Digital Commons Network^™

Design Guidelines For Homeless Shelter And Resource Center Site Plans, Samuel Johnson

All Graduate Reports and Creative Projects, Fall 2023 to Present

Homelessness is one of the most pressing humanitarian issues facing the country today. Lack of affordable housing, among many other complicating factors, have led to many cities scrambling to find both short-, middle-, and long-term solutions to the issue. The Covid-19 pandemic added a disruption in services, critical record-keeping, and data-gathering, which has further confounded experts looking for an effective path forward. As it stands, there is a significant gap in academic research addressing best practices for shelter site design, particularly as it relates to landscape. The role of landscape and greenspace within and around a shelter is not well …

Evaluating The Effects Of Ketamine On Cognitive Flexibility In Rats Using A Probabilistic Reversal Learning Task, Anthony N. Nist

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Depression is one of the most debilitating and widespread mental health conditions in the world today. Drugs that are traditionally prescribed to combat depression are flawed in several ways, and because of this, new treatments are needed. One drug that seems capable of overcoming the limitations of traditional antidepressants is ketamine. In clinical research, a single dose of ketamine can significantly reduce symptoms of depression quickly, its effects may last for weeks to months, and its side effects appear to be limited and relatively harmless. However, clinical research is ongoing, and more research is needed to fully understand ketamine's beneficial …

Relative Hepatotoxocity, Carcinogenicity, And Toxicogenomics Of Select Dehydropyrrolizidine Alkaloids In Mice, Michael J. Clayton

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloids are arguably the most important plant derived toxins in terms of impact on human and animal health. Dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloids are a large group of chemically related compounds found in 3% of flowering plants worldwide. Human exposure occurs from ingestion of herbal products including teas supplements or contaminated grain. Animals are exposed through contaminated feed or grazing. There are at least 350 identified toxic PAs, from more than 6,000 plants. The toxins primarily cause liver damage, but some are proven to cause cancer. Indidvidual dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloids vary in their toxic effects. Riddelliine is the only dehydropyrrolizidine alkaloid with extensive …

Enhancing Efficiency Of The Nutrition Education For Utah Refugees, Habiba Ali Nur

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

Refugees face many challenges related to obtaining and preparing adequate and culturally acceptable and desirable foods in their resettlement communities. These challenges often lead to risk of food insecurity and chronic diseases. A review of literature identified the existing delivery strategies and highlighted the need for nutrition education tailored to the refugees’ conditions. This study identified some of the barriers that refugees face, including the English language, transportation, finding items in grocery stores, availability of ingredients and equipment needed for cooking, affordability of food and budgeting. It also highlighted participants’ preference for having nutrition education.

To overcome these challenges, the …

Dominant Cognitive Strategy In Aphantasia, Sarah N. Pope

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Fall 2023 to Present

The purpose of this research was to explore the impact on thinking when an individual is not able to "see with a mind's eye." This is known as aphantasia and is the reduction or absence of visual imagery, which can have large impacts on problem solving and remembering one's own past. The current study examines these impacts by exploring the different ways in which thinking may occur, verbal-analytical, visual imagery, spatial imagery, and how a one's dominant thinking strategy affects performance on a paired work task, a mental rotation task, and an object memory task. Comparing those with typical imagery …

Reaction Time Under Limited Vision With Cognitive Challenge In Individuals With Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Hsuan Bonny Lu

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) rupture is a common sports injury. ACL reconstruction (ACLR) is a necessary treatment for individuals to return to competitive sports. However, a high rate of secondary injury occurs when individuals return to sport. Past research has shown that ACLR impairs physical performance, including reduction of force generate against the floor under the injured leg, changes in the gait pattern, and a loss of knee stability. While structural changes following ACL injury can leave the knee joint less stable, neurophysiological changes following ACL injury represent one potentially important mechanism underlying the performance deficits. Healthy individuals rely …

Patient-Therapist Congruence On Aspects Of The Therapeutic Alliance In Psychotherapy For Medically Unexplained Symptoms, Sarah Daehler

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Medically unexplained symptoms (MUS) are physical symptoms that cannot be explained or are not sufficiently explained by medical examination. These symptoms most typically present as pain or other discomfort, and are associated with significant psychological distress, healthcare utilization, and disability. Both psychologists and medical professionals have struggled to treat this population, and MUS patients have noted their dissatisfaction with the care they receive. The present study analyzed a sample of 174 patient-therapist dyads to explore the role of congruence, or agreement, on aspects of the therapeutic alliance in therapy for MUS as congruence research has not yet been conducted in …

Relationships Between Muscle Characteristics And Step Outcomes In Young And Old Adults, Kareem Abubukker

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

Background: Falls are a primary cause of mortality and morbidity in older adults. In an effort to assess falls, a number of studies have measured neurological, biomechanical, and neuromuscular function in relation to fall risk. Despite efforts, falls continue to affect the older adult population leading to subsequent impaired mobility and function. Multiple factors contribute to fall risk among older adults, however, a factor that has shown a consistent relationship with the prevalence of future falls is reduced muscle characteristics. Moreover, the ability to rapidly accelerate a limb, as captured by rate of power development (RPD), rate of velocity development …

Ethical Issues With Schizophrenia Research And Treatment, Chloé Brogdon

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Schizophrenia is a complex and debilitating mental disorder that affects millions of individuals worldwide. Current medical science is rapidly growing in its understanding of this illness. As researchers and practitioners seek to better understand and treat this condition from a medical and physiological standpoint, it is crucial that ethical implications of research and treatment approaches are fully considered and prioritized. This project investigated the nature and scope of schizophrenia as an illness in order to delve into ethical issues with current research and treatment approaches. Some of the ethical issues identified and analyzed include issues with informed consent, stigmatization, and …

Prefrontal Activation During Inhibition Of A Balance Recovery Step, Ezinne Abugu

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

The ability to quickly step is an important strategy to avoid a fall. However, real-world settings often constrain a stepping path. Such constraints necessitate response inhibition to prevent an inappropriate step and select a new course of action to ultimately recover balance. The present study investigated neural mechanisms that underlie this ability to stop a highly automatic balance recovery step. In the field of cognitive neuroscience, response inhibition has typically been researched using focal hand reaction tasks performed by seated participants. This approach combined with neuroimaging has revealed a neural stopping network, which includes the right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (right …

Speech Intelligibility Assessment: Predicting “Noncompliant” Listener Behavior, Briggs Kroff

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Purpose: When researching speech intelligibility among people with dysarthria, convenience sampling has typically been used to recruit listeners. A new online crowdsourcing method, Mechanical Turk (MTurk), results in ecologically valid results, but outlier results are often removed from the analysis and considered "noncompliant". This study aims to examine whether there is a relationship between age, gender, speech/language/hearing impairment, and whether someone is "noncompliant".

Methods: 16 speakers, both with and without dysarthria, were recorded while they read prewritten sentences. Research participants found through MTurk then listened to the sentences and transcribed them. They also were asked questions including their …

Evidence-Based Approaches To Lowering Uti Rates In Skilled Nursing Facilities: A Review Of The Literature And Application To A Local Skilled Nursing Home, Hailey Griffin

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The purpose of this paper may be divided into two parts. The first part was a literature review that sought to determine the most common risk factors for developing a urinary tract infection in nursing homes, as well as to identify evidence-based practice interventions for decreasing UTI rates within that specific patient population. The second part consisted of a case study that sought to apply the principles gathered from the literature review to the UTI logs of a deidentified local nursing home. It was found that indwelling urinary catheters and age are the two most common precipitating risk factors for …

County Characteristics And Opioid Mortality Rates In The United States, Baksun Sung

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Opioid overdose deaths are not equally distributed across the United States. While some areas have a less severe problem with opioid abuse, others face serious challenges, which are affected by various social factors. To address that question, in Chapter 1, I investigate how opioid mortality trends differ according to opioid types, race, and region to identify susceptible populations and areas. In Chapter 1, I contend that synthetic opioid is a main trigger for the current opioid epidemic and that the epidemic is concentrated among blacks and in the Eastern United States. Next, the following studies examine how varying social vulnerabilities …