Digital Commons Network^™

Bringing Light To The Knowledge Gap Regarding Menopause Symptoms And Hormone Therapy, Jayme Kendall

Masters Theses

Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to raise awareness about the knowledge gap regarding many common menopause symptoms and the positive impact of hormone therapy (HT), a.k.a. hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and menopause hormone treatment (MHT).

Methods: An initial review of current literature is useful for identifying relevant professional resources of knowledge and understanding the problem. Further, analyses of The Menopause Society, the 2002 Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study, and Dr. Mary Claire Haver's work shed light on the problem and provide insights to help build a successful educational campaign. Additionally, visual analyses of "When to Try Hormone Therapy," …

The Craft Of Christie: A Dissection Of Agatha Christie’S Creation Of Character, Rachel Grace Olds

Masters Theses

Agatha Christie’s writing is widely known, but not deeply known. She is a master of the genre of mystery, and many critics and scholars have lauded her genius. However, she is not often recognized for her mastery of the craft of character. In fact, several critics have misunderstood her characters as two-dimensional beings that exist only to advance the plot. This thesis aims to examine the way Agatha Christie crafts her characters, how her methods of the craft of character work to perfectly mislead her readers, and her ultimate purpose for creating and implementing manipulative elements for the reader. In …

Word, Wisdom, And World: Literary Allusion To Genesis 1–2 And Proverbs 8 In John’S Prologue, Emily J. Johnson

Masters Theses

This thesis purposes to identify the literary allusions to Genesis 1–2 and Proverbs 8 in John 1:1-18 and analyze their rhetorical and theological function in John’s prologue. It also seeks to provide a concrete definition for literary allusion and a methodology that considers various kinds of allusive markers to give voice to the more subtle ways that John alludes to the Genesis and Proverbs texts. The body of this thesis will demonstrate that John 1:1-18 alludes to Genesis 1–2 and Proverbs 8 in order to retell the creation narrative and cast Jesus, the Logos, as both the creator and exhaustive …

Out-Of-Body Experiences: Plausibility Of A Separate Soul And Body, Jeffrey D. Boyles

Masters Theses

Near-death experiences (NDEs) and out-of-body experiences (OBEs), as reported by experiencers, contradict beliefs that when a person dies, they cease to exist. This view is opposite to the teachings of Jesus who taught that there is a separation between body and soul and the Apostle Paul who taught there is life after death. NDEs, and especially OBEs, support biblical teachings and the belief that the soul can be separate from the body. Case reports from the literature demonstrate veridical OBEs and encounters with deceased loved ones. Experiencers state that NDEs and OBEs are real in contrast to the arguments of …

Vaccine Hesitancy In Türkiye: A Natural Language Processing Study On Social Media, Semi̇h Sari, Ulya Bayram

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Vaccine hesitancy is a significant public healthcare problem that is threatening everyone worldwide. Vaccine hesitancy has become more ingrained in Turkish society, mainly through social media. Unfortunately, reflections of this hesitancy are preventable deaths or permanent disabilities. Because of the uncontrolled spread of misinformation and disinformation on social media, Türkiye is facing a future health crisis. As a step towards preventing this crisis, our main objective is to use the power of artificial intelligence techniques on Turkish social media posts to detect antivaccine posts. Through this study, it will be possible to raise awareness about the importance of vaccines in …

The Earth's Voice: The Social, Spiritual, And Secular Justifications For The Earth's Freedom Of Expression, Ashley Tzeting Pun Eveson

Theses and Dissertations

The Earth's legal right to freedom of speech remains largely unexplored within the broader legal movement for the rights of nature, which emerged in the 1970s. While environmental law increasingly recognizes nature's rights to exist and thrive, as illustrated by legal rights granted to various natural entities--like the Whanganui River or manoomin rice--the Earth's ability to communicate remains underdeveloped. This study employs legal research analysis to examine the philosophical reasoning behind how social, spiritual, and secular frameworks justify the Earth's right to freedom of speech and expression. It explores legal guardianship, scientific data, Indigenous knowledge, and spiritual stewardship as valid …

Cultural Heritage Informatics: Past, Present, And Future, Tyler Youngman, Sebastian Modrow, Isaac Meth

School of Information Studies - Faculty Scholarship

This paper briefly traces the informational history and contemporary formal establishment of Cultural Heritage Informatics as a distinct domain within IS/LIS, motivated by recent calls for more critical, ethical, and community-oriented interrogations of IS/LIS practices and professional identity. We unpack the conceptual history and disciplinary intellectual geography of cultural heritage and informatics to recount prior interpretations of the field. Next, we articulate a holistic domain-specific informatics model to guide the study of cultural heritage within IS/LIS. We conclude by articulating ethical imperatives and new directions for Cultural Heritage Informatics in research, teaching, and practice.

Latinos And Complicated Grief: An Analysis On The Impacts Of A College Campus On Grief And Bereavement, Mark Jared Velasco Gonzalez

Sociology Undergraduate Senior Theses

Grief and bereavement are under researched topics within Latino populations, and even more so among Latino college students. Much of the existing literature is also focused on quantitative studies that are said to provide higher quality evidence than qualitative studies, with very few being conducted on college campuses. Garcini et al published a systemic review in 2021 on bereavement among widowed Latinos in which most studies were conducted using quantitative methods. Further, only 4 of the 19 studies analyzed were based solely on Latino communities. Falzarano et al. also published a literature synthesis in 2022 which focused on the broader …

2025 May 23 - Audit Committee Agenda And Minutes, Board Of Trustees, East Tennessee State University

Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Carmen Sexton V. New Jersey Department Of Corrections

2025 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey

Jose Rosario V. John Rivello

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

In Re: David Kauffman

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Enhancing Access To Medication-Assisted Treatment (Mat) For Minority Inmates In The San Diego Prison System: A Quality Improvement Through Culturally Competent Approach, Douglas Seangmany

Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) Projects

Abstract

Background The opioid crisis disproportionately affects racial and ethnic minority groups, particularly in correctional settings. In San Diego’s prison system, only 20% of incarcerated individuals with Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) receive Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT), highlighting significant care disparities.

Local Problem Limited access to MAT among minority inmates contributes to poorer health outcomes, higher overdose rates, and increased healthcare costs. Addressing these disparities is crucial for improving health equity within the prison system.

Methods A review of 10 studies emphasized the importance of culturally competent care in improving treatment engagement and outcomes among minority populations. To address disparities, the intervention …

A Semiclassical Model Of The Immediate Temperature Distribution Surrounding The Track Of Heavy Ions With Therapeutic Energies, Martin Rädler, Niayesh Afshordi, Reza Taleei, Katia Parodi, Ramin Abolfath, Julie Lascaud

Department of Radiation Oncology Faculty Papers

Objective. Spikes of high temperature and pressure are created in the vicinity of heavy ions, especially at the Bragg peak. The expected subsequent thermoacoustic effects are however not well understood. In particular, the distribution of the densely packed primary interactions has not been considered in molecular dynamics (MDs) simulations or shock wave solutions. In this work, we derive a dedicated model to describe the primary interactions and their radial distribution, applicable to the modeling of acoustic and thermodynamic effects at the nanoscale. Approach. Starting from first principles, we assemble a semiclassical model of the energy loss of the primary heavy …

Design And Performance Evaluation Of Pv-Powered Ev Charging Stations With Grid Integration And Comparative Analysis Of Dc-Dc Converters For Offboard Chargers, Mohammad Abidur Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

Grid-integrated photovoltaic (PV)-powered electric vehicle (EV) charging stations offer a sustainable solution for reducing grid dependency and fossil fuel consumption in workplace environments. This study proposes a PV-powered EV charging system with an AC bus configuration and grid support to ensure stable and efficient operation. A comparative analysis of four DC-DC converter topologies—Dual Active Bridge (DAB), LLC Resonant, Interleaved Buck-Boost, and Interleaved Buck—is conducted for offboard charging applications. Performance evaluation is carried out using MATLAB/Simulink, considering voltage and current ripple, power density, stress levels, bidirectional capability, and control complexity. Component-level reliability is assessed using MIL-HDBK-217 standards to estimate failure rates …

Implicit Ethical Consumerism: Development And Cross-Cultural Validation Of A Novel Affect-Misattribution Measure, Brandon Reich, Hong Yuan, Lamberto Zollo, Riccardo Rialti

Business Faculty Publications and Presentations

The literature has documented a pervasive attitude‐behavior gap in ethical consumption, whereby many consumers do not consistently translate their expressed positive attitudes toward ethical products into behavior. For marketers investing in social responsibility initiatives, this suggests that more accurate segmentation and demand forecasting may require an implicit measure of ethical consumerism. This study draws from literatures in ethical consumption and the psychology of attitudes to develop and validate such a measurement tool. Across three pretests and three studies, findings show that our implicit measure (based on the Affect Misattribution Procedure [AMP]) is cross‐culturally robust in predicting ethical consumption behavior beyond …

Design And Optimization Of Low-Loss, High-Gain Metamaterial-Based Log-Periodic Dipole Array Antenna For Full Ka-Band Coverage, Mohamed El Moniar, Ahmed Abd El Hady, Yasser Ismail, Nihal Areed

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

This work describes a microstrip log-periodic dipole array (MLPDA) antenna that uses metamaterials and operates across the whole Ka-band. The suggested MLPDA antenna layout provides a wide bandwidth with fewer dipole elements than traditional MLPDA antennas while maintaining the same resonance frequencies. To reduce size while covering a wide operational spectrum, the antenna design includes bending dipoles as radiating elements, as well as an incomplete ground plane. Furthermore, the proposed MLPDA antenna’s energy loss has been reduced while boosting its signal strength (gain) by inserting a metamaterial-based structure in front of it at a certain distance and on the same …

A Methodology For Nuclei Segmentation In H&E Images Using Efficientnetb7 Guided U-Net And Multiple Data Augmentation Strategies, Furkan Atlan, Emrah Hançer

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

Automating nuclei segmentation in Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained images is crucial for advancing computational pathology. Despite significant research, challenges such as overlapping nuclei, varying scanner resolutions, and diverse nuclear morphologies continue to hinder segmentation accuracy. In this paper, we propose a deep-learning based methodology that integrates multiple data augmentation strategies with a U-Net architecture enhanced by the EfficientNetB7 encoder. To enhance generalization, we train the model using a combined dataset from MoNuSeg2018, CPM-17, and CoNSeP, exposing it to diverse staining techniques and tissue types. We then evaluate its robustness on the unseen CryoNuSeg dataset, which consists of fully annotated …

2025 May 23 - Board Of Trustees Agenda And Minutes, Board Of Trustees, East Tennessee State University

Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Glitter, Gold, And Glory: The Social, Economic, And Political Legacy Of The Dollar Princesses In Gilded Age Anglo-America, Makayla Elise Talley

Masters Theses

In the late nineteenth century, America and Europe were experiencing drastically different financial situations. While the British aristocracy struggled to maintain their estates and lavish lifestyle due to the repeal of the Corn Laws and agricultural decline, America’s newly self-made men celebrated the expansion of the American frontier, dominating industries and amassing huge fortunes. As a result, the dollar princesses emerged—wealthy American heiresses who married European nobility, stereotypically “trading” money for an aristocratic title and prestige. Many of these transatlantic marriages, however, were actually a result of love or parental/societal force. Through an analysis of the reasons behind the dollar …

A Showman And A Scholar: Bascom Lamar Lunsford And The Preservation Of Traditional Appalachian Music, Benjamin Grist

Masters Theses

Appalachian musical culture is well-known in the modern day. Between old time, bluegrass, country, and clogging, people around the world know and enjoy the musical traditions of the mountains. However, in the 1920s, Appalachian culture was in serious danger of going extinct. A mix of industrialization destroying local economies, an influx of rich outsiders moving to the region, and the people of Appalachia trying to distance themselves from their impoverished lifestyles, traditional Appalachian music and culture was being crushed on one hand and abandoned on the other. Realizing that the region's musical traditions were disappearing, several scholars tried to record …

Staff Education On The Use Of Suicide Screening Tools, Nadine Carole Missiet Fogoum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The goal of the project was to improve nursing competency in assessing suicide risk using a structured staff education intervention. The specific problem identified was the inconsistent use of validated suicide screening tools, limiting clinical efficiency and the ability to detect and intervene for at-risk patients. The project question was as follows: For nursing staff working in a mental health clinic, will staff knowledge increase following a staff education program on the use of suicide screening tools? This practice-focused question concerns itself with the ability to enhance nurse proficiency, confidence, and consistency in utilizing screening instruments, thus positively impacting the …

2025 May 23 - Academic, Research, And Student Success Committee Agenda And Minutes, Board Of Trustees, East Tennessee State University

Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

2025 May 23 - Finance And Administration Committee Agenda And Minutes, Board Of Trustees, East Tennessee State University

Board of Trustees Agendas and Minutes

No abstract provided.

Many Meanings: A History Of Memory At The Meeker Home Museum, Kathleen Henry

History Theses, Dissertations, and Student Creative Activity

While public historians strive to provide accurate, contextual, and nuanced interpretations of the past, public and community memory of the past is powerful, and more concerned with identity and validation than it is with historical accuracy and complexity. These intersections of history and memory in America are complex, and have been explored for several decades by historians such as Ari Kelman, Seth Bruggeman, and David Wrobel. As a case study of the intersections of history and memory in a historic house museum, the Meeker Home Museum in Greeley, Colorado, reflects powerful narratives of past community memory, resulting in a static, …

Harmonic Classification Of Different Lighting Technologies Using Empirical Mode Decomposition And Support Vector Machines, Ahmad Farid Abidin, Mohd Abdul Talib Mat Yusoh, Abdul Hafiz Kassim, Nik Hakimi Nik Ali

Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences

The impact of excessive harmonic distortion on electrical distribution networks highlights the critical need to understand harmonics in different lighting technologies to detect sources of issues and their effects. The increasing prevalence of nonlinear loads in power systems has contributed to significant harmonic pollution, deteriorating power line quality. This paper aims to address this issue by focusing on power line frequency detection and the classification of lighting technologies, combining empirical mode decomposition (EMD) with the one-versus-one support vector machine (OVO-SVM) approach. EMD is utilized to analyze signals through intrinsic mode functions, preserving the signal’s characteristics while extracting features related to …

Exploring The Underutilization Of Ai In Courtroom Decision-Making Processes, Dominique Lashaun Hilliard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The underutilization of AI in Texas state courtrooms challenges judicial efficiency, fairness, and transparency. Despite AI’s potential to enhance evidence management and decision-making, its adoption remains limited. Legal professionals and information technology (IT) managers stress the need for strategies to address these barriers and promote equitable justice. The purpose of this qualitative multiple-case study, which was grounded in the technology acceptance model, diffusion of innovation theory, and unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, was to explore strategies IT managers use to implement AI in criminal justice information systems. Semi-structured interviews and organizational documents provided data for thematic analysis, …

The Space Between The Trees: Creative Symbolism In Fantasy, Matthew W. Fenn

Masters Theses

Symbolism points towards absolute truths, while not claiming to be the source of that truth, but rather an expression of it. Utilizing symbolism within writing is a way to convey the author’s faith. One can provide symbolic meaning, but as a Christian with a biblically interpreted outlook, these literary devices can be used as both a voice of good and a reflection of holiness.

Life Immediately After Death, William Berger

Masters Theses

The Bible is the believed, canonical, complete message of God. It teaches morals, values, ethics, virtues, righteousness, truths, and salvation. Every part of life can and should be guided by the words of God for the purpose of accomplishing His final goal. God’s goal for his creation is to achieve through salvation and His grace dwelling with Him in His New Earth and New Heavens. To accomplish this, God created people to be immortal. Within this immortality, death plays an integral part. Because God begins His creation with a defining statement of how it all started, God facilitates an understanding …

Scared Straight: Investigating The Psychological And Moral Dimensions Of Horror, Angelica Martinez

Masters Theses

This research examines the psychological and moral dimensions of the horror genre through qualitative analysis, with particular emphasis on its potential to convey ethical and spiritual meaning. While often dismissed as mere entertainment, horror frequently engages with profound questions of morality, fear, and the human condition. This study argues that horror, especially in its psychological, apocalyptic, and religious forms, serves as a vehicle for moral instruction and reflection. By tracing thematic developments from the 1970s to contemporary expressions of the genre, the research identifies a resurgence of interest in spiritually charged narratives. The findings suggest that horror can play a …