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Dietary composition can impact colonization and composition of gut microbiota. The first aim of this dissertation was to evaluate the effect of dietary Se deprivation, sex and, aging on taxonomic composition of gut microbiota in mice. We have previously shown that long-term dietary Se deprivation promotes health span deteriorate including type-2 diabetes like symptoms in later state Terc-/- mice carrying humanized telomeres. In the present study, the data suggested that the dietary Se deprivation and aging significantly and comparably altered the gut microflora composition. The ratio of Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes was decreased by dietary Se deprivation or aging in both sexes. Abundance of selective gut bacteria genus was associated with dietary Se status and aging as evidenced by heat map and principal coordinate analyses. Moreover, the abundance of Akkermensia muciniphila, a bacterium in association with obesity, differed by Se-deprivation, aging and sex. Taken together, changes in gut microbiota composition by dietary Se deprivation may accelerate mouse aging in a sex-specific manner. The second aim of this dissertation was to investigate the effects and underlying mechanism of fecal fermentation of non-digestible fibers isolated from common beans on adipocyte differentiation and fat accumulation to elucidate the cellular mechanisms. Treatment of 3T3-L1 murine preadipocytes with fermented product resulted in a reduction of triglyceride accumulation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The fermentation product exhibited antiipogenic effects through suppression of the adipogenesis-associated key transcription factors or activators peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (Ppar gamma), CCAAT enhancer-bind protein alpha (C/ebp alpha) and fatty acid binding protein 4 (Fabp4). Moreover, the mRNA expression lipolytic genes including peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta (Ppar delta) and mitochondrial uncoupling protein 2 (Ucp2) were induced by the fermentation products of non-digestible fiber isolated from common beans counteract adipogenesis through regulation of key targets.Altogether, optimizing gut microbiota by nutritionally adequate level of dietary Se and non-digestible fiber appears to represent a promising strategy to control or prevent early onset of aging and age-related metabolic diseases.

Xylooligosaccharides (XOS) are considered to be prebiotics. Prebiotics are defined as non-digestible food ingredients that benefit the host by stimulating the growth and activity of a limited number of bacteria, such as the Bifidobacterium genus, in the colon. Corn fiber separated from distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) could be a valuable feedstock for XOS production. The objective of the first chapter was to determine the efficacy for autohydrolysis to produce XOS using fiber separated from DDGS. Fiber was treated with deionized water in a Parr-reactor, at temperatures ranging from 140 to 220 °C to produce XOS. The maximum total yield of XOS in the solution was 18.6 wt% of the corn fiber at 180 °C. The objective of the second chapter was to evaluate and compare the prebiotic effect of XOS produced by autohydrolysis of DDGS fiber (XOS-D) with other substrates (FOS, commercial XOS (XOS-C), xylose, glucose and inulin) on intestinal bacteria, B. adolescentis, B. breve and Lactobacillus brevis. Bacterial growth on XOS-C was comparable with growth on FOS and inulin. XOS-D promoted bacterial growth more than that of control. Prebiotic potential of XOS produced from corn fiber was confirmed. The objective of third chapter is to determine the yield of XOS from corn fiber separated from ground corn flour (FC) and DDGS (FD) at different autohydrolysis temperatures and hold-times. The conditions for maximum XOS production for FD and FC were 180 °C with 20 min hold-time and 190 °C with 10 min hold-time, respectively. The fourth chapter focuses on production of XOS by enzymatic hydrolysis method for XOS production. Endo-1-4-xylanase enzyme was ineffective for corn fiber as well as corn fiber gum (CFG), despite evaluating a multitude of pretreatment methods and processing conditions. We have proposed use of Multifect Pectinase PE and Multifect Xylanase enzymes, based on work from other researchers. For commercial applications such as food industries, XOS would need to be isolated from liquor. The fifth chapter of this study focuses on literature review of purification methods used in XOS purification.

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A fiber optic fluid level sensor based on light transmission attenuation due to bending losses is designed, built and tested. Fibers formed with reverse curvatures of decreasing radii will induce and increasing amount of lower order mode light loss to the cladding as the light propagates along the step index multimode fiber. The sensor is arranged in the fluid in a vertical position such that the light travels along the fiber from the bottom or low fluid point to the top or full point. As the fluid covers increasing lengths of the exposed fiber, it strips even more power from the cladding (assuming the fluid refractive index is greater than the cladding refractive index). Data taken with a sensor of this configuration show a monotonic decrease of the output intensity as a function of increasing fluid level. As much as a 14 dB change occurs over a one-foot fluid level change. A mathematical model, based on both field theory and geometrical optics, is developed to evaluate and predict the performance of this fiber optic fluid level sensor. Comparisons of the theoretical predictions and the experimental results under laboratory conditions show very good agreement.

ABSTRACT: Objectives: Masseter muscle fast-fiber composition is reportedly increased on the deviant facial asymmetry side in dentofacial deformities patients. Recently, four distinct asymmetry classes have been identified, based on posterior-anterior cephalometrics in this same population, which may have different functional etiologies. Our aim is to relate muscle fiber type properties with specific asymmetric craniofacial growth in these asymmetry groups. Methods: Diagnostic evaluations, radiographs, and masseter specimens were obtained from orthognathic surgery patients at the University of Lille. Immunohistochemical muscle staining and morphometrics determined the mean areas and percent occupancies of slow-I, fast-II, neonatal, atrial and hybrid fiber types. Eighty-three subjects (twenty nine symmetric, fifty-four asymmetric) had at least unilateral (left or right) fiber type information, while twenty-seven had bilateral (left and right) data. Fiber data were compared between symmetry and asymmetry subjects and between the four asymmetry classes. Significant differences between groups were determined by Fisher’s and ANOVA tests. Results: Type-II mean fiber area (p<0.006) and percent occupancy (p<0.018) were significantly greater on shorter ramal sides in asymmetric compared to symmetric subjects, supporting previous data for facial vertical dimension asymmetry. Neonatal- atrial mean fiber area (p<0.017) and percent occupancy (p<0.027) were decreased in 3 asymmetric groups. No significant difference was found amongst the four asymmetry classes (p<0.05). Conclusions: Imbalanced skeletal proportions are associated with similar imbalances in fiber type properties in left versus right masseter muscle biopsies sampled in the same patient at the time of orthognathic surgery. Specific to our findings, there is an association between increase in neo-atrial and decrease in type II fiber type area and percent occupancy in symmetric patients. / Oral Biology

Multiplexing has evolved over the years from Emile Baudot's method of transmitting six simultaneous telegraph signals over one wire to the high-speed mixed-signal communications systems that are now commonplace. The evolution started with multiplexing identical information sources, such as plain old telephone service (POTS) devices. Recently, however, methods to combine signals from different information sources, such as telephone and video signals for example, have required new approaches to the development of software and hardware, and fundamental changes in the way we envision the basic block diagrams of communication systems. The importance of multiplexing cannot be overstated. To say that much of the current economic and technological progress worldwide is due in part to mixed-signal communications systems would not be incorrect. Along the vein of advancing the state-of-the-art, this dissertation research addresses a new area of multiplexing by taking a novel approach to network different-type sensors using software and signal processing. Two different sensor types were selected, fiber optics and MEMS, and were networked using code division multiplexing. The experimentation showed that the interconnection of these sensors using code division multiplexing was feasible and that the mixed signal demultiplexing software unique to this research allowed the disparate signals to be discerned. An analysis of an expanded system was performed with the results showing that the ultimate number of sensors that could be multiplexed with this technique ranges from the hundreds into the millions, depending on the specific design parameters used. Predictions about next-next generation systems using the techniques developed in the research are presented. / Ph. D.

The fabric of the city. A folded roof plane. Textile brick. The density of a weave. A fabric's structure. A hem's meter. The selvage. The fringe. Weaving. The connections drawn between textiles and architecture are limitless. Can a building and the processes that occur within it stitch together the holes in a city? The project explores the relationship between weaving and architecture. Can all aspects of the building - from spatial sequences and circulation to structure and skin - be woven? / Master of Architecture

The simultaneous effects of dietary fiber, temperature, and daylength on the gastrointestinal morphology and physiology in meadow voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus) were investigated. Voles were randomly divided (10 in each group) and placed in 15-day treatment regimes [cold (5 C) and warm (21 C), daylengths long (18L:6D) and short (6L:18D), and diets of high fiber (50% neutral detergent fiber [NDF]) and low fiber (5% NDF) content] followed by a 5-day digestibility trial to determine diet digestibility in relation to food intake. Total mass of individuals, length, wet mass and dry mass of the stomach, small intestine, caecum, large intestine, adrenal glands, liver, and kidneys was evaluated. Data was analyzed by ANOVA using the SAS system. Meadow voles increased food intake but decreased turnover time and digestive efficiency under low ambient temperature condition, short daylength, and/or high dietary fiber. Increased energy demand had a minimal effect on the gastrointestinal tissue mass but resulted in slightly increased length of all tissues except the small intestine. The increased food intake and small changes to gastrointestinal morphology during times of increased energy demands suggest that meadow voles are able to meet their energy needs primarily through increased food intake, and therefore more energetically expensive gastrointestinal changes are minimized. / Master of Science