Digital Commons Network^™

Estimation And Inference Of Predictive Discrimination For Survival Outcome Risk Prediction Models, Ruosha Li, Jing Ning, Ziding Feng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Accurate risk prediction has been the central goal in many studies of survival outcomes. In the presence of multiple risk factors, a censored regression model can be employed to estimate a risk prediction rule. Before the prediction tool can be popularized for practical use, it is crucial to rigorously assess its prediction performance. In our motivating example, researchers are interested in developing and validating a risk prediction tool to identify future lung cancer cases by integrating demographic information, disease characteristics and smoking-related data. Considering the long latency period of cancer, it is desirable for a prediction tool to achieve discriminative …

Host Diversity And Behavior Determine Patterns Of Interspecies Transmission And Geographic Diffusion Of Avian Influenza A Subtypes Among North American Wild Reservoir Species, Joseph T Hicks, Kimberly Edwards, Xueting Qiu, Do-Kyun Kim, James E Hixson, Scott Krauss, Richard J Webby, Robert G Webster, Justin Bahl

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Wild birds can carry avian influenza viruses (AIV), including those with pandemic or panzootic potential, long distances. Even though AIV has a broad host range, few studies account for host diversity when estimating AIV spread. We analyzed AIV genomic sequences from North American wild birds, including 303 newly sequenced isolates, to estimate interspecies and geographic viral transition patterns among multiple co-circulating subtypes. Our results show high transition rates within Anseriformes and Charadriiformes, but limited transitions between these orders. Patterns of transition between species were positively associated with breeding habitat range overlap, and negatively associated with host genetic distance. Distance between …

Birth Defect Co-Occurrence Patterns In The Texas Birth Defects Registry, Renata H Benjamin, Angela E Scheuerle, Daryl A Scott, Maria Luisa Navarro Sanchez, Peter H Langlois, Mark A Canfield, Hope Northrup, Christian P Schaaf, Joseph W Ray, Scott D Mclean, Han Chen, Michael D Swartz, Philip J Lupo, A J Agopian

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: The population-level landscape of co-occurring birth defects among infants without a syndromic diagnosis is not well understood.

METHODS: We analyzed data from 40,771 infants with two or more major birth defects in the Texas Birth Defects Registry (TBDR; 1999-2014). We calculated adjusted observed-to-expected (O/E) ratios for all two, three, four, and five-way combinations of 138 major defects.

RESULTS: Among 530 patterns with the highest adjusted O/E ratios (top 5% of 10,595 patterns), 66% included only defects co-occurring within one organ system and 28% were suggestive of known patterns (e.g., midline developmental defects). Of the remaining patterns, the combination of …

Development Of Training Curriculum To Improve Patient Communication Skills And Social Support Among Community Health Workers, Jennifer Holcomb, Gayla M Ferguson, Logan Thornton, Linda Highfield

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Effective provider communication skills are important for patient decision-making and understanding, particularly for those with low health literacy. A gap exists in training methods and curriculum for community health workers (CHWs). Brief description of activity: Through a clinical and academic partnership, pilot training curriculum focused on patient communication skills was developed to align with CHW scope of work.

IMPLEMENTATION: The curriculum was implemented in three 2-hour training sessions over WebEx with seven state-certified CHWs. The goal was for CHWs to understand the key elements and application of active listening, Teach Back, and action planning in a clinical setting. The …

An Implicit Leadership Theory Lens On Leader Humility And Employee Outcomes: Examining Individual And Organizational Contingencies*, Xingyu Wang, Zihan Liu, Xueqi Wen, Qu Xiao

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

An emerging leadership style centered on the moral practice of humility has recently garnered the attention of organizational researchers in the hospitality field. Taken in tandem with the prevailing empirical evidence supporting the various salutary effects of leader humility on employees' job attitudes and moral behaviors, the current set of studies offers an implicit theoretical perspective on leadership that underlines the importance of identifying both individual characteristics and organizational factors that can alter employees' assessments of humble leaders. We propose that employees' assessments of humble leaders' benevolence hinge on the employees' learning goal orientations and their perceptions of informational justice …

Breaking The Chains: The Inverted-U-Shaped Relationship Between Action-State Orientation And Creativity Under Low Job Autonomy, Ronald Bledow, Jana Kühnel, Mengzi Jin, Julius Kuhl

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

When the social fabric of organizations limits individual autonomy, new ideas are needed that satisfy a person’s will as well as the constraints imposed by the social context. To explain when people achieve this synthesis and display creativity under low job autonomy, we examine the influence of their action-state orientation. The theory of action versus state orientation contrasts two responses people display when faced by a situation that conflicts with their will. An actionoriented response entails that people readily disengage from processing the situation and initiate goal-striving, while a state-oriented response entails that people remain focused on the situation. We …

Making The Best From A Mess: Mental Health, Misconduct, And The "Insanity Defense" In The Va Disability Compensation System, Caleb R. Stone

Faculty Publications

The disability compensation system implemented by the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") is highly technical and complex. Before veterans reach questions concerning entitlement to benefits or the amount of compensation, they must first achieve basic eligibility for VA benefits. That involves receiving a discharge that is "honorable" for VA purposes. For some former servicemembers seeking benefits, using the VA's "insanity defense" to excuse misconduct leading to a less-than-honorable discharge may be the best avenue for obtaining compensation. The VA insanity provision contemplated in 38 U.S.C. s. 5303(b) and defined in 38 C.F.R. s. 3.354 is the only "defense" that allows …

Deep-State Constitutionalism, Randy E. Barnett

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this review, I explain how "Common Good Constitutionalism" taps into a deficiency of the conservative legal movement: namely, its exclusive focus on the law "as it is" at the expense of the underlying abstract normative principles that justify the positive law of our written Constitution. Due to this deficiency, the conservative legal movement gives short shrift to the Declaration of Independence and the Ninth Amendment and the natural rights to which both refer. This deficiency is in need of correction. But any such correction does not justify the jettisoning of originalism as Vermeule proposes. Nor does Vermeule defend his …

Cover And Front Matter

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

Kindness In The Bardo: Empathy As A Catalyst For Healing In Victims Of Dissociation, Julia Dorothea Chopelas

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

In George Saunders’ Lincoln in the Bardo, a host of undead characters find themselves in a spiritual limbo based on the bardo. Although they won’t admit it to themselves, Roger Bevins III and Hans Vollman are most certainly dead. Despite their supernatural makeup as ghosts, Bevins and Vollman bear strong psychological resonance with the living: they are human, heartbroken, and lost. For the ghosts of Oak Hills Cemetery, the inefficient coping mechanism of dissociation perpetuates their afterlife imprisonment in the bardo. Bevins and Vollman suffer from a variety of dissociative symptoms, their minds’ psychological defense against the trauma that has …

Assimilation In The United States: Semitism And Asian Americanism, Megan Gibson

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

No abstract provided.

How Gender Affects Writing: Jackson’S And Fitzgerald’S Portrayals Of Mental Illness, Cryslin A. Ledbetter

Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism

Cryslin Ledbetter's essay, "How Gender Affects Writing: Jackson’s and Fitzgerald’s Portrayals of Mental Illness" examines the similarities and differences between Shirley Jackson's We Have Always Lived in the Castle and Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night. Through a careful comparison of male and female writers, the author analyzes defining factors that effect the final product of each novel.

Effects Of Mixed Ability Guided Reading Groups In The Elementary Setting, Lauren Allison

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research was driven by the researcher's interest in mixed ability guided reading groups and the effect they can have on student fluency scores and reading assessments. The researcher utilized mixed ability guided reading groups for nine weeks, while monitoring progress using FastBridge CBMreading fluency passages weekly. The research was conducted to analyze the effectiveness of mixed ability grouping within guided reading groups. The researcher is a second grade teacher in her ninth year of teaching. The findings revealed a common trend of increased fluency and accuracy within words per minute, specifically for students who fell below benchmark when …

School Improvement Plan: Making School Accessible, Angela Duffy

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This school improvement project details the importance of disability acceptance, accessibility, and inclusion. The project details multiple types of disabilities including physical, learning, speech, and intellectual disabilities. Several studies covering topics such as knowledge and representation of disability, types of disabilities, acceptance and inclusion, and assistive technology were studied for this project. The purpose of this school improvement plan is to educate administration on how to make schools accessible and inclusive for students and staff with disabilities in the future. The project will define the term disability, explain some needs students may have due to those disabilities, and guide educators …

A Mentoring Program To Strengthen Teacher Efficacy: A School Improvement Plan, Sarah Devries

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Research findings show that mentoring programs have lacked consistency and accountability in schools, leaving new teachers behind and unprepared for their first years of teaching. Past studies have also documented beginning teachers' practices, wellbeing, and retention; mentoring programs; school leadership and support; and pre-service and induction programs. With research findings in mind, a school improvement plan was created to revise an existing mentoring program toward greater teacher efficacy. This plan improved a current mentoring program to create a successful induction process for new teachers, along with more consistency and accountability for mentors.

Interventions For At-Risk Student Success, Keanon Lewis

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

At-risk students are a growing group in public education who, by definition, are not expected to meet school goals and need additional support to be successful. These students often have poor school attendance, low academic performance, high deviant behavior rates, and increased levels of substance abuse. Not only are public schools failing to prepare at-risk students for a successful future, but these students also bring their troubles to school and negatively impact other students, further hurting education and communities. This school improvement plan is designed to create a system of interventions to correct this downward trend for current at-risk students, …

St Math Student Outcomes: Response To Goal-Setting And Mathematical Supports When Applied To The St Math Problem-Solving Process, Sara Klein

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The purpose of this action research study was to identify the impacts of goal setting and the use of mathematical tools on student performance while engaged in ST Math. The study was conducted in eight Kindergarten classrooms across eleven elementary schools in Northeast Iowa. Quantitative data was collected to monitor the following indicators: number of puzzles completed, average student velocity, and average percent journey completion at weekly intervals throughout the collection period. Those results were then analyzed to determine impacts based on the presence of the goal setting and mathematical tools innovations within individual classrooms compared to those that did …

Project-Based Learning As A Tool For Improved Student Engagement, Benjamin M. Prohl

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Timberline School has found success within the rapidly growing school district of Waukee Community Schools. However, with the increase of students so is there an increase in student needs. Educators are being challenged daily with IEPs, ELPs, ELL, and numerous other student accommodations. Projected-Based Learning offers a methodology which will increases student engagement while maintaining academic rigor. Soft skills, also known as 21st-Century Skills, help prepare the students for a post-education life. Project-Based Learning is by nature a methodology of student-driven course work with built-in differentiation. This includes content integration such as STEM classrooms and Humanities. With the implementation of …

Impact Of Student-Tracked Reading Fluency, Hannah Scotton

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

This action research project was driven by the researcher's interest on the impact that student-tracked reading fluency has on fluency growth. The researcher implemented a repeated reading fluency intervention with a group of eight first grade students from her classroom. Four of the eight students tracked their reading fluency scores on a graph while the other four students, in the control group, did not record their data. Throughout the study, the eight would individually work with the instructor during their repeated reading. The same repeated reading passage was used with all eight students. The findings from this action research project …

Implementing Nutrition Education During Advisory Periods To Decrease Obesity And Increase Students’ Social Emotional Well-Being, Matthew Niemeier

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

Childhood obesity rates are at an all time high, and mental health issues are rising every day. Recently, Carl Sandburg High School has seen a steady increase of the number of students’ with high Body Mass Index (BMI) and mental health struggles. This school improvement plan addresses the impact and role the school environment can have in decreasing students’ BMI and increasing students’ quality of life. The plan contains information on developing a nutrition education intervention program, as well as making changes to the school breakfast and lunch program and the food choices it provides students.

The Effects Of A Flipped Classroom On Student Engagement And Motivation, Tarence Roby

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

The Lone Star High School, which is part of the Frisco Independent School District located in Frisco, Texas is looking for ways to better engage and motivate students in the classroom especially since the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way teachers teach and students learn. The problem is that Lone Star High School students lack the motivation to learn and stay engaged in the classroom setting. The purpose of this school improvement plan was to research the flipped classroom teaching model and to educate teachers through professional development about the benefits of using the flipped teaching method of instruction as …

What Effect Does Phonemic Awareness Have On Young Readers?, Alexis Te Brink

Master's Theses & Capstone Projects

A School Improvement Plan is an excellent roadmap that consecutively lays down particular interventions that a school will implement. The plan strengthens shared governance by offering an opportunity where the district collaboratively identifies interventions and plans to address priority areas that require improvements. Students who have difficulty learning are subjected to the reading and repetition hypothesis. However, certain approaches and techniques see learners devise ways of embedding context in their guessing worlds, skipping the words they are not familiar with and memorizing phrases and terms. Therefore, teaching phonemic awareness to young children in their early years dispels later challenges related …

Visual Documentation For Barnett Newman’S Curatorial Projects, 1944-1946 Part I: Image Records For Pre-Columbian Stone Sculpture (1944) & Northwest Coast Indian Painting (1946), Michael Schreyach

Art and Art History Faculty Research

The article analyzes works of Barnett Newman, who is best known to scholars of abstract expressionism. Newman had staged, in collaboration with Betty Parsons, three exhibitions of decisive significance after 1948 for assessing the basis of what he came to call ideographic painting. In 1944, Newman and Parsons organized the exhibition Pre-Columbian Stone Sculpture, whose brochure itemizes fifty objects.

Datadescription-Detection Of Sulfur Dioxide By Broadband Cavity-Enhanced Absorption Spectroscopy (Bbceas), Ryan Thalman, Nitish Bhardwaj, Callum Flowerday, Jaron C. Hansen

ScholarsArchive Data

Files archived include the following:

Figure1.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 1 in the paper.

Figure4.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 4 in the paper.

Figure5.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 5 in the paper.

Figure6.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 6 in the paper.

Figure7.txt This file contains the code, written in Igor, that was used to generate this figure.

Figure8.txt This file contains all the data used to make Figure 8 in the paper.

Figure9.txt This file contains …

Abortion, Sterilization, And The Universe Of Reproductive Rights, Melissa Murray

William & Mary Law Review

In recent years, a new narrative associating reproductive rights with the eugenics movement of the 1920s has taken root. As this narrative maintains, in the 1920s, Margaret Sanger, a pioneer of the modern birth control movement, joined forces with the eugenics movement to market family planning measures to marginalized minority communities.

Although the history undergirding this narrative is incomplete and misleading, the narrative itself has flourished as the debate over the continued vitality of reproductive rights has unfolded in the United States. Indeed, in just the last three years, a member of the United States Supreme Court and a number …

A Study Of Tribal Communication Frameworks: Some Approaches To Building Partnerships Between Tribal, State, And Local Governments In Virginia, Karly Newcomb, Abigail Sisti

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This paper discusses options the Commonwealth could consider when evaluating decision-making processes that affect tribes in Virginia, with the goal of improving communication and collaboration between tribal, state, and local governments; and will highlight key case studies from other states and localities that provide precedents. The following options are based on a framework of free, prior, and informed consent, which emphasizes self-determination and an individual right to pursue economic, social, and cultural development. This framework can be applied to decision making and projects for any topic. Moving forward, government-to-government communication will be key to developing solutions to pressing issues such …

The Relationships Between Resilience, Care Environment, And Social-Psychological Factors In Orphaned And Separated Adolescents In Western Kenya, Sarah C. Sutherland, Harry S. Shannon, David Ayuku, David L. Streiner, Olli Saarela, Lukoye Atwoli, Paula Braitstein

Internal Medicine, East Africa

The relationships between care environment, resilience, and social factors in orphaned and separated adolescents and youths (OSAY) in western Kenya are complex and under-studied.Survey responses from OSAY living in Charitable Children’s Institutes (CCI) and family-based care settings (FBS) in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya were used to examine the associations between 1) care environment and resilience; 2) care environment and factors thought to promote resilience (e.g. social, family, and peer support); and 3) resilience and these same resilience-promoting factors, using multivariable linear and logistic regressions. This cross-sectional study included 1202 OSAY (50.4% female) aged 10–26 (mean = 16; SD = 3.5). …

Course Schedule Spring 2022, William & Mary Law School

Course Information

No abstract provided.

Comparing Outcomes For In-Person And Online Instruction For Jomc 130: Introduction To Design Thinking, Katie Krcmarik

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The portfolio analyzes two sections of the JOMC 130: Introduction to Design Thinking course that serves as the first course in a five course sequence about Communication Design in the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The portfolio explores the student outcomes from the course in general as well as compares the student success between in-person and online delivery for the course during the Fall 2021 semester. The course focuses on three main topics—technology, design thinking or problem solving, and storytelling. These three topics are foundational to all majors in the college. The course is …

Mental Health Disorders Among Post Graduate Residents In Kenya During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Sayed Karar, Jasmit Shah, Katie Du, Nidhi Leekha, Zohray Talib

Internal Medicine, East Africa

Background: Healthcare workers, including residents, are prone to various mental health disorders especially given the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Residents, particularly, are already under undue stress due to their respective training program demands.

Methods: This cross-sectional, online survey-based study from August to November 2020 collected demographic and mental health measurements from all residents at the Aga Khan University Hospital, Nairobi. The questionnaire investigated demographic variables, information regarding direct care of COVID-19 patients, prior history of mental health and mental health outcomes using the Patient Health Questionnaire, Generalized Anxiety Disorder scale, Insomnia Severity Index, Impact of Event Scale–Revised …