• Anya presenting

      Knight, John; Knight, John (2011-10-25)
      “Twilight is not Good for Maidens”: Gender, Sexuality and Family in the Twilight series. October 12 2011, 6:30pm
    • Anya presenting

      Knight, John (2011-10-25)
      “Twilight is not Good for Maidens”: Gender, Sexuality and Family in the Twilight series. October 12 2011, 6:30pm
    • Anya, student, and tshirt

      Knight, John; Knight, John (2011-10-25)
      “Twilight is not Good for Maidens”: Gender, Sexuality and Family in the Twilight series. October 12 2011, 6:30pm
    • "anybody Listening?": Perceptions Of African American Girls Involvement In A Community-based Delinquency Reduction Program

      Hicks-Brown, Marco Viveca
      Female adolescents represent a growing subcategory of the juvenile justice population. This growth is directly linked to adolescent females being disproportionately incarcerated for status offenses such as running away. The Georgia House Bill 242 has changed the way status offenders are held accountable for their actions. The bill called for more researched-based, community-based services. However, there were very few gender-specific community-based services for adolescent females and even fewer programs that address all the areas of need for a delinquent adolescent female. This study adds to the literature of “what works�? for adolescent females in the juvenile justice system and establishes a long-term service that will prevent adolescent females from reoffending or violating their probation. A key component to the services provided to adolescent females is education. In this capacity, this research study sought to answer the following question: 1. How do the experiences of at-risk adolescent females in a community-based program help reduce their recidivism rates? Participants, volunteers, and the founder of Savannah Youth City, Inc. were interviewed to determine the effectiveness of SYC’s program through their lived experiences and the perception of the participants on the program’s ability to reduce their recidivism rates. This study utilized a qualitative methodology. The participants were adamant that SYC was effective in reducing their delinquent behaviors despite some of the participants having recent judicial system involvement. It was the perception of the participants that SYC provided them with acceptance, validation, and a nonjudgmental environment.
    • Application Of Population Pharmacokinetic Modeling And Simulation In Anti-infective Therapy

      GOTI, VINEET
      ABSTRACT VINEET GOTI APPLICATION OF POPULATION PHARMACOKINETIC MODELING AND SIMULATION IN ANTI-INFECTIVE THERAPY Under the direction of AYYAPPA CHATURVEDULA, PH.D. AND REBECCA BURNS, PHARM.D, PH.D. The application quantitative approaches to drug research have gained acceptance over the last few decades. One such quantitative approach is population pharmacokinetic (PopPK) modeling and simulation. PopPK modeling and simulation in this dissertation has been applied to therapeutic problems and evaluate the performance of below the limit of quantitation (BQL) data handling approaches in nonlinear mixed effect models. A PopPK model is usually developed by iteratively fitting several models to clinical data and by so doing reduces the pharmacokinetic behavior of a drug to a few PopPK parameters. The PopPK approach has the ability to quantify the variability in the pharmacokinetics of the drug. This enables the application of Monte-Carlo simulation procedures to test several what if situations. In this dissertation, the PopPK modeling and simulation approach is applied to answer therapeutic and methodological problems by using the gold standard software NONMEM®. Therapeutic problems involved: 1) the evaluation of the risk of HIV transmission to an uninfected member on Truvada (fixed dose combination of emtricitabine/tenofovir) in serodiscordant relationship 2) optimization of vancomycin dosing nomogram in Emory University hospitals. PopPK models were developed for tenofovir and vancomycin using clinical data obtained from the subject population of interest. Simulations conducted using the tenofovir PopPK model revealed that protective concentrations of tenofovir were achieved at majority of the times of perceived risk of HIV exposure. The nomogram of vancomycin was optimized by iterative simulations using the developed PopPK model. The optimized nomogram incorporated a loading dose and reduced the maintenance dose. This resulted in more subjects consistently falling in the therapeutic concentration range. The methodological problem involved the evaluation of two newly suggested below the quantification limit (BQL) data handling methods: fractional conditional single imputation (FCSI) and conditional multiple imputation (CMI). These two methods were contrasted with the well accepted M3 method in terms of efficiency in estimating PopPK parameters. It was found that both CMI and FCSI were inferior to the M3 approach. The M3 method, for the most part, gave PopPK parameters with acceptable bias and precision.
    • Application of Recurrent Neural Networks for Pharmacokinetic Modeling and Simulation

      Khusial, Richard Darien; College of Pharmacy
      Pharmacometrics and the utilization of population pharmacokinetics play an integral role in model informed drug discovery and development (MIDD). Recently, there has been a growth in the application of deep learning approaches to aid in areas within MIDD. In this work, we aim to explore the potential of deep learning approaches towards drug concentration prediction and simulation. A total of 1,527 olanzapine drug concentrations sparsely sampled from 523 individuals along with eleven patient-specific covariates provided by the CATIE studies were used in model development, validation, and simulation. LSTM and LSTM-ANN with multiple inputs were investigated towards olanzapine drug concentration predictions. The LSTM-ANN model captured the relationships within a pharmacokinetic dataset and generated olanzapine drug concentration predictions with a lower RMSE than the LSTM model. Bayesian optimization was implemented to tune the hyperparameters of the LSTM-ANN model. The LSTM-ANN model had a RMSE of 29.566 in the validation set. A population pharmacokinetic model using NONMEM model was constructed as a reference to compare the performance of the LSTM-ANN model. The RMSE of the NONMEM model was 31.129. Permutation importance revealed age, sex and smoking were highly influential covariates in the LSTM-ANN model. The LSTM-ANN model showed potential in drug concentration prediction as it performed comparably to the NONMEM model. Future studies investigating clinical studies with varying sample sizes and sampling strategies are required to further examine the potential of a LSTM-ANN model towards drug concentration prediction. For olanzapine drug concentration simulations, three RNN cells within an RNN-ANN model with multiple inputs were studied. The GRU-ANN model resulted in the optimal RNN-ANN model with the lowest RMSE in the simulation data. Bayesian optimization was implemented to optimize the hyperparameters of the GRU-ANN model. The optimized GRU-ANN model resulted in a simulation RMSE of 24.844. Visual inspection revealed the simulated olanzapine drug concentrations were lower than their respected observed olanzapine drug concentrations. Exploratory data analysis revealed the underperformance may have been a result of dosing levels between the CATIE studies having little overlap. A comprehensive clinical trial study is required to fully explore the potential of a GRU-ANN model towards drug concentration simulations.
    • Applications Of Mechanistic Modeling And Simulations In Compound And Dosage Forms Selections / By Eric Akwasi Mintah

      Mintah, Eric Akwasi
      Physiologically based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) modeling and simulation techniques have been adopted in the pharmaceutical industry to aid in compound selection and dosage form development in recent years. This is a result of easier access to computers and advanced knowledge of species physiology. The mechanistic modeling approach utilizes the compound’s physiochemical properties, formulation related factors, route of administration and species physiology in order to predict the concentration-time profile in plasma and tissues. In this dissertation, different predictive and mechanistic models (ADMET®, ACAT®, OCCAT® and metabolite tracking approaches in Gastroplus®) were applied to simulate the concentration time profiles of various compounds. We applied mechanistic modeling techniques to predict the concentration-time profiles of curcumin and its analogs in order to identify potential drug candidates for future preclinical and clinical studies. An in silico based absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and toxicity (ADMET) prediction tool in Gastroplus® (version 8.5, Simulations Plus, Inc., Lancaster, CA, USA) was utilized. For this purpose, we performed model qualifications by comparing the simulated pharmacokinetics data of pure curcumin and compared to the observed data from literature. Curcumin analogues and other compounds that showed higher potential for oral absorption were selected for further study. In our second project, we evaluated the predictability of the new oral cavity compartmental absorption and transit (OCCAT®) model by utilizing commercial buccal and sublingual (fentanyl, buprenorphine, nicotine, miconazole, rizaptriptan and testosterone) formulations. The new OCCATTM model was able to simulate the PK parameters/profiles of published multiple doses of buccal and sublingual drugs administered to healthy and patient population. Varying degrees of bias was observed for all the simulated PK parameter values as compared to the published parameter values for the compounds tested based on the computed % predictability error. Although, the new OCCAT model can be used to support the formulation development and regulatory decisions, its applicability and the predictability for specific drug needs to be adequately qualified. In another project, we conducted mechanistic analysis to track the metabolites of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) using PBPK modeling. The main goal of the project was to track the pharmacokinetics of a prodrug, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) and its parent drug, tenofovir. Finally, the mechanistic modeling approach was utilized to simulate the disposition, including potential metabolic pathways of 4-benzylpiperidine based on its predicted physiochemical properties.
    • Applied Electromyography in Gait Analysis

      Bich Nguyen; Ha Van Vo; Trung Le; Pooja Vikraman
      A project proposal in researching the uses of electromyography (EMG) in analyzing gait.
    • Approaching Conflicts Over Time In Counseling Supervision: Perspectives Of Wise Minority Supervisors

      Ayers, Lindsay Nicole
      Conflicts in the counseling supervision relationship have not been given much consideration in the research literature despite the fact that they occur frequently (Quarto, 2002). The purpose of this study was to explore wise, minority supervisor’s perceptions about their approaches to conflicts in the supervisory relationship, including if and how their approaches have developed over time. Using the following research question as a guide, “What are the lived experiences of wise, minority supervisors’ growth process in approaching conflicts in supervision?” the goal was to gain an in-depth understanding of how wise minority supervisors approach conflicts and how their approach has grown or developed across their career. By examining perceptions related to these factors, supervisors received insight about approaching conflicts in supervision. Due to the lack of research concerning minority supervisor development and supervision conflicts, semi-structured interviews with wise, minority, counseling supervisors were conducted using phenomenological methods of inquiry. Transcripts were analyzed and four core themes were extrapolated from the data and discussed. Recommendations for future counseling supervision research and practice were discussed along with limitations of the study.
    • Approaching The Tomb: How Scriptural Reflection And Hospice Education Influence The Church's Conversations About Death And Dying

      Duckworth, Darian
      DARIAN ELISE DUCKWORTH APPROACHING THE TOMB: HOW SCRIPTURAL REFLECTION AND HOSPICE EDUCATION INFLUENCE THE CHURCH’S CONVERSATIONS ABOUT DEATH AND DYING Under the Direction of CHANEQUA WALKER-BARNES, Ph.D. First United Methodist Church of West Point, Mississippi, is a multigenerational congregation experiencing growth in membership. Much of the church’s energy goes into activities for those able to come to the church building. The problem that has developed is that the homebound members and those who are nearing death are at risk of feeling isolated from the community of faith. The project developed as a way to identify what might cause church members to shy away from one another’s deathbeds. The goal of the project was to provide space in the local church for conversations on dying, death, and resurrection. The project measured the effects of Bible study and hospice education on the church’s ability to talk about death and dying. The intention was to help members of the local church articulate and reflect on which components of the end of life of their loved ones evoked discomfort and unease. The seven-week project consisted of a group interview in the first session, three sessions of Bible study on John 11:17-44, two sessions of hospice education, and a group interview in the final session. The project’s methodology involved qualitative research with data collection from group interviews and discussion. Data came from the two group interviews. The type of analysis used was phenomenological inquiry. The results of the project suggested that lack of medical information about the end of life and a lack of theological reflection about death in the local church contribute to people’s fears of talking about death and dying. There was concern expressed in the group about the suffering of the human body as death nears. Developing trust and relationships, especially through storytelling, helped enable conversations in the context of a small group. The study began with asking questions of a group but has become the beginning of a conversation that the local church can continue. Further study would include expanding the hospice education to others in the congregation, perhaps in conjunction with a sermon series on life after death. I would also hope that the project could become a small group study for use in other congregations.
    • Archibald John Battle Collection

      Battle, Archibald John, 1826- (2014)
      One quarter-sized flip-top box containing four folders of letters and a notebook, all fragile. The papers contain two letters, a volume of lecture notes taken by William S. West, and a notebook of miscellaneous notes. It might have been given by Dr. Spencer King.
    • Archives Records

      Archives, Special Collections, and Digital Initiatives
      2.71 linear feet of mostly paper materials in two records center boxes and one half Hollinger box; in good condition.
    • Are Virtual Visits A Viable Alternative to In-Person Visits from a Healthcare Professional Perspective?

      Scott, Tashaleta M. (2021)
      The COVID Pandemic has changed the way that various parts of healthcare perform interactions and business with patients. This is very true for Orthopaedics. It seemed to be a difficult process to think of when stating a virtual visit for Orthopaedic injuries. It is important that wounds are evaluated, radiographs are taken, etc. to ensure that the correct care is given. It is also important to ensure that the virtual information and process can be easily understood by patient, staff, and physicians. Virtual visits require the use of an application that can call and/or provide video. There must also be access to an EMR/EHR to document the visit and provide the necessary information to setup the virtual visit. The most important issue to determine when looking at the implementation of virtual visits is to understand how the physicians and staff feel about the procedural change. The users are an important aspect of understanding the issues, concerns, as well as the favorable aspects of a system. If the users are not satisfied with the virtual visits, the system could be less used which would result in a decrease in revenue. These factors will allow organizations to focus on reducing and/or eliminating issues that could cause the virtual visit to be unsuccessful and/or misuse of valuable resources. The best way to assess this is to pose various questions that will look at productivity, time management, satisfaction, advantages, and disadvantages of the virtual program. The results from polling and providing questionnaires to physicians and staff can assist with choosing a system or process that better serves the patients and those who utilize the system. Virtual visits are about convenience as well as providing an alternative of care that can be as beneficial as in person visits. Overall, the opinions and insight from the physicians and staff who utilize the virtual visit program will be beneficial to ensuring that virtual visits are a viable alternative to in-person visits, user friendly, and accomplishes the goal of providing superb patient care.
    • Ariel View of Tift College Campus

      Photograph of Tift College campus.
    • Ariel View of Tift College Campus

      Photograph of Tift College campus.