Teaching Students to Fish: Creating a Sustainable Student Peer Research Program

A Peer Research Mentor (PRM) program was developed at Musselman Library, Gettysburg College to augment traditional reference services and expand library outreach. Goals included enhancing these students’ information literacy skills helping them become better researchers, as well as sharing that knowledge with peers. This poster will highlight the initial and on-going training, their involvement at the reference desk, and outreach projects to date

Casting Students in the Leading Role: Peer Learning in Academic Libraries

Peer learning services are an emerging trend in academic libraries of various sizes. These models allow students to engage and support the research needs of other students. These interactions may build off their classroom experiences and library training, while further developing their own research skills. This handout provides the context and questions for the roundtable discussion, “Casting Students in the Leading Role: Peer Learning in Academic Libraries,” at the ACRL 2019 conference. There are also resources for additional reading on the topic

Assessing the Performance of the Diffusion Monte Carlo Method as Applied to the Water Monomer, Dimer, and Hexamer

The Diffusion Monte Carlo (DMC) method is applied to the water monomer, dimer, and hexamer, using q-TIP4P/F, one of the most simple, empirical water models with flexible monomers. The bias in the time step ($\Delta\tau$) and population size ($N_w$) is investigated. For the binding energies, the bias in $\Delta\tau$ cancels nearly completely, while a noticeable bias in $N_w$ still remains. However, for the isotope shift, (e.g, in the dimer binding energies between (H$_2$O)$_2$ and (D$_2$O)$_2$) the systematic errors in $N_w$ do cancel. Consequently, very accurate results for the latter (within $\sim 0.01$ kcal/mol) are obtained with relatively moderate numerical effort ($N_w\sim 10^3$). For the water hexamer and its (D$_2$O)$_6$ isotopomer the DMC results as a function of $N_w$ are examined for the cage and prism isomers. For a given isomer, the issue of the walker population leaking out of the corresponding basin of attraction is addressed by using appropriate geometric constraints. The population size bias for the hexamer is more severe, and in order to maintain accuracy similar to that of the dimer, the population size $N_w$ must be increased by about two orders of magnitude. Fortunately, when the energy difference between cage and prism is taken, the biases cancel, thereby reducing the systematic errors to within $\sim 0.01$ kcal/mol when using a population of $N_w=4.8\times 10^5$ walkers. Consequently, a very accurate result for the isotope shift is also obtained. Notably, both the quantum and the isotope effects for the prism-cage energy difference are small.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 36 references. Submitted to the Journal of Physical Chemistr

La pollution est non convexe

La question de savoir si la pollution de l’environnement produit des non-convexités significatives dans l’économie a provoqué un débat depuis que Baumol a introduit le problème en 1964. Ce problème est de grande importance en termes de l’existence et de l’unicité de l’équilibre et de la recherche de l’optimum économique. Prenant un exemple de l’expérience québécoise dans la disposition des déchets toxiques, il est démontré que ces non-convexités sont rencontrées dans le monde réel. Deux solutions au problème sont discutées.Whether environmental pollution is likely to cause significant non-convexities in the economy has sparked much debate since Baumol introduced the problem in 1964. This problem is of considerable importance in terms of the existence and unicity of equilibria and the search for the economic optimum. Using an example based on Quebec's experience with toxic waste handling, it is demonstrated that such non-convexities are likely to be encountered in the real world. Two solutions to the problem are discussed

The Crystal Packing of 4,7-Dichloro- and 4,7-Dibromobenzo[C]Furazan 1-Oxide

The molecular structures of 4,7-dichlorobenzo[c]furazan 1-oxide, C6H2Cl2N2O2, (I), and 4,7-dibromobenzo[c]furazan 1-oxide, C6H2Br2N2O2, (II), are normal. Compound (I) occurs in two polymorphic forms. One polymorph contains one molecule in the asymmetric unit, organized into two-dimensional sheets involving intermolecular N...Cl and O...Cl interactions. The second polymorph has three molecules in the asymmetric unit, organized into two crystallographically different two-dimensional sheets with similar interactions. Compound (II) is isomorphous with the second polymorph of (I). The three two-dimensional sheets in the two polymorphs comprise a set of three two-dimensional polymorphic arrangements

Breastfeeding Initiatives in Rural Kentucky: an Action Research Approach To Improving Public Health

Breastfeeding offers numerous benefits for mother and baby and should be considered a priority for the health of communities as opposed to a parenting choice (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2012). Occupational therapists have a place in breastfeeding support, public health promotion, and guiding performance patterns (Pitonyak, 2014). This study sought to identify what occupational therapists within the medical and community systems could offer stakeholders involved in breastfeeding support and neonatal care. Action research methods were utilized to allow stakeholders in a rural community in Kentucky to decide what objectives could benefit their area. A series of three focus groups were held over the course of three months. Stakeholders determined that the major objective of the research should be to increase knowledge of current breastfeeding resources. A “Lunch and Learn” class was offered to healthcare professionals, as well as a breastfeeding resource pamphlet developed. This brochure was given to healthcare providers so that they could provide these resources to mothers who were experiencing difficulties with breastfeeding. The team determined that the objective was met and projects were successful. Study limitations included a short research duration that could not determine the impact upon breastfeeding rates and inclement weather that may have minimized potential stakeholder participation

Malaria in the prehistoric Caribbean : the hunt for hemozoin.

With the increase in resistance to anti-malarials and global warming trends expanding the habitation range of the mosquito vector, research highlighting the biogeographical contexts of infected populations is critical to understanding epidemiological patterns. A bioarchaeological approach to epidemiology can shed light on previous disease patterns and aid in the prediction of future outbreaks of diseases like malaria. Currently, there is no direct evidence of malaria in the Americas prior to European contact; however, skeletal, archaeological, paleoenvironmental, historic, and ethnohistorical evidence strongly suggest the presence of Plasmodium spp. malaria in indigenous Caribbean skeletal remains held in the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History’s (YPMNH) Caribbean Collection. Yale’s collection is well preserved and represents indigenous populations inhabiting the Greater and Lesser Antilles from 300 BC-AD 600 and AD 1200-1500. Moreover, some individuals in this collection demonstrate healed or healing cribra orbitalia and porotic hyperostosis lesions on the cranium. One explanation for these anemia-related skeletal markers could be that they are the result of chronic hemolytic anemia, an adaptive response to malaria. Hemozoin, an insoluble biomarker produced by all species of Plasmodium, shows promise in identifying malaria infections in ancient skeletal remains. I utilized Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Ionization Time of flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI tof MS), Attenuated Total Reflectance- Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) to identify hemozoin in indigenous Caribbean skeletal remains. The identification of Plasmodium spp. hemozoin crystals in this skeletal collection points to the presence of malaria in the Americas as early as AD 1000. These data will aid in the generation of a more complete epidemiological curve for Plasmodium spp., enhance our understanding of the early spread of malaria, and contribute to biogeographical studies on European contact with indigenous populations

The Crystal Packing of 4,7-Dichloro- and 4,7-Dibromobenzo[C]Furazan 1-Oxide

The molecular structures of 4,7-dichlorobenzo[c]furazan 1-oxide, C6H2Cl2N2O2, (I), and 4,7-dibromobenzo[c]furazan 1-oxide, C6H2Br2N2O2, (II), are normal. Compound (I) occurs in two polymorphic forms. One polymorph contains one molecule in the asymmetric unit, organized into two-dimensional sheets involving intermolecular N...Cl and O...Cl interactions. The second polymorph has three molecules in the asymmetric unit, organized into two crystallographically different two-dimensional sheets with similar interactions. Compound (II) is isomorphous with the second polymorph of (I). The three two-dimensional sheets in the two polymorphs comprise a set of three two-dimensional polymorphic arrangements

La pollution est non convexe

Whether environmental pollution is likely to cause significant non-convexities in the economy has sparked much debate since Baumol introduced the problem in 1964. This problem is of considerable importance in terms of the existence and unicity of equilibria and the search for the economic optimum. Using an example based on Quebec's experience with toxic waste handling, it is demonstrated that such non-convexities are likely to be encountered in the real world. Two solutions to the problem are discussed. La question de savoir si la pollution de l’environnement produit des non-convexités significatives dans l’économie a provoqué un débat depuis que Baumol a introduit le problème en 1964. Ce problème est de grande importance en termes de l’existence et de l’unicité de l’équilibre et de la recherche de l’optimum économique. Prenant un exemple de l’expérience québécoise dans la disposition des déchets toxiques, il est démontré que ces non-convexités sont rencontrées dans le monde réel. Deux solutions au problème sont discutées.