Digital Commons Network^™

Being Here And Now: The Benefits Of Belonging In Space And Time, Matthew Baldwin, Lucas A. Keefer

Faculty Publications

Research suggests that a sense of belonging is a critical prerequisite of happiness and well-being. While some have focused on belonging provided by relationships, other work demonstrates the value of belonging in certain places. In the current research we join these efforts to understand belonging by offering a novel framework for exploring an understudied but no less fundamental aspect of human experience—time. We situate this framework within an existential analysis of human action and test general predictions about the psychological value of experiencing a sense of belonging in time, what we call temporal rootedness. Two samples (Studies 1 …

Ethical Consistency And Experience: An Attempt To Influence Researcher Attitudes Toward Questionable Research Practices Through Reading Prompts, Samuel V. Bruton, Mitch Brown, Donald F. Sacco

Faculty Publications

Over the past couple of decades, the apparent widespread occurrence of Questionable Research Practices (QRPs) in scientific research has been widely discussed in the research ethics literature as a source of concern. Various ways of reducing their use have been proposed and implemented, ranging from improved training and incentives for adopting best practices to systematic reforms. This article reports on the results of two studies that investigated the efficacy of simple, psychological interventions aimed at changing researcher attitudes toward QRPs. While the interventions did not significantly modify researchers’ reactions to QRPs, they showed differential efficacy depending on scientists’ experience, suggesting …

Analyze Informant-Based Questionnaire For The Early Diagnosis Of Senile Dementia Using Deep Learning, Fubao Zhu, Xiaonan Li, Daniel Mcgonigle, Haipeng Tang, Zhuo He, Chaoyang Zhang, Guang-Uei Hung, Pai-Yi Chu, Weihua Zhou

Faculty Publications

Objective: This paper proposes a multiclass deep learning method for the classification of dementia using an informant-based questionnaire.

Methods: A deep neural network classification model based on Keras framework is proposed in this paper. To evaluate the advantages of our proposed method, we compared the performance of our model with industry-standard machine learning approaches. We enrolled 6,701 individuals, which were randomly divided into training data sets (6030 participants) and test data sets (671 participants). We evaluated each diagnostic model in the test set using accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-Score.

Results: Compared with the seven conventional machine learning …

Modeling And Quantification Of Resilience In Complex Engineering Systems, Riccardo Patriarca, Seyedmohsen Hosseini

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Minutes - December 6, 2019, Usm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Resolution 1 - December 6, 2019, Usm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Resolutions

No abstract provided.

The Antimicrobial Activity And Cellular Pathways Targeted By P-Anisaldehyde And Epigallocatechin Gallate In The Opportunistic Human Pathogen Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, Yetunde Adewumni, Sanchirmaa Namjilsuren, William D. Walker, Dahlia N. Amato, Douglas V. Amato, Olga V. Mavrodi, Derek L. Patton, Dmitri V. Mavrodi

Faculty Publications

Plant-derived aldehydes are constituents of essential oils that possess broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity and kill microorganisms without promoting resistance. In our previous study, we incorporated p-anisaldehyde from star anise into a polymer network called PANDAs (Pro-Antimicrobial Networks via Degradable Acetals) and used it as a novel drug delivery platform. PANDAs released p-anisaldehyde upon a change in pH and humidity, and controlled growth of the multi-drug resistant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1. In this study, we identified cellular pathways targeted by p-anisaldehyde, by generating 10,000 transposon mutants of PAO1 and screened them for hypersensitivity to p-anisaldehyde. To improve the …

Argulus From The Pascagoula River, Ms, Usa, With An Emphasis On Those Of The Threatened Gulf Sturgeon, Acipenser Oxyinchus Desotoi, Michael J. Andres, Jeremy M. Higgs, Paul O. Grammer, Mark S. Peterson

Faculty Publications

Species of Argulus (Branchiura Thorell, 1864) are common ectoparasites of freshwater, estuarine, and marine fishes. Argulid identification and taxonomy is often confusing because many species are reported to parasitize multiple host species, have similar morphological characters, and come from various salinity regimes. Gulf sturgeon is an anadromous fish natal to drainages in the north-central Gulf of Mexico, and as with many endangered species, has a poorly documented parasite community. During Gulf sturgeon tagging and monitoring studies (2016–2019) in the Pascagoula River, MS, USA, species of Argulus were collected from Gulf sturgeon as well as other incidentally captured fishes. Argulus flavescens …

Dynamic Accretion Beneath A Slow-Spreading Ridge Segment: Iodp Hole 1473a And The Atlantis Bank Oceanic Core Complex, Henry J.B. Dick, Christopher J. Macleod, Peter Blum, Natsue Abe, Donna K. Blackman, Julie A. Bowles, M.J. Cheadle, K. Cho, Jakub Ciazela, Jeremy Deans, Virginia P. Edgcomb, C. Ferrando, Lyderic France, B. Ghosh, Benoit Ildefonse, Barbara John, Mark A. Kendrick, J. Koepke, James A.M. Leong, C. Liu, Q. Ma, T. Morishita, A. Morris, J.H. Natland, T. Nozaka, O. Pluemper, A. Sanflippo, J.B. Sylvan, Maurice A. Tivey, R. Tribuzio, G. Viegas

Faculty Publications

809 deep IODP Hole U1473A at Atlantis Bank, SWIR, is 2.2 km from 1,508‐m Hole 735B and 1.4 from 158‐m Hole 1105A. With mapping, it provides the first 3‐D view of the upper levels of a 660‐km² lower crustal batholith. It is laterally and vertically zoned, representing a complex interplay of cyclic intrusion, and ongoing deformation, with kilometer‐scale upward and lateral migration of interstial melt. Transform wall dives over the gabbro‐peridotite contact found only evolved gabbro intruded directly into the mantle near the transform. There was no high‐level melt lens, rather the gabbros crystallized at depth, and then emplaced …

Evaluation Of Detached Strawberry Leaves For Anthracnose Disease Severity Using Image Analysis And Visual Ratings, Melinda A. Miller-Butler, Barbara J. Smith, Kenneth J. Curry, Eugene K. Blythe

Faculty Publications

Inoculation of detached strawberry leaves with Colletotrichum species may provide an accurate, rapid, nondestructive method of identifying anthracnose-resistant germplasm. The purpose of this study was to statistically compare two methods (visual and image analysis) of evaluating disease severity of strawberry germplasm screened for anthracnose resistance. Detached leaves of 77 susceptible and resistant strawberry clones were inoculated with one Colletotrichum gloeosporioides (Penz.) Penz. & Sacc. and two C. fragariae A. N. Brooks isolates. Anthracnose disease symptoms on each leaf were assessed quantitatively via computer-based image analysis to determine percentage lesion area and qualitatively by two independent raters using a visual disease …

Distinguishing Anuran Species By High-Resolution Melting Analysis Fo The Coi Barcode (Coi-Hrm), Steven Everman, Shiao Y. Wang

Faculty Publications

Taxonomic identification can be difficult when two or more species appear morphologically similar. DNA barcoding based on the sequence of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase 1 gene (COI) is now widely used in identifying animal species. High‐resolution melting analysis (HRM) provides an alternative method for detecting sequence variations among amplicons without having to perform DNA sequencing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether HRM of the COI barcode can be used to distinguish animal species. Using anurans as a model, we found distinct COI melting profiles among three congeners of both Lithobates spp. and Hyla spp. Sequence variations …

Testing An Active Intervention To Deter Researchers' Use Of Questionable Research Practices, Samuel V. Bruton, M. Brown, Donald Sacco, R. Didlake

Faculty Publications

Introduction: In this study, we tested a simple, active “ethical consistency” intervention aimed at reducing researchers’ endorsement of questionable research practices (QRPs).

Methods: We developed a simple, active ethical consistency intervention and tested it against a control using an established QRP survey instrument. Before responding to a survey that asked about attitudes towards each of fifteen QRPs, participants were randomly assigned to either a consistency or control 3–5-min writing task. A total of 201 participants completed the survey: 121 participants were recruited from a database of currently funded NSF/NIH scientists, and 80 participants were recruited from a pool …

The Impact Of Msaabcr On Sara-Associated Phenotypes Is Different In Divergent Clinical Isolates Of Staphylococcus Aureus, Joseph S. Rom, Aura M. Ramirez, Karen E. Beenken, Gyan S. Sahukhal, Mohamed O. Elasri, Mark S. Smeltzer

Faculty Publications

The staphylococcal accessory regulator (sarA) plays an important role in Staphylococcus aureus infections including osteomyelitis, and the msaABCR operon has been implicated as an important factor in modulating expression of sarA. Thus, we investigated the contribution of msaABCR to sarA-associated phenotypes in the S. aureus clinical isolates LAC and UAMS-1. Mutation of msaABCR resulted in reduced production of SarA and a reduced capacity to form a biofilm in both strains. Biofilm formation was enhanced in a LAC msa mutant by restoring the production of SarA, but this was not true in a UAMS-1 msa mutant. Similarly, …

Architected Polymer Foams Via Direct Bubble Writing, Claas Willem Visser, Dahlia N. Amato, Jochen Mueller, Jennifer A. Lewis

Student Publications

Polymer foams are cellular solids composed of solid and gas phases, whose mechanical, thermal, and acoustic properties are determined by the composition, volume fraction, and connectivity of both phases. A new high-throughput additive manufacturing method, referred to as direct bubble writing, for creating polymer foams with locally programmed bubble size, volume fraction, and connectivity is reported. Direct bubble writing relies on rapid generation and patterning of liquid shell–gas core droplets produced using a core–shell nozzle. The printed polymer foams are able to retain their overall shape, since the outer shell of these bubble droplets consist of a low-viscosity monomer that …

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes - November 8, 2019, Usm Gulf Coast Faculty Council

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Stretchable Self-Healable Semiconducting Polymer Film For Active-Matrix Strain-Sensing Array, Jin Young Oh, Donghee Son, Toru Katsumata, Yeongjun Lee, Yeongin Kim, Jeffrey Lopez, Hung-Chin Wu, Jiheong Kang, Joonsuk Park, Xiaodan Gu, Jaewan Mun, Nathan Ging-Ji Wang, Yikai Yin, Wei Cai, Youngjun Yun, Jeffrey B.-H. Tok, Zhenan Bao

Faculty Publications

Skin-like sensory devidces shoud be stretchable and self-healable to meet the demands for future electronic skin applications. Despite recent notable advances in skin-inspired electronic materials, it remains challenging to confer these desired functionalities to an active semiconductor. Here, we report a strain-sensitive, stretchable, and autonomously self-healable semiconducting film achieved through blending of a polymer semiconductor and a self-healable elastomer, both of which are dynamically cross-linked by metal coordination. We observed that by controlling the percolation threshold of the polymer semiconductor, the blend film became strain sensitive, with a gauge factor of 5.75 x 10⁵ at 100% strain in a …

Analysis Of The Cody Rnome Reveals Rsad As A Stress-Responsive Riboregulator Of Overflow Metabolism In Staphylococcus Aureus, Yoann Augagneur, Alyssa N. King, Noëlla Germain-Amiot, Mohamed Sassi, John W. Fitzgerald, Gyan S. Sahukhal, Mohamed O. Elasri, Brice Felden, Shaun R. Brinsmade

Faculty Publications

In Staphylococcus aureus, the transcription factor CodY modulates the expression of hundreds of genes, including most virulence factors, in response to the availability of key nutrients like GTP and branched‐chain amino acids. Despite numerous studies examining how CodY controls gene expression directly or indirectly, virtually nothing is known about the extent to which CodY exerts its effect through small regulatory RNAs (sRNAs). Herein, we report the first set of sRNAs under the control of CodY. We reveal that staphylococcal sRNA RsaD is overexpressed >20‐fold in a CodY‐deficient strain in three S. aureus clinical isolates and in S. epidermidis. …

Faculty Senate Minutes - November 1, 2019, Usm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Hydration Status On Electromyography And Ratings Of Perceived Exertion During The Vertical Jump, Paul T. Donahue, Samuel J. Wilson, Charles C. Williams, Melinda Valliant, John C. Garner

Faculty Publications

Background: The vertical jumping task is commonly used to assess lower-body power output in athletic populations, in addition to being commonly used to during investigations of hydration and anaerobic performance. Changes in neuromuscular function during a hypohydrated state have been proposed as a potential mechanism to decreases in anaerobic performance.

Objectives: The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the impact of hydration state on electromyography during the vertical jumping task.

Methods: Twenty recreationally trained males were tested in three hydration conditions (hypohydrated, euhydrated, and control). Testing included maximal voluntary contractions of the vastus lateralis, vastus …

Changes In Southeastern Usa Summer Precipitation Event Types Using Instrumental (1940-2018) And Tree-Ring (1790-2018) Data, T.J. Mitchell, P.A. Knapp, T.W. Patterson

Faculty Publications

We examined short- and long-term changes in precipitation event types using instrumental (1940–2018) and tree-ring (1790–2018) data from North Carolina, USA. We documented the amount and frequency of summer (July–September) precipitation events using daily weather station data. Stationary front precipitation (SFP) represented 71% of total summer rainfall and SFP and convective uplift combined (i.e., quasi-stationary precipitation, QSP) represented 87%. SFP (r = 0.52, p < 0.01) and QSP (r = 0.61, p < 0.01) precipitation reconstructions from a montane longleaf pine latewood chronology both recorded significant declines during 1940–2018, matching the instrumental record. Conversely, no significant change in either SFP or QSP occured during the full reconstruction indicating the instrumental decline was unmatched throughout 1790–1939. Our method demonstrates that variations in latewood growth can be attributed to specific precipitation event types and that the relative contribution of each event type can be quantified over a multi-century period.

Short Term Effects Of Hurricane Irma And Cyanobacterial Blooms On Ammonium Cycling Along A Freshwater-Estuarine Continuum In South Florida, Justyna J. Hampel, Mark J. Mccarthy, Megan H. Reed, Silvia E. Newell

Faculty Publications

Lacustrine and coastal systems are vulnerable to the increasing number and intensity of tropical storms driven by climate change. Strong winds associated with tropical storms can mobilize nutrients in sediments and alter nitrogen and phosphorus cycling, leading to amplification of preexisting conditions, such as eutrophication and cyanobacterial blooms (cyanoHABs). In 2016, Florida declared a State of Emergency within and downstream of Lake Okeechobee (LO) due to toxic cyanobacterial blooms (primarily Microcystis). The blooms originated in LO, but flood control measures released water from LO to the brackish St. Lucie Estuary (SLE). In September 2017, Hurricane Irma traversed the Florida …

Current Understanding Of West Nile Virus Clinical Manifestations, Immune Responses, Neuroinvasion, And Immunotherapeutic Implications, Fengwei Bai, E. Ashley Thompson, Parminder J.S. Vig, A. Arturo Leis

Faculty Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) is the most common mosquito-borne virus in North America. WNV-associated neuroinvasive disease affects all ages, although elderly and immunocompromised individuals are particularly at risk. WNV neuroinvasive disease has killed over 2300 Americans since WNV entered into the United States in the New York City outbreak of 1999. Despite 20 years of intensive laboratory and clinical research, there are still no approved vaccines or antivirals available for human use. However, rapid progress has been made in both understanding the pathogenesis of WNV and treatment in clinical practices. This review summarizes our current understanding of WNV infection in …

Scl: A Lattice-Based Approach To Infer 3d Chromosome Structures From Single-Cell Hi-C Data, Hao Zhu, Zheng Wang

Student Publications

Motivation: In contrast to population-based Hi-C data, single-cell Hi-C data are zero-inflated and do not indicate the frequency of proximate DNA segments. There are a limited number of computational tools that can model the 3D structures of chromosomes based on single-cell Hi-C data.

Results: We developed single-cell lattice (SCL), a computational method to reconstruct 3D structures of chromosomes based on single-cell Hi-C data. We designed a loss function and a 2 D Gaussian function specifically for the characteristics of single-cell Hi-C data. A chromosome is represented as beads-on-a-string and stored in a 3 D cubic lattice. Metropolis–Hastings simulation …

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes - October 11, 2019, Usm Gulf Coast Faculty Council

Gulf Coast Faculty Council Minutes

No abstract provided.

Faculty Senate Minutes - October 11, 2019, Usm Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Exploring Ways To Support Preservice Teachers' Use Of Udl In Planning And Instruction, K. Alisa Lowrey, Audra Classen, Anne Sylvest

Faculty Publications

There is limited research documenting current efforts to support preservice teachers to use the universal design for learning (UDL) framework in authentic teaching experiences. To increase knowledge on the effects of preparing preservice teachers to incorporate the UDL framework, researchers examined the effects a UDL professional development seminar that was delivered during the student teaching phase had on eight teacher candidates during their K–12 placement. Using a concurrent triangulation mixed-method design, researchers examined lesson plans, video footage of teaching, teacher candidate reflections on their teaching sample, and university supervisor measures of the same sample before and after the UDL seminar. …

Parasitic Microbiome Project: Grand Challenges, Nolwenn M. Dheilly, Joaquín Martínez Martínez, Karyna Rosario, Paul J. Brindley, Raina N. Fichorava, Jonathan Z. Kaye, Kevin D. Kohl, Laura J. Knoll, Julius Lukeš, Susan L. Perkins, Robert Poulin, Lynn Schriml, Luke R. Thompson

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Egestion Versus Excretion: A Meta-Analysis Examining Nutrient Release Rates And Ratios Across Freshwater Fauna, Halvor Halvorson, Carla Atkinson

Faculty Publications

In aquatic settings, animals directly affect ecosystem functions through excretion of dissolved nutrients. However, the comparative role of egestion as an animal-mediated nutrient flux remains understudied. We conducted a literature survey and meta-analysis to directly compare nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and N:P of egestion compared to excretion rates and ratios across freshwater animals. Synthesizing 215 datasets across 47 animal species (all primary consumers or omnivores), we show that the total N and P egestion rates exceed inorganic N and P excretion rates but not total N and P excretion rates, and that proportions of P egested compared to excreted depend …

Think Outside The Book: Unconventional Library Services To Support Teaching And Scholarship, Josh Cromwell

University Libraries Workshops and Presentations

Patrons think about finding books or conducting research when they think about libraries, but do they also think about libraries when it comes to choosing a textbook for their classroom or understanding a publisher contract? In this session, attendees will have the opportunity to learn and discuss a wide array of services that The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries offers patrons:

• Open Educational Resources: Support for finding, creating, and implementing open educational resources in the classroom
• Copyright: Understanding the basics of copyright and its implications for those using copyrighted material
• Author Rights: Interpreting publisher contracts and identifying ways authors can …

The Effect Of Group Polarization On Opposition To Donald Trump, Marija A. Bekafigo, Elena V. Stepanova, Brian A. Eiler, Kenji Noguchi, Kathleen L. Ramsey

Faculty Publications

Using focus groups, we examined support and opposition for Donald Trump prior to the 2016 presidential election. When ingroup members participate in discussion, this conversation alone typically strengthens and intensifies members’ initial attitudes. We used a pre‐ to post‐focus‐group questionnaire to assess attitudes toward Trump, his campaign, and policies. We argue that group polarization influenced people’s opinions about Trump such that attitudes became more extreme after discussion with like‐minded individuals. We report changes for Trump nonsupporters for which group polarization occurred on attitudes toward illegal immigration, political correctness, the military, women, and veterans after the group discussion. For each, level …