Digital Commons Network^™

How The “Blueprint” For Agriculture In Adventist Education Can Be Relevant In The 21st Century, Katherine Koudele

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Strengthening Causal Inference From Randomised Controlled Trials Of Complex Interventions, Jef L. Leroy, Edward A. Frongillo Jr. Ph.D., Bezawit E. Kase, Silvia Alonso, Mario Chen, Ian Dohoo, Lieven Huybregts, Suneetha Kadiyala, Naomi M. Saville

Faculty Publications

Researchers conducting randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of complex interventions face design and analytical challenges that are not fully addressed in existing guidelines. Further guidance is needed to help ensure that these trials of complex interventions are conducted to the highest scientific standards while maximising the evidence that can be extracted from each trial. The key challenge is how to manage the multiplicity of outcomes required for the trial while minimising false positive and false negative findings. To address this challenge, we formulate three principles to conduct RCTs: (1) outcomes chosen should be driven by the intent and programme theory of …

Bias In Measurement Of Autism Symptoms By Spoken Language Level And Non-Verbal Mental Age In Minimally Verbal Children With Neurodevelopmental Disorders, Shuting Zheng, Aaron Kaat, Cristan Farmer, Audrey Thurm, Catherine A. Burrows, Stephen Kanne, Stelios Georgiades, Amy Esler, Catherine Lord, Nicole Takashashi, Kerri P. Nowell, Elizabeth A. Will Ph.D., Jane E. Roberts, Somer L. Bishop

Faculty Publications

Increasing numbers of children with known genetic conditions and/or intellectual disability are referred for evaluation of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), highlighting the need to refine autism symptom measures to facilitate differential diagnoses in children with cognitive and language impairments. Previous studies have reported decreased specificity of ASD screening and diagnostic measures in children with intellectual disability. However, little is known about how cognitive and language abilities impact the measurement of specific ASD symptoms in this group. We aggregated a large sample of young children (N = 1196; aged 31-119 months) to examine measurement invariance of ASD symptoms among minimally verbal …

Association Of Body Mass Index And Plant-Based Diet With Cognitive Impairment Among Older Chinese Adults: A Prospective, Nationwide Cohort Study, Fang Liang, Jialin Fu, Gabrielle Turner-Mcgrievy Ph.D., Rd, Yechuang Wang, Nan Qiu, Kai Ding, Jing Zeng, Justin B. Moore, Rui Li

Faculty Publications

To examine the association of body mass index (BMI) and a plant-based diet (PBD) with cognitive impairment in older adults, this cohort study used data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS), a national, community-based, longitudinal, prospective study in China. Cognitive function was evaluated via the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Diet was assessed using a simplified food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), and PBD patterns were estimated using the overall plant-based diet index (PDI), the healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and the unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI). BMI was measured objectively during the physical examination. Cox proportional hazard models and restricted …

Comparing Standard Versus Enhanced Implementation Of An Evidence-Based Hiv Prevention Program Among Bahamian Sixth Grade Students: Findings From Nationwide Implementation Trials, Bo Wang, Lynette Deveaux, Carly Herbert, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Lesley Cottrell, Richard Adderley, Maxwell Poitier, Arvis Mortimer, Glenda Rolle, Sharon Marshall, Nikkiah Forbes, Bonita Stanton

Faculty Publications

Background Effective implementation strategies are needed to address the challenges encountered by teachers in implementation of evidence-based HV prevention programs in schools. The current study: 1) compares implementation fidelity of Focus on Youth in the Caribbean (FOYC) plus Caribbean Informed Parents and Children Together (CImPACT)intervention using enhanced implementation strategies (including biweekly monitoring/feedback and site-based mentoring) to those using more traditional approach (teacher training only); and 2) evaluates the impact of school coordinators’ and mentors’ performance on teachers’ implementation fidelity and student outcomes.

Methods

Data from an enhanced implementation trial in 2019–2020, involving 24 government primary schools, 79 teachers, and …

Changes Overtime In Perinatal Management And Outcomes Of Extremely Preterm Infants In One Tertiary Care Romanian Center, Diana Ungureanu, Nansi Boghossian, Laura Mihaela Suciu

Faculty Publications

Background and Objectives: Extremely preterm infants were at increased risk of mortality and morbidity. The purpose of this study was to: (1) examine changes over time in perinatal management, mortality, and major neonatal morbidities among infants born at 25⁰–28⁶ weeks’ gestational age and cared for at one Romanian tertiary care unit and (2) compare the differences with available international data. Material and Methods: This study consisted of infants born at 25⁰–28⁶ weeks in one tertiary neonatal academic center in Romania during two 4-year periods (2007–2010 and 2015–2018). Major morbidities were defined as any of …

Using Narrative Cycles To Advance Teacher Educators’ Emotional Work And Practice In An Era Of Affective Polarization, Ramona Maile Cutri, Eric Ruiz Bybee, Erin Feinauer Whiting

Faculty Publications

‘Affective polarization’ refers to the amount of negativity that people feel for those who belong to a political party other than their own. This self-study reports on our particular use of a narrative cycle model and documents its validity as a tool for doing the emotional work of exploring contradictions in one’s practice without the pressure of engaging in public emotional discourses. We focused on the contra- diction between our intention to teach anti-oppressive teacher edu- cation and inadvertently silencing students who exhibited affective polarization. Our narrative inquiry analysis documented patterns of our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that we assert …

Food Insecurity And Depression Among Us Adults: Nhanes 2005–2016, Nicole Reeder, Terezie Tolar-Peterson, R. Hartford Bailey, Wen-Hsing Cheng, Marion W. Evans Jr.

Faculty Publications

A growing body of evidence suggests that food insecurity is associated with adverse mental health outcomes such as depression and anxiety. In this study, the relationship between food insecurity and depression was examined using data from the 2005–2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Food insecurity was assessed with the 18-item United States Food Security Survey Module with zero affirmative responses indicating high food security, 1 or 2 affirmative responses indicating marginal food security, and ≥3 affirmative responses indicating food insecurity. Depression was assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 with scores ≥10 indicating depression. Data were analyzed from 28,448 …

Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses In Central America: The Research And Public Health Disparity Among Socioeconomic Lines, Kyndall C. Dye-Braumuller, Marvin S. Rodriguez Aquino, Stella C.W. Self, Mufaro Kanyangarara, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph

Faculty Publications

Tick-borne diseases including rickettsial diseases are increasing in incidence worldwide. Many rickettsial pathogens can cause disease which is commonly underdiagnosed and underreported; Rickettsia pathogens in the spotted fever group (SFGR) are thus classified as neglected bacterial pathogens. The Central American region shoulders a large proportion of the global neglected disease burden; however, little is known regarding SFGR disease here. Although development varies, four of the seven countries in this region have both the highest poverty rates and SFGR disease burdens (El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, and Nicaragua), compared to Belize, Panama, and Costa Rica. Utilizing the Human Development Index (HDI), we …

Social Life Of Females With Persistent Covid-19 Symptoms: A Qualitative Study, Atefeh Aghaei, Ran Zhang, Slone Taylor, Cheuk-Chi Tam, Chih-Hsiang Yang, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Shan Qiao Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Persistent COVID-19 symptoms (long COVID) may bring challenges to long haulers' social lives. Females may endure more profound impacts given their special social roles and existing structural inequality. This study explores the effects of long COVID on the social life of female long haulers. We conducted semi-structured interviews via Zoom between April and June 2021 with 15 female long haulers in the United States, purposely recruited from Facebook and Slack groups and organization websites related to long COVID. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim with consent. The interview data were managed using MAXQDA and examined by thematic analysis. Long COVID …

Hair Zidovudine Concentrations Predict Virologic Outcomes Among People Living With Hiv/Aids In China, Yan Wu, Shuaifeng Liu, Liuxi Chu, Quan Zhang, Jin Yang, Shan Qiao, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Yuejiao Zhou, Huihua Deng, Zhiyong Shen

Faculty Publications

Background: Hair antiretroviral concentrations are an objective and non-invasive measure of adherence to long-term antiretroviral therapy (ART) and can further predict virologic outcomes among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWH). Zidovudine, one of the mainstream antiretrovirals in China, has been verified to have high reliability in adherence assessment, especially for its hair concentrations. However, data are limited in its predicting virologic outcomes. Therefore, this study aimed to characterize whether hair zidovudine concentrations can predict virologic suppression among Chinese PLWH compared with hair lamivudine concentrations and two self-reported measures, the overall frequency of adherence behaviors and percentage adherence. Methods: This cross-sectional study …

Capturing The Pool Dilution Effect In Group Testing Regression: A Bayesian Approach, Stella Self Ph.D., Ms, Christopher Mcmahan, Stefani Mokalled

Faculty Publications

Group (pooled) testing is becoming a popular strategy for screening large populations for infectious diseases. This popularity is owed to the cost savings that can be realized through implementing group testing methods. These methods involve physically combining biomaterial (eg, saliva, blood, urine) collected on individuals into pooled specimens which are tested for an infection of interest. Through testing these pooled specimens, group testing methods reduce the cost of diagnosing all individuals under study by reducing the number of tests performed. Even though group testing offers substantial cost reductions, some practitioners are hesitant to adopt group testing methods due to the …

Direct Mechanical Thrombectomy With Or Without Bridging Thrombolysis In Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review And Meta-Analysis Of Randomized Trials, R Morsi, J Carrión-Penagos, H Desai, E Tannous, S Kothari, A Khamis, A Tarabichi, R Bastin, Layal Hneiny, S Thind, E Coleman, J Brorson, S Mendelson, A Mansour, S Prabhakaran, T Kass-Hout

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Effect Of Ultraviolet Light Treatment On Microbiological Safety And Quality Of Fresh Produce: An Overview, Veerachandra Yemmireddy, Achyut Adhikari, Juan Moreira

Faculty Publications

Fresh and fresh-cut fruits and vegetables have been associated in several foodborne illness outbreaks. Although investigations from those outbreaks reported that the contamination with pathogenic microorganisms may occur at any point in the farm to fork continuum, effective control strategies are still being widely investigated. In that direction, the concept of hurdle technology involving a sequence of different interventions have been widely explored. Among those interventions, ultraviolet (UV) light alone or in combination with other treatments such as use of organic acids or sanitizer solutions, has found to be a promising approach to maintain the microbiological safety and quality of …

Completing Single-Cell Dna Methylome Profiles Via Transfer Learning Together With Kl-Divergence, Sanjeeva Dodlapati, Zongliang Jiang, Jiangwen Sun

Faculty Publications

The high level of sparsity in methylome profiles obtained using whole-genome bisulfite sequencing in the case of low biological material amount limits its value in the study of systems in which large samples are difficult to assemble, such as mammalian preimplantation embryonic development. The recently developed computational methods for addressing the sparsity by imputing missing have their limits when the required minimum data coverage or profiles of the same tissue in other modalities are not available. In this study, we explored the use of transfer learning together with Kullback-Leibler (KL) divergence to train predictive models for completing methylome profiles with …

Latent Class Analysis Of Polysubstance Use And Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Attending Sexual Health Clinics In Mexico City, Rosibel Rodríguez-Bolaños, Ricardo Baruch-Dominguez, Edna Aril, Elsa Yunes-Díaz, Leonor Rivera-Rivera, Lizeth Cruz-Jiménez, Jim F. Thrasher Ph.D., Ma, Ms, Alan G. Nyitray, Eduardo Lazcando-Ponce

Faculty Publications

Men who have sex with men (MSM) are more likely to use drugs and other substances compared to their heterosexual peers. No studies have evaluated patterns of substance use among MSM adults in Mexico. We used latent class analysis (LCA) to identify MSM subgroups with specific substance use patterns and their associations with sexual behaviors. Methods: Data from 1850 adult MSM were collected at HIV clinics in Mexico City between September 2018 and December 2019. The structural equation modeling approach was used to estimate a LC model to identify patterns of substance use by self-report of substance use (i.e., cigarette …

School And Community Drivers Of Child Diets In Two Arab Cities: The Scale Protocol And Innovative Tools To Assess Children's Food Environments, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Zeina Jamaluddine, Aline Semaan, Nehmat El-Helou, Gloria Safadi, Tatiana Elghossain, Christelle Akl, Shady Elbassuoni, Ali Chalak, Jalila El Ati

Faculty Publications

Background

In the context of the rapid nutrition transition experienced by middle-income countries of the Arab region, children and adolescent's food choices and dietary behaviors are early risk factors for the development of non-communicable diseases. Assessment of factors influencing food choices among this age group is challenging and is usually based on self-reported data, which are prone to information and recall bias. As the popularity of technologies and video gaming platforms increases, opportunities arise to use these tools to collect data on variables that affect food choice, dietary intake, and associated outcomes. This protocol paper describes the SCALE study (School …

Covid-19-Related Stressful Experiences And Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms Among College Students In China: A Moderated Mediation Model Of Perceived Control Over The Future And Empathy, Zhi Ye, Chengbo Zeng, Xueying Yang, Cheuk-Chi Tam, Yuyan Wang, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Danhu Lin

Faculty Publications

The current study aims to investigate the mediating effect of perceived control over the future and the moderating effect of empathy on the association between stressful experiences and PTSD symptoms among college students in China in response to COVID-19. A sample of 1,225 college students (70.69% were female, M age=20.22 years, SD=2.02) were recruited using web-based surveys at wave 1 (W1) and wave 2 (W2) longitudinally. Results showed that COVID-19-related stressful experiences were significantly associated with PTSD symptoms. Perceived control over the future partially mediated the relationship between these two variables (indirect effect size=0.09, p < 0.01). Empathy significantly moderated the path from perceived control over the future to PTSD symptoms, suggesting that the association was stronger for individuals with higher levels of empathy. Findings suggest a protective effect of perceived control over the future on college students’ PTSD symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic. Such a protective effect was intensified by empathy. Future intervention to manage PTSD symptoms should be tailored to positive future expectations and empathy.

Mhealth Video Gaming For Human Papillomavirus Vaccination Among College Men-Qualitative Inquiry For Development, Gabrielle Darville-Sanders, Charkarra Anderson-Lewis, Michael Stellefson, Yu Hao Lee, Jann Macinnes, R. Morgan Pigg, Rebeccah Mercado, Cheryl Gaddis

Faculty Publications

Background: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the United States. Persistent infection with HPV can cause various cancers; however, HPV vaccination can prevent infections associated with high risk, cancerous strains of the virus. As it relates to HPV, college age men have been identified as one of the catch-up vaccination groups. Among college age men, gaming is an extremely popular extracurricular activity. Further, video games have emerged as a popular public health intervention tool. Therefore, this study aims to collect qualitative data on how to develop, implement and evaluate the effectiveness of a gaming …

School And Community Drivers Of Child Diets In Two Arab Cities: The Scale Protocol And Innovative Tools To Assess Children’S Food Environments, Hala Ghattas Ph.D., Zeina Jamaluddine, Aline Semaan, Nehmat El-Helou, Gloria Safadi, Tatiana Elghossain, Christelle Akl, Shady Elbassuoni, Ali Chalak, Jalila El Ati, The Scale Research Group

Faculty Publications

Background

In the context of the rapid nutrition transition experienced by middle-income countries of the Arab region, children and adolescent’s food choices and dietary behaviors are early risk factors for the development of non-communicable diseases. Assessment of factors influencing food choices among this age group is challenging and is usually based on self-reported data, which are prone to information and recall bias. As the popularity of technologies and video gaming platforms increases, opportunities arise to use these tools to collect data on variables that affect food choice, dietary intake, and associated outcomes. This protocol paper describes the SCALE study (School …

Sexual Stature Difference Fluctuations In Pre- And Post-Black Death London As An Indicator Of Living Standards, Emily J. Brennan, Sharon Dewitte

Faculty Publications

Objectives: The degree of sexual stature difference (SSD), the ratio of male to female height, is argued to be an indicator of living standards based on evidence that physical growth for males is more sensitive to environmental fluctuations. In a resource-poor environment, the degree of SSD is expected to be relatively low. The aim of this study is to comparatively assess SSD in medieval London in the context of repeated famine events and other environmental stressors before the Black Death (BD) and the improved living conditions that characterized the post-Black Death period.

Methods: To test the hypothesis that a poor …

Parochial Altruism And Political Ideology, Marilynn B. Brewer, Nancy R. Buchan, Orgul D. Ozturk, Gianluca Grimalda

Faculty Publications

Parochial altruism refers to the propensity to direct prosocial behavior toward members of one's own ingroup to a greater extent than toward those outside one's group. Both theory and empirical research suggest that parochialism may be linked to political ideology, with conservatives more likely than liberals to exhibit ingroup bias in altruistic behavior. The present study, conducted in the United States and Italy, tested this relationship in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, assessing willingness to contribute money to charities at different levels of inclusiveness—local versus national versus international. Results indicated that conservatives contributed less money overall and were more …

Retrospective Cohort Evaluating The Comparative Effectiveness Of Ceftaroline And Daptomycin As First-Line Therapies For Inpatient Treatment Of Diabetic Foot Infection In The United States Veterans Health Care System, Alyssa C. Eaves, Chengwen Teng Pharm.D., Ph.D., Kirk E. Evoy, Christopher R. Frei

Faculty Publications

Background Both ceftaroline and daptomycin are possible therapeutic options for diabetic foot infection (DFI) and both are active against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection; however, no previous studies have evaluated their efectiveness head-to-head.

Objective This study compared hospital readmission and mortality proportions among patients receiving ceftaroline fosamil or daptomycin for DFI.

Patients and Methods This was a retrospective cohort, comparative efectiveness study of adults (aged ≥ 18 years) admitted to United States Veterans Health Care System hospitals with a diagnosis code for DFI between 1 October 2010 and 30 September 2014 with an electronic order for ceftaroline or daptomycin as …

The Effect Of Social Exclusion On Trust Among Youth Orphaned By Hiv/Aids: Evidence From An Event-Related Potentials Study, Jiaojiao Wan, Qi Zhao, Yafei Zhang, Lili Ji, Junfeng Zhao, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Grounded in a follow-up study among children who lost one or both parents to HIV in central China in the early 2000s, we conducted an event-related potentials (ERPs) experiment to explore the effect of social exclusion on trust and the corresponding neurophysiological mechanism among youth orphaned by HIV/AIDS (“AIDS orphans”). A sample of 31 AIDS orphans (26.16 ± 3.34 years old; 15 female) and 32 age and development status matched controls (25.02 ± 3.45 years old; 14 female) participated in the study. They were all assigned to play Cyberball, a virtual ball-tossing game that reliably induced social exclusion (15 orphans, …

Predicting Pavement Structural Condition Using Machine Learning Methods, Nazmus Sakib Ahmed, Nathan Huynh, Sarah Gassman, Robert Mullen, Charles Pierce, Yuche Chen

Faculty Publications

State departments of transportation recognize the need to incorporate pavement structural condition in their pavement performance models and/or decision processes used to select candidate projects for preservation, rehabilitation, or reconstruction at the network level. However, pavement structural condition data are costly to obtain. To this end, this paper develops and evaluates the effectiveness of two machine learning methods, Random Forest (RF) and eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), for predicting a flexible pavement’s structural condition. The aim is to be able to predict whether a pavement section’s structural condition is poor or not based on Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT), truck percentage, …

Three Dimensions Of Covid-19 Risk Perceptions And Their Socioeconomic Correlates In The United States: A Social Media Analysis, Shan Qiao Ph.D., Zhenlong Li Ph.D., Chen Liang Ph.D., Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Caroline Rudisill Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Social media analysis provides an alternate approach to monitoring and understanding risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 over time. Our current understandings of risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 do not disentangle the three dimensions of risk perceptions (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and negative emotion) as the pandemic has evolved. Data are also limited regarding the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on COVID-19-related risk perceptions over time. To address these knowledge gaps, we extracted tweets regarding COVID-19-related risk perceptions and developed indicators for the three dimensions of risk perceptions based on over502 million geotagged tweets posted by over 4.9 million Twitter users …

Optimised Adjoint Sensitivity Analysis Using Adjoint Guided Mesh Adaptivity Applied To Neutron Detector Response Calculations, Andrew G. Buchan, Dan Gabriel Cacuci, Steven Dargaville, Christopher C. Pain

Faculty Publications

This article presents a new approach for the efficient calculation of sensitivities in radiation dose estimates, subject to imprecisely known nuclear material cross-section data. The method is a combined application of adjoint-based models to perform, simultaneously, both the sensitivity calculation together with optimal adaptive mesh refinement. Adjoint-based sensitivity methods are known for their efficiency since they enable sensitivities of all parameters to be formed through only two solutions to the problem. However, the efficient solutions can also be obtained by their computation on optimal meshes, here guided by goal-based adjoint approaches. It is shown that both mesh adaptivity and sensitivity …

An Acoustofluidic Scanning Nanoscope Using Enhanced Image Stacking And Processing, Geonsoo Jin, Joseph Rich, Jianping Xia, Albert J. He, Chenglong Zhao, Tony Jun Huang

Faculty Publications

Nanoscale optical resolution with a large field of view is a critical feature for many research and industry areas, such as semiconductor fabrication, biomedical imaging, and nanoscale material identification. Several scanning microscopes have been developed to resolve the inverse relationship between the resolution and field of view; however, those scanning microscopes still rely upon fluorescence labeling and complex optical systems. To overcome these limitations, we developed a dual-camera acoustofluidic nanoscope with a seamless image merging algorithm (alpha-blending process). This design allows us to precisely image both the sample and the microspheres simultaneously and accurately track the particle path and location. …

Three Dimensions Of Covid-19 Risk Perceptions And Their Socioeconomic Correlates In The United States: A Social Media Analysis, Shan Qiao, Zhenlong Li, Caroline Rudsill

Faculty Publications

Social media analysis provides an alternate approach to monitoring and understanding risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 over time. Our current understandings of risk perceptions regarding COVID-19 do not disentangle the three dimensions of risk perceptions (perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and negative emotion) as the pandemic has evolved. Data are also limited regarding the impact of social determinants of health (SDOH) on COVID-19-related risk perceptions over time. To address these knowledge gaps, we extracted tweets regarding COVID-19-related risk perceptions and developed indicators for the three dimensions of risk perceptions based on over 502 million geotagged tweets posted by over 4.9 million Twitter …

Too Much Of A Good Thing? A Governing Knowledge Commons Review Of Abundance In Context, Brett M. Frischmann, Michael J. Madison, Madelyn R. Sanfilippo, Katherine J. Strandburg

Faculty Publications

The economics of abundance, along with the sociology of abundance, the law of abundance, and so forth, should be re-framed, linked, and situated in a common context for empirical rather than conceptual research. Abundance may seem to be a new, big thing, between anxiety over information overload, Big Data, and related technological disruptions. But scholars know that abundance is an ancient phenomenon, which only seemed to disappear as twentieth century social science focused on scarcity instead. Restoring the study of abundance, and figuring out how to solve the problems that abundance might create, means shedding disciplinary blinders and going back …