Digital Commons Network^™

Strengthening The Community-Based Healthcare System Through The Community Midwives Plus Project, Iram Kamran, Rehan M. Niazi, Tahira Parveen, Shaanzaa Umar Kiani

Sexual and Reproductive Health, Rights, and Choices

No abstract provided.

Pediatric Cancers And Family Financial Toxicity In The Philippines: Insights For Southeast Asia And Similarly Resourced Settings, Rod Carlo Columbres, Erin Jay G. Feliciano, Kathleen Joy Taleon-Tampo, Katelyn Edelwina Y. Legaspi, Michelle Ann B. Eala, Kenrick Ng, Fumiko Chino, Frederic Ivan L. Ting, Edward Christopher Dee

Ateneo School of Medicine and Public Health Publications

Cancer is a leading cause of death among children in the Philippines, a low-middle-income country of over 110 million people. In this Comment, we describe how financial toxicity affects families of pediatric patients with cancer in the Philippines. We explore direct costs of care, indirect costs such as transportation and lodging, and psychosocial sequelae, in the Filipino medical system and sociocultural contexts. We present examples of successful interventions in the Philippines and in similarly resourced settings, with the goal of galvanizing further research, clinical interventions, and policy-level changes, aimed at mitigating family financial toxicity for pediatric patients with cancer in …

Evaluations Of Exercise Intolerance With Cardiopulmonary Exercise Tests In A 24-Year-Old Young Male With Obesity With Tetrahydrobiopterin Deficiency: A Case Report, Chun-Yu Chen, Shin-Tsu Chang, Ko-Long Lin, Mu-Hsun Wu

Rehabilitation Practice and Science

Phenylketonuria (PKU) is a rare amino acid metabolism genetic disorder. Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) metabolism defects cause variant PKU. BH4 coenzyme deficiency disables phenylalanine metabolism into tyrosine, causing brain damage and intellectual impairment. Patients follow a low-phenylalanine diet for life, increasing the risk of obesity, hypertension, and metabolic syndrome. A 24-year-old male patient with BH4 deficiency underwent a pulmonary function test and cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET). Forced vital capacity (FVC) and forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1) were within normal values, with an 80.68% ratio. The 20-watt bicycle exercise test indicated moderate functional impairment (27.3 ml/kg/min of peak oxygen intake). The …

Sustaining Sustainable Farming: An Evaluation Of The Reasoned Action And Comprehensive Action Determination Frameworks For Persistence, Jet J. Tan

Master's Theses

This paper investigates the persistence of agricultural practices funded by the California Department of Food and Agriculture's Office of Environmental Farming and Innovation (CDFA OEFI). The central inquiry revolves around determining the most effective behavior model for analyzing persistence, comparing the Reasoned Action Approach (RAA), Comprehensive Action Determination Model (CADM), and CADM augmented with structural variables. The study's methodology integrates literature review, analysis of OEFI-funded practices, and statistical modeling to assess persistence levels. Contrary to existing literature, our findings reveal significantly higher levels of persistence than anticipated. Moreover, through model comparison, CADM augmented with political economic variables emerges as the …

Design And Implementation Of A Vision-Based Deep-Learning Protocol For Kinematic Feature Extraction With Application To Stroke Rehabilitation, Juan Diego Luna Inga

Master's Theses

Stroke is a leading cause of long-term disability, affecting thousands of individuals annually and significantly impairing their mobility, independence, and quality of life. Traditional methods for assessing motor impairments are often costly and invasive, creating substantial barriers to effective rehabilitation. This thesis explores the use of DeepLabCut (DLC), a deep-learning-based pose estimation tool, to extract clinically meaningful kinematic features from video data of stroke survivors with upper-extremity (UE) impairments.

To conduct this investigation, a specialized protocol was developed to tailor DLC for analyzing movements characteristic of UE impairments in stroke survivors. This protocol was validated through comparative analysis using peak …

The Effect Of Watts-Strogatz And Barabási-Albert Graphs On Memory Formation, Ethan Irick Wolfe

Master's Theses

Understanding higher level cognitive processes is a central problem in neuroscience. The Neuroidal model provides a useful framework for posing these problems in a computer science context. There has been significant recent work trying to understand memory capacity in the Neuroidal model but this work was done assuming that the network of neurons was an Erdos-Renyi random graph. However the network of neurons in the brain has been shown to exhibit small-world properties, which are not present in Erdos-Renyi graphs. In this research we explore replacing Erdos-Renyi graphs with Watts-Strogatz and Barabasi-Albert graphs in order to more accurately model the …

Automatic Mass Balancing Of A Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator With Six Sliding Masses, Amelia J. Gilman

Master's Theses

The goal of this thesis is to investigate automatic mass balancing methods for spacecraft attitude dynamics simulators, create a hardware design for a mass balancing system, and assemble the hardware on the Cal Poly Spacecraft Attitude Dynamics Simulator (SADS). Spacecraft attitude dynamics simulators replicate the torque-free environment of space with ground-based hardware. The SADS is mounted on a spherical air bearing, and includes a pyramid of four reaction wheels. The air bearing allows frictionless, unbounded rotation about the vertical axis, and 30 degrees about the horizontal axes. The torque-free configuration of the SADS can be used to test spacecraft attitude …

Data-Driven Decision Making: The Case Of Ridesharing With Implications For Engineering Managers, Xuan Wang, Yaojie Li, Scott Smith, Helmut Schneider

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

As data-driven decision making becomes prevalent, research needs to provide more evidence to direct user decision making, particularly concerning transportation systems. In concurrence, ridesharing has been touted to reduce driving-while-intoxicated fatalities, albeit prior studies have provided inconsistent findings. A limitation of prior research on this topic is lacking adequate experimental controls while addressing the impact of potential confounds. This issue may affect potential assumptions and conclusions on whether the deployment of ridesharing services has led to a considerable reduction in driving-while-intoxicated fatalities. The present article leverages statistical modeling to control age, education, vehicle miles traveled, and metropolitan size. It reveals …

Dietary Probiotic Supplement Attenuates Methamphetamine-Induced Conditioned Place Preference In Female Sprague-Dawley Rats, Kristen Powell

Masters Theses

Substance use disorders (SUD) represent a global public health crisis with limited effective treatment options. Recent findings implicate the gut microbiome and gut/brain axis in the pathophysiology of SUDs. Several preclinical studies have established that psychostimulants alter gut microbiome composition, but no published studies have assessed behavioral effects of dietary probiotic supplements on drug-induced behavioral changes. This study utilized rodent conditioned place preference (CPP) as a behavioral index of conditioned drug reward to determine if a dietary probiotic supplement alters the behavioral effects of (+)-methamphetamine (METH). Fifty-four adult female Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly assigned to receive either a standard rodent …

Spanish Heritage Speakers’ Processing Of Lexical Stress, Ramsés Ortín

Writing and Language Studies Faculty Publications

This study examines the status of lexical stress in the processing system of heritage speakers of Spanish and whether or not it is influenced by their experience with English. Participants completed an ABX matching task with auditory stimuli differing in the location of stress or in one consonantal sound. Findings reveal that heritage speakers are more accurate in consonant-based trials than in stress-based ones, but only when matching stimuli were non-adjacent, which suggests that their stress-processing strategies pattern more closely with those of native English speakers. Furthermore, dominance and knowledge of Spanish appear to be associated with increased phonological sensibility …

Subjective Beliefs About Contract Enforceability, J. J. Prescott, Evan Starr

Articles

This article assesses the content, role, and adaptability of subjective beliefs about contract enforceability in the context of postemployment covenants not to compete (noncompetes). We demonstrate that employees tend to believe that even clearly unenforceable noncompetes are enforceable, including their own. We provide evidence for both supply- and demand-side stories that explain employees’ persistently inaccurate beliefs. Moreover, we show that believing that unenforceable noncompetes are enforceable likely causes employees to forgo better job opportunities and to perceive that their employer is more likely to sue them if they choose to compete. Finally, we use an information experiment to inform employees …

Opening Dialogue, Lee C. Bollinger, Geoffrey R. Stone

Faculty Scholarship

To set the stage for the excellent essays that make up this volume on the future of free speech, let’s begin where we often do when thinking together about the First Amendment: with some basic facts and fundamental observations about the constitutional command that “Congress shall make no law ... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”

Of course, in the United States, “free speech” is not only part of the constitutional Bill of Rights; it is also a cultural and social norm by which we choose to live. Several of the essays in this volume therefore take …

(R2074) A Comparative Study Of Two Novel Analytical Methods For Solving Time-Fractional Coupled Boussinesq-Burger Equation, Jyoti U. Yadav, Twinkle R. Singh

Applications and Applied Mathematics: An International Journal (AAM)

In this paper, a comparative study between two different methods for solving nonlinear timefractional coupled Boussinesq-Burger equation is conducted. The techniques are denoted as the Natural Transform Decomposition Method (NTDM) and the Variational Iteration Transform Method (VITM). To showcase the efficacy and precision of the proposed approaches, a pair of different numerical examples are presented. The outcomes garnered indicate that both methods exhibit robustness and efficiency, yielding approximations of heightened accuracy and the solutions in a closed form. Nevertheless, the VITM boasts a distinct advantage over the NTDM by addressing nonlinear predicaments without recourse to the application of Adomian polynomials. …

Finance, Technology, & Operations Newsletter (Volume 7), Csusb Finance, Technology, & Operations

Finance, Technology, & Operations Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of Water Source Choice For Irrigation In The Arkansas Delta, Kent Kovacs, Christopher Henry, Qiuqiong Huang, Larry Jason Krutz

Journal of Contemporary Water Research and Education

The use and the share of water applied from several irrigation water sources correlate with the irrigation practices in use by the peers of Arkansan farmers. From a sample of producers from an irrigation survey in Arkansas, a bivariate sample selection model accounts for how peer use of numerous irrigation practices affects the use and the share of irrigation that comes from a water source. The bivariate sample selection model controls for the bias in the statistical estimates that occur because producers who volunteer for an irrigation survey are likely to know about and use irrigation more than the population. …

Next Generation Science Standards; Plant Science Education Stimulators, Kassidy J. Talbot

Agricultural Education: Graduate Internship Reports

What is an Education Stimulator? The idea behind Education Stimulators is to help (in this case) high school aged students get familiar with the science material they are about to be learning from their teacher(s) from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) curricular code. Whether it’s a student’s first time learning the material or it’s familiar to them, it allows for them to gear their brains towards what is to come without too many surprises that could uninterest them. There are three different types of Education Stimulators included with KEYs given also.

Navigating The Ethical Terrain Of Ai In Higher Education: Strategies For Mitigating Bias And Promoting Fairness, Emily Barnes, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are transforming higher education by enhancing personalized learning and academic support, yet they pose significant ethical challenges, particularly in terms of inherent biases. This review critically examines the integration of AI in higher education, underscoring the dual aspects of its potential to innovate educational paradigms and the essential need to address ethical implications to avoid perpetuating existing inequalities. The researchers employed a methodological approach that analyzed case studies and literature as primary data collection methods, focusing on strategies to mitigate biases through technical solutions, diverse datasets, and strict adherence to ethical guidelines. Their …

Udbrnet: A Novel Uncertainty Driven Boundary Refined Network For Organ At Risk Segmentation, Riad Hassan, M. Rubaiyat Hossain Mondal, Sheikh Iqbal Ahamed

Computer Science Faculty Research and Publications

Organ segmentation has become a preliminary task for computer-aided intervention, diagnosis, radiation therapy, and critical robotic surgery. Automatic organ segmentation from medical images is a challenging task due to the inconsistent shape and size of different organs. Besides this, low contrast at the edges of organs due to similar types of tissue confuses the network’s ability to segment the contour of organs properly. In this paper, we propose a novel convolution neural network based uncertainty-driven boundary-refined segmentation network (UDBRNet) that segments the organs from CT images. The CT images are segmented first and produce multiple segmentation masks from multi-line segmentation …

Classic Grounded Theory: Identifying The Main Concern, Justine Connor, Tracy Flenady, Deb Massey, Trudy Dwyer

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Grounded theory comprises a family of research approaches designed to support the generation of a theory explaining a phenomenon experienced by a group of participants. One style of grounded theory, Classic grounded theory, is used less often than other types of grounded theory. The less frequent use of Classic grounded theory may be attributed to the limited availability of clearly articulated processes for conducting this method. Particularly important within Classic grounded theory, and not used in other forms of grounded theory, is identifying the participants' main concern. Identifying the participants' main concern is a signature feature of Classic grounded theory …

Exploring The Key Enabling Role Of Digital Technology For Enhancing Supply Chain Performance Through Supply Chain Collaboration, Inventory Management And Supply Chain Resilience, Michelle J. Sadha, Zeplin J. H. Tarigan, Hotlan Siagian, Ferry Jie

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The company always tries to improve competitiveness by improving company performance. Using upgraded digital technology makes it easier for internal and external companies to determine business strategies quickly and precisely. This study surveyed expedition companies in East Java, as many as 104 companies with the criteria of having a transportation fleet. Data collection using questionnaires and dissemination in collaboration with the Association of Express Delivery Service Companies, Post and Logistics Indonesia (ASPERINDO). Research respondents consist of employees or unit leaders who are competent in the substance of the survey. Data analysis uses the partial least square (PLS) method. The results …

Baos-Cnn: A Novel Deep Neuroevolution Algorithm For Multispecies Seagrass Detection, Md Kislu Noman, Syed Mohammed Shamsul Islam, Seyed Mohammad Jafar Jalali, Jumana Abu-Khalaf, Paul Lavery

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Deep learning, a subset of machine learning that utilizes neural networks, has seen significant advancements in recent years. These advancements have led to breakthroughs in a wide range of fields, from natural language processing to computer vision, and have the potential to revolutionize many industries or organizations. They have also demonstrated exceptional performance in the identification and mapping of seagrass images. However, these deep learning models, particularly the popular Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) require architectural engineering and hyperparameter tuning. This paper proposes a Deep Neuroevolutionary (DNE) model that can automate the architectural engineering and hyperparameter tuning of CNNs models by …

Modifications For Quasi-Newton Method And Its Spectral Algorithm For Solving Unconstrained Optimization Problems, Evar Lutfalla Sadraddin, Ivan Subhi Latif

Baghdad Science Journal

In this paper, two modifications for spectral quasi-Newton algorithm of type BFGS are imposed. In the first algorithm, named SQNEI, a certain spectral parameter is used in such a step for BFGS algorithm differs from other presented algorithms. The second algorithm, SQNEv-Iv, has both new parameter position and value suggestion. In SQNEI and SQNEv-Iv methods, the parameters are involved in a search direction after an approximated Hessian matrix is updated. It is provided that two methods are effective under some assumptions. Moreover, the sufficient descent property is proved as well as the global and superlinear convergence for SQNEv-Iv and SQNEI. …

A Dislocated Quasi-Normed Space And Its Completeness For A Fixed Point Theorem, Jawad Kadhim K. Al-Delfi

Baghdad Science Journal

A concept of a dislocated quasi-normed space is introduced in this paper which is a spatial case of the concept of a quasi-normed space and related to the notion of a dislocated quasi-metric space. Its relationship with other concepts is given by illustrative examples. The completeness of it defines a dislocated quasi-Banach space that is important to our results with respect to a fixed-point theorem. Also, a quasi-contraction mapping is introduced, in which, Lipchitz constant depends on a constant of dislocated quasi-normed space, and then a Banach contraction principle theorem in a dislocated quasi-Banach space is studied with some important …

Extraction Of Caffeine From Spent Coffee Ground By Solid-Liquid Extraction, Salsabeel R. Hassan, Atheer M. Al-Yaqoobi

Baghdad Science Journal

The current research aims to utilize the spent coffee ground as a feedstock which is a waste material with a negative effect on the environment to extract natural bioactive valuable caffeine and determine the effective parameters of the extraction process efficiency in terms of caffeine concentration. The key studied parameters included extraction time 0- 150 min, temperature 25-55˚C, mixing speed (180-450 rpm), pH of suspension (4-9), and solvent type. The results of the experimental work showed that changing the pH of the suspension has a significant impact on the recovery rate of caffeine. When only water was used as a …

Yolo: A Competitive Analysis Of Modern Object Detection Algorithms For Road Defects Detection Using Drone Images, Amit Hasan Sadhin, Siti Zaiton Mohd Hashim, Hussein Samma, Nurulaqilla Khamis

Baghdad Science Journal

Efficient identification of road defects is a critical concern for road safety and infrastructure upkeep. This research employs drone-captured imagery and advanced object detection algorithms to expedite defect recognition, with a specific focus on determining the optimal algorithm for prompt and precise detection. The importance of timely road defect detection, crucial for mitigating potential hazards, remains central. A comprehensive comparative analysis of contemporary object detection algorithms, encompassing YOLOv5s, YOLOv5m, YOLOv5l, YOLOv5x, and YOLOv7. The results of this study highlight YOLOv7 as the most efficient, with a notable mAP of 68.3%, closely followed by YOLOv5l (66.8%), YOLOv5m (66.3%), YOLOv5x (66%), and …

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation As Treatment For Motor Impairment In People With Parkinson's Disease: Protocol For An Umbrella Review, Dale M. Harris, Steven J. O'Bryan, Christopher Latella

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background Parkinson's disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder that predominantly affects movement and currently has no cure. Alongside medication, non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) may be used as an adjunct therapy to attenuate the motor symptoms experienced by people with PD. However, there is considerable heterogeneity in the evidence exploring the effects of NIBS for improving aspects of physical function in people with PD. Therefore, this protocol paper will outline the objectives, structure and procedure of a proposed umbrella review which will comprehensively summarise and map the current body evidence on the effectiveness of NIBS for improving physical function in …

Bidirectional Two-Sample Mendelian Randomization Study Of Immunoglobulin G N-Glycosylation And Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype, Haotian Wang, Di Liu, Xiaoni Meng, Wenxin Sun, Cancan Li, Huimin Lu, Deqiang Zheng, Lijuan Wu, Shengzhi Sun, Youxin Wang

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Observational studies revealed changes in Immunoglobulin G (IgG) N-glycosylation during the aging process. However, it lacks causal insights and remains unclear in which direction causal relationships exist. The two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) design was adopted to explore causal associations between IgG N-glycans and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Inverse variance weighted (IVW) and Wald ratio methods were used as the main analyses, supplemented by sensitivity analyses. Forward MR analyses revealed causal associations between the glycan peak (GP) and SASP, including GP6 (odds ratio [OR] = 0.428, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.189–0.969) and GP17 (OR = 0.709, 95%CI = …

The Importance Of Theory And History In Understanding And Developing The Common Law Of Contract – Some Further Preliminary Reflections, Hon. Andrew Phang

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

In a previous essay, an attempt was made to demonstrate the important role that both theory and history play in helping us to understand and develop the common law of contract. As pointed out in that essay, a comprehensive treatment of the subject would require lengthy discourse in a book or even several books. This essay follows-up on that previous essay, again by way of preliminary reflections only, to correct the dominant perception that the development of the common law in general and contract law in particular is premised mainly on doctrinal development based on logic and analogy with the …

The Effect Of Choice Of Court Agreements On Third Parties, Tiong Min Yeo

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

The effect of choice of court agreements on the exercise of jurisdiction of the Singapore court between contracting parties at common law has received clarification in Singapore law in recent years. The position is also clear under SICC Rules and the Choice of Court Agreements Act. The effect on third parties is less clear. In this article, the effect of choice of court agreements on the position of third parties under the legal regimes above will be considered, from the perspective of both conflict of laws and the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act in domestic Singapore law. This article …

Doctrinal Basis Of Delay As A Bar To Equitable Rescission Of Contracts, Tse Loong Ryan Low

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

The 2015 EWCA decision of Salt v Stratstone Specialist Ltd (t/a Stratstone Cadillac Newcastle) [2015] EWCA Civ 745 casts doubt on the proposition that an inordinate lapse of time alone could operate as a bar to rescission. The court grounded the operation of delay in the doctrine of laches, but as this paper will find, laches is an unsatisfactory explanation for the effect of mere delay on one’s powers of rescission, requiring something more than lapse of time alone. Other competing theories like reference to the Limitation Act 1959 by analogy, and the Sale of Goods Act 1979, have been …