Digital Commons Network^™

The Hidden Foster Care System: A Parallel System In Legal Limbo During A Deadly Pandemic, Megan Schmidt

University of Miami Race & Social Justice Law Review

In 2020, Josh Gupta-Kagan’s article on the American Hidden Foster System challenged the welfare system to face its coercive practices that effectuate in a child being removed from the home without formal state intervention and court oversight.1 Families find themselves struggling to stay together as child protection workers utilize threats and safety plans to force the removal of a child from the home and into the custody of a family member.2 The children’s, the parents’, and the kinship caregivers’ lives are forever impacted by the welfare state, yet they receive insufficient benefits or protections afforded to families, caregivers, and children …

Synthesis And Biosynthesis Of 3-Hydroxy-Β-Lactam Antibiotics, Wei Wei

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Novel treatments for tuberculosis (TB) are urgently needed to conquer this global health crisis. Unlike canonical β-lactam antibiotics that target transpeptidases by hydrolyzing the lactam ring, tabtoxinine-β-lactam (TβL) functions as a potent glutamine synthetase (GS) inhibitor by forming a transition state mimic. TβL has the potential to be used as an anti-TB agent by targeting the nitrogen metabolic pathway of pathogenic mycobacteria. This work reported an innovative, convergent, and flexible cross-metathesis method to obtain the fully protected TβL scaffold. The trans-olefin intermediate provides possibilities for synthesizing various derivatives through alkene functionalization reactions. We also developed and optimized a solid phase …

Characterizing The Amino Acid Activation Center Of The Naturally Editing-Deficient Aminoacyl-Trna Synthetase Phers In Mycoplasma Mobile, Nien-Ching Han, Arundhati Kavoor, Michael Ibba

Biology, Chemistry, and Environmental Sciences Faculty Articles and Research

To ensure correct amino acids are incorporated during protein synthesis, aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) employ proofreading mechanisms collectively referred to as editing. Although editing is important for viability, editing-deficient aaRSs have been identified in host-dependent organisms. In Mycoplasma mobile, editing-deficient PheRS and LeuRS have been identified. We characterized the amino acid activation site of MmPheRS and identified a previously unknown hyperaccurate mutation, L287F. Additionally, we report that m-Tyr, an oxidation byproduct of Phe which is toxic to editing-deficient cells, is poorly discriminated by MmPheRS activation and is not subjected to editing. Furthermore, expressing MmPheRS and the hyperaccurate variants renders …

A Response To Howard Schaap... And A Response To The Response, Tony N. Jelsma, Steve Mathonet-Vanderwell

Faculty Work Comprehensive List

No abstract provided.

The Guardian, Week Of January 17, 2022, Wright State Student Body

The Guardian Student Newspaper

News articles from The Guardian for the week of January 17, 2022. The Guardian is the official student-run newspaper for Wright State University. It has been published regularly since March of 1965.

Scanner: A Web Platform For Annotation, Visualization And Sharing Of Single Cell Rna-Seq Data, Guoshuai Cai, Xuanxuan Yu, Choonhan Youn, Jun Zhou, Feifei Xiao

Faculty Publications

In recent years, efficient scRNA-seq methods have been developed, enabling the transcriptome profiling of single cells massively in parallel. Meanwhile, its high dimensionality and complexity bring challenges to the data analysis and require extensive collaborations between biologists and bioinformaticians and/or biostatisticians. The communication between these two units demands a platform for easy data sharing and exploration. Here we developed Single-Cell Transcriptomics Annotated Viewer (SCANNER), as a public web resource for the scientific community, for sharing and analyzing scRNA-seq data in a collaborative manner. It is easy-to-use without requiring special software or extensive coding skills. Moreover, it equipped a real-time database …

Data From: A Marine Natural Capital Asset And Risk Register – Towards Securing The Benefits From Marine Systems And Linked Ecosystem Services, Sian Rees, Matthew Ashley, Tom Mullier

Faculty of Science and Engineering Datasets

Data set and supporting information for: A Marine Natural Capital Asset and Risk Register – Towards securing the benefits from marine systems and linked ecosystem services. Citation Rees, S. et al. (2022). Data from: A Marine Natural Capital Asset and Risk Register – Towards securing the benefits from marine systems and linked ecosystem services. PEARL Research Repository http://hdl.handle.net/10026.1/18563

Mosquito Edge: An Edge-Intelligent Real-Time Mosquito Threat Prediction Using An Iot-Enabled Hardware System, Shyam Polineni, Om Shastri, Avi Bagchi, Govind Gnanakumar, Sujay Rasamsetti, Prabha Sundaravadivel

Electrical Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

Species distribution models (SDMs) that use climate variables to make binary predictions are effective tools for niche prediction in current and future climate scenarios. In this study, a Hutchinson hypervolume is defined with temperature, humidity, air pressure, precipitation, and cloud cover climate vectors collected from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that were matched to mosquito presence and absence points extracted from NASA's citizen science platform called GLOBE Observer and the National Ecological Observatory Network. An 86% accurate Random Forest model that operates on binary classification was created to predict mosquito threat. Given a location and date input, the …

Oil Palm Crop: State And Gaps Of Research And Technological Development At Global Scale, Latin America And Mexico, Luz Del Carmen Lagunes-Espinoza, César Jesús Vazquez-Navarrete, Joaquín Alberto Rincón-Ramirez, Kathleen Halvorsen

Michigan Tech Publications, Part 1

Oil palm plantations face important challenges in terms of balancing agricultural productivity and environmental sustainability. This research synthesis aims to answer key questions regarding the state and knowledge gaps of oil palm (OP) research and technological development (R&D) at a global scale, in Latin America and in Mexico, using all Web of Science® databases and agriculture categories and time spans between 1960 and 2018. Three thousand nine hundred and forty-eight publications were analysed. The research themes started with the generation of agronomic knowledge in 1960. Since 1963, studies in Latin America have focused on yield improvement; since 2010, topics related …

Challenges In Covid-19 Chest X-Ray Classification: Problematic Data Or Ineffective Approaches?, Muhammad Ridzuan, Ameera Ali Bawazir, Ivo Gollini Navarrete, Ibrahim Almakky, Mohammad Yaqub

Computer Vision Faculty Publications

The value of quick, accurate, and confident diagnoses cannot be undermined to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 infection, particularly for severe cases. Enormous effort has been put towards developing deep learning methods to classify and detect COVID-19 infections from chest radiography images. However, recently some questions have been raised surrounding the clinical viability and effectiveness of such methods. In this work, we carry out extensive experiments on a large COVID-19 chest X-ray dataset to investigate the challenges faced with creating reliable solutions from both the data and machine learning perspectives. Accordingly, we offer an in-depth discussion into the challenges faced …

Resveratrol Encapsulation And Release From Pristine And Functionalized Mesoporous Silica Carriers, Simona Ioniţă, Daniel Lincu, Raul-Augustin Mitran, Laila Ziko

Faculty Journal Articles

Resveratrol, a naturally occurring polyphenol, has attracted significant attention due to its antioxidant, cardioprotective and anticancer potential. However, its low aqueous solubility limits resveratrol bioavailability and use. In this work, different mesoporous silica matrices were used to encapsulate the polyphenol and to increase its dissolution rate. Pristine MCM-41, MCM-48, SBA-15, SBA-16, FDU-12 and MCF silica were obtained. The influence of SBA-15 functionalized with aminopropyl, isocyanate, phenyl, mercaptopropyl, and propionic acid moieties on resveratrol loading and release profiles was also assessed. The cytotoxic effects were evaluated for mesoporous carriers and resveratrol-loaded samples against human lung cancer (A549), breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) and …

Post-Hpv-Vaccination Mast Cell Activation Syndrome: Possible Vaccine-Triggered Escalation Of Undiagnosed Pre-Existing Mast Cell Disease?, Lawrence B Afrin, Tania T Dempsey, Leonard B Weinstock

Open Access Publications

For nearly a decade, case reports and series have emerged regarding dysautonomias-particularly postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS)-presenting soon after vaccination against human papilloma virus (HPV). We too have observed a number of such cases (all following vaccination with the Gardasil product), and have found several to have detectable mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS) as well as histories suggesting that MCAS was likely present long before vaccination. We detail 11 such cases here, posing a hypothesis that HPV vaccination (at least with the Gardasil product) may have triggered or exacerbated MCAS in teenagers previously not recognized to have it. Only recently …

Muskrat Textualism, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Northwestern University Law Review

The Supreme Court decision McGirt v. Oklahoma, confirming the boundaries of the Creek Reservation in Oklahoma, was a truly rare case in which the Court turned back arguments by federal and state governments in favor of American Indian and tribal interests. For more than a century, Oklahomans had assumed that the reservation had been terminated and acted accordingly. But only Congress can terminate an Indian reservation, and it simply had never done so in the case of the Creek Reservation. Both the majority and dissenting opinions attempted to claim the mantle of textualism, but their respective analyses led to …

Can Livestock Alone Be The Main Source Of Income From Rangelands In Poor Countries?, Hossein Arzani, Mohammad Jafari, H. Moradii

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

In many countries due to the high population of land holders, there is insufficient range area for each land holder to cover all life expenses. In such places, the income of only livestock in rangelands is not enough to cover living expenses of landholders. The ideas in this paper suggest that researchers should create and explore economic models that incorporate the multiple use concept in rangelands and show how multiple uses are compatible with livestock grazing and to sustain the livelihood of rangeland families.

Assessment Of Climate Events In Changma Season (Korean Monsoon) For Production Trend Of Sorghum-Sudangrass Hybrid (Sorghum Bicolor L.) In The Central Inland Regions Of Korea Using Time Series Analysis, M. Kim, J. Y. Kim, M. H. Jo, K. Sung, H. Jo

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

This study aimed to assess the impact of climate events in the Changma (Korean Monsoon) season on the production trend of sorghum-sudangrass hybrid (SSH) in central inland regions using time series analysis. The dataset in Suwon from 1988–2013 (n = 388) was generated by merging SSH data and climate data. The accumulated temperature (SHAT, ℃), rainfall amount (SHRA, mm) and sunshine duration (SHSD, hr) from seeding to harvesting were used to assess their impact on the trend of dry matter yield (DMY, kg/ha) for SSH. Furthermore, heavy rainfall (HRF) and typhoons (TPH) were considered as climate events. As a result, …

Assessment Of Causality Between Climate Variables And Production For Whole Crop Maize Using Structural Equation Modeling, M. Kim, J. Y. Kim, M. H. Jo, H. Jo, K. Sung

IGC Proceedings (1977-2023)

This study aimed to assess the causality of different climate variables on the production of whole crop maize silage (Zea mays L.; WCM) in the central inland region of the Republic of Korea. Furthermore, the effect of these climate variables was also determined by looking at direct and indirect pathways during the stages before and after silking. The WCM metadata (n = 640) were collected from the Rural Development Administration’s reports of new variety adaptability from 1985‒2011 (27 years). The climate data was collected based on year and location from the Korean Meteorology Administration’s weather information system. Causality, in …

Author’S Reflections On Making Sense Of Numbers: Quantitative Reasoning For Social Research, Jane E. Miller

Numeracy

Miller, Jane E. 2021. Making Sense of Numbers: Quantitative Reasoning for Social Research. (Los Angeles: SAGE Publications) 608 pp. ISBN 978-1544355597.

This article introduces and provides an excerpt from Making Sense of Numbers: Quantitative Reasoning for Social Research, published by Sage. The book explains and illustrates how making sense of numbers involves integrating concepts and skills from mathematics, statistics, study design, and communications, along with information about the specific topic and context under study. It teaches how to avoid making common errors of logic, calculation, and interpretation by introducing a systematic approach and a healthy dose of skepticism …

Building A Social And Academic Online Bridge To Quantitatively-Rich College Coursework, Melissa Eblen-Zayas, Lin Winton

Numeracy

We describe the online summer portion of a quantitative skills bridge program focused on helping students prepare socially and academically for the transition to college. College students are increasingly asked to employ quantitative skills across the curriculum, but students arrive at college with varied preparation. Further, those with the least preparation often encounter other challenges to social belongingness and navigating their institution. In response to these needs, our institution developed a bridge program aimed at students with a broad range of interests -- not just STEM, and the program has a significant focus on community-building as well as strengthening quantitative …

Racially Informed Care: A Treatment Approach And Exploration Of The Implications Of Race Related Barriers In The United States, Charae Mcconnell

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Social factors surrounding race and ethnicity often create barriers to meaningful occupation and keep people of color from achieving a greater quality of life (Pooremamali et al., 2016). These barriers often result in occupational deprivation and feelings of alienation in society. Research has shown that these barriers created by systematic racism exist for individuals across different environments and persist over their lifetime (Pooremamali et al., 2016). Because of these barriers and the prolonged stress responses caused by racism, people of color, especially black and brown, have significantly higher rates of chronic illness than White Americans. People of color, specifically African …

Ecospirituality In Forensic Mental Health: A Preliminary Outcome Study, Clark Patrick Heard, Jared Scott, Stephen Yeo

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: In this study, the personal experience of spirituality in nature (the concept of ecospirituality) was supported by occupational therapy and spiritual care staff enabling a community-based group for persons affiliated with a forensic mental health system in Ontario, Canada. Spirituality is a key, though debated, tenet in occupational therapy practice. At the same time, immersive participation in nature has been linked to positive health outcomes.

Methods: A qualitative method consistent with Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis was employed. Data was collected via the completion of semi-structured interviews (n = 9). Collected data was transcribed verbatim and then coded for …

Exploring The Feasibility Of A Virtual, Home-Based Musicglove® Protocol For Children With Hemiparetic Cerebral Palsy, Tiana Nguyen, Lisa Choromanski, Tatiana Kreuzer, Jamie Stroppini

The Open Journal of Occupational Therapy

Background: The MusicGlove® as an occupational therapy intervention has been shown to improve upper limb function and satisfaction over conventional therapies for adults who have had a stroke, however, its effectiveness with children who have cerebral palsy has not been examined. The purpose of this research was to explore the feasibility of a virtual, home-based MusicGlove® protocol to increase upper extremity function, quality of life, and internal motivation in children with hemiparetic cerebral palsy.

Method: Three participants, ages 6 to 16, diagnosed with hemiparetic cerebral palsy participated in 23 guided sessions using the home-based MusicGlove protocol over 5 …

Alginate Hydrogel Microtubes For Salivary Gland Cell Organization And Cavitation, Melinda Larsen, Nicholas Moskwa, Matthew Jorgensen, Pujhitha Ramesh, Miriam Toro, Emily Evans, Xulang Zhang, Susan T. Sharfstein, Yubling Xie

Biological Sciences Faculty Scholarship

Understanding the different regulatory functions of epithelial and mesenchymal cell types in salivary gland development and cellular organization is essential for proper organoid formation and salivary gland tissue regeneration. Here, we demonstrate a biocompatible platform using pre-formed alginate hydrogel microtubes to facilitate direct epithelial–mesenchymal cell interaction for 3D salivary gland cell organization, which allows for monitoring cellular organization while providing a protective barrier from cell-cluster loss during medium changes. Using mouse salivary gland ductal epithelial SIMS cells as the epithelial model cell type and NIH 3T3 fibroblasts or primary E16 salivary mesenchyme cells as the stromal model cell types, self-organization …

Hysteretic Transition Between States Of A Filled Hexagonal Magnetic Dipole Cluster, Andrew D. P. Smith, Peter T. Haugen, Boyd F. Edwards

All Physics Faculty Publications

By minimizing the magnetostatic potential energy and by finding zeros in the sum of the squares of the torques, we find the equilibrium states of six dipoles of identical strength at the vertices of a regular hexagon and a variable-strength dipole at the center. The seven dipoles spin freely about fixed axes that are perpendicular to the plane of the hexagon, with their dipole moments directed parallel to the plane. When the central dipole is weak compared with the perimeter dipoles, a ‘‘circular’’ state applies in which the perimeter dipole moments circle around the central dipole, which points toward a …

Novel Oncogenic Transcription Factor Cooperation In Rb-Deficient Cancer, Amy C. Mandigo, Ayesha A Shafi, Jennifer J Mccann, Wei Yuan, Talya Laufer, Denisa Bogdan, Lewis Gallagher, Emanuela Dylgjeri, Galina Semenova, Irina A Vasilevskaya, M J Schiewer, Chris M Mcnair, Johann S De Bono, Karen E Knudsen

Department of Cancer Biology Faculty Papers

The retinoblastoma tumor suppressor (RB) is a critical regulator of E2F-dependent transcription, controlling a multitude of protumorigenic networks including but not limited to cell-cycle control. Here, genome-wide assessment of E2F1 function after RB loss in isogenic models of prostate cancer revealed unexpected repositioning and cooperation with oncogenic transcription factors, including the major driver of disease progression, the androgen receptor (AR). Further investigation revealed that observed AR/E2F1 cooperation elicited novel transcriptional networks that promote cancer phenotypes, especially as related to evasion of cell death. These observations were reflected in assessment of human disease, indicating the clinical relevance of the AR/E2F1 cooperome …

Clinical Performance Of Methylation As A Biomarker For Cervical Carcinoma In Situ And Cancer Diagnosis: A Worldwide Study, Cristiana Banila, Attila T. Lorincz, Dorota Scibior-Bentkowska, Gary M. Clifford, Birhanu Kumbi, Dereje Beyene, Cosette M. Wheeler, Kate Cuschieri, Jack Cuzick, Belinda Nedjai

Pathology Research and Scholarship

The shift towards primary human papillomavirus (HPV)-based screening has necessitated the search for a secondary triage test that provides sufficient sensitivity to detect high-grade cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) and cancer, but also brings an improved specificity to avoid unnecessary clinical work and colposcopy referrals. We evaluated the performance of the previously described DNA-methylation test (S5) in detecting CIN3 and cancers from diverse geographic settings in high-, medium- and low-income countries, using the cut-off of 0.80 and exploratory cut-offs of 2.62 and 3.70. Assays were performed using exfoliated cervical specimens (n = 808) and formalin-fixed biopsies (n = 166) from women …

Calmodulin Binding To The Dehydrogenase Domain Of Nadph Oxidase 5 Alters Its Oligomeric State, Dustin Smith, Laura Lloyd, Elaine Wei, Paria Radmanesh, Chin-Chuan Wei

SIUE Faculty Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

Superoxide generated by NADPH Oxidase 5 (Nox5) is regulated by Ca2+ through the interaction of its self-contained Ca2+ binding domain and dehydrogenase domain (DH). Recently, calmodulin (CaM) has been reported to enhance the Ca2+ sensitivity of Nox5 by binding to the CaM-binding domain sequence (CMBD), in which the interaction between CaM and Nox5 is largely unclear. Here, we used the CMBD peptide and truncated DH constructs, and separately studied their interaction with CaM by fluorescence, calorimetry, and dynamic light scattering. Our results revealed that each half-domain of CaM binds one CMBD peptide with a binding constant near 106 …

White Faculty Responses To Implicit Racial Bias And Racially Responsive Pedagogy In The Community College Classroom, Julie Anne Clemens

Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on the experiences and perceptions of White faculty in the community college classroom with implicit racial bias and racially responsive pedagogies. Through collaborative qualitative inquiry of interviews and subsequent focus groups, three questions are answered. First this study explores racial interactions in the classroom for White faculty and how these experiences have informed their teaching. Second, White faculty identify the ways they have made changes or would like to make changes to their teaching because of racial interactions in the classroom. And lastly, these faculty shared their perceptions of current faculty development programs offered by the college …

Embodied Digital Storytelling With Ancestral Legacy, Giselle Ruzany

Expressive Therapies Dissertations

Embodied Digital Storytelling with Ancestral Legacy is a study of one's ancestral legacy with a diverse group of professional dancers who were asked to engage in an embodied inquiry. Research questions were: What is the experience of creating embodied digital storytelling when exploring one’s ancestral legacy? What can be learned from identity, sense of belonging, and resilience through this process? The study included an interview about each dancer's ancestral story, the creation of embodied digital storytelling (EDS), a final interview, and a group member checking meeting for the purpose of confirming the transcripts and findings. This meeting also served as …

White, Working-Class Adult Male Students In Higher Education: The Effects Of Working-Class Identity On Educational Success, Terence Lynn

Educational Studies Dissertations

This qualitative, phenomenological study situated in grounded theory aimed to identify the forces that impede or support white working-class males in pursuing, adapting to, and remaining in higher education and making meaningful progress in their educational goals. Utilizing a feminist ecological perspective, the researcher was able to outline and provide context of the white working-class male experience in America. The primary research question guiding this study involved the ways in which white male working-class identity affects white working-class males’ return to higher education. An inductive approach involving Relational-Cultural Theory allowed for an in-depth exploration of the lived experiences of 10 …

A Robust Technique For Optimal Fitting Of Roll-Over Shapes Of Human Locomotor Systems, Ganesh M. Bapat, Sara A. Myers

Journal Articles

The roll-over shape (ROS) effectively characterizes the lower limb's ability to roll forward during the single-limb support phase of human walking. ROS is modelled as an optimally fitted circular arc to the center of pressure (CoP) data transformed in the shank/leg-based local coordinate system. The commonly used method for optimal fitting of ROS is complex to implement and eliminates inherent individual variability in the ROS parameters during walking. We propose and validate a novel computerized method for optimal fitting of roll-over shapes of the lower limb during walking. Gait data of a healthy individual from Winter's book was used …