Digital Commons Network^™

Towards A Post-Pandemic Mission, Boubakar Sanou, Josh Dietrich, Tyler Kern

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Approaches To Faith Integration: A Case Study Of Andrews University Employees, Duane Covrig, Glynis M. Bradfield, Steven Injety, Duduetsang Kakhu

Faculty Publications

For centuries, Christians have cultivated faith in themselves and others by engaging in prayer, evangelism, discipleship, and education, with Christian tertiary institutions playing a vital role in this nurturing of faith. However, previous studies have shown that Christian educators have also been complicit in depleting faith in others. This erosion of faith has been well documented in American "Christian" universities like Harvard, Yale, and Princeton, primarily due to modernity and secularization. For faith to thrive, it has to be backed with intention, and this is especially of paramount importance in American higher education today. As the oldest Seventh-day Adventist University, …

Genomic Basis For Individual Differences In Susceptibility To The Neurotoxic Effects Of Diesel Exhaust, Alexandra Noël, David G. Ashbrook, Fuyi Xu, Stephania A. Cormier, Lu Lu, James P. O’Callaghan, Shyam K. Menon, Wenyuan Zhao, Arthur L. Penn, Byron C. Jones

Faculty Publications

Air pollution is a known environmental health hazard. A major source of air pollution includes diesel exhaust (DE). Initially, research on DE focused on respiratory morbidities; however, more recently, exposures to DE have been associated with neurological developmental disorders and neurodegeneration. In this study, we investigated the effects of sub-chronic inhalation exposure to DE on neuroinflammatory markers in two inbred mouse strains and both sexes, including whole transcriptome examination of the medial prefrontal cortex. We exposed aged male and female C57BL/6J (B6) and DBA/2J (D2) mice to DE, which was cooled and diluted with HEPA-filtered compressed air for 2 h …

Innovation Transition Success: Practice Doesn't Make Perfect, Kaitlyn Ryan, Amy M. Cox, Ethan Blake, Clay Koschnick, Alfred E. Thal Jr.

Faculty Publications

The authors of this research examine and evaluate organizational factors associated with commercialization under the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Their objective is to improve return on investment. The data set used was the SBIR Phase II program data set, which contains information on 433 SBIR topics with closed contracts reported during Department of Defense (DoD) fiscal years (FYs) 2015 to 2018. Each data point contained characteristics of the topic, including commercialization. Military capability or topic areas were hypothesized to have varying commercialization rates. Incumbency was theorized to be a characteristic of successful programs, while increased company …

Incentivizing Innovation: Promoting Technical Competency To Win Future Wars., James E. Bevins

Faculty Publications

Despite numerous studies and initiatives, most current Air Force efforts to add science and technology talent have been insufficient. This begs the question: How does the Air Force incentivize and promote the necessary technical competence required to win future competition, conflicts, and wars? Several key initiatives, grounded in behavioral economics, can incentivize innovation and pursue science and technology expertise. Developed in the context of peer adversaries’ actions; global trends in technology, competition, and conflict; and the global competition for science and technology talent, these recommendations have the potential to reform institutional culture and unleash the creativity and talent of the …

Transitions Between Tobacco Products: Correlates Of Changes In Cigarette Smoking And E-Cigarette Use Among Exclusive Adult Smokers And Dual Users In Mexico, Katia Gallegos-Carrillo, Inti Barrientos-Gutiérrez, Edna Arillo-Santillán, Rosibel Rodríguez-Bolaños, Lizeth Cruz-Jiménez, Desirée Vidaña-Pérez, Yoo Jin Cho, Jim F. Thrasher Ph.D., Ma, Ms

Faculty Publications

This study examined transitions in tobacco products use among Mexican smokers and dual users. Data were analyzed from exclusive smokers (n = 2,946) and dual users (n = 1,643) recruited from an online consumer research panel and surveyed every-four months from November 2018 to April 2021. For exclusive smokers, estimated transitions were (time “t + 1” four months after prior survey): a) remain as exclusive smokers; b) dual use; c) exclusive e-cigarette use or quit both products. Among dual users, transitions analyzed were: a) remain as dual user; b) exclusive smoker; c) exclusive e-cigarette user or quit both products. Multinomial …

Segmented Innovation In The Legalization Of Mitochondrial Transfer: Lessons From Australia And The United Kingdom, Myrisha S. Lewis

Faculty Publications

The U.S. is often characterized as a leader in innovation—a home of Nobel Prize‐winning scientists, innovators, and abundant research funding. Yet, in the area of assisted reproduction combined with genetic modification or substitution, what I call “reproductive genetic innovation,” that characterization begins to wane. This Article focuses on the regulation of mitochondrial transfer, a subset of reproductive genetic innovation. While human clinical trials related to mitochondrial transfer go forward in the U.K., the clinical use of the technique remains illegal in the U.S. due to a system of subterranean regulation by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and a now-recurring …

Same Purpose, New Approach: A Case Study Of The North Dakota Bismarck Mission Using Social Media During Covid-19, Scott L. Howell

Faculty Publications

This is the story of how one mission in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Church) adapted its approach, but not its purpose, to invite all to come unto Jesus Christ during the first 16 months of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). The North Dakota Bismarck Mission (NDBM hereafter) covers all or parts of the states of North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, and Nebraska, and, like the other 404 missions¹ throughout the world, traditional approaches to missionary work were significantly disrupted by the effects of COVID-19. No longer were missionaries able to find and …

Theology Matters, Jiří Moskala

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Story Of Digital Church Development And Its Implications, Petr A. Činčala, Foye Michael Belyea, Mabio Cohelo

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Fund Behavioral Science Like The Frameworks We Endorse: The Case For Increased Funding Of Preliminary Studies By The National Institutes Of Health, Michael Beets, Christopher Pfledderer, Lauren Von Klinggraeff, Sarah Burkart, Bridget Armstrong

Faculty Publications

Innovative, groundbreaking science relies upon preliminary studies (aka pilot, feasibility, proof-of-concept). In the behavioral sciences, almost every large-scale intervention is supported by a series of one or more rigorously conducted preliminary studies. The importance of preliminary studies was established by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2014/2015 in two translational science frameworks (NIH Stage and ORBIT models). These frameworks outline the essential role preliminary studies play in developing the next generation of evidence-based behavioral prevention and treatment interventions. Data produced from preliminary studies are essential to secure funding from the NIH’s most widely used grant mechanism for large-scale clinical …

Transmission Roles Of Symptomatic And Asymptomatic Covid-19 Cases: A Modelling Study, Jianbin Tan, Yang Ge, Leonardo Martinez, Jimin Sun, Changwei Li, Adrianna Westbrook, Enfu Chen, Jinren Pan, Yang Li, Wei Cheng, Feng Ling, Zhinping Chen, Ye Shen, Hui Huang

Faculty Publications

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) asymptomatic cases are hard to identify, impeding transmissibility estimation. The value of COVID-19 transmissibility is worth further elucidation for key assumptions in further modelling studies. Through a population-based surveillance network, we collected data on 1342 confirmed cases with a 90-days follow-up for all asymptomatic cases. An age-stratified compartmental model containing contact information was built to estimate the transmissibility of symptomatic and asymptomatic COVID-19 cases. The difference in transmissibility of a symptomatic and asymptomatic case depended on age and was most distinct for the middle-age groups. The asymptomatic cases had a 66.7% lower transmissibility rate than symptomatic …

Assessing The Testability Of The Multi-Theory Model (Mtm) In Predicting Vaping Quitting Behavior Among Young Adults In The United States: A Cross-Sectional Survey., Manoj Sharma, Kavita Batra, Ravi Batra, Chia-Liang Dai, Traci Hayes, Melinda J. Ickes, Tejinder Pal Singh

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Given the increased exposure to e-cigarettes and nicotine among young adults, difficulty in quitting vaping is likely, which supports the need for effective behavioral interventions. Therefore, this cross-sectional study aims to assess the testability of the contemporary multi-theory model of health behavior change in predicting the vaping quitting behavior among young adults in the United States.

Methods: A nationally representative sample of 619 young adults engaged in vaping behavior and aged 18–24 years was recruited to complete a 49-item web-based survey. A structural equation model was used to test relationships between MTM constructs. Hierarchical multiple regression was …

Positive Changes Made, Full Equality Not Achieved: Nc A&T State University In The Unc System And The Benefits It Received (1972-81), J. Charles Waldrup

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Autism Training At A Small Liberal Arts College: Librarian Perceptions And Takeaways, Blake Robinson, Amelia M. Anderson

Faculty Publications

While there has been some research about the intersection of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and larger research libraries, less work has been done in other academic library settings. To assess librarians’ knowledge of ASD, the authors administered an ASD training manual and subsequent survey to academic librarians at a liberal arts college library in the Southeast. The librarians found the training about ASD itself to be most valuable. Additionally, they gave positive assessments of their ability to serve students with ASD both at the individual and institutional levels. This suggests that librarians recognize the importance of serving this unique population.

Using Whole-Brain Diffusion Tensor Analysis To Evaluate White Matter Structural Correlates Of Delayed Visuospatial Memory And One-Week Motor Skill Retention In Nondemented Older Adults: A Preliminary Study, Jennapher Lingo Vangilder, Maurizio Bergamino, Andrew Hooyman, Megan C. Fitzhugh, Corianne Rogalsky, Jill C. Stewart, Scott C. Beeman, Sydney Y. Schaefer

Faculty Publications

Skill retention is important for motor rehabilitation outcomes. Recent work has demonstrated that delayed visuospatial memory performance may predict motor skill retention in older and neuropathological populations. White matter integrity between parietal and frontal cortices may explain variance in upper-extremity motor learning tasks and visuospatial processes. We performed a whole-brain analysis to determine the white matter correlates of delayed visuospatial memory and one-week motor skill retention in nondemented older adults. We hypothesized that better frontoparietal tract integrity would be positively related to better behavioral performance. Nineteen participants (age>58) completed diffusion-weighted imaging, then a clinical test of delayed visuospatial memory …

Bmi And Physical Activity, Military-Aged U.S. Population 2015–2020, Bryant J. Webber, Daniel B. Bornstein, Patricia A. Deuster, Francis G. O'Connor, Sohyun Park, Kenneth M. Rose, Geoffrey P. Whitfield

Faculty Publications

Excerpt: Obesity and physical inactivity are considered possible U.S. national security threats because of their impact on military recruitment. The objectives of this study were to estimate the prevalence of (1) BMI eligibility for military entrance, (2) adequate physical activity participation among the BMI-eligible population, and (3) combined BMI eligibility and adequate physical activity.

This cross-sectional study of nonpregnant, military-aged civilians (aged 17–42 years) used objectively measured weight and height data and self-reported aerobic physical activity data from the 2015–2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. BMI eligibility was defined as 19.0–27.5 kg/m2, per Department of Defense regulation. Adequate physical …

Topical Application Of An Irreversible Small Molecule Inhibitor Of Lysyl Oxidases Ameliorates Skin Scarring And Fibrosis, Nutan Chaudhari, Alison D. Findlay, Andrew W. Stevenson, Tristan D. Clemons, Yimin Yao, Amar Joshi, Sepidar Sayar, Gordon Wallace, Suzanne Rea, Priyanka Toshniwal, Zhenjun Deng, Philip E. Melton, Nicole Hortin, K. Swaminathan Iyer, Wolfgang Jarolimek, Fiona M. Wood, Mark W. Fear

Faculty Publications

Scarring is a lifelong consequence of skin injury, with scar stiffness and poor appearance presenting physical and psychological barriers to a return to normal life. Lysyl oxidases are a family of enzymes that play a critical role in scar formation and maintenance. Lysyl oxidases stabilize the main component of scar tissue, collagen, and drive scar stiffness and appearance. Here we describe the development and characterisation of an irreversible lysyl oxidase inhibitor, PXS-6302. PXS-6302 is ideally suited for skin treatment, readily penetrating the skin when applied as a cream and abolishing lysyl oxidase activity. In murine models of injury and fibrosis, …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Mortality From All Causes, Cardiovascular Disease, And Cancer: A Prospective Study, Zhen Lin, Yanfei Feng, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James R. Hébert Scd, Xin Xu

Faculty Publications

The Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DIITM) is a comprehensive, literature-derived index for assessing the effect of dietary constituents on inflammatory biomarkers and inflammation-related chronic diseases. Several studies have examined the association between E-DII scores and mortality, with results that vary across populations. Therefore, in the present study, we aimed to investigate the potential association between E-DII scores and all-cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and cancer mortality using data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian (PLCO) Screening Trial. E-DII scores, calculated based on a food-frequency questionnaire, were analyzed both as a continuous variable and after categorization into quintiles. A multivariate Cox …

Availability Of Hospital-Based Cancer Services Before And After Rural Hospital Closure, 2008-2017, Whitney Zahnd Ph.D., Peiyin Hung Ph.D., Sylvia Kewei Shi, Anja Zgodic, Melinda A. Merrell Ph.D., Elizabeth L. Crouch, Janice C. Probst, Jan Eberth Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Introduction

Rural populations have less access to cancer care services and experience higher cancer mortality rates than their urban counterparts, which may be exacerbated by hospital closures. Our objective was to examine the impact of hospital closures on access to cancer-relevant hospital services across hospital service areas (HSAs).

Methods

We used American Hospital Association survey data from 2008 to 2017 to examine the change in access to cancer-related screening and treatment services across rural HSAs that sustained hospitals over time, experienced any closures, or had all hospitals close. We performed a longitudinal analysis to assess the association between hospital closure …

Redefining Progress And The Case For Diversity In Innovation And Inventing, Colleen Chien

Faculty Publications

In the United States, women represent 50% of the workforce, but only 27% of STEM workers and 13% of inventors. This article surveys the scientific literature to make the empirical case for diversity in innovation and inventing, finding a growing body of research to show how diverse innovators expand the reach, quality, and quantity of innovation. It then surveys the history of patent law to make the legal case for prioritizing diversity in inventing, and for expanding conventional notions of “progress” in the patent system to include the promotion of a diverse set of innovators, rather than just innovation. It …

Neighborhood Characteristics And Dementia Symptomology Among Community-Dwelling Older Adults With Alzheimer’S Disease, Dana M. Alhasan, Matthew C. Lohman Ph.D., Jana A. Hirsch, Margaret Chandlee Miller Ms, Ph.D., Bo Cai Ph.D., Chandra L. Jackson

Faculty Publications

Background: Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPSs) lead to myriad poor health outcomes among individuals with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Prior studies have observed associations between the various aspects of the home environment and NPSs, but macro-level environmental stressors (e.g., neighborhood income) may also disrupt the neuronal microenvironment and exacerbate NPSs. Yet, to our knowledge, no studies have investigated the relationship between the neighborhood environment and NPSs.

Methods: Using 2010 data among older adults with AD collected from a sample of the South Carolina Alzheimer’s Disease Registry, we estimated cross-sectional associations between neighborhood characteristics and NPSs in the overall population and by race/ethnicity. Neighborhood …

Darnell, Latoya, Brad, And Laurie: Lawyers’ Responses To Email Requests For Representation, Elizabeth S. Chambliss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Unsupervised Summarization Of Privacy Concerns In Mobile Application Reviews, Fahimeh Ebrahimi, Anas Mahmoud

Faculty Publications

The proliferation of mobile applications (app) over the past decade has imposed unprecedented challenges on end-users privacy. Apps constantly demand access to sensitive user information in exchange for more personalized services. These - mostly unjustifiable - data collection tactics have raised major privacy concerns among mobile app users. Such concerns are commonly expressed in mobile app reviews, however, they are typically overshadowed by more generic categories of user feedback, such as app reliability and usability. This makes extracting user privacy concerns manually, or even using automated tools, a challenging and time-consuming task. To address these challenges, in this paper, we …

Muscular Strength And Carotid Intima-Media Thickness In Physically Fit Young Adults: The Chief Atherosclerosis Study, Gen-Min Lin, Kun-Zhe Tsai, Yun-Chen Chang, Wei-Chun Huang, Xuemei Sui M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., Carl J. Lavie

Faculty Publications

Background: Greater muscular strength (MusS) has been found to have an inverse association with subclinical atherosclerosis in children, as well as with mortality from cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) in middle-aged and elderly individuals. However, the association of the degree of MusS with atherosclerosis may differ by sex and has not been clarified in young adults. Methods and Results: A total of 1021 Taiwanese military personnel, aged 18–40 years, participated in annual health examinations in 2018–2020. MusS was separately assessed by 2-min push-up and 2-min sit-up numbers. Subclinical atherosclerosis was measured by the left carotid bulb intima–media thickness (cIMT) using high-resolution ultrasonography. …

Yin And Yang Of Cannabinoid Cb1 Receptor: Cb1 Deletion In Immune Cells Causes Exacerbation While Deletion In Non-Immune Cells Attenuates Obesity, Kathryn Miranda, William Becker, Philip B. Busbee, Nicholas Dopkins, Osama A. Abdulla, Yin Zhong, Jiajia Zhang Ph.D., Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash S. Nagarkatti

Faculty Publications

While blockade of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) has been shown to attenuate diet-induced obesity (DIO), its relative role in different cell types has not been tested. The current study investigated the role of CB1 in immune vs non-immune cells during DIO by generating radiation-induced bone marrow chimeric mice that expressed functional CB1 in all cells except the immune cells or expressed CB1 only in immune cells. CB1^-/- recipient hosts were resistant to DIO, indicating that CB1 in non-immune cells is necessary for induction of DIO. Interestingly, chimeras with CB1^-/- in immune cells showed exacerbation in DIO combined with …

Association Between Socioeconomic Status And Mental Health Among China’S Migrant Workers: A Moderated Mediation Model, Yubo Shao, Huang Ying, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Lian Tong

Faculty Publications

Mental health problems are prevalent among China’s internal migrant workers. However, research on the relationship between socioeconomic status (SES) and mental health is insufficient. Therefore, this study, utilizing the China’s National Dynamic Monitoring Survey data from a sample of 15,997 migrant workers aged 15–59 years to explore differences in the relationship between migrants’ objective and subjective SES and mental health status in 2015. Both the mediating effect of perceived interpersonal discrimination and the moderating effect of age were examined through structural equation modeling. The results indicated that subjective SES has a stronger direct relationship with mental health than objective SES. …

The Intersection Of Persuasive System Design And Personalization In Mobile Health: Statistical Evaluation, Aleise Mcgowan, Scott Sittig, David Bourrie, Ryan Benton, Sriram Iyengar

Faculty Publications

Background: Persuasive technology is an umbrella term that encompasses software (eg, mobile apps) or hardware (eg, smartwatches) designed to influence users to perform preferable behavior once or on a long-term basis. Considering the ubiquitous nature of mobile devices across all socioeconomic groups, user behavior modification thrives under the personalized care that persuasive technology can offer. However, there is no guidance for developing personalized persuasive technologies based on the psychological characteristics of users.

Objective: This study examined the role that psychological characteristics play in interpreted mobile health (mHealth) screen perceived persuasiveness. In addition, this study aims to explore how …

Is Three Company Or A Crowd? Comparing And Contrasting U.S. And European Clostridioidesdifficile Clinical Practice Guidelines, Jordan Jones, Aditya Pradhan, Morgan E. Pizzuti, Christopher M. Bland, P. Brandon Bookstaver

Faculty Publications

In 2021, the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG), the Infectious Diseases Society of America in conjunction with the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (IDSA/SHEA), and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID) published updated clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for the management of Clostridioides difficile infections. The differences, sometimes subtle, between these guideline recommendations have caused some debate among clinicians. This paper delves into select key recommendations from each respective CPG and analyzes the differences and evidence associated with each. One primary difference between the CPGs is the preference given to fidaxomicin over vancomycin for initial treatment …

Pest Population Dynamics Are Related To A Continental Overwintering Gradient, Douglas Lawton, Anders S. Huseth, George G. Kennedy, Amy C. Morey, William D. Hutchison, Dominic D. Reisig, Seth J. Dorman, De Shae Dillard, Robert C. Venette, Russell L. Groves, John J. Adamczyk, Izailda Barbosa Dos Santos, Tracey Baute, Sebe Brown, Eric Burkness, Ashley Dean, Galen P. Dively, Hélène B. Doughty, Shelby J. Fleischer, Jessica Green, Jeremy K. Greene, Krista Hamilton, Erin Hodgson, Thomas Hunt, David Kerns, Billy Rogers Leonard, Sean Malone, Fred Musser, David Owens, John C. Palumbo, Silvana Paula-Moraes, Julie A. Peterson, Ricardo Ramirez

Faculty Publications

Overwintering success is an important determinant of arthropod populations that must be considered as climate change continues to influence the spatiotemporal population dynamics of agricultural pests. Using a long-term monitoring database and biologically relevant overwintering zones, we modeled the annual and seasonal population dynamics of a common pest, Helicoverpa zea (Boddie), based on three overwintering suitability zones throughout North America using four decades of soil temperatures: the southern range (able to persist through winter), transitional zone (uncertain overwintering survivorship), and northern limits (unable to survive winter). Our model indicates H. zea population dynamics are hierarchically structured with continental-level effects that …