Digital Commons Network^™

Spatial Disparities Of Covid-19 Cases And Fatalities In United States Counties, Sarah L. Jackson, Sahar Derakhshan, Leah Blackwood, Logan Lee, Qian Huang, Margot Habets, Susan L. Cutter

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the spatial and temporal trends in county-level COVID-19 cases and fatalities in the United States during the first year of the pandemic (January 2020–January 2021). Statistical and geospatial analyses highlight greater impacts in the Great Plains, Southwestern and Southern regions based on cases and fatalities per 100,000 population. Significant case and fatality spatial clusters were most prevalent between November 2020 and January 2021. Distinct urban–rural differences in COVID-19 experiences uncovered higher rural cases and fatalities per 100,000 population and fewer government mitigation actions enacted in rural counties. High levels of social vulnerability and the absence of mitigation …

12 C(E,E'Pn) Measurements Of Short Range Correlations In The Tensor-To-Scalar Interaction Transition Region, I. Korover, J. R. Pybus, A. Schmidt, F. Hauenstein, M. Duer, O. Hen, E. Piasetzky, L. B. Weinstein, D. W. Higinbotham, S. Adhikari, K. Adhikari, M. J. Amaryan, Giovanni Angelini, H. Atac, L. Barion, M. Battaglieri, A. Beck, I. Bedlinkskiy, Fatiha Benmokhtar, Steffen Strauch, Ralf W. Gothe, Krishna Chandra Neupane, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

High-momentum configurations of nucleon pairs at short-distance are probed using measurements of the C-12(e, e' p) and C-12(e, e' pN) reactions (where N is either n or p), at high-Q(2) and x(B) > 1.1. The data span a missing-momentum range of 300-1000 MeV/c and are predominantly sensitive to the transition region of the strong nuclear interaction from a Tensor to Scalar interaction. The data are well reproduced by theoretical calculations using the Generalized Contact Formalism with both chiral and phenomenological nucleon-nucleon (NN) interaction models. This agreement suggests that the measured high missing-momentum protons up to 1000 MeV/c predominantly belong to short-ranged …

Measuring Global Multi-Scale Place Connectivity Using Geotagged Social Media Data, Zhenlong Li, Xiao Huang, Xinyue Ye, Yuqin Jiang, Yago Martin, Huan Ning, Michael E. Hodgson, Xiaoming Li

Faculty Publications

Shaped by human movement, place connectivity is quantified by the strength of spatial interactions among locations. For decades, spatial scientists have researched place connectivity, applications, and metrics. The growing popularity of social media provides a new data stream where spatial social interaction measures are largely devoid of privacy issues, easily assessable, and harmonized. In this study, we introduced a global multi-scale place connectivity index (PCI) based on spatial interactions among places revealed by geotagged tweets as a spatiotemporal-continuous and easy-to-implement measurement. The multi-scale PCI, demonstrated at the US county level, exhibits a strong positive association with SafeGraph population movement records …

Measuring Global Multi-Scale Place Connectivity Using Geotagged Social Media Data, Zhenlong Li, Xiao Huang, Yuqin Jiang, Yago Martin, Huan Ning, Michael E. Hodgson, Xiaoming Li

Faculty Publications

Shaped by human movement, place connectivity is quantified by the strength of spatial interactions among locations. For decades, spatial scientists have researched place connectivity, applications, and metrics. The growing popularity of social media provides a new data stream where spatial social interaction measures are largely devoid of privacy issues, easily assessable, and harmonized. In this study, we introduced a global multi-scale place connectivity index (PCI) based on spatial interactions among places revealed by geotagged tweets as a spatiotemporal-continuous and easy-to-implement measurement. The multi-scale PCI, demonstrated at the US county level, exhibits a strong positive association with SafeGraph population movement records …

Resettlement Capacity Assessments For Climate Induced Displacements: Evidence From Ethiopia, Solomon Zena Walelign, Susan L. Cutter, Paivi Lujala

Faculty Publications

Climate change migration is increasing and necessitates a re-examination of resettlement planning and processes. Although evidence-based selection of host places would improve climate change resettlement outcomes, few methods for the selection of host communities exist. Consequently, the information base on which most resettlement programs select a host place is often inadequate. This article proposes an empirical methodology to assess resettlement capacity. The methodology uses a hierarchical aggregation approach, where resettlement capacity indicator values are aggregated first into sub-dimension resettlement capacity scores, then further into dimension resettlement capacity scores, and finally into an overall resettlement capacity index. The aggregation allows for …

Environmental Justice And The Gullah Geechee: The National Environmental Policy Act's Potential In Protecting The Sea Islands, Paul N. Nybo

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Covid-19 And Business Interruption Insurance: The Constitutionality Of Legislatively Mandated Coverage, William G. Arnold

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Perspective: The Importance Of Water Security For Ensuring Food Security, Good Nutrition, And Well-Being, Sera L. Young, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Zeina Jamaluddine, Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez, Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Claudia Ringler, Asher Y. Rosinger

Faculty Publications

Water security is a powerful concept that is still in its early days in the field of nutrition. Given the prevalence and severity of water issues and the many interconnections between water and nutrition, we argue that water security deserves attention commensurate with its importance to human nutrition and health. To this end, we first give a brief introduction to water insecurity and discuss its conceptualization in terms of availability, access, use, and stability. We then lay out the empirical grounding for its assessment. Parallels to the food-security literature are drawn throughout, both because the concepts are analogous and food …

Taking The Pulse Of Undergraduate Introductory Geographic Information Systems Courses, Christopher Krause

Theses and Dissertations

As colleges and universities expand their geographic information systems (GIS) course offerings, the pedagogies involved in teaching such courses ought to be critically evaluated. Existing research concerning the teaching of geospatial technologies has been characterized as “sparse, inconsistent, and overly anecdotal” (Baker et al., 2015, p. 118). Answering the call for “more systematic and replicable” (p. 118) GIS education research, this study adopted a suite of mixed methods used within other discipline-based education research (DBER) and deployed them in introductory GIS courses. These methods included classroom observation protocols, interview protocols, focus group protocols, and student questionnaires.

This research had three …

Charlotte's Glory Road: The History Of Nascar In The Queen City, Hannah Thompson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis focuses on the relationship between the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) and Charlotte, North Carolina, and how the geography of the Charlotte area was a catalyst to the growth of the motorsports industry in the Queen City. Specifically, this thesis investigates the roles of NASCAR teams, Charlotte Motor Speedway, and the NASCAR Hall of Fame in creating and continuing to grow the presence of NASCAR in Charlotte. The Hall of Fame in particular has strengthened the position of Charlotte in NASCAR history, after officials selected Charlotte over Daytona and Atlanta for the site of the …

Evaluation And Implementation Of The C-Pen On The Reading Level, Comprehension, And Oral Reading Fluency Of Third-Grade Students With Learning Disabilities: An Action Research Study, Kawanna Mckenzie

Theses and Dissertations

Third-grade students with learning disabilities struggle to meet reading proficiency levels at both the national and local levels. The appropriate support, services, and instruction of students with learning disabilities can help them achieve reading proficiency. Specific educational laws have been implemented to enable students with learning disabilities to use assistive technologies such as text-to-speech tools to support their reading. The purpose of this action research study was to evaluate the impact of a text-to-speech tool—the C-Pen—on the reading skills of third-grade students with learning disabilities at an elementary/middle school. The focus of this study was on three main research questions …

Groundwater Flow And Transport At The Forest-Marsh Boundary: A Modeling Study, Sophia Chason Sanders

Theses and Dissertations

The forest-marsh boundary, where tidally influenced salt marshes meet a forested upland, is hydrologically complex due to its multiple water inputs. Groundwater flow and salinity transport at this boundary are not well understood. In order to make predictions about salinity at this boundary as it responds to climatic factors, a two-dimensional model was built to simulate groundwater flow and solute transport at a salt marsh on Sapelo Island, Georgia. After calibration based on observed data from wells at the study site, the model can be used to identify patterns in groundwater movement and solute transport that may influence the vegetation …

Examining The Cost And Quality Relationship In Medicare, Alexandria Fleming Delage

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the cost and quality of care dynamic among physicians billing under Medicare Fee for Service in 2018 to examine the relationship between quality and total cost of care at the physician level. Examining this relationship will advance scientific knowledge regarding the impact of increasing high value service use on healthcare costs and will provide insight in terms of expected cost outcomes of quality programs for healthcare policymakers (Salmond and Echevarria 2017; Williams, Brown, and Healy 2018).

Methods.

The study used publicly available data sets provided by the Center for Medicare and …

Patients’ Rights, Patients’ Politics: Jewish Activists Of The U.S. Women’S Health Movement, 1969-1990, Jillian Michele Hinderliter

Theses and Dissertations

As the women’s health movement grew out of second wave feminism in the late 1960s, activists demanded women be taken seriously as health care consumers and critics of male-dominated medicine. Health feminists aimed to fundamentally redefine the relationship between patient and practitioner. Jewish women helped found and sustain the women’s health movement, yet their activist identities are often separated from Jewishness in histories of health reform. “Patients’ Rights, Patients’ Politics: Jewish Activists of the U.S. Women’s Health Movement, 1969-1990,” considers the impact of Jewish identity on Jewish activists’ conceptions of social justice while also tracing their significant contributions to women’s …

Exploring Students’ Cosmopolitan Perspectives In An Undergraduate, Intermediate Spanish-Language Class, Erin Carlson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore how SPAN 121 might be designed to foster and support students’ development of cosmopolitan perspectives. Specifically, it explored how English-speaking students might demonstrate cosmopolitan perspectives in response to activities engaging them in Spanish with global Spanish speakers as part of their undergraduate, intermediate Spanish-language class. Theories of cosmopolitanism value responsible, global citizens engaged in open and respectful dialogue across geographic boundaries to learn about themselves and the world and may guide undergraduate college students in intercultural interactions. Through teacher action research utilizing qualitative case study, this study explored which activities might foster …

Carbon Storage Via Mineral Bonding In Subsoils A Review Of Soil Processes, Kiele Goins

Theses and Dissertations

Soil is an important but often poorly understood portion of the carbon cycle. Soil can store more carbon than twice today’s atmosphere, but the factors that control carbon storage are often unclear. Carbon enters the soil through input of organic matter, erosion, and aerosol deposition and is lost mostly via microbial decomposition. Carbon loss in soil is impacted by the chemical composition of organic compounds, environmental factors, and human activities. Furthermore, as climate changes soil, carbon storage may be vulnerable. Although carbon can be stored throughout soil, carbon storage varies with depth. In topsoil, carbon is stored for short periods …

Race Is Not A Risk Factor: Examining The Influence Of Models Of Care, Race, And Discrimination On Racial Disparities In Maternal Outcomes, Curisa Mae Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

Maternal health outcomes are worst for racial and ethnic minority patients in the United States. There are disparities in pregnancy-related death and severe maternal morbidities where Black women suffer the most disparate outcomes. However, much of the previous scholarly work in this arena has charged that race is a risk factor for adverse maternal outcomes in which this dissertation refutes.

To better understand this phenomenon, we first conducted a scoping review of literature. Our aim was to examine the current state of literature on group prenatal care and its impact on maternal outcomes and racial disparities in adverse maternal outcomes. …

Groundwater Discharge From Passive Continental Margins: Rethinking Marine Chemical Budgets, Andrew William Osborne

Theses and Dissertations

Geothermal convection and sediment compaction drive large-scale flow in continental shelves. We suggest that this flow is an overlooked control on the major ion chemistry of the ocean. Conventional ocean chemical budgets are constructed using river discharge, axial mid-ocean ridge (MOR) convection and CaCO3 production, but these budgets are still poorly quantified. We synthesized data from 17 passive continental margin basins to calculate a range of estimated groundwater and chemical fluxes from continental shelves, considering five major ions (Ca2+, Na+, K+, Mg2+, and Cl-). When extrapolated globally, volumetric groundwater flux estimates were comparable to those for MOR axial circulation, and …

The Mexico Simsmoke Tobacco Control Policy Model: Development Of A Simulation Model Of Daily And Nondaily Cigarette Smoking, Luz Maria Sanchez-Romero, Luis Zavala-Arciniega, Luz Myriam Reynales-Shigematsu, Belén Sáenz De Miera-Juárez, Zhe Yuan, Yameng Li, Yan Kwan Lau, Nancy L. Fleischer, Rafael Meza, Jim F. Thrasher Ph.D., Ma, Ms, David T. Levy

Faculty Publications

Background

Nondaily smoking has been on the rise, especially in Mexico. While Mexico has strengthened its tobacco control policies, their effects on nondaily smokers have gone largely unexamined. We developed a simulation model to estimate the impact of tobacco control policies on daily and nondaily smoking in Mexico.

Methods

A previously validated Mexico SimSmoke model that estimated overall trends in smoking prevalence from 2002 through 2013 was extended to 2018 and adapted to distinguish daily and nondaily smoking prevalence. The model was then validated using data from Mexican surveys through 2016. To gauge the potential effects of policies, we compared …

June 16, 2021 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

June 2, 2021 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Beyond “Children Are Different”: The Revolution In Juvenile Intake And Sentencing, Josh Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Publications

For more than 120 years, juvenile justice law has not substantively defined the core questions in most delinquency cases—when should the state prosecute children rather than divert them from the court system (the intake decision), and what should the state do with children once they are convicted (the sentencing decision)? Instead, the law has granted certain legal actors wide discretion over these decisions, namely prosecutors at intake and judges at sentencing. This Article identifies and analyzes an essential reform trend changing that reality: legislation, enacted in at least eight states in the 2010s, to limit when children can be prosecuted …

Exploring Canadian Children's Social Media Use, Digital Literacy, And Quality Of Life: Pilot Cross-Sectional Survey Study, Lorie Donelle Phd, Rn, Fcan, Danica Facca, Shauna Burke, Bradley Hiebert, Emma Bender, Stephen Ling

Publications

BACKGROUND: Understanding social media use and digital literacy among young Canadian children is an increasing area of concern, given the importance of digital inclusion for full and informed participation in evolving educational, civic, corporate, social, and economic spaces. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to explore internet and social media knowledge as well as social media use among Canadian children aged between 6 and 10 years. METHODS: We conducted interview surveys with 42 children aged between 6 and 10 years who participated in an after-school health promotion program in an urban community in Southwestern Ontario to understand their digital …

Suas For 3d Tree Surveying: Comparative Experiments On A Closed-Canopy Earthen Dam, Cuizhen Wang, Grayson R. Morgan, Michael E. Hodgson

Faculty Publications

Defined as “personal remote sensing”, small unmanned aircraft systems (sUAS) have been increasingly utilized for landscape mapping. This study tests a sUAS procedure of 3D tree surveying of a closed-canopy woodland on an earthen dam. Three DJI drones—Mavic Pro, Phantom 4 Pro, and M100/RedEdge-M assembly—were used to collect imagery in six missions in 2019–2020. A canopy height model was built from the sUAS-extracted point cloud and LiDAR bare earth surface. Treetops were delineated in a variable-sized local maxima filter, and tree crowns were outlined via inverted watershed segmentation. The outputs include a tree inventory that contains 238 to 284 trees …

Spatiotemporal Patterns Of Human Mobility And Its Association With Land Use Types During Covid-19 In New York City, Yuqin Jiang, Xiao Huang, Zhenlong Li

Faculty Publications

The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic has impacted every facet of society. One of the non-pharmacological measures to contain the COVID-19 infection is social distancing. Federal, state, and local governments have placed multiple executive orders for human mobility reduction to slow down the spread of COVID-19. This paper uses geotagged tweets data to reveal the spatiotemporal human mobility patterns during this COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. With New York City open data, human mobility pattern changes were detected by different categories of land use, including residential, parks, transportation facilities, and workplaces. This study further compares human mobility patterns by …

The Malina Oceanographic Expedition: How Do Changes In Ice Cover, Permafrost And Uv Radiation Impact Biodiversity And Biogeochemical Fluxes In The Arctic Ocean?, Philippe Massicotte, Rainer M.W. Amon, Antoine David, Sergio Balzano, Simon Bélanger, Ronald Benner, Dominique Boeuf, Annick Bricaud, Flavienne Bruyant, Gwenaëlle Chaillou, Malik Chami, Bruno Charrière, Jing Chen, Hervé Claustre, Pierre Coupel, Nicole Delsaut, David Doxaran, Jens Ehn, Cédric Fichot, Marie-Hélène Forget, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The MALINA oceanographic campaign was conducted during summer 2009 to investigate the carbon stocks and the processes controlling the carbon fluxes in the Mackenzie River estuary and the Beaufort Sea. During the campaign, an extensive suite of physical, chemical and biological variables were measured across seven shelf-basin transects (south-north) to capture the meridional gradient between the estuary and the open ocean. Key variables such as temperature, absolute salinity, radiance, irradiance, nutrient concentrations, chlorophyll a concentration, bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance and taxonomy, and carbon stocks and fluxes were routinely measured onboard the Canadian research icebreaker CCGS Amundsen and from a …

Spatial-Temporal Relationship Between Population Mobility And Covid-19 Outbreaks In South Carolina: Time Series Forecasting Analysis, Chengbo Zeng, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Zhenlong Li Ph.D., Xiaowen Sun, Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Sharon Weissman, Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background: Population mobility is closely associated with COVID-19 transmission, and it could be used as a proximal indicator to predict future outbreaks, which could inform proactive nonpharmaceutical interventions for disease control. South Carolina is one of the US states that reopened early, following which it experienced a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases.

Objective: The aims of this study are to examine the spatial-temporal relationship between population mobility and COVID-19 outbreaks and use population mobility data to predict daily new cases at both the state and county level in South Carolina.

Methods: This longitudinal study used disease surveillance …

Telepsychiatry Adoption Across Hospitals In The United States: A Cross-Sectional Study, Zhong Li, Sayward Harrison, Xiaoming Li, Peiyin Hung

Faculty Publications

Background: Access to psychiatric care is critical for patients discharged from hospital psychiatric units to ensure continuity of care. When face-to-face follow-up is unavailable or undesirable, telepsychiatry becomes a promising alternative. This study aimed to investigate hospital- and county-level characteristics associated with telepsychiatry adoption. Methods: Cross-sectional national data of 3475 acute care hospitals were derived from the 2017 American Hospital Association Annual Survey. Generalized linear regression models were used to identify characteristics associated with telepsychiatry adoption. Results: About one-sixth (548 [15.8%]) of hospitals reported having telepsychiatry with a wide variation across states. Rural noncore hospitals were less likely to adopt …

April 7, 2021 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Telepsychiatry Adoption Across Hospitals In The United States: A Cross-Sectional Study, Zhong Li, Sayward Elizabeth Harrison Ph.D., Xiamoing Li Ph.D., Peiyin Hung

Faculty Publications

Background: Access to psychiatric care is critical for patients discharged from hospital psychiatric units to ensure continuity of care. When face-to-face follow-up is unavailable or undesirable, telepsychiatry becomes a promising alternative. This study aimed to investigate hospital- and county-level characteristics associated with telepsychiatry adoption.Methods: Cross-sectional national data of 3475 acute care hospitals were derived from the 2017 American Hospital Association Annual Survey. Generalized linear regression models were used to identify characteristics associated with telepsychiatry adoption.Results: About one-sixth (548 [15.8%]) of hospitals reported having telepsychiatry with a wide variation across states. Rural noncore hospitals were less likely to adopt telepsychiatry (8.3%) …