Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Relevance Of Fatf's Recommendations And Fourth Round Of Mutual Evaluations To The Legal Profession, Laurel S. Terry, Llerena Robles, Jose Carlos

Faculty Scholarly Works

More than two hundred countriesin the world have agreed to abide by the anti-money laundering ("AML") recommendations developed by the Financial Action Task Force ("FATF"), which is an intergovernmental organization. This Article focuses on the potential impact on the legal profession of FATF's fourth round of mutual evaluations. During these mutual evaluations, which currently are underway, FATF-affiliated countries examine each other's compliance with the FATF Recommendations and recommend follow-up action. This Article first presents the legal profession-related results from the completed Mutual Evaluation Reports. A number of these FATF Reports recommend changes that include requiring lawyers to report suspicious client …

Maternal Immune Activation (Mia) In Mice: A Study To Phenotype Asd-Related Communication Behaviors And Analyze Maternal Health Outcomes In The Us, Komalpreet Gulati

Honors Scholar Theses

Core symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) include deficits in social/communicative behaviors, and repetitive/stereotyped behaviors. Mouse models are a highly established paradigm used to study the phenotypic deficits that result from various inducible genotypic or environmental risk factors for ASD. Previous studies have demonstrated a link between maternal immune activation (MIA) and ASD-like behaviors in mouse models. In this model, the maternal immune system is activated during pregnancy by injecting the viral mimic poly(I:C). The resulting offspring are phenotyped and analyzed with regards to their communicative behaviors.

Previous studies have demonstrated that male pups born to dams with immune activation …

Financial Integration In The West African Monetary Zone: Towards A Single Insurance Market, Emmanuel Ating Onwioduokit

Bullion

integration of financial markets is a process of unifying markets and enabling convergence of risk-adjusted returns on the assets of comparable maturity across the markets. The insurance markets of the WAMZ countries are relatively not efficient. Although, there are several small insurance companies competing for premiums, only one company within the entire WAMZ region has a gross premium base more than $100 million. The paper recommends that the insurance sector integration 'quick wins should focus on: taking action to make the brown card scheme a more resounding success; increasing the minimum capital requirement of insurance companies in some of the …

Financial Inclusion And People Living With Disabilities (Plwds) In Nigeria: A Disaggregated Analysis, Kingsley Imandojemu, Akinlosotu Nathaniel Toyosi, Odigie Joseph Ndidi

Bullion

This study investigated the level of financial inclusion and people living with disabilities (PLWDS) in Nigeria. The disaggregated analysis was employed in investigating the level of financial inclusion of PLWDs across the geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The instrument used to collect data was titled: Financial Inclusion of People living with Disability Survey Inventory (FIPWIDSI). The construct validity of the instrument was ensured using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA).The internal consistency was verified using Cronbach's alpha technique. Descriptive and influential statistics, Mean and standard deviation, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Sidak multiple mean comparison Post Hoc test were employed for data …

The Transition Of The College Quarterback To The Nfl: Why The Hardest Position In Sports Is Getting Easier, Derik Abbott

Theses

The NFL is changing. Score boards are being lit up by young quarterbacks like never seen before. Rookie quarterbacks are playing like 10 year veterans. Offenses are playing at light speed paces. But why? This Thesis paper looks to uncover why college quarterbacks are playing at MVP caliber levels at such a young age. With research in multiple fields such as analytics, neuroscience, youth football developmental leagues and artificial intelligence,, this paper seeks to determine the relationship between what strategies front offices and coaching staffs are using and the high success rate of young quarterbacks in the National Football League. …

Legacy- December 2018, South Carolina Institute Of Archaeology And Anthropology--University Of South Carolina

SCIAA Magazine - Legacy & PastWatch

Contents:

A Tribute to Elizabeth “Betty” Hamilton Stringfellow (November 14, 1921-May 18, 2017..p. 1

Director’s Notes…p. 2

Sergeant York Battlefield Archaeology Study Published…p. 2

Please Welcome Stacey Young, New Director of the Applied Research Division at SCIAA…p. 3

Hidden Under Our Feet: The Broad River Trenching Project…p. 10

Animals Used at Spanish Mount…p. 12

Submerged: Underwater Archaeology of South Carolina: Hands-On Interaction with 8^th Graders…p. 15

6^th Annual Arkhaios Cultural Heritage and Archaeology Film Festival- Columbia, SC- October 12-14, 2018…p. 19

ART/SCIAA Donors Update August 2017-December 2018…p. 22

The Effects Of Musical Training On The Well-Being Of Older Adults., Brianna Nicole Berry

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

Objective. The current study sought to examine the effects of early musical training on the quality of life of older adults. Method. 58 older adults, at least 65 years old, were divided into three groups based on their levels of musicianship: non-musicians, low-activity musicians (less than ten years of lessons), and high-activity musicians (more than ten years of lessons). Self-report questionnaires were given to determine musical training and other factors such as physical activities. Quality of life was measured by the Quality of Life-AD, a 13-item survey. Results. The differences between level of musicianship and quality of life were statistically …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: December 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne, Michael Campagna

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits.

The current data derives from an active database, with live data being entered and updated daily. Data values, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on changes made from data entry oversight. One common example …

The Effects Of Priming Patriotism On Attitudes Toward Immigrants: Do All Americans Respond To Patriotic Images The Same Way?, Norma Elizabeth Garza Reyes

Psychology Theses - Archive

Although immigrants enrich the US culture and provide intellectual and economic stimulation, there has been a rise of anti-immigration movements, making the acculturation process more difficult for the immigrant. The purpose of this thesis was to investigate how patriotism influenced negative attitudes toward immigrants, especially among individuals who were higher on right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), national identity, and/or group narcissism. This thesis study addressed these issues by priming patriotism with unpatriotic and patriotic pictures and then examining attitudes toward immigrants/immigration. This data (N = 192) linked self-reported individual difference measures (e.g., right-wing authoritarianism (RWA)) of college students that was collected prior …

Peer Relationships, Gut Microbiota, And Health In Emerging Adulthood, Erin Quinn Austin

Psychology Dissertations - Archive

Research has consistently shown that chronic stress has negative effects on overall physical and psychological wellbeing across the lifespan. The biological mechanisms through which stress exerts its effects on the body and the mind includes the recently discovered microbiome-gut-brain axis, the bidirectional communication between the brain and the enteric nervous system that is modulated by the microorganisms residing within the gastrointestinal tract. This dissertation examined the impact chronic psychosocial stress (e.g., peer victimization, daily hassles) had on gut diversity and the relative abundance specific bacterial groups in a diverse sample of emerging adults (N = 126, Mean age = 20.07). …

Factors Contributing To Lower Cancer Screening Utilization In A Sub-Sample Of United Way 2-1-1 Callers, Jason M. Rhoton

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

This dissertation was a secondary analysis of data from a Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT)-funded [grant # PP100077 & PP120086] cancer-control intervention with The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth) School of Public Health and United Way 2-1-1. The aims of the three dissertation papers were addressed by examining a sub-sample of 2-1-1 callers that were drawn from the parent study baseline data. Participants were required to need at least once cancer prevention service to be included in the parent study and dissertation analyses. This dissertation was a cross-sectional analysis of de-identified data examining the …

Sex-Specific Effects And Gene-Sex Interactions In Serum Metabolome Levels: The Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities Study, Zhe Wang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Metabolomic signatures associated with complex disease have been identified. Metabolomic profiling and the integration of genomic data have proven to be powerful tools to investigate genetic effects underlying intermediate phenotype levels and may facilitate improved understanding of pathophysiologic processes of disease. However, most published studies did not consider sex as an effect modifier, analyze sex-specific effects, nor gene by sex interactions. One reason can be incomplete knowledge of the power of statistical methods used in a given dataset.

I first investigated sex-specific genetic effects by performing sex-stratified exome-wide association studies for 271 chromatography-mass spectrometry measured metabolites in the Atherosclerosis Risk …

Relating Rsv Genetic Diversity To Global Transmission Dynamics, Rebecca J. Fisk

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Many studies of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) have relied on analyses of the Major Surface Glycoprotein G gene (G gene). Global transmission patterns have not been well studied due to lack of systematic global surveillance efforts. This study used phylogenetic analysis of full genome data, categorized by geo-region, to determine the sources of RSV A and B infection in Chile and Houston, Texas. Additionally, disease severity studies have generally focused on outcomes associated with a single genotype. In this study we developed a statistical phylogenetic approach to explore the relationship between tree topology and disease severity. Disease severity data included …

Bayesian Based Semiparametric Multidimensional Approaches To Analysis Parkinson's Disease, Jun Zhang

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

In the slow progression of Parkinson's Disease (PD), impairments arise and affect multiple domains (e.g., motor, cognitive, and behavioral). Mixed types, multivariate longitudinal data are commonly used in PD studies. Challenges exist in assessing PD status and investigating disease progression due to lack of biomarkers and ubiquitous impairment in the disease. We proposed a model framework by combining the semi-parametric approach and multi- dimensional framework, and used the proposed model to investigate the heterogeneous disease development and the non-linear treatment effects in the multiple domains predefined in PD.

Furthermore, we extended the semi-parametric multidimensional approach to the data with multi-types …

Censored Count Data Analysis – Statistical Techniques And Applications, Xiao Yu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Count data are commonly used to report frequency statistics of diverse health outcomes. However, some data are marked intentionally to avoid leaking information that could be used to identify individuals when population sizes are small. The situation hinders the further use from those data in public health research. Thus, an accurate and efficient method for dealing with censored count data is needed.

We developed Integrated Nested Laplace Approximation algorithm to censored Poisson regression model to deal with censored count data and improve the computational efficiency. In addition, we applied three methods to deal with censored count data: 1) multiple imputation …

Observed Cooking Behaviors Of Families With And Without Childhood Cancer Survivors And The Development Of A Healthy Cooking Assessment Tool, Margaret Pleta Raber

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Diet is a modifiable risk factor for several cancers and other chronic diseases. Cooking skills are a target for dietary intervention, with much of the general population reporting infrequent and inadequate home preparation of meals. Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are a population at high risk of several chronic conditions including secondary cancers that may be influenced by home cooking behaviors. We conducted observations of food preparation practices in 29 parents of healthy school-aged children and 11 parents of CCS. Observations included an audio and video recording of one evening meal per family. Parents were asked to wear a small body …

Chagas Disease Awareness Amongst Texas Physicians, Gerardo J. Pacheco

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

An estimated 300,000 people in the U.S. are living with Chagas Disease (CD), many of whom may not yet know they are infected. Approximately 20% to 30% of individuals with CD are expected to develop clinical symptoms that may manifest as heart disease and result in death if left untreated. The prevalence of CD in humans is not well understood. Given its asymptomatic manifestation and the rarity in cases seen by physicians in general, CD may be under-recognized by physicians.

The purpose of this research was to explore the understanding and knowledge of CD in Texas HCP populations (cardiologists, infectious …

Sequential Monitoring Of Adaptive Randomized Clinical Trials With Sample Size Re-Estimation, Jun Yu

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Clinical trials are complicated and involve human beings. Therefore, lots of ethical and efficient objectives are expected to be achieved. These objectives include maximizing the power of detecting the treatment effects, assigning more patients to the better treatments, saving the cost and time, and controlling the type I error rate. A variety of adaptive designs have been proposed to achieve different aims, among which sequential monitoring and sample size re-estimation are very popular in real clinical trials. In addition, adaptive randomization designs sequentially update the allocation probability aiming to target different allocation proportions and achieve different aims. Hu and Rosenberger …

Validation Of A Type 2 Diabetes Risk Stratification Tool In A Low Income Hispanic Population, Dara Grieger

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

A pilot study was undertaken to evaluate the appropriateness of a previously published diabetes risk stratification tool in a diabetic population. The tool was applied to a sample of 500 prediabetic and diabetic adults receiving primary care services at a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) in Cameron County, Texas. The study population was largely Hispanic and underserved. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2015-2016 data set was used as a comparison group. The risk assessment tool was applied to separately to the prediabetic and diabetic subset of both study groups. The tool stratified the patients into three risk …

Impacts Of Cold Weather On Health In Texas, Tsun-Hsuan Chen

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Recent events with recorded low temperature and unusual snow accumulation in the United States and Europe have raised the public awareness of the potential health impacts of extreme winter weather. Excessive cold was the leading cause of weather-related death during 2006-2010 in the U.S., accounting for 63% of weather related deaths. Several studies worldwide have demonstrated that, in general, mortality rates are higher in winter compared to summer. Studies have also shown that the association between cold temperature and death vary across cities, regions and countries and is especially relevant with decreasing latitude or in regions with mild winter climate. …

Collateral Benefits Of Diabetes Self-Management Associated With Self-Administered Outpatient Parenteral Antimicrobial Therapy, Anisha P. Ganguly

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Self-administered outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (S-OPAT) is a self-care treatment modality in which patients requiring extended courses of intravenous antibiotics are trained to safely self-administer treatment via an indwelling catheter in their home. Many patients seen in the S-OPAT program have a diagnosis of diabetes and present with infections associated with poor glycemic control, including skin and soft-tissue infections and osteomyelitis. Given the degree of patient activation required to successfully complete the S-OPAT process, we hypothesized that participation in this self-care program may benefit patients in self-management of other chronic health conditions, such as diabetes. The study team included Anisha …

Alternative Tobacco Products & Depressive Symptoms Among Young Adults, David Marsden

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The association between cigarette use and depression has been documented in many studies. Fewer studies have examined other tobacco products such as electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and hookah that are used by young adults. This study examined whether increased frequency of use of these products was associated with depressive symptoms in a cohort of n=5,236 Texas college students followed from 2014 to 2017. A hierarchical model showed that increased frequency of single product use of cigarettes, refillable e-cigarettes and hookah was associated with depressive symptoms. Refillable and disposable e-cigarettes were examined separately and results did not provide evidence of a different …

Investigation Of Hantavirus And Leptospira As Possible Contributing Factors Of The Unexplained Kidney Disease Epidemic In Nicaragua, Nicole J. Delgado

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Throughout Latin America, an epidemic of a kidney disease of an unknown etiology has been occurring since the late 1990s, and this disease is being called “Mesoamerican nephropathy.” Mesoamerican nephropathy predominantly affects male sugarcane workers. In Chichigalpa, Chinandega, Nicaragua, there is sugarcane plantation that is being heavily impacted by the Mesoamerican nephropathy epidemic, and they invited researchers from Baylor College of Medicine to investigate the epidemic. The prospective epidemic investigation began in 2015, and it is an ongoing investigation. Based on the compilation of data collected during the preliminary investigation, our hypothesis is that a possible zoonotic disease, such as …

Effects Of Extreme Precipitation On Gastrointesitnal Related Hospital Admissions In Texas, Sharmila Giri

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Extreme precipitation has been implicated in more than 51% of the waterborne disease outbreaks in the United States between 1948-1994. With increased incidence of extreme precipitation projected to be more likely due to ongoing climate change, the burden of waterborne disease is expected to rise even in the United States where drinking water is considered to be one of the safest in the world. In this study we aim to quantify the risk of extreme precipitation on gastrointestinal (GI) related hospital admissions by using meteorological and emergency hospital data from twelve major metropolitan statistical areas (MSA) of Texas from year …

Assessment And Findings Of The Vulnerability Index (Vi-Spdat) Survey Of Individuals Experiencing Homelessness In Travis County, Tx, Benjamin T. King

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Homelessness is a significant barrier to the quality of an individual’s health. Federal housing interventions attempt to eliminate homelessness by providing varying degrees of subsidization, but available units do not currently keep pace with the scale of the problem. Coordinated Assessment is a process requirement put in place by HUD to organize and prioritize the waiting list for housing, based on community priorities. Several tools measuring health and social vulnerability, including the Vulnerability Index-Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT), have become popular options for prioritizing housing resources. Such assessments currently in use are not thoroughly researched and the effects of …

Exposure To Ambient Air Pollution And Fetal Death In Harris County, Texas, Amal Rammah

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

The evidence from studies of maternal ambient air pollutant exposure (including O3, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and PM2.5 metal constituents) and stillbirth is limited and equivocal. There is also limited evidence of the acute effect of temperature increases in the week preceding delivery and stillbirth. In the first investigation of ambient air pollution, temperature and stillbirth among a large cohort of women in Harris County, Texas, we obtained birth and fetal death records from 2008-2013 and estimated weekly residential levels of apparent temperature and ozone (O3), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and PM2.5 metals from the local monitoring …

Examining The Effect Of Service Delivery Factors On Timely Initiation Of Tuberculosis Treatment Within Primary Care Settings In Uganda, Michael Juma

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Background: Timeliness of Tuberculosis (TB) treatment is critical to stopping its transmission and preventing disease complications and death. Efficiency in identifying and treating presumptive TB cases is critical to reducing delays.

Aims: We determined the association between health service-related factors and delays in initiating TB treatment within primary care settings in Uganda. Perspectives of healthcare workers on practices underlying healthcare facility level delays were also described.

Methods: A mixed methods study was conducted based on facility-register records of 1199 treated TB cases and key informant interviews with 27 outpatient staffs. Health service-related factors (size, ownership, number of …

Does Space Matter? An Investigation Of The Spatial Variation In Gestational Weight Gain Associations With Country Of Birth Among Hispanic Women And Access To Care In Texas, Christopher R. Webb

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Inadequate and excess gestational weight gain (GWG) are serious, but potentially preventable adverse pregnancy outcomes which affect as many as two-thirds of pregnant women in the United States. While location and space are associated with a variety of pregnancy outcomes, limited research has investigated potential spatial variation in GWG. The goal of this research is to improve the knowledge of how spatial geography is associated with GWG through secondary analyses of 70,000 to 160,000 birth certificate registry records for Texas mothers with a live birth delivery in 2014. Specifically, this research attempts to assess whether access to obstetrics and gynecologist …

Adverse Childhood Experiences, Depression, And Resilience In African-American Adolescents, Jamie C. Freeny

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Research shows that exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) is common among adolescents; however, no studies have examined the prevalence of ACEs in a racially homogenous sample of African-American adolescents. Thus, the present study examined the cumulative and individual prevalence of ACEs in African-American adolescents. Data were collected from African-American adolescents (n = 241) who attended youth events hosted by churches in Houston, TX. An expanded ACEs tool was used to collect data. ACE scores were summed and dichotomized to 0-3 ACEs versus 4-19 ACEs because a score of four or more indicates a higher risk for adverse mental and …

Factors Associated With Civilian And Police Officer Injury During 10 Years Of Officer-Involved Shooting Incidents: A Cross-Sectional Analysis, Ellen Paddock

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Purpose. Law enforcement officer-involved shootings are uncommon events in the context of encounters with the public, but extreme situations which have the potential to pose immense harm to individuals and communities. Previous research demonstrates that a large proportion of such incidents result in injury or death, most commonly to civilians, but in some cases to officers as well. However, there has been little study of what factors are associated with injury during such incidents, and whether these factors might differ for civilians compared to officers. This study examined the factors associated with both civilian and officer injury and/or fatality during …