The Islamic Micro Enterprise Collective : "ISMEC"

As stated in the thesis project, "The Islamic Micro Enterprise Collective was initiated to develop a strategy to educate (what is it), motivate (get involved), train (learn how) and deploy (put into action) men, women and youth in the art and sciences of social economic development from an Islamic prospective. I wanted to develop an economic strategy that addressed the social economic issues relevant to the African American Muslim Community specifically, and the General Muslim Community at large." (Library-derived description)Redd, S. M. (2001). The Islamic Micro Enterprise Collective: "ISMEC". Retrieved from http://academicarchive.snhu.eduMaster of Science (M.S.)School of Community Economic Developmen

Computer Programs for Calculating and Plotting the Stability Characteristics of a Balloon Tethered in a Wind

Computer programs for calculating the stability characteristics of a balloon tethered in a steady wind are presented. Equilibrium conditions, characteristic roots, and modal ratios are calculated for a range of discrete values of velocity for a fixed tether-line length. Separate programs are used: (1) to calculate longitudinal stability characteristics, (2) to calculate lateral stability characteristics, (3) to plot the characteristic roots versus velocity, (4) to plot the characteristic roots in root-locus form, (5) to plot the longitudinal modes of motion, and (6) to plot the lateral modes for motion. The basic equations, program listings, and the input and output data for sample cases are presented, with a brief discussion of the overall operation and limitations. The programs are based on a linearized, stability-derivative type of analysis, including balloon aerodynamics, apparent mass, buoyancy effects, and static forces which result from the tether line

Results of Universal Prenatal Screening for Hepatitis C Infection in a Remote American Indian Primary Care Population

BACKGROUND: Although chronic liver disease remains a major area of health disparity for American Indian (AI) people, the epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection among AI people is poorly documented. Because of suspected high local prevalence, two remote AI clinics in the Northern Plains implemented universal prenatal HCV screening in 2005. When this screening program reported an unexpectedly high prenatal anti-HCV (anti-HCV antibody) positivity rate, we conducted a case-control study to determine risks for infection and opportunities for community intervention. MAIN FINDINGS: The clinics screened a total of 205 pregnant women (median age, 22 years). Of these 205 women, a total of 13 (6.3%; 95% confidence interval, 3.4–10.6) had anti-HCV confirmed. Of the anti-HCV-positive women, 10 (76.9%) were aged 15–24 years. We included 10 cases and 40 anti-HCV-negative prenatal controls in a case-control study. On multivariate analysis, only injection-drug use (IDU) remained associated with HCV seropositivity. CONCLUSIONS: Universal prenatal screening revealed a high prevalence of anti-HCV at these remote AI clinics. This population has not been previously described at being at elevated risk for HCV infection. In order to reduce health disparities, young, rural AI populations seeking prenatal care need to be included in interventions to reduce HCV transmission

New insights into the evolutionary rate of HIV-1 at the within-host and epidemiological levels

Over calendar time, HIV-1 evolves considerably faster within individuals than it does at the epidemic level. This is a surprising observation since, from basic population genetic theory, we would expect the genetic substitution rate to be similar across different levels of biological organization. Three different mechanisms could potentially cause the observed mismatch in phylogenetic rates of divergence: temporal changes in selection pressure during the course of infection; frequent reversion of adaptive mutations after transmission; and the storage of the virus in the body followed by the preferential transmission of stored ancestral virus. We evaluate each of these mechanisms to determine whether they are likely to make a major contribution to the mismatch in phylogenetic rates. We conclude that the cycling of the virus through very long-lived memory CD4+ T cells, a process that we call ‘store and retrieve’, is probably the major contributing factor to the rate mismatch. The preferential transmission of ancestral virus needs to be integrated into evolutionary models if we are to accurately predict the evolution of immune escape, drug resistance and virulence in HIV-1 at the population level. Moreover, early infection viruses should be the major target for vaccine design, because these are the viral strains primarily involved in transmission

Integrating Viral Hepatitis Screening and Prevention Services into an Urban Chemical Dependency Treatment Facility for American Indians and Alaska Natives

American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) patients at an urban residential chemical dependency treatment center participated in a viral hepatitis prevention project. Project activities integrated into patients’ treatment programs included viral hepatitis and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk factor screening, education and counseling, laboratory testing, and hepatitis A and B vaccination. Of 928 AI/AN admissions, 585 (63%) completed risk factor screening assessment. Of these, 436 (75%) received at least one vaccination, viral hepatitis testing, or both. Of 322 patients tested, 91 (28%) were hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody positive. Lack of pre-existing immunity to vaccine-preventable viral hepatitis infection was common: 132 (45%) were susceptible to hepatitis A and 224 (70%) were susceptible to hepatitis B infection. Chemical dependency treatment centers serving urban AI/AN provide important opportunities for implementing viral hepatitis prevention programs for high-risk populations and for improving ongoing efforts to reduce the disparate impact of chronic liver disease in AI/ AN people

Visualization of defect-induced excitonic properties of the edges and grain boundaries in synthesized monolayer molybdenum disulfide

Atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are attractive materials for next generation nanoscale optoelectronic applications. Understanding nanoscale optical behavior of the edges and grain boundaries of synthetically grown TMDCs is vital for optimizing their optoelectronic properties. Elucidating the nanoscale optical properties of 2D materials through far-field optical microscopy requires a diffraction-limited optical beam diameter sub-micron in size. Here we present our experimental work on spatial photoluminescence (PL) scanning of large size ( $\geq 50$ microns) monolayer MoS$_2$ grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using a diffraction limited blue laser beam spot (wavelength 405 nm) with a beam diameter as small as 200 nm allowing us to probe nanoscale excitonic phenomena which was not observed before. We have found several important features: (i) there exists a sub-micron width strip ($\sim 500$ nm) along the edges that fluoresces $\sim 1000 \%$ brighter than the region far inside; (ii) there is another brighter wide region consisting of parallel fluorescing lines ending at the corners of the zig-zag peripheral edges; (iii) there is a giant blue shifted A-excitonic peak, as large as $\sim 120$ meV, in the PL spectra from the edges. Using density functional theory calculations, we attribute this giant blue shift to the adsorption of oxygen dimers at the edges, which reduces the excitonic binding energy. Our results not only shed light on defect-induced excitonic properties, but also offer an attractive route to tailor optical properties at the TMDC edges through defect engineering.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures in Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 201

Information Literacy and Mathematics Education Students: A Case Study in Library Instruction

Prior to 2016 library instruction for mathematics courses was nonexistent at Shippensburg University. The hiring of the STEM librarian in August 2016 led to an initiative to engage the mathematics faculty and students in using resources and services offered by the Ezra Lehman Memorial Library. This outreach resulted in two sessions of the Fundamentals of Mathematics course coming into the library for instruction in the fall semester. These first sessions found that detailed instruction in how to search and identify articles related to key concepts from the desired journal type was particularly useful to the students; however, these sessions also demonstrated a greater need for citation-focused instruction. Adapting the instruction session spring 2017 to include a more in-depth discussion about the necessity of citations showed a greater understanding of the concept by students in the course. Ultimately, this successful instruction improved the course instructor’s perception of the student work and led to the scheduling of future library instruction sessions by other members of the mathematics department

Influenza Vaccination Coverage among Adults with Asthma: Findings from the 2000 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System

The prevalence of asthma has increased substantially in the United States since 1980 (1). The primary clinical and public health strategy to reduce the burden of asthma is to prevent exacerbation of the disease, of which upper and lower respiratory tract infections are a major cause (2–5). One such infection—influenza— and its complications are potentially preventable with annual vaccination, which is a safe and effective method (6,7), including among persons with asthma (8). Because persons with asthma are at increased risk of complications from influenza, they are advised to receive annual influenza vaccinations (9), unless there are contraindications. Little is known about how adults with asthma or health care providers comply with the annual influenza vaccination recommendations issued by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (9). Among children with asthma, however, vaccination levels are low (10 –15). We therefore sought to assess the influenza vaccination coverage among adults with asthma, as well as to identify predictors of receiving such a vaccination