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Freeman Honors Newsletter, Fall 2019 Issue
Get PDFFall 2019 Newsletterhttps://digitalscholarship.tsu.edu/freeman_honors/1002/thumbnail.jp
A Case Study of a Maternal Filicide-Suicide in Ghana: The Role of Culture and Mental Health
Get PDFThe current article presents the results of a systematic review of a maternal filicide-suicide incident that occurred in Ghana in 2010. In this case, a 33-year-old mother with a history of mental illness and psychiatric hospitalizations, kidnapped all five of her children from her estranged boyfriend, the custodial father. She poisoned them to death with a liquid detergent, arranged their bodies neatly on a bed in her own bedroom, and then telephoned the father of the children to come and collect them. Her semi-conscious body was found two days later in an abandoned automobile. She had ingested the same type of poisonous chemical she used to kill the children. Case information shows that although she suffered from schizophrenia and depression, her psychiatric maladies were exacerbated by relationship breakdown with her boyfriend and separation from her children in a pronatalist society that extols marriage. The stigma of mental illness, chronic shortage of psychiatric resources and medicines, and the absence of national anti-suicide prevention programs did not help alleviate the situation. The goal of the study was to help address the paucity of scholarship on maternal filicide-suicides in non-Western, non-industrialized societies, including Ghana
Inhibition of Serine, Glycine, One-Carbon Metabolism Reduces Proinflammatory Response
Get PDFAcute lung injury affects around 200,000 critically ill patients annually, with a mortality rate near 33%. With a lack of targeted therapies, it is vital to discover and understand the fundamental cellular processes that drive macrophage inflammation. In the field of macrophage immunometabolism, it is accepted that macrophages upregulating glycolysis indicates a role in proinflammatory processes, however, there is a lack of knowledge surrounding the intermediate pathways in glycolysis. This study examined the effects of serine, glycine, one-carbon metabolism inhibition on LPS-induced inflammation in bone marrow-derived macrophages. We show that the enzymatic expression of PHGDH and PSATl is unaffected when treated with LPS and NCT-503. We also demonstrated PHGDH inhibition prevents an upregulation of glycolytic rate in response to LPS. This is significant because LPS-induced increases in glycolysis are required for macrophage inflammatory activation. Finally, we showed that PHGDH inhibition leads to a decrease in proinflammatory cytokine production, however, the approach to rescue the effects of inhibition with certain compounds was unsuccessful. Our lack of supporting evidence for rescuing the pathway could suggest a difference in the functional role of PHGDH across different cell types
Effects of advanced traffic signal status warning systems on vehicle emission reductions at signalized intersections
Get PDFSignalized intersections have been identified as vehicle emission hotspots, where drivers decelerate, idle, and accelerate their vehicles in response to signal changes. Advanced traffic signal status warning systems (ATSSWSs) can be applied to reduce traffic emissions at intersections by mitigating unnecessary braking and acceleration. In this study, two types of ATSSWSs, variable message sign (VMS) based and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) based, were designed, and their environmental effectiveness was evaluated through driving simulator-based experiments. Three scenarios were designed and tested: (1) baseline without an ATSSWS, (2) with the VMS-based ATSSWS, and (3) with the V2I-based ATSSWS. The Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator model was used to evaluate and compare the environmental effectiveness of these two types of ATSSWSs. The results indicate that the proposed ATSSWSs can reduce traffic emissions at signalized intersections. In particular, the V2I-based ATSSWS can substantially reduce CO2, NOx, CO, and HC emissions. The results will help transportation practitioners with implementing advanced driver information systems and decision making on emission reduction policies. Implications: Signalized intersection has been identified as one of hottest spots for vehicle emissions where signal control causes vehicles to frequently decelerate, idle, and accelerate. Advanced Traffic Signal Status Warning Systems (ATSSWS) can be applied to reduce traffic emission at intersections by decreasing vehicles’ unnecessary brakes and accelerations. The results of this study will assist transportation practitioners in implementing advanced driver information systems and making decisions on emission reduction policies
The Application of Downhole Vibration Factor in Drilling Tool Reliability Big Data Analytics - A Review
Get PDFIn the challenging downhole environment, drilling tools are normally subject to high temperature, severe vibration, and other harsh operation conditions. The drilling activities generate massive field data, namely field reliability big data (FRBD), which includes downhole operation, environment, failure, degradation, and dynamic data. Field reliability big data has large size, high variety, and extreme complexity. FRBD presents abundant opportunities and great challenges for drilling tool reliability analytics. Consequently, as one of the key factors to affect drilling tool reliability, the downhole vibration factor plays an essential role in the reliability analytics based on FRBD. This paper reviews the important parameters of downhole drilling operations, examines the mode, physical and reliability impact of downhole vibration, and presents the features of reliability big data analytics. Specifically, this paper explores the application of vibration factor in reliability big data analytics covering tool lifetime/failure prediction, prognostics/diagnostics, condition monitoring (CM), and maintenance planning and optimization. Furthermore, the authors highlight the future research about how to better apply the downhole vibration factor in reliability big data analytics to further improve tool reliability and optimize maintenance planning
Functional analysis and fine mapping of the 9p22.2 ovarian cancer susceptibility locus
No full textGenome-wide association studies have identified 40 ovarian cancer risk loci. However, the mechanisms underlying these associations remain elusive. In this study, we conducted a two-pronged approach to identify candidate causal SNPs and assess underlying biological mechanisms at chromosome 9p22.2, the first and most statistically significant associated locus for ovarian cancer susceptibility. Three transcriptional regulatory elements with allele-specific effects and a scaffold/matrix attachment region were characterized and, through physical DNA interactions, BNC2 was established as the most likely target gene. We determined the consensus binding sequence for BNC2 in vitro, verified its enrichment in BNC2 ChIP-seq regions, and validated a set of its downstream target genes. Fine-mapping by dense regional genotyping in over 15,000 ovarian cancer cases and 30,000 controls identified SNPs in the scaffold/matrix attachment region as among the most likely causal variants. This study reveals a comprehensive regulatory landscape at 9p22.2 and proposes a likely mechanism of susceptibility to ovarian cancer
High-resolution imaging algorithm based on temporal focal characteristic of time-reversed signal
Get PDFAlthough the high-resolution materials can improve the resolution of the conventional time-reversal imaging (TRI) algorithms, they also limit the applications of TRI. In this paper, a new TRI algorithm with high-resolution is presented. Since the proposed algorithm utilizes multiple time reversal operation steps to improve resolution, it can realize high-resolution without invoking any high-resolution materials. The results show the resolution of the proposed algorithm is superior to that of the conventional TRI
A Critical Analysis on Offenders Rehabilitation Approach in South Africa: A Review of the Literature
Get PDFThe South African Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has a constitutional mandate to provide rehabilitation programs that address offenders’ criminal conducts. The treatment approach currently used to deliver this mandate is grounded on the Needs-Based Model where dynamic factors associated with recidivism are systematically targeted in treatment of offenders’ criminal behaviors. But the reality of the matter is that there are systemic problems that challenge the DCS both conveying its moral messaging and fulfilling its legal commitment on the rehabilitation of offenders. The DCS mission is far to be accomplished due to its failure to reduce recidivism. Along these lines, it is subsequently important to develop and to implement new approaches that meet the goals of the South African Green and White Papers on Corrections. In this manner, this article analyses the current DCS approach on offenders’ rehabilitation by taking into consideration programs used to reduce recidivism and proposes alternative pathways for an effective offenders’ rehabilitation approach. This article demonstrates that for successful offenders’ rehabilitation, the DCS must introduce new offenders’ rehabilitation programs based on Restorative Justice and on Good Lives Model approach. Considering post-Apartheid governments’ commitment to human rights, we suggest these two approaches to offenders’ rehabilitation as the conceptual resources to resolve the above issues faced by the DCS to deliver its mandate on offenders’ rehabilitation
\u27Texas on the Record\u27: Church of God in Christ (COGIC) Determination to Possess the Land, 1907-1935
Get PDFWhile members of the COGIC shunned being of this world, property records affirm that they were consciously and progressively in it. Property records literally grounded the COGIC in the material world and linked their concept of a royal priesthood and a holy nation to the bedrock of wealth in capitalist America--real estate, the COGIC\u27s most visible sign of prosperity
How ECommerce is on the Rise
Get PDFIn this paper I will observe how the development of new technologies (that have seen extreme changes) has led to a lot of changes in the way products are manufactured, services are offered, and money is transacted and the products delivered. Due to changes in consumer demands in the market, technology has been manipulated over the years, giving rise to multinational billion dollar organizations that keep adapting overtime to keep up with the rapidly changing consumer needs. In particular, with communication, the rise of the mobile phone network and the Internet have particularly revolutionized the way business is done entirely.
The Internet has seen a rise in products and services that were not deemed possible decades ago. Alternatively however, it has also seen the fall of products and services that have lost value and importance as the consumers were adapting to their new needs. Now-a-days, supply and demand of consumers change frequently. What we once needed years ago is irrelevant now due to technological advancements, and so on. Remaining important in the daily consumer market is absolutely essential to it\u27s success in the future. Therefore, understanding ecommerce has its importance in making sure that a company is ready for future changes and can predict the future necessities to remain relevant. It is as important to understand how e-commerce has disrupted traditional business and how they are expected to do the same in the future.
I have also observed the tremendous advantages that are associated with e-commerce such as growth in business to serve a wide customer globally. Additionally, the disadvantages 5 that come with conducting business online, especially; the risks that are involved with transacting money online. The growth of anonymous currencies and what has led to their development and their effect on e-commerce. It is also important to understand the types of ecommerce that are currently available and the ones expected to be available in the future