Digital Commons Network^™

2020 Summer-Fall Graduate Recognition Program, Propulsion Research Center, Robert Frederick

PRC Graduate Recognition

This program includes the graduate recognition program for summer and fall 2020. Includes photographs, upcoming events, recent publications, and student profiles.

7th Annual Sustainability Report, Saint Mary's College Of California

Sustainability Report

No abstract provided.

Characterization Of A Packaged Triboelectric Harvester Under Simulated Gait Loading For Total Knee Replacement, Nabid Aunjum Hossain, Geofrey George Yamomo, Ryan Willing, Shahrzad Towfighian

Mechanical Engineering Faculty Scholarship

Load sensing total knee replacement (TKR) implants are useful tools for monitoring prosthesis health and providing quantitative data to support patient claims of pain or instability. Powering such devices throughout the entire life of the knee replacement, however, is a challenge, and selfpowered telemetry via energy harvesting is an attractive solution. Herein, we implemented vertical contact mode triboelectric energy harvesters inside a knee implant package to generate the power required for embedded digitization and communications circuitry. The harvesters produce small-scale electric power from physiologically relevant loads transmitted through the knee. Experiments were performed on a joint motion simulator with an …

Schools’ Civil Rights Obligations To English Learners: Leadership Perceptions On Key Issues, Pamela R. Schwallier

Dissertations

English Learners (ELs), who now represent nearly 10% of all K-12 public school students, 4.8 million of who speak over 400 different languages and dialects, continue to lack equitable educational opportunities as demonstrated through gaps in achievement outcomes, poor graduation rates, and identified systemic barriers related to the intersectionality of language, culture, race, and racism (Crump, 2014; DeMatthews & Izquierdo, 2017; Menken & Solorza, 2015; Morita-Mullaney, 2018; National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition [NCELA], 2015, 2018). This quantitative study captured over 800 K-12 educational leaders’ perspectives, via an anonymous electronic survey, on key issues regarding equitable programs for ELs that …

Teachers’ Perceptions Of The Instructional Walkthroughs And The Resulting Feedback, Germaine Monteil Harden-Brooks

Theses and Dissertations

The role of the principal and the assistant principal has changed dramatically. Principals were considered solely managers; however, now their role includes the responsibility of being instructional leaders. The assistant principal was responsible for the clerical chores and tasked solely to be a disciplinarian. However, due to educational reforms such as Race to the Top, the expectation of both the principal and the assistant principal is to support teachers as instructional leaders. To fulfill the responsibility of supporting teachers’ instructional practices, principals and assistant principals conduct instructional walkthroughs and provide feedback at least two times a year via the Teacher …

Armenian Genocide Art As Evidence Of Its Existence, Jacqueline N. Kachadourian

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

This paper explores the relationship between art and the Armenian Genocide, and how art can be used as evidence for catastrophic events. The artwork created by survivors and descendants of the Armenian Genocide show what the Armenian people endured in order to survive the Ottoman Turks attempt to annihilate them. The Armenian Genocide has yet to be recognized as a genocide by many powerful countries including the United States of America, and has been denied of its existence by the Turkish government. However, the creation of art surrounding the topic of the Armenian Genocide rejects the attempt to remove the …

Message From The Managing Editor, Adelaide Cagle

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

A brief note from the editor and journal acknowledgements

December 2020 News Releases, University Of Montana--Missoula. Office Of University Relations

University of Montana News Releases, 1928, 1956-present

No abstract provided.

Teaching And User Satisfaction In An Academic Chat Reference Consortium, Kathryn Barrett, Judith Logan, Sabina Pagotto, Amy Greenberg

Communications in Information Literacy

This study investigated 299 chat reference interactions from an academic library consortium for instances of teaching and compared these against other characteristics of the chat, such as question content, staff type, user status, user satisfaction, institutional affiliation, length, and shift busyness. Statistical analysis revealed that teaching was more likely to occur when the chat was a research-related question or when the operator was a graduate student worker employed by the consortium but less likely when the operator was a paraprofessional. Chats with teaching were longer but were also associated with higher user satisfaction scores. Teaching rates did not differ by …

A Collaborative Approach To Reduce The Spread Of Covid-19 In A Large Urban Hospital In South Florida, David Schneider, Roberto L. Roman Laporte

Nursing & Health Sciences Research Journal

The novel Coronavirus has proven challenging for many healthcare organizations. Hospitals are pressed to secure sufficient personal protective equipment to ensure the safety of their healthcare personnel and various strategies have been implemented to stop the spread of the virus. There are still many unknowns about COVID-19 and hospitals are rapidly adapting to new information while trying to maintain the safety and wellbeing of healthcare personnel. Baptist Hospital of Miami developed a collaborative data driven plan to monitor, disseminate vital information, and implement various strategies to protect employees and patients during the pandemic.

Improving Code Response Time Through Strategic Positioning Of Nursing House Supervisors: Results Of A Nurse-Led Intervention, Noah R. Zanville, Paula T. Smith, Albis A. Aguiar, Joan Simon-Smith, Jessenia Menendez, Alice J. Cockerel, Rosalina P. Butao, Marguerite Rowell

Nursing & Health Sciences Research Journal

Background: In many settings, the nursing house supervisors (NHS) are a critical part of the entity’s code response team. To date, much of the research on code response has focused on improving response times through staff-focused interventions such as simulation training. However, use of data to determine where to physically place NHS in the building to optimize code response times has received little attention, especially in an outpatient oncology setting.

Purpose: To test whether using data on code frequency/location to strategically position NHS could reduce mean code response times in large (450,000-ft2) outpatient cancer center.

Methods: Data on code volume, …

Ucc Minutes, December 15, 2020, University Curriculum Council

UCC Agendas/Minutes

No abstract provided.

Prescribing Laughter To Ameliorate Mental Health, Sleep, And Wellbeing In University Students: A Protocol For A Feasibility Study Of A Randomised Controlled Trial, Freda N. Gonot-Schoupinsky, Gulcan Garip, David Sheffield, Omar M. Omar, Teresa Arora

All Works

© 2020 Objectives: This research is the first study to investigate the potential effects of a laughter prescription on both psychological health and objective sleep parameters in university students. The primary objective is to evaluate the feasibility of prescribing laughter to inform a larger randomised controlled trial. Secondary objectives are to assess if a two-week laughter prescription improves subjective and objective sleep outcomes, wellbeing, and/or psychological health outcomes. Trial design: To assess the feasibility of a randomised controlled trial for laughter prescription in relation to sleep, psychological health, and wellbeing. Forty university students will be recruited and randomised to one …

Inducible Epithelial Resistance Against Acute Viral Pneumonia And Chronic Asthma, Shradha Wali

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Viral pneumonia remains a global health threat despite worldwide vaccination and therapeutic programs. The influenza pandemic of 1918 and SARS-CoV2 pandemic of 2019-2020 are cautionary reminders demanding the need for novel treatment strategies. Moreover, in addition to causing acute disease, respiratory virus infections are often complicated by chronic lung pathologies, such as asthma induction, progression, and exacerbation. We have reported that mice treated with a combination of inhaled Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2/6 and TLR 9 agonists (Pam2-ODN) to stimulate innate immunity are broadly protected against respiratory pathogens, but the mechanisms underlying this protection remain incompletely elucidated. Here, we show in …

Genetic And Clinical Determinants Of Racial/Ethnic Differences In Multiple Myeloma Susceptibility And Outcomes Focusing On Hispanics, Alem Belachew

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Multiple Myeloma (MM) constitutes 10% of diagnosed hematologic malignancies in the US, with over 12,000 deaths recorded each year. Race/ethnicity is a well-known MM risk factor, where individuals of African descent have over 2- to 3-fold increased risk of incidence compared to those of European descent. Additionally, Hispanics are diagnosed approximately three years younger than white American counterparts, for unknown reasons. Differences in clinical phenotype are also present for MM patients by ancestry, including varying rates of common initiation mutations such as IgH translocations and TP53 mutation between patients of European and African descent. Studies have begun to interrogate the …

Influence Of Genetic Counselor Personal Or Family Medical History On Genetic Counseling Specialization And Practice, Kaitlyn K. Amos Ms

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

A personal or family medical history inherently becomes part of a genetic counselor’s life story. Yet the degree to which a counselor’s experience influences his or her specialty choice and their psychosocial practice is unexplored. A medical diagnosis may foster a counselor’s capacity for greater empathy, understanding and rapport-building self-disclosure. Conversely, it could lead to interruptive countertransference, compassion fatigue, and eventually burnout. However, research has not specifically investigated this intersection. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the impact of a genetic counselor’s personal or family medical history on his or her choice of practice area, as well …

Nuclear-Targeted Gold Nanoparticles Enhance The Effects Of Radiation Therapy With And Without Liposomal Delivery, Maureen Aliru

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Less that 10% of pancreatic cancer patients are eligible for curative resection, and clinical trials evaluating chemoradiation in locally advanced patients with unresectable disease have been largely disappointing. New and creative therapeutic approaches are needed to address the unment need for treatment options. The objective of this thesis is to advance radiosensitization of treatment-resistant densely desmoplastic pancreatic cancer using nanoparticles to surmount biological barriers to effective particle distribution for DNA-targeting.

Clinical translation of radiosensitizing nanoparticles has stalled owing to technical challenges. Current strategies to use AuNPs for radiosensitization require large quantities of gold, kilovoltage x-rays, immediate irradiation after intravenous administration, …

Investigation Of Proliferation Suppressors In Genetic Fitness Screens, Walter Frank Lenoir Iv

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Innovation of CRISPR gene-editing technology has provided scientists genome manipulation tools that allowed rapid advancement of scientific capabilities and thus improved our ability to systematically study mammalian genetic functional profiles. Genome-wide CRISPR knockout screens conducted in collections of human cell lines can knock out genes at multiple loci, and have provided new insights into functional roles for independent genes. This method has launched massive efforts in looking across genetic backgrounds for context specific genetic vulnerabilities within cancer. Much of the research effort thus far has been spent on optimizing phenotype distinctions between essential, genes required for cell fitness, and non-essential, …

Decriminalizing Prostitution: Embracing The Swedish Model By Removing The Mistake-Of-Age Defense From New York’S Stop Violence In The Sex Trade Act, Carley Cooke

Journal of Law and Policy

In recent years, New York has re-focused on the widely debated topic of how to best manage and regulate prostitution in the United States. As a state-level issue, the debate presents an invaluable opportunity to re-examine how New York as a society views sex work. The answer in New York focuses on the idea that sex work is real work, where workers should be able to carry out their profession without stigma or fear of arrest. As it stands, the proposed reform largely focuses on decriminalizing both the purchase and sale of sex. This approach contrasts with the legal structure …

Detecting Mens Rea In The Brain, Owen D. Jones, Read Montague, Gideon Yaffe

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

What if the widely used Model Penal Code (MPC) assumes a distinction between mental states that doesn’t actually exist? The MPC assumes, for instance, that there is a real distinction in real people between the mental states it defines as “knowing” and “reckless.” But is there?

If there are such psychological differences, there must also be brain differences. Consequently, the moral legitimacy of the Model Penal Code’s taxonomy of culpable mental states – which punishes those in defined mental states differently – depends on whether those mental states actually correspond to different brain states in the way the MPC categorization …

Teacher Perceptions Regarding The Purpose Of K-12 Education, Peter M. Grostic

Dissertations

This study explored the perceptions of teachers regarding the purposes of K-12 education and the influence of belief sources on their perceptions. Purposes of K-12 education and the ways in which they have changed over time are topics for which researchers are concerned (Carpenter, 2005; Labaree, 2013). Addressing this concern, there is existing literature focused on understanding purposes through K-12 school mission statements (Schafft & Biddle, 2014; Stemler & Bebell, 2012), and a multitude of reflections regarding what K-12 education purposes should be (Biesta, 2015; Macallister, 2016; Robinson & Aronica, 2014). Less is known regarding what frontline K-12 education practitioners …

Novice Second-Career Teachers: Experiences And Meaning-Making Of The Transition Process, Paula Dennisse Núñez Del Rosario

Dissertations

The world we live in is in constant change. During change, people focus on the observable part of what is not there anymore and what has come in its place, not being conscious of the adaptation process that underlies the change: the transition. The transition is a process that has different phases and the development of the process is differentiated depending on the individual. Transition is also directly related to the type of experience. Although circumstances differ among individuals, it is possible to say that there are some common aspects in terms of challenges faced by all novice teachers, both …

Providing Head Start Services Amid A Global Pandemic: A Mixed Methods Explanatory Study Of Capacity, Resources, And Support, Kelly L. Vigants

Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic altered education in dramatic ways including immediate building closures and the implementation of virtual instruction. In March of 2020, Michigan faced a statewide shutdown on all non-essential travel as Michiganders were ordered to “Stay Home. Stay Safe.” Head Start began to provide remote services to families and students. Head Start lead teachers were charged with using virtual methods to teach their students. With little direction in the beginning and many unknowns, Head Start lead teachers used innovative methods to promote family engagement.

This study used a mixed method, explanatory sequential design to evaluate the most effective methods …

Is Media Assistance Obsolete? A Practice-Based Perspective On The Potential For Digital Technologies To Achieve Media Development Goals In Sub-Saharan Africa, Daire Higgins

Doctoral

The area of media assistance is not a widely known part of the Development Aid sector, even though it has been in existence since after World War II and has grown significantly since then as part of the development agenda. Media Assistance has been included in the strategies of Western and non Western donors as part of their overseas Aid programmes in many regions, supporting journalism and media with the objectives of contributing to accountability, transparency, governance and ultimately, democracy. This thesis examines the impact on the Media Assistance sector of the arrival of digital technologies into the ‘information ecosystems’ …

Designing Law To Enable Adaptive Governance Of Modern Wicked Problems, J. B. Ruhl, Barbara A. Cosens A. Cosens, Niko Soininen, Lance Gunderson

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This Article contributes to the development of adaptive governance theory by articulating and situating the role of formal law and government as the facilitator, but not central controller, of adaptive governance. To advance the understanding of adaptive governance, we argue that it can be understood in the broader context of scholarship covering the observed emergence of new governance, the efforts to develop theoretical understandings through decentered theory, and the refinement of constitutional understanding through democratic experimentalism. Synthesis of these three themes in turn informs the role of law and government in working with emergent governance responses to complexity to manage …

Genotypic And Phenotypic Characterization, Antibiotic Resistance And Virulence Patterns Of Staphylococcus Aureus Isolated Form Goat Mastitis, Yasser Kamel

Mansoura Veterinary Medical Journal

Objective: To determine the phenotypic and genotypic characterization of the virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility of S. aureus. Design: Descriptive study Samples:175 raw goat milk samples Procedures: A total of 87 S. aureus strains was isolated from goat with mastitis in north-west cost of Egypt. PCR technique was used to detect genes coding some virulence and antimicrobial properties while phenotypic antimicrobial susceptibility was determined by the disc diffusion method. Results: Most S. aureus isolates were resistant to amoxycillin (89.7%), penicillin G (88.5%), and ampicillin (86%) while were less resistant to other members of β-lactam group as cefoxitin (17.2%) and ceftriaxone (10.3%).The …

Improving Sepsis Bundle Compliance By Utilizing Technology And Addressing Operational Workflow, Chelsey Lupica, Rebecca Basso, Patrick Dwyer

General Submissions: Presentations (Oral and Poster)

The Valley Hospital held a sepsis bundle compliance rate that ranged between 38%-45%; significantly below the state and national benchmarks. A quality improvement project was developed to better implement best practice through the utilization of technology. Trends in chart failures were identified, which helped the team to prioritize specific objectives. Focus was on the identification and prioritization of septic patients in the Emergency Department. Education was provided to staff, EMR workflows were created to help streamline the process, and a surveillance board was created to keep track of the status of the bundle completion. Prior to implementation of interventions in …

Catch & Release: Impact Of A Standard Emergency Department (Ed) Discharge Process, Gentry Ridgeway, Tracy Thompson, Patricia Woltz

General Submissions: Presentations (Oral and Poster)

Inconsistent nursing practice for discharging patients was noted as shown by varying Professional Research Consultant (PRC) scores gathered by third party consultant group for discharge instructions. Research studies have shown misinterpretation or lack of understanding of discharge instructions by patients can have an adverse effect on patient's healthcare compliance. This presented an opportunity to initiate a nursing practice change in accord with the best evidence. The goal was to develop and implement a standard discharge process to improve patient discharge satisfaction.

Feeling Shame And Guilt When Observing Workplace Incivility: Elicitors And Behavioral Responses, Gerardo A. Miranda, Jennifer L. Welbourne, Ana M. Sariol

Management Faculty Publications

This research investigates the elicitors and behavioral responses associated with feeling guilt and shame in response to observed workplace incivility. We draw from the appraisal model of selfconscious emotions to hypothesize that perceiving personal responsibility for acts of incivility conducted by others in the organization is associated with feelings of guilt and shame, and that these relationships are differentially moderated by perceived controllability over the incident. We further propose that shame is associated with avoidance and withdrawal behaviors, whereas guilt is associated with retaliatory and supportive behaviors in response to the observed incivility. We tested these hypotheses with a sample …

Power Scaling Of Single-Mode Ytterbium And Erbium High-Power Fiber Lasers, Tuerhong Maitiniyazi

All Dissertations

Power scaling of rare-earth-doped fiber lasers is vital to many emerging applications. Average output power scaling with Yb doped fiber lasers operating near 1.1 μm was very successful in the 10 years between 2000 and 2010. The discovery and rediscovery of many limiting factors such as nonlinear effects, thermal lensing, optical damage, and so forth showed various bottlenecks in further power scaling of output power from a single fiber. On the other hand, single-mode average output power scaling of fiber lasers operating at ~980 nm and ~1560 nm has lagged much behind their pioneering counterparts at ~1.1 μm. Single-mode high-power …