Digital Commons Network^™

Invisible Inequalities: Persistent Health Threats In The Urban Built Environment, Kara M. Schlichting, Melanie A. Kiechle

Publications and Research

A city’s materiality creates health and illness. We both write about air – its movement and its temperature – as it affects human bodies. We offer two topics as case studies, heat and ventilation, and how they exacerbate the effects of each other, to illustrate the long history of seemingly new challenges posed by the novel coronavirus. The environmental inequalities of heat exposure and access to fresh air underscore that cities can only be considered ‘low impact’ on the environment from a top-down, large-scale approach. In writing about air and heat, we direct attention to the feel and the bodily …

Open Data, Collaborative Working Platforms, And Interdisciplinary Collaboration: Building An Early Career Scientist Community Of Practice To Leverage Ocean Observatories Initiative Data To Address Critical Questions In Marine Science, Robert M. Levine, Kristen E. Fogaren, Johna E. Rudzin, Christopher J. Russoniello, Dax C. Soule, Justine M. Whitaker

Publications and Research

Ocean observing systems are well-recognized as platforms for long-term monitoring of near-shore and remote locations in the global ocean. High-quality observatory data is freely available and accessible to all members of the global oceanographic community—a democratization of data that is particularly useful for early career scientists (ECS), enabling ECS to conduct research independent of traditional funding models or access to laboratory and field equipment. The concurrent collection of distinct data types with relevance for oceanographic disciplines including physics, chemistry, biology, and geology yields a unique incubator for cutting-edge, timely, interdisciplinary research. These data are both an opportunity and an incentive …

Business Associations, Stuart E. Walker

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys noteworthy decisions involving corporations and limited liability companies issued by the Georgia Court of Appeals between June 1, 2019, and May 31, 2020, summarizes an amendment to the Georgia Business Corporation Code and an amendment to the Georgia Nonprofit Corporation Code passed during the 2020 session of the General Assembly, and says a brief word about the status of the new State-wide Business Court.

As far as appellate decisions are concerned, this was a somewhat thin survey period in the area of business associations. But the handful of cases treated here have some lessons to teach the …

Evidence, John E. Hall Jr., W. Scott Henwood, Leesa Guarnotta

Mercer Law Review

Even after the seventh year since the implementation of Georgia’s new Evidence Code, Georgia’s evidence rules continue to evolve as appellate courts face new issues and delve into more nuanced areas of the rules. This Article details some of this evolution of the new Georgia Evidence Code, Official Code of Georgia Annotated (O.C.G.A.) Title 24, by addressing developments of Georgia's evidence rules from the period of June 1, 2019, through May 31, 2020. Specifically, this Article addresses (1) limitations on the attorney‑client privilege; (2) admissibility of witness testimony as it relates to late‑identified witnesses, witness competency, and co‑conspirator statements; (3) …

Wills, Trusts, Guardianships, And Fiduciary Administration, Mary F. Radford

Mercer Law Review

This Article describes significant cases decided by the Georgia Court of Appeals during the period of June 1, 2020, through May 31, 2019, that pertain to Georgia fiduciary law and estate planning. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Georgia General Assembly suspended its 2020 session and thus no significant legislation was enacted during the reporting period. This report does however discuss relevant legislation that was pending during the reporting period and describes the Governor’s Order issued in April 2020 that permitted remote notarization and witnessing of estate planning documents during the pandemic.

Workers' Compensation, H. Michael Bagley, J. Benson Ward

Mercer Law Review

The 2019–2020 survey period again featured decisions from the Georgia Court of Appeals over an interesting array of workers’ compensation topics including: robberies, misrepresentations, calculation disputes, and various potential employment situations. There was no legislation of significance during the period.

History Uprooted: Georgia Applies Apportionment To Strict Liability Claims, Carey Sartain

Mercer Law Review

Adrienne Johns had experience riding motorcycles for over 20 years when in 2013, total failure of the front brake on his 2006 Suzuki GSX-R1000 caused him to hit a curb, throwing him from his bike and knocking him unconscious. The accident resulted in Johns being hospitalized for over two months following spinal fusion surgery and surgery to repair his hand. Subsequent to the accident, he discovered that there had been a recall notice from Suzuki related to his bike model’s front brake. At trial, Johns proved that a design defect in the front brake had ultimately caused the brake to …

Minutes, Curriculum Committee Meeting, Tuesday, December 1, 2020, Curriculum Committee

Curriculum Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

Incidence Of Antibiotic Resistance And Plasmid Content In Freshwater Beach Sand And Water And Clinical Urinary Tract Infection Escherichia Coli Isolates, Robert F. White

Biology Theses

Antibiotic-resistant (AR) bacteria have been found in environmental ecosystems including beach sand and water, and pose a serious threat to the mitigation of human and animal disease. The presence of antibiotic residues in the environment, fueled by wastewater effluent and agricultural runoff, may produce selective pressure on introduced microbes such as Escherichia coli, leading to the production of AR populations. This study characterized and compared the antibiotic resistance patterns and plasmid content of E. coli isolated from a freshwater beach and clinical urinary tract infection (UTI) samples. A higher level of antibiotic resistance was expected in clinical (UTI) Escherichia coli …

Reducing Mowing Requirements In Home Lawn And Golf Course Turfgrass, Mark A. Keck

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Turfgrass systems are routinely managed by frequent mowing to increase aesthetics and function. Mowing is resource intensive with a high labor and energy demand. Reducing the number of mowings events in a growing season will decrease the labor and energy but may reduce quality as well. Previous work has looked at reducing mowing by changing the frequency and by using a plant growth regulator (PGR). Limited information is available about how to reduce mowing while maintaining acceptable quality. We looked at two different management practices to reduce mowing and maintain quality. The first study evaluated seven different mowing frequencies at …

Harassment And Capabilities: Discrimination And Liability In Wetzel V Glen St. Andrew Living Community, Llc, Martha Craven Nussbaum

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reverse Legal Transplants, Sital Kalantry

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insect Chemical Ecology: Chemically Mediated Interactions And Novel Applications In Agriculture, Crispus M. Mbaluto, Pascal M. Ayelo, Alexandra G. Duffy, Anna L. Erdei, Anaїs K. Tallon, Siyang Xia, Gabriela Caballero-Vidal, Urban Spitaler, Magdolna O. Szelényi, Gonçalo A. Duarte, William B. Walker, Paul G. Becher

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Insect chemical ecology (ICE) evolved as a discipline concerned with plant–insect interactions, and also with a strong focus on intraspecific pheromone-mediated communication. Progress in this field has rendered a more complete picture of how insects exploit chemical information in their surroundings in order to survive and navigate their world successfully. Simultaneously, this progress has prompted new research questions about the evolution of insect chemosensation and related ecological adaptations, molecular mechanisms that mediate commonly observed behaviors, and the consequences of chemically mediated interactions in different ecosystems. Themed meetings, workshops, and summer schools are ideal platforms for discussing scientific advancements as well …

Making It To The Phd: Gender And Student Performance In Sub-Saharan Africa, Monica Fisher, Violet Nyabaro, Ruth Mendum, Moses Osiru

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Women's underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) impedes progress in solving Africa's complex development problems. As in other regions, women's participation in STEM drops progressively moving up the education and career ladder, with women currently constituting 30% of Africa's STEM researchers. This study elucidates gender-based differences in PhD performance using new survey data from 227 alumni of STEM PhD programs in 17 African countries. We find that, compared to their male counterparts, sampled women had about one less paper accepted for publication during their doctoral studies and took about half a year longer to finish their PhD training. …

Shared Volatile Organic Compounds Between Camel Metabolic Products Elicits Strong Stomoxys Calcitrans Attraction, Merid Negash Getahun, Peter Ahuya, John Ngiela, Abel Orone, Daniel Masiga, Baldwyn Torto

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

The sources of animal odours are highly diverse, yet their ecological importance, in host–vector communication, remains unexplored. Here, using the camel (host)–Stomoxys calcitrans (vector) interaction, we collected and analyzed the Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) of camels from four of its different odour sources: breath, body (skin), urine, and dung. On non-metric model multivariate analyses of VOCs we show that substantial chemo-diversity exists between metabolic products associated with an individual camel. VOCs from the four metabolic products were distinct and widely segregated. Next, we show electrophysiologically, that VOCs shared between metabolic products activated more Olfactory Sensory Neurons (OSNs) and elicited strong …

Author Correction: Mitochondrial Genetic Variation Reveals Phylogeographic Structure And Cryptic Diversity In Trioza Erytreae (Scientific Reports, (2020), 10, 1, (8893), 10.1038/S41598-020-65880-7), Inusa Ajene, Fathiya M. Khamis, Gerhard Pietersen, Barbara Van Asch

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Citronellal Perception And Transmission By Anopheles Gambiae S.S. (Diptera: Culicidae) Females, Weijian Wu, Shanshan Li, Min Yang, Yongwen Lin, Kaibin Zheng, Komivi Senyo Akutse

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Anopheles gambiae s.s. is a key vector of Plasmodium parasites. Repellents, which may be a promising alternative to pesticides used to control malaria mosquitoes. Although citronellal is a known mosquito repellent, its repellency characteristics are largely unknown. Determining the specific odorant-binding proteins (OBPs) and odorant receptors (ORs) that detect and transfer the citronellal molecule in A. gambiae s.s. will help to define the mode of action of this compound. In this research, we assessed the repellent activity of citronellal in A. gambiae s.s. using a Y-tube olfactory meter, screened candidate citronellal-binding OBPs and ORs using reverse molecular docking, clarified the …

A Way To Track Governments’ Response And People’S Mobility Changes In Response To Covid-19 Pandemic, Dongshan Zhu, Shiva Raj Mishra, Salim S. Virani

Office of the Provost

No abstract provided.

Endophytic Fungi Protect Tomato And Nightshade Plants Against Tuta Absoluta (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae) Through A Hidden Friendship And Cryptic Battle, Ayaovi Agbessenou, Komivi S. Akutse, Abdullahi A. Yusuf, Sunday Ekesi, Sevgan Subramanian, Fathiya M. Khamis

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Endophytic fungi live within plant tissues without causing any harm to the host, promote its growth, and induce systemic resistance against pests and diseases. To mitigate the challenging concealed feeding behavior of immature stages of Tuta absoluta in both tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and nightshade (Solanum scabrum) host plants, 15 fungal isolates were assessed for their endophytic and insecticidal properties. Twelve isolates were endophytic to both host plants with varied colonization rates. Host plants endophytically-colonized by Trichoderma asperellum M2RT4, Beauveria bassiana ICIPE 706 and Hypocrea lixii F3ST1 outperformed all the other isolates in reducing significantly the number of eggs laid, mines …

Characterization Of Mycotoxins From Entomopathogenic Fungi (Cordyceps Fumosorosea) And Their Toxic Effects To The Development Of Asian Citrus Psyllid Reared On Healthy And Diseased Citrus Plants, Muhammad Qasim, Saif Ul Islam, Waqar Islam, Ali Noman, Khalid Ali Khan, Muhammad Hafeez, Dilbar Hussain, Chandra Kanta Dash, Bamisope Steve Bamisile, Komivi Senyo Akutse, Muhammad Rizwan, Muhammad Shahid Nisar, Saad Jan, Liande Wang

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) produce multiple mycotoxins, which play an essential role in improving fungal pathogenesis and virulence. To characterize various mycotoxins from the crude methanol extract of Cordyceps fumosorosea, a major EPF against various insect pests, we performed ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometer (UPLC-QTOF MS) technique, and all compounds were identified through molecular mass and formulae. Bassianolide was assessed against the nymphs and adults of Diaphorina citri reared on healthy and Huánglóngbìng (HLB)-diseased Citrus spp. Plants under laboratory conditions. Overall, 17 compounds were identified from the fungal extract and categorized into three groups, i.e. …

Reconciling Yield Gains In Agronomic Trials With Returns Under African Smallholder Conditions, Rachid Laajaj, Karen Macours, Cargele Masso, Moses Thuita, Bernard Vanlauwe

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Increased adoption of improved agricultural technologies is considered an essential step to address global poverty and hunger, and agronomic trials suggest intensification in developing countries could result in large yield gains. Yet the promise of new technologies does not always carry over from trials to real-life conditions, and diffusion of many technologies remains limited. We show how parcel and farmer selection, together with behavioural responses in agronomic trials, can explain why yield gain estimates from trials may differ from the yield gains of smallholders using the same inputs under real-life conditions. We provide quantitative evidence by exploiting variation in farmer …

Mitochondrial Genetic Variation Reveals Phylogeographic Structure And Cryptic Diversity In Trioza Erytreae, Inusa Ajene, Gerhard Pietersen, Barbara Van Asch

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Trioza erytreae is the main vector for ‘Candidatus Liberibacter africanus’, the causative agent of African Citrus Greening disease. The insect is widespread in Africa, and has recently disseminated to Southwestern Europe. This study aimed at generating reference mitogenome sequences for T. erytreae, as a background for future genetic diversity surveys. Complete mitochondrial sequences of three specimens collected in Ethiopia, Uganda and South Africa were recovered using Ion Torrent technology. The mitogenomes of T. erytreae from Uganda and Ethiopia were highly similar, and distinct from that found in South Africa. The phylogeographic structure of T. erytreae was assessed using genetic clustering …

Following The Money: The Aca’S Fiscal-Political Economy And Lessons For Future Health Care Reform, William M. Sage, Timothy M. Westmoreland

Faculty Scholarship

It is no exaggeration to say that American health policy is frequently subordinated to budgetary policies and procedures. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was undeniably ambitious, reaching health care services and underlying health as well as health insurance. Yet fiscal politics determined the ACA’s design and guided its implementation, as well as sometimes assisting and sometimes constraining efforts to repeal or replace it. In particular, the ACA’s vulnerability to litigation has been the price its drafters paid in exchange for fiscal-political acceptability. Future health care reformers should consider whether the nation is well served by perpetuating such an artificial relationship …

The Effect Of In-Situ Activated Carbon On Biodegradation Of Tce, Sreedhar Harigovind

All Theses

Contaminants pose a serious concern due to their relative ease of transport through groundwater, where they can accumulate and become a plume (i.e. dissolved contaminants that move with groundwater flow). Chlorinated solvents are contaminants of concern due to their potential for causing cancer, organ disease, and other ailments. Due to improper storage and disposal, these solvents find themselves in groundwater reserves, and thus warrant the need for finding treatment options to remove them from the water. In-situ biodegradation of TCE is a respiratory process consisting of electron donors, acceptors, and microorganisms that are either native or introduced into the system. …

Using Environmental Dna And Macroinvertebrate Biotic Integrity To Inform Conservation Efforts For The Carolina Heelsplitter, Benjamin Schmidt

All Theses

The Carolina Heelsplitter (Lasmigona decorata) is a federally endangered freshwater mussel endemic to North and South Carolina, USA. The species has experienced dramatic range-wide declines as a result of habitat fragmentation and water quality deterioration, and the remaining populations are isolated and extremely small. Conservation efforts for the Carolina Heelsplitter have been limited by a lack of knowledge regarding distribution, life history traits, and habitat requirements. Our objectives during this project were to 1. Evaluate the efficacy of an environmental DNA (eDNA) assay to detect the Carolina Heelsplitter and a known host fish, the Bluehead Chub, from stream …

Cover Crop Performance And Potential Benefits To Wildlife In The Southern Piedmont Of South Carolina, Sean Carlisle Byrd

All Theses

The Southern Piedmont region of South Carolina has been historically a mixture of forests, grasslands, and agroecosystems. While forests and grasslands have declined due to development, agroecosystems may be able to provide habitat for summer bird species in the region. Cover cropping is a practice in conservation agriculture that can conserve and improve soil resources, yet adoption is low in the Southeast due to long cash crop growing seasons and a lack of technical knowledge on regionally appropriate cover crops. Two field experiments were conducted in 2019 on a sandy loam in Pendleton, South Carolina to determine summer cover crop …

Assessing The Markers Of Agency In Successful Recovery Journeys: A Constructionist Narrative Of Participants In An Assertive Community Engagement Modality, Sarah Elizabeth Goss

All Theses

The Faces and Voices of Recovery program in Greenville, South Carolina is part of a national recovery advocacy movement utilizing a harm-reduction framework. This study aims to identify how individual agency is accounted for in this harm reduction-based recovery group and by extension, the recovery process. Spanning a four-month discourse collection process, and incorporating partial and complete observations of participants this study identifies four tiers of participation and engagement (1) high engagement successful recovery (2) low engagement successful recovery (3) high engagement struggling recovery and (4) low engagement struggling recovery/disengaged.

An Appetite For The Tasteless: An Evaluation Of Off-Color Humor In Adult Animations And Video Games, Presented Through A Proposed Interactive Narrative Via A Procedurally Generated Material Library, Mark William Keller

All Theses

Off-color humor has propelled adult animation into its Golden Age. The success of this genre has prompted media studios to begin developing original series for subscription video-on-demand services. The technology used for these over the top (OTT) streaming services have improved to the point that providers have begun developing cloud-based gaming. These improvements, along with developments in rendering systems, have made it possible to create interactive media across both video and gaming platforms using similar assets. This document will detail the successes of adult animation and the proposal for more interactive narrative media within this category. Accompanying the text will …

Predictable Punishments, Brian Galle, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

Economic analyses of both crime and regulation writ large suggest that the subjective cost or value of incentives is critical to their effectiveness. But reliable information about subjective valuation is scarce, as those who are punished have little reason to report honestly. Modern “big data” techniques promise to overcome this information shortfall but perhaps at the cost of individual privacy and the autonomy that privacy’s shield provides.

This Article argues that regulators can and should instead rely on methods that remain accurate even in the face of limited information. Building on a formal model we present elsewhere, we show that …

Safety, Crisis, And Criminal Law, Jenny E. Carroll

Faculty Scholarship

Concepts of safety and prevention of danger pervade the criminal law canon. Arizona is no exception. The state’s criminal systems pivot around central and entwined goals of protecting public safety and preventing danger. The state constitution permits pretrial detention both for the most serious offenses and when no other condition of release will adequately protect the community from the danger the accused’s freedom might pose. The rules of criminal procedure and the criminal code designate some offenses and actors “dangerous” and urge judges to weigh not only the accused’s risk of flight, but also his future dangerousness in making decisions …