Prospectus, July 22, 2015

STATE OF THE ART: NEW MUSIC CLASS BRINGS RECORDING STUDIO TO PARKLAND; Changes ushered in with construction on campus; Parkland a top choice for health professions; Doctors say teen\u27s HIV in check for 12 years without drugs; David Leake, Director of Parkiand\u27s Staerke! Planetarium; Thousands of athietes prepare for Specia! Olympics this week; $10 bill change rankles descendant of Alexander Hamilton; Planned Parenthood says video part of decadelong harassment; Summer no time for vacation for Parkland baseball; First Gig Rock campers live out rock star dreams; Jon Stewart heads into home stretch at \u27Daily Show\u27https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2015/1030/thumbnail.jp

Prospectus, June 24, 2015

Parkland campus to go smoke free, AMP reaching past Parkland campus, \u27Triple Play\u27 plan provides free tech services, 6 killed in California balcony collapse during a party(AP), An Interview with Lisa Costello, Giertz Gallery Director, Urbana’s Market at the Square working to increase fresh food access(City of Urbana), Donald Trump says he’s running for president in 2016(AP), Choosing your own: Definition of race becoming fluid(AP), Confidently Humble, or the time I started beating on the ground with a stick, Smashmouth to headline at Champaign Music Festival(Champaign Park District), Kosovo art installation of dresses supports war rape victims(AP), Obama says US racism ‘not cured,’ makes point with epithet(AP)https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2015/1012/thumbnail.jp

The Nature Press, Vol. 3

Nature News was a newsletter publication about activities at the Cheadle Center for Biodiveristy and Ecological Restoration

Prospectus, August 26, 2015

Mumps outbreak hits close to home, Director chosen for Parkland Orchestra, Parkland clubs offer many benefits to students, Teens shopping more like their parents(AP), Popular foods taking on new hues without artificial dyes(AP), Clinton\u27s Iowa message less global, more local(AP), Out on the links with Nick Berger(AP), Artist Banksy opens derelict \u27Dismaland\u27 theme park(AP), Spain: New leftist mayors turn back on bullfighting(AP),https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2015/1013/thumbnail.jp

Functional Evolution of PLP-dependent Enzymes based on Active-Site Structural Similarities

Families of distantly related proteins typically have very low sequence identity, which hinders evolutionary analysis and functional annotation. Slowly evolving features of proteins, such as an active site, are therefore valuable for annotating putative and distantly related proteins. To date, a complete evolutionary analysis of the functional relationship of an entire enzyme family based on active-site structural similarities has not yet been undertaken. Pyridoxal-5’-phosphate (PLP) dependent enzymes are primordial enzymes that diversified in the last universal ancestor. Using the Comparison of Protein Active Site Structures (CPASS) software and database, we show that the active site structures of PLP-dependent enzymes can be used to infer evolutionary relationships based on functional similarity. The enzymes successfully clustered together based on substrate specificity, function, and three-dimensional fold. This study demonstrates the value of using active site structures for functional evolutionary analysis and the effectiveness of CPASS

Tunable Narrow Band Difference Frequency THz Wave Generation in DAST via Dual Seed PPLN OPG

We report a widely tunable narrowband terahertz (THz) source via difference frequency generation (DFG). A narrowband THz source uses the output of dual seeded periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) optical parametric generators (OPG) combined in the nonlinear crystal 4-dimthylamino-N-methyl-4-stilbazolium-tosylate (DAST). We demonstrate a seamlessly tunable THZ output that tunes from 1.5 THz to 27 THz with a minimum bandwidth of 3.1 GHz. The effects of dispersive phase matching, two-photon absorption, and polarization were examined and compared to a power emission model that consisted of the current accepted parameters of DAST

Mississippi State Axion Search: A Light Shining though a Wall ALP Search

The elegant solutions to the strong CP problem predict the existence of a particle called axion. Thus, the search for axion like particles (ALP) has been an ongoing endeavor. The possibility that these axion like particles couple to photons in presence of magnetic field gives rise to a technique of detecting these particles known as light shining through a wall (LSW). Mississippi State Axion Search (MASS) is an experiment employing the LSW technique in search for axion like particles. The apparatus consists of two radio frequency (RF) cavities, both under the influence of strong magnetic field and separated by a lead wall. While one of the cavities houses a strong RF generator, the other cavity houses the detector systems. The MASS apparatus looks for excesses in RF photons that tunnel through the wall as a signature of candidate axion-like particles. The concept behind the experiment as well as the projected sensitivities are presented here.Comment: Xth Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs; 4 Pages, 5 figure

Prospectus, October 14, 2015

New RN bridge program for paramedics the first of its kind in the state, Parkland working to head off campus violence, Many students want more options in the cafeteria, Monument to honor King planned for Georgia’s Stone Mountain(AP), Students return to Oregon college after shooting(AP), Interstate 95 reopening in South Carolina after record flood(AP), In Review: A Photographer\u27s life of Love and War, Obama: Clinton made mistake; security not endangered(AP), That New York twang: Nashville calls on Big apple schools(AP), Obama gives Kanye West some tips for his presidential run(AP), Injuries just another challenge for Cobra baseball team, Records: Illini athletics part of $1.5M vehicle program(AP),https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_2015/1020/thumbnail.jp

Superconducting radio-frequency cavity fault classification using machine learning at Jefferson Laboratory

We report on the development of machine learning models for classifying C100 superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavity faults in the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility (CEBAF) at Jefferson Lab. CEBAF is a continuous-wave recirculating linac utilizing 418 SRF cavities to accelerate electrons up to 12 GeV through 5-passes. Of these, 96 cavities (12 cryomodules) are designed with a digital low-level RF system configured such that a cavity fault triggers waveform recordings of 17 RF signals for each of the 8 cavities in the cryomodule. Subject matter experts (SME) are able to analyze the collected time-series data and identify which of the eight cavities faulted first and classify the type of fault. This information is used to find trends and strategically deploy mitigations to problematic cryomodules. However manually labeling the data is laborious and time-consuming. By leveraging machine learning, near real-time (rather than post-mortem) identification of the offending cavity and classification of the fault type has been implemented. We discuss performance of the ML models during a recent physics run. Results show the cavity identification and fault classification models have accuracies of 84.9% and 78.2%, respectively.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures submitted to Physical Review Accelerators and Beam

Loss of KLP-19 polar ejection force causes misorientation and missegregation of holocentric chromosomes

Holocentric chromosomes assemble kinetochores along their length instead of at a focused spot. The elongated expanse of an individual holocentric kinetochore and its potential flexibility heighten the risk of stable attachment to microtubules from both poles of the mitotic spindle (merotelic attachment), and hence aberrant segregation of chromosomes. Little is known about the mechanisms that holocentric species have evolved to avoid this type of error. Our studies of the influence of KLP-19, an essential microtubule motor, on the behavior of holocentric Caenorhabditis elegans chromosomes suggest that it has a major role in combating merotelic attachments. Depletion of KLP-19, which associates with nonkinetochore chromatin, allows aberrant poleward chromosome motion during prometaphase, misalignment of holocentric kinetochores, and multiple anaphase chromosome bridges in all mitotic divisions. Time-lapse movies of GFP-labeled mono- and bipolar spindles demonstrate that KLP-19 generates a force on relatively stiff holocentric chromosomes that pushes them away from poles. We hypothesize that this polar ejection force minimizes merotelic misattachment by maintaining a constant tension on pole–kinetochore connections throughout prometaphase, tension that compels sister kinetochores to face directly toward opposite poles