Digital Commons Network^™

Creating A Social Media Campaign, Alexa Capeloto

Open Educational Resources

Students research an issue related to social good and apply visual, news, and digital literacy skills to design an original image and a proposed social media campaign.

Toxicology Case Study Model, Ana Pego

Open Educational Resources

Graduate students apply laboratory skills to an authentic forensic toxicology case by interpreting evidence, recommending analytical methods, and presenting a critical group assessment.

Artificial Intelligence Applications In The Diagnosis And Management Of Cleft Lip And Palate: An Updated Review, Tu Manh Nguyen, Uyen Ngoc Thao Huynh, Thi Thuy Tien Vo, Yang-Che Wu, Chien-Fu Tseng, I-Ta Lee

Journal of Dental Sciences

According to the U.S. National Institutes of Health, cleft lip and/or palate (CL/P) is one of the most common congenital anomalies, significantly affecting both function and aesthetics while placing a considerable burden on healthcare systems worldwide. With the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) in various medical fields, a thorough evaluation of its role in CL/P management has become essential. Therefore, this review was undertaken to summarize recent clinical applications of AI in the diagnosis, treatment, and care of CL/P. A comprehensive search of PubMed and IEEE Xplore was conducted from January 1, 2015, to May 31, 2025, using combined …

Impact Of Female Hormonal Changes Throughout Life On Oral Health: A Scoping Review, Inês Lopes Cardoso, Mayane Fryde, Maria Inês Guimarães, Fernanda Leal

Journal of Dental Sciences

This work looks at the impact of female hormonal fluctuations throughout life, during puberty, pregnancy and the menopause, on oral health. These physiological periods, marked by major variations in estrogen and progesterone levels, influence oral health, so the following question was formulated: to what extent do female hormonal fluctuations influence oral health? Through a scoping review of 37 scientific articles selected using a rigorous methodology (in particular using the Rayyan tool), it was possible to highlight clinical manifestations specific to each hormonal stage. In adolescent girls, puberty is frequently accompanied by exacerbated gingivitis, independent of dental plaque. During pregnancy, the …

Patient-Related Factors Influencing Delays In Oral Cancer Diagnosis: Insights From Pakistan, Muhammad Usman Amanat, Hutcha Sriplung, Duangporn Kerdpon

Journal of Dental Sciences

Background/purpose South Asia has a high burden of oral cancer (OC); however, delays in diagnosis remain under-researched. The study investigated delay intervals in OC diagnosis and the contributing factors in rural Pakistan, considering its unique sociocultural context. Materials and methods This multi-center cross-sectional study employed a structured questionnaire to interview 152 oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients. The diagnostic intervals were determined using the Aarhus Statement. Logistic regression assessed the association between independent factors and delay types. Results Patient delays occurred in 76.3 % of cases, mostly due to appraisal delays (65 %), while diagnostic delays appeared in 51.3 %. …

Relationship Between Tooth Loss And Tongue Pressure And The Effectiveness Of Removable Denture For Older People Requiring Long-Term Care, Madoka Funahara, Yuki Sakamoto, Haruka Oyama, Sakiko Soutome

Journal of Dental Sciences

Background/purpose Aspiration pneumonia is a major health concern among older adults, particularly those requiring long-term care. It is often caused by silent aspiration of saliva-containing pathogenic bacteria and exacerbated by impaired oral and swallowing functions. Tongue pressure is a key factor in maintaining these functions, and its decline is associated with increased bacterial amount in the saliva and higher mortality. However, the relationship among tongue pressure, occlusal status, and prosthetic treatment in older individuals requiring care remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate the association between tooth loss and decreased tongue pressure in older individuals requiring long-term care, and to …

Improvement In Oral Hygiene Among Bedridden Patients Following Domiciliary Dental Care: A Retrospective Study, Min Yee Ng, Chuan-Hang Yu

Journal of Dental Sciences

Background/purpose Domiciliary dental care (DDC) offers dental services in the comfort of a patient's home, typically for bed-bound patients. Poor oral hygiene in this group has been associated with pneumonia. Although DDC reduces the risk of pneumonia, its impact on oral hygiene has not been explored yet. Therefore, this retrospective study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of DDC in improving oral health in bedridden patients. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed individuals who received dental services and evaluated their oral hygiene status using the plaque index (PI). Demographic data (age, sex, cause of bedridden state) and oral findings (DMFT, number …

Challenges And Best Practices For The Development Of Coastal Hazard Decision Support Tools, Noah Hallisey

Open Access Dissertations

There is growing interest in developing Decision Support Tools (DSTs) supporting emergency managers and other decision-makers during coastal storm events. Yet many tools fail to inform decision-making due to challenges associated with their development and transition into operational tools for real-time decision-making. This dissertation investigates these challenges and offers best practices for their development and implementation for real-world decision-making through a literature review, interviews with subject matter experts in the United States, and a real-world case study.

Manuscript 1 reviews existing published literature to understand whether and how tool developers are incorporating emergency managers in the development of DSTs and …

Assessing Sandfly & Mosquito Abundance, Richness, And Diversity In Villaflora, Ecuador: Linking Disease Vectors To Disease Risk, Carlia Rose Lopez

Student Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Great Power Competition In Africa: Sustaining Openness Amidst Transnational Threats And Authoritarian Fragmentation, Chick Edmond

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

As the United States seeks to position itself in an increasingly competitive world, Africa has emerged as an increasingly key arena of great power competition where the United States, China, and Russia are competing to determine the nature of political norms, economic governance and security architecture on the continent.

The combination of growing transnational threats (such as terrorism, pandemics, climate-related instability, and digital vulnerability), and growing authoritarianism, has transformed the continent into a testbed for competing visions of international order. In light of this backdrop, this paper posits that the United States must pursue a strategy of sustained strategic openness …

The Evolving Beijing Consensus: Chinese Communist Party Political Control And Economic Trade Offs, Ian Murphy

Political Science & Geography Faculty Publications

China’s rapid economic rise and unique development trajectory have long been the subject of scholarly debate, often framed through the concept of the “Beijing Consensus” as an alternative to the Washington Consensus. While initial conceptualizations highlight innovation, sustainability, and national sovereignty, later analyses highlighted elements like state capitalism and authoritarianism, particularly in the wake of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. This paper argues that the Beijing Consensus is undergoing a significant evolution under Chairman Xi Jinping, increasingly prioritizing the Chinese Communist Party’s political security, regime stability, and ideological control at the expense of economic growth. This marks a notable departure …

How Autistic Children Define Novel And Real Words, Henry James Tomiser

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Word knowledge is highly valuable to Autistic individuals, and although much research has characterized Autistic children’s vocabulary breadth (i.e., the number of lexical entries), less attention has been paid to vocabulary depth (i.e., the richness with which one understands a given word). In this exploratory post-hoc study, 11 Autistic children (one assigned female at birth) participated in novel and real word learning paradigms in which child-friendly referents were paired with CVCV word forms. Participants were then asked to provide open-ended definitions of the words. Definitions were parsed into meaningful subunits, or semantic features. Semantic features were coded by type of …

Exploring Factors Predicting Teachers’ Intentions To Use Digital Games In Saudi Elementary Schools, Thamarah M. Alqahtani

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Despite the potential benefits of integrating digital games in teaching and learning environments, little research has been carried out to understand the perception of elementary school teachers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) towards integrating digital games into the classroom. This study aims to understand Saudi elementary teachers’ intention of using the digital games in elementary school classrooms using Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) model, and to provide crucial insights for the KSA’s Ministry of Education’s (MOE) administrators in developing evidence-based teacher training and effective school technology-integration policies. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) was used to assess Saudi …

Influence Of Parental Immigration On Children Of Latino Immigrants’ Attachment And Substance Use, Leilanis Cancel-Lopez

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This study aimed to explore how children of Latino immigrants described their attachment and substance use experiences. The narrative that formed implies that throughout their adolescence, children of Latino immigrants use substances in part to cope with their parents’ heightened expectations for the participants to perform well in school/work/life. Additional results find that children of Latino immigrants also form a sense of exoneration for their parents upon reaching young adulthood. Clinical implications include the use of a systemic perspective when approaching children of immigrants when treating substance use and the inclusion of this narrative when creating prevention strategies for immigrant …

Madness In The Mixtape: Gothic Literature And Pop Music, Nicholas Dertinger

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

In Gothic literature, madness has often been connected to the outliers of what is considered socially normal. This dissertation explores the enduring theme of madness, particularly the figure of the “madwoman,” in both women’s literature and in its “afterlife”—or continuing conversation with—contemporary pop music. Through a comparative analysis of songs including Kate Bush’s “Wuthering Heights” (1978), Beyoncé’s “Hold Up” (2016), Lady Gaga’s “Plastic Doll” (2020), Olivia Rodrigo’s “good 4 u” (2021), Billie Eilish’ “What Was I Made For?” (2023), Paramore’s cover of “Burning Down the House” (2024), Taylor Swift’s “mad woman” (2020) and Florence + the Machine’s “Dream Girl Evil” …

Testing A Self-Affirmation Intervention To Increase The Likelihood Of Seeking Emotional Social Support, Selena Heinlein

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Needing help is a common occurrence in the everyday lives of many people. Seeking help, however, is not. Even though most people experience needing help regularly, many people do not ask for help. Not asking for help when it is needed may be caused by several factors. Some people may not ask for help because they think it is going to be awkward, while others may not ask for help because they think they are going to be negatively perceived by others. These fears may get worse when needing to seek emotional social support for a personal issue, since this …

Effects Of Desiccation On Invasive Faucet Snail (Bithynia Tentaculata) And Trematode Survival, Elise Marie Jordahl

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

Parasitism is one of the most common and diverse life history strategies, yet relatively little is known about the role of parasites as invasive species. Invasive species, which present one of the greatest threats to biodiversity, often need to overcome adverse environmental conditions as they establish and spread in new habitats. Invasive parasites are subject to these same conditions, though the effects may be mediated through their hosts. Here, I use an invasive snail and its trematode parasites to quantify the effects of desiccation on survival to better understand how processes of invasion play out in host-parasite systems. The faucet …

Hot Topic Of The Cold War: Analyzing The Bomb In American Media During The Late Twentieth Century, Ryan Lambert

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

This thesis explores nuclear war–related media (i.e., media involving “the Bomb”) from the late twentieth century, beginning in the early 1950s and ending in the late 1990s, although media from the 2000s and beyond are briefly touched on. Unlike other studies of nuclear war narratives, this analysis intends to explore this media through a rhetorical framework of an “eroding” society, and the “erosion” concepts of the 50s–70s paved the way for cumulative “erosion” storylines in the 80s (the height of the Cold War), and then “restoration” storylines in the 90s (after the end of the Cold War). This framework is …

Photovoice Exploration Of Afghan Refugee Background Women's Food-Related Well-Being, Eileen C. Lindemann

Graduate Research Theses & Dissertations

More than 117,000 Afghans have been relocated to the United States following the U.S. military withdrawal in August 2021. Research indicates that Afghan refugees resettled in the U.S. are at increased risk of psychological distress, with Afghan women particularly susceptible compared with Afghan men, and diet-related chronic disease. However, research also shows that traditional food and eating customs foster cultural identity, social support, integration, and well-being. The purpose of this study was to collaboratively explore the food-related well-being and daily life contexts of resettled refugee participants through the photovoice method, a participatory research strategy in which participants photograph aspects of …

Personality Theories, Leswin Laubscher

Open Education Materials

Introduction to Personality Theories

Implementation Of The Downes Scoring Tool, Jennifer Oney

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Scholarly Projects

Background

Respiratory Distress Syndrome (RDS) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in premature infants. It is managed with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), but CPAP can mask the signs of RDS, and delay surfactant therapy.

Purpose

This quality improvement project (QI) was to assess healthcare providers’ confidence in RDS and surfactant therapy through pre- and post- surveys and provided education on RDS and the implementation of the Simplified Downes Scoring Tool to assess respiratory distress in premature infants (25-36 weeks gestation).

Methods

In a Level III NICU, healthcare providers received education on RDS and the scoring Tool, they …

Air Quality Risks In Public Housing, Brynn Sheehan, Carolyn Caraballo Velez, Vaughan W. Rees, Miasha T. O'Neal, Kristen E. Moore, Katie M. Jones, Jessica Meadows, Sarah Gehlert, Richard Grucza, Andrew Plunk, Kelli J. England

Department Psychiatry & Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

Importance Public housing residents face elevated environmental health risks, yet indoor air quality in these settings remains underexamined. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate indoor air quality in public housing 5 years after implementation of the federal smoke-free housing policy and compare it with outdoor air quality in the same regions.

Design, Setting, and Participants A 1-year cohort study of indoor air quality (particulate matter ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5]) across 12 multifamily public housing communities in southeastern Virgina for individuals 65 years and older or persons with disability in cities with the highest rated outdoor air quality. Indoor PM2.5 was continuously measured …

Medical Image Feature Extraction And Selection Based On Inception V3 And Gini Index For Cervical Cancer Cells Identification, Rachida Assawab, Mounir Ouzir, Badreddine Benyacoub, Abderrahim Electrochemical Sensor For Tenofovir Allati, Ismail El Moudden

Research and Infrastructure Service Enterprise (RISE) Faculty Publications

Background: Cervical cancer remains the fourth most common cancer in women globally, with 604,000 new cases annually. Early detection through cytological screening is critical, but manual interpretation suffers from high false negative rates and requires expert pathologists often unavailable in resource-limited settings.

Methods: We developed a novel hybrid framework combining InceptionV3-based deep feature extraction with Gini Index feature selection for automated cervical cancer cell classification. Using the Herlev dataset (917 Pap smear images: 242 normal, 675 abnormal), we extracted 2048 deep features and applied systematic feature selection to identify optimal discriminative subsets. Comprehensive clustering analysis (K-means, K-medoid, Fuzzy clustering) validated …

Supramolecular Self-Assemblies Of Ru( Ii ) Phototherapeutics: Biological Activity Of Micro- And Nano-Particles Acting As Reservoirs, Jérôme Laisney, Sarah M. Kriger, Dmytro Havrylyuk, Jason M. Unrine, David K. Heidary, Edith C. Glazer

Chemistry Faculty Publications

Ruthenium( II) coordination complexes have many appealing properties as prodrugs, but can suffer from poor aqueous solubility and short circulation times, drastically decreasing efficiency in vivo. Nanoformulations using a variety of carriers, such as inclusion in polymers/lipids or adsorption on inorganic nanoparticles have been applied to overcome this limitation, but unfortunately, these approaches raise additional concerns regarding the fate of the carriers, with potential long-term toxicity and accumulation in vital organs. Here, we present an alternative delivery strategy with formation of pure and polymer-supported supramolecular self-assemblies of Ru(II) complexes acting as ‘‘reservoirs’’. A facile preparation of size-controlled particles was achieved …

Mental Health And Art Adherence In A Multisite International Study: The Mediating Roles Of Social Support And Substance Use In People With Hiv, Joseph Awad, Wenxiu Sun, Diane Santa Maria, Rebecca Schnall, Panta Apiruknapanond, Tongyao Wang, Claudia Patricia Valencia, Christine Horvat Davey, Solymar Solis Baez, Sheila Shaibu

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

ART adherence, essential to preventing disease progression for people living with HIV (PLHIV), remains challenged by factors like poor mental health condition, insufficient social support, and substance use. This study investigates the roles of social support and substance use as mediators in the relationship between mental health and antiretroviral therapy (ART) adherence among PLHIV in a multisite, international context. Cross-sectional data from N = 1598 PLHIV across eight countries were analyzed using parallel mediation analyses in R. Results indicated that both social support and substance use independently mediated the relationship between mental health and ART adherence. Hallucinogens mediated the mental …

Formal And Informal Digital Health In Tanzania: Healthcare Workforce, Regulatory And Trust Implications Of E-Patients And Virtual Care And The Development Of The Trust Framework, Kahabi Isangula, Judith Keebisilo Leo, James Tumaini Kengia

School of Nursing & Midwifery, East Africa

Digital health and virtual care are increasingly reshaping how healthcare is organized, delivered, and experienced. In Tanzania, digital transformation is evident in national commitments to digital health governance, health information exchange, hospital information systems, digital referral and emergency transportation, telemedicine, and emerging diagnostic applications supported by artificial intelligence. At the same time, patients are increasingly using social media, mobile platforms, and other digital channels to seek health information, consultations, diagnoses, and medicines, creating new forms of digitally mediated care that often operate alongside formal healthcare systems. Using a narrative synthesis design informed by a practice-based perspective, this study reviewed policy …

Development And Application Of Lc-Ms/Ms Methods For The Determination Of Environmental Contaminants, Mawuli Wilson-Cee Macdonald

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Environmental contaminants such as neonicotinoids and bisphenols are increasingly detected at ultratrace concentrations in environmental and consumer matrices, necessitating sensitive and efficient analytical methodologies. This dissertation presents the development, validation, and application of liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) methods coupled with simplified sample preparation techniques. In Chapter 2, a direct aqueous injection (DAI) LC–MS/MS method was developed for the analysis of five neonicotinoids in surface water, eliminating extensive sample preparation. The method demonstrated strong linearity (R² = 0.993–0.998), with limits of detection (LOD) ranging from 0.5 to 4 ng/L and lower limits of quantification (LLOQ) of 10–50 ng/L. Accuracy (80–120%) …

Aging With A Chronic Illness: Symptom Burden, Everyday Challenges, And Quality Of Life Among Older Adults With Multiple Sclerosis, Swasati Handique

Social Work Dissertations

This three-article study examined the quality of life and everyday lived experience of older adults living with multiple sclerosis (MS). The first article is a scoping review of 14 peer-reviewed studies published between 2012 and 2025, conducted in accordance with Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework and the PRISMA checklist. The second article is a cross-sectional study using the Aging Concerns, Challenges, and Everyday Solution Strategies (ACCESS) Phase II data set of 60 older adults living with MS. Multiple linear regression and moderation analysis was conducted to examine the association between physical symptom burden and quality of life, and whether participation …

The Financial Effects Of Clinically Significant Readmissions In Florida Hospitals, Brian Patrick Cotton

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

This study examines how the financial performance of hospitals in the state of Florida impacts the quality of care. This study used data from 2017-2019 to evaluate how the number of hospital readmissions – a proxy for care quality – are associated with and vary in relation to the stability of the financial resources held by the hospital. The Hospital Readmission Reduction Program (HRRP), a Medicare value-based purchasing program, uses a mandatory pay-for-performance process that was initiated to decrease the 30-day hospital readmission rate. Hospitals with high readmissions are held accountable and financially encouraged to increase their quality of care …

Helping Nurses To ‘Get Their Good Work Out There’, Lori Grischott Msn, Rn, Nea-Bc, Npd-Bc, Rnc-Ob, Lauren Souchak Msn, Rn, Bea-Bc

Patient Care Services / Nursing

No abstract provided.