Digital Commons Network^™

Why A Diagnosis Of Neurofibromatosis Calls For The Attention Of A Deaf Educator, Lydia Marie López

Independent Studies and Capstones

This paper will seek to describe neurofibromatosis (NF), the scope of its impact, how NF relates to hearing loss, and why someone with a teacher of the deaf’s expertise may have information to offer the intervention team for a child diagnosed with NF.

Darwin, Freud, And Dawkins Sit Down For A Cup Of Tea, Natalie Spanos

Gateway Prize for Excellent Writing

No abstract provided.

Psychological Pathology And Aging In Cervantes’S Don Quixote De La Mancha, Ida Sudol

Hispanic Studies Honors Papers

Miguel de Cervantes wrote his most famous work, Don Quixote de La Mancha, in a prison cell after a life of great misfortune. The work he created, however, changed his fate, and to this day lives on as one of the most-read pieces of all time. Unique to Cervantes’s literary creation is the applicability of its themes across history. Though the setting is 16th-Century Spain, the topics of the work include aspects of psychopathology, personality, and aging. This synthesis of psychology, philosophy, and human character outlines concepts that would benefit clinicians in their understanding of geriatric patients, which is among …

Self-Revelatory Performance: The Intentional Use Of Theatre’S Therapeutic Nature, Leah Shapiro

Theater Honors Papers

Self-Revelatory performance, considered both a form of drama therapy and a unique type of theatre, is defined as a form in which a performer creates an original piece of theatre based on existing life issues in need of therapeutic exploration (Emunah, 2015). The purpose of this Honors Study is to delve into Self-Revelatory performance as a form that explores the intentional use of theatre’s therapeutic nature. Self-Revelatory performance is a hybrid of both therapy and theatre because it is an experience that offers transformation, understanding, transcendence, and often healing, while ultimately creating a captivating and moving performance to be witnessed …

Existence In Black: Understanding My Situation, Chazz Higginbotham

Philosophy Honors Papers

No abstract provided.

Identification And Characterization Of Interactors Of Plasmodium Falciparum Pfpk6, An Atypical Protein Kinase, Andi J. Cummins

Honors Undergraduate Theses

Plasmodium falciparum, the organism that causes the most prevalent and most virulent cases of malaria in humans, poses a major health burden on the developing world, especially in the tropical regions of Sub-Saharan Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America. The burden of the disease is intensified by the fact that the parasite has developed widespread resistance to all current antimalarial therapies, such as chloroquine. This drug resistance underscores the need to develop novel therapeutics that target the parasite, but show low toxicity in the human host. Protein kinases, because of their integral roles in cell signaling networks, are considered to …

A Study Of Occupational Health : Disclosing Homosexuality In The Workplace, Yim Yam, Whywhy Chan

Bachelor of Social Sciences – Senior Theses

In this study, the associations among disclosing homosexuality, discrimination and occupational health was examined, as well as the associations among disclosing homosexuality, workplace sexual identity management strategies and occupational health. It is aimed to investigating whether discrimination serves as a moderator between disclosing homosexuality and occupational health, plus whether workplace sexual identity management strategies serves as a mediator between disclosing homosexuality and occupational health. In total, 225 gays and lesbians full-time workers in Hong Kong were participated in this study through completing an online questionnaire. Results showed that discrimination serves as a moderator between disclosure and job satisfaction, and workplace …

Instructional Design For Deaf Students: An Experimental Study Of Multimedia Instruction And Cognitive Load, Soraya Cooper Matthews

Theses and Dissertations--Curriculum and Instruction

Given that students who are deaf face learning challenges as a result of delays in language acquisition and reading comprehension skills, educators presume that the use of multimedia will aid in comprehension of novel information as it does with hearing students. This study examined the impact of multimedia on comprehension and cognitive load for students who are deaf. More specifically, this study aimed to determine whether there is a significant difference in the learning comprehension and cognitive load of deaf students exposed to two multimedia formats, compared to students exposed to a single format. Research participants were 64 students recruited …

Tears In Heaven: Religiously And Culturally Sensitive Laws For Preventing The Next Pandemic, Eloisa Rodriguez-Dod, Aileen M. Marty, Elena Marty-Nelson

Faculty Publications

In February 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a “public health emergency of international concern” due to the increased clusters of microcephaly, Guillain-Barré Syndrome, and other neurological disorders in areas affected by the Zika virus. That declaration came in the wake of the West Africa Ebola crisis. Back to back declarations by WHO of the highest threat level for an international public health emergency underscores how quickly pathogens can now spread and cause devastation across borders. It also highlights the need to implement lessons learned from each pandemic crisis without delay. These crises demonstrate that laws to curtail the …

Measuring Altruistic Impact: A Model For Understanding The Social Justice Of Open Access, Margaret Heller, Franny Gaede

Scholarship and Professional Work

INTRODUCTION Traditional assessment of ways in which open access initiatives and institutional repositories have provided a return on investment normally use pragmatic measures such as download counts and citation benefits. This pragmatic approach misses out on the powerful altruistic impact of improving access to international and/or marginalized communities. Using a frame of social justice, this article considers the importance of developing altruistic measures of repositories, particularly for institutions with missions specifically related to social justice and related themes. METHODS Using web analytics data for search keywords from eight institutions and geographic usage data from nine institutions, the authors were able …

Ua45 2016-2017 Four-Year Degree Paths, Wku Registrar

WKU Administration Documents

An addendum to the 2016-2017 Undergraduate Catalog

The purpose of the Four-Year Degree Path is to assist undergraduate students in determining a timeline for completion of their undergraduate degree program. Each path displayed within this website provides students with the anticipated order in which a degree would typically be completed in a timely fashion at Western Kentucky University.

The Degree Paths show appropriate timing and spacing of general education, core course requirements, elective suggestions, prerequisites and displays how each of these requirements may be met during a four-year time frame.

The Degree Path is simply a guideline and might not …

Bending The Curve: Reflections On A Decade Of Illinois Juvenile Justice Reform, Diane Geraghty

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Education Connection: The Importance Of Allowing Students To Use Bathrooms And Locker Rooms Reflecting Their Gender Identity, Katherine Szczerbinski

Children's Legal Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Determining The Value Of Birthrank And Parent Age In Thoroughbred Racehorses, Xiurui Cui

Theses and Dissertations--Agricultural Economics

Thoroughbred racing is referred to as “the sport of Kings”, because historically it was a leisure activity of the upper-class. Thoroughbred breeding on the other hand has transformed from a hobby of the upper-class to a worldwide agricultural industry. With the deep involvement of the royal and rich in the Thoroughbred industry, the auction prices of horses are raised significantly at the top end of the market.

Research in the biological sciences suggests there exits correlations between dam age, foal birthrank, and the racing performance of Thoroughbred horses. This study first investigates how the market values these biological factors and …

School Level Predictors Of Bullying Among High School Students, M. Alison Boswell

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

Bullying is a universal problem affecting the emotional, social, and physical wellbeing of school-age children worldwide. Individual level correlates of bullying have been well-documented; however, there is limited research identifying variables at the school level which contribute to bullying involvement, especially among high school students. In this dissertation, school characteristics associated with bullying were investigated using an ecological systems framework.

In the first paper, a comprehensive review of the bullying literature was conducted. Research in the following areas were summarized: definitions of bullying, measures of bullying, individual correlates, influences of cognitive development and social context across age groups, contextual variables …

Instrumental And Transformative Medical Technology, Nicole Huberfeld

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article considers how medical technologies impact universality in health care. The universality principle, as embodied in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), eliminated widespread discriminatory practices and provided financial assistance to those otherwise unable to become insured—a democratizing federal act that was intended to stabilize health care policy nationwide. This Article posits that medical technology, as with all of medicine, can be universalizing or exclusionary and that this status roughly correlates to its being “instrumental technology” or “transformative technology.” Instrumental technology acts as a tool of medicine and often serves an existing aspect of health care; in …

Virginia Dental Journal (Vol. 93, No. 2, 2016)

Virginia Dental Journal

No abstract provided.

Graduate Catalog 2016-2017, Southwestern Oklahoma State University

Graduate Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Developing An Implementation Science Research Agenda To Improve The Treatment And Care Outcomes Among Adolescents Living With Hiv In Sub-Saharan Africa, Julie Denison, Audrey Pettifor, Lynne Mofenson, Deanna Kerrigan

HIV and AIDS

In February 2016, Project SOAR convened a Technical Advisory Network meeting, attended by more than 50 international and domestic thought leaders in adolescent HIV care research and a small group of youth from southern Africa who are living with HIV. To prepare the groundwork for the meeting, SOAR produced a background paper synthesizing the literature on HIV continuum of care outcomes among adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa, where most adolescent cases of HIV are concentrated. This report presents the findings from the literature review and highlights from the Technical Advisory Network meeting. The first section is a …

The Trend Of Communicable And Non-Communicable Diseases In East African Community (Eac) Countries: Case Study Of Burundi, Rwanda, And Uganda - 1990 To 2013, Emile Shumbusho

Master of Public Health Program Student Publications

Background: In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are rapidly emerging alongside a well-documented persistence of communicable diseases (CDs) in fragile health care systems. In sub-Saharan Africa, chronic NCDs are expected to overtake CDs as the leading cause of death. The aim of this study was to compare mortality rates due to CDs and NCDs between developed countries, developing countries, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda from 1990 to 2013.

Methods: A descriptive study with longitudinal and cross-sectional analyses of mortality rates was conducted using the global burden of disease (GBD) study data. Tableau Public 9.3 software was utilized to …

Development, Design, Manufacture And Test Of Flapping Wing Micro Aerial Vehicles, Todd J. Smith

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The field of FlappingWing Micro Air Vehicles (FWMAV) has been of interest in recent years and as shown to have many aerodynamic principles unconventional to traditional aviation aerodynamics. In addition to traditional manufacturing techniques, MAVs have utilized techniques and machines that have gained significant interest and investment over the past decade, namely in additive manufacturing. This dissertation discusses the techniques used to manufacture and build a 30 gram-force (gf) model which approaches the lower limit allowed by current commercial off-the-shelf items. The vehicle utilizes a novel mechanism that minimizes traditional kinematic issues associated with four bar mechanisms for flapping wing …

Identification Of Protein-Protein Interactions Of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Associated Protein Tdp-43, Hanoor Sharma

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease caused by progressive degeneration of upper and lower motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord. Multiple mutations are found in some of the proteins associated with ALS, including superoxide dismutase (SOD1), fused in sarcoma (FUS) and trans-activation response DNA-binding protein (TDP-43). TDP-43 is a DNA and RNA binding protein, well conserved, and ubiquitously expressed in all tissues. TDP-43 resides in the nucleus and sometimes shuttles between nucleus and cytoplasm. Mutations in TDP-43 leads to mislocalization of TDP-43 to the cytosol where it was ubiqutinated and hyperphosphsorylated, ultimately leading to neuronal cell …

Biol 106--Introductory Biostatistics, Todd P. Livdahl

Syllabus Share

An introduction to mathematical and statistical methods that are most useful to biologists, this course provides skills that are useful in organizing and summarizing data, graphic methods of data presentation, and testing hypotheses based on experimental results. Key mathematical methods for describing biological phenomena are included, along with basic techniques for identifying differences among groups and relationships among variables. This course may be used by biology majors to fulfill part of their mathematics requirement; alternatively, it may be counted among the required ten biology courses for the major.

Bioavailability And Transformation Of Silver Nanoparticles In The Freshwater Environment, Seth W. Brittle

Browse all Theses and Dissertations

The proliferation of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) in consumer products and industrial applications has generated many environmental concerns since the chemistry of silver changes at the nanoscale and the very properties that make them desirable – their unique reactivity – may pose environmental risks. This dissertation addresses these concerns from three different angles. First, freshwater crayfish is demonstrated as a potential benthic indicator of Ag pollution since Ag accumulation depends on the form of Ag. The uptake and distribution of Ag (from AgNPs or Ag+) in tissue samples were measured by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). The hepatopancreas (1.5-17.4 …

Toward An Optimal Spectral Quality For Plant Growth And Development: The Importance Of Radiation Capture, Bruce Bugbee

Plants, Soils, and Climate Faculty Publications

We have characterized the effects of individual wavelengths of light on single leaf photosynthesis but we do not yet fully understand the effects of multi-wavelength radiation sources on growth and whole-plant net assimilation. Studies with monochromatic light by Hoover, McCree and Inada nearly a half century ago indicated that blue and cyan photons are used less efficiently than orange and red photons. Contrary to these measurements, studies in whole plants have found that photosynthesis often increases with an increasing fraction of blue photons. Plant growth, however, typically decreases as the fraction of blue photons increases above 5 to 10%. The …

Dna Methylation And Stress-Induced Reversions From Asexual To Sexual Seed Formation In Boechera (Brassicacea), Landon Watts

Biology Posters

Apomixis is a form of asexual reproduction that occurs in many plants and animals. Eggs of apomictic plants and animals form by apomeiosis, which means they do not become genetically reduced. Furthermore, these eggs develop into embryos without fertilization. Apomictic plants and animals generally reproduce quickly by making genetic copies of themselves, a trait that would be economically beneficial for perpetuating hybrid vigor if introduced into major seed crops. Metabolic stress induces a reversion from apomixis to sex in many apomicts, and this was recently shown to occur in species of the plant genus Boechera. 1 Transcriptome studies strongly suggest …

Native American 2016 Stem Mentorship, Shiyenne Yazzie

Biology Posters

No abstract provided.

Stem Program, Marty Brown

Biology Posters

No abstract provided.

An Environmentally Friendly Conductive Ink Made Using Transgenic Spider Silk Protein And Silver Salts, Amir Ghazi Tabatabaei, Jay Merrill, Randolph V. Lewis, Ibrahim Hassounah

Biology Posters

The goal of this study was to demonstrate that it is possible to formulate an electrically conductive, stretchable and environmentally friendly ink or coating. This is made possible by harnessing the properties of biomimetic spider silk obtained from transgenic goats. In this experiment we formulated four inks using spider silk, silver trifluoroacetate and carbon nanotubes (CNT). We utilized Polyethylene terephthalate (PET), spider silk, natural rubber (Latex) and polystyrene-block-isobutylene-block-styrene(SIS) as substrates to demonstrate the flexible nature of the ink/coating. We then conducted surface characterization using FTIR and SEM to verify the presence of our coating and quantified the thickness of our …

Observation Of Fertilized Bovine Oocytes, Tyce Addley, Kenneth Campbell

Biology Posters

Oocytes were extracted from bovine ovaries by perforation of the follicle wall. Oocytes extracted were chosen for culture based on the cumulus-oocyte complex (COC), graded by the density of cumulus cells on a scale of A-D, in vitro fertilization (IVF) was performed on COC’s rated A or B. Healthy COC were placed into a maturation media for incubation at 29 degree C with a 5 percent CO2 air mixture for twenty four hours. After the maturation period the chosen oocytes were fertilized by IVF using frozen/thawed semen from one bull.