Prepared to Pivot: Creating a Resilient Basic Course Program

The rapid transition to emergency remote teaching due to COVID-19 provides many lessons for how BCDs can design resilient basic course programs that will be prepared to adapt in any number of potential future emergencies. BCDs can design resilient courses by pre-planning how courses will maintain instructional continuity, pre-loading pivoting options into learning management systems, and adopting online texts that are accessible anywhere. BCDs can also build instructor resilience by providing high-quality training and providing continued support for instructor well-being

Genetic consequences of artificial selection on amino acid synthesis: Cysteine synthase and chorismate mutase

Abstract only availableFaculty Mentor: Michael D. McMullen, AgronomyGenetic diversity is crucial for progress in plant breeding as well as for adaptation to future environmental challenges. Maize is the most genetically diverse crop species. Maize was domesticated from teosinte about 7,500 years ago. Both domestication and crop improvement involved selection of specific alleles at genes controlling key morphological and agronomic traits, resulting in reduced genetic diversity relative to unselected genes. The McMullen Laboratory is interested in the genetic consequences of selection on genes of agronomic importance. Prior research by the Laboratory has identified a series of selected genes, including two key genes for the synthesis of amino acids, cysteine synthase and chorismate mutase. One approach to define the importance of a gene is to isolate a mutation and examine the resulting phenotype. A Mutator insertion was isolated in the cysteine synthase gene. An F2 population segregating for an albino phenotype and the Mutator insertion was genotyped by PCR to determine if the insertion was casual for the phenotype. The albino phenotype was found to be closely linked, but distinct from the insertion site leading to the conclusion that the albino phenotype is caused by a second linked mutation. The chorismate mutase gene in maize shows strong evidence of selection, with high diversity in teosinte accessions and essentially no diversity among inbred lines. Did the selection that reduced the diversity in this gene occur at domestication or during subsequent plant breeding? To answer this question, three segments of the chorismate mutase gene were sequenced in a panel of 14 landraces, the historical intermediate between teosinte and inbreds. Four landraces contained numerous polymorphism not found in inbreds, indicating that much of the selection occurred during recent crop improvement. This result is significant as it indicates genetic diversity can be reintroduced into selected amino acid genes by crosses with landraces

Whitewater Sound Dependence on Discharge and Wave Configuration at an Adjustable Wave Feature

Stream acoustics has been proposed as a means of monitoring discharge and wave hazards from outside the stream channel. To better understand the dependence of sound on discharge and wave characteristics, this study analyzes discharge and infrasound data from an artificial wave feature which is adjusted to accommodate daily changes in recreational use and seasonal changes in irrigation demand. Monitorable sound is only observed when discharge exceeds ∼35 m3/s, and even above that threshold the sound-discharge relationship is non-linear and inconsistent. When sound is observed, it shows consistent dependence on wave type within a given year, but the direction of this dependence varies among the 3 years studied (2016, 2021, and 2022). These findings support previous research that establishes discharge and stream morphology as relevant controls on stream acoustics and highlights the complex, combined effects of these variables

Enhancing Scholarly Publications: Developing Hybrid Monographs in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Enhancing publications has a long history but is gaining acceleration as authors and publishers explore electronic tablets as devices for dissemination and presentation. Enhancement of scholarly publications, in contrast, more often takes place in a Web environment and is coupled with presentation of supplementary materials related to research. The approach to enhancing scholarly publications presented in this article goes a step further and involves the interlinking of the “objects” of a document: datasets, supplementary materials, secondary analyses, and post-publication interventions. This approach connects the user-centricity of Web 2.0 with the Semantic Web. It aims at facilitating long-term content structure through standardized formats intended to improve interoperability between concepts and terms within and across knowledge domains. We explored this conception of enhancement on a small set of books prepared for traditional academic publishers. While the project was primarily an exercise in development, the conclusion section of the article reflects on areas where conceptual and empirical studies could be initiated to complement this new direction in scholarly publishing.FSW - CWTS - Ou

Cognitive function and mood at high altitude following acclimatization and use of supplemental oxygen and adaptive servoventilation sleep treatments.

Impairments in cognitive function, mood, and sleep quality occur following ascent to high altitude. Low oxygen (hypoxia) and poor sleep quality are both linked to impaired cognitive performance, but their independent contributions at high altitude remain unknown. Adaptive servoventilation (ASV) improves sleep quality by stabilizing breathing and preventing central apneas without supplemental oxygen. We compared the efficacy of ASV and supplemental oxygen sleep treatments for improving daytime cognitive function and mood in high-altitude visitors (N = 18) during acclimatization to 3,800 m. Each night, subjects were randomly provided with ASV, supplemental oxygen (SpO2 > 95%), or no treatment. Each morning subjects completed a series of cognitive function tests and questionnaires to assess mood and multiple aspects of cognitive performance. We found that both ASV and supplemental oxygen (O2) improved daytime feelings of confusion (ASV: p < 0.01; O2: p < 0.05) and fatigue (ASV: p < 0.01; O2: p < 0.01) but did not improve other measures of cognitive performance at high altitude. However, performance improved on the trail making tests (TMT) A and B (p < 0.001), the balloon analog risk test (p < 0.0001), and the psychomotor vigilance test (p < 0.01) over the course of three days at altitude after controlling for effects of sleep treatments. Compared to sea level, subjects reported higher levels of confusion (p < 0.01) and performed worse on the TMT A (p < 0.05) and the emotion recognition test (p < 0.05) on nights when they received no treatment at high altitude. These results suggest that stabilizing breathing (ASV) or increasing oxygenation (supplemental oxygen) during sleep can reduce feelings of fatigue and confusion, but that daytime hypoxia may play a larger role in other cognitive impairments reported at high altitude. Furthermore, this study provides evidence that some aspects of cognition (executive control, risk inhibition, sustained attention) improve with acclimatization