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The Elemental Analysis of Groundstone Celts from Noble-Wieting Using the pXRF: A Provenance Study
Get PDFGroundstone axes, or celts, were prehistoric stone tools used for chopping, cutting, or woodworking. Made from hard stone like basalt or granite, it was shaped by grinding and polishing rather than flaking, giving it a smooth, durable surface. Celts typically have a tapered edge and were often hafted onto wooden handles or used by hand. They were common in Neolithic cultures around the world and served both practical and sometimes ceremonial purposes. In this thesis, I analyze celts from Noble-Wieting (11ML24), a 14th-century Langford tradition village in McLean County, Illinois.
Specifically, my research addresses the following questions about these groundstone celts. Can the ground stone celts found at Noble-Wieting be associated with known geological sources using pXRF? Are the Noble-Wieting celts manufactured from the same sources as those in Greater Cahokia? Is there a difference in source material between celts found in wall trenches and those recovered from other features at Noble-Wieting? Attempting to answer these questions, brings a multiscalar perspective into this under-researched topic. The pXRF measures the elemental composition of stone and rock. Different stones from different places have different elemental signatures. I will use the pXRF data gathered with comparable data from geologic samples tested, to see if any of the Noble-Wieting artifacts conform to any known sources. This is important because there is no previous research regarding the source location of the materials used in the ground stone celts found at Noble-Wieting.
The data showed that there was a correlation between the ground stone celts found at Noble-Wieting with some of the other local samples and samples taken from the St. Francois Mountains in Missouri. There was, however, a wide range within the samples from Noble-Wieting. This could mean that that the people of Noble-Wieting were getting their materials from other unsampled locations
Genome-Wide Inducible Protein Trap Screen to Explore Localization Properties of Drosophila Proteins
No full textMany proteins in eukaryotic cells resist diffusion, assembling into complexes or localizing in distinct patterns. This self-organization is essential for the complexity of eukaryotes, but it is difficult to predict localization and assembly from protein sequence, or to discern general principles from individual patterns. To survey protein localization signals in an unbiased manner, I tested the effectiveness of screening fluorescent protein traps in live Drosophila embryos with laser scanning confocal microscopy. The traps were generated with the Hostile takeover (Hto) transposon system, in which tissue-specific GAL4 constructs drive expression of a FLAG-mCherry RFP tag fused to a random downstream coding region. In a pilot screen using the embryo epidermis, all embryos expressing a fusion protein with an appearance distinct from that of the Starter Hto element were recovered. The screen yielded a final collection of 41 fly stocks with new protein trap insertions. RFP localization was assayed for all lines using the egg chamber follicle cell epithelium. Most of the fusions concentrated in the nucleus, and the rest were mostly non-nuclear, including several with distinct patterns (junctions, vesicles, and plasma membrane). A second, more selective screen was performed using embryo muscle, recovering five more lines including two with punctate cytosolic patterns. Hto insertion sites were recovered and sequenced for over 30 lines, and examination of the downstream exons provided a model for the likely fusion partner for each insert. There was a strong correlation between the RFP pattern and the fusion candidate. Fusions with a diffuse nuclear-enriched distribution tend be out-of-frame fusions to short peptides. But the well-patterned fusions tended to be in-frame and include most or all of the target protein, including the developmentally important proteins PXo, RhoGAP100F, and Qin/Kumo. I conclude that the embryo screen procedure efficiently recovers Hto protein traps useful to the Drosophila community, and that by re-screening these lines for novel patterns we can further enrich for members of important cellular pathways. In a second type of screen, I searched for Hto inserts that produce developmental abnormalities when expressed in the wing. These phenotypic protein traps take advantage of the power of Drosophila to place genes in pathways and networks based on their phenotypes. This screen provided novel insights into several understudied genes
Altering the Phenylpropanoid Pathway to Decrease Sinapine Content in Pennycress Seeds and Lignin Content in Winter Cereal Rye Biomass
No full textAdvances in genome editing are accelerating the domestication and value enhancement of winter annual crops like pennycress and rye, which could serve as excellent sources of animal feed, making them more profitable for farmers along with contributing to sustainable agriculture and bioenergy production. Pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) is a Brassica species with a natural growth cycle from fall to spring. Domesticated pennycress varieties have been developed for the U.S. Midwest Corn Belt and other temperate growing regions to produce seed oil and meal for biofuels and animal feed uses. As a viable feedstock for renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), domesticated pennycress seed oil offers a promising pathway toward “climate smart” greener energy solutions. To make pennycress profitable, efforts are underway to improve the quality of pennycress seed meal by lowering levels of sinapic acid. Studies in rapeseed have shown that sinapate esters with sinapoylcholine contribute to the bitter taste, astringency, and dark color of seed products (Husken et al., 2005, Molecular Breeding). During seed oil processing, sinapate esters get oxidized and form complexes with proteins, thus lowering the digestibility of the meal. We utilized CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing technology to introduce loss-of-function mutations in two key genes of the phenylpropanoid biosynthetic pathway, namely FERULIC ACID 5-HYDROXYLASE (F5H) and REDUCED EPIDERMAL FLUORESCENCE 1 (REF1). We found that pennycress f5h and ref1 single knockout mutants produced seeds with substantially reduced amounts of sinapate esters and exhibited growth indistinguishable from wild-type controls. Moreover, senesced stems of pennycress f5h mutants had drastic reductions in S lignin content similar to Arabidopsis f5h mutants. Interestingly, pennycress does not accumulate the secondary metabolite sinapoyl malate in leaves like Arabidopsis but instead flavonoid compounds which were also reduced in pennycress ref1 and f5h mutants. We also investigated the role that sinapoylcholine plays in modulating ABA homeostasis during seed germination in pennycress. Taken together, our studies show that mutations in f5h and ref1 in pennycress substantially reduced sinapate esters in the seeds which should improve meal quality. The plants grow similar to wild type, making these mutations worth considering for pennycress domestication. Parallel efforts in rye (Secale cereale L.) aim to enhance its value as animal feed and cover crop through CRISPR targeting of lignin biosynthesis genes (CWG1, CWG2, CWG3). While rye offers excellent biomass potential, its genetic complexity and recalcitrant tissue culture pose challenges for genome editing. We designed high-specificity guide RNAs and validated CRISPR constructs for CWG1, CWG2 and CWG3. Successful lignin modification in rye through genome editing has the potential to enhance saccharification efficiency, thereby improving cell wall digestibility for ruminant feed applications, while preserving its agronomic advantages as a resilient winter cover crop
Exploring Childcare Leaders’ Perspectives On Program Philosophies At The Intersection Of Care, Education, And Business: A Multi-Method (Qual + Qual) Study Using Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle
No full textThis multi-method (QUAL + qual) study explores childcare leaders’ perspectives on program philosophies at the intersection of care, education, and business, which I call The Childcare Tripartite. Recognizing the significant dependency on high-quality childcare services and the foundational role of program philosophies in achieving this quality, this research addresses a notable gap in the literature regarding how early childhood leaders communicate and prioritize their program philosophies within the complex American childcare landscape. Employing semi-structured interviews, documentary materials, and demographic forms, and analyzed through both thematic and deductive content analysis, drawing on Simon Sinek’s Golden Circle, the study uncovers how philosophical underpinnings are often lived but implicitly practiced, frequently conflated with organizational missions, and heavily influenced by financial and regulatory realities. Findings indicate a disconnect between espoused values and practical implementation, with operational demands often sidelining deeper philosophical reflection. This dissertation provides a nuanced understanding of childcare leadership, emphasizing the critical need for explicit philosophical engagement to ensure professional, credible, and equitable practices that enhance quality across all dimensions of childcare
Access, Education, And Entertainment: The Development Of The Subfield Of Digital Public History In Virginia Universities
No full textThis thesis traces the evolution of Digital Public History from the Valley of the Shadow Project to the end of the Backstory podcast. It looks at a series of case studies from Virginia Universities starting in the early 1990s and assesses how technology and conscious choices on the part of programming historians helped to shape the modern sub-field of Digital Public History. Lastly it shows how the public desire for digital history publications to serve as entertainment helped to spawn a new branch of DPH that I have described here as digital public intellectuals
Investigating Heterogeneity of Hydraulic Conductivity and its Influence on Groundwater Flow Dynamics Within a Saturated Riparian Buffer In Central Illinois
Get PDFThe use of Saturated Riparian Buffers (SRBs) in agricultural settings as a means of reducing contamination of surface water and groundwater resources has gained popularity due to their trapping ability and solute removal (nutrient recycling) capacity. In light of SRB’s nutrient-trapping and removal ability, numerous studies have been conducted to characterize the effectiveness of SRBs. However, most studies on SRBs have paid minimal attention to heterogeneity of hydraulic conductivity (K) and groundwater flow dynamics within SRBs. This study investigated the heterogeneity in horizontal K and estimated the vertical groundwater-specific discharge (qv) between the upper weathered and its underlying unweathered glacial units of an SRB, adjacent to a tile-drained agricultural farm field in Central Illinois. The glacial deposits at the study area are of the Tiskilwa Formation and are distinguished into an upper weathered diamicton, which is poorly sorted and coarsens with depth, and an underlying unweathered diamicton. For 23 wells, geometric mean K values were calculated after reducing multiple slug test data using the Hvorslev (1951) method. Geometric mean K values ranged from 1.92x10-4 m/s to7.63x10-6 m/s within the weathered diamicton, while the unweathered diamicton had K values as low as 4.79x10-9 m/s. Vertical hydraulic gradients (iz) calculated ranged from 0.03 to 0.8 from one-time measurements for both groundwater upwelling and downwelling. qv calculated from KV and iz ranged from 1.01x10-9 m/s to 4.30x10-13 m/s, while areas with high K had higher qv. The results of the study revealed flow towards the stream for shallow and intermediate groundwater, where the study area experienced groundwater downwelling and upwelling within the buffer zone. In conclusion, the study area exhibited heterogeneity depicted by the variation of K over orders of magnitude
Red Note New Music Festival Program, 2025
Get PDFThe RED NOTE New Music Festival at Illinois State University is a week-long event which features outstanding performances of contemporary concert music.https://ir.library.illinoisstate.edu/rnf/1045/thumbnail.jp
Viola Studio Recital: February 25, 2025
No full textKemp Recital Hall
February 25, 2025
Tuesday Morning
11:00 a.m
Winter Concert: February 16, 2025
No full textCenter for the Performing Arts
February 16, 2025
Sunday Afternoon
3:00 p.m
Convocation Recital: March 4, 2025
No full textKemp Recital Hall
March 4, 2025
Tuesday Morning
11:00 a.m