My greatest failure: an animated journey

This short film looks to bring the concept of failure as a catalyst for growth to light in a way that resonates with anyone who has thought about giving up on their career when something simply didn’t meet their “perfect” expectations. Many people struggle to overcome disappointment when facing failure in their chosen career. They will either avoid confronting failure or may sink back into their “comfort zone” which offers stability and safety without the personal growth promoted by taking risks and overcoming failure. These individuals fail to see the benefits of failure. While it is never encouraged to actively chase after failure, a lot can be said for those who have failed time and time again only to grow stronger by learning from what went wrong and applying a new set of skills and knowledge to overcome a later challenge. The short film travels through four animated mediums in about two minutes, acting as a sort of inspirational commercial—if you will—to encourage the audience to take on life as the main character does: by exploring all manner of their career and viewing any past failure or shortcoming of their expectations as a moment to help them grow and reflect on how far they have already come.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg

Seed Dispersal Limitation in a Neotropical Nutmeg, \u3ci\u3eVirola flexuosa\u3c/i\u3e (Myristicaceae): an Ecological and Genetic Approach

Seed dispersal contributes significantly to tropical forest maintenance, influencing processes, such as metapopulation dynamics and population persistence. Although several hypotheses have been debated regarding the contribution of seed dispersal to tropical forest diversity, recent work suggests that dispersal limitation is a major component in determining plant population patterns. This dissertation research broadly addresses hypotheses that seed dispersal behaviour of frugivores influences dispersal limitation of a Neotropical tree, Virola flexuosa (Myristicaceae). To test these hypotheses, I studied how different frugivores influenced seed dispersal of V. flexuosa at two sites in Amazonia Ecuador. General research objectives were to estimate fruit removal by all dispersers, model toucan-generated dispersal curves, and determine effective dispersal distances using molecular markers. By using a combination of ecological and genetic methods, this project contributes to our understanding of how dispersal processes influence spatial distribution patterns of seeds, seedlings, and saplings. Research was conducted at the Tiputini Biodiversity Station (non-hunted) and Yasun¿ Research Station (hunted), Ecuador. I conducted observations of frugivore behaviour and seed removal at fruiting Virola trees. Radio-telemetry and seed retention rates were used to estimate toucan-generated dispersal curves. I used microsatellites to identify relatedness between seedlings and saplings with maternal Virola trees. Probability models of toucan dispersal suggested the majority of seeds were dispersed away from parent plants; up to 84% of seeds were predicted to fall \u3e100 m from trees. Between-site comparisons revealed that fewer seeds were dispersed from fruiting trees at the hunted site; furthermore, fewer large-bodied dispersers visited trees at that site. Using genetic methods, I also demonstrated significantly reduced dispersal distances at the hunted site compared to the non-hunted site. Consequently, I found that dispersal was limited in a site where large frugivores were hunted. Conservation in Amazonia Ecuador faces many severe threats. Of primary concern are an increase in hunting activities and habitat degradation. As these pressures intensify, the influence of seed dispersers on forest regeneration may become increasingly important. This research provides new data on the contribution of frugivores to the process of seed dispersal and the degree to which disturbance alters the ecological function of these seed dispersers

How Thoroughly Do Proposed Nextgen Mid-Term Operational Improvements Address Existing Threats?

The goals of the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) include improved safety, increased capacity, increased efficiency, and reduced environmental impact. The FAA has developed 46 mid-term Operational Improvements (OIs) to facilitate initial realization of these benefits in the 2015 – 2018 timeframe. These OIs describe changes in technologies, policies and procedures from current-day air and ground operations designed to mitigate safety, capacity, efficiency, and environmental issues. The main goal of this project was to investigate how thoroughly threats to safety present in today’s operations are addressed by the OIs. These threats, without mitigation, could remain threats in the mid-term, potentially compromising the intended NextGen safety benefits. To address this concern, we extracted threats to safety from 200 Aviation Safety Reporting System incident reports filed by tower air traffic controllers over a five-year period. We then evaluated whether these threats are addressed by the mid-term OIs

Consequences of Intraspecific Variation in Seed Dispersal for Plant Demography, Communities, Evolution and Global Change

As the single opportunity for plants to move, seed dispersal has an important impact on plant fitness, species distributions and patterns of biodiversity. However, models that predict dynamics such as risk of extinction, range shifts and biodiversity loss tend to rely on the mean value of parameters and rarely incorporate realistic dispersal mechanisms. By focusing on the mean population value, variation among individuals or variability caused by complex spatial and temporal dynamics is ignored. This calls for increased efforts to understand individual variation in dispersal and integrate it more explicitly into population and community models involving dispersal. However, the sources, magnitude and outcomes of intraspecific variation in dispersal are poorly characterized, limiting our understanding of the role of dispersal in mediating the dynamics of communities and their response to global change. In this manuscript, we synthesize recent research that examines the sources of individual variation in dispersal and emphasize its implications for plant fitness, populations and communities. We argue that this intraspecific variation in seed dispersal does not simply add noise to systems, but, in fact, alters dispersal processes and patterns with consequences for demography, communities, evolution and response to anthropogenic changes. We conclude with recommendations for moving this field of research forward

Consequences of Intraspecific Variation in Seed Dispersal for Plant Demography, Communities, Evolution and Global Change

As the single opportunity for plants to move, seed dispersal has an important impact on plant fitness, species distributions and patterns of biodiversity. However, models that predict dynamics such as risk of extinction, range shifts and biodiversity loss tend to rely on the mean value of parameters and rarely incorporate realistic dispersal mechanisms. By focusing on the mean population value, variation among individuals or variability caused by complex spatial and temporal dynamics is ignored. This calls for increased efforts to understand individual variation in dispersal and integrate it more explicitly into population and community models involving dispersal. However, the sources, magnitude and outcomes of intraspecific variation in dispersal are poorly characterized, limiting our understanding of the role of dispersal in mediating the dynamics of communities and their response to global change. In this manuscript, we synthesize recent research that examines the sources of individual variation in dispersal and emphasize its implications for plant fitness, populations and communities. We argue that this intraspecific variation in seed dispersal does not simply add noise to systems, but, in fact, alters dispersal processes and patterns with consequences for demography, communities, evolution and response to anthropogenic changes. We conclude with recommendations for moving this field of research forward

Building Better Neighborhoods Identity Design

The City of Muncie has diverse communities with friendly people, interesting past, and outstanding cultural amenities that make it a desired place to live, do business, and to visit. Until Spring 2019, a lot of the neighborhoods in Muncie were lacking proper visual identification. A strong visual identity was needed to elevate the image of the neighborhood as well as provide a sense of pride within the residents. In partnership with Building Better Neighborhoods and Muncie Action Plan, we worked with a core group of committee members from various Muncie Neighborhoods to develop their visual identity. Check out the other neighborhood identities at the Studio 165+ website: www.studio165plus.com/bb

Appalachian Spring

A large mural that was created by 19 studio art and education students in 2009. Renowned Latina artist Judith Baca worked alongside the students.https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/university_art_collection/1090/thumbnail.jp

Chemotactic and Inflammatory Responses in the Liver and Brain Are Associated with Pathogenesis of Rift Valley Fever Virus Infection in the Mouse

Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) is a major human and animal pathogen associated with severe disease including hemorrhagic fever or encephalitis. RVFV is endemic to parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, but there is significant concern regarding its introduction into non-endemic regions and the potentially devastating effect to livestock populations with concurrent infections of humans. To date, there is little detailed data directly comparing the host response to infection with wild-type or vaccine strains of RVFV and correlation with viral pathogenesis. Here we characterized clinical and systemic immune responses to infection with wild-type strain ZH501 or IND vaccine strain MP-12 in the C57BL/6 mouse. Animals infected with live-attenuated MP-12 survived productive viral infection with little evidence of clinical disease and minimal cytokine response in evaluated tissues. In contrast, ZH501 infection was lethal, caused depletion of lymphocytes and platelets and elicited a strong, systemic cytokine response which correlated with high virus titers and significant tissue pathology. Lymphopenia and platelet depletion were indicators of disease onset with indications of lymphocyte recovery correlating with increases in G-CSF production. RVFV is hepatotropic and in these studies significant clinical and histological data supported these findings; however, significant evidence of a pro-inflammatory response in the liver was not apparent. Rather, viral infection resulted in a chemokine response indicating infiltration of immunoreactive cells, such as neutrophils, which was supported by histological data. In brains of ZH501 infected mice, a significant chemokine and pro-inflammatory cytokine response was evident, but with little pathology indicating meningoencephalitis. These data suggest that RVFV pathogenesis in mice is associated with a loss of liver function due to liver necrosis and hepatitis yet the long-term course of disease for those that might survive the initial hepatitis is neurologic in nature which is supported by observations of human disease and the BALB/c mouse model

Integrated genomic characterization of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma

We performed integrated genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic profiling of 150 pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) specimens, including samples with characteristic low neoplastic cellularity. Deep whole-exome sequencing revealed recurrent somatic mutations in KRAS, TP53, CDKN2A, SMAD4, RNF43, ARID1A, TGFβR2, GNAS, RREB1, and PBRM1. KRAS wild-type tumors harbored alterations in other oncogenic drivers, including GNAS, BRAF, CTNNB1, and additional RAS pathway genes. A subset of tumors harbored multiple KRAS mutations, with some showing evidence of biallelic mutations. Protein profiling identified a favorable prognosis subset with low epithelial-mesenchymal transition and high MTOR pathway scores. Associations of non-coding RNAs with tumor-specific mRNA subtypes were also identified. Our integrated multi-platform analysis reveals a complex molecular landscape of PDAC and provides a roadmap for precision medicine