Digital Commons Network^™

A Novel Way To Understand And Communicate The Burden Of Antipsychotic Prescribing For Adults Across Specialist Intellectual Disability Services In England And Wales: The Aphid Feasibility Study Protocol, Rohit Shankar

Peninsula Medical School

Background: The stopping overmedication of people with a learning disability, autism, or both (STOMP) programme was launched in 2016 in response to concerns about the over-prescribing of medication in people with intellectual disability. The programmes focus has been on the withdrawal of antipsychotic treatment for the individual person than the service or dosage optimisation. It could be that cumulative service level antipsychotic treatment converted and presented as chlorpromazine units could allow for comparison of services on how antipsychotic treatment is being utilised and allow for comparing of practices between services in different regions. The aim of this feasibility study is …

What We Don't Say Out Loud, Antwan Bowen

Master's Projects

What We Don’t Say Out Loud is a collection of original short stories that explore themes of identity, race, family, queerness, humor, and emotional vulnerability through the lens of Black and marginalized voices. These narratives blend literary realism with elements of magical realism, satire, and personal essay to reflect the emotional truths and unspoken complexities that shape everyday life. Central to the collection is a commitment to portraying characters in their full humanity, often resisting trauma-centered tropes in favor of layered, internal storytelling. From the raw, personal account of Black fatherhood in “The Best Day and the Worst Night,” to …

Final Portfolio, Terence G. Shelly

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This narrative provides a comprehensive reflection on my academic and professional development throughout the Master of Social Work (MSW) program at the University of Montana. Framed by the Advanced Integrated Practice (AIP) model and the Just Practice Framework, the paper explores the integration of theory, personal values, and experiential learning across the ten core social work competencies. Drawing from practicum experiences with the Crisis Intervention Team (CIT), the Montana Safe Schools Center (MSSC), and private practice at Meadowlark, I demonstrate growth in critical self-reflection, clinical skill development, advocacy, and systems-based theory. Special emphasis is placed on the application of trauma-informed …

Steps To The Peak, Lisa Hansen

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Reflective paper on my experience obtaining a Master of Social Work degree. The paper outlines the ten core competencies of social work and examples of how I learned them in my studies and gain practical experience in my practicum.

Msw Portfolio: My Journey Of Understanding Social Work Through Mind, Body, Emotion, & Spirit, Olivia Kern

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Who Do You Want To Become?, Taylor Greene

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Master’S In Social Work: Professional Portfolio, Josephine Star Lange

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Characterizing Spatial Epidemiology In A Heterogeneous Transmission Landscape Using The Spatial Transmission Count Statistic, Leke Lyu, Gabriella Veytsel, Guppy Stott, Spencer Fox, Cody Dailey, Lambodhar Damodaran, Kayo Fujimoto, Pamela Brown, Roger Sealy, Armand Brown, Magdy Alabady, Justin Bahl

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: Viral genomes contain records of geographic movements and cross-scale transmission dynamics. However, the impact of regional heterogeneity, particularly among rural and urban centers, on viral spread and epidemic trajectory has been less explored due to limited data availability. Intensive and widespread efforts to collect and sequence SARS-CoV-2 viral samples have enabled the development of comparative genomic approaches to reconstruct spatial transmission history and understand viral transmission across different scales.

Methods: We proposed the spatial transmission count statistic that efficiently summarizes the geographic transmission patterns imprinted in viral phylogenies. Guided by a time-scaled tree with ancestral trait states, we identified …

Russian Culture And Thought - Russ 150w, Malika Ziyamova

Open Educational Resources

The survey of Russian culture and civilization through the lenses of literature, art, folklore, music, history, politics, philosophy, and key aspects of everyday life. Russian history has resulted in a culture that is both familiar and alien to Western observers. Russia’s writers, intellectuals, artists, and scientists have been long and widely appreciated for their contribution to understanding the human condition. The reading, translation, adaptation, and response to their work has shaped a good deal of the cultural and intellectual heritage we have inherited.

Differing Judicial Perspectives: A Look Into The Evolution And Constitutionality Of The United States' Administrative State, Buchanan Albert Cook

Honors Theses

Over time the United States’ administrative state has evolved into something that is quite unrecognizable from its inception in the early years of the nation. This essay will provide an account of the founding of the United States Constitution while recognizing the intent and design of the framers of the Constitution. In juxtapositioning this account with the current state of administrative agencies, questions over the constitutionality of such agencies will be posed. To answer these questions, an overview of the history of administrative agencies in the United States will be given alongside accompanying and significant Supreme Court Cases. This overview …

Time And Wages In Coerced Labor: Black Women’S Legal Agency In Late-19th Century Havana (1880-1886), Elena Barattini

PALARA: Publication of the Afro-Latin/American Research Association

The critical juncture of slavery abolition in Cuba was marked by independency uprisings, and imperial re-articulations. Within this context, thousands of formerly enslaved men and women coped with renewed forms of coercion, inscribed in the intersection of race and gender. This article focuses on the resourceful use of the law by formerly enslaved women (renamed patrocinadas in 1880) to liberate themselves from the forced apprenticeship known as patronato, enforced alongside the abolition law. An in-depth examination of two files from the Miscelánea de Expedientes fund held at the Cuban National Archive underscores how Black women struggled to secure wages, …

Robots And (Indian) Reservations: A Jurisdictional Nightmare Waiting To Happen, Adam Crepelle

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

Advances in artificial intelligence are expanding the possibilities of robots. Indeed, robots are now engaging in numerous activities previously thought to require human cognition, such as driving cars and diagnosing diseases. Scholars have published numerous articles examining the intersection of law and robots across myriad fields. However, legal scholarship has yet to explore the relationship between robots and federal Indian law. This is a significant oversight because there are 574 federally recognized tribes and over fifty-six million acres of Indian country. Thus, legal issues involving tribes and robots are inevitable. This is the first law review article dedicated to exploring …

Using Video Education To Improve Patient Knowledge Of Cellular Therapy Side Effects: Cytokine Release Syndrome, Neurological Toxicities, & Prolonged Pancytopenia, Leslie Bennett

Doctoral Projects

This project evaluated the effectiveness of short educational videos on CAR T-cell therapy, cytokine release syndrome, neurological toxicities, and prolonged pancytopenia for blood cancer patients. At Stanford Health Care in California, in the ambulatory clinic of Blood and Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (BMT-CT), we obtained a convenience sample of individuals with multiple myeloma or lymphoma preparing for CAR T-cell therapy. A pre-and post-questionnaire assessed the patients' knowledge of CAR T-cell therapy and its side effects. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests were used to determine changes in knowledge. Thirteen patients enrolled, eight completed post-surveys, and four watched the videos. The median knowledge …

Towards A Regulatory Theory Of Platform Rule: Corporate “Sovereignty” Through Immunities, Uta Kohl

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Asegurar La Frontera: Expansion Of Governor Greg Abbott’S Powers Over Border Security, Marshall B. Lloyd

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Teachers' Multiculturalism And Digital Learning Choices For Students With Limited Or Interrupted Formal Education, Jitka Nelsonova Brychtova

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The English language learner environment in U.S. secondary schools is increasingly complex due to the growing numbers of students with limited or interrupted formal education (SLIFE) who require a culturally responsive approach. Teachers are not prepared to meet the needs of SLIFE, especially in the technology-enhanced classrooms. A gap in the literature exists regarding the culturally responsive use of digital learning resources (DLRs) with high school SLIFE. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether the teachers’ self-reported multicultural teaching competencies (skills and knowledge) predict the choice of DLRs used with SLIFE. The study was grounded in Vygotsky’s …

Mass Shooting Perceptions, Public Mental Illness Stigma, And Social Media Use: A Regression Analysis, Kayla Cross

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Mental illness is frequently associated with mass shootings in news media, which can result in negative stigma among individuals diagnosed with mental illness. While mental illness and mass shootings have been explored previously, social media perceptions have not yet been examined in relation to mental illness stigma and mass shootings. The purpose of this study was to examine public mental illness stigma, mass shootings, and perceptions through social media in a correlational study subjected to regression analysis. The theoretical framework for the study was based on Tajfel and Turner et al.’s theory of social identity and intergroup behaviors. The analysis …

Efficient Pharmaceutical Supply Chain Management Strategies For Tertiary Care Hospitals In The Caribbean, Lee Ann Salandy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This review aims to identify evidence-based quality improvement strategies and practical operational solutions to boost pharmaceutical supply chain performance in tertiary care hospitals in the Caribbean. This integrative review synthesizes empirical and non-empirical sources related to pharmaceutical supply chain systems and is grounded in Lean Six Sigma methodologies and supply and demand theory. The articles reviewed, published between 2014 and 2025, were appraised using the Johns Hopkins Evidence-Based Practice Model. Key themes identified included Lean Six Sigma principles, with subthemes such as lean distribution focus, value stream mapping, and the DMAIC process. The supply and demand theme included factors in …

Achieving Health Equity For Minorities, Marginalized And Vulnerable Populations: The Ethical Challenge For Improving Addiction Health Services And Policies In The Health Care System, Jasia A. Baig

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

During the past few decades, health disparities and substance misuse have transformed into unprecedented healthcare crises facing contemporary society. Although enormous contributions through policies and interventions have been made to promote health equity, substantial health inequalities and disparities persist, particularly in addiction health services and policies at multiple healthcare system levels for the marginalized, minoritized, and vulnerable populations.

The thesis of this dissertation asserts that a biopsychosocial ‘systems’ thinking towards treating addictive disorders along with systematic interventions and coordinated improvements specifically focused on minorities, marginalized and vulnerable populations at research, clinical, public health and global levels will significantly reduce health …

Untethered Isoperimetric Robotic Truss For Lunar Applications, Mihai Stanciu, Spencer Stowell, Isaac Weaver, Adam Rose, Chris Paul, James Wade, Ashleigh Cerven, Annie O'Bryan, Brian Bodily, Logan Yang, Nathan Usevitch

Faculty Publications

We introduce a robotic system designed to function as a lightweight, modular, and reconfigurable structure on the Moon. This robust system consists of truss-like robotic triangles, each formed by a continuous inflated fabric tube routed through two robotic roller units and a connecting unit. When deflated, these triangles can be compacted to roughly the volume of the roller units, offering an advantageous stowed-to-deployed volume ratio of 1 to 6.24. Upon inflation, the roller units pinch the tubes, creating corners by reducing the bending stiffness of the tube. Once fully deployed, electric motors move the robotic roller units along the tube, …

Covid-19 Infection History As A Risk Factor For Early Pregnancy Loss: Results From The Electronic Health Record-Based Southeast Texas Covid And Pregnancy Cohort Study, Micaela N Sandoval, Michelle R Klawans, Mackinsey A Bach, Jennifer Mikhail, Edward A Graviss, Tru Cao, Jacqueline G Parchem, Junaid Husain, Eric Boerwinkle

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Background: The effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection before or during pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes are still largely unknown. We hypothesized that COVID-19 in early pregnancy is a risk factor for adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly miscarriage.

Methods: We examined the relationship between COVID-19 and adverse pregnancy outcomes, including spontaneous abortion, ectopic pregnancy, and preterm delivery in a large, retrospective, electronic health record (EHR)-based cohort, from 2019 to 2023. Generalized estimating equation modeling was performed to identify risk factors for adverse pregnancy outcomes. Study exposures included COVID-19 before pregnancy, COVID-19 during pregnancy, age, race/ethnicity, comorbidity burden, and neighborhood-level social vulnerability.

Results: In the …

Intracellular Inclusions Induced By Patient-Derived And Amplified Α-Synuclein Aggregates Are Morphologically Indistinguishable, Rabab Al-Lahham, Mark E Corkins, Mohd Ishtikhar, Prakruti Rabadia, Santiago Ramirez, Victor Banerjee, Mohammad Shahnawaz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Lewy Body Disease (LBD) and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) are synucleinopathies with distinct prognoses and neuropathologies, however, with overlapping clinical symptoms. Different disease characteristics are proposed to be determined by distinct conformations of alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) aggregates, which can self-propagate and spread between cells via a prion-like mechanism. The goal of this study is to investigate whether α-syn aggregates amplified from brain and CSF samples of LBD and MSA patients using the Seed Amplification Assay (SAA) maintain α-Syn seeding properties similar to those of α-syn aggregates derived from patients' brains. To address this, SAA-amplified and un-amplified α-Syn aggregates from LBD and …

Healing Through Collective Memory: Exploring Psychological Trauma And Community In Toni Morrison’S Beloved And Audre Lorde’S “The Uses Of The Erotic”, Cassia Mcphilliamy '25

Student Research

My project “Healing Through Collective Memory: Exploring Psychological Trauma and Community in Toni Morrison’s Beloved and Audre Lorde’s “The Uses of the Erotic”” is motivated by the traumatic images of the experience in enslavement. The symbolism that Morrison uses in Beloved through the dual role Beloved plays as both a spectator and experiencing trauma firsthand. Morrison surpasses the generic gothic tropes of the ghost through Beloved’s ghostly presence at 124 Bluestone, and later her ability to physically haunt Sethe, forcing her to confront her trauma. Beloved’s appearance collapses the past and the present, forcing Sethe to face her past in …

Meritocracy Unmasked: Oppression And Its Links To Abuses Of African Americans From 1865 To 1930, Madison Zada Cothern

Electronic Theses and Dissertations Archive

Meritocracy has often been a foundational aspect of Western society and legal development. However, this foundation is a façade to uplift those in power while leaving others oppressed. This project critically examines the myth of meritocracy in the context of the Reconstruction and Great Migration eras, with dates spanning from 1865 to 1930. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this study is an intellectual history of the use of meritocracy in correlation to the maintenance of social hierarchies. Through exploring the role of Enlightenment era philosophers, racial violence, and legal developments, this project explores the failures of policies such as the Fourteenth …

Enhancing Diversion Success Through Financial Capability And Asset Building: A Framework And Proposed Intervention, Lissa Johnson, Margaret S. Sherraden, Carrie Pettus, Jude Miller, Jin Huang

Center for Social Development Research

Mass incarceration policies in the United States have generated the highest incarceration rate in the world, yet many incarcerated individuals have committed nonviolent offenses or been confined because they could not pay fines or fees. Diversion offers an opportunity for justice-involved individuals to avoid conviction and collateral consequences while maximizing public safety, reducing case processing, decreasing overpopulation in prisons, and lowering costs. However, diversion programs do not adequately address financial instability and insecurity that often contribute to criminal behavior. This paper reviews evidence on adult diversion programs and proposes an intervention approach responding to socioeconomic factors contributing to criminal behavior.

Exploring The International Terminology Associated With Nurses Caring For Neonates, Infants, Children, Young People And Their Families., Matt Carey, Jane Coad, Imelda Coyne, Suja Somanadhan, Sarah Neill

School of Nursing and Midwifery

The terminology used for Registered Nurses specializing in caring for neonates, infants, children, young people (CYP), and their families varies globally. While many countries’ nursing students qualify as “Registered Nurses” upon completion of undergraduate education, specialist titles like “Children’s Nurses” in the United Kingdom or “Pediatric Nurses” in Italy denote expertise in CYP care. In countries like the United States and Canada, neonatal and pediatric nursing specialization typically requires postgraduate study. However, there is limited evidence on the range of international terms for nurses in this field. This expert opinion paper presents the results from a scoping survey designed to …

Detection, Analysis, And Modeling Of Time-Scale Separated Modulatory Brain Dynamics: Methods And Applications In Neurocritical Care, Maren Elizabeth Loe

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Clinical monitoring of patients with neurological disease generates large volumes of data, including electrophysiology (e.g. EEG), heart rate, blood pressure, and other physiological measures. The use of these data to generate actionable prognostic measures is a long-held goal in clinical neurophysiology. In this regard, the use of engineering theory, including signal processing methods and computational modeling paradigms, is providing new ways of interpreting neurological data and yielding new insights into brain mechanisms and disease pathophysiology. This research focuses on the analysis and modeling of aberrant brain dynamical phenomena that occur over hours-long temporal epochs. Particularly, we consider time-scale separated electrophysiological …

Effective And Efficient Graph Foundation Model, Lecheng Kong

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Graph data has emerged as a central component in numerous real-world applications, spanning recommender systems, drug discovery, social networking, and traffic forecasting. While traditional and modern graph learning techniques—ranging from graph kernels to Graph Neural Networks (GNNs) and graph transformers—have achieved significant success, their task-specific nature and reliance on supervised learning limit their adaptability to new, unseen tasks. This rigidity becomes especially problematic in dynamic environments where retraining for every new task is costly and often infeasible. Inspired by the transformative impact of foundation models in natural language processing, this thesis explores the feasibility of developing a graph foundation model—a …

Advancing Predictive Modeling With Deep Representation Learning On Diverse Clinical Data, Hanyang Liu

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Electronic health records (EHRs) provide a wealth of information crucial for enhancing clinical decisions, patient outcomes, and healthcare efficiency. However, leveraging EHR data for predictive modeling involves significant challenges, including managing imbalanced and incomplete data, effectively integrating heterogeneous data types, efficiently capturing temporal and hierarchical structures, and ensuring the interpretability and clinical reliability of predictive outcomes. This dissertation addresses these critical challenges by proposing novel deep representation learning frameworks specifically designed for clinical predictive modeling from diverse EHR data. By integrating sophisticated deep learning techniques, this research demonstrates innovative deep learning modeling approaches and delivers tangible improvements in clinical predictive …

Investigating Neural, Neurovascular, And Vascular Function: Insights From Imaging 5-Ht2ar Compounds, Optogenetic Motor Mapping, And Cross-Modal Functional Mapping, Jonah Aryeh Padawer-Curry

McKelvey School of Engineering Graduate Student Theses & Dissertations

Understanding how brain activity relates to behavior and cognition remains a central challenge in neuroscience. Brain function emerges from interactions between electrical, chemical, and blood dynamics across multiple spatial and temporal scales. Capturing this complexity requires methods that assess both large-scale neurophysiological activity and precise, cell-type-specific processes. Widefield optical imaging (WFOI) enables high-resolution monitoring of cortical function by simultaneously measuring hemodynamic and calcium dynamics. WFOI is particularly valuable for studying psychedelics, which show therapeutic potential but may alter neurovascular coupling, complicating the interpretation of hemodynamic signals. Using WFOI, we examined the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A receptor agonist DOI in awake mice, revealing …