3 research outputs found
Wiigwaas: An Indigenous Traditional Knowledge Informed Study of Sustainable Roofing Materials
No full textThe inadequacy of contemporary Indigenous housing has been recognized worldwide from historical problems related to colonization, dispossession, and resettlement. Indigenous housing on reservations is often substandard which meets the minimum regulations for low-income housing, with little regard to the health or cultural values of the people that live there. This study focuses on reincorporating traditional values into tribal housing with the use of wiigwaas, the Anishinaabe Ojibwe word for Paper Birch (Betula papyrifera) and a cultural keystone species of the Anishinaabe. The traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) surrounding wiigwaas is utilized to compare it to sustainable roofing materials. The researcher used methodologies which combined autoethnography, Indigenous Research Methodology, and quantitative data collection to analyze the potential of wiigwaas for covering structures. This study concluded that the durability of wiigwaas in terms of flexibility, strength, and energy allow this to be a valid sustainable roofing material for future use on Anishinaabe lands
Functionalization of silicon quantum dots and deposition into silicon nanowire arrays
No full textNSF award DMR-1461275
Dual Mass Spectrometric Tissue Imaging of Nanocarrier Distributions and Their Biochemical Effects
No full textNanomaterial-based drug delivery vehicles are able to
deliver therapeutics
in a controlled, targeted manner. Currently, however, there are limited
analytical methods that can detect both nanomaterial distributions
and their biochemical effects concurrently. In this study, we demonstrate
that matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry
imaging (MALDI-MSI) and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma
mass spectrometry imaging (LA-ICP-MSI) can be used together to obtain
nanomaterial distributions and biochemical consequences. These studies
employ nanoparticle-stabilized capsules (NPSCs) loaded with siRNA
as a testbed. MALDI-MSI experiments on spleen tissues from intravenously
injected mice indicate that NPSCs loaded with anti-TNF-α siRNA
cause changes to the lipid composition in white pulp regions of the
spleen, as anticipated, based on pathways known to be affected by
TNF-α, whereas NPSCs loaded with scrambled siRNA do not cause
the predicted changes. Interestingly, LA-ICP-MSI experiments reveal
that the NPSCs primarily localize in the red pulp, suggesting that
the observed changes in lipid composition are due to diffusive rather
than localized effects on TNF-α production. Such information
is only accessible by combining data from the two modalities, which
we accomplish by using the heme signals from MALDI-MSI and iron signals
from LA-ICP-MSI to overlay the images. Several unexpected changes
in lipid composition also occur in regions where the NPSCs are found,
suggesting that the NPSCs themselves can influence tissue biochemistry
as well
