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Compromised Glutathione And Ascorbate Capacities Under Prenatal Alcohol Exposure, And Its Implications For Vulnerable Subpopulations, Reagan Strand

Public Health Theses

Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) remains the leading preventable cause of lifelong neurodevelopmental impairment, yet the biological mechanisms underlying differential susceptibility remain poorly understood. The populations most vulnerable to PAE overlap substantially with those bearing the greatest burden of antioxidant insufficiency, including individuals experiencing food insecurity, environmental pollutant exposures, and alcohol use disorder, yet this convergence and its developmental consequences remain poorly characterized. This thesis investigates how dual antioxidant deficiency in both the dam and offspring modulates vulnerability to PAE using a compound heterozygous mouse model (GclmHET/GuloHET) that recapitulates reductions in antioxidants glutathione (GSH) and ascorbic acid (AA, or Vitamin C) …

Vibriosis In Connecticut: Case Trends And Seasonality, 1997–2024, Lisa Michelle Stutzman

Public Health Theses

Vibrio bacteria species, including V. vulnificus and V. parahaemolyticus, cause vibriosis, which can present as gastrointestinal illnesses, wound infections, or septicemia. In the United States the geographical range of these infections is growing, with the northward expansion of Vibrio along the Atlantic coast highlights the importance of understanding trends in vibriosis in Connecticut. This analysis is based on surveillance data from the Connecticut Emerging Infections Program from January 1, 1997–December 31, 2024. Analyses were restricted to culture-confirmed cases to ensure consistent case definitions and conducted on data aggregated to the state level. Descriptive statistics were used to characterize trends in …

Effectiveness Of The Release Of Wmel Wolbachia-Infected Aedes Aegypti Mosquitoes On The Incidence Of Chikungunya In Campo Grande, Brazil, Vivienne Zhong Ying Su

Public Health Theses

Chikungunya is a mosquito-borne arboviral disease primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus that is rapidly emerging in new geographical settings because of climate change, viral adaptation, and globalization. Brazil has experienced the significant expansion of chikungunya over the past decade and has adopted novel vector control interventions, including Wolbachia-based population replacement, as part of its public health response. While the effectiveness of wMel Wolbachia on dengue incidence has been demonstrated across multiple settings, evidence on its effect on chikungunya risk remains limited. Large-scale releases of wMel-infected Aedes aegypti mosquitoes were implemented in the city of Campo Grande, Brazil …

Modeling Pfoa And Pfos Infant Intake Through Breast Milk And Formula In The United States, Ka Hei Tang

Public Health Theses

Background: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), including PFOA and PFOS, may reach infants through breast milk and water used to reconstitute infant formula. However, current U.S. evidence is limited, and the absence of nationally representative breast milk PFAS data constrained estimation of early-life infant exposures.Methods: This thesis developed a state-level exposure modeling framework to estimate daily infant PFOA and PFOS intake across U.S. states at 3 and 6 months of age. Modeled intake included two feeding pathways, breast milk and formula-reconstitution water, using national maternal serum PFAS concentrations, state-level public drinking water PFAS concentrations, and infant feeding distributions. A total …

Redefining Hospital-Acquired Rsv: Epidemiologic Burden And Probabilistic Classification In A Large Health System, Anna Trinh

Public Health Theses

Healthcare acquired respiratory syncytial virus (HA RSV) is an important but under recognized infection in adult patients. Current surveillance definitions classify RSV as healthcare acquired when a positive test occurs ≥48–72 hours after admission, despite a broad incubation period of 2–8 days which would allow community acquired infections to present several days into hospitalization. This thesis has two aims: (1) to describe the epidemiology of adult HA RSV cases in the Yale New Haven Health System (YNHHS) from 2021–2025, and (2) to develop an incubation period-based probabilistic model to assess the plausibility of each HA RSV classification. Among 2,905 laboratory-confirmed …

Influenza-Associated Hospitalizations And Socioeconomic Status In Southern Connecticut, 2022-2025, Allison Traiger

Public Health Theses

Background: Influenza is a common respiratory illness in the United States responsible for hundreds of thousands of influenza-associated hospitalizations each year. To implement effective preventative interventions, it is crucial to understand which populations are most at risk of severe illness and hospitalization. Prior studies have found that increased rates of poverty and crowding are associated with increased rates of hospitalization.Methods: This study explores the connection between neighborhood poverty, crowding, and influenza-associated hospitalization through the connection of hospitalized influenza cases with their census tract-level socioeconomic indicators. Addresses of hospitalized cases were geocoded and linked to data on poverty and crowding from …

Trends And Prevalence Of Autism Among Asian American Subgroups In California, Qinyue Wang

Public Health Theses

AbstractBackground: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects a growing number of children in the United States (US), yet substantial heterogeneity in its remains poorly understood. While previous studies have identified racial and ethnic disparities in ASD prevalence, the Asian American population is frequently treated as a single, monolithic group. This aggregation masks critical variation across distinct Asian ethnic subgroups, potentially obscuring unique barriers to diagnosis and care. This analysis aimed to investigate trends in ASD by age 6 among seven distinct maternal Asian subgroups born between 2007 and 2015 in California and evaluate the influences from maternal demographic factors and neighborhood-level …

From Genomic Surveillance To Vaccine Efficacy: Assessing The Impact Of Plasmodium Falciparum Rh5 Genetic Diversity On Blood-Stage Malaria Vaccine Performance, Xinyan Wei

Public Health Theses

Malaria remains a major public health burden in sub-Saharan Africa. The development and deployment of effective malaria vaccines is a priority for reducing disease burden and severe outcomes. The protective immunity generated by current malaria vaccines declines over time, requiring booster doses to sustain efficacy. Consequently, next-generation malaria vaccines are under development, including a blood-stage vaccine targeting reticulocyte-binding protein homolog 5 (RH5), the most advanced candidate in clinical development. This study investigates whether genetic diversity in PfRH5 may influence vaccine efficacy using amplicon sequencing and bioinformatic analyses across three complementary approaches. Firstly, this study characterizes PfRH5 genetic diversity across multiple …

Physical Therapy And Length Of Inpatient Stay In Relation To Neuropsychological Functioning Among Childhood Cancer Survivors: A Retrospective Cohort Study From The Heros Registry, Jingyi Zhang

Public Health Theses

Background: As 5-year survival after childhood cancer exceeds 85%, neuropsychological late effects have emerged as a key issue. Despite this, the impact of modifiable risk factors during cancer treatment on subsequent neuropsychological outcomes remains obscure. This study aimed to evaluate whether physical therapy (PT) and length of inpatient stay are associated with later neurocognitive, emotional, and behavioral outcomes in childhood cancer survivors (CCS).Methods: This study included 92 CCS who had available electronic health records (EHR) for cancer treatment and completed a neuropsychological evaluation 0–5 years after their treatment end date. Information on PT and length of inpatient stay (i.e., the …

Medicaid Expansion And Two Pathways To Hpv Prevention: A State-Level Analysis Of Vaccination Coverage And Cervical Cancer Screening, Yiting Yin

Public Health Theses

Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening are the two primary strategies for preventing HPV-associated cervical cancer, yet progress toward national coverage goals remains uneven. The Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion, adopted by states on a staggered timeline since 2014, is a major policy lever for reducing barriers to preventive care, but its association with HPV-related prevention has not been examined across both services in a unified framework.

This thesis uses a state-level ecological design to examine the association between Medicaid expansion status and two outcomes: (1) HPV vaccination coverage among adolescents aged 13 to 17 (NIS-Teen, 2012–2024), measured as series …

Assessing Cardiovascular Disease Risk And Healthcare Access Barriers To Identify Prevention Strategies Among Market Vendors In Uganda, Yumi Yang

Public Health Theses

Background: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounts for 10% of all deaths in Uganda, making it the leading cause of death among non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in the country. Across sub-Saharan Africa, urban market vendors serve as key participants in the informal workforce. Research from West Africa suggests that vendors, many of whom are women, are a vulnerable population with high prevalence of CVD risk factors and structural barriers to healthcare access. However, limited research has examined this population in East Africa, and the present study is the first to characterize 10-year CVD risk and assess healthcare barriers among market vendors in Uganda.Methods: …

Asymptomatic Tb Duration And Transmission Models, Zhichao Zhou

Public Health Theses

Tuberculosis (TB) transmission is sustained in part by asymptomatic disease states that limit the effectiveness of passive case finding interventions that rely on symptom-based diagnosis. Here we develop a transmission model that represents the duration of asymptomatic disease with a gamma-distributed waiting time. By chaining multiple asymptomatic sub-states, we find that the gamma-distributed model provides a better fit to the observed distribution of the duration of asymptomatic disease than a simple one-state model which imposes an assumption of an exponentially-distributed duration of asymptomatic disease. Comparing the fitted gamma-distributed model and the simple model, we quantify how assumptions about the distribution …

Fresh Vs Frozen In Vitro Fertilization Treatment Rules In Multicenter Trials: Machine Learning Under Heterogeneity, Yining Zhou

Public Health Theses

Fresh versus frozen embryo transfer does not have a single answer across all IVF populations, which raises the possibility of individualized treatment selection. This thesis examined whether baseline patient characteristics could be used to develop individualized treatment rules for fresh versus frozen embryo transfer using pooled multicenter randomized trial data.

The analysis used individual-level data from four randomized controlled IVF trials conducted in China, with live birth as the primary outcome. Two primary models were evaluated: a prespecified clinically informed logistic regression model with selected spline terms and treatment interactions, and a neural-network S-learner. Performance was assessed using internal-external cross-validation, …

Restrictions On Party Status In Interpretations Of An Act Respecting First Nations, Inuit And Métis Children, Youth And Families, Jamesy Patrick, Alana Cattapan, Brenda Yuen

Journal of Law and Social Policy

An Act respecting First Nations, Inuit and Métis children, youth and families came into force in January 2020 with the stated objectives of affirming Indigenous jurisdiction over child and family services, reducing the overrepresentation of Indigenous children in state care, and advancing Canada’s commitments under the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Central to achieving these objectives are the Act’s National Standards, which are intended to ensure Indigenous communities are meaningfully included in decision-making processes. While these standards were upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 2024 as constitutional, emerging jurisprudence reveals significant shortcomings in the …

The Surveillance Of System-Adjacent Individuals, Mariam A. Hinds

Faculty Scholarship

Although the Fourth Amendment protects against “unreasonable searches and seizures,” this right is not enjoyed by all people equally. Supreme Court jurisprudence has curtailed the Fourth Amendment privacy rights of individuals under probation or parole supervision. In this line of cases, the Court concluded that the government’s interest in monitoring supervisees, reducing recidivism, and promoting public safety outweighed their reasonable expectation of privacy.

However, surveillance mechanisms like probation and parole extend the criminal legal system’s carceral gaze beyond the supervisees and peer into the bedrooms and digital lives of their families, roommates, and communities, or who this Article calls system-adjacent …

Brokering Safety, Chinmayi Sharma, Thomas E. Kadri, Sam Adler

Faculty Scholarship

For victims of abuse, safety means hiding. Not just hiding themselves, but also their contact details, their address, their workplace, their roommates, and any other information that could enable their abuser to target them. Yet today, no number of name changes and relocations can prevent data brokers from sharing a victim’s personal information online. Thanks to brokers, abusers can find what they need with a single search, a few clicks, and a few dollars. For many victims, then, the best hope for safety lies in obscurity—that is, making themselves and their information harder to find.

This Article exposes privacy law’s …

Examination Of Awareness And Frequency Of Behavioral Masking/Camouflaging Based On Life Experiences, Elizabeth M. Smith

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Camouflaging behaviors are typically employed by individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to appear more in line with societal norms and avoid social ostracization. This study examined the connections between camouflaging and theatre experience, mental health diagnostic status, and levels of self-monitoring. In the study, participants completed a brief, 30- minute survey online examining camouflaging, autistic traits, self-monitoring, and life experiences across individuals of different age ranges. All participants were 18 years of age or older, completed a consent form, and received a debriefing. All responses were completely anonymous. The results showed significantly higher levels of camouflaging behaviors in participants …

Sexual Violence As A Strategy In Ethnic Conflict: A Comparative Study Of Myanmar And China, Olivia Wetzel

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Conflict Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) is a key element in an ethnic conflict. However, the use of CRSV in such conflicts are rarely addressed. This paper sheds light on the use of CRSV in two ethnic conflicts in Southeast Asia - Myanmar and China (2000-2020). In each conflict, there is a variation in how CRSV is used strategically. In the conflict in the Rakhine state of Myanmar, the Buddhists are using CRSV against the Rohingya Muslims. On the other hand, in the Chinese Xinjiang province, the Buddhists are using CRSV against the Uyghur Muslims. I will analyze these two conflicts …

Assessment Of The Antimicrobial Properties And Skin Microbiota Of Unisexual (Ambystoma) Salamanders Within Defensive Toxins, Sydney Stanton

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

As antibiotic resistance continues to pose a significant threat to public health, discovery of novel antibiotics could provide tools to combat this threat. Amphibian skin exhibits complex pathogen defense physiology and diverse skin microbiota, which suggests that it could be a potential source of novel antibiotics. A critical feature of amphibian skin is mucus, which is secreted as a defense mechanism and contains many immune system components such as symbiotic microbiota and antimicrobial peptides. To test the antibacterial properties of amphibian mucus, this study assesses whether mucus secretions from unisexual Ambystoma salamanders are effective at inhibiting the growth of safe …

Food Insecurity In Older Adults With Cancer, Page Laborde

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Food insecurity is a growing concern among older adults and is associated with poor health outcomes, particularly among those with cancer. Community-based programs such as Meals on Wheels may help address these challenges, but their role in supporting older adults with cancer is not well understood. This study examined the association between recent non-skin cancer diagnosis and food insecurity, as well as relationships with Meals on Wheels participation. A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using secondary data from Rounds 9 through 14 of the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults aged 65 and …

Climate Change Impacts On Hydrology In The Upper James Watershed, Imiya Mudiyanselage Chathuranika, Dalya Ismael

Engineering Technology Faculty Publications

Hydrological modeling of the Upper James Watershed (UJW), Virginia, is critical for predicting water availability, flood management, agriculture, ecosystem protection, and hydropower production under increasing climate change. The Hydrologic Engineering Center-Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) is applied to evaluate climate change impacts on key hydrological components within the watershed. Future climate conditions were assessed for the near (NF: 2026-2050), mid (MF: 2051-2075), and far (FF: 2076-2100) periods using three Global Climate Models (GCMs) under Shared Socioeconomic Pathways SSP 2-4.5 and SSP 5-8.5. Climate data were bias-corrected using the Linear Scaling Method (LSM) and used to drive the HEC-HMS model. Results project …

Element Of Accountability: Strengthening Enforcement Of California’S Housing Element Law, Jonathan D. Bremen

Chapman Law Review

California’s housing crisis, marked by a severe shortage of affordable housing, soaring costs, and rising homelessness, has reached alarming proportions. Despite decades of efforts, the state continues to grapple with a housing market that significantly underserves low- and middle-income residents, forcing many to devote high portions of their income to housing. On paper, California’s Housing Element Law appears to be a valuable tool to address the crisis by requiring cities and counties to plan for housing needs across all economic segments. Widespread noncompliance with the law, however, has prompted both the state Attorney General and private parties to seek judicial …

Escaping The Labyrinth: Cutting Through The Maze Of Federal Sector Employment Laws To Streamline Appeals, Allow Faster And More Consistent Decisions, And Level The Playing Field Between Agencies And Employees, Christopher Ligatti

Chapman Law Review

Federal employees and their job protections have gained increased media attention due to the current presidential administration. Criticism has long been aimed primarily at the property interest and accompanying due process protections that federal employees have in their employment. However, this Article argues that while the federal sector employment law system is badly in need of reform, the issue is not the constitutionally required due process protections afforded to employees, but rather the additional statutory and regulatory protections Congress has granted employees. Currently, federal employees have multiple overlapping forums in which they can bring employment actions, may cross-appeal negative decisions …

The Military Discharge Review Boards’ Irregular Presumption Of Regularity, Jessica Lynn Wherry

Chapman Law Review

“There is a presumption of regularity in the conduct of governmental affairs.” With these twelve words in the Department of Defense’s Code of Federal Regulations, the military discharge review boards (DRBs) have denied relief to thousands of veteran-applicants seeking a discharge upgrade. While seemingly innocuous, this administrative principle has become a nearly insurmountable barrier to relief for veterans with a less-than-honorable discharge. Veterans with a less-than-honorable discharge are generally ineligible for a range of veterans benefits, including health care and education benefits, and they have higher suicide rates compared to honorably discharged veterans.

For most veteran-applicants, the administrative path to …

Muted By The Machine: Expanding Ftc Authority To Address Algorithmic Review Suppression, Aubrey Adams

Chapman Law Review

As digital platforms increasingly shape consumer decision-making, the integrity of online reviews has become central to fair market competition. In 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a final rule prohibiting deceptive practices involving consumer reviews, including traditional forms of review suppression. Yet the rule fails to address a more subtle threat: algorithmic review suppression.

This Note argues that algorithmic review suppression, where platforms use automated systems to downrank or obscure negative reviews, creates a misleading impression of product quality while evading existing regulation. Unlike traditional suppression, these practices operate invisibly under the guise of content curation, distorting consumer perception …

Exploring The Research Landscape On Single-Case Design Methodology Using Technology Through Text Mining And Large Language Models, Mikyung Shin, John William Mckenna

Faculty Publications - College of Education

The use of technology within single-case design research has expanded exponentially across disciplines, which necessitates a better understanding of global scientific knowledge and patterns. We aimed to empirically map the evolution of knowledge in single-case design methodology using technology. In the semi-automated screening process, we identified 3,637 publications from the Web of Science, spanning the years 1970 to 2025. The Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis was ranked highest in h-index and g-index, and Behavior Analysis in Practice had the highest m-index. The United States was the country with the most authors affiliated. A total of 15 topics …

Teacher Agency: Finding Spaces To Transform Ela Classrooms, Kathryn Mitchell Pierce, Carol Gilles, Sarah D. Reid

Faculty Publications - College of Education

Amid ongoing attacks on teachers and their professionalism, we studied three middle school ELA teachers who exercised their agency to transform their classrooms and curricula through social justice pedagogy (SJP). Using Pantić's (2017) model, we examined their sense of purpose, competence, autonomy, and reflexivity in confronting barriers. This multiple-case study drew on interviews, focus group transcripts, artifacts, and responses to our analysis of their reported beliefs regarding their agency about dialogic talk in literature discussions as part of SJP. We found that teachers' agency, dialogic talk, literature discussions, and SJP were deeply interwoven. Teachers valued dialogic talk in literature discussions …

Eelgrass Distribution In The Great Bay Estuary And Piscataqua River For 2025: Final Project Report Submitted To The Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership, Michael Routhier, Raymond Grizzle, Taylor Goddard, Krystin Ward

PREP Reports & Publications

No abstract provided.

Prep’S Communications Strategy: A Ten-Year Plan From 2025-2035, Piscataqua Region Estuaries Partnership (Prep)

PREP Reports & Publications

No abstract provided.

The Complex Decision-Making Processes Of Rural Emerging Adults: Counseling Beyond Dualism, Donna M. San Antonio Dr.

Faculty Scholarship

Rural adolescents approach the transition out of high school with individual concerns about making an emotionally or financially expensive “mistake,” family concerns about young people leaving home, and national and local concerns about declining rural economies and out-migration. The literature concerning this topic considers factors that influence youth aspirations in rural areas, such as economic barriers, the way higher education is valued, and perceptions of rural places as lacking in opportunity. However, there has been little study of the myriad interpersonal, emotional, and self-identity inputs that are part of the decision-making processes of rural emerging adults, and little is known …