Digital Commons Network^™

"User Experience With A New Public Interface For An Integrated Library System", Kelly D. Blessinger, David Comeaux

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to understand the viewpoints and attitudes of researchers at Louisiana State University toward the new public search interface from SirsiDynix, Enterprise. Fifteen university constituents participated in user studies to provide feedback while completing common research tasks. Particularly of interest to the librarian observers were identifying and characterizing where problems were expressed by the participants as they utilized the new interface. This study was approached within the framework of the cognitive load theory and user experience (UX). Problems that were discovered are discussed along with remedies, in addition to areas for further study.

Traditional Funeral And Burial Rituals And Ebola Outbreaks In West Africa: A Narrative Review Of Causes And Strategy Interventions, Chulwoo Park

Faculty Publications

Introduction: In West Africa, traditional funerals and burials have proven main contributors to the spread of infectious diseases, such as Ebola, plague, the Marburg virus, and others. Although the World Health Organization has provided guidelines for the safe burial process after learning of the culture of the afterlife in Ebola-affected areas, little effort has been made to integrate theoretical interventions and models for changing West Africans’ funeral behavior. This research was conducted to study 1) the background of traditional burial rituals, 2) interventions to contain Ebola outbreaks in West Africa, and 3) a strategic approach to future disease outbreak in …

The Analytics Managers Ultimate Guide For Working With Universities, Robert J. Mcgrath

Faculty Publications

The challenges organizations are having related to finding (and retaining) deep analytical talent did not materialize out of thin air…or overnight. Analytics and Data science – and the role of the analytics professional – has evolved over the last several decades and has been fueled by our ability to capture and process increasingly larger and more complex variations of data and our desire to gain increasingly granular insights to fuel innovation and creativity. While many organizations recognize that a partnership with a university can be a resource to many of these challenges, the best way to start a conversation with …

Inhibiting Iron Mobilization From Bacterioferritin In Pseudomonas Aeruginosa Impairs Biofilm Formation Irrespective Of Environmental Iron Availability, Anabel Soldano, Huili Yao, Josephine R. Chandler, Mario Rivera

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. Although iron is essential for bacteria, the nutrient presents problems of toxicity and solubility. Bacteria circumvent these problems with the aid of iron storage proteins where Fe3+ is deposited and, when necessary, mobilized as Fe2+ for metabolic requirements. In Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Fe3+ is compartmentalized in bacterioferritin (BfrB), and its mobilization as Fe2+ requires specific binding of a ferredoxin (Bfd) to reduce the stored Fe3+. Blocking the BfrB-Bfd complex leads to irreversible iron accumulation in BfrB and cytosolic iron deprivation. Consequently, given the intracellular iron sufficiency requirement for biofilm development, we hypothesized that blocking the …

Apology And Restitution: The Psychophysiology Of Forgiveness After Accountable Relational Repair Responses, Charlotte Vanoyen-Witvliet, Lindsey M. Root Luna, Everett L. Worthington Jr., Jo-Ann Tsang

Faculty Publications

Apology and restitution each represents wrongdoers’ accountable repair responses that have promoted victims’ self-reported empathy and forgiveness in crime scenario research. The current study measured emotional and stress-related dependent variables including physiological measures, to illuminate the links between predictors of forgiveness and health-relevant side effects. Specifically, we tested the independent and interactive effects of apology and restitution on forgiveness, emotion self-reports, and facial responses, as well as cardiac measures associated with stress in 32 males and 29 females. Apology and restitution each independently increased empathy, forgiveness, gratitude, and positive emotions, while reducing unforgiveness, negative emotion, and muscle activity above the …

Comparative Analysis Of Rhizosphere Microbiomes Of Southern Highbush Blueberry (Vaccinium Corymbosum L.), Darrowâs Blueberry (V. Darrowii Camp), And Rabbiteye Blueberry (V. Virgatum Aiton), Jiangang Li, Olga V. Mavrodi, Jinfeng Hou, Chazden Blackmon, Ebrahiem M. Babiker, Dmitri V. Mavrodi

Faculty Publications

Plants are inhabited by millions of parasitic, commensal, and mutualistic microorganisms that coexist in complex ecological communities, and profoundly affect the plant’s productivity, health, and capacity to cope with environmental stress. Therefore, a better understanding of the rhizosphere microbiome may open a yet untapped avenue for the rational exploitation of beneficial plant–microbe interactions in modern agriculture. Blueberries encompass several wild and cultivated species of shrubs of the genus Vaccinium that are native to North America. They are grown commercially for the production of fruits, which are considered a health food due to the rich content of minerals, trace elements, and …

Listeria Monocytogenes Response To Anaerobic Environments, Brandy N. Roberts, Damayanti Chakravarty, J.C. Gardner Iii, Steven C. Ricke, Janet R. Donaldson

Faculty Publications

Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive facultative anaerobic bacterium that is responsible for the disease, listeriosis. It is particularly lethal in pregnant women, the fetus, the elderly and the immunocompromised. The pathogen survives and replicates over a wide range of temperatures (4 to 42 °C), pH, salt and oxygen concentrations. Because it can withstand various environments, L. monocytogenes is a major concern in food processing industries, especially in dairy products and ready-to-eat fruits, vegetables and deli meats. The environment in which the pathogen is exposed can influence the expression of virulence genes. For instance, studies have shown that variations in oxygen …

Camp Organizational Support For Creativity Among New And Returning Camp Counselors, Myles L. Lynch, Cindy L. Hartman, Nate E. Trauntvein, Cari A. E. Moorhead

Faculty Publications

Creativity supports interest, imagination, empowerment, intrinsic motivation, and overall engagement. Satisfied employees, who are supported in their creativity, have increased performance, motivation, and commitment. Residential summer camp is a demanding 24-hour job in which camp counselors use creativity on a regular basis via lesson planning, teaching activities, resolving conflict, and living within close proximity to coworkers. The purpose of the current study was to explore organizational support for creativity among first-year and returning staff at the beginning and end of one season of employment. Camp counselors (n = 113) participated in the current study utilizing quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative …

Machine Learning For The Preliminary Diagnosis Of Dementia, Fubao Zhu, Xiaonan Li, Haipeng Tang, Zhuo He, Chaoyang Zhang, Guang-Uei Hung, Pai-Yi Chiu, Weihua Zhou

Faculty Publications

Objective: The reliable diagnosis remains a challenging issue in the early stages of dementia. We aimed to develop and validate a new method based on machine learning to help the preliminary diagnosis of normal, mild cognitive impairment (MCI), very mild dementia (VMD), and dementia using an informant-based questionnaire.

Methods: We enrolled 5,272 individuals who filled out a 37-item questionnaire. In order to select the most important features, three different techniques of feature selection were tested. Then, the top features combined with six classification algorithms were used to develop the diagnostic models.

Results: Information Gain was the most …

How One Library’S Location Change Impacted Health Information Requests: Comparing Zip Codes And Health Disparities To Inform Library Services: Data Files, David Petersen, Martha Earl, Cameron Watson, Kelsey Grabeel

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Association Of Apol1 Risk Genotype And Air Pollution For Kidney Disease, Ishan Paranjpe, Kumardeep Chaudhary, Manish Paranjpe, Ross O’Hagan, Sayan Manna, Suraj Jaladanki, Arjun Kapoor, Carol Horowitz, Nicholas Defelice, Richard Cooper, Benjamin Glicksberg, Erwin P. Bottinger, Allan C. Just, Girish N. Nadkarni

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Smartphone App For Self-Management Of Heart Failure In Older African Americans: Feasibility And Usability Study, Sue P. Heiney, Sara B. Donevant, Swann Arp Adams, Pearman D. Parker, Hongtu Chen, Sue Levkoff

Faculty Publications

Background: Mobile health (mHealth) apps are dramatically changing how patients and providers manage and monitor chronic health conditions, especially in the area of self-monitoring. African Americans have higher mortality rates from heart failure than other racial groups in the United States. Therefore, self-management of heart failure may improve health outcomes for African American patients.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to determine the feasibility of using an mHealth app, and explore the outcomes of quality of life, including self-care maintenance, management, and confidence, among African American patients managing their condition after discharge with a diagnosis of heart failure. …

Hyaluronic Acid-Cellulose Composites As Patches For Minimizing Bacterial Infections, Kelsey M. Lopez, Sudhir Ravula, Rocío L. Pérez, Caitlan E. Ayala, Jack N. Losso, Marlene E. Janes, Isiah M. Warner

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. A facile method was used to synthesize biocomposites containing differing ratios of hyaluronic acid (HA) and cellulose (CEL). Based on the properties of the individual polymers, the resultant composite materials may have potentially great wound care properties. In the method outlined here, 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride ([Bmim][Cl]), a simple ionic liquid, was used as the sole solvent without chemical modifiers to dissolve the biopolymers at ratios of 1:1 and 2:1 HA to CEL. This method was completely recyclable since the ionic liquid, [Bmim][Cl], can be recovered. Results from spectroscopic measurements [Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and X-ray …

Fully Automated Bone Age Assessment On Large-Scale Hand X-Ray Dataset, Xiaoyang Pan, Yizhe Zhao, Hao Chen, De Wei, Chen Zhao, Zhi Wei

Faculty Publications

Bone age assessment (BAA) is an essential topic in the clinical practice of evaluating the biological maturity of children. Because the manual method is time-consuming and prone to observer variability, it is attractive to develop computer-aided and automated methods for BAA. In this paper, we present a fully automatic BAA method. To eliminate noise in a raw X-ray image, we start with using U-Net to precisely segment hand mask image from a raw X-ray image. Even though U-Net can perform the segmentation with high precision, it needs a bigger annotated dataset. To alleviate the annotation burden, we propose to use …

Parkinson's Disease In Louisiana, 1999-2012: Based On Hospital Primary Discharge Diagnoses, Incidence, And Risk In Relation To Local Agricultural Crops, Pesticides, And Aquifer Recharge, Martin E. Hugh-Jones, R. Hampton Peele, Vincent L. Wilson

Faculty Publications

The two major causes of Parkinson's disease (PD) are genetic susceptibility and exposure to agricultural pesticides. Access to 23,224 individuals' hospital primary discharge diagnoses of PD allowed the mapping of cases against known crop distributions and pesticides. Our main objective was to map PD risks (cases per 10,000 people) against crops and their pesticides. The ZIP Code address locations, and the 2000 and 2010 census data, were used to map the risks of PD throughout Louisiana and in relation to United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)-recorded crops. The introduction of glyphosate-resistant crops appears to have initiated the PD disappearance from …

Comparing Self-Reported Medication Adherence Measures With Hair Antiretroviral Concentration Among People Living With Hiv In Guangxi, China, Quan Zhang, Xiaoming Li Ph.D., Shan Qiao Ph.D., Zhiyong Shen, Yuejiao Zhou

Faculty Publications

Background: Antiretroviral adherence is essential to HIV treatment efcacy. Various self-reported measures are commonly used for assessing antiretroviral adherence. Limited data are available regarding the validity of those selfreported measures in comparison with long-term objective biomarkers of adherence measures such as hair measures.

Methods: Self-reported adherence (frequency, percentage, and visual analog scale [VAS]) and hair tenofovir concentration were evaluated at a single time point from 268 people living with HIV in China. The responses to each of three self-reported measures were converted into percentage and then dichotomized as “optimal” (100%) vs. “suboptimal” (less than 100%) adherence. Two composite adherence scores …

Mirror, Mirror On The Wall: The Effect Of Listening To Body Positive Music On Implicit And Explicit Body Esteem, Sarah M. Coyne, Emilie J. Davis, Wayne Warburton, Laura Stockdale, Imogen Abba, Dean M. Busby

Faculty Publications

The current article used 3 studies to examine the impact of listening to body positive music on both explicit and implicit measures of body esteem in women. Study 1 found that women who viewed a mainstream popular body positive music video reported higher levels of body esteem than those who viewed a popular body objectifying music video. In Studies 2 and 3, we wrote and recorded our own songs to keep the musical features apart from the lyrics constant (e.g., rhythm, melody, and singer identity). Study 2 also found that women showed higher levels of implicit (but not explicit) body …

Modeling And Data Infrastructure For Human-Centric Design And Operation Of Sustainable, Healthy Buildings Through A Case Study, Yong X. Tao, Yimin Zhu, Ulrike Passe

Faculty Publications

This paper focuses on data infrastructure that is central to the modeling of design and operation of sustainable and healthy buildings. While reducing energy consumption by making buildings more energy efficient has been touted as an easily obtainable approach to promoting carbon-neutral energy societies, the sustainable buildings’ benefits and impacts on human wellbeing have not been clearly quantified to the extent that they may directly influence the decision of adopting sustainable building designs. The authors argue that focusing on the wellbeing of people occupying the buildings will lead to significant changes in the decision-making process of the design and operation …

A 24 Hour Naproxen Dose On Gastrointestinal Distress And Performance During Cycling In The Heat, Dawn M. Emerson, J Mark Davis, Stephen Cl Chen, Toni M. Torres-Mcgehee, Craig E. Pfeifer, Charles C. Emerson, Joseph D. Bivona, Justin V. Stone

Faculty Publications

Using a double-blind, randomized and counterbalanced, cross-over design, we assessed naproxen's effects on gastrointestinal (GI) distress and performance in eleven volunteers (6 male, 5 female). Participants completed 4 trials: 1) placebo and ambient); 2) placebo and heat; 3) naproxen and ambient; and 4) naproxen and heat. Independent variables were one placebo or 220 mg naproxen pill every 8 h (h) for 24 h and ambient (22.7 ± 1.8°C) or thermal environment (35.7 ± 1.3°C). Participants cycled 80 min at a steady heart rate then 10 min for maximum distance. Perceived exertion was measured throughout cycling. Gastrointestinal distress was assessed pre-, …

Social Adversity, Sleep Characteristics, And Elevated Blood Pressure Among Young Adult Black Females, Jewel Scott Phd, Rn, Fnp-C, Susan Silva, Leigh Ann Simmons

Faculty Publications

Purpose: We examined whether sleep characteristics and adverse social exposures were associated with elevated blood pressure (BP) in young adult black women. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of existing data from 581 black females who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Adverse social exposures included child abuse, discrimination, perceived stress, social isolation, and subjective social status. Self-reported sleep characteristics were measures of duration, latency, continuity, and snoring. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the influence of social exposures and sleep characteristics on BP. Results: Among the women (mean age=29.1 years), 32.4% had …

Heat Shock Protein 70 Levels And Post-Harvest Survival Of Eastern Oysters Following Sublethal Heat Shock In The Laboratory Or Conditioning In The Field, Sandra M. Casas, Jerome F. La Peyre

Faculty Publications

© 2020, Cell Stress Society International. A major problem of storing and shipping eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) from the Northern Gulf of Mexico in summer and early fall is their elevated mortality. A study was therefore conducted to determine whether heat shocking the oysters or conditioning them to aerial exposure prior to harvest could reduce their mortality during cold storage. Increasing the levels of stress proteins in bivalves has been shown to reduce their mortality when exposed to additional stressors. In this study, the levels of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) proteins and cumulative mortality during cold storage, out of …

Postmastectomy Radiotherapy For Left-Sided Breast Cancer Patients: Comparison Of Advanced Techniques, Yibo Xie, Daniel Bourgeois, Beibei Guo, Rui Zhang

Faculty Publications

Postmastectomy radiotherapy (PMRT) has been shown to improve the overall survival for invasive breast cancer patients, and many advanced radiotherapy technologies were adopted for PMRT. The purpose of our study is to compare various advanced PMRT techniques including fixed-beam intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), non-coplanar volumetric modulated arc therapy (NC-VMAT), multiple arc VMAT (MA-VMAT), and tomotherapy (TOMO). Results of standard VMAT and mixed beam therapy that were published by our group previously were also included in the plan comparisons. Treatment plans were produced for nine PMRT patients previously treated in our clinic. The plans were evaluated based on planning target volume (PTV) …

X-Ray Interferometry Without Analyzer For Breast Ct Application: A Simulation Study, Jingzhu Xu, Kyungmin Ham, Joyoni Dey

Faculty Publications

Purpose: We investigate an analyzer-less x-ray interferometer with a spatially modulated phase grating (MPG) that can deliver three modalities (attenuation image, phase image, and scatter images) in breast computed tomography (BCT). The system can provide three x-ray modalities while preserving the dose to the object and can achieve attenuation image sensitivity similar to that of a standard absorption-only BCT. The MPG system works with a source, a source-grating, a single phase grating, and a detector. No analyzer is necessary. Thus, there is an approximately 2x improvement in fluence at the detector for our system compared with the same source-detector distance …

Spatial And Pregnancy-Related Changes In The Protein, Amino Acid, And Carbohydrate Composition Of Bovine Oviduct Fluid, Beatriz Rodríguez-Alonso, Veronica Maillo, Omar Salvador Acuña, Rebeca López-Úbeda, Alejandro Torrecillas, Constantine A. Simintiras, Roger Sturmey, Manuel Avilés, Patrick Lonergan, Dimitrios Rizos

Faculty Publications

Knowledge of how the biochemical composition of the bovine oviduct is altered due to the oviduct anatomy or the presence of an embryo is lacking. Thus, the aim of this study was to assess the effect of (І) oviduct anatomy and (ІІ) embryo presence on oviductal fluid (OF) protein, amino acid, and carbohydrate composition. Cross-bred beef heifers (n = 19) were synchronized and those in standing estrus were randomly allocated to a cyclic (non-bred) or pregnant (artificially inseminated) group. All heifers were slaughtered on Day 3 after estrus. The oviducts ipsilateral to the corpus luteum from each animal were isolated, …

The 21st Century Agriculture: When Rice Research Draws Attention To Climate Variability And How Weedy Rice And Underutilized Grains Come In Handy, Noraikim Mohd Hanafiah, Muhamad Shakirin Mispan, Phaik Eem Lim, Niranjan Baisakh, Acga Cheng

Faculty Publications

Rice, the first crop to be fully sequenced and annotated in the mid-2000s, is an excellent model species for crop research due mainly to its relatively small genome and rich genetic diversity. The 130-million-year-old cereal came into the limelight in the 1960s when the semi-dwarfing gene sd-1, better known as the “green revolution” gene, resulted in the establishment of a high-yielding semi-dwarf variety IR8. Deemed as the miracle rice, IR8 saved millions of lives and revolutionized irrigated rice farming particularly in the tropics. The technology, however, spurred some unintended negative consequences, especially in prompting ubiquitous monoculture systems that increase agricultural …

North Atlantic Hurricane Winds In Warmer Than Normal Seas, Jill C. Trepanier

Faculty Publications

Tropical cyclones devastate coastlines around the world. The United States and surrounding areas experienced catastrophic extreme events in recent hurricane seasons. Understanding extreme hurricanes and how they change in a warming ocean environment is of the utmost importance. This study makes use of the historical, positive relationship between average summer sea surface temperatures (SSTs) and maximum hurricane wind speeds across the North Atlantic Basin from 1854-2018. Geographically weighted regression shows how the relationship between hurricane winds and SSTs varies across space. Each localized slope is used to increase historical wind speeds to represent winds in a three-degree Celsius warmer-than-average sea …

Trend Analysis Of Multiple Extreme Hourly Precipitation Time Series In The Southeastern United States, Vincent M. Brown, Barry D. Keim, Alan W. Black

Faculty Publications

Annual trends in extreme hourly precipitation time series were examined at 50 first-order weather stations across the southeastern United States from 1960 to 2017. Results indicated that the magnitude of annual maximum 1-, 3-, 6-, 12-, and 18-h periods did not broadly change at the sites analyzed; however, the numerical value that defines a (station specific) 90th-percentile hourly accumulation significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased at 36% (18/50) of the stations. No station had a significant decreasing trend in annual 90th-percentile hourly event magnitude. Stations in Texas observed the largest increase in annual 90th-percentile hourly event magnitude, where parameter estimates showed …

Social Adversity, Sleep Characteristics, And Elevated Blood Pressure Among Young Adult Black Females, Jewel Scott Phd, Rn, Fnp-C, Susan Silva, Leigh Ann Simmons

Faculty Publications

Purpose: We examined whether sleep characteristics and adverse social exposures were associated with elevated blood pressure (BP) in young adult black women. Methods: This is a cross-sectional analysis of existing data from 581 black females who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). Adverse social exposures included child abuse, discrimination, perceived stress, social isolation, and subjective social status. Self-reported sleep characteristics were measures of duration, latency, continuity, and snoring. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the influence of social exposures and sleep characteristics on BP. Results: Among the women (mean age=29.1 years), 32.4% had …

Inhibition Deficits Are Modulated By Age And Cgg Repeat Length In Carriers Of The Fmr1 Premutation Allele Who Are Mothers Of Children With Fragile X Syndrome, Jessica Klusek, Jinkuk Hong, Audra Sterling, Elizabeth Berry-Kravis, Marsha R. Mailick

Faculty Publications

Individuals who carry a premutation (PM) allele on the FMR1 gene may experience executive limitations associated with their genetic status, including inhibition deficits. However, poor understanding of individualized risk factors has limited clinical management of this group, particularly in mothers who carry the PM allele who have children with fragile X syndrome (FXS). The present study examined CGG repeat length and age as factors that may account for variable expressivity of inhibition deficits. Participants were 134 carriers of the PM allele who were mothers of children with FXS. Inhibition skills were measured using both self-report and direct behavioral assessments. Increased …

Professionals: Any Room In God’S Ministry?, Andrew C. Von Maur

Faculty Publications

As Christian professionals, the activity of architects is steeped in technicalities. They are expected to work a lot of hours; leaving them no extra time for actual “ministry.” In such an environment, with hardly enough time for family or personal Bible study, can they possibly be missionaries? “Yes, we can,” says a professional in this field.