Digital Commons Network^™

Design, Synthesis, X-Ray Crystallography, And Biological Activities Of Covalent, Non-Peptidic Inhibitors Of Sars-Cov-2 Main Protease, Md Ashraf-Uz-Zaman, Teck Khiang Chua, Xin Li, Yuan Yao, Bala Krishna Moku, Chandra Bhushan Mishra, Vasanthi Avadhanula, Pedro A Piedra, Yongcheng Song

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Highly contagious SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has infected billions of people worldwide with flu-like symptoms since its emergence in 2019. It has caused deaths of several million people. The viral main protease (Mpro) is essential for SARS-CoV-2 replication and therefore a drug target. Several series of covalent inhibitors of Mpro were designed and synthesized. Structure-activity relationship studies show that 1) several chloroacetamide- and epoxide-based compounds targeting Cys145 are potent inhibitors with IC50 values as low as 0.49 μM, and 2) Cys44 of Mpro is not nucleophilic for covalent inhibitor design. High resolution X-ray studies revealed the protein-inhibitor interactions and mechanisms of inhibition. …

Building Community For Those Living With Hiv: Co-Empowerment And Participatory Action Research, Patricia M. Miller Dr., Brent Oliver Dr., Ken Lapointe, Kim A. Samson, Vincenzo Sabella Mr.

The Qualitative Report

The Calgary HIV Social Society (CHSS) self-determined and organized several social-recreational monthly events to reduce and understand the effects of social isolation and stigma that people living with HIV face every day. It has been found that COVID-19 had impacted the lives of people living with HIV by creating significant isolation for those already stigmatized because of living with HIV. Using a Participatory Action Research (PAR) methodology and focus group at the end of the events, the research showed how COVID 19, and the related concurring isolation has impacted the lives of people living with HIV. The research included three …

A Phenomenological Multi-Case Study Of Perceptions Of Older Adults’ Loneliness During Covid-19 Within Selected Online Churches, Bethney Wright Sikes

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this phenomenological multi-case study was to understand the perceptions of older adults regarding their feelings of loneliness related to the lockdown during COVID-19 and to discover if online church platforms for the older adult Christian population at Crosspoint Church in Niceville, Florida, Cross Church in Northwest Arkansas, and Community Life Church in Gulf Breeze, Florida, minimized those feelings of loneliness which may have caused mental, physical, and emotional concerns. Isolation from the church body was generally defined as nonattendance via traditional means or online platforms. The theory guiding this study was Lev Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development. …

A Proposed Method For Quality Evaluation Of Covid-19 Reusable Face Mask, Mehrbakhsh Nilashi, Rabab Ali Abumalloh, Hossein Ahmadi, Mesfer Alrizq, Abdullah Alghamdi, Omar A. Alghamdi, Sultan Alyami

School of Nursing and Midwifery

During the time of COVID-19, the use of face masks has become an essential control and prevention measure. The wide usage of disposable face masks has presented a great challenge to governments to face the impact of plastic waste on humans health and the environment. The quality of reusable face masks was assessed in previous research based on general measures such as the fabric, size fit, arrival time, price, and convenience, and based on more-specific measures related to the number of layers and the included filters. However, as the quality of reusable face masks includes several other dimensions, the general …

Sexuality Research During A National Lockdown: Reflexive Notes And Lessons From My Ph.D. Fieldwork, Tshepo B. Maake Mr

The Qualitative Report

The COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for qualitative researchers since many countries had to implement lockdown policies to control the spread of the virus. Within the South African context, research on sexual minority identities and experiences is automatically sensitive and risky given the extent of intolerance and high regard for heteronormative ideologies and beliefs that continually exclude sexual minorities from the “normal.” The sensitivity is intensified during a national lockdown since there is an excessive reliance on digital public spaces to recruit participants and conduct interviews. Based on the experience of Ph.D. fieldwork, this paper pays attention to a sexuality researcher’s …

Covid-19 National Football League (Nfl) Injury Analysis: Follow-Up Study, Troy B. Puga, Joshua Schafer, Grace Thiel, Nicholas Scigliano, Tiffany Ruan, Andres Toledo, Prince N. Agbedanu, Kevin Treffer

Student Publications

Background:

In 2020, COVID-19 spread across the world and brought normal daily life to a halt, causing the shutdown of nearly everything in order to prevent its spread. The National Football League (NFL) similarly experienced shutdowns and the resulting effects, leaving athletes unable to train in some of the most advanced facilities with many of the best trainers in the world. A previous study, titled COVID-19 Return to Sport: NFL Injury Prevalence Analysis, determined that there was increased injury prevalence during the 2020 season, likely due to decreased physiological adaptations within athletes’ bodies as a result of facility shutdowns. …

Dynamic Volunteer Engagement And Impactful Educational Outreach Taking Us Into The Next 50 Years Of The Extension Master Gardener Program, Heather Kirk-Ballard, Kristine M. Lang, Esther Mcginnis, Kerry Smith, Lucy Bradley

Faculty Publications

According to the 2021 Extension Master Gardener (EMG) National Summary, the EMG Volunteer Program had an estimated 84,700 volunteers throughout the United States. These volunteers helped communities garden and grow food, provided opportunities to engage in activities that improved physical and mental health, and worked on projects that addressed environmental issues. In total, these programs contributed 3.1 million hours of education to local communities and $88 million dollars in value to the public. However, the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges for the program, with many states implementing reduced requirements and increased flexibility for volunteers. The workshop “Dynamic Volunteer Engagement and Impactful …

Immune Evasion, Infectivity, And Fusogenicity Of Sars-Cov-2 Ba286 And Flip Variants, Panke Qu, Kai Xu, Julia N Faraone, Negin Goodarzi, Yi-Min Zheng, Claire Carlin, Joseph S Bednash, Jeffrey C Horowitz, Rama K Mallampalli, Linda J Saif, Eugene M Oltz, Daniel Jones, Richard J Gumina, Shan-Lu Liu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 requires the reassessment of current vaccine measures. Here, we characterized BA.2.86 and XBB-derived variant FLip by investigating their neutralization alongside D614G, BA.1, BA.2, BA.4/5, XBB.1.5, and EG.5.1 by sera from 3-dose-vaccinated and bivalent-vaccinated healthcare workers, XBB.1.5-wave-infected first responders, and monoclonal antibody (mAb) S309. We assessed the biology of the variant spikes by measuring viral infectivity and membrane fusogenicity. BA.2.86 is less immune evasive compared to FLip and other XBB variants, consistent with antigenic distances. Importantly, distinct from XBB variants, mAb S309 was unable to neutralize BA.2.86, likely due to a D339H mutation based on modeling. BA.2.86 had …

Public Service Motivation And Job Satisfaction Amid Covid-19: Exploring The Effects Of Work Environment Changes, Seulki Lee, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought critical changes to job demands and resources, which in turn affect employee motivation and outcomes. This study explores how COVID-19–induced work intensity and COVID-19–related organizational support influence public service motivation (PSM) and job satisfaction. Using survey data from a nationally representative sample of 1,430 South Korean central government employees collected during the pandemic (May–June 2020), we find that COVID-19–induced work intensity is positively associated with PSM, which in turn has a positive association with job satisfaction. We also find that COVID-19–related organizational support has both direct and indirect associations with job satisfaction through PSM. These …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Unaccompanied Immigrant Minors And Families: Perspectives From Clinical Experts And Providers, Amanda Venta, Ashley Bautista, Luz M. Garcini, Michelle Silva, Alfonso Mercado, Oscar F. Rojas Perez, Norma Pimentel, Kathryn Hampton

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

The number of unaccompanied immigrant minors (UIMs) and families from Central America seeking asylum in the U.S. continues to rise. This growth, combined with restrictive government policies, led to crowded and suboptimal conditions in Customs and Border Patrol and non-governmental organization facilities. COVID-19 further taxed facilities and exacerbated uncertainty surrounding length of detention, basic human rights, and family reunification. The current project features testimonies from the authors who work as clinical experts and providers in Texas – a top destination for Central American immigrants. In collaboration with a deputy director of a not-for-profit human rights organization, volunteer psychologists, and the …

International Postgraduate Students’ Lived Experiences Of Academic, Psychological And Sociocultural Adjustment During The Covid-19 Pandemic

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

Special

The Graduating International Undergraduate Class Of 2020—Counterintuitive Graduation Rate And Time To Degree During Onset Of The Coronavirus Pandemic

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

No abstract provided.

Coping Strategies During The Covid-19 Pandemic Among The Undergraduate Nursing Students Attending Virtual Classes In Selected Nursing Institutions Of Udupi Taluk, Karnataka., Rohan Shettigar Mr, Karthik Gavalkar Mr, Jeeshpa Karkera Ms, Pooja P Ms, Swathi Shenoy Ms, Pratibha Kamath, Radhika R. R Pai Dr

Manipal Journal of Nursing and Health Sciences

Introduction

Psychological and sociocognitive behavior changes will occur during the Covid-19 pandemic, especially concerning students’ academic activities, which might impact one's health and well-being. As a result of this, it could result in dysfunctional behaviors and unhealthy lifestyles, which may indicate a shift in well-being that calls for quick attention and intervention.

Methods

A descriptive survey design was adopted for the present study to identify the coping strategies adopted by nursing students during COVID-19. The study was conducted among 60 fourth-year B.Sc. Nursing students using the purposive sampling technique. The data was collected using structured questionnaires on coping strategies adopted …

Insights On The Future Of Digital Health: An Analysis Of Twitter Posts Of Imia Fellows, David T Marc, Karima Lalani, Susan H Fenton, Kerryn Butler-Henderson

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped technology-enhanced services in health and care organizations globally. As the world pivots towards a post-COVID-19 environment, it is essential to examine emerging trends amongst thought leaders in the health information technology sector. This study queried Twitter feeds of IMIA Fellows from 2013 through 2022, utilizing combinations of sentiment analysis, latent dirichlet allocation, and document analysis methods. The results provided a glimpse of positive sentiment year upon year, with the most negative sentiment prevalent in 2020, due to the onset of the pandemic. The findings from this study can be strategically used to analyze emerging trends …

Virgin Coconut Oil (Vco) Supplementation Relieves Symptoms And Inflammation Among Covid-19 Positive Adults: A Single-Blind Randomized Trial, Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa, Jacus S. Nacis, Fabian M. Dayrit, Keith V. Tanda

Chemistry Faculty Publications

A clinical study conducted in 2020 showed that virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been found effective in the rapid relief of COVID-19 symptoms and normalization of the C-reactive protein (CRP) concentration among probable and suspected cases of COVID-19. This present study aimed to validate those results and to evaluate the effects of VCO among COVID-19 patients through a 28-day randomized, single-blind trial conducted among 76 SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR (reverse transcription-polymerase chain report)-confirmed adults, with VCO given as a COVID-19 adjunct therapy. The results showed that VCO recipients were free from symptoms and had normal CRP concentrations by day 14. In comparison, …

Building Research Capacity In Low- And Middle-Income Countries And Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned And Future Directions, Peter H. Kilmarx, Karen A. Goralesk, Erum Khan, John F. Lindo, Nancy Gore Saravia

Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Research capacity is a critical component of pandemic preparedness, as highlighted by the challenges faced during the Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Recent global initiatives, such as the Research & Development Task Force of the Global Health Security Agenda and the World Health Assembly's resolution on strengthening clinical trials, emphasize the need for robust research capabilities. This Perspective discusses the experiences of leaders in infectious disease research and capacity building in low- and middle-income countries, focusing on Colombia, Jamaica, and Pakistan. These case studies underscore the importance of collaborative efforts, interdisciplinary training, and global partnerships in pandemic response. The experiences …

Knowledge, Attitudes, And Subjective Norms Associated With Covid-19 Vaccination Among Pregnant Women In Kenya: An Online Cross-Sectional Pilot Study Using Whatsapp, Sylvia Ayieko, Walter Jaoko, Rose Okoyo Opiyo, Elkanah Omenge Orang'o, Sarah E Messiah, Kimberly Baker, Christine Markham

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

COVID-19 vaccination during pregnancy has been recommended, but the perceptions related to uptake remain unexplored. This pilot study aimed to explore how perceptions influence COVID-19 vaccine uptake among a sample of 115 pregnant women in Kenya, recruited via WhatsApp. Data were collected using an adapted online questionnaire between May and October 2022. Logistic analyses assessed the relationship between COVID-19 vaccination uptake and the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) constructs: attitudes and subjective norms. COVID-19 vaccination coverage was 73%, with vaccine hesitancy estimated at 41.4% among the unvaccinated group. Most participants had completed college education and had good knowledge of COVID-19 …

Moral Mobilization In The Digital Space: Seafarers Exercising Agency During The Pandemic, Lijun Tang

Plymouth Business School

The agency of casualized and spatially isolated workers has recently received increased research attention. This paper extends this line of research to seafarers, a traditional but also casualized and spatially isolated workforce. More specifically, it examines cases of collective action by Chinese seafarers on WeChat, a social media platform, in response to problems and grievances caused by COVID-19 control measures during the pandemic. It shows that seafarers, building on the WeChat platform and together with other maritime stakeholders, have established a socio-technological infrastructure that enables them to mobilize their peers to take action when they experience injustice at work. Their …

Systemic Racism And Covid-19: Vulnerabilities With The U.S. Social Safety Net For Immigrants And People Of Color, Adam M. Butz, Jason E. Kehrberg

Journal of Public Management & Social Policy

America has a mythologized reputation as an accommodative “melting pot” nation that welcomes individuals from all races and countries seeking improved quality of life and reduced material hardship. However, our U.S. social welfare system is more broadly characterized as underdeveloped, restrictive, and exclusionary, especially toward immigrants and people of color. Public health benefits (e.g., Medicaid), food assistance programs (e.g., SNAP), rental assistance (e.g., HCV/Section 8), and cash assistance (e.g., TANF) are oftentimes restricted for immigrants and racial minorities, making them more vulnerable to material hardship and more exposed to pandemic conditions under COVID-19. Moreover, these welfare restrictions are oftentimes rooted …

Fitting A Covid-19 Model Incorporating Senses Of Safety And Caution To Local Data From Spartanburg County, South Carolina, D. Chloe Griffin, Amanda Mangum

CODEE Journal

Common mechanistic models include Susceptible-Infected-Removed (SIR) and Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Removed (SEIR) models. These models in their basic forms have generally failed to capture the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic's multiple waves and do not take into account public policies such as social distancing, mask mandates, and the ``Stay-at-Home'' orders implemented in early 2020. While the Susceptible-Vaccinated-Infected-Recovered-Deceased (SVIRD) model only adds two more compartments to the SIR model, the inclusion of time-dependent parameters allows for the model to better capture the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic when surveillance testing was common practice for a large portion of the population. We find …

Inpatient Costs Of Treating Patients With Covid-19, Kandice A Kapinos, Richard M Peters, Robert E Murphy, Samuel F Hohmann, Ankita Podichetty, Raymond S Greenberg

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

IMPORTANCE: With more than 6.2 million hospitalizations due to COVID-19 in the US, recognition of the average hospital costs to provide inpatient care during the pandemic is necessary to understanding the national medical resource use and improving public health readiness and related policies.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the mean cost to provide inpatient care to treat COVID-19 and how it varied through the pandemic waves and by important sociodemographic patient characteristics.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This cross-sectional study used inpatient-level data from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2022, extracted from a repository of clinical, administrative, and financial information covering 97% …

The Impact Of Loneliness Post-Pandemic And Immersed In The Upcoming Political Election, Regina M. Luttrell Ph.D., Gwen Pratt, Abigail Kludt, Amy Barone, Kwadwo Osei-Poku, Lihan Wang

Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab

The Real Chemistry Emerging Insights Lab emerged with a partnership between Real Chemistry and the Public Relations department at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communication and serves as a multidisciplinary research center focusing on analytics, artificial intelligence, digital and emerging media for a number of organizations regarding communications.

Healthcare professionals and organizations are interested in identifying how mental health impacts different U.S. generational groups after the COVID-19 pandemic and the intersectionality of U.S. Politics. Our team focused on two generational cohorts – Generation X (1965-1980) and Generation Z (1997-2012) – as an entry point into navigating the impact of …

Time Series Forecasting Of New Cases For Covid-19 Pandemic In Jordan Using Enhanced Hybrid Emd-Arima, Ahmad M. Awajan, Bilal Al-Hasanat, Elarbi Elkaroui, Ayed Al E’Damat, Remal S. Al-Gounmeein, Abdullah S. Al- Jawarneh

Journal of Statistics Applications & Probability

In this study, the enhanced hybrid empirical mode decomposition with autoregressive integrated moving average (EMD- ARIMA) method is proposed and applied to forecast daily new COVID-19 reported cases in Jordan. The EMD method is applied to decompose the COVID-19 data into a number of IMFs components as a simple time series. Then, the appropriate ARIMA(p,d,q) model is applied to evaluate the forecasting value for the low-frequency components. Then, the forecasting results are collected together. Data for this study are collected from the Jordanian Ministry of Health. Seven forecasting accuracy measures are employed to compare the forecasting results of the proposed …

A Qualitative Case Study Of Disabled Students’ Experiences With Online Course Accessibility During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jason Altmann

Dissertations of Practice

ABSTRACT

A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY OF DISABLED STUDENTS’

EXPERIENCES WITH ONLINE COURSE ACCESSIBILITY

DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Jason Altmann, Ed.D.

Department of Counseling and Higher Education

Northern Illinois University, 2024

Xiaodan Hu, Director

This dissertation presents a qualitative case study exploring the experiences of disabled students with online course accessibility during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigates how the abrupt shift to online learning impacted the accessibility of educational materials and support services for disabled students in a large, suburban community college.

Critical Disability Theory (CDT) framework was utilized to guide interview questions and explore the connection between the initial …

Thymidine Phosphorylase Is A Promising Target In Sars-Cov-2 Spike Protein-Enhanced Thrombosis, Renat Roytenberg

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

Thrombosis, as an underlying mechanism in cardiovascular diseases, is the leading global cause of death in the 21st century. Infection is a risk factor for thrombosis, and the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has led to a rise in the incidence of thrombosis, thereby increasing mortality. In comparison to previous severe coronavirus outbreaks, rates of thrombosis in COVID-19 have been unprecedented. COVID-19 is caused by the novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The SARS-CoV-2 spike protein (SP), the key used to enter host cells, is implicated in thrombosis pathology, though mechanisms are not fully understood. The SARS-CoV-2 …

Coping With The Covid-19 Pandemic: Examining Meaning-Making In A Socioecological Framework, Emilia Eva Mikrut

Theses and Dissertations

During 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a threatening, unpredictable, and uncontrollable stressor. Meaning-making, or one’s ability to make sense of a stressful life event, integrate the event into one’s narrative of the world and meaning in life, and accordingly revise life goals, is a salient intrapsychic process contributing to psychological adjustment in the face of very stressful or traumatic experiences such as chronic health issues, interpersonal grief, and natural and man-made disasters. Early findings provide evidence for the critical role of meaning-making in coping with stressors associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Though meaning-making is a universal process, one’s capacity …

The Impact Of Censorship On Covid-19 Policy Formation In The United States, Victor Wallis

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Pandemic Pathways: An Integrated Approach To Studying The Pandemic’S Employment Impacts On Paid And Unpaid Care Of Children 0 To 11 Years Old, Johanna S. Quinn

Sociology Faculty Publications

The pandemic adversely affected the employment of child caregivers, exacerbating already existing inequalities. The authors offer an integrated framework that considers the interdependencies between unpaid and paid child caregiving and the construction of the childcare sector as a devalued and fractionalized group. The authors outline the prepandemic positioning of mothers, childcare teachers, preschool teachers, and primary school teachers. Then, using cross-sectional and panel data from the Current Population Survey, the authors describe how the pandemic affected these four groups of child caregivers’ employment between January 2018 and December 2022. Black, Brown, and non-college-educated mothers were hit particularly hard during the …

Connecting In Crisis: Exploring Online Informal Communications In Florida’S Unemployment Struggle, Anna V. Eskamani

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

The COVID-19 pandemic led to widespread unemployment, significantly impacting Floridians who faced delays and systemic issues with the state's unemployment system. This study examines crisis communication within a Reddit community, focusing on how individuals used informal communications to navigate the unemployment benefits crisis. Guided by Rhetorical Arena Theory (RAT) and Uses and Gratification Theory (U&G), the research addresses: (1) How did individuals in the active audience discuss challenges faced when trying to access Florida’s unemployment system? (2) What lessons can be drawn from the analysis of informal communications on social media for improving crisis communication strategies during future crises? A …

Cultivating Green Public Spaces And Backyard Gardens Amid Covid-19: An Anthropological Study Of Metro-Orlando Gardeners, Chelsea N. Daws

Graduate Thesis and Dissertation 2023-2024

This dissertation critically analyzes home and community gardens within Metro-Orlando by considering the ways that the COVID-19 pandemic impacts residents' garden participation and access to green public spaces. The study utilizes an ethnographic approach to produce informed understandings of participants' experiences within local gardens, alternative food networks, and community supported agriculture analyzed using Marxian theoretical frameworks. Findings are primarily grounded in qualitative information derived from interviews, participant observation, and photovoice. Data were collected both prior to the global COVID-19 outbreak and over subsequent months of lockdown and public health mitigation measures. Primarily focusing on local community garden organizers, community garden …