Digital Commons Network^™

The Clash Of Rights: Explaining Attitudes Toward A Religious Exemption To The Hhs Contraception Mandate, Kate Garand Holmes, James C. Garand

Faculty Publications

In recent years, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) contraception mandate associated with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a contentious issue that has created clash-of-rights claims between advocates of reproductive freedom and advocates of religious freedom. Americans differ considerably in their views toward whether religiously affiliated institutions that object to the use of contraceptives should be granted an exemption to the HHS contraception mandate. This article explores the determinants of Americans' support for or opposition to the religious exemption. We focus particularly on the effects of individuals' religious orientations, gender, and political attitudes …

Race-Ethnicity, Union Status, And Change In Body Mass Index In Young Adulthood, Rhiannon A. Kroeger, Reanne Frank

Faculty Publications

This study used data from three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health and fixed effects regression to consider whether associations between change in union status and change in body mass index (BMI) were moderated by race-ethnicity. The results indicated that intimate unions were differentially associated with gains in BMI along racial-ethnic lines, especially for women. When compared with White women, marriage was associated with larger increases in BMI for Black, Hispanic, and Multiracial women, and cohabitation was associated with larger increases for Black and Hispanic women. In contrast, marriage and cohabitation were associated with less …

Coupled Effects Of Oil Spill And Hurricane On Saltmarsh Terrestrial Arthropods, Wokil Bam, Linda M. Hooper-Bui, Rachel M. Strecker, Puspa L. Adhikari, Edward B. Overton

Faculty Publications

Terrestrial arthropods play an important role in saltmarsh ecosystems, mainly affecting the saltmarsh’s primary production as the main consumers of terrestrial primary production and decomposition. Some of these arthropods, including selected insects and spiders, can be used as ecological indicators of overall marsh environmental health, as they are differentially sensitive to ecological stressors, such as land loss, erosion, oil spills, and tropical storms. In the present study, we used terrestrial arthropods collected from seven (three lightly-oiled, four heavily-oiled) sites in Barataria Bay and from three unoiled reference sites in Delacroix, Louisiana, to determine the impacts of the distribution and re-distribution …

Emerging Roles For The Nucleolus 2017, Susan J. Baserga, Patrick J. Dimario

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Parenting In The Context Of Deportation Risk, Jodi Berger Cardoso, Jennifer L. Scott, Monica Faulkner, Liza Barros Lane

Faculty Publications

Nearly 5.1 million children younger than age 18 live with at least one undocumented parent, about 7% of the U.S. child population. Between 2010 and 2013, an estimated 300,000 parents of U.S. citizen children were deported. Raising children in the context of deportation risk increases overall parenting stress for undocumented Latino parents. To investigate this and understand the experience of undocumented parenting, the authors interviewed 70 undocumented parents in two Southwest cities from 2012 to 2013. The authors frame their analysis using the lens of the problem of “illegality.” There are three domains of stressors associated with parenting in the …

The Surveillance Gap: The Harms Of Extreme Privacy And Data Marginalization, Michele Gilman, Rebecca Green

Faculty Publications

We live in an age of unprecedented surveillance, enhanced by modern technology, prompting some to suggest that privacy is dead. Previous scholarship suggests that no subset of the population feels this phenomenon more than marginalized communities. Those who rely on public benefits, for example, must turn over personal information and submit to government surveillance far more routinely than wealthier citizens who enjoy greater opportunity to protect their privacy and the ready funds to secure it. This article illuminates the other end of the spectrum, arguing that many individuals who may value government and nonprofit services and legal protections fail to …

Ict Women Professionals' Perceptions Of Workplace Ethical Problems: A Quantitative Survey, Yeslam Al-Saggaf, Kim M. Thompson

Faculty Publications

Which ethical problems are most frequently experienced by ICT women professionals? Which ethical problems experienced by ICT women professionals are of most concern to them as individuals? A quantitative survey of 2,315 Australian ICT professionals of whom 15.4 percent were females revealed that the top 15 most frequently faced ethical problems that the females identified were nearly identical to those identified by males. Of these 15 problems, five were judged to affect females personally. These are overworking staff, blaming others for own mistakes, bullying, unprofessional behavior, and discrimination. Of these five problems, gender only predicted three problems that affect females …

Head Impact Exposure In Junior And Adult Australian Football Players, Mark Hecimovich, Doug King, Alasdair Dempsey, Myles Murphy

Faculty Publications

This study measured and compared the frequency, magnitude, and distribution of head impacts sustained by junior and adultAustralian football players, respectively, and between player positions over a season of games. Twelve junior and twelve adultplayers were tracked using a skin-mounted impact sensor. Head impact exposure, including frequency, magnitude, and location ofimpacts, was quantified using previously established methods. Over the collection period, there were no significant differences inthe impact frequency between junior and adult players. However, there was a significant increase in the frequency of head impactsfor midfielders in both grades once we accounted for player position. A comparable amount of …

Home Literacy Of Dual-Language Learners In Kindergarten From Low-Ses Backgrounds, Carla Wood, Lisa Fitton, Estrella Rodriguez

Faculty Publications

This study aimed to describe home literacy (HL) activities of Spanish-/English-speaking children of low–socioeconomic status backgrounds and examine the relationship between HL and performance on standardized assessments. Parents of 65 dual-language learners (DLLs) in kindergarten completed an HL questionnaire. Parents reported an average of 17 books at home and engaged in active HL activities for 24 minutes a day on average. The relations between HL activities and performance were evaluated using correlations and regression. Analyses revealed a significant relation between HL and children’s language abilities, as measured by a bilingual measure of morphosyntax and semantics. Children’s reported interest in reading …

Full Statistical Mediation Of The Relationship Between Trauma And Depressive Symptoms, Patricia J. Place, Shichun Ling, Lawrence Patihis

Faculty Publications

Owing to the potentially devastating effects of trauma‐induced depression, explaining the relationship between trauma and depressive symptoms is important. In this study, we measured lifelong exposure to potentially traumatic events and depressive symptoms in 370‐female undergraduates. We also measured anxiety, past negative time perspective and dissociation as potential mediators. Trauma exposure and depressive symptoms were related with a small but significant effect size (r = .16). Trauma was not associated with dissociation. We found that past negative time perspective and anxiety were full statistical mediators of this trauma‐depressive symptoms relationship. These two mediators combined accounted for all of the …

Differences In The Electrophysiological Properties Of Mouse Somatosensory Layer 2/3 Neurons In Vivo And Slice Stem From Intrinsic Sources Rather Than A Network-Generated High Conductance State, Fernando R. Fernandez, Bahar Rahsepar, John A. White

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Long-Term Societal Impacts Of Conditional Cash Transfers: Bolsa Família A Decade In, Brian Warby

Faculty Publications

Conditional Cash Transfers (CCTs) are innovative poverty intervention programs that have been adapted and adopted in dozens of countries around the world. The effectiveness of the programs in the short-term have been established by a number of studies, but they have only recently been around long enough to begin to observe whether they indeed disrupt the inter-generational poverty cycle as claimed. The expected long-term effects are central to the appeal of CCT programs. This empirical study examines the data to determine whether there is evidence that the long-term effects are as apparent as the short-term effects in one of the …

Reducing High-Users’ Visits To The Emergency Department By A Primary Care Intervention For The Uninsured: A Retrospective Study, Meng-Han Tsai, Sudha Xirasagar Mbbs., Ph.D., Scott Carroll, Charles S. Bryan, Pamela J. Gallagher, Kim Davis, Edward C. Jauch

Faculty Publications

Reducing avoidable emergency department (ED) visits is an important health system goal. This is a retrospective cohort study of the impact of a primary care intervention including an in-hospital, free, adult clinic for poor uninsured patients on ED visit rates and emergency severity at a nonprofit hospital. We studied adult ED visits during August 16, 2009-August 15, 2011 (preintervention) and August 16, 2011-August 15, 2014 (postintervention). We compared pre- versus postmean annual visit rates and discharge emergency severity index (ESI; triage and resource use–based, calculated Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality categories) among high-users (≥3 ED visits in 12 months) …

Group Size In Physical Education: A Teachers' Perspective, David C. Barney, Robert Christenson Dr.

Faculty Publications

The physical education context is fun, yet challenging. There is the potential to offer a multitude of activities and games for students. Thus, PE teachers should put the students in the best position to learn the content. One method PE teachers can use is putting students in small-sided groups during game and activities. The purpose of this study was to investigate K-12 physical education teachers’ perceptions of small-sided games/activities in their PE lessons. For this study 31 K-12 physical educators from five states participated in the study. The PE teachers were emailed a survey for them to fill out. The …

A Plant-Produced Vaccine Protects Mice Against Lethal West Nile Virus Infection Without Enhancing Zika Or Dengue Virus Infectivity, Huafang Lai, Amber M. Paul, Haiyan Sun, Junyun He, Ming Yang, Fengwei Bai

Faculty Publications

West Nile virus (WNV) has caused multiple global outbreaks with increased frequency of neuroinvasive disease in recent years. Despite many years of research, there are no licensed therapeutics or vaccines available for human use. One of the major impediments of vaccine development against WNV is the potential enhancement of infection by related flaviviruses in vaccinated subjects through the mechanism of antibody-dependent enhancement of infection (ADE). For instance, the recent finding of enhancement of Zika virus (ZIKV) infection by pre-exposure to WNV further complicates the development of WNV vaccines. Epidemics of WNV and the potential risk of ADE by current vaccine …

Physical Activity Environment And Japanese Adults’ Body Mass Index, Mohammad Javad Koohsari, Andrew T. Kaczynski, Tomoya Hanibuchi, Ai Shibata, Kaori Ishii, Akitomo Yasunaga, Tomoki Nakaya, Koichiro Oka

Faculty Publications

Evidence about the impacts of the physical activity environment on adults’ weight in the context of Asian countries is scarce. Likewise, no study exists in Asia examining whether Walk Score^®—a free online walkability tool—is related to obesity. This study aimed to examine associations between multiple physical activity environment measures and Walk Score^® ratings with Japanese adults’ body mass index (BMI). Data from 1073 adults in the Healthy Built Environment in Japan study were used. In 2011, participants reported their height and weight. Environmental attributes, including population density, intersection density, density of physical activity facilities, access to public …

Channel‐Island Connectivity Affects Water Exposure Time Distributions In A Coastal River Delta, Matthew Hiatt, Edward Castañeda‐Moya, Robert Twilley, Ben R. Hodges, Paola Passalacqua

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Gone With The Wind: The Evolving Influence Of Social Movements And Counter Movements On Entrepreneurial Activity In The U.S. Wind Industry, W. Chad Carlos, Wesley D. Sine, Brandon H. Lee, Heather A. Haveman

Faculty Publications

Social movements can disrupt existing industries and inspire the emergence of new markets by drawing attention to problems with the status quo and promoting alternatives. We examine how the influence of social movements on entrepreneurial activity evolves as the markets they foster mature. Theoretically, we argue that the success of social movements in furthering market expansion leads to three related outcomes. First, the movement-encouraged development of market infrastructure reduces the need for continued social movement support. Second, social movements’ efforts on behalf of new markets increase the importance of resource availability for market entry. Third, market growth motivates countermovements that …

Long-Term Irrigation Affects The Dynamics And Activity Of The Wheat Rhizosphere Microbiome, Dmitri V. Mavrodi, Olga Mavrodi, Liam D.H. Elbourne, Sasha Tetu, Robert F. Bonsall, James Parejko, Mingming Yang, Ian T. Paulsen, David M. Weller, Linda S. Thomashow

Faculty Publications

The Inland Pacific Northwest (IPNW) encompasses 1. 6 million cropland hectares and is a major wheat-producing area in the western United States. The climate throughout the region is semi-arid, making the availability of water a significant challenge for IPNW agriculture. Much attention has been given to uncovering the effects of water stress on the physiology of wheat and the dynamics of its soilborne diseases. In contrast, the impact of soil moisture on the establishment and activity of microbial communities in the rhizosphere of dryland wheat remains poorly understood. We addressed this gap by conducting a three-year field study involving wheat …

Dietary Inflammatory Index And Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus In Adults: The Diabetes Mellitus Survey Of Mexico City, Edgar Denova-Gutiérrez, Paloma Muñoz-Aguirre, Nitin Shivappa, James R. Hébert, Lizbeth Tolentino-Mayo, Carolina Batis, Simón Barquera

Faculty Publications

Diet and inflammation are both associated with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In the present study, we aimed to assess the relation between the dietary inflammatory index (DII) and the presence of T2DM in Mexican adults participating in the Diabetes Mellitus Survey administered in Mexico City (DMS-MC). The study involved 1174 subjects (48.5% men) between 20–69 years of age. A validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire was employed to evaluate dietary intake and to compute DII. The DII is based on scientific evidence about the association between dietary compounds and six established inflammatory biomarkers. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to …

The Aspergillus Flavus Spermidine Synthase (Spds) Gene, Is Required For Normal Development, Aflatoxin Production, And Pathogenesis During Infection Of Maize Kernels., Rajtilak Majumdar, Matthew D. Lebar, Brian M. Mack, Rakesh Minocha, Subhash C. Minocha, Carol H. Carter-Wientjes, Christine M. Sickler, Kanniah Rajasekaran, Jeffrey W. Cary

Faculty Publications

Aspergillus flavus is a soil-borne saprophyte and an opportunistic pathogen of both humans and plants. This fungus not only causes disease in important food and feed crops such as maize, peanut, cottonseed, and tree nuts but also produces the toxic and carcinogenic secondary metabolites (SMs) known as aflatoxins. Polyamines (PAs) are ubiquitous polycations that influence normal growth, development, and stress responses in living organisms and have been shown to play a significant role in fungal pathogenesis. Biosynthesis of spermidine (Spd) is critical for cell growth as it is required for hypusination-mediated activation of eukaryotic translation initiation factor 5A (eIF5A), and …

Antenatal Care Satisfaction In A Developing Country: A Cross-Sectional Study From Nigeria, Dumbiri J. Onyeajam, Sudha Xirasagar Mbbs., Ph.D., Mahmud M. Khan, James W. Hardin, Oluwole Odutolu

Faculty Publications

Background

Utilization of Antenatal Care (ANC) is very low in Nigeria. Self-reported patient satisfaction may be useful to identify provider- and facility-specific factors that can be improved to increase ANC satisfaction and utilization.

Methods

Exit interview data collected from ANC users and facility assessment survey data from 534 systematically selected facilities in four northern Nigerian states were used. Associations between patient satisfaction (satisfied, not-satisfied) and patient ratings of the provider’s interactions, care processes, out-of-pocket costs, and quality of facility infrastructure were studied.

Results

Of 1336 mothers, 90% were satisfied with ANC. Patient satisfaction was positively associated with responsive service (prompt, …

Antenatal Care Satisfaction In A Developing Country: A Study From Nigeria, Dumbiri J. Onyeajam, Sudha Xirasagar, Mahmud M. Khan, James W. Hardin, Oluwole Odutolu

Faculty Publications

Background: Utilization of Antenatal Care (ANC) is very low in Nigeria. Self-reported patient satisfaction may be useful to identify provider- and facility-specific factors that can be improved to increase ANC satisfaction and utilization.

Methods: Exit interview data collected from ANC users and facility assessment survey data from 534 systematically selected facilities in four northern Nigerian states were used. Associations between patient satisfaction (satisfied, not-satisfied) and patient ratings of the provider’s interactions, care processes, out-of-pocket costs, and quality of facility infrastructure were studied.

Results: Of 1336 mothers, 90% were satisfied with ANC. Patient satisfaction was positively associated with responsive service (prompt, …

Analysis Of Lineage-Specific Alu Subfamilies In The Genome Of The Olive Baboon, Papio Anubis, Cody J. Steely, Jasmine N. Baker, Jerilyn A. Walker, Charles D. Loupe, Mark A. Batzer, Jeffrey Rogers, R. Alan Harris, Muthuswamy Raveendran, Yue Liu, Shwetha Murali, Tauras P. Vilgalys, Jerilyn A. Walker, Miriam K. Konkel, Vallmer E. Jordan

Faculty Publications

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: Alu elements are primate-specific retroposons that mobilize using the enzymatic machinery of L1 s. The recently completed baboon genome project found that the mobilization rate of Alu elements is higher than in the genome of any other primate studied thus far. However, the Alu subfamily structure present in and specific to baboons had not been examined yet. Results: Here we report 129 Alu subfamilies that are propagating in the genome of the olive baboon, with 127 of these subfamilies being new and specific to the baboon lineage. We analyzed 233 Alu insertions in the genome …

Descriptive Density Models Of Scyphozoan Jellyfish In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Katrina T. Aleksa, Redwood W. Nero, Jerry D. Wiggert, William M. Graham

Faculty Publications

Jellyfish play an important role in the food web of many coastal environments but are generally considered a nuisance to scientific fieldwork and industrial and economic trades. A better understanding of how jellyfish densities and distributions are affected by environmental parameters could elucidate population trends and provide assistance in ecological research and undesirable human interactions. In this study, abundance data for scyphozoan medusae, Chrysaora sp. and Aurelia spp., were extracted from Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program trawling surveys for the northern Gulf of Mexico (nGoM) during the summer and fall months. Both in situ and satellite oceanographic measurements were …

Exploring Screen Time Habits And The Life Empowerment Divide At An Hbcu, Kim Smith, Tobin Walton, Alvin Keyes

Faculty Publications

College students at a historically black university used their social media accounts to recruit 1,232 of their peers to take an online survey that explored digital screen time and social media habits at this HBCU. The study revealed that 51% devoted daily screen time to academic empowerment, 31% devoted it to leisure, and 11% devoted it to life empowerment. Sixty-six percent said they spent too much screen time on leisure and not enough on life empowerment, i.e., using resources in the digital world to improve their lives. The paper explored the divide, its implications, and how to narrow it.

Andale Pittsburgh: Results Of A Promotoraled, Home-Based Intervention To Promote A Healthy Weight In Latino Preschool Children, Sharon E. Taverno Ross, Bethany Barone Gibbs, Patricia I. Documet, Russell R. Pate

Faculty Publications

Background: Latino preschool children have higher rates of obesity than preschool children from other racial/ ethnic groups; however, few effective, culturally appropriate interventions exist targeting this group. The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of a 10-week, promotora-mediated, home-based intervention to promote a healthy weight in Latino preschool children.

Methods: Trained promotoras (community health workers) delivered 10, 90-min weekly interactive and tailored sessions to Latino families living in Allegheny County. Participants were recruited through promotoras’ own social networks and community gatherings, flyers, and word of mouth. Primary outcome measures included child body mass index (BMI) z-score and …

Cdk1-Dependent Phosphoinhibition Of A Formin-F-Bar Interaction Opposes Cytokinetic Contractile Ring Formation, Alaina H. Willet, K. Adam Bohnert, Kathleen L. Gould

Faculty Publications

© 2018 Willet et al. In Schizosaccharomyces pombe, cytokinesis requires the assembly and constriction of an actomyosin-based contractile ring (CR). A single essential formin, Cdc12, localizes to the cell middle upon mitotic onset and nucleates the F-actin of the CR. Cdc12 medial recruitment is mediated in part by its direct binding to the F-BAR scaffold Cdc15. Given that Cdc12 is hyperphosphorylated in M phase, we explored whether Cdc12 phosphoregulation impacts its association with Cdc15 during mitosis. We found that Cdk1, a major mitotic kinase, phosphorylates Cdc12 on six N-terminal residues near the Cdc15-binding site, and phosphorylation on these sites inhibits …

Breastfeeding And The Role Of Maternal Religion: Results From A National Prospective Cohort Study, Samuel Stroope, Heather M. Rackin, Jessica L. Stroope, Jeremy E. Uecker

Faculty Publications

Background Recent research on religion and breastfeeding from a low-income, urban sample in the USA found that religious affiliation and religious attendance were associated with breastfeeding initiation. Purpose We assessed the relationship between religion (religious affiliation and religious attendance) and breastfeeding (initiation and duration) in a nationally representative prospective cohort study. We examined whether education and other sociodemographic characteristics mediated or moderated relationships. Methods Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (n = 3,719), we regressed breastfeeding initiation and breastfeeding duration for first births on religious affiliation and religious attendance, comparing conservative Protestants with other religious groups. …

Modeling Of First-Order Photobleaching Kinetics Using Krylov Subspace Spectral Methods, Somayyeh Sheikholeslami, James V. Lambers

Faculty Publications

We solve the first order 2-D reaction–diffusion equations which describe binding-diffusion kinetics using the photobleaching scanning profile of a confocal laser scanning microscope, approximated by a Gaussian laser profile. We show how to solve the first-order photobleaching kinetics partial differential equations (PDEs) using a time-stepping method known as a Krylov subspace spectral (KSS) method. KSS methods are explicit methods for solving time-dependent variable-coefficient partial differential equations. They approximate Fourier coefficients of the solution using Gaussian quadrature rules in the spectral domain. In this paper, we show how a KSS method can be used to obtain not only an approximate numerical …