Digital Commons Network^™

Norms For Scaling Up Small And Sick Newborn Care: An Overview Of Reviews, Natalie A. Strobel, Georgia Whisson, Derek Swe, Amy Budrikis, Karen M. Edmond

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) currently have no benchmarks or 'norms' for scaling up small and sick newborn (SSN) service delivery in health facilities in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Our objective was to understand which systematic reviews had addressed the following norms in the last five years: number of SSN beds per live births in a district or similar administrative unit (admission beds); space requirements for SSN units, including mother-infant dyads (space); health workforce ratios in SSN units (workforce); and travel time to health facilities with SSN units (travel time). Methods: …

Assessing E-Health Utilization: An Integrated Analysis Of Social Determinants Of Health, Population, And Psychosocial Factors Using Data From The National Cancer Institute Hints Survey, Farah Faizah

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

The rapid integration of digital technologies into health systems has transformed the way individuals’ access, manage, and utilize health information. Yet, persistent inequities in e-health engagement highlight the role of social determinants of health (SDoH) in shaping access and utilization. This dissertation examines how demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic determinants influence three domains of e-health utilization—cancer information seeking, internet use, and wellness application/wearable device adoption—using nationally representative data from the 2022 cycle of the National Cancer Institute’s Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS). The study further investigates whether these determinants vary by cancer status and across racial/ethnic groups, providing a multidimensional …

Exploring Inorganic And Organometallic Chemistry, W. Christopher Boyd Phd

MSL Academic Endeavors eBooks

This textbook, Exploring Inorganic and Organometallic Chemistry, covers the fundamentals of inorganic and organometallic chemistry for undergraduate and graduate students. Both theories of structure and bonding and reaction chemistry are covered, with applications to the catalysis of organic reactions, biochemistry, and drug design. A modular approach allows for basic materials of each chapter to be covered in an undergraduate course, with more advanced material suitable for M.S. and Ph.D. students."

Reproducibility In Modeling Of Knee Joint Mechanics, Maryam Nazem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Computational modeling of knee joint biomechanics can provide valuable insights into joint function, injury mechanisms, and patient outcomes, and can support surgical planning and informed clinical decision-making. However, achieving consistent and repeatable results, or reproducibility, is a significant challenge that affects the credibility of these models. This thesis addresses reproducibility through two studies related to the KneeHub Project, which is a multi-institutional collaboration designed to investigate reproducibility in finite-element modeling of the knee.

The first study involved model benchmarking, where predicted results of the calibrated models were compared with the experimental data to evaluate model reproducibility. While all models replicated …

Liver-Directed Base Editing Of Abcc6 Prevents Ectopic Calcification In A Variant-Humanized Mouse Model Of Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum, Lauren C. Testa, Dora Obiri-Yeboah, Hooda Said, Ping Qu, Michael A. Levine, Mohamad-Gabriel Alameh, Kiran Musunuru, Qiaoli Li, Xiao Wang

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Faculty Papers

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is an autosomal recessive connective tissue disorder characterized by ectopic calcification of elastic fibers throughout the skin, retina, and arteries. It is caused by pathogenic variants in ABCC6 , which encodes a transmembrane transporter that primarily localizes to hepatocytes. Loss of ABCC6 function in hepatocytes leads to systemic deficiency of inorganic pyrophosphate (PPi), a potent inhibitor of calcification; such depletion of PPi from the circulation is responsible for multisystemic ectopic calcification seen in PXE. Therefore, liver-targeted variant correction by genome editing and subsequent restoration of systemic PPi may offer a one-and-done therapeutic approach for PXE. The ABCC6 …

Culturally Aware Mindfulness Training For Army Leaders: A Scalable Solution To Strengthen Mental Readiness, Katherine Dutler (Skowronski)

Graduate School of Professional Psychology: Doctoral Papers and Masters Projects

This doctoral paper examines cost-effective, easily distributed mindfulness practices as a force-multiplier for psychological readiness in the U.S. Army. Daily mindfulness reduces symptom burden, raises distress tolerance, and sharpens performance—all without added equipment, appointments, or cost. However, stigma, long waitlists, and civilian-centric messaging still deter soldiers from adapting mindfulness practices. Rather than replacing clinicians, the program functions as preventive maintenance and a bridge while soldiers await care, thereby easing load on an overtaxed system. By embedding mental fitness alongside physical PT, the Army can advance its mandate to “deploy, fight, and win” with forces that are both mentally and physically …

An Examination Of Disparities In Adhd Diagnosis Between Men And Women, Julia Holloway

University Honors Theses

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder has become an increasingly popular area of study over the last decade. The rise in cases over the same period likely explains this trend, as does ADHD’s status as one of the most commonly encountered neurodevelopmental disorders. While much of this research has served as an invaluable asset to both practitioners and patients there are still blind spots which have yet to be addressed by the existing body of research. This progress in our understanding of ADHD has gone far in illuminating the biases which have set the precedent for treatment and diagnosis, however, widespread understanding …

Art And Critical Thinking, Audrey Nixon

University Honors Theses

The voice of art molds and dictates norms and behaviors of society. Art eases people into sitting with discomfort or alternate ideas of the world. I work with mixed-media collage to respond and react to culture and the current American political climate. Through the act of expressing and working through thoughts and emotions, art teaches people how to process, it teaches histories of resistance, and empathy. Artists have the ability to engage their audience to critically think about what is happening in our world. By channeling expression and passion, art can help people make necessary connections about concepts that lead …

Patterns Of Teaching And Professional Development Practices In Brazilian-Finnish Transnational Education, Terhi Skaniakos, Tahani Z. Aldahdouh, Johanna Annala, Pauliina Alenius, Vesna Holubek, Leonardo Drummond Vilaça, Vesa Korhonen

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

This study investigates teachers’ professional practices during the delivery of a transnational professional development programme by one Finnish university for a cluster of Brazilian private universities. The objective is to identify local instructors’ patterns of teaching (teachers’ personal-professional qualities), which are conceptualised as approaches to teaching and self-efficacy beliefs, as well as participation in professional development practices (professional cultures and professional development activities). An online questionnaire was sent to the teaching staff of five universities and 201 responses were received and analysed. The most important explanatory aspect was self-efficacy beliefs, which formed the basis for categorising teachers into meaningful clusters. …

Cultivating A Sense Of Community: International Students Navigating Community Engaged Learning Opportunities In Line With Their Social Goals, Katherine Lyon, Nicole Malette

Journal of Comparative & International Higher Education

International students often envision their time studying abroad with particular academic, professional, social, linguistic, and identity-related goals in mind (Fong, 2011; Jones, 2013; Montgomery & McDowell, 2009; Page, 2019; Page & Chahboun, 2019). Post-secondary institutions can provide resources and opportunities to help this heterogeneous group of students bring their vision into fruition. One such opportunity is community engaged learning (CEL), which has been shown to help students expand their social and academic abilities as they make contributions to an organization (Arnold, 2019; Greenberg, London & McKay, 2020; Mayer et al., 2019). Through in-depth interviews with 25 new international students who …

Examining Microbial Biomass And Soil Organic Carbon In Annual Vs. Perennial Agricultural Ecosystem Soils, Paige Kenyon, Jacob Rutz, Kelsey S. Bitting

RURALS: Review of Undergraduate Research in Agricultural and Life Sciences

Soil systems have the ability to store large amounts of carbon for both short and long periods of time, much like other carbon pools such as oceans and forests. As increased amounts of carbon dioxide are released into the atmosphere via anthropogenic means, including the agricultural industry, scientists have been researching how to increase the amount of carbon cycled from the atmosphere and into soils as a climate change mitigation strategy. Soil systems have the capacity to sequester carbon in part due to fungal and bacterial community activity. Differences in soil microbial biomass levels between annual and perennial agricultural systems …

Crosswalk That Talk: Migrating Interview Collections Using Existing Metadata, Jose J. Garza

Medical Institutional Repositories in Libraries (MIRL) Symposium

This presentation outlines the novel method developed by the Historical Resources Center (HRC) at MD Anderson Cancer Center for migrating its oral history collection between platforms. The HRC’s model for maximizing accessibility involves segmenting each interview into chapters, each with a title, abstract, and subject headings. The system also aims to present both the media files and transcripts of interviews simultaneously. Over the past fifteen years, the collection has undergone multiple processing and publishing models. At one point, the archives relied on four software platforms: a browser-based display system, CONTENTdm and LibGuides for search and browsing, and ArchivesSpace for finding …

A Plática With Jimmy Santiago Baca, Nick Daniel Rivas

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

A Plática with Jimmy Santiago Baca, interview by Nick Daniel Rivas.

El Corazón Del Movimiento Continúa: Chicana/O Prison Art, Artivism, And A Call To Creation, Trisha Martinez, Gerald Lovato, Eric Christo Martinez

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

El Corazón del Movimiento Continúa: Chicana/o Prison Art, Artivism, and a Call to Creation by Trisha Martinez, Gerald Lovato, and Eric Christo Martinez.

Steel Joist And Joist Girder Design, Paul Mugleston, Gerald Mckenzie

Civil Engineering Professional Development Seminar

This course starts with the basics of steel joist design, terminology, SJI (Steel Joist Institute) load tables, and special loading conditions, but then will take a closer look at many details on the construction of a joist that you probably haven’t seen before. You will learn what the extra clips and bars are attached to joists and what their purposes are. This will be a picture rich presentation.

Journal V.2: Full Issue

Regeneración: A Xicanacimiento Studies Journal

Complete volume 2 journal.

30 Tips, Tricks, And Ways To Use Your New Intern Called Ai, Dave Thurston

Civil Engineering Professional Development Seminar

A way to use Artifical intelligence in meaningful ways. The presentation will show a variety of different ways to “simply” use AI to get your first draft 80% there, to treat as a sounding board, and to look for patterns and “unnoticable items” in data, text, and designs.

First Report Of A Bat Guano Fire From A Cave In Southeast Asia, Sopark Jantarit, Martin Ellis, Pruet Kalasuwan, Neeranuch Phusunti, Pimonsri Mittraparp-Arthorn, Jiranan Pattano, Arnon Chukamnerd, Turdtun Tong-In, Natthawut Khrueaaunruean

International Journal of Speleology

Fires occurring in cave guano are a rare and unusual phenomenon and the occurrence of such events in Southeast Asia is particularly novel. In this study, we document the first recorded instance of a bat guano fire in a tropical cave at Tham Chao Ram in Sukhothai province, northern Thailand. A bacteriological analysis was made of the guano at the fire site and from a control site within the cave. We give a comprehensive review of global reports on bat guano fires in caves, conduct an initial investigation of the physical factors at the fire site and discuss the potential …

Guardrail Design And Placement 101, Katherine Smutzer

Civil Engineering Professional Development Seminar

Not all “guardrail” is created equal. Within the last 10 years INDOT has adopted the MASH-compliant Midwest Guardrail System (MGS). While similar to the previous standard w-beam guardrail, there are nuances that aren’t well understood by designers. The presentation would reinforce the fundamentals of guardrail as a safety barrier, explain the function of various components of a guardrail system, and review important design considerations.

From Mapping To Mitigation: New Geologic Mapping And Emergency Slope Failure Response Along Sr 56 In Madison, Indiana, Victoria Leffel, Joey Franzino

Civil Engineering Professional Development Seminar

This presentation will highlight recent geologic mapping efforts done by the Indiana Geological and Water Survey, including detailed bedrock mapping at a finer scale than previously available and updated landslide inventory mapping focused on southeastern Indiana. The second part of the presentation will cover the emergency response to a significant slope failure that occurred along SR 56 in Madison following heavy rainfall in March and April 2025. The reactivation of a known landslide led to a major road failure, creating a public safety hazard and forcing the closure of this heavily traveled route. Due to the critical nature of the …

Development Of Pack-Based Learning Outcome Tests For The Mechanical Engineering Education Study Program Of Teacher Professional Education, Dwi Agus Sudjimat, Darmawan Satyananda

Jurnal Pendidikan: Teori, Penelitian, dan Pengembangan

This study aims to develop a learning outcome test instrument based on Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (PACK) for students of the Teacher Professional Education Program (PPG) in the Mechanical Engineering Education Study Program (Pendidikan Teknik Mesin, PTM) at Universitas Negeri Malang. The background of this study is based on the need for an assessment that can measure the integration of content knowledge, pedagogy, and technology in accordance with the demands of the Industry 4.0 era. The test development method follows psychometric procedures, including planning, writing, and validating test items, field testing, analyzing test items, and finalizing the instrument. …

Hybrid Satellite Network Management, Karthick Musuvathi Janakan, Sooraj Sasindran, Dang Tu Nguyen, Soumyadeep Paul

Defensive Publications Series

Satellite-based communication from a smartphone and other devices is useful for emergency communication and also provides connectivity in areas where traditional terrestrial networks are unavailable. However, when a single carrier uses multiple satellite providers, a mobile device may not be equipped to seamlessly manage satellite connections. This can lead to a fragmented user experience which can be detrimental, especially for critical services such as emergency messaging. This disclosure describes techniques to intelligently manage a hybrid satellite environment on a mobile device when a single carrier offers services from different satellite providers. The techniques incorporate per-provider configuration, dynamic feature caching, hybrid …

Zika Virus: A Review Of An Emerging Disease Threatening Global Health, Gudikandula Krishna, S. Sreedevi, Dasari Thrimothi

Maaen Journal for Medical Sciences

The Zika virus (ZIKV) has caused a widespread pandemic that is currently spreading throughout Central America, the United States of America, South America, and the Caribbean. The goal of the review is to provide a detailed summary of relevant information to the readers that is currently available about the genetic structure of the Zika virus, transmission, pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, complications, treatment, diagnosis, and genetic composition of Zika virus infection. The relevant literature on ZIKV was retrieved by employing Science Direct, Google Scholar, PubMed, Science Direct Index, electronic databases. The analysis concludes that the Zika virus (ZIKV) primarily spreads among arboreal …

Robust Metric Aggregation For Foundation Models, Jingtao Wang

Defensive Publications Series

Evaluating foundation models using a single aggregated metric, such as a weighted sum, presents significant limitations. These methods can mask catastrophic regressions in individual capabilities, establish arbitrary trade-offs between metrics, and fail to distinguish true improvements, where all members of a set have increases ≥0 (Pareto improvements), from changes where some metrics decline. This disclosure details a method for robust metric aggregation. The technique computes a composite score using a more Pareto-sensitive function (harmonic mean, geometric mean, etc.) as a base aggregator, which inherently penalizes low sub-metric values. A trade-off penalty is calculated based on negative deltas from a baseline, …

Enhancing Recommendation Performance Via Stacking Ensemble And Synthetic Data Augmentation, Zahraa Yaareb Hani, Mohsin Hasan Hussein

Karbala International Journal of Modern Science

Recommendation systems are essential tools that primarily aim to help users navigate through a large volume of information. They simplify the decision-making process by suggesting relevant items based on users’ historical behaviour. However, their performance is often affected by common problems such as data sparsity. This work proposes a stacking-based ensemble recommendation system that integrates multiple machine learning models to enhance the model’s predictive performance. A new synthetic data augmentation technique is introduced to address the sparsity issue in the user–item rating matrix. This method uses the Naïve Bayes algorithm to predict additional ratings for each user. These are then …

A Comprehensive Sox And Icfr Architecture For Digital Asset Custodians, Exchanges, And Tokenization Platforms, Ramkumar Bharathan

Defensive Publications Series

This work presents a comprehensive, technology-agnostic SOX (Sarbanes-Oxley) and ICFR (Internal Controls over Financial Reporting) framework tailored for digital asset, blockchain, and Web3 enterprises. The rapid expansion of decentralized technologies and digital custody models introduces new risks that traditional financial control programs are not designed to address. This paper provides an end-to-end, multi-layer control architecture that integrates modern cybersecurity practices, blockchain-specific controls, and regulatory expectations across COSO, PCAOB, NIST, and evolving digital asset guidance.

The framework includes entity-level governance, digital asset custody controls, key-management procedures, multi-signature governance, smart-contract change management, stablecoin and token issuance safeguards, exchange integrity controls, and automated …

Mag-V: A Multi-Agent Framework For Synthetic Data Generation And Verification, Abhinav Mathur, Akshay Mallipeddi, Joseph Ross, Kristal Curtis, Liang Gou, Harsh Vashistha, Saptarshi Sengupta

Defensive Publications Series

Extending the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) with functions or tools for environmental interaction has led to the emergence of the agent paradigm. In industry, training an LLM is not always feasible because of the scarcity of domain data, legal holds on proprietary customer data, rapidly changing business requirements, and the need to prototype new assistants. Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents can address such issues by relying on the zero-shot reasoning abilities of the underlying LLM and utilizing tools to explore and reason over customer data and respond to user requests. However, there are two concerns here: (I) acquiring large …

November 2025 Academic Affairs Minutes, University Of Nebraska At Kearney Academic Affairs Committee

Academic Affairs Committee Minutes

No abstract provided.

The Psychology Of Telework, Emily K. Lane

Dissertations

The growth of telework has reshaped the modern workplace, changing how employees experience connection, fairness, and satisfaction. This dissertation examined the psychological dynamics of teleworking by exploring how the extent of remote work influences job satisfaction through feelings of professional isolation. It also investigated how perceptions of procedural, informational, and interpersonal justice, as well as employee choice and telework normativeness, shape these relationships. Grounded in organizational justice theory (Colquitt, 2001), the study used a two-wave, pseudo-cross-sectional survey of 506 teleworkers. Results indicated that professional isolation did not mediate the relationship between telework extent and job satisfaction when fairness perceptions were …

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes November 20, 2025, University Of Rhode Island Faculty Senate

Faculty Senate Meeting Minutes

No abstract provided.