Digital Commons Network^™

Election Performance In The Mountain West, 2008-2020, Monserrat Cristando-Romo, Maryam Raja, Annie Vong, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Elections & Governance

This fact sheet presents data on the Election Performance Index (EPI) and voter turnout in the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah for the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 presidential elections, as originally reported by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Election Data & Science Lab in their Elections Performance Index.

Teachers’ Experiences With Researched-Based Programs And Strategies To Help Struggling Readers In Grades 6–8, Ebony Camille Dixon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem in this qualitative study was that adolescent students in Grades 6–8 in a rural district in the southeastern United States were struggling with reading and had inadequate reading comprehension achievement. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was to investigate how teachers implemented researched-based practices of reading intervention programs and the strategies they deemed beneficial to use while aiding struggling students. Marzano’s nine instructional strategies were used to frame the study. The 12 participants were reading teachers, interventionists, and specialists. Data were collected via semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using thematic analysis with open and axial coding. The …

Protecting Children In Crisis: School-Based Sexual Violence Screening In Refugee Settings, Stella Muthuri

Humanitarian Task Force

No abstract provided.

Lived Experiences Of Nurses Caring For Patients With Opioid Use Disorder, Oneatha Alexander

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Opioid abuse is a significant problem in the United States. People with opioid use disorder (OUD) visit the emergency room (ER) for pain management. OUD is the overuse and abuse of opioids, which can result in dependence, relapses, and death. Nurses in the ER and medical-surgical units face challenges in distinguishing OUD from chronic pain. The purpose of this qualitative interpretive phenomenological study, guided by Benner’s novice-to-expert framework, was to explore the lived experiences of ER and medical-surgical nurses who provide care to OUD patients. Eight ER and medical-surgical nurses were interviewed using semi-structured interviews. The main themes from coding …

Assessing The Relationship Of Cultural Values, And Neighborhood Factors In Prenatal Depression Amongst Mexican Women, Esmeralda Lezama Ruiz

Master's Theses (2009 -)

Maternal depression during the perinatal period is a debilitating illness which negatively influences maternal health, child development and family functioning. The rate of maternal depression in Mexican-American mothers is substantially higher than non-Hispanic white populations. Some work has linked maternal depression in the US Mexican population to cultural factors and neighborhood dynamics, but these factors are only beginning to be addressed in perinatal mental health. This study investigates the independent and interactive roles of cultural values and neighborhood factors in predicting perinatal maternal depressive symptoms in women of Mexican descent. The study recruited pregnant women (N= 261) of Mexican descent …

The Role Of Neuroscience In Mental Health Management Within The Adhd Population, Kadi Rae Smith

University Honors Theses

Neuroscience-based educational interventions play a role in the management of Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD), including the regulation of ADHD-correlated depression and anxiety. Existing research shows that elevated rates of depression correspond to anxiety within the ADHD community; approximately 8.83% of the global population. Social ostracization and isolation are established contributors to depression and anxiety which are commonly comorbid with ADHD. The need exists for further investigation of the beneficial impact that an accurate, biological understanding of how the brain works has on the mental health of the ADHD population, and by extension their families, education systems, and medical industries. …

In Vivo Direct Lentiviral Gene Therapy Improves Disease Pathology In A Mucopolysaccharidosis Iva Murine Model, Betul Celik, Estera Rintz, Shaukat Khan, Andrés F. Leal, Fnu Nidhi, Shunji Tomatsu

Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers

Mucopolysaccharidosis IVA (MPS IVA) is an autosomal recessive disorder that causes the accumulation of keratan sulfate (KS) and chondroitin-6-sulfate in bone and cartilage. This results in progressive skeletal dysplasia, with no effective treatment available. Our study hypothesized that direct lentiviral vector (LV) gene therapy could produce active enzymes from transduced cells, impacting bone and cartilage lesions in MPS IVA. We developed LVs carrying the GALNS gene under three promoters: ubiquitous (CBh), collagen type II (COL2A1), and Mac-1 integrin subunit (CD11b). At the newborn stage and 4 weeks, Galns-knockout mice received intravenous injections at different doses (5 × 10^{9 …}

Board Of Directors Meeting Minutes (June 16, 2025), Dmacc

Board of Directors Meeting Minutes

This file contains the minutes from the Des Moines Area Community College Board meeting held on June 16, 2025.

Seven Days With Coco (Stray Cat And War Refugee), Snjezana Marinkovic

Masters Theses

This thesis presents stories of those whose lives are governed by trauma, unfortunate life circumstances, and social pressure. It is a mixed form work that includes narrative nonfiction and poetry. It also utilizes some of the fiction techniques, such as setting, description, and inner point of view (e.g., seeing the world through the eyes of an unwanted animal).

Exploring Character-Level Attacks On Neural Ranking Models, Surjyanee Halder

Master’s Dissertations

Neural ranking models (NRMs) have achieved state-of-the-art performance in information retrieval, yet they remain highly susceptible to subtle adversarial inputs such as character-level typos. This project explores the robustness of such systems by introducing a reinforcement learning (RL)-based query perturbation framework. RL agents—PPO, DQN, and A2C—were trained to minimally modify user queries (e.g., through character deletions or swaps) with the goal of significantly altering the resulting document rankings, as measured by Kendall’s Tau. Experiments were conducted on the TREC DL 2019 and 2020 benchmarks using two different neural rankers: Mini LM and a fine-tuned Character BERT model. The perturbation attacks …

Explaining Query Expansion Algorithms, Aditya Dutta

Master’s Dissertations

Query Expansion (QE) techniques aim to mitigate vocabulary mismatch in Information Retrieval by augmenting user queries with related terms. However, their effectiveness varies across queries. This work investigates the explainability of QE by leveraging the concept of an Ideal Expanded Query (IEQ): a hypothetical query yielding near-perfect retrieval performance, measured via Average Precision (AP). We hypothesize that the closer an Expanded Query (EQ) variant is to the IEQ, the higher its AP. Our approach consists of three major components: (i) generating an IEQ, (ii) measuring the similarity between an EQ and an IEQ, and (iii) computing the correlation between the …

Medst 343w - Nonfiction Forms (8 Week Async Section), Ash Marinaccio

Open Educational Resources

In this course, we will explore how various forms of nonfiction storytelling represent reality and shape our understanding of the world. Over the semester, we will examine how “the real” is represented across different mediums, including theatre, film, photography, and literature. Through critical readings, case studies, creative exercises, and Brightspace discussions, we will examine the intricate interplay between truth, ethics, form, and authorship in documentary and nonfiction works.

The course is divided into five units. The first unit introduces foundational questions of ethics, authorship, and cultural responsibility in nonfiction storytelling. The following units focus on specific forms: documentary theatre, nonfiction …

Trauma In The Middle Ages: The Viking Experience Of Trauma Through Saga, Kagan L. Vogt

University Honors Theses

Trauma is a fundamental part of human experience and the ways in which human beings experience trauma differs drastically depending on the time and culture represented. Research on trauma in the Middle Ages does exist, however, often offers windows into very narrow intersections within the study of historical trauma. Other cultures and particularly oral traditions lack the same attention from scholars in trauma. The specific experience of Vikings as referenced in the oral tradition of sagas offers a unique window into the traumatic experience of Vikings as well as how they responded to trauma. This unique response to trauma is …

Beyond The Genome: The Racialized Exposome, Flourishing, And Stress Biology In African Americans, A Non-Exhaustive Review, Enye Washington

University Honors Theses

Racial health disparities remain an enduring challenge in the United States, disproportionately impacting African American communities through higher rates of chronic disease and premature mortality. This non-exhaustive literature explores how the racialized exposome - a term denoting the totality of social, environmental, and structural stressors rooted in systemic racism - biologically embeds itself via stress-responsive pathways. Specifically, it examines the interaction between racial stress, flourishing, and key biological markers, including allostatic load and telomere length, considering the gut-brain axis. The review highlights robust evidence that chronic exposure to racial discrimination and structural adversity contributes to multisystem dysregulation and accelerated cellular …

Systemizing Church Hospitality: Converting Attendees To Committed Members, Dallas J. Blacklock

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The American church continues to lack a theoretical framework to guide newcomers through the process of becoming members. The problem is that First Mt. Carmel MBC lacks an onboarding system to guide visitors and guests through the process from attendees to members. The purpose of this DMIN action research project is to design, teach, and implement a 12-week onboarding system to integrate visitors into the congregation. To connect visitors to the congregation in the process of becoming a new creation in Christ, strategic steps are predetermined to assimilate them into the congregation. This problem was addressed by developing and implementing …

Teacher Preparation: A Multiple Case Study, Faith Mary Oluwatobi Peter

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this case study was to explore the effects of teacher preparation programs for elementary teachers in the northeastern United States. At this stage in the research, the effects of teacher preparedness were generally defined as educators’ understanding of pedagogy in relation to their perceptions of student achievement. The theory that guided this study was self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977). The central research was: how prepared are teachers to enter the classroom after completing a teacher preparation program? This qualitative study used multiple case studies as the research design with a sample size of 10 – 15 participants. The …

Development And Miniaturization Of Pad-Printed Carbon Electrodes For Antibody-Type Biosensing, Elizabeth Danielle Clark

Theses and Dissertations

Miniaturized, pad-printed carbon electrodes (PPCEs) offer a promising platform for antibody-type biosensors, enabling rapid and cost-effective point-of-care diagnostics. This study investigates the development, fabrication, and electrochemical performance of large and miniaturized PPCEs functionalized for antibody-type detection, with the eventual goal of detecting pancreatic cancer specific biomarkers. The PPCEs were made of silver- and carbon- based inks that were formulated to be pad printable and conductive and printed on polycarbonate film so they can be easily disposed of after use. Each PPCE was thoroughly cleaned with ethanol several times to ensure a clean base on which to adsorb antibodies and antigens. …

The Benefits Of The Fourth Amendment’S Property-Rights Baseline, Nicholas A. Kahn-Fogel

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Dismissing Human Trafficking: Forced Arbitration Of Survivors’ Civil Suits, Annie Smith, Daniel Werner

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Lost Without A Cause: The Sixth Circuit’S But-For Standard For False Claims Act Violations Harms Healthcare Fraud Enforcement, Margo Chapin

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Robin Hood Or Robbin’ The Goods? The Second Circuit Restores Sec Disgorgement To Equity In Sec V. Govil, Nikolette C. Dusevic

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Effective Strategies For Placing Underrepresented Women In Senior Management Positions: Shared Strategies, George Alexander Pegram Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Underrepresentation of women in senior management positions within the tech industry poses a significant challenge in terms of organizational equity and effectiveness. Business leaders are concerned with this disparity, as it reflects systemic barriers to women’s advancement. Grounded in the people’s capability maturity model (P-CMM), the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore strategies that senior executives in the Washington, DC tech industry use to promote women to senior management positions. The participants were eight senior women executives purposefully selected for their leadership roles. Data was collected using semistructured interviews. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: personalized …

Challenges Identified By Educators Who Teach Students With Disabilities, Christine Elizabeth Fityere

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The problem that was addressed through this study is that educators are challenged to meet the needs of students with disabilities (SWDs) in the inclusion classrooms at a northeastern school district in New Jersey (NSD, a pseudonym). The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore educator’s experiences with the system of inclusion as well as resources needed to overcome any issues or barriers at NSD. The conceptual framework was von Bertalanffy’s systems theory. For this basic qualitative design, semistructured interviews with 13 educators that were recruited through purposeful sampling from NSD through an email sent by the director of …

The Effectiveness Of Clinical Frailty Assessment In Older Patients With Traumatic Brain Injury In Predicting Outcome And Quality Of Life: A Systematic Review, Elizabeth Cray, Nida Javed Hayat, Chi Ho Song, Max Western, Ellie Edlmann

Peninsula Medical School

Ground-level falls are the most common cause of Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leading to emergency hospital admissions, in adults aged 65 years and older. The world’s population is ageing and frailty is becoming more relevant in healthcare provision, therefore assessment of frailty on admission is integral to care planning. Identifying whether frailty is a risk factor for poor outcomes may facilitate clinical decision making and direct care appropriately. This review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a clinical frailty assessment or scale in predicting outcomes in older patients following a TBI, including mortality, functional recovery, hospital length of stay, and …

The Black Side Of The Jesus Movement: Contemporary Gospel Music, Edward Daryl Duff

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigates the impact of James Cleveland, Andraé Crouch, Edwin Hawkins, and Walter Hawkins on contemporary gospel music following the Jesus Movement revival. Their music emerged concurrently with the birth of contemporary Christian music; however, their significant musical innovations have not been widely recognized as part of the Jesus Movement revival. Figuratively speaking, contemporary gospel music and contemporary Christian music are like “fraternal twins,” yet there has been insufficient research linking them together. The rationale for this study is to uncover the potential social and cultural barriers that contributed to their exclusion and disconnect. This research identifies these barriers …

Professional Development Among Special Education Paraprofessionals: A Transcendental Phenomenological Study, Brandi A. Dejesus

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this transcendental phenomenological study was to describe the professional development experiences of special education paraprofessionals in two public school divisions in Virginia. The theory guiding this study was Knowles’ adult learning theory as it serves as a framework for understanding the key characteristics of professional development and adult learning. The central research question for this study was: What are the professional development experiences of special education paraprofessionals in two public school divisions in Virginia? In this phenomenological study, 10 participants engaged in interviews, focus groups, and letter-writing opportunities to share their experiences and perceptions. Participants’ responses were …

Implementation Of An Educational Intervention To Improve Antibiotic Stewardship In An Urgent Care Setting, Evelyn Jane Clinton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Antimicrobial resistance is a leading threat to global health. Resistance to antibiotics in the United States continues to increase contributing to rising numbers of resistant infections and subsequent deaths. This highlights the critical need for increased focus on antibiotic stewardship efforts. Urinary tract infections are one of the leading indications for antibiotic prescription in the outpatient setting and research suggests that there is an opportunity for improvement in antibiotic stewardship efforts in this area. The PICOT question for this project is as follows: In an urgent care setting, does provider education on the current evidence for urinary tract infection diagnosis …

A Case Study For Faithful Biblical Expository Preaching And Teaching: The Transformation Of Members In The Anointed Church Of Jesus Christ, Elijah Narplah Wreh

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This DMIN action research evaluates the effectiveness of biblical expository preaching in demonstrating the inerrancy of Scripture and determining the impact of the twelve-week sermon series with the congregation at the Anointed Church of Jesus Christ in Elyria, Ohio. The process is designed to benefit the church’s congregation, help them faithfully obey God’s Word, and be drawn to God’s reality and the answers it provides through biblical preaching. The research methodology covers the application of biblical expository preaching. The congregation was instructed on various phraseological expressions, including expositional preaching, bibliocentric, Christocentric, inspired Scripture, applications, and illustrations, which helped enhance and …

From Assistance To Impact: The Expanding Role Of Undergraduate Teaching Assistants In Higher Education, Erin Measom

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is presented in a three-article format. It explores the evolving role of undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) in higher education, with a particular focus on how they facilitate interaction, engagement, and student success in online courses. As higher education institutions expand online learning and seek innovative ways to enhance student support, UTAs have emerged as key players in bridging the gap between students and instructors. The first article provides a scoping review of the literature on UTAs, tracing their historical evolution and examining their expanding role. While traditionally viewed as logistical or grading assistants, UTAs are increasingly taking on …

Mining Waste Materials In Road Construction, Nuha Mashaan, Bina Yogi

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Resource depletion and environmental degradation have resulted from the substantial increase in the use of natural aggregates and construction materials brought on by the growing demand for infrastructure development. Road building using mining waste has become a viable substitute that reduces the buildup of industrial waste while providing ecological and economic advantages. In order to assess the appropriateness of several mining waste materials for use in road building, this study investigates their engineering characteristics. These materials include slag, fly ash, tailings, waste rock, and overburden. To ensure long-term performance in pavement applications, this study evaluates their tensile and compressive strength, …