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WOOSAH! MINORITIZED STUDENT AFFAIRS PROFESSIONALS: NAVIGATING RACIAL BATTLE FATIGUE AT A PREDOMINATELY WHITE INSTITUTION
Get PDFUsing an interpretative phenomenological analysis this study explored the rich experiences of seven racially minoritized student affairs professionals (RMSAPs) who experienced racial battle fatigue (RBF) and the impact it had on their health at a predominantly white institution (PWI). Social psychological research has identified both blatant and subtle forms of racial discrimination have adverse which lead to deleterious mental health outcomes for racially minoritized individuals. The findings indicated that these racially minoritized student affairs professionals were experiencing racial microaggressions and racial battle fatigue at their predominately white institution. In order to reclaim their wellness, participants shared the strategies they used to sustain their commitment to advocating and supporting minoritized students. These findings also included the recommendations that participants had for their PWI and how they could support their health and well-being and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives
Harnessing the Synergy of Fe and Co with Carbon Nanofibers for Enhanced CO
Get PDFAmid growing concerns about climate change and energy sustainability, the need to create potent catalysts for the sequestration and conversion of CO2 to value-added chemicals is more critical than ever. This work describes the successful synthesis and profound potential of high-performance nanofiber catalysts, integrating earth-abundant iron (Fe) and cobalt (Co) as well as their alloy counterpart, FeCo, achieved through electrospinning and judicious thermal treatments. Systematic characterization using an array of advanced techniques, including SEM, TGA-DSC, ICP-MS, XRF, EDS, FTIR–ATR, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy, confirmed the integration and homogeneous distribution of Fe/Co elements in nanofibers and provided insights into their catalytic nuance. Impressively, the bimetallic FeCo nanofiber catalyst, thermally treated at 1050 °C, set a benchmark with an unparalleled CO2 conversion rate of 46.47% at atmospheric pressure and a consistent performance over a 55 h testing period at 500 °C. Additionally, this catalyst exhibited prowess in producing high-value hydrocarbons, comprising 8.01% of total products and a significant 31.37% of C2+ species. Our work offers a comprehensive and layered understanding of nanofiber catalysts, delving into their transformations, compositions, and structures under different calcination temperatures. The central themes of metal–carbon interactions, the potential advantages of bimetallic synergies, and the importance of structural defects all converge to define the catalytic performance of these nanofibers. These revelations not only deepen our understanding but also set the stage for future endeavors in designing advanced nanofiber catalysts with bespoke properties tailored for specific applications
Graduate students\u27 e-book awareness and usage at a public research university in the U.S.A.
Get PDFPurpose
This study aims to understand the level of graduate students’ awareness and usage of e-books purchased by the authors’ university library since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors created a Qualtrics survey with 13 questions that was sent to the university’s graduate student email list. The survey was sent in the fall of 2023 and was open for one month. The list had 3,318 subscribers; 113 complete responses were received, for a response rate of 3.4%.
Findings
The results found that doctoral students (80%) are more aware than master’s students (64%) of e-book availability through the library, and usage rates are higher for doctoral students (78%) compared to master’s students (52%). In addition, the frequency of e-book usage since COVID-19 has changed, with more than half of respondents using e-books more often. The majority of respondents who use e-books do so because they are required as a textbook. While international students use their laptop or smartphone for reading e-books, domestic students prefer laptops. Student comments at the end of the survey revealed ways for libraries to help improve e-book awareness.
Research limitations/implications
The authors’ goal to have a response rate of 5%–10% was not achieved; the authors therefore did not use any statistics to measure the significance of the results. The survey did not ask whether students started their degree programs prior to 2020, but their start year could have influenced responses.
Originality/value
The present study looks at the current level of usage and awareness of specific populations (graduate students, online students and international students) regarding e-books. This study focuses on student perspectives regarding what devices they use to access e-books and how their usage differs across academic disciplines
UTILIZING FUNDS OF KNOWLEDGE IN AN EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSROOM TO ENHANCE AND CREATE READ-ALOUD EXPERIENCES
Get PDFThe purpose of this study is to investigate the read-aloud experiences in an early childhood classroom that embed students Funds of Knowledge (FoK). The specific aim is the explore what happens when I utilize my students\u27 funds of knowledge when planning and implementing read-aloud experiences. what happens when I utilize my students\u27 funds of knowledge when planning and implementing read-aloud experiences. The students demonstrated making connections to peers in response to text, engaging with text that highlights funds of knowledge and conversing about others culture through play. The implications for utilizing Funds of Knowledge in an early childhood classroom is also discussed
AN EMPIRICAL STUDY ON DETECTING AND EXPLAINING GLOBAL STRUCTURAL CHANGE IN EVOLVING GRAPH USING MARTINGALE
Get PDFThere is a growing interest in practical applications involving networks of interacting entities such as sensor networks, social networks, urban traffic networks, and power grids, all of which can be represented using evolving graphs. Changes in these evolving graphs can signify shifts in the behavior of interacting entities or alterations in the patterns of their interactions. Identifying and detecting these changes is crucial for addressing potential challenges or opportunities in various domains. In this study, we propose an approach for detecting structure change in evolving graphs based on the martingale change detection framework on multiple graph features extracted over time. Our research investigates the impact of different graph properties encoded using different feature representations on the evolving graph change detection task. Moreover, performing change detection on multiple graph features allows us to pinpoint which aspects of the graph behavior have changed and provide explanations for identified changes. We demonstrated empirically the robustness of our proposed approach on synthetic evolving graphs generated using different graph-generating algorithms, including scale-free, phase transition, and random small-world evolving graphs. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the proposed martingale approach maintains a desirable false positive bound even when different feature representations are used. Finally, we demonstrate monitoring martingale values for different graph properties on a real-world evolving graph sequence to explain the detected change points
ASSESSING THE EFFECTS OF REPETITIVE MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY ON RISK/REWARD DECISION MAKING AND CATECHOLAMINE ASSOCIATED PROTEINS
Get PDFMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) disrupts cognitive processes that influence risk taking behavior; however, the effects of repetitive mild injury (rmTBI) or whether these outcomes are sex specific are unknown. Risk/reward decision making is mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is densely innervated by catecholaminergic fibers. Aberrant PFC catecholamine activity has been documented following TBI and may underlie TBI-induced risky behavior. Here, we exposed rats to sham (no injury), single, or three closed-head controlled cortical impact (CH-CCI) injuries to characterize the effects of rmTBI on 1) risk/reward decision making behavior using a probabilistic discounting task (PDT) and 2) levels of catecholamine regulatory proteins within subregions of the PFC using Western blot analysis. Mild TBI transiently increased risky choice preference, more prominently in females. Additionally, rmTBI produced delayed effects on response speed in males only. Mild TBI increased tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) levels in females only, but reduced norepinephrine transporter (NET) levels in both sexes within the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), indicating this subregion is susceptible to catecholamine instability after mTBI. Overall, the CH-CCI model of mTBI has revealed time-dependent and sex-specific changes in risk/reward decision making and catecholamine regulation following mild head injuries
Perturbations in Risk/Reward Decision Making and Frontal Cortical Catecholamine Regulation Induced by Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
Get PDFMild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) disrupts cognitive processes that influence risk taking behavior. Little is known regarding the effects of repetitive mild injury (rmTBI) or whether these outcomes are sex specific. Risk/reward decision making is mediated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which is densely innervated by catecholaminergic fibers. Aberrant PFC catecholamine activity has been documented following TBI and may underlie TBI-induced risky behavior. The present study characterized the effects of rmTBI on risk/reward decision making behavior and catecholamine transmitter regulatory proteins within the PFC. Rats were exposed to sham, single (smTBI), or three closed-head controlled cortical impact (CH-CCI) injuries and assessed for injury-induced effects on risk/reward decision making using a probabilistic discounting task (PDT). In the first week post-final surgery, mTBI increased risky choice preference. By the fourth week, males exhibited increased latencies to make risky choices following rmTBI, demonstrating a delayed effect on processing speed. When levels of tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and the norepinephrine reuptake transporter (NET) were measured within subregions of the PFC, females exhibited dramatic increases of TH levels within the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) following smTBI. However, both males and females demonstrated reduced levels of OFC NET following rmTBI. These results indicate the OFC is susceptible to catecholamine instability after rmTBI and suggests that not all areas of the PFC contribute equally to TBI-induced imbalances. Overall, the CH-CCI model of rmTBI has revealed time-dependent and sex-specific changes in risk/reward decision making and catecholamine regulation following repetitive mild head injuries
Visual Analytics in Explaining Neural Networks with Neuron Clustering
Get PDFDeep learning (DL) models have achieved state-of-the-art performance in many domains. The interpretation of their working mechanisms and decision-making process is essential because of their complex structure and black-box nature, especially for sensitive domains such as healthcare. Visual analytics (VA) combined with DL methods have been widely used to discover data insights, but they often encounter visual clutter (VC) issues. This study presents a compact neural network (NN) view design to reduce the visual clutter in explaining the DL model components for domain experts and end users. We utilized clustering algorithms to group hidden neurons based on their activation similarities. This design supports the overall and detailed view of the neuron clusters. We used a tabular healthcare dataset as a case study. The design for clustered results reduced visual clutter among neuron representations by 54% and connections by 88.7% and helped to observe similar neuron activations learned during the training process
A Review of Risk Factors, Adverse Outcomes, and Counseling Strategies Among Pregnant Individuals with Eating Disorders
Get PDFBackground: Eating disorders (EDs) among women of childbearing age have become more prevalent on the global level. Identifying at-risk populations of women having EDs before, during, or after pregnancy is essential for clinicians to improve treatment and decrease the likelihood of negative maternal and/or fetal outcomes. Purpose: The purpose is to determine risk factors for women who have EDs throughout pregnancy, to identify negative pregnancy outcomes of women suffering from EDs, and to explore treatment and counseling options through the postpartum period. Methods: This literature review mainly utilizes sources from PubMed and the National Institute of Health databases. An expansive list of search terms were used, such as: pregnancy, EDs, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder, mental health, age, counseling, depression, anxiety, postpartum, and breastfeeding. Results: Younger women with a history of EDs or who are actively suffering from EDs are at high risk for negative maternal and fetal outcomes in pregnancy. EDs can be identified by clinicians asking thorough medical histories, highlighting key terms of common vulnerabilities amongst this patient population. A multidisciplinary team approach consisting of clinicians, psychologists, nutritionists, and hospitalists are important for treating pregnant women with EDs. Conclusion: EDs in pregnancy are considered high risk and can lead to severe negative outcomes. EDs should be identified early on and treated through the postpartum period. More research on treatment and counseling for this patient population continues to be a gap in the literature and in the clinic
Addressing Gaps in Care Through a Medical Student-Led Cancer Screening Project
Get PDFBackground: Colorectal cancer (CRC), breast cancer (BrCa), and cervical cancer are three of the most preventable cancers. Despite the known significance for early detection and treatment, barriers to screening remain. We developed a medical student-led project to improve adherence to national cancer screening guidelines in patients across Rowan-Virtua Family Medicine (FM) practices. This study assesses the initiative’s efficacy in improving adherence to CRC, BrCa, and cervical cancer screenings.
Methods: Rowan-Virtua FM patients between the ages of 21-75 (n=735) were identified as due or up-to-date on cancer screenings based on chart review. Student volunteers were trained to contact patients to discuss options for overdue screenings and place corresponding referrals. Patient demographics including sex, age, and race/ethnicity were collected. Outcomes included patient eligibility, number and rates of patients reached, referrals placed, and up-to-date patients.
Results: Among the 735 patients, mean (sd) age was 57.9 (11.5), 71.2% were female, 55.8% were white, 15.5% were Black, 4.4% were Hispanic, 1.4% were Asian and 23.4% did not specify their race/ethnicity. Per chart review, 643 (87.5%) patients were due for at least one cancer screening. Of 323 (50.2%) patients reached via phone, 30.7% received at least one referral for cancer screening, 23.2% reported being up-to-date on screenings, and 46.1% declined screening. A total of 28 colonoscopy, 38 stool DNA test, 38 mammogram, and 30 pap smear referrals were placed among 99 patients. 28 patients received referrals for more than one screening.
Conclusion: This student-led medical outreach project promoted increased adherence to national cancer screening guidelines