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If You Think Ai Won't Eclipse Humanity, You're Probably Just A Human, Gary D. Brown

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Building machines that can replicate human thinking and behavior has fascinated people for hundreds of years. Stories about robots date from ancient history through da Vinci to the present. Whether designed to save labor or lives, to provide companionship or protection, loyal, capable, productive machines are a dream of humanity.

The modern manifestation of this interest in using human-like technology to advance social interests is artificial intelligence (AI). This is a paper about what that interest in AI means and how it might develop in the world of national security.

This abstract has been adapted from the author's introduction.

Facing Injustice: How Face Recognition Technology May Increase The Incidence Of Misidentifications And Wrongful Convictions, Laura Moy

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Part I of this Article explains how face recognition is used in conjunction with eyewitness identification in the law enforcement context. Part II explores how and why the growing use of face recognition technology may increase, rather than decrease, misidentifications and therefore wrongful convictions. Part III recommends policy changes that should be considered, including some of the reforms to eyewitness identification procedures that have been advanced by others.

This abstract has been adapted from the author's introduction.

Docket Selection And Judicial Responsiveness: The Use Of Ai In The Colombian Constitutional Court, Pablo Rueda Saiz

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article addresses some of the limitations of AI as a tool to preselect a long or shortlist of cases for a court at the apex of the judicial system to review. It focuses on the Colombian Constitutional Court, as an example of a court at the apex of the judicial system that has been historically responsive to claims for fundamental rights. Docket selection is an example of a classification problem using supervised learning, in which a machine groups data according to preestablished characteristics.

This Article draws from two different bodies of literature to analyze the consequences of using AI …

Serum Uric Acid And Its Change With The Risk Of Type 2 Diabetes: A Prospective Study In China, Haiyan Su, Tong Liu, Yupeng Li, Yuxin Fan, Baoping Wang, Ming Liu, Gang Hu, Zhaowei Meng, Qing Zhang

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

Objective: To assess the association of baseline uric acid levels and their changes from baseline to Year 1 with the risk of type 2 diabetes. Research design and methods: This study cohort included 9471 subjects without a history of diabetes at baseline. The incident diabetes was diagnosed according to the American Diabetes Association standard. Results: During a mean follow-up of 2.9 years, we identified 762 type 2 diabetes cases. Multivariate-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) of diabetes across baseline tertiles of serum uric acid were 1.00, 1.15, and 1.32 (P for trend = 0.018), respectively. Participants with hyperuricemia compared with those without …

Physical Activity And Sleep Duration During Pregnancy Have Interactive Effects On Caesarean Delivery: A Population-Based Cohort Study In Tianjin, China, Yingzi Yang, Weiqin Li, Wen Yang, Leishen Wang, Jinnan Liu, Junhong Leng, Wei Li, Shuo Wang, Jing Li, Gang Hu, Zhijie Yu, Xilin Yang

Population and Public Health Science Faculty Publications

Background: There were inconsistent findings in the literature regarding the associations of physical activity and sleep duration during pregnancy with caesarean delivery for different reasons. It was also unknown whether physical activity and sleep duration during pregnancy had interactive effects on the risks of different types of caesarean delivery. The study aimed to investigate the effects of physical activity, sleep duration and their interactions on the risk of caesarean delivery for medical reasons and non-medical reasons. Methods: From October 2010 to August 2012, a prospective population-based cohort of 13,015 pregnant women was established in six central urban districts of Tianjin, …

Examining An Intersection Of Environmental Justice And Covid-19 Risk Assessment: A Review, Ashley Ellis

Honors Theses

This study views the risks associated with the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as an environmental injustice issue due to the connection between existing environmental disparities and the disproportional negative impacts brought upon by the virus. The social and health determinants attributed to those environmental disparities have traditionally been evaluated as individual risk factors, an approach that fails to gauge the complexity of an environmental injustice issue. This study employs the emerging theory of intersectionality, a belief that phenomena cannot be linked to one principal cause but instead an interconnected web of influences, in order to synthesize the multitude of factors believed …

The Role Of A-Layer In Polyunsaturated Fatty Acid (Pufa)-Mediated Effects On Aeromonas Salmonicida Subsp. Salmonicida, Allen Lin

Honors Theses

Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida is a Gram-negative bacterium that infects salmonids and non-salmonids worldwide leading to an infection known as furunculosis, which is characterized by skin lesions and hemorrhages of the fish epidermis. This infection is carried out by a A+ (virulent strain) of A. salmonicida containing an important virulent factor known as the A-layer, which is a 2D paracrystalline structure that binds to the basement membrane and functions to promote adherence to host membranes and resistance to host defense. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of the A+ A. salmonicida to incorporate exogenous fatty acids …

Swarming Oscillators With Time-Delayed Interactions, Nicholas S. Blum

Physics

We investigate the role of delay in the collective dynamics of particles that swarm in space and possess an internal oscillatory degree of freedom, called swarmalators. Swarmalators were introduced recently by O’Keeffe, Hong, and Strogatz in Nature Communications 8, 1504 (2017). The addition of a time delay into the system of swarmalators was motivated by the biology of early embryonic development. This delay leads to a rich phenomenology, which includes two new collective states, which we call "semi-static crystal" and "boiling". In the semi-static crystal state, all particles in a cluster undergo decaying radial oscillations completely in phase with one …

Structural Analysis And Vaccine Efficacy Of Hla Mutants, Kelly Tomaszewski

Arts & Sciences Graduate Student Theses and Dissertations

Staphylococcus aureus is a commensal of the human skin and also a major human pathogen. Currently, there has been no successful vaccine despite many approaches over the last two decades. S. aureus α-hemolysin (Hla), a potent cytotoxin, plays an important role in the pathogenesis of S. aureus diseases, through the activation of its receptor, ADAM10. We utilized three distinct Hla mutants with differing structural and ADAM10 binding properties to examine for vaccine efficacy. Our studies have demonstrated immunization with each vaccine candidate antigens provided significant protection against S. aureus skin infection yet elicited distinguishable immune responses. We have also generated …

Toxicity Of Indoor Dust-Derived Trace Elements And Organic Contaminants Impact On Normal Human Colon Epithelial Cells, Noura Abdulrahman

Theses (2016-Present)

Indoor dust stands out as a burgeoning challenge in society due to its implication on people’s health. Exposure to toxic dust particles occurs in different ways that include inhalation, ingestion, and dermal contact. In the hindsight, many people spend most of their time indoors exposing themselves to high levels of dust. Notably, different groups of individuals present varied risk levels to the toxicity of particles with vulnerable persons being susceptible to adverse effects of these contaminants. This includes the elderly, children, and immunocompromised individuals. The study examines the impacts of two variables that are trace elements (TMD) and organic contaminants …

Why So Negative? Street Literature And Its Negative Effects On The African American Psyche, Lilly Lamia Simone

Theses (2016-Present)

Urban literature, more widely known as street lit is a genre of literature that glorifies and exaggerates drugs, violence, and sex in the lives of its African American characters. Through Street lit readers are introduced to the black man as a figure of power through illegal activity in his community, and black women as either overly aggressive or figures in need of protection. These novels choose loyalty over family, drugs, and athleticism over education, and money and power over morality. These novels and their glorifications cause African American people to see dream lives in goals that are not only unattainable …

The Role Of Embodied Metaphor In The Relationship Between Vestibular Dysfunction, Anxiety And The Self, Kaitlyn Abrams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

There is considerable evidence that vestibular dysfunction and anxiety are correlated. Clinical and philosophical arguments suggest that a loss of sense of self, experienced through symptoms like derealization and depersonalization, might contribute to this relationship. The present study used a mixed methods approach, including Systematic Metaphor Analysis, to analyze written short answer and quantitative survey data from one hundred and thirteen participants with vestibular disorders. The Systematic Metaphor Analysis revealed several primary metaphor concepts which elucidated the connections between concrete experience and abstract concepts in vestibular dysfunction. These included metaphors of Agency, Stability, Orientation, Self-Object, and Figure-Ground. Primary metaphors for …

Fluoroalcohol Induced Supramolecular Biphasic Systems Of Zwitterionic Surfactants, Mixed Amphiphiles, And Polar Organic Solvents In Proteomics And Environmental Analysis, Durga Khanal

Chemistry & Biochemistry Dissertations - Archive

In this research, we have investigated several HFIP-induced biphasic systems of zwitterionic surfactants like CHAPS and DMMAPS and their mixed amphiphilic systems for the extraction, enrichment, and fractionation of mixture of standard proteins and complex sample mixture of yeast proteins. The biphasic systems of zwitterionic surfactants (CHAPS and DMMAPS) and their mixed amphiphiles with quaternary ammonium salts (QUATS= TBAB, TEAB) provide concomitant extraction of hydrophobic membrane proteins, enrichment of lower abundance proteins to one phase, and fractionation of complex sample mixture into two phases. The results obtained from these biphasic systems were compared with control systems of aqueous solutions of …

Jack Philp: Zebrafish Research For A Cause, Georgia Southern University

Athletics: News & Publications

• Jack Philp: Zebrafish Research for a Cause

Expanding The Conceptualization Of Support In Low-Wage Carework: The Case Of Home Care Aides And Client Death, Emma K. Tsui, Marita Lamonica, Maryam Hyder, Paul Landsbergis, Jennifer Zelnick, Sherry Baron

Publications and Research

Home care aides are a rapidly growing, non-standard workforce who face numerous health risks and stressors on the job. While research shows that aides receive limited support from their agency employers, few studies have explored the wider range of support that aides use when navigating work stress and considered the implications of these arrangements. To investigate this question, we conducted 47 in-depth interviews with 29 home care aides in New York City, focused specifically on aides’ use of support after client death. Theories of work stress, the social ecological framework, and feminist theories of care informed our research. Our analysis …

Optimizing Mixed Reality Simulation To Support Stem Graduate Teaching Assistants In Developing Student-Centered Pedagogical Skills, Constance Doty

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Physics graduate teaching assistants (GTA) often instruct student-centered lab and recitation sections at large universities, creating the opportunity to positively impact students. However, as STEM GTA professional development varies by institution and discipline, GTAs rarely receive feedback about their teaching. In K-12 teacher preparation, "microteaching", where a teacher teaches a lesson to peers acting as students, is used to provide feedback. Research has demonstrated benefits to microteaching in K-12 teacher and STEM GTA preparation, but practicing teachers find microteaching can lack authenticity. Recently, researchers have explored integrating technology, like simulation, in pedagogy training to provide a more authentic training experience. …

Big Five Aspect Personalty Scales And Social Anxiety Severity In A Nonpsychiatric Sample, Samantha Simpson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Personality can be explored hierarchically with higher- and lower-order factors. Recent research suggests the personality hierarchy is comprised of higher-order Big Five traits with two lower-order factors per Big Five trait, termed aspects. There is a lack of research examining the relationship between these lower-order aspects and social anxiety (SA) severity. To better understand these relationships, 443 university undergraduate students (72.2% female; mean age = 20.48, SD = 4.64) completed the Big Five Aspects Scale (BFAS) and the Social Phobia and Anxiety Inventory- 23 (SPAI-23), and were retained following exclusionary criteria. Path analysis, covarying for sex, age, and general anxiety …

Legal Ethics, Patrick Emery Longan

Mercer Law Review

This Survey covers the period from June 1, 2020, to May 31, 2021. The Article discusses developments concerning attorney discipline, bar admission and reinstatement, malpractice and other civil claims, ineffective assistance of counsel, disqualification of counsel and conflicts of interest, judicial conduct and recusal, attorney’s fees and liens, contempt, formal advisory opinions, amendments to the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct, and one miscellaneous matter.

Do Loneliness And Social Isolation Predict Mortality Because Of Hazardous Drinking?, Jussi Tanskanen, Sarah N. Arpin, Cynthia D. Mohr

Psychology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Introduction: Subjective feelings of loneliness and objective social isolation have been consistently connected with ill-health and mortality, though little work has empirically examined the mechanisms explaining the adverse effects. This study examines whether alcohol consumption explains the connection of loneliness and social isolation on mortality in different age and gender groups.

Methods: The sample comprised a representative 1994 Finnish sample (n = 8,650) matched with 22-year follow-up mortality data. A multigroup path analysis with discrete survival time analyses was conducted.

Results: There were unique differences in the associations between loneliness, social isolation, alcohol consumption, and mortality based on age and …

Shell Calcification And Growth Of The Aquatic Snail Planorbella Trivolvis Under Low Calcium Conditions Typical Of Decalcified Northern Lakes, Shawn A. Witte

Biology Theses

The water calcium concentration of northern softwater lakes has declined to critically low levels due to numerous anthropogenic stressors, and the availability of calcium is expected to decline further. To assess the impact that critically low water calcium has on aquatic snail shell calcification and growth, juvenile Planorbella trivolvis were raised for 60 days in one of four treatments, each containing a different amount of dissolved calcium (0.64, 1.3, 2.5, and 5.1 mg/L). There was no difference in tissue weight or shell size among treatments, suggesting low water calcium concentrations do not impact adult body mass or size. However, snails …

Developmental And Behavioral Responses Of Early Life Stages Of Fathead Minnows (Pimephales Promelas) To Urban Effluents Treated With Advanced-Oxidation Processes, Amy Cavanaugh

Biology Theses

Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTP) are the main vector for pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) to enter waterways. Many PPCPs are lipophilic, allowing them to bioaccumulate and biomagnify within aquatic organisms. PPCPs have been known to alter fish behavior and physiological processes, such as nesting defense and sex ratios, and produce an increase in deformities. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) are novel ways for treating WWTPs effluents that use hydroxyl radicals to indiscriminately breakdown PPCPs. In this study, fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) were used to examine the biological effects of AOP-treated municipal effluent as they developed from eggs to …

Formation Of B Horizons In Engineered Putting Green Soils, Glen R. Obear

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Engineered turfgrass putting green soils are designed to drain quickly, while maintaining adequate water- and nutrient-holding capacity to sustain plant growth. These soils are designed to meet specific performance characteristics when they are constructed, but the process of soil formation changes these characteristics over time. Chapter 1 of this dissertation is a literature review of soil formation in engineered putting green soils. Pedogenesis of putting greens is such that A horizons form as organic matter accumulates near the surface, and B horizons form as particles and solutes are translocated to textural or pH boundaries in soil profiles. In the engineered …

American Burying Beetle, Plant Richness, And Soil Property Responses To Collapse Of Juniperus Virginiana Woodlands With Fire, Alison K. Ludwig

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Grasslands are declining in the Great Plains due to land use changes, woody plant encroachment, and loss of historic fire cycles. Prescribed burn associations have utilized prescribed fire to collapse invading woodlands and allow the restoration of grasslands. This fire is considered “extreme” because it is capable of changing the structure and function of an ecosystem. Our study site is the Loess Canyons Experimental Landscape, a long-term, ecoregion-scale experiment to apply prescribed fire across the region to restore grasslands. The Nebraska Natural Legacy Project established the Loess Canyons ecoregion as a Biologically-Unique Landscape in 2005 with the state’s wildlife action …

Livestock Grazing Impacts On Crop And Soil Responses For Two Cropping Systems, Alyssa Kuhn

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Diversified crop, forage, and livestock systems are assumed to be more sustainable and economically competitive than traditional cropping systems. Objectives of this study were to determine effects of integrating grazing livestock into corn (Zea mays)-soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) (C-S) and corn-soybean-wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) (C-S-W) cropping systems on plant population, grain yield, soil nutrients and soil carbon dioxide (CO₂) flux following winter grazing corn residue (both systems) and an oat (Avena sativa) cover crop (C-S-W only) planted after wheat. For the 2019 and 2020 production seasons, neither corn nor soybean plant …

The Indirect Effect Of Childhood Trauma On Body Mass Index Through Exercise Frequency, Andreana Durham

Honors Theses

Objective: Research pertaining to Body Mass Index (BMI) and Childhood Trauma (CT) is very limited, with the main focus being on how these two variables correlate, disregarding other possible covariates. The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of CT on BMI while including Exercise Frequency as a mediator of this relationship and sex as a moderator for both the direct and indirect relationships among these variables. Methods: Participants included 1,812 individuals (57.9% female and 42.1% male) who completed the Behavior Health Questionnaire, which included questions looking at exercise frequency, CT, and BMI. Results: CT was related …

Occurrence, Diversity And Distribution Of Trypanosoma Infections In Cattle Around The Akagera National Park, Rwanda, S. Richard Gashururu, Ndichu Maingi, Samuel M. Githigia, Methode N. Gasana, Peter O. Odhiambo, Dennis O. Getange, Richard Habimana, Giuliano Cecchi, Weining Zhao, James Gashumba, Joel L. Bargul, Daniel K. Masiga

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Background African Trypanosomiases threaten the life of both humans and animals. Trypanosomes are transmitted by tsetse and other biting flies. In Rwanda, the African Animal Trypanosomiasis (AAT) endemic area is mainly around the tsetse-infested Akagera National Park (NP). The study aimed to identify Trypanosoma species circulating in cattle, their genetic diversity and distribution around the Akagera NP. Methodology A cross-sectional study was carried out in four districts, where 1,037 cattle blood samples were collected. The presence of trypanosomes was determined by microscopy, immunolog-ical rapid test VerY Diag and PCR coupled with High-Resolution Melt (HRM) analysis. A parametric test (ANOVA) was …

Distribution And Mating Type Characterization Of Chickpea Blight (Didymella Rabiei (Kov.) V. Arx) In Ethiopia, Gezahegne Getaneh, Tadele Tefera, Fikre Lemessa, Seid Ahmed, Jandouwe Villinger

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

We have assessed the distribution and mating type of chickpea blight (Didymella rabiei (Kov.) v. Arx) from a total of 350 and 272 fields in major chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) growing areas of Ethiopia for two consecutive cropping seasons 2017 and 2018, respectively. The prevalence of D. rabiei was 20 % for the year 2017 and 7% for 2018. Severity range of 2−9 and incidence of 10–100 % were recorded for both seasons in only 7–20 % of the assed fields. Field prevalence of 2017 and 2018 seasons were significantly different (df = 31; p < 0.001 and df = 31; p < 0.001, respectively). Similarly, the disease prevalence of both seasons was significantly different (df = 31; p < 0.001). The disease prevalence ratio frequency was highly deviated from (1:1) for both seasons (X2 = 213.62 p= <0.001; X2 = 144.36 p = 0.01). Genomic DNA of Representative samples were extracted from single spore culture and Mating type 1 (MAT1-1) specific primer SP21, Mating type 2 (MAT1-2) specific primer Tail 5, and a flanking region-specific primer Com1 assay were multiplexed in a single PCR reaction to determine the occurrence of D. rabiei mating type in Ethiopia. Out of 156 samples, only 15 samples were positive to MAT1-1 (∼10 %) with the ratio of 9:1. MAT 1−2 type was the most dominant and possibly the asexual reproduction of D. rabiei is the major type in Ethiopia. The result is important for Ascochyta blight management in breeding strategy.

Gene Co-Expression Network Analysis Of Trypanosoma Brucei In Tsetse Fly Vector, Kennedy W. Mwangi, Rosaline W. Macharia, Joel L. Bargul

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Background: Trypanosoma brucei species are motile protozoan parasites that are cyclically transmitted by tsetse fly (genus Glossina) causing human sleeping sickness and nagana in livestock in sub-Saharan Africa. African trypanosomes display digenetic life cycle stages in the tsetse fly vector and in their mammalian host. Experimental work on insect-stage trypanosomes is challenging because of the difficulty in setting up successful in vitro cultures. Therefore, there is limited knowledge on the trypanosome biology during its development in the tsetse fly. Consequently, this limits the development of new strategies for blocking parasite transmission in the tsetse fly. Methods: In this study, RNA-Seq …

Transcriptomic Response Of Anopheles Gambiae Sensu Stricto Mosquito Larvae To Curry Tree (Murraya Koenigii) Phytochemicals, Clarence M. Mang’Era, Fathiya M. Khamis, Erick O. Awuoche, Ahmed Hassanali, Fidelis Levi Odhiambo Ombura, Paul O. Mireji

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

Background: Insect growth regulators (IGRs) can control insect vector populations by disrupting growth and development in juvenile stages of the vectors. We previously identified and described the curry tree (Murraya koenigii (L.) Spreng) phytochemical leaf extract composition (neplanocin A, 3-(1-naphthyl)-l-alanine, lumiflavine, terezine C, agelaspongin and murrayazolinol), which disrupted growth and development in Anopheles gambiae sensu stricto mosquito larvae by inducing morphogenetic abnormalities, reducing locomotion and delaying pupation in the mosquito. Here, we attempted to establish the transcriptional process in the larvae that underpins these phenotypes in the mosquito. Methods: We first exposed third-fourth instar larvae of the mosquito to the …

Insect Flower-Visitors Of African Oil Palm Elaeis Guineensis At Different Sites And Distances From Natural Vegetation In Uganda, James Peter Egonyu, Stephen Erisa Sisye, John Baguma, Milton Otema, Gabriel Ddamulira

All Peer-Reviewed Publications

This survey aimed at generating information to guide improvement of oil palm fruit-set in Uganda by testing the hypothesis that diversity and abundance of oil palm insect flower-visitors were influenced by sampling site, distance from natural vegetation and flower sex. Sampling was done on male and female oil palm flowers from (i) five oil palm experimental fields in different districts and (ii) oil palm plantations on Bugala Island on Lake Victoria. The plantations on Bugala Island were subdivided into near (0–15 m) and far (100–200 m) from natural vegetation. We recorded 162,677 insects in 23 morpho-species, dominated by weevils in …