Digital Commons Network^™

Chna: The Role Of The Hospital In Addressing Specific Community Health Needs, Yesmina L. Zavala

Master's Projects and Capstones

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) added a requirement for nonprofit hospitals to keep their tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue System Code 501(c) 3. This code requires all nonprofit hospitals to complete Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) reports every three years and must include input from community stakeholders and underserved individuals representing the low-income, minority and chronically ill population.

In addition to the CHNA, implementation strategies are required to be executed in the geographic areas served in order to meet the identified prioritized needs from the CHNA. Oftentimes, CHNAs are difficult to conceptualize and operationalize within the …

Motor Control In Individuals With Multiple Sclerosis, David Arpin

Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation explored motor control in individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) by quantifying the behavioral and neurophysiological deficits present in these individuals. We behaviorally quantified the precision of the ankle plantarflexor musculature of individuals with MS. Our results indicated that the individuals with MS had a greater amount of variability in the precision of the isometric ankle torques, and that this greater variability was related to decreased walking performance. To further explore whether these motor control deficits were due to aberrant cortical activity associated with planning motor actions, we used magnetoencephalography to assess the motor planning and execution stages of …

Identification And Intervention For Action Planning Deficits In Children With Hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy, Swati M. Surkar

Theses & Dissertations

The primary purpose of this investigation was to describe and quantify action-planning deficits during goal-directed movements in children with hemiplegic cerebral palsy (HCP). Three specific topics were addressed: brain activation, kinematics, and the use of visual input. First, we assessed prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation during complex goal-directed actions in children with HCP. The outcome suggested that children with HCP have higher PFC activation than age matched typically developing (TD) children during action planning, potentially due to the difficulty in allocating attentional resources for simultaneously processing the cognitive (i.e., attention, memory, information processing) and motor demands of the goal-directed task. Reduced …

Global Gene Expression Profiling Of Healthy Human Brain And Its Application In Studying Neurological Disorders, Simarjeet K. Negi

Theses & Dissertations

The human brain is the most complex structure known to mankind and one of the greatest challenges in modern biology is to understand how it is built and organized. The power of the brain arises from its variety of cells and structures, and ultimately where and when different genes are switched on and off throughout the brain tissue. In other words, brain function depends on the precise regulation of gene expression in its sub-anatomical structures. But, our understanding of the complexity and dynamics of the transcriptome of the human brain is still incomplete. To fill in the need, we designed …

What Is Answer Set Programming To Propositional Satisfiability, Yuliya Lierler

Computer Science Faculty Publications

Propositional satisfiability (or satisfiability) and answer set programming are two closely related subareas of Artificial Intelligence that are used to model and solve difficult combinatorial search problems. Satisfiability solvers and answer set solvers are the software systems that find satisfying interpretations and answer sets for given propositional formulas and logic programs, respectively. These systems are closely related in their common design patterns. In satisfiability, a propositional formula is used to encode problem specifications in a way that its satisfying interpretations correspond to the solutions of the problem. To find solutions to a problem it is then sufficient to use a …

Pancreatic Cancer Invasion Of The Lymphatic Vasculature And Contributions Of The Tumor Microenvironment: Roles For E-Selectin And Cxcr4, Maria M. Steele

Theses & Dissertations

As the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths, pancreatic cancer is one of the most lethal forms of cancers in the United States. Lymphatic vessel invasion and subsequent metastasis to the lymph nodes are early and significant events observed during pancreatic cancer progression and are used to determine patient prognosis and therapy selection. Although clinicians and researchers recognize the importance of lymph node involvement for patient prognosis and therapy selection, the biological mechanisms that govern lymphatic invasion and metastasis and the contributions of the pancreatic tumor microenvironment to these processes remain poorly understood. In this dissertation, we characterize the interactions …

Short Branch Attraction, The Fundamental Bipartition In Cellular Life, And Eukaryogenesis, Amanda A. Dick Phd

Doctoral Dissertations

Short Branch Attraction occurs when BLAST searches are used as surrogate for phylogenetic analysis. This results from branch length heterogeneity. The short branches, not the long, are attracting.

The root of cellular life is on the bacterial branch, meaning the Archaea and eukaryotic nucleocytoplasm form a clade. This split, the realm, is the first in the cellular tree of life. I name the clade containing the Archaea and eukaryotic nucleocytoplasm the Ibisii based on shared characteristics involved in information processing and translation. The Bacteria are members of the other realm, the Bacterii.

Eukaryogenesis is the study of how the Eukarya …

Role Of Wettability In Fuel Cells, Jaehyung Park

Doctoral Dissertations

Fuel cells have received significant attention as a promising candidate for efficient and emission-free power in automotive, stationary, and portable applications. This work is focused on sophisticated schemes for surface wettability impact on fuel cell performance are required by using proper wettability characteristics for the fuel cell components.

Foreign cations are shown to cause mass transport losses, in particular due to wettability changes in the gas diffusion media (GDM) and have a major impact on the durability and the performance of polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC). The effects of cationic impurities on fuel cell system performance, especially on the water …

Making Museums Fashion Forward And Forward Thinking: A Proposal For A Rotating Exhibit Program At The Levi Strauss & Co. Museum, Hannah Claire Somerville

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone project is a theoretical proposal for a rotating exhibit program that was developed for the Levi Strauss & Co. museum in San Francisco, California. It was conceived with the intent to help eradicate some of the stigmas associated with museum fashion exhibitions. This capstone explores the complicated history of the museum field’s relationship with fashion and analyzes some of the social justice issues that the fashion and textile industries face today. The project’s purpose is to demonstrate that museum fashion exhibitions are more than frivolous window displays in a museum setting and that they have the ability to …

Natural Burial: Being Green In Life, Now In Death Too, Brandon C. Shaik

Capstones

Nearly 80 million baby boomers are approaching the end of their lives. Being more environmentally conscious than previous generations, the environmentally minded individuals are increasingly choosing natural burial as the next progression of sustainability — reducing an individual impact even after death. A 2015 poll conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of the Funeral and Memorial Information Council found that 64 percent of adults over the age of 40 were interested in natural burial, up from 21 percent in 2010. Individuals who have chosen natural burial indicate the environmental benefit as a primary reason for their decision. There are currently …

A Cost Of Doing Business: Defense Contracting Fraud, Shane M. English

Capstones

The federal government relies heavily on outside contractors to provide essential research and services. Following World War II, the Department of Defense and the military began to rely on approved government contractors to develop, test and improve weapons and tools used to keep soldiers and the nation safe.

Defense contracting is a massive business that commands billions of dollars a year. Despite the magnitude of the United States' contracting system, detecting fraud and preventing bad actors from continuing to profit off of the government has proven difficult. The systems at hand: civil and criminal charges, suspension and debarment have consistently …

Arresting Survival, Mariya Moseley

Capstones

The feature documentary ‘Arresting Survival’ examines the lives of previously incarcerated domestic violence survivors while exposing how the criminal justice system disproportionately affects women of color and women in low-income communities. While women are the fastest growing population within the prison system, the film aims to display the impact of the injustices of these women.

Preying On The Desperate, Karen M. Savage

Capstones

In this story, I investigate the marketing and sale of concentrated hydrogen peroxide to individuals who are desperate to cure serious health maladies. The story follows an online marketer who was warned by the FDA more than ten years ago to stop claiming hydrogen peroxide ingestion could cure cancer and other ailments. But in spite of the warning and subsequent FDA investigation, the individual continues to claim high strength hydrogen peroxide helps with brain tumors and leukemia and he can now be tied to several different websites marketing various “brands” of high strength hydrogen peroxide. Another marketer distributes hydrogen peroxide …

Nurse Shift Handoff Report At The Patient's Bedside: Improving Nurse-To-Nurse Communication, Francis R. Estrella

Master's Projects and Capstones

The purpose of the CNL project is to develop a standardized approach to communication during nurse shift handoffs through utilization of bedside shift reporting (BSR). Shift handoffs are integral to nursing practice; therefore, this process must be accurate, effective, and consistent in order to ensure the delivery of safe and quality care. The project focuses on the CNL curriculum element of Quality Improvement and Safety, under the role of an Outcomes Manager. Prior to BSR implementation, shift handoffs in the sub-acute unit were being conducted at the nurse’s station or by the medication carts. Nurse shift handoffs were often rushed, …

Standardization Of Body Imaging Huddle In Radiology, Margaret M. Browne Mcmanus

Master's Projects and Capstones

Mag Browne McManus

Clinical Nurse Leader Abstract

University of San Francisco

Abstract

Communication amongst healthcare providers is critical to reducing errors, and in procedural areas, the huddle can be used to standardized communication amongst the team before the beginning of interventional procedures (Goldenhar, Brady, Sutcliffe, Muething, & Anderson, 2013). Prior to the implementation of the revised huddle, a staff survey indicated none of the staff were satisfied with the current process. The objectives of the standardization of the body imaging huddle in the department of radiology were to increase staff satisfaction by 15% and reduce the time from patient arrival …

Increasing Access In Art Museums: Teen Programming For English Language Learners, Lindsey C. Stoll

Master's Projects and Capstones

The following paper discusses the need to increase access for English Language Learners (ELLs) and recent immigrant teens in contemporary art museums through the implementation of participatory programming. This capstone project proposes a teen council program for English Language Learners and recent immigrants at the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, CA, and was created with the following goals in mind: (1) to increase access for ELL and recent immigrant teens in art museums, (2) to increase participatory programming for ELL and recent immigrant teens, and (3) to foster meaningful relationships between ELL and recent immigrant teens and museums. The …

Mental Health Workout: Lifting Stigma, Jeremy Bambery

Master's Projects and Capstones

Mental illness affects one out of every five Americans between the ages 13-18, and it is estimated that two-thirds of these individuals will not seek treatment due to the stigma associated with having a mental illness or mental health issue (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Access to information and the ability to talk openly without fear will aid in creating a stigma free future. The goal of this project is to supply high school students in the San Francisco Bay Area with information regarding the stigma associated with mental health and mental illness via videos that will be used as …

Single Particle Tracking: Analysis Techniques For Live Cell Nanoscopy., Peter K. Relich

Physics & Astronomy ETDs

Single molecule experiments are a set of experiments designed specifically to study the properties of individual molecules. It has only been in the last three decades where single molecule experiments have been applied to the life sciences; where they have been successfully implemented in systems biology for probing the behaviors of sub-cellular mechanisms. The advent and growth of super-resolution techniques in single molecule experiments has made the fundamental behaviors of light and the associated nano-probes a necessary concern among life scientists wishing to advance the state of human knowledge in biology. This dissertation disseminates some of the practices learned in …

A Bioinformatics Methodology For The Annotation And Analysis Of Sperm Chromatin Remodeling Proteins In Sequenced Drosophila Species, Zain A. Alvi

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

Spermatogenesis is the process by which mature functional spermatozoa are formed, and is initiated in the stem cell niche of the testes. During the post-meiotic stage of spermatogenesis, spermiogenesis, transition proteins facilitate the transformation of chromatin from a histone-based nucleosome structure to a protamine-based nucleosome structure. This study is aimed at analyzing genomic, transcript, and protein sequences of transition proteins in 13 sequenced Drosophila species. The Drosophila melanogaster spermatid specific transition protein-like protein (Tpl^94D) was used as the reference sequence in this study. An extensive bioinformatics approach was employed in establishing the Tpl^94D orthologs. We identified …

Drink Me And Abort Your Baby: The Herbal Abortion Tea, Maya Lewis

Capstones

For most of history every abortion was a herbal abortion. Herbal abortion is exactly what it sounds like––a series of herbs that, if taken at the right time, in the right form and dosage, can induce a miscarriage. It's risky, under researched and rarely supported. But with women's clinic dwindling all over the country and a president elect who wants to repeal Roe v. Wade, herbal abortion might soon make a major come back–– for better or worse.

Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@maya.lewis/drink-me-and-abort-your-baby-the-herbal-abortion-tea-46aadd15f659

New York City’S Affordable Housing Lottery: Inconsistent Screening Methods And Lack Of Government Oversight, Donna M. Airoldi

Capstones

New York City offers substantial tax credits and subsidies to developers to entice them to include affordable housing units in their projects. The city oversees the random assigning of numbers for the affordable housing lottery through its online system, Housing Connect, but it cedes oversight of the process to developers and third-party managers — known as marketing agents — who use inconsistent and unclear screening measures when selecting applicants for buildings, sometimes rejecting those who actually qualify for these high-demand apartments. This article shows through examples of individual applicants how confusing the rules can be.

Breakdown: Treatment Gaps In New York City's Mental Health System, Christine Brink Kjeldgaard, Noah Caldwell, Mary Hanbury, Mike O'Brien, Joanna Purpich, Anthony Izaguirre

Capstones

Forty years after New York City began to "deinstitutionalize" its mental health system in hopes of building community-based care, the city is still falling short. This investigative project, undertaken by six reporters at CUNY's Graduate School of Journalism, uncovers the treatment gaps facing mentally ill New Yorkers, who are among the most vulnerable in the city. The project follows them to the actual places where they seek care: hospitals, clinics, homeless shelters, prisons and schools.

The Effectiveness Of Melodic Intonation Therapy On English Speaking Adults With Expressive Aphasia, Ruth Crutchfield, A Jeske

Communication Sciences & Disorders Faculty Publications

Melodic Intonation Therapy (MIT) has been a resource for working with adults with aphasia since 1973 when Albert, Helm and Sparks created this music-based intervention. MIT involves intoning short utterances while simultaneously using the left hand to tap the rhythm of syllables. This research project investigates the effectiveness of MIT intervention for an aphasic population. This was experimental research using a pre-test - post-test between subjects single design including two males presenting with aphasia (n=2). They participated in a controlled intervention during a 12 week period of cognitive therapy. The first six weeks of the intervention program consisted of language …

Improving Preadmission Testing Nurses' Knowledge Of Aortic Stenosis And Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement, Alberta Lynn Canale

Master's Projects and Capstones

Abstract

The purpose of this Clinical Nurse Leader (CNL) project was to reduce gaps in nursing knowledge through staff education. Guided by the CNL theme of educator and information manager, the goals were to increase PreAdmission Testing (PAT) nurses’ knowledge of severe/critical aortic stenosis (AS), transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedure and patient selection, and satisfaction with knowledge by 10%. Rapid growth of the TAVR program has contributed to a gap in nursing knowledge leading to inconsistent patient care and education. An educational program was developed and spread through a series of Plan-Do-Study-Act cycles. Pre- and post- implementation surveys were …

Educating Medication Aides About Safe Medication Administration, Derya Fuller

Master's Projects and Capstones

Educating Medication Aides About Five Rights of Medication Administration Abstract

The objective is resident safety in an assisted living facility with 20 residents; 18 staff members. After discussion with manager (an RN), and observation of aides passing meds, a focus on education of the 5 rights of medication administration was decided on.

Step one was doing pre survey of the aides, observing aides passing meds (3 week time frame), and identifying weaknesses. Step two consisted of identifying and talking about various possible safe med problems with staff, and taking steps to remove these potential barriers. Step three was to experiment …

Educating Nurses On The Use Of Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool (Bmat) Through E-Learning/Online Education Module, Wei Li Lee

Master's Projects and Capstones

Background Hospital setting is reviewed the most hazardous workplace comparing to other industries. Nursing assistants and orderlies have the high risk of work-related injury. The study found that the top reason that causes the injuries was due to over-exertion or bodily reaction.

Aim State of California requires hospitals to implement a Safe Patient Handling and Mobility (SPHM) policy as part of an injury and illness prevention program (Department of Industrial Regulations, 2016). Bedside Mobility Assessment Tool (BMAT) is the latest evidence based practice, reliable and valid tool, which helps nurses to assess the patients’ current and ongoing mobility and to …

Improving Pain Reassessment And Documentation Through Nurse Education, Reina Batto

Master's Projects and Capstones

The aim of the CNL Internship Project is to improve quality of patient care and pain management through improved pain reassessment and documentation. The project is to be implemented in the surgical unit of a community hospital in the California Bay Area. The unit has a maximum capacity of 38 beds and is staffed by 47 RNs and 4 LVNs. A nurse survey was conducted to assess the needs of the staff and the unit, and an education plan was created for the unit. Educational materials, including: highlighted academic articles, posters, handouts, and small posted reminders at nurse computers were …

Model Behavior: Using Photogrammetry For Collections Storage Planning, Katherine Sundra

Master's Projects and Capstones

Proper and efficient collections storage is often a challenge for museums. As collections outgrow their facilities, institutions struggle to find additional space, often resorting to hasty moves of their objects into ill-fitting placements. A large-scale collections move is a slowgoing process, requiring manual measurement and countless trial-and-error sessions. An unnoticed support beam, a low entryway, or uneven flooring can derail even the most well-planned collections move, costing an organization unexpected additions in time and labor expenses. Advancements in emerging technologies, however, may soon eliminate this problem. This capstone explores the use of photogrammetry and 3D modeling to plan a collections …

Riding The Wave: How The Philanthropic Revolution Will Impact Museums In The United States And Canada, Sarah M. Mackey

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone project explores the history of philanthropy from 1970 to the present, and presents a strategy for museums to leverage contemporary trends in nonprofit giving. The methods proposed in this project are specifically targeted at engaging new community leaders and the family members of legacy donors. I have researched and created an updated job description and hiring plan for a Transformational Gift Officer. This person would be responsible for identifying, cultivating, and stewarding the donor portfolio outlined in this project. The individual who will be successful in this role will be able to move past institutional silos and collaboratively …

Taking Matters Into Our Own Hands: Advocating For Advanced Language Learning In Mainstream Classrooms Through A ‘Multi-Cultural Capital’ Curriculum, Jill N. Radwanski

Master's Projects and Capstones

The purpose of this project is to supply teachers with curriculum for targeted advanced language learning skills, particularly in writing. It is also to acknowledge that despite the language status of the advanced student, language development should be seen more as a continuum and should continue well after a student is labeled ‘proficient.’

With careful consideration, both units include language lesson targeted for advanced language learners, acknowledge various perspective on a particular subject, are Common Core aligned, and allow for deep student reflection.