The Future of URCO

Memo summarizing the URCO Evaluation Workshop and decision to open URCO to all interested faculty and student

Using Virtual Reality to Test Balance in Athletes Following Concussion

poster abstractCurrent testing for return to athletic activity following a concussion is controversial and is generally based on a series of cognitive tests and assessments of gross balance activity (such as timed standing with the eyes opened and closed with the feet in different positions). The use of inexpensive and commercially available virtual reality (VR) to manipulate the visual surrounding to promote body sway, but not the loss of balance, could provide clinicians and trainers with another tool to use for establishing readiness to return. The purpose of this study is to examine balance in athletes who are at least 2-weeks postconcussion and have received medical clearance to return to practice/play and age, gender, and sport matched athletes who have no history of concussion. Body sway while standing still with the eyes opened, eyes closed, and with a VR scene translating forward and backward at 0.1 Hz is assessed through analysis of center of pressure movement (COP) recorded with a force plate, a commonly used device for assessing balance. We have examined center of pressure movement in 3 recently concussed female athletes and 2 controls. Though we hypothesized that both groups would have similar levels of body sway on the standard balance tests (eyes open and eyes closed conditions), and body sway would be different in the concussion group compared to the control when viewing the translating scene, our preliminary analysis shows little difference between the two groups. This preliminary finding could be due to our small sample of analyzed data, but it could also be attributed to the length of time from clearance to resume activity to our test of body sway (over 2 months)

Biochemical characterization and selective inhibition of β-carotene cis-trans isomerase D27 and carotenoid cleavage dioxygenase CCD8 on the strigolactone biosynthetic pathway

The first three enzymatic steps of the strigolactone biosynthetic pathway catalysed by β-carotene cis-trans isomerase Dwarf27 (D27) from Oryza sativa and carotenoid cleavage dioxygenases CCD7 and CCD8 from Arabidopsis thaliana have been reconstituted in vitro, and kinetic assays have been developed for each enzyme, in order to develop selective enzyme inhibitors. Recombinant OsD27 shows a UV-visible λ at 422 nm and is inactivated by silver(I) acetate, consistent with the presence of an iron-sulfur cluster that is used in catalysis. OsD27 and AtCCD7 are not inhibited by hydroxamic acids that cause shoot branching in planta, but OsD27 is partially inhibited by terpene-like hydroxamic acids. The reaction catalysed by AtCCD8 is shown to be a two-step kinetic mechanism using pre-steady-state kinetic analysis. Kinetic evidence is presented for acid-base catalysis in the CCD8 catalytic cycle and the existence of an essential cysteine residue in the CCD8 active site. AtCCD8 is inhibited in a time-dependent fashion by hydroxamic acids D2, D4, D5 and D6 (> 95% inhibition at 100 μm) that cause a shoot branching phenotype in A. thaliana, and selective inhibition of CCD8 is observed using hydroxamic acids D13H and D15 (82%, 71% inhibition at 10 μm). The enzyme inhibition data imply that the biochemical basis of the shoot branching phenotype is due to inhibition of CCD8

Buttered Side Up

Emenhiser discusses the "structural muteness" and the "real" of the art object, by situating the exhibition's abstract paintings and sculptures in the contexts of high modernism and popular culture. 37 bibl. ref

Post Windfarm Installation Impacts on Soil Properties and Crop Response in the Midwest

Throughout the United States, large windfarms, containing anywhere from 5 to 150 turbines, have been installed due to the increased demand for alternative energy. Since 2008, 1,264 turbines have been installed in Indiana, with the majority of installations occurring on agricultural fields. Despite the large number of turbine installations, impacts of these installations on soil and crop health is unknown. Turbine installation requires the traffic of heavy construction equipment within agriculture fields which may compact the soil altering its physical properties and negatively impact crop growth. To better understand the impact of turbine installation on soil and crop health, we developed a remote-sensing based method to quantify the areal extent of soil and crop impairment due to turbine installation. The method compares the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from satellite images from areas of potential impairment to areas with no known impairment to determine statistical differences in NDVI between impaired and unimpaired areas and then calculates the area of potential impairment. We tested this methodology on two windfarms in Indiana. Our results showed that in the year following turbine installation, turbine installation was associated with an average impairment of 1.8 hectares per turbine and the area of impairment decreased approximately 15-30 percent in each subsequent year. Our results also suggest that soil texture and drainage have an effect on the magnitude and recovery rate of impairment. Coarse textured and/or well drained soils experienced very little to no impairment while fine textured and/or poorly drained soils experienced significant impairment and had not returned to pre-installation levels of impairment after three years. Our findings will allow landowners the opportunity to review current points of negotiation with windfarm developers as well as provide information regarding the potential loss of productivity in crops at these sites

Cooperation and Conflict: An Analysis of the Intercourse Among the Governments in San Bernardino County with Special Attention to San Bernardino-Redlands Area

The individual in modern society is a creature of a complicated governmental structure. Today the average citizen is surrounded by a web of governmental authorities which influence and, to some extent, control his daily life. In order to protect his interests, a person not only must keep abreast of congressional policy formulation on questions of the Far East, universal military training, and increased income tax, but he must also be aware of State deliberation on highway construction, county consideration of smog control, municipal contemplation for the future water supply, special district decisions on soil conservation, and school district debates over building expansion. As the public is faced with the increasing specialization of the twentieth century and the resulting complexities of popular government, a significant fact stands out: it is more and more important that the citizen take an active role in his governments\u27 policy formulation, for the results affect him more intimately today, perhaps than at any other time, and because as the shadow of totalitarianism falls over a greater area of the globe it becomes most urgent that the people of the United States exercise their democratic heritage