Digital Commons Network^™

Utilization Of Blood Culture In South Asia For The Diagnosis And Treatment Of Febrile Illness, Caitlin Hemlock, Stephen P. Luby, Shampa Saha, Farah Naz Qamar, Jason R. Andrews, Samir K. Saha, Dipesh Tamrakar, Kashmira Date, Ashley T. Longley, Denise O. Garrett, Isaac I. Bogoch

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Blood culture is the current standard for diagnosing bacteremic illnesses, yet it is not clear how physicians in many low- and middle-income countries utilize blood culture for diagnostic purposes and to inform treatment decisions.
Methods: We screened suspected enteric fever cases from 6 hospitals in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan, and enrolled patients if blood culture was prescribed by the treating physician. We used generalized additive regression models to analyze the probability of receiving blood culture by age, and linear regression models to analyze changes by month to the proportion of febrile cases prescribed a blood culture compared with the …

Illness Severity And Outcomes Among Enteric Fever Cases From Bangladesh, Nepal, And Pakistan: Data From The Surveillance For Enteric Fever In Asia Project, 2016-2019, Ashley T. Longley, Caitlin Hemlock, Kashmira Date, Stephen P. Luby, Jason R. Andrews, Samir K. Saha, Isaac I. Bogoch, Mohammad Tahir Yousafzai, Denise O. Garrett, Farah Naz Qamar

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Enteric fever can lead to prolonged hospital stays, clinical complications, and death. The Surveillance for Enteric Fever in Asia Project (SEAP), a prospective surveillance study, characterized the burden of enteric fever, including illness severity, in selected settings in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. We assessed disease severity, including hospitalization, clinical complications, and death among SEAP participants.
Methods: We analyzed clinical and laboratory data from blood culture-confirmed enteric fever cases enrolled in SEAP hospitals and associated network laboratories from September 2016 to September 2019. We used hospitalization and duration of hospital stay as proxies for severity. We conducted a follow-up interview …

Diagnostic Value Of Clinical Features To Distinguish Enteric Fever From Other Febrile Illnesses In Bangladesh, Nepal, And Pakistan, Kristen Aiemjoy, Dipesh Tamrakar, Shampa Saha, Shiva R. Naga, Alexander T. Yu, Ashley Longley, Kashmira Date, Caitlin Hemlock, Farah Naz Qamar, Samir K. Saha

Department of Paediatrics and Child Health

Background: Enteric fever, a bacterial infection caused by Salmonella enterica serotypes Typhi and Paratyphi A, frequently presents as a nonlocalizing febrile illness that is difficult to distinguish from other infectious causes of fever. Blood culture is not widely available in endemic settings and, even when available, results can take up to 5 days. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of clinical features, including both reported symptoms and clinical signs, of enteric fever among patients participating in the Surveillance for Enteric Fever in Asia Project (SEAP), a 3-year surveillance study in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan.
Methods: Outpatients presenting with ≥3 consecutive days …

Review Of The Emc Aspects Of Internet Of Things, Jiyu Wu, Yihong Qi, Guang Gong, Jun Fan, Miao Miao, Wei Yu, Jianhua Ma, James L. Drewniak

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Wireless devices are the largest part of the Internet-of-Things (IoT) units. Radiated, such as specific absorption rate and spurious related issues are regulated by the standards bodies. The functionality performance will greatly influence IoT system stability, user experience, and cost. Radio receiver desensitization and coexistence aspects of IoT devices are discussed in this article. Measurement technologies are briefly reviewed for transmit/receive mode only of single-input single-output (SISO), and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) devices, to provide a means of device performance evaluation and electromagnetic interference troubleshooting. An understanding of the electromagnetic compatibility aspects of the IoT and its measurement methods can help …

Parents Coaching In Naturalistic Interventions To Improve Communication Skills For Adolescents And Adults With Autism Via Telepractice, Sanikan Wattanawongwan, J. B. Ganz, Lauren M. Pierson, Valeria Yllades, Claudia Dunn, Sarah K. Ura

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

The primary purpose of the study was to determine if educators could use telepractice service delivery modes as a tool to implement a naturalistic intervention for parents with adolescents and adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) at their homes. A multiple probe design across participants was used in the study to examine the effects of the intervention among three parents of adolescents and adults with ASD. The results indicated a functional relation between the intervention and parent strategy implementation and improvement of children’s targeted communication skills. Effect size results for the parents and participants indicated strong effects consistent with visually …

Community Acquired Pneumonia Antibiotic Treatment Length: Summary, Children's Mercy Kansas City

Clinical Critically Appraised Topics

No abstract provided.

Physical Activity In Patients With Symptomatic Peripheral Artery Disease: Insights From The Portrait Registry, Poghni A. Peri-Okonny, Kensey L. Gosch, Sarthak Patel, Jan M. M. Heyligers, Carlos Mena-Hurtado, Mehdi H. Shishehbor, Ali O. Malik, Jeremy Provance, Vittal Hijjaji, John A. Spertus, Kim G. Smolderen

Student Publications

Objective: A physically active lifestyle reduces the risk of cardiovascular events and functional impairment in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD). There are limited data on the patterns of physical activity in patients with PAD compared between countries.

Methods: Self reported physical activity (sedentary vs. not) was obtained at enrolment, 3, 6, and 12 months in the US and Netherlands' cohorts of the Patient-centered Outcomes Related to Treatment Practices in Peripheral Arterial Disease: Investigating Trajectories (PORTRAIT) registry of patients with new or worsening claudication. Multivariable repeated measures using modified Poisson regression analysis compared the proportion of sedentary participants over time …

A Low-Cost Secure Iot Mechanism For Monitoring And Controlling Polygeneration Microgrids, Josué Martínez-Martínez, Diego Aponte-Roa, Idalides Vergara-Laurens, Wayne Weaver

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

The use of Internet-connected devices at homes has increased to monitor energy consumption. Furthermore, renewable energy sources have also increased, reducing electricity bills. However, the high cost of the equipment limits the use of these technologies. This paper presents a low-cost secured-distributed Internet of Things (IoT) system to monitor and control devices connected in a polygeneration microgrid, as a combined power system for local loads with renewable sources. The proposed mechanism includes a Wireless Sensor Actuator Networked Control System that links network nodes using the IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The Internet communication enables the monitor and control of devices using a …

Detecting Hacker Threats: Performance Of Word And Sentence Embedding Models In Identifying Hacker Communications, Susan Mckeever, Brian Keegan, Andrei Quieroz

Conference papers

Abstract—Cyber security is striving to find new forms of protection against hacker attacks. An emerging approach nowadays is the investigation of security-related messages exchanged on deep/dark web and even surface web channels. This approach can be supported by the use of supervised machine learning models and text mining techniques. In our work, we compare a variety of machine learning algorithms, text representations and dimension reduction approaches for the detection accuracies of software-vulnerability-related communications. Given the imbalanced nature of the three public datasets used, we investigate appropriate sampling approaches to boost detection accuracies of our models. In addition, we examine how …

Survey Of Teachers In Pre-Primary Education (Stepp): Lessons From The Implementation Of The Pilot Study And Field Trial Of International Survey Instruments, Syeda Kashfee Ahmed, Maurice Walker, Yoshie Kaga

Early Childhood Education

The present publication documents the achievements and lessons learned from the first phase of the Survey of Teachers in Pre-primary Education (STEPP) project, implemented by UNESCO from 2016 to 2019, with the participation of seven countries, namely, the Dominican Republic, Ghana, Indonesia, Namibia, the Philippines, Togo, and Viet Nam. It is the first international survey for low-and-middle-income countries designed to collect information that is known to affect the quality of pre-primary education from pre-primary teachers and centre heads. The collected information concerns training and professional development, pedagogical and professional practices, working conditions and job satisfaction, and characteristics of pre-primary personnel …

The Culturally Capitalised Graduate: Toward A Wider Reading Experience For Undergraduate Students, Sue Norton

Books/Book Chapters

This essay considers higher education policy in Ireland that, in limited optional ways, is diversifying the undergraduate curriculum to incorporate wider reading across disciplines. Such policies, now gaining traction, aim to foster greater graduate employability, understood as the resilience and resourcefulness to secure positions in the workplace over time, and in fluctuating periods of supply and demand; they also support graduates to live more meaningfully in society. This essay’s three sections draw upon several sources including a business consultancy website, journal articles, and academic papers and reports. It extrapolates in particular from the research of Julia Preece and Anne-Marie Houghton …

Aldosterone Up-Regulates Voltage-Gated Potassium Currents And Nkcc1 Protein Membrane Fractions, Parveen Bazard, Bo Ding, Harish K. Chittam, Xiaoxia Zhu, Thomas A. Parks, Thomas E. Taylor-Clark, Venkat R. Bhethanabotla, Robert D. Frisina, Joseph P. Walton

Chemical and Biochemical Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Na+–K+–2Cl− Cotransporter (NKCC1) is a protein that aids in the active transport of sodium, potassium, and chloride ions across cell membranes. It has been shown that long-term systemic treatment with aldosterone (ALD) can enhance NKCC1 protein expression and activity in the aging cochlea resulting in improved hearing. In the present work, we used a cell line with confirmed NKCC1 expression to demonstrate that in vitro application of ALD increased outward voltage-gated potassium currents significantly, and simultaneously upregulated whole lysate and membrane portion NKCC1 protein expression. These ALD-induced changes were blocked by applying the mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist eplerenone. However, application of …

Hate Speech, Habitus, And Identity Signaling On 4chan’S Politically Incorrect Board, Jonathon Geiger

Master's Theses

Websites, such as 4chan, have provided a place for extremism and hate speech to flourish through anonymous discourse. One group that has been especially important to this growth has been the alt-right. The alt-right is a far-right white nationalist movement that is known for engaging in trolling, creating memes, and generating conspiracy theories. Past research has focused on the amounts of hate speech and characterizing content on the website. However, past studies have not looked at the experience of using the website through the combination of participant observation and content analysis. Here I show that the extensive use of hate …

Microplastic Abundance, Distribution And Impacts On Sargassum-Associated Juvenile Fishes In The Gulf Of Mexico, Olivia Lestrade

Master's Theses

Microplastics are a concern in marine environments because they are highly durable, ubiquitous, and can be mistaken for food and ingested by small organisms. Pelagic Sargassum, an important habitat for larval and juvenile stages of many fish species, is found in large surface aggregations, and may provide complex structure in which microplastics become trapped. This could lead to greater risk of microplastic ingestion by fish early life stages associated with Sargassum habitats. To better understand the impacts of microplastics within Sargassum communities, this study examined 1) microplastic concentrations and ingestion by juvenile fishes associated with Sargassum; 2) the microbial …

Discovery, Validation And Sequencing Of Urinary Peptides For Diagnosis Of Liver Fibrosis—A Multicentre Study, Ayman S. Bannaga, Jochen Metzger, Ioannis Kyrou, Torsten Voigtländer, Thorsten Book, Jesus Melgarejo, Agnieszka Latosinska, Martin Pejchinovski, Jan A. Staessen, Harald Mischak

School of Medicine Publications

Background

Liver fibrosis is a consequence of chronic inflammation and is associated with protein changes within the hepatocytes structure. In this study, we aimed to investigate if this is reflected by the urinary proteome and can be explored to diagnose liver fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease.

Methods

In a multicentre combined cross-sectional and prospective diagnostic test validation study, 129 patients with varying degrees of liver fibrosis and 223 controls without liver fibrosis were recruited. Additionally, 41 patients with no liver, but kidney fibrosis were included to evaluate interference with expressions of kidney fibrosis. Urinary low molecular weight …

Motivators And Factors For Career Decision-Making In Speech Language Pathology Students, Ruth Crutchfield, Adriana T. Gomez, Zacarias Olivarez, Celeste N. Gonzalez, Alyssa L. Anglin

Communication Sciences & Disorders Faculty Publications

Career decision-making is a strenuous process that requires an individual to research and determine if the ends of the profession justify its means. Specifically, if the vocation of interest meets specific standards set by an individual. Literature review findings revealed eight subtopics that were salient: influencers/role models, demographics, perception of the profession, social belonging, personality type, curriculum approach, clinical experience and sense of urgency. To achieve an understanding of Communication Sciences and Disorders (COMD) student’s motivators and factors for career decision making, a survey was administered which consisted of 37 questions composed of inquiries regarding demographics, decision making and self-efficacy. …

Epigenome-Wide Association Of Infant Feeding And Changes In Dna Methylation From Birth To 10 Years, Yamini Mallisetty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Epigenetic markers have been suggested as mediators of early-life nutrition to future health. Prior studies focused on breastfeeding effects on DNA methylation (DNAm), ignoring other feeding modes. In this analysis of the Isle of Wight birth cohort, feeding modes were categorized as exclusive breastfeeding (EBF), exclusive formula feeding (EFF), and mixed feeding based on whether the respective feeding mode lasted for at least 3 months. In addition, in the past, infant feeding modes were assessed using one time point DNAm in childhood, not changes of DNAm. In this paper, methylation differences (Delta DNAm) were calculated by subtracting residual methylation values …

Special Issue On 6g Wireless Systems, Periklis Chatzimisios, David Soldani, Abbas Jamalipour, Antonio Manzalini, Sajal K. Das

Computer Science Faculty Research & Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Studying Abroad And Intercultural Outcomes: Differences Experienced Between International Exchange Students And U.S. Study Abroad Students, Patricia V. Lin-Steadman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

A major focus of many U.S. higher-education institutions is to increase internationalization of their campus through, in part, the promotion of study abroad experiences among domestic students and to recruit and retain international students to their institution. This study explored the effects of certain factors on various domains of the Global Engagement Measurement Scale (GEMS) – Cultural Engagement, Ambiguity Tolerance, Knowledge of Host Site, and Diversity Openness – among U.S. students who have studied abroad and international exchange students who have studied in the U.S. There was a particular focus, on determining whether U.S. study abroad students, compared to international …

“We Didn’T Have A Lot Of Money, We Worked Hard, And We Ate Beans”: Examining The Narrative Inheritance From An Appalachian Father To His Son, Thomas Townsend

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The author contends that narratives, shaped not only by events but also by socioeconomic and geographic factors, are narratives that require exploration and analysis because these narratives build the lives in which individuals exist. By understanding narratives passed down with which they have built their lives, individuals can come to greater understanding of the narratives in which they live. To understand the narratives, he created and continues to craft about his life, the author needed to understand his narrative inheritance. When a proposed thesis study imploded, the focus of the study shifted to exploring the circumstances of a single interview …

Collectivism, Individualism, And Interprofessional Education: A Comparison Of Faculty Across Five Academic Health Sciences Colleges, S. Alicia Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collaborative practice among interprofessional groups of health care providers is essential to the provision of safe and effective medical care. However, health professions training programs have not traditionally prepared students for interprofessional practice. One challenge in transforming health professions education programs has been a limited number of faculty prepared to teach students in an interprofessional learning environment. Thus, faculty development programs aimed at preparing faculty to provide interprofessional learning experiences across disciplines are increasingly important. Unfortunately, best practice in training faculty for interprofessional education programs is not well-defined.

Interprofessional education faculty development programs should aim to train faculty to model …

Students’ Meaning-Making Journeys Towards Self-Authorship Through Self-Designed Gap Year Experiences, Erin Garcia

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological, qualitative study addressed student perceptions of their meaning-making process towards self-authorship in a self-designed gap year experience and was conducted in a public higher educational institution in the Southeast. Data was gathered through interviews from a purposeful sample of gap year program participants and program administrators. Emerging themes and categories were identified by coding and analyzing the interview data, such as continual reflection reinforces the value of individual meaning-making, self-expectations versus self-worth, the influence of societal expectations are minimized, and self-designed learning helps to solidify changes in self-authorship. The data showed a strong connection between multiple meaning-making contexts …

Undergraduate Nursing Students’ Learning Style Preferences And Preferred Faculty Teaching Methods Compared To The Actual Methods Used By Faculty, Linda Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Aim. The aim of this study was to examine the generational differences of undergraduate nursing students’ learning style preferences and their preferred faculty teaching methods to the teaching methods used most often by nursing faculty in the classroom.

Background. Nursing educators are responsible for creating learning environments that are effective for students that are in different generations and nursing educational pathways. Each generational cohort brings a collective set of characteristics, expectations, and preferences to the classroom, challenging educators to balance the generational learning styles of all students with respectable, evidence-based, pedagogical approaches. This study was one of the …

Beating The Odds: Perseverance And Its Influence On Male Students’ Perceptions In Overcoming Generational Poverty, Grady C. Bailey Jr

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This phenomenological study examined the perceived influences that male graduates from Title I high schools attribute to their success. During the last 30 years the poverty gap has not narrowed and in some cases it has increased. This study hoped to provide evidence of supports needed by looking at males who overcame generational poverty. This study included qualitative data collection from interviews of 15 male participants. Nine themes emerged in the findings of perceived influences by these participants. The nine themes identified where 1) Success has two components; internal and external, 2) School personnel and programs guided success, 3) Change …

“Fetch M’Dear”: Healers, Midwives, Witches, And Conjuring Women In Select Ya And Toni Morrison Novels, Diane Mallett-Birkitt

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Accusations and persecution of witchcraft have been embedded in global culture for centuries. For as long as these persecutions have occurred, women have found themselves accused most frequently. Older women with herbal knowledge were often called on to assist with childbirth or termination of pregnancies and this “secret knowledge” often led them to be suspected of supernatural abilities, often of a satanic nature. Intrigued by these wise women who appeared to have mysterious powers and a penchant for arousing the ire of men in the legal, medical, and religious communities, I began to notice their frequent appearance in novels. Does …

Prevention Of Chronic Inflammation By Targeting Macrophage Integrin Adb2, Cady Forgey

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Macrophage integrin a_Db₂ promotes macrophage retention and accumulation within inflamed tissue, a key event in development of chronic inflammation. Recently, the P5 peptide was identified as a specific inhibitor for integrin a_Db₂ interaction with 2-(ω-carboxyethyl) pyrole (CEP), a ligand at inflammatory sites. This thesis aims to identify integrin a_D I-domain amino acids involved in binding P5 peptide and likewise to CEP. We propose that non-conserved, basic amino acids of the integrin a_Db₂ I-domain are responsible for binding to P5 peptide and likewise to CEP. Eight amino acids were analyzed by …

Infiltration Analysis Of Calibrated Stormwater Models In Swmm, Anna Laura Alegria Silveira

Master's Theses and Capstones

This research project analyzes the hydrology of two Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) systems located at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) campus in Durham, NH, and compares field data to modeling results of a calibrated Storm Water Management Model (SWMM) model of each system. The studied systems were a Philadelphia Tree Trench and an Infiltration Trench, located in Parking Lot A and Parking Lot E, respectively. The Stormwater Center at UNH monitored the system wells, precipitation, and collected data since system constructions, to analyze the infiltration behavior.The fundamental reason for this research is that the SWMM model only computes infiltration …

Investigation Of Stormwater Bmp Water Quality Performance Characteristics With Respect To Storm Event Variables And Influent Event Mean Concentrations, Samuel James Lanternier

Master's Theses and Capstones

Stormwater is known to be a major source of water pollution. In addition to increased flows resulting from increased impervious area in watersheds, stormwater is known to carry pollutants such a suspended solids, hydrocarbons, and nutrients into receiving water bodies. Because of this, stormwater treatment systems, referred to as ‘best management practices’ (BMPs), are utilized to dampen peak flows, reduce total runoff volume, and remove pollutants. While many studies have investigated the effectiveness of various BMPs in the removal of pollutants, fewer studies have investigated the effects of numerous storm variables on the effectiveness of treatment systems. This thesis investigates …

A Bicultural Service Member/Civilian Identity And Motivations-Based Assessment Of Moral Injury In U.S. Military And Veteran Populations From America’S Longest Wars, Jamie Allison Mcnally

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Experiences in war are often traumatic in nature. Over the past thirty years, research has resulted in increased understanding of these experiences and the unique trajectory that values-based, as opposed to fear-based, traumas can cause. This study investigates these values-based traumas and the mental health outcomes that may result in a syndrome known as moral injury. The current research examined the relationship between potentially morally injurious event exposure and mental health symptomology. Event exposure was conceptualized both as objective occurrences and as the subjective experience of events, with notable distinctions in significance of outcomes. After attempting to replicate previous research …

Who Is Leading Our Churches In Worship And Are They Ready? A Study On Worship Leading In The Free Will Baptist Denomination, James Anthony Cooper Sr

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Since the institution of Old Testament-Temple corporate worship, there has been someone assigned the task of leading congregational worship. The Chronicler records King David’s divisions of the sons of Asaph to be “set apart for service…under the direction of their father in the music in the house of the Lord.”1 Although for some churches, a full-time, salaried position is not feasible or there may not be enough existing duties to justify a paid position. In this case, the responsibility of leading worship falls to a person in the congregation who might have any type of background in music or an …