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Medical School Watercooler Newsletter - July 12, 2024, Lindsay Hughes

Watercooler Newsletter

This is the July 12, 2024 edition of the Frederick P. Whiddon College of Medicine’s newsletter - Watercooler.

Contents Include

• USA scientist receives $300,000 grant for Alzheimer’s pilot study
• Medical students teach campers lessons in STEM and life
• Whiddon COM employees participate in staff retreat
• Pathology celebrates graduating residents, research symposium winners announced

The Slow Lane: A Study On The Diffusion Of Full-Electric Cars In Italy, Monica Bonacina, Mert Demir, Antonio Sileo, Angela Zanoni

Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei Working Papers

The transition to a zero-emission car fleet is a pivotal element of Europe’s decarbonisation strategy.Italy’s participation in this trajectory is significant, given the size of its car fleet. Currently, only battery electric (BEVs) and hydrogen-powered are considered zero-emission vehicles. The final update of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) includes an ambitious target for the diffusion of electric cars in the Italian fleet. The aim is to have a total of 4.3 million electric cars on the roads by 2030. However, by the end of 2023, the Italian e-fleet totalled 220,000 cars, which equals a mere 0.5% of the …

Fostering Innovative, Inclusive, Mathematical Discourse: Perspectives Of Elementary And Early Childhood Preservice Teachers, Kelly O. Byrd, Rachel R. Henderson

University Research Data and Datasets

The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate elementary and early childhood preservice teachers’ perspectives on engaging in silent mathematical discourse through Chalk Talk. Through this silent discussion routine, students engage in equitable formative assessment first by sharing their thinking solely through writing and then reflecting on the ideas of others. Participants (n=38) were enrolled in an elementary mathematics methods course at a university in the southeastern United States. Qualitative data were collected from the participants’ responses to journal prompts related to the perceived benefits and challenges of using Chalk Talk in the classroom. Consensual Qualitative Research-Modified (CQR-M) methods …

Early Frasnian (Upper Devonian) Genundewa Event In The Bolshaya Nadota River Section Of The Subpolar Urals (Russia), Marina Soboleva, Denis Gruzdev, Dmitry Sobolev, Andrey Zhuravlev

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Evidence of the Frasnian Genundewa Event at the FZ 2 – FZ 3 boundary interval has been detected in the facies of the isolated carbonate platform in Subpolar Urals. The preserved traces of the Genundewa Event represent micritic microlaminated carbonates, which manifests a short-term deepening episode in an extremely shallow water background. From the onset of this deep-water deposition there is a dominance of Polygnathus, Ancyrodella, and Mesotaxis whereas in the underlying shallow water deposits, the genus Polygnathus clearly predominated. No specific features of the Genundewa Event were observed in the C-isotope record. The mean δ13Ccarb value is approximately 2‰ …

Carbonate And Organic Proxies And The Impacts Of Climate On Lake Systems: Paleoclimate Interpretations From Lake Chalco, Mexico, Aria Holmes

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

This project incorporates several lines of evidence to better understand the climate at Lake Chalco. Chapter 1 utilizes oxygen isotopes from carbonates and show that the Inter Tropical Convergence Zone varies on primarily glacial and millennial timescales; precession is not observed. These data indicate glacials periods were shallower and interglacials were wetter periods at Lake Chalco. Chapter 2 studies carbon, nitrogen, C/N, and TOC proxies and finds that the lake conditions during the glacials and interglacials are primarily a mixed algal-macrophyte-terrestrial organic matter. Deviations show that the lake during the interglacials had more algal organic matter- reflecting influxes of nutrients …

Sand, Ice, And X-Rays: Developing Xct Methods For Frozen Samples And Refining Siliciclastic Facies Models For Perennially Ice-Covered Lakes, Utilizing Cores From Lake Fryxell, Mcmurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, Holly M. Levett

Earth and Planetary Sciences ETDs

Sedimentation in perennially ice-covered lakes (PICLs) is proposed to be bi-modal, with mud deposited by stream inflow and sand deposited on the ice cover by aeolian processes and then melting through by absorption of solar radiation. Here, we consider Lake Fryxell, a PICL in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, and several lake bed cores about 30 cm in length, to better understand PICL facies through time, using micro X-ray CT (XCT). Using XCT images along with sieve and laser granulometry data, we constrained the grain-size of PICL deposits to dominantly medium / fine sand with a coarse component. The presence of …

Critical Geospatial Data Science: Principles For Curating, Analyzing, And Sharing Geospatial Data, Daniel Beene

Geography ETDs

Critical geospatial data science (CGDS) offers principles for engaging with geospatial data, methods, and translation by pulling from critical epistemologies in geography. CGDS interrogates objective “truths” in science by actively engaging in critique of geospatial data and methodologies. Specifically, CGDS contends with the political context and motivations behind geospatial data science (GDS) while using GDS methods to understand how social-spatial arrangements manifest and are reinforced through data. CGDS explicitly aims to inform practices for criticality from within GDS and provides opportunities for multidisciplinary research that incorporates social theories, contextualizes geospatial data, and critically evaluates the effects and ethics of (under)representation …

Onesamp 3.0: Estimation Of Effective Population Size Via Snp Data From One Population, Aaron Hong, Rebecca Cheek, Suhashi Nihara De Silva, Kingshuk Mukherjee, Isha Yooseph, Mark Heim, David Tallmon, Christina Boucher

Faculty, Staff, and Students

The genetic effective size (Ne) is arguably one of the most important characteristics of a population as it impacts the rate of loss of genetic diversity. Methods that estimate Ne are important in population and conservation genetic studies as they quantify the risk of a population being inbred or lacking genetic diversity. Yet there are very few methods that can estimate the Ne from data from a single population and without extensive information about the genetics of the population, such as a linkage map, or a reference genome of the species of interest. We present ONeSAMP 3.0, an algorithm for …

Tectonic Geomorphology Of The South-Eastern Section Of The Burdur-Fethiye Shear Zone, Western Taurides: Morphotectonic Framework Of The Eşen Basin, İrem Eli̇tez, Cenk Yaltirak

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The Eşen Basin is a transtensional basin located in the south-eastern section of the Burdur-Fethiye Shear Zone and includes a part of the Western Taurides to the east. This tectonically complex area is bounded by the back-arc region of the Hellenic Arc, the offshore Anaximander Mountains, the offshore Rhodes and Finike basins, the extensional Western Anatolian region, and the compressional regions of the Western Taurides. In this study, in order to characterise the recent tectonic activity of the Eşen Basin, 101 drainage basins and 41 mountain fronts were analysed in terms of the longitudinal river profiles and the application of …

Eocene Magmatism Related To Postcollisional Extension In The Eastern Pontides (Ne Türkiye): 40ar-39ar Geochronology, Geochemistry, And Whole-Rock Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf Isotopes, Emre Aydinçakir, Cem Yücel, Abdullah Kaygusuz, Özgür Bi̇li̇ci̇, Si̇nan Yilmazer, Gilles Ruffet

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The mineral chemistry, whole-rock geochemistry, 40Ar / 39Ar dating and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopes of the Eocene Narman (Erzurum) Volcanic rocks in the southeast of the Eastern Pontides Orogenic Belt (EPOB, NE Türkiye) were investigated. The Narman Volcanites consist of basaltic dyke, basaltic lava, and basaltic volcanic breccia facies. Volcanites contain plagioclase (An34-80), clinopyroxene (Wo38-47En41-50Fs5-18), and olivine (Fo68-90) as phenocrystals with magnetite/titanomagnetite microphenocrysts. New 40Ar-39Ar ages suggest that these volcanic rocks erupted between 44.5 ± 0.1 and 43.4 ± 0.1 Ma, within the Middle Eocene (Lutetian). Narman Volcanites have calc-alkaline character, with medium-high K content. Volcanites are enriched in large ion lithophile …

Evaluation Of Gis-Based Spatial Interpolation Methods For Groundwater Level: A Case Study Of Türkiye, Ni̇lüfer Ti̇rol Kirçi̇çek, Alper Baba, Ayhan Koçbay, Murat Mert Toklu

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

Groundwater is a valuable and universally distributed resource on Earth. Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of groundwater is of utmost importance for effective management. Normally, groundwater levels are recorded at arbitrary points, but groundwater modeling requires interpolating the measured values at specific grid nodes. The aim of this study was to identify and evaluate the geographical variations of groundwater levels in Türkiye using three geostatistical interpolation techniques. Data from 355 groundwater wells from 1970 to 2019 were used for this purpose. In addition, an investigation of changes in annual average temperature and precipitation was conducted for two different time …

Facies Architecture And Depositional Evolution Of The Middle Eocene Mass Flow-Dominated Fan Delta Complex In The Multifeeder Areas: Elazığ Marine Basin (Eastern Türkiye), Onur Alkaç

Turkish Journal of Earth Sciences

The mass flow-dominated fan delta complex is developed by the rapid deposition of coarse-grained materials in front of uplifted areas under the influence active tectonism. This is important for providing clues about the first opening stages of marine basins. The study aims to shed light on the fact that mass flow-dominated fan delta complexes play an active role in determining the characterization of tectonism controlling basin opening. In the study area, mass flow-dominated deposits of the Deliktaş Fan Delta Complex (DFDC) represent the first deposits of the southern part of the Middle Eocene Elazığ Marine Basin, whose development is controlled …

Functional And Structural Analysis Of The Neimann-Pick Disease Type C Pathway To Include Caveolin-1, Anthony Michael Seat

Chemistry and Chemical Biology ETDs

Human disease is often thought of as an all or nothing prospect, either one has the disease or one does not. This does not bear out in clinical or personal experiences, instead demonstrating that disease occurs within a spectrum ranging from presumed unaffected to demonstrably and detrimentally affected.Neimann-Pick disease is one example of this spectrum look into diseased states, with multiple named versions of a phenotypically similar disease. We focus on Neimann-Picktype C (NPC), which is the result of a disruption in the efflux of cholesterol and sphingolipids from the endocytic pathway. NPC demonstrates this concept of a spectrum of …

Chemical And Physical Properties Of Fine Fractions From A Village Proximate To A Uranium Mine: Insights About Soil Health, Mary P. Haley

Nanoscience and Microsystems ETDs

Thousands of abandoned uranium mines (AUM) in Native American tribal lands have not been fully remediated, leaving uranium mine wastes exposed and accessible for potential erosion and transport by wind. Analyzing the metal and organic content of the fine-grained fractions in soils could uncover the impact of mine legacy on the soil health in communities that live in proximity to AUM. This study investigates the physical and chemical properties of the fine-grained fraction (μm) of soils to quantify the effect of heavy metal-bearing particulates on the soil health in the village of Paguate and within the Jackpile-Paguate AUM located on …

Membrane Hinges For Deployable Systems, C. Mitchel Skinner

Theses and Dissertations

Origami-inspired and deployable technology has become increasingly common in a variety of applications including satellite and antenna designs for space applications. The drive to utilize ultra-thin materials in the design of these deployable space structures has led to the development of membrane hinges. Membrane hinges show promise as an effective surrogate fold because of their potential advantages including requiring minimal volume and mass, allowing for small bending radii, and functioning without lubricant. Two challenges associated with membrane hinges include reliability after repeated cyclic loading and predictability of a large deployable with radially-unconstrained membrane hinges. The research presented includes the cyclic …

Lymphoid Tissues Contribute To Plasma Viral Clonotypes Early After Antiretroviral Therapy Interruption In Siv-Infected Rhesus Macaques, Antonio Solis-Leal, Nongthombam Boby, Suvadip Mallick, Yilun Cheng, Fei Wu, Grey De La Torre, Jason Dufour, Xavier Alvarez, Vinay Shivanna, Yaozhong Liu, Christine M. Fennessey, Jeffrey D. Lifson, Qingsheng Li, Brandon F. Keele, Binhua Ling

School of Biological Sciences: Faculty Publications

The rebound-competent viral reservoir, composed of a virus that is able to persist during antiretroviral therapy (ART) and mediate reactivation of systemic viral replication and rebound viremia after ART interruption (ATI), remains the biggest obstacle to treating HIV infection. A better understanding of the cellular and tissue origins and the dynamics of viral populations that initiate rebound upon ATI could help develop therapeutic strategies for reducing the rebound-competent viral reservoir. In this study, barcoded simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV), SIVmac239M, was used to infect rhesus macaques to enable monitoring of viral barcode clonotypes contributing to virus detectable in plasma after ATI. …

School Counselors’ Perceptions And Descriptions Of Their Career Counseling Efforts For Non-Honor Roll Students In Career Management, Sherlette C. Burkhalter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

High-quality career counseling is freely available at U.S. high schools. However, many students choose not to participate in career planning programs, despite being assigned to a school counselor for guidance. There is a projected increase in demand for school counselors; however, there needs to be more literature regarding whether high school students are taking advantage of career planning and how counselors cope with and manage their role in implementing career counseling programs. The purpose of this study was to explore school counselors’ perceptions and descriptions of their career counseling efforts for non-honor roll students in career management. The theoretical framework …

Expansive Framing Of Mathematics And Computer Science: Supporting Educators In Cross-Curricular Teaching, Kimberly Evagelatos Beck, Jessica F. Shumway, Patrick Ocran, Jody Clarke-Midura, Mimi Recker

Publications

Expansive Framing (EF) is a theory to explain transfer of learning and an instructional technique to facilitate transfer. We employed EF as an approach to create a series of integrated mathematics-computer science (CS) lesson plans and studied their implementation by teachers in two fifth-grade classrooms and a paraprofessional in one Computer Lab classroom. We used deductive theoretical qualitative analysis of transcripts of classroom implementations to investigate how educators used EF in their lessons. Findings suggested that educators most effectively engaged in EF principles when they were present in curricular materials. We recommend that mathematics-CS integrated curricular materials include framing language …

Presence Of Pharmaceuticals And Personal Care Products In Sinkhole Lakes In West-Central Florida, Elzbieta Bialkowska-Jelinska

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) are essential for human health, improving quality of life, and extending life expectancy. However, many of these chemicals have become significant environmental pollutants, particularly in lentic (lake) environments. One unintended source of PPCPs in natural environments is onsite wastewater treatment systems (OWTS), commonly known as septic tanks.

This study examines whether the seasonal variability of rainfall and soil saturation affects the assemblages and concentrations of PPCPs in a residential lake. The general premise of the dissertation was that with the onset of the wet season, PPCPs that had collected in the drainfields of the …

Learning To Express Reward Prediction Error-Like Dopaminergic Activity Requires Plastic Representations Of Time, Ian Cone, Claudia Clopath, Harel Z Shouval

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The dominant theoretical framework to account for reinforcement learning in the brain is temporal difference learning (TD) learning, whereby certain units signal reward prediction errors (RPE). The TD algorithm has been traditionally mapped onto the dopaminergic system, as firing properties of dopamine neurons can resemble RPEs. However, certain predictions of TD learning are inconsistent with experimental results, and previous implementations of the algorithm have made unscalable assumptions regarding stimulus-specific fixed temporal bases. We propose an alternate framework to describe dopamine signaling in the brain, FLEX (Flexibly Learned Errors in Expected Reward). In FLEX, dopamine release is similar, but not identical …

Enhancing Content, Pedagogy, And Student Achievement: An Examination Of Professional Development Through The Lens Of Middle School Social Studies Teachers, Presley Shilling

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

This study aimed to investigate middle school social studies teachers’ perceptions of professional development and its relation to the teacher's knowledge of the subject, teaching methods, and improving student outcomes. The primary questions addressed in this study focused on middle school social studies teachers perceptions of current professional development offerings, content-knowledge, pedagogy, and student achievement. The participants of this study included nine middle school social studies teachers selected through nonrandom purposeful sampling. A qualitative case study method, utilizing semi-structured interviews, investigated four research questions: (a) What are middle school social studies teachers' perceptions of professional development? (b) What are middle …

Essays On Health, Labor, And Development Economics, Md Mohsan Khudri

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

In the first essay, using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I estimate the impact of breastfeeding initiation and duration on multiple cognitive, health, and behavioral outcomes spanning early childhood through adolescence. To mitigate the potential bias, I employ a doubly robust (DR) estimation method, addressing misspecification in either the treatment or outcome models while adjusting for selection effects. My novel approach is to use and evaluate a battery of supervised machine learning (ML) algorithms to improve propensity score (PS) estimates. I demonstrate that the gradient boosting machine algorithm removes bias more effectively and minimizes other prediction errors …

Higher Order Operator Splitting Schemes With Complex Coefficients And Applications, Arun Banjara

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation is to apply the concept of Lie generators for linear semigroups induced by nonlinear flows, originally developed by J. R. Dorroh and J. W. Neuberger in the 1990’s [15], to approximate solutions of initial value problems like

x′(t) = F(x(t)), x(0) = x₀, (1)

where F = (F₁,··· ,F_N), and F_i : R^N ⊃ Ω -> R^N. The method, sometimes referred to as ``Bernard Koopman’s Global Linearization Method,” traces its origins back to the works of Sophus Lie in the 1890’s [30], Gerhard Kowalewski in …

Development Of Peptidomimetics Based On Γ-Aapeptide Molecular Scaffolds To Modulate Amyloid Peptide Aggregation, Heng Liu

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Many proteins contain fragments that become structured upon binding to specific targets or through self-association. Notable examples of such disorder-to-order transitions include amyloidogenic proteins like amyloid-β peptide (Aβ) and tau peptide in Alzheimer's disease, α-Synuclein in Parkinson's disease, and hIAPP in type 2 diabetes, and so on. These regions can aggregate into amyloid fibrils through β -sheet stacking, contributing to amyloidosis and related diseases. Although direct link between amyloid formation and neurodegenerative disease development is not fully understood, developing effective inhibitors of these amyloid peptides remains promising both for fundamental research and therapeutical advance.

We have developed a new class …

Fem-Based Conductive Heat Transfer Analytical Description Of Solidification Rate And Temperature Gradient During Lateral Laser Beam Oscillation Welding Of Aluminum Alloy, Jason Cheon, Cheolhee Kim, Sanghoon Kang, Minjung Kang

Mechanical and Materials Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

This study investigates the feasibility of utilizing the finite element method (FEM)-based conductive heat transfer (CHT) analysis simulation to determine temperature gradients and solidification rates at the solid–liquid interface during laser beam oscillation welding. By comparing experimental observations with FEM-based CHT analysis, the underlying microstructural evolution and grain formation during welding were examined. FEM-based CHT enables the calculation of temperature gradients (G) and solidification rates (R), offering insights into the formation of equiaxed structures, which are crucial for suppressing hot cracking. Columnar-to-equiaxed structure transition thresholds, such as G/R and G³/R, accurately predict …

Conditional Approval Letter For The 2024 Butte Priority Soils (Bpsou) Residential Metals Abatement Program (Rmap) – Quality Assurance Project Plan (Qapp) Annual Update (Non-Residential Parcels And Residential Daycares) (Dated July 1, 2024), Molly Roby

Silver Bow Creek/Butte Area Superfund Site

No abstract provided.

Immanuel Kant’S Transcendental Idealism: On The Possibility Of Freedom In A Deterministic World, Anamarie R. Avecilla

Budhi: A Journal of Ideas and Culture

Freedom is a central question in Philosophy. It has always been asked: How do determinism and freedom cohere in a human being? How can the fact that humans exist and undertake life projects in a thoroughgoingly deterministic world be reconciled with the claim that human acts remain free and efficacious? This work explores the problem of freedom and determinism using Kant’s answer in the Third Antinomy in the Kritik der reinen Vernunft, and using Transcendental Idealism as epistemological framework for a possible resolution to this problem. If one could assume with Kant that what we know are not things in …

Vysion Software, Isaias Hernandez-Dominguez Jr, Chander Luderman Miller

2024 Symposium

Vision loss presents significant challenges in daily life. Existing solutions for blind and visually impaired individuals are often limited in functionality, expensive, or complex to use. Vysion Software addresses this gap by developing a user-friendly, all-in-one AI companion app that provides features including text summarization, real-time audio descriptions, and AI-enhanced navigation. This project details the development plan, initial functionalities, and future vision for Vysion Software.

The Extent To Which Basic Stage Science Teachers In The Bani Obaid Directorate Of Education Practice Habits Of Mind From Their Perspectives, Rania Al-Deek

Jordan Journal of Applied Science-Humanities Series

This study aimed to identify the extent to which basic stage science teachers in the Bani Obaid Directorate of Education practice habits of mind from their own perspectives. The study adopted a descriptive approach and used a questionnaire to collect data after verifying its validity and reliability. The questionnaire consisted of 25 items divided into five domains: values and attitudes, arithmetic and assessment, manual control and observation, communication and communication skills, and critical response skills. The participants were 117 male and female basic stage science teachers. The findings of the study revealed that the extent to which these teachers practiced …

The Effectiveness Of The Likelihood Ratio Test And Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes Method In Detecting Differential Item Functioning According To Sample Size, Percentage Of Items With Dif, And Ability Distribution, Ala'a Qawaqneh, Zaid Bani Ata

Jordan Journal of Applied Science-Humanities Series

This study aimed to verify the effectiveness of the Likelihood Ratio Test (IRTLR) and the Multiple Indicators Multiple Causes (MIMIC) method in detecting differential item functioning (DIF) according to the percentage of items with DIF and ability distribution. To achieve the study's aim, nine ability distributions and three percentages of items with differential functioning were generated using the three-parameter model with the WINGEN program on 50 dichotomous items. The generated data were analyzed using the R program and the MULTILOG program. The results revealed statistically significant differences at α = 0.05 between Type I error and power means due to …