Digital Commons Network^™

Temporal Disambiguation Of Relative Temporal Expressions In Clinical Texts Using Temporally Fine-Tuned Contextual Word Embeddings., Amy L. Olex

Theses and Dissertations

Temporal reasoning is the ability to extract and assimilate temporal information to reconstruct a series of events such that they can be reasoned over to answer questions involving time. Temporal reasoning in the clinical domain is challenging due to specialized medical terms and nomenclature, shorthand notation, fragmented text, a variety of writing styles used by different medical units, redundancy of information that has to be reconciled, and an increased number of temporal references as compared to general domain texts. Work in the area of clinical temporal reasoning has progressed, but the current state-of-the-art still has a ways to go before …

Advancing Forest Structure-Function Relationships: Linking Above- And Belowground Structure To Soil Respiration, Laura J. Hickey

Theses and Dissertations

Variation in the soil-to-atmosphere C flux, or soil respiration (Rs), is influenced by a suite of biotic and abiotic factors, including soil temperature, soil moisture, and root biomass. However, whether canopy structure is tied to soil respiration through its simultaneous influence over these drivers is not known. We assessed relationships between measures of above- and belowground vegetation density and complexity, and evaluated whether Rs is linked to remotely sensed canopy structure through pathways mediated by established biotic and abiotic mechanisms. Our results revealed that, at stand-scale, canopy rugosity–a measure of complexity–and vegetation area index were coupled to soil respiration through …

Graduate School's Transformative Awakening: An Arts-Based Autoethnography, Roxanne L. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

This is an autoethnographic journey of a 30-year veteran art teacher through graduate school during the 2016 presidential campaign, election, presidency, #MeToo movement, a global pandemic, Black Lives Matter (BLM), virtual teaching and grading during a pandemic. My narrative includes an account of my transformative academic, social, and personal experiences and how they have informed my teaching practice. They include a collection of visual representations I created during my graduate school journey.

The Value Of Educating Teachers, Coaches, And Athletic Trainers On The Management Of Dental Trauma., Laura Satoski

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: The aim of this study is to investigate the baseline knowledge and assess the benefit of educating teachers, coaches, and athletic trainers about the management of sports-related dental injuries.

Methods: Teachers, coaches, and athletic trainers working in youth sports activities across the city of Richmond and the Greater Richmond Region were recruited via email. Participants answered a pre-seminar survey to evaluate their baseline knowledge and determine whether they experienced dental trauma with their athletes previously. The survey also indicated whether they participated in a public or private sports facility. The participants watched a pre-recorded virtual seminar educating them on …

Continual Learning From Stationary And Non-Stationary Data, Lukasz Korycki

Theses and Dissertations

Continual learning aims at developing models that are capable of working on constantly evolving problems over a long-time horizon. In such environments, we can distinguish three essential aspects of training and maintaining machine learning models - incorporating new knowledge, retaining it and reacting to changes. Each of them poses its own challenges, constituting a compound problem with multiple goals.

Remembering previously incorporated concepts is the main property of a model that is required when dealing with stationary distributions. In non-stationary environments, models should be capable of selectively forgetting outdated decision boundaries and adapting to new concepts. Finally, a significant difficulty …

The Abuse Liability Profile Of An Unflavored, Sucralose-Sweetened, Electronic Cigarette In Combustible Cigarette Smokers, Sarah F. Maloney

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of sucralose and nicotine in otherwise unflavored PG/VG ECIG liquid solutions, via a 30-watt ECIG, using multiple measures predictive of abuse liability to provide a basic understanding of the effects of sweeteners and perceived sweetness on ECIG abuse liability in reference to combustible cigarettes. Fourteen dependent smokers completed five independent study sessions that were within-subject, Latin-square ordered, and were identical in regards to all aspects but the product used. In each session, participants were given either their own brand of cigarettes or one of the four ECIG conditions: 0 mg/mL …

The Civil Right To Belong: A Case Study On Immigrant Integration Of Muslim Students In Educational Institutions, Mamoona H. Siddiqui

Theses and Dissertations

Constitutional equal protection values serve as social integration policies for new Americans and generations that follow. They promise equal opportunity, fair treatment, protection from unlawful discrimination, and freedom to preserve cultural identities in their new communities. However, in times of national security crises and political polarization, the disjuncture in the way equal protection doctrines have been historically implemented often reflect deep-rooted inequities that impact underrepresented communities. American Muslims are one such community in which members have experienced anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiment particularly after 9/11 and political polarization on immigration and civil rights policies. The study explores the equal protection doctrine …

Childhood Reliquary De Una Catracha/Mexi Entre Nopales, Juliana Bustillo

Theses and Dissertations

Childhood Reliquary De Una CatrachaMexi Entre Nopales is a multisensory based installation consisting of three large and six medium scale mixed media paintings with performance. It is informed by my upbringing in Boyle Heights in the projects during the 90s, followed by East LA in the mid 2000s. It is the reliquary for my discomfort in institutional spaces and why I have found comfort in dystopian-like installations. This is the landscape in which I exist, regardless of where I am now. It is where I place my work. It is the context in which I celebrate the powerful delicacy of …

Modeling Pa-233 Generation In Thorium-Fueled Reactors For Safeguards, Victoria Davis

Theses and Dissertations

Thorium has been researched for many decades as a possible alternative to uranium nuclear fuel. Thorium can be implemented in many different reactor designs including pressurized water reactors (PWRs), pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs), and molten salt reactors (MSRs). Its abundance in the earth, decreased long-lived transuranic waste, and claims that there are fewer proliferation concerns contribute to the attractiveness of using thorium as alternative nuclear fuel. However, possible proliferation pathways have been noted and must be investigated, particularly the potential diversion of ²³³Pa which can then decay to ²³³U – special fissionable material that should be under …

Once Upon A Time/There Was A Story That Began: Novelty, Endings, And Chronotope In John Barth’S The Tidewater Tales, Zachary K. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the use of frame tales, genre blending, multi-voiced narration, and circular structure in John Barth’s 1987 novel, The Tidewater Tales. It tracks the isomorphy of Barth’s general aesthetic project, set forth in his essays, “The Literature of Exhaustion,” “The Literature of Replenishment,” and “Very Like an Elephant: Reality Versus Realism,” onto the theoretical aesthetics of Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin. Both Barth and Bakhtin praise the novel its omnivorous capability to accommodate, and juxtaposes conflicting genres against one another; they each see the novelist as an “arranger” or “orchestrator,” who reassembles pre-existing forms to make them …

Peri-Implantitis Incidence And Effect Of Supportive Periodontal Therapy On Outcomes: Retrospective Cohort Study, Michael Ha

Theses and Dissertations

Purpose: Management of peri-implantitis is becoming an increasing component of dental practice. Dental implants can develop peri-implantitis lesions which occur in a non‐linear and accelerating pattern compared to a gradual periodontitis lesion. It is crucial to diagnose and treat this disease early, or ideally prevent it. Contemporary implants have a rough surface texture which is difficult to properly decontaminate as a crucial component for treatment prognosis. Evidence on the long-term effects of Periodontal implant maintenance therapy (PIMT) on implants is limited. This study aims to investigate the effect of periodontal maintenance on peri-implant tissue health.

Methods: A retrospective chart review …

An Exploration Of Differences In Veteran Suicidality, Philip A. Weisbrod

Theses and Dissertations

Suicide is an important issue of public health, with Veteran suicide being a somewhat unique sub-populous at high risk. This research aims to explore the factors involved in Veteran suicidality that may raise or lower one’s risk. This analysis was conducted with the National Survey for Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) 2020 (N=1173) dataset through use of Binary Logistic Regression (BLR). The analysis showed that having a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in the past year was the greatest predictor of increased suicidality, while marriage was the strongest buffer by decreasing the likelihood of suicidality increasing. Being a War on Terror …

Detailing The Genetic And Environmental Influences Shared Between Conventional And Electronic Cigarette Use Across Measures Of Initiation And Past 12-Month Use, James Clifford

Theses and Dissertations

Introduction. Tobacco use is a public health crisis with nearly 500,000 Americans suffering premature mortality attributable to tobacco use in 2014. New development efforts have created new nicotine delivery systems whose health consequences are not yet fully understood such as electronic cigarettes (ECIG). It is possible there are shared genetic and environmental factors that influence an individual’s liability to initiate cigarette (CIG) or ECIG use, as both systems are designed to deliver nicotine.

Methods. Four study designs were used to resolve the genetic and environmental influences that underlie CIG and ECIG initiation. A twin study, scoping review, genome-wide association study …

The Lived Experiences Of Higher Education Academic Advisors With Counseling Degrees In Addressing Their Role In Student Success, Shajuana Isom-Payne

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research study was to examine the lived experiences of academic advisors with a counseling degree in addressing their role in student success. If student retention rates are not addressed, higher education institutions are at risk of losing students, which is costly to the institution and the student (Himes, 2014). Most college students are in a state of change and need academic advising support to achieve success during a college transition (Tinto, 2012). Academic advisors can assist students in finding the right career for students’ specific strengths. Academic advisors with counseling degrees address advising through the lens …

Snapshots Of A Fictional Past: Photographic Nostalgia In The Early 20th Century Art Novel., Harry A. Jones Iv

Theses and Dissertations

In this dissertation I argue that the proliferation of a mass codependent relationship with nostalgia in the twentieth century shares a parallel history with the widespread adoption of the reproducible image being used by collective audiences as a supplement for natural memory, or what Proust names “voluntary memory.” This conflict between nostalgia-hungry consumers and artists inspired groups such as Alfred Stieglitz’s Photo-Secessionists and artistically minded authors like Henry James, who employed increasingly complex photographic and literary practices to resist the images’ tendency to debase the aesthetic quality of their own work. Authors such as Marcel Proust and William Faulkner used …

Estimating Weighted Panel Sizes For Primary Care Providers: An Assessment Of Clustering And Novel Methods Of Panel Size Estimation On Electronic Medical Records, Martin A. Lavallee

Theses and Dissertations

Primary Care is on the frontlines of healthcare, thus they see the most diverse set of patients. In order to achieve high functioning primary care, a practice must establish empanelment, the pairing of patients to providers. Enumeration of empanelment, or estimating panel sizes, helps ensure that the demands of the patients demand the supply of providers and optimize the balance of primary care resources to improve quality of care. Further we can adjust panel sizes by using patient-level data on healthcare utilization and complexity extracted from the electronic medial record to determine the amount of care or burden of work …

Machine Learning (Ml) - Assisted Tools For Enhancing Security And Privacy Of Edge Devices, Santosh Kumar Nukavarapu

Theses and Dissertations

The rapid growth of edge-based IoT devices, their use cases, and autonomous communication has created new challenges with privacy and security. Side-channel attacks are one of the examples of security and privacy vulnerabilities that can cause inference at Internet-Service Provider (ISP) and local Wi-Fi networks. Such an attack would leak user’s sensitive information such as home occupancy, medical activity, and daily routines. Another example is that these devices have weak authentication and low encryption standards, making them an easy target for malware-based attacks such as denial of service or launching other network attacks using these infected devices. This thesis dissertation …

Mathematical Models Of Infection Prevention Programs In Hospital Settings, Kelly A. Reagan

Theses and Dissertations

Hospitals play a vital role in providing for the healthcare needs of a community. Patients can develop hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) during their hospitalization due to exposure to foreign bacteria, viruses, and fungi. Infection prevention programs target and reduce HAIs, but implementing the infection prevention programs often comes with a cost. The goal of my research is to use mathematical models to quantify the impact of infection prevention programs on cases of HAIs and total healthcare costs. First, I use a Markov chain model to quantify how one infection prevention program reduces general HAIs in the hospital. Then, I calculate the …

A Novel Approach To Reducing Adiposity Among Young Men, Jean M. Reading

Theses and Dissertations

Background

Lifestyle intervention is the first line treatment for obesity. Yet, young men are underrepresented in lifestyle interventions, which is posited to be the result of unmet needs and overall low concern for weight management. The aims of this dissertation are to:

Papers 1 and 2: Test the preliminary efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of a self-guided lifestyle intervention for young men.

Paper 3: Explore the behavioral and physiological factors associated with changes in adiposity among young men and women enrolled in a more intensive lifestyle intervention.

Results

Papers 1 and 2: The self-guided intervention produced modest weight …

Improving College Students’ Views And Beliefs Relative To Mathematics: A Systematic Literature Review Followed By A Multiple Case Mixed Methods Exploration Of The Experiences That Underpin Community College Students’ Attitudes, Self-Efficacy, And Values In Mathematics, Marquita H. Sea

Theses and Dissertations

Mathematics is particularly important due to its relevance in our daily lives. It is a general requirement throughout schooling. Unfortunately, many students openly declare negative views/beliefs regarding math in their personal and academic lives. These in turn, negatively influence students’ achievement related behaviors and outcomes. First, a systematic literature review was conducted to determine what types of studies/initiatives have aimed to enhance students’ views/beliefs relative to mathematics, including domain general and specific perceptions of math as well as their judgements of who is successful in mathematics and if they themselves can be successful. Specifically, the review centered on the components …

Synthesis And Modeling Of Manganese Ferrite Nanoparticles For Magnetic Hyperthermia Applications, Margaret E. Thornton

Theses and Dissertations

Biologically targeted magnetic hyperthermia (MH) is a promising cancer therapeutic that is both non-invasive and has the potential to serve as a single-modality cancer treatment. MH operates through the elevation of temperatures between 40-43 °C to induce apoptosis in malignant tumor cells, while the small size of the magnetic nanoparticles preserves the healthy surrounding tissue. At present, MH is limited by low heating efficiency and heterogenous outcomes, and treatment requires direct-injection of the nanoparticles, excluding deep-tissue and metastatic tumors from the therapy. The most popular candidates for MH are the spinel ferrites iron oxide and manganese iron oxide (MFO). These …

Analysis Of Microdroplets And Microorganisms By Single Entity Electrochemistry, Junaid U. Ahmed

Theses and Dissertations

Single Entity Electrochemistry (SEE) is an emerging electrochemical technique that has been used to characterize discrete entities by measuring the change in current or potential during individual stochastic events (collision or adsorption) of an entity with an ultramicroelectrode (UME) of similar dimensions. The shape and magnitude of the SEE signal depend on the underlying mechanism of interaction with the UME surface. There is a critical need for quantitative models that correlate the SEE signal with properties of the entity-UME system, including effects of acquisition instrumentation, to prevent misinterpretation of data.

This research focused on integrated experiments and simulations to quantify …

Processes Underlying Black American College Students’ Mental Health: Examining The Roles Of Mental Health Literacy, Ethnic-Racial Identity, And Mental Health-Related Behaviors, Chloe Walker

Theses and Dissertations

Addressing the mental health of college students is a persistent and increasing priority (Auerbach et al., 2018), especially among Black American individuals. Given prevalent mental health disparities, it is critical to understand the association between Black American emerging adults’ mental health literacy (MHL) and mental health outcomes including promotive mental health-related behaviors (MHRBs) and symptoms (i.e., anxiety and depressive symptoms), and the modifiable underlying factors that inform them. Guided by the Theory of Planned Behavior (Ajzen, 1991) and the Identity-based Motivation theory (Oyserman & Yoder, 2007), the present study aimed to examine the relation between mental health literacy and mental …

The L1-Norm Regularized L1-Norm Best-Fit Line Problem And Applications, Xiao Ling

Theses and Dissertations

The best-fit subspace or low-rank approximation of a data matrix revolves
around the norm approximation technique. l²-norm criterion is probably the most
widely used norm for fitting subspaces. As the computational power increases, the
l¹-norm analogue has recently gained attention from the academic community. It is
widely agreed that the l¹ norm is insensitive to outliers, compared to its l² variant.
Because of the polyhedral structure interrelated with linear programming (LP),
the l⁰ norm is commonly relaxed into the l¹-norm problem to induce sparsity in
models. In this work, we examine …

Estimating The Statistics Of Operational Loss Through The Analyzation Of A Time Series, Maurice L. Brown

Theses and Dissertations

In the world of finance, appropriately understanding risk is key to success or failure because it is a fundamental driver for institutional behavior. Here we focus on risk as it relates to the operations of financial institutions, namely operational risk. Quantifying operational risk begins with data in the form of a time series of realized losses, which can occur for a number of reasons, can vary over different time intervals, and can pose a challenge that is exacerbated by having to account for both frequency and severity of losses. We introduce a stochastic point process model for the frequency distribution …

Family Relationships And Academic Performance Via Belongingness Among Cuban Medical Students: Examining Family Legacy And Sex As Moderators, Maria J. Cisneros-Elias

Theses and Dissertations

Medical diplomacy is a foundational part of Cuban domestic and foreign policy (Feinsilver, 2010). Cuba has an abundance of doctors, encouraged by the country’s free medical education program (Hand et al., 2020), and has made a significant impact with its well-established healthcare system, provision of healthcare for all of its citizens, and healthcare support internationally. The current study aims to focus on processes underlying Cuban medical students’ academic performance, as they are a critical component of this successful system, and a population that has received limited empirical attention. Thus, the current study used path analyses to examine the relations between …

Antiviral Effects Of Metalloshielding: Differential Antiviral Activity Of Polynuclear Platinum And Cobalt Compounds, Mary Zoepfl

Theses and Dissertations

The majority of antiviral drug development has focused on virus-specific discovery targeting discrete steps in the individual life cycles. Although great strides have been made for a number of clinically relevant diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus, influenza virus, and hepatitis B, broad spectrum antivirals do not exist. Broad spectrum antivirals would offer (1) treatment for viruses without specifically-targeted antivirals, (2) treatment for viruses which have developed resistance to their available treatments, and (3) a rapidly deployable treatment option in viral epidemics. Many viruses including human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), HIV, and SARS-CoV-2. rely on heparan sulfate (HS), a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan …

Molten Salt Technologies For Advanced Nuclear Fuel Cycles And Molten Salt Reactors, Dimitris Killinger

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation provides five topics—an assessment of different monitoring and analytical techniques often cited in the literature for molten salt systems and designs for nuclear engineering applications. First, we explored commonly used materials for quasi-reference electrodes in molten chloride salts. Second, the limitations of the electrochemical analysis known as cyclic voltammetry due to the concentration of uranium(III) present were being investigated. Third, we provided an experimental assessment on the development of a spectroelectrochemical cell for interrogating various spectroelectrochemical techniques, namely chronoabsorptometry and chronofluorometry, and their limitations due to the presence of uranium(III) ions. Fourth, a study on the corrosion resistance …

Puddlefist, Dylan Ahern

Theses and Dissertations

This written thesis focuses on my MFA thesis exhibition, Puddlefist. It begins with an introduction to both the artworks and my artistic approach, then discusses the text Transcendental Black Metal by Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, which serves as a larger reference point for the work. The latter part of this written thesis is a narrative influenced by the convergence of the sculptures that comprise the exhibition. I consider it a form of endurance writing that exercises motifs of noise, mantra, and monotony. In the section entitled Puc and Yellow, NPC (non-playable character) dialogue from the video game Fallout: New Vegas is transcribed …

Metamosque – Envisioning The Mosque As A Virtual Public Space, Alaa Albarazy

Theses and Dissertations

Historically, the mosque was not only a space for a communal prayer but also a place for building a community. Today, however, with conflicts and diseases fragmenting society, people are less able to gather physically in large spaces. Out of necessity, people rely on technology to get together and interact virtually. In this context, my research challenges the notion of the mosque as a physical space, proposing, instead, its extension into virtual space. Recent global events pose the question: Can the metaverse offer an opportunity for the mosque to reassert itself as a public space. I propose that a MetaMosque …