Digital Commons Network^™

Soire_Jyang.Docx, Jianjun Yang

Jianjun Yang

Selling Your Soul On The Information Superhighway: Consenting To Services In Direct To Consumer Tele-Mental Health, Lauri Goldkind, Lea Wolf

Lauri Goldkind

White Collar Crime And Morality: How Occupation Shapes Perception, Marshall Schmidt

Marshall Schmidt

White-collar crime is on the rise in the United States and globally. The general public has historically been seen as apathetic to white-collar criminals and their crimes; however more recent studies have shown that prior conclusions on perceptions of white-collar criminals may have been inaccurate. In this paper, I examine the role that occupation has in forming perceptions of white-collar criminals. Using Status Characteristics Theory, a structural social psychological theory that links an individual's status characteristics to evaluations of their morality, trustworthiness and competency, vignette experiments are constructed that allow for offender status and offense seriousness in various white collar …

The Importance Of Informal Work In Supplementing Household Income, Katharine G. Abraham, Susan N. Houseman

Susan N. Houseman

No abstract provided.

Unconditional Cash Transfers For Reducing Poverty And Vulnerabilities: Effect On Use Of Health Services And Health Outcomes In Low-And Middle-Income Countries, Frank Pega, Sze Yan Liu, Stefan Walter, Roman Pabayo, Ruhi Saith, S L. Lhachimi

Sze Yan Liu

Background

Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs; provided without obligation) for reducing poverty and vulnerabilities (e.g. orphanhood, old age or HIV infection) are a type of social protection intervention that addresses a key social determinant of health (income) in low‐ and middle‐income countries (LMICs). The relative effectiveness of UCTs compared with conditional cash transfers (CCTs; provided so long as the recipient engages in prescribed behaviours such as using a health service or attending school) is unknown.

Objectives

To assess the effects of UCTs for improving health services use and health outcomes in vulnerable children and adults in LMICs. Secondary objectives are to …

Unconditional Cash Transfers For Assistance In Humanitarian Disasters: Effects On The Use Of Health Services And Health Outcomes In Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Frank Pega, Sze Yan Liu, Stefan Walter, S K. Lhachimi

Sze Yan Liu

BACKGROUND:

Unconditional cash transfers (UCTs) are a common social protection intervention that increases income, a key social determinant of health, in disaster contexts in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).

OBJECTIVES:

To assess the effects of UCTs in improving health services use, health outcomes, social determinants of health, health care expenditure, and local markets and infrastructure in LMICs. We also compared the relative effectiveness of UCTs delivered in-hand with in-kind transfers, conditional cash transfers, and UCTs paid through other mechanisms.

SEARCH METHODS:

We searched 17 academic databases, including the Cochrane Public Health Group Specialised Register, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews …

Trends In Nonresident Abortion Rates In New York City From 2005 To 2015: A Time Series Analysis, Emily White Johansson, Erica Lee Argov, Aileen Langston, Alison Yager, Hannah Searing, Sze Yan Liu

Sze Yan Liu

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

To examine trends and utilization patterns of NYC abortion services by nonresidents since growing abortion restrictions across many states could drive women to seek care in less restrictive jurisdictions including NYC.

STUDY DESIGN:

We used data from Induced Termination of Pregnancy certificates filed with the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene in 2005-2015. An autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) model was fit to the monthly nonresident abortion rate time series. Pearson's χ² tests determined associations between women's residence and other variables.

RESULTS:

During 2005-2015, 885,816 abortions were reported in NYC, with 76,990 (8.7%) among nonresidents; 50,211 …

The Association Between Blood Pressure And Years Of Schooling Versus Educational Credentials: Test Of The Sheepskin Effect, Sze Yan Liu, Stephen L. Buka, Crystal D. Linkletter, Ichiro Kawachi, Laura Kubzansky, Eric B. Loucks

Sze Yan Liu

Purpose

Attaining a degree may offer greater opportunities for health than years of schooling alone. This study examines whether there is a degree, or “sheepskin”, effect on the association between education and blood pressure.

Methods

Multivariable-adjusted ordinal and linear regression models assessed associations of years of schooling and degree attainment with systolic and diastolic blood pressure in a sample of 552 adults aged 38–47 years.

Results

Years of schooling was inversely associated with systolic blood pressure adjusting for age, gender and race (β=−0.4, 95% CL:−0.7,−0.1 mmHg systolic blood pressure/year of schooling). Additional adjustment for mother’s education, childhood verbal intelligence quotient, …

The Role Of Place In Explaining Racial Heterogeneity In Cognitive Outcomes Among Older Adults, Sze Yan Liu, M Maria Glymou, Laura B. Zahodne, Christopher Weiss, Jennifer J. Manly

Sze Yan Liu

Racially patterned disadvantage in Southern states, especially during the formative years of primary school, may contribute to enduring disparities in adult cognitive outcomes. Drawing on a lifecourse perspective, we examine whether state of school attendance affects cognitive outcomes in older adults and partially contributes to persistent racial disparities. Using data from older African American and white participants in the national Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and the New York based Washington Heights Inwood Cognitive Aging Project (WHICAP), we estimated age-and gender-adjusted multilevel models with random effects for states predicting years of education and cognitive outcomes (e.g., memory and vocabulary). We …

Structural Racism And Odds For Infant Mortality Among Infants Born In The United States 2010, Roman Pabayo, Amy Ehntholt, Kara L. Davis, Sze Yan Liu, Peter Muening, Daniel Cook

Sze Yan Liu

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:

While ecological studies indicate that high levels of structural racism within US states are associated with elevated infant mortality rates, studies using individual-level data are needed. To determine whether indicators of structural racism are associated with the individual odds for infant mortality among white and black infants in the US.

METHODS:

We used data on 2,163,096 white and 590,081 black infants from the 2010 US Cohort Linked Birth/Infant Death Data Files. Structural racism indicators were ratios of relative proportions of blacks to whites for these domains: electoral (registered to vote and voted; state legislature representation), employment (civilian labor …

Structural Racism And Severe Maternal Morbidity In New York State, Sze Yan Liu, Christina Fiorentini, Zinzi Bailey, Mary Huynh, Katherine Mcveigh, Deborah Kaplan

Sze Yan Liu

ABSTRACT

Objective: We examined the association between county-level structural racism indicators and the odds of severe maternal morbidity (SMM) in New York State.

Design: We merged individual-level hospitalization data from the New York State Department of Health Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System (SPARCS) with county-level data from the American Community Survey and the Vera Institute of Justice from 2011 to 2013 (n = 244 854). Structural racism in each county included in our sample was constructed as the racial inequity (ratio of black to white population) in female educational attainment, female employment, and incarceration.ReSulT S: Multilevel logistic regression analysis …

Self-Reported And Measured Hypertension Among Older Us- And Foreign-Born Adults, Kellee White, Mauricio Avedano, J Robin Moon, Benjamin Capistrant, Sze Yan Liu, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

Self-reported hypertension is frequently used for health surveillance. However, little is known about the validity of self-reported hypertension among older Americans by nativity status. This study compared self-reported and measured hypertension among older black, white, and Hispanic Americans by nativity using the 2006 and 2008 Health and Retirement Study (n = 13,451). Sensitivity and specificity of self-reported hypertension were calculated using the Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure definition. Sensitivity was high among older blacks (88.9%), whites (82.8%), and Hispanics (84.0%), and both foreign-born (83.2%) and US-born (84.0%). Specificity …

Residential Modifications And Decline In Physical Function Among Community-Dwelling Elderly, Sze Yan Liu, Kate L. Lapane

Sze Yan Liu

PURPOSE:

The purpose of this study is to quantify the effect of residential modification on decreasing risk of physical function decline in 2 years.

DESIGN:

Cohort study using propensity scores method to control for baseline differences between individuals with residential modifications and those without residential modifications.

PARTICIPANTS:

Participants (N = 9,447) were from the Second Longitudinal Study on Aging, a nationally representative sample of the civilian noninstitutionalized population, aged 70 years and older in the United States at the time of baseline interview in 1994-1995.

METHODS:

Participants self-reported residential modifications at baseline (e.g., railings, bathroom modifications). Decline in physical functioning …

Instrumental Variable Approaches To Identifying The Causal Effect Of Educational Attainment On Dementia Risk, Thu T. Nguyen, Eric Tchetgen Tchetgen, Ichiro Kawachi, Stephen E. Gilman, Stefan Walter, Sze Yan Liu, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

PURPOSE:

Education is an established correlate of cognitive status in older adulthood, but whether expanding educational opportunities would improve cognitive functioning remains unclear given limitations of prior studies for causal inference. Therefore, we conducted instrumental variable (IV) analyses of the association between education and dementia risk, using for the first time in this area, genetic variants as instruments as well as state-level school policies.

METHODS:

IV analyses in the Health and Retirement Study cohort (1998-2010) used two sets of instruments: (1) a genetic risk score constructed from three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; n = 7981); and (2) compulsory schooling laws (CSLs) …

Hospital Readmissions For Childhood Asthma: The Role Of Individual And Neighborhood Factors., Sze Yan Liu, Deborah Pearlman

Sze Yan Liu

Objectives

This study used a Cox proportional hazards model to determine whether neighborhood characteristics are associated with risk of readmission for childhood asthma independently of individual characteristics.

Methods

Rhode Island Hospital Discharge Data from 2001 to 2005 were used to identify children younger than 19 years of age at the time of the index (i.e., first) asthma admission, defined as a primary diagnosis of asthma or a primary diagnosis of respiratory illness with a secondary or tertiary diagnosis of asthma (n=2,919). Hazard ratios of repeat hospitalizations for childhood asthma from 2001 to 2005 were estimated, controlling for individual- …

Implications Of Lifecourse Epidemiology For Research On Determinants Of Adult Disease, Sze Yan Liu, R N. Jones, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

Many diseases commonly associated with aging are now thought to have social and physiologic antecedents in early life. Understanding how the timing of exposure to early life risk factors influences later-life health may illuminate mechanisms driving adult health inequalities and identify possible points for effective interventions. Recognizing chronic diseases as developing across the lifecourse also has implications for the conduct of research on adult risk factors for disease. We review alternative conceptual models that describe how the timing of risk factor exposure relates to the development of disease. We propose some expansions of lifecourse models to improve their relevance for …

Historical Differences In School Term Length And Measured Blood Pressure: Contributions To Persistent Racial Disparities Among Us-Born Adults, Sze Yan Liu, Jennifer M. Manly, Benjamin Capistrant, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

Abstract

Introduction

Legally mandated segregation policies dictated significant differences in the educational experiences of black and white Americans through the first half of the 20^th century, with markedly lower quality in schools attended by black children. We determined whether school term length, a common marker of school quality, was associated with blood pressure and hypertension among a cohort of older Americans who attended school during the de jure segregation era.

Methods

National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey I and II data were linked to state level historical information on school term length. We used race and gender-stratified linear regression …

Decreased Births Among Black Female Adolescents Following School Desegregation, Sze Yan Liu, Crystal D. Linkletter, Eric B. Loucks, M. Maria Glymour, Stephen L. Buka

Sze Yan Liu

Although the socioeconomic impact of school desegregation in the U.S. has been well documented, little is known about the health consequences of this policy. The purpose of this study was to quantify the associations between school desegregation and adolescent births among black and white females. We compared the change in prevalence of adolescent births in areas that implemented school desegregation plans in the 1970s with areas that implemented school desegregation plans in other decades, using difference-in-difference methods with 1970 and 1980 Census microdata. School desegregation policy in the U.S. in the 1970s was associated with a significant reduction of 3.2 …

Genetic Vulnerability To Diabetes And Obesity: Does Education Offset The Risk?, Sze Yan Liu, Stefan Walter, Jessica Daniel, David H. Rehkopf, Laura E. Kubzansky, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

The prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity has recently increased dramatically. These common diseases are likely to arise from the interaction of multiple genetic, socio-demographic and environmental risk factors. While previous research has found genetic risk and education to be strong predictors of these diseases, few studies to date have examined their joint effects. This study investigates whether education modifies the association between genetic background and risk for type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. Using data from non-Hispanic Whites in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS, n = 8398), we tested whether education modifies genetic risk for obesity …

Effectiveness Of A Large-Scale Distribution Programme Of Free Nicotine Patches: A Prospective Evaluation, Nancy Miller, Thomas R. Frieden, Sze Yan Liu, Thomas D. Matte, Deborah R. Deitcher, K M. Cummings, Christina Chang, Ursula Bauer, Mary T. Bassett

Sze Yan Liu

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

After an increase in cigarette taxes and implementation of smoke-free workplace legislation, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the New York State Department of Health, and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute undertook large-scale distribution of free nicotine replacement therapy (NRT). We did a 6 month follow-up survey to assess the success of this programme in improving smoking cessation on a population basis.

METHODS:

34,090 eligible smokers who phoned a toll-free quitline were sent a 6-week course of nicotine patches (2 weeks each of 21 mg, 14 mg, and 7 mg per day). Brief follow-up …

Association Of A Genetic Risk Score With Body Mass Index Across Different Birth Cohorts, Stefan Walter, Ivan Mejia-Guevara, Karol Estrada, Sze Yan Liu, M Maria Glymour

Sze Yan Liu

Importance Many genetic variants are associated with body mass index (BMI). Associations may have changed with the 20th century obesity epidemic and may differ for black vs white individuals.

Objective Using birth cohort as an indicator for exposure to obesogenic environment, to evaluate whether genetic predisposition to higher BMI has a larger magnitude of association among adults from more recent birth cohorts, who were exposed to the obesity epidemic at younger ages.

Design, Setting, and Participants Observational study of 8788 adults in the US national Health and Retirement Study who were aged 50 years and older, born between 1900 and …

Discrimination And Telomere Length Among Older Adults In The United States, Sze Yan Liu, Ichiro Kawachi

Sze Yan Liu

Abstract

Objectives:

Chronic stress from experiencing discrimination can lead to long-term changes in psychological and physiologic responses, including shorter leukocyte telomere length. We examined the association between leukocyte telomere length and variations in the association by race or type of discrimination.

Methods:

Our study consisted of 3868 US-born non-Hispanic black (hereinafter, black) and non-Hispanic white (hereinafter, white) adult participants from the 2008 Health and Retirement Study biomarker sample with complete sociodemographic and discrimination information. We examined major lifetime unfair treatment and everyday discrimination. Coarsened exact matching matched exposed and unexposed participants on several sociodemographic factors. Coarsened exact matching creates analytic …

Breast And Cervical Cancer Screening Practices Among Disabled Women Aged 40–75: Does Quality Of The Experience Matter?, Sze Yan Liu, Melissa A. Clark

Sze Yan Liu

Background

Women with disabilities (WWD) face significant barriers accessing healthcare, which may affect rates of routine preventive services. We examined the relationship between disability status and routine breast and cervical cancer screening among middle-aged and older unmarried women and the differences in reported quality of the screening experience.

Methods

Data were from a 2003–2005 cross-sectional survey of 630 unmarried women in Rhode Island, 40–75 years of age, stratified by marital status (previously vs. never married) and partner gender (women who partner with men exclusively [WPM] vs. women who partner with women exclusively or with both women and men [WPW]).

Results …

Disciplinary Mythologies: A Rhetorical-Cultural Analysis Of Performance Enhancement Technologies In Sports, John Lamothe

John Lamothe

In sports discourse, the relationship between athletics and technology is often paradoxical. On the one hand, modern sports rely on technology at every level, from training and tracking of players to the equipment and apparel used by athletes to the game strategies and playing fields themselves. Nearly all of these technologies are intended to increase athletic performance on some level. And yet, certain performance enhancement technologies can be criticized for being antithetical to the spirit of sports, which is framed as being a strictly natural and pure human endeavor. Using a rhetorical-cultural methodological approach, popular sports discourse is analyzed to …

Nitrogen Fixation Sustained Productivity In The Wake Of The Palaeoproterozoic Great Oxygenation Event, Genming Luo, Christopher K. Junium, Gareth Izon, Shuhei Ono, Nicolas Beukes, Thomas J. Algeo, Ying Cui, Shucheng Xie, Roger E. Summons

Ying Cui

The marine nitrogen cycle is dominated by redox-controlled biogeochemical processes and, therefore, is likely to have been revolutionised in response to Earth-surface oxygenation. The details, timing, and trajectory of nitrogen cycle evolution, however, remain elusive. Here we couple nitrogen and carbon isotope records from multiple drillcores through the Rooihoogte–Timeball Hill Formations from across the Carletonville area of the Kaapvaal Craton where the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) and its aftermath are recorded. Our data reveal that aerobic nitrogen cycling, featuring metabolisms involving nitrogen oxyanions, was well established prior to the GOE and that ammonium may have dominated the dissolved nitrogen inventory. …

Co2 Levels And Climate Change During Early Eocene Hyperthermals, Ying Cui

Ying Cui

Early Eocene (56 to 33.9 million years ago) is punctuated by a series of rapid and extreme global warming events, known as the ‘hyperthermals’, triggered by massive release of carbon dioxide. Despite the carbon emission rate might have been ten times smaller than the current emission from burning fossil fuels and cement production, the early Eocene hyperthermals are considered one of the best analogues for CO2 concentration projected into the future. The temperature records are well established from deep sea sediments during these hyperthermals, but the CO2 levels in the atmosphere remain poorly known, partly due to the lack of …

Marine Sediment Record From The East Antarctic Margin Reveals Dynamics Of Ice Sheet Recession, Amy Leventer, Eugene Domack, Jennifer Pike, Catherine Stickley, Eleanor Maddison, Stefanie A. Brachfeld, Patricia Manley, Charlie Mcclennen

Stefanie Brachfeld

The Antarctic shelf is traversed by large-scale troughs developed by glacial erosion. Swath bathymetric, lithologic, and chronologic data from jumbo piston cores from four sites along the East Antarctic margin (Iceberg Alley, the Nielsen Basin, the Svenner Channel, and the Mertz-Ninnis Trough) are used to demonstrate that these cross-shelf features controlled development of calving bay reentrants in the Antarctic ice sheet during deglaciation. At all sites except the Mertz-Ninnis Trough, the transition between the Last Glacial Maximum and the Holocene is characterized by varved couplets deposited during a short interval of extremely high primary productivity in a fjordlike setting. Nearly …

Empowering Your Staff To Solve Problems: Evidence-Based Training For Strategic Thinking, Rebecca B. French, Jennifer A. Keach

Rebecca B. French

Are you teaching procedures or are you teaching problem solving? Discover an approach to help develop your staff’s strategic thinking skills to meet the needs of the 21st-century library workplace. Explore how to apply learning theory and walk away with actionable steps for training independent problem solving.

Spaceport: A Finding Aid Launchpad, Rebecca B. French

Rebecca B. French

JMU Libraries distributes its Special Collections finding aids to a number of discovery platforms, a process which historically has involved a significant amount of hand-encoding and manual data entry. We recently developed and implemented Spaceport, a Python app that has revolutionized this workflow. This presentation provides an overview of the app's functionality, which includes generating EADs for Virginia Heritage, HTML files for upload to the Libraries website, and MARCXML records for our catalog and OCLC. It also describes the efficiencies and other benefits we have observed from Spaceport's use.

Foreword For The Cooper Rowan Medical Journal, Annette Reboli

Annette C. Reboli

Welcome to The Cooper Rowan Medical Journal (CRMJ), a new open-access, peer-reviewed biomedical science journal from Cooper Medical School of Rowan University (CMSRU)! One of the most exciting aspects of being at a new school is the many “firsts” that we get to celebrate and today we get to celebrate the launch of CRMJ!