Large Campus Research Articles

Family Medicine at the University of the West Indies: a model for the developing world

Context and background: To describe the Family Medicine (FM) postgraduate training programme at the University of the West Indies (UWI). Actions and activities: This paper was created through a review of documents, and discussions with past and present coordinators and key stakeholders at four campuses in the English-speaking Caribbean (ESC). Lessons learned: Despite intermittent setbacks the FM programme in the ESC has grown due to: (1) The presence of an umbrella institution in the UWI. (2) The role of the Caribbean College of Family Physicians providing a unifying force of advocacy and cooperation. (3) Collaboration of staff across four sites despite large distances, differing departmental and campus structures and financial models; and varying levels of local medical and public health support. (4) The use of a modular design for academic content, which means that students have comparable learning experiences. (5) Streamlining of exit examinations, thus sharing resources in the assessment process. (6) A strong presence of FM in the undergraduate curriculum. Conclusions: Despite a variety of timelines in programme development and funding mechanisms, over 150 physicians have graduated in FM in the past five years. We identify the unifying strategies and institutions which made this possible and present this model as an option for new programmes in the developing world.

BANDWIDTH PARAMETER EVALUATION OF PROTOCOLS BOUNDED BY DISTANCEANDSECURELY VERIFIEDIN PROXIMITY OF TWO-HOP NEIGHBOURS

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) implemented across a large campus can provide advanced levels of monitoring and control, and authenticated access, over the complete dynamic environment. Access to these WSNs should be controlled and proper authentication schemes designed to prevent unauthorized access. Where access route to a device is not directly available, the authentication scheme must perform effectively over multiple hops. With Distance bounding (DB) protocols, the physical proximity of 2 or more parties is detected and verified. Modification of these protocols allows for extension of the verification to multi hop neighbours. This paper evaluates the performance of the network when routing is done using common wireless protocols and the nodes are under attack. This approach will allow for increased accuracy, while having minimal or no impact on the other transmission parameters.

Focus on education, technology to protect large campus

Policing a large public campus can be akin to policing a small city, as Lamine Secka, chief of police for San Diego State University, well knows. SDSU, which is home to 37,000 students and sees approximately 45,000–50,000 people on campus per day, is located in the busiest part of San Diego and is a very open campus. “It's very difficult to tell when you're on campus rather than just the surrounding community,” Secka said, an issue that has led to a close working relationship between the SDSU campus police force and the San Diego Police Department.

Best Option For Reducing On-Campus Private Car-Based CO2 Emissions: Reducing VKT Or Congestion?

Reducing carbon footprint, especially from private cars, is an inevitable goal of sustainable transportation programs. Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara, Turkey, has a fairly large campus, for which carbon emissions are estimated to guide development of sustainable campus transportation demand management (TDM) policies. Focus is on reducing private car usage and increasing non-motorized and shared ride modes in a network. On the other hand, vehicle emissions with today’s engine technology are mostly governed by two major factors: Vehicle-km-travelled (VKT) and congestion, which slows down traffic and forces inefficiency in the engine performance. From engineering perspective, in order to evaluate real emission reduction potential of TDM scenarios, it is important to quantify its impact on these two factors and how much, which is the main focus of this study. For numerical examples, METU campus private car travel demand was used to calculate the VKT and speed levels for campus links by performing a network assignment in PTV-VISUM. The daily assignment was carried in three parts, as a morning and an evening peak, and an off-peak assignment, for a base case and 8 different scenarios. Emission component due to congestion was determined separately, as a percentage. The results showed that METU campus emissions were primarily function of the VKT, thus, could not be reduced by congestion management alone. They could be reduced by 30% if commuters would shift to the metro service supported by a strong in-campus shuttle services.

Investing in schools: capital spending, facility conditions, and student achievement

Public investments in repairs, modernization, and construction of schools cost billions. However, little is known about the nature of school facility investments, whether it actually changes the physical condition of public schools, and the subsequent causal impacts on student achievement. We study the achievement effects of nearly 1400 capital campaigns initiated and financed by local school districts, comparing districts where school capital bonds were either narrowly approved or defeated by district voters. Overall, we find little evidence that these school capital campaigns improve student achievement. Event-study analysis focused on the students actually affected by large campus renovations also generates very precise zero estimates of achievement effects. Thus, U.S. school capital campaigns financed by local districts – the predominant method through which facility investments are made – may be a limited tool for realizing substantial gains in student achievement or closing achievement gaps.

Microgrid and renewable generation integration: University of California, San Diego

This paper is a microgrid study of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), a large campus with diverse distributed energy resources (DER). It highlights a microgrid’s “missing money”, which sharply differs from a natural-gas-fired generation plant’s “missing money” due to large-scale wind generation development. In response to UCSD’s expressed financial interest, we assess three strategies for integrating renewable generation: peak load shifting, onsite photovoltaic firming and grid support. While all three strategies are technically feasible and can be cost-effective under certain conditions, California’s current tariff structures and market prices do not offer sufficient incentives to motivate UCSD to offer these services. Alternative incentive mechanisms, which may resemble to those used to encourage renewable generation development, are necessary to induce UCSD’s DER offer for renewables integration. Such mechanisms are also relevant to commercial and industrial loads across California, including the vast combined heat and power resources.

A Social Media Campaign for Promoting Active Travel to a University Campus

Context: Promoting regular physical activity can be challenging. Active travel (AT), walking and biking for transportation, is a way to achieve more activity, but rates remain low in the United States. With increased technology use, social media is one way to expand reach. Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the reach of social media in a campaign to promote AT to a university campus. Design: This was an observational study. Setting: The Active Lions campaign promoted AT to and on a large university campus for employees and students. The campaign included local events promoting AT, a smartphone app, and social media postings (Facebook, Twitter) from August 2014 to August 2015. Main Outcome Measures: The social media postings included different types of messages about AT. These posts were then examined and categorized, and any responses or interactions were recorded to identify trends for engagement. Results: The Facebook page had 177 followers, educational posts elicited the most responses, posts with pictures averaged 6 clicks and 1 like, and posts with links averaged 3 clicks and 1 like. Active Lions had 103 Twitter followers, educational posts on Twitter had the most activity, with 149 interactions. Conclusion: Facebook and Twitter appear to reach some of their followers in motivating and promoting regular physical activity. It is important, however, to recognize that posting on social media targets the younger population. Therefore, to reach more adults, it may be more beneficial to find other tactics to promote regular physical activity.

Skillet Laureate

Skillet Laureate Michael McFee (bio) and Philip McFee (bio) Click for larger view View full resolution It had been almost eight months since the seed for this poem was planted—a protracted gestation period, for me, but you can’t rush the muse. I hoped the result would be worth the wait. [End Page 88] I’ve always enjoyed giving poetry readings. To me, each one is a literary entertainment, a chance to hold the attention of listeners in a hospitable way, an opportunity to engage and delight them with some well-chosen language. It doesn’t matter if they don’t “get” the poem as they would when reading it on the page; it doesn’t matter if they only remember a few lines, or a title or two. What matters is that they’re hearing a fellow human being who did his best to get the best words in the best order, to arrange them—precisely, inventively, and joyfully—into those charged little worlds called poems. Almost all of my readings have been afternoon or early evening performances. A few have been scheduled in the morning, including a gig twenty Junes ago for the West Durham Sunrise Rotary Club, whose name suggests the unlikely time at which I was asked to read my poems to area businessmen and community leaders. I’ve also shared poetry at local churches before the 11:00 or 11:15 service, and at high schools and hospitals before the lunch period. But my most memorable breakfast gig, by far, was at the Southern Foodways Alliance Symposium, in Oxford, Mississippi, on October 29, 2011. The sfa is a lively group of food-obsessed souls, and I’d always wanted to attend one of their legendary parties distinguished conferences, which have intriguing themes. That year’s was “The Cultivated South,” and esteemed food writer and sfa director John T. Edge asked me to serve up what he called “Poetry for a Morning Repast” at 9:00 a.m. that Saturday. I said yes, of course, immediately, because it was John T. asking, and because it was the sfa, and because I love me some Oxford; but the more I thought about it, the more I thought: Uh-oh. After a long Friday night of eating and drinking and making very merry, how many sfa conferees would actually show up to hear poetry at 0900? And of those who did, how many would have heads able to endure twenty minutes of Michael McFee and poetry without feeling even worse than they already did? I needn’t have worried. The turnout, in a large lovely campus hall, was gratifying. Brother Edge gave a fine introduction, during which he called me, over-generously, “the poet laureate of food.” I stepped to the microphone and prefaced my reading by saying: “To me, poetry is like cooking, and a good poem is like a well-cooked dish: both use the freshest ingredients possible, both are distillations that take a while to make, and both should be eaten slowly, savored, enjoyed with all the senses.” And then I began the poetic fun, reading poems about recipes and deviled eggs and pork skins and gravy and saltines and salt and sweet potatoes and (cheers!) champagne. The crowd was responsive, I fed off their energy, and that autumnal experiment in Breakfast Poetry Theatre felt like a success. [End Page 89] Afterwards, I was greeting people at the foot of the stage, gently thanking them for coming out, gingerly shaking their hands, trying to get them back to their strong coffee as soon as possible. A smiling bald man stepped forward, seized my hand, and said, “Mr. McFee, I enjoyed your poetry!” “Thank you, sir!” I cried. He identified himself as the ceo of Lodge Cast Iron, and we exchanged a few more exclamatory sentences before he said, “Know what I think? I think you need to write a poem about a cast-iron skillet.” “I want to write that poem,” I replied, instantly. And then he made clear that he might be interested in using such a poem for Lodge promotional material and stores, and that some sort of compensation would be involved...

“Yeah, I Like the Fact That It’s So Multicultural”: Reasons Higher Education Students Choose Singapore

A gap exists in the research literature as to why international higher education students from Europe choose to study in Singapore. This paper aims to make a contribution to the research literature by presenting the findings of interviews conducted with students from Europe studying at a large Australian higher education campus in Singapore. Findings from the research show that higher education institutions in Asia have become a viable alternative for some European higher education students to the traditional study destinations of their home countries in Europe. Factors influencing students' choice of study destination as well as reasons for their choice of a higher education institution are discussed. Based on the analyses of these findings, suggestions for future policy and practice are offered to strengthen this growing area not only in Singapore but also throughout Asia as well.

How to create and terminate a school of public health.

The famous preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization (WHO) from 1948, stating that health is not only the absence of disease, has been one of the most influential political statements of our time. The follow-up, reaching a position where health is viewed as instrumental to a good life and not as a goal in itself, as set out in the Ottawa Charter of 1986, has likewise been of the utmost importance for the global development of public health, as well as developing the concept of health promotion. The focus on public health sparked by the WHO was paralleled by expansion of the academic interest in the topic, beginning in the USA and successively adopted around the world. In the Nordic countries the pioneering of an academic platform for public health studies and research began in 1953. This was later followed by a stepwise expansion to a full academic institution with postgraduate studies, work-related training, research and development. From the start, the resultant institution called the Nordic School of Public Health (NHV) was a joint Nordic project financed by the Nordic governments. The NHV became a leader in public health studies in Nordic countries and also a role model for the development of an academic community. A large campus and a select and erudite staff, together with thousands of students, paved the way for the NHV having a major impact on public health policy in Nordic countries. One effect of this was increasing awareness of the need for systematic policy supporting public health research and, with this, the founding of institutions of public health in all of the separate Nordic countries. Ironically, the impact made by the NHV in spreading the idea of public health as an important part of academic study has made the NHV superfluous. It is true that courses and programmes in public health are now available at most universities in the five Nordic countries, but they are directed at young students fresh from high school. There is no institution that offers a broad and high-quality postgraduate education and training in public health, adapted to the special needs of mid-career professionals in a multi-professional and internordic setting. With the NHV closing, a research institute focusing public health in a Nordic context will disappear, as will an internationally leading School of Public Health, a centre of excellence and relevance in public health, which has evaluated, assessed and promoted the goals and evaluated the success of the Nordic welfare societies.

Audit of workplace walkability in an Irish healthcare setting.

Recent studies suggest that time spent sitting is associated with greater risks of all causes of mortality and cardiovascular disease even for those who live a healthy lifestyle. As part of a healthier worksite initiative, we conducted a worksite walkability audit and staff survey of a large hospital-based administrative campus with a high proportion of health staff working in largely office-based roles. The US Centre for Disease Control (CDC) Healthier Worksite Initiative Walkability Audit Tool was used to audit 20 walking segments. The audit further examined the walkability of segments most likely to be used by outpatients and the families of residents visiting and attending the campus. The second phase of this research involved an employee electronic survey to understand staff requirements from a workplace physical activity initiative. Overall, the campus scored a medium risk to walkability on the CDC audit tool. This means that with some key minor alterations the walking route could be made safe and attractive for walking. There was a 20% (n = 151) response rate to the staff survey with 66% of respondents sitting at their desk for most of the day with the majority spending 5-7 h a day sitting at work. Evidence suggests that reducing sedentary time may be important to public health. The worksite is an ideal location for targeting a large number of individuals. Key public health messages that promote daily recommended physical activity targets should also carry additional messages about reducing occupational sitting time.

Health and Fitness App Use in College Students: A Qualitative Study

Background: College students experience weight gain that can contribute to serious health issues. Health education efforts with college students are increasingly utilizing new technologies. Smartphone applications (apps) in particular are growing in popularity and use in all young adults. Purpose: Formative research was conducted to describe how college students in the southwestern United States use health/fitness apps to change behavior. Method: College students (n = 27) ages 18-30 reporting use of health/fitness apps were recruited on a large public university campus and participated in interviews about app choice, behavioral goals, features, and reasons for continued use. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for themes using a 4-person coding team and the qualitative research software NVivo. Results: Most participants downloaded an app to meet a goal and felt that the app helped them meet it. Two distinct groups emerged, those who used apps to support an established behavior and those who used them to adopt a new behavior. The majority of participants reported that acceptable apps were free, easy to use, provided visual/auditory cues, and had game-like rewards. Most participants strongly opposed linking their social media with apps and did not use those features. Discussion: College students use apps to meet different goals such as developing an exercise routine or improving eating habits. Examining what influences health/fitness app choices among college students may provide important insights for future interventions developed to promote app use over long periods of time. Translation to Health Education Practice: Health education programming may benefit from the use of apps, because college students are already adopting these technologies. Features that are important such as ease of use and game-like rewards can help health educators choose appropriate apps for college student programs.

Implementation and evaluation of an Exercise is Medicine™ on campus week

Exercise is Medicine™ (EiM) on campus targets physical activity (PA) participation on college campuses. Limited research has addressed how PA initiatives can be operationalized on college campuses. PurposeTo describe the implementation of EiM on a large U.S. university campus and present preliminary outcomes on participation and awareness. MethodsEiM week was implemented on a large university campus. Exercise stations were set-up at campus locations to encourage brief bouts of PA and educate about the benefits of PA. Evaluation included observations of participation, surveys, and intercept surveys to assess awareness and reach. ResultsEiM week was implemented during Fall 2013. Exercise stations elicited 1771 exercise bouts from participants. Surveys indicated widespread reach across the university (13 of 17 colleges); most students (50.8%) became aware of the EiM campaign by passing by the exercise stations. Campus intercept surveys 1-week post-event indicated 54% students had heard about EiM, of which 39% had heard/seen the event through messages encouraging exercise. ConclusionThe current study was successful in engaging a large, diverse population on a college campus. Lessons learned from the development, implementation, and evaluation of EiM on campus activities provide insight for university campuses looking to target student health and PA participation.

Visualizing and characterizing DNS lookup behaviors via log-mining

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a critical Internet service, which translates easily memorized domain names to numerical IP addresses for locating computer resources and services. In this paper, we try to explore the behaviors of DNS lookup by mining DNS logs from three primary DNS servers in a large university campus network in China. Our dataset is made up of two parts, namely DNS query logs and messages received or send by DNS servers. Firstly, through analyzing these DNS query logs, we are able to understand the overall trend of users’ surfing. For dealing with huge DNS dataset, we introduce an algorithm we call DNSReduce, which can be used to dig out top 10 client IP addresses and top 10 destination domain names efficiently. Moreover, we make comparative analysis of lookup behavior between wired and wireless users. Secondly, with messages received or send by DNS servers we can find these DNS servers׳behaviors, i.e., TTLs, equivalent answers and are able to accurately identify domain names with dynamic IP addresses. We provide different and specific visualization techniques for presenting these analysis results and show these techniques are very useful for understanding user behaviors, analyzing security events and characterizing overall tendency in campus network management.

Exercise is Medicine on Campus 2014

Exercise is MedicineTM (EiM) on Campus is an initiative targeting physical activity (PA) participation on college campuses. College students are in a transitional life stage often associated with a decline in PA. Limited research has addressed how EiM initiatives can be operationalized on college campuses nation-wide. PURPOSE: To describe the implementation of EiM on a large U.S. university main campus and present preliminary outcomes related to campus participation and awareness. METHODS: A week-long EiM event (EiM week) was implemented on a large university campus in the northeastern USA. Exercise stations were setup in high-profile locations on campus to encourage brief bouts of PA and provide education on the benefits of PA. Educational/outreach activities included: engaging campus administrators in a kick-off event, distribution of 3000 pedometers, placement of educational materials, development of an event website, and department-sponsored colloquium events discussing and debating the merits of EiM. Evaluation included observations of participation, participant completion of brief surveys, and intercept surveys to assess awareness and reach. RESULTS: EiM week was implemented during Fall 2014. Stations elicited 1,251 exercise bouts from campus participants. Participants were most likely to indicate that they had heard about EiM week by walking by (64.6%). Intercept surveys (n=150) 1-week post-event indicated 39% of students had heard about EiM, of which 67% had heard or seen the event through messages encouraging exercise. Surveys indicated 50.8% of participants engage in 20 minutes of exercise at least 4 times per week, and 64.3% of participants exercise most often in on-campus fitness centers. Of the students who have seen a doctor at University Health Services, 14.3% report having discussed physical activity during their appointment. CONCLUSIONS: The current study was successful in engaging a large, diverse population on a college campus. Lessons learned from the development, implementation, and evaluation of EiM on Campus 2014 activities can be used to refine and expand the program in the future. Results may provide insight and guidance for other university campuses intending to implement EiM on Campus or other similar large scale physical activity promotion programs.

Transportation sustainability on a university campus

Purpose– This paper aims to show the present level of sustainable transportation, mainly walking and bicycling, on a large campus in the US Midwest and then analyzes some of the opportunities and impediments in increasing the modal share.Design/methodology/approach– Three types of analysis are used. First, current level of walking and bicycling around the campus are measured during select mornings and afternoons. Second, a survey questionnaire completed by 668 students is tabulated and reported. Third, the campus and environs are inventoried to note those aspects of infrastructure which either facilitate or block walking or cycling.Findings– This paper records generally low existing levels of sustainable transportation among students around a campus. There is a particularly low level of bicycling activity. Reasons have to do with time and convenience (especially among students who work), but also that many students do not enjoy bicycle access. Finally, student attitudes and an inventory of campus indicate that existing infrastructure discourages sustainable transportation activity around campus.Research limitations/implications– This may be biased towards specific circumstances in the one institution we studied. However, there are several important implications on the factors spurring or impeding walking and bicycling which may be applied to other campus communities.Practical implications– Understanding the campus impediments to walking and bicycling may help universities design more attractive and useful facilities.Social implications– Great attention to bicycling and walking can improve the social environment on campus, as well as spur greater health among students and staff.Originality/value– Several methods of measuring existing transportation patterns are applied, canvassing student attitudes towards sustainable transportation and then inventorying and mapping those campus features which could affect walking and bicycling activity.

Health Monitoring of Civil Structures with Integrated UAV and Image Processing System

Abstract This paper describes an innovative protocol for full field mapping of a large civil structures involving effective use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to enable real time structural health monitoring. The proposed frameworks integrates UAVs, image processing and data acquisition procedures for crack detection and assessment of surface degradation. A novel approach is proposed combining hat transform and HSV thresholding technique for crack detection. In addition, grey scale thresholding is employed for the measurement of surface degradations. A Demonstration multi-rotor UAV model is developed to carry out full field inspection of civil structures and real time testing is performed in our large university campus. In order to provide sophisticated monitoring platform for users, a MATLAB Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed to analyse real time as well as acquired images and the results are validated successfully. The obtained results confirms that, the envisaged approach is the foundation for cost effective and time compressing solution for monitoring of large civil structures.

Review on Botnet Threat Detection in P2P

Botnets are nothing but the malicious codes such as viruses which are used for attacking the computers. These are act as threats and are very harmful. Due to distributed nature of botnets, it is hard to detect them in peer-to-peer networks. So we require the smarter technique to detect such threats. The automatic detection of botnet traffic is of high importance for service providers and large campus network monitoring. This paper gives the review on the various techniques used to detect such botnets. Keywords— Botnets, detection, peer-to-peer. __________________________________________________*****_________________________________________________

An Exploratory Study of the Benefits of a Mindfulness Skills Group for Student Veterans

Military personnel are increasingly transitioning out of the military. Veterans bring varied strengths and experiences to their academic journey as they enter colleges and universities. Many campuses are responding to the unique needs of these veterans by offering academic, emotional, and personal support to assist them in their quest for a university degree. This article describes an exploratory qualitative study of the benefits of a mindfulness skills group program designed to assist student veterans in coping with stressors related to their transition from warrior to student on a large campus that has a robust veteran-friendly initiative. This program was offered in a group format over three semesters and served 14 students. Qualitative data on perceived benefits of the program were collected from nine of these students using pre–post questionnaires and feedback from a post-intervention focus group. Data analysis indicated several themes related to perceived benefits of participating in the mindfulness skills groups. Findings suggested students attributed improved emotional and physical coping, positive changes in personal functioning, improved organizational capabilities, and improved stress management skills to participation in the mindfulness skills group. Lessons learned from implementing this program are offered.

Associations of Weight Status, Social Factors, and Active Travel Among College Students

Background: Active travel (AT) is associated with various health benefits and may help prevent the decline in physical activity during college years. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of several factors with AT to campus by weight status. Methods: Students at a large northeastern US campus completed an online survey about demographics, height/weight, frequency and mode of travel to/around campus, and environmental influences for travel choices. Participants were dichotomized into healthy weight ( < 25 kg/m2, n = 552, 72.3%) and overweight ( ≥ 25 kg/m2, n = 211, 27.7%) categories. Descriptive and inferential analyses examined relationships and differences between weight categories. Logistic regression models examined the associations with demographic, psychological, residential, social, and environmental variables with participation in AT. Results: Participants were primarily white (85.3%) and female (62.7%). Healthy weight students were more likely to report AT to campus and AT as their primary mode of travel on campus compared to overweight students. Discussion: These findings provide insight on the association of weight status with environmental and community influences for AT and identifies possible targets for intervention. Translation to Health Education Practice: College health educators can use these findings to set relevant policy and environment goals to target student AT participation.