Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Associated With Knowledge And Experience Of Self-Managed Abortion Among Patients Seeking Care At 49 Us Abortion Clinics, Abigail R.A. Aiken, Luisa Alejandra Tello-Pérez, Melissa Madera, Jennifer E. Starling, Dana M. Johnson, Kathleen Broussard, Elisa Padron, Carol Armelle Ze-Noah, Aleta Baldwin, James G. Scott

Faculty Publications

IMPORTANCE Patients attending US abortion clinics may consider or try self-managing their abortion before coming to the clinic, yet little is known about the factors associated with self-management behavior.

OBJECTIVE To examine the prevalence and factors associated with considering or attempting a self-managed abortion before attending a clinic.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This survey study included patients obtaining an abortion at 49 independent, Planned Parenthood, and academic-affiliated clinics chosen to maximize diversity in geographic, state policy, and demographic context in 29 states between December 2018 and May 2020. Data were analyzed from December 2020 to July 2021.

EXPOSURES Obtaining an …

Revealing Geographic Transmission Pattern Of Covid-19 Using Neighborhood-Level Simulation With Human Mobility Data And Seir Model: A Case Study Of South Carolina, Huan Ning, Zhenlong Li, Shan Qiao, Chengbo Zeng, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Bankole Olatosi Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Direct human physical contact accelerates COVID-19 transmission. Smartphone mobility data has emerged as a valuable data source for revealing fine-grained human mobility, which can be used to estimate the intensity of physical contact surrounding different locations. Our study applied smartphone mobility data to simulate the second wave spreading of COVID-19 in January 2021 in three major metropolitan statistical areas (Columbia, Greenville, and Charleston) in South Carolina, United States. Based on the simulation, the number of historical county-level COVID-19 cases was allocated to neighborhoods (Census block groups) and points of interest (POIs), and the transmission rate of each allocated place was …

Health Of Nations: Preventing A Post-Pandemic Emerging Markets Debt Crisis, Lev E. Breydo

Faculty Publications

Sixty percent of low-income countries are currently at “high-risk” of insolvency, necessitating debt relief, according to the International Monetary Fund. The enormity of the problem cannot be overstated; a prospective sovereign debt crisis and economic collapse threatens hundreds of millions of people around the world.

At the same time, the tools to address these challenges are wholly inadequate. Typically, debt reduction is effectuated through statutory systems; sovereign debt is a critical exception, as there is no bankruptcy court for countries. Historically, this void was filled through a complex architecture based on custom, ‘soft law,’ and contractual mechanisms. However, that construct …

Anti Trusts: Reforming An Excessively Flexible Legal Tool, Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

Trusts are one of the most flexible legal tools in lawyers’ arsenals, deployed for socially desirable uses ranging from supporting orphans to structuring complex investments. Trusts, however, are also used for a host of socially undesirable purposes, including restraint of trade, cheating creditors, establishing family dynasties akin to feudalism, and avoiding taxes. This negative litany shows that flexibility has a dark side, and these undesirable trust uses have accelerated in the last few decades. Creative lawyers continuously find novel uses for moldable tools like the trust. This Article argues that long experience and recent developments teach us that dark eclipses …

Electric Vehicle Subsidies: Time To Accelerate Or Pump The Brakes?, Tamara L. Sheldon, Rubal Dua, Omar Abdullah Alharbi

Faculty Publications

Promoting plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) adoption through subsidies represents a commonly used policy lever for decarbonizing the light-duty vehicle sector. However, it is unclear how the subsidy cost-effectiveness has evolved over time and whether further subsidization is needed to induce adoption beyond wealthy consumers. We explore these questions by assessing the federal PEV subsidy program in the United States. To do so, we extend Sheldon and Dua's (2019a, 2019b) work by using the same approach on large-scale U.S. new vehicle buyer survey data. While results averaged over fuel-types suggest that PEV subsidies are becoming less impactful and costlier over time, …

Covid-19 Lockdown: Impact On College Students’ Lives, Wendy C. Birmingham, Lori L. Wadsworth, Jane H. Lassetter

Faculty Publications

Objective: In light of COVID-19, leaders issued stay-at-home orders, including closure of higher-education schools. Most students left campus, likely impacting their employment and social network. Leaders are making decisions about opening universities and modality of instruction. Understanding students' psychological, physiological, academic, and financial responses to the shut-down and reopening of campuses can help leaders make informed decisions. Participants: 654 students from a large western university enrolled during the pandemic shutdown. Methods: Students were invited via email to complete an online survey. Results: Students reported stress, depression, loneliness, lack of motivation, difficulty focusing on schoolwork, restless sleep, appetite changes, job loss …

Traffic Lights For Catalysis: Stimuli-Responsive Molecular And Extended Catalytic Systems, Grace C. Thaggard, Johanna Haimeri, Roland A. Fischer Prof. Dr., Kyoung Chul Park, Natalia B. Shustova Prof. Dr.

Faculty Publications

The advances made in the field of stimuli-responsive catalysis during the last five years with a focus on the novel recently-emerged directions and applications have been surveyed. Metal-free catalysts and organometallic complexes, as well as biomimetic systems and extended structures, which display switchable catalytic activity for a variety of organic transformations, are discussed. Light-activated systems comprised of photochromic molecules capable of modulating reaction rate, yield, or enantioselectivity based on geometric and electronic changes associated with photoisomerization are the focus of the detailed discussion. Alternative stimuli, including pH and temperature, which could be applied either alone or in combination with light, …

Meeting Patients Where They Are: A Nurse-Driven Quality Improvement Project To Provide Influenza Vaccinations In The Emergency Department, Stacie Hunsaker, Larry Garrett, Katreena Merrill, Rachelle Rhodes

Faculty Publications

Introduction: Influenza is highly contagious, vaccine-preventable, and may result in significant morbidity and mortality. While vaccination is the primary protection against influenza, vaccination rates remain low. Traditionally, primary care clinics, retail pharmacies, and public health departments offer influenza vaccines. However, offering influenza vaccines in new settings may increase their availability to the public and increase community uptake. This project aimed to add emergency departments as a new influenza vaccine location to increase the number of vaccines distributed during the 2020 to 2021 influenza season.

Methods: Adult patients discharged from 24 emergency departments were included in this pre- post-intervention project. A …

Measurement Of The Double-Differential Muon-Neutrino Charged-Current Inclusive Cross Section In The Nova Near Detector, M. A. Acero, P. Adamson, L. Aliaga, N. Anfimov, A. Antoshkin, E. Arrieta-Diaz, L. Asquith, A. Aurisano, A. Back, M. Baird, N. Balashov, P. Baldi, B. A. Bambah, S. Bashar, K. Bays, B. Behera, R. Bernstein, V. Bhatnagar, D. Bhattarai, B. Bhuyan, Roberto Petti, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

We report cross-section measurements of the final-state muon kinematics for ν_μ charged-current interactions in the NOvA near detector using an accumulated 8.09×10²⁰ protons on target in the NuMI beam. We present the results as a double-differential cross section in the observed outgoing muon energy and angle, as well as single-differential cross sections in the derived neutrino energy, E_ν, and square of the four-momentum transfer, Q². We compare the results to inclusive cross-section predictions from various neutrino event generators via χ² calculations using a covariance matrix that accounts for bin-to-bin correlations of systematic uncertainties. …

Off-Shell Effects In Bound Nucleons And Parton Distributions From 1H, 2H, 3H, And 3He Data, S. I. Alekhin, S. A. Kulagin, Roberto Petti

Faculty Publications

We report the results of a new global QCD analysis including deep-inelastic scattering data off ¹H, ²H, ³H, and ³He targets. Nuclear corrections are treated in terms of a nuclear convolution approach with off-shell bound nucleons. The off-shell (OS) corrections responsible for the modification of the structure functions (SFs) of bound nucleons are constrained in a global fit along with the proton parton distribution functions (PDFs) and the higher-twist (HT) terms. We investigate the proton-neutron difference for the OS correction and discuss our predictions for the SF ratio F ⁿ ₂ / F ^p ₂ and …

Capturing Children Food Exposure Using Wearable Cameras And Deep Learning, Shady Elbassuoni, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Jalila El Ati, Yorgo Zoughby, Aline Semaan, Christelle Akl, Tarek Trabelsi, Reem Talhouk, Houda Ben Gharbia, Zoulfikar Shmayssani, Aya Mourad

Faculty Publications

Children’s dietary habits are influenced by complex factors within their home, school and neighborhood environments. Identifying such influencers and assessing their effects is traditionally based on self-reported data which can be prone to recall bias. We developed a culturally acceptable machine-learning-based data-collection system to objectively capture school-children’s exposure to food (including food items, food advertisements, and food outlets) in two urban Arab centers: Greater Beirut, in Lebanon, and Greater Tunis, in Tunisia. Our machine-learning-based system consists of 1) a wearable camera that captures continuous footage of children’s environment during a typical school day, 2) a machine learning model that automatically …

Search For Heavy Neutral Leptons Using Tau Lepton Decays At Babar, J. P. Lees, V. Poireau, V. Tisserand, E. Grauges, A. Palano, G. Eigen, D. N. Brown, Yu. G. Kolomensky, M. Fritsch, H. Koch, R. Cheaib, C. Hearty, T. S. Mattison, J. A. Mckenna, R. Y. So, V. E. Blinov, A. R. Buzykaev, V. P. Druzhinin, E. A. Kravchenko, Milind Purohit, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

This article presents a model-independent search for an additional, mostly sterile, heavy neutral lepton (HNL), that is capable of mixing with the Standard Model τ neutrino with a mixing strength of |U_τ4| 2, corresponding to the absolute square of the extended Pontecorvo-Maki-Nakagawa-Sakata matrix element. Data from the BABAR experiment, with a total integrated luminosity of 424 fb⁻¹, are analyzed using a kinematic approach that makes no assumptions on the model behind the origins of the HNL, its lifetime or decay modes. No significant signal is found. Upper limits on |U_τ4|² at the 95% …

Behavioral Economics And Monetary Wisdom: A Cross-Level Analysis Of Monetary Aspiration, Pay (Dis)Satisfaction, Risk Perception, And Corruption In 32 Nations, Thomas Li-Ping Tang, Zhen Li, Mehmet Ferhat Özbek, Vivien K. G. Lim, Thompson S. H. Teo, Mahfooz A. Ansari, Toto Sutarso, Ilya Garber, Randy Ki-Kwan Chiu, Brigitte Charles-Pauvers, Caroline Urbain, Roberto Luna-Arocas, Jingqiu Chen, Ningyu Tang, Theresa Li-Na Tang, Fernando Arias-Galicia, Consuelo Garcia De La Torre, Peter Vlerick, Adebowale Akande, Abdulqawi Salim Al-Zubaidi, Ali Mahdi Kazem, Mark G. Borg, Bor-Shiuan Cheng, Linzhi Du, Abdul Hamid Safwat Ibrahim, Kilsun Kim, Eva Malovics, Richard T. Mpoyi, Obiajulu Anthony Ugochukwu Nnedum, Elisaveta Gjorgji Sardžoska, Michael W. Allen, Rosário Correia, Chin-Kang Jen, Alice S. Moreira, Johnston E. Osagie, Aahad M. Osman-Gani, Ruja Pholsward, Marko Polic, Petar Skobic, Allen F. Stembridge, Luigina Canova, Anna Maria Manganelli, Adrian H. Pitariu, Francisco José Costa Pereira

Faculty Publications

Corruption involves greed, money, and risky decision-making. We explore the love of money, pay satisfaction, probability of risk, and dishonesty across cultures. Avaricious monetary aspiration breeds unethicality. Prospect theory frames decisions in the gains-losses domain and high-low probability. Pay dissatisfaction (in the losses domain) incites dishonesty in the name of justice at the individual level. The Corruption Perceptions Index, CPI, signals a high-low probability of getting caught for dishonesty at the country level. We theorize that decision-makers adopt avaricious love-of-money aspiration as a lens and frame dishonesty in the gains-losses domain (pay satisfaction-dissatisfaction, Level 1) and high-low probability (CPI, Level …

Control Education For Societal-Scale Challenges: A Community Roadmap, John Anthony Rossiter, Christos G. Cassandras, João Hespanha, Sebastian Dormido, Luis De La Torre, Gireeja Ranade, Antonio Visioli, John Hedengren, Richard M. Murray, Panos Antsaklis, Francoise Lamnabhi-Lagarrigue, Thomas Parisini

Faculty Publications

This article focuses on extending, disseminating and interpreting the findings of an IEEE Control Systems Society working group looking at the role of control theory and engineering in solving some of the many current and future societal challenges. The findings are interpreted in a manner designed to give focus and direction to both future education and research work in the general control theory and engineering arena, interpreted in the broadest sense. The paper is intended to promote discussion in the community and also provide a useful starting point for colleagues wishing to re-imagine the design and delivery of control-related topics …

Simulations Of Morphology Control Of Self-Assembled Amphiphilic Surfactants, Qinyu Zhu, Douglas R. Tree

Faculty Publications

One of the grand challenges of amphiphilic self-assembly is the design of ordered structures whose morphology or shape can be explicitly and dynamically controlled by adjusting the properties of the amphiphiles or their surroundings. Such a capacity would enable researchers to create synthetic systems with functionality that meets or exceeds biological cells, and provide a robust platform for a broad range of engineering applications such as artificial tissues, drug delivery, and separation membranes. Despite significant progress, important fundamental questions remain unanswered, due in part to the limited resolution and the restricted parameter spaces that are readily accessible in experiments. Computational …

Simulations Of Morphology Control Of Self-Assembled Amphiphilic Surfactants, Qinyu Zhu, Douglas R. Tree

Faculty Publications

One of the grand challenges of amphiphilic self-assembly is the design of ordered structures whose morphology or shape can be explicitly and dynamically controlled by adjusting the properties of the amphiphiles or their surroundings. Such a capacity would enable researchers to create synthetic systems with functionality that meets or exceeds biological cells, and provide a robust platform for a broad range of engineering applications such as artificial tissues, drug delivery, and separation membranes. Despite significant progress, important fundamental questions remain unanswered, due in part to the limited resolution and the restricted parameter spaces that are readily accessible in experiments. Computational …

Student Preferences For Active Learning And Their Beliefs, Experiences, And Knowledge, Tammy Shilling, Jerome Thayer, Anneris Coria-Navia, Heather Ferguson

Faculty Publications

Active teaching methods are believed to facilitate higher-order thinking skills and prepare allied health students for independent clinical decision-making. This quantitative, correlational study aimed to explain the relationships between student preferences for active over traditional methods and their beliefs, the frequency and positiveness of their experiences, and the extent of knowledge they have received regarding active and traditional teaching methods. Two hundred and thirty students completed a 53-item online survey. Students were enrolled in a Doctor of Physical Therapy, Masters in Speech-language Pathology, or Bachelor of Science Nursing program in one of seventeen participating institutions across a ten-state Midwest region. …

A Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion Audit Of The American Families Of Faith Project: Exploring Lifespan Spiritual Development In Religiously And Racially Diverse Families, David C. Dollahite, Justin J. Hendricks, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

Social science and religious studies scholars should endeavor to broaden theories, methods, and samples to be more inclusive. Therefore, we have conducted an “equity audit” of the American Families of Faith (AFF) project. We evaluated the diversity, equity, and inclusion of the AFF project’s (a) research team, (b) products, and (c) samples. We then discuss the reasoning behind the decisions that resulted in the existing strengths and limitations of the project, the fruits of this and previous evaluations (including a presentation of some narrative accounts from parents and youths across several religious-ethnic communities across the US), opportunities for growth, and …

Developable Mechanisms On Regular Cylindrical Surfaces, Jacob R. Greenwood, Spencer P. Magleby, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Developable mechanisms can provide high functionality and compact stowability. This paper presents engineering models to aid in the design of cylindrical developable mechanisms. These models take into account the added spatial restrictions imposed by the developable surface. Equations are provided for the kinematic analysis of cylindrical developable mechanisms. A new classification for developable mechanisms is also presented (intramobile, extramobile, and transmobile) and two graphical methods are provided for determining this clas sification for single-DOF planar cylindrical developable mechanisms. Characteristics specific to four-bar cylindrical developable mechanisms are also discussed.

A Model For Multi-Input Mechanical Advantage In Origami-Based Mechanisms, Jared Butler, Adam Shrager, Timothy Simpson, Landen Bowen, Mary Frecker, Robert Lang, Eric Wilcox, Paris Von Lockette, Larry L. Howell, Spencer P. Magleby

Faculty Publications

Mechanical advantage is traditionally defined for single input and single-output rigid-body mechanisms. A generalized approach for identifying single-output mechanical advantage for a multiple-input compliant mechanism, such as many origami-based mechanisms, would prove useful in predicting complex mechanism behavior. While origami-based mechanisms are capable of offering unique solutions to engi neering problems, the design process of such mechanisms is complicated by the interaction of motion and forces. This paper presents a model of the mechanical advantage for multi input compliant mechanisms and explores how modifying the parameters of a model affects their behavior. The model is used to predict the force-deflection …

Large Deflection Analysis Of General Beams In Contact-Aided Compliant Mechanisms Using Chained Pseudo-Rigid-Body Model, Mohui Jin, Collin Ynchausti, Xianmin Zhang, Zhou Yang, Benliang Zhu, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

The nonlinear analysis and design of contact-aided compliant mechanisms (CCMs) are challenging. This paper presents a nonlinear method for analyzing the deformation of general beams that contact rigid surfaces in CCMs. The large deflection of the general beam is modeled by using the chained pseudo-rigid-body model. A geometry constraint from the contact surface is developed to constrain the beam’s deformed configuration. The contact analysis problem is formulated based on the principle of minimum potential energy and solved using an optimization algorithm. Besides, a novel technique based on the principle of work and energy is proposed calculate the reaction force/moment of …

Perspectives On Lifespan Religious And Spiritual Development From Scholars Across The Lifespan, Megan Gale, Justin J. Hendricks, David C. Dollahite, Loren D. Marks

Faculty Publications

The purpose of the article is to share our perspectives on the key influences of lifespan religious and spiritual development as scholars from across the lifespan (i.e., the four authors are from different generations, including Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Gen Z). Our perspectives are heavily influenced by our combined 60+ years of research experience in examining the connections between religion and family life. Our discussion is organized around Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological framework and the process-person-context-time model. Within this framework, the key factors we discuss that influence religious/spiritual development include (a) process (i.e., person-religion mismatch and family processes), (b) person …

An Origami-Based Medical Support System To Mitigate Flexible Shaft Buckling, Brandon Sargent, Jared Butler, Kendall Seymour, David Bailey, Brian D. Jensen, Spencer P. Magleby, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

This paper presents the development of an origami-inspired support system (the OriGuide) that enables the insertion of flexible instruments using medical robots. Varying parameters of a triangulated cylindrical origami pattern were combined to create an effective highly-compressible anti-buckling system that maintains a constant inner diameter for supporting an instrument and a constant outer diameter throughout actuation. The proposed origami pattern is composed of two repeated patterns: a bistable pattern to create support points to mitigate flexible shaft buckling and a monostable pattern to enable axial extension and compression of the support system. The origami-based portion of the device is combined …

Kinetostatic And Dynamic Modeling Of Flexure-Based Compliant Mechanisms: A Survey, Mingxiang Ling, Larry L. Howell, Junyi Cao, Guimin Chen

Faculty Publications

Flexure-based compliant mechanisms are becoming increasingly promising in precision engineering, robotics and other applications due to the excellent advantages of no friction, no backlash, no wear, and minimal requirement of assembly. Because compliant mechanisms have inherent coupling of kinematic- mechanical behaviors with large deflections and/or complex serial-parallel configurations, the kinetostatic and dynamic analyses are challenging in comparison to their rigid-body counterparts. To address these challenges, a variety of techniques have been reported in a growing stream of publications. This paper surveys and compares the conceptual ideas, key advances, applicable scopes and open problems of the state-of-the-art kinetostatic and dynamic modeling …

A Cprbm-Based Method For Large-Deflection Analysis Of Contact-Aided Compliant Mechanisms Considering Beam-To-Beam Contacts, Mohui Jin, Benliang Zhu, Jiasi Mo, Zhou Yang, Xianmin Zhang, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Contact-aided compliant mechanisms (CCMs) utilize contact to achieve enhanced functionality. The contact phenomenon of CCMs increases the difficulties of their analysis and design, especially when they exhibit beam-to-beam contact. Considering the particularity of CCMs analysis, which is more about the mechanisms’ deformation, this paper presents a numerical method to analyze the large deflection and stress of the CCMs considering beam-to-beam contacts. Based on our previous work on beam-to-rigid contact, the large deformation of general beams in CCMs is modeled by using the chained pseudo-rigid-body model (CPRBM). An approximation based on the geometric information of CPRBM is proposed in this paper …

Design Of Regular 1d, 2d, And 3d Linkage-Based Tessellations, Alden D. Yellowhorse, Nathan Brown, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Linkage origami is one effective approach for addressing stiffness and accommodating panels of finite size in origami models and tessellations. However, successfully implementing linkage origami in tessellations can be challenging. In this work, multiple theorems are presented that provide criteria for designing origami units or cells that can be assembled into arbitrarily large tessellations. The application of these theorems is demonstrated through examples of tessellations in two and three dimensions.

Developable Mechanisms On Right Conical Surfaces, Lance P. Hyatt, Spencer P. Magleby, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

An approach for designing developable mechanisms on a conical surface is presented. By aligning the joint axes of spherical mechanisms to the ruling lines, the links can be created in a way that the mechanism conforms to a conical surface. Terminology is defined for mechanisms mapped onto a right cone. Models are developed to describe the motion of the mechanism with respect to the apex of the cone, and connections are made to cylindrical developable mechanisms using projected angles. The Loop Sum Method is presented as an approach to determine the geometry of the cone to which a given spherical …

Deployable Convex Generalized Cylindrical Surfaces Using Torsional Joints, Todd G. Nelson, Jared T. Burton, Curtis G. Nelson, Luis M. Baldelomar Pinto, Zhicheng Deng, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

The ability to deploy a planar surface to a desired convex profile with a simple actuation can enhance foldable or morphing airfoils, deployable antennae and reflectors, and other applications where a specific profile geometry is desired from a planar sheet. A model using a system of rigid links joined by torsional springs of tailorable stiffness is employed to create an approximate curved surface when two opposing tip loads are applied. A system of equations describing the shape of the surface during deployment is developed. The physical implementation of the model uses compliant torsion bars as the torsion springs. A multidimensional …

Membrane-Enhanced Lamina Emergent Torsional Joints For Surrogate Folds, Guimin Chen, Spencer P. Magleby, Larry L. Howell

Faculty Publications

Lamina emergent compliant mechanisms (including origami-adapted compliant mechanisms) are mechanical devices that can be fabricated from a planar material (a lamina) and have motion that emerges out of the fabrication plane. Lamina emergent compliant mechanisms often exhibit undesirable parasitic motions due to the planar fabrication constraint. This work introduces a type of lamina emergent torsion (LET) joint that reduces parasitic motions of lamina emergent mechanisms (LEMs), and presents equations for modeling parasitic motion of LET joints. The membrane joint also makes possible one-way joints that can ensure origami-based mechanisms emerge from their flat state (a change point) into the desired …

“Are These People Real?”: Designing And Playtesting An Alternative Reality, Educational Simulation, Jason K. Mcdonald, Jonathan Balzotti, Melissa Franklin, Jessica Haws, Jamin Rowan

Faculty Publications

In this design case, we report our design and playtest of a form of alternative reality, educational simulation that we call a playable case study (PCS). One of the features that make our simulations unique is how they are designed to implement a principle called This Is Not a Game, or TINAG, meaning that the affordances we design into the simulation suggest to students that the experience they are having is real, in contrast to the way the artificial nature of the experience is highlighted in many computer games. In this case, we describe some challenges we encountered in designing …