Publications
Permanent URI for this collection
Browse
Search Collection
1 - 5 of 59984
-
PublicationDebunking wasp pollination: Wasps are comparable to bees in terms of plant interactions, body pollen and single-visit pollen deposition(John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Entomological Society, 2024-04-09)1. Wasps are understudied in their contribution to pollination services. In order to better understand the ecological contribution of wasp communities to plant pollination, we conducted three studies to compare bees and wasps by (1) the plant communities visited in agricultural and prairie environments, (2) body pollen composition as an indirect measure of pollination and (3) a single-visit deposition study as a direct measure of pollination in the plant species complex Solidago canadensis.
2. We found wasps visit a distinct early-blooming exotic plant community from bees but have overlapping use of late-blooming native plants and similar network interaction metrics. This suggests wasps may fill an ecological niche distinct from bees, while also serving as common native plant visitors. We also found that body pollen density and pollen fidelity in four and five (out of six) wasp families, respectively, were comparable to or greater than the bee family Colletidae. Three wasp families also showed comparable to or greater visit fidelity than two (out of five) bee families examined. These results suggest wasps may carry and potentially deliver substantial pollen to specific plants. In addition, controlled single-visit deposition revealed the paper wasp Polistes fuscatus deposits a similar amount of pollen grains as the bumble bee Bombus impatiens, suggesting surprisingly high pollination efficiency that warrants further investigation.
3. Our multi-pronged study shows the importance of investigating the role of wasps as pollinators, especially by focusing on direct plant-pollination metrics to determine wasp pollination efficacy. -
PublicationEngineering tools for stimulating wound healing(AIP Publishing, 2024-04-09)Wound healing is the complex physiological process of restoring the skin's integrity, structure, and function after damage caused by external conditions. The wound healing cascade may be altered due to the progression of certain diseases, such as diabetes, venous hypertension, or peripheral arterial disease, resulting in non-healing chronic wounds. Chronic wounds can be characterized by a wide variety of pathologies including increased reactive oxygen species, ineffective neutrophil activity, overabundance of pro-inflammatory cytokines, and chronic hypoxia. Medical intervention is crucial to heal chronic wounds. This review explores current research to engineer improved chronic wound treatment devices, dressings, and constructs to facilitate tissue regeneration and wound closure. This review first covers different physical stimulation therapies, then, local therapeutic delivery systems, and finally three-dimensional (bio)printing techniques for the fabrication of skin grafts and wound dressings. Additionally, the review discusses the regulatory process for bringing cutting-edge wound healing technologies to market and highlights currently approved products for wound treatment. At the end, the unmet need and future directions that the field should expand are discussed.
-
PublicationSurvival of red knots in the northern Gulf of Mexico(Frontiers Media, 2024-04-09)Highly migratory shorebirds are among the fastest declining avian guilds, so determining causes of mortality is critically important for their conservation. Most of these species depend on a specific geographic arrangement of suitable sites that reliably provide resources needed to fuel physiologically demanding life histories. Long-term mark-resight projects allow researchers to investigate specific potential sources of variation in demographic rates between populations. Red Knots (Calidris canutus) occur in three relatively distinct regions across the northern Gulf of Mexico, and two of these areas have been experiencing episodic harmful algal blooms (red tide) with increased frequency in recent decades. Since knots are mostly molluscivorous during the nonbreeding season in the Gulf, they are potentially exposed to red tide toxins at high concentrations via their filter-feeding prey. We used long-term mark-resight data from Texas, Louisiana, and Florida (USA) to estimate apparent survival, and to assess the effects of red tides on survival of Red Knots. We also assessed effects of tracking devices deployed in conjunction with the projects over the years. While overall apparent annual survival rates were similar across the three locations (0.768 – 0.819), several red tide events were associated with catastrophically low seasonal (fall) survival in Florida (as low as 0.492) and Texas (as low as 0.510). Leg-mounted geolocators, but not temporary glued-on VHF tags, were associated with a reduction in apparent survival (~8%/year). Movement of knots between the three areas was rare and site fidelity is known to be high. Harmful algal blooms are predicted to increase in frequency and severity with climate change and increased anthropogenic degradation of coastal habitats, which may further endanger these as well as other shorebird populations around the world.
-
PublicationA Systems Approach to Limiting or Eliminating the Use Restraint and Seclusion in Schools(© 2023 AASA, The School Superintendents Association, 2024-04-06)Despite the long-term negative outcomes associated with restraining and secluding students, these practices are frequently used in schools, with disproportionate use on students with disabilities. Based on recent guidance from the U.S. Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, misusing these practices violates student rights under the Americans with Disabilities Act. This policy document aligns with research findings that seclusion and physical restraint should only be used in emergencies and only as a last resort. This article intends to provide three systems-level changes to reduce or eliminate the use of restraint and seclusion in schools: implement schoolwide positive behavior intervention and supports, support students in crisis, and include families in an ongoing collaboration process.
-
PublicationVirtual Reality Adaptive Training for Personalized Stress Inoculation(Sage Journals, 2024-03-28)Objective: To evaluate a personalized adaptive training program designed for stress prevention using graduated stress exposure. Background: Astronauts in the high-risk space mission environment are prone to performance-impairing stress responses, making preemptive stress inoculation essential for their training. Methods: This work developed an adaptive virtual reality-based system that adjusts environmental stressors based on real-time stress indicators to optimize training stress levels. Sixty-five healthy subjects underwent task training in one of three groups: skill-only (no stressors), fixed-graduated (prescheduled stressor changes), and adaptive. Psychological (subjective stress, task engagement, distress, worry, anxiety, and workload) and physiological (heart rate, heart rate variability, blood pressure, and electrodermal activity) responses were measured. Results: The adaptive condition showed a significant decrease in heart rate and a decreasing trend in heart rate variability ratio, with no changes in the other training conditions. Distress showed a decreasing trend for the graduated and adaptive conditions. Task engagement showed a significant increase for adaptive and a significant decrease for the graduated condition. All training conditions showed a significant decrease in worry and anxiety and a significant increase in the other heart rate variability metrics. Conclusion: Although all training conditions mitigated some stress, the preponderance of trial effects for the adaptive condition supports that it is more successful at decreasing stress.