Final report of Interdisciplinary Innovations Fund proposal, leading the future of the retail industry through creating digital/virtual student project showcases

Project Collaborators: Jana Hawley, Myunghee Sohn, Jung Ha-Brookshire, Bimal Balakrishnan, Newton D'Souza, Jean Parsons, Josephine StealeyThe collaborators on this project had seven specific objectives to achieve the overall goal of this project -- to create an innovative digital/virtual outlet to collaborate and showcase students' learning processes and outcomes. Each objective and its specific outcome is discussed.MU Interdisciplinary Innovations Fun

Small non-coding RNA profiling and the role of piRNA pathway genes in the protection of chicken primordial germ cells

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited.Background Genes, RNAs, and proteins play important roles during germline development. However, the functions of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) on germline development remain unclear in avian species. Recent high-throughput techniques have identified several classes of ncRNAs, including micro RNAs (miRNAs), small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs), and PIWI-interacting RNAs (piRNAs). These ncRNAs are functionally important in the genome, however, the identification and annotation of ncRNAs in a genome is challenging. The aim of this study was to identify different types of small ncRNAs particularly piRNAs, and the role of piRNA pathway genes in the protection of chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs). Results At first, we performed next-generation sequencing to identify ncRNAs in chicken PGCs, and we performed ab initio predictive analysis to identify putative piRNAs in PGCs. Then, we examined the expression of three repetitive sequence-linked piRNAs and 14 genic-transcript-linked piRNAs along with their linked genes using real-time PCR. All piRNAs and their linked genes were highly expressed in PGCs. Subsequently, we knocked down two known piRNA pathway genes of chicken, PIWI-like protein 1 (CIWI) and 2 (CILI), in PGCs using siRNAs. After knockdown of CIWI and CILI, we examined their effects on the expression of six putative piRNA-linked genes and DNA double-strand breakage in PGCs. The knockdown of CIWI and CILI upregulated chicken repetitive 1 (CR1) element and RAP2B, a member of RAS oncogene family, and increased DNA double-strand breakage in PGCs. Conclusions Our results increase the understanding of PGC-expressed piRNAs and the role of piRNA pathway genes in the protection of germ cells

Evaluation of a technology-enhanced integrated care model for frail older persons: protocol of the SPEC study, a stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial in nursing homes

Background Limited evidence exists on the effectiveness of the chronic care model for people with multimorbidity. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of an information and communication technology- (ICT-)enhanced integrated care model, called Systems for Person-centered Elder Care (SPEC), for frail older adults at nursing homes. Methods/Design SPEC is a prospective stepped-wedge cluster randomized trial conducted at 10 nursing homes in South Korea. Residents aged 65 or older meeting the inclusion/exclusion criteria in all the homes are eligible to participate. The multifaceted SPEC intervention, a geriatric care model guided by the chronic care model, consists of five components: comprehensive geriatric assessment for need/risk profiling, individual need-based care planning, interdisciplinary case conferences, person-centered care coordination, and a cloud-based information and communications technology (ICT) tool supporting the intervention process. The primary outcome is quality of care for older residents using a composite measure of quality indicators from the interRAI LTCF assessment system. Outcome assessors and data analysts will be blinded to group assignment. Secondary outcomes include quality of life, healthcare utilization, and cost. Process evaluation will be also conducted. Discussion This study is expected to provide important new evidence on the effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, and implementation process of an ICT-supported chronic care model for older persons with multiple chronic illnesses. The SPEC intervention is also unique as the first registered trial implementing an integrated care model using technology to promote person-centered care for frail older nursing home residents in South Korea, where formal LTC was recently introduced

Cetaceans evolution:insights from the genome sequences of common minke whales

Background: Whales have captivated the human imagination for millennia. These incredible cetaceans are the only mammals that have adapted to life in the open oceans and have been a source of human food, fuel and tools around the globe. The transition from land to water has led to various aquatic specializations related to hairless skin and ability to regulate their body temperature in cold water. Results: We present four common minke whale (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) genomes with depth of ×13 ~ ×17 coverage and perform resequencing technology without a reference sequence. Our results indicated the time to the most recent common ancestors of common minke whales to be about 2.3574 (95% HPD, 1.1521 - 3.9212) million years ago. Further, we found that genes associated with epilation and tooth-development showed signatures of positive selection, supporting the morphological uniqueness of whales. Conclusions: This whole-genome sequencing offers a chance to better understand the evolutionary journey of one of the largest mammals on earth

A 12-bit segmented resistor-capacitor digital-to-analog converter for a display driver IC of a large TFT-LCD panel system

A 12-bit segmented R-C DAC to support a linear gamma curve has been proposed and fabricated in a 720-channel LCD source driver with a 16-V 1-poly 3-metal high-voltage CMOS process. The proposed DAC has a global resistor string and sample-and-hold buffers. A MSB voltage selected by the upper 6 bits of input data and a LSB voltage selected by the lower 6 bits of input data are summed by using a sample-and-hold operation with offset cancellation in the proposed DAC. The measured DNL was less than 0.3 LSB, and the output voltage deviation was less than 3 mV in all gray levels. Although two sample-and-hold buffers were adopted to operate alternatively, the die size was as small as 24.9 mm(2), which was only an 8.3% increase compared to that of a conventional 8-bit 720-channel source driver. Because of its good performance with small area, the proposed DAC can be a good low-cost solution for a 10-bit TV systemopen12

Out-of-Plane Directional Charge Transfer-Assisted Chemical Enhancement in the Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy of a Graphene Monolayer

We present an out-of-plane directional charge transfer (CT)-assisted chemical enhancement (CM) in the surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) of a graphene monolayer (GM) sandwiched at an individual Au prism-Au thin film (TF) plasmonic junction. By comparing previous reports, in which the enhancement of out-of-plane phonon modes of a GM was mostly governed by <i>z</i>-directional local field formed at a Au nanoparticle (NP)–Au TF junction, we can reveal that a CT-assisted CM along the <i>z</i>-direction has a pivotal role by enhancing radial breathing-like mode (RBLM) intensity at face-to-face junction types. The anticorrelation between 2D and RBLM intensity from ridge to flat domains of an Au prism indicates that a plasmonic EM effect is not a critical element at flat domain, whereas the RBLM intensity is strongly enhanced at face-to-face junction. Furthermore, the closest GM from a <i>z</i>-axis has a significant role based on vector-based investigation in enhancing CT-assisted CM effect between Au prism and TF. These phenomena may be interpreted by (1) introducing the coupling of the plasmon modes of a metallic nanostructure, especially interaction between dipolar and quadrupolar modes and their interference with a large contact area of flat compared to ridge from an Au prism adjacent to the dielectric GM at a face-to-face junction by hot (or ballistic) electrons (Fano-like resonance) and (2) the electrons present at flat Au faces may have a high probability to generate CT in terms of relatively large portion of homogeneous electron distribution than sphere, leading to secure a large amount of CT electrons. Moreover, (3) close to the surface-to-normal direction of GM, we can reveal that CT along the <i>z</i>-axis is more favorable than the tilted. These interpretations offer an opportunity to study the mechanism of CT-assisted CM in detail and for optimizing the sensitivity of nanostructures in terms of Fano resonance and the resulting high performance localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) sensors