Digital Commons Network^™

Environmental Life Cycle Assessment Of Commercial Space Transportation Activities In The United States, Shelia Scott Neumann

Civil Engineering Dissertations - Archive

The Commercial Space Transportation (CST) activities in the United States are increasing and have increased over 50% in the last year. The launches in the United States for commercial purposes are expected to increase another 50% in the next 3-5 years. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) environmental assessments do provide the regulatory environmental analysis for launching space vehicles within the United States. However, the environmental impacts from these launches have not been fully characterized. One method to characterize environmental impacts from a system is through conducting a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) based on an international standard, ISO14040. The results from …

The Role Of The Courts In Guarding Against Privatization Of Important Public Environmental Resources, Melissa K. Scanlan

Michigan Journal of Environmental & Administrative Law

Drinking water, beaches, a livable climate, clean air, forests, fisheries, and parks are all commons, shared by many users with diffuse and overlapping interests. These public natural resources are susceptible to depletion, overuse, erosion, and extinction; and they are under increasing pressures to become privatized. The Public Trust Doctrine provides a legal basis to guard against privatizing important public resources or commons. As such, it is a critical doctrine to counter the ever-increasing enclosure and privatization of the commons as well as ensure government trustees protect current and future generations. This Article considers separation of powers and statutory interpretation in …

The Potency Of Policy?: A Comparative Study Of Filipino Elder Care Workers In The United States And Israel, Abigail F. Kolker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the population of the United States and Israel rapidly ages, the elder care industry is expanding at an unprecedented rate. In-home care work is increasingly performed by migrants, many of whom are from the Philippines. This study, based on two years of ethnographic research and 163 in-depth interviews, examines how the United States’ and Israel’s differing immigration and labor policies impact the lives of Filipino caregivers. Despite vastly different policy approaches to migrant elder care workers—highly unregulated in the U.S. and highly regulated in Israel—this study found many striking similarities between Filipino caregivers’ migration and work experiences in the …

Underwhelming Success Of United States Foreign Assistance, Yissett Peralta

Political Science

Foreign assistance offers, humanitarian support, military support and financial support to recipients who have faced some form of disaster. In my research I have concluded that the underwhelming success, is to do many things, a countries instability, corruption, but most importantly the time and finances the United is willing or not will to put forth for that country. In analyzing the underwhelming success, one must also factor in the goals and interest of the United States, providing aid to certain countries. In conducting my research and analyzing Iraq, Bosnia and Haiti, the money is not being used in an efficient …

Enamel Hypoplasia And Its Relation To Ethnicity And Socioeconomic Status In The 19th Century United States, Amanda Drew Olivas Cook

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Linear enamel hypoplasia (LEH) is a condition of tooth enamel characterized by linear bands in tooth enamel that result from metabolic stress during the childhood years of enamel formation. The presence of LEH has frequently been used in biological anthropology as a marker of stress experienced during childhood. This paper uses a biocultural approach to investigate the occurrence and severity of LEH defects on the teeth of African American and European American adult male remains in the Terry Anatomical Skeletal Collection. The Terry Collection consists of low socioeconomic status individuals whose remains were unclaimed at St. Louis morgues and hospitals, …

The Influence Of Slavery On The Black Body: Black Lives Matter’S Intersectional Methodology And New Advancements, Mone Dixon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Racial discrimination has been a significant problem in the United States. For centuries, African Americans have endured and resisted (in multiple ways) a system of bondage, a system where they faced political, economic, institutional, and social oppression. It is a system that condoned the violence that often resulted in the innocent deaths of Black bodies since the beginning of slavery. As property, the Black body was viewed and used as a commodity; thus the dehumanization of Black bodies was justified. The history of slavery demonstrates the different ways Black bodies have been and continue to be hindered by its effects. …

Evaluation Of Antiviral Agents In Two Mouse Models Of Rna Virus Infections, John Hyrum Mcclatchy

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The first model we are evaluating is human influenza virus in mice. Influenza virus is a negative sense RNA virus, which the CDC estimates causes between 9.2 million and 35.6 million illnesses each year in the United States.^[1] In the current influenza season, H3N2 viruses have been the predominant subclade of influenza A virus in circulation.^[2] Development of a mouse model for influenza H3N2 virus infection has been difficult. In these studies, we endeavored to mouse-adapt influenza A/Hong Kong/4801/2014 H3N2 virus by serial passaging in AG129 mice. This virus strain was chosen as it overlaps in serotype with …

An Investigation Of The Impact Of Changing Social Norms On Female Clothing Attire Pre And Post Ww Ii, Bailey Marie Burningham

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Not only did World War II bring about changes to the economy and policy in the United States, it also changed women's fashion and, consequently, the way in which women's fashion was presented through marketing efforts. This study is an investigation of how changing social norms, as seen in various marketing material, may have impacted women's attire before and after World War II. The study will be conducted by analyzing various reports on how changes came to pass throughout this time, and how different factors may have instigated the change. Additionally, an analysis of marketing materials used pre and post …

A Comparison Of India And The United States: A Look At Innovative Child Welfare Service Practices, Kaitlin Roselius

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Child abuse and neglect are human rights issues on a global level. Violence is not cookie cutter; it comes in many different shapes and sizes. Many countries have started the uncomfortable, but critical, discussion on how best to address this problem which has reached epidemic proportions. Numerous service providers are creating innovative practices to combat the cycle of violence. This paper looks to identify what specific providers are currently doing to mitigate risk for children and families by analyzing the similarities and differences between India and the United States. Data for this research was collected through a variety of sources …

A Workable Balance: Maternity Leave And Female Success In The Workplace In Finland And The United States, Karey J. Murphy

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

The Family and Medical Leave Act was signed into law in 1993. FMLA, allowing for a few exceptions and criteria, provides unpaid leave for certain health conditions or for the birth or adoption of a child. While the United States offers a gender-neutral policy unlike most other nations, the leave is not required to be paid. This can have enormous impacts on not only a female’s decision to return to work after the birth of a child but her continued decision to pursue leadership roles within the workforce. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between female …

Comparing Parental Leave Packages Across Countries, Angel Alls-Hall

Honors Projects

This project focuses on parental leave, which is a combination of maternity and paternity leave, and compares the existing policies in the United States to the United Kingdom, Norway, and Japan.

Faculty Perspectives On Financial Capability And Asset Building In Social Work Education: A Research Report, Margaret S. Sherraden, Jin Huang, Lissa Johnson, Peter Dore, Julie Birkenmaier, Vernon Loke, Sally Hageman

Center for Social Development Research

This report is based on a study conducted in collaboration with the Council on Social Work Education. The report presents findings from a national online survey of social work faculty. Results identify financial and economic (F&E) content taught in the current curriculum, gaps in coverage, and strategies for improving the academic preparation of social workers in these areas. Findings will inform financial capability and asset-building curriculum and improve the academic preparation of social workers.

“Older Adults And Their Experiences With Home Care And Assisted Living”, Faith Robinson

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

As the state of Maine and the U.S. population at large continues to age, discussion about future care and living arrangements for older adults has become an increasingly relevant issue. Older adults are often faced with a range of options for housing, including staying in their home in their community while receiving home care services, or moving to an assisted living facility.

Currently a gap in the research exists as to the attitudes, perceptions, and lived experiences of the older adults themselves around these decisions, experiences, and the meaning of “home” in our older years. This study aims to provide …

The Effectiveness Of Needle Exchange Programs In The United States And West Virginia, Margie J. Phillips, Alberto Coustasse, Sara Johnson, Briana Washington

Management Faculty Research

Needle Exchange Programs (NEPs) have been controversial aspects of public health care due to conflicting beliefs and opinions for public policies. NEPs have allowed Injection Drug Users the ability to exchange their used equipment for clean, unused supplies. Research into the effectiveness of needle exchange programs and the impact it has had on the reduction of HIV and viral hepatitis infections in people who inject drugs. Injection Drug Users have accounted for 10% of HIV transmission cases in West Virginia, and this state has been ranked as the highest in the whole United States for incidents of Hepatitis C. NEPs …

Patterns Of Poverty Exposure And Children's Trajectories Of Externalizing And Internalizing Behaviors, Jinette Comeau, Michael H. Boyle

Paediatrics Publications

Using data from the Child Supplement of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, we compare trajectories of externalizing and internalizing behaviors among children exposed to five patterns of poverty from birth to age 14: always or never poor – stable patterns; a single transition into or out of poverty, or repeated fluctuations in and out of poverty – changing patterns. We also examine how low maternal education and single parenthood interact with these poverty exposures to compound their adverse effects. Finally, we compare the magnitude of effects associated with the patterns of poverty exposure, as well as their interactions with …

Socially Isolated Cambodians In The Us: Recommendations For Health Promotion, S. Megan Berthold, Sengly Kong, Jason Ostrander, Seiya Fukuda

School of Social Work Faculty Publications

Cambodian genocide survivors experience health disparities associated with their traumatic experiences. Cambodian community organizations in the United States are severely challenged to serve these survivors. Community leaders have identified a sub-set of community members of particular concern: those at either end of the age spectrum (elders and young people) who are socially isolated. As part of a larger community-based participatory research project, we conducted a focus group with seven Cambodian community leaders from six cities that sought to better understand the phenomenon of social isolation of Cambodian elders and young people in order to inform health promotion efforts. Cambodian leaders …

Hospital-Based Physicians' Intubation Decisions And Associated Mental Models When Managing A Critically And Terminally Ill Older Patient., Shannon Haliko, Julie Downs, Deepika Mohan, Robert Arnold, Amber E Barnato

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

BACKGROUND: Variation in the intensity of acute care treatment at the end of life is influenced more strongly by hospital and provider characteristics than patient preferences.

OBJECTIVE: We sought to describe physicians' mental models (i.e., thought processes) when encountering a simulated critically and terminally ill older patient, and to compare those models based on whether their treatment plan was patient preference-concordant or preference-discordant.

METHODS: Seventy-three hospital-based physicians from 3 academic medical centers engaged in a simulated patient encounter and completed a mental model interview while watching the video recording of their encounter. We used an "expert" model to code the …

Droughtscape, Spring 2018, National Drought Mitigation Center

DroughtScape: Quarterly Newsletter of the National Drought Mitigation Center (2007–2023)

Contents

Drought shifts to south in beginning of 2018

Ag records impacts; strong fire season forecast

Drought maps show regional and river forecast areas

Greenness indicator could save lives in Africa

NDMC on a global playing field

Visitors from Korea tap drought resources, experts

Svoboda named to United Nations advisory group

Responding to drought in the Southern Plains

Crops, cattle and climatology in the Upper Niobrara

Connecting locally for global change

Analyzing The Differentiation Among State Medical Marijuana Policies By Examining State Policies & Trends, Richard Furlong

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Support for marijuana has been growing nationwide. This increased support has gained a lot of momentum since the late 1990s when California became the first state to legalize marijuana for medical use by enacting Proposition 215, or the Compassionate Use Act. Since the enactment of Proposition 215, 28 more states and the District of Columbia have legalized marijuana for medicinal use. I look into why states have begun to adopt these laws, and what makes these states differ throughout the country in the timeliness of their actions. I assembled data to examine a variety of state policies to attempt to …

The Emerging Issue Of Hepatitis C Virus In The United States And In West Virginia, Alberto Coustasse Dr.Ph. Md,Mba, Mph, Maggie Phillips Rn, Bsn, Mha, Jumana Abboud Mha, Neha Botre Mha, David P. Paul Iii

Management Faculty Research

Introduction:

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is one of the most significant public health problems currently facing the U.S., Especially in West Virginia. If it is undetected and left untreated, the likelihood of sustaining a treatment response decreases. While early identification has been identified as a critical focus in trying to obtain better health outcomes, new drug treatments appear promising, although somewhat expensive. West Virginia, a predominantly rural state, is beginning to face a mounting financial crisis due to HCV.

Purpose of the Study:

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of early identification and treatment for patients …

Trying And Dying: Are Some Wishes At The End Of Life Better Than Others?, Oliver J. Kim

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the United States, efforts to create a "rightto try," or to provide access for the terminally ill to try experimental drugs, have seen overwhelming success in passing state legislatures. This success provided the foundation for advocates' long-term goal of a federal right to try. Yet proposals ranging from very modest advance-care-planning consultations to the "rightto die,"or medical aid in dying, face steep political challenges despite seeming public support. This paper discusses the legal underpinnings of both "rights" and the current political and policy debate over each. More often than not, these "rights" are grantedthrough legislation rather than judicial decisions, …

Opioid-Related Critical Care Resource Use In Us Children's Hospitals., Jason M. Kane, Jeffrey D. Colvin, Allison H. Bartlett, Matt Hall

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: There has been a rapid increase in the rate of pediatric opioid-related hospitalizations. It is unknown how this increase has impacted the use of pediatric critical care. Our objective in this study was to assess the trends in pediatric hospitalization for opioid ingestions in a cohort of US children's hospitals and, specifically, to evaluate the impact on pediatric critical care resource use.

METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of the Pediatric Health Information System was performed to identify hospitalizations for opioid ingestions from 2004 to 2015. Admission to the PICU and the use of naloxone, vasopressors, and ventilation …

Differences In Work Environment For Staff As An Explanation For Variation In Central Line Bundle Compliance In Intensive Care Units., Yuna S.H. Lee, Patricia W. Stone, Monika Pogorzelska-Maziarz, Ingrid M. Nembhard

College of Nursing Faculty Papers & Presentations

BACKGROUND: Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are a common and costly quality problem, and their prevention is a national priority. A decade ago, researchers identified an evidence-based bundle of practices that reduce CLABSIs. Compliance with this bundle remains low in many hospitals.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to assess whether differences in core aspects of work environments-workload, quality of relationships, and prioritization of quality-are associated with variation in maximal CLABSI bundle compliance, that is, compliance 95%-100% of the time in intensive care units (ICUs).

METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: A cross-sectional study of hospital medical-surgical ICUs in the United States was done. …

How Subterranean Regulation Hinders Innovation In Assisted Reproductive Technology, Myrisha S. Lewis

Faculty Publications

Most scholars believe assisted reproductive technology is subject only to minimal regulation, especially by the federal government. This belief, I contend, is wrong. In this Article, I examine agency documents, statements by officials, and letters that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent to physicians and researchers over the past fifteen years to reveal an overlooked regulatory program. The FDA has been targeting new forms of assisted reproductive technology that involve small genetic modifications (advanced assisted reproductive technologies or AARTs) through regulatory actions that receive little public, media, or scholarly attention. I term this method of regulation “subterranean …

Edoxaban Plus Aspirin Vs Dual Antiplatelet Therapy In Endovascular Treatment Of Patients With Peripheral Artery Disease: Results Of The Epad Trial., Frans Moll, Iris Baumgartner, Michael Jaff, Chuke Nwachuku, Marco Tangelder, Gary Ansel, George Adams, Thomas Zeller, John Rundback, Michael Grosso, Min Lin, Michele F Mercur, Erich Minar, Epad Investigators

Pharmacy Articles

PURPOSE: To report a randomized study that investigated the safety (risk of major bleeds) and potential efficacy of edoxaban, an oral anticoagulant that targets the major components of arterial thrombi, to prevent loss of patency following endovascular treatment (EVT).

METHODS: Between February 2012 and June 2014, 203 patients who underwent femoropopliteal EVT were randomized to receive aspirin plus edoxaban or aspirin plus clopidogrel for 3 months in the Edoxaban in Peripheral Arterial Disease (ePAD) study ( ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01802775). Randomization assigned 101 patients (mean age 68.0±10.4 years; 67 men) to the edoxaban group and 102 patients (mean age 66.7±8.6 years; …

The Last Cherokee Of Blue Ridge, Dexter Benjamin Gore

English Theses & Dissertations

This work is an exploration into the life of a young queer man in the United States Army charged with aiding in the removal of the Cherokee Native Americans during the 1830s Indian Removal. It is my hope that my characters and setting bring attention to the politics of queerness and nativism in a way that has not been allowed by mainstream fiction.

Dual Citizenship: What Does It Mean To Be A Christian And A Citizen Of The U.S.?, Scott Culpepper

The Voice

No abstract provided.

Prevalence, Incidence, And Clearance Of Anal High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection Among Hiv-Infected Men In The Sun Study, Pragna Patel, Tim Bush, Erna Milunka Kojic, Lois Conley, Elizabeth R Unger, Teresa M Darragh, Keith Henry, John Hammer, Gerome Escota, Joel M Palefsky, John T Brooks

2010-2019 OA Pubs

BACKGROUND: The natural history of anal human papilloma virus (HPV) infection among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected men is unknown.

METHODS: Annually, from 2004 to 2012, we examined baseline prevalence, incidence, and clearance of anal HPV infection at 48 months, and associated factors among HIV-infected men.

RESULTS: We examined 403 men who have sex with men (MSM) and 96 men who have sex with women (MSW) (median age 42 years for both, 78% versus 81% prescribed cART, median CD4+ T-lymphocyte cell count 454 versus 379 cells/mm3, and 74% versus 75% had undetectable viral load, respectively). Type 16 prevalence among MSM and …

Migration From Mexico To The Us: The Impacts Of Nafta On Mexico And The United States And What To Do Going Forward, Ashley A. Elsasser

International Review of Business and Economics

Research indicates four main causes for migration from Mexico to the United States: Incredibly high crime rates, unemployment, poverty rates, and natural disasters. The first two are especially important in regards to trade between the two border sharing countries. Since agreeing to virtually total free trade, the United States has been able to take advantage of Mexico in such a way that has created further deterioration of the state. If the government of Mexico cannot resurrect the thousands of personal business that were effected do to NAFTA, the U.S. cannot expect for migration from Mexico to deteriorate or halt. By …

A Longitudinal Analysis Of The Impact Of Child Custody Loss On Drug Use And Crime Among A Sample Of African American Mothers, Kathi L. H. Harp, Carrie B. Oser

Health Management and Policy Faculty Publications

This study examines the influence of child custody loss on drug use and crime among a sample of African American mothers. Two types of custody loss are examined: informal custody loss (child living apart from mother but courts not involved), and official loss (child removed from mother’s care by authorities).

Methods—Using data from 339 African American women, longitudinal random coefficient models analyzed the effects of each type of custody loss on subsequent drug use and crime.

Results—Results indicated that both informal and official custody loss predicted increased drug use, and informal loss predicted increased criminal involvement. Findings demonstrate …