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Minutes: Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Tenure: February 28, 2025
No full textIn these minutes: Discussion of Past and Future Committee Business; Collegiate Personnel Plans and Long-term Appointments Justifications; Discussion of Work Plan for Post Tenure Review Issue
A System Theory Perspective of Managerial Effect on CMS Transitions: When the Stars Align
No full textFaculty Advisor: Dr. Dan CardSwitching to a new content management system (CMS) tool is an important decision businesses make. When implemented correctly, the right CMS tool can improve the quality of documentation, the speed it is produced, and the branding of the business among other things. When done incorrectly, employee morale, productivity, and profitability suffers. Therefore, it is important for management to plan and execute a CMS transition correctly. This report analyzes a case study at a software company whose documentation manager planned and executed a CMS transition from Microsoft Word to Madcap Flare with her team. Team members were interviewed, and their responses were analyzed. Then, their responses were used to construct an Activity System in order to identify key actions and factors that enabled the successful implementation of a new CMS tool. Using a similar framework to address the elusive people factor (i.e., how people within organizations affect things) which significantly affects these projects, senior technical communicators and managers can plan a successful CMS transition of their own
Role of the AAV receptor in AAV cell entry and trafficking
No full textAdeno-associated virus (AAV) has emerged as a promising delivery platform for gene therapies due to its relative safety and potential for long-term efficacy. However, the use of AAV is limited by its reliance on the cellular AAV receptor (AAVR) which is ubiquitously expressed, leading to broad tropism of AAV. Additionally, AAVR-binding residues on the AAV capsid are commonly recognized by the immune system, leading to neutralization of AAV vectors. Although AAVR is required for cell entry, its interactions with AAV are not well understood. Increased knowledge of the role of AAVR will allow for rational design of AAV capsids to improve safety and expand use while retaining function. This project asked whether the role of AAVR in transduction is passive, a means for AAV to enter the correct trafficking pathway; or active, where binding-induced structural changes are necessary. To this end, modified versions of AAV2 and AAVR which do not interact on their own were artificially targeted to each other through complementary peptide tag and nanobody insertions. Preliminary results demonstrate that artificial targeting does not rescue AAV transduction, suggesting that the role of AAVR may not be purely passive. However, further studies are needed to identify the step at which transduction is unsuccessful for the artificially targeted variants and how AAVR contributes to AAV transduction.Wang, Amy. (2025). Role of the AAV receptor in AAV cell entry and trafficking. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/272426
Minutes: Faculty Advisory Committee on the Health Sciences (FACHS): March 25, 2025
No full textIn these minutes: Discussion with Dean Tolar, EVP Goldman, and General Counsel Peterson; Committee BusinessUniversity of Minnesota. Health Sciences Faculty Consultative Committee (HS FCC). (2025). Minutes: Faculty Advisory Committee on the Health Sciences (FACHS): March 25, 2025. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/272448
Expression of Reactive Astrocytes in the Deep Cerebellar Nuclei and Inferior Olive of SCA1 Mice
No full textFaculty Advisor: Marija CvetanovicSpinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 (SCA1) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease caused by expansion of over 39 CAG repeats in the gene ATXIN1 (ATXN1). Pathological changes have been primarily associated with the neuronal loss in the cerebellum and brainstem of patients with SCA1. This study focuses on the astrocytes, an important brain cell, in the deep cerebellar nuclei and brainstem, specifically, the inferior olive. (IO). The IO plays a significant role in integrating motor and sensory information to provide feedback between the cerebellum and the spine. Previous research in the lab showed a decreased density of astrocytes in the inferior olive (IO) in mouse models of SCA1. However, this previous study was done at a mid-disease stage after the onset of symptoms and neuronal pathology and little is known about astrocytes in SCA1 DCN. To validate this finding, I quantified the number of astrocytes in the DCN and IO of f-Atxn1146Q/2Q (a new SCA1 mouse model) and their littermate control (wild-type) at an early stage prior to the onset of disease symptoms and neuronal pathology. Quantitative analysis showed a significant increase in the density of astrocytes in the DCN and a decrease in the density of astrocytes in the IO of SCA1 mice compared to wild-type mice. This suggests that astrocytes are altered very early in disease in DCN and IO and may play an important role in SCA1 pathogenesis.This research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).Chaudhari, Anushka. (2025). Expression of Reactive Astrocytes in the Deep Cerebellar Nuclei and Inferior Olive of SCA1 Mice. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/271261
Manual of Procedures for the Fruit and Vegetable Procurement Tool
No full textThe Fruit and Vegetable Procurement Tool was designed to capture usual household procurement of fruits and vegetables over a 4 week period. This tool is comprised of 4 weekly paper-pen booklets containing instructions and procurement forms to record fruit and vegetable items. Participants are instructed during an in-person appointment on how to use the tool and provided materials to track their procurement of fruits and vegetables. After data are received from participants, research staff check for completion in multiple passes and enter data provided by participants into the Nutritional Data System for Research (NDSR) to calculate the total edible (1 cup equivalent) servings of fruits and vegetables procured per week. This manual describes the procedures for using and entering data collected using the Fruit and Vegetable Procurement Tool. This manual also provides the materials needed to use the Tool in the field, including the Tool itself.Funding for this work was supported by the National Institute of Nursing Research of the National Institutes of Health under award number R01NR020539 (PI: Horning). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.Horning, Melissa L.; Gorman, Kristen S.; Steiner, Julia; Wolfson, Julian; Laska, Melissa N.; Fulkerson, Jayne A.; Harnack, Lisa. (2025). Manual of Procedures for the Fruit and Vegetable Procurement Tool. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/269889
User-Directed Autonomous Image Acquisition for 3D Object Reconstruction Using Eye-in-Hand Camera on Quadruoped Robot
No full textThis research presents a system to automate the process of capturing images of an object for use in image-based 3D reconstruction by use of a quadruped robot equipped with an eye-in-hand camera. While image-based reconstruction techniques have substantially lowered the barrier to entry for high-quality 3D asset creation, the process of capturing the images necessary for a quality reconstruction either requires a great amount of time or an expensive multi-camera array. The presented system requires only a single 2D bounding box on a camera image to indicate the target object. The workflow begins with object segmentation prompted by the provided bounding box and calculated by Meta’s SAM2 segmentation model. The system uses the produced segmentation mask to calculate a segmented point cloud of the object. This data, combined with information from the robot’s occupancy grid is used to generate a ring of camera poses surrounding the object from which images are taken. Evaluation compared the output of the system with images manually taken with an iPhone 16 Pro. While the system’s output were able to reconstruct the object, the quality was substantially lower than that of the manually taken photos.This research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)
Constraints on Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter from the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background
No full textThis work investigates the contribution of primordial black hole (PBH) binaries to the stochastic gravitational-wave background (SGWB) using data from the LIGO--Virgo--KAGRA (LVK) collaboration. A Bayesian inference framework is employed to model the PBH population with a log-normal mass distribution, incorporating early binary formation and suppression effects from environmental interactions such as tidal disruptions and clustering. Observational limits from the LVK O1-O3 runs are used to constrain the PBH dark matter fraction. The results place stringent upper bounds on PBH abundances in the 0.05-10 M⊙ mass range and demonstrate that suppression effects significantly reduce the allowed parameter space. These refined constraints are essential for assessing the role of PBHs as dark matter candidates and emphasize the importance of future observations with instruments such as LIGO O4, LISA, and DECIGO.This research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).Baydar, Gokdeniz. (2025). Constraints on Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter from the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/271568
Mathematical Models of Rubato and Modulation
No full textFaculty Advisor: Guerino MazzolaThis research was supported by the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP).Lee, Benjamin Honeray. (2025). Mathematical Models of Rubato and Modulation. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/271254
Searching for Resilience in a Mouse Model of Ataxia (2025-04-16)
No full textWednesday, April 16; 12:15 pm; School of Medicine - Room 142 or ZoomAlana Watt, PhD, Professor and Chair of Biology, McGill University, CanadaCollege of Pharmacy; Medical School, Duluth CampusUniversity of Minnesota Duluth. Medical School, Duluth Campus. (2025). Searching for Resilience in a Mouse Model of Ataxia (2025-04-16). Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/272254