Digital Commons Network^™

Ivermectin Mda For Malaria Control And Plasmodium Species Diversity In Burkina Faso, Julia Ellman

Public Health Theses

Malaria is a major cause of mortality globally, but particularly in Africa and among children. As the growth of drug resistance threatens current malaria control and treatment strategies, novel interventions are needed to combat the recent increase in cases. Ivermectin is an endectocide that has been historically used to treat neglected tropical parasitic diseases through mass drug administration (MDA). Recently, it has been demonstrated to have a lethal effect on mosquitos, suggesting its potential as a valuable vector control strategy. RIMDAMAL II is a cluster randomized control trial that was conducted in southwestern Burkina Faso in 2019-2020 to evaluate the …

Constructing The Birthing Body Across The 20th Century: A Thematic Analysis Of Infertility Disorders In The New England Journal Of Medicine, Nicola Davis

Public Health Theses

Obstetrics and Gynecology (OB/GYN) is a medical subspecialty primarily concerned with birth care, reproduction, and gynecological health. OB/GYN practice plays a historically significant role in the treatment of infertility and reproductive disorders as cultural ideologies of fertility and motherhood have been co-constructed alongside the development of OB/GYN medical practice and knowledge. These constructs inform obstetric practice and serve as a framework for contemporary reproductive care. Modern birth care in the medical setting often reinforces a myriad of issues including stigmatization of birthing people’s bodies, over-medicalization of birth, obstetric racism, and obstetric violence. This paper focuses on the evolution of particular …

Comparative Effectiveness Of First-Line Treatments For Advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients With Pd-L1 Expression 1-49%, Peiru Pan

Public Health Theses

Introduction: Lung cancer, particularly non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), remains a leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. While immunotherapy has revolutionized the treatment landscape for advanced NSCLC, optimal first-line therapy for patients with programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression levels between 1-49% remains uncertain.

Objective: To investigate the comparative effectiveness of different first-line treatment options for advanced NSCLC patients with PD-L1 expression levels between 1-49%.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis using patient data from the Flatiron Health database. Our patient sample includes adult patients diagnosed with advanced NSCLC between 2016 and 2021, with PD-L1 expression levels ranging from 1-49%. Treatment …

“I Didn't Want Them To Feel Like I Was Fragile”: A Qualitative Analysis Of Disability, Intimacy, And Sexual Culture At Yale, Mafalda Von Alvensleben

Public Health Theses

This thesis examines how Yale as an educational institutional shapes disabled students’ sexual and romantic lives. It explores the ways in which the institution's policies, culture, and physical environments influence these experiences via a qualitative and landscape analysis. The analysis was based off nine semi-structured interviews with students who self-identified as disabled from both undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as a landscape analysis that incorporates formal, journalistic style interviews with eleven Yale faculty, staff, and administrators. Taken together, this study illuminates the challenges posed by systemic ableism within the university's academic and social frameworks. It highlights the inadequacies of …

Improving The Accuracy And Practicality Of Patient-Specific Dosimetry In 177lu Radiopharmaceutical Therapies, Avery Britvec Peterson

Wayne State University Dissertations

Radiopharmaceutical therapies (RPTs) have their roots in the initial discoveries of radiation and radiotherapy at the turn of the 20th century, but recent interest in the 177Lu- based RPTs 177Lu-DOTATATE and 177Lu-PSMA-617 have highlighted the need to investigate patient-specific, dosimetry-guided approaches to planning these therapies. These RPTs are currently administered in “one-size-fits-all” regimens of fixed activity injections and current dosimetry methodologies often have large uncertainties and are reliant upon reference values that do not necessarily apply to all patients. In this work, several ways to make patient-specific dosimetry in 177Lu-DOTATATE and 177Lu-PSMA- 617 RPTs more accurate or more accessible are …

Don't Mess With Texans' Rights: Protecting Transgender Youth From The Paternalistic Policies Of State Executives, Mary Franklin

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued an opinion in 2022 detailing how gender-affirming care for transgender minors constituted child abuse under the Texas Family Code. As a result of this opinion, multiple families of trans teens engaging in various forms of gender-affirming care were investigated by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. This Article applies the constitutional standards imposed by the equal protection clause, substantive due process, and parental authority to Paxton’s recommendation, using both the U.S. and Texas Constitutions. Ultimately, this Article concludes that Paxton’s opinion fails to meet these constitutional standards and recommends action from the …

Cut The Baby Talk: Negotiating Pregnancy Clauses In Women's Athletic Contracts, Courtney Luis

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

Many athletic departments, organizations, teams, and leagues have regulations that address the event of pregnancy in their athletes. As interest and participation in women’s sports continues to grow, along with the number and profitability of female athletes, pregnancy clauses are becoming increasingly common in athletic contracts for women.

Pregnancy clauses are an often overlooked section of athletic contracts and sports deals but can have far-reaching consequences for female athletes. Many athletic departments and organizations have attempted to create standardized regulations on how to deal with female athletes who become pregnant; however, these attempts are usually confusing, unclear, and regularly fail …

Determining Effective Treatment Regimens For Breast Cancer Using Combined Immunotherapy And Chemotherapy In Vivo, Akhila Kunuthuru

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Breast cancer has the highest incidence rate of all cancers globally in women, and those of African descent, especially West African females, face higher rates of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), a more aggressive form of breast cancer. Immunotherapy for breast cancer is a relatively new treatment option, and research is ongoing to identify the best combination treatments for increasing survival of those diagnosed with TNBC. Eganelisib (IPI-549: a PI3K-gamma inhibitor that works to shift M2 macrophages to M1 to augment T cell function) with other combinatory treatments has shown promising results in reducing tumor growth and increasing survival in mice. …

Solutions To Period Poverty In The United States, Sanya Surya

AUCTUS: The Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Scholarship

Many women around the world lack access to menstrual hygiene products and hygienic, private sanitation facilities: an issue commonly known as “period poverty”. Women who experience this phenomenon often resort to unhealthy alternatives, putting them at higher risk for infections. Period poverty also causes many women to miss significant amounts of school and/or work, resulting in school drop-outs and adverse career outcomes. Menstrual inequities have recently come under greater study in low- to middle-income countries, but evidence suggests that women in the United States are adversely affected by period poverty as well. With this in mind, I set out to …

Covid-19 Pandemic’S Effect On Occupational Therapy Students’ Time-Use And Occupational Engagement On Returning To In-Person Learning, Jhannell Hannah D. Ocampo, Susan Macdermott, Karen Mccarthy

Occupational Therapy | Faculty Scholarship

The COVID-19 pandemic emotionally and physically impacted students in occupational therapy and occupational therapy assistant programs. College students lost autonomy and access to meaningful occupations and environments. As students returned to campus, they struggled to navigate and adapt to in-person occupations and how they use their time. This study uses a mixed method descriptive research design to understand how the pandemic affected occupational therapy students' time-use and occupational engagement during the transition to in-person learning. Seventy-three students completed an online survey, while 12 of those students additionally participated in a follow-up time-use diary and interview. Eighty-three percent of the participants …

Student Attitudes And Intentions To Use Continuous Authentication Methods Applied To Mitigate Impersonation Attacks During E-Assessments, Andrea E. Green

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

No solution can ultimately eliminate cheating in online courses. However, universities reserve funding for authentication systems to minimize the threat of cheating in online courses. Most higher education institutions use a combination of authentication methods to secure systems against impersonation attacks during online examinations. Authentication technologies ensure that an online course is protected from impersonation attacks. However, it is important that authentication methods secure systems against impersonation attacks with minimal disruption during an examination. Authentication methods applied to secure e-assessments against impersonation attacks may impact a student’s attitude and intentions to use the e-examination system.

In this regard, the research …

Understanding The Role Of Tacit And Explicit Knowledge Hiding In Organizations, Darren Wiggins

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge Hiding (KHi) is the deliberate act of withholding knowledge from others, driven by distrust. This distrust stems from three key factors: rationalized hiding, evasive hiding, and playing dumb. The latter two, evasive hiding and playing dumb, are particularly detrimental as they foster a cycle of mutual distrust within the workplace. To counteract this, organizations have significantly invested in promoting Tacit Knowledge (TK) and Explicit Knowledge (EK) sharing. These initiatives aimed to facilitate knowledge transfer, foster collaboration, enhance problem-solving capabilities, and strengthen social and interpersonal relationships.

Recent studies highlighted the importance of understanding the attributes linked to TK and EK. …

A Technique For Visualization Of Multivariate Categorical Data, Janice James

CCAC Theses and Dissertations

Multivariate Categorical Data (MCD) plays a significant role in many industries, and the ability to understand the data is critical for insight and decision making. Visualization is a key tool for understanding the data. This dissertation designed and implemented a novel technique for visualizing MCD called Pivoting Parallel Charts (PPC). The design of PPC was informed by studying several existing MCD visualization techniques.

PPC visualizes MCD as a sequence of parallel axes with affixed bar charts. A user-specified axis, called the pivot, acts as the crucial point of consideration for all data relationships. The bar charts are color-coded by the …

Reframing Deficit Narratives To Honor The Community Cultural Wealth Of Immigrant Families Of Children With Disabilities, Soyoung Park

All Faculty and Staff Papers and Presentations

Existing research suggests that immigrant families navigating the special education process are rarely positioned as powerful partners working alongside educators. This is a manifestation of the racism and ableism endemic to the United States schooling system that leads to educators viewing immigrant families from a deficit-based lens. Do these perceptions, however, match the ways that immigrant families view themselves? This qualitative participant-observation study addresses this question by exploring educators’ and families’ perceptions and positionings of immigrant families who are navigating special education. I unpack discrepant views among educators and families of 16 children labeled “English Learner” with or suspected of …

Interdisciplinary Unit Planning For The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (Ibdp) To Support Multilingual Language Learners, Jessica R. Dubie

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The research conducted in this thesis intends to consider the possibilities within the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) to establish similar levels of interdisciplinarity as the rest of the IB continuum, specifically in the support of multilingual language learners (MLL), given the high numbers of students completing the coursework in their second or third language around the world. In considering various IB publications and the research conducted by Ecctis (2021), the basic framework for how to define interdisciplinarity in the Diploma Programme would be established, but the methodology and support for MLL students in this academic level would come from …

Parent Involvement And Special Education Literature Review, Amanda Basara

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many parents have children in special education. Parents' level of involvement varies per family. Some parents are very involved in their child's education, and some are not. Many parents reported not understanding the special education process, especially looking at comprehensive special education evaluation reports and Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Parents have reported that these documents are extremely hard to understand, and they need to be written in a way that parents can understand what they are consenting to. Due to the special education paperwork being difficult, parentsr eported that communication is key. Communication helps the parents understand more about their …

Informing A Care Plan For Hepatitis C Treatment On The Street, Claire Campbell

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis aims to use community knowledge to inform clinical street treatment of Hepatitis C and to unpack the intersections of social systems within the realms of Street Medicine and healthcare for the unsheltered unhoused population. During the summer of 2023, 15 qualitative interviews were conducted with patients of the USC Keck School of Medicine Department of Street Medicine who received treatment for Hepatitis C infections. Using grounded theory analysis, participant responses were analyzed to identify key concepts and ideas from interview transcripts. Core themes fell into the following categories: how treatment affected patients’ lives, facilitators and barriers to treatment, …

Here Come The Test Results: An Analysis Of Games In Experimental Design For Neuroscience Research, Madison Mcdougall

Scripps Senior Theses

A large part of experimental design in neuroscience revolves around the tasks that are designed for participants to complete to understand the complex system that is the brain. However, as Alan Newell pointed out in his 1973 paper, “You can’t play 20 questions with nature and win,” as designed tasks often answer a binary question that limits their contribution to understanding the brain as a system or a “genuine slab of human behavior.” Games provide an apt solution to this problem, as their complexity embodies a naturalistic task while their well-defined rules create a robust experimental system. Video games specifically …

Assessing Lipid Composition Of Cell Membrane In Escherichia Coli Under Aerobic And Anaerobic Conditions, Isabelle Johnson

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Escherichia coli is a highly studied model organism that is tightly tied to the mammalian gastrointestinal system. This microorganism has the capability to be a beneficial gut microbe or a life-threatening pathogen. In this study, the lipid membrane of Escherichia coli was investigated using Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization-Time of Flight Mass Spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) to observe the change in its composition in aerobic and anaerobic conditions. Evidence of desaturation was discovered in the spectra, though more investigation is needed to understand the metabolic processes and drives that result in this change. Elucidation of these pathways in the future could result in …

A Road Map For Place Based Collaboration For Conflict Reduction, Joseph L. Zecher

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

Creation Of A Digital Storage System For Genome Sequencing Metadata, Jacquelin W. Olexa

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

As the field of computational genomics continues to expand in both potential and application, it is now more imperative than ever to ensure that massive genetic sequencing datasets are properly stored in an accessible manner. This project sought to establish a practical, user-friendly, secure system for a genomics research lab (the Good Lab; thegoodlab.org) at the University of Montana. A MySQL database and connected web application was ruled the best configuration to maximize utility and accessibility for the lab’s researchers. Building the logical framework for the database, creating the server, and sourcing data occurred over several months. The dataset ranged …

Male Beetle Courtship Dance Analysis By Deeplabcut Technology, Andrea Newbrough

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

No abstract provided.

Autism Clinicians' Bias In Detecting Female-Typical Rrbi In Young Children, Megan Young

Scripps Senior Theses

With four times as many boys than girls diagnosed with autism, psychologists must investigate whether this is due to an intrinsic difference or gender bias. This proposed study aims to evaluate autism clinicians’ bias in detecting restrictive and repetitive behaviors and interests (RRBI) in young children by presenting autism specialists with a vignette depicting one of four children, depicting either the male or female autism phenotype, and a masculine or feminine name. Gender of child and phenotypic presentation is expected to have a significant effect on detection and identification such that feminine names presenting with the Female Autism Phenotype (FAP) …

Racial Capitalism, The Precariat, And Us Immigration: Past And Present, Lily Dunkin

Scripps Senior Theses

Combining the lens of the political economic theories of Racial Capitalism and the Precariat, and applying them to a historical analysis of the US immigration system and its modern implications in US States, we are better able to understand to manner in which the immigration regime works to provide a cheap, exploitable labor force for US industry elites. By establishing and fortifying pre-existing racial hierarchies within the US while also utilizing the precariat’s philosophies on flexible labor and a lack of economic security, elites are able to weaponize the fear instilled by the US Immigration system and leverage their bottom …

An Investigation Of Empathy In Hcd, Zoey Lofgren

Scripps Senior Theses

Abstract

In this study, we investigated empathy within a human-centered design context. While empathy is a well-researched subject within the field of psychology, there is little experimental research on its application in design. As such, the term “empathy” is often thrown around with a lack of clarity about what it actually means in design courses. Empathy is a complex psychological phenomenon that allows us to respond to and understand others’ emotions, but it is unable to be “turned on.” This study specifically aims to address the question of whether or not empathy is actually used within design. Participants completed two …

Microbiological Investigation Of Local Native Clays And Samples From The Scripps Ceramic Studio, Kelly Fuller

Scripps Senior Theses

This study explores the relationship between microorganisms and clay using samples currently being utilized in the Lincoln Ceramics Studio at Scripps College. Clay science spans disciplines, from geology and soil science to industrial material development and artistic practices. Although biological processes have been thought to effect clay properties such as plasticity and malleability, the interplay between microorganisms and clay minerals has not been thoroughly investigated in the scientific community. Drawing from diverse disciplines, this research investigates the microbial ecology of clay bodies to unveil potential innovations in ceramics production. In this experiment, colony-forming unit (CFU) assays were performed in both …

Improving Accessibility And Understanding: Studying The Impact Of Human Activities And Dam Removals On Anadromous Fish Species In The Pacific Northwest, Adia F. Bennett

Scripps Senior Theses

Human activities in North American watersheds have significantly impacted anadromous fish, causing some species of salmon and steelhead to become threatened and endangered. These fish hold ecological, cultural, and economic importance, yet factors such as habitat destruction, overfishing, pollution, climate change, and hydroelectric dams continue to degrade populations. Dams are particularly harmful to anadromous fish, sparking a recent movement advocating for dam removals. This study uses NOAA’s 2022 Biological Viability Assessment to examine the response of anadromous fish to recent dam removals in the Pacific Northwest. Four populations were selected to analyze due to their interaction with sites that had …

Good Enough To Eat: How College Students Are (Re)Forming Their Relationships To Food, Sophia Lewis

Scripps Senior Theses

In this thesis, I seek to critically examine how college students at American liberal arts institutions relate to food in their everyday lives and how those relationships to food are formed in a cultural landscape where what and how one eats can carry significant moral implications. Through a series of ethnographic interviews, I found that college students are negotiating a variety of interconnected social influences that have shaped their relationships to food, the most prominent being the ways that their parents taught them to relate to food in childhood and adolescence, cultural conceptions of health, and their own embodied reactions …

The Holy Abject: The Narrative Arc Of Female Christian Martyrdom And Its Implications For Subjecthood In The Roman Empire, Gillian Murdock Gardner

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis aims to utilize modern critical theory to reveal how the hagiographies of early female Christian martyrs follow a standardized narrative arc. The martyr’s body is hyperfeminized, transformed, and eventually eclipsed in a simultaneous process of unbecoming in the corporeal realm and becoming in a divine register. The martyr’s augmented femininity signals her ability to endure as far as womens’ abject position in the Empire allows, while her bodily transformation conveys a transgression of the ontological pairings of active masculinity and passive femininity that govern Roman social order. Finally, the martyr’s death communicates an imperial attempt to reestablish the …

Destiny's Cultural And Spiritual Healing: The Practice Of Care And Unlearning In Choreographing, Destiny Rivera-Gomez

Scripps Senior Theses

This research thesis reflects on the choreographic practices of care and unlearning that were implemented in choreographing a piece on personal narratives of immigration, indigeneity, conformity, rejection and celebration of ethnic and cultural pride. The author is a danzante of the Danza Azteca ceremonial practice. She explains the importance of handling the art form with care by learning its history and unlearning the misconstrued histories that have been told about the Mexica and Nahua people who practice the ceremonial danza. Touching on the history of the genocide of the Mexica people who were historically named and referred as the Aztecs. …