Faculty Research & Creative Scholarship 2019: A-B

Journal Title: Scientific Reports

Abstract:Graphene oxide (GO), the most common derivative of graphene, is an exceptional nanomaterial that possesses multiple physical properties critical for biomedical applications. GO exhibits pH-dependent fluorescence emission in the visible/near-infrared, providing a possibility of molecular imaging and pH-sensing. It is also water soluble and has a substantial platform for functionalization, allowing for the delivery of multiple therapeutics. GO physical properties are modified to enhance cellular internalization, producing fluorescent nanoflakes with low (<15%) cytotoxicity at the imaging concentrations of 15 μg/mL. As a result, at lower flake sizes GO rapidly internalizes into HeLa cells with the following 70% fluorescence based clearance at 24 h, assessed by its characteristic emission in red/near-IR. pH-dependence of GO emission is utilized to provide the sensing of acidic extracellular environments of cancer cells. The results demonstrate diminishing green/red (550/630 nm) fluorescence intensity ratios for HeLa and MCF-7 cancer cells in comparison to HEK-293 healthy cells suggesting a potential use of GO as a non-invasive optical sensor for cancer microenvironments. The results of this work demonstrate the potential of GO as a novel multifunctional platform for therapeutic delivery, biological imaging and cancer sensing.
Author: Giridhar R. Akkaraju, Professor, Biology

Journal Title: Health Literacy Research and Practice

Abstract: Valid and reliable instruments are needed to assess health literacy in children. Although the Newest Vital Sign (NVS) has been well established for use in adults, reports of its use in children have only recently received attention in the literature. Whereas some researchers have reported successful use of the NVS in children as young as age 7 years, others have suggested it is best used in children age 10 years and older. This analysis reports on the performance of the NVS in children age 7 to 13 years, adding to the growing evidence related to the use of the NVS in pediatric populations. Overall, children in this sample performed poorly on the NVS, which refutes previous reports. Differences in child samples and NVS administration procedures may provide some explanation for the lower-than-anticipated NVS performance in this sample. Interpreting the NVS based on educational standards and expectations may provide additional information to determine age-appropriate recommendations for NVS use in children.
Author: Gina K. Alexander, Associate Professor, Nursing

Journal Title: Health Literacy Research and Practice

This article is a reply to a "Letter to the Editor" written by Dr. Barry Weiss from the journal Health Literacy Research and Practice (vol.3,no.1) regarding the article, "Poor Performance of Children Age 7 to 13 Years on the Newest Vital Sign" which was previously published in Health Literacy Research and Practice (vol.2,no.4).
Author: Gina K. Alexander, Associate Professor, Nursing

Journal Title: Journal of Special Education Technology

Abstract: This study investigated the perspectives of elementary special education teachers regarding integrating technology into lessons. Eight special education teachers at a private university laboratory school, who varied in their levels of teaching, experience, and confidence with using technology, participated in the study. We interviewed each teacher 3 times, with two of the interviews following our observations of technology-integrated lessons. Qualitative analysis of interview transcripts provided insight into the interrelationships among teachers’ technological pedagogical content knowledge, teaching experience, confidence with using technology, beliefs about the role of technology in education, and perceptions of the benefits and challenges associated with using it. Teachers’ perceptions of the value of technology in special education classrooms included providing differentiation, offering varied representations of content, enhancing motivation and engagement, facilitating formative assessment, and fostering life skills. Challenges of integrating technology included technology malfunctions and lack of teacher and student technology knowledge.
Author: Susan E. Anderson, Associate Professor, Educational Technology

Journal Title: Children & Schools

Abstract: Studies examining student-level outcomes associated with interprofessional team collaboration in schools remain anecdotal despite repeated calls for well-designed, rigorous, multimethod research. The purpose of the current study was to use a mixed-methods approach to explore how interprofessional team collaboration affects student-level outcomes and what student-level outcomes are associated with interprofessional team collaboration. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 27 school professionals serving on interdisciplinary consultation, assessment, referral, and education (CARE) teams in four Title I elementary schools. In addition, researchers examined quantitative data on student-level outcomes for 340 students served by the CARE teams in the four Title I schools. Rates of absenteeism, office discipline referrals, a curriculum-based measure, and a behavioral health measure were examined to explore relationships between interprofessional team collaboration and student-level outcomes. Qualitative findings indicated that interprofessional team collaboration improved coordination of and access to services, as well as consistent follow-through on plans and interventions. The CARE team processes also were associated with marked improvements in specific academic, behavioral, and mental health outcomes among students seen by the CARE teams. Results point to the important contributions interprofessional teams can make in schools when working together to address student needs.
Author: Samantha M. Bates, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Description: Social workers are increasingly embracing interprofessional teams as a strategy to tackle interrelated social issues across systems. Despite its promise, however, effective interprofessional collaboration can be difficult to realize in practice. Profession-driven differences related to training, terminology, and role perceptions can make collaboration a daunting task, along with conflicts over power and status and misperceptions about professional roles and responsibilities. A Guide for Interprofessional Collaboration helps students and practitioners develop the skills necessary to engage in interprofessional collaborative practice. Edited by leading researchers, the workbook uses Bronstein’s Model of Interdisciplinary Collaboration as a framework. Case examples, practice tips, and multimedia links make this workbook a useful tool for traditional, hybrid, and online courses, as well as for independent learning and continuing education.
Author: Samantha Bates, Assistant Professor, Social Work

Journal Title: The Journal of Social Studies Research

Abstract: This study explored early stages of civic engagement among 48 young adolescents by examining what they think about as a result of participating in various civic learning activities during a summer civics camp, and whether or not this thinking varied based on participants’ entering civic profiles. Participant thinking was assessed through concept maps. Based on survey data, participants were classified into entering profiles of civic development: justice-oriented or participatory youth; civically purposeful or not, and civically involved or not. Findings show that, of the eight camp activities studied, interactions with guest speakers from various community agencies were most likely to generate thinking about knowledge and civic action. Participant thinking did not differentiate in any consistent ways based on whether or not they were justice-oriented. However, there were differences in thinking when participants were classified by presence or absence of civic purpose and civic involvement.
Author: Michelle Bauml, Winter Professor in Early Childhood Education

Journal Title: Childhood Education

Abstract: Others' success can be a powerful motivation to innovate, which sometimes means finding new ways to return to beneficial activities. Finland's academic success has prompted many to explore that country's policies and practices, particularly regarding providing opportunities for children to enjoy more unstructured play.
Author: Michelle Bauml, Winter Professor in Early Childhood Education

Journal Title: Public Relations Review

Abstract: This study used a qualitative analysis of political flip-flops (N = 141) to create a typology of rhetorical strategies for politicians who are perceived to have changed positions on political issues. The core purpose of such rhetoric is to achieve a representation of reliability. Politicians who appear to change positions must do so in a way that does not make them seem unreliable to their key stakeholders. Strategies for achieving this goal fall into four primary categories: ignore, deny, justify, and repent. Within each category are more specific tactics, such as evading questions, claiming one was misquoted, arguing one is adapting to new circumstances, or explaining that one has acquired new information about an issue. Using Bitzer’s theory of the rhetorical situation, we argue that certain strategies are more appropriate than others in certain situations. We discuss the practical and ethical implications of these strategies.
Author: Joshua M. Bentley, Assistant Professor, Strategic Communication

Journal Title: Social Science Quarterly

Abstract: Objective: Human trafficking problems have largely been framed by political elites and the media as a sexual crime involving innocent victims who are largely women and children. It is unclear how this framing impacts the public's attitudes about the issue. Here, we ask what types of sex trafficking victim frames produce the strongest response among the American public and how does increased exposure and accurate knowledge about the issue moderate the impact of the victim frames?
Author: Vanessa Bouché, Associate Professor, Political Science

Journal Title: Papers in Applied Geography

Abstract: Illicit massage businesses (IMBs) play a considerable role in sex trafficking in the United States. Sometimes referred to as erotic massage parlors or Asian massage parlors, IMBs act as nodes within human and sex trafficking networks across the United States, where exploitation, involuntary servitude, and contemporary slavery are common occurrences. IMBs represent the largest component of the sex industry trend toward “indoor” sex work, in which meeting locations for sex workers and customers are prearranged, so there is no requirement that sex workers be publicly visible for customers to identify them. The lower visibility of contemporary sex work makes it difficult to identify locations where such activity occurs. As a result, research examining spatial, temporal, and economic prevalence of IMBs draws almost entirely on anecdotal evidence, and the accuracy of the analyses is somewhat questionable. This study begins to address this problem in an examination of the IMB industry in Houston, Texas. The research draws on user-generated data from online IMB review sites to identify IMB locations. This research further examines the geographic distribution of IMBs in the city to understand the spatial and situational characteristics most correlated with active IMBs.
Author: Vanessa Bouché, Associate Professor, Political Science

Journal Title: International Journal for Crime, Justice and Social Democracy

Abstract: Sexual grooming is generally thought of as the way that would-be abusers build trust and camaraderie with their victims in order to lower the victims’ inhibitions and eventually take advantage of the situation. Minimal levels of empiricism have focused on the sexual grooming patterns of abusive Catholic priests in the United States. In order to help close this gap, we conducted a retrospective content analysis of publicly available documents of credibly accused priests from one diocese in Illinois. Findings suggest that accused priests from this diocese used any of eight grooming techniques in order to abuse their victims; one of these tactics is specific to priest offenders. Using that knowledge, we propose and discuss a behavioral taxonomy of priest sexual grooming as well as the direction that future research should take in assessing this potential taxonomy.
Author: Kendra Bowen, Assistant Professor, Criminal Justice

Journal Title: System Engineering

Abstract: The process for designing and developing complex system products—all of the activities performed and the information and other work products produced—is essential to innovative and competitive enterprises. This process is dynamic, complex, and complicated, and the people who understand it best are in short supply and may not be around for the next project. For a variety of reasons, models of this process are important to systems engineers and managers. A 2006 paper in this journal discussed key concepts in modeling product development (PD) processes. This paper follows by presenting a general approach to building PD process models, integrative process modeling (IPM), which support a wide variety of purposes, such as providing evidence for external certifications, planning projects and programs, and more—but especially serving as a salient repository for crucial organizational information. Although a centralized team of modeling experts leads the overall IPM endeavor, distributed agents define various processes and activities, thereby capturing PD information across very large organizations. The paper discusses management of the model‐building project and subsequent operations, as well as software tool support and model storage. A collection of helpful heuristics guides IPM to help organizations improve the long‐term value provided by PD process modeling.
Author: Tyson R. Browning, Professor of Operations Management

Journal Title: Project Management Journal

Abstract: Uncertainty, risk, and rework make it extremely challenging to meet goals and deliver anticipated value in complex projects, and conventional techniques for planning and tracking earned value do not account for these phenomena. This article presents a methodology for planning and tracking cost, schedule, and technical performance (or quality) in terms of a project’s key value attributes and threats to them. It distinguishes four types of value and two general types of risks. The “high jumper” analogy helps to consider how high the “bar” is set for a project (its set goals) and therefore how challenging and risky it will be. A project’s capabilities as a “jumper” (to clear the bar and meet its goals) determine the portion of its value at risk (VaR). By understanding the amounts of value, risk, and opportunity in a project, project managers can design it for appropriate levels of each. Project progress occurs through reductions in its VaR: Activities “add value” by chipping away at the project’s “anti-value”—the risks that threaten value. This perspective on project management incentivizes generating results that eliminate these threats, rather than assuming that value exists until proven otherwise.
Author: Tyson R. Browning, Professor of Operations Management

Journal Title: International Geology Review

Abstract: The Delaware Basin is located near the southwestern end of the Alleghanian–Ouachita–Marathon orogenic belt. The basin is mostly filled by Permian clastic rocks of the Delaware Mountain Group with ramp- to shelf-carbonate rimming basin edges. The Delaware Mountain Group has been well-documented as a deep-water clastic reservoir unit in the prolific Permian Basin, but its sources and related sediment dispersal pathways remain inconclusive. In this study, a total of 55 samples of the Delaware Mountain Group were collected from whole core and sidewall core from the central and southern Delaware Basin, and sandstone modal analyses and U-Pb detrital zircon geochronology were applied to constrain their potential sources. Sandstone modal analyses show that the majority of samples fall within the transitional continental source field. Age spectra of detrital zircon from five selected samples include a prominent middle Palaeozoic age cluster (~490–275 Ma), a major Neoproterozoic to early Palaeozoic age cluster (~790–510 Ma), and a series of minor age clusters of the middle to late Mesoproterozoic (~1300–920 Ma), early Mesoproterozoic (~1600–1300 Ma), late Palaeoproterozoic (~1825–1600 Ma), and Archaean and Palaeoproterozoic (> ~1825 Ma). Integrating detrital zircon data from all potential sources and coeval sandstones from the northern Delaware Basin suggests that the majority of sediment was derived from the Appalachian foreland, the Ouachita orogenic system, and the peri-Gondwanan terranes. Variation in the abundance of the different age groups reveals a provenance shift between deposition of the Brushy Canyon Formation and the Cherry and Bell Canyon Formations. To accommodate the composition, and the stratigraphic and spatial age spectral variations, we proposed that the sediment dispersal pathway includes a transcontinental fluvial system from the Appalachian orogenic belt to the east, a regional scale fluvial system from the Ouachita orogenic belt to the north and northeast, and a local, proximal fluvial system from the peri-Gondwanan terranes to the south and southeast.
Author: Arthur B. Busbey, Associate Professor, Department Chair, Geological Sciences