Digital Commons Network^™

Jail Health And Early Release Practices, Brandon L. Garrett, Deniz Ariturk, Jessica Carda-Auten, David L. Rosen

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Local jails in the United States incarcerate millions of people each year. The COVID-19 pandemic made jail health a pressing public health concern nationally, where releasing individuals from jails occurred across the country in order to prevent pandemic spread. But releases also faced substantial resistance and exposed long-standing challenges in delivering adequate healthcare in jail settings. People in jail have substantially higher levels of medical need than individuals in the general population, with large numbers having serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Further, overcrowded conditions and poor healthcare standards and delivery make jails harmful to those already-vulnerable people. What …

Advances In Nlp Algorithms On Unstructured Medical Notes Data And Approaches To Handling Class Imbalance Issues, Hanna Lu

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

This dissertation is composed of three research projects, each addressing one aspect of the text classification tasks on unstructured medical notes.

The first study investigated the model performance of sequence deep learning models that are widely used in NLP tasks such as RNN, GRU, LSTM, Bi-LSTM, as well as CNN and the novel and more advanced attention-based algorithms such as the Transformer Encoder and BERT-Base. The model performances of these algorithms were evaluated with and without pre-trained word embeddings. The Transformer Encoder model stood out as the best model for all tasks and the CNN model produced comparable performance when …

Agent-Based Modeling Predicts Rac1 Is Critical For Ovarian Cancer Metastasis, Melanie Rivera, Leslie Toledo-Jacobo, Elsa Romero, Tudor I. Oprea, Melanie E. Moses, Laurie G. Hudson, Angela Wandinger-Ness, Martha M. Grimes

Pathology Research and Scholarship

Experimental and computational studies pinpoint rate-limiting step(s) in metastasis governed by Rac1. Using ovarian cancer cell and animal models, Rac1 expression was manipulated, and quantitative measurements of cell-cell and cell-substrate adhesion, cell invasion, mesothelial clearance, and peritoneal tumor growth discriminated the tumor behaviors most highly influenced by Rac1. The experimental data were used to parameterize an agent-based computational model simulating peritoneal niche colonization, intravasation, and hematogenous metastasis to distant organs. Increased ovarian cancer cell survival afforded by the more rapid adhesion and intravasation upon Rac1 overexpression is predicted to increase the numbers of and the rates at which tumor cells …

Assessing Knowledge And Perceptions About Cancer Among American Indians Of The Zuni Pueblo, Nm, Safia Safi, Donica Ghahate, Jeanette Bobelu, Andrew L. Sussman, Joseph Rodman, Angela Wandinger-Ness, Shiraz I. Mishra, Thomas Faber, Cheryl Willman, Vallabh Shah

Pathology Research and Scholarship

American Indians (AIs) in New Mexico have lower cancer screening rates compared to other populations and are more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at an advanced stage of the disease as reported by Li et al. (Archives of Internal Medicine 163(1):49-56, 2003). AIs also have the lowest 5-year cancer survival rates compared to any ethnic/racial group in the USA as reported by Clegg et al. (Arch Intern Med 162:1985-1993, 2002) and Edwards et al. (Cancer 97:1407-1427, 2005). Numerous barriers such as cultural beliefs, fear, fatalism, mistrust, stigma, and lack of culturally appropriate interventions could contribute to low cancer screening …

Apoe Genetics Influence Murine Gut Microbiome, Diana J. Zajac, Stefan J. Green, Lance A. Johnson, Steven Estus

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) alleles impact pathogenesis and risk for multiple human diseases, making them primary targets for disease treatment and prevention. Previously, we and others reported an association between APOE alleles and the gut microbiome. Here, we evaluated effects of APOE heterozygosity and tested whether these overall results extended to mice maintained under ideal conditions for microbiome analyses. To model human APOE alleles, this study used APOE targeted replacement (TR) mice on a C57Bl/6 background. To minimize genetic drift, homozygous APOE3 mice were crossed to homozygous APOE2 or homozygous APOE4 mice prior to the study, and the resulting …

The Role Of Vsmc Mir-33a Expression On Apoa-I Mediated Cholesterol Efflux And Macrophage-Like Cell Transdifferentiation, Ikechukwu Esobi

All Dissertations

Atherosclerosis is a condition caused by cholesterol accumulating in arterial intimal cells and is a disease that kills more people in the United States and globally than any other disease. Atherosclerosis is commonly recognized to arise from arterial intimal macrophage cholesterol accumulation, but cell lineage tracing technology has shown that a large majority of cholesterol-laden intimal cells found in atherosclerotic arteries are actually vascular smooth muscle cells that have switched phenotypes to a macrophage-like cell. This vascular smooth muscle cell to macrophage-like cell phenotypic switch is known as transdifferentiation and can be triggered by vascular smooth muscle cell cholesterol accumulation. …

Covid-19 Mitigation Strategies: A Natural Experiment Highlighting The Importance Of Structure In The Prevention And Treatment Of Childhood Obesity, Keith Brazendale, Michael Beets, Robert Weaver Med, Phd, Bridget Armstrong, Ethan T. Hunt

Faculty Publications

Societal restrictions due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), such as the closure of schools, childcare centers, and community programs, were implemented to prevent the spread of the disease and to protect the health and well-being of the population. These mitigation efforts drastically interrupted the day-to-day environments of children and adolescents and influenced how they spent the majority of their waking hours. Evidence shows on days when children and adolescents are in “structured” settings, such as school or other extracurricular programs or day camps, their obesogenic behaviors (i.e., sleep, physical activity, diet, and screen/media time) are more favorable than on …

2022-December-01-Bucky's Food Pantry Celebrates 10 Years, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – More than a decade ago, members of the East Tennessee State University community identified a need. 

They wanted students and members of the campus community to have a place to receive food, hygiene products and other materials when needed.

Coordinator Massy Useni

Almost a year later, Bucky’s Food Pantry was born. And since 2012, the pantry has distributed nearly 5,000 boxes and bags of food.  

“Bucky’s Food Pantry is an expression of a core ETSU value that ‘people come first, are treated with dignity and respect and are encouraged to achieve their full potential,’” said Dr. Mike …

2022-December-01-Etsu Launches Mph In Public Health Leadership And Policy, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University is launching a Master of Public Health (MPH) concentration in public health leadership and policy, and is accepting applications for the first class of students to enter in fall 2023.

The MPH in public health leadership and policy is designed to meet the needs of working professionals and diverse students. The degree will be offered fully online and on-ground, and can be pursued on a full-time or part-time basis.

Public health leadership and policy is the fifth concentration within the Master of Public Health Program in ETSU’s College of Public Health. The …

2022-December-01-Etsu Participated In National Research Symposium, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – Earlier this month, students from East Tennessee State University participated in the 22nd annual Appalachian Teaching Project (ATP) Symposium. The conference, supported by the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) and organized by the Center for Appalachian Studies and Services at ETSU, is the capstone for the ATP program. Students designed and led their own applied research projects to help address a community or economic need in their region.  

During the symposium, ETSU students from the Department of Appalachian Studies presented research from their “Appalachian Community Engagement” graduate course taught by Dr. Rebecca Adkins Fletcher.

Photo by the Appalachian …

2022-December-01-Etsu Rotc Will Commission Graduates, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – Family, friends and programs supporters will gather as cadets in the Army ROTC Program at East Tennessee State University will be commissioned as second lieutenants.  

The 3 p.m. ceremony is in the Brown Hall Auditorium, located on the university’s main campus along Stout and Sherrod Drive near University School, on Friday, Dec. 9.  

Dr. Tom Kwasigroch, a professor in the Department of Medical Education and recipient of the Purple Heart for his service in Vietnam, will be the guest speaker. The winner of the Bronze Star and Army Commendation Medal, Kwasigroch taught at the Chemical Biological and …

2022-December-01-Etsu's Jessie Wang Named To Leadership Tennessee Next, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – An East Tennessee State University administrator has been named to the next class of Leadership Tennessee NEXT, a program designed to offer personal and professional career development for Tennessee’s best and brightest early- and mid-career professionals. 

Jessica “Jessie” Wang, assistant dean of Equity, Inclusion and Student Success with ETSU’s Clemmer College, has been selected as one of 29 professionals named across the state.  

Wang holds a bachelor’s degree from Emmanuel College in counseling psychology, and a master's degree from Harvard University in higher education, where her research centered on fostering historically underrepresented student success at predominantly white …

2022-December-01-Foster, Thornton To Speak At Etsu Commencement, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University will celebrate more than 1,500 members of the Class of 2022 during two Commencement ceremonies held at the Ballad Health Athletic Center on Saturday, Dec. 10.

During the 10 a.m. ceremony, Dr. Cerrone Foster, recipient of the university’s 2022 Distinguished Faculty Award in Teaching, will be the keynote speaker. Foster is a teaching scientist at ETSU for more than a decade and in 2022 was named interim director of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities. She is also the recipient of the 2022 Notable Women of ETSU. 

At the 2 p.m. ceremony, Larry …

2022-December-01-Joseph Headrick Wins Etsu's 3mt Competition, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

JOHNSON CITY – Master’s degree student Joseph Headrick won East Tennessee State University’s recent 2022 3 Minute Thesis (3MT®) Competition with a presentation on “Salicylic Acid Inhibits Desiccation Survival of Salmonella Typhimurium.”

This competition, created at the University of Queensland, Australia, provides graduate students the opportunity to develop professional presentation and research communication skills. Participants condense complex research projects into engaging, three-minute presentations designed for a general audience using just one slide. Audience members learn what students in master’s and doctoral programs are studying and gain insight into the future of research, design and innovation in a variety of disciplines. …

Gentrification And Displacement: Connections Between Changing Housing Typologies And Long-Time Residents’ Quality Of Life In East Austin, Texas, Grant Wilson

Architecture Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis investigates the impacts of gentrification on quality of life, displacement, and housing typology in East Austin, Texas. The neighborhood is examined as a case study and example of the concepts discussed. Evaluated through both a qualitative and quantitative lens, this study serves as a report and update on the continued disruption of the living patterns of minority residents in the city. Recommendations are given to mitigate displacement for East Austin residents and improve the quality of life for those remaining. By identifying the connection between changing housing typology and displacement impacts, this report aspires to give designers a …

Mental Health Needs Among Minority Aviation Students, Jorge L. D. Albelo Ph.D., Stacey Mcintire

Publications

Higher education, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, benefit our society and economic growth. However, overcoming gender disparity and increasing the retention of underrepresented minorities within these programs is challenging. Mental health across higher education has shown to be on the rise, and when it comes to the mental health needs of aviation students, research shows that underrepresented minorities experience unique challenges in achieving academic success. This paper focused on identifying aviation minority students' unique challenges in a small STEM university. This mixed-methods action research study collected quantitative data using an adapted version of the Counseling Center Assessment …

Tracer Techniques Used To Analyze Spatial And Temporal Processes Controlling Groundwater And Near Surface Water Contribution To The Ruby River In The Upper Ruby River Valley, Mt., Max-Henry Nelson

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Stable water isotopes, δD and δ18O as well as specific conductance (SC) are often used as chemical tracers, or water fluxes, to understand basin hydrological processes including precipitation, groundwater recharge, groundwater-surface water interactions. In understanding the behavior of isotopes in a natural system, quantitative models can be produced to identify volumes and sources of groundwater recharge or losses as well as how groundwater pumping and surface water irrigation affects groundwater storage and discharge. The overarching questions are: i) what are the current spatial and temporal processes controlling groundwater and surface water, ii) what are the major sources of water and …

Cerebrospinal Fluid Drainage For Prevention Of Spinal Cord Ischemia In Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Surgery-Pros And Cons, Hesham Ellauzi, Harendra Arora, John A. Elefteriades, Mohammad A. Zaffar, Rama Ellauzi, Wanda M. Popescu

Internal Medicine Articles

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) carries a risk of spinal cord ischemia (SCI) which exerts a devastating impact on patient's quality of life and life expectancy. Although routine prophylactic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage is not unequivocally supported by current data, several studies have demonstrated favorable outcomes. Patients at high risk for SCI following TEVAR likely will benefit from prophylactic CSF drains. However, the intervention is not risk free, and thorough risk/benefit analysis should be individualized to each patient.

Swach Network Map Summary Report: Healthconnect Hub & Broader Ecosystem: Network Maps, Natalie Royal Kenton, Benjamin Gronowski, Sarah Roth, Hannah Cohen-Cline, Abby Bush

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Foreword, Timothy Chartier

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Deep and broad work is being done by undergraduates, with a significant increase in the last three decades. The growth in undergraduate research opportunities has important effects in the STEM community. In particular, course-based research is a means toward attaining more inclusivity in the research community. This article provides some practical advice and resources for getting started, and describes the author’s own efforts to integrate sports analytics work, service-based learning and social justice research into his undergraduates’ research experiences.

A Mathematics Pipeline To Student Success In Data Analytics Through Course-Based Undergraduate Research, Kristin P. Bennett, John S. Erickson, Amy Svirsky, Josephine C. Seddon

The Mathematics Enthusiast

This paper reports on Data Analytics Research (DAR), a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) in which undergraduate students conduct data analysis research on open real- world problems for industry, university, and community clients. We describe how DAR, offered by the Mathematical Sciences Department at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), is an essential part of an early low-barrier pipeline into data analytics studies and careers for diverse students. Students first take a foundational course, typically Introduction to Data Mathematics, that teaches linear algebra, data analytics, and R programming simultaneously using a project-based learning (PBL) approach. Then in DAR, students work in teams …

Math And The Mouse: Explorations Of Mathematics And Science In Walt Disney World, Elizabeth L. Bouzarth, John M. Harris, Kevin R. Hutson

The Mathematics Enthusiast

Math and the Mouse is an intensive, collaborative, project-driven, study away course that runs during the three-week May Experience term at Furman University and has many of the attributes of a course-based undergraduate research experience in mathematics. We take twelve students to Orlando, Florida to study the behind-the-scenes mathematics employed to make Walt Disney World operate efficiently. Students learn techniques of mathematical modeling (mostly resource allocation, logistics, and scheduling models), statistical analysis (mostly probability, clustering, data collection, and hypothesis testing), and ow management (queuing theory and some beginning ow dynamics) in an applied setting. Through planned course modules, collaborative activities, …

Coping With Constant Obsolescence: A Lifelong Task, Di Su

Publications and Research

Knowledge and skill obsolescence is a common obstacle in individual, organization, and society development. Thanks to the modern technologies, the rate of obsolescence accelerates rapidly in the information age. In the library workplace, obsolescence occurs constantly. We may be used to routines, but changes are inevitable as we have witnessed the evolution in library services and librarian workplace since the advent of the internet. To cope with obsolescence, it is crucial to have a lifelong learning mindset, make it a habit, and find ways to update our knowledge and skills to stay competent and serve the clientele effectively.

Feasibility Of Project Echo Telementoring To Build Capacity Among Non-Specialist Emergency Care Providers, Grace Wanjiku, Lindsay Dreizler, Gregory Bell, Benjamin Wachira

Emergency Medicine, East Africa

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to global disruptions in emergency medicine (EM) teaching and training and highlighted the need to strengthen virtual learning platforms. This disruption coincides with essential efforts to scale up training of the emergency healthcare workforce, particularly in low-resource settings where the specialty is not well developed. Thus, there is growing interest in strengthening virtual platforms that can be used to support emergency medicine educational initiatives globally. These platforms must be robust, context specific and sustainable in low-resource environments. This report describes the implementation of Project ECHO (Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes), a telementoring platform originally designed …

Nurturing The Disease - A Glimpse From The Outside Looking In: An Autoethnographic Exploration Of The Nature Of Nurture And Its Role In Chronic Illness, Michelle Leeann Koudsi

Social Work Theses - Archive

This autoethnographic illness narrative explores nature versus nurture’s impact on chronic illness. The author argues that environmental factors play a significant role in the rise of chronic illnesses. My hope is that this study will allow society and healthcare providers to gain a deeper understanding of the connection between illness and trauma as well as the importance of quality, positive patient-provider relationships. This study also demonstrates the importance of establishing a connection within oneself to create self-awareness and emotional healing. Despite this study being one of the most mentally tasking things I have ever willingly chosen to do in my …

Competence And Bias In The Provision Of Transgender Mental Health, Taylor Dahlia Bolinger

Social Work Theses - Archive

Historically, clinicians have functioned as gatekeepers to access gender-affirming care for individuals identifying as transgender. However, current best practice standards by reputable professional associations have encouraged clinicians to minimize potential barriers for clients seeking gender-affirming care. This care includes hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and gender confirmation surgeries, and other gender-affirming interventions such as name and gender marker change. This study seeks to describe Texas clinicians’ attitudes toward transgender clients and their self-perceived competency to perform gender affirming care. Licensed mental health care clinicians were recruited from various professional associations to complete an anonymous internet-based survey on providing gender-affirming mental health …

Age Differences In Preparing For, Responding To, And Recovering From The Covid-19 Pandemic: The Strengths Of Older Adults, Zhirui Chen

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

This dissertation consists of three independent articles, investigating the age differences in preparing for the continuation of COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing negative COVID-19 impacts across multiple domains, and psychologically recovering from cumulative disaster exposures during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an emphasis on the strengths of older adults. Data used were from the longitudinal research project “Vulnerability and Resilience to Disasters” conducted in Texas, Tennessee, and Alabama, USA. Multiple linear regressions from Article 1 (N = 450) showed that compared to those aged 65+, people aged 18-44 perceived a lower level of preparedness for the ongoing COVID-19; and there was no significant …

Exploring Culturally Relevant Responses To Latinx Student Mental Health, Sarah Elizabeth Herrera

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Social workers have an ethical obligation to challenge systemic oppression. Within the context of Latinx college students, there are many systemic barriers that negatively impact their mental health. Previous research focuses on identifying individual characteristics among Latinx students that promote academic success and psychological wellbeing. However, it is important to hold postsecondary education accountable for creating more inclusive environments that welcome the increased enrollment of Latinx students. The following dissertation explores culturally relevant responses to Latinx college student mental health. The first article is a qualitative interpretive meta-synthesis that explores how Latinx-specific programming shapes ethnic identity and psychological wellbeing among …

The Mechanisms Of Peer Support In An Online Support Group For Veterans, Zachary William Tarbet

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Military veterans experience a transition process when returning to civilian life that involves reintegration across life domains. Reintegration has been shown to be a significant challenge for a contingent of former servicemembers that can be exacerbated by an erosion of social support networks. Difficulty accessing peers due to wider social trends away from community connectedness and geography have inspired the creation of virtual gathering spaces for a wide range of populations. The emerging evidence for peer-driven online support groups suggests the potential for facilitating development of new supportive interpersonal connections and improved access to tangible resources. The current study seeks …

Open Educational Resources And Institutional Repositories: Roles, Challenges, And Opportunities For Libraries, James Hutson, Susan Edele, Elizabeth Macdonald, Paul Huffman, Nancy Messina, Maggie Pavone, Carla Mueller, Gabriela Romero

Faculty Scholarship

The adoption of digital-born, Open Educational Resources (OER) has been proven to improve student retention and learning outcomes, and OER has the flexibly to support multiple modalities of instruction. Institutional Repositories are uniquely situated to act as a platform to support and distribute content that can be created collaboratively between faculty researchers as well as students. However, faculty are still largely hesitant to adopt OER sources for a variety of reasons, not least among them being a lack of exposure and understanding of the potential benefits for both faculty and students in keeping curriculum affordable, up-to-date, and nimble through media-rich, …