The broad-based implementation of thermoelectric materials in converting heat to electricity hinges on the achievement of high conversion efficiency. Here we demonstrate a thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of 2.5 at 923 K by the cumulative integration of several performance-enhancing concepts in a single material system. Using non-equilibrium processing we show...
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) mediate intercellular communication through transfer of RNA and protein between cells. Thus, understanding how cargo molecules are loaded and delivered by EVs is of central importance for elucidating the biological roles of EVs and developing EV-based therapeutics. While some motifs modulating the loading of biomolecular cargo into...
In 2015, the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommended targeted screening for prediabetes and diabetes (dysglycemia) in adults who are aged 40 to 70 y old and overweight or obese. Given increasing prevalence of dysglycemia at younger ages and lower body weight, particularly among racial/ethnic minorities, we sought...
Air within the bladder wall, or bladder pneumatosis, is a very rare finding typically resulting from an infectious etiology, as in emphysematous cystitis (EC). However, there have been reports of bladder pneumatosis occurring without clear infectious origins. We present a case of a female patient found to have concurrent bladder...
A very active area of materials research is to devise methods that use machine learning to automatically extract predictive models from existing materials data. While prior examples have demonstrated successful models for some applications, many more applications exist where machine learning can make a strong impact. To enable faster development...
In Sub-Saharan Africa, epidemiological studies have reported an increasing burden of non-communicable diseases (NCD) among people living with HIV. NCD management can be feasibly integrated into HIV care; however, clinic readiness to provide NCD services in these settings should first be assessed and gaps in care identified. A cross-sectional survey...
Quantum frequency conversion (QFC) of photonic signals preserves quantum information while simultaneously changing the signal wavelength. A common application of QFC is to translate the wavelength of a signal compatible with the current fiber-optic infrastructure to a shorter wavelength more compatible with high-quality single-photon detectors and optical memories. Recent work...
Cathode degradation is a key factor that limits the lifetime of Li-ion batteries. To identify functional coatings that can suppress this degradation, we present a high-throughput density functional theory based framework which consists of reaction models that describe thermodynamic and electrochemical stabilities, and acid-scavenging capabilities of materials. Screening more than...
US surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) is often delayed and incomplete which creates missed opportunities to identify and respond to trends in disease. Internet search engine data has the potential to be an efficient, economical and representative enhancement to the established surveillance system. Google Trends allows the download of...
Since Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation “Plus” (REDD+) starting gaining traction in the UN climate negotiations in 2007, its architects and scholars have grappled with its community-level justice implications. On the one hand, supporters argue that REDD+ will help the environment and forest-dependent communities by generating payments for forest...
Transposable elements (TEs) have been recognized as potentially powerful drivers of genomic evolutionary change, but factors affecting their mobility and regulation remain poorly understood. Chaperones such as Hsp90 buffer environmental perturbations by regulating protein conformation, but are also part of the PIWI-interacting RNA pathway, which regulates genomic instability arising from...
Acoustic stimulation methods applied during sleep in young adults can increase slow wave activity (SWA) and improve sleep-dependent memory retention. It is unknown whether this approach enhances SWA and memory in older adults, who generally have reduced SWA compared to younger adults. Additionally, older adults are at risk for age-related...
In the United States, African-Americans’ (AAs) HIV infection rates are higher than any other racial group, and AA men who have sex with women (MSW) are a significant proportion of new cases. There is little research into AA MSW HIV/AIDS knowledge, barriers, and facilitators of HIV testing in Chicago. We...
Electronic and vibrational correlations report on the dynamics and structure of molecular species, yet revealing these correlations experimentally has proved extremely challenging. Here, we demonstrate a method that probes correlations between states within the vibrational and electronic manifold with quantum coherence selectivity. Specifically, we measure a fully coherent four-dimensional spectrum...
When making serial predictions in a binary decision task, there is a clear tendency to assume that after a series of the same external outcome (e.g., heads in a coin flip), the next outcome will be the opposing one (e.g., tails), even when the outcomes are independent of one another....
The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded health coverage for thousands of Illinois residents. Expanded coverage, however, does not guarantee appropriate health care. Diabetes and its ocular complications serve as an example of how providers in underserved urban areas may not be able to keep up with new demand for...
Metabolic syndrome has become a major public health challenge worldwide. The association between metabolic syndrome and DNA methylation is of great research interest. We constructed a binomial model to investigate the association between a metabolic syndrome index and DNA methylation in the Normative Aging Study. We applied the Iterative Sure...
Many preventable behaviors contribute to adolescent mortality and morbidity. Non-adherence to preventive measures represents a challenge and has been associated with worse health outcomes in this population. The widespread use of electronic communication technologies by adolescents, particularly the use of text messaging (short message service, SMS) and mobile phones, presents...
We investigated the racial content of perceivers’ mental images of different socioeconomic categories. We selected participants who were either high or low in prejudice toward the poor. These participants saw 400 pairs of visually noisy face images. Depending on condition, participants chose the face that looked like a poor person,...
The diverse circuits and functional contributions of the basal ganglia, coupled with known differences in dopaminergic function in patients with schizophrenia, suggest they may be an important contributor to the etiology of the hallmark symptoms and cognitive dysfunction experienced by these patients. Using activation-likelihood-estimation meta-analysis of functional imaging research, we...
Nearly a quarter of visits to the Emergency Department are for conditions that could have been managed via outpatient treatment; improvements that allow patients to quickly recognize and receive appropriate treatment are crucial. The growing popularity of mobile technology creates new opportunities for real-time adaptive medical intervention, and the simultaneous...
After large-scale disturbances such as fire, seeding can be necessary to reestablish a plant community and prevent soil erosion. While native plants are ideal for providing ecosystem services and supporting wildlife, currently seeded natives often fail to establish in disturbed landscapes. Further, reseeding with native plants is often hindered by...
Climate change, whether referring to historic ice ages or contemporary shifts in global climate patterns, has been linked to wide-ranging and regionally variable changes in biotic communities.
Understanding the factors that drive the maintenance of polymorphisms in plant populations has long been of interest to evolutionary biology. Variation in floral traits has often been attributed to selection by pollinators, but recent evidence suggests that other biotic and abiotic agents may also contribute to floral trait differentiation. In...
Because long-chain n-alkanes (n-C21 to n-C37) are found in the epicuticular leaf waxes of all vascular plants and are stable, long-lived molecules, the study of their molecular and isotopic compositions stands to serve as a potentially powerful tool in the fields of modern chemotaxonomy and paleoecology. This study attempts to...
Trees in urban areas offer ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, storm water attenuation, reduction of energy used in buildings and wildlife habitat. Cities invest substantial funds and resources to maintain a healthy urban forest, and much research has been done to improve its resiliency and sustainability. Studies have been done...
The prairie grasses Andropogon gerardii and Sorghastrum nutans have seeds with awns that twist in response to changes in humidity. The humidity-sensitive, or hygroscopic, part of the awn twists, moving the bent, passive portion in an arc. This trait has been demonstrated to improve seedling recruitment in other grass species...
Understanding how root traits vary within and among species, and how they respond to heterogeneous environments, can provide important insight into functional plant attributes that influence plant survival in competitive environments. Selecting plant material with root traits that will support its survival in competitive environments may help improve the outcomes...
Restoration managers may select seed from a variety sources for their restoration projects. If the purchased seed is not of the local ecotype, land managers run the risk of poor establishment in the short-term and outcrossing between local and non-local ecotypes, genetic swamping, and the loss of local genetic diversity...
Due to concerns about population declines and habitat destruction, secretive marsh birds (SMBs) are of high conservation concern at state, regional, and national levels. Gaps in research on SMB habitat pose barriers to conservation and wetland restoration efforts.
Fire is an agent of ecosystem change that has played a critical role in shaping the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. Periodic prescribed fire maintains the prairie by removing woody and invasive plant species, and stimulating growth of native herbaceous species. Fire’s beneficial effect on the tallgrass prairie aboveground community, in terms...
Once widespread throughout southern Wisconsin, Quercus savannas are now one of the most endangered communities due to fire suppression and increasing landscape fragmentation. These plant communities are also highly susceptible to invasions by nonnative, exotic species. Understanding the mechanisms of exotic species invasion has been the focus of numerous studies....
Hybridization is an important evolutionary pathway to genetic diversity, fitness, and ultimately to the emergence of new species. In contrast, hybridization between a native and an introduced species can lead to a loss of locally adapted gene complexes and ultimately to the extinction of the native. In the last decade,...
With increasing urbanization and creation of novel habitat types, green roofs can provide usable habitat for many species. To date, most research on green roofs has focused on minimizing the environmental impacts of buildings but little is known about the ecological services they provide. Previous research has shown that although...
Underutilized crops have the potential to economically benefit developing countries and to improve global food security. Breadfruit (Artocarpus altilis, Moraceae) is one such crop that can provide essential nutrients and requires relatively low-energy input to maintain compared to major crops. Humans have selected for many cultivars of breadfruit since its...
The introduction of non-native pests in general, and invasive plants in particular, has been receiving increasing interest by scientists, environmental groups, and to a certain extent the general public. Deleterious effects from the release of such alien species include threats to the environment, national economies, and even human health. The...
Plant-aphid systems provide a valuable opportunity for studying the ecological consequences of land use change for interacting species. The North American tallgrass prairie has undergone severe reduction and fragmentation due to agricultural development. The prairie perennial Echinacea angustifolia, a model system for studying population-level effects of habitat fragmentation, hosts a...
The environmental and plant physiological correlates of plant growth and reproductive effort in the locally threatened orchid, Cypripedium candidum Muhl. ex Willd were examined in the context of a conceptual model of demographic and reproductive trade-offs, focusing on three Illinois populations. This study addresses the current status and long-term trends...
Nitrogen (N) deposition can alter belowground microbial communities, especially ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi, resulting in a reduced ability of associated trees to access organic nutrients. This study tested whether N addition decreases ECM species richness and shifts ECM species composition across spatial scales in a subtropical slash pine (Pinus elliottii) plantation...
The tallgrass prairie once dominated much of the mid-western United States. Today, this highly productive system has been severely reduced, contributing to an array of environmental problems. The recent renaissance in natural area restoration and stewardship of the tallgrass prairie in the Chicago Wilderness region (Illinois, USA), especially in the...
Identifying factors that shape the spatial distribution of genetic variation within and among natural populations is crucial to understanding many population> and landscape>level processes. In this study, I characterize the strength and extent of spatial genetic structure in Oenothera harringtonii (Onagraceae), an insect>pollinated, gravity>dispersed herb endemic to the grasslands of...
Habitat fragmentation can alter the conditions of natural plant populations, introducing novel selective pressures. The ability of a population to respond to environmental change can be inferred by assessing the population’s genetic diversity and the heritability of traits thought to be under selection.
Two experiments were conducted to assess the germination, growth, and survival of Cirsium pitcheri Torr. ex Eaton T & G in the Chicagoland region. The first experiment involved growing seeds from various native populations to determine tolerance for the current Chicagoland climate. The second experiment tested three of the populations...
Pollination is a reproductive necessity in the majority of the world’s flowering plants. Pollen limitation threatens plant reproduction, particularly in self-incompatible species. Although assessing pollen limitation usually requires pollen supplementation experiments, alternative methods support the findings of traditional pollen supplementation experiments.
Pollination is a reproductive necessity in the majority of the world’s flowering plants. Pollen limitation threatens plant reproduction, particularly in self-incompatible species. Although assessing pollen limitation usually requires pollen supplementation experiments, alternative methods support the findings of traditional pollen supplementation experiments.
Past efforts to reintroduce the native legume species Desmodium glutinosum and Lespedeza violacea into restored woodlands have not produced self-sustaining populations. Proposed factors preventing reintroduction include herbivory, persistent environmental effects of invasive shrubs, poor performance of commercial Rhizobium inoculants, and competitive displacement associated with elevated nitrogen availability. To address these...
Current ecological restoration efforts seek to restore a target community, maximize biodiversity or provide habitat for rare species. In practice, restoration ecology is often initiated and sustained without knowledge or reverence to the belowground ecosystem processes, though these processes often subtend the long-term sustainability of aboveground and belowground ecological communities.
The underutilized tropical fruit tree, “cempedak” (Artocarpus integer (Thunb.) Merr. , Moraceae), is a major crop in Malaysia but the distribution of genetic diversity in the crop and its putative wild progenitor, “bangkong” (Artocarpus integer var. silvestris Corner), have not been studied. To investigate the diversity and origins of cempedak,...
Acoustic emission (AE) testing was deployed on details of two large steel Interstate Highway bridges: one cantilever through-truss and one trapezoidal box girder bridge. Quantitative measurements of activity levels at known and suspected crack locations were made by monitoring AE under normal service loads (e.g., live traffic and wind). AE...