Emphasizing Positive Youth Development in a College Athletics Program

While working with a college men\u27s basketball team, I created a process to enhance the community service program. This process, that can be evaluated and repeated, will support youth voice to increase engagement and participation in the community service program

Reviewing Research Trends:A Scientometric Approach Using Gunshot Residue (GSR) Literature as an Example

The ability to manage, distil and disseminate the significant amount of information that is available from published literature is fast becoming a core and critical skill across all research domains, including that of forensic science. In this study, a simplified scientometric approach has been applied to available literature on gunshot residue (GSR) as a test evidence type aiming to evaluate publication trends and explore the interconnectivity between authors. A total of 731 publications were retrieved using the search engine ‘Scopus’ and come from 1589 known authors, of whom 401 contributed to more than one research output on this subject. Out of the total number of publications, only 35 (4.8%) were found to be Open Access (OA). The Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for years 2006 and 2016 reveals a much higher growth in publications relating to GSR (8.0%) than the benchmark annual growth rate of 3.9%. The distribution of a broad spectrum of keywords generated from the publications confirms a historical trend, in particular regarding the use of analytical techniques, in the study of gunshot residue. The results inform how relevant information extracted from a bibliometric search can be used to explore, analyse and define new research areas

Optimization of ClpXP activity and protein synthesis in an E. coli extract-based cell-free expression system.

Protein degradation is a fundamental process in all living cells and is essential to remove both damaged proteins and intact proteins that are no longer needed by the cell. We are interested in creating synthetic genetic circuits that function in a cell-free expression system. This will require not only an efficient protein expression platform but also a robust protein degradation system in cell extract. Therefore, we purified and tested the activity of E. coli ClpXP protease in cell-free transcription-translation (TX-TL) systems that used E. coli S30 cell extract. Surprisingly, our studies showed that purified ClpXP added to the TX-TL system has very low proteolytic activity. The low activity of ClpXP was correlated with the rapid consumption of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in cell extract. We improved the activity of ClpXP in cell extract by adding exogenous ATP and an energy regeneration system. We then established conditions for both protein synthesis, and protein degradation by ClpXP to occur simultaneously in the TX-TL systems. The optimized conditions for ClpXP activity will be useful for creating tunable synthetic genetic circuits and in vitro synthetic biology

A Priori Modeling of Thermal Runaway Consequences in Lithium-Ion Batteries

Numerous experimental methods are available to predict the hazards associated with thermal runaway (TR) and subsequent catastrophic failure of lithium-ion batteries (LIB), but these methods are time-intensive and costly. The current study provides a thorough review of these experimental methods which include closed-vessel gas sampling, accelerating rate calorimetry, cone calorimetry, and Tewarson calorimeters. The strengths and weaknesses of each experimental method as applied by various researchers are critically analyzed, and several shortcomings of current approaches are identified. Key deficiencies in current approaches include lack of control of reactant gases (i.e., ambient air or similar), inadequate heating rates that are not comparable to realistic conditions, and failure to measure condensable reaction products (e.g., water or liquid electrolyte). In lure of experimental approaches, an a priori modeling approach based on chemical equilibrium analyses (CEA) is proposed herein. Standard CEA software is limited in applicability, so that several improvements are required for accurate modeling. These improvements include prediction of electrolyte solution densities; inclusion of key reactant and/or product species and their respective thermodynamic properties; and accurate representation of high-temperature oxygen release from metal oxide cathodes. The current study focuses on addressing the first of these two improvements, but additional work is still required to fully address them. Future work will encompass resolving the third improvement (i.e., metal oxide oxygen release), model validation against available experimental data, and modeling of LIB failure scenarios to inform future designs

Advances and Pitfalls in the Analysis and Interpretation of Resting-State FMRI Data

The last 15 years have witnessed a steady increase in the number of resting-state functional neuroimaging studies. The connectivity patterns of multiple functional, distributed, large-scale networks of brain dynamics have been recognised for their potential as useful tools in the domain of systems and other neurosciences. The application of functional connectivity methods to areas such as cognitive psychology, clinical diagnosis and treatment progression has yielded promising preliminary results, but is yet to be fully realised. This is due, in part, to an array of methodological and interpretative issues that remain to be resolved. We here present a review of the methods most commonly applied in this rapidly advancing field, such as seed-based correlation analysis and independent component analysis, along with examples of their use at the individual subject and group analysis levels and a discussion of practical and theoretical issues arising from this data ‘explosion’. We describe the similarities and differences across these varied statistical approaches to processing resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging signals, and conclude that further technical optimisation and experimental refinement is required in order to fully delineate and characterise the gross complexity of the human neural functional architecture

Junior Recital: Matt Andrews

Matt Andrews\u27 junior recital.https://digitalcommons.kennesaw.edu/musicprograms/2398/thumbnail.jp