Ready for take-off? How emerging technologies are fueling new approaches around OER in the UK & the US

Today we are faced with emerging technologies such as (Gen)AI, which have incredible potential - yet also significant risks and challenges. During this panel session, we will hear from two forward-looking universities in the UK and the US about their views and experiences with (Gen)AI and OER. While both are unique in terms of their local context, challenges and levels of experience with OER, they are unified by their ambition to locally grow OER success and by their high expectations for its future. From this session, expect to learn more about practical and real-world examples of (Gen)AI use at these two universities and their library today: how it is used to identify OER gaps, how to understand local OER potential as well as convincing senior leadership to get behind this. Moreover, expect to walk away with concrete ideas for how we can fuel a scaleable OER future at any institution and why now is the time really for this to take off. During this panel session, we will hear from two different institutions in the UK and the US about their views and experiences with (Gen)AI and OER. While both are unique in terms of their local context, challenges and levels of experience with OER, they are unified by their ambition to locally grow OER success and by their high expectations for its future. You’ll hear practical and real-world examples of (Gen)AI use, such as how it is used to identify OER gaps and to understand the potential of OER. We’ll hear from each of the panelists about where they are with OER today and why they feel now is the time for OER to take off

Student Overboard: Rescuing One Discipline at a Time

Take a behind-the-scenes look at this Louisiana team's innovative approach to developing an Introduction to Practical Nursing course. By collaboratively adapting an open licensed textbook, the team is working to enhance LPN education and training in the state. With federal grant support from LOUIS: The Library Network, eighteen cohorts are working to create courses for high-demand CTE programs. The Practical Nursing cohort stands out by incorporating recorded interviews with nursing students and practitioners into both the textbook and Moodle course. Discover how they’re making it happen and learn more about the Building a Competitive Workforce: Career and Technical Education (CTE) OER with Embedded Digital Skills grant

Risk factors associated with postpartum depression in immigrants in the U.S.: A systematic scoping review

Background Meta analysis has shown that immigrant women are twice as likely to display postpartum depression (PPD) symptoms than non-immigrant women yet, the reason behind this increased risk is unknown. This review sets out to synthesize existing research on PPD in immigrant women and illuminate gaps for future research. The research question guiding this review is: what are the factors that impact postpartum depression (PPD) risk among immigrant women in the U.S.? Methods APA PsychInfo was searched on 24 February 2025 for studies assessing the risk factors of PPD in immigrant women in the U.S at any time. Only primary, observational studies were included. Results were narratively synthesized, grouped by risk factor type and further divided by specific risk factor. Results Five studies were included, representing 506 participants. The mean age of participants ranged from 29-33.4 and the mean years living in the U.S. ranged from 5.56-10. All included studies focused on immigrant populations originating from Asian and Middle Eastern countries. All studies utilized validated PPD measurements. Two of five studies reported on acculturation; one reported that lower levels of acculturation related to higher levels of PPD symptoms, whereas the other found no significant correlation. Two of the five included studies reported on social support and all found that lower levels of social support were associated with higher levels of PPD symptoms, suggesting social support may be an important risk factor to consider. Two studies reported on family dynamic descriptors including marital relationship, in-law relationship, arranged marriage, and child’s gender. Only marital relationship scores had significant associations with PPD scores. Two studies reported on mother’s mental health and confidence. One study found antenatal anxiety, antenatal depression, life stress, and maternity blues all increase PPD symptoms; while the other study found that low maternal self-efficacy was related to higher PPD symptoms. Conclusion The literature examining risk factors for PPD in immigrant women living in the U.S. is minimal. Data suggests strong associations between low social support and increased PPD symptoms. More research should be conducted to assess the impact of acculturation of PPD, as results are conflicting. Finally, future research should be done in immigrant populations from various countries of origin as current research heavily focuses on Asian and Middle Eastern countries.Master of Public Health (MPH

Lightning Talks: It Could Be Wonderful: OER Collaboration with Students

OER textbooks already offer many advantages for our moral emotions. By removing cost and offering greater accessibility, they alleviate anxiety. By encouraging authors to create open resources for students in need, they foster empathy and sympathy, while reducing fear and anger over stolen intellectual property. This talk will address another step that can further promote the moral emotions of care and wonder: collaboration with students. These emotions are essential for keeping students engaged in their own learning, but often OER textbooks fall short in these areas. Care can be fostered by inviting students into the process of creating content for textbooks, such as student artists who could offer their works to liven up otherwise monotonous pages. Wonder is likewise fostered by challenging students to act as knowledge makers and content creators, while simultaneously offering perspectives that more directly inspire their generational peers

Impacts of Microbial Diversity on Soil Carbon and Ecosystem Function

Climate change induced biodiversity loss threatens to diminish the ability of diverse microbial communities to promote the stability and productivity of soils. These communities not only sequester carbon by producing microbial necromass, but also serve as the underpinning for the critical functions that drive terrestrial carbon cycling. Understanding how ecosystems and soil carbon stocks respond to shifts in microbial community composition and diversity will influence the role of soils as a carbon sink or source on a warming planet. Using both laboratory incubations and observational field samples from the Harvard Forest Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site, I investigated how microbial diversity affected the persistence of microbially-derived soil organic matter and ecosystem function. Overall, taxonomic diversity appears to have little effect on either necromass persistence or ecosystem function. The diversity of the microbial community producing soil organic matter is not a driver of the carbon use efficiency of microbial necromass, suggesting that the microbially-transformed soil organic matter bears similar susceptibility to decomposition, regardless of the community composition that produces the necromass. Additionally, bacterial taxonomic diversity was not a driver of ecosystem function at the Harvard Forest LTER. However, bacterial functional diversity, in particular acquisition trait richness, had a negative relationship with ecosystem function in soils exposed to chronic warming. Altogether, these results indicate that the microbial taxonomic diversity has little impact on the persistence of microbial necromass in the short-term or on ecosystem function at the Harvard Forest LTER. However, microbial acquisition trait richness did have a negative relationship with ecosystem function in soils exposed to chronic warming. Together these results highlight that microbial functional diversity, not microbial taxonomic diversity, may be a better approach to understanding how microbial diversity drives ecosystem function in a changing climate.Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)2026-02-0

Degradable Silicone Bonds

This thesis is outlined as five different projects, each of which relates to the topic of cleavage of silicone bonds in various chemical environments. Preparative chemistry was important, and multiple methods of introducing reactive silicon-based groups into silicone elastomers were developed, including syntheses of reactive group - containing crosslinkers which can function as a "Part C" in standard two-part hydrosilylation-cured silicone formulations. Studies of the degradation kinetics of these materials in different hydrolytic environments were also a significant component of the research. In addition to silicone elastomer studies, the hydrolytic stability and performance of a superspreading trisiloxane-polyethylene glycol surfactant was detailed and improved. The core message of the thesis can be summarized by the fact that there is an interplay between the local concentration of water around the reactive silicon-based group and the chemical reactivity of said groups, both of which are crucial for the cleavage of the group and degradation of the material. Local concentration of water is lowered by incorporating the reactive groups within a bulk silicone matrix or adding a small amount of an immiscible hydrophobic phase in the surfactant mixture. Reactivity can be augmented by changing the chemistry of the group to become more susceptible to hydrolysis or altering the environment to become more acidic or basic. Chapter 1, the introduction section, provides a brief overview of silicone chemistry and an in-depth review of silyl ethers and silyl esters. Chapter 2 demonstrates various methods for the synthesis of resins that contain vinyl groups bridged by silyl ethers. These resins are prepared by either modifying existing silicone resins with commercial silanes and then further reacting the silane groups with alkenols to create silyl ether-bridged vinyls, or functionalizing compounds with multiple hydroxyl groups, including natural carbohydrates, by vinyldimethylsilyl protection. These resins are capable of forming crosslinks with hydride-containing silicones by hydrosilylation between Si-H and alkenes. Their hydrolytic susceptibility under exposure to hydrogen chloride-water solution vapor is compared in terms of the degree of mechanical property change based on the crosslinker structure. Chapter 3 discusses the incorporation of silyl ester bonds into silicone matrices, which result in solids with much higher degradability than those with silyl ethers. This was achieved by two methods: 1) the vinyldimethylsilyl protection of 10-undecenoic acid followed by crosslinking with poly(dimethylsiloxane-hydromethylsiloxane) copolymer, and 2) the hydrosilylation of 10-undecenoic acid with hydride-terminated linear polydimethylsiloxane using excess polymer, which can then be oxidatively crosslinked under air exposure. Exposure of the crosslinked solids to water vapor without added acidic catalyst is able to cause mechanical property changes by cleavage of the silyl ester bonds. Chapter 4 describes studies of the hydrosilylation of alkenols by two different types of platinum catalysts, Lamoreaux and Karstedt. Although the Karstedt catalyst is widely used in silicone chemistry, the Lamoreaux catalyst, a mixture of Pt(II) and Pt(IV) in 1-octanol and 1-octanal, has been neglected in comparison. We show the results of hydrosilylation of various alkenols with hydrosilane-terminated poly(dimethylsiloxane) catalyzed by the Lamoreaux and Karstedt catalysts. The Karstedt catalyst always results in alkene silylation to form Si-C bonds as the major product, the Lamoreaux catalyst may selectively promote either the alkene silylation (Si-C bonds) or the dehydrogenative hydroxyl silylation (Si-O-C bonds) depending on the alkenol. We also establish the utility of the Lamoreaux catalyst in silyl ether materials chemistry as a catalyst with which vinyl-terminated silyl ether-containing crosslinkers can be synthesized. In Chapter 5, the hydrolytic properties of trisiloxane surfactants in aqueous solutions have been studied. Trisiloxane surfactants increase surface spreading areas compared to most other amphiphiles. However, due to the water-cleavable nature of the Si-O-Si bond, their structures are degraded over time in water, which causes the solutions to lose their spreading capabilities. Chemical evidence of trisiloxane surfactant hydrolysis when dissolved in water and exposed to high temperature and lower pH is presented. Additionally, it was found that the addition of a small amount of heptane as an immiscible second phase was able to dramatically protect the siloxane bonds from cleavage and allow the mixtures to retain their superspreading properties. In Chapter 6, cleavage of the siloxane bond between two hydromethylsiloxane groups, catalyzed by guanidine or amine in very low concentrations, is explored. With silanol-terminated PDMS as the initiator, polyhydromethylsiloxane was formed from the cyclic precursor 1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane with only ~1% of hydrosilane groups being oxidized. This reaction was further used to synthesize crosslinked silicone solids by mixing silanol-terminated PDMS, 1,3,5,7-tetramethylcyclotetrasiloxane, methyltriacetoxysilane, and ppm levels of the guanidine catalyst, 1,5,7-triazabicyclo[4.4.0]dec-5-ene (TBD). The solid contained unreacted polyhydromethylsiloxane chains, whose presence imparted degradability to the solid under exposure to diethylamine while being stable under normal conditions.Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need (GAANN)Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)2026-02-0

Module 11

This module contains materials on GIS modeling concepts and practice

Adult women’s age differences in links between behavioral and physiological indicators of cognitive regulation.

The Neurovisceral Integration (NVI) model has demonstrated that there are many associations between physiological and behavioral indicators of cognitive regulation including among respiratory sinus arrythmia (RSA), frontoparietal coherence (FPc), and executive function (EF). EF is associated with both RSA and FPc, and each shows a developmental pattern that could be explained within the Selection, Optimization, and Compensation (SOC) model. Specifically, all develop in childhood, become more efficient in adulthood, and decline in old age. But how all three of these variables interact – especially in adult women – is still unknown. This dissertation consisted of three studies that tested the additive and interactive effects of age, RSA, and FPc on EF in adult women from both a variable- and person-centered approach. We expected to see age moderated interactions between RSA and FPc that predicted EF. Indeed, the Study 1 results indicated age moderated an RSA and FPc interaction that predicted EF. And those results seemed to follow a SOC type pattern. However, Study 2 did not generally replicate those findings. In addition, there were no significant person-centered results from Study 3. Despite the non-replication and lack of person-centered significant results, we caution against concluding with confidence that there are no developmentally based patterns between these physiological and behavioral indicators of cognitive regulation. We acknowledge that there are limitations in this series of studies that might account for the findings.Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) Grants HD57319 and HD60110, and National Science Foundation Grant BCS-1917857. Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), R01HD049878.Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.

Impact of Vehicle Automation on Young Drivers’ Distraction and Strategies for Mitigating Risks

Automated Driving Systems (ADS) are vehicle technologies designed to reduce human error and enhance drivers' safety and comfort. ADS can temporarily (SAE Level 3) or permanently (SAE Level 4 – 5) take over part of the driving task. At Level 3, drivers can rely on the system to handle all driving tasks, but may need to take control in certain situations. However, the use of these technologies can introduce new challenges related to human factors. Previous research indicates that drivers tend to engage in non-driving-related tasks (NDRTs) even when lower levels of automation are engaged. This behavior can lead to issues such as delayed reaction times and reduced situation awareness. This is especially risky for teenage or young drivers, who are less experienced and more likely to use NDRTs while driving. Therefore, it is important to understand how young drivers interact with NDRTs when using higher levels of automation. To address this, an observational study was conducted with 12 young drivers. The study used eye movement observations to gain insights into how young drivers interact with NDRTs and automation. Additionally, the drivers' reactions provided details on how these interactions affect their awareness of the system. These observations imply that if uninterrupted, young drivers will continue to engage in NDRTs and that drivers look to the instrument panel for better communication. The findings from this observational study were then used to design and develop two new human-machine-interaction (HMI) systems that would help mitigate distraction behaviors and improve takeover behaviors. A second simulator study was conducted involving 24 teenage drivers with the aim of thoroughly evaluating the effectiveness of two methods. In this study, participants' focus, as well as their attention on driving-related areas and the secondary tasks, were evaluated. The findings indicate that drivers who received DSM alerts were better at responding to TOR and maintained stable driving performance during manual driving. Participants given the CHMI did show an improvement in takeover response and better driving performance compared to the control group, though this was not significantly different. Providing alerts to redirect drivers' attention toward driving-related areas while approaching takeover situations may be sufficient to help them take control safely and quickly. The findings provide valuable insights into the interaction of distraction behaviors of teenagers and higher levels of automation, while also providing a deeper understanding of distraction mitigation in the context of automation.H. Clay Gabler Scholar’s Program Award by the Association for the Advancement of Automotive Medicine (AAAM)Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.

Unraveling the Evolutionary Patterns of Genus Frontonia: An Integrative Approach with Morphological and Molecular Data

Simple Summary: Ciliates, particularly the genus Frontonia, have been studied to understand their evolutionary history, but challenges remain. This study investigated the evolutionary patterns of Frontonia using genetic and morphological data. Molecular analysis of the SSU rRNA gene revealed four major phylogenetic groups within Frontonia, suggesting its paraphyly. The common ancestor existed approximately 420 million years ago, with distinct groups emerging during the Mesozoic era. Diversification analysis showed higher extinction rates than speciation rates within the genus. Morphological traits, including habitat adaptations, were examined through ancestral state reconstructions, revealing a complex evolutionary history. Habitat transitions were not directly linked to morphological traits such as contractile vacuoles, emphasizing the role of genetic diversity and environmental adaptation. These findings provide valuable insights into the interplay between evolution, extinction, and morphology in ciliates, advancing our understanding of biodiversity and evolutionary biology. Ciliates of the genus Frontonia have been extensively studied to resolve their phylogenetic and evolutionary history, but challenges remain. This study used molecular analyses of SSU rRNA genes, phylogenetic tree reconstruction, molecular dating, and diversification analysis, together with ancestral state reconstruction of morphological traits and habitat preferences. Data included newly sequenced Korean species, GenBank records and published morphological information. Phylogenetic trees revealed paraphyly within Frontonia, identifying four groups that emerged in the Mesozoic era: Group I (similar to 172 mya), Group II (similar to 83 mya), Group III (similar to 115 mya), and Group IV (similar to 190 mya), with a common ancestor dating to similar to 420 mya in the Palaeozoic era. Diversification analysis revealed higher extinction rates (0.826 and 0.613 species/year) than speciation rates (0.011 and 0.016 species/year). Morphological evolution showed habitat adaptation and plasticity, with habitat transitions unrelated to contractile vacuolar traits. The SSU rRNA gene polymorphism likely contributed to the paraphyletic state of Frontonia. These results highlight the complex evolutionary patterns of the genus, shaped by genetic diversity, morphology, and environmental constraints