bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Aquatic Culture in Atlantic Africa and the Diaspora, 1444–1800
Authors: Dawson Kevin
Published: August 2024

Early modern Atlantic Africans developed similar canoe-making and canoeing traditions. Rather than treating water as physical and mental barriers, Africans wove fresh-waterways, salt-waterways, and adjoining landscapes together to create seamless waterscapes of social, cultural, spiritual, political, and economic meaning and belonging. Waterscapes and aquatic fluencies expanded Africans’ cultural horizons by tens of thousands of miles, as they swam and canoed across their surfaces, dove into their depths, and surfed their waves.

African maritime architecture developed to allow dugouts to negotiate particular hydrographic challenges. African dugouts differed from those crafted by Amerindians, Europeans, Oceanians, and Asians. Accounts suggest that the general shape of dugouts has remained fundamentally unchanged for hundreds of years. However, this does not indicate technological stagnation, as designs continuously evolved with important innovations significantly informing performance and usage, as reflected by surf-canoes. Surf-canoes were innovative watercraft designed to navigate surf-zones—the dynamic space where waves break—that remained off limits to European and American vessel and mariners, forcing them to rely on African expertise to link African and Atlantic markets. In an age with few energy sources—when most societies harnessed wind, animal, and, perhaps, river power—Atlantic Africans used wave power to slingshot surf-canoes laden with fish or tons of cargo ashore, even as the surf threatened to capsize and destroy surf-canoes. While Oceanians rode waves in outrigger canoes, Atlantic Africans are the only known peoples to bridle waves’ energy as part of their daily productive labor.

African dugouts on both sides of the Atlantic were crucial to transatlantic trade and European expansion. Little scholarship has been devoted to African dugouts. Green coastal waters important to many Africans’ experiences cannot be separated from the deep blue seas traversed by Western mariners, as it is not enough to describe how Europeans crossed oceans without considering how they got ashore. Traditional lines of inquiry have relegated African-descended peoples and their ability to shape the historical processes to the background, assuming they were passively affected by European circumstances. Virtually all the goods and many of the 12.5 million enslaved people exported out of Africa were transported in canoes to awaiting merchant and slave ships, with surf-canoes bearing much of this load.

In the Americas, enslavers quickly realized that African canoe-making and canoeing traditions could be profitably exploited. Most plantations were constructed along broad shallow waterways, similar to African waters, to facilitate the shipment of slave-produced cash crops to seaports. Hence, many planters employed captives as canoe-makers and canoeists to link their plantations to overseas markets.
Solar Coronal Mass Ejections
Authors: Green L. M.
Published: August 2024

The Sun’s magnetized plasma atmosphere is the source of various forms of activity, the most dramatic of which are coronal mass ejections (CMEs). These ejections are a bulk expulsion of plasma and magnetic field that travel out into the heliosphere, causing space weather effects on any planetary environments that they interact with. The origin of CMEs lies in the free magnetic energy stored in the coronal magnetic field, and a catastrophic evolution of the magnetic field structure that involves ideal or non-ideal magnetohydrodynamic processes or both.

The frequency of CMEs follows the 11-year solar activity cycle, indicating their origin in and near active regions at all evolutionary stages (i.e., from an active region’s emergence phase through the entirety of the decay phase). CMEs also originate in quiet sun filaments and coronal cavities. A particular magnetic field configuration known as a flux rope, which contains twisted magnetic fields and carries a volume current, is likely the key progenitor of CMEs.
Conversions to Islam in Mexico
Authors: Pastor Camila
Published: August 2024

Conversion to Islam in Mexico has accelerated in the early 21st century, thanks to both increased migration from Muslim-majority countries and the expanding global, regional, and local networks among Islamic religious communities. Despite there being no mosques in the country until the 1980s, official figures from Mexican censuses show the number of Muslims doubling between 2000 and 2010 and again in 2020. Though many communities were built in urban centers, outreach and proselytizing activities have extended into rural regions as well and have included Shia and Sufi as well as Sunni groups. Thus, the establishment of Muslim communities in Mexico has become a transnational phenomenon, with implications for the wider diaspora. This is demonstrated through an exploration of the historiography and ethnography of Islam and by drawing from data collected during the Ethnographic Census of Muslims in Mexico (2011–2014) and using interviews with converts, migrants, and diplomatic personnel to identify some of the core characteristics and consequences of Mexican Islam as convert Islam.
The Virtual Latinx-Muslim Community
Authors: Medina Arely
Published: August 2024

The forms of interaction mediated by the internet brings society closer to the transformations of distinct forms of socialization and the contemporary idea of community. There exists a construction of an imagined community with ethnic and religious borders located in the United States and on the internet. Islamic on one side and Latino on the other side are characteristics expressed in that imagined community that in virtual space can take the form of a cyberenvironment of Islam Latino.

Latinx Muslims sought to be represented in front of other Muslims and civil society itself, such as the Latino community in the United States. The internet allows the creation of an extensive community based on the universal ummah and Islamic discourse. However, while the internet allows Islam to reach to minorities such as Latinos, it also enables the creation of cyberspaces where Latinx Muslims can express their needs as a community and claim their Muslim identity; what could form a flexible and changeable cyberenvironment according to their needs. Therefore, the margins that shape the cyberenvironment are a hybridization between Islamic and ethnic aspects.
Estevanico de Dorantes
Authors: Ilahiane Hsain
Published: August 2024

One of the most fascinating, and least understood, men in the history of the American Southwest was the Moroccan “slave” known as Estevanico de Dorantes in sixteenth-century Spanish accounts of New Spain. Estevanico was one of the four survivors of the Pànfilo de Narváez expedition, which sailed from Spain in 1527 with the objective of conquering Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The survivors were stranded on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico and soon captured by Native Americans. After eight years of slavery, the expedition members escaped and traveled west, across western Texas, through the southwestern borderlands, and arrived in Culiacán, Mexico, in the spring of 1536. Three years later, Estevanico led the first Spanish expedition to Zuni lands and was the first Moroccan and African and non-Native American to set foot in what became Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. In the sixteenth century, Portugal occupied Morocco. Famine drove thousands of Moroccans to Spain and Portugal in various forms of servitude. The inhabitants of Azemmour—Estevanico’s home on the Atlantic coast—received permission from the Portuguese king, Don Manuel, to emigrate to Spain. People left Morocco in search of a better life in the Iberian Peninsula. This suggests that Estevanico might have emigrated as a servant, an indentured laborer, or an employee in search of economic opportunities. He may not have been a slave at all but instead a political or economic refugee since the Azemmouri people sided with the Portuguese invaders. Despite Estevanico’s role in Spain’s age of exploration and imperialism in the Americas, historical accounts are silent about him except to note that he was a slave who accompanied Fray Marcos De Niza on his travels through the American Southwest. Nevertheless, Estevanico remains an important figure in the social history of Pueblo Native Americans.
Germanic Languages in Contact in North America
Authors: Putnam Michael T.
Published: August 2024

Over the course of 400 years, numerous speakers of Germanic languages have immigrated to North America. The primary purposes of these immigrations were to avoid political and religious persecution and seek economic stability and growth. These contact varieties of Germanic origin are the intense focus of linguistic research involving multiple sub-disciplines within the field (e.g., sociolinguistic, structural/formal, corpus, and experimental approaches). A deeper investigation into the exact nature of the factors and subsequent results of language shift and structural outcomes found in these varieties challenges a number of long-standing assumptions about language contact, shift, and change in these intense contact settings. First, upon closer inspection, calls for severe language attrition, decay, and loss are largely unattested, which divert the focus from reported language shift to a transition to a post-vernacular state of the contact language in a given area. Second, the specific outcomes of language attrition, innovation, and maintenance in various structural domains of grammar of these individuals and communities (e.g., phonetics/phonology, morphology, mental lexicon, syntax, etc.) provide a basis for comparison both within and beyond this language family. These comparisons enable linguistics to better understand the directions and limits of structural changes in contact Germanic, which can be applied to other populations past and present. Third, these findings collectively contribute broadly to research in contact and heritage linguistics, providing invaluable cross-linguistic data from multiple dyads (including those with non-European ethnic and linguistic backgrounds). Research on these vernaculars advances our collective understanding of contact and diasporic Germanic varieties around the world while additionally making lasting contributions to research on contact and heritage linguistics.
Usage-Based Approaches to Germanic Languages
Authors: Hilpert Martin
Published: August 2024

The theoretical outlook of usage-based linguistics is a position that views language as a dynamic, evolving system and that recognizes the importance of usage frequency and frequency effects in language, as well as the foundational role of domain-general sociocognitive processes. Methodologically, usage-based studies draw on corpus-linguistic methods, experimentation, and computational modeling, often in ways that combine different methods and triangulate the results. Given the availability of corpus resources and the availability of experimental participants, there is a rich literature of usage-based studies focusing on Germanic languages, which at the same time has greatly benefited from usage-based research into other language families. This research has uncovered frequency effects based on measurements of token frequency, type frequency, collocational strength, and dispersion. These frequency effects result from the repeated experience of linguistic units such as words, collocations, morphological patterns, and syntactic constructions, which impact language production, language processing, and language change. Usage-based linguistics further investigates how the properties of linguistic structures can be explained in terms of cognitive and social processes that are not in themselves linguistic. Domain-general sociocognitive processes such as categorization, joint attention, pattern recognition, and intention reading manifest themselves in language processing and production, as well as in the structure of linguistic units. In addition to research that addresses the form and meaning of such linguistic units at different levels of linguistic organization, domains of inquiry that are in the current focus of usage-based studies include linguistic variation, first and second-language acquisition, bilingualism, and language change.
The DP-Domain in Germanic
Authors: Rauth Philipp
Published: August 2024

The domain of the so-called Determiner Phrase (DP) includes the lexical noun as well as its associated determiners (articles, pronouns), numerals, quantifiers, and modifiers (adjectives, possessors, relative clauses, attributive PPs). The reason why nominals are referred to as DPs is the assumption that they are structurally headed by the determiner, or more precisely by the article, rather than by the noun itself. The lexical NP thus has an extended functional DP-layer. The specifier of D can be occupied by certain pronouns such as demonstratives, which are considered phrasal. In addition to the DP-layer, numerals, quantifiers, adjectives, and possessives constitute a series of further functional layers between D and N.

Common features of the Germanic DP-domain are, to name but a few, an absent indefinite plural article, prenominal adjectives and possessive constructions like s-genitives, and possessor doubling. However, North and West Germanic differ considerably with respect to, for instance, definiteness marking, the placement of demonstrative reinforcers, and the unmarked position of possessive pronouns and possessor-DPs. It is these differences that pose a challenge to researchers who aim to find a unified structural analysis for the DP in Germanic. A common strategy to account for different word-order preferences are low base positions and movement: The unmarked position of possessive determiners is postnominal in North Germanic (huset hans ‘house.def his’, Norwegian) and prenominal in West Germanic (sein Haus ‘his house’, German). Therefore, the possessive pronoun is often assumed to be base-generated in a structurally low position. West Germanic possessives then precede the head noun by obligatorily rising to the DP-layer, while in North Germanic they (preferably) stay in situ.

In the last 20 years, generative research on the syntax of less prominent as well as nonstandard Germanic varieties has gained momentum. Studies of this kind enable an additional perspective on phenomena that would be difficult to analyze if only the standard varieties were considered. For instance, the exact grammaticalization path of the reinforcement of the Proto-Germanic demonstrative *þo- by the interjection *sai must remain speculative due to the lack of Proto-Germanic data. A look at contemporary data can help: Some modern Germanic varieties show a similar reinforcement of demonstratives by locative adverbs (die do birdies ‘those there birds’, Pennsylvania German), which can serve as a blueprint for reconstructing the grammaticalization path of the Proto-Germanic reinforced demonstrative.
Moore, Linda
Authors: Dettlaff Alan
Published: August 2024

Linda S. Moore was an inspirational and impactful social work educator and leader, particularly in the area of undergraduate social work education. Throughout her 39-year career as a faculty member in Texas Christian University’s Department of Social Work, she held multiple leadership roles, including program director, director of field education, and department chair. She also held multiple national leadership roles, including serving as president of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors. In 2020, she was the recipient of the National Association of Social Worker’s Social Work Pioneer Award. She will be largely remembered by the hundreds of social work students she influenced through her dedication and commitment to social work and social justice.
Adoptions of unrelated infants in wild Taihangshan macaques (Macaca mulatta tcheliensis), Jiyuan, north China
Authors: Han Mengya , Zhou Yanyan , Wang Yuwei , Luo Tongtong , Tian Jundong , Lu Jiqi
Published: August 2024

Infant-care behavior, a range of caring behaviors by parental or alloparental individuals towards infants unable to live independently, plays a significant role in the survival of infants and the continuation of the species in non-human primates. During a behavioral ecological study of Taihangshan macaques, we observed 2 cases of infant adoptions by unrelated adult females. In case 1, a multiparous female adopted a lost infant from a neighboring group, with the infant being snatched back by her biological mother 35 days after the adoption. This is the first report of cross-group adoption in Macaca. In case 2, a nulliparous adult female, who had been once adopted by her elder sister, adopted an orphan from her group for 36 days. We describe the details of adoptions in Taihangshan macaques and explore possible reasons for adoptions to contribute to understanding the evolution of infant-care behavior and altruistic behavior of adoption in primates.
Inference of the genetic basis of fruit texture in highbush blueberries using genome-wide association analyses
Authors: Ferrão Luis Felipe V , Azevedo Camila , Benevenuto Juliana , Mengist Molla Fentie , Luby Claire , Pottorff Marti , Casorzo Gonzalo I P , Mackey Ted , Lila Mary Ann , Giongo Lara , Bassil Nahla , Perkins-Veazie Penelope , Iorizzo Massimo , Munoz Patricio R
Published: August 2024

The global production and consumption of blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), a specialty crop known for its abundant bioactive and antioxidant compounds, has more than doubled over the last decade. To hold this momentum, plant breeders have begun to use quantitative genetics and molecular breeding to guide their decisions and select new cultivars that are improved for fruit quality. In this study, we leveraged our inferences on the genetic basis of fruit texture and chemical components by surveying large breeding populations from northern highbush blueberries (NHBs) and southern highbush blueberries (SHBs), the two dominant cultivated blueberries. After evaluating 1065 NHB genotypes planted at the Oregon State University, and 992 SHB genotypes maintained at the University of Florida for 17 texture-related traits, evaluated over multiple years, our contributions consist of the following: (i) we drew attention to differences between NHB and SHB materials and showed that both blueberry types can be differentiated using texture traits; (ii) we computed genetic parameters and shed light on the genetic architecture of important texture attributes, indicating that most traits had a complex nature with low to moderate heritability; (iii) using molecular breeding, we emphasized that prediction could be performed across populations; and finally (iv) the genomic association analyses pinpointed some genomic regions harboring potential candidate genes for texture that could be used for further validation studies. Altogether, the methods and approaches used here can guide future breeding efforts focused on maximizing texture improvements in blueberries.
Strategic ambiguity and chemical warfare in Ukraine
Authors: Bentley Michelle
Published: August 2024

This article revisits the concept of strategic ambiguity to identify and critically assess the overlooked role of international norms. Addressing a significant gap within the existing analysis of strategic ambiguity which fails to fully explain the role of norms, the article demonstrates how international norms construct and function within deliberately ambiguous foreign policy as the normative exploitation of epistemic ambiguity. Yet the article further reveals that strategic ambiguity is then systemically dependent on a precarious overreliance on epistemic ambiguity; this comprises a highly fragile policy framework which is excessively vulnerable to change. The article applies this innovative retheorization to an empirical case-study: United States foreign policy concerning the alleged Russian chemical warfare strategy in Ukraine. This analysis is based on an original and comparative discursive analysis of US administration and institutional public statements drawn primarily from government archives. The new analysis a) identifies US policy as strategic ambiguity and explains the strategy's motivations and perceived benefits; b) shows how an international norm (the chemical weapons taboo) was employed to enact an ambiguous foreign policy; but also, c) demonstrates the intrinsic fragility and potential collapse of this strategic ambiguity as a consequence of normative dynamics.
Embryo thermal manipulation modifies development and hepatic lipid metabolism in post-hatch layer-type chicks
Authors: Li Sheng , Wang Yuyan , Guo Siyu , Li Xiaoqing , Han Guofeng , Zhou Zilin , Li Chunmei
Published: August 2024

Incubation temperature is a crucial environmental factor affecting embryonic development and chick quality. Metabolism during the embryonic stage, particularly liver lipid metabolism, is essential for the growth and development of poultry. This study aimed to investigate the effects of embryo thermal manipulation with high (TMH, 39.5 °C, 65% RH, 8 h/d) and low (TML, 20 °C, 65% RH, 1 h/d) temperatures during 8th to 15th embryonic age on hatching performance and liver lipid metabolism in layer chicks. Additionally, the duration of TM effects was evaluated through a short-term feeding trial. The results indicated that TMH accelerated the hatching process without significantly affecting hatchability and growth performance. In contrast, TML delayed hatching time and significantly reduced hatchability and chick quality. After hatching, TML also increased residual yolk weight and reduced the relative liver weight in relation to body weight and yolk-free body mass. Moreover, lipid droplets in the liver were stained with Oil Red O, and the lipid content in the liver and serum was further detected. TMH had no significant impact on triglyceride (TG) and total-cholesterol (TCHO) content in the liver and serum but upregulated the expression of lipogenesis-related genes ACC, Fas, and Fatp1 compared to the TML group. Conversely, TML significantly reduced liver TG content, enhanced lipoprotein lipase (LPL) activity, and promoted the expression of lipid oxidation-related genes CPT-1, PGC-1α, and PPARα. At 7 d of age, liver LPL activity was significantly increased in the TMH group. However, there were no significant changes in the content of TG and TCHO in the liver and the expression of lipid metabolism-related genes in the TML group. Overall, these results indicate that embryonic TM alters hatching performance and liver lipid metabolism in layer chicks. TML reduces TG content by increasing liver lipid oxidation capacity. However, this effect is not long-lasting, as the influence of TM diminishes as the chicks develop.
Examining Retention Sentiments and Attrition Among Active Duty Army Medical Officers
Authors: Vie Loryana L , Whittaker Kerry S , Lathrop Adam D , Hawkins Jake N
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Providing quality care and maintaining exceptional medical providers are important priorities for military medicine. The present study examines the association between retention sentiments and voluntary separation from army service among Army Medical Corps and Nurse Corps Officers. Retention sentiments are derived from the Department of the Army Career Engagement Survey, a voluntary survey that Active Duty Soldiers complete annually.

Materials and Methods

The sample included active Army officers in the Medical Corps (n = 1198) and Nurse Corps (n = 1016) who completed the Department of the Army Career Engagement Survey between May 06, 2020 and November 02, 2023, passed the embedded attention check, and said their responses could be used for research purposes. The most frequently cited “Extremely Important” reasons to leave the army were identified within each sample. Binomial logistic regression was used to examine the likelihood of separating from army service based on the top five reasons to leave the Army as identified on the Department of the Army Career Engagement Survey. This study was determined by Exempt Human Subjects Research.

Results

An examination of the factors most frequently endorsed as an “Extremely Important” reason to leave the Army revealed that “Effects of deployments on Family or personal relationships” and “Impact of military service on my Family’s well-being” were among the five most cited “Extremely Important” reasons to leave the army within both the Medical Corps and the Nurse Corps samples. When examined together (i.e., summed), the Composite Leave Score was associated with a significantly greater odds of separating from army service in each sample. Specifically, each additional top five “Extremely Important” leave reason identified was associated with a 38% greater odds of separating from army service within the Medical Corps and 50% greater odds of separating from army service within the Nurse Corps.

Conclusions

The current study highlights unique retention concerns among army medical providers in the Medical Corps and Nurse Corps. Additionally, this study ties medical provider sentiments to subsequent voluntary separation from the army. These findings can help army senior leaders evaluate, draft, and revise policy aimed at increasing retention among army medical providers, and increasing access to quality healthcare for service members and their families.
Identifying Predictors of Positive and Negative Affect at Mid-Deployment Among Military Medical Personnel
Authors: Gomes Kimberly D , Moore Brian A , Straud Casey L , Baker Monty T , Isler William C , McNally Richard J , Litz Brett T , Peterson Alan L
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Positive and negative affect influence an individual’s ability to utilize available physical, psychological, and social resources to maximize responses to life events. Little research has examined the factors that influence the development of positive affect or reduction of negative affective responses among deployed military personnel. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between deployment-related stressors and symptoms of behavioral health concerns with affectivity among deployed U.S. service members.

Materials and Methods

Participants were 1148 U.S. Air Force medical personnel deployed to Balad, Iraq, between 2004 and 2011. All participants completed self-report measures of PTSD symptoms, general military and combat exposure, stress, and affectivity. The Institutional Review Board at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the Air Force Personnel Survey Program, and the U.S. Army’s Joint Combat Casualty Research Team reviewed and approved the study.

Results

Most respondents (89%, 1,018/1,139) reported a positive military experience, but many respondents reported exposure to a potentially traumatic event during deployment. For example, seeing dead or seriously injured Americans (47%, 523/1,123) was the most common exposure reported by participants. A large portion of personnel (21%, 232/1,089) reported clinical levels of PTSD symptoms (score of 33 or higher on the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Checklist—Military version). Risk factors, including PTSD symptoms, combat exposure, and stress, explained 39% of the variance in negative affect, R2 = 0.39, F(1046) = 224.96, P < .001. Conversely, these risk and resilience factors, including PTSD symptoms, combat exposure, stress, and general military experiences, explained 28% of the variance in positive affect, R2 = 0.28, F(1050) = 103.79, P < .001. No significant gender differences were found between models predicting positive and negative affect.

Conclusions

Negative mood states may be partly an epiphenomenon of PTSD, which has been shown to be safely and effectively treated in the deployed environment. Social support during deployments is uniquely associated with a positive mood. These findings extend beyond the military and into any high-stress occupation wherein leaders could interpret these findings as a need to build or reinforce efforts to provide opportunities to sustain healthy relationships in personnel. These critical indigenous resources support mission readiness and enable the maintenance of positive psychological health.
PLGA Nanoparticles Formulations Loaded With Antibiotics Induce Sustained and Controlled Antibiotics Release for Prolonged Antibacterial Action Against MRSA, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa FRD1
Authors: Guevara Argerie , Armknecht Kevin , Kudary Carlie , Nallathamby Prakash
Published: August 2024

The purpose of the present study was to create resorbable nanoparticles (NPs) using poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) to develop novel antibacterial therapeutics for the treatment of chronic wound infections that are susceptible to recurrent infections. By first performing a release study, it was possible to predict the behavior of the different PLGA NP formulations and assess the efficacy of the nanocomposite drug delivery system. These PLGA NP formulations consisted of varying ratios of PLGA without polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and PLGA with PVA (PLGA-PVA) (i.e., 25:75[PLGA25], 50:50[PLGA50], and 75:25[PLGA75]). Then, different antibiotics (i.e., ciprofloxacin and gentamicin) were incorporated into the PLGA NP formulations to test the antibacterial efficacy of these antimicrobial NPs against different pathogens (i.e., methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus USA300 [MRSA], Pseudomonas aeruginosa FRD1, and Acinetobacter baumannii BAA1605). Of particular interest was testing against the MRSA strain USA300 and the P. aeruginosa strain FRD1. This was possible by measuring the zone of inhibition. A 3-day period was used to monitor the antibacterial efficacy of the different PLGA NP formulations (i.e., PLGA25, PLGA50, and a 1:1 combination of PLGA25:PLGA50) against A. baumannii BAA1605, MRSA, and P aeruginosa FRD1. Throughout the study, A. baumannii was a negative control and was resistant to all the PLGA NP formulations loaded with ciprofloxacin and gentamicin. At the end of the 3-day period, the PLGA and PLGA50 ciprofloxacin-loaded formulations produced zones of inhibition of 27 mm and 23 mm, respectively, against P. aeruginosa FRD1. This indicated that P. aeruginosa FRD1 was susceptible to both formulations. The mixed formulations with equal parts PLGA25:PLGA50 loaded with ciprofloxacin produced a zone of inhibition (i.e., 25 mm). This again indicated that P. aeruginosa FRD1 was susceptible to ciprofloxacin. The formulations tested against MRSA showed that only gentamicin-loaded formulations produced intermediate results, and that ciprofloxacin-loaded formulations were ineffective. The PLGA25 and the PLGA50 NP formulations loaded with gentamicin both produced zones of inhibition of 13 mm. This indicated that MRSA was intermediate to both the formulations. The PLGA25:PLGA50 loaded with gentamicin produced a zone of inhibition of 14 mm, which again showed that MRSA was intermediate to this formulation. Overall, these PLGA NP formulations showed the sustained antibacterial potential of a burst release, followed by a sustained release of antibiotics from antibiotics loaded PLGA NPs in a controlled manner. In the future, this can help prevent the emergence of recurrent infections in the treatment of chronic wounds and reduce the number of medical dressing changes.
Utilizing Augmented Reality to Evaluate Service Member Team Performance
Authors: Kaya Ryan D , Rosenfeldt Anson B , Hastilow Karissa , Owen Kelsey M , Zimmerman Eric M , Alberts Jay L
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Decision-making is a complex process that relies on situational awareness and experience to create a potential list of actions while weighing the risks and benefits of each action. There is a paucity of data evaluating decision-making for individual service members (SM) during the performance of team-based military-relevant activities. Understanding individual performance and decision-making within the context of a team-based activity has potential to aid in the detection and management of mild traumatic brain injuries and assist with safe and timely return-to-duty decision making. The aim of this project was to evaluate cognitive and motor performance in healthy SM during an augmented reality military specific, team-based activity.

Materials and Methods

Data from 110 SMs from Fort Moore Georgia were analyzed for this project. Service members completed 3 augmented reality room breaching and clearing scenarios (Empty Room, Civilian/Combatant, and Incorrect Position of a unit member) with 3 avatar team members. Participants wore a Microsoft HoloLens 2 (HL2) device and used a replica M4 weapon (Haptech Defense Systems) during scenarios. Three-dimensional position data from the HL2 headset was used to compute temporal measures of room breaching and clearing events while the number and timing of weapon discharge was monitored by the M4. Temporal outcomes included time to enter room, time to fire first shot, time in fatal funnel, and total trial time while motor outcomes were distance traveled and average movement velocity.

Results

Pairwise comparisons between the Incorrect Position scenario and the Civilian/Combatant scenario demonstrated no difference in time to enter the room (2.36 seconds in both scenarios). Time to fire the first shot in the Civilian/Combatant scenario was longer (0.97 seconds to 0.58 seconds) while time in fatal funnel (2.58 seconds to 3.31 seconds) and time to trial completion (7.46 seconds to 8.41 seconds) were significantly longer in the Incorrect Position scenario.

Conclusions

Reaction time to fire the first shot, time in the fatal funnel, and total trial time reflect a change in information-processing and decision-making capabilities during military specific, ecological, team-based scenarios when altering the environment inside of the room and modifying avatar movements. Future studies are planned to evaluate the effects of mild traumatic brain injury on specific aspects of military team performance.
Enhancing the Management of Deployment-Limiting Medical Conditions in the U.S. Department of Navy Leveraging Electronic Health Records and Predictive Analytics Methods
Authors: Çağlayan Çağlar , Panaggio Mark J , Ramachandran Raghav , Wang Winnie , McShea Michael , Boggs-Wilkerson Denise , de Geus John , Mercado Michael
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Deployment-limiting medical conditions (DLMCs) such as debilitating injuries and conditions may interfere with the ability of military service members (SMs) to deploy. SMs in the United States (U.S.) Department of the Navy (DoN) with DLMCs who are not deployable should be placed in the medically restricted status of limited duty (LIMDU) or referred to the Physical Evaluation Board (PEB) for Service retention determination. It is critical to identify SMs correctly and promptly with DLMCs and predict their return-to-duty (RTD) to ensure the combat readiness of the U.S. Military. In this study, an algorithmic approach was developed to identify DoN SMs with previously unidentified DLMCs and predict whether SMs on LIMDU will be able to RTD.

Materials and Methods

Five years of historical data (2016–2022) were obtained from inpatient and outpatient datasets across direct and purchased care from the Military Health System (MHS) Data Repository (MDR). Key fields included International Classification of Diseases diagnosis and procedure codes, Current Procedure Terminology codes, prescription medications, and demographics information such as age, rank, gender, and service. The data consisted of 44,580,668 medical encounters across 1,065,224 SMs. To identify SMs with unidentified DLMCs, we developed an ensemble model combining outputs from multiple machine learning (ML) algorithms. When the ML ensemble model predicted a SM to have high risk scores, despite appearing healthy on administrative reports, their case was reviewed by expert clinicians to investigate for previously unidentified DLMCs; and such feedback served to validate the developed algorithms. In addition, leveraging 1,735,422 encounters (60,433 SMs) from LIMDU periods, we developed four separate ML models to estimate RTD probabilities for SMs after each medical encounter and predict the final LIMDU outcome.

Results

The ensemble model had 0.91 area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC). Out of 236 (round one) and 314 (round two) SMs reviewed by clinicians, 127 (54%) and 208 (66%) SMs were identified with a previously unidentified or undocumented DLMC, respectively. Regarding predicting RTD for SMs placed on LIMDU, the best performing ML model achieved 0.76 AUROC, 68% sensitivity, and 71% specificity.

Conclusion

Our research highlighted potential benefits of using predictive analytics in a medical assessment to identify SMs with DLMCs and to predict RTD outcomes once placed on LIMDU. This capability is being deployed for real-time clinical decision support to enhance health care provider’s deployability assessment capability, improve accuracy of the DLMC population, and enhance combat readiness of the U.S Military.
Development of a Predictive Model to Determine Appropriate Length of Profile
Authors: Hazel David , Stewart Justin , Rivera-Nichols Triana , Little Jeanette
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Musculoskeletal injuries are one of the primary causes of Soldiers’ inability to be medically ready, comprising over 80% of such causes. The electronic profile (e-Profile) is the way that musculoskeletal injuries are documented so that commanders will know the type of injury as well as the length of the time that the Soldier will need limited duty. A previous study of e-Profiles in an Army MTF Integrated Pain Management Center showed that the median length of an e-Profile was 30 days. It is in the best interest of the Army to have the Soldier out of the fight the minimum amount of time for recovery to ensure the unit readiness. The goal of this study was to utilize e-Profile data to see if a machine learning model can be developed to determine the appropriate time a Soldier needs to be on profile for a given diagnoses.

Materials and Methods

Institutional Review Board approval was obtained from the USAMRDC (protocol #M-10966). The initial dataset provided to the research team consisted of a single pipe delimited (“|”) text file containing 2.9 million rows of e-Profile data. Linear regression, decision trees, and random forests (RFs) were evaluated to see which model would best predict the number of days needed for an e-Profile.

Results

Linear regression had an adjusted R-squared of 0.165. The positive predictive value of decision trees (0-to-30-day range of e-Profiles) was 73.6%, and the negative predictive value (30-90 days) was 60.9% with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) of 0.694 for the model. The positive predictive value of RFs was 85.3% (for the 0-30 range), and the negative predictive value was 58.7% (for the 30-90 range) with an AUC of 0.794. An AUC that approaches 1 indicates a more accurate prediction.

Conclusions

The 3 models (linear regression, decision trees, and RF) studied as part of this project did not predict the days on e-Profile with a high degree of certainty. Future research will focus on adding additional data to the e-Profile dataset in order to improve model accuracy.
Antibacterial Activity of Ag+ on ESKAPEE Pathogens In Vitro and in Blood
Authors: Garry Brittany , Samdavid Thanapaul Rex J R , Werner Lacie M , Pavlovic Radmila , Rios Kariana E , Antonic Vlado , Bobrov Alexander G
Published: August 2024

Introduction

Bloodstream infections are a significant threat to soldiers wounded in combat and contribute to preventable deaths. Novel and combination therapies that can be delivered on the battlefield or in lower roles of care are urgently needed to address the threat of bloodstream infection among military personnel. In this manuscript, we tested the antibacterial capability of silver ions (Ag+), with long-appreciated antibacterial properties, against ESKAPEE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter species, and Escherichia coli) pathogens.

Materials and Methods

We used the GENESYS (RAIN LLC) device to deliver Ag+ to Gram-positive and Gram-negative ESKAPEE organisms grown in broth, human blood, and serum. Following the Ag+ treatment, we quantified the antibacterial effects by quantifying colony-forming units.

Results

We found that Ag+ was bactericidal against 5 Gram-negative organisms, K pneumoniae, A baumannii, P aeruginosa, E cloacae, and E coli, and bacteriostatic against 2 Gram-positive organisms, E faecium and S aureus. The whole blood and serum inhibited the bactericidal activity of Ag+ against a common agent of bloodstream infection, P aeruginosa. Finally, when Ag+ was added in conjunction with antibiotic in the presence of whole blood, there was no significant effect of Ag+ over antibiotic alone.

Conclusions

Our results confirmed that Ag+ has broad-spectrum antibacterial properties. However, the therapeutic value of Ag+ may not extend to the treatment of bloodstream infections because of the inhibition of Ag+ activity in blood and serum.
Stimulus Color Wavelength Influences Performance in a Virtual Reality Go/No-Go Task
Authors: Martinez Candace , Ledesma Leandro M , Chinn Lisa K , Grigorenko Elena L
Published: August 2024

Introduction

This study investigated the influence of stimulus color wavelength on cognitive performance in a virtual reality (VR) Go/No-Go task by assessing participant’s reaction time and accuracy. Previous research has indicated that color has a variety of cognitive, physiological, and behavioral effects on individuals, differentiating their performance. However, there is a gap in understanding the influence of color on performance on VR cognitive tasks. An understanding of how stimulus color wavelength influences human performance could enhance the control over the design and interpretation of assessment and training outcomes in VR.

Materials and Methods

Participants (n = 99, 57 males, aged 18 to 33 years) were recruited from the University of Houston and surrounding areas. Participants completed a VR-based Go/No-Go task. In this task, participants were instructed to strike 3D shape stimuli only if they matched the color of one of 2 virtual sabers that participants hand in their hands in VR (“Go” trials). If neither virtual saber matched the presented shape color (“No-Go” trials), participants were instructed not to respond. Stimulus colors could be violet (407 nm), blue (478 nm), green (507 nm), yellow (612 nm), and red (679 nm). Participants’ reaction times and accuracy were recorded. The study design and procedures were approved by the University of Houston’s Institutional Review Board.

Results

Stimulus color wavelength had a significant influence on accuracy during the Go/No-Go saber color match condition task. In both Go and No-Go trials, longer wavelengths were associated with reduced accuracy. However, no significant findings on wavelength and reaction time were present. These findings emphasize the impact of stimulus color on task performance.

Conclusions

Shorter color wavelengths were associated with higher accuracy in a VR Go/No-Go task. These findings support the importance of color selection in VR tasks and trainings, especially in scenarios that include decision-making and require accuracy. Realistic colors encountered in real-life military operations into VR training environments may better prepare individuals for real-world challenges. Future research in this area could explore color effects in additional tasks and incorporate realistic color-based cues in VR training scenarios.
Dick Hebdige
Authors: Dutta Subham
Published: August 2024

Dick Hebdige is regarded as one of the prominent thinkers in cultural studies. He was born in England in 1951. Integrating many cultural strands from youth subculture, contemporary music, art, and design to consumer and media culture, Hebdige emerged as one of the significant thinkers of cultural studies in post-1970 Britain. His works both directly and indirectly engage with the changing cultural landscape of British society and the evolving trajectory of its cultural politics. Hebdige graduated from Birmingham University in 1974. His MA thesis, “Aspects of Style in the Deviant Subcultures of the 1960s,” was his first foray into the domain of subculture studies. Hebdige studied under Stuart Hall, and his works incorporate and respond to the literary criticism of Richard Hoggart. Ideologically, Hebdige integrates the Marxist analytic paradigm with narrative, stylistic, and cultural analysis in his works. Being a cultural Marxist, he emerged as one of the major exponents of the Birmingham school of Marxist political theory. After teaching at various UK art schools and Goldsmiths College, University of London, Hebdige moved to the United States in 1992 and became the dean of critical studies and founding director of the Writing Program at California Institute of the Arts. Hebdige’s thesis links him with the Birmingham School of Cultural Studies, run by thinkers like Richard Hoggart and Stuart Hall. Methodologically, the Birmingham School espoused the necessity of looking at the cultural circuit as the site of meaning production. It explored the intersection between history, culture, and the different modes of self-fashioning. Hebdige’s works advocate disciplinary and conceptual convergences instrumentalizing dialogues between multiple paradigms. From mapping the origins and growth of subculture studies to studying the politics of postmodernity, his works demonstrate a strong ideological commitment to the Birmingham school of Marxist thought. His recent project on desert studies reads desert as the site of disciplinary intersections and overlaps. His major works include his books Subculture: The Meaning of Style (1979), Cut ’n’ Mix: Culture, Identity and Caribbean Music (1987), and Hiding in the Light: On Images and Things (1988). Furthermore, he wrote many articles encompassing topics like image, fashion, style, and so on to read as discrete markers of social and cultural analysis. His works read different forms of aesthetic and cultural designs and explore how they remain implicated in a series of cultural and epistemic entanglements. He is currently a professor of studio art and film and media studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. From 2001 to 2008 he served as the director of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, and he currently directs the University of California system-wide Institute for Research in the Arts ( UCIRA). In partnership with the Future Art Research Institute, in Phoenix, Arizona, he launched UCIRA’s Desert Studies Project in 2019. Currently, he is interested in autobiography and mixed media in critical writing and pedagogy.