Different Substrate Selectivity and Product Patterns of Immobilized Thermophilic Lipases From \u3ci\u3eGeobacillus stearothermophilus\u3c/i\u3e, \u3ci\u3eAnoxybacillus flavithermus\u3c/i\u3e, and \u3ci\u3eThermomyces lanuginosus\u3c/i\u3e for Glyceryl Decanoate Synthesis

Lipases can catalyze synthesis reactions in a micro aqueous system, producing useful partial glycerides (mono- and diglycerides), and these compounds are commonly utilized in different products as surfactants. Depending on the microbial sources for lipases, immobilization conditions, and starting substrates for synthesis reaction, the composition and yields of the resulting partial glycerides could be variable. These differences could lead to the final efficacy of partial glycerides as surfactants in targeted products. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a group of immobilized lipases from different microbial sources with information about substrate specificity to produce effective partial glycerides for various product types. Here, lipases from thermophilic Geobacillus stearothermophilus and Anoxybacillus flavithermus were prepared with a simple partial purification method, and after immobilization, these lipases were tested to synthesize partial glycerides using different types of decanoic acids. The distinct product patterns were analyzed using HPLC. Both immobilized lipases showed the highest substrate selectivity to decanoic acids in common, producing mainly glyceryl monodecanoate. However, commercial immobilized lipases from Thermomyces lanuginosus produced the largest glyceryl monodecanoate from methyl decanoate. These results indicate the importance of immobilization conditions like different microbial sources and substrates and the need for their optimal combination

Tracking Perfluoroalkyl Substances From Wastewater Influent to its Accumulation in Vegetables and Forage Grass

Per and poly-fluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of chemicals that are persistent in the environment. PFAS was found in wastewater, which can be used after wastewater treatment for irrigation water, and in the biosolids that can be mixed with soils to provide nutrients and generally improve soil quality. This study found when wastewater was used it increases the level of PFAS in vegetables and forage grass. PFAS concentrations were tracked from the influent of the wastewater treatment plant to the effluent, to the irrigation water, to the soil, and finally into the vegetable and forage grass grown on this treated wastewater and biosolids. Similar to other studies, some PFAS compounds were found to increase in concentration after wastewater treatment but dropped in concentration as it mixed with surface water. Similar levels of PFAS were found in rainwater and treated wastewater irrigation spigots. The level of PFAS measured in vegetables even grown in background soils without exposure to treated wastewater or biosolids were high enough that their consumption would exceed the safe exposure levels for Perfluorooctanoic acid and Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid. This is suspected to be because of the PFAS concentrations that these background soils are exposed to rainwater. The use of biosolids in soil was also found to increase the level of PFAS in forage grass when compared to forage grass grown without the use of biosolids so the use of biosolids on home gardens using treated wastewater for irrigation is not recommended. Physical properties of PFAS are strongly correlated with the accumulation in various media, but to tease that out of data a linear mixed effect model had to be used

The Domestication of Machismo in Brazil: Motivations, Reflexivity, and Consonance of Religious Male Gender Roles

The relationship between culture and the individual is a central focus of social scientific research. This paper examines motivations that mediate between shared culture norms and individual actions. Inspired by the works of Leon Festinger and Melford Spiro, we posit that social network conformation (the perceived adherence of one’s social network with norms) and internalization of cultural norms (incorporation of cultural models with the self-schema) will differentially shape behavior (cultural consonance) depending on the domain and individual characteristics. For the domain of gender roles among Brazilian men, religious affiliation results in different configurations of the individual and culture. Our findings suggest that, due to changing and competing cultural models, religious men are compelled to reflexively “think” about what masculinity means to them, rather than subconsciously conform to social (hegemonic) expectations. This study demonstrates the importance of considering the impetus of culturally informed behaviors and, in doing so, provides a methodological means for measuring and interpreting such motivations, an important factor in the relationship between culture and the individual

Increasing Transcultural Competence in Clinical Psychologists Through a Web-Based Training: Study Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background In mental health care, the number of patients with diverse cultural backgrounds is growing. Nevertheless, evaluated training programs for transcultural competence are missing. Barriers for engaging in transcultural therapy can be identified in patients as well as in therapists. Besides language barriers, clinical psychologists report insecurities, for example, fear of additional expenses when involving a language mediator, ethical concerns such as power imbalances, or fear of lack of knowledge or incorrect handling when working with patients from other cultures. Divergent values and concepts of disease, prejudices, and stereotyping are also among the issues discussed as barriers to optimal psychotherapy care. The planned study aims to empower clinical psychologists to handle both their own as well as patients’ barriers through a web-based training on transcultural competence. Methods The training includes 6 modules, which are unlocked weekly. A total of N = 174 clinical psychologists are randomly assigned to two groups: the training group (TG) works through the complete training over 6 weeks, which includes a variety of practical exercises and self-refections. In addition, participants receive weekly written feedback from a trained psychologist. The waitlist control group (WL) completes the training after the end of the waiting period (2 months after the end of the TG’s training). The primary outcome is transcultural competence. Secondary outcomes consist of experiences in treating people from other cultures (number of patients, satisfaction and experience of competence in treatment, etc.). Data will be collected before and after the training as well as 2 and 6 months after the end of the training. Discussion This randomized controlled trial tests the efficacy of and satisfaction with a web-based training on transcultural competence for German-speaking clinical psychologists. If validated successfully, the training can represent a time- and place-flexible training opportunity that could be integrated into the continuing education of clinical psychologists in the long term. Trial registration DRKS00031105. Registered on 21 February 2023

Advertising the West: The History of La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros

In February 1925, Tucson celebrated the first La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros with a three-day rodeo that ended with a huge parade through the city center. Created by Philadelphia-born and new resident of Tucson Frederick Leighton Kramer and other Tucson city boosters, the event became an annual fiesta with the hopes of not only promoting Tucson and a fundraiser for the University of Arizona’s newly established polo team, but also a way to share Kramer’s newfound enthusiasm for Tucson’s beauty and history. However, the history the fiesta presented centered around the Anglo-American pioneers of southern Arizona. This approach ignored the history of people who settled the area prior to its European colonization. Even so, the city boosters did not entirely exclude the history of local people in the festivities, but the limited involvement of Native Americans and ethnic Mexicans functioned more as a tool of cultural commodification than genuine inclusion. “Advertising the West: The History of La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros” details the history of the first La Fiesta de Los Vaqueros and how it was founded on commodifying and exoticizing local Indigenous groups—Tohono O’odham and present-day Pasqua Yaqui—and ethnic Mexicans. By capitalizing on the cultures of these local groups, Tucson city boosters enticed Eastern white Americans to visit the western city during the early twentieth century. This paper explores tourism in the West, racial stereotypes, rumors as forms of advertisements and fear, and how a white-washed history blanketed the history of Tucson’s local Indigenous and Mexicans communities

Faculty Senate Executive Committee Agenda March 18, 2024

3:30 Call to Order 3:35 University Business 3:55 Faculty Senate Business 4:10 Information Education Policies Committee Presidential Investiture Limited English Proficiency (LEP) 4:20 Reports 4:20 Old Business 4:25 New Business Administrator Evaluation Discussion Faculty Code 409 & 410 Faculty Senate President Elect Adjourn: 5:00 p

Mid-Latitude Structures in Spread-F Region

A multi-wavelength all-sky CCD imager has been operated at Bear Lake Observatory (BLO), Utah (41.6 ° N, 111.6 ° W) as part of a coordinated measurements program with the NASA/TIMED satellite (launched Dec., 2001). The camera runs automatically and measurements of the F-region ionospheric airglow emissions (altitude ~ 280) are obtained on approximately 20 nights a month. Unusual \u27band-like structures\u27 have been observed on a number of nights in the Ol (630nm) red-line emission

Ocean Temperatures Do Not Account for a Record-Setting Winter in the U.S. West

The record-setting winter of 2022–2023 came as an answer to both figurative and literal prayers for political leaders, policy makers, and water managers reliant on snowpacks in the Upper Colorado River Basin, a vital source of water for tens of millions of people across the Western United States. But this “drought-busting” winter was not well-predicted, in part because while interannual patterns of tropical ocean temperatures have a well-known relationship to precipitation patterns across much of the American West, the Upper Colorado is part of a liminal region where these connections tend to be comparatively weak. Using historical sea surface temperature and snowpack records, and leveraging a long-term cross-basin relationship to extend the timeline for evaluation, this analysis demonstrates that the 2022–2023 winter did not present in accordance with other high-snowpack winters in this region, and that the associative pattern of surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, and snow water equivalent in the regions that stored and supplied most of the water to the Colorado River during the 2022–2023 winter, was not substantially different from a historically incoherent arrangement of long-term correlation. These findings suggest that stochastic variability plays an outsized role in influencing water availability in this region, even in extreme years, reinforcing the importance of other trends to inform water policy and management

Enhancing Bioluminescence

In this project, we aim to develop a strain of Escherichia coli expressing high levels of luminescence via the use of a NanoLuc. derivative, cyan-based LumiFluor (CeNLuc). CeNLuc is a self-illuminating bioluminescent-fluorescent protein that generates biologic light via bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET). We have obtained the plasmids, and are preparing to transform E. coli. cultures

Constant-Thickness Accommodation by Pattern Modification for Origami Flashers

Thickness accommodation is one of the most significant challenges in creating an origami flasher array. If it is a membrane array, thickness accommodation is generally simpler as panel deformation allows the array to wrap about itself with relative ease. However, for rigid-panel arrays, thickness accommodation is considerably more complicated. This works develops thickness accommodation techniques that yield origami-inspired mechanisms of constant thickness and high-volume efficiency. In this paper, current methods for accommodating thickness in flashers are presented and issues associated with those methods are discussed. Two methods for accommodating thickness in flashers such that panels are constant thickness are proposed