Digital Commons Network^™

Help-Seeking Behaviors For Depression Among Native Hawaiian Women In The Western Region Of The United States Mainland, Marlana Glover

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Help-seeking for depression, as with other mental illnesses is contingent upon stigmas that one perceives. Although causes for depression differ among indigenous populations, native Hawaiians suffer from the Western acculturation and colonization of their homeland. With lack of trust in the U.S. healthcare system, many native Hawaiians are reluctant to seek help for depression. Furthermore, research has shown that most studies on native Hawaiians are conducted in their native environment when many Hawaiians relocate to the U.S. mainland. Because of the current depression crisis, it is critical to explore depression among native Hawaiians, particularly women on the mainland to see …

The Role Of Health And Diet In The Development Of Metabolic Syndrome Stratified By Race, Sex, And Age, Michael D. Harada

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity is now recognized as a disease in need of treatment by the medical profession and is associated with other chronic diseases including hypertension, hyperglycemia, hypertriglyceridemia, insulin-resistance, and reduced levels of high density lipoproteins. Metabolic syndrome (MetS) occurs when a combination of at least three of these chronic conditions are comorbid with each other. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to find significant health and nutritional predictors of MetS status across race, sex, and age. The evolutionary mismatch hypothesis and health belief model provided the framework for this study. Data were collected from 2,303 participants from the 2015-2016 …

Factors That Determine Utilization Of The Canadian School-Based Human Papilloma Virus Vaccine Programs, Diane Gloria Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world and is the known causative agent of many HPV-associated cancers in both males and females. HPV vaccination rates in Canada are significantly lower than other developed countries and this finding is poorly understood as Canadian adolescents have access to free-of-charge HPV vaccines through school-based vaccination programs. This quantitative descriptive study used an online survey to collect data from 992 eligible respondents. This study identified predisposing, enabling, and need factors characterized by the Andersen behavioral model of health services use which facilitate or impede the use of …

Stigma Toward People With Opioid Use Disorder In Southwest Michigan, Kathy A. Carruthers

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The opioid epidemic is one of the largest health problems in America. In one Southwest Michigan county, opioid overdose deaths increased from 36 deaths in 2008 to 104 deaths in 2017. In the same county, stigma was identified as the highest-ranked reason people do not seek opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment. The purpose of this study was to examine knowledge that social work practitioners have regarding stigma toward people who inject drugs with OUD in Southwest Michigan. The purpose aligned with social work values as people with OUD are marginalized and cannot advocate for themselves. The theoretical framework that guided …

Human Services Caseworkers’ Experiences Working Remotely During Covid-19, Sandra Lachelle Brown

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Human services caseworkers have shifted from traditional means of providing services to their clients since the onset of COVID-19. Providing services and/or resources to clients from the home environment leads to work responsibilities and family demands that may affect work-life balance. Researchers have studied working remotely, but they have not explored human services caseworkers and their experiences of providing remote services during a pandemic. The purpose of this qualitative generic study was to explore human services caseworkers’ experiences with work-life balance while providing remote services versus face-to-face services to clients during a pandemic. Semistructured interviews were conducted with 12 human …

Nutrition And Physical Exercise Prevention Strategies To Reduce Obesity During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Carmesha Vajill Carter

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity has reached an epidemic level of 75 million obese adults and 15 million obese children in the United States. The research problem addressed in this study is the lack of information on how obese people manage their weight-loss strategies to prevent or reduce obesity during shut-in place restrictions for the COVID-19 Pandemic. This study included the Prochaska and DiClemente Trans-Theoretical Model of Behavioral Change and the Stage of Change Theory. The phenomenon approach using phenomenology described participants' lived experiences of being obese. The researcher completed data collection and evaluation among sixteen participants using email questionnaires to analyze participant's responses …

Pharmacists’ Responses To Medication Management Following Disasters, Rellamichelle W. Tyree

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Disasters, both natural and human made, can cause emerging health threats in the United States and the Caribbean. The disasters that pharmacists experienced and reported for this study included hurricanes, snowstorms, ice storms, flooding, and a pandemic. The purpose of this research was to investigate the challenges and outcomes associated with pharmacists’ medication management practices during and following disasters. This generic qualitative study focused on pharmacists’ experiences and their responses to disaster planning and medication management activities. The ecological model of disaster management was the conceptual framework used to investigate the pharmacists and their responses and actions used to address …

Role Of Biological Clocks In Ant Behavioral Plasticity And Parasitic Manipulation Of Ant Behavior, Biplabendu Das

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Living organisms exhibit daily rhythms as a way to anticipate predictable fluctuations in their environment. Such daily rhythmicity is the phenotypic outcome of oscillating genes and proteins, driven by an endogenous biological clock. Clock-controlled behavioral rhythms are inherently "flexible" since their phase, amplitude, and period can change throughout an animal's life hallmarked by changes in so-called chronotype. How this inherent plasticity of clock-controlled rhythms is linked to plasticity of behavior is still an open question in biology. Characterizing the various mechanistic links between plasticity of the animal clock and behavioral state will not only shed light on the molecular underpinnings …

Constitutional Law—Penalizing The “Unsightly”: An Argument For The Abolishment Of Laws Criminalizing Life-Sustaining Behaviors Among The Homeless, Carli Ross

Western New England Law Review

Thousands of people across the country suffer from homelessness. Instead of funding more shelters or dealing with the lack of subsidized housing, cities have chosen to rely on the criminal justice system to regulate homeless behavior. Homeless individuals are being punished with fines and potential jail time for sleeping, sitting, gathering, and camping in public. Not only does this practice contribute to the homelessness crisis in the United States, but it also creates an additional obstacle for homeless individuals. Additionally, relying on the criminal justice system is more costly than helping homeless individuals find a permanent shelter. The Ninth Circuit …

Online Content Policy: What Legislative Proposals Aiming To Rein In “Big Tech” Need To Grapple With, Shoshana Weissmann

Western New England Law Review

There are endless proposals in Congress aimed at fixing the problems with “Big Tech.” Introduced over the last four years, each one hopes to solve problems such as the spread of misinformation online, the spread of unlawful content online, or even the removal of constitutionally protected speech from internet platforms.

Unfortunately, these various pieces of legislation that hope to regulate social media regularly fail to grapple with all kinds of problems, such as First Amendment barriers to action. Further, they fail to recognize that social media is not the cause of many of the problems that legislators seek to solve. …

The Comparison Of Three Different Fecal Egg Counting Techniques And Their Ability To Perform A Fecal Egg Count Reduction Test, Diana J. Summitt

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

A comprehensive gastrointestinal parasite control program includes an understanding of common parasites, application of chemotherapeutic agents, as well as frequent and appropriate diagnostic testing. An effective control program is essential for facilities such as animal shelters, that deal with large populations of transient canines with unknown parasite exposure and deworming history. The identification of a sensitive flotation method to evaluate anthelmintic efficacy is critical in monitoring parasite populations for drug resistance. The objective of the current study was to compare three different fecal egg counting technologies and their ability to perform a fecal egg reduction test. The flotation techniques evaluated …

The Role Of The Host Factor Sptbn1 In Hiv-1 Infection Of Microglial Cells, Marc Gordon Havlicek

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

HIV-1 is the etiological agent that cause AIDS. Since the 1980’s when HIV-1 was discovered, much has been discovered, however a cure for HIV-1 has eluded researchers. Effective therapeutics do exist but can have adverse side effects including HAND/HAD which leads to neurodegeneration in patients regardless of viral suppression. One area of research that holds the possibility of discovering new viral targets and therapeutics is host factor interaction within the replication process. One host factor that can cause a decrease in HIV-1 infectivity is SPTBN1. SPTBN1 is a cytoskeletal protein that was shown to bind to the capsid and nucleocapsid …

Identification Of A Novel Protein Interaction That Elucidates The Mechanism Of Idiopathic Recurrent Miscarriages In Women With Nlrp2 Mutations, Nayeon Son

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The protein NOD-Like receptor pyrin domain containing 2 (NLRP2) is one member of a larger family of protein receptors that plays an important role in our innate immune system. In humans, the NLR family consists of 22 proteins. However, only about a half of NLRs’ functions are known, but many are pro-inflammatory, causing inflammation. NLRP2 has been identified to be a maternal effect gene regulating early embryo development in idiopathic recurrent miscarriages. In previous studies, mutations in the NLRP2 gene resulted in genetic maternal imprinting disorders due to NLRP2 regulating DNA methylation. However, the exact mechanisms involved in recurrent miscarriages …

Development Of Peg-B-Pla Based Micelles For Neutralization Of A Toxic Peptide, Giselle Campos

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

I herein report the preparation and characterization of PEG-b-PLA block copolymer micelles and PEG-b-PLA/PLA mixed micelles as potential “plastic antidotes” for a toxic peptide, melittin. PEG-b-PLA micelles have been used in a number of biomedical applications for their biodegradability and biocompatibility. Along these lines, I investigated the colloidal stability and the peptide absorption properties of PEG-b-PLA/PLA mixed micelles. A series of PEG-b-PLA block copolymer micelles and PEG-b-PLA/PLA mixed micelles were prepared, and their colloidal stability was studied. The hydrodynamic diameters of stable micelles were determined by using Dynamic …

Effects Of Natural Products On Inflammation, Riley Ann Nadler

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Chronic inflammation is characterized by infiltration of inflammatory cells such as macrophages and lymphocytes into the tissue where they produce inflammatory cytokines that contribute to tissue damage. Worldwide, 3 out of 5 people die due to chronic inflammatory diseases like cardiovascular diseases, obesity, diabetes, and cancer. Since it is well-documented that diet and metabolism are key mediators of inflammation, I investigated the effects of dietary lectins on inflammatory cytokine production and the ability of sodium pyruvate, a metabolite, to decrease inflammation. In chapter 1, I examined the effect that lectins from either Triticum vulgaris (common wheat) or Phaseolus vulgaris (common …

Fair Allocation Of Scarce Therapies For Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19), Govind Persad, Monica E. Peek, Seema K. Shah

Publications

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued emergency use authorizations (EUAs) for monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) for nonhospitalized patients with mild or moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease and for individuals exposed to COVID-19 as postexposure prophylaxis. EUAs for oral antiviral drugs have also been issued. Due to increased demand because of the Delta variant, the federal government resumed control over the supply and asked states to ration doses. As future variants (e.g., the Omicron variant) emerge, further rationing may be required. We identify relevant ethical principles (i.e., benefiting people and preventing harm, equal concern, and mitigating health inequities) …

Deep Features To Analyze Pulmonary Abnormalities In Chest X-Rays Due To Covid-19, Supriti Ghosh

Dissertations and Theses

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has contributed a lot since the beginning. Healthcare is no exception. Detecting anomaly/abnormality in (bio)medical image is crucial. In this thesis, we aim at detecting/screening pulmonary abnormalities due to Covid-19 in chest X-rays using deep features. We study CheXNet, DenseNet169, ResNet50 and VggNet16 to analyze CXRs to detect the evidence of Covid-19 in this research. CheXNet was primarily designed for radiologist-level pneumonia detection in Chest X-rays (CXRs). We created a benchmark dataset size of 4,716 CXRs (2,358 Covid-19 positive cases and 2,358 non-Covid cases (Healthy and Pneumonia cases)) and with k(=5) fold cross-validation technique, using the DenseNet, …

Antibacterial Activity Of Commiphora Molmol (Myrrha) Against The Periodontal Pathogen, Aggregatibacter Actinomycetemcomitans, Khalid Nafea Alharbi

Selected Full-Text Master Theses 2021-

The exogenous pathogen Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans (A. actinomycetemcomitans) is most frequently involved in periodontitis and other systemic diseases. The treatment of these infections involves antibiotic therapy with Amoxicillin being the most popular antibiotic against A. actinomycetemcomitans but now, the drug is not 100% effective due to the development of 0-84% antibiotic resistance. The present study aimed to determine antibacterial activity of Commiphora molmol (Myrrha) against the periodontal pathogen, Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. In detail, the strain LIU1239 of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans was used where the plasmid pVJT128 is used for transposon mutagenesis and the Escherichia coli strain MV10Nal (stock # LIU4). The …

Native American Women Superintendents’ Self-Efficacy Beliefs During The Covid 19 Pandemic, Janet Jeannine Metzger

Dissertations and Theses

This multiple case study focused on three Native American women superintendents’ self-efficacy beliefs and the impact of the Indigenous culture on their decision making as they led their school district through the Covid 19 pandemic. Albert Bandura’s self-efficacy theory served as the underpinning theory of this study. The qualitative research design for the study relied on data gathered from individual interviews and written responses to journal prompts. All participants had at least two years of superintendent experience in public school districts during the time of the pandemic. The researcher analyzed the data through open coding/In Vivo coding. The data were …

Analyzing Cough Sounds For The Evidence Of Covid-19 Using Deep Learning Models, Muntasir Mamun

Dissertations and Theses

Early detection of infectious disease is the must to prevent/avoid multiple infections, and Covid-19 is an example. When dealing with Covid-19 pandemic, Cough is still ubiquitously presented as one of the key symptoms in both severe and non-severe Covid-19 infections, even though symptoms appear differently in different sociodemographic categories. By realizing the importance of clinical studies, analyzing cough sounds using AI-driven tools could help add more values when it comes to decision-making. Moreover, for mass screening and to serve resource constrained regions, AI-driven tools are the must. In this thesis, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) tailored deep learning models are studied …

Development Of A Dual-Mode Cmos Microelectrode Array For The Simultaneous Study Of Electrochemical And Electrophysiological Activities Of The Brain, Geoffrey Mulberry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Medical diagnostic devices are in high demand due to increasing cases of neurodegenerative diseases in the aging population and pandemic outbreaks in our increasingly connected global community. Devices capable of detecting the presence of a disease in its early stages can have dramatic impacts on how it can be treated or eliminated. High cost and limited accessibility to diagnostic tools are the main barriers preventing potential patients from receiving a timely disease diagnosis. This dissertation presents several devices that are aimed at providing higher quality medical diagnostics at a low cost. Brain function is commonly studied with systems detecting the …

Land Reversion And Zoonotic Spillover Risk, John E. Vinson, Nicole L. Gottdenker, Luis Fernando Chaves, Rajreni B. Kaul, Andrew M. Kramer, John M. Drake, Richard J. Hall

Integrative Biology Faculty and Staff Publications

Deforestation alters wildlife communities and modifies human–wildlife interactions, often increasing zoonotic spillover potential. When deforested land reverts to forest, species composition differences between primary and regenerating (secondary) forest could alter spillover risk trajectory. We develop a mathematical model of land-use change, where habitats differ in their relative spillover risk, to understand how land reversion influences spillover risk. We apply this framework to scenarios where spillover risk is higher in deforested land than mature forest, reflecting higher relative abundance of highly competent species and/or increased human–wildlife encounters, and where regenerating forest has either very low or high spillover risk. We find …

Role Of Covid-19 Attributions In Inciting Violence Toward Older Asian Individuals, Emily Zhen Ning Hwang

Public Health Theses

Older adults in the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) community faced heightened levels of violence and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, little is known about the factors driving Asian-specific violence. This study investigated if individuals who attributed COVID-19 to stable factors and anything related to China were more likely to commit violence against older Asian adults. From April 23 to May 5 2020, a survey was conducted with 1498 American individuals (M = 55.19 years, SD = 17.97 years) using two online platforms. Participants who made stable attributions about the origin of COVID-19 were significantly more likely to …

Derogations To Human Rights During A Global Pandemic: Unpacking Normative And Practical Challenges, Roman Girma Teshome

American University International Law Review

After the World Health Organization (WHO) characterized the COVID-19 outbreak as a “global pandemic,” States responded by taking more restrictive and urgent measures. These measures ranged from restrictions on public events to partial or total lockdowns, which restrict a plethora of human rights. Additionally, an unprecedented number of States declared a state of emergency to justify these measures; as of this writing, roughly two-thirds of States declared a state of emergency due to COVID-19 under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (“ICCPR”).

Complex Quantum Contagion: A Quantum-Like Approach For The Analysis Of Co-Evolutionary Dynamics Of Social Contagion, Ece Mutlu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

Modeling the dynamics of social contagion processes has recently attracted a substantial amount of interest from researchers due to its wide applicability in network science, multi-agent systems, information science, and marketing. Unlike in biological spreading, the existence of a reinforcement effect in social contagion necessitates considering the complexity of individuals in the systems. Although many studies acknowledged the heterogeneity of the individuals in their adoption of information (or behavior), there are no studies that take into account the individuals' uncertainty during their decision-making despite its theoretical and experimental evidence in behavioral economics, decision science, cognitive science, or multi-agent systems. This …

Unstable Housing In Rural Communities, Amber Theis, Ruth Chalstrom, Kara Richard

Student Projects

Housing is a crucial part of survival and one’s ability to engage in life, but the increasing difficulty in obtaining affordable, quality, safe housing is of great concern. To better understand the housing crisis and be equipped to advocate on behalf of the unhoused, research was conducted on many factors including correlation with the ACES study, the housing crisis in America, the redefinition of housing terms, psychological impact on both adult and children, and the physical impacts of housing insecurity. It becomes evident that housing is a complex, multi-faceted issue. Nonetheless, it is one that requires significant consideration. There are …

Opportunities And Challenges To Emergency Department-Based Hiv Testing Services And Self-Testing Programs: A Qualitative Study Of Healthcare Providers And Patients In Kenya, Adam R. Aluisio, Scarlett J. Bergam, Felix A. Otieno, Beatrice Ngila, Janet Sugut, Rose Bosire, David Bukusi, John Kinuthia, Kate M. Guthrie, David A. Katz, Carey Farquhar, Michael J. Mello

School of Medicine and Health Sciences Student Works

No abstract provided.

Does The Thermal Mismatch Hypothesis Predict Disease Outcomes In Different Morphs Of A Terrestrial Salamander?, Matthew D. Venesky, Joseph Demarchi, Cari-Ann M. Hickerson, Carl D. Anthony

2022 Faculty Bibliography

Many aspects of ectotherm physiology are temperature‐dependent. The immune system of temperate‐dwelling ectothermic host species is no exception and their immune function is often down regulated in cold temperatures. Likewise, species of ectothermic pathogens experience temperature‐mediated effects on rates of transmission and/or virulence. Although seemingly straightforward, predicting the outcomes of ectothermic host−pathogen interactions is quite challenging. A recent hypothesis termed the thermal mismatch hypothesis posits that cool‐adapted host species should be most susceptible to pathogen infection during warm temperature periods whereas warm‐adapted host species should be most susceptible to pathogens during periods of cool temperatures. We explore this hypothesis using …

Uncertainty, Scarcity And Transparency: Public Health Ethics And Risk Communication In A Pandemic, Abigail Lowe, Teck Chuan Voo, Lisa M. Lee, Kelly K. Dineen Gillespie, Christy Feig, Alva O. Ferdinand, Seema Mohapatra, David Brett-Major, Matthew K. Wynia

Journal Articles: Epidemiology

Communicating public health guidance is key to mitigating risk during disasters and outbreaks, and ethical guidance on communication emphasizes being fully transparent. Yet, communication during the pandemic has sometimes been fraught, due in part to practical and conceptual challenges around being transparent. A particular challenge has arisen when there was both evolving scientific knowledge on COVID-19 and reticence to acknowledge that resource scarcity concerns were influencing public health recommendations. This essay uses the example of communicating public health guidance on masking in the United States to illustrate ethical challenges of developing and conveying public health guidance under twin conditions of …

Evaluation Of The Effects Of Water Quality On Drinking Preferences Of Heifer Calves, Nirosh Senevirathne, Jill Anderson

Dairy Science and Food Science Faculty Publications: 2022 to Present

Drinking water quality requirements focus mainly on removing hazardous substances from the water supply, making it safe to drink and appropriate for livestock use. However, there is a concern that high mineral content in water may affect the drinking behavior of heifer calves, which may affect health and performance. In South Dakota, the primary water sources for agricultural use are surface or groundwater. Water quality varies between different regions of the state; in the eastern part of the state, the water is classified as “hard water” and calcium is the primary mineral found in the water. Our objective was to …