.3–5%), fat (1.1–3.5%) and added fibre (0–1.5%) did not have a statistically significant (p > 0.05) impact on the growth rates of Listeria in the tested …

Nhm 728: Advanced Survey Data Analysis, Yunhee Chang

GMAS Course Syllabi

No abstract provided.

Exploration Of Cytotoxicity Of _Rabidosa Rabida_ Venom On Invertebrate And Vertebrate Cell Cultures, Martina Gooden

Honors Theses

Venom has been observed in thousands of species across different taxa. It can be adapted for different purposes, including prey capture or predator defense. Venom is found almost universally in spiders, but there has been little exploration of spiders that are not medically significant. Rabidosa rabida, the rabid wolf spider, is a common species whose venom has not been adequately investigated. Previous studies indicate that they do not require venom to apprehend easy prey in a laboratory setting, raising a question as to what their venom is adapted to do. To evaluate its effect on mammalian cells, L929 murine fibroblasts …

Development Of A Novel Biology Laboratory Course For Incarcerated Students, Elsa H.K. Spencer, Joanna R. Vondrasek

Inquiry: The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges

Federal second chance Pell grants were recently made widely available to incarcerated students in the United States to fund undergraduate education. Piedmont Virginia Community College was a pilot site for this expansion and began full scale implementation of transfer-oriented associate degrees at three correctional centers in its service area. The college did not have a biology laboratory curriculum that would meet general education requirements and be feasible in a correctional center, where students do not have internet access or even reliable computer (word processing or spreadsheet) access and where materials are restricted for entry. This paper will serve to introduce …

2024 Spring Newsletter, Plaster Creek Stewards

Newsletters

Highlights:

Project GreenER Takes Off

PCS Co-Founders Publish Book About Plaster Creek

Spring Event Brings Hope for Floodplains

Welcoming Jacob Bol and intern Hanna de la Vega

Development Of Enzyme-Based Biotechnology For Removing Stickies And Regaining Fiber Quality In Paper Recycling, Yun Wang

Dissertations

Producing paper with recycled paper consumes about 30-70% less energy and emits less GHG than using virgin wood. However, with current recycling practices, more foreign matters are commingled with the recycled paper including hot-melt adhesives, food residues, inks, resins/sizing agents, and coating adhesives, which result in stickies issues in the paper remanufacturing process. On the other hand, recycled fibers inherently have lower quality due to mechanical treatment, heating, chemical processing, and aging in various types of application/use of paper products, limiting the production of high-quality paper grades from recycled fibers. The goal of this dissertation research is to address both …

New Alternative Methods Developed For The Measurement Of Active And Total Clay In Foundry Green Sands, Piao Jian Tan

Dissertations

Precise measurement of active clay content in molding sand is essential in the metal casting foundry to produce high quality end products with no defects. The historical methylene blue (MB) test was considered qualitative, subjective and prone to operator bias in regard to the reading of the halo. A new spectrophotometric or digital clay technique has been developed. The test utilizes the cation exchange capabilities of the Cu(II)-triethylenetetramine dye and the absorbance reading of the sequestered solution through a UV-Vis spectrophotometer. Working with multiple laboratories (Decher, MTI, EJ, and JD) on actual foundry green sand samples, the method was optimized …

Dissecting The Tissue-Specific Contributions To Seizures, Cardiorespiratory Dysfunction, And Sudden Death In The Kv1.1 Mouse Model Of Epilepsy Using Conditional Knockout Approaches, Kelsey Paulhus

Biological Sciences Theses and Dissertations

Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), the primary cause of mortality in epilepsy, remains poorly understood. Studies suggest seizures may trigger dangerous signals affecting the heart and lungs leading to collapse and death. The Kv1.1 deficiency mouse model mirrors clinical SUDEP cases, showing spontaneous seizures, cardiorespiratory issues, and premature death. However, this model lacks regional specificity in Kv1.1 deletion, hindering insights into SUDEP’s mechanisms and anatomical substrates.

This dissertation employs three distinct conditional knockout (cKO) techniques to investigate the individual roles for the forebrain, brainstem, and heart in SUDEP related phenotypes. The findings reveal that the forebrain alone can trigger …

Cortisol Production In Female Soccer Players, Katelyn Seagraves

Honors Projects

Cortisol is released from the adrenal glands when there is an apparent stressor. Exercise, while beneficial, is seen as stress to the body and incites increased cortisol release. Cortisol is known to increase with exercise, and higher-intensity exercise tends to raise cortisol more compared to lower intensities. However, less is known about interval training and cortisol concentrations.

This review of literature dives into the background of cortisol: how it's produced, what systems it regulates, and differences in production based on gender, stressors, exercise intensity, and duration. This paper identifies some knowledge gaps and links training intensities in soccer to cortisol …

Using Exercise To Reduce The Physical Symptoms Of Parkinson's Disease., Isabella Granahan, Jason Hoffman, John Catapano, Emma Gillis, Aveleen Mcginn Unkauf

Transformations: Presentation Slides

Proper forms of exercise can be used by individuals with Parkinson's to reduce the effects of the disease. Our study utilized a unique eccentric lower body exercise program to improve gait, balance, mood, and movement initiation/control for people diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. The twice weekly, 12 week exercise regime was evaluated through a variety of biomechanical, physiological and psychological measurements conducted throughout each of the training sessions. An analysis of the measures indicated that the exercise protocol did provide positive outcomes related to gait, balance, mood, and movement initiation/control for individuals that participated in our study

Investigating The Role Of Dna Interval V375 In Spore Killing By Neurospora Crassa Sk-3, Michael Marcheschi

Senior Theses – Biological Sciences

Meiotic drive elements, sometimes called selfish genes, are genetic elements that are passed on to their offspring more favorably than other genes. Meiotic drive elements have been observed in many organisms, including fungi of the Neurospora genus. Three different meiotic drive elements, called Spore killers, have been identified in Neurospora fungi. One of these Spore killers is called Spore killer 3 (Sk-3), and the molecular mechanism by which Sk-3 acts as a meiotic drive element is poorly understood. Previous work has identified a genetic locus within Sk-3 that may control spore killing. In this thesis, I investigate an …

Studying A Spore Killing Gene In Neurospora Crassa, Jalen Lee

Senior Theses – Biological Sciences

Some isolates of the fungus Neurospora crassa possess a chromosomal factor that causes spore killing, leading to death of ascospores. It has been shown that these chromosomal factors are genetic elements called spore killers. For example, if a cross is performed between a parent with an Sk-S (sensitive) allele and a parent with an Sk-K (killer) allele, the cross will produce half viable offspring and half inviable offspring, where the inviable half has been killed by spore killing. This phenomenon can be explained by meiotic drive, wherein a selfish gene disrupts the randomness of sexual transmission, favoring its own success. …

Multi-Node Temperature Monitoring Method For Digital Agricultural Planting Based On Wireless Sensor Network, Pei Wang

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Abstract: In order to monitor the temperature of agricultural planting in time and avoid reducing the yield and quality of crops due to excessive temperature fluctuation, a multi-node temperature monitoring method of digital agricultural planting based on wireless sensor network is proposed. Firstly, the wireless sensor network structure in agricultural digital temperature monitoring is designed, and the overall structure of digital agricultural planting multi-node temperature monitoring is designed by combining it with the upper computer to collect agricultural planting temperature data. Secondly, the characteristics of agricultural planting temperature data are extracted, and the data are transmitted to the upper computer …

Study On Heavy Metal Content Calculation And Agricultural Potential Based On Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Image Processing, Xiangyu Shan, Fei Dou, Shuangquan Gao, Chuanping Liu, Cangbai Li

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Soil is the main influencing factor for plant growth, reproduction, and distribution. With the acceleration of industrialization and the intensification of human activities, the problem of heavy metal pollution in agricultural soil is becoming increasingly prominent. Heavy metals in soil are toxic and easily absorbed by plants, and consuming contaminated crops poses a great threat to human health. Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the content of heavy metals (HMs for short here) in soil. Hyperspectral Remote Sensing (HRS for short here) has great application prospects in obtaining quantitative information of soil organic matter, minerals and other components due to …

Enhancing Grain Yield, Oil Content, Fatty Acid Composition And Changes In Antioxidant Properties Of Camelina Using Wi-Fi Radiation, Maryam Khashayarfard, Sedigheh Arbabian, Danial Kahrizi, Fariba Sharifnia

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Exposure to electromagnetic radiation (ER) with radio frequency is one of the environment's most common and fastest-growing human factors. Therefore, due to the increasing global growth of telecommunication towers and Wi-Fi waves, the possibility of positive or negative effects of Wi-Fi electromagnetic waves (WEW) is essential for the quality and quantity parameters of plants. An experiment was was carried out during the years 2020-2021 at the Research Farm of Tarbiat Modares University to investigate the effect of WEW on the grain yield, fatty acid composition (FA), oil content and antioxidant properties of camelina. Seeds were exposed to Wi-Fi electromagnetic radiation …

Genetic Analysis Of Seed Yield And Some Traits In Cowpea Using Diallel Analysis, Christelle Jou-Nteufa, Ercan Ceyhan

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

Cowpea is an essential economic crop in underdeveloped and developing countries mainly grown by small farmers. In terms of seed yield and some agricultural characteristics, this study was carried out to determine the genetic structures and the general and specific adaptability of the genotypes. The trial, which included F1 hybrids and parents, was established under Konya ecological conditions with 3 replications in 2020 in the “Random Blocks Trial” design. Based on the results of the preliminary analysis of variance, it was determined that there was sufficient variation in the hybrid populations formed in terms of all traits examined. Nonadditive and …

Antioxidant Properties And Aldose Reductase Inhibitory Potency Of Viscum Album L. Extracts: Experimental And Computational Insights, Bilal Akyüz, Bülent Şengül

Turkish Journal of Agriculture and Forestry

This study systematically investigates the antioxidant capacity and inhibitory impact of Viscum album L. plant extracts on the aldose reductase (AR) enzyme through a combined approach of in vitro and in silico methods. Various sections derived from distinct plant parts were examined, revealing potent inhibitory potential. Notably, the methanol extract sourced from the plant's stem displayed remarkable efficacy with an IC50 value of 0.156 µM. Total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity analyses were conducted, highlighting variations across plant parts and solvent types. Qualitative and quantitative phenolic compounds content in the extracts was also elucidated by LC-MS/MS analysis and it was …

A Connected-Component Improvement Procedure For Relative Isolation Probability Calculation, Renzo Roel P. Tan, Kazushi Ikeda

Quantitative Methods and Information Technology Faculty Publications

Due to the prevalence of natural disasters, the resilience of networks that provide essential services to the population has been studied. A recent contribution is the probability of relative isolation, which measures the likelihood of a demand node to be unreachable by supply nodes. The existing procedure for calculation is an enumerative decision-diagram-based approach that may be resource-intensive especially on occasions when time and memory constraints are imposed. In response, the study reverse-engineers the current method towards increased efficiency. The proposed solution hinges on the breadth-first search, producing connected components based on the sources. The algorithm is then benchmarked on …

Cortisol Production In Female Soccer Players, Katelyn Seagraves

ASPIRE 2024

Cortisol is released from the adrenal glands when there is an apparent stressor. Exercise, while beneficial, is seen as stress to the body and incites increased cortisol release. Cortisol is known to increase with exercise, and higher-intensity exercise tends to raise cortisol more compared to lower intensities. However, less is known about interval training and cortisol concentrations.

This review of literature dives into the background of cortisol: how it's produced, what systems it regulates, and differences in production based on gender, stressors, exercise intensity, and duration. This paper identifies some knowledge gaps and links training intensities in soccer to cortisol …

Forage News [2024-04], University Of Kentucky

Forage News

No abstract provided.

Neurotensin Modulates Ovarian Vascular Permeability Via Adherens Junctions, Andrew Pearson, Ketan Shrestha, Thomas E. Curry, Diane M. Duffy

UK CARES Faculty Publications

Neurotensin (NTS) is a 13-amino acid peptide which is highly expressed in the mammalian ovary in response to the luteinizing hormone surge. Antibody neutralization of NTS in the ovulatory follicle of the cynomolgus macaque impairs ovulation and induces follicular vascular dysregulation, with excessive pooling of red blood cells in the follicle antrum. We hypothesize that NTS is an essential intrafollicular regulator of vascular permeability. In the present study, follicle injection of the NTS receptor antagonist SR142948 also resulted in vascular dysregulation. To measure vascular permeability changes in vitro, primary macaque ovarian microvascular endothelial cells (mOMECs) were enriched from follicle aspirates …

Paradox Lost: Wide Gape In The Ordovician Brachiopod Rafinesquina Explains How Unattached Filter-Feeding Strophomenoids Thrived On Muddy Substrates, Benjamin F. Dattilo, Rebecca L. Freeman, Kyle Hartshorn, David Peterman, Aaron Morse, David L. Meyer, Lindsay G. Dougan, James W. Hagadorn

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Strophomenoid brachiopods had thin, concavo-convex shells, were ubiquitous colonizers of Palaeozoic muddy seafloors, and are hypothesized to have filter-fed in a concave-upward orientation. This orientation would elevate their line of commissure out of potentially lethal lophophore-clogging mud. The paradox is that epi- biont distributions on strophomenoids support a convex-upward life position, as do studies of strophome- noid stability and trace fossils formed by strophomenoid sediment-clearing. A premise of the concave-upward orientation hypothesis is a narrow gape, which causes narrow, high velocity inhalant currents, leaving strophomenoids vul- nerable to sediment entrainment. Herein we investigate the gape angle of Rafinesquina using serial …

Rainwater Harvesting Systems Metagenomics, Jade Riddle, Julia Parsons

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

Climate change induced water scarcity has led to an increasing interest in non-traditional water sources such as rainwater. However, there are lingering health and safety concerns due to the lack of research into the microbial communities contained within collection systems. To address this gap, water samples were collected from rain barrels around northern Virginia for microbial analysis. Each microbe within the sample has a unique genome subject to DNA testing. Environmental DNA was prepared from the collected water samples. To characterize the microbial community, both targeted sequencing and whole genome sequencing approaches were used. Using targeted sequencing of the 16s …

Joint Environmental And Social Benefits From Diversified Agriculture, Laura Vang Rasmussen, Ingo Grass

Earth and Environmental Sciences Faculty Publications

Agricultural simplification continues to expand at the expense of more diverse forms of agriculture. This simplification, for example, in the form of intensively managed monocultures, poses a risk to keeping the world within safe and just Earth system boundaries. Here, we estimated how agricultural diversification simultaneously affects social and environmental outcomes. Drawing from 24 studies in 11 countries across 2655 farms, we show how five diversification strategies focusing on livestock, crops, soils, noncrop plantings, and water conservation benefit social (e.g., human well-being, yields, and food security) and environmental (e.g., biodiversity, ecosystem services, and reduced environmental externalities) outcomes. We found that …