Digital Commons Network^™

Voluntary Simplicity: An Exploration Through Text Analysis, Apollo Demierel

Barowsky School of Business | Faculty Scholarship

Overconsumption poses severe ethical problems and causes harm to the environment. Today many individuals change their consumption practices and actively limit their overall consumption due to ethical and environmental concerns. This article focuses on voluntary simplicity, a sustainable lifestyle phenomenon that comprises environment-friendly consumption practices as an innate characteristic. This paper offers a fresh and nuanced understanding of voluntary simplicity through the lens of social cognitive theory (SCT) and by examining textual content generated by voluntary simplifiers on Facebook. Five thousand three hundred thirty-six Facebook posts and comments were scrapped and examined using sentiment analysis, associative networks and cluster analysis. …

Umuwi: Coming Home: Decolonizing Filipinx-American Identity, Theresa Joyce Esmejarda Arocena

Communication & Media Studies | Senior Theses

This study investigates Filipinx-American identity using contextual understandings of decolonization as a conceptual framework. We will explore some of the long-term consequences of colonization on identity in the Filipinx-American community, including labeling theory’s current psychologies within the community, the formation of certain ideologies, and the attempts to reconcile transgenerational trauma and dismantle negative ideologies within the community. Seven participants were selected through non-probability sampling and were interviewed individually over Zoom video conferencing. Participant interviews revealed five interconnected themes regarding how identity is formed and sustained. Given the complexity of identity, more research is needed to explain other nuances of the …

The Link Between Heart Disease In Low Socioeconomic Communities In America, Khristopher Chea

Nursing | Senior Theses

As a future medical professional in the healthcare field, we continue to see patients admitted for cardiovascular issues. Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) remain the leading cause of mortality among adults living in the U.S. despite advances in treatment throughout the past century. A number of risk factors such as hypertension, obesity, smoking, and physical inactivity contribute to the significant rise of cardiovascular disease. Research data suggests that there is correlation between cardiovascular disease, low socioeconomic status, and diet. According to the American Phycological Association socioeconomic status is measured by income, educational status, and occupation, and has been shown to be closely …

The Effects Of Moderate-Severe Plaque Psoriasis On Patient Well-Being And Prevention Of Flares, Glenn Devera

Nursing | Senior Theses

Psoriasis is a chronic skin condition that is indicated by red, patchy and scaly skin that can be painful when irritated. Patients with psoriasis have an increased risk for a number of chronic diseases. Despite the expansion of treatments for moderate-to-severe psoriasis over the last decade, patients may still find that treatment strategies are not as successful, leaving them dissatisfied with their treatments. A relationship built upon trust between the nurse and the patient diagnosed with psoriasis may serve to help ensure optimal care. A comprehensive literature review was performed and found that best practices for patient management need to …

Prenatal Care For Undocumented Women In The United States, Cristina Mendoza

Nursing | Senior Theses

Background: While prenatal care is an essential preventive service, access is not equal. Undocumented immigrants in the United States face many barriers that prevent them from accessing primary health care needs, including adequate prenatal care. Throughout the United States, standard Medicaid provides coverage for all pregnancy-related care, encompassing the antenatal period, childbirth, and postpartum. However, undocumented women do not qualify to receive these services. Many studies showed that lack of prenatal care for undocumented pregnant women jeopardizes their health and their neonates’ health by increasing their risk of complications related to pregnancy and birth. Objective: To bring awareness of the …

The Youthful Pandemic, Brook Sahlemariam

Nursing | Senior Theses

This paper attempts to examine the neurological, physical, and societal effects of e-cigarette use among youth and young-adults in North America. Furthermore, the paper investigates the parallels between e-cigarette users, tobacco users, and dual users in regard to behavioral patterns, reasons for use, and age of initiation.

Gut Microbiota And The Development Of Type 2 Diabetes, Janet Ryan

Nursing | Senior Theses

This paper explores the question: Can interventions focusing on healing the gut microbiome of a prediabetic patient prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes? Diabetes is a major health problem that is becoming the biggest epidemic of the 21^st century. Efforts to derail the progression of disrupted blood glucose metabolism are often futile leaving patients frustrated with a lifelong burden of disease management. Recent studies suggest that collectively the gut microbiome acts as an endocrine organ and that injury to this “organ” can lead to dysfunctional glucose regulation. A comprehensive literature review revealed that further studies are …

Is High-Intensity Focused Electromagnetic Field Stimulation More Effective Than Pelvic Floor Muscle Training In Treating Stress Urinary Incontinence In Women?, Monica Friedman

Nursing | Senior Theses

INTRODUCTION: Stress urinary incontinence, an involuntary loss of urine during physical exertion or effort, affects a disproportionately large number of women worldwide. Although pelvic floor muscle training is the first-line treatment for urinary incontinence, long term adherence is low, and therefore, is usually not an effective treatment. Medications may be costly and aren’t always effective; surgery is invasive and often not appropriate. This condition warrants further studies to find more effective solutions.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether or not focused electromagnetic field therapy is more effective than pelvic floor muscle training in treating stress urinary continence in women.

PROPOSAL FOR FURTHER …

Politics Stops At Nature's Edge: The Need For Bipartisanship In Environmental Policymaking, Allison Kustic

Political Science & International Studies | Senior Theses

Climate change is an existential threat to humans and everyday life, yet in recent years Congress has been unable to pass comprehensive environmental policy that addresses climate change. Collaboration between both parties in Congress is often necessary for passing legislation. There was a time when bipartisanship was common, and Congress passed significant environmental legislation. In particular, this happened during the 1970s with the Clean Water Act in 1972, the Endangered Species Act in 1973, the Safe Drinking Water Act in 1974, and the Toxic Substances Control Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in 1976. However, since 1994, increased polarization …

Neurocognitive Markers Of Passive Suicidal Ideation In Late-Life Depression, Joshua T. Jordan, Christina F. Chick, Camarin E. Rolle, Nathan Hantke, Christine E. Gould, Julie Lutz, Makoto Kawai, Isabelle Cotto, Rosy Karna, Sophia Pirog, Michelle Berk, Keith Sudheimer, Ruth O'Hara, Sherry A. Beaudreau

Psychology | Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: (1) To delineate whether cognitive flexibility and inhibitory ability are neurocognitive markers of passive suicidal ideation (PSI), an early stage of suicide risk in depression and (2) to determine whether PSI is associated with volumetric differences in regions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in middle-aged and older adults with depression.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: University medical school.

Participants: Forty community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults with depression from a larger study of depression and anxiety (NIMH R01 MH091342-05 PI: O'Hara).

Measurements: Psychiatric measures were assessed for the presence of a DSM-5 depressive disorder and PSI. A neurocognitive battery assessed cognitive …

Spatiotemporal Trends Of Cutaneous Leishmaniasis In Costa Rica., Brett R. Bayles, Andria E Rusk, Maria Alvarez Pineda, Bobin Chen, Keira Lee Dagy, Tyler Hummel, Kira Kuwada, Serena Martin, Carlos Faerron Guzmán

Global Public Health | Faculty Scholarship

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) remains an important neglected tropical disease in Costa Rica, which has one of the largest burdens of this disease in Latin America.

METHODS: We identified district-level hotspots of CL from 2006 to 2017 and conducted temporal analysis to identify where hotspots were increasing across the country.

RESULTS: Clear patterns of CL risk were detected, with persistent hotspots located in the Caribbean region, where risk was also found to be increasing over time in some areas.

CONCLUSIONS: We identify spatiotemporal hotspots, which may be used in support of the leishmaniasis plan of action …

Vegan Diet - Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes, Satenik Melkonyan

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

Globally, plant-based diets are continuing to increase with knowledge that such diets may prevent coronary heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. In the United States, vegan diets have seen recent growth with the vegan population growing past 1.6 million. In simple terms, vegans refrain from consuming any animal products such as meat, eggs, dairy products, as well as other animal-derived substances [1]. Vegan diet has several known risks, as it exposes its participants to various nutritional deficiencies such as proteins, iron, vitamin D, calcium, iodine, omega-3, and vitamin B12 [2]. These nutrients are typically found in a balanced diet that includes …

Efficacy Of Platelet Rich Plasma Injections Vs. Topical Minoxidil In Androgenic Alopecia, Scott Sproul

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

No abstract provided.

To Teach, Delight, And Inspire. Experiences With Kim Sowol’S Jindallaekkot (Azaleas) As A Printed Facsimile, Printed Scholarly Edition, Web-Based Reading Text, And Virtual Reality Experience, Wayne De Fremery

Barowsky School of Business | Faculty Scholarship

Here we document how college students responded to a canonical book of Korean poems, Kim Sowol’s 1925 Jindallaekkot (Azaleas), presented in a variety of formats: as part of a 2014 printed facsimile, a 2007 printed scholarly edition, a reading text articulated as a web page on a tablet, and a radical refiguration as a virtual reality forest. We asked students to describe if they enjoyed and felt inspired by their encounters with Kim Sowol’s poetry in these different formats. We also asked if they felt their experiences were educational and if they engendered a desire to share Kim Sowol’s poetry …

Innovative Solutions Using Online Interactive, Adaptive Technologies To Promote Well-Being And Resilience In Healthcare Providers And Students Amidst The Chaos Caused By Covid-19, Zilola Khashimova

Physician Assistant Studies | Faculty Conference Presentations

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting health care institutions and is disrupting the training of future healthcare providers at a time when it is more important than ever to ensure that the educators and students have access to high-quality educational materials and technologies to ensure trainee preparedness for clinical and global health challenges. During this disruption, healthcare teachers are feeling a profound professional loss and burnout due to the challenges of losing their familiar means of teaching and adapting to totally online course delivery. Teachers also struggle to motivate their students through two layers of computer screens. To meet …

Innovative Solutions Using Online Interactive, Adaptive Technologies To Promote Well-Being And Resilience In Healthcare Educators And Students Amidst The Chaos Caused By Covid-19, Zilola Khashimova

Physician Assistant Studies | Faculty Conference Presentations

No abstract provided.

“The Unnecessary Gendering Of Everything”: Gender Diverse Adults Speak Back To Their K-12 Schools, Katherine Lewis

Faculty Authored Books and Book Contributions

Across the globe, students are speaking up, walking out, and marching for social and ecological justice. Despite deficit discourses about students, youth are using their voice and agency to call forth a better world. Will educators respond to this call to stand with students in relational solidarity as co-constructors of a new tomorrow? What is possible when teachers and students engage together in new ways? Pedagogies of With-ness: Students, Teachers, Voice and Agency offers insight into the transformative possibilities of education when enacted as the art of being with. Driven by student voices and their experiences of marginalization, this …

A Novel Bioaugmentation Technique Effectively Increases The Skin-Associated Microbial Diversity Of Captive Eastern Hellbenders, Erin K. Kenison, Obed Hernandez-Gomez, Rod N. Williams

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Faculty Scholarship

Captive environments are maintained in hygienic ways that lack free-flowing microbes found in animals’ natural environments. As a result, captive animals often have depauperate host-associated microbial communities compared to conspecifics in the wild and may have increased disease susceptibility and reduced immune function. Eastern hellbenders (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis) have suffered precipitous population declines over the past few decades. To bolster populations, eastern hellbenders are reared in captivity before being translocated to the wild. However, the absence of natural microbial reservoirs within the captive environment diminishes the diversity of skin-associated bacteria on hellbender skin and may negatively influence their ability to …

Doing Nonbinary Gender: The Occupational Experience Of Nonbinary Persons In The Environment, Karen Mccarthy, Meghan Ballog, Maria Mayela Carranza, Katherine Lee

Occupational Therapy | Faculty Scholarship

Understanding the effect of the environment is fundamental to grasping the occupational experiences of nonbinary individuals. Current research in occupational science addresses the occupations of the transgender population but often fails to distinguish between the binary and nonbinary experience. There is an absence of occupational science research that solely focuses on the nonbinary experience. This study focuses on nonbinary individuals and aims to illuminate the environmental factors that support or hinder occupational engagement for nonbinary individuals. Using a descriptive qualitative research design, we conducted two interviews per participant and photo-elicitation. Data analysis resulted in three themes: binary environments and safe …

Transition In Occupations Of Refugees During Resettlement, Karen Mccarthy, Jacqueline-Elizabeth Cantrell, Jennifer Daine, Kimberley K. Banuelos, Adam Chan

Occupational Therapy | Faculty Scholarship

Background: Human displacement is a social problem that has occupational implications. There is a significant gap in the research focusing on the refugee experience and the impact of this experience on their occupations as they transition to living in the US. This study seeks to capture the experience of refugees and the impact of this transition to the US on a broad array of occupations.

Method: This research is a qualitative study. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews with two participants who have legal status as refugees living in the US.

Results: Thematic analysis generated three themes: …

Utilizing On-Line, Interactive, Adaptive Technology In Nursing Education, Zilola Khashimova

Physician Assistant Studies | Faculty Conference Presentations

The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting health care institutions and is disrupting the training of future nurses. It is more important than ever to ensure that the educators and students have access to high-quality educational materials and technologies to ensure trainee preparedness for clinical and global health challenges. To help meet this challenge, online tools have become a viable option with the recent development of information technology. E-learning can be used to enhance a classroom course, or as a stand-alone course. These online tools include online labs, videos, high resolution images (X-ray, CT-scan, histology), cadaver labs and adaptive, interactive technology such …

Utilizing On-Line, Interactive, Adaptive Technology In Nursing Education, Zilola Khashimova

Physician Assistant Studies | Faculty Conference Presentations

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting health care institutions and is disrupting the training of future nurses. It is more important than ever to ensure that the educators and students have access to high-quality educational materials and technologies to ensure trainee preparedness for clinical and global health challenges. To help meet this challenge, online tools have become a viable option with the recent development of information technology. E-learning can be used to enhance a classroom course, or as a stand-alone course. These online tools include online labs, videos, high resolution images (X-ray, CT-scan, histology), cadaver labs and adaptive, interactive …

Dominican Scholar: Approaching 1 Million Downloads, Michael Pujals

Archbishop Alemany Library | Faculty Scholarship

Dominican Scholar (DS) is the institutional repository for Dominican University of California; it acts as an essential platform for:

• Advancing the Dominican Experience by collecting, preserving, and making accessible student signature work and faculty research, in order to maximize visibility and impact of the work created by our community.
• Sharing our scholarship freely, both locally and internationally, in order to equal access to information and to give back to the community.

DS started in September 2014 with 80 masters theses collected as electronic documents from 2012. As of September 10, 2020 it contains 3,786 masters, senior and honors theses, faculty …

Sexting Among Adolescents: Examining The Association Between Sexting And Self-Esteem, Hanaah Fannin

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

Purpose: This paper provides a systematic review of the published literature examining the association between sexting and self-esteem in adolescents. It further attempts to identify gaps in the current literature and provide recommendations for future research as well as patient care and education.

Methods: Electronic databases (CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Iceberg, and PsycINFO) were searched with publication dates between January 1, 2014 and September 30, 2019. The keywords used to conduct the search were: sexting, adolescents, self-esteem, youth, and teenagers. All records were screened to meet established criteria. The inclusion criteria included the following: a) articles written in the …

More On Covid-19 In Immune-Mediated Inflammatory Diseases., Farren B. S. Briggs, Milena A. Gianfrancesco, Michaela F. George

Global Public Health | Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Systematic Review Of Interventions For Family Caregivers Who Care For Patients With Advanced Cancer At Home., Soojung Ahn, Rafael D. Romo, Cathy L. Campbell

Nursing | Faculty Scholarship

OBJECTIVE: To examine the characteristics of interventions to support family caregivers of patients with advanced cancer.

METHODS: Five databases (CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library) were searched for English language articles of intervention studies utilizing randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental designs, reporting caregiver-related outcomes of interventions for family caregivers caring for patients with advanced cancer at home.

RESULTS: A total of 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. Based on these studies, the types of interventions were categorized into psychosocial, educational, or both. The characteristics of interventions varied. Most interventions demonstrated statistically significant results of reducing psychological …

Genetic And Metabolomic Architecture Of Variation In Diet Restriction-Mediated Lifespan Extension In Drosophila., Kelly Jin, Kenneth A. Wilson, Jennifer N. Beck, Christopher S. Nelson, George W. Brownridge Iii, Benjamin R. Harrison, Danijel Djukovic, Daniel Raftery, Rachel B. Brem, Shiqing Yu, Mathias Drton, Ali Shojaie, Pankaj Kapahi, Daniel Promislow

Natural Sciences and Mathematics | Student Professional Publications

In most organisms, dietary restriction (DR) increases lifespan. However, several studies have found that genotypes within the same species vary widely in how they respond to DR. To explore the mechanisms underlying this variation, we exposed 178 inbred Drosophila melanogaster lines to a DR or ad libitum (AL) diet, and measured a panel of 105 metabolites under both diets. Twenty four out of 105 metabolites were associated with the magnitude of the lifespan response. These included proteinogenic amino acids and metabolites involved in α-ketoglutarate (α-KG)/glutamine metabolism. We confirm the role of α-KG/glutamine synthesis pathways in the DR response through genetic …

Evaluation Of New Dietary Guideline Recommendations On Red Meat Consumption, Dalia Azizi

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

Objective: To evaluate the strength of evidence of the studies used to formulate the new dietary guideline recommendations published by the “Annals of Medicine” that encourage continuation of red meat consumption which contradicts existing guidelines.

Methods: The studies used to formulate the dietary guidelines were analyzed for their quality of evidence and compared to established existing evidence that associates meat consumption with negatives health outcomes

Results: Upon further evaluation, many biases and limitations to these studies exist and the quality of the evidence is low

Conclusion: The new dietary guidelines published by the “Annals of Internal Medicine …

Adverse Effects Of Cell Phone Use During Pregnancy, Stephanie Santos

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

This study explored the possible adverse outcomes of cell phone use during the prenatal period. Previous literature has lacked in the analysis of all the potential adverse outcomes of cell phone use during pregnancy. This gap in literature, is needed to determine if a reduction in cell phone usage during pregnancy should be recommended in future clinical practices. For my research, I reviewed three published studies that have been done on cell phone use during pregnancy. These studies include the potential adverse effects in causing ADHD, developmental milestone delays, and low birth weights in children. Of the three studies analyzed, …

The Benefits Of Intermittent Fasting On Patients With Diabetes Mellitus, Alissa Guinto

Physician Assistant Studies | Student Articles

Diabetes mellitus is the 7^th leading cause of death in the United States, comprising about 10% of the population. With intermittent fasting gaining popularity in the media as a method to lose weight and control chronic illness, patients with diabetes would likely turn to any of the fasting methods in order to better manage their disease. However, there is a paucity of information to support whether intermittent fasting is an effective method to control diabetes, in conjunction with lifestyle modifications and anti-diabetic pharmacotherapy. This review sought to identify clinically relevant human studies that provide evidence that intermittent fasting is …