Digital Commons Network^™

Recent Advances In Nanomaterial-Based Biosensor For Periodontitis Detection, Mohammad Hosseini Hooshiar, Masoud Amiri Moghaddam, Mohammad Kiarashi, Athraa Y Al-Hijazi, Abbas Fadel Hussein, Hareth A Alrikabi, Sara Salari, Samar Esmaelian, Hassan Mesgari, Saman Yasamineh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Periodontitis, a chronic inflammatory condition caused by bacteria, often causes gradual destruction of the components that support teeth, such as the alveolar bone, cementum, periodontal ligament, and gingiva. This ultimately results in teeth becoming loose and eventually falling out. Timely identification has a crucial role in preventing and controlling its progression. Clinical measures are used to diagnose periodontitis. However, now, there is a hunt for alternative diagnostic and monitoring methods due to the progress of technology. Various biomarkers have been assessed using multiple bodily fluids as sample sources. Furthermore, conventional periodontal categorization factors do not provide significant insights into the …

The King Hygiene Project: Addressing Hygiene Poverty In College Students, Krislynn King

Honors Projects

For my Honors Project, I seek to shine a light on the topic of hygiene insecurity and investigate how it impacts the modern-day college student. In addition, I have taken physical action through a hygiene drive, marketing, and volunteering to better the lives of those who struggle with this issue regardless of whether they are a student at Bowling Green State University.

Perspectives From Patients With Chronic Lung Disease On A Telehealth-Facilitated Integrated Palliative Care Model: A Qualitative Content Analysis Study, Jeannette Kates, Carrie Tompkins Stricker, Kristin L. Rising, Alexzandra Gentsch, Ellen Solomon, Victoria Powers, Venise J. Salcedo, Brooke Worster

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND: Chronic lung disease affects nearly 37 million Americans and often results in significant quality of life impairment and healthcare burden. Despite guidelines calling for palliative care (PC) integration into pulmonary care as a vital part of chronic lung disease management, existing PC models have limited access and lack scalability. Use of telehealth to provide PC offers a potential solution to these barriers. This study explored perceptions of patients with chronic lung disease regarding a telehealth integrated palliative care (TIPC) model, with plans to use findings to inform development of an intervention protocol for future testing.

METHODS: For this qualitative …

Cdk8/Cdk19 Promotes Mitochondrial Fission Through Drp1 Phosphorylation And Can Phenotypically Suppress Pink1 Deficiency In Drosophila, Jenny Zhe Liao, Hyung-Lok Chung, Claire Shih, Kenneth Kin Lam Wong, Debdeep Dutta, Zelha Nil, Catherine Grace Burns, Oguz Kanca, Ye-Jin Park, Zhongyuan Zuo, Paul C Marcogliese, Katherine Sew, Hugo J Bellen, Esther M Verheyen

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Cdk8 in Drosophila is the orthologue of vertebrate CDK8 and CDK19. These proteins have been shown to modulate transcriptional control by RNA polymerase II. We found that neuronal loss of Cdk8 severely reduces fly lifespan and causes bang sensitivity. Remarkably, these defects can be rescued by expression of human CDK19, found in the cytoplasm of neurons, suggesting a non-nuclear function of CDK19/Cdk8. Here we show that Cdk8 plays a critical role in the cytoplasm, with its loss causing elongated mitochondria in both muscles and neurons. We find that endogenous GFP-tagged Cdk8 can be found in both the cytoplasm and nucleus. …

Advancing Brain Tumor Segmentation With Spectral–Spatial Graph Neural Networks, Sina Mohammadi, Mohamed Allali

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

In the field of brain tumor segmentation, accurately capturing the complexities of tumor sub-regions poses significant challenges. Traditional segmentation methods usually fail to accurately segment tumor subregions. This research introduces a novel solution employing Graph Neural Networks (GNNs), enriched with spectral and spatial insight. In the supervoxel creation phase, we explored methods like VCCS, SLIC, Watershed, Meanshift, and Felzenszwalb–Huttenlocher, evaluating their performance based on homogeneity, moment of inertia, and uniformity in shape and size. After creating supervoxels, we represented 3D MRI images as a graph structure. In this study, we combined Spatial and Spectral GNNs to capture both local and …

The Lowest Discriminant Ideal Of Cayley-Hamilton Hopf Algebras, Zhongkai Mi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Discriminant ideals are defined for an algebra R with central subalgebra C and trace tr : R → C. They are indexed by positive integers and more general than discriminants. Usually R is required to be a finite module over C. Unlike the abundace of work on discriminants, there is hardly any literature on discriminant ideals. The levels of discriminant ideals relate to the sums of squares of dimensions of irreducible modules over maximal ideals of C containing these discriminant ideals. We study the lowest level when R is a Cayley-Hamilton Hopf algebra, i.e. C is also a Hopf subalgebra, …

Statistics For Iwasawa Invariants Of Elliptic Curves, Ii, Debanjana Kundu, Anwesh Ray

School of Mathematical & Statistical Sciences Faculty Publications

We study the average behavior of the Iwasawa invariants for Selmer groups of elliptic curves. These results lie at the intersection of arithmetic statistics and Iwasawa theory. We obtain lower bounds for the density of rational elliptic curves with prescribed Iwasawa invariants.

Laxative Use In Adults With Intellectual Disabilities: Development Of Prescribing Guidelines, Ruth Bishop, Richard Laugharne, Lisa Burrows, Sandra Ward, Sharon Eustice, David Branford, Mike Wilcock, Kirsten Lamb, Alison Tavare, Charlotte Annesley, Stephen Lewis, Vasileios Voulgaropoulos, Faye Sleeman, Beth Sargent, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background Constipation is overrepresented in people with intellectual disabilities. Around 40% of people with intellectual disabilities who died prematurely were prescribed laxatives. A quarter of people with intellectual disabilities are said to be on laxatives. There are concerns that prescribing is not always effective and appropriate. There are currently no prescribing guidelines specific to this population. Aims To develop guidelines to support clinicians with their decision-making when prescribing laxatives to people with intellectual disabilities. Method A modified Delphi methodology, the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method, was used. Step 1 comprised development of a bespoke six-item, open-ended questionnaire from background literature and its …

Lindenwood Lions Triumph At Daytona Nca & Nda: Cheer And Dance Titles, Catalina Corredor

Lindenlink (2012- )

No abstract provided.

Dismantling Barriers To Hepatitis B And Delta Screening, Prevention, And Linkage To Care Among The Pwud Community In Philadelphia, Beatrice Zovich, Catherine Freeland, Holly Moore, Kara Sapp, Anousha Qureshi, Rachel Holbert, Jason Zambrano, Daljinder Bhangoo, Chari Cohen, Richard W. Hass, Amy Jessop

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

The prevalence of hepatitis B and delta viruses (HBV/HDV) among people who use drugs (PWUD) remains largely unknown. In the context of one Philadelphia-based harm reduction organization (HRO), this study aimed to assess HBV/HDV prevalence and facilitate linkage to care. Participants completed a demographic HBV/HDV risk factor survey and were screened for HBV and reflexively for HDV if positive for HBV surface antigen or isolated core antibody. Fisher's exact tests and regression were used to understand relationships between risks and HBV blood markers. Of the 498 participants, 126 (25.3%) did not have hepatitis B immunity, 52.6% had been vaccinated against …

Affinity: A Celebration Of Community Through Poetry, Evan A. Gates

Student Scholar Showcase

The language of poetry extends far beyond the creative writing classroom; song lyrics, Bible verses, instruction manuals, and even advertisements utilize the power of words to portray a message. Like an art portrait, everyone’s unique perception helps to create a larger sense of unity through diversity. Poets emphasize the many ways culture constructs varying opinions amongst the human race. At the University of Lynchburg, people of many different demographics share one common thread: the pursuit of community. Whether local or foreign, English teacher or scientist, white or black, Lynchburg is the centerpiece of intellectual curiosity. While the school remains situated …

Praise In The Collegiate Classroom: How Narcissism, Entitlement, Empathy, And A Desire For Fame Impact Student’S Preferences For Praise, Alexandra Crissman

Student Scholar Showcase

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between personality traits, namely narcissism, entitlement, empathy, and a desire for fame, and a preference for public praise in a student population. Past research has shown that those who are higher in narcissism are also higher in entitlement and that these rates have been rising with future generations. Past research has also indicated a negative relationship between narcissistic tendencies and empathy, inferring that those higher in narcissism tend to score lower on empathy measures. In this study, undergraduate students were surveyed online to determine scores on four measures of traits …

Recognizing Traps And Frightening Wolves: Foxes And Lions As A Representative Of Machiavellian Political Ideology In Shakespeare’S Comedies, Grace A. Powell

Student Scholar Showcase

While William Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets have been discussed time and time again over the past few centuries, one topic that has been less traversed is the connection between his Comedies and Niccolò Machiavelli’s political ideologies. This project will explore references of lions and foxes in Shakespeare’s Comedies and the leaders and monarchs within them to determine how beliefs about Machiavelli’s political ideology influenced Shakespeare’s literature and became symbols for leadership and power. This project will be important for gaining historical context on Machiavellian political discourse and how it was represented in the contemporary dramatic literature of William Shakespeare. I …

East Vs. West And Its Relationship With Violence Among College Students And Myanmar, Bryce Davis

Student Scholar Showcase

With over 10 million men and women being targeted by domestic violence every year it has increased the need for research on the issue. Previous research has been conducted on how various crimes involving interpersonal violence can occur. The current study looks to expand on this previous research by assessing how interpersonal violence can occur. The study examines Eastern and Western cultures and how they can impact interpersonal violence. Previous research has shown that people born in eastern countries such as Asia have more of an acceptance of dating violence and rape. One hundred and thirty-six participants participated in the …

Birds Of Society: Applying External Adjustments And Conceptual Metaphor To The Importance Of Being Earnest, Morgan Forehand

Liberty University Research Week

Despite the fact that music is commonly described as free therapy with easily accessible content in the modern age of streaming, most people do not realize that music they already listen to contains many legitimate, psychologically tested therapy. This creative artistic research study examines the role that music therapy processes and techniques play in affecting the form, songwriting and creative processes of the modern music industry. These foundational aspects of songs elicit neurological responses, the emotional effect of which is discussed and incorporated through creative research and implementation through a creative artifact. This study explores songwriting techniques found in various …

Critical Raw Material In Mineral Elements Found In Fly Ashes From The Czech Republic Power Plant, Agnieszka Klupa

Journal of Sustainable Mining

The economic development of EU countries is limited due to limited access to a number of mineral raw materials, which necessitates actions aimed at securing the supply of CRM. For this reason, CRMs constitute elements of particular importance for the EU. The aim of the study was to assess the content of CRMs as a potential source of REY in fly ash resulting from the coal combustion in one of the power plants in the Czech Republic. In the tested ash the main phases are: glassy phase, mullite and quartz. The chemical composition of the tested fly ashes showed dominance …

The Physiological Demands Of A Division Iii Field Hockey Goalie: A Case Study, Kayla Brady, Sarah Miller-Richards

Student Scholar Showcase

It is essential to evaluate the physiological demands of the sport of field hockey, specifically of a division III field hockey goalie. There has been limited research on this sport, let alone on the position of goalies. Some recent studies have evaluated ice hockey goalies on their anthropometrics, upper and lower body strength, power output, and aerobic capacity. The purpose of this study was to examine the physiological demands and performance profile of a division III field hockey goalkeeper. A division III goalie went through several baseline tests including anthropometrics, resting and maximum heart rate, upper and lower one rep …

Conscious Ai And The Climate Crisis, Griffin Kiegiel

Midwest Ethics Symposium

No abstract provided.

Experience Machines And Experiencing Machines, Patrick Mckee

Midwest Ethics Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Dance Of Dismissal: A Program Oral Interpretation, Lindsay Anton

Liberty University Research Week

Drawing from prose, poetry, drama, and news articles, a ten-minute performance centered around a unifying theme was curated. This type of performance is called a Program Oral Interpretation (POI). A POI is crafted to show the skills of interweaving diverse literary genres into a cohesive performance. This performance piece is attempting to answer a question, “How can diverse performance techniques be developed to convey the emotional impact of women's misdiagnosis and dismissal of physical pain, thereby reflecting broader societal attitudes towards women's health?” This piece skillfully leverages historical context and recent studies to show the mistreatment of women in the …

Gsr Analysis: The Importance Of Viable Swab Kits, Abbye Morgan

Liberty University Research Week

Since the late 1970s, forensic scientists have been using scanning electron microscopy to analyze gunshot residue particles to determine whether an individual or object was in the vicinity of a shooting. GSR particles are from the primer of a gun, and when the gun is fired that primer will also come out of the gun and land on the shooter’s hand and objects around them. When an object or a person is swabbed and tested for GSR, forensic scientists are looking for three elements: lead, barium, and antimony. If these elements are found, the object or person is considered positive …

Accessing Advanced National Supercomputing And Storage Resources For Computational Research, Ramazan Aygun

All Things Open

This presentation will cover ACCESS (Advanced Cyberinfrastructure Coordination Ecosystem: Services & Support), and Kennesaw State University's involvement in Open Science Data Federation program as a data origin to help researchers and educators with or without supporting grants to utilize the nation’s advanced computing systems and services. ACCESS, a program established and funded by the National Science Foundation, is an ecosystem with capabilities for new modes of research and further democratizing participation. The presentation covers how to apply for allocations on ACCESS. The last part of the presentation will briefly explain Open Science Data Federation and Kennesaw State University's involvement as …

Altering The Composition Of Lanconide Fingerprint Powder, Lydia Buxa

Liberty University Research Week

Latent fingerprints found on crime scenes cannot be seen with the naked eye and require development techniques for visualization and analysis (1). Because fingerprints are composed of oily sebaceous secretions, powders used in dusting adhere to the fingerprint oils (2). The fine powder particles help visualize the print increasing contrast of the ridges and minutiae. The most common fingerprint powder is a black powder made of carbon black or powdered acacia. The composition of black powder is far more researched, but the limitation of this powder comes when the latent prints are found on dark surfaces (1). Since black powders …

Efficient Synthesis Of 5,6-Fused Ring Pyridazines For Advanced Organometallic Semiconductor Applications, David Johnson

Liberty University Research Week

Organometallic semiconductors have emerged as pivotal components driving technological innovations in recent years. With a rich history in chemistry, organometallic compounds have gained prominence for their semiconductive properties, leading to significant advancements in fields such as optoelectronics and materials science. This study focuses on streamlining the synthesis of 5,6-fused ring pyridazines, a critical organic building block for cutting-edge organometallic semiconductor technologies. Pyridazines, characterized by a six-membered aromatic ring with adjacent nitrogen atoms, exhibit remarkable stability and have diverse applications in optoelectronics and pharmaceuticals. The primary objective of this research is to develop a more efficient process for the synthesis of …

Crispr Cas9 Mediated Gfp Tagging Of Cd79a In Danio Rerio, Asia Eskaros

Liberty University Research Week

Danio rerio, commonly known as zebrafish, are well known to have an immune system that mirrors the human immune system. As such, Danio rerio is an excellent biological model for studying the immune system. This research team was attempting to study the activity of B-cells in the immune development of zebrafish. However, the team found that the exact location of B-cells in zebrafish throughout their development is not known. Thus, this research seeks to design a protocol to identify the location of B-cells throughout Danio rerio immune development. The team will be fulfilling this aim by tagging CD79a, also known …

Validation Of Ansys Fluent For Direct Numerical Simulation Of Channel Flow, Reid Prichard

Liberty University Research Week

Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) is an invaluable tool for visualizing turbulent structures down to the smallest length scales. Because of the large element count necessary to resolve these small structures, DNS is typically performed using high-order spectral methods. While these methods greatly ease the computational burden, they preclude the use of unstructured meshes, which are often a necessity to model complex geometry. Finite-volume methods enable the use of unstructured meshes at great computational cost. Existing literature has validated DNS using various finite-volume solvers, but the commercial solver ANSYS Fluent remains unvalidated. We demonstrate preliminary attempts to validate DNS of a …

A Cellular And Genetic Approach To Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Parker Pruitt

Liberty University Research Week

This paper serves as an in-depth exploration of a rare genetic disorder, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, discussing its genetic basis and pathology, as well as offers a unique perspective from those who are afflicted by it. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) is a connective tissue disorder that ultimately stems from a rare genetic mutation and disruption of the extracellular matrix. Thirteen different variations of this possibly life-threatening syndrome have been established. The types of EDS have different genes that are mutated to specifically result in the variant. The focus of this proposal is the vascular variation, otherwise referred to as vEDS. Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome …

High And Dry - Contextualizing Domestic Root Cellar Drains In Southern Ontario, Anatolijs Venovcevs

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The subterranean root cellar is the quintessential feature of rural nineteenth-century archaeological sites in Ontario and much archaeological, historical, and architectural research on rural farmsteads has focused on defining and understanding these structures. However, this work has neglected an important component of this feature – the root cellar drain. This paper contextualizes these features within their broader nineteenth-century ideals of drainage and goes on to tackle the topic with the use of statistical analysis on the associated geographical, social, and economic attributes. The discussion presents opportunities that are present from the vast quantities of historical sites that have been excavated …

Unearthing The Ancient Metropolis: Perth Amboy's Clark-Watson Site, Richard F. Veit

Northeast Historical Archaeology

This Clark-Watson Site in Perth Amboy, New Jersey is one of the richest early colonial sites in the state. It is named for two early property owners: Benjamin Clark a Scottish stationer and bookseller who moved to New Jersey in 1683 and John Watson (1685-1768), a noted 18^th-century artist. Excavations at the site by William Pavlovsky unearthed an extraordinary collection of colonial artifacts. The archaeological assemblage provides an unparalleled glimpse into the material life of settlers in Perth Amboy during a period when the city aspired to be a center of international trade and was competing directly and …

The First Foundation Of A Good House: Ferryland's Mansion House Kitchen, John D. Archer

Northeast Historical Archaeology

The community of Ferryland, located on Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula, is home to the remains of George Calvert’s initial attempt at colonial settlement in North America. Over 25 years of excavations and research at the site have produced an increasingly detailed image of life in the seventeenth-century community there. As part of this ongoing work, the project discussed in this paper explores the use and provisioning of a detached kitchen which would have served Ferryland’s Mansion House. Built between 1621 and 1627, the structure makes up one half of a detached service wing adjacent to the Mansion House, fitting a pattern …