High resolution spectroscopic measurements of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide

A modified 1.83 meter Jarrell-Ash spectrometer is reported. The instrument was double passed and achieved a resolution of 0.05 cm at 15 micrometers. An integrating voltmeter was used to optimize the available integration time. Data were obtained in the 15 micrometer and 4.3 micrometer band of CO2 and the 4.6 micrometer and 2.3 micrometer bands of CO. The data are summarized and examples of typical spectra are given. All the data are stored on IBM cards

The infrared interferometer spectrometer experiment /iris/. volume ii- meteorological mission

IRIS - infrared interferometer spectrometer measurements of atmosphere vertical structure - humidity, temperature, and cloud heigh

ELUCIDATION OF THE ROLE OF AGOUTI-SIGNALING PROTEIN THROUGHOUT FOLLICULOGENESIS AND EARLY EMBRYONIC DEVELOPMENT IN CATTLE

The oocyte expresses certain genes during folliculogenesis to regulate the acquisition of oocyte competence. Oocyte competence, which refers to the presence of imperative molecular factors in the oocyte that are critical for high oocyte quality, is directly related to the ability of the oocyte to result in a successful pregnancy following fertilization. Over the past few decades, the development and optimization of assisted reproductive technologies, particularly in vitrofertilization, have enabled the beef and dairy industries to advance cattle genetics and productivity. However, only approximately 40% of bovine embryos will develop to the blastocyst stage in vitro. In addition, bovine embryos produced in vitro are developmentally inferior compared to in vivo derived embryos due to the lack of optimization of the oocyte and embryo culture conditions in vitro. Characterization of factors regulating these processes is crucial to improve the efficiency of bovine in vitro embryo production. RNA Sequencing data obtained by our laboratory demonstrated that the secreted protein, agouti-signaling protein (ASIP), is highly abundant in the bovine oocyte. Agouti-signaling protein (ASIP) has a characterized role in the distribution of melanin pigment in some mammalian species, including mice. In adipose tissue, ASIP expression is associated with insulin resistance and obesity. Recently, it was demonstrated that ASIP is crucial in regulating mammary epithelial cell lipid metabolism in cattle. However, the role of ASIP in the bovine oocyte and early embryo has not been previously elucidated. This research aimed to characterize the ASIP spatiotemporal expression profile in the ovary and throughout early embryonic development. Further, objectives included revealing the effects of supplementation of ASIP during in vitro oocyte maturation and embryo culture on subsequent embryonic development. In addition to oocyte expression, ASIP was detected in granulosa, cumulus, and theca cells isolated from antral follicles. Both ASIP mRNA and protein were found to decline with oocyte maturation, suggesting a prospective role for ASIP in achieving oocyte competence. Microinjection of presumptive zygotes using small interfering RNAs targeting ASIP led to a 13% reduction in the rate of development to the blastocyst stage. Additionally, we examined potential ASIP signaling mechanisms through which ASIP may function to establish oocyte developmental competence. Expression of melanocortin receptors 3 and 4 and the coreceptor attractin was detected in the oocyte and follicular cells. Interestingly, the addition of cortisol, which was previously determined to be beneficial for oocyte competence in cattle, during in vitro maturation significantly increased oocyte ASIP levels. Cumulus-oocyte complexes or presumptive zygotes were placed in culture medium containing either 0, 1, 10, or 100 ng/mL of recombinant ASIP, and effects on subsequent development, gene expression, lipid content, and blastocyst cell allocation were examined. Supplementation of ASIP during oocyte maturation improved the blastocyst development rate and produced blastocysts with an increased inner cell mass to trophectoderm cell ratio. Nile red staining revealed that adding ASIP during oocyte maturation increased oocyte but not embryo lipid levels. The expression of genes involved in lipid metabolism, including FASN, PPAR, SCD, CSL1, ELOVL5, and ELOVL6, were not found to be significantly altered in blastocysts due to treatment. Meanwhile, supplementation of ASIP during embryo culture did not affect blastocyst rates. These results support a functional role for ASIP in promoting oocyte maturation and subsequent embryonic development, potentially through signaling mechanisms involving cortisol. Additionally, these data further support the role of ASIP in acquiring oocyte competence and suggest that supplementing ASIP during oocyte maturation may lead to the production of blastocysts of increased quality. Future prospective applications of this work include optimizing bovine oocyte or embryo culture conditions to emulate better the in vivo maternal environment through normalizing lipid metabolism and, subsequently, minimizing stress. Further, future research should explore the utilization of ASIP in developing improved cryopreservation techniques for bovine embryos

Transmissivity of carbon monoxide

The line strengths and self- and nitrogen-broadened half widths for selected lines of the 4.6 micron fundamental band of carbon monoxide were determined. The band strength determined at stp. is higher than previously reported measurements. The half widths agree well with other measurements and calculations

The Pre-Fab Fab Four

This paper describes the formation of The Monkees as a manufactured boy band and pop culture phenomenon, and the social and cultural context that led to the group\u27s dissolution and lasting legacy in the history of television and popular culture

Food insecurity and residential segregation among adults in the United States: the national health and nutrition examination survey 2017- March 2020 pre-pandemic data.

Food insecurity is when a household has insufficient food supply due to limited economic resources. It is a public health issue that continues to persist. The health, social, and economic impact affects millions of people nationwide. Residential segregation is a primary cause of inequities and health disparities. It shapes the differences in socio-economic conditions between Blacks and Whites living in the U.S. This country is segregated across racial lines in many of our most populated metropolitan cities. Americans worship in different churches, learn in disparate schools, and live in separate neighborhoods. Residential segregation has consequences that impact the economy, professional and social networks, and cause resource inequalities. As food insecurity and residential segregation continue to plague our country, public health researchers must investigate these issues and use theory to guide them toward solutions. Using extensive data samples to understand better the impact of residential segregation on food insecurity rates across the country is essential. This study used the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2017-March 2020 pre-pandemic data, the U.S. Census, Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap, and Brown University’s Dissimilarity Index to assess food insecurity and residential segregation in adults in the U.S. Additionally, the data was used to examine food insecurity and levels of segregation across three metropolitan cities with high, medium, and low dissimilarity indices. Variables for the study were identified from the individual, community, and societal levels of the social-ecological model. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess predictors of food insecurity among adults in the U.S. Findings showed statistical significance in many of the variables predicting food insecurity. Research was also conducted on local programs, policies, and interventions to combat food insecurity in the selected metropolitan cities. This study adds to the growing body of literature on residential segregation and its association with food insecurity rates in the U.S. The findings from this research indicate the need for improvements in public health, health promotion, and education efforts regarding these issues. It can prompt the creation of better policies, programs, and interventions to address this country\u27s growing food insecurity and residential segregation

Application of shock tubes to transonic airfoil testing at high Reynolds numbers

Performance analysis of a gas-driven shock tube shows that transonic airfoil flows with chord Reynolds numbers of the order of 100 million can be produced, with limitations being imposed by the structural integrity of the facility or the model. A study of flow development over a simple circular arc airfoil at zero angle of attack was carried out in a shock tube at low and intermediate Reynolds numbers to assess the testing technique. Results obtained from schlieren photography and airfoil pressure measurements show that steady transonic flows similar to those produced for the same airfoil in a wind tunnel can be generated within the available testing time in a shock tube with properly contoured test section walls

Growth and Metal Accumulation of an Alyssum murale Nickel Hyperaccumulator Ecotype Co-cropped with Alyssum montanum and Perennial Ryegrass in Serpentine Soil

The genus Alyssum (Brassicaceae) contains Ni hyperaccumulators (50), many of which can achieve 30 g kg-1 Ni in dry leaf. Some Alyssum hyperaccumulators are viable candidates for commercial Ni phytoremediation and phytomining technologies. It is not known whether these species secrete organic and/or amino acids into the rhizosphere to solubilize Ni, or can make use of such acids within the soil to facilitate uptake. It has been hypothesized that in fields with mixed plant species, mobilization of metals by phytosiderophores secreted by Graminaceae plants could affect Alyssum Ni, Fe, Cu and Mn uptake.We co-cropped the Ni hyperaccumulator Alyssum murale, non-hyperaccumulator A. montanum and perennial ryegrass in a natural serpentine soil. All treatments had standard inorganic fertilization required for ryegrass growth and one treatment was compost amended. After 4 months A. murale leaves and stems contained 3600 mg kg-1 Ni which did not differ significantly with co-cropping. Overall Ni and Mn concentrations were significantly higher in A. murale than in A. montanum or L. perenne. Copper was not accumulated by either Alyssum species, but L. perenne accumulated up to 10 mg kg-1. A. montanum could not compete with either A. murale or ryegrass, and neither Alyssum species survived in the compost-amended soil. Co-cropping with ryegrass reduced Fe and Mn concentrations in A. murale but not to the extent of either increasing Ni uptake or affecting plant nutrition. The hypothesized Alyssum Ni accumulation in response to phytosiderophores secreted by co-cropped grass did not occur. Our data do not support increased mobilization of Mn by a phytosiderophore mechanism either, but the converse: mobilization of Mn by the Alyssum hyperaccumulator species significantly increased Mn levels in L. perenne. Tilling soil to maximize root penetration, adequate inorganic fertilization and appropriate plant densities are more important for developing efficient phytoremediation and phytomining approaches

Fundamentals of Fourier transform spectroscopy

Comprehensive review of theories, data handling, systems, and calibration in Fourier transform spectroscop

Big data analytics in high-throughput phenotyping

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Computer ScienceMitchell L. NeilsenAs the global population rises, advancements in plant diversity and crop yield is necessary for resource stability and nutritional security. In the next thirty years, the global population will pass 9 billion. Genetic advancements have become inexpensive and widely available to address this issue; however, phenotypic acquisition development has stagnated. Plant breeding programs have begun to support efforts in data mining, computer vision, and graphics to alleviate the gap from genetic advancements. This dissertation creates a bridge between computer vision research and phenotyping by designing and analyzing various deep neural networks for concrete applications while presenting new and novel approaches. The significant contributions are research advancements to the current state-of-the-art in mobile high-throughput phenotyping (HTP), which promotes more efficient plant science workflow tasks. Novel tools and utilities created for automatic code generation, maintenance, and source translation are featured. Promoted tools replace boiler-plate segments and redundant tasks. Finally, this research investigates various state-of-the-art deep neural network architectures to derive methods for object identification and enumeration. Seed kernel counting is a crucial task in the plant research workflow. This dissertation explains techniques and tools for generating data to scale training. New dataset creation methodologies are debuted and aim to replace the classical approach to labeling data. Although HTP is a general topic, this research focuses on various grains and plant-seed phenotypes. Applying deep neural networks to seed kernels for classification and object detection is a relatively new topic. This research uses a novel open-source dataset that supports future architectures for detecting kernels. State-of-the-art pre-trained regional convolutional neural networks (RCNN) perform poorly on seeds. The proposed counting architectures outperform the models above by focusing on learning a labeled integer count rather than anchor points for localization. Concurrently, pre-trained models on the seed dataset, a composition of geometrically primitive-like objects, boasts improvements to evaluation metrics in comparison to the Common Object in Context (COCO) dataset. A widely accepted problem in image processing is the segmentation of foreground objects from the background. This dissertation shows that state-of-the-art regional convolutional neural networks (RCNN) perform poorly in cases where foreground objects are similar to the background. Instead, transfer learning leverages salient features and boosts performance on noisy background datasets. The accumulation of new ideas and evidence of growth for mobile computer vision surmise a bright future for data-acquisition in various fields of HTP. The results obtained provide horizons and a solid foundation for future research to stabilize and continue the growth of phenotypic acquisition and crop yield