Penn State Harrisburg Research Articles

Cannabinoid Awareness, Reporting Use to Health Care Providers, and Perceptions Regarding Safety - Pennsylvania, March 2023-April 2023.

With the continued societal and policy interest in cannabinoids, the Penn State Harrisburg Center for Survey Research (CSR) conducted a web survey (Cannabinoid Lion Poll) for adult-aged Pennsylvanians between March 6 and April 2, 2023. The Lion Poll omnibus survey asked questions of adult-aged Pennsylvanians to assess awareness of cannabidiol (CBD) and products containing tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), including marijuana, the likelihood of reporting cannabinoid use to health care providers (HCPs), and perceptions regarding safety. Of these 1,045 respondents, 51.2% were female; 83.0% were white, non-Hispanic; and 48.6% and 27.5% were within the 35-64-year and 18-34-year age ranges, respectively. Of the respondents, 52.1% and 53.9% told their HCPs they took CBD or products containing THC, respectively. Alcohol was perceived by the large proportion of respondents as unsafe (47.3%), followed by products containing THC (25.2%), anxiety/depression medications (21.7%), CBD (16.1%), and over-the-counter (OTC) pain medications (8.1%). Most combinations were perceived to be unsafe when asked to consider the safety of taking them with other prescription medications. Again, alcohol was perceived to be unsafe by the largest proportion (77.4%), followed by anxiety/depression medications (43.2%), products containing THC (42.6%), CBD (33.4%), and then OTC pain medications (24.8%). Adult-aged Pennsylvanians perceive CBD and THC containing products as safer than alcohol. There is considerable underreporting of cannabinoid use to HCPs, and therefore significant implications for patient safety. It remains vital that HCPs have open communications with their patients about cannabinoid use.

What Would Janeway and Roslin Do?: A Sci-Fi–Watching Library Historian Confronts COVID-19

What Would Janeway and Roslin Do?: A Sci-Fi–Watching Library Historian Confronts COVID-19

Hardware-based microgrid testbed to facilitate development of Distributed Energy Resource (DER) systems for sustainable growth

Distributed energy resource (DER) systems that can combine small-scale conventional energy sources with diverse renewable energy options and storage are ideal for addressing electrification needs of small communities, as well as proactively mitigating negative impacts of fossil energy sources on the environment. It is therefore imperative for academic institutions that wish to play a role in addressing energy challenges for sustainable rural development to be adequately equipped with a hardware testbed for the study and analysis of DER systems. This work features a 45kW hardware testbed installation at Penn State Harrisburg, highlighting its design, construction, and its uses in academic instruction and research. A case study on electric loading characteristics of the network is presented to illustrate its relevance and the potential for its use in preparing a skilled workforce for a new energy economy.

Stormwater Biofilter Media Performance Updates for WinSLAMM: Data Summary for Unit Process Components, Example Calculations and Model Use

This paper focuses on specific information needed to model various aspects of the pollutant retention processes in stormwater biofilters. Updates currently being incorporated in WinSLAMM (Source Loading and Management Model) are building on expanded data from laboratory and field research mostly conducted by Pitt’s research group at the University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, by Dr. Shirley Clark’s research group at Penn State–Harrisburg, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Geological Survey (DNR/USGS). These processes and data can be used in manual calculations or other models. Extensive summaries of these data sources and associated statistical analyses, plus additional references, are included in an online white paper available at the PV & Assoc. website. These tests were conducted to provide the details needed for modeling the performance of biofilters, specifically focusing on: methods to predict treatment flow rates through the media; particulate and associated particulate bound pollutant retention for several particle sizes; maintenance requirements due to sediment clogging and pollutant breakthrough; and retention of filterable pollutants. This multiyear research program also examined issues not commonly described in the biofilter performance literature, such as failure due to excessive salt loadings on media having large amounts of fines, problems associated with compaction of the media, and leaching of previously captured material from the media.

LittleBits: Not Just for the Kids

The Penn State Harrisburg Library used grant funds to add two littleBits Workshop Kits to the circulating library collection. The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Librarian piloted a hands-on activity utilizing littleBits in the college classroom to better support the rapid prototyping skills of engineering students on campus, to promote science literacy to students, and to enhance librarian-student interaction. This article provides an overview of the workshops, which could be duplicated at other institutions, and shares the experiences of three different audiences of college students including challenges, successes, and opportunities for growth and future considerations in utilizing littleBits in an academic setting.

Privilege and Silence in the Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection

ABSTRACT Alice Kahler Marshall (1923–97) was a journalist, researcher, speechwriter, Pennsylvania state employee, and a collector of women’s history. Marshall’s extensive collection, touted as the most comprehensive women’s history collection in the United States, now resides at Archives and Special Collections in the Penn State Harrisburg Library. This article uses the Alice Marshall Women’s History Collection as a case study to critically examine private collections through the lens of intersectionality. Examining the creation and subsequent use of the collection, it considers the following: In collections compiled by private individuals and donated to public repositories, how do factors such as the collector’s privilege and interests and the context in which materials are acquired affect which historical voices are heard or silenced? Can materials produced using these collections truly be “objective”? This article also investigates possible solutions, such as digital collections and ethical action by archivists.

A place to study, a place to pray: Supporting student spiritual needs in academic libraries

Have you stumbled across a student using a tucked-away space in your library to pray? Maybe library staff have seen students using a study carrel, a stairway, or even the stacks. Perhaps students requested a space within the library to use for prayer or meditation, and now you provide a permanent space.At the Penn State-Harrisburg and Abington Libraries, we’ve witnessed students practicing their spirituality with whatever space is available or convenient. Through conversations with librarians at other Penn State campuses and at libraries across the United States, we discovered that our experiences were more common than we anticipated, regardless of the religious or secular status of the school. A number of academic libraries have transformed library spaces into areas for various spiritual practices to create a welcoming environment for all students, embarking into new user-centered territory.

With Our Powers Combined: Teaming Up with the Writing Center to Improve Information Literacy

Write, Research, Revise (WRR) is a partnership between the Library and the Russell E. Horn Learning Center at Penn State Harrisburg, a campus of The Pennsylvania State University serving approximately 5,000 graduate and undergraduate students. This program provides two-on-one appointments, combining research and writing help for students in freshman-level, introductory writing courses. During WRR, participants have a scheduled appointment with a librarian and a writing tutor to comprehensively workshop nearly-completed research papers. At the appointment, students receive feedback and strategies to improve both the writing and research components of their assignments. Participating students and course faculty responded positively to the program. None of the participants previously utilized individual research assistance from campus librarians, and they indicated a greater willingness to seek help from the library in the future.

Frog and Toad’s ongoing journey: Cooperative acquisition of award-winning children’s and young adult titles at a multicampus university

Two years ago, we reported the beginnings of a collaboration between Education librarians at two locations within Pennsylvania State University Libraries (PSUL): the Education Library at University Park and the Penn State Harrisburg Library. We described our methods of cooperative purchasing of PreK–12 textbooks and instructional materials, which represented substantial costs and challenges to both locations.2 Since then, we have explored additional ways of sharing collection development tasks, while retaining much of the autonomy that librarians within PSUL prize. This article focuses on our efforts with our juvenile literature collections.

About the Authors

About the Authors

Teaching Museum Studies in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries, or, A Tale of Two Courses

ABSTRACT This article uses the lens of teaching museum studies to analyze how museums have changed over a nineteen-year period and how university-based teaching has and might continue to respond to these changes. I compare my current class at Penn State Harrisburg to the one I taught from 1996 to 1999 at George Washington University, focusing on changes in museum audience engagement, technology, and pedagogy. Specific content, as well as activities inside and outside of the classroom, were adapted to the needs of varied student bodies and locales to prepare students to participate in the future of history museums.

Development of a Power Systems Protection Laboratory through University-Industry Partnership

At the 2007 National Science Foundation workshop on ‘The Future Power Engineering Workforce’ participants from US government, academia, and the private sector discussed the looming shortage of power engineering graduates to replace large numbers of projected retirees in the power engineering sector. The group identified the key drivers of this shortage and suggested a series of measures which, if implemented, would add to the ongoing renaissance in power engineering. Some of these measures have been adopted and reflected in the development of a power system protection lab at Penn State Harrisburg. With the support of local utility industry a new lab has been developed that integrates the latest devices and software in the electric utility industry into power systems courses. Instructional modules on key aspects of the new lab are developed to assist both the course instructor and future students enrolled in Power Systems Analysis courses. This paper outlines the facilitation and design process in the development of a modern power engineering laboratory.

The Medical Library Association Guide to Finding Out About Complementary and Alternative Medicine: The Best Print and Electronic Resources

The utilization of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) therapies is a rapidly growing trend. Gregory Crawford, director of the Penn State Harrisburg Library and a doctor of naturopathy, set out to write a comprehensive book on CAM that would be useful to librarians in answering questions and developing collections for CAM. Crawford surpassed this goal by providing a resource that includes authoritative information on a wide variety of therapies and annotated bibliographies with suggestions for print resources, Internet resources, and journals. In addition, the background and history of each therapy and training information enhance the reader's overall understanding of CAM. The introduction to the book explains the growth of CAM therapies and its movement into the mainstream of US health care. The first chapter is an annotated bibliography of general resources. As is the case for the remainder of the book, the list of recommended resources is extensive. Print resources include a complete citation and an in-depth annotation. Crawford points out the audience from health care professionals to the consumer for which the materials are written. General resource titles include Researching Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Mosby's Dictionary of Complementary & Alternative Medicine, and Educational Opportunities in Integrative Medicine. The remaining twenty-three chapters are organized by specific therapy type and are listed in the table of contents. Each of these chapters follows the same format: background and history; primary uses and actions; training; sources for the previous information; and an annotated bibliography divided into print resources, Internet resources, and periodicals, magazines, and journals. The more common complementary and alternative therapies are, of course, included: aromatherapy; chiropractic; herbs, vitamins, minerals, and nutritional supplements; homeopathy; spirituality, religion, and prayer; and therapeutic massage. Some of the less common therapies presented are Alexander technique, ayurveda, Feldenkrais method, flower therapies, Reiki, and tai chi. The coverage of each topic is extensive and complete. As an example of the broad range of each topic, the chapter on therapeutic massage and bodywork begins by discussing the widespread use of massage by various cultures, dating back thousands of years and resurging in the United States in the 1970s. Uses of therapeutic massage along with the formal education and certification required of massage therapists are noted. The annotated bibliography includes forty-four print resources, such as Massage for Beginners and Clinical Massage in the Healthcare Setting. The twenty-one Internet resources include associations, such as the American Massage Therapy Association, and Massage Network, a worldwide directory of massage therapists. Completing the chapter is a listing of seven periodicals on massage. A useful appendix, “Talking with Your Physician about Complementary and Alternative Medicine,” is included with suggestions such as looking to your physician for help in establishing proper dosing for supplements and giving your physician your total health history. The index is a listing of all recommended books, websites, and periodicals—more than 1,000 items in all. The Medical Library Association Guide to Finding Out About Complementary and Alternative Medicine is a highly recommended resource for all librarians and collection development specialists. It would also prove helpful to persons looking to a career in CAM as well as consumers who are interested in supplementing their health care with reliable therapies.

YANKEE LIBRARIAN IN THE DIAMOND CITY:

Research Article| April 01 2011 YANKEE LIBRARIAN IN THE DIAMOND CITY:HANNAH PACKARD JAMES, THE OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY OF WILKES-BARRE, AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY MOVEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA Bernadette A. Lear Bernadette A. Lear Penn State Harrisburg Library Bernadette Lear is Behavioral Sciences and Education Librarian at Penn State's Harrisburg campus. She earned her MLS from Rutgers and is currently a graduate student in Penn State Harrisburg's American Studies program. She is immediate past-chair of the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association and her research focuses on American libraries, librarianship, and reading culture during the Gilded Age and Progressive Era. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies (2011) 78 (2): 123–162. https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.78.2.0123 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Bernadette A. Lear; YANKEE LIBRARIAN IN THE DIAMOND CITY:HANNAH PACKARD JAMES, THE OSTERHOUT FREE LIBRARY OF WILKES-BARRE, AND THE PUBLIC LIBRARY MOVEMENT IN PENNSYLVANIA. Pennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies 1 April 2011; 78 (2): 123–162. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/pennhistory.78.2.0123 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressPennsylvania History: A Journal of Mid-Atlantic Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2011 The Pennsylvania State University2011The Pennsylvania State University Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

The Samaritan's Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor?

Book Review| June 01 2010 The Samaritan's Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor? Deborah Stone. The Samaritan's Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor? New York: Nations Books, 2008. 327 pp. $25.95 cloth. Cynthia Massie Mara Cynthia Massie Mara Penn State Harrisburg Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google J Health Polit Policy Law (2010) 35 (3): 425–429. https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-2010-007 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Permissions Search Site Citation Cynthia Massie Mara; The Samaritan's Dilemma: Should Government Help Your Neighbor?. J Health Polit Policy Law 1 June 2010; 35 (3): 425–429. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/03616878-2010-007 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search Books & JournalsAll JournalsJournal of Health Politics, Policy and Law Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Duke University Press2010 Article PDF first page preview Close Modal Issue Section: Review You do not currently have access to this content.

False Position, Double False Position and Cramer's Rule

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Additional informationNotes on contributorsEugene C. BomanEugene Boman (ecb5@psu.edu) received his Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut in 1993. While in graduate school he began collecting antique slide rules, a hobby which he continued to pursue after he was hired at Penn State's DuBois campus in 1996 and continues today at Penn State's Harrisburg campus which he joined in 2006. He hopes someday to own enough slide rules to require adding a room to his home in which to store his collection. His wife and two daughters are very patient.

Analyzing the Cost-Effectiveness of Using Return Receipt and Address Corrections in Mail Surveys

Mail surveys remain an effective and popular mode of data collection, given the relatively low and decreasing response rates of Web surveys (Sheehan 2001) and the unreliability of e-mail addresses as compared to physical addresses (Crawford et al. 2002; Shannon and Bradshow 2002). This article addresses the implications of using return receipts/address updates to reduce the costs of self-administered mail surveys at Penn State Harrisburg (PSH). We build upon Dillman’s (1991, 2000) widely-used approach of multiple contact surveys to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness and improvement in completion rates using return receipts. We found that having valid addresses has the potential of reducing costs associated with a mail survey (e.g. copy costs, postage, etc.). However, in determining the efficacy of the return receipt method a priori, two features of the survey must be considered: (1) the relative cost between the return receipt and the additional mailings, and (2) the ratio between usable (deliverable) and nonusable (un-deliverable) addresses (see appendix for a model that demonstrates the utility of return receipts). If the ratio of bad-to-good addresses is higher than the cost of the return receipt relative to the cost of additional mailings, then return receipts are cost-effective.

Public Heritage as Program Strength: How Cross-Institutional Partnerships Enhance Penn State Harrisburg's American Studies Program

Public Heritage as Program Strength: How Cross-Institutional Partnerships Enhance Penn State Harrisburg's American Studies Program

Public Heritage as Program Strength: How Cross-Institutional Partnerships Enhance Penn State Harrisburg's American Studies Program

Public Heritage as Program Strength: How Cross-Institutional Partnerships Enhance Penn State Harrisburg's American Studies Program

Book Review : Violence and Non-Violence by Greg Barak.Reviewed by Megan A. Reynolds , Penn State Harrisburg, Harrisburg .

Book Review : Violence and Non-Violence by Greg Barak.Reviewed by Megan A. Reynolds , Penn State Harrisburg, Harrisburg .