Digital Commons Network^™

Chairs Of Excellence Annual Report 2019, Tennessee. Higher Education Commission.

Academic Programs and Workforce Reports

No abstract provided.

The Struggle For Marriage Equality And The Need To Focus On Transgender Rights In Taiwan, M. Bob Kao

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

Marriage equality has been the primary focus of LGBTQ rights activists in Taiwan for the past decade. After numerous setbacks, same-sex marriage was finally legalized in May 2019 by the Taiwanese Constitutional Court's decision finding that limiting marriage under the Civil Code as solely between a man and a woman was unconstitutional on grounds that it violated the principles of equality and the freedom of marriage. Moving forward, while ensuring marriage equality is enforced in practice, LGBTQ rights activists in Taiwan must strategize their next steps, including combating other types of discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation and advocating …

Morphological Variability Within Dictyoneurum Californicum And Dictyoneurum Reticulatum Along A Wave Exposure Gradient On The Monterey Peninsula, Elizabeth G. Ramsay

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The ability of kelps to change the physical characteristics of their thallus in response to their environment can be both functionally and ecologically important to the individual and their local surroundings, especially relative to variability in wave exposure. For decades, Dictyoneurum reticulatum and Dictyoneurum californicum have been studied independently along the Monterey Peninsula, where there is a well-studied wave exposure gradient. Recent genetic work has shown that these two species are genetically indistinct from one another. However, there is a deficit in the knowledge and understanding of the morphological variety within Dictyoneurum and role that wave exposure may play in …

Reverse Zoonosis Of Pandemic A(H1n1)Pdm09 Influenza Viruses At The Swine/Human Interface, Daniel Gene Darnell

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

The 2009 pandemic influenza A(H1N1)pdm09 virus emerged from the swine population. Despite frequent zoonotic events, swine influenza viruses had not become established in humans previously and little is known about host-barriers which prevent swine influenza viruses from efficiently infecting humans. Thus, the emergence of the H1N1pdm09 viruses in humans and the subsequent reverse zoonoses back to swine offered an extremely valuable opportunity to expand current knowledge. We used our active swine farm surveillance platform in combination with viruses from the USDA surveillance program to look for evidence of interspecies transmission of H1N1pdm09 viruses in the US. We found phylogenetic evidence …

Assessing The Impact Of South Carolina’S Medicaid Adult Dental Policy On Dental Emergency Department Visits, Victor Kirksey

Theses and Dissertations

Since the implementation of the South Carolina Medicaid adult dental benefit, there has been limited public knowledge on how effective the policy has been in increasing access to dental services for Medicaid adults.The South Carolina Medicaid eligibility dataset, all payer emergency department dataset and, Medicaid dental claims dataset were examined from the period of December 2011- December 2017. Approximately 16% of enrollees had a dental visit since policy initiation. In the adjusted analysis, ED visits made by Medicaid enrollees during the second and first period before policy initiation were more likely to have a non-traumatic dental diagnosis, with respective adjusted …

Insider’S Misuse Detection: From Hidden Markov Model To Deep Learning, Ahmed Saaudi

Theses and Dissertations

Malicious insiders increasingly affect organizations by leaking classified data to unautho- rized entities. Detecting insiders’ misuses in computer systems is a challenging problem. In this dissertation, we propose two approaches to detect such threats: a probabilistic graph- ical model-based approach and a deep learning-based approach. We investigate the logs of computer-based activities to discover patterns of misuse. We model user’s behaviors as sequences of computer-based events.

For our probabilistic graphical model-based approach, we propose an unsupervised model for insider’s misuse detection. That is, we develop Stochastic Gradient Descent method to learn Hidden Markov Models (SGD-HMM) with the goal of analyzing …

Dietary Advanced Glycation End-Products (Ages) And Breast Cancer Risk And Survival, Omonefe Opeyemi Omofuma

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction: Advanced glycation end-products (AGEs) are implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic diseases including cancer. AGEs are produced endogenously and are also consumed from foods. High amounts of AGEs are found in animal products and processed foods, and AGE formation is accelerated during cooking at high temperatures. Using data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO), we assigned and quantified NƐ-carboxymethyl-lysine (CML)-AGE content in food and investigated the association between dietary AGE intake and breast cancer (BrCa) risk. We assessed whether the risk was modified by race/ethnicity, obesity status, fruit and vegetable intake, BrCa invasiveness …

Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis As A Biomolecular Communication Network For The Internet Of Bio-Nanothings, Ian F. Akyildiz, Jiande Chen, Maysam Ghovanloo, Ulkuhan Guler, Tevhide Ozkaya-Ahmadov, Massimiliano Pierobon, A Faith Sarioglu, Bige D. Unluturk

School of Computing: Faculty Publications

This article presents fundamental challenges in the development of a self-sustainable and biocompatible network infrastructure to interconnect the next-generation electrical and biological wearable and implantable devices, i.e., the Internet of Bio-NanoThings. The direct contact of IoBNT devices with the human body, where the cells naturally communicate and organize into networks, suggests the possibility to exploit these biological communications for the device-to-device interconnection. The aim of this work is to investigate minimally invasive, heterogeneous, and externally accessible electrical/molecular communication channels to transmit information between these devices through the Microbiome-Gut-Brain Axis (MGBA), composed of the gut microbial community, the gut tissues, the …

The Vaccinia Virus (Vacv) B1 And Cellular Vrk2 Kinases Promote Vacv Replication Factory Formation Through Phosphorylation-Dependent Inhibition Of Vacv B12, Amber B. Rico, Zhigang Wang, Annabel T. Olson, Alexandria C. Linville, Brianna L. Bullard, Eric A. Weaver, Clinton Jones, Matthew S. Wiebea

Nebraska Center for Virology: Faculty Publications

Comparative examination of viral and host protein homologs reveals novel mechanisms governing downstream signaling effectors of both cellular and viral origin. The vaccinia virus B1 protein kinase is involved in promoting multiple facets of the virus life cycle and is a homolog of three conserved cellular enzymes called vaccinia virus-related kinases (VRKs). Recent evidence indicates that B1 and VRK2 mediate a common pathway that is largely uncharacterized but appears independent of previous VRK substrates. Interestingly, separate studies described a novel role for B1 in inhibiting vaccinia virus protein B12, which otherwise impedes an early event in the viral lifecycle. Herein, …

Application Strategy For An Anthraquinonebased Repellent And The Protection Of Soybeans From Canada Goose Depredation, Scott J. Werner, Matthew Gottlob, Charles D. Dieter, Joshua D. Stafford

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Agricultural crops can sustain extensive damage caused by Canada geese (Branta canadensis) when these crops are planted near wetlands or brood-rearing sites. From 2000 to 2015, South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks spent >$5.6 million to manage damages caused by Canada geese to agricultural crops (primarily soybeans) in South Dakota, USA. For the purpose of developing a repellent application strategy for nonlethal goose damage management, we comparatively evaluated the width of anthraquinone applications (i.e., 9.4 L Flight Control® Plus goose repellent/ha [active ingredient: 50% 9,10-anthraquinone] at 0–36 m versus 0–73 m perpendicular to the edge of wetlands in 2014), the …

A Review Of Rat Lungworm Infection And Recent Data On Its Definitive Hosts In Hawaii, Chris Niebuhr, Susan I. Jarvi, Shane R. Siers

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) is a zoonotic nematode that causes rat lungworm disease (angiostrongyliasis), a potentially debilitating form of meningitis, in humans worldwide. The definitive hosts for rat lungworm are primarily members of the genus Rattus, with gastropods as intermediate hosts. This parasite has emerged as an important public health concern in the United States, especially in Hawaii, where the number of human cases has increased in the last decade. Here we discuss the current knowledge of the rat lungworm, including information on the life cycle and host species, as well as updates on known infection levels. Three species of …

Estimating Waterbird Abundance On Catfish Aquaculture Ponds Using An Unmanned Aerial System, Paul C. Burr, Sathishkumar Samiappan, Lee A. Hathcock, Robert J. Moorhead, Brian S. Dorr

United States Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

In this study, we examined the use of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) to monitor fish-eating birds on catfish (Ictalurus spp.) aquaculture facilities in Mississippi, USA. We tested 2 automated computer algorithms to identify bird species using mosaicked imagery taken from a UAS platform. One algorithm identified birds based on color alone (color segmentation), and the other algorithm used shape recognition (template matching), and the results of each algorithm were compared directly to manual counts of the same imagery. We captured digital imagery of great egrets (Ardea alba), great blue herons (A. herodias), and doublecrested cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus) on aquaculture …

Social Media And Creativity: The Moderating Role Of Executive Functions, Joanne Qin Ying Tan

Dissertations and Theses Collection (Open Access)

Despite the potential for social media to promote creative potential, little is known about this direct relation and the process by which engagement with social media affects the production of creative ideas. This study puts forth a novel application of the Dual-Pathway to Creativity Model (DPCM) to understand the social media-creativity link. The results showed that social media can be used for normative (checking and browsing), interactive (“liking”), and generative (posting photos) purposes. After controlling for pertinent covariates, only normative use was negatively related to the flexibility pathway. When each aspect of executive functions (updating, inhibition, and shifting) was examined …

Mother-To-Mother: Evaluation Of The Sustainability Of A Peer Model To Communicate Nutrition Messages In Mozambique, Disa Lubker Cornish, Halkeno Tura, Susan Roberts-Dobie

Faculty Publications

Background: Over the past twenty-five years, Africa had experienced the smallest relative decrease of child undernutrition in any world region. Many aid organizations were redirecting efforts and resources to supporting community - based initiatives such as Community Health Work (CHW). Aim / Objectives: While peer models showed short term hope, there was limited long-term evidence. The study expounded upon an evaluation on a health promotion program using the Care Group Model. The objective of this research was to examine the sustainability of health gains associated with the use of CHWs via a Care Group Model as a health promotion strategy …

Wandering Woodpeckers: Foray Behavior In A Social Bird, Sahas Barve, Natasha D. G. Hagemeyer, Russell E. Winter, Samuel D. Chamberlain, Walter D. Koenig, David W. Winkler, Eric L. Walters

Biological Sciences Faculty Publications

In many cooperatively breeding taxa, nonbreeding subordinates, or helpers, use extra-territorial forays to discover dispersal opportunities. Such forays are considered energetically costly and foraying birds face aggression from conspecific members of the territories they visit. In contrast, breeders in cooperatively breeding taxa are expected to foray seldomly. We used novel tracking technologies to follow 62 acorn woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus), a cooperatively breeding bird, to study extra-territorial foray behavior. Both helpers and breeders engaged in extra-territorial forays routinely and often several times per day. Helpers forayed earlier in the day and invested more time when foraying to high-quality territories. …

Virtual Reality And Oceanography: Overview, Applications, And Perspective, Noah L. Walcutt, Benjamin Knörlein, Tom Sgouros, Ivona Cetinić, Melissa M. Omand

Graduate School of Oceanography Faculty Publications

With the ongoing, exponential increase in ocean data from autonomous platforms, satellites, models, and in particular, the growing field of quantitative imaging, there arises a need for scalable and cost-efficient visualization tools to interpret these large volumes of data. With the recent proliferation of consumer grade head-mounted displays, the emerging field of virtual reality (VR) has demonstrated its benefit in numerous disciplines, ranging from medicine to archeology. However, these benefits have not received as much attention in the ocean sciences. Here, we summarize some of the ways that virtual reality has been applied to this field. We highlight a few …

Use Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Among People With Cardiovascular Diseases In Southeast Georgia, Chimuanya Okoli, Stacy Carswell, Sewuese Akuse, Kelly Sullivan

Journal of the Georgia Public Health Association

Background: Heart disease is a leading cause of death in the United States. Proper treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease is essential and can be challenged by non-disclosed use of complementary or alternative treatments. The objective of this study was to assess which demographics were associated with complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) use and if education affects the use of CAM.

Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a stratified random sample of residents of Southeastern Georgia. Sampling was stratified by urban/rural residence in order to reach sufficient rural residents. Participants that indicated they had been diagnosed with hypertension or …

Three Dimensional Digital Alloying With Reactive Metal Inks, Chaitanya G. Mahajan

Theses

3D printing of multifunctional components using two or more materials is a rapidly growing area of research. Metallic alloy inks have been used with various 3D printing techniques to create functional components such as antennas, inductors, resistors, and biocompatible implants. Most of these printing techniques use premixed metallic alloy inks or nanoalloy particles with a fixed composition to fabricate the functional part. Since the properties of alloys vary with changes in the elemental composition, a printing process which could digitally dispense alloy inks having specific desired compositions would enable different functionalities and be highly desirable.

Using the binary copper-nickel system …

Scientific Mapping Of “Social Information” Field In Web Of Science Database: A Bibliometric Study, Farideh Osareh, Ismael Mostafavi, Mahdiyeh Khazaneha

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Introduction: Access to social information focuses on those technologies that put the users in interaction with the information, to provide the users more accessibility to the information.

Objective: The analysis of intellectual structure of the published studies of social information field in the Web of Science (WoS) database according to bibliometric analysis and centrality indicators in WoS database in the period 1983 to 2018, is done through examining the effectiveness and impressionability of this field to recognize its studied fields and effective factors.

Methodology: method of the research was descriptive that used bibliometric approaches based on the scientific data in …

Molecular Biogeography And Host Relations Of A Parasitoid Fly, David A. Gray, Henry D. Kunerth, Marlene Zuk, William H. Cade, Susan L. Balenger

Faculty and Student Publications

© 2019 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. Successful geographic range expansion by parasites and parasitoids may also require host range expansion. Thus, the evolutionary advantages of host specialization may trade off against the ability to exploit new host species encountered in new geographic regions. Here, we use molecular techniques and confirmed host records to examine biogeography, population divergence, and host flexibility of the parasitoid fly, Ormia ochracea (Bigot). Gravid females of this fly find their cricket hosts acoustically by eavesdropping on male cricket calling songs; these songs vary greatly among the known host …

Dying While Trans: A Critical Analysis Of Respect After Death Laws, Kara Nowakowski

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note critiques Respect After Death (RAD) laws, which aim to ensure that transgender and gender non-conforming (TGNC) individuals' gender identities are respected on death certificates and in funeral proceedings. While these laws represent progress, they fail to address systemic barriers faced by TGNC individuals, such as limited access to legal and medical transition resources, leaving many without the necessary documentation to secure their rights even in death. The note proposes a more comprehensive legislative solution for New York State to better protect TGNC individuals' bodily autonomy after death.

Getting Faculty Buy-In For Open Educational Resources, Kelly Smith

EKU Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The exorbitant costs of textbooks are hindering college student success. The open educational resource movement is disrupting the for-profit model and offering a quality alternative for faculty and students. But skepticism remains among some faculty. How can libraries leverage our relationships with faculty to help students get the information they need to succeed in their classes?

Jetstream Volume 3 Issues 1, Nancy Anzalone, David Nochimson, Tabitha Ochtera Mlis, Christopher Van Wickler, Nikki Palumbo, Judy Drescher, Tim Hasin, Susan Bloom

JETstream: Library Newsletter

It was the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus that once said: "the only thing that is constant is change.” Over the last several years, we have certainly witnessed many exciting changes here at Molloy and the library is no exception. At the JET Library we are constantly evolving and transforming to best provide the Molloy community with premium resources, high-level services and accommodating spaces. Although the library lost a stack room this past summer with recent campus renovations, we did gain some space when we repurposed one of our stack rooms into a much needed and highly requested by students, Quiet …

Impact Of Xenoestrogens On Reproductive Health, Emma Curtis

Senior Honors Theses

Xenoestrogens such as phthalates, parabens, bisphenol A, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, and dioxins are compounds found in ordinary substances such as detergents, cosmetics, plastics, pesticides and herbicides (Sonnenschein & Soto, 1998). Estrogen is a vital component in the development of the male and female reproductive system. However, xenoestrogens mimic endogenous estrogenic signaling and exhibit endocrine disrupting properties that may cause long-lasting repercussions on human reproductive health. Xenoestrogen bind to both intracellular and membrane-bound estrogen receptors resulting in an inappropriate activation of tissue-specific estrogenic responses, leading to low sperm count in males and precocious puberty and polycystic ovarian syndrome in females (Shanle & Xu, …

Solution Focused Therapy For Trauma Survivors: A Review Of The Outcome Literature, Ray Eads, Mo Yee Lee

Journal of Solution Focused Practices

Directly confronting and processing past trauma can be distressing for clients and may contribute to the high dropout rates among leading trauma treatments. Solution-focused therapy (SFT) primarily focuses on the present and future and has been proposed as a strengths-based alternative for treating trauma survivors. This review systematically evaluated the existing outcome literature for the effectiveness of SFT for trauma survivors. Multiple databases were searched using search terms to identify results for solution-focused therapy as a treatment for trauma survivors. Eligible studies included experimental, quasi-experimental, or pre-post designs that reported outcome measures following SFT-based treatment. A total of five studies …

Unlv Magazine, Marta Meana, Stacy Willis, Jason Scavone, Sean Kennedy, Kristin Rattini, Tony Allen, Matt Jacob

UNLV Magazine

No abstract provided.

The Effects Of Historical Alcohol Use On Neuropsychological Functioning In Older Adults Following A Traumatic Brain Injury, Ryan Sever

Dissertations

The present study aimed to determine the effects of alcohol abuse and dependence in long term functioning of older adults who have experienced a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. The research question being answered in the current study was if a history of alcohol abuse or dependence would worsen neuropsychological functioning in older adults who experienced at least one moderate to severe traumatic brain injury. Participants of the study were selected from the more extensive database provided by the Brain Aging in Vietnam War Veterans (DOD-ADNI) database. All participants were Vietnam War veterans between the ages of 61 and …

Leymah Gbowee And The Army Of Women In White, Alexis Steele Hackenberg

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This paper describes the founding of peace activist Leymah Gbowee’s Liberia Mass Action for Peace (LMAP) movement that helped to end the Second Liberian Civil War. It provides a biographical account of the life experiences that were crucial for Gbowee to advocate for peace and found the movement. The paper also compares the LMAP movement with the more recent #MeToo movement and analyzes Gbowee’s personal critiques of #MeToo.

Crafting Identity: Language, Gender, And The Internet In The Arab World, Connor C. Rouillier

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

Smc Fact Book 2019, Saint Mary's College Of California

SMC Fact Book

No abstract provided.