Faculty Research & Creative Scholarship 2020: C-D

Journal Title: Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment
Abstract: Studying the attachment representations of child welfare workers can benefit workers and the vulnerable populations they serve. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is the most widely used and well-validated measure of adult attachment but is also costly and time-consuming to score. Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), a text-analysis software program, has the potential to lessen the burden of AAI scoring, making it a lower-cost, faster option for providing basic attachment representation information. In the current study, we explore the use of the LIWC in the AAI transcripts of 239 child welfare professionals. Findings indicate that subsets of LIWC categories could distinguish the AAI transcripts of individuals coded as dismissing, preoccupied, and secure-autonomous in attachment. Further, a subset of LIWC categories predicted AAI classification. Specifically, discriminant function analysis revealed two functions, activation and incoherence, that accurately classified 66.2% of AAI transcripts. Implications for the child welfare workforce are discussed.
Author: Casey D. Call, Assistant Director of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Psychology

Journal Title: Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Introductory Paragraph: If we are to believe what we read on the Internet, populism is on the march globally. A quick sampling of recent headlines gives a taste of the phenomenon: “The Dangerous Rise of Populism,” reads the 2017 World Report from the group Human Rights Watch, which warns of “global attacks on human rights values” by populist regimes. From the Brookings Institution comes a story on “the Rise of European Populism and the Collapse of the Center-Left,” proclaiming it “the most important European political development of the 21st century.” Washington Post columnist Fareed Zakaria concurs, noting that Europe “is ablaze with populism.” An op-ed piece in the New York Times chronicles “The Return of Populism, Latin America Style” in Colombia and Mexico, while a Washington Post piece warns that “An emerging populism is sweeping the Middle East.” From Kurdistan to Thailand, from Great Britain to the Philippines, the “virus of populism,” as theEconomist termed it, seems to be spreading. Even in normally staid Canada, the Toronto Sun takes note of the “rise of populism in Ontario.”
Author: Gregg Cantrell, Professor, History

Description: An engaging and meticulously researched history of Texas Populism and its contributions to modern American liberalism In the years after the Civil War, the banks, railroads, and industrial corporations of Gilded‑Age America, abetted by a corrupt political system, concentrated vast wealth in the hands of the few and made poverty the fate of many. In response, a group of hard‑pressed farmers and laborers from Texas organized a movement for economic justice called the Texas People's Party--the original Populists. Arguing that these Texas Populists were among the first to elaborate the set of ideas that would eventually become known as modern liberalism, Gregg Cantrell shows how the group broke new ground in reaching out to African Americans and Mexican Americans, rethinking traditional gender roles, and demanding creative solutions and forceful government intervention to solve economic inequality. While their political movement ultimately failed, this volume reveals how the ideas of the Texas People's Party have shaped American political history.
Author: Gregg Cantrell, Professor, History

Journal Title: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Abstract: Terrestrial organisms such as shoreline spiders that consume prey from aquatic food webs can be contaminated with methylmercury (MeHg). However, no studies have examined the relationship between MeHg contamination of shoreline spider taxa and the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in their diets. The present study had 2 objectives: 1) determine concentrations of MeHg in 7 taxa of shoreline spiders, and 2) assess the relationship between concentrations of MeHg in spiders and the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in spider diets. We collected shoreline spiders, emergent aquatic insects, and terrestrial insects from in and around 10 experimental ponds. Methylmercury concentrations were greatest in spiders, intermediate in aquatic insects, and lowest in terrestrial insects. The elevated MeHg concentrations in spiders indicate that they were feeding, at least in part, on emergent aquatic insects. However, variability in MeHg concentration observed among spider taxa suggested that the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in spider diets likely varied among taxa. We estimated the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in the diet of each spider taxon from the nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) isotope values of spiders and their potential aquatic and terrestrial prey items. The median proportion of aquatic prey in spider diets varied by almost 2‐fold, and MeHg concentrations in shoreline spiders were strongly correlated with the proportion of aquatic prey in their diet. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that the degree of connectivity to aquatic food webs determines MeHg contamination of shoreline spiders. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2503–2508. © 2019 SETAC
Author: Matthew M. Chumchal, Professor and Director of the Pre-Health Professions

Journal Title: Environmental Toxicology
Abstract: Piscivorous birds are top predators in aquatic ecosystems and are vulnerable to mercury (Hg) exposure and associated adverse health effects. In some areas of North America, the health risk posed to piscivorous birds by Hg contamination has not been characterized because concentrations of Hg in bird tissues have not been extensively monitored. When data on Hg in tissues of piscivorous birds are not available, the concentration of Hg in the blood of piscivorous birds can be estimated from the concentration of Hg in prey fish. We used concentrations of Hg in different lengths of a proxy prey fish, bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), to estimate the concentration of Hg in the blood of 4 species of adult piscivorous wading birds (little blue herons [Egretta caerulea], green herons [Butorides virescens], great egrets [Ardea albus], and great blue herons [Ardea herodias]) in 14 ecoregions of the south central United States. The 4 species of birds consume different sizes of fish with different concentrations of Hg and were predicted to have different concentrations of Hg in their blood, with little blue herons < green herons < great egrets < great blue herons. For each species of bird, there were significant differences in average estimated concentrations of Hg in blood between ecoregions, with estimated concentrations of Hg in blood increasing with Hg deposition. The level of predicted risk varied with ecoregion and bird species and was highest for great blue herons. We recommend that future studies of Hg contamination of piscivorous wading birds of the southern United States focus on great blue herons in water bodies within ecoregions that have high Hg deposition.
Author: Matthew M. Chumchal, Professor and Director of the Pre-Health Professions

Journal Title: ACS Applied Bio Materials
Abstract: Biodegradable porous silicon nanotubes (pSiNTs), functionalized with primary amine moieties via the use of 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES), is demonstrated as a template for formation of platinum nanocrystals (Pt NCs) (1–3 nm). Transmission electron microscopy–energy dispersive X-ray analysis (TEM–EDX) indicates a relatively high and tunable concentration of Pt uniformly immobilized on a given nanotube (wt % Pt: 20–60%). In vitro viability and cellular uptake studies are consistent with a time-dependent toxicity of Pt NCs-pSiNTs against HeLa cells that is influenced by the degradation kinetics of the pSiNTs; internalization of the composites inside the cells exerts cellular damage in an apoptotic manner, therefore suggesting promising future applications in anticancer treatments.
Author: Jeffery L. Coffer, Professor, Inorganic and Materials Chemistry

Journal Title: Nano Research
Abstract: In this work, we utilize a bottom-up approach to synthesize nitrogen self-doped graphene quantum dots (NGQDs) from a single glucosamine precursor via an eco-friendly microwave-assisted hydrothermal method. Structural and optical properties of as-produced NGQDs are further modified using controlled ozone treatment. Ozone-treated NGQDs (Oz-NGQDs) are reduced in size to 5.5 nm with clear changes in the lattice structure and ID/IG Raman ratios due to the introduction/alteration of oxygen-containing functional groups detected by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer and further verified by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) showing increased atomic/weight percentage of oxygen atoms. Along with structural modifications, GQDs experience decrease in ultraviolet–visible (UV–vis) absorption coupled with progressive enhancement of visible (up to 16 min treatment) and near-infrared (NIR) (up to 45 min treatment) fluorescence. This allows fine-tuning optical properties of NGQDs for solar cell applications yielding controlled emission increase, while controlled emission quenching was achieved by either blue laser or thermal treatment. Optimized Oz-NGQDs were further used to form a photoactive layer of solar cells with a maximum efficiency of 2.64% providing a 6-fold enhancement over untreated NGQD devices and a 3-fold increase in fill factor/current density. This study suggests simple routes to alter and optimize optical properties of scalably produced NGQDs to boost the photovoltaic performance of solar cells.
Author: Jeffery L. Coffer, Professor, Inorganic and Materials Chemistry

Journal Title: Nanoscale
Abstract: While extensively investigated in thin film form for energy materials applications, this work investigates the formation of APbBr3 structures (A = CH3NH3+ (MA), Cs+) in silicon and oxidized silicon nanotubes (SiNTs) with varying inner diameter. We carefully control the extent of oxidation of the nanotube host and correlate the relative Si/Si oxide content in a given nanotube host with the photoluminescence quantum efficiency (PLQE) of the perovskite. Complementing these measurements is an evaluation of average PL lifetimes of a given APbBr3 nanostructure, as evaluated by time-resolved confocal photoluminescence measurements. Increasing Si (decreasing oxide) content in the nanotube host results in a sensitive reduction of MAPbBr3 PLQE, with a concomitant decrease in average lifetime (τave). We interpret these observations in terms of decreased defect passivation by a lower concentration of oxide species surrounding the perovskite. In addition, we show that the use of selected nanotube templates leads to more stable perovskite PL in air over time (weeks). Taken in concert, such fundamental observations have implications for interfacial carrier interactions in tandem Si/perovskite photovoltaics.
Author: Jeffery L. Coffer, Professor, Inorganic and Materials Chemistry

Journal Title: Journal of Latin American Geography
Abstract: Community participation has been promoted as a way to improve development outcomes, but decades of experience have shown that participation is most effective when beneficiaries have more control over decisions. The capabilities approach promotes such meaningful participation, arguing that opportunities to self-define and self-determine are fundamental for improving well-being. This study examines the capabilities approach in practice among community-managed water supply and sanitation (WSS) providers in the rural areas of Santiago de Cali, Colombia. These organizations have built their infrastructure systems through autonomous efforts and in collaboration with support networks involving their peers and WSS support institutions. This study analyzes the processes through which these networks formed, how they facilitate access to information and resources, and how they have gained a stronger voice in WSS governance. The evolution of these networks, guided by practical necessity and a desire for a democratic, rights-centered approach to WSS, has empowered the organizations to interact assertively with support institutions, which now engage on their terms. This approach has been credited with measurable improvements in service quality and coverage and is already being promoted throughout Colombia and Latin America, where parallel struggles for autonomy and collective WSS management may learn from these experiences.
Author: Ashley Coles, Assistant Professor, Geography

Journal Title: Studies in European Cinema
Abstract: As surveillance (its role in policing and regulating behaviours in societies understood to be “free� and its relationship to privacy and intimacy) becomes an increasingly pressing and relevant contemporary concern, and as more and more contemporary films interrogate technologies of surveillance and reflect on film’s place within such contexts, it is perhaps a good time to pull into the contemporary moment representations of surveillance from the East German State that devoted significant resources to developing and implementing technologies of surveillance and enjoyed a robust cinematic tradition. Thus, this essay explores how Roland Gräf’s Die Flucht (1977) exposes surveillance as a series of gendered and engendering practices that are inscribed and invented, re-inscribed and reinvented, in multiple contexts and shows how reading non-linearly (a strategy promoted by Vicki Callahan in Reclaiming the Archives) reveals the remarkably similar deep-structures of this DEFA film and contemporary commercial films about surveillance.
Author: Muriel Cormican, Professor and Chair, Modern Language Studies

Introductory Paragraph: Lou Andreas-Salorne's depictions of women at the turn of the twentieth century are varied, complex, and exploratory rather than conclusive. Although she would seem in her essay Der Mensch als Weib to reduce the plurality of women to a type, a theoretical fiction, implying a common female experience grounded in biology, she counters that in her novels and stories by offering the reader a wide array of different female characters with diverse goals, desires, and understandings of what femininity means in the contemporary moment'. The sheer variety of female protagonists one encounters in her works, from the eponymous heroine of Ruth (1895) to Adina of Eine Ausschweifung (Deviations, 1898) and Gitta of Das Haus (The House, 1921), points to a fluidity of perspective that embraces rather than reduces complexity, ambiguities, and contradictions, and thus to the impossibility of defining 'woman' as a completely coherent and reliable category'. This is not just the case for her depictions of women and femininity. She treats her male characters and masculinity with a similar subtlety, depth, and variety. It is also not simply the case that she offers a plurality of types. Rather, she offers individual characters who waver, are uncertain, feel pulled in different directions, and struggle with the identity scripts available to them.
Author: Muriel Cormican, Professor and Chair, Modern Language Studies

Journal Title: Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment
Abstract: Studying the attachment representations of child welfare workers can benefit workers and the vulnerable populations they serve. The Adult Attachment Interview (AAI) is the most widely used and well-validated measure of adult attachment but is also costly and time-consuming to score. Linguistic Inquiry Word Count (LIWC), a text-analysis software program, has the potential to lessen the burden of AAI scoring, making it a lower-cost, faster option for providing basic attachment representation information. In the current study, we explore the use of the LIWC in the AAI transcripts of 239 child welfare professionals. Findings indicate that subsets of LIWC categories could distinguish the AAI transcripts of individuals coded as dismissing, preoccupied, and secure-autonomous in attachment. Further, a subset of LIWC categories predicted AAI classification. Specifically, discriminant function analysis revealed two functions, activation and incoherence, that accurately classified 66.2% of AAI transcripts. Implications for the child welfare workforce are discussed.
Author: David R. Cross, Director of the Karyn Purvis Institute of Child Development, Professor, Psychology

Description: This volume is based on presentations made at the North American Micropaleontology Section-SEPM Research Conference Geologic Problem Solving with Microfossils IV, Houston, Texas, April 5-8, 2017.
Editor: Richard Denne, Professor of Professional Practice, Hunter Enis Chair in Petroleum Geology, Geological Sciences

Book Description: This volume is based on presentations made at the North American Micropaleontology Section-SEPM Research Conference Geologic Problem Solving with Microfossils IV, Houston, Texas, April 5-8, 2017.
Author: Richard Denne, Professor of Professional Practice, Hunter Enis Chair in Petroleum Geology, Geological Sciences

Journal Title: Journal of Mathematical Biology
Abstract: Respiratory syncytial virus can lead to serious lower respiratory infection (LRI), particularly in children and the elderly. LRI can cause longer infections, lingering respiratory problems, and higher incidence of hospitalization. In this paper, we use a simplified ordinary differential equation model of viral dynamics to study the role of transport mechanisms in the occurrence of LRI. Our model uses two compartments to simulate the upper respiratory tract and the lower respiratory tract (LRT) and assumes two distinct types of viral transfer between the two compartments: diffusion and advection. We find that a range of diffusion and advection values lead to long-lasting infections in the LRT, elucidating a possible mechanism for the severe LRI infections observed in humans.
Author: Hana M. Dobrovolny, Associate Professor of Biophysics

Journal Title: Journal of Theoretical Biology
Abstract: Molecular diagnostic techniques have revealed that approximately 43% of the patients hospitalized with influenza-like illness are infected by more than one viral pathogen, sometimes leading to long-lasting infections. It is not clear how the heterologous viruses interact within the respiratory tract of the infected host to lengthen the duration of what are usually short, self-limiting infections. We develop a mathematical model which allows for single cells to be infected simultaneously with two different respiratory viruses (superinfection) to investigate the possibility of chronic coinfections. We find that a model with superinfection and cell regeneration has a stable chronic coinfection fixed point, while superinfection without cell regeneration produces only acute infections. This analysis suggests that both superinfection and cell regeneration are required to sustain chronic coinfection via this mechanism since coinfection is maintained by superinfected cells that allow slow-growing infections a chance to infect cells and continue replicating. This model provides a possible mechanism for chronic coinfection independent of any viral interactions via the immune response.
Author: Hana M. Dobrovolny, Associate Professor of Biophysics

Journal Title: Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Abstract: Terrestrial organisms such as shoreline spiders that consume prey from aquatic food webs can be contaminated with methylmercury (MeHg). However, no studies have examined the relationship between MeHg contamination of shoreline spider taxa and the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in their diets. The present study had 2 objectives: 1) determine concentrations of MeHg in 7 taxa of shoreline spiders, and 2) assess the relationship between concentrations of MeHg in spiders and the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in spider diets. We collected shoreline spiders, emergent aquatic insects, and terrestrial insects from in and around 10 experimental ponds. Methylmercury concentrations were greatest in spiders, intermediate in aquatic insects, and lowest in terrestrial insects. The elevated MeHg concentrations in spiders indicate that they were feeding, at least in part, on emergent aquatic insects. However, variability in MeHg concentration observed among spider taxa suggested that the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in spider diets likely varied among taxa. We estimated the proportion of aquatic and terrestrial prey in the diet of each spider taxon from the nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) isotope values of spiders and their potential aquatic and terrestrial prey items. The median proportion of aquatic prey in spider diets varied by almost 2‐fold, and MeHg concentrations in shoreline spiders were strongly correlated with the proportion of aquatic prey in their diet. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that the degree of connectivity to aquatic food webs determines MeHg contamination of shoreline spiders. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;38:2503–2508. © 2019 SETAC
Author: Ray W. Drenner, Professor, Biology

Journal Title: Environmental Toxicology
Abstract: Piscivorous birds are top predators in aquatic ecosystems and are vulnerable to mercury (Hg) exposure and associated adverse health effects. In some areas of North America, the health risk posed to piscivorous birds by Hg contamination has not been characterized because concentrations of Hg in bird tissues have not been extensively monitored. When data on Hg in tissues of piscivorous birds are not available, the concentration of Hg in the blood of piscivorous birds can be estimated from the concentration of Hg in prey fish. We used concentrations of Hg in different lengths of a proxy prey fish, bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), to estimate the concentration of Hg in the blood of 4 species of adult piscivorous wading birds (little blue herons [Egretta caerulea], green herons [Butorides virescens], great egrets [Ardea albus], and great blue herons [Ardea herodias]) in 14 ecoregions of the south central United States. The 4 species of birds consume different sizes of fish with different concentrations of Hg and were predicted to have different concentrations of Hg in their blood, with little blue herons < green herons < great egrets < great blue herons. For each species of bird, there were significant differences in average estimated concentrations of Hg in blood between ecoregions, with estimated concentrations of Hg in blood increasing with Hg deposition. The level of predicted risk varied with ecoregion and bird species and was highest for great blue herons. We recommend that future studies of Hg contamination of piscivorous wading birds of the southern United States focus on great blue herons in water bodies within ecoregions that have high Hg deposition.
Author: Ray W. Drenner, Professor, Biology

Journal Title: Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry
Abstract: Ginkgo biloba extracts have been postulated to beneficial for improving cognitive function and as such they have been used as a potential treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. The main active ingredients of the extract are terpene trilactones (TTLs), such as bilobalide (BB) and ginkgolides. Several structure–activity relationship (SAR) studies using ginkgolide scaffolds produced more biologically potent species by modification of the lactone moieties. However, modifications of BB scaffold have been limited, and no SAR studies on BB have been accomplished to date. Thus, the aim of this study was to elucidate how the modification of the lactone moieties of BB would affect their biological activities in a number of assays, including proliferating cell activity, neuroprotective effects against Aβ (1–40) peptides, and neurite outgrowth effects in PC12 neuronal cells. It appeared that the derivatives containing lactone groups showed similar biological activity to native BB, while those that possessed no lactone moieties exhibited lower neurite outgrowth effects. Thus, the results suggested that the lactone moieties of BB played an important role in exerting neurite outgrowth effects in PC12 cells.
Author: Sergei V. Dzyuba, Associate Professor, Biomolecular and Organic Chemistry

Journal Title: ACS Omega
Abstract: The incorporation of a hexadecyl group on imidazolium, pyridinium, and pyrrolidinium scaffolds produces low-molecular-weight ionic organogelators that can gel several types of ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents (DESs), and several molecular organic solvents. Minimum gelator concentrations fall in the 0.9–15.0% (w/v) range, with the lower end of the gelator concentrations observed in the gelation of DESs. On the basis of polarized optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry, and X-ray data, crystallization of these salts appear to produce high-surface-area crystals, which generate sufficiently stable three-dimensional networks that are capable of trapping the solvent molecules. Importantly, the nature of the fluid component of the gel appears to have a profound effect on the morphology of the crystallized organogelators. On the other hand, the organogelators appeared to modulate phase transitions of the liquids.
Author: Sergei V. Dzyuba, Associate Professor, Biomolecular and Organic Chemistry

Journal Title: Organic Chemistry Frontiers
Abstract: The cost of reagents and catalysts employed in synthetic methodologies developed in academia is very rarely discussed. Yet these costs are very real as they represent a significant portion of any grant proposal budget. Herein, we wish to introduce the concept of Cost of Academic Methodologies (CAM) as an aspect, which should be considered when evaluating synthetic methodologies. We also introduce an associated concept: the Aggregate Molecular Weight (AMW). In order to illustrate these concepts, examples from various laboratories, including our own, are evaluated through the CAM/AMW lens.
Author: Sergei V. Dzyuba, Associate Professor, Biomolecular and Organic Chemistry