Digital Commons Network^™

Factors Influencing Physicians’ Continuous Blogging: A Survey, I. Chiu Chang, Kuei Chen Cheng, Hui Mei Hsu, David C. Yen

Faculty Publications

Background: Health information can be more easily transmitted and diffused through the Internet, but questionable online health information often misinforms patients. Physicians have a duty to inform patients how to achieve positive health outcomes. Many physicians often write blogs to provide patients with the right health information. However, most articles available on this sub-ject only describe the blog phenomena without providing a theoretical background and an empirical analysis of doctors using blogs. Methods: This study based on social cognitive theory (SCT) explores the factors influencing physicians’ intention of continuously blogging. A total of 887 physician blog-gers were invited to participate …

Biocontrol Of Wireworms (Coleoptera: Elateridae) Using Entomopathogenic Nematodes: The Impact Of Infected Host Cadaver Application And Soil Characteristics, Ramandeep Kaur Sandhi, David Shapiro-Ilan, Michael Ivie, Gadi V.P. Reddy

Faculty Publications

Wireworms have become a significant menace to cereals in the Northern Great Plains. Therefore, research toward developing effective control methods such as biological control with entomopathogenic nematodes (EPNs) is warranted. Two strains, each of two EPN species, Steinernema carpocapsae (Weiser) and Steinernema riobrave Cabanillas, Poinar, and Raulston in the form of infected Galleria mellonella (L.) cadavers were evaluated against wireworms in field and greenhouse. In field experiments, none of the four EPN strains were found effective against wireworms. However, in the greenhouse test, three of the strains, S. carpocapsae (All and Cxrd) or S. riobrave (355) applied in cadavers killed …

Honeycomb Structures In Magnetic Fields, Becker Simon, Rui Han, Svetlana Jitomirskaya, Maciej Zworski

Faculty Publications

We consider the nearest-neighbour tight binding model of the honeycomb lattice in magnetic fields and discover surprizing new analytical results that fully explain fractal spectra and experimentally observed asymmetries in the density of states of molecular graphene.We describe a fractal Cantor spectrum for irrational magnetic flux through a honeycomb, and establish the existence of zero energy Dirac cones for each rational flux with fully explicit estimates on the cone angle. Our results give a substantially more refined description of subtleties in the de Haas-van Alphen and quantum Hall effects, and provide the first quantitative bounds on transport coefficients for the …

Play, Chat, Date, Learn, And Suffer? Merton’S Law Of Unintended Consequences And Digital Technology Failures, Mark Rosenbaum, Gabby Walters, Karen Edwards J.D., Claudia Gonzalez, Germán Contreras Ramírez

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Age-And Region-Dependent Disposition Of Raloxifene In Rats, Ting Du, Rongjin Sun, Imoh Etim, Zicong Zheng, Dong Liang, Ming Hu, Song Gao

Faculty Publications

Purpose: Raloxifene undergoes extensive glucuronidation in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract and the liver. However, the impact of age on raloxifene disposition has never been studied. The purpose of this paper is to determine glucuronidation and Pharmacokinetics (PK) profiles of raloxifene in rats at different ages. Methods: Raloxifene glucuronidation was characterized using S9 fractions prepared from different intestinal segments and the liver of F344 rats at 4-, 11-, and 28-week. PK studies were conducted to determine raloxifene oral bioavailability at different ages. Raloxifene and its glucuronides were quantified using LC-MS/MS. Results: Raloxifene-6-glucuronide and raloxifene-4′-glucuronide were detected as the major metabolites and …

Beam Formation And Vernier Steering Off Of A Rough Surface, Eric K. Nagamine, Kenneth W. Burgi, Samuel D. Butler

Faculty Publications

Wavefront shaping can refocus light after it reflects from an optically rough surface. One proposed use case of this effect is in indirect imaging; if any rough surface could be turned into an illumination source, objects out of the direct line of sight could be illuminated. In this paper, we demonstrate the superior performance of a genetic algorithm compared to other iterative feedback-based wavefront shaping algorithms in achieving reflective inverse diffusion for a focal plane system. Next, the ability to control the pointing direction of the refocused beam with high precision over a narrow angular range is demonstrated, though the …

Online-Delivered Group And Personal Exercise Programs To Support Low Active Older Adults' Mental Health During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Randomized Controlled Trial, Mark R. Beauchamp, Ryan M. Hulteen, Geralyn R. Ruissen, Yan Liu, Ryan E. Rhodes, Colin M. Wierts, Katrina J. Waldhauser, Samantha H. Harden, Eli Puterman

Faculty Publications

Background: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, experts in mental health science emphasized the importance of developing and evaluating approaches to support and maintain the mental health of older adults.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess whether a group-based exercise program relative to a personal exercise program (both delivered online) and waitlist control (WLC) can improve the psychological health of previously low active older adults during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: The Seniors COVID-19 Pandemic and Exercise (SCOPE) trial was a 3-arm, parallel randomized controlled trial conducted between May and September 2020 in which …

The Impact Of Micro Porous Layer On Liquid Water Evolution Inside Pemfc Using Lattice Boltzmann Method, Mitchell Sepe, P. Satjaritanun, I. V. Zenyuk, N. Tippayawong, Sirivatch Shimpalee

Faculty Publications

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) require a gas diffusion layer to aid in fuel transport to the catalyst sites. A microporous layer (MPL) is often added to the GDL to improve liquid saturation inside gas diffusion media. In this work, the lattice Boltzmann method was applied to four GDL samples with the addition of an MPL. Three injection orientations were used to study liquid evolution through the samples. Each orientation used four different injection pressures, ranging from 5,000 Pa to 8,000 Pa. Saturation data for GDL samples with and without an MPL were compared. Results showed that when adding …

Exploring How Exposure To Truth And State-Sponsored Anti-Tobacco Media Campaigns Affect Smoking Disparities Among Young Adults Using A National Longitudinal Dataset, 2002-2017, David C. Colston, Yanmei Xie, Jim Thrasher Ph.D.,Ma. Ms, Sherry Emery, Megan E. Patrick, Andrea R. Titus, Micheal R. Elliot, Nancy L. Fleischer

Faculty Publications

Background. Little is known regarding long-term impacts of anti-tobacco media campaigns on youth smoking and related disparities in the United States. Methods. We examined longitudinal cohort data from Monitoring the Future (MTF) between 2000 and 2017 in modified Poisson regression models to understand the long-term impacts of televised Truth and state-sponsored ad campaign exposure at baseline (age 18) on first cigarette and daily smoking initiation 1 to 2 years later (at modal ages 19/20). We also used additive interactions to test for potential effect modification between campaign exposure and smoking outcomes by sex, race/ethnicity, and parental educational attainment. Results. We …

Measuring Global Multi-Scale Place Connectivity Using Geotagged Social Media Data, Zhenlong Li, Xiao Huang, Xinyue Ye, Yuqin Jiang, Yago Martin, Huan Ning, Michael E. Hodgson, Xiaoming Li

Faculty Publications

Shaped by human movement, place connectivity is quantified by the strength of spatial interactions among locations. For decades, spatial scientists have researched place connectivity, applications, and metrics. The growing popularity of social media provides a new data stream where spatial social interaction measures are largely devoid of privacy issues, easily assessable, and harmonized. In this study, we introduced a global multi-scale place connectivity index (PCI) based on spatial interactions among places revealed by geotagged tweets as a spatiotemporal-continuous and easy-to-implement measurement. The multi-scale PCI, demonstrated at the US county level, exhibits a strong positive association with SafeGraph population movement records …

Measuring Global Multi-Scale Place Connectivity Using Geotagged Social Media Data, Zhenlong Li, Xiao Huang, Yuqin Jiang, Yago Martin, Huan Ning, Michael E. Hodgson, Xiaoming Li

Faculty Publications

Shaped by human movement, place connectivity is quantified by the strength of spatial interactions among locations. For decades, spatial scientists have researched place connectivity, applications, and metrics. The growing popularity of social media provides a new data stream where spatial social interaction measures are largely devoid of privacy issues, easily assessable, and harmonized. In this study, we introduced a global multi-scale place connectivity index (PCI) based on spatial interactions among places revealed by geotagged tweets as a spatiotemporal-continuous and easy-to-implement measurement. The multi-scale PCI, demonstrated at the US county level, exhibits a strong positive association with SafeGraph population movement records …

Investigation And Statistical Modeling Of The Mechanical Properties Of Additively Manufactured Lattices, Derek G. Spear, Anthony N. Palazotto

Faculty Publications

This paper describes the background, test methodology, and experimental results associated with the testing and analysis of quasi-static compression testing of additively manufactured open-cell lattice structures. The study aims to examine the effect of lattice topology, cell size, cell density, and surface thickness on the mechanical properties of lattice structures. Three lattice designs were chosen, the Diamond, I-WP, and Primitive Triply Periodic Minimal Surfaces (TPMSs). Uniaxial compression tests were conducted for every combination of the three lattice designs, three cell sizes, three cell densities, and three surface thicknesses. In order to perform an efficient experiment and gain the most information …

Medication Adherence Reminder System For Virtual Home Assistants: Mixed Methods Evaluation Study, Cythnia F. Corbett, Elizabeth M. Combs, Peyton S. Chandarana, Isabel Stringfellow, Karen Worthy, Thien Nguyen, Pamela J. Wright Phd, Ms, Med, Rn, Cen, Jason M. O'Kane

Faculty Publications

Background: Medication nonadherence is a global public health challenge that results in suboptimal health outcomes and increases health care costs. Forgetting to take medicines is one of the most common reasons for unintentional medication nonadherence. Research findings indicate that voice-activated virtual home assistants, such as Amazon Echo and Google Home devices, may be useful in promoting medication adherence.

Objective: This study aims to create a medication adherence app (skill), MedBuddy, for Amazon Echo devices and measure the use, usability, and usefulness of this medication-taking reminder skill.

Methods: A single-group, mixed methods, cohort feasibility study was conducted with women who took …

It Takes A Village, Andrea Luxton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Andrographolide Attenuates Gut-Brain-Axis Associated Pathology In Gulf War Illness By Modulating Bacteriome-Virome Associated Inflammation And Microglia-Neuron Proinflammatory Crosstalk, Punnag Saha, Peter T. Skidmore, Larinda A. Holland, Ayan Mondal, Dipro Bose, Ratanesh K. Seth, Kimberly Sullivan, Patricia A. Janulewicz, Ronnie Horner, Nancy Klimas, Mitzi Nagarkatti, Prakash Nagarkatti, Efrem S. Lim, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

Gulf War Illness (GWI) is a chronic multi-symptomatic illness that is associated with fatigue, pain, cognitive deficits, and gastrointestinal disturbances and presents a significant challenge to treat in clinics. Our previous studies show a role of an altered Gut-Brain axis pathology in disease development and symptom persistence in GWI. The present study utilizes a mouse model of GWI to study the role of a labdane diterpenoid andrographolide (AG) to attenuate the Gut-Brain axis-linked pathology. Results showed that AG treatment in mice (100 mg/kg) via oral gavage restored bacteriome alterations, significantly increased probiotic bacteria , , and , the genera that …

Nanoparticles For Targeted Drug Delivery To Cancer Stem Cells: A Review Of Recent Advances, Yavuz Nuri Ertas, Keyvan Abedi Dorcheh, Ali Akbari, Esmaiel Jabbari

Faculty Publications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of cells that can initiate, self-renew, and sustain tumor growth. CSCs are responsible for tumor metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance in cancer therapy. CSCs reside within a niche maintained by multiple unique factors in the microenvironment. These factors include hypoxia, excessive levels of angiogenesis, a change of mitochondrial activity from aerobic aspiration to aerobic glycolysis, an upregulated expression of CSC biomarkers and stem cell signaling, and an elevated synthesis of the cytochromes P450 family of enzymes responsible for drug clearance. Antibodies and ligands targeting the unique factors that maintain the niche are utilized …

High-Throughput Computation Of New Carbon Allotropes With Diverse Hybridization And Ultrahigh Hardness, Mohammed Al-Fahdi, Alejandro Rodriguez, Tao Ouyang, Ming Hu

Faculty Publications

The discovery of new carbon allotropes with different building blocks and crystal symmetries has long been of great interest to broad materials science fields. Herein, we report several hundred new carbon allotropes predicted by the state-of-the-art RG² code and first-principles calculations. The types of new carbon allotropes that were identified in this work span pure sp² , hybrid sp²/sp³ , and pure sp³ C–C bonding. All structures were globally optimized at the first-principles level. The thermodynamic stability of some selected carbon allotropes was further validated by computing their phonon dispersions. The predicted carbon allotropes …

Nanoparticles For Targeted Drug Delivery To Cancer Stem Cells: A Review Of Recent Advances, Yavuz Nuri Ertas, Keyvan Abedu Dorcheh, Ali Akbari, Esmaiel Jabbari

Faculty Publications

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subpopulation of cells that can initiate, self-renew, and sustain tumor growth. CSCs are responsible for tumor metastasis, recurrence, and drug resistance in cancer therapy. CSCs reside within a niche maintained by multiple unique factors in the microenvironment. These factors include hypoxia, excessive levels of angiogenesis, a change of mitochondrial activity from aerobic aspiration to aerobic glycolysis, an upregulated expression of CSC biomarkers and stem cell signaling, and an elevated synthesis of the cytochromes P450 family of enzymes responsible for drug clearance. Antibodies and ligands targeting the unique factors that maintain the niche are utilized …

Classical And Neural Network Machine Learning To Determine The Risk Of Marijuana Use, Laura Zoboroski, Torrey J. Wagner, Brent T. Langhals

Faculty Publications

Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug for military personnel tested at the Air Force Drug Testing Laboratory. A publicly available dataset of drug use, personality trait scores and demographic data was modeled with logistic regression, decision tree and neural network models to determine the extent to which marijuana use can be predicted using personality traits. While the logistic regression model had lower performance than the neural network model, it matched the sensitivity of prior work (0.80), achieved a high level of significance (p < 0.05) and yielded valuable inferences. It implied that younger, less educated individuals who exhibit sensation-seeking behavior and are open to experience tend to be at higher risk for THC use. A method for performing an iterative multidimensional neural network hyperparameter search is presented, and two iterations of a 6-dimensional search were performed. Metrics were used to select a family of 8 promising models from a cohort of 4600 models, and the best NN model’s 0.87 sensitivity improved upon the literature. The model met an f1 overfitting threshold on the test and holdout datasets, and an accuracy sensitivity analysis on a holdout-equivalent dataset yielded a 95% CI of 0.86 ± 0.04. These results have the potential to increase the efficacy of drug prevention and intervention programs.

Physical Activity Among Adults Residing In 11 Countries During The Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown, Kele Ding, Jingzhen Yang, Ming-Kai Chin, Lindsay Sullivan, J. Larry Durstine, Verónica Violant-Holz, Giyasettin Demirhan, Nara R.C. Oliveira, Biljana Popeska, Garry Kuan, Waheeda Khan, Jianhui Dai, Xia Xu, Zornitza Mladenova, Govindasamy Balasekaran, Gary A. Smith, Global Community Health-Covid-19 Collaborative Research Team

Faculty Publications

During the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, physical activity (PA) behaviors were altered worldwide due to public health measures such as “lockdown.” This study described PA among adults residing in 11 countries during COVID-19 lockdown and examined factors associated with PA engagement. We conducted a cross-sectional anonymous survey among adults (≥18 years old) in 11 countries (Brazil, Bulgaria, China, India, Ireland, Malaysia, North Macedonia, Singapore, Spain, Turkey, United States). Of 11,775 participants, 63.7% were female and 52.8% were 18–34 years old. More than 40% of participants were insufficiently active (43.9%) and reported a decrease in their PA during lockdown (44.8%). Statistically …

Perspective: The Importance Of Water Security For Ensuring Food Security, Good Nutrition, And Well-Being, Sera L. Young, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Zeina Jamaluddine, Hugo Melgar-Quiñonez, Rafael Pérez-Escamilla, Claudia Ringler, Asher Y. Rosinger

Faculty Publications

Water security is a powerful concept that is still in its early days in the field of nutrition. Given the prevalence and severity of water issues and the many interconnections between water and nutrition, we argue that water security deserves attention commensurate with its importance to human nutrition and health. To this end, we first give a brief introduction to water insecurity and discuss its conceptualization in terms of availability, access, use, and stability. We then lay out the empirical grounding for its assessment. Parallels to the food-security literature are drawn throughout, both because the concepts are analogous and food …

Investigating Developmental Changes In Scalp-To-Cortex Correspondence Using Diffuse Optical Tomography Sensitivity In Infancy, Xiaoxue Fu, John E. Richards

Faculty Publications

Significance: Diffuse optical tomography (DOT) uses near-infrared light spectroscopy (NIRS) to measure changes in cerebral hemoglobin concentration. Anatomical interpretations of NIRS data require accurate descriptions of the cranio-cerebral relations and DOT sensitivity to the underlying cortical structures. Such information is limited for pediatric populations because they undergo rapid head and brain development.

Aim: We aim to investigate age-related differences in scalp-to-cortex distance and mapping between scalp locations and cortical regions of interest (ROIs) among infants (2 weeks to 24 months with narrow age bins), children (4 and 12 years), and adults (20 to 24 years).

Approach: We …

A Qualitative Study Of Stress And Coping To Inform The Leads Health Promotion Trial For African American Adolescents With Overweight And Obesity, Mary Quattlebaum, Colby Kipp, Dawn Wilson-King, Allison Sweeney Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to conduct in-depth individual interviews with 30 African American adolescents with overweight and obesity and their families (caregiver/adolescent dyads) to gain a better understanding of how to integrate stress and coping essential elements into an existing family-based health promotion program for weight loss. Interview data from 30 African American adolescents with overweight and obesity (Mage = 15.30 ± 2.18; MBMI%-ile = 96.7 ± 3.90) were transcribed and coded for themes using inductive and deductive approaches by two independent coders. Inter-rater reliability was acceptable (r = 0.70–0.80) and discrepancies were resolved to 100% agreement. The …

The Young Age And Plant-Based Diet Hypothesis For Low Sars-Cov-2 Infection And Covid-19 Pandemic In Sub-Saharan Africa, J N. Losso, M N. Losso, M Toc, J N. Inungu, J N. Losso

Faculty Publications

Since the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that caused the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), in December 2019, the infection has spread around the globe. Some of the risk factors include social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing with soap, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, asthma, cardiovascular disease, and dysbiosis. Evidence has shown the incidence of total infection and death rates to be lower in sub-Saharan Africa when compared with North Africa, Europe and North America and many other parts of the world. The higher the metabolic syndrome rate, the higher the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Africa has a lower …

The Mexico Simsmoke Tobacco Control Policy Model: Development Of A Simulation Model Of Daily And Nondaily Cigarette Smoking, Luz Maria Sanchez-Romero, Luis Zavala-Arciniega, Luz Myriam Reynales-Shigematsu, Belén Sáenz De Miera-Juárez, Zhe Yuan, Yameng Li, Yan Kwan Lau, Nancy L. Fleischer, Rafael Meza, Jim F. Thrasher Ph.D., Ma, Ms, David T. Levy

Faculty Publications

Background

Nondaily smoking has been on the rise, especially in Mexico. While Mexico has strengthened its tobacco control policies, their effects on nondaily smokers have gone largely unexamined. We developed a simulation model to estimate the impact of tobacco control policies on daily and nondaily smoking in Mexico.

Methods

A previously validated Mexico SimSmoke model that estimated overall trends in smoking prevalence from 2002 through 2013 was extended to 2018 and adapted to distinguish daily and nondaily smoking prevalence. The model was then validated using data from Mexican surveys through 2016. To gauge the potential effects of policies, we compared …

The Seasonal Flux And Fate Of Dissolved Organic Carbon Through Bacterioplankton In The Western North Atlantic, Nicholas Baetge, Michael J. Behrenfeld, James Fox, Kimberly H. Halsey, Kristina D.A. Mojica, Anai Novoa, Brandon M. Stephens, Craig A. Carlson

Faculty Publications

The oceans teem with heterotrophic bacterioplankton that play an appreciable role in the uptake of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) derived from phytoplankton net primary production (NPP). As such, bacterioplankton carbon demand (BCD), or gross heterotrophic production, represents a major carbon pathway that influences the seasonal accumulation of DOC in the surface ocean and, subsequently, the potential vertical or horizontal export of seasonally accumulated DOC. Here, we examine the contributions of bacterioplankton and DOM to ecological and biogeochemical carbon flow pathways, including those of the microbial loop and the biological carbon pump, in the Western North Atlantic Ocean (∼39–54°N along ∼40°W) …

Fabrication And Characterization Of Non-Equilibrium Plasma-Treated Pvdf Nanofiber Membrane-Based Sensors, Quazi Nahida Sultana, Mujibur Khan, Rajib Mahamud, Mohammadsadegh Saadatzi, Papia Sultana, Tanvir Farouk, Rafael Quirino, Sourav Banerjee

Faculty Publications

The effect of a self-pulsing non-equilibrium plasma discharge on piezoelectric PVDF nanofiber membrane was investigated. The plasma discharge was generated in air with a DC power source, with a discharge current of 0.012 mA, a nominal interelectrode separation of 1 mm, and discharge voltage of ~970 V. In a continuous fabrication process, the electrospinning method was used to generate thin nanofiber membrane with a flow rate of 0.7–1 mL h−1 and 25–27 kV voltage to obtain the nanofiber with high sensitivity and a higher degree of alignment and uniformity over a larger area. Plasma treatment was applied on both single …

Elite Cues And The Rapid Decline Of Trust In Science Agencies On Covid-19, Lawrence C. Hamilton, Thomas G. Safford

Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has been marked by political divisions in US public trust of scientists. Such divisions are well known on other science topics, but regarding COVID-19 they arose suddenly, with disastrous results. Public distrust of scientists has been variously explained in terms of conflicts with belief systems, psychology, peer influences, or communication from elites. Three surveys conducted from March to July 2020 in the US state of New Hampshire observed changing perceptions on COVID-19, providing a test of alternative explanations. Over this period trust in science agencies such as the CDC for information on the coronavirus fell dramatically among …

St-V-Net: Incorporating Shape Prior Into Convolutional Neural Netwoks For Proximal Femur Segmentation, Chen Zhao, Joyce H. Keyak, Jinshan Tang, Tadashi S. Kaneko, Sundeep Khosla, Shreyasee Amin, Elizabeth J. Atkinson, Lan-Juan Zhao, Michael J. Serou, Chaoyang Zhang, Hui Shen, Hong-Wen Deng, Weihua Zhou

Faculty Publications

We aim to develop a deep-learning-based method for automatic proximal femur segmentation in quantitative computed tomography (QCT) images. We proposed a spatial transformation V-Net (ST-V-Net), which contains a V-Net and a spatial transform network (STN) to extract the proximal femur from QCT images. The STN incorporates a shape prior into the segmentation network as a constraint and guidance for model training, which improves model performance and accelerates model convergence. Meanwhile, a multi-stage training strategy is adopted to fine-tune the weights of the ST-V-Net. We performed experiments using a QCT dataset which included 397 QCT subjects. During the experiments for the …

A Monte Carlo Simulation Of A Protein (Cove) In A Matrix Of Random Barriers, R. B. Pandey

Faculty Publications

Monte Carlo simulations are performed to study structure and dynamics of a protein CoVE in random media generated by a random distribution of barriers at concentration c with a coarse-grained model in its native (low temperature) and denatured (high temperature) phase. The stochastic dynamics of the protein is diffusive in denature phase at low c, it slows down on increasing c and stops moving beyond a threshold (c_th ≈ 0.10). In native phase, the protein moves extremely slow at low c but speeds up on further increasing c in a characteristic range (c =0.10–0.20) before …