Digital Commons Network^™

Mapping Populations At Risk: Improving Spatial Demographic Data For Infectious Disease Modeling And Metric Derivation, Andrew J. Tatem, Susana Adamo, Nita Bharti, Clara R. Burgert, Marcia Castro, Audrey Dorelien, Gunter Fink, Catherine Linard, Mendelsohn John, Livia Montana, Mark R. Montgomery, Andrew Nelson, Abdisalan M. Noor, Deepa Pindolia, Greg Yetman, Deborah Balk

Publications and Research

The use of Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) in disease surveys and reporting is becoming increasingly routine, enabling a better understanding of spatial epidemiology and the improvement of surveillance and control strategies. In turn, the greater availability of spatially referenced epidemiological data is driving the rapid expansion of disease mapping and spatial modeling methods, which are becoming increasingly detailed and sophisticated, with rigorous handling of uncertainties. This expansion has, however, not been matched by advancements in the development of spatial datasets of human population distribution that accompany disease maps or spatial models. Where risks are heterogeneous …

Twenty Years After: Armenian Research Libraries Today, D. Aram Donabedian, John Carey, Arshak Balayan

Publications and Research

Since achieving statehood in 1991, Armenia has faced major economic and political obstacles which have significantly affected the nation’s research libraries. This research paper will quantitatively and qualitatively examine the challenges facing Armenian research libraries just over twenty years after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Specifically, the authors analyze their interviews with five library administrators at five major institutions, respectively. These include Yerevan State University Library, the National Library of Armenia, the Fundamental Scientific Library of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, the Republican Scientific-Medical Library of Armenia, and the Papazian Library of the American University of Armenia. …

The Manufacture Of Lifestyle: The Role Of Corporations In Unhealthy Living, Nicholas Freudenberg

Publications and Research

Recently, researchers have debated two views on the connection between lifestyle and health. In the first, health-related lifestyles including tobacco and alcohol use, diet, and physical activity are seen as primary influences on health. In the second, social stratification is the dominant influence with lifestyles simply markers of social status. Neither approach leads to interventions that can reverse the world's most serious health problems. This article proposes that corporate practices are a dominant influence on the lifestyles that shape patterns of health and disease. Modifying business practices that promote unhealthy lifestyles is a promising strategy for improving population health. Corporations …

Empirical Mapping Of Suitability To Dengue Fever In Mexico Using Species Distribution Modeling, Elia Machado

Publications and Research

Dengue is considered the most important vector borne virus disease worldwide placing some 2.5 billion people at risk globally. Despite the public health concern about dengue fever, spatially explicit suitability assessments for this disease are limited due to data restrictions and the challenges posed by the complexity of the interactions among its risk factors, which involve social, economic and ecological processes.

This paper demonstrates an empirical approach to identify suitable areas for dengue fever using species distribution modeling, and evaluates the relative contribution of climatic and socio-economic factors as dengue fever suitability determinants. Several models showing the potential distribution of …

Could Focused Deterrence Strategies Reduce Drug-Related Violence In Mexico?, Douglas N. Evans

Publications and Research

Drug-related killings in Mexico have reached frightening proportions. This databit summarizes recommendations by Professor Mark Kleiman and analyzes drug-related murders in the Federal States of Mexico compared to total murders in U.S jurisdictions of comparable size.

The Role Of Culture On The Leadership Styles Of Generation X Women In Nigeria, Remi Alapo

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Picturing The Wake: Arcimboldo, Joyce And His ‘Monster,’, Václav Paris

Publications and Research

This essay considers Finnegans Wake through the lens of Arcimboldo's art. Drawing on surrealism, French theory, and close readings of parts of Joyce's most difficult book, it shows the work to be visually richer and stranger than we imagined.

Brown Studies Problems Of “Food Deserts.”, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

How Milk Does The World Good: Vernacular Sustainability And Alternative Food Systems In Post-Socialist Europe, Diana Mincyte

Publications and Research

Scholarly debates on sustainable consumption have generally overlooked alternative agro-food networks in the economies outside of Western Europe and North America. Building on practice-based theories, this article focuses on informal raw milk markets in post-socialist Lithuania to examine how such alternative systems emerge and operate in the changing political, social, and economic contexts. It makes two contributions to the scholarship on sustainable consumption. In considering semi-subsistence practices and poverty-driven consumption, this article argues for a richer, more critical, and inclusive theory of sustainability that takes into consideration vernacular forms of exchange and approaches poor consumers as subjects of global history. …

Minear Teaches The Art Of Teaching Singing, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Hildebrandt Teaches Lessons About Tornadoes, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

The Geography Of Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Within Urban Areas Of Asia, Jochen Albrecht, Peter Marcotullio, Andrea Sarzynski, Niels Schulz

Publications and Research

This paper aims to advance two objectives: (1) identify and explore greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas in Asia at the regional level; and (2) explore covariates of urban greenhouse gas emissions. We use the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research estimates for carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and sulfur hexafluoride from 14 source activities for the year 2000, which are allocated on a 1/108 global grid. We extract emissions for 3535 urban extents all with populations over 50,000, accounting for approximately 91% of the region’s urban population. We use regression analysis to associate emissions with urban area and growth, …

Vitamin D: Implications Of The Institute Of Medicine Report For Clinical Practice, Dorothy Grasso, Margaret A. Rafferty

Publications and Research

In November 2010, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D, a radical departure from previous advice given regarding these two nutrients that have been reported in respected health journals. The 14-member expert committee found clear and convincing evidence to support the association between adequate levels of vitamin D and bone health. The IOM committee did not find enough evidence to support claims that inadequate levels of vitamin D are linked to increased risks for cancer, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes. In this article, the authors discuss the controversy surrounding vitamin D and provide guidance …

Policing Gender, Sexuality And ‘Muslimness’, Anissa Helie

Publications and Research

In her Introduction to the book Sexuality in Muslim Contexts: Restrictions and Resistance (ZED Book, UK), Anissa Helie discusses the notion of "Muslimness" and how such a homogenizing notion, if unchallenged, may serve to justify the policing of sexuality in various Muslim countries and communities.

The book itself looks at emerging trends that affect women’s sexuality, with a particular focus on Asia and the Middle East, and documents both the curtailing of sexual rights occurring in diverse Muslim societies and the strategies designed to counter these developments.

Yet this focus in no way suggests that the policing of gender and …

Razing Lafitte: Defending Public Housing From A Hostile State, Leigh Graham

Publications and Research

The contentious politics of the demolition of Lafitte public housing in post- Katrina New Orleans and its replacement with mixed-income properties is a telling case of the strategic conflicts housing advocates face in public housing revitalization. It reveals how the qualified outcomes of HOPE VI interact with local institutional and historical circumstances to confound the equity and social justice goals of housing and community development advocates. It shows the limits to public housing revitalization as an urban recovery strategy when hostile government leadership characterizes a region, and the state is recast as an adversary rather than revitalization partner. This case …

Sexuality, Rights And Personhood: Tensions In A Transnational World, Dina M. Siddiqi

Publications and Research

Background This article discusses what happens when normative ‘global’ discourses of rights and individuated sexual identity confront the messiness of ‘local’ realities. It considers the tensions that emerge when the relationship between sexual and social identities is not obvious and the implications of such tensions for public health and sexual rights activism. These questions are addressed through debates over the naming of male-to-male sexualities and desires in the context of globalization and the growth of a large NGO (non-governmental organization) sector in urban Bangladesh. Methods The material in the paper draws on a research project undertaken in 2008-9 in Dhaka, …

Dearabizing Arabia: Tracing Western Scholarship On The History Of The Arabs And Arabic Language And Script, Saad D. Abulhab

Publications and Research

This book is a reference book on the history of the Arabic Language and script, which goes beyond the sole discussion of technical matters. It studies objectively the evidence presented by modern-day western archeological discoveries together with the evidence presented by the indispensable scholarly work and research of past Islamic Arab civilization era. The book scrutinizes modern western theories regarding the history of the Arabs and Arabic language and script in connection with the roles played by Western Near East scholarship, religion and colonial history in the formation of current belief system, which is an essential step to study this …

Sexual And Injection-Related Risks In Puerto Rican-Born Injection Drug Users Living In New York City: A Mixed-Methods Analysis, Camila Gelpí-Acosta, Holly Hagan, Samuel M. Jenness, Travis Wendel, Alan Neaigus

Publications and Research

Background These data were collected as part of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) study. NHBS is a cross-sectional study to investigate HIV behavioral risks among core risk groups in 21 U.S. cities with the highest HIV/AIDS prevalence. This analysis examines data from the NHBS data collection cycle with IDU conducted in New York City in 2009. We explored how the recency of migration from Puerto Rico (PR) to New York City (NYC) impacts both syringe sharing and unprotected sex among injection drug users (IDU) currently living in NYC. Methods We used a mixed-methods approach to examine differences in risk …

Was The Black Death In India And China?, George D. Sussman

Publications and Research

Firsthand accounts of the Black Death in Europe and the Middle East and many subsequent historians have assumed that the pandemic originated in Asia and ravaged China and India before reaching the West. One reason for this conviction among modern historians is that the plague in the nineteenth century originated and did its worst damage in these countries. But a close examination of the sources on the Delhi Sultanate and the Yuan Dynasty provides no evidence of any serious epidemic in fourteenth-century India and no specific evidence of plague among the many troubles that afflicted fourteenth-century China.

How Does Socioeconomic Development Affect Copd Mortality? An Age-Period-Cohort Analysis From A Recently Transitioned Population In China, Jing Chen, Mary Schooling, Janice Mary Johnston, Anthony Johnson Hedley, Sarah Morag Mcghee

Publications and Research

Background
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of death, particularly in developing countries. Little is known about the effects of economic development on COPD mortality, although economic development may potentially have positive and negative influences over the life course on COPD. We took advantage of a unique population whose rapid and recent economic development is marked by changes at clearly delineated and identifiable time points, and where few women smoke, to examine the effect of macro-level events on COPD mortality.

Methods
We used Poisson regression to decompose sex-specific COPD mortality rates in Hong Kong from 1981 to …

A Statistical Method To Correct Radiometric Data Measured By Avhrr Onboard The National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites (Poes), Md Zahidur Rahman, Leonid Roytman, Abdelhamid Kadik

Publications and Research

This paper apply an statistical technique to correct radiometric data measured by Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometers(AVHRR) onboard the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellites(POES). This paper study Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) stability in the NOAA/NESDIS Global Vegetation Index (GVI) data for the period 1982-2003. AVHRR weekly data for the five NOAA afternoon satellites NOAA-7, NOAA-9, NOAA-11, NOAA-14, and NOAA-16 are used for the China dataset, for it includes a wide variety or different ecosystems represented globally. GVI has found wide use for studying and monitoring land surface, atmosphere, and recently for analyzing climate and …

Evaluation Of A Medical And Mental Health Unit Compared With Standard Care For Older People Whose Emergency Admission To An Acute General Hospital Is Complicated By Concurrent ‘Confusion’: A Controlled Clinical Trial. Acronym: Team: Trial Of An Elderly Acute Care Medical And Mental Health Unit, Rowan H. Harwood, Sarah E. Goldberg, Kathy H. Whittamore, Catherine Russell, John Rf Gladman, Rob G. Jones, Davina Porock, Sarah A. Lewis, Lucy E. Bradshaw, Rachel A. Elliot

Publications and Research

Background: Patients with delirium and dementia admitted to general hospitals have poor outcomes, and their carers report poor experiences. We developed an acute geriatric medical ward into a specialist Medical and Mental Health Unit over an eighteen month period. Additional specialist mental health staff were employed, other staff were trained in the ‘person-centred’ dementia care approach, a programme of meaningful activity was devised, the environment adapted to the needs of people with cognitive impairment, and attention given to communication with family carers. We hypothesise that patients managed on this ward will have better outcomes than those receiving standard care, and …

Physical Activity And Hip Fracture Disability: A Review, Ray Marks

Publications and Research

Objective. The present paper examines pertinent literature sources published in the peer-reviewed English language between 1980 and November 1, 2010 concerning hip fractures. The aim was to highlight potential intervention points to offset the risk of incurring a hip fracture and its attendant disability. Methods. An in-depth search of the literature using the key terms: disability, epidemiology, hip fracture, prevention, and risk factors was conducted, along with data from the author's research base detailing the disability associated with selected hip fracture cases. All articles that dealt with these key topics were reviewed, and relevant data were tabulated and analyzed. Results. …

Molar Macrowear Reveals Neanderthal Eco-Geographic Dietary Variation, Luca Fiorenza, Stefano Benazzi, Jeremy Tausch, Ottmar Kullmer, Timothy G. Bromage, Friedemann Schrenk

Publications and Research

Neanderthal diets are reported to be based mainly on the consumption of large and medium sized herbivores, while the exploitation of other food types including plants has also been demonstrated. Though some studies conclude that early Homo sapiens were active hunters, the analyses of faunal assemblages, stone tool technologies and stable isotopic studies indicate that they exploited broader dietary resources than Neanderthals. Whereas previous studies assume taxon-specific dietary specializations, we suggest here that the diet of both Neanderthals and early Homo sapiens is determined by ecological conditions. We analyzed molar wear patterns using occlusal fingerprint analysis derived from optical 3D …

What Kind Of Right Is The Right To The City?, Kafui A. Attoh

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Mtml-Msbayes: Approximate Bayesian Comparative Phylogeographic Inference From Multiple Taxa And Multiple Loci With Rate Heterogeneity, Wen Huang, Naoki Takebayashi, Yan Qi, Michael J. Hickerson

Publications and Research

Background MTML-msBayes uses hierarchical approximate Bayesian computation (HABC) under a coalescent model to infer temporal patterns of divergence and gene flow across codistributed taxon-pairs. Under a model of multiple codistributed taxa that diverge into taxon-pairs with subsequent gene flow or isolation, one can estimate hyper-parameters that quantify the mean and variability in divergence times or test models of migration and isolation. The software uses multi-locus DNA sequence data collected from multiple taxon-pairs and allows variation across taxa in demographic parameters as well as heterogeneity in DNA mutation rates across loci. The method also allows a flexible sampling scheme: different numbers …

Improving Clinical Judgment In Lawyering With Multidisciplinary Knowledge About Brain Function And Human Behavior: What Should Law Students Learn About Human Behavior For Effective Lawyering?, Beryl Blaustone

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Geography Is Not Just For Memorizing Capitals, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Climate Change: The Fork At The End Of Now, Micha Tomkiewicz

Publications and Research

There are many books on global warming written entirely from a layman's perspective, and there is a great deal of scientific literature on this subject. But few if any books attempt to bridge the science to those who lack a rigorous background in mathematics, physics and chemistry-but who may be working on careers in environmental science and policy. The new text is designed to introduce the field of global climate change from a scientific perspective-but written in a way that is accessible to students with some or little science background. It reviews the basic principles of climatic thermodynamics and atmospheric …

Shaw Studies The Geography Of Affluence, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.