FACTORY FARMS, ARTIFICIAL ADDITIVES, AND MYSTERY MEAT: FOOD SAFETY RUMORS CONCERNING MODERN FOOD PRODUCTION

Modern food production and the counter culture which rejects contemporary food products have become the center of much debate among consumers. Blogs and other social networks, personal interviews, and popular images reveal the complexity among these beliefs. Three trends emerged most clearly and were used as the framework for the three main chapters which follow. Chapter one deals with the distrust of large, corporate food businesses. This includes both "factory farms" or large scale agricultural production, as well as food processors and brand names which are viewed as “big business.” While most consumers acknowledge that they cannot produce all their own food, relinquishing production to faceless, amoral, profit seeking companies appears to be an unsatisfying alternative. Chapter two focuses on the concern that modern food is synthetic, fake, and not only less healthy than food that our great-grandparents consumed, but perhaps even unsafe and the root of chronic disease. The notion that aspartame was being considered for biological warfare and is now being sold in bulk for people to sprinkle on their breakfast cereal and mix in their coffee speaks to issues addressed in this chapter. Finally, chapter three involves the sense of control motivated consumers often seek when purchasing food. While individuals cannot realistically produce all their own food, they may attempt to know the people who do and how it is done. This knowledge, coupled with their choice on who to purchase from, empowers motivated food consumers and gives a sense of control over the production in which they are otherwise uninvolved. It is apparent that these three chapters address issues which are closely related. Dividing them into separate chapters is more for convenience than because they represent completely distinct themes as many of the examples speak to multiple ideas. The preoccupations of motivated food consumers are informed by a variety of sources and are equally complex in how they manifest in consumerism and areNo embarg

RAPID AUTHENTICATION OF CONCORD JUICE CONCENTRATION IN A GRAPE JUICE BLEND USING FOURIER-TRANSFORM INFRARED SPECTROSCOPY AND CHEMOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Concord grape juice is associated with many health benefits, and so it can be sold at a premium price. However, there is currently no method to verify the percent composition of Concord grape juice in grape juice blends. In order to guard against potential adulteration, a rapid method for authentication is required. Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy was used to develop a model which predicts the percent composition of Concord grape juice. The model was based on a training set of 64 samples with Concord concentrations ranging from 50-100%. Data was collected on an external validation set with a standard error of prediction of 5.55% using 7 factors. The results suggest the feasibility of using FT-IR coupled with chemometrics as a production-scale tool for authentication claims of Concord in grape juice blends, protecting consumers and businesses against deceptive labeling.A five-year embargo was granted for this item

Content Specific Math Instruction To Improve English Language Learners\u27 Comprehension Of Comparison Math Word Problems

The research question addressed in this project was, how can math instruction and comprehension of comparison word problems for ELL students be enhanced through content specific vocabulary on, many, more, and fewer, and combinations of these words? The research demonstrated a need for vocabulary knowledge for English Language Learners to comprehend mathematical word problems and acquire academic English. The project involved creating a ten day vocabulary unit addressing strategies for learning vocabulary found in the research. The Understanding by Design process was used in creating this project. This project utilizes the Math Expressions curriculum by Fuson (2009), utilized in the author’s school district and supports first grade students’ understanding and solving of comparison word problems that use the words, many, more, fewer, many more and many fewer

Plantar Fasciitis: Steroid Injections vs. PRP injections

Plantar fasciitis is a common complaint of many people at some point throughout their lifetime. The aim of this presentation is to provide an in-depth clinical review and comparison of two treatment options for chronic plantar fasciitis; steroid injections and platelet-rich plasma injections. Acute cases of plantar fasciitis are caused by inflammation of the plantar fascia of the foot. Therefore, common initial treatments include stretching of the calf muscle, stretching of the plantar fascia itself, rest, use of night splints, and orthotics. However, for some people these conservative treatments fail. In those situations, the pain is assumed to be caused by infiltration of macrophages, lymphocytes, and other destructive cells that cause damage to the tissue. In these cases, more invasive procedures may be indicated. Steroid injections have been a treatment option for a long time and seem to be successful in alleviating pain short term. However, a potentially more beneficial treatment option has come to light in the last ten to fifteen years called platelet-rich plasma injections (PRP). Though they are still considered an experimental treatment, and therefore are more expensive than other options, studies have shown PRP injections to be more beneficial for long-term healing and pain reduction in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. PRP injections bring necessary growth factors and platelets to the damaged tissue and thus promote healing and growth, which is necessary in chronic cases of plantar fasciitis. Results of many studies comparing steroid injections and PRP injections have shown PRP injections to be more beneficial in the long-term healing of the tissue, though steroid injections appear to be beneficial for immediate pain reduction. After examining the evidence from clinical studies and systematic reviews, it appears that platelet-rich plasma injections provide a more positive long-term outcome for patients struggling with chronic cases of plantar fasciitis

Ensuring Food Safety as Demand for Improved Food System Efficiency Increases

Food security and safety issues have been central to Extension programming since its inception, but emerging concerns over the issues of food waste and system inefficiency have brought new challenges to the forefront. Social change ideas related to reducing food waste include use of secondary quality produce, date label elimination, repurposing of food scraps, and donation and gleaning of food. Implementation of these ideas often intersects with issues of food safety. Therefore, it is incumbent on Extension professionals nationwide to consider how best to use content and expertise to address modern food security, food waste, and food safety challenges

COMPUTATIONAL ANALYSIS OF PATTERN GENERATION IN REDUCED VERTEBRATE MOTOR CIRCUIT MODELS

Rhythmic behaviors such as breathing, walking, and scratching are vital to many species. Such behaviors can emerge from groups of neurons, called central pattern generators (CPGs), in the absence of rhythmic inputs. In vertebrates, the identification of the cells that consti- tute the CPG for particular rhythmic behaviors is difficult, and often, its existence has only been inferred. In the second and third chapters of this thesis, we use two reduced mathemat- ical models to investigate the capability of a proposed network to generate multiple scratch rhythms observed in turtles. Under experimental conditions, intact turtles generate sev- eral rhythmic scratch motor patterns corresponding to non-rhythmic stimulation of different body regions. These patterns feature alternating phases of motoneuron activation that occur repeatedly, with different patterns distinguished by the relative timing and duration of activ- ity of hip extensor, hip flexor, and knee extensor motoneurons. We show through simulation that the proposed network can achieve the desired multi-functionality, even though it relies on hip unit generators to recruit appropriately timed knee extensor motoneuron activity. We develop a phase space representation which we use to derive sufficient conditions for the network to realize each rhythm and which illustrates the role of a saddle-node bifurcation in achieving the knee extensor delay. This framework is harnessed to consider bistability and to make predictions about the responses of the scratch rhythms to input changes for future experimental testing. We also consider a stochastic spiking model to reproduce firing rate changes observed in experiment, explore the relative contributions of different parameters in the model to the observed changes, support our collaborators’ hypothesis regarding these changes, and provide our collaborators with predictions for future experiments. In the fourth chapter of this thesis, we present a theoretical study examining whether three mechanisms suggested by deletion experiments can operate in the same CPG for an extensor-flexor pair in the mammalian central nervous system during locomotion. We arrive at unique solution properties produced by each of the three mechanisms for use in future experiments. Our findings propose explanations for the coexistence of the three experimentally suggested yet seemingly contradictory mechanisms for rhythmogenesis

Multiple rhythms from one network: phase plane and stochastic analyses of rhythmic activity in turtle motor circuits

A central pattern generator (CPG) is a population of neurons producing rhythmic or repetitive behavior (i.e. scratching, walking) without requiring rhythmic input to the population. Turtles are observed to produce several rhythmic motor patterns in response to stimuli, in particular rostral scratch and pocket scratch (see Figure 1B inset) [1, 2]. The rostral scratch and pocket scratch rhythms are created through the activity of three motoneurons: hip extensor, knee extensor, and hip flexor. A CPG (see Figure 1A) to produce both rhythms has been proposed, featuring a layer of populations of excitatory and inhibitory interneurons projecting to a layer of motoneurons [1]. We implement the CPG as a system of relaxation oscillators. The system successfully reproduces the desired rhythms by changing inputs to the layer of interneurons (see Figure 1B). We consider a dynamical systems approach to determine the mechanisms underlying rhythm generation. We analyze a proposed central pattern generator’s ability to produce differing motor patterns from a single pool of neurons under different tonic drives. A key issue is the knee extensor motoneuron’s response to different phasic synaptic inputs. We study the impact of these phasic inputs on motoneuron phase space and on properties of associated trajectories and show how these yield sufficient conditions for reproduction of observed rhythms. A contraction argument leads to existence of a stable solution. We also present preliminary results from stochastic analysis to examine the role of strong synaptic conductances