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There is a global trend of the shortage of nature resources, such as water and wildlife, which have suffered dramatic losses due to over-use, pollution, habitat loss, and, increasingly, changes caused by global warming. To make the planet more sustainable, abundant data has to be collected and analyzed from ecosystems for scientific decision-making, restoring and preserving natural resources. In this paper, an integrated systems approach has been proposed for the data acquisition and analysis in information management of an ecosystem; it is a direct extension of an agriculture ecosystem enterprise information system (AEEIS) developed by Xu et al. (Genomics Proteomics Bioinformatics 3:5-17, 2008). The challenges in system development have been discussed, and the significance of the developed system has been illustrated through a thorough discussion and a case study on the genetic coding and expression of antelopes. In the case study, an IoT-based enterprise information system (EIS) has been applied to investigate the effects of the signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) on the adaptation mechanism to high altitude hypoxia. Two remarkable conclusions are (i) the levels of the STAT3 mRNA and protein vary from one tissue to another, and the highest level is in the lung tissue, and (ii) Tibetan antelopeu27s expression of STAT3 mRNA and protein are higher than that from plain sheep. Based on the fact that a Tibetan antelope has a higher adaptability to hypoxia; it has illustrated that the hypoxic STAT3-specific expression is one of the molecular bases of high altitude hypoxia adaptation in Tibetan antelope

The Cincinnatian Series (Upper Ordovician; upper Katian) of the Cincinnati Arch region, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky) contains several bed packages informally referred to as .butter shales. or .trilobite shales.. These packages are typically 1.2 m of relatively pure, homogeneous claystone with isolated, lenticular limestone beds. These claystones are most widely known for their excellent preservation of abundant trilobites, especially Isotelus and Flexicalymene, as well as diverse and commonly articulated bivalves, and nautiloids. A newly recognized butter shale interval in the Clarksville Member of the Waynesville Formation contains a typical butter-shale fossil assemblage, dominated by bivalves, orthoconic cephalopods and trilobites. To better study the fabric of this claystone, a large, epoxy-coated block of the claystone was dry-cut. Polished surfaces show a variety of otherwise cryptic features, including pervasive bioturbation and the presence of probable lingulid escape burrows (Lingulichnus), as well as abundant fodinichnia (Chondrites, Planolites, Teichichnus). Preservation of articulated trilobites and closed bivalves in approximate living position, as well as escape burrows, indicates deposition as a series of mud burial events or obrution deposits. We suggest that the butter shales resulted from net accumulation of multiple episodes of re-suspended mud deposition, which rapidly smothered organisms and resulted in exceptional preservation. Between events the seafloor was colonized by abundant deposit-feeding infaunal organisms, which destabilized the substrate and generated turbidity near the sediment.water interface, thus inhibiting sessile suspension feeders. Rapid net deposition was also interrupted by more prolonged periods (tens to hundreds of years) of low sedimentation that permitted colonization by epifaunal brachiopod-dominated communities. While most butter shale units are regionally extensive, the Oldenburg is confined to a few outcrops, apparently because it has been removed in most areas beneath a subtle but significant disconformity

Andrew Hakes is a history major. His area of interest within history is Latin America, specifically during the Cold War, and the revolutionary movements that occurred during that time. He was recently awarded the Judie and Ralph Violette scholarship for history students

This paper presents details of work carried out in 2014 in the Huaura Valley

The increased use of social media sites like Facebook has had an impact on employees when their behavior on such sites is deemed to be inappropriate by employers. This has led to a phenomenon that the popular press calls “Facebook Fired,” where an employee is fired for personal social media use. Such terminations have significant potential legal consequences. This article examines the current case law related to social media–based terminations within the job type of K-12 public school teachers. We give legal and practical recommendations to teachers who might potentially face such situations. We suggest legislation and give social media policy language recommendations for school corporations. Finally, we call for research examining the perceptions of fairness of such terminations by workers as well as the public at large

The release of the New Framework for Information Literacy in Higher Education has occurred amidst a storm of discussion and debate, prompting an Open Letter Regarding the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. While the Standards for Information Literacy in Higher Education have provided a model that maps nicely to curriculum assessments, the New Framework is more theory based, with little provision for mapping theory to practice. This moderated panel explored both sides of this issue: one pro-Standards, and one pro-Framework

This article describes the author’s experience in developing and teaching an undergraduate course on Statistics for Industrial Engineering Technology (IET) students. Moreover, the impact of offering the course on students’ success in future courses for which Statistics is a pre-requisite, is discussed. The motivation to offer the course is twofold: 1) Statistics is a subject required by various programs and although several sections are being offered, often IET students would not be able to register in the course and consequently, they have to wait for next semester. 2) Since the Mathematics Department caters to students coming from various majors, the topics and particularly, examples and problems would not be necessarily major-oriented. In addition, the course has been offered since spring of 2012 and the degree to which the topics covered have addressed students need and faculty expectation are unknown. In this article, the author first describes the details of how the course was developed, how it would address relevant ABET’s accreditation criteria, and how it has been taught since spring of 2012 in terms contents. Then, the results of inquiry from faculty members in the department, as well as a summary of the course evaluations is presented. Finally, future modification to improve the course contents is mentioned

http://opus.ipfw.edu/sls_images2015/1000/thumbnail.jp

During the environmentally influenced demise of the Moche of Peru (a.d. 200–800), archaeological and biological data provide evidence that Moche communities chose differential responses of resilience, including forging new political alliances, expanding economic production, and adopting new religious practices. At some communities, former Moche elites intermarried and formed political alliances with Cajamarca peoples from the adjacent highlands, while others – such as the nearby inhabitants of Talambo – were able to moderate external highland cultural influence and remained economically independent during a period of political and environmental instability. Such varied responses indicate that the impacts of political collapse on prehistoric peoples were not uniform and often provided new social and political opportunities

In our program, we were required to complete a course entitled Leadership for Team Development. This course was a flipped course with readings, videos, an ignite presentation and other materials we completed for ourselves. In class we completed a variety of exercises collaboratively with an intact team. For our final team project in this 400 level course we were tasked with creating games that would teach at least two topics that were important to teams to know and use and yet these concepts were often misunderstood by team members and their leaders. Nine teams completed this assignment, and the class played nine very different games. Feedback from the professor and from the gamers indicated that students in the class were thinking, laughing, and engaging in the learning process. After the games, we were required to write an individual paper that included metacognition and extension to the workplace. In this session we have two student teams presenting results. The games we will showcase are low tech, but could be developed into electronic games with some code and some creativity. The first game includes game pieces that are familiar to most of us: Lego blocks. With this game many areas could be explored including the importance of avoiding role ambiguity and assumptions. Clearly defining individual roles within a team has been shown to correlate with improved team effectiveness, yet many assume that holding vague roles allows members to more readily share information and ideas (Gratton, Erikson, 2007). We aim to prevent this common misconception by examining the disadvantages of leaving individual team member roles undefined. We also explore possible consequences of making assumptions and the value of asking questions. This game illustrates problems with relying solely on the taskrelated information that has been provided to a team while conveying the importance of taking additional factors into account. The second game, Empower Tower, is also low tech but is played with materials that may be familiar to freshman engineering courses. Two presenters will discuss how their game helps give students a deeper insight into three concepts important to teams: hidden agendas, empowerment and devil’s advocates. Hidden agendas are something many leaders and managers are either unaware of or fail to account for in a professional setting. Hidden Agendas are basically what people actually want, not what they say they want. Not all hidden agendas should be surfaced. Empowering members of the team can yield more diversified and complete decisions and projects. Empowered teams decide “how to do it” but also whether the tasks should be done at all (Ford u26 Fottler, 2001). Finally, with ‘Devil’s Advocacy’ a common misconception is that a devil’s advocate is the person who argues just for the sake of arguing. When enacted correctly, a devil’s advocate proposes questions to fill in holes or gaps in the idea or decision. Devil’s Advocates can be are very helpful for a team, particularly if the role is purposefully passed around to different members. Employers are expecting that engineers and students from related disciplines know how to work collaboratively. We also know that increasing knowledge of team design and team development issues enhances that collaboration and ultimately increases the success of projects they complete. Creating physical, board games or online games to teach concepts insures that we understand the concepts. Holding a ‘Game Night’ with a debrief for students should be an engaging learning experience that is remembered for a long time

As phototrophic bacteria, cyanobacteria are continually exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) as they harvest solar energy. Long-wavelength ultraviolet radiation (UVA) in particular contributes to most of the UVR that reaches the Earth’s surface and damages living cells through photooxidative stress. In phototrophs, this can lead to harmful photosensitized light-harvesting proteins and pigments. To mitigate damage to the cell, some cyanobacteria produce a UVAabsorbing pigment in the extracellular sheath, known as scytonemin. Scytonemin is a heterocyclic, dimeric molecule that is produced by some cyanobacteria upon induction by UVA. It is hypothesized that it is regulated by a putative two-component regulatory system (TCRS; NpF1277 and NpF1278) that is upstream and adjacent to the scytonemin biosynthetic gene cluster in the cyanobacterium Nostoc punctiforme ATCC 29133. TCRSs are commonly made up of a sensor kinase which senses the environmental stress and a response regulator that is activated by the sensor kinase to initiate gene expression of a cellular response. The expression of the TCRS genes NpF1277 and NpF1278 in N. punctiforme have been evaluated in response to several environmental stressors: UVA, short-wavelength UVB, oxidative stress, and high light. Cells were stressed for 20, 40, and 60 minutes and the expression levels of the TCRS genes were compared to unstressed controls using quantitative PCR. Cells under UVA, UVB, and high light stress showed an up-regulation of both TCRS genes by 20 minutes. Aside from an up-regulation for both genes after 40 minutes of UVB and 60 minutes of high light, 40 and 60 minutes of stress generally resulted in either a down-regulation or no significant change for all four stressors. This research shows how regulation occurs for the sunscreen scytonemin in cyanobacteria and how they cope with stress under certain environmental conditions.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2015/1035/thumbnail.jp

Four commercial grades of Nitinol wire were tested in a uniaxial test rig at slow and fast cyclic actuation rates in order to understand strain evolution during near-isobaric conditions. A thin wire diameter of 0.010” was selected in order to enable enhanced heat transfer and thus response time during high thermal testing. Strain evolution is compared through 100 actuation cycles in equiatomic NiTinol, Ni-Ti-Cr, and Ni-Ti-Co. We observe improvement in cyclic actuation stability with diminishing grain size, strengthening precipitate dispersions, and ternary alloy additions. Future work will be discussed towards informing processing conditions for high and stable work output in wire-based low and medium temperature applications.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2015/1048/thumbnail.jp

This project provides a foundation for a multi-generational decay study of the Dr. Jack Sunderman monument located in the Jack A. Sunderman Geogarden on the IPFW campus. Like most systems of nature, the decay process of stone is complex. The monument in question will be affected by a variety of weathering processes. The ultimate goal is to identify all processes and differentiate their effects. Characterization, detailed observations, periodic measuring and the occasional sampling of the monument reveal weathering processes. The monument was closely observed from October 2013 through March 2014. Copious amounts of literature is available that document techniques and methods for the evaluation of stone properties such as porosity, permeability and capillary movement. Furthermore the Salem limestone is a well-studied building material. Simple methods are explored by the author in hopes of providing a basic interpretation of decay observed on the monument. Observations include absorption and dehydration rates, salt precipitation, capillary movement, discoloration, staining, and surface alteration. The most noticeable change is discoloration. The discoloration comes from a variety of sources such as atmospheric pollution and the oxidation of Iron-bearing minerals. Efflorescence of salt also causes a white discoloration although the salt is soluble and is quickly washed off by rain. The removal of efflorescence accounts for a miniscule amount of statue material but should be considered part of the decay process. Present observations and research lead to a conclusion that the short term decay of Salem limestone is negligible and the stone is resistant to decay and weathering at the scale of a human’s lifespan. This research provides consumers evidence of Salem limestone’s durability and helps to explain the popularity of Salem limestone as a building material.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2015/1045/thumbnail.jp

Water contamination is a prevalent topic in today’s world. Everyone needs water to survive, and water free of contaminants is essential to providing a healthy and comfortable way of life for the human populous. To determine the level of contamination of groundwater in Fort Wayne, Indiana, water level, pH, temperature, and conductivity were measured in four wells on the Indiana University–Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) campus and the adjacent creek. Also determined were the nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and phosphate levels. The USEPA maximum suggested acceptable levels are 10.0, 1.0, 250.0, and 5.0 mg/L for nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and phosphate respectively. The data was collected over an 8-month period. The results show that all parameters tested were within the USEPA acceptable drinking water limits (averages are shown in parentheses). Nitrate, nitrite, sulfate, and phosphate levels range between 0.0-3.0 (1.5), 0.0-0.01 (.004), 0.0-252.0 (67.4), 0.0-7.9 (1.9) mg/L respectively. The pH was between 4.8-10.2 (7.1) and the conductivity values range between 111- 1118 (674.4) ppm. The overall results show that the waters at IPFW are suitable for drinking.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2015/1052/thumbnail.jp

Here we present the construction of the necessary equipment to investigate the electrical excitation frequency dependence of Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) emissions. A DBD is a type of electrical discharge occurring between two electrodes just as many other discharges. However, in a DBD at least one electrode is covered with an insulating material which prohibits the formation of a complete arc. Instead a small amount of charge seeps through the insulator and builds up on its surface until a small discharge (in the form of a filament) can form. This happens all across the surface of the insulator at such a rate that the space near the insulator becomes filled with a haze of filaments. The light emitted from this plasma includes a significant amount of ultraviolet radiation. When combined with the energetic ions present in the plasma, DBDs can be used as a means of sterilization. What is unknown is how the emission from a DBD depends upon frequency of the excitation source. The most difficult part to performing this investigation is a power source that provides variable frequency at a constant power. We present our custom, variable-frequency, high voltage power supply and the subsequent tests of the same.http://opus.ipfw.edu/stu_symp2015/1067/thumbnail.jp

All three choral ensembles at IPFW combined to sing choral music selected around the theme of ‘night,” with Dr. North accompanying at the piano. This concert was held Wednesday November 11, 2015 at 7:30 pm in the Auer Performance Hall on IPFW’s campus in Fort Wayne, Indiana