Digital Commons Network^™

Rethinking Health Systems Responsiveness In Low–And Middle-Income Countries, Meesha Iqbal

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Health systems responsiveness (HSR) refers to a health system’s ability to meet legitimate non-health expectations of the population. Traditionally, HSR has been conceptualized across eight domains: respect for dignity, autonomy, confidentiality, prompt attention to health needs, availability of basic amenities, choice of provider, access to social support networks, and clarity of communication. However, as the expectations of populations in high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (L&MICs) differ significantly due to diverse social and cultural contexts, the conceptualization of HSR also varies. We conducted a systematic review of literature to adapt and contextualize the HSR framework for L&MICs based …

Institutional Racism In The Discretionary Legalization Of Marijuana, Gary D. Brinker Ph.D.

Sociology Faculty Publications

Our research showed that states with the strongest evidence of discretionary policing were also the states that tended to keep marijuana illegal, facilitating a discriminatory form of drug enforcement that makes ethnic minorities more likely than whites to live where marijuana is illegal.

Implementing A Modified Schedule Program In South Carolina Schools: An Alternative Method To Graduate Students, Alexander J. Velasquez Escalona

All Dissertations

This study starts by exploring the impact and implementation process of the Express Lane program. This program is a modified schedule initiative developed at Excellent High School in South Carolina to tackle declining graduation rates. The research investigates whether structured, real-time communication protocols and self-pacing learning can help students improve credit completion in order to help students who have the opportunity of graduating high school on time. This investigation is in response to a persistent drop of graduation rates from 90% in 2020 to an alarming 84.3% in 2023-2024. The Express Lane program creates a student-centered learning environment that combines …

Flowdb: A Complete Method For Extracting Queries From Functional Programs, Koby J. Lewis

Theses and Dissertations

Programmers working on database-backed applications frequently face trade-offs between designing maintainable software and efficient software due to the overhead of querying a database. We demonstrate FlowDB, an analysis for database-backed programs that can aid in program transformations that allow a program to be written in a maintainable style while still being performant. FlowDB employs demand-driven control flow analysis (DCFA) to produce a set of query sites that may be evaluated during the execution of a program. This set of query sites may then be used by a developer or compiler to cache needed results.

An Active Quasi-Circulator Ic And Technique For 1-255 Mhz Resonance-Based Spectroscopic Impedance Plethysmography, Sharisse Poff

Theses and Dissertations

Impedance measurement is a promising avenue for noninvasive glucosemonitoring. Specifically,resonance-basedimpedancemeasurements exhibit good correlation with glucose levels at excitations from tens of MHztoover 100 MHz. Additionally, plethysmographic impedance measurements are needed to separate arterial blood signals, which contain strongerglucose information, frominterstitialfluidsignals. Weanticipate that plethysmographic measurements across a range of frequencies— spectroscopic plethysmography—at excitations from tens to over 100 MHz could enable resonance-based monitoring with higher selectivity for arterial glucose than previous work. Afour-point impedance measurement circuit is designed, and its ability to measure constant and periodically time-varying impedance is demonstrated. This circuit presents high impedance to the device-undertest (DUT), which fails …

Quantifying Multiphase Flow In Small-Diameter Vertical Pipes, Umaer Abdullah Zaki

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

In small-diameter (1-inch) vertical pipes, predicting the onset of liquid loading in gas-liquid flows remains challenging due to limitations of conventional flow regime maps. This study addresses that problem by comparing the flow regime prediction performance of the classic Orkiszewski map against a more recent map by Wu et al. (2017). Experimental data were collected using the Montana Tech Vertical Flow Loop in a 1-inch tubing system under a range of gas and liquid flow rates. A pressure-type curve analysis method was applied to interpret the multiphase flow behavior and identify regime transitions. The focus was on the critical annularmist …

Validation Of A Methodology For Predicting Yield Acceleration Of Rock Blocks, Madison Haydn-Myer

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Rock slope stability is a critical concern in seismically active regions, where earthquakes can trigger sudden and hazardous failures. Predicting these failures is challenging due to the complex interactions between seismic loading and geological characteristics. This study proposes a simplified analytical model to predict yield acceleration based on the forces acting upon a block just before sliding initiates. A key parameter in this equation is the friction acting on the bottom surface of the block. As rock blocks are commonly formed by the intersection of sets of subparallel fractures known as joints, and the roughness and other features of those …

The Molecular And Behavioral Characterization Of The Murine Cre – Loxp Skeletal Muscle Synthesized Bdnf Knockout Model, Asha E. Rustad

All NMU Master's Theses

Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin essential for supporting the growth, differentiation, and health of neurons within the central and peripheral nervous systems. BDNF is also a member of the myokine family, where muscle synthesized-BDNF (msBDNF) is thought to facilitate the crucial bi-directional communication between the motor neuron and the muscle fibers it innervates. Since 2008, the Ottem Laboratory has investigated the role of msBDNF by employing Cre/LoxP recombinase technology to selectively delete the BDNF coding region within skeletal muscle of mice. This approach generates animals with either heterozygous or homozygous deletions of msBDNF, as well as BDNF …

Data For Services For Children Of All Abilities In Libraries (Scale) Project, Maria Cahill, Denice Adkins, Bobbie Sartin Long, Derek Thomas Myles Daskalakes, Caroline Gooden, Melissa Stormont, Alicia K. Long, Carol Russell

Information Science Faculty Data

The University of Kentucky, in collaboration with the University of Missouri and Emporia State University, and in partnership with the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, the State Library of Kansas, the State Library of Missouri, the Kansas State Department of Education, the Kentucky Department of Education, and the Kentucky Governor’s Office of Early Childhood, engaged in a four-year exploratory stage, multi-state, Research in Service to Practice project investigating the effectiveness of library services, practices, and behaviors effective for serving children with disabilities and/or developmental delays who span ages birth to 5-years. Aligned with the IMLS agency-level Promote Lifelong Learning …

A Guide To Sexual Intimacy Following Spinal Cord Injury, Jillian M. Olenick

Entry Level Occupational Therapy Doctoral Capstone Projects Class of 2025

A Guide to Sexual Intimacy Following Spinal Cord Injury is a two-part manual that was created to increase the knowledge related to how sex can be impacted following a spinal cord injury. The first manual was created as a guide for individuals with spinal cord injuries and their partners to enhance their knowledge on how their spinal cord injury may impact their sexual functioning. The second manual was created as a guide for occupational therapy practitioners to use as a resource when addressing sex with their clients following a spinal cord injury. Each manual provides information related to sexual intimacy, …

Management Approaches To Spastic Gait Disorders, Sheng Li, Tulsi Pandat, Bradley Chi, Daniel Moon, Manuel Mas

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Spastic gait presents clinically as the net mechanical consequence of neurological impairments of spasticity, weakness, and abnormal synergies and their interactions with the ground reaction force in patients with upper motor neuron syndromes and with some neuromuscular diseases. It is critical to differentiate whether the primary problem is weakness or spasticity, thus better understanding different phenotypes of spastic gait disorders. Pelvic girdle abnormality plays a pivotal role in determining the clinical presentation of gait disorders, since it determines the body vector and compensatory kinetic chain reactions in the knee and ankle joints. Knee joint abnormality can be a mechanical compensation …

Tracking Impact: Leveraging Pre-Existing Monitoring Tools For Assessing Indonesia’S Free Nutritious Meal (Makan Bergizi Gratis) Programme, Putu Geniki Lavinia Natih

Economics and Finance in Indonesia

Indonesia’s Makan Bergizi Gratis (MBG) programme is among the largest school feeding initiatives globally, yet its rapid scale-up has outpaced the development of a robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) framework capable of assessing welfare-relevant outcomes. This paper examines whether pre-existing national survey instruments can be leveraged to strengthen outcome monitoring in the absence of MBG-specific microdata. Focusing on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) collected through Indonesia’s National Socio-Economic Survey (Susenas), the study first situates experiential food insecurity within Indonesia’s broader food security landscape. It then applies a propensity score matching framework using participation in the Bantuan Pangan Non-Tunai …

Mitochondrial Complex I Deficiency Induces Alzheimer's Disease-Like Signatures That Are Reversible By Targeted Therapy., Huanyao Gao, Kate Jensen, Jarred Nesbitt, Mark Ostroot, Gregory Cary, Jesse Wiley, Sergey Trushin, Jens O Watzlawik, Wolfdieter Springer, Alexander Galkin, Priyanka Baloni, Cory Funk, Eugenia Trushina

Faculty Research 2025

INTRODUCTION: Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in Alzheimer's disease (AD), but whether it drives AD-associated changes is unclear. We assessed transcriptomic alterations in the brains of Ndufs4

METHODS: Cortico-hippocampal tissue from Ndufs4

RESULTS: Knockout of Ndufs4-mediated mtCI deficiency disrupted mitochondrial homeostasis, energy metabolism, and synaptic gene expression, recapitulating transcriptomic signatures of AD. CP2 treatment partially reversed these changes, with female Ndufs4

DISCUSSION: Loss of mtCI activity alone is sufficient to induce AD-like molecular changes in the brain, independent of amyloid beta or phosphorylated tau. CP2-mediated rescue highlights the potential of targeting mitochondria as a therapeutic strategy for AD. Sex-specific responses suggest …

Sustained Lung Inflammation Post-Sars-Cov-2 Infection In Mice Is Associated With Increased Pulmonary T Cells., Sophie Y Guan, Patricia P Ogger, Ana Farias, Minerva Garcia Martín, Joy Nakawesi, Olivia Bedard, Candice N Baker, Nadia Rosenthal, Cecilia Johansson

Faculty Research 2025

Many SARS-CoV-2 patients experience chronic pulmonary symptoms and long-term inflammation despite viral clearance. While these clinical manifestations have been linked to the dysregulation of the adaptive immune response, the underlying immunopathology remains poorly understood due to a lack of suitable animal models. To investigate long-term pulmonary consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, we used a genetic cross of 129 mice and C57BL/6 (B6)-K18-hACE2 transgene mice, a model previously shown to survive infection. 129xB6-K18-hACE2 mice or littermate controls were infected with a low dose (5 × 10² PFU) of ancestral SARS-CoV-2. Complete viral clearance and full recovery from weight loss …

The Impact Of Black Faculty On First-Year Black Student Retention, Sense Of Belonging, And Racial Identity At Historically And Predominantly White Institutions, D'Andrea L. Williams

All-Inclusive List of Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The presence and engagement of Black faculty members in higher education can significantly impact Black students' college experience in their first year, especially at historically and predominantly White institutions. Emphasizing the importance of representation mentorship and relationship building, this study stresses the importance of Black faculty in fostering a sense of belonging, strengthening racial identity development, and contributing to the retention rates of Black college students during their freshmen year. On campus, Black students face the challenges of a campus climate plagued by racism, unfair expectations, mistreatment, microaggressions, and discrimination. Representation matters, and the sharing and affirming of those experiences …

The “Sweetest Sounding” Words Of Civil Rights: A Labor Origin Story Of The “Right To Work”, Thomas A. Castillo

History

This essay revisits the idea of “right to work” by offering historical context of Florida’s passage of its 1944 right to work constitutional amendment. A brief overview of the history of the term right to work and its contested nature indicates how the phrase likely led to confusion especially in the arena of political economy. A close evaluation of the amendment and its incongruent nature reveals the intent of its proponents was to deceive voters with the “sweetest sounding” words of civil rights while weakening their ability to organize labor unions. The history of safeguarding the free market entailed disciplining …

Field Pea: Crop Management And Production, Department Of Primary Industries And Regional Development, Western Australia

Grains and other field crops factsheets

The field pea agronomic package available to growers is one offering simplicity and reliability. Producing high yielding field pea crops is now limited more by seasonality and rainfall rather than technology and genetics. With new varieties and agronomy package field pea is a profitable break crop option.

Exploring Ict Adoption In Teaching And Learning Of Science: A Case Of Senior Teachers In Kenya, David Odhiambo, Winston Edward Massam, Fredrick Mtenzi

Institute for Educational Development, East Africa

This study was conducted in Homa Bay Sub County, Kenya to explore the adoption of ICT among senior teachers, aged between 45-60 years, in teaching and learning of science. A qualitative research approach using a case study design was employed. Eight secondary school senior teachers of science, 2 females and 6 males, within Homa Bay Sub County were purposefully selected. Semi structured interviews were conducted one-on-one basis followed by classroom observation and document analysis. Analysis of the data revealed that senior teachers of science generally integrate ICTs in planning, assessment and in classroom teaching; however pedagogical preferences and teacher’s workload …

Ai And Me, Stewart Justman

Global Humanities and Religions Faculty Publications

How well did AI interpret an article of mine published in the Journal of Controversial Ideas?

Evaluating Quadrupedal Locomotion In Bats: A Geometric Morphometric Comparison Of Vertebral Adaptations Across Mammals, Jessica Upham

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Flight is the primary locomotion of bats, while quadrupedal locomotion is not often observed and is widely variable among bats. Frugivorous bats in Pteropodidae are more efficient climbers than frugivorous bats in Phyllostomidae and insectivorous bats in Vespertilionidae, while phyllostomids and vespertilionids are better at walking on horizontal surfaces. The aim of this study is to investigate whether bats with differing modes of nonflight locomotion also exhibit disparity in thoracolumbar vertebral morphology. Using geometric morphometrics, we compared the thoracolumbar vertebral shapes of these bat families with other terrestrial and arboreal mammals. The results revealed distinct vertebral shapes among bat families …

Farm Management Practice For The Prevention Of Soil Erosion In The Carnarvon Horticultural Area, Kehinde O. Erinle

Horticulture research reports

The Carnarvon horticultural area has suffered considerable erosion damage following flooding of the Gascoyne River.

The purpose of this report is to describe the factors that contribute to soil erosion in the Carnarvon horticultural area (Section 1), provide guidelines for good soil management (Sections 2) and provide floodway hazard classes and associated soil management recommendations (Section 3).

This report:

• Provides detailed information on soil management for intensive irrigated cropping.
• Details cropping alternatives to better manage the soil erosion risk.
• Identifies appropriate plants for soil stabilisation in a range of situations.
• Promotes the concept of property management plans.
• Takes account of …

Integration And Testing Of A Quadruped Robot With Ros2, Jeremy S. West

Master's Theses

The Cal Poly Legged Robotics Group has been developing research and teaching platforms for agile legged robotics since 2020. These platforms are expected to provide students with opportunities to develop complete legged-robot systems from low-level control to advanced robotics tasks such as motion planning and decision making. However, the current prototyped quadruped robot lacked the software and sensing capabilities for high-level quadrupedal gaits and advanced robotic research.

To address these challenges, this project developed Switch, a robotic platform that builds upon the previous BRUCE platform with significant hardware and software upgrades. Switch features a modular design that allows individual software …

Development Of A Control System For An 8-Dof Quadrupedal Robotic Research Platform, Jack Butler

Master's Theses

Quadrupedal robots offer a versatile locomotion option that can extend the operating space of a robot into uneven terrains. However, controlling these systems presents significant challenges due to nonlinearities introduced by various factors.

In this thesis, model-predictive control (MPC) is applied to an 8-DOF legged robot developed by Cal Poly’s Legged Robotics group. The MPC framework employs a lumped rigid-body model that treats the robot as a single rigid body with forces applied directly at the foot contact points. The controller is developed within the ROS2 environment, with integration of state estimation and gait-pattern generation, to provide maximum modularity and …

Community Directed-Based Approaches To Promote Uptake Of Sulfadoxine-Pyrimethamine For Intermittent Preventive Treatment Of Malaria In Pregnancy: Endline Findings From Kisumu And Migori Counties, Dennis Matanda, Zoe Nakuya, Stephen Kizito, Francis Obare

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

No abstract provided.

Reentry For Formerly Incarcerated Individuals: A Focus On Workforce Reentry And Recidivism In Appalachia, Margaret E. Francisco

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Formerly incarcerated individuals face challenges to successful reentry, a critical component of reducing recidivism and improving public health outcomes. These challenges are particularly acute in rural Appalachia, where structural disadvantages such as limited economic opportunities, healthcare access, and public transportation intersect with stigma and systemic barriers related to prior incarceration. This dissertation addresses these gaps through a mixed-methods examination of reentry and recidivism, grounded in public health frameworks and focused on the unique context of rural Appalachia.

This work includes three studies. First, a PRISMA-guided systematic review synthesized qualitative research on barriers and facilitators to employment following incarceration. Findings highlighted …

August 2025 Annual Report, Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law

Perlmutter Center Reports

The August 2025 Annual Report documents the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice’s work at Cardozo Law during Spring and Summer 2025, highlighting major legal victories, partnerships, student clinical programs, policy advocacy, community outreach, and staff achievements. Prepared for The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation, it details the Center’s efforts to address wrongful convictions, challenge flawed forensic science, expand pro bono collaborations, and advance criminal justice reform, while also providing staff updates, financial information, and program impact summaries.

A Trauma-Informed Analysis Of Legal Intervention In Cases Of Child Emotional Maltreatment, Judith G. Mcmullen

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

Child emotional maltreatment (CEM) has been recognized as a widespread, serious social problem that is linked to a variety of adverse physical and mental effects that follow affected children into adulthood. The justice system has responded to calls to action by mental health professionals, and for more than two decades, federal and state laws have included child emotional maltreatment on the list of caretaker behaviors that can trigger child protection action. Despite the potential for meaningful action, recent data shows that occurrence rates of CEM are quite high, while rates of official reporting and intervention remain low. This Article examines …

Legislatively Inhibiting Children's Development Of The Mens Rea To Commit Genocide During Adulthood, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

This Article concerns how legislatures in America are stanching development of the criminal intent to commit genocide. Lawmakers have taken aim at genocide, not through the barrel of a gun, but, rather, by imbuing schoolchildren with values and psychological attributes that gradually counteract development of a génocidaire’s mens rea. Of course, sans mens rea, sans perpetration of this, the “crime of crimes.”

The counteractant process is the result of joining a substantively targeted pedagogy with the force of law so as to create state genocide-education mandate statutes. There has been a certain prescience in this. Accumulating expert opinion, studies, and …

Uni Impact: Faculty/Staff Scholarly Publications And Featured Awards Newsletter, V3i2, 2024, Rod Library. Research & Sponsored Programs. Uni Foundation. University Of Northern Iowa.

UNI Impact: Faculty/Staff Scholarly Publications and Featured Awards Newsletter

Highlights the scholarship, research, and other scholarly work produced by University of Northern Iowa faculty, students, and staff.

This issue covers the period of July - December 2024.

Design That Builds Communitites: An Evaluation Method For Analyzing, Assessing, And Improving The Way We Plan And Design The Places Around Us, Devine Karas-Gonzalez

Theses

The places around us shape and impact on the way we interact and live within our communities. As such, it is important to place greater emphasis on designing spaces which are meant to better respond to the needs and functions of a place. With an architectural design process this will result in the use of design strategies which will inform much of the design. In this research, multiple design strategies (Smart Growth, Placemaking, Place Value, and Street Experiments) are evaluated and compared using four regionally similar cities to analyze and assess how the different strategies impact the design process by …