Digital Commons Network^™

Exposure To Disability-Related Content And Attitudes Toward Persons With Disabilities Within The Uconn Mph Program: An Exploratory Study, Holly Labrecque

Master's Theses

Background: The purposes of this study include gathering a baseline assessment of 1) the extent to which UConn MPH students describe their exposure to disability content within the curriculum, and 2) how students describe their experiences encountering persons with disabilities (PWD).

Methods: A survey was completed by 36 current UConn MPH students and alumni.

Results: When asked how often disability was integrated into curriculum and class discussion, a majority of participants (n= 28) answered sometimes, rarely, or never, (77.8%), (88.9%). All students who reported having classes with students from other disciplines reported that it was valuable. Eighty-six percent indicated …

The Effects Of Agricultural Management On Wetland Birds, Theresa Wisneskie

Master's Theses

With the rapid growth of the human population, there is a need to balance biodiversity conservation with achieving food security. Increasing agricultural inputs has greatly augmented food production on smaller areas of land, but generally has negative effects on biodiversity. As natural wetlands decline worldwide, birds are increasingly using flooded agricultural land. The objectives of this thesis are (1) to determine what affects the use of flooded agriculture by waterbirds and (2) to determine what has been studied about the effects of agricultural intensification on wetland birds.

I examined the factors affecting the use of flooded agriculture by waterbirds by …

Vidocq, Vautrin, Et La Naissance Du Genre Policier, Carrie Slayton

Master's Theses

Vidocq, Vautrin, et la Naissance du Genre Policier examines how the life of former criminal-turned-chief of the French Sûreté Nationale, Eugène-François Vidocq, was mythicized with his sensational ghost-written memoirs, Mémoires of Vidocq, and in what way his legendary career and memoirs influenced some of the most renowned characters in French literature during the nineteenth century – most notably Honoré de Balzac’s infamous criminal-turned-police chief, Vautrin, in the Comédie Humaine. This study aims to demonstrate how the paradigm that was created by the combination of his Mémoires and his first literary incarnation, Balzac’s Vautrin, went on to establish the archetype …

Community Needs Assessment: Opioid Use Within The Central Connecticut Health District, Luis Pantoja

Master's Theses

Objective: An Opioid Community Needs Assessment examining opioid use and its consequences in the Central Connecticut Health District (CCHD) was conducted to characterize the problem in the district and inform future harm reduction program operations through data driven evidence-based research.

Methods: This study conducted a cross-sectional, community-based, secondary analysis of opioid use related data sourced from broadly utilized vital statistics and novel syndromic surveillance systems. Data sets were sourced from the Connecticut Department of Health (DPH’s) & Health Monitoring’s EpiCenter Syndromic Surveillance, Washington/Baltimore’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDA) Overdose Detection Mapping Application Program (ODMAP) and the Office of the …

A Serial Multiplexed Approach To Immunolabeling Brain Tissue For Electron Microscopy, Peter Tiley

Master's Theses

To fully understand how biological systems give rise to complex phenomena, both structural and functional knowledge of the components in the system must be acquired. In this manuscript, I explain why new methods must be developed to achieve this level of understanding with brain tissue and introduce serial multiplexing as a potential solution. I discuss how this method can lead to highly annotated volume reconstructions of brain tissue using electron and light microscopy, along with the steps required to do so. I present what our lab has found throughout the process of adapting, refining, and combining more traditional methods together …

Dealing With Faulty Data Via A Physics-Based Filtering Method, Ross Pellenberg

Master's Theses

Gas turbines are expensive, revenue generating machines and, as such, there is a strong interest in practicing state-of-the-art maintenance techniques to keep them running at healthy performance levels. One way to monitor and evaluate gas turbine health is to train a machine learning model on historical run-to-failure sensor data to differentiate between healthy and unhealthy performance. The biggest barrier to building these models is the scarcity of run-to-failure data. Not only is this data expensive and time consuming to acquire, but the data is often not publicly released for competitive purposes. This thesis uses a publicly available run-to-failure dataset previously …

The Denial Of Black Victimhood: Examining Attitudes Of Sexual Assault And Victim-Blaming On A College Campus, A Continued Analysis, Odia Kane

Master's Theses

This study examines the attribution of guilt and victimhood in the context of rape on predominately white college campuses. The study is comprised of two samples; Sample 1 (n=362) and Sample 2 (n=1,144) of students from a New England university. Each participant read a vignette regarding two classmates: a female victim, Taneesha or Madeline, and a male perpetrator, Jamal or Connor, completing a group project. The findings of this study are critical because they analyze the surrounding attitudes of the treatment of victims of sexual assault and assess the social and political climate of rape culture on college campuses.

Associations Of Cardiovascular Health, Strength, And Physical Activity In Participants With A History Of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction, Kirsten Allen

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Sources And Fluxes Of Reactive N In A Southern New England River, Veronica Rollinson

Master's Theses

Little Narraganset Bay has seen an increase in filamentous algae, colloquially known as cladophora, over the past twenty years. The Pawcatuck River is the dominant input of freshwater to Little Narraganset bay, delineating the Connecticut and Rhode Island border. There are three point sources of nitrogen on the river system: two waste water treatment facilities (WWTF) in the estuary and one fabric processing plant within the upper-watershed in Kenyon, RI. Non-point sources include a myriad of farms specializing in turf and animal husbandry, as well as septic systems for the majority of the watershed that are not serviced by the …

Oral Health Literacy And Oral Health Practices In South Asian Populations, Ambika Sharma

Master's Theses

Background: Oral Health is a strong predictor of and has strong implications on overall health and quality of life. The 2018 Surgeon General’s Report of Oral Health declared a need for more data collection and surveillance on the oral health status of minority groups in America. Surveillance studies examining the scope of inequalities can ultimately drive policy to mitigate disparities. Surveillance data can also help shed light on South Asians in Americans, their oral health perspectives and practices.

Methods: A 19-question survey was administered to convenience samples of South Asians in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey. Study subjects were …

Comparative Genomics Of Six Juglans Species Reveals Disease-Associated Gene Family Contractions, Alexander Trouern-Trend

Master's Theses

No abstract provided.

Innovation Dynamics Of Cultural Production: Evidence In Rap Lyrics, James M. Zumel Dumlao, Junjie Lei, Emeka Nwosu, Li Yu Oon, Tsai Ling Jeffrey Wong, James Rising, Jesse Anttila-Hughes

Master's Theses

Culture is a driving force in organizing the structure of societies, and is conjoined with economic development. However, quantifying the impact of culture is difficult. Culture manifests itself in cultural production, through art, performance, music, etc. Innovation and influence in cultural production industries partially determines product quality. Using techniques from the “digitized humanities”, we agnostically identify informational distance to describe the spatiotemporal dynamics of innovation and influence in Rap music lyrics. Rap emphasizes lyricism and hometown pride more than other genres of popular music, and is interesting as a globally impactful manifestation of the racially segregated labor market in the …

Identity, Activism, And Rap In The Filipino American Diaspora, Scott Cooper

Master's Theses

For close to two decades, an established network of Filipino American rap artists have developed on the West Coast of the United States. These artists share musical narratives exploring their working-class immigrant experiences as well as the impact of colonization in the Philippines. Outside of music, these artists often engage in community organizing and activism, but few scholars have explored hip hop's effect within these spaces. Recently, a younger generation of Filipino American youth actively make use of hip hop in community organizations and activist groups. This paper will specifically examine how the identity of 1.5 and second generation Filipino …

Actors As Engineers: The Reconstruction Of Antifascism In Defa Films, 1949-1961. [2020], Jonathan Herr

Master's Theses

The East German film industry (led by state film company DEFA) had, since its inception in 1946, focused heavily upon the theme of antifascism. However, the meaning and definition of antifascism changed dramatically over the course of East Germany’s early history. In DEFA’s earliest days, antifascism was a confrontation of Germany’s Nazi past and argued that capitalism was a forebearer to fascism. As the East German state formed, antifascism evolved, casting America and its unchecked capitalism as the enemy to democracy. Here DEFA films still confronted Germany’s dark past, though the end goal of the films was to promote hope …

Efficacy Of An Audio-Based Biofeedback Intervention To Modify Running Gait In Female Runners 2020, Sarah Rothstein

Master's Theses

Introduction: Gait retraining interventions are used to modify foot strike parameters associated with musculoskeletal injuries. Such interventions may prove beneficial if gait modifications are maintained long-term and provide a physiological performance benefit. Purpose: The primary purpose of this study was to determine whether female recreational runners can use a smartphone decibel app to self-modify gait mechanics associated with injury. The secondary purpose was to determine if such gait modifications are retained beyond the initial training session. The tertiary purpose was to determine if such gait modifications were associated with improved running economy. Methods: The peak vertical ground reaction force (vGRF), …

Stuttering And The Early Childhood Educator, Haley Jo Wesson

Master's Theses

The purpose of this research study was to gain information on early childhood educator’s knowledge of the myths and facts of stuttering. The researcher’s main question at hand is what are the effects of educator knowledge regarding fluency on young children? It was hypothesized that participants with a higher level of education will correctly identify more statements regarding stuttering than participants with a lower level of education. The researcher created a survey that was distributed to early childhood educators. The findings of the survey may be helpful in educating early childhood educators and bringing awareness to the misconceptions of stuttering.

A Comparison Of Reasons For Breastfeeding Cessation In Preterm And Term Infants During The First Year Of Life, Rebecca Robert

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to compare factors that may affect breastfeeding duration or cessation in preterm and term infants during the first year of life. A 50- question survey was administered using SurveyMonkey™ and distributed through social media platforms. Participants were able to enter a drawing for an Amazon gift card as incentive. SPSS was used for statistical analysis. Participants included mothers over the age of 18, with a child between the ages of 12 and 24 months, born in the U.S., and who provided human milk to their child at any point during the first year of …

Mindful Eating Behavior In Post Surgical Bariatric Patients, Megan Mabery Filer

Master's Theses

Emotional eating and binge-eating behavior in obese individuals and post-surgical bariatric patients are both linked to decreased ability to identify and cope with stress (Mitchell et al., 2016; Urquhart & Mihalynuk, 2011). In turn, obese patients who exhibit greater rates of stress-eating behavior show reductions in levels of mindfulness (Ouwens et al., 2015). The purpose of the study was to investigate the association between mindful eating component scores and selected weight loss outcomes in post-surgical bariatric patients.

Patients from a private bariatric clinic in Shreveport, Louisiana who underwent gastric sleeve or gastric bypass were invited to participate based on specific …

Computer Vision For Inventory Management, Christopher Bradley Kalahiki

Master's Theses

Deep learning is a subset of machine learning that extracts high-level features from raw data over multiple layers. Deep learning for computer vision has become more popular in the last few years, but the data and resource requirements make it difficult to implement on Internet of Things (IoT) devices. This work aims at providing a series of techniques that can alleviate some of the strain caused by these requirements in order to make a computer vision system for inventory management more feasible. These techniques include data collection, data preprocessing, transfer learning, and a method for intelligently growing a dataset throughout …

Adverse Childhood Experiences: The Influence Of Poly-Victimization On Adolescent Delinquency And Adult Criminality, Samantha Qualkenbush

Master's Theses

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are under-researched and a large part of unrecognized child victims. Although there is considerable research on trauma and adverse experiences in children, there are gaps in research concerning specific types of offending and specific ACEs. The purpose of this study is to determine if specific types of ACEs, or combinations of ACEs, influence children in differing ways related to adolescent delinquency and adult criminality. Analyses of previously collected data, specifically considering information on differences in the average number and likelihood of offenses for both juveniles and adults provides intriguing results. In concurrence with previous research, this …

Implementing Support Materials For Students With Special Needs In An Inclusive Classroom, Ana Vazquez

Master's Theses

The purpose of this study was to help dance educators enhance their curriculum by implementing four support instruments designed to help students with special needs. This study aimed to answer the following questions: Q1 In what ways does the implementation of support materials designed for students with special needs help support an inclusive classroom? Q2 In what ways do these support materials help dance teachers enhance their lessons for students with special needs, hence maximizing student response, participation and engagement and student-teacher relationship? Five dance educators participated in this study where they completed an entrance and post-survey, and an implementation …

Quality Of Life Among Colorectal Cancer Patients During Chemotherapy, Chau Minh Than

Master's Theses

This study had the general goal of surveying the quality of life (QoL) and related factors affecting the QoL of colorectal cancer (CRC) patients participating in cancer chemotherapy at University Medical Center (UMC) in Ho Chi Minh City. The study also had the following specific objectives: (a) determining the demographic and clinical characteristics of CRC patients and (b) determining health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and related factors affecting HRQoL of CRC patients receiving cancer chemotherapy. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. Sixty CRC patients being treated at the UMC participated in this study. The research used the European Organization for …

The Effect Of Music On Anxiety Of The Endoscopic Client In A Private Hospital In Ho Chi Minh City Vietnam, Hanh Thi Hong Nguyen

Master's Theses

Gastrointestinal tract cancer is one of the fifth most common cancers in Vietnam and has a high mortality rate in Vietnamese people based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2018) global cancer statistics. One-third of adults aged 50 or older, the age group at greatest risk of developing colorectal cancer, have not been screened because endoscopy is considered a stressful procedure. The endoscopic patient sometimes refuses to have the procedure. Therefore, using music to ease the anxiety of endoscopic clients has been examined in various studies but the results have been inconclusive. The aim of this study was …

Evaluation Of Patient Identification Practices By Nurses Working At Saigon Ent Hospital, My Thi Phuong Ngo

Master's Theses

Recently, patient misidentification has been identified as a common error in healthcare systems. Six patient safety recommendations from the World Health Organization (2007) have resulted in research and improvements to increase patient safety. However, patient misidentifications continue and are a challenge to patient safety. Failure to correctly identify patients continues to result in errors with medications, transfusions, diagnostic testing, and wrong person procedures. In the hospital, patient identification is performed throughout the hospitalization stay: at admission, before a treatment procedure or general nursing care, medication administration, and handover from provider to provider. In some hospital settings, this task is supported …

The Role Of Gibberellic Acid In Aphid-Plant-Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus Interactions, Drew Olson

Master's Theses

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form beneficial associations with the roots of most terrestrial plants, which is mostly characterized by increased plant nutrient acquisition (phosphate and nitrogen) by the fungi in exchange for carbon and lipids from the plants. These associations can also enhance plant coping mechanisms to abiotic and biotic stresses. However, insect herbivores, such as aphids, can benefit from AM fungi-plant symbioses by altering plant defenses that are driven mainly by the phytohormones jasmonic acid (JA) and salicylic acid (SA). Nevertheless, other phytohormones can modulate plant defenses by altering the balance of the JA and SA signaling pathways, such …

The Synthesis And Characterization Of Gold Nanoparticles Prepared With Novel Thioether-Ionic Liquids, Joie Games

Master's Theses

Gold nanoparticles have found a broad range of applications in the biomedical field including in drug delivery and biosensor development.The latter applications take advantage of a unique optical property called surface plasmon resonance. Easily accessible “bottom-up” synthesis methods are commonly used for the preparation of metal nanoparticles, in which a metal precursor is reduced in the presence of a stabilizing agent to prevent aggregation. Ionic liquids have been used in “bottom up” metal nanoparticle syntheses as stabilizing agents and as a means to functionalize metal nanoparticles’ surface. Due to the strength of gold-sulfur interactions, thiol-stabilized gold nanostructures are of great …

“Making The World A Better Place To Live In”: Hattiesburg Women’S Literary Organizations And The Formation Of A Progressive Southern City, 1884-1945, Daniella Kawa

Master's Theses

This study examines the activity and impact of white women’s literary clubs in Hattiesburg, Mississippi between 1884 and the end of World War II in 1945. This project examines to what extent women adhered to or broke away from societal norms of the time by involving themselves in intellectually stimulating groups with other women, especially in response to rapidly changing standards of femininity and womanhood during the Progressive era. Women’s literary clubs reveal patterns of women moving out of the home and into a public role, in addition to signifying the new ways in which women fit themselves into a …

Online And Offline Identity Gaps: Cross-Contextual Predictors And Psychological Outcome, Ningyang Wang

Master's Theses

Using Communication Theory of Identity as a framework, this study compared an individual’s online and offline personal-enacted identity gap and examined the effect of each personal-enacted identity gap on individuals’ psychological well-being, as well as tested four cross-contextual predictors for online and offline personal-enacted identity gaps.

Survey data were collected from 214 participants on Amazon M-Turk. A sequence of hypotheses was tested. A questionnaire used for measuring individuals’ online personal-enacted identity gap was generated.

The result suggested individuals experience larger personal-enacted identity gap offline, which significantly negative predict individuals’ psychological well-being, whereas online personal-enacted identity gap positively predicts psychological well-being. …

Development Of An Attenuated Zika Virus By Editing The 5’ Untranslated Region, E. Ashley Thompson

Master's Theses

Zika Virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-transmitted flavivirus that usually causes no symptoms to mild febrile in humans, and it has been regarded as an insignificant pathogen to public health. However, recent outbreaks of ZIKV infection have revealed that ZIKV can cause severe neurological effects in adults, such as Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), and in infants whose mothers acquired the virus during pregnancy, causing Congenital Zika Syndrome (CZS). Currently, no approved vaccine is available and there is a critical need to develop an effective and safe vaccine. While most vaccine developmental strategies target the viral prM-E protein of ZIKV, we aimed to …

Vegetative Community And Health Assessment Of A Constructed Juncus-Dominated Salt Marsh In The Northern Gulf Of Mexico, Nickolas R. Murphy

Master's Theses

Deer Island is a coastal habitat which provides a buffer from storm and flood damage as well as shore-line stabilization to the mainland of Biloxi, Mississippi. A third of the land has been lost since 1850, largely driven by tropical storm and hurricane impacts as well as sea level rise. The United States Army Corps of Engineers and Mississippi Department of Marine Resources have targeted the shores of the island as sites for restoration using beneficial use dredged material, and two sites of differing age have since been planted with Spartina alterniflora, Juncus roemerianus, Uniola paniculata, S. patens, and Panicum …