Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Health And Healthcare: Designing For The Social Determinants Of Health And Blue Zones In North Nashville, Rebecca Tonguis, Honor Thomas, Olivia Hobbs

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

Owned by North Nashville’s First Community Church, a now empty site in the Osage-North Fisk neighborhood of North Nashville has been identified as a potential site for a new location of The Store, in addition to a community-centric architectural development based on the social determinants of health and informed by the principles behind Blue Zones, the locations with the highest lifespans in the world. Opened by Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, The Store is a free grocery store that “allow[s] people to shop for their basic needs in a way that protects dignity and fosters hope”, for which North Nashville …

Air Pollution In South Texas: A Short Communication Of Health Risks And Implications, Sai Deepak Pinakana, Esmeralda Mendez, Ismaila Ibrahim, Md. Salahuddin Majumder, Amit U. Raysoni

School of Earth, Environmental, and Marine Sciences Faculty Publications and Presentations

Air pollution is a major public health concern. The region of South Texas in the United States has experienced high levels of air pollution in recent years due to an increase in population, cross-border trade between the U.S.A. and Mexico, and high vehicular activity. This review assesses the relationships between human health and air pollution in South Texas. A thorough scientific search was performed using PubMed, Science Direct, and ProQuest, with most of the literature focusing on the source apportionment of particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less in width (PM2.5), Carbon Dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), Black Carbon …

The Potential And Limitations Of Conversational Agents For Chronic Conditions And Well-Being, Ekaterina Uetova, Lucy Hederman, Robert J. Ross, Dympna O'Sullivan

Articles

Conversational agents are becoming more common in the health and wellness domains in part due to assumptions regarding potential improvements in individuals’ outcomes. This paper presents initial findings from a review of conversational agent use in healthcare for chronic conditions and well-being. A search of the literature was performed on electronic databases PubMed, ACM Digital Library, Scopus and IEEE Xplore. Studies were included if they were focused on chronic disorder management, disease prevention or lifestyle change and if systems were tested on target user groups. This paper investigates the health domains, the user profiles and reasons why conversational agents may …

Crisisready's Novel Framework For Transdisciplinary Translation: Case-Studies In Wildfire And Hurricane Response, Andrew Schroeder, Caleb Dresser, Akash Yadav, Jennifer Chan, Shenyue Jia, Caroline Buckee, Satchit Balsari

Institute for ECHO Articles and Research

Extreme weather events including wildfires and hurricanes are becoming increasingly hazardous due to climate change, and often result in transient or permanent population displacements. Disaster-related disruptions in infrastructure, workforce, wages, and social networks can combine with population displacements to result in interruptions in health care access and prolonged impacts on morbidity and mortality. The data needed to make health systems and emergency management approaches more resilient to these hazards, and more responsive to the needs of affected populations, are sequestered in silos across private corporations and public agencies. In two case studies, we describe how our research team at CrisisReady …

Fecal Sample Collection Methods And Time Of Day Impact Microbiome Composition And Short Chain Fatty Acid Concentrations, Jacquelyn Jones, Stacey N. Reinke, Alishum Ali, Debra J. Palmer, Claus T. Christophersen

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Associations between the human gut microbiome and health outcomes continues to be of great interest, although fecal sample collection methods which impact microbiome studies are sometimes neglected. Here, we expand on previous work in sample optimization, to promote high quality microbiome data. To compare fecal sample collection methods, amplicons from the bacterial 16S rRNA gene (V4) and fungal (ITS2) region, as well as short chain fatty acid (SCFA) concentrations were determined in fecal material over three timepoints. We demonstrated that spot sampling of stool results in variable detection of some microbial members, and inconsistent levels of SCFA; therefore, sample homogenization …

Thaw Publications, Carl Landwehr, David Kotz

Computer Science Technical Reports

In 2013, the National Science Foundation's Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program awarded a Frontier grant to a consortium of four institutions, led by Dartmouth College, to enable trustworthy cybersystems for health and wellness. As of this writing, the Trustworthy Health and Wellness (THaW) project's bibliography includes more than 130 significant publications produced with support from the THaW grant; these publications document the progress made on many fronts by the THaW research team. The collection includes dissertations, theses, journal papers, conference papers, workshop contributions and more. The bibliography is organized as a Zotero library, which provides ready access to citation materials …

16th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

In this 16th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering, and Health, our faculty, staff and students continue the strong tradition of showcasing student and faculty innovation, creativity, and productivity in our academic departments. Basic and applied research in science and health fields stem from curiosity, acquired skill, and a desire to test and improve processes from foundational principles. The outcomes of scientific research expand intellectual understanding and have tremendous impact on quality of life, environmental health, and human flourishing.

Angela C. Hare, Ph.D.

Dean of the School of Science, Engineering and Health

Bench Tracker: Improving Actionable Insights In Smartwatch Fitness Application By Increasing Usability Through Simplification, Chris Campanelli

Faculty of Applied Science and Technology - Exceptional Student Work, Applied Computing Theses

This thesis describes a smartwatch solution, called Bench Tracker for fitness monitoring using Apple Watches and Apple iPhone devices. The system involves a mobile based application that allows users to track and monitor bench press workouts in real-time to create actionable insights. By creating actionable insights on a smartwatch application, and improving the application’s usability through simplification, users agreed they would use the fitness application created that specifically tracked bench presses. A leading fitness app was used as the comparator, and it was discovered that users were undecided if they would use this app for bench press tracking. This paper …

Assessment Of Two Behavioural Models (Hbm And Ranas) For Predicting Health Behaviours In Response To Environmental Threats: Surface Water Flooding As A Source Of Groundwater Contamination And Subsequent Waterborne Infection In The Republic Of Ireland, L. Andrade, K. O'Malley, Paul Hynds, E. O'Neill, J. O'Dwyer

Articles

Extreme weather events (EWEs) are increasing in frequency, posing a greater risk of adverse human health effects. As such, developing sociological and psychological based interventions is paramount to empowering individuals and communities to actively protect their own health. Accordingly, this study compared the efficacy of two established social-cognitive models, namely the Health Beliefs Model (HBM) and Risks-Attitudes-Norms-Abilities-Self-regulation (RANAS) framework, in predicting health behaviours following EWEs. Surface water flooding was used as the exemplar EWE in the current study, due to the increasing incidence of these events in the Republic of Ireland over the past decade. Levels of prior experience with …

Effects Of The Affordable Care Act On Health Care Access And Self-Assessed Health After 3 Years, Charles J. Courtemanche, James Marton, Benjamin Ukert, Aaron Yelowitz, Daniela Zapata

Economics Faculty Publications

Using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, we examine the causal impact of the Affordable Care Act on health-related outcomes after 3 years. We estimate difference-in-difference-in-differences models that exploit variation in treatment intensity from 2 sources: (1) local area prereform uninsured rates from 2013 and (2) state participation in the Medicaid expansion. Including the third postreform year leads to 2 important insights. First, gains in health insurance coverage and access to care from the policy continued to increase in the third year. Second, an improvement in the probability of reporting excellent health emerged in the third year, with …

Animal Agriculture And American Health: The Search For Sustainable Protein, Britta Brinkmann

Biology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

This study examines the impact large-scale animal agriculture has on the environment. It links the environment and health. The goal is to find protein sources that are sustainable and nutritious in order to replace typical meat and dairy products. A study is proposed to measure the impact of the typical American diet, a vegan diet, an insect-supplemented diet and a diet heavy in seafood.

Does Journaling Encourage Healthier Choices? Analyzing Healthy Eating Behaviors Of Food Journalers, Palakorn Achananuparp, Ee Peng Lim, Vibhanshu Abhishek

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

Past research has shown the benefits of food journaling in promoting mindful eating and healthier food choices. However, the links between journaling and healthy eating have not been thoroughly examined. Beyond caloric restriction, do journalers consistently and sufficiently consume healthful diets? How different are their eating habits compared to those of average consumers who tend to be less conscious about health? In this study, we analyze the healthy eating behaviors of active food journalers using data from MyFitnessPal. Surprisingly, our findings show that food journalers do not eat as healthily as they should despite their proclivity to health eating and …

Eat & Tell: A Randomized Trial Of Random-Loss Incentive To Increase Dietary Self-Tracking Compliance, Palakorn Achananuparp, Ee Peng Lim, Vibhanshu Abhishek, Tianjiao Yun

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

A growing body of evidence has shown that incorporating behavioral economics principles into the design of financial incentive programs helps improve their cost-effectiveness, promote individuals' short-term engagement, and increase compliance in health behavior interventions. Yet, their effects on long-term engagement have not been fully examined. In study designs where repeated administration of incentives is required to ensure the regularity of behaviors, the effectiveness of subsequent incentives may decrease as a result of the law of diminishing marginal utility. In this paper, we introduce random-loss incentive-a new financial incentive based on loss aversion and unpredictability principles-to address the problem of individuals' …

Environmental Health, Tessa Oliaro

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

There is a very important intersection between the environment, public health, and socioeconomic factors (Braveman, 2014). These include waste disposal, water use and quality, road safety, ecosystem services, and many more. Environmental health stresses, “the health impacts of physical, chemical, and biological agents in the environment and workplace, and learns to develop strategies to measure and control major environmental health problems both locally…and in settings around the globe” (UC Berkeley School of Public Health, 2017). This overarching umbrella can have emphases in environmental epidemiology, exposure science, climate change, ergonomics, home and industrial hygiene, and molecular epidemiology. Exploring each of these …

14th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

Welcome to the 14th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health. This event continues a strong tradition showcasing student and faculty innovation, creativity and productivity in academic departments largely from within the School of Science, Engineering and Health.

Malta : Natural Freshwater Resources, Lisamarie Pereira

Global Public Health

The aim of this paper is to discuss Malta’s struggle with limited natural freshwater resources. Malta currently uses aquifers to obtain natural freshwater. For over a decade, aquifers have been under pressure from over-abstraction. Due to this issue, Malta has not been able to obtain enough natural freshwater for agriculture and basic living. The biggest risk due to over-abstraction is retrieving a smaller volume of freshwater. In Malta’s attempted interventions, the biggest issue is the Maltese government’s misconceptions. The Maltese government believes the country has unlimited natural freshwater resources. Due to this misconception, nothing is being done to actively fix …

Evaluation Of Levels Of Antibiotic Resistance In Groundwater-Derived E. Coli Isolates In The Midwest Of Ireland And Elucidation Of Potential Predictors Of Resistance, Jean O'Dwyer, Paul Hynds, Matthieu Pot, Catherine Adley, Michael Ryan

Articles

Antibiotic-resistant (pathogenic and non-pathogenic) organisms and genes are now acknowledged as significant emerging aquatic contaminants with potentially adverse human and ecological health impacts, and thus require monitoring. This study is the first to investigate levels of resistance among Irish groundwater (private wells) samples; Escherichia coli isolates were examined against a panel of commonly prescribed human and veterinary therapeutic antibiotics, followed by determination of the causative factors of resistance. Overall, 42 confirmed E. coli isolates were recovered from a groundwater-sampling cohort. Resistance to the human panel of antibiotics was moderate; nine (21.4%) E. coli isolates demonstrated resistance to one or more …

12th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

Welcome to the 12th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health! This event continues a strong tradition showcasing student an faculty innovation, creativity and productivity in academic departments largely from within the School of Science, Engineering and Health.

11th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

Welcome to the 11th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health! This event continues a strong tradition of annual events designed to showcase student and faculty innovation, creativity and productivity in academic departments largely from within the School of Science, Engineering and Health. We look forward to incorporating new facets and improvements each year. For example, new this year: project posters will be presented by junior Engineering students during one large, multi- location, mid-afternoon poster session break that will include presentation by many other departments.

Slides: Best Management Practices For Oil And Gas Development And Comparative Water Quality Database Of Regulations Relating To Shale Oil And Gas, Matt Samelson, University Of Colorado Boulder. Getches-Wilkinson Center For Natural Resources, Energy, And The Environment. Intermountain Oil And Gas Bmp Project

Fracking, Water Quality and Public Health: Examining Current Laws and Regulations (March 20)

Presenter: Matt Samelson, J.D., Attorney, Consultant for Intermountain Oil and Gas Best Management Practices (BMP) Project, Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment, University of Colorado Law School

34 slides

10th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

Welcome to the 10th Annual Symposium of the School of Science, Engineering and Health! This symposium continues a strong tradition of annual events designed to showcase student and faculty innovation, creativity and productivity in academic departments that were formerly housed in different schools within the college. This will be the third year in which we are holding the event as the School of Science, Engineering and Health. We have maintained many customs while blending to establish new traditions. We look forward to incorporating your suggested improvements into future symposia.

Slides: Impacts Of Energy Deficits In Cooking, Illumination, Water, Sanitation, And Motive Power, Paul S. Chinowsky

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Paul Chinowsky, Director, Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities; Professor, University of Colorado

25 slides

9th Annual Symposium Of School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

No abstract provided.

8th Annual Symposium Of The School Of Science, Engineering And Health, Messiah College

School of Science, Engineering & Health (SEH) Symposium

This symposium continues a strong tradition of annual events designed to showcase student and faculty innovation, creativity and productivity. However, it is the first that we are holding as a newly re-organized School of Science, Engineering and Health.

Working Report On The Status Quo Of Nanomaterials Impact On Health And Environment, Harald Krug, Margarita Apostolova, Marite Arija Bake, Gordon Chambers, Horia Chiriac, Eva Herzog, Victoria Hand, Jürgen Höck, Peter Hoet, Nicoleta Lupu, Declan Mccormack, Maja Remskar, George Robillard, Jamila Smisterova, Jan Stetkiewicz, Speranta Tanasescu, Aris Tsatsakis, David Vaughn, Peter Wick, Jörg Wörle-Knirsch

Articles

Nanotechnology is regarded as one of the key technologies of the future and associated with high expectations by politics, science and economy. Artificially produced nanosized particles and nanoscale system components have new properties which are of importance for the development of new products and applications. Such new properties of materials and substances result from the special properties of surfaces and interfaces and in part, from the geometric shape of the material. In theory nanoparticles (NPs) can be produced from nearly any chemical; however, most NPs that are currently in use today have been made from transition metals, silicon, carbon (single-walled …

Human Development And Resources Use In The Coastal Zone: Influences On Human Health, Robert E. Bowen, Anamarija Frankic, Mary E. Davis

Environmental, Earth, and Ocean Sciences Faculty Publication Series

Coastal watersheds and nearshore marine areas are the most valuable and dynamic places on Earth. Human population growth is great in these regions, which are home to some of the most sensitive habitats in the world. Coastal areas provide more than half of the overall service value derived from the global environment (Costanza et al., 1997). Natural (e.g., hurricanes and tsunamis) and human pressures on this environment require it to constantly adjust. More than any other area, the global coast has defined the progress of human culture and continues to be a singular influence in how humans connect to the …

Incorporating Death Into Health-Related Variables In Longitudinal Studies, Paula Diehr, Laura Lee Johnson, Donald L. Patrick, Bruce Psaty

UW Biostatistics Working Paper Series

Background: The aging process can be described as the change in health-related variables over time. Unfortunately, simple graphs of available data may be misleading if some people die, since they may confuse patterns of mortality with patterns of change in health. Methods have been proposed to incorporate death into self-rated health (excellent to poor) and the SF-36 profile scores, but not for other variables.

Objectives: (1) To incorporate death into the following variables: ADLs, IADLs, mini-mental state examination, depressive symptoms, body mass index (BMI), blocks walked per week, bed days, hospitalization, systolic blood pressure, and the timed walk. (2) To …