Digital Commons Network^™

Focus Group Study Of Racial Disparities And The Effects Of Parental Marijuana Use On Youth Marijuana Use, Avina K. Mahroke

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

Marijuana has become one of the most used drugs in the United States. There has been an increase in use among both adults and youth during the past several years. Public health interventions are needed to address marijuana use because of its detrimental effects on youth well-being. Research shows that marijuana can lead to problems with memory, learning, attention, and even depression among youth. Furthermore, marijuana exposure in-utero can lead to developmental issues and problems with other organs such as the lungs. Youth are influenced to start using drugs, like marijuana, for numerous reasons, and parents are one of those …

Unbridled Healing: Identifying The Barriers Of Equine-Assisted Therapy, Sally A. Hamm

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Despite the documented benefits of equine-assisted therapy (EAT) for mental health conditions, this complementary approach remains underutilized. This qualitative study investigated barriers preventing wider EAT implementation by examining challenges faced by clients, facilities, and volunteers. Data collected through open-ended surveys from 33 participants and the researcher's autoethnographic observations revealed eight common barriers: Accessibility (48 mentions), Money (43), Time (30), Awareness (23), Physical Factors (13), Relationships (13), Risk (13), and Weather (7). Clients identified financial constraints as their primary barrier, particularly insurance limitations. Facilitators struggled most with accessibility challenges, including lack of resources, trained staff, suitable horses, and appropriate facilities. Volunteers …

Parental Expectations On Pediatric Care For Children, Brenan Cash

Human Development and Family Sciences Undergraduate Honors Theses

Childhood pediatrics is a major factor for a full and healthy childhood for all children from adolescence to adulthood. However, the physical health aspect has been the main focus through most primary care clinics and hardly focuses on the mental health side. Mental health issues which involve anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress are more prominent than they have ever been, as up to 30% of children have experienced mental health issues such as posttraumatic stress disorder, especially in recent pandemic years (Meherali et al., 2021). This study employed a non-experimental, quantitative analysis utilizing online close-ended survey questions. The type of …

The Weaponization Of Medicine In Arkansas Prison Farms, 1960s-1970s, Grace E. Marr

History Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Arkansas State Penitentiary provides a case study for medical care in prisons during a transformational period. Isolation and state non-involvement in Arkansas allowed the creation of an independent culture in which harrowing abuses flourished. Medical providers could be prisoners themselves, operating the hospital and blood bank creating a complicated hierarchy. By examining medical provisions at the Cummins and Tucker Prison Farms during the 1960s to 1970s, this thesis reveals a system where the lines between treatment and torture and medical practitioner and imprisoned were blurred.

Blackness Under The Big Top: Racism And The Circus Of The Late Nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries, Christian Joseph

FCRH Honors Program Theses

Rattling through American towns large and small during its heyday, the archetypal, three-ring railroad circus was a novel attraction of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During Reconstruction, the Gilded Age, and the Progressive Era, the circus was the dominant entertainment industry in the United States. Using both archival and historical research methods, my project offers an anatomy of the circus industry in America, both tracing its development and exploring its centrality to American culture and iconography. As a distinctly American institution, the growth of the industry was expressly linked to the physical expansion of the nation, which was …

Non-Invasive Focused Ultrasound To Reduce Gut Inflammation In Parkinson’S Disease, Amal F. Siddiqui

Biological Sciences

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative motor disorder that affects millions of people worldwide, with projections suggesting the number of diagnosed cases could reach 15 million by 2040 (Dorsey et al., 2018). While PD is primarily recognized for its impact on movement, it also frequently causes non-motor symptoms, including gastrointestinal (GI) issues such as constipation, which affects 60-80% of patients. Chronic gut inflammation has been proposed as a key factor exacerbating these symptoms. Despite the prevalence of GI complications in PD, they are often overlooked, and existing treatments for constipation are limited in both efficacy and scope. Vagus Nerve Stimulation …

Stimulus Dependence Of Visually Guided Behavior In Drosophila Melanogaster, Jessica Osarenoma Airhienbuwa

Biological Sciences

Vision is very important for navigating the world around us. The fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, is a great model for studying how the brain controls visually guided behavior. This is because they have a small nervous system, good genetic tools, and a complete map of their brain connections. In fruit flies, visual projection neurons (VPNs) send information from the eyes to the central brain, which affects what they see and how they act. This research looks at how certain groups of nerve cells influence fruit flies' behavior based on what visual stimuli. To study the brain circuits behind these behaviors, …

Genomic Diversity Of Salmonella Enterica Serotype Braenderup In New York State, Nicole Zac Soligno

Biological Sciences

The Gram-negative Salmonella enterica (family Enterobacteriaceae) is a common foodborne pathogen mainly isolated from foods of animal origin. Salmonella can be transmitted to humans, causing diverse symptoms, from self-limiting gastrointestinal diseases to more fatal typhoid fever. The young, elderly, and Individuals with weakened immune systems are especially at risk from salmonellosis. Salmonella is a concern to public health and the food industry throughout the world, and its severity depends largely on its serotype, a classification based on the unique combination of surface antigens. In this study, I aimed to elucidate the population structure and antimicrobial resistance determinants of S. enterica …

Quick Response Codes In Extension Outreach Communications: Insights From A Visual Content Analysis And Educators’ Perceptions, Kobina Danful Fanyinkah

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Increased smartphone use presents an opportunity to enhance the creative inclusion of Quick Response (QR) codes in extension outreach efforts. Tailoring extension programs to communicate with specific audiences has been identified as essential, highlighting the need for targeted and context-specific strategies. The development of QR code technology has provided a unique approach that allows extension professionals to target clientele with specific extension messages and programs. While extension has a commendable record in educational delivery through traditional forms of outreach, research on how best to employ digital tools with extension audiences is thin at best. Though the rising popularity of QR …

A Qualitative Nmr And Histological Analysis Of Adipocere Formation In Different Aqueous Environments Using Sus Scrofa Models, Mia M. Sorrentino

Student Theses

Adipocere is a wax-like crust that has the potential to form over corpses in moist, humid, and anaerobic environments, preserving them in a process similar to that of mummification. The substance can be identified within 3-6 months postmortem and is characterized by the ratio of saturated fatty acids to unsaturated fatty acids. Palmitic acid and stearic acid are the most abundant in comparison to myristic and oleic acids. The goal of this study was to investigate factors affecting adipocere formation in different aqueous environments. Pork belly samples were submerged in water samples collected from different places around New York City …

On Mission Through The Great Commission : Changing Knowledge, Attitudes, And Behaviors, John Monger

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Flourishing In The Field : Best Practices For Missionary Health And Effectiveness, Matthew H. Rasch

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Change Of Knowledge, Attitude, And Behavior On Evangelism : Measuring The Changes Of Knowledge, Attitude, And Behavior On Pastors And Mission Leaders From Churches In Meru Town In Kenya, Esayas Solomon Wechefo

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Embodying Biblical Hospitality : Threshold Moments For God's Welcome In Secular Workplaces, Sandra Lynn Blumanhourst

ATS Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Amwr Spring 2025 Full, _ _

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Top 6 Reasons You Should Kill Bears, Anne Gregg

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

Anne Gregg is a Senior English Writing major, Honor Scholar, and Media Fellow at DePauw. She is also the Editor-In-Chief of A Midwestern Review. If you go looking for Anne Gregg, you will not find her. She has learned how to become incorporeal and spends her time singing in the breeze.

Effects Of Silvicultural Burns On Quercus Rubra Regeneration Near Its Northern Range Limit, Khanh Ton

Master's Theses and Capstones

Northern red oak (Quercus rubra) is predicted to expand its range northward in the northeastern United States with climate change and could greatly improve resilience of managed forests by expanding the functional diversity. However, red oak regeneration across its range currently faces many challenges including predation, pathogens, and consequences of forest mesophication such as insufficient light and competition with more mesic species. The latter challenges are potentially caused by the near absence of fire in most northeastern forested landscapes since the early 1900s. Therefore, prescribed burns may help address these challenges and hence promote oak recruitment and establishment. We studied …

Bostock And The Limits Of Textualism: A Doctrinal Structuralist Approach, Martin Katz

William & Mary Law Review

In Bostock v. Clayton County, the Supreme Court held that Title VII prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. This result, the majority claimed, was required by the interpretive theory called textualism. But textualist Justices in the dissent vehemently disagreed. This split, and the controversy that has followed it, has had two consequences. First, it added fuel to the ongoing debate about the value of textualism. Second, it opened the door for lower courts to decline to apply Bostock to similar antidiscrimination laws, such as Title IX in education or the Equal Protection Clause.

This Article argues …

Procedural Political Economy, Luke P. Norris

William & Mary Law Review

When the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure came into being in 1938, a broad political economy discourse was driving significant legal and policy reform efforts. Legal scholars, economists, political leaders, and others placed questions of economic power and their relationship to democracy at the center of those reform efforts, honing and developing a political economy tradition that is a forebearer to today’s law-and-political economy (LPE) approach. Both then and today, the relationship of civil procedure to these trends has not been fully mined. This Article tells a vital part of that story, tracing the federal civil procedure system’s political economy …

Car Damage Detection Using Deep Learning, Rahul Varma Indukuri Sr.

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Growing vehicle usage has resulted in a notable increase in road accidents, so it is imperative to have effective systems for identifying and evaluating vehicle damage. This work aims to create a computer vision and deep learning-based automated car damage detection system. This project's main goal is to develop a model that, using visual cues, can categorize car photos as either damaged or undamaged.

The algorithm operates in two steps: first, determining whether the picture features an automobile; then, it classifies the state of the car—damaged or undamaged. We thus employ the InceptionV3 model for damage classification and the MobileNet …

Semantic Context Boosts Word Learning From Low-Informative Events, Wilona Boafo, Sumarga Suanda

Honors Scholar Theses

When a toddler hears a new word, its meaning is rarely transparent from the situational context in which the word occurred. Prior work has illustrated the challenge of learning from these low informative naming events (Cartmill et al., 2013; Medina et al., 2011). We investigate whether another feature of the learning environment – the rich semantic structure in which words occur (Tamis-LeMonda et al. 2019; Custode & Tamis-LeMonda 2020) – may help learners overcome low informativity of individual naming events. To test this, we designed a modified version of the Human Simulation Paradigm (HSP) in which adult participants (N = …

Serological Evaluation For Leptospirosis On Samples Received By The Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (Cvmdl), Hayden R. Samuels

Honors Scholar Theses

Leptospirosis is a globally distributed zoonotic disease caused by pathogenic species of Leptospira, motile spirochetes capable of infecting humans and animals. Transmission typically occurs through contact with water or soil contaminated by the urine of reservoirs or infected animals. Although leptospirosis is considered a neglected tropical disease, its geographic range is expanding due to climate change and urbanization. Surveillance remains limited in many regions, especially in the United States. This study aimed to assess the seroprevalence and serovar diversity of Leptospira exposure in a variety of domestic and wild animals submitted to the Connecticut Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory (CVMDL). …

Effects Of Tetrabenazine On Temporal Parameters Of High-Effort Behaviors In Male And Female Rats, Angela M. Jacdedt

Honors Scholar Theses

Motivational symptoms, such as fatigue and anergia, are common in various psychiatric and neurological disorders, including Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis. These symptoms have been associated with dopamine (DA) levels in which DA depletion or antagonism has been linked to decreases in the selection of high-effort behaviors. For example, the DA-depleting agent tetrabenazine (TBZ) induces depressive symptoms in humans and depressive-like symptoms in rodents. To better understand the effects of TBZ on effortful behaviors, the current study examined the effects of TBZ on both the acquisition and the detailed temporal characterizations of high-effort behavior in male and female rats. During …

Efficacy Of Single Joystick-Operated Ride-On-Toy Navigation Training Program To Promote Increased Spontaneous Use And Motor Function In The Affected Arm In Children With Unilateral Cerebral Palsy, Neha Samuel

Honors Scholar Theses

The purpose of this study is to assess the adjunctive effects of a home-based single joystick-operated ride-on-toy navigation program to conventional care on affected upper extremity (UE) use and motor function in children with hemiplegia. Wrist-worn accelerometers were worn by children on both their affected and unaffected extremities at baseline (i.e., prior to start of the training program) and during ride-on toy training sessions to measure affected and unaffected arm activity, resulting in measurements of percent duration of time in every session that children engaged in sedentary, light, and moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA) using their affected and unaffected arms at baseline …

Exercise As An Intervention For Postpartum Depression (Ppd), Kylie P. Mistretta

Honors Scholar Theses

Objective: To illustrate the applications of exercise for preventing the development of postpartum depression (PPD) and addressing associated risk factors identified in the literature. Data Sources: PubMed and EBSCO: Academic Search Premier were accessed using the search terms exercise OR physical activity OR yoga AND postpartum depression OR postnatal depression. A secondary search of PubMed was conducted using the search terms exercise AND pregnancy AND depression OR gestational diabetes OR weight gain OR sleep quality.

Study Selection: Studies selected for inclusion were peer-reviewed, published after January 2012, written in English, and relevant to the PPD risk factors examined. Only clinical …

Age-Dependent Mineralization And Osteogenesis In Intact & Injured Murine Bones: A Histological And Immunochemical Study, Amogh Chittajallu

Honors Scholar Theses

Bones function as living organs through their mineralized matrix and specialized cell populations, which provide structural support and enable movement, while storing minerals and creating a space for blood cell production in the marrow¹. As individuals age, hormonal changes reduce osteoblast activity while osteoclast-mediated bone resorption persists, resulting in lower mineral density and heightened fracture risk². We examined how aging impacts young and old murine femurs because these models display bone structure and cellular organization that closely resemble human long bones. This research study used six distinct histological stains to observe essential features of bone tissue …

The Cowl - V. 88 N. 20 - May 1, 2025

The Cowl

The Cowl - student newspaper of Providence College. Vol. 88 No. 20 - May 1, 2025. 24 pages.

Investigating The Relationship Between Intelligence And Executive Function Through Visual Scanning Strategies, Bailee C. Smith

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Executive function (EF) refers to a set of cognitive processes responsible for higher-order thinking, behavioral regulation, and goal-directed behavior, while intelligence is considered a contributing factor to cognitive performance. Previous research has explored the relationship between these two constructs, but it has potentially overlooked the individual differences necessary for a comprehensive understanding of its complexity. This study aimed to investigate these individual differences in EF by employing novel eye-tracking methodology within a Go/No-Go task. We recruited 99 participants from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga to complete an adapted Go/No-Go task and the Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence Second Edition …

Vascular Flora Of Bark Camp Barrens Wma, Coffee County, Tennessee, Quinn Towery

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

A vascular plant inventory of Bark Camp Barrens Wildlife Management Area, Coffee County, Tennessee was performed over the 2023 and 2024 growing seasons. The site is a 1,395-ha area located 10km east of Manchester, Tennessee in the Barrens region of the Eastern Highland Rim. A total of 698 species and lower taxa from 349 genera and 127 families were inventoried. Two species were G1 or G2, 35 species were listed on the Tennessee Rare Plant List, and 209 species were S1 or S2. Additionally, all known digitized herbarium specimens from the nearby May Prairie State Natural Area were cataloged, creating …

Understanding The Positive And Negative Aspects Of Different Calling Intensities, Sally Hoffman

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

This study examined the relationships among occupational calling intensity (OCI), personal calling intensity (PCI), occupational engagement (OE), personal engagement (PE), and need for resource recovery (NFRR). OCI, an all-consuming desire to have a significant positive impact through employment, is often associated with high OE but may also be linked to high NFRR, suggesting that OE mediates the relationship between OCI and NFRR. This study also explored whether PCI, which refers to a calling outside of employment, exhibits the same relationships with PE and NFRR as OCI. Data from 193 participants were analyzed using correlational and regression techniques. The findings revealed …