Scholarworks
ScholarWorks is an open access repository for the capture of the intellectual work of Montana State University (MSU) in support of its teaching, research and service missions. MSU ScholarWorks is a central point of discovery for accessing, collecting, sharing, preserving, and distributing knowledge to the Montana State University community and the world.
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Recent Submissions
Anti-Biofilm Efficacy of Commonly Used Wound Care Products in In Vitro Settings
(MDPI AG, 2023-03) Regulski, Matthew; Myntti, Matthew F.; James, Garth A.
Considering the prevalence and pathogenicity of biofilms in wounds, this study was designed to evaluate the anti-biofilm capabilities of eight commercially available wound care products using established in vitro assays for biofilms. The products evaluated included dressings with multiple delivery formats for ionic silver including nanocrystalline, gelling fibers, polyurethane (PU) foam, and polymer matrix. Additionally, non-silver-based products including an extracellular polymeric substance (EPS)-dissolving antimicrobial wound gel (BDWG), a collagenase-based debriding ointment and a fish skin-based skin substitute were also evaluated. The products were evaluated on Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa mixed-species biofilms grown using colony drip flow reactor (CDFR) and standard drip flow reactor (DFR) methodologies. Anti-biofilm efficacy was measured by viable plate counts and confocal scanning laser microscopy (CSLM). Four of the eight wound care products tested were efficacious in inhibiting growth of new biofilm when compared with untreated controls. These four products were further evaluated against mature biofilms. BDWG was the only product that achieved greater than 2-log growth reduction (5.88 and 6.58 for S. aureus and P. aeruginosa, respectively) of a mature biofilm. Evaluating both biofilm prevention and mature biofilm disruption capacity is important to a comprehensive understanding of the anti-biofilm efficacy of wound care products.
Biofilm reactors for the treatment of used water in space:potential, challenges, and future perspectives
(Elsevier BV, 2023-12) Espinosa-Ortiz, Erika J.; Gerlach, Robin; Peyton, Brent M.; Roberson, Luke; Yeh, Daniel H.
Water is not only essential to sustain life on Earth, but also is a crucial resource for long-duration deep space exploration and habitation. Current systems in space rely on the resupply of water from Earth, however, as missions get longer and move farther away from Earth, resupply will no longer be a sustainable option. Thus, the development of regenerative reclamation water systems through which useable water can be recovered from “waste streams” (i.e., used waters) is sorely needed to further close the loop in space life support systems. This review presents the origin and characteristics of different used waters generated in space and discusses the intrinsic challenges of developing suitable technologies to treat such streams given the unique constrains of space exploration and habitation (e.g., different gravity conditions, size and weight limitations, compatibility with other systems, etc.). In this review, we discuss the potential use of biological systems, particularly biofilms, as possible alternatives or additions to current technologies for water reclamation and waste treatment in space. The fundamentals of biofilm reactors, their advantages and disadvantages, as well as different reactor configurations and their potential for use and challenges to be incorporated in self-sustaining and regenerative life support systems in long-duration space missions are also discussed. Furthermore, we discuss the possibility to recover value-added products (e.g., biomass, nutrients, water) from used waters and the opportunity to recycle and reuse such products as resources in other life support subsystems (e.g., habitation, waste, air, etc.).
Measures and Metrics of ML Data and Models to Assure Reliable and Safe Systems
(IEEE, 2024-01) Werner, Benjamin D.; Schumeg, Benjamin J.; Vigil, Jon; Hall, Shane N.; Thengvall, Benjamin G.; Petty, Mikel D.
The US Army solicited partners through a Broad Agency Announcement to propose solutions under a Small Business Technology Transfer contract mechanism for the program “Metrics and Methods for Verification, Validation, Assurance and Trust of Machine Learning Models & Data for Safety-Critical Applications in Armaments Systems.” OptTek Systems, Inc. and University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) were one of the selected proposals for Phase I. Under this contract agreement OptTek and UAH set the goal to research & develop (R&D) fundamental metrics & measures for the certification & qualification of ML training data sets & models. Of particular note, the use of a safety score calculated from the accuracy as well as a dedicated look at data quality have been demonstrated as reasonable approaches to the proposed topic. As the Technical Point of Contact for this effort, the US Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Armaments Center (DEVCOM AC) authored the topic and provided guidance on the effort to align with mission objectives. This paper is an exploration of the research and development conducted by OptTek and UAH within the framework of how it may be applied to the assurance of systems to be developed by the US Army and augment practices in reliability and safety.
Common ragweed (Ambrosia artemisiifolia L.) accessions in the Mid-Atlantic region resistant to ALS-, PPO-, and EPSPS-inhibiting herbicides
(Cambridge University Press, 2024-01) D'Amico Jr., Frank; Besanҫon, Thierry; Koehler, Alyssa; Shergill, Lovreet; Ziegler, Melissa; VanGessel, Mark
Common ragweed is a troublesome weed in many crops. Farmers and crop advisors in the coastal Mid-Atlantic region have reported inadequate control of common ragweed in soybean fields with glyphosate and other herbicide modes of action. To determine whether herbicide resistance was one of the causes of poor herbicide performance, 29 accessions from four states (Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia) where common ragweed plants survived herbicide applications and produced viable seeds were used for greenhouse screening. Common ragweed seedlings from those accessions were treated with multiple rates of cloransulam, fomesafen, or glyphosate, applied individually postemergence (POST). All accessions except one demonstrated resistance to at least one of the herbicides applied at twice the effective rate (2×), 17 accessions were two-way resistant (to glyphosate and cloransulam, or to glyphosate and fomesafen), and three-way resistance was present in eight accessions collected from three different states. Based on the POST study, five accessions were treated preemergence (PRE) with herbicides that inhibit acetolactate synthase (ALS), and two accessions were treated with herbicides that inhibit protoporphyrinogen oxidase (PPO). All accessions treated PRE with the ALS inhibitors chlorimuron or cloransulam demonstrated resistance at the 2× rates. Both accessions treated PRE with the PPO inhibitor sulfentrazone had survivors at the 2× rate. When the same accessions were treated PRE with fomesafen, one had survivors at the 2× rate, and one had survivors at the 1× rate. Results from these tests confirmed common ragweed with three-way resistance to POST herbicides is widespread in the region. In addition, this is the first confirmation that common ragweed accessions in the region are also resistant to ALS- or PPO-inhibiting herbicides when applied PRE.
Increasing the scope and scale of agroecology in the Northern Great Plains
(Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems, 2024-04) Maxwell, Bruce D.; Duff, Hannah
Agroecology is a science, practice, and movement that is gaining momentum worldwide. It aims to provide local, stable, and diverse diets through diversified, resilient, and sustainable agricultural practices (Ewert et al. 2023). However, agroecology seeks to address food systems issues by replacing large-scale commodity-based agriculture with something very different. Agroecology is typically discussed within the scope and scale of smallholder farming while failing to address the issues embedded in large-scale commodity-based agriculture. While we do not take issue with an ideal system where food is produced on small farms, it does not need to exclude agroecology applied to current scales of agriculture in regions like the Northern Great Plains (NGP), where agriculture consists of spatially extensive crop and livestock farms. NGP farms have internal sustainability problems and harmful social, racial, and environmental externalities that can be addressed with agroecological principles. Despite the problems, the large scale of NGP agriculture is not likely to change much in coming decades, and so there is an imperative to apply agroecological principles at larger scales to address immediate issues. We emphasize that applying agroecological principles to large-scale farming could increase crop and forage diversity, conserve biodiversity, strengthen cross-boundary and multi-objective ecosystem management, address regional food security, and encourage co-innovation with crop and livestock producers in the NGP (Tittonell, 2020). If agroecologists don’t address the immediate issues of NGP such as climate change adaptation and mitigation, livestock-based protein production, unequal access to nutritious food, agriautomation, and pandemic food system disruption, then we may only expect industrialized agriculture to provide short-sited profit-motivated solutions repeating a pattern of the past.