Fairmont State University

Electrospinning is a breakthrough technique in materials science that enables the fabrication of polymer yarns with extraordinary nanoscale precision previously unattainable. Nanofiber-based yarns produced by the electrospinning process show unique structural and functional properties differing from traditional materials, such as an incredibly high surface area, mechanical properties leading to significantly increased durability, and architectures that can be designed according to specific requirements. This review details the transformative influence of electrospinning on yarn technology, emphasizing its incredible potential to go beyond the conventional constraints that have previously limited this field and thus fuel innovation in a vast range of applications across many industries. Thanks to innovative nanotechnology applications and high-end materials engineering, electrospun nanofibrous yarns have seriously redefined standards in many important areas, such as environmental sustainability, energy solutions, wearable technology, and biomedicine. However, significant challenges persist, requiring further scale-up and process optimization. This review emphasizes advancements made so far in the art of the electrospinning process for yarn development in pivotal positions for next-generation progress. The future of nanofiber-based yarns and their integration underscores the importance of such yarns in solving current global challenges.

Appalachia is home to diverse range of organisms and ecosystems including freshwater streams and rivers. A common species found here is the native brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis). This particular species of fish is often used to evaluate water quality and ecosystem stability; however, declining populations have risen concern for environmental stressors. This study focuses on sites in the Tygart Valley River Watershed region in West Virginia. We sampled brook trout eDNA from 20 streams historically known to carry brook trout. eDNA is DNA collected from the environment that is naturally shed by organisms. This includes substances such as mucus, feces, or skin cells. eDNA is a valuable tool used for monitoring wildlife diversity, tracking endangered species, or detecting invasive species. GIS mapping was used to map potential locations of brook trout populations based on DNR electrofishing samples. The samples collected were analyzed for brook trout DNA using RT-PCR. We have calculated the proportion of known sites where brook trout DNA was identified, and used this data to compare eDNA sampling of brook trout populations to past electrofishing samples. These samples of brook trout specifically, have provided insight into the overall health and stability of the Tygart Valley River headwaters. These results are important because they provide a low-effort tool to monitor Appalachian populations potentially threatened by climate change. The results can then be used to protect and preserve critical habitat for Appalachian species.

In The True and the Good, Chase Wrenn wrestles with the problem of truth’s value: those theories which take truth to be inherently valuable do not offer plausible theories of the nature of truth, while the most promising theories of the nature of truth face difficulties in establishing that truth is valuable. Wrenn argues that the reasons for truth being valuable are ultimately moral ones, issuing from the ways in which caring about the truth contributes to human flourishing. This virtue-theoretic solution offers “Aristotelian” theories of truth—which include both correspondence and deflationary theories—a plausible explanation of why truth is valuable. In this paper, I grant that Wrenn’s solution can prove persuasive for substantive Aristotelian theories (such as causal correspondence theories). But I argue that, given some of the reasons for Wrenn’s solution being persuasive for these accounts, it is unclear how deflationary accounts can similarly benefit from his solution. More specifically, I argue that Wrenn’s approach faces the challenge of showing how desires oriented towards truth qua expressive device could plausibly contribute to human flourishing. I also identify one way that Wrenn can meet this challenge, given a defense of deflationism he has developed in an earlier work.