The University of Texas at Tyler
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STATUS SURVEY OF EIGHT RARE AQUATIC MACROINVERTEBRATES IN EAST TEXAS
Get PDFFreshwater is essential to human existence. The health of each freshwater source is connected to the survival of pollution intolerant species of aquatic macroinvertebrates in the orders Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT taxa). A higher presence of EPT taxa equates to better water quality because their water bound larvae assist in maintaining clean freshwater environments and will not survive in highly polluted water. Human disruption to natural environments is causing increases in polluted freshwater, leading to decreases in the presence of EPT taxa. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department documentation shows major concern for the populations of eight EPT species of critical concern in East Texas (Sparbarus coushatta, Tricorythodes curvatus, Isoperla sagittata, Cheumatopsyche morsei, Chimarra holzenthali, Hydroptila ouachita, Neotrichia mobilensis, and Phylocentropus harrisi). A field status survey of each species was based on an extensive literature review and included their documented historical locations. Evidence of S. coushatta, T. curvatus and I. sagittata was found at and near their historical locations. There was no evidence for the presence of C. morsei, C. holzenthali, H. ouachita, N. mobilensis, or P. harrisi. Canonical correspondence analysis showed the significance of species findings in comparison to each other, their habitats, and water quality of each sample location. Man-made threats to Texas aquatic macroinvertebrate habitats have increased exponentially and leave these species with a status of greatest conservation need
Social Emotional Learning Practices and Learning Spaces
Get PDFDaniel Goleman, journalist and author, popularized the idea of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) based on his work surrounding emotional intelligence (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2022). Although recognized as a new approach, SEL was well-established during the early 1990s in American education. Since then, SEL “has emerged as a major thematic and programmatic emphasis in American education” (Hoffman, 2009, p. 533). “Well-being in education” (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2022, p. 26) has become a succinct description of SEL. Generally, SEL is learning focused on “social, emotional, behavioral, and character skills that support success in school, the workplace, relationships, and the community” (Frey et al., 2019, p. 2). Moreover, these skills are “often considered ‘soft skills’ or personal attributes rather than explicit targets of instruction” (p. 2). For this study, teachers, in a variety of Texas educational settings were surveyed regarding their beliefs about SEL as they related to the built environment. Specifically, the researchers analyzed teachers’ perceptions about their own abilities to employ SEL strategies, and whether the learning environments in which they teach supported or inhibited their instructional practices
The Hibbs Institute Health Index: Examining Health Conditions in Tyler and Other Cities in the Region
Get PDFIn this issue of the Hibbs Brief, we examine health conditions in Tyler and compare the results with other cities in the region using some of the most relevant health measures, which have been updated and expanded from our previous version completed in 2019
Convolution Neural Networks for Phishing Detection
Get PDFPhishing is one of the significant threats in cyber security. Phishing is a form of social engineering that uses e-mails with malicious websites to solicitate personal information. Phishing e-mails are growing in alarming number. In this paper we propose a novel machine learning approach to classify phishing websites using Convolution Neural Networks (CNNs) that use URL based features. CNNs consist of a stack of convolution, pooling layers, and a fully connected layer. CNNs accept images as input and perform feature extraction and classification. Many CNN models are available today. To avoid vanishing gradient problem, recent CNNs use entropy loss function with Rectified Linear Units (ReLU). To use a CNN, we convert feature vectors into images. To evaluate our approach, we use a dataset consists of 1,353 real world URLs that were classified into three categories-legitimate, suspicious, and phishing. The images representing feature vectors are classified using a simple CNN. We developed MATLAB scripts to convert vectors into images and to implement a simple CNN model. The classification accuracy obtained was 86.5 percent
Effects of a Mindfulness-Based Education Program on Burnout Benchmark Study
No full textBurnout rates are constantly on the rise, but more so since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is burnout? Burnout is a form of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion from excessive and prolonged stress. It can be manifested as depersonalization, decreased personal accomplishment, reduced professional well-being, declining compassion satisfaction, increased compassion fatigue, stress, anxiety, poor sleep quality, decreased quality of life, work-related strain, and decreased psychological well-being. Implementing a mindfulness-based education program to aid in the reduction of burnout rates is of utmost importance because 48.9% of healthcare workers have approached burnout levels today (Hajebi et al., 2022). By continuing to remain idle and not implementing an evidence-based change, many consequences will continue to affect patient health outcomes, healthcare workers, organizations, and the community. There is a relationship between nurse burnout and patient/organizational outcomes. Patient safety and quality of care are poor, personal accomplishment and job performance have drastically decreased while medication administration workaround and absenteeism have increased, and the patient’s experience has been negatively affected (Jun et al., 2021). When patients have a negative experience, word of mouth travels fast. This can affect how a community perceives an organization.
Organizations are more likely to continue to face burnout if evidence-based changes are not made within the organization, and more staff will leave, which will reduce the ability of the facility to provide care during a heightened time of need (Fernandez et al., 2020). According to the 2022 Nursing Solutions, Inc. National Health Care Retention & RN Staffing Report, it takes around three months to replace an experienced RN and costs an average of $46,100 (Robertson, 2023). There is an inadequate amount of education being provided on the positive outcomes of implementing mindfulness-based education programs to reduce burnout rates. The aim of this project is to answer the following PICOT question: In healthcare workers (P), how do mindfulness-based education programs (I) compared to no formal programs in place (C) affect burnout rates (O) during a 3-month period of emotional, mental, and physical exhaustion (T)
HYDROTHERMAL LIQUEFACTION OF SACCHARINA LATISSIMA FOR THE PRODUCTION OF BIOFUEL
Get PDFWe performed hydrothermal liquefaction of brown macroalga (Saccharina latissima) in the presence of homogenous and heterogenous catalysts such as KOH, Na2CO3, Pd/C, HZSM-5, Ce/HZSM-5, and Ni/SiO2-Al2O3 in hot compressed water, to investigate their effects on product yield and composition in the biocrude. To investigate hydrocarbon production, we used methanol as co-solvent (methanol-to-water 1/4 vol.%) and as the only liquefaction solvent. We carried out the experiments in a batch reactor at 330oC and 120-130 bar, and varying temperature, algae-to-water ratio, residence time, and pretreatment method. The biocrude yields ranged from 12.9 to 25.7 wt.% and that of solid residue ranged from 5.0 to 22.4 wt.%, while gas yields ranged from 15.7 to 31.3 wt.%. The dissolved organics in the aqueous phase constituted the largest fraction of the products (23.8-39.9 wt.%). The catalysts that showed the most promise to produce hydrocarbons in water medium were HZSM-5 (0.6 wt.%), Ce/HZSM-5 (0.5 wt.%), and Pd/C (0.2 wt.%). The maximum biocrude yield of 25.7% was obtained using methanol as a liquefaction co-solvent. Temperature and residence time were found to be the most important factors affecting yield. The biocrude was found to be a complex mixture of aldehydes, ketones, ethers, phenols, hydrocarbons, fatty-acids, and heterocyclic nitrogenous compounds. We further subjected the obtained biocrude to upgrading in a pyrolyzer with HZSM-5 catalyst, which was found to be most effective at the biocrude-to-catalyst ratio 1:5, producing 4.1 wt.% hydrocarbons yield, primarily composed of aromatics. These results show promise in assessing the prospect of utilizing S. latissima as a natural source to produce transportation fuels and high-value chemicals
ASSESSMENT OF DENTAL ANXIETY AND PHOBIA IN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS AND DENTAL HYGIENE CLINIC POPULATION IN EAST TEXAS
Get PDFBackground. Dental anxiety is a persistent and irrational fear of dentists or dental treatment. It can manifest in a variety of ways, including avoiding the dentist, which can lead to poor dental health and decreased oral health-related quality of life (Murad et al., 2020). Furthermore, DA is an understudied problem in adults and knowledge about its prevalence is lacking as well as about the causes of dental phobia.
Objectives. This study aimed to explore and compare the prevalence and factors of DA and dental phobia between a university population and a dental clinic population in northeast Texas.
Methods. This is cross-sectional quantitative research. Participants included UT Tyler students as well as Tyler Junior College dental hygiene clinic clients. To assess DA, a Qualtrics survey was utilized, which included demographic information, oral health behavior, habits, mental health, diet, and the Modified Dental Anxiety Scale (MDAS). IBM SPSS was used to analyze the data.
Results. 50.3% of UT Tyler students had moderate to high levels of DA, while 44.4% of TJC clinic clients had moderate to high DA. Almost 1 out of 5 (18.2%) of UT Tyler students were extremely dental anxious or phobic, while 12.5% of TJC clinic clients were extremely anxious or phobic about going to the dentist. At UT Tyler, dental anxiety is controlled by factors such as age, gender, brushing frequency, current dental problem, dental efficiency, oral health examination more than a year ago, and mental health. Brushing frequency was found to control dental anxiety in TJC.
Conclusion. This study emphasizes that age is important in university students but education level is important in public service clients. Furthermore, oral cleanliness habits are important for both groups as well as general cognitions in students. The intervention at the community level for DA is recommended
Vinyl chloride accident unleashes a toxic legacy
Get PDFA railroad accident on February 3, 2023, led to the release and combustion of 115,580 gallons, equivalent to over 437,000 L, of vinyl chloride monomer (VCM) in East Palestine, Ohio [1]. This monomer is used in polyvinyl chloride (PVC) production, and its burning produces additional toxins such as hydrochloric acid and lethal phosgene, known as a notorious chemical weapon during World War
MODELING A PARKINSON’S DISEASE LIKE STATE IN ZEBRAFISH LARVAE UTILIZING 6-HYDROXYDOPAMINE
Get PDFParkinson\u27s’ disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the loss of midbrain dopaminergic (mDA) neurons that currently has no cure. It is primarily characterized in patients by motor symptoms that include but are not limited to: tremor at rest, rigidity, akinesia, and postural instability affecting the quality of life for over 8.5 million people worldwide. The neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) has been used to induce a Parkinson’s disease-like state in several animal models; however, assessment of 6-OHDA use in zebrafish demonstrated a lack of consensus on method and utility. We determined an optimized protocol utilizing 6-OHDA to produce a PD-like state as defined by a significant reduction of tyrosine hydroxylase (th). Additionally, we found the mechanism of action for 6-OHDA toxicity to be conserved as defined by the upregulation vii of super oxide dismutase sod1 and sod2, and down regulation of mitochondrial dysfunction indicator pink1
The Impact of Mentoring Practices on New Faculty and Staff
Get PDFAnnually, schools nationwide welcome new educators to their facilities that bring with them a vast array of experiences. Onboarding tools such as mentoring or induction programs are often a customary practice, utilized to provide new educators with skills to assist them in the classroom as well as acclimate them to their new organization. Mentoring is often synonymous with induction programs and associated with the pairing of an experienced educator with a novice to the field or location that can offer support from instructional and classroom strategies to campus policies. With recent shifts in education and an ever-present national teacher crisis exposing potential flaws in common instructional practices, educators, both novices and veterans are exiting the profession in droves. To examine this concern through a localized program, the researcher utilized a site employing a mentoring program and having recently experienced a staff turnover of more than 20% for two consecutive school years. Grounded in the principles of improvement science, the research study sought to examine the mentoring program in place at the study site. Additionally, the study sought to expose positive impacts as well as areas of improvement to guide iterations of future mentoring practices. To further lead and inform mentoring practices, the researcher utilized anonymous survey tools throughout the duration of the four iterations of data collection. Data collection and analysis indicate that mentoring practices can positively impact education by providing educator support through instructional strategies and classroom management techniques. Additionally, conclusive findings indicate that mentoring practices can assist in mitigating daily stresses faced by educators. Further, perspectives obtained from participants of the study on effective mentoring practices help provide insight for school leaders seeking to recruit, hire and retain educational staff. Outcomes from the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle and problem of practice study assisted in informing of possible needed adjustments to the mentoring program that could be generalized to organizations outside that of the study site. Further outcomes informed the development of a campus handbook for new educators to the profession and organization, as well mentoring geared professional development, the organization of professional learning communities, and the promotion of collaborative planning through restructuring of the master schedule