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- All Subjects: Nutrition
- Creators: School of Life Sciences
- Resource Type: Text
Colorimetric assays are an important tool in point-of-care testing that offers several advantages to traditional testing methods such as rapid response times and inexpensive costs. A factor that currently limits the portability and accessibility of these assays are methods that can objectively determine the results of these assays. Current solutions consist of creating a test reader that standardizes the conditions the strip is under before being measured in some way. However, this increases the cost and decreases the portability of these assays. The focus of this study is to create a machine learning algorithm that can objectively determine results of colorimetric assays under varying conditions. To ensure the flexibility of a model to several types of colorimetric assays, three models were trained on the same convolutional neural network with different datasets. The images these models are trained on consist of positive and negative images of ETG, fentanyl, and HPV Antibodies test strips taken under different lighting and background conditions. A fourth model is trained on an image set composed of all three strip types. The results from these models show it is able to predict positive and negative results to a high level of accuracy.
All organisms perform best at a balanced point of intake where nutrients are ingested in specific amounts to confer optimal performance. However, when faced with limited nutrient availability, organisms are forced to make decisions which prioritize intake of certain macronutrients. While intake regulation has been more thoroughly studied in omnivores and carnivores, no research exists regarding lipid regulation in generalist herbivores. Traditionally, proteins and carbohydrates were thought to be the most important macronutrient for herbivore intake; however the large differences in lipid nutritional content between different plant species offers lots of potential for regulation of an important macronutrient. We studied whether generalist herbivores can regulate lipid intake, using the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria). Though herbivore protein and carbohydrate intake is well studied, less research studies regulation of lipid intake. We tested this by offering choice diets of varying carbohydrate and lipid content makeup and measuring consumption of each diet choice to determine overall carbohydrate and lipid intake. Four different lipid sources were used in order to control for taste or texture related confounds; canola oil, sunflower oil, grapeseed oil, and a lab designed synthetic oil based on the four most abundant fatty acids in common plant oils. On three out of four diet sources, groups evidences strong regulation of narrow intake target, with little disparity in overall intake of carbohydrate and lipid content between various choice diet treatments. Groups feeding on canola oil and sunflower oil based diets displayed the best regulation based on their having small disparities in intake between treatments, while those feeding on grapeseed oil based diets displayed wide variation in feeding behavior between treatments. Groups feeding on the synthetic oil based diet choice unexpectedly consumed much more carbohydrates than lipids when compared to all other groups. In conclusion, generalist herbivores are capable of regulating lipid intake.
The purpose of this cookbook and ingredient index is to simplify the reasoning behind eating a plant based diet--including how it can be beneficial to your health, and what benefits each ingredient provides. These recipes have been cultivated and modified over time to provide nutritious meals that are also tasty. I was introduced to healthy eating at a young age, and have been fascinated by it ever since. The recipes and information conveyed about a plant based diet have come from the many books read and research I have done on the subject. This paper will walk you through how I started this journey, and go on to show a basic overview of what makes up the foods we consume and why we need them. The cookbook portion of my Thesis contains recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks, sauces, and dessert. Following the cookbook is an ingredient index that goes through the majority of ingredients used in my recipes, and what health benefits they provide. I hope that by reading this, others will be inspired to use more plant-based whole foods in their diet, and realize the healing that can come from them.