EXTENSION'S RESPONSIBILITY IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS EDUCATION

Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

Going underground: Benefits of phototropism in Arabidopsis depend on the soil environment [abstract]

Abstract only availableFaculty Mentor: Dr. Candace Galen, Biological SciencesPhototropins are blue-light photoreceptors that control shoot and root phototropism in Arabidopsis thaliana. We investigated whether the soil environment influences the benefit of phototropism. We hypothesized that root phototropism should improve survival and growth under dry soil conditions, but not under wet conditions. We used a greenhouse experiment to test whether phototropism under dim light benefits plants in drought conditions. Seed of two non-phototropic (phot 1, nph3) mutants and wildtype A. thaliana (Columbia ecotype) were planted into a range of soil moisture regimes created by altering the sand content in the soil and varying the watering schedule. The soil water content varied from 26%-65% (w/w) mainly due to the sand content. Seedling size (rosette diameter) was measured three weeks after germination. We found several significant results. First, seedling emerged earlier in wet soil (11.5+/- 4.3 days after planting) then dry soil (15.3 +/- 5.6 d). Second, wild type plants were significantly larger than the mutant genotypes, but the magnitude of the size advantage depended on the soil environment. In sandy soil the wild type plants were 20% larger then the non-phototropic mutant plants (P<0.0001), and in the clay soil, the wild type plants were only 12% larger then the non-phototropic mutant plants(P<0.01). These results agree with previous findings that the growth advantage associated with phototropism increases in dry conditions. These results led us to wonder what was happening below the soil surface. We asked do nonphototropic plants differ from wild type in their rooting profiles, due to impaired root phototropism of mutant genotypes. We tested this idea in another greenhouse experiment in which the same genotypes were grown under dry and wet soils resembling the moisture extremes of the first experiment. Seeds were planted along the sides of clear plastic window boxes to enable us to track the roots. All sides except the top of the boxes were wrapped in foil to prevent light from entering. One month later, the boxes were unwrapped and the roots traced to determine the length and distance that each had traveled through the soil. Measurements are currently in progress.MU Monsanto Undergraduate Research Fellowshi

3D Printing and Healthcare: Will Laws, Lawyers, and Companies Stand in the Way of Patient Care?

Today, our society is on a precipice of significant advancement in healthcare because 3D printing will usher in the next generation of medicine. The next generation will be driven by customization, which will allow doctors to replace limbs and individualize drugs. However, the next generation will be without large pharmaceutical companies and their justifications for strong intellectual property rights. However, the current patent system (which is underpinned by a social tradeoff made from property incentives) is not flexible enough to cope with 3D printing’s rapid development. Very soon, the social tradeoff will no longer benefit society, so it must be re-evaluated to facilitate the coming of the next generation in medicine

EXPLORING DIFFERENT MEDIUMS FOR TEACHING PROGRAMMING AND CYBERSECURITY IN PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

Cybersecurity and programming are becoming more and more prominent in today’s world. It is beneficial to begin teaching these topics to students at a younger age. Additionally, we see students in primary and secondary schools struggling to maintain focus in class as attention spans shrink. This paper looks at different drone models to see if any of them could be sufficient solutions to be implemented into primary and secondary schools to teach cybersecurity and programming topics to students. Besides teaching capabilities, drones must also be affordable for institutions and simple enough to construct, configure, and operate so that a teacher with little knowledge could implement the drone if needed. The drone models looked at are a custom-built Raspberry Pi Pixhawk Quadcopter from Drone Dojo, Dexter Industries’ GoPiGo, and DJI’s Mavic Air 2. Additionally, we look at different teaching methods and activities that can be implemented into a curriculum outside of drone use. Curriculum was created for different programming and cybersecurity courses and tested during the 2022 GenCyber summer camp hosted by Michigan Technological University. This curriculum gives us an insight into teaching middle and high school students cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and Python coding. The thesis of this paper is that the GoPiGo is an effective medium for teaching programming in primary and secondary schools, and that hands-on activities are successful in reinforcing taught topics while keeping students engaged

A localized morphometric study of Panicum virgatum and sister taxa (Poaceae: Panicoideae: Paniceae)

Morphological distinctions were evaluated between taxa of Panicum section Virgata Nees as recognized by Hitchcock and Chase (1951) and Freckmann and Lelong (2002b): P. virgatum var. virgatum, P. virgatum var. cubense, P. amarum subsp. amarum, and P. amarum subsp. amarulum, using morphometrics and greenhouse experiments on material from the southeastern United States, a region with the most extreme overlap in distribution. 31 characters for 104 specimens were subject to univariate, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Spikelet bivariate graphs showed two groups with large (C) and small (A+B) spikelets. When habitat, distribution, and phenology was superposed on these graphs, non-exclusive trends polarized the small spikelet group into two groups (A) and (B). Morphogroups A, B, and C did not overlap on PCA graphs, but were not separated by gaps. Results show two morphogroups present: A+B (P. virgatum var. virgatum, var. cubense, P. amarum subsp. amarulum) and C (P. amarum subsp. amarum)

Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder in a Community Mental Health Clinic: Prevalence, Comorbidity and Correlates

Objective: The revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th ed. (DSM-5) added a new diagnosis of disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) to depressive disorders. This study examines the prevalence, comorbidity, and correlates of the new disorder, with a particular focus on its overlap with oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), with which DMDD shares core symptoms

Comparing the Diagnostic Accuracy of Five Instruments for Detecting Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Youth

To compare diagnostic accuracy of five posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) measures in a large outpatient sample of youths aged 11 to 18 years

A randomized controlled trial of cognitive debiasing improves assessment and treatment selection for pediatric bipolar disorder.

This study examined the efficacy of a new cognitive debiasing intervention in reducing decision-making errors in the assessment of pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD)