Drawing Tools

I am from a small town in Northern Minnesota where my father runs an aggregate production business. I grew up surrounded by the heavy equipment used to move and crush gravel. My earliest memories are of seeing this machinery and being fascinated by its size, power, and sound. My work borrows the imagery and scale of these machines to make abstract forms and tools. Through making these objects I arrive at some kind of nonsensical use for them. I will create a scene, or job site where the object is used to mark another material. The tool will be used until some kind of limit is met. I will either operate the tool until I physically can't do it, or the tool becomes stuck or broken

Portuguese honeys as antimicrobial agents against Candida species

Background and aim Honey has been recognized worldwide for its antioxidant, anti-tumor, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties. Among them, the antifungal properties associated to honey make it an attractive alternative treatment for Candida-associated infections, particularly for topical application to the mucous membranes and skin. In this sense, the main purpose of this work was to evaluate physicochemical properties of five Portuguese honeys and Manuka honey (an Australian honey with well recognized medical proprieties, used as control) and to evaluate the antifungal activity in Candida species planktonic and biofilm assays. Experimental procedure Pollen analysis, pH determination, color, concentration of protein and methylglyoxal, conductivity, total phenolics and flavonoids, hydrogen peroxide concentration, and characterization by differential scanning calorimetry in honey samples were determined. Additionally, the effect of honeys on planktonic growth of Candida was initially evaluated by determination of the minimum inhibitory concentrations. Then, the same effect of those honeys was evaluated in biofilms, by Colony Forming Units enumeration. Results and conclusion It has been shown that Portuguese heather (Erica cinereal) honey presented the most similar physicochemical properties to manuka honey (specially phenolic and flavonoids contents). The five Portuguese honeys under study, presented in general a potent activity against planktonic multi-resistant yeast pathogens (several clinical isolates and reference strains of Candida species) and S. aureus and P. aeruginosa bacteria cultures. Additionally, it was also concluded that Portuguese heather honey (50% and 75% (w/v)) can also act as a good Candida species biofilm reducer, namely for C. tropicalis.This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT), Portugal, under the scope of the strategic funding of UIDBB/04469/2020020 unit and BioTecNorte operation (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000004) funded by the European Regional Development Fund, Portugal, under the scope of Norte 2020 - Programa Operacional Regional do Norte.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

NMR Metabolomics Defining Genetic Variation in Pea Seed Metabolites

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy profiling was used to provide an unbiased assessment of changes to the metabolite composition of seeds and to define genetic variation for a range of pea seed metabolites. Mature seeds from recombinant inbred lines, derived from three mapping populations for which there is substantial genetic marker linkage information, were grown in two environments/years and analyzed by non-targeted NMR. Adaptive binning of the NMR metabolite data, followed by analysis of quantitative variation among lines for individual bins, identified the main genomic regions determining this metabolic variability and the variability for selected compounds was investigated. Analysis by t-tests identified a set of bins with highly significant associations to genetic map regions, based on probability (p) values that were appreciably lower than those determined for randomized data. The correlation between bins showing high mean absolute deviation and those showing low p-values for marker association provided an indication of the extent to which the genetics of bin variation might be explained by one or a few loci. Variation in compounds related to aromatic amino acids, branched-chain amino acids, sucrose-derived metabolites, secondary metabolites and some unidentified compounds was associated with one or more genetic loci. The combined analysis shows that there are multiple loci throughout the genome that together impact on the abundance of many compounds through a network of interactions, where individual loci may affect more than one compound and vice versa. This work therefore provides a framework for the genetic analysis of the seed metabolome, and the use of genetic marker data in the breeding and selection of seeds for specific seed quality traits and compounds that have high commercial value

Tensions and resistance to the agricultural model to the agricultural model of the "humid pampa" in Pergamino, Buenos Aires, Argentina

En el presente artículo se analizan las tensiones existentes en torno al modelo agrícola industrial de la Argentina. Para ello se aborda desde un enfoque interdisciplinario, la gestación y desarrollo de dicho modelo, sus características y sus consecuencias socioambientales. En particular, nos centramos en el conflicto por la reglamentación de agrotóxicos desarrollado en el partido de Pergamino (Buenos Aires, Argentina) a partir del año 2013, identificando los actores que se enfrentaron, sus argumentos y las acciones que llevaron a cabo.In this article, we analyze the social tensions in relation to the industrial agriculture model. To this end, the gestation and development of this model, its characteristics and socio-environmental consequences, are contemplated through an interdisciplinary approach. In particular, we focused on the conflict over the regulation of agrochemicals developed in Pergamino (Buenos Aires, Argentina) in 2013 and beyond; identifying the actors that faced each other, their arguments and the actions they carried out.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

From waste to food : optimising the breakdown of oil palm waste to provide substrate for insects farmed as animal feed

Waste biomass from the palm oil industry is currently burned as a means of disposal and solutions are required to reduce the environmental impact. Whilst some waste biomass can be recycled to provide green energy such as biogas, this investigation aimed to optimise experimental conditions for recycling palm waste into substrate for insects, farmed as a sustainable high-protein animal feed. NMR spectroscopy and LC-HRMS were used to analyse the composition of palm empty fruit bunches (EFB) under experimental conditions optimised to produce nutritious substrate rather than biogas. Statistical pattern recognition techniques were used to investigate differences in composition for various combinations of pre-processing and anaerobic digestion (AD) methods. Pre-processing methods included steaming, pressure cooking, composting, microwaving, and breaking down the EFB using ionic liquids. AD conditions which were modified in combination with pre-processing methods were ratios of EFB:digestate and pH. Results show that the selection of pre-processing method affects the breakdown of the palm waste and subsequently the substrate composition and biogas production. Although large-scale insect feeding trials will be required to determine nutritional content, we found that conditions can be optimised to recycle palm waste for the production of substrate for insect rearing. Pre-processing EFB using ionic liquid before AD at pH6 with a 2:1 digestate:EFB ratio were found to be the best combination of experimental conditions

Structural characterization of naturally occurring RNA single mismatches

RNA is known to be involved in several cellular processes; however, it is only active when it is folded into its correct 3D conformation. The folding, bending and twisting of an RNA molecule is dependent upon the multitude of canonical and non-canonical secondary structure motifs. These motifs contribute to the structural complexity of RNA but also serve important integral biological functions, such as serving as recognition and binding sites for other biomolecules or small ligands. One of the most prevalent types of RNA secondary structure motifs are single mismatches, which occur when two canonical pairs are separated by a single non-canonical pair. To determine sequence–structure relationships and to identify structural patterns, we have systematically located, annotated and compared all available occurrences of the 30 most frequently occurring single mismatch-nearest neighbor sequence combinations found in experimentally determined 3D structures of RNA-containing molecules deposited into the Protein Data Bank. Hydrogen bonding, stacking and interaction of nucleotide edges for the mismatched and nearest neighbor base pairs are described and compared, allowing for the identification of several structural patterns. Such a database and comparison will allow researchers to gain insight into the structural features of unstudied sequences and to quickly look-up studied sequences

Volatile Compounds in Honey: A Review on Their Involvement in Aroma, Botanical Origin Determination and Potential Biomedical Activities

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in honey are obtained from diverse biosynthetic pathways and extracted by using various methods associated with varying degrees of selectivity and effectiveness. These compounds are grouped into chemical categories such as aldehyde, ketone, acid, alcohol, hydrocarbon, norisoprenoids, terpenes and benzene compounds and their derivatives, furan and pyran derivatives. They represent a fingerprint of a specific honey and therefore could be used to differentiate between monofloral honeys from different floral sources, thus providing valuable information concerning the honey’s botanical and geographical origin. However, only plant derived compounds and their metabolites (terpenes, norisoprenoids and benzene compounds and their derivatives) must be employed to discriminate among floral origins of honey. Notwithstanding, many authors have reported different floral markers for honey of the same floral origin, consequently sensory analysis, in conjunction with analysis of VOCs could help to clear this ambiguity. Furthermore, VOCs influence honey’s aroma described as sweet, citrus, floral, almond, rancid, etc. Clearly, the contribution of a volatile compound to honey aroma is determined by its odor activity value. Elucidation of the aroma compounds along with floral origins of a particular honey can help to standardize its quality and avoid fraudulent labeling of the product. Although only present in low concentrations, VOCS could contribute to biomedical activities of honey, especially the antioxidant effect due to their natural radical scavenging potential

Environment mapping using wireless channel state information and deep learning

Mode of access: World Wide WebTheoretical thesis.Bibliography: pages 51-56.Chapter 1. Introduction -- Chapter 2. Background -- Chapter 3. Literature review -- Chapter 4. Room dimension estimation using feed-forward neural networks -- Chapter 5. Room dimension estimation using recurrent neural networks -- Chapter 6. Conclusion -- AppendicesSituational awareness is becoming ubiquitous with modern communication technologies. Traditionally, user requirements for location based services have evolved from being driven only by government legislation for improved emergency response, to that of social and market based pressures including social-networking, geo-marketing and augmented reality. Not only do these applications necessitate improved localisation, they must also include awareness of the surrounding environment. Furthermore, recent years have seen a marked explosion in Artificial Intelligence (AI), machine learning and deep learning. Such tools enable inference to be drawn from complex data when traditional mathematical techniques cannot. This thesis explores the use of AI and wireless Channel State Information (CSI) for obtaining situational awareness through environment mapping. Several deep learning algorithms are developed that permit estimation of interior room dimensions using wireless Channel Impulse Responses (CIRs). Moreover the physical effects that bandwidth and received signal power incur on a CIR, and hence on room dimension prediction, is investigated yielding results with greater than 90% accuracy. This demonstrates that existing consumer wireless systems with similar physical constraints, should be capable of accurately estimating room dimensions given multiple CIR measurements from multiple receiver locations -- abstract.Mode of access: Internet.1 online resource (xiv, 66 pages