Digital Commons Network^™

A Device For Noninvasive Assessment Of Vascular Impairment Risk In The Lower Extremity, Michael J. Hoffmann, Paul E. Knudson, M. Barbara Silver-Thorn

Biomedical Engineering Faculty Research and Publications

The repeatability and resolution of the clinical gold standard of vascular assessment, the ankle-brachial index (ABI), was compared to that of a new device that dynamically assesses tissue perfusion during external loading utilizing laser Doppler flowmetry. Eight subjects of varying levels of vascular impairment were tested in successive weeks using two different sites on the subject's posterior calf. These new measures included the perfusion decrease as well as the unloading delay during cyclic loading. Some new dynamic tissue perfusion measures demonstrated comparable levels of reproducibility with the ABI (e.g., 10%-20%). Only the unloading delay showed potentially enhanced resolution over ABI …

Environmental Law, Eleventh Circuit Survey, Travis M. Trimble

Scholarly Works

The United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit decided cases in 2008 that addressed the scope of agency discretion in several contexts. In an issue of first impression under the Clean Air Act (CAA),the court held that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) properly exercised its discretion in not objecting to the issuance of an operating permit to a power company that the agency had earlier formally accused of violating the CAA. In another case, the court held that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had the discretion to protect endangered species while administering the National Flood Insurance Act and …

Virginity Testing And South Africa's Hiv/Aids Crisis: Beyond Rights Universalism And Cultural Relativism Toward Health Capabilities, Erika George

Faculty Scholarship

In this Article, I explore the tension between the politics of culture and the rights of women and girls to equality, privacy, and sexual autonomy in the context of epidemic disease. Specifically, this Article examines the political debate surrounding the resurgence of virginity testing, its widespread popular support in certain communities, and the South African government's recent efforts to prohibit the practice. This Article argues that the current debate over virginity testing, which focuses on abolition or accommodation of the practice, is misguided and polarizing. It argues that these perspectives on the debate increase the likelihood that the problem causing …

Autism Fast Start Checklist, Tina Taylor, Leeann Whiffen

Faculty Publications

This Fast Start Checklist was created to help parents in Utah who are concerned that their child is exhibiting signs of an Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). It serves as a general guideline for obtaining support through the evaluation and initial treatment process and is not intended to be all-inclusive. Early Intervention and school personnel can guide parents to these resources as they collaborate to determine the best route for serving children who exhibit signs of ASD. Parents should be encouraged to not try to do everything on this list, as they are provided as points to consider. This checklist is …

Dit News, 1st.-31st. Of December, 2008, Dit:Students Union

DIT Student Union

No abstract provided.

A Simple, Anatomically Based Correction To The Conventional Ankle Joint Center, Dustin A. Bruening, Ashlie N. Crewe, Frank L. Buczek

Faculty Publications

Background

Conventional motion analysis studies define the ankle joint center as the midpoint between the most medial and lateral aspects of the malleoli, yet research points toward a more distal joint center location. The purpose of this study was to develop and evaluate an anatomically based correction that would move the conventional ankle joint center to a more accurate location.

Methods

Lower extremity radiographs from 30 pediatric patients were analyzed retrospectively. An offset between the conventional and more accurate ankle joint centers was measured and correlated to other common anatomical measures based on conventional skin mounted marker positions. The best …

What Impact Does Sustainable Certification Have? A Comparison Of Aquatic Nitrate And Phosphate Levels Between Two Golf Courses In The Bloomington-Normal Community, Jason Koval, '09

Outstanding Senior Seminar Papers

Two golf courses in the Bloomington-Normal community in central Illinois were tested for nitrate and phosphate concentrations in their ponds. One golf course (The Den) is Audubon International certified while the other golf course (Ironwood) is not. This study tries to establish if differing environmental management practices can contribute to significantly different concentrations of nutrients. It was determined that the nitrate concentration was higher at the non-certified golf course, while the phosphate concentrations at both courses were essentially negligible. The implications of these findings are discussed and were presented to both golf courses. It is the hope of this paper …

Growing Food Justice In West Bloomington, Illinois, Daniel Burke, '09

Outstanding Senior Seminar Papers

In some places in the United States, guns are more accessible than tomatoes. In a nation where food is in relative abundance, how can this be? Food security is the ready availability of nutritious and safe food and the assured ability to obtain it through normal sources (Morris et al 1992). Food justice asserts that no one should live without enough food because of economic constraints or social inequities. In this way, food justice frames the lack of healthy food sources in poor communities as a human rights issue (People's Grocery 2008). However, in some communities, access to fresh, healthy …

Detection Of Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome Mec Associated Dna Segments In Multiresistant Mssa And Identification Of Staphylococcus Epidermidis Ccrab4, Celine Herra, Anna Shore, Brian O’Connell,, Angela Rossney,, Derek Sullivan, Hilary Humphreys, David Coleman

Articles

Methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) can arise from methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) following partial or complete excision of staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec). This study investigated whether multiresistant MSSA isolates from Irish hospitals, where MRSA has been endemic for decades, harbor SCCmec DNA. Twenty-five multiresistant MSSA isolates recovered between 2002 and 2006 were tested for SCCmec DNA by PCR and were genotyped by multilocus sequence typing and spa typing. All isolates lacked mecA. Three isolates (12%) harbored SCCmec DNA; two of these (genotype ST8 t190) harbored a 26-kb SCCmec IID (II.3.1.2) remnant that lacked part of mecI and all of mecR1, …

Momitochondrial Dysfunction And Dna Damage Post Exposure To Low Dose Radiation And "Bystander" Factor (S), Sharon Nugent

Doctoral

The 'bystander effect' describes radiation-like damage in un irradiated cells, either in the vicinity of irradiated cells or exposed to medium from irradiated cells. This study aimed to further characterize the, as yet poorly understood, mitochondrial response to both direct irradiation and bystander factor(s). Human keratinocyte epithelial and Chinese hamster ovarian cells were exposed to either y radiation or bystander factor(s) at doses of 5mOy, O.50y and 50y and examined 4-96 hours later. DNA damage was determined using deletion analysis, single strand conformation polymorphism analysis, long range PCR, semi-quantitative PCR and quantitative real-time PCR. Mitochondrial mass was determined using MitoTrackelM …

Cognitive Agents Integrating Rules And Reinforcement Learning For Context-Aware Decision Support, Teck-Hou Teng, Ah-Hwee Tan

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

While context-awareness has been found to be effective for decision support in complex domains, most of such decision support systems are hard-coded, incurring significant development efforts. To ease the knowledge acquisition bottleneck, this paper presents a class of cognitive agents based on self-organizing neural model known as TD-FALCON that integrates rules and learning for supporting context-aware decision making. Besides the ability to incorporate a priori knowledge in the form of symbolic propositional rules, TD-FALCON performs reinforcement learning (RL), enabling knowledge refinement and expansion through the interaction with its environment. The efficacy of the developed Context-Aware Decision Support (CaDS) system is …

Privacy Engine For Context-Aware Enterprise Application Services, Marion Blount, John Davis, Maria Ebling, William Jerome, Barry Leiba, Xuan Liu, Archan Misra

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Satisfying the varied privacy preferences of individuals, while exposing context data to authorized applications and individuals, remains a major challenge for context-aware computing. This paper describes our experiences in building a middleware component, the context privacy engine (CPE), that enforces a role-based, context-dependent privacy model for enterprise domains. While fundamentally an ACL-based access control scheme, CPE extends the traditional ACL mechanism with usage control and context constraints. This paper focuses on discussing issues related to managing and evaluating context-dependent privacy policies. Extensive experimental studies with a production-grade implementation and real-life context sources demonstrate that the CPE can support a large …

Distribution And Geochemical Speciation Of Pb, Cd, Zn, Cr, And Cu In Sediments Of Major Dams In Uae, Mona Rashed Musabah Al-Alili

Theses

Assessment of availability and mobility is required to predict the behavior of heavy metals in dam's sediments, which hold up rainwater and make use of them. Therefore, a total number of ninety-three of sediments samples collected from the major dams AI-Shuweib, AI-Bih, AI-Tawiyeen and Ham dam were analyzed by several sedimentological and geochemical analyses procedures for Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Zn, AI, and Fe. The samples were investigated for mineralogy using X-ray diffraction analyses for non-clay and clay fractions. ICP-OES and Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS) were used to measure the concentration of heavy metals. The statistical treatments and graphical presentations …

Keeping Our Charm: Residents, Growth, And Quality Of Life Issues In A Small But Growing Texas Coastal Community, Michael A. Schuett, John S. Jacob, Jiaying Lu, Logan Respess

Journal of Extension

The study reported here assessed residents' perception of small, fast-growing coastal community on issues of quality of life, conservation, and growth. Data for the study were collected from an on-site survey in Aransas County, Texas from 2006 to 2007. Results show that the residents are concerned about preserving their natural resources, maintaining a small town atmosphere in their community, and ensuring citizens' involvement in future planning efforts, especially with tourism. The implications of the study are discussed for Extension professionals and residents, suggestions for future research are provided.

Using Focus Groups To Evaluate Youth Development Program Direction, David J. White, Mary E. Arnold, Marilyn Lesmeister

Journal of Extension

Focus groups are an efficient and effective assessment tool for youth development practitioners with limited time and resources. This article examines the practical use and limitations of focus groups to assess a county 4-H program's response to a changing demographic profile. A complete description of the process is followed by a report of results and implications for program direction.

The Difference Between Physical Activity And Nutrition Attitudes And Behaviors Among Maine High School Students, Alfred M. Sheehy, Jigna Dharod

Journal of Extension

A study was conducted to estimate physical activity and fruits and vegetable behaviors, perceptions, and attitude among Maine high school students (n = 765). Over half (57%) reported participating in physical activity for >40 minutes per day. Only 6% reported eating five or more servings of fruits and vegetables per day. However, nearly half of the students (49%) reported eating enough fruits and vegetables "Always/Most of the time." A significant positive relationship was found between environmental indicators and daily intake of fruits and vegetables. Results highlight the need to promote fruits and vegetables consumption among high school students.

Using Risk Management Tools And Training To Protect Youth And Adults In Overnight Settings, Janet E. Fox, Lanette Hebert, Mark Tassin, Charles Hebert

Journal of Extension

Providing a safe environment for youth is an essential element for effective youth development programs. This article describes the Louisiana 4-H Youth Development Program's efforts in attaining this essential element through the Overnight Chaperone Program. Derived from a mixed-model, 33-item survey, results indicate that 98% of program participants gained information on how to create a positive environment for youth. Of those, only 31% indicated that they had received any related training previously. Multi-faceted approaches that include screening and training are critical to providing safe environments for youth as well as increasing satisfaction among volunteers.

Deafdigest: Blue Edition, November 30, 2008, Barry Strassler

DeafDigest Blue 2008

No abstract provided.

Deafdigest: Gold Edition, November 30, 2008, Barry Strassler

DeafDigest Gold 2008

No abstract provided.

Confessions Of An Angry Insomniac, Gayle Greene

Scripps Faculty Publications and Research

The first thing to go is your sense of humour. Then it's the desire to do the things you used to do, and then the desire to do anything at all. Parts of your body ache that you don't even know the names of, and your eyes forget how to focus. Words you once knew aren't there any more, and there's less and less to say. People you once cared about fall by the wayside and you let them go, too.

Quantitative And Qualitative Corneal Endothelial Morphology Of Omani Patients With Pseudoexfoliation Syndrome, Upender K. Wali, Abdullah S. Al-Mujaini, Nadia S. Bialasiewicz, Alexander A., Syed G. Rizvi

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objective: Pseudoexfoliation (PEX) syndrome is one of the leading causes of secondary open angle glaucoma and blindness. This study explored whether in PEX eyes, preoperative changes in corneal endothelial cell morphology might be a risk factor for postoperative corneal decompensation. Methods: One hundred twenty six eyes of 69 preoperative cataract patients (43 males, 26 females) were enrolled in this cross-sectional study from the Ophthalmology Department at Sultan Qaboos University Hospital between 2003-2005. All patients were subjected to confocal biomicroscopy. Results: The mean age of patients with PEX eyes was 63.2 years. One hundred and eight (85.7%) eyes with PEX had …

Satisfaction Among Expectant Mothers With Antenatal Care Services In The Musandam Region Of Oman, Mohammed Ghobashi, Rajiv Khandekar

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: As client feedback is useful to improve health service delivery, assessments should be undertaken periodically. This study aimed to determine the level of satisfaction among expectant mothers visiting health institutions for antenatal care services in the Ministry of Health, Musandam region of Oman in 2005. Methods: This was a cross sectional survey in a hospital setup. Women registered in the antenatal clinics of different health institutions of Musandam region were interviewed. Arabic speaking investigators in six health institutions of Musandum region collected personal profiles, details of different antenatal services offered and responses regarding the satisfaction with these services. The …

Impact Of Geographical Proximity On Health Care Seeking Behaviour In Northern Oman, Ahmed Al-Mandhari, Samir Al-Adawi, Ibrahim Al-Shafaee, Mohammed, Liyam Eloul

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: Despite its impact on health policy, the relationship between geographical proximity and health care seeking has received scant attention in the medical literature. This paper aims to evaluate the relationship between geographic proximity and health care usage behaviour among patients seeking medical consultation in the northern region of Oman. Methods: During 2006- 2007, data was collected via face-to-face interviews among 428 randomized patients seeking medical consultation in various primary health care centres in the northern region of Oman. The association between geographical proximity as a reason to seek health care and other predictors was also analysed using multivariable logistic …

Hairy Cell Leukaemia In Oman Four Cases, Arundathi Kurukulasuriya, Asia Al-Rashdi, Muhanna

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) is a rare, clonal, chronic lymphoproliferative disorder commonly seen in males in the middle years of life. Pancytopaenia with moderate to massive splenomegaly is the most common clinical presentation. Diagnosis is made on detecting the lymphocytes with abundant cytoplasm which spread into hair-like processes on peripheral blood and bone marrow smears, thus giving the name, “hairy cell leukaemia”. The bone marrow aspirate is frequently a dry tap. The trephine biopsy has the characteristic features of a honey comb appearance and flow cytometry is typically CD103, CD25, FMC7, CD11c, gamma or kappa light chain positive with the …

Education In The Environment: A Strategy For Continued Interagency Outdoor Education Programming: Quarterly Progress Report: Period Ending November 30, 2008, Environmental Education Strategy For Nevada

Reports (PLI Education)

Highlights of the university’s focused efforts during the past three months include the following:

• Fourteen people are near completion of the Fall Cohort workshop sessions toward partial achievement of the Nevada State Certification in Environmental and Interpretation Certification Program.
• Participation in the Michoacán Cultural Festival (500 people in attendance).
• Participation in the Day of the Dead: Life in Death Festival (over 11,000 in attendance).
• Development planning is near completion for the mobile exhibit program to support and deliver SNAP messages.
• Forever Earth was scheduled for 32 days and benefited 1077 individuals.
• Sixteen Discover Mojave Outdoor World events were conducted for …

Having Been Goffman's Student I Am Drawn To Voltaire’S Dictum, "To The Living We Owe Respect, To The Dead We Owe Only The Truth", Sherri Cavan

Bios Sociologicus: The Erving Goffman Archives

This interview with Sherri Cavan, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the San Francisco State University, was recorded over the phone on November 30, 2008. Dmitri Shalin transcribed the interview, after which Dr. Cavan edited the transcripts and gave her approval for posting the present version in the Erving Goffman Archives. Breaks in the conversation flow are indicated by ellipses. Supplementary information and additional materials inserted during the editing process appear in square brackets. Undecipherable words and unclear passages are identified in the text as “[?]”. The interviewer’s questions are shortened in several places.

Medical Practice In The Twenty-First Century - What, If Anything, Will Doctors Be Doing?, Des Gorman

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

No abstract provided.

Quality Of Relationship With Supervisor And Work Exhaustion Among Nurses, Unnikammu Moideenkutty, Gary Blau, Ahmed

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: To study the impact of quality of relationships with supervisors, operationalised as leader-member exchange (LMX), on work exhaustion among nurses working for a hospital in Oman. Methods: Data were collected from 229 nurses using a questionnaire. Results: LMX was found to be a significant negative correlate of work exhaustion directly, as well as beyond the controlled- for correlates of gender, organisation experience, occupation experience, education level, job satisfaction, occupation satisfaction and work interfering with family. Conclusion: A perceived higher quality work relationship with one’s supervisor appears to have a significant impact on reducing perceived work exhaustion among nurses.

Contact Lens Induced Corneal Ulcer Management In A Tertiary Eye Unit In Oman - A Descriptive Study, Rikin Shah, Manali Shah, Rajiv Al-Raisi, Abdulatif

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: The corneal disease is a priority problem in Oman. We present patients with contact lens (CL) induced severe keratitis, admitted in the corneal unit of Al Nahdha Hospital in Oman. Methods: The study was conducted in 2005-2006. Ophthalmologists examined the eyes using slit lamp bio-microscope. Visual acuity was noted using Snellen’s distance vision chart. Specimens of corneal scraping and CLs were sent for culture and sensitivity tests. Patients with severe keratitis were admitted and treated with medicines. Corneal and visual statuses were noted at the time of discharge from hospital and after six weeks. Numbers, percentages and their 95% …

The Pattern Of Sensitisation To Inhalant Allergens In Omani Patients With Asthma, Allergic Rhinitis And Rhinoconjunctivitis, Salem H. Al-Tamemi, Azza N. Al-Shidhani, Rashid K. Jothi, Balaji, Omar A. Al-Rawas, Bazdawi M. Al-Riyami

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objective: Identification of relevant allergens that are prevalent in each environment which may have diagnostic and therapeutic implications in allergic diseases. This study aimed to identify the pattern of sensitisation to inhalant allergens in Omani patients with asthma, allergic rhinitis and rhinoconjunctivitis. Methods: The study was carried out during three consecutive years (2004-2006) at the allergy skin test laboratory of Sultan Qaboos University Hospital, Oman. Records of patients who had undergone an allergy skin prick test with a referring diagnosis of asthma, allergic rhinitis or rhinoconjunctivitis were reviewed. Two panels were used during the 3 years period. The frequencies of …