Digital Commons Network^™

Question Of Revolution In The Carolinas And Georgia From Colonial Times To The Time Of The Early Republic, Megan Shirley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The American War of Independence was not and unlimited revolutionary event. More correctly it was a limited revolution. The ideologies, legal codes, and events that formed the basis for justification had historical precedent in English and ancient history. Women and people of color experienced a counter revolution with regards to their rights and liberties after the conflict known as the American Revolution. Although women participated in the conflict did not experience a progression in rights and freedoms. People of color, free and enslaved, certainly experienced a different outcome. They became citizens of a new nation but were denied equal freedom …

Moral Injury In Police Officers Of Color, Samantha J. Thornton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research is to explore the possibility of Moral Injury (MI) in police officers of color. This is a topic that is steeped in stigma and cultural dynamics, both for the community of police and communities of color. The aim is to add to the existing research on MI and how it may impact those who occupy dual special populations. The study approached targeted police advocacy organizations of color for recruitment nationwide. This study recruited 10 police officers of color from multiple states and explored their personal stories. This study used video recordings to capture qualitative data …

Emotional Intelligence, Perceived Stress, Coping Strategies And Burnout In High Stress Nursing Job Types, Chris Hutsell

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This quantitative, correlative study examined the relationships between emotional intelligence (EI), burnout, perceived stress, coping strategy approaches, and dimensions of burnout in nurses According to many in the healthcare industry, the U.S. is facing a potential nursing crisis by 2030. Research has indicated that inadequate staffing leads to heavier workloads that contribute to higher rates of injuries, medical errors, absenteeism, financial loss, stress, and job burnout in nurses. Studies have also indicated that emotional intelligence can alleviate perceived stress and burnout in nurses that reduce nursing injuries, medical errors, absenteeism that manifests as financial losses for the overall healthcare industry. …

Action Crisis Intervention Response, Dwayne Pine

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Establishing a peer-to-peer mental health intervention program for healthcare workers at Henry Mayo Hospital is imperative for addressing stress, anxiety, depression, job burnout, and compassion fatigue. The growing mental health crisis among healthcare workers, leading to a significant number leaving the industry due to lack of support from management, underscores the urgency of this initiative. This action research project emphasizes the need for such a program in conjunction with the established Mental Health First Aid. While the latter provides tools to recognize a mental health crisis, it lacks holistic approaches to aid healthcare workers in immediate crisis mode. The project …

Investigating High School Students' Engagement And Presence In Foreign Language Learning Using Virtual Reality: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Nibras Clapp

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, nonequivalent control group study was to determine if a statistically significant difference existed in the engagement and presence of high school foreign language learners who used virtual reality in their language learning and those who used traditional methods. This study seeks to add to the existing literature by bridging the gap of understanding related to increasing the proficiency of foreign language learners. A convenience sample of 158 high school students was drawn from a school district in the southeast of the United States. The study utilized the user engagement scale and the presence questionnaire, with …

Understanding The Characteristics Of The Artistic Temperament In A Local Church Through The Eyes Of The Choir Members And The Lens Of Scripture: A Case Study, Deborah A. Mcilrath

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Madness has long been associated with musical geniuses, known as temperamental musicians with uncomfortable mood swings that often border on manic depressive episodes. Secular studies show parallels between musicians with an artistic temperament (AT) and bipolar/manic depressive disorders. Many church choir members and church leaders expect church music directors to be more expressive, but if negative characteristics associated with an artistic temperament (AT) emerge during rehearsals, such as anger or moodiness, conflict is inevitable. This is a phenomenological qualitative study of the characteristics associated with AT in a local church through the lens of Scripture. The purpose of this research …

Contrast Enhanced Ultrasound Of Liver Lesions In Patients Treated For Childhood Malignancies., Ayatullah Mostafa, Zachary Abramson, Mina Ghbrial, Som Biswas, Sherwin S. Chan, Himani Darji, Jessica Gartrell, Seth E. Karol, Yimei Li, Daniel A. Mulrooney, Tushar Patni, Tarek M. Zaghloul, M Beth Mccarville

Manuscripts, Articles, Book Chapters and Other Papers

BACKGROUND: Patients treated for cancer have a higher incidence of focal liver lesions than the general population and there is often concern for a malignant etiology. This can result in patient, caregiver and physician anxiety and is managed by a "wait and watch" approach, or immediate additional imaging, or biopsy, depending on the degree of clinical concern. Because it is a low-cost, easily accessible, radiation and sedation free modality, we investigated the value of contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) to accurately distinguish benign from malignant liver lesions in patients treated for childhood malignancies.

METHODS: We performed an IRB approved retrospective study …

Complications Of Open Reduction And Internal Fixation Of Mandibular Condyle Fractures In Oman, Khamis M. Al Hasani, Abdulaziz A. Bakathir, Ahmed K. Al-Hashmi, Abdullah M. Albakri

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

Objectives: This study aimed to report the complication rate associated with open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) of mandibular condyle fractures in Oman. Methods: This retrospective cohort study was conducted among patients who underwent ORIF of mandibular condyle fractures at Al-Nahdha Hospital and the Sultan Qaboos University Hospital in Muscat, Oman, from January 2008 to December 2020. Data collected included patient demographics, fracture aetiology, fracture side and type, surgical approach and recorded complications and outcomes. Results: A total of 68 patients (59 males and 9 females; mean age of 30.1 years) with 83 mandibular condyle fractures underwent ORIF during the …

Midazolam-Induced Seizure-Like Activity In Five Neonates: A Case Series, Heba Shaker, Fatema Al-Amrani, Hilal Al Mandhari

Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal

An intravenous (IV) administration of midazolam may result in seizure-like activity or movement. This report describes 5 neonates who developed seizure-like movements after IV midazolam injection. The patients presented between 2019 and 2022 and were admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit located within an academic centre in Muscat, Oman. The abnormal movements occurred shortly after IV bolus administration of midazolam. None of the patients experienced seizure-like movements after receiving midazolam infusions. The seizure-like movements were aborted either spontaneously or by antiseizure medications. In addition, seizure recurrence was not observed in any of the infants during the later stages of …

Case Study Research In The Digital Age, Jam'an Fahmi

The Qualitative Report

Case Study Research in the Digital Age is a book by John R. Gallagher, published by Routledge in 2024. This book describes case study research, which is still rarely discussed in the academic world, especially in research related to algorithms, social media, artificial intelligence, and other technological things. Human habits that cannot be separated from social relations following technological developments remain interesting to research and explain in detail in this book. Case Study Research in the Digital Age is a comprehensive guide that addresses the evolving landscape of case study research, particularly in the context of the digital age. This …

A Non-Parametric Approach To Predict The Recruitment For Randomized Clinical Trials: An Example In Elderly Inpatient Settings, Alejandro Villasante-Tezanos, Yong-Fang Kuo, Christopher Kurinec, Yisheng Li, Xiaoying Yu

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Accurate prediction of subject recruitment, which is critical to the success of a study, remains an ongoing challenge. Previous prediction models often rely on parametric assumptions which are not always met or may be difficult to implement. We aim to develop a novel method that is less sensitive to model assumptions and relatively easy to implement.

METHODS: We create a weighted resampling-based approach to predict enrollment in year two based on recruitment data from year one of the completed GRIPS and PACE clinical trials. Different weight functions accounted for a range of potential enrollment trajectory patterns. Prediction accuracy was …

Detection Of Distant Relatedness In Biobanks To Identify Undiagnosed Cases Of Mendelian Disease As Applied To Long Qt Syndrome, Megan C Lancaster, Hung-Hsin Chen, M Benjamin Shoemaker, Matthew R Fleming, Teresa L Strickland, James T Baker, Grahame F Evans, Hannah G Polikowsky, David C Samuels, Chad D Huff, Dan M Roden, Jennifer E Below

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Rare genetic diseases are typically studied in referral populations, resulting in underdiagnosis and biased assessment of penetrance and phenotype. To address this, we develop a generalizable method of genotype inference based on distant relatedness and deploy this to identify undiagnosed Type 5 Long QT Syndrome (LQT5) rare variant carriers in a non-referral population. We identify 9 LQT5 families referred to a single specialty clinic, each carrying p.Asp76Asn, the most common LQT5 variant. We uncover recent common ancestry and a single shared haplotype among probands. Application to a non-referral population of 69,819 BioVU biobank subjects identifies 22 additional subjects sharing this …

‘Release Them Into The Wild, But How Far Can They Go?’ Improving Social And Emotional Mental Health Through Teaching Bushcraft Skills To Children With Special Educational Needs And Disability: A Preliminary Case Series Evaluation Study, James Tonks, Ian Frampton, Ben Edwards, Kai Tonks, Harriet Dismore

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences

Previous research indicates that outdoor activity and learning programmes are a beneficial educational approach, but studies have neglected to consider how well this approach may address the social, emotional and mental health needs of children with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND). In this study, seven Key-Stage 3 children with SEND (aged 11 to 14) from a special educational needs provision within a mainstream school attended a five-week ‘bushcraft’ programme. Standardised psychometric measures of self-concept were completed by children before and after the intervention, and teachers rated pupils’ stress levels before and after. Results indicate that the programme was associated …

Patient Initiated Follow-Up (Pifu): How Can Rheumatology Departments Start To Reap The Benefits? A Consensus Document, R. Sengupta, M. Bukhari, Z. Cole, S. Kyle, G. Macdonald, K. Mckay, A. Irani, M. Perry

Peninsula Medical School

Patient Initiated Follow-Up (PIFU) is gaining momentum in the NHS, aiming to optimize outpatient care amidst rising service demands. PIFU is valuable in rheumatology, where the increasing demand for ongoing management exacerbates the patient backlog. Importantly, PIFU has demonstrated comparable safety and outcomes to traditional care in numerous studies. PIFU empowers patients, drives personalized care, increases efficiency, and has the potential to reduce waiting lists by allowing services to focus on new and acute cases. Effective PIFU implementation includes careful selection of patients, educating patients and healthcare staff, well defined operational guidelines, and robust remote monitoring. Digital solutions can enhance …

David Taylor Memorial Lecture: Insights Into The Origins Of Intracardiac Surgery, James K. Kirklin

The VAD Journal

David Taylor was an eminent luminary in the field of advanced heart failure and transplantation. As past president of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation, he significantly impacted the field and was a mentor to many young heart failure cardiologists. In addition to many professional activities, David was an integral part of Brano meetings, including numerous eastern European trips promoting education and training in advanced heart failure, mechanical circulatory support, and transplantation

Shaping Heroism Through Participatory Fan Cultures: An Analysis Of Video Game Heroes As Nonhuman Online Personas, Jasmyn Connell

Heroism Science

This paper expands the theoretical framework for analysing nonhuman personas developed by Connell and Moore (2023) to explore video game hero personas as assemblages - complex negotiations between social media platforms, video game developers, and participatory fan cultures. Through a critical analysis of Aloy from the Horizon (2017-2023) series, I argue that video game heroes are dynamic characters, and fan participation in the shaping of a video game hero’s online persona is often overlooked. By examining the collaborative relationships between video game heroes and their online participatory fan communities, the article contributes to ongoing conversations about processes of heroic representation …

Arts Leadership In The Bay Area, Antonio C. Cuyler

International Journal of Regional Issues in the Arts

This study of arts leadership in the San Francisco Bay Area addressed the following research questions: (1) What are the most predominant leadership frameworks and narratives in the local arts ecosystem? (2) What resources and opportunities are currently shaping leadership in the field? (3) To what extent do they align with the Performing Arts Program’s values of equity, justice, and self-determination? (4) How are responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, calls across the creative sector for racial justice, global warming, and ethics informing and transforming arts leadership in the Bay Area? Lastly, (5) what are some compelling visions for how the …

Deepfakes Under Copyright Law—A Necessary Legal Innovation, Scott Lu

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

The current landscape of copyright law fails to adequately address the ever-evolving rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI). If left untouched, the legal framework risks falling behind the swift advancements in AI technology and will forever be left in a perpetual state. To address this challenge, copyright law should be amended to grant limited rights to the inventor/commissioner of the work of an AI system to reward them for the fruits of their labor. Alternative approaches, such as assigning rights to the AI itself or placing the work directly into the public domain, present their own shortcomings. Nevertheless, these methods fail …

Is The Second Amendment Outdated Or Misinterpreted?, William J. Carney

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

This Article examines the evidence of original intent behind the Second Amendment, which Justice Antonin Scalia ignored in District of Columbia v. Heller. It suggests that the adoption of the Second Amendment was motivated by states' concerns about federal control over state and local militias. Thus, it was intended as a state’s rights amendment before Justice Scalia disregarded the opening clause. The Article then examines the results of Justice Scalia’s opinion in terms of a widespread increasing homicide rate in a nation with more firearms in circulation than the total population. Finally, it compares current homicide rates in the United …

Reforming Illinois Paternity/Maternity/Parentage Acknowledgment Laws, Jeffrey A. Parness

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

In the 1990s, due to a surge in nonmarital births and the related increase in child support assistance, Congress passed laws making federal aid to states contingent on accessible and standardized paternity establishment processes. This led to in-hospital voluntary paternity acknowledgments (VAPs), which made establishing paternity for child support easier. Federal funding required strict VAP processes, including a sixty-day rescission period and limited grounds for post-rescission challenges.

Voluntary parentage acknowledgments have since expanded to include non-genetic parents, like spouses and intended parents through assisted reproduction. Illinois' Parentage Act of 2015 regulates these acknowledgments. However, the Illinois Appellate Court case, Illinois …

Evaluating Malaysia’S Fake News Laws Through The Lens Of International Human Rights Standards, Bevis Hsin-Yu Chen

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

Recently, the proliferation of fake news online has raised significant alarm globally, prompting numerous governments to take legal action to address the issue. In 2018 and 2021, Malaysia enacted two distinct laws to address the issue of fake news: the Anti-Fake News Act 2018 and the Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance 2021. These two laws have garnered significant attention and criticism, particularly regarding their negative impact on freedom of speech. This Article employs the standards of freedom of expression outlined in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to assess Malaysia's fake news laws regarding legality, necessity, and …

Conversion To A Benefit Company And Dissenters’ Rights, Paolo Butturini

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

The conversion of an ordinary corporation or a limited liability company (LLC) to a benefit company and the termination of the benefit status may trigger dissenters’ rights (also known as appraisal rights) under certain state statutes. However, this consequence does not occur under other statutes, and some states follow ordinarily applicable rules. Three distinct interests are connected to this issue, including minority shareholder protection, benefit companies’ diffusion, and legal certainty. Across the United States, state statutes address these interests in varying ways. Granting shareholders dissenters' rights serves to safeguard minority shareholders and clarify the consequences of conversion, but it may …

Shareholder Proposals And Social Policy, Creighton R. Meland Jr.

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

Social policy’s role in shareholder proposals is the focal point of this Article. The SEC sets standards for the social policy issues allowed to be submitted to a shareholder vote but will not define social policy or describe the agency’s methods. The SEC determines whether a proposal appears on a range of environmental and social matters, such as climate change, human rights, and corporate political activities. Generally, shareholder proposals related to a company’s ordinary business operations are matters reserved for the board of directors. However, when these same matters trigger SEC-determined social policy questions, they must often be put to …

Enhancing Predictive Accuracy Of Compressive Strength In Recycled Concrete Using Advanced Machine Learning Techniques With K-Means Clustering, Ziaul Haq Doost, Leonardo Goliatt, Mohammed Suleman Aldlemy, Mumtaz Ali, Bruno Da S. Macêdo

AUIQ Technical Engineering Science

The urgent need to mitigate environmental impacts in the construction industry drives the exploration of sustainable practices, such as the use of recycled materials in concrete production. The primary objective of this study was to enhance the predictability of compressive strength in the concrete through the application of advanced machine learning (ML) techniques, specifically Gradient Boosting Regression (GBR) and Random Forest Regression (RFR). Using a comprehensive dataset of 353 eco-friendly concrete samples, the study carefully developed and validated these models to evaluate their performance. The findings exposed that the GBR model outperformed the RFR model, obtained an R² of 0.97 …

Analysis Of Predicting Co-Authorship Networks Using Support Vector Machine Model, Mohammed Y. Al-Khuzaie, Sajad Ali Zearah, Abbadullah H. Saleh

AUIQ Technical Engineering Science

The area of computer science is flourishing, as shown by the rising number of academic works published and the rising number of scholars adding to the existing body of knowledge. This has made it difficult to find previously unrecognized links between publications and those studying them. Using machine learning techniques to foresee missing links and unveil hidden connections, complex network-based link prediction has emerged as a helpful resource in addressing this difficulty. This study aims to solve the problem of finding links between authors’ publications by exploring the use of network-based complex link prediction approaches. A large-scale bibliographic database collected …

Spartan Daily, August 28, 2024, San Jose State University, School Of Journalism And Mass Communications

Spartan Daily, 2024

Volume 163, Issue 3

Emerin Deficiency Drives Mcf7 Cells To An Invasive Phenotype, Emily Hansen, Christal Rolling, Matthew Wang, James M Holaska

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

During metastasis, cancer cells traverse the vasculature by squeezing through very small gaps in the endothelium. Thus, nuclei in metastatic cancer cells must become more malleable to move through these gaps. Our lab showed invasive breast cancer cells have 50% less emerin protein resulting in smaller, misshapen nuclei, and higher metastasis rates than non-cancerous controls. Thus, emerin deficiency was predicted to cause increased nuclear compliance, cell migration, and metastasis. We tested this hypothesis by downregulating emerin in noninvasive MCF7 cells and found emerin knockdown causes smaller, dysmorphic nuclei, resulting in increased impeded cell migration. Emerin reduction in invasive breast cancer …

Exploratory Study Of Graduate Nursing Student Grit And Strategies Used By Their Faculty: A Mixed Methods Approach, Leanne T. Burke

Dissertations

Registered Nurse (RN) workforce projections continue to show a shortage of RNs, which will intensify as Baby Boomers age and large numbers of nurses reach retirement (AACN, 2017a). To meet workforce demands, increasing numbers of nurses prepared at the graduate level for advanced roles like nursing faculty, nurse researchers, and primary care providers are critical. With variable attrition rates in master's and doctoral programs, there is a need for research into the uniqueness of these populations. In particular, noncognitive predictors of success, such as grit, may be important. This explanatory sequential mixed methods study assessed grit levels (measured by Grit-S) …

Usa V. Brandon Segers

2024 Decisions

USDC for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

Fpca-Setcn: A Novel Deep Learning Framework For Remaining Useful Life Prediction, Junde Chen, Yuxin Wen, Xuxue Sun, Adnan Zeb, Mohammad Saleh Meiabadi, Sasan Sattarpanah Karganroudi

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

The accurate prediction of remaining useful life (RUL) can serve as a reliable foundation for equipment maintenance, thereby effectively reducing the incidence of failure and maintenance costs. In this study, a novel deep learning (DL) framework that incorporates functional principal component analysis (FPCA) and enhanced temporal convolutional network (TCN) is proposed for RUL prediction. Precisely, FPCA is employed to capture the changing patterns in multistream degradation trajectories. Subsequently, the reconstructed signals from FPCA are fed into a convolutional block for extracting deep-level features. An enhanced squeeze-and-excitation (ESE) block is then incorporated into the network for adaptive feature recalibration, enhancing the …