TTU Published Journals @ Volpe Library
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In Vivo Incorporation of 19F-Tryptophan into JNK3 for NMR Spectroscopy
No full textAmong mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPKs), the c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs) are of particular interest due to their involvement in cell signaling pathways associated with diabetes, cancer, neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s, and cellular apoptosis. Focusing on JNK3 specifically, the surrounding cascade mechanisms include numerous partner enzymes that regulate its activity via phosphorylation, and these interactions alter JNK3’s overall protein conformation. Understanding the movements associated with forming these complexes will shed light on the mechanism by which these enzymes act, and a deeper understanding of these signaling systems will assist in developing treatments for associated pathologies. JNK3's molecular movements can theoretically be studied with the use of 19F NMR techniques, but the JNK3 molecules must first have 19F incorporated into their structure. To that end, we will develop a method to incorporate 19F into JNK3 in vivo, then confirm the location of the labeled amino acids with 19F NMR and mutagenesis studies. After establishing a connection between each amino acid and its signal, 19F NMR can be used to study the complexes formed between JNK3 and its upstream regulatory enzymes
Fuzzing to Identify Undiscovered Bugs in Scientific Software
Get PDFScientific software is defined as software that aids in research, testing or design of scientific models that are used to explain and predict the behavior of real objects or systems in a variety of scientific disciplines. Bugs in scientific software can cause large-scale consequences, for example, error-prone scientific results can lead to ineffectual projects and embarrassing retractions, incorrect financial transactions can cause tremendous monetary loss, etc. However, scientific software is typically developed by novices who are not well-equipped with bug finding tools. In this research, we investigate methods to systematically find undiscovered bugs in scientific software packages written in Julia. Julia is a programming language designed specifically for scientific and numeric computing. The goal of our research is to help scientific software developers find undiscovered bugs using fuzzing. Fuzzing is defined as a software testing technique which incorporates automated random input generation and injection to a software in the hopes of triggering an error condition or fault. We investigate 20 open-source Julia repositories collected from GitHub and apply fuzzing on these repositories. We have developed fuzzers in Python for four programs and have done some preliminary analysis on the documented crash reports. We find that there are several unhandled exception conditions in them, for example, we found 5 bugs in the Julia FFTW package, and 4 bugs in the Julia HTTP package
*WINNER* Background Music and Reading Comprehension: Musical Training Predicts Reading Comprehension Scores
No full textResearch is split on background music’s impact on cognitive functioning. Previous research has shown that background music has negative effects on cognitive performance, specifically in the areas of reading comprehension (Chou, 2010; Kämpfe et al., 2011; Patston & Tippett 2011). Musicians have been shown to perform worse on reading comprehension in the presence of music, but with an advantage still present over non-musicians (Patston & Tippett 2011). The current study aimed to examine the effect of background music of different emotions on reading comprehension. Participants attended an experimental session where background conditions (silence or happy, sad, or scary music) while reading a passage were randomly assigned. Musical training and music emotion recognition scores were examined as covariates. Alexithymia was also measured using a scale created by Preece, Becerra, Robinson, Dandy, and Allan (2018). Preliminary analyses found that musical training was a significant predictor of reading comprehension regardless of background condition. Also, regardless of condition, musically trained participants had significantly higher reading comprehension scores than those with no musical training. The preliminary data indicates that the emotion of a piece of background music has no effect on participants’ ability to comprehend written information. As previous research has shown, musical training is a significant predictor of reading comprehension as musically trained participants did have higher reading comprehension scores than participants with no musical training regardless of background condition. As these results are from preliminary data, further collection of data may yield significant results for other comparisons
*WINNER* Chemical Engineering Laboratory Curriculum Redesign Through Application of an Inquiry-guided Laboratory Manual
No full textThe purpose of this contribution is to convey preliminary results involving the curriculum redesign of a chemical engineering laboratory course through the novel application of the Inquiry-guided Laboratory Manual (IGLM). The context of this curriculum redesign involves a heat transfer laboratory course, which is the first of the transfer science course series offered by the Department of Chemical Engineering at Tennessee Tech. The pedagogy of the IGLM is anchored in the innovation-driven learning strategies of the Renaissance Foundry and follows a scaffolding approach for inquiry-guided learning that seeks to provide students with learning experiences related to creativity and problem solving. Specifically, the research question embedded in this research design states: How might the application of the IGLM in a transfer science laboratory course influence student activities related to preparation prior to experimentation? The constructivist framework of this qualitative research design is paired with an inductive approach that applies a thematic analysis with open-coding strategies on data that was gathered from the normal coursework of the laboratory curriculum. The design of this study ensures that the preliminary results and themes will be representative of the data from which they emerge and will be further discussed within the study. Moreover, this contribution addresses the need for continued research-based discussions on the curriculum design of engineering laboratories and data-driven conversation on how to provide holistic learning experiences for engineering students
Content Analysis of International STEM Education Research Journals
Get PDFSTEM education emerged as a focus for educators and researchers in the United States as more states and schools implement integrated, STEM-driven curricula and instruction in order to improve students’ STEM literacy, critical thinking skills, and 21st century workforce skills (Bybee, 2013). This study used content analysis (Grbich, 2013; Hsieh & Shannon, 2005) to investigate recent trends in STEM education research by analyzing all of the published articles in three international STEM education research journals. The criteria for journal selection were publication origination date, number of articles published, and ability to obtain the journals through student-accessible databases or journal websites. Data included the number and types of STEM subjects, whether or not the STEM subjects were integrated, the date of publication, and the setting and participants. Findings from this study suggest that STEM education research articles tend to focus on two or more STEM silos, with the number of iSTEM education research articles increasing in publication over time. Future research in STEM education should include K–12 settings to complement the work already being performed in higher education settings.
ReferencesBybee, R. W. (2013). The case for STEM education: Challenges and opportunities. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.Grbich, C. (2013). Qualitative data analysis: An introduction. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.Hsieh, H. F., & Shannon, S. E. (2005). Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research, 15(9), 1277–1288. doi:10.1177/104973230527668
Nano-sized Lithium Aluminum Layered Double Hydroxides in Lithium Ion Extraction
Get PDFIncreasing world demand for lithium is driving innovation in lithium-ion extraction. Current methods employ open-pit mining and salt-lake evaporation. Layered double hydroxide chlorides (LDH) have shown to be effective sorbents of metal ions. Lithium-Aluminum LDH is an environmentally-friendly alternative to selectively extract lithium ions from brine lakes. In this poster, Li-Al LDH on the nanometer scale is compared to larger particles synthesized by ORNL; the smaller nano-particle size corresponds with a higher surface area and thus better adsorption of lithium. Size, structure, and chemical makeup of Li-Al LDH are characterized via DLS, SEM, and XRD respectively. The adsorption isotherms of the nano-scale and larger Li-Al LDH samples are compared via ICP-OES testing
The Role of the Area Averaging Approach to Derive Macroscopic Scaled Transport Equations for Hydrogel Capillaries
Get PDFA hydrogel is a three-dimensional network of chemically or physically cross-linked polymers. Hydrogels have porous structures at the nanometer scale and are able to contain large amounts of water without changing their structure. Hydrogels are widely used for gel electrophoresis, which is a technique to separate biomolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and pharmaceuticals, for industrial, biological, and environmental processes. During gel electrophoresis, biomolecules migrate through pores of varying shapes and sizes in the presence of an electric field and separate according to their size and charge.This research aims to develop and systematize a technique for the analysis of the microscopic transport equations that describe gel electrophoresis at a local level, within a capillary of the hydrogel material, and upscale them to macroscopic equations using a technique known as area averaging. The results of the research efforts will be twofold. First, the research efforts will develop a systematization of the area averaging technique that is currently disorganized in the literature and difficult to apply and generalize. Second, the research efforts will produce constitutive equations for the effective transport coefficients including the effective diffusivity and the effective mobility of the biomolecules in the material capillaries.The migration of a biomolecule through a pore during gel electrophoresis may be modeled using these transport equations and other anticipated equations, allowing for connection to macroscale parameters that are able to be measured experimentally
*WINNER* Evaluation of microplastic load in a waste water treatment plant
No full textProduction and demand for single-use plastic materials is at an all-time high, resulting in increasing concerns about the proper disposal and end of life treatment of these materials. Plastics can accumulate in the environment and degrade over time into smaller fragments known as microplastics. Microplastics have a diameter of five millimeters (5 mm) or less and can easily be transported across different environmental compartments and trophic levels of the food chain. The aim of this study is to determine the microplastic content of influent, effluent and sludge (watered and de-watered) samples from the WWTP in Cookeville, Tennessee. Grab samples will be collected and passed through three sieves with different mesh sizes. All remaining solids will be digested by wet peroxide oxidation to remove all biological material and separated according to their densities via a saturated sodium chloride solution. Resulting particles will be oven dried, weighed and identified using Fourier Transform Infra-red Spectroscopy. Particle sizes will be measured using a laser diffraction particle size analyzer
*WINNER* MesoAmerican Nephropathy: A Growing Problem in Central America
No full textMesoamerican nephropathy is chronic kidney disease (CKD) that is lacks clear etiology and presents primarily in healthy young men living in Central America. In one report from a town in Nicaragua, the prevalence of CKD was 42% among men and 9.8% among women. From 1992-2002 the CKD-related mortality rate increased from 4 to 10 cases per 100,000 Nicaraguan inhabitants. Patients do not have pre-existing factors such as diabetes or hypertension, setting this type of nephropathy apart from what is typically seen. Research suggests nontraditional factors contributing to rapid decline in kidney function include; outdoor and agriculture work, lack of shade during work breaks, exposure to pesticides and live in low altitude homes. A patient with mesoamerican nephropathy may present with arthralgias, muscle cramps, dysuria and flank pain. All of these symptoms lead to the prescription of NSAIDs and antibiotics which are both known to cause damage to the glomerulus when used in excess. Physicians and pharmacists in Nicaragua state that they are aware that this is a growing problem in their area and they know the contributing factors. However, what has not been determined is what present practices do they have in place to educate and prevent mesoamerican nephropathy in young males
Control Improvements on the UCNtau Magnetic Mapper
No full textThe UCNtau experiment utilizes a 670-liter magnetic array designed for the purpose of trapping ultracold neutrons (UCN) with minimal sources of loss. The array uses over 5000 NdFeB magnets to achieve this purpose. Understanding the magnetic field generated by these magnets is key to the experiment, and so it is necessary to have a practical method of mapping the magnetic fields in the trap. This information is useful for ensuring the magnetic field is large enough everywhere to prevent UCNs from escaping and provides empirical inputs into spin dynamics simulations of the experiment. To efficiently collect the magnetic field information, a magnetic field mapping robotic arm was manufactured and implemented, and the efficiency of the arm continues to be improved upon. Control code was improved to allow for the automatic handling of critical errors during mapping runs. Specifically, code allowing for the arm to try and re-find a missed surface point and skip points that it fails to find was implemented; Additionally, code that allows the arm to continue an aborted mapping run with minimal user input after critical errors was developed. The control code additions and their effects on the running of the arm, as well as future control code improvements will be presented