Digital Commons Network^™

The Mbeya Antimicrobial Stewardship Team: Implementing Antimicrobial Stewardship At A Zonal-Level Hospital In Southern Tanzania, Jeffrey W. Hall, Jeannette Bouchard, P Brandon Bookstaver, Matthew S. Haldeman, Peter Kishimbo, Godlove Mbwanji, Issakwisa Mwakyula, Davance Mwasomola, Megan Seddon, Mark Shaffer, Stephanie C. Shealy, Anthony Nsojo

Faculty Publications

In 2017, Mbeya Zonal Referral Hospital (MZRH) and the University of South Carolina (UofSC) agreed to collaboratively strengthen antimicrobial prescribing in the southern highlands of Tanzania and train a new generation of clinicians in responsible antimicrobial use. Key stakeholders and participants were identified and the Mbeya Antimicrobial Stewardship Team (MAST) was created. The team identified assets brought by the collaborators, and four investigations of baseline needs were developed. These investigations included (a) a baseline clinician survey regarding antimicrobial resistance and stewardship, (b) a serial chart review of inpatient antimicrobial prescribing practices, (c) an investigation of antimicrobial resistance rates using existing …

A Linear-Space Data Structure For Range-Lcp Queries In Poly-Logarithmic Time, Paniz Abedin, Arnab Ganguly, Wing Kai Hon, Kotaro Matsuda, Yakov Nekrich, Kunihiko Sadakane, Rahul Shah, Sharma V. Thankachan

Faculty Publications

Let T[1,n] be a text of length n and T[i,n] be the suffix starting at position i. Also, for any two strings X and Y, let LCP(X,Y) denote their longest common prefix. The range-LCP of T w.r.t. a range [α,β], where 1≤α0 is an arbitrarily small constant. Later, Patil et al. [5] proposed another linear space structure with an improved query time of O(δlogϵ⁡δ). This poses an interesting question, whether it is possible to answer rlcp(⋅,⋅) queries in poly-logarithmic time using a linear space data structure. In this paper, we settle this question by presenting an O(n) space data structure …

Long Lived Second Mode Internal Solitary Waves In The Andaman Sea, J.M. Magalhaes, J.C.B. Da Silva, Maarten C. Buijsman

Faculty Publications

Internal waves are density oscillations propagating along the ocean’s inner stratification, which are now acknowledged as a key constituent of the ocean’s dynamics. They usually result from barotropic tides, which flow over bottom topography, causing density oscillations to propagate along the pycnocline with a tidal frequency (i.e. internal tides). These large-scale waves propagate away from their forcing bathymetry and frequently disintegrate into nonlinear short-scale (higher-frequency) internal wave packets. Typically, short-scale internal wave observations in the ocean are associated with vertical structures (in the water column) of the lowest fundamental mode. Higher vertical modes have recently been documented as well, but …

Transcriptomic Analysis Of Extracellular Rna Governed By The Endocytic Adaptor Protein Cin1 Of Cryptococcus Deneoformans, Muxing Liu, Zhengguang Zhang, Chen Ding, Tuo Wang, Ben Kelly, Ping Wang

Faculty Publications

© Copyright © 2020 Liu, Zhang, Ding, Wang, Kelly and Wang. Membrane vesicles are considered virulence cargoes as they carry capsular and melanin components whose secretory transport is critical for the virulence of the human fungal pathogen Cryptococcus species. However, other components of the vesicles and their function in the growth and virulence of the fungus remain unclear. We have previously found that the cryptococcal intersectin protein Cin1 governs a unique Cin1-Wsp1-Cdc42 endocytic pathway required for intracellular transport and virulence. Using RNA sequencing, we compared the profiles of extracellular RNA (exRNA), including microRNA (miRNA), small interference RNA (siRNA), long noncoding …

The Influence Of Stochasticity, Landscape Structure And Species Traits On Abundant–Centre Relationships, Tad Dallas, Luca Santini

Faculty Publications

Species have been commonly hypothesized to have high population densities in geographic areas which correspond to either the centre of the species geographic range or climatic niche (abundant–centre hypothesis). However, there is mixed empirical support for this relationship, and little theoretical underpinning. We simulate a species spreading across a set of replicated artificial landscapes to examine the expected level of support for abundant–centre relationships in geographic and niche space. Species niche constraints were modeled as a single axis which was related directly to population growth rates. We found strong evidence for abundant–centre relationships when populations follow deterministic growth, dispersal is …

Effects Of Temperature And Antioxidants On The Oxidation Of Biodiesel Derived From Waste Vegetable Oil, Randy L. Maglinao, Torrey J. Wagner, Keegan Duff

Faculty Publications

Biodiesel offers several environmental benefits and improvements to some fuel performance properties, but its poor oxidative stability has been a major concern. Currently, the accepted practice to improve biodiesel oxidative stability is the addition of antioxidants; numerous antioxidants have been studied but their effectiveness in inhibiting biodiesel oxidation is difficult to predict due to variation with resonance stability, solubility, reactivity, and volatility. To improve prediction efforts, this study explored the Rapid Small-Scale Oxidation Test (RSSOT) as a means to investigate how biodiesel oxidation is affected by antioxidant concentration and temperature, and compared its results with the oxidative stability index test. …

Who Feels Entitled To Assert Legal Rights?, Elizabeth S. Chambliss

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Call To Action, Andrea Luxton

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

If Engineers Solve Problems, Why Are There Still So Many Problems To Solve?: Getting Beyond Technical “Solutions” In The Classroom, Cynthia Helen Carlson, Catherine Wong

Faculty Publications

This Complete Evidence-Based Practice Paper describes implementation and assessment of an exercise bringing international perspectives, liberal arts, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals into a first year engineering program - challenging the arbitrary boundary between engineering and the liberal arts. First-year engineering students (Civil, Mechanical, and Electrical) participated in a role-playing game recreating the 2009 United Nations Climate Talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. The exercise is part of a series of published games called Reacting to the Past, with the purpose of engaging students to enhance their understanding of a given event or topic, while improving their research and communication …

Resilience Within And Resilience Without: Mindfulness And Sustainability Programming Using An Embedded Engineering Librarian Approach, Catherine Wong, Cynthia Helen Carlson

Faculty Publications

An increasing number of students are suffering from anxiety, even before the added stress of college life. Meanwhile, the media bombards students with images of impending doom about the climate crisis and environmental collapse, potentially increasing the sense of helplessness, fear, or anger. Fostering a sense of personal and environmental resilience through contemplative practices and engagement with sustainability topics in and out of the classroom was the goal of this librarian and professor collaborative team. The team created a culture of awareness for both sustainability and mindfulness via an in-class embedded librarian model, and out of class programming over a …

Restructuring A Beginner Language Program: A Quantitative Analysis Of Face-To-Face Versus Flipped-Blended Spanish Instruction, Nina Moreno, Paul Malovrh

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Nurses' Experiences Of Organisational Learning: A Qualitative Descriptive Study, Bret Lyman, Marisa E. Biddulph, V Grace Hopper, Julie L. Brogan

Faculty Publications

Aim: To explore the validity of and expand upon a model of organisational learning in hospitals.

Background: Organisational learning is a positive change in an organisation's collective knowledge, cognition and/or action, leading to improved hospital performance. A current model offers an evidence-based, theoretical representation of organisational learning in hospitals, yet the intricacies of organisational learning in clinical practice are not fully understood. Additional guidance is needed to effectively foster and study organisational learning.

Method: Semi-structured interviews were used to gather 15 first-hand experiences of organisational learning from 14 nurses. Data were analysed via deductive thematic analysis.

Results: Organisational learning was …

Gw190814: Gravitational Waves From The Coalescence Of A 23 Solar Mass Black Hole With A 2.6 Solar Mass Compact Object, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, S. Abraham, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, A. Aich, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, S. Akcay, G. Allen, A. Allocca, P. A. Altin, A. Amato, S. Anand, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, S. V. Angelova, S. Ansoldi, S. Antier, S. Appert, K. Arai, M. C. Araya, J. S. Areeda

Faculty Publications

We report the observation of a compact binary coalescence involving a 22.2-24.3 M o˙ black hole and a compact object with a mass of 2.50-2.67 M o˙ (all measurements quoted at the 90% credible level). The gravitational-wave signal, GW190814, was observed during LIGO's and Virgo's third observing run on 2019 August 14 at 21:10:39 UTC and has a signal-to-noise ratio of 25 in the three-detector network. The source was localized to 18.5 deg2 at a distance of 241 +41-41 Mpc; no electromagnetic counterpart has been confirmed to date. The source has the most unequal mass ratio yet measured with gravitational …

Gw190814: Gravitational Waves From The Coalescence Of A 23 Solar Mass Black Hole With A 2.6 Solar Mass Compact Object, R. Abbott, T. D. Abbott, S. Abraham, F. Acernese, K. Ackley, C. Adams, R. X. Adhikari, V. B. Adya, C. Affeldt, M. Agathos, K. Agatsuma, N. Aggarwal, O. D. Aguiar, A. Aich, L. Aiello, A. Ain, P. Ajith, S. Akcay, G. Allen, A. Allocca, P. A. Altin, A. Amato, S. Anand, A. Ananyeva, S. B. Anderson, W. G. Anderson, S. V. Angelova, S. Ansoldi, S. Antier, S. Appert, K. Arai, Tiffany Z. Summerscales

Faculty Publications

© 2020. The American Astronomical Society.. We report the observation of a compact binary coalescence involving a 22.2-24.3 M o˙ black hole and a compact object with a mass of 2.50-2.67 M o˙ (all measurements quoted at the 90% credible level). The gravitational-wave signal, GW190814, was observed during LIGO's and Virgo's third observing run on 2019 August 14 at 21:10:39 UTC and has a signal-to-noise ratio of 25 in the three-detector network. The source was localized to 18.5 deg2 at a distance of 241 +41-41 Mpc; no electromagnetic counterpart has been confirmed to date. The source has the most unequal …

Controllable And Scalable Engineered Soil Surrogates Utilizing Simulated Soil Organic Matter For The Study Of Environmental, Ecological, And Agricultural Processes, Arjun Pandey, Benjamin J. Haywood, Ghada Abdalla, Stephen Smith, Balamurugan Subramanian, David A. Spivak, Robert L. Cook

Faculty Publications

Copyright © 2020 American Chemical Society. An entirely new, tunable, and scalable platform (model) approach for the detailed study of important molecular processes that take place in geomacromolecular matrices, such as soils, using block copolymer materials at inorganic interfaces has been developed and applied to gain a molecular-level understanding of environmental pollutant/soil interactions. This approach provides a scalable platform with molecular-level control of the soil organic matter (SOM) chemical composition and structure, allowing one to examine proposed SOM interactions with agricultural chemicals (ACs). Accordingly, a series of engineered soil surrogates (ESSs) utilizing simulated SOM was synthesized, in which multiblock oligomers …

Longitudinal Predictors Of Helicopter Parenting In Emerging Adulthood, Laura M. Padilla-Walker, Larry J. Nelson, Ryan D. Mclean

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this exploratory longitudinal study was to examine stability and change of helicopter parenting throughout the first few years of emerging adulthood and to examine child and parent–child relational factors that might predict helicopter parenting. Participants included 453 emerging adults from a northwestern city in the United States (51% female, 33% single-parent families) who participated in a 10-year longitudinal study, with the current study examining ages 19–21. Results revealed that (a) for both mothers and fathers, helicopter parenting decreased over time, (b) some child and relational factors predicted initial levels of helicopter parenting, but (c) the findings were …

Rural High School Principals And The Challenge Of Standards-Based Grading, Tom Buckmiller, Matt Townsley, Robyn Cooper

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to better understand how principals in rural schools are thinking about assessment and grading practices and if they anticipate implementing policy changes in the near future that may require increased support. Principals of schools in rural areas often face challenges that are significantly different from those of their urban and suburban counterparts. The researchers used a mixed-method survey to better understand if progressive grading policies were a part of the vision for principals of rural high schools, if they possessed conceptual underpinnings of such practices, and if they believed they had the capacity within …

Community Engagement In The Liberal Arts: How Service Hours And Reflections Influence Course Value, David Painter

Faculty Publications

Background: In response to critics’ charges that the liberal arts lack practical value, most colleges have incorporated service-learning in their curricula. Ideally, these service-learning activities not only benefit the community but also enhance the course’s (a) pedagogical effectiveness as well as the students’ (b) civic engagement and (c) professional development.

Purpose:This investigation uses a survey to measure the extent to which service-learning in community engagement courses at a liberal arts college achieved these three outcomes.

Methodology/Approach:Specifically, we parsed the influence of service hours and reflection activities on 740 students’ ratings of pedagogical effectiveness, civic engagement, and professional development. …

American Heart Association Epi|Lifestyle Scientific Sessions: 2020 Meeting Highlights, Alexander C. Razavi, Véronique Gingras, Erin D. Michos, Ann Marie Navar, Sherry Ann Brown, Erin Delker, Kathryn Foti, Stéphanie Harrison, Yifei Lu, Jovia L. Nierenberg, Jewel Scott Phd, Rn, Fnp-C, Olive Tang, Alvin G. Thomas, Ruth Alma Turkson-Ocran, Amelia Wallace, Mingyu Zhang, Kristie J. Lancaster, Pamela L. Lutsey, Elizabeth Selvin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

American Heart Association Epi|Lifestyle Scientific Sessions: 2020 Meeting Highlights, Alexander C. Razavi, Véronique Gingras, Erin D. Michos, Ann Marie Navar, Sherry Ann Brown, Erin Delker, Kathryn Foti, Stéphanie Harrison, Yifei Lu, Jovia L. Nierenberg, Jewel Scott Phd, Rn, Fnp-C, Olive Tang, Alvin G. Thomas, Ruth Alma Turkson-Ocran, Amelia Wallace, Mingyu Zhang, Kristie J. Lancaster, Pamela L. Lutsey, Elizabeth Selvin

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Living Arrangements And Food Security Of A Sample Of Older Palestinian Refugees In Lebanon, Nadine R. Sahyoun, Anniebelle Sassine, Anna Vaudin, Fayrouz Sakr-Ashour, Hala Ghattas Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background

Although we know of the relationship between food insecurity, poor dietary intake and health outcomes, there are limited studies examining the determinants of food insecurity in older adults in developing countries. This study describes the living arrangement and characteristics of protracted Palestinian refugees in Lebanon aged 60 years and older and, the status and determinants of household food insecurity.

Methods

Two surveys, representative of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon (2010 and 2015), were appended and used to examine living arrangement of older adults and household food security. Our final pooled sample included 5412 households and 24,540 individuals. Of these individuals, …

Current Practices And Infrastructure For Open Data Based Research On Occupant-Centric Design And Operation Of Buildings, Mikkel B. Kjærgaard, Omid Ardakanian, Salvatore Carlucci, Bing Dong, Steven K. Firth, Nan Gao, Gesche Margarethe Huebner, Ardeshir Mahdavi, Mohammad Saiedur Rahaman, Flora D. Salim, Fisayo Caleb Sangogboye, Jens Hjort Schwee, Dawid Wolosiuk, Yimin Zhu

Faculty Publications

Many new tools for improving the design and operation of buildings try to realize the potential of big data. In particular, data is an important element for occupant-centric design and operation as occupants’ presence and actions are affected by a high degree of uncertainty and, hence, are hard to model in general. For such research, data handling is an important challenge, and following an open science paradigm based on open data can increase efficiency and transparency of scientific work. This article reviews current practices and infrastructure for open data-driven research on occupant-centric design and operation of buildings. In particular, it …

Magic-Angle Semimetals With Chiral Symmetry, Yang Zhi Chou, Yang Zhi Chou, Yixing Fu, Justin H. Wilson, E. J. König, J. H. Pixley

Faculty Publications

We construct and solve a two-dimensional, chirally symmetric model of Dirac cones subjected to a quasiperiodic modulation. In real space, this is realized with a quasiperiodic hopping term. This hopping model, as we show, at the Dirac node energy has a rich phase diagram with a semimetal-to-metal phase transition at intermediate amplitude of the quasiperiodic modulation, and a transition to a phase with a diverging density of states (DOS) and subdiffusive transport when the quasiperiodic hopping is strongest. We further demonstrate that the semimetal-to-metal phase transition can be characterized by the multifractal structure of eigenstates in momentum space and can …

An Inverse Function Theorem Converse, Jimmie Lawson

Faculty Publications

We establish the following converse of the well-known inverse function theorem. Let g:U→V and f:V→U be inverse homeomorphisms between open subsets of Banach spaces. If g is differentiable of class Cp and f is locally Lipschitz, then the Fréchet derivative of g at each point of U is invertible and f must be differentiable of class Cp.

Effects Of Valence And Spin Of Fe In Mgsio3 Melts: Structural Insights From First-Principles Molecular Dynamics Simulations, Dipta B. Ghosh, Bijaya B. Karki

Faculty Publications

Iron (Fe) is present in terrestrial melts and at all depths inside the Earth. How Fe in its varying oxidation and spin states influences the properties of silicate melts is of critical importance to the understanding of the chemical evolution of our planet. Here, we report the results of first-principles molecular dynamics simulations of molten Fe-bearing MgSiO over a wide pressure range covering the entire mantle. Our results suggest that the structural properties of the host melt, such as the average bond length and coordination in Mg–O and Si–O do not differ much when compared with the pure melt. More …

Hamiltonian Theory Of Classical And Quantum Gauge Invariant Perturbations In Bianchi I Spacetimes, Ivan Agullo, Javier Olmedo, V. Sreenath

Faculty Publications

We derive a Hamiltonian formulation of the theory of gauge invariant, linear perturbations in anisotropic Bianchi I spacetimes, and describe how to quantize this system. The matter content is assumed to be a minimally coupled scalar field with potential V(φ). We show that a Bianchi I spacetime generically induces both anisotropies and quantum entanglement on cosmological perturbations, and provide the tools to compute the details of these features. We then apply this formalism to a scenario in which the inflationary era is preceded by an anisotropic Bianchi I phase, and discuss the potential imprints in observable quantities. The formalism developed …

Linking Activity, Nutrition, And Child Health (Launch): Protocol For A Longitudinal Cohort Study Of Children As They Develop From Infancy To Preschool Age, Russell R. Pate, Edward A. Frongillo Jr., Kerry Cordan, Marsha Dowda, Alexander C. Mclain, Myriam E. Torres, William H. Brown, Agnes Bucko, Emily R. Shull

Faculty Publications

Background

Physical activity is known to provide important health benefits in children ages 3 years and above, but little is known about the effects of physical activity on health in very young children under age 3. LAUNCH (Linking Activity, Nutrition, and Child Health) is a study designed to expand the body of knowledge on development of physical activity behavior and associations between physical activity and other health characteristics as children transition from infancy to preschool age.

Methods

Physical activity and sedentary behavior will be measured objectively in young children over a period of 30 months. Each child will complete a …

Search For Lepton-Flavor-Violating Decays D0→X0E±Μ∓, J. P. Lees, V. Poireau, V. Tisserand, E. Grauges, A. Palano, G. Eigen, D. N. Brown, Yu G. Kolomensky, M. Fritsch, H. Koch, T. Schroeder, R. Cheaib, C. Hearty, T. S. Mattison, J. A. Mckenna, R. Y. So, V. E. Blinov, A. R. Buzykaev, V. P. Druzhinin, Milind Purohit, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

We present a search for seven lepton-flavor-violating neutral charm meson decays of the type D⁰→X⁰e^±μ^∓, where X⁰ represents a π⁰, K ⁰ _S S, K^0* ρ⁰, ϕ, ω, or η meson. The analysis is based on 468 fb⁻¹ of e⁺e^- annihilation data collected at or close to the Υ(4S)resonance with the BABAR detector at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. No significant signals are observed, and we establish 90% confidence level upper limits on the branching fractions in …

Global Measurements Of Brown Carbon And Estimated Direct Radiative Effects, Linghan Zeng, Aoxing Zhang, Yuhang Wang, Nicholas L. Wagner, Joseph M. Katich, Joshua P. Schwarz, Gregory P. Schill, Charles Brock, Karl D. Froyd, Daniel M. Murphy, Christina J. Williamson, Agnieszka Kupc, Eric Scheuer, Jack E. Dibb, Rodney J. Weber

Faculty Publications

Brown carbon (BrC) is an organic aerosol material that preferentially absorbs light of shorter wavelengths. Global-scale radiative impacts of BrC have been difficult to assess due to the lack of BrC observational data. To address this, aerosol filters were continuously collected with near pole-to-pole latitudinal coverage over the Pacific and Atlantic basins in three seasons as part of the Atmospheric Tomography Mission. BrC chromophores in filter extracts were measured. We find that globally, BrC was highly spatially heterogeneous, mostly detected in air masses that had been transported from regions of extensive biomass burning. We calculate the average direct radiative effect …

Solar Photovoltaic Considerations For Operational And Warfighter Support Capabilities, Dylan Martin-Abood, Douglas Dudis, Torrey J. Wagner

Faculty Publications

This work highlights the fundamental mechanisms and historical perspective for military PV technology applications and addresses the operational considerations for effectively deploying PV technology. PV materials, structures and architectures have matured into competitive and readily available energy technologies based on their levelized cost of energy (LCOE). However, enhancing warfighting capabilities requires attention to systems considerations beyond cost per watt or LCOE. While PV is impractical for fighters and bombers as it can meet less than 1% of their power requirements, there are numerous areas that could benefit from the application of PV technology. For example, installing PV arrays on all …