Digital Commons Network^™

Food Safety Attitudes, Behaviors, And Hygiene Measures Among Predominantly Low-Income Parents In Houston, Texas, Christina K Carstens, Joelle K Salazar, Shreela V Sharma, Wenyaw Chan, Charles Darkoh

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

ABSTRACT: Foodborne infections in the United States affect racial-ethnic minority and low-income populations at higher rates than the general population. to identify the prevalence of food safety behaviors and demographic characteristics associated with food handling practices among a susceptible, high-risk population, a cross-sectional survey was administered to 106 parents with children enrolled at two elementary schools serving predominantly low-income families in Houston, Texas. Relationships between demographic characteristics and food safety behavioral outcomes were examined using cross-tabulations and Fisher's exact test. Most respondents were female (93.4%), Hispanic, Latino, or Mexican American (94.9%), and had no previous food handling employment experience (75.0%). …

Genetic Diversity Fuels Gene Discovery For Tobacco And Alcohol Use, Gretchen R B Saunders, Xingyan Wang, Fang Chen, Seon-Kyeong Jang, Mengzhen Liu, Chen Wang, Shuang Gao, Yu Jiang, Chachrit Khunsriraksakul, Jacqueline M Otto, Clifton Addison, Masato Akiyama, Christine M Albert, Fazil Aliev, Alvaro Alonso, Donna K Arnett, Allison E Ashley-Koch, Aneel A Ashrani, Kathleen C Barnes, R Graham Barr, Traci M Bartz, Diane M Becker, Lawrence F Bielak, Emelia J Benjamin, Joshua C Bis, Gyda Bjornsdottir, John Blangero, Eugene R Bleecker, Jason D Boardman, Eric Boerwinkle, Dorret I Boomsma, Meher Preethi Boorgula, Donald W Bowden, Jennifer A Brody, Brian E Cade, Daniel I Chasman, Sameer Chavan, Yii-Der Ida Chen, Zhengming Chen, Iona Cheng, Michael H Cho, Hélène Choquet, John W Cole, Marilyn C Cornelis, Francesco Cucca, Joanne E Curran, Mariza De Andrade, Danielle M Dick, Anna R Docherty, Ravindranath Duggirala, Charles B Eaton, Marissa A Ehringer, Tõnu Esko, Jessica D Faul, Lilian Fernandes Silva, Edoardo Fiorillo, Myriam Fornage, Barry I Freedman, Maiken E Gabrielsen, Melanie E Garrett, Sina A Gharib, Christian Gieger, Nathan Gillespie, David C Glahn, Scott D Gordon, Charles C Gu, Dongfeng Gu, Daniel F Gudbjartsson, Xiuqing Guo, Jeffrey Haessler, Michael E Hall, Toomas Haller, Kathleen Mullan Harris, Jiang He, Pamela Herd, John K Hewitt, Ian Hickie, Bertha Hidalgo, John E Hokanson, Christian Hopfer, Joukejan Hottenga, Lifang Hou, Hongyan Huang, Yi-Jen Hung, David J Hunter, Kristian Hveem, Shih-Jen Hwang, Chii-Min Hwu, William Iacono, Marguerite R Irvin, Yon Ho Jee, Eric O Johnson, Yoonjung Y Joo, Eric Jorgenson, Anne E Justice, Yoichiro Kamatani, Robert C Kaplan, Jaakko Kaprio, Sharon L R Kardia, Matthew C Keller, Tanika N Kelly, Charles Kooperberg, Tellervo Korhonen, Peter Kraft, Kenneth Krauter, Johanna Kuusisto, Markku Laakso, Jessica Lasky-Su, Wen-Jane Lee, James J Lee, Daniel Levy, Liming Li, Kevin Li, Yuqing Li, Kuang Lin, Penelope A Lind, Chunyu Liu, Donald M Lloyd-Jones, Sharon M Lutz, Jiantao Ma, Reedik Mägi, Ani Manichaikul, Nicholas G Martin, Ravi Mathur, Nana Matoba, Patrick F Mcardle, Matt Mcgue, Matthew B Mcqueen, Sarah E Medland, Andres Metspalu, Deborah A Meyers, Iona Y Millwood, Braxton D Mitchell, Karen L Mohlke, Matthew Moll, May E Montasser, Alanna C Morrison, Antonella Mulas, Jonas B Nielsen, Kari E North, Elizabeth C Oelsner, Yukinori Okada, Valeria Orrù, Nicholette D Palmer, Teemu Palviainen, Anita Pandit, S Lani Park, Ulrike Peters, Annette Peters, Patricia A Peyser, Tinca J C Polderman, Nicholas Rafaels, Susan Redline, Robert M Reed, Alex P Reiner, John P Rice, Stephen S Rich, Nicole E Richmond, Carol Roan, Jerome I Rotter, Michael N Rueschman, Valgerdur Runarsdottir, Nancy L Saccone, David A Schwartz, Aladdin H Shadyab, Jingchunzi Shi, Suyash S Shringarpure, Kamil Sicinski, Anne Heidi Skogholt, Jennifer A Smith, Nicholas L Smith, Nona Sotoodehnia, Michael C Stallings, Hreinn Stefansson, Kari Stefansson, Jerry A Stitzel, Xiao Sun, Moin Syed, Ruth Tal-Singer, Amy E Taylor, Kent D Taylor, Marilyn J Telen, Khanh K Thai, Hemant Tiwari, Constance Turman, Thorarinn Tyrfingsson, Tamara L Wall, Robin G Walters, David R Weir, Scott T Weiss, Wendy B White, John B Whitfield, Kerri L Wiggins, Gonneke Willemsen, Cristen J Willer, Bendik S Winsvold, Huichun Xu, Lisa R Yanek, Jie Yin, Kristin L Young, Kendra A Young, Bing Yu, Wei Zhao, Wei Zhou, Sebastian Zöllner, Luisa Zuccolo, 23andme Research Team, Biobank Japan Project, Chiara Batini, Andrew W Bergen, Laura J Bierut, Sean P David, Sarah A Gagliano Taliun, Dana B Hancock, Bibo Jiang, Marcus R Munafò, Thorgeir E Thorgeirsson, Dajiang J Liu, Scott Vrieze

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Tobacco and alcohol use are heritable behaviours associated with 15% and 5.3% of worldwide deaths, respectively, due largely to broad increased risk for disease and injury1-4. These substances are used across the globe, yet genome-wide association studies have focused largely on individuals of European ancestries5. Here we leveraged global genetic diversity across 3.4 million individuals from four major clines of global ancestry (approximately 21% non-European) to power the discovery and fine-mapping of genomic loci associated with tobacco and alcohol use, to inform function of these loci via ancestry-aware transcriptome-wide association studies, and to evaluate the genetic architecture and predictive power …

Parent Emotion Socialization And Emerging Adult Internalizing Symptoms: Differences And Moderation By Rurality, Cheston West

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a unique developmental period from late adolescence to late 20s during which individuals experience a multitude of developmental transitions and are at an increased risk for internalizing symptoms. Parent emotion socialization in childhood can also contribute to risk for internalizing symptoms and is shaped by parent gender and sociocultural context. Rurality is a sociocultural context that has implications for parenting, but less research has explored how parent emotion socialization varies by rurality. The present study examined maternal and paternal emotion socialization in relation to rurality and emerging adult internalizing symptoms. Participants were 270 emerging adults (18-29 years …

Leveraging Pleiotropy To Discover And Interpret Gwas Results For Sleep-Associated Traits, Sung Chun, Sebastian Akle, Athanasios Teodosiadis, Brian E Cade, Heming Wang, Tamar Sofer, Daniel S Evans, Katie L Stone, Sina A Gharib, Sutapa Mukherjee, Lyle J Palmer, David Hillman, Jerome I Rotter, Craig L Hanis, John A Stamatoyannopoulos, Susan Redline, Chris Cotsapas, Shamil R Sunyaev

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Genetic association studies of many heritable traits resulting from physiological testing often have modest sample sizes due to the cost and burden of the required phenotyping. This reduces statistical power and limits discovery of multiple genetic associations. We present a strategy to leverage pleiotropy between traits to both discover new loci and to provide mechanistic hypotheses of the underlying pathophysiology. Specifically, we combine a colocalization test with a locus-level test of pleiotropy. In simulations, we show that this approach is highly selective for identifying true pleiotropy driven by the same causative variant, thereby improves the chance to replicate the associations …

Feasibility Of Tracking Human Kinematics With Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (Slam), Sepehr Laal, Paul Vasilyev, Sean Pearson, Mateo Aboy, James Mcnames

Electrical and Computer Engineering Faculty Publications and Presentations

We evaluated a new wearable technology that fuses inertial sensors and cameras for tracking human kinematics. These devices use on-board simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) algorithms to localize the camera within the environment. Significance of this technology is in its potential to overcome many of the limitations of the other dominant technologies. Our results demonstrate this system often attains an estimated orientation error of less than 1^o and a position error of less than 4 cm as compared to a robotic arm. This demonstrates that SLAM’s accuracy is adequate for many practical applications for tracking human kinematics.

Money Moves: An Analysis Of Chinese Foreign Direct Investment In Europe, Susan Soh

Honors Theses

In recent years, China has begun engaging in outward foreign direct investment (FDI). There is a significant amount of literature dedicated to understanding China’s FDI in developing nations. However, very little research has been conducted over Chinese FDI in advanced economies. As a result of this gap in existing literature, the question arises, what explains Chinese FDI in Europe?

As FDI is a transaction to which both the donor and recipient countries must agree, this thesis has a dual focus. One chapter of the thesis analyzes the effects of and motivations for Chinese FDI on European nations. In this chapter, …

Single Muscle Fibre Contractile Function With Ageing, Gregory J. Grosicki, Carlos S. Zepeda, Christopher W. Sundberg

Physical Therapy Faculty Research and Publications

Ageing is accompanied by decrements in the size and function of skeletal muscle that compromise independence and quality of life in older adults. Developing therapeutic strategies to ameliorate these changes is critical but requires an in-depth mechanistic understanding of the underlying physiology. Over the past 25 years, studies on the contractile mechanics of isolated human muscle fibres have been instrumental in facilitating our understanding of the cellular mechanisms contributing to age-related skeletal muscle dysfunction. The purpose of this review is to characterize the changes that occur in single muscle fibre size and contractile function with ageing and identify key areas …

Anatomical Analysis Of Olfactory Sensory Neuron Regeneration Via Glomerular Synaptic Activity Markers In Adult Mice, William Wamack

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The olfactory system is a great model for studying regeneration due to the olfactory epithelium’s regenerative capability which makes it a potential a source of neural stem cells. The olfactory epithelium presents three types of cells: sustentacular cells which provide support and act as glial supporting cells; olfactory sensory neurons that are in charge of detecting odorant molecules in the air; and the stem cells that generated the aforementioned cell types. Olfactory sensory neurons are constantly dying and being replaced by new neurons originating from the stem cells that lie at the base of the olfactory epithelium. We have used …

Effects Of Ethanol On Glun1/Glun2a And Glun1/Glun2b Nmda Receptor-Ion Channel Gating Kinetics, Robert W. Peoples, Hong Ren

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Background

The N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) is a major molecular target of alcohol action in the central nervous system, yet many aspects of alcohol's modulation of the activity of this ion channel remain unclear. We and others have shown that ethanol inhibition of NMDAR involves alterations in gating, especially a reduction in mean open time. However, a full description of ethanol's effects on NMDAR kinetics, including fitting them to a kinetic model, has not been reported.

Methods

To determine ethanol's effects on NMDAR kinetics, we used steady-state single-channel recording in outside-out patches from HEK-293 cells transfected with recombinant GluN1/GluN2A or …

Synthesis And Characterization Of Aerogels From Cellulose-Starch Mixtures For Advanced Packaging Applications, Angel Sagardui

Chemical Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Biodegradable, highly porous, ultra-lightweight, and high-surface-area aerogels from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) and corn starch mixtures were synthesized through a simple, green process, specifically supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) drying. Five weight ratios of samples were generated (pure MCC, 2:1 MCC-starch, 1:1 MCC-starch, 1:2 MCC-starch, and pure starch) and were then subjected to a variety of characterization experiments relating to textural and thermal properties as well as morphology, crystallinity, and chemical interactions. Overall, the 1:2 MCC-starch aerogel had the lowest density (0.04 g/cm3), and highest porosity (97%). Conversely, the pure MCC aerogel demonstrated the highest mechanical strength (Young’s modulus of 48.9 MPa), …

Direct Cd32 T-Cell Cytotoxicity: Implications For Breast Cancer Prognosis And Treatment, Giuseppe Sconocchia, Giulia Lanzilli, Valeriana Cesarini, Domenico A Silvestris, Katayoun Rezvani, Roberto Arriga, Sara Caratelli, Ken Chen, Jinzhuang Dou, Carlo Cenciarelli, Gabriele Toietta, Silvia Baldari, Tommaso Sconocchia, Francesca De Paolis, Anna Aureli, Giandomenica Iezzi, Maria Irno Consalvo, Francesco Buccisano, Maria I Del Principe, Luca Maurillo, Adriano Venditti, Alessio Ottaviani, Giulio C Spagnoli

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The FcγRII (CD32) ligands are IgFc fragments and pentraxins. The existence of additional ligands is unknown. We engineered T cells with human chimeric receptors resulting from the fusion between CD32 extracellular portion and transmembrane CD8α linked to CD28/ζ chain intracellular moiety (CD32-CR). Transduced T cells recognized three breast cancer (BC) and one colon cancer cell line among 15 tested in the absence of targeting antibodies. Sensitive BC cell conjugation with CD32-CR T cells induced CD32 polarization and down-regulation, CD107a release, mutual elimination, and proinflammatory cytokine production unaffected by human IgGs but enhanced by cetuximab. CD32-CR T cells protected immunodeficient mice …

Statistical Process Control To Monitor Use Of A Web-Based Autoplanning Tool, Hunter Mehrens, Raphael Douglas, Mary Gronberg, Kelly Nealon, Joy Zhang, Laurence Court

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

PURPOSE: To investigate the use of statistical process control (SPC) for quality assurance of an integrated web-based autoplanning tool, Radiation Planning Assistant (RPA).

METHODS: Automatically generated plans were downloaded and imported into two treatment planning systems (TPSs), RayStation and Eclipse, in which they were recalculated using fixed monitor units. The recalculated plans were then uploaded back to the RPA, and the mean dose differences for each contour between the original RPA and the TPSs plans were calculated. SPC was used to characterize the RPA plans in terms of two comparisons: RayStation TPS versus RPA and Eclipse TPS versus RPA for …

Reorganization Of The Functional Connectome From Rest To A Visual Perception Task In Schizophrenia And Bipolar Disorder, Philipp Riedel, Junghee Lee, Christopher G Watson, Amy M Jimenez, Eric A Reavis, Michael F Green

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Functional connectome organization is altered in schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). However, it remains unclear whether network reorganization during a task relative to rest is also altered in these disorders. This study examined connectome organization in patients with SZ (N = 43) and BD (N = 42) versus healthy controls (HC; N = 39) using fMRI data during a visual object-perception task and at rest. Graph analyses were conducted for the whole-brain network using indices selected a priori: three reflecting network segregation (clustering coefficient, local efficiency, modularity), two reflecting integration (characteristic path length, global efficiency). Group differences were limited …

A Cross-National Comparison Of The Linkages Between Family Structure Histories And Early Adolescent Substance Use, Haley Stritzel, Michael Green, Robert Crosnoe

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Family structure can influence adolescent health with cascading implications into adulthood. Life course theory emphasizes how this phenomenon is dynamic across time, contextualized in policy systems, and grounded in processes of selection and socialization. This study used data from the U.S. (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 Child and Young Adults, n = 6,236) and U.K. (Millennium Cohort Study, n = 11,095) to examine associations between a single mother family structure between ages 0-14 and early adolescent substance use at age 14 across time and place, using inverse probability of treatment weighting to explore how results varied by selection into …

Radiomics In Abdominopelvic Solid-Organ Oncologic Imaging: Current Status, Xiaoyang Liu, Mohamed G Elbanan, Antonio Luna, Masoom A Haider, Andrew D Smith, Carl F Sabottke, Bradley M Spieler, Baris Turkbey, David Fuentes, Ahmed Moawad, Serageldin Kamel, Natally Horvat, Khaled M Elsayes

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Radiomics is the process of extraction of high-throughput quantitative imaging features from medical images. These features represent noninvasive quantitative biomarkers that go beyond the traditional imaging features visible to the human eye. This article first reviews the steps of the radiomics pipeline, including image acquisition, ROI selection and image segmentation, image preprocessing, feature extraction, feature selection, and model development and application. Current evidence for the application of radiomics in abdominopelvic solid-organ cancers is then reviewed. Applications including diagnosis, subtype determination, treatment response assessment, and outcome prediction are explored within the context of hepatobiliary and pancreatic cancer, renal cell carcinoma, prostate …

'I Need Time To Start Antiretroviral Therapy': Understanding Reasons For Delayed Art Initiation Among People Diagnosed With Hiv In Lusaka, Zambia, Chanda Mwamba, Laura K Beres, Stephanie M Topp, Njekwa Mukamba, Sandra Simbeza, Kombatende Sikombe, Aaloke Mody, Elvin Geng, Charles B Holmes, Caitlin E Kennedy, Izukanji Sikazwe, Julie A Denison, Carolyn Bolton Moore

Open Access Publications

INTRODUCTION: Rapid antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation can improve patient outcomes such as viral suppression and prevent new infections. However, not everyone who can start ART does so immediately.

METHODS: We conducted a qualitative study to inform interventions supporting rapid initiation in the 'Test and Start' era. We purposively sampled 20 adult patients living with HIV and a previous gap in care from ten health facilities in Lusaka, Zambia for interviews. We inductively analysed transcripts using a thematic, narrative approach. In their narratives, seven participants discussed delaying ART initiation.

RESULTS: Drawing on messages gleaned from facility-based counselling and community information, many …

Alzheimer’S Detection With The Discrete Wavelet Transform And Convolutional Neural Networks, Melissa N. Nardone

Master's Theses

Alzheimer’s disease slowly destroys an individual’s memory, and it is estimated to impact more than 5.5 million Americans. Over time, Alzheimer’s disease can cause behavior and personality changes. Current diagnosis techniques are challenging because individuals may show no clinical signs of the disease in the initial stages. As of today, there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Therefore, symptom management is key, and it is critical that Alzheimer’s is detected early before major cognitive damage.

The approach implemented in this thesis explores the idea of using the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT) and Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) for Alzheimer’s detection. The neural …

Beef Bull Selection And Management Affecting Breeding Season Outcomes For California Cattle Producers On Rangelands, Megan Banwarth

Master's Theses

California’s approximately 660,000 head of beef cattle are highly dependent on range bulls used to produce offspring that can perform across the state’s diverse ecological regions. While knowledge of bull breeding behavior and the technology used to monitor cattle movement and behavior is critical to maximize conception rates and the overall efficiency in natural service sires on rangelands. Bulls need to be functional on rugged coastal landscapes, rolling foothills, deserts, and in high-elevation terrain. Few data exist that indicate factors related to selection, maintenance, and longevity of bulls used in rangeland landscapes. Objectives herein, were to assess factors influencing bull …

Dietary Protein Intakes, Distribution Patterns, And Quality In Ncaa Divsion 1 Soccer Players, Jun H. Kwon

Master's Theses

Dietary protein is required to support recovery and adaptation following exercise training. While prior research demonstrates that many athletes meet total daily protein needs, intake seems to be predominantly skewed toward the evening meal. An even distribution of protein doses throughout the course of a day is theorized to confer greater skeletal muscle anabolism compared to a skewed pattern of intake. Protein quality is also an important dietary consideration for athletes, with the amino acid leucine being the primary driver of the postprandial anabolic response. The present thesis investigates the protein consumption characteristics among a selected cohort of NCAA Division …

Creation And Testing Of A Social Robot Guideline, Sarika L. Singhal

Master's Theses

For this thesis, I created a guideline for socially assistive robots (SARs), and used it to evaluate a reading comprehension based social robot.

To create the guideline I extracted relevant details from published standards about toy safety, radio equipment, electromagnetic compatibility, internet of things security, ethical considerations for human-computer interaction, and data privacy. I then sent a summarized version to experts in the field for feedback. I received seven responses, five of whom were from researchers in academia. The sample size was too small for statistical analysis. Survey responses identified additional areas, such as interactivity and aesthetics, for the guideline. …

Mediterranean-Style Diet And Exercise Improve Parameters For Management And Prevention Of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, Stefani Ann Derrick

Master's Theses

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a chronic condition recognized as the inability to maintain glucose homeostasis, typically presenting with insulin resistance and systemic inflammation. With the prevalence of T2DM and major risk factors such as prediabetes and obesity increasing each year, there is a crucial need to identify strategies for the management and prevention of this condition. Addressing lifestyle-related risk factors through consumption of a well-balanced, nutritious diet and maintaining regular moderate- to high-intensity physical activity may provide a strategy for improving glycemic control, improving metrics of body composition, and decreasing the inflammatory response associated with metabolic dysregulation. Twenty-two …

From Mesoamerica To Aleppo And Transylvania: The Global Migration Of The Chile Pepper, Arianne M. Peterson, Arianne Peterson

Master's Theses

This thesis explores the migration of the chile pepper, or capsicum anuum, from Mesoamerica into the Old World after 1500, focusing on two case studies of the Aleppo pepper in Syria and paprika in what was once Hungarian Nagyvarad, and which is now Romanian Oradea. Using foodways as a historical lens, and considering the movement of food as historical, it can be seen that the chile pepper, despite its low profit value, illustrates a globalization that existed well before modern times, and it came to cement itself within many different cultures as a symbol of identity. Despite its far-away …

Enterprise Risk Management: Small And Medium Business, Vasili Krespis

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

This culminating experience project examined common risk management trends and challenges that SMEs face and provided methods and tools that could limit threats and impact of unforeseeable events. This project demonstrates why business owners should use a risk management planning framework. The research questions were: (Q1) What are risk identification strategies which do not overstrain SMEs' limited resources? (Q2) How may risk analysis be performed effectively in SMEs? (Q3) How does the SMEs risk management system change over time? (Q4) What are the most effective risk analysis techniques and strategies for SMEs with limited resources?

A case study was examined …

Black Female Athletes’ Use Of Social Media For Activism: An Intersectional And Cyberfeminist Analysis Of U.S. Hammer-Thrower, Gwen Berry's 2019 And 2021 Podium Protests, Ariel Newell

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Much attention has been paid to Black male athlete activism both historically and in the contemporary movement for black lives. Black female athletes have also made historic contributions as activists, and they continue to do so. However, Black female athlete activism has not always been acknowledged or heard. This is a problem, as Black women in American sports and society face overlapping racial and gender inequities and injustices that distinctly marginalize and oppress them. However, some Black female athlete activists (BFAAs) have begun using social media to challenge media narratives about themselves, to redefine what it means to be a …

Analysis For An Efficient Operation Of Solar Power Plants In India Using Different Variables/Parameters, Sonal Bansi Shinde

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Vast renewable energy facilities rely heavily on accurate predictions of future solar power output.  This study investigated the various factors causing poor, inefficient operation of Solar Plants and different methods to identify underperforming equipment. The main questions are: Q1: How can we predict electricity generation over the next several days so that the plant can run at peak efficiency? Q2: How can we figure out the exact maintenance needs of any power plant?  Q3: How do we identify faulty equipment to improve its efficiency to improve overall performance? and Q4: What are the different factors that are causing an inefficient …

To Prevent Or To Deceive: The Effects Of Organizational Justice On Malingering And Workplace Injury Via Psychological Contract Breach And Safety Climate, Abraham Rico

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

We examined organizational factors (e.g., leadership styles, operating with a bottom-line mentality, and management based on inclusion) and their relationship with workplace injuries and malingering in this thesis. One of the goals for this study was to examine the extent to which these organizational factors influence justice perceptions, which in turn affected the outcomes of interest. It was hypothesized that the relationship between the organizational factors and malingering/injuries occurred through the formation of psychological contract breach or through the development of a safety climate. It was hypothesized that the pathways from Transformational Leadership and management based on inclusion will result …

A Study Of Heart Disease Diagnosis Using Machine Learning And Data Mining, Intisar Ahmed

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Heart disease is the leading cause of death for people around the world today. Diagnosis for various forms of heart disease can be detected with numerous medical tests, however, predicting heart disease without such tests is very difficult. Machine learning can help process medical big data and provide hidden knowledge which otherwise would not be possible with the naked eye. The aim of this project is to explore how machine learning algorithms can be used in predicting heart disease by building an optimized model. The research questions are; 1) What Machine learning algorithms are used in the diagnosis of heart …

Analysis Of Automated Vehicle Accidents Across The U.S., Anissa Rocio Quintero

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Car Accidents are a significant public safety hazard to everyone all over the world. Recently, car manufacturers have tried to implement Automated Driving Systems into their vehicles to help drivers and decrease the accident rate. This culminating project analyzed whether Automated Driving Systems have decreased or increased the accident rate in the United States using automated vehicle data collected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The analysis platform was built using RStudio and Excel. The research questions were: Q1: What amount of autonomous vehicle accidents occurred in each state between 2021 and 2022? Q2: What manufacturer and maker have …

Happy Objects And Bloom Spaces: Investigating The Potential Of Rupi Kaur's Poetry, Miguel Vega

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

In response to the movement of what is considered and labeled as “Instagram poetry,” poet and critic Rebecca Watts argues that to consider “artless” poetry as “poetry” we are denigrating the artform. This project centers around Watts’ claim that “the reader is dead” due to their encounter with such poetry. This project acts as a conversation that seeks to understand why certain forms of art are considered a “threat” to those who engage with them, as well as to their respective fields. Using affect theory (specifically the theory of the happy object) we can begin to understand why we gravitate …

Causal Inference In Psychology And Neuroscience: From Association To Causation, Dehua Liang

Computational and Data Sciences (PhD) Dissertations

In psychology and neuroscience, inferring causality in non-experimental studies is almost taboo, because data in these studies, e.g., survey data and resting-state neuroimaging data, are often contaminated by unmeasured confounders. Psychologists and neuroscientists are often cautious about their results, and reluctant to make false claims about causality in non-experimental studies. Therefore, they adopt less stringent statistical analysis techniques that can only infer associational relations. However, the ambiguity about causality in traditional statistical analysis creates much confusion in interpreting analytical results - some studies make implicit causal claims about their results using words such as “impacts”, “lead to” and “affects”. This …