Digital Commons Network^™

Developing A Method For Quantifying Hip Joint Angles And Moments During Walking Using Neural Networks And Wearables, Megan V. Mccabe, Douglas W. Van Citters, Ryan M. Chapman

Kinesiology Faculty Publications

Quantifying hip angles/moments during gait is critical for improving hip pathology diagnostic and treatment methods. Recent work has validated approaches combining wearables with artificial neural networks (ANNs) for cheaper, portable hip joint angle/moment computation. This study developed a Wearable-ANN approach for calculating hip joint angles/moments during walking in the sagittal/frontal planes with data from 17 healthy subjects, leveraging one shin-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU) and a force-measuring insole for data capture. Compared to the benchmark approach, a two hidden layer ANN (n = 5 nodes per layer) achieved an average rRMSE = 15% and R²=0.85 across outputs, subjects …

Wildlife Tracking Nrs 432, Michael Cerbo

Collection Development Reports and Documents

No abstract provided.

Wildlife Tracking Nrs 432x, Michael Cerbo

Collection Development Reports and Documents

No abstract provided.

The Interactive Effects Of Temperature And Nutrients On A Spring Phytoplankton Community, Stephanie I. Anderson, Gayantonia Franzè, Joshua D. Kling, Paul Wilburn, Colin T. Kremer, Susanne Menden-Deuer, Elena Litchman, David A. Hutchins, Tatiana A. Rynearson

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

A complex interplay of environmental variables impacts phytoplankton community composition and physiology. Temperature and nutrient availability are two principal factors driving phytoplankton growth and composition, but are often investigated independently and on individual species in the laboratory. To assess the individual and interactive effects of temperature and nutrient concentration on phytoplankton community composition and physiology, we altered both the thermal and nutrient conditions of a cold-adapted spring phytoplankton community in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, when surface temperature was 2.6°C and chlorophyll > 9 μg L−1. Water was incubated in triplicate at −0.5°C, 2.6°C, and 6°C for 10 d. At each temperature, …

Sexual Coercion, Unintended Pregnancy, And Poor Reproductive Health Among Adolescent Girls (Aged 13 - 19) In Mexico, Arun Kumar Acharya, Maria Luisa Martinez

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In Mexico, nearly 23,000 adolescents between the ages of 12-17 years suffer sexual coercion every year. This group also has a high birth rate of 77/1,000 adolescents, which indicates that one in every five pregnant women is an adolescent. This study describes the sexual coercion of victims and their views regarding the experience based on data collected from 37 Mexican girls between the age of 13 to 19, selected purposively using the snowball method in Monterrey city, Mexico. Results indicate that sexual coercion among adolescents is a serious problem, where 70% of adolescents experienced vaginal sexual coercion, nearly 22% experienced …

Forest Structure And Seasonally Inundated Grassland Shape Tropical Mammal Communities Under Moderate Disturbance, Juliana Masseloux, Quy Tan Le, Jessica Burr, Brian D. Gerber

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Tropical biodiversity is threatened globally by anthropogenic disturbances, particularly forest degradation and overhunting. Where large mammals have been extirpated, smaller bodied “mesomammals” may play an important ecological role (e.g., as seed dispersers). However, these species are disproportionally affected by overhunting for wildlife trade markets and are routinely understudied as they tend to be rare, cryptic, and nocturnal. Few studies have examined spatiotemporal responses to anthropogenic disturbance by mesomammals at the community level, which may identify imbalances within an ecosystem that could threaten species persistence. We deployed camera traps throughout Cat Tien National Park (i.e., Nam Cat Tien area), southern Vietnam, …

Applications Of Data Science In Biological Science Dsp 569, Harrison Dekker

Collection Development Reports and Documents

No abstract provided.

Overview Of The Mosaic Expedition: Snow And Sea Ice, Marcel Nicolaus, Donald K. Perovich, Gunnar Spreen, Mats A. Granskog, Luisa Von Albedyll, Michael Angelopoulos, Philipp Anhaus, Stefanie Arndt, H. Jakob Belter, Vladimir Bessonov, Gerit Birnbaum, Jörg Brauchle, Radiance Calmer, Estel Cardellach, Bin Cheng, David Clemens-Sewall, Ruzica Dadic, Ellen Damm, Gijs De Boer, Oguz Demir, Klaus Dethloff, Dmitry V. Divine, Allison A. Fong, Steven Fons, Markus M. Frey, Niels Fuchs, Carolina Gabarró, Sebastian Gerland, Helge F. Goessling, Rolf Gradinger, Jari Haapala, Christian Haas, Jonathan Hamilton, Henna Reetta Hannula, Stefan Hendricks, Andreas Herber

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

Year-round observations of the physical snow and ice properties and processes that govern the ice pack evolution and its interaction with the atmosphere and the ocean were conducted during the Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of Arctic Climate (MOSAiC) expedition of the research vessel Polarstern in the Arctic Ocean from October 2019 to September 2020. This work was embedded into the interdisciplinary design of the 5 MOSAiC teams, studying the atmosphere, the sea ice, the ocean, the ecosystem, and biogeochemical processes. The overall aim of the snow and sea ice observations during MOSAiC was to characterize the physical properties …

New Opportunities And Untapped Scientific Potential In The Abyssal Ocean, Jeffrey J. Marlow, Rika E. Anderson, Anna Louise Reysenbach, Jeffrey S. Seewald, Timothy M. Shank, Andreas P. Teske, V. Dorsey Wanless, S. Adam Soule

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

The abyssal ocean covers more than half of the Earth’s surface, yet remains understudied and underappreciated. In this Perspectives article, we mark the occasion of the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin’s increased depth range (from 4500 to 6500 m) to highlight the scientific potential of the abyssal seafloor. From a geologic perspective, ultra-slow spreading mid-ocean ridges, Petit Spot volcanism, transform faults, and subduction zones put the full life cycle of oceanic crust on display in the abyss, revealing constructive and destructive forces over wide ranges in time and space. Geochemically, the abyssal pressure regime influences the solubility of constituents such as …

Degradation Of The E. Coli Antitoxin Mqsa By The Proteolytic Complex Clpxp Is Regulated By Zinc Occupancy And Oxidation, Margaret R. Vos, Benjamin Piraino, Christopher J. Labreck, Negar Rahmani, Catherine E. Trebino, Marta Schoenle, Wolfgang Peti, Jodi L. Camberg, Rebecca Page

Cell and Molecular Biology Faculty Publications

It is well established that the antitoxins of toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems are selectively degraded by bacterial proteases in response to stress. However, how distinct stressors result in the selective degradation of specific antitoxins remain unanswered. MqsRA is a TA system activated by various stresses, including oxidation. Here, we reconstituted the Escherichia coli ClpXP proteolytic machinery in vitro to monitor degradation of MqsRA TA components. We show that the MqsA antitoxin is a ClpXP proteolysis substrate, and that its degradation is regulated by both zinc occupancy in MqsA and MqsR toxin binding. Using NMR chemical shift perturbation mapping, we show that …

A Feminist Challenge To Transgenderism. A Review Of Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge To Transgenderism By Janice G. Raymond, Esohe Aghatise

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Trans Doublethink And Newspeak. A Review Of Doublethink: A Feminist Challenge To Transgenderism By Janice Raymond, Heather Brunskell-Evans

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Democratic Belonging As Informed Citizenry - Empowering Faculty To Empower Learners Via Information Literacy, Anna Santucci, Amanda K. Izenstark, Mary C. Macdonald

Public Services Faculty Presentations

Presentation at the AAC&U 2022 Annual Meeting as a Pre-Meeting Workshop.

Responsible citizens need the agility to navigate a changing information landscape. Intentionally designing learning experiences that integrate accessible Information Literacy (IL) skills for all students is a crucial step towards educational justice, a paramount responsibility in the democratic mission of our institutions. With this goal, the University of Rhode Island’s Office for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning has partnered with instruction librarians since 2018 in developing and facilitating a High Impact Teaching Seminar for faculty. Participants will learn about the seminar’s theoretical framework, impact and structure, engage in …

Association Between Initial Opioid Prescription Diagnosis Type And Subsequent Chronic Prescription Opioid Use In Rhode Island: A Population-Based Cohort Study, Benjamin D. Hallowell, C. Chambers, Luke Barre, Nancy Diao, Collette Onyejekwe, Alexandra Banks, Jeffery Bratberg, Heidi Weidele, Samara Viner-Brown, James Mcdonald

Pharmacy Practice and Clinical Research Faculty Publications

Objective To identify initial diagnoses associated with elevated risk of chronic prescription opioid use. Design Population-based, retrospective cohort study. Setting State of Rhode Island. Participants Rhode Island residents with an initial opioid prescription dispensed between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020. Primary outcome measure Subsequent chronic prescription opioid use, defined as receiving 60 or more days' supply of opioids in the 90 days following an initial opioid prescription. Results Among the 87 055 patients with an initial opioid prescription, 3199 (3.7%) subsequently became chronic users. Patients who become chronic users tended to receive a longer days' supply, greater quantity …

Division Of Research And Economic Development Annual Report For Fy2022, Uri Division Of Research And Economic Development

Reports (Research and Economic Development)

Annual report for the Division of Research and Economic Development of the University of Rhode Island for the year 2021-2022.

Includes statistics of project proposals, expenditures, URI Foundation Awards, previous annual report summaries and awards received by individual academic and administrative departments.

Momentum: Research & Innovation For Fall 2022, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The Fall 2022 issue of Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Momentum: Research & Innovation For Spring 2022, University Of Rhode Island

Publications (Research and Economic Development)

The Spring 2022 issue of Research & Innovation, a periodical focused on research at the University of Rhode Island.

Seabed Morphology And Bed Shear Stress Predict Temperate Reef Habitats In A High Energy Marine Region, Tim Jackson-Bué, Gareth J. Williams, Timothy A. Whitton, Michael J. Roberts, Alice Goward Brown, Hana Amir, Jonathan King, Ben Powell, Steven J. Rowlands, Gerallt Llewelyn Jones, Andrew J. Davies

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

High energy marine regions host ecologically important habitats like temperate reefs, but are less anthropogenically developed and understudied compared to lower energy waters. In the marine environment direct habitat observation is limited to small spatial scales, and high energy waters present additional logistical challenges and constraints. Semi-automated predictive habitat mapping is a cost-effective tool to map benthic habitats across large extents, but performance is context specific. High resolution environmental data used for predictive mapping are often limited to bathymetry, acoustic backscatter and their derivatives. However, hydrodynamic energy at the seabed is a critical habitat structuring factor and likely an important, …

Regulation Of Genetically Engineered (Ge) Mosquitoes As A Public Health Tool: A Public Health Ethics Analysis, Zahra Meghani

Philosophy Faculty Publications

Background: In recent years, genetically engineered (GE) mosquitoes have been proposed as a public health measure against the high incidence of mosquito-borne diseases among the poor in regions of the global South. While uncertainties as well as risks for humans and ecosystems are entailed by the open-release of GE mosquitoes, a powerful global health governance non-state organization is funding the development of and advocating the use of those bio-technologies as public health tools.

In August 2016, the US Food and Drug Agency (FDA) approved the uncaged field trial of a GE Aedes aegypti mosquito in Key Haven, Florida. The …

Screening The Prism Library Against Staphylococcus Aureus Reveals A Sesquiterpene Lactone From Liriodendron Tulipifera With Inhibitory Activity, Riley D. Kirk, Margaret E. Rosario, Nana Oblie, Terra Marie M. Jouaneh, Marina A. Carro, Christine Wu, Andrew M. Kim, Elizabeth Leibovitz, Elizabeth Sage Hunter, Robert Literman, Sara M. Handy, David C. Rowley, Matthew J. Bertin

Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Faculty Publications

Infections caused by the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus continue to pose threats to human health and put a financial burden on the healthcare system. The overuse of antibiotics has contributed to mutations leading to the emergence of methicillin-resistant S. aureus, and there is a critical need for the discovery and development of new antibiotics to evade drug-resistant bacteria. Medicinal plants have shown promise as sources of new small-molecule therapeutics with potential uses against pathogenic infections. The principal Rhode Island secondary metabolite (PRISM) library is a botanical extract library generated from specimens in the URI Youngken Medicinal Garden by upper-division undergraduate …

Communal Wastewater Treatment Plants’ Effectiveness, Management, And Quality Of Groundwater: A Case Study In Indonesia, Widodo Brontowiyono, Thomas B. Boving, Adelia Anju Asmara, Suphia Rahmawati, Andik Yulianto, Noviani Ima Wantoputri, Annisa Nur Lathifah, Yuli Andriansyah

Geosciences Faculty Publications

The Special Region of Yogyakarta is one of the provinces in Indonesia with a large number of communal wastewater treatment plants (CWWTPs). However, less than 40% of CWWTPS in the province are able to be operated well. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of CWWTPs concerning the quality of the surrounding groundwater. The research location was in Mlati, one of three sub-districts with the highest number of CWWTPs and highest population density in the province. Technical data were analyzed in a laboratory, including water quality of CWWTPs and groundwater quality. This study also analyzed non-technical data related to CWWTP …

The Disconnect Between Knowledge And Perceptions: A Study Of Fishermen’S Local Ecological Knowledge And Their Perception Of The State Of Fisheries And How These Are Managed In The Dominican Republic, Elizabeth Layli Mclean, Graham E. Forrester, Carlos G. Garcia-Quijano

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Understanding what fishers know about the ecology of the fish they catch, and how they perceive the state and management of their fisheries can guide efforts towards more sustainable fishing practices. We tested relationships between fishers’ local ecological knowledge (LEK) and their perceptions of their fisheries and of marine protected areas in the Dominican Republic. A qualitative-quantitative methodological sequence using data from interviews with 152 multi-species fishers revealed variable, but generally high levels of LEK, particularly of habitat use and predator–prey interactions. The majority reported negative perceptions of the state of their fishery and were aware of local management actions. …

Online Sale Of Small Turtles Circumvents Public Health Regulations In The United States, Lauren E. Montague, Juliana M. Macrotrigiano, Niamh E. Keane, Hannah E. Marquardt, Jennifer A. Sevin, Nancy E. Karraker

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

In the United States (U.S.), pet turtles have been associated with outbreaks of salmonellosis, a serious and sometimes-fatal intestinal illness caused by Salmonella bacteria, with nearly 300,000 people being infected in some years. Children are particularly susceptible because of their propensity to put items, including small turtles, in their mouths. In 1975, a U.S. federal regulation prohibited the sale of turtles <4 inches (101.6 mm) in size, except for the purposes of export, scientific, or educational purposes. This regulation was established to reduce the incidence of salmonellosis, particularly in small children. Previous research has not evaluated the availability of turtles <4 inches in size on websites selling wildlife. We monitored 16 websites in 2021 and quantified listings of small turtles. We determined whether information on Salmonella, the 1975 federal regulation, or related state regulations were provided on the websites and determined legality of sales of small turtles by state regulations. We found that all 16 websites openly advertised and sold turtles <4 inches in size, but only half of these websites provided information about Salmonella and/or …

Conceptual And Methodological Advances In Habitat-Selection Modeling: Guidelines For Ecology And Evolution, Joseph M. Northrup, Eric Vander Wal, Maegwin Bonar, John Fieberg, Michel P. Laforge, Martin Leclerc, Christina M. Prokopenko, Brian Gerber

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

Habitat selection is a fundamental animal behavior that shapes a wide range of ecological processes, including animal movement, nutrient transfer, trophic dynamics and population distribution. Although habitat selection has been a focus of ecological studies for decades, technological, conceptual and methodological advances over the last 20 yr have led to a surge in studies addressing this process. Despite the substantial literature focused on quantifying the habitat-selection patterns of animals, there is a marked lack of guidance on best analytical practices. The conceptual foundations of the most commonly applied modeling frameworks can be confusing even to those well versed in their …

Forest Degradation Drives Widespread Avian Habitat And Population Declines, Matthew G. Betts, Zhiqiang Yang, Adam S. Hadley, Adam C. Smith, Josée S. Rousseau, Joseph M. Northrup, Joseph J. Nocera, Noel Gorelick, Brian Gerber

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

In many regions of the world, forest management has reduced old forest and simplified forest structure and composition. We hypothesized that such forest degradation has resulted in long-term habitat loss for forest-associated bird species of eastern Canada (130,017 km²) which, in turn, has caused bird-population declines. Despite little change in overall forest cover, we found substantial reductions in old forest as a result of frequent clear-cutting and a broad-scale transformation to intensified forestry. Back-cast species distribution models revealed that breeding habitat loss occurred for 66% of the 54 most common species from 1985 to 2020 and was strongly …

Maternal Stress And Excessive Weight Gain In Infancy, Katelyn Fox, Maya Vadiveloo, Karen Mccurdy, Sara E. Benjamin-Neelon, Truls Østbye, Alison Tovar

Nutrition Faculty Publications

Rapid weight gain in infancy increases the risk of developing obesity early in life and contributes significantly to racial and ethnic disparities in childhood obesity. While maternal perceived stress is associated with childhood obesity, little is known about the impact it has on infant weight gain. Therefore, this study explores the impact of maternal perceived stress on change in weight-for-length (WFL) z-scores and the risk of rapid weight gain in infancy. We conducted a secondary data analysis of the longitudinal Nurture birth cohort (n = 666). Most mothers in the cohort were non-Hispanic/Latinx Black (71.6%). About one-half of mothers had …

Insecticidal Activity Of A Petroleum-Derived Spray Oil And An Organosilicone Surfactant On Listronotus Maculicollis (Kirby) Adults In Laboratory And Greenhouse Bioassays, Benjamin A. Mcgraw, Albrecht M. Koppenhöfer, Olga Kostromytska, Shaohui Wu, Steven R. Alm

Plant Sciences and Entomology Faculty Publications

The annual bluegrass weevil (ABW), Listronotus maculicollis (Kirby), is a severe pest of golf course turf in eastern North America. The development of pyrethroid- and multiple-resistant populations has created a dire need for novel tactics to control adults. We examined the insecticidal properties of a petroleum-derived spray oil (PDSO; Civitas Turf Defense™.) and an organosilicone, nonionic soil surfactant (Silwet L-77^®) in laboratory and greenhouse bioassays. Civitas and Silwet killed > 75% of ABW adults in multiple assays. The level of control was positively affected by increased rate, spray application volume, and soil moisture levels. Dissections of weevils treated with …

Prior Adaptive Semi-Supervised Learning With Application To Ehr Phenotyping, Yichi Zhang, Molei Liu, Matey Neykov, Tianxi Cai

Computer Science and Statistics Faculty Publications

Electronic Health Record (EHR) data, a rich source for biomedical research, have been successfully used to gain novel insight into a wide range of diseases. Despite its potential, EHR is currently underutilized for discovery research due to its major limitation in the lack of precise phenotype information. To overcome such difficulties, recent efforts have been devoted to developing supervised algorithms to accurately predict phenotypes based on relatively small training datasets with gold-standard labels extracted via chart review. However, supervised methods typically require a sizable training set to yield generalizable algorithms, especially when the number of candidate features, p, is …

The Influence Of The Environmental Quality Incentives Program On Local Water Quality, Pengfei Liu, Yu Wang, Wei Zhang

Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Faculty Publications

The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) is the primary conservation program on working agricultural land. The United States Department of Agriculture obligated over $15 billion through EQIP cost-sharing contracts during the fiscal years 2009–2019. The voluntary nature of the program and the lack of performance assessment have led to speculations regarding the effectiveness of the program in delivering environmental benefits, in particular for improving water quality. This study provides quantitative estimates of the influence of EQIP payments on local water quality at a national scale. We link monitoring station level water quality readings with EQIP contract data and exploit the …

Reproducibility And Variability Of Earthquake Subsidence Estimates From Saltmarshes Of A Cascadia Estuary, Jason Scott Padgett, Simon E. Engelhart, Harvey M. Kelsey, Robert C. Witter, Niamh Cahill

Geosciences Faculty Publications

We examine fossil foraminiferal assemblages from 20 sediment cores to assess sudden relative sea-level (RSL) changes across three mud-over-peat contacts at three salt marshes in northern Humboldt Bay, California (~44.8°N, −124.2°W). We use a validated foraminiferal-based Bayesian transfer function to evaluate the variability of subsidence stratigraphy at a range of 30-6000 m across an estuary. We use the consistency in RSL reconstructions to support estimates of coseismic subsidence from megathrust earthquakes. To assess the variability of subsidence estimates, we analyzed: nine examples of the 1700 CE earthquake (average of 0.64 ±0.14 m subsidence; range of 0.24 ± 0.27 to 1.00 …