Students Teaching Students: Changing the URI Honors Program Pedagogy

The myriad lecture courses I have completed as a microbiology major have convinced me that lecturing does not create an optimal learning environment. Therefore, my Senior Honors Project is the initiation of a Students Teaching Students (STS) program in the URI Honors Program. The excitement of a student-run course option at URI became apparent to me early in my academic career. The STS model has been used at other universities for over 55 years, including at Tufts University, Oberlin College, and The Rubenstein College of the Environment at the University of Vermont. The program being put into place at URI most closely resembles the UVM program. My interest in creating this program comes from a deep appreciation for education, and the recognition that reform within the university education system must occur. The STS program allows highly motivated and hand selected seniors to teach a course in a subject of their choice, directly to their peers. Using readings, films, and guest speakers, the student facilitators will guide the class participants through their learning experience. Student facilitators will have the support of content advisors, pedagogy advisors, and a senior honors project advisor. The purpose of this program is to completely transform the way both students and educators think about the university classroom. By taking the emphasis off of lecturing, students will enjoy a more interactive learning experience. Furthermore, by allowing passionate students to assume the role of educator within their field, the program will challenge the conventional understanding of who or what makes a well-qualified educator. As I have seen with the two STS groups I have been working with for my project, when students are given the opportunity to be effective educators, lecturing is not their preferred teaching method. Students in this program will not claim ultimate expertise in their field of study; rather, a STS program will provide the valuable opportunity for the mutual discovery of knowledge in a shared field of interest. The student-facilitators must demonstrate sufficient proficiency, of course, to adequately facilitate a course. With the abundant support of their peers, advisors, and guest facilitators, student-facilitators learn a new model of learning, as well as a new model of teaching. I have done two full semesters of planning on this project. During the two semesters, I have designed the program to fit the specific needs of the URI Honors Program. The STS program has been designed around the preexisting senior honors project model. In addition, I have been mentoring the two groups of students preparing to teach the first STS courses. The fully developed program will include all instruction and necessary framework to make my current role as a mentor obsolete. The STS course for Fall 2011 will be on LGBTQ History, and the Spring 2012 course will be on Ocean Sustainability

Analysis Of The Gut-Specific Microbiome Of Field-Captured Tsetse Flies, And Its Potential Relevance To Host Trypanosome Vector Competence

The tsetse fly (Glossinasp.) gut is colonized by maternally transmitted and environmentally acquired bacteria. Maternally transmitted symbionts are well characterized, but little is known about the origin and function of environmentally acquired bacteria inhabiting the tsetse midgut. To address this shortcoming, culture dependent and independent methods were used to characterize and quantify bacterial communities that reside within the midgut of tsetse flies collected at five geographically isolated locations in Kenya and Uganda. Bacteria were isolated from 83.33% of flies using culture dependent methods. In total, 38 strains were isolated. To increase the depth of this analysis, Illumina-based deep-sequencing of the V4 hypervariable region of the bacterial 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene was used to determine the relationship between the type and number of bacteria present in Glossina pallidipes midguts and geographic location. The midgut was dominated by the obligate endosymbiont, Wigglesworthia, but a diversity of other microbiota in individuals that were unique to each location was also observed. This was consistent between trypanosome infected and uninfected samples. The results of this study will increase the understanding of the breadth and depth of tsetse\u27s midgut bacterial communities as they relate to the environmental acquisition of the fly\u27s microbiome and its correlation to trypanosome vectorial capacity. Future studies can then be performed to determine the specific molecular mechanisms that underlie bacteria-mediated trypanocidal immunity in tsetse\u27s gut

Development and usability testing of a data visualisation platform for an African trauma data registry

Introduction Trauma is a significant contribution to the global burden of mortality and disease, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The methods for tracking, recording, and analysing the incidence and causes of trauma are underdeveloped. To address this, The African Federation for Emergency Medicine (AFEM) developed a trauma form and Trauma Data Registry to collect trauma data in multiple sites in sub-Saharan Africa. We undertook a study to create, and assess the usability and functionality of, a trauma data visualisation platform for use in conjunction with the Trauma Data Registry. Methods We created a web-based trauma data visualisation platform for use with the AFEM Trauma Data Registry. This study involves a usability assessment of the AFEM Trauma Data Visualisation Platform to determine the specific website features and analytical needs of African trauma research facilities. This was done by surveying individuals from healthcare facilities that are currently using the AFEM Trauma Form. Two types of questionnaires were administered: Questionnaire I gathered information on the study population and their expectations for the platform, and Questionnaire II assessed the usability of the platform after it was introduced. Surveys took place in person and online, with the last group of questionnaires being administered on-site at the healthcare facility. Data were captured via Survey Monkey online and paper survey. The results were entered into Excel and analysed using descriptive statistics using Stata Version 14. Results A total of 45 healthcare practitioners from eight countries participated in the background survey. The greatest proportion were trained in Tanzania (14, 31.1%) and Ethiopia (14, 31.1%). The mean age of participants was 32.6 (SD=6.6). The mean number of years reported for working at their current facility is 3.7 (SD=3.5). The greatest number of participants in the survey were physicians (22, 48.9%) and specialists (11, 24.4%). Over half (53.3%, n=24) selected that they had moderate experience with data analysis, and the majority reported that they had less than three publications. A total of 34 HCPs participated in the usability study. The mean scores for the usability questionnaire portion were high, with all of the scores being above 6. Major positive themes of the participant comments included easy to use and time saving, major negative themes included feasibility concerns, and comments specific variable to add were common. Discussion There is a lot of heterogeneity in the data analysis and technology experience of participants. The participants were overall satisfied with the Trauma Data Platform. Participants’ comments and suggestions on elements to add indicate that there is still work to be done to design a Trauma Data Platform that is suitable for this setting. Conclusions Overall satisfaction with the Trauma Data Platform was high, and the user comments and suggestions will be incorporated into future versions of the platform. This research highlights the importance of considering the feasibility of health technology in its introduction

What are the barriers and facilitators of on-time measles vaccination in Uganda?

University of Minnesota Ph.D. dissertation. May 2021. Major: Epidemiology. Advisor: Nicole Basta. 1 computer file (PDF); ix, 137 pages.Measles is a highly contagious, vaccine-preventable disease, and on-time vaccination is essential for achieving the full benefit of measles-containing vaccines. In recent years, Uganda has experienced measles outbreaks in both urban and rural areas. Investigating the prevalence of and risk factors associated with delayed measles vaccination is an important step toward addressing vaccination barriers and improving on-time measles vaccination coverage. This dissertation characterizes factors associated with on-time measles vaccination in Uganda, defined as vaccination at nine months of age.For manuscript 1 and 2, we conducted a population-based, door-to-door survey of 999 mothers living in Kampala, Uganda. The survey included questions on mothers’ use of their child’s vaccination document, experience seeking vaccination for their child, and the child’s date of measles vaccination. In manuscript 1, we characterized mothers’ retention and use of their child’s vaccination document and evaluated the association between use of the document and achieving on-time measles vaccination for their child. In manuscript 2, we described and characterized potential transportation-related barriers to vaccination and evaluated the association between these barriers and mothers’ ability to achieve on-time measles vaccination for their child. Lastly, for manuscript 3, we used data from the 2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Survey to assess the relationship between mothers’ perceived barriers to healthcare and their ability to achieve on-time measles vaccination for their child. This was evaluated overall, and by urban/rural status. Demographic factors of the mother and child and certain barriers to healthcare were associated with failure to achieve on-time measles vaccination. Overall, our findings contribute to the understanding of the specific factors that influence on-time measles vaccination in this setting. This informs the design of interventions to improve the timing of childhood vaccinations in the future.Griffith, Bridget. (2021). What are the barriers and facilitators of on-time measles vaccination in Uganda?. Retrieved from the University Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/223171

Students\u27 Perspectives Following Involvement in a Constraint Induced Aphasia Therapy Research Project

The purpose of this project was to provide a reflection on four students’ collaborative research experience implementing Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy and highlight the importance of student involvement in research opportunities. Guided reflections were completed and analyzed through a collaborative model to generate common themes of: 1) increased confidence in cuing and 2) adapting individualized treatment. Student engagement in clinical research enhances the quality of their educational experience by fostering clinical competence and confidence

Utility to the Nation: An Investment Strategy for our Inland Waterways

USACE Institute for Water Resources (IWR) supplies forward-looking research and analysis to the Civil Works program. IWR investigates navigation of inland waterways across the United States and collects data. The data produced by the Navigation Investment Model (NIM) is not extensively used as an institutionally accepted norm to facilitate evaluation and decision making of infrastructure work packages. This research will present a new method for assessing work packages using a Utility to the Region and Nation (U2RN) metric which complements existing heuristic approaches with predictive data analysis techniques. Application of the new methodology will show how prioritization of work packages would significantly change when using data, and when applying a Monte Carlo simulation to determine future states. This paper provides a framework for waterborne investment that can be applied to the entire inland waterway and deep-sea infrastructure

KPM: A Flexible and Data-Driven K-Process Model for Nucleosynthesis

The element abundance pattern found in Milky Way disk stars is close to two-dimensional, dominated by production from one prompt process and one delayed process. This simplicity is remarkable, since the elements are produced by a multitude of nucleosynthesis mechanisms operating in stars with a wide range of progenitor masses. We fit the abundances of 14 elements for 48,659 red-giant stars from APOGEE DR17 using a flexible, data-driven K-process model -- dubbed KPM. In our fiducial model, with $K=2$, each abundance in each star is described as the sum of a prompt and a delayed process contribution. We find that KPM with $K=2$ is able to explain the abundances well, recover the observed abundance bimodality, and detect the bimodality over a greater range in metallicity than previously has been possible. We compare to prior work by Weinberg et al. (2022), finding that KPM produces similar results, but that KPM better predicts stellar abundances, especially for elements C+N and Mn and for stars at super-solar metallicities. The model fixes the relative contribution of the prompt and delayed process to two elements to break degeneracies and improve interpretability; we find that some of the nucleosynthetic implications are dependent upon these detailed choices. We find that moving to four processes adds flexibility and improves the model's ability to predict the stellar abundances, but doesn't qualitatively change the story. The results of KPM will help us to interpret and constrain the formation of the Galaxy disk, the relationship between abundances and ages, and the physics of nucleosynthesis.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figures, 3 table

Preventative treatment of tuberous sclerosis complex with sirolimus: Phase I safety and efficacy results

Objective Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) results from overactivity of the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR). Sirolimus and everolimus are mTOR inhibitors that treat most facets of TSC but are understudied in infants. We sought to understand the safety and potential efficacy of preventative sirolimus in infants with TSC. Methods We conducted a phase 1 clinical trial of sirolimus, treating five patients until 12 months of age. Enrolled infants had to be younger than 6 months of age with no history of seizures and no clinical indication for sirolimus treatment. Adverse events (AEs), tolerability, and blood concentrations of sirolimus measured by tandem mass spectrometry were tracked through 12 months of age, and clinical outcomes (seizure characteristics and developmental profiles) were tracked through 24 months of age. Results There were 92 AEs, with 34 possibly, probably, or definitely related to treatment. Of those, only two were grade 3 (both elevated lipids) and all AEs were resolved by the age of 24 months. During the trial, 94% of blood sirolimus trough levels were in the target range (5–15 ng/mL). Treatment was well tolerated, with less than 8% of doses held because of an AE (241 of 2941). Of the five patients, three developed seizures (but were well controlled on medications) at 24 months of age. Of the five patients, four had normal cognitive development for age. One was diagnosed with possible autism spectrum disorder. Interpretation These results suggest that sirolimus is both safe and well tolerated by infants with TSC in the first year of life. Additionally, the preliminary work suggests a favorable efficacy profile compared with previous TSC cohorts not exposed to early sirolimus treatment. Results support sirolimus being studied as preventive treatment in TSC, which is now underway in a prospective phase 2 clinical trial (TSC‐STEPS)

Advancing cross-national planning and partnership: proceedings from the International Multimorbidity Symposium 2019

The International Multimorbidity Symposium was held in November 2019 at Western University to achieve three main objectives: to discuss progress and findings from various jurisdictions; to facilitate collaboration through group discussion to identify strategies to move multimorbidity research forward; and to create concrete plans to ensure advances in multimorbidity research and knowledge can be achieved through cross-national partnership. This event included keynote presentations, elevator pitch presentations and breakout sessions and there was a total of 35 attendees from eight countries, representing diverse disciplines and training levels. The overall themes arising from the event were: the importance of integrating the study and management of multimorbidity from both the primary care and public health perspectives; meaningful engagement and collaboration with patients and caregivers to understand key dimensions of multimorbidity; the considerable benefit of collaborative international partnerships; and the need to spread and scale innovations for health care systems that can better respond to the complex needs of patients and caregivers who are living with multimorbidity. Finally, it was well-acknowledged among the attendees that expanding the collaboration and discussion among international colleagues via in-person and virtual events will be important to move multimorbidity research forward