Digital Commons Network^™

Dr. Steven Harmon Recognized With Gardner-Webb Faculty Scholarship Award, Office Of University Communications

Gardner-Webb NewsCenter Archive

During the 2023-2024 academic year alone, Dr. Steven Harmon, professor of historical theology at Gardner-Webb, wrote five research publications and presented four pieces of his scholarly research. Since 2003, he has authored five books and edited two multi-author books, and two more volumes will be available soon. He is co-editor of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Baptist Studies from Oxford University Press, and his solo-authored book, Vision Over Visibility: U2’s Theological Imagination, is under contract with Cascade Books.

Self-Management Systems For Patients And Clinicians In Parkinson's Disease Care: A Scoping Review, Selina Boege, Madison Milne-Ives, Ananya Ananthakrishnan, Camille Carroll, Edward Meinert

Peninsula Medical School

Background: Digital self-management tools including mobile apps and wearables can enhance personalized care in Parkinson's disease, and incorporating patient and clinician feedback into their evaluation can empower users and nurture patient-clinician relationships, necessitating a review to assess the state of the art and refine their use. Objective: This review aimed to summarize the state of the art of self-management systems used in Parkinson's disease management, detailing the application of self-management techniques and the integration of clinicians. It also aimed to provide a concise synthesis on the acceptance and usability of these systems from the clinicians' standpoint, reflecting both patient engagement …

Ai And Future-Making: Design, Biases, And Human-Plant Interactions, Maliheh Ghajargar

Art Faculty Articles and Research

Design researchers and practitioners are turning to generative AI (genAI) to support activities such as ideation and concept development in pursuit of preferred futures. At the same time, genAI is known to have biases, which prompts questions about how these biases might adversely affect design practices. In the domain of sustainable HCI, with its recent trends in human-nature interactions and more-than-human design, the question can be further refined into whether and how genAI biases might perpetuate anthropocentric biases that these practices are increasingly seeking to confront. In the present research, we conducted three workshops, focusing on genAI for human-plant interactions; …

"The Words We Do Not Yet Have." A Creative Inquiry Into Human-Plant Relationships, Maliheh Ghajargar

Art Faculty Articles and Research

Climate change, loss of plant biodiversity, and ocean pollution signal the drastic changes in our ecology that call us to attend to the needs of more than human forms of life on Earth. Sustainable design and HCI research are responding to this call by offering methods and approaches to design more sustainable products and systems and recently, more than human design is building momentum. This agenda seeks to reform traditional design processes by decentering the creative agency of the dominant socio-economical group of humans and foregrounding those of diverse Others. In this paper, I focus on plants as a nonhuman …

Biogenic Reef Creation And Biodiversity Enhancement By An Offshore Longline Mussel Farm, Llucia Mascorda-Cabre, Philip Hosegood, Martin Attrill, Emma Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

As the mussel farming industry moves offshore, there is a need to fill evidence gaps on its ecological impacts. Over eight years, this research presents the results of a long-term monitoring study of the UK’s first large scale offshore mussel farm following a BACI (Before-After Control-Impact) approach to evaluate the temporal and spatial effects of the farm on benthic habitat and epibenthic species assemblages. Situated in historical fishing ground, the farm is located on a degraded seabed ecosystem dominated by soft sediment. After seven years of farming, damaged seabed increased its complexity, with biogenic reef being created (30 % increase). …

A Comparison Of Gaussian Processes And Polynomial Chaos Emulators In The Context Of Haemodynamic Pulse–Wave Propagation Modelling, L. Mihaela Paun, Mitchel J. Colebank, Dirk Husmeier

Faculty Publications

Computational modelling of the cardiovascular system is a promising future direction for patient-specific healthcare. However, the computational cost of these simulators is a bottleneck for their practical use in clinic for real-time digital twins. Emulation can overcome this, yet an extensive investigation into cardiovascular emulators is warranted. In this study, we emulate two one-dimensional haemodynamics models of the pulmonary circulation and compare two common emulation strategies: Gaussian processes (GPs) and polynomial chaos expansions (PCEs). We start by reducing the parameter space of the models through global sensitivity analysis, and then compare both emulation strategies using a multivariate, time-series output …

Approved Programs 10-8-24, Angela Brock

Programs Committee (PC)

No abstract provided.

Programs Agenda 10-8-24, Angela Brock

Programs Committee (PC)

No abstract provided.

Bricks Transfer And Completed Aa/As Degrees, Angela Brock

General Education Committee

No abstract provided.

Programs Committee Agenda 10-8-24, Angela Brock

Programs Committee (PC)

No abstract provided.

Transgender Bathroom Rights In K-12 Public Education, Carrieann Olivero

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

The purpose of this study is to interpret the sex-based classifications in Title IX and the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Between 2016 and 2022, how have circuit courts interpreted the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment and the sex-based classifications of Title IX. The study will attempt to answer the following research questions: Does the Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment relate to transgender bathroom rights? The sex-based classifications of Title IX (of ESSA) as it is applied to transgender bathroom rights? Both the 14^th Amendment and Title IX as applied to …

Relation Of Linguistic Awareness Skills To Reading And Spelling For Autistic And Non-Autistic Elementary School–Age Children, Victoria Henbest

Victoria S. Henbest Publications

For non-autistic children, it is well established that linguistic awareness skills support their success with reading and spelling. Few investigations have examined whether these same linguistic awareness skills play a role in literacy development for autistic elementary school–age children. This study serves as a first step in quantifying the phonological, prosodic, orthographic, and morphological awareness skills of autistic children; how these skills compare to those of non-autistic children; and their relation to literacy performance.We measured and compared the phonological, prosodic, orthographic, and morphological awareness skills of 18 autistic (with average nonverbal IQs) and 18 non-autistic elementary school–age children, matched in …

The Prospector, October 8, 2024, Utep Student Publications

The Prospector

No abstract provided.

Flagellar Motility Is Mutagenic, Souvik Bhattacharyya, Shelby Lopez, Abhyudai Singh, Rasika M Harshey

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Flagella are highly complex rotary molecular machines that enable bacteria to not only migrate to optimal environments but also to promote range expansion, competitiveness, virulence, and antibiotic survival. Flagellar motility is an energy-demanding process, where the sum of its production (biosynthesis) and operation (rotation) costs has been estimated to total ~10% of the entire energy budget of an

Hypoxia-Inducible Factor-1Α Inhibition In Renal Cell Carcinoma, Kinsey Morey, Santosh Nimkar, Samir Dalia

Student Publications

The tumorigenesis of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), an aggressive variant of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), is primarily attributable to the mutational inactivation of the Von Hippel–Lindau (VHL) gene. This mutation causes VHL syndrome, which is associated with tumor growth in various body parts, including the brain, spinal cord, eyes, adrenal glands, pancreas, kidney, and reproductive tract. RCC is the leading cause of death in patients with VHL syndrome. The VHL gene acts as a tumor suppressor that prevents the proliferation of various oncogenes by controlling the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF). The HIF pathway is directly linked to the control …

Whole Genomes Of Amazonian Uakari Monkeys Reveal Complex Connectivity And Fast Differentiation Driven By High Environmental Dynamism, Claudia Fontsere, Alejandro Valenzuela-Seba, Harvinder Pawar, Marta Gut, Joanna L Kelley, Sandra Ruibal-Puertas, Pol Alentorn-Moron, Armida Faella, Esther Lizano, Izeni Farias, Tomas Hrbek, Joao Valsecchi, Ivo G Gut, Jeffrey Rogers, Kyle Kai-How Farh, Lukas F K Kuderna, Tomas Marques-Bonet, Jean P Boubli

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Despite showing the greatest primate diversity on the planet, genomic studies on Amazonian primates show very little representation in the literature. With 48 geolocalized high coverage whole genomes from wild uakari monkeys, we present the first population-level study on platyrrhines using whole genome data. In a very restricted range of the Amazon rainforest, eight uakari species (Cacajao genus) have been described and categorized into the bald and black uakari groups, based on phenotypic and ecological differences. Despite a slight habitat overlap, we show that posterior to their split 0.92 Mya, bald and black uakaris have remained independent, without gene flow. …

Gender And Sexuality Awareness In Medical Education And Practice: Mixed Methods Study, Ruba Tuma, Hisham Atwan, Anna Siri, Manlio Converti, Francesco Chirico, Łukasz Szarpak, Carlo Biz, Raymond Farah, Nicola Bragazzi

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: The integration of gender and sexuality awareness in health care is increasingly recognized as vital for patient outcomes. Despite this, there is a notable lack of comprehensive data on the current state of physicians' training and perceptions in these areas, leading to a gap in targeted educational interventions and optimal health care delivery.

OBJECTIVE: The study's aim was to explore the experiences and perceptions of attending and resident physicians regarding the inclusion of gender and sexuality content in medical school curricula and professional practice in Israel.

METHODS: This cross-sectional survey targeted a diverse group of physicians across various specializations …

Tca Metabolism Regulates Dna Hypermethylation In Lps And Mycobacterium Tuberculosis–Induced Immune Tolerance, Malik Ladki, Daanish Sheikh, Amera L Martinez, Emily M Mace, Sandra L Grimm, Thaleia Caldwell, Alexandra Portillo Varela, Rajagopal V Sekhar, Anna M Mandalakas, Mandla Mlotshwa, Sibuse Ginidza, Jeffrey D Cirillo, Robert S Wallis, Mihai G Netea, Reinout Van Crevel, Cristian Coarfa, Andrew R Dinardo

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Severe and chronic infections, including pneumonia, sepsis, and tuberculosis (TB), induce long-lasting epigenetic changes that are associated with an increase in all-cause postinfectious morbidity and mortality. Oncology studies identified metabolic drivers of the epigenetic landscape, with the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle acting as a central hub. It is unknown if the TCA cycle also regulates epigenetics, specifically DNA methylation, after infection-induced immune tolerance. The following studies demonstrate that lipopolysaccharide and Mycobacterium tuberculosis induce changes in DNA methylation that are mediated by the TCA cycle. Infection-induced DNA hypermethylation is mitigated by inhibitors of cellular metabolism (rapamycin, everolimus, metformin) and the TCA …

A Qualitative Examination Of Factors Potentially Impacting Displacement Of Historically Black Communities, Daffney Moore

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Historically, Black communities have often been discussed in the context of crime and poverty; however, most Black communities were flourishing neighborhoods with businesses, churches, and schools. Most of the literature related to gentrification and displacement does not address the root causes of the disappearance of Black communities, which generally centers on policies, legislation, force-outs, economic development, and racial disparities. This case study aimed to explore the displacement of a suburban historically Black community in St. Louis County, Missouri. Scholars have scarcely examined or written about the history of Black communities. The research question sought to explore the impact of displacement …

Black Clinicians' Perceptions Of The Cultural Relevance Of Parent-Child Interaction Therapy For Black Families, Erica E. Coates, Sierra Coffey, Kaela Farrise Beauvoir, Emily Aron, Katherine R. Hayes, Felipa T. Chavez

Psychology Faculty Publications

Parent–child interaction therapy (PCIT) is a highly efficacious, evidence-based treatment for children with disruptive behaviors and their families. PCIT is a dyadic therapy designed to improve parent–child relationships and decrease children’s behavioral problems. PCIT research specific to Black families is currently sparse. Given findings that Black families have a higher attrition rate and demonstrate fewer significant improvements in parental well-being outcomes, we sought to assess clinicians’ perceived cultural alignment of PCIT with Black families. We conducted individual interviews via Zoom with 10 Black clinicians, trained in PCIT, who had experience treating Black families using PCIT. The research team generated the …

A Literature Overview: Ai, Oer, And Implications For Scaling Innovation, Rebecca Mcnulty, Lily Dubach, Sarah A. Norris, Amanda Major

Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Conference Presentation for the 2024 Open Education Conference.

The intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and open educational resources (OER) holds significant potential for transforming education and scaling innovation. This presentation will offer an overview of the existing scholarly literature to describe the current landscape, including the opinions, opportunities, challenges, risks, and emerging trends. AI can play a pivotal role in enhancing the adoption, adaption, and authorship of OER, both through small experiments and larger theoretical discussions. However, AI also presents challenges and risks, including data privacy concerns, algorithmic bias, and ethical implications, in addition to a broader potential impact on …

Rapid Unleashing Macrophage Efferocytic Capacity By Transcriptional Pause Release, Turan Tufan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

During development, inflammation or tissue injury, macrophages engulf multiple apoptotic cells via efferocytosis to maintain tissue homeostasis. The mechanism by which macrophages rapidly adapt their transcription for continuous corpse uptake is not well understood. Transcriptional pause/release is a conserved mechanism, in which RNA polymerase (Pol) II initiates transcription for 20-60 nucleotides, is paused for minutes to hours and is then released to the elongation phase. We show that macrophages quickly use Pol II pause/release upon encountering corpses to trigger a rapid transcriptional response. This mechanism is essential for continuous efferocytosis but does not affect other forms of phagocytosis. Genomic data …

The Role Of Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells In Restoring Lung Health And Chitinase Function After Epithelial Injury, Haerin Jung

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Alveolar epithelial cells provide oxygen transport and act as a first line of defense against pathogens and environmental triggers that disturb tissue homeostasis. However, in the context of epithelial injury, fibrotic and inflammatory lung diseases develop where regenerative responses may become dysregulated or recurrently engaged. One cause of lung injury is infection with cytopathic respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, which induce lung inflammation, tissue damage, and epithelial cell injury and loss. Restoration of barrier integrity after lung injury is critical for re-establishing healthy lung function but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In the steady state, lung epithelial …

The Role Of Group 2 Innate Lymphoid Cells In Restoring Lung Health And Chitinase Function After Epithelial Injury, Haerin Jung

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Alveolar epithelial cells provide oxygen transport and act as a first line of defense against pathogens and environmental triggers that disturb tissue homeostasis. However, in the context of epithelial injury, fibrotic and inflammatory lung diseases develop where regenerative responses may become dysregulated or recurrently engaged. One cause of lung injury is infection with cytopathic respiratory viruses such as influenza and SARS-CoV-2 viruses, which induce lung inflammation, tissue damage, and epithelial cell injury and loss. Restoration of barrier integrity after lung injury is critical for re-establishing healthy lung function but the underlying mechanisms are unclear. In the steady state, lung epithelial …

Rapid Unleashing Macrophage Efferocytic Capacity By Transcriptional Pause Release, Turan Tufan

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

During development, inflammation or tissue injury, macrophages engulf multiple apoptotic cells via efferocytosis to maintain tissue homeostasis. The mechanism by which macrophages rapidly adapt their transcription for continuous corpse uptake is not well understood. Transcriptional pause/release is a conserved mechanism, in which RNA polymerase (Pol) II initiates transcription for 20-60 nucleotides, is paused for minutes to hours and is then released to the elongation phase. We show that macrophages quickly use Pol II pause/release upon encountering corpses to trigger a rapid transcriptional response. This mechanism is essential for continuous efferocytosis but does not affect other forms of phagocytosis. Genomic data …

Il-7rα On Cd4+ T Cells Is Required For Their Survival And The Pathogenesis Of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis, Gholamreza Azizi, Bram Van Den Broek, Larissa Ishikawa, Hamed Naziri, Reza Yazdani, Guang-Xian Zhang, Bogoljub Ciric, Mohamad Rostami

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: The IL-7 receptor alpha (IL-7Rα) binds both IL-7 and thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP). IL-7Rα is essential for the development and survival of naive CD4+ T cells and their differentiation to effector/memory CD4+ T cells. Mice lacking IL-7Rα have severe lymphopenia and are resistant to experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model for multiple sclerosis. However, it has been reported that IL-7Rα on peripheral CD4+ T cells is disposable for their maintenance and EAE pathogenesis, which does not align with the body of knowledge on the role of IL-7Rα in the biology of CD4+ T cells. Given that a definitive study …

Understanding Emotional Outbursts: A Cross-Cultural Study In Latin American Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Maria Cristina Triguero Veloz Teixeira, Rosane Lowenthal, Alexia Rattazzi, Sebastián Cukier, Daniel Valdez, Ricardo Garcia, Gabriela Garrido Candela, Analia Rosoli Murillo, Francislene Pereira Da Silva Leite, Cecilia Montiel-Nava

Psychological Science Faculty Publications

Objectives: One of the behavioral problems strongly associated with emotional dysregulation (ED) in ASD is emotional outbursts (EOs) characterized by a pattern of challenging behavior that varies across individuals and across time. Cultural factors can modulate the expression of EOs. This study aimed to characterize the profile of emotional outbursts (EOs) in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) across various countries in Latin America and to identify clinical, emotional, and contextual factors that contribute to the onset and frequency of EOs within this diverse sample. Methods: A cross-sectional and cross-cultural study was conducted between 2023 and 2024 comprising samples from …

Assessing Benthic Recovery Below The United Kingdom's First Large-Scale, Offshore, Longline Mussel Farm, Llucia Mascorda-Cabre, Philip Hosegood, Martin Attrill, Emma Sheehan

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

The recent expansion of the aquaculture industry into the offshore marine environment is perceived to have a comparatively low environmental impact coupled with a high growth potential as a sustainable, large-scale source of healthy protein. This study assessed changes in sediment characteristics and infauna assemblages following the development of the first large-scale offshore longline mussel farm in the United Kingdom. By evaluating the effects of the farm on the sediment ecosystem and by studying infaunal sediment environmental parameters along a distance gradient away from the farm, the first before-after control-impact (BACI) study of an offshore shellfish farm is presented. Sediment …

Impact Of Cancer Therapy On Clonal Hematopoiesis Mutations And Subsequent Clinical Outcomes, Kevin T Nead, Taebeom Kim, Lijin Joo, Tina L Mcdowell, Justin W Wong, Elizabeth Brock, Ting Xu, Chad Tang, Chang-Lung Lee, Jun-Ichi Abe, Kelly L Bolton, Zhongxing Liao, Paul A Scheet, Steven H Lin

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Exposure to cancer therapies is associated with an increased risk of clonal hematopoiesis (CH). The objective of our study was to investigate the genesis and evolution of CH after cancer therapy. In this prospective study, we undertook error-corrected duplex DNA sequencing in blood samples collected before and at 2 time points after chemoradiation in patients with esophageal or lung cancer recruited from 2013 to 2018. We applied a customized workflow to identify the earliest changes in CH mutation count and clone size and determine their association with clinical outcomes. Our study included 29 patients (87 samples). Their median age was …

Fast, Variable Stiffness-Induced Braided Coiled Artificial Muscles, Xinghao Hu, Xiangyu Wang, Jian Wang, Guorong Zhang, Shaoli Fang, Ye Xiao, Ray H Baughman, Jianning Ding

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Biomimetic actuation technologies with high muscle strokes, cycle rates, and work capacities are necessary for robotic systems. We present a muscle type that operates based on changes in muscle stiffness caused by volume expansion. This muscle is created by coiling a mechanically strong braid, in which an elastomer hollow tube is adhesively attached inside. We show that the muscle reversibly contracts by 47.3% when driven by an oscillating input air pressure of 120 kilopascals at 10 Hz. It generates a maximum power density of 3.0 W/g and demonstrates a mechanical contractile efficiency of 74%. The muscle's low-pressure operation allowed for …