Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Affordability And Quality Of Care On Utilization Of Primary Healthcare Among Rural Residents In Twifo Ati-Morkwaa District, Ghana: A Qualitative Study, Peter Ansah Boakye, Francis Tei-Nartey, Gideon Owusu

Michigan Tech Publications

Objective: This qualitative study examines how affordability and quality of care influence the utilization of primary healthcare (PHC) services among rural residents in the Twifo Ati-Morkwaa District, Ghana. While Ghana has implemented policies such as CHPS and NHIS to improve access, subjective experiences of rural residents regarding total costs of care and perceived quality remain underexplored. Methods: We conducted a qualitative cross-sectional study between April and September 2024 using purposive and snowball sampling. Ten gender-segregated focus group discussions (FGDs; n = 90 residents) and six in-depth interviews (IDIs) with PHC providers were conducted. Data were collected in Twi, transcribed and …

Norfolk Flooding And Its Effect On Nutrient And Enterococcus Levels, Malachi R. Stephens

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

Tidal flooding is common in the City of Norfolk, VA due to high rates of sea rise in the region, as well as the region’s subsidence. This has led to increases in flooding at high tide, especially during the spring tide portion of the tidal cycle.  At high tide water from the Elizabeth and Lafayette Rivers can flood the landscape directly or can rise out of storm drains. This floodwater often stays on land for long periods of time and can deliver contaminants back into the rivers. To determine the amounts of nutrients and Enterococcus, a fecal indicator, delivered to …

From Fair To Cure: Guidelines For Computational Models Of Biological Systems, Herbert M. Sauro, Eran Agmon, Michael L. Blinov, John H. Gennari, Joseph L. Hellerstein, Adel Heydarabadipour, Bartholomew E. Jardine, Elebeoba May, David P. Nickerson, Lucian P. Smith, Gary D. Bader, Frank T. Bergmann, Patrick M. Boyle, Andreas Dräger, James R. Faeder, Song Feng, Juliana Freire, Fabian Fröhlich, James A. Glazier, Thomas E. Gorochowski, Tomas Helikar, Henning Hermjakob, Stefan Hoops, Peter Hunter, Princess I. Imoukhuede, Sarah M. Keating, Matthias König, Reinhard Laubenbacher, Leslie M. Loew, Carlos F. Lopez, William W. Lytton, Rahuman S. Malik-Sheriff, Andrew Mcculloch, Pedro Mendes, Lealem Mulugeta, Chris J. Myers, Jerry G. Myers, Anna Niarakis, David D. Van Niekerk, Brett G. Olivier, Alexander A. Patrie, Ellen M. Quardokus, Nicole Radde, Johann M. Rohwer, Sven Sahle, James C. Schaff, Falk Schreiber, T. J. Sego, Janis Shin, Jacky L. Snoep, Rajanikanth Vadigepalli, H. Steven Wiley, Dagmar Waltemath, Ion I. Moraru

Computational Medicine Center Faculty Papers

Guidelines for managing scientific data have been established under the FAIR principles, requiring that data be Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reusable. In many scientific disciplines, especially computational biology, both data and models are key to progress. For this reason, and recognizing that such models are a very special type of "data", we argue that computational models, especially mechanistic models prevalent in medicine, physiology and systems biology, deserve a complementary set of guidelines. We propose the CURE principles, emphasizing that models should be Credible, Understandable, Reproducible, and Extensible. We delve into each principle, discussing verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification for model …

Interview With Orca Award Winner David Hage, Unl Chemistry; Drug-Protein Interactions, Mark Griep, David Hage

UNL ORCA Interview Series

Prof. David Hage was awarded the ORCA in 2018. He was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, and earned a bachelor’s in chemistry at the University of Wisconsin in La Crosse. Next, he earned a doctorate from Iowa State University and did postdoctoral work at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. In 1989, he joined UNL as an assistant professor of chemistry and quickly rose through the ranks. He has won many awards and, for the past 13 years, has been the James Hewet University Professor of Chemistry. Allow me to share some remarkable facts about Dave before we get into …

Role Of Wadsley Defects And Cation Disorder To Enhance Monb12O33 Diffusion, Cj Sturgill, Manish Kumar, Nima Karimitari, Iva Millisavljevic, Coby S. Collins, Aaron Hegler, Hsin-Yun Joy Chao, Santosh Kiran Balijepalli, Scott T. Misture, Christopher Sutton, Morgan Stefik

Faculty Publications

Wadsley-Roth (WR) niobates have emerged as high-rate anode materials that can combine rapid ionic diffusion with good electronic conductivity. WR compounds have been defect-enhanced by limited annealing, however, such materials often contain multiple types of defects. In particular, both Wadsley defects (variable block size) and transition metal disorder have the potential to modify transport rates, however the corresponding effects are not well understood mechanistically. Here, MoNb12O33 (MNO) was calcined at two different temperatures to compare a defect-rich condition (MNO-800) with a proximal order-rich condition (MNO-900) as assessed through XRD, XANES, EXAFS, and STEM characterizations. Galvanostatically cycled lithium half cells of …

Curriculum For A Two Semester Calculus Course Specializing In Life Science And Data Science, Patrick Mcclain

LSU Master's Theses

Traditionally, introductory calculus has been designed for engineering and physics students, often leaving students majoring in data science or life sciences with a curriculum that lacks professional relevance and is overly reliant on problems that focus on computational fluency. This thesis proposes a two-semester sequence, called MATH 153X and MATH 154X, specifically tailored for the Louisiana State University (LSU) Dual Enrollment program and university-level data science and life sciences majors. By integrating modern computational tools—such as symbolic calculators and artificial intelligence (AI) tools—the proposed curriculum shifts the pedagogical focus from procedural symbolic manipulation toward conceptual literacy.

Through a series …

Sprinkler Package Runoff Risk Tool For Center Pivot Irrigation Systems, Will Bowers

Spring Runoff Conference

Center pivots in Utah 

• 403,524 acres = 67% of sprinkler irrigated fields in the open in Utah 
• Considered one of the most effective sprinkler systems available with technological advancements over the years

Evaluating Alternative Water Conservation Scenarios For Alfalfa In The Great Salt Lake Basin Using Integrated Climate Model Projections, Saddy Pineda-Castellanos, Masoumeh Hashemi

Spring Runoff Conference

Elevation of Great Salt Lake North and South Arms (1903-2026)

An Estimation Of Crop Evapotranspiration Using Soil Water Balance In Vineyards, Tarique Aziz, Burdette Barker, Michael Caron, Michael Pace

Spring Runoff Conference

Breakout Session presentation given at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference

Immersive Modeling To Generate Holistic Strategies To Get More Water To Great Salt Lake, Hadia Akbar

Spring Runoff Conference

How to get more water to GSL?

Must Address

• Complex water rights
• Competing water needs
• Historical legacies
• Variable and arid hydrology
• Infrastructure limitations and opportunities
• Lack of trust

What Makes Smart Irrigation Work? Lessons From Producers In The Upper Colorado River Basin, Tejinder Singh, Matt Yost, Elisa Flint, Burdette Barker, Jessica Ulrich-Schad, Silas Ekadu

Spring Runoff Conference

Colorado River Basin Water Crisis

• Water allocations in the Colorado River Basin were set during wetter periods and now exceed current river flows, creating a gap between water supply (12.5 maf yr^-1) and demand (15 maf yr^-1).
• River flow has declined 19% since 2000.

Making Water Visible: Neutral, Verification-First Infrastructure For Basin-Scale Water Accountability, Eric Mcculley

Spring Runoff Conference

Every Tool Tells You What the Lake Level WAS.

None Tell You What It WILL BE.

• Current monitoring is retrospective — USGS gauges and DWR reports show only historical data
• Decision lag: By the time you see the problem, it’s too late to adjust
• 2024–2025 season: GSL dropped to record lows before upstream conservation kicked in
• Agricultural users, municipalities, and GSL all compete for limited supply with imperfect information

Leasing Water For Great Salt Lake: Water Savings And Producer Impacts, Conner Harwood

Spring Runoff Conference

Great Salt Lake Water Leasing

• Utah is working to increase inflows to GSL through voluntary water leasing from agriculture
• But key information is missing:
• How much water can leases save at the field level?
• At what price should farmers be compensated?
• This project:

1. Estimates field-level consumptive water use
2. Estimates the value of water in agricultural production
3. Evaluates water savings and producer impacts across leasing strategies

Meteorological Monitoring With Real-Time Data Processing Using Uas, Htoo Poe Sar, Cal Coopmans, Sierra Young

Spring Runoff Conference

Background and Motivation 

• Agricultural water management requires information about crop water use and water consumption 
• Remote sensing methods are used to model and estimate environmental processes – but they require weather data 

Utah Prototype For Visualizing Vulnerabilities Downstream Of Dams, Courtney Flint, Michael Englert, Nicolas Holden

Spring Runoff Conference

The climate question 

• Overtopping = 1/3^rd of all dam failures (ASDSO) 
• Drought concerns and supply uncertainty motivate keeping reservoirs full 
• Overtopping likelier if extreme storm when reservoir full 
• Over much of the country the probability of the annual daily maximum rainfall > 100-year event and the preceding 30-day rainfall >10-year event are going up (Hwang & Lall 2024) 

The Reform Of Prior Appropriation And The Fate Of Great Salt Lake, Christopher L. Lant, Rocky Seeley, Beth Parker, Andrew Follett

Spring Runoff Conference

Legal Issues Raised by the Decline of Great Salt Lake

• Violations of Clean Air Act from dust threaten federal intervention
• Petition to list Wilson’s Phalarope as an endangered species

Nutrient Inputs, Crop Removal, And Residual Soil Nitrogen Under Automated Surge Irrigation In Northen Utah, Ngoni Mufute

Spring Runoff Conference

Introduction

• Increasing pressure on already water scarce resources due to

• Climate Change and or variability

• Increasing demand and competition for water. E.g. due to -urban expansion

• Environmental concerns (Especially concerning the Great Salt Lake (GSL)-

• the shrinking of water levels in the GSL,

• increasing pollution levels in the GSL and

• the impact of these issues on industry,

• dust from the drying lakebed,

• increasing threat to both aquatic life and land animals

The Physical, Legal, And Modeling Infrastructure For Water Resource Management Has Reached A Tipping Point, Paul Brooks

Spring Runoff Conference

Addressing these challenges requires improved predictions of water supply

Supporting The Great Salt Lake: M&I Water Conservation Opportunities, Easton Hopkins

Spring Runoff Conference

Analysis of historical M&I water use, depletion, and conservation strategies to reduce anthropogenic impact on Great Salt Lake (GSL) while supporting M&I water needs.

Impacts Of Biochar And Fe/Zn-Doped Biochar On The Degradation And Transformation Of Pfas In Wastewater Biosolids Compost, Chase Fry, R. Ryan Dupont, Joan Mclean

Spring Runoff Conference

Background

• >5.8 million dry metric tons of biosolids were produced in 2018.
• It is difficult & expensive to landfill all biosolids produced.
• Biosolids are increasingly used as an agricultural fertilizer and soil amendment.

Ground Water Assessment Of Cache Valley Using Modern Tracing Techniques, Eric Humphrey, Bethany Neilson

Spring Runoff Conference

Monitor, analyze, and predict current and evolving dynamics of complex human and natural Earth-system interactions and to deliver actionable information at scales and timeframes relevant to decision makers.

Methane Consumption Rates By Coastal Virginia Beach Microbes, James R. Bailey Ii

Knowledge and Creativity Expo

This study measures whether microbial communities in the shallow coastal waters of Virginia Beach are capable of consuming methane in the water column. Using methane enrichment incubations and gas chromatography, we found no measurable methane oxidation of our samples over multi-day periods. These results suggest that these coastal waters may act as net sources of atmospheric methane.

Rethinking Harmful Algal Blooms In Utah Waters: A Paradigm Shift In Water Quality And Management, Kabilan Mani

Spring Runoff Conference

Droughts are intensifying in frequency and severity, straining already limited water supplies.

Hydrodynamics Of Bear Lake: Waves, Currents, Circulation, And Residence Times, Jeffrey Nielson

Spring Runoff Conference

Until we understand water movement, we’ll struggle to explain or manage what happens in Bear Lake.

Water Needs And Recovery Pathways For The Great Salt Lake, David Tarboton, Sarah Null, Bethany Neilson

Spring Runoff Conference

Main Points 

• Levels of GSL inherently fluctuate because of variability in precipitation and temperature that drive inflow and evaporation 
• Reductions in inflows due to water use are superimposed on this variability 
• Consistent delivery of conserved water offers the opportunity to shift the range of lake levels upwards reducing the occurrence of serious adverse effects and increasing the potential for healthy lake levels 
• Adding 250 thousand-acre ft/year reduces the occurrence of serious adverse effects from 61% to 28% over the long term 
• Adding 800 thousand-acre ft/year shifts the mean of variable lake levels to the lower end of the healthy lake …

Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan, Laura Vernon

Spring Runoff Conference

What is the Great Salt Lake Basin Integrated Plan? A roadmap for managing water in ways that promote a healthy lake and a high quality of life in the basin.

Microplastics As Physical Hubs Amplifying Antiobiotic Resistance Under Mixed-Contaminant Selection In Wastewater Systems, Liyuan Hou

Spring Runoff Conference

Microplastics (MPs) are tiny plastic particles within the range of (0.1 mm to 5 mm) in size

Integrating Hydrology And Human Water Footprints: A Case Study Of The Great Salt Lake Watershed, Rocky Lynne Seeley

Spring Runoff Conference

A new model, comprehensively integrating hydrologic, water footprint, and virtual water data

A Conversation On Water, Camille Touton

Spring Runoff Conference

A conversation on water presentation at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.

What’S Next In Water Leasing Panel, Scott Hotaling, Adam Wickline, Hannah Freeze, Matt Anderson, Peter Stanton, Mitch Hancock

Spring Runoff Conference

Panel on water leasing at the 2026 Spring Runoff Conference.