Digital Commons Network^™

State V. Schall Respondent's Brief Dckt. 46129

Not Reported

No abstract provided.

Precision Of Provider Licensure Data For Mapping Member Accessibility To Medicaid Managed Care Provider Networks, Nathaniel Bell, Ana Lòpez-Defede, Rebecca Wilkerson, Kathy Mayfield-Smith

Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND:

In July 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) updated its Medicaid Managed Care (MMC) regulations that govern network and access standards for enrollees. There have been few published studies of whether there is accurate geographic information on primary care providers to monitor network adequacy.

METHODS:

We analyzed a sample of nurse practitioner (NP) and physician address data registered in the state labor, licensing, and regulation (LLR) boards and the National Provider Index (NPI) using employment location data contained in the patient-centered medical home (PCMH) data file. Our main outcome measures were address discordance (%) at the …

After The Fall: Tsuji Zennosuke And The Creation Of Bukkyōshugi Kokushi, James Mark Shields

Faculty Journal Articles

Tsuji Zennosuke 辻善之助 (1877–1955), the dominant figure in Buddhist historical scholarship in Japan from the 1930s until the mid-1950s, is known to have employed a broad range of sources in order to provide a comprehensive analysis of his subject. This essay examines Tsuji’s conception of Buddhist history in relation to the emer- gence of both National Historical Studies (kokushigaku 国史学) and so-called State Shintō (kokka shintō 国家神道) and argues against the image of Tsuji as an “objec- tive historian” resistant to nationalist trends in historical scholarship. In fact, Tsuji was involved in the creation of an alternative, “Buddhistic” national history, …

Measurement Of The Decays Λc→Σππ At Belle, Belle Collaboration, R. Kroeger

Faculty and Student Publications (Open Access)

No abstract provided.

Consumer Perceptions: From Myths To Action, Michael P. Vandenbergh, Kristian Steensen Nielsen

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Rapid and transformative changes are required to reduce the adverse consequences of climate change. A growing literature suggests that households can be an important part of efforts to reduce GHG emissions. Transformative change implies modifying actions across different life and consumption domains, but not all actions are equally important. The most promising efforts focus on behaviours with high technical potential (the total emissions reductions possible from the behaviour change) and behavioural plasticity (the extent to which the behaviour can be changed in a given decision environment). Shifting towards a plant-based diet has technical potential that is among the highest of …

Validating The Satisfaction With Travel Scale As A Measure Of Hedonic Subjective Well-Being For Commuting In A U.S. City, Patrick A. Singleton

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications

The relationships between transportation and well-being are of increasing interest to researchers, practitioners, and policymakers. Stakeholders seeking to improve quality of life and traffic safety require valid and reliable ways of gauging the emotional states of travelers. Psychological scales exist for measuring subjective well-being (SWB), but these instruments have rarely been applied to the travel domain. The Satisfaction with Travel Scale (STS) is a nine-item measure of travel-related hedonic SWB, capturing core affect (emotions) and cognitive evaluations of overall satisfaction associated with personal transportation. Although the STS has been used in an increasing number of studies, questions remain regarding its …

Instructor Assessment Of Adult Cpr Skills: A Comparison Between Subjective And Objective Measures, Emily Evans

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

Providing accurate feedback is an important component of teaching CPR skills. An important part of providing accurate feedback is being able to accurately assess specific skills. In a cross- sectional experimental design, 33 CPR instructors were recruited to assess six 2-minute pre- recorded videos of 2-person CPR skills. The subjective assessment measures were compared to the objective manikin measures from a Laerdal Resusci-Anne® QCPR manikin. Results indicated statistically significant differences between the subjective and objective measures in all skills assessed (chest compression rate, chest compression depth, chest recoil, hand placement, ventilation volume, and total cycles). Instructor teaching experience (in years …

The Effects Of Inhibiting Pi3k On Tumor Suppressor Gene P53 And Cell Proliferation, Kelsi Peters

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

When the cell surface molecule, Human EGF Receptor (HER2), is overexpressed, the cell can become cancerous. MDA-MB-453 is an established breast cancer cell line made cancerous by HER2 overexpression. This mutation that causes HER2 overexpression affects the cell signaling pathway of phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI₃K), Akt, MDM2, and p53. We predicted that PI₃K would be inhibited with the compound, LY294002, sending signals for Akt and MDM2 to be deactivated in MDA-MB-453 cells. Deactivated MDM2 signals for p53 to be activated. P53 is a tumor suppressor protein that exists in low quantities in normal cells, but when damage …

Assessment And Application Of Dna Metabarcoding For Characterizing Arctic Shorebird Chick Diets, Danielle Elizabeth Gerik

Fisheries

Climate change in the Arctic is affecting the emergence timing of arthropods used as food by nesting shorebirds and their young. Characterizing the diets of shorebird young is a prerequisite to evaluate the potential for asynchrony to occur between the timing of arthropod emergence and when shorebird young hatch, an example of trophic mismatch. In this study, DNA metabarcoding was used to identify arthropod remains in feces collected from wild-caught Red Phalarope (Phalaropus fulicarius), Pectoral Sandpiper (Calidris melanotos), and Dunlin (Calidris alpina), young in Utqiaġvik, Alaska between 2014 and 2016. Arthropod specimens were collected at the field site to generate …

Growth Of Juvenile Chilkat Lake Sockeye Salmon In Response To Density-Dependent And Environmental Factors, Jodi C. Neil

Fisheries

Chilkat Lake, in northern Southeast Alaska, is home to a Sockeye Salmon Oncorhynchus nerka population that is an important component in local commercial, sport, and subsistence fisheries, and has been monitored since the late 1960s. The population began declining in the late 1980s, prompting fishery managers to evaluate the production potential of Chilkat Lake to determine if it could be a candidate for enhancement efforts such as fry stocking or lake fertilization. Sockeye Salmon fry were stocked into Chilkat Lake intermittently from 1989 to 2004 in both small- (<50,000) and large-scale (2.6-5.3 million) events. The purpose of this study was to determine whether stocking of fry resulted in decreased freshwater growth due to density-dependent processes. Fish scales from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game's archived collection of adult Chilkat Lake Sockeye Salmon were measured and used as a proxy for fish growth. The objectives of this thesis were to 1) examine changes in juvenile Chilkat Lake Sockeye Salmon freshwater growth over time (1978-2012); 2) determine whether increased density of juvenile fry coupled with simultaneous climate events negatively affected freshwater growth of Chilkat Lake Sockeye Salmon; and 3) determine whether increased density of juvenile fry affected age at smoltification of Chilkat Lake Sockeye Salmon. We hypothesized that high fry density would slow growth and delay smoltification; however, these analyses produced variable results. We did not detect an effect of increased fry density on growth in the first year of fresh water, but found evidence for a subtle, negative relationship between fry density and second year freshwater growth of those fish that delayed migration. We also found that age at smoltification decreased with increasing fry density. Overall, the model results indicated that no factor or combination of factors related to stocking activity or climate consistently affected juvenile Sockeye Salmon scale growth, suggesting either unidentified, equally influential, or confounding mechanisms (e.g., high adult escapement and anomalous weather patterns).

The Seasonal Dynamics Of Coastal Arctic Lagoons In Northwest Alaska, Marguerite Tibbles

Fisheries

Lagoons are zones of habitat transitions between freshwater and marine ecosystems, providing safe and productive feeding habitats for whitefishes in Northwest Alaska, important to subsistence users in the region. However, many important lagoon processes are not understood. Therefore, the goal of this thesis was to gain a baseline understanding of two important seasonal processes of lagoons in Northwest Alaska. First, I attempted to identify environmental processes correlated with Arctic lagoon breaching for three indicator lagoons that represent a range of environmental characteristics using generalized linear models (GLM) in an information theoretic approach and model averaging. Second, I developed a habitat …

Analysis Of Cation-Treated Clay Microstructure Using Zeta Potential And X-Ray Diffraction, Rui Guo

Engineering

Unfrozen water within cation-treated, fine-grained frozen soils is a key element in cold regions engineering, and is heavily influenced by the surface charge of the soil's clay component. This study investigated the effects of the surface charge of cation-treated clay soils by measuring the zeta potential as a function of temperature, and measuring changes in the micro-structure of frozen cation-treated clays using the x-ray diffraction (XRD) method. I tested five treatments (untreated, and Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, and K⁺ treatments) of six soils (montmorillonite, kaolinite, illite, illite-smectite, chlorite, and Copper River soil). The zeta potential demonstrated a negative relationship with temperature …

A Two-Layer Energy-Efficient Wireless Sensor Network For Precision Agriculture Applications, Osiris V. Ntarugera

Engineering

The agriculture industry has benefited from the recent technological evolution; for example, farmers now use satellite images to monitor large fields. The use of technology in agriculture, generally referred to as Precision Agriculture, has attracted a lot of research interest from electrical engineers. One particular area of Precision Agriculture is the application of embedded systems in monitoring large crop fields. Sensor nodes are placed at various locations in the field where they measure different parameters, such as temperature and soil moisture. The collected measurements are sent to a central hub outside of the field where they can be further processed …

The Rational Basis Test And Why It Is So Irrational: An Eighty-Year Retrospective, James M. Mcgoldrick Jr.

San Diego Law Review

The Rational Basis test is one of the most common and yet perhaps the most insignificant United States Supreme Court test in the history of the constitution, yet year in year out clients and lawyers will submit another brief hoping against hope that this time there might be a meaningful outcome. There will not be.

This article attempts to explain why the rational basis test is so irrational in its outcome, why basic interests are disregarded in the name of judicial respect for the legislative process, and how easy it would be for there to be a better outcome. The …

Mapping Territorial Limitations On Insurance Coverage, Douglas R. Richmond

San Diego Law Review

Globalization has come to financial markets and to innumerable industries. U.S. businesses export and import goods and products; many have done so for decades. Domestic companies that sell materials online almost certainly do some international business. American corporations have foreign facilities or operations. Americans travel internationally with relative ease. For those living in states that adjoin Canada or Mexico, international travel can be accomplished simply by driving across the border.

At the same time, insurance policies sold in the United States frequently contain territorial limitations on coverage that superficially seem out of place when compared to many aspects of modern …

Incentivizing Transparency: Agricultural Benefit Corporations To Improve Consumer Trust, Kathryn Smith

San Diego Law Review

In the face of inadequate, often abysmal agricultural practices and laws that enable them, producers who provide the social good of transparency should receive a benefit. Amidst the debate that all benefit corporations should qualify for special tax treatment, this Comment proposes the development of a federal benefit corporation class offering special tax treatment to worthy agricultural producers. By reallocating current agricultural subsidies, Congress can feasibly correct the agricultural industry’s failure to adequately inform consumers.

Long-Term Variation Of Summer Phytoplankton Communities In An Urban Lake In Relation To Lake Management And Climate Conditions, Yuan Xiao Grund

Dissertations and Theses

Eutrophication is one of the primary factors causing harmful cyanobacteria blooms in freshwater lakes; climate change such as warmer temperature can potentially further increase both frequency and intensity of blooms. This study investigated the long-term changes in water quality and summer phytoplankton assemblages in Oswego Lake, OR, in relation to lake management practices (e.g., hypolimnetic aeration and alum treatments), as well as climatic and regional meteorological conditions. Both water quality and phytoplankton assemblages were sampled biweekly during summer seasons between 2001 and 2013. The concentrations of total phosphorus (TP), soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and total nitrogen (TN) decreased 66%, 93% …

Bounded Rationality, Paternalism, And Trademark Law, Stacey Dogan

Faculty Scholarship

We don’t need behavioral economics to understand that trade marks can shape consumer preferences in ways that have little to do with objectively measurable differences in product quality. Scholars, judges, economists, and policymakers have long recognized the tendency of strong marks to skew consumer decisions. The concern lies not only in price effects but with the allocative effects of encouraging investment in persuasive advertising, rather than product innovation or similar “productive” pursuits. While informative advertising can benefit consumers, advertising that creates artificial brand-based differences between otherwise identical products appears not only costly to consumers but also socially wasteful.

This Essay …

Properties Of Mixing Sac Solder Alloys With Bismuth-Containing Solder Alloys For A Low Reflow Temperature Process, Tayler John Swanson

Theses

The subject of extensive research has been the establishing of lower temperature soldering of electronic assemblies that are similar to the once common yet still preferred eutectic Tin-Lead (SnPb) soldering manufacturing processes that are below 217˚C. This research opportunity will contribute data on mixed solder alloy assemblies that can be formed at lower process temperatures. There are many environmental and economic benefits of avoiding the current reliability concerns of assembling electronics at the standard high temperatures which peak at 230˚C 260˚C. To reduce this temperature the use of Bismuth containing solder pastes are mixing with the standard high temperature SAC …

Lifecycle Modeling And Assessment Of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (Drones) Co2e Emissions, Miguel A. Figliozzi

Civil and Environmental Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

There are no studies that model the potential effectiveness of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones to reduce CO2e lifecycle (including both utilization and vehicle phase) emissions when compared to conventional diesel vans, electric trucks, electric vans, and tricycles. This study presents a novel analysis of lifecycle UAV and ground commercial vehicles CO2e emissions. Different route and customer configurations are modeled analytically. Utilizing real-word data, tradeoffs and comparative advantages of UAVs are discussed. Breakeven points for operational emissions are obtained and the results clearly indicate that UAVs are more CO2e efficient, for small payloads, than conventional diesel vans in a …

Morphological And Phenological Responses Of Butterflies To Seasonal Temperature Increase In Alaska, Kathryn Margaret Daly

Biological Sciences

Climate is changing rapidly at high latitudes, and the responses of insects provide early indications of the impacts these changes have on biota. Butterflies (Lepidoptera: Papilionoidea) are among the best-known Subarctic and Arctic insects, and research in Greenland has revealed significant declines in butterfly body sizes along with advances in the timing of their first flights in spring. These changes are ecologically significant because smaller body sizes can lead to reduced fecundity in butterflies, and earlier adult emergence can have detrimental effects across trophic levels because Lepidoptera are an important food resource for birds and mammals. The primary goal of …

Aaron Green, Jr.

African American Funeral Programs

No abstract provided.

Diving? The Best Therapy, Mhairi Webster

2018 All Essays

No abstract provided.

Associations Between Cortical Structure And Reading Skills In Beginning Readers, Meaghan Perdue

Master's Theses

The acquisition of literacy is a challenging task that engages multiple processing systems to integrate multimodal information. As a result, children exhibit wide variability in reading ability, with the lowest performers classified as having Specific Reading Disability (SRD). Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) research has identified a reading network in the brain consisting primarily of left hemisphere temporo-parietal, occipito-temporal, and inferior frontal regions, but the structural neural substrates that support skilled reading during the formative years of reading acquisition remain underspecified. The present study applied a continuous analytic approach to investigate distinct surface-based properties of cortical structure (cortical …

Make Art Conservative Again, Gurami Jamaspishvili

Capstones

They are the darlings of conservative America, the prophets of the new reactionary movement, the iconoclasts and the patron saints of the free speech, revered by "the basket of deplorables" and castigated by liberal America for being cheap shot opportunists whose goal is to crusade against the values that Americans hold most dear. Although Donald Trump's presidency galvanized a big chunk of artists around the resistance movement, a small group of right-wing artists, who were operating surreptitiously, are gaining momentum.

https://conservativeart.exposure.co/make-art-conservative-again

Sex-Specific Hatch And Growth Patterns In Young-Of-The-Year Atlantic Silversides (Menidia Menidia, Atherinopsidae) From Mumford Cove, Connecticut, Julie W. Pringle

Master's Theses

The Atlantic silverside (Menidia menidia) is an important semelparous forage fish along the North American Atlantic coast and a well-known model for experimental studies. However, ecological and evolutionary theories, such as the adaptive significance of temperature-dependent sex determination (TSD), have yet to be tested using M. menidia juveniles from their natural habitat. Additionally, how the characteristics of survivors at the end of their growing season are shaped by growth and mortality is insufficiently understood. This study used otolith microstructure analysis to determine sex-specific size-at-age, growth, and hatch date distributions in young-of-the-year juveniles sampled monthly between October-December 2015 in …

Adaptations Of 3d Printing Technology To Microfluidics Systems For The Detection Of Multi-Protein Cancer Biomarkers, Ketki Bhalerao

Master's Theses

The overall goal of research in our group has been to develop devices and use techniques for rapid, easy detection that would also be fully automated, highly sensitive, cost effective and involves multi-protein detection with moderate to high throughput with respect to the increasing need in clinical diagnostics of today. The devices used are developed using 3D printing technology and the methodology used was based on the generation of chemiluminescence (CL), which is obtained by applying a fixed voltage and then measured with a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) camera as a detector. The chemiluminiscense replaces the colorimetric detection of proteins …

On Paper, Immigrant Detention Centers Meet Standards To Prevent Sexual Assault. But Assault Continues. Why?, Samantha A. Maldonado, Sarah V. Matusek, Paula Moura

Capstones

Since 2014, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainees have been protected by the federal law known as the Prison Rape Elimination Act, or PREA, designed to make facilities safer, give detainees better access to report sexual harm and increase transparency. Advocates, lawyers and detainees, however, say these standards are limited, and that the ability to report abuse is easily thwarted. A consulting company, The Nakamoto Group, was hired to conduct ICE's PREA audits. But critics, including former ICE employees and the Department of Homeland Security's own watchdog, question the substance of the audits and charge that the company’s auditors have overlooked …

Multiple Sclerosis Drugs Have Been Getting A Lot More Expensive, Ben Jay

Capstones

Multiple Sclerosis is a very expensive disease. According to a 2016 study in the American Journal of Managed Care, treating it can cost patients anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000 per year, which can meet or even exceed the average US household median income, depending on how severe your case is. For a disease that has no known cure, and requires frequent medical attention to manage symptoms that can completely debilitate a person if left untreated, that can mean spending $4.1 million over the course of a lifetime, according to the same study. However, in the last 20 years, that …

The Invisible Brain Injury Crisis, Michael E. Rosenthal

Capstones

According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2013 data, over 282,000 hospitalizations and 2.5 million emergency department visits were at least in part attributable to TBI. In the same year, about 56,000 people died.

Emergency departments in 2012 treated about 329,290 kids under 20 for TBI following an injury taking place during physical activity.

This project explores the rise in traumatic brain injuries and examines the difficult path that some of the survivors have to go through during recovery. By telling the story through my own personal experiences, I guide the reader through what the initial trauma and …