Collaboration Among Municipal Water Providers: Meeting Metro Denver Water Demand

11 pages (includes color illustrations)

The Knot as Metaphor in Gillian Bouras' Aphrodite and the Others

This paper aims to discuss a central theme in the work of Australian-born author Gillian Bouras. The theme is the symbolic references to knots in her literature, in particular the text Aphrodite and the Others, and the use of the term knot as a metaphor for life’s experiences both from a Greek villager’s perspective and from a writer’s perspective

Collaboration Among Municipal Water Providers: Meeting Metro Denver Water Demand

11 pages (includes color illustrations)

The academic library in the life of the undergraduate: an investigation of undergraduates’ academic information behaviors in the digital age

This dissertation research investigated undergraduates’ academic information behaviors in the modern digital age to identify their perspective on the role of the academic library in their academic life. The research examined usage of a broad range of information sources and means to access, selection criteria, and obstacles encountered during academic information-seeking. The research also explored discipline and class standing as differentiators of undergraduates’ academic information behaviors. The academic library was considered holistically as made up of space, means to access, and librarians; the research identified undergraduates’ reasons for use and nonuse of these three distinct components of the academic library.Data were gathered using a mixed-methods approach: survey research followed by focus groups. An online survey was administered to all 5,136 undergraduates enrolled in a college of arts and sciences and a college of business at one large urban research university located in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. The final data set consisted of 849 completed surveys for an overall response rate of 18%. Fourteen undergraduates in the two colleges were recruited for the focus groups. Survey and focus group participants included users and nonusers of the academic library. Data analysis entailed the use of descriptive statistics, testing of hypotheses, and the constant comparative method.Eight hypotheses were tested. While some significant differences were found by discipline and class standing, further research is needed. Additional findings include: the pervasiveness of digital technology in the academic environment, with undergraduates’ proclivity for online information sources and means to access, including social networks; the prevalence of people consulted during academic information-seeking; and, that undergraduates consider the criterion accurate/trustworthy extremely important for their selection decisions. The role of the academic library in the life of the undergraduate was determined to be primarily space and means to access, and to a lesser extent, librarians. The findings were interpreted in relation to Zweizig’s construct “the library in the life of the user” and three information seeking models. The researchderived insights which may point the academic library in new directions, enhance LIS education for aspiring academic librarians, and provide for additional avenues for research.Ph.D., Information Studies -- Drexel University, 201

Analysis of the arabinoxylan arabinofuranohydrolase gene family in barley does not support their involvement in the remodelling of endosperm cell walls during development

Arabinoxylan arabinofuranohydrolases (AXAHs) are family GH51 enzymes that have been implicated in the removal of arabinofuranosyl residues from the (1,4)-b-xylan backbone of heteroxylans. Five genes encoding barley AXAHs range in size from 4.6 kb to 7.1 kb and each contains 16 introns. The barley HvAXAH genes map to chromosomes 2H, 4H, and 5H. A small cluster of three HvAXAH genes is located on chromosome 4H and there is evidence for gene duplication and the presence of pseudogenes in barley. The cDNAs corresponding to barley and wheat AXAH genes were cloned, and transcript levels of the genes were profiled across a range of tissues at different developmental stages. Two HvAXAH cDNAs that were successfully expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves exhibited similar activities against 4-nitrophenyl a-L-arabinofuranoside, but HvAXAH2 activity was significantly higher against wheat flour arabinoxylan, compared with HvAXAH1. HvAXAH2 also displayed activity against (1,5)-a-L-arabinopentaose and debranched arabinan. Western blotting with an anti-HvAXAH antibody was used to define further the locations of the AXAH enzymes in developing barley grain, where high levels were detected in the outer layers of the grain but little or no protein was detected in the endosperm. The chromosomal locations of the genes do not correspond to any previously identified genomic regions shown to influence heteroxylan structure. The data are therefore consistent with a role for AXAH in depolymerizing arabinoxylans in maternal tissues during grain development, but do not provide compelling evidence for a role in remodelling arabinoxylans during endosperm or coleoptile development in barley as previously proposed.Hunter K.C. Laidlaw, Jelle Lahnstein, Rachel A. Burton, Geoffrey B. Fincher and Stephen A. Joblin

Myeloid/Microglial driven autologous hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy corrects a neuronopathic lysosomal disease

Mucopolysaccharidosis type IIIA (MPSIIIA) is a lysosomal storage disorder caused by mutations in N-sulfoglucosamine sulfohydrolase (SGSH), resulting in heparan sulfate (HS) accumulation and progressive neurodegeneration. There are no treatments. We previously demonstrated improved neuropathology in MPSIIIA mice using lentiviral vectors (LVs) overexpressing SGSH in wild-type (WT) hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplants (HSCTs), achieved via donor monocyte/microglial engraftment in the brain. However, neurological disease was not corrected using LVs in autologous MPSIIIA HSCTs. To improve brain expression via monocyte/microglial specificity, LVs expressing enhanced green fluorescent protein (eGFP) under ubiquitous phosphoglycerate kinase (PGK) or myeloid-specific promoters were compared in transplanted HSCs. LV-CD11b-GFP gave significantly higher monocyte/B-cell eGFP expression than LV-PGK-GFP or LV-CD18-GFP after 6 months. Subsequently, autologous MPSIIIA HSCs were transduced with either LV-PGK-coSGSH or LV-CD11b-coSGSH vectors expressing codon-optimized SGSH and transplanted into MPSIIIA mice. Eight months after HSCT, LV-PGK-coSGSH vectors produced bone marrow SGSH (576% normal activity) similar to LV-CD11b-coSGSH (473%), but LV-CD11b-coSGSH had significantly higher brain expression (11 versus 7%), demonstrating improved brain specificity. LV-CD11b-coSGSH normalized MPSIIIA behavior, brain HS, GM2 ganglioside, and neuroinflammation to WT levels, whereas LV-PGK-coSGSH partly corrected neuropathology but not behavior. We demonstrate compelling evidence of neurological disease correction using autologous myeloid driven lentiviral-HSC gene therapy in MPSIIIA mice. © The American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy

A preliminary investigation of the winter roosting habits of the birds of the Douglas Lake area.

An investigation was made to determine the location and the microclimate characteristics of the roosting sites of the winter bird populations of the Douglas Lake area of northern lower Michigan. Observations were carried out over a period of eight days during the hours of sunrise and sunset. Bird movements were observed at three feeder locations and from a fire tower. Species observed were Cyanocitta cristata, Parus atricapillus, Sitta canadensis, Sitta carolinensis, and Dendrocopos pubescens. No roosting sites were found for Cyanocitta cristata. Observations of the other species led to no definite roosting sites. However, the general location of roosting areas was determined in some observations. It is believed that the species Parus sp. and Sitta sp. do not roost in holes but in well foliated branches of coniferous trees. Dendrocopos sp. is believed to roost in cavities of trees.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/52856/1/1289.pdfDescription of 1289.pdf : Access restricted to on-site users at the U-M Biological Station