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Put Me In, Coach: Enhancing Foundational Lawyering Skills Across The Curriculum With Neurodivergent Law Students In Mind, Erica M. Lux

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

As more adults discover that they are neurodivergent, the law student population is likely to be no different, and legal education must adapt to support the skill development needs of neurodivergent students as they prepare to enter the profession. Neurodivergence is a non-medical term that refers to a variety of conditions resulting from changes to a person’s brain structure and function. More commonly, academic discussions around neurodivergence focus on autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—both of which have not been properly diagnosed over the past several decades. However, neurodivergence also incorporates anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), …

"Just Friends:" The Linguistics Of Queerness In Lady Audley's Secret And Carmilla, Kelley A. Peters

English

Many queer studies scholars have debated the legitimacy of queer coding within Victorian literature, such as Marc Milton Ducusin, who wrote Queer Doubles: The Victorian Sensation Novel and English Sexology, and Sharon Marcus, the author of Between Women: Friendship, Desire, and Marriage in Victorian England. These authors analyze real-life and fictional behaviors of those within Victorian England to argue that queerness is present in certain Victorian works. However, these arguments do not adequately address the linguistic significance of the queer coding present in these works, and they specifically ignore the label of “friend” and its many meanings in Victorian …

The Relationship Between Culturally Responsive Teaching (Crt) Training, Teachers’ Children’S Book Choices, And Perceptions Of Censorship In Kuwait, Norma Gina Lombardi Sciarra

All Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Teachers who are culturally responsive use classroom materials that reflect their students' ethnicities, traditions, and values. Western teachers have access to diverse books and classroom tools. They have the agency to choose materials that support the curriculum. However, when Western educators work abroad, they must adapt their teaching methods and tools to local norms. Working abroad may require censoring or omitting information and content they believe in and support. As a result, teachers may feel dissonance or conflict when censoring. Censoring may impact their ability to teach comprehensively. Little research examines the relationship between culturally responsive teaching (CRT), perceptions of …

Cultivating Holistic And Mindful Rest Practices: A Workbook, Cecelia V. Murray

Mindfulness Theses

In a cultural moment that conflates productivity with self-worth, rest is often undervalued or seen as indulgent. This thesis explores mindfulness as a means of reframing rest as an essential human right and a cornerstone of holistic wellness. Drawing on Bill Hettler’s Six Dimensions of Wellness (i.e. physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, and occupational wellness), this project situates mindful rest as a multidimensional practice that supports balance across body, mind, and spirit. This work also highlights the social, structural, and psychological barriers that affect individuals’ access to rest. It argues that while mindfulness alone cannot resolve systemic inequities, it can …

Mindfulness And Psychedelics: Rethinking The Fifth Precept, Ernesto Londono

Mindfulness Studies Theses

The fields of psychedelics and mindfulness have a long history of cross-pollination in the United States that dates to the counterculture movement in the 1960s. As the use of these mind-altering compounds in therapeutic and spiritual contexts has become less stigmatized and more popular in recent years, psychedelic retreats and therapies are once again drawing people who also value contemplative practices. This paper explores the historic and contemporary tension people with overlapping interests in mindfulness and psychedelics have faced as they interpreted the Fifth Precept, the Buddhist guideline that advises people to abstain from intoxicants. Taking stock of the history …

What Truly Drives Graduate Earnings?, Aiden Akbarov

High Impact Practices Student Showcase Spring 2026

The goal of my project, Predicting the Paycheck: What Factors Truly Influence Graduate Earnings?, was to see if we could actually predict a college graduate's starting salary using data instead of just guessing. I used a dataset of 172 majors from the American Community Survey to look at how a student's field of study, the gender balance of their major, and the current job market all impact their first paycheck. I wanted to create a tool that helps students understand the financial reality of their degree before they even graduate.

To get my results, I used a Multiple Linear Regression …

A Review Of Mobility And Gait Changes In Patients With Prostate Cancer: Disease Stage, Symptom, And Treatment-Related Influences, Lauren Hathorn, Abigail Schmitt Dr

2026 Honors Symposium

Background: This review examines the impact of prostate cancer symptoms, progression, and treatments on patients’ gait and mobility. Prostate cancer is the leading cancer diagnosis for men in the United States, with an increase in incidents in the last decade. Prostate cancer, its progression, and its various symptoms and treatments have both physical and functional consequences that often cause changes in patients’ mobility and gait. Some studies have found gait to be a predictor of functional decline and mortality. Given that functional decline and mortality are also consequences of cancer progression and cancer treatments, gait analysis could offer a non-invasive …

Court-Mandated Parenting Intervention: A Parenting Program To Reduce Conflict And Increase Positive Coping Skills For High-Conflict Parents In Family Court, Joshua T. Metcalf

Psychology Doctoral Specialization Projects

The number of children in the United States whose parents have either separated or divorced has continued to increase over time. While some parents are able to effectively co-parent their children after separation or divorce, others may be unwilling or unable to effectively do so. Parents who ineffectively co-parent their children, often referred to as high conflict co-parents, can often over utilize family court resources to solve disputes and to make co-parenting decisions. In the literature review presented, current co-parenting resources often utilized by family courts are explored and research regarding current co-parenting interventions is discussed. Additionally, key components of …

Does Voluntary Manslaughter Exist In South Dakota?, Gregory Brazeal

Faculty Publications

The American legal tradition generally distinguishes between cold-blooded, premeditated intentional killing and hot-blooded, spontaneous intentional killing. The former has traditionally been categorized as murder and the latter as the lesser crime of “voluntary manslaughter.” South Dakota’s homicide statutes, interpreted based on their plain meaning, depart from this deeply rooted tradition. The closest equivalent to the crime of voluntary manslaughter appears in South Dakota’s first-degree manslaughter statute, which includes a prohibition on homicide “[w]ithout any design to effect death . . . and in a heat of passion, but in a cruel and unusual manner.” The phrase “heat of passion” suggests …

Optimization Of Fucoxanthinol Production Using Michaelis-Menten Kinetics, Jennifer Cagnolatti, Naohiro Kato

Distinguished Undergraduate Researcher Program

Fucoxanthin, a carotenoid pigment found in algae, is known for its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Its active form, fucoxanthinol, has shown promise as a potential medicine for asthma. This study aims to optimize the enzymatic conversion of fucoxanthin to fucoxanthinol to enhance its bioavailability as a therapeutic compound, through modeling and validating of Michaelis-Menten kinetic parameters. The kinetic parameters include the forward and reverse rate constants (kf, kr), the catalytic rate constant (kcat), and the Michaelis constant (KM). To determine kinetic parameters, pure fucoxanthin was extracted from dried algae using solid-phase extraction. The enzymatic reaction was conducted using lipase and …

Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (Mthfr) Polymorphisms And Neural Tube Defects In African Populations: A Global Meta-Analysis And Population Genetic Characterization In Uganda, Nana Ekua Entsiwa Adenu-Mensah

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background: Neural tube defects (NTDs) affect 1.9 per 1,000 births globally, with the highest burden occurring in African populations that remain underrepresented in genetic epidemiology. The methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) C677T and A1298C polymorphisms reduce enzyme activity and have been associated with increased NTD risk in several populations, though their relevance across African regions remains unclear.

Methods: We conducted: (1) an updated systematic review and meta-analysis of MTHFR C677T and A1298C polymorphisms and NTD risk (66 studies, ~22,000 participants); (2) population-level genotype characterization of 978 Ugandan children using whole-genome sequencing; and (3), a comparative analysis of MTHFR C677T allele frequencies across …

Lapses In Care Among Patients With Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy: A Mixed-Methods Study, Serina Sera Applebaum

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) affects approximately 7% of individuals with diabetes and requires consistent follow-up to prevent irreversible vision loss. Despite this, lapses in PDR care are common, but poorly characterized. We conducted a two-phase mixed-methods evaluation, including a quantitative retrospective national cohort study of individuals with PDR, followed by a qualitative study investigating participant perspectives on their own lapses in PDR care. In the quantitative component, we used data from 13 academic health systems in the Sight Outcomes Research Collaborative (SOURCE) Repository between 2008 and 2023 to identify adults aged ≥18 with PDR and ≥6 months of ophthalmic follow-up. …

Social Drivers Of Healthcare Access In Pediatric Autoimmune Disease: A U.S. Analysis (2022–2023), Kevin Okifo

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background: Prior studies in adults have demonstrated that social drivers of health contribute to disparities in disease burden, management, and healthcare access among individuals with autoimmune disease (AD). There is emerging pediatric evidence suggesting similar patterns, but national-level data describing how social and structural factors shape healthcare access for children with AD remain limited. The aim of this study is to identify the sociodemographic and structural factors associated with healthcare access among children and adolescents with AD in the United States. Understanding these factors can support meaningful advances that will optimize patient-centered care and wraparound services for pediatric AD.Study Design: …

Two-Level Anterior Cervical Spine Intervention: A Comparative Analysis Of Existing Techniques, Philip Prakash Ratnasamy

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background/Scientific Premise: There is growing utilization of surgical intervention for two-level degenerative cervical spine pathology. Multiple treatment options exist. The gold standard remains two-level anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF), in which the degenerative or herniated cervical discs are removed through an anterior approach to decompress neural elements, followed by fusion of the two involved interspaces to restore stability and alignment. More recently, cervical disc arthroplasty (CDA) has emerged as a viable treatment option for two-level cervical spine pathology, in which the surgeon removes the diseased intervertebral discs and replaces them with artificial discs to reconstruct the segments following decompress …

Clinical And Pathologic Factors Associated With Poor Outcomes In Cutaneous Sarcomas, Jennifer Rodriguez

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background:Cutaneous sarcomas exhibit a broad spectrum of clinical behavior, ranging from indolent tumors to lesions with significant metastatic potential. In atypical fibroxanthoma, pleomorphic dermal sarcoma, and cutaneous leiomyosarcoma predictors of recurrence and metastasis are not always apparent at initial diagnosis. Improved understanding of clinicopathologic features associated with adverse outcomes is needed to guide risk stratification and management.

Objectives:To identify clinical and pathologic factors associated with poor outcomes in AFX, PDS, and cutaneous leiomyosarcoma and to evaluate the relationship between initial biopsy, definitive excision findings, and clinical outcomes.

Methods:This thesis comprises three retrospective cohort studies conducted at a single academic institution. …

The Spectrum Of Cutaneous And Systemic Manifestations Associated With Anti-Pm/Scl, Sabrina Maariyah Saeed

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Anti-PM/Scl is a rare anti-nuclear autoantibody first identified in patients with polymyositis and the scleroderma/myositis overlap syndrome. Due to its low prevalence, the clinical manifestations associated with anti-PM/Scl remain incompletely understood. This study aims to further delineate the phenotype associated with anti-PM/Scl. Anti-PM/Scl positive patients treated at Yale New Haven Health Systems between 2012 and 2024 were retrospectively identified. Chart review was conducted to characterize demographics, skin findings, and extracutaneous manifestations associated with the antibody. Anti-PM/Scl was detected in 64 of the 2867 patients tested. Fifty-seven of these patients met inclusion criteria (i.e. sufficient availability of medical records and age …

Vascular Identity And Remodeling: Sox17 Mediates Arteriovenous Fistula Maturation, Andrew William Schwartz

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background/Scientific Premise Mature arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) are the gold standard vascular access allowing hemodialysis for patients with end-stage kidney disease. The rate of AVF failure remains high, reflecting an incomplete understanding of the biology of AVF maturation and failure. Sox17 is a transcription factor indispensable for the acquisition and maintenance of endothelial arterial identity. Because endothelial cells (EC) acquire dual arteriovenous identity after AVF creation, we determined whether Sox17 mediates venous remodeling in AVF. Research Aims This study aims to characterize the degree of Sox17 expression within the venous outflow tract after AVF creation in humans and in a mouse …

Association Between Baseline Prostate Mri Pi-Rads And Risk Of Gleason Upgrade During Active Surveillance, Shayan Smani

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background: Active surveillance (AS) is the preferred management strategy for men with favorable-risk prostate cancer, aiming to avoid overtreatment while preserving oncologic safety. However, a meaningful proportion of patients experience Gleason Grade Group (GG) upgrading during follow-up, reflecting either biological progression or baseline misclassification. Multiparametric prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), interpreted using the Prostate Imaging–Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS), is well established for detecting clinically significant prostate cancer at diagnosis, yet its prognostic role during AS remains incompletely defined. Specifically, whether baseline PI-RADS scores independently predict the risk of GG upgrading among men managed with AS has not been systematically …

“Treatment Not Tents:" The Medicalization Of Homelessness In California’S 2022-2025 Legislative Agenda, Elana R. Straus

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Modern homelessness emerged in the 1980s due to political choices that cut the social safety net and decreased the availability of affordable housing. Medicalized views of homelessness that frame homelessness as driven by individual pathology, particularly mental illness and addiction, emerged in research, media, and politics at this time. Homelessness has persisted since and remains particularly high in regions, including California, where the housing markets are most constrained. In this context, California advanced multiple legislative changes between 2022 and 2025 that increased pathways to involuntary treatment and criminal-legal control over people experiencing homelessness. In this thesis, I demonstrate how legislators …

Discoid Lupus: Retrospective Analysis Of Epidemiology, Clinical Features, Autoimmunity Profiles, And Treatment Patterns, Aster Workineh

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE) produces lifelong morbidity through visible, functionally consequential skin disease and accrued damage. In discoid lupus erythematosus (DLE), alopecia and dyspigmentation at hair-bearing and cosmetically sensitive sites are frequently cited as major drivers of reduced quality of life1,2. Despite this burden and the risk of progression to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), CLE has no FDA-approved therapy, and treatment evidence remains limited by the small number of CLE-specific datasets and trials focused on CLE-trials. Many therapeutic decisions for CLE are extrapolated from SLE despite the fact that CLE subtypes differ in morphology, histopathology, and reported immune signatures3,4. We …

The Strength Of Association Between Surrogate Markers And Clinical Outcomes Used By The Fda For Chronic Disease Indications, Samuel Yoon

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has traditionally required the use of clinical outcome measures as clinical trial endpoints to support the approval of new drugs. However, clinical outcome trials are typically large, lengthy, and expensive. To expedite this process, Congress has enacted several regulatory programs to facilitate FDA approval of new drugs on the basis of surrogate markers, endpoints that are reasonably likely to predict clinical benefit, as trial endpoints. However, the evidence demonstrating the validity and reliability is mixed, creating uncertainty for patients and physicians about the true clinical benefits of new drugs approved on the basis …

Neighborhood Embeddings And Scalable Learning For Optimal Transport And Unbalanced Optimal Transport, Muhammad S. Rana

Mathematics Dissertations - Archive

Dimensionality reduction techniques are developed from the assumption that high-dimensional data often arises from low-dimensional structures embedded into the high-dimensional ambient space. Classical dimensionality reduction methods rely on the Euclidean distance, which may fail to capture the geometric structures of the datasets. This dissertation includes alternative metrics for dimensionality reduction techniques and challenges in applying these techniques.

First, we investigate the Wasserstein distance based neighbor embeddings for dimensionality reduction methods and compare the classification and clustering performance with the classical Euclidean based methods. The Wasserstein distance models the data as probability distributions and compares two distributions applying optimal transport (OT) …

School Of Biological Sciences News, 2026, School Of Biological Sciences, Illinois State University

School of Biological Sciences News

Alumni newsletter of Illinois State University's School of Biological Sciences.

A Questionnaire Assessing Attitudes And Readiness For Hiv Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Therapy For Community Members At-Risk For Hiv Acquisition In Liberia, Yishak Bedaso

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

AbstractA Questionnaire Assessing Attitudes And Readiness For HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Therapy For Community Members At-Risk For HIV Acquisition In Liberia Yishak Bedaso;1 Jessica Tuan, MD, MS;2 Yassah M. Barclay-Korboi;3 Onyema Ogbuagu MBBCh, FACP, FIDSA4 Affiliation: 1. Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA 2. Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Department of Infectious Diseases, New York, NY, USA 3. JFK Memorial Hospital, Monrovia, Liberia. 4.Yale Antivirals & Vaccines Research Program, Section of Infectious Diseases, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; Despite how effective Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is in preventing HIV, uptake among women in sub-Saharan …

Estimating Prep And Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision Prevalence In Three High Hiv Burden Countries, Rose Grace Bender

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Understanding the impact of specific biomedical interventions is crucial for optimizing HIV prevention strategies. In this study, we estimate of the prevalence of voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) and lay out a framework for estimating preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in the three high-burden sub-Saharan African countries of Malawi, South Africa, and Zimbabwe. For VMMC, we use a cohort-based simulation framework to model circumcision prevalence in all males over time, allocating VMMC count data to cohorts over time. Model outputs are compared with survey and campaign data, and two parameters, the initial background circumcision prevalence and the age distribution of VMMC procedures, …

Epidermal Differentiation Disorders Across The Lifespan: Growth, Ophthalmologic, And Perinatal Manifestations, Caroline Echeandia-Francis

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Epidermal differentiation disorders (EDDs) are a heterogeneous group of inherited skin diseases characterized by impaired epidermal barrier function, scaling, and erythema. Although substantial progress has been made in identifying the genetic causes of EDD, long-standing clinical observations—including impaired growth, ectropion, and increased rates of preterm birth—remain poorly characterized across genotypes. The prevalence, severity, and clinical significance of these manifestations have not been systematically evaluated in large, genotype-stratified cohorts, limiting the ability to provide anticipatory guidance and tailored clinical care. This thesis seeks to (1) characterize growth trajectories in children with EDD and determine genotype-specific patterns of growth impairment; (2) assess …

Regional Inequities In Colon Cancer Surgical Care: Treatment Delay Patterns Across U.S. Facilities, Rushabh Hemang Doshi

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

AbstractBackground/Scientific Premise: Colon cancer represents a significant public health burden in the United States, ranking as the third most common and second deadliest cancer. Timely surgical resection is critical for optimal survival in non-metastatic disease, yet persistent racial, insurance, and geographic disparities in access to care may contribute to treatment delays. While treatment delay has been established as a critical quality metric, regional variation in surgical delays for colon cancer and how patient-level disparities manifest across different U.S. regions remain poorly understood. Understanding these geographic patterns is essential, as healthcare systems, patient populations, access barriers, and state-level policies differ substantially …

Influence Of Demographics On Research Participation In Female Patients Undergoing Ambulatory Surgery, Tiana Fernandez

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Background: Historically, research on women and minorities has consisted of unethical experimentation, human rights violations, and crimes against humanity. Numerous examples can be found throughout the past two centuries, including the exposure of pregnant women to radioactive iron in the Tennessee-Vanderbilt Nutrition Project (TVNP), failure to treat cervical carcinoma in situ in the Unfortunate Experiment, surgical experimentation on female slaves by Dr. J. Marion Sims, failure to treat syphilis in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, intentional exposure to and subsequent failure to treat sexually transmitted diseases in Guatemala, collection of biospecimens from Henrietta Lacks, and nontherapeutic experimentation on minority children in …

Repurposing Ezetimibe As A Therapeutic For Parkinson's Disease: Evaluating The Therapeutic Potential And Probing For A Mechanism, Brian Hilton

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Neurologic disease is the leading cause of disability globally and Parkinson’s disease (PD) has been the fastest growing neurologic brain disease over the last several decades. Despite the immense burden of PD on patients and society, there has yet to be an efficacious disease-modifying therapy. Investigation of candidate pharmaceuticals that have already been approved by the FDA for other conditions might provide an expedited path to the advent of disease-modifying therapy. There is a rich history of drug repurposing for symptomatic therapy for PD, with amantadine as the preeminent example. In order to identify candidate therapeutics for possible repurposing, an …

Rns-Based Early Prediction Of Antiseizure Medication Efficacy, Joshua Hobbs

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

Drug-resistant focal epilepsy accounts for a significant portion of patients with epilepsy. These patients many times experience persistent seizures despite several ASM (anti-seizure medication) trials. RNS (Responsive neurostimulation) has demonstrated efficacy in reducing seizure frequency in patients that are resistant to drug trials, and provide continuous intracranial electroencephalographic monitoring. This longitudinal data may offer an opportunity to identify potential early biomarkers of ASM trial effectiveness, which could lead to quicker optimization of pharmacological therapy. This study in particular evaluated whether early changes in RNS-detection of seizure activity can predict a clinical response to ASMs in patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy. …