Digital Commons Network^™

Invasive Macroalgae In Native Seagrass Beds: Vectors Of Spread And Impacts, Louise Firth, Andy Foggo, Thomas Watts, Antony Knights, Stacey Deamicis

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Background and AimsWorldwide, invasive species are spreading through marine systems at an unprecedented rate with both positive and negative consequences for ecosystems and the biological functioning of organisms. Human activities from shipping to habitat damage and modification are known vectors of spread, although biological interactions including epibiosis are increasingly recognized as potentially important to introduction into susceptible habitats.MethodsWe assessed a novel mechanism of spread – limpets as transporters of an invasive alga, Sargassum muticum, into beds of the seagrass Zostera marina – and the physiological impact of its invasion. The association of S. muticum with three limpet species and other …

Tackling Loneliness Together: A Three-Tier Social Identity Framework For Social Prescribing, S. Alexander Haslam, Catherine Haslam, Tegan Cruwys, Leah S. Sharman, Shaun Hayes, Zoe Walter, Jolanda Jetten, Niklas K. Steffens, Magnolia Cardona, Crystal J. La Rue, Niamh Mcnamara, Blerina Këllezi, Juliet R.H. Wakefield, Clifford Stevenson, Mhairi Bowe, Peter Mcevoy, Alysia M. Robertson, Mark Tarrant, Genevieve Dingle, Tarli Young

School of Psychology

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the threats to health posed by loneliness. One of the main strategies that has been recommended to address this is social prescribing (SP). This typically involves general practitioners (GPs) and other health practitioners directing clients who are experiencing loneliness and related conditions to take part in social activities—typically in recreational and community contexts. However, evidence for the effectiveness of SP is mixed—leading some to suggest that enthusiasm for it might be misplaced. In this review, we argue that a core problem with most existing approaches to SP is that they lack …

Impact Of Traditional Education And Learner-Centered Education On Standardized Tests, Courtney Marie Winslow

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There is a current shortage of approximately 45,000 nurses and nursing faculty to train student nurses, a number that is projected to grow. One proposed method to combat the shortage is to transition from traditional lecture-based classrooms to a learner-centered approach. Asking or requiring faculty to transition an entire nursing program from one teaching method to another without supporting data could be a waste of valuable time and resources. It could also prove detrimental to a program if students were unable to pass the NCLEX-RN exam, and a program was forced to close. The current study examined whether there was …

Emotional Eating, Nutritional Knowledge, And Socioeconomic Status As Predictors Of Body Mass Index, Tifani Buss

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Obesity is an ill-health condition that can lead to other ill-health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, asthma, type 2 diabetes, and some types of cancer. Obesity is also a condition that does not discriminate regarding age, gender, or race/ethnicity. In light of obesity’s status as a global epidemic, efforts for prevention and intervention treatments are needed to improve individuals’ health and quality of life. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine emotional eating, nutritional knowledge, and socioeconomic status, as predictors of body mass index (BMI). These factors were examined through the lens of general strain …

Senior Mental Health Clinicians’ Understanding Of Their Self-Efficacy While Providing Services At Community-Based Agencies, Rukiya Symister

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Many mental health clinicians strive to provide their clients with rehabilitative and psychotherapy services resulting in a client gaining stable income and housing. However, the role of a senior mental health clinician (SMHC) is not without its challenges of trying to balance their well-being while dealing with increased coworker turnover, demanding caseloads, and limited access to community resources to provide clients with getting their lives back on track, thereby impacting clinicians’ understanding of their self-efficacy. Much of the research on self-efficacy has focused on mental health clients, mental health graduate students, and mental health trainees, often leaving out the lived …

The Impact Of Human Attachment To A Pet Bird On Psychological Well-Being, Kathryn Marie Trautmann

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Few studies have addressed human attachment to a pet bird and psychological well-being, and the research that has been conducted is largely anecdotal and anthropomorphic perspectives on human relationships with birds. In this quantitative study, the relationships between humans and their birds were explored using Bowlby's attachment theory and Fredrickson and Losada's broaden and build theory. The study consisted of a randomized experiment, in which individuals were randomly assigned to either an attachment (n = 81) or detachment (n = 88) group. The security priming manipulation was used to prime the groups. The attachment group was asked to list things …

An Exploration Of Anti-Terrorism Policy Implementation In Nigeria, Wisdom Momodu Osagiede Ogbeowemwenkon Osemwende

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractAntiterrorism Policy Implementation in Nigeria By COL.Wisdom M. Osagiede Ogbeowemwenkon Osemwende (Ret) United States Army United States Army Command and General Staff College, 2009 Combined Arms and Service School, 2003 United States Army Chemical Corp School Officer Advance Course, 2000 John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School – CA, 1999 John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center & School – PSYOP, 1997 MA, Southern University and A&M College, 1991 United States Army R.O.T.C. 1991 BS, Southern University and A&M College, 1990

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillmentof the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Public Policy and Administration

Walden …

Strategies For Mitigating The Costs Of Evolving U.S. Governmental Regulations In The Financial Investment Industry, Walter Steven Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Financial investment leaders who lack strategies to respond to U.S. government financial policy changes’ risk decreasing organizational profitability resulting in customer and employee attrition. Grounded in Porter’s theory of competitive advantage, Barney’s resource-based view (RBV) theory and Pigou’s public interest theory, the purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to explore strategies financial investment leaders use to respond to U.S. governmental policy changes. The participants comprised three financial investment leaders at three Jacksonville, Florida organizations. Data were collected using semistructured interviews conducted face to face and by telephone along with documents obtained from the company websites. Through thematic analysis four …

A Multidisciplinary Approach To Managing Financial Toxicity In Oncology Patients, Katelin Muse

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Patients with a cancer diagnosis are counseled at length about the standard of care treatment options, which may include surgery, radiation, anticancer medications, and chemo/immunotherapy through an informed consent process. Unfortunately, the potential economic burden and the accompanying psychological burden is seldom discussed up front. There is a significant need for routine screening and a multidisciplinary approach to the prevention of financial toxicity for the oncology patient. The purpose of this doctoral project was to lead an interprofessional team in the development of a clinical practice guideline for routine financial screening using the Comprehensive Score for Financial Toxicity (COST) tool …

Strategies For Mitigating The Costs Of Evolving U.S. Governmental Regulations In The Financial Investment Industry, Walter Steven Miller

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Financial investment leaders who lack strategies to respond to U.S. government financial policy changes’ risk decreasing organizational profitability resulting in customer and employee attrition. Grounded in Porter’s theory of competitive advantage, Barney’s resource-based view (RBV) theory and Pigou’s public interest theory, the purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to explore strategies financial investment leaders use to respond to U.S. governmental policy changes. The participants comprised three financial investment leaders at three Jacksonville, Florida organizations. Data were collected using semistructured interviews conducted face to face and by telephone along with documents obtained from the company websites. Through thematic analysis four …

A Case Study Of Russian Cyber-Attacks On The Ukrainian Power Grid: Implications And Best Practices For The United States, Miles Pollard

Pepperdine Policy Review

This paper examines the rise of cyber warfare affecting power grid security, focusing on the vulnerabilities exploited in the Ukrainian power grid infrastructure by programs like BlackEnergy and CRASHOVERRIDE. It extends this analysis to similar vulnerabilities that may be in critical command and control systems of the United States' power grids. The Sandworm and Electrum cyber-attacks on Ukraine's grid are dissected, revealing the escalating threat to industrial control systems. Detailed exploits of the Radmin command-and-control software such using the plugin tool Mimikatz with NTLM and Kerberos for static and dynamic analysis, the CVE-2008-3431 DSEFix exploit, and the Win32/SSHBearDoor trojan are …

World Trade Organization Dispute Resolution And China: Is The System Broken, Flawed, Or Working Exactly As Written?, Heather R. Dougan

Pepperdine Policy Review

China highlights the flaws and limitations of the World Trade Organization’s dispute resolution process. China’s importance in the global economy led to its selection. The paper overviews China’s accession process, the two initial safeguards against subversion—the Transitional Product-Specific Safeguard Mechanism and the Transitional Review Mechanism, and how the Product-Specific Safeguard Mechanism and the Transitional Review Mechanism, and how the WTO’s process can be subverted. The paper also analyzes the WTO process subversion counterapproaches used by other Member States, mainly the United States. The two major flaws of the process are the lack of protections in place against subversion and the …

An Examination Of The Visual And Textual Influences On The Anthology Of American Folk Music, Ben Collier

History Theses

The Anthology of American Folk Music is a collection of eight-four selections of southern vernacular recordings made for commercial record labels in the 1920s and 1930s and assembled into a unified collage by Harry Smith. Smith was an experimental filmmaker, painter, and self-taught anthropologist with a deep interest in renaissance hermeticism and mysticism who worked with Moe Asch in 1952 to release the six-record set and accompanying handbook on Folkways Records. The release was heralded by musicians and critics as an essential piece of influence on the folk music revival. Despite this, the Anthology sold poorly and quickly faced legal …

Labembryocam: An Opensource Phenotyping System For Developing Aquatic Animals, Ziad Ibbini, Maria Bruning, Sakina Allili, Luke A. Holmes, Ellen Tully, Jamie Mccoy, Benjamin Larsen, Tony Wilson, Guy Ludford, Jack Barrett-Kelly, John I. Spicer, Oliver Tills

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Phenomics is the acquisition of high-dimensional data on an individual-wide scale and is proving transformational in areas of biological research related to human health including medicine and the crop sciences. However, more broadly, a lack of accessible transferrable technologies and research approaches is significantly hindering the uptake of phenomics, in contrast to molecular-omics for which transferrable technologies have been a significant enabler. Aquatic embryos are natural models for phenomics, due to their small size, taxonomic diversity, ecological relevance, and high levels of temporal, spatial and functional change. Here, we present LabEmbryoCam, an autonomous phenotyping platform for timelapse imaging of developing …

Integration Of Attractive And Defensive Phytochemicals Is Unlikely To Constrain Chemical Diversification In A Perennial Herb, Hanna Eriksdotter Thosteman, Katherine Eisen, Hampus Petrén, Sotiria Boutsi, Loretta Pace, John M. Halley, Consuelo M. De Moraes, Mark C. Mescher, James Buckley, Magne Friberg

School of Biological and Marine Sciences

Diversification of plant chemical phenotypes is typically associated with spatially and temporally variable plant–insect interactions. Floral scent is often assumed to be the target of pollinator-mediated selection, whereas foliar compounds are considered targets of antagonist-mediated selection. However, floral and vegetative phytochemicals can be biosynthetically linked and may thus evolve as integrated phenotypes. Utilizing a common garden of 28 populations of the perennial herb Arabis alpina (Brassicaceae), we investigated integration within and among floral scent compounds and foliar defense compounds (both volatile compounds and tissue-bound glucosinolates). Within floral scent volatiles, foliar volatile compounds, and glucosinolates, phytochemicals were often positively correlated, and …

Simplified Methods For Variance Estimation In Microbiome Abundance Count Data Analysis, Yiming Shi, Lili Liu, Jun Chen, Kristine M Wylie, Todd N Wylie, Molly J Stout, Chan Wang, Haixiang Zhang, Ya-Chen T Shih, Xiaoyi Xu, Ai Zhang, Sung Hee Park, Hongmei Jiang, Lei Liu

2020-Current year OA Pubs

The complex nature of microbiome data has made the differential abundance analysis challenging. Microbiome abundance counts are often skewed to the right and heteroscedastic (also known as overdispersion), potentially leading to incorrect inferences if not properly addressed. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective framework to tackle the challenges by integrating Poisson (log-linear) regression with standard error estimation through the Bootstrap method and Sandwich robust estimation. Such standard error estimates are accurate and yield satisfactory inference even if the distributional assumption or the variance structure is incorrect. Our approach is validated through extensive simulation studies, demonstrating its effectiveness …

Carson Weir's Scrapbook, Department Of Library Special Collections

Research Collections

Scrapbook compiled by Carson Weir of Fountain Run and Tompkinsville, KY

A Roadmap For Improving Data Quality Through Standards For Collaborative Intelligence In Human-Robot Applications, Shakra Mehak, Inês F. Ramos, Keerthi Sagar, Aswin Ramasubramanian, John D. Kelleher, Michael Guilfoyle, Gabriele Gianini, Ernesto Damiani, Maria Chiara Leva

Research Outputs: 2025-Present

Collaborative intelligence (CI) involves human-machine interactions and is deemed safety-critical because their reliable interactions are crucial in preventing severe injuries and environmental damage. As these applications become increasingly data-driven, the reliability of CI applications depends on the quality of data, shaping the system’s ability to interpret and respond in diverse and often unpredictable environments. In this regard, it is important to adhere to data quality standards and guidelines, thus facilitating the advancement of these collaborative systems in industry. This study presents the challenges of data quality in CI applications within industrial environments, with two use cases that focus on the …

The 3rs And Non-Human Animals In Biomedical Research: The Next 65 Years, Paul Locke, Richelle Romanchik, Breanne Kincaid, Emily Golden

Animal Law Review

It has been 65 years since the publication of Russell and Burch’s “The Principles of Humane Experimental Technique,” which established the ‘3Rs’—refinement, reduction, and replacement—as the key principles applicable to decision making about, and the use of, non-human animals in laboratory settings. The 3Rs are universally accepted by responsible scientists throughout the world and form the basis for many national legal and regulatory systems governing animal use in laboratories. This Article will discuss broadly how the 3Rs have evolved over the past seven decades since the publication of Russell and Burch’s seminal work, and examine the 3Rs in light of …

Preschool Classroom Behavior In Context: Development And Validation Of The Spanish Form Of The Adjustment Scales For Preschool Intervention (Aspi), Rebecca Jane Bulotsky-Shearer, Paul A. Mcdermott, Jenna Futterer, Michael Lopez, Mileidis Gort

Archives of Assessment Psychology

The purpose of the study was to validate the context scale scores for the Spanish language form of the Adjustment Scales for Preschool Intervention (ASPI) for use by early childhood teachers from Spanish-speaking backgrounds. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses in a diverse sample of preschool children from low-income families (N = 4,077) revealed two dimensions of context scales of behavioral adjustment: Problems in Preschool Classroom Contexts Requiring Disciplined Behavior and Problems in Contexts Requiring Engaged Behavior. ASPI dimension scores across Spanish and English language forms were horizontally equated through item response theory (IRT). Criterion-related validity using multilevel models was established …

My Identi T: Improving Mental Health Outcomes Through Group Support In Pre-Treatment Transgender Teens, Jill Day

Yale School of Nursing Digital Theses

Transgender youth (TGY) are at an increased risk for depression, anxiety, and suicidality; delaying transition can worsen this. Nationally, gender programs have waitlists beyond a year. In conservative states, providers are fewer in number, and legislation may prohibit services. Thus, gender programs rely on mental health and primary care providers to assist youth who express a strong desire to be a gender other than that assigned at birth, and who endure protracted wait times to start treatment. This DNP project developed and implemented an evidence-based, gender-affirming peer support group to improve patient experience and mental health outcomes by providing information …

Moral Distress: The Importance Of Support For Black And Brown Nurses After Encountering Racism From Patients And Peers In The Acute Care Setting, Marsha Sinanan

Yale School of Nursing Digital Theses

Purpose: This DNP project developed and implemented an online training program to support Black and Brown nurses’ post-racism encounters in the acute care inpatient setting. Background: Nationally, it is estimated that 25% of nurses experience mistreatment by patients each year, but many fail to report these episodes (Campbell, 2016). The retention of Black and Brown nurses is essential, as cultural congruence or shared experiences among patients and members of their healthcare team can, be an important bridge for promoting safety and the best clinical outcomes (Moceri, 2014). Methods: Approximately 400 RNs were invited to participate in a 15-minute online training …

Enhancing Pitch Stability In Floating Wind Platforms: The Hydrodynamic Effects Of Thin Plates, Ignacio Pregnan Johannesen

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

The Floating Offshore Wind Turbines (FOWT) technology is still at an early stage looking for ways to make it competitive. In the case of semi-submersible FOWT the large structure has been pointed as an option to tackle the final energy price and therefore, smaller/cheaper platforms are desired. However, this would have implications on the platform hydrodynamic performance. This thesis discusses the use of thin disks as pitch motion suppression surfaces for FOWT platforms, employing three methodologies; potential flow, Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and Experiments. With NEMOH a boundary element method code, the added mass and excitation forces/moments were calculated for …

Data Security And User Authentication In Public Cloud Computing Environments, Nelson Vasconcelos Soares Dos Santos

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematics Theses

Cloud computing has become a prevalent paradigm for organisations and individuals, offering a range of services and resources that enable the efficient management, processing and storage of large quantities of data. However, despite its numerous advantages, cloud computing also presents significant challenges related to data security and user authentication. The distributed nature of cloud environments, coupled with the relinquishment of control over data to cloud service providers, has raised concerns regarding data vulnerability to various types of attacks, such as data breaches, malware injection, and denial of service. Moreover, traditional password and token-based authentication methods have been shown to be …

An Extensive Examination Of The Iot And Blockchain Technologies In Relation To Their Applications In The Healthcare Industry, Karthik Kumar Vaigandla, Madhu Kumar Vanteru, Mounika Siluveru

Mesopotamian Journal of Computer Science

Numerous domains have been transformed by the communication technologies made possible by the Internet of Things (IoT), one of which is health monitoring systems. Patterns associated with diseases and health conditions can be identified through the utilization of machine learning and cutting-edge AI techniques. Currently, scientific endeavours are concentrated on enhancing IoT-enabled applications such as medical report administration, prescription traceability, and infectious disease surveillance through the amalgamation of blockchain technology(BCT) and machine learning(ML) models. Although recent advancements have attempted to increase the adaptability of blockchain(BC) and ML for IoT applications, there are still a number of crucial considerations that must …

Computer Networking And Cloud-Based Learning/Teaching Environment Using Virtual Labs Tools: A Review And Future Aspirations, Mishall Al-Zubaidie, Raad A. Muhajjar, Lauy Abdulwahid Shihabe

Mesopotamian Journal of Computer Science

Physical laboratories for practical classrooms in computer networks can be prohibitively expensive, as well as requiring regular hardware/software upgrades. With Netkit and similar software, network laboratories can be set up in a computer lab, but the setup is complicated and each student still needs their own computer. Thanks to the Cloud-based infrastructure, Netkit is now available in pre-configured Amazon elastic compute Cloud (EC2) instances. This research reviews and introduces educational computer networks. Furthermore, a web interface is used to allow remote access to numerous lab scripts instantiated on the Cloud. This study also describes how to use the Cloud to …

Cbct Perceptions Of Radiology Leaders In The Midwest Dental Schools: A Qualitative Study, Tenzin Dadul

Dissertations

Problem

The integration of Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) in dental education is hindered by a lack of formal training among radiology leaders, insufficient institutional support, and financial constraints. Despite the proven efficacy of CBCT in enhancing diagnostic accuracy and treatment planning, its adoption in pre-doctoral curricula remains limited. This gap in education poses significant challenges for dental graduates, who are increasingly expected to utilize advanced imaging technologies in clinical practice.

Purpose of Study

This qualitative study aimed to explore the perceptions of radiology leaders in Midwest dental schools regarding the integration of CBCT education into pre-doctoral curricula. The objectives …

K-Perm: Personalized Response Generation Using Dynamic Knowledge Retrieval And Persona-Adaptive Queries, Kanak Raj, Kaushik Roy, Vamshi Bonagiri, Priyanshul Govil, Krishnaprasad Thirunarayan, Raxit Goswami, Manas Gaur

Publications

Personalizing conversational agents can enhance the quality of conversations and increase user engagement. However, they often lack external knowledge to tend to a user’s persona appropriately. This is particularly crucial for practical applications like mental health support, nutrition planning, culturally sensitive conversations, or reducing toxic behavior in conversational agents. To enhance the relevance and comprehensiveness of personalized responses, we propose using a two-step approach that involves (1) selectively integrating user personas and (2) contextualizing the response with supplementing information from a background knowledge source. We develop K-PERM (Knowledge-guided PErsonalization with Reward Modulation), a dynamic conversational agent that combines these elements. …

Proknow: Process Knowledge For Safety Constrained And Explainable Question Generation For Mental Health Diagnostic Assistance In The Age Of Large Language Models, Kaushik Roy, Manas Gaur, Misagh Soltani, Vipula Rawte, Ashwin Allen, Amit P. Sheth

Publications

Current Virtual Mental Health Assistants (VMHAs) primarily offer counseling and suggestive care but do not assist with patient diagnosis due to their lack of training in safety-constrained and specialized clinical process knowledge, referred to as ProKnow. In this work, we define ProKnow as an ordered set of information aligned with evidence-based guidelines or categories of conceptual understanding used by domain experts. We also introduce a new dataset of diagnostic conversations guided by safety constraints and Pro- Know, known as ProKnow-data. We develop a method for natural language question generation (NLG) designed to interactively gather diagnostic information from patients, termed ProKnow-algo. …

A Comprehensive Survey On Rare Event Prediction, Chathurangi Shyalika Jayakody Kankanamalage, Ruwan Wickramarachchi, Amit Sheth

Publications

Rare event prediction involves identifying and forecasting events with a low probability using machine learning (ML) and data analysis. Due to the imbalanced data distributions, where the frequency of common events vastly outweighs that of rare events, it requires using specialized methods within each step of the ML pipeline, i.e., from data processing to algorithms to evaluation protocols. Predicting the occurrences of rare events is important for real-world applications, such as Industry 4.0, and is an active research area in statistics and ML. This paper comprehensively reviews the current approaches for rare event prediction along four dimensions: rare event data, …