Digital Commons Network^™

Case Studies Of Atmospheric River-Induced Surface Changes In The Arctic, Yonghuai Huang

Geodata Science Technical Reports

Atmospheric river (AR) takes a significant role in transporting warm moisture into the Arctic, which could further enhance the Arctic Amplification. This project aims to examine the surface conditions during selected cases of AR events that are detected by climate time series of Arctic AR index. Mono-level variables related to temperature, pressure, heat fluxes and wind speed of fourteen AR events were analyzed using the MERRA-2 derived Arctic AR index, and results were compared with the detected AR basins. Results of MERRA-2 data show that AR basins detected by both Integrated Water Vapor (IWV) and Integrated water Vapor Transport (IVT) …

A Note From The Co-Editors, Fayth Schutter

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

An introduction to the first issue of the third volume of Ideas Magazine, concerning the work and research of Dr. Shoshana Magnet.

A Note From The Co-Editors, Jada C. Johnson

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

An introduction to the second issue of the third volume of Ideas Magazine, concerning the research and work of M. Adam Howard.

A Note From The Co-Editors, Fayth Schutter

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

An introduction to the fourth issue of the third volume of Ideas Magazine, concerning the career and thoughts of Col. Richard Covey.

A Note From The Co-Editors, Jada C. Johnson

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

An introduction to the third issue of the third volume of Ideas Magazine, concerning the work and experience of Stone Soup Shakespeare.

A Note From The Co-Editors, Jada C. Johnson

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

An introduction to the fifth issue of the third volume of Ideas Magazine, concerning the thoughts, experience, and work of Dr. Marcelo J.S. de Lemos.

Physics-Informed Machine Learning To Predict Extreme Weather Events, Rthvik Raviprakash, Jonathan Buchanan, Mahdi Bu Ali

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Extreme weather events refer to unexpected, severe, or unseasonal weather events, which are dynamically related to specific large-scale atmospheric patterns. These extreme weather events have a significant impact on human society and also natural ecosystems. For example, natural disasters due to extreme weather events caused more than $90 billion global direct losses in 2015. These extreme weather events are challenging to predict due to the chaotic nature of the atmosphere and are highly correlated with the occurrence of atmospheric blocking. A key aspect for preparedness and response to extreme climate events is accurate medium-range forecasting of atmospheric blocking events.

Unlike …

Covid-19 Vaccinations In Brazil, Anastasia Pinopoulos

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

In December 2019, the world watched the city of Wuhan, China enter a lockdown due to an outbreak of COVID-19. This outbreak turned into a pandemic that has transformed all of our lives in various ways. One country that was gaining worldwide attention for how they handled the pandemic was Brazil. Dr. Marcelo J.S. de Lemos, got to experience and live through Brazil’s response. As a society, we can evaluate what Brazil did, both good and bad, to learn how to better prepare for a future pandemic. Vaccines were vital for the prevention of any outbreak and unnecessary deaths.

Characterization Of Landfill Leachate For Enhanced Metal Recovery, Hanna Fulford, Amisha Shah, Inez Hua, Nadezhda Zyaykina, Lori Hoagland, Alejandro Rodriguez Sanchez, Umut Bicim

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

Landfills contain a trove of valuable materials, such as critical, precious, and rare earth metals, that are integral to the United State’s economy and national security. The leachate that filters through landfills picks up these materials, which allows for the possibility of recovery. For this research, samples will be analyzed from landfills throughout the Midwestern United States to provide a baseline on water quality constituents, elements present, and microbial activity. Preliminary data for this study was acquired by analyzing samples of landfill leachate from a landfill in northern Indiana. pH readings indicate that the leachate is slightly basic. It also …

Elementary Teachers’ Verbal Support Of Engineering Integration In An Interdisciplinary Project, Sarah Lilly, Anne M. Mcalister, Jennifer L. Chiu

Journal of Pre-College Engineering Education Research (J-PEER)

Despite emphasis on authentic science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computer science (STEM+CS) projects in classrooms, research continues to demonstrate opportunity gaps in learning STEM+CS for students with disabilities. This study investigates how teachers verbally support students in two differently tracked classrooms to engage in engineering lessons that integrate science and computer science. Specifically, this study explores how the same elementary teachers both implicitly and explicitly support students across two classroom contexts, one class section with a larger proportion of students who were tracked into accelerated mathematics and another class section with a larger proportion of students with individualized educational plans …

Covid-19 Pandemic Response In Brazil, Maria P. Ruiz

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

In 2020, the world got struck by a pandemic no one was ready for. Due to the lack of preparation, the world was forced to go into quarantine while scientists tried to create a vaccine. Every country took the actions they thought would be best, however not all of them saw positive outcomes from those decisions. In this paper Brazil’s decision on how to tackle the pandemic is analyzed, specifically how they tried to go for herd immunity, and their outcomes will be compared to the outcomes of the United States, who followed mask and quarantine mandates from specialists.

Deep Learning Approach To Improved Image Quality For Medical Diagnostics, Olivia Loesch, Katie Leyba, Halyley Chan, Craig Goergen

Discovery Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Research Internship

The United Nation’s health-related Sustainable Development Goals are difficult to achieve in low- and middle-income countries due to workforce shortages and inadequate health surveillance systems. However, with the growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and computer algorithms, it is possible to apply AI to healthcare technologies to improve progress towards these UN standards. This project aims at using and improving computer algorithms and deep learning to aid in the extraction of important structural and functional information from murine carotid artery ultrasound and photoacoustic images. First, we created a large database of simulated photoacoustic images to optimize the algorithms. These images were …

Astronaut Or Astronot?, David A. Gusis

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

As space becomes more and more accessible to the general population, the terminology we used in the past to describe those who trained endlessly to become the pioneers of a new frontier is beginning to lose its meaning. Astronauts like Colonel Richard Covey have earned their title and to bestow it on others who haven't gone through the same training or have paid to visit space as a tourist is wrong. My hope is to provide the necessary background information about what it means to be an Astronaut and provoke thought about preserving the term and creating new terminology for …

The Impact Of The Presidency Of Donald Trump On American Jewry And Israel, Steven F. Windmueller

The Jewish Role in American Life: An Annual Review

The Trump presidency has resulted in a fundamentally disruptive moment in this nation’s political culture. Not only were there different policy options and directions, but the cultural artifacts of politics changed because of how this president dramatically challenged the existing norms of political behavior and action. As we have shifted from a period of American liberalism to a time of political populism, deep fissures are dividing Americans in general and Jews in particular.

The Impact of the Presidency of Donald Trump on American Jewry and Israel unpacks President Donald Trump’s distinctive and unique relationship with the American Jewish community and …

Democracy And The Media: The Year In C-Span Archives Research, Volume 7, Robert X. Browning

The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research

Volume 7 of The Year in C-SPAN Archives Research series focuses on the relationship between democracy and the media. Using the extensive collection of the C-SPAN Video Library, chapters cover Trump political rallies, congressional references of late-night comedy, responses of African American congresswomen to COVID-19 bills, and congressional attacks on the media through floor speeches in the House of Representatives and Senate.

The C-SPAN Video Library is unique because there is no other research collection that is based on video research of contemporary politics. Methodologically distinctive, much of the research uses new techniques to analyze video, text, and spoken words …

A Brief History Of The Making Of An Astronaut, Sharon J. Kulali

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

With more advancement in technology, recreational travel to space is increasingly becoming common. This raises the question of whether all individuals who travel to space are considered astronauts. In this paper, the astronaut requirements that the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has had throughout the years are broken down. Furthermore, renowned former astronaut, Colonel Richard O. Covey, is used as an example to demonstrate these requirements.

The Biological Problems Of Space Travel, Madilyn R. Reid

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

Colonel Richard Covey is a distinguished former astronaut who has logged over 646 hours of space travel. Over the years, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and research scientists in the aerospace industry have become increasingly concerned about the biological complications of space travel. This article goes in-depth on what is already known about the biological problems of being in space and potential solutions to remedy the complications.

Undersea Cables: The Ultimate Geopolitical Chokepoint, Bert Chapman

FORCES Initiative: Strategy, Security, and Social Systems

This work provides historical and contemporary overviews of this critical geopolitical problem, describes the policy actors addressing this in the U.S. and selected other countries, and provides maps and information on many undersea cable work routes. These cables are chokepoints with one dictionary defining chokepoints as “a strategic narrow route providing passage through or to another region."

2021 Seedless Pickling Cucumber Variety Trial, Ben Phillips, Jessica Good

Midwest Vegetable Trial Reports

A pickling cucumber variety trial was planted at the Saginaw Valley Research and Extension Center (43.399097, -83.694497, Frankenmuth, Michigan). Bejo (BJ), Nunhems (NU), Rijk Zwaan (RZ), and Sakata (SK) seed companies donated parthenocarpic (seedless) varieties for mechanical once-over harvest. The top five varieties each had Total Percent Recovery scores of 100%. When arranged in order of their highest combined clean yields of the most profitable fruit sizes (2B + 3A + 3B), they were NU 2106 (711 bu/a), NU 2105 (699 bu/a), RZ 16 (639 bu/a), RZ 11 (446 bu/a), and BJ Aristan (303 bu/a).

Pharmaceutical Industry In Uganda: A Review Of The Common Gmp Non-Conformances During Regulatory Inspections, Nasser Lubowa, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

The prevalence of substandard medicines in Africa is high but not well documented. Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) are likely to face considerable challenges with substandard medications. Africa faces inadequate drug regulatory practices, and in general, compliance with Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in most of the pharmaceutical industries is lacking. The majority of pharmaceutical manufacturers in developing countries are often overwhelmed by the GMP requirements and therefore are unable to operate in line with internationally acceptable standards. Non-conformances observed during regulatory inspections provide the status of the compliance to GMP requirements. The study aimed to identify the GMP non-conformances during …

Quality Of Sample Testing In The Laboratory Unit: Current Situation And Strategies For Improvement, Aloyce Constantine, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

The purpose of this study was to understand the status quo of quality sample testing in the laboratory unit. A quantitative research method was used. An extensive laboratory documents (protocol, worksheets, laboratory analytical plan, standard operating procedures and manuals) review was performed and a networking approach to both management and lab staff at all levels was reviewed in order to identify all non-conformities occurred in the past three years. Results identified 36 number of results deviated from reference standards among different test performed, 400 number of samples lost, the number of laboratory personnel who were not sufficiently trained to take …

Improving Pharmacovigilliance Quality Management System In The Pharmacy And Poisions Board Of Kenya, Eric Apiyo, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

The purpose of this study was to explore ways of improving the pharmacovigilance quality system employed by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Kenya. The Pharmacy and Poisons Board of Kenya employs a hybrid system of pharmacovigilance that utilizes an online system of reporting pharmacovigilance incidences and a physical system, where a yellow book is physically filled by the healthcare worker and sent to the Pharmacy and Poisons Board for onward processing. This system, even though it has been relatively effective compared to other systems employed in Africa, has one major flaw. It is a slow and delayed system that …

The Impact Of Mentoring As A Gmp Capability Building Tool In The Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Industry In Nigeria, Monica Agu, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), a component of Pharmaceutical Quality Systems, is aimed primarily at managing and minimizing the risks inherent in pharmaceutical manufacture to ensure the quality, safety and efficacy of products. Provision of adequate number of personnel with the necessary qualifications/practical experience and their continuous training and evaluation of effectiveness of the training is the responsibility of the manufacturer. (World Health Organization [WHO], 2014; International Organization for Standardization [ISO], 2015). The classroom method of training that has been used for GMP capacity building in the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in Nigeria over the years, delivered by experts from stringently regulated …

Retrospective Study Of Inspectors Competency In The Act Of Writing Gmp Inspection Report, Chidi Uche, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

The research was a retrospective study of twenty-five Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspection reports (from March 2017 through to December 2018) of a national medicine regulatory agency, drug Inspectorate, in West Africa, designed to assess the inspectors’ expertise in the act of inspection report writing. The investigation examined a paper-based tool of thirteen pre-registration Inspection reports and twelve GMP reassessment reports written prior and following an intervention program by external GMP trainers to enhance inspectors’ skill in pharmaceutical cGMP inspection. The study made use of quantitative analysis to investigate each team’s expertise in the act of writing GMP inspection report. …

Defects Analysis And Root Cause Robustness Of Product Labels Of An Acaricide Product In East Africa, Moses Okal Ogodo, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

This project aimed at investigating online damages of packaging materials generated during production because of imperfectness of production processes. These online damages may lead to upsurge in production cost and/or market returns, causing the company to experience losses and even damage its reputation. Data on online damages were collected for 20ml, 40ml and 100ml labels of an acaricide product for the period between July 2018 and June 2019 and statistically analyzed. Investigation was done on the causes of online damages, then corrective and preventive actions carried out. Analysis of online damages of labels of the three pack sizes revealed a …

Medicines Regulation In West Africa: Current State And Opportu-Nities, Oluwafunmike Sopein-Mann, Z Ekeocha, S Byrn, K Clase

BIRS Africa Technical Report Papers

Ndomondo-Sigonda et al. (2017) observed that there is scarcity of information on human resources (person-nel devoted to regulation of medicines) in the domain of medicines regulation in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The published information on medicines regulation by the National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRAs) in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) region are no longer current and consistent with the current realities in the NMRAs. In order to reveal this occurrence, show the trends that exist over the years and make appropriate recommendations, data were collected and compared from 2005, 2010 and 2017 research reports on seven regulatory …

Intermittent Antibiotic Treatment Accelerated The Development Of Colitis In Il-10 Knockout Mice, Shiyu Li, Yusong Jin, Abigail D. Cox, Dale Lee, Lavanya Reddivari

Department of Food Science Faculty Publications

Many epidemiological studies suggest an association between antibiotic exposure and the development of inflammatory bowel disease [IBD]. However, the majority of these studies are observational and still the question remains, “Does the specific antibiotic administration regimen play a role in the development of colitis?” This study aimed to compare the possible effects of continuous and intermittent antibiotic exposure on the development of colitis using a colitis-susceptible IL-10 knockout [IL-10–/–] mouse model.

Covid-19 Pandemic Increases Accessibility To Theatre Performances, Katelyn M. Biggs

Ideas: Exhibit Catalog for the Honors College Visiting Scholars Series

The pandemic has caused many industries to alter their functionality to stay afloat, specifically the theater. Changes made because of the pandemic have opened the doors for a new audience. This included the theater becoming more accessible financially and for people with disabilities. This article highlights how when transitioning back to a post-pandemic world, these new patrons should be kept in mind.

Cellular Agriculture: An Outlook On Smart And Resilient Food Agriculture Manufacturing, Salil Bapat, Vishvesh Koranne, Neha Shakelly, Aihua Huang, Michael Sealy, Kamlakar P. Rajurkar, John W. Sutherland, Ajay P. Malshe

School of Mechanical Engineering Faculty Publications

Over the centuries, the application of grassland and cutting of livestock are the primary foundations for
the production of food agriculture manufacturing. Growing human population, accelerated human
activities globally, staggering food inequity, changing climate, precise nutrition for extended life
expectancy, and more demand for protein food call for a new outlook to smartness in food agriculture
manufacturing for delivering nutritious food. Cellular agriculture, 3D printing of food, vertical urban
farming, and digital agriculture alongside traditional means are envisioned to transform food agriculture
and manufacturing systems for acceptability, availability, accessibility, affordability, and resiliency for meeting demands of food in this century …

Building Networks Of Enterprise: Sustained Learning In The Writing Center, Steve Sherwood

Writing Center Journal

This essay examines the learning processes of writing center professionals through the lens of “networks of enterprise” (Wallace & Gruber, 1989), which reflects on the dynamic processes through which creative people, like writing center professionals (WCPs), bring together the diverse and complex tasks undertaken in their everyday work into a cohesive and satisfying career. While there is substantial turnover in the profession, some WCPs stay in writing center positions for decades. Drawing on information gathered through surveys and interviews with ten long-term WCPs (with an average of 28 years of experience), as well as reflecting on his own career, the …