Digital Commons Network^™

Anticipatory Tonal Variations Can Facilitate Spoken-Word Recognition: A Visual World Eye-Tracking Study, Jeffrey Jack Green, Yan Sun, Chilin Shih

Faculty Publications

The acoustics of speech sounds can vary dramatically depending on phonetic context, yet listeners can reliably process spoken language in a rapid and seemingly effortless manner. Previous research suggests that acoustic variations in speech can actually facilitate, rather than disrupt, the processing of spoken language, and sometimes listeners can even use fine-grained acoustic cues in the unfolding speech signal to predict the sound(s) of an upcoming word. For example, it has been reported that listeners fixate their eyes on target words faster when the pre-target word contains compatible vowel-to-vowel coarticulation cues [1, 2]. Similarly, pitch accents have been found to …

Correction To: Response Shift In Patient-Reported Outcomes: Definition, Theory, And A Revised Model, Antoine Vanier, Frans J. Oort, Leah Mcclimans, Nikki Ow, Bernice G. Gulek, Jan R. Böhnke, Mirjam Sprangers, Véronique Sébille, Nancy Mayo, Response Shift-In Sync Working Group

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

In Vitro Activity Of Non-Antibiotic Drugs Against Staphylococcus Aureus Clinical Strains, Natalie K. Boyd, Grace C. Lee, Chengwen Teng Pharm.D., Ph.D., Christopher R. Frei

Faculty Publications

Objectives: We hypothesised that one or more of the non-antibiotic candidates selected for this study would demonstrate antibiotic activity against Staphylococcus aureus.

Methods: We determined minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) and minimum bactericidal concentrations (MBCs) for non-antibiotic drugs (amlodipine, azelastine, ebselen and sertraline) against five clinical S. aureus isolates and one quality control strain using the Microplate Alamar Blue Assay (MABA). Our research group selected clinical isolates obtained from nasal and wound swab cultures of patients with skin and soft-tissue infections who were seen at primary care clinics in the South Texas Ambulatory Research Network (STARNet).

Results: Three of the non-antibiotic …

A Tale Of Twain Wives: Mark Twain, Albert Paine, And Klecksography, Roy R. Behrens

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tipping Point: Integrating Social Determinants Of Health Concepts In A College Of Nursing, Victoria H. Davis Dnp, Aprn, Cpnp-Pc, Cne, Crystal L. Murillo Phd, Rn, Chse-A, Anef, Faan, Kate K, Chappell Phd, Aprn, Cpnp-Pc, Coretta Jenerette, Alicia K. Ribar, Karen Worthy Phd, Mph, Rn, Cne, Cnecl, Jeannette O. Andrews Phd, Rn, Faan

Faculty Publications

Background:

State health rankings, national nursing education reform, and increasing awareness of social injustices propelled a college of nursing to transform its strategic plan, infrastructure, and curriculum. The prevalence of social determinants of health (SDOH) in South Carolina indicates a need for the state's health workforce to understand the impact of SDOH and recognize strategies to address and ameliorate SDOH. With the paradigmatic integration of diversity, equity, and inclusion in nursing education, there is a need for programmatic and curricular integration of SDOH to increase awareness, foster understanding, and transform perspectives among nursing faculty, staff, and students.

Method:

Institutional changes …

Challenges For Estimating The Global Prevalence Of Micronutrient Deficiencies And Related Disease Burden: A Case Study Of The Global Burden Of Disease Study, Sonja Y. Hess, Alexander C. Mclain Ph.D., Edward A. Frongillo Jr. Ph.D., Ashkan Afshin, Nicholas J. Kassebaum, Saskia Jm Osendarp, Reed Atkin, Rahul Rawat, Kenneth H. Brown

Faculty Publications

Information on the prevalence of micronutrient deficiencies is needed to determine related disease burden; underpin evidence-based advocacy; and design, deliver, and monitor safe, effective interventions. Assessing the global prevalence of deficiency requires a valid micronutrient status biomarker with an appropriate cutoff to define deficiency and relevant data from representative surveys across multiple locations and years. The Global Burden of Disease Study includes prevalence estimates for iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamin A deficiencies, for which recommended biomarkers and appropriate deficiency cutoffs exist. Because representative survey data are lacking, only retinol concentration is used to model vitamin A deficiency, and proxy indicators …

Survivals Of Two Cooperating Species Of Animals, Joon Hyuk Kang

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this paper is to give conditions for the existence and uniqueness of positive solution to a rather general type of elliptic system of the Dirichlet problem on a bounded domain Ω" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; font-size: 16.2px; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: 0px; min-height: 0px; border: 0px; position: relative;">Ω in Rn" role="presentation" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; display: inline-block; line-height: normal; font-size: 16.2px; word-spacing: normal; overflow-wrap: normal; white-space: nowrap; float: none; direction: ltr; max-width: none; max-height: none; min-width: …

Filling The Knowledge Gap For Nurse Leaders: Next Steps Following Covid-19, Mikel W. Hand, Catherine Alexander, Bret Lyman, Joy Parchment, M Lindell Joseph, Esther Chipps

Faculty Publications

The purpose of this article is to share gaps in knowledge and research related to pandemic management identified by nurse leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of a larger Delphi study, nurse leaders responded to an open-ended question about gaps in research they saw as important following the pandemic. Responses were analyzed using directed content analysis. Results are presented as 4 supercategories: Organizational leadership preparedness, adaptive leadership in crisis, innovations in care delivery, and health, well-being, and resilience.

The Temptation Of Cosmic Private Law Theory, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

It’s a heady time to be a theorist of private law. After decades of vague post-Realist functionalism or reductive economic theories, the latest generation of private law theorists have provided a proliferation of new philosophies of tort, contract, and property. The result has been a tremendous burst of intellectual creativity. While Kant and Hegel have been dragooned into debates over torts and contracts and even such supposedly wooly headed thinkers as Coke and Blackstone have been rehabilitated, there have been fewer efforts to generate natural law accounts of private law than one might expect, particularly in light of the revival …

The Charitable Continuum, Eric Kades

Faculty Publications

There are powerful fairness and efficiency arguments for making charitable donations to soup kitchens 100% deductible. These arguments have no purchase for donations to fund opulent church organs, yet these too are 100% deductible under the current tax code. This stark dichotomy is only the tip of the iceberg. Looking at a wider sampling of charitable gifts reveals a charitable continuum. Based on sliding scales for efficiency, multiple theories of fairness, pluralism, institutional competence and social welfare dictate that charitable deductions should in most cases be fractions between zero and one. Moreover, the Central Limit Theorem strongly suggests that combining …

Economic Significance In Corporate Finance, Todd Mitton

Faculty Publications

Reporting the economic significance of findings in corporate finance has become increasingly common, but a review of the literature reveals shortcomings in typical reporting practices. Researchers can more effectively communicate the practical importance of findings by using standard measures of economic significance that are scaled by the standard deviation of the dependent variable, by providing all statistics necessary to calculate economic significance, and by providing benchmarks by which to evaluate the magnitude of economic significance. To support these objectives, I show why measures scaled by the standard deviation are preferable, and I provide benchmarks based on hundreds of established findings …

Semiflexible Oligomers Crystallize Via A Cooperative Phase Transition, Pierre Kawak, Dakota S. Banks, Douglas R. Tree

Faculty Publications

Semicrystalline polymers are ubiquitous, yet despite their fundamental and industrial importance, the theory of homogeneous nucleation from a melt remains a subject of debate. A key component of the controversy is that polymer crystallization is a non-equilibrium process, making it difficult to distinguish between effects that are purely kinetic and those that arise from the underlying thermodynamics. Due to computational cost constraints, simulations of polymer crystallization typically employ non-equilibrium molecular dynamics techniques with large degrees of undercooling that further exacerbate the coupling between thermodynamics and kinetics. In a departure from this approach, in this study, we isolate the near-equilibrium nucleation …

In The Beginning: Genesis 1-3 And Its Significance To The Latter-Day Saints, Dan Belnap, Daniel L. Belnap

Faculty Publications

This volume begins with the same event the Bible itself does—the Creation. The Creation narrative and the Garden of Eden narrative that immediately follows have been the subject of much study throughout the years. Over the past century, particular attention has been given to the similarities between it and other ancient Near Eastern Creation narratives. For Latter-day Saints, the Creation and Garden of Eden narratives play central roles in their worship practices, the narratives themselves laying down the plan of salvation God ordained for all his children. In this first chapter, Dan Belnap describes what creation meant to those of …

The Promise And The Provocation: The Sinai Narrative, Dan Belnap, Daniel L. Belnap

Faculty Publications

Following the deliverance from the Red Sea, the Israelites encamped at Sinai, where events would take place that defined them from that period on, such as receiving the law of Moses and the rites associated with the tabernacle. For Latter-day Saints, perhaps even more significant is the event of the provocation, an event that is alluded to in Restoration scripture and that addresses the most profound of religious experiences: entering into the presence of God. Dan Belnap and Andrew Skinner explore the ramifications of the Sinai narrative in this chapter, noting in particular that the promises made to the Israelites …

Monitoring Fine-Scale Forest Health Using Unmanned Aerial Systems (Uas) Multispectral Models, Benjamin T. Fraser, Russell G. Congalton

Faculty Publications

Forest disturbances—driven by pests, pathogens, and discrete events—have led to billions of dollars in lost ecosystem services and management costs. To understand the patterns and severity of these stressors across complex landscapes, there must be an increase in reliable data at scales compatible with management actions. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS or UAV) offer a capable platform for collecting local scale (e.g., individual tree) forestry data. In this study, we evaluate the capability of UAS multispectral imagery and freely available National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP) imagery for differentiating coniferous healthy, coniferous stressed, deciduous healthy, deciduous stressed, and degraded individual trees throughout …

Nonsingular Quantum Gravitational Dynamics Of An Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi Dust Shell Model: The Role Of Quantization Prescriptions, Kristina Giesel, Bao-Fei Li, Parampreet Singh

Faculty Publications

We study some consequences of the loop quantization of the outermost dust shell in the LemaitreTolman-Bondi spacetime with a homogeneous dust density using different quantization strategies motivated by loop quantum gravity. Prior work has dealt with loop quantizing this model by employing holonomies and the triads, following the procedure in standard loop quantum cosmology. In this work we compare this quantization with the one in which holonomies and gauge-covariant fluxes are used. While both of the quantization schemes resolve the central singularity, they lead to different mass gaps at which a trapped surface forms. This trapped surface which is matched …

A Healthy Dietary Pattern With A Low Inflammatory Potential Reduces The Risk Of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus, Lotta Pajunen, Liisa Korkalo, Noora Houttu, Outi Pellonperä, Kati Mokkala, Nitin Shivappa Mbbs, Mph, Ph.D., James Hébert Scd, Tero Vahlberg, Kristina Tertti, Kirsi Laitinen

Faculty Publications

Purpose An optimal diet for lowering the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is still to be defined, but may comprise of nutrient intakes, dietary patterns, diet quality, and eating frequency. This study was designed to investigate the contribution of diet in developing GDM in a comprehensive way. Methods The dietary intake of overweight or obese women, a risk group for GDM (n = 351), was assessed using 3-day food diaries and diet quality questionnaires in early pregnancy. Eating frequency and nutrient intakes were calculated, and dietary patterns identified using principal component analysis. The inflammatory potential of the diet was …

Competence-Based Curriculum (Cbc) In Kenya And The Challenge Of Vision 2030, Dovison Kereri, Roseline Nyaboke, Loice K. Nyabwari

Faculty Publications

The educational system prioritizes the development of skills required in the 21st Century, which focuses on students’ needs such as collaboration, creativity, and competence. However, many countries cannot achieve the necessary skills without quality education, especially for developing countries like Kenya. In the past, Kenya's aim of the 8-4-4 system of education was self-reliance, but the aim of education was lost because it became too academic and exam-oriented. The current educational ministry's target is to implement a competency-based curriculum (CBC), 2-6-6-3, introduced in 2019 to meet the vision 2030 of science and technology and innovation. CBC requires students to be …

Performance Of A Validated Spontaneous Preterm Delivery Predictor In South Asian And Sub-Saharan African Women: A Nested Case Control Study, Rasheda Khanam, Tracy C. Fleischer, Nansi Boghossian, Imran Nisar, Usha Dhingra, Sayedur Rahman, Angela C. Fox, Muhammad Iiyas, Arup Dutta, Nurun Naher, Ashoka D. Polpitiya, Usma Mehmood, Saikat Deb, Aziz Ahmed Choudhury, Md Bahadur Badsha, Karim Muhammad, Said Mohammed Ali, Salahuddin Ahmed, Durlin E. Hickok, Najeeha Iqbal, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

Objectives

To address the disproportionate burden of preterm birth (PTB) in low- and middle-income countries, this study aimed to (1) verify the performance of the United States-validated spontaneous PTB (sPTB) predictor, comprised of the IBP4/SHBG protein ratio, in subjects from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Tanzania enrolled in the Alliance for Maternal and Newborn Health Improvement (AMANHI) biorepository study, and (2) discover biomarkers that improve performance of IBP4/SHBG in the AMANHI cohort.

Study design

The performance of the IBP4/SHBG biomarker was first evaluated in a nested case control validation study, then utilized in a follow-on discovery study performed on the same samples. …

Stochastic Modeling Of Surface Scalar-Flux Fluctuations In Turbulent Channel Flow Using One-Dimensional Turbulence, Marten Klein, Heiko Schmidt, David O. Lignell

Faculty Publications

Accurate and economical modeling of near-surface transport processes is a standing challenge for various engineering and atmospheric boundary-layer flows. In this paper, we address this challenge by utilizing an economical stochastic one-dimensional turbulence (ODT) model. ODT aims to resolve all relevant scales of a turbulent flow for a one-dimensional domain. Here ODT is applied to turbulent channel flow as stand-alone tool. The ODT domain is a wall-normal line that is aligned with the mean shear. The free model parameters are calibrated once for the turbulent velocity boundary layer at a fixed Reynolds number. After that, we use ODT to investigate …

Application Of Causal Inference To The Analysis Of Occupant Thermal State And Energy Behavioral Intentions In Immersive Virtual Environments, Girish Rentala, Yimin Zhu, Supratik Mukhopadhyay

Faculty Publications

Identification and quantitative understanding of factors that influence occupant energy behavior and thermal state during the design phase are critical in supporting effective energy-efficient design. To achieve this, immersive virtual environments (IVEs) have recently shown potential as a tool to simulate occupant energy behaviors and collect context-dependent behavior data for buildings under design. On the other hand, prior models of occupant energy behaviors and thermal states used correlation-based approaches, which failed to capture the underlying causal interactions between the influencing factors and hence were unable to uncover the true causing factors. Therefore, in this study, the authors investigate the applicability …

Adsorption Of Helium On A Charged Propeller Molecule: Hexaphenylbenzene, Siegfried Kollotzek, Florent Calvo, Serge Krasnokutski, Fabio Zappa, Paul Scheier, Olof E. Echt

Faculty Publications

Physisorption on planar or curved graphitic surfaces or aromatic rings has been investigated by various research groups, but in these studies the substrate was usually strictly rigid. Here we report a combined experimental and theoretical study of helium adsorption on cationic hexaphenylbenzene (HPB), a propeller-shaped molecule. The orientation of its propeller blades is known to be sensitive to the environment, with substantial differences between the molecule in the gas phase and in the crystalline solid. Mass spectra of He_nHPB⁺, synthesized in helium nanodroplets, indicate enhanced stability for ions containing n = 2, 4, 14, 28, 42, …

Evaluation Of Deep Neural Network Prospr For Accurate Protein Distance Predictions On Casp14 Targets, Jacob A. Stern, Bryce Eric Hedelius, Olivia Fisher, Wendy M. Billings, Dennis Della Corte

Faculty Publications

The field of protein structure prediction has recently been revolutionized through the introduction of deep learning. The current state-of-the-art tool AlphaFold2 can predict highly accurate structures; however, it has a prohibitively long inference time for applications that require the folding of hundreds of sequences. The prediction of protein structure annotations, such as amino acid distances, can be achieved at a higher speed with existing tools, such as the ProSPr network. Here, we report on important updates to the ProSPr network, its performance in the recent Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP14) competition, and an evaluation of its …

Examination Of Athlete Triad Symptoms Among Endurance-Trained Male Athletes: A Field Study, Erin M. Moore, Clemens Drenowatz, David F. Stodden, Kelly Pritchett, Thaddus C. Brodick, Brittany T. Williams, Justin M. Goins, Toni Torres-Mcgehee Phd, Lat, Atc

Faculty Publications

Background: Studies examining the physiological consequences associated with deficits in energy availability (EA) for male athletes are sparse.

Purpose: To examine male athlete triad components; low energy availability (LEA) with or without an eating disorder risk (ED), reproductive hormone [testosterone (T)], and bone mineral density (BMD) in endurance-trained male athletes during different training periods.

Methods: A cross-sectional design with 14 participants (age: 26.4 ± 4.2 years; weight: 70.6 ± 6.4 kg; height: 179.5 ± 4.3 cm; BMI: 21.9 ± 1.8 kg/m2) were recruited from the local community. Two separate training weeks [low (LV) and high (HV) training volumes] were used …

Two-Dimensional Steady Boussinesq Convection: Existence, Computation And Scaling, Jeremiah S. Lane, Benjamin F. Akers

Faculty Publications

This research investigates laser-induced convection through a stream function-vorticity formulation. Specifically, this paper considers a solution to the steady Boussinesq Navier–Stokes equations in two dimensions with a slip boundary condition on a finite box. A fixed-point algorithm is introduced in stream function-vorticity variables, followed by a proof of the existence of steady solutions for small laser amplitudes. From this analysis, an asymptotic relationship is demonstrated between the nondimensional fluid parameters and least upper bounds for laser amplitudes that guarantee existence, which accords with numerical results implementing the algorithm in a finite difference scheme. The findings indicate that the upper bound …

Assessing Population Exposure To Coastal Flooding Due To Sea Level Rise, Matthew E. Hauer, Dean Hardy, Scott A. Kulp, Valerie Mueller, David J. Wrathall, Peter U. Clark

Faculty Publications

The exposure of populations to sea-level rise (SLR) is a leading indicator assessing the impact of future climate change on coastal regions. SLR exposes coastal populations to a spectrum of impacts with broad spatial and temporal heterogeneity, but exposure assessments often narrowly define the spatial zone of flooding. Here we show how choice of zone results in differential exposure estimates across space and time. Further, we apply a spatio-temporal flood-modeling approach that integrates across these spatial zones to assess the annual probability of population exposure. We apply our model to the coastal United States to demonstrate a more robust assessment …

Causal Effects On Low Apgar At 5-Min And Stillbirth In A Malaria Maternal–Fetal Health Outcome Investigation: A Large Perinatal Surveillance Study In The Brazilian Amazon, Julio Abel Seijas-Chávez, Melissa Nolan Ph.D., Mph, Mary K. Lynn, Maria José Francalino Da Rocha, Muana Da Costa Araújo, Fernando Luiz Affonso Fonseca, Gabriel Zorello Laporta

Faculty Publications

Background

Malaria elimination in Brazil poses several challenges, including the control of Plasmodium falciparum foci and the hidden burden of Plasmodium vivax in pregnancy. Maternal malaria and fetal health outcomes were investigated with a perinatal surveillance study in the municipality of Cruzeiro do Sul, Acre state, Brazilian Amazon. The research questions are: what are the causal effects of low birth weight on low Apgar at 5-min and of perinatal anaemia on stillbirth?

Methods

From November 2018 to October 2019, pregnant women of ≥ 22 weeks or puerperal mothers, who delivered at the referral maternity hospital (Juruá Women and Children’s Hospital), …

Particulate Oxalate-To-Sulfate Ratio As An Aqueous Processing Marker: Similarity Across Field Campaigns And Limitations, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Ewan C. Crosbie, Paola Angela Banaga, Grace Betito, Rachel A. Braun, Maria Obiminda Cambaliza, Andrea F. Corral, Melliza Templonuevo Cruz, Jack E. Dibb, Genevieve Rose Lorenzo, Alexander B. Macdonald, Claire E. Robinson, Michael A. Shook, James Bernard Simpas, Connor Stahl, Edward Winstead, Luke D. Ziemba, Armin Sorooshian

Faculty Publications

Leveraging aerosol data from multiple airborne and surface-based field campaigns encompassing diverse environmental conditions, we calculate statistics of the oxalate-sulfate mass ratio (median: 0.0217; 95% confidence interval: 0.0154–0.0296; R = 0.76; N = 2,948). Ground-based measurements of the oxalate-sulfate ratio fall within our 95% confidence interval, suggesting the range is robust within the mixed layer for the submicrometer particle size range. We demonstrate that dust and biomass burning emissions can separately bias this ratio toward higher values by at least one order of magnitude. In the absence of these confounding factors, the 95% confidence interval of the ratio may be …

Neural Correlates Of Infant Face Processing And Later Emerging Autism Symptoms In Fragile X Syndrome, Maggie W. Guy, John E. Richards, Abigail L. Hogan Ph.D., Jane E. Roberts

Faculty Publications

Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the leading known genetic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with 60–74% of males with FXS meeting diagnostic criteria for ASD. Infants with FXS have demonstrated atypical neural responses during face processing that are unique from both typically developing, low-risk infants and infants at high familial risk for ASD (i.e., infants siblings of children with ASD). In the current study, event-related potential (ERP) responses during face processing measured at 12 months of age were examined in relation to ASD symptoms measured at ~48 months of age in participants with FXS, as well as siblings of …

Social Determinants Of Health Related To Stay-At-Home Order Adherence And Social Distancing Attitudes Among A Diverse Deep South Population, Jennifer L. Lemacks, Tammy Greer, Sermin Aras, Laurie Abbott, Darlene Willis, June Gipson, Mohamed O. Elasri

Faculty Publications

Objective: To describe COVID-19 related symptoms and medical care experienced in the first six months of the pandemic as well as stay-at-home order adherence, and attitudes related to COVID-19 risk and social distancing among a diverse sample of adults in the Deep South.

Methods: Survey data were collected from 411 Louisiana and Mississippi residents for three weeks in June 2020 through social media.

Results: Over half (52.5%) of participants who experienced COVID-19 related symptoms (with 41.5% experiencing at least one symptom) did not feel the severity of symptoms warranted seeking medical care. 91.6% of the Deep South …