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Stakeholders’ Perceptions on the Implementation of the HPV Vaccine School-Entry Requirement in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Get PDFThis study explored the implementation of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine school-entry requirement in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic. We conducted 26 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders and community-based organizations from August 2021 to March 2022. The interview guide was developed using the 2009 Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). The interviews were recorded and transcribed in Spanish. Data were analyzed using applied thematic techniques. These themes included the following: (i) Intervention characteristics: Participants noted that the school-entry requirement was effective in increasing vaccination uptake prior to the pandemic. Issues with the immunization registry were noted; (ii) Outer setting: External influences, access barriers, and an increase in HPV vaccine exemptions since the implementation of the COVID-19 vaccine were discussed; (iii) Inner setting: Communication within organizations and HPV vaccination efforts improved as the pandemic progressed; (iv) Characteristics of individuals: Most agreed with the school-entry requirement, including exemptions; and (v) Process: Results showed the need to reinforce the population’s education about HPV and the vaccine. Implementation of the policy was challenging during the early stages of the pandemic due to measures enacted to stop the spread of COVID-19 and focus on the COVID-19 vaccine. Efforts to increase HPV vaccine should focus on increasing HPV vaccine education and creating collaborations.Public Healt
Crisis in world politics. Corporate roles and responses in the Ukraine war and beyond
No full textFor some time, Global Governance has made the case that multinational enterprises (MNEs) have become so involved in multistakeholder provisions of public goods that they should be considered as global governors. Their involvement and whether it improves governance, however, remain fiercely debated. In this context, MNEs are frequently framed and discussed as entities sui generis, pursuing private interests while reconciling with broader public expectations. The article argues that the concept of crisis, if adequately theorized, offers a new perspective into this discussion. To do so, I draw from American Pragmatism to introduce crisis both as a challenge for an actor but also a lens into the beliefs expressed throughout for the researcher. Against this dual use of the concept, I develop a typology of crises and relate this to the roles and responses of MNEs that are likely to follow from different crises. As a lens into corporate beliefs, I illustrate the conceptual potential of crisis by looking into how Shell and ExxonMobil respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. As an exogenous, rather immediate crisis, the article discusses to what extent their responses reveal a broader acceptance or rejection of new corporate responsibilities. Based on careful reconstruction, the article concludes that neither productively solved the crisis. More specifically, as Shell remains reluctant to engage with it and ExxonMobil outright rejects to do so, ambiguities remain. This is discussed in the broader context of what role MNEs play in world politics as the article ends with the potential of and need for reconceptualizing these actors.Political Science and Geograph
Runtime Verification of Real Time Properties and Bounded Model Checking in the Thorium Reactive Programming Language
No full textWriting software that reacts to external events in real time is notoriously difficult. Some of that difficulty comes from the languages and frameworks that we use to write that software and I argue that a declarative language can mitigate some of that challenge by ensuring that the full definition of each reactive element exists in only one place in the code. To support real time specifications, we introduce a novel monitoring algorithm for several useful subsets of Metric Temporal Logic (MTL) and describe the time and space complexity of each. We then embed the monitor for the past-time subset -- due to its linear space and time complexity as well as the guarantee of timely results -- into a declarative reactive framework so that a programmer can define real time properties and respond if they are violated. Finally, we present a declarative language, <i>thorium</i>, for defining reactive software. It employs many of the operators of Functional Reactive Programming (FRP) but with a novel mechanism for reconfiguration that trades expressiveness for improved readability. We present its semantics, describe their encoding into a satisfiability modulo theories solver, and evaluate the performance of its bounded model checking -- First on a toy re-configurable processing pipeline and then a more realistic application. We conclude with a discussion of opportunities for improvement of the model-checking performance and discussion of the interaction of the semantics of functional reactive programming and metric temporal logic.Computer Scienc
A Case Study of Leadership Practices in a Dual Language Program
No full textThe purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate the perception of the principal and teachers regarding what transformational leadership practices meet the needs of EBs in a DLI PK-8th grade campus in South Texas. The research site was selected for having 40% emergent bilingual students. The campus principal has been implementing a comprehensive 80:20 dual language immersion program for more than five years, and the campus has received an "A" rating from the Texas Education Agency based on State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness (STAAR) assessments more than once.
Data were collected from the research site by utilizing Seidman (2006) interview series which consist of three rounds of structured interviews from the principal, two interviews from two bilingual teachers, and one from the focus group which consisted of three bilingual teachers. Following Saldaña's (2021) coding process, the data were collected, categorized, and given a code aligned to the transformational leadership theory. The main themes that emerged on the leadership practices used to implement a comprehensive dual language program in a PK-8th grade campus are the following: (1) Build a Shared Vision through Stakeholder Involvement; (2) Model School Practices and Advocate; (3) Build relationships, Empower, and Distribute Leadership; (4) Facilitate Teacher Reflection for Student and School Improvement.
The findings indicate that the principal set structures to transform a traditional school to a dual language immersion campus. He engaged stakeholders in building the vision of the school and modeled practices that he expected his staff to emulate. One of the core leadership practices that he implemented was collaboration and used it to engage staff in working as a team as they met and discussed school progress. He built positive relationships with staff, students, and families. He inspired his subordinates to explore new approaches, empowered them, and increased capacity. He also created space for students to meet with him so they could express campus improvements that needed to be made based on their lens. Transformational leadership practices have had a positive effect in a dual language campus in obtaining high levels of performance of teachers which ensured high academic achievement of students.Educational Leadership and Policy Studie
Tetrahydrocurcumin Derivatives Enhanced the Anti-Inflammatory Activity of Curcumin: Synthesis, Biological Evaluation, and Structure–Activity Relationship Analysis
No full textTetrahydrocurcumin, the most abundant curcumin transformation product in biological systems, can potentially be a new alternative therapeutic agent with improved anti-inflammatory activity and higher bioavailability than curcumin. In this article, we describe the synthesis and evaluation of the anti-inflammatory activities of tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives. Eleven tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives were synthesized via Steglich esterification on both sides of the phenolic rings of tetrahydrocurcumin with the aim of improving the anti-inflammatory activity of this compound. We showed that tetrahydrocurcumin (<b>2</b>) inhibited TNF-α and IL-6 production but not PGE<sub>2</sub> production. Three tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives inhibited TNF-α production, five inhibited IL-6 production, and three inhibited PGE<sub>2</sub> production<sub>.</sub> The structure–activity relationship analysis suggested that two factors could contribute to the biological activities of these compounds: the presence or absence of planarity and their structural differences. Among the tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives, cyclic compound <b>13</b> was the most active in terms of TNF-α production, showing even better activity than tetrahydrocurcumin. Acyclic compound <b>11</b> was the most effective in terms of IL-6 production and retained the same effect as tetrahydrocurcumin. Moreover, acyclic compound <b>12</b> was the most active in terms of PGE<sub>2</sub> production, displaying better inhibition than tetrahydrocurcumin. A 3D-QSAR analysis suggested that the anti-inflammatory activities of tetrahydrocurcumin derivatives could be increased by adding bulky groups at the ends of compounds <b>2</b>, <b>11</b>, and <b>12</b>.Chemistr
An Intensive Pedestrian Survey for the Proposed Salado Greenway Trails-Rogers Ranch Connection, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas
No full textOn August 23, 2023, the Center for Archaeological Research (CAR) at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) conducted an intensive pedestrian survey of the proposed City of San Antonio (COSA) parks project, Rogers Ranch Connection to the Salado Greenway Trails network. This trail connection is located in the Rogers Ranch neighborhood in north San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas. The work was conducted in response to a request from Adams Environmental, Inc. (AEI), which is an environmental subcontractor to the project engineering team, Bain Medina Bain. The project took place on land that will ultimately be an easement controlled by a subdivision of the State of Texas, and therefore the project required review by the Texas Historical Commission (THC) under the Antiquities Code of Texas, as well as by the COSA Office of Historic Preservation (OHP) under the Unified Development Code (Article 6 35-630 to 35-634). The planned modifications also potentially impact Waters of the United States, which would trigger provisions of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act and regulatory review by the Fort Worth District U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). CAR obtained Texas Antiquities Permit No. 31308 prior to the commencement of fieldwork. Cynthia Munoz, CAR Interim Director, served as the Principal Investigator for the project, and Sarah Wigley served as the Project Archaeologist.
CAR excavated 18 shovel tests within the project area, which included an approximately 1 kilometer long, 3-meter wide trail alignment, a proposed trail head measuring approximately 0.1 hectare (ha [0.25 acres]), and two proposed staging areas measuring approximately 0.4 ha (0.9 acres) for a total of 8 ha (19.8 acres). Four shovel tests were positive for cultural material, including chipped stone and burned rock and were ultimately included within the boundaries of newly recorded site 41BX2552. The CAR recommends that site 41BX2552 is not eligible for designation as a State Antiquities Landmark (SAL) or listing in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and CAR also recommends that construction proceed as planned. All artifacts collected and records generated during the course of this project are permanently curated at the CAR under accession number 2773.Adams Environmental, Inc
Empirical Bayes Estimation for Event Detection in the Absence of Ground Truth: Leveraging Crowdsourced Decisions
No full textThe full text of this item is not available at this time because the author has placed this item under an embargo until December 12, 2025.This dissertation addresses a challenge in classification problems: the development of robust evaluation metrics for assessing event detection performance, particularly in scenarios with noisy or absent ground truth labels. To tackle this, the research proposes a Bayesian framework that examines the predictive distribution of event detection probabilities, providing posterior probabilities of positive outcomes. This approach departs from traditional binary decision-making paradigms by leveraging the aggregation of multiple expert decisions?employing arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic means?to classify events accurately. The asymptotic behavior of the proposed aggregation methods are also explored. Theorems regarding the limiting distributions of the arithmetic, geometric, and harmonic means in both conditional and marginal cases are shown.
Through a series of comprehensive simulation studies using synthetic data with known ground truths, the dissertation evaluates various performance metrics, including accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and trustworthiness. The proposed methodology is then validated with real-world cybersecurity datasets comprising over 18,000 files analyzed by 31 detectors. Empirical results demonstrate exceptional performance: accuracy ranging from 92% to 95%, sensitivity at 99%, and specificity exceeding 88%. The Bayesian method also maintains a detection rate between 80% and 87% when identifying malicious files. Additionally, the research investigates the fine-tuning of empirical Bayesian methods, yielding substantial accuracy improvements, exceeding 10% improvement compared to the widely used majority vote decision approach.
Overall, the methods developed in this work can be extended beyond cybersecurity, offering a framework with broad applicability in various fields?such as healthcare, finance, remote sensing, and image detection?where event detection is critical and ground truths or benchmarks are scarce.Management Science and Statistic
A Longitudinal Study of Childhood Maltreatment and Depression During Adulthood in a Nationally Representative Sample in the United States
No full textDepression is a global public health issue and one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. Childhood maltreatment is a strong risk factor for depression. Using data from The National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), this study aimed to longitudinally examine the association between childhood maltreatment and depression across young adulthood (18-23), adulthood (24-32), and early mid-life adulthood (33-42). It further examined the mediating roles of social support (maternal support and intimate partner support), socioeconomic status (educational attainment and employment status), and substance abuse (frequency of alcohol and marijuana abuse). The study's aims were examined using logistic regression and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).
The logistic regression found that participants who were physically/sexually abused or experienced neglect had higher odds of reporting depression diagnosis across all three age groups. The SEM model that examined the mediating roles of social support in the association between CM and depression revealed that CM had a statistically significant positive association with depression in Wave III (estimates = 0.22, p < 0.00), Wave IV (estimates = 0.22, p < 0.00), and Wave V (estimates = 0.19, p < 0.00). CM negatively impacted maternal and intimate partner support, which predicted depression diagnosis. The current study contributes to the understanding of the importance of social support to mitigate depression diagnosis among people with exposure to CM.
The SEM model examined the mediating roles of substance abuse and socioeconomic status in the association between CM and depression. It showed that CM had a significant positive association with depression across Wave III (estimates = 0.29, p < 0.00), Wave IV (Estimates = 0.35, p < 0.00), and Wave V (estimates = 0.33, p < 0.00). Regarding substance abuse, marijuana abuse strongly mediated the relationship between CM and depression across all three waves. CM negatively impacted educational attainment across all three waves but only at Wave III for employment status. This study, hence, contributed to understanding a complex interplay of substance abuse and socioeconomic status as the potential mediating pathways that influence depression diagnosis among adults with a history of childhood adversities.Demograph
Is It Truly 'Anything That Shoots?' Blasting Open the Black Box of Firearm Socialization
No full textThe full text of this item is not available at this time because the author has placed this item under an embargo until May 16, 2026.Firearms in the United States have become salient in academia over the past few decades. An area with limitations, however, is early firearm socialization and its impact on adult firearm outcomes. It is assumed firearm culture is a miasma individuals embody via merely being in its presence; however, this process of internalization is catalyzed by early firearm socialization. With the Guns in American Life survey, a national survey of 3,103 U.S. adults, this study utilized different forms of firearm socialization, including passive socialization, indirect socialization, and direct socialization to evaluate adult firearm ownership and firearm policy attitudes. All forms of early firearm socialization a) increased the likelihood that a participant owned a firearm and b) were positively associated with the number of firearms owned. When adjusting for all variables, the effects for passive and indirect socialization weakened while direct socialization remained stable. Direct firearm socialization was associated with less support for restrictive firearm policies and more support for firearm carry policies. Passive socialization was associated support for both policies while indirect socialization was only associated with more support for firearm carry policies. The effects of direct socialization weakened after adjusting for the number of firearms owned. There is evidence the association between direct socialization and restrictive firearm policy attitudes was mediated by the number of firearms owned. Additional studies are needed to reaffirm these findings, see the effects over a longer period of time, and place more emphasis on the context of firearm socialization experiences.Sociolog
Investigating the Role and Plasticity of Innervation in Taste Receptor Cells
No full textThe gustatory system is dynamic system, constantly undergoing cell turnover, establishing and removing synaptic contacts between nerves and taste buds. This process is vital to maintaining the connectivity of taste receptor cells (TRCs) and fibers and relay taste information to the brain. The mechanisms by which taste synapses form and re-form remain undetermined. Here, we utilize nerve transection surgeries to investigate the effects on 1) the lifespans of TRCs in the fungiform (FP) and circumvallate (CV), 2) the maintenance of pre-synaptic sites on TRCs, and 3) the dynamics of synapse recovery. Following transection, we found that some TRCs do degenerate at an accelerated rate compared to their normal turnover. However, we found that Type II and III cells have differing lifespans depending on location. To further probe this connectivity, we established an effective staining protocol to visualize the accumulation of presynaptic proteins in TRCs. Under normal conditions, we find ~90% of presynaptic puncta are directly contacted by nerve fibers. After nerve denervation, these Bassoon and CAHLM1 puncta were nearly eliminated, suggesting reliance on nerve fiber innervation for induction and maintenance of presynaptic sites in TRCs. Furthermore, during re-innervation, presynaptic sites also reappear, though, not as regularly ?contacted? as intact controls, indicating the proximity of fibers drives the formation of presynaptic sites, not direct contact. Collectively, these data support the hypothesis that neuronal trophic factors promote the formation and maintenance of presynaptic sites on TRCs, providing a framework for further experimentation into the mechanisms driving synaptic plasticity and synaptogenesis.Integrative Biolog