Digital Commons Network^™

Trust And Signaling: An Exploratory Study Of Residential Attitudes Towards Energy Efficiency Advisors And Outdoor Media, Hal T. Nelson, Ivana Osmanovic

Public Administration Faculty Publications and Presentations

As the building sector shifts toward community-led energy efficiency (EE) initiatives to mitigate the climate crisis, scaling adoption requires understanding behavioral drivers. This study examines key drivers of EE measure adoption: perceived non-energy benefits, trusted advisors, and behavioral signaling. This research contributes to the energy policy and social science literature by empirically linking social trust with signaling preferences. It extends existing EE adoption decision theories by identifying distinct clusters of “expert” versus “close” advisors across demographic groups. Data from an experimental survey (n = 238) in Portland, Oregon, were analyzed using principal component analysis (PCA) and multivariate regression modeling. Results …

“This Place Is My Home”: A Phenomenological Study Of The Academic Experiences And Sense Of Belonging Of Specially Admitted Student-Athletes At Division I Universities, Jana Alexandra Valentine

Electronic Theses and Dissertations 2020 - Present

The purpose of this study was to further understand the experiences of specially admitted student-athletes regarding their sense of belonging. In addition, this study aims to add to the existing literature regarding support services for student-athletes. The three research questions for this study were: 1. How do specially admitted student-athletes at Division I Universities make meaning of their admissions experiences? 2. What contributes to developing a sense of belonging of specially admitted student-athletes at Division I universities? 3. How do specially admitted student-athletes make meaning of their academic experiences at their university? A qualitative, descriptive phenomenological research approach was used …

Subjective Sleep Disruption, Coping, And Anxiety And Related Symptoms In The Perinatal Period: Findings From A Longitudinal Study, Rebecca C Cox, Caroline P Hoyniak, Jack Samuels, Jonathan S Abramowitz, Gerald Nestadt, Eric A Storch, Rashelle Musci, Paul Nestadt, Lauren M Osborne, Mary Kimmel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Study objectives: Anxiety is common during the perinatal period and is associated with adverse maternal and infant outcomes, highlighting a need to identify predictors of perinatal anxiety. Accumulating research implicates sleep disruption in perinatal anxiety and related symptoms, including obsessive-compulsive symptoms. We examined the associations among insomnia symptoms and sleep duration with perinatal anxiety, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms and the moderating role of coping from pregnancy through postpartum.

Methods: A sample of 231 women (agemean = 32.97 ± 4.36 years; 74% white) completed interview and self-report measures of sleep, coping, perinatal anxiety, obsessive beliefs, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in early …

Mandating Proactive Algorithmic Accountability: A Study Of Legal, Economic, And Technological Challenges In Combating Human Trafficking On Chinese Social Media Platforms, Haoyu Dong

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Human trafficking increasingly relies on digital platforms, where algorithms connect traffickers with buyers, amplify illicit content, and facilitate transactions at an unprecedented scale. Yet China's legal framework remains largely reactive, imposing liability on platforms only after illegal content has been detected and removed. This Article argues that such a notice-and-takedown approach is no longer sufficient to combat trafficking in an algorithm-driven online environment.

This Article proposes a proactive model of algorithmic accountability. It contends that digital platforms should be held legally responsible when they fail to design, monitor, and refine their algorithms to prevent the dissemination and amplification of trafficking-related …

The Impact Of Leadership Communication And Organizational Trust On Psychological Safety And Employee Voice In Healthcare Organizations, Crystal D. Smith

M.S. in Leadership

Healthcare organizations operate in increasingly complex environments where effective communication, employee engagement, and patient safety are essential to organizational success. Despite the importance of employee voice, many healthcare professionals hesitate to express concerns, report errors, or share ideas for improvement because of perceived interpersonal and organizational risks. This study examines how leadership communication and organizational trust influence psychological safety and employee voice within healthcare organizations. Using a qualitative literature review, the study synthesizes scholarly research from healthcare leadership, organizational behavior, organizational psychology, healthcare management, and patient safety. The review explores major themes, including psychological safety, leadership communication, organizational trust, employee …

Reflections: My Personal Journey, Jerry L. Pitts

Faculty Publications and Presentations

Reflections: My Personal Journey is the heartfelt and inspiring memoir of Jerry L. Pitts Jr., a man whose life was transformed by faith, perseverance, and God's grace. From a turbulent childhood marked by frequent moves, rebellion, and poor choices, to becoming a devoted husband, father, educator, and servant of God, this powerful testimony reveals how divine purpose can emerge from life's greatest struggles.

Through deeply personal stories, Jerry shares his journey from the "road to destruction" to a life dedicated to serving Christ. Readers will walk beside him through broken relationships, career setbacks, military service, family triumphs, heartbreaking loss, spiritual …

Occult Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma With No Identifiable Intrathyroidal Primary: A Case Report And Pooled Analysis Of 23 Published Cases, Michael J. Evans, Amanda M. Sonnenburg, Elijah Elliott, Alex Otto, Kent Mcintire

Student Publications

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) rarely presents as cervical lymph node metastasis without an identifiable intrathyroidal primary despite exhaustive imaging and histopathologic evaluation, representing the rarest form of occult thyroid carcinoma and posing distinct diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report a 27-year-old man who presented with a cystic lateral neck mass. Fine-needle aspiration confirmed metastatic PTC, yet ultrasonography, computed tomography, and positron emission tomography/computed tomography demonstrated no thyroid abnormality. Total thyroidectomy with modified radical neck dissection revealed metastatic PTC in two of the 21 lymph nodes (pN1b) without extranodal extension, while exhaustive sectioning of the thyroid demonstrated only chronic inflammatory changes …

Slc Transporter-Mediated Functional Imaging In Cancer Diagnosis, Lumeng Zhang, Jun He

Department of Pathology, Anatomy, and Cell Biology Faculty Papers

Functional imaging has become an important approach for evaluating tumor physiology in vivo beyond morphologic assessment. Radiotracers used for cancer imaging are designed to mimic endogenous substrates or substrate analogues, and their accumulation can depend on membrane transport, intracellular metabolism, and clearance from normal tissues. Specifically, SLC transporters contribute to tracer uptake and signal formation, linking transporter activity with measurable imaging signals in cancer. While [18F]FDG PET/CT remains the most widely used example of transporter-associated metabolic imaging, SLC transporter-mediated imaging strategies have been developed to assess amino acid transport, sodium-dependent glucose uptake, redox metabolism, lactate exchange, nucleoside metabolism, choline metabolism, …

Counted In: Including Female Composers In Orchestral Horn Audition Repertoire, Hope K. Ayers

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Institute of Composer Diversity and the Boulanger Initiative focus on music written by composers who have been historically excluded from the profession. The focal point of the Institute of Composer Diversity is discovery, study, and programming of such composers through its database and reports, while The Boulanger Initiative advocates for women and all gender-marginalized composers. Because of limited exposure, incomplete records, difficulty of procuring music, and identified bias, female composers’ orchestral works are underrepresented in orchestral programming. Professional orchestral horn audition repertoire is no different, with professional orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, only very recently including a …

What I Brought With Me: Bilingualism, Resistance, And Identity In U.S. Doctoral Education, Xiao Hu

Journal of Educational Research and Innovation

In U.S. higher education, the bilingualism of international doctoral students is often reduced to a measure of English deficiency rather than recognized as a linguistic and cultural resource. Drawing on Anzaldúa's borderlands theory, this autoethnographic study examines the lived experiences of a female Chinese international doctoral student negotiating bilingual identity in U.S. academia. Using personal journals, written correspondence, field notes, and memories of significant encounters as data, this inquiry explores three dimensions of experience: the ways bilingual identity is misread or appropriated in academic spaces; the relationships that offered recognition and belonging; and the cultural and pedagogical knowledge that bilingualism …

Medieval, Magical, Or Melodramatic? Depictions Of Elrond Half-Elven In Film And Television Adaptations, Kristine Larsen

Journal of Tolkien Research

Elrond Half-elven acts as an important bridge between the First, Second, and Third Ages of Middle-earth, as well as between multiple species (Maia, Elf, and Human). He thus presents writers and directors of film and television adaptations with both challenges and opportunities to investigate intersections between the medieval and the modern, myth and magic, fidelity to the original and creative exploration. Adaptations often condense and simplify plot points and scenes for the sake of time or story/telling. In the case of Elrond, this means that we should expect changes in his main scenes in The Hobbit (Elvish sword identification and …

Depression And Anxiety In Pulmonary Hypertension Associated With Congenital Heart Disease: Pathophysiology And Clinical Implications Of The Heart–Brain Axis, Nicodemus N. Triatmojo, Valerinna Y.S. Putri

Journal of the Saudi Heart Association

Pulmonary hypertension associated with congenital heart disease or PH-CHD is an increasingly prevalent disorder in modern cardiology. It is characterized by progressive pulmonary vascular remodeling, chronic right ventricular (RV) pressure overload, and abnormal cardiopulmonary hemodynamic. Due to advances in congenital cardiology and treatments for pulmonary hypertension, survival rates have increased. As a result, the focus has switched to long-term functional status and quality of life. Depression and anxiety are currently recognized as prevalent and clinically significant manifestations in PH-CHD; nonetheless, they remain underdiagnosed and undertreated within cardiovascular care frameworks.

More study shows the disease's severity or symptom count cannot explain …

Multidimensional And Burgeoning Leadership: Literacy And Multilingualism, Emily Howell, Hazel Vega, Lindsey W. Rowe, Katie M. Crook, C.C. Bates, Kavita Mittapalli, Amlan Banerjee

Publications

This design-based research study worked with 25 teachers with specialized early literacy training. Researchers investigated the impact of professional development advancing their multilingual learner (ML), literacy, and leadership capacity, addressing gaps in the research merging the fields of literacy, multilingual instruction, and leadership. Spanning two years of both qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis including teacher, student, and district surveys, teacher logs, research logs, and teacher interviews, the researchers capture the iterative nature of the needs of teacher professional development to serve MLs. The researchers describe the needs of teachers for professional development, the micro modifications made to adapt …

A Quantitative Content Analysis Of Media Framing Of Illegal Mining In Ghana, Ebenezer Ato Kwamena Aidoo, Patrick Ansah, Fredrick Daoyenikye, Maame Aba Afful

Faculty Scholarship

Illegal mining in Ghana has attracted considerable public and policy attention due to its far-reaching environmental, social, and health consequences. Our study examines how Ghanaian news media frame illegal mining, the tone of media coverage, and the stakeholders represented in news narratives. Using a quantitative content analysis, 800 news articles were sampled from six widely read media outlets, Daily Graphic, Ghanaian Times, TV3 Ghana, GTV, Joy FM, and Citi Newsroom. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was employed to examine differences in framing, tone, and stakeholder representation across outlets. Findings indicate that news organizations emphasize distinct frames, resulting in varied …

Feasibility Study Of An Artificial Intelligence Chatbot-Powered Cognitive-Behavioral Lifestyle Modification Program, Evans Forman, Charlotte Hagerman, Asher Hong, Zhuoran Huang, Hannah Mccausland, Jasmine Sun, Lauren Taylor, Meghan Butryn, Preetha Chatterjee, Ramtin Ehsani, Nawal Syed

Department of Family & Community Medicine Faculty Papers

Background: Approximately 2 billion adults seek lifestyle modification to improve their health and well-being. However, because of cost and access barriers, only a tiny fraction receive gold-standard lifestyle modification programs led by trained coaches. Digital programs without human coaches are more disseminable but have limited efficacy. Recent advances in large language model (LLM) AI chatbots have the potential to revolutionize digital programs by emulating human coaches, offering a safe, low-cost, and scalable lifestyle modification intervention. Yet, no studies have developed and tested such a program. Purpose: This study aims to evaluate the feasibility, safety, and user engagement of a new …

A Phase Ii Trial Of Defactinib Combined With Avutometinib In Patients With Metastatic Uveal Melanoma, Rino S. Seedor, Mizue Terai, Sergei A. Koshkin, Andrew E. Aplin, Marlana Orloff, Erin Sharpe-Mills, Madeleine Naccarato, Aurora Mills, Alfredo A. Molinolo, J. Silvio Gutkind, Takami Sato

Kimmel Cancer Center Faculty Papers

Background: Treatment options are limited, and outcomes remain poor for patients with metastatic uveal melanoma (MUM). We conducted an investigator-initiated, prospective, single-arm, single-institution, phase II study evaluating the combination of an FAK inhibitor (defactinib) with a RAF/MEK inhibitor (avutometinib) for the treatment of MUM. Methods: From February 2021 through January 2023, 12 patients with MUM were treated with the combination of defactinib and avutometinib. Defactinib was given 200 mg twice daily, and avutometinib was given 3.2 mg twice a week. Both drugs were given for 3 weeks on and 1 week off (28-day cycle). Disease control rate was the primary …

Ecological Footprint Assessment, Santina Benincasa

Open Educational Resources

This handout guides students through a structured ecological footprint assessment using the online Footprint Calculator. By following a series of steps—selecting their location, entering detailed lifestyle information, and reviewing personalized results—students evaluate how many planets would be required if everyone lived with their same resource consumption patterns. The activity prompts learners to identify the largest contributors to their footprint, quantify their impact in global hectares, and explore scenario-based changes that could reduce their environmental demand. Through reflection, students consider how everyday human behaviors influence Earth’s productive capacity and resource availability. Overall, the exercise encourages critical thinking about sustainability and personal …

Leveraging Health Information Exchange (Hie) Data To Demonstrate The Impact On Health Outcomes Of Community Based Organization Interventions: Case Studies Of Housing Placement And Medically Tailored Meal Program, Kevin Kramer, Harm Scherpbier, William Marella

College of Population Health Faculty Papers

Objective

Methods

Transforming Advising And Improving Outcomes: Assessing Impacts Of Advising Changes, Amy S. White, Tailisha Gonzalez, Elgloria Harrison

Publications and Research

Abstract

Background: Earning full-time credit loads and persisting are how college students successfully graduate.

Objective: We measured whether credits and persistence at an urban, commuter Hispanic/Minority-Sserving Iinstitution improved after implementing a social work-based advisement strategy.

Methods: Using a quasi-experimental methodology on a college’s enrollment database, we measured the impact of a new advisement model on earned and attempted credit loads to compare traditional student advisement within control groups (n = 171 and n = 899) relative to intervention (n = 130).

Findings: In 2024, the intervention group attempted an average of 14.7 credits and earned an average of 14.3 credits, …

Health Profile Of Brazilian Mothers, Carlos Eduardo Siqueira

Gastón Institute Publications

No abstract provided.

1951 Map Of Rocky Mountain National Park And Red Top Valley Ditch, 610 Redwood Fisher, Box 45, Department Of Interior Geological Survey

Rocky Mountain National Park

Map of Rocky Mountain National Park and surrounding area, with Red Top Valley Ditch outlined. The map was surveyed 1912-1915, published in 1919, and reprinted in 1951. Terms: Rocky Mountain National Park; Maps; Department of the Interior; Geological Survey; Medicine Bow; Roosevelt National Forest; Cameron Pass; Mummy Range; Mummy Pass; Granby Reservoir; Granby Mesa; Michigan Creek; Mt Dickinson; Mt Dunraven; Crystal Lake; Fairchild Mountain; Lawn Lake; Cow Creek; Cache la Poudre River; Specimen Mountain; Howard Mountain; Never Summer Mountains; Bearpaws Peaks; Continental Divide; Bowen Mountain; Baker Gulch; Red Mountain; Mt Nimbus; Timber Creek; Shipler Mountain; Windy Gulch; Trail Ridge Road; …

1953 Documents Relating To Acquistion Of Redwood Fisher Lands In Rocky Mountain National Park And Shadow Mountain National Recreation Area, 610 Redwood Fisher, Box 45, David H. Canfield, George F. Ingalls, Clarence A. Davis, Conrad L. Wirth, Bruce Wright, G. W. Lineweaver, Thomas J. Allen, John S. Mclaughlin, A. Van V. Dunn, Fred D. Mclaren

Rocky Mountain National Park

Memoranda, letters, and correspondences about the acquisition of Redwood Fisher lands in Rocky Mountain National Park and Shadow Mountain National Recreation Area. Terms: Rocky Mountain National Park; Shadow Mountain National Recreation Area; Redwood Fisher; Bureau of Land Management; Tom Kimball; Bureau of Reclamation; Colorado Department of Game and Fish; Colorado River; Shadow Mountain Reservoir; Granby Reservoir; David H. Canfield; Boulder; Stillwater Creek; George F. Ingalls; C. V. Marmaduke; Clarence A. Davis; C. A. Richey; Bruce Wright; Conrad L. Wirth; Shadow Mountain Dam; Granby Pump Canal; G. W. Lineweaver; Thomas J. Allen; John S. McLaughlin; Grand Lake; Pole Creek Ditch; Selak …

Employing Artificial Intelligence For Non-Invasive Diagnosis Of Craniofacial Deformities: A Systematic Review Of Non-Ionizing Radiation Methods, Nurul Mutmainnah, Harun Achmad, Lusy Damayanti

International Arab Journal of Dentistry

Introduction: Craniofacial deformities, like craniosynostosis and plagiocephaly, require early diagnosis, but traditional methods like CT scans use harmful ionizing radiation. Artificial Intelligence (AI) offers a non-invasive, radiation-free alternative, using 2D and 3D imaging for accurate diagnosis, improving safety and accessibility, especially in remote areas.

Objective: This review evaluates the use of AI in diagnosing craniofacial deformities without ionizing radiation, focusing on its strengths, limitations, and challenges in clinical implementation.

Methods: The literature was searched across five databases—PubMed, Google Scholar, ScienceDirect, Wiley, and Cochrane—over the last decade, following PRISMA guidelines. Inclusion criteria were AI-based, non-invasive imaging techniques for craniofacial deformities. The …

Risk Factors Of Suicidality Among Physician Assistants, Lynn Marie Page

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Suicide is a global public health issue that affects all ages, genders, races, and social classes. Although suicide rates are higher among health care providers than in the general public, there is a gap in the literature regarding the suicidal risk factors of physician assistants (PAs), who increasingly provide health care in the United States. The aim of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to explore the association between anxiety, burnout, and depression and the stress-reducing benefits of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs), as well as the dependent variable suicidality among PAs in the United States. A self-directed questionnaire incorporated psychometrically validated tools …

Illuminating Sanja Matsuri: Lived Religion And Festival Practice In Asakusa, Caleb R. Merckle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines Sanja Matsuri, a major Shintō and Buddhist festival in Asakusa, Tokyo, through the lenses of lived religion, participant observation, autoethnography, and anthropology. Departing from institution-centered approaches, it foregrounds the experiential dimensions of festival participation, showing how physical devotion, collective movement, and festive intensity function as expressions of spiritual meaning. Ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2023 and 2025 included participant observation, informal interviews with local and foreign participants, and Reflexive Discourse Analysis of fieldnotes and bilingual transcripts. Analysis reveals a dynamic interplay between formal sacralization strategies — such as mitama-ire rituals and structured processions — and spontaneous, informal participant …

Data For Post-Retail Application Of Chitosan Coating And Uv-C Irradiation: Effects On Strawberry Shelf Life, Microbial Quality, And Consumer Acceptance, Jonathan Kershaw

ScholarsArchive Data

Food waste is a global issue with significant environmental, economic, and human health impacts. The largest share of household and retail food waste comes from fresh produce, much of which is still edible at the time of disposal. While previous work has investigated shelf-life extension technologies applied on freshly harvested produce, almost no studies have investigated the efficacy of these treatments when applied to post-retail produce. This study investigated the effect of UV-C exposure and chitosan coating on the quality, microbial load, and visual acceptance of post-retail strawberries. Strawberries were assigned to low dose UV-C, chitosan dip, or one of …

Science, Uncertainty, And Stewardship: Climate Change Viewpoints In Higher Education, Jamie Jensen, Isaiah Aduse-Poku

ScholarsArchive Data

This dataset supports a Q-methodology study of climate change viewpoints among undergraduate students at Brigham Young University. Participants were recruited from an introductory non-majors biology course during Fall 2025. The study examined how students organized climate-change views across scientific evidence, human causation, uncertainty, political beliefs, religious stewardship, moral responsibility, perceived agency, climate policy, and future risks.

Notes From The Field - Conference Proceedings, Summer Fellows 2025, Center For Latin American, Caribbean, And Latino Studies (Clacls)

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

CLACLS presents proceedings papers from the third CLACLS Summer Fellows Showcase Conference, held on November 12, 2025.

The daylong event showcased the research endeavors of fourteen Summer Fellows, who offered succinct presentations on their projects funded by the CLACLS Summer fellowship. The included three panels: “Feminist and Queer Critical Perspectives”, “Language, Archive and Power”, “Social Movements and Political Imaginations.”

Progesterone And Cerclage Together For Short Cervix: Evaluating Potential Complementary Effects For Improved Preterm Birth Prevention, Vincenzo Berghella, Ilaria Paladino, Moti Gulersen, Lauren Sayres, Amanda Roman, Rupsa C. Boelig

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology Faculty Papers

Management of patients with a short cervical length (CL) on transvaginal ultrasound (TVU) often involves therapy with vaginal progesterone and/or cervical cerclage. Although these interventions are frequently viewed as alternative strategies, they may also represent complementary approaches targeting different mechanisms involved in spontaneous preterm birth. As in other areas of medicine, therapies with different mechanisms are often used together rather than as mutually exclusive options. In line with current level 1 evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses of RCTs on either vaginal progesterone or cerclage, in singleton gestations with no prior spontaneous preterm birth (SPTB), vaginal progesterone is …

Fuel Tank Seismic Stability Program-Informed Displacement Maps Of Portland's Critical Energy Infrastructure Hub, Ana Tijerina Esquino

Dissertations and Theses

Oregon's Critical Energy Infrastructure (CEI) Hub in northwest Portland contains a large portion of the state's liquid fuel storage and distribution capacity and is located in an area susceptible to liquefaction and earthquake-induced permanent ground deformation during a Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake. Initial Seismic Vulnerability Assessments submitted under Oregon's Fuel Tank Seismic Stability program provide valuable facility-specific information, but the assessments vary in subsurface characterization, treatment of fine-grained soils, ground motion selection, and deformation estimation methods. This variability complicates interpretation of regional seismic risk and motivates a consistent corridor-scale analysis.

This thesis develops CPT-informed displacement estimates for representative cross sections …