Digital Commons Network^™

Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity And Virologic Failure Among People With Hiv: A Cohort Study In All Of Us Research Program, Fanghui Shi, Ruilie Cai, Buwei He, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Xueying Yang Ph.D., Sharon Weissman, Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Jiajia Zhang Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background: Sexual and gender minorities (SGMs) are at higher risk of HIV incidence compared to their heterosexual cisgender counterparts. Despite the high HIV disease burden among SGMs, there was limited data on whether they are at higher risk of virologic failure, which may lead to potential disease progression and increased transmission risk. The All of Us (AoU) Research Program, a national community-engaged program aiming to improve health and facilitate health equity in the United States by partnering with one million participants, provides a promising resource for identifying a diverse and large volunteer TGD cohort. Leveraging various data sources available through …

The Prosecutor Vacancy Crisis, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

There is a prosecutor vacancy crisis in the United States. Prosecutors are quitting in droves and there are few applicants to replace them. In Houston and Los Angeles, more than 15% of prosecutor positions are open. In Detroit, the vacancy rate exceeds 20%. In Alameda, 25% of prosecutor positions are empty. And in Miami, a staggering 33% of prosecutor positions are unfilled. The situation is equally dire in many large and small counties across the nation.

Drawing on data and interviews from more than two-dozen district attorney’s offices, this Article documents how low salaries, massive caseloads, lack of remote work …

Behind The Screen: Exploring Parental Roles In K-12 Online Education, Barbara T. Sandberg, Charles R. Graham, Jered Borup, Richard E. West, Rocio Quiroga Velasquez

Faculty Publications

Independent engagement can be challenging for K-12 online students. Parents’ physical presence makes them an important source of engagement support. Previous research on parental support in online courses is limited and focused on asynchronous learning within a single program. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, online enrollments have grown and instructional modalities have evolved. To better understand parental support post-Covid, we interviewed 21 parents across eight online programs with asynchronous, synchronous, and bichronous course offerings. Parents identified their affective, behavioral, cognitive, and other support roles. Implications for parental roles in addressing the academic engagement gap are provided to both researchers and practitioners.

“How Come I Don’T Look Like That”: The Negative Impact Of Wishful Identification With Influencers On Follower Well-Being, Ruonan Zhang, Trinideé Mercado, Yu Chen, Nicky Chang Bi

Faculty Publications

Purpose Building on Social Comparison Theory and Parasocial Relationship Theory, this study is designed to investigate how followers’ wishful identification with YouTube influencers is associated with their psychological well-being and how parasocial relationships with influencers moderate this association. Design/methodology/approach Influencer-fan data (N = 504) is collected through a Qualtrics survey in collaboration with a real-life influencer on YouTube. Hayes Process Modeling was used to conduct mediation and moderation analyses. Findings Results indicate that enjoyment of influencers’ videos positively leads to followers’ wishful identification, which negatively impacts their well-being. The parasocial relationship with the influencer was found to be a significant …

Effective Support Strategies Serving Diverse Teacher Candidates In Paraprofessional Teacher Education Programs, Angela Christine Griner, Debra K. Wellman

Faculty Publications

Paraprofessionals remain a rich resource for our children and our school communities. Teacher education programs that have sought to provide pathways to teaching certification for paraprofessionals recognize this. Over the last 25 years, research has shown well-documented models for programs and strategies that support candidates in these programs, as well as the obstacles and challenges those programs and participants face. This article presents a descriptive case study of the first three years of a para-to-teacher program, across three cohorts of participants at a small liberal arts institution. Implications for best practices tied to collaborative leadership, relational approaches, and collaborative program …

Applying Machine‐Learning Methods To Laser Acceleration Of Protons: Lessons Learned From Synthetic Data, Ronak Desai, Thomas Zhang, J. J. Felice, Ricky Oropeza, Joseph R. Smith, Alona Kryshchenko, Chris Orban, Michael L. Dexter, Anil K. Patnaik

Faculty Publications

In this study, we consider three different machine-learning methods—a three-hidden-layer neural network, support vector regression, and Gaussian process regression—and compare how well they can learn from a synthetic data set for proton acceleration in the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration regime. The synthetic data set was generated from a previously published theoretical model by Fuchs et al. 2005 that we modified. Once trained, these machine-learning methods can assist with efforts to maximize the peak proton energy, or with the more general problem of configuring the laser system to produce a proton energy spectrum with desired characteristics. In our study, we focus …

Strategies To Alleviate Flickering: Bayesian And Smoothing Methods For Deep Learning Classification In Video, Noah Miller, Glen Ryan Drumm, Lance Champagne, Bruce A. Cox, Trevor Bihl

Faculty Publications

Excerpt: Increasing reliance on autonomous systems requires confidence in the accuracies produced from computer vision classification algorithms. Computer vision (CV) for video classification provides phenomenal abilities, but it often suffers from “flickering” of results. Flickering occurs when the CV algorithm switches between declared classes over successive frames. Such behavior causes a loss of trust and confidence in their operations.

Sound Innovations For Biofabrication And Tissue Engineering, Mengxi Wu, Zhiteng Ma, Zhenhua Tian, Joseph Rich, Xin He, Jianping Xia, Ye He, Kaichun Yang, Shujie Yang, Kam W. Leong, Luke P. Lee, Tony Jun Huang

Faculty Publications

Advanced biofabrication techniques can create tissue-like constructs that can be applied for reconstructive surgery or as in vitro three-dimensional (3D) models for disease modeling and drug screening. While various biofabrication techniques have recently been widely reviewed in the literature, acoustics-based technologies still need to be explored. The rapidly increasing number of publications in the past two decades exploring the application of acoustic technologies highlights the tremendous potential of these technologies. In this review, we contend that acoustics-based methods can address many limitations inherent in other biofabrication techniques due to their unique advantages: noncontact manipulation, biocompatibility, deep tissue penetrability, versatility, precision …

Time Domain Spectral Lidar Enabled By Cascaded Raman In A Hydrogen-Filled Transmitter, Richard K. Martin, Trevor L. Courtney, Arielle M. Adams, Daniel E. Leaird, Luke Ausley, Christian K. Keyser

Faculty Publications

We introduce what we believe to be novel spectral light detection and ranging (LiDAR) architectures that enable ultra-compact systems by a transition from spectral signal processing in space (gratings) to processing in time. The architectures leverage temporal dispersion and the unique spectro-temporal waveforms produced from the cascaded Raman scattering generated in the (H₂) filled hollow core fiber. The characterized Raman source yields as many as six Raman orders from 1.06-1.70 μm; their unique spectro-temporal waveforms are measured. System performance simulations based on measured Raman waveforms show that high accuracy measurement of range and reflectivity are possible with proper …

Limitations Of Beam-Control Compensation, Matthew Kalensky, Darren Getts, Matthias T. Banet, Derek J. Burrell, Milo W. Hyde, Mark F. Spencer

Faculty Publications

In this paper, we use wave-optics simulations to explore the limitations of beam-control compensation. We evaluate performance in terms of the normalized power in a diffraction-limited bucket for the cases of no beam-control compensation, perfect phase compensation, and perfect full-field compensation. From these results, we are able to arrive at the following conclusions: (1) without any form of beam-control compensation, performance begins to degrade when D/r₀ > 1; (2) with perfect phase compensation, performance begins to degrade when D/r₀ > 1 and (λ/r₀)/θ₀ > 1; and (3) with perfect full-field compensation, performance begins to degrade when D/r_{0 …}

Monitoring And Modeling Urban Temperature Patterns In The State Of Iowa, Usa, Utilizing Mobile Sensors And Geospatial Data, Clemir Abbeg Coproski, Bingqing Liang, James T. Dietrich, John Degroote

Faculty Publications

Thorough investigations into air temperature variation across urban environments are essential to address concerns about city livability. With limited research on smaller cities, especially in the American Midwest, the goal of this research was to examine the spatial patterns of air temperature across multiple small to medium-sized cities in Iowa, a relatively rural US state. Extensive fieldwork was conducted utilizing manually built mobile temperature sensors to collect air temperature data at a high temporal and spatial resolution in ten Iowa urban areas during the afternoon, evening, and night on days exceeding 32 °C from June to September 2022. Using the …

Exploring In-Service Science Teachers' Self-Perceptions Of Competence And Pedagogical Approaches To Socioscientific Issues In Education, Arberore Bicaj, Fatlume Berisha, Rachel Gisewhite

Faculty Publications

Global education experts are increasingly prioritizing scientific literacy development. Science education is key to enhancing scientific literacy, fostering social responsibility, and supporting economic growth by equipping individuals with essential scientific knowledge and skills. In the past two decades, socioscientific issues (SSI) have greatly influenced science education research, improving students’ ability to apply scientific knowledge in real-world contexts and advancing functional scientific literacy. Given the strong evidence that socioscientific issues (SSI) enhance scientific literacy and social responsibility skills, understanding SSI role in science education is crucial for developing countries aiming to boost economic and social growth. This research aimed to understand …

The Suppression Of Ocean Waves By Biogenic Slicks, Nathan J. M. Laxague, Christopher Zappa, Shantanu Soumya, Oliver Wurl

Faculty Publications

Surface waves are significantly damped by biogenic surfactants which accumulate at the ocean's surface from the high latitudes to the tropics. The growth, development, and breaking of short wind-driven surface waves is a key mediator of the air-sea exchange of momentum, heat, and trace gases consequently, the effect of surfactant compounds in the uppermost millimeters of the ocean in damping short surface waves bears on earth's climatic processes. The mechanisms through which surfactants suppress waves have been studied in great detail through careful laboratory experimentation in quasi one-dimensional wave tanks. However, the spatial scales over which this damping occurs in …

From "Open Ocean" To "Exposed Aquaculture": Why And How We Are Changing The Standard Terminology Describing "Offshore Aquaculture", Tyler Sclodnick, Michael Chambers, Barry Antonio Costa-Pierce, Tobias Dewhurst, Nils Goseberg, Kevin Gerald Heasman, Wolf Isbert, Gesche Krause, Daniel Wieczorek, Till Markus, Bela H. Buck

Faculty Publications

The term “offshore” with regards to aquaculture has hitherto encompassed various perspectives, including technology, geographic location, legal jurisdiction, and more. To resolve the ambiguity in this term and understand its implications for current and future aquaculture development, “offshore” should be resolved into two separate metrics: distance from shore and energy exposure. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) distinguishes between internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the high seas, but currently has no precise definition for “offshore” in its provisions, and therefore no applicable laws pertaining to “offshore” aquaculture. Regulating a …

From "Open Ocean" To "Exposed Aquaculture": Why And How We Are Changing The Standard Terminology Describing "Offshore Aquaculture", Tyler Sclodnick, Michael Chambers, Barry Antonio Costa-Pierce, Tobias Dewhurst, Nils Goseberg, Kevin Gerald Heasman, Wolf Isbert, Gesche Krause, Daniel Wieczorek, Till Markus, Bela H. Buck

Faculty Publications

The term “offshore” with regards to aquaculture has hitherto encompassed various perspectives, including technology, geographic location, legal jurisdiction, and more. To resolve the ambiguity in this term and understand its implications for current and future aquaculture development, “offshore” should be resolved into two separate metrics: distance from shore and energy exposure. The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) distinguishes between internal waters, territorial sea, contiguous zone, exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the high seas, but currently has no precise definition for “offshore” in its provisions, and therefore no applicable laws pertaining to “offshore” aquaculture. Regulating a …

Inferring Tlb Configuration With Performance Tools, Cristian Agredo, Tor J. Langehaug, Scott R. Graham

Faculty Publications

Modern computing systems are primarily designed for maximum performance, which inadvertently introduces vulnerabilities at the micro-architecture level. While cache side-channel analysis has received significant attention, other Central Processing Units (CPUs) components like the Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) can also be exploited to leak sensitive information. This paper focuses on the TLB, a micro-architecture component that is vulnerable to side-channel attacks. Despite the coarse granularity at the page level, advancements in tools and techniques have made TLB information leakage feasible. The primary goal of this study is not to demonstrate the potential for information leakage from the TLB but to establish …

Imagination Grows A Better World: Courage, Creativity, And Fantastic Futures, Janet Croft

Faculty Publications

Our field is requiring ever more courage from us as we face challenges to our bedrock beliefs in free access to information and the value of diverse viewpoints, of representation of different ways of being and living, of higher education, and of imagination itself. Where can we find inspiration to keep going? In order to meet the challenges we face with creativity and courage, we need both the ability to imagine a better world and the determination to work to bring this world into being. I’ll talk about some inspirational examples of the pairing of courage and creativity in my …

Master Narratives Surrounding Rural Emerging Adult Migration: Resources For Postsecondary Decision-Making In Rural Communities, Cindy Hartman, Jayson Seaman, Andrew D. Coppens, Erin H. Sharp, Sarah Jusseaume

Faculty Publications

This study examined the cultural messages informing postsecondary decision-making processes surrounding emerging adult migration from/to a predominately rural state in the northeastern U.S. Utilizing an ecological approach to sampling, this study used 27 interviews and 5 focus groups of stakeholders working in educational, employment, and quality of life sectors. Narrative analysis yielded evidence of a predominant master narrative of migration as a developmental requirement during emerging adulthood. Stakeholders spoke of normative and prescriptive expectations that emerging adults particularly in rural areas orient their plans and decision-making around, including leaving their home communities for developmental reasons. Implications for emerging adult development …

Short Communication: Numerically Simulated Time To Steady State Is Not A Reliable Measure Of Landscape Response Time, Nicole M. Gasparini, Adam M. Forte, Katherine R. Barnhart

Faculty Publications

Quantifying the timescales over which landscapes evolve is critical for understanding past and future environmental change. Computational landscape evolution models are one tool among many that have been used in this pursuit. We compare numerically modeled times to reach steady state for a landscape adjusting to an increase in rock uplift rate. We use three different numerical modeling libraries and explore the impact of time step, grid type, numerical method for solving the erosion equation, and metric for quantifying the time to steady state. We find that modeled time to steady state is impacted by all of these variables. Time …

Contrasting Responses Of Commercially Important Northwest Atlantic Bivalve Species To Ocean Acidification And Temperature Conditions, Teagan Mcmahon, Diana Thatcher, Branwen Williams, Alan Wanamaker, Brittany Jellison, Heidi Franklin, Katherine Guay, Nina M. Whitney, Joseph A. Stewart, Michèle Lavigne

Faculty Publications

Modern calcifying marine organisms face numerous environmental stressors, including overfishing, deoxygenation, increasing ocean temperatures, and ocean acidification (OA). Coastal marine settings are predicted to become warmer and more acidic in coming decades, heightening the risks of extreme events such as marine heat waves. Given these threats, it is important to understand the vulnerabilities of marine organisms that construct their shells from calcium carbonate, which are particularly susceptible to warming and decreasing pH levels. To investigate the response of four commercially relevant bivalve species to OA and differing temperatures, juvenile Mercenaria mercenaria (hard shell clams), juvenile Mya arenaria (soft shell clams), …

Contrasting Responses Of Commercially Important Northwest Atlantic Bivalve Species To Ocean Acidification And Temperature Conditions, Teagan Mcmahon, Diana Thatcher, Branwen Williams, Alan Wanamaker, Brittany Jellison, Heidi Franklin, Katherine Guay, Nina M. Whitney, Joseph A. Stewart, Michèle Lavigne

Faculty Publications

Modern calcifying marine organisms face numerous environmental stressors, including overfishing, deoxygenation, increasing ocean temperatures, and ocean acidification (OA). Coastal marine settings are predicted to become warmer and more acidic in coming decades, heightening the risks of extreme events such as marine heat waves. Given these threats, it is important to understand the vulnerabilities of marine organisms that construct their shells from calcium carbonate, which are particularly susceptible to warming and decreasing pH levels. To investigate the response of four commercially relevant bivalve species to OA and differing temperatures, juvenile Mercenaria mercenaria (hard shell clams), juvenile Mya arenaria (soft shell clams), …

Model Mediation Course Syllabus With Teaching Notes, John Lande

Faculty Publications

This course syllabus grows out of a series of articles developing Real Practice Systems Theory in mediation practice and education. This course would teach students about mediation of legal disputes in the US, including the roles of both mediators and attorneys. There is great value in teaching students about both roles of mediators and attorneys in the same course. Practitioners in both roles share some basic values and principles, and they need to understand each others’ roles and typical techniques in mediation.

The syllabus discusses the roles of attorneys, mediators, and parties, procedures before and during mediation sessions, and the …

Online Eye Tracking For Aphasia: A Feasibility Study Comparing Web And Lab Tracking And Implications For Clinical Use, Willem S. Van Boxtel, Michael Linge, Rylee Manning, Lily N. Haven, Jiyeon Lee

Faculty Publications

Background & Aims: Studies using eye-tracking methodology have made important contributions to the study of language disorders such as aphasia. Nevertheless, in clinical groups especially, eye-tracking studies often include small sample sizes, limiting the generalizability of reported findings. Online, webcam-based tracking offers a potential solution to this issue, but web-based tracking has not been compared with in-lab tracking in past studies and has never been attempted in groups with language impairments. Materials & Methods: Patients with post-stroke aphasia (n = 16) and age-matched controls (n = 16) completed identical sentence-picture matching tasks in the lab (using an EyeLink system) and …

Probabilistic Well-Posedness For The Nonlinear Wave Equation On B2 × T, Aynur Bulut

Faculty Publications

We establish probabilistic well-posedness results for the subcubic nonlinear wave equation, posed on the domain B2 × T, with randomly chosen initial data having radial symmetry in the B2 variable, and with vanishing Dirichlet boundary conditions on ∂B2 × T.

Comprehensive Structural Study Of Lanthanide(Iii) Chloride Hydrates: [Recl3·Xh2o (Re = La–Nd, Sm–Lu; X = 6, 7)], Thimira Kandabadage, Beau Legnon, Sviatoslav Baranets

Faculty Publications

A comprehensive crystallographic study is presented of the complete series of rare-earth(III) chloride hydrates. Early lanthanides form dimeric [(H2O)7RE(μCl)2RE(H2O)7]⁴⁺ binuclear complexes in which each RE atom (RE = La³⁺, Ce³⁺) is coordinated by seven H2O molecules and two bridging inner-sphere chloride ions. Di-μ-chlorido-bis[heptaaqualanthanide(III)] tetrachloride, [(H2O)7RE(μ-Cl)2RE(H2O)7]Cl4, crystallizes in the triclinic space group P1. Heavier lanthanides exhibit monomeric [RECl2(H2O)6]⁺ units where each RE atom (RE = Pr³⁺, Nd³⁺, Sm³⁺–Lu³⁺) is coordinated by six H2O molecules and two inner-sphere chloride ions. Hexaaquadichloridolanthanide(III) chlorides, [RECl2(H2O)6]Cl, adopt the monoclinic space group …

Identifying Ordinal Categories For The Water Insecurity Experiences Scales, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Hilary J. Bethancourt, Joshua D. Miller, Sera L. Young, The Household Water Insecurity Experiences Scales (Hwise)-Research Coordination Network (Rcn)

Faculty Publications

The Household Water Insecurity Experiences (HWISE) and Individual Water Insecurity Experiences (IWISE) Scales are globally suitable tools for comparably measuring water insecurity experiences among households and adults, respectively. The potential range for HWISE and IWISE scores is 0–36. When the WISE Scales were first published, scores of 12 and higher were considered indicative of water insecurity, but additional cut-points are needed to provide more nuanced insights. We therefore sought to develop a practical set of cut-points for the WISE Scales using HWISE data from 13 sites across 12 countries (n = 3,293) and nationally representative samples of IWISE data …

The Sec Spanish Consortium: Foundations For Linguistic Gratuity And Language Documentation Among Latinx Populations In New Destination Communities Of The U.S. South, Stephen Fafulas, Chad Howe, Rafael Orozco, Alicia Cipria, Erin O’Rourke, Nina Moreno, Matthew J. Van Hoose

Faculty Publications

Latinx populations in the USA have grown steadily in recent decades, with significant increases taking place in “new destination communities” of the U.S. South. The focus of our paper is to highlight opportunities for working with these populations, including traditional sociolinguistic ethnographies and community-engaged research. We highlight an initiative named “The SEC Spanish Consortium” which is an interinstitutional collaboration centered on scholarship and service involving Latinx populations in new destination communities of the U.S. South. We show that ongoing and future scholarly work in the U.S. South can act as a mechanism for documenting these emerging Latinx communities while simultaneously …

Editorial Introduction: Policy Actors, Dynamics, And Developments—New Insights From Process Theories And Methodological Applications, Geoboo Song, Gwen Arnold, Melissa K. Merry, Davor Mondom, Ben Galloway, Briana Huett, Camille Gilmore, Saba Siddiki, Holly L. Peterson, Creed Tumlison, Heasun Choi, Meerim Seiitova

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Deephive: A Reinforcement Learning Approach For Automated Discovery Of Swarm-Based Optimization Policies, Eloghosa Ikponmwoba, Opeoluwa Owoyele

Faculty Publications

We present an approach for designing swarm-based optimizers for the global optimization of expensive black-box functions. In the proposed approach, the problem of finding efficient optimizers is framed as a reinforcement learning problem, where the goal is to find optimization policies that require a few function evaluations to converge to the global optimum. The state of each particle within the swarm is defined as its current position and function value within a design space, and the particles learn to take favorable actions that maximize the reward, which is based on the final value of the objective function. The proposed approach …

Research Gaps And Priorities For Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (Qmra), Kerry A. Hamilton, Joanna Ciol Harrison, Jade Mitchell, Mark Weir, Marc Verhougstraete, Charles N. Haas, A. Pouyan Nejadhashemi, Julie Libarkin, Tiong Gim Aw, Kyle Bibby, Aaron Bivins, Joe Brown, Kara Dean, Gwyneth Dunbar, Joseph N.S. Eisenberg, Monica Emelko, Daniel Gerrity, Patrick L. Gurian, Emma Hartnett, Michael Jahne, Rachael M. Jones, Timothy R. Julian, Hongwan Li, Yanbin Li, Jacqueline Mac Donald Gibson, Gertjan Medema, J. Scott Meschke, Alexis Mraz, Heather Murphy, David Oryang, Emmanuel De Graft Johnson Owusu-Ansah, Emily Pasek, Abani K. Pradhan

Faculty Publications

The coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic highlighted the need for more rapid and routine application of modeling approaches such as quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA) for protecting public health. QMRA is a transdisciplinary science dedicated to understanding, predicting, and mitigating infectious disease risks. To better equip QMRA researchers to inform policy and public health management, an Advances in Research for QMRA workshop was held to synthesize a path forward for QMRA research. We summarize insights from 41 QMRA researchers and experts to clarify the role of QMRA in risk analysis by (1) identifying key research needs, (2) highlighting emerging applications of …