Digital Commons Network^™

Pathways From Child Maltreatment To Proactive And Reactive Aggression: The Role Of Post-Traumatic Stress Symptom Clusters, Elizabeth M. Mcrae, Laura Stoppelbein, Sarah E. O'Kelley, Paula K. Fite, Shana B. Smith

Research, Publications & Creative Work

Objective: Childhood aggression is related to a myriad of negative concurrent and long-term outcomes. To mitigate the risks associated with childhood aggression, it is important to understand risk factors that might predispose one to aggressive behaviors. One risk factor commonly associated with aggression is the experience of child maltreatment. A common outcome associated with child maltreatment is the development of post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Several prevailing theoretical models of both post-traumatic stress and aggression indicate that these constructs have similar underlying cognitive, behavioral, and emotional mechanisms. Therefore, the present study examined the relations between and among child maltreatment, PTSS clusters, …

Molecular Epidemiology Of Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Complex Strains In Urban And Slum Settings Of Nairobi, Kenya, Glennah Kerubo, Perpetua Ndungu, Yassir Adam Shuaib, Evans Amukoye, Gunturu Revathi, Susanne Homolka, Samuel Kariuki, Matthias Merker, Stefan Niemann

Pathology, East Africa

Kenya is a country with a high tuberculosis (TB) burden. However, knowledge on the genetic diversity of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) strains and their transmission dynamics is sparsely available. Hence, we used whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to depict the genetic diversity, molecular markers of drug resistance, and possible transmission clusters among MTBC strains in urban and slum settings of Nairobi. We analyzed 385 clinical MTBC isolates collected between 2010 and 2015 in combination with patients’ demographics. We showed that the MTBC population mainly comprises strains of four lineages (L1–L4). The two dominating lineages were L4 with 55.8% (n = 215) and …

How To Engage Voluntary Spirit Possession Rituals In Mission: The Case Of The Dendi Adorcism Ritual, Michée Badé

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies

Missionaries face unique challenges when confronted with spirit possession rituals. Because not all spirit possessions are regarded as negative in some cultures, some spirit possessions are sought through adorcism rituals. Such spirit possessions are considered advantageous for the individual or the community. Contrasted with exorcism which is to expel or bind troublesome or uninvited entities, adorcism creates or strengthens beneficial ties between the possessed person and the spirits (Openshaw 2020:6).

This article seeks to show that the practice of adorcism rituals, as is the case among the Dendi people in the northern part of Benin, presents a unique challenge to …

Furthering Women In Policing: How A Police Department's Duty Firearm Selection Process May Mitigate The Gender Disparity In Marksmanship, Jenna Prochnau

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Previous research has revealed that there are several benefits to increasing the representation of women in law enforcement, including less use of force, increased community trust, and better outcomes for domestic violence and sexual assault victims. While many police departments now recognize these benefits and are aiming to recruit more women, a problem persists because women are less likely to graduate from police academies than their male counterparts. A significant difference has been observed in the area of marksmanship, particularly, with more female recruits failing to meet firearm scoring standards. Currently, very little is known about how police departments select …

Detection Covid-19 Based On Chest X-Ray Images Using Convolution Neural Networks, Sufyan Othman Zaben, Akbas Ezaldeen

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Covid-19 is a deadly virus that has spread worldwide, causing millions of deaths. Chest X-ray is one of the most common methods of diagnosing the infection of Covid - 19. Therefore, this paper has presented an efficient method to detect Covid-19 through X-rays of the chest area through a Neural conVolution network (CNN). the proposed system has used a conVolution neural network to classify the extracted features. Since CNN needs a set of data defined for training and testing, the proposed method used a public dataset of 350 pneumonia x-ray images, 300 viral images, and 350 normal images for evaluation. …

Auto-Correction Model For Lip Reading System, Nada Hussain Ali, Matheel E., Akbas Ezaldeen Ali

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Auto-Correction is the process of correcting a misspelled word typed by the user as an application of automated translation process. lip-reading is the process of recognizing the words through processing and observing the visual lip movement of a speaker’s talking without any audio input. Although visual information itself cannot be considered as enough resource to provide normal speech as intelligibility, it may succeed with several cases especially when the words to be recognized are limited. Auto-correction is a trail to diminish the number of errors that can be generated by lip reading systems and to improve their accuracy, many error-correction …

Task Scheduling In Cloud Computing Based On The Cuckoo Search Algorithm, Sajjad Jaber, Yossra Ali, Nuha Ibrahim

Iraqi Journal of Computers, Communications, Control and Systems Engineering

Task scheduling is one of the very crucial facets of cloud computing. The task scheduling method must assign jobs to virtual machines. In cloud computing, task scheduling includes a frontal influence on a system's resource utilization and operational costs. Diverse meta-heuristic algorithms, in addition to their modifications, have been developed to improve the efficiency of task executions in the cloud. In this paper, a multiobjective optimization model is applied using the metaheuristics cuckoo search optimization algorithm (MCSO) to enhance the performance of a cloud system with limited computing resources while minimizing the time and cost. Finally, we analyze the performance …

Host Plant-Based Artificial Diets Enhance Development, Survival And Fecundity Of The Edible Long-Horned Grasshopper Ruspolia Differens (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), Alfonce Leonard, James P. Egonyu, Chrysantus M. Tanga, Samuel Kyamanywa, Sunday Ekesi, Fathiya M. Khamis, Sevgan Subramanian

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Wild swarms of the long-horned grasshoppers Ruspolia differens (Serville) which are widely harvested for consumption and sale in Africa are seasonal and unsustainable, hence the need for innovative ways of artificially producing the insects. We investigated the development, survival, and reproduction of R. differens in the laboratory on diets mixed with host plants [Digitaria gayana Kunth, Cynodon dactylon (L.) and Megathyrsus maximus Jacq (Poales: Poaceae); Ageratum conyzoides L. (Asterales: Asteraceae)] identified from guts of their wild conspecifics with a view to developing a suitable diet for artificial mass rearing of the edible insect. A standard diet comprising ground black soldier …

Insight On Fruit Fly Ipm Technology Uptake And Barriers To Scaling In Africa, Saliou Niassy, Beatrice Murithii, Evanson R. Omuse, Emily Kimathi, Henri Tonnang, Shepard Ndlela, Samira Mohamed, Sunday Ekesi

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Tephritid fruit flies are considered one of the world’s most notorious pests of horticultural crops, causing extensive direct and indirect damage. Over the past two decades, a comprehensive, integrated pest management (IPM) package for the management of a plethora of fruit fly pests, includ-ing Bactrocera dorsalis, B. latifrons, B. zonata, Ceratitis cosyra, C. rosa, C. fasciventris, C. quilici, C. capitata, Dacus spp. and Zeugodacus cucurbitae, has been developed, disseminated and promoted among horticultural growers in Africa. To estimate the numbers of beneficiaries reached by the fruit fly IPM technology and the barriers to technology uptake, we interviewed 290 experts in …

Who Decides: What The Constitution Says About Parental Authority And The Rights Of Minor Children To Seek Gender Transition Treatment, F. Lee Francis

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

Transgender advocates argue that minor children ought to be able to make their own decisions regarding transition. Advocates further argue that such a choice should be permitted without parental consent. The minor children’s transgender moment has the potential to drastically erode the traditional understanding of parental rights. What individuals such as Elliot Page, Caitlyn Jenner, and Laverne Cox all have in common is the fact that they were adults when they transitioned, not children. Children, this article asserts, are mentally incapable of understanding the full effect of transition and the damage inflicted by gender transition treatment and surgery.

As such, …

Ecopsychologists' Vital Importance In The Time Of Climate Crises, Nicole B. Auckerman Psyd

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

Ecopsychology is a systems-based philosophy that expands the therapeutic lens to include client interactions with and perceptions of the natural environment as an integral element of well-being or pathology. Ecopsychology, known forward as EP, also looks at the pathology of our culture and what kind of diagnoses lead to practices that put our planet at risk. In recent decades, the field has amassed a substantial amount of empirical evidence supporting its effectiveness but remains largely underutilized. First generation EP suggested a cultural reordering shifting away from consumer culture and reordering our way of life. Second generation posits working within the …

Machine Learning For Modeling Wildfire Susceptibility At The State Level: An Example From Arkansas, Usa, Abdullah Al Saim, Mohamed H. Aly

Geosciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Fire susceptibility modeling is crucial for sustaining and managing forests among many other valuable land resources. With 56% of its area covered by forests, Arkansas is known as the "natural state". About 1000 wildfires occurred and burned more than 10,000 acres each year during 1981-2018. In this paper, we use remote-sensing-based machine learning methods to address the natural and anthropogenic factors influencing wildfires and model fire susceptibility in Arkansas. Among the 15 explored variables, potential evapotranspiration, soil moisture, Palmer drought severity index, and dry season precipitation were recognized as the most significant factors contributing to the fire density. The obtained …

Exploring Learning Classifier System Behaviors In Multi-Action, Turn-Based Wargames, Garth J.S. Terlizzi Iii

Theses and Dissertations

State of the art game-playing Artificial Intelligence research focuses heavily on non-symbolic learning methods. These methods offer little explainable insight into their decision-making processes. Learning Classifier Systems (LCSs) provide an alternative. LCSs use rule-based learning, guided by a Genetic Algorithm (GA), to produce a human-readable rule-set. This thesis explores LCS usefulness in game-playing agents for multi-agent wargames. Several Multi-Agent Learning Classifier System (MALCS) variants are implemented in the wargame Stratagem MIST: a Zeroeth-Level Classifier System (ZCS), an extended Classifier System (XCS), and an Adaptive Pittsburgh Classifier System (APCS). These algorithms were tested against baseline agents as well as the Online …

An Analysis Of Telework Performance During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Patrick J. Lopez

Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many individuals to shift from an atmosphere of face-to-face work to the digital work environment known as telework. Telework is an effective mitigation tool that ensures the continuity of operations. However, maximized telework may not be effective for all individuals. Many individual, organizational, and group level factors influence one’s telework performance and this study examines four of the most influential antecedents. Using linear regression analysis, conscientiousness, overload, communication, and non-distractibility were found to be significant predictors that account for over half the variance explained in telework performance. Supported by self-regulation theories, both conscientiousness and non-distractibility contained …

Investigation Of Additively Manufactured Molybdenum-Tungsten-Rhenium Alloys, Randolph T. Abaya

Theses and Dissertations

The process of creating metal components through additive manufacturing is changing the way different industries can avoid the shortcomings of traditional metal production. Metals such as tungsten, molybdenum, and rhenium have many advantages for different applications, especially when alloyed together. In this study, an additively manufactured alloy containing 70% molybdenum, 25% tungsten, and 5% rhenium (70Mo-25W-5Re) is tested for its strength, ductility, hardness, and porosity. The 70Mo-25W-5Re alloy is printed through Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) under different conditions such as printing speed and printing atmosphere. Additionally, the effects of post printing heat treatment are conducted to understand the advantages …

The Use Of Electronic Nose In The Quality Evaluation And Adulteration Identification Of Beijing-You Chicken, Jingru Chen, Wenjie Yan, Yu Fu, Liang Wang, Xueze Lv, Ruitong Dai, Xingming Li, Fei Jia

Biological and Agricultural Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

The objective of this study was to reveal the secrets of the unique meat characteristics of Beijing-you chicken (BJY) and to compare the difference of quality and flavor with Luhua chicken (LH) and Arbor Acres broiler (AA) at their typical market ages. The results showed the meat of BJY was richer in essential amino acids, arachidonic acid contents, inosine monophosphate (IMP), and guanosine monophosphate (GMP). The total fatty acid and unsaturated fatty acid contents of BJY chicken and LH chicken were lower than that of AA broilers, whereas the ratios of unsaturated fatty acids/saturated fatty acids (2.31) and polyunsaturated fatty …

Tissue-Targeted Crispr-Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing Of Multiple Homeologs In F0 Generation Xenopus Laevis Embryos, Mark E Corkins, Bridget D Delay, Rachel K Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Xenopus laevis frogs are a powerful developmental model that enables studies combining classical embryology and molecular manipulation. Because of the large embryo size, ease of microinjection, and ability to target tissues through established fate maps, X. laevis have become the predominant amphibian research model. Given that their allotetraploid genome has complicated the generation of gene knockouts, strategies need to be established for efficient mutagenesis of multiple homeologs to evaluate gene function. Here we describe a protocol to utilize CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing to target either single alleles or multiple alloalleles in F0 X. laevis embryos. A single guide (sg) RNA is …

Kaposiform Lymphangiomatosis Presenting With A Group A Streptococcus Pericardial Effusion, Taylor Koerner, Mehul D Patel, Vinay Pai, Gitanjali Indramohan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A 4-year-old child was transferred to the paediatric intensive care unit with acute respiratory failure following 4 days of fever, nausea and vomiting. Chest X-ray on admission had an enlarged cardiac silhouette and transthoracic echo confirmed a large pericardial effusion. An emergent pericardiocentesis was performed at bedside which drained nearly 1000 mL of purulent fluid. Postdrainage course was complicated by acute systolic and diastolic heart failure, thrombocytopenia and acute renal failure. A chest CT and MRI were concerning for a diffuse mediastinal soft-tissue density, so the patient underwent interventional radiology-guided biopsy complicated by haemorrhage requiring mediastinal exploration and subtotal thymectomy. …

Comparative Assessment Of Pollutant Concentrations And Meteorological Parameters From Tceq Cams Sites At Houston And Rio Grande Valley Regions Of Texas, Usa In 2016, Esmeralda Mendez, Jonathan Rodriguez, August Luna, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, & Marine Sciences Faculty Publications

Spatial and temporal heterogeneity in pollutant concentrations exists at the intra-urban level. In this research work, the concentrations of various pollutants and meteorological parameters are characterized between various central ambient monitoring sites at Houston, TX, and the Rio Grande Valley Regions of South Texas. Meteorological (temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction) and pollutant (O3, SO2, CO, NO2, and various PM species) concentrations were downloaded from the appropriate Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Central Ambient Monitoring Station (CAMS) sites for the year 2016. Correlation Analyses and Coefficient of Divergence (COD) analyses suggest that statistically significant differences occur between the …

Multi-Scale Architectures For Human Pose Estimation, Bruno Artacho

Theses

In this dissertation we present multiple state-of-the-art deep learning methods for computer vision tasks using multi-scale approaches for two main tasks: pose estimation and semantic segmentation. For pose estimation, we introduce a complete framework expanding the fields-of-view of the network through a multi-scale approach, resulting in a significant increasing the effectiveness of conventional backbone architectures, for several pose estimation tasks without requiring a larger network or postprocessing. Our multi-scale pose estimation framework contributes to research on methods for single-person pose estimation in both 2D and 3D scenarios, pose estimation in videos, and the estimation of multiple people’s pose in a …

Ecosystem Duties, Green Infrastructure, And Environmental Injustice In Los Angeles, Sayd Randle

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

In Los Angeles, water managers and environmentalist NGOs champion green infrastructure retrofits, installations intended to maximize the water-absorbing capacity of the urban landscape. In such arrangements, the work of water management is necessarily spread among a more-than-human community, including (but certainly not limited to) humans, plants, soils, and gravels. This article analyzes the human labor within these collaborations, tracking when and how this work gets enrolled in networks of water management and circuits of value. I develop the term ecosystem duties to characterize these exertions and as a useful analytic for assessing emergent dynamics of environmental justice.

Perceived Cultural Impacts Of Climate Change Motivate Climate Action And Support For Climate Policy, Kim-Pong Tam, Angela K. Y. Leung, Brandon Koh

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The impacts of climate change on human cultures have received increasing attention in recent years. However, the extent to which people are aware of these impacts, whether such awareness motivates climate action, and what kinds of people show stronger awareness are rarely understood. The present investigation provides the very first set of answers to these questions. In two studies (with a student sample with N = 199 from Singapore and a demographically representative sample with N = 625 from the USA), we observed a generally high level of awareness among our participants. Most importantly, perceived cultural impacts of climate change …

Glutathione S-Transferase: A Candidate Gene For Berry Color In Muscadine Grapes (Vitis RotundifoliA), Aruna Varanasi, Margaret Worthington, Lacy Nelson, Autumn Brown, Thomas Mason Chizk, Renee Threlfall, Luke Howard, Patrick Conner, Rosa Figueroa-Balderas, Melanie Massonnet, Dario Cantu, John R. Clark

Horticulture Faculty Publications and Presentations

Muscadine grapes (Vitis rotundifolia Michx.) are a specialty crop cultivated in the southern United States. Muscadines (2n = 40) belong to the Muscadinia subgenus of Vitis, while other cultivated grape species belong to the subgenus Euvitis (2n = 38). The muscadine berry color locus was mapped to a 0.8 Mbp region syntenic with chromosome 4 of Vitis vinifera. In this study, we identified glutathione S-transferase4 as a likely candidate gene for anthocyanin transport within the berry color locus. PCR and Kompetitive allele-specific PCR genotyping identified a single intragenic SNP (C/T) marker corresponding to a proline …

Gender Gaps In Math Performance, Perceived Mathematical Ability And College Stem Education: The Role Of Parental Occupation, Lina Anaya, Frank P. Stafford, Gema Zamarro

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Despite the promising future of employment opportunities in occupations related to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), women remain underrepresented in some STEM occupational fields. We use data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to study the role of gender differences in achievement and self-perceived ability in math during childhood, along with parental occupation (science-related versus non-science-related jobs), in the subsequent decision of majoring in science in college. Our findings suggest a loss in STEM enrollment by otherwise qualified young women and highlight the potential importance of parental occupation in STEM in encouraging women's participation in certain STEM fields.

The Corkscrew Technique For Removing A Fibular Strut Allograft From The Proximal Humerus., Brian Skura, Matthew T Glazier, Hayden B Schuette, Braden J Passias, Iou-Ren Chang, John Verre, Sanjay Mehta, Benjamin C Taylor

Surgery Articles

A fibular strut allograft is a reliable option for augmentation in open reduction internal fixation (ORIF) of proximal humerus fractures, but techniques to remove a fibular strut during revision shoulder arthroplasty are limited. Currently published techniques on extracting fibular strut grafts from humeral shafts include using a Midas burr, flexible osteotomes, humeral shaft osteotomy, and reaming. To our knowledge there has not been a technique that uses a corkscrew to remove the fibular strut from the proximal humerus in preparation for revision shoulder arthroplasty. This is a case report and description of a simple and reproducible technique that can be …

Sexual Coercion, Unintended Pregnancy, And Poor Reproductive Health Among Adolescent Girls (Aged 13 - 19) In Mexico, Arun Kumar Acharya, Maria Luisa Martinez

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

In Mexico, nearly 23,000 adolescents between the ages of 12-17 years suffer sexual coercion every year. This group also has a high birth rate of 77/1,000 adolescents, which indicates that one in every five pregnant women is an adolescent. This study describes the sexual coercion of victims and their views regarding the experience based on data collected from 37 Mexican girls between the age of 13 to 19, selected purposively using the snowball method in Monterrey city, Mexico. Results indicate that sexual coercion among adolescents is a serious problem, where 70% of adolescents experienced vaginal sexual coercion, nearly 22% experienced …

Pcl-Peg Copolymer Based Injectable Thermosensitive Hydrogels, Mithun Rajendra Dethe, Prabakaran A, Hafiz Ahmed, Mukta Agrawal, Upal Roy, Amit Alexander

Health & Biomedical Sciences Faculty Publications

A number of stimuli-responsive-based hydrogels has been widely explored in biomedical applications in the last few decades because of their excellent biodegradability and biocompatibility. The development of synthetic chemistry and materials science leads to the emergence of in situ stimuli-responsive hydrogels. In this regard, several synthetic and natural polymers have been synthesized and utilized to prepare temperature-sensitive in situ forming hydrogels. This could be best used via injections as temperature stimulus could trigger in situ hydrogels gelation and swelling behaviors. There are many smart polymers available for the formulation of the in situ based thermoresponsive injectable hydrogel. Among these, poly …

“I Went Into This As One Person, And Then Came Out A Totally Different Person”: Native Lgbtq2s+ Young Adults’ Conceptions Of Trauma, Rachel M. Schmitz, Ruby Charak

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Intersecting sources of stigma influence harmful mental health outcomes for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and Two-Spirit (LGBTQ2S+) young adults (YA) of color as they must manage multiple oppressions. Experiencing both mental health challenges and victimization, LGBTQ2S+ YA of color struggle with distinctive psychological traumas. There is a critical need to determine how certain groups of LGBTQ2S+ YA of color’s marginalized social statuses shape trauma understandings. Native LGBTQ2S+ people in general endure diverse forms of oppression and trauma, such as histories of colonialism, contemporary racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism. Understanding the subjective interpretations of violence and trauma among Native LGBTQ2S+ …

Depth-Targeted Energy Delivery Deep Inside Scattering Media, Nicholas Bender, Alexey Yamilov, Arthur Goetschy, Hasan Yılmaz, Chia Wei Hsu, Hui Cao

Physics Faculty Research & Creative Works

Diffusion makes it difficult to predict and control wave transport through a medium. Overcoming wave diffusion to deliver energy into a target region deep inside a diffusive system is an important challenge for applications, but also represents an interesting fundamental question. It is known that coherently controlling the incident wavefront allows diffraction-limited focusing inside a diffusive system, but in many applications, the targets are significantly larger than a focus and the maximum deliverable energy remains unknown. Here we introduce the 'deposition matrix', which maps an input wavefront to the internal field distribution, and we theoretically predict the ultimate limit on …

Mg2vec: Learning Relationship-Preserving Heterogeneous Graph Representations Via Metagraph Embedding, Wentao Zhang, Yuan Fang, Zemin Liu, Min Wu, Xinming Zhang

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Given that heterogeneous information networks (HIN) encompass nodes and edges belonging to different semantic types, they can model complex data in real-world scenarios. Thus, HIN embedding has received increasing attention, which aims to learn node representations in a low-dimensional space, in order to preserve the structural and semantic information on the HIN. In this regard, metagraphs, which model common and recurring patterns on HINs, emerge as a powerful tool to capture semantic-rich and often latent relationships on HINs. Although metagraphs have been employed to address several specific data mining tasks, they have not been thoroughly explored for the more general …