Behavioral and Molecular Analysis of Memory in the Dwarf Cuttlefish

Complex memory has evolved because it benefits animals in all areas of life, such as remembering the location of food or conspecifics, and learning to avoid dangerous stimuli. Advances made by studying relatively simple nervous systems, such as those in gastropod mollusks, can now be used to study mechanisms of memory in more complex systems. Cephalopods offer a unique opportunity to study the mechanisms of memory in a complex invertebrates. The dwarf cuttlefish, Sepia bandensis, is a useful memory model because its fast development and small size allows it to be reared and tested in large numbers. However, primary literature regarding the behavior and neurobiology of this species is lacking. This research determined that juvenile S. bandensis exhibited short term memory (STM) and long term memory (LTM). To assess memory in dwarf cuttlefish, a memory test was conducted which utilized the predatory attack in cuttlefish. It was found that 4 week old dwarf cuttlefish retained memory of the experiment up to 4 days. Using an automated tracking software called DanioVision, this research found that cuttlefish selectively inhibit the tentacle striking phase of their predatory behavior, without inhibiting the attention and positioning phases. Determining the molecular mechanisms underlying memory is key to understanding how memory is manifested in the form of altered behavior. At the cellular level, memories are formed by altering the physical and chemical properties within specific neural circuits. The transcription factor, CREB, is responsible for transcribing genes required for initiating these long-term neuronal changes. Using immunohistochemistry, a molecular assay was developed to determine whether CREB is activated in cuttlefish arms during the memory experiment. Trained cuttlefish had a greater number of CREB positive cells in the epithelium of the arm than controls. Trained cuttlefish also had a greater average number of CREB-positive cells in positive suckers than untrained cuttlefish. These results suggest that CREB activation may result from behavioral training in cuttlefish. Lastly, it was found that the distal tip of the arm contained more CREB-positive cells than the proximal part of the arm. Spatial activation of CREB may occur predominantly in the distal portion of the arm. By locating CREB for the first time in a cephalopod, this research presents dwarf cuttlefish as interesting models for studying the molecular mechanisms of memory formation

Anatomy of the visual system education curriculum for grades K-3

The Anatomy of the Visual System Education Curriculum for Grades K-3 was developed for educators teaching kindergarten through third grade. Currently, early grade school curriculums have limited educational material available for elementary teachers relating to the visual system. This project was designed to provide material to elementary instructors as a way of introducing the visual system to children. The project consists of ten lesson plans ranging from basic ocular anatomy to function of the visual system. Each lesson includes activities such as art, reading, and writing and is designed to last 20-30 minutes

Help or hype? Assessing digital literature review tools for graduate students

A core role for academic librarians is to support early career researchers as they develop an increasingly focused understanding of the literature in their discipline and research area in order to contribute to the development of new knowledge. Graduate students use their knowledge of the literature to develop research questions and argue for the value of their work to the broader community of scholars. This task is both intellectually and technically challenging. A dissertation or thesis requires that students demonstrate knowledge of their field as well as cite perhaps hundreds of sources. This process has long been supported by tools for collecting and citing literature, such as Zotero or EndNote. But in recent years, companies have developed tools that purport to address the challenges of this process by helping scholars identify relevant literature and even to develop summaries and analysis of existing sources through the use of AI or other automated technology. We have observed increasing interest in these tools among graduate students. At the same time, we are aware of some trepidation from librarians and faculty about the impact of such tools on graduate students’ ability to not just search for and connect the literature, but to gain a deep and focused understanding of a body of research. In particular, we are concerned about how the developers of such tools characterize the process of conducting a literature review, which should be seen as an act of intentional analysis and argumentation. In this presentation, we offer the results of an environmental scan of these tools to understand their intended use and features with an eye to understanding how the promotion of these tools describe the literature process. With this information, we then critically examine the potential of these tools for the literature review process for identifying relevant research and developing a review that supports the graduate student’s own scholarship. Given the cost to access these tools, privacy concerns for users, and known issues with AI for analysis, we propose to assess whether this technology solves many of the challenges of literature review work or whether they divert graduate students’ focus thereby hindering the ultimate goals of knowledge acquisition and production within the students’ discipline or professional field

The Perfect Coffee Cup

To design a coffee cup that will maintain the coffee at the optimal drinking temperature for several hours using Phase Change Material, PCM. The importance of this project is designing a coffee cup that will retain its temperature for a prolonged period of time giving the consumer plenty of time to finish their coffee at the desired consumption temperature. We designed a double walled cup that would contain the PCM. Heat transfer calculations were done for different materials such as acrylic, glass, and stainless steel with various thicknesses for each material. These calculations were used to decide on the ideal material the cup should be made out of and the optimum thickness of the material. Rigorous experimentations have been done with the PCM showing the relationship between temperature and time for both melting and cooling the PCM. These experimentations were used to determine the amount of PCM needed per volume of coffee. Based off the preliminary heat transfer calculations, material pricing and availability, it has been concluded to manufacture the cup out of either glass or acrylic for the best results. Once the coffee is poured into the cup, the PCM will begin to melt, immediately activating the PCM. This will instantly cool the coffee to the optimal drinking temperature of 60°C and maintain the temperature of the coffee around 60°C for several hours. We anticipate that the PCM will be able to keep the coffee hot for at least twice as long while, cooling the coffee to drinking temperature in minutes. The PCM will melt at 60°C and will absorb the heat until the temperature of the coffee drops below 60°C. When this happens the PCM will then begin to solidify and radiate heat to warm the coffee back up to optimal temperatures.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/capstone/1050/thumbnail.jp

Late Light Curves of Normal Type Ia Supernovae

We present late-epoch optical photometry (BVRI) of seven normal/super-luminous Type Ia supernovae: SN 2000E, SN 2000ce, SN 2000cx, SN 2001C, SN 2001V, SN 2001bg, SN 2001dp. The photometry of these objects was obtained using a template subtraction method to eliminate galaxy light contamination during aperture photometry. We show the optical light curves of these supernovae out to epochs of up to ~640 days after the explosion of the supernova. We show a linear decline in these data during the epoch of 200-500 days after explosion with the decline rate in the B,V,& R bands equal to about 1.4 mag/100 days, but the decline rate of the I-band is much shallower at 0.94 mag/100 days.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa

Tuning Design Parameters of ICAM-1-Targeted 3DNA Nanocarriers to Optimize Pulmonary Targeting Depending on Drug Type

3DNA holds promise as a carrier for drugs that can be intercalated into its core or linked to surface arms. Coupling 3DNA to an antibody targeting intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) results in high lung-specific biodistributions in vivo. While the role of individual parameters on ICAM-1 targeting has been studied for other nanocarriers, it has never been examined for 3DNA or in a manner capable of revealing the hierarchic interplay among said parameters. In this study, we used 2-layer vs. 4-layer anti-ICAM 3DNA and radiotracing to examine biodistribution in mice. We found that, below saturating conditions and within the ranges tested, the density of targeting antibodies on 3DNA is the most relevant parameter driving lung targeting over liver clearance, compared to the number of antibodies per carrier, total antibody dose, 3DNA dose, 3DNA size, or the administered concentration, which influenced the dose in organs but not the lung specific-over-liver clearance ratio. Data predicts that lung-specific delivery of intercalating (core loaded) drugs can be tuned using this biodistribution pattern, while that of arm-linked (surface loaded) drugs requires a careful parametric balance because increasing anti-ICAM density reduces the number of 3DNA arms available for drug loading

Interrogating the technical, economic and cultural challenges of delivering the PassivHaus standard in the UK.

A peer-reviewed eBook, which is based on a collaborative research project coordinated by Dr. Henrik Schoenefeldt at the Centre for Architecture and Sustainable Environment at the University of Kent between May 2013 and June 2014. This project investigated how architectural practice and the building industry are adapting in order to successfully deliver Passivhaus standard buildings in the UK. Through detailed case studies the project explored the learning process underlying the delivery of fourteen buildings, certified between 2009 and 2013. Largely founded on the study of the original project correspondence and semi-structured interviews with clients, architects, town planners, contractors and manufacturers, these case studies have illuminated the more immediate technical as well as the broader cultural challenges. The peer-reviewers of this book stressed that the findings included in the book are valuable to students, practitioners and academic researchers in the field of low-energy design. It was launched during the PassivHaus Project Conference, held at the Bulb Innovation Centre on the 27th June 2014

Increasing Campus Sense of Belonging through LLC Participation: To Gems Camp We Go

Gemstone seeks to develop students’ research and collaboration skills, foster leadership opportunities, and provide a sense of belonging on a large campus utilizing the Best Practices Model (BPM) and a variety of high impact practices (HIPs), like a Gemstone-specific orientation program called Gems Camp. While studies have demonstrated that LLCs increase students’ sense of belonging, the goal of this study is to explicitly test via propensity score matching if (a) enrollment in the Gemstone Honors Program increases sense of belonging compared to university students not in Gemstone and (b) attendance at Gems Camp increases sense of belonging in Gemstone students. Gemstone students (N=221) had an increased sense of belonging compared to matched university students (N=221). Moreover, Gemstone students who attended Gems Camp (N=92) had an increased sense of belonging compared to matched Gemstone students who did not attend Gems Camp (N=92). In conclusion, the Gemstone Honors Program is an example of an LLC with scaffolded high impact practices, such as intentional first year programming, undergraduate research, and collaborative projects, that promotes an increase in students’ sense of belonging, providing a model for other LLCs to consider in their programming efforts

Evaluation of sense-strand mRNA amplification by comparative quantitative PCR

BACKGROUND: RNA amplification is required for incorporating laser-capture microdissection techniques into microarray assays. However, standard oligonucleotide microarrays contain sense-strand probes, so traditional T7 amplification schemes producing anti-sense RNA are not appropriate for hybridization when combined with conventional reverse transcription labeling methods. We wished to assess the accuracy of a new sense-strand RNA amplification method by comparing ratios between two samples using quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR), mimicking a two-color microarray assay. RESULTS: We performed our validation using qPCR. Three samples of rat brain RNA and three samples of rat liver RNA were amplified using several kits (Ambion messageAmp, NuGen Ovation, and several versions of Genisphere SenseAmp). Results were assessed by comparing the liver/brain ratio for 192 mRNAs before and after amplification. In general, all kits produced strong correlations with unamplified RNAs. The SenseAmp kit produced the highest correlation, and was also able to amplify a partially degraded sample accurately. CONCLUSION: We have validated an optimized sense-strand RNA amplification method for use in comparative studies such as two-color microarrays

Promising Findings that the Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators’ Program (CHIME) Strengthens Early Childhood Teachers’ Emotional Resources: An Iterative Study

Findings suggest that an eight-week mindfulness compassion-based program, Cultivating Healthy Intentional Mindful Educators (CHIME), is a feasible professional development intervention for early childhood (EC) teachers to support their emotion regulation and psychological and workplace well-being. We offer preliminary evidence that learning about mindfulness, self-compassion, and social-emotional learning supports EC teachers in strengthening their knowledge and application of practices to be more mindful and less emotionally reactive and emotionally exhausted at work. In analyzing both EC teacher feedback and survey data from two pilot studies, there was promising evidence that participating in CHIME enhanced awareness of emotions and the development of strategies to manage emotions. As CHIME is further developed and refined it will be integral to have collaborative engagement and participation from EC teachers and programs to ensure that learning these practices are relevant, helpful, meaningful, and sustainable