Digital Commons Network^™

"Maine Office Of Behavioral Health’S Section 17 Self-Direction Pilot Program: Executive Summary", Rachel M. Gallo Mph, Sarah Goan, Emma Schwartz

Publications

The Self-Directed Care (SDC) pilot program in Maine tested a service delivery model that allows individuals with mental health needs to manage a personal budget, supported by a trained broker to purchase goods and services that best support their recovery goals. Funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, the Maine Office of Behavioral Health implemented the nine-month pilot in three counties, partnering with Alpha One, Maine’s Center for Independent Living, to provide reloadable debit cards for participant purchases. The program aimed to promote autonomy, satisfaction, and stability among adults receiving Section 17 Medicaid services while informing decisions about the model’s …

"Maine Office Of Behavioral Health’S Section 17 Self-Direction Pilot Program: Evaluation Report", Rachel M. Gallo Mph, Sarah Goan, Emma Schwartz, Aaron Rose

Publications

Maine’s Office of Behavioral Health conducted a nine-month pilot of Self-Directed Care to support adults with serious mental illness in Cumberland, Hancock, and Washington Counties. The program allowed eligible participants receiving MaineCare Section 17 services to manage a personal budget, guided by trained Support Brokers from Alpha One, to purchase goods and services that would advance their recovery goals. The pilot aimed to increase participant choice, autonomy, and flexibility in managing their mental health needs. Support Brokers worked closely with participants and Case Managers to develop and approve individualized purchase plans, monitor expenditures, and ensure alignment with treatment objectives. A …

Statistical Investigations Of Strategies In The Game Ecosystem, Dylan Li

Master's Theses

This work provides a probability-based analysis of strategies in the board game Ecosystem. Ecosystem is a turn-based multiplayer tiling game, where players take turns picking a wildlife card from a limited pool of cards then placing that card on their personal 4x5 grid. The objective of the game is to place the wildlife cards to maximize your score, as each card’s scoring condition depends on the presence or absence of certain cards surrounding it. The goal of this project is to determine optimal strategies for tiling your grid using techniques such as simulation to find optimal grid arrangements and clustering …

Bandwagon Behavior In Major League Baseball, Daniel E. Erro

Master's Theses

This study investigates “bandwagon” behavior among Major League Baseball (MLB) fans by analyzing Google search interest data from 2004 to 2019. Drawing on publicly available information from Google Trends, the analysis explores how fluctuations in search activity align with team performance during both the regular season and postseason. Hierarchical linear models are used to estimate expected levels of fan interest based on team performance and market characteristics. Deviations from these expectations during the regular season are interpreted as evidence of bandwagon or anti-bandwagon behavior. A drop-off in interest following playoff elimination is also examined to capture shifts in fan attention …

Babies, Babes, And Bayes: Modeling Mother-Infant Feedings With Bayesian Multilevel Hidden Markov Models, Zachary G. Felix

Master's Theses

Understanding the interaction between mother and baby during feeding is critical for the long-term development health of the baby. Overfeeding can lead to later obesity, while underfeeding can lead to malnutrition. In a recent study, the behaviors exhibited by mother-infant dyads across multiple ages of infants have been observed and coded according to the Baby Behaviors when Satiated (BABES) coding scheme. However, creating models using the data obtained from this coding is no simple task since the data coding is continuous, multivariate, and longitudinal in nature. The specific model utilized for these data is a hidden Markov model, since there …

Topodino: Self-Supervised Topological Representation Learning For Neuronal Morphologies, Yasser Binbisher

Master's Theses

Neuronal cell types are categorized by transcriptomic identity, yet their morphological heterogeneity defies this classification. In response, researchers have adopted unsupervised graph representation learning as a tool to reveal morphological variation within single-class transcriptomic types. However, the complex geometry of neuronal morphology—especially long axons and dense dendrites—challenges graph neural networks, which struggle with message propagation across extended structures. To mitigate this, current approaches enforce sub-sampling on neuronal graphs and omit axons entirely, sacrificing critical biological features for computational efficiency. To overcome this trade-off, this thesis introduces TopoDINO, a self-supervised, topology-aware representation learning model designed to preserve the full hierarchical organization …

How Argentina Won The 2022 Fifa Men's World Cup: A Data Story, Aniruddha Parthasarathy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project analyzes Argentina’s 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup win using open-source football (soccer) data. The project evaluates the team’s performance at a micro-level across three domains: without possessing the ball, possessing the ball and the team’s in-game management tactics. A statistical framework, i.e., multiple linear regression modeling, was used to identify the five key defensive actions influencing the Argentinian team’s intensity of pressure applied, and visualized by heatmaps and time-segmented plots. More specifically, an Expected Threat (xT) analysis quantified the threat or danger from passes and progressive carries (moving the ball at least 10 meters), revealing that Lionel Messi’s …

Data Driven Analysis Of Samara Seed Kinematics And Dynamics, Shashwat Sparsh

Master's Theses

Samara Seeds are a class of fruit most famously belonging to the Acer species and are characterized by their single-bladed geometry and their auto-rotation response during descent. This steady-state auto-rotation response is the subject of aerodynamic analysis which aim to quantify the performance. The period prior to the beginning of steady-state auto-rotation is classified as the transition regime and has not been the subject of intense scrutiny.

This thesis employs a data-driven approach to analyzing the kinematic and dynamic response of these seeds during both the transition and auto-rotation stages of flight to quantify the performance with respect to the …

Welfare Implication Of Alternative Tax Rates Adjustment Policy In Nigeria: A Dsge Analysis, Umar B. Ibrahim, Isah F. Abubakar

CBN Journal of Applied Statistics (JAS)

This study sets out to determine the desirable policy adjustment in the tax rate for Nigeria that ensures the least welfare cost. A calibrated small open-economy New Keynesian Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (NKDSGE) model of the Nigerian economy is applied to achieve this objective. Within this framework, we examined the impact of an increase in value-added tax (VAT) rate from 7.5 to 15 percent on key macroeconomic variables relative to the impact of an increase in company income tax (CIT) rate from 30 to 35 percent on macroeconomic variables. Furthermore, we examined the welfare costs of the increases in the …

A Bayesian Approach To Grappa Parallel Fmri Image Reconstruction Increases Snr And Power Of Task Detection, Chase J. Sakitis, Daniel B. Rowe

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

In fMRI, capturing brain activation during a task is dependent on how quickly k-space arrays are obtained. Acquiring full k-space arrays, which are reconstructed into images using the inverse Fourier transform (IFT), that make up volume images can take a considerable amount of scan time. Undersampling k-space reduces the acquisition time but results in aliased, or “folded,” images. GeneRalized Autocalibrating Partial Parallel Acquisition (GRAPPA) is a parallel imaging technique that yields full images from subsampled arrays of k-space. GRAPPA uses localized interpolation weights, which are estimated prescan and fixed over time, to fill in the missing …

Radiation-Induced Cardiotoxicity In Hypertensive Salt-Sensitive Rats: A Feasibility Study, Dayeong An, Alison Kriegel, Suresh N. Kumar, Heather A. Himburg, Brian Fish, S. Klawikowski, Daniel B. Rowe, Marek Lenarczyk, John Baker, El Sayed H. Ibrahim

Mathematical and Statistical Science Faculty Research and Publications

Radiation therapy (RT) plays a vital role in managing thoracic cancers, though it can lead to adverse effects, including significant cardiotoxicity. Understanding the risk factors like hypertension in RT is important for patient prognosis and management. A Dahl salt-sensitive (SS) female rat model was used to study hypertension effect on RT-induced cardiotoxicity. Rats were fed a high-salt diet to induce hypertension and then divided into RT and sham groups. The RT group received 24 Gy of whole-heart irradiation. Cardiac function was evaluated using MRI and blood pressure measurements at baseline, 8 weeks and 12 weeks post-RT. Histological examination was performed …

Investigating Social Presence In Collaborative Keys For Asynchronous Courses, Lily P. Cook

Master's Theses

Asynchronous virtual courses have become increasingly popular in the years following the global Covid-19 pandemic. These courses, with no set meeting schedule, offer flexibility to both students and instructors, but pose challenges for developing a collaborative learning environment. The Community of Inquiry framework (Rourke et al., 1999) identifies three essential components in an online course necessary to foster a collaborative environment- teaching presence, cognitive presence, and social presence. Social presence is especially impacted in asynchronous learning settings, which presents challenges for the students to display their personalities and connect with the community. This study investigates Collaborative Keys (CKs), structured collaborative …

Opening The Black Box With Regal: A Novel Explainable Ai Approach To Uncover Key Predictors In Search And Rescue Success, Brandon Hyunjun Kim

Master's Theses

The outcome of a search and rescue (SAR) operation is influenced by a complex, non-linear interplay among numerous factors, including geographic context, subject-specific characteristics, and environmental conditions. The high dimensionality and intricate dependencies among these variables pose significant challenges to traditional exploratory modeling approaches, limiting their ability to uncover meaningful patterns and relationships associated with mission success. This study introduces Rules Based Explanations for Generated neighborhoods Around Localized cases (REGAL), a novel adaptation of the Local Interpretable Model-agnostic Explanations (LIME) framework to explain deep multimodal neural networks and what key features it assesses to determine search and rescue success. REGAL …

Clusters, Trends, And Choices: Feature Selection In Interactive Statistical Graphics, Dylan Le

Master's Theses

Exploratory data analysis (EDA) is a method for uncovering the structure and key characteristics of data, often through the use of statistical graphics. These visual tools can reveal patterns and trends, and their effectiveness can be enhanced through interactivity. By enabling users to filter data, zoom, and toggle visual features, interactive plots can accelerate and enrich the EDA process. This study extends a previous graphical study by incorporating an interactive framework. Using a statistical lineup protocol with two target patterns (a linear trend and a clustering trend) participants interacted with plots by toggling various aesthetic features, including cluster coloring, ellipses …

Testing For Broad Alternatives In Stratified Contingency Tables, Nan Mi

Dissertations

In medical and social sciences fields, data are measured in terms of discrete categories. The primary question of interest involves the relationship between a set of factors and a set of response variables under studies. Moreover, the distribution of the response variables may be influenced by another set of variables called confounders. The data from such studies are summarized in 3-way tables. The hypothesis we are interested in can be expressed in terms of "no partial association" between the sub-populations and the response levels.

The methods for testing the association or independence in a 2x2 contingency table have been developed, …

Property Testing Ai: An Efficient Frontier, Paul Sopher Lintilhac

Dartmouth College Ph.D Dissertations

In this dissertation, we take a step towards addressing the major problem of a lack of standardized and rigorous approaches to testing and evaluation of AI systems. Taking inspiration from both the fields of Property Testing and Property Based Testing (for programs), we develop a novel taxonomy of partially overlapping classes of properties of AI systems, including simple properties, compound properties, higher order properties, data relation properties, and architecture-utility properties. We argue that this taxonomy categorizes a diverse set of AI traits -- including accuracy, fairness, robustness, monotonicity, point-wise and global privacy properties, sensitivity, and more -- according to the …

Socioeconomic Disparities In Breast Cancer Survival: Examining Potential Mediator Role Of Oncotype Dx(Odx) Test And Stage At Diagnosis Among Hr+/Her2- Breast Cancer Women, Pratibha Shrestha, Qingzhao Yu, Edward S. Peters, Edward Trapido, Mei Chin Hsieh, Tekeda Ferguson, Quyen D. Chu, Xiao Cheng Wu

School of Public Health Faculty Publications

Background: Women with a lower socioeconomic status (SES) have an increased risk of dying from breast cancer (BC) than those with a higher SES. The association of SES with BC survival may be partially mediated by factors such as Oncotype DX (ODX) testing and stage at diagnosis. This study aims to examine SES disparities in survival among HR+/HER2- BC women and to quantify the mediating effects of the ODX test and stage. Methods: We used data from the Louisiana Tumor Registry to identify women aged 20–90 years diagnosed with stage I–II in 2011–2014 and stage I–III in 2015–2017 HR+/HER2- BC …

American Society Of Hematology/International Society On Thrombosis And Haemostasis 2024 Updated Guidelines For Treatment Of Venous Thromboembolism In Pediatric Patients, Paul Monagle, Muayad Azzam, Rachel Bercovitz, Marisol Betensky, Rukhmi Bhat, Tina Biss, Brian Branchford, Leonardo R. Brandão, Anthony K.C. Chan, Vincent E.S. Faustino, Julie Jaffray, Sophie Jones, Hassan Kawtharany, Bryce A. Kerlin, Nicole Kucine, Riten Kumar, Christoph Male, Marie Claude Pelland-Marcotte, Leslie Raffini, Chittalsinh Raulji, Sarah E. Sartain, Clifford M. Takemoto, Cristina Tarango, C. Heleen Van Ommen, Maria C. Velez, Sara K. Vesely, John Wiernikowski, Suzan Williams, Hope P. Wilson, Et Al

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: The American Society of Hematology (ASH) guidelines on treatment of pediatric venous thromboembolism (VTE) were published in 2018. In the last 6 years, there has been a 10-fold increase in the number of children involved in VTE treatment trials. Objective: The ASH Committee on Quality and Guidelines agreed to update the pediatric guidelines in conjunction with the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH). These ASH/ISTH evidence-based guidelines are intended to support patients, clinicians, and other health care professionals in the management of pediatric patients with VTE. Methods: ASH/ISTH formed a multidisciplinary guideline panel to minimize potential bias from …

Mat 301 - Applied Statistics And Data Analysis, Eric Aragundi

Open Educational Resources

Data analysis using standard statistical methods and relevant computer software. Emphasis on real-world data, interpretation, and misinterpretation of computer output.

This syllabus contains open source notebook about data analysis content.

Human Endogenous Retroviruses (Hervs) Associated With Glioblastoma Risk And Prognosis, Harun Mazumder, Hui Yi Lin, Melody Baddoo, Wojciech Gałan, Diana Polania-Villanueva, Chindo Hicks, David Otohinoyi, Francesca Peruzzi, Zbigniew Madeja, Victoria P. Belancio, Erik K. Flemington, Krzysztof Reiss, Monika Rak

School of Medicine Faculty Publications

Emerging evidence suggests expression from human endogenous retrovirus (HERV) loci likely contributes to, or is a biomarker of, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) disease progression. However, the relationship between HERV expression and GBM malignant phenotype is unclear. Applying several in silico analyses based on data from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we derived a locus-specific HERV transcriptome for glioma that revealed 211 HERVs significantly dysregulated in the comparisons of GBM vs. normal brain (NB), GBM vs. low-grade glioma (LGG), and LGG vs. NB. Our analysis supported development of a unique HERV scoring algorithm that segregated GBM, LGG, and NB. Interestingly, lower HERV …

Hybrid Graph-Recurrent Architecture For Citation Recommendation Via Future Embedding Forecasting, Mohammad Ausaf Ali Haqqani

Computer Science and Engineering Theses and Dissertations

The rapid expansion of scientific literature has intensified the challenge of identifying relevant citations, particularly for newly published or under-cited papers. Traditional citation recommendation systems typically model static relationships or respond to past citation activity, offering limited predictive power for emerging works. In response, this thesis presents a temporal modeling framework for citation recommendation that anticipates future scholarly relevance by forecasting the latent representations of academic papers.

Building on prior work that utilized Temporal Graph Networks (TGNs) to model dynamic citation flows, we propose Graph-Time, a hybrid architecture that integrates a Graph Transformer with a GRU-based time series predictor. The …

“Do You Even Lift, Bro?”: Correlates Of Muscle Dysmorphia Symptomatology In Filipino Male University Students, Pamela Paula C. Pioquinto

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Muscle Dysmorphia (MD) is a subtype of Body Dysmorphic Disorder (BDD) and is marked by the desire to increase muscularity and reduce body fat. MD is typically more prevalent among younger male populations, and it often drives comorbid disorders, including substance abuse, eating disorders, and social anxiety. Despite the growing literature on MD, it remains understudied in certain racial/ethnic populations, such as Filipinos. Acculturation, defined as the process in which an individual adopts, acquires, and adapts to a new cultural environment as a result of immigration, influences body image by reshaping an individual’s perceptions of beauty and muscularity standards. Guided …

Associations Of The Medicaid Expansion Policy With Racial/Ethnic Disparities In Breast Cancer Screening And Treatment, James Howard Smith Ii

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Background and Aim. This dissertation examines Medicaid expansion’s effect on breast cancer (BC) screening and treatment disparities in two Medicaid-expanding states (MES) that passed Medicaid expansion (New Jersey and Vermont) relative to two non-expansion states (NES) (Georgia and Wisconsin). It then compares the association of Medicaid expansion to other states that did not undertake this policy on various subgroups, such as minorities by race and ethnicity, income, and age groups. Black women still bear significant BC disparities due to untimely screenings, treatments, and deaths. Therefore, it is critical to investigate how socioeconomic status influences racial/ethnic disparity gaps, given that BC …

Resale Revolution: Trend Implications From Media Presence Transcended To Luxury Retail Markets, Penelope Prochnow

Capstone Projects

This study aims to deepen understanding of fashion trend decline from peak popularity to obsolescence, with implications for sustainability and producer profit margins. It investigates how the attributes and media presence of fashion items influence their journey from high-end editorial coverage to resale platforms. Using survival analysis to model trend lifetimes and cosine similarity metrics to compare resale and magazine keyword frequencies, alongside machine learning for price prediction, the study uncovers critical temporal patterns. Results show that resale trends reflect magazine content with a lag of approximately 18 to 30 months and draw from long-wave revivals spanning 6 to 14 …

On The H-Property For Step-Graphons: Residual Case, Wanting Gao

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

We investigate the H-property for step-graphons. Specifically, we sample graphs Gn on n nodes from a step-graphon and evaluate the probability that Gn has a Hamiltonian decomposition in the asymptotic regime as n → ∞. It has been shown in Belabbas and Chen (2023); Belabbas et al. (2021) that for almost all step-graphons, this probability converges to either zero or one. We focus in this paper on the residual case where the zero-one law does not apply. We show that the limit of the probability still exists and provide an explicit expression of it. We present a complete proof of …

Bayesian Statistics: Origins And Applications, Evelyn Pulla

Publications and Research

Bayesian Statistics applies Bayes' Theorem to update beliefs through new evidence. In this project, I explored how Bayesian Statistics applies into real supporting decision-making under uncertainty. By solving problems using data, I was able to realize how prior knowledge and evidence collaborate to make better conclusions. The project also demonstrates how Bayesian reasoning corrects our intuition to make decisions based on logical reasoning. Through this project, I was able to learn why using probability to make informed decisions matters both in science and real life.

Challenges Us Study Abroad Students Face When Acculturating To A Foreign Food Environment, Sydney C. Davis

Honors Theses

Studying abroad presents a unique opportunity for college students to immerse themselves in new cultures, including experiencing different food environments and dietary customs. However, adapting to a foreign food culture can pose various challenges that impact students’ overall health, eating behaviors, and study abroad experiences. The purpose of this study to develop a survey instrument designed to investigate the extent to which U.S. study abroad students embrace, accept, and face challenges with different aspects of Italian food culture, using the Social Ecological Model (SEM) as a guiding framework. Initial survey items were developed with information obtained from focus group discussions …

Evaluating Predictive Models For Predicting Total Score Of Beef Carcasses, Emmanuel Forson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The beef industry plays a vital role in global agriculture, with carcass quality and consumer preference being key determinants of market success. This thesis examines predictive modeling techniques for estimating the Total Score of beef carcasses, a composite measure representing yield and quality, primarily used by the Nebraska Cattlemen Association. Using data from the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Foundation Retail Value Steer Challenge (2000–2023), the study compares the performance of First Order Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) with three machine learning techniques: K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Random Forest, and Gradient Boosting Machine (GBM).

The analysis focuses on six key predictors: Hot Carcass Weight, Back …

Statistics - What Does My Data Say About Me?, Taylor Gadsden-Deterville

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

For my Introduction to Statistics Class, I have been tasked with collecting unique, personal data to give insight into my daily routine. I decided to record nine different outcomes (two qualitative and seven quantitative). On February 6, 2025, I began with a blank Excel sheet, and so far, I have 57 full days of data collected. I will continue monitoring my findings for the remainder of the Spring 2025 Semester. Per my project instructions, I must include tables and graphs for my qualitative and quantitative outcomes. So far, I have collected daily quantitative data on my screen time (Instagram and …

Using A Pharmacokinetic Model To Design And Evaluate An Early Ctdna Biomarker For Response To Targeted Therapy, Aaron Li

Spora: A Journal of Biomathematics

Early prediction of response to therapy or lack thereof can help physicians plan treatment more efficiently. Biomarkers based on circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) are promising. However, biomarkers beyond direct comparison to baseline have not been thoroughly explored. We develop a model for ctDNA shedding under targeted therapy that incorporates pharmacokinetics. Using a simulated cohort of virtual patients with varied parameters, we define and analyze a biomarker based on ctDNA samples at baseline, 12 hours, and 24 hours after initiation of treatment. The biomarker identified patients who would achieve partial or complete response with high sensitivity and specificity and was able …