Digital Commons Network^™

The Cultural Contours Of Democracy: Indigenous Epistemologies Informing South African Citizenship, Patricia K. Kubow, Mina Min

Democracy & Education

Drawing upon the African concept of ubuntu, this article examines the epistemic orientations toward individual-society relations that inform democratic citizenship and identity in South Africa. Findings from focus group interviews conducted with 50 Xhosa teachers from all seven primary and intermediate schools in a township outside Cape Town depict the cultural contours of democracy and how the teachers reaffirm and question the dominant Western-oriented democratic narrative. Through ubuntu, defined as the virtue of being human premised upon respect, the Xhosa teachers interrupt the prevailing rights-and-responsibilities discourse to interpose a conception of democracy based on rights, responsibilities, and respect. …

Binding, Delivery, And Targeting: Improving Diagnostic And Therapeutic Technologies, Nelson R. Salgado

Open Access Theses

Advancements in diagnostics and therapeutics arise from acquiring new knowledge of biochemical and molecular processes. These breakthroughs can mean a quicker and more precise diagnosis, more efficient therapeutic treatments and a better quality of life for patients suffering from a disease. To better serve patients, scientists must find new and improved diagnostic tools and treatments. This starts by recognizing a shortcoming of the current methodologies or an unmet need in the medical field. The aim of the research of this thesis is to implement bionanotechnology strategies to generate new technologies to aid in the diagnosis and treatment of certain health …

Finite Element Simulation Of Pzt-Aided Interrogation Of Composite Laminates Exhibiting Damage, Amany Micheal, Yehia Bahei-El-Din

Centre for Advanced Materials

Piezoelectricity has proved effective in capturing changes in structures caused by various damage mechanisms. In one approach, piezoelectric wafer active sensors (PWAS) are mounted on the surface of the host structure and utilized as both actuators and sensors to interrogate the structure and monitor its health. This is achieved by subjecting the PWAS to a transient electric pulse and reading the resulting voltage. Changes in the stiffness of the substrate due to structural damage affect the response of the PWAS, which could be correlated to integrity of the structure. Applying this technique to fibrous composite laminates encounters particular challenges due …

Infographic: Student Health And Wellbeing, Jo Earp

Teacher infographics

The Australian Child Wellbeing Project surveyed 5400 students in Year 4, 6 and 8, asking them about their lives and wellbeing during this crucial period. Here are some of the findings.

Human Amplified Changes In Precipitation-Runoff Patterns In Large River Basins Of The Midwestern United States, Sara A. Kelly, Zeinab Takbiri, Patrick Belmont, Efi Foufoula-Georgiou

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Complete transformations of land cover from prairie, wetlands, and hardwood forests to homogenous row crop agriculture scattered with urban centers are thought to have caused profound changes in hydrology in the Upper Midwestern US since the 1800s. Continued intensification of land use and drainage practices combined with increased precipitation have caused many Midwest watersheds to exhibit higher streamflows today than in the historical past. While changes in crop type and farming practices have been well documented over the past few decades, changes in artificial surface (ditch) and subsurface (tile) drainage systems have not. This makes it difficult to quantitatively disentangle …

Multivariate Analysis Of Crime Data Using Spatial Outlier Detection Algorithm, Alok Kumar Singh

Journal of Statistics Applications & Probability

A spatial outlier is a spatially referenced object whose non spatial attribute value is significantly different from the corresponding values in its spatial neighbourhood. In other words, a spatial outlier is a local instability, or an extreme observation which deviates significantly in its spatial neighbourhood, but may not be in the entire data set. In this paper, we have applied the well-known mean algorithm for detecting spatial outliers in the multiple attributes state wise crime data and predicted which states need more attention from the government so as to reduce crimes there. We have also done regression analysis between the …

Characteristics And Products Of The Reductive Degradation Of 3-Nitro-1,2,4-Triazol-5-One (Nto) And 2,4-Dinitroanisole (Dnan) In A Fe-Cu Bimetal System, Elsie Kitcher, Washington Braida, Agamemnon Koutsospyros, Julius Pavlov, Tsang-Liang Su

Civil Engineering Faculty Publications

It has been shown previously that, under acidic conditions, 3-nitro-1,2,4-triazol-5-one (NTO) and 2,4-dinitroanisole (DNAN) degrade in the presence of iron/copper bimetal particles; the reactions can be modeled by pseudo-first-order kinetics. This study investigates the reaction mechanisms of the degradation processes under different conditions. Batch studies were conducted using laboratory-prepared solutions and an industrial insensitive munition-laden (IMX) wastewater. The influence of parameters such as initial pH of the solution, copper/iron (Fe-Cu) contact, and solid/liquid ratio were systematically investigated to assess their impact on the reaction kinetics. These parameters were subsequently incorporated into pseudo-first-order decomposition models for NTO and DNAN. The activation …

Research Support Study: Agriculture; University Of Connecticut Local Report, Carolyn V. Mills, Sharon Giovenale

Published Works

The local University of Connecticut report of a 19 institution ethnographic agriculture research support study done with Ithaka S+R.

Physician Executive Leadership: Assessing A Student-Led Approach To Healthcare Leadership Education In Medical School, Jessica W. Downing, Anuh Shah, Ronuk M. Modi, Jonathan S. Gordon, Lauren E. Grunenwald, Ms, J J. Veloski, Ms

Physician Executive Leadership

Poster presented at: 14th Annual AMA Research Symposium in Orlando, Fl

Objective:

To investigate the effectiveness of Physican Leadership, an open access, student-led healthcare leadership program at Sidney Kimmel Medical College, in preparing to face five key emerging topics in medical practice: healthcare economics, health policy, care and quality and safety, law and medicine, and patient experience.

The Problem: Gaps in Medical Education

Healthcare in the US continues to evolve, and topics such as health policy, health finance, and patient experience are not central to the practice of medicine.

However, the sheer volume of material students are required to learn …

Faculty Senate Minutes 2016-11-11, The University Of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Faculty Senate.

Faculty Senate Minutes

No abstract provided.

Lvhn Weekly, Lehigh Valley Health Network

LVHN Weekly

No abstract provided.

Radiation Oncology Quality And Safety Considerations In Low Resource Settings: A Medical Physics Perspective, Jacob Van Dyk, Ahmed Meghzifene

Oncology Publications

The last few years have seen a significant growth of interest in the global radiation therapy crisis. Various organizations have quantified the need and are providing aid in support of addressing the shortfalls existing in many low-to-middle income countries (LMICs). With the tremendous demand for new facilities, equipment and personnel, it is very important to recognize the quality and safety challenges and to address them directly. An examination of publications on quality and safety in radiation therapy indicates a consistency in a number of the recommendations; however, these authoritative reports were generally based on input from high-resourced contexts. Here we …

Personal Privacy: A Study To Determine Views On Privacy As It Relates To Technology Acceptance, Keith A. Wuotinen

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This descriptive correlation study sought to learn the relationships, if any, between a person’s concern for privacy and their acceptance of technology, in conjunction with the control factors of the Big Five personality factors. The study employed a modified Concern for Information Privacy (CFIP) scale and a modified Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) approach in conjunction with the Big Five personality factors using a 51-question survey.

The study surveyed students at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan, who were enrolled in the College of Technology. The results indicated that there was a significant positive relationship between the CFIP and the TAM. …

Photothermal Therapy Improves The Efficacy Of A Mek Inhibitor In Neurofibromatosis Type 1-Associated Malignant Peripheral Nerve Sheath Tumors., Elizabeth E. Sweeney, Rachel A. Burga, Chaoyang Li, Yuan Zhu, Rohan Fernandes

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

Malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNSTs) are aggressive tumors with low survival rates and the leading cause of death in neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) patients under 40 years old. Surgical resection is the standard of care for MPNSTs, but is often incomplete and can generate loss of function, necessitating the development of novel treatment methods for this patient population. Here, we describe a novel combination therapy comprising MEK inhibition and nanoparticle-based photothermal therapy (PTT) for MPNSTs. MEK inhibitors block activity driven by Ras, an oncogene constitutively activated in NF1-associated MPNSTs, while PTT serves as a minimally invasive method to ablate …

Dreams, Aspirations And Related Behavior In Children And Adolescents: Impacts On Child Developmental Outcomes, Florence K. Y. Wu, Daniel T. L. Shek, Hildie Leung

Pediatrics Faculty Publications

“Dreams”, “aspirations” and related constructs are traditionally regarded as facilitators of adolescent educational attainment in the Chinese context. Besides, there is an emergent need to widen the understanding of such constructs and their impact on children and adolescent developmental outcomes. This paper discusses the developmental outcomes of dreams, aspiration and related concepts based on a thorough review of the literature. Besides outlining the impacts of aspirations, dreams and related constructs on children and adolescents, features of related intervention programs, including themes of the intervention programs, program participants, methods of implementation and evaluation in both Western and Chinese contexts are also …

Caution Is Needed In Designing Pharmacy Coverage., Steven A Farmer, William B Borden

Health Policy and Management Faculty Publications

Introduction

Pharmaceuticals are a critical component of modern medical care and have contributed substantially to health and quality of life. They are also expensive, accounting for ≈10% of US health care costs.1 By the end of this year, Medicare beneficiaries are expected to spend $343 billion on medications, and drug spending is projected to grow faster than both the inpatient and outpatient care categories.2Commercial and public payers use a range of mechanisms to constrain these costs, including formularies, tiered copayments, and preauthorization. These coverage policies may have potent impacts on medication usage, and their effects deserve close …

Grandfather Playground Society, Jerry Zezima

Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop Blog

To steal a line from Groucho Marx, who is dead and can't sue me, I would never belong to any club that would have me as a member. But I made an exception on a recent weekday afternoon when I was indicted (sorry, I mean inducted) into a prestigious, exclusive and, I can proudly say, entirely dubious organization called the Grandfather Playground Society.

An Integrated Risk And Vulnerability Assessment Framework For Climate Change And Malaria Transmission In East Africa, Esther Achieng Onyango, Oz Sahin, Alex Awiti, Cordia Chu, Brendan Mackey

East Africa Institute

Background: Malaria is one of the key research concerns in climate change-health relationships. Numerous risk assessments and modelling studies provide evidence that the transmission range of malaria will expand with rising temperatures, adversely impacting on vulnerable communities in the East African highlands. While there exist multiple lines of evidence for the influence of climate change on malaria transmission, there is insufficient understanding of the complex and interdependent factors that determine the risk and vulnerability of human populations at the community level. Moreover, existing studies have had limited focus on the nature of the impacts on vulnerable communities or how well …

Jeffrey Vitter Inaugurated As Um Chancellor, Christina Steube

University of Mississippi News

Leader unveils several initiatives to move university 'from great to greater'

November 11, 2016 Finance & Facilities (F&F) Committee Meeting, Evp For Administration

Finance and Facilities Committee

Documents related to the November 11, 2016 Board of Regents' Finance and Facilities Committee Meeting. (Agenda, Minutes, eBook, Notice)

Is Group Therapy Democratic? Enduring Consequences Of Outward Bound’S Alignment With The Human Potential Movement, Jayson O. Seaman

Kinesiology

Franklin Vernon provided an example of how programs viewing themselves as “cultural islands” are in fact embedded within historical capitalist relations, through the discourses of self that they promote. In this response, I expand on Vernon’s argument to situate the quasi-therapeutic practices he identified in the history of the human potential movement, which effectively merged with Outward Bound starting in the 1960s and continues to define outdoor experiential education. Where Vernon sought the structural referents to different models of self, this response seeks their historical origins. The response concludes by linking Vernon’s argument with existing critiques and parallel efforts in …

Emu Today, November 11, 2016, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Today

No abstract provided.

Broad-Sense Heritability And Genetic Gain For Powdery Mildew Resistance In Multiple Pseudo-F2 Populations Of Flowering Dogwoods (Cornus Florida L.), Lipi Parikh, Margaret T. Mmbaga, Srikanth Kodati, Matthew W. Blair, Dafeng Hui, Geoffrey Meru

Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Faculty Research

Powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe pulchra is one of the most destructive diseases of flowering dogwoods (Cornus florida L.). Control of powdery mildew relies heavily on chemical fungicides. Developing genetic resistance and planting powdery mildew resistant cultivars is a desirable long term control strategy for the disease. Information on inheritance characteristics associated with powdery mildew resistance in C. florida is needed to facilitate development of breeding strategies for a new generation of powdery mildew resistant cultivars. The objectives of this study were to determine broad-sense heritability, genetic gain and minimum number of effective genes associated with resistance to powdery mildew …

Alum Offered Job Before Graduating From Family Nurse Practitioner Program, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

Anna Burgess (’16) of Ellenboro, N.C., went into the nursing field because of her interest in studying science, anatomy and the disease process. As she started her college search, the Hunt School of Nursing at Gardner-Webb University appealed to her for a couple of reasons. “I knew I wanted a bachelor’s degree,” she shared.

The Wooster Voice (Wooster, Oh), 2016-11-11, Wooster Voice Editors

The Voice: 2012-Present

The Story of the Week "Student Leaders visit campus for GCLA conference," talks about the Great Lakes Colleges Association's Students of Color Leadership conference being held at Wooster last weekend. In "Car fire ignites excitement on Beall Avenue," a residence's car catches flames. In "Bowling program connects students with Wooster community," talks about how a bowling club gathers at Scot Lanes. "Theatre & dance department presents Fall Dance Concert," talks about how the Fall Dance Concert is ready to be presented to the Wooster community. In "Students interview Wellness counselor candidates," the search for new wellness counselors begin.

Estimating Propensity Parameters Using Google Pagerank And Genetic Algorithms, David Murrugarra, Jacob Miller, Alex N. Mueller

Mathematics Faculty Publications

Stochastic Boolean networks, or more generally, stochastic discrete networks, are an important class of computational models for molecular interaction networks. The stochasticity stems from the updating schedule. Standard updating schedules include the synchronous update, where all the nodes are updated at the same time, and the asynchronous update where a random node is updated at each time step. The former produces a deterministic dynamics while the latter a stochastic dynamics. A more general stochastic setting considers propensity parameters for updating each node. Stochastic Discrete Dynamical Systems (SDDS) are a modeling framework that considers two propensity parameters for updating each node …

Hawks' Herald -- Nov. 11 , 2016, Roger Williams University

Hawk's Herald

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Identification Of Coping Profiles Relevant To Surrogate Decision Making In The Icu, Jorie M. Butler, Eliotte L. Hirshberg, Ramona O. Hopkins, Emily L. Wilson, James F. Orme, Sarah J. Beesley, Kathryn Kuttler, Samuel M. Brown

Faculty Publications

Objective The Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is a stressful environment for families of critically ill patients and these individuals are at risk to develop persistent psychological morbidity. Our study objective was to identify individual differences in coping with stress and information presentation preferences of respondents exposed to a simulated ICU experience.

Methods Participants were recruited from a university and two community populations. Participants completed questionnaires that measured demographic information and characteristics that may be relevant to an individual’s ICU experience. Quality of life was measured by the EQ5D, personality dimensions were examined with the abbreviated Big Five inventory, coping with …

Daily Eastern News: November 11, 2016, Eastern Illinois University

November

No abstract provided.

Tgf-Β1 Increases Resistance Of Nih/3t3 Fibroblasts Toward Apoptosis Through Activation Of Smad2/3 And Erk1/2 Pathways, Ulugbek Negmadjanov, Alisher Holmuhamedov, Larisa Emelyanova, Hao Xu, Farhan Rizvi, Gracious R. Ross, A. Jamil Tajik, Yang Shi, Ekhson Holmuhamedov, Arshad Jahangir

Journal of Patient-Centered Research and Reviews

Purpose

Excessive fibrosis has been suggested to result from persistence of fibroblasts in injured tissue due to impaired apoptosis, but signaling pathways are not fully defined.

Methods

Suppression of apoptotic cell death following transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1) exposure was studied using the culture of NIH/3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts. Caspase-3 activity, propidium iodide staining and annexin V binding induced by Fas-ligand (FasL) in NIH/3T3 fibroblasts in the absence and presence of TGF-β1 was determined, and relative contribution of signaling through Smad2/3 and noncanonical Erk1/2 and Akt pathways was dissected by assessing phosphorylation status of these kinases and caspase activity in the …