Digital Commons Network^™

Implementing An Electronic Medical Record: Creating A Request For Proposal, Renee L. Kelly

DNP and Student Works

The quality of inter-professional team documentation, when documenting on paper, has consistently failed to meet the recommended standards because of ineligible handwriting, which leads to wrong information recorded in patients' charts, and incomplete health histories. When developing a comprehensive electronic medical record system to serve an orthopedic office, this requires significant time, open and honest communication, dedication from each member of the team, and resources. In an orthopedic office setting, an inter-professional team was formed to develop and evaluate a request for proposal for an electronic health record system, compared to the current documentation process influences a decision for a …

Assessing Epigenetic Features Of Gaba(A) Receptor Genes In Ipscs, Ipsc-Derived Neuroepithelial Cells, And Ipsc-Derived Neural Cell Cultures, Maegan Watson

Doctoral Dissertations

Alcohol use disorders (AUDs) affect approximately 13.9% of the population in the United States. Many groups have found a correlation between AUDs and a synonymous SNP in exon 5 of the GABRA2 gene (rs279858 T to C; C allele associated with AUDs). However, the biological effects of this and other SNPs in this region are unknown.

Our lab has been using iPSC technology for the past few years to study AUDs. The lab has shown, using qPCR of mRNA, that a cluster of GABA_A receptor subunit genes on chromosome 4p12 is expressed at minimal levels in neural cells derived …

A Perspective On Electronic Alternatives To Traditional Currencies, Gabriele Camera

ESI Working Papers

The institution of money is rapidly evolving thanks to developments in computer-based cryptography. Technological advances have made possible the creation of cost-effective electronic alternatives to banknotes and coins, which are the traditional physical currencies. This document aims to describe — based on scientific literature — the use and characteristics of money, some of the problems associated with issuing a new currency or a new payment instrument, and the possible comparative advantages of a central bank in leading the way relative to private issuers.

Vitamin D, Calcium And Blood Pressure In The U.S., Sarah Bean

Master's Projects and Capstones

Vitamin D and calcium have received increased attention for their potential roles in improving cardiovascular health. The active form of vitamin D, 1,25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D), may influence blood pressure by increasing gastrointestinal calcium absorption. The objectives of this study were to first examine the association between blood pressure and blood serum 25(OH)D levels, and then explore the interaction between 25(OH)D, calcium intake, and blood pressure. Cross-sectional analysis featured 24,844 U.S. adults aged 20-80 years from three cycles of the National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES 2001-2006). Linear regression models were used to determine the adjusted association of 25(OH)D categories with …

Filipino American Mothers’ Knowledge About Male Hpv Vaccination And Intent To Vaccinate Their Sons, Krista M. Navarra

Master's Projects and Capstones

Information about the attitude and intent of Filipino-American mothers on HPV vaccination for their adolescent son is unavailable and unidentified. In this systematic review, three unique studies within different cultural backgrounds and demographic locations were analyzed. Data were collected from the following populations: Puerto Ricans, Ugandans, Caribbean Americans and African Americans. All studies were cross-sectional and integrated questionnaires which distinguished parents’ knowledge and attitude toward HPV vaccinations along with additional information such as socio-economic status, educational attainment, occupation, etc. In the study performed in Puerto Rico, 200 parents of 9-17 years old were given a self-administered questionnaire, and the results …

Tp53-Inducible Glycolysis And Apoptosis Regulator (Tigar) Metabolically Reprograms Carcinoma And Stromal Cells In Breast Cancer., Ying-Hui Ko, Marina Domingo-Vidal, Megan Roche, Zhao Lin, Diana Whitaker-Menezes, Erin Seifert, Claudia Capparelli, Madalina Tuluc, Ruth C. Birbe, Patrick Tassone, Joseph M. Curry, Àurea Navarro-Sabaté, Anna Manzano, Ramon Bartrons, Jaime Caro, Ubaldo E. Martinez-Outshoorn

Department of Medical Oncology Faculty Papers

A subgroup of breast cancers has several metabolic compartments. The mechanisms by which metabolic compartmentalization develop in tumors are poorly characterized. TP53 inducible glycolysis and apoptosis regulator (TIGAR) is a bisphosphatase that reduces glycolysis and is highly expressed in carcinoma cells in the majority of human breast cancers. Hence we set out to determine the effects of TIGAR expression on breast carcinoma and fibroblast glycolytic phenotype and tumor growth. The overexpression of this bisphosphatase in carcinoma cells induces expression of enzymes and transporters involved in the catabolism of lactate and glutamine. Carcinoma cells overexpressing TIGAR have higher oxygen consumption rates …

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 …

Selection And Robustness In Bacterial Genome Evolution, Seila Omer

Doctoral Dissertations

The research presented in this thesis attempts to address research questions related to the role of natural selection in the evolution of bacterial genes not expressed for function and in building mutational tolerance to translational errors. Studies on evolution of protein coding DNA sequences have provided the evidence for a current paradigm in evolutionary biology: only functional genes are undergoing selection against the deleterious effects of allele variants (purifying selection). I provide evidence that similar footprints of selection can be detected in genes that are not normally expressed for function during the bacterial life cycle. Using simulations for DNA sequence …

Sorption And Metabolism Of Explosives In Sediment Of Coastal Marine Ecosystems, Thivanka S. Ariyarathna

Doctoral Dissertations

The lack of knowledge on fate and transport of explosive compounds, 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) and hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) in marine ecosystems limits the ability to predict toxicological impacts and natural attenuation of these suspected carcinogens in contaminated coastal sites. This study focuses on improving our understanding of the sorption and transformation of TNT and RDX in coastal ecosystems by using stable nitrogen isotopes.

Abiotic and biotic bench-top experiments using sediment slurries evaluated sorption kinetics and anaerobic biotransformation. Marine silt showed higher compound-uptake rates (> ~100) than freshwater silt for both compounds though equilibrium partition constants (Kp’s) were on the same order of …

Molding Minds For Peace: A Curriculum For Early Childhood Educators To Teach Peacebuilding Concepts And Skills, Marissa D. Gray

Master's Projects and Capstones

The United States is amidst a period of substantial growth in diversity. This diversification along with feelings of anti-immigrant sentiment has also led to an increase in tension and violence. Molding Minds for Peace: A Curriculum for Early Childhood Educators To Teach Peacebuilding Concepts is a project designed to teach early childhood students the skills that they need to peacefully navigate conflict and difference. After exploring literature about early childhood education/development, multicultural education, and peace education, this project provides early childhood educators with six complete lesson plans that are fully ready for implementation. These lessons have been developed in such …

Achieving Access: Designing A Museum Accessibility Consulting Firm, Lauren J. Garnese

Master's Projects and Capstones

This capstone paper explores the need for an accessibility consulting firm to help museums and cultural institutions implement Americans with Disabilities Act policy adherence, universal design and accessible programming that increases the inclusion of people with disabilities in their organizations. The paper begins with a literature review that synthesizes the history of disability legislation and its relationship to museums, explores how museums can go beyond legal compliance and discusses the infrastructure suggested to implement accessibility efforts in an institution. The paper then proposes a project to create an accessibility consulting firm that assists museums in achieving their accessibility goals and …

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 …

Security Districts In New Orleans, Kara Chin, Emily Siegel

Capstones

We did an investigative study of security districts in New Orleans. For nearly 20 years, neighborhoods in the city’s wealthier sections have voted to impose higher taxes only on themselves for additional security that benefits their own neighborhoods. These added patrols supplement the city’s often-criticized police. Last year, security districts raised nearly $6 million in additional revenue that isn’t shared with the rest of the city. No other major city has implemented a publicly funded law enforcement system that allows voters to funnel tax dollars for additional security that is not shared with the city at large.

Little Data On Whether Charters Make A Difference When College Is The Goal, Erica Jackson

Capstones

Some charters are too young to measure how their students perform. Others collect data in a spotty way. And official statistics make comprehensive comparisons difficult.

Link to capstone project: http://citylimits.org/2016/12/28/little-data-on-whether-charters-make-a-difference-when-college-is-the-goal/

The New Pornography: The Rise Of Fanfic, Kelly Caputo

Capstones

Fanfic has quickly become the new pornography, showing how in modern culture, everything becomes sexualized.

https://newpornography.wordpress.com

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 …

Woof, Joseph D. Jaafari

Capstones

About 10 percent of Americans identify as polyamorous, defined as having multiple love affairs within a single relationship. Those relationships are as diverse as they are complicated with some ranging from having multiple people within a relationship to a couple having outside individual relationships.

Within the gay world, polyamory and open relationships has become a norm, and within the gay fetish scene it’s almost a requirement.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_MnWyJVYJneYVAzXzcxU2U3bFE

But polyamory has its own set of complications legally. Because in America we have a system where only one person can receive benefits (be it through marriage or blood), there are complications if, …

On East Jerusalem Streets, Palestinians Say Settlements Trump Social Media As Source Of Violence, Jad Sleiman

Capstones

This project uses interviews with Palestinian residents of violent East Jerusalem neighborhoods to get at the root causes of a year-long wave of lone wolf Arab attacks against Jews in Israel and the West Bank.

Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@jadalisleiman/c4187cc3660b#.oibq7chq6

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 …

Why We Still Need To Worry About Bees, Meaghan Lee Callaghan

Capstones

American honey bees, and other native bee species, are still in decline, though the specter of colony collapse disorder may be fading behind us. Colony decline, the loss of bees overwinter experienced across the country at a quarter to third lost per hive (sometimes more), is now expected. Losses can include those from colony collapse disorder. The author discusses the different causes for colony decline and speaks to bee health scientists and local beekeepers. Read more at: http://www.meaghanleecallaghan.com/capstone/index.html

Riding The Mind Lightning, William A. Fortuna

Capstones

Neuromodulation is the practice of applying external stimulation, either electric or magnetic, to the human in order to affect positive change. TDCS or transcranial direct current stimulation is a neuromodulatory technique using a 9-volt battery. Because of the simplicity of the device, and it's relatively low potential for harm, the technique is popular with both researchers and at-home enthusiasts. To find out whether this technique works the way some people say it does, I built my own.

Nyc Waterfronts, Pollution And Access, Guglielmo Mattioli

Capstones

This capstone is about the waterfronts of New York and their relation with access and pollution.

The city has come a long way since the 80s in terms of cleaning up open waters, rivers, and creeks. Many new promenades have been open and development spurred along the city shores. Yet too many miles of waterfront are still not accessible to the one most in need.

Jamaica Bay, Newtown Creek, and Flushing Bay are some of the most representative examples of where there is little access to the water and pollution levels are still too high. This capstone, organized in two …

Head To Head With Concussions In Youth Football, Setrige Crawford, Michelle Simon

Capstones

In this article, we reviewed the scene of youth football in response to recent concussion data and the discovery of CTE. Many people focus on the NFL and collegiate angle, but we wanted to focus on youth football, since they are the future. We used data from science journals and surveys to show the number on concussions in football vs other sports and the frequency of concussions vs other injuries.

We interviews coaches and a young football prospect and his mother about the scene of youth football. We're interested in what parents think, how coaches now teach the game and …

Spend Your Student Loans On A Vacation. No One Is Watching., Raul A. Hernandez, Morten Buttler

Capstones

Student loan debtors who spend their loans on non-educational expenses   increase the likelihood of financial hardship once they begin repayment. Contributing to the financial struggles of student loan debtors is an overly-complicated student loan system which can entangle borrowers with unclear financial statements and a glut of federal loan repayment programs.

Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@raul.hernandez/spend-your-student-loans-on-a-vacation-no-one-is-watching-a71834ed6f45#.vj61hhxig

Lgbt In Colombia: A War Within, Monica Espitia

Capstones

On the surface, Colombia appears to be at the vanguard of the gay rights movement, having extended legal rights to same-sex couples and transgender people in recent years. But for many of the nearly five million Colombians who are LGBT, these rights have been largely meaningless as a result of the deep-rooted prejudice that often results in violence.

Gay, lesbian and transgender Colombians have been actively persecuted by armed groups involved in Colombia’s decades-long civil war. Members of the LGBT community are four times more likely than the rest of the population to be threatened and abused by both legal …

Closing The Teacher Diversity Gap, Emily Holzknecht

Capstones

In New York City, 43 percent of boys in the public school system may never have a teacher who looks like them. Recruitment initiatives have brought more men of color into the classroom, but challenging work environments are driving these much-needed teachers to find more profitable work in a less stressful environment.

Nationally, minority and non-minority teachers are leaving the profession at an increasing rate. In New York, men of color represent about 8 percent of the teachers, while boys of color make up almost half of the student population. Taking aim at this disparity, the de Blasio administration plans …

The Last Gay Man On Earth -- Can The Mainstreaming Of A Culture Be Responsible For Its Demise?, Muri Assunção

Capstones

Social acceptance towards the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Queer community (LGBTQ) has seen incredible progress in the last few decades. Less than 50 years ago, an act of rebellion against a homophobic police raid at Stonewall, a gay bar in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, kicked off the gay liberation movement and the fight for LGBTQ rights. Today, the queer revolution has proved effective: same-sex unions in the U.S. are legally allowed, and gay parenting is socially accepted. But, at what cost? Are queer people conforming to a heteronormative way of life? Can such social advances be also responsible for the …

No Hindu Left Behind Is A Tall Order, Even In America, Rheaa Rao

Capstones

Hindutva, synonymous for Hindu nationalism, is not a fringe ideology in India but is something that often violently singles out other religious minorities. Hindu organizations in the United States do not have a violent history or intent in the United States, it is important to trace their roots back to the Hindu nationalist movement in India to dig deeper into their rhetoric and what it means for Indian and American democracy. This article investigates the role these organizations play in spreading a Hindutva message in the diaspora.

https://social.shorthand.com/RheaaRao/ngSoDOqapT/no-hindu-left-behind-is-a-tall-order-even-in-america

Broken: How New York Systems Fail Vulnerable Youth And Send Them To Sex Work, Megan Cerullo

Capstones

The very places where homeless youth seek refuge have become breeding grounds for those who sell sex to bait young people into what they refer to as “the life.” Homeless youth, particularly those who have already been sexually abused, by family members or neighbors, or in the foster care system, make vulnerable prey for exploiters, who loiter outside of shelters, and other organizations providing services to the disadvantaged population. Unwitting youth who are broke and homeless and former foster care kids often turn to pimps for food, clothes, shelter -- and affection.

Many victims are youth who have aged out …