Digital Commons Network^™

Protect & Disinfect: Covid Upcycling, The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute At Virginia Commonwealth University, Ilvy Cotterell, Collin Cox, Parthenia Dinora, Zachary Hilpert, Veronica King, Carmen Rodriguez, Alexis Shockley

The Grace E. Harris Leadership Institute Publications

Students returning to campus will be responsible for the frequent cleaning and disinfecting of their living spaces to help limit and prevent the spread of COVID-19. Sterile, unused towels are thrown away every day in operating rooms at the VCU Health System. These towels will be collected and distributed to VCU residential halls, providing students with a free and accessible resource for the daily cleaning and disinfecting needed to reduce the spread of COVID-19.

Land-Use Type As A Driver Of Large Wildfire Occurrence In The U.S. Great Plains, Victoria M. Donovan, Carissa L. Wonkka, David A. Wedin, Dirac Twidwell

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Wildfire activity has surged in North America’s temperate grassland biome. Like many biomes, this system has undergone drastic land-use change over the last century; however, how various land-use types contribute to wildfire patterns in grassland systems is unclear. We determine if certain land-use types have a greater propensity for large wildfire in the U.S. Great Plains and how this changes given the percentage of land covered by a given land-use type. Almost 90% of the area burned in the Great Plains occurred in woody and grassland land-use types. Although grassland comprised the greatest area burned by large wildfires, woody vegetation …

A Justification For Continued Management Of Turfgrass During Economic Contraction, James T. Brosnan, Ambika Chandra, Roch E. Gaussoin, Alec Kowalewski, Bernd Leinauer, Frank S. Rossi, Douglas J. Soldat, John C. Stier, J. Bryan Unruh

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

A novel coronavirus, termed COVID-19, spread worldwide and become a global pandemic in 2020. Forecasts show that COVID-19 will cause substantial economic contraction affecting almost every industry. Managed turfgrass, particularly in urban settings, has many positive societal and environmental benefits. In a contracted economy, will resources be available to manage turfgrass to achieve these benefits? In this paper, we outline the benefits of managed turfgrass on golf courses, playing fields, recreational parks, and urban landscapes to assist decision makers with resource allocation in the COVID-19 era.

Training Future Agriculture Professionals In Landowner–Tenant Conservation Decision-Making, Andrea Basche, Angie Carter

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

The landowner–tenant relationship is important to the implementation of conser- vation on agricultural lands. Women own or co-own a significant portion of U.S. farmland yet are underrepresented in conservation research. The next generation of agriculture professionals can benefit from first-hand experience in assisting women landowners and their tenants in navigating the complexities of conser- vation decision-making. This article analyzes undergraduate student perceptions of landowner–tenant relationships in conservation management through their engagement in case studies with women landowner–tenant pairs in the Western Corn Belt. Student groups were asked to complete a management improvement plan that both incorporated the agronomic and conservation …

Winter Cover Crop Root Biomass Yield In Corn And Soybean Systems, Sabrina J. Ruis, Humberto Blanco-Canqui, Katja Koehler-Cole, Paul J. Jasa, G. Slater, Roger W. Elmore, Richard B. Ferguson

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Cover crop (CC) roots are critical for soil ecosystem service delivery including soil stabilization, C and nutrient cycling, soil health improvement, and others. However, most CC studies only evaluate CC aboveground biomass yield, neglecting the belowground portion of the plant. The objectives of this study were to quantify the impacts of (a) CC planting (pre- and post-harvest) dates and (b) early (2–4 wk before main crop planting) and late (at main crop planting) CC termination with and without corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal on root biomass yield. We assessed the effects of CC planting or termination dates on root …

Definition And Characteristics Of Behavioral Medicine, And Main Tasks And Goals Of The International Society Of Behavioral Medicine—An International Delphi Study, Joost Dekker, Marie Amitami, Anne H. Berman, Helen Brown, Bryan Cleal, Maria João Figueiras, Lila J. Finney Rutten, Egil A. Fors, Konstadina Griva, Jing Gu, Chris Keyworth, Maria Kleinstäuber, Claas Lahmann, Joseph T.F. Lau, Bernd Leplow, Li Li, Hanna Malmberg Gavelin, Ricarda Mewes, Phoenix K.H. Mo, Barbara Mullan, Frank J. Penedo, Judith Prins, Teresa Rodríguez Rodríguez, Sharon A. Simpson, Adrienne Stauder, Martti T. Tuomisto, Deborah Jones Weiss, Urs M. Nater

All Works

© 2020, The Author(s). Background: In the past decades, behavioral medicine has attained global recognition. Due to its global reach, a critical need has emerged to consider whether the original definition of behavioral medicine is still valid, comprehensive, and inclusive, and to reconsider the main tasks and goals of the International Society of Behavioral Medicine (ISBM), as the umbrella organization in the field. The purpose of the present study was to (i) update the definition and scope of behavioral medicine and its defining characteristics; and (ii) develop a proposal on ISBM’s main tasks and goals. Method: Our study used the …

Generation Of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells From Blood Cell Of Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase (G6pd) Deficiency, Malinee Tongbaen

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD) deficiency is the most common genetic enzyme disorder that affects more than 400 million people worldwide. Insufficient of G6PD enzyme or defect in enzyme activity can cause acute hemolysis after exposure to oxidative stress. The disease model used for pathogenesis study underlying oxidative damage or drug screening in G6PD deficient patients is still needed. In vitro generation of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) afford the potential source of the disease model in medical research. This study aimed to generate the iPSCs derived from G6PD deficient-subjects for used as a specific-disease model. The G6PD-derived iPSCs were generated from …

Is Authorship Sufficient For Today’S Collaborative Research? A Call For Contributor Roles, Nicole A. Vasilevsky, Ehsan Mohammadi, Mohammad Hosseini, Samantha Teplitzky, Violeta Ilik, Juliane Schneider, Barbara Kern, Julien Colomb, Scott C. Edmunds, Karen Gutzman, Daniel S. Himmelstein, Marijane White, Britton Smith, Lisa O'Keefe, Melissa Haendel, Kristi L. Holmes

Faculty Publications

Assigning authorship and recognizing contributions to scholarly works is challenging on many levels. Here we discuss ethical, social, and technical challenges to the concept of authorship that may impede the recognition of contributions to a scholarly work. Recent work in the field of authorship shows that shifting to a more inclusive contributorship approach may address these challenges. Recent efforts to enable better recognition of contributions to scholarship include the development of the Contributor Role Ontology (CRO), which extends the CRediT taxonomy and can be used in information systems for structuring contributions. We also introduce the Contributor Attribution Model (CAM), which …

A Case Study Of Pana Coffee Company Limited On Coffee Production Analysis, Paninee Jongwutiwes

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Pana Coffee Group is a Thai organic coffee manufacturer in Chiang Mai, the northern part of Thailand. Organic Sustainable Value Chain is what they adhere. They handle the organic supply chain from upstream to downstream. They grow seedlings to saplings. They plant the saplings at own lands where the altitude, temperature, and humidity suit well without using any chemical substances, for instance, herbicides, pesticides, and fertilizers. They harvest the coffee once the coffee fruits are ripe. They have the mill which is fully-equipped with cutting-edge and environmental friendly machines to produce organic coffee that is supreme in quality. They also …

Semi-Supervised Adversarial Domain Adaptation For Seagrass Detection Using Multispectral Images In Coastal Areas, Kazi Aminul Islam, Victoria Hill, Blake Schaeffer, Richard Zimmerman, Jiang Li

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Seagrass form the basis for critically important marine ecosystems. Previously, we implemented a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) model to detect seagrass in multispectral satellite images of three coastal habitats in northern Florida. However, a deep CNN model trained at one location usually does not generalize to other locations due to data distribution shifts. In this paper, we developed a semi-supervised domain adaptation method to generalize a trained deep CNN model to other locations for seagrass detection. First, we utilized a generative adversarial network loss to align marginal data distribution between source domain and target domain using unlabeled data from …

Mitochondrial Utilization Of Competing Fuels Is Altered In Insulin Resistant Skeletal Muscle Of Non-Obese Rats (Goto-Kakizaki), Nicola Lai, Ciarán E. Fealy, Chinna M. Kummitha, Silvia Cabras, John P. Kirwan, Charles L. Hoppel

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

Aim: Insulin-resistant skeletal muscle is characterized by metabolic inflexibility with associated alterations in substrate selection, mediated by peroxisome-proliferator activated receptor 𝜹 (PPAR𝜹). Although it is established that PPAR𝜹 contributes to the alteration of energy metabolism, it is not clear whether it plays a role in mitochondrial fuel competition. While nutrient overload may impair metabolic flexibility by fuel congestion within mitochondria, in absence of obesity defects at a mitochondrial level have not yet been excluded. We sought to determine whether reduced PPAR𝜹 content in insulin-resistant rat skeletal muscle of a non-obese rat model of T2DM (Goto-Kakizaki, GK) ameliorate the inhibitory effect …

Low Temperature Plasma Jets: Characterization And Biomedical Applications, Mounir Laroussi

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Deep Learning With Context Encoding For Semantic Brain Tumor Segmentation And Patient Survival Prediction, Linmin Pei, Lasitha Vidyaratne, Md Monibor Rahman, Khan M. Iftekharuddin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

One of the most challenging problems encountered in deep learning-based brain tumor segmentation models is the misclassification of tumor tissue classes due to the inherent imbalance in the class representation. Consequently, strong regularization methods are typically considered when training large-scale deep learning models for brain tumor segmentation to overcome undue bias towards representative tissue types. However, these regularization methods tend to be computationally exhaustive, and may not guarantee the learning of features representing all tumor tissue types that exist in the input MRI examples. Recent work in context encoding with deep CNN models have shown promise for semantic segmentation of …

Efficacy Of Radiomics And Genomics In Predicting Tp53 Mutations In Diffuse Lower Grade Glioma, Zeina A. Shboul, Khan Iftekharuddin

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

An updated classification of diffuse lower-grade gliomas is established in the 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System based on their molecular mutations such as TP53 mutation. This study investigates machine learning methods for TP53 mutation status prediction and classification using radiomics and genomics features, respectively. Radiomics features represent patients' age and imaging features that are extracted from conventional MRI. Genomics feature is represented by patients’ gene expression using RNA sequencing. This study uses a total of 105 LGG patients, where the patient dataset is divided into a training set (80 patients) and testing set …

Exploring Eight-Armed Intelligence Through Film, Tierney M. Thys

Animal Sentience

Mather (2019) provides a rich overview of the elements underlying octopus cognition and behavioral flexibility. Recently, two remarkable natural history films, My Octopus Teacher and The Octopus in My House have explored intimate human-octopus relationships with a wild (Octopus vulgaris) and a captive octopus (Octopus cyanea) respectively. Both films show rare behaviors that offer observations to test new hypotheses as well as a novel perspective on our own human relationships and place within the natural world. An interview with filmmaker Craig Foster from My Octopus Teacher reveals the profound and transformative power of forming a trusting …

Utilization Of Machine Learning Algorithms To Support Retail Chain Store Location Decisions, Petr Grin

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Businesses use GIS software to build spatial business models to have possibility to analyze customers, competitors or markets not only in terms of finance, but also in terms of their behavior in space. Specifically, geomarketing methods are used to maximize profit when searching for places to open new factories, shops, restaurants, or expand chain of cafes. The main geomarketing approach is to identify the optimal location based on socio-economic data, as well as on the criteria that are necessary for this type of business (suitability model).

Traditionally the Maxent model, a type of an ecological niche model (ENM), is used …

50-State Higher Education Disability Policy Review 2008-2019: A Content Analysis, Marie Orlin

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

More students with disabilities are present on higher education campuses. This study examines enacted legislation of the 50 United States throughout an 11-year period of students with disabilities in higher education. Racialization of disability and representation in states’ legislation is examined. As the student body expands on higher education campuses, diversity comprehensively racially, ethnically and culturally grows. Four major federal laws: Americans with Disabilities Act and Amendments Act, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 form the state disability legislation backbone applicable to postsecondary students. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004 …

A Longitudinal Examination Of Biomechanical Balance And Quantitative Multidomain Assessments During Recovery Following Sport-Related Concussion, Moira Kate Pyrhoda

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sport-related concussion is an inherent risk to athlete health in contact and collision sports. Both short- and long-term risks are associated with the injury. Short-term, athletes may develop post-concussion syndrome (PCS), the persistence of cognitive, physical, and emotional symptoms for weeks or months after injury. Athletes who return to play (RTP) prematurely are at increased risk for lower extremity injury and repeated concussion injuries. Long-term, history of multiple concussions have been linked to neurodegenerative diseases. Due to these risks, concussion assessments must be sensitive to the injury and useful in the diagnosis, recovery, and RTP phases of the injury.

Sideline …

Repetition Or Reckoning: Confronting Racism And Racial Dynamics In 2020, Kevin D. Thomas, Judy Foster Davis, Jonathan A.J. Wilson, Francesca Sobande

College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications

No abstract provided.

Effects Of Phosphorus On Mycorrhizal Colonization Of Wetland Plants Under Natural And Controlled Conditions, Miriah Tucker

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

An important symbiotic relationship that forms in wetland environments occurs between plants and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF). In terrestrial communities AMF colonization is limited by phosphorus; excessive phosphorus can lead to an uncoupling of the relationship. Few studies have examined the relationship between AMF and phosphorus concentration in wetland plants. The studies that have, found a decrease in AMF colonization at phosphorus concentrations as low as 0.03 mg/L P, however, methodological issues limit the interpretation of these results. To address this, a field and greenhouse study were completed using more realistic exposure conditions, field deployable assays (FDA), and natural intact …

The Effects Of Dorsal Lateral Telencephalon Lesions On Zebrafish Social Behaviour, Hailey Katzman

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Zebrafish are extremely social and aggregate in groups to form shoals. This social behaviour has been studied in the wild and in a laboratory setting, yet the mechanisms underlying the behaviour are unknown. There is evidence to suggest that the dorsal lateral telencephalon might play a role in shaping shoaling behaviour, being involved in modulating social behaviours and social reward associated with shoaling. In the current thesis, I adapted and combined several existing methods for performing lesions on the dorsal lateral telencephalon to create my own method to measure the role of the dorsal lateral telencephalon in social reward and …

Victimized And Criminalized Black Women’S Experiences With The Police In The Context Of Intimate Partner Violence, Patrina Duhaney

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This qualitative, multi-manuscript dissertation examines the experiences of Black women who live in the Greater Toronto Area and other southwestern Ontario regions who have experienced intimate partner violence (IPV), some of whom were also charged with an IPV-related offence. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 Black women to better understand the meanings they attach to their experiences. Critical race feminism (CRF) was employed to help conceptualize women’s narratives. In addition, the dissertation includes a review of the relevant literature, the methodology that was utilized for the study followed by three self-contained manuscripts. The purpose of the first manuscript is to …

The Artificial University: Decision Support For Universities In The Covid-19 Era, Wesley J. Wildman, Saikou Y. Diallo, George Hodulik, Andrew Page, Andreas Tolk, Neha Gondal

VMASC Publications

Operating universities under pandemic conditions is a complex undertaking. The Artificial University (TAU) responds to this need. TAU is a configurable, open-source computer simulation of a university using a contact network based on publicly available information about university classes, residences, and activities. This study evaluates health outcomes for an array of interventions and testing protocols in an artificial university of 6,500 students, faculty, and staff. Findings suggest that physical distancing and centralized contact tracing are most effective at reducing infections, but there is a tipping point for compliance below which physical distancing is less effective. If student compliance is anything …

Samuel Huntington's Clash Of Civilizations And Its Allure For The Past Thirty Years, Michaela Munda

Departmental Honors Projects

Political scientist Samuel P. Huntington wrote, taught, and advised on United States defense and foreign policy for over fifty years. The 1996 book, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, is by far the most prominent of Huntington’s works. Though the work pertained to the world order following the collapse of the Soviet Union, his urging to understand factors that would set up the next stages of world conflict seem to hold truth throughout the last thirty years, and even in the present. Huntington argues that culture and identity will be at the forefront of global conflict. …

Microbial Degradation Of Urea Oligomers: Potential Slow Release Nitrogen Fertilizers, Maddy Bygd

Departmental Honors Projects

Urea is the most commonly used nitrogen compound in fertilizers across the world. It provides the most nitrogen at the lowest cost. However, with the size and solubility of this compound, it is easily washed out of the soil. This results in the need to continuously add fertilizer to fields, creating adverse effects on the environment due to nitrogen runoff and leading to increased expenses for farmers. Triuret, a urea oligomer, is a compound with promising potential for use as a nitrogen source, providing a slower release of nitrogen into the soil. It is hypothesized that this compound can be …

Just What The Doctor Ordered: Treatment Methods Of Homosexuality In Minnesota, 1920-1950, Paige Daniels

Departmental Honors Projects

In Minnesota, throughout the 19th century, the concept of homosexuality was associated with sin/illegality due to the strict religious ordinances and legislation passed with the intent to criminalize homosexuality. However, influenced by European notions, this correlation of morality and legality started expanding to a more medicalized perception. With a push to decriminalize homosexuality, much of the United States began to adopt the philosophy of homosexuality’s existence either as or because of an illness. While other studies have explored treatment methods practiced in the U.S. and Europe, this research focuses only on Minnesota history and its practices. An analysis of Minnesota …

Narrating A Conscientization Journey On Crime Prevention Through Social Development, Carlos Luis Zatarain

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

There is an increasing interest among municipalities to address crime through prevention as social development (CPSD) that acknowledges the underlying social conditions that influence the occurrence of crime. This requires a critical consciousness among community members and decision-makers of the root causes of crime and critical action that reflect that understanding. This, in turn, implies both a significant mental and cultural shift requiring personal transformation. Only then can the appropriate actions towards a preventative approach to crime be effectively fostered. For this purpose, the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council developed a community course titled Reframing Crime, Justice, and Prevention that …

The Influence Of Classroom Physical Activity Breaks At Different Times Of Day On On-Task Behaviour And Physical Activity Levels In Primary School Children, Abigail A. Broad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Classroom physical activity breaks (CAB) are beneficial for increasing children’s physical activity (PA) levels as well as the amount of time spent being on-task within the classroom. This study examined the effect of CAB at different times within the school day on on-task behaviour and PA levels in primary school (grade 1-3) children. Thirty-five children participated in CAB in four different conditions (within-subject): morning (AM), afternoon (PM), both the morning and afternoon (BOTH), and no CAB (CTRL). PA levels were monitored via activPAL accelerometers for 24 h starting at the beginning of the school day. On-task behaviour was observed for …

Projecting Spatial Changes In Sugar Maple Sap Flow Regimes In A Changing Climate, Holly Crawford

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Anthropogenic climate change presents a potential threat to maple syrup production in Canada. To mitigate risks associated with climate change, information about the biological changes that may occur in a warming climate are necessary. This project studied one component- sap flow- that in part determines the economic viability of maple syrup production. A temperature-based sap flow model was used to project the start of the sap flow season in southern Ontario, and GIS applications were used to aggregate the results. The start of the sap flow season was projected for early, mid, and late-century periods under two climate change scenarios, …

Toll-Like Receptor 4 Inhibition Differentially Impacts Intervertebral Disc Axial Mechanics In Wild Type And Sparc-Null Mice, Mitch Whittal

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Study Design. In vivo examination of the influence of TAK-242 (resatorvid) treatment on the mechanical properties of the intervertebral disc (IVD) in secreted protein acidic and rich in cysteine (SPARC) gene knockout (SPARC-null) mice.

Objectives. To examine if chronic TAK-242 treatment mitigates mechanical degradation associated with IVD degeneration in SPARC-null mice.

Summary of Background data. IVD degeneration is associated with low back pain (LBP) and is accompanied by mechanical changes to the spine. SPARC is a protein that contributes to the functioning and maintenance of the extracellular matrix (ECM), with SPARC-null mice displaying accelerated IVD degeneration. TAK-242 is a toll-like …