Digital Commons Network^™

Parkinson’S Disease: Traditional And Emerging Approaches To Therapy, Emily Vernon

The Kabod

Honors Petition submitted to NURS 306: Pharmacology.II.

To Heal A Mind: A Functional Approach To The Treatment Of Major Depressive Disorder, Gillian Chambers

The Kabod

Honors Petition submitted to NURS 306: Pharmacology II.

An Exploratory Study Examining Germany’S Integration Processes Of Syrian Refugees Into Society – Multiculturalism Or A Post-Migrant Society?, Chloe Hanley Kempken

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The aim of this exploratory study is to examine factors, that account for the differential treatment of Syrian refugees in Germany, in the wake of the Syrian Refugee Crisis. The paper will discuss motives within the context of national citizenship laws, security issues, and public perception of asylum seekers. Since 2015, Germany has experienced a surge of refugees from Syria fleeing danger and persecution. The conflict has placed a strain on the German parliament to adapt national policies and develop integration programs, as well as preserve the fundamentals of German society. Along with distinct historical events, such as the Holocaust, …

Cost-Utility Analysis Of Adding Daratumumab To Bortezomib Plus Dexamethasone To Treat Relapsed/Refractory Multiple Myeloma In Egypt, Menna M. Elsherbiny, Ahmed M. Kamel, Samar F. Farid

Bulletin of Faculty of Pharmacy Cairo University

Background: According to the CASTOR trial, DARA is shown to be effective as a second line for RRMM patients either as monotherapy or in combination with the gold standard regimen. The current study is the first to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of DARA based on the full results (~80-month follow-up) of the CASTOR trial. The study aimed to assess the cost-effectiveness of incorporating DARA, with bortezomib and dexamethasone, in treating patients from the perspective of a healthcare payer over a lifetime horizon.

Methods: A partition survival model (PSM) was adopted. The alternative arms chosen were daratumumab added to bortezomib plus …

Thoughts On The Architecture Of Freedom Of Religion And Freedom Of Speech, Perry Dane

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

This symposium was convened to explore the rights of businesses and employees to invoke freedom of religion or freedom of expression to resist certain forms of state regulation. The most immediate occasions for that discussion, at least for my purposes, are cases such as 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis, in which the Supreme Court upheld the right of a website designer to refuse to design a wedding website for a same-sex couple. These sorts of cases, which pit the religious or expressive rights of conscientious believers against the equality rights of others, have proliferated in recent years.

I have …

Final Report - Nondestructive Data Driven Motion Planning For Inspection Robots, Hung Manh La

Project AS-5

This report presents the development and implementation of autonomous navigation systems for steel bridge inspection robots, designed to enhance the efficiency and safety of bridge maintenance. The Advanced Robotics and Automation (ARA) lab has developed innovative climbing robots capable of operating in complex environments using a hybrid approach that combines mobile and inch-worm-inspired locomotion modes. A novel control and navigation framework has been proposed, featuring algorithms for surface detection, path planning, and mode switching based on 3D point cloud data. The effectiveness of these systems has been validated through experiments on steel bridge structures, demonstrating the potential for real-world application …

Ordinary Conscience And Pretend Offenses: Protecting Those Left Out Of Title Vii After Groff, Robin Fretwell Wilson, Michael J. Petersen

Notre Dame Law Review Reflection

Part I reviews America’s foundational commitment to fairness and transparency by government, as well as the deep respect the Founders believed should be accorded to conscience specifically.

Part II applauds the unanimous decision in Groff to walk back the Supreme Court’s grievous error in Trans World Airlines, Inc. v. Hardison. We canvas illustrative cases pre-Groff in which employees, notwithstanding Hardison’s “de minimis” burden standard, proceeded to trial, and instances in which employees did not. We also illustrate how, post-Groff, employees are, rightfully, having an easier time getting to trial.

Even as Groff makes actual Title …

Interventional Radiology's Exploration Into Artificial Intelligence, Raymond Nguyen

Master's Projects and Capstones

Background: Artificial intelligence (AI) has become more prominent in our daily lives in recent years. This includes various aspects of healthcare. Interventional radiology (IR) is one of these specialties that has taken strides in understanding how AI can be leveraged for patient care. This literature review aims to understand what areas will be most impacted by AI in IR and how it will influence both the patient and interventional radiologist.

Methods: Twenty-six publications from 2019-2024 were selected from PubMed and Scopus. Publications were sourced through a combination of keywords, subject headings (MeSH terms), and citation searching.

Results: This literature review …

Long-Range White Matter Fibres And Post-Stroke Verbal And Non-Verbal Cognition, Rebecca W. Roth, Deena Schwen Blackett, Ezequiel Gleichgerrcht, Janina Wilmskoetter, Chris Rorden, Roger Newman-Norlund, Souvik Sen, Julius Fridriksson Ph.D., Natalie Busby, Leonardo Bonilha

Faculty Publications

Among stroke survivors, linguistic and non-linguistic impairments exhibit substantial inter-individual variability. Stroke lesion volume and location do not sufficiently explain outcomes, and the neural mechanisms underlying the severity of aphasia or non-verbal cognitive deficits remain inadequately understood. Converging evidence supports the idea that white matter is particularly susceptible to ischaemic injury, and long-range fibres are commonly associated with verbal and non-verbal function. Here, we investigated the relationship among post-stroke aphasia severity, cognition, and white matter integrity. Eighty-seven individuals in the chronic stage of stroke underwent diffusion MRI and behavioural testing, including language and cognitive measures. We used whole-brain structural connectomes …

Morlin Vindel-Medina V. Attorney General United States Of America

2024 Decisions

Agency

Field Implementation Of A Stereo Vision System For Rnt And Stress Measurements In Cwr, Brittany Stinson

Theses and Dissertations

The use of Continuous Welded Rail (CWR) provides many advantages to the rail industry compared to the alternatively used jointed-track segments. However, one significant disadvantage is the development of thermal stresses longitudinally in the rail, which is not of concern when expansion joints are used. This is due to CWR’s inability to release thermal expansion in the absence of joints. The Rail Neutral Temperature (RNT) is the temperature at which the rail is in a stress-free state. A desired RNT is calculated based on local climate conditions and CWR installation practices are implemented to set the desired RNT at installation. …

Maternal-Child Cortisol Attunement Differs In Preschoolers With Autism, Fragile X Syndrome, And Neurotypical Development, Rachel Hantman

Theses and Dissertations

Early maternal-child attunement sets a critical foundation for later social development. While maternal and child cortisol attunement in neurotypical (NT) development has been clearly established, little research has examined these relations in neurodevelopmental populations, such as those with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Fragile X Syndrome (FXS). Given their elevated-risk for disrupted maternal-child attunement and given elevated stress and dysregulated cortisol patterns in both children with ASD and FXS and their parents independently, this is a critical gap. This study addressed this gap in the literature by examining early maternal-child cortisol attunement in 97 mother-child dyads (_nNT = …

Coastal And Inland Flooding - From Advanced Hydrodynamics And Data-Driven Modeling To Multi-Variate Coastal Vulnerability Assessment, Ahad Hasan Tanim

Theses and Dissertations

Flood risks in coastal and inland areas have historically been underestimated and underpredicted, resulting in increased flood damage and loss of human life. Flood risk under climate change and sea level rise will disproportionately impact low-wealth and marginalized communities, as they are often located in areas with less flood protection and have limited resources to adapt to the impacts of flooding. The systematic workflow of the life cycle of FRM is frequently disengaged in the current state of flood hazard assessment with system vulnerability assessment. This research aims to improve the life cycle of FRM by incorporating flood observation, monitoring, …

High-Rate Production Of Thermoplastic Composite Structures For Urban Air Mobility Vehicles Utilizing Fastener-Free Assembly Methods, Robert H. Shumpert

Theses and Dissertations

This study aimed to develop a manufacturing plan for a Thermoplastic fiber-reinforced propeller blade for urban air mobility applications. This propeller blade offer a few unique challenges including the complex geometries of the blade. Another important aspect of the blade is using fusion bonding methods to increase the strength of joints in the product while reducing weight from fasteners and adhesives. This manufacturing process will be validated by producing a physical demonstrator to ascertain the efficacy of the manufacturing techniques used. First, the techniques that will make up the manufacturing plan must be selected. To do this, a review of …

Sonic Data: Sonification In James Stephenson’S There Are No Words And David Kirkland Garner’S Red Hot Sun Turning Over, Nathan Lee Tucker

Theses and Dissertations

Sonification, or the transformation of data relations into sound, has inspired composers of orchestral and wind ensemble music over the past several years. Two of the resulting works included there are no words by James Stephenson and red hot sun turning over by David Kirkland Garner. Both works were analyzed, and their histories detailed in this study. Issues in American society and the American South such as gun violence, civil rights, and American Civil War monuments are revealed as inspiration for composers to map empirical processes onto sound. These musical protests against misinformation were shown to illuminate histories and correlations …

Towards The Induction Welding Of Complex, Curved Thermoplastic Composite Structures, Andrew Cole Cromer

Theses and Dissertations

Recent advancements in the aerospace industry, coupled with the anticipated future significance of air travel, have spurred research aimed at increasing manufacturing production and aircraft flying efficiency by implementing new materials and assembly methods. Advanced air mobility (AAM), a subset of the aerospace industry, is anticipated to become a crucial component of the transportation infrastructure in densely populated regions. To meet the expected demand, there is a need for investigations into novel manufacturing and joining methods. This industry necessitates materials that are lightweight, durable, and amenable to high-rate production. One potential avenue under exploration is the utilization of thermoplastic composites. …

Unpacking The Relationship Between Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, Identity, And Desistance, Qassim Bolaji

Theses and Dissertations

Knowing why people stop offending over time and the criminal justice agencies' role in this process is essential for designing effective crime control interventions. Legal authorities have the core function of ensuring that social norms and laws are obeyed. However, the coercive and punitive tactics that police, judicial, and penal authorities typically resort to have been shown to have only limited impact on controlling and preventing crime while having the unintended consequence of worsening the public's perception of their institutional legitimacy. Specific to policing, the use of coercive policing tactics and their perceived ineffectiveness has, in recent decades, led to …

Investigating Arctic Ocean Freshwater Content And Circulation In A Changing Climate, Emma Louise Hoffman

Theses and Dissertations

The Arctic Ocean is unique among the world’s oceans, characterized by its cold temperatures, salinity-driven vertical structure, and shallow shelf seas. It has warmed intensely since the 1980s at rates exceeding the global average. This Arctic Amplification drives variability in sea ice and salinity, affecting local circulation and exchange with other basins, leading to global changes in oceanic and atmospheric circulation and the biosphere. This thesis explores changing dynamics in the Arctic Ocean, in particular connecting modeled changes in liquid freshwater content (FWC) and its pathways with major ocean circulation patterns, atmospheric drivers, and large-scale climatic changes.

This research combines …

The Effectiveness Of Equivalence-Based Instruction On Time-Telling Skills In Children With Moderate Developmental Disabilities Including Autism Spectrum Disorder And Intellectual Disability, Rongzhi Li

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of equivalence-based instruction (EBI) on teaching time-telling skills to children with moderate developmental disabilities including autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual disability. Three children with ASD or intellectual disability participated in the study. The experiment was conducted using a concurrent multiple baseline design across subjects. During the acquisition training, each participant was taught 24 discrimination relations including matching 12 picture analog clock faces and 12 printed digital clocks to their dictated times. After the training, the participants were assessed to see whether their visual-visual responses (transitivity relations) and oral naming …

State Estimation And Prediction Based On Simplified First Principle Model Of Lithium-Ion Batteries In Lebesgue Sampling Framework, Enhui Liu

Theses and Dissertations

State-of-charge (SOC) and remaining-dischargeable-time (RDT) are critical states of Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs). SOC indicates the available charge stored in LIBs compared to the total charge capacity of LIBs, while RDT refers to the remaining dischargeable time that LIBs can support under given loading profiles. Accurate SOC estimation and RDT prediction play important roles in guaranteeing the safe and efficient operation of batteries in real applications.

Taking advantage of high fidelity of simplified first principle (SFP) model of LIBs, this research aims to accurately estimate SOC and predict RDT. Firstly, this research establishes an SFP model to describe the battery internal …

Use Of Improvement Science To Build The Instructional Capacity Of Faculty In A Community College, Marianne Yohannan

Theses and Dissertations

Up to 78% of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) students experience poor academic achievement as defined by course grades of D, F and W in college. Students entering these fields are often not prepared (Chen & Soldner, 2013) and struggle to succeed in gateway STEM courses, with one-third of them possibly failing (Freeman et al., 2011). The success rates are lower among first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minoritized groups (Doerschuk et al., 2016). At Tri-County Technical College, 30-40% of introductory biology students are unsuccessful and receive low grades (Institutional Research, n.d.). Low academic achievement has a huge impact on our …

Statistical Inference Based On Elliptically Symmetric Distributions For Directional Data, Zehao Yu

Theses and Dissertations

Directional data arise in many scientific fields such as meteorology, oceanography, geology, zoology, and biomechanics. Geometrically, directional data lie in a spherical space. Although not in a spherical space, compositional data, such as microbiome data, can be mapped from a simplex to a spherical space via the component-wise square-root transformation. Other examples where compositional data emerge as a subject of interest include compositions of minerals in rocks, compositions of chemical mixtures, investment portfolios, and demographic composition of a population. This dissertation aims to develop inference procedures for analyzing directional data in general initially, with later focus shifted to the transformed …

Mathematical Modeling And Reconstruction Of Porous Media To Understand Transport Phenomena For Electrochemical System Applications, Mitchell Sepe

Theses and Dissertations

Alternative power generation has grown significantly in the space of energy production over the last ten years. Development of new technologies to produce energy is vital to the growing need for electricity. Batteries, solar panels, wind turbines, and countless other renewable energy options have been deemed necessary to create an overall greener future. Fuels cells when combined with electrolyzer show a promising system for stationary power generation. Both technologies are comprised of multiple parts in contact that must work together simultaneously to create an ideal environment for catalytic reactions to take place. A crucial component to a properly functioning cell …

The Impact Of Mathematical Justifications On Conceptual Understanding, Jessica Raley

Theses and Dissertations

Mathematical justifications offer an approach to which students deepen and extend their mathematical thinking. This process has the potential to enhance students’ conceptual understanding. Mathematical practices and process standards ask students to use critical thinking skills to justify their reasoning, but this is usually seen as proofs in high school geometry. This convergent mixed method research study aimed to increase students' use of writing mathematical justifications and investigate the influence of this practice on mathematical and conceptual understanding. Eleven eighth-grade students participated in the study conducted in the Midwest United States. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews, students’ artifacts of …

Demystifying The Choral Music Of Herbert Howells: A Pedagogical Approach Via Selected Works, Michael Ballard

Theses and Dissertations

The music of Herbert Howells is a mystery for many choral musicians. Howells’s popularity in England is unquestioned, but knowledge of his music has grown slowly in the United States. While the BBC Singers’ performance of Requiem in 1980 brought new enthusiasm for his music and the Requiem, he is still seldom performed in the United States outside of small circles which are generally in Anglican or Episcopalian communities. This is likely due to lack of exposure to his music and the perception that the music is inaccessible and mysterious. Some of Howells’s more complex music is inaccessible for …

The Northern View Of The Southern Shore: Experience, Reconciliation, And Commemoration In Postbellum Charleston, South Carolina, Michael Edward Scott Emett

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explores the experiences and commemorative practices of nearly 200 northern passengers in Charleston, South Carolina, as they attended the flag reraising ceremony at Fort Sumter on April 14, 1865, and then organized the Sumter Club to celebrate that event annually. While some has been written about postwar Charleston during the first half of 1865, and a little more has been published covering this flag ceremony, the Northern view and their experiences with each have not been investigated, nor has anyone written an account of this club. This dissertation utilizes the theory and methodology of the history of experience, …

Application Of Machine Learning Techniques And The Unscented Kalman Filter To Real-Time Gas Turbine Clearance Prediction, Donald Earl Floyd

Theses and Dissertations

The growth in renewable energy sources and retirement of large baseload coal-fired power stations has led to an accompanying decrease in reliability and security of the electrical grid. Since renewable energy sources are typically non-dispatchable, this can lead to blackouts and/or brownouts for customers. Heavy duty gas turbine power plants (HDGT) offer a solution to this problem. HDGTs are dispatchable, clean, and offer flexibility in the fuel they consume, but operational limitations must be well understood to fully exploit their benefits.

One of the main operational limitations is the tip clearances in the gas turbine. In many cases, the gas …

Modulation Of Neurodegenerative Disease Progression By Antioxidant Status, Elena Kelety

Theses and Dissertations

Neurodegenerative diseases, including Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease, profoundly impact the brain and nervous system. In 2019, the United States reported the highest global prevalence of neurological disorders. This thesis approaches neurodegenerative diseases by emphasizing the critical role of a well-maintained antioxidant system, its intricate relationship with dietary patterns, and proposes an alternative fate of the antioxidant urate.

Neurodegenerative disease pathogenesis involves a complex interplay of neuroinflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, misfolded proteins, and oxidative stress. Oxidative stress arises from an imbalance in the antioxidant defense system and the production of reactive oxygen species. Synergistic antioxidant interactions are vital …

Associations Between The Use Of Ssri Medication In Older Adults And Cognitive Decline And Impairment, Paige Jones

Theses and Dissertations

Previous research has indicated that depression is a risk factor for dementia. Since SSRI medication is the most common treatment for depression, it is important to determine if SSRIs are associated with reduced dementia and better cognitive outcomes. Using longitudinal data from the 2004-2014 waves of the Health and Retirement Study merged with the 2005 Prescription Drug Study, we examined potential associations between SSRI and TCA medication and cognitive impairment and cognitive decline. The study population consisted of 1,775 older adults who participated in the PDS in 2005. We found that SSRIs were associated with significantly higher odds of cognitive …

The Study And Development Of Autonomous Scarf Repair For Composite Structures: A Focus On Advanced Air Mobility Vehicles, Stephen Hilton

Theses and Dissertations

“I’m sorry I haven’t been able to truly give you a solution to thermoplastic repair” – Arnt. Director GKN Global Tech Center, 2023

The aerospace industry has a prevalence of composite materials due to their outstanding benefits to the mechanical properties of structures while serving to reduce the overall structure weight. With the development of the Advanced Air Mobility market, there is an anticipated growth in the number of composite structures. Also, with the manufacturing environment of the 21st century, these composite structures are more and more being made using thermoplastic composites that can be recycled at the end of …